Andy & Ari On3 - Can Indiana SHOCK Ohio State? | Intrigue in the Big 12 | A weird line for Texas A&M-Auburn

Episode Date: November 18, 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. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It’s entirely online. Designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and switch therapists any time for no additional charge. Visit BetterHelp.com/andyandari today to get 10% off your first month.  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 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.(0:00-0:40) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs!(0:41-12:42) The Best Way to Improve a Stadium(12:43-13:50) Helping Ari's Mic(13:51-15:22) BetterHelp.com/AndyandAri(15:23-29:33) Indiana at Ohio State Picks(29:34-31:14) Download Gametime(31:15-39:13) Ole Miss at Florida(39:14-40:33) PrizePicks(40:34-52:53) Colorado at Kansas(52:54-58:03) Texas A&M at Auburn(58:04-1:03:40) BYU at Arizona State(1:03:41-1:07:45) Kentucky at Texas(1:07:46-1:13:53) Wisconsin at Nebraska(1:13:54-1:15:47) Penn State at Minnesota(1:15:48-1:17:47) Alabama at Oklahoma(1:17:48-1:18:58) Iowa at Maryland(1:18:59-1:21:39) Army vs Notre Dame in Yankee Stadium(1:21:40-1:23:32) Vanderbilt at LSU(1:23:33-1:26:18) USC at UCLA(1:26:19-1:28:04) Conclusion; See you tomorrow! Happy Monday! Andy and Ari are picking the games of week 13 against the spread, but first there’s some news. Wisconsin fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo a day after the Badgers took Oregon to the wire. Does this mean Luke Fickell wants to go back to Wisconsin’s offensive roots? Or does he just want a different version of what he envisioned when he hired Longo? Now it’s time to pick some games. Indiana-Ohio State is the headliner, which still sounds strange to say out loud. Meanwhile, Kansas-Colorado and BYU-Arizona State will shape the Big 12 title race. And that Texas A&M-Auburn line looks very, very interesting.  Indiana at Ohio State (-11.5) Total: 52.5  Ole Miss at Florida (-9.5) Total: 55.5  Colorado at Kansas (+2.5) Total: 59.5  BYU at Arizona State (-3.5) Total: 48.5  Kentucky at Texas (-20.5) Total: 46.5  Wisconsin at Nebraska (-2.5) Total: 42.5  Penn State at Minnesota (+12.5) Total: 45.5  Army vs. Notre Dame (-15.5) Total: 44.5  Iowa at Maryland (+6.5) Total: 45.5  Texas A&M at Auburn (+2.5) Total: 46.5  USC at UCLA (+4.5) Total: 51.5 Watch us on YouTube instead! https://youtube.com/live/OOlfWtp4VHk Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

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it's gotta be Wendy's at Participating US Wendy's. Welcome to Andy and Ari on the we are of course presented by Wendy's and it is a pick show Ari and we have a lot of games that are very intriguing. Indiana Ohio State is a double digit spread in a game that could determine who plays for the Big Ten Championship and who gets in the playoff. Got a couple big games in the big 12 got a very intriguing

Texas A&M Auburn spread too. Yeah. I'm still kind of working through a lot of my thoughts on what I think this weekend. It's going to be a really, really interesting weekend. Like, have you thought this past weekend was not much in terms of revelatory information or, you know, eliminating tight games? Like, I think this week, we're going to find out a lot about what the playoff is going to

look like. I think on Saturday night at 2 in the morning, when you and I are doing bubble watch and bracketology, that it's going to be clearer. So I'm really excited, and I can't wait to get into the show. Well, while you put your thoughts together on these picks, I have a little rant, just just a tiny, tiny little rant, something that caught my eye this morning, and just bug the crap out of me. Our pal Adam Rittenberg from ESPN reports that Northwestern released details for the new Ryan Field. An $850 million project that is the largest in college football history could

launch a new type of college football stadium design, focusing on enhanced fan experiences and incorporating elements from recent NFL stadium builds. Ari, this just hit me the wrong way and I said, imagine how much fans would enjoy this game. They just spend it the wrong way. And I said, imagine how much fans would enjoy this game. They just spend it on players instead. OK, I understand how money works that Northwestern isn't sitting on 850 million in cash right now. Like they don't have 850 million in cash.

But let's just say this project is like if you built a house like you're getting a construction loan to build a house And you put 20% down. So let's assume Northwestern has 20% of this on hand, that's 170 million dollars you could endow a 25 million dollar your roster for a long time with 170 million as your seed donation. Northwestern could compete at the top of the Big Ten with that kind of money. If you want a better stadium, the cheapest way to do it is put better players in it. Because then you win and then more people throw money at you for

your giant capital project. That's how college sports has always worked. It's that's not new to the NIL era. Like go win and then hit up your donors. Like Northwestern, I, I think David Braun is doing a great job under the circumstances at Northwestern, I think David Braun is doing a great job under the circumstances at Northwestern. Like Ari, imagine if you gave him an Ohio State budget for players. I know what part of the tweet hit you, because it hit me too when I read it.

Better fan experience. Yes. That's what it is, right? better fan experience. It's like, okay. That's what it is, right? Enhancing fan experience and incorporating elements from recent NFL stadium builds. Do you think the fans would rather have a cool pavilion where they can eat their hot dog, or do you think they'd rather watch their team be in a tie game in the fourth quarter with Michigan or Ohio State? The best fan experience is winning!

That's it. The best fan experience is winning. That's it. It comes down to that and that's what I don't understand is it's not I don't mean to pick on Northwestern because I realize that Northwestern is probably the a bad school to pick on in a situation. They've never historically been good though. It would be fun if they were like, hey, we're all in, let's go.

Just do this for five years. Fund your team's payroll at the top of the Big Ten for five years and see what happens and see how much money you have to build a stadium after that. Because I bet you have more. An awesome fan experience? Ole Miss two weeks ago.

Yeah. I didn't see any flat screen TVs or cool fan pavilions or anything that looked like the SoFi stadium in LA in that stadium. That's a good example because you know what Ole Miss did? Like Keith Carter, their athletic director, has said this. They're like, stop all stadium improvement stuff. Give the money to NIL.

And guess what Ole Miss will have if they have a few years of this? More money to improve the stadium because people wanna fund a winner. Yeah. And I don't know. JC in the chat, this stadium is a parlay for concerts. Beaver Stadium is exhibit A.

Look, if you can multi-purpose it, great. That's a good reason to spend them. But we're talking about almost a billion dollars. Like, you are taking on a mortgage that you're gonna be paying for a long time. I'm saying, let your money work for you for a few years and then see if you can bring that down payment down or bring the down payment up,

bring your mortgage payment down. And when you build the stadium like this in order to pay the mortgage, you have to do what? Fill it, have lots of data. Well, that's the thing you have to have more events in it, which again, if you can make this a nice multipurpose place, like Evanston's a beautiful Chicago suburb, like you're right on Lake Michigan, that's great.

But that's the only, like the Kansas stadium improvement that they're doing right now, that makes sense because it is the centerpiece of an entire redevelopment of that area that will bring stuff into Lawrence day after day, like 365 days a year as opposed to just the seven Saturdays.

I didn't go to UPenn Wharton School for Economics. But we weren't medill grads either. Since we're talking Northwestern. If you make it $1 billion stadium, I can't imagine that the tickets for the fans to go are going to be much easier to get in terms of price. Right, and if you're just getting your clocks cleaned every week, I don't think they're gonna come. Yeah.

But this is not, again, this is not just Northwestern. At Florida, the athletic director, Scott Strickland, is pushing this $500 million stadium renovation, which, let's be real here, if you've had work on in your house, you know it's gonna be more than that. Put better players in the swamp and people will happily pay for it.

Like they're pissed now. They don't wanna pay for it because they're losing. So spend more money on better players. Then they're probably gonna wanna give you the money. Yeah, it's kinda like if you have no friends in a house, the more friends you have, the more likely you are to wanna pool. You know, like get the friends first and then put the pool in, you know? To have people come over and swim in your pool.

Yeah, you're right, Andy. The thing that I am always curious about, and I've had a lot of discussions with people over the years about this is how much is academics and the requirements of getting into the school, inhibiting places like Northwestern from being really good. And my opinion has always been that it's probably not, that there are a lot of really good players

in college football that, you know, get good grades. I think that the thought process of, you know, being too good of a school to compete on the field is wrong. So, you know, I personally think, and it's my opinion, that if I had a five-star son, that I would want him to go to Stanford or Northwestern because I told both my kids if there is some way that Stanford will offer you a scholarship, you're going to Stanford. Like you will take it. There's no there's no question. And I would feel the same way like with Northwestern with Duke. Yeah, I remember I was actually I had to cover a Houston Rice game a few years ago, because I was doing

something on Houston when they were going into the big 12. And I was in the parking lot. And I was talking to my wife, and she's like, Where are you again today? I said, I'm at Rice University. And my son at the time is in middle school at the time. He's like, what's what is Rice University? And I said, it's a school that if they offer you a football scholarship, you're taking it. Yeah, because a great education.

