Andy & Ari On3 - Bret Bielema and Illinois are RELOADED for 2025 | WAY-too-early 2025 lines

Episode Date: January 23, 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. Axia Time is the offical timepiece for both the College Football Playoff and the Heisman trophy and probably the best kept secret in college football.   Their timepieces are heirloom quality and among the coolest designs in the college space. Axia Time has created a series of limited-edition timepieces for all 12 teams in the college football playoff.  each design is limited to only 100 pieces. Check out your team’s CFP designs at axiatime.com, but you better act fast because they will sell out.   This show is also sponsored by PrizePicks, America’s most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code STAPLES to play $5 and get $50 instantly. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/STAPLES(0:00-2:29) Intro: Bret Bielema & Way too early Lines(2:30-6:56) Al Golden set to be Cincinnati Bengals' New DC(6:57-9:35) College Football's Biggest What If?(9:36-10:56) AxiaTime.com(10:57-31:00) Illinois Head Coach Bret Bielema Joins the show(31:01-37:19) Andy explains his subpoena(37:20-45:54) Story time with Ari(45:55-47:55) PrizePicks(47:56-53:17) Way too early lines: Iowa State vs Kansas State in Dublin(53:18-56:37) Auburn at Baylor(56:38-58:22) Alabama at Florida State(58:23-1:00:54) Georgia Tech at Colorado(1:00:55-1:03:41) Notre Dame at Miami(1:03:42-1:05:15) Texas at Ohio State(1:05:16-1:06:12) Syracuse vs Tennessee in Atlanta(1:06:13-1:09:32) LSU at Clemson(1:09:33-1:12:07) Ohio State at Michigan(1:12:08-1:15:32) Story Time with Andy(1:15:33-1:16:30) Conclusion; Dear Andy & Ari Tomorrow - [e-mail] Illinois coach Bret Bielema joins the show to discuss how the Illini brought some of their best veterans back to create a huge buzz for 2025. Bielema also talks about how the bowl win against South Carolina helped show the Illini what they might be capable of in the future. Andy also reveals to Bielema that he’s the first coach to ever get Andy subpoenaed. Later, Andy and Ari break down some WAY-too-early betting lines for the 2025 season. (And you thought Andy and Ari’s top 25 was way too early.) Watch us live on YouTube, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/2-IL1SW61T0 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy and Ariane 3 presented by Wendy's. We are deep into the offseason now Ari, like three days in. But we got a big guest coming. Big guest, Illinois head coach Brett Bielema joins us. What does offseason mean? I know, I know. It is a very strange concept, but there is no off season in college football.

Dude, great guest, great guest today, super excited about it. We're going to try into the off season and I'm sure we will be successful in bringing interesting guests to the show and like that's a really good way to start off the off season. Yes, Brett Bielma is I always found him to be one of to the show and like that's a really good way to start off the offseason. Yes, Brett Bielma is I always found him to be one of the more interesting college football coaches because he says what's on his mind and does what's on his mind if you watch the bowl game. You nearly had a fight between him and

Shane Beamer during the game so he talks about that a little bit in the interview but yeah we are going to be loading up with guests next week will be and Shane Beamer during the game. So he talks about that a little bit in the interview. But yeah, we are going to be loading up with guests. Next week will be the senior bowl. We'll be talking to guys who just finished their college careers, kind of getting the exit interviews with the guys who are leaving. And I'm interested to see what light gets shined

on last season and what happens as people are looking forward to next season. We're going to talk a lot with Brett about what next season is going to look like and obviously they're very excited about what they have coming back. Ari later in the show we're going to go over some week one line. We have week one lines. It's a pick show. It's incredible. I was like because you know we just released our way too early top 25 and I'm like that's fine we're just you know, we just really released our way too early top 25. And I'm like, that's fine.

We're just, you know, everyone understands. We're guessing that this is, this is for fun. Like you can actually spend your money on these lines where you don't even know what the roster is going to look like. There's one look ahead line that, that caught me by surprise. Um, and I saw it, save it. No, no, it's not even in the ones that we're talking today. Oh, okay. One of those are there before. I thought we were talking about week one today. There's one at

the end. No, no, there's we'll talk about the one at the very end as well. There's there's one game in November that's there's already a line for and and I'm sure you have a pretty good guess what that is. And what I say, we gonna say, we don't even know what rosters, we don't know what coaching staffs are gonna look like. For example, Al Golden, the defensive coordinator for Notre Dame is now the defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals.

So Notre Dame's gotta hire a new DC. Now we think it might be Mike Mickens, who's already on their staff, which would probably allow for some pretty easy continuity. But Marcus Freeman has got to figure that part out. And I don't know that this is done because only a couple of the NFL jobs have been filled so far. So there's still a chance that you're going to see some more movement.

I mean, I remember last year, Ari, at senior bowl week, the news was Jeff Hathley leaving to become the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator and all of a sudden Boston College needed a coach. Bill O'Brien, who had been hired at Ohio State to be the OC, goes and becomes the head coach. Then Chip Kelly gets hired to be the OC at Ohio State. So there's a lot of dominoes that still could fall. You ever wonder about those dominoes had like that not happened and Cheff Kelly wasn't Ohio State's offensive coordinator if like one move like that changes the outcome of a season? Well, yeah, that's a good question because we've seen Bill O'Brien have

success as a coordinator in college football. He was obviously pretty successful as Alabama's offensive coordinator and help Bryce Young win a Heisman Trophy. But would, would Bill O'Brien in that role, would it have worked as well as Chip Kelly in that role? Or would it work the same or better as Chip Kelly in that role? Yeah. What if Bill O'Brien took the job, stayed with the job, they beat Michigan,

but then, then when didn't win the national title. Like there was alternate histories there, you know? Yes. Of like how things would have gone. And, you know, I'm kind of a person that likes to think about the what ifs. And some of the most fun stories I've written in my career, Andy, are like going down the path

that didn't get traveled and trying to figure out what that path would have looked like. I remember one of the most read stories I wrote at the athletic was the Adrienne Martinez butterfly effect. I don't know if you remember how many how many branches kind of went off of that one, but that was a pretty crazy situation, too. And it's like, what if Adrienne Martinez would have played at Ohio State and all the different different pathways that would have come from that. So yeah, one of my favorite, one of my favorite things I ever wrote was at Sports Illustrated. I believe it was in 2010 or 2011.

It was what if Chris Leak had gained one more yard on a scramble in the 2004 Florida LSU game? And what would have happened to college football? Because it would have kept Ron's job at Florida. Urban Meyer would have gone to Notre Dame and all of the butterfly effect from there. It was crazy. One than Adrian Martinez. Yeah,

could you imagine like if if. Because I truly believe that in that era of Urban Meyer would have gone to Penn State because you know all those rumors about him like looking for a house. No, he was going to Penn State to replace Paterno before the Ohio State job opened. Like that was real. But that Notre Dame one you just mentioned, like I think that no matter where he would

have gone, they would be much different today. Like I don't know how Ohio State fans look back at Urban Meyer and you know, some of the way that it ended, but like Ohio State is what it is right now because he existed there. And I feel like he would have done that. Because at the time his way of coaching was the king. Get the right and if he takes the rule, I take the all that if he takes the Notre Dame job instead of the Florida job, I don't know that he would have had as quick a success at Notre Dame as he did at Florida. Because remember, he wins the national title in year two at Florida and then Nick Saban shows up at Alabama and that was kind of what helped burn him out at Florida. I don't know that he burns out as quickly at Notre Dame and maybe he's not available because maybe he's Notre Dame's coach when the Ohio State job opens and then what happens like it would have been incredible it would have been crazy. Yeah right, Ohio State wouldn't exist and maybe Notre Dame would have two national titles right

now you never know but he it would have been really interesting to see him operate there. I don't know if Notre Dame's culture would have been ideal. Especially back then, like, yeah, especially back then, Notre Dame, Notre Dame now the way they work with Marcus Freeman. Now, I don't know that players now and Urban Meyer would get along very well because you saw what happened when he went to the NFL and I would argue that players now are much more similar to NFL players in the way you have to deal with them. I mean Urban wouldn't even know like freshman and sophomores names on his own team until they were like pretty good. You know like it was kind of one of those deals of like if you want Urban to know you are, or you want him to care about you, you have to produce. And like some people thrive in that environment and some people don't. But it definitely worked. So, you know, it is a really interesting thought of where coaches could have gone and what they could have done. Maybe we can dive deeper into that. We can do a whole episode in the summer of like, Oh, can we do what if?

