Andy & Ari On3 - Auburn FLIPS a QB from Notre Dame | Will the Big Ten and SEC be shut out of the Heisman ceremony?

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11.Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker,try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs.  This show is also sponsored by PrizePicks, America’s most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code STAPLES to play $5 and get $50 instantly. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/STAPLES(0:00-0:37) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs!(0:38-18:40) Deuce Knight flips from Notre Dame to Auburn(18:41-26:57) Week 6 Housekeeping: Line Changes, Injury Updates(26:58-33:52) South Carolina vs Ole Miss Preview, Presented by PrizePicks(33:53-43:12) Chances Big Ten, SEC are left out of Heisman Ceremony?(43:13-45:14) Rutgers & Indiana IN the CFP at 11-1?(45:15-52:43) South Carolina in CFP at 9-3?(52:44-54:57) Surviving as an Auburn fan in Athens(54:58-56:21) Texas playing Big 12 Team?(56:22-1:03:22) Revisiting Ari and the 12 Team CFP(1:03:23-1:07:43) What Happens if Army and Navy are both undefeated after Thanksgiving?(1:07:44-1:13:42) Is Luke Fickell Wisconsin's Bill Callahan?(1:13:43-1:14:28) Conclusion; See you Saturday! It’s a Dear Andy and Ari episode, but first, we’ve got some big recruiting news to talk about. Class of 2025 QB Deuce Knight flipped on Wednesday from Notre Dame to Auburn. This wasn’t a huge surprise, but it produces some interesting discussions. Does Hugh Freeze have to get a QB out of the portal now that he has the No. 7 QB recruit in the country in the class? Would 2024 freshman Walker White or Knight be able to be QB1 next year? Does this mean the C.J. Carr era begins at Notre Dame in 2025? Or will the Fighting Irish get a starting QB out of the portal for the third consecutive season? Now it’s time for your questions… Will the Big Ten and SEC be shut out of the Heisman Trophy ceremony? What happens if Army and Navy finish atop the American Athletic Conference standings? Is South Carolina’s schedule so hard that the Gamecocks could go 9-3 and be considered for the College Football Playoff? Watch us on YouTube instead: https://youtube.com/live/iEhkKVrNJeg Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

You've had Wendy's Nugs dipped in sauce, but have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy's new Saucy Nugs. Take the crispy and spicy Nugs you love and turn them up to 11. Choose between flavors like Buffalo, Honey Barbecue, and Garlic Parm. And of course, the hot variations of all those flavors. Or, if you're a real heat seeker, try the Spicy Ghost Pepper. I dare ya! That is seven delicious ways to try the Nugs you already love. Pick a flavor, grab some extra napkins, and prepare to nug like you have never nugged before.

For a whole new way to nug, it's got to be Wendy's at participating, U.S. Wendy's. And now I'm hungry. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3. It's a clear Andy and Ari day. We have incredible questions from you, but first we have to talk about a little bit of news.

The big news on Thursday was recruiting news, but that also affects what is going on right now. A topic, Ari, that we have covered extensively on this show over the last two weeks, Hugh Freeze, Auburn, what happens there? Well, guess what? He got himself a quarterback last night for the class of 2025. Deuce Knight from Mississippi, previously committed to Notre Dame, has flipped to Auburn. Yeah, you know, we always talk about like when things are going bad, it can be a powerful recruiting tool, right? Like, you know, you can't look a young man in the eye and say,

we need you more effectively than Auburn can right now. It's always funny to me when teams are going through a certain turmoil and then there's a recruit that commits during that time that would solve that turmoil. So, you know, I think that we have a deeper discussion about whether or not Auburn should still take a transfer quarterback because they can't find themselves in a position like they're in now, next year, again. But to get a five-star quarterback, you talk about Hugh Freeze and losing faith with fans and all that stuff.

It's like there's nothing like something like this that kind of helps you forget about what's going on right now and looking forward to the future, and I think it's a monumental get. It kind of reminded me of like a few years ago when Iowa's offense was struggling really, really bad. And they got a commitment from a quarterback right in the middle of it. Now that was a three star and it wasn't quite the same, but like it made me smile because it's like, who would commit to this right now?

But I think this is a completely different scenario because Auburn's moving the ball. They're just throwing it to the other team. And if you're a quarterback, you're like, ball. They're just throwing it to the other team. And if you're a quarterback, you're like, well, I won't throw it to the other team. And I have faith in myself. But the Deuce Knight thing, there's a lot of layers to this because this is something that we've talked about for the last couple of months has been a possibility for a while. The Notre Dame people were obviously prepared for it. Like the class of 26

quarterback recruit they have, Noah Grubbs, shout out Lake Mary High School, my alma mater, he immediately commits, we stand on business, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. There's a lot to this. For Notre Dame, does it mean the CJ Carr era is imminent? Like is Notre Dame about to start a homegrown QB that they signed out of high school, as opposed to going and getting somebody out of the portal? Like they have the last two years. Those things are a question for Auburn.

Does this mean you go with Walker White, who you signed this year and Deuce Knight as a quarterback competition for next year, or do you go into the portal and get somebody? Yeah, I mean, I guess it all depends on, you know, Hugh Freeze's evaluation of where Walker is, right? And it is kind of a scary proposition because there has to be at least a 10% part of you that questions whether or not their coach can do that

because he messed that up last year in terms of evaluating who's on the roster and whether they're ready to play. That said, going in next year with two kids that are really, really highly talented recruits, Walker White, not so much as Deuce, but still in a position where they should have somebody who's functional. But I do believe that they probably still should go get somebody in the portal to play next year if they don't feel 100 certain that they're not going to be able to feel the quarterback who doesn't throw interceptions that kill your team or you get like you go to the portal and you get the guy who accepts the fact that he might not wind up the starter the spencer sanders situation remember old miss went out and got spencer sanders out of the

portal from from oklahoma state he went knowing that he might not start, that he might be behind Jackson Dart. And maybe that's you get the veteran guy who's kind of an insurance policy. Bing in the chat says, this feels like- Which are really hard to find, Andy. That's not an easy thing to find. No.

Like that's, yeah, that's, yeah. But if there's enough money in it and it's somebody who wants to be a coach, it's actually what Gardner Minshew originally committed to Alabama to be. And then Mike Leach called him and said, Hey, come to Washington state and you can start. So being in the chat says this feels like DJ Lagway committing to Florida last year. No, it does not because DJ Lagway had been committed for a long time to Florida and just sort of hung in there. What, what this is, is what makes this interesting

is this is an addition to a already pretty good recruiting class as things are falling apart on the field, which I went on the Auburn live message board last week and said, Hey, you know, a lot of this is sounding a lot like Billy and apier, but here's how you can tell if it's going to be different or not. And one of the things I said is, do they add to the recruiting class versus get the recruiting class strip mined? So Florida's recruiting class, while DJ Lagway did sign, got strip mined last year, particularly by Auburn. Auburn grabbed some guys, Texas grabbed somebody. There were other schools that came in too, but that class got stripped away and was a shell of what it was by signing day, because that was a top five class at the end of the summer.

And it wound up, I'm trying to remember where it, where it landed, but I want to say it was somewhere in the, in the low teens. This Auburn class is ranked number four. Now do site is the highest ranked recruit in the class and in the, on three industry rankings,

he's the number 36 overall prospect, but this is a good class. Jared Smith, edge rusher from Hoover, Alabama, Derek Smith, athlete from Selma, Alabama. They have a bunch of guys that everybody wants. So if they can keep those guys, regardless of what happens on the field, that's a good sign for Hugh Freeze. Yeah. And this is a lot different than the Florida situation, Andy, because I think that Billy Napier's seat was probably a lot hotter at this moment a year ago than Hugh Freeze's right now in terms of just like the end of the class and how people were feeling about the direction of the program. And then two, like you also have to take into account like where Auburn was as a recruiting outfit before Hugh freeze arrived.

