Andy & Ari On3 - ARCH MANIA grips Austin | Can Notre Dame rebound and run the table?

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

Welcome to Andy and Ari On3, 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 sponsored by Rhoback, the makers of the most comfortable polos, Q-zips, hoodies, shorts and joggers. Go to rhoback.com and use code ANDY for 20 percent off your first purchase. 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 This podcast is sponsored by Huel, The World’s #1 Complete Nutrition Brand. ​With over 400 million meals sold worldwide — yes, you heard that right, 400 MILLION — Huel is trusted by millions of people looking to fuel their days with convenient, complete nutrition. Try it for yourself with my exclusive offer for you…. FIFTEEN PERCENT off with the code:STAPLES at HUEL.com. Fuel your best with Huel today!   It’s Wendy’s Saucy Take Wednesday, which means it’s time for one of host to deliver his hottest takes on the college football world. It’s Ari’s turn this week, and he’s got takes on…(0:00-0:36) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs(0:36-1:21) Intro(1:22-13:11) Georgia's Executive Order(13:12-14:14) Rhoback Ad(14:15-15:41) Ari's Halloween Costume(15:42-16:52) PrizePicks(16:53-24:26) Ari's Sauciest Takes: Shedeur did nothing wrong(24:27-25:53) Watch the Money Game, Streaming on Amazon Prime(25:54-37:11) Notre Dame... Playoffs?(37:12-39:46) Looking for 321Nole, Establishing Bet(39:47-41:15) Try Huel Today(41:16-43:50) Run a race for the bet?(43:51-55:22) QB Competition in Austin?(55:23-58:53) Rating the Sauciest Take(58:54-1:08:17) Paying the Talent Fee (1:08:18-1:09:18) See you tomorrow! [e-mail] for Dear Andy & Ari Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders’ behavior after the Colorado State game… The dawn of Arch-Mania in Austin… The potential for Notre Dame to rebound and run the table…Want to watch the show instead? Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

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Available at Participating U.S. Wendy's. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by Wendy's. It is a Wendy's Saucy Take Wednesday. What's up, Ari? How we doing? I'm doing really well. How are you? Ready for me to fire some of these off or what? Oh, of course, of course. I am very excited about all of these takes. We do have to, before we get to your takes and and we got takes on

arch mania texas we got takes on shadour sanders we got a take on notre dame we gotta we gotta cover a little bit of news and i think it kind of dovetails into something we talked about yesterday because we talked about that tennessee talent fee, the 10% search on the tickets where the school's going to pay the athletes out of that. And then on Tuesday, we get the news that the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, has signed an executive order that says schools in Georgia can pay their athletes and the NCAA can't do jack about it up to the effective date of the house versus the NCAA settlement, which basically means this is happening.

This thing is happening. The schools are going to pay the athletes, whether or not the house settlement goes through. Like they're tired. The ADs are tired of asking the boosters to pass the hat to fund the collective. Like they want this thing to be a little more regular and they're going to have it like it's gonna happen i mean the most amusing thing about this whole thing is that we all know where the end of the road is and we have all these little steps along the way to get there and just like i'm ready just to hit the fast

forward button and just just let's get this Let's just get this on the way here. We know where it's going. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't make any sense to keep messing around with it. And it's so funny because in the hearing where Claudia Wilkin, the federal judge, said, hey, I'm not approving this house settlement. You guys need to fix some of this stuff. She's talking to the NCAA lawyer, and the NCAA lawyer we don't we don't believe in pay for play and wilkins like what exactly do

you think your settlement is proposing like you're saying the schools are going to share 22 million dollars a year with the athletes what do you think that's for and the jet and the lawyer's like well it's not pay for play and it's just like then what is it like you just see her doing the shrug emoji yeah so where like what would be the alternate answer to that like i don't even know what that is more water i think they're saying i think they're saying that the schools will be paying for the athletes nil rights to promote the school which ultimately i guess that's what it is i mean the they say athletics is the front porch of the university but let's be real

here you're paying the football players for because they're good at football you're paying the basketball players because they're good at basketball like that's what it is and it's okay like all right how do we how do we fix people's minds that have been poisoned by 100 years of NCAA propaganda? I think it's the reality that when people have thought about something for as long as they've thought about it, it is a long path to getting people to think about it right. And for a while there, Andy, I was poisoned by it. We all were like my first month on the job as a beat reporter when I was 21 years old was the world ending because

of a tattoo scandal. You know what I mean? Like that was my indoctrination into reporting. So like looking back at it now, I can feel like, oh, wow, that's the dumbest thing I've ever had to worry about. But then on the other hand, it's like at the time, it's the biggest thing that could possibly happen in the most scary way. And when you're 21, like I lost nights of sleep over it. You know what I mean? Like it's, um, so I get it. I understand that it's going to take a while, but the thing that is annoying to me about it is that once NIL came into pass, like the guise of amateurism and the thought process that money can be limited in terms of how much people can make and how they can make it,

the cat was out of the bag. It has become apparent from the beginning of that, and most certainly in the last year, that eventually the universities will pay the players directly because that's the only way that this works financially without it going to a courtroom and without people being limited in any way so we know this the lawyers know it the players know it the coaches know it the programs know what the administration knows it we all just have to accept it and like all of this like week week after week, this executive order happened,

this law passed here, this team's doing that, Tennessee's charging 10% for a talent fee. It's all heading in the same direction. And it's not surprising, and we just have to accept it as a fan base, college football community, and of course the people who are going to be cutting the checks. Yeah, and when I started writing that stuff i gosh it's been about 15 years ago now saying hey there's nothing morally wrong with paying someone for being good at football

like i remember i remember the first column i wrote about it i i think it was when jordan sparks who's the daughter of uh felipe sparks a former new York Giants football player. She won American Idol. And I was like, I think she was 18 at the time. I was like, what's the difference between her getting paid for being good at singing and somebody getting paid when they're 18 years old for being good at football? And like, it was so funny because when you put it that way and you ask a rational person that, they can't answer it. But again, 100 years of NCAA propaganda has caused people to think that giving players money for being good at sports is somehow immoral. Well, did you see the thing that Deion Sanders said this week about how media is just now catching up to the NIL era? And now that the kids are making more than them, they're jealous and that they've got an issue with it.

Did you see that? Yes. I disagree with him completely on that. Like we were always going after the players and it was a little unfair that we did back in the day. Now it's a completely fair game. I look resented that comment, Andy, because it's like, first of all, sports reporters cover pro sports. Like we're never supposed to be making more than the talent that we're writing about. Right.

So like, yeah, to me, the thought was completely wrong. But the the thing that is the most challenging when it comes to just that that point of view is that i live in a world where i think people should be compensated fairly for what they do and the point i want to make is that when you made that american idol comparison or that that reference i think that's a really good reference because if you win american idol you're in the top fraction of a percent of singers on earth right like you don't just win that competition if you're not talented. I think you could make the case that Shador Sanders has accomplished more in the field of football than I have in journalism. And I'm okay to say that.

