Andy & Ari On3 - Arkansas coaching search UPDATE | Memphis Head Coach Ryan Silverfield joins

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

Week 6 is well on its way, and so is the Arkansas head coaching search. As Arkansas has had a few days now to re-adjust to the Sam Pittman firing, Andy & Ari go through the search for the Razorbacks. What would Bobby Petrino need to do to be named the official head coach of Arkansas? Would Rhett Lashlee want to be in the mix? Watch here as Andy & Ari dissect this coaching search. (0:00-0:52) On Today’s Episode(0:53-2:30) BetMGM(2:31-3:59) Intro: American Conference Race(4:00-19:29) Arkansas Job Update(19:30-22:33) What does Bobby Petrino need to do?(22:34-27:03) Rhett Lashlee on the move?(27:04-28:09) Modelo(28:10-29:39) Introducing Ryan Silverfield(29:40-46:59) Ryan Silverfield joins(47:00-49:42) PaniniAmerica.net(49:43-1:09:13) Notre Dame Outlook(1:09:14-1:09:56) Conclusion: See you tomorrow! After discussing the search in Fayetteville, Andy & Ari venture to Memphis, Tennessee, where Ryan Silverfield's Tigers are right in the mix for the American conference crown. Coach Silverfield discusses his time in Memphis, how he stays so consistent, and his favorite things about coaching the Tigers. Will Memphis be the G5 team in the CFP? Let us know your thoughts! To close, Andy & Ari go in-depth on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. After handedly beating Arkansas this past week, Marcus Freeman's squad must continue to surge through its season in order to get a College Football Playoff bid. Will Notre Dame make the 12-team field? Watch here as Andy & Ari discuss. Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/FPnxk2NKs1U Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Andy and Ari on three, we talk about the Arkansas job, which is now open. How good is it? Who might want it? Who might the Razorbacks go after? And can interim coach Bobby Petrino have a shot? Also, Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield joins us to talk about how tough it is to win in the American right now. And, hey, your name's showing up on all of these hotboards because his name is showing up on pretty much all of them. Also, Notre Dame plays Boise State in another chance for the Fighting Irish to keep winning.

How much do they need to win by? Do they have to win with style points now? Because their 10 and 2 might not look like everybody else is 10 and 2. We'll talk about Notre Dame as well on Andy Nari on 3, presented by BetMGM. We've teamed up with BetMGM this season. We will be using BetMGM lines to make all our picks. and we'll have special offers for our listeners each week. When you join BetMGM, you'll get access to a variety of Parlay selection features like same game parlayes, live betting options, and more.

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It's going to be a fun show for you today. We've got Memphis head coach Ryan Silverfield, the Tigers, looking like one of the main contenders in the American, which there's quite a few of those. And I think Ari, it's fairly safe to say the team that wins the American probably going to be the Groom 5 team that winds up in the playoff. That's a lock, right? Like, that's not even, like, I don't even know who else would be in the mix there. Who am I forgetting?

We're going to talk about Boise State later, which has a loss to American team, USF. Boise State's going to play Notre Dame this week. I think it's probably a bigger deal for Notre Dame than it is for Boise State. But we'll talk about that. It does seem like between Memphis, Tulane, Navy, and USF, am I missing someone there? North Texas? North Texas. It's those four. Yeah. Yeah. So that is

a pretty tough league at this point. So we'll talk to Ryan Silverfield about that. We'll also talk to him about showing up on various job hot boards because he's in demand. He's been winning there for a while. Remember, he's the one who replaced Mike Norville at Memphis. So we'll have Ryan Silverfield later in the show. Right now let's talk about one of the jobs that I think you probably heard Ryan Silverfield's name thrown around for, and that's the Arkansas job. That opened up on Sunday. We talked about

a little on Sunday, but I've been thinking about it a lot, Ari, and what this job is and who can win there. And I, there was a commenter in the chat when we were still doing the live show who got me last, during the summer, because we were talking about Sam Pittman being on the hot seat. We're talking about, you know, how hard it is to win in Arkansas. and saw how it felt like he was perpetually on the hot seat and basically you win nine games and then they get excited and then they say okay now when are you going to win 10 and then they start kind of counting down the clock on you and i was making out like okay that's probably as good as it gets you're not going to compete for national titles because look at what you have

ahead of you in the cc you have to deal with texas and texas an m and lSU and alabama and Tennessee and all of these other schools but you know what Ari? The person in the chat said did you say this about the Ole Miss job when it opened last when Matt Luke got fired

and I'm like oh yeah it did and guess what Ole Miss might be the best team in the SEC because they hired Lane Kiffin yeah I mean when the sport started changing you know two or three years ago we had

some pretty in-depth conversations about conference affiliation and I remember when I think me and you were even at the athletic when we were talking about this like we used the Purdue job as a do you remember this conversation where it's like

is Purdue a better job than Florida State and remember people went crazy and like it's not Purdue but like Indiana right that's what I was going with it is Indiana a better job same state and the reason why I'm bringing this up Andy is because you know I still think that there's a clear you know tiering system or tier group for most jobs in America and I think

we're going to find that when Florida opens at the end of the year if it opens but if and when that they will still attract a certain number of candidates because it's Florida and it's a high end SEC job and people would walk to do that right Auburn maybe too depending on how things go the rest of the way we're not sure yet yeah i would have ranked five years ago i don't know i would have ranked florida as a tier higher than a novel um just because of the state that it's in and the the location of talent that would be less important now than it was five years ago but still but then it got us talking about the kurt signetti scenario and it's like well uh if kurt signetti has another year like they did last year and it looks like indiana as well on their way

being 5 and O and already thumping Illinois, would that be a slam dunk, no doubt about it, cannot not take that job scenario. And five years ago, I think it is a no-brainer. I think part of the reason why it was so hard to build a program with longevity is because any time a smaller, quote unquote, lower tier school got the right person, the right person got early results and then bolted before they were able to see it through long term. And now if your team is in the Big Ten, if your team is in the SEC

and you are given the resources financially to hire an elite level staff, you have an NIL nestag big enough to get players and compete in that space, and you're in one of those two premier conferences as we look down the barrel of every single type of, you know, philosophical super team scenario. Like, why would you leave?

And I wonder, in turn, if Arkansas becomes a better job than we would have given it credit for just because of its existence in one of the two premier conferences in college football. And also with the countless instances of other coaches going to non-traditional winners and making them winners. Like, it's a completely different conversation than it was five years ago to me. It definitely is. And I was thinking about it wrong. So I don't remember who it was in the chat. and I apologize for not shouting you out and giving you full credit. But you were right because the way you have to think about this is if the school is willing to pull in the right direction where everybody, you know, everybody pulls in the same direction.