Yeah. Yeah. Nick Terry's got a great one in the chat. What if Ohio state makes the kick against Georgia? We're talking about two national titles for Ryan day this week. Probably true. I mean, you could. What if they make the kids against Georgia and Kyle McCord gets an extra

second and a half to throw in last year's game? I mean, they could have three, you know, it's you could play the Ohio State What If National Championship game and they could have like nine national titles going because they're the only team in college football that's been either in the playoff or on the cusp of the playoff every single year since the beginning. It started like there's never been a year that they went into the final day and you weren't, you were a hundred percent sure that they weren't going to make it.

Or if they weren't, they weren't like five. Um, so they've, they've been pretty consistent, but like, I just like love the, the idea, not so much of like games and titles, but more of like how the sport would be different if a coach went somewhere else. Like that to me is really cool. Yeah. One that did happen was Brett Bielma went to Wisconsin to be Barry Alvarez, his defensive coordinator, and then wound up taking over the job. And it turned out he was the perfect person for that job. He tried to go to the SEC. He's back in the Big Ten now at Illinois. His career has some interesting what-ifs, but we're going to talk to him about what is next at Illinois because they had a

really good team and they weren't sure what they were going to get back. They're getting a lot back. So we're going to talk to Brett Bielema next. But first I want to tell you about Axia time. We saw the folks from Axia time actually collecting confetti on the field after the national title game because Axia Time is the official timepiece of the college football playoff and the Heisen trophy. So you're looking at Ohio State's watches that commemorate their trip to the playoff. But now they've got championship commemorative watches that are coming out. Go to Axiatime.com and look those right now.

They're beautiful. They've got a couple different designs. They're gorgeous. These are Swiss made, automatic. I'm wearing my Odysseus II right now. I love this watch so much. You can get those to commemorate Ohio State's national title. If you're a fan of a team that made the college football playoff this year, they've got gorgeous watches that commemorate your team's trip to the CFP.

Axia time dot com for those CFP watches. Code Ari and percent Andy gets you 10% off. The Ohio State national title watches will include bits of confetti from the game and again, we saw them collecting the confetti. So it's it's real. Axia time.com. Check them out now. And you know, you'll know what time it is. Now it is time to talk to Brett Bilema, whose team is one of the most exciting. I think they're going to be one of the trendy picks. We've already announced that we're going to make them a trendy pick to be really good

next year, but I think we're not going to be alone in this because they got a bunch coming back. Here's Brett Bielema explaining how that happened. We are joined by the great Brett Bielema, head coach of the Illinois Fighting Illini, who had some criticism of our way, way, way, way too early Top 10. Because we left his team off, asked if we were still feeling New Year's Eve. Well, Brett, our way, way, way, way too early Top 25 has come out. Now, in our defense, we did not know about all those guys that were coming back. They had not made their decisions yet. So now that we know about Gabe Jacobs and Luke Altmeyer had already made his decision, but about that group that's coming back. We got you at number seven. We feel better about that? I do feel better about that, but I was just trying to give information. I wasn't

criticizing. And honestly, you know, it's kind of interesting. We had one of our local writers write a story on portal rankings and all this stuff. And I found it interesting. One of the things that we've been able to do is retain our best players, Andy. I think he had a great point. So, you know, Luke Altmeyer was coming back and obviously a very talented player in his own right. But we didn't know about gay backers. We didn't know about Xavier Scott. And then the real trip really was our left tackle, JC Davis,

who we took really as a one year wonder. We knew he was a guy that only had one year of eligibility. And then when this new Juco rule came through to gave everybody a bonus year, I flew out the night before Christmas and met with him and his family and got him to agree to come back. So that's our five top players all decided to come back. And I don't think a lot of people in college football have that. And I think that was a big factor. Plus 18 to 22 came back on our current roster, which was big. And that, so thank you, Diego Pavia. But yeah, that that was kind of the one that put it over the top for me was was you're getting your left tackle back when you didn't think you would. And, you know, what does it mean to know that you got that spot secure?

It was interesting. So I came to work two springs ago and I had this email from the NFLPA. And I basically was invited to be a part of Joe Thomas's induction to the Hall of Fame, the announcement and all that goes into it. And at that point, it really made a big moment on me just like he was my first player ever drafted in the first round. Joe Thomas was the left tackle got the fourth pick to the Cleveland Browns, won the Outland Trophy.

His backup gave Kareemie then started four years for me at left tackle won the Outland Trophy got drafted first round of Chicago Bears and we're able to just kind of put together a string of left tackles when I was at Wisconsin. Then it came full circle when I went to Arkansas and recruited and developed a young man by the name of Frank Rag now who's the starting center for the Detroit Lions is the highest paid center in NFL history. So it's really put a premium on those offensive line next year we have all five offensive linemen returning for us on a 10 win football team that probably is number one reason I get excited who protects a

really good quarterback. You know, I might've missed the moment here, Brett, cause Andy did all the talking at the beginning. Sorry. But you did, did wonder if the after effects of uh, New Year's Eve were still hitting us on January 5th. I was just wondering you ever had any vendors that lasted five days later or what? I wouldn't say five, but I, I was trying to find a creative way to be in the new year spirit. Um, I didn't figure multiple days before, so it's not, it's not that far.

I mean, it could have been a crazy new year's, but you know, all kidding aside, Brett, when you look at the way that, you know, this sport is now set up and the fact that teams that. You know, people may just dismiss based on logos have made better runs when you look at the roster that you bring back and that it was already very competitive or very good in the Big Ten. Where was this in your mind in terms of where you would be in your Illinois build and are you kind of ahead of schedule in your own head? You know what was fun for me, Ari, over the last four years of being here, just take all the experiences I had at Wisconsin, all the

experiences at Arkansas spent two years in the league with the Patriots and Giants. And I've, you know, blown a lot of things that have blended into where we are today. College football has never mirrored NFL football as much as it does right now. Um, you know, we have roster. The NFL has a 53-man NFL roster that actually becomes, I believe, 47 on game day. So there's a lot of things that have accustomed to that, but also just the salary numbers now. So two years ago, I was at $2 million.

And last year, we went to $5 million. We finished fifth in the Big Ten. I know the top three or four in the Big Ten were north of $20 million. So to get in the spot where. I know the top three or four in the big 10 were north of 20 million. So to get in the spot where you know that now we're all gonna be a little bit more equal, somewhere in that 15 million range, I think everybody's gonna become accustomed to. And for me in my career, for the first time in college football,

it's kind of fun to be on the same playing field or feel that you have a chance to be there. Still some things are in play. Some people are getting some crazy NIL deals here the first six months of the year that have kind of created a little imbalance. But I think college football is, and that's why I think you're gonna see a lot of college coaches go into NFL. You're gonna see NFL coaches come to college as we're starting to see.

It's unprecedented what can happen on a roster right now. I just met this morning at 8 o'clock with my incoming players, the 24 new guys in the building, 12 transfers, 12 high school guys, and to have those guys currently build into our current roster. And we may have a couple more come and go, you know, this spring, but I think for the most part, we're building our roster right next, or for right now next year, and it's a really exciting time. Well, and this is one, I think people assume that every roster is just gonna wholesale change out but you just talked about how many returning starters

you have, how many guys you retain. Now you are bringing in people in key spots like Hudson Clement from West Virginia. He was their leading receiver. He's coming in, that's a spot you guys needed to cause you had older receivers who were leaving but it feels like that's how you're gonna build and you've got your window just like in the NFL.

