Andy & Ari On3 - Breaking down Notre Dame's path to PULLING THE UPSET | What does Booger McFarland text Brian Kelly?

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

You’ve had Wendy’s Nuggs dipped in sauce. But have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11. Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker, try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs. This show is sponsored by 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(0:00-0:35) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs(0:36-1:39) Intro: Just a few days from the Championship(1:40-4:11) Ari shows off the new helmet(4:12-16:37) Booger McFarland joins the show(16:38-21:29) Booger on LSU(21:30-25:31) Booger on NIL(25:32-33:32) Closing out with Booger McFarland(33:33-43:47) Ari's New Helmet, Life Lessons, and First Cars(43:48-50:23) Jeremiyah Love vs Ohio State(50:24-58:12) Ryan Day and Lou Holtz(58:13-1:03:14) Can Notre Dame pull it off?(1:03:15-1:06:09) Conclusion; Sauciest Take ESPN’s Booger McFarland joins to break down the national title game between Ohio State and Notre Dame. Booger, who was on two Super Bowl-winning teams, explains what it’s like to play in a game when all eyes are on you. The LSU alum also tells Andy and Ari what he texts LSU what he texts Tigers coach Brian Kelly. Later, Andy, Ari and producer River give their sauciest takes for the national title game. Can Fighting Irish tailback Jeremiyah Love back up his request to play the Buckeyes in the national title game? Watch us live on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/hllz7zLheGU Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

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Roll the way to nug. It's gotta be Wendy's. Welcome to Annie and Ariane 3 presented by Wendy's. It is a Wendy's Fossiest Take Wednesday. And of course, we're gonna start you off with the guy who brings the sauce every time. He comes on our show or he does his own shows on ESPN. The great Booger McFarlane is going to join us today.

We're going to talk about what it's like to play a huge game like this. He's played in two Super Bowls, so he knows one two Super Bowls. Are we are going to then issue our saucy takes for the national title game? I'm super excited about that. It is right it's right around the corner, man. I can't believe we're here. It's been a been a fast season, an unfortunately fast one, but it It's here and I'm super excited to get out to Atlanta and talk to booger and and be on the show with you today I think I think it felt so fast for us because you got dropped into the equation on

Day one of the season like the games had started like we missed the entire preamble Like we have nine months to get everybody ready for the season to to to reheat our takes it's going to be different yeah um also too andy uh bonus little feature here but shut send me a helmet did i show you this look at that that That is gorgeous. I gotta figure out a way. This is a vices helmet and they gave me the chin strap and everything. I put it on and it's pretty cool but it's gonna be a nice little office centerpiece

here and we're gonna have to figure out a way to display this a little bit better. I think you may have to do the show in the helmet. One of these days. If I'm feeling myself, I'll do it but yeah, it thanks a lot to the helmet company. Lotus in the chat doesn't quite understand the title of the show. Uh already been on every podcast in the past week. We know his take laugh out loud. Yes, his name's on the show. He's in every every every episode. I think he means every other

episode too. I've been on a lot of guest appearances this week. You haven't making the rounds because listen, they know you're going to bring it every time. That's, that's why you get asked. Yeah. And like, listen, I've got a saucy take today that might, um, cast some doubt onto some of the thoughts that I have about this. So, and listen to like, just because I think Ohio state's going to win, uh, doesn't mean they're going to. So, you know, that's the stuff, why they play the games and I'm, I'm wrong all the time and blah, blah, blah.

You know that, but I'm just doing the best that I can to give you my honest, uh, my honest pick, my honest insight, my honest thoughts, um, whether you like the thought. I think these saucy take episodes give us a chance to maybe challenge some of the things that we were thinking about. I think that helps. I think it helps us contextualize the way we're thinking about the game and because it basically challenges us to say, what's the craziest thing you can realistically say

about this game? Yeah, I'm excited to hear what your guys are. I didn't look. I don't like to know before but you know, I wrote about Notre Dame. You're writing about Ohio State like we we have been kind of in the weeds on this done a lot of guest appearances and I'm just super excited to get into it. Oh, it's going to be great and we got another guy who has some very strong opinions about all things college football.

So, let's talk to him right now. The great Booger McFarland joining us right now. It's our great honor to be joined by a guy who told Philip Fulmer, no sir, I don't want to play center. I'm a defensive tackle. And then he went to LSU. Booger McFarlane, how are you doing Booger? What's going on fella, how we doing?

I am good, I am good. That is one of my favorite stories of yours. The Tennessee recruiting visit where Philip Fulvers is trying to get you to imagine somebody putting their hands on your posterior every play. Cause this was a very under centered time still. And you're like, yeah, I feel just want to know, could I envision it?

And I'm like, no, I feel like like the idea of Peyton Manning sliding his hands down my rear end 60 times a game and 60 times a day at practice probably wasn't the right way to get me to come to Knoxville. I mean, and you want to play with painting anyway, so I mean, I guess if you were going to have one person's hand slide down there 60 times in practice and 60 times in a game, it would be Peyton Manning. I mean, that'd be a pretty good person to have, but it's just an unbelievable

pleasure to have you here, man. Thank you so much for being here. Yeah, no doubt, man. Glad to be here. So we've got the national title game coming up, Ohio state, Notre Dame. And I I'm curious for, from your perspective, like from the day Ohio state lost to Michigan to now, how do you think they've become what they've become? Well, um, you know, pressure is real, man. And it's amazing.

I didn't believe it, but it's amazing to me how much pressure the state of Ohio, people that went to Ohio State put on that team for that game. Like I've tried to figure it out. I've tried to get people to explain it to me. And nobody really can do it to the level that I can understand it. But the only thing I can figure out, Andy, is they put so much pressure on that team that they got to be perfect and they got to win that game.

They got to be physical and they have to beat Michigan the Michigan way that they go out and they play that game so tight. They play that game not to lose. And then all of a sudden you lose that game. And then there's the flag planting thing that happens after the game. And I think at that point, you know, as a team and as a coaching staff, you got to go back and say, okay, guys, we lost the biggest game in the history of Ohio State for this season. Now what? Okay, we're going to still have an opportunity to make the playoff. And if we make the playoff, like we make the playoff like we're talented enough do y'all want to go win it?

Just maybe and I don't know if you ever convince anybody in Ohio this but maybe just maybe the national championship means more than beating Michigan and I think this team has finally figured it out and they're like okay let's go out and just play man let's just just play and just let it all hang out and I think you saw that against Tennessee like they go out and just play, man. Let's just play and just let it all hang out. And I think you saw that against Tennessee. Like they came out and threw Haymakers early. Like you saw that when they went against Oregon. Haymaker after Haymaker. This team is super talented.

