Andy & Ari On3 - Brendan Sorsby LATEST: What’s next for the Texas Tech QB? Can James Franklin WIN NOW at Virginia Tech? Ranking the top College Football Mascots

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

As the Brendan Sorsby gambling story has swept the college football landscape this week, a listener sends in a question on the subject to kick off today’s Dear Andy & Ari episode. Before you head into your weekend, Andy & Ari have you covered on the latest happenings of the Brendan Sorsby gambling situation. Also, a random ranking at the end of the top costumed mascots in all of college football.   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (0:53) Intro: Sorsby Latest (14:53) Notre Dame and Bama in last year’s CFP rankings? (28:46) ACC Contenders in 2026 (31:45) Can Virginia Tech compete (39:22) Small Budget: Big Ten & SEC (46:17) Random Ranking Rules: Top Costumed Mascots (48:36) Ari’s #5 (49:46) River’s #5 (50:50) Andy’s #5 (52:04) Ari’s #4 (54:14) Andy’s #4 (55:12) #3     (56:30) Andy's #3 (57:48) Ari's #2 (58:57) River's #2 (1:00:15) The Duck, Brutus (1:01:59) Big Red, Part 2 (1:02:45) Sparty (1:06:14) Entire List (1:07:09) Thanks for watching! See you Monday!   After the Brendan Sorsby discussion, Andy & Ari shift gears to this past year’s final CFP rankings. Are Notre Dame fans upset more about Alabama’s rankings?   Next up, James Franklin is set for a big year at Virginia Tech. Can the new Hokies head coach compete immediately for the ACC title?   As the national champion resides in Bloomington, a Mississippi State fan asks if small budget teams in the Big Ten and SEC are doomed in this era. Andy & Ari quickly provide an answer.   To close out the show, it’s a random ranking of the top costumed mascots in all of college football. What do you think of our list?     Send your questions to: [e-mail] [e-mail]   Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/lW522MrbtEc   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's Andy and Ari on three, it is a dear Andy, dear Ari mailbag day, and you have great questions about Texas Tech quarterback Brennan Sorsby. What does he do next now that he's being investigated by the NCAA for gambling? Also, what might happen to Cincinnati and Indiana where he played and what can they do about all of this? Plus, a reasonable Notre Dame fan writes in to relitigate. the end of last year, but not in the way you might think. Also, can Virginia Tech make the ACC championship game in year one under James Franklin? Plus, we get a random ranking, the best costumed mascots in college football.

All on today's Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3. We are presented by BetMGM. I know you probably still think that sounds weird sometimes, because Our first question in the mailbag is going to be about Brendan Sorsby, but that is just how it goes because it's all part of this now. And we do have a good question, Ari, right out of the gate, from Taylor, who hits you up on Instagram.

And I know Taylor's a super fan just from the first phrase of the question. And I really appreciate that. But Taylor brings up a really good point, because I wanted to dig in a little more on this Brendan Sorsby thing anyway, about all this, he's been at three different schools, about the schools, about what happens next, about what he does next, about his future.

There's a lot of talk about. So here's a question from Taylor, Ari. Super Electric, you know he's writing this, Ari. Question regarding Brennan Sorsby's problem. Y'all mentioned how Texas Tech could be able to go after him and recruit their money they're currently paying him. Depending on how it turns out, if it comes out true, could Cincinnati and maybe Indiana try to take back the NIL money

from those two schools. And Ari, I was thinking about this. I don't think it's worth it for Cincinnati, Indiana, to get into this any more than they may already have been pulled into this. Well, I might be dumb, but I can't imagine that he made a ton of money at Indiana to begin with. Right, right. I don't even know if Indiana would have really much to gain.

So they're like, we're the national champions. We don't care what happened before. But it's an interesting dynamic because it's not just about Brendan Sorsby. What I don't know is, is when you are playing or paying NIL to a player, and then that player fulfills their contract, which is playing football for you for the entire season. If you retroactively find out that they did something against the rules or did something to embarrass the university after they leave, or did something while they were in school that you were unaware of until after they left, do you have damages that could void the contract anyway or make you work,

make you, if you could prove it breached the contract, I would think so. And also if you could prove damages, although I would argue Cincinnati can't prove any damages because he was a good quarterback for them and probably made them some money while he was there. But I mean, you probably could go strictly on the language of the contract and say, and again, we're speculating here because we don't know what,

happened at Cincinnati other than he made some bets. If it's enough to trigger an NCAA ban, the ones at Indiana are the ones that I think are the ones that are the ones that are going to make it hard for him to keep playing college football. He's going to have to go to court probably to, unless the NCAA is willing to work a deal, which they've been pretty rigid on this in the past. And the more I think about it, Ari, the more I think, it might not be worth the trouble to fight this in court because they're going to drag all this stuff out, whatever happened in the past is going to get dragged out.

It almost might be worth it. If they're going to be real sticklers for this, they're going to say you bet on your own team, there is no way we can let you keep playing. You can challenge that in court and they'll, they would go to a local court and hope to find a friendly judge. but I'm not sure you want everything that would get laid out in court, laid out in court. It would all be done in public. Well, Andy, also like, I just want to go to the NFL. The other question, though, like when it comes back to the original question, is that, like, yes, Brendan Sorsby made $5 million from Texas Tech for the upcoming season. Brendan Sorsby was a very good player at Cincinnati in order to earn that money, but I can't imagine that he was getting paid $2 million when he was at Cincinnati.

So then you also have to take into account if a case got dragged out, how much it would cost for litigation, how much you could actually even consider. Remember, Cincinnati is suing him over a $1 million buyout right now. Yeah. So I feel like the net positive of that whole deal is probably, again, not worth it. But like it is fascinating because I don't know the answer to this. Like what if a $10 million player exists in three years? They play every game, but then you found out that they were doing something behind the scenes that, voids the contract.

Like, are you, because like, that's like the hardest thing. Like the thing that they're paying you to do, you fulfilled. You fulfilled. Right. Played the games. So, you know, that, that's why it gets kind of murky. And Sorosby will see if he ends up playing the games. And we don't know yet.

And the other part of the Sorsby thing is they have not paid him the full amount yet. It's, it's a graduated, like they don't pay it all up front. So they could decide if he, let's say he decided to go to the NFL or the NCAA just said, no, You can't play, period. And there's no, and you took it to court and you lost. They would just stop paying him. Whether they would claw back what they'd already paid him, that would be another question. But I don't know if they would do that because it might also be, fall into the category of the juices and worth the squeeze.

Yeah. And then, you know, I've had people ask like, how does the NFL thing work if that's what he ends up deciding to do or if they can't find a way to me? make him eligible to play, then go to the supplemental draft. And the supplemental draft is essentially a silent auction for football players, where every team of the league has the opportunity to submit a bid. But the way they would submit it is they say, well, we would give up, like if you were in the draft next year, we would give up a fourth round pick for this person or a second round pick for this person or a first round pick for this person.

