Andy & Ari On3 - College Football’s BOLDEST predictions in 2026: SEC winning the CFP? Will Luke Fickell SAVE his job?

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

As week zero is on the horizon, Andy & Ari dive into some of the boldest predictions ahead of the college football season. Going through his five boldest predictions, Andy believes the SEC will finally re-claim the College Football Playoff trophy this year. With other predictions swirling around the Heisman Trophy, Penn State, and Wisconsin, Andy gives his boldest takes here.   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (1:06) Presenting Sponsor (3:28) Intro: Andy’s Bold Predictions (6:16) SEC Winning the CFP? (14:52) Gametime (16:14) USC at Penn State (23:05) Heisman Trophy Winenr (27:14) Social Media & Heisman Voting (33:18) Fickell at Wisconsin (39:35) North Dakota State in Mountain West (44:00) Who Am I? (50:12) Dear Andy & Ari (51:48) Ian on “Oxygen Games” (56:50) Austin Mack (1:08:40) Wedding Planner? (1:16:42) Thanks! (1:18:15) See you Saturday!   As Andy runs through his boldest predictions, his last one involves an FBS newcomer: North Dakota State. Can the Bison compete for the Mountain West title? Andy says yes.   Once the fellas run through the predictions, it's time for Dear Andy & Ari! Your questions include...   What are the biggest "oxygen games" of the season? Was Austin Mack's move from Washington Alabama with Kalen DeBoer a bad idea? Are you a wedding planner?   All that and more on a loaded Andy & Ari On3!   Our show is presented by Polymarket!   New User Offer: Deposit $10, get $20 upon sign up   https://app.polymarket.us/S8ac/ON3   Trade on College Football games every week on Polymarket. Download the Polymarket App with code ON3 for a $20 bonus upon sign up.   18+ only. Restrictions and eligibility requirement apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur.   We are sponsored by Gametime! Take the guesswork out of buying tickets to every type of event with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Gametime.co     Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/MRcX0_yI5Kg   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today, Danny Nareon 3 presented by Polly Market. I reveal my five bold predictions for the 2026 college football season. I predict which conference will produce the national champion. I predict which coach on the hot seat will save his job. And I predict which game will determine one college football playoff birth, among others. Also, it's a dear Andy, dear Ari show. We got some great questions, including. was Austin Mack's decision to transfer from Washington to Alabama,

ill-advised, in light of what has happened, with Keel and Russell being named the starting quarterback in Alabama. Also, who you got? Would you rather have Prime Vince Young in college or Prime Cam Newton in college? Great questions today from you guys. Also, another edition of the game that's Sweeping the Nation. Who am I? All on today's Andy.

Arion 3 presented by Polymarket. We are presented by Polymarket, and Polymarket has a great sweepstakes going on right now. Thank your commissioner. That's right. You're your fantasy drafts are all going on right now. You want to thank the folks who are helping, but not even just the commissioner, just all of your buddies. And wouldn't you like to get together in Las Vegas? Because that is a possibility.

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2006 at 819 and 59 seconds p.m. Eastern official rules at t yc.pollymarket.us.com. Thank you, commission.com. Sponsor blockertize Inc. DBA Polymarket. See Polymarket's rulebook for more information about restrictions and eligibility. The Polymarket app is an independent affiliate of Polymarket U.S. and not CFTC regulated. Trading always involves risk. Complete loss can occur. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by Polymarket. And Ari, it is time for me to put some things down where people will be able to keep receipts. That's just the burden of being a podcast host, Andy.

Good luck today. I hope you were wearing a bulletproof jacket. But you know, you ridiculed yourself at the end of yesterday's show saying you only went four out of ten. Like four out of ten on bold predictions is actually excellent. So last year, yeah, I gave out ten bold predictions. Four of them came true. Hey, 400 gets into the Hall of Fame in certain sports.

Not this sport, not the podcasting sport, unfortunately. But yeah, I had Ohio State breaking its losing streak against Michigan. I don't think that was that hard of a pick. You know, there were a couple other ones, but we also remember when I said Auburn was going to win nine games. And that certainly did not happen. Well, part of the spirit of this exercise is also putting yourself out there and trying to be correct about something that actually is unbelievable, right? Right. You know, if it was just 10 predictions, you can just say, you know, Alabama will contend for the SEC championship and just be right about everything.