I think this team is in the coverage. And when they play to their potential, man, like I don't think there's anybody could beat them. And I thought Texas was really good. and that game was closer than 14 points. But in the end, I think maybe the pressure again game finally went away and it allowed this team to play free. Because if that's not the reason I have no idea how they played this way and played that way against Michigan. And now they're playing this way in the playoffs. Yeah. It is kind of funny.

It feels like kind of like an unsolved mysteries case of like, how did that happen? Because it's such a bizarre result. But you know, Ohio state isn't the only team in this game that bounced back from a pretty embarrassing day. And that's Notre Dame. What have you seen from them in terms of their progression this year and how they got to this point? Booker talk about the resiliency, man.

Like, I mean, you talk about a team that if you go back and look at their starting 22 as compared to where they are now, like they're probably down what, seven, eight starters from the original 22 on the depth chart. And still in all, they're playing for a national championship. That just speaks to the culture that Marcus Freeman has built. It speaks to the depth that they've recruited at. It speaks to the mental toughness this team has. Now, with all that being said, it's gonna be a tough road home Monday night,

because they've won and they have to win a certain way. They're not super explosive in the passing game. They have to be physical at the line of scrimmage and they have a quarterback that's gotta be super gutsy and got to make some plays. And that was good enough against Penn State who I think helped them out. That was good enough against Indiana. Is that gonna be good enough against any team in the country? I don't know.

I think if you ask anybody outside of South Bend, they would probably say this game is not gonna be not going to be closed, but you know, it's for strange things happen for touchdown Jesus. So I got to see this thing play out Monday night. Well, what, what do you think the path would be booked for, for a Notre Dame win in this game? Well, to me, it's really simple. It's Will Howard, a couple of turnovers. It's Chip Kelly and Ryan Day kind of getting away

from the things that got him here, which is being explosive, getting the ball to those receivers, 17, getting the ball to Tate, getting the ball to Bucca, getting the ball to Smith. Get the ball to your playmakers. If they turn in to say, okay, we want to feature Frevian and Quincheon in this game, and we want to run it 40 times,

then if that's the case, they're playing right into Notre Dame's hands. I don't think they're going to do that. But even then, they're still going to need a couple of turnovers. Penn State's going to have to get a defensive score. I think Notre Dame's got to get a defensive score. Notre Dame's got to get a couple of explosive plays down the field from Riley Leonard. And if they can do that, then I think we could have a ball game. But that's a lot of things

that they need to happen. Because if this game is played straight up, if this game is played turnover free, if this game is played both teams playing to their potential, I think it's a nine, 10 point game where I favor Ohio State. So football is never played that way. So let's see how the ball bounces on Monday night.

Yeah, when you think about just being in a position where a lot of things have to go your way, like as we're all trying to create this path, right? Like Notre Dame has got to play mistake free turnover, free football and offense. They've got to suck Ohio state into playing on their terms. Like it's a lot to ask if you're Notre Dame, you know, even going back to like what we talked about when it came to Ohio State and not being able to play free or play loose against Michigan, how does Notre Dame simultaneously play loose but also know there's like 20 things on their checklist that they're going to have to accomplish in order to be in this game in the fourth quarter? Well, because

they're the underdog. And anytime you're you're the underdog, you're not thinking about all those things that need to go your way. All you're thinking about is, I got an opportunity, I got a chance, that's it. And, you know, strange things happen when you're the underdog, man, because you go out there with that mentality that nobody thinks you can win. And if you're the underdog, you just need something good to happen early. They need a tip ball for a turnover early. It needs to be 10-3 Notre Dame at the end of the first quarter. Like they need a great start, not a good start. They need a great start because here's

what happens. It's 22 humans on the field and emotions play a huge part. Mindset plays a huge part. If Ohio State starts feeling tight and they start saying, man, this team is up on us and we're supposed to win and we're not winning and now they start playing tight and Will Howard reverts back to the Michigan game where he throws a pick from the almost from the goal line and you're like how did you throw that one or he reverts back to the Penn State game when he throws the pick again uh pick six I think like you need something like that to happen and humans have emotions and players play tight, man. I've been there, I've been a young player.

I've played nervous before. You just gotta hope that if you're on the Ohio State fan that those guys don't get in that position. And if you're Notre Dame, man, just let it go. Just free will this thing, you're Raleigh Leonard. This is an opportunity that Notre Dame has kind of waited on. They've waited on for a long time. And I think this new era of the transfer portal and

NIL has balanced college football out where a lot of teams are going to be in this position I think at some point Notre Dame gets the first crack at it. I guess one of the big boys and I think that they have to relish the opportunity that they're going to have and just go out there and just play free, man, and let it go and hope a house stay gets tight and they don't perform to their best. So you played multiple Super Bowls.

What was that first one like? Like what are the days leading up to that first career Super Bowl like when you were with the Bucs? You don't sleep at night. Like the night before the game, the game is played in your mind the game is Kind of going over and over you envision

Making plays you envision winning you envision things happening in your favor Whereas the second Super Bowl I Didn't sleep the night before the game, but it was nervous energy because I knew I was ready to play. And I think, you know, you're going to be nervous if anybody tells you they're not nervous to align, you're going to be anxious. It's going to be a big moment because it's the biggest game of the year, whether it's college or pro, whatever, like it's the most eyeballs you're going to see all year.

Super Bowl is 125, 130 million, the national championship will get 35, 40 million people watching the game. And so you just want to go out and perform at your best. But here's the one common common commonality of both games is that when toe meets leather, man, it's football. Like when the ball is kicked off and you go out there and you hit somebody, you realize that it's still 60 minutes. And I think that's what these teams will realize,

like there'll be a lot of pomp and circumstance. There'll be more people on the field come Monday night than they've ever seen before. I mean, it'll be not only Herb Street's dog will be there, it may be some other animals running around. Who knows what's gonna be running around? And- Maybe Lane will send the Ole Miss squirrel.

It'll be so many animals out there. Auburn may send the eagle to fly down through the loop, you know, because this thing is shaped like a bird's nest anyway. And once all that's done, they're going to send 22 guys out there, and Toad's going to meet Leather. And it turns into normal football at that point. And I think the team that can make it a football game the quickest

allows themselves the opportunity to play their best. What did you anticipate in this first year of the 12 team playoff? Uh, and, and what did you think about how it all played out so far? I think the 12 team playoff was designed to, uh, include more people. It did that. It was designed to kind of galvanize college football. That way there were more meaningful games throughout the season, longer in the season. We didn't just get to a point where

if you weren't in the top four, you didn't pay attention to college football. So I do think that the 12 team playoff, and let me first say this, I was against it. See, I don't need to include everybody. I don't think there's 12 teams that can win the national championship in college football. But what I will say is the college football playoff this 12 team format really made me change my mind because it's

been really, really good for college football. As far as the the format. You know, there's been a lot of talk about, you know, your conference champion getting by. They should just get in the tournament and not get it by. And I think the powers that be is going to have a hard time changing that. Because from what I understand, and Andy, you can help me out with this. From what I've heard, it's got to be a unanimous decision for them to change it. For next year, but they can change it for 26. Okay.