Like to be as good at football as you are at the college level, when you think about how many people play, that's a really significant achievement. You don't have to be in the NFL to be in that group. The NFL rosters are limited. If you think about how many high school football players there are, being one of the best players in college football means that you are in the top fraction of a percent of your field. It does not matter how old you are.

It doesn't matter how long you've been doing it. It doesn't matter any of that. All that matters is that you're good. There are five-year-olds who review and play with toys on YouTube that are worth millions and millions of dollars. You want to know why? Because people want to watch it. You get paid what you're worth in this world, and that's it. So I think I've gone a pretty far way in journalism. I'm happy with the way my life turns out. That doesn't mean that I think I should be paid more than Shador Sanders or anybody else. I think you should be paid what you're worth. And I think it's great to get a five-year-old who reviews toys on YouTube

and is worth millions and millions of dollars, but that's not for me to decide. I'm not the gatekeeper of everyone else's income. It's what everybody else wants. And I always use the Kardashians as an example because I don't watch their show. I've never watched their show. But I don't begrudge them their millions and millions of dollars because people want to watch them like more people want to watch them than want to watch me and whose fault is that that's my fault that's not the kardashians fault like i got it well now i got you so we're going to take over like we're going to surpass the kardashians fault like i got it well now i got you so we're going to take over like we're going to surpass the kardashians like i don't know if you guys have seen the sports podcast charts since

already joined the show but like we beat bill belichick last week no big deal so come on i mean i talk about there's an element of having to be really pretty uh that's involved here and i i'm trying to work on being prettier so like you're already a really handsome And I'm trying to work on being prettier. So like you're already a really handsome man. I'm trying to hold up my end of the bargain, but yeah, I do think that we are not the people who decide what someone's worth. I don't resent other people for making as much money as humanly possible. Frankly, sometimes I am jealous of somebody who's a millionaire for something that I think is stupid, but I don't think being good at football is one of those things. So Dion,

I'm going to come to your defense in Colorado's defense here later on in the show. I don't want it to always feel like I'm piling on, but I did not like that comment. And frankly, I disagree with it. And I think for the most part, whenever we're coming down on this show in writing or on this,

on this pod that we hold the coaches and the millionaires responsible usually. I don't write a lot of columns saying this guy stinks. I don't go out of my way to take a crap on players who don't perform well. It's usually the coach's fault, and that's who's being paid the most. And if this turns into the NFL one day where the quarterback of the teams that we're covering makes more than the coach, then maybe that day will come. But I think they most certainly deserve it when you consider how many people watch and how much money is being driven by their talent. Well, and I always thought it was kind of unfair in the tuition room and board era

to criticize the players too harshly because they weren't getting what their market value was. They were actually amateurs at the time yeah i i actually think it's more fair to criticize the players now because they are getting paid they are getting what the market thinks they're worth and so i do think it's more fair game to criticize them now than it used to be i i was pretty adamantly against it before but now i don now I don't really mind it. Because again, they're getting rewarded for it. There is a balance to that. There is another side to it.

When Justin Bieber released his first record, he wasn't 18 yet, right? Oh, yeah. No, no. He was the baby, baby, baby. I don't know how old he was. His voice hadn't changed yet so okay if his record sucked people would have said his record sucked it didn't matter how old he was that's true because he he made a lot of money and is in a position where he has to put like you when you make a lot

of money or you are an artist or you do something that people are interested in your craft, that is part of the game. If some child actor does a movie that stinks, the movie stinks, and people say it. You know what I mean? So we're in that territory. Fortunately, Jonathan Levicki was awesome when he said the human head weighs eight pounds in Jerry Maguire. I am and have been in my childhood people used to call me goldberg because i look like the dude from heavyweights and the uh mighty ducks goalie i don't know his real name he he fell into a little bit of a meth problem and lost some weight but like i uh i used to look like him when i was

growing up yeah oh that's the story don't you think i look like goldberg no he's like he's he's clean now but like i uh people used to call me goldberg no he's like he's he's clean now but like i uh people used to call me goldberg so do we need to recreate that like i can play fulton reed i can't shoot lefty with a hockey stick but i can play fulton reed and try to shoot shoot pucks at you that would be incredible i wish i knew how to on the fly put a picture of this kid up so people could do it his name name is Sean Weiss. Producer River will get on that. We'll have that later in the show. I'll tell you what.

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joggers, you name it, they got it. And it is the most comfortable clothing in the world. All right. All right. Oh my God. That's what I used to look like in high school. I got to find a picture of me from high school, but that's it. That's the whole picture right there. Can we get you a Mighty Ducks jersey and some goalie pads for Halloween? I think that needs to happen. I mean, he was the star in the movie Heavyweights. I don't know when the last time you saw that was,

but it's one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of American cinema. A children's movie that is funny for it's like funny for adults and was like the first dodgeball uh that's uh now i when i was in arizona i was outside more my uh tan was better i looked a lot like him growing up yeah we yeah your halloween costume is decided i i think that's yeah we're done i mean it's been a uh it's been been a discussion in my house because we're doing a family tandem Halloween costume, you know, like the three of us. We're trying to figure it out. I don't know what we're going to do. How can we get a three-year-old daughter involved in a money-bunk?

Well, I mean, your wife is clearly going to be Gordon Bombay. Yeah, clearly. And your daughter is either going to be Charlie Conway or Adam Banks. I mean, does your daughter eat cake? Is she a cake eater? Yeah. She's Adam Banks. Dude, she could be a cake eater. Yeah. Okay, good. We'll workshop that. But I'm ready to fire off some takes, Andy. Are you ready? I am ready. I am ready. But before we get to the takes, one more thing before we get to the takes, we're going to talk about our pals at prize picks because we had a decent

weekend on pride. Well, I broke even thanks to that free Caleb Williams square, which you can still get by the way, for the rest of September, uh, Chicago bears quarterback, Caleb Williams,

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The more you pick, the higher the potential payout. And I've noticed that the college football board is being populated very quickly right now. So we've already got some squares for this week's games, that Nebraska-Illinois game on Friday night, especially. Already got some squares up. We were talking about Shador Sanders. There's a Shador Sanders square already. And of course, they have every other sport as well on PrizePix. So use that code STAPLES, play $5 and get $50 instantly. And of course, do not forget about that Caleb Williams almost free square for the rest of the month. All right, all right.

It is Wendy's Saucy Take Wednesday. You give out three takes. I decide which is the sauciest of the three. Where are we going to start? I don't think Shadorers did anything wrong for not shaking uh braden flower's hand after the colorado state game um i know that a lot of people like to pile on colorado i haven't always been the nicest in my analysis and jokes that i've posted on twitter about colorado but like if you talk crap to somebody before the game and you go on to the

local news channel and say they're in it for clicks and likes and all the stuff that he said and then you get dump trucked like that's what happens like i don't know why everybody is is giving shador a hard time for this and i understand that when they lost in nebraska uh he walked off the field and you know was quick to leave the the game all those things i'm not saying that he acts perfectly at all times. All I'm saying is sports are about crap talking. And, you know, when the time arises where you win, like that's part of the deal. Like, I don't know why people are so soft about it. Well, I am totally with you on this one. I wasn't sure where you were going to come down on this because I watched the video of that.