And the one that bids the highest gets the player. and then they trade, don't trade, they surrender their draft pick in that round next year. So, like, if you are a team that regularly makes the playoffs, and you're in a need of a quarterback, like Pittsburgh Steelers, somebody like that, or you have an old quarterback, and I realize the Rams already did something about that. But you could, if you thought he was a first round talent,

that's the time you'd want to do that. I don't have a real clear understanding or maybe I just haven't read too many mock drafts for next year, but like, where would you fall? Yeah, where, how do people view him as an NFL problem? It's a good question. Because the league did not dig into him as much as they would have because they were,

the scouts, and I've talked to a couple, like they were under the impression he was coming back to school, whether that was at Cincinnati or somewhere else. So they didn't do the full deep, dive. So I don't know if there's a consensus on where he would land. Now, if you're asking- He's not an athletic and has a pretty big arm. So that's usually a pretty good- Very, very strong arm. Yes. And if you're asking how much the gambling stuff could hurt him, I will point out, and it's not a nice thing we say about the NFL,

but it is a true thing we say about the NFL. They'll forgive a lot if you can play. Yeah. And the thing I was going to just ask you, Andy, was let's pretend it wasn't Brendan Soresby, and let's pretend it was Cam Newton that is. That wouldn't matter. He would play in the NFL, right? He would be a first round supplemental draft pick. No questions asked. Every team would bid on him.

Yeah. Yeah. So like that, to me, is what makes this interesting because there is some thought of like, well, he's probably never going to play college again. And frankly speaking, I don't know if we're allowed to share this opinion. And if we're not, River, you can cut it out. I don't think he should. I don't think you can open up that box and allow somebody who's bet on their own games

to play again because you have to have a line in the same. sand somewhere. And that line, as far as we know, like, unless they dig up a case that's different, every case we've seen publicly, that's what's happened. They've not let the person play. The NFL is different. They don't ban you permanently if you do that. Calvin Ridley is the example of that right now.

Like, Calvin Ridley, when he was with the Falcons, got caught betting on the Falcons while he was injured. It's actually kind of similar to Sorsby at Indiana while he's redshirting. and what the NFL does when that happens, they suspend you. And definitely you can then apply for reinstatement after a year. And he did apply for reinstatement. He ends up, you know, the Falcons traded his rights to the Jags while he was suspended, played well for the Jags.

Now he's the best receiver for the Titans. I mean, that's a good pool. I actually didn't realize that Ridley was actually betting on the Falcons. If you can play, you've got a job. Yeah. Well, if there's precedent in the NFL that somebody has bet on their own team while not playing, and they are back in the NFL, then that probably bodes well for someone.

Yeah, he did face discipline for it, but you also have the weird, like, remember when Terrell Pryor had to do the weird suspension? Like, I thought that was so stupid, the having your college suspension bleed into the NFL. Yeah. They tried to do that with Tressel when Tressel was going to do a, a job with a pro team.

And he's like, screw it, I'll just become a university president and then the lieutenant governor. So I think, yeah, The NFL suspensions, I mean, like, everybody, it's funny because like Harbaugh, I think always wanted to go to the NFL. I don't know that what happened at Michigan is the reason he did that. But like, there was never a question of whether he was going to be in trouble once he got to the Chargers.

Yeah, he wasn't going to be in trouble. So Sorsby, I think if it doesn't work out, if they can't figure out a way to have him play at Texas Tech and the odds are stacked against him, let's be honest here. Then that's probably the move. and the NFL has precedent here where, again, even if you've done this, if you can play, that they will have a job for you and happily give you bigger salaries the better you play. Calvin Ridley is the example of that. The supplemental draft has not been announced, but it's usually in July. Yes, they have until, I believe, June 30th to declare for it.

Okay. So we'll find out. I mean, he's got time, and they'll probably go back and forth with the instance. NCAA and we'll see. I doubt the NCAA will be real flexible on this. And then if they're not, then it's up to Brendan Sorsby and Texas Tech and everybody else to decide, do we want to take this to court? And they might. I think it's funny because everybody likes to bag on the NCAA, but there are times where you need the NCAA to hold the line. Well, and the other thing, and we've talked about this on the show, so who's beaten the NCAA recently, Trinidad Shambliss,

Owen Heineke. Who's lost to them recently? Joey Aguilar, Charles Betiaco, Chandler Morris, all of those had one thing in common. Well, the ones that won had one thing in common. They had demonstrated uneven application of a particular rule.

They said, you handled this situation this way and this almost identical situation, the complete opposite way. The ones where they had, haven't handled it differently, the courts have sided with the NCAA for the most part. Which does not vote well for Brennan Sorsby. Yeah, exactly. So that's, that's where they're at right now. So it's a great question from Taylor. Again, I think, I think if you're Indiana, you just like, that, that happened in BC times before Sigetti. Nothing matters that happened before Sagetti. And if you are Cincinnati, I don't think you want to be dragged into this.

I know USA Today reported that they knew about this and that they may have tipped somebody off. Like, if you're Cincinnati, there's no incentive to tip anybody off about this, especially if you knew. So I don't think they're enjoying being dragged into this either. Yeah. I mean, you could do tinfoil had Friday

if you want to come up with some incentive for Cincinnati to want to be dragged into this. Well, they're mad because he didn't pay the buyout, but it's not worth it going for. Ford. Are they particularly in love with their head coach right now? I guess you're right. I guess you could probably you could probably say shoot, I came up with this theory two days ago, so you're right. Okay. Yeah. If you wanted to have some way to potentially fire somebody for free, maybe that's how you do it. So because there's kind of like an

idea like of if Cincinnati was the tip off, then they have to know that the house is catching on fire. And why would they want to do that? Again, got the hat on. But. But, But, you know, this sport, let's be honest, Andy, this sport has slower the first time than that. So, yeah, I mean. Tennessee weaponized the NCAA against Jeremy Pruitt. I think that if you're like looking for the high road, and I'm not accusing anybody of anything, but I have seen worse than that particular conspiracy theory play out in the sport. Auburn, okay.

