Andy & Ari On3 - College Football Week 1 PICKS | Texas at Ohio State, LSU at Clemson, Notre Dame at Miami

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

As Farmageddon has come and gone in Dublin, it's time to turn our full attention to the beautiful slate that is Week 1. With some incredible matchups on the slate, Andy & Ari dive into the biggest games of the week and give you their picks right here! (0:00-0:33) On Today’s Episode(0:34-2:11) BetMGM(2:12-4:28) Intro: How to adjust to College Football Starting(4:29-6:07) Week 0: Farmageddon Recap(6:08-11:19) Johnson Family Fight(11:20-15:31) Fresno State vs Kansas Recap(15:32-18:34) Modelo(18:35-26:12) Week 1 Picks: Nebraska vs Cincinnati (+6.5)(26:13-29:49) Georgia Tech at Colorado (+4)(29:50-39:32) Auburn at Baylor (+2.5)(39:33-41:45) Starbucks(41:46-54:00) Texas at Ohio State (-1.5)(54:01-59:44) Syracuse vs Tennessee (-14)(59:45-1:07:34) Alabama at Florida State (+13.5)(1:07:35-1:11:23) Repeating Yourself + A Laundry Chute(1:11:24-1:19:54) LSU at Clemson (-3.5)(1:19:55-1:22:29) Utah at UCLA (+6)(1:22:30-1:25:09) Virginia Tech vs South Carolina (-7.5)(1:25:10-1:30:32) Notre Dame at Miami (+2.5)(1:30:33-1:33:09) Closing Out Week 1 Picks(1:33:10-1:35:19) Conclusion: New Schedule It's a jam packed week 1 slate, but first, we have to cover some interesting news from Farmageddon in Dublin over the weekend. Watch here as Andy & Ari react to the Johnson family fight in Ireland. We head from one team in Kansas to another, as the Jayhawks lit up the Fresno State Bulldogs on Saturday 31-7. Are the Jayhawks a serious Big 12 Contender? It's time to get into the picks, and we start in Kansas City, Missouri, as the Nebraska Cornhuskers kick off their season against the Cincinnati Bearcats. Games Picked: Nebraska vs. Cincinnati in Kansas City (+6.5) Total: 53.5Georgia Tech at Colorado (+4) Total: 54.5Auburn at Baylor (+2.5) Total: 57.5Texas at Ohio State (-1.5) Total: 47.5Syracuse vs. Tennessee (-14) in Atlanta Total: 50.5Alabama at Florida State (+13.5) Total: 50.5LSU at Clemson (-4) Total: 57.5Utah at UCLA (-6.5) Total: 50.5Virginia Tech vs. South Carolina (-7.5) Total: 50.5Notre Dame at Miami (+2.5) Total: 49.5 Our show is presented by BetMGM! 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 Gameday starts at Starbucks! Join JD Pickell and Devin Hester at Starbucks on August 31st before the Miami v Notre Dame matchup to celebrate the return of the football and pumpkin season!https://www.starbucks.com/menu/featured/?%243p=a_custom_838078477923275313&~customer_placement=youtube&~campaign=fy25fallcustomcontentprograms&~creative_name=on3&_branch_match_id=1211104932562219397&utm_source=YouTube&utm_campaign=fy25fallcustomcontentprograms&utm_medium=paid%20advertising&_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAAyWMyw6CMBBFv0aXgC0ENGlcGOMH%2BEhcNUMzQENfmRYNG7%2FdRrf3nHOnlEI8lGVMQP2i5lhACIXRbi6f5l5drucbe%2FTHDat5ECDVEpO3suNd1XZ12%2B4ZZ23Dd3z7UWAD6NGJYWXNAMb8XeVdQpcC%2BZHAxuz9ZiQZDCi0mYnVL2npMTNCSPqF0oFF4V2%2BJRyQSLtR9uTfEUmcJsr9F5TVt5y5AAAA Some things in life are just made for each other. Peanut Butter and jelly. Macaroni and cheese. Modelo and college football. Grab yourself a Modelo today to stay gameday ready all season long. Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/5OcK1ck8Kts Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail]

The picks are back. That's right. It is week one. It is time to pick some games. We start Thursday with Nebraska, Cincinnati, and Kansas City. On Friday, we've got Georgia Tech and Colorado and Auburn Baylor. And then on Saturday, oh yeah, college football back in the biggest way. Texas at Ohio State, Syracuse, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida State, LSU Clemson, you name it. We're picking it. I cannot wait. Let's pick some games. We've teamed up with BetMGM this season. We will be using BetMGM lines to make all our picks and we'll have special offers for our listeners each week. When you join BetMGM, you'll get access to a variety of parlay selection features like same game parlayes, live betting options, and more.

If you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB as in college football, CFB. And you will get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first round. wager with BEDMGM. Here's how that works. Download the BDNGM app and sign up using the bonus code CFB. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. You'll receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets if your bet loses. Just make sure you use the bonus code CFB when you sign up.

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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 three. It is week one. It is game week. It is time, Ari. We made it. We did it. We keep saying we made it. But it feels like a big. step every time. Yeah, we made it on Saturday. We really made it today. I was watching back our instant reaction to the Iowa State, Kansas State game. And there was a comment on her that had a bunch of likes that said, it's just really great to see people talking about something you can tell they love. And it's like, and that made me feel good. Because like we, this isn't a bit.

Like, this is, this is a show for people who love college football for people who love college football. And I'm not even talking about the people who are excited about Ohio State and Texas only. Yeah, we want you to be just excited about Georgia Tech, Colorado, about Nebraska, Cincinnati. We are going to pick all of those games, by the way, and we're going to pick Ohio State, Texas, of course, and LSU Clemson. Yeah, we're excited about that game, but we're not here for the fans that are only excited about that game. Yeah, we're here for everybody. It's a big time. We got Nebraska Cincinnati on Thursday.

It's going to be awesome. I said, goodbye to my wife, and she left for work this morning, and I said, I'll see you in January. Do you have to come and come? You've been with Anne longer than I've been with Brittany, so she knows the score. We're going on year seven. She met me when I had no job and $40 in my bank account. And so she's seen all of this, like the just scratching and clawing to even be employed. So anything that keeps me busy.

makes her happy. It means I'm working and getting paid. Men do have to have conversations with their spouse, and I'm assuming that's a little bit more intense for me because we're gone half the time or on Saturday. Like, it's the door shut, leave me alone type a day. But like I have to have conversations with her, you know, every year, you know, a month out, two weeks out, listen, you know, we're four Saturdays away from college football returning.

We're two Saturdays returning. And then we had a conversation on Saturday about Iowa State, Kansas State, Andy and she's like does this one count and I was like yep because she gets confused with preseason and I was like yeah this one counts and next Saturday they're all going to count so like tonight you know this is the last night that we have for a long time on Saturday where I'm free so soak it in and we had a great night but now I'm ready for full like you're my spouse now you know going in well frankly I'm a little disappointed that you weren't just locked in on on hawaii stanford and watching hawai was oh you know i was don't needle me uh oh i know

i know you were because i got the text at halftime of yeah i'm melting down right now and are you okay by the way no i'm not uh you know i got i wasn't melting down at half time i got it at half time because stanford plus 160 to win the game i thought was but you know honestly they went up 2017 late and I hedged a little bit because I thought they were going to lose and I didn't take a big beating. When Hawaii's QB went down, I think you probably were feeling like you had a shot there. When he came back in the game,

I was like, Hawaii's winning this game. Yeah, I think everybody watching the game kind of had the sense of how that was going to end. And luckily for me, I'm not stubborn. If I feel like things aren't going to, you know,

when they went up 2017, it was a get out of jail free card that I took. So, so, you know, we are of course present, we are of course presented by bed NGM. We are going to pick these games. I do want to touch on one other thing from the weekend.

That's two other thing, two little things from the weekend before we get to the picks. First, we have to talk about what happened after Farm Again. We have to talk about what happened with Avery Johnson's family. His dad and his older brother got into a fight with one another after the game. and maybe I did this wrong. Maybe I took this the wrong way. But my thought when I saw the video, which is Avery Johnson's dad on top of Avery Johnson's older brother.

So on top of his eldest son, who's in his 20s, by the way. So we're not, you know, it's everybody's adults here. I was like, I hope I can kick my son's ass when he's in his early 20s. And then I have to, wait, can I, can I even do that now? I don't know if I can do that now. I don't know that this is popular and like, I know we have to be noble and, you know, no,

we don't sports and all that stuff. I just said I hope he'd kick my son's ass in his early 20s. I don't know. You won't kick his ass. You just wish you were, that's more of a wish on like your physical capabilities at that time. Yeah. But like I was trying to put myself in Avery Johnson's father's scenario.

Okay. You fly all the way to Ireland to watch. to watch your son play Kansas State is winning that game from what I recall pretty good for most of it and just were making crucial errors over and over again.

You're sad because it's a pivotal big 12 matchup. You're walking in another country and some guy from an opposing fan base or your fan base it looks like it's all purple there gets in your face about how your son sucks or I understand how you're aware of who he was

fighting, right? Who? He was fighting his own son, Avery's older brother. What? You didn't know this? No? Yes. That's the whole point of why I could I kick my own son's ass in his 20s?

That's his eldest son that he was fighting. I saw the joint statement. I thought that they were brawling together. No, they were opponents. Because that's why I asked my question. That's why I asked myself the question. I'm like, wait. I get it now.

