Andy & Ari On3 - Cam Ward sits out the second half and now Miami is a HUGE question mark | Catch a WR in the portal

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

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. Thank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's episode! Planning your college football travel for this season? Gametime has tickets to every game. (And every concert and comedy show.) Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.  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 This show is brought to you by Panini America, makers of the most collectible sports cards on the planet. The Luminance football card series features NIL autographed cards from players including Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers, Cam Ward, Jalen Milroe, Dylan Raiola, DJ Lagway, and Luther Burden. To start collecting, visit PaniniAmerica.net.(0:00-0:43) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs(0:44-1:28) Intro(1:29-22:59) In-Depth Conversation on Miami(23:00-25:09) Gametime Ad(25:10-29:12) Quinn Ewers' Future(29:13-33:49) Who is QB at Miami next year?(33:50-38:18) Tampering(38:19-42:00) PaniniAmerica.net(42:01-51:23) Ashton Jeanty vs Penn State in Fiesta Bowl, presented by PrizePicks(51:24-55:07) Iowa-Missouri over?(55:08-1:07:27) Did Kalen DeBoer ace his year one at Alabama?(1:07:28-1:09:11) Conclusion Who says the non-College Football Playoff bowls mean nothing? The Pop-Tarts Bowl captivated the entire country, and we’re still arguing about what happened in the second half? Why did Cam Ward sit? What does it mean for Miami going forward? Also, do you need a receiver in the transfer portal? Texas A&M doesn’t, because the Aggies grabbed Kevin Concepcion. But two Tennessee receivers hit the portal just before it closed. What does that mean for the Vols? Plus, Andy takes Ari to task for a WILD Kalen Deboer take. Watch us on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/iQ4LqVv27nI Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

You've had Wendy's Nugs dipped in sauce, but have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy's new Saucy Nugs, take the crispy and spicy Nugs you love and turn them up to 11. Choose between flavors like Buffalo, Honey Barbecue, Garlic Parm, or if you're a real heat secret,

try the Spicy Ghost Pepper. And of course the spicy versions of all those flavors I listed above. Only at Wendy's. Only on Wendy's signature Spicy Nugs. And by the way, if you buy your teenage son 20 and say save me some, he won't. So get some of your own.

Seven delicious ways to try the nugs you already love. Pick a flavor, grab some extra napkins and prepare to nug like you have never nugged before. For a hold away to nug, it's gotta be Wendy's at Participating US Wendy's. Welcome to Andy and Ariane Three. It's gotta be Wendy's at participating U S Wendy's. Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. And yes, I am a little bitter about my son ganking all of my Wendy's saucy nugs and not leaving me any.

He was supposed to leave me like five. That's all I asked. I should have just ordered my own. Ari everybody. That's all you. I got news for you pal. It's not his fault. It's your fault. I know, I asked. I should have just ordered my own. Sorry everybody. That's all you. I got news for you pal. It's not his fault. It's your fault. I know. I know. He's like a mini. He's a miniature version of me who's going to be a larger version of me pretty soon and I should know these things. II know what I

would have done as a 15 year old and that's eaten all the nugs. So should have known I'm saucy about that. Everybody else is saucy about Cam Ward. We got to talk about this. The best bowl game of the year is the Pop Tarts Bowl so far. It was the best game. It was the most intriguing, the most post-game intrigue. The Ghost of Strawberry Pop Tart showed up. And then of course, no defense was played in the first half. Much defense was played in the second half because Cam Ward wasn't playing. And then it was all about why Cam Ward didn't play. Palm Beach Kane is in our chat already.

He was in the chat before the show even started saying, before you even start, Cam Ward was supposed to play the first quarter only got to play the first half. Cam didn't quit, Mario wanted to see next year's starting quarterback. Palm Beach Kane, do you think we're one of those basic shows that was gonna sit here and blast away at Kam Ward? Do you think we're stupid enough to think Kam Ward showed up at halftime was like, I'm out? Do you think we're that stupid?

I realize a lot of the discourse has been about that, but we are not stupid. So we know that Kim, we're didn't walk into the locker room and be like, I'm out. I'm done. Okay, so there's a lot to unpack here. First, I want to tell you, and I don't know if you still try to explain college football to your wife. Because my all the time, when she asked. Yeah, my wife does ask like once a month and every time she asks and I go into the explanation, she goes

this makes no sense. I don't care anymore. But part of it too is the explanation that college football is a culture and not necessarily just a game. Like I think when people think you cover college football, they look at it from the perspective of like, well, who's playing what time when you go into the games, who's making a playoff, who's the national champion. It's like, it's so much as I think it's as much about this function and pop culture as it is about the actual games. And one of those things every year, and this is a credit to the

pop tart situation is that the pop tart thing has become a thing, right? And I think you could make a case that no bowl game or no bowl game sponsorship has gotten more out of their sponsorship than pop tarts and kudos to them for like making it that way. Cause if it was just the pop tarts bowl and they didn't do all those other extra grab asks then it wouldn't have been that way.

But anyway, I'm going on the- Congratulations to Cinnamon Roll on your ritual sacrifice. Excellent choice, Rocco Becht. But like I made the, this is a ritual sacrifice joke to my wife during nap time because we were watching this game together. And she goes, this is the weirdest, most bizarre thing I've ever seen.

I do not understand anything that you do. And it's hilarious because if you try to explain the charm of the Pop Tarts bowl to somebody who's not in the college football realm, they think it's the craziest, most insane thing they've ever seen and I Even called it a ritual sacrifice and I said we know Cole Kublick who was eating it and she goes I can't do this anymore and I got up and left So anyway, we were watching this game

during nap time and As we were watching it, it was on mute. So when Cam Ward wasn't playing, I just thought in my head, well, good for him for coming out, breaking the record and playing in this game that he probably shouldn't have even played in to begin with.

So when I- He also played beyond the breaking of the record. The breaking the record happened in the first quarter. Exactly, yeah, he kept playing. Andy. He played a half too much. Right? Like everybody who's upset about him not playing in the second half. What the what the what are you mad about? Like, I don't get it. Like, I spent two and a half days and I do not get it. I'm convinced that there's a significant portion of the college football fan base that just wants to be mad. Like, they want to be mad about something and this gives them a thing to be mad about.

And it's a convenient avatar because it's like, oh, you know, the the the this didn't happen in my Pappy's day. Well, in your Pappy's day, the players were stupid and did not fight for their rights. So this is them actually taking part in this multi-billion dollar operation that is college football. And yeah, Kim or didn't have to play a single down in this game. I see the people saying, oh, Kim word hurt his draft stock. If I'm an NFL team, I know. No, no, no, no.