But in terms of full package, and I'm not up to speed on Stanford's NIL situation. But Stanford played, or plays in a power conference for the time being. The education I think is just generally proven to make you more money in the longterm. And it's just like the best of both worlds. So if you can figure out a way to get paid some NIL dollars, go to Stanford and play in a power conference. Like that, in my opinion is the best package for any top hundred player. Now I've always wondered why nobody goes there.

Maybe the test scores are... Stanford is harder. Stanford is harder to get into even for athletes than Notre Dame, than Northwestern, than Vanderbilt. So they are a little, probably kind of in the world of their own, but obviously Northwestern, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, they do have different standards for athletes than most of the schools they compete against. But the thing is you look at what Stanford did in the tail end of the Harvier and the early part of the Shaw era. They've been good, yeah. Right, they were getting really good recruits.

And so I do think if you have one of these that's willing to pay at the top of the market, like Ohio State is, or like Ole Miss is, or like Oregon is, you could probably get every smart kid who's good enough. And that actually creates a pretty good team, as we saw with those Stanford teams back in the day. We work it on three, you read recruiting updates. There are a lot of kids who have 4.0 GPAs that are top 100 players.

Yes, and I would argue there's more of them now. Like it feels like they are, a lot of the kids are smarter now, and they look at this, they take a little more of a long view of this thing. Now, obviously the NIL money changes the math on a little bit, but yeah, so it is doable. The question you have to have, Andy,

is that if somebody like, if you are a five star player who gets good enough grades to go to Stanford, but then a place in the South offers you $5 million in NIL money, like at a certain point, the long game becomes the short game, right? Like, I don't know if they can compete with, it's like the whole point of going to Stanford is to get an education. So you can get a bunch of money later on in life with a good job and a solid degree. But if somebody wants to hand you the money, then education to me takes a backseat.

So I think that that like that is maybe a bad worldview. Like, I don't know if that's the wrong worldview. But Stanford to me, and it's you know, if they have NIL money would be the best overall package. And I don't know. I mean, it's the closest thing to feeling like you said you're going to Ivy League school without being in the Ivy League. And if you've ever been to Palo Alto, it's beautiful. Like, I don't know. It's just a well and ditto ditto for Northwestern like great location, great city, great education. You add that extra part to the package and

suddenly, because like I said, I think David Braun's a good coach. Like he's doing a great job under the circumstances. You could build a pretty good roster there. So just just my two cents on that. Ari, you need help. Check your text messages. For those who don't know, we have mic issues with Ari. We have a graphic actually about the mic issues with Ari. He always starts with his mic input on the wrong input. He's had it on the wrong input the entire show today.

And we've been trying to text him about it it but he doesn't look at his text messages so this is me telling Ari. You know what's frustrating about that is that when you come into the studio it tells you to put your mic or like you can hit settings and camera and all that. Yeah yeah. I do it every time and change my mic to the correct one every single time. But I don't know why it went reverted back to the other one I did the first but it always does and you know it does so you can just change it. Wait when you do it from before you get in it goes back. Sometimes. Also, don't give me crap for not checking my text messages during

the show. I'm locked in on you buddy. Like I'm not I'm not over here diddling. I appreciate that Ari. I do appreciate that. I'm locked in on you, buddy. Like, I'm not over here diddling. I appreciate that, Ari. I do appreciate that. I'm glad I hold your attention that well. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. We all need help sometimes. Sometimes it's something a lot more serious than what microphone inputs you're using. And I think the stigma of, Hey,

I've been talking to somebody, it's going away, but it needs to go away faster. And I'll tell you right now, I have had moments where I've needed to talk to somebody and I have, I you know, shout out Dr. Matt, who I went to see a couple years ago, and really helped me with some stuff that had been kind of boiling under the surface for years we figured out. It's not easy to admit you need to talk to somebody, but BetterHelp makes it very easy to find someone and find someone that you connect with.

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right now you get 10% off your first month. So that's betterhelp.com slash Andy and Ari, A-N-D-Y-A-N-D-A-R-I, so both our names with and in the middle. 10% off your first month. You can help yourself a lot. You're carrying around stuff. It's hard.

Holiday season, I know all that. A lot of that kind of baggage tends to pile up. Now's the time to talk to somebody. Betterhelp.com slash Andy and Ari. Ari, let's pick some games. Let's start with the big one. let's start with the big one. Let's start with the one everybody wants to talk about. This is so interesting to me. And Vegas did exactly what I thought Vegas would do and made this double digit spread.

Indiana at Ohio State, Ohio State is an 11 and a half point favorite. Indiana is undefeated. Indiana at Ohio State. Ohio State is an 11 and a half point favorite. Indiana is undefeated. As everyone points out, Indiana has not played a particularly grueling schedule. But now they play a team that we are pretty sure is gonna make the playoff. And if Indiana wins this game,

they're definitely gonna make the playoff, but they'll also make the Big Ten Championship game. If Indiana is competitive in this game, it probably ensures they make the Big 10 championship game. If Indiana is competitive this game, it probably ensures they make the playoff. If Ohio State blows Indiana out, then it becomes very different. Ari, where do you fall? On Indiana Ohio State mixed feelings Andy,

I've got mixed feelings. OK, so let's work through this together and maybe we'll take a few extra minutes on this one than the other ones, because it is the big game. So let's start with Pro Indiana, okay? Indiana, for the most part, has blown out every single team that's played on its schedule. Now, it's had a few close games recently, but I think that that,

it doesn't matter how good you are, That's going to happen to everybody, right? We just watched Oregon struggle on Saturday against a team that I mean, Michigan's really the only close game that's the only one within 14 points. And Michigan, when playing well, has a really good defense. I can understand how that happens. Indiana, I think, is a very fundamentally sound team, too. I think they're really well coached. I think they did a very good job of bringing in players that elevated

the baseline talent level of the team. I think Curtis Rourke is a person I have in the top 10 on my Heisman ballot and on three. And I think that they're a team that hopefully will take their coaches temperament and not go into Ohio stadium scared. Like, I think those are all very positive things. And I actually do believe that it is legitimately a top 15 program

this year, 15 team this year. Yeah. Now the number one question that I have. And it's, it's never going to go away and I don't think it's going to go away. I don't care how much college football changes, but for the time being, I'm going to revert back to 2020 Ari and I'm going to ask you this. Okay. How much can a coach, I don't let's say signetti is a mad scientist genius who

has done everything perfectly and that you would trust your kids to be raised by him. He's that good of a roster builder. How much can a coach do in a single off season to help their team match up with the monsters that they're going to go face in Columbus this week? Because Ohio state roster wise, player for player, pound for pound is the deepest, most talented team in the sport. This year, this roster that Ohio state has this year is the last of a dying breed in the sport. How much can Cignetti even the playing field when it comes to that?

Now there is the negative side of Ohio state, which is they play grab ass a lot. I don't think they play as well as they are talented. A lot of the times they have some offensive line stuff that they're still working through. Um, I think only like three weeks removed from having to retool the whole thing after they had a few injuries at left tackle. Um, and I'm not necessarily sure that I am in the camp of Ryan day blows the top five team out yet.

Right. So I'm torn, but let me ask you the question again, how much can they even the playing field in a year? Like it's one thing to be much improved. I think that they've already been no matter what happens for the rest of the year, it's unequivocally a successful turnaround, but we went from Indiana's real pretty good to, oh my God, Indiana's going to be six and oh to, oh my God, Indiana.

But now we're at, can they beat Ohio state on the road? Like at what point do you like turn off the optimism faucet and just go, this is enough improvement for one year. Are is Nebraska better than Indiana? That yes, no, no, sorry. Yeah, I know. But I know what you're saying is why I said yes. Yeah, so now granted circumstances were different because Ohio State was working through those offensive line issues and probably didn't take Nebraska that seriously.

