Andy & Ari On3 - Can Texas A&M win the whole College Football Playoff? Barstool’s Kayce Smith joins ahead of Aggies vs Miami

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

As the first round of the College Football Playoff is right around the corner, Andy & Ari send you on into the weekend with an incredible interview with Barstool Sports’ Kayce Smith and your incredible questions for Dear Andy & Ari. Before Kayce joins, there is a little bit of news out of the CFP availability report. For Friday night, Alabama TE Josh Cuevas has been upgraded to probably. Over in Eugene on Saturday, Oregon WR Evan Stewart has been listed as questionable. Stewart has practiced as of late but has not played all season since suffering a torn patellar tendon in June. Will the Ducks get their star receiver back for the CFP? Andy & Ari discuss. (0:00) Today’s Episode(1:01) Presenting Sponsor(2:44) Intro: Injury Report - CFP(6:21) Barstool’s Kayce Smith joins(9:20) How Kayce feels ahead of the Texas A&M game(14:00) Social media trolls(15:15) How Texas A&M Wins(22:33) Alabama-Oklahoma(27:29) Oregon’s path ahead of CFP(27:51) Producer River’s Nightmare from 2024 in Tennessee-OSU(29:40) Back to Oregon(31:53) How does Ole Miss respond after the breakup?(37:55) Staff Members returning to Oxford for CFP(40:47) Yoga, Baton Rouge, and Lane Kiffin(45:25) Closing out with Kayce(47:08) Would you do hot yoga?(50:23) PaniniAmerica.net(51:41) Dear Andy & Ari: Does this year feel like 2006?(1:02:16) Two Quotes from Ari(1:06:10) Texas A&M and Christmas with the in-laws(1:15:40) Conclusion: See you tomorrow night from Norman! After Kayce joins to discuss the first round of the College Football Playoff, Andy & Ari answer some incredible questions from the listeners... Does this year feel like 2006?What is it with Ari's quotes?How to handle Christmas with the in-laws and Texas A&M's first College Football Playoff game ever A jam packed show you won't want to miss before the weekend! Panini delivers the most collectible sports cards and memorabilia on the planet. Check out the new exclusive Arch Manning collection or the Panini Prizm Draft Picks College Football series. Visit PaniniAmerica.net to start your collection today. Our show is presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Join On3 today and get one full year of access to The Athletic included! https://www.on3.com/subscribe/C Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/qsKWIbRP0oc Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's Andy and Ari on three, Casey Smith, our friend from Barstool, joins us to talk about her alma mater, Texas A&M in the college football playoff. How much pressure is on the Aggies right now that they've finally made it into this elite club? Do they have to move on to truly earn everyone's respect? Plus, we get into a little Lane Kiff and hot yoga conversation? It's wild. Also, a little dear Andy, dear Ari. your questions answered. Great question from Brad on whether Ohio State should be worried about its quarterfinal matchup. Plus, an unbelievable dilemma for one of our listeners

as they try to watch their alma mater play in the college football playoff while at the in-laws for a holiday dinner. It's going to get pretty messy. We'll talk about it all today on Andy Narion 3, presented by BedMGM. We are presented by BedMGM. We use BedMGM lines and totals. And you can join us by joining BedMGM. If you have not signed up for BedMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB as in college football, CFB, and you'll get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with BedMGM.

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are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Annie and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. And Ari, we have a very special guest today. Casey Smith from Barstool. One of my favorite Aggies.

And I can't wait for you to unleash your Texas A&M catchphrase on her. Go get them, eggs. She's my second favorite Aggie. That's true. You are married to an Aggie. I'm glad you got that cleared up. Yeah. We do have a little housekeeping before we get to Casey because there is a lot of, you know,

these availability reports. can be very newsy at times. And so we got the initial reports for the Miami, Texas A&M game. We got the initial report for Tulane O'Miss, the initial report for Oregon, James Madison, and an update on Alabama, Oklahoma. So for Miami, Texas, A&M,

Kianti Scott, the DB for Miami, probable. So that's good news for the Keynes. Levion Moss listed questionable on the A&M report. If he plays, that's probably a big deal. The thought I think was that A&M, know, later in the season, when they were talking about that late in the regular season, the thought was they were going to have a buy. So if they had a buy, then Levi-on-Moss would probably be ready by that quarter-final game. So it's a little bit touch and go here.

But who knows, if they have a two-headed monster at tailback, that is a, that's potentially dangerous for the Aggies against the Canes. One note on the Alabama-Oakoma game, Josh Quavis, the tight-in for Alabama, upgraded from questionable to probable. Oklahoma running back Javante Barnes upgraded from probable to available. That is good. Is anybody in the history of football been listed as probable and then left and then not played in the game? Probably once or twice in the NFL

but I don't think it's all that normal. I think once you're in the probable zone. Yeah. One interesting one, the James Madison Oregon one. So Decorion Moore, Gary Bryant, Jr. and Evan Stewart, so essentially Oregon's best three non-Kinian Sadiq pass catchers, that they're all listed as questionable.

I don't know how many are going to play. Evan Stewart's been out all season, obviously. He got hurt in the spring. DeCoreen Moore and Gary Bryant Jr. got hurt during the season. I don't know that it matters if they play in this game. But if they're all questionable for this game, that means they're probably playing in the Orange Bowl. Right.

Because that's what? Two extra weeks? A week and a half, yeah. Yeah. 10 days? Yeah. I mean, I think that's a pretty. a fair conclusion to jump to.

So very interesting. So keep that in mind as you fill out your brackets beforehand. If you're trying to figure out a dark horse potential national champ, just remember Oregon's offense could be pretty explosive with those guys all back. So it's going to be fun. This is such an intriguing playoff. We talked about Alabama and Oklahoma at length yesterday. The other big game this weekend, Texas A&M Miami.

And the psychic weight of this game on Texas A&M is utterly fascinating to me because these guys have been trying to get in this club forever. They're in the playoff now, and they have this chance. So we, of course, brought on one of our friends, Casey Smith, who is a Texas A&M grad, to explain exactly where the Aggie fan base is. And Ari is going to try out his custom A&M catchphrase on her. I don't know how this is going to go. Here's Casey.

We're joined now by Casey Smith. You can find her on Unnecessary Roughness, the Barstool College Football Podcast. Also, the Barstool College Football Show and the Pro Football Football Show, which I never get the title right, but I did this time. Yeah, two footballs.

You have to, you know, you have to really get into the Barstool lore for why it is two footballs. I don't even remember, but it was PFT Commenter that named it of, pardon my take. So he surely had a genius reason why there's two footballs in there, but we roll with it.

Well, and his team is playing the college football playoff. He's a James Madison grad, so he gets what he wants right now. Yeah, we're being nice to him about that. I actually just got done recording unnecessary roughness, and it was one of those things where, you know, we say what we want, but it's like we really are kind of wasting two spots on these two G5 teams, and it needs to be, you know, a little bit revamped. I'll say it, guys, like we are, but they are there.

So JMU and Tulane fans can say, hey, whatever, you might think we're wasting it, but we're still playing, you know, And then on Sunday, they can just stop talking and keep it moving. I really struggle with this because, like, we are all for, like, college football inclusion. And, like, we want everybody to feel welcome and everybody to be a part of the system. But then we spent, like, 41 seconds previewing those games. Yeah, it's tough.

And it is. And it's also, you know, when you look at the scheduling for this upcoming weekend, you've got Alabama, Oklahoma, Friday night. Then you have A&M and Miami at Kyle Field at a lot. 11 a.m. local, you know, 12 o'clock Eastern. And then you have those two games. And it's like very hard to get excited about, you know, Oregon and Ole Miss just basically having buys. And I, and, you know, in all seriousness, like there have been teams in the past from the G5 that deserve to be in like UCF and what, 2018, whatever that was. They deserve to be there. There should absolutely be a

path to the playoff for a G5 team. The auto bid has to go. And then the mess that the ACC was this year. And I understand the ACC was not very good. But to get a second G5, team in as opposed to the ACC champion like I do think that that's a disservice to the playoff however I'm a big 12 team playoff person so I'm happy it's there it just kind of sucks but if Cincinnati got in in the four team era you do not have to guarantee a G5 team a spot and the years where they're worthy they will certainly be able to get into the top 12 and then it works itself out the years where they have one that I'm with you on that I buy that and so and that's why it's like I'm not you know it's I'm not trying to be disrespectful I mean

I'll be nicer on your show because you guys are much more polite people than we are on a necessary roughness. But I do think that this year is a prime example. And we're only in year two of the 12 team playoff. But it's a prime example of why we should not have these automatic bids because, you know, two 20 point dogs. We know what happened the first time that Ole Miss and Tulane played. JMU playing against Oregon. I mean, it's just, it's not going to be exciting, but it is what it is.