He did. He's drafts. In fact, he helped it because he showed how much he was propping up Miami. It's like my, my main interest in this whole thing is not in Kamor at all. It has nothing very little, very little. It has more to do with Miami in general and what happens next. And so here's the thing, the reason this has gotten so much chatter, the reason this has become such a major part of the discourse is the way Mario Cristobal answered the question after the game because he said, we're going to keep those conversations private. Those decisions are made in private. And so I wrote a column on three and there's three plausible explanations for what happened here. Explanation number one is cam ward acted

alone walked in at halftime said, I'm out. That doesn't make any sense. Explanation number two is it was mutually agreed upon that he was gonna play a half and then they were gonna put in Mary Williams in to see how he could do. That makes a lot of sense. It also makes a lot of sense that after losing 42-41 in a game where you were shredding Iowa State's defense

and suddenly you couldn't do anything when you put the backup quarterback in, if you're Mario Cristobal, you don't want to admit to that. And I think that's probably what happened. He didn't want to admit to being part of that decision. I think that's the plausible scenario. Um, and I will say two things. One's kind of a joke, which is, uh, Miami kicked like a cowardly, awful field goal

up three, like inside the five yard line on fourth down. And you were gonna say this. Well, I was like watching this and I was like thinking, okay, your defense hasn't stopped shit, not just today, but since the calendar flipped this time a year ago. And like, this is the Pop Tarts bowl, just go for it. Like what, I mean, you want to put your quarterback in and let him play, like give him an opportunity to convert a fork down and like, I don't know.

That's how I'm thinking. Maybe, maybe there's a secondary discussion to be had about whether or not the Pop Tart Bowl is prestigious given the sponsorship now and wanting to win it is like akin to wanting to win a BCS game back in the day. Can we, can we be real here? All right. This has been the best game of the postseason so far. There's a chance it could wind up being the best game of the postseason when postseason's over. This is a great game. Is there now a prestige in capturing the trophy as a result? And then second part too is just like you had to at least put them out there, right? the second one too is just

have to know like if there's a shot here with this kid. I mean. So I mentioned that there were three plausible explanations already. My third plausible explanation is the galaxy brain version of explanation number two. So explanation number two is it was a mutually agreed upon. It was planned to put Emery Williams in the game. The third like the galaxy brain version of this

is the coaches knew Emery Williams was gonna do this then it was gonna look like this. then it was going to look like this. And it was a cry for help. It's the bat signal to any quarterback who may think about entering the transfer portal either because they're still playing on a team that's in a bowl game. So they're gonna have a few more days because the portals closed otherwise, or who might enter in the spring window. That's them.

That's them crying for help. Like, Hey, we got nothing for next year. Please come save us. Yeah. Okay. So I think I'm happy that we're on the same page that neither of us are like. Cam ward. Like there's nothing.

I put very little thought into the cam ward part of it. When, like when, when I realized he, I'll tell you exactly where I was. I was picking up. Takeout from our favorite local Italian place. And so I got spaghetti and meatballs and my son got lasagna. My daughter went with minestrone. It was outstanding.

But I'm watching it on my phone as I'm waiting for the order. And I see, I have a sound turned down, but I see a shot of Kmore on the sideline. I'm like, oh, K, well, okay. Well, they're going with Emory. They're going to Emory. And I remember Emory starting against Clemson in 2023.

He actually played like, beat Clemson did not play well in that game. He averaged like 4.5 yards per attempt, but was actually playing fairly well against then undefeated Florida State in the fourth quarter when he broke his arm. And so I was kind of interested to see him because I was like, well, this guy showed a little promise as a true freshman. So let's see what, what the kid can do. Interestingly enough, they roll for a touchdown on that first drive, but it was 10 handoffs.

They went 71 yards with 10 handoffs. And yeah, his, his passing numbers were awful. They were terrible. Yeah. Yeah. So I remember watching the game on mute and after Iowa state punched it in to go up by one with less than a minute left, the cameraman panned to Cam Ward on the sideline who looked like he had that Cam Newton shaking his head ready to go look.

And he was tossing the ball on the sideline. So I thought- He saw his shoulder pads on. He saw- he was still in uniform, right? Yeah. He could have. Yeah. As far as I remember, that definitely seemed like, okay, this could be a cool story of like, Cam Ward gave the kid a chance to play and then he comes in to the end. Cause I do think they would have scored

or at least kick the field goal if he would have come in on that last drive based on what we saw in the first half and based on what we saw in the second half. But that would have been a cool moment. Nobody would be talking about this. I think even if Emery would have gone down the field, because I think that the Kam Ward discourse is in two buckets here, Andy. One is non Miami fans who don't care about the

state of Miami football going right next year, who just want to scream about a player not playing. And then the other half is Miami fans who are probably terrified about what's around, which is the way more interesting one like I went on the Cane Sport Yeses board after the game and it was it was really interesting because like there was a post from from before Christmas somebody talking about how Emory Williams was looking in practice and it was it had gone four pages before the game even started and I was like, okay, this is very interesting because this is a debate that the fan base has been having internally.

And I also remember last week, well, I guess two weeks ago, when John Matier entered the portal. So John Matier is the quarterback who replaced Cam Orr at Washington State. He was awesome this year. Washington State obviously getting picked apart. Their OC was hired by Oklahoma. Their head coach was hired by Wake Forest. John Matier followed his offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle to Oklahoma. Miami

thought they had a chance at him. They didn't really. He was always going to follow Ben Arbuckle. But we should have known then that Miami was worried. And now you look at it and it's like, oh, all the potential real difference makers at quarterback who went into the portal, they've already found their place. And it really wasn't that many. I mean, I'm looking at it like, Mathieu, Darian Mensah from Tulane, who wound up with former Miami head coach, Manny Diaz at Duke. Maybe Jackson Arnold, but we don't know, because we really didn't get a good eval on Jackson Arnold with what Oklahoma had on the offensive line at receiver. Like, that's it.

Yeah. So I feel like the position that Miami's in, and now this can go into what I wrote today, which is, is Miami's quarterback situation a cautionary tale of being overly reliant on rentals from the transfer portal? So there's three questions that Miami have, has to face right now. One, can the Hurricanes go into next season with Williams leading the way, which I think that after watching a half football, I don't know how much evidence or how much you take away from that.

Also, their defense is bad and must get better. Like that is the underlying thing too because if you have a good defense and a good offensive line, which they will have a good offensive line, you're not as worried, but you should be terrified now. Yeah. These aren't the only three questions. Let me be clear. These are the three that come from after the game. The second question is can a program in general be successful long-term by continually renting quarterbacks out of the portal year after year? And then the third is is Miami the cautionary tale of what happens to a program that's overly reliant on finding its quarterback in the transfer portal. Because as you know, Andy, and as we've talked about quite a bit, the transfer portal has given teams a secondary chance or ability to fill out a roster if they don't recruit out of high school well. And I think that there has been this push and pull this debate about what's prudent in terms of how to go about building your roster. Like what

percentage do you do high school? What percentage do you do portal? And there have been multiple programs, Miami being one of them, Notre Dame being another who have been reliant on taking a quarterback year over year in the portal. And Miami is an interesting situation because Mario Cristobal is going into year four next year, right? They win 10 and two or they won 10 games in the regular season. And I think that you could say that this was a beautiful proof of concept showing that they're on the right direction here.

