Andy & Ari On3 - Can Penn State (+3.5) FINALLY take down Ohio State | Can South Carolina (+3.5) SHOCK Texas A&M?

Episode Date: October 28, 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. I dare ya. That’s seven delicious ways to try the nuggs you already love. Pick a flavor, grab some extra napkins and prepare to nugg like you’ve never nugged before. 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. JLAB is gearing up for college football with some of the top talent in the game – from Travis Hunter to Ohio State’s Will Howard and Quinshon Judkins. These football stars embody JLab’s core values of innovation, performance, and excellence. Just as JLab pushes the boundaries of audio tech, these athletes redefine their sport with skill and dedication. Whether you’re traveling to watch your favorite team, or streaming the game on your mobile device, JLAB has you covered. Find the blue box at retailers near you or visit jlab.com.(0:00-0:38) Wendy's Saucy Nuggets(0:38-13:40) Intro: Who was Mike Elko dissing?(13:41-15:15) PrizePicks Ad(15:16-23:52) Texas A&M at South Carolina(23:53-25:37) Gametime Ad(25:38-35:17) Penn State at Ohio State(35:18-35:54) JLAB Headphone(35:55-41:32) Vanderbilt at Auburn(41:33-44:38) Ole Miss at Arkansas(44:39-48:22) Pitt at SMU(48:23-50:18) Wisconsin at Iowa, Donating to Children's Hospital(50:19-59:07) Florida vs Georgia(59:08-59:59) We think you should get Wendy's for lunch(1:00:00-1:02:19) Texas Tech at Iowa State(1:02:20-1:05:09) Indiana at Michigan State(1:05:10-1:08:30) Louisville at Clemson(1:08:31-1:12:24) Kentucky at Tennessee(1:12:25-1:13:08) Conclusion; See you tomorrow! Happy Monday! It’s time for Andy and Ari to pick some games. The featured attraction is Ohio State heading to Penn State as a 3.5-point favorite in a game that will have massive College Football Playoff and Big Ten title implications. Andy and Ari also will pick… Vanderbilt at Auburn (-6.5) Total: 48.5 Ole Miss at Arkansas (+6.5) Total: 55.5 Pittsburgh at SMU (-7.5) Total: 60.5 Wisconsin at Iowa (-3.5) Total 42.5 Oregon at Michigan (+15.5) Total: 45.5 Florida vs. Georgia (-16.5) Total: 52.5 Texas Tech at Iowa State (-14.5) Total: 57.5 Indiana at Michigan State (+6.5) Total: 50.5 Louisville at Clemson (-12.5) Total: 60.5 Texas A&M at South Carolina (+3.5) Total: 46.5 Kentucky at Tennessee (-15.5) Total: 44.5 Subscribe to On3!  Watch us on YouTube instead! https://youtube.com/live/haUFG_eGyuQ Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

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prepare to nug like you have never nugged before for a whole new way to nug it's got to be wendy's at participating u.s wendy's Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 Happy Monday. We are picking some games. Ari, but first we have to get to the bottom of a mystery that you and I were talking about on Saturday, and you brought this up to me. You pointed this out to me, and I couldn't stop thinking about it because there was a quote from Mike Elko, the Texas A&M coach,

after the LSU game that I thought sounded like a shot at Jimbo Fisher. And you're like, that kind of sounds like a shot at Brian Kellett. And I was like, wait, wait, is Ari right? Yeah, I don't know if I'm right, Andy. Just like when he said it, I saw him say it because I don't know. I'm sure you're like this too, just from years of habit. But after games, I really do try to go listen to coaches' news conferences. And when I heard him say it the first time, I was like,

who's he talking about? Like I wasn't – and like when you do the gymnastics in your head, Andy, it's like there are a few people that it could actually make sense again. Like if he's talking about Jimbo, it makes sense because I think it's an inflammatory and exciting way to say, hey, I'm cleaning up this disaster. But if you're talking about Brian Kelly, LSU recruits Houston a lot. Like that's a place that you in a program that A&M is going to go against 365 days a year.

So that would make sense. Like people were talking about colorado and other things too it's like he has no nothing to gain from like talking about colorado like yeah like work backwards right like yeah i mean he colorado would never cross his mind right so so let's see what mike elko said let's hear exactly what he, and then you and I can get to the bottom of this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I think it's the way we talk to the young people. I think the things that we talk about, the messaging, how we bring really good people into the building. We talk about doing things together. We talk about culture, and everyone talks about it, but then we go out and we live it every day. And I think we back up our actions. We're very honest. We're very open. And this is a real program.

It's not fake. It's not a politician running this program, talking fast and BSing everybody. This is a real program. And for all the recruits out there, this is a real place. And if you want to be really good at football, this is a really program. And for all the recruits out there, this is a real place. And if you want to be really good at football, this is a really good place to be. So Ari, when I heard that, I said,

where have I heard this before? Because I have heard this message before. And I realized I know exactly where I've heard this message before. The 1995 Source Awards. Yeah! message before the 1995 Source Awards yeah yeah yeah first of all I'd like to thank God second of all i'd like to thank my whole entire tempo family on both sides you know what i'm saying like to tell tupac keep his guards up we ride with him and one other thing i'd like to say.

Any artist out there who want to be an artist and want to stay a star and don't want to have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the record, dancing, come to Death Rock. That's Suge Knight.

He's talking about... Well, he called himself Puff Daddy then, but he's talking about well he called himself puff daddy then but he's talking about diddy he would ruin all the good notorious big songs by trying to rap on them yeah and it's a completely different discussion now than it was back then but hey andy the uh thing that is interesting is like do you have to consider the fact that like elko could have also made a mistake and just said something that he thought was like you know 10 people in his head and wasn't actually talking specifically about one person but when you do say that this is what happens so um i don't think you might be right. Like that's probably what actually happened, but that's not nearly as funny. But yes, I, it's a very good chance.

Mike Elko was sitting there going, I am tired of everybody thinking Texas A&M is this eight and four, seven and five program that we're just gonna be the same old, same old thing. And like, this is a new day. And that's maybe what he meant, but it's much funnier to imagine that he is pointing this in the direction of either Jimbo Fisher or Brian Kelly, and you can make it work either way. Like the fast talking part that Mike Elko said, well, no one talks faster than Jimbo Fisher.

No one. It's like 200 words per minute. It's insane. Like I remember talking to one of the ladies who, so there's a company called ASAP sports that transcribes press conferences. You hire a professional stenographer from this company and they transcribe press conferences. And I remember talking to one of the ladies who does the transcriptionsions and she was going over coaches this was years and years ago this is jimbo fisher still at florida state urban meyer's the head coach at florida and she's like yeah urban meyer

never finishes a sentence so that's kind of tough jimbo fisher talks way too fast and then i i asked her about nick saban she's like that man has perfect diction. It's like amazing. But Jimbo Fisher, very fast talking. Funny you bring that up because it's the greatest invention to sports writers ever. Like, what was it like? The New Balance tennis shoe. Hulk is quickly taking over that market. The voice recorder.