My son get my ass now. And it's possible, I think. Look it as his son's a badass and they were kicking the crap out of somebody together. I didn't realize that they were fighting each other. That is how hilarious. Now you're rewatching the video with a whole new. Yeah, I know. I'm retaking it.

I think this is bad podcasting. I didn't put that together at all. this is great podcasting by the way yes no that that that's a very's older brother that's his eldest son that is why they issued a joint apology got it we sincerely apologize for yesterday's football game for beating up on whoever you know was involved in this or it seemed like a lot was like a pretty big scrum uh so my apologies andy i don't know if you want to start the podcast no no it's just these are two pretty well Avery's a big guy right So you see his dad and his brother, both big guys.

The big scrum was people trying to break these two big guys up, basically. That's crazy. Okay, I guess everything I was just going to say about I understand why you would get into a fight. I hope that for you, Andy, that you're able to beat your son's ass, but I hope that you guys are close enough where that won't happen. I don't think it'll ever be an issue. But I'm telling you right now, so he's a sophomore in high school. he can out squat me and out deadlift me now.

I suspect I've got maybe another year. And then I need to just be prepared to... But the hope is, simultaneously that you will be able to kick his ass when he's 25, but also that you guys would just be hugging because you're like best friends. Exactly. That's what I'm hoping. Yeah, I need to stay ready so you don't have to get ready. That's really what it comes up.

I'm so sorry if I messed that up, but I think it's even more amusing that I didn't know that. It's much funny. It didn't occur to me. If you're listening on podcast form, I actually want you to find the YouTube version of this to watch Ari watching the video of this fight because it's his face is priceless. Is it just the confusion is amazing? Yeah, yeah.

That's pretty crazy. I'm happy that they're sorry and I hope that their family's okay. I think they're probably fine. a pretty rough day for Avery Johnson, if we're being honest. I think they run, it might be that they run hot in the Johnson family, and that's cool. It happens. Maybe that's why he's got a football player.

He grew up in an environment where you throw hands. You know, I don't know. Well, I think things will be fine for Avery Johnson. I really don't think them losing that game means that they are going to stink this season. I think Iowa State's probably pretty good. But

we'll see. One other big 12 note, because the other team from the Sunflower Showdown played on Saturday as well. Kansas looked awesome against Fresno State. Jalen Daniels, who we just saw play an entire healthy season last year, kind of under the radar because they were kind of bad at the beginning of the season.

I think Kansas may be a problem in the Big 12 this year. Yeah, they were lightning fast, super explosive, and it's like the thing with Kansas that I'm very interested in, and Andy is last year they had a really tough first half right and it started to feel a little bit UNLV game they had a few games that just a couple mistakes here and there cost them and it felt like the season was over before it started they actually were pretty good at the end of the season i have a i have a new year's resolution in in august and that's to not be quite as reactionary

as i've been in the past to try to like take things in i think i'm going to fail miserably as Ralph Rousseau mocked me on Saturday for saying that Iowa States in the front in the driver's seat to win the Big 12 now, which by the way is not an overreaction, is just a reaction to the result. You have two of the favorites playing each other, one of the favorites, one. I didn't think that that was like hyperbole. Like I think that right now. The problem is there's eight favorites.

Yeah, I don't know. There was the big 10 of the SEC where there's like three favorites and two played each other. That's different. I think that there are two favorites in the Big 12 and eight. that could conceivably win it is the way I would put it. And Iowa State now with that win in their pocket isn't a very advantageous position. It doesn't mean they're not going to go lose to Texas Tech

or go lose to Kansas. I don't know, whoever is on their schedule. But going back to Kansas, Andy, I think that it was easy to write them off after they had a really rough start and call their season from the year before, a flash in the pan. And my question to you is,

A, and help me not overreact here, did people not pay enough attention to the wins that Kansas had, Colorado, for instance, at the end of the year and what they looked like in those games? And B, is it possible that we collectively, as a media and as college football consumers have underestimated Kansas's ability to be that fast, that exciting, that offensively proficient in a wide open big 12 race? Because we spent a lot of time talking about eight teams, as you just mentioned, that could win it. And I'm not necessarily sure that Kansas was really much of a part of that conversation very often. It's like if Jalen Daniels can stay healthy and play the way that he looked like video game, Jalen Daniels, during that game. Like, can Kansas be a ninth team that could conceivably be in Dallas? Like, again, am I overreacting or am I asking a fair question? No, it's a fair question.

I think we'll have a much better idea after week two when they play Missouri. So they're at Missouri week two. That, of course, rekindling of a long, long, rivalry that was, you know, a big eight rivalry, a big 12 rivalry, and then Missouri went to the SEC and they stopped playing. So that is going to be a great test for Missouri and for Kansas. So I'm excited for that. If Kansas beats Missouri, which, you know, I don't know that they will, but if they do, and you throw back to that schedule up, you're looking at a six and oh team potentially, or at least a team that could go six. Their big 12 start is not

as rugged as it could be like there there's a lot of worse ways to start big 12 play than west virginia cincinnati and at ucf yeah what like what if uh october 11th is uh texas tec kansas game of the week yeah now i will say at texas tech k state not a super fun two in a row but they because they played in week zero they do have an open date between those two so yeah it's gonna be it's gonna be fun rugged back half with a nice little break in the middle with oklahoma state and arizona so if they if they can can traverse their schedule right you know we're going to get a real sense for them but i i had the thought on saturday night of like oh shit did we do we not give kansas it's due this offseason

yeah exactly so we got to make some picks for week one but before that before that we're going to a new sponsor already are you ready dude you ready i'm ready i'm ready i'm ready I'm ready. Sponsor, Modello. That's right. The season has officially kicked off and college football season is Madello season.

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and then all day Saturday, and you got games Sunday and a game on Monday. So that means load up on Madelo, get ready. The Medela recruiter has already offered you. Like the Medello recruiter has sent out a bunch of offers. If you're watching this, you've been offered. Accept the offer. Accept the offer.

take the Madelello scholarship and get ready for college football season. Some things in life are just made for each other peanut butter and jelly, macaroni, cheese, Madello, and college football. So grab yourself of Madello and stay game day ready all season long.

I've got 36 in my garage right now and 12 in my fridge. Beautiful. Beautiful. So I don't know if you went out and bought those, but if you didn't. Oh, no, I already had them. I had, I had, yeah, no, I had, I had all the cans of Medello Especiol, and then I had a 12 pack of bottles of Madelo Negra.

So we're not messing around in the Staples house. We know it's Medello season and college football season. Yeah. And, you know, it was already in my house, too. That's a pretty good sign. And my favorite thing in the entire world is when we get sponsors from people that have products that I already consume. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. This is, it's so nice when I can just walk to my garage fridge,

which is where the beer lives in my house. And I don't have to do anything special. It was already there. Are we going to, are we going to, I've thought, I've thought about this because of T. Bob A, here. Like, is it, are we going to ever normalize drinking Modelo for our reaction shows on Saturday night or normalize drinking Modello when we're doing our shows during the day? Like, is that okay? Like, can we do that? I don't see, I don't see where there's a problem. And I believe part of this campaign is there might be some tour stops where we might be at some places where we might be able to have a medello with you guys the week of a big game and we do the show together with medello in hand.

Love that idea. Yeah. It's coming. It's coming. So get ready. We'll have announcements as the season goes on, but it's going to be a lot of fun. Ari, we have. We have, have to get to the picks now. These, of course, sponsored by BEDNGM. Our spreads are provided by Ben, MGM. Our totals are provided by BEDMGM. We got lots of numbers to throw at you. We will start in Kansas City, Arrowhead Stadium, Thursday night. Nebraska and Cincinnati. Now, we have roundly criticized Nebraska for ducking out of power conference, non-conference games in the future. But they are playing one right now. They are playing Cincinnati. This is the debut of a New Look Nebraska, new defensive coordinator,

because remember Tony White left for Floor State, New Look offensive line. They went out and got a couple guys in the portal, Elijah Pritchett and Rocco Spindler, Alabama and Notre Dame, respectively. Dane Key comes in from Kentucky at Receiver, which gives them, I think, a really good downfield threat to go with Dylan Riola. Ari. They got Cincinnati with the godfather Dante Corleone at nose tackle.

Brendan Soresby at quarterback, Scott Satterson. maybe on the hot seat coaching that team what do we think happens here um yeah i think what we think happens here really goes into how much we want to buy into nebraska as a viable playoff contender going into the year i don't know if you saw this josh paid obviously had him in his field and explained why on our show last week but i saw a few other brackets from people in the media who had nebraska in too and i'm like thinking hmm you know we didn't did we make a mistake um Because if they are a legitimate team or a legitimate contender for a playoff spot, that means that they are certainly seven points better than Cincinnati, right?

And I do know that, you know, last year, Cincinnati had a real problem separating downfield. They didn't have enough speed at receiver. And I think that they've done what they could to address that. I think Soresby is a pretty good quarterback. I don't know if he's great, but, you know, we know for a fact that the coaching staff has, you know, liked what they've seen out of him in the fall and in the spring is Cincinnati, a team that has some fight? Like, where are you on the Nebraska height meter right now? So I'm trying to decide if this is going to be a classic Matt Rule Year 3 situation. It's happened twice.