And everyone's like, oh, oh, oh, yeah. OK, I saw the interview, which which happened before the season it is braden fowler nicolosi by the way or nicolosi by the way this is the guy that uh the that i believe it was jay norvell the the colorado state coach accused kansas state of trying to pay a bunch of money to, to get him like we like J. Daryl knows Avery Johnson's a person who exists, right? Yeah. That doesn't make any sense.

They weren't trying to pay Colorado state's quarterback to steal him. The, what they said about the Colorado, but everybody got their, got their laughs going into that game about that. And it was a very close game between Colorado and Colorado State last year. But guess what? Colorado State got its ass beat on Saturday night.

So you got those words shoved right back in your face. And if Shador Sanders doesn't want to shake your hand because you were disrespectful of him before the game, oh well. Trash talk has consequences. So I love trash talk. I think every, like, I don't trust a corner who doesn't talk trash. I don't trust a receiver who doesn't talk trash. So, I believe it's part of the game.

I believe it's a fun part of the game. But, yeah, if you say something and you don't back it up, whatever happens to you happens. I just don't understand the win with class crowd. I understand that being a good sport and all that stuff is an important thing that you want out of your leader, your team, and all that stuff. But I just don't understand how we could have two days worth of discourse about Stuart Sanders' behavior after the game

and how he acted inappropriately and just had unsportsmanlike conduct without analyzing and discussing what flower did on TV the week before like nobody thought that that was bad sport sportsmanship right like so like what we drawing the line in the sand of like this is about being a man and shaking his hand like is that right it's it's only it's only bad when Shadur does it. Yeah. It doesn't work that way. Trash talk is trash talk. Now remember the cameras caught Shiloh Sanders talking trash right before the Nebraska game.

Yeah. He wasn't around at the end for it. Yeah. He wasn't around at the end of the game. Cause he got hurt. But do you think that, what do you think the Nebraska players who he said that to, we're going to say to him after the game. And and again it's what have we talked about a lot the past few weeks where the F around curve meets the find out yeah well in the Nebraska game Shiloh after round and the

Buffaloes found out because they got destroyed in this game braden fowler nicolosi after round and the rams found out yeah i'm actually very excited i'm very excited about this colorado baylor game ari because i i think it's going to tell us some things uh i don't think i don't think the colorado state game told us very much because i don't think colorado's very good, but Baylor just destroyed a Mountain West team. We saw Baylor lose to Utah. We're like, okay, what's going on? Is Baylor just going to not be any good this year? Are they going to limp through the season today? Veranda gets fired? No, I don't think they are. They played really well against Air Force, beat them 31 to three. So you got two big 12 teams coming off

a fairly resounding win against the Mountain West team. And now we find out, now we find out which one of them wants to be competitive. Yeah. And I think that the spread of one and a half kind of goes to show you that, you know, we're, we're probably in for a close game. But anyway, I just want to say, as somebody who has not always been the most positive about Colorado, that I'm on Shador's side on this one. I don't think he did anything wrong. In fact, when you throw for 310 yards and four touchdowns and somebody's saying that you're soft before the game, you know, if you wanted to shake his hand and be the bigger man, like, you know, okay, that's fine too. But like, you know, if you wanted to shake his hand and be the bigger man, like, you know, okay, that's fine too. But like, you know, Hey, you, you won the game. You were Supreme on the field that night and somebody attacked you before you played and you, you came out the winner. Like that's,

that's sports, that's trash talking. That's, that's the way it is. I don't know why everybody's so in a rush to get offended about every single thing that everybody at Colorado does. The thing that annoys me about Colorado is that I think they could be a better program if Deion approached it differently. And that's not trash talking. That's just an analysis of the way that he's coaching that program. Yeah, I do think they could be better. But I also, we have a chance to see now where they stack up.

Because that's what this Baylor game is. Because we don't think Baylor has a chance to win the Big 12 title. Now, maybe they do. But we've seen them against Utah. And in that game against Utah, Cam Rising went out, I believe, in the second quarter. And Baylor still was pretty much held in check by the Utes, which is a team that we do think can win the Big 12.

I mean, I think it's a very important game for Colorado. I think for both teams, absolutely. And if you can't beat Baylor, you're going to really struggle against the better teams in the league. Meanwhile, Baylor, if you can't beat Colorado, you're probably going to struggle against the better teams in the league. Yeah, I mean, I think that we're all on hyper Colorado watch this year because we want to know, you know, football eligibility or, you know,

improvement from year one of Dion is on the table. And I don't feel like if they don't come up with the win in this game that they're going to be able to do that. So, and obviously Dave Aranda has been a really interesting figure in the sport. You know, they've been really good at times and really bad at times. Like where they're going to fall in the pantheon of the Big 12 this year is also fascinating. Yeah, I cannot wait to see this one. So like we said, a lot of sneaky good games this week.

You know, this one, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Arkansas, Auburn, that don't necessarily, like when you look at the, if you look at the schedule, they say, here's the games involving the top 25 teams. Well, none of those are going to be listed there, except maybe Louisville, Georgia Tech, because I believe Louisville's ranked in some of the polls. But they're still going to be really fascinating games, really interesting games that tell us a lot about what's going on.

All right, before we go to take number two, let me tell everybody about the Money Game. Great docuseries on Prime Video, follows LSU athletes through last year. So you've got Jaden Daniels as he wins the Heisman Trophy. You've got Livvy Dunn as she blows up. You've got Angel Reese defending the national title, getting ready to go to the WNBA. And then all of their dealings with NIL, which is obviously a really new thing, and all of

them trying to learn how to deal with it as they go. I found it so interesting. Six-part series. All the episodes are available now. If you want to watch it, go to the link in the show description of this YouTube video that you're watching. Click that link. If you're a Prime Video subscriber, it'll just take you right there, and you can watch. If you are not a Prime Video subscriber, well, now's your chance to get signed

up. You would also get, obviously, Thursday night NFL games. You get the Rings of Power, if you're a Lord of the Rings fan. If you're a nerd like me, you got to watch that. Ari doesn't like that stuff. He's wrong. But you could also see the Roadhouse remake, which is fantastic. So lots of great stuff on Prime Video. The Money Game is available on that link in the show description. Just click it.

We'll take you right there. And for this audience, it's right in the wheelhouse. All the stuff we talk about with NIL really takes you deep inside. All right, all right. Take number two. I'm going to fire this one off into the universe here. Notre Dame is still going to make the playoff this year. Oh, you're not giving it.

