Andy & Ari On3 - Can LSU keep it ROLLING in College Station? | Will Navy SINK Notre Dame? | Picking week nine

Episode Date: October 21, 2024

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(0:00-0:38) Saucy Nuggs(0:39-8:38) Intro: Coaching Changes, Wrapping News up from the weekend(8:39-28:02) Revisiting Texas Longhorns; Picking Texas at Vandy(28:03-32:00) Gametime(32:01-39:32) Boise State at UNLV in a Mountain West showdown(39:33-46:03) Rutgers at USC on Friday Night(46:04-47:15) PrizePicks(47:16-50:25) Washington at Indiana(50:26-53:58) Notre Dame at Navy(53:59-56:07) Oklahoma at Ole Miss(56:08-1:00:01) Nebraska at Ohio State(1:00:02-1:02:18) Florida State at Miami(1:02:19-1:07:52) Missouri at Alabama(1:07:53-1:14:20) LSU at Texas A&M(1:14:21-1:16:39) BYU at UCF(1:16:40-1:18:58) Illinois at Oregon(1:18:59-1:19:42) We are an Iowa OVER podcast(1:19:43-1:22:33) Penn State at Wisconsin(1:22:34-1:25:05) Wrapping up; ConclusionHappy Monday! Andy and Ari are picking the games of week nine. Boise State at UNLV (+2.5) Total: 66.5Rutgers at USC (-13.5) Total: 54.5Washington at Indiana (-6.5) Total: 52.5Notre Dame vs. Navy (+12.5) Total: 51.5Oklahoma at Ole Miss (-20.5) Total: 42.5Nebraska at Ohio State (-25.5) Total: 48.5Florida State at Miami (-21.5) Total: 54.5Missouri at Alabama (-13.5) Total: 56.5LSU at Texas A&M (-3.5) Total: 53.5BYU at UCF (+1.5) Total: 55.5Illinois at Oregon (-21.5) Total: 54.5Northwestern at Iowa (-13.5) Total: 37.5Penn State at Wisconsin (+6.5) Total: 48.5 Watch us on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/G8umF-MriWYHosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

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Welcome to Andy and Ari on Three Happy Monday. We are presented, of course, by Wendy's. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 Happy Monday. We are presented, of course, by Wendy's. It's a pick show Monday. We got lots of games to pick. Ryan in the chat says, Damn, I just finished the last episode on my graveyard shift, not even realizing this one is about to go live. Ari, that's what happens when we have an epic two-hour post-game show.

I was going to ask if we started right when we went live on Saturday because this was right about the time we'd be finishing up. So happy to have you here, Ryan. Thanks for being here. I think we're probably going to try to keep it to more like an hour today, but I do want to say I'm pretty pumped to see that we got the UNLV Boise logos on the thumbnail of our show today. And I don't know, maybe that's what this 12-team playoff thing's cracked up to be.

Right, Andy? That's going to be an epic Friday night game we've got some games to pick and excited to turn the page of the following weekend we got two potential epic Friday night games one that doesn't start till after a world series game ends but we'll get to that first before we get to the Pixar we had we got to cover some news. Always. Always got to cover news. We've reached the part of the season where schools announce things and the photo accompanying the announcement is just a helmet or just a shot of the stadium

or maybe just a shot down the line of scrimmage with the whole offensive line on it. We got that from three different schools yesterday we got that from Oklahoma we got it from East Carolina and we got it from Southern Miss so Oklahoma the the big news out of Oklahoma that our guy George Stoya the third from Sooners Group actually broke is that Seth Luttrell the offensive coordinator has been fired at Oklahoma which Ari I don't know that there's much that can be done when the best five receivers are hurt, the offensive line isn't very good, and you've got two young quarterbacks.

But I feel like after the South Carolina game, they were kind of in symbolic gesture mode. Yeah, well, I mean, too, we did spend a lot of time watching, or not we, you, spent a lot of time watching film after the Texas loss, and it didn't seem like Oklahoma was doing a particularly good job design-wise in helping out the offense overcome the inherent flaw that everybody can see. Like, I think that there are certain games that you will play if you don't have a very good offensive line that's just going to make it impossible for you to move the football

no matter how you draw it up. But we had actions with quarterbacks rolling to the side of the field with less protection. We had this quarterback situation. I don't know if Oklahoma put the best product on the field even with their ailments, right? So the job of the offensive coordinator is to recognize, understand, and accept shortcomings roster-wise and then design an offense

around those shortcomings to put the best possible product out there. And I'm not necessarily sure I think that Seth Luttrell did that. So Joe John Finley, the tight ends coach, will take over now. This is where we point out that this is probably the worst tight end room Oklahoma's had in years. And that's Joe John Finley's fault and they don't block very well. And that's Joe John Finley's fault. So I don't know that that's going to get much better, especially as they play Ole Miss. We're going to pick that game. The spread is massive in that game. And I'm going to throw some stats at you

when we make that pick that will make your stomach turn if you're an Oklahoma fan. So I'm sorry about that in advance. But this was going to happen. You know, they were going to wipe out the offensive staff at the end of the season. So they do it a little earlier with Seth Luttrell.

I don't know that it makes a difference, but sometimes it does. Like last year, Arkansas fired Dan Enos, brought in Kenny Guyton, elevated Kenny Guyton to call plays, and they won at Florida. So sometimes that happens. Sometimes you get a little dead cat bounce in that situation. But I don't know that there's much you can do with the Oklahoma offense. The only thing that the saving grace is the Oklahoma defense is still good.

They're still trying. And so they'll, they'll give them a chance if the offense can do anything. Although against Ole Miss's defense, I'm not sure the offense is going to be able to do anything. And Ari, two other firings on Sunday, Mike Houston became the first head coach fired at East Carolina. They've not been very good. That's a very proud program. So we'll get to who comes in there next in a little bit. But one name I would watch, Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley. Remember Lincoln Riley was the OC at East Carolina

before he went to Oklahoma. So the Riley family does enjoy Greenville, North Carolina quite a bit. Andy, the kiss of death was against Army. Oh yeah. Well, I mean, Army was, Army could have named its score and that's just, yeah, it was very bad. The next one was Southern Miss. Will Hall gets fired at Southern Miss. And the clip that was floating around on Sunday was Will Hall after the loss on Saturday saying, we fixed everything in this program except the winning part.

They're one in six. And I'm sorry, but you don't get to say that when you get paid to win. Like that's the job. Your job's to win. I think we're now past the point. There might still be some stupid people out there who believe it when they stand up at the press conference when the coach gets hired and is like, dude, we've hired him to be a molder of young men and to graduate players.

No, you didn't. You hired them to win. That's the only job. You know things are bad when the graduation rates start coming up. That's always the sign of desperation. But, yeah, you know, it's great. I think the best coaches in the country mold young men while also teaching them to win. Like, I think that teaching –

While also teaching them to be good at football. Well, I think that, like, that's kind of part of it, right? Like, I don't know. Whenever I hear this, this is what I think. And you tell me if I'm nuts, but like part of molding people into good young men is to like teach them how to come together and accomplish a task. Right. Like, and that might be, uh, you know, hard in a group setting when people have individual goals, but that's also part of it to, you know, make yourself be able to exist in a place where you have to swallow your own pride. You have to overcome being benched. You have to overcome the late nights of class and all those things in order to win the game.