And those fan bases and those teams can be excited for that. But I hope that that changes sooner than later. I feel like you're having an easier time unloading, though, Casey, because your alma mater is in the field. And you are on Aggie. I am. Oh, no. What's about to happen right now?

Ari, are you going to say it? Go get them, eggs! That's what they sound like. Every day, it's not what they say. His wife, it's not. It's not. It's not. And he still doesn't know what they say.

go get a mags go it's the combination it's this is i created this in my brain and i don't know why it happened but i think i have an explanation for how it happened which is it sounds like the beginning of like the way that yell leaders speak and then it's also the end of it is like gigamags so it's kind of like a combination of those two things so you do know that it's gigam but you still say go get yeah and i scream it at my wife in the kitchen every week and And I'm sure she loves that. She's getting kind of tired of it. I can see why.

But like the thing is is that like A&M is back or they're here. And like if you can't celebrate it in your own house with your Aggie cult wife, then like who are you? You know what I mean? Like I'm I'm here. And like I actually feel really good about this because I feel like I was one of the first people to nationally diagnose this team as different than the years in the past. And I'm just curious what your take is.

How soon did you put away your battered Aggie syndrome? And when did you start accepting that this could be different? Well, that's a tough question. Your wife would probably say the same thing, is that I put it away pretty early. It was after the Notre Dame game. I for sure put it away. Even all the way down to the very last snap of that game,

I was still not sure we were going to win. And we know how, you know, whether it was the mishholding call or the botched extra point, there was a phantom holding call on one of the touchdowns Marcel Reed had. That to me was the moment. I was like, okay, this team is different. This team is for real, because a team like A&M in the past, especially in my lifetime, post-Johnny Mansell, would not have won that game in South Bend. The issue then became leading up to Thanksgiving weekend, knowing that you're going on the road to Austin.

It's the heated rival with Texas. That game growing up was the bane of my existence. You know, I cried quite literally every single Thanksgiving when I'd have to go to school and face my Texas fan friends. And it flared back up after that game. And that to me is where it was like, okay, I understand how good this team is. Mike Elko is a completely different coach than Jimbo Fisher was and the coaches we've seen in the past. And it just felt like, okay, here we go again. That was dead Saturday night after the loss against Texas because it was like, you know what?

That was a tough game. Marcel did get hurt. That was a bad second half of football. And I believe that this team is as good as I believe they were when they left South Bend. And I don't care about the whole argument of, you know, oh, they played all the lower teams in the SEC. And that may be true statistically, but that's not A&M's fault. We didn't know that LSU was going to be as bad as they were. We didn't anticipate Flora being as bad as they were and so on and so forth.

So to be 11 and O going into that game against Texas, that to me said this is for real. And that's why I have so much confidence in them on Saturday against Miami. But the battered Aggie syndrome flares. It always flares. That's part of a vegan Aggie. How much does Texas A&M need to win, especially because they lost to Texas, but also they've been dying to get into the college football play? And we thought this was a team that could make the four-team college football playoff quite a few times. And it never quite worked out, by the way.

They should have been there in 2020, but nothing happened. Nothing happened in 2020 that actually counted. That's true. That's about DeMonte Smith in Alabama. And Billy Lucci and I got into a very public and downright disrespectful Twitter argument over that. And I can't remember that, but it doesn't surprise me whatsoever. Yeah, it was like, there was like, it was personal attacks. And we've become friends since.

but we didn't know each other. I just got very heated. And I remember I was in Cabo with my wife watching the national title game. And I was arguing with Billy Lucci in like our hotel room as I watched. You'll never guess where I brokered the piece between them, Casey. Was it Fuego? It was Republic. Oh, well, even better.

I know you and I, you and I are Fuego people. I'm actually going to the Republic on Friday night for the first time since like 2016. I'm so excited. I cannot wait. It was good. I remember it was really good. But Ari, I will say that. What you just described is the epitome of Twitter because it's very easy to throw attacks

and insults when you don't know somebody and then you meet them in person. You're like, oh, I actually kind of really like you. I'd like to take it all back. Yeah. I get it. Hey, Justin Herbert fans hate me right now. I am deep into the Twitter hate. So I get it.

I saw that, by the way. Yeah, that was wild. Yeah. I saw it applies too. Yeah. See, this is the thing too. And don't tell anybody. I know people definitely aren't going to do it more.

I don't read a single thing on Twitter. I have every filter available where I only see people that I follow. So all the people yelling at me are yelling into the void. So keep it going, boys. Thank you. Yeah. Kirk Herbstre told us the same thing last year and then everybody just attacked him. Yeah, no, it's for sure.

They've gotten my work email. They're in the Instagram DMs and I'm just like, I just don't care. The Instagram DMs freak me out. Like some people are really nice and are like totally cool. and but like I just like it's too close to like my personal like existence like yell at me on Twitter. Yeah, no, but Twitter is not real life, which goes back to you and Lucci arguing about it. It's like then you meet him in real life. I did get a guy that was very upset about Justin Herbert, which I didn't know Justin Herbert had so many fans.

He emailed my work email to tell me to get a job, which I did find very ironic. It's like quite literally emailing my employee email. But regardless, you know, in 2020, like going back to A&M, like that was, you know, I do think that they made the right decision. That was a devastating thing to see that they got left out of the 14 playoff. But this is exactly what Mike Elko was brought in to do. And regardless, you don't ever want to lose to your arch rival ever, ever, ever.

And I do think that there is, you know, people can say it's a spin zone. But I do think that there is a thing about being battle tested and being punched in the face. And not only being punched in the face, punched in the face by somebody definitely don't want to get hit by and having to hear about it and having to relive those moments in Austin. So I think having the extra week to get healthy and Marcel get a little bit of rest from the injury, he did get in Austin. Like that to me as an Aggie is something to be able to spend positively, which is why I wasn't down so bad for a very long time. Two things about that, though. One, the worst possible thing that could have happened and it felt like was happening for 90 seconds as he blows his knee out and he's done for the year.

Correct. In the rivalry game. So like at that from that standpoint, it kind of feels like, you know, at least that didn't happen, house money. But two, if only there was a recent example of a team that lost to its rival on the last week of the year and then bounce back in the playoff. It's like it's not over yet. I just think that from my standpoint, I'm having a hard time like truly, like I know they're good and I know they're not a fake team or whatever. But because they had an advantageous schedule and then when the first time they played a team that was in the playoff cusp or mix, they lost, that would scare me a little bit. Yeah, I mean, I do, you know, I know it was it was week three. or whatever early in the season. I do think that, and I'm not saying you,

I'm saying just kind of the general college football public, like beating Notre Dame in South Bend, like I feel like people forget about that a little bit. But you're right, you're absolutely right. You know, you play Texas. And again, any time those two teams and any, you know, whether it's Ohio State, Michigan, whether it's Florida Miami, Florida, Miami,

any of those teams, like you're going to see some different things happening in the Iron Bowl. I mean, there was a point where I thought Alabama was going to lose to Auburn again this year, and they fired Hugh Freeze halfway through the season. So I do, when you look at this matchup, just from a straight, you know, statistical standpoint, the one thing that we've seen with Miami and we saw in their two losses was Carson Beck turning the ball over. You know, had four interceptions in one game, two in the other.