Levi jeans that are an inseam that are four inches too long than you're supposed to wear uh yes and then of course asap sports transcription service like i'm trying to think of what else and marriott points somewhere in the all exactly but uh yeah it's funny you bring that up because urban meyer was very difficult to transcribe because he would start talking and he would say something and you knew where it was going to end, but he never finished the sentence. So like a lot of times,

if you go back and read those ASAP sports transcriptions to cut and paste into a story, rather than listening back to your tape recorder and doing it yourself, it's very broken English. When you're listening to him say it, it makes sense. But when you read it, it's like, what's in you're listening to him say it, it makes sense. But when you read it, it's like, what's this guy like finish a thought. So that's funny that you bring that up.

That's a blast from the past. But you know, the funniest thing about this, Andy, is that if Mike Elko had the intention of just dreaming up in his head, what you said, which is what Texas A&M was perceived to be and how it's different. Obviously, this was a recruiting sales pitch to the players who were at Kyle Field and, of course, anybody who is considering Texas A&M. He, to a T, perfectly described Jimbo Fisher.

So even if it isn't an over-attempt. Did he? Because I think he perfectly described Brian Kelly. No, no, I know. Brian Kelly was a poli-sci major at Assumption College. He interned in the office of a state senator. He worked on the 1984 Gary Hart presidential campaign, which, by the way, not the more interesting 1988 Gary Hart presidential campaign.

Gary Hart was like a family values candidate. In 1988, there were photos of him with a woman named donna rice on a boat called the monkey business like sitting on she's sitting on his lap she's not his wife like it was amazing but the family values weren't there for him possibly not possibly not but that was not the one brian kelly worked on that was the way more interesting 1988 when brian kelly was already into his coaching career by that point uh but if that would have happened in 84 would it have gotten in a way of him rising in the coaching profession like i doubt it i think he was probably like stuffing envelopes in some local office in massachusetts i don't i don't think he would have gotten any trouble over that. But he, so he is the, like what other SEC coach or coach that Mike Elko recruits against worked on a presidential campaign?

Nobody. Here's the other part. Mike Elko was a freshman at Penn in August 1995. He was probably in preseason camp with the football team there as a freshman. He would have been aware of the Suge Knight speech at the Source Awards. That's something he was aware of. And he knew he's doing his come-to-death row moment here.

Yeah. Guess who among the coaches he recruits against wants to be all up in the video dancing i think we know in freaking kelly look at there he is all video dancing this podcast is going to be perfect for conspiracy theory youtube let me tell you um yeah i didn't put that together until just now so i'm happy that that that hit you um it is hilarious though if he is talking about jimbo fisher but wasn't overtly attempting to insult him that the description that he gave was a literal description of who he is so whether it was intentional or not andy like yeah he nailed it so

and you know what is the thought of a and m coming into the year uh that they spend a bunch of money they pay all their players they will sell their soul for coordinators with checkered pasts and they never win anything like that's what people thought about texas a and m coming into the year um and a lot of that has to do with the way that Jimbo Fisher ran that program. The fact that they never really reached what they could have reached despite the fact they had a ton of talent. Now, Mike Elko, I think, is the exact opposite of what you were anticipating from A&M in this last coaching carousel situation, right? Like when Jimbo was fired, I remember the candidate lists. I mean, you had Dabo Sweeney on there.

You had, you know, John Gruden on there. Like everybody thought that Texas A&M was going to go try to do what USC or LSU did and go write the fattest imaginable check possible to go get somebody with the most, you know, star power or the most name recognition to win the press conference. But what they did was they spent less. They did an incentive-based contract for a coach that had turned Duke around. And it really did seem to be like, okay, this is exactly what Texas A&M needs.

Now, I didn't have Mike Elko turning into Suge Knight on my bingo card. If that's the persona that he takes on, the difference have Mike Elko turning into Suge Knight on my bingo card. Like if that's the persona that he takes on, like the difference between Mike Elko and Suge Knight, Andy, it has to be said. Is he never Mike Elko never dangled vanilla ice over a balcony? Like vanilla. I said that didn't happen.

Yeah. I, you saw the, the, the death row movies, you know, he did some crazy stuff. Um,

and I think he's currently in prison. Um, former UNLV football player Suge Knight, by the way. Yeah, who, by the way, would have loved the ride of this whole Sluka situation? If UNLV was out, I mean, sorry, if Suge Knight was out... What would have happened to Sluka if

Suge Knight was on the team? I don't know what would have happened to Sluka, but I think that they would have had some death row money the way. The difference, though, Andy, not to go too in-depth here here is that when he made that speech, like death row already had Snoop. They already had Tupac. Like they already had like a very bad boy ish type,

like awesome music taking over the West coast type mentality where Elko is still building it. Now, if what, if, um, Marcel Reed turns into Tupac and it is just one of the stars of the sport? Like if we're going to go down the death row record.

Look at you connecting the dots. I love it. I love it. Because Nick Skorton and Snoop Dogg, right? Nick Skorton might be Dr. Dre. Yeah, because I'm trying to think. Tupac turned out to be the face of it, right? At the time.

Because he was very highly publicized. Yeah. The way they got Tupac was a little bit. It was like, hey, we're going to take care of you. We're going to take care of you legally. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. A&M? Money? Take care of you and i know yeah yeah so yeah a and m money let's take care of lee i don't know just ah okay we'll we'll get deeper down this rabbit hole we're gonna pick

a and m south carolina we'll do that as our first game we pick because because we're on the subject right now but first i gotta tell you about prize picks because most fun daily fantasy game in America, use the code Staples, play $5, get $50 instantly. I had a $5 five square play that I did over the weekend that it didn't hit. But if it had, would have been 70 bucks. Pretty sweet. And if you play that $5 and even if you lose, you could play 10 more of those. And who knows? Who knows what happens?

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So get ready for your Jordan McLeod square on Tuesday. But that's how you do it. Pick your squares. The more you play, the higher the potential payout. Use the code staples, play $5, get $50 instantly for new users. That's prize picks. All right. All right. Let us pick this South Carolina, Texas A&M game. Normally we go in the order that the games are getting played, but we've been talking about Texas A&M. So let's talk Texas A&M at South Carolina. This is a blinking trap game. Texas A&M coming off the huge win against LSU. South Carolina coming off an open date.

We know South Carolina's defense can get after you. The last time we saw South Carolina, they were demolishing Oklahoma. Is this a trap for the Aggies who are favored by three and a half on the road? A trap? Three and a half points? That's like a just straight up – I mean, I define a trap as you're favored by 17 and you're in a game in the fourth quarter. That's what I think a trap is.