Like even though Miami didn't make the playoff and they're disappointed that they didn't make the ACC championship game after losing to Syracuse. I think that like, if you're a Miami fan, you would have taken 10 and two coming into the year. Is that a fair statement? Yeah. So now you're going into a transcendent year four and you might think okay well we'll just go get somebody in the portal again. We have

money to spend, you know, we're a fun place, Miami's gorgeous, you know, all the things that Miami has to sell and we're about to go over the hump. And it's funny enough because Notre Dame took a transfer in Sam Hartman last year and then they took a another transfer to quarterback position in a year where they're more equipped to compete. And now they're in the playoff. So like, I think in concept, like if they would have gotten John Matier, we would be like, Oh my God, Miami is going to make the playoff next year. But there's danger in that Andy, which is if you don't get John Matier and his offensive coordinator goes to Oklahoma. And by the way, Oklahoma is also very excited about the need both financially and roster wise to get a quarterback to come to their team. So if you don't get him, where does that leave you?

Especially considering the fact that we are two years away from New Year's Day and all the spots have been taken up. at him, where does that leave you? Especially considering the fact that we are two years away from new years day and all the spots have been taken up. Like you have players who didn't play in playoff games and left their teams early because they were afraid they were going to miss out. Like if that's not a sign of the climate, then I don't know what it is. So we, what we do understand about college football, Andy is, is that weird stuff happens all the time.

And like people enter the portal when we don't think they're going to, or circumstances change. Maybe in the spring, somebody's going to show up that we're not considering. Maybe Quinn yours will be at Miami next year. I don't know. And we'll talk about some of the options, I think, as we go down the list. But as it sits right now, don't you have to criticize the head coach who has been there for three years for never signing a top 150 quarterback that could play? Because like Notre Dame did it perfectly, right? Notre Dame took Sam Hartman and Riley Leonard back to back, but also Andy, they also got CJ Carr, I believe a five star prospect in the on three industry rankings in the 24 class.

And taking the the highly rated quarterback in this day and age, isn't just a well, he's definitely going to have to play. What it does is it gives you options if he comes into the program and develops behind your transfer really well, then you feel really good about the the. Well, and I will say they felt good about Emery Williams, who was in their their class of 2023. Remember, they were going to have Jayden Rashada and Emery Williams come in. Rashada flips to Florida. They weren't even that sad about it, which we understand why now.

But but Andy, they liked him, but they were trying to do this. They just didn't do this. It didn't work out. Right, but. That's also their fault. Because the coach get paid a lot to do it right. But at the same time too, how much time, and this is a secondary conversation,

but I think it pertains very much so to this. How much time does a coach get? Or how much time do you think is rational for a coach to need before they can identify the players on the roster? Like this whole like has to play the second half of the Pop-Tart Bowl because we got to see what he looks like. It's like shouldn't you have a better feel on whether the kid can play whether or not he plays in the second half of the Pop Tarts or one that by now, I'm going to say something. I'm going to say something mean Ari. I'm going to say something mean to me. You're probably lighting up Miami's defense at practice because Miami's defense is bad. Oh yeah. I know, but I still think that you have to have a feel like the thing that I can't get over. I cannot get over is who do we believe and I think I've said this to you in the past, but I'm going to say it again. Who do we believe? And I think I've said this to you in

the past, but I'm going to say it again. Who do we believe to be the best quarterback mind in the NFL right now? Uh, well, Kevin O'Connell probably right now, because he's resurrected Sam Darnold's career, but Mike Shanahan would be the correct answer, right? Okay, well, let me ask you this. If it's not him, he's in the top three. Okay. He's one of the coming into the year. We viewed him as one of the best offensive quarterback minds out there, at least offensively. And they took Trey Lance in the

top five and they took Brock Purdy traded up. I. If you play the game of what they gave away to get Trey Lance, like they could have drafted Micah Parsons with that pick if they just kept the pick. So that isn't just the part though that's important. People make bad draft picks all the time. It's really hard to nail a top five pick at the quarterback position.

The thing that keeps me up at night is that Brock Purdy, who you could buy their rookie card from Panini for 41 cents before he played, came into the game out of necessity as a result of an injury. And ever since he came into the game out of necessity because of an injury, he has now turned into one of the 10 most brightest young quarterback stars in the sport. And I understand that reps are broken down very lopsided in practice when you have your franchise quarterback and you have Mr. Irrelevant on your team. But if the greatest mind in college football, I mean in the NFL or one of the five, I'll

even say, right, right, right. That's minds in the NFL can identify who the best quarterback on his own roster is. Then how does anybody do this? Like I just, like now he's he played like Brock Purdy, a person who was really good in college, but also made really terrible plays in college is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL for his age. So the question is, is yeah, okay, even if he was lighting up the prac, like if you are getting paid, whatever Mario Cristobal is getting paid, don't you have to have a better grasp? Like did he need that half of football to see what he had?

And if you didn't need that half of football, because it's my opinion that you're getting paid way too much money to need that half of football to know whether you can build your entire program around a guy, then why weren't they more active in the portal earlier? Like they went, I don't know if I'm like not seeing this, right? But didn't it kind of feel like they were all in on Matier and nobody else? Like were they involved with any of the quarterback?

And they didn't, like, I don't know if because they got Cam Ward that they thought they were going to get Matier definitely because it worked out so well for Cam Ward coming from Washington State, but like that's that's not reality. Like everybody knew Mateer was following our buckle. Like everybody knew he was going to Oklahoma. So yeah, it's very weird. And like Mensa's thing went quick. Now I don't I don't necessarily believe he's making what he's reported to be making, but I think he's making quite a bit at Duke. So that maybe that just got wrapped up quickly. Whatever. If that number is real for Mensa. If that number is real for Mensa. That's banana land. Banana land. But there's a lot to, there's definitely a lot to unpack.

Let's talk a little more about this in a second, because there's a little piece of breaking news from our guy Pete Nacos that sort of hooks into this conversation, maybe not with Miami, but in this conversation in general about quarterbacks and deciding whether you've got the one you need. So I'm talking about that in a segment. First, I want to tell you about game time. So would you like to go to a college football playoff quarterfinal game? You can. You can get into the Peach Bowl right now for under 50 bucks. There's some great seats in the $100 range

at the Peach Bowl. So you want to see Texas play against Arizona State. You can get in for a very good deal. The Rose Bowl tickets, still in the triple digits. You know, it's not the easiest ticket in the world because it's a great game, beautiful location. The Sugar Bowl though, Ari, there's lots of good tickets for Georgia and Notre Dame

in New Orleans for under a hundred bucks right now. You can get them on Game Time. If you use the code staples, you get $20 off your first purchase, terms apply of course, but take a look. And of course, with the GT a look and of course with the GT picks function on the game time app. It gives you the best deals relative to the market.