So he's been a college head coach three times. This is the third time. The first two times, year three was a breakthrough. So when he was at Temple, he goes six and six in year two, 10 and 4 in year 3 he goes to Baylor he's 7 and 6 in year 2 11 and 3 in year 3 he was 7 and 6 last year are he

it feels like it is taking the same path so I see where the Josh Pates of the world see a potential playoff team because if they get the same level of breakthrough

that Temple got and that Baylor got you could be talking about a 10 and two team. I don't know because again, the competition that Nebraska has to face in the Big 10 is stiffer than what Temple had to face in the American, what Baylor had to

face in the Big 12 at that time. So it's not apples to apples. Like it's not like you have the same breakthrough. You're a double digit win team. You're in the playoff. That said they don't play Ohio State

they don't play Oregon they do play Penn State on the road this is a manageable schedule already yeah this is doable I love that we're like in the part of the year two where you start looking at schedules like this like the one that's on the screen

and you start popping up like in your head oh wait we might want to circle that game and I don't know if that's us getting ahead of ourselves I got ahead of myself at Minnesota is that the one you're circling I'm circling November 22nd as a potential important game. Oh, yeah. And that's the Penn State Road game.

If they handle their schedule the way that, you know, it sets up and they somehow get by USC and are a one-loss big 10 team at that point playing for a championship spot, that could be a pretty big game on the road. That said, Cincinnati's best player is an interior defensive tackle, right? Dante Corleone. Yep. And he got injured a little bit last year, but is presumed to be healthy now. yeah um i think that Cincinnati's strength in terms of personnel is going to test my number one doubt

with Dylan Rayola which is if you have a game wrecker that can you know get in the backfield or make some pockets dirty is you know the biggest jump that we're wanting to see from dylan raola is the ability to extend plays and operate well under pressure like are we going to get a test right out of the gate on what Nebraska is able to do offensively against a dominant or very good NFL-type defensive tackle. And for that reason, I'm taking Cincinnati. I think it's a Thursday night game. Both teams are going to be fired up.

That's not me doubting that Nebraska is a playoff contender. It's me feeling like this is going to be a closer game. I think Nebraska will win the game. And I think that the best thing that Nebraska could do probably is to win a one possession game right out of the gate. Show your team that you can win a close game. But I think Cincinnati is going to be in this one. So it's a six and a half point spread. And I hear you.

Might buy it up to seven, but yeah. I hear you. I think Nebraska comes out like gangbusters. Do you? I think I think this is. This is the time we find out if this is a Matt Rule Year 3 situation. And, you know, I mentioned they have a new defensive coordinator, but it's John Butler, who was on staff last year.

So it's not like they're learning a whole new defense, you know, that they know what's going on. They know the coaching, you know, they know some of the coaches they've had. They can handle this. This is not, there's not going to be a lot of adjustment going on for Nebraska. Dana Holgerson, remember, he's the new offensive coordinator, but he was running the offense at the end of last season. So, again, this is not their first game dealing with this stuff.

So I think Nebraska covers this thing, and I think we get the Nebraska hype train really cranked up all the way into that Michigan game when they open Big Ten play and we'll see what happens. But I cannot wait to see this. You think it's like a 30-10 type of affair? Is that like what's in your head? I don't know if it's that big. But I got a feeling Nebraska's going to have a fun night. I think this is one of those that they've been waiting for. You know, I go back to Matt Rule's first game as Nebraska's coach.

Remember, they had the Thursday slot his first season, that first week one, and they had to play at Minnesota, and it was just awful because they had the game won, crippling turnovers cost them the game at the very end. I think this is going to be the opposite of that. This is going to be the, this is what we've been. waiting for. This is why we hired this guy. Now we're rolling. We picked two games this year, Andy, and we've been on opposite sides of both. Love where we're headed. Let's go to the next one. Yeah, by the way, we don't do this beforehand. We did not talk about

who we're picking beforehand. We don't just try to be on opposite sides of it. We go to Friday night. Georgia Tech at Colorado. Georgia Tech is a four-point favorite on the road. Lots of road favorites this week, by the way. I just want to point that out. Road favorites are very dangerous. There are a lot of road favorites this week. So Georgia Tech, they bring back Haynes King, Jamal Haynes, their star back. Buster Faulkner still running the offense. They don't have Eric Singleton Jr. anymore. But Brinkie's done a really good job there. Colorado, we saw Deion Sanders get them better in year two. They did not go crazy in the transfer portal this offseason. This was more of a, hey, we feel like we've got a roster now. Let's let's go.

with it, but they do bring in Caden Salter from Liberty at quarterback. We think he's the starter. Do you think we're going to see Caden Salter and the freshman Julian Lewis in this game, Ari? You know, Andy, I don't know. I wish I did. I don't know. Do you? I do. I think we're going to see both of them. I just, Dion has been very cagey on that. Coach Prime, obviously, not really incentivized to name a starter or to give too much away at this point. But I think, I think even if we don't see, you know, Julian Lewis just take the job right out, I think they try to get him in there, see what they have. Yeah.

I guess the fact that he was at Big 12 Media Day and the fact that there's no name starter, I guess you could go gamesmanship, but also too, like the idea of, you know, getting the future into the games when you can. I mean, the thing is, they're not playing a bad team. They're playing a really good team. And I think Colorado, you know, wants to prove for the country that they weren't a one-hit wonder, you know, with Travis Hunter and Shadour. Like, they want to show that they're a functional program now.

And I think that their roster is probably healthier, you know, from top to bottom than it's been in the previous two years. But they also aren't as star-studded at the top, you know. And I saw like La Jante Western was killing it in the preseason. And they didn't just lose Hunter. They lost really good receivers, too. Jimmy Horn, like, I mean, they don't have those guys. And I think it's very fair to question whether or not Colorado is going to take a step forward or, you know, be a middling team.

I don't know what to expect from them. But what I do expect, especially from what we saw out of Georgia Tech a year ago, which is a tough out. They're a very tough team to play. Haynes King is, I mean, would you say is one of the tougher quarterbacks that come to mind when you use that word? That's a pretty tough. Also, they have some depth, like they feel good about Aaron Philo if they have to go to him. I feel like Georgia Tech is a tough opener. I think Florida State found that out a year ago, but it's a very physically tough team to beat right out of the gate.

So if Colorado isn't going to be at least a 500 or better team, like we're going to find out in a hurry. And for that reason, I'm going to take Georgia Tech. I am also taking Georgia Tech to cover in this game. I do think their physicality up front will test Colorado. And I mean, we may learn a lot about Colorado in this situation. But Colorado is dealing with a lot of new Georgia Tech is not. Every single year we learn something about Colorado.

They've been underestimated in their opener every year. Yeah. And we'll learn. So maybe we'll mess around and find out that they're a lot better than we think. But I just think they lost so much. much, and I don't know how much they improved or weren't able to improve any of those positions. Let us stay on Friday night with one of the most intriguing games of week one.

We go to Waco. Auburn goes to Baylor. Auburn is a two-and-a-half-point favorite. This line is moved. It's flipped a couple times. This is a strange game, Ari, because this is when I think if Auburn loses, the fans are going to want to jump off a cliff. But it wouldn't really be that shocking if Baylor beat Auburn. Baylor is a potential Big 12 champion. Baylor finished last season winning its final six

regular season games. Its offense really got rolling once Sawyer Robertson really took command. Because Sawyer Robertson, remember, was not originally going to be the starting quarterback. He then wins the job as the early season goes on. And he becomes kind of the perfect trigger man for Jake Spatatatoll's offense. Now they've had a full offseason together to work around Sorri Robertson. They're going to be good. They're going to move the ball.

But Auburn is probably going to be the nastiest defense they face all season. Keldrick Falk, there's not anybody they're going to see in the Big 12 except maybe David Bailey at Texas Tech. That is that scary of an edge rusher. God, I'm so high on Auburn. It's scary. I'm so high on that. them. Like, I'm going to look like such an idiot, dude.

We've both talked to each other into Auburn, I think. This is where we probably need to start podcasting with other people every once in a while, or you need to be, you know, go on shows as a guest and I go on shows as a guest to get other people's opinions into our heads because I think we've gotten in this feedback loop about Auburn, where we've both built them up to be this incredible roster, which I think is a very good roster. Like I said, in my bold predictions, they're going to win at least nine games. I think they are a really good team that is competent quarterback play away from being a playoff contender. And I also have an ailment that you don't have, which is the inability to release hope from

their quarterback star rating. Right. Jackson Arnold was a five-star quarterback. He was beloved. He committed to Oklahoma two years before he ever went there. It was a love fest forever until he actually became the starter, and he was playing behind a bad offensive line and had five hurt receivers. and didn't look very good.

Well, I think the difference between me and you is that, like, you have come around to the notion that he could be a competent, like, very good to, or good to very good. I'm not expecting awesome. I'm expecting competence. And, like, I haven't let go of the possibility of awesomeness. Like, what if he's awesome?

If he's awesome, then Auburn's a playoff team. Like, it's that simple. Now, they're going on the road, and we know that Baylor is a, really tough out at home and we know that they're probably the best version or supposed to be the best version of themselves that they've been in two or three years. And when Baylor is a really good football team, it's a dangerous team. And Dave Miranda's defense is incredibly confusing for opposing quarterbacks. So, you know, if you want to read too much into the visor throw, this

would be a good time to do it. But can we talk about that? The visor throw is this clip from practice a couple of weeks ago where Hugh Freeze is watching the quarterback's in a Pascal drill and Jackson Arnold doesn't get the ball out in time and Hugh Freeze freaks out and spikes his visor and goes and then the Auburn fan base and everybody else

just seized onto that video that one little clip and said see it's going to be this all over again it's going to be Peyton Thorne all over again I don't think it is I think college football coaches get mad at practice sometimes yeah I wonder if you he spikes as Vizer when he's playing golf.

