Andy & Ari On3 - College Football Playoff Semifinals are SET | Ohio State vs Texas | Notre Dame vs Penn State

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

You’ve had Wendy’s Nuggs dipped in sauce. But have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11.Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker, try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs.Listen here as Andy & Ari breakdown the CFP Semifinals and preview the matchups of Texas vs Ohio State and Penn State vs Notre Dame. Who is the team to beat?Watch us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/tE_t3MGMXN4 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three presented by Wendy's. We have an Ari this time. Uh, we got to talk about Georgia, Notre Dame, and we have to talk about the college football playoffs, semi-finals, which are set now Notre Dame against Penn state in the orange bowl, Texas against Ohio state in the cotton bowl. Are you and I will both be at the cotton bowl. I will be at the orange bowl. Very excited about both these games.

This is a time for you to pound your chest a little bit Mr Wasserman because you had Notre Dame not only going this far but going to the final and Vegas says that they think Notre Dame is going to go to the final. Well, let me apologize to you about tonight. When I see you all alone, it kills me. I was watching the stream in an Uber and I was just like, God, man. Did I do okay? You did great. And I'm sorry and I owe you one. I'm no JD Pickel, but we're working on it. Yeah. Well, you had some reps last

year. You know, like the thing about the game tonight is that like, I'm wrong all the time, right? Like, so when I'm right, like I don't know that like victory lap feels good. Oh, we've got tweets. I think this could feel good. Yeah. I've seen you take a lot of abuse

and I've actually been the source of a lot of the abuse with the Kailin Dabour column. Uh, so I, I feel like it's my duty. I'm not going to, I'll do what Riley Leonard did in the post game press conference with Marcus Freeman where Marcus Freeman was like, Oh, that little punt call, that little, you know, hard count deal where we run everybody off and run everybody on just a little old thing. And Riley Leonardner's like no no no he made that up two days ago changed everything and it worked because of the way he changed it and I'm gonna do that for you today Ari we got the tweets we've got the tweets producer river let's see him oh indie beating georgia lol what else we got beating Georgia LOL. What else we got? I can see ND beating IU, but come on, they're not beating Georgia. They're not that good. That's from Joe. Come on. Notre Dame is going to

lose in the first round to Indiana. Book it. I think we got one more, right? There's a million of them. That's it. There's a bunch of them. Yeah. I can't believe it actually happened though. Like, you know, in theory, it is a, uh, and it wasn't really that close. It looked like for the first half of Georgia was going to win to me. I don't know about you, but once they, they turned it over before halftime and Notre Dame score, that was the oh crap moment. So here's the deal. before halftime and Notre Dame score. That was the oh crap moment.

So here's the deal. I think that it's just fair to say that none of us really know anything, right? Like sometimes, I think that's fair. You know, you think you know something and you don't. And I happen to be right this time, but the thing that I thought was apparent and the most important thing about these results is that hopefully when we go into next year and I'm not holding my

breath that we can all just agree on one thing that our preconceived notions of who is good and who is great based on past circumstance and in previous notions are worthless. You know, and the thing is, is that Notre Dame did lose to NIU this year. Notre Dame did not look like a team that was going to be able to beat Georgia for a large portion of the year, but for a large portion of the year, it looked really good.

And for a large portion of the year, Georgia did not look very good. And they finished the season with the number one strength of schedule, and they navigated that strength of schedule beautifully, right? To go 10 and two the way that they did, if the Ole Miss game were closer, I would say it's about as good as you could possibly do. So for them to be the SEC champ and to be ranked where they were,

I thought was justified. But I think that we watch enough football, Andy, over the course of a year and of course of our careers to be able to diagnose which teams are truly elite. And, you know, Georgia had some good defensive stretches this year. But I don't really know where the flash was of like, Yeah, that's it. That's the team. You know what I mean? Like, first half of the Texas game in Austin, that's really it. That's the only time it looked like George's defense was it was unstoppable. Other time, I mean, the first half of the Alabama game, for goodness sakes, like was a giant red flag. Right. And it is even interesting in the games where teams, you know, win big. It's like Ohio State lost to Oregon earlier in the year, Ohio State beat Penn State. Texas lost to Georgia twice. And the teams that lost are the ones advancing.

So it's just a reminder that the college football season is a living, evolving organism. And because you saw some happen. Somebody really smart said that earlier today. Is that you? Yeah, yeah. I'm a plagiarist Yeah, it's our both our names are on the show. It's all community property. Yeah. Yeah, okay I'm gonna take it for myself and it's like

the The random fan who's not listening to this is never going to adapt the way they behave But like they lost to NIU is not analysis. It's a statement. Okay, so Like they lost to NIU is not analysis. It's a statement, okay? So we knew what Notre Dame had on its roster and frankly speaking, they lost a lot of talent like to injury this year. So isn't even five starters lost to season ending injuries

and not just it like Charles Jagasa who was the next guy in line in the left tackle factory that Notre Dame runs like he was next man up in that fact lost him in camp. Benjamin Morrison, All-America cornerback lost him. Riley Mills, their best defensive tackle lost him at the Indiana game. Like this is I made this point in the earlier video, but I want to I want to hammer this home. Brian Kelly era Notre Dame could not absorb losses like that. They had a very good starting 22. But when they lost players, they were not capable of competing against the best teams in the sport. This team has lost as much as anybody has lost this season.

