Andy & Ari On3 - A starting quarterback LEAVES his team over NIL | Will Jalen Milroe have his moment against Georgia?

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

Welcome to Andy and Ari On3, where the saucy takes are presented by Wendy’s! Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11.Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker,try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs. This show is also sponsored by PrizePicks, America’s most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code STAPLES to play $5 and get $50 instantly. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/STAPLES The Money Game is a compelling six-part docuseries that chronicles the introduction of the groundbreaking decision by the NCAA to grant NIL (name, image and likeness) rights to student-athletes, permitting them—for the first time ever—to earn endorsement compensation while maintaining their amateur athletic status. The Money Game features inside access to LSU stars Jayden Daniels, Angel Reese and Livvy Dunne through last year. See the world of NIL through their eyes. Watch The Money Game on Prime Video. https://www.amazon.com/The-Money-Game/dp/B0D9KQWC97?tag=on302-20 It’s time Wendy’s Saucy Take of the Week, and this week Andy will fire off his three sauciest takes and Ari will decide which takes the golden nugget.  (0:00-0:38) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs(0:39-31:06) UNLV QB Matthew Sluka Leaving Program over NIL dispute(31:07-32:10) Stream the Money Game  on Amazon Prime(32:11-33:17) Download PrizePicks(33:18-35:09) Realignment Update(35:10-36:35) Wendy's Saucy Takes(36:36-46:27) Changing QB's will be defining moment of Brent Venables' Tenure at OU(46:28-51:30) Jalen Milroe's Heisman Moment on Saturday vs Georgia?(51:31-57:47) Peacock Signups will go through the roof for Louisville-Notre Dame(57:48-1:00:30) Ranking the Saucy Takes(1:00:31-1:04:42) Conclusion But first, we’ve got to talk about a crazy story. UNLV QB Matthew Sluka announced late Tuesday night that he's leaving the Rebels. The Holy Cross transfer claims certain promises were unfulfilled, so he's going to redshirt and transfer somewhere else for next year. We don't yet know both sides of this story, but be sure this won't be the last time this happens. The Pac-12 sued the Mountain West in federal court on Tuesday claiming the “poaching fee” included in the leagues’ scheduling agreement violates antitrust law. The fees would cost the league $55 million since it has already poached five Mountain West schools. Next, Andy and Ari pick the Kentucky-Ole Miss (-17.5) and Minnesota-Michigan (-9.5). Now it’s time for Andy’s blazing takes… Installing Michael Hawkins Jr. as QB1 will be the defining moment of Brent Venables’ Oklahoma tenure… Jalen Milroe will have his Heisman moment against Georgia People will throw their remotes at their TVs and then sign up for Peacock as the Louisville-Notre Dame game goes down to the wire. Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

You've had Wendy's Nugs dipped in sauce, but have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy's new saucy nugs. Take the crispy and spicy nugs you love and turn them up to 11. Choose between flavors like buffalo or hot buffalo, honey barbecue or hot honey barbecue, garlic parm or hot garlic parm. And of course, your real heat seeker, try the spicy ghost pepper only on Wendy's signature spicy nugs. I dare you.

That's seven delicious ways to try the n ghost pepper only on wendy's signature spicy nugs i dare you that's seven delicious ways to try the nugs you already love pick a flavor grab some extra napkins and prepare to nug like you've never nugged before for a whole new way to nug it's got to be wendy's at Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. It is Wendy's saucy take day. I will deliver three very saucy takes. Ari will decide which one of those gets the golden nugget. But first, we have some wild news to talk about that happened late Tuesday night. So most of us on the East Coast were asleep when this tweet went out.

But holy crap. Sluka Donchish saying it ain't so. Matthew Sluka, the quarterback at UNLV, who has led the Rebels to a 3-0 start, including wins over Houston and Kansas. Those are Big 12 teams, by the way. Tweets. I have decided to utilize my redshirt year and I will not be playing in any additional games this season.

I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled. Despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and hope for the continued success of the program ari holy crap i gotta tell you it feels great to have a daily college football show i mean like

we're not gonna miss anything we get to react to this right away andy uh this is a shocking development and kind of a heartbreaking development because we're talking about a UNLV team that I believe was leading the way in my bubble watch and I think your latest bracketology. Yes. Looking at a team that's 3-0, ranked in the top 25 for the first time in program history, I think I read. They are an exciting team, and we got to watch Sluka Doncic play

against Kansas a few weeks ago together when we were in Wisconsin, and it was a really fun ride. So we're still, I think, in the information-gathering phase in terms of what actually occurred here. But I'm excited to get into it because I think we came up with three scenarios that this could be, and I want to talk through them with you because this could be a you know, a good case study for future situations. I don't think it's just about, about Sluka here. I think it's about, you know, NIL outperforming what you were probably expected to do and what comes next. So Andrew in the chat says, I don't think this will be the last player that does this. I agree. And look, we have heard whispers are you and I talk to coaches and personnel people, and we've heard whispers that this might happen, that this almost happened at some point. Like there was a player, you know, there might have been a player who went in and said, you know, I may be shutting it down unless unless this happens. And then it happened and it wasn't shut down.

But I think there's three potential buckets here. And I see in the chat people who've made their decision about Matthew Sluka one way or the other. They either think he's a villain or a hero here. And you don't know. I'm just telling you right now, whatever you think, you don't know. I don't know if he's the villain or the hero in this story because we don't know the facts we know what he said we know what unlv is putting out on the other side because he said the commitments weren't met you've got unlv now back channeling saying they were and the numbers kept changing we don't know the truth yet. We may never know the truth. Like we may need a lawsuit with document production required to get to the bottom of it. We may not get that.