And basically, the simplest way to put it is if the school is willing to care about winning at football, which I think Arkansas has proven over the years that it is definitely willing to financially care about winning at football. I mean, like they hired Brett Bilem away from Wisconsin when Wisconsin was Wisconsin was willing. winning the Big Ten title. So they've done this in the past. You just have to hire the right person. You have to decide this is the person and you have to guess right because I say guess because there is some luck involved. When Lane Kiffin was hired at Ole Miss to succeed Matt Luke, it wasn't a slam dunk.

Lane Kiffin has failed as a head coach before. He'd been good at Florida Atlantic, but there was no guarantee that when he went up a level, he'd be good because when he'd been at the highest level at USC, he'd not been able to get it done. So you didn't know if he was going to be the guy. When Missouri hired Eli Drinkwitz to succeed Barry Odom, you didn't know. But look at what he's done.

So there is luck to it. There is skill to it in hiring the right person. But you have to decide, hey, we're going to support this with all we can, And I think Missouri's been very aligned. Financially, Ole Miss has been very, very aligned. Arkansas has to be aligned. Which brings us to Hunter Eurocheck, talking after the firing of Sam Pittman, when he was explaining what was going on.

So this video is from Courtney Mims, the sports director at Fox 16 in northwest Arkansas. This is Hunter Eurocheck talking about funding the program, the football program. at Arkansas. You know, you were at the board meeting, and I gave you some statistics where our head coach compensation, our assistant coach salary pool, our support staff salary pool, and our overall operating budget ranked towards the bottom of the Southeastern Conference. I think with that information, Coach Pittman did not have the resources he needed to appropriately compete in this conference right now.

Okay. So we've heard versions of this multiple times, and so he's referring to a board meeting a few weeks ago. By the way, I said Courtney Memms, the sports director at Foxy Steen in Northwest Arkansas, Little Rock, very, very different parts of the state. So, but the funding part of it, funding the football program. And so to go back to what a hundred year check actually said at the board meeting, he said, we as in the University of Arkansas Law Department, are currently funding men's basketball in a way that allows to John Calipari to try to win national title, which is why they got John Calipari in the first place.

So they've committed the resources where they believe they're funding it in a way that John Calipari has what he needs to compete against Yukon, to compete against Kentucky, to compete against North Carolina, to compete against Duke. The question is, can Arkansas fund football in a way that allows them to compete against LSU and Alabama and Georgia? Because Ole Miss decided they were going to do that. and I think if we if we looked at these things over the last you know the previous 15 years or so

there were periods where we just said Arkansas's a better job than Ole Miss Andy you're one of those like weirdos that likes the Fast and the Furious movies right not really I mean the one where the submarine the nuclear submarine chases them across the sheet of ice in the Arctic while they're driving cars yeah I mean

that's pretty amazing that sounds great Um, hey, let me ask you, if I gave you a 2007 Honda Accord, and I'm talking about one of these Honda Accords that has 160,000 miles on it, but it will run to 500,000. I had an 01 Honda Accord that is exactly what you're describing. All right. I'm going to give you your O1 Honda Accord back. Yeah. Okay.

You could drive that thing through a minefield and it would still work. I could have driven, yeah, a million miles I could have driven it. And then I put you at a. starting point next to some of those crazy cars and Passing the Furious. And I said, Andy, I want you to race these people. And then you finished last. And then I fired you from your job after like, is that what you heard? Is that what you just heard? So yes, Ben Diesel Ludicrous in the Rock just dusted Sam Pittman. Like, what do you? Yeah. I thought about writing about this. I don't know if I should.

I'm right about it, sorry, I'll take that burden off your shoulders. You're better at this than me at certain things. I'll trust you to do it because, you know, I fly off the handle with the sort of thing. It drives me absolutely bat-shit crazy that you hold somebody accountable for not winning in an unwinnable situation. Like, if that's the case, if Arkansas did have less money on the table, if they had less NIL funds, if they had less resources than the teams that they're competing against, why would you expect them to have different results? And then ultimately are now paying a buyout,

which is more wasted money that you could have allocated to actually giving him the resources that he needs. And it's like, I have never really interacted with Sam Pittman. I know that you have more than me. He's awesome. I've heard that Sam Pitt is the coolest dude you'll ever meet. And I actually regret that I never had an interaction with him that allowed me to find that out for myself.

but I've talked to a lot of people who have had those interaction with him and it's universally, this guy's amazing, I wouldn't play for this dude. Anybody who lets him, you know, coach their offensive line is going to have a much better offensive line after he instructs them than they did before. And it's like, okay, well, he's the scapegoat for Arkansas right now. Arkansas seems hopeless because of him. And it's like this whole notion that like he did something wrong blows my mind. He was driving the O1 Accord and he was, Notre Dame has one of the souped up cars.

yes Notre Dame is a great example of what what you're trying to compete against so why why and it's like so and even I wrote this it's like it's inexcusable to put a defense out onto the field that looks like it doesn't know how to play and that's probably true

I think it's possible to make the case that Arkansas was still worse off than it would have been even with the resources that it had right and under other leadership and you fire that person if you don't think they're getting the most out of it. And part of it is we've seen this in multiple places where I think Brian Harson fell victim of this at Auburn where they basically starved him out. They weren't going to give him the resources he needed

to succeed because they didn't like him. Which I think is a secondary conversation about how to poison a program. But like that's, you know, I, you know what I think is interesting. And I'm going to do, you guys thought this show was going to be dry today. Are you ready? Oh, I'm ready. I'm ready. politics okay Donald Trump is our president half the country loves Donald Trump and half the country hates him

right no matter what side you're on right but when you are voting for your president and there are two candidates who are competing for your vote I feel like that is the time where you should hate

and root against the other candidate but once the person is in the position Doesn't everybody be rooting for Trump right now? Because we're all Americans. Yeah, you want the country to succeed. Yeah, I get you. That's not how it works, but I get you.

It's not how it works. But in theory, if you love America, you would want the person who's leading the place that you love to succeed. And I think that there are certain segments of people out there that want him to fail so they can say, I told you so. Well, and this is where I go to Ole Miss. Do you see where I'm going with that, though? Yeah, yeah.

Because at Ole Miss, I don't know how everybody felt about Lane Kiff and when Lane Kiffin got hired at Ole Miss. But no matter how anybody felt, and this is on the, you know, this is a credit to the leadership at Ole Miss from, you know, Keith Carter, the athletic director to the president. Like, they decided that they were all going to pull in the same direction. They decided we are going to give this person. everything they need right and if they're good they'll be successful and i think that's what arkansas has to decide everybody should do it with all their coaches you give the person who's in charge everything they need because even if you don't like them they might prove you wrong or sometimes they'll they'll they will prove you wrong that i think florida's a good example of that

florida gave billy napier everything he needed and it didn't work and that's there's that when that happens Sandy, at least you're making a more informed decision in paying a buyout. Like, either way, that's the way it should be done. So, like, this idea of starving out your coach, all you're doing is hurting the thing that you're supposed to love. In politics, it's America and college football. It's the team. And listen, the people don't give the president the resources.