And you just saw them go toe to toe with the program that has been the most talented in the sport for the past five years. And I think that this game is about Georgia coming back down to earth a little bit. But I also think that this game Andy is about Notre Dame increasing, right? And I think that there is going to Earth a little bit. But I also think that this game, Andy, is about Notre Dame increasing, right? And I think that there is going to be

a lot of off season discussion between the two of us about where the sport lands and the talent discrepancy department and how flat the curve is and where that curve occurs. Because on one hand, maybe I got a little carried away today, but I think Ohio State, this year's Ohio State team might be the last team like that ever. Right. We keep saying that, but that team also could lose to Texas or could lose to whoever they face next.

Yeah, no, they haven't won anything yet. I just mean from a roster standpoint, it might be the last time a team has that many good players at the same time. Where you don't, where you can't see the weakness in the roster. Yeah, and Georgia, Georgia had clear weaknesses. And even that team that's constructed that way had a glaring offensive line weakness during the year. So once all their players that should be in the NFL are in the NFL next year. And, you know, they're, they are returning a few important pieces, but like, there's not going to be a team that has that many NFL players, I think playing at every spot again. So like, that's why I have a hard time, you know, with that side of the

bracket, because it's like, okay, well, they woke up and they're built that way. But like everybody else was deficient, like Notre Dame had deficiencies. They had injuries. Um, you know, like the thing with the Georgia situation tonight too, it's just like I hear, I'm seeing a lot of like, um, you know, Carson Beck was out. So that's the reason Notre Dame. I don't think Carson Beck would have won in that game. Like, I don't think Gunnar Stockton played poorly. That's true. And I don't know that I saw much from Georgia's offense the entire season to think that this was surprising, right? Like, this is what we saw. Right. They had to throw more than they ran because they couldn't, because they couldn't run the ball the way they have been able to. And they weren't particularly great at throwing it either because they didn't have the dynamic targets that

they've had in the past. And I think the thing that's interesting, Andy, about this semi-final is you have a lot of coaches who could be on the verge of breaking through and doing something that they haven't done. And even Dan Lanning, to a certain extent, who is probably having a rough day today, did beat Ohio State during the regular season. And I thought that he had a better season

than he's ever had. James Franklin is on the verge of doing something that they haven't. No, they already have. They're in the semifinals. They already have. Marcus Freeman hasn't done this. Notre Dame has been in the Final Four, but Marcus Freeman hasn't. Steve Sarkeesian got in the Final Four last year, can take the next step. Like, yeah, they're in the dirt. Whoever wins the national championship is going to be a first-time coach that joins that guard, which I think is interesting. So, you know, like, I do think that, you know, making this show about, like, victory laps is not right, because, like, Marcus Freeman just did something for Notre Dame that they have not done in three decades. And

it's like, there was a moment in time this year where we were having real discussions about can Notre Dame succeed under Marcus Freeman if they can't avoid being upset by bad teams. This is the third time it's happened now. And like now they're in the college football playoff semi-final beating Georgia and playing Penn State in the game that they're going to be favored in probably like are they going to the national title game? Like we this is where we're at. So like for me, I feel like we, we had this long season of ups and downs and Cinderella's and playoff debate and all this stuff. And like at the end of the road, you have four teams in the finals that were all ranked in the top eight in the preseason AP poll. So I think that like we kind of arrived back to where we were, where we started. And like everyone's like, yeah,

the polls in the beginning of the year are meaningless. And they are, but we, we know how to analyze rosters and which players are good and how, how to do the, like the reporters that vote on this aren't stupid. Like we know. None of these, none of these are a surprise. They were all top, they're all like top seven preseason teams, right?

I think Notre Dame was seven or eight in the AP poll. And that was the lowest ranked team. And Penn State was right? I think Notre Dame was seven or eight in the eight people. And that was the lowest ranked team in Penn State was higher. I think so, you know, you, you, you do have a new look to it. Like Penn State, Notre Dame and are the new look, the only team that's kind of been there consistently for the last 10 years is there's Ohio state. Cause Texas is still fairly new. They broke through last year, but they're back. Um, and again, you have four coaches with a lot to prove.

But also, too, it's like, did James Franklin completely redeem himself? I don't know. We'll see. The big game James Franklin is going to be put to the test in their next game more than ever. But Sarkeesian looks like the guy at Texas for a long period of time.

And Ryan Day probably just coached himself out of coaching hell the last few weeks. So what if he wins the national championship, then all of a sudden, you know, you go from almost people wanting you fired to winning a national. It's a very strange year. But I actually, like, don't want to go into the week of the semifinal without saying like, I had a blast with this. Like, like, I know there were blowouts, but it was fun. like I had a blast with this. Like, I know there were blowouts, but it was fun. It's interesting, right? Like when the teams actually play the games on the field

instead of we just assume, because remember, Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Penn State, that would have been your final four with the old format. Notre Dame wouldn't be in it. That would have been your final four with the old format. Notre Dame wouldn't be in it. You know Ohio State wouldn't be in it. You know where I've stood on the preservation of the regular season and stuff, but somebody, I was listening to a podcast and I can't put my finger on who it was, made this point and I never

thought about it this way. And I think it's important and it's a new way of looking at it that kind of, you know, I was like, Oh, that's a really good point. And the point was that because the playoff has expanded this year, Indiana story meant something. Arizona State story meant something. Like in the past, we have had Cinderella seasons of teams that have gone on to do good things in the regular season, but you kind of knew in the back of your head that they weren't going to be a part of it.