I was looking at sugar bowl tickets today. You can get some pretty good seats for 85 bucks right now and that's that's going to be a hell of a game between Georgia and Notre Dame. So hey. When I hit one of those games, when I hit one of the bowl games, you have to hey,

if you're in Nashville and want to go see Iowa, Missouri today. They got those tickets on game time. You must see Alabama tomorrow. You got those tickets on game time. Use the code staples $20 off your first purchase terms apply. Alright, so Pete Naco's just reported this.

Remember last week Malik Murphy, former Duke quarterback, the guy who left so Mensa could come in and again if you thought Mensa was going to... Oh, never mind. He signed. More news for Pete Nacos. So the story Pete originally had written is that Murphy remained unsigned and now he has signed.

So he's going to Oregon State. There was talk about him maybe looking at Iowa, which Iowa has Hank Brown from Auburn coming in. But again, it sounds like they're still in the market. So like we know Miami is still in the market now. And you mentioned Quinn Ubers before. And I don't want to poke that bear that much. But we've talked about this.

If Quinn Ubers decides he doesn't want to go to the NFL and that he can help his draft stock make more money, then I guess, but that's not something we can really address until Texas's season is over anyway. Like he's the starting quarterback at Texas. I'll do it. Want me to do it? If you want, but it's there's nothing to say until he's done. But it's very clearly obvious what's going on here.

So is it like it's he might go in the draft. This is not a great he's gonna have a draft. He's gonna have a decision to make NFL draft. Yeah, or another school, right? Like he's not gonna be the starting quarterback of Texas. Although you know the gambling favorite is right now to win the national title. Who is it? Texas Texas and I think part of the reason for that is because they're playing one

fewer game against a team that can conceivably beat it than others. Like I think it's possible that they're no longer the favorite in the next round. Once the the list is of the teams who advanced through this round, but as of right now, they're the favorite like if Texas wins the national title under this kid and he wants to come back, don't you kinda stick with the guy who won you a national title?

Like, I don't know. Like, is that the one thing that could, could things conceivably get weird? And I don't know if, it's a podcast. We're having a good time. I always have to remind ourselves. Is there any conceivable? They're gonna be weird anyway.

We're gonna be weird no matter what. No, but is there a conceivable way that Arch Man to be weird anyway. We're going to be weird no matter what. No, but is there a conceivable way that Arch Manning is not the starter of Texas next year? Ooh. Because we are all assuming that Arch Manning is the reason why Quinn has to leave. And I think that assumption is based on the notion that Quinn Ewers wasn't good enough

to get it done in the playoff. But what if he plays his ass off the next three weeks? They're incredible. They win the national title. He's probably going to go to the NFL in that circumstance, right? That's the thing. I think that what you're saying, the problem solves itself because if he balls out, they win the national title. We're talking Quinn Ures here. He probably should go in the draft because that probably is going to improve his draft stock considerably. But what if Texas wins the national championship winning the way that they just beat Clemson? And I don't think that that's going to happen

because Clemson statistically had the worst rush defense in yards per carry going into the playoff of any team in it. And I don't think that Texas is just going to be able to roll over people on the ground for the next three or four games. But if they do it with him playing pretty well, and he's just who he is, does your draft stock automatically raise by winning the national title? And if he decides he wants to come back and get that guaranteed college NIL money, because as we've said on the show many times, Quinn Ewers has probably rung every remaining drop out of the NIL bucket, you know, that you possibly could have. Is there a, like, could Arch Manning be Miami's quarterback? Probably not, right? Like that's like way down the galaxy. Probably not. But like what I'm saying like if it's if so anyway if Quinn URSS decides to stay in college it's probably not going to be at Texas so that is a clear option in terms of this. But if it's not Quinn URSS then we get to the point of

like well then who the hell is it? Like is like then. And and the thing is the only person that's going to be acceptable, I would think, to the Miami fan base and really that gives you a chance to do what you did this year or better is somebody who is a presumed starter somewhere else. And you've got to tamper with them off their roster. That's your only shot. I wrote it in the column. I was like, it's time to start tampering.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, like we're not precious about tampering here. It's been going on for a billion years. It's gonna keep going on. When you think about tampering, just in general, like, you know how there are certain degrees of felonies, like in real life? It's like tax fraud or felony or misdemeanors.

Like in the pantheon of college rules that still remain. Yeah. What is tampering at this point? It's driving nine miles an hour over the speed limit. Driving nine miles an hour over the speed limit. That's what it is. Okay. It's something you can get a ticket. Yeah. It's something you can get a ticket for, but they're probably not even going to bother with you. Okay. So tamper your ass off and I know because like tampering in the league is like the death penalty, right? Oh yeah, they don't take draft picks like it's bad. Yeah.

Yeah. So like what is the war like if Miami got caught red-handed tampering with someone's freshman quarterback? Like what's the penalty for that? Well, you'd have to be really stupid to get caught really stupid because there's so many ways around it. Yeah, like. The penalties would be program penalties. They'd be a fine.

They'd be take scholarships away that that sort of thing, and they're trying not to take scholarships away anymore. So like. As as Ryan Ryan asked in the chat, is it tampering with actual agents? Now it's not, like you can call a guy's agent and what are they gonna do? Like if you don't have record of it and if you're smart enough to not text it

and not put it in writing, if you're smart enough to just say it verbally, all you have to say is we were talking about that other, somebody's other client who is in the portal. Like it's not that complicated. You do the one with your hand so you can't, so they can't read the lips, you know, like they did in the movie.

I mean, these are football coaches. They just put the play sheet over their mouth. Do one of these here. You don't know what I'm saying. What am I saying? Profanity. You don't know what I'm saying. What am I saying? Profanity? I don't know. Yeah. But like there, I bet you if we came up, would it be in bad form Andy, if you and I just like did a top 10 list for tomorrow's written product on on three of like the top 10 quarterbacks that Miami should tamper with this off season. We would get skewered. We would get skewered for that. I tell you right now, we would get absolutely skewered. That would not be good for the business.

We could do it on the pod as a joke. But there are guys out there in all seriousness. Like, you know, the thing that I like about our podcast is that we can joke, but then we are joking about the tampering, right? Like do what you got to do. But at the same time, this is a very, very big business, right? Yes. And you have to do what you can to protect your business. And whether you like it or not, the reality of college football is that it is likely that Miami will engage in that behavior, right? Like, cause they have to. I mean, they have to cause let's, let's, let's spin this out. They don't get a transfer who's their QB one. Now they do have a Luke nickel from, from Milton high in Georgia in the freshman class this year. So there's also the possibility that a freshman comes in and is really good.

I don't wanna just eliminate that possibility. But if they don't, what are we realistically looking at for Miami's record next season if Emery Williams is the starting quarterback? Is this a potential playoff team? Is this a potential playoff team? Is this a potential ACC championship team? Is this a seven and five team? I was the first number that jumped into my head was seven and five.