In the NFL, it's when you have the quarterback on the rookie contract. I guess now it's when you have that older left tackle, when you have an older quarterback. It is your spot on and then what people don't realize is we do, I still say that we are a development type program. I believe in that. I love it, right? So in our bowl game, you saw guys like Malik LZ,

Capca Jones, Hank Beatty made a ridiculous catch. Those three receivers in conjunction with Clement who we got coming in, right? And then we added another, J Bows, another transfer wide receiver. So it's the guys we've retained and developed and built, had some more experienced players coming in. And then I think the part that everybody's missing out on

is all the auxiliary pieces. I think that's why I'm so grateful for my NFL times is now how important that punter, the kicker, the long snapper, the backup quarterback, your depth in the running back field. Oh, you got a punter! That's right, you got a punter! From Australia.

Stole him from Purdue, right? Like I just, I know how important it was for us to have that. We had a guy that had been there but hadn't been really consistently wanted. David Alano, our returning field goal kicker, is the best in my opinion, one of the best in the country. Ethan Wachowski, Chow Man, is our kickoff guy, our backup quarterback. We took the quarterback from Northern Illinois who beat Notre Dame, who's playing tonight in a national championship game.

So it's just, I think the acquisition of some assets around your current roster that you've built and then it's, I mean, I'm telling you, we retained our five best players. And that does not happen very often, especially guys that different options, right? We had teams contact our guys. We're willing to pay our guys double the money to go to other places. And they just turned it down.

They know what we're building here and what they can be valued at the end. Um, and that's the part that I think is a fun, exciting time for our players. Now that's a pretty interesting. I always like, like this part of the year too, when you know, you start hearing everything and now you're talking me into number three, we're just going to be where we're at. Good. I was going to ask him, Andy, though, is that like, so I think the,

the number one comparison that you're going to get, whether you like it or not throughout the off season is this next year's Indiana, the team that, you know, people just didn't see coming because they're not paying attention. And then next thing you know, they're 10 and 0 and in the middle of the thing. And I'm wondering, Brett, from your standpoint in coaching and how you've been around the block and have had very successful teams in the past. Do you want people to come in to the year expecting Illinois to be really, really good?

Or would you rather kind of arrive out of the blue and have like under the radar games that people aren't hyping up and then all of a sudden you look up and you're 7 and 0? I think the toughest opponent on our schedule next year is the University of Illinois. I think how we handle things of the past and prepare ourselves for the future has got to be the things we're most safeguarded against. We got 12 teams. All of them can be teams that we can win and all of them could be teams that we can lose to but I think the key is to have an understanding of who you are, where you are, what you you're understanding or what you're planning to do.

I always say here at Illinois, we need to chip not only on one shoulder but on both shoulders. I don't wanna be next year's Indiana, but I don't wanna be last year's Oregon or whatever you wanna say, right? I think we are who we are, we just gotta embody that on an everyday basis and really just plan to it, build to it, develop to it. I couldn't be more excited about a group of coaches and players. Everybody just concentrates on the players.

I think I have a group of coaches returning that have impressed me beyond, I believe. I have an offensive coordinator, Barry Lani, who has been here now going into his fourth season, an incredibly talented coach who surrounded himself with offensive coaches, a very talented. I have 20 coaches in the building, one of them being Aaron Henry, my defense coordinator, 20 coaches. Nine of those 20 have played for me, right? And so they know and understand what the expectation is and the standards.

They've been with me both at Arkansas, Wisconsin, here at Illinois. And now I've actually got a guy that was with me at the Giants and at the Patriots. So to have those guys that have my understanding of where we are and what we're doing. But the big thing is to be on a partnership with our athletic director Josh Whitman who played here played in the NFL for five years knows what we're doing he's built this thing from scratch with us and It's just a really fun time here at the University of Illinois to be a part of it

Makes a huge difference to have an ad who loves football for sure But I don't think you're going to sneak up on anybody, Brett. I'll tell you why. That bowl game was you guys coming off a great season, and now we know that you guys have all these guys coming back. South Carolina coming off a season where they were surprisingly good

and have a lot of exciting young players coming back. How intense was that game? And we all saw you and Shane get after it. But how intense was that for a bowl game that, you know, most people probably thought, oh, it's not in the playoff. They're not taking it that seriously. That's about as serious as I saw anybody take a bowl game this year.

Well, I knew it from the opening jump. Anytime you got big 10 SEC, just kind of who they are, who we are, it's always gonna be that way. You know, I was one of the guys that had been able to see it from both sidelines, obviously very successful. Wisconsin went to Arkansas, went to three bowl games in five years, knew what that conference was available to do.

Obviously the Big Ten had a lot of success this year in the bowl games against them, both in the playoffs and outside of it. So there's going to be those built in things, have tremendous respect for Shane. I thought coming out of it, I agree with a lot of people, to win their last six ball games, they were the hottest team coming out of the SEC at the end of the year. And we're on the verge of getting into playoff.

So I knew it and then I heard what they were saying, the emphasis they were putting on this bowl game. So as the game escalated, it got a little bit hotter and hotter because it was a tight ball game. So huge respect. I had a conversation with Shane last week about just kind of where everything is and reflecting on the past. And sorry, I didn't mean anything directed at him, but it was also, I think,

two really good competitive teams that were in the heat of the moment. And a lot of people said going into that game outside of the playoffs, that was the most contested bowl game. And it certainly played out that way. But super excited. Next year, we open up with Western. We have a second game against Duke, who obviously just acquired a quarterback that is very talented and to see what what what Manny can do and that that I have a

tremendous respect for Manny and what he's been able to do in his career. Uh, and then have, you know, two back to back home games. I think one produced in between there, but have two home games against USC in Ohio State that are really, really significant. So, yeah, it's a fun game, fun schedule. We got 12 guaranteed games, seven on the front end, two weeks got to buy, got two weeks to buy and then three, and then hopefully put ourselves in some postseason play, which is the whole goal of our program. Hey, Brett, I don't want to relitigate the whole Shane Beamer thing with you. I know I'm sure that's why you want you. We actually

bet it would take a few months, but you did it in like a week and a half. Yeah. So that's good. You already hashed it out. The thing that I've been curious about with you is, you know, a few years ago, when Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh left our sport, you know, there seemed to be like a void at times of like big time personalities. And anybody who's followed your career all the way back to Wisconsin has known that you uh have ruffled some feathers from from time to time but you're also unapologetically yourself and one of the bigger personalities in the sport. Have you thought about you know what that could mean for Illinois if you were to step in and become one of those personalities who,

man I'm not saying getting into spats with people but just like you know doing what just being yourself and making headlines. Is that good for Illinois? Do you find an emphasis on, hey, the more you can be you, the better? I tell our kids every day, there's three things every day when you wake up you should do. Try to do things the right way. Be respectful of everyone and be the best you. I tell them, hey, for me, I only know how to beat Brett Biel. I can't be I have a brother named Barry and a brother named Bart. I

can't be either one of them. I could be me right? I don't try to be somebody else. I try to be the person I am. When that moment came up during the game, I didn't walk over that intention. I walked over there and it did something that crossed my mind when I walked over there right? There wasn't any pre planning or you know, any unattended circumstances headed over there, right? There wasn't any pre-planning or, you know, any unattended circumstances headed over there. Just trying to be me. I don't know how to be anybody else but me. I think that's why my wife married me. I'm the only me, right? And these kids, you know, I think sometimes give up opportunities to go other places, maybe with, you know, the idea that you could maybe get a little

bit more bank and a bank account, but they understand what we've done. I was watching a playoff game the other night, Detroit, obviously playing, who the hell are we playing? Washington, yeah. And I was watching one of my favorite players all time, Frank Ragnow, playing against one of my other favorite players all the time. Johnny Newton on a touchdown run where they used a technique, both of them that we had talked about and took taught right and to see like six or

seven of my former players competing not only against each other offensively defensively but literally against each other on a reach block. It's absolutely the most captivating, greatest feeling in the world right now. I felt for you know, Frank right now, Dan Skipper and Kevin Zeidler, three offensive linemen at a coach that were playing against Washington, blocking Johnny, but I saw Kwon Martin return a touchdown. I'm watching Kwon return a touchdown interception. And I'm saying to myself, I wonder if Johnny's going to find a quarterback

because we always teach him to find a quarterback because they're the last level of defense to stop a touchdown. And sure enough, Johnny is pushing him with his right now. The other guy came over and clobber knocked him. But it was awesome to see that moment show up in that high level. You're talking to NFL playoffs, right? And I mean, the highest level of NFL playoff scheduling and two steps away from the Super Bowl.