Now that's his happy play, sorry. He doesn't do that. Give me Auburn, dude. And you see the line. We were talking ourselves into Auburn. The line has moved like two and a half points since we started talking about this game two months ago. It's getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I just... Baylor was a slight favorite at one point. And I just... Yeah, I think Auburn has the...

the capability to be a quality SEC team, which if that's the truth, and the defense especially, then it's going to keep the score down in this game. I actually, I'm actually kind of like the under in here, under 57 and a half. Yeah. Because I don't know, one, I don't know what Auburn's offense is going to be. Because again, I'm not predicting superstardom. I'm hoping for competency. And then I think Auburn's defense is going to be able to slow Baylor down. I just look at Auburn's receiving core and the fact that they have

a quarterback that I haven't given up on yet in a pretty proficient offensive line. And we know they're going to be able to run the ball well. They always run the ball well. And I see a lot of ingredients for awesomeness. And again, maybe I'm overselling this and there are people in the SEC right now are listening who are just pulling their hair out.

But like I think it's possible in the same regard that you had with Nebraska feeling like Auburn can have a coming out party on Friday night in terms of like, hey, everybody, the jokes are over, we're good. You know, like, what if they're good in the SEC who tear their head out at us saying Auburn might be good, they're also the same people who think any SEC team would roll over any big 12 team.

Yeah. So they're also picking Auburn in this game, which is, which is probably not the, not the way to think of it, because Baylor is better than they think. But, yeah, I mean, they've got Celtric Falk, and then also we heard some pretty good things about Chris Murray who no one's ever heard of being a game wrecker there on the edge. Give me a reason not to pick Auburn. The only reason would be that Jackson Arnold makes a couple of mistakes,

throws a really bad interception in the fourth quarter that puts Baylor back in the game. But that's what Peyton Thorne did. And I think we let's give Jackson Arnold a chance to not be. Peyton Thorne before we decide he is Peyton Thorne. Let's let him play a game before we make that decision. Yeah, I said, don't put those evil on those fans. We're trying to grow an audience here. You don't want to relive their trauma on our, throws a bad pick. That's their entire season. It's called a bad pick. You, the thing is, you and I are on the same page about Jackson Arnold, even if I'm not

as far down the page as you are. Like, I don't think Jackson Arnold had a chance at Oklahoma last year. I know. He hadn't zero chance. Now, here's the question. And I want to know what your opinion is because I don't. It happens in the NFL all the time. Can you ruin a quarterback? You can, but I'm not sure that's what happened there. Okay. But you believe that if you throw a quarterback in too soon and they get their head beat in a little bit.

Yeah, you can never recover from that. Yeah. You can you can break a guy. But I think Jackson Arnold is not broken. I think Jackson Arnold very much understands the situation. here. Because remember, it was a terrible offensive coordinator hire by Brent Venables. Like, that was part of it. The offensive line was not ready. They also had injuries. The five best receivers got hurt. Five best receivers got hurt. Bad offensive line. By the way,

what are we watching here? See these photos? These are photos of Jackson Arnold beating the crap out of Alabama. That also happened last year. Oh, man. Give me the alternate line. Auburn minus 11. You just buy it up to 11 or I'm going to be buying it up to 11. You are giving it back to 11. Yeah, Auburn's a two and a half point favorite.

I will take Auburn to cover and I also take under 57 and a half in this game. Yeah. I'm going to be in Atlanta alone on Friday night. while you're at your son's football game pizza on the left medello on the right just i'm going to be locked in for this it's so good i book my flight my travel arrangements to ensure that there was no grab ass in me getting to my tv on time so i'm going to be locked in i'm going to be ready uh i'm expecting big things from auburn but you know what the good news is is that if auburn loses then we have another darling to to attach ourselves to Baylor has a lot of potential to absorb some some early

season aura and if they win this game at home on Friday night then you know the big 12 might have some extra juice that they wouldn't have had otherwise so it's no matter what happens because like we're also here for the the Hugh Free shit show like don't get us wrong like that it's highly entertaining as well yeah it happens it's also entertaining so but it also could be Hugh Freeze is fine Hugh Freeze has got it figured out and who knows maybe it's not Jackson Arnold maybe it's Deuce Knight who knows Yeah, also, with the Auburn, like, if they are starting quarterback stinks, their backup doesn't seem hopeless like it did a year ago. So, like, there's a lot of hours, I think.

Yeah, Ashton Daniels, who started at Stanford last year. So we've got, we've got all kinds of options here. And that's the beauty of week one. We don't know what the hell's going to happen. We have no clue. It's hard, by the way, guys. Very hard. Yeah.

Here's one thing I do know. for those of us who love college football, the fall begins the moment toe meets leather, even if it's still 90 degrees outside. For coffee lovers, fall begins the moment pumpkin returns at Starbucks. So consider this, your early autumnal equinox, because this week we've got football and we've got pumpkin season at Starbucks,

and you can grab your pumpkin cream cold brew on your way to the tailgate. To celebrate the return of college football season and pumpkin season, join the On3 team, including J.D. Pekyll in Miami on August 31st, that's Sunday for the Starbucks Coffee Kickoff before Notre Dame takes on Miami will be the Starbucks on Northwest 27th Avenue for the coffee kickoff event, celebrating the return of pumpkin and college football, live music, custom merch, and an appearance from the best return man in football history. That's right.

Miami legend Devin Hester will be there. I don't care what the calendar or the thermometer says. It's fall. So grab your favorite Starbucks pumpkin beverage, hot or iced, and settle in for the greatest college football season ever. That's the coffee kickoff event, Starbucks on North Coast 27th Avenue in South Florida. Devin Hester will be there. Ari, Devin Hester, the most exciting return man in the history of the game. When I saw this, I went back and watched his highlight tape. Pretty incredible.

Also, too, the game is in Florida, so I don't think there's much hope for it to be cool this weekend. there but i did see that weather forecasts across the country are going to be down considerably from where they usually are at this time of year like we're looking at 70s at a lot of football stadiums potentially on saturday which is even more reason uh to go get some starbucks it's going to be a wonderful day and you know you know we've covered openers every year it's always the pumpkin cream cold brew though it hits like even if it's 70 degrees out go pumpkin cream cold brew you're obviously going to get your pumpkin spice latte's in but the pumpkin cream cold brew is spectacular yeah and we don't know where you're going to be but there's going to be a

starbucks wherever you are so figure out what you don't whether you want a hot or cold exactly exactly all right next game i feel like we need a drum roll for this You're like, let's throw this into the show early. No, no, eastern, Columbus, Ohio, the horseshoe. The last time a team that wore predominantly orange came into the horseshoe, it ended very badly for that team. This is a different shade of orange, though. The Texas longhorns are coming in to face Ohio State in a rematch of the Cotton Bowl

that was a college football playoff semi-final last year that was one of the best games of the college football playoff last year. We got two new starting quarterbacks, Arch Manning for Texas, Julian, saying, for Ohio State. We got eight new starters on Ohio State's defense. We got four new starters on Texas' offensive line. Ohio State is a one-and-a-half-point favorite home.

Who you got? Move to one-and-a-half on that MGM, huh? I wrote a column on Saturday, on Monday, sorry. Saturday is what I'm excited for, about how this is an emerging rivalry. And I don't know if we're just too quick on the gun with this, but I think that rivalries are built through familiarity, as we've discussed on the show before. And when you talk about two programs who are budding heads on the way to national supremacy,

they're budding heads in talent accumulation, they're budding heads on the field. They have historical games back in 2005 and 06. that helped paved away for national championships and appearances in national title games. Like these are two teams, Ohio State recruits Texas quite heavily in their talent accumulation plan. Like these two teams are foes nationally in a world where conferences and geographical symmetry don't really exist anymore. So that to me is exciting. I don't think this has the storylines of an LSU Clemson, which we'll get to.

But I'm going to flat out ask you this right here, Andy. Would you rather have the two best players in college football or five of the 10 best players, but not one and two? Such a good question. So what you're talking about is for Ohio State, they have Jeremiah Smith at receiver, Caleb Downs at Safety. That's the best offensive player and the best defensive player in the game. Texas, meanwhile, if we go to all those rankings, they have Colin Simmons coming off the edge. They have Arch Manning at quarterback. Who are we adding to this list when you say five of the top 10?

You said column Simmons and Arch, right? I did. I think. And Hill? I'm a linebacker. I think, you know, so here's the thing, too, like the fun thing about Texas is that there are players that haven't really emerged yet that also might be on this list that I'm not going to count yet. like Ryan Wingo, for instance, and CJ Baxter, the running back.

But like, let me think here. I'm looking at the- Michael Taffy at safety is one of the better DBs in the game. Both of these rosters are loaded. I think what's interesting about this is we often equate inexperience with, oh, they're not going to be as good. When you recruit at the level that these two programs recruit,

inexperience does not always equal not as good. Inexperience just may mean hasn't gotten a chance to show it yet. So when we talk about the eight new starters on Ohio State's defense, it's entirely possible that somebody's awesome and they just haven't gotten a chance to show it yet. Or like Trevor Guzby on Texas's offensive line, he's already getting a lot of NFL draft buzz just because of his athleticism. he had to play for Kelvin Banks a little bit last year when Banks was banged up. So it's not like he's never started a game before.