Yeah. But you saw Nebraska play fundamentally sound defense and keep Ohio State in check offensively for most of a game. It's doable. Indiana is a team that gives up two and a half yards per carry on the ground. Like they have played fundamentally sound football against some good athletes. A lot of the teams they played in the Big 10 have a better recruiting profile than them. But what Kurt Signetti did is he went and got good players who were old and experienced out of the transfer portal. So the talent discrepancy is not as big of a deal as it would

have been back in the day. Because the age experience having been through big games before factor helps. What I what I look at the way I look at this is I'm comparing. Indiana Penn State more like I'm using this game to compare Indiana to Penn State. And perhaps that's because I have to that bracketology column every week. And I have to see where those two stack up,

even though they're not gonna play each other. And Penn State has undeniably better talent, undeniably. But like, if I'm looking at Indiana's offense and Penn State's offense. While an NFL scout may like through our better. I'll take Curtis work in a college football game. I will definitely take Elijah Serrat Omar Cooper over anybody Penn State has a receiver. So you have to ask yourself if Indiana can play a similar game defensively to what Penn State play against Ohio State. Can they put up some points because that's

all like that's the difference. Penn State could not put up any points on offense. Yep. If Indiana puts up a few. We're talking about a very competitive game here. Yeah. They have, and then they have the bye week. Like everything sets up as well as it possibly could for Indiana. The way the schedule worked out. So the only thing that doesn't say is they have to go to Columbus as opposed to Ohio State coming to Bloomington.

But I feel like they are positioned as well as they possibly could be. Now, is it possible that Ohio State just physically overwhelms them? Yeah, there's no one like Jeremiah Smith that Indiana has seen all year. No one. And it may be that they don't have anybody who can deal with them. And when you say where, when you say the physical part, that doesn't have to happen in quarter one, right? Like it can be quarter four after getting leaned on for three quarters. Exactly.

Like this could be, and this is what I, what I think I'm going to pick. Cause I think Indiana is very good and I want to respect how good they are. I don't think they're going to cover the spread. I think that they're going to play a close competitive game through three quarters and I think the dam is going to break in the fourth quarter. Um, and that's not an insult because I think that that's what should happen. Most of the time when Ohio state plays teams. But what Kurt Signecki has done is he has taken a broken down Honda Civic.

He has given it a new paint job. He has put a new engine in it. He has made it a fast as hell car. And that car is desirable from people who like driving fast and it increases the value and it is a much better car than it was a year ago. But it's not going to go win a race with a Ferrari. Now he could use the money with the Honda Civic that he souped up on his own to flip the car and buy another car that he can flip up.

And this is how the building process begins. But Ohio State has a 20 million dollar roster and they're playing at home and it's a top five game. A thing that Ryan Day has been criticized for not doing well in which maybe is a point for your Indiana side because I think you're going to pick Indiana. But the difference, the difference between the top five games that Ryan day has been criticized for not playing well enough in is in all of those games. The talent level has been fairly equal. That's and that's where I'm going here. Yeah. So I think that if Ohio state plays a very good football game for their standards, like if they take this seriously and they come out and they

better by the way, cause if they lose this game, like there's no guarantees of anything for this team. Correct. I think they're going to win the game like 31 to 17 or something or 34 17. And it's going to be a close competitive game for two and a half, three quarters and Ohio state's going to score a touchdown or 10 points in the fourth. So like Georgia, Tennessee last week, essentially, I think, I think basically what you saw with Georgia, Tennessee, and it doesn't mean that I don't think that Tennessee should make the

playoff or could make the playoff. It just that's the type of game I'm anticipating. I don't think Ohio State's going to come out and beat the crap out of them and win 45 to nothing. I think Indiana is going to get points and I think they're going to be competitive, but I just don't know how like, there's only so much that my brain can handle Andy in terms of how much the sport has changed. I keep hearing the sports change, the sports change. I know, I know it has.

But this is like the last of the examples of what a super team could be based on what Ohio state returned and added to its roster. And this is a team that was souped up in the off season. I think that that Indiana could beat 85 to 95% of the teams in college football, but this is the monster of the sport on the road. Like this is, and like also to we've kind of punted on Ohio State being one of the great teams of the sport this year in a world where you think everybody sucks. I have not, I think that they still could could be that team. They have a roster that should scare anyone that would play. Oregon is the only team that we all have,

like we don't even talk about them that much. We have as a consistent consensus have said is the best team in college football because they haven't lost yet. They don't have any bad week. Like Ohio State's loan loss is a one point loss on the road at Oregon in a game in which they had a pretty tough penalty at the end there that would have, you know, took them out of

field goal range and cost them the game. Like I don't know that I'm out on Ohio State yet. Now that said on high alert for let down central because this is what seems to happen with them. So I'll give you the floor now, but I think that did you think that 3417 or or just like right over that number, like a 12 to 14 point win is a rational thought in this scenario. Perfectly rational. And I think like I said, the Georgia

Tennessee game last week is a great example of that because that that was a eight and a half, nine and a half point spread, depending on when you got it. You could have lost like Tennessee could have covered that spread, but Tennessee wasn't going to win the game At least based on what we saw in the second half like it wasn't gonna happen so I can see that I could definitely see that but I'm gonna go with Goat Dog here a souped up 96 Honda versus a Ferrari if

Dom is driving I take the Honda he was of course, to Dominic Toretto, the hero of the Fast and Furious movies. He starts out as the villain, becomes the hero. And here I thought all 13 of those movies were the same. I guess there's some depth to it. Well, no, the first one was about drag racing. Then it became about superheroes. So once the rock showed up, it was all over. But Kurt Signetti is Dominic Toretto. I'm just imagining Coach Siggs with the Corona at the family barbecue on Sunday after they beat Ohio State in the horseshoe.

after they beat Ohio State in the horseshoe. Coach Siggs is Dominic Toretto. Is that you like is that you picking Indiana to win the game? I just want to be clear. I'm not. OK, I was going to say, are we doing this? OK, no, no, this close. I actually think the game is going to play out similarly to what you said. I'm just envisioning that it takes a little more for Ohio State to break the dam or that Indiana has some sort of furious thing at the end where they're still still in it at the end. I think they are well coached enough.

They're experienced enough. That they're going to be able to hang. They're not going to get blown off the field by this team. So I will take Indiana to cover. All right, that's good. We're off to a good start. We're on opposite sides of this thing here. By the way, we pretty much every pick last week. So and and well, we were right on we were right on a lot of them.

We weren't right on the big one, but we were right on the spread of this, by the way, is now almost out past 12. So, like, people are predictably betting up on Ohio State on this one, because Ohio State's a pretty regular betting source, or people like betting on them a lot. So, you know, it's happening. But if you like Indiana, I would wait because I think it's probably going to to move a little bit closer to 14 by Saturday if I had to guess if you'd like to go to this game

because let's be real here. Are you coach Sigs was the only person who knew this was going to be the biggest game of this weekend back in December of last year and we didn't believe him, but he was right. But if you want to go to this game, hop on game time right now, by the way, Rod Wave playing Columbus this week. So get your Rod Wave at nationwide Arena tickets and then get your Indiana Ohio State tickets. I mean, come on game time's got it all. They've got concerts, sporting events, comedy shows, you name it, best

prices. And if you hit that GT picks button, you make sure that you get the best value relative to the market. So you know, if you hit that GT picks button, that you're getting a great deal on those seats and look, they're not cheap. You're still talking over 200 bucks to get into this game. Now you want to see a really good game this week with game time. That won't cost you that much. Colorado, Kansas very big game in the Big 12. Remember that's an arrowhead

because Kansas is renovating the stadium in Lawrence. You can get in there for around 60, 70 bucks. There's tickets as low as 48 bucks for that game, which is gonna be a banger. We're gonna be picking that game in a second. So download the Game Time app, use the code staples for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply of course.

They got everything you could possibly want, you name it. Doesn't matter if it's day. Of course, they got everything you could possibly want you name it Doesn't matter if it's day of the event. They got tickets go to game time download the app redeem the code staples for $20 off your first purchase All right Ari Let's uh Let's go closer to my home here Ole Miss You and I saw them the last time they played. We were on the field in Oxford in the rain in the celebration. You were you were hanging out with Deuce Knight. They are now back

and they're going to Gainesville where Florida just beat LSU. Ole Miss is a nine and a half point favorite in this game. Ole Miss just has to win out. I think we both agree that if Ole Miss wins out they are going to make the college football playoffs. So they gotta beat Florida, and they gotta win the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State. They should feel pretty good about this, but should they be worried about a Florida team that just beat LSU?