And like, just looking at this recruiting class alone is just like a breath of fresh air because they weren't even involved with players like this, let alone getting them. So like this is, you know, though we've been critical of Hugh freeze and his way of handling the on the field issues this year.

I think that he said some things that maybe he shouldn't have said. I don't think there's any question that you can see the tea leaves that or read the tea leaves at this program is at least headed in the right direction. Like I, and again, like you said earlier on the show, this isn't an Iowa situation where Auburn's team is just dreadful.

Like they actually are, are actually okay. I think they're going to be competitive in most of the SEC, if not all the SEC games they play this year. If they had a quarterback that didn't turn it over a lot, it's possible they might have won a few more games, including beating Oklahoma. It's not like this team is in the dumpster right now.

It's frustrating, and their coach is acting in a way that should frustrate you. When your coach, who's acting in a way that should frustrate you, goes out and gets a five-star quarterback that flipped from Notre Dame, and you have guys in your class that you know you wouldn't have been recruiting two or three years ago you can at least see the repairs underway how long you give him to complete the repair I guess is is the next part of the story but like I think that Auburn is doing the right things to address the issues right now and I think that's the number

one thing that you need to look for whenever a coach is taking over a program well so here's the thing on the field there's still some work to be done and like i said it's not hopeless because they are moving the ball they're just throwing the other team i think it's fairly hopeless this week like i don't think they're going to beat georgia but they need to win at least one of the next four games. If they could go two and two in this stretch, it would be huge. It would be huge. So at Georgia, at Missouri, at Kentucky, come back home and play Vanderbilt. You got to win at least one of those. If you lose to Vanderbilt at home and Fiego Pavia beats you again after he beats you with New Mexico State, I'm not sure what you can do at that point then you worry about the recruiting class falling apart then you worry about the vultures

swooping in as long as you can win one of these and preferably if you can win two of them you can say hey look we're coming out of this we got this great class you tell the guys in the great class, hey, you're playing next year. We need you. Hold the line. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I just don't know that there could be a better remedy or, you know, fix to an ailment than getting a five-star quarterback right now.

Like, I think that this feels better probably. And you know what, Andy? I think you need to, you need to talk some sense into me because I do think that I am more in bad years recruiting oriented. I would rather see a five-star quarterback and a bunch of kids commit to your team when you're losing than win a bunch of games that don't really matter. I know that ultimately this is about winning and losing, but whether or not I believe Hugh Freeze is going to be successful at Auburn, whether they beat Kentucky in those games that you just mentioned

really has no bearing to me. I think what has bearing is whether or not he's bringing in better players and has a quarterback coming in to save this thing. Because what's going on with the team right now is still part of the situation. I mean, you know what? He did choose to be in that situation. Let me explain to you what I got wrong on this, Ari. I will talk you out of it.

Yeah, talk me out of it. Because I've always been this way. This isn't just an Auburn thing. Yeah, this isn't Conference USA. You can't just win by bringing in better players. They play in the SEC. Everybody brings in great players. If you can't coach win by bringing in better players. They play in the SEC. Everybody brings in great players. If you can't coach them on the field, you're sunk.

You're hopeless. You're cooked. So you bring in all the great players you want. You're still going to lose. You have to prove you can coach them on the field. That's why you've got to win some of these games. But if the reason why you're losing, like, so let's, let's break this down in a bad at math podcast scenario.

Okay. Now this is complicated because we have some parentheses and, you know, we got to do some, you know, order of what's it called? When you have two equations. Order of operations. Oh, boy. It was my dear Sally. We have some order of operations to deal with because some of the roster ailments, as we've said on the show, like Auburn's quarterback situation is Hugh Freeze's fault. So like that's also under the umbrella of coaching.

So like the thing here is of the percentage of the reason why Auburn is losing. How much of a percentage is it based on the roster that has been in place? Right. based on the roster that has been in place, right? And a lot of the roster that's been in place as a result of a coach before Hugh Freeze. And how much of it percentage-wise would you put on Hugh Freeze's shoulders? 50-50. Okay.

Because they're playing well enough to win the games, but they're not playing well enough to win the games, so you're not winning them. But statistically, they are in the ballpark to win the games. They're there. Decisions are being made during the games that are costing them the games, and those are coaching decisions. Like Hugh Freeze said it himself.

He got asked what he regrets about the Oklahoma game, and part of it was I should have just called runs at the end. Why were we throwing at the end? We were running the ball fine. Why didn't I just run the ball and remember what did we say the last two weeks if you're okay if things are going well and it's working just run the ball yeah it's not complicated like but if you do think it's 50 50 and the 50 that's not his fault, I would assume you think is personnel. Right.

And then you address head-on the 50% that's not your fault by bringing in better players. Then if you're losing 50% of the reason why to, let's say, Kentucky, that's a pretty large percentage to fall on someone else's shoulder. I'm more talking about Vanderbilt. If you lose to Vanderbilt to go 0-4 in this stretch, you've told us what you are. If you lose to Diego Pavia twice at Jordan-Harris,

the head coach of Auburn, once to New Mexico State, once to Vanderbilt, you've told us what you are. I didn't even know that we had even – I know we had – there was a lot of concerns about Hugh Freeze when he took the job there. I didn't know on the field coaching on Saturday. I wasn't concerned about the in-game part of it.

Yeah. I really wasn't. Yeah. So, yeah, it'll be interesting to watch out. The good news is, if I were a fan, I don't think that there's anything that can happen. I mean, do you think that there's anything that could happen that Hugh Freeze would no longer be the coach going into next year?

Lose the next four in a row. You think so? Yep. Because you'll also lose to A&M in Alabama in that scenario. Yeah. So don't lose the next four in a row. That simple. Win a couple of those.

You can. You're good enough and i don't think it's out of the question that they could that they were good enough to be in a fourth quarter game with missouri either i know that's on the road but like they could win kentucky and missouri i'm i'm telling they could go three and one in this stretch like they could beat georgia no i'm kidding maybe hey only knows what's going to happen in that game. Only God knows who's going to wait. That's the Bainey Alabama game. I know. I just was smart.

Knows what's going to happen in this game, though. Yeah. Well, OK. There's another little piece of this discussion. I do want to spend a minute on the Notre Dame part of the discussion. Yes, we do. Because Notre Dame has. Started Sam Hartman last year, Riley Leonard this year.

They've gone to the portal. They've not gone with guys that they recruited out of high school. Now, obviously, Marcus Freeman, this is year three as the head coach for him. CJ Carr was his first big quarterback signee as Notre Dame's coach. It seems like they are paving the way for CJ Carr to be the quarterback of the future. And if I'm Deuce Knight, I look at that and I'm like, you know what? If they really like him and he takes it and runs with it, I'm going to be on the bench a while. So let me go to the place where the job's open next year.