So it's not the perfect analogy. But the point is, is that if he is wearing your team's polo on the sideline, you should give them all the resources that they need. because ultimately you care more about the success of the logo than you do of the person. And I think there have been coaches who have been fired in the past because of circumstances like that. And I'm not even saying Brian Harson. Like I think Brian Harson did a lot of things wrong. I'm not saying that Brian Harson was perfect by any stretch.

Right. The people who didn't support Brian Harsen at all were probably right. He was probably a bad fit for that job. but that doesn't excuse doing it that way. And if you do it that way, is it possible that Auburn would be two games better this year because they're not starting from so far in a hole when the new person takes over?

I think also part of the giving the coaches the resources that they need when they get there is to allow them to exhaust those resources so that the hole for the next person isn't quite as deep. I don't know if you buy into that or not or if every year it resets, but the way Auburn's, I do think in recruiting, like Auburn wasn't even in recruiting battles with top tier players at the end of the Harsen era. I don't know if that was by choice or by necessity or by circumstance.

I think it was a little bit of everything. But maybe if they were in some of those battles, it wouldn't have been such a big hole for Hugh Fries to try to dig out of. And he might not be able to do that now as a result of it. Not that it's not his fault, but you know, you want all the resources out there to give everybody the best shot because it's best for your team. So, Bobby Petrino is the interim.

Obviously, Bobby Petrino is the last coach to be really successful at Arkansas as a head coach. I do think it was strategic firing Sam Pittman when they did. There is some support for Bobby Petrino, but there's also a group that probably doesn't want him to be the head coach again. They could have saved $3 million on the buyout had they just let Arkansas lose to Tennessee, Texas, A&M, and Auburn, which that probably was going to happen. that would have dropped Sam Pittman to below 500 since 2021, would have allowed them to pay $3 million less in buyout. I think they fired him when they did to give Bobby Petrino the toughest possible road to becoming the permanent head coach.

Now, if he wins a bunch of games, like if he wins four or five games against what they have left, they should hire him. Like they should because you've got to be pretty good with this roster to do that. And he did just fire Travis Williams. the defensive coordinator, you know, the defensive staff was not doing great. So I don't know that it's going to be any better in this circumstance. But so they are at Tennessee, Texas, A&M, Auburn, Mississippi State, at LSU, at Texas, Missouri.

If he wins four games against that, by God, give him the job. Give him the job. Yeah. You probably have a better sense of this than I do. Do you think the people who will be making that decision want him to succeed? seed? I'm guessing not based on the timing of the pitman fire. Okay. Because that would be the logical deduction from that. Yeah. I just don't know if there's any romantic memory from before the motorcycle accident that trumps. Listen, if we've learned one thing about football. There's nothing

romantic about Bobby Petrino. Full stop. They were. He wins sometimes. Yeah. Let me ask you this. When he won, that was probably really fun. It was fun. And there are other instances in the SEC where personal missteps were secondary to the notion that they could win. Correct. So I don't know, like everybody is making a big deal. My issue with Petrino going forward is not what happened at the end of Arkansas.

It's what happened at the end of Louisville would scare the hell out of me. As soon as Lamar Jackson was gone, they just shut it down. They're still getting paid, but they just shut it down. So that's the bigger concern for me. I just don't want to be in that situation. If I am going to commit all these resources, I want a person who is 100% in who's going to go completely balls to the wall to get this done. So that brings me to the guy that we think might be the,

the number one candidate, who's a son of Northwest Arkansas, played quarterback at Springdale High School, and that would be SMU head coach, Rhett Lashley, who was Gus Malzahn's lieutenant for years and years. Rett's been awesome as a head coach in his first head coaching job. So he talked on the Pony Express, which is On 3's SMU site, today about the rumors and innuendos about the Arkansas job, because obviously his name was going to come up the moment this job open. So here's what Rhett said. We're present and we're happy here. We're fully committed to what we're building here. We've got great kids here. We've got a really good recruiting class that

are freshmen right now. We've got a top 25 class committed in 2026 and a lot of great players in 2007 recruiting to come here to believe in the vision that we believe it. In life, this is, you know, he continues. In life, you never say never. You don't know what the future holds, but our mind is here, our heart's here. We're not worried about speculation outside of what we can control. We're just worried about trying to win some games in the ACC and continue building what we believe we can build here. You know what I didn't hear, Ari?

No. Precisely. So it's going to be a thing. You're just going to have to deal with it. And it will be a lively debate about whether SMU, where they have more money than God, and you're in the ACC, which is a lot more windable conference, for instance, in the SEC, if you just just stay there and go and continue to go to the playoff

with fairly regular intervals, or do you take the challenge of Arkansas and try to be for Arkansas what Lane Kiffin has been for Ole Miss or what Eli Drinkwitz has been for Missouri? Would you rather have the shittiest room on a luxury cruise ship or the best room on a piece of shit sailboat. So I just know from historical real estate buying in my family, cheapest house, nicest neighborhood always. Interesting. Because the value of that's only going to go up by being in the nice neighborhood.

And the difference, but the, and the difference now, because I don't think that's, I don't think that was sound thinking regarding head coaching jobs in the SEC five years ago even no but in this era of college football when Georgia and Alabama cannot build rosters that are that much better than yours you got a shot if you do it right five years ago you weren't living in a the worst neighborhood wasn't in danger of being bought out by the nice neighborhood and being turned into a parking lot like exactly exactly like that that that think is the other thing so you know that that's the thing that is most interesting and like we're going to have this debate because smu is a very attractive job in the moment like if we knew that the acc was going to be the acc in 2040 i

would probably not do that we don't know that um and smu has struggled for decades to try to get into the situation that they're in now and ironically enough and they paid handsomely to do it I should say. Ironically enough, they might be in danger of being set back in seven years if the Super League happens. So now, listen, if you're at Lashley, you know, five to seven years down the line, it's not like Arkansas is the last time this is going to happen. If he continues to do what he's doing at SMU, he will be an attractive job or candidate for bigger jobs later on too. But given the fact that he's from there, I would, if I were him, I would think long and hard about doing that,

even if things are going really well in Dallas right now. So if you want to read that entire Ret Lashley's story by Billy Embody, click the QR code on the screen right now. We're adding this new feature, Producer River tacked onto the show today. When we talk about a story from now on that's on on three that you can read, there will be a QR code. You can just hit it on the screen with your phone, read the story while we talk about it. So we'll see what happens with this,

but it is going to be fascinating to watch what Arkansas does. We're obviously waiting to see what happens with Florida. We're waiting to see what happens with Auburn. We're going to have more of these conversations here about what these jobs are and also what they aren't because I do think we have to think about this differently now. One thing I think about all the time, Ari, is Medello. Like when Sam Pittman gets fired and I've got a, do a video by the side of the road, I think, man, when I get to my destination here, I really need to

crack open a medello because nothing lets you relax and chill and makes you think, oh, I've made it like a cold Chris Medello. And if you are listening to this, you're a college football fan, you're a full-time fan, you can stay game day ready all season with Medello. Some things in life just made for each other, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, Madelo, and college football. So no matter what's happening in your world, whether your team's number one, whether your coach is in the hot seat, you name it. Grab yourself a nice gold medello, crack that thing, tip it back, and enjoy. It is the beer for full-time fans. I love it.