I'm 1000% in on the Ole Miss bandwagon now. Like I just, I don't know if you've been able to detect that through our conversations about the playoff and stuff. Ole Miss is my SEC horse. If I were to place a futures bet right now for any SEC team to win the national title, I'm going Ole Miss. I bet it's the best odds and I think they've got the best,

the best pieces to do it. So, Andy, I'll ask you this like Florida did beat LSU. How good are they actually like I know DJ Lagway isn't sensational player, but how good are the Gators like better better than they were at the beginning of the season, especially on the lines of scrimmage. I think Florida's. Or is D line showed up big in that LSU game

because that's an LSU offense that has not given up a lot of sacks. They'd only given up six sacks coming into the game. Florida had seven in that game and most of them were in the second half. It was bizarre. It's not something they've done all year. But I would say that a lot of that,

and we'll talk about LSU and Vanderbilt in a few minutes but I think a lot of that is LSU I Don't know if all of that is Florida being better and DJ Lagway is certainly great I think I sang his praises pretty effusively on the show Saturday night but he's also playing on one leg he's not as mobile as he normally is and I think against a team like Ole Miss, that's a problem. If I'm Billy Napier, I'm pretty careful with DJ Lagway because I'd rather have him go shred Florida State

and get bowl eligible that way if this game's getting away from you. Because that Ole Miss pass rush is nasty. They lead the nation in sacks, they lead the nation in sacks per game. You and I saw it up close. It is a great defensive line. After seeing that and seeing the way Ole Miss has played

the last few weeks, it's so much more baffling that they lost to Kentucky. It makes no sense. The LSU gloss you kinda get, you let LSU hang around in Tiger Stadium Garrett Nussmeyer's really a quarterback like that one you can kind of understand the Kentucky loss I do not understand but it's entirely possible that this Ole Miss team is not that Ole Miss team anymore Yeah, so I'm looking at college football national champion futures right now and

Ole Miss is nine nine to one. And just for, you know, comparison sake, Alabama is seven to one. Um, Indiana is 22 to one. Georgia is four to one. Ohio state is two and a half to one. Oregon is four to one. Be as confident in Ole Miss as I would any of those other teams. Tennessee is 36 to one, which is kind of an interesting thing,

but they might not be a playoff at this point. And then Texas A&M is 80 to one. But of all the ones that I just named, which is like Georgia is four to one, like I would be as confident in Ole Miss doing it as Georgia would. And they are getting twice the odds. Like for me, like that is the most attractive national championship future if you want to put one in on November 8th, 18th.

I would agree with you there because I would put that roster up against anybody's roster. Now, again, the Kentucky game gives you pause because there is the possibility they just don't show up. But I think we're past that though. Like I think we're like in November. My hope is that's not just for an old mistake like I just think like every

team that's in the playoff like if you like one of the benefits of the hope of the playoff in the sales pitch Andy has always been thinking about how many great games are going to get in November that are going to matter for all these teams. Like it's still possible that somebody doesn't play a good game like somebody may may lay an egg. Like it doesn't mean there won't be any blowouts

or surprising results. I think laying an egg and not showing up are different. I just mean like mentally locked in for the game. Like, like, like for, for instance, like Ole Miss losing to Kentucky is kind of like the same result as some other team just getting upset at home by a team that they weren't taking seriously. Like I think that not taking your opponent seriously shits over. Like we're at the point now where everybody should be locked in. That doesn't mean you're going to play well, but like Ole Miss with a pass rush going against a quarterback that is semi injured and really

young plus an offense that I think is going to be able to score 30 or 35 points. Like this seems to me like an easy Ole Miss play and like Ole Miss could win by 10 and Florida could play its ass off. But I don't know. I think that Ole Miss is ascending and Florida is playing much better, but Florida still is a pretty limited team in terms of like when they're on the field with a team that we think can win the national title.

Like 10 points is I'm happily going to lay the 10. You just said it, Ari. Florida could play its ass off and Ole Miss could still win by 10. That's why you take Ole Miss to cover in this game. Like I will also take Ole Miss to cover because. That roster is just better and like and I don't want to be fully healthy. I consider taking Florida in this game, but on one leg against that pass rush, like he would have to produce a legendary

passing performance to make this work. And I'm not. I don't want to be mean. Okay here. Zach. I love Lane, but there's only so much he can do with Ole Miss's talent. Like, buddy, I'm telling you, Zach, Ole Miss has as much talent as anybody. Zach, you're trying to say Ole Miss does not have talent?

I don't know if he thinks it's 2017, but Ole Miss has a lot of balls if he thinks that. So anyway, okay, but yeah, Ole Miss is my pick here. Yeah, I would agree. Ole Miss to and I you know, if you're building apier you got your LSU in You're probably gonna beat Florida State like you're fine You don't have to worry about this one. If you lose this one, I think everybody's expecting that but that's We'll find out

Zach saying, you know, he went to the other site and it's, it's 20th in the talent composite. Zach, there's this thing called the transfer portal and there may be some guys who are not big time recruits who became really good college players that Ole Miss bought this off season. And yeah, their players are as good as anybody's. So Trey Harris was trying. Trey Harris. I was a, I was a, I was a, I was a, I was a, I was anybody's. So Trey Harris was trying Zach.

Trey Harris, I was a player rated outside of the top 2000 on both sides. I think, yeah, Trey Harris is one of the best receivers in college football, so it also has more to do with how good they are now. And I say, look, I realize we work for a recruiting site, but I would argue that our recruiting site has done a pretty good job of adjusting to the way rosters are built now. Because what Ole Miss has done is

they wait and figure out if you're good now and then they buy you. So. Is like Walter Nolan, Walter Nolan is factored into that. He was a five star. Yeah, I know, but he's factored into that ranking, right? Cause he is factored into it. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. Our friends at prize picks will be populating the board for college football. It'll start populating today, Monday, because there is maxion on Tuesday and there's maxion on Wednesday. But if you want to play maxion with Monday night football, you do it right populating today, Monday, because there is Maxion on Tuesday and there's Maxion on Wednesday.

But if you want to play Maxion with Monday night football, you do it right now because Cooper Rush is starting for the Cowboys against the Texans. Yeah, the vaunted Cooper Rush CJ Stroud matchup. Prize picks the best daily fantasy game in America. Download that app. Use the code and use the code staples. Play $5 get $50 instantly to play. You're picking squares. You've got a player attached to a stat category. It can be obviously college football, NFL, NBA, college basketball, eSports, you name it. If people are competing prize picks probably has squares for it. A

Cooper Rush Square 175 and a half passing yards. Do you think you'll throw for more or less? Lean toward less. CJ Stroud, meanwhile, for the Texans, getting Nikko Collins back this week. So Nikko Collins has a 72 and a half receiving yard number. If it's more, you could see quite a lopsided score, potentially, here in this battle

for the state of Texas in the NFL. So download prize packs download price picks now use code staples play five get $50 instantly Ari. Let us move Andy before you go I want to address this. Okay. Why does it count when Ole Miss turns under recruited players into great players, but not when Indiana does the same. It also counts. It also counts for Indiana, which is why we're saying that I said that they are going to play a four quarter game

with Ohio State. It does count. Ole Miss has done a very good job of developing players that were under recruited, and then they spent millions and millions of dollars to bring in five stars that are really good, and other players who have already produced. So like, it's like Indiana did the same thing too, but Ole Miss had a higher baseline of talent.

This is further along in that process. Yeah. Is all we're saying. Like, I would pay, I would put Ole Miss's roster against Ohio State's roster. That'd be very comfortable with that. But that doesn't, us being complimentary of Ole Miss is not an insult to Indiana. But at the same time too, like this is a no bullshit podcast and I love the Indiana story and I really enjoy watching Kurt Signetti and I think he's a genius.

Don Toretto. I'm not, I'm not going to sit here on November 18th and pretend like they have as much talent on their team as Ohio State Like that's just not reality. So Or you can find podcasts that will give that to you, but that's not where you're gonna get it here Yeah, they can't win like we said. Yeah All right Ari This is one where we thought we were gonna have to pull the big 12 coin out

But not yet Colorado at Kansas Initially this opened as common rata was a as a one and a half point favorite It is moved up to Colorado is now a two and a half point favorite So one more point to get the coin out but the fact that this opened with Colorado is one and a half point favorite means Vegas is Vegas is hip to the big 12 now like they figured it out like, okay, Kansas is hot. And this game is going to be a banger. I'm on the Colorado train, but if this moves over a key number and ends at the big 12 coin, I'm taking Kansas like in really. Yeah.

Really, if it goes three and a half, yeah, Kansas is. Did you watch the games the last two weeks? They are playing awesome football. Well, and you know how I feel about being able to win games in different ways. Like the Iowa State win and the BYU win were two very different wins. Iowa State was a we're going to outscore you and hang on. The BYU win was we're going to shut you down defensively and it

and it took one key special teams mistake for Kansas to win the game. Like BYU may well, I don't even know if it's a mistake. I actually think it's probably Kansas because they did the quick kick with with. With Jalen Daniels like the quick punt and it hit a BYU

player in the helmet and Kansas jumped on it like that's more good on Kansas than BYU making a mistake like that. That was schematic and so yeah, Lance Leipold still a good coach despite a few one score losses at the beginning of the year. That set art. Colorado has the best quarterback in this game. It has the best receiving core in this game. It has the best pass rush in this game. They are playing better than anybody in the Big 12.