So it's tough for me. I turned 55 a week ago Monday. And I know in my career I'm the best I've ever been, right? And the part that I've really enjoyed is I think now we got a roster comeback that is all junior and senior labeled heavy and some kids that have an understanding. But again, they're going to have to understand our biggest opponent is going to be ourselves, right? And we got to be able to understand what that means. biggest opponent is going to be ourselves, right? And we got to be able to understand what that means. I am glad you just brought up Frank right now, because he ties into a story about you and me that I don't think you know yet. So I've been 25 years, you're the only coach who has ever gotten me subpoenaed. I'm sitting at home one day, knock on the door, I open the door, there's a rolled up piece of paper in my, in my door handle. And I pull it open. And it is a subpoena from the University of Arkansas's attorneys. It was that you guys were fighting it out over your buyout. And so I'm not going to make you say anything about it, because I'm sure you had to sign something that

said you won't. But I'll tell you what happened. They asked, I had written a story about you when I was at Sports Illustrated. You and I had talked at Oklahoma's Pro Day, you were with the Patriots. It was Baker Mayfield, Orlando Brown. And we had talked probably for like 20 minutes about how great Frank Ragnow is. And so they want all these and they're like, we want your notes, we want your, you know, transcript of the interview. And I'm like, you can have the quote they use. And everything else is none of your damn

business. But if you'd like to know how good Brett Bielma thinks Frank right now is, I can tell you that. I know a lot about it right now. So that that was, but I'll tell you, Brett, I was in Arkansas, I think it was a week after Frank's dad died. And I watched how you and your staff handled that situation. And I always thought, you were my kid and that happened to me, they'd be in good hands with you guys. Yeah, he was a special young man that has done special things.

I think it's just the beginning and there's a whole other backstory to that too. Like, Frank when his father passed was not in a good place, but he played right away. We actually played Alabama the next week and Nick Saban, bless his heart, was unbelievable to Frank out of the game. But he didn't really address some feelings and issues until he was drafted in the NFL. So there was a whole time there that I didn't know if Frank was gonna be able to

pull it off. And obviously not only has he pulled it off, he's pulled it off to eye level. And he plays right next to Kevin Zeitler, who is a guy I coached both first round draft picks. And then Dan Skipper, the guy who catches all the touchdown passes, he was a undrafted free agent. Honest to goodness, I was at the moment Patriots. I'd watched a couple tackles come in that were just awful.

And I didn't wanna be the coach that was praising his older players. So I went into coach's office, Coach Belichick, I said, hey, I'm just telling you there's a a guy, Dan skipper sitting on his couch in Dallas, Texas right now. They got cut in the preseason who can block way better than these cats. We keep bringing in and keep cutting. And so build, watch his film, brought him in. He not only signed him, he stayed with us through the Super Bowl. And now that was in 2019 2018. We're now in 2025 and he's been playing in the NFL ever since. If I hadn't brought him in at that point and brought him to Bill's attention,

he probably would have never played the last seven years in the NFL. So that's the fun part for me, I've done well in life. I got some great moments. My daughters enjoy a great life with my wife and we do some really good things. But to see now the players get to these things and see players that, to see Joe Thomas's Hall of Fame induction speech, just that's what moves the needle for me in a way that is just special beyond belief.

Confucius said, choose a job you love, you'll never work your day in a life. I turned 55, I ain't worked yet. It's just an awesome, awesome job. Well, Brett, you and I have, uh, I don't know if we even realized this before the start, we both have the same, uh, goal, which is to get Andy subpoenaed. I'm going to work on my, that's already succeeded. I guess there's a few things that have might been in that ballpark,

but not quite there. Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it. I got to figure out what I'm going to do, but I'm going to do it, man. I'm going to get you. Oh, I, I, I'm sure you, you will get me dragged into court at some point.. Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it. I gotta figure out what I'm gonna do but I'm gonna do it man. I'm gonna get you. Oh, I'm sure you you will get me dragged into court at some point. Are you Brett? Thank you so much. Appreciate gentlemen. Thank you for having me on. Happy New Year. Take care. Thanks Brett. That is Brett Bielma and Ari I

suck as a host. I'm telling you right now, because didn't we say last week we were going to ask everybody their rules for life? And then I forgot to ask Brett Bielma his rules for life. Yeah, I mean, it's my fault too, because I should have known. And we're going to get it's a new thing. We're going to get better at it. But I feel like we blew it because there's nobody I think I would rather ask than that

man. Well, he gave us he gave us some already. He said, try to do everything the right way. Be respectful of everyone. Be the best you. Those are good rules. Also, choose a job you love. You never work a day in your life.

That's another great rule. And I would add that that Dan Skipper story. Is a teachable rules for life type moment. Like always stick up for your people because remember what he said? He was, he was worried about going into Belichick's office and promoting one of his former players because he felt like Belichick was just like, Oh, that's just one of your guys. And then he realized after he did it, you should always do that. Like stick up for your guys. And then he realized after he did it, you should always do that. Like, stick up for your people.

Because think about that, that must be intimidating. Like, even Brett Bielma, who at that point had won a Big Ten title, multiple Big Ten titles at Wisconsin, had been a head coach in the SEC. Like, it's still probably, still probably very intimidating to walk into Bill Belichick's office and say, I think we should sign this guy. Probably very intimidating to walk into Bill Belichick's office and say I think we should sign this guy. I Was hoping for like don't put Twinkies on your pizza, but you know, I guess those are Those are pretty good like wholesome lessons, but when you ask We're gonna get wholesome ones and we're gonna get Joel klatt saying never getting a fight with a guy with a giant belt buckle.

Yeah, we're going to get both. I think we got wholesome ones organically there. I think we would have gotten a belt buckle one if we asked. So next time he's on, we're going to have to ask him or I might just text him and be like, hey, bud, what are your rules for life? And then, yeah, yeah, well, save it for the show because he'll be on again between now and the season. The talking season is long. So, yeah, we'll be on again between now and the season talking seasons long. So yeah, we'll see Brett again. Yeah, but we have to just make sure moving forward that we don't forget that. And we will because I that was a lesson that we learned and I think we got something there.

So, yeah, OK, cool. New rule for life. Ask the rules for life question. Every interview. Yeah. Ask the rules for life question every interview. Yeah. Great interview though. And I wanted to ask you a follow-up question about something that I didn't ask you in person. And I just like listening to that back, wanted to ask you. So you got subpoenaed and an official came to your door and asked you for materials, right? Right. Now it's interesting because this was not,

this was not one of those you have to serve them in person kind of things. That's why I don't think it was that serious because they had tried to serve me at my old house, which my in-laws live in now. And so I was warned that they were coming. But it wasn't one of those where you see it in the movies where somebody's like you got served and they take a picture of you. Like that wasn't

like that. I didn't I didn't have to be like served in person. I don't think I was that important of a witness in that case. Because I like I used to live next to this guy who was a doctor. And I guess he was getting served in a malpractice case. And the process server actually parked sideways in the guy's driveway to block his car. And I was like, okay, this is a, this is serious. So I don't think I was that important to the case, but yes, they wanted to know what we had talked about in the interview for this one particular SI story that I'd written after he had left Arkansas

and was working for the Patriots. And like I said in the interview, I covered the Oklahoma Pro Day, this would have been the spring of 2017. So Baker Mayfield, Orlando Brown, and Brett was there for the Patriots. And so we just started talking. And I was just saying, Hey, you know, how's it going? You know, how's life after Arkansas? And he just seemed really happy. And I thought, okay, I'm gonna write a story about Brett Bielma is,

you know, in the NFL, working with Bill Belichick and he's happy. And we got to talking because he loves Frank Ragnalli. That is honestly like the bulk of the conversation was him telling me how great Frank Ragnalli is. So, but it's funny because their question is like, what did he say? Give us all of the notes. Tell us everything that happened. Any recordings of the conversation? I'm like no, you can't have any of that. You could have the quotes that are in the story because I already released them publicly. That's what you can have. Well, that's what I was going to ask.