If the defense doesn't get significantly better like that, that's the other piece of it. You have to fix that part too. They were very bad on defense. The defense just absolutely. Say it. It was a liability all year. Absolute liability all year. By the way, Miami. It's almost like Jim Mora heard your tamper your ass off.

And said, you know what? I'm coming after Ari. So Jim Moore is the coach at Connecticut. A simple note to the schools and because he tweeted this just now. He's watching this show. Is he watching the show? Remember, are you watching? Well, remember, you can't just crush North Carolina in bowl game. Obviously, North Carolina between coaches, all that stuff.

Here's what Jim Morris said. A simple note to the schools and coaches that have blatantly broken NCAA football rules by tampering with our players in the last 24 hours. We do know who you are. We will pursue all avenues to hold you accountable. We are excited that we've built a program where coaches have to cheat to beat us

and we will protect that program. Think hard before you tamper with our players. I have to give Jim a call today because I talked to him about that situation when I did a story on him a few, I guess it was about a month ago. It was in November. They were trying to get win number eight. They were about to play Syracuse. And he said that

they'd done a good job of keeping their players. They lost a player to NC State who'd been great. And he's like, look, we understand that that happens. But they had been really good about keeping their core group together. And so we'll see. I mean, but this this is actually tests tests your theory. Like what can they do? What will they do? Because I said, if you're not stupid. But we've seen in the history of college football cheating, like we've seen a lot of stupidity.

So you could have like actual assistant coaches texting players directly who are not in the portal going, Hey, you want to come play for us? Like we could seriously have that. It'll be interesting too, because like if Miami ends up in the spring with a quarterback that seems locked in as a starter somewhere else and it feels weird, like you'll know if it feels weird. You want to hear something weird speaking of that, Andy? So last night I was laying in my hotel. I'm at the Sheridan in downtown LA. This is the team.

It's the media hotel for the Rose bowl that I'm laying in bed. And as you know, when you have young, young kids at home, that hour or two before bed of just silence in a hotel room is about as close to Nirvana you can get. And I hear a little knock on the door. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. And it was around 11, 15 PM. And it was the tap that you get, like the way that. Um? The hold on, hold on, hold on, so we have to answer El Rico's question. Why is it tampering when it comes to Miami? When not when other teams do it, stop with this right?

It's tampering when it comes to all of them, but we're talking about Miami and they need a quarterback, so they're going to have to tamper. Sorry. Alright, knock, knock, knock. Thank you. Uh, you know, I don't know what they use, but housekeepers, like it's not a knock. They tap with something. It's a one-knuckle tap.

Yeah. No, it's like there's a metal aspect to this. Like it's a, and I opened the door and it is a housekeeper at 11, 15 PM. And she said housekeeping. Turn down service? At 11, p.m. No idea. I looked at her and I said lady, it's 11 15 and I

shut the door. And like that could have been the NCAA like just letting them know letting me know that they're around the corner like hey, you you keep spewing this stuff this propaganda this anti Miami propaganda on your podcast, we're gonna be this anti-Miami propaganda on your podcast. We're gonna be right around the corner to knock on your door. It's tampering for all of them. It's tampering when all of them do it.

We had a question in the chat of how many, oh, they tap with a key card, Scott says. That's right. That's it. So, somebody asked in the chat how many cases of when the player enters with a do not contact tag it was DB in the chat. How many do not contact portal guys or tampering cases technically speaking about 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9% of them are temporary cases in case your Visit PaniniAmerica.net to start your collection. These are the most collectible sports cards on the planet. They have all the NFL stars, all the college stars,

the college stars who will be NFL stars. I've got a pack of Panini Prism draft picks right here. So we got rated rookies in here. The last one of these, I pulled a Julian Sayen rated rookie. Julian Sayen, we've talked about, you know, do you, do you portal a QB? Do you have a young QB developing behind your portaled QB? Well, Julian Sayen at Ohio State is the young five-star QB working behind the portal QB Will Howard. And the hope is that Julian Sayen will take over. So I got his card out of a pack of Panini prism last week.

Let's rip this pack and see what we get because this is, this is the one where we could get some, some good stuff here. Ari, we could get some autographs. There's, there's an average of one autograph per in this, and I already know I got a good one. I already know I got a good one. I'm looking at the back of this. So, this is a rated rookie, Riley Leonard. You can watch him play in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia for Notre Dame.

I love the rated rookies because I grew up in the 80s collecting the Donner's baseball cards and just when you see that rated rookie, like Panini knows me so well, they sent me rated rookie socks Ari So you should you should be wearing those right now. I don't know why they're not on your I should warm up my feet We got a Brian our Urlacher, New Mexico card Cooper Cup at Eastern Washington

Dak Prescott at Mississippi State, but here this is the one you're waiting for Ari. This is the one you've been wanting, wanting to see. Is it a nuke? Lad McConkey auto to 149. That's cool. Lad McConkey had a great game against the Patriots. He's been awesome for the Chargers this year. We know how awesome he was for Georgia.

That's a Lad McConkie auto. You cannot have it. It's mine. And the cool thing about the college stuff here, Andy, is that if a player is instrumental in winning a national title for a team, like they become more collectible, I think. Like if you're a Georgia fan,

you would have to have that right? Like because absolutely that's a piece of Georgia history right there. Got Trevor Lawrence title hunting. Got an AD Mitchell hype card. There's there's another big one here. I'm just I'm I'm I'm working on it. Got a Johnny Newton rookie number to 2 99.

Got a Rook or Rorero rookie, but here we go. Blue Peyton Manning number to 2 49. I thought that was an arch and I almost pooped over here. Like, did that look like arch from here. Well, of course it's his uncle. But that's Peyton Manning and his white Tennessee uniform. But yes, I did it that way on purpose because I thought you might think it was an arch card. It looks a white Tennessee uniform and a white Texas uniform look

very similarly from my vantage point. Not that different when the numbers are small. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, but this is, this is a Peyton Manning blue prism numbered to 249. That's a hell of a pack card. Paniniamerica.net to start your collection. I love it when you rip really hot panini packs and then people accuse us of getting juiced boxes. That just means you did good. That's exactly right. No, I mean this this pack was definitely better than the last pack. You know, no offense to Imani Bailey but I'll take my lad McConkey autograph here. Yeah and listen, part of the collecting too. Here's the thing that I remind people is that if you are collecting, it's just about scarcity, right? The cards that are harder to find in the packs are worth the most. So if you want the cards to maintain and hold value and appreciate, you don't want there to be really big ones in every pack. Like that's the point. You want them to be hard to get. So as frustrating as it is sometimes to buy a box

and not hit a nuke, it makes hitting them so much sweeter and the pursuit of them so much more fun. So like that to me is the deal. It's the perfect balance between, you know, the excitement and the rush of opening a pack and that feeling of like holding a big card in your hand when you nail it is like unparalleled. I love Panini America. I love that they're our sponsor. And as you guys know, I actually buy their products before they came on board and will continue to after. So thanks so much. And congrats on the lad and sleeve that thing up for me. Will you? I'm sleeping it up. I'm not giving it to you though. I know.