So if you think you know, to quote the MTV True Life theme, you have no idea. So we're not going to pretend we know the facts here and we're not going to say that this is definitely what happened because we don't know that but i'm going to throw three scenarios at you re this is what you and i talked about this before the show there's three potential scenarios this situation is going to happen again. And it's probably going to happen a lot unless the schools want to change the system that they created. And before you throw three scenarios out there, Andy, I just wanted to add that this is an important case study. Because as we go through these three scenarios, Sluka is the good guy in some of them, the bad guy in some of them, and maybe in the middle somewhere in some of them. And it's not necessarily, I don't

want people to just frame the conversation that we're about to have only about Sluka. I want you to envision other people who are inevitably going to be in similar situations in the future and kind of frame our minds and kind of use this as a a thought exercise for just the general situation that people are going to find themselves in so yeah it's probably going to come to light but i think it's important to just like frame it that way well in austin in the chat says an nc state qb did this last year i believe no that's not that was not what happened with MJ Morris. So what happened with MJ Morris is MJ Morris was playing for NC State, thought he was going to be the QB one going into 2023. They recruited Brennan Armstrong over him and said, tough luck. And then Brennan Armstrong wasn't playing well. And they're like, hey, MJ, we need you. And MJ came in and won some games and is like, oh, now you need me. Now I'm going to shut it down and go somewhere else because

you recruited over me. So it's a little bit different situation than this one. So the three potential scenarios here for Sluka or for anybody in this situation, because again, this isn't, we don't know what the story is with Sluka for real here. But scenario one would be what Sluka described in his tweet. The player in the school's collective agreed to X dollars over a certain time period. The collective actually paid Y dollars and Y is a number significantly lower than X.

That's a bait and switch. Nobody would blame the player in that situation if that's what really happened. Yeah, and if that's the same thing in your own life, if you agreed to a job and you got your first paycheck and it's a third of what they told you was going to be something like that, that's what you would do.

Scenario number two. Oh, go ahead, Ari. Oh, no, I thought I was going to react to them one by one, but why don't you do all three and then we'll talk about it. Okay. All right. All right. Scenario number two.

The player in the school's collective agreed to X dollars over a certain time period. The collective paid X dollars as agreed upon, but the player had some success on the field and now he wants Z dollars. And of course, Z is a higher number than X. Now scenario three, which brings another party into the equation or potentially multiple other parties. The player in the school's collective agreed to X dollars over a certain time period. The collective paid X dollars as agreed upon, but the player had some success on the field and suddenly representatives of other schools are reaching out to the player saying hey what do you what do you make right now oh you make x

well how would you like to make q here next year with q being a significantly higher dollar figure than x it's real life stuff right there okay so obviously scenario one is just a pretty simple he got mistreated he walked away and uh that's what it is but the thing that is interesting about this is that it's not just like us going to a job it's a little bit more intense because from a public perception he is being counted on pretty dramatically from a team that has been hoping to make the cfp in the first you know rendition of the 12 team era and if the employer doesn't pay the employee what they agreed to pay some people might still feel like he has a certain responsibility to not let 84 other people down. So like that to me is what makes this complicated.

It's not that it's just not, that's a straight line. I would do the same thing, but we are still recovering from the NCAA brainwash of the game's more important. Your teammates are more important. This isn't a business. So there are probably people who, in this very clear scenario, where somebody was told something and wasn't given what they were told, still somewhat looks like the bad guy. Because it cannot be easy, whether it's for selfish reasons or selfless reasons, to walk away from a team that's 3-0 in the group of five over two P4 teams and do this.

So I can acknowledge that even if he was in a tough position and told something that wasn't made good on, that people are still going to think he's a scumbag and he probably doesn't want to walk away. So that is a really complicated scenario there. It is, it is. And here's the thing with these three scenarios, ask yourself what you do in each of the three. I think most of us, if we were in scenario one would stop working, whether we have people relying on us or not, like, okay, here's a great example. You just came here to on three you just got your first on three paychecks like imagine your first on three paycheck was like one half of what they told you it was going to be like i would expect you to not come to work

the next day i think i'd probably just come because i love the game but i'd probably still come to the no no but like you're right i would would do exactly what, what Matthew Sluka did. And I think everybody would, but there is going to be a portion of people out there who expect him regardless of whether or not he got the full NIL promise to still show up because there is a faction of people out there that still are not 100% up to accepting NIL and also expecting that the love of the university and the school is more powerful than compensation financially. Which those people would be wrong in this instance, but you're going to still have people calling him a scumbag even if he is the good guy in this area. I saw some tweets

about well i would have given anything to get a free education and yeah right for my school you you would have because you weren't any good at football like if you were good at football you would have understood you had options and leverage and so how many years do you think it's going to take for those tweets and those people to become extinct do you think like it's we're going to hear that in 10 years or do you? It's a generation away. It's a generation. Now, there's always going to be losers who weren't good at anything that are mad that they didn't get free college.

But you can't really do much about them. I had to pay for college. I didn't. But it wasn't because I was good at sports. You're just a smart guy. I always tell because I was good at sports. You're just smart. You're just a smart guy. Well, but no, but that's what I always tell people, like be good at school and, and there's money for that.

Yeah. So, um, but this is a scenario too. Like I said, let's, let's put ourselves in these scenarios, scenario two. I would keep playing. If I agreed to a deal, this would be like, we'll use your example again. If you just got on three, they're paying you what you agreed upon, and you suddenly decide you want more because we've had some success. I don't know if y'all have seen the podcast charts lately, but since Ari got here, we're kind of soaring.

We're beating up on people who, let's be real here, they're paying a lot more for their podcast than we are for ours, and we're kicking their asses. So are you going to come in and say, oh, you didn't give me enough? Or are you going to say, we talked, we negotiated, we agreed upon this. It's a fair salary and I'm going to keep working. I think both of us keep working. I know that analogy is true. And of course, I'm going to keep working.

I've been here for two weeks. I'm not going to renegotiate what I agreed upon. But there is a big difference here, Andy, that you're not including in your scenario. You want to know what it is? What's that? It's that we don't know what Matthew Sluka's long-term earning potential is in the NFL, right? Like, we don't know.

There is an expiration point. I can tell you what Matthew Sluka's earning potential in the NFL as a quarterback from watching him start these last three weeks. It's $0. Okay, perfect. Right. I'm tell you what Matthew Sluka is earning potentially in the NFL as a quarterback from watching him start these last three weeks. It's zero dollars. Perfect. Right. I'm with you. So for me and you, we have a long time arc of podcasting, right? Like we hope that this the proof of concept and we're in a stage right now as podcasters to want to build something with staying power that we can be proud of, right?