Okay, before I let you go on, how much of this is just one, is you are a little hurt that we got popped onto freezing cold takes after they lost to NIU, and you want to double down and have a moment where we can say, see, freezing cold takes, we weren't wrong. If Notre Dame runs the table and makes the playoff, have a moment where we can say, see freezing cold takes. We weren't wrong. If Notre Dame runs the table and makes the playoff, um,

do we freezing cold takes freezing cold takes, or were we just permanently wrong? Cause we said undefeated. Cause like we're wrong. We were wrong, but yes, I do think, and we've had him on, on the old show.

I, I think I can text it. I think, I think we'd agree. And we've had him on on the old show. I can text him. I think we'd agree that we can freezing cold takes freezing cold takes. Because freezing cold takes has to only post once something is final. Because if you post somebody's freezing cold take that is still in process, as we know when you make takes, that you could be wrong. And listen, I am very aware that Notre Dame could lose another game. Junior or Tobias Merriweather leaving, those are fewer and farther between than the guys who stayed together.

You could lose anybody. That's Tyler Horka from blueandgold.com right there. He just popped in there okay i don't know what i was you want to take you behind the curtain tell you what happened yes so somebody grabbed a video from from our friends at blue and gold.com which is the on three uh notre dame site which is wonderful and it was some b-roll of notre dame stadium and if we have sound in the video, the sound automatically plays. If we take the sound out of the video, then we can talk over the video.

So there's your tech wizardry behind that. I thought I was having a stroke for a second. But that was the voice of Tyler Horka, who's the crack ace beat writer at blueandgold.com, who's been on this show many many times so that's it again i'm gonna attempt it again when i was gonna go for it if you lose to niu you can lose to anybody right like we're not in a position where like uh you think that notre dame is is invincible uh going into the rest of the season that said the notre d Notre Dame that we saw against Purdue, the one that scored

like 50 points before halftime, is more in line with the Notre Dame that I thought we were going to get this year. Now, I don't know how much better or worse NIU is than Purdue, but I'm for damn certain know that if Notre Dame would have come out with that type of mentality, that type of aggressiveness against NIU, they wouldn't have lost the game. So I'm thinking to myself, although it's a very terrible lesson to have to learn in real time, and Marcus Freeman has learned it now three times in his short coaching tenure, that if Notre Dame can attack the rest of their schedule with the same type of mentality that they did against Purdue when they play Miami, Ohio and Stanford and Georgia Tech and all the other teams that they have on there. There are only two games

remaining on their schedule where they may not be a favorite. So in this new world, and this take is impartial because I think people need to re-examine the playoff. Because Andy, the thing that I thought was interesting is that I would post bubble watch on Sunday and I would have Notre Dame as first four out and people lost their minds. But I don't think people realize that first four out means that you could be number 16 in the country. Like the threshold of being on the bubble in this system is not the same thing as it was last year. And I know that sounds stupid that I have to explain that, but if you go look at last year's top 20 rankings, the last top 20 before the playoff revealed

every team outside of the top 12 had three losses. So if Notre Dame loses twice, they probably won't make the playoff with one of those teams being NIU and they're not having a real quality win that we think. They still are certainly well within striking distance of this playoff and i think people need to realize that in in theory they could lose twice this year and still make it

in theory they could now it depends on how good this schedule is viewed and i still don't think it's going to be viewed as a great schedule because like you, you know, it's not, we, we think, we think USC is going to be considered a better opponent. We, we think Texas A&M will probably be considered a pretty good opponent, but they lost that game. And then we, I'm sorry, they won that game.

What am I? Florida lost that game. I have the Florida, Texas A&M game on my, on the brain, but so they won the Texas A&M game. That's that, that is potentially helpful.

We thought the Florida state game would be one of those that's really tough. Probably not going to be. But here's where I disagree with you. I just don't think they're going to run the table. I think there's a couple places they can be tripped up. I think there's really three places they can be tripped up. They can be tripped up by Louisville. Well, any place except for the NIU game, but yeah.

Well, exactly. Like you said, yeah, if they could lose niu they lose anybody i think they're going to be on guard from this point forward i don't think they're going to lay an egg like that but i do think there are three teams on the schedule that can just straight up beat them and that would be louisville georgia tech and usc so the the idea of them getting through all of those without another slip up, I just don't know if that's going to happen. Now, the Notre Dame team we saw against Purdue on Saturday, I think can certainly pull this off.

But we've yet to see them be able to be that consistent throughout a season. Let me just go on record here, though, and say I did not say that Notre Dame will run the table. I said they will make the playoff. And let me ask you this. Well, they have to run the table to make the playoff. They're not making it at 9-3. Hey, they've only lost one.

They're probably not making it at 10-2. I can tell you that. Can I make a fake scenario here? Can you just indulge me? I'm indulging. Notre Dame beats Miami, Ohio and Louisville and Stanford loses to Georgia Tech which is their second slip up

then they run the table from there and beat Navy, Florida State, Virginia Army and a really good USC team on the road at the end of the year and finish 10-2 you don't think that's a team that might be at the 10 or 11 seed? No, I don't because I think other 10 and 2 teams will be ranked ahead of them because of the poor losses that they would have.

But what if USC at the end of the year is a really good team? We're talking like a top 7 team and they win that game. That's probably their best hope. I don't think they'll make the playoff right now if they go 10 and 2. I don't think that's boosting another game on the2. All right, let me give you another scenario. Let me give you this scenario. This is the one I think could work for you. What you said, they lose to either Louisville or Georgia Tech,

and they have one more loss. No, they need the Louisville win. They need the Louisville win, I think. Okay, okay. So we're giving them Louisville. We're saying they fall to Georgia Tech. Okay, so let's say that happens. So Notre Dame enters the USC game at 9-2.

Let's say USC enters that game at 10-1. Mm-hmm. Now, what's interesting— Which puts them at 7 or 8 probably in the polls. And also probably puts them in the Big Ten championship game. Yes. This is the other piece of that so if they were to beat a USC team that is 10 and 1 and playing in the Big Ten championship game then yes I think that probably would put Notre