They are not playing close games like everybody else is in the Big 12. Give me the buffaloes. Yeah. I'm fully in on Colorado. I've had them in the playoff field for two weeks. So I'm not I just like get scared like this and then they you know how it gets when Colorado Twitter of people like I I think I'm on Colorado at two and a half. I think this is gonna at two and a half. I think this is gonna be.

But three and a half you're not. That fascinates me because I still think Colorado is winning this game by more than a touchdown. I think they're as good as Kansas has been. Colorado is a better team talent wise. Colorado has played disciplined sound football, which is what Kansas does to you when they beat you. I just, I think Colorado wins because they have better players in this one.

You wouldn't give me, is as well coached as Kansas right now. You wouldn't give me seven points. Would you? I give you six and a half. You said you thought they were going to win by more than a touchdown. seven points, would you? I'd give you six and a half? You said you thought they were going to win by more than a touchdown. Like how real is that? By a touchdown. By a touchdown. I'll give you six and a half. Should we place a bet?

Well, if you gave me seven, I would place the bet. Oh, what? You said you'd do it at three and a half! With your own money! I want to prove the point though, because you said you think they're going to win by more than a touchdown. Fine. I'll to prove the point though, because you said you think they're going to win by more than a touchdown. And I don't think that I'll give you seven. You didn't say seven and a half. You said seven. I know.

Seven. What are the stakes, chat? Give us some stakes to this. We don't have to find this out right now, but I'll take Kansas plus seven. And you want to know what it is. It's not a doubt in Colorado, Andy. It's a spot.

It's a spot. And I also am not familiar with the Arrowhead Stadium game. Like, is it going to be like a loud pro Kansas crowd there, or is it going to be kind of all over the place? It's probably going to be all over the place. Our game time ad should tell you the tickets are pretty reasonably priced. So I don't think this is the thing that is interesting is if this were played in Lawrence, like, would you feel differently? If this was like a true Big 12 Road game? Like

that's the one thing that's giving me pause on have you ever been to a game in Lawrence? I haven't but I heard it's awesome at times. Like last year with electric. I wouldn't feel differently. It's not it's not an even even when they're good. It's not an environment I'd worry about. Okay. It's not one where the environment even when they're good it's not an environment I worry about. Okay. It's not one where the environment's gonna dictate the game like if Kansas beats Colorado which I understand is a distinct possibility. It's just because like Devon Neal. When often ran for two hundred yards or Jalen Daniels had a great game or you know lipo and Jeff Grimes just make great calls.

had a great game or, you know, like, and Jeff Grimes just made great calls in the course of the game. Like that that's how that happens. It's not because it won't be because of atmosphere. I just don't know if it's gonna like if Colorado is going to make the playoff easily. Like I'm just anticipating that there will be a bump in the road, right? Like there's not gonna you're right. It's not gonna be easy. And look, cause they're not just going to, are they just going to blow everybody out? Like, is that just what we're thinking? I don't think they're going to blow. I don't think they're blow Kansas out.

I think this will, I think this is the hardest, obviously the hardest remaining regular season game, but this may be the hardest game left, including the Big 12 Championship game if they make it. Yeah. Well, I don't know what the stakes are, but Scott came up with a few funny ones. Let's hear it. Tex-Mex Ferrari, something to do with some Tex-Mex food. Train for a 5K, which I wouldn't bet if you gave me 30 points. Train is 3.1 miles. You can't run 3.1 miles.

It's not that I couldn't. It's that I don't want to have to train for it. Like, that's the thing. You have to train for it. Just go out and run 3.1 miles. Do you know what? Sounds so terrible to me about a marathon. It's not that you would have to run 13 miles or 26 miles or whatever 26.2 that would be a really terrible day.

It's the time commitment and the effort you would have to put in to put your body in the place to do that like that. It's like it's not just that one day is terrible like it's the entire 6 months or a year that you build the long. It's not it's like 3 months and the long runs are actually very therapeutic When you're training they feel good You know, it's therapeutic

Getting a playing act watching the NFL with a few hundred bucks on games With Chinese food on the way, that's there. So we got to figure out what I have to do if Colorado loses or wins by less than seven? I haven't run more than three miles since high school. So if you want to make that my my penalty. I'm gonna see you next week. I'm gonna see you next week. If Colorado wins by eight or more, you have to run 3.1 miles. I will I will run beside you and record it. We might even stream it live. So, the question I have is because you know we are working You have a beautiful jogging trail around the lake by your house. Oh yeah. We can do it by the lake at my

house. Yeah, sure but Andy What if I have to stop like I can't tell you that like. Then you stop. Okay, but you're like I'm not going to say I can run three and a half miles. No, I will walk alongside you and make fun of you until you start running again. Okay, all right, perfect. That's a terrible stake for me, so I don't know what yours is, but like-

Figure it out. Guys, what's terrible for me? Figure something out that's terrible for me, and I'll say I'll do that. Okay. But I feel very good about this. I feel like Ari's gonna have to run. And like, I am gonna, yeah, we'll make a YouTube stream

and I'm just gonna run alongside him this is funny. the entire time. Cause are you writing about Northwestern Stadium today? I think I am, but Ari here. It would be funny if you. Our fine sponsor Paniniini I've got a Donner's elite 2024 box here if Kansas wins or loses by less than seven this is your box you have any other boxes that you haven't opened yet? Do you have a gold standard? This is the only unopened one. Oh, OK, I'll take it.

All right. Fair enough. And you also have to donate 20 bucks to the Northwestern Stadium Fund. You got it. You got it. I will help fund the $850 million Northwestern Stadium if I lose this bet. Super excited for Colorado to go out and win by 30 points and my lack of being in physical shape being great fodder for this. Last through two years ago when we did a bet where I had to do like 100, like what did you like 50 pushups or something? Yeah. I was training that week all week, like doing pushups in my house to make sure

that if you were filming me on camera doing the pushups, felt like I didn't look like a complete utter slob who couldn't do any. And thankfully my side of the bet won, I never had to do that, but like physical challenges are my number one fear. So thank you for doing this for me, but you know, I think I could run three miles

at this point in my life. I know you could, that's the thing. I think you think you can't. I know you can't because I you're a different person than you were a year ago. Yeah, but I actually to like envy you. Like when he came to visit, we my house is near White Rock Lake, which is a big lake in and it's within walking distance of it.

And he just went and ran. Like, I wish I could be a person that's like, you know what? You have an eight mile trail. I ran the whole thing. It was awesome. It is a beautiful run. It was so fun. I just wish I was like, I'm not going to, I just wish I was a person.

I was like, I didn't eat real good last night. I'm just going to go run five miles and burn 500 calories. Like in an hour. You can be that person. But I haven't been that yet. But oh Scott, follow me on Twitter. Let's go take a walk together sometime if this is where you live too. You did the whole loop? I don't think the whole loop is like 27 miles. Like I don't think it's eight. I did the eight mile loop that is around the lake itself and the one that's on the map

when you come out there. Dude, let's go get some smokey roast Tyler. That's a good barbecue place. That's right around the corner from where we live. Well, how come you haven't taken me there? Because there's also the one that we went to, which is the best barbecue you've ever had. I'm excited. I'm excited because you know, provided we'll get to A&M and Auburn in a bit but provided A&M doesn't spit the bit this week against Auburn headed Ari's way for for Texas and Texas A&M. All right Ari let's say the way which is going to happen if you want to go right to that game because they're losing on Saturday.

All right let's go to that game we've got another big 12 game we need to talk about, but let's go to that game right now. Texas A&M at Auburn. Texas A&M is a two and a half point favorite. What does Vegas know that we don't, Ari? Okay, so Auburn is the best crappy team in college football, right? They should put that on a t-shirt. I don't know, maybe Kansas is the best crappy team in college football if we're going by record. But I think Kansas lost to a bunch of teams that are pretty good, so it's a little bit different. Auburn's got players. Uh huh.

Cam Coleman is emerging. They're not turning the ball over as much as they were. They're playing at home. the game. The horns got Texas even a little bit came off. I still think if one or both of these teams lose, it's still a really important game just because of what it means in the state. But man, Andy, I want that to be the exact scenario that we laid out on the on the show last week. But I have this really sinking feeling that A&M is going to lay it out in this situation.