You know who I'm a fan of, Ari. Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield because similar, similar upbrings. He and I grew up about two hours apart, played high school football about the same time in the state of Florida. So know a lot of the same people, but it's been fascinating to watch his rise. You know I love offensive line coaches who become head coaches and do great work, and he's done that. He was with Mike Norvell at Memphis.

Mike Norvelle leaves for Florida State. Ryan Silverfield gets the Memphis job. And right now, Silverfield, who's been winning consistently over the years at Memphis, has the Tigers in a great position, Ari. If they keep winning, if they can win the American, there's a really good chance they can wind in the college football playoff. Yeah, I think this is a very important season for him, not just personally, but, you know, when it comes to, like, what Memphis can do and the opportunity that's ahead for them. but if he has any designs on any specific job openings that his name is being you know tossed around with you know good day to have him on the show by the way that's right but you can't worry about that if you're him because this league will get you if you don't

they're playing Tulsa this week let's not forget that Tulsa went to Oklahoma State and won a few weeks ago so this is one of those you got to put the blinders on and just keep trying to win so here is Ryan Silverfield who's trying to win and also trying to win and also trying to trying to get Ari to the Bass Pro Pyramid in Memphis. We are honored to be joined by Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield. The Tigers are 5'0, just beat Florida Atlantic in the American race, which is going to be a bloodbath this year. Coach, when you look around this league, how tough is it?

Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, from top to bottom, everybody's got talent. I think that's day and age in the transfer portal. You're seeing a lot of guys that are acquiring players of unique skill sets everywhere, offense, defense, and special teams. And then you keep looking. And everybody, you know, for the most part, has a pretty darn good quarterback. And that's one of the things the quarterback play in this conference continues to get better. And it's going to present some challenges as the season goes on. What's it like coming to work every day when you're in this four-headed

monster conference race with the playoff spot dangling off in the balance? Is it pressure? Is it excitement? Is it easier to get people to buy in? Just what's it like walking in your building? Yeah, sure. First off, it's a great thing, right? Love being here. This is my 10th season. There's a lot of excitement surrounding this football program. I think over the last few years, we've been able to make some noise nationally. And so I think people are excited genuinely to walk in this office and compete every single day. You know, the reality of it is we don't even talk about the playoffs. We don't even talk about the championship game. Yes, we do in the preseason. We know our only goal is to win the conference championship and we'll see what happens with that. But ultimately, day in and day

out, we just focus on being one and oh. And that's not coach speak. It's truly because there's so much going on every week's its own season. Every team we're going to play has got to present its issues. So, you know, come in with the mindset, hey, how do we be the best version of ourselves every single day. How do we go out there and compete? And our players are bought into that. And that's what's been so great. They understand, hey, this is what's like to be all in and compete every single day. Let's have great practices, great prep. And hopefully it leads to victories on Saturdays. All right. So you mentioned great quarterback play. And you've had very good quarterback play from Brendan Lewis. But you're having an issue with him. He's not a big slider. And against

FAU. You had a moment where, you know, he got a little banged up. You had to put in your backup. And he said, he got to ask about it after the game. He's like, not doing it, not sliding. So how do you handle that? Yeah, look, you know, Brennan Lewis is a tough sucker. Let's just call it what it is. You know, he's very dynamic. Over the years, we've had some great quarterback play, right? From Seth Hennigate, who's now with the Jacksonville Jaguars, right, to Brady White, who's now in coaching, to Riley Ferguson prior to him, you know, and I just missed. It's the Paxton Lynch error, but you think about the quarterbacks that come through here, not a ton of them have been runners.

And Brennan Lewis has the ability to run, even if it's not a quarterback called run, you know, he's going to take down, you know, pull down the ball and run. He is a 225 pound quarterback with good speed and, you know, great athleticism. But yeah, we've been challenged, hey, go ahead and slide. Let's preserve those hits. Let's be smart about it. And he says, sorry, kind of gives you one of those. Yeah, coach, I got you.

And then next thing you know, you know, he's lowering his shoulder. I said, man, we need you to play a lot of football. this year. So let's be smart about it. But it is great to see a tough quarterback, right, that it's hard nose that loves a physicality aspect of the game. Coach, you don't really see a lot of people in your profession at the same place for as long as you've been there. You know, there are some long tenured coaches. But what do you think it's been like to kind of go up the ranks at the same place and then also be there and take the head coaching job right at the apex of what has been a pretty staunch evolution in the sport.

Like, do you think that you're past there and living through it at the same place has helped you navigate how to do things better in this NIL transfer portal era playoff expansion type scenario? Yeah, absolutely, Ari. That's a great question. I think part of it was, you know, coaching the NFL for seven years left to come here and kind of said, hey, I'm going to be loyal. You know, my predecessor, Mike Norbel and I are close friends.

I was going to be loyal to him, even though opportunities came to be coordinator, to go coach in the SEC, to do those things back in the NFL. And ultimately, I said, you know what, let's be loyal to Memphis. And it paid off, obviously now my six years, the head coach. But, yeah, I mean, it's amazing. Like, right when I got this head job, all the changes in college football started occurring, right? Let's start with COVID. Oh, and then, by the way, now there's this thing called the transfer portal, now this NIL, now RevShare. And I think those challenges that have come year and year out, we've actually looked as opportunities and how can we embrace those.

I think the NFL background, the pro mindset has actually helped us here as a university and as a football program, fully embrace it. In fact, I don't look at them as issues or problems. These are great opportunities that we're going to seize and take advantage of. And credit to the administration credit to those people around us because every single week we're finding ways to stay ahead of the curve. And being here has certainly helped us. We're going to continue to take advantage of whatever the NCAA or college football throws at us because we know the rules aren't done yet. There's going to be ever-changing things in this sport.

But we look at it. We put a smile or face to that, hey, these are great things. How do we take advantage of it? And I think the background and then also been at the same school for so long has certainly helped us. So you're only 45, but you've been coaching for a long, long time. For those who don't know, Ryan played at the Bowles School in Florida. Most famous alum, probably Chipper Jones, but they were amazing at football back in the 90s under Corky Rogers and a couple state titles while you were there, played with badasses like Travis, Carol, and Tommy Hillier. But you went right into coaching after that.