So somebody from the government or from not the government is I mean, or or from University of Arkansas is legal. Whoever whoever was working on the case for Arkansas. Yeah. And you were just like, screw you. Well, yeah, I'm not going to give them that. They're not entitled to that. Dude. Maybe bread owes you a beer.

Yeah, yeah, I don't think I'm going to get I was going to get thrown in jail in Arkansas over not handing over the notes to that. I don't think it was that sensitive, but I'll tell you something. And I don't know if this makes me a bad reporter, but like I record my conversations, okay. And then when the story is done, like if somebody like came to me and was like, Hey, I saw the story you re you wrote in 2022, I need your notes.

I'd be like, I couldn't even find them if I wanted them. Do you have like a catalog note file or something? Like how would you even find those notes? You destroy your notes regularly so that that can't happen. So you can say, I already disposed of those. Those are gone. And I don't take detailed notes. I record and I go back and use.

I also don't take handwritten notes anymore. Like, I can't even read my own handwriting now. So. I've always thought about that too. I don't think I've ever told this story on any platform or to anybody. But I was an intern when I was 18 years old, which is how I got into the Ohio State world at the rival site in 2008.

So it's been almost 20 years. And do you remember the defensive lineman, Jonathan Hankins? Of course. Yeah. Very good player. Oh, I was, uh, 20 still like working at the student newspaper, hadn't graduated yet, and was doing recruiting calls as an intern for the rival site from Tucson, Arizona. So I would get phone numbers for recruits. Um, and if you remember Jonathan Hankins was a three-star kid. And I called him on the phone

and he told me he committed to Ohio State. And there were like some like message board people out there that probably remember this. But then I posted on the board, Jonathan Hankins has committed to Ohio State. I will write the story. So in between me posting that and it going, this was like before Twitter. This was like when message boards were where you got news.

I think he changed his mind or something or like started to reporters that he didn't say that and like I was like, I had the recording. Yeah. But I was like, I don't know why he told me that and then changed his mind. And then that I've always had this. Like he was a 17 year old. Yeah, right. I mean, and I was a 17 year old.

Like I didn't know what the hell was going on. Yeah, I was an intern. Nobody knew who I was. Like I was just some guy making recruiting calls trying to like write 300 word stories about where people were visiting. And then I know- Did you get a crash course

in different states phone recording laws that day? Well, I was in, at a rival site. Like it wasn't like it was like the New York Times or something. So like it didn't really get- That's still something you should know. Like you should know whether you're in a one party state

or a two party state. Like I don't know that now. I'm 36. I don't know what Texas is. I'm assuming that it's a one party state because there are less rules here. Right. But I don't know that sort of what. So like you're not you're not allowed to do.

What does that mean? You have to tell them you're recording them before you start recording them in a two party state. Both parties must consent to being recorded in a one party state. Only one party has to consent so yeah well i've recorded a lot of people in different states without telling them that i was recording them but also too when i tell them i'm calling them for a story i thought that that was just understood but i don't know maybe i'm just a crap journalist but like i don't have notes and i've always had this fear of like well what if this happens again and like my boss

asks me for my notes and I'm like I don't have any like am I fired for not having any like I just don't know like it just this is maybe inside journalism but like that yeah like the one party consent state thing like I've always thought if I have a super sensitive call that I need to be in a one party state to record, like I only live an hour from the Georgia border. Like I could go to the, to the loves in Valdosta and just sit in the parking lot and call somebody and then drive back into Florida. I've been in some tense situations before,

but I've never had to even think about that. So that's part of it. No, and here's the thing, everybody thinks that when you record something, you're gonna like, gotcha somebody. I tell people I'm recording. Most people do. Like you say, hey, I'm recording this.

And it's to make sure that I accurately quote you. And I've had people like- Yeah, that's all it's for. I've had people I interview say, hey, I'm gonna record you too, just in case you take something out of context and then I can release the recording and show the proper context.

I'm like, absolutely, record me all you want. So if you have a reporter who's weird about being recorded asking questions, like you probably don't wanna answer their questions. Yeah, okay, well, I think I do tell people I'm recording them sometimes, but it's not like a thing for me because I'm asking them like questions about football. So like I never really like put myself into like 48 first 48 mode, but you know, uh, Vance has anyone ever abruptly hung

up on you after saying that you're recording? Uh, no, because I don't start recording until they say, yeah, I'm cool with it. So now I have people, I have had lots of people hang up on me, but that's more like, Hey, this is Andy Staples from whatever outlet I was working for at the time. I'm working on a story about, and they're like, Oh, click. So that's happened plenty of times, but I didn't tell anybody during the Bishop second war story that we worked on and I was recording them. I don't think I wouldn't admit that. Don't worry.

You, you work, you weren't in a two party state, so you don't have to worry about that. But I still wouldn't admit that, but yeah, that Bishop Sycamore thing. I was interviewing them. So like, it's like, that's like not like it's a surprise. I don't know. Okay. Well, maybe one day I'll go back to Arizona and get a master's degree in journalism.

Cause I, I've got, and what, what other thing for people, this is a little bit outdated, but it's always funny when it happens. If you leave a voicemail for a reporter, it's on the record. Like, on the record, off the record is a two-party thing. Like, both of you have to agree to it. So if you get mad and leave a voicemail for a reporter and it's, and you just cost them out, uh, and don't be surprised if that gets published because. It's on the record. That's never happened to me either. So maybe I'm just, uh, maybe I'm just soft.

I don't know. It's, it's happened to me a few times, but it was people I knew. So I just call it back to be like, I've, it's okay. Every time I've ever upset somebody in what I've written, it's turned into a cordial conversation that a lot of times turns into like a follow-up interview to clarify. Almost always.

And I've talked about that with people who are starting in the business. The person who calls yelling at you, like don't think of that as a bad thing. That's just the start of another conversation. And usually that's what happens is when they call yelling at you, you guys like the two people find common ground and you actually probably have a better relationship

afterward. Yeah. In the seven years covering Urban Meyer, he never got mad at me, but one time he did. And he called very upset. And you want to know what the story was about? What was it about? I asked him a question in a news conference

about whether or not he thinks that Ohio should have spring football very early in his tenure. And he said yes. The high school. High school football, because they don't have spring football very early in his tenure. And he says, yes, high school football, because they don't have spring football in Ohio, which is a pretty big point of contention for, for, but, you know, coaches in that state that think that the players in the South are more developed because they have what 16 extra practices or whatever, the developmental phases is larger in the South where they do.

And he said they absolutely did. And I don't think he was aware at the time how big of a deal that is to like coaches in Ohio. And then like I wrote it and I was just like, Urban, I just wrote a story about what you said in response to a question. He goes, okay, we need to talk about this right now. And then like we did a Q&A and then we did another one and both stories did pretty well. But like you would think of all the times like that

you I've wrote critical things during his tenure like the one right I wasn't critical at all that's just here's what the guy said but here's just what he said and that was what he didn't realize when he said it he'd get the kind of backlash he got right yeah and then I think he realized that like I didn't do anything wrong I think that he just wanted to clarify that. Yeah, I don't think either of you did anything wrong in that case. That's probably a situation where neither of you understood what the response was going to be to that.