And that's not just about compensation or doing it for on three or our bosses. It's a pride thing. It's a love of the game. All the things that you would want to say. But we have the ability, if we make good on those promises and we do a good show and people listen to it and people like it, that down the line, it can become something that it's not. Matthew Sluka has a very finite amount of time to make as much money as possible. So if you don't think he's going to make it in the NFL, and I think that what we saw is that he's a very fun college football player who could maybe be a very good, exciting player that leads a P4 team to a conference title

game, you don't have a lot of time to capitalize on this income potential. So you also have to take into account that it's not just, well, I'm going to make good on my promise. I'm at UNLV. We're 3-0. If he plays out the rest of the season as making X and he could be making 10X somewhere else next year, but if he finishes the year, he doesn't get 10 X, then that's a completely different discussion than what you and I would do if we had better numbers than we anticipated in year one of a multi-year deal that could be extended into a 10, 15 year, 20 year scenario if things go well. So like that's, I think that we need to accept that like he's trying to make as much money as humanly possible in a short amount of time because once this is over the money well dries up yeah and that's i think like uh if you if you consider that and you still say he should have he should look you know and i'm not saying sluka because

we again we don't know exactly what happened here but if you still say the player should live up to what they agreed upon, I'm not going to argue with that. Because they made the deal. Like sometimes you make a deal and it doesn't, you don't make as much as you could. This is the scenario though, where Sluka is the quote unquote bad guy or player X who we're using in the scenario

is the bad guy, right? You agree upon a amount of money. You outperform what you agreed upon. You think you can make more money than you shut it down. Like you are the bad guy, right? But I think it's a really important discussion to have because there are going to be other players in Sluka's position in the future who have very limited pro income potential, but have a pretty high ceiling as a player. And they might want to set themselves up financially by making a few extra hundred thousand dollars somewhere else in the following 12 months at a new

place, because they're not going to be able to make that much money playing football ever again. And like as easy as it is to be like, you let your roster down or you let your team down or you're bailing on your brothers those are all things that are semi-true but like do you actually think that somebody who wants to use their skill set to maximize their income potential is a bad person like i think that we have to have that discussion and another thing and i'm going to throw something

out you right now but unlv is a feel-good story right now like the timing of this is really really bad for sluka because people think that unlv has a chance to make the cfp given their first three games of the year i also read a story on nbc by a former colleague nicole auerbach that you know talked to barry odom about pitching the the CFP and telling his team that it's a potential and using it as a motivational factor all off season. And they are now through two of the biggest tests on their schedule that would have potentially been the test that see whether you can get there. So let me ask you this. Are we even talking about this right now? We probably are,

but are people even perceiving it the same way or are everybody else talking about it right now? If they're one and two. No, if they're one and two and they've only beaten Utah tech, nobody notices this. Nobody notices at all, but because the same, that's the thing. the action's the same.

That's the thing. The action is the same. You are still leaving your brothers, but you are worse person because your team is better because of you, because you're leaving. It kind of puts me in a pretzel a little bit. Like, I don't think he's, like, I see in the bad guy scenario why people would get wound up about it.

Your team is 3-0. We're all excited about UNLV. I cannot wait to watch them. They've got some big games coming up, right? They're playing Boise this year. That was going to be a lot of fun. It stinks. But let's analyze the action, the circumstance, and the person.

And I don't know that you get the joker when you're all said and done with this. I think you get a person who's trying to maximize their income in a very short window yeah and and that's like this is where you can have reasonable people disagreeing i think in this scenario because there's they're gonna be people and again i'm not gonna argue with those people i'm gonna argue with the ones who if it's really a bait and switch who say you should stay anyway, you absolutely should not. But if both sides fulfilled their parts of the agreement and one side of it says I'm out, then I don't have a problem with you having a problem with that. I don't have a problem with somebody having a problem. And I get what you're saying about it's a limited timeframe. You're trying to maximize

what you can. But I get the I signed signed a deal i need to live up to my end of the deal if the other side is also living up to its end of the deal like well here's the other end of this too andy in deal making all the time you have a winner and a loser right like you have a person who yep uh on one side offers money for a service. And we can use the on three example. Again, if our podcast becomes bigger than part of my take one day on three made a great deal with us, right? Like that's part of being the deal maker. You, you invest in something and you hope that your investment pays off. So here is the crappy part from a UNLV standpoint is that if UNLV in this scenario did live up to their end of the bargain

and they made a good deal, but now because they made such a good deal, the person who felt like they made a bad deal is putting the place that made a good deal in a worse position than they would have been had they never made the deal in the first place, which is a really, really tough scenario because maybe they could have got somebody else that would have played out the season. They could have still maybe been three and O and that person would not have left the team. So also to the financial situation that we're at a play here is, is that if this player was given a bulk sum of money or is being paid on a monthly basis, then in doing what they're doing should either forfeit their remaining income or should return some of the money that they had as a result of not living

up to the deal. Because the deal wasn't about taking UNLV to 3-0. The deal was playing the entire season and taking UNLV to its height. This is a financial agreement that also has to keep both sides of the party liable to a certain extent. It's kind of complicated, but UNLV is in a worse position. The third scenario makes it more complicated because the system incentivizes

scenario number three where you watched him beat Houston and Kansas and perhaps you are maybe even a Big 12 team and you'd like to beat Houston and Kansas next year. You can reach out to him and say, hey, we can pay more. And there's really no penalty for that.

If you have somebody reach out to his agent and you don't do it directly, they're not going to catch you for tampering. And you can make whatever promises you want. You don't actually have to keep them. But if you say I'm going to pay you five times what you're making now or ten times what you're making now. Well, they got to listen to it. And if they get more than one saying it, they're probably going to do it and try to make that deal. So all of this is a long way of saying, Ari, the schools need to fix this themselves. Like this is their fault because they're the ones who insist on the players not being employees. They're the ones who insist on this money's not for pay for play. It's not for their abilities as football players.

Well, yes, it is. So just admit it. Sign them to contracts and move on. Like, stop fighting this. Like, I know for a fact somebody sent me pictures of a bunch of ADs in the DC airport yesterday because they were there begging Congress for an antitrust exemption. You're not going to get it. So figure out a system where you can sign these guys. UNLV could have signed Matthew Sluka to a one-year contract because he had one year of eligibility left that would pay him X amount

of dollars. You could have backloaded it saying, if you start X number of games, you get this bonus. Incentivize staying. But instead, you can't do that. Instead, you have these deals, which neither side really has to live up to. I'm not taking the collections off the hook either here. And it creates this. So if you'd like to have rules, if you'd like to have stability, the answer is there for you. And don't tell me it's too complicated because every business in America does it. Everybody else has figured it out. I'm imagining that people at some of the greatest institutions of higher learning in the country

can also figure it out. So in scenario three, if this is the scenario and he was offered money at a higher rate to go somewhere, is he the bad guy for being swayed to do that by leaving his team to do that? Again, I can accept the argument that if the collective paid what they said they're going to pay and you agreed to the deal, then you are the bad guy for leaving. Now, I understand that there may be a lot more money if you go to some other school now and play next year.