So for 25, it's not changing because if you're the big 12 and and you're the ACC you're not changing this like it's gonna be this way in 25 now 26 they may change it which they probably will and you would like to see the best four teams get the buy And to be honest with you, all four teams that have bye's lost. So like did the bye, was it rust or was it the fact that we gave the wrong teams the bye's? Like that'll be a debate. I do like the aspect of hosting a home playoff game though.

To me, there's nothing like the college football atmosphere on your campus. And if you told me my team will be healthy, I may not even want to buy. Because if you're LSU or if you're Oklahoma or if you're Kansas State or whoever Iowa State, and you can host a game, a playoff game on your campus, especially at night, man, talk about the revenue, talk about the fan base, talk about the pageantry and tradition on your campus. I think that's something that's been really, really neat about the playoffs. Well, and you know how I feel about LSU's atmosphere. Like, I can't even imagine

what a playoff game at LSU would look like. Yeah, I can't either. But you know what? I don't want to imagine that. I want to see it. That's why that's what I text BK all the time. I guess it's time, you know, Hey, they're active in the portal right now. Like they're, they're going after it now. Yeah. I think everybody's born after it. Like there's 17,000 kids in the portal. Like if you can't put together a roster, that means either a, you don't know how, or B, you don't have any money. I don't think LSU is in either one of those positions. So let's see how this roster shapes because a trip to the fake Death Valley is coming. I think it's Labor Day weekend, LSU

at Clemson. And yes, I said the fake Death Valley because the following year they come to the real Death Valley. So we'll see. We'll see. Because you know, LSU's got, I think they're going to wind up having 15 or 18 guys out of the portal. Dabo finally may take one or two. So it's gonna be in a transfer NIL portal era. It's gonna be a team that's dibbled and dabbled in the portal like LSU against a team in Dabo who may have one or two on his team. Two of the kind of blue bloods of college football. I know we're six months away or seven or whatever, having me a month away, but I can't wait for that one.

Booger, when you text Brian Kelly, it's time to go get, get a championship or it's time, our times now, what does he respond? He knows like BK understands where he's at. You know, every coach that comes to LSU, I tell them all the same thing. I'm loyal to the three letters, not to you. So you're always going to get honesty from me because I am loyal to my program and I'm loyal because I want to see those kids win

and I want to see LSU be successful. So when I text any of them, and going all the way back to Les Miles, and even now to BK, I text them from a football analyst standpoint, what I see, and it's the pure honest truth. And sometimes it's, hey man, great job. I love how you did XYZ. Or sometimes that you know what, this was poor. What you did, how we played, what we're doing is not good enough. And so I think as a coach, can respect it or at least I hope he does. BK and I got a good relationship. I think he's openly said he came to LSU for an opportunity to

win a championship. So like what I'm saying and what I text him, there's no secret. Like what's already known doesn't need to be said. Well, and the other thing is it's the last three guys won a national championship. Yeah, you you've got, you know, and by the way, Notre Dame is the national championship game. So he came from a place where you could you could do it too. So this is the pressure might be on a little bit now. He did say that he was rooting for Notre Dame today. I don't know if you saw that. Well, yeah, I mean, what I said, what is he gonna say? I'm not rooting for him. Like, there's only one thing he can say. I will say he could be a full

heel. Sure, he could. I will say this and defending BK because everybody's been playing a clip about him leaving Notre Dame and why he left. He left Notre Dame and I think when he made this statement, it was a true statement because it was pre NIL pre transfer portal. Now, since the transfer portal in NIL has taken place, you can win anywhere. But to defend him a little bit, his comment was made before the portal and transfers in this whole NIL stuff was allowed. So I think that's changed. And I think, I don't know if you guys agree or disagree, I think that's changed the landscape of college football where more teams can compete at the highest

level, whereas before Alabama could stack four or five stars and they would wait two years to play. Yep. That's, that's an important distinction because when he left and he left for LSU to win a title, Notre Dame probably had a more limited ceiling than they do right now. Right. So the fact that they're in the title game with players that he helped recruit there

is a, a bad look. But if you really understand the sport, you probably can understand too, how Notre Dame was able to fix it so quickly. And maybe he wouldn't have left had this system existed back then too. I don't know. I still think that LSU is a more likely team

from a resource geography tradition standpoint to get, win a national championship. But hey, I might look like an idiot in 48 hours, who knows or whatever on Monday. Boog, if you played in this era, if you had NIL money and you know, effectively a salary, what's the first thing you'd have bought? I would have took care of my mama, man. Listen, I come from a poor family, man. My mama raised three kids on government assistance, man. $18,538 a year, man. So if I would have gotten seven figures or six figures,

I would have sent some home, some money home to mama, taking care of her, because without her, I wouldn't even be where I would have been at this point. So I think when you look at it, a lot of kids are doing that. Some kids are, I think the biggest thing that bothers me about this era is you get 17 and 18 year olds Andy that now become the dictator in the family. And just because they got money. And to me, that's not how kids need to be raised. And that's not how as a parent, you need to raise your kid. I don't care if you got a million dollars in the bank,

I'm still your daddy, okay? I don't care if you got a Lamborghini, I'm still your mama. And there's a certain way we're going to do things as far as the hierarchy in the family, because money, I don't care how much money you got, my mom would have told me I'll still slap the hell out of you.

And so I just hope parents realize that just because your kid has money, you don't have to stop being a parent. I would have loved to get some of these NIL deal, man. Like a Popeye's deal. Can you imagine? Hell yeah. Popeye's anytime I wanted to get chicken.

Oh man, I mean, Jesus Christ, Lord have mercy. But to be honest with you guys, I don't know if I would be as determined as I am now. Like there's a certain mental toughness that I grew up and developed coming through LSU, dealing with Jerry DiNardo, having to go and take $6 on the weekend and get Chinese food because the cafeteria wouldn't open just trying to survive having to buy pizza and eat pizza for lunch and dinner on one day because I only had ten bucks and you could buy one pizza so like all those things that I did that the kids in my

era went through it it made you appreciate where you are now and it also made you appreciate the things you got when you did get them. I don't know if kids appreciate that now though, man, but. I just wanna like, cause I think about all the things I didn't know when I was 20, 22. Like I just wanna walk up to some of these guys that are getting, you know, six figures and just be like,

don't do it. I don't care if you blow it on booze, if you blow it on a car, like, but put a down payment on a house. Yeah and and or or if you got enough just buy a house straight out like buy a $300,000 house if you can buy it and just have it because that'll set you up like just that would set you up. The kids aren't thinking about that, but parents are. That's why parents got to tell these kids, hey, if you got a million bucks or if you got whatever, number one, we got to pay Uncle Sam, because if you don't pay him,