You know, you want to put yourself. You know, Alabama's going to win the SEC championship. That's one of the ones I got wrong on last year. But, you know, I think that the spirit of the activity is to think, what are some of the things that could happen if things go off the rails? Which ones are likely in my mind to happen and really putting yourself out there? I think it's healthy. And Andy, I will be on the hot seat next week. You're going to do five today.

I'll do five next week. and then we'll be in the full season mode. But I'm excited to see what you got. And I wanted to tell people, too, Andy didn't just do five real quick, jot him down and then do it. Like he, I felt like you were stewing over this for like 12 hours yesterday. So I was. I would say every time I'd come up with one, I'd send it to Ari. I'm like, I got one.

I got another one. And these messages ranged from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. So like he was really, you know, really putting his, I almost feel like that's bad for your chances of being, correct. You think I'm overthinking it? You might be right. Throw five things against the wall that you think could happen and let it rip. But, you know, we'll go over, how about this? Not only

will you share your bold prediction, this just hit me on the top of my head. What don't we do like a plausibility rating between one and ten? Sure. That works. And just see like, you know, in terms of how bold is it? Because I think that that'll be, that'll be fun. So the first one is the one that will be thrown back in my face if I'm wrong. Okay.

So this isn't, but I feel, I feel like the laws of probability are on my side here, which is why I'll probably have this one fairly high on the plausibility index. The SEC will break its national championship drought. Now, this is one of those if I said the SEC is going to produce the national champion. If I said that in 2015, you'd be like, okay, whatever, they've produced a lot of national champions, although when I said, if I had said it in 2015, they would have had a two-year national championship drought at the time. So they have a three-year national championship drought now.

Ari, the national title race feels as wide open as it's ever been. You know, we've got, if you go to the top of the Big Ten, Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon, you feel very comfortable saying our national title contenders, Notre Dame, Miami. These are all non-SCC. Within the SEC, you feel very comfortable talking about Georgia and Texas, but also probably Oklahoma, Ole Miss. I'm sure there are others that you may like your particular flavor. But I just think the SEC has had good teams.

They've thrown good teams out there. It's not like the teams of the top of the Big Ten are so overwhelmingly superior to the teams at the top of the SEC that it's not going to happen. It's just that it hasn't. There's been some bad luck. There's been some maybe some bad matchups. And the fact of the matter is last year, Indiana was better than everybody else. Like, they were the best team and they won. So you, if you were to play, if this were a position, I'm sure it's a position on

polymarket somewhere. But it would probably be the underdog still, you know, Andy. So like, because of Notre Dame and Miami, I think. Because you can say, oh, the Big Ten is going to produce. Sure. It's that Notre Dame and Miami both have rosters that are absolutely capable of winning the national championship. Yeah.

Like what I, like on the plausibility meter, I'd probably put it somewhere in like the seven range because you're talking about one of the two power, big power conferences in college football. What would have been like really bold, and you don't believe this, but I'm just saying like a non-Big Ten or SEC team will win the national title. That said, which this year might be the best chance for that.

Maybe you want to squat on that one. Yeah, I've thought about it, but I already know like my national championship pick, though I don't think is going to be. part of my bold predictions supports this. So, you know, like Texas. Conference to win the college football national championship on Polymarket.

Okay, you found it. What are the odd? Well, I think the people are with me. So 43% of the people in the market on the SEC, 31% on the big 10, 25% on the max of people throwing a couple bucks down just to see what they can get. Yeah, I don't know how advanced that. that position is maybe they just

I don't know that that market is too evolved. I'm not sure when they've when they release this one because that that'll get more robust as the year goes on. But so far the SEC is leading that one. You know, we're not supposed to be giving any advice. I'm not giving advice here. If it were

me personally, I would go play the Big Ten with those numbers just because you would be getting an underdog on a team that because like, why don't we just do the simple math? Has anybody like sat back and done the math? How many teams from the SEC could win the national championship or are in that position and how many teams from the Big Ten? Are there more? Just from a possibility standpoint.

Here's the list I gave you in my story. Okay. The Big Ten, Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon are obvious, but I also would consider USC, Michigan, and Penn State. Okay. So that's six. Okay. There's also Miami out of the ACC.