This is so tricky. And Auburn can run through you in a way similar to how South Carolina ran through Texas A&M. So, this is so tricky. And that's the thing. I keep saying there's going to be some result. We're going to talk about this game. We're talking about Minnesota-Penn State, which is another one that could kind of upend things. Kentucky-Texas Texas will talk about. One of these is going to. To blow our minds well,

here's the thing that's going to blow your mind. If A&M loses to Auburn and be Texas, then we get into a real cluster. Well, yeah, because they remember this would only be A&M second conference loss. They'd still be in the tie.

In the conference and then they would bring Texas in the tie in the conference. And then that would bring Texas down to a two loss team. And then if you had, I mean, I think that A&M losing to Auburn is the biggest path to those tie breakers that are those 17-15 tie scenarios that we come up with. And I kind of think if this game were at home, I wouldn't be as worried about it. I think going on the road is. Going to be interesting and challenging, so, yeah, I and Auburn look, Jordan here has still been loud in spite of everything, in spite of how bad the season's been.

It's going to be a good atmosphere. I this game is utterly fascinating. It's the night game. Good choice. By the way of game there because I think you're gonna get the drama you're looking for in a week where there's not really an SEC game where you're going huh well that's the best game. This is the one that I think gives you that drama and gives you that that tight game. So that said, A&M's pass rush is really good.

If somebody's going to make Peyton Thorn do what he did early in the season and throw to the other team, this is the team that'll do it. And if that happens, A&M's going to win. Auburn fans are going to be pissed as hell, just like they have been all season. Ari, I am taking Texas A&M to cover here. Okay, I'm taking Auburn to win. Woo! Hany, you can't beat, like here's the thing, I got some beef with you, man.

Go for it. And we haven't gotten through all the games yet. So I just want to say this foundationally. Cause if we get to other games, when we're doing bracketology and bubble watch talks, or when we're talking about how the playoff system is going to, or the playoff is going to be a disaster. You say a lot of times it's college football in November, there's going to be a bunch of shocking results that happened and we don't see them coming. Like we got to start picking them.

Like if that's what you think, if you think that that's gonna get, if things are gonna get weird, like we need to start picking our spots because we only have two weeks left for it to get weird. And like if A&M covers, then it's just like, that's another result that doesn't really shake stuff up. So anyway, that's all.

I want you to pick something's going to happen where two or three times something weird happens. Maybe I have another weird result coming later in the show. That's what I'm saying. I just wanted to foundationally put that on your radar. If you don't, you're not, you're not convincing me to change a pick. Don't worry. I got a weird one.

Okay. I got one weird one, so don't So don't worry, but I'm taking Texas A&M to cover here. Everyone's probably going to take A&M to cover here. So like this is a really good spot for a for Auburn to not everyone is. I think I think people are going to look at that line and take Auburn. Okay, is they're going? What is Vegas know that we don't? Okay. All right. Next game. Let's move back to the Big 12. We

talk about Colorado and Kansas. This is the other game that should determine who plays in the Big 12 championship game. BYU at Arizona State. Ari, you're looking at it. The numbers there. Let's pull out the specially minted Big 12 coin. Arizona State is a three and a half point favorite. I think this is one of those that most people would look at and go, wait, what? Arizona State's the one that's favorite in this game? But I feel like that's a pretty accurate read by Vegas. Yeah. It is just kind of funny to see it. It is a big 12 game, so it is three and a half. I would have thought that BYU would be favored on the road in this one.

I think you look at the way BYU has played over the last few weeks and you just can't do that. Yeah. If you look at the way these two teams are playing. The trajectories like it favors Arizona State. I I don't know how much it being in Tempe. Matters, I think not being in Provo helps a lot. Yeah, like so won't be cold and snowy and stuff crowded Provo is is lit like Kansas. Great job dealing with that on Saturday night. We

have to tell on three and I don't know what's ever going to have to happen, Andy, but like one of my bucket list things to do is to see a game in Provo. Like I've always wanted to go there. And I like, it's like even more than some of the sec stadiums I haven't been to because I'm a really bad. Uh, I'm a really big, like mountains in the distance kind of guy, you know, like I like that. I'm a yellow stone.

It's a buffet town Provo. Why I love there all you can eat pizza buffets. What? Yeah. Well, I mean, they can't have caffeine or illicit drugs, so pizza it is. Funny enough, that is my illicit drug. You know, the

yeah, yeah, Provo. I go to Salt Lake fairly regularly because my brother-in-law lives there, but I've never been to Provo. Well, it's beautiful there and I'm not going. I've not gone to a game at Provo. I've been to the stadium, but I've not gone to a game.

I have been to games at Rice Eccles stadium. Both very fun or you know, obviously that one's very fun. But yes, now I love Sun Devil Stadium carved into the side of a mountain, which is where this game is going to be played. Love that. I've been to that stadium multiple times have not been to a game there. Have listened to the YouTube concert from 1986. There are many, many times because that was the rattle and

hum video that they made. This is a spot for Kenny Dillingham. I think people who've been paying close attention see that Kenny Dillingham is doing a hell of a job at Arizona State. This is the spot where he can announce to the country how good of a job he's doing because if they win this game, then they just have to win the territorial cup and they're in the Big 12 championship game. Dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, crazy, crazy. I think I'm with you because you know what? At this point in the year too, Andy, a lot of it's about rolling with the with the hot hand too, right? Like Arizona State's like feeling itself and as confident and as excited, like BYU just suffered a pretty tough loss.

And, you know, it would be really fascinating to, to see BYU go from like undefeated to out of the playoff and out of the big 12 and, and just a two week period, but that's just the cruelty of the sport. Sometimes I like Arizona state here. Um, I thought that I was going to get some, some big value in terms of maybe being a dog based on just record recognition and Arizona State. I can't imagine that a lot of people have watched them play all that much.

So Sam Levitt's been awesome. They have the best overall player in the game. Maybe I don't know who do you think is the best player is is cam scat about the best player in the game or do you think it's Jake Retzlaff? Darius Lasseter has a chance at that one, but all of it, like, that's the thing who has the best game of that bunch.

Yeah. So Sam Levitt, the quarterback at Arizona state, Jake Retzlaff, the quarterback at BYU, Cam Scataboo, the kind of do everything Swiss army knife for ASU, Darius Lasseter, the receiver for BYU. Like who is the star? We don't know. Yeah. I even won a game without cam scataboo. By the way, I, I think I might have spoken too soon. Like, I don't know if Arizona

state wins this one, if it's like, if it just has to win the territorial cup, because I think at that point you get into a tie break Arizona state BYU and sure here and Iowa state. Now if Iowa state loses farm again into Kansas state, that clears it up and it would be Arizona state. We don't know who has the tiebreaker between Arizona state and Iowa state. Well, Arizona state, Iowa state and BYU, cause they'd all three be tied. So you'd have to figure out.

Robin thing. Yeah. Cause I was trying to look, look, did BYU play Cincinnati? Because if that was the case, if they'd beaten Cincinnati, then that would knock Arizona State out, but they didn't. So we'd have to do the math on that one. But we'll figure that out for tomorrow's show and let you guys know.

But I'm taking the Sun Devils in this one, Ari. I'm with you. I like Arizona State. I like riding the hot hand That's gonna be look the big 12 has given us everything we thought it would everything we wanted out of the big 12 this year Can't wait to watch this game. All right, let's go back to the SEC This is a line that doesn't look weird Auburn Texas A&M was the weird-looking line, but it feels like a weird game to me. Kentucky at Texas. Texas is a 20 and a half point favorite, which makes perfect sense because Kentucky has been terrible.

Because I guess one SEC win, but that SEC win is at Ole Miss. Ari, I thought Texas had its get right game against Florida. SEC win, but that SEC win is at Ole Miss Ari. I thought Texas had its get right game against Florida. I thought the Texas offense was just back on track. Everything's cool. But after a pretty easy first score, Texas did not look great against Arkansas's defense. Yeah. I have to muck this game up enough to keep it close.

I think that the Kentucky dead cat. I think there is dead like I don't think that Texas has to play a particularly amazing game to cover the spread. My hope is for Texas as they gear into November and I don't know if we're going to start getting the Texas, Texas A&M, like look ahead spots, but you know, Texas should win this game by three touchdowns. They should have been in Florida, like they should have beaten Arkansas by four touchdowns and they didn't. Well, Arkansas is tricky because Arkansas can play well. Like I don't know if Kentucky has that.

Arkansas can play Arkansas just giving up 63 to Ole Miss. No, I know. I feel like Ole Miss. But Kentucky is just kind of on the like, the is in the morgue right now. Like, I don't know if, you know, Arkansas was in the hospital. All right, so Ari, you're certain

that the weirdness will happen in Auburn. I think the weirdness is gonna happen in Austin. Do I think Texas is gonna lose?? No, I ain't Texas going to win this game. Is Kentucky going to cover? Yep. I think they muck it up, make it ugly. Now that does not matter for Texas as long as they win. Does not hurt them one way or the other. They just got to win.