he's looking for you. And two, buy something that is going to increase in value and not decrease. Okay, land, houses, things that are going to be assets in the future. But parents know that, kids don't, man. The only part I get jealous about guys is this. Man, I see these kids riding around, they got Rolls Royces, they got Lamborghinis, they got private jet deals. Man, my freshman year, I didn't have a car. My sophomore year, I didn't have a car. My junior year, the guy that gave me my first job gave me his Suzu pickup pickup and you probably have never heard of oh i have yeah oh yeah i had friends who had a suzu pickups in the 90s i had a two-door is suzu pickup stick shift um 20 filled it up and it would carry me all week

and when i got it it had 180 000 miles on it so like that's what i had could you imagine seven eight 19 year old bull with a Lamborghini? I might be dead by now because the first thing I would do is go 180 miles an hour. Andy, what was your first car? That's a Toyota Corolla. How'd you fit in it? Not well but it got, you said $20 filled up your truck? Yeah. $ dollars for my Corolla. And that sucker went for days. So Corolla on the road to a bet. I bet my I bet my Corolla still works like I sold it to somebody, you know, seven years later, but I bet it was still works.

They're still making Corollas. They don't make the Azusa pick up. No, I just, I just remember Joe Azusa in the commercials. The guy who would lie. So most of our audience has never seen a Joe Azusa commercial. So, but we what before I let you go, we had talked. So National Championship weekend. For those who know a book and I have a little tradition. We usually get together on National Championship weekend for a meal.

I think last year was was our best one. Yeah, we had Pinkerton's barbecue in Houston. Ari they bring this tray out. There's so much brisket. There's a beef rib. There's pulled pork. There's every side and we're with Kevin to Gandhi and Kevin's like, can I get some turkey?

Yeah, because Kevin doesn't eat Kevin doesn't eat pork. So all the rice is turkey or beef. So that or beef. So that means that Andy and I got to eat everything else, which is no problem. We did. It's not a problem at all. It was just funny when you juxtapose the look in our eyes and then they bring out this turkey. And I mean mean we got I'm a sausage guy we got sausage everywhere I got sauce going and here's the Gandhi over there with some turkey and some mac and cheese or whatever I'm like dude, you can have all of that I need this I need this this beef and this sausage this spice. I need this in my life. Well Huge Texas fans, sorry, they didn win, but thank you for that meal.

Yeah, he was great, dude. And by the way, what was the name everybody was calling Matthew McConaughey? The Minister of what? Minister of Culture. The Minister of Culture. How did he get that name? I meant to ask somebody this. I think he gave it to himself, which, I don't know, but you played on a lot of teams. Like you're not supposed to be able to give yourself your own nickname, but I guess your math can kind of, you can get away with it. Listen, I've been a fan of his since he made the movie, a time to kill. I'm a fan. He can do whatever he wants to do. Well, and you got to let me say Jackson line for for that movie. And I hope they're rotting hell.

That's it? That was it. Yeah. So now actually, cause you go buy a nickname in life. Did you come up with that or did someone give that to you? Cause like you brought your nickname into college. Yeah. My mom gave me that name when I was two years old, dude.

Like when you're from the country, like I'm from a small town, probably 3,500 people, four or five stoplights. The biggest thing in my town is Walmart. That's where everybody congregates on a Friday night in the parking lot. And when you come from a town like that, that's rural, everyone has a nickname.

My brother's catfish, my sister's treetop, and I was booger. And I didn't like it early on, but the order I got, the more I kind of gave into it, realizing that I would leave home one day. And so when I left to go to LSU, I'm like, yeah, I'll be Anthony for the rest of my life. Well, little did I know they had done articles and stories and people went to my hometown and talked to my mom and she told him everything, of course.

And so the first tackle I made in Tiger Stadium, the PA announced the success tackle by Booger McFarland. And I'm like, how made in Tiger Stadium, the PA announced the tackle by Booger McFarland. And I'm like, how in the hell did he find that out? And that was the last day that I really tried to fight it. So I've been Booger since I was two, but I kind of gave into it my freshman year at LSU to the point when I got to ESP and they asked me, so how do you want to be FONTED? I said, what, what is fonted? Well, how do you want your name to be on the television? I said, booger. I said, that's two O's and not a U.

And they were like, you don't want Anthony. I said, nobody calls me Anthony. I said, if we want to connect the relationship, I said, people that know me call me booger, people that don't call me Anthony. So if I'm trying to connect with the viewer, put up booger. So I've been booger for a long time, man. Listen, the Anthony mobile would not have hit as hard.

I don't know if the booger mobile hit hard anyway. Either way, I don't know. The booger mobile was awesome. Like Tony Sir, Goose stole that from me, right? Well, I mean, rest in peace to the goose, man. Like like goose, everybody was trying to do something different and unique on the sidelines. I give ESPN a lot of credit.

And if it wasn't for a lot of nauseous fan in New York, that really kind of just and this is where social media can can help you and sometimes it can hurt you. And I think it really hurt that particular device because social media really kind of was like, we don't need this and it you know, ideas when something starts going viral and there it went. And so that was the death of the book of mobile. So it's somewhere at the Chapman

companies, probably way ranch somewhere in California right now. So, OK, because you're in studio now. So you're not worried about this. Yes. Our man, Cole Kubrick, needs the booger mobile brought out of mothballs. Can you imagine this call calls great at diagnosing line play from sideline level. Can you imagine if he had a little bit higher view? Yeah, Cole is awesome, man. Like Cole is one of my really good friends in life, man.

Like it's been cool to see him on the sideline doing his deal. He does a phenomenal job. He's, here's what I tell Cole also, he's a sponsor whore. Like he's got more sponsors on the side. I'm like, dude, like what shoes are you wearing? I'm like, I've never heard of this brand. I guarantee you they're free though. He just starts laughing, but he is great. Cole's worked in local radio so he knows like you don't drive a car that you pay for if you work in local radio. No doubt about it. Him and Maffalroy do a show in Birmingham. That's right. That's right. I was on it yesterday. So

Boog, thank you so much. I cannot wait to see you in Atlanta. I've been texting Booger restaurants. There's a biscuit place that's open since the last time I've been there that we may have to hit. So you know I'm already just to bring you in a little bit five or six years ago, when Andy was fat, like we used to eat a lot more now that Andy's skinny, we don't eat as much. And, and, and full disclosure, I used to be a lot fatter too. So when Andy and I were probably a combined a hundred pounds heavier,

like we used to go really hard. Now we talk about eating a lot and we eat a lot, but nowhere near what we used to eat back in the day. There's a picture of us from a steakhouse in New Orleans a few years ago. I think it was Clemson was playing the sugar bowl against Alabama, I think, because we saw Dabo that night. Yeah.