There's also Notre Dame that's an independent. for the SEC, Georgia and Texas are the two obvious ones, but I also think Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, and Oklahoma could make a case. No A&M? We could throw A&M in there. I mean, our top 10 for a season team in the country.

I mean, it's kind of hard not to... So let's throw A&M in there. Yeah. And the fact of the matter is, like, we talked about this last week, like, Florida and Auburn spend like the rest of these teams. and change coaches. Yeah.

I think where it gets kind of muddy is, where it gets kind of muddy is is when you get into the tier C, tier B teams, because then all of a sudden it's like, well, what if Washington's very good?

Like, I think that when you look at the favorites, the Big Ten has more favorites. Now, there are other teams that are more, because the Big Ten has Ohio State, Indiana, and Oregon.

And I think that the SEC, I would stop that list at Texas and Georgia. No, I personally think Texas has the best roster of any of the teams. Do you see Dan Bruegler's mocked draft he released today?

Yeah. Four Texas players on the top eight. Yeah. So I think they have the best roster. I think Georgia has been remarkably consistent and has run into some bad luck, bad timing in the playoff, and that's why they have gotten out of the quarterfinals in last two years. I think they're going to be able to...

That's another one. Like the law of probability says if they keep doing what they're doing, if they keep putting out a team that goes 11 and 1 or 11 and 2 and wins the SEC championship, like they're going to get through the quarterfinals at some point. So that's another one that I think is highly capable. But to your point, yeah, there are three big 10 teams that if you told me they won the national title, like, okay, sounds about right. I think it's three to two big 10 with a bunch of wild cards.

So I actually think I want to drop the plausibility meter, Andy, back to like six. because it's really not that, it's not that bold. Oh, okay. Six out of ten. In terms of like if we're going to do like a, you know, a chicken wings, it's not crazy. Where would you put, okay, where would you put the other one we talked about? If I'd said it's going to be a non-SCC, non-Big 10 team, which of course would be

Miami, maybe it could be Miami, Texas Tech could be Notre Dame. Yeah. I mean, you have three horses in that discussion. So like in order to, you know, just the math in general. there is off because like I would probably put it an 8 you know in terms of being in terms of in terms of boldness 10 is the spicy

10 is the oldest 0 0.1 is the lowest. I probably put a grading scale down. Yeah, but at the same time Andy we were 40 yards away from that being a reality like nine months ago. So like it's not it's not that insane and I think Miami is going to be very good. I think Notre Dame is going to be very good. In fact

I think that you could probably make the case that the plausibility of Miami or Notre Dame winning a championship is almost as close as like the top two teams in the SEC. Well, their playoff chances, I think are, their playoff chances are better than these Big Ten and SEC teams because the Big Ten and SEC teams have harder conference schedules to deal with. But where the SEC exists is that if one of those three teams doesn't do it, then it seems like in this moment that no one will, the Big Ten like Texas A&M could pop off and be awesome or something. Nobody thought Indiana could have done it this time last year.

So, there's probably another team the SEC that's capable of doing it. Yeah, but I'm saying, is there another team that's not in the SEC or the Big Ten that would meet your Indiana scale last year of like, we don't see them coming, but they could win the championship? Like, I can't even come up with one. No. Because, like, even at this time last year, I know we missed Indiana. I'm not trying to rewrite history. But, like, Indiana also was a top 25 team. We were acknowledging that Indiana was good and could make the playoff again.

We were not completely out on them. Yeah. We weren't, yeah. So I don't know if there's a team, like, people want to like to say that Indiana came out of nowhere last year. I think that they beat the odds and the expectations of what people had for them. But it's not like they were completely, like, out of nowhere. Like if Indiana would have won the championship two years ago, that would have been. Yeah.

This would be like if UCLA wins the Big Ten and goes deep in the play. And I don't know if there's a team in the non-Big Ten SEC world of college football that would, you know, in my mind, meet those standards. but at the same time, the remarkable isn't supposed to be seen coming, and maybe there is a team out there that we're just not giving credit, but like UCLA is a big 10 team. I agree. I agree.