And he is a guy who I believed in coming into the season saying, okay, I think the change of scenery from Georgia is going to make him better. But he gets rattled very easily. And when you look at this A&M front seven and you look at what we're able to do, you know, we're tied with Oklahoma for the most sacks in the country this year. I was saying all day we were number two. I thought we had one less in Oklahoma. I was corrected. We are tied at number one. So I think that if A&M can rattle Carson Beck early in the game, get that atmosphere behind A&M,

that's really where it's going to be one. The only other thing that scares me about A&M's defense is we don't take the ball away very often. We don't have very many takeaways. So if that is going to change, it needs to change quickly. But this team, whether people want to say it's fraudulent, whether you want to look at the schedule, the one thing as an Aggie, and I'm sure your wife would say this too, Ari, is that we're so used to teams giving up. And when you look at that South Carolina game, which was one of the most abysalienable, first halves of football I've ever seen my entire lifetime, that A&M team does not come out of the

locker room and win that game. This team does not go 11 and O. And that's the difference to me. It's the culture that Mike Elko has created. And also there's NFL talent on both sides of the ball. So whether I'm a biased aggie or not, you know, I think that those mistakes can be corrected. But Miami's very good. And when Carson Beck wants to play really well, he can, I just think you got to rattle him and I think he spirals. That's what I love about this game, though, because this is not your your daddy's Aggies or even the Aggies of you when you were in college, Casey. Or my, yeah, or my granddaddy's Aggies. Like, this is, you know, this is different.

But this is also not the, the, what we've seen from Mario Cristobol's hurricanes over the years where they faded down the stretch. Like they got much better as November went on, started playing some freshmen who started making some big contribution. Like these two teams are kind of hitting at the right time. I for, for A&M, because they've, they've been wanting to be in this club. wanting to be a team that competes for national titles annually. How important is it to advance in this thing? I think from a narrative standpoint, and you guys know this being in sports media,

you hate using the word narrative too much. But as soon as we lost to Texas, the narrative immediately became, this was a fraudulent team, see, hey, we told you so. And if A&M loses to Miami, even if it's a close game at home, after all the hype they had all year,

that's immediately like, see, this was a product of their schedule. They were a fine SEC team. they weren't a good SEC team and they definitely weren't an SEC championship caliber team. That's why this is so important. And I think moving forward, we know Marcel Reed's coming back, you know, Mike Elko signs the extension and all of that. I think in the locker room, they probably feel even more strongly about it. Like, hey, we need to go out and prove how tough we are.

But from a fan base, that is where, you know, the quote, battered Aggie syndrome comes in because that's all you're going to hear about. If they lose to Miami, especially if it gets ugly early, to be like, well, see, you just guys played an easy schedule all year. And you never want to have that. But I think that Mike Elko and, you know, a lot of conversation around Tommy Moffat, you know, throughout the year with how much he has really impacted this team and the strength and the culture and the toughness. Like that to me is why I'm not as worried about that narrative.

Because I do think they're going to come out and they'll be like, that second half in Austin was absolutely horrible. We're not going to let that happen in front of our home crowd. We're not going to let it happen again. I think I'm like not with you in the sense that they have to win. I feel like if Texas A&M was a fraudulent team, there was plenty of opportunity for them to shit their pants this year. And they didn't do it.

The South Carolina game. I mean, that was, even if they moved a close game to Miami, like I feel like making the playoff is a nice step in the right direction. Like you try to like picture yourself at the end of January. And when you like look back at the way the playoff plays out, by the time we get to the semis and the national championship, championship game and then through it. Who advanced to the second round isn't as important as it feels

right now? I think the fact that they're in the field and they advanced to 11 and O and did something is a great building block. And I'm not like saying that they're not worthy or they can't advance past the first or even second round. I think that they would be a really tough matchup for Ohio State. But I don't know that like the season's blown if they don't win on Saturday. I think I think rash. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yeah, you're right. No, no, no, no. That's that's my fault. I'm sorry for interrupting. I'm again, you said to my toddler. Brandon Walker. So that's, you know, that happens. Please know I'm not meaning to treat you that way. I agree with you rationally. And I think that that's where, you know, the online storylines and

online commenting is where it would change because you do have to see it. You do have to hear it. But yes, making the college football playoff and having an 11-1 season is absolutely a building block. And beating Miami says we were a real team all year, which we were. And don't get me wrong, 11 and 1, regardless when you're in the SEC or the Big 10 or really any of the power for conferences you are. I just think from like a confidence standpoint, losing to Texas the way that we did and then losing in the first round would suck. But you're right. In the grand scheme of things, no one's going at it. But I would look at like Tennessee last year. You know, Tennessee was there, but they get their doors blown off.

And it's like you do have to look back at certain things. But in the grand scheme of things, making it is absolutely a stepping block because we haven't done that before. Our producer River is a Tennessee grad. And when you said that, he just covered his face. He just, let's, Casey, let's talk that eight, nine. You just mentioned the eight, nine game from last year, Tennessee, Ohio State. The eight, nine game this year, Alabama going to Norman. What do you think happens there?

Well, I would ask you guys, because we had, we just had this conversation about, and you know, again, no disrespect to JMU and Tulane, but I'm going to just have to nicely disrespect. Then that game, you know, you preview it for like 45 seconds. When you look at Alabama-O-U or Miami-A-N-M, which one are you guys more excited to watch? A&M, Miami, yes. Yeah, and it's like I feel like that's like the way that everybody is talking right now because it's like there's almost a fatigue with Alabama-O-U. And you look at the way that Alabama played down the stretch.

And even though my team plays in the SEC, like I was very much on board. And I calmed down a little bit after the SEC championship after a couple days passed. But I was very much saying, I didn't think Alabama should make it in because the way they played down the stretch for an Alabama team to be as one dimensional as they've looked all year. And when you look at this Oklahoma defense and how good that front seven is, just to know that Alabama's rushing game is essentially non-existent for most of the season, there's just, I don't know, there's like this dark cloud over it, which should not happen. I mean, this is a home game in Norman, Oklahoma featuring Alabama, and albeit it's not Nick Sabin's Alabama, but still there's something about this game that's just kind of like, we've seen it already. We've seen it this year, and I hope it's a fantastic game, but there's just something about it that just doesn't seem to pop. I do think Oklahoma wins, but it's kind of just like, I don't know.

Is it the people in Ann Arbor who think if Alabama loses that Alabama's coach is just going to take the first flight? Yes, absolutely, right? No, the coaching situation watching Kail and DeBore. I mean, even after, you know, waiting, like, Lane waiting to decide he's going to go to LSU after the Egg Bowl. I mean, yeah, the Egg Bowl and the Iron Bowl. um i don't i don't really know what it is and maybe it is because it's my teams there when you alluded to that earlier andy it's like my my team is in the playoff so i'm not going to be as excited for any other game but i mean what do you guys think because when you look at this oklahoma team and you

look at how steady they really have been their defense has been why because that offense and i know john mature got hurt and that's fine but their offense has not been good at all their defense is really kept them going and then when you look at alabama their defense has played you know pretty well year too and this alabama offense is just left a lot to be desired so i don't really know what to really think about it. But I mean, what do you guys think? I think if you shuffled up those seedings by one, both the teams that are going to play in College Station would beat both the teams that are playing in Norman, no matter how you set up the matchups. I could agree with that. I mean, I am also one of those people that's like anytime you see Alabama, you're going to get

a little bit scared. But that's because my brain, you know, looks at Nick Saban. And I'm not saying, you know, Kalin DeBore is a bad coach. There's something about Alabama being soft. And I know that that's not a me take that's a take that's been you know just resonated throughout college football this year but they they just don't play with that same toughness that we've seen from them and you know over the last couple of decades and then you look at oklahoma and how they were able to really get a monkey off their back too because they come in the SEC a couple seasons ago and texas immediately makes waves and they were so bad and it's like okay well what's venable is going to do is he really the guy for this and now they are also in the college football playoff that is a massive

a step for them who comes out of that i don't know but i don't think that either one of these teams has you know national title power right neither one can run the ball and i have i would have a hard time picking somebody to win four games in this tournament if you can't run the ball yeah and also what you know if you want to pick a quote weaker side of the bracket they would i mean because when you look at you know what a and m would have to do like let's just say hypothetically they beat miami then you've got ohio state then you probably have georgia and then you look at the other side and it's like you know and i'm not i'm not taking anything away i mean indiana's unbelievable and i was one of the people very loudly especially at this company saying like why are we

saying ohio states so much better than indiana but you know the te you know texas tech being there too there's a little bit i wouldn't say it's a big gap by any stretch but you know i i just i don't see oklahoma or alabama beating indiana but i think it's fair to say the right side of the bracket's tougher than the left i i i think that's that's completely fair i and and again maybe it's my bias because I'm there but I mean I the one team I do not want to see right now and I think that a lot of people would agree it's like I think Georgia is absolutely horrifying I think that what we've seen with them down the stretch and I mean obviously Indiana and Ohio State and the big 10 championship like that was a heavyweight title fight and they both look really good at Georgia is

absolutely horrifying and I think that that's why when I look at the other side of the bracket it's a little bit easier I just don't see Alabama or Oklahoma being able to make a run but we at and I'll ask you guys the same question we just answered of the now again there are eight teams respectfully of the six teams of the six teams that will advance who do you guys think is the most likely that could win a national title i think a and m and so of the ones that are playing this weekend yes i think a and m in miami are built for for it but i think organ has the best chance of them and the best because ari and i have talked about this organ is in the position ohio state was in last year Yep.