But we've never seen them in these roles. We've never seen them in this level of spotlight. The same goes for Julian Say in at quarterback. The same goes really for Arch Manning, even though we've seen him start a couple of games. Andy, but who are you taking? Are you taking Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith? or are you taking Aunt Hill, Colin Simmons, Archmanning, and Taffee, Michael Taffey.

I am taking Texas money line. Yeah. Because there's so few points here, it's a one and a half point spread. Just give me the money line. If I'm going to take Texas, I'll just take the money line. Yeah. I spent a lot of these in talking about how I don't know why Texas was catching three. They should not be three-point dogs.

I think the rosters are very favorite. And, like, I'm sitting here talking about how much talent Texas has, and that's a disservice to Ohio State because they are more than two players, too. I still think that I would take Texas's total team over Ohio State's going into this game, although it's really hard to pick against Ohio State at home in an opener. Give me Texas as well, but I don't feel great about it. Well, and here's – let's talk about this because last time they played, Texas did take away – Jeremiah Smith, schematically. I mean, it was, it was their intent to take him away, and they took him away. But Texas's secondary is not the same.

You know, they lose some really, like Johnny Barron's not there anymore. So can they take away Jeremiah Smith the same way? Now, I will point out that them taking away Jeremiah Smith didn't really change, like, they still lost the game, and it just meant that they were susceptible to Trayvion Henderson, underneath, they were susceptible to Carnell Tate to other targets. And you talked about this when we did

our, when we did our bold predictions where you said Carnell Tate might lead Ohio State in receiving yards because everybody's keying so hard on Jeremiah Smith. The question is like, can Colonel Tate and Brandon Ennis punish Texas enough that

trying to take away Jeremiah Smith becomes not a very sound game plan? Yeah, well, the thing I can't out of my head more than anything is that Texas was at a more stark talent disadvantage a year ago than they will be in this year's game and they played them down to the wire. Yeah. So like I in

if they if they don't call that that toss on the goal line yeah we might be talking about a very different results last year. It's a neutral game. It's a neutral site game. This is on the road. But I maybe I'm arrogant in saying this but I think without question you take Arch Manning over Julian

Sam with the information that we have right now. Like, that's probably a fair. But I think that I'm doing that, but I'm not doing it confidently. Like, we've never seen, again, this is what I said. These two programs recruit at such a high level that just because we've never seen the person play doesn't mean they're not great. Like Julian saying could come in throwing darts. And 3.30 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, we're like, oh, crap, this guy's the next big star in college football. Yeah.

And just to be clear, because I wasn't clear when I made the. pick i i'm not going to take the point in a half i'm just going to take it straight up to um you know when you look at ohio state's step chart they've got a bunch of important players um stepping into roles but they're not newcomers right i think there's this like thought process that ohio state has to replace everybody i mean the players on their team were highly rated players players who have played in key moments and if you go down i'll give you example they're nickel lorenzo styles junior who he's sunny styles brother he transferred from Notre Dame before last season.

Like, he played a ton last season. He just didn't start. Yeah. I looked down on their list, too. It's like Caden Curry, Sunny Stiles, Arville Reese, Jermaine Matthews, Jalen McLean. Like, if you cover Ohio State or around Ohio State, these are all very familiar names

that are going to be really, really good. So Kenyatta Jackson, the defensive end, like they had guys who were on the team for what felt like a decade going into last year. New faces don't mean, not good. Well, and also, let's talk about Texas's interior D-line, which is the one place where we're sort of concerned.

Because what have I said all off-season about all of these teams? And I've said it about Texas on their offensive line. When the team loses a bunch but then doesn't dive straight into the portal to replace, it means they feel really confident about what they have. Texas did dive hard to the portal for its interior defensive line Marad Watson

coming from Syracuse they've got Cole Brevard coming from Penn State like Travis Shaw is another transfer hero canoe from Ohio State like they went into the portal

for that position which is key which has been a big strength for Texas the past two years so that's the one I'm concerned about that's the one place so can Ohio State maybe run a little bit on them does Texas not get as much of a push from the interior now like I am worried about Texas getting getting pressure from the outside with Ethan Berth and Colin Simmons and sometimes Anthony Hill coming up at the line scrimmage the best part of this game Andy more than anything is just the fact that it's two Titans it's it's football at its highest you know you want to return you want to say we're back

you start with two teams that we think are going to be not only playoff contenders but national title contenders. These are two teams that we both expect will be in the college football playoff semi-final. I don't know that it'll work out that way. But right now, as we sit here today on Monday, August 25th, that's not a controversial take. And we're going to find out a lot about these teams. And the hope that I have more than anything is that we have a high-quality football game that's decided in the fourth quarter. And whenever you're making a bet, then you know, you want to be alive in the fourth quarter. And I think that, taking Texas is probably a pretty strong proposition in this in this spot but if

Ohio state's just gangbusters awesome again like who's that going to shock nobody so we'll see but my my hope is that like last year Texas and Michigan was like the offseason game of the year like I don't think that this game is going to be playing out that way in either regard no that game was was one-sided lopsided Michigan never had a chance I think both teams are going to be pretty competitive here and I also think going back to what you said at the beginning about this game. The budding rivalry piece of this is entirely possible. We see them play again in the postseason,

in which we could have, we could have them play three times in less than 365 days. Like, that's how rivalries are born. And I'm happy that you brought that up because we always think, like now in this new conference championship playoff era that teams could play two or three times,

but we never consider the teams that, you know, are budding up against each other this often, play twice when they're not in the same conference and that's entirely possible and it almost feel like an inevitability that they'll face each other at some point. So go go look through playoff brackets that you're seeing right now projections and tell me how many times they play. I think they play again in my projection. I think they play again in your projection too. So, you know, I would anticipate that. I would almost bet on it.

Well, we got a lot of things to bet on between now and then. But yeah, I mean, I think that Texas and Ohio State playing twice if you had a gun to your head, yes or no, you're probably going to say yes, right? Because you feel, yeah, you'd feel pretty good about that. Because you don't even need them to be matched up in the first or second round in the bracket. Like you would feel good about them facing each other in the title game if they're on opposite sides of the bracket too. Yeah. Yep, that's exactly right. And that's why this is so much fun that this is happening in week one. So everybody, uh, everybody remember as you make your new schedules, the SEC's playing nine conference games now and nothing left to whine about.

Play some games like this over and over and over again. Please, do. Next up, a very interesting matchup that because of the player movement era transfer portal NIL, I feel like this is almost impossible to predict what will happen. And it's why I think the line is just looks insane. Syracuse plays Tennessee in Atlanta. Tennessee is a two touchdown favorite. They have been a bigger favorite than this. It was 14 and a half when we talked about last week they're 14 right now i have no idea what is going to happen in this game i realize that we are we are purportedly the experts that this is the sport we cover that we're supposed to know everything nobody knows anything about this game i can assure you of that right now i really do wish

that uh you know being an expert in the future was actually possible because if it was we would be so rich there was a you know it changed we used to be the experts of what happened in the past and now we're expected to be the experts of the future um this is the hardest game for me to pick on the entire slate um because on one hand if tennessee didn't lose nico you might think about the team a little bit differently but at the same time it's still a pretty well positioned team on the other like you have no idea like how much the offseason rocked them And then on the other hand, Fran Brown is the, well, maybe the most exciting young head coach in the entire power conference structure.

And you feel like he is going to be, you know, headed to bigger and, I don't know, better, but bigger things. And you don't know how well he did in the portal. You don't know who's, you know, how good Steve Angelli really is a starter. Like what players did he pick up that we didn't talk about that are going to be awesome, like a Syracuse, a team that, you know, got the bad. end of a deal schedule-wise but also is going to be a tough out for everybody they play or is Tennessee just going to roll 14 points seems like a hell of a lot for a unknown situation and it might be

because the score is going to be 38-7 you know that's on the table um but man it's just really difficult like where do you even begin well and that's the thing you know we talk about tennessee's offensive line you ask a tennessee fan and say okay the line's better the line is filled with people who are higher level recruits than the guys who started on the line last year, it doesn't mean it's better yet. Doesn't mean that group's going to play as well together as that one did last year. The receivers are not as good as they were. The defensive line's still going to be really good.

But Jamon McCoy, I don't think they're planning to have him back until maybe the Georgia game. You know, he's coming off a torn ACL. That's their best corner. So we don't know about Tennessee at all. all. Joey Aguilar's the quarterback. He's a gunslinger type. We know he's going to, he's going to try to throw into some tight windows if his career at Appalachian State is any indication, which could be good or bad. So we don't know. The other thing you mentioned, what about Syracuse? You know, we've talked about like Trevor Pena leaving after spring practice. He was their receptions leader last year. He's at Penn State now. But like, they still have Darrell Gill, Jr. who averaged 18.4 yards of catch last season. He just only had 31 catches. Remember Jontay Cook, Ari? Well, I remember, yeah. He got into a little bit of trouble at Texas, was a friend at Washington,

and now he's at Syracuse. And apparently is flashed, by the way. Like, seems to be getting back together, good for him. Really good football player. So, you know, those are what ifs. So what do you think is more likely that Syracuse fields a team that, you know, pushes Tennessee for four quarters? Or do you think Tennessee, you know, wins this game 34, 7,000?