But I just, I think the SEC keeps putting out enough good teams. They'll, they're going to get one of these. I don't think there's anything structural keeping them from winning it. No. So we will be back with my second bold prediction, but first,

let's talk about game time. The place to get all your tickets, college football, the NFL, basically any sporting event, any concert, any comedy show. They got it all. This weekend, got a really fun game in the ACC between NC State and Virginia. That game's going to be in Charlottesville. Plenty of tickets still available. You can get in for as little as $44. Great seats still there.

That's going to be a really fun game. They played a really good game last year early in the season that NCS. State 1 in Raleigh. So you can go to that one, or maybe week one. You want to go see Lane Kiffin's debut at LSU against Clemson. The get-in price in Baton Rouge in Tiger Stadium on game time is $167. That's a heck of a deal. And remember, with game time, the price you see is the price you pay.

And also, the view you have is the view you see on the app. When you click the ticket, you can actually take a look at what your seat would look like, what the view from your seat would look like. It's the best. GameTime app. Redeem the code Staples for $20 off your first purchase. That's Staples, STAP, L-E-S, for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. And now it's time for bold prediction number two.

Penn State's whiteout game against USC will determine a college football playoff birth. So here's my reasoning on this. USC has to win this one if it is going to be a playoff team because it is probably going to lose to at least two of Oregon, Ohio State, and Indiana. And if they don't, well, then they're a national title. Yeah. But they've got to win this one probably. And if they can win this one, it means they can probably win one of those other three that I mentioned.

And if they do that, there's a really good chance that they're in the playoff. So this is October 10th. It is at the end of a tough stretch for USC. USC has Oregon Week 4, Washington Week 5. Both those games are in the Coliseum, and then they travel to State College to face Penn State on October 10th. Ari. Is that their first pure- On that? This might sound insane, so save me for myself.

But going on the road to Pennsylvania with a crisp in the air a few weeks before Halloween and playing in a whiteout is the first pure welcome to the Big Ten type moment, right? I know they've played Michigan, so maybe I'm off. But like, isn't that like that's like a- year they played at Michigan, that felt like a welcome to the Big Ten kind of game. Yeah. This just, that feels like a, like just a vintage Big Ten type situation. So, you know, the thing that's so funny about this is that they still have to play Oregon before this. Yes.

Which I'm not predicting anything on that because here's the thing. If they beat Oregon, that's wonderful. But if they lose to Penn State, they still have to play Ohio State in Indiana. and they might lose both of those. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what my initial reaction was when I saw this come up on the screen just now, Andy. This was, I thought, more of a discussion point about Penn State, a team that has a very weak schedule. Well, it is.

That's what makes it interesting. It is, we've done the USC piece of it. Let's do the Penn State piece of it now. Penn State has a ridiculously easy non-conference schedule. They should try harder. Their non-conference schedule sucks. It's Marshall Temple and Buffalo. Please schedule better.

There, we've said our piece on that. The Big Ten schedule, while not a cream puff, is probably the easiest draw that anybody in the Big Ten got this year. They get USC at home the following week they play Michigan on the road. So that is really the crux of it. Now, they have to go to Washington on November 7th, and then they get Minnesota at home the next week. That's not going to be an easy stretch either. But it's much better than USC having to play Indiana and Ohio State. There's a biweek in between, but that's still back-to-back games for them.

It's easier than I believe Indiana has to play Michigan and Ohio State consecutively in consecutive weeks. So Penn State has the best, most favorable draw. And here's the thing. If they can beat USC, they're probably going 10 and 2 at worst. At worst, yeah. and they're probably 11-1. Yeah. I think that this is a boilerplate.

This is just a Penn State thing. This is a boilerplate Big Ten thing. If we think that the Big Ten right now has three to four perennial national championship contenders, and you are one of them, and you also have the fortune of not playing the three other ones, or whatever the ratio is, four out of five. They don't have to play Indiana, Ohio State. or Oregon. Or Oregon.

So they, it almost feels like, yes, it's year one. Yes, there's a bunch of Iowa state players. You have a new coach. Last year was a bitter disappointment. All those things are true. But is it fair to say that Matt Campbell, like, has to make the playoff in year one with this opportunity? Like, it just feels like it's not fair.