Like, I think that the wins are the result of being molded. Like, I don't think it's one or the other. Like, I think that part of it is if you're a strong young coach or a strong coach with a strong young man that you overcome all these obstacles to accomplish the goal it's not for everybody to love everybody in losing that's not the point yeah now i mean herb edwards had it right you play to win the games. I broke that out on you Saturday night, and I'm sorry about that. We were talking about Texas quarterback situation. I listened back to the show, and we're not going to have to do this again, but I was stunned by your position on that. And then our friend Ralph Russo from The Athletic texted us and said,

yeah, Andy's exactly right on this. But I got a few texts from other people that were on my side. So I get it. Yeah, those people are wrong. Like, I don't like your combativeness towards the topic. I thought was crazy. Like, it's like that. There's nothing that there's nothing to talk about. Now, if Arch had been good in the part he was playing

and then had gotten yanked to bring Quinn back, that would have been, we could have been, we'd still be talking about it. Like that show never would have ended because we'd still be talking about it. Well, yeah, I think that's right. I think that it makes it easier to go back to Quinn the following week, for sure. Like I think that like that. Quinn proving definitively that he's better think that it makes it easier to go back to quinn the following week for sure like

i think that like that you quinn proving definitively that he's better in that situation yeah i think that makes it very easy yeah right um that said i don't know that it inspires a lot of confidence um in your fan base that you felt like your veteran quarterback that you stood by steadfastly for three years had to come out of the game for a mental break when they're playing Georgia? Oh, and for a mental break, it was for a you're not doing very well break. And the job is to win the game. Whatever the break was, I don't know that that's a very exciting thing to feel if you're a Texas

fan who's got their eyes on the national championship. It's not an exciting thing to feel to watch Georgia dominate your offensive line if you're a Texas fan. But the good news is I don't know how many other defensive fronts can do that to you so here's the question that I have and I don't mean to yeah this is an important thing to me I don't care if we we go off topic a little bit we got plenty of time Texas will be losing in the first half again this year to somebody they play in the SEC they going on the road to A&M. They could be having, like, listen, they played Oklahoma

and they didn't have a very good offense for a quarter and a half in that game. It's going to happen again. They're not just going to blow everybody out. And when it does, there are already people who believe that if Arch Manning was given the runway to stay in the game for the entire game, that Texas might have even won in the second half. Just because he didn't score on the two drives. Wait, are these real people?

I want to meet them because they're really stupid if they watched that performance and thought Texas would win if he stayed in the game. We also had people who thought that Arch should have come into the Oklahoma game before this change was made. So all I'm saying is that there is an existence out there that when Texas is losing and if, if,

if Quinn is not playing well, that there should be a change made because the coach through the action of what he did by putting a backup quarterback in told the world that he thought that in that moment, the backup quarterback could provide something to his team that a starter could not. And when you do that, you are creating an environment where there is some question about who the quarterback on your

team is and if your team when quarterbacks are soft that will bother you but if the team if your team and your quarterbacks are not soft that won't matter because they will understand their jobs to win the game and if one of them is not presumably you would think that's the time right and you put the guy you put the other guy in and see if he can do better their jobs to win the game. And if one of them is not, presumably you would think that's the time, right? And you put the guy, you put the other guy in and see if he can do better. And you would think that Quinn has been in college long enough for that to be

the case, right? Like we're going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't think Quinn Ewers is soft. Okay. Right. So showed you when he came back in the second half is that he's, yeah,

he's definitely, he understands that. Like I thought he understands that like and i thought and i handled that really well i wonder if this is going to materialize again and i think that the door has been cracked open to allow this to become a thing so whether or not you don't that's fine it's not a thing as long as, as long as whatever they do gives them the best chance to actually win the game. It doesn't matter what they do.

But what if Quinn throws a pick in a big game because he doesn't want to get yanked? Like, like I think that that could happen again. He's not soft. You saw him come back and he was better. Like, but you don't think that the,

the thought process of i need to make a play on this drive even if it's subconscious because you are worried of being pulled out of the game that makes you make a bad decision in a big game he was pulled out of the game because he would he was not capable of doing anything in that moment the offense was pathetic at that moment they had to try something else if you're in a game and you've had some success and you happen to throw a pick you're not getting pulled over that the offense was non-functional that's why they made the change and then the response to the non-functional offense was to do it again then well no arch came in and was also non-functional

so they went back to the more experienced guy who might make it functional and lo and behold it was functional and then he made it functional which calls into question the decision in the first place which is the thing that we keep coming back to you you want to make this a big deal and it's not it's a it's a big deal because it's arch manning and when we talk about arch manning on the internet people watch it and click on it but it's not a big deal in the realm of steve sarkisian's job is to win the game the offense was sucking so they made a change the offense still sucked so they changed, and the offense stopped sucking.

So, it all worked out. Okay. We'll see. I understand what you're saying. I don't even know that I even disagree with you. You're dealing with feelings, and I'm dealing with results. That's the thing. We don't even have Texas and Vanderbilt

as a game we're going to pick, but let's pick it anyway. Let's add it to the list, Ari. It's kind of a tricky game. Yeah. I mean, because also, too, there's one thing that I wanted to point out that I haven't really seen, but you watched, I assume, the Sarkisian press conference, and you watched the viewers' availability after the game.

Yeah. And what Sark said about what happened with the benching and what quinn said about what happened with the benching were not the same and i don't know if that was just like them trying to answer questions to get out of here but like i thought that was kind of weird like he did not tell quinn going or he said he told quinn going into the locker room that you know they're going to give him a break and he's going to start the second half and Quinn said that that did not happen so like like I don't know what's going on there but I think that's kind of bizarre

and maybe it was just a miscommunication I'm overthinking it but like that like Quinn yours is body language after that game was not like he looked like a defeated human and maybe it was because he was literally just defeated by Georgia but like all I'm saying is is before the game on Saturday Andy we thought that Texas could be the number

one team in the country uh-huh not only did they lose to Georgia but there has been doubt whether you want to acknowledge it or not implanted in the fan base and people who probably are on the team that Quinn Ewers is the best quarterback on the team. And you think that that's been disproven because Arch Manning didn't score touchdowns. I didn't say it was disproven. Arch Manning still may be the best quarterback. Like, ultimately, Arch Manning may be a better quarterback than Quinn Ewers. And that's it.

Because we're going to have to find that out, probably. And we're going to... But here's the thing, Ari, and this is why I don't worry about it. They're both good. Texas is going to be but here's the, here's the thing, Ari, and this is why I don't worry about it. They're both good. Texas is going to be good. No matter which one of them plays like, this isn't a case of there's one guy who's a great college quarterback.

And then there's this young guy who's going to be the best quarterback who ever played. Like they're both good. They're both going to be NFL quarterbacks. It's not that big of a deal. And you, you know, either one of them is going to be good

your skill in this is better than mine okay um because you have a the ability to recall things that happened like like this right is there a situation where a team benched a quarterback um that was as good or as proven or at least as seasoned as Quinn in the middle of the game for a younger player. And then that, that team turned out to go back to the person who was benched and they won the national title. Like I'm trying to like, remember if that.

I'm not remembering. I'm not remembering that. I'm trying to think of like. Because it is kind of a bizarre thing. Cause like, even though like, like it's easy. Like I think what you're saying.

You usually don't have those situations. Like the, the Florida 2006 situation was interesting. Like I remember in theucky game of the 2006 season the only reason i remember this is i was i was a beat writer and we had to write about this whole situation so don't don't think it's like some superior he pulled something from the kentucky game in 2006 like in that game uh urban meyer puts tebow in for a whole drive and and usually they had just kind of put him in in spot duty to either run the ball or run like a

trick play and this is the first time in the in like in a in a real game in the context of the game not in mop-up duty they'd put him in for a drive and he takes him down the field and they get into the red zone and he pulls Tebow and puts Chris Leak in and the fans boo. And it's because they didn't like Chris Leak and they like Tebow better. But the, it was, it was weird in that moment. Cause you're like, wait,

is maybe Tim Tebow better? But at least even that was like kind of a dual, like both of them played all year, right? Like it was, it was, and they had like Tebow had a defined role on that team. There was,

it was not this situation where either one is the guy if you put him in like it's like on one hand what you're saying i don't even know that i even disagree with it like yeah they they weren't playing very well they removed a quarterback they put you you're just mad because i don't think it's a huge deal and you think it could be something that even if it's not a huge deal do you think it's bizarre like do you think i don't think it's bizarre i think you don't really see quarterbacks with as much reps and as many games the offense was pulled out of a game at that point ari i know the teams have bad games and bad halves they don't pull their quarterback out all the time

not that bad like that is as bad as texas has looked on offense since sark got the job so when you're in a in a an extreme situation like that sometimes you have to take an extreme action and i don't it's also interesting i really don't think because i i don't think sark put Arch in there to prove the point that Arch is going to have as much trouble as Quinn has had so far. That would be crazy. I think he thought maybe Arch would be better. And then when he wasn't, he's like, hmm.

But if the head coach of the team thinks that Arch might be better in that moment, he might have to think about that again. I mean, Arch might be better. I know. That's really the facts of the situation because i thought like i actually thought when that happened that there was a chance that arch manning was going to lead a touchdown drive in those because a texas's offense is typically pretty good you're just like this is gonna make our show the best like because if arch had led them back to a victory, we'd have had the most watched show we've ever had. If Arch would have led a touchdown drive in his two possessions and also to, he had two possessions in four minutes and 43 seconds remaining in the first half.