Yeah, that is an interesting angle to this, because I think that if you are a Notre Dame fan, you're probably wanting to get out of the cycle of rent a quarterback every year, right? Like you want to get to a guy that is homegrown that you picked out of high school that you develop. That's been in your system for a few years that can kind of flourish in there for not just one year, but maybe two. Like, I don't know how much, like I loved that Notre Dame went out and got those transfers the last few years, but

at the same time, I think the mark of a healthy program is a team that doesn't have to rely on whatever's there every year. That said, I think there's another angle to this too, Andy, that we have to discuss, and it's like when is Marcus Freeman going to get a five-star to commit there? Not commit

there, sorry, sign there. He's had, I think, four, maybe five, five stars committed to him, um, at his, uh, Notre Dame program during his leadership. And I think all of them have flipped out. So like, I know that there are certain, um, limitations at Notre Dame in terms of whether or not you're going to be able to get some of these top tier guys. I know academics and NIL and all these things might come into play, but you know, the whole point of Marcus Freeman's excitement of him taking over was that you were going to see an increase in recruiting output. And if you've ever spoken to the man or seen the man in action, he does seem to relate and have a passion uh for these kids that he's

recruiting and it's just not really materializing in classes that are infinitely better than the ones that brian kelly was putting together and funny enough brian kelly didn't seem all that interested in being that insanely attached to the recruiting aspect of this so like at a certain point um you want to see notre dame i will point I will point out Brian Kelly's accent in the chat. Will Black is a five-star, according to us at On3. He's not a five-star in the industry rating, so if the other services fall in love with Will Black the way our Charles Power and Cody Blair have,

which if you ever met Will Black, you should. He's insanely Canadian and also incredibly athletic for a 6'7", 280-pound dude. And plays for the most appropriate position. He'll be a and also incredibly athletic for a six foot seven. And 280 dude, the most appropriate position as a Notre Dame. So, and it would be the most appropriate position for Notre Dame to sign a five star,

right? Like if Notre Dame just signed a bunch of five star offensive tackles and linebackers, like that would be the most Notre Dame thing ever. Like, I'm just hoping, like I've been hoping that the skill position talent at Notre Dame would see an uptick. And it wasn't just a quarterback position because I think Sam Hartman and Riley Leonard are probably good enough to win if you have a team around you.

But the reason why Notre Dame has been so challenged when they've gotten to the largest stages in the sport this year is because they get smoked at the skill. And part of the reason why is they don't bring those guys in. So like when you see a player like deuce night committed there and he had been there for months, you're like, okay, I can see they got CJ car was CJ car, a five star.

I can't remember. I think he was, uh, he was, he was very highly rated it very close. But you know, they, they are,

they seemed at times so close to breaking through their artificial recruiting ceiling under Marcus Freeman, and it just slips away. And I think that's probably pretty frustrating for them, too. I think they'll be fine. I mean, you keep getting guys ranked in the 40s nationally. So according to the on three industry rankings, one, two, three, four four guys in the the top of their 24 class we're in the top 60 overall so that's pretty good right a couple recruiting services like those guys just a tad bit differently one of them pops into the five-star ranks it's it's not that they're not that far off all right we're going to talk about a couple other things ari one very interesting

deal we when we picked florida ucf florida was a a slight favorite and that has flipped ucf is now a two and a half point favorite on the road in gainesville uh do we want to reevaluate our picks for this game i don't think i do i think I feel the same way about it where I thought it was basically a coin flip going in. I think both teams will be able to score. Um, it really will depend on how well Florida's defensive line can play that UCF read option. Colorado's played it really well. And Florida's play it that well.

We'll find out. I mean, if you were going to lay two points and nothing's changed about the game in terms of injuries or you know stuff like that then why wouldn't you take the two and a half right like that's a four and a half point swing you just got there um like the thing i want to uh analyze with you is why are you so certain that florida's going to score i don't think u UCF's defense is very good. And Florida's offense is okay. It's fine.

It's not good. It's fine. So when they play Tennessee next week, they're not going to score. When they play Kentucky, they're probably not going to score. When they play Georgia, they're definitely not going to score. But I play Georgia, they're definitely not going to score.

But I think against UCF, they can score some. Yeah. The line here is just going to maybe tell us whether or not we're going to have a long night on Saturday night. So you're going to the game. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. Like, if UCF wins this game, I think just because of the symbolism alone that's probably where you make the move on Billy Napier you're going to make it at some point between now and November so you can make it after this one you can make it after Tennessee you can make it after

Kentucky you can make it after Georgia it doesn't really matter but the symbolism of it, you know, the Florida people will be very, very upset if UCF comes into the swamp and beats them. And that'll probably be enough for a last straw, I would think. Yeah, yeah. I'm excited you're going. I'm happy you're going. I think it's important for you to be there, and obviously you do too, because you're going, so it's going to be a good time. Or a bad time, depending on how things go. Here's the thing. I don't know that any Florida home game is going to be a good time or a bad time. Here's the thing. I don't know that any, any Florida home game is going to be a good time for the rest of the season

for the, for the people there. I don't think they're very excited about the product on the field or anything right, right now. I'm curious to see what kind of crowd even shows up. I think the weather is supposed to be nice. So that,

that usually helps, but we'll, we'll find out it. It's going to be very interesting. Another line that's moved that I thought was interesting now this the favorite is still the same but they're more of a favorite now uh unlv people have hammered unlv over the week and now they are a six and a half point favorite against syracuse yeah i think this is a dangerous spot andy like i think that like we are in unlv mania right now

and syracuse is a pretty good team yeah so like i i don't know we i think i laid four and a half with you when we picked on monday like this makes me want to change my pick it's especially where it is like right under a touchdown i think if it goes if it went to seven or seven and a half, you'd absolutely change your pick. Like there'd be no question, right? Yeah.

Well, I mean, just from a, from a gambling standpoint, like getting the value, I think Syracuse could win. So like getting the plus one 50 plus one 70 type return on just picking them to win might be attractive at this point.

Cause the spread's probably larger than it should be. Yeah. It's very interesting how excited everybody got about, you know, being, I kind of wonder like a team in Vegas where, you know, a lot of the,

the sharps live, do they have information or is this just everybody's excited? Yeah. Well, I mean, I just remember too, like three weeks ago, we were really,

really excited about Syracuse too. You know what I mean? And I know they lost the game, but like, this isn't a team that stinks. So, uh, they've lost to Stanford.

It's, you know, and Stanford's not terrible. I mean, maybe, maybe we'll find out through the season that they are, but I don't think they are. So,

yeah, I mean, there's so much to learn about Haj Malik Williams. I mean, like honestly, he out through the season that they are, but I don't think they are. Yeah. I mean, there's so much to learn about Hajmalik Williams. I mean, like, honestly, he's played one blowout start. So, like, how good is he? How productive can he be? I know Ricky White was excited about his production because, you know, the ball came his way a little bit more. And, you know, it's a very exciting situation. But I don't know that we can sit here and look at each other and say,

hey, you know, Hajmalik Williams is going to be lighting up the scoreboard for sure on Friday night. But, you know, it is at home. I think UNLV fans are probably more bought in and excited about this team than they've ever been. But even that, we're not talking about a packed house. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.

I don't know. I think that it makes me want to take six and a half now and not lay four and a half well we'll see what happens uh rod says ari take the orange do it do it we'll find out it is thursday morning which means the sec availability reports came out last night uh lane Kiffin is trolling with his availability report. The Ole Miss one is about 10 miles long. It's basically the whole roster. He's pulling a Belichick. Wasn't Tom Brady questionable every week under Belichick? Yeah. I mean, what is the point of this? Explain the troll to me,

because I know Lane Kiffin's always joking around and stuff, but, like, what is he doing here to try to make people feel like some people might not play when they're going to play? I think he's just messing with people. I just think he likes to watch the world burn. South Carolina's is a lot shorter, but two very important names on it.