17-ish something. Like, where do you land on this? I think Tennessee wins, but Syracuse covers. I think that spread is just too big. And maybe that's just me going, I don't know, this game's too unpredictable to have a two-touchdown spread. I think that the spread is so big, it's alarming, and I'm going to lay the points for it.

Like, I think that I, like, I think that I am trying to understand how it can be this big, and I wonder if in the second quarter we're going to be like, oh, that's why. You know, like, yeah, Tennessee, I still think is going to be a competitive team in the SEC. I want Voltaudor on my side going into the season. And, you know, all jokes aside, if I were to play this game, which I wouldn't in a million years, I would probably lay the points because I think it's possible that Tennessee just from top to bottom at every, like, go down the list of positions, like where are you, you know, maybe a quarterback he would take in jelly. I don't know, we're going to find out about Aguilar, but like, if you go position by

position. Tennessee probably should have a better player at 18 of the 22 spots. No? I think that's fair. I think that's fair. I think Fran Brown will clip this and use it, by the way. Yeah, I don't know. And it's not Tennessee's budget and recruiting results and NIL aggressiveness. If that's not true, then that's a Tennessee problem. You know what I mean? That should be, that's not an insult to Syracuse. They're not working in the same game right now. So, you know, if that's not true, then something's going wrong for Tennessee. So I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that it is true and I'm going to lay the two touchdowns. I think if there was a hook there, I might not have done it.

But the fact that we can get it at two straight touchdowns and not crossing that key number at 14, I'll lay the points. Speaking of incredibly large spreads, let's go to Tallahassee, where Alabama will play Florida State. Alabama is a 13.5 point favorite on the road. I said there are a lot of road favorites this week. Can I read you a couple quotes, sorry? Sure. I would love to hear them because I need context here. This is from Thomas Castellanos, Florida State's new starting quarterback. This was our very own Pete Nacos earlier this summer.

I dreamed of playing it's Alabama. They don't have Nick Sabin to save them. I just don't see them stopping me. Now, he was a lot more tame at ACC Media Days, but then last week, he said this. I think Coach White and our defense, that would be new defensive coordinator, Tony White. I think Coach White and our defense is the hardest defense I'll see all year,

just schematically, stuff like that, what they do. I disagree. Ari. I think the Alabama defense he'll face Saturday will be significantly more. difficult to face than the Florida State defense significantly do you think Florida State is cooked in general not in the general no on Saturday yes yeah you're talking to somebody who bet on Florida State over and over and over again last year and lost every single time there are some there's some trauma because you assumed it can't possibly get this bad and then it did it couldn't be it can't be as bad as people are thinking i faded the public and i continually

and it was just like yeah it is this bad and it was like wait no it's worse it's worse i know that florida state had some transfers come in um that are exciting like deuce robinson's for instance as somebody i've been excited about since i saw him running routes at the elite 11 while he was in high school and i think that mike norvel and his staff probably deserve some benefit of the doubt in the portal because they've already gone undefeated as a result of such good portal evaluations. I don't know how much they could have possibly fixed in one offseason from what happened last year. I think that if they go seven and six, they're appeased in Tallahassee, which is unbelievable to think that we've dropped that far. But if they're a seven and six team and Alabama is who we think they could be, they are going to get dogwalked in this game, right?

like I'm trying to come up with a scenario what's the scenario for Bama not rolling the scenario is Ty Simpson's in his first start as a college quarterback and he makes some mistakes throw some interceptions or hey maybe you have rain like they had in the

bowl game last year and they used the wrong counting on rain I'm just trying to give you a scenario yeah take Take Florida State, if you think it might have a torrential downpour, is good betting advice. Although I think Kailen DeBorce learned his lesson about the cleats after the bowl game. I don't even know if Alabama's going to come out and drop 40. I don't know if Florida State's going to score all that much.

Well, that's the thing. I mean, look, I'm just looking at Alabama's D-Line, L.T. Overton, Tim Keenan, James Smith, Quay Russo. Like, these are veterans who are going to play in the NFL and probably start in the NFL. Like, these are good players. You got Deontay Lawson, Damani Jackson. Like, these are very talented people. And that's just the starters and the backups are pretty damn good, too. It's not Nick Saban era, like 2012, Alabama, where their backups could whip most of the teams in America.

They're still one of the four most talented rosters in the country. Yeah. I think we're on the same. page here. Pull a bulletin poor material, but I think Alabama covers this comfortably. Well, we've provided the opposite. Thomas Castellano has provided the

bullets for more material for Alabama. We've provided it for Florida State, and by all means, make a video making fun of this if you beat Alabama. Have Ari saying they're going to get dog walked and then the hardest part of the dramatic music swells and they win.

Is that any time there's a major upset or we're wrong, like we are putting ourselves out there for being in some promo video, because it happens all the time. I was in a White House promo video. Yeah, I saw that. Dude, you're... With me saying, they saved college football.

They left out the part where I go, can we all go home now? But they put the other part in. So, that is wild, by the way, because that wasn't even the context that you were, that you were... I don't think they're worried about context. Yeah. I don't think that was a concern.

Because you said they saved college football in a sarcastic tone, and then they used it as if you were saying it in a real tone, right? The White House did that. Okay. Yes. It's politics, baby. Contact said later. You know what?

Yeah, yeah, that's fine. But Netflix documentary, White House promo videos like, buddy. Well, we're about to make a Florida State promo video if they win this week. So you turn around so I can grab your coattails? Well, I. I don't, as much as I love the department at Florida State that the creatives that make those videos, I don't think they're going to have a chance to. I will take Alabama to cover here.

I think Alabama is going to look really good. I think Alabama is going to be very good all season. If Alabama somehow, if there is a promo video where they're making fun of us, that's going to be great for content the following week. Holy crap. No doubt. No doubt. Imagine if Bama lost.

What next week would look like. Imagine if Bama lost what Monday's fine bomb show would look like. It would just be hellfire and brimstone the entire day. It would be amazing. Yeah, Alabama losing on Saturday night would probably, if they lost, would that be our, I mean, we did have shows reacting to them losing to Vanderbilt. But I feel like year two losing to Florida State in the opener and the two touchdown spread game would be pretty nuclear.

Or nuclear. nuclear it would it would be off the charts do you know and the thing is I'm glad you brought this up I don't know what that game's going to be I have no idea I was looking down the schedule yesterday there's going to be a game

that on Saturday we're like what the hell happened and we have no idea which one it is yeah that's the fun that's the fun uh i will say this if my life depended on it and you wanted me to explain the difference between nuclear and nuclear i could not do it i don't know the difference like what are the the difference is one is pronounced correctly and one is not okay you don't have to know much

i'm just mispronouncing the word there aren't two different words you don't have to know how to split the atom so which one's the right one nuclear it is it is pronounced the way it is spelled Not, it doesn't help me at all. N-U-C-L-E-A-R. Nuclear. You got it. But hey, you say it however you want, because I say things, I say things wrong, too, or differently. Yeah, I say, you know, also too, a nuclear.

Nuclear. I say Mike could a lot. Drives my wife crazy. When I, when I don't hear someone and, of excuse me or can you repeat that i say do what now hey if you do what now um so my wife thinks i'm going deaf and i actually think it's her not enunciating things properly or speaking too quietly and i don't know how to solve the problem like how do you do that like i don't have a hard time hearing anybody else but she speaks in a way at times that i can't

understand. Just pull the Willie Wonka, the Johnny Depp Willie Wonka, and just go, Mumbler! Mumbler! But I don't know if I actually have bad hearing, or if she's the problem, and I don't know how to figure it out. We need to get you one of those ten horns that you can put up to your ear, and every time she talks. But then she does this thing. I'll be like, huh? And she'll go, do you want me to get the garbage can back in? See, I'm okay with that because she says, I said it at a normal volume and set it normally and you didn't hear it.

And she doesn't want to have to repeat herself more times. So she's going to slow it down and go out. I do the same thing and it drives my wife. Does that happen in everyone's marriage or just mine? Because I feel like she does that to me at least. Apparently everyone's, although I'm your wife in this scenario. Because if I've already said it and you didn't hear me, I'm going to make sure you hear it the next time so that I don't have to do this again.

But getting angry at somebody for not hearing you, It's not being angry. It's just being practical. If you say it louder and slower, they will hear you and you won't have to say it again. She sends me Instagram reels of people getting their earwax cleaned out. Like, it's like a thing in my house. That's a hint. Yeah.

Also, those videos are highly addictive. Is it even like clinically proven that if you get your earwax removed from your ears that you hear better or is that just a joke? No, that's real. so it's possible that I have too much earwax and that's the reason why I can't hear even though I have no problem hearing you have I ever said entirely possible I think it's her fault

okay let's go on to the next because like if I couldn't hear other people that would be another but it's I only have the problem with her so that means that's definitive proof that she's not enough it might be a sciop where she speaks at a normal volume to everyone but you and then when she's saying

hey Ari could you take out of garbage that's what she's doing yeah it's just your wife trying to talk to you from other rooms a lot all the time it's like i cannot hear you when you're three rooms away from me i'm sorry i don't know what you want me to do but i cannot call me we need an intercom like the rich the rich houses in the 80s sitcoms yeah that's that would solve the problem would in today's technology would having an intercom in the house actually solve a problem it would not everybody has a phone with you could just call them.

Which is also as boogie as hell if you're calling somebody who's in the same house. But if you have an intercom system and then you talk into the intercom, does it hit every intercom or do you have to be in the room with the other intercom? I think it depends on your intercom system. Again, I was not a rich person in the 80s, so we never had one of those. But I'm assuming you could customize it. Yeah. I feel like you put an intercom in every room because the intercom doesn't have a purpose if you're not in the room with the intercom.