Dame in the playoff because that you they would if USC winds up 10 and 3 like they lose the US lose to Notre Dame and then lose the Big Ten championship game, then they would probably still have a chance to make the playoff, but the committee would put Notre Dame ahead of them because they would have the same record, essentially, and Notre Dame would have the head-to-head win. I think that this take was successful, Andy, because I'm trying it as a thought exercise, too, of like if you're a college football fan,

being a playoff team does not mean the same thing that it used to i just want people to realize a team does not have to be elite to make the playoff now and like i don't think it's insane this might be the hottest take i have today i do not think it is insane that they will make it now i have to say one last thing about notre dame that scares me a little bit they did lose um ashton Craig, their center for the year, and that's now two of their best linemen that they've lost for the year. And I think there's a third that's out for a few weeks. Their offensive line took a pretty big hit from what we thought it was going to be

when we made the undefeated prediction. And I think that obviously when you have offensive line issues, that opens the door to losing games you shouldn't. I want to make it very clear that I'm aware of that. I'm scared by it. And I'm not 100% certain I'm going to be right. But I do think that there is a very clear and identifiable path, whether that means running the table or a few other things falling in their direction,

for them to still make it to the playoff when you consider last year every single team that was outside of the top 12 had three or more losses river says we need to make a bet on this and i i tend to agree with him like and it actually could wind up being my hedge to my usc bet to our usc bet because if notre dame if notre dame were to beat usc it might potentially knock them out of the playoff and then i would win that bet but if notre dame beat usc and put themselves of the playoff and then I would win that bet. But if Notre Dame beat USC and put themselves in the playoff, you would win that bet. Cause I don't think they're going to make the playoff. I think they're going to drop one or two more. And even the one more getting

dropped probably does the trick, but I do understand your scenario there. So what do we think that we want the stakes for that bet to be? Well, I think hedging is for wusses. Okay, well, it doesn't have to be hedging. It's not hedging. You think Notre Dame is going to make the playoff. I think they won't. So how do we handle this? Just so I understand how warfare is going to be between you and me this year

you're going to take one of my hottest takes from the hottest take sausage take show that is designed to be flaming hot and now you're going to bind me to it in a bet is that how you're going to play me?

if you don't believe it you don't have to make that bet I believe it I would never say anything on this show ever that I don't believe it, you don't have to make that bet. I believe it. I would never say anything on this show ever that I don't believe. But also, too, it is one of those things where it's like you might believe it in other circumstances, but you might not want to say it. You know what I mean? Like I'm saying it. You don't have to make the stakes as extreme as $1,000.

We can make the stakes considerably lower. Well, we'll have to let the stakes as extreme as $1,000. We can make the stakes considerably lower. Well, we'll have to let the listeners help us decide that one, but I'll bind myself to it. Yeah, we'll make it a nice, funny, low-stakes bet. Like, not even a death chip. But let's make it funny. Not even a death chip? I would much rather pay you $1,000 and eat that thing again.

Well, we'll come up with something. The death my life andy i don't think you appreciate that scott in the chat says no red solo cups please yeah did you notice there's a couple people getting after me on the internet because i do you don't think we should talk about the guy who said he'd eat poop out of the red solo cup like the anonymous guy on the internet who has since deleted his internet accounts like we're bullying him with stuff he can't even see anymore because he's not on the internet anymore but we're bullying him because he was dumb enough to post that he would eat dog poop out of a red solo cup i promise you one thing he definitely sees it because there's no way he doesn't have a burner or a new account oh of course but yeah it's a burner i do think that uh it's just very funny like i don't i feel like if he had another bet of like i'll run 27 miles if

they do this and i've never run a mile like we wouldn't be talking about it so it's the well it's the it's the theater of the solo cup dog poop thing that makes it so funny. Lee Van, who she's a writer, covers LSU and listens to the show. She suggested we need a bet where one of us has to run a marathon or at least walk a marathon.

Walk a marathon on a treadmill. You know, those office decks marathons? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Office desk treadmills that you can stand and like type and walk um by the way i would rather pay a thousand dollars to do this too okay when i'm not scott aldridge says loser has to train for a race okay i'll race you to the fridge okay i've run a marathon before the the marathon training is the what takes the time the it's not that bad if you've trained it, it's really not that bad. Last three miles.

Like your legs go numb. You train by running a mile, then a mile and a half, then two miles, like every single day. It's not the, it's not the race that I would rather run it. Just dry. I'd rather take a dry hack at it than have to like train for it. It's training. You don't want to do that.

You don't want to do that 20 mile training run. Like I'm doing my best to drop some pounds right now, Andy.. You don't want to do that. You don't want to do that 20 mile training run. Like I'm doing my best to drop some pounds right now, Andy. Like I don't need to add torture. Like we'll do our workouts for an hour a day. And that's what we're doing. And it's actually very therapeutic, those training runs,

but you don't, I can tell you right now, you don't have time to do it. So that's the problem. I also do like taking like hour-long walks i do that regularly yeah i go on walks all the time unless you're a podcast whatever but go a little faster go a little faster and you've run five or six miles never thought about that i'll just go a little faster thank you you for that. Well, as you train for your marathon, one thing you need to train with is Huel.

If you have not tried Huel yet, it is the world's number one complete nutrition meal in a bottle right here. These things are incredible. So if you're like, I count my calories and a lot of people count macros as well. So whether you're doing a straight calorie count or a macro count, like Huel is awesome because you know exactly what you're getting. 35 grams of protein per bottle. It's 400 calories a bottle.

It's a complete meal in a bottle fills you up. They've got chocolate. They've got vanilla. This is, this is the black edition complete meal. These've got chocolate. They've got vanilla. This is the black edition complete meal. These things are awesome. Basically, if you're trying to figure out breakfast, you're trying to figure out lunch, if you're a busy person and you just don't want to deal with having to cook, having to make food, trying to figure out what is in this, how many calories are in this, how many grams of protein are in this, how many grams of fat are in this,

how many grams of sugar are in this, it's all there for you on the back of the bottle. So go to Huel.com. That's H-U-E-L.com. Use the code staples and get 15% off. I'm telling you right now, it is awesome because when I am trying to figure out what can I eat? How can I handle this? I got to go. I'm busy. I grab a bottle of Huel. I drink it. One meal is taken care of. And I know exactly what I'm busy. I grab a bottle of Huel. I drink it. One meal is taken care of. And I know exactly what I'm putting in my body the whole time. It's tremendous. So Ari,

when you're training for that race, just grab some Huel. Cause you're going to lose and you're going to, I don't, well, we haven't decided if the loser has to walk or run a marathon, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't make that bet. If the thing was Ohio state,

we'll make the playoff. Like, I don't know what that bet if the thing was ohio state will make the playoff like i don't know what scenario would have to happen for ohio state to not make the playoff and i would not make that bet if the consequence was that all right we we got one more take and then can you talk about this how that's even possible how's that even possible does that mean that like he's at his desk walking all day you're talking about christopher jordan yeah he says i walk 25 plus miles every day and still work does that mean you're just walking at a walking desk it no if you if you have a job that requires you to be on the phone a lot a lot of phone communication or you're making deals over the phone you can do that while you walk like i do a lot of interviews while i'm walking my dog or walking

around the neighborhood so because i work from home as well a mile it takes 18 minutes probably to walk a mile at a pretty state yeah what's 18 times 25 bad at math let's do this well 20 times 25 is what? I don't know. 400? 500? 500. 450 minutes divided by 60 is seven and a half hours of walking a day. So basically you're walking all day at a pretty

brisk clip. I don't know what goes on in that man's life. Or the job requires a lot of walking. Some people have jobs that I don't know what goes on in that man's life, but all the power to you. Or the job requires a lot of walking. Some people have jobs that they're on their feet all day, so they end up walking. I wake up 4.30 in the morning. Christopher Jordan, wake up at 4.30