Lenore Sellers, the starting quarterback and Rocket Sanders, the best running back, both questionable. Now, Shane Beamer has been very optimistic about the idea of Lenora Sellers playing. He said on Tuesday that Lenora Sellers did everything at practice. And so I think they are definitely sort of angling toward him playing here. And look, I think South Carolina can win the game if Lenora Sellers plays and his ankle is mostly healthy. I do not think they will win if it's Robbie Ashford. Yeah. Although Robbie Ashford did come in at the end of the LSU game

and throw some smoke around. So, you know, you never know. You know, I don't know that I've ever. I don't know if I'm at the point where I'm considering this game is like is Ole Miss going to lose again. Like I still have some faith in this team getting back up after it got knocked down last week and winning the game. But obviously, which side of the spread you pick goes because I laid the

nine and a half with Sellers potentially playing. It's just so many points. That was my feeling on it. When we're talking about that many points, then I'm probably taking the home team. Because that's a great environment. And perhaps my judgment is skewed because the last time a really super hyped in the preseason Ole Miss team came to Williams-Rice

Stadium is a Thursday night in 2009. And that was the night that the Gamecocks fully embraced Sandstorm, which was kind of hilarious to me because, you know, being a, I grew up a South Carolina fan, Columbia, you know, originally from Columbia before my family moved to Florida. Like we weren't always up on the trends embracing a nine-year-old Danish EDM song was very on brand for South Carolina like we're gonna make this our song like nine years after it was popular and now it's their song but it was I will tell you like being on the sideline at the end of that game right in front of the student section and that and there's popping up and down it was amazing so i don't know

maybe the memories will flow uh the the decks at williams rice do sway when things get going this could be one of those games all right let's talk a little bit more about this game go a little bit deeper our prize picks preview of old Miss South Carolina prize picks, of course, is America's best daily fantasy game. Download the app, use the code staples. When you sign up, play $5, get $50 instantly. So the way prize picks works is you're picking squares. Players have statistical categories attached to them and you decide going to be more or less. And so I'll, I'll give you an example, Jackson dart, the Ole miss quarterback in this game, his passing yardage number is 287.5. Do you think he'll throw for more than that or less than that? Uh, Lenora sellers, there is a square for Lenora

or multiple squares for our sellers. His passing square is one 61.5 the more interesting one re to me is the pass plus rush yards for lenora sellers at 198.5 where if i think i think if lenora sellers is healthy or healthy enough he's going to go more than that yeah if you are on the south carolina side of this andy then you have to do more than that right like. Like that's, I mean, cause I think that's the hope right there. Like if you think that's, what's going to happen, the thing that scares me a little bit when playing squares of, um, injured players is that there's always a chance that they might not be able to finish the game. You just may want to avoid those entirely.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, but I think that that's the, that's the map right there. I mean, that was kind of the map when South Carolina had LSU on the ropes three weeks ago, right? Like Lenore Sellers was just going crazy, and then he got injured, and then things kind of fell off the track a little bit. So, yeah, the Sellers interception square is interesting, too.

It's a goblin, which means it's easier. 0.5 interceptions. That one kind of stinks out a little bit, too, if they think he's going to throw a pick. I don't know. I feel like when last we saw on Oris Sellers, the first half of the LSU game, South Carolina, remember, took the big lead. I think they're up 17 to nothing and end up losing that game

because lsu came back in the second half sellers got hurt at the end of the first half they basically like you get into the second quarter of that game they are basically a triple option team at that point that is that has a a passing game that is branching off the triple option. It kind of reminded me like 95 Nebraska. Now, obviously not as dominant as 95 Nebraska, although the first part of that game, they look pretty dominant, but that's a pretty tough thing to stop if it's working. Yeah. If you're stopping it, then you're making it go three and out and you're getting the

ball back immediately. So that's the question is is how does Ole Miss's defense play this now you saw the massive Ole Miss injury report uh Prince Lee Emanuel was listed as questionable uh so was pretty much everybody else but Prince Lee Emanuel and Jared Ivey would be the ones that I would be watching in that situation. How did they play that option? How do they handle being red? So they could be very important players in this game. And it also, and that will affect that Lenora Sellers rushing square. It will affect the Lenora Sellers pass rush square.

Let's talk a little bit about Jackson dart, Jackson dart. You'd think had a terrible game against Kentucky because Ole Miss only scored 17 points. He actually wasn't the problem completed two thirds of his pass. He was, he was 18 to 27, 261 yards. So it's 9.7 yards per attempt. He was actually fairly efficient in that game. You know, it's just, they didn't get their run game going much against Kentucky. So I think the question is, can they, can they run the ball against South Carolina? Because this offense, and I know I say this every time, and I'm sure the people who really listen to the show are sick of it.

Bad offense, the old Art Briles-Baylor offense, only works when you're running the ball well. If you can't run the ball, you really aren't moving it very well. And against Kentucky, Ole Miss ran the ball 29 times for 92 yards as a 3.2-yard average. That is not going to be good enough. You know, the thing that is so frustrating about this team is that you look around the way there, and the quarterback,

you got Trey Harrison, receiver at receiver juice wells free scoring one of the best tight ends in the country uh perish at running back like they have all the pieces to never not score you know what i mean or never not run the ball well or never not throw the ball well it's like that's like part of the reason why like i you know we talk about preseason notions and like getting obsessed with what you think something's going to be and not being able to let go of it and it's like I'm having a hard time letting go of what Ole Miss was supposed to be this year and I know they had a really tough game against Kentucky and we think that this is a game that South Carolina can win but I look at the names on those squares Annie and she's like how is this offense not going to score 40 points

like I think this every single time they play no matter who they're playing well let me I'll just tell you the one that that sticks out to me is Henry Paris Jr 83 and a half rushing yards if he goes more than that Ole Miss is winning this game that's that's all there is to it it's if they can run the ball they're gonna win if he goes more than 20 20 and a half longest rush i think there's a real good chance they win the game but if they are averaging three yards of carry like they were last week they're gonna lose again yeah no i'm with you i'm with you so or at least yeah i mean it's just that that's the part they got to figure out you we we talked about this with Tennessee and Oklahoma like how do you learn to win games differently and Tennessee runs that offense but feels like the first team that runs that offense that has figured out how to win games

in multiple ways Ole Miss has to figure out how to win win games in multiple ways so I think this is going to be a tough one as As David in chat says, South Carolina coming off a bye week, just got a blueprint on how to beat Ole Miss. How impactful is that bye week? It's very impactful, especially if it allowed Lenore sellers to get healthy. That's really all there is to it. So download your prize picks, use the code staples when you sign up play five dollars get fifty dollars instantly we just gave you the secrets to Ole Miss South Carolina now you gotta you gotta figure out what you think's gonna happen in that game if you're a bit if you're thinking Ole Miss is is bouncing back and winning then that Henry Parrish more than should feel pretty good to you if you think South Carolina

is going to to win this game that Lenora Sellers more than on the past rush total should feel pretty good to you. But we'll see. We shall see. Ari, it is time now for Dear Andy and Ari questions from our viewers and listeners. There's some really, really good ones. So let's get right into it we've had this Heisman Trophy discussion but this one this question from Justin attacks that a little in a little different way and it's it's intriguing because I hadn't thought about it this way before

from Justin as of this morning the Heisman Trophy finalist front runners look to be Travis Hunter Cam Ward and Ash Degenti what are the chances the Big Ten and the SEC get shut out of finalists for the ceremony in New York? I think that it's relatively zero. I don't know about you. When you think about the other names that we've been

talking about who have yet to have an important game, we're talking about Dylan Gabriel, we're talking about Nico at Tennessee, Quinn yours. I don't know. Yeah. Jalen Milrow,

obviously, but I don't know if Quinn yours has missed too much time to get back into this thing, but like we are one huge game from Dylan Gabriel against Ohio state away from him being on the top three for every huge Will Howard game against Oregon. Yeah. Well,

the thing with Will Howard and I was on a podcast called Kings of the North with Doug LeMaurice before we joined up together to get my reps in and he made a good point about Ohio State of like if Ohio State beats Oregon by a ton like how much is that the quarterback at Ohio State really like when you think about like Quinsha Judkins and Trey Henderson and Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Igbuka, they have so many important pieces on that team. I think it might be hard for Will Howard to absorb all of the credit for whatever Ohio State

does. I know the quarterback usually gets the credit. Jalen Milrow has Ryan Williams and Jam Miller and Justice Haynes. No, I know, but I think that Will Howard is probably less important to Ohio State than Jalen Milrow is to Alabama. I don't know if that sounds crazy.