It's not like the runway there to like really settle in was, was given, right? Like he had two quick possessions. He fumbled the ball. Get it. But if he would have led a touchdown drive, does Quinn come back into the game at all? And if he wouldn't let a touchdown drive, would Quinn come back into the game ever? Again. That's what we were flirting with there. Producer River came up with the situation, by the way. And he's right. And I can't believe i didn't

remember this it's now it's a little bit different but hertz and tua 2017 jalen hertz and tua tonga at alabama like i so in that going into that orange bowl there was basically a near mutiny because remember jalen Hurts got sick before the Orange Bowl. And so Tua was taking a lot of first team reps at practice. And at the time, Jalen was not as good of a thrower as he is now. Like I think his time with Oklahoma and Lincoln Riley turned him into a better thrower, but he was a bit erratic as a thrower. And then Tua comes in as a freshman, taking the first team reps at practice, and the ball never hits the ground.

And there was this, like, I remember one of the receivers saying something in the run-up to that Orange Bowl, like, basically, I'm tired of this. And so there was a near-mutiny with Alabama. Now, they got through that, or excuse me, the Sugar Bowl. It was the Sugar Bowl when they played Clemson in New Orleans. This was the semifinal game, not the national title game, right?

This is the semifinal game, yes. And so they get in that situation, and obviously they crushed Clemson in the game. It didn't matter what the offense did because the defense was so dominant, but the seeds had been planted at that point, and so I think Nick Saban knew if things were going bad, he was going to Tua,

and that's why he did that at halftime in the national title game because things were going bad, and I think he would have never hesitated had to uh not started moving about and that's remember two i had i think two i had a pick or a three and out they the first drive wasn't great but it didn't take long for the offense to start moving better so he left to it in but think if Tua had been ineffective for like half the third quarter, they would have brought Jalen back in. So David in the chat with a great question.

How many teams have the luxury of having two NFL draft level QBs on the roster for this debate to even happen? That's a great question, David. And that's why I'm bringing it up. That's why I even bring it up to begin with, because it's so rare that this is even a situation right now that we do spend an inordinate amount of time talking about Arch Manning for obvious reasons and we've done a a lot of time talking about how well Sark handled this and I don't know if you can say he's handled it well anymore like now it's like that's that did. I have no problem saying he's handled it fine because, again,

what makes it rare also makes it not that big of a deal because they're both good. Well, and one's probably just not going to leave no matter what you do. Right? Like, that's like the thing that is just different about the Tua situation, and I even wrote about this today on On4U. Yeah, you're going to lose one of them. Yeah.

Also, too, you had a half a football left in the season so like after that was over like it wasn't like you had to go out and try to like lick your wounds and get better like they had to win that game to win a national title or lose and the season was over like there there's the entire second half of the year is still here texas still wants to win a national championship and now you have like i've covered teams and you've covered teams that have had a identity crisis in terms of who should be leading the team and like yeah that usually doesn't play out well like i covered the braxton miller cardale jones jt barrett three-headed quarterback monster and like that team though the most talented team in college

football that year like ended up like never finding itself offensively because it didn't know who it was and i'm not saying that's going to happen to texas but i do think that like not having clear identifiable roles on the team can muddy the waters and make things weird um and i think that and it's like not even like saying it's a big deal because sark has to answer questions about it in this news conference now for the rest of the year it's a big deal about whether or not qu Quinn is shaken or the roster is divided on who they think in practice I don't think the roster is divided because I think they both think they're good this is another thing that I don't think you have to worry about like that Alabama situation the players were mad the

receivers wanted Tua like this is not that they're both good yeah now we may find out later if one just completely outshines the other that that one was better but right now i don't think they seem that different and i don't i think i would imagine if you polled all the texas players anonymously do you think both of these guys give you a chance to win games? They'd be like, yeah, we can play with both of them. Yeah. Maybe it's a clear cut and we won't talk about it anymore, but let's play it. I think we've talked about two of the quarterbacks in this game.

We haven't talked about the other one, and he deserves some conversation. You should write a column this week exploring the question of whether or not Diego Pavia would be the best quarterback on Texas's roster this year if he got moved over that would be a good um you know Vanderbilt's dog on Texas's roster for sure and like let's be honest I'm fairly certain that Texas lost to Georgia because they were looking ahead to Vanderbilt so like let's like like through the that game, like, Hey, Vandy is a top 25 team and they're catching 17 and a half at home after the most demoralizing game of like the last two years for Texas.

Like, this is a interesting spot for me. This is a very interesting spot. I think I look, Diego Pavia is a dog and I don't doubt him in any situation. I think Texas will show up prepared. I think this will be a clear eyes and full heart situation for Texas. Because I think they got woken up by Georgia. Like, oh, this is different. And look, they beat the SEC champ last year.

So it's not a, like, welcome to the SEC moment. It's a, sometimes there are going to be year. So it's not a like, welcome to the SEC moment. It's a, sometimes there are going to be games where you're playing against some dudes and it ain't going to work out for you. It's not going to go your way and you got to figure out how to deal with it. I think they're going to understand that they have to play, really show up to play every week. And this is a situation where Vandy's not sneaking up on you now they've already beaten Alabama and Kentucky like they're good they're not some plucky cute story they're good and 17 and a half a lot of points Ari but I actually think Texas is going to take this as seriously as they should and I think they cover here yeah I think vanderbilt probably is

in a situation like god i wish texas would have just beaten georgia coming off an emotional win like feeling good about themselves like i don't know that the team that is humbled and upset right now is not going to be out for blood the following week now 17 and a half points is a lot of points um and we're talking about this game being at home, which is the toughest crowd to play in front of in America. So we are... Before you tweeted me, that was a joke. They just proved that they could beat Alabama at home three weeks ago.

They probably are going to come into this game believing they can beat Texas. And I think I'm inclined to say that Texas wins the game. ago they probably are going to come into this game believing they can beat texas and i i think i'm inclined to say that texas wins the game i don't know that i'm inclined to say that they cover the spread where are you at with this i say texas covers but if you want to take vanity cover you go right ahead um no i think texas covers i think that the magic. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I think Texas is if they come out playing their best football or angry football. Um, I think Texas is probably a lot better than Alabama still. I don't know if your thought process has changed on the Longhorns. There's a lot of who's Texas beaten. Are they a mirage conversation out there? And I'm still firmly on

the, they're one of the most complete teams in the country bandwagon and the Alabama story for Vanderbilt is certainly heartwarming and fun but I don't think that the Alabama victory would be like I think it's more unlikely that that Vanderbilt could beat this Texas team than that Alabama team so I'm gonna go with with Texas and I think they might win by 20 or so points all right so we've spent 28 minutes on the game. We weren't even going to cover. Sorry, Andy. The show's off to a rock six times. That was great.

That was amazing. Yeah. Before we get to our other picks, I got to tell you about game time. And I had a personal experience with game time just yesterday. My wife wakes up yesterday morning and says, I think I'm going to take our daughter to the concert in Miami tonight. And I'm like, excuse me, you're going to do what? We don't live that

close to Miami. Miami is six hours away. The concert started at 7 p.m. Eastern time. This is 8 a.m. Eastern time. We don't have tickets to one of the most sought after concerts that that stadium has ever seen. What are we going to do? We got on game time and folks, I'm telling you, you hit that GT picks feature and you will see the best values relative to the market. So when it came up initially, there were a bunch of seats. And I'm like, I don't know if these seats are going to be good. So if you're watching, there's a photo of Taylor Swift that my wife took from where they were sitting. They were close enough for Taylor Swift to sweat on them.

My daughter gave Taylor Swift's mom a bracelet because Taylor Swift's mom was sitting behind them. That's the ticket we got on game time, the day of the concert. And I found it using that GT picks feature because I said, okay, I don't know where these are relative. And I actually did look at some of the competitors apps just to make sure we were looking at the best deals and game time, by the way, gave us the best deal. And the GT picks feature gave us the absolute best deal on the best seat that we could possibly find. It was amazing. Thank you to game time,

because that's something my daughter is always going to remember. And if you use game time, download that app, use the code staples, 20, $20 off your first purchase terms apply. Of course, if you want to go to LSU at Texas A&M this week,

it's a very hot ticket. You know what's a hot ticket? Washington, Indiana. Like you want to get into the stadium in Bloomington this week? It's about double what it was last week for Nebraska. College game day is coming. People understand the Hoosiers are where it's at. They're the hottest ticket in town now,

but you can get any seat you want pretty much on game time. Use that GT picks feature to find the best deal relative to the market. And who knows? Maybe Kurt Cignetti will sweat on you. Download game time. Use code staples $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Ari.