But I think Kentucky mucks this one up. I think this is the last gasp for Kentucky and then they beat Louisville because they always beat Louisville. Yeah, I'm just going to to go with my Texas get right game. I think that this is a good spot at home against the team that really has no spark left to get everybody feeling good about themselves again, you know, and my hope is for them that they can do it. Because if you limp out of this game, then like, they're, by the way, like,

we talked about this in the videos on the On3 channel when we did our bracketology and bubble watch videos, go like check those out if you haven't seen them. I'm highly concerned about Texas and we had a long conversation about getting Texas already out of the bracket. Andy removed Texas from his bracket and bracketology. I still have them as the four seed in bubble watch. But all that is for me is in the A&M game. That's all it is.

Yeah, they win that when they're in. But I still we got into a conversation like I still think Texas can win these games. If they limp out of this one with a seven point or 10 point win after playing like crap for four quarters, I'm like going to sell my stock. I'm going to sell. This is why I'm saying this for the same reason. Like Arkansas is not devoid of good players. Arkansas has some very good players.

So does Kentucky. Like Dion Walker is special special. Very on Brown is a very good players. So does Kentucky. Like Dion Walker is special, special. Barry on Brown is a very good player. Like they have good players. It's not like this is just Texas being vastly physically superior, although they are physically superior. So I think Kentucky mucks this one up,

much like they mucked up the Georgie game. Like I still think Texas is gonna win. Okay. But I just that's where I think the weirdness happens, but I don't think it's enough. I don't think Kentucky can muck it up enough to win the game. Fair enough. Take Kentucky to cover here. Wouldn't be shocked if you were right.

All right. Let Kentucky to cover here. Wouldn't be shocked if you were right. Alright, let's move to Lincoln. 25 and five teams, both of them have fired or demoted their offensive coordinator in the past two weeks. Wisconsin at Nebraska. Winner is bowl eligible loser goes to a game at the end of the season that it may or may not win to determine bowl eligibility.

Wisconsin fired Phil Longo on Sunday after the Badgers took Oregon to the to the wire. On Saturday. So Luke Fickel is do you think before we get into the game itself are you do we think Luke Fickel is do you think before we get into the game itself, Ari, do we think Luke Fickel wants to change offensive philosophies? Do you think this is a case of, OK, I tried the air raid stuff. Let's just go back to what Wisconsin was. Or do you think it's I still want to do something slightly different than what Barry Alvarez and Brett Bielema and Paul Chris did.

But I just want to do it with a different person. So if, so here's the thing, and this is like something that we should explore, but with Wisconsin, Andy, the thought when they hired Luke Fickel was that they were hiring a coach that they were going to invest in, right? Like that they wanted more than their consistent 10 and two years in the big 10 West, they wanted to get to the playoff, they wanted to win playoff games. And I thought the thought process of going to a more wide open offensive philosophy gave Wisconsin a chance to do that because the assumption was that

Luke Fickel was going to recruit better players there or that the investment in the coach was going to allow for more NIL situations and for people to be more excited about donating and all the things. Like I thought that that was Wisconsin with the way that they fired. The previous coach in the middle of the year, his name is escaping me for some reason, even though he Paul Christ. Yeah. And, uh, hired him Like that was a ruthless move

to make a huge change. And I don't know if going back to the I-formation, get the best offensive lineman and running back to you possibly can and try to win games 21 to 10. Philosophy jives with the move of getting fickle in the first place. But the question is philosophically, can Wisconsin win in a different way? And the thing that I think is interesting is that there is a middle ground between quote unquote air raid and running a pro style from the nineties, I formation offense, where you hand the ball to your running back 38 times a game. I think you could run a spread that is run heavy. Like, and I think that that's

probably where Wisconsin should go next. And I don't know if that's what they attempted to do. But when we went to the Wisconsin Alabama game earlier the year, do you remember what I wrote about? Like, it's just like I'm watching a team that doesn't have an identity. Like it thinks it wants to throw, but it also may be a good running team. Like what like, I think you need to identify what you want to be. I think they I think they are potentially good running team? Like what, like, I think you need to identify what you want to be. I think they, I think they are potentially a good running team. Like,

they ran the ball really well against Oregon. Yeah. Or you and I were at the Alabama game when, you know, Braden Locke has to come in after the first series, because Tyler Van Dyke went down, they had no choice but to run the ball because at that point they were playing with a quarterback who hadn't been taking reps with the ones and they but to run the ball because at that point, they were playing with a quarterback who hadn't been taking reps with the ones and they were actually running the ball somewhat successfully against Alabama. Like I think they can run the ball pretty well if you make that the centerpiece of the offense. So that's the question. Is that

what we're going to see in this game. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, it's the type of game where like we've seen it so many times look like that. I am so fascinated by what Wisconsin should do with this next hire.

This game is going to be interesting because I think it's more compelling based on Nebraska's continued meltdown than it is about what Wisconsin looks like offensively. But what Wisconsin should do offensively long term I think is a very fascinating discussion. So do you think Nebraska is going to choke this off? Well, Dana Holgersen coming in off the street didn't magically fix Nebraska's offense. Shocking. I know they didn't beat USC. They looked fine. I don't know that they look considerably like I'm just

trying to because USC is what it is. I don't know that the one game sample size is enough to tell what really happened there. So I think this is a coin flip. I think Nebraska has to get off the Schneid at some point, like it is bound to happen. They're gonna get off the Schneid. I'm flipping the coin. It's coming up Huskers. Give me Nebraska. To win this one to cover the two and a half to go to a freaking bowl game.

They have to do it at some point. I think I'm on Nebraska here to feel two out of 10 confident in it though. There's no, there's no confidence level period here. They either they might be first. I'm just letting you know that like this is just I have no idea. I wouldn't play this game if you and that's the thing like it can't just be a curse, right? Eventually they have to win one of these. It might actually just be a curse though.

Okay. We agree that if they lose here, it's a curse because it's cruel. Like making a bowl game was not in question for the first seven weeks of the season. And like, and this is the same thing that happened last year, right? Like they won five games and they lost all the rest of them. Like, I feel bad. I feel bad. Yeah. that happened last year, right? Like they won five games and they lost all the rest of them. Like it's, I feel bad. I feel bad. Yeah. All right. Let us move elsewhere in the big 10. A double digit road favorite. You know, those are always a little wacky. Penn State is a 12 and a half point favorite at Minnesota.

Ari Minnesota is the type of team that can drag Penn State into a game here, but it's also the type of team that Penn State can beat by two touchdowns, but it feels like they beat them by six touchdowns. Yeah. I think that Penn State does a really good job of covering, uh, spreads against overmatched teams. Now, Minnesota, if you've been paying attention with Max Brosmer has actually looked fairly good in, um, critical turnover against Rutgers cost them that game last time out, but they also, like they had one four in a row going into the Rutgers game and they beat.

USC UCLA, Maryland, Illinois. That's not the easiest stretch in the world. I think that they did a pretty good job. Now they're at home against Penn State. So you like that, but Penn State is exactly what you just said. Like they could play a game where they win by 14 and it feels like it was never close.

Like, I just don't know that I believe that Minnesota is gonna put Penn State in an uncomfortable spot in this game. I think Penn State is going to waltz into the playoff as a one loss team and we're going to find out if James Franklin can ever win a big game later on. I don't I don't think this is going to be close. It might be close on the scoreboard, but I don't think they're going to cover. I'm taking Penn State to cover here too.

Though Nick Terry says this is the grab ass game, so we'll see if Nick's right. Because this could be. This is one of the candidates for grab ass game, but Ari and I both, I think we both see it playing out the same way. And that is a game where the score looks closer than the actual game. But the score is not that close. We'll find out Back to the SEC Alabama at Oklahoma in a game a great helmet matchup Not what you want it to be this year

When last we saw Oklahoma they were losing in devastating fashion to Missouri on a scoop and score at the end of the game. I I have no faith in Oklahoma. Ari, I think Alabama wins covers even with a big spread on the road. I think Alabama keeps rolling. Now this is one, this could upset the apple cart here. Like Oklahoma or Auburn beating Alabama could do some serious damage

to all those SEC tiebreaker scenarios because in a lot of those Alabama's the one that wins the two-team tiebreaker or that the two lost team tiebreaker Yeah, and I guess it's on the road and they were excited about this going into the year But I just don't think that Oklahoma has anything left in the tank Yeah, I don't I don't know with who they are offensively They don't have a good offensive line like it's's just, it's been a mess this year. I think that they're ready to wrap this thing up

and try to build for the future. I think so, but I have, like, I could just see this being one of those college game day ones where the Alabama flag goes up on everyone. They screenshot it. And then at 11 o'clock Eastern time, they're showing the screenshots like nobody believed. Well, there were two ways that Alabama's lost this year.

