Andy & Ari On3 - College Football WEEK 5 INSTANT REACTION | Alabama-Georgia, Oregon-Penn State in A LOADED SATURDAY

Episode Date: September 28, 2025

It was an EPIC week 5 in college football and Andy & Ari are here to breakdown all of the action. Watch here as Andy & Ari breakdown the following matchups in a jam-packed instant reaction show... (0:00-0:34) On Tonight's Instant Reaction(0:35-2:18) BetMGM(2:19-13:31) Intro: Oregon 30, Penn State 24 (2OT)(13:32-28:05) Alabama 24, Georgia 21(28:06-31:27) Tennessee 41, Miss St 34 (OT)(31:28-38:39) Georgia Tech 30, Wake Foresr 29 (2OT)(38:40-45:35) Ohio State 24, Washington 6(45:36-52:50) Notre Dame 56, Arkansas 13(52:51-59:00) Illinois 34, USC 32(59:01-1:10:59) Texas A&M 16, Auburn 10(1:11:00-1:16:09) Indiana 20, Iowa 15(1:16:10-1:25:21) Ole Miss 24, LSU 19(1:25:22-1:29:17) Conference Champions(1:29:18-1:30:40) Conclusion Plus more! Our show is presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Join On3 today and get one full year of access to The Athletic included! https://www.on3.com/subscribe/C Subscribe to On3!  ⬇️ youtube.com/on3sports/?sub_confirmati...Welcome to On3 | The best of college football and recruiting https://www.on3.com/ Listen to Andy & Ari On3 on podcast! Spotify 🎧: https://open.spotify.com/show/5AhQ4d2m5TQu5Q2vkwtxjt?si=d9016221aa2a4427 Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/andy-staples-on3/id1695325427 Follow Andy Staples on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andy_Staples Follow Andy Staples on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andy_staples Follow Ari Wasserman on Twitter: https://x.com/AriWasserman Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/on3sports Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/on3/ Like/Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/On3Sports/ Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On tonight's instant reaction show, Oregon goes to state college and wins in overtime. Alabama goes to Athens and breaks Georgia's home win streak. Plus everything from an incredible day, Ole Miss beating LSU, Notre Dame crushing Arkansas, Indiana, surviving Iowa, Ohio State, smushing Washington. It was an incredible day of college football, and we break it all down on today's instant reaction show. 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.

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For terms, 21 plus only, U.S. promotional offers are not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler in the U.S. Call 8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text hope in New York. Call 1-800-9-3-6-9-6-9-9-6-9-9-6-9-9-6-9-3 in Arizona. Call 1-8-0-0-2-3 in Puerto Rico. First bet offer for new customers only, subject to eligibility requirements, rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and hotel. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Annie and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. It's your instant reaction show and Ari what a night. end what a day, I guess we start in state college because it went to overtime, because it was

a thriller, because Penn State was cooked, and then they weren't, and then they were again. Dylan Thedeman intercepting Drew Aller on the first down for Penn State in the second overtime. What a game. Yeah, I got to say, that was a hell of a night of football, Andy. Wow, two very good games coming all. the way down to the end. Yeah, let's start in Penn State. I've got so many Penn State takes, but Oregon won the game. So let's start with Oregon. I think that the general notion, Andy, from a lot of people coming into the season, was that Oregon was maybe a year away from competing at the highest level. And I think that you and I did a pretty good job in the preseason

trying to dispel that notion because of how many good players they had and how many players they brought in, like the person who had the game clinching interception in overtime. And, And I think that this was a high-quality football game against two very good teams, winning on the road in one of the toughest environments of college football. I thought that Oregon proved, to those who didn't believe, that they are good enough to win the national title this year. I think you and I thought that they could coming into the weekend, but it was kind of cool to see it.

And Dante Moore, my God, he is good. Like, I mean, I don't know, you know, what the kids going to look like in a year and a half. but I've seen enough out of him to know that he's special. So, you know, again, save me from hyperbole if you feel like I'm doing it. But I was very impressed with Oregon. I was impressed with Dan Lannning. He played a good game against a really good defense. It was not a special game, but he played a really good game against a really good defense.

There were certain just plays that he made, like weird arm slots to get first downs. No, he was fantastic. and rose to the moment, which is something that his counterpart hasn't always done, finally did in the fourth quarter. I think Oregon did win the game, but Drew Aller is still the story. And it was, if this game it ended 17 to 3,

this is the same old Penn State, Drew Aller's never going to get it done, all of that. They sort of unlocked him in the fourth quarter. The touchdown pass to DeVanty, Ross was a like pure first round talent throw. Right. And

we just haven't seen enough of that from him. And you know, just to get them to overtime some of the stuff he had to do with his legs, finally, you saw what he's supposed to be. But then he turns into a pumpkin again. Like the last

really big game we saw, the last throw he made got picked off. The last throw he made tonight got picked off. I'm, like, really, really torn here because on one hand, the James Franklin, Drew Aller, like, eventually you have to win, right? But they, it was double overtime. I'm not going to kill them for going to double overtime against a team that can win the national title. And that's the other side of the coin, which is everybody was like, why did you and Andy buy into the offseason hype? Penn State is the same team they've always been and they're never going to be good.

And you guys. No, if it was 17 to 3. They're the same team they've always been. If it ended, if they never had the fourth quarter comeback, they are the same team. They always were. And then what happened in that comeback? Devante Ross stepped up. Trevor Pena had a huge play in overtime.

The players that they brought in that weren't productive for three quarters made game-changing plays at the end to get Penn State back in the game and position to win. Let's not forget, they scored an overtime first. So, like, on one hand, though, eventually the head coach has. to win these freaking games and it's frustrating as hell but if your takeaway from that football game is that Penn State is the same old Penn State and they're never going to be good and they suck and it's the same thing as last year like that's wrong I was like that's not true to me so like you haven't and we talked about this in the off these like Logan in the chat is an Oregon fan Penn State could never hang with us Oregon is a freight train to win it all Penn State hung with you

it went to double overtime you were losing in overtime that is like literal definition of being hung with now obviously the way it ended like that's the thing though the way it ended has to also mean something because drew aller like you said in the notary dame game threw a terrible pick at the end to lose and it was first down when he threw that pick in overtime in the second overtime like you can't just dismiss what happened that doesn't mean that it can't be better next time but you still have to hold these guys accountable for being at home, being in a game that they were favored in, like at a certain point, if we actually believe that Penn State is going to turn the

corner and be a real national title contender, like you want to see them win that football game and they just did not do it again. So like I am 100% like on board with people who think that. Like James Franklin is making a shit ton of money to win that football game. He has been given opportunity after opportunity after opportunity in those games to win. and he never does. So, like, that still has to account for something. But the best news for Penn State is, guess what? You get to play Ohio State soon.

And guess what? Whether you win or lose that game, there's a high likelihood you're going to be in the playoff and you're going to have another opportunity. If you can beat Indiana. Yeah, if you can beat Indiana, which, you know, we'll get to that too. But there's a high likelihood that if they're 10 and 2,

they will be in the playoff, if not a certainty. I'm telling you right now, Ari, I think they're going to have to beat Ohio State to go 10th. and two. Yeah. Well, it just depends on which Penn State you think is truly Penn State, the first three quarters of that game or the final quarter of the over. The one, the one I saw for longer is the one I'm worried is going to show up in the wrong game. So that's the problem. If you can just bottle what you did in the fourth quarter and start doing that for entire games, you will win the national title. Yeah. That's what they got to figure out. This is a fun game.

Let's play this game. Andy, if I would have asked you on Friday, which is a sad day because we don't podcast together, and I miss you, pal. Could Penn State win the national title? I think I'm speaking for you that you would unequivocally say yes, right? After watching that game tonight, does your answer change? No. Mine doesn't either. And I think that that's the biggest takeaway.

I think a lot of people are watching this game and have resulted back into the old Penn State. And that's not the old Penn State. Now, my whole offseason philosophy was you can't hold James Franklin accountable for all the losses that he had against top five opponents when his teams weren't as good, you can hold them accountable for that. You can hold them accountable for that one. I'm trying to thread the needle between like acknowledging that Penn State blew it while also acknowledging that it's not the same Penn State.

I think we're doing a pretty good job of it. But that's my takeaway. Like they should win those games eventually. No, I think they can. I think they can, Andy. I really do. I know I know people want just to crush James Franklin and crush Drew Aller, but we're not doing it.

There's nuance to this. Yeah. If it's 17 to 3, we are here crushing them. Yeah, if the game would have ended, ended the way the third quarter ended. Like, we would be like, what the hell was that? Yeah. But that's the fun thing about football.

There are four quarters, and oftentimes the fourth one's the most important. But hats off to Dan Lannning, because he wins these games in the regular season. He beat Ohio State last year. It was interesting, though, like the first, little bit he goes for it on fourth down in a spot where you should go for it on fourth down they don't get it then Penn State goes forward on fourth down they do get it I'm like oh no this is this is that

Washington game all over again but then the next time Oregon goes for it they get it and what did you think Atlantic has not changed the second time I thought that was really ballsy up seven in late in the third quarter fourth and one from a chip shot field goal extended to a two because at that point, the Penn State offense was not doing anything. And for him to line up and not only just get the first down, but score on the play, I thought was a big onions moment. But I was like, you know me. I'm always, what's my life model?

Can we say it on the air? Go for it. But that one was leaving a little much for me. I was like, I would have taken up. See, I thought that was the right spot too. Yeah. I was a little nervous, but they got it. And you knew.

That was one of those deals, though, where if they didn't get it, that would have turned into the Washington game from a few years. ago for sure like every time he went for it in that Washington game he was right to do it they just didn't execute so huge win for Oregon puts them in a great spot you know that they they got Indiana in two weeks so it's not like things get easier for them yeah but they don't have to play Ohio State this year Oregon's in a good spot Oregon's in a in a great spot if it wants to go play for the big 10 title again if it wants to win the big 10 title again if it wants to be the number one scene in the playoff possibly because well you're probably going to have to play

Ohio State at the end of the rainbow or who knows maybe you play Penn State again maybe you play Indiana for a second time we'll find out but it's going to be a lot of fun and it's a lot of fun watching this team you'll be a lot of fun watching Dante more involved because this is the first huge game we've seen him in and he showed up and he showed out and he when he had to made plays the stats aren't great but the defense he was playing against is spectacular They may not be facing a tougher environment for the rest of the year. No. He's going to put up massive numbers against defenses that aren't as good as this one.

Like, he still put up good numbers tonight. His efficiency numbers weren't great, but he put up really good numbers. Yeah, Penn State, it's like, I also, a lot of times, Andy, don't know what people expect when two top five teams or two top six teams play each other. Yeah. But do you think that the game is always just going to be 44 to 41 and that every offense is just going to score on a repossession. Like, it's a growing.

That is what happened the last time these two teams played. Yeah. But it's just because the score is 30 to 24 and overtime doesn't mean it was a high level football game. I thought it was a really good game. Penn State was a disaster to watch because of the, you know, flashbacks to the past. But, you know, I come away from this feeling like the Big Ten put on a pretty good display of top tier teams on national television.

Yeah, that was awesome. And I think that it was awesome. great that we got the best of the SEC in terms of matchups, and one of the best matchups you can get in the Big Ten, and both of them, like, both of them lived up to what we were hoping. Both of them delivered. Now, all right, let's go to Athens. Let's talk about the game in the SEC.

So, Ty Simpson, delivering, dealing. Alabama was unbelievable on third down. Third down and fourth down, Alabama was unbelievable. That's why they won this game. Georgia had chances. Taylor, the freshman drops touchdown pass. now Ryan Williams also dropped a touchdown pass too so that's kind of those kind of evened out

but Alabama ended up scoring on the drive that Ryan Williams Georgia didn't get any points out of that and Georgia you know had the ball went forward on fourth down which we know your motto they actually could have kicked the field goal to tie that game and probably would have gone to overtime had they done yeah yeah um but I don't I don't have a problem with Kirby Smart going for it there I really don't

yeah I feel like if it's fourth and one like in most instances you can like have a pretty good explanation for going for it. I mean, we saw a lot of teams attempt to go for it. Arizona State on Friday night went for it on fourth and one in a tie game at the goal line. Yeah.

With no time left on the clock, and they ended up having a false start and kicked a field goal and wound up winning, but they still went for it. Like, going forward on fourth and one, I think, is excusable. And Georgia at home, you know, is very used to getting those things. You know, I'll just say it right now, does Kirby Smart have an Alabama problem? he does he's one in seven against them as a head coach and oh and two against kailin nevore now so yes he

does we can we can definitively say that now whether he likes it or not do we want do i'll let you guide the ship here do you want to talk about feelings or do you want to talk about football first well let's talk about football and then get into the feelings okay um if you would have closed your eyes and did the or maybe you have to have your eyes open and did the men in black like forget the past. And you erased your brain of everything you saw this season and last season from Alabama and you just turned it on and Nick Sabin just retired in your head

and you watched Alabama play football tonight. You never would have even known anything changed. And this is like what I was saying earlier in the week when I picked Bama to win is that like even though they got their doors blown off by Florida State in week one, you knew for a fact that going on the road to Sanford Stadium they were going to play their best possible game or be up for it in every every metric possible and like Alabama tonight look like a team that could win the national title this year

like they are in my opinion fully back like Kalin Nabor was on the hottest of hot seats a month ago you go on the road and you beat Georgian or 2 and O against Kirby Smart and your your quarterback that people were unsure of like throws the ball around like that and scores on the ground and plays the way he did like Alabama is like completely back and I think that like in college football are you sure about that because no yeah i i saw a team that really didn't do much offensively in the second half

and played georgia close like tennessee did and then tennessee goes and plays essentially the same game it's mississippi state like i i think these teams are not like you're looking at it like because it's alabama and georgia they're so far above everybody else i'm i i still want to see alabama play vandy next week and play play missouri go kick crap out of them and we can say Alabama's back. But when I say Georgia last year and went nine and three. When I say Alabama is back, I don't

mean that I think they're just going to go win the national title now. What I do mean is they've recovered from the Florida state loss, which is, yeah, the length through which we looked at them after Florida State is completely gone. Now, if they blow it and, you know, we can get right back there, you know, that's not

they're not absolved completely. They still have to go out and prove it week in and week out in the SEC. But when Alabama is in rankings when Alabama is in promos when Alabama lines up moving forward it is an appointment television for everybody to watch what they think they lose to vandy again and they beat Georgia last year and lost I'm saying they earned it back you can lose it they earned it back is you know I don't know that they are I wouldn't rank them number three or number one you know I think Miami Ohio State well it's interesting because I'm going to do my I'm doing my projected

playoff right now I have Alabama ahead of Georgia because I I Georgia I've got as the team out. I have Alabama behind Florida State because they played in Florida State one and they have the same record. Yeah. Now, if Miami blows Florida State's doors off and then Alabama beats Vandy, then I can, I'll do what I want because then they don't have the same record anymore, but they have the same record right now and Florida State definitively beat Alabama. So right now, I'm going to keep Florida State ahead of them, even though Florida State just lost. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't know. Like, I see I'm looking at the chat. Sharksrider Gaming says it all it's been it's all depends on the Georgia game not if you've listened to this show

where have you been the last two weeks I said they'll show up for Georgia I don't know who's going to win that one I want to see them play against bandy and Missouri I've been saying it since the Florida state game yeah and like Halen Nabor also isn't above that criticism right like because he has lost games that he shouldn't lose yeah but we don't need to crush him tonight he did great Ryan grub did great I'm trying to bring me back down and then when I come back down we're going back up. I don't know where we need to do. Because that's, that's what we're doing here. No, I thought Alabama played really well. Struggle to run the ball, but I will point out that the Jam Miller first down runs on the last two, on the last possession,

ended the game, essentially. Now, the one that really into the game is the, is the third down throw by Ty Simpson. But Jam Miller gaining so much on that, that first, first down of the possession, really put Georgia's back against the wall, it would have taken a miracle at that point. And so good for them for not giving up on that either, because they could have easily given up on the run and just kept throwing the ball. And I think that would have probably allowed Georgia to get back

at some point because there would have been an interception. They would have just heated up Ty Simpson more because they know they know they didn't have to worry about the run. So the fact that they kept trying, because they ended up running 38 times. They only averaged 3.1 yards of carry. So I thought that was important. Even though it didn't look great, I thought it was important.

And also, again, you can't stress enough the efficiency on third down. It was incredible. Ty Simpson threw for 276 yards and two touchdowns, 24 for 38 on the road and a win against Georgia. And now is your odds on face? favorite, I believe, at Bet MGM to win the Heisman, just so you know. I imagine Ty Simpson and Dante Moore both rocketed up those lists today. They are both, I believe, tied at nine and a half to one from BetMGM. Don't quote me on that, but they are both number one from what I saw on Twitter.

Now, you know, I, the only point that I think is an important point to drill home is that this Alabama team could have been defined by a team. as a team that let the wheels fall off after being embarrassed in their opener. And this is a long season. And like if we learned anything from Notre Dame and NYU last year, is that embarrassing Saturdays don't always prevail as the memory of a team? And Alabama now has an opportunity, like you said, if they go and they beat Vandy and they win against Missouri

and do what they have to do against their schedule to move past what happened at Florida State on August 30th. So, you know, whether they do it or not, we'll see. but I think if you're an Alabama fan tonight, you go to bed with a smile on your face with a reinvigoration and what your coach can do and what your team can do. Ty Simpson played well.

Their defense, I thought, played well. They looked athletic. They looked fast. It looked like Alabama to me. And if that's like an overly optimistic thing to say, man, I'm sorry, but I think that's true. So, you know, I think we have to find out too with what we saw with Georgia against Tennessee

and some of the struggles that they have covering the deep ball weather. Georgia is issues, you know. Georgia's got some problems that are going to keep popping up. Yeah. You can throw on Georgia. So, you know, and maybe, you know, as we continue to get context, we're just going to find out that everybody in the college football should just be eight and four.

Like, I don't know. But for the time being, with what we know now, Alabama seems just as equipped to win any football game is some of the seven other teams in the SEC that we felt that way about coming in the weekend. I mean, if we, that's exciting. I don't think we can power rank the SEC. I think when we can tear it. And, all right, give me your list of teams that can win the SEC. Well, no, this is, no, give me your list of teams that can win the SEC.

River, can you put up the graphic of the SEC for me so I can cheat? Okay. Alabama. Mm-hmm. Georgia. Yep. Mizzou. Okay.

Ole Miss, certainly. Yeah. Oklahoma. Mm-hmm. A&M. We don't think Tennessee can. Oh, Tennessee, I just missed. Yes, Tennessee can.

Okay. Okay. LSU. We're still in on LSU. I don't want to like, they only have one loss, so I can't say they can't. Keep going, keep going. And Vanderbilt, so 10. 10 T!

I don't know. They turn to the Big 12. Listen, Andy, you got a real me, and I get excited. Vanderbilt dropped a 50 burger today. So I don't know. Do you think Vanderbilt belongs there? we're going to find out next week that's the beauty of it well no this is this is like high level big 12 right here it's right a utter shit show but way more future NFL players is what it is yeah it's

the same size of a shit show but at the end of the road of this shit show for the team that ends up winning it might actually win the national title which isn't through for the big 12 um but yeah like if Alabama would have lost to Georgia tonight, then you, I don't know if you put them in that category. Maybe you still do because they first loss as an SEC loss. But, you know, Auburn's kind of, look, if, let's say Taylor catches that ball and Georgia wins 2824, I don't think that would change my mind about Alabama being able to compete with everybody else.

Yeah, probably not. But I think that, you know, Kailen DeBore had a really good. night from a perception standpoint and a in a PR standpoint. So, you know, you can agree or disagree with that chat. No, I think he had a very good night. I think Ryan Grubb had a good night. This is and again, they just now comes the challenge to do what you didn't do last year. You beat Georgia last year and then it fell apart because you didn't get them ready. The thing that I am so in awe of with Sabin was that he somehow got an Alabama team that has won year over year to play 90% of the weeks like they're playing Georgia at night on the road.

Yes. And I don't know how he did it. Nobody else has been able to do that. Nobody. At any place. Yeah. Like the level that Alabama played tonight could beat anybody in college football. The question is, can Kalin DeBoer figure out a way to keep them playing with that intensity?

Because I'm telling you, Andy, you watch the Florida State game. We were sitting next to each other. You watch this tonight. I don't think Florida State could beat that Alabama we saw. No, absolutely not. So how do you stop the Alabama that showed up against Florida State from showing up against Vandy is the number one question? That is the big question, and that's what Kalin-Abor has got to answer. And if he can, then it's no problem.

And then Alabama is going to compete for the SEC title. They're going to compete for the national title. It'll be like, saving never left. But that's the trick is can you get them up for the games that maybe don't seem as Titanic as the Georgia game? And the thing is, the fact of the matter is the next six games, their next six games are really hard. Mm-hmm. Interbilt, Missouri, Tennessee, South Carolina, LSU, Oklahoma. I know nobody was watching South Carolina, Kentucky.

The South Carolina, we thought we were going to see all season that we hadn't seen, showed up. And if they show up against some of these teams that we mentioned can win the SEC, they can beat them. Mm-hmm. It's going to be a very, very, very exciting conference this year. Very exciting. And I thought that was a good display of, like, if you're an SEC fan, like, I think you can hold that game up proudly and say, look at the type brand of football we're playing. I think that was a nice representation. Well, and it's interesting because it looked for a while, but it kind of looked like it was going to be the Tennessee Georgia game all over again, where Tennessee spots them a lead, Georgia comes back, and then it's this, you know, back and forth shootout.

The defenses took over in the second half. So for sure. the idea that defense is dead in the SEC and I'm sure, look, that some people are going to be like, well, that's because the offenses stink. I think the defenses did kind of step up there. And it's just like the Penn State Oregon game,

the defenses were awesome for the first three quarters. And then the offenses showed up. So, or I guess, for the first half, and then the offenses showed up in the second half. You know how when we have guests on our show, Andy? We put them on the spot and have them the rule for life. I want to give you a heads up right now, but I'm going to put you on the spot. At the end of the show, when we're done recapping all the games, I'm going to ask you who will win every conference.

Oh, my God. Okay. So you have it in the back of your head. I'll start going through this in my head. This will be fun. I'll give you mine at the end, too, and we'll see how close we are. But I think it's kind of a fun activity as you, because, you know, recap shows are great to relive the day. But I also think people like when we spring it forward.

And I think we have a lot of information to kind of cope through. So if you want to keep going, that's fine. I just wanted to plan. Well, okay, where do we go from here is the question? Because there were games, oh, let's talk about the game. We didn't get a chance to talk about. We did a couple recap shows, instant reaction shows, earlier in the day, where we talked about USC losing to Illinois.

We talked a lot about Ole Miss beating LSU and then some of the other stuff that happened in the afternoon. The one that wasn't over yet that had a lot of drama left in it was Tennessee beating Mississippi State in overtime, where at the end of regulation, I thought VAL Twitter was turning on Josh Hypole. Yeah, maybe we should have tossed Mississippi State and there's teams that can compete for the SEC, you know?

Dude, Jeff Leby's done such a good job. I remember the Netflix documentary watching that episode on the Egg Bowl, and it was clear his team had not given up. up on him but they were just they weren't equipped they didn't have a good enough roster they went oh and eight in the SEC so they went out got better players and then brought back a lot of the players they had and he's just done a great job with this team because that's not a game that would have been competitive last year yeah i'm going to tease river a little bit i know it's been a long day for him and he still got uh but he is so like vol to his core andy that he

put the wrong record on Mississippi State and the graphic to try to juice Tennessee's resume. Do you see that? I didn't see it. I can't. I don't have my reading glasses on it. I do see River flicking you off. Yeah, he's juicing Tennessee's resume. You know, I think that for a minute there, it felt like Tennessee was going to lose that football game.

Obviously, it went to overtime on the road. And that's not what you want to see. Why is it a football game? What other kind of game could it be? I totally, that's a weird sport. I just saw a... You've been saying football game all night like Mike DeBose when he coached Alabama.

Maybe I'm trying to do... We're going to have the best offensive football team and hopefully our football team is playing this football game. Like do my best like play-by-play person impression. Maybe one day I'll get a job doing that. I don't know. What's about scoring the basketball?

You got to score the basketball. I don't know why I have like weird verbal tics. At least I'm saying what I mean to say. That was a, which is a departure from how it went earlier in the afternoon. But, you know, Tennessee losing would have been a real kick in the knackers, I think. After what we saw from Georgia, I think I wrote a column after the Georgia game that Tennessee should hold their heads up high and feel really good about their

proposition of competing at the highest level in the conference. And then turn around and two weeks later, get dropped on the road by Mississippi State. Would have sucked. So, you know, they've got some really exciting players. You know, Joey Algargar can throw a deep ball as we found out. I don't know how to pronounce Chris Basil's name. is that correct brazil brazil um he's showing out to be one of the better receivers in america when we thought my matthews and chris brousel were pretty awesome today both of them

six catches matthews had 118 yards razzle had 105 i call them basil because of austin powers just so you know basil like basil expedition yeah i got you um yeah so you know important win i think for tennessee and you learned a little bit about mississippi state in the bill that they're making but I think the most important thing is that Tennessee continues on as a one-lost team and a figure into the SEC race a little bit more. So, Nitt asked the question. We have not gotten a chance to answer or talk about this game yet.

Do you think Georgia Tech got exposed as frauds? Georgia Tech survived in overtime at Wake Forest. We're playing from behind pretty much the entire game. Whether they are or not, they won the game, they won their clunker. And Producer River, please show us the rest of the Georgia Tech schedule. It's coming. You'll see, guys. You're going to see when it comes on screen, and I'll read it to you for the podcast listeners.

Whether they're frauds or not, we may not be able to figure that out because here's how it goes the rest of the way. Virginia Tech, Duke, Syracuse, NC State, Boston College, Pittsburgh, and, of course, Georgia at the end of the season. Now, the Georgia game will be tough. That one will be very interesting. It is distinctly possible that Georgia Tech shows up to the Georgia game 9 and 1, excuse me, 10 and 1 or 11 and 0. Yeah. Now, this game suggests that maybe they could lose one of those, but this may just be the worst game they play. And I'm not sure they have anybody can trip them up. There's a formula out there, Andy, where, like, that should, like, help you, like, a cheat sheet for when to hold the team accountable for a clunker and, like, when it's just a clunker and when it is an indication of something that's rotten under the hood. And, like, my anticipation or my takeaway from this game, Andy, was it was just a rough game. Yeah, I thought Wake played really well. And remember, I told you after we had Jake Dickard on the show, Wake's going to go over the four and a half projected win total.

and they've still, because they, like, they've won two. This would have been number three. They still have games, I believe, against Oregon State and Delaware. So, like, I think, I still think they're going to go over the four and a half. I just think maybe they're okay. They're not bad. And there's one thing that we have to just acknowledge. And that's how this game ended, right?

Didn't the game end with Haynes King scoring a rushing touchdown? Or it ended on an interception of a two-point conversion. A two-point conversion attempt. But Haynes King was the person who scored the go-ahead touchdown in overtime. And he doesn't play his best game. He doesn't always play the sharpest game. But at the end of the day, he threw for 245 yards and had 100 yards rushing and scored in overtime to help them win that football game.

It's like not enough. a football game, too. Shit. I'm not going to say it again. I can't wait until we talk about a basketball game. I'll bet you $50 that I won't say it again. I'll take you up on that. Okay.

Just a dog doing dog things, Andy. I can't wait to get my $50 later tonight. Is he the biggest dog in the sport this year? Just dog rankings. Oh, there are some serious dogs. That should be a... I mean, Ty Simpson. up there. Dante Moore's up there. Haines King is the epitome of dog to me.

Sam Levitt is up there? Yeah, Sam Levitt's a dog. But like hard-nosed, might not play in the NFL, is going to like completely sacrifice his body to get that extra yard to help you win a football game. I think Haynes King is number one. John Mateer? John Mateer is not playing right now. Haynes King would be playing. John Mateer's not playing because he played the final three quarters with the injury that required surgery last week. That's not a dog? Even five minutes on the show tonight talking about Dr. Stephen Shin, or are we just going to like, because we didn't have an episode since we've got to try to get him on the show. I called his office on Thursday.

I didn't want to tell anybody because I don't want to get their hopes up, but I was like talking to nurses in his, uh, in his like surgery area. That's a pretty small world. I actually may have a way. Do you think that he's aware? My wife works in plastic surgery. She works with hand surgeons all the time. I guarantee you some of the hand surgeons she works with know him personally.

Yeah, we should try to get him on the show. I'm serious. Like, because I just wanted to call him and ask him for five minutes what it was like. Because he's not allowed to talk to me about the physical surgery. I don't care about how to serve. Not unless John Mateer gives his permission, which he apparently is not. I find it hilarious that this man is like the face of Oklahoma football right now.

Like as we wait to see like John Mateer's triumphic. He could be, yeah, he could be mayor of Norman if he wanted to. Was that thing that they, that like letter of the, the commandment letter that they posted? That was real, right? Like he got some sort of. Yes, that was. I believe there was the attorney general who is a leading candidate to be the governor of Oklahoma eventually. Yeah, wrote him like a letter of like, yeah, commending him for his work and like all the memes of him like on like legendary coaches bodies and like leading the team out of the tunnel.

And somebody even like went to the man's office and like wrote him a handwritten note that said boomer sooner on it. Like like Oklahoma fans showed out this week in a way that makes. And they weren't even playing. And they weren't even playing. So I'm happy that we got off on the dog segment because I'm so happy we got to acknowledge that I was really funny trying to talk to these nurses who just deal with like hand problems all day and they're like are you calling because you know a patient here and I'm like I am a college football columnist reporter at On 3 and I would like to talk to Dr. Steven Shin about going viral in the most hilarious way possible and the woman could not understand like what I was saying. She goes, why are you calling a hospital for this right now? I had no idea. I mean, could you imagine, like, being in, like, in a surgery, like, mindset and all the time? And then, like, some chubby reporter calls you trying to talk to him about memes.

Like, they weren't in the headspace. But if you can try to get him on the show, I think that would be a home run, home run. WTF crafts says, Dante Moore was a dog tonight, was putting his body on the line. His description from high school was pure pocket passer. No, he did not look like pure pocket passer. And, like, Dante Moore had so much dirt on his jersey after this game. Like, he got pounded and kept. getting up. I know, but the track record

of dog, like Haynes King's been doing this for years, guys. Like, this is a week and week out. Like, Haynes King is going to a lot in my mind. But we can't do it when they barely escaped Wake Forest. Like, let's give it to Dante Moore

or Ty Simpson for going on the road and winning the way they would. They wouldn't have won the game though. Yeah, that's all. But yes. All right. Dante Moore got his flowers tonight, I think. Okay, so, Next, where do we go? Do you go to Ohio State, Washington?

Yeah, we didn't spend much time on Ohio State Washington. Let's spend five minutes on Ohio State Washington. Yeah. They have such a good defense that they don't have to open up their offense to win games in the Big Ten. And I don't know if that's going to be true when they play Penn State or when they play Michigan or when they play Michigan or when they play whoever they play later on in the postseason. But Ohio State looked like they had training wheels on Julian Sand for the entire first half of that game. And I don't know if that was by design or if it was trying to help him in his first tough road environment playing under an active

volcano. That would be really, really nerve-wracking. And think about like you're looking up at fans and then you look off into the, you know, horizon and you see a mountain that could explode at any moment like that's not an easy place to be as a as a first time starter um and then once they started opening it up a little bit like the way you described it in the live video earlier and he was boa constrictor city Washington couldn't do anything they got in the red zone a few times ohio state's red zone you notice they had to open it up because it the first year my smith touchdown was right before half time right yes okay so they they they had to start doing a little more offensively because i think they realized if they didn't

there's a chance that something fluky could decide the game. Because Washington's defense was playing well enough. And Washington's offense was getting across the 50 sometimes and getting in position to kick field goals. So Ohio State had to do a little more. Not a lot. But I think once they got that Jeremiah Smith touchdown, they started breathing a little bit.

And then they realized we can do a little more. And it felt to me like they got, got, you know, the other receiver, like Carnell Tate got involved a little more in the second half. You saw some stuff to Brandon Ennis. And they realized, okay, we have much better receivers. And I believe Takario Davis was hurt. He wasn't. He didn't play.

Yeah. And so they had a freshman who had to cover a lot of their really good receivers, which God bless him. So the thing that I think is aggravating for Ohio State fans, Andy, though. And, you know, I am in my, in Ohio State world on Twitter because of my background. And I see what people are tweeting and stuff. And Julian San was 22 of 28 for 208 yards and two touchdowns. And I think that we are all, you know, getting to the point now where we don't have to view him as somebody who needs training wheels anymore. You know, and I don't know if that is just something that they're going to ease into and let him go a little bit more every week because, again, they don't need him to be Superman.

But Ohio State is not a very good running football team on the ground this year. You know, they just, you know, Bo Jackson is a really young player who's exciting, but I don't know if they have that. They don't have Trey Henderson and Quintan Jenkins on their team this year. Do they call him Bo Jackson because there's already a famous Lamar Jackson? I think that's his name. His name's Bo Jackson. No, his name's Lamar Jackson.

It is? Yeah. I don't know. If I was still on the beat, I'd probably be able to answer that. I don't know. I know he's a... I think it's funny because, you know, the Bo Jackson, of course, as old people think of is

Vincent Edward Jackson. This is Lamar Jackson, but he goes by Beau. And very confusing to me. But if you were going to be like, oh, there's already a famous football player named Lamar Jackson. Yeah,

I was going to say, like if you're going to go after somebody have a nickname because it's an homage to a great, you know, two sport athlete, I mean, Lamar wouldn't be a bad.

I mean, he's an NFL MVP. But they're not going to be a team, I think, Andy, that is going to pound a big-time opponents with the ball on the ground. So eventually they're going to get into a game, I think, where they're going to need Cardinal Tate and Brandon Ennis and Jeremiah Smith and Max Clare. They were in that game today, and they use them. So I think Julian Sand has already proven, Andy, to be capable of, you know, handling more

of responsibility. Now, he looks like Timothy Shalome, let's be honest, he's not a very big kid. Hey, Timothy Chalamano's ball, so that's fine. And he's handsome, you know, so that's good. If you saw Julian San in public, you would never know who, like, that guy can throw the ball the way he does. But there were a few throws in that game where it's like, holy crap, man, this guy can rip it, let him rip it. Just let them throw to those guys. And I understand that defenses are blakening Jeremiah, but they have too many weapons in the wide-out room to not be a pass-first team.

And that's okay. That said, I also understand going on the road. in a, you know, West Coast environment that is pretty tough, you know, if you don't feel like you need to do that right out of the gate and you can let them ease in. And then, you know, Ohio State was never in danger of losing, you know. So I think it was a good, productive win.

But, you know, the defense is the star of the show. And eventually, I think the offense is going to catch up. And I think they're unequivocally the number one team in the country right now. So, yeah, they're the one that would scare me the most if I had to play them. Because they can beat me in a variety of ways. Right. And I think that that's an important thing. They can thrive and exceed expectations in multiple types of games. That said, and maybe this is like a little like a side gambling rant. There were a lot of really weird lines this weekend. Notre Dame minus four and a half as it turns out was a weird line. Florida State minus seven was a weird line. Ohio State minus eight and a half or eight was a weird line. And I have a very hard time as somebody who likes to play the games like deciding or picking which. By the way, I went in on the power rankings and how they had Alabama, Georgia. They got it right, like, almost to the point.

Like, there were some that predicted, like, Alabama to have 24-something points, and Georgia had 21 points, something points. And I went five and four in picks on Saturday. And, like, some of the ones I lost, it was like, I was right on Virginia because the line was weird. Right. But I was wrong on Arkansas because the- the line was weird, you know, like, and I don't know how to pick which one it is because it's like, well, we did get the Arkansas over. And actually, it's a good time to go to that game.

But one thing I want to say about Washington real quick. And okay, they are not a top 25 team in the polls. I think that they prove today that they should be. They are not going to get ranked this week because you don't get ranked or move up after you lose, but I think this is a team that's going to be in the top 25 in the next month and might be somebody who gives really like a team that's not as good as Ohio State all they can handle. Yeah, I want to. I want to see them against teams that are closer to them in talent because I do think they're going to be very interesting. But let us go to Fayetteville. Patrick asks, how much better do you all think Sam Pittman is done after today?

I would assume he's done. So Arkansas coach Sam Pittman, I would assume he's going to be done. We were told be aware, be on the lookout, something may happen this weekend. This is before the game. then the game happened and Notre Dame just annihilated Arkansas and we said on the pick show this is the easiest over in the world at 64 and a half it almost wasn't because Arkansas didn't do enough offensively Arkansas had been playing better offensively than it played today Notre Dame's deep maybe Notre Dame's defense had something to do with it maybe Notre Dame's

defense is getting better that is the big question but Notre Dame's offense looked unstoppable and I would imagine part of that's just because of Arkansas's defense because Ole Miss and Memphis also looked on softball against him. Here's what I do know. Notre Dame is back in the playoff debate for the next two months. This is something we're going to have to debate for two months. And I know there are some people who think it's September 27th, why are we talking about this?

But like Notre Dame is much better than everybody else on their schedule for the rest of the year. Now they have lost the NIU and not. the past they've lost the marshal i know those games can exist i'm not guaranteeing that they're going to go undefeated like i was doing at this time last year but i think that notre dame um is a very very good football team and i wonder if their oh and two start is more of a product of the teams that they've played than more of an indication of who they are now the problem with notre dame here andy is and we'll get back to pitman because i know that was the question but notre dame in my opinion is very very good i think you share that opinion the

problem with their schedule is, is that they don't have another opportunity to definitively prove it. Look how many points they scored on Texas A&M's defense. And look what Auburn did against Texas A&M. Yeah, like they're a good football team. And I don't know if at the end of the year they're going to get quality loss as a bump, because as you know, the college football playoff committee is all about quality wins and who you beat.

But at the end of the year and Texas A&M are both in the playoff and they played one possession games against those two teams. And they're 10 and two, I think it's probably. okay. They're probably going to find a way in. I think that they'll probably find their way in at 10 and 2 because the country will clear itself out with how much parity there is in the sport this year. But I think there are a lot of Notre Dame fans that are walking under the assumption. I found that out online today that going 10 and 2 is a lock that they're in. And I think that that's wrong. I think that's very wrong, especially we're one year removed from a 10 and 2 team with no quality wins being left out. And that's Miami. from last year. People say, well, hey, Ari, the team who won the national title last year had two losses. The team that won the national title last year also had two wins over playoff teams in the regular season. They beat Penn State and Indiana in the regular season. Like, that that counts for something. So the notion that like USC losing to Illinois doesn't hurt

Notre Dame, I think, is wrong. Now, this is going to be the debate. I'm just starting it now. We're going to be talking about this every week for two months, dude. Like, it's going to be, and we're going to have to analyze what's going on around the sport to see what their path is. But I do think that Notre Dame, you know, is going to play its way back into the top seven here in the next few weeks. And then when you do, when they do that, it's just going to be a sprint to the end and we'll see how it, but I understand why Marcus Freeman did a fake punt up by 29 points early in the third quarter because you want to put up scores like this because the only way that Notre Dame can show that it's a playoff team is by putting up big scores like this because

they don't have an opportunity against an elite level team to get everybody's attention again. So, C.J. Carr, I think, is a very good football player, and he's going to age really well. I think he's going to be very good by the end of the year. All the things that we liked about Notre Dame and the preseason are still true. They had to go one and one, it felt like they maybe it'll turn out that they did have to go one and one, but they're going to be in this playoff discussion for the rest of the year. Oh, interesting. Okay, hold on. Let me find Alexis. Oh, shoot. Jesus.

Yeah, we were talking about Notre Dame, Jake. That's why you said Jesus, right? Okay, Alexis says, Notre Dame is definitely getting it over Penn State if both are 10 and 2. Let's unpack that. That's not true. That's not true. Because if Penn State is 10 and 2, it means they have beaten either Ohio State or Indiana. I mean, maybe Indiana loses a bunch of games from here and out, but I don't think they will. It means they've beaten Iowa, which looked on the road.

Pretty tough today against Indiana. It means, you know, we'll see what happens with Michigan State and Nebraska. it means they would have at least one really good win and probably a couple. Notre Dame won't have that good of a win. Somebody said Arkansas is elite, another hit on the pipe already? Come on. I didn't say Arkansas was elite. No, we said Arkansas had a good offense and a terrible defense.

But if the offense at the end of the year to address the latest comment that you put up is that they played close games with Texas A&M and Miami at the beginning of the year, then what does that mean for Penn State who just played Oregon to double overtime? I think it's going to be interesting because if Miami and Texas A&M end up being top four seeds and Notre Dame was right in the mix with them

and those are the only two losses they have, then I don't think it's going to hurt them that bad. Yeah, the question will be. Even if the rest of the teams on the schedule, will really stink. And I don't think they'll all really stink. If Notre Dame is 10 and 2, there's probably like a 75% chance they get in. But if Notre Dame is sitting at number 13 or number 10 or number 11 or one of the last

spots on the final weekend, and there's one spot between them and a team that has the same record and quality wins, they're not going to get in. So like Notre Dame does not control its own destiny as much as Notre Dame fans want to think that right now. And like Alexis said, they're not getting in over Penn State. if it's between the two of them at 10 and 2. Now, here's the thing. If they're both 10 and 2, probably both get them.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's probably not going to be between them. But controlling your own destiny and when, if they're in, it disregards all the other results. And you cannot do that. They're not in that position right now. So Notre Dame is a very impressive team. I think they'll be very worried.

This conversation is ridiculous. They lost their only consequential games. But what is the point? Like, you're trying to pick teams in the playoff. Like, if Miami and Texas A&M are top four seeds, wouldn't you want a team at like number 11 that could actually compete with the top four seats because we already know they can.

Yeah, like, listen, I think that this is going to irritate people and rightfully so, I guess, because Notre Dame did lose their only two games of consequence. But, you know, the whole schedule is going to play a factor and they're going to probably be 10 and two at the end of the year and this is going to be a discussion.

Like I said, that we're going to have for a while. So we'll see how it's how. If they lose one of these games, they are definitely out. You do not have to worry about them being back in the discussion yeah but you know maybe this is a nice segue i don't know if we're going to revisit this but to talk about usc for a few minutes and yeah let's do that let's do

that so USC was a important piece on notre dame schedule because it was the only team that could conceivably make it into the top 10 by the time they played on their schedule hold on can i keep going yeah go ahead um i'm going to just keep going with what i'm saying and then he'll figure it out. Yeah, he'll be back in the studio. But USC. I'm out of the studio because I saw a comment that was so ridiculous. I had to address it.

Did you find it? Yeah, here you go. Jay. A 10 and 2 Vanderbilt is more worthy in Notre Dame. No shit, Sherlock. Yeah. Have you seen Vandy's schedule? Like, of course at 10 and 2, they're in over a 10 and 2 Notre Dame.

Your name is attractive. Are we just going to, like, what else can we throw out there? That's all, you know. Hey, Ari. If Alabama goes 10 and 2, they'll get in over Notre Dame, too. Yeah. Any team in the SEC that goes 10 and 2 will probably get in over Notre Dame. What I was saying is I'm kind of disappointed in USC, Andy.

Like, Illinois is a pretty good team. You know, you can't say they're great after what happened against Indiana. He got to be like 53 last week. Which, by the way, how the frick did that happen? But USC lost this game in the same type of way. way that like reminded you of last year and I find that to be disappointing um it feels like every time you know and that's another loss in the central or eastern time zone that you can add to the list but every time they play a team that's gritty they don't look like they belong on the same field and

i know that's a narrative and that you know oh west not a narrative if it's what keeps happening i hate when people like that's a narrative no it's the thing that keeps happening it's a narrative that always keeps to pop up but it is it's the narrative because it happens. It's like this isn't

this isn't better than it was last year. Now, USC might be a better football team than they were last year, but they're going to play Michigan. They're going to play Notre Dame.

They're going to be playing potentially better versions of Illinois. And if they can't hang on the same field physically as Illinois, what's going to happen when they play Notre Dame?

They're going to get their doors blown off. Well, right. If when you absolutely need to get a stop and a team can just run the ball up the middle against you to set up a game-winning field goal, or if you absolutely need to get a stop

and a team can just run up the middle against you to score a touchdown like in the Michigan game last year. Like, Illinois does not run the ball like Michigan does. USC's next game is against Michigan. How are they supposed to win if they cannot stop a team that just runs right at you? You know who else? By the way, the game after that's against Notre Dame,

Guess what they do? And you know who else plays like that? Nebraska. In Iowa. Oregon. Nebraska doesn't play like that. They need to prove they can run the ball. But Oregon can play like that.

Is Nebraska Homer away? That one is in Los Angeles. Oh, no, that's in Lincoln. I'm sorry. You're right. That's in Lincoln. Sorry. It's another central time zone game and it's going to be cold.

And they're going to hit hard. So I don't love USC at Nebraska right now. it's a it's just it's just an illustration like winning and losing i think is is obviously all that matters but so much can be found in the context and it isn't just that u sc lost to a pretty good team on the road that happens teams lose to to good teams on the road it's how they lost and how they looked in that loss that i think would really bother me the most of our u sc fan um and they are a team that we thought might be very very good good this year and now I'm back to like okay

they're they're USC again and that sucks for that well and the thing is they still like Jade Maiava wasn't bad. I thought he played well it's a little bit of an adventure when he throws over the middle Mackay Lemon is amazing he's incredible. Yeah there was a debate online today that I was in the middle

of about whether or not McKay Lemon was better than Jeremiah Smith and the fact that people could even have that debate no but but the fact that it's not but the fact that Lake and Riley did a really good job matching him up on Illinois's weakest cover guy. Yeah, no, he's

certainly over and over again. And that's an art in and of itself. Yeah. I mean, if you want to have a conversation about best receivers in college football with Jeremiah Smith and Cam Coleman, Ryan Williams, and some of the guys that, you know, A&M, Eric single, I can't,

Mackay Lemon is in that conversation. So they have a, they have a quarterback who I believe is playing very well. They have one of the best, most explosive receivers in college football. Jacoby Lane's pretty good. Like, they have pieces, but they're not tough. So if you want to play in a big time. And that's the problem that they're about to play two teams in a row that are just

going to try to ram the ball down their throats. John Wick with a $10 super chat, spend this on Andy's hair dye. John, I am going great gracefully. There's no dye in this. I'm trying to look at your hair because it doesn't look at all like hair or dye. no i mean i'm going gray i mean i'm just letting it happen i also think be a silver fox soon baby the silver fox the thing that's so much better about being a man than a woman is is that men age like they get hotter as they grow older a lot of times yeah yeah like if you have like a salt

and pepper hair and beard dude that's dude that's a smash dude like i i'm once i go i'm i'm i'm plenty of salt now but it's it's it's going to be it's predominantly salt and then silver I like fade the side of my head But like when it gets long I'm white on the side too You know But A dollar burn though

I'll give them that Yeah You could have lit $10 on fire And it would have been just as fun Vance Why do I feel like we are overlooking A&M We're not Great segue Vance

We're not Let's go to college station Texas A&M is playing very well. Now, there was some nitpicking going on in the press conference with Mike Elko. Where'd already go? Why is it already leaving? Let's just play the Mike Elko clip first. Does anybody want to ask a question about like us being 4 and 0 for the first time since 2016

or how did the defense bounce back or how about you held them to 176 yards on offense and you had five sacks and they were 0 for 12 on third down and 0 for two on fourth down and you got the return game going again like i don't mean to sound like someone else but my gosh will you guys stop being so dreadful and gloomy yeah next one i was i oh look at that you got a little aggie's helmet there in that cute you got to represent for my cult aggie wife um i feel like that mike elko clip like if we if we'd seen more of what was a before it and after, clearly poking fun at Brian Kelly more than, more than the questions themselves. What is it about Brian Kelly that makes you want to pick on him? He makes the other

coaches very mad. I mean, the first thing Lane Kiffin did when he walked off the field was tweet out what Brian Kelly had said on his radio show. I knew this kid in college. Did you have any friends in your friend group in college that were always at all your social events, but nobody really liked. Like, they just happen to, like, always be around or invited by one person. Every group has that person. Yeah, and it's like the, I don't know how to describe it. And I'm not going to say the person's name because in the off chance I hear it.

But is that not Brian Kelly in the SEC? Right. The other guys all, like, oh, great, Brian's here. Like, that's kind of, you could see Mike Elko and Lane Kiff and having a beer to together like hi Brian how's it going I mean because you don't go out like coaches don't typically go out of their way to like jab other coaches for no reason especially when they're not playing them they're not even in the same I think he was trying to make a greater point and then realize he was sending exactly Brian Kelly and it was like okay yeah maybe I should

acknowledge that you but have to understand where I'm at with this team and if you didn't already you guys know you're you're drinking the Kool-Aid well I thought that something shifted it felt like something shifted with a and m when they beat oh my wife just got home speaking a cult aggies um that when they won the notre dame game the way that they did by capitalizing on a botched uh botched hold on an extra point that would have put another team up by seven on the road instead of up by six leaves the door open they return the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown it gets called back and they go down in the field and drive and then win on fourth and goal from the 11 in the final minute, that is the exact way that A&M would have lost.

And it got me thinking that if you have that as a tortured fan base, that's constantly expecting the worst to happen, like that might have been the turning point, or at least the thought process that Mike Elko could be different. And I wrote about this on Thursday, and I spoke to Mike Elko on the phone for five minutes on like Wednesday night. And I asked him what it was like to lead a program that has... hundreds of thousands of fans, some of the most passionate, loyal fans in all of college football, but always fearing or expecting that if they have something nice, they're going to blow it the next week,

or that the worst thing is going to happen. And then I'm watching this game today, Andy, and there is a lot of nitpick. But they outgained Auburn by like 300 yards, and they were playing defense up by six in the game's final two minutes. And I feel like in the past, this was a penalty-ridden game. This was a game that wasn't clean. It felt like they should have been up by 21 when they weren't, that A&M would have found a way to fuck that game off in the past. And they didn't. And I think that there is a certain level of growth that is apparent here. I'm not saying they're going to go win the national title this year. I'm not even saying they're going to go 10 and 2 this year. What I am saying is that Texas A&M is a completely different program with Mike Elko. You want to come over and say hi? There's an Aggie right there. You know, a completely different program than they were, you know, Texas. Is she wearing yell leader overalls? Here. Kind of.

We're live. There's 1,500 people watching this. Gig him. What up, Andy. How's it going? But do you follow what I'm saying in terms of the growth? I do. Today was one of those moments.

Today was one of those moments that it would get away from them in the past. After the interception, so that, you know, Auburn intercepts that pass. It looks like they're returning it for touchdown. They don't get all the way in. Jackson Arnold scores, and all of a sudden, it is a very tight game. It is a three-point game, and you're like, oh, no, it's all going to hell for Texas A&M again, even though they are statistically dominating this game. And you know what? They didn't choke.

They went, they kicked into their field goal. They stopped Auburn enough. They're taking knees at the end of the game. Like, they are handling it all like grownups. and are they a top five team? And like, you know what it reminds me of, Andy, too?

We were talking about Nebraska and the growth of their program. Now, this has nothing to do with Nebraska, but it reminds me of the conversation. The next step for Nebraska was to win coin flip games, right? The next step for A&M is to figure out a way to close out games, to stack wins in close games at home where you don't play your best football. Because old A&M wins a big game and then the following,

Sailor Joe, the Texas fan can't stand them having nice things. Okay, okay, the Aggies one. At what point does the Auburn win start to age like spoiled milk for OU and A&M? They also beat Notre Dame. So there's that. And they're going to beat somebody else good in the SEC.

Well, you know, it's also not the point that we're making. Like A&M, I'm not saying that they should be number one in the country because their wins are the best. in the country. I'm saying that they are winning games in ways they would have found ways to lose in the past. And it feels like they have turned the page on that. Does A&M susceptible to losing more games this year? Absolutely.

Could they finish nine and three? Absolutely. But if they finish nine and three because they lost three games to better football teams this year, and they managed to win the games that are coin flips. Wait, do I get 50 bucks because you said football team or did it have to be football games? Did I say, no, I didn't say, no, I said I won't say the, other one. What other kind of team we're going to talk about? I mean, I'll

run to be teams. I'll pay you 50 bucks if we stop talking about. How's that? Like, do you, are you with me on this? Andy, are you with me on this, or do you think that, like, I'm overreacting to early success? I think you're

a little too deep into it, but I do think they're better, and I am excited to see what they do the rest of the season. Yeah. You know, I was actually sweating a little bit because you can't write a column in the middle of the week about battered Aggie syndrome and then out gain your opponent at home by 300 yards and lose. And I would have taken personal responsibility. And it was on the table in the fourth quarter.

It was on the table. Auburn was 0 for 12 on third down. That's awesome. Okay. Let's flip this around on Auburn. Electric's ass is Hugh Free sitting on an inferno to you guys like me and many Auburn families feel right now? So this is one where I think the fan base. probably sees it more than the outside world,

where the fan base is like, this is the end, it's going to go to hell. And here's the thing. Unless he beats Georgia and Missouri here, it may. Now, I do think if they can split these next two games, they're probably going to beat Arkansas, probably going to beat Kentucky.

We want to know about that and Andy. but I think it's still possible to have a decent season if you're Auburn but you cannot lose the next two in a row if you do lose the next two in a row it's not going to be what you want it's it's you know eight and four at best at that point within it you're probably losing Alabama too so seven and five is not good enough yeah yeah I think it's time to just say the truth their offense stinks man it does it does jackson arnold holds the ball too long yeah like throw the ball dude any confident it's the same stuff that that hugh freeze got mad about but again

it's huge job to teach you to do that and if he can't well he shouldn't have picked you in the first place so again it's on him so this is this is the second year in a row and last year we were talking about why did you just roll with Peyton Thorne when you knew you probably weren't going to like the result. So, yeah, he, because they've been right in it. Like they were winning the Oklahoma game in the fourth quarter. This game, they were within three in the fourth quarter. But no, they've got to win some of these. So, like Auburn, Georgia is going to be a very.

very interesting game that is that is like if and and think about this like if georgia wins that if georgia loses that game georgia has two SEC losses at that point midway through the season with tough teams to go i don't think georgia is going to lose that game dude i don't i don't know what it is but they have really good receivers and they have a pretty solid offensive line they run the ball well, um, there's only one direction this is pointing at. And I hate to do it, but Jackson Arnold needs to play better. He's not playing well. So yeah, so it's so right to me.

Yeah, I'd say Hugh Free and remember, Hugh Freeze of the, of the, of the SEC buyouts has one of the more manageable ones. Yeah. We talked about Sam Pittman. It's probably happening. His buyout is, is smaller than, then pretty much everybody in the SEC. Hugh freeze is the next one. Doesn't he look defeated on the sideline sometimes?

Hugh? Yeah. Um, yeah, he does. He looks exasperated. Well, he is exasperated. But again, it's his job to make the quarterback play better. Mm-hmm. Well, I'm with you. And they have options, too. That's the thing. Like, if it's... Well, and they may have to try one of those options because they can't keep doing this over and over. Because the defense is playing well.

Mm-hmm. And the defense gave up 60 points today. And I think the defense should get credit for seven of Auburn's 10. Yeah. A&M's got a really good offense, guys. They scored 16 points at home. They only scored 16 means Auburn's defense is real good. Oklahoma's offense is great.

They scored 24. And the defense scored two of those. So, yeah. Again, I don't think Auburn's a bad team. But if they don't beat Georgia or Missouri, It's going to go bad. It feels like it's trending to seven and five right now. Yeah.

All right. Where else do we need to go, Ari? What are the games we need to hit? I have an outline. Let me go look at the outline. Oh, Indiana, Iowa. Okay, let's do it. And we can close the Ole Miss LSU

because we talked a lot about Lane Kiffin and what that means for him. And by the way, if you haven't watched the other two instant reaction shows, please do. Much more in-depth discussion of Lincoln, Riley, and USC, much more in-depth discussion of Lane Kiffin. Ole Miss, but we're going to talk about Indiana, Iowa now, and then we'll talk about Ole Miss LSU to close, but Indiana, Iowa was a god-awful, boring-ass game that shocked the hell out of me because the Indiana team that completely dominated Illinois could

not get going at all against Iowa. Yeah. shocking game because Indiana scored like in the first two minutes didn't they and then they did it was yeah they it was 7 3 for the longest time and it was like okay they're just going to grind this one out but all of a sudden I was in it and this was a tight tight game that that Indiana took over at the very very end and then then you had it was 20 to 13 and you had Kurt Signetti freaking out on the

refs because they kept trying to run the clock out and Fernando Mendoza's backing up and the reps are blowing the whistle blowing the play dead when no one's touched him and so it ends with Fernando Mendoza taking his safety which my condolences to all of you who had

Indiana minus seven to all of you I'm which I had a one of you is Rie I had six and a half oh even worse i'm sorry way worse yeah yeah you were covering was that the longest safety intentional safety in the history of college football i've seen some that long before but it was one of the longer yards yeah that was a real kick in the knackers dude uh but yeah

as pointed out in the instant reaction show i was bitter in the moment it was the correct football play at the time especially because they kept blowing the ball dead when Indiana is striding around at the clock. Fernando Mendoza hits Elijah Sarat with a 49-yard touchdown pass with 1-28 left to break a 13-all tie, which the 13-all tie happened in the fourth quarter on an Indiana field goal. So, you know, Iowa took the lead with 1243 to go in the fourth quarter. It was 10-10. Iowa takes 13-10 lead.

Like there were chances for Iowa to win this game. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Iowa was like, missed a field goal in the fourth quarter. late to take that one in the lead. So, I mean, they certainly could have won the game. And I don't know, again, in the, in the name of like, what does that say about your team or was it a bad game? Like, I don't know what you were one of the, I mean, maybe Indiana should have saved some points from Illinois and tried to carry it over to this week. But, you know, I think Indiana is a real team. And, and they won a game on the road that, you know, I've been to Kinnick a few times in my life. It's not. When you, when you're clunkers, you'll take any, any W that you can in this. situation is great. And Indiana plays Oregon in two weeks, and then we'll know. Like, we'll know. This is the prime example, too, of, like, why the transitive property in college football

is so stupid. It's like, last week, Indiana beat Illinois by 53 and then Illinois returned home and beat USC. And then Indiana goes on the road to Kinnick and, like, is on the ropes late against Iowa, a team that has barely a functional offense. So, like, it's just a crazy sport. I can't decipher at times what a clunker is and what is a true revelation of what your football team is. To me, that looked like a clunker.

They ended up winning it. And the best news about that is that whether or not you think it's a clunker doesn't really matter because they play Oregon in two weeks. And we're going to get a real nice taste of what that looks like. In Indiana, you want to talk about like Penn State and proving that they, Indiana has to prove that they belong. I don't know that they have to win that game, but they have to play a respectable game, maybe a one or two possession game. game with Oregon. Yeah, you can't get blown out. Like, you're going to get so high a state.

The good news for Indiana is they've got Oregon and Penn State, so they have multiple chances to show that they belong in this discussion. Do you think that Indiana will be going to, they're going to make the playoff? Do you think that Indiana will beat either Penn State or Oregon this year? Yes. You do. Okay. I think they're going to beat one of them.

I don't know which one. Yeah. And if they do, then there's no discussion. But if they go, you know, oh and two in those games and then finish the season. 10 and 2, then we'll talk about it. You know, it might be the same type of deal. So, good win, still riding high off of Illinois. 5 and 0, man, they're back.

So there's nothing really, you know, smoke sigs for another week and another two weeks and we get to see against Oregon. Exactly, exactly. All right. So now we go to Oxford, Mississippi. And we talked a lot in the Instagram show about how interesting the Ole Miss situation is, how. last year's team was supposed to be the team because it was all these older players like

the Jackson Darts and the Jared Ivy who'd been with Lane Kiffin for a long time and then they import Walter Nolan and a bunch of really good players out of the juice wells out of the transfer portal and that was supposed to be the year and they had their best team and they didn't do it they fell short and nobody thought going into the season that Ole Miss would be a playoff contender I think we can now say very clearly they're a playoff consider yeah andy after the game and we i think we have a lane kiffin clip that i want to play but another thing that he said that's not clipped for the show was that he was happy and proud that old miss did not storm the field i i wrote a column about it

and i led with it because in the same week that a documentary dropped showing lane kiffin's evolution as a coach he thanks the fans for their evolutionist fans you and i were on the field last year when they stormed the field against Georgia. Yeah. This means they think they should have won this game, that this was not an upset, which it wasn't a point spread upset. Ole Miss was favored in this game. It was a rankings upset, but that, you know, I trust Vegas more than I trust us.

So they sat in their seats, did not come over that brick wall, because I think they feel like there's a lot of big wins left in this team. Yep. last year we may look back at this you know in November and say maybe last year's went over Georgia was the over the hump win that got them to a place this year to feel comfortable

winning those types of games we always talk about knocking on the door and evolution up to that point Lane Kiff had never won those games the Georgia game he won that game they ended up coming up short on the season but yeah they lost to Florida

now the lost LSU last year if they'd won that game, they would have been in the playoff. And Lane said in his press conference, we had to sit in that for a year. He's right. Maybe it taught him how to win these games. You know,

and I think that LSU's offense is a little fractured to say it nicely. But I will say this. Ole Miss's defense played quite well. LSU, I felt like, was dominated for three quarters. They had that one fluky touchdown in the first, you know, It was a, you know, ricochet. And Ole Miss, I believe, committed 14 penalties in this game.

So if they, they, this is one of those, like, it's a coach's dream because your team played sloppy, but still won. So there's a lot you can yell at them about. So you get them focused for the next game. They were really sloppy. Ole Miss could have been a lot. Like, if Ole Miss had played, I guess, well in this game, what we would consider them playing well, they would have won by two touchdowns. Yeah. And I don't know how many years it will take us to do this, maybe a hundred more.

But I don't know that either of us had Trinidad Chambliss would outperform Garrett Nussmeyer and the LSU O'Nus game on our bingo car. Nobody Trinidad Chamblis was going to Temple. He was going to be Temple starter. And Ole Miss gets him to come on a visit. He leaves Oxford committed, never goes to Temple. and commits to Ole Miss to be a backup. Like everyone knew Austin Simmons was there. There was no, you know, no misinformation.

Like he did it, knowing he was going to have to be a backup. Austin Simmons gets hurt against Kentucky. He comes in and he has been phenomenal. I think he's averaging 10.2 yards per attempt in his three starts. He's completing like 64% of his passes. He's run for, you know, an average, you know, five, I want to say like five and a half yards of carry. Like, he is really good.

And so Lane Kiffin got asked after the game, has he earned the starting job? Has he earned the right to continue being the starter? And Lane's like, look, we got a buy week? I don't know. I don't have to answer that right now. And he said, it's a good problem to have, which is what we were talking about on the show the other day. It's a great problem to have. Like, you can figure that out later.

And remember, they play Washington State next. So they got a little breather before SEC play. They don't play another SEC game for two weeks. So I'm fascinated to see what this team can do because they should go back into SEC play at 6 and 0, and then they go to Athens. So they go to Athens and Norman. Like, if you could split the Athens-Norman trip, there's a really good chance you're making the playoff because then you've got a mulligan the rest of the way.

Yep, no question about it. And, you know, you might even make the case that even if they lose both of them, they can get in because they'll have 10-and-2 record. They'll be favored in all the other games. Yeah, and you have a legitimate win, at least what looks like a legitimate win right now over LSU. So, you know, lastly, to put a bow on this, Ole Miss, I think is a legitimate team.

Well, let's talk Brian Kelly because... Yeah, right, that's where I was going. Yeah. He's going to get this turned around. He got mad in the news conference two weeks ago because he got asked a question that poked a sore spot, which is your offense stinks. And specifically your running game.

Yep. But I think we can extend it to the throw game too. Yeah. I mean, I think those two things, I didn't go to medical school, but those two things kind of play hand in hand. Yeah. Their leading rusher had 22 yards in this game. So you think you're going to go on the road and beat Ole Miss with 22 yards

as you're leading rusher? I ain't going to happen. And the, well, did you see that final play? game where we broke off 60 yard like no that's not going to cut it man like that's just not and that never happened here yeah that didn't happen against old miss and he said in a news conference too that's enough and it's not it's it's unequivocally not so um you know LSU is far from cooked you know they're four and one South Carolina Vandy Texas A&M Alabama all in a row though we'll know if they're cooked in the in the next month so you know not a great look for LSU but it's

Yeah, they have a week off to retool, and then they have a gauntlet. They have an absolute gauntlet, and we will have our answers about them. And look, Brian Kelly, if you're mad at him, I know that a lot of the LSU fans are. His buyouts enormous. It's probably too much. But I know what you want, and it goes back to his rant after that question, where he's like, you guys were spoiled. No, she. once again i'll say it for the second time on this show no shit sherlock they are spoiled they expect

a national title and if you can't deliver it and you can't even deliver a playoff berth they're gonna be out on you they're gonna be sick of you yeah so he has to turn it around like right now right now he has this week this by week to figure it out because it can slide it can slide real quick when you play South Carolina Ole Miss I'm sorry South Carolina Vanderbilt Texas A&M Alabama in a row I'm with you we have a clip that's pretty funny that

Lane Kiffin did should we play it before we get out of yeah let's play it funny yeah a lot of people step up for you today one player that we haven't seen a lot of Winston Watkins wide receiver yeah big day for him yeah Winnie's gonna be a great player here shoot I'm not supposed to say that

because then everybody will go buy him in the portal. I forgot I'm not supposed to do that anymore. I mean, he's just okay, you know? He really doesn't know his plays and stuff, so, you know, it'll be a couple years before he's good. No, Winnie's awesome. He's a really good player. He knows how to play the game.

And shout out to Landry Kiffin. Oh, she handled this very well, this entire situation. If anybody owned the week, it was Landry Kiffin. Cute little blue Ole Miss Dress, tasteful number 40 patch

on the left leg to support the boyfriend, linebacker Witt Weeks, LSU. Who barfed in the middle of the game. He did barf in the middle of the game. The over did not hit, by the way, just so you know. We told you the over wouldn't hit.

Yeah, that was a bold. I didn't make a lot of good predictions, but I told you the over wouldn't hit in this game, and it would in the Notre Dame Arkansas game. So I'll take those. Yeah. But, man, that was a great day. That was a great day of football.

Yeah. This is going to be such a fun rest of the season. And look, the name brand just chock full of action. I don't think we have another day like this until we get to rivalry weekend. but I'm telling you right now the weirdness is going to come in fast and furious in these next couple weeks like some of these some of these teams we're not going to just mention like LSU has a biweek

some of these teams are going to take next week off and in two weeks we're going to be here on this show going oh my God what now now what yep who God that was a great day and honestly thank you personally to Oregon, Penn State, Alabama, and Georgia. You took a great day and turned it into an amazing one.

So we got overtime in one of those games. Yeah. Oh, lastly, Andy, I forgot. I tease this at the beginning of the show. Oh, yeah. Ask your question. You want your picks to win the SEC Big Ten, Big 12 at ACC. Go.

Okay, Big 12, I'm picking Texas Tech. ACCC, I'm picking Miami. the Big Ten I'm picking Ohio State The SEC I am picking Can I get a dartboard or You know who I'm going to pick? You ready?

You ready? You ready? The Ole Miss Rebels Love it. Okay. Can you put the conferences back up? I'm going to give you mine too. ACC, Miami.

Okay. big 12 I got to pick somebody different than you, so I'm going to say You don't believe it. You want to pick Texas Tech. Texas Tech is who I want to pick, so I'll pick Texas Tech. But Iowa State looks great.

We didn't talk about that. Iowa State did look excellent against Arizona today. Shout out Iowa State. Also, BYU and Colorado playing a back-and-forth thriller right now. It's 24-21 BYU. They're trading leads. It's 13 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. I'm going to say Bama okay which that's the prediction made at the beginning of the year before they lost to Florida State I'm not back on that I'm not ready to get back on that but if they if they house Vanderbilt I think I'll be ready you know what I don't believe that it's not Bama I'm picking Texas to win the SEC that's definitely not who I'd pick yeah I like to I like to pick the value we like as much as Alabama reasserted itself as

a really good football team who could certainly win the SEC like you know Texas is down in the dumps right now it's going to take one weekend forget about all this crap uh so I'm going to pick Texas just because they've got really good player on both sides of the ball yeah we could be sitting at Red River and I'll be like oh yeah Texas is definitely going to win the SEC it all it takes is one weekend against a good team and arch manning to play well for all the stuff that people are fixated on right now to not even be a much like Florida state is no longer important for the Alabama discussion so um it might turn out to be important again later on but right now it's not so Yeah, I don't know how good I feel about any of those, but it feels really, really nice to not really know, Andy.

And that's the fun of it. I can't find the original comment in the chat. There is a commenter named Demetrius, who has been saying that Florida State is going to beat Miami next week in Tallahassee. And Cloud Fleet Creation says, Keynes fam, let's meet Demetrius here next Saturday. All of you meet us. We're going to be in Tallahassee at that game. We will be at the Florida State Miami game next week. So we'll be doing the show from Tallahassee.

And I cannot wait. I can't wait because what should we be thinking after Florida State just lost at Virginia double overtime? Oh, Miami's going to kill him. Is that true? Probably not. It's probably going to be a great game. What happened this weekend is certainly going to happen next weekend.

Oh, it's going to be, it's going to be incredible. Join us Sunday. We would be previewing some of the biggest games, including Florida State, Miami, which is, you know, unequivocally the biggest game of the week. Oh, before we go, actually, I do want to congratulate one team. Northwestern. Congratulations to the Northwestern Wildcats. You are not going completely defeated in Big Ten play because you beat UCLA today.

UCLA might go over and 12. kind of a shit sandwich because it's on the other end of it like yeah sorry about that a northwestern you're not going undefeated you beat the team that probably is going to go defeated so uh you know but they beat them yeah you know it worse losing to them yeah it's true would you have done the same thing of ucLA one yes even more so because at least northwestern had already won a game this season yeah Like UCLA winning this would mean they're not going to go 0 and 12. It'd be a huge achievement.

Yeah, they're not going to defeated it for the whole year. But, yeah. Congratulations, Northwestern. Sorry, UCLA. We'll talk to you tomorrow.