Those Taylor Swift tickets or those Taylor Swift pictures that you just put up on the screen your family took? My wife took those with her phone. Those are not professional photos. That's how close they were to Taylor Swift. They look like professional photos. Yeah. So it was wild. I could not believe it they sent me photos

from when they got in and it's like this is this is nuts because we didn't know because i've been to football games at that stadium before but i had never been to a concert there so i wasn't exactly sure how everything was laid out but i the game time app makes that so easy because we did have a really good idea of where they would be and i knew it would be fairly close i did not know it would be like that so they're on to you bud they're on to you right are we getting a hint of the price of that seat you are not we're not talking about that uh let's put it to the game time loves us because we do the the reads for the show there are no special deals for for people who do game time reads for taylor swift concerts it doesn't work that way so uh yeah no it's uh it's a great

memory can't put a price on members. All righty. So, well, just so you guys know, I ran into a metal pole into my car on Sunday. And then I was going seven or eight miles an hour, but I spent or I'm going to have to probably spend more on the repairs of my car than Andy did on the tickets, which is a memory that I also will cherish for the rest of my life. I wish Ari had sent the picture to producer river of that because it's one of,

I I've done this before. I've hit things that were stationary cause I'm very clumsy and I, I, I feel so bad for Ari right now because I've, I've been there. I sent the picture to river. He can put it up in up whenever he gets it. But the thing that bothers me is that I was not on my phone.

I was not texting. I was not distracted. And I just took a right in a parking lot, and it was a pole that was up to your waist. If you were walking. And those poles where they put ropes out to block off areas of the parking lot. And my car was too high and I just didn't see it. So when I turned in, I hit the front of it and it was just it's parked at the dealership right now. And after we're done recording, I have to go over there and figure out how much this thing is going to cost.

But it's been a source of anxiety for me all night because because i'd rather spend my money on taylor swift tickets on game time yeah yeah that's that's one of those deals and now now i'm just i'm hyper vigilant anytime i'm in a parking lot after after seeing the photo of ari's car all right let us pick some games we've got two friday night games that are fascinating ari we'll start in Las Vegas. Boise State at UNLV, four first place in the Mountain West. Boise State is a two and a half point favorite. I'm just going to throw two stats at you because I think whatever winds up happening with these stats will tell the story of this game. UNLV is only allowing three and a half yards per carry on the ground. Ashton Gentry is

averaging 9.9 yards per carry. Whoever's closer to their average is winning this game. Yeah, this is the most interesting G5 game of the year, right? So far. Are you surprised by the point total here or the

spread? Sorry. Um, like, did you think that Boise was going to be laying more? No, no, you know, he's good. Like you and I just played good defense all year and their offense is explosive and, and, and tricky to stop. And it's a, it's a change up compared to what most offenses look like, like, because you have to deal with the option principles and you have to be very disciplined defensively to slow them down. So I'm not surprised that the spread is close here. I expected it to be close. The question that we have to ask ourselves is,

how good do we think Ashton Gentry is? Is he going to do that? Because we saw him do it against Oregon. So I think he can do it against UNLV too. And I think that's where I come down on this game Ari is I think Ashton is going to have an Ashton Genting game Boise's defense is going to be good enough to slow UNLV down enough and they'll win the game yeah it is interesting because like as I'm doing bubble watch and as you're doing bracketology and just basically anybody who's projecting what the field's going to look

like I think that there's been this general assumption that Boise is just going to do it right like they're just going to be the 12 seed they're going to get in and they're going to and then I look at the spread here and it's like you know you want

to be really could win this game. Like really, really good. Yeah. Uh, and this is, I thought the spread was going to be two. And I thought the spread was going to be like seven.

So like when I saw that it was, you know, and maybe that means that Boise state is six points better because the game's in Vegas, but like, it's just, this seems like almost like a trap spot to me. I think that a lot of people are just going to assume

that because Boise has Ashton Genting and played well with Oregon and could have beaten, maybe should have beaten Oregon, that this team is just going to beat the crap out of UNLV. And I don't know that I think that. The other thing UNLV does is sometimes score special teams touchdowns or blocks punts or like blocks uh field goals like they are they're a very complete team and I think that's the that's why this spread is so close but again Ashton Gentry is doing something that we've never seen before and the question is do you think he can continue it and so that's where i come down is i am saying

i think boise state's gonna win and cover because ashton gentry is going to have an ashton gentry game so yeah i mean it's kind of hard to take like it's like you have to think like do you think that ricky white and haj malik williams is a better combo than ashton gentry like that's kind of like what you have to do here like what's going to win out the pass or the run? Like my gut is, or my head says Boise State. My head says Boise State. I think everyone's head says Boise State, but my gut's telling me that there's something about this.

I'm going to pick UNLV here in this spot. I think that UNL, like listen, if Ashton Gentry just rushes for 300 yards or 250 yards and four touchdowns like he does every week, then like it is what it is. I do think that there has to be a regression to the mean of some sort, right?

Or do you think that he can just average 11 yards? The Hawaii game cost him like a yard off his average. Yeah, because he's only averaging like 9.6 in that game rather than – I don't know, man. Do you think that Ashton Gentry is so otherworldly as a player that a team can't hold him to four yards a carry? I don't think UNLV can do it.

Yeah. I'm going to go UNLV because I think that this is like a, it feels like a trappy line to me because three is such a, or two and a half is so like automatic, I think for people and Boise is probably going to get the lion's share of the action. And I just think that UNLV may be a lot better all around than people are giving them credit for.

And at home in a game where, you know, they are three weeks removed from a heartbreaker against Syracuse. I think this might be a tough spot for Boise and certainly think this is going to be the first two times they play each other. I can't wait to see it. Friday's going to be awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

I got Boise State right here. This is it. Double O'Neal. If you're drinking UNLV, you're smoking crack, dude. I think that like that's how the public feels about this and with this spread never watched a unlv game this season has not watched a single one so doesn't know i i guarantee you anybody that they're gonna be so many people have strong opinions about this game who have never watched either team play

yeah they've seen the highlights from genti and they're great. But UNLV is a pretty well-rounded team who makes good special teams plays. Ricky White is somebody that I've put in my top 10 for the Heisman. Have you given him consideration? Absolutely. And Barry Odom is a great defensive coach. He can scheme a team up, and we've seen UNLV shut teams down. But I think Ashtonry is just otherworldly. So that's why I'm taking Boise state.

You are taking UNLV. I cannot wait for that game on Friday night. Let us move to another game Friday night. So a four hour drive, let's drive through Barstow. Let's go see the world. What is it? The world's biggest Chevron. The world's biggest Chevron is like 20 minutes outside of Vegas. and there's a white castle in there it's a massive it's like

but it's not the thing that's crazy is is that the first time i ever went to the world's largest chevron i had already been to bucky's so like it's not as big as bucky's and it's like this is not cool but i bet it was cool like 10 years ago like when yeah or whenever it opened because that it is a massive gas station with a bunch of pumps. But there is a Del Taco. You know how I feel about fast food Mexican. But apparently there's a Del Taco in Barstow, California that serves a burger that you can't get anywhere else because Del Taco has a certain connection.

Isn't that the parking lot where somebody saw Tupac? There was a high school football team stopped and they saw Tupac driving to Vegas uh the right before it happened it happened I'm not aware of that story so maybe but I don't know what you're talking about uh but I do know that there's a Del Taco burger on the menu and that's those are the facts that I'm up with um and there's an in and out there. And I have spent every single time I've driven. Cause usually if I'm driving from LA or Vegas, the day I'm driving there,

I'm massively hung over. There is no better place in the world than going to that in and out. That's out there. But if you're a Del Taco person, go check it out. I'm going to actually Google it while you're talking. All right. So Rutgers plays USC in Los Angeles.

We're getting you from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. This game kicks off at 8 p.m. Pacific time, 11 p.m. Eastern time. It is on Fox after a World Series game. So basically, they're going to have a World Series game. It will lead into this game. The East Coast is going to be asleep, which I'm sure the USC folks are pleased with because I don't know that they are that confident that they want people to watch this team, which is now one and four in Big Ten play. USC is a 13.5 point favorite in this game. Rutgers is coming off a loss to UCLA at home. So I just, I don't know what to think about this game Ari because USC the games they've lost

have been by a combined 14 points but they've all been in a confounding way like it is not hey they just aren't that good on defense and again that's not really the issue there are offensive issues there are occasionally defensive lapses, like in the Maryland game, where they just like the one touchdown where they just decided not to tackle anybody. There are Lincoln Riley decisions. Like in the Maryland game when it's fourth and one, and he tries to kick the field goal that ultimately gets blocked. I don't know what to do with USC right now, Ari.