Like Auburn Yeah They're Their mobilization Against the former head coach That oh the one that didn't work Yes Oh I got you okay

Yeah Yes that that that understandable And that was dirty dirty dirty And I'm glad it didn't work Because you can be mad about Brian Harson all you want But that was never What they did was wrong Never underestimate the bounds

That a program might go to To not pay a buyout You do have a good point, Ari, especially as the buyouts get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. All right. Our next question comes from Ryan. And the subject line of the question is no reasonable Notre Dame fan is upset about Miami. And so this is somewhat of an apology to you, I think, Ari. but it's interesting. Ryan's,

Ryan is a Notre Dame fan, by the way. Ryan's reasoning is very interesting. They are upset that Alabama got in with three losses. The week before the final rankings, Alabama somehow jumped Notre Dame in the standings. They had a tough road win versus a rival. That would be the Auburn game, which you and I watched in Detroit,

and it wasn't the most sterling win for Alabama. It was a game they were supposed to win that was somewhat in doubt in the fourth quarter. They beat a seven-lossed Auburn. by seven points. Meanwhile, Notre Dame smokes Stanford on the road. Now, Sanford stunk, so that wasn't really important either. That seems odd. How about conference championship games? Ohio State got jumped by Indiana. BYU got jumped by Miami, even though Miami didn't play. What happened when Bama lost by three touchdowns? Nothing. I read that that was the first time

a conference championship loser in the playoff era hadn't dropped any spot in the rankings. Miami's deserved to be in over Notre Dame. Bama, they got blown out three times last year, and they get blown out. Okay, three times if you count the Indiana game. At that point, they'd been blown out twice and lost to Oklahoma. You can't count the things that happened after the decision was made, by. All right. Yeah, Notre Dame lost by four points to two playoff teams. By the way, love your show. And sorry if this is a wrong email to send this too. Sorry if you've discussed it before just started listening regularly the last couple of months. Well, welcome, Ryan. And no, we have not, well, we have discussed this in pieces before, but I don't think we've

ever discussed it in its totality. And so, Ryan, you're new to, new here, but what producer river just put up as a graphic of my bracketology coming out of championship Saturday. And you will see that I have Notre Dame as the 10 seed because I have to have Tulane as 11. I had Duke as 12, James Madison and up 12. And I have Miami as the nine seed. So I would have had Miami playing at Oklahoma, Notre Dame playing at Texas A&M.

and I left my Alabama out. I had Alabama's last team, the first team out. That is what I thought should have happened. I was not particularly confident that was going to happen because I did not think the committee was going to punish the loser of a game that they earned their way into. And I think that's the difference. It was a championship game.

If that lost to Georgia had come in a regular season game and not the championship game, not the bonus game that Alabama earned its way into, then I absolutely... would have gone nuts when they put Alabama in the playoff. I was hoping they wouldn't do it because I thought what happened to Alabama ultimately against Indiana was going to happen. And the game against Georgia just showed you why that was possible. I also thought Notre Dame had a chance to be really competitive against a lot of the teams in the field. But I knew what the argument was.

And it was weird, Ari, because we spent so many years in the 14th, team playoff where it was a different situation. So, 2023, 2017, where Alabama was the I-Test team, but maybe not the resume team. And they got in and were like, oh, the committee just said they got in because they thought they'd win. And well, like in 2017, they won the national title. So good call committee. But this time around, Alabama was the resume team and Notre Dame was the I-test team.

I've got a lot to say here. Are you ready? Okay. Yeah. I think this couldn't have been an apology because Ryan just started listening to the show and I'm happy. He didn't hear it. He didn't have to hear what I had to say all off the entire season about it. The thing that irks me about this is that Notre Dame fans didn't speak about Alabama at all until it was convenient at the end. Like that wasn't like. But Alabama didn't jump them until I know. But what I'm saying is I don't want to hear from a Notre Dame fan.

of course Miami deserved to be in. Like, were you a part of the discourse at all throughout the entire season? They were put, and it's not even Notre Dame fans' fault. Like, they were put into a false sense of comfort from the committee, from ranking them wrong, but they found themselves in a position for six weeks to explain away why it's a rational thing that Notre Dame was ranked ahead of them. So, like, that's part of it to me.

Also, Alabama was ranked ahead of Notre Dame going into the championship camps. But, like, Notre Dame can, we can try to, rewrite history about Notre Dame's the source of their ire and maybe at the end it was Alabama because of the way it played out but frankly speaking it was a Miami Notre Dame debate the entire time until the end. Secondly, I want to correct myself. What he's talking about is they did jump them like after Alabama beat Auburn and Notre Dame meets Stanford into the regular season, they did they did flip-flop them. Notre Dame was at nine and Alabama was 10. And Alabama was 10 and they flip-flop them after the final regular season games, which does not make a ton of

sense. What was Alabama's record at the end of the year? They were 10 and 3, right, with an extra loss. Correct. So I guess it obviously boils down to the same thing that we always argue about, which is how much should conference championship games penalize you when there has been precedent in the past where conference championship game lost or knocked you out. But good news, everybody.

It's not going to be a problem much longer. If you believe that Miami should have been in over Notre Dame as a result of resume because of resume in the head-to-head win, you cannot ignore that Alabama beat like four ranked teams in a row, including the team that blew them out in the SEC championship game. Like that cannot be ignored. So I understand that we want to fixate on what happened at the end and then ultimately what happened. Because you can you can talk about the Alabama Georgia game all you want. Alabama also had a road win against Georgia during the season, which is why I say. day, we were in the weird spot of Alabama being the resume team. Alabama was the resume team and Miami was the resume team.

And I think that it's funny because if you're an Alabama fan, you might spend some time thinking about the merits of, you know, canceling non-conference games and all these things. And frankly, I understand that Alabama's best wins this past year were over conference opponents. But the thing that got Alabama in and the thing that had Alabama in the discussion the year before was a tough schedule with big wins. So, like, I was all for the idea of promoting the team that actually beat playoff teams. Notre Dame had a schedule.

It didn't feature enough good teams. They lost twice, and they paid the penalty for that. So, like, that is the way the sport has always worked. I know that we wanted to change the way we view it because Texas didn't get in last year or whatever, but quality wins have always been the name of the game. Notre Dame didn't really have any, and Alabama had a few. So, like, would it have been, I don't think it would have been insane to put Notre Dame in over Alabama, because they would have, again, had one fewer loss, and we've seen teams.

Well, I think it would have, it probably would have looked, I don't know, Notre Dame would have gotten a rematch there of a game that took place in South Bend. I do think the way those two teams evolved, the game probably would have played out much differently than the first time around because I think both teams' defenses would have been better. And I don't know if it would have looked as much of a slog as Miami A&M was. And like I get it. Like the thing that I don't want to lose, like I get if you're a Notre Dame fan why you're upset, especially with the way that the A&M game lost. Yes, there was a hold.

Okay. Like, you know, they lost two games by very close margins that they absolutely could have won both. But that is the danger. you put yourself in if you're a two-loss team that doesn't have quality wins, which is, I believe, not to change the premise of the question. Yeah. Notre Dame is the poster child for why non-conference games for all the conference teams that are important. You need to have any bullet points on your resume as possible.