I mean, this is my collection here. Ari, we're gonna talk about a game that is coming up. The fiestable. Boise State Penn State, obviously I have said I believe Boise State will win this game. I have given my reasons for that. But there's one person we need to talk about in this game. More than anybody else. We got to talk about Ashton Gentry.

So the Ashton Gentry discourse, you know, kind of died down after the Heisman Trophy was given out. But the fact of the matter is, if Boise State is to win, Ashton Gentile must have a superhuman game. Well, Ashton Gentile's prize picks number is out for this game. You ready? You ready for it? Because I don't want to hear how you feel about I want to hear how you feel about this. Like if this is a nest. Yeah, hold on one second.

So download price picks, play $5, get $50 instantly when you use the code staples. Best daily fantasy game in America. We're talking about the squares you can pick on prize pick. So it's a player, a stat category, and obviously that is your college football, the NFL, the NBA, you can mix and match different sports. We're talking about Ashton Gentry right now.

So what do we think Ashton Gentie's target rushing number is on prize picks for the fiestable against Penn State? 127.5 would be my guess. Wow, are you kidding me? 129.5. Now here's my question. Is that enough? Because I'm not sure it is. Because I think, and we've talked about this multiple times, like in the context of like when you and I were kids watching the Chicago Bulls, like the only way to beat them was you kind of let Michael do his thing and then you prayed you didn't get beat by Scottie Pippen and John Paxson and Horace Grant or Tony Kukoc in the second iteration and Dennis Rodman. Like you hoped that Michael would score his 32 and then you could just figure it out from there.

I'm not sure that's Ashton Genty scoring Michael's 32 there. I think Ashton Genty probably has to go over 150 For that to happen and he probably has to go over 170 to have a game like the like the one he played against Oregon where he had Boise State in the game in Eugene late late in the fourth quarter, so John here in the chat had an interesting question. Who will have more combined yards? Gentie or K-Tron and Singleton? That is an interesting prop. Well let me ask you this. Who would you rather have? I'd change. You're the combo. I'd rather have I'd rather have Gentie. I would absolutely rather and And that's no offense to K-Tron Allen and Nick Singleton.

I just think Gentie's that good. Like he is super human because he did this not behind the best offensive line in the world. A lot of this is him breaking tackles. I also think the fact that he's had time to rest and recover, like I think we're gonna get first month of the season, Ashton Gentie here, when he was average 10 yards a carry. Now the way this is set up, he may do this and if they win,

it may be a lot tougher next game because you just, I mean this Penn State defense will beat you up. But in case you're wondering, so K-Tron Allen's rush square is 54 and a half, Nick Singleton's rush square is 77 and a half. We're a bad at math podcast, but basically the same. Yeah. Well, Ashton Gentry running for 130 yards,

I think would be a Penn State containment of him, yeah? I think so, yeah. I think he has to go past 150 and have a monster game for them to have a chance, Andy. You know what I said. I think you're right. And that's what my pick of Boise State is predicated on Ashton Gentry having a huge game. His Demon Square for touchdowns, rushing rushing and receiving is one and a half, which means, uh, if you think he's going to score two touchdowns in the game, you pick that square.

It has a higher payout because this is a demon. There's also a goblin if he scores one, which is a lower potential payout. But I mean, one, one 50 and two or more touchdowns is what I'm thinking has to happen. Yeah. Yeah. Which would be an incredible feat. The thing that I have a hard time with is how much is it even rational to expect out of somebody when the entire opposing defense, which by the way is the best defense they played this year, right? Well, it's a good defense too now. Let's not. I think I know I know. They're not chopped liver. That's also A the opener and B. I think Penn State's probably a defensive

line right? Um but okay whatever. So if you if you think that they're gonna do what they did against Oregon again, that's great. Here's the calculus I have for the game though because we're gonna we're gonna preview the game. I'm assuming we're gonna talk about it a lot tomorrow because the game is tomorrow, but There have been G5 rosters in the playoff so far Mm-hmm, right like Indiana's team

Was basically a g5 roster because half their players came from James Madison, right? It was like a g5 super team because they, yeah, they got. But still you can make a case. From the best of the G5 rosters, yeah. Yeah, but they still had a bunch of G5 players on their team playing critical. And that doesn't mean that they're not good. That just means that when you play teams

that are built to win a national title, it's difficult, right? And then SMU, I think you can make the case, was also a G5 team because they were in the G5 a year ago. Now they had some additions and of course like half the roster came from Miami. Like I know that they've got players. But it was because they weren't playing at Miami. So it's understandable. Yeah. So the question that I really have here, Andy, more than anything, and this isn't a does

Boise deserve to be in type scenario. So if you're going to take it there, then screw off. That's not what I'm saying. I think that we are on the verge of, and maybe I'll just like the biggest idiot ever of just seeing the line in the sand of like, Penn State, if they get hot, might make it to the title game and Boise, though very good with a super talent running back is still a G five team. And it's hard to beat the best of the P4 when you're a G5 team, no matter how good you are. It doesn't mean they don't deserve to be in or they don't have the right to play. But we've already seen what this looks like twice in the playoff.

And like, I think you might need 220 from him for them to win. Like, I don't know if like 150 is enough. Which again, if you get first month of the season, Ashton Genti, it's possible. It's not, it's not likely, but it's possible. Like, let's just say what it is. Like Penn State and I understand that Kevin Jennings didn't play well in the SMU Penn State game, right?

Like he donated some possessions and some points to Penn State. Drew All? Like he donated some possessions and some points to Penn State. Drew Allard played his worst game in like the last six weeks in that, and they didn't even sweat, dude. So like, if you anticipate that Penn State is going to play a more efficient, sharper offensive game

and they're just gonna sell out to stop this guy, like, I think that the world is asking too much of him. The world is definitely asking a lot of him. Yeah. And I think but that's the only way that that's the only way this works. So yeah, this is going to be a fascinating game. I cannot wait. It's tomorrow night. Ari we got to talk about a game today though. Music City Bowl is today. Iowa, Missouri. We always pick the Iowa total. We had it.

We had a good run as an Iowa over podcast. This year we did. We had like a six week run of picking over that hit Iowa over podcast before they were hitting like and then it turned out that they just ended up hitting that wasn't a bit Yeah to follow the trend we we started the trend We did it. We did and hopefully you followed us through that and had some good luck there, but This is a this is an interesting game because forty and a half

For a bowl game where we don't entirely sure Who's playing who's motivated. I feel pretty good about the over here. It's because I feel good about Missouri doing it. Yeah, it seems low. But it might just be appropriate, but we're going to take the over here. We're going to watch this game. It starts at noon or 1230 my time. So I'm going to let it rip.