Three and a half is you better go out and get a win here by one. You know what I mean like I don't know if Vegas is just a little bit late to the party here and this is an opportunity of a lifetime or if this is a letdown spot um but I don't know if I would consider this a trap this is a tough game on the road yeah I Willie bryce stadium is pretty tough environment when south carolina is good and especially at night this is going to be one of those like sandstorms you're going to be pumping they're going to be going nuts they're going to be waving stuff like a and m has got to be ready for this and i this is actually kind of a good test i think for mike elko's administration here

you know we talked about his come to death row speech like if he's this guy if he's that guy he'll have him ready like they won't they won't go in there thinking oh we crushed lsu in the second half we're gonna roll over these guys like they will understand the difficulty of the assignment here my question for you ari is with marcel reed now that south carolina probably Carolina probably knows Marcel Reed's the starter we think we assume we think do they game plan differently because LSU didn't adjust when Reed came in and that was probably the biggest problem but like when when Reed was the starter before Wegman came back from injury like you look at the art the game plan Arkansas had for Texas

A&M Arkansas shut their offense down plan Arkansas had for Texas A&M. Arkansas shut their offense down pretty good. It's just A&M shut Arkansas's offense down better. So South Carolina with a very good defense, probably going to say, look, we don't, we aren't sure Marcel Reed can beat us deep. Although there was one throw against LSU that suggests he can. But I think you worry more about Wegman doing that than you do Reed,

and you just load the box and say, okay, you've got to beat us through the air. Yeah, if you go back and look at some of the games that A&M played when Reed was just playing because Wegman was injured, they weren't an offensive juggernaut. The way that they looked in the second half of the LSU game was almost a lot of LSU was not prepared defensively to adjust correct to the the legs that Marcel Reed and that's why I don't I don't assume A&M is going to roll over South Carolina South Carolina is good but except teams get better as the year goes on. Marcel Reed did a very good job in backup duty,

enough so that people were upset even when Conor Wegman started the Mizzou game. Now those angry thoughts went away when they rolled over Mizzou pretty good, but I think it's possible, too, that A&M is starting to get what they are and the offense will rally around the spark plug. And, you know, the thought process is here is maybe A&M is just a much better, more built, more ready team to compete.

Like, we're going to find that out this week. Because if A&M is the team that we watched in the second half of the LSU game, then A&M is a team that covers the spread easily, right? Like if A&M is a team that's in your bracketology in my, my field, this is the team that covers the spread easily. And when I say easily, I mean, 10, 14, 17 point win potentially. They've got a very good defense. Their offensive line is very good. They've got a very good defense. Their offensive line is very good.

They've got young players who are getting better every week. A&M is in a position here to prove that this isn't just a fast start because the schedule was weak. They have a chance to prove that they are legit and a team that can win games in December. And that's what they need to do. That's the difference between old A&M and what Mike Elko wants A&M to be and what every Texas A&M fan wants A&M to be.

Because this is a program that would win a game like this at that point in the season and then would just flounder. They'd lose a game they shouldn't lose. Things would snowball on them. That's what A&M has to avoid here and remember A&M is the only SEC team that has not lost a conference game like that's a huge advantage for them if they get past South Carolina it really does probably set up the Texas game for a spot in the SEC championship game. They'll have to play at Auburn as well. That's our other of the three conference games remaining. But this South Carolina game is very tough. If they can get past this, they're in an incredible situation that I think only the most

optimistic A&M fans would have said would happen in year one under Mike Elko. But I got to say, Ari, I'm just impressed with the way, because their offensive line has played really well. And they lost Naboo, their starting center, early in the season. They're playing now without Chase Basantas, who's one of their better offensive linemen, and they're still blocking really well. Yeah, it's a shame that two of their better linemen are out for the year.

Like, Posantas was a big-time pickup in recruiting world, too. So that's a blow. But, yeah, I'm with you on that. Now, I am very curious if there is any change up at the quarterback position this week. I think it's going to be something to watch. Like, what if Wegman starts again? What if they start Wegman and everybody's expecting Reid and then they're not prepared for the pass? I don't know. I got news for you though, Andy. If this game is

a three and a half point spread, I think the Auburn game's at home though, right? No, the Auburn game's at Auburn. You're looking at another game there too that's probably a three, four point spread. This is an important day for A&M to get through this, regroup You're looking at another game there, too. That's probably a three, four point spread. So like this is. This is an important day for for A&M to get through this, you know, regroup a little bit against New Mexico State and then try to get to A&M or the A&M Texas game with zero losses in conference play. So let us pick this game because we have established South Carolina is good. This is going to be a good environment. This is a very hard game.

It feels a lot like a pick-em at this point. Do we think Texas A&M can cover this? Do we think South Carolina can pull the upset? Where are we at on this, Ari? I think that A&M, the A&M that I saw in the second half of that LSU game is maybe a

top six team in America right now, if that's who they are. Is that who's showing up to Columbia, though? I think they're going to cover the spread. I do. I think that even if A&M plays a... I mean, they were extremely explosive offensively in the second half. I mean, Reid threw the ball two times, I think, when he was in the game,

and it did not matter. They were just going down the field. They had a second in goal or whatever, first in goal from the 20 and still scored a touchdown. They were awesome. I don't think they have to be that explosive to win this game by four points. I think that they play good defense. If Reed can hit some big plays with his legs, score when they're in the red zone, they are four points better than South Carolina. Yeah, well, I think they can do that. I think South Carolina is great at disrupting the opposing quarterback.

That is their superpower. And the only team in the SEC that might be better at it is Texas A&M. And that's going to be a problem. I think that's going to be a problem for Lenora Sellers and company. And I think that's where A&M separates itself in this game. It's just annoying South Carolina's off. Annoying is not even the right word. Pulverizing, hitting South Carolina's playmakers over and over and over again

until what you saw against LSU. Yeah. It's sort of just avalanches as the game goes on. I also will take Texas A&M to cover here. Ari, we're going to go to the big one next, but first let me tell you how you can go to the big one this week. The biggest game of the week, obviously, is Ohio State at Penn State in Happy Valley.

Do you want to go to that game? Download the Game Time app. Hit that GT Picks feature. You will see the best deals relative to the market. The ticks of this one aren't that bad. Look, my wife woke up eight days ago and said, I'm taking our daughter to the Heiress Tour Taylor Swift concert in Miami tonight. We did not have tickets when she woke up at 8 a.m. last Sunday and said, I am taking our daughter to this concert that is five and a half hours drive away and is tonight at 7 p.m. We got on game time and got amazing tickets. The photo you just saw, if you're watching the video of Taylor Swift, is a photo my wife took from her seat. That's what you can get on game time. And it doesn't matter if you decide the day of that you want to go, they have the tickets for you. So that Ohio State, Penn State game you want to go, they will have great tickets

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I think I picked Penn State last year, but that was more just riding my Penn State's going to win the Big Ten pick. I didn't have a lot of faith in it when they got around to this game. But this time this feels like a pretty even matchup. Ohio State's a three and a half point favorite on the road. But if the teams are playing the way we've seen them play the last few weeks, I don't know what happens here. Yeah, it's really, really difficult because I just like pick Ohio State all the time because I think they have got really good players. And the only thing I can think about when it comes to this game is Ohio State's

offensive line issue and what Penn State has up front. And because of that, I'm going to willingly and lovingly take the points in this game. I think that going on the road, Penn State's feeling really good about itself. We're not 100% sure, much like in the A&M game, what the quarterback situation is going to look like in State College, but they've got two quarterbacks that I think are capable and have very different styles, which could be a challenge. I don't know that I'm 100 convinced that ohio state's not gonna win uh but three and a half with the possibility of penn state winning is just too good to pass up here ohio state's not playing well um for whatever reason they just don't look like what they're

supposed to be and they have a personnel issue that you can't fix with a week of preparation the fact that this this spread gives you the option of an ohio state win by a field goal and you still win yeah i think feels feels pretty comfortable i don't think there's any there's not an obvious play here because like a lot of the commenters are saying ohio state yes still does have more better players but if there's one spot you can exploit that becomes a problem it's because it's games like this where you have superpower type teams where almost every starter is going to play in the nfl like that is it's's like a, it's like an NFL game. Like NFL teams tend to attack like one person on the opposing team. They find the weakest link on the opposing team and just attack it over and over.