It's about Notre Dame because they're the ones trying to schedule as difficult as they can, and then they have teams like USC pulling out on them. And it's also not Notre Dame's fault that teams that they played last year that could have been good sucked. Like some of this too is like just bad luck. Like, you know, if you you schedule games out years in advance, they have this agreement with the ACC. There will be years where, you know, I hope Notre Dame has a very hard schedule because the ACC is deep and awesome. Right now, the ACC seems to be weak and shallow. So that's not going to help them out.

Like part of like, it's not always just negative. Let's go back when I don't remember exactly when the games for this year were scheduled. but I would imagine they were scheduled far back enough that if you looked at when they were scheduled, a schedule that early in the season, you're playing Wisconsin on a neutral field and then Michigan State coming to your place, you're like, oh, man, they're really challenging themselves.

I mean, it just depends on how far back you go, but I'm going to just go back to last year. They had Miami. No one had any idea how good Miami was actually ultimately going to be. they had A&M. Like their schedule wasn't, it wasn't that their schedule stunk. Of their 12 regular season games,

three of them were either in the playoff or in the playoff hunt in November. USC also was a top 20 team last year. Yep. The problem is that they lost all of those games. So like you need to. You're right. They beat USC, but yeah.

If Notre Dame would have beaten A&M and then lost to, I don't know, Pitt, I think they would have gotten in, which again illustrates the entire point of hard games and the importance of winning them and scheduling them. Like it's, don't you agree? If Notre Dame beat A&M, don't you think they would have gotten in over Bama? I think, yeah, the committee would have been looking for a reason to say, okay, they've beaten a playoff team and you've beaten a playoff team. Because Bama had beaten one playoff team, right?

They'd beat in Georgia. They had beaten Georgia who was, and I still think you get credit for beating the team that won the SEC. like that. Correct. But even if Alabama's other good wins were not against playoff teams, right? No, Alabama's good wins like we're against Vanderbilt in Missouri and good teams, but not playoff teams. But I think that if they would have had a playoff team notch on their belt. You're talking to Notre Dame. Yeah, I think you're right. I think I think the committee would have been like, you both beat one playoff team. Now we're just going to decide which one of you two we think would perform better against these other teams.

And they probably would have picked Notre Dame. So, like, again, I understand a Notre Dame fan's displeasure for how that played out. And I didn't take any pleasure in them being left out. But when it came to Miami, there was a clear decision to make. And they made that decision. And then Alabama is a really tough sell because they did play. And, you know, whether we agree with it or not, the committee views the, and the number show that the SEC, excuse me, is the hardest conference in all.

of college football. They beat the conference champion and they traversed to the championship game by beating four-ranking. Like they had a really good resume before they lost in their championship game. So I appreciate Ryan for asking the correct question, though. For sure. That's the right argument to have. And I think that there will always be times and Notre Dame was unfortunately on the wrong end of this decision, you know, go back throughout the entire playoff history or even BCS times of like, did we get it right? Like, you know, I don't know. I actually, the saddest thing about it is is that I do believe that Notre Dame would have done a really good job. And I actually think that it's not outside of the possibility they would have won the national title last year.

Like, I think Notre Dame could have played with Indiana. So like it sucks. But yeah, like what I think doesn't matter. Like that's the thing like that what I think and what Andy thinks should not take precedent, precedent over what you did. And you just can't get past that. And, you know, the good news is I don't think it's going to be an issue for you guys this year. And I think they're going to be really good and maybe win the national titles.

So hopefully they can use what happened last year. You know, the way you could maybe view it is they wouldn't have won the national championship last year. They used the anger and the distaste for the committees process to fuel their offseason in order to, you know, ramp up for when they have a really good team this year. Yeah. That's how it makes it feel better. Yeah, it'll be fun to watch. And they are, we talked about it. during the show last week, they are expecting this.

They are acting as if they are supposed to win the national title this year. They're going to make sure nothing gets in their way. They're going to make sure they don't have any slip-ups. And they're already talking about this. So I think they've got the right attitude. And remember, there is that one administrative change. If they wound up where they were last year, if they're inside the top 12, as of this year, they're in.

So that's a change in the policies of the CFP. The committee can also adjust based on that rule, too. They can. But would they have? I don't know. I don't know. So next question comes from J. Ben. Can the Hokies make the ACC championship game in year one of James Franklin?

A sneaky commodity at QB. This is a good question. This is not just a Virginia Tech question. This is an overall ACC question, Ari, because, okay, we just got done talking about Miami last year. Miami this year is going to be really good. They're going to be a favorite to make the ACC championship game. Who else, before we get to Virginia Tech, who else would you put as a potential ACC title game participant just right off the bat? It's funny that this question got asked because I had a buddy who's

trying to put in some futures for next year. And he goes, okay, we know Miami's the heavy favorite. Who else in the ACC is worth a long shot play? And I was like, uh, uh, Louis. The one that came into my head. SMU was the one that popped into my head. I think that SMU has already done it before. And we had Lashley on the show last week.

And he seemed to be pretty high on what he's bringing back. Jennings is back a quarterback. That would be good. But like, I don't think that it's out of the question to, like, I don't know. What's your view of Clemson right now? Do you think they should be good, or do you think this is an eight and four team again? I'm going to assume they're going to do what they've been doing.

And there would have to be like maybe the young quarterback comes in, Tate Reynolds and is completely different. There's a complete revelation. But theoretically, they're going to have less talent this year than they had last year. There's just lost nine draft picks. Yeah. So I'm not going to predict that they're going to be awesome. So I would say, first of all, because Jeff Brom is just a very good coach and always has his team kind of right there.

And if you look at Louisville last year, they beat Miami. They were right there in games that were close that if they'd won them, they would have been in the championship. But same with SMU. Now, remember, SMU, I think SMU loses to Cal when they could have played in the ACCC champion. championship game. Yeah, they had a few close games that were within a possession in the fourth quarter. And I think they led in all of them in the second half, if I remember. They also beat Miami, which played at home.

So, I mean, like they, yeah, I mean, like, here's the thing. If you think Miami's just going to bowl over everybody, that's fine. But they also have to play somebody in the championship game. Like, someone's going to go. That's not Miami. Another one I'll throw out there is NC State. C.J. Bailey comes back. Now they did lose Chakarius Peak in Hollywood Smothers.

they've been hit by the transfer portal. It feels like every year in some way. But they did bring CJ Bailey back. So I would say to them too. But can Virginia Tech compete immediately? I think it's entirely possible. Me too. So Jay Ben asked about Ethan Grunkiemeier,

the quarterback who followed James Franklin from Penn State. And I thought I thought Gruncomeyer played well when he got put in in place of injured Drew Aller last year. I thought he did fine. I don't know if he, does he make a jump now that he goes in there as, and he's not, they haven't said he's the guy, but it's pretty clear he looks like the guy. Yeah, I mean, I think a sneaky commodity was a good way to put it because it's like,

yeah, he has, we don't know for sure what he is. But if he turns out to be really, really good, then that puts you over the hump, I think. And obviously, you know, Penn State brought in a lot of players, I mean, sorry, Virginia Tech brought in a lot of players from Penn State. State, then I do get amused sometimes when I think about like James Franklin, uh, existing in Blacksburg because he's like never going to have to turn on the tape and like review a team like Ohio State like he had to every year for his entire existence.