I think Jalen Milrow will be that guy. Jalen Milrow is the engine that moves Alabama. I don't know if you could say the same thing. We'll see how they play when they play a team that can, has a pulse and can beat them. But I do, I do want to point out though, like the Travis Hunter,

national gente thing. Cause you and I have talked about this quite a bit. Yeah. I did this question in the, in the dear Andy written version. And so I did some research on, you know, like when's the last time we've seen any of this.

So for Travis Hunter, really the, the, the NCAA allowed the two platoon system, which means like having a separate offense and defense in 1965. So we've not seen any of this since the early sixties. So most of us have never seen it in our lifetimes. And even then there wasn't anybody who was this, this good on both sides of the ball. As for Ashton Gentry, he's averaging 10.3 yards of carry. He's on pace to carry the ball 267 times this year.

No one has ever carried over a hundred times and averaged more than 10 yards of carry. No one like Barry Sanders in his Heisman year, he broke the NCAA record for rushing yards with 2,628 but he had 344 carries the last person who came up with something even close to this was uh Daryl Henderson who had 1,909 yards on 214 carries for Memphis in 2018 nobody else has even come close uh there was an oklahoma running back in the 70s who averaged 9.1 yards a carry like it's we we've never seen anything like this most of us have not been alive for for this uh sorry greg pruitt 1971 178 carries, 1,665 yards, so 9.4 per carry. That was in 1971, so long before either of us were born.

So there's some comments that I'll let you get after. Absolutely nobody. Oregon is nobody? I think Oregon's pretty good. Ashton Gentry dominated Oregon. So can I ask you a Dear Andy question from Ari to piggyback off this? Dear Andy, what are the odds that neither Hunter or Gentee are finalists at the end of the year?

Pretty high. That's pretty high because I don't have faith in the voters. Yeah. Because, like, right now we are in early October, and those guys are all the rage. But as the playoff picture gets clearer and players play in bigger games, because even at Ohio State, they haven't even played. I think they played their first P4 opponent this past weekend.

We haven't gotten into the teeth of the schedule yet. So they are the early frontrunners. But even if you go look at Heisman odds, I still think that Travis Hunter is 15 or 10 to 1 at this point in some books. It's not like he is the favorite right now. He's the favorite one we're talking about, but I think the difference between the favorite one

we're talking about and somebody who's actually going to be in a position to win the award, you know how we feel about Hunter. Andy and I right now said we're both going to vote for him if this continues. But if I had to pick between him and Milrow to actually win the award, I would pick Milrow. Right, because we don't have faith in the other voters. And then Cam Ward fits, you know, he checks all the boxes. He's a quarterback in a power conference on a team that's good and

will compete for a playoff berth like that. He obviously has a very good chance. So that's probably what's going to happen. Though I will say that the 12-team playoff may contribute to a candidacy for Hunter or Jenty possibly because of the format. Because if Colorado beats Kansas State next week, I mean, Colorado can win the Big 12. If they can beat Kansas State, they can win the Big 12. For sure.

So they might be in the mix into November. If Colorado makes the playoff this year, I will stuff a – no, I'm kidding. I was waiting for that seven-liter burrito to come up. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I couldn't come up with another item. But, yeah, we'll see. I cannot wait. We get to watch that together, pal.

I know. I know. We got nine days before you're over, or a week before you're here. I got to start coming up with some snacks. Exactly. I got to go to the store and get us some, some pizza rolls and stuff. Exactly. Mom made pizza rolls,

but no, I, I think the, the fact that Colorado actually could be like, they beat Kansas state. They could be in the playoff mix as the season goes down the stretch and might be able to win the big 12 and make the playoff ditto for Boise state.

Like it for Boise state, it's probably coming down to two games against unlv whether they win the mountain west or not and obviously what happens like with army and navy is going to affect them too but they could be in the mix too and i think that helps we will be watching them and paying attention to them in ways that we weren't paying attention to them earlier so we will find out but i i think that's interesting to to pay attention to but the mill row like i think mill row will be there but genti might actually play on a team that's legitimately a top 15 team in america like we don't know that yet we don't know the context of like boise state ditto for hunter

yeah yeah right boise state i think is probably based on the tea leaves right like that we can vincent vincent doesn't understand what we're saying what you're saying about hunter makes no sense if you think he's the best vote for him regardless of other voters very beta energy we are going to vote for him if we think he's the best dummy i'm saying the other voters won't i don't care what the other voters do did you say we weren't voting vincent's not very smart he didn't understand what we were saying vincent has very dummy energy so beta ari we're betas oh no i think i get called beta a lot in my life so uh that doesn't really harm me anymore six and stones may break my bone i would love these guys to come up

in in person and be like you're a beta dude i'm like okay shall we uh yeah shall we test this theory out like but they'd never do that they would be scared i think this is steve in fort worth when andy says they're gonna build a fort in the living room and sleep in sleeping bags i mean i'm more of a couch sleeper myself andy have you seen that meme that floats around Instagram of like, it's an adult male sleepover party, and there's four dudes laying on the floor next to each other in a sleeping bag. They all have a large pizza on their chest, and there's a football game on TV. That's brilliant.

You're telling me that doesn't sound like the greatest night of your life? That's the dream right there. I hope that we are up eating pizza slaying and sleeping bags and watching college football until two in the morning i hope that that'd be great yeah all right next question from dd wag indiana rutgers have been two of the biggest surprises in the big 10 what are the chances each gets into the playoff if rutgers's only loss is at usc and ind Michigan, Ohio state. We talked about Indiana yesterday. Yeah. I'm assuming you mean Indiana splits Ohio state, Michigan, Ohio state and wins the other games. If, if Indiana is 11 and one they're in, well, we have to, we have to consider what the,

I still think they'd be in, but if Indiana is 11 and one, they might be playing an Indy. True, but that's not going to stop them from getting it. Like losing an Indy is not going to keep them out. Yeah. Well, Rutgers doesn't play Indiana, right?

So we, no, I think the question is, is what are the odds that both get in together? Like that, that that's the question because, well, if Rutgers loses to USC,

Hmm. I mean, Rutgers is in the big 10 championship game at that point. What if it's, and that's not going to be a Rutgers, Indiana, big 10 championship game. I don't think because a lot of the, the way the tiebreakers work is the degree of difficulty of your schedule. Like if you get down into the nitty gritty, the tiebreakers. So they're at both of them are going to be out because ohio state and michigan and oregon will have played tougher conference schedules michigan

may not be in that mix but ohio state and oregon 18 team league too it's like how is rutgers going to play an entire big 10 schedule and not play michigan ohio state or oregon like it's like that is setting up perfectly for them, but you have the scenarios where you can have four teams that finish the league with one loss, and it's just like, I don't know. But we have to go through with the question, Andy, which is if they don't play in the Big Ten championship game and they're both sitting at the end of the year at 11-1.