With Ohio state situation on the offensive line, you would think that's what Tom Allen, the defensive coordinator at Penn state is going to attack because clearly it was an issue. Even when Zen McCoskey was playing against Nebraska, it was an issue. And then after they had to reshuffle, it was still an issue. So this is going to be a test for Tom Allen to see if he can exploit a weakness that Ohio State has shown. Because Ohio State doesn't have a lot of weaknesses. Meanwhile, on the other side, if you are Jim Knowles,

the defensive coordinator at Ohio State, I imagine you're trying to figure out who's going to play. You're probably preparing for Bo Pribula and Drew Aller. My question is, if you're preparing for Bo Pribula, is it that different than preparing for Drew Aller other than you've got to have a spy watching Broke Pribula in the run game? Yeah, that's all part of the equation here, Andy. Like I said, and I'll say it again, big Trace McSorley vibes.

And the thing that you have to go look to is that a lot of times when Ohio State plays Penn State, the spreads are a little bit bigger than this, but Penn State traditionally has a, like James Franklin's talent, I feel like is mucking up this game a little bit. Weird things tend to happen in this game. Ohio State, I think, rarely covers when they play them. It's just not the best spot to be in. Now, with Ryan Day,

in the discussion here with the two coaches of whether or not he can win the big game, and I was very critical of him over the weekend, you are always constantly waiting for Ohio State to have that big bounce back moment of like, okay, we've got the better players. We are superior. We're going to show it by flexing our muscles in a game like this. And it's like you always anticipate that. You anticipated that against Nebraska, and it just did not happen. They almost lost. So if Ohio State comes out and beats anybody handily

and looks like the much better team, that's not supposed to be surprising. It's just not. And I feel like if the spread was three and a half and Ohio State beat Nebraska 55-21 like I thought they would, then I would have hammered this the other way. But the offensive line issue, I don't know what's going to happen with Danny Dennis Sutton who left the game, the defensive lineman,

very good defensive lineman for Penn State. I don't know if there's been an update on his situation. Penn State's not usually going to give you any injury updates, so I don't think we're going to find out much about Aller. But we could take what we saw with Danny Dennis Sutton coming back into the game, and it looked like he came out from across. And Aller, Franklin said on the broadcast you know they interviewed him right before the half and he said oh he'll be back and then Aller tried to give it a go

in the warm-ups at at halftime and realized he couldn't so that doesn't mean he can't now it might mean just that at the very moment he couldn't do it so we don't know what's going to happen with Drew Aller. It could be him. It could be Bo Pribula. I'm fascinated to see if it's Bo Pribula, what does Andy Kotelnicki put together offensively when he's building a plan around Bo Pribula?

Yeah, and he's really, really good at that. He's one of the better offensive minds in football. And, you know, another interesting thing too, Andy is, and like, we have to have this discussion for at least two minutes, but both of these coaches coming into the game are viewed as ones who can't win the big game, right? Like both of them. If James Franklin wins the game, that might be one of the biggest, if not the biggest win that he's had since.

I mean, they did beat Ohio State during a year where they won the Big Ten championship game. It's either that one or the year they beat Ohio State in 2016 when they beat Ohio State and won the Big Ten. The thing about that year is that, obviously, they didn't make the playoff and Ohio State and won the Big Ten. The thing about that year is that, obviously, they didn't make the playoff, and Ohio State did. Now, if there had been this 12-team playoff. They lost to somebody else in the non-conference that year.

I think it was Pitt or West Virginia. They lost to Pitt. That was what it was. Yeah. But if James Franklin wins the game, I think he's vindicated. I think he can move forward feeling really good that he's able to do this if Ryan Day wins the game you're gonna have people who say well Penn State's not who Ohio State needs to beat blah blah blah they have to win against Michigan and they have to yeah that's a move the goalposts I I they will yeah they'll do it uh and I might have even been guilty of it but I think that if Ohio State wins this game that that unquestionably

counts as a big game win for ryan day so we have also also are you ohio state if ohio state wins at penn state against this penn state team i'm very confident they'll be able to beat this michigan team at home yeah and i'm still pretty confident they'll beat michigan this year but it's just ohio state's not supposed to be in the position right now where it's like, you know, they can probably still lose this game and make the playoff, but it just feels like their season's hanging in the balance right now. So, and for a team that has this many good players, it's pretty crazy to be in that position as we head into November. So I'm going to take the points. I think that Penn State has a very good chance to win this football game.

And it's time for Ryan Day to start proving people wrong. I am also going to take the points because, like I said, you're giving me an Ohio State win by a field goal. You're giving me a 1.2 point Ohio State win as an option as well. And I think Penn State's good enough to win this thing outright. So it feels actually somewhat easy to take Penn State plus three and a half in this game. This game feels like it's going to be overtime for some reason. I don't know why.

It does, doesn't it? Yeah. Like the final score is going to be like 24-21, I think. And it's exactly right where that number is too, because the total is 47 and a half like this isn't going to be a jeremiah smith carnell tate 200 yard receiving game i don't think i think they're gonna win state can win a game like that so i think penn state will try to keep it from ever becoming a game like that and the one thing ohio state always needs to count on are the home runs that quinshawn jenkins and trey henderson can hit and if you have a offensive line problem which they couldn't run the ball

against nebraska like how are they going to do that so like this is a a tough spot for ohio state i don't know how much i love you know the idea of ohio state covering here which is why you and i are both on the uh the points yeah it's it's going to be fascinating. Big noon kickoff right off the bat. I'm going to add to the shoot. Should be a whiteout. Should be a night, but we're going to have to settle for it being the kickoff to our Saturday. And,

and that's going to be fun too. Ari, let's talk about J lab. J lab is gearing up for college football. Some of the top talent of the game from Travis Hunter to, uh, Ohio state's Will Howard and Quinshawn Jenkins. These football stars embody JLab's core values of innovation, performance, and excellence. Just as JLab pushes the boundaries of audio technology,

these athletes redefine their sport with skill and dedication. Whether you're traveling to watch your favorite team or streaming the game on your mobile device, JLab has you covered with over-the-ear headphones, hidden in-your-ear headphones, hidden in your ear headphones, around the ear headphones that are great for working out. Find the blue box at retailers near you or visit JLab.com. Ari, let us move down to the loveliest village on the plains for a game that I find incredibly interesting because Auburn has finally broken through. Auburn has a win in SEC play. They went to Kentucky, fell behind by 10, but then dominated the rest of the game. Jarquez

Hunter had a massive game. Auburn was running the ball great. They know what it feels like to win in the SEC now. You know who also knows what it feels like to win in the SEC? Vanderbilt. You also know who knows how to win at Auburn? Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who took New Mexico State to Auburn last year and won 31-10. This feels like a lot of subplots. Yeah, and a lot of points. Yes. Yeah, Auburn's a six and a half point favorite. That feels incredibly high.