And actually, instead of playing in college in Hampton City, you coached there. So how did that come about? And what did you learn as a coach who was the same age as the play? players. Yeah, and yeah, that's a great question. First off, I'm glad I didn't have to play against you in high school because you were with my butt, but I probably would have maybe try to, you know, go out your kneecaps or something, you know.

You see, Bulls would have beaten our team 55 to 7. That's the problem. Your teammates, you're being modest, but I know how good your teammates were too. Yeah, that's good. Let's give them the credit. Certainly no one was worried about me on the other side. I'll promise you that. But no, I think part of it's unique, right?

Yeah, I did start coaching. At the age of 18, the opportunity arose where I could start at a young age, spring in my senior of high school. And then I went to a small college of Virginia, and they afforded me the opportunity to coach very early in my career. So at the age of 20, I was actually the defensive line coach at Division III school. And in the state of Virginia, and I thought it was great, you know, but what happened, I had to grow up really, really quickly.

You know, I couldn't be going to fraternity parties. I couldn't be hanging out. my college life was quite different from the rest of those around me. And so, yeah, you're coaching guys at one point, they're older than you. And you had to be an understanding. You had to learn the game and be able to provide them with information that was going to make them a better full of a player because ultimately they're going to sit there and say, well, what the hell do you know?

You're young. You're new to this thing. And then every year, right, in coaching multiple positions, I've grown in this thing, right? I've been a quarterback coach. I've coached offensive line. I've coached pretty much every position, but kickers on the football field. And I'm trying to learn that now, just so I can check all the boxes. But when it's all said and done, yeah, it's been great.

But I think that's allowed me having started coaching at such a young age and seeing it from so many different aspects, right, whether it's coaching high school football, coaching division three, coaching FCS, coaching in the NFL, you know, chipped away at this thing the right way. And ultimately, I think it pays dividends day and day out here. I reacted the way I did because we had Eli Drinkwitz on last week, and Ari asked like seven questions about why there are no coaches who coach kicking specifically other than like the three guys in recruiting who do it.

I waterboarded him for seven minutes about it. I'm like, you could win or lose a game or a champion. I don't have a good answer for you on that one. Why don't you have somebody like helping them kick and practice? He goes, guys, they keep making it. It's fine. I was like, all right, sorry. Coach, this is a podcast.

We're all having fun here. you mentioned loyalty in your last question and i think that's an important quality how do you handle your name popping up on hot boards um because that's what happens when you're successful and memphis has been successful and how do you specifically handle that when your team is very good and competing to win a conference championship right now against some very good teams sure you know look i appreciate those things i appreciate the headlines um and i understand people have a job to do so I'm grateful for that. I think it speaks highly of our program that my name is being mentioned. But look, I don't have time to read the headlines. I don't have time to read all that stuff.

And if any of that stuff, it's a credit to our great fan base. It's a credit to the administration. It's a credit to the great players and the work and the assistant coaches that they've been putting in and they've put it. And so it's a credit to so many other people. But the reality of it is it's a true focus. We talk about putting the blinders on and attacking each and every day and being great work. we're at. I've asked my guys to focus on the task at hand. Let's not look in the past, right? Let's not look too far ahead. Let's just focus on this week. And if I'm going to ask them to do it, I've certainly got to do the same. And so every single day, right, the challenges itself, right? The biggest thing, can we put together a great game plan this week versus Tulsa?

Can we have great practices? And really, that's all I can focus on. And I ask that our group does the exact same. Does the improvement in the quality of the league help with that? It doesn't seem like you can take a week off. Tulsa, they lost to Tulane last week, but they went and beat Oklahoma State and Stillwater. Absolutely. Every week's going to present different challenges, right? Like you said earlier, we truly believe, right? Obviously, this is the top group of five conference in all of college football. We know at the end of this thing, the winner of the conference most likely be playing in the playoffs. Even though we don't talk about that, we understand, right? Like Tulsa, obviously, we went on the road and beat a big 12 team. And so they're capable.

week, right, with the transfer portal, they're going to have talent. And you put on the film, you say, holy cow. And then, you know, as the season goes on, right, a lot of these teams, as we talked about earlier, I mean, there's so many undefeated teams or teams that have one loss, but that loss may be to a top 15 team in the country. So look, we're going to have to be on it. And our guys have done a phenomenal job of being focused at the task at hand and understand that, look, you know, every week, it doesn't matter who we're playing home or away. This conference, you know, from top to bottom is very, very good, and we've got to bring our A game.

When you beat a team from the SEC, does it feel different for your players than it does when you win another big game? I mean, you're going to be playing some really good teams this year in your conference, but is there an extra pep in the step of the players when it's like, hey, we knocked off a team in the SEC? I try to tell them that, look, every game is the exact same, right? No game is any different. But we've been fortunate here, obviously, you know, you just look back,

in our recent history of the powerful teams we beat, right? We beat Iowa State in the bowl game. And then last season, right, went and beat at Florida State, beat West Virginia, and then beat Arkansas. So that's four straight powerful wins, which speaks volumes about the young men we have in our locker room and the way they're willing to go take on those type of opponents. But ultimately, the most important game is the next one. And again, going back to that, it's not coach me, because our goal is to win the conference

championship. And so it's truly a one game at a time mentality. We know how tough this conference is. And so I hope there's just as much excitement when we won at FAU as there was when we beat Arkansas. Obviously, we understand the national spotlight that winning an SEC game means to this program, to our university, and to our wonderful city. But in our locker room, it shouldn't mean any different, right? It's all about the next one and going to attacking this thing.

And I think our guys have bought into that. Speaking of the wonderful city, have you, I'm sure you have, but have you, like, been in that big triangle bass pro shop? multiple times i've never been there before what's the deal with that place like is it just a regular store it was it was their basketball arena this is this is no i know they played back in the day like is that the hardway mike tyson fought there oh yeah but do you think like the next time i drive through memphis like i should make a point to stop into that store well next time you stop in memphis you're going to give me a call we're going to get some good barbecue okay

and then we're going to go to bass pro and what we're going to do is we're going to take the elevator It's the largest freestanding elevator already in the United States, okay? The second largest one in the entire world, first ones in Dubai. All right, we're going to take that large freestanding elevator at the top. All right, we're going to go look out on the lookout pyramid. All right, we're going to see the beautiful Mississippi River. All right, we're going to go back down. You can see the hotels that surround inside that overlook the interior of the Bass Pro.

There's an alligator tank. There's a bar at the top. There's a bowling alley. They got all sorts of things. And so it's certainly a great deal. Yeah, we'll walk all around. We spend hours in there. That sounds like a wonderful day together.