Like there's not like the teams that he has been used to trying to be. Oh, I think Miami's like that now, but. Yeah. In the ACC. But that's the only team in the ACC that that would scare you like the Ohio State Michigan teams that James Franklin used. have to play every year. Like if you placed the Penn State teams that Franklin had the entire time in the

ACC, they probably would have won the, well, they would have had to run into Clemson during those periods. Yeah, or a good Florida State, but they still would have been one of the best teams in the league and they would have won it. And they probably would have broken through more than Penn State did. Yep. I don't know how fair it is to expect this in year one from him, but I would not be shocked if Virginia Tech was a top three team in the ACC.

going into year two for sure. And if he does go to the ACC championship game this year, I don't think that's like fall in your chair shocking. I don't think it would be a huge surprise if they do. I think they've upgraded the talent. And also Virginia Tech is going to put a lot more money into football. Like they are taking money from the university side, and you can criticize that if you want to.

But they basically said, and so Whit Babcock, the AD who's retiring now, basically went to their board before, last season and said, I call the pitch deck he gave them. He should have titled it, Fund Me or Fire Me, because he basically was daring them to fire him if they didn't like what he was saying. And he said, hey, we're not competitive within the ACC in terms of resources at all. And now they are. And you heard it when James Franklin was on the show, where he basically, now obviously he said he wouldn't have taken the job if he didn't feel comfortable if they were

investing. And he's friends with Brent Pry. So obviously he's, going to defend Brent Pry, but he also defended Justin Fwente, the coach before Brent Pry, where he said, look, these guys were not given what they needed to succeed here. I am being given what I need to succeed. He was once a coach that got more with less. And I'm very curious what he does with this situation because it is less, it's probably still less than what he was getting at Penn State. It's less than Miami and it's less than Penn State, but it's not less than most of the

ACC right now. Roster talent-wise, because he did bring so much from Penn State, they suddenly become one of the better rosters in the ACC. So if we're talking about who has the best rosters in the ACC, Miami is going to be the best, Clemson is still going to have a very good roster, SMU is in the top two or three, Louisville is going to be in the top five always. And then it's a matter of who else. Virginia brings back a lot. Virginia's got two experienced quarterbacks duke in it out. Isn't it a sad state of affairs where you can get through this entire segment and not even bring up Florida State?

I just don't know what to say at this point. Yeah. They should have a top two roster in the league every year. They should have a top two roster in the league every year. If it's not one, then it's two. In the times that it's one, Miami is two. That's the way it should go or Clemson somewhere in the top three. But Clemson's also backsliding a little bit.

So, I mean, I think that this is a land. This is an opportunity. I think it's a great year for it to be year one for Franklin. Yes. Agreed. Agreed. And the schedule gives you some runway. And as bad as everybody wants to make money.

Old Dominions, his buddy Ricky Ronnie, his former offensive coordinator. So they're familiar with him. And obviously, Old Dominion's quarterback, Colton Joseph, just left for Wisconsin. And then you got the Maryland Revenge. game because remember James Franklin was the coach in waiting at Maryland and then that all got messed up and he ended up going to Vanderbilt and then Boston College

was really bad like you you are you are easing in as much as you possibly can there's a good chance to go into that pit game 4 and O and then if you win in the pit game then suddenly you're going to Berkeley 5 and O

for one of the years actually let's let's let we had Tosh LaPoy on the show let's not sleep on Cal Ari. How many quarterbacks in the ACC are you taking over

JKS? Right now? Let's see. One? None. Darian Mensa? No. Dary and Mensa?

You have to take over. Yeah. Okay. That's probably it. Kevin Jennings? If you like is upside. C.J. Bailey. See,

that could be a wash. Yeah. So, yes. I think probably the top four quarterbacks in the ACC going into the season, in some order, Darian Mentsa, Jaron, Chiave,

Sangapoletali, C.J. Bailey, Kevin Jennings. So, respect to you for always saying J.K.S.'s' name, fearlessly, by the way. I'm too afraid. Another quarterback, producer River, reminded me of,

now he's coming back off an Achilles, so I don't know if he's healthy week one. Remember, Syracuse was not just okay. They were good when Steve Angelli was playing last year. He gets hurt against Clemson, and they become awful because they didn't have anybody behind him. They have a guy named Amari Odom this year, who they got from Kennesaw State. Remember we had Jerry Mack on, the Kennesaw State coach? Amari was his quarterback last year.

They'd gotten him from Wofford. He leads Kennesaw State to a conference USA title. He had a really good year last year. So he's probably the guy if Angelie can't go week one, or if something happens to, if Angelie can play and then something happens, Odom comes in. I think Syracuse is in a better position to deal with that this year. But that's one to watch because, again, when Angelli was playing, they were good. And when they were bad. They were really bad.

So bad. So this is going to be a fascinating year in the ACC. But Jay Ben, I would not be stunned if James Franklin has them in the ACC title game this year, or at least in striking distance of it. in the last couple weeks of the season. Yeah. I believe, according to BetMGM, that Virginia Tech is either fifth or sixth

the most likely to win the ACC. Okay. I can love with that. I think that's a fair place to put them right now. Our next question comes from Deere Old State. Dear Old State's a Mississippi State fan. Are small budget schools in the Big Ten and the SEC doomed in the current era? Can I answer in forceful fashion?

Sure. Dear, dear old state. Indiana just won the national title. You have no excuse. Can I play devil's advocate? Yeah, go ahead. Was Indiana a low budget school last year? No, but this is my point.

There are no low budget schools in the SEC and the Big Ten. You're all rich compared to everybody else. And you also can ramp it up. up at any given moment. Correct. Yeah. You may have a lower budget than somebody else in your league, but you've got a higher budget than almost everybody else. And as Indiana approved, you probably have a high enough budget to compete if you do it right. So it's up to Jeff Levy and company to do it right. It's up to Barry Odom at Purdue to do it right. It's up to PJ Fleck at Minnesota to do it right. It is up to Clark Lee at Vanderbilt. Oh, wait, he did it right. He won 10 games at

Vanderbilt last year. It's up to Eli Drinkwoods at Missouri to do it right. And I'm assuming that Indiana's investment in football increased dramatically after they got a taste of a playoff run the first year. I think that like winning cultivates investment. And I think that maybe it's hard because it's a chicken and egg situation. But, you know, like let's not also downplay Indiana's great move. They hired Kurt Signetti, which was the first step, you know, and that wasn't a huge Lane Kiffin type scenario when they got him. in from bidding wars and all that stuff. And Jeff Levy did not have the resources that he needed year one.