and I'm on the phone all day. Okay. Wow. That's actually the best way. Yeah, I want Christopher Jordan's body because I know that's supposed to be the best way yeah i i want christopher jordan's body because i know like that's supposed to be the best thing for you just a lot of risk walking because it's the lowest impact your joints don't get crushed maybe we need to should we do this podcast while we walk hey fun fact it takes the same amount of calories to walk a mile as it does to run a mile

yeah fun fact i don't believe that for a second why it's the same thing it's the same distance my watch my watch doesn't tell me that my watch tells me i burn a lot more when i run a mile so well your watch is wrong okay i'm right i it's science all right all right i trust apple more than i trust you uh that's the machines are going to get you pal that's exactly right one more take and then after that take I have a question

from the chat that I want to post to you so one more take and then I will judge what your saucy steak is okay I don't know how to say this i'm just gonna say it the best that i can it is possible we have a full-blown quarterback controversy in austin this year okay elaborate cook cook like i don't know like so quinn ewers is questionable this weekend i don't know why you would play him uh they are 40 point favorites because you're creative general booty

that's the only reason the only reason why you would probably rush to play him from his abdomen strain is to avoid what i'm talking about here right you want him to come back in take take control of this team and but like what if arch manning comes out again and looks exactly as good as he did last year or i mean last weekend sorry um and it is a discussion i've seen a lot of people talking about like i'm not saying that quinn ewers will or should get benched but like it's going to potentially be a topic which is going to be wildly entertaining is this nuts it is not nuts ari it's not i think it's actually a fairly reasonable take and and look we have said and i think sarkisian has handled this really well so

far i think arch has handled it well and i think think Quinn has handled it well. But yes, it is inevitable that if Arch is really good, it is going to be very difficult to decide what to do, whether everybody admits that or not. Now, I think the plan is go back to Quinn no matter what, and I think they're going to try to do that. But if Arch is what you think to be better than Quinn, well, your job is to give your team the best chance to win. And so we've seen this before, but it's been a situation where it has been obvious. The Trevor Lawrence, Kelly Bryant thing at Clemson is probably the closest thing

because that was a team that was coming off a season where they went 12-1. Then they lost to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, but they were the number one seed going into the playoff. And then they came back and they had a loaded team coming back. National title expectations. And Dabo made the switch after game four. And Trevor became the star. The difference in this case, though, is that Quinn Ewers is much better than Kelly Bryant was in that scenario.

Kelly Bryant, correct. And that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm in no way saying that I think they're going to make a change at quarterback if he's healthy. I'm not even saying that Sarkeesian is going to think it's a controversy. I'm saying it's going to be a discussion point at some point

if Arch Manning plays two more games and is awesome in both of those games. Because the thing with Quinn has been, it's been kind of a slow burn with him. Now, what we saw when we saw him in person at Michigan shows that he's playing at the highest level of his career so far. But Quinn Ewers didn't step onto the field as the number one overall player in the country as a recruit and instantly become a star. We have waited for him to develop in front of our eyes.

We've waited for his production to get to the point that it seems like it's at right now. But he has been injured quite a bit in his career, and I feel like that stopped him from reaching the apex that he's gotten to, stopped him from getting there sooner. But if Arch manning comes out and i mean like there was he could not have been more efficient in the game uh on saturday against utsa and i granted i understand they're playing a bad team but like people are saying

that his top end speed was like as fast as tyreek hill like people are like talking about this a lot i'm seeing a lot of arch discussion um on. If you go Google Arch Manning's name right now and look at the headlines, I'm just saying it's within the realm of possibility that we are talking about this in November. Well, we're going to talk about it. That's not really the issue. There's a reason Arch Mania are the first two words of the headline of this broadcast because that's what people search for. People search for Arch. People want to talk about Arch.

Is there anything that Arch could do for you to think he should be the starter? Play better than Quinn Ewers. And that's what I'm saying. Whether or not we think it should happen, or if you think we're doing this just to talk about Arch Manning more, if Arch Manning plays better in his starts than Quinn Ewers has played in his starts, if you are Steve Sarkeesian, you actually have a fiduciary duty to go, huh, what should I do here? Now, the answer still may be you start Quinn

because he's the older one, he's the veteran, he's been through some stuff, and you feel like he can win you a national title. But Steve Sarkeesian's job is to start the quarterback he thinks will win him a national title. Right now, it's still very easy. Right now, it's still Quinn. As you're saying, and i agree with you on this

two starts from now if let's say quinn you were his ab you know abdominal strain is is painful and you don't want to risk it and you want to make sure he's healthy for oklahoma heal properly like what's the point of rushing him back the next two weeks exactly So if you don't rush him back and Arch Manning plays lights out, then yes, as Steve Sarkeesian, you have to make that decision and it will not be as easy to decision as it seems right now. And then the other part of it is, let's say you do bring Quinn back and making the starter in the back of your mind any little thing that goes wrong you're gonna be like well I got this other guy so it's I'm I'm talking about it like it's a problem it's the best problem to have like think about all the teams that wish they had a quarterback

imagine imagine you're Michigan right now like the Michigan people are so jealous of this conversation right now yeah i mean michigan would probably be really good if they had either of these guys you're coming to dallas on october 12th you're staying in my house we're gonna have a really wonderful day there gonna be amazing the high holidays but we are covering the the texas oklahoma game we're covering the red river do you think it is possible or do you think it will happen that you and i are talking about this that week yes i think there there's a very good chance of that and look that's a rivalry where we've seen some stuff like this happen before. Lest we forget, Caleb Williams replaced Spencer Rattler in the middle of a Texas-Oklahoma game.

These things happen. I think I saw some comments in there like, this guy is an idiot. Get him out of here. I'm not saying that I think that arch should start already if Quinn's healthy. All I'm saying is we are in a position with the way that this is setting up, you have an injured quarterback who was on my Heisman list already. Like Quinn Ewers is really good, but he should not play probably if he's not 100% healthy the next two weeks because there's no reason to risk it. And in that sliver of time, two starts for a quarterback that looked absolutely flawless in his time against UTSA.

A lot can happen in the sport in two weeks. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. Well, yeah, you're not trying to foment discord here. This is the truth. And it goes back to what I just said. C. Sarkeesian's job is to start the best quarterback. It is not to take care of everybody's feelings the best.

It is to play the person he thinks will give the Texas Longhorns the best chance to win a national title. And as long as he thinks that's Quinn Ewers, that's who he's going to play. And let me ask you this, this way. If Arch plays and looks identical or as good as he did against UTSA for two full games, two weeks in a row, one of which against an SEC opponent, would you question whether he is actually better than Quinn at that point?

