Andy & Ari On3 - Brian Ferentz OUT at Iowa | Jim Harbaugh Speaks | Week 10 Picks | LSU-Alabama | Oklahoma-Oklahoma St

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

It's our Week 10 Picks Show, but first, we have some news to get to. Brian Ferentz is no longer going to be the offensive coordinator at Iowa at the end of this season, while Jim Harbaugh spoke for the first time in a little bit since last week's news.(0:00-6:55) Intro - Brian Ferentz Out(6:56-12:30) Jim Harbaugh Speaks(12:31-17:52) Hypothetical 12-Team Playoff(17:53-19:40) Week 10 Picks Intro with Dan Rubenstein(19:41-24:45) Texas A&M - Ole Miss(24:46-30:28) Missouri - Georgia(30:29-35:58) LSU - Alabama(35:59-40:46) Nebraska - Michigan State(40:47-44:20) Ohio State - Nebraska(44:21-49:58) Iowa - Northwestern(49:57-53:50) Kansas State - Texas(53:51-59:50) Oklahoma - Oklahoma State(59:51-1:05:33) Washington - USC(1:05:34-1:11:13) Notre Dame - Clemson(1:11:14-1:12:58) Conclusion, Wrapping UpToday’s picks are sponsored by Fanduel! Visit Fanduel.com/Staples and use the promo code Staples. Right now, new customers get $150 in Bonus Bets with any winning $5 moneyline bet! Thank you to FanDuel* for delivering the lines for this week's slate of games!Thank you to Gametime for also sponsoring today's show! Week 10 is days away, don't miss your chance to watch your favorite team. Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and don't forget to subscribe!https://youtu.be/WQJGog0hpNIMust be 21+ and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas StarCasino, LLC. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 firstdeposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com.Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania,Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visitccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP inLouisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope ishere. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call [phone] for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or textHOPENY in New York

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. It's a bit of a sad day for our show because one very reliable source of content is about to come to an end. That's right. Brian Ferentz, the offensive coordinator at Iowa, will not be returning as offensive coordinator next season. We don't wish ill on Brian Ferentz at all. In fact, we know he's going to be okay as an offensive line coach somewhere. But we are sad because this was a very reliable generator

of show and podcast material over the last couple of years. That Iowa offense has been awful, and, well, they're going to try to fix it. We learned that on Monday. Beth Getz, the interim AD at Iowa, said it's done. After the bowl game, he will not be coming back. I had my thoughts on that. I had to gather them because again the drive for 325 been quite a source of material but all things must come to an end this one is

and I talked about what that means and really what it means for Kirk Ference as well the drive for 325 has stalled. That's right. College football's most painful to watch parlor game is done. Brian Ferentz, the offensive coordinator at Iowa, will be out at the end of the season. Iowa announced that on Monday afternoon. One of college football's most anemic offenses will have someone else running it next year. Although, remember, it's still Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz's offense. By the way, that's Brian's dad. And that's why all of this was such a big deal over the last few years. The drive for 325, in case you've been living under a college football rock.

In the offseason, Gary Barta, before he retired as Iowa's AD, gave Brian Ferentz a contract that said you must average 25 points a game and Iowa must win seven games or your contract will terminate after the season. They're not even going to get that far because we know they're not going to average 25 points a game. Iowa is every week flirting with single digits and it's just not going to happen. The offense is as bad as it's ever been. And unfortunately, that is causing Iowa to waste yet another elite Phil Parker defense. Let's go over some numbers. Let's talk about just how bad this offense is. Iowa's receivers, not running backs, not tight ends, wide receivers, have combined for 26 catches for 259 yards and two touchdowns this season. By contrast, LSU's Malik Nabors caught 13 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns

against Mississippi State alone. Iowa has gained 29% of its available yards this season. That's from Brian Fremo's great advanced stat site. What do available yards mean? It means if you get the ball at your own 25, you have 75 available yards. So they're only gaining 30%, roughly 29% of those available yards. Contrast, Michigan is number two in the FBS in that stat. They gained 74% of their available yards. Iowa is number 131 of 133 in that stat.

Points per drive, another good advanced stat. Iowa's 120th in the nation, 1.34. Michigan's number one, 4.42. That's the difference. That's how big of a difference we're talking about. But what makes this so frustrating for everybody, and especially for Iowa fans who have put up with this for a long time, Iowa's defense under Phil Parker, number four in the nation, 1.03 points per drive.

Number one in defensive efficiency. They gain the team 1.36 points every time they set foot on the field. Meanwhile, Iowa's offensive efficiency ranking, number 120 out of 133. Also, another person who has kept this thing afloat is Iowa punter Torrey Taylor. He's pinned opponents inside the 20-yard line 21 times on 54 punts. He also has 23 punts of 50 yards or more because he has to punt a long way because Iowa's not moving the ball very far on offense. And you can say, oh, this is because of injuries. And yes, they have had injuries. Quarterback Cade McNamara out for the season, tight end Eric All, tight end Luke Lachey injured. I get it. But the problem is

other offenses deal with injuries and can still function. Iowa's cannot function. Basically, under Brian Ferentz, Iowa's offense has been in this box where if everything isn't completely perfect, it can't work. That's not sustainable. That can't continue. And Iowa's not going to let it continue. Now, the question is, what will Kirk Ferencz do in terms of looking for a new offensive coordinator? Will he be hiring someone to run this offense, which probably will produce the same results? Or will he let someone spread their wings a little bit? That is going to be the question. One thing that I think would be interesting to see if Kirk Ferentz realizes or notes the two best offenses he's had

when they had Brad Banks, when they had CJ Beathard. What did those two guys have in common? They could run around a little bit. Those two quarterbacks could move, and that made a little bit of difference. Iowa doesn't seem to sign anybody like that. And let's be honest, with the offense that they've had, why would a good receiver or a good quarterback ever want to play in it? They can say say we put offensive linemen in the NFL, we put tight ends in the NFL, and still get interest from those guys. But you're not going to be featured as a receiver in this offense. They can't get it to you. They've got to figure out how to turn that page and change that narrative.

Brian Ferentz is going to be okay, by the way. He is a very good offensive line coach. He's going to go somewhere and be a very good offensive line coach. To compound Iowa fans' frustration here, why wasn't Iowa's offensive line that good recently? Oh, wait, Brian wasn't coaching the offensive line. He was coaching the quarterbacks.

None of this made sense. None of it worked. And now they're finally going to do something different. Brian Ferentz out at Iowa at the end of the season. Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Jim Harbaugh appeared in front of a microphone for the first time since all of this stuff regarding the sign stealing accusations surfaced. He didn't have a lot of specific answers because it's an NCAA investigation. You're not supposed to comment on those things. And he did not comment on everything, but he was asked about the wall street journal report that a contract extension that he'd been

working on had gotten rescinded recently Jim there was a report last night that you had a contract offer rescinded um can you say if that's accurate or not um I wouldn't say that's accurate no um and the university has a policy I think they made a statement right there yes of a policy on contracts and publicly talking about them. I think it was worded something like they don't comment about them until after they're done. If you listen to Chris Ballas on the show last Wednesday night, he said the contract talks were put on hold.