It's not fair to say that. But can he do that and should he do that? Yeah, he should. Yeah. It just would be such a disappointment if they missed the playoff. off this year because I don't know what their schedules are in the future, but it seems like they're probably not going to get one that this, I mean, because you know what the ironic part too, Andy is that Penn State had a lot of

very good teams, but just had the misfortune of existing in the Big Ten East at the same time as good Michigan State teams, good Michigan teams and good Ohio State teams for all those years? It's like you would think that, you know, for all the good teams that missed the playoff as a result of that misfortune, that maybe the pendulum can swing the other way and they can actually take advantage of an easy schedule. Because here's the thing. That's actually true, too. If USC wins the game,

that Penn State's still very much alive for a CFPers. Yes. Now, I don't know if 10 and 2 with that schedule, I'll get them in. My thing is if they don't, if there aren't capable of beating USC at home in a whiteout, they're probably going to drop a couple more along the way, too. I think there's probably a 15% chance that USC is legitimate.

awesome this year. Right? There's a good chance of that. Is there a good chance that USC isn't just a lovable, you know, upstart team that's going to try to break through and make the playoff and they actually just turn out to be one of the three best teams in the country? Like, is that out there? Is there a 10% chance? It's possible.

Yes. So, you know, I know that people in L.A. are probably tingly hearing that. And coming from me, it means a lot more because I'm personally resentful for the money that you, Lincoln Riley cost me to you. Um, but I'm like on alert like Jaden might they have pieces like they've got a really good defensive coordinator now and you know, Patterson and like all the things that seem to be moving in the right direction there. What if they just come out and it's just like this is their coming out party?

Well, that's the thing. If they beat Oregon, we're probably going to have to recalibrate everything anyway. Yeah. Because if they can beat Oregon, they can beat anybody in the country. Yeah. So we'll know more, we'll know a lot more when this game happens. But I really do think the winner of this is going on. playoff.

And the loser is, the loser may only miss by a game. Yeah. And it's also within the wrong possibility. That's what's going to happen. Yeah. Probably a really good shot of both making it. So we'll see. I'll give this a four and a half out of 10 in terms of.

Yeah. The way both make it is USC beats Oregon, loses to Penn State and then beats Ohio State or Indiana. Yeah. Penn State just keeps winning. Yeah. I don't think this one's particularly spicy, but interesting. here's one

and this one I asked you trivia question before I revealed it to you the Heisman Trophy winner will be a quarterback who was not a full-time Power 4 starter last year and I full-time starter we're saying

they started four or fewer games at quarterback for a Power 4 team last year. It's an ode to the old redshirt rule. Yes. Yes. Because there's still guys who redshirted.

So I actually think that if you go back on like recent history, a lot of the people who have ended up winning the Heisman have been, you know, players that we were aware of, but kind of just came out of nowhere and took this world by storm. This description, a quarterback who was not a full-time start year before, fits six of the past 20 Heism winner. So Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, Johnny Mansell, James Winston, Kyleor Murray and Bryce Young.

So that actually is bolder than I thought it would have been because you have, you know, who fits the subscription? People who transferred up from the group of six, you have first year starters and you have like... Produce River saying Trinidad Chambliss falls into this. He's not fall into this. He started more than four games last year. So unfortunately, no, no, I think last year's Trinidad Chambliss falls into this.

Yes, yes. Last year's Trinidad Chambliss would have been in her. So this year, Keel and Russell, we've talked about a lot this week, who was red shirting in Alabama last year, Phazon Brandon, who was a true freshman who went a Tennessee starting job. We talked about Aaron Filo winning the Florida job. Obviously, if any of these three were to lead their team to the playoff, they're going to be put up good numbers.

They're going to get a lot of Heisman votes. But I did sort of cheat on it a little bit and say power four starter last year. Yeah, you wanted to add some juice to the bone. I get it. Yeah. So I'm taking, that means I get Drew Mestemaker at Oklahoma State. I get Byron Brown at Auburn, who were coming from Group of Six schools. I get Colton Joseph at Wisconsin coming from Old Dominion.

So I have a few more options. But this leaves it open. This also leaves it open, Ari, if there is a Trinidad Shameless out there. Because remember, Trinidad Shameless isn't just a D2 to FBS transfer. He was a backup when the season started. There are probably some guys who are backups now who are going to start most of the games for their team this season because the starter got hurt or because, because the starter was ineffective.

And they might be really good. We just don't know. I'm giving this an eight and a half out of 10 spiciness. You want to know why? Not because those players that you mentioned can't win the Heisman. It's because there are so many established players who are already in the sport to choose from. Julian saying, really hard to overcome that.