Yeah. You know, and I had a nice young man who messaged me on Instagram like angrily about me having LSU outside of my top 10 this week. And it is kind of funny to think like that the USC loss is kind of negging them right now. But these two teams have branched off into completely separate directions. Right? Like it's like, and I feel like if they were to play again today that lsu would win um but i do know that usc when playing well and the reason why i bring this up is that they're capable of winning this

game by 14 points now you know what has gone wrong or why they can't seem to to figure it out like listen the head coach was asked after the game uh on Saturday, why they can't close out games. And he's responded. I don't know if he doesn't know, then how am I supposed to know? But like the bits over, I lost the bet. USC is not making the playoff,

but I still think that there is like a glimmer of hope with the players that they have on this roster, that they should be able to put together a game against the Rutgers team. That's flying across the country to play on a Friday night game on a short week to win this game by 14 points. Like I, like I like USC in the spot, but I have a hard time articulating what's wrong with them. And because of that, it's like, well, how are they not going to cover this now? Like, what are we going to, are they going to go up 28 to 14 or 28 to 10 and then blow it at the end again? Or are they actually just going to go win a game that they're 14 points

better than the opponent in and just like win? You know what I mean? Or are they actually just going to go win a game that they're 14 points better than the opponent in and just win? You know what I mean? There's such a weird program to me this year. You think Kentucky's weird. I think USC's pretty weird. I think USC's weirder than Kentucky now. Because Kentucky, the way they played at Florida

was just that they were flat. They might just not be very good. And the Ole Miss game might be a flop. And I don't know if Rutgers is built to... If USC continues to do what it's been doing and get off to starts that are pretty exciting, like the way they did against Maryland, the way they did against Penn State. I don't know that Rutgers is built to overcome a massive deficit

in the second half to cover the spread either. No, the only way Rutgers covers this spread is if their defense holds USC down initially and maybe gets some turnovers and Rutgers takes a lead. Like I can see it playing out a lot like the Wisconsin USC game did where Wisconsin took a lead, but you couldn't hold it. So I take Rutgers to cover Ari because I don't know what the heck's going on with USC and it's Friday night and it's weird. I don't think Rutgers is going to win. I think USC is going to win.

So this could be like a backdoor situation. I just, everything about USC right now is weird. And the fact that you've got a Friday night game, 8 PM Pacific time. Cause the thing is like we who live on the East coast are custom to 8 PM local starts. Like players who play on the East coast are custom to 8 PM local starts. Players who play on the East Coast are accustomed to 8 p.m. local

starts. Players who play on the West Coast never have 8 p.m. local starts. That is a weird time. All of this is weird. And that's why I'm picking Rutgers to cover. Yeah. I think that USC is just going to win a game by 14 points because they're better than the other team.

And I might sound crazy for it, but I guess we can figure out whether Lincoln Riley can show us again why they're the weirdest team in college football this year. No, you should be right. Like, you really should be right. I should be right. If this game were at like three o'clock Pacific time on a Saturday, I would be picking USC to cover. I'm only doing this because of the weirdness factor. Yeah. Because USC is already weird and you're making it weirder.

So this podcast is over. I'm going to call up the bookie and be like, Hey, I should have been right. Or I could have been right. And see if he, if he thinks that. Yeah.

Why not? See what he thinks about that. Yeah. All right. Before we get to, to our man, coach Siggs, let's talk about prize picks. Best daily fantasy game in America. Play $5.

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awesome had he played football. If you've seen the youth football highlights, holy crap, he was amazing. So download the PrizePix app. Use the code STAPLES, play $5, get $50 instantly. All right, all right. Let us go to Bloomington, Indiana, which is where College Game Day will be this week, following up on Big Noon Saturday from Fox last week. Am I crazy? Why is Indiana only a six-and-a a half point favorite in this game against Washington?

I don't know. Maybe because it's just impossible to blow everybody out on schedule all year and Washington can move the football. Is Indiana immune to a letdown spot themselves? Not that we know of, but we've never seen this before everything's new here and i think that's part of the part of the issue because the you know vegas is sitting there saying there's got to be an indiana showing up at some point it can't they can't just have become a super team because kurt signetti is coaching them there's also in their back and their quarterbacks

out uh with a thumb injury. That said, I thought Taven Jackson looked just as good. He did. Yeah. I think that this just could be a tough game. You know what I mean? Like Washington does move the football with Will Rogers pretty well.

And it's just, you know, again, it's one of these cross country flights and. We talk about it every single week. That might just put Washington into a blender a little bit. I don't know. Maybe Washington is more equipped to give Indiana the type of game that we anticipated that Nebraska would. Can I offer a counterpoint? The last time we saw Washington

play, they gave up 40 to Iowa yeah Indiana's offense is a lot better than Iowa's offense no a lot better yeah I know so it's just that's what I'm a little worried about and eventually Indiana's gonna have to be in a game with somebody in the third quarter like it's gonna happen. I don't know if it's this weekend, but I don't know what it is, Andy. They still only have to win this by a touchdown. Even if they're in a game in the third quarter, they can still win it by 10 or 14.

Yeah. I think I'm going to go Washington here, but I think Indiana's going to win, but I'm going to go with Washington on the points. Give me Indiana. I'm a believer until somebody proves otherwise. I want Indiana to cover. This is a tricky set of games this weekend.

It is. It is. And we're about to get to a really tricky one. Really tricky. And this is potentially the one we may be going live after, depending on how this thing goes. But I do love that you are now, and maybe I'm making a drastic mistake here, but you are now at the point where you're anticipating

that Indiana is just going to beat the crap out of people, and I love that. Yeah, I just believe they're good, and maybe I'm crazy, but they've done it seven times. I believe they're good, too. I believe they're good, too. I believe they're good, too. But I think good teams play bad games sometimes.

You're right. And this season, more than any, has taught us that. But I just haven't seen it yet from Indiana. So until I see it, I'm not going to try to predict it. Because we don't know when it's coming. This is going to be a fantastic game. I'm so excited. Notre Dame Navy.

Oh, boy. Notre Dame is a 12.5 point favorite. They're a midlife stadium. This is a noon Eastern kickoff on ABC. I think this spread is very high considering one of these teams ranks number 132 in the nation in plays run. Navy is going to suck possessions out of this game. They play a very deliberate style. Now, how efficient is Navy's offense?

Even though they're number 132 in the nation in plays run, they are number seven in the nation in yards per play. This is an extremely efficient offense, but this is also an offense that has not played anywhere near the athletes that they will see from Notre Dame's defense. Yeah, I mean, this is a game that we have been using to kind of illustrate whether or not Notre Dame should be worthy of the playoff, right? Like this is going to be a tentpole win for them. We're anticipating and they're 12 and a half point favorites. Like, so if you're not on the on the Notre Dame's gonna make the playoff bandwagon yet I know there's a lot of

stragglers out there it's time to um it's time to join the the ship now 12 and a half is a lot uh-huh a lot especially considering there's gonna be like three or four fewer possessions in this game than your normal game it's like they don't have the luxury of not scoring when they have the football in this game um especially if navy uh comes out and and wins uh a few possessions early and gets into the end zone so um you know i i know that playing a triple option is difficult and it's it's hard to adjust to that in the middle of the year when you haven't seen it and i think it's going to be even harder to adjust to it because a navy's really good in what it does and b it's been more be even harder to adjust to it because, A, Navy's really good in what it does, and, B, it's been more creative offensively this year.

Like, I think that, like, it's not just, you know, the same old Navy offense that we've seen from the past, you know, 20 years or whatever. Like, I think that, like, their offensive coordinator has been very creative in choosing when to throw. They are explosive. And it's just, I think that's too many points, Andy. I think Notre Dame's going to win, but I think that's going to be a hard game.