Yeah. point favorite that feels incredibly high yeah you know I think that what Vegas has seen and is true with Auburn all year is that they are an incredibly tough team they can run the ball very well they can move the ball and they've got a pretty good defense they also have some pretty important skill position players that can take the top off of a defense and like when you add up all the pieces of Auburn you actually have a team that should be somewhere between 500 or a little bit over 500 in the sec had things gone well right like it's not a terrible team their results have been terrible as a result of some less than desirable quarterback play but the sum of its parts is much better than the results that they've gotten can we agree on on that? We can agree on that. Absolutely. So like,

if that's the case, then Auburn could win this game theoretically by, by a touchdown. And like, I'm looking at, you know, Vanderbilt's game against Texas. And I think I upset people on Saturday night.

When I said that it looked like Texas was better at every position. I don't know if you've thought about that or thought that I was crazy. No, Texas is better at every position, but Vandy, for whatever reason, and well, there's not for whatever reason. The reason is Diego Pavia. I keep telling people, like I was on the radio in Nashville. My friends Will and Kayla and Ramon at 104.5 The Zone, and Kayla asked me about, you know, is this repeatable for Vandy?

I'm like, it's because they have Diego Pavia. Like, there is no other answer. They are doing this because of Diego Pavia. And as long as he's playing, because he went out for a moment in the Texas game, and I was like, uh-oh. But as long as Diego Pavia is playing, Vandy has a chance. Yeah, no, it seems like Vandy is a team that 100% can hang in these games.

Now, the one question that you have to have when it comes to Vanderbilt, and I think they did prove to a certain extent against Alabama that they could, but can they hang in these physical SEC games where it's not a scoring back and forth affair, right? Right. This is not going to be Auburn, New Mexico State from last year where Auburn assumed they were going to win and got surprised. Vanderbilt has beaten Alabama and just took Texas to the wire. Auburn's not going to be surprised by anything.

So you've got to just go straight up, beat them. You don't have the psychological advantage of they don't think you can do anything. Yeah, and the same thing with the Alabama-Vanderbilt game. When you go back and look at it, because I've watched a lot of it again in the recent weeks, the scheme that Vanderbilt had offensively was really, really good in that game.

And they got a bunch of people open, and it just did not look like Alabama was ready to defend what Vanderbilt brought to the table. Obviously, they scored 40 points. The question I have with this game, Andy, is if it is a 21-17 type situation or a 24-17 situation. Is Vanderbilt built to exist in those types of games? I trust the team with Diego Pavi in a close game.

Yeah. The talent differential with Texas was so huge. It's still big in this one, but it's not as big as the gap between Texas and Vanderbilt. Like the Auburn Vanderbilt gap is not nearly as big and Auburn's quarterback play is not nearly as good as Texas quarterback play. The number here seems pretty big and I know you're going to pick Vanderbilt

because I've been doing this a long time with you and I can sense it. I absolutely could see like Vanderbilt winning 24, 17 in this game. Like, I think I like, I like Auburn and the under in this. Ooh.

Okay. Very good. Sure. So you're taking Auburn to cover the six and a half, which see, that's the thing. Like the six and a half is what kills because Auburn could win, but you're going to give me six and a half is what because Auburn could win but

you're gonna give me six and a half in this one I'm gonna take it so I will take Vandy to cover yeah and obviously I'm with you on being able to trust Pavi over Thorne like we know that but if Auburn has been feeling good enough offensively where they've gotten past the pick six that they throw every week and they actually just exist in a hard-nosed football game uh i think that auburn has a chance to win this well if you run for 11 billion yards like auburn did against kentucky you'll win like you're gonna always win if that if you do that so vandy if they allow jarquez hunter to average 11 yards of carry they they're going to lose. So we'll see what happens, but I will take Vandy to cover here.

Let's stay in the SEC with the theme of they're giving that team six and a half points. Ole Miss at Arkansas. Ole Miss is six and a half point favorite on the road at Arkansas. Ari, this one just sort of lit up for me because Ole Miss runs the same offense that Arkansas shut down against Tennessee in a win against Tennessee earlier this season. Like, I don't know if Trey Harris is going to play. If Trey Harris doesn't play, then I'm with you. But like Ole Miss is much better at running the offense at this point.

Yeah, I mean, I think so. Are they not? Are they? Did you watch the first half against Oklahoma? I don't know. I watched the second half too, though. The second half, they weren't much better. Jackson Darts did spread it around somewhat, but a lot of that was Oklahoma's defense just collapsing after Ole Miss somewhat but that a lot of that was oklahoma's defense just collapsing after old miss started sacking jackson arnold and oklahoma's offense just started handing the ball back to old miss over and over and over again which is that's what happens to old miss's or to oklahoma's defense in games now is they start out great as long as they don't have to keep coming

back on the field and then once they have to keep coming back on the field. And then once they have to keep coming back on the field, they're not going to have to keep coming back on the field in this game. Like Arkansas is going to be able to move the ball a little bit like Taylor Green is not going to get teed off on the way Jackson Arnold was. He can move around a little bit. So I think it's gonna be a really close game. I think it's been a low scoring game close game. I think it's going to be a low-scoring game, or low-scoring for an Ole Miss game. And I say give me Arkansas with all those points. So I was with you, and we were, by and large, correct every single week about Arkansas being much better

than people think they are and existing in these games. The LSU games. Yeah. The LSU game is just hanging over my head right now. And I want to be like, yeah, Arkansas is going to be winning in the third quarter in this game. I feel like that's, you know, just what it is. I think that Ole Miss' pass rush is really, really good. I think the offense is going to score enough. And, again, I think this is just another line that seems to be too many points

but actually isn't. I'm going to take Ole Miss here. You think this is more like the Ole Miss-South Carolina game? Because everything we said about South Carolina, like Ole Miss put the lie to when they went to Columbia. Because they just stumped South Carolina. Yeah, I think that Ole Miss still has the ability to when they went to Columbia. Yeah. Cause they just stumped South Carolina. Yeah.

I think that Ole Miss still has the ability to thump teams. And also too, like the Oklahoma game was pretty ugly. I think they, what did they score? 26 points. Yeah. I think that like winning by 10 in an ugly game is very possible too.

Like, I don't think they just got to score 45 points. But that's also why I'm taking, taking Arkansas because winning by six in an ugly game is possible. Winning by three in an ugly game is very possible too. Like, I don't think they've got to score 45 points. But that's also why I'm taking, taking Arkansas because winning by six in an ugly game is possible. Winning by three in an ugly game is possible. Yeah, that's true. I, I just think that Ole Miss is a touchdown better still.

Well, let's continue on this theme of numbers that are surprisingly high. We're going to go to the ACC. We'll go to your town. Pittsburgh is headed to Dallas to play SMU. SMU is a seven and a half point favorite. Now, the last time we saw Pittsburgh, they were helping create and also taking advantage of the biggest Kyle McCord meltdown we've ever seen. Three pick sixes in one half, but Pittsburgh dominated Syracuse.

SMU, meanwhile, went to Duke. Did you see the play that saved SMU against Duke? Because Duke's lining up for a field goal to win the game. SMU has a player hurt the entire line of scrimmage, like the defensive line and the offensive line, land, and then jump and block the kick. It was awesome. Yeah. Two scores is tough here.