So yeah, and I just figured, hey, do you want the players in Ohio to have more practices so you can evaluate them more thoroughly and recruit them? And he was like, yeah, of course. And there's like, Oh God, like, but yeah, okay. That took a weird turn, but hey, off season. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that. But it's never the off season at prize picks best daily fantasy game in America. Download the app right now. Use the code staples. When you sign up, play $5, get $50 instantly. College football season is over, but they've still got college basketball,

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So there you go. It wasn't guaranteed, but it was kind of guaranteed. But we don't guarantee anything. It was pretty close. He did fumble on the play that he went more than. He fumbled on the play that he went more than after picking up 15 extra yards on the way to hitting the item. I know. I know. I know. I know. So I, you get a fumbled it out. I don't care. Just get the yards and then you can juggle it for all I care.

All right. So we released our way too early. Top 25 this week. Fandle has released some way too early. Top 2025 lines for week zero, week one, and also one rivalry week game, which is just crazy to me thinking about how far off some of these things are and how much we don't know right now. But it also gets me very excited, Ari, because I'm glad we're getting into this. I'm already excited about next season. We were fumbling around on where some of these games were.

Where's the Clemson LSU game? It's at Clemson. Where's the Notre Dame Miami game? It's at Miami. So now we're getting our sea legs here for the 2025 season. But Fandel has already released lines. Like, let's go to Dublin for week zero, Ari. I love that the Dublin game,

I love when it's a conference game, because you gotta come in caring. Like it was Notre Dame Navy a couple of years ago. That one didn't feel as interesting as when it was Nebraska Northwestern, which was not an interesting game in the grand scheme of the Big 10, but was a fascinating game because of the Scott Frost situation at the time. Georgia Tech, Florida State, obviously very interesting because it just blew up our preseason

expectations for Florida State. That Nebraska game, Northwestern game was like the the sicko Super Bowl, wasn't it? It was unbelievable. I mean, everybody was watching it because there was like coaching implications, but like in terms of the football, like you're playing the most Big 10 West type football game in Ireland. It was wild. Like I'm sitting in my backyard watching it on the the TV on the porch in Florida in August so it's like 95 degrees and they're in Ireland and it's cold and windy he's in jackets and Scott Frost is calling a wild onside kick like it was incredible. onside kick. Like it was incredible. So Iowa state, Kansas state is the Dublin game this year. We last saw Matt Campbell eating a ritually sacrifice pop tart.

We last saw Chris climbing. Playing in a bowl game. So now we get Rocco Beck versus Avery Johnson, like right off the bat. Yeah, give me that. Yeah, that's uh, that's amazing. Am I supposed to pick this? Is this what we are? We don't have to pick it. We don't have to. We can tell. We'll tell the folks what the line is. So if you're listening, if you're listening in podcast form, don't see the graphic. Uh, Kansas state is a two and a half point favorite. Uh, we last saw them beating Rutgers in

a shootout of a care bowl, uh, 44 41. So K state is a two and a half point favorite over Iowa state. I don't really know how to handicap this one yet. Iowa State, we kind of need to know what the offense is gonna look like because obviously they were a really good passing offense last year, but Jaylen Noll and Jayden Higgins are two of the better receiver prospects

in the NFL draft now. So the question is gonna be, what is that going to look like? I think we're fairly confident in Rocco Becht by this point after we saw him lead Iowa State to the Big 12 Championship game. Yeah, but I'm assuming that this year we're also going to get caught back up in the Avery Johnson mania, right? Like I don't know if that's over. I know that he didn't have the Johnny football type year that people were expecting, but I thought he improved during the course of the year and has a pretty high upside still know. I think he does too, and I also think, you know, they kind of

it feels like they're kind of figured out Dylan Edwards as the season went on and how to use him correctly. There are definitely some ways to do this. Jace Brown, they can use him. He averaged 17 and a half yards of catch. Only caught 47 passes, but I'm guessing they use him more next year. And look, K-State is one of those places you can have receivers where everybody knows you're going to throw to them, but Tyler Lockett says he's going to get open anyway. Like sometimes that just happens. Jace Brown might be that guy. So I am pumped about this one because again,

the big 12 is going to be the same as it was this year where it's going to be razor thin margins. Some really good quarterbacks coming back. Like let's look at the look at the standing. So obviously, Shador Sanders is going to be one of the top NFL draft picks. So he's out. But Sam Levitt's back for Arizona State. Rocco Beck is back for Iowa State. Jake Ratzliff is back. Ratzliff is back for BYU. Sawyer Robertson is back for Baylor. Avery Johnson's back at Kansas State. There's going to be really good quarterback play in that league. For sure. It's going to be a fun league. And I just got the notification on my email yesterday of like big 12

media day, Dallas, July 7th and eighth. Let's go. Yeah. I mean, it's time. It's it's time. All right. Let's move on to week one. Cause there's some matchups in here that I like you, you remember

when they announced they were going to happen. Sometimes they were announced like six years ago and then you forgot they were going to happen and I was like, oh wait, this is going on. Auburn Baylor is interesting to me because Baylor is one of the hottest teams in the country at the end of the year. This game's at Baylor. Baylor's a one and a half point dog. You and I have said Auburn's a team to watch this off season that they, they

could be significantly better this season. Uh, Baylor was, was really good at the end of last season. Yeah. And also too, like that'll be the first look at the Auburn offense, um, and who they pick a quarterback and what their potential could be too. I see that they're a slight favorite on the road. I've never seen a game there. I don't know where we're going to, we're going to be on August 30th. If that's the same day as the Ohio state, Texas game, it is the same day.

I suspect we'll be in Columbus. Yeah. But that would be a pretty fun game to go to because, um, I still hold deep in my heart, some Jackson Arnold stock. So, um, Well, here's the thing. And this is what I keep telling people when they asked me about the Auburn pick. I'm not basing it around Jackson Arnold. I'm basing it around the, that there will be a competition between Jackson Arnold, Ashton Janiels and induce night.

And the best one of those will win the competition. And that the best one of those, whoever that is, is going to be better than Peyton Thorne was this past year. Oh, and they've got two NFL receivers to throw to there's that like that. That's the biggest piece of it,

and the line is is solid. Like I'm not ready to go it. And the line is solid. Like I'm not ready to go as far as saying good, great, whatever, but Auburn fans will tell you, solid for their offensive line, they're good with. Like they've been wanting solid for a long time and they've got solid now. So- You know what's crazy is if like Jeremiah Smith

and Ryan Williams didn't exist, like Cam Coleman would be a bigger star. I think he had like nine touchdowns this year and in 600 yards receiving as a true freshman. Yeah. Like, I mean, I just like, I don't know if the world has caught up to how good he is yet, but they certainly will next year. And this freshman or freshman receiver class was loaded this year.

And, and you don't usually see them make as big of a splash as Smith and Williams did. So I think you're right. I think they smash for Coleman. And it's like, I think that the reason why people are so appalled to see us have Auburn pretty high up on our rankings is because that Cam Coleman got overshadowed in a world like if this was two years ago, he might have been the most exciting returning player in the SEC.

If Ryan Williams didn't exist, like he's really, really good and he's a big bodied kid and, um, you know, he's six, three or six, four, 210 pounds. He's thick. He's got great hands. He's fast. Like he's great player. And I think that he's going to win them games in the future. So, I mean, I'm going to take over here. I'm going to lay the points and, uh, don't worry. We can pick this much, much later. We did. I want to pick it up for seven or nine months. Just like, let it sit there in the fan dual account while they invested on the backend and get 18%. Yeah. Aubrey's kicking out interest for Fandle, uh, Alabama at Florida state.