The contract wasn't necessarily done yet, so I don't know if there's a contract that can be rescinded if it's not done, but we'll have to see what happens going forward. Whether, whether there is a long-term extension or whether Jim Harbaugh isn't coaching in Michigan after this year. I think there's, there's probably a chance of that.

There seems to be a chance of that pretty much every year. So we'll have to wait and see where that goes. He also got asked more questions about the investigation. He pretty much every year. So we'll have to wait and see where that goes. He also got asked more questions about the investigation. He pretty much no commented most of them. And people got real specific, including asking about how did someone access one of Michigan's shared drives, which was something that was in the Washington Post story last week.

Jim, there was a report last week that there was an outside investigator firm that may have access to videos or files of you got your coaches. Do you have anything about that? And are you guys investigating how that came about? I'm not going to get it. I got a one-track mind. I'm not going to be speculating.

I can let others speculate that. The various speculation that's out there would be unfair to the team to not just be coaching the team. Do you believe anything was illegally obtained? Just so you guys know, there's only certain things we can comment on, so we've got to move forward. This is not going to be very long. Andrew?

Jim, I've heard from a bunch of Michigan alums this past week who are not happy, in some cases embarrassed, seeing their school receive negative headlines. What would you say to them about what they're reading and seeing lately? Because, again, that's speculation. I would say everybody's entitled to their opinion. So I'm not going to speculate on the speculation. I would say everybody's entitled to their opinion. So I'm not going to speculate on the speculation. Wait, I am.

That's my job is to speculate on the speculation. Jim Harbaugh does not have to speculate on the speculation, though he did offer a really good comparison between a house plant and seed corn later in that press conference. He also said the way he keeps that one track mind is he just channels his inner William Wallace. And I'm just imagining all of the Michigan faithful just mooning all of the Ohio State faithful at that game this year, not thinking ahead to what happens to William Wallace at the end of Braveheart. We won't go there. But this is where they're at right now. He's not going to say anything juicy right now. We're going to have to wait for more details to come out on this thing.

And unless the big 10 were to say, Hey, we're going to do something now. I don't think anything's going to get done. I think Michigan is going to keep playing out its season and after the season this will get further investigated further you know decided upon and then things will happen you also have the report from nfl.com from from mike garofalo and for me in rapaport that saying the nfl might not be a safe harbor for harbaugh if he were to get a job there that a suspension might follow him like it did with Jim Trestle. First of all, it was stupid when the suspension followed Jim Trestle in the NFL because he didn't have anything to do with breaking any rules that had anything to do with the NFL. Perhaps with the signal stealing situation,

that's a little bit different because the NFL does have some rules against that. We saw that with Bill Belichick and the Patriots and Spygate. But it doesn't seem natural that a suspension would follow just because it did that one time with Jim Trestle. I don't know that that particular precedent necessarily is going to carry over in this case. It's really probably more a matter of, is there an NFL team that would want to hire Jim Harbaugh at the end of the season? He's wanted an NFL job. Each of the last two has not been able to get one.

So it's a matter of, is there that right fit between those two parties? And I know the Michigan fans never like to hear this, but this was going to be something we were talking about before all of this stuff. So it's probably something that you're going to be dealing with after the season, regardless of this investigation, but now especially because of this investigation. We'll just have to see. Michigan plays Purdue this week.

My guess is Michigan's going to smash Purdue this week. Then they play Penn State. We'll finally probably get a better idea of what Michigan is, but right now they're looking very good. According to Jim Harbaugh, they have a one track mind. We're on track two for a 12 team playoff next year. Unfortunately, Tuesday night, we're going to get the first college football playoff ranking from the selection committee for the last 14 playoff. Pay special attention to how that looks. Especially pay special attention to the top 12 teams or the top 11 plus the highest ranked group of five team

because that's how the 12-team playoff will look in the future. I did my hypothetical 12-team playoff because we're trying to train our brains to see what that's going to look like. Oh yeah, it looks fun. Now remember in that projected college football playoff that I put out yesterday, I said Michigan and Ohio State could both make it. In the projected 12 team playoff, I can't have both of them in the top four because they can't both be the Big Ten champ. So you got to have a conference champ in each of those top four spots. So I had to change that up a little bit. I had

Oregon at number four. So that's me saying, I think Oregon wins out. Washington wins out. They play again. Oregon wins the PAC 12 championship. And that's where the ducks go. Then I had Washington down there, number seven, getting an at large bidge bid. So let's look at what the matchups would be. Right now, we still got Air Force mowing their way through the Mountain West. May look like they can be the highest ranked group five team. That's one to watch. Where will Air Force be in those Tuesday rankings? Where will Tulane be? Excuse me. One of those two is probably your highest ranked group of five champ this year, assuming that they end up winning the conference championships. So I've got number 12

Air Force at number five, Ohio State with the winner playing Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. Number 11, Notre Dame fighting Irish, looking pretty hot. 10-2. Might get them in there. At number six, Oklahoma. The winner would play number three, Florida State, in the Cotton Bowl. Let's talk about Notre Dame for a second because the way this new playoff is set up, Notre Dame can probably get in pretty much any time it's 10-2. And they've got to go to Clemson this week if they were to lose that game then if this were a 12 team playoff year it would probably be an elimination game for them so that's why we talk

about how many games matter how many games you know count toward the national title that would be one of those extra games that would matter like this weekend we're interested in it because we want to see if Clemson's going to take a fifth loss we're interested in it because we want to see if Clemson's going to take a fifth loss. We're interested in it because Notre Dame seems to be pretty hot after that win against Pittsburgh. Next year, Clemson could knock Notre Dame out of the playoff in that game. It'll have bigger stakes if that game were to be played next year. Obviously, it's a non-conference game. So moving on in our hypothetical bracket, number 10 Louisville at number seven Washington. That would be a pretty interesting one. You know, a big spot for Jeff Braum and his team. Could they go to Washington? Could they win in Seattle?

If they're in full strength, I think that would be a really good matchup. The winner would play Michigan in the Orange Bowl. And then we had in one of these hypotheticals, back when North Carolina looked like they were going to make the ACC championship game, we had a situation where North Carolina and Florida State would turn around and play each other again the following week. This is one where the teams already played each other once this season, but it flips the venue. I've got number nine, Alabama at number eight, Texas. So really the Alabama, Texas game, the result of that game in Tuscaloosa determines the site of this game, because if Alabama had beaten Texas, they'd be ranked higher.

That game would be in Tuscaloosa. Instead, I've got that game in Austin and the winner would play Georgia in the Peach Bowl. That would be a really fun bracket. I would like to see that, but we're still a year away, but it's okay. We're retraining our brains and when those college football playoff rankings come out on Tuesday night, we can imagine what it's going to look like. Now it's time to pick some games. Dan Rubenstein from the Solid Verbal is our guest picker and it is going to be a lot of fun because there are a lot of high stakes games this weekend all over the country. We'll be right back.

This is a pick show and these lines are brought to you by FanDuel. Go to FanDuel.com slash staples and sign up. New customers receive $150 in bonus bets after you place a winning $5 Moneyline bet. So if your team wins, you get $150 in bonus bets right now. You've been thinking about joining FanDuel. There is no better time to join than the action. The app is so easy to use. There's a wide range of betting options, including spreads, player props, over-unders, more. Oh, yeah, you can bet the Iowa under, which we love on this show. Six and two so far this year. FanDuel.com slash Staples. You make a $5 winning Moneyline bet.