You know, SMU is a pretty good football team. And I don't know if Pitt's blowout of Syracuse completely changes my thought of like, okay, this team is awesome, right? Like, I think that it's going to be a very competitive game. I don't think that SMU is going to spot Pitt 21 first half points to the defense and, you know, going on the road. Like, I got to see if I go to this because this is maybe the biggest game of the weekend. No, Ohio State, Penn State's a little bit bigger,

but this is a pretty big game. It's a huge game. This is a very big game because both of these teams, now Pittsburgh is undefeated period. Both these teams are undefeated in ACC play, which makes things very interesting because SMU does not play Clemson or Miami pit does play Clemson. So if pit wins, then we're still going to have the pit Clemson game to kind of figure some

stuff out. But if SMU wins, it is entirely possible you have three teams that are undefeated in ACC play. We'll see. We're going to talk about Clemson and Louisville coming up. But it's strange, Ari. I think SMU had its clunker last weekend. And I think Pitt had the best possible circumstances last weekend and i think probably you get a little more kind of moving back toward the middle here

which is why i'm going to take smu to cover i realize i've been i've been mr give me all those points i actually think smu covers here yeah i think smu is going to cover too uh and i think they have a chance to win to be honest i think they have a real chance to win because smu winning this game would be so appropriate too because it's at home this is the power conference uh type game that everybody in this city who roots for smu has been craving for so many years. And SMU is in a perfect spot to muck up the ACC, like in their first year in the conference. Like if they just win this game and then go on to finish unbeaten in the ACC without having played two of the other teams who are unbeaten in the ACC,

like it just gets kind of weird and funny. That would be something. And I also am very amused by the fact that like there are four or five, maybe more Miami cast-offs that are on this team that are actually playing pretty well too. And Miami's undefeated. So that's a story too in and of itself. But yeah, no, I like SMU here.

I'll take the points. I think they have a chance to win. It's going to be a lot of fun. I'm glad to hear that SMU is enjoying its first season in the ACC because they basically just bought their way in. They're like, listen, we got rich boosters. You don't even need to give somebody TV money. We're good.

But they're competing. Like that's all they've been asking for is a chance to compete. They're in. They're competing. Let's see what they do. All right. We now go to the team where we sometimes pick the spread but we always pick the total wisconsin's at iowa we're not picking the spread in this game we are picking

the total the total is 42 and a half last week ari the total was 37 and a half for iowa northwestern iowa hit that by themselves. They scored 40. Why is Vegas not picked up on this, that better offense plus worse defense equals over? This is a rivalry game, Andy. It is. And it is usually a 12-9 game. I understand that.

Yeah, I was going to say, have you ever watched this game before? We're going to go over, though, because this is an Iowa Over podcast. Yeah, well, I'm telling you, Wisconsin's going to score more than 20, and so is Iowa. Just watch. It's going to happen. Iowa's defense is not what it's been, and Iowa's offense is, I'm not going to say good.

That's too much. That's too far. But it's functional. It's not a storyline. we're not we don't have any more jokes jokes like yeah the new joke is that we're in Iowa over podcast but the thing is if you follow we're hitting that every week yeah we should start putting a bunch of money on it for charity exactly oh to give give, to give to the Iowa children's hospital. That's exactly right.

That would be incredible. The picture of the children's hospital was on the screen. It was like, perfect. All right. I'm going to do that. Let's, let's do that this week.

Let's just, let's put a hundred bucks each on the Iowa over. Okay. And whatever we win, we give to the children's hospital i'll do that all right beautiful love it iowa scoring for the kids i love it all right stay in the big 10 classic big 10 matchup oregon and michigan this was such a great helmet matchup when the schedule came out and now i look at this like you you realize ari that i've spent this entire show going holy crap

that's a big spread whoa that's too many points and i look at plus 15 and a half in this one for the home team and i'm like, looks about right. Maybe low. Yeah, maybe low. I don't know if you think that Michigan figures something out to have a offense that can score 17 in this game, but are you telling me that Michigan's going to hold Oregon to 28? No, I feel like now I do want to see oregon's offense against this defense i think that's going to be a lot of fun i we don't know about will johnson and is is you know struggling with injuries and so don't don't know where we're going to see him again he was out against michigan state

i it would be really nice if if we could get to see Oregon against a full-strength Michigan defense because I do think it'll give us a good idea of what that side of the ball will look like against teams in the playoff. Now, we've seen Oregon against Ohio State, obviously, but I just don't have any faith in Michigan's offense to do anything against Oregon's defense. I think that holding Oregon to 35 would be a pretty good game for Michigan's defense, right? Like, Oregon scores a lot of points against anybody.

You hold them to a touchdown and, you know, a quarter and maybe one extra touchdown. I think that's a pretty good job. So what we're predicting essentially is the Oregon-Illinois game from last week. I think that's exactly what we're going to get. Yeah, like a 38- going to get. Yeah. Like a 38, nine type scenario.

Yeah. See, but even 38, 17 is a cover. Yeah, I know. I know. That's why I look,

I'm going to take, we're going to cover. I just wish this was going to be, I hope this is a better game than that. I hope it is, but I don't, I don't see it. I think it's pretty clear that Oregon is going to be. I hope this is a better game than that. I hope it is, but I don't see it. I think it's pretty clear that Oregon's going to be undefeated going into the Big Ten Championship game at this point.

Yeah. Yeah, I don't have a lot of faith in anybody left on Oregon's schedule to beat them, and they really have hit another gear, it feels like. So until somebody slows them down, I'm not changing my tune on them. So yeah, Oregon to cover 15.5 points. Speaking of very large spreads in nice helmet matchups, let's go to Jacksonville, the world's largest outdoor cocktail party. Florida and Georgia.

Georgia is a 16.5 point favorite. Now the Florida people are very optimistic because they watched DJ Lagway carve up Kentucky a couple weeks ago. Florida has played very hard for Billy Napier. If he's out, the players don't believe it yet. They are playing very hard for him. They are trying to make sure he keeps his job. There is a path, Ari, I think, to Billy Napier being able to keep that job.

It would require Florida to show they belong on the field with Georgia with Texas with LSU with Ole Miss that's who they're playing next four games they probably have to win one or two of those two this one I just so Florida's offensive line has looked a lot better over the past month but they haven't seen anything like Georgia yet and that's what i keep coming back to is as good as texas's offensive line is like michael williams and jaylen walker made them look terrible for a half made them look terrible and when you've got a true freshman quarterback making his second SEC start. That is a scary prospect. A few things.

One, I giggled inside when you said that Lagway carved up somebody on seven completions because it's true, but you just don't see that very often. Seven completions. I don't know if carved is the right word. Maybe chopped up. Chopped? Yeah, it was more like sweeping an axe. You did a lot of damage every time you hit, but maybe you missed

a few times. I'm just going to tell you it's a neutral site game. It's a rivalry game and both teams control their own destiny to the college football playoff. You're saying you have to get your eyes out of me, but you're not wrong. You're not wrong. A 9-3

Florida with losses to college football playoff team Miami, college football playoff team Texas A&M, and likely college football playoff team Tennessee. I think they would get in. Write it. Write the column, coward. Well, okay. If they beat Georgia, I'll write the column. Yeah. well okay if they beat Georgia I'll write the yeah what a shift it would be to Billy Napier's

got to go from Billy Napier's got to go to Florida's going to make the playoff at 930 it is funny because in this sport a complete overhaul in perception is one game away. It's not going to happen. Florida's not going to beat Georgia, but if Florida beat Georgia, Napier would get an extension, right?