Ryan Williams does exist by the way. And he's headed to Tallahassee for the first game next year. God, these are great games I didn't know that one was even happening till right now. Emma is an eight and a half point favorite What Florida State's just good again like that? That's the I was thinking about that as I saw this line on what if last year was just a complete anomaly Florida State changes coordinators on both sides of the ball and suddenly they're just good again Is there such thing as an anomaly that bad I don't think so I think they're gonna have to rebuild that thing Yeah, I think so too now the question is does that work like Tony white does he come in and make the defense immediately better

We don't know but They will be challenged right away. And the thing is, we'll also get a look at whatever Alabama's doing at quarterback. Like we had this discussion yesterday because the message boards have said, Ty Simpson, Ty Simpson, Ty Simpson. But again, why wouldn't he have beaten out Jalen Milro at a certain, because the message boards hated Jalen Milro. They were like, we're all good riddance. I'm like, yeah, but why didn't they change quarterbacks

if they thought Ty Simpson was better? Oh wait, they didn't think he was better. So you got Ty Simpson, you got Austin Mack, who came with the board from Washington. You have Keelan Russell, who's the freshman. And again, in some of these situations where there's Keelan Russell or Deuce Knight or some other situation, there is going to be a true freshman quarterback who comes in and they're like, holy crap, that's the guy. Yeah. No, I'm on high alert

for Russell there. Yeah, I am. Georgia Tech, Colorado. We're high on Georgia Tech. We have it in our top 25. So Georgia Tech is coming back for his 36th year. So like that. And he was like, struggle with health again. But when he's healthy, he's a very efficient and fun quarterback. back. Well, also, they're they're deep quarterback room. Like they went three deep this year where they had to play three different guys. And so I don't, it's not just Haynes King. But I, I saw Brent Key at the national title game the other night, talked to him for a minute, like, I'm excited about what he can do there. And I realized they lost Eric Singleton to Auburn, they're going to be one of those programs that when they have a guy who's who's kind of a potential superstar, they're going to be one of those programs that when they have a guy who's, who's kind of a potential superstar, they're going to lose them. Like when Jeff Collins was there, he lost Jameer Gibbs to Alabama. Like it's going to happen that way. But I think Brent Key's a really good developer, especially on the line of

scrimmage, he's a former line coach. Like I thought they were very tough on both lines of scrimmage last year. I'm excited about this. Also excited to see Colorado. We're assuming Deion's still the coach. The Cowboys haven't made a hire yet, so we'll see. I've been going down the rabbit hole. I knew it was bad this morning, Ari, and I texted you and Producer River about this. I found some guy with 19 followers who had a very long tweet thread laying out a conspiracy theory about how Deon's already been involved in the Cowboys interview process and how some of these alleged

head coach interviews are actually coordinator interviews. And I'm like, I'm sure this person's wrong, but I really want to believe all of this stuff. Yeah. I mean, the people with the 19 followers are always the ones that have the, that have the insight info. That's the guy who's going to break it. But if, if assuming Dion is back at Colorado, it will be interesting to see how he builds without Shador, without Travis Hunter. Uh, is, is Caden Salter this, your, your week one starter? I, I would assume he is. I don't think, you know, you, they signed Julian Lewis.

He's their big recruit at quarterback, but I don't think you bring in a guy with as much experience as Caden Salter, unless you're planning on playing him. Cause I think you would have gone somewhere else. If the, if the idea wasn't to start him. Yep. Yep. And like the fact that Georgia tech is out here laying four and a half already might give us a key into how people are going to view Colorado heading into the

off season. So, uh, you know, losing your Heism a key into how people are going to view Colorado heading into the off season. So you know losing your Heisman winner and your quarterbacks going to be tough, but I think they did a really good job of backloading the the quarterback position. Notre Dame at Miami. This is a hell of a season opener. It's Catholic. Yeah. Notre Dame is a two and a half point favorite on the road. This is going to change this line because we don't know anything like Miami has been a very active spring portal team the last few years. I assume

their roster will change a little more as as the the offseason goes on. We don't know about Carson Beck's recovery from elbow surgery. We'll find out how that goes as the off season goes on. We think CJ Carr's the QB for Notre Dame. We don't know about that. We saw Steve Angelli come in in the Orange Bowl and play pretty well. Like Steve Angelli already knows how to play in that stadium. Could it be him?

Who knows? But here's what I'll say about both these teams. They're both going to have really good offensive lines. And that makes you feel comfortable with both of them being pretty good next year too. Yeah, and it's gonna be another pivotal game. It's not gonna be a meltdown game, but it's gonna be a pivotal game for two programs

that want to either continue where they're building and take the next step or continue where they're building and take the next step or continue where they've been. And it's like Miami was such a nice surprise this year to a lot of people. I was pretty high on them coming into the year because I liked the the sum of its parts, but if they go you know eight and four next year that would be pretty disappointing. So you know and of course Notre Dame doesn't want to start off the new year with an L, uh, when they're trying to prove that they're going to be a consistent fixture in the playoff. So, uh, two teams that are, are still, I think in the ascension mode. And I'm very curious already to see, you know, what those two teams will look like at that point.

Yeah, it's gonna be great and the the Carson Beck situation is fascinating because with Cam Ward last year now this time last year we still didn't know if Cam Ward was going to stay. It was going to be in college. I think it was I don't know if we'd gotten to the point where he decided. I think he decided by now. That's right. I'm I'm off because the national title game was later this year. So by now he had decided he was going to Miami and. He's already working with them. They know that they have him like the Carson Beck thing is he is coming off elbow surgery or unsure what

he's gonna look like after that so we'll see but then again the Notre Dame QB situation equally fascinating because it seems like they're going to go with somebody homegrown. They've done the one-year rental the last two years, and now they're going with somebody homegrown. Ari, let's go to the one that I assume will be here, but God only knows it's going to happen between now and August.

Texas at Ohio State. This could be our number one versus number two. Or not ours. This may be number one versus number two or not ours. This may be number one versus number two with the AP preseason going to be. I think it's going to be. I don't know what the. Makeup of Ohio State's going to look like.

I'm very curious to see like what their their team is top to bottom 22 spots, but like I feel like right now if I were to place a bet on this game I probably would feel more comfortable with Texas taking points here. Well Ohio State's a four and a half point favorite according to FanDuel. We know who the Texas quarterback will be. It's going to be Arch Manning. Ohio State is it going to be Julian Sayen? Is that that's the the thought?

That's the thought. They have other options too. They are another one of the in the Alabama camp of five star true freshmen. You can come in and maybe, you know, make some waves in St. Clair. But like, and I know that Ohio State has Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith. But like when you look at what Texas is returning, like if the game was tomorrow, like I would take Texas. Yeah, it's interesting cause Texas,

not, if you look at like the on three transfer portal rankings, Texas is not ranked as high as it has been because I don't think they feel like they need as much out of the portal this time. I think they feel like they've developed what they have and feel pretty good about what what's already there. Yeah. Yeah, but that's going to be the game of the weekend for

sure. And these are there's a lot of great games here. Oh, yeah, we also we also have Tennessee Syracuse, which Syracuse coming off 10 wins. I they were trying it. You know there he was a little nervous. Yeah, Tennessee's a pretty big favorite in that game. There are 13 and a half point favorite. The assumption is Kyle McCord is in the NFL at this point. They were you know kind of I guess Hail Mary hopeful that

they might say the one year he played five games at Ohio State he could get a red shirt for, but I don't think that's going to happen. It's already, I thought it was already over. I believe it is. He's declared, he said he's gone, but then you had them talking about it about a week ago, or maybe not, but yeah, I don't think... Use some of that NIL money to get a better lawyer.

I don't know what to tell you. Well, the thing is like, Frayn Brown did a great job reshaping that roster last year. So we'll see what he can do this year. We also have another big one involving two teams that are in our top 25. LSU going to Clemson, the battle for Death Valley, because they play at the Clemson Death Valley this year and they'll play at the LSU Death Valley in 26.