But I'm not going to have a problem with people being mad over that. Like, I don't know if I would do that. If I was getting bait and switched, I would absolutely do that. I would absolutely leave. I would go somewhere else. But if they did what they said they were going to do, I don't think I could do it. So this is a trust tree so uh show right like everybody here's our friend like it's just me but everybody here listening to our friend

we're in the tree of trust okay what's the difference between this and what i just did uh you served out your contract that's true but i knew while serving out that contract that i was not going to be there for a remaining contract so i guess that's different but like you gave them a chance like they had a chance so i mean like when i left we left the same company and came here. They offered me an extension. This extension was a lot better. That's how it's supposed to work. Yeah. I mean, I guess that's true because in this scenario,

redshirting doesn't finish out the deal. Right. And the time element complicates this a lot. Because he's capped yeah yeah but at a certain point like if you if you move on to a system where you have employment contracts like if you make the deal serve the deal like that's that's how it works now we see in the nfl we'll see the holdouts hold-ins stuff like that because Because that's the only way with the CBA that they can leverage this. And maybe that's what happens in college sports, too. But ultimately, they end up playing in the NFL.

Because you start missing game checks, and that's rough. Yeah, well, here's the thing, too, Andy. Because we always talk about players and... I was always just kind of dumbfounded by the notion that players had to be fired up or motivated or watch a motivational video before a game because that game tape is the importance of game tape if this is going to happen because this is going to happen for players who uh aren't at the end of their eligibility and will be able to leave and serve out their contract the way that i did and then move on so it's a lot different doing it during the portal era or when the renewal window is right than it is doing it in the middle of the season especially when your team is up to three and oh and has two wins over p4 opponents but your game tape and your ability to get out

there is not just tape for nfl scouts and gms to to peruse through it's taped for other collectives to peruse through the better you play the the more you show i mean like hell andy this is happening in this scenario to sluka did he even complete a forward pass in the second half of the kansas win like he was fun to watch and it was like he took a lot of around himself yeah he did like i know it yeah i agree like yeah you know i i think that like your income potential as a college football player can go up dramatically after three games of tape. I mean,

if this is what happened, think about that. It's not like he's played all year and they're like, this guy's, I mean, there's three games. Yeah, I know.

And it's, it's crazy. And it may not like, if he winds up at another school, this may not work out for the other school. Yeah. And also too, if the,

how do you know for sure that that other school is ready to honor that commitment when we're in September? You know what I mean? I'm assuming that if those conversations have happened, that they're hypothetical, here's the earning potential, come here. I don't know, handshake and a wink, I guess, but we're not in the right part of the calendar for you to do anything binding anyway. Yeah, no, you're right. Well, Ari, we'll have to see. We're not in the right part of the calendar for you to do anything binding anyway. Yeah. No, you're right. Well, Ari, we'll have to see. One thing I want to say.

Sorry, Andy. Go ahead. One last thing. And this is about Matthew Sluka. But if it isn't scenario A, and it's either scenario B or C, which is him making a business decision, the gumption that you would have to have as a human being to post on your social media that you were not given what you were told is pretty crazy. So like, to me, it's kind of hard not to believe to a certain extent that he feels this way, whether it's exactly the way it went. It, this, this message here to me makes it feel like it's a little bit more

complicated than what we think. Cause you, you don't post that if you're just, I'm, I'm worth more. I'm leaving. Yeah. Do you?

I don't know. Yeah. That's what, you know, we like JD in the chat says you and all of the attack, this story well gave all the info to reporters. Soon it will come out from the Sluca camp that he was not paid the NIL money. He was guaranteed when he transferred, you know, like JD in the chat says, UNLV attacked this story. Well, gave all the info to reporters. Soon it will come out from the Saluka camp that he was not paid the NIL money. He was guaranteed when he transferred to UNLV.

No, that's what came out first. That's what came out from the Saluka camp last night. Like, he beat them to the punch on this. He set the narrative, and now UNLV's scrambling. But I, again, I'm not making any judgments yet because I don't know what the truth is. I'm not going to pretend I do. That was a fun discussion,

and we're going to have more and more as we continue on the new world. By the way, get ready for the Haj Malik Williams era. Haj Malik Williams transferred from the fighting Campbell Camels. That's your new UNLV QB1. Now, he spent spring and summer with the ones because Sluka didn't come until fall camp.

So, Haj Malik Williams, been with the guys. We'll see if he can keep it rolling. They play Fresno State on Saturday. Conference play opens up. If Haj Malik Williams has a really good game and he's like, you know what? May have played himself. Uh, yeah. Also very, very interesting thought process there too, of leave early backup plays really well. All of a sudden you're suddenly, if suddenly Ricky white, their star receiver is, is getting more balls thrown his way and,

and their offense is more explosive? Well, one, they've picked the wrong quarterback out of camp. And two, how does that help Sluka going forward? Because that could be a tricky negotiation like, wait, wouldn't this do better than you? So again, all of it's very complicated. We'll find out maybe what actually happened, but maybe not. Ari, this is a great transition into the money game. The money game is a six-part docuseries on Prime Video following LSU athletes last year. So Jaden Daniels, Libby Dunn, Angel Reese, learn all about the world of NIL and how these superstar athletes were trying to navigate it is a little

bit different tax bracket than Matthew Sluka with these three, but it is absolutely fascinating behind the scenes access. It's on prime video. If you'd like to watch the money game, click the link in the show description of the YouTube video you're watching or the podcast you're listening to. If you're a prime subscriber, it'll take you right to the show. If you are not a Prime Video subscriber, what are you waiting for? You get Thursday Night NFL, the Rings of Power,

the Lord of the Rings show. Yeah, there's a new episode coming out this Thursday. You get caught up. You can watch all of season one, binge it, get caught up on season two. But given that discussion we just had, I know you're gonna love the money game. So watch that on season two. But given that discussion we just had, I know you're going to love the money game. So watch that on prime video.

This show is also sponsored by prize picks. It's America's most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code staples to play $5 and get $50 instantly. So how it works, you're picking squares. Is there, they're associated with different players in different sports. Obviously, there's college football, but there's also the NFL, the WNBA.