I don't know if he gets an extension, but he would be safe. He would not be fired this season. Now, I will say, in 2014 2014 the press release had literally been written about will muschamp's firing going into the georgia game like they had everything set it was all going to happen that sunday and then florida beats georgia that's the game where they had the fake field goal where the uh the walk-on who worked at public, who's now a doctor, scored a touchdown. So that saved Will Muschamp.

Now, he got fired after they lost to South Carolina a few weeks later, but it is possible, and there is a history of that in this game. But I do think Georgia is probably still better than Florida. But you know what, Ari? I'm going to say that Florida opens the back door and walks through. Give me Florida to cover. Okay.

I'll give it to you. I'm going to go Georgia here. I think that EJ Lagway is going to be a star. I think he's already kind of a star because he's just awesome and is built to be an NFL quarterback. But I don't know if I believe because Florida

played Tennessee tough one week and they are coming off of a win that every single thing that caused them to stink is better now. And it's like Georgia is the boogeyman. They are the team that takes your weaknesses, your ailments, your shortcomings.

Ari, Georgia isn't the boogeyman. He's the one you send to kill the effing boogeyman. Georgia is the one who knocks. Georgia's Baba Yaga. Yeah, like, I don't know what we're doing here. So, you know, if Florida is in this game, then it's going to be a hell of a story and awesome to talk about afterward. But I think that Georgia is going to expose the same weaknesses

that Florida has illustrated all year, and it's just going to get ugly. I covered this game last year. We tried to talk ourselves into it being close. And, you know, we were there together, right? You were there too. And it was just a glory. You were at my house the night before, but I didn't know. Oh, you know we were there together right you were there too and it was just a you were at my house the night before but i did not oh yeah we were there together i did go to the game that's right to the game yeah uh and it was just uh i gotta tell you after the game i had the night all planned out because it was you know at this time of year and i was like you know what i'm gonna cover the game i think it started at 3 30 just like this one does and write a column get in my car and i'm gonna go to wawa and i'm

gonna get myself a thanksgiving sub sandwich for dinner and i'm gonna eat it in my hotel room uh watching the ohio state wisconsin game because that was the big game of the week that week and i got to wawa and i was super excited no more thanksgiving subs oh you know that feeling like when you're like looking forward to getting something all day it's like the same exact feeling as if somebody eats your leftovers it was just like awful it ruined my entire day and and here we are uh a year later and I'm still haunted by it. I understand that Thanksgiving sub is tremendous. I'm going to have to have one of those because I am lucky enough to live in Wawa territory.

There are five Wawas in my town. So we do need to. I'm trying to remember what it's called. It's called. I think it's called the Pilgrim. It's a smash. Yeah. Yeah.

But now, see, here's the thing. If that happened, now you just go to Wendy's, get some saucy nugs. That's right. And you'd be happy. That's right. They didn't have the saucy nugs at the time. But now you know the saucy nugs are always there for you because Wendy's doesn't run out of saucy nugs. Ever.

Terms apply. Terms apply. At participating U.S. Wendy's's uh i'm gonna say that because any one off chance that there's a run on saucy nugs i don't want to i don't want anybody complaining here uh but i have a feeling that there is a a run on them right i don't know i've never gone to a wendy's before and been like get nuggets we're out sir so like i. So like, I think that like they, they're pretty stocked up. Yeah. I think, I think we're good.

I think, but some of those sauces, some of those sauces are really, really good. But the thing is, if they're out of hot garlic parm, you go hot honey barbecue and you're fine. You're good. You're good to go. So, all right. Another big spread that I found surprising, Ari. Let's go to Ames. Texas Tech at Iowa State.

Now, we were much more excited about this game two weeks ago when Texas Tech was still undefeated in Big 12 play. Texas Tech has since been smoked by Baylor and then choked away a huge lead against TCU and lost. Iowa State's a 14.5 point favorite. The hook on this thing is the key for me because I watched Iowa State struggle against UCF at home two weeks ago. That's the last time we saw the Cyclones.

Now, it may be that that's just because they made some mistakes. Now, there was a pick six and there was a should have been pick six where the guy dropped the ball at the goal line and then UCF punched it into the next play. UCF's defense is not good. Pete Nacos, our guy at on three, reported that Ted Roof's getting fired. That's their defensive coordinator. The fact that Iowa State was in a four-quarter game because of UCF's defense is a little troubling to me.

And Texas Tech is better than they've shown the last couple of weeks. And you're going to give me more than two touchdowns. That's where I'm at on this game. Yeah, I'm with you. I think that the spread is too big. I think Iowa State is legit. I think that Iowa State is going to win. Yeah, no, I think that it's just too many points.

And I think there are some alarming things with Texas Tech. They did give up 35 to TCU and they gave up 59 the previous week to Baylor. They've given up 41 points against Cincinnati and, you know, 37 to Washington State. So this team is prone to giving up some pretty high point totals. And I also think that Iowa State has a lot of really good players. Maybe the best receiver tandem outside of Colorado in the entire Big 12. Big 12, yeah. But the spread is just too big.

I'm taking Texas Tech. Yeah, I was very surprised by this. Maybe they know something we don't. I'm sure they do. They tend to do that. It's interesting. It's a high number but i thought the number would be in the 60s if you really thought iowa state was going

to win by this much yeah yeah i'm with you i'm with you 100 on this one all right so texas tech to cover for both of us we both think iowa state's going to win though another very interesting one and this this line surprised me for the opposite reason probably the only one this week that surprised me for the opposite reason indiana's at michigan state indiana's in six and a half point favorite ari why why won't they make the hoosiers more than a touchdown favorite like their smallest margin of victory this season is 14 points. It jumped out to me because they are definitely a touchdown better than Michigan State.

Now, Aiden Childs has had moments this year, right? Yeah, the Iowa game was awesome. Some bad ones, but Michigan State is coming off of a pretty tough loss to Michigan. But you're talking about a team that just isn't that good. And we're talking about another team that is really, really good. I know it's on the road. I know it's going to be November in East Lansing. But Indiana keeps seeing these spreads. Everybody keeps expecting them to show that they are the good old Indiana

that's going to falter in crunch time. And I just don't see it. I think Indiana rolls in this game. Yeah, I think they're going to be the team that we've seen all season. And Michigan State is better. I thought about that watching the Michigan State-Michigan game the other night. Michigan State is better under Jonathan Smith.

I like the direction they're headed. I'm confident that he's going to turn them around and make them a competitive big 10 program. But Aiden Childs has thrown nine interceptions this season to seven touchdown passes. He's going to play a defense that is extremely opportunistic. Like the Washington, Indiana game turned on a pick six by Indiana. I can see another pick six in this game as well. And Indiana will then just dominate you on the ground. Once they get a lead, they're the guy who gets you on the ground and just keeps hitting you. And I don't know what you do about that if you're Michigan State. They're not really built for that. We think Nathan Rourke's going to try to play.