Two really good returning quarterbacks in Garrett Nussmeyer and Kate Klubnick. Defense under new management at Clemson, Tom Allen is your new defensive coordinator there, but it is not like they lack time. This is not the situation that Blake Baker walked into at LSU this past year where they didn't have a lot of talent relative to what they usually have and he had to kind of work with the pieces he had Clemson. They got dudes and I would imagine that Tom Allen will deploy those dudes better. And I would imagine that Tom Allen will deploy those dudes better.

Big, big, big game. This is probably on the list of like Florida, Miami from last year of like whoever loses Meltdown fan base. Like there's no way. Yes. Like this is that's the closest I think we have week one to like. Meltdown mode central because you know, there's a lot of expectations for Clemson to get back on track and put itself in a position where it's a little bit. I mean, it made the playoff this past year, but a little bit more like

the Clemson that we become accustomed to. And then of course, if LSU loses another opener, like after the year that they've had, especially when Jaden Daniels wins the Super Bowl this year, I think that like when Jaden Daniels wins the Super Bowl this year. I think that like when Jaden Daniels wins the Super Bowl this year, the... Are you giving out more picks? I love it. No, I just like... first of all, Washington's really fun to watch, but like if... can you imagine like how our people are already grinding their teeth about LSU not getting a good enough defense to win the title with them?

My son and I were trying to explain to my wife why LSU fans are so mad a good enough defense to win. My son and I were trying to explain to my wife why LSU fans are so mad over Jaden Daniels being so good. And it's not that they're mad at Jaden Daniels. They're just mad because they had, and the fact that they had him so soon after Joe Burrow, like within five years of one another, two all time elite college quarterbacks

Mm-hmm and jayden daniels and malik neighbors and brian thomas jr. Were wasted Because they had the worst defense lsu's ever had in 2023 waste. Yeah, so if they go out lose another opener It's gonna get uncomfortable there Yes It's going to get uncomfortable there. Yes, now I also wonder, I don't believe this is going to be a Sunday game. I think this games on on a on Saturday, so how do LSU fans feel about their coach who left Notre Dame and then saw Notre Dame go to the National Championship for the first time in 100 years after he left? I don't know sport change, but

there's there's a lot bubbling under the surface there. We'll have to get T Bob back on. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And look, Dabo used the transfer portal. Like not a lot, which we always said if he starts using, he's not going to use it a lot, but in some spots. In some spots. So, you know, they got an edge rusher from Purdue. They got a linebacker from Alabama. They got a wide receiver from Southeast Missouri State. So, I'm so

excited, Ari. Like, one last one. I'm already excited for next season. Uh I saw the spread for the look ahead game for the Ohio State Michigan game opened up at eight and a half which I thought was insane. Like, let's talk about that. Let's let's talk about that. It's down to 6 1, I love the line movement. 9 months or sorry 11 months in advance, but I don't know if I'm 100% certain

that I'm going to be picking Ohio State to win that game, let alone laying two possessions in a situation where Michigan is going to be much better and Ohio State conceivably is going to be much worse than they were a year ago. Although I do have a theory that now that Ryan Day has a national championship

and all the pressure's off of his ass, he can just relax during that week and probably, you know, coach better. But I don't know. I feel like Michigan's gonna be better next year and they're gonna be at home. And I thought eight and a half in January when we don't know who Ohio State's quarterback is

seemed like a little, a little extra. We also don't know who Michigan's quarterback will be at that point. I know, but I think we feel pretty good about it. We're thinking Mikey Keene. Mikey Keene. We think, but it might be Bryce Underwood. By that point, think about this.

We will have digested Thanksgiving dinner by the time that game gets played. I want to go to Vegas for Thanksgiving this year. Just so you know, I don't know if it's possible, but I'm going to try. We bring both the families and we just have like a Vegas buffet Thanksgiving dinner. Have you ever done Thanksgiving in Vegas before? No, it's like the best time to be there because it's like kind of dead. Rates are cheap, but it's also like chili out.

So you can have, and all the restaurants have baked like Thanksgiving menus. And it's really good. We went to an Italian restaurant like eight years ago when I went, uh, in the Caesar's forum shops and it was like one of the best meals I've ever had in my life, because we didn't get the Thanksgiving feast. We got like, we just ate a true Italian dinner for what happens. What happens if you lock this thing in? Like you lock in Michigan plus six and a half at home and Michigan roars into that

game. 11 and oh, in Ohio State's like. Nine and two, it's good value, it's a good it's a good time. That would be a good time to be in Vegas. Just knowing you got that ticket in your pocket. I think people take these because they're trying to, you know, project what the line might be later on. You know, it's like Michigan's getting six and a half or eight and a half. You lock that in and then Michigan's minus one and then you take Ohio State plus one. You have a pretty good

middle. Right. Yeah. But I think that's the point of these. And I also just, you know, to lock up your money. But okay. Um, Andy, this isn't going to be elegant, but I just gotta tell you, I don't know if you saw the text. I have to go to the bathroom. So you have to wrap this up. I'm going to make you sit here. We have like 19 more things to talk. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Go, go, go. Okay. Well, I mean, I'll let you go and I'm going to tell everybody a little story and then I'm going to ask them to send us some questions. So bye Ari. Enjoy. You know, I don't know if you're I don't know if you're whispering or screaming here, but go have fun. I'm going to keep my headphones in so I can hear the story though.

Okay. All right. Yeah, this is this goes back to when I was working on series XM. So that's radio. All right. Yeah, this goes back to when I was working on Series XM. So that's radio, it's live radio, and you have commercial breaks. And there was a moment where I was in the midst of discussion, I don't know which co-host

or I was working with, because I was a filling guy, so I worked with a bunch of different co-hosts. I'm in the midst of discussion, deep, deep discussion about some sort of college football topic. And my guts start bubbling and it's like, this is happening now. This is happening now. And it's like. In mid, so my co-host finishes a great thought. That definitely requires a comeback for me.

And I'm like, and we'll get to that when we come back on SiriusXM College Sports Nation. Headphones off. Running. Running. Because I knew the break was only like two and a half minutes. No explanation given to the co-host or producer. None. And then. I made it back.

I made it back. I did not explain to anyone until the next break did not explain on the air. But it all worked out. on the air, but it all worked out. Now there was the other time when somebody was doing some work in my backyard and they hit a gas line and I was live on the radio in a fire truck pulled up in front of my house with the sirens on. That was also a problem.

Mike G says Andy's gonna be like Leslie Nielsen and naked gun. No, fortunately, the mic stays here. But I do worry about that. I was recording something a week ago where they put the lavalier mic on you and it has the mic pack so it's remote and it goes with you. I did worry about it in a Rico Palazzo moment, but did not do that. And we're here, but yeah, sometimes in the midst of a live show, nature calls.

And sometimes you get really, there was a great clip a few years ago where these two guys were just arguing on a podcast and you see the one look a little uncomfortable and you hear him go. And he just drops headphones and runs. So, you know, he bet on a fart and lost on that one. Oh, we got our story time graphic up now. So that's pretty much it.

I think Ari's probably done now, but I'm not gonna make him come back because we do have to let JD get on the air here in a few minutes. Stick around on the on three sports YouTube channel because JD Piquel will be here with the hard count as he is on Thursday of every week. But also we haven't done a dear Andy

D'Arie show in a while just because of the rhythms of the playoff and everything. We're going to get back to regular schedule with that. But I want to do one tomorrow. Dear Andy and Ari, you know how to find us at andy underscore staples on X and Instagram, at Ari Wasserman on X and Instagram, andy staples on three at gmail.com. If you have a truly epic question that, or you just need some privacy to ask your question, like Ari needs some privacy right now, and Andy Staples on three at gmail.com. Hit us up with your questions. I think it's an all mailbag day tomorrow.

Like we've done a lousy job of answering your questions. So now it's time to do it. So hit us up with your questions and tomorrow we will be back 9 30 AM Eastern time and we'll answer them all. We'll talk to you then.