If I'm Steve Sarkeesian, yes. 100%. I'm asking you, though. What would you think? Yes, I would. Yeah. If he looks like that again and again. Now, look, ULM is not going to challenge them very much. Given what we saw from Mississippi State last week, there's a chance they don't challenge them very much either. So what you'll have in the back of your head if you're Sark is I've seen Quinn do this against Oklahoma. I've seen Quinn do this against Michigan. I've seen Quinn do this this against Alabama and I think that probably carries the day at that point so it's it's not as hard as we're making it out to be because of those circumstances but again if he's perfect through these next couple games

if he's as good as he was against UTSA it will be in the back of your mind. Let's say you go back to Quinn for the Oklahoma game, where if one or two things goes wrong, you're like, well, I'm going to keep this in my back pocket because I may have to play this card. Andy, let me put this comment up here. Tyler Osborne in the chat, the Quinn slander is insane. Dude is the only reason Texas is where it is today. I wish he would leave because most Texas fans don't appreciate nor deserve him.

First of all, I don't think that's true. I think we've done a lot of appreciating It's completely incorrect. I mean, that comment alone is Kelvin Banks slander. You realize there are other people on that

team that have a lot to do. Yeah. That have a lot to do. Yeah, yeah. That have a lot to do with where they are right now. But I do want to say that Quinn did come to Texas at a time in which people thought it was the butt of a joke. And Quinn is now leading a Texas team that not only made the playoff last year, was probably one or two passes away from playing for national title a year ago, and is now my number one team in the country. And there's no forgetting that he has played a large part in building this program.

The quarterback is always going to get the brunt of the criticism and it's always going to get the brunt, the brunt of the praise. So like, we're going to, we're going to give it to him. And I'm not, this isn't a Quinn Ewers stakes discussion. This is a arch manning is awesome. And people are going to let their minds run crazy discussion. Like nobody is saying Quinn's not good here. And if that's what you're taking away from this and you're not listening to what we're saying.

Yeah, the circumstances are what they are. It could make for an unpleasant. Yeah, it could make for an unpleasant decision, but it's a good problem to have. Again, you got two good quarterbacks at Texas. It's a great problem to have. Again, you got two good quarterbacks at Texas. It's a great problem to have that most schools wish they had. And you almost probably feel like Steve Sarkeesian wishes they were playing a really good team the next two weeks now instead of later with the way this is setting up.

It would make this so much easier. But if you're not going to play him in these games and you're giving more runway for Arch Mania to go off the rails here, you know how this works. I've been around the block a few times, and I've seen some pretty intense quarterback competitions in my life and covered them. So, like, just a take, and it might be really fiery.

I don't know how you're going to rank them, but it's a take for the Saucy Take Show. All right. I am going to rank them now. Number three take for the saucy take show all right i am gonna rank them now number three your shadur sanders take because i agree completely with you and i think a lot of people do i think i think if people can separate the the whole colorado-ness of it all because everybody has a you know i either love or hate colorado like you can't be in the middle there uh if this were anybody else we wouldn't even be talking about it.

Number two is your Texas take because it's actually completely reasonable, but because Arch Manning's name is involved, it's going to, it's going to blow up because that's how this works. Your sauciest take is absolutely that Notre Dame will make the playoff because I think you're wrong on it, but I also understand where you could be correct. Like I can envision a scenario where you come out of that correct, but I think you're wrong. And you also have to understand, and you do, you're the goat here, but sometimes takes and predictions are a way to exercise the brain and to really like think scenarios through.

And I don't, I'm not a hundred percent certain that Notre Dame won't lose again. I mean, they lost to NIU. No one ever saw that coming. I can't, I can't predict that, but I'm never going to be a purveyor of perfect predictions. But what I am going to do is use. Wait, wait, hold on, hold on. Purveyor of perfect predictions, purveyor of perfect predictions, purveyor of perfect predictions, purveyor of perfect predictions purveyor of perfect predictions purveyor purveyor of perfect predictions purveyor of perfect predictions we we've got to we got to put that on a t-shirt yeah purveyor of perfect predictions it's kind of funny i didn't even mean for that to be funny um but andy we talk about things on a podcast because we want to think stuff through and i don't know that i think there's a very large segment of fans out there

in college football that haven't thought through this playoff and what it actually means. And if nothing else, if you listen to our show today and you think the Notre Dame take is crazy, maybe it opened your eyes a little bit about how low the bar is to make the playoff now in comparison to what it used to be. That doesn't mean that they're bad teams, but they're not elite. You do not have to be a great elite team anymore to make the playoff now in comparison to what it used to be. That doesn't mean that they're bad teams, but they're not elite. You do not have to be a great elite team anymore to make this thing.

And Notre Dame is a really, really good team. I know they had a really bad game, but they're still, like, you were with me two, three weeks ago talking about how you thought they had a chance to go undefeated. I know that the context has changed because they lost a game that they shouldn't have, but they're still a really good football team. So, like, just it's's out there and it could happen and that is your sauciest take and their schedule stinks their schedule stinks they don't play anybody until usc at the end of the year that is like a juggernaut this this louisville slander will not stand and also

was like the biggest game on their schedule two weeks ago or three weeks ago and now it's like a joke. Might be Louisville. Their biggest test of the year before the finale is Louisville. Say it again with me. How'd the game against Louisville go last year? I'm saying the biggest test on their entire schedule is Louisville.

And how'd the game against Louisville go last year? Yeah, I know. They got their butts kicked. Okay. What a world it could be if you're an SEC team and you're number one. Yeah. We're going to play Georgia and Ole Miss. Yeah. It's like Texas has to play like Georgia and Oklahoma.

Texas A&M and Oklahoma. I know that they lost at Louisville, but if you're scheduled with the best team you're playing on your schedule until the season finale is Louisville, you have an easy schedule. They do. I'm not going to argue with you about that. I won't. All right.

Last thing, Gregory Wallace in the chat asked this. This goes back to our Tennessee discussion from yesterday where they added the quote-unquote talent fee, 10% surcharge to tickets to pay the players. As a consumer, should I be okay with athletic department increasing ticket prices in order to pay athletes? Seems like late stage capitalism. No, Gregory, it seems like capitalism stage capitalism.

Like dictionary, like I don't know exactly what late stage capitalism is. I know what capitalism is because I took microeconomics and they have a cost that is going up. Their overhead is rising, so they need to make more money. So they're raising prices. Now, here's the other part where capitalism comes in. You don't have to be okay with that. You can choose as the consumer to not pay it. And that doesn't mean you can choose to not pay the 10% and still buy the ticket. You can choose to not buy the ticket and vote with your wallet and say, this is not okay to me. And I'll give you an example. There was a great donut shop where I shop where I lived and the donuts were amazing. They're so freaking good. It just closed. And I can tell you exactly why it closed, because they charged $4 a donut.