I don't think you should hold any of year one against Jeff Levy. I think they had the better resources last year, and you saw how much better they got. They were better last year. And Camaro Taylor is going to be a fun quarterback to watch. I am excited to see Camaro Taylor. Like Mississippi State, Minnesota is going to be a fun game. That's week two.

It's in Minneapolis. That's a good fun game. I think that the swift answer to this question is if you exist in the Big Ten and the SEC, regardless of who you are, what your history says or what your lot in life is, there's more reason for optimism now than there's ever been before.

Correct. And you can never, like you don't get to say, poor me. Because everybody in the ACC in the Big 12 would trade places with you in a second. And I hate to keep saying it. Indiana won the national title. Like, I don't know. Exactly.

You say it so often, it's annoying. But like, it's the, it's the new skeleton key for all college football arguments. Indiana just won national title. Take Indiana out. You saw the first quote that we read. I mean, Vandy just won 10 games in the SEC this year. Vandy. Yeah.

Was Vandy seven years ago, who was a, who was more hopeless, Vandy or Mississippi State? Well, Vandy, of course. 12 years ago, Mississippi State was number one in the country. That's a bad. That was a really bad, bad year of total I picked. But I'm just saying, in most years, in the old SEC, I still think that it was more dire at Vanderbilt than ever than even Mississippi State. So the thing I don't know is Starkville's ability to compete in an NIL space,

which I think is probably still more than most places. And also from a geographical standpoint, And I've never really understood this. Maybe you can explain it to me why Mississippi of all the southern states has the least amount of players. Is it a population thing because they don't have a major city? Like I don't least amount of players. What are you talking about? They got tons of players.

Oh, they have the least amount of players usually in, like they've got good players. I'm not saying they have a lot of population in the other states. They don't have nearly as much players as a like other surrounding. Like even Alabama has more players typically than they. Alabama has more people in Mississippi. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it doesn't matter why.

But the per capita numbers for Mississippi are pretty good. Like, yeah, they just don't have that many people. But they also do have a school in the state that just made the CFP. They do. And would you have considered Old Miss hopeless in the previous? Maybe I would. No, not. They were good in the Hugh Freeze era.

And maybe I'm just not thinking about this properly. But we're all miss, like the level of, good Ole Miss was for Hugh Freeze and the level of good Mississippi State was under Dan Mullen and we're fairly similar in that era. My perception of Oxford is that it's wealthier too. That might not be true. But the Ole Miss by virtue of the type of, you know, because Mississippi State's the Ag School, Ole Miss is kind of the liberal arts, you know.

But a little Texas A&M, Texas situation going on there. Or Alabama, Auburn. It's to say, yeah, South Carolina Clemson, same thing. So it's more difficult at Mississippi State, but it's not impossible. Oh, my God, look at that interlocking MSU helmet. They've been really pretty uniforms. Camaro Taylor wearing the Wayne Madkin helmet. Oh, they do have good uniforms.

Yeah, you have reason to be more bodied now than ever before. Yeah, no, I, like, if you don't succeed, it's the fault of the people in charge of your school. Because if you're in the Big Ten of the SEC, you have so. such a leg up on everybody else. And I think it's also possible that in 15 years from now, there are seven or eight different SEC champions. It's possible. And look,

Mississippi State was right in the mix under Dan Mullen. During the bad times. During a time when nobody was supposed to be able to, oh yeah. Like imagine you had either the DAC team in 2014 or you had that 2010 team that had Fletcher Cox and all those draft picks. Like, they could, they could have been very competitive in this era with teams like that. So we'll see.

But that was, yeah, if you were in the Big Ten in the SEC, just basically say thank you and don't complain. Because you have a chance. Because you've got a bunch of TV money coming in. You have money. You may not have as much money at, like, you may not have as much money as Texas or Ohio State, but you have probably enough money to be competitive if you do it right. All right.

Now it's time for the most controversial part of the week. The random ranking. So the top costume mascots is what we're ranking today. The top five costumed mascots. And let's set the ground rules here. A costume mascot, we're talking about a furry here. We're talking about full head covering up the human face. So we are not talking about mascots like the mass writer at Texas Tech.

We are not talking about the lumber jacket, Sam Houston State. We're not talking about Osceola. And no animals. More state. And no animals. Yeah. Yeah. No live animals, no bugger, no Ralphie. We're furries today. Okay. So we're going to do that.

And super excited. And by the way, looked through a long list last night of mascots. Yeah. There's a lot of great ones. So just a PSA to anybody looking. We're not going to, we get five each. We're going to do our best. Yeah. There's no chance we please everybody with this. There are a lot of good ones out there. Are people precious about their mascots? Oh, yeah. Oh, are they ever? Okay. So people are going to be really mad.

If we leave out a large school fan base's furry mascot, they're going to be pissed. We can guarantee Michigan won't be mad at us. Yes. River. You made the bottom lower third here, right? Yep. Did either of those mascots make any of our lists?

No, they did not. That is. Wow. Okay, so that is Brutus Buckeye and Hookham for you podcast listeners. Hookham is Texas's furry mascot. And here, maybe I'm wrong when we haven't seen everybody else's list. But if you have a superior live mascot, your furry has no chance. So like, that's right.

Hook them at Texas, hairy dog at Georgia, chip at Colorado. They hail so much in comparison to the live mascot that they have no shot of making the list. That was smart of Tennessee. Same kind of concept. Yeah. Yeah. So that's a good, that's a great rule, great ground rule that I think all three of us just inherently. had in our list.

Yeah. Like, Harry Dog is a pretty cool mascot. Yeah. But Elga's way cooler. Yeah. Yeah. So. All right.

Number five, who wants to kick us off? I'll kick us off. Number five, the demon deacon at Wake Forest. We were talking about this. Look at that guy. He drives a hog. And like, I also did take it. He's not the only mascot who does that.

I did take into an account, though, Andy and River. Mascots that would be most terrifying. trying to accidentally wake up to in the middle of the night. That guy's up to no good. I think I said this when we were talking about him earlier, but if you put every costume mascot in the corner of a room and you woke up and saw it, like at the end of Blair Witch Project, the one that would scare you the most is the Demon Deacon.

Yeah. I mean, their actual logo that they wear on their shirts and hats is scary. His sideburns are terrifying. But as you point out, Andy, he is a deacon, but he's also a demon. And I think like, he's right. He works at church, but I don't know which side he's on. Well, we know which side he's on. It's not side the church is on.