You get $150 in bonus bets. That's fanduel.com slash staples. Sign up today. We are joined now by one of the OGs of college football podcasting, Dan Rubenstein, one half of the Solid Verbal, the original college football podcast. And I know there are other college football podcasts that claim to be the first. But Dan and his tag team partner, Ty Hildebrandt, were the first.

What's up, Dan? Yeah, we used to sell the show for a nickel at gas stations. I think it was a Buffalo nickel, technically. Yeah, we've been doing it for a while. And somehow I'm still only 26. So it feels good. And look, it's week. What are we?

Week nine? Week 10? Yeah. Somewhere in there. This is the best time of year to me. So I'm thrilled to be on the show. Oh, it's tremendous. I remember when you were selling the show on cassette out of your trunk.

Yes. Outside college football games. Yeah, it was a mixtape. It was side one was the solid verbal, and the back side B was I need Kamozi. So really it was something for everybody on the solid verbal. We are going to hot step our way into the picks this week because this is a loaded, loaded week.

A lot of what you guys on the solid verbal would call PFGs, pretty flipping good teams, that happen to have to play one another this week I'm gonna let you spin the wheel of of conferences what what conference would you like to lead off with where would you like to start I think it's a really strong SEC week I think because we put a lot of hope and faith in Mizzou we put a lot of hope and faith in Lsu's defense maybe getting better or alabama's offense maybe getting better and some time off for some of those teams to sort

things out before a big game i think that's my answer all right well we will start we'll go chronologically through the sec we'll start noon eastern 11 a.m. local time, Oxford, Mississippi. Barely enough time to get your chandelier hung in your tailgating tent and get your pimento cheese sandwiches out. Texas A&M at Ole Miss. Jimbo Fisher safe for this week. Lord knows what will happen next week. But this line feels weird.

Oh, yeah. It's four and a half. We've got it wrong in the graphic. But it is Ole Miss by four and a half. And that feels a little stinky to me. Because Ole Miss has played very well. Ole Miss has got more dudes on defense than I think people realize. And Texas A&M has not been particularly smooth offensively

with the exception of a little bit against South Carolina. Texas A&M has, and I have no idea if people are belaboring this point. I love to beat a dead horse. Texas A&M hasn't scored a second-half offensive touchdown since September 23rd. Somebody can fact-check me on that. But I'm almost positive it has been like 35 days since maybe 37 days at this moment

since Alabama has scored, excuse me, since A&M has scored a second half offensive touchdown. That's worrisome. That is worrisome to me. I think I like Ole Miss here, and you're right about the Ole Miss defense. The problem with Ole Miss to me is just at random points in the game, their own offense seems to fully shut down.

I like Jackson Dart. Obviously, what's not to like about Quinn Sean Judkins? I like Ole Miss here because A&M away from home, intrude road games has been kind of unflattering to watch, if that's a good enough adjective. It's been a tough year on the road especially for the offensive line at a and m so i'm going old miss almost by default here just because i i think i just trust max johnson and a and m less well i'm going to correct myself and and then apologize okay because i'm wrong on the line

the line changed the lab from the last time i looked at it to when we started recording this my producer river always on top of things it is old miss minus three which means more gamblers in on texas a&m what does vegas know that we don't dan rubenstein this is a scary scary proposition because all of the things you just said are true yeah all of the things you just said are true. Yeah. All of the things you just said are the reason that I also plan to pick Ole Miss. And thank you for making it where they don't have to win by as much. Because I don't see a way that A&M wins this game if Ole Miss' defense shows up. I totally agree. And it's an especially bad combination or matchup because Ole Miss right now is something is like a top 10 team in terms of sacks per drop back, like completing sacks, tackling I have nothing. Well, I have to say this anytime I talk about Max Johnson, I have nothing against Max Johnson. He holds onto the ball for two and a half seconds too long

every time he passes the ball. And I would be infuriated by that if I were an A&M fan. And so I don't love that matchup. I think they're just Ole Miss is just going to get off the field. And I don't think A&M is going to have, you know, the ability to score 28, 30 points in this game, which I think is what it'll take to win. Well, and I think your point about the middle of Texas A&M's offensive line is the big question. Because against Tennessee, that's where the pressure came from almost every play. And maybe that was a noise thing in Neyland. I don't know.

But I don't think so. Vaught-Hemingingway not the most terrifying road environment in the SEC but I will I will say they've done a better job of late at Ole Miss at trying to create a good home field advantage so uh yeah the the A&M offensive line has got to protect Max Johnson better but he has got to get rid of the ball I yeah I'm with you I don't know that that Ole Miss is going to score the way they have against most teams. No. But I have faith in them to score enough to win this game by three points.

Yeah, I think so too. And I really love the A&M defense. I just wish they had an offense with a plan that's better than get it to Aniyah Smith however we can and hope that he can single-handedly. And Evan Stewart's obviously incredible too, but he's a little bit more reliant on the passing attack because you can use Aniyah Smith in more creative ways I just wish it was a more fully formed offense which I guess aligns me with the entirety of Texas A&M's fan base yeah and the other thing is as good as Edgerton Cooper has been for Texas A&M I don't know that what he does well works as well against this offense

because Jackson Dart will be getting rid of the ball fast or they're just going to count the box and hand off to Quintion Judkins. So it's not – this is not an offense where the quarterback's going to stand there and pat the ball and let you come get him. So that's the other problem in this case. Stylistically, it's going to be tough. But, yeah, I will take Ole Miss in this game. Let us move to Athens, Georgia.

Georgia begins a trio of very tough games with Missouri. This one, Georgia's a 15 and a half point favorite. And that is so many points against a good team. Yeah, coming off a bye too, right? Mizzou didn't play last week. And so look, it's in Athens. I think there is a fact that a lot of people are trying everything they can to not admit to themselves involved with where Georgia is right now. And that's that Carson Beck might be actually really good.

Oh, yeah. He's good. And so, you know, everybody that doesn't root for georgio is you know usain bolt in getting to the point where like wow it's a system thing you you give me george's receivers and george's line and george's running backs and george's defense is a backstop and i'll be a an all sec type quarterback he's really good he's confident he steps into the pocket and throws with poise like look no brock bowers no problem last week against florida and i think mizzou is a different challenge i just don't think the mizzou defense as we saw what lsu did slicing

them up i just don't think that the mizzou defense is where it's been and so i like georgia good deal you talk about that number look if mizzou beats georgia they're probably beating them comfortably if mizzou plays incredibly they have a chance to win this game but also if Mizzou plays incredibly, they have a chance to win this game. But also if Mizzou plays incredibly, it might not matter. So they can play incredibly for two quarters and have it be a 17-13 game at the half and all of a sudden it's 44-17. So I like Georgia just because

you add in a more confident Carson Beck, you add in the receivers getting more involved with no Brock Bowers, forcing Carson Beck to spread it out a little bit more, that becomes more and more scary to me. So I saw Georgia last week and he did spread it out very well. Lad McConkie seems to have moved into the safety blanket role that Brock Bowers was occupying. And across the middle of the field, McConkie seems to be good at finding that open spot and settling down. And then Beck can hit him.