You never bring the Peabody ducks around the alligator tank, do they? Does that be too much Memphis at once? Yeah, well, that's maybe what we should do, right? Like have a barbecue festival inside the pyramid with the Peabody ducks walking around that elevator, have the duckmaster take them to the top and have Elvis singing at the end of this thing. Wow. Holy cow. Memphis overload.

Be sweet. Do you have to be political about the barbecue? in Memphis because it is so do you have to be careful what you say yeah well you know whoever's paying the bills right i got to figure out from our our people right our admin hey who's our sponsor because uh this is why i didn't ask yeah exactly hey i'm i'm i can eat barbecue with the best of them that's for sure right and so andy like you a food connoisseur i've tried every barbecue place of memphis love them all there's so many good ones too many but yeah i can't sit there and say hey you got to go to this place because i'm sure

someone will say, hey, they don't sponsor you. This is the group that does. But what is? That won't get you in trouble in your hometown of Jacksonville, the bearded pig. So we'll shout them out. Great spot. Been there, know the owners beard pig's a great spot when you're down,

Jacksonville, for sure. I have to know, is Memphis have a special barbecue technique candy that is different from others or is it just dry rub ribs, which is the, I think is actually the best way to do ribs, where instead of you saw, instead of saucing the ribs, you actually put an

extra coating of seasoning on them at the very end. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's, you know, you talk about, people talk about Kansas City barbecue, Carolina barbecue, and why those are all great. Memphis has its own unique smoke and flavor. And you go to some of these places and some of these hole-in-the-wall places where the barbecue, man, they've been cooking it for days. They've been smoking it.

But, yeah, the dry rub ribs are certainly, you know, Memphis special. But you can't go wrong at all the spots. You got to try it all. Yeah, and you've got to hit them now. the rule for life but i think one good rule for life from ryan here is don't ever promote someone who doesn't sponsor you that's a pretty good all right i think we've learned that over the last year so we're we're getting good at that uh that was brought to you by medello by the way uh no do they want to sponsor me uh they actually are are looking at different colleges

so uh they they've got a bunch of schools i do think you should get the memphis folks on the horn with them because i think they'd be uh yeah we'll get our people with your people we'll get our people we'll hear people. That's right. So other than that, what is your rule for life? Yeah, I think, you know, we kind of hit on this earlier. I've been doing this thing for a long time. And I think whether you're coaching Division III, you're coaching the NFL, it's treat people

the right way. And I tell all of our guys, right, posts in our rooms, every single one of our guys knows the custodians, they know all the equipment managers by name, their pitchers are hosted we go through it during training camp it's actually in our coaches and players manual all the people within our program because they all make this thing go we have 200 people in this place and each one's just as important and so treat everybody with great respect and dignity great things will come and we're ultimately all working to the same goal and I think that's a great rule for life I love it that is that is the perfect rule I love the the old you know when people

would go on job interviews and they take them out to lunch and if you treated the server badly didn't get the job if you if you knew how to treat people that mattered no question that and find good barbecue at any spot you got i think those are two quality rules for life and you can't go wrong that's right treat the pit master with the utmost respect right thank you so much i appreciate you guys having me on and yari thank you guys so much go tigers That is Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield and we get him a Panini sponsorship. Ari, I think he'd probably like that too. So we love Panini.

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tight ends, Elyke Ominor, and Bo Collins. So still nothing that. quite matches the old Patrick Mahomes one of one. Can I have that? No, you can't have that. Do I have to ask every time you have an ad? You can ask every time and I'm going to say no every time. What do we think of Bryce Young?

This is the 2023 select tri-color prism to 149, graded PSA 10. We would like Bryce Young to put two good games together in a row. Yeah. I don't like the beat the Falcons 30 to nothing and then get blown out in your next game. that doesn't that doesn't do it man and what do we think of mazorati marvin harrison 24 obsidian stained glass case hit PSA 10 rookie card that's another we're feeling slightly better about him but i think

i'm going to need to see more yeah slightly better just going through some cards on here on the desk like always and you know have some speculative assets here that we're hoping will pay off but we'll see. You know, Marvin Harrison had the dropsies and then scored a touchdown later and kind of made it up for it a little bit. We'll see. I still think he's going to be very good. But who knows in that crazy league. But what I do know is that you can be a part of it with Panini.

That's right. Panini America.net to start your collection. Here's this Bo Collins. Bo Collins played at Notre Dame last year, Clemson before that. We are going to talk about the Fighting Irish right now. And they are playing Boise State. and this was one of those games that we looked at in the preseason

and we assumed Boise State will be in its usual position of fighting for that group of five spot in the playoff and I realized that only happened last year because it was the first year, but Boise State obviously the most consistent winner in the group of five

conferences. They opened the season with a loss at USF. They've since won three in a row, Eastern Washington Air Force, and Appalachian State. But are they good enough? Will this be a good enough win that if Notre Dame wins this,

it will help Notre Dame because that's going to be our question pretty much every week with Notre Dame is do they need style points? How do they stay in the playoff hunt after dropping the first two? So we did allude to this a little bit over the weekend, but I think it's a good five-minute conversation.

There are a large, faction of Notre Dame fans who are adamantly convinced at the moment that they control their own destiny to the playoff and i hear things like if you win ten in a row you come in hot if the teams you lost to are very good they'll forgive you for those all those things i think Notre Dame if they finish 10 and two and if you look at their schedule um and how good they are i have a hard time seeing them losing again now and i you could pop up or marshal could pop up it's college football you never know But as I'm looking at the schedule right now, I firmly believe that, A, Notre Dame is the top 10 team in America. We'll roll their eyes at that, but what I saw against Arkansas and Purdue, a lot of teams are going to struggle to beat that team.

If they get there, it will be impressive, but it's not a stone cold lock. Their resume will look similar in the aggregate to Miami's last year. Miami didn't get in. now it'll be different because Miami lost late in my in Notre Dame and and the Georgia Tech and Syracuse losses were not considered as understand my you know right so so like the thing is Miami this year might be the best team in the country Texas A&M might be the best team in the

country uh Miami I feel fairly confident will be either in the playoff or very much in the playoff mix we think Texas A&M well but their schedule the rest of the way is pretty tough so we don't know that for sure. I think that matters, too. I take great exception to the notion that it is a stone cold, no doubt about it, Locke. I think they would get in if I had to pick yes or no at the moment that Notre Dame, I think that it would play out that way. But I do think that Notre Dame fans, as disgusting as it is,

should have been rooting for USC last week. Yeah. NC State lost to Virginia Tech. Right. So they, I think you can just basically say right now that Notre Dame is not going to have any sexy quality wins at the end of the year. So you have to hope that there's coming. You're just giving up on USC like that?