I think they get in they probably both get in i think i think there there's another question down actually producer river i'm changing up the order let's go to that south carolina question at the bottom because i actually think this this is relevant to the discussion that we're having. Do I have this? Maybe I didn't send this to Producer River. Here we go. Yes.

This is from Sean. Is there a world where South Carolina loses three games but still makes the CFP with their tough schedule? So this is sort of the opposite of that, Ari. Yeah. The opposite of 11-1 Rutgers would be 9-3 South Carolina, although I would argue 9 and 3 Oklahoma has the same argument 9 and 3 Georgia may have the same argument and so I answered this in the written dear Andy column and tell me if I'm nuts or if this sounds plausible I said

I don't know if anybody would get in at 9-3, but if you were 9-3, if you were 9-3 and you beat two teams that made the playoff, would they put you in? I think that at the end of the year, we will be discussing a three-loss team and whether they should get in like i think that that's going to happen like no matter whether it's south carolina or not like we're going to get to a point in the year where there just aren't very many viable options for the 10 and 11 right like that just happens just naturally because if you go back and you look at last year's playoff

final rankings before they revealed the field i think that every team outside of the top 12 had three losses. So like you're already going to be in that territory. Now, the thing that and I'm sure you discovered this while you were doing the exercise for the mailbag, but the three losses would have to be like, I feel like you would almost prefer them to lose games like Vanderbilt in this scenario. Well, they lost to LSU. So LSU is actually the perfect team to lose to because I think LSU is probably going to be pretty good, but not a playoff team. Yeah.

But you want their wins to be. It's a bad loss, but it's a loss. So here's who South Carolina. Let me tell you who South Carolina has left. They play Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, Texas A&M, and Missouri. There's a chance you could beat. You have to go 3-2 against that group to be 9-3. There's a chance if you go 3-2 against that group that you've beaten two playoff teams.

Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that if they're nine and three with wins against Alabama and Clemson, they might get in, right? That's what I'm saying. Yeah. And Oklahoma, you can even do the same thing. So Oklahoma has a loss to Tennessee, which may be a playoff team. We'll see. But Oklahoma plays Texas, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Missouri, Alabama, and LSU. They would have to go four and two against that group.

If they went four and two against that group, they probably have beaten two playoff teams, right? Yeah. So the games that they have that if they were going to lose would be most advantageous for them to lose would probably be losing to Oklahoma and Mizzou, right? If we're talking about South Carolina, yes. Because we're talking about a team that would have then beaten Ole Miss, Alabama, and Clemson, which I think is more attractive, I think, at the end of the year. But also losing to Oklahoma, Missouri, and LSU is an embarrassing thing.

Clemson can't drop another ACC game in that scenario. Clemson's got to keep winning in the ACC. Clemson needs to win the ACC championship. But here's the likely scenario. Clemson's got to keep winning in the ACC. Clemson needs to win the ACC championship. But here's the likely scenario. Because let's not do fantasy land scenario. Let's do the real scenario. South Carolina is probably going to lose to Alabama, right? We can say that.

They're probably going to lose. So if they lose to Alabama and Clemson, who turns out to be really good at the end of the year, but they end up beating Oklahoma A&M and Mizzou, and Ole Miss this weekend. We'll give them Ole Miss too. They have Ole Miss, Mizzou, and Oklahoma wins at the end of the year, which aren't eye-popping out of the head wins, but are quality, tough wins in a tough conference.

But they've lost to Alabama, LSU, and Clemson. Does that get in? Because I think it's possible that that gets in, isn't it? You've got to beat somebody that got in. I think at bare minimum, you have to have beaten one team that's getting in. I think you have to have beaten two teams that get in. Okay. Okay. So South Carolina. Yeah. to have beaten one team that's getting in i think you have to have beaten two teams that carry in okay okay so south carolina yeah well we don't old miss will probably be out if they beat old miss right like they will have two losses with their entire schedule to go um yeah no i think

you're probably right about that so they would have to beat alabama and clemson both of whom would still get in and then lose to Oklahoma and A&M. Or let's say, I mean, they could beat Ole Miss and Ole Miss gets in, but you're right. If they beat Ole Miss, Ole Miss probably doesn't get in. Missouri could possibly get in. I mean, if Missouri doesn't lose another game, Missouri plays Alabama. So like, would Missouri get in with losses

to Alabama and South Carolina? Or would South Carolina get in at 9-3 if they beat Missouri? Yeah. I think the thing that we have to focus on here, though, is that South Carolina actually has the perfect schedule when it comes to opportunity of threading that needle because they can lose to teams that aren't embarrassing to lose to. Correct.

LSU, LSU, A&M. Oklahoma has that same opportunity. But they also have a lot of opportunity, ample opportunity, I'll say, to beat teams that are going to get in while also losing games to teams that aren't going to get in that aren't embarrassing to lose to. The other one in this mix that we didn't bring up is Georgia. Georgia could be that team too. Georgia already has a win against Clemson,

which could theoretically be 12-1 in the ACC champ. So they lost to Alabama, but they've beaten Kentucky. We'll see what happens to Kentucky the rest of the way. They play at Texas. They play at Ole Miss. They play against Tennessee. Let's say they lost at Texas and to Tennessee, or let's say they lost at texas and to tennessee or let's say they lost but beat tennessee they'd probably have beaten two teams that get into the playoff at that point

right well is there a scenario where georgia is nine and three and still gets in i think is is right right like i think this is definitely a scenario. Yeah. I think Clemson's going to get in if they keep playing the way they're playing. So Georgia's already got that win in pocket. They would just need one more. Yeah, if they beat Texas and Tennessee but lose to Ole Miss and Auburn or something.

Correct. Would that get them in? I think it would. So we'll find out. I mean, we, we, we keep saying this with,

with like, I say that this is, this goes back to be careful when I am saying things confidently. Cause I might just not know what I'm talking about and I'm just being confident. Uh, we don't know any of this. We've never seen the committee have to deal with it before.

Andy, let me ask you this. because I like popping in with questions myself. Will a three-loss team make it this year? I'm going to say no, but we've just laid out the path. I'm going to say yes. I think it's going to play out that way. Let's go to Mr. Nanners. Mr. Nanners. Mr. Nanners is an Auburn fan.

I last went to Athens in 2014. Auburn went up seven and then allowed 30 plus. I swear I'd never returned to that town. If Gus was head coach and I didn't understandably, I didn't go under Harsin either. I am going this weekend. How do I survive? The way you survive Mr.

Nanners is you go to mama's boy and you go for brunch and you get a cinnamon roll because the cinnamon roll at mama's boy is one of the best cinnamon rolls in the world there's also a dish and i was it's funny because i was actually bringing talking about this to uh to produce a river before the show they've got a deal where they've got home fries covered in pulled pork with two over easy eggs over them and you you break the yolks and just let the yolk run down into that it's so freaking good they also have georgia peach french toast that's how you survive because i don't think you're gonna survive by auburn winning the game i don't i don't i don't think that's that's how you survive. Cause I don't think you're going to survive by Auburn winning the game. I don't, I don't even, I don't think that's, that's happening,

but that is how you survive. Yeah. Uh, we also went to a barbecue. I went to mama's boy with Max Olson when we were filming this, this shoot last year. And we went to dog on good barbecue. Have you been there?

I have not been to that one. It's a dude who just opened up a business who used to make barbecue in his house and then just started. It is outstanding. Very, very good stuff and great sides. You know, I'm a big science guy. One more trapeze in downtown Austin.