And you were smaller than me at that point. I was like, Boog is getting it. So I got to get on whatever Boog's doing. I've been trying to stay on it, man. Sometimes it's'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like,

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like,

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm gonna keep eating. Well, and that Popeyes card that Bo mentioned, if, if Popeyes is listening and they want to give that to me a hundred percent,

the, the, my freshman year we're in the sugar bowl. They give you the per diem. I didn't even know they gave his cash for anything. They just handed me an envelope full of money. I'm like, what's this for? This is like getting the, they go, Oh, to get meals when we don't have a meal for you. The Popeyes on Canal Street got every dollar that that all. Yeah, it's every single one.

How about that? So, book. Thank you so much. Anytime. Hey, glad to be on Ari. Very nice to meet you, man. Don't let Andy bring you over to the dark side, man. Stay nice and professional. I'm Andy. I'm Ari. Very nice to meet you, man. Um don't let

Andy bring you over to the dark side, man. Stay nice and professional. I'm laughing at the end of that interview because Ari's mic was muted for like the last 5 minutes and he didn't know it. Yeah. We need to get the uh the graphic up. We do.

We do. That helmet looks great on you. Um, yeah, I have this microphone that if you touch it, it goes mute and I need to get used to that. But yeah, this is the new helmet that shut send us. I like it. Do I look like I can, I can pancake somebody? Absolutely. Absolutely. Your brain is well protected. I appreciate that from Shutt. And that's a slick looking helmet. Okay, we need to get you a straw if you're going to drink.

So you need to be like when I was in high school when you had the PVC pipe that had the hose connected to it and they punched a bunch of holes in it. They're just water streaming out and everybody's in their helmets just like, oh, yeah, I tried to get into the interview like 10 times and you guys just kept going. I'm like, what the hell's going on here? And the thing it's like, I'm happy you did a good job of asking the questions. But the thing that I was kind of disappointed about Andy was that like, I want to

get in on this meal in Atlanta, uh, and I'll help you guys put down some food. I, um, we can make, have a restaurant picked out, but, uh, you know, I eat beef and I eat, uh, pork and I eat chicken. I'm a carnivore. So let's, uh, let's figure something out. We, we can make that happen. And Kevin, the guy, he's welcome to come with us too. We'll make sure there's some chicken or turkey

Or fish for Kevin. So that's why he's like a good looking fit guy, you know, like I know I mean listen when you're on tv, you gotta you gotta bring it every day and Kevin brings it every he has an amazing Tie collection as well Kevin Agadie. It's crazy. Like I haven't really worn a helmet Uh since high school football and like it's still the muscle memory of like clipping it is all. Oh yeah, well my son has a, we won other day where the shut helmets you unclip like this. So there's, there's four clips and then the two up here stay on. And then the two back here you pull so you can pull a helmet off and he's like, you're not supposed to take those off of them.

You are when you have that helmet. Cause that's the hell I wear a shirt in high school. So most comfortable helmet going. Thank you. Shut the way the new, like the holes and I'm sure this is safer. Yep. I still am afraid to hit people though, which is why I never made it in the sport. But it's fun.

The human body craves contact. Well, Scott in the chat says I would pay to see any and booger in a zoo zoo pickup with two buckets from Popeyes. Oh, listen, sign me up. I like Booger said, when Booger said that, it brought me back, because I had a friend with an Azuzu pickup, I had two friends with the little Nissan pickup.

Like that was the, you know, you could pick those up used pretty good price. So that was a big item in the mid 90s in central Florida. Didn't realize though that like overseas, the Suzu is still making brand new 2025 pickup trucks. So if you really wanted one, you could get one. So I could get wait, now that not the pickup truck. Yeah. Also the Azuzu Trooper. Let's not forget the trooper. I just

like saying Azuzu Trooper. Yeah, the Azuzu pickup truck is called the D-Max and you can get it in Thailand. And it actually looks just like a Toyota Tacoma. I don't know if there's any correlation between those two, but they may come off the same line at this point because because the Azuzu Trooper in the Honda Passport for the same thing. But they have like certain cars in Europe

that they don't have here. Like they have some like Ford or Chevy Blazer like competitors in Europe that are kind of like the Bronco but looks slick and it's like, I want one of those. Can I get one made in Europe and ship it over here? I remember when I was on my honeymoon in Jamaica years ago, everybody drove a Mitsubishi Lancer and I was like, what is that? Because they didn't have those here. Now they have those here.

They have them here, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, there's different markets. You know, I would like to drive my F-150 in London. I think that would be fun. Yeah, I think that they look at your truck and are just like, oh, Americans. I think your truck is the man. Oh, it's the most American truck I could buy.

Yes. Like you're you're just missing a big ass American flag to hang off the back of that thing. Because if you put some Popeyes in there, then you've got the whole kit. Well, that's that's the thing. Like the the country dudes out where I live. The thing you do is you you have a flag stand that you put in the middle of the bed of your pickup and you fly the American flag from the middle of the bed of the pickup. It's a beautiful thing. It's gorgeous.

My first car, I want to hear everyone's first car. I got to kick out of this. My first car was a 1998 Oldsmobile Intrigue. Remember Oldsmobiles? I remember Oldsmobiles. I don't remember the Intrigue. Like I remember the 88 in the Alero. It was very interesting. I I'm gonna send it to River

He can put it up on the screen here But this this car was electric and I got my first like five speeding tickets in that and then we were off to the races So so so it can go. Oh my god. How did you manage to get past the speed limit in this? Things electric dude. Uh, it was the most basic car ever produced by, by an American car company. The 89, how can we make the most boring car possible? This is it, dude. You don't talk about my car like that. I had ladies in there, but you did because of your amazing personality because of your your old mobile.

I got I got my when I went to college my dad gave me a 2003 Cadillac CTS and you remember those cars back in the day that was pretty sweet and then oh those are nice yeah okay there it is yeah there it is man that was Cactus Shadows High School, 2003 right there. So, Kevin Javis says his first one was a 96 Pontiac Grand Am. That was a piece of crap. My wife had one of those when we met. It left her stranded on the side of the road. I don't know how many times.

And when we took it, the last time we took it to the nearest dealership to get it looked at. And they're like, we don't know what's wrong with it. Like, what do you mean? You don't know what's wrong with it? Like, we don't know. Why did it? Why did you stop on the interstate? We don't know. Do this thing. My dad has a policy in life that he will never buy a car with a an engine that has less than six cylinders. I don't know where that came from, but it's real. And that car, it could scoot, man. Don't, don't, don't talk about it.