There's eSports. Darts has been on there. Power slap has been on there. And you basically decide, do I think this person is going to have more than this or less than this? So like Jalen Milrow, more than this many passing yards, less than this many passing yards against Georgia. You pick that square. You pick at least two squares. You can pick more squares, and the more you pick,

the higher the potential payout. If you'd like an almost free square this weekend, one more chance to get the almost free Caleb Williams square. If he throws for a yard for the Bears, then you'll win that square. That helped me win one last week and this week so it's a pretty good one just last through this month so this is this is your last chance on that one go to prize picks download that app use code staples play five dollars get fifty dollars

instantly all right we have more to talk about our pack 12 discussion just got blown out of the water so i'll just fill everybody in on that. We talked yesterday about the PAC 12 is trying to raid the mountain West. They're holding, basically holding guns on each other. The PAC 12 has now sued the mountain West saying that the poaching fee, the mountain West wanted to charge is a violation of antitrust law. And basically what it, what it was going to, what would happen based on the scheduling agreement that these two conferences signed. Basically Oregon state and Washington state needed games this year. So they signed a scheduling agreement with the mountain West.

They had to pay the mountain West, I believe 14 and a half million this year to get those games. The price was going to go up to 30 million next year, which is what kind of made everything fall apart with these two. But part of the deal was there's an exit fee for leaving the Mountain West. It's like 17 and a half million dollars. That's not in dispute, but there's a poaching fee where essentially 10 million bucks for each school that gets poached and the price goes up 500 grand per school that's poached. So the Pac-12 has now poached five from the Mountain West. So it would owe about $55 million in poaching fees. And they are now suing saying those poaching fees are invalid because they violate antitrust law.

Ari, that's your update. Can't wait to follow it in the court of law. Exactly. Yeah, I don't know what's going to happen there. I joked about it yesterday that the legal, legal strategy they're using is actually called takes these backsies. And, you know,

it is pretty funny that basically they said, no, we won't poach. And they're like, but we wanted to poach judge. Sorry. And, and man,

the legal scholars got all over me for that. Like, like they have a good legal argument. I'm sure they do. It's still funny. It's still funny. It's still funny. Yeah. All right.

Now we got a couple other things. I got to do these blazing takes. I tell you what. We're going to pick Kentucky Ole Miss and Minnesota Michigan tomorrow. We're going to push that to tomorrow because we were going to pick those games today, but the sluka conversation was way too interesting. And so we're not, we're not going there. We are going to go to the sauciest takes. We of course are brought to you by Wendy's and

the saucy nugs, which are amazing. And so it's Wednesday. It is Wendy's Saucy Take Wednesday. And I am going to give three saucy takes. Ari is going to determine which of those saucy takes wins the golden nugget. I just added the prize this week. How do you like the prize? I love the prize. Yeah. That golden crispy nugget covered in that delicious spicy sauce.

I am unreasonably hungry this morning at 9 a.m. I don't know. I actually worked out at 6 a.m. this morning, which is very unlike me. I am famished right now. Just picturing one of those nuggets is just making my mouth water. That metabolism is fired up. The devil's after me today, man. The devil's

after me. I got to go get some broccoli or something and fill myself up. Listen, that beautiful red-headed girl is not a devil. She gives you the great nuggets. Yeah. Alright, let's go. Saucy takes. Saucy take number one. Installing Michael Hawkins

Jr. as QB1 this week will be the defining moment of Brent Venable's tenure at Oklahoma. That's pretty spicy. What do we think about that? That's pretty spicy. But why don't you go ahead and explain why you feel that way?

You're going to make me go and tell why I'm weaseling around on this thing? Because I left myself a lot of room here Because I left myself a lot of room here. I left myself a lot of room. I didn't say good defining or bad defining. I just said defining because there's a scenario where Oklahoma beats Auburn. The offense looks a lot better. That defense is really good.

And then they go into the Texas game thinking, we got our guy, we got our future set, and we can compete with the number one team in the country. And it's one of those that maybe you look back on in a couple of years and you're like, that's where it all changed. That's where Oklahoma suddenly started its ascent toward the top of the SEC and back to national title contention, you can say it that way. You can also say it where this completely bombs. They lose to Auburn. They get crushed by Texas. That schedule just gnashes them up, and Brent Venable starts next season on the hot seat. Like it is that close. Like the razor's edge is that thin in this game for Brent Venables. Also for Hugh Freeze, I have a column out on three about that, about how both coaches

so badly need this win and only one can get it. But I thought it was interesting Ari, because I do want to talk about the quarterback situation in Oklahoma. Brent Venables went on his coach's show on Monday and very quickly said, Michael Hawkins Jr. is the starting quarterback this week. It was not the way most coaches would have handled that situation. Most coaches were going to evaluate the situation and we'll make a decision come game time. And you'll see who starts on Saturday. He's like, no, this is the guy.

Which suggests to me that he's pretty confident in this guy. Yeah. So that was a lot. And I think that what you are saying is true because we did have a five minute discussion on Tuesday afternoon about Brent Venables, how Oklahoma people feel about him right now. They probably want him to fire his entire offensive staff going into the next year. But I do think that this decision is big, really, really big. Because one, you without question changed your starting quarterback

after benching him in a big game after, what, four games of when he was three and a half oh yeah four if you got the bowl three and a half i count the bowl game yeah um so whenever you make that move i kind of feel like the fan base needs a minute to react to it because for over a year oklahoma fans have viewed the new era of Oklahoma football being led by Jackson Arnold. And in the snap of a finger, he was not in the game. And then another snap of the finger, he's no longer your starting quarterback. And it's not, we're going to evaluate it. It's we've made the decision. So I think it's very easy to question having covered plenty of coaches who have blundered their quarterback scenario whether or not he's even doing the right thing i was going to write a column yesterday but i want

to talk it through i think that wasting your time wondering about dylan gabriel is is just a waste he brent venables said on on tuesday that he was going to leave he wanted to be closer to home all those things it wasn't as if it was a battle that they even thought they had to fight. So that's irrelevant. But what's not a waste of time is wondering whether or not he's doing the right thing right now. Michael Hawkins could come out, play amazing, and just be the guy that Jackson Arnold was supposed to. Jackson can transfer and try again somewhere else. But if Michael Hawkins is bad and he turns over the ball a lot, it's going to be easy to question whether or not they blundered this by not giving Jackson Arnold a longer runway to figure it out. Because we do know one thing about Jackson Arnold. He's got the tools. And I've heard a lot