You want to know what I have to do today? What's that? So we just sold our media day for the Rose Bowl. I do have media day for the Rose Bowl, which starts in seven minutes. But I so we sold our house. I think I told you this, right? Yes. And we're closing today.

Ooh, DocuSign City, baby. No, there's no DocuSign when you sell property. I don't know if you know that, I found this out. It has to be like notarized. And they're sending a human being to the hotel at two o'clock. And I'm gonna like meet him in the lobby and he's gonna notarize and watch me sign to the hotel at two o'clock and I'm going to like meet him in

the lobby and he's going to notarize and watch me sign the closing documents to the to the property and I feel like a big shot. I'm not going to lie like I feel like you know like I've got money moves to make here this mister Wasserman. Here's

your pen like do you get to keep the pen is the pen nice? That's these these are the questions. If the pen isn't gold and spitting out gold link Then I don't know what we're doing. But yeah, we are We are so relieved to be selling our house but at the same time too I Just feel like a big shot because I feel like I have a business transaction to tend to You know while I'm he says you're gonna wear a big shot because I feel like I have a business transaction to tend to. You know, while I'm here. Steve says you gotta wear a suit to this.

I am. So yeah, we're selling the house Armando. We're not buying it. We bought another house four months ago. It's a longer story. And have been paying two mortgages for half a year. So it's more of a like we get to keep our current house now. But yeah, we finally sold it. Super excited.

Got a terrible rate. So by the way, Brady Cook, Brady Cook, by the way, speaking of rates and numbers and overages. Eli Drinkett says it looks like Brady Cook is playing. I feel good about this over are you electric? I feel good. Electric. Yeah, so I'll be watching it as I sign over a property and then I might try. I don't know what the day is going to look like to head over to buy some panini stuff at a local card shop around the corner. And by around the corner, I mean like two hours away because it's LA. But yeah, I was going to say because you're in Los Angeles. Yeah, but yeah, no, I'm excited. And if we have any, I'm going to record and try to talk to some players. I might not make it to the Oregon one, but I'll make it to the Ohio State one,

because Oregon's starting here shortly. Because you're in Ohio State, Homer. And I'm in Ohio State, Homer. No, because our show got in the way. But if you have any thoughts of fun things I should ask, Andy, I was going to ask you after the show. I'll ask you now, what do we want to know for our show tomorrow? That's a good question. What do we want to know from, from, like, what's the best NIL

deal Will Howard got? Like, compare the best NIL deal you got as Kansas State's QB to the best one you got as Ohio State's QB. Like, I need to know this. Not even monetarily. not even monetarily. No, I'm not talking about the one that's essentially your salary. I'm talking about like the air conditioning company. Like that's what I wanna know. So, also tomorrow, now you're obviously gonna be headed

to the Rose Bowl, well, not tomorrow, sorry, Rose Bowl's two days. So tomorrow, you got a nice day set up tomorrow. But at 9 a.m. your Bowl's two days. So tomorrow, you got a nice day set up tomorrow. But at 9 a.m. your time, noon Eastern time, tomorrow, the Reliaquest Bowl, former Outback Bowl, no normal Bloomin' Onion, Alabama, Michigan, and you had a column that before I let you go off

to media day, I have to yell at you. Oh yeah. Yeah. So Ari had a column last week saying, Kaylin DeVore aced year one at Alabama because he recruited well. Can we just all agree to yell at Ari right now, like collectively, you lost to Vanderbilt and you lost 24 and 24 to three to a six and six Oklahoma team and missed the playoff. If you didn't make the 12-team

playoff as the head coach at Alabama, you failed. This is not to say I don't like Kaelin Naboor or I don't think he's going to do a good job at Alabama. It is to say that there is a standard. He did not meet it. He failed. Here's my thought process. You don't have to explain to me that Alabama fans want to make the playoff. Like I like that to me is I got it. When they hired Kalen to bore, they in what 36 hours? Uh huh. And they hired a man who had never signed a top 200 player in his entire career, his entire existence. Cause he didn't coach at Alabama then? Yeah, Alabama or I mean, I guess Washington too,

that had like 19 of them in the two years that, you know, that leading up to his leaving there. To me like did sign some and then Cailan DeBoer developed them. Yeah. Oh, so talent does matter, believe it or not. I was actually scared. They were talented this year and lost to Vanderpelt. I know, but I'm saying I was scared about his longevity there as a result of like, I part that piece of it I get I get you. I'm picking up from a longevity standpoint. Okay, so listen to me. I know Courtney Morgan pretty well. Okay, like Courtney Morgan is their personnel guy and he was absolutely one of the best talent evaluators

out there. Like he can go find a two star. He's the one who found Mason Graham for Michigan. Yeah, he was the GM or PP, the player personnel director, PPD at Michigan and then at Washington and they played each other. And like players that he brought to both places were important in the national championship game. I asked him like about the Alabama way after he got the job and he's like, yeah,

that's not evaluating. And I was like, Oh God. I was like, Oh shit. Like these people are actually going to Brian Harson this thing because they do come from smaller places that cannot recruit or just cannot exist on that playing field. Yeah, but they didn't do that because- And they went out and they didn't do that, okay? So they went and got nine guys in the top 100 in the on three industry rankings in a single class.

And in 2024 or 2025, that's a really hard thing to do. It's part of the reason why Nick Saban, in my opinion, is no longer the coach because he doubted his ability to stack talent the way that he did. So if they are going to recruit at this level while also being really good in the portal, I didn't just give up on the notion that Kaelan DeBoer is a good coach. So my first test for him was always going to be and was always about whether or not he could exist doing the most important part of the job, which is amassing classes that finished in the top three. The most important part of the job is winning to the satisfaction. I know, but coming out in year one with the quarterbacks that turned out to be... That's part of the job. The talent acquisition is a part of the job, yes. But if Kalen DeBoer is a good coach, and I think we both can agree that he's a good coach,

yeah, right, unless you gave up on him already. I have not given up on him, no. Alabama is going to be really good a lot if they keep this up. And to me, it's like, I thought the reverse was gonna happen. I thought Alabama was gonna be really good in year one because they got a bunch of players from Saban

and then it was gonna get gradually worse. But it's actually healthy to be this way, to win nine games in year one, recruit your ass off, bring in guys, because he lost a shit ton of players in the portal too. Like Alabama was talented, but it wasn't like an obscene situation where Bama couldn't possibly lose to anybody.

They've got to figure out who's replacing Milro, but they also like are set up for future success in a way that I doubted they would be. So if I'm an Alabama fan, I'm disappointed and angry, sure that they didn't make the playoff in year one. But also if I'm an Alabama fan, I can go into this offseason resting a little easier than at least my coach and the people who are putting together my roster. Not only get the job, but did it well at a time where they're not in the Alabama fans have been the Alabama fans. I feel like have been fairly reasonable for them about this entire situation.