So if Nathan Rourke plays, then that makes their offense potentially more explosive, although I thought Taven Jackson did a good job the other day. Either way, whether it's Nathan Rourke or Taven Jackson, I will take Indiana to cover. Yeah, I'm with you 100%. Nathan's his brother. Sorry. Wrong Canadian Rourke quarterback. Did you say Nathan Rour 100%. Nathan's his brother. Sorry. Wrong Canadian Rourke quarterback. Did you say Nathan Rourke?

Nathan's his brother. Oh, I heard you say Curtis. Yeah, Nathan was also a Maction legend. Yeah, that's a forgivable mistake. I didn't even hear it. I'm with you. Indiana to cover. Yeah, this is Vegas.

You're going to figure this out eventually. Maybe Vegas figures it out for the Michigan game. Maybe. Let's go back to the ACC for a very interesting one. I think this is one that we might wind up talking about a lot on Saturday night. Louisville at Clemson. Clemson is a 12.5 point favorite. Let me give you some numbers, Ari.

So since getting blown out by Georgia, Clemson has won six consecutive games by a combined score of 291 to 127. The combined record of the teams that Clemson has beaten in those games, 18 and 29. Meanwhile, Louisville has lost three games, all fairly competitive games against very good teams. In fact, the combined record of the three teams that Louisville has lost to, which are SMU, Miami, and Notre Dame, is 22-2. This may be a regression to the mean situation, Ari. Clemson hasn't played anybody since Georgia. Louisville has played some people. We know they're competitive against people who are good. I think we're going to get a more accurate view of what Clemson actually is in this game. Yeah. And what do you think that is, Andy? Pretty good. I don't know if they're great. I don't know if they're great. Like,

I don't know if they've overcome all the issues that we saw against Georgia. So like, that's why I think the spread is too high. Like I, I can see Clemson winning this game by 10 points or by seven points, but like if, if Clemson's about what Notre Dame is,

well, Notre Dame beat Louisville by seven at home? Like that would, that feels about right. Yeah. I dropped Clemson out of the bracket this week because their resume does not stack up against any resume of the four or five teams that, you know, are directly behind it at number seven. Right.

So you look at this as a graphic as the first four out, like it's just Clemson hasn't played anybody that would make me move the needle enough to think that they're a 100% different team than the one that lost to Georgia. Now I understand if Georgia played the way that they played against Texas in that Clemson game, how that could happen.

But what moves the needle there? App State, NC State, Stanford, Florida State, Wake Forest, Virginia? What moves the needle there? App State, NC State, Stanford, Florida State, Wake Forest, Virginia. What moves the needle there? So I do think that the spread is really high, but I'm also not convinced that Louisville is all that good either. So I think that they could win by two touchdowns, and that still doesn't move the needle for me.

I think that Clemson is exactly what I said they would be after the Georgia game, which is a 10-win, 11-win team that scares nobody nationally. I still think that's the case, but I do think that Clemson's going to win this game by 14 points. Okay, I'm going to take Louisville to cover because I think they could win it outright or we could be talking about a 10-point Clemson win. I just feel like 12.5 is way too much.

So, again, I can't wait to watch this game because I want to see Clemson against somebody with a pulse. Yeah. And they do have a pulse. So we'll see. And we're going to get that the next three weeks. We get Louisville, Clemson at Virginia Tech, then Clemson at Pitt.

So we're going to get Clemson getting challenged by people who are decent at football, which that's what I want to see. Cause I think it'll help us evaluate what, what the tigers actually are. Ari one more game, but before we pick it, it's, it's Tennessee and Kentucky,

Kentucky going to Knoxville. Let's, let's look back at our pal, Nick Roush from Kentucky sports radio last year after Tennessee beat Kentucky and L Lexington. We're going to walk in here. We're going to kick your ass and you can't do anything about it.

And it made me sick. And you know what? They did it. They still did it. What the hell? Can we not? Can we just beat this team? I know, I know, I know

that Mark Stoops has done a lot of good things. This is his one really bad thing. The stupid stat about beating teams with a winning record and taking the next step and blah blah. Just freaking beat Tennessee. Please, can we just stop losing to this stupid team with their stupid orange colors,

their stupid song, and their woo, woo, get their woo on out of here. Ari, Tennessee's a 15.5 point favorite against the Wildcats. Tennessee's going to cover this spread spread this game's probably getting ugly nick roch is going to probably cry and he's gonna hear rocky top so much and he did the good old rocky top rocky top tennessee he's gonna hear that so many times yeah he could not go if he doesn't want to if i would be my suggestion to just

be not go although tennessee is a very underrated beautiful part of the country like the mountains there and the smoky mountains are pretty there's a casino that i played a poker tournament in a few five years ago that was like i could live there in uh some i think i can't remember what the town is called you know what it is it's a harrow's you've been there not you i'm talking to the listeners but uh it's in this it's like in this tranquil beautiful place and it's like quiet and everybody's friendly uh i'm trying to remember what the the town is it'll it'll hit me but um yeah i don't know what i mean kent kentucky's just finished this year right like what i feel like they are too i feel like the the team that beat old miss and then

well before beating old miss pushed georgia to the limit i feel like that team's gone yeah yeah i do too i think tennessee is also i'm expecting out of tennessee an upward trajectory after the alabama game i wrote wasn't a great game wasn't a pretty game nico still had his overthrow problems but like another bye week by the way why do they have two bye weeks in a month it's kind of weird like is that that's just how it worked out. But you mentioned Nico. The Nico of the second half of the Alabama game where he hit a couple of the deep balls. You saw what the potential of Tennessee's offense is if he's hitting deep balls. Nick Roush was the one who came on our show and called him a volleyball player who couldn't hit the goal ball.

Well, then he hit a couple of goal balls against Alabama. There will be opportunities to hit goal balls against Kentucky remember like Kentucky just seems like whatever you're okay at they're gonna let you do a lot of so you go back to DJ Lagway at Florida hitting five passes of 40 yards or more against them like DJ Lag was really good at hitting receivers in stride and he did that great against Kentucky and then Auburn really good at running the ball well Kentucky let them run all over them. So Dylan Sampson could have a big night too. Again, unless Mark Stoops has something up his sleeve or this has been like a long con,

I don't see how Kentucky returns to that. And Tennessee's defense is just really, really good. Well, yeah. That's the other part of this too. Yeah, Kentucky tried Gavin Wimsett. They'd been bringing in Gavin Wimsett as a runner. They just tried him as a regular quarterback at the end of that Auburn game, and it didn't go well either.

So I don't have a lot of faith. Give me Tennessee to cover. Give me Nick Roush to cry. Spectacular. Ari, one of our best friends, Jim Nagy from the Senior Bowl, the executive director, the guy who offers very unvarnished opinions of all these guys about how they might perform at the next level, but also about how they're performing now. He's going to help us break down that Ohio State-P Penn state matchup. It's going to be a lot of fun. We'll talk to him tomorrow.

It's going to be a fun week on the show. Ari's got saucy takes coming for you on Wednesday. Halloween is on Thursday. My costume is ready. It's spectacular. It's not that scary. It's just spectacular. Big week on Andy and Ari on three.

We'll talk to you again soon.