I don't think they're going to go blow. I agree. So I think there's two, there's two potential outcomes here. This is either a one possession game that we are all like on the edge of our seats at three o'clock in the afternoon, trying to figure out if Notre Dame can survive this thing or Notre Dame simply out athletes them and wins by 20. Yeah. Um, it would be electric if Navy got the ball with seven minutes and 37 seconds left in the fourth quarter down by four. Yeah. And he was like, watch them go down and do one of those triple option drives. The thing here, Andy, is that like the over under number is 51 and a half. And that's not a very high number. So if you do think that Notre Dame is going to out athlete Navy,

then that probably you're heavy on the over. Cause cause you're going to have some turnovers in that situation too. Probably. And like, also like, do you think that Navy or that Notre Dame is going to score 40 in this game? Like, I think that if Navy scores with the way that they move the ball and run the clock, that

it's going to be pretty hard for them unless they just go on a scoring barrage to cover 12.5 points. I just think it's going to be tough. It's just that there will be fewer possessions. Possessions will be more precious. It's going to be hard. It's going to be hard.

Yeah, it's going to be hard to get that many points. So I'm taking Navy to cover in this one. What you got? I'm taking Navy to cover too. I think Notre Dame is going to win by like 10. All right. Let us move to Oxford, Mississippi. We mentioned earlier that Oklahoma has fired

offense coordinator Seth Luttrell. They are at Ole Miss this weekend. Ole Miss is a 20 and a half point favorite in this game. Now, I told you I'd throw some stats at you. Ole Miss leads the nation in per carry rush defense at two yards. They are seventh in the nation in sacks per game at 3.4. Oklahoma can't block. We just saw them against an above average SEC front with South Carolina. Now they're playing potentially the best SEC front in Ole Miss. This is going to look nasty. Unless there's a serious dead cat bounce, this is going to look very similar to the South Carolina game. It's a lot of points for a team that has proven to have lulls.

It's a lot of points. But I just do not have any confidence that Oklahoma is going to be able to score. I am definitely leaning towards Ole Miss here in a game that might be 34- 10. If Oklahoma can't move the football, Ole Miss is going to have a lot of possessions and Ole Miss will be able to score probably half of them. As good as Oklahoma's defense is, as we saw in the Texas game, it wears out eventually.

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, Ole Miss is kind of a, an interesting team because, you know, a lot of people are still kind of viewing them as what we did in the preseason. And I don't know that that's the smart thing to do anymore. I think you got to start wondering whether they've got some issues, but I don't think that Ole Miss has ever been a program that I don't think can score. And I think they will score. I think Oklahoma is a disaster right now.

It's really hard to pick them. And betting Oklahoma and watching that would just be miserable. I'm going to take Ole Miss to cover here. I just don't think Oklahoma is going to be able to block them. So I think it would be very similar to the South Carolina game. Yep. All right. So we both got Ole Miss to cover.

While we're on the subject of giant point spreads in conference games, Nebraska goes to Ohio State. Coming off Nebraska getting blown out in Bloomington, this is Ohio State's first game since losing to Oregon. Ohio State's 25 and a half point favorite, Ari. And if the Indiana and Nebraska game had never happened, I'd be like, that's way too many points. Nebraska's defense is going to

be able to hold Ohio State down a little bit. I don't know that they're going to get to, because this is a 48 and a half point total. But now that I've seen Indiana exploit Nebraska's weaknesses, really exploit Dylan Raiola's weaknesses. You mentioned Cody Belair, our national scout, giving you a tutorial on Dylan Raiola's weaknesses that now you can't unsee them. I don't think Jim Knowles can unsee them either. I think he's going to have a plan. I'm a little worried about the Huskers here.

But conversely. Being stuck on for a while. Conversely, Andy, the one thing or one thing of the many things that you can nitpick about Ohio State is that despite the fact that they have an all-star group of defensive linemen, they have a hard time getting home to the quarterback. And I don't know what it is. And I don't know if it's a schematic issue with Larry Johnson and Jim Knowles not being on the same page or, you know, if they just don't have the, the Nick Bosa that I was spoiled enough to be able to cover, like watching that.

Well, they definitely don't have that. JT Tumala is good. Jack Sawyer is good, but they don't have that guy. They haven't, they haven't had a menacing edge rusher since the Bosa brothers were there like that and or may chase young too yeah yeah and those were like so i guess like the litmus test for ohio state's defensive line is you have to have a five-star

freak on your team that is the best player in the country and is a top 10 pick in the nfl draft to sack the quarterback like they have not been sacking the quarterback. So part of me feels like if Ohio State can be in Dylan Rayola's face the entire game, that Ohio State would win 45 to nothing or 45 to 10. But I do think it's fair to question whether or not you think that Ohio State's pass rush is good enough to get to where it needs to be. Do you think Indiana's pass rush is better than Ohio State's pass rush? Probably not, no. Okay, well, because Indiana did it.

I mean, I was leaning towards taking Nebraska here because that's a lot of points, and I think that it's possible that Dylan Rayola has a semi-functional game, but I just can't get out of my head the mistakes that he was making at the stage in his career, when people were in his face, I think that Ohio state should be able to get into his face. I don't know if they're going to finish the, the plays with as many sacks as you would anticipate this Ohio state

defensive line is capable of, but I just don't know what the route here is for Nebraska, keeping it close, especially because Ohio state's a week off the rested. They're probably pretty angry, embarrassed, like at home. It's just, there's not a lot. They're probably pretty angry, embarrassed at home. It's just there's not a lot going on.

It's like you said about Vandy, Texas. Vandy's probably like, man, we wish they'd beat in Georgia. I'm sure Nebraska's like, man, we wish Ohio State had beat in Oregon. Yeah. I guess I'll pick Ohio State, but I don't know that I love it. I am picking Ohio State, and I feel very comfortable with it. Maybe Nebraska proves me wrong. I hope for their sake they do. I have covered a lot of Ohio State-Nebraska games in the past and I know that this is a different program with a different

coach. But when the Ohio State-Nebraska games get ugly in the past, it's been like 63 to nothing ugly. You know what I mean? I don't know if we're headed towards that, but that's definitely on the radar too. So hopefully Dylan Rayola can figure some things out and they can get a few stops, but Ohio State is back to having to prove to people that they aren't a joke. And this is an important victory situation for them.

So we had an SEC one of these with Oklahoma Ole Miss. We had a Big Ten one of these with Nebraska, Ohio State. Now we're going to get one in the ACC. Florida State at Miami. Miami is a 21.5 point favorite at home against the Seminoles. I will point out that the last time these two teams played in Hard Rock Stadium, which is where my daughter and wife saw Taylor Swift last night, Florida State beat Miami 45-3.

It was an announcement, essentially. It was a message that Mike Norvell and company were sending to Mario Cristobal in his first year as Miami's coach. Like, hey, you got a lot of work to do, buddy. Well, guess what? The work's been done, and now you get the worst Florida State team since before Bobby Bowden showed up. Coming to Miami. Ari, I think Mario and Miami are going to send the same message right back this time.

Yeah. I think I put real money on Florida State six times or five times this year and lost every single time. I just can't do it anymore. Like, I do think that, like, you could convince yourself that Florida State's offense is functional enough

against Miami's leaky defense to score 14 or 17 or even 21 points, and that 21 and a half points laying is a lot. Miami has been playing in a bunch of close games the last month and, you know, frankly could have lost twice. Like, this is a lot. Miami has been playing in a bunch of close games the last month and frankly could have lost twice. This is a massive spread. I don't have anything left to give Florida State

in terms of faith. I have no faith in them. I also think that Miami has one of the three best, if not the best offense in college football from just a pieces standpoint and a functionality standpoint, I think that Miami's going to kick the crap out of them.

And I'm done with the Florida State. This was a weird game last year where Florida State was clearly the better team and Miami hung in for three and a half quarters. But I can't see this Florida State team doing that. That Miami team last year was much better than this Florida State team is this year. I think Miami is going to pound them mercilessly to send a message. So I will take Miami to cover as well. Yep.