I am, yeah. Sure, certainly. Yeah. All right. So you're giving up on USC. Like, USC still has to play Michigan before they played in Notre Dame. Obviously,

they play Oregon at the end of the season. Like, if they did it turned around, it'd be fine. But also, if they're capable of beating Oregon, they're capable of beating Notre Dame, which is another problem in general.

Here's the thing. they're absolutely a two-loss team if they're going to serve the purpose that Notre Dame needs them to serve. They've already got their second loss because that's the best you can hope for if you're Notre Dame. That means that they can't lose any other one.

And based on what I saw on Saturday, the proposition of that, especially like even if you take Oregon out, like the proposition of them not being a four-loss team at the end of the year seems dire at the moment. So at the very least, they're not going to be having any wins over playoff teams, which is what a quality win

now is. Right. So they might have two losses against playoff teams, but, you know, and I do think that the committee does take into account, like winning streaks and, like, given the way. The committee also takes into account, what does it look like when you're in the game against a playoff team? Because they do. That's who you're going to play in the playoffs, is fellow playoff teams.

When you zoom out at the end of November and in December, those are secondary those are secondary criteria. Right. The primary criteria is win and loss. What are your best wins? And what are your best wins? But my question to you, because I went on a Notre Dame show over the weekend talking about this, I wrote a calm about it on Saturday, because of where their losses occur,

is there still some of that old-time BCS, lose early, win 10 games in a row, and just based on where you'll be, like, ranked every week because you'll just steadily move up as everybody loses around you? Do you think that that plays a factor? Like, is it possible that Notre Dame could play its way into, like, number five by November without beating anybody good because everyone's losing? Or do you think the committee will be seasoned enough, which I do, to not move them very much week to week because their resume is not improving?

One, I think the committee will be seasoned enough. And, too, I don't think, like, even in the BCS era, it didn't actually work that way. Like, remember when Oklahoma lost a K-State in the Big 12 championship game and still made the BCS championship? Yeah. Like, that happened. And so my freshman year in Florida, this was pre-BCS,

but it was the alliance. Well, the loss came in the last regular season game against Florida State. Still wound up in the championship game in the Sugar Bowl, like, because some things happened. But if you use the B-Santis, for 12 teams, then it would have worked because the BCS would have allowed you to move up over the time. And you might end up finish number five instead of number. I think the committee will be much more critical of what do your wins look like and what do your losses look like?

Who did you win against? Who did you lose to? I do think they're much more critical of that. And probably starting later in the season allows you to do that because you at that point have a pretty good idea of where everybody is. You agree with me that it's not a stone cold lock that. that 10 and do is in. Oh, I agree with you 100%. Okay.

I think a lot of it depends on everybody else. I think let's try to put a percentage on it right now. I would say if Notre Dame goes 10 and 2, 80% is a very fair assessment. 80% chance they get in, 20% chance they don't. So 4 and 5 they get in, 1 in 5 they don't. Especially if the season continues to go the way it's going. Everybody is losing. So, you know, I think what, Notre Dame's worst nightmare, this is nightmare fuel.

And I don't know how it would have to play out in the next month and a half before you realize it. But if Notre Dame is being directly compared to a team at the end of the year, like last year's Alabama, last year's old myth or last year's South Carolina, where those teams are nine and three. And they're a lot of better wins. And they're at number 11. And like Alabama, for instance, has a win over Georgia on their resume. and three, they will pick the team from the SEC. And I hear a lot of, well, brands and money and all that stuff that does not take into account that's not how it works.

It's not going to work that way. Also, Alabama is just as big of a brand as Notre Dame. Yeah, and Alabama was left out last year while Indiana and SMU went in. So if your idea of like brand awareness and television eyeballs is like rigging the system, like I think you need to like grow up because that's not. Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen. But I think what you said, what you suggested is exactly right. because a three-lossed SEC team is going to have better wins than 10 and 2 Notre Dame.

Like 9-2 default. Like, I'm trying to think like 9-3, Oklahoma, 9-3 Alabama, 9-3. So, Producer River, put up Alabama schedule, please. We already know one of their losses is to Florida State. So we can more easily figure out who they beat to get there. but I'm just going through their schedule now. So to finish 9 in 3, which means they could lose two more games along the way. So let's say they lost to Oklahoma and Auburn.

And Auburn. That means they've beaten LSU, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, and Vanderbilt, which among those teams, somebody's going to win nine. There may be somebody who wins 10 among those teams. And I think you could also make the case that four or five, of those wins are better than Notre Dame's best win. I don't know. Like if USC what they'll be,

if you have confidence that they'll be nine and three, then maybe you could make. I don't have any confidence. Navy is going to be considered a pretty good win, I think, by the end. But when they beat Navy 63 to 10, it won't. But that's, we can't punish them for,

for beating the hell out of a good team. I know what happened last year. I know what happened last year. I know what happened last year. I were about like Navy and Army last year, and then they played both of them and killed. them and it was like oh that was fun outlasted like it doesn't it goes away yeah many people are human like they know like you know it's not like a I don't know uh they'll probably get in but

the only people who think it's a stone cold lock are the people who are wishing that it was it's interesting because I think you're talking about a subset of Notre Dame fans I actually find Notre Dame fans yeah be the most logical and reasonable of old line big time college football fan bases like they usually they usually take a pretty critical eye so i i don't think what you're talking about is is most of the fan base i think a lot of the fan base is sweating this out so there i don't know if we're helping them or hurting them talking about this because i do think we keep bringing up the 20% chance they don't get in at 10 and 2 but i think it's like a 95% chance they are 10 and 2 like that's the thing that was where i was going with that because i was about to ask you

who do you think can beat them on the rest of their schedule? I guess USC may be, but the way Notre Dame plays, we just saw USC lose to Illinois. Like, Notre Dame plays in a way that is antithetical to how USC succeeds.

Like, Notre Dame they don't succeed against teams that play like Notre Dame. If Notre Dame loses, it will be another upset loss that felt like NIU. It might not be as embarrassing. but like that's not going to be a game that we're going to be able to see now. Utterly disrespectful to USC are utterly disrespectful.

No, they are not. I do understand what you're saying. I'll run 40 miles and you can film me if they lose the USC. It ain't going to happen. All right. We got a bet. Like, and you're in this bet you don't have to put anything up. That is how confident you are.

I get you. I get you. Notre Dame style, USC style, bad matchup for USC. but now one more question before we let everybody go does notardame need style points i think it always helps i think perception like again the people in the committee room are people and beating the crap out it like it kind of works like two ways though because it's like if you beat the crap out of everybody then like it makes your case for having a challenging schedule go away because it's like well you didn't even have to break a sweat against these losers yeah well beat the crap out of everybody

root hard for Texas A&M and Miami. That's probably the best advice. Like, what you want, ideally, if you're Notre Dame, is ACC champion in Miami sitting there with a buy end of the playoff. SEC champion, Texas A&M, sitting there with a buy end of the playoff, and you go,

look, we were in one possession games with those teams, beat the hell out of everybody else. And you don't even have, we should get another crack at them. The Boise poker chip, which would have been like if Boise was the undefeated group of five champ that. Well, it's still possible. Boise State loses this game, goes 10 and 2 and wins the Mountain West.