about him from people within the program and around the program for the last two years, I feels like, about how he galvanized the team, how people clung to him in the locker room, how people were excited about the future and all these things. And I just, it blows my mind that that could switch up so rapidly in a three or four game stretch of somebody who's literally never played before. So I don't know how this is going to play out. Brent Venables makes a lot of money to be the coach and to make this analysis, but it makes me feel like it's fair to wonder whether he's messing this up. And if he messes this up and it turns into a five, six loss season for Oklahoma, which would

be two out of his first three years, then you go into next year having to win big immediately because Oklahoma does not tolerate mediocrity. Right. And then your thing comes true. So I think that I will give your spice level at like a, a mild to mildly spicy because I agree with it, but also because you didn't put us your, your stake in the ground and make a line like you left it

yeah because i didn't say which one it was going to be because i i don't know like and this you would have been like starting michael hawkins is going to be a disaster or this is a terrible decision to give up on jackson arnold right now it would have been the spiciest take probably but you made it more mild measured and reasonable i wanted to bait you into this discussion more than anything else, because you did it. I like talking about this with you because you are, you are one of those people who gets sentimental about a quarterback's recruiting rankings. And you talk about, you know, the idea of Jackson Arnold as a starting quarterback at Oklahoma, like it started at the bowl game last year. It did not. The idea of Jackson Arnold as Oklahoma's QB of the future,

as the one who would lead Oklahoma to the promised land, began in January 2022 when he committed, which was before Dylan Gabriel ever took a snap at Oklahoma. So this has been over two and a half years that the Oklahoma fan base has been in love with this guy and said, this is our guy. This is the future. And so Michael Hawkins...

And I think it's an important distinction, Andy, when you're talking about falling in love with a five-star quarterback's rating. Right, but let's talk about Michael Hawkins' rating. Michael Hawkins is a freshman. He didn't get nearly the amount of attention in his recruitment, but Oklahoma liked him, obviously, enough to sign him.

But you're talking about a guy who was a four-star recruit, the on three industry ranking nationally. He's number 260 overall, number 18 among quarterbacks. So not Jackson Arnold, who, depending on who you were talking to, was number one or number two. It was either him or Nico in the class of 2023. So that said, if we go through the history of five-star quarterbacks, they don't all pan out. And sometimes it's a guy who's more likely recruited who becomes the guy. And it's not like this guy's chopped liver.

He was still recruited by a bunch of power conference schools. The distinction that I have to make, though, is that like, yes, I am 1000% a sucker for highly rated players. And it's not because of their ranking. It's because I have eyeballs and the people who rate them who are very good at their job have eyeballs. And if you're a higher rated player, it means you're better. So you're not falling in love with just the rating. You're falling in love with the physical attributes that led to the rating. Second of all, it's not even

falling in love with the player, Andy. It's falling in love with the plan, the promise, and the narrative of what their recruitment meant. When Oklahoma changed from Lincoln Riley to Brent Venables and then got Jackson Arnold, that was a statement in a big, splashy way that even though Lincoln Riley is no longer at Oklahoma, that Oklahoma can sign and develop and be very successful with a really highly rated quarterback the way that Lincoln Riley was. So when you divert the plan, you're not just giving up on

Jackson Arnold. You're also diverting from the plan and the promise that's been in place for two years. Now in gambling on somebody who was a top 300 player and on three industry, it's not like this guy's terrible or not good or doesn't have a chance to even be better but my whole thing with this is you fall in love with the narrative you fall in love with what the commitment meant as much as the attributes that the commitment possesses in order to be good and when you give up on that you are giving up on a direction and a promise that was made, whether it be verbally or through actions, that this place was going to be very good offensively

because we still can get quarterbacks, we can still develop them, and we can still play offense on a high level. So if this goes poorly, you're not just giving up on Jackson Arnold. You're making people question the entire aura of what Jackson Arnold meant for Oklahoma, which is we're still going to be a quarterback factor. And that's a little bit more than just, yeah. Yeah. And if this goes well, Brent Venables chose the guy who was better at football, which is what you should always do.

But you're gambling big time here. So when you talk about, is this going to be a defining decision? Being wrong here is like a huge roll of the dice. So he better be right. Exactly. That's why it's going to be the defining moment of his tenure, good or bad. Next spicy, saucy take for your saucy nugs. Jalen Milrow will have his Heisman moment on Saturday against Georgia. This is a little saucier right here, I would imagine, Ari. So look, we've already seen Jalen Monroe play against Jordan. He had one of his best games. I would argue his best game last year was the SEC championship game against Georgia

because the one that followed against Michigan was awful. And we saw some not great games for Jalen Monroe. The LSU game was really good. But I would say that his game against Georgia was probably the best top-to front to back game he played last year. And if he can do that again against Georgia and Tuscaloosa this weekend, now I'm not saying he's going to win the Heisman because obviously we can have the Travis Hunter argument. There will be, you know, other Quinn Ewers obviously is going to want his say in that discussion. Other QBs are going to want to have their say in that discussion. But the clip we see every week as the Heisman race goes on, I'm betting it comes from this

game and that he's in it every week from this game forward. So I think I'm going to write about the Travis Hunter Heisman thing today after we're done here because I've been thinking about it a lot. And Andy and I, just a little inside baseball, got into a mild argument in front of basically the entire national staff at on three about how the Heisman should be voted for and whether or not Travis Hunter should be the guy. And we happen to agree as of right now. So that's pretty great. Yes. But Jalen Milrow had the coolest possible Heisman moment that a human being could have last year.

And when you talk about Heisman moment, I guess you mean Heisman game. But like from a high, if you want to go from the 32, absolutely. Yeah. But the problem was he wasn't in the mix at that point. So, yeah. Yeah. Well, he got in the mix on my ballot. I put him on my in my I think I put him at number three and people went absolutely berserk last year because I thought that his development and his play throughout the year got so good

and so much better that he took an Alabama team that was left for dead, had the coolest play of the entire year and put Alabama in the playoff, which is what I think the Heisman trophy is kind of about. So like that, I think it's about the most outstanding player, but I don't know. That's, that's only what's on the trophy. So yeah, I thought that he was one of the three most outstanding players because of what he did. And I don't know that that necessarily is quantified in statistics and putting up 700 yards of offense against the G5 team.