Like Dante Moore, Julian Sey and Trinidad Chamblis, like all these players that are already household names. I didn't even say Arch Manning's name out of respect for the 5K bet that we are a 5-mile vet that we have. But it's not just will any of those players be ultimately really good. It's will they also be very good but better than the players that we already are aware of? So, you know, I think that, you know, in recent past, like Fernando Mendoza would not have qualified for this. But Fernando Mendoza is kind of the same general idea because he was a good player that threw a pretty ball that played a cow that people were aware of. but we didn't know that he was going to turn into the number one overall pick in the NFL draft. So I do think that the unpredictability aspect of this is true because this happens all the time.

But, you know, just because you constrained your list to quarterbacks doesn't mean that they're not competing against receivers and running backs and other players through with other teams. So, yeah, I think the probability of this is probably very low. And I will say this is probably your spiciest take so far. I think the probability of this is, you know, more than, more than 25%. because six out of the last 20. So. Yeah. You know, I don't know.

Can we do a secondary discussion for a second? Sure. Yeah. Do you think that in the internet era, and I guess 20 years would be the internet era, but maybe the social media era, that how you win the Heisman and the voting process and all these things is adapted or change in any way?

Like, do you think that the types of winners? Well, you definitely don't need to be a known commodity before the season starts. In fact, I feel like that almost hurts you, you know. Yeah. but like do you think that it was almost a prerect to be a known commodity back in 1996 when they were voting on this award yes yes because the information didn't travel that fast yeah now it travels very fast yeah i'd be very curious maybe i'll go look this up after the show's over but like the heisman winners from the 90s and the early 2000s well i like so 96 was danny warful uh he started he became a full-time starter midway through his sophomore year, his junior year, he took his team to the national title game and lost. His senior year, he had a very large body of work going into the season. Charles Woodson was the 97 winner, and that was a weird one because he won it over Peyton

Manning. But Charles Woodson was a well-known player going into the season. Yeah, it's, it was harder back then to just come out of nowhere. Yeah. Like if Trinidad Chambliss was awesome in 1995 in the same circumstances, I think people would have caught up to it because the playoff games would have been televised back then. But he certainly wouldn't have been a known enough commodity to be like getting votes at all. Right. The high would have already been given out by the time the playoffs started. So yeah. It is interesting to think that, you know, even with media, how it's changed. Anybody with the microphone who's charismatic can make it in our business now. And that wasn't the case because you needed the legacy media. I think that's true for a lot of things. somebody to bless you basically. Yeah. Right.

So, you know, I think that opens the door for your types of guys. And I wonder if that changes the math on things a little bit. But I'm just so fascinated by the Heisman voting process in general. Did you see that we didn't talk about this on the show, but did you see that the Heisman is going to add a fan element to the formula this year where fans can have a say in that? I think that's kind of interesting. They get a vote.

I actually wish they got more percentage-wise votes. Is it one singular vote? Is that all it turns into? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's like peeing in the pool. Right. Right.

Because, I mean, they gave you a vote. So. It gave me a vote. I can cancel the fans out. Just me by myself. Yes. But I think that that's, that'd be an interesting column. Like, fans are educated.

And, you know, the only thing I don't like about fan crowdsourcing is, is that teams that have robust fan bases have an unfair advantage. Sure. Because, like, just because you're, just because you, your player is on a bigger team. Here's my question. Do Ohio State fans have to mobilize and decide whether they're going to back Julian St. or Jeremiah Smith? When's the last time a person won the Heisman when their team had two Heisman candidates in the preseason?

Does that ever happen? I can tell you, the last time a team had a player win the Heisman when their team had two Heisman finalists. Amma? Was Devante? In 2020. Yeah. Yeah, but was who's the quarterback? Mac Jones?