Where they're going to get the warm-up game. Now, JMU is not what Tennessee was, but Ohio State made Tennessee look like a G-5 team. That's what happens when you come out. I'm just watching a producer River's face when I say that. It's true, though. You can't come out of the tunnel without wearing a shirt. Like, that was, they lost the game.

It's not going to get smoked when I saw that. You can't do it. Matt Collins did it in the tunnel walk for the NFL games. Yes. I got to be real here. If I look like Matt Collins, I'd never wear a shirt. so no matter what I also did no shoes which is a new twist on the I'm a tough guy in the cold yeah I wouldn't do that yeah it's but also it's real I understand like listen if you got a body

show it I say that for anybody but has there ever been a time that we talk about a guy not wearing a shirt or a team not wearing a shirt that were like see that's that's why they won they were showing they were tough guys and in the cold never never ever I'm sure it's happened but nobody talks about it it's like you know an offensive lineman that does his job like you don't ever talk about how great of a job he did you're just like yeah okay but then when they when they really when they really mess up you talk about it just just keep a shirt on boys i was uh sitting next to andy when those guys ran out of the tunnel i don't if you remember this but i looked at them and said they're going to get their fucking ass kicked out of you and

you're going to look like an idiot doing it just keep your shirt on it's fine we know you're wearing a shirt it was also how ohio state was kind of laughing at them like that was the other thing they're like are you trying to intimidate us right now like that we play in the cold yeah like this actually we did that yeah that was absolutely that game i you know having toddlers like when i have one toddler and i don't know how people have multiple my brain is just completely scrambled all the time but we did the barcel college football show in columbus for that game it was so cold and i understand i'm not a football player i understand you know i haven't been like stretching and doing all my warmups i was like this isn't even a cool flex guys like this is

like you're just miserable right now why are you doing this yeah uh sorry river uh I don't know how we got on to this, but it was like, please talk about Oregon. And okay, we were talking about Oregon of that scene. I think Oregon is getting healthy at the right time. You had the news this week that Evan Stewart was practicing, Decorian Moore is back healthy. Kenyon and Sadiq, they got him back late in the season after losing him for a brief period to injury. Like, they are peeking at the right time. So that's the one I'd be scared of coming through the bracket.

I'm excited because I've got. the Orange Bowl. So I'm going to see Texas Tech against the Oregon JMU winner, which I assume is going to be Oregon. I think Oregon can go all the way. I think they can beat anybody in the bracket. Yeah, Texas Tech's defense is scary for that. But I agree.

I actually, and I mean, Ari, I want to hear your answer to. My answer when Brandon asked me that was, of course, my heart is going to say A&M. And I gave the reasons why I think my heart would say A&M. And my brain says Oregon. When you look at, you know, offensively and defensively all year and, you know, they've had their struggles, but they got punched in the mouth against an Indiana team that, And as high as I've been on Indiana all year and, you know, I've been ringing the bell for why are we saying there's a gap between Ohio State Indiana. I absolutely thought Oregon was going to win that game.

I didn't think it was going to be easy. But when you look back at that now and Dan Lanning and how this team has progressed throughout the season, they are absolutely the team of the six slash eight that are playing this weekend that I would rationally with my brain. I think has the best chance to win the national title. Yeah. It's not the exact same thing as the Ohio State path last year. but if Oregon gets by tech like the rematch against

IU is going to probably be really good for them because they play a fairly close game I think this is a team that if I could go back and redo a bracket I might put in the final four but here's my other hot take and I share this with Andy on Wednesday show I think

that whoever wins the Miami A&M game is going to give Ohio State every bit that it can handle because Ohio State can't run the ball real well and their offensive line has some issues and like you have two teams that have really good front sevens on defense that might be able to like make them look a little bit more getable on offense so like I wonder you know from that standpoint and here's the one last one too because we've all played the A&M Miami Oregon game but Ole Miss played Georgia pretty good the first time they played and I don't know

but sports are about feelings and I don't know if you know this about me Casey but I like feelings better than sports. Oh, is there any big feelings guy? Yeah, I'm big feelings guy. I love, I love narrative. I love saying that word. I say that to my to my two-year-old all the time. I say, are we having big feelings right now?

So I will say, are we having big feelings all the time. Yeah. I say to Brandon, it's all toddlers. You guys are all the same no matter the age. Yeah. But what if like does anybody, I haven't seen much of this on, on Twitter or in podcasts, I'm listening to a lot of college football stuff. What about the golden galvanized team?

team that like feels like they were betrayed by a former coach. They kept all their players. They're fired up. Everybody love everybody. It's like, remember the Titans. Everybody's like feeling good. You play that like music and they just go beat Georgia.

Like is this not a team that could go on a run or like, or they just not equipped you think? Like are. Is Ole Miss underappreciated right now? I think they are. See, I'm almost on the opposite side of the big feelings train. Like I'm having big feelings,

but on the other way because I do think like when you look at Tulane like their coach is leaving. When you look at JMU, their coach is leaving. And what Ole Miss did it, and don't get me wrong, I absolutely thought that if they knew Lane Kiffin was going to leave before the Egg Bowl, he shouldn't be on the sidelines because it was such a soap opera and drama. But I do wonder how many of these guys that are in Ole Miss uniforms right now are looking at the January 2nd date and saying,

hey, the transfer portal is going to open up. I'm going to go to Baton Rouge. I'm going to go somewhere else. We don't necessarily know what the future is going to look like. That, to me, is more of where the feelings are. And because Tulane has played them and got embarrassed, by them this year. I don't think Tulane can win the football game, but I do think that it's going to be closer than what we saw during the regular season because I think that the chaos

surrounding Lane and Ole Miss was so much that a lot of these players are probably, and I'm not going to say they're checked out because that's not fair. There's still guys wanting to make money and wanting to make the next level and play in the NFL, but I almost feel like the drama could play at their disadvantage, like a disservice to them. And I don't think Tulane or JMU have any shot at winning these games. But if I had to pick a team, if I had with a run to my head. I think Tulane is a better option than JMU, but maybe that's because I'm buying into the drama. Here's the difference to me is Tulane and JMU like had amical breakups with their partner. 100% and Ole Miss got cheated on. Who's the first one in the gym

when you get cheated on? The revenge body thing is real, right? I don't know like that right way to put it. No, it is. Ole Miss. This is why him being all about feeling. feelings, this is where it works for you. Yeah, but like, I, and I, you know what? As somebody who's gotten it in the gym to get the revenge body in my, in my dating history, I totally, totally buy into that narrative. I guess my question is, is if some of these players want to get their revenge body to then go date LSU or go date somebody else, do they play for that uniform?

And I, and I, they're going to play. Don't get me wrong. I'm saying like, there is a, an element to me of, yeah, they're going to go get that revenge body, but their revenge body might be coming on January 2nd, not necessarily this upcoming week. Well, some people who get cheated on go back to their ex. I don't know what their motivation is going to be. My point is that if you're motivated to have a revenge body, if you're motivated to show good

tape to get a better NIL deal, if you're motivated to show tape for the NFL, it doesn't matter what motivates you. But I was laughing at J.D. Backel's like, if they go on a run and win a national title, does Lane Kippen get a ring? I would love to think about that and have a show about that. Because like, they have a good team. You can't, you can't, right? You can't give him one.

No. So here, this is a thing. What do you say you're going to give him one and you go to Baton Rouge to present it to him and a second he's about to, he thinks he's about to get it, you throw it in the Mississippi River and say go find it. But then he would like get his hot yoga skills and he would, you know, take off his shirt and go down there and find it just to prove he could. Here's the thing is I, there are multiple storylines are true.

And again, Ari, I'm also a big feelings person. I feel like we know what Lane Kiffin did for Ole Miss made them the best program they've ever had in school history, you know, gave them all this run. But the way that that breakup was, it's like you can have the best relationship in the world and you can really be great partners. But it's all about how the relationship ends when you, in your brain. Like it's all about, hey, like, thanks for putting me up there on the pedestal. And we really did well for five or six years. But you really fucked me up at the end. You really put me through a lot.

And that's to me what happened. And you're absolutely right. With Tulane and with JMU, they were not only amical of breakups. It's like, we know you're leveling up. We know you're going on. And they're trying to get them through Christmas for the kids. Yeah. And like, and you're and you know what?

You're going, you're, you're bettering yourself. You know what? You're finding somebody that's better that, you know, that's going to amplify you and take your career. Lane was like, hey, that, you know, the relationship just down the road in Baton Rouge, that sounds great. And, you know, double middle fingers up. I'm going to, you know, the hoe and the housewife thing. Like that, that to me is very, very amazing. as somebody that covers college football.

But if you're Ole Miss, like you want to wash your hands of it. Andy, I've been dying. You guys have me in a blender here. I'm just now back to five years old or six years old. And when I had to go to Christmas or Christmas Eve, I don't even remember when it was,

but after my parents' divorce at my dad's new wife's parents' house, like now I'm just imagining that's what this is going to feel like for everybody. It's co-parenting. It's amicable. There's amicable. amicable co-parenting and then there's bitter co-parenting and that's kind of what we're looking at with these teams right now you've got jm u and two lane guys that are like you know what daddy daddy is going off and it's going to be amicable but but he's staying here to get us through this whereas lane

kiffin's like see ya like i don't really care and i i don't necessarily blame him for cigarettes it didn't come back also with late kiffin and i've been dying to do this on our show and you got to let me do this uh okay people people who took hot pilates with Lane Kiffin were tweeting about how or posting about what he would do in the yoga classes and I think it's hilarious and I want all right all right you're going to read this and then I have some tea for you so I know you're a tea guy now I got some tea for you oh boy before we go on to the yoga class behavior I needed to say all of this allegedly by the way allegedly allegedly allegedly and he's protecting us uh I'm winking I appreciate that

yes allegedly also with so when he sues us I'm dying for the discovery with interviewing all the all the depositions of the hot yoga people we're not saying he did it we're reading we're reading what people said he did but before we do that how do you even know they were in class with him i don't know but it's hilarious to me i'm going to co-sign anything that ari has to say right now because listen we've covered this and i again i have insider tea okay the floor is yours you guys go ahead go to the yoga thing i want to make one more point about the christmas awkward breakup thing what is the part of like some of his future staff members going back and coaching the team like is that like the friends are trying to decide whose side they're on type of a deal and Casey we're in the middle of watching the secret lives of Mormon wives so like I'm like really into this he said she said thing like that is another kind of a typical weird thing going on with like they broke up but like are you with us are you with them like it's kind of a strange dynamic so I don't watch that show I've been told

I need to but I and I'm going to repeat to to answer your question about the staff and Brandon I'm going to give Brandon credit which I very rarely do but Brandon said this on our show which I do think it's pretty accurate, was that Ole Miss looked around after the breakup and after, you know, sending Lane away and saying, if you go to Baton Rouge, you're not allowed to come back in the whole thing. And they're, oh, wait a minute, we still have a playoff to play.

And we still, we need somebody to coach our team. Like, we don't want Lane to come back. But everybody else, please come back because they do want to show out in the playoff. Because Ole Miss the institution, old miss the athletic department, the school, like, they're not going to Baton Rouge. Like, they want to continue to recruit at a high level. So I think, and we had this discussion is that I think.

thought if they came back they might just decide we love you right listen you know you know the getting the closure thing like everyone like hey come on over let's have this conversation one more time and then maybe there's some you know I don't know if I'm allowed to say this on this podcast but I'd say it on my like maybe some makeup sex happens yeah I was about I was about to say maybe some like playful cleavage at the coffee shop like you know I don't know like oh like I don't remember the good times was it really so bad was so you know maybe like Like, we got rid of the bad situation. Lane's gone.

But no, I do think that there's some truth to that take that Brandon had was that maybe Ole Miss stepped back and like, okay, you know, you make rash decisions when there are these heated conversations, but there still is something to play for and something major to play for. So we don't want to get rid of everybody. It was Lane's decision to go to LSU. Let's bring back our offensive court. Let's bring back some of the staff to have a successful end of the season.

All right. Yo, we got Casey too long anyway. No, no, listen. And I, I, I, I'm enjoying your yoga stuff. Oh, I, Andy, we're telling you, we know, I know this. But it's, it's kind of fun to picture because all I've ever seen from Lane Kiffin in hot yoga is his beautiful V wet sweating after the class. But I thought about looking at like, how's this man behaving in there?

And here's some of the alleged people who took the class. Gonna miss him pushing me over every time I was in a plank and he wasn't doing anything but annoying everybody around him. going to miss him turning up the humidity whenever he pleased can you even do that are you allowed oh yeah well you can you're not supposed to but i would assume if anybody could uh lane lane could go over to the thermosite yes and somebody said why would he continually make somebody go get him his 20 pound weights in the middle of the class every time which i think is hilarious um and

there's nothing defamatory there like that's just like because i've i've done a recent foray into group fitness and i am terrified that i'm i'm not actually acting, right? You know, like so, but what's your tea, Casey? I'm very curious. Well, so there was also more that, you know, the, the girls were coming out on TikTok, which I will say, and maybe it's because I'm old and washed, but I don't get on TikTok, but I'm told about it. I usually see when it's on Instagram, but there was some, there was one, there was a girl in Oxford that said that he would like roll golf balls at people during hot yoga. Now, I find it hard to believe he was just packing golf balls. But my tea is just throw at golf balls at him. That's true. It's a good point. It's a good point. Um, so I have a, uh, a, a, uh, a girlfriend who is a hot yoga instructor in Baton Rouge. Wait, hold on. I need to, is she, does she instruct yoga at a high temperature? Or is she an attractive yoga instructor? Both, both.

Okay. So you can imagine that Lane Kiffin would, would seek her out or seek this yoga studio out. So this is all allegedly, but he was having a hard time finding a studio in Baton Rouge that was hot enough for him, okay? The temperature was, and I say hot as. temperature, I don't believe it was about the physical attractiveness of the yoga instructors. It was how hot in the room it was, which is why I believe the humidity thing from the girls in at Ole Miss.

But he ended up finding her studio. And from what I have been told, he has already instructed there would be more Kesha in the playlist. And he has very much made sure that every time he is in the class, that his presence is very well known. and he's very happy there. So it is now the specific class is Lane's class and there's a lot of Kesha being played and the temperature is hot enough in the studio.

So I do believe a lot of these stories come. Like you said, they're not like bad. They're like negative stories. It's kind of like funny. It's like, you know, the 17 year old boy that's like flirting with all like the girls in the PE class.

Like that's kind of what it sounds like, but he is happy because there's Kesha being played in Baton Rouge. So go off. Yoga was like spa music and like a spiritual thing. Correct. I didn't know like it's a brushing your teeth. with a bottle of jack are you yeah it's when we leave for the night we ain't coming back yeah and it's and we don't wake up feeling like p ditty anymore we wake up saying fuck p ditty so that's you

know that is that she did change his lyrics no i mean lane is the best thing in the world for what we do when it comes to soap operas and drama and that's why during the the coaching search i was on with with colin coward and he was like do you think he'd ever go to the nfl and i was like i think that he would never be allowed to be himself at the nfl level and as somebody who covers this sport like we need the lane kiffin drama like i the amount of times i listen to the ludicrous song like like who's a hoe like turn a hoe into a housewife solely because of lane kiffin that weekend like we can't lose this man to the nfl that is my favorite ludicrous song by the way and i'm so glad that people have finally discovered it and realize that is not area codes area codes is a different song

and and move bitch also a different song i need people to get it together you know like it's harbaugh even harbaugh anymore like he's with no it's just like he's like does anybody even talk about him Like, you have to be in college football to amplify your strangeness. Your shenanigans, you're, like, to be able to connect to 18 to 23-year-olds. And I know you can play now to your, like, 29, you know, Diego Pavia is trying to play till he's 35. You know, you have to have that personality. And so I think it's great.

I do 100% love the stuff behind the scenes. If it was happening to my team, I would hate it. Like, if I was Ole Miss, I would hate it. You know, LSU is just waiting for heartbreak. You want to talk about breakups. Like, that man, I truly believe. leave is waiting for Alabama to eventually come open and they're going to get left in the dust too but we'll see but that's what makes his sports so great right you know that's why like i'm going

back to college station this weekend and getting to see what mike elko has built there and you know johnny's going to be on the sidelines and seeing just everything that surrounds my team like that's why we'll see we will see you there uh we'll be the ones who haven't slept yet so uh just by all means please just slap us upside the head and wake us up. We need to get some Fuego. That's all you need. We do. It's always open. And then I know, listen. The amount of times my face saw the inside of Fuego at like 3.30 in the morning back in the day is a shame. It's a shameful thing, but I'm proud of it. There's no shame. Any place that serves you delicious tacos, any hour of the day or night is a blessing. And the fact that there still is delicious at 3 p.m. as they are at 3 a.m.

like that's that's a tough balance and it fuego does it shout out fuego first ballot hall hall of famer yeah fuego if you haven't been to college station go to fuego when you go in the republic too that's exactly you're going to spend more there but that's okay and before you go case you want to go get them eggs come on do it all right no i'm not doing it say it right say it right i'm not going to say it right i said it right you didn't say it right this is a great hand signal game by the way you got the you got the you it is true it's going to be incredible And I know my Aggie fans will be pissing me for saying this, but get your guns up. I'm not going to do it because I don't want it to still shot, but get your guns up for Texas Tech is pretty good, too.

It's pretty good. You know, it's, don't ever say it again. See, I'm glad you've been here to discipline him properly. Well, I can. I mean, his wife, like, I feel like she should just smack you every time you do it. Like, you got to do some, some reinforcement, you know, she does. Oh, he just doesn't care. Yeah, she, yeah.

Thank you. Well, he has big feelings. Thank you, guys. We'll see you guys this weekend. you. All right. Now I want to take a hot yoga class of Lane Kiffin.

I really do. Yeah. It would be interesting. I don't know. Has any reporter like ever embedded in like Yes. Yes. It was a reporter who did.

I wanted to say the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, I believe he did. Yeah. But I think that Lane wouldn't be Lane if the report, if he knew the reporter was back there. I'd like to see it like fly on.

Oh, you need the hidden camera. somebody with the with the meta glasses in there yeah yeah um listen it's working he looks great you know say what you want i know i wish i look like that with my shirt off yeah you know what's actually the big benefit of it i think it to myself like i'm miserable like 90% of the time with what i'm eating because like i eat like an animal when i'm with you and then i eat like rabbit food when i'm not and like i'm feeling like what's the difference for me if i weigh 30 more pounds i would like to look like that just one day in my life like to be able to take my shirt off and and people like whoa i i just of it just that that do you think that feels better than eating

like without restricting yourself every day i don't know yet because i haven't ever felt it i've never felt it either but like now i want to know just one day just one day in my life i want to know in my 20s was imperative because i was trying to meet girls now now what does it matter you know i am what i am you know see but i i i was the the chubby kid growing up so i was never the like rocked up in shape guy but so was i like that's okay like being the chubby kid growing up i understand that you might have a complex about it but now like when i think about it like what are the benefits longer longer life that's a pretty good benefit probably right but like i already have my girl i already live it like my life doesn't change i still

want to do it just one day i want to look like an underwear model i can it can all go to hell again after that but i want to do it for one day because like we have some friends actually that do these body competitions um my wife's one of my wife's closest friends from high school does it and the amount of sacrifice and hell you have to put yourself through to get to a place where you're ripped and like do you know how hard it is to maintain that like even if you get it like i think if you go off your like regimented rice and dry chicken campaign working out three times a day that like your body morphs back to like not rocked up oh yeah no it's it's like it's like yeah it's like when you stop landscaping the nature just takes back over yeah yeah it's like

is your body's way of saying they don't want to be like that listen to your body okay just one day just one day all right before we move on wow there bud last year or like a few years ago I never got there, but I never got there. So now I'm working, I'm trying to work my way there and one day. And I'll take the picture. I'll post it on the internet and then I'll be that. We're booking hotels based on proximity to Terry Blacks, which I think is better than being ripped. I am who I am, are you?

Let's be real. Before we move on to the mailbag, though, we've got to talk about our friends at Panini. Exciting new news from Panini. We've talked about the Ohio State hobby boxes. We've opened packs from those Ohio State hobby boxes. They're beautiful, of course. Lots of Ohio State athletes, stars. Well, now there's a new school.

Texas hobby boxes are available just in time for the holiday season. Anthony Hill Jr., some guy named Manning, all the best Texas athletes. That's a beautiful card. It is a beautiful card. That's the on-campus Arch Manning. I love the art on the on the, on the, those short printed inserts. They're beautiful.

So you can order those Texas hobby boxes at Panini, America.com. They've also got the Ohio State ones, more schools on the way. And of course, you can buy your Donorous, your Donorous Elite, your PRISM, your Luminance, all your favorite products from Panini at Panini America.net. So go to Paniniamerica.net to start your collection of your favorite college and NFL stars in AI. If you're a Texas fan, get there now because that's a perfect stocking stuff for one a hobby box texas cards that's the way to go so you can have your loved one ripping packs on christmas morning all right ari it is time yeah you couldn't

wait to christmas morning you'd be ripping packs a second the second box arrived 40 year old man sitting underneath a tree just like opening up gifts at 3 30 in the morning by himself like scratching his neck it's great yeah all right Got some great questions for the mailbag. The first one comes from Brad. Brad is a long-time listener, a friend of a friend, former Georgia football player. Great stories about playing for the dogs,

the Bubba Sparks Times. You know Bubba's booty, booty, booty, booty, booty, booty, rocking everywhere. You know, he was hanging out with the bulldogs of the late 90s, of the mid to late 90s. I didn't know that, but that's good to know. Yeah, thank you. So Brad asked this question, and I thought it was really interesting because I covered one of these teams as a beat writer, and I find it fascinating.

He said, I'm getting major 2006 vibes from the college football season this year. As a reminder, Michigan and Ohio State were number one and number two for the majority of the second half of the season in 2006. This was back in the era of the BCS when only two teams were eligible to make the national championship game. There was serious national discussion going into the Michigan and Ohio State game that the two teams were so much better. than everyone else that they should have a rematch in the BCS title game. Ohio State wins a close one by three. Troy Smith wins the Heisman, and then Ohio State went on to get blasted by Florida in the national championship game.

Michigan lost the USC in the bowl game as well. It became clear after bowl season that Michigan and Ohio State weren't as good as we thought, and this was mostly propped up by the very weak depth in the Big Ten that year likely sprinkled with some northern media bias. Wisconsin was the only other decent team in the conference, and the rest of the conference was a bunch of easy wins. Fast word of 2025, where Indiana and Ohio State have been ranked in the top two for the entire last half of the season. Unlike 2006, the committee actually kept these two teams at number one and number two after they played a three-point game.

I don't have a problem with their lofty rankings at this point, but I have to wonder whether it's being propped up by incredibly weak depth in the big 18 this year. Ohio State has only been remotely challenged twice with the still developing Texas and against Indiana. Am I crazy to think that both these teams might not be near as dominant as most? people think and they're simply a product of a week big 18 obviously ohio state has lots of NFL talent and is the defending champ and indiana has been crushing lesser teams as you'd expect a really good team to do i'm just curious if anyone else is getting 2006 fives this year love the show great show great question because it's like it is same thing yeah yeah so i covered the florida team as a beat writer that year and and i bought the whole ohio state and michigan or better than everybody

else. And I remember, and I've said this a bunch of times, like me and Dave Curtis, who was the Orlando Sentinel beatwriter at the time, we're sitting next to each other in the press box at the SEC championship game. Florida beats Arkansas. And we're pretty sure Florida is going to be number two in the BCS standings the next day. And we're like, how are these guys playing for the national title? They're not that good. Like, Florida had lost to Auburn. They needed the Jarvis Moss blocked kick to beat South Carolina. Like they lived dangerously a lot of that season and didn't feel like a dominant, dominant team. And then they get to the Ohio State game and just annihilated them.

And I've been told by people on that staff, like a guy I know who was a graduate assistant on that staff was responsible for getting the DVDs from the other team. And so he gets the DVDs of Ohio State. And he had him the night before he had to turn him over to the rest of the staff in the morning. And so he watched them all. and he comes in with the DVDs and sets them on the table with the staff in the meeting and goes, congratulations, boys, we're winning the national title.

Like they knew just from watching film that Ohio State was going to have no chance. Yeah. So my dad had a long illustrious career in the insurance business. And at the time in 2006, he worked at Allstate. Allstate was a title spot. sponsor of the BCS National Championship game. As you remember, the end zone next. Yep.

Still a big time sponsor in college football. We got four tickets to that game. Yeah. And we were offered, I think, six grand. And we didn't sell them for two reasons. It was really Ohio State heavy, the crowd, if I remember. Because they were a seven and a half point favorite in the game, but it felt like they were a bigger favorite. And Ohio State fans just thought they were going to win.

so they were like wanting to pay because you want to see the title like that's like a bucket list thing for a lot of people and my dad's like well probably be a bad look to sell company seats and all that stuff so we go in my dad left the game at halftime like went outside to smoke a cigar yeah and he didn't get let bad again and he didn't miss anything so uh it was and i don't know like there's so much like i don't even think if ted gin didn't get hurt on the opening kickoff it would have mattered no i jervis Moss actually created the whole SEC aura at his locker after that game when he said there were five better teams we played in the SEC this year. And that five may have been exaggerating a little bit, but like the Auburn team that beat them was probably better than that Ohio State team. And as Brad points out, that USC team that didn't make the national title game that lost UCLA in the final week of the season was way better than Michigan and probably better than Ohio State and might have like that Florida team against that USC team might have been the best

title game matchup that year. Yeah. And I think people are also forgetting too that that Ohio State 06 team was not as good as the 05 team at the end of the year. Right. Like the team before it was better. So anyway, let's spring it forward though. Yeah. Do you think there's any of that this year? I think it's possible and only really because the way the bracket shook out. So So Indiana gets the winner of Alabama, Oklahoma. I actually think Indiana is in a pretty good spot because they're going to get a team that can't run the ball. And I struggle to find a way for a team that can't run the ball to beat Indiana.

Now, obviously, Indiana had to play Oregon or Texas Tech in the semis. But at that point, you know, everybody's really good. So that one, I think they're in better position than Ohio State. I think Ohio State got the toughest draw. I think Ohio State probably sat there when the bracket came out and said holy crap

either team we're going to see is built to win this whole thing yeah I was going to make an outrageous prediction before the playoff bracket reveal that there would be no SEC teams in the semis but now it's impossible

because George and Ole Miss will play each other for a spot in the semis yeah I'm very curious if like my perception of this entire season is just wrong And like, we just get like an Alabama Georgia. That's exactly what happened in 06. And I think it went the other way where then we assume the SEC was better.

And I think, you know, when you, then you get Michigan winning the national title, then you get Ohio State winning the national title. And now it's a little bit back in the other direction. The SEC starting in 06 started a 15-year run where they were better. Like, that's not a narrative. That was a fact. And I think that, like, we started to realize at that time that the Big Ten and the way that they were doing things wasn't nearly as passionate and the geographical advantages that the SEC had were certainly playing factors because that's when traditional recruiting was mattering the most. And, like, there were more programs in the SEC that wanted to win at a high level, which then made iron, sharp and iron for coach's sake.

And there were just better teams. Like for 15 years, like they were a better conference from top to bottom. Now, I don't know if that's the case. The question I think you could just translate to is, is the SEC so good and deeper than the Big Ten that we have undervalued Georgia and Bama or maybe even Ole Miss to the same extent? I don't think we've undervalued Bama, but I think Georgia is certainly capable of winning the whole thing. Yeah. So, yeah, like I think it would be interesting. Wouldn't it be crazy?

like if A&M in Georgia or A&M and Ole Miss played, you know, and there was no Big Ten representative and then Alabama. Or my, but Miami could be, see, I look at Miami and A&M as very similar animals. Yeah. That said, like my viewpoint of Ohio State isn't necessarily predicated on their resume. It's predicated on the players on their team. It's on their talent, right.

Ohio State is clearly the most talented team in the field. I don't think there's any debate over that. I think you're probably just trying to be argumentative if you think there's somebody more talented than Ohio. I wonder if Ohio State is, I don't like watch comic book movies, but I have seen like clips of like a big like rock formation that's like larger than a city. Yeah, Ohio State's Stanos or Galactus or, you know, somebody. And then if you throw a rock and you should be able to eat a planet. And then it falls over. Like I don't know like if Ohio State's offensive line and and lack of explosive playmaking ability in the run game is going to cost them.

Like, I wonder if there's, like, a way, like, if Indiana gave you the blueprint. Because they only scored 10 points, Andy. And, like, I know they had two long drives, but they scored 10 points in the Big Ten championship game. Right. And Indiana has a very good defense, but Miami's talented on defense, A&M is talented on defense, George is talented on defense. Ole Miss, probably not as dominant a defense, but can score with you plenty. Can score on your defense.

So, yeah, I think. I think Brad's point is very well taken, and I'm glad that there's a 12-team playoff because this will allow us to find out the truth. Because what we said about 2006 is, yes, obviously Michigan and Ohio State were overrated, but like, what if USC had gotten a chance? Yeah.

You didn't even get a chance. Yeah. So that's why I think it would have been more fun that way. But I'm with Brad. I think we're going to learn quite a bit Friday, Saturday, and then when we get to New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. So I'm very excited for it. Next question, Ari, from Stephen San Antonio. I've been listening and slash watching for a very long time now.

No question here, but I just wanted to give it up to Mr. Wasserman for saying the funniest and most annoying things I've ever heard him say and both on one show, which would be Tuesday's show. When discussing Kalen-de-Bore in Michigan, Ari said, this is a normal. normal dude. He's not a robot. He's not programmed to be a liar and live in a world of deceit so that he can get every last inch of money possible. This is a normal dude. Okay. He's not Nick Saban. He's not a robot. He's not programmed to be a liar and like live in a world of deceit so that he can like get every last inch of money possible. And Steve says, in this insane college football world with the likes of Sharon, Patrino, Elaine, and Freeze, that is really high praise. And I agree.

It is very high praise. It's not probably a liar and like live in a world of this. It's a good line. Read in a trailer or hear in a trailer of a Batman movie. And you don't even watch those movies. All right. Stephen San Antonio says, your most annoying is go get them, eggs.

And I got to. say I wanted to do this question now after you said that and the look of disgust on her face when you said that because I think that there's a confusion too because they're like do you actually think there's no like do they do Z know they're saying gig them like whenever you say it to an Aggie I think they think that you're mistaken that you don't know what you get them somebody emailed me and he said you're like the guy in the in the commercial who says high tied to the Alabama players yeah yeah I'm like that guy that's not something to be proud of Andy

everybody who's not an Aggie hears what I hear that's what they hear whether they say it or not that's one thing that's what they hear you know you're not allowed to do that right somebody like emailed me and said would you respectfully stop doing that because you didn't

graduate from A&M and it's a sign of disrespect and I didn't realize that and I still do it and I'm sorry yeah I've had a whole picture of beer just because I didn't put my class ring in it doesn't change that. So I respect the your cult, you know, my, my culture is not your

costume from the Aggies. Your costumes are pretty ridiculous. Yeah. And this is a college football show and we're just having a good time. We're all having fun. My wife is 4-11 and has watched maybe one total quarter of football in the last three years.

And it was the Texas game this year. Yeah. She was pretty miserable. Watch the Texas game. at the end of the year. And she, like, gets in front of the mirror before bed. And she goes, whoop. And I think it's cute. So, like, uh, hey, hey, hey, hey, whoop.

But she can do it because she went to Texas A&M. Yeah. She graduated. But she's dumped her Aggie Ring. All right. Yeah. I don't know where that is. I think she bought one and I don't think we know where it is. Is that like a, that's like a real.

I don't think I'd admit to that. Yeah. It sits in the house somewhere. Uh, but we have to find that. I have a ring from my college days, Ari. You do. You should wear that around more often. I didn't buy it.

And you live in the town where people will be like, oh, my God. Wait, you know, the national title ring? Yeah, but it's actually a lot smaller than the ones they have now. So I don't know if it would be recognized as one of those because now they look like ashtrays. I think you should wear it more often. Yeah. I think you should wear it to the national title game. I will not.

But you'll be more likely to get a spot on ESPN's college game day or something if you had an, you are a former player. I don't think so. I don't think so. So you have to be a good former player. You have to have actually played, not just been a tackling dummy. All right, this is the question I've been meaning to get to. We're going to leave you guys with this. We're going to send you off to the playoff games with this question.

It's from Marshall, and it is one of the toughest questions we've ever been asked. I am a 27-year-old born and raised, die-hard Aggie, and I have found myself in quite the predicament. My girlfriend and I have been dating for a little over a year and a half, and her extended family has decided to celebrate Christmas on December 20th, starting at 2 p.m., aka during the fourth quarter of the biggest Aggie game of my lifetime. I'm traveling several hours to be there.

Obviously, I have to be there, and I'm happy to spend time with them, but the timing isn't exactly ideal. My girlfriend is also an Aggie, but her family is not. So I have no idea if they will have the game on TV or not. I can't really ask them to put the game on TV because I don't want to make the day about me.

I've been told we'll be eating lunch at 2 p.m. when everyone arrives, so I can't just show up late after the game has ended. Do you guys have any tips on how to navigate the fine line of trying to stream the game if it's not on TV, but also being involved in the family gathering so my girlfriend and her family don't lose all respect for me? Do I fake a large bowel movement and run in the bathroom for the last 20 minutes of the game? Do I get my Aggie girlfriend to try to get the game on TV? Am I just screwed no matter what?

Thanks for being my diary. Love the show. Okay, Marshall. Here's the thing. Yeah. This is easy. this is well this is a test for you you are the one see you think you're the one being tested you're not the one being tested here you are testing the in-laws here if you walk into that house and there's a massive college football game that is happening and it's not on their television you don't really want to marry into the family and i realize you may love your girlfriend and you may think she's

awesome but either she needs to quit that family or you need to find somebody else because you want people who are I don't know respectable fun to be around like if there's a giant college football game on TV if you walk into my house the game will be on because we're normal people yeah I don't want to associate with anybody who and I don't care if it's your team's game and I don't care if it's your rivals game yeah it's like not having the Super Bowl on yeah what's wrong with these people if they don't have the game on TV like Oh, it's a fancy Christmas dinner. So what?

Put the game on. Yeah. I think that if your girlfriend is an Aggie, that they should at least have some general understanding of like how important football is to the people who went to the school and that it's their first playoff game ever. And like I think it should be an understandable thing. But here would be my my advice to you.

And I don't know how close you are with the. future in-laws yet. I would send a text to the mother, not the father, and just say, hey, thank you so much for the invitation. I'm really looking forward to spending time with you guys, and I'm so grateful to be included. Texas A&M is playing in their first playoff game in my lifetime ever as an important game and around 2 p.m. is at the end of it. Is there any possible way that we can have the game on in the background while we're eating? Is that like a, is that out of bounds? It's not out of bounds.

And here's the thing. If the mom says, oh, should, bless your heart, we always have the biggest football game on. You should probably propose that dinner. Yeah, propose it dinner. Propose at dinner. If the mom responds with, how dare you ask that we turn on our television during our sacred Christmas dinner, Well, that's when you tell your girlfriend you're going out for cigarettes and don't come back. Here's one other piece of advice, and you can do it from Ari's playbook.

When I was in college, I spilled grape juice on my brand new MacBook Pro. Grape juice was the most hilarious thing to spill and break a computer. It's like purple grape juice. We're not talking about white grape juice. Yeah, it's like Welchis grape juice. Brand new computer. I had my girlfriend call my dad and say, hey, Mr. Wasserman, I've got some bad news. And before she was able to get that.

So your dad's thinking, oh, my God, he's gotten someone pregnant. That's not what he's thinking. That's what he says. Oh, my God, you're not effing pregnant, are you? And then she said, oh, no, no, no, already spilled grape juice on his laptop. And he goes, oh, thank God. All right, we'll get him another computer. And it worked out great because it went from like maybe.

You are one of the most devious diabolical people I've ever met in my life. I didn't, I didn't think about it that way. It worked out well. But you might be, you might be pure evil. You might be. No, because I didn't, it would be evil if I knew it because I, if I thought ahead, he's going to think she's pregnant. I didn't think that.

But I put my girlfriend. You instinctually thought, like your instincts told you that. You didn't have to think it. you're that diabolical of a human being that your instincts were to create a path for your dad to think your girlfriend was pregnant so that when all he had to do is buy you a new laptop because you just spill grape juice on yours he's like oh whew yeah and it was hilarious because like they had only met her one time and this is how he's speaking to her that was his like gut feeling uh at the moment bob lawsterman i don't know how you've survived this long i don't know

how you do it. Yeah. And by the way, I haven't seen that girl in 15 years, but I hope she's doing okay. Andy, which brings me to the point, though, throw your girlfriend on the beach. Let her take the beach. Why don't you just say, hey, this is important to me, sweetheart. I know we're going to hang out with your parents. I know you're interested in there's no way that they went to A&M. I don't care if you're into sports. My wife is not into sports. She still asked me if the Aggies won every Saturday. So, like, just have her do it. Just be like, hey, babe, will you ask your parents if they can throw the game on for us and just say it's important to you? And she'll be like, yeah, no problem. And then your problem solved. And at the very least, you always have

fake diarrhea and you have YouTube TV on your phone. Like that, that's the, that's the stop gap. As producer River texted us, Marshall has experienced 26 Christmases in his lifetime. He's experienced zero Texas A& in playoff games to this point. But I understand. This matters. It really matters to make a good impression on your in-laws, and I know that's important. So, like, I get the angst. The thing that I don't know is if you're arriving at 2 p.m.,

does that mean like you're driving during the game? I don't know. I thought of that too. I have so many, like, you're going to miss the first half. You're stressing thinking for Marshall. Yeah. I'm stressing for Marshall here because does that mean you're going to have to listen to it in the car on the way.

Like, you should not have to deal with this. Like, you should, your girlfriend should not be putting you through this. Your girlfriend's family should not be putting you through this. Like, when the game got announced as an 11 a.m. local kickoff, everybody's plan should have changed. Or like, can we just have dinner at three? Yeah. Is it really that big of a deal to have dinner an hour later?

I mean, when my family would be like, that's during the, the, the, Ole Miss Tulane game. What are we doing here? Yeah. Andy, I know Thanksgiving is always like a weird dinner time. You know, two, three, four p.m.

People have it in the middle of day. Is that how Christmas dinner is too? It depends on the family, but yeah, candy. Okay. It's like three. But here's the thing.

Like every major holiday in my house, whether it was my family, my wife's family, the football games are just on. Like, you don't, it's part of the celebration. You heard Mario,

know christable earlier this week they asked him how he's going to manage all the things that he has to do between preparing for playoff games and portal and stuff and he said cancel christmas cancel it cancel christmas and i'm the one who said you should move christmas on the calendar to to make it better for football there you go people people have their priorities in but no celebrate christmas enjoy christmas but remember there's nothing shameful there's nothing sacrilegious about having a football game on in the background and if you're the type of person who's thinks that that would be rude or that someone at your house asking for that is rude, I would suggest you're the problem.

And if Texas A&M loses, I think the biggest thing for you is don't be an asshole for the rest of the day. Don't be in the jar. Don't watch the game and don't react or yell or do anything. Just try to keep your composure. And if they win, you can go into the bathroom and scream into a towel. And if they lose, you can go into the bathroom and scream into a towel and then, like, wash it and, like, be a good, like, present person for the rest of the day. And they just pull out your bed-M-GM app and sprinkle some on Ole Miss or Tulane, you know, whatever side of that 17.5 you want to be on.

And let's go. And ride. Marshall, I love you. Thank you. I'm rooting for you this weekend. And I'm really hoping that when you walk in, that game is on the air. And if it is. And let us know how it goes.

one knee, propose. You found your people. Guys, the next time you see us will be in Norman, Oklahoma. We'll have one quarter final matchup set. Either Alabama or Oklahoma will have won, and either Alabama or Oklahoma will have lost. High stakes, college football playoff. It is time. Let's go!

Playoffs! We're here. We made it. I love you, Marshall. Go get a bag.