And I am convinced, I believe wholeheartedly, that that $4 a donut probably barely covered their costs. They were probably barely scraping by, which is why they went out of business. But $4 is too much for a donut. It is past my limit of what I will pay for a donut. Like that it is past my limit of what I will pay for a donut. I will never, I will not pay more than I'm guessing two 50 is probably where I'm at on a donut. So that's my choice as the consumer. And I think a lot of other consumers in that same market made that choice and said, as great as your donuts are, we won't pay $4 for them. And that is the same decision you have to make here. Do you want to keep watching Tennessee football in person?

Because if you do, you'll pay what they ask or you don't. Because they have a fairly significant line item on their budget that is being added next year that they have to cover somehow. Now, I would agree with you if you say, well, don't they get this TV money? Don't they already get ticket money? Can't they just reallocate the money they already have? They sure can. They're choosing to tack it onto you, and you have to decide what to do about it.

I know the show is winding down. We're already at an hour, but can I do a 40-second food because like i'm grab ass time it's grab ass time or go ahead the thing because you we talked about this in the car on the way to the florida game i don't know if you remember i do but here is my take on this i'm a i'm a big boy i've gained a lot of weight trying to lose it i've but i've been around the block i've eaten. And the thing I will say is that anytime I amp something up or there's hype around a restaurant or something,

like I go to a place and nine times out of 10, it does not live up to the hype in my head. I do think that like in the world of fast food, outside of Wendy's, of course, and in other... Saucy nugs are the best deal going.

Yeah, I mean, those are amazing. But fast, but fast, casual places, a lot of dreck in, in restaurants, right? Like there's a lot of bad food in restaurants. So for me,

if you actually think that this donut was elite and you know, for a fact that it probably costs twice as much as what you're accustomed to paying for a donut to make this donut, then to me the one dollar and 50 cent extra from your threshold is well worth the price to get a better donut and to support a business who's actually making good food instead we're left with dunkin donuts and all the other gas station donuts that we have because people are accustomed to paying for something that is actually cheap and crappy rather than paying what it should cost for something good and it sucks and that's why there's so many shitty restaurants out there.

But I will point out, you can't make a donut that much better. Like you can't make a donut a dollar 50 better. That's the problem. There's a certain ceiling on what you can make a certain thing. Like fried chicken is another example of this like fried chicken is one of those where you could you could make the best fried chicken in the world but it's not going to be that much better than what i could get at the grocery store or what i could get at a chain place and it's just can't be better enough i think that the the difference between a gas station or grocery store donut and like a voodoo donut place that like his presentation but i also think the taste is much better like i don't know if i agree with

the fact that a donut is a donut but if that's how you feel a donut isn't a donut there are good donuts and bad donuts but i'm telling you right now you can't charge double. It doesn't work. The market won't accept it. You will accept it, but most people won't. Double is drastic, right? Because it is. It is double. $2.50 to $4 is almost double. But for the extra $1.50, I'm at the point in my life where I'll pay the extra $1.50 to get the thing that's better. And this isn't just a donut thing.

This is like a pizza thing. 80% of pizza restaurants are crappy. Like it's just the way it is. There's no such thing as really bad pizza because pizza is great. But if you go out of your way to a pizza place, nine times out of 10, unless this place is really, really good and you know, it's good going into it, you're going to get a pizza that's underwhelming to you. And I feel like because people won't spend more than $15 to get a $25 pie,

that is much better. The competition level of pizza is low, which means that there's going to be less really good pizza places. Cause people refuse to pay for what the ingredients and the preparation of the dough is worth. Like you have to understand people. Cause they'll do that with pizza and they'll do that with donuts. They won't do that with steak.

Like you'll keep paying for a better steak. You'll keep paying for a better foie gras like it's it depends on the thing and college football college football thomas i came here to listen about college football what are we doing uh it's an hour and four minutes in thomas the show we talk a lot of college football yeah we talked about college football for an hour so you can hit this there's a convenient button that's just like rewind or you can hit it at the beginning and then get a whole hour of college football yeah this is your this is the grab ass portion we're actually recreational time we should be off the air actually it actually dovetails with college football though it the question that was asked that got us on this topic was about college football and ticket prices

and that's the thing we have to figure out if people feel that way about ticket prices, the same way they do about donuts and pizza, or do they feel about ticket prices the way they do about steak? I suspect they feel about ticket prices the way they do about steak. Now here's the thing. You have to keep giving them really good steak. If you don't, you can't charge more. And that is like the first comment we got yesterday when we talked about the Tennessee talent fee thing was imagine if Florida state tried this right now. And, and it, I mean, it made us laugh, but it's also completely true. Like if Florida state tried to raise ticket prices right now, their fans would revolt tennessee meanwhile has a 15 000 person waiting list

for football season tickets from an economics perspective they actually should raise prices until that until that list reaches zero yeah so anyway i just like wish that there was better food in restaurants and i feel like the i feel like andy you have been very successful you've been on the cover of sports illustrated a ton you host uh what is the best college football podcast in america right now like if you want the donuts pay the dollar 50 you get the freaking donut like what are we doing it went out of business i know because of you it's your fault yeah i know and and that's that's like, there's a line in my head. This is what I'll pay for a donut.

Sorry. That's an artificial line that doesn't need to exist. We're not talking about like car payments and house payment. I mean, we're talking about a dollar here. Yeah. And it's the same thing with a car payment. There's a line in my head there too. Like that's how most of us work.

So that's the problem. Maybe that's my problem is that that line doesn't exist everywhere for me except food the limit does not exist yeah like well but but that's the thing with with tennessee and danny white and and what what they're doing here is you have to decide or try to you have to determine i guess is the best way to say it if this is going to be like steak or if this is going to be like donuts. And I suspect it's going to be like steak. Listen, tickets to a sporting event in today's day and age, especially a major college football game, an NFL game, an NBA game, that's a luxury item. It's not something the average person can afford.

And I realize that's what bothers people about this because you want average people to be able to afford it. But the fact of the matter is they've been priced out for quite some time. So these people are running businesses. They're going to keep raising the prices until you stop paying them. As soon as they make less money, the prices come down. That's all there is to it. Yep. I'm with you. So there you go.

All right. That's it for grab ass. You got eight minutes of grab ass and a solid hour of college football. I'd say that's, that's a bargain. That's a, that's the best bargain going. Cause we didn't charge you a dime. Free,

free 99. Unbelievable. What a deal. deal hey tomorrow's a thursday you know what that means dear andy and ari let us know what's your question we've already got a couple great questions for the show but i know there's a couple of you out there that have something percolating because the thought exercises we get into a lot of the times they come from you and they're the best ones because sometimes it's, you know, it's a blind spot. Ari and I may not be thinking of it. So hit us up. Andy underscore staples on Twitter and Instagram, Ari Wasserman on Twitter and Instagram, Andy staples on three at gmail.com. If you have a truly Epic question that will not fit on social

media, send us those questions. We love to answer them. I've got a written version that comes out Thursday. Ari's got a written version that comes out Friday and we will answer questions on the show tomorrow. We'll talk to you then.