Let us go to Tuscaloosa. This is not a three touchdown line, but I was shocked when I saw this line pop up on Sunday, and it didn't change going into Monday morning, which also surprised me. Missouri's at Alabama. Alabama is a 13.5-point favorite. Ari, do the folks in Vegas know that Nick Saban doesn't work there anymore? Yeah, I think that they also know that Alabama has a lot of the players and nick saban brought in

right uh are you like let me ask you this are you fully out on bama this year in terms of like a team that could make a run no i'm not i i think alabama could make a run i think alabama could still make the playoff i think alabama still has one of the best rosters in the country i'll tell you what i'm out on. I'm out on the idea of Alabama as Nick Saban's Alabama. It's not like, Oh yeah. One of Nick Saban's superpowers was getting 18 to 22 year olds to perform in a consistent fashion week after week, after week, after week, that, that made him better than almost every other college coach, because that's what's the hardest part to do is not have those ups and downs and ups and downs. So it's entirely possible. This is an

up week for Alabama. I was going to say, yeah, right. And they crush Missouri, but I saw Alabama get beat by Vanderbilt, not losing a fluky way to Vanderbilt. They got beat by Vanderbilt. I saw them in a four quarter fight against South Carolina that South Carolina, had they not played so sloppy would have won. I saw them lose to Tennessee in a game where Tennessee couldn't do anything offensively in the first half. Ari, this is just not the invincible team we're used to seeing. And Missouri is an interesting one because they're coming off a game where they had it lost. They were done. They were cooked.

And then Brady Cook comes back after getting an MRI, comes back into the game, and leads them to a win against Auburn that looked impossible in the middle of the third quarter. This is going to be a very confident Missouri team. Missouri also has good players. Okay, we talked about Alabama with who's the truly special players, like Ryan Williams, and I think Tyler Booker is probably one of those truly special players too. But wouldn't you call Luther Burden one of those guys well i think that luther

burden's probably is he the most special ryan williams says i mean yeah would you take a single player on alabama's roster over luther burden for one game right now i might take ryan williams i would be really good would you yeah yeah because he's i mean if you would you're not crazy like no luther has the better proven over measurables right now and he's older but i'd probably still take ryan williams because he's a dog so i think i would take ryan williams's aura long term like i would take ryan williams if i could keep him and benefit from it i'm just saying like right now on saturday who's the better football player uh yeah you know luther Luther Burden is really, really good. And we also saw that the other part of this is we also saw Missouri go to Texas A&M and get shellacked.

So like, I think that Alabama is going to beat the crap out of them on Saturday. Like, I think that I think that they have been down for three weeks or a month and eventually like they are going to play a good game and i think when they play a good game it could get ugly for a team that has been down in the dumps as well so like i don't know oh hey hey kevin we agree at some point alabama will play a good game again um i just kind of feel like sentiment is down on bama right like they they tennessee's defense is nasty like i don't think that like I'm out on the ability for Alabama. Missouri's defense is not Tennessee's defense. So like,

I, I kind of like Bama in this spot. I, and I think that it is well within the realm of possibility. And we're going to find out everything there is to find out about this team when they play LSU in a few weeks, um, that they are alive in the playoff race in

three weeks from now. Like, I'm not out on Bama yet. I'm not out on Bama, but if you're going to tell me that they're certainly going to dominate in this game, I'm not necessarily going to believe you. Oh, no. Because they can't look dominant in weeks. So I'm going to take Missouri to cover here. If you're going to give me almost two touchdowns,

I will take Missouri to cover. So it's going to be interesting to watch because I completely understand where you're coming from. And I do this realizing that this may be a damn breaks kind of game and Alabama beats him by 28 being a person who has had some pretty lows in my life when it comes to like trying to pick these games the thing that I am constantly reminded of in existing in this world week to week is that what happened last weekend or two weeks ago doesn't always mean anything.

You know what I mean? It doesn't – your perceptions of – Except when Nick Saban was coaching Alabama, it did, and now it doesn't. I'm just saying across the board in the sport, like, oh, this team looked like crap last week, and then they come out and look like the 2000 Rams. So, like, it's just 2000 Ravens on defense. I'm just going to go with Alabama

because I think they're 14 points better than Missouri, period. All right, we're going to stay in the SEC, but before we do that, I'm going to answer a question from Doug in the chat because it's a really good question. What about Thursday night when undefeated Pitt hosts one loss Syracuse? We are picking that game tomorrow. That's a bonus pick. There were so many games that I wanted to pick.

I made this list way too long. We're going to do that as a bonus pick on Tuesday. Electric. Yeah, because there's a lot to talk about with that one. But I do want to make sure we do it either on Tuesday or Wednesday so people have some time to think about it because that game is Thursday night. And what a treat to have that game on a Thursday night.

Speaking of treats, LSU is headed to College Station. Vegas loves A&M, has loved A&M all season. A&M is a three and a half point favorite in this game. I cannot wait to see this game. I'm so excited for it. But Ari, I'm going to tell you right now, there's no advanced analysis for me on this game. There will be none. It doesn't matter what I think about either team's scheme. It doesn't matter what I think about either team's players, coaching, whatever. I have picked against LSU the past two weeks and been hilariously wrong. I am not picking against LSU this week.

I am taking the LSU money line. I don't care what anybody says. I don't care what it, what reasons anyone gives me. I'm tired of LSU making me wrong. So I'm going to give them a chance to make me right. You know, LSU can make you wrong in another different type of way too, right? You can be wrong on a variety of ways. I'm with you. I'm with you. How much stock do we put in USC's win over LSU? Like at one point, like none. I think I think they're different teams now. OK, so and I'm with you on that.

And it's kind of the same thing, too, of like the Clemson situation. It's like how many weeks have to go by before you can forgive a team for what happened in their opener? And it is interesting because I have Clemson in my top seven. On my weekly rankings, and I have LSU around number 11. And when you look at the two teams, you certainly could make the case that LSU's loss at the beginning of the year is more forgivable than Clemson's. LSU hasn't been blowing people out the same way that Clemson has, but they also probably have played a much tougher schedule.

They looked awesome against Arkansas though. The other night. And look, LSU seems like they are kind of hitting a peak right now. And Texas A&M still what two or three weeks removed from that big blowout of Mizzou is not as proven of an entity to me as LSU now is. Now, here's the thing with A&M and the Mississippi State game. I think Mississippi State is getting better every week,

so I don't put a lot of stock in Mississippi State keeping that game somewhat close. I think A&M's really good. I think both of these teams get after the quarterback really well, and that's what makes LSU different this year than last year, is I don't know if on the back end LSU is that much better, but they are really good at harassing and stressing your quarterback out. And I think that changes the math on the defense considerably.

And Texas A&M is maybe even better than them at doing that. So I think both quarterbacks are going to have a long night. We talked to T-Bob about Tiger Stadium, right? And Death Valley and what that can do. Kyle Field's going to be really loud on Saturday night. It's going to be electric. It's going to be awesome. Electric.

I don't know if I think that Texas A&M is the better football team right now, but I do like the value of just taking LSU to win the game. Yeah, I'm taking LSU Moneyline. Again, it's for completely stupid reasons because I was stupid enough to pick against them the last two weeks. And as Ari points out, they could very easily prove me wrong again. But I'm done not believing in them. LSU is kind of, you know, they're ascending right now.

It's hard to not like that. Like, I think that it's easy to get caught up in that. I think that LSU money line is a good value play. I also think that LSU on the road could, you know, see some issues. I think I'm going to take Texas A&M to win the game. I don't know that they're going to cover. I think I might take the points, but think that A&M wins. So you're taking LSU to cover.

Yeah, I think that's just kind of like a defense mechanism because I don't know what's going to happen. And I don't want to piss off anybody. But seriously, I do want to piss somebody off. I just don't know who to piss off in this situation. You've had so much fun with both fan bases. I don't know. It's tough.

Somebody DMed me on Instagram to my personal account this morning to tell me that I am still salty that Jaden Daniels did not win the Heisman Trophy and that I hate LSU. That's what I woke up to. He didn't win the Heisman Trophy. You didn't think he told the story of the, no, no,

he's saying he's salty. Right. Because he did. Yeah. And you didn't vote for him. Yeah. Right. And like that,

this has been a burden that I've been carrying around in my chest every day of my life since the Heisman ceremony. I really think some of these folks think we think about this stuff a lot more than we do. No, it's like I think about my hatred for LSU every five minutes of every day of my life. Even when I'm holding my daughter. The best tailgaters in America. They'll offer you a drink whenever you're in town.

Like who would hate them other than like Alabama fans and Auburn fans? I think that LSU was great. And I hope, I wish that we could get past this place where you want to know the actual truth. I'm going to unveil the curtain when it comes to like bias and hate. Sure. We got five games to pick in a hundred, an hour 13 into the show.

Let's let's let's. I'm just going to tell you this. So Andy. Okay. Here's my actual take on fans and college football. By and large, everybody's basically the same. You know what I mean? Like people are people.