But Dominic Lovett looked good too. Yeah. I was impressed with some of their young D linemen too. Tyrion Ingram Dawkins, who's coming off a foot surgery, looked really good. And then they had Damon Wilson was making plays. Like they – this line is a question. It is a question that asks, which Georgia are we going to see?

The Georgia that played Kentucky and Florida or the Georgia that played Auburn and South Carolina? Both of those other games are more recent. Both Kentucky and Florida are more recent than Auburn and South Carolina. Yeah, and look look we've we've had the closer that Georgia games are the less it allows for them to rotate confidently up front but when you start blowing out teams like Kentucky you start separating from Florida then all of a sudden

your guys are getting experience your guys are getting rest your ones and twos you're getting a nice rotation going we know Kirby's long believed in that and so i just i think they're going to be deep against mizzou and the thing that i actually like about mizzou on the other end talking about the georgia defensive line is cody schrader's been really good he's been one of the best three or four backs in this conference and they've become a more complete offense because of it and the better he is the more things tend to open up for a guy like luther burden who's one of the best you know two or three receivers in this conference so there is something that's kind of fascinating about mizzou but there's also something about a lot of the defenses that mizzou has faced not necessarily preparing you for georgia so i came into this planning to pick

mizzou to cover but not win yeah the the open week thing the time off the prep time but the more I think about it the more I think Georgia may just be hitting that gear and the fact that this is at home only enhances that so I am I was ready I was ready to take Mizzou to cover but I have been uh my mind has been changed yeah you may you may have missed your window to bet against Georgia at least spread wise or over under wise because they're getting comfortable they're gonna it's a letdown spot I just think Georgia might be impervious to things like that at this point yeah I don't know if it's a letdown spot because I don't think they were that worried about Florida so I I do think the weeks get harder because of cumulative

good teams they have to play where it goes Mizzou Ole Miss Tennessee but the what I saw on Saturday leads me to believe that they might have turned you know flip that switch which God help anybody who has to play him at that point so i will take georgia to cover that's not what i was thinking but no and it's here we are look you look at some of the matchups too it's like george has been especially good at preventing bigger pass plays the secondary is rounded into shape recently and like mizzou is really good and mizzou again they have one of the most electric receivers in the sport and luther burden but georgia's good enough to force force you off your spot and so mizzou has

to improvise and win in new ways in athens georgia i don't know a close close game can turn into something ugly quick yeah and that's what when you were talking about cody schrader and what a job he's done i just kept thinking back. Remember when Arkansas went to Georgia as a top 10 team a few years ago? Yes, 37-0 or something. Now granted, this is not as good a Georgia defense as that Georgia defense, but it's still one of those things where you get flashbacks to, oh yeah, when Georgia really wants to play, they can do this. So let's, we will agree

on that one. And now let us move to Tuscaloosa LSU at Alabama. LSU is a three and a half point dog on the road. We just found out that Makai Wingo will not be playing for LSU. He's been their most consistent defensive lineman. We talked to Shea Dixon on the show yesterday about their situation at cornerback, which is fairly dire. Yeah. Oh, by the way,

Jayden Daniels, Malik Navers, Brian Thomas still there on the offense, though. Yes. This is an infuriating game to try to make sense of. So the problem with this game is you never know drive to drive who you're getting with Jalen Milrow. He still has the explosive potential.

He's great downfield. He has a really good sense for when things are going to open up downfield. Has gotten things together with his receivers, Jermaine Burton, Isaiah Bond, guys he has formed a rapport with. And the Alabama defense is good enough to win essentially any game against any team Alabama plays uh I still worry a little bit about Tommy Reese in a spot like this having that full control because even games Alabama has won against quality teams it's looked kind of suspect again in second halves so I I'm going to roll with defense in big games that's just sort of seems to me the the easiest way to make money so I'm going to roll with defense and big games. That's just sort of seems to me the easiest way to make money.

So I'm going to go with a good defense at home here, but you're right about the explosivity. I just saw, I still remember LSU and what they look like in the second half against Florida state. And there, there is a blueprint when you have the talent to take on LSU and Alabama most certainly does, especially as a lot of those young guys.

You talk about Georgia rounding into form the second half of the season. I think you're going to see even more of that from Alabama, especially in the back half and the rotating and the young guys up front. I'm still with Alabama here, and it might be ugly. It's not going to be a pronounced win, but I just don't think that lsu as strong as they've been on offense is going to go to tuscaloosa and just drop 38 or something on alabama i don't have it well and that's the thing is is who can get some stops in this game

and you did you did see florida state do that now cody riggs had not i don't know i don't think he played in that first game i think he was, but had not kind of established himself as the alternative on the ground to Jaden Daniels, which I think has helped that offense become even better as they've gone along. But they are, again, in bad shape in the secondary. And what is Jalen Milrow do best if nothing else? He throws the deep ball very well yeah and also i don't know that they have i don't know that they will tax alabama's past protection as much as tennessee did a couple weeks ago agree yeah and look if if alabama has the opportunity to find a corner and just pick on him all game long they will and so they've confused secondaries we've seen coverage bust from teams playing against Alabama and look I think Jalen Monroe is good he's not somebody that needs to be great against this defense though and so I feel pretty good about Alabama here and just picking their spots yeah and and only three and a half I definitely feel pretty good and it's if you make that line a little bit bigger then I'm

going to have some questions because Lsu does feel like it can score anytime it has the ball yeah but the the question is can alabama turn them over can they get the occasional the occasional stop will be enough because that's that's what all this did to them that's what missouri couldn't do to them it's yeah and lsu's defense has made other offenses look pretty great like arkansas has kind of been a nightmare this year and they were right there to beat LSU. And so that, that to me is the question where like,

sure LSU's offense is terrific, but it's terrific when given the opportunity and LSU's defense at times, it really hasn't even given their own offense, the opportunity to, to compete very long. So I don't know. I think it's a nice spot for alabama i agree alabama take the minus three and a half happy to do it glad it's not more

we'll be right back with more picks but first i want to tell you about game time all these big games we're talking about you could be going this weekend with Game Time. Yes, most of them are sold out. Doesn't matter. Game Time has last-minute tickets to everything, sporting events, concerts, comedy shows, you name it. So you want to go to Alabama LSU? You can go with Game Time. There's a get-in price of about $158 right now.

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Download GameTime, sign up, code STAPLES, $20 off your first purchase. It is the easiest, most stress-free way to get last-minute tickets. Try GameTime today. Let us move on to the Big Ten, Dan. Let's. We'll start in East Lansing where nebraska can get bowl eligible yes against sparty nebraska a road favorite in big 10 play what year is this it's an odd year in the big 10 i talked about this on the end of our show on saturday night it's it's not even

the most unwatchable conference in america it's not even the most unwatchable conference in America. It's one of the most unwatchable conferences we've had in recent memory. And maybe the fact that Nebraska has won whatever it is, four or five or five. I don't know what the number is at this point, but might be sort of a statement on where the Big Ten is in this moment. Just because everybody has basically their own personal disasters if you talk to their fans and that's from michigan all the way down but yeah michigan state's in just a sad place an interim situation and nebraska look they're piecing it together they're not especially good but they're piecing it together and to bet against sparty is

to say i want to make American dollars this week. So I like Nebraska. Nebraska's defense has been outstanding. Yeah. I, the offense is, has been a work in progress, but I do love that.

They like their solution because all the receivers are hurt is like, let's run more option. It feels like Matt rule. Just, just sort of lick this finger and stuck it in the air is like where do i live now oh lincoln nebraska let's make the people happy look if you're not throwing interceptions at nebraska you're in a good spot nebraska started the season off think thinking let's bring in the quarterback from georgia tech who throws the ball to other

teams too often and he got to lincoln and he threw the ball to other teams too often so yeah harburg isn't amazing he completes like 50 of his passes but run them you can win games 20 to 17 and it counts oh it definitely especially in the big 10 west it's just it's interesting to me because matt rule did not come in there planning to play like a typical big 10 west team he he's looking at the future saying oh you're gonna have to play all these other teams and trying to create something more dynamic but what they had to adjust after some injuries was they had to become iowa or they had to become illinois or minnesota and hey if you've got the defense for it it works oh absolutely look the

pass rush is in a really nice place they've been very very good in the red zone it it works oh absolutely look the pass rush is in a really nice place they've been very very good in the red zone and it's all relative to who they're playing against and so you look at the row of you know purdue northwestern illinois michigan before that but they're they're winning how they have to win and that's smart football yeah nash hutmacher the polar bear coming up through the middle i love that that. I just love watching that guy play, but I I'm with you. I will take Nebraska in this game as well. The, the, I think the real question for Nebraska is because they get Michigan state

and Maryland and Maryland seems to be slipping a little bit. That that's who they have left out of the East. And then obviously they've got Iowa and, and got to play them at the end of the season. Could they win the West? I mean, is Braden Locke starting for Wisconsin? That he is, and they have to play them. Right.

And so they have, along with Iowa's defense, Wisconsin's defense, and Nebraska's defense. If you look at the, I guess, the eight units that will be on the field in Nebraska's final four games, they're all good. And so if we're gonna say okay Nebraska is smartly coached and everybody has like clear flaws then you're saying okay is it a Deacon Hill is it a Braden Locke or is it Heinrich Harburg like they can they

absolutely can win the Big Ten West sure Deacon Hillen lock and, and Heinrich Harburg sounds like a group of like middle ages priests who got put to the sword for something wrong, you know, something they did wrong. Some sort of forward thinking thing that was considered wrong at the time when it, all they're doing is actually setting offense back 50 years. It's been,

I mean the poor guys, like you have Deacon hill thrust into action uh heinrich harburg thrust into action and um what's the third name oh braden lock thrust into action and just like everybody's completing four and a half yards per attempt 48 at a time and they're winning games it counts it does count it absolutely counts it's a roster of if you like put out a baseball team if you like if you just randomly look up like brewers stats or marlin stats and all of their pitchers had 5.1 eras but they somehow have 13 and 3 records okay it's it's a way about going things and it's working it's working somebody until they get to Indianapolis. But I digress.

Let us move to Piscataway, Dan, where Rutgers, coming off an open date, 6-2, giving up 15.8 points a game. Yeah. Stingy. I mean, I think Rutgers is the exception to what I just said. They're an 18.5 point dog to Ohio State. It's all gravy.

Look, they made a bowl game. The Rutgers fan base is probably the happiest in the Big Ten, right? I mean, outperforming expectations. You have, obviously, Michigan fans extremely defensive about off-field stuff. Ohio State fans that are just hating watching their own offensive line, but a little bit happier after the Wisconsin game. And you look beyond that. Rutgers is the one with the defense.

Rutgers is the one generating big plays on the ground. And Rutgers is the one that, other than that Michigan game, has been an absolute pain in the ass for everybody to play. And so I think I like Rutgers here in a bit of a letdown spot. I don't think they're going to win this game i think they're gonna lose by a couple touchdowns but but as long as they don't lose by three touchdowns that's right right exactly by the way we never planned this i just want everybody to know we don't plan this and we don't tell each other who we're gonna pick

it just so happens that dan and i have agreed on everything as we were going into this pick. I was like, Dan certainly won't agree with me on this one because I'm taking Rutgers here, but Nope. No, I'm okay. So a central tenant of my picking, I've been pretty good this year. Ty's been awful,

but a central tenant has always been take an underdog at home with a good defense. And so, especially if it's a bigger line, especially if it's in kind of a letdown spot for Ohio State after the NBC game, Ohio State can absolutely win this game by 31 points. But if this game were played 10 times, 100 times, I think they can cover it 75% of the time.

So I'm just going with rudimentary math here in my own version of rudimentary math. And I'm going with Rutgers to cover and lose by, I don't know, 14. Yeah, I can see that. And Rutgers mucks it up probably pretty don't know 14 yeah I can see that and Rutgers mucks it up probably pretty similar to the Ohio State Wisconsin game yeah you know Ohio State Wisconsin was 10-10 in the third quarter and then Marvin Harrison Jr. makes a catch that only Marvin Harrison Jr. can make and the game's over that's what probably will happen at some point in this game but will ohio state win by three touchdowns i don't probably not i yeah if the big thing that northwestern has done really well is as you were reading off the the defensive

numbers is they tackle well they take care of business and the best way to prevent big plays is not having the best corners in the world to me that are smothering receivers downfield it's just tackling in the open field. It's just having a three yard run, not turn into nine, having an eight yard catch, not turn into 21. And so Ohio state has the talent to do all of those things on offense,

but if Rutgers can wrap up and make those open field tackles like they've been doing this year, then I, with Ohio state's own struggles in the red zone and, you know, turning sevens into threes too often, yeah, I think Ohio State can be limited here. Yeah, it's going to be an interesting game.

And I do think Rutgers keeps it close, especially early, which they did against Michigan as well. Yeah. So the tackling, the short tackling thing is, especially against this kind of offense, if you can make open field tackles against Ohio State, you have somewhat of a chance. I'm not going to say you're going to win the game, but you have somewhat of a chance, and I'm with you here. So, yeah, we both got Rutgers to cover. How about it, Scarlet Knights?

The capital of Big Ten football, Piscataway, New Jersey. Exactly. Who knew? We now move to a place where, well, it's about, you can walk there from where you are right now. That's true. Ryan Field and Iowa coming in fresh off the news that Brian Ferentz will not return as offensive coordinator next year. I don't know how much difference that makes now, but Iowa's a four and a half point favorite i don't even know if we're going to pick the spread we always pick the iowa total that total is 30.5 one book had it at 29.5 to open last time iowa played when they played minnesota i believe it opened at 34 and a half

and then dropped to 30 by kickoff we could have a bonus like a prop bet on will this drop below 30 by kickoff but we're gonna pick the we're gonna pick the total here at 30.5 and i have to say the job david braun has done at northwestern yeah is nothing short of spectacular i realize they probably have to do the whole clean house thing and and not give him the permanent job although he wasn't there for any of that stuff so you could conceivably say just hire your own staff and figure it out but who wouldn't want to hire this guy after what you've seen this season yeah i mean look it's been a program that was sort of left for dead and everybody you know accusing the entire school of everything everybody accusing the

entire roster of everything with i'm sure some validity uh but the fact is i don't think they've lost two in a row this year i think it's been a flip-flop snip snap you know every other week you know they win lose win lose win lose and we call that the Georgia Tech. Yes, exactly. It's the full Georgia Tech. And there is something about this Northwestern team that the way that they opened up that game against Maryland, and I'm sure Maryland wasn't taking that game the most seriously, which is their own fault, but there is something very strange about playing in Evanston

in an environment without a lot of buzz, without a lot of juice. And for Iowa to come in, I, I was struggled against the Pat Fitzgerald, uh, iteration of Northwestern over the years, for whatever reason, Northwestern always got it together against Iowa. I don't see it this week, but I think the under is always going to be the play. So I feel more confident in that under, especially if it gets, um, in that under especially if it gets um or especially if it stays over 30 uh i just don't trust the northwestern offense as i don't think a lot of people do even after the you know 2024 point outburst against maryland in the first half um and maybe there's a bit of relief coming with brian ferentz leaving maybe there's like a weight

lifted off of some shoulders players playing a little bit more loosely, knowing that they're not going to be scrutinized in the same way. Unless there's another Ferentz, unless there's like a Kimberly Ferentz or something just hiding in the wings. What if Brian comes out there, Dan, and just says,

what's dad going to do? Fire me now. Right. Exactly. And then I don't have to work the next few weeks. Like I'm going to let it rip. Yeah. And just let,

let Deacon Hill, that absolute unit of a quarterback, just let him fling it around the yard yeah the most relatable looking quarterback in college football and i do not say that to make fun of him or his physical appearance i love seeing him out there and i hope that you know how great would it be if iowa i don't even remember the last like they had the maryland game a couple years ago on the road where they scored 40 or 50 points remember they had the bowl game against sc i think it was a holiday bowl a few years ago with ism where they absolutely lit sc on fire but the the maryland one was like three pick sixes oh yeah i know the defense out but i remember specifically like spencer petrus was connecting downfield they had a couple bigger runs like it was a pretty complete offensive win um by the way yeah correction i messed up earlier please i said you could you

could walk there from your house you can't this game's at wrigley that's right this game is at wrigley i can take the train uh i can take the l train like take the red line to wrigley um good pizza around wrigley by the way um man, I'd love to take Northwestern here. I just don't think we... Throwing into this defense is still going to be too much. I think it's going to be like 13-10 Iowa. The question we have with the total, and of course I'm taking the under.

It's 6-2 this year. I have the utmost faith that it'll hit. You just got to worry about Cooper DeGene. Exactly. What's Cooper DeGene going to do? Because he's the one, like if that touchdown had counted, it had been 29.

And who knows if Ethan Kaliak-Manas hits something desperation at the end and pushes it to the over. So I just, I just wanted to say Ethan Kaliak-Manas. Of course. Great name. But,

but no, you got to watch Cooper to Jean because he could he could return a punt for a touchdown he could return a pick six so you've got to you got to be careful with that with this one but no I think 30 and a half still feels pretty safe so I will take the under yeah I don't even know what the like the correct comparison for Cooper to Jean is for like that corner who's so good in the travis hunter except they forgot to play him at receiver travis hunter except they should be playing cooper dejean at receiver um you can go way back to like devin hester but he felt like more like a kickoff

guy than a punt guy um and was known more for being a returner than a corner um like it almost feels like cooper dejean's kind of a reverse christian mccaffrey like he's an all-purpose defensive weapon dion dion was a great returner in a corner that's true there's elements of that and so yeah that that's what could get in the way of that over yeah all right cooper don't don't screw it up for us let us move to the big 12 this is uh this is an interesting conference so there's there's three games involving teams that each have one conference loss. We're only picking two of them. We could throw a bonus in there if we wanted to pick Kansas-Iowa State. But we'll start with Kansas State going to Texas.

Because this is the one, Dan, after Kansas state put Avery Johnson in and he scored five touchdowns against Texas tech. I was like, hold up. I'm just looking at the calendar. Like this could get interesting. And then they demolished TCU flipping between Will Howard and Avery Johnson. And then they destroy Houston, except it's mostly Will Howard. And if you're Texas and you're you're like you know you're sitting there and uh you're pete kwiatkowski trying to figure out what the hell this offense is going to look like that's coming to play you yeah like i don't know what to prepare for it's wild and kansas state has been the deuce vaughn offense for so long that you're like wait

what what exactly are they what's what's the vision here and i look i from day one i've sort of thought of avery johnson as like a folk hero and waiting for kansas state just how the hair alone the hair is great that just the the confidence out of nowhere is great um he takes care of the ball he runs super well uh and will howard has been a little bit sloppy with the interceptions obviously the oklahoma state game was a low point this year. They've been nailed since. The big thing to me is what does Kansas State have in the way of receivers? Because they've been able to count on Deuce Vaughn and the play action that that opened up for a good long time.

And so Texas with no Quinn Ewers, Malik Murphy has sort of been a slow starter, but the running backs have been great. The defense has obviously been very good. There's an interesting matchup in that texas has struggled situationally they haven't been a great red zone team when they've had the ball this year and kansas state gets off the field they've been very good on third down they've been good in the red zone and so even if they don't have the pop on offense i think they can be limiting enough that they can cover this spread so really i think the texas defensive line is is the the key unit here they

did not play great against oklahoma they're gonna have to play very well against cooper bb in the and the kansas state offensive line because this is one of the better offensive lines they're gonna see these are guys who should theoretically be able to handle them i don't know if they're gonna move them that much but they don't have to move them as much when the quarterback run game is such a big part of what Kansas State does, because that basically gives you another blocker. I've been thinking since two weeks ago that Kansas State was going to come in and win this one outright, and I think that's what I'm going with. It's not just Kansas State covers, but Kansas and win this one outright. And I think that that's what I'm going with.

It's not just Kansas state covers, but Kansas state wins this game. I don't hate that pick. And especially with what Texas looked like a couple of weeks ago against Houston, after the Quinn Ewers injury, they looked strong last week, but still,

I don't know how much they're going to count on Malik Murphy downfield, which is such a big part of their offense that it, are they going to be sort of giving themselves their own restrictor plate offensively just to keep Malik Murphy comfortable, make sure he doesn't make too many mistakes. I think Kansas state's in a good place. The thing that worries me, Kansas state on the road has not been that same team beat up on a couple

teams. These past couple of weeks that have clear flaws and they play them at home, but away from the little apple, I, I still like kansas state because the underlying numbers are there and from what i've seen of them i like them it's just where's that pop coming from where's the pop at receiver i know giddens has been good on the ground

but that to me is the worry that you're going to need to hit a certain number to beat texas whether it's 28 points or something like that and that's concerning i'm going kansas state here i'm going with my gut but i'm going cats yeah i promise we'll disagree on at least one of these yeah but now we move on to bedlam which love this a few weeks ago when oklahoma's rolling and oklahoma state had just lost south alabama i would have thought we're not even picking this game this is this is no brainer but now oklahoma has come off a loss to Kansas. Oklahoma State's one of the hottest teams in the country. It is very much a fun matchup,

although apparently not as much fun as when Mike Gundy played at Oklahoma State. Here is his account of what the rivalry went back in the day. When you were a player versus where you are now as a coach, was it hard for you to not get caught up in the rivalry? It didn't bother me because we didn't have phones and social media. But it was a rivalry then. Like, you know, Bosworth spit in my face. I spit in his face.

I mean, it was actually a rivalry, right? Like the summer of my, before my sophomore year, you know, I would go to parties in Oklahoma City, and they would say, well, Bosworth and Migliazzo and some of those guys were here. And so I had to make a decision whether, were we going to have confrontation there and who was with me? Because, I mean, I'm not going to, you know, those guys, you know, I can kick them in the shin and run like hell, but, you know, I mean, I'm not dumb. So we had to make those decisions because, I mean, what kind of a frame in mind was Brian going to be in on that point? I don't know. You know, had he taken a vitamin C and had a few drinks? Well, he might not be a guy you want to talk to at that point. You know, he'd get real red and cross his face.

So there, it was a rivalry then. Now it's not as much anymore, unfortunately, because of the way it is, but it's a very important game. I don't want to push past that. Love that. The boss has responded by the way, Dan. Oh, what do you say so guess what coach g bedlam is still a rivalry and big brother still wants to whip little brother's ass great love it

love it i like that he didn't get into specifics with the accusations a vitamin c and some drinks exactly wow but i do expect this to be a nasty game ollie gordon has been a revelation for the cowboys you're ready for these stats the last few weeks here you go damn sure against kansas 29 carries for 168 yards in a td against west virginia 29 carries for 282 and four tds and against cincinnati 25 carries for 271 and two tds if he is carrying the ball like that against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State is going to win this game. Second straight game on the road for Oklahoma after losing at Kansas. And I always like to peek around what fans of a team have to say after a loss.

If they say something like, we were right there, like there's still a lot to like that we're still alive for the playoff like we just got to move past it if there are those fans i'm always like okay i i can appreciate this and i'm not i'm not selling on this team oklahoma fans are in a bad way right now oklahoma fans are ready to be done with jeff levy oklahoma fans are ready to say we're looking like we did last year oklahoma fans are ready to get rid of this coaching staff. Oklahoma fans are angry at Dylan Gabriel for not going downfield against Kansas. I just, I think I like Oklahoma State here.

And I was somebody who was fully out on Oklahoma State before the season. The Ollie Gordon thing, there's like the Chuba Hubber element where I think Oklahoma State has the most explosing rushing attack in America after these past few weeks from Ollie Gordon, his outbursts. And I don't know that I trust Oklahoma's defense. I think Oklahoma's a really good team. They might go 9-3, 10-2. I think Oklahoma State at home,

especially with the emotion with Oklahoma leaving for the SEC, I think the environment is going to be at 11 or 12 rather than its standard 9 or 10. And the momentum Oklahoma state has, I know the defense isn't great, but they're, they're a grower. They weren't a shower in September.

They're a grower. And I always appreciate that. And the big 12 has had that kind of like at the top teams improving over like West Virginia is not going away. Oklahoma state's not going away. Even TCU showed flashes and then, then they going away. Oklahoma State's not going away. Even TCU showed flashes and then they went away. There is something about the Big 12 right now that is especially fun with some improved teams. So I like Oklahoma State here. So I love how the Oklahoma fans in their anger

about the Kansas game, all directed toward Jeff Lebby, Dylan Gabriel, the offense. They allowed Kansas to go 80 yards in a minute with the game on the line. And Jason Bean hasn't been good late in games. Be mad about that. Yeah. It's tough. I just don't think they necessarily have the depth right now

to win 11 games in a season. I think this is where you start to see some cracks in November that they're just not built for it yet. I think they absolutely will be i think brent venables will recruit a really deep interesting defensive roster but they're not there yet and i think oklahoma state might be look oklahoma state always loses this game so this the joke's on me but aside from that i'm still going with the pokes well i know you think i'm about to agree with you again, but I am not because of the thing you just said. Please, they always lose. You talk to the Sharps, the guys who do this for a living,

and they're like, history, history, history. History matters. Numbers matter over time. And I'm like, how does that matter? These guys change rosters every two to three years. How does history mean anything? You just trust me. Over time, it does.

And guess what? Over time time in this rivalry oklahoma wins so i'm taking the sooners to cover well you know what happens though if oklahoma state wins if oklahoma state wins brent venables is the next coach at usc right isn't that how it works isn't that the new tradition it's gonna be a big secret till the very end yeah at least you know that was the last game of the season, so you got to do that. That's true.

Well, I'm glad you brought that up, Dan. Okay. Let's go out to LA. Washington at USC. Washington's a three and a half point favorite on the road. Washington has lived very dangerously the last couple weeks. Should have lost to Arizona State. Lucky to have a fourth down pass dropped against Stanford.

Yeah. USC should have lost to Cal. Yeah. Meanwhile, and did lose to Notre Dame and Utah. This one has the potential for a massive shootout. The total is 75 and a half. We can pick that if we want as well. But what version of Washington do you think we see in this game?

Washington is a fascinating team. I think this might be like kind of a semi-clash of overrated versus underrated. I think Washington might be a little bit overrated. I think USC might be a little bit underrated and the the very real questions and accusations and finger pointing at the kind of jokey elements of usc's defense very well founded all true all correct they're terrible against the run they're terrible tackling they're terrible filling lanes they're not built to build a wall and be stout up front they just aren't they've got a couple guys like barry alexander's good uh but otherwise they're they're just not in a position to beat physical teams at all washington's not that team washington doesn't go straight at you washington doesn't have an offensive line that pushes teams around on the ground this is kind of like a a four verts air rady offense that has beat up on

some good teams and some not so good teams and has completely no shown against, you know, a team like ASU USC, interestingly enough, they can run the hell out of the ball. They probably don't often enough. Marshawn Lloyd is having an awesome year. He's excellent. Uh, and the USC offensive line hasn't always been good. He's just been great. Caleb Williams is still great. The receivers are very very good not as good as they were last year and the games in la what's the line again three right now it's three and a half i like usc as a home dog i don't think you can sneak past teams three weeks in a row and that to me is the issue washington again on the road uh and washington was never to me is the issue Washington again on the road uh and Washington was never to me gonna go 12 and

0 they just have a really tough November either way I like USC here by I think it's gonna be late I think it's gonna come down to the end of the fourth quarter or something like that but I like USC to win this game by a touchdown and it's just too difficult for Washington to keep this up one of the things we talked about with Washington before the season started was they might have two of the best you know the bookend of edge rushers and ZTF and Braylon Trice in the country they are one of the absolute worst teams rushing the passer in America and if you want to beat USC at bare minimum you have to get Caleb Williams off his spot he will get after you and in bigger games he will run the ball as well. Washington hasn't been containing. Washington has not done a great job getting to quarterbacks.

And Caleb Williams with time is stupid, absurdly good. So I like USC here. So unless USC's defense has the game of the century for it, it will not stop Washington's offense at all. Now, I like USC's chances against Washington a lot better than I like USC's chances against Oregon next week. Right, same. But I don't know how they're ever going to stop them.

They've done nothing this season to show that they will be able to slow this offense down. And I think Washington, you mentioned Tristan ZTF. They should theoretically be able to get Caleb Williams to scramble a little bit, to have to improvise a little bit. And now, here's the thing. Do you get him to scramble into first downs, which is what some teams let him do? Or do you do what Notre Dame did and get him to scramble into interceptions? And that's what you got to do because you have to contain him first you have to make him think he's going to get sacked but feel like there's no escape and that's when he tries to throw the ball and tries to do too much and if Washington can get a couple of turnovers there

is nothing USC will be able to do I'm going to take Washington in this game I understand exactly where you're coming from yeah because I do think USC keep this one close, but I just don't know how they're going to stop Washington. I also agree with you on USC being a little bit underrated. I think everybody wants to laugh at Lincoln Riley and laugh at Alex Grant and be like, like see we told you so they're not as bad as we think but every offenses look good against usc it's like we're talking about with lsu earlier in the show they make everybody look better than they are and washington is one of the best in the country yeah no you're absolutely right like michael pennix is one of the best five quarterbacks in the country this receiving core is incredible but if i I were to say USC can upset a top 10 team and say, how is that team built? It's smaller and relies on speed on the outside. I'd much rather have that if I'm USC than a team like Utah, after not doing a good job against Utah to start out that game. They made good adjustments.

So I just don't think USC is like a – what's their record right now, USC? They're 6-2. Yeah, I don't think they're a 6-6 team. I don't think they're a 7-5 team. I think they're a quality team. And Washington playing a quality team on the road, it's been – I mean, the ASU game was at home, but it's been Stanford. It was Arizona, which they gave up some on defense too. And it probably should have been a two-touchdown game,

but it was a one-touchdown game when the bell rang. So I don't know. I'm going with USC here. I like the specific matchup. We got one more, and it is another weird line, Dan. Okay. Notre Dame at Clemson. Notre Dame's only a two-and-a-half-point favorite.

I realize it's on the road, but this is another one that feels like, what does Vegas know that we don't? Because what have they seen from Clemson that suggests Clemson can stay in this game with Notre Dame? Clemson has a good defense. Clemson gets off the field. The pass rush has been, I think, good to very good at times. We know what the problem with Clemson is, and it has nothing to do with their defense and it's everything to do with having no explosion on offense.

And I don't know, man, who is Clemson beaten this year? Like what, what is the line? What is, what is the number for Clemson? Like Clemson,

the best thing Clemson did this year was almost beat Florida state, right? Right. That's it. That's it's Charleston, Southern Florida, Atlantic, a Syracuse team.

Who's bottoming out a wake team who might be bottoming out and then consecutive losses on the road to Miami and NC state. So, and the weight game was 17 to 12, right? Exactly. I, I just like Notre Dame.

I I'm going to, I like to call myself the captain of the under, under think express. Nobody under thinks things better than I just don't think Clemson's very good i think notre dame's fine i i think that's exactly what what conclusion i would draw from this too like i don't understand why the line's this low maybe there's some stuff out there that we don't know yet but and it's an early kick so the energy is not going to be where it would be at night yeah well the clemson bandwagon is lightened up remember dabbo said they needed to get some people off of it they've done a great

job of kicking people off the bandwagon a fun thing with clemson too is what was dabbo's term the roy bus the rest of y'all the rest of y'all yep clemson it's not a motivational tactic anymore clemson's on that bus clemson is middle to lower tier ACC in this moment. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I think we should start calling Clemson the control group. Like what would happen if you had all these changes in the sport and then one,

one program decided not to do any of them. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. That's what Clemson is. And Dabo has got to make the decision at some point. Do I want to take part in all this? Or do I want to take part in all this or do I want to

not coach anymore and be considered one of the greatest coaches of all time, but realize that maybe this era isn't for me. That's his choice that he's got to make. Unfortunately for this team, he can't make it or change anything for the rest of this season. So these guys have to finish this out. The wild thing is typically you can count on a program to be strong at where a head coach excelled as a position coach that you're like, okay, well, he was an offensive line coach and look at the depth there. They're solid up there. They really push teams around, even if they're not winning.

Dabo is a receivers coach, not finding receivers, not developing receivers essentially since like Mike Williams, Justin Ross, like it's been a minute since they've found those guys and you can find those guys in the portal. And I'm not even going to, and I think I agree with you and saying like, he might just say, you know what? This is 2023, 2024. It's just not for me. Right. But what, what he's earned that, right. I absolutely think he's earned it and like in a backwards way

i kind of i don't sympathize i just i look at what his mindset must be like i won a certain way and i won huge that way and that way involves essentially saying to recruits if you come to clemson i'm going to be loyal to you unless your name is kelly bryant uh and i'm going to be loyal to you i'm not going to bring i'm not going to recruit kids from other schools to uh to jump over you on the depth chart and him keeping his word is not the the craziest most unlikable characteristic you could see in a college football coach so it just might not be for him anymore. And that's okay. Yep. I agree.

I think the villainization of Dabo is over the top. It's too much. Yeah. But the characterization of him is stubborn and someone who doesn't want to change, that's completely accurate. And it can be okay. So I will be very interested to see what he does at the end of this season

and how he decides to handle this. But as the season goes on, I don't see this getting any better for them. I don't see anything changing for them right now. So I will take Notre Dame to cover. Notre Dame, by the way, feels like they're getting hot. Yeah. I think they're probably kicking themselves over and over and over again over that Ohio state game,

because I don't know. I don't know if 11 and one with a loss to Louisville would have gotten them in the playoff anyway. But if you had that winning against Ohio state, you're feeling somewhat good about that. Yeah. They were always going to lose to Louisville. They were out of gas in that one.

Aren't they down? Did they lose it? Their top pass catcher today the tight end yeah he's out for the year mitch evans mitchell evans so that they were never going to be a team that i think seriously threatened the top of the sport without top level pass catchers and some offensive line issues but putting themselves in a position to be there you know if you beat ohio state and lose to louisville there's a great chance you end up in that top four sure yeah so this is as growth years go if they if marcus freedom finishes this year out well i think they're positioned really well going into the 12 team playoff era i do too i mean they need to find a quarterback and whether that's cj car or somebody else yet to be determined

but if they can find a quarterback, if they can start finding receivers, sure, I think they're in a great place. This has been a great place. This has been a fantastic pick segment, even if we agreed on almost everything. Yeah, sorry about that. No, because I've seen your record this year, so I actually feel pretty good about this. If your partner Ty had been on and we'd agreed on everything,

you might have been a little worried. By the way, when we were talking about Dabo, all I could think about was if all of a sudden you noticed that every college football podcaster went vegan and their downloads skyrocketed and you said, you know what? It's just not worth it. I just don't want to participate in this era. I quit. I'm done.

That's what i thought about turkey legs that's exactly right i would probably go learn how to install air conditioners yeah i would rent chairs i would buy a that's my that's my get rich long-term plan i'm gonna buy a bunch of chairs everybody needs to sit down at events and you can do it over and over again yeah do you need chairs i have chairs i have chairs you want super comfortable ones medium comfortable or just whatever i got all three there's a former russell shepherd the former lsu player uh-huh you know what he did no pandemic he got in the porta potty business it's great it's perfect he's making more off porta potties than

he made in the nfl i mean he he made the pivot from quarterback to safety. So why not make the pivot from football to port-a-potties? It's tremendous. I mean, yeah, you just got to find the need and fill it. Find the need and fill it. Right now, we're filling your need for picks that may or may not work out. But yes, if we all have to go vegan, Dan and I are out. Yep.

I'm sorry. Thank you, Dan. Good run. Thank you. Dan. Good run. Thank you.