Like, it's not out of the realm of possibility. Yeah. And maybe it will. And maybe that will be perceived as a quality win. Because the quality wins, it's not just which playoff teams you beat. It's which teams are in the final rankings. That's how the metric is. And there's a good chance.

Navy's in there. So there is a little bit of a chance here. But I worry because, you know, like yet, like you said, USC losing to Illinois hurts. NC State losing to Virginia Tech hurts bad. Like you needed NC State to be the surprise team in the ACC, not the team that lost to Virginia Tech. There's a lot of people who try to draw back like reference to last year, Andy. They're like, well, Indiana didn't beat anybody last year and they got in.

Indiana was already won fewer losses than you have through four games. Like they were being compared to nine and three teams and the nine and three teams did not get in over them because they had two fewer losses. If Notre Dame has a similar resume to Indiana at the end of the year, that means that they have no quality wins and two losses. And then that's when the door opens for Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina. If Indiana was a two-loss team, I guarantee it. I won't be able to prove it.

It wouldn't have gotten in. They would not have gotten in. So, you know, keep drawing comparisons to last year's Indiana and last year's Ohio State, which beat two playoff teams in the regular season. Those two situations do not apply to your team this year, as bad as you want it to so like you know again still feel good i think that they're really good and i think they're going to be 10 and 2 and i think they've got an 80% chance if not a little bit higher of getting in at 10 and 2 it's just the only thing i'm trying to stress is that it's not

guaranteed 330 eastern notre dame stadium boise state at notre dame this is going to be a story we follow all season because it's not going to stop being interesting every week did you see the yeah did you see the headline tuesday we want to have notre dame tuesday is that we're going to call it for now. Did you see the name or the headline of my column that I wrote after the game on Monday or on Saturday? I don't think I saw that. Okay, let me read it to you. Hold on.

Okay, ready? It says, ready for the season long debate about Notre Dame and the college football playoff question mark? Are you just pressing the button? I mean, it's true, though. We'll be talking about this every single week. And nothing's going to change because we won't know the answer until

we see how the rest of the sport shakes out. Unless Notre Dame loses, then we just won't talk about it anymore. Actually, one last thing, Andy. Oh, God. Here we go. Maybe, like, I think there's a high likelihood in the SEC.

I don't know if you saw this, but Ralph Rousseau tweeted it. And it was the percentages of likelihood that teams in the SEC will win their conference. And he, He mentioned me in this. I got to find it.

But basically, there are seven teams, like what we've been talking about with the SEC for the past few weeks now. Can I guess the seven teams? I'm trying to find the graphic. While you're going to find it, can I start guessing teams? Yeah, just for the sake of the podcast. Okay, Ole Miss, Texas, Texas, A&M, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee. is that the seven that's the seven um no missouri shocking it's actually 10 teams um okay so

missouri lSU yeah uh vanderbilt yep here are the last cc title odds per esPN's s and p plus and this takes into account remaining schedule and all that mm-hmm old miss is the current favorite 16.3% likely right old miss is almost is three you know in the c cc C, 5 and O overall. They play Washington State next. Ole Miss has to go three and two the rest of the way to make the play. Three and two in the SEC, the rest of the way to make the playoff. Missouri, second, 12.9, because they've got a manageable.

They've been easier draw. Yeah, I'm repeated still. Oklahoma is third, 11.1%. That's interesting. Now, I don't know. Does that take the John Mateer injury into account? Because I think we'll learn a lot more in Dallas, how good Oklahoma is independent of John Tide for third is Alabama at 11.1%.

Okay. Fourth, Vanderbilt, 9.7%. Fifth, Texas, 8.5%. Six, Tennessee, 7.2%. 7th, Texas A&M, 6.2%. Probably the hardest schedule the rest of the way other than Oklahoma. Yep. Eighth, Georgia, 5.2%.

And tied for eighth, LSU, 5.2%. So I'm bringing this up in the Notre Dame discussion of like there's a lot of nine and three right there. So, buckle up. Like there's a lot of nine and three right there. So buckle up because I actually makes me want to drop their

percentage down to 70%. Because the SEC is making friends all over the place. At the end of the year and those teams are going to have quality wins and they're going to be nine and three and Notre Dame won't. It's not even about the SEC being loud or the apparatus itself. It's just going to be it's just here are the wins yeah here are the wins so um and that doesn't take into account any

surprises that pop out of the big 10 in the acc that's just the SEC alone none of them are counting Arkansas as any of those wins by the way like if indiana goes 11 and 1 again this year there's a spot that's gone if somebody from the acc if florida state beats miami and they both finish 11 and 1 and one or whatever or one or they both finish with two losses um and then there's a third team in the acc that's 10 and 2 and doesn't get into the whatever like it i'm just saying it's there. It's all right there. No, it's going to be, there are going to be roadblocks. So Notre Dame is not in control. All they can control is whether they keep winning. But even that doesn't necessarily put them in full control. And I think that's the general point of what

you're saying. Yeah. And it's just, it's difficult because I actually believe to the core of my being, deep down into my loins and plums, that Notre Dame is one of the 10 best teams in college football right now. I want to see this. Notre Dame team in the playoff. Yeah, I would love to see it. I think that they could get you run. But them going 10 and 2 isn't necessarily automatically putting

them. And the thing that sucks about having a really young quarterback who's never started in the first two games is that I assume or presume that CJ Carr is going to be very good at the end of a year. It's pretty good now. You know, he's pretty good now. Imagine how he's going to be playing in November and December, like that. So, you know,

there's a lot to like about this team. It's just unfortunate that they don't have an opportunity. because they lost the two really good teams by four total points, too. They don't have the opportunity to prove it to the world that they're good because they don't play anybody good. Oh, boy, you know what I'm hearing? You know what I'm hearing in this year? It's all the people going, join a conference.

They're in the chat right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, it's true. And you know what? If they don't make it because they're not in a conference, then they don't make it because they're not in the conference. Yeah, that's part of the deal. The Notre Dame has been willing to make that trade before.

I think they're still willing to make that. trade. I understand why we don't have to go into the lecture, but this is going to be something we have to follow the rest of the season. So we'll talk to you again about it next week on Notre Dame Tuesday. Meanwhile, tomorrow, Megaboard Wednesday. The message boards will be our guide. God only knows what people are going to post between now and then. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Thank you.