We need to write down your dad's rule. This is a good off season project. We need to have like every Friday, because when the off season starts, we're going to start doing shows on Friday, because we're not going to have the postgame Saturday shows or anything like that. We need to have a every Friday rules for life. Everybody like different we'll have guests bring them on. So I would love Bob Wasserman's rules for life because I like my my my kids and I have a running joke that I only have. I only have three rules for life. The three rules for life that will make you a happy person and make you a person who can get along with other people. Never complain about free food, never complain about free beer, never skip

leg day. If you follow those three rules, you will live a happy life. Yeah, my dad always used to say, I'm not getting a four banger. I don't know where he heard it from. Yeah, like listen, if you think I'm a bizarre human, you gotta also remember that I came from somebody. You know, like I learned life from somebody and that person behind the curtain is a scary guy. But yeah, there's a lot of Bob Wasserman propaganda. Even when you don't know it, I bet there's Bob. That's why we should bring him on and let him

maybe one day describe his rules for life. I think that'd be tremendous. Yeah, like he's watching right now. He wants to toss in the chat one of his rules for life, but another rule is don't get food from a restaurant that doesn't specialize in that type of food. And don't go to restaurants that have menus that have multiple types of cuisines, which I thought was a pretty good thing.

Cause he said that means they don't do any of it. I laugh every time I see, when you drive past a place, it's like, we have pizza and chicken wings and tacos. No, you don't. No, you don't. It's like, when you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterback. Like, give me the restaurant that has five menu items

all in the same general family and they do them all great. Yeah. But that's, see, that's the great, and another one that I've picked up just being around you that I know came from Bob Wasserman is that I wish someone had told me this when I was 20. Buy blue chip stocks and just hold them. Yeah, that's right, baby. I realize there's a bunch of you who are like, well, duh. Okay.

But I didn't even know what a stock was when I was 20. So like the, we don't all come up in that, that environment. So these are the things we'll do that in the off season though. That'll, that'll be fun. But now it is of course, see how soft I am to even hold the helmet on long. Like I'm already like, I was like getting a little like, listen, you got to condition it.

There's a reason they make you wear the helmets for three days before you can put the rest of the pads on. Got to get conditioned. Yeah. But like that's how soft I am. I can't even wear it for five minutes on a podcast. But again, thanks to shut. I'm going to try to figure out a way to present this. It's really cool. I don't know if I got to do some floating shelves here in the off season or something, but we're gonna, we're gonna spruce up the office and I'm happy to have it here. And also to just, you know, what a great office centerpiece to have our logo on there. That's great. Thanks. Beautiful. Beautiful. Alright. Another one of our fine sponsors is Wendy's and of course a Wendy's saucy take Wednesday. So our three sauciest takes about the national title game one from each of us one from me one from you one

from producer River my saucy take. Jeremiah love. Got what he wanted. Now he has to back it up and show out. Jeremiah level rush for more than a hundred yards against Ohio State. Now it hasn't been that long since someone did this. But it's very hard to do. Khalil Mullings did this in the Michigan Ohio State game. But Jeremiah Love.

Called out Ohio State. After they beat Penn State, he's like we want to play Ohio State because we think they're the best we think we should have beaten him when we played him last year. We'd rather play them in Texas. We think they're better than Texas.

We want Ohio State, which I appreciate it. I love that. If you say that you got to back it up. I think he can back it up. Now. This also kind of helps my game prediction where I predicted a 2117 Ohio State win. Because if you have an opponent on on the other side running for a bunch of yards, it's going to keep your score down because they're controlling the clock. but it's probably not going to necessarily create enough points for them to beat you. And so that's, that's where I'm at for that one. Let's look at this through the lens of our friends at prize picks. So download the app best daily fantasy game in

America. Use the code staples when you sign up, play $5, get $50 instantly. Let us see Jeremiah, Jeremiah love square for the national title game. 45 and a half rushing yards. Cause that's a pretty, that's a pretty, like, I don't know if you realized it when you made the, the take very saucy, Andy. Uh, it's very saucy. So let's put it this way. Ohio state has only given up a hundred rushing yards yards period a few times this season. Yeah, three nationally in rushing defense with 89.6 times this season. The opponent has eclipsed 100 yards and in multiple cases, it really didn't matter. Like the the Tennessee game, for example, that was just or the game was out of hand Tennessee

gained some yards toward the end, but instructive ones Penn State gained 120. That game was close. The Nebraska game, which has the same final score that I've predicted for this game, a 2117 Ohio State win. Nebraska ran for 121 yards in that game. It was a little tougher 120 yards than you'd

hope for. They only averaged 3.7 yards carry. But the Michigan game is the one where Kalo Mullings, I think you ran for 116 Michigan ran for 172 total 4.1 yards to of carry like that's that's about the best you can hope for against this defense. Do you think that's going to happen? Then your score is on the money. OK, because also that means that you probably also think that Notre Dame

might push 175 total rushing yards, which would be like double the cause cause Riley Leonard does add to the total, but it also scary is the ball a lot like I mean add to the total, but it also. Nice carry is the ball a lot like I mean, like, you know, it's also sucking possessions away from Ohio State. Yeah, it probably reduces Ohio State's possessions by by two in the game.

If this happens. Yeah. That's right. So like, I also think too, like in terms of like the path to win like. So like, I also think too, like in terms of like the path to win, like, yeah, I mean, like your, your, your take here is nuclear. I don't know what flavor we're going to go nuclear. If we're pronouncing correctly, and I've said it a thousand times on the show. And sometimes I've said it wrong.

There's been a sitting US president served two terms that call it nuclear. I don't even know how I said it or how you said it. Like that didn't... Nuclear is what you said. Nuclear is how it's pronounced. Nuclear is how I said it? Yes. Nuclear is how...

Oh, come on. That's like, what is that? Tomato, tomato? Give me a break. I mean, that wasn't even that bad. It's kind of the way it's spelled versus not the way it's spelled. But that's OK. Also, too, in English, there's no correlation it's spelled versus not the way it's spelled. But that's okay.

Also too, in English, there's no correlation between how words are pronounced and how they're spelled. So save me with that shit, okay? This is, this is true. Back to Jeremiah Love, who I'm predicting will go nuclear on Monday night. Now I, I don't know that he does, he doesn't do it. I don't think in one run like he did against Indiana Okay, that's that's asking too much probably and in the Ohio State defense is very fast

It it's gonna be really hard to break one like that But and if he does get there and he hits like 80 yards on one play Like that. I don't think that's the type of hundred that you want either right now I'm talking about grinding it out. I, if he can average five yards of carry against this defense, you're doing all right. And actually have a bunch of carries because he only carried the ball 11 times against Penn State. Now he's banged up. You know, I don't know how that's going to, like, that's the other thing too. It's like, if you think he's going to get there, you also, you know, have to, you know, assume or hope that he's 100% physically able to carry the ball 22 times.