And we've fallen down the rabbit hole. I've always wanted a laundry shoot. That's the one thing that like the 80s homes used to have that we don't have anymore. People who like can just drop their laundry through the shoot and it lands in the laundry room. You could, you could have that built in your house fairly easily. Your bedroom is directly above your laundry room. No, it's not. It'd be a lot of fun.

close enough you could have it be like a slide all right speaking of things with a slide Clemson has a slide in his practice facility look at that segue midseason form in the shadow of the slide in Clemson's practice facility stands at Memorial Stadium where LSU and Clemson will face off on Saturday night we are contractually obligated to talk about the real Death Valley here. I don't care who calls what their stadium, Death Valley. Both of their stadiums are very loud. Both of their stadiums are very hard to play in. Both of their stadiums usually are difficult to play in because the players in the stadium that live there are really good. But I am interested in what does Clemson's defense look like with Tom Allen

calling the plays? Because it's not significantly different from a personnel standpoint, but I think it's going to be significantly better. How good is LSU's defense after a lot of upgrades personnel-wise in the portal. And how does LSU's offensive line hold up? This is a new group, four new starters, a couple of transfers. How do they handle playing as one of the best D-lines in America? Ari, this game has all of the subplots.

Andy, I've gone back and forth up on this game for three months. And, like, I still think it's going to be a great game, and I don't know who's going to win. But I'm just going to just boil it down to, and I cannot believe I'm saying this in a transfer portal world that I think Clemson has a better roster. And I don't know if that's going to be, am I going to, yeah, like the facie making. Is that true? Do they? Are we sure?

I don't know. Do you want to put their too deep side by side and tell me what, like, who would you take? I think that I think you would find. you would take a good mix of players from both teams. But let's start here. I give you the choice between Cade Klubnick and Garrett Nussmeyers are starting quarterback. Who would you like? Would you like pepperoni pizza or a great cheeseburger?

I don't know. I guess I would take Garrett Nussmeyer. So you're happy with both. You think both of them very good. You don't think one is efficiently better than the other. I think you can keep both quarterbacks on the teams and be fine. I agree. I don't know. Who would you take if you had to pick between the two? Like, I don't know. I like that. Yeah, I would struggle with that because I think, I think Nussmeier's the better thrower. I think if you can mix in Clubnik's legs, he might be more of the whole package. I think it's fair to say it's a wash, to be honest. Yeah. I, you want to keep going? Well, we could go pretty deep into this thing. I mean, whose receivers would you take, Clemsons to me, right? LSU's group could be pretty good, though. I mean, LSU does have a long.

Like, what if Berriott Brown gets unlocked at LSU? And they already had- Andrews does, too. I mean, yeah. And they already had Aaron Anderson. They're not even starters, though, I don't think, are they? That's what I'm saying. Like, yeah.

Like, LSU has better receivers, I think, than people realize. Chris Hilton, we'll see about Barry Ann Brown. Trade as Green and Bauer Sharp at tight end as receivers. Could be big weapons. I'm fascinated by what this all looks like for LSU. And then you've got the other kind of, it doesn't matter to someone playing for LSU. I'll give an example. I don't think Mansour Delane, who plays corner for LSU,

who came from Virginia Tech. I don't think here's one bit that LSU hasn't won a season opener in five years. I don't think that matters to him at all. But I wonder how much weight is on Brian Kelly and on LSU in general because they haven't won an opener in five years.

It is interesting because in the 12-team arrow where openers aren't supposed to matter, this is highly personal to LSU. It's highly personal in a way that it's not for other teams because LSU could certainly lose this game. And if they would have won two out of the last five on the opener, maybe it wouldn't feel this way. But it's going to feel morbid if they lose in a way that it shouldn't, right?

Because it doesn't have to move that. Right. Because if they lose this game, let's say they lose this game by three points. And Clemson winds up being a 12 and 0 team that wins the ACC, goes to the playoff. Like, that doesn't mean LSU can't make the playoff. That doesn't mean LIS you can't be one of the best teams in the SEC. see that doesn't mean anything yeah um so added pressure i i think is an important thing but i i think that clenson probably feels some pressure too because they have been down in regards

to what they were in the past and they want to be taken seriously as a national title contender and in fact clemson you know last year you could make the case two times that they played really really really good teams they got dog walked um you know and i know that the texas game was closer on the like Texas ran through the but the Georgia game was not close and that was in this spot last year and like what we're all kind of like waiting for Clemson to not just be ACC good we're waiting for them to be nationally great again and I think that this is an opportunity to prove that they're that now rather than you know beating the crap out of wake force and then getting their ass kicked every time they played Alabama or Georgia or whatever you know I think

that they want to be back on that loving that playing field and I think that they have the roster to do it so as much as I've been a LSU can make the playoff person and I'm pretty high on LSU. Like, I just don't, I think that Clemson's better than them right now. And I'm just going to go with my gut on this. So Clemson minus four. Ari takes Clemson to cover. I also take Clemson to cover here.

And I'm not super confident in that pick. I think LSU is going to be a good team this year. I just think they might both be really good. And that Clemson might be national title caliber good. Yeah. And I'm super excited to overreact to, whatever happens and it not matter in six seven weeks by the way the 57 and a half total feels big for this game yeah although i'm not i'm not confident in taking the under because i think

the receiving cores for both teams are pretty damn good the quarterback's really good i think that it's probably right where it should be um super excited about this i cannot believe we're going how we're gonna be there that's right ari's first game i've never been to clemson i can't wait it's It's going to be so much fun. It is a beautiful place. Every time they go onto the field, or is that just a joke? Yes. And if we get a chance, I don't know if we're going to be able to get down there early.

I want you to get up, be on the top of that hill by the rock. I want you to see how steep that hill is. So you appreciate when people run down that hill at full speed. Yeah. I've never been to Clemson, period, the city. So, in fact, I've driven through South Carolina. Carolina a few times, but really, you know, this is your home state. I want to go to, like, will you take me to your childhood, your first childhood house?

No, it's in Columbia, quite a bit of a drive. That's fine. We're married now. If a cover game at South Carolina, I will happily show you the hospital I was born because it's like a mile from the stadium and then we can visit some of my childhood haunts. You should never, ever, ever stop getting to know your spouse, is all I'm saying. So, you know, it's, yeah, I feel pretty good. good about it. But, you know, again, we'll see. We're finding out about both these teams.

I'm going to go with my understandings of roster. I will take the best defensive line in college football, and I will lay those points at home. And that's pretty much why I'm making this decision. The one group that the LSU folks seem a little unsure of is their offensive line because they're replacing some really good players. The one group that Clemson is absolutely certain of is its defensive line. So I'm going to take Clemson for that reason. All right, all right, two quick ones. The nightcap on Saturday. This is an 11 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Pacific kickoff.

Utah at UCLA, this used to be a conference game. Now it is Big 12 versus Big 10. This is Nico's debut as the UCLA quarterback. But if you listen to this show, we are really excited to see what Utah looks like this year. So lots of reasons to watch this thing. Utah is a team that I think will be competing for their conference championship. UCLA is a team that won't be. I don't want to be too short about it,

but I know NECOMania is arriving and it's going to be late and we're all going to be watching. I think Utah is going to be awesome this year. Give me Utah to come out and get a good win early on in the year. Yeah, this is a another, again, road favorite. Utah is a six and a half point favorite in this game. This is a road game. I know. It's the Rose Bowl where it's a UCLA home game with the Rose Bowl. I don't know how many Utah fans are going to be there.

I mean, they've been to a couple of Rose Bulls because they've won a couple Pac-12 titles recently. So they certainly know the way. It's an easy drive slash flight. It's not how many Utah are going to be that I'm concerned with. It's how many UCLA fans are going to be that I'm concerned with. Well, that's what I mean. I'm wondering if it's going to be close to even.

Yeah. So it'll be a good environment. Like the Rose Bowl, it's just such a shame that. like the environment that you get once a year isn't a normal environment in that in that beautiful place. But if the Bruins give them a reason to be excited, then you might get it. But this is interesting because Utah's defense was good last year. Their offense has been not great for the last two years. It's been kind of quarterback bingo for the last couple of years for Utah. Devin Dampere follows Jason Beck from New Mexico.

It's made a very different look because Devin Dampere ran for almost 1,200 yards and 19 touchdowns last year. Yeah. Like they're going to run him a lot. Yeah. We're expecting a lot of really big things out of them. I think both quarterbacks clearly are exciting for very different reasons. But, you know, I think that Utah is going to be a tough team.

And UCLA, granted, at times last year, played really physical football. So I don't want to. Oh, yeah. Look at Iowa game. But I think that Utah is probably going to be a better team this year. So I'll weigh the touchdown. I will also take Utah to cover. See, we don't talk about this beforehand.

Now we're on a roll of the same thing over and over again. I suspect we may do the same thing here. Let's go to Sunday. You and I are going to this game. It's in Atlanta, Virginia Tech versus South Carolina. South Carolina is a seven and a half point favorite. This is your appetizer before Notre Dame and Miami. So we find out what South Carolina looks like D-line-wise.