All right. My number five, we're going to stay in the ACC and go to Syracuse with Otto the Orange. This guy just looks like one of the chillest guys there's ever been. Like, I would like to have a beer with this, mascot. They could have made his smile wider. I think you're right. I think just the thin grin that they've given Otto makes him seem very pleasant to hang

with. You know, Otto, and I don't know, this doesn't make my list. I saw him, but what's the one thing that you guys think of anytime you see Otto? Is there one thing that you think of? Yeah, I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. But like that's what the real ones, no, we don't have to say it. I know.

I'm not going to say it. that's why he didn't i i just like that's you cannot be synonymous with humiliating with somebody that's fair yeah but you know i just think of the old mascot mode when i was a kid and auto was always a rather popular pick oh auto was fun to play in the mascot game yeah on on ncdbara football mine is a man who carries a gun but not the west virginia matinee because that that that guy's got, you know, a face that you can see. Pistol Pete from Oklahoma State. He's great.

Pistol Pete has dead, dead eyes. He has killed a lot of people. He does use that gun. I think that he does epitomite what you would think of, like when you think about like Wild, Wild West Cowboys. Yes. Like, he's seen some things. He's been in some duels and they didn't use rubber bullets.

Let's put it that one. Exactly. He's seen some things. Now, the other best part of, about Pistol Pete is they have a version of Pistol Pete for every sport. So they have Pistol Pete play in golf and they have Pistol Pete in a singlet wrestling. Like, it's awesome. You know, Andy, I think later on in the rankings, you're going to, I don't know if you're

going to love or hate one of my picks, but it's very similar to this. And I don't know which one you would think is superior after it's over with because I think it's possible you might have forgotten one. Maybe you didn't. And that was my number five. I have four to go. No, no, I'm saying of this ilk, I'm assuming that you don't have five cowboys. Five dead, dead eyes?

There's a lot of people with dead, dead eyes here. Okay, so I'm up now, right, guys? Number four, the tree at Stanford. I don't even know what it is, just, come on. I mean, like a tree. It's just, I don't know, I feel like of all the mascots, like there's just something about that that gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. It's the most mischievous mascot,

and also one great thing about it is whoever gets chosen to be the tree for the year also gets to decide what kind of tree it is. Interesting. You could be a palm tree if you wanted to. In the B-roll here, there was different variations of trees, and I was kind of wondering what was going on. No, they get to pick. Yeah, that's a cool.

All right. My number four is arguably the most athletic mascot in all of, college football and that's Cosmo the Cougar at BYU. This guy is doing all kinds of crazy stuff. One of the best things about BYU is that like, you know, you get a in between first and second quarter kind of show for your cheerleaders, whatever, and Cosmo is getting after it in this thing. He's doing flips, back flips, getting on trampolines.

And I think Cosmo and you all didn't have any other cats, this is the most superior your cat costume mascot college football. The Aalby fans are going to be up in arms. Yeah. Obey's Mad. Kentucky's mad. But this guy is just doing all kinds of crazy stuff. I didn't have this one.

But if we're going with mascots that just now this is not Cosmo. But Willie the Wildcat at Kansas State is just the head on a person wearing a football uniform. Yes. And it

is creepy every time. When Ron Prince was there and they had Willie playing guitar in that video, the Cosmo would kill Willie. Cosmo is so much more dynamic than Willie. Yeah. Andy, your number four? My number four is Big Red from Western Kentucky. Big Red is always watching.

Big Red is, well, let's be real here. Big Red is the red version of Grimmis from. McDonald's. Yeah. Yes. And I loved Grimmis. Grimmis was my favorite. Like you had Grimmis and Hamburgerger and Mary McChese. Grimmis was my favorite. So you make Grimmis red and you put him in a football game. I'm going to be very happy. And that is the belly slides thing that he does is hilarious. Oh, yeah. No, he's awesome with his belly. I don't know is and I, and I don't, I guess the tree might fall under this but like i didn't really love mascots where i don't know what it is like what is it it's a mountain it's a hill it's a hill that you top okay it's a anthropomorphic hill yeah it's a

morphic hill okay well i guess it's a good hill to die on but uh that's why he didn't make my list all right so we're moving on into our number three i'm going to skip this go i have one that we all have later on that will be mentioned so skip me and go into rie um mine is pay dirt pete from utep now oh that's a good one very awkward but like i like this is like a minor and i understand that it's not a cowboy but i could i felt like i couldn't put paidert pete what do you think he's done with that shovel besides it's just it's just the the mining thing what is that is that a pick he's got a pick axe yep pick axe uh this is like my southwestern

and i have always just had like a soft spot in my heart for el paso because i've driven through it so many times and i think it's a really cool town um and i don't know what it is but this reminds me of the southwest in a little bit more of a maybe nostalgic way than than pistol pete does but both are iconic mascots and i don't hate your pick but this is why i couldn't have both on there listen if pistol pete and And Peter, Pete, getting a fight. Peter, Pete's bringing a shovel to a gunfight. I got my guy in Stillwater.

All right. Andy, you're number three? My number three. Sparky from Arizona State. Great one. The devil. Literally the devil. I almost put Arizona State on my list, but then I had them on the uniforms too,

and like I didn't want people to think I was overcompensating for it. They're on the uniforms because of Sparky. Like, what was the dumbest thing Arizona State ever did, took Sparky off the helmet. I know, like, the reason why their uniforms are sick is because their mascot is on it. So, like, I guess it's kind of a weird. His pupil are flames. Yeah. There's a lot of, let's be real here, demonic and satanic iconography.

Yeah. In these mascots. We've got a demon deacon. I don't know if anybody's got the blue devil from Duke that tapes the stuff on the forehead. We got Sparky. Oh, yeah. We are getting a little dark here. But Spark is a sun devil.

High school. There's a high school in the next area that we used to play in football named Greenway, Greenway High School. And they were the demons. And I always thought that that was a weird name for a high school. Like a weird. Yeah. Like you're like 14 years old and you're a demon. It's like, what are we doing here.

But like that's kind of what this reminds me of. I do like it. And Andy, I think it's a nice segue to my number two because my number two also would be really scary. I think this might be on your guys' list. I don't know if it will be. My number two, Purdue Pete. This is never making it. I mentioned

dead dead, dead eyes. Purdue Pete looks like a serial killer. Yeah, he does. Yeah. And he's doing it on a railroad track, which is where I think a lot of serial killings have happened. Like, okay, pistol Pete at Oklahoma State has killed a lot of people in the name of justice.

Purdue Pete kills for sport. Yeah. And I don't know how he kills people. I think it might be strapping them to train tracks, right? Like, isn't that the kind of? I mean, he's also got the hammer. Yeah. So blunt force trauma to the head, then train track?