Yeah. Now that touchdown run against Penn State is one of the best touchdown runs I've ever seen. That's one yard run I've ever seen in my life. And I saw the, I saw the Braxton Miller one at Penn State. You remember that one yard touchdown run? Does that come to mind? That was the craziest run I'd seen in person from one yards out. I had never seen Jeremiah touchdown run? Does that come to mind? Yeah, that was the craziest run I'd seen in person from one yards out. I had never seen Jeremiah's love figure out a way to outdo it because because we had an incredible vantage point for Jeremiah loves touchdown ring is Penn State because the so the the press box at Hard Rock

Stadium is the old baseball press box from when the Marlins played there. So it's kind of the corner of the stadium. And you're looking at what used to be home plate. Well, he ran it into that corner of the end zone. So we had a just perfect bird's eye view of that. It was because he comes through the hole and there is a tackler that right there diving at his knees. And you're like, well, he's done. He somehow gets out of that and then bounces it outside.

And then there's two guys and they didn't just hit him. They tried to drive him through the center of the earth and he still fought his way over them and place the ball on the goal line. It was incredible. Yeah. Um, Andy, Let's go to mine because mine feeds into yours a little bit. Alright, let's do it.

My take is that the Lou Holtz thing is funny from last year. The Ryan Day rant postgame last year on television. If I want to know where Lou Holtz is right now. Is funny and a lot of people. It was standing there when he said it and I was just like, oh, he went there. I want to know where Lou Holtz is right now.

And it's a funny thing to say because why are you picking on Lou? Not picking on but like taking a shot at Lou Holtz. I know I was like it's past. It's bedtime. What are we doing here? We've been watching the game man, but I think that part of the second

part of the take though isn't that it's just funny but it also gives us a key into his psychology and I think that that his psychology is that he is highly offended when people you know, assert or suggest that Ohio State's not a hard nosed pounded out football team. Yeah, and I think he's like Marty hard nosed pounded out football team.

Yeah. And I think he's like Marty McFly when you call him chicken. I he hates it. And I think that that thought process or, or the accusation that Ohio State's not tough has impacted the way that he's called games in big moments. Um, and that to me is a really pretty hot take. Um, I think that wanting to beat Michigan at their own game is a key into that psychology. I think that Notre Dame, funny enough, Ohio State's two potential national championship matchups are against teams that Ohio State's played in the last two years are very familiar with Ohio

State. Um, and I don't know that that's the best thing for Ohio State. Like Ohio State probably would have rather played Georgia or somebody from the other side of the bracket that is foreign because- Number four, number four, not being on Ohio State's team the last time they played. See, I think it didn't,

and Marcus Freeman is a defensive guy, obviously. Now I think the Notre Dame offense versus Ohio State defense, yeah. Now, obviously, Mike Genbrock wasn't calling plays in that game. I think Notre Dame's probably upgraded on that front. But the fact that Jeremiah Smith exists on Ohio State's roster now, it invalidates whatever your defensive game plan

was for your game last year. It doesn't matter. It's going to be very different this year. Here's the second part of the take Andy. If I were Marcus Freeman, I would call Ohio State a finesse team in an interview leading up to it. You know, that joint, joint news. Yes.

I would, I would. Sunday morning, just. I would say, you know, Ohio State hasn't illustrated the ability to run the ball and we're gonna attack attack that like, like bait Ryan Day into playing that game because your score 21 17 Ohio State could certainly be 21 17 Notre Dame. Like that is their pathway to win to get Ohio State to, to forget who they are again and to play into your hand is exactly what Notre Dame is hoping for. Um, and this is the psychological warfare I'm here for, Ari.

I want this. I know you wrote about Ohio State today, maybe for Friday I'm going to write this as a column. It's always been Ohio against the world, it's going to continue to be Ohio against the world. This is a tough team, this is a resilient team. It wasn't even a manufactured speech of all the talking points he has to say when you prove you can beat somebody at the goal line. Like it's like, don't you, do you buy this or do you think I'm not? Is this tin foil hat? No, no, I, I, this is galaxy brain. This is tremendous. Like you, you've, you've cracked the code here. Yeah. I would do have cracked the code just to say, yeah, what Michigan, I would bring the Michigan game into it. Like, and

I don't know if you think talking before the game has an impact but I guarantee you don't think Marcus Freeman would do it for various reasons one that he is a former Ohio State player. But if he wanted to really just unload it and try to try all of the psychological like. all of the psychological like I would do it in a subtle way. Bring up the Michigan game in the Sunday press conference with Ryan Day sitting right there. Like we watched the Michigan game and you know they really took it to Ohio State and I think they look kind of soft in that game. We think we can we can exploit some of that. But I think that there's a difference because like if you look at like what James Franklin did to Marcus Freeman in their joint press conference that was the lead of my story yesterday.

Saying you know how old are you? And look at this hairline like that. You know, Pete Sampson wrote a really interesting story at the athletic after the same hairline is James Franklin, by the way, Pete Sampson. But yeah, that's right. But like, just like it bothered, it bothered him. And he used it in the locker room at halftime. And I thought that was interesting. Like, is there a way that Marcus Freeman could say something that isn't just an outrageous soundbite that everybody would go crazy on, but like layer it in there like subtly? Like, I don't know, like, just be like, we found that Ohio State's had trouble moving the football on the ground at times, or we're gonna like something that like asserts that you can say that with the other coach sitting right there without it coming across as a declaration of war. But hmm. Yeah. It's a good point. Don't you want to declare war? You do, but not. But if it's too obvious,

day's going to dismiss it. Like you got to get inside his head. Like if it's really obvious, he's like, oh, I see what you're doing here. Let's throw eight times to Jeremiah Smith in the first quarter. We've played more games than Ohio State this year in fourth quarter battles, where, where the game is one on the ground and we feel pretty good about how we're battle tested. Something like that. You got it.

You got it. You should be like a political speechwriter. I don't know about that, but this is perfect. All the dicks. I think, but I do think though that like if Notre Dame can get Ohio state to play that game, they have a real chance to win. Yeah. And the problem is I think Ohio state was punished so severely for

making that mistake that they will just not make that mistake again. But, but at the Texas game, there were drives where they started to kind of regress to that. I don't know if you notice that. I think that's cause Texas Texas has some dogs on the defense. Notre Dame, like, I know, I know. Like Michigan has dogs on their defense too. Like it's, I'm not, I'm not saying that like, like Purdue could go to Ohio

state into this, but like Notre Dame has the personnel to try to stick because like that's the thing if you go look at Ohio State's losses outside of the Oregon game this year, but going back even the last year all the games they lose are because the games are played on the opponent's terms. How do you get? How do you get Ohio State to play the game on your terms? Yeah, you're right. You're right and. Yeah, you're right. You're right. And Notre Dame has shown that the terms it plays best on are the ones that beats Ohio State. Like that style, that formula is what Ohio State's kryptonite is such as it is. I don't think they really have a kryptonite at this point. Ryan Day to grind his teeth while you're talking about the

toughest of his teams somehow. Wait, I got it. I got it. Marcus Freeman in that joint press conference on Sunday goes, I'm going to take some questions. But first, I just want to honor the last Notre Dame coach to win a national title. The person I'm trying to emulate here, the great Lou Holtz. And then Lou Holtz comes out. Has he talked for like two minutes and then, and then we start the press conference and Lou Holtz talked to you about this.