So we just look at it differently. Yeah, your last look at him was against Georgia in the SEC Championship game before you cast that ballot, and he had a good game. It wasn't a great game, 13 of 23 for 192 yards of two TDs, but no interceptions. He took four sacks in that game, which is a lot. But considering the quality of the defense

and some of the games we'd seen, the sacks he took against Georgia didn't feel like unnecessary ones. They felt like, okay, this is the responsible thing. They just got me this time. What you saw against Michigan, against Arkansas, first half against Tennessee, there were sacks that shouldn't have happened, that he could have avoided, he could have thrown the ball away, he could have gotten away, and he didn't. He made the wrong decision. Against Georgia, you saw him making the right decision over and over and over again. And I think that's

the thing that gives me a lot of, you know, promise for this week is that he's already seen this defense. He's seen most of these players. He's got as much or more talent around him now than when he played him last time. I'd say more Ryan Williams, Parker Brails for their center that they got from Washington. I think he's actually got a better offense around him than he had last year. I think there's a chance we see the evolved version of Jalen Milrow. And you and I saw him in person in Madison, and I thought he looked like a much better quarterback than last year.

Yeah, I mean, I also saw him live a year ago in Tuscaloosa, and it wasn't as pretty so like watching his single year development when I say Tuscaloosa I mean against Texas um yeah yeah that was like so over a year yeah a year over a year improvement has been pretty dramatic so when you say just to clarify that he's going to have his Heisman moment you're just calling that he's going to have a good game right against Georgia or he and he's going to have his Heisman moment. You're just calling that he's going to have a good game, right? Against Georgia. And he's going to make a spectacular play that we're just like, whoa. And it's going to put him in the race, keep him in the race,

and we're going to see that play over and over again. Yeah, that is, it's spicy. Let's hear the third one and then we'll rank them. All right. The third one, maybe a little too inside media baseball but i do think it really taps into something that i we've we've hit on a lot on the show in the past people are going to throw their remotes at their televisions and then sign up for peacock anyway so they can see if Notre Dame's going to get beat. That's how much people hate Notre Dame. It's so funny that Notre Dame's partner, NBC, this is diabolical, by the way, that they chose this game. The game that Notre Dame got its butt

kicked in last year is the game they decided to make the Peacock exclusive because they know people will sign up if Notre Dame is losing. Yes. I think that Peacock does actually a pretty good job with their broadcast. I don't know if you've watched a lot of games. I'm sure you have. Oh yeah. I mean, it's an NBC sports broadcast.

It looks great. It looks great. And yes, I think it's a really good marketing tool or, or signup tool. I also think that this game is maybe one of the more fascinating games of the weekend because we're also, I mean, we're fixated on the Notre Dame side of it because of me looking like an asshole all year. Like, you know, how, how much stupider can I look?

We'll find out this weekend when Notre Dame lays four and a half points against Louisville, but also to like, when you talk about the ACC and who's going to win it, you have Clemson who's had a bit of a resurgence since the Georgia loss. And you have Miami, obviously, who's playing on Friday night. But like Louisville is the third team in that mix, right? Like what are they going to be? Are they going to beat Notre Dame and then put themselves into the mix

as the third musketeer in the ACC race? Like I do think that Louisville um is an inherently interesting team too so not only do you have the Notre Dame angle to it but if Notre Dame is losing or ends up or you know is behind in the second half people are going to want to watch this game because they want to hate watch Notre Dame that's what people do but they're also going to be pretty interested I think from a you know narrative college football playoff ACC standpoint to see just how good Louisville is. We're talking about a team that made the conference championship last year. This isn't just like some crappy team that has a chance to beat Notre Dame when they're down.

Yeah. And they're coached by a guy who took Purdue to the Big Ten championship game, Jeff Brom. So, yeah, absolutely. And that's what that's what the NBC executives were hoping for, is they just want a close game. I say people want to watch Notre Dame lose because people do love to hate watch Notre Dame. But their NBC's ideal situation here is this game comes down to the wire and Notre Dame wins because that helps them the rest of the year with Notre Dame.

But they picked a game that most likely will come down to the wire. I don't see this playing out like the Notre Dame Purdue game. And I, I really don't see it playing out like the Louisville Notre Dame game last year where that game, I didn't feel like Notre Dame was ever in that game. I think they're going to be in at this time. Yeah.

I mean, they're four and a half point favorites. So, you know, I do think that the, the literal perfect scenario for NBC would be Notre Dame down 10 with 11 minutes left, and then they win in an exciting fashion. If you could draw up the perfect plan for Peacock and those guys, that would be it. But yeah, no, I think that this is pretty obvious, and I'm ready to rank.

Okay, before you rank, how many fans out there do you think will pay $7.99 if they think they're going to get a chance to see Notre Dame lose? Do you think they're people who are just going to pay out? I'm going to go on a money rant right now. Do it. Do it. So we pay for streaming, and streaming is a little bit cheaper than cable, and we pay for a lot of different outlets. I've got Netflix, Hulu, Amazon prime. I've got all of them.

You know what I mean? Because back in the day when they used to make good movies, you would go spend 20 bucks a week or $25 at the movie theater and you don't spend it anymore. So I am of the, and I'm no rich person, but I am of the thought process that if I want to spend money or I want to be entertained in my home and there's something on the television that costs 10 bucks for me to be entertained, whether you're renting a movie digitally

or trying to sign up for a service to watch a show that you're into, I've never not watched something that I really wanted to watch because it costs money. Like, I think we're past that stage now of like, we have to accept that if we want a product that we're not going to the movies anymore, we're not renting DVDs anymore,

we're not buying DVDs anymore, that this is the built-in cost that already existed before when it comes to being entertained at home. That's just how I view it. I think that's the right way to view it. And the thing you got to remember, if you're doing it to hate watch Notre Dame, just to hate watch Notre Dame,

and you don't want to watch twisted metal or that Natasha Leone show or whatever it is, you know, whatever else on Peacock, like you got to set a reminder in your phone to cancel it before you get billed the next month. Cause that's what like the, the thing that came out about how many people signed up for that playoff

game. They had an NFL playoff game. I believe it was the dolphins chiefs game and how many people signed up and it just stayed signed up then. I mean, that's what they're hoping for. They're hoping they're hoping for. Yeah.