T-R-A-P-P-E-Z-E. So kind of mixing Trappist, like the Belgian monks who make beer and a swinging trapeze. Get the fries. They have these French fry appetizers that are covered in various things and have various things to dip your fries in.

They're awesome, incredible beer selection. So trust me, you're gonna get through it in Athens because Athens is the best college town in America. Uh, you're probably not going to get through it for football reasons though. So just, it's okay.

You'll, you'll find, you'll find ways to enjoy it. Uh, we got Randy and he just, I don't know if he has as much of a question as a late saucy take. So the Texas Longhorns should be worried. They have,

if they have to play a big 12 team in the playoff, almost any big 12 team has a better chance of beating the longhorns than any other sct team purely by the fact that they played longhorns for years up until now and are not as intimidated by them than any other team the sec randy you do understand that sec teams play alabama and georgia and lsu and really don't give a crap about Texas. Like they're not scared of Texas. So how much, how much you even buy into the familiarity notion? Like this is in a completely new roster playing them in 2019. Like,

yeah, LSU is not on Texas schedule this year, but like, why would LSU care or be intimidated by Texas? Who cares? Like they play Alabama. Alabama is better than Texas in recent history. Now, Texas beat them the last time they played.

But they played Georgia. Texas is probably better than Alabama now, right? Maybe. Maybe. I would like to see the game. Maybe they should play the game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on December 6th. This is my face I'm going to make from now on every time I say anything that could get clipped by River

and put on Twitter for a million views. I'm assuming, oh. Exactly. Oh, no, he's been clipping that. Just to stop him from doing it? Yeah. He's been clipping that. Actually, let's find that.

There is a great question that somebody asked from Kyle. Does Ari realize the 12-team playoff is happening whether he likes it or not? Because that is what you want! Andy, Andy, so here's the funniest thing about that. There are over, I think, close to a million views on that rant on Twitter. Yep. And if you go read the responses to that rant on Twitter,

you're getting a bunch of people who are angry at me for being anti-college football playoff being a 12. But that was not even what the rant was about. The rant was about people getting... You're expecting people on the internet to understand nuance i just don't understand how people watch the clip i was just saying don't be upset when teams with two and one losses are included on the bubble they will be upset because they complain about everything but i just don't understand how like i can i went on a rant that was very fiery and I wanted to talk about something that was bothering me.

And I posted the rant and then what I said wasn't heard by anybody. Yeah, welcome to the world of the internet in the year of our own 2024. I got a book of hate and personal attacks and all these things. And it's like, you don't even know why you're mad at me, but I can't, I don't, and I can't even respond to, I don't know how to break this to you. There's a lot of people out there that are stupid,

but I also want you to know that like, I'm a hundred percent. Okay. With people like yelling at me and calling me an idiot and personally attacking me. It's like, they know what they're mad about. The thing that bothers me is when people are mad at me and they don't

know what they're mad about. Cause I say plenty of stuff to make people mad like you know like uh i don't know i just it's all it's like it's like our guy vincent in the chat who did the anywhere anytime vincent you would be terrified of me in person i'm telling you that right now this is i'm just helping you out here like if if you saw me in person you would be terrified he's a pretty large man typing now um vincent if you saw me in person you would be terrified he's a pretty large man typing now um if you saw me in person you would not be terrified you would probably not but you would be terrified of me so i'm just telling you that to help you but there are people like vincent who

hear thing who hear things and don't understand what they're hearing and then make stupid comments and that's just how it goes it's the internet like we make stupid comments. And that's just how it goes. It's the internet. Like we make stupid comments all the time. It's literally our job. Yeah. It's like also too, like we're not even trying to pretend like we're right all the time. Or like if you have an opinion

that's based on preference, but like all I was saying was if you wanted the 12 team playoff, then embrace that Notre Dame is still on the bubble watch. I didn't say that the 12-team playoff sucks or that I hate it. Like, I've said that enough in the past, but that's not what the point of that video is. But the person complaining about that doesn't like Notre Dame and doesn't want Notre Dame to be in, so they're going to complain. I know. I know.

Hey, have you ever been in a fistfight before? It's their God-given right. Have you been in a fist fight before? It's their God-given right. Have you been in a fist fight before? Yes. Did you win? I don't think so. Okay. I just wanted Vincent to know the stats before he pulled up on you.

Well, but the thing is, here's the thing that you got to understand. I have been pounded on by superhumans. Like, I know what it feels like to get hit by a first round draft pick over and over and over again yeah most people have not endured that i don't have a problem with like i know how it feels and i'll keep getting up and coming back do you think i don't think most people could handle that do you think getting hit with full pads on and a helmet by a first round draft pick feels the same way as getting socked in the face? Like, what do you think would be worse?

Depends on who's socking you in the face. Now, if Vincent's like a professional MMA fighter, I'm getting my ass beat. I'm not questioning if that was painful. Even if I weigh in by 80 pounds. He's beating my ass. I'm not questioning that going through practice with your body against guys who got drafted in the NFL wasn't painful and hard. I just want to know. I'm just telling you right now. You try it, Ari.

No, I'm not questioning that. I'm saying. I'm not saying. No, what I'm saying is it's not as bad as you think. It hurts, but it's not that bad. Because you have your helmet on and pads. If somebody just clocks you right here, I've never been punched in the face before.

Oh yeah, if they get you in the right spot, you're done. Your lights are going out. I've done some things before that deserve to be punched in the face, and I've always had good friends that stepped in front of me. For somebody who has as big of a mouth as me, I have a big mouth. I say things to people that I shouldn't say. I've never been punched in the face and I've never punched anybody.

So, you know, I just don't know. Maybe, maybe we could do like a bet where if you lose. Luigi in the chat. No, I don't want any part of it.

I'm soft. I admit it. I'm not a man. I'm a beta. I'm soft. Like, you know, but I would like to watch.

If you lose a bet this year, you have to box Vincent. Okay. We can do that. Vincent's probably like Mike Tyson. Even old Mike Tyson is going to kick crap out of me. I bet you he's not. Here's my premise, too, because people have said some mean things to me this week. If you are a person on Twitter who doesn't put your real picture on there,

or your entire purpose of being on Twitter is to make fun, talk shit, and ridicule people that you've never met, then I think you are the lowest form of human and like the person that i picture that you are could not be more pathetic in any other way like i think that's like the most pathetic thing a person can say there's probably like an 85 chance that that's exactly like what you're imagining is that person is exactly that saddest little little life and their only way that they can get any importance at all whatsoever is by trying to insult people that don't even know they exist the problem is the 15 chance that it's the dude that spends the rest of his day at the mma gym and knows like crab maga and is just

going to turn you into a pretzel that said there are some pretty i'm sure there are pathetic people out there that live sad miserable lives who also lift weights. So you've got to be careful. Like, you know. Oh, yeah. There's a lot of isolated loners who lift weights. That's for sure. The Venn diagram, there's some intersection.

Yeah. But yeah. Oh, anyway. One more question. One more question from Tyler that we do need to answer. We've talked about this a couple of times, but this is something that I keep getting asked a lot. So I want to make sure we've addressed it

and people have heard this. So there's a potential championship controversy. No one is talking about it. They need your help sorting it out. What happens if both Army and Navy are undefeated in conference play after Thanksgiving? So Army and Navy are both in the American conference. Now, what happens if they're both undefeated and they're the top two teams in the American?