Yeah. This guy looks like he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve, for sure. Purdue actually has a really awesome game day atmosphere. And I think that Purdue Pete takes part in a lot of it. And he does a really good job. I just don't want to get that. When he's not murdering people. The two things that scare me the most,

in the entire world three things demon deacon vol twitter peru pete those three things in that order the scariest things in college football yes that is a fair list all right my number two um what's what's the mascot ranking if we don't go to the mac get a little macion involved and i'm going to toledo rocky the rocket at to heck yeah this guy is awesome this guy is just unbelievable we were looking through uh mascots me and kaden the producer for uh the hard count jd bekelle and we were like what's the mack got and we looked at zippy the kangaroo at acrin and then we stumbled upon rocky the rocket at tilito i mean this guy i this guy can lead me to space right now and i'm ready can you shoot him out of a cannon does he do anything fun i have no idea i'm sure he does but i just he looks aerodynamic

i was i was sold on just the ad the outfit alone like this guy is just the most futuristic mascot i've seen and i thought it was really cool It looks like an astronaut to me and they're the rockets, so I'm kind of confused. It's like an astronaut, rockets go to space. How do you think you get to space, are you? Yeah, no, I understand that. But if you're like the cars, are you going to be a NASCAR driver for? That's why Big Red's better.

He's an actual hill. Yeah. It's a cool. I wouldn't have thought about this, but it is cool. No, I thought, I saw the outfit and needed to get some action here. So my number two, and this is, this is one, I believe we all had on our. our list. All three of us. The Duck from Oregon, also known as Puddles. Puddles. So known as Donald, and I think there was a copyright issue that got out years ago.

But the duck is probably the most active mascot during games. For sure. In college football, does push-ups, gets into all kinds of mess with other mascots, rides in on the back of a motorcycle. like so many things the duck has going on. I think the duck is the most versatile, like multi-talented mascot there is. Yeah. The duck was my number one, Andy. So we agree on that.

And I assume River, was that your three? That was my number three. Yes, yes. The duck was my number three. I think it's kind of, when you asked the question, who are the most iconic mascots,

that's the one that jumped into my head first. Yeah, I don't think you can make a list without leaving the duck off. Now, there's going to be a lot of others that we've made mad, but the duck is just a state. There's one that we left off that I think deserves at least a second of like Brutus the Buckeye probably should have been on one of our lists. The one thing that I like about Brutus is that he is very active and like trolls the other team during games. Like remember when we were at the Michigan.

He did like the Ohio Bobcat tackle him that one time. That was, that was shameful. Yeah, he exed out the M and the snow. He like, you went on to the field while it was snowing and put like the Ohio. script Ohio into the Michigan end zones and stuff. And I think that's kind of like what you're supposed to do as a mascot. So I almost had him on my list. I just wanted to acknowledge Brutus before we went to your number one river.

All right. My number one is one that's already been mentioned, but I think he's just good to mention again. Going back to Western Kentucky with the Big Red, my selling point with this guy was the jersey that they had for him back in 2024. If you make a uniform for the mascot, yeah. Oh, this is good stuff. Like if you make a uniform for a mascot, I'm sold.

So Big Red was always going to be my number one. Just a good fun mascot. And for Western Kentucky to include them like this, it's just like this is college football. It's fine. It's just fully embracing this whatever mascot this is. Grimmis is best friend. But this is awesome.

I love Big Red so much. but not as much as I love my number one. Sparty. Great pick. So how do we make the cartoon version of a society where the elders would inspect every newborn child and if it didn't come out strong enough, they would order the parents to pun it off a cliff?

This is how you do it. This is how you come up with the, cartoon version of that society. Lots of steroids. Lots of cartoon steroids. Look at the size of that guy's forehead. Imagine the HGH he's taken. God, imagine.

Sparty would annihilate you in a fight. Can you imagine? Like, I know that like there's a lot of things like that are not great right now. You know, I know the political environment, the gas prices, economy, all these things that people are wound up. But could you imagine living during that time where if your baby didn't look strong?

not they punted it off a cliff? Like what kind of archaic system do you even use to... The kind that guy endorses. Yeah. The kind that guy's like, that's how I got so strong. Yeah. I

certainly considered that as an option. River. Yeah. Like, let's say Purdue Pete's on a killing spree and he's trying to whack the different mascots in the big 10. He's taken out Brutus.

Like we just said the Ohio Bobcat tackle Brutus for God's sake. Yeah. You know? Goldie Gopher? You think he's got a chance against Purdue Pete? Goldie Gopher is actually a really good pick on this too. He's awesome. Guess what is happening to Purdue Pete when he tries to slip into Sparty's apartment?

I don't know. But if he's got the demon deacon with him, things are going down. He's getting murdered. Sparty is ripping him apart with his bare hands. Sparty is roid-raging and just, I don't know if you guys watch Invincible. I'm sure we have some viewers and listeners who do. But Sparty is essentially a viltromite. Yeah.

Who's just going to rip somebody's head in half. Easy. Purdue Pete stands no chance. Not at all. All right. Any honorable mentions that we need to run through? I think I already gave a few gold. I think of Harvard and Alberta, the only married.

couple. Yeah, I think they're married. They might be living in sin. I don't know if they've made it legal. Either of those stepping out and finding any other gators out there, I don't know. Over in Bloomington, Indiana brought back Hoosier the Bison this past year.

After a 56-year hiatus since 1960s. Is this why they won the national title? Could be. I don't know. By the way, that's a terrifying It's the bison. Like, okay, Colorado has Ralphie, has a real bison on the field already. And so they make Chip the costume mascot look like the most cartoonish version of a bison.

Indiana's like, no, let's make it look like a real bison. Let's make it look like them. Let's take an actual bison's head and hollow it out and stuff it on a student's face. And then shout out to another bison, the Lipscomb bison, Jack Terry's alma mater. Also a fun note on this ranking, we did not have one SEC school. Because we're biased. Again, some good live mascots in the SEC, ugly, smoky, bully.

The most like the kind of netclots in the world are SEC. They just didn't fit into our criteria. The real life mascot. Because we're going to have that later, because I know people will argue about this one. So I want to have two more versions of this. It's a full disclaimer. Yeah, the human one and the animal one.

Yeah. Yes, precisely. But no SEC representation in the costume mascots. And who says that we're biased toward the SEC? Yeah. But I'm sure they'll make an appearance in the real life, Frank. Please don't leave a bad review because we didn't pick your mascot. They probably will.

Please leave a five-star review if we did pick your mascot. I want to be rude. We need to be good review bomb by the Western Kentucky. fan base, please. Oh, what a week. What a week. Who knows what next week will bring. But I will tell you, a theme next week is going to be the best players in college football in 2026.

Some of them you know, some of them you don't know yet as well as you should. We will dive deep into that next week on Andy and Ari on 3 and we'll talk to you then.