Was Mac Jones? Neither one of those was a Heisman candidate at the beginning? But was Mac Jones. Neither one of them was a pre-exman. season Heisman candidate? No. Yeah, but it is possible to do it if you have two, but I don't think that Julian Sand or Jeremiah Smith is going to win the Heisman because

the people, because like here's the thing. Can I be honest? Sure. So much of the Heisman voting process, Andy, is regional and it's media based. So if you have Arch Manning and Cam Coleman up for it, all the people who live in Texas and the surrounding areas who would be more prone to vote for the players that they cover because they see them every day will split off

into two different votes. and then it makes it harder to separate yourself. So I think that what Devante Smith did during the COVID year was so remarkable because he was able to overcome that. He was so clearly the best player in the country. Yeah. We got it right. I just remember sitting there watching the national championship game

because remember how dominant he was the first half and then he gets hurt right at the beginning of the second half, but he'd already put up massive numbers, you know, better numbers than most people can put up in two games. And you're like, okay, we voted correct. Right. Yeah, Devante Smith's good in the NFL, but he was a much better college player than he is in terms of stature in the NFL. But, you know, whenever, like, just let's use Ohio State, for example, because they've got two very prominent candidates.

One was a finalist last year and one's maybe the most famous player in the country. But it's like if Jeremiah Smith has a 1,700 yard receiving, you know, maybe even a little bit less. What did DeVante have? I know, but you know that at the top of your head. He had like 2,000 yards. It was an obscene number. Yeah, like if Jeremiah Smith has 1,700 yards and 18 touchdowns this year, and Julian Sam throws for 4,400 yards, it's like, who gets the credit for that?

You know, and I guess maybe it's more. I don't think Devante had 2,000 because he would, yeah, he was. Remember, they had a shortened season that year because of COVID, but he had 117 catches for 1,856 yards and 23 total TDs. Yeah, well, the best thing about Devante Smith, too, is that like after he won the award, he like backed it up and they won the national title. Oh, yeah. He was awesome.

He was, I mean, like, there was no question about it. But Heisman stuff is really tricky because I would not place any preseason action on players that are going to pillage each other. Right. So no Arch, no Cam Coleman, no Jeremiah Smith, no Julian Zay. Now, Arch might be different because Arch is so recognizable from a visibility standpoint that he might be able to overcome that. But like, I do not, like, I guess maybe my bold prediction. It's not a bold prediction. So I won't put it on my list, but I'll tell you, like, I don't think Jeremiah Smith is going to win my Heisman.

A lot of people, a lot of people think he's like a shoe. He wouldn't have to have just an unbelievable year. Yeah. And I also think that like the other receivers on his team are also very good, which then will impact his numbers. Like the fact that Julian Sane was a finalist last year definitely hurt him, but like having Carnell Tate in the same receiving room also didn't help. Right.

All right. Bold prediction number four. Okay. Wisconsin coach Luke Fickle will save his job this year. He's the one I feel most confident about being able to coach his way off the hot seat. Some of this is circumstantial. The schedule was very hard last year. It is not nearly as hard this year.

Some of it is Wisconsin has changed how it operates. Their AD, Chris McIntosh, who is no longer their AD, but he's the one who decided to keep fickle last year. He said, we did a lousy job raising money for him in the pre-rev share NIL era. We're going to do better. And I think. they feel like they have done better. And I know from talking to people this offseason,

they had money to spend. So we'll see what that roster looks like. But like Colton Joseph was a good pickup, the old Dominion quarterback. Now, the other part of this, and I hate even talking about this because it feels like they've been cursed. Yeah, don't even say.

As far as their quarterback's getting hurt. Like Tyler Van Dyke got hurt in the Alabama game. That was game three. and then Billy Edwards last year got hurt in game one and was kind of trying to come back I think it was against Maryland. He came back, but he just couldn't go. So you can't control that.

That part you can't control. But what you can control is, did you make an honest effort to field a competitive roster, which I think they have? And the other thing that I find really interesting about fickle situation in particular. And we've learned a little more about

this time last year about what was going on behind the scenes. But when they said Fickle was coming back, do you remember when that was, Ari? Wasn't it like in mid-October? It was in late October. Two days later, they beat Washington. Right.

They didn't beat Illinois two weeks after that. I was going to ask you in this prediction, how much of it is, I mean, it's a good combination of a lot of things, but how much of the late-season rally because it looked like they were dead in the water. You remember that like bloodshot eyes press conference after they got blown out by Iowa where he was like,

this is inexcusable. He was saying things that was like, okay, this is over. For them to rally around and finish the season the way that they did, I think it's probably the most valuable indicator of Wisconsin football because it illustrated to me that the people on the