They would play in the American championship game. I'm not entirely sure how they'd figure out which campus they'd play on because in this scenario, they'd both be undefeated in conference play. But assuming one was undefeated in conference play, but assuming one was undefeated in conference play and one had one loss in conference play, let's say, you know, army was undefeated and Navy had one loss. Uh, they would play at army. So they'd play at, at Mikey stadium in the American championship game. Then the following week they would play the actual army Navy game, which is at it's called northwest field now it's where the washington commanders play that's that's where this year's army navy game is happening so

the actual army navy game the one at the neutral site would not count toward the playoff consideration or anything like that so let's say the mountain west teams wash out and it's the american championship game that determines who's going to be the highest ranked group of five champ. That game between Army and Navy, the first one would determine who goes to the playoff. And then they would play again the following week and it wouldn't have any effect on it because they've got to get the playoff set. Cause remember the army Navy game is a week before the first round playoff games. The, the actual scheduled army Navy game.

That'd be, that'd be kind of banana land, right? Is there any possible way that I could just petition somebody in the sport? Like a commissioner Saban, for instance, to just make the ac or the aac

championship game canceled and they make the army navy game the game that decides it all could you imagine the pandemonium that would have been oh it'd be incredible they they're not going to do it because they want to have the playoff set because all the logistics have to be or move the army navy game up a week or something so they play one time for all the marbles you know in terms of college football the most college football thing you can think of right like it's the army navy game everybody loves watching it the season's over everybody watches it does a huge number every year that's a huge number can you imagine adding a playoff stake to and it's snowing yeah just guys being dudes out there oh but that the on-campus army navy game that determines it would be pretty fun too like but the problem is the following week it takes a

lot of the starch out of the real thing so yeah i i don't. They're both playing really well. Like Navy's offense is really cool. They got the offensive coordinator from Mercer, and he's come in and just kind of shaking things up. And it's kind of like a wing T mix with the option. Like it's crazy. And then Army, remember Army is going to spread it out. They're going to go out of the shotgun.

They did that last year. This year, like like forget it we're not a shotgun team back under center and they're just killing people their quarterback's name is carson daly not spelled like the guy who was on mtv but i do love that it's the same sounds like the same guy who hosts a total request live because i'm just imagining that guy as an option quarterback i love trl man those are the days i actually my opinion is that the 90s and i think that was an early 2000s thing but the 90s was the peak of human uh human existence like i don't think we'll ever get back to how happy and how great this place was when we were in the 90s bryson daily i'm sorry not carson daily bryson daily sounds like carson daily's son it probably was a carson daily reference in there somewhere sorry but yes if you watched army temple

on thursday night last week you saw how dominant army can be when they're playing against a team that's not not it but i'm excited to watch these guys the rest of the way but both these teams are very interesting so we'll find out if they're gonna if they're gonna make it but that would be fun uh do you want to do one more ari do you want to celebrate an anniversary let's celebrate an anniversary going on in my life this one's been proffered we're now two years removed from paul christ firing in wisconsin it was two years ago this week proffered ask is luke fickle wisconsin's bill callahan it seems to me like he's trying to make wisconsin something wisconsin is not so i have a hard time because there were times during the end of the paul christ air and i think i even tweeted it that like if wisconsin ever wanted to be anything more

than a nine and three or ten and two team that got its ass kicked every time it played ohio state or or the peak michigan teams that it had to change part of itself. I think that meant that you still ran the ball, but the plan that Luke Fickle had in place was my vision of what should be done there to modernize the program. So because it's not working, you have to ask yourself, is this something that just shouldn't be attempted? And I struggle with that.

I don't know that it should not be attempted. I think the idea is right and the execution is off. Now, what you're saying, and it's a legitimate question, is the execution impossible? execution impossible yeah i don't think in this area it is i think if you have a robust enough nil situation then you can make it happen you can get players you wouldn't have normally gotten you could get you you know fill out the positions where you didn't normally have really good players keep recruiting the positions where you had good players well. Like they've always been able to recruit offensive linemen.

They've always been able to recruit running backs. Like keep recruiting those well, and then get guys that you could fill in. You got to pay for that. And I assumed when Fickle said yes to this job, because Fickle could have stayed at Cincinnati, kept winning and waited for something else. You know, waited for Penn State to open or waited for when Michigan opened.

Like, I don't know if Luke Fickle ever would go to Michigan. I don't know if he could, you know, if his body might just reject the Maize and Blue. But wait for Ohio, like if Ohio State ever opened. Like, he could have sat there for a while, and he's the type of person who's patient enough to do that i assumed when he took wisconsin that it was because he'd been told we'll give you the resources you need to be competitive for the big 10 title and i can't figure out if they did and he just hasn't executed it right or if it's not the kind of resources you need and they've got to chip in some more. Yeah, the plan there makes sense, though. Recruit the same guys that you always did on the lines at the running back position

and build your Wisconsin roster with the guys that you were able to recruit and will be able to recruit regardless of all that other stuff. Get a much better quarterback and some explosive receivers and you have yourself a very versatile offense that can play with anybody. I just don't know what, like you said, is that impossible?

It shouldn't be. It makes sense. It makes sense that you should be able to do that. Well, and I think Matt Rule is trying to do something similar at Nebraska. Now, Nebraska's had a long-term identity crisis. Wisconsin had a very, very defined identity that I think Nebraska was trying to seek out an identity, but Matt rule is essentially trying to do the same thing. Understanding that the big 10 West no longer exists. You've got to play a little differently. If you want to compete in the big 10, I don't

know that Nebraska is there yet either, but it feels like Nebraska's a little further along than Wisconsin on that front. Yep. No, I'm with you. Yeah. But, like, it's like I got a lot of pushback from people on Twitter when I suggested that they do what Luke Fickle's trying to do three years ago of saying

like you can't change a program's identity because if it does then they're going to fall apart it's like they're trying not to be right like I thought that our guy Big Cat who's a Wisconsin grad who's on part of my take he talks about this a lot and he says well I enjoyed winning nine games a year I want to go back to that so let's just go back to what we used to do and win nine games a year. I want to go back to that. So let's just go back to what we used to do and win nine games a year. But what the problem is, you actually can't go back to that and win nine games a year because the Big Ten West doesn't exist anymore. You could win nine games a year doing that because you played Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraskadue every year that's not the case anymore like this year they play usc they play penn state they play oregon like there will be years where you have to play michigan

ohio state and obviously they had to play those those before but michigan ohio state penn state like you're going to have to beat those teams too You just may not be able to win nine games a year with this kind of schedule unless you do it differently. Human nature, Andy. If you ever got back to winning nine games a year, after four or three years of that, you're going to complain that you're losing the big games. It's human nature. Wisconsin teams that played Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship two or three times during that 10-year period between 2012 and 2020. I remember what people were saying. I remember, Wisconsin fans. Pepper Favre remembers what you were saying.

So it's easy to want to go. All Nebraska wants to do is go back to nine wins, but they fired a coach for And so they did win every single year. Uh, Paul Polini, that faux Polini account, uh, every September 3rd,

which we, God damn it. This is not Paul Polini day on September 3rd. Like it was just like three, but they would still for nine and three, but it's never good enough when you get there. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. But you know, it's always good enough. Your questions for the dear Andy and Ari shows. They, exactly. Exactly. But you know, it's always good enough. Your questions for the Dear Annie and Ari shows. They're amazing. Thank you so much for guiding us down the path, giving us ideas that we never would have thought of before, allowing us to tap into Ari's even more twisted mind with your twisted minds. I think the twisted mind meld is what makes it the best. Thanks again for telling all your friends about the show.

We see the numbers, we see the charts. And so we know you're out there telling your friends about it. Please keep it up. And, uh, guys, this is going to be a great weekend of college football because they're

playing college football games this weekend. We will talk to you after the games on Saturday.