Yeah. So, but there's also, this isn't the only game on the channel, your phone. So I but there's also, this is the only game on the channel. So I have a credit card. I'm not going to tell you which one it is because they're not a sponsor of the show,

but I do have a credit card. Um, and my credit card covers. One of the benefits of the credit card is that it covers Peacock for free. So I have it, but I find myself actually using Peacock to watch sporting events and shows more often than I ever thought that I would have. So it's not like this is the only time they're going to be playing a football game.

There's one every week, right? There's more than that because you can watch the Notre Dame games on it, but they also have Big Ten Peacock exclusives as well. Yeah, and if you like to roll the dice a little bit, throw some shekels out there on the line. Sometimes Peacock comes in handy so like i yeah i mean i think that if you love college football and notre dame is i i would pay the seven dollars to or whatever it is to watch the whole game but i certainly would pay to watch them get upset if i really wanted to watch it like that's i would do it without even thinking about it all right just set the reminder your phone all right what was my sauciest take

Ari which what gets the golden nugget here I think the sauciest take is that Jalen Milrow is going to have his Heisman moment because we both picked Alabama to win the game I think we both still feel pretty good about that prediction three days or two days after doing it but putting your foot down and saying a person will show up george's defense is really saucy like i mean like it's kind of hard to like stupid yes yeah yeah like we're talking about george's defense here um and we're talking about a very good player who i had at number three in my heisman uh watch this past week so um but with a bad game he falls out of that and with a good game he might jump to number two number one um like it's not that it could happen you're saying that it will

happen that's a pretty saucy thought process okay number two i will say is the brent venables um discussion that we had because i think that we're far enough in his career where people are expecting more from him and he's making a very drastic decision and you didn't put your foot down on one side or the other you're just saying no matter how this plays out it's going to define it either way this would unquestionably have been number one if you picked a side and said he's making a mistake or he's doing the right thing but because you were measured and reasonable it's number two and then the peacock thing is number three because it just was a mild observation i'm just reading rocky top tom's comment here that he went and tried

the wendy's saucy dugs because of this show and he loves him so good job rocky talk tom uh s not tippy dodd says a sponsor for the show should be Andy's hair product. Andy's hair product is called Water. So the show is brought to you by T-Stroke. I was going to say, are you talking about my hair product? Because I... One of the biggest adjustments in my entire life has been getting my hair ready every day. Because I never had to do that before.

And we are going to institute. Maybe one day, but I'm going to put my foot down. We're going to have a casual show a week where I can throw one of my hats on because my wife got all these hat racks and it's, it looks all nice in my office and I've got some bougie resort hats. I'm still me guys. If you, if you remember me, um, for my old day. Yeah. I mean, my hair product is, I'm not going to tell you who it is. Yeah. Let's reach out to those people and

be like listen throw some shekels our way and we can talk about you isn't shekels something to say shekel it is great you're you're you're turning me yiddish um but i'm all i'm all the clump now um a little more housekeeping from yesterday's show by the way remember how ari was like andy knows all these random things. And I learned so much from Andy. And then I'm like, and you asked about spaghetti Westerns and I'm like, yeah, it's, you know, they, they made these, these Western movies in Italy and as Federico Fellini. Yeah. I meant Sergio Leone, not Federico Fellini. Uh, Sergio Leone was the guy who directed those movies. Uh, and, and so I wanted to warn Ari and and everybody on the show my wife figured this out a long time

ago but and my kids have figured it out but i already hadn't figured it out yet and maybe some of you haven't so my main rhetorical technique is just supreme confidence in what i am saying i'm saying it like i definitely know it there's no question in my mind that this is correct. And believe it or not, that works most of the time, except on my wife. And so understand that even though I might be saying it with supreme confidence, I'm probably still wrong. I mean, but you don't even realize that like it's I don't even know if it's a it's a compliment, but I'm like, you're not you're an expert in maybe one or two things. But you are a master. You're not a master of all those.

I'm a mile wide, an inch deep. I know. I know. Because you literally just started rattling off Yiddish words, just like most people just won't know that. Like that. Who didn't watch coffee talk with Linda Richmond, who was replacing Paul Baldwin? A lot of people. Just like, you're

very versatile. You're a versatile person. Nick in the chat, it's not a lie if you believe it. But I think that's why the podcast is successful, too, because I speak... When I think something, and I think the reason why I can write a good column is because it's not just

that I think something is enough for me. Like I have to, my trade is that you have to know you're wrong too. Like I, I can't like when I, even if I'm wrong, like with this Mexican food thing that we fight about, like it bothers me that you don't know you're wrong.

Like that. Like, it's like, it's not that I didn't win the argument. Like you like walk around your house every day and you're like, Ari's an idiot for the Mexican food take. And like, that is what eats at me more than losing the argument.

Oh, that's Natividad. Try this one on for size. Explain World War I to us. All right. Let's talk about the sinking of the Lusitanian, the Archduke, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Let's go. See? I'm not. Are those World War I things? Those are potential causes of World War I, yes. Yeah, you got further than I would have. You have something to say no matter what anybody throws at you. We're going to talk about the Mexican food take, by the way because there's already a dear andy

question that someone has sent me about that and it's fascinating to me and you'll you'll get it you'll like it too so dear andy and ari is tomorrow get your questions in you know how to find us at andy underscore staples on instagram and x at ari wasserman on Instagram and X Andy staples on three at gmail.com. If you have a particularly Epic question, I've got a real fun trivia question that somebody said in on, on Twitter. That is awesome. Like I, I cannot wait to see if you can get it right because I it's one of those things I had to look, I looked it up over the summer because somebody asked me, but I forgot to put it in the mailbag. And now somebody else has asked, and it's such a good question. So there's your tease for tomorrow.

Well, you're going to find out that I am terrible at trivia. Like, I can't even do sports trivia well. Well, it's college football. I know. I'll get it wrong. I'm terrible at it. So we've also, we pushed, because the Sluka discussion was so interesting,

we got to pick Kentucky Ole Miss, which is another double-digit conference game spread, like a more than two-touchdown conference game spread, and we got to pick Minnesota-Michigan, which I think is very interesting after what we saw last week with Michigan and with Minnesota. So here's the

deal. We got a huge packed show tomorrow, and maybe we learn a little more about the Saluka situation because that's going to be fascinating to go forward. Ari, I love you. I'll see you tomorrow.