I don't think so. I'm sure he'll be at the game. Uh, anyway. Yeah. So that that's my take. Does this river have one? I think so. I'm sure he'll be at the game. Anyway, yeah, so that that's my take. Does this River have one? Yeah, let's go River. What we got? Alright, so Ari, since since you're backing out on the Irish, you come on day one. You're like Irish are winning going undefeated and now you're backing off. You're taking Ohio

State undefeated in the regular season. Oh, yeah I Will take the bait I'll take Notre Dame to win but in order for them to win They have to have a defensive or a special teams touchdown They have to do it you got the two pick sixes to solidify the USC game the last week, the season. And then you have the end of the first half, force the fumble, get a score, and then kickoff return against Georgia. That was really the key for them to win.

So I think Notre Dame, they just find a way they continue to find a way. And they'll do it. They'll do it again in Atlanta. And it'll be miraculous how they do it. Cause you gotta have a big play you got to have a big kickoff return interception return something or to get the juices flowing. I mean I actually think it's funny that like all three of us like if all three of our things

came true that they could win like that's those are the like that's that's how hard it is for them to win because the three things that we've said Me Jeremiah love going off in a way that really only one players gone off on Ohio State all year you Marcus Freeman incepting a Bad game plan into Ryan Day's head during the press conference and then River With just all of it comes together in the greatest of ways. I just, that just proves why Ohio State is more than a touchdown favorite in this game.

Just get Ryan Day to run the ball on third and two behind that offensive line. Don't get him to throw it, get him to run it. Ferris, who's a Michigan fan in the chat says, hire Connor Stallions lookalike, put him on the sidelines with a clipboard and sunglasses. That aura alone will be, I mean, honestly, that would be hysterical.

Not someone who actually looks like Connor Stallions looks now, but someone who looks like Connor Stallions in disguise at the Central Michigan game. That would be tremendous. Maybe even in the Central Michigan game like that would be tremendous like maybe even in the Central Michigan gear. Now we're cooking. I'm trying. I'm trying to figure out what actor you could hire to play that. Like young Ethan Hawk with his head shaved.

Yes, Ethan Hawk would disappear into the role of Connor Stallions. I would love to see that. Shadow Shadow Hokey. Who's the really handsome dude from This Is Us? I don't know if you watched that show, but I didn't. It's on in the house sometimes because my wife watches it. Oh, you asked Ari if Lou Holtz has talked. He has. He did an interview with Rob Aller of the Columbus Dispatch. Oh, he did? Okay. Yeah. So this was last week or Sunday of this week. And he actually was

pretty empathetic towards Ryan Day. And I understand that as a coach who's had some really high profile jobs, he would understand better than almost anybody. What Ryan Day was dealing with this year. And so here's what he said about that, you know, having that kind of job. He goes, this is to Rob all or the Columbus dispatch. One day you're drinking the wine and the next day you're picking the grapes. Whole set of the constant tug of war

between being hailed as hero and treated like hell. You have to stay in the present moment because you have an obligation to your players to give them every chance to win. So that's, that was his advice to Ryan Day and that's what he should have said if he wants Notre Dame to win. If he wants Notre Dame to lose, he should be like Ryan Day should tell Chip Kelly to throw the ball to Jeremiah Smith as much as possible.

Yeah. And like Lou Holtz is somebody who's actually been pretty important. Like, I don't know if I'm imagining this, but I don't think I am, but like, isn't Lou Holtz like one of Urban Meyer's mentors and idols? Yes, very much so. And he's worked at Ohio State. Like he worked at Ohio State in earlier his career.

So- Which is why it's kind of a funny villain. But the Lou Holtz thing is the blueprint. And like, if everybody makes these jokes about Ohio State just can't beat Michigan, wear Michigan uniforms, like I do think that there's like a 15%, Notre Dame has 15% of that aura because they've played them close.

Lou Holtz, there's something there. I like it. Now normally I'm. Half checked out at those Sunday press conferences because nobody ever says anything fun. Now I'm going to be on high alert. I'm going to be parsing every word. Marcus Freeman says,

cause I don't know if he watches this show. But he's got friends who do. Maybe they slip it to him now. Some of those friends. Who we we talked to every once in a while, like you know, your General Bob Carpenter, that type of person, like they're all in on Ohio State, of course. But you know, that ex Ohio State linebacker group chat that also includes Marcus Freeman, some of those guys do watch our show

and can kind of slide it, slide this his way. Yeah, but they want the Buckeyes to win, so they're not going. They probably won't slide your tremendous idea. Like I'm in. I just want to see Marcus Freeman incept the wrong game plan into Ryan Day's head at a press conference before we go. Before we go, um. I mean, I just like a Notre Dame reporter could just ask Ryan Day if he thinks that they need to run the ball more effectively or something like that. A reporter could do it.

But should we rank the spice level of these and who wins? Yes, yes, we should. I mean, mine you said was nuclear. So I think mine wins yours is pretty Yours is better. Mine is Spicier yeah, I think mine's the spiciest. I think River took both of ours together and Then created like a super take so maybe his is a spiciest Yeah, they will win if the really rare thing that might or may not happen happens.

No, he's saying that's gonna happen. You're saying that's going to happen? Yeah. I think River wins. Yeah, I mean, that's the least likely, I think. So, yeah. Yours is the funniest though. Did you see that somebody posted the Draft Kings odds for Jeremiah Love reaching a hundred yards? If I'm right you're gonna win some money. I also just don't know that he's gonna carry the ball enough to get there

unless he breaks off a big one like getting Indiana. So now here's the take Jeremiah Smith and Jeremiah Love there's two Jeremiah's in this game. Two really good Jeremiah's in this game. Two really good Jeremiah's in this game. Yeah, spell their names differently though, and Riley Leonard will combine for 125 yards. I think it's like a pretty good way to look at it. I think so. I do. I think that's a very good way to look at it,

so we'll see if they can pull it off. But I'm excited. Now I'm excited for that Sunday press conference. We we're going to have a fun show tomorrow. We are scheduled. To talk later today with the great Joel Clatt of Fox Sports, the Commissioner of College Football,

Joel Clatt and everybody wants to save it, but I think Joel's already kind of assumed the role so. we'll have the commissioner on also Jim Nagy from the senior bowl who has both of the quarterbacks from the national title game coming to his game in Mobile. He's going to break down the Will Howard versus Riley Leonard matchup in a way that is far more scientific than Ari and I can. We'll talk to you tomorrow.