One, they lost to Vanderbilt and I think Vanderbilt called one of the most inspiring, awesome offensive game plan games I've seen in a long time. And then they lost to Tennessee who just like mold, they just mold each other because they both have really good players. Like which one is Oklahoma? Like what's the pathway to them winning this game?

I don't even, or being in this game to the point where they don't cover the game is just forcing a bunch of turnovers and scoring on short field. I guess, but they don't score on the short fields. Like, I just don't think that they have enough offensively to, to be in this game. I think you're right. I'll take Alabama to cover. We'll keep on moving. Iowa at Maryland. We always pick the Iowa total. We can be quick with this one. I think Vegas is on to Iowa because this total is bigger than it has been.

And he keeps getting, we were wrong. Our street got broken in the Iowa UCLA game, but I think Maryland will score enough and Iowa will score enough. Well, we were wrong in the Iowa UCLA game because they turned the ball over like nine times in that game collectively. Like there were a lot of turnovers and the turnovers weren't an advantageous spots a lot of the times to like capitalize on a quick score. So I still feel pretty comfortable with Iowa and I love that we're getting into the mid forties, maybe one of these games when I will play somebody, they'll have a total in the fifties. Yeah.

I will take Iowa. Well, I'll take Iowa and Maryland to go over 45 and a half. We're not picking the spread. Who cares? But over, over, over, over. We're in Iowa over podcast. It's getting to the point now where it's like the bit is going to run out and going into next year.

So enjoy it now Iowa fans. Cause uh, last year was hilarious. This year. It's not so funny. They're actually scoring. They're just not as good. Of a football. And they're not as good defensively army.

Notre Dame, Yankee stadium. Army's undefeated. Notre Dame has one loss. Notre Dame must win. To make the playoff. I don't think the two lost Notre Dame is making the playoff. Army with a win. Could be in a position to crash the playoff. Notre Dame is a 15 and a half point favorite. Ari, what do you think's

going to happen here? The same exact thing that happened in the Navy game. I'm not going to lie. I did go look at all of the weights on Army's defensive line because that was what happened to Navy. It's pretty similar. Well, also, Navy turned like fumble the ball six times. So like that's also part of it. Like I don't know if it'll be quite as lopsided because I think Navy just didn't wasn't ready to play in the game.

Right. Maybe handed in the game. But what Notre Dame can do to army offensively is just mash on them with guys that are 75 pounds, 50 to 75 pounds heavier. Their offensive line versus Army's defensive line. And it's a pretty, pretty safe way to win. And I also think that Riley Leonard has gotten quite a bit better as the season has gone on. I think maybe he just got healthy.

But he certainly understands what his job is in this offense now. Yeah, I like Notre Dame in this game. I don't think this gets close unless Notre Dame makes some mistakes. I'm with you. And I also think that there's like a middle ground between what was it? 51 to 14 and or 51 13 or over the Navy score is like, I still think that they could probably win like 38 to 14 and yeah yeah yeah 38 to 38 to 21 or something like that still covering the spread and I'm excited to see Bryson Daley and Army's offense against this defense Army's offense has been a lot of fun but I just I think maybe we're just colored by the Navy

game here. But I just think it could be similar. And I don't think army and Navy are the same. But you know, I don't. I think Notre Dame just physically overwhelms army here. Yeah, maybe I'm wrong. What a story it would be if we're wrong what oh yeah then we we we're gonna have to go live after this one if that if that hundred yeah good news it's a night game we are going live after this but oh good good good all right well we're both we're both taking Notre Dame to cover back to the SEC a team I saw in person last week and did not come away impressed.

LSU was at home against Vanderbilt. LSU is an 8.5 point favorite. This seems like a huge line given what we saw from LSU last week. Yeah, I don't think that LSU should be laying points to anybody at this point. They're like tapping out. You know, the Vanderbilt Magic ran out a little bit too. So, are we saying that or did South Carolina just have the formula, which is the best pass rush in America right now? Yeah. I mean, it's probably a combination of both Vanderbilt six and four. And you know,

they did beat Auburn the last time before they played South Carolina and South Carolina is being a bully in the SEC at the moment. So I mean, I like Vanderbilt. I just think it's too many points. He gets a team that's wounded and weak and ready to go home. Yeah. And that's the other thing. Remember the kryptonite of LSU's defense is designed quarterback runs. Florida couldn't do that at all because DJ Lagway has a hurt hamstring. You're going to see a steady diet of Diego Pavia runs to try to open up this this offense for Vandy. And I think I think you may be right. I think it may be that that LSU

checked out. We'll see. I didn't I didn't like the body language on the sidelines. I didn't like you know watching Brian Kelly just you know, scream at players on the sidelines. I didn't I didn't like the body language on the sidelines. I didn't like you know watching Brian Kelly just you know Scream at players on the sidelines and I get coaches yell at players and we've seen Brian You're Brian Kelly yell at players before but This team's in a in a pretty tough spot right now. I don't know how hard they're willing to play for him Yeah, this will yeah. Yeah, we will find out but I'm taking eight and a half. I am definitely taking Vandy plus eight and a half. Can't believe they gave us that many points.

One more. Holy one more USC at UCLA. UCLA is a four and a half point dog. USC change starting quarterbacks. Jay Mayava had a rough start to the Nebraska game through a pick six, but it felt like he settled down as the game went on. Do we think USC is in a better place

with Jay Mayava at quarterback now, Ari? I don't know, do you? Like I thought they looked like USC on Saturday. They did kind of look like the same USC and UCLA played tough against Washington, but not not well enough to win the game. This is rivalry situation. This is a big game. You know the battle for LA.

USC needs this to get bowl eligible because I don't think they're going to be Notre Dame. UCLA plays Fresno State next week. So UCLA could actually get bowl eligible if they win this game. Cause they could win this and beat Fresno state. It is big 10 after dark. Like, I mean, this is a pack 12 after dark type game. Um, UCLA and USC have both had moments this year of great and bad. Um, I know that like Washington is just like different team at home.

So they're Latin UCLA losing at Washington. Isn't like Washington undefeated at home this year, I think. Um, and yeah, so that, that is, you're right. And the fact that they were in the game, I think says quite a bit for UCLA and where they are. Yeah. And I don't know that I left the win over Nebraska for USC feeling like, you know, they found all the, the answers to the things that ailed them UCLA had a.

And similar on the road. So, and UCLA like seems to show up at this game. Uh, it's the most beautiful uniform game in college football and it's happening at 10 30 PM Easternm. Eastern time. So we're going to get to watch this as we're on the show. I like UCLA in this spot. Damn we agree too much again but yes I agree I'll take UCLA as well. Can't wait to see uniforms cannot wait to be doing that show with you talking about what result got weird. Were you right about Texas A&M and Auburn?

Was I right about Kentucky mucking it up against Texas? Who won the Colorado-Kansas bet? Are you gonna have to run 3.1 miles? Or am I gonna have to donate to Northwestern Stadium? Oh, I have to run 3.1, not just three. God damn. It's a 5K! Okay. We're gonna be true to the metric system here Ari.

Go Jayhawks. Oh yeah. You can lose. Don't lose by more than seven please. If you want to hear me and argue about who should be in the playoff and the bracket, we put out a special Bracketology Bubble Watch podcast on Sunday. So it's in your podcast feed. We also have those videos on the on three sports YouTube channel so you can watch or you can listen to your choice tomorrow night. We'll be going live as the playoff rankings are revealed so we can help break all that down.

We can be your second screen or hail. We can be your first screen. So join us Tuesday night. We'll be your second screen or hail. We can be your first screen. So join us Tuesday night. We'll obviously have the show on Tuesday morning, the regular show. I may have more on the stadium construction versus buy some players debate.

Actually, Ari, we do need to I want to talk more about that Wisconsin offensive coordinator situation. Because I want to put together. Let's let's do this tomorrow. Let's do this tomorrow for the for the morning show. There's gonna be a lot of offensive coordinator jobs open. Let's try to match. Teams that have openings with the right person or at least with the right philosophy. Because there are a lot of places that that are going to be looking for

coordinators on both sides of the ball this year. And the fact that Wisconsin's now open and that's one where the philosophical argument has raged. But we can talk about that, we can talk about Oklahoma, we can talk about some of these other places where they're in the market for a coordinator who could potentially change. Florida might be in the market for two coordinators. We'll find out. But let's match these up. Talk to you tomorrow.