Remember, they still have Dylan Stewart, who is an absolute alien. But they're replacing Kyle Conard, Tonka Hemingway, and T.J. Sanders, which is a lot. But they also have Lenora Sellers. Do we get video game Nick Harbor in real life? Like, is that possible? Because I have a feeling if that happens, South Carolina is maybe going to playoff. Video game, Nick Harbor, would be like the number one overall pick in the draft. I think video game Nick Harbor is better than Jeremiah Smith.

Right. Real life Nick Harbor is not and has not been. And I'm just wondering, where does real life Nick Harbor fall this year? South Carolina has legitimate high-level NFL stars on their team in Virginia Tech doesn't. Can analyzing a game be that simple? Well, and put it this way, two of Virginia Tech's best offensive linemen from last year will be starting for Auburn, Xavier Chaplin. that's the officer tackle. Braylon Moore will be starting for LSU at center.

So that, and South Carolina's D-Line, I mentioned they lost some really good players. Like all of their interior D-Line is guys that played for them last year that they've been developing. It's not like they just had to go, you know, go portal some people. Like they've been building people to replace these guys. So I'm with you here. I think South Carolina handles this pretty easily.

Virginia Tech's in a weird situation We didn't really talk about what Virginia Tech's AD said last week to his board But it was basically sounding the alarm like, hey If we don't start spending like an SEC school Or a Big Ten school, we're going to get left behind In the great reorganization of college football

That's coming I don't know that what Virginia Tech Has right now is capable of being part of that reorganization. So they've got to figure that out The spread was nine and a half at one point Now it's seven and a half So I don't know how much you want to read into that, but I will lay the points.

I think South Carolina is going to be a very good team. And I don't know that Virginia Tech will be. A neutral site game in Atlanta. Can't wait to be there. We're doing a double dip and excited to get my eyes on Lenore Sellers in person for the first time. South Carolina to cover for both of us. Let us now move to Sunday night. This is a great Sunday night game.

Notre Dame at Miami Notre Dame is a two and a half point favorite on the road again road favorite both these teams have new quarterback so Notre Dame went homegrown with CJ Carr Miami goes into the portal and gets Carson back but Notre Dame didn't really have to do much else Notre Dame already had what they needed

it's not like they had it they got Malachi Fields out of the out of the portal the Virginia transfer receiver but felt pretty good about what they had Miami rebuilt its defense through the portal went out and got

Corey Heatherman from Minnesota as their new DC this is going to be so much fun are you? Yeah, I am torn here

and I'll tell you why. And I don't know if you have been hearing the same back channel behind the scenes type discussion about Notre Dame's quarterback but I am

I have questions about C.J. Carr. And I don't know that's fair, but people said that this battle was a lot closer than they would like to admit. So you're concerned if he doesn't play well early, they go to Kenny Menci and then you have some, you know, consistency issue. I don't know if they're going to do musical quarterback grab ass in the game, but I don't know if he is going to be peak form out of the gate.

And the one thing that we have to acknowledge about Notre Dame is their offensive line advantage and the one team and the one strength that you know you're going to get out of Miami is good line play. So, you know, from a skill position player standpoint, like, I think Miami goes toe to toe with Notre Dame. I think Carson Beck is probably a more sure thing in terms of, you know, I've never been overly high on him in terms of being a star, but I think you know what you're going to get. It's on the road. No, it's not a tough environment, but it's still on the road. It can be a tough environment when they're excited, though, and I think

they're excited right now. That place can go when they're excited. You know, guys like Ruben Bain are game wreckers, if he can get back to, you know, what he is or has been in the past. I know he's been injury ridden. I know that, you know,

Miami also has some really important players at the receiver position. You know, Josiah Trader, somebody that I'm excited to watch. Malachi Tony, the freshman. That's the one from fall practice, everybody's been talking about. So excited to see if he winds up flashing in-game one of this college career. Number six on their depth chart right now.

So I don't know how much that's going to happen. But they've got a good line on offense. Mark Fletcher is a very good running back. I don't know that Miami is going to be as explosive offensively as it was a year ago because you don't replace Cam Ward and Restrepo. Cam Ward and Carson Beck are very different quarterbacks. but if Miami's defense that's the thing like I don't know what Miami's defense is going to be I'm torn I'm talking myself into both I think I'm going to go Notre Dame can I ask you a question can I ask your advice here yeah so Miami's getting two and a half points I want to pick Miami but I'm not sure like I still think Notre Dame could very easily win this game should I take the two and a half or is that such a low number? that I should, I should just go money line.

I mean, two and a half, I think like with all the two point conversions and missed extra points and weird things that happen, like two is becoming a key number in college football in a way that it never was before. So, you know, from that standpoint, like games are decided by two sometimes, you know, having that one, exactly. So it happened. For me, I always like, if you like getting a home dog who you think is going to win at home, I like getting the extra juice, but I'm going, I'm going to go the opposite way here.

I think that Notre Dame has more sure things than Miami, and I love their offensive line. I think they're going to score. Miami's defense was so bad last year. I think it might, you know, be a lock to improve, but I don't know if that means it's a lock to be good. I might look stupid. This is a tough spot. Miami has a real shot to win this football game, but I'm just going to go with what I know, and that's what Notre Dame is.

And if I'm wrong, I'll be pleasant. surprised. I'm going to take Miami. You know what? Give me the money line. Give me the money line. I need to say it with my chest. If I think Miami can win this game,

I think Miami can win this game. Give me the money line. Yeah. I don't think that would be much of an upset if they do. But, you know, Miami has a lot of skeletons to fix from last year, and their offense can't bail them out the way they were. I think Notre Dame, regardless of who their quarterback's going to be, is going to score on people.

They're going to move the ball on the ground. I just think like Notre Dame might be a tough matchup for Miami because they're going to be consistently good at what they're doing. You get ready to learn the names, Xavier Lucas and Zechariah. Just get ready. Yeah, no, I know who they are. Yeah. But, you know, I'm happy we're on opposite sides of this.

I think that's an illustration of how good this game is going to be because I don't feel confident. But I think that I'm going to go with consistency over. potential on this one. Now, you notice we did not pick Bill Belichick's first game. We will pick that later this week. That's on Monday night. We got some time. So we also have an interview with Sonny Dykes, the TCU coach, who will be playing against Bill Belichick and Belichick's first college game. So we're going to have that for you later in the week along with the pick for the game. And Andy, I don't know if this is a good time to tell people, but we do have a

collaborator coming on once a week. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's exactly right. So we're going to be picking games from our standpoint on Monday. On Thursday, Tyler Shoemaker is a betting expert that we've had on the show in the offseason who's going to join us for 15 minutes or so on Thursdays. And those are going to be more the games that the sharps are looking at. So like when we pick the games, a little peep behind the curtain here, we pick the games that everybody wants to talk about as football games. so whether we feel like it's a good play or not we're going to talk about the biggest games in the country because that's what people want to talk about

but on Thursdays that segment you are going to get probably some games that maybe we have not talked about at all during the week that Tyler's identified as something you should really really consider so I'm excited to see what he comes with and he can also help us with different perspectives on weird lines live movements things like that

like he's a real gambling expert who can help you if you're actually somebody who wants to play the games. I don't think that you should tail me or Andy because, you know, we're just sports reporters, but if you want actual, like, I think people like to fade me and I'm fine with that. It doesn't bother me. I did have that 0 and 8 week that one time. You know, that was impressive. But just I thought a new twist to the, you know, we've got Ben MGM on board now.

I obviously really enjoy doing it. Andy is really interested in it. I think it's a good 15 minute segment once a week to get people who want to bet on the games to like lock in on some some exposure that the books might have yeah i i think it's gonna be fun and we we like to do the picks on monday just because people are so excited about the new week and and the new matchups and uh you know the the the picks videos get to live a little bit longer on the website which that helps the bottom line but i do like revisiting on thursday because things do move things do change and i think it's good to

Good to do that. And again, yes, BetMGM. You're going to see their lines here all year. Ari, this is going to be so much fun. We are in it now. New schedule for everybody. So we're into week one now. So Monday through Thursday, new episodes will drop at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

Saturday nights, we go live after the games. so that's the schedule now if something crazy happens on friday ari and i of course will pop on and talk about it we're not we're not going to ignore breaking news but the regular schedule is going to be monday through thursday new episode at 3 p.m and then there will be a regularly scheduled episode saturday night us going live holy crap did you guys see what happened it's going great uh fired up miss these monday 90 minute episodes kind of hard to get through all these picks without it going 90 minutes, especially when I'm talking to you about laundry shoots in the middle of the show. I'll try to tighten that up

as we go on, but we're still an offseason form. Thank you guys so much for being here. I'm so excited. I have said this all offseason. I think you've agreed with me, Andy. This is going to be, I think, one of the more entertaining seasons of our professional careers with how much diverse and talent there is and quarterback play and storylines and coaches hot seats. We're going to cover it all. We love it and we know you love it too. This is as excited as I've been for a season in a long time. And I get excited this time every year, but just I don't know what's going to happen. I don't feel like I have a handle on how this thing's going to go. I know there's going to be a result this weekend.

I said it earlier in the show, there will be a result this weekend that we haven't even talked about yet that on Saturday will completely blow our minds. That's the best part of this. Right back at it. We're going to be together. I'm looking forward to seeing you, Andy. And I'm excited if you have any Clemson recommendations, let me know. but Andy usually Yeah, I'm going to have to hit the map

and we're going to figure out where we're going to be watching Ohio State, Texas, together on Saturday afternoon. Guys, we made it. We're here. We got the picks. We got the games.

We'll talk to you tomorrow.