But like the Kam Skadabu experience this year was magnified exponentially by their participation in this tournament. I think Kurt Signetti's... They're having a chance to get into the tournament for the last month of the season. Right. So it's like, even though the season is going to hash itself out, like we, I think for the most part, you know, and if Arizona State would have won, maybe this would be different. I think nine or eight out of ten times we run this tournament, you're probably going to have four teams at the end that were in the top eight of the AP preseason poll. Like, I think this is gonna be the typical. But even if it's two out of ten years where an Arizona State makes it or a Boise makes a run or an Indiana makes a run, the fact that they were able, for the first time in the sports history, to not only play meaningful games that people are excited about, like you actually know that they get to participate in.

And like, I was so fixated all the time about who deserves to be in and, and who, you know, how perfect everybody had to be all the time. And like, I think I'm like starting to come around on the idea that like, it's not just about perfection, it's about doing enough, while also not having to be perfect. That way we can get to a place where we settle it on the field. As the rosters flatten, and I do think, we've talked about this a lot. The first round showed they haven't flattened

as much as maybe we thought, but they have flattened. Like there's a reason Georgia is not as deep as it was, and Notre Dame is more deep than it was and it's not just that Marcus Freeman is the coach instead of Brian Kelly. So. Perfection is going to be almost impossible to attain going forward. Maybe just let him play and that's what we're doing now. And here's the mixed feeling I do have Andy, because I had like an extra central.

So I don't know if you know this, but I was freaking out about getting to the airport on time this morning, and I ended up getting there like three hours early, because everything went perfectly, because of course it did. So I wrote it. You're not gonna tell the people why the show ended as abruptly as it did in the morning, are we?

You can if you want. It wasn't because you had to go to the airport. He had to go somewhere, but not to the airport. Yeah, no, I was, the court had to grant me a short bathroom break in that moment. As we learned a few minutes ago, I could have vamped for a few minutes, but I did want to get you to your plane on time as well. But so anyway, I ended up writing an extra column about Oregon this morning, okay, and I was like really thinking it through and I don't know if this is tonight or another time,

but like I think that Oregon fans, though disappointed, should thinking it through and I don't know if this is tonight or another time but like I think that Oregon fans though disappointed should be really hopeful. And I and I think that they are a in a really good place with the right coach, but I was actually thinking more about it and I didn't write about this but like you realize that Oregon probably just want to won the national title if this happened last year, right? Like they are still the second best team in my opinion. If not having to play Ohio State, like, I don't know. Cause I'm trying to think of how that would work, how the seating would work. I actually think the, this one would have been really complained about in the 14 format, cause it would have been rematches

of the Big Ten and SEC championships in the semis. But Oregon probably beats Penn State in the rematch. We think you want to hear. I think this, this Oregon team would have beaten Georgia or Texas, but I don't know. Here's my tin foil hat theory Thursday, but it's usually on Tuesday tin foil hat Tuesday on Thursday, I would bet if I could like go into an alternate universe and put real money on this, that they would have ranked them differently if they knew there were only four teams. Like, I don't think that's what the rankings would have been if they were who would have

been who who who else would have gotten in with Penn State out. You know who I think would probably be in I think Notre Dame probably would have gotten in over Penn State. I think that they have got probably gotten in over penn state let me look at the college football playoff final rankings real quick i believe penn state was for noter day was five so i think that would. What makes sense yeah like. Yeah noter day would have gotten in at four i think and then it would have been oregon noter day in georgia and texas probably. I think, and then it would have been Oregon, Notre Dame, Georgia and Texas, probably. Uh, and I don't have proof of that. I don't know. I have to Penn State at two.

Would Oregon have beaten Notre Dame? I, it's not guaranteed. Like, listen, we don't know. We've been a game for sure. It would have been a game. Yeah. Like here's what I do know. And you can come along with me on this journey or not.

I made a tweet today and people went absolutely banana land. And I want to ask you if you agree with me. Okay. And this isn't about achievement. This is about one individual game. Okay. Did the one individual game performance that you saw out of Ohio State and the Rose Bowl on Wednesday stack up with in terms of how good they are with 19 LSU and 20 Alabama and either of the subsequent Georgia teams?

Or do you think that's insane to think? It looked a lot like that. Those teams didn't lose. So it's not about season achievements, but when it comes to the buzzsaw that Oregon ran into, I think that it was akin to that. Okay, so to me, Ohio State is the only team this year that has put forth a performance that you could make that comparison to. Whether or not you want to go along with me on that is your prerogative. But Ohio State state with Jeremiah Smith, their defensive line, Caleb downs, I don't need to list out the whole roster. You get it.

Is that like if Ryan Day loses a game with that team playing like that, then you can reopen the, what the hell's going on there discussion as far as I'm concerned, they are that good. Even against Texas. I don't think Texas has nearly enough horses to beat that team. And I don't know. Texas has a lot to beat that team. And I don't know. Texas has a lot of horses man. Texas has some really good players.

They do. They have a really good, so does Oregon, bud. Like if you actually, I don't know if you read, you did read the column that I wrote. I did. I read it. Did you read the Oregon one today yet? I did, yes. Dan Lanning, in a ve veiled response said we don't have players as them. Yeah, it was. It was the the much more

diplomatic version of the Shane Beamer against Georgia. Did you see how many five stars they have on their defensive line from a few years ago and that's coming with from somebody who argue who has those players. Yeah has the closest roster in college football to matching them. And Texas is in that conversation. But if you would have asked me just player for player, which team had the most good players on it before the playoff, I would have said Ohio State. You know that about me. Yeah, they weren't playing well. But if this. I think I think almost anybody would have said that. I mean, just if we're going player for player, yeah, and like Texas has.

Very big deficiencies right now, and I don't know if a deficiency laden team can beat that now if Michigan. We also don't know that we're going to get that game in and game out because the difference as you as you obliquely pointed out. game in and game out because the difference as you as you obliquely pointed out. Between this Ohio State team and 19 LSU and 20 Alabama and lost they've lost. We've seen when they weren't at their best and they could not get it done. And in the Oregon loss funny enough. I think you could make the case that that was their.

Second best performance of the season correct correct funny enough, I think you could make the case that that was their second best performance of the season. Correct, correct, but before the playoff began. The two playoff games are always the best. Right, right, but going into the playoff, if you would have said, Ari, which, what was Ohio State's best game this year in terms of performance, I would have said the loss at Oregon. Yeah. So, but I do think too that we're probably arrived at the four teams that have the fewest deficiencies. And then at the same time, I also feel like all three of the other non Ohio State teams have the same one. Okay. No, because I think Texas's offense has more weapons than either Penn States or Notre Dame's. I like all of their defenses about pretty well. All the defenses are good.

I lost a little bit of faith in the Texas defense late against Arizona State, but I kind of, I blamed a little bit of that on the Texas offense, not keeping Arizona State's offense off the field. That was also a little bit of a mudslide. It kind of just felt like everything was going wrong for them. That happens. Right. I'm like, I don't know. And Kam Skataboo is a wizard. That's that too. Yeah. But no, I do think like Ohio State has the most explosive offense left in this thing. It's not close. The thing about it is the other three teams, they're going to play one of them for sure, and then they'll play one of the other two.

The other three teams have defenses that can absolutely shut you down. Now we've seen Penn State's defense against Ohio State. It in fact is the pretty much the only thing that scored against Ohio State. So we know what Penn State's D against Ohio State looks like. We do, but we thought we knew what Oregon's did too. Like we did. That's true. Like I feel like they found themselves. I would agree with that. I don't think you're wrong there. And if they lose that, if they lose that, then it's just like what the hell like it'll be frustrating, but it's possible when you're playing against good teams because I wrote about it's actually probably is up on on three right now. I wrote about

Marcus Freeman tonight because the the punt situation where he runs the punt team out runs him off runs the offense on the field now they were not and they were never gonna snap the ball and just run a play unless Georgia jumped. Coogan, you could see, was looking, and as soon as they jumped, he snapped because then it was a free play. It was perfectly executed.

Notre Dame really had nothing to lose. They were trying to make Georgia Bird a timeout. It ended up allowing them to keep the ball and ice the game. You had the Riley Leonard dive over for the first down on the next first down and then they just eight o'clock and the game was over. But I'm thinking it's Marcus Freeman. Notre Dame's got his back to the goal line.

One sideline is going crazy. Where have I seen this before? I saw it at Notre Dame Stadium last year, except the sideline that was going crazy was Notre Dame's. Notre Dame's backs to the goal line. Ohio State has the ball, the clock is ticking. They have 10 men on the field, Notre Dame does. And Marcus Freeman knows this.

It has come through his headset. He knows this. He has no timeouts. He has no way of telling the players how to stop the clock. And I remember sitting in his office two days later and he goes, here's how we'll do this. If that ever happens again, I will have a signal to one of my corners on my sideline to touch the receiver on the other side of the, of the, the line of scrimmage and they will blow the whistle and throw a flag and

that will stop the clock. I haven't even read your column yet. And like when you were going through what they did there, the first thing I thought about was the 10 men on the field situation. And like how and I think there's probably lessons to be learned like with Dan. Marcus Freeman was in his 19th game as a head coach when that happened. Very young in his development as a head coach. Tonight he had a play and like I mentioned earlier Riley Leonard said that this is something that that Marcus Freeman essentially cooked up two days ago. It was something they practiced all year but then Marcus Freeman put a twist on it two days ago in practice and that's what they ran today

and it was executed as well as you could possibly execute it and of just like command command command command command And he had one of the best coaches in the world in a blender on the other sideline like Kirby smart is considered generally the best coach in the sport And Marcus Freeman out coached him today. Like that is a massive step forward. It may, it's amazing. It's amazing. Um, I cannot believe it. It's fun when, when the thing you didn't necessarily think, and it's funny because you said this was gonna happen. You picked this to happen.

But I think deep down in your mind, you're like, well, but it's Georgia. But it's Georgia. But it's Georgia. That's it. That's the whole thing. Because in my mind, I did have that thought, right? I did have that thought.

But I think that, and let me ask you because like, you know, you did pick Georgia to win the national title. And my theory is, is if you were to pick Georgia to win the national title, or if you were to pick Georgia to advance very far in this tournament or be on the verge of doing that, that you have a subconscious inability to let go of what they were because of the players that are on their team and instead of taking them for their word of who they are. Like, because if you did watch them this year, and going all the way back to when you and I shared that cute little BNB, Airbnb in Wisconsin when they almost lost.

Air BnB in Wisconsin when they almost lose. We're watching the Kentucky game. Yeah, Georgia has revealed itself multiple times this year, and I'm not saying teams can't. But the thing is, we've seen Ohio State allegedly reveal itself against Michigan, and that's not that why neither of us picked them to beat Oregon, Andy. Yeah, and we're wrong. So like it like in some time again, if Georgia would have won today, then we would have just been wrong. So like, like, and sometimes like, and if Georgia would have won today, then we would have just been wrong. But the reason why I picked Notre Dame is a I was high on them from the beginning of the year, but B, I think it's time we start trusting teams when they tell us who they are. Like that is something this team is capable of. Yeah. And that's also in the back of my mind. And that is the issue.

But Notre Dame has been running through people for 10 weeks now. They have. They have. And the thing is, the Army and the Navy games, we can say, oh, they were overmatched. But the Army and Navy have been really good against everybody else. Yeah.

And Notre Dame destroyed them. And I think that like, you could, like, if Georgia just played that Kentucky game closed, and lost to Alabama, with all we know about Alabama, like, I don't even think that I, I would have held that accountable. But like, I also think that Georgia revealed itself and wins this year. You know what I mean? Like we were watching the Florida game. I think the Florida game is a pretty evident one. Yeah. The second Texas game that they won, like I don't know that they played particularly well. I think that

after that game we both looked at each other and we're like hey I don't think either of these teams are gonna do it this year. Like I think that the exact, and then listen, Carson Beck did not play, okay, and I, we can't quantify how much that would have changed. I really don't think that would have changed this result. We have to acknowledge it. Yeah. But like, did anything that Georgia struggled with offensively today catch you as a surprise, or is that just more of what we've seen this year? No, it wasn't a surprise. I did, you know, I was very impressed with Notre Dame's depth because I thought losing Riley Mills would be a problem and that Georgia would be able to generate more of a push up front, but they couldn't. And really, the only successful rushing attack at all for either team was Riley Leonard. That's it.

And didn't we talk about that on the prize picks video? We did. We did. He went more than, by the way, on his rushing number. What did he finish with? 80, I believe. His price picks number was 43, wasn't it? 46 and 1.5. Oh, it was? Yeah. Yoshi just said, I owe you an apology

for calling you stupid, Ari. I am sorry. It's OK. Don't worry. You'll call him stupid again later. It'll happen. Listen, if it's not you, it's someone else. Ari, I want to ask you a question that Jeff asks in the chat

Okay, cuz I'm fascinated by this. This is a little little off the playoff track, but I think you're gonna like this one, too Andy you mentioned Brian Kelly when you went live earlier Does Marcus Freeman success this season put any more pressure on Brian Kelly at LSU? Yeah Does Marcus Freeman success this season put any more pressure on Brian Kelly at LSU? Yeah. I'll say it does because because when Brian Kelly went to LSU. He made reference to I'm now at a place where I have what I need to win the national title. Whereas Marcus Freeman has shown. Brian Kelly was already at a place where they give you the

resources when national title is just. Marcus Freeman employs them better. It's so convoluted because like also to the game is changed like when he left it like it wasn't like right and Notre Dame there was no guarantee that Notre Dame would be as in on NIL as it has been because it had been fairly conservative about almost everything and the idea of them being I don't know if they're cutting-edge but they're certainly very

willing to participate in that game even though they can't really deal with most of the transfers they're taking you, they're taking grad transfers from from Wake Forest and grad transfers from Duke, but They've figured out a way to do this Yeah and maybe There's a Ben from Clemson, I guess Bo Collins For 15 years. There was only one way to do this and now there's multiple ways to do it, right? Yep, I mean it used to be top five class, top five class, top five class, top five class, top five class, five years in a row.

And Marcus Freeman's actually pretty good at doing that part of it, too. He's doing he's doing great. And then on top of it, like, go get Riley Leonard. And you know what I what I loved about the game more than anything, we mentioned the rushing stuff. It's like in the time that we watched him play at Duke before Duke was, or there was a playoff system that would have included Duke and we just watched it cause we were sick. Riley Leonard was an amazing rushing threat. And I know that he has flashed that at times at Notre Dame, but for the most

part, considering his, his health, they haven't really ran him all that hard. Um, and then when they get into a game against a team like Georgia, they run the guy like a madman and it's like, you love that. Like, it's like, we're here. We're ready to play. We're going to give you, it's like that waterboy thing last game of the year can't hold anything back now also did it also remember Will Howard's best game on the ground came against Penn State like that's probably how you beat Penn State too and that's who that

the Notre Dame plays next. Yeah. And have you seen the look, look ahead line yet? It's been a very hard day for me. So Notre Dame by one and a half, I believe. Yeah. I mean, I think there's a little of this too. You know, we did the Georgia Notre Dame like Spider-Man.

Like I think there's a little of that in that game too. Oh, there's, there's definitely because Penn State, Penn State's issues offensively are similar to Georgia's issues offensively. There's not a lot of, although I will say Penn State probably has better running backs than Georgia and Penn State definitely has a better X factor than Georgia because Tyler Warren is different than anything Georgia has. Tyler Warren is also such a Georgia type player too. Like if Tyler Warren was on Georgia's team, it would be like, A, I think Georgia would have probably won today. And B, I think that they would have figured out a way to get him

the ball in the most amazing ways. But like, yeah, he's unbelievable. The catches that Tyler Warren makes are freaky. He made an alien catch against Boise state. And one of those that he's, he's one of the only humans in the country that can make that catch for a touchdown. Yeah. So Andy, we got, we got a, we got a comment that somebody paid for.

I don't want to let it go. Oh, okay. See this. So I'll let you answer it, but they paid and it's starch manning. I like the name. Texas ran the ball against Clemson, Michigan, A&M, not all against Georgia or Arizona State. Can they run on Ohio State? The D-line could get after Howard.

I think that's the biggest question. And we talked about this, I think, this morning on the show. The Texas offensive line performance against Michigan, against one of the best defensive lines in the country. We were so impressed. I loved watching it because

it was it wasn't even just the protection that they gave Quinn yours in that game. They got after Kenneth Grant, Mason Graham, like they got after any lead defensive line and ran on them. And then they struggled to run on Arizona State, which was baffling to me. Like that did not make sense. So yes, how they, how they perform in the run game against Ohio state is going to tell us almost everything. Jason only six days rest for Notre Dame and eight for Penn state in their name is walking dead guards. I was going to ask you this, make it a little much of that.

Let me ask you though. Do you think that there's any chance that they're gonna screw up our weekend and? Move that game Maybe but I doubt it. I don't I don't think they I mean I Have my theory that this this sugar bowl kicked off when it did because they couldn't move the kickoff time of the Gator Bowl So Gator Bowl so So I don't think I don't think they're going to change it. I think there's too much already planned. And I think you six days you're okay, like six

versus eight. It's it's worse I think when you have, you know, an NFL team that that it like if you I don't think they do this in the NFL where they have a team that didn't play Sunday against on a Thursday night against the team that did play Sunday, but that would be cruel. That would be just wrong. Oh, River just told me what River just sent us a message that the Orange Bowl will be played on January 9th as planned. A college football playoff spokesperson confirmed to Blue and White Illustrated on Thursday. We will not be moving the game. And they put that out through an email. So you're right, they won't be moving it. I don't think that's like Notre Dame is not going to make that an excuse out of that.

And I don't think it needs to be an excuse. I think they'll be just fine. It becomes one if they lose. Sure. I think they'll be just fine. It becomes one if it if they lose sure, because it always but. Oh boy. Hmm, well, the plot thickens. This is going to be a lot of fun.

Are you this this? These matchups I you know, I I thought Georgia Notre Dame was kind of a Spider-Man meme game, but Penn State Notre Dame feels like just as much of a Spider-Man meme game. And then Texas feels like kind of the last hope. If Ohio State is this buzzsaw that we think it is, Texas feels like the last hope because if Texas plays the best game Texas can possibly play, it has the talent to compete with the buzzsaw. My wife texted me today while I was at the airport saying she wanted to go to the game because she was watching all the games on TV.

And I think she like, you know, got into the pageantry a little bit and knows that half of her friends are Texas people. And we looked at the game time map today. And I think the cheapest tickets in the upper, upper deck are like 600 bucks for that. So Texas is gonna be well represented in that stadium. I mean, the fact that they're playing in their home state is gonna be a big deal for them, I think.

I do too. And that's another, well, we can get into the process a little more too, because I think that one of the things that I keep getting tweeted at me that, and I think it's interesting though. I don't know that it's something that needs to be changed or fixed. I said the seating needs to be fixed anyway, but the teams with bias went 0 and 4. to be fixed anyway. But the teams with Biasman 0 and 4. Now I think because the tournament was deliberately, deliberately misceded in two of those games, one, one team that had to play last week was immensely more talented.

But in the two games that we thought were close, you know, that Vegas had as a less than three points spread or less than four points spread. The team that played last week won and looked sharper and jumped all over the team that didn't play last week. Are you buying into the rusty thing? I'm not, I'm not really because of the other two, because of the two where the one team was just more talented Like if it had been seated straight And that same thing had happened. Maybe I would have i'd feel differently But I feel like because of the deliberate misleading because two of those games were set up the way they were I don't know that we could take much from it. It's a fairly small sample size

Hey, uh, you know, I gotta wrap this around back to the game that we started in though? Sure. And just ask you, what was your impression of Gunner Stockton and do you feel like Georgia can go into next season with him as their guy? I thought he looked pretty good once they cut him loose. I think whether it was anybody, like even if Carson Beck had come back for another year,

they need more playmakers. Like they need people who can catch the ball that the drops played, played them all season. They need people who are dynamic, who can get open. That's really all there is to it. They, they have to get better at receiver. If they can get a dynamic tight end, a la Brock Bowers, I mean that, that Brock Bowers is kind of a unicorn, but they need more dynamic playmakers. That was their problem for all of the year. With you.

I think Gunnar Stockton is probably fine if they have that. Travel edits. Notre Dame is back. Tell the world we are back. Notre Dame versus Ohio State. Natty Bookett. Thanks Rari for believing we are SEC champs and it just means more to us. You know, I think the SEC would be happy to take Notre Dame if Notre Dame actually wanted to try to win SEC championships. I think that's one phone call that would make something happen really quickly. I think Notre Dame could get just about anybody to pick up the phone in that in that regard. Yeah.

Notre Dame Ohio State is is a ratings bonanza as a national title game for one, but also we started out talking about that crazy game last year in Notre Dame Stadium. And what a full circle moment that would be for Marcus Freeman and Ryan Day. Yeah. And of course, Marcus Freeman would be playing against the team he played for in college and Ryan Day would be playing a rematch with Lou Holt's watching. It would be a real, real kicking the knackers. I'd like to know where, I'd like to know where Lou Holt's is right now.

Um, I do need his opinion on this for sure. Even or we or Todd Schmidt, Pat McAfee's sidekick, who does the whole impression we at least we need something like that. We need some sort of breakdown by Lou Holtz. Has Lou Holtz like talked to anybody about that? He has. I think he laughed. He has because I have I haven't seen it would be funny to have him on the show. If I think he talked to Ty Schmidt in the Ty Schmidt makeup

or in the Lou Holtz makeup about it. So I actually haven't heard of or heard from or seen Lou Holtz since Ryan Day asked I'd like to know where I like legitimately would like to know where he is Well, I'm sure if if the matchup is said Notre Dame's in the national title game Somebody's gonna chat with him. So have him on the show. Yeah, absolutely. I know that we're probably winding this down here pretty soon, but the Mississippi Rebels are beating Duke 24 seven at halftime of the Gator Bowl. Andy. Did you or do you want to have the SEC conversation?

I this is not where I thought you were going with that. What'd you think I was gonna, where'd you think I was going? I thought you were just going to ask me, did the committee mess up by leaving all mess up? No, no. I mean, I kind of did. It was just a different way. Um, we can have the SEC conversation all you want you want. I don't feel like I've been one of those people that, that says, that, that has said, put the sec teams in Alabama should have gotten in. What did I say about Alabama before they played in their bowl game? If you'd have sent them to Penn state instead of SMU, the same thing might've happened to

Alabama that happened to SMU. When I say the SMU discussion, I'm not pointing my finger at Ian going, haha, that's not what I was applying. I just meant like it is pretty remarkable that like the entire conference blew up in the postseason, like whether it be the playoff outside of Texas, there's still an SEC team in it. They're new, but they're still I know, I know, but you know what I mean? It's like the whole narrative.

I think the SEC folks like the whole narrative. I think The SEC folks like the people in the conference office probably thought This was a chance to have like three of the four teams in the semis and that's how that this would look every year But it's not It may be how it looks in a future year, but it is not now You know what the SEC champion just lost to Notre Dame, fair and square in the sugar bowl and Notre Dame was the better team. Like you want to know the funniest thing about the way that this played out though is that Penn State is everything that the SEC people wanted Ole Miss or Tennessee or South Carolina or Alabama

to be. The third or fourth best team in a conference who actually was good enough to win games and get to the end. Yep. And the thing is, the Big Ten has more money than the SEC. In this era of college football, they're going to put together, at least at the top, a competitive depth that allows them to have teams that are the third or fourth best team that make the final four that compete for national titles. That's going to have the most players drafted again. I'm not sure that number that that streak is going to stay alive through this era either.

Is that a fact? The SEC will have they probably will this year. Okay, but what I'm saying is I think that streaks in danger coming up. I don't know if in danger coming up. I don't know if that's a fact. You don't think they'll have the most players drafted this year? I think they could. I don't think that's saying that they will. We'll find out. I bet it's close. I bet it's close. Yeah. If it doesn't end this year, it's going to end in the next couple because the big 10 is just...

Now the big 10 has 18 teams. So we're have to do it you know per team oh we're gonna have whatever we're gonna have to we're gonna have to count it up on a curve but yeah but the per capita the big 10 could have the higher per capita here in the next few years. There's gonna be a few teams in the big 10 that have zero drafted so it shouldn't take into account much but we'll find out we have we have some some payers here and I want to make sure we service. Sure. Let's make sure they get This one was a big one here saying ohio state is 19 lsu. This is brian laguerre Saying osu is 19 lsu is one of the most delusional takes i've ever heard they lost two games one to a team with no offense in a year With no elite teams in 19. What are we doing?

I never said that they were 2019 LSU. I said their performance and who they and how they played. Looks like 19 LSU in the postseason. I don't think that this year's Ohio State team stacks up in terms of totality of accomplishment with that. No, that that team was better. Like, yeah and that team in this year would have like if you had that team with those players in this season. What if you win the SEC championship? How many like what your record 16 and

if you win the national title? Yeah, I think so. It would have been 16 now. Yeah, yeah. This one here from Karen Golding. It is not fair to say Penn State's offense is much better than Georgia's I didn't say it was much better than George's. I said they had a better X factor, which they do Georgia doesn't have a Tyler Warren. No, no, she's saying neither of them have any receivers. It's scary Yeah, she said is it not fair to say pence? So it is just what she's it's not much better than George's it is

slightly better But not a ton better because again like Georgia, they don't have receivers that scare you They have the Tyler Warren that scares you and two running backs that scare you more than George's a little bit But and their quarterback is better. Let's call it what it is, right? I think so Yeah, and that's a big deal and it threw our Plays well, I mean I thought he had a few throws in that game the other night That was like whoo boy won't Ellie but you know Carson Beck does that too or has done that and he didn't play Yeah, I person Beck has had those games too. So yeah, I don't think they're much better than Georgia, but I think they're Probably slightly better than Georgia. Yeah

but I think they're probably slightly better than Georgia. Yeah. And I think Warren is the difference. And this feeds really well into Corey here. Uh, Penn State Notre Dame is such a good matchup. It's hard to call. I'd go within the better QB and running game Penn State by four. So does Penn State have a better running game than Notre Dame? Are we sure? I don't think that's a fact. Yeah. I don't know if we're sure about that. Uh, Jeremiah love got hurt in this game.

Judarian Price is interesting. He only averaged 3.7 yards of carry. I think it's 10 carries for 37 yards. But it feels like he had all his yards on like three carries after Jeremiah Love got hurt. Yeah. But I think, I'm hoping Jeremiah Love can be back and healthy enough for this game

He's even dealing with it with an illness, too Abdul Carter and his status is a pretty big deal Right and he was he was something on Twitter that was sci-fi and I don't understand it So I texted it to the group and I want you to tell me what that is and explain to me what that could be Is it sci-fi or is it anime because the it to the group and I want you to tell me what that is and explain to me what that could be. Is it sci-fi or is it anime because the kids love the anime? No, I think it's something from a comic book movie. I don't know.

Oh, oh, I see. Okay, it's Bay. It looks like he's Bay. Oh, this is Bay. Oh, it's Bane. I believe it's Bay. It will be very painful for you. Yes.

You adopted the dog that was born into a brother. Does that mean he's good? Does that mean he's going to play? It means I wouldn't want to be Riley Lam. Oh, I just got I just got banged up running for 80 yard that the, but he went flying for that first down. This, the, the sequence right after the, the hard count thing, I was like, man, he's going to feel that in the morning.

But you ain't gonna feel that tonight. Well, we, uh, we're, uh, going into a weekend without football, Andy, which is pretty sad. Um, I guess we have some, we were going into a weekend without football, Andy, which is pretty sad. I guess we have some NFL. There's some fairly meaningless NFL games. Hey, let's not forget the Dukes Mayo bowl is still coming up. That's tomorrow. Okay.

Well, we'll have to watch that. It'll be either PJ Fleck or Brent Pry is going to get Mayo dumped on his head. My daughter doesn't have day school tomorrow, so I might try to be a good dad for a day, and then we're gonna get right back in football. And watch the Dukes-Mail Bowl with her, that would be the greatest thing you could do as a dad. She was watching the Rose Bowl

and seemed to be moderately into it, so we're working on it, but we have some stuff we're working on, we're gonna be- Oh, it's the Star Wars back to tank. Oh, that's what it is. What's a back to tank? It's a tank where you sit in it and it rejuvenates you and fixes you.

That's, yeah, Vader goes into the chamber to speed his recovery before he gets back into his mechanized suit. Electric. It's bad that I missed that my brother in law is gonna kill me. He builds custom Star Wars suits. Like he can build you a bike trooper suit if you ask him. So I'm highly embarrassed to have missed that because it did it did kind of look like vain at first. But yeah, all right.

Is it those guys that were the white plastic? Well, that's all storm troopers where those bike troopers are the ones that ride the speeder bikes like on the forest mood of indoor and return of the Jedi. There's kind of scouting around on the little speeder bikes. But they wear a different uniform than the standard storm trooper. That's good to know.

Different helmet. Oh, we're showing the back to tank. There it is. Well, now I have questions for Abdul Carter. I have Star Wars related questions for him. Different generation, like which trilogy is he the biggest fan of? Like which one matters the most to him?

That looks like- These are the important questions. That looks like something from the saw movies I think that's what they're going for Think that's what they're going for guys This has been fun This has been fun. I cannot wait for these these two games next week I I don't know what's going to happen and I'm

glad I don't know. You know, I already convinced that Ohio State has found its other gear. It's never going back. I think I probably need to see them do that to Texas before I do that. But I'm picking them. I spoiler alert. I'm picking Ohio State. I'm done picking against them. I'm still not sure who I'm going to pick in Notre Dame Penn State. We're going to figure that out. They're going to win the national title. Andy. Clip it, River, clip that.

Because we don't know. We don't know. We don't know anything. That's what we've learned in this tournament so far. We don't know anything and it's beautiful. We'll talk to you guys on Monday morning.