So why should it be you and I should get along so awfully? Like everyone's the same. Like your colors are different, but everybody loves football. Everybody's passionate about their team. Everybody behaves the same way when somebody doesn't like their team. You're all the same. I don't have any ill will towards anybody because I think that again, they're all the same. Nobody ever wants to hear that, but that's true.

All right. Let us move to Jam Lando. BYU at UCF. Vegas loves UCF. BYU is only a one and a half point favorite in this game. Now UCF went to Ames, was in a position to win the game and got Rocco beckoned. Beckoned at the end of the UCF fans will say it was because of the pass interference call.

And you know, the pass interference call certainly helped, you know, the pass interference call certainly helped, but they also committed pass interference. The question is, do we think BYU trips up here? Now, UCF has gotten better on offense with Jacuri Brown at quarterback. That's the Miami transfer. KJ Jefferson got benched a couple weeks ago. Brown is still a much better runner than he is a thrower, but this UCF was, was winning the Iowa state game because Iowa state set up UCF.

There was a pick six. There was one that should have been a pick six that the guy dropped before he got across the goal line, but then UCF just punched it in. So if BYU takes care of the ball, I think BYU wins this game pretty comfortably. Jake Ratzliff, I mean, you saw him against Oklahoma State. He was nails at the end of that game. I cannot wait to see this game, though, because I just get the feeling, based on watching UCF Iowa State that this is going to be weird again yeah well I mean the spread is telling you it's going to be weird it's not like if it's weird it's when it's weird it's going to be weird it's just a matter of

whether or not you believe that BYU is a team that's going to be able to run the table in this conference and like last week was my spot I picked Oklahoma State money line um on Friday night and was almost right and then wasn't. Like, this is another weird spot where you would think that BYU just is a better football team. But, like, when do we get rid of the big 12 is going to big 12 thing? I mean, I'm still holding on to it. Like, I think that, like, BYU is going to trip.

And when they do, it's going to be in a game like this. So you know what? I'm picking UCF in this game. There you go. Got the Knights. The bounce house will be bouncing. I will take BYU to cover. Let us move to Eugene.

Another three touchdown plus spread in a conference game, but this time between two ranked teams illinois going to oregon oregon is a 21 and a half point favorite ari i don't think they're going to take my suggestion to bring the red grange uniforms so i think it'll be uh illinois and their their normal whites and uh for that reason i'm picking oregon to cover because the red grange uniforms are worth like three touchdowns. Yeah. Uh, I felt pretty good last week when I thought that, uh, Oregon would, you know, use the Ohio state when as fuel to kind of ascend and they did so against Purdue. I know Illinois is a fairly good team. Um, and a team that has only lost once this year. But like Oregon is one of the juggernauts of the sport.

The game is at home. It's in the middle of the afternoon. Like it's just like a body clock. I just don't know that Illinois has the, has the athletes to keep up in this one. I don't know if there'll be able to cover them. I don't know if there'll be able to score enough. Like, I just don't know what the,

the route to Illinois being in this game is. Well, and like Illinois Penn State the score was close for a while but you never got the sense that Illinois was in that game and I think we're gonna feel that way with this one too and Oregon's more explosive than Penn State so that's why I'm pretty comfortable picking Oregon to cover here yeah and like Penn State Illinois was a 14 point difference and like Penn State was like lethargic and not scoring that entire game

like if Illinois plays that same type of game against Oregon they're going to lose by 24 28 31 like it's what's going to happen so you know this is a good spot for Illinois a team that's exciting, a team that has got champagne popping bottles.

I get it. I just like Oregon a lot this year, and I'm getting closer and closer to picking them as my national champion. Well, and that's the thing. We talked about LSU kind of being ascendant. It feels like once Oregon kind of figured some stuff out that they became a little bit different than the team we saw against Idaho and the team we saw against Boise State. So I think they have hit their stride, which is why I don't have a problem picking them in this game.

We'll stay in the Big Ten, Ari. This will be a quick one. Northwestern at Iowa. This is not one of the weeks where we pick the Northwestern spread, where we pick the Iowa spread. We hardly ever pick the Northwestern spread, but we're not picking the Iowa spread this week. We are picking the Iowa total. The total in this game is 37 and a half.

Ari, we are now in Iowa over podcast, partially because Iowa's offense is better, but also because Iowa's defense is worse. Michigan State exposed Iowa's defense last week. Northwestern's not been great i don't know they're gonna score a bunch but i think iowa may be able to hit this total by itself and i think between the two of them they can go over okay yeah over all right iowa over we are an iowa over podcast that's all that needs to be said. One more in the big 10. This is an interesting number. I think I found this interesting in the opposite way that I found Alabama, Missouri

interesting. So Penn State at Wisconsin, Penn State is a six and a half point favorite on the road. And I realized part of this is the on the road factor, but this feels like a low number to to me, Ari. Yeah, it does. The thing is, Penn State has ascended up to top five in the polls, top three in the polls, in large part because they're just one of the few undefeated teams left in college football. The way

that they won at USC, I thought was impressive. Are we sure they're a top three team in Americaica like is that what is that what we can say no we're not sure about that at all um i think they're really good though and i think their defense is really good i think they've got good some some good pieces i think they're seven points better than than wisconsin i think that this might be kind of what a tricky peacock night game on the road you know camp camp Randall does get loud.

I just don't see Wisconsin being much of a threat here. And Wisconsin's now improved the five and two. They beat Northwestern 23 to three. They beat Rutgers 42 to seven. Like it seems like they're starting to feel much better. They've beaten their last, their last three wins are by 20 points or more. They actually took a lead on USC and then couldn't hold it hold it though like i just think we saw you and i saw wisconsin a person against alabama they don't have the athletes i don't think to keep up and penn state discovering that tyler warren is their

x factor i think changes some things too because when's the last time Penn state had somebody on offense that completely scared you? Is it Jahan Dotson or do you have to go really go back to Saquon Barkley? Yeah. No, Jahan Dotson was, he was awesome. Okay.

So, but Tyler Warren is someone who truly scares you like, and especially because now you have no freaking clue where he's going to start every play. In the most Penn State way possible, too, by the way. Tyler Warren is the personification of Big Ten weapon. That's the guy. He can play center and catch the touchdown.

I don't know if he's going to catch 19 passes again, but it's possible. No, I think Penn State's going to cover the touchdown. I don't know if he's going to catch 19 passes again, but it's possible. No, I think Penn State's going to cover the spread. I think Penn State is going to continue to win, and there's going to be an important big game in State College on November 2nd when they host Ohio State. I think that we're going to get there,

and Penn State's going to be unbeaten, and I think they're going to win this game by tennis points. I'm on Penn State here. I'm with you. I think Penn State covers. Ari, this weekend is going to be amazing. We didn't even pick all the games we want to pick. Tomorrow, we got your bonus Pitt-Syracuse pick.

I'm so excited because there's not, other than LSU A&M, there's not that one glaring, you know, huge monster matchup like Texas, Georgia or like Ohio State and Oregon. But there's so many that are like, ooh, this is very interesting. This is intriguing. We got Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, finger food, Friday appetizer, Saturday meal. Like we got a we got a full week coming up. Okay, so Thursday is little pigs in a blanket, right?

Oh yeah, little finger foods. Yeah, yeah. Anything you can put a little toothpick in. Friday's the heavy apps. Friday's like your bacon-wrapped scallops. You went to somewhere really classy and they have the people passing around. The mozzarella stick is the,

uh, heavy appetizer. The heaviest app. Well, I mean, the heaviest app is Buffalo wings, but some people have a hard time putting that into the appetizer category. It can also be an entree.

Yeah, that's true. An entree. yeah i mean loaded skins uh mozzarella sticks fried mushrooms can we talk can we have classy see i think these are classy heavy apps because we have the maybe the best group of five game of the year so far and then a big 10 game after that have you never gone to a nice steakhouse that does fried cheese that's just a block of fried it's just a block mozzarella stick with some i know i know what it is ari ari friday night this friday night is the seafood tower it is it is it is um but i'm still gonna get the fried mozz. Come on.

What are we doing here? You eat all the fried mozzarella you want. Yeah. I'm hitting the shrimp and the crab claws. Yeah. Keep them coming. Make that tower as tall as humanly possible. Guys, it's going to be an amazing week.

We have so much to talk about. And by the way, keep your ears open. We could have a very, very special guest. A very, very, very, very, very special guest on Tuesday's show. We'll let you know. But things are looking good. Very, very, very, very, very, very special guest. We'll talk to you Tuesday.