Coach in Alabama since 1931 to win nine games in year one. So good for you, Kaylin D'Avore. Again, we set up a little better than the other ones though. Andy, Andy, can we go on that? Don't get in the way of my statistics. Okay. So like, listen, you don't have to explain to me that, that losing to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma in year one is bad, but as it pertains to what I needed to see in terms of tests of whether or not he would be successful there long term, it was never about wins

and losses in year one because I know he's a good coach. We've seen it happen over the course of his entire career. Were there some bad games this year? Absolutely. There were some bad games early on at Washington too. Like it happens. It's college football and it's going to happen increasingly more and more every year with the way that these rosters are set up because it wasn't like losing to Vandy when Vandy didn't have a pulse. They lost to a pretty pesky team that played the best like that Vandy team that showed up

that they would have beaten. Yeah, I know. I know and that was a bad game and I'm not trying to excuse it. But in terms of like, I feel better, December 30 2024 about his long term success probability that I did a year ago now, and it has nothing to do with years. The job is to be good every year. It's Alabama. It's not Fresno State. It's not Washington. It's not to be good most years. It's to be great every year and and that's the difference but that's gonna change. Maybe it's gonna change everywhere because being good the way they were at the Saban era is no longer tenable. What what are we talking about telling the consumer what they want? Oh no, I'm not telling what they want.

Alabama fans and Ohio State fans and Georgia fans are going to find out. They are going to f around and find out. I think in 15 years, your notion of success is going to be different because it's impossible. Like we've been indoctrinated into this world where there are two deeps could start every other place in the entire country and that's just not going to be the case anymore and losses aren't going to happen more frequently and I don't know maybe when the playoff is 32 teams by then it won't matter because everyone gets in no matter what like Alabama had a disaster of a season and we were arguing whether they should be in or not still so like that I want to ask you this question that came up in the chat I know you got to go you got to get to the the media days. Don't worry about it. It's always on this one because I think it's interesting with this matchup in the bowl

game. I apologize because I did not. I've lost the chat link, but someone asks, has anyone compared Kalen to border and Sharon Moore in their first seasons? And I think this is a this is a good comparison because DB asked the question. So Sharon Moore, I think getting graded on a different scale because of what he was left with timing wise from Harbaugh versus what DeBoer because DeBoer could actually do the portal in the winter. And like he brought in Austin Mack, who was a quarterback that he had recruited. Jeremy Bernard, who was a quarterback that he had recruited Jeremy Bernard who was one of the you know, he was probably the fourth best receiver at Washington behind those three really good ones

He comes he's obviously a big contributor for Alabama this year their Center they got from Washington like the boar had a better opportunity to Stock that roster. Whereas, Sherone Moore didn't because of the timing of Jim Harbaugh's exit. And that's, that's really the difference three weeks can make Ari. But how do we think Sherone Moore did year one? It's not, it's obviously not a perfect job, but the, the, the beating Ohio state at the end of it excuses a lot of things it feels like to me. state at the end of it excuses a lot of things. It feels like to me.

I think that the win over Ohio State illustrated that the culture that Michigan has in place is still in place. And I think that that is a really good thing. Like to me, yeah, like, and I've always been beaten up by the about this about myself, and maybe I'm just wrong and think about it. And like, I get it sounds stupid because we keep score and records for a reason. But like my main ability, or not ability,

my main focus sometimes with year one guys isn't just what was a record? Okay, shut up. Like there's more to it than that. Like, and then it's like, and it's just like, okay, fine. So, Kaelin Dabour flunked his first year because they lost three games. It's like, okay, fine, no discussion.

There's no reason for a podcast. Just go by the numbers. It's a math equation. I think that there's nuance in sports. And like, when On3 tweeted out the link to that column, I got a tidal wave of they lost to Vanderbilt it's like no shit I know you don't think I know that like I know that like you're not telling me something but those people are all like you're just giving us a country a contrarian opinion to shock us that's

what their response was would you rather have them been 10 and 2 and gotten their asses kicked in the first round of the playoff with a number 17 recruiting class or this? Why not both? Why not have a top five recruiting class and make the playoff like Nick Saban did every year? It could have been. Nick Saban's not the coach anymore because he wasn't sure that he could do that anymore. Just so you know, by the way, so that's what I'm saying. Like, it's like, it's just different now, man. Like it, I don't know, maybe I'll be wrong. Maybe I'm full of shit, but to me what they did on the field this year was never going to be the chief indicator of his success likelihood and what he did off the field

in the way that he approached his job in a very difficult time to do what he did during a time in which the greatest coach of all time was like, oh, I've had enough. I think that that's good. So if you don't and you just wanna go, Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt, that's fine, go ahead, do that.

No, I wanna go Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma. Okay, fine, change Vanderbilt to Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, okay, go ahead, do that. No, I want to go Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma. Okay, fine. Change Vanderbilt to Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma. Okay, go ahead. Do that because that's a lack of preparation and at the same time like we talk about this sport for four days a week, five days a week during the

season for an hour, an hour and a half, two hours a day and we got to just acknowledge and accept that there's more nuance and discussion and there's more depth to the conversation than just Oklahoma All right, all right, I gotta let you get to media day but we're gonna we're gonna leave on Armando's request for us

We're bringing it back to the beginning of the show Armando says can you guys do a show on the best defensive coordinators available in the transfer portal? Please Armando's a Miami fan is available in the transfer portal please. Armando is a Miami fan. I feel you Armando. That's, listen. Alex Grinch was out there. That Pup Carts Bowl was tough on everybody. They missed out on Alex Grinch. Except for Iowa State. He's going to run for Florida School. Yeah, that was a fun show. I'm going to do my best to get some videos on these NIL deals. See if anybody has a really funny one. And if they don't, then we'll have a different show tomorrow. But like I am excited to do excited. Or you can ask him how he felt to lose to Michigan. I'm sure they'll love it. So just go around and be like hey how did it feel

to lose to Michigan? Please don't do that you might get punched. There will be a lot of you don't think there's those kids are used to that you don't think there's gonna be Michigan questions down there? Oh there'll be ton of Michigan questions like I'm sure Jack Sawyer gets asked about the whole flag thing all the time. Like can't avoid it. So no, they usually handle themselves quite well in these situations, much better than I would. But yes, Ari, by all means, go get some good stuff.

What should I wear? You think like the salmon hoodie? Salmon hoodie. I've got my suit being pressed for the property signing later on. OK. So I got to go a got a little I'm glad I'm glad to do a little little jogger little little, you know,

fashionable hoodie. I don't know. I'm feeling myself today. You're in SoCal. When in when in Rome. So love it here, guys. It's been a blast. Enjoy the Music City Bowl. Got a big big show tomorrow. Ari's gonna go get us some good stuff from Media Days. We'll talk right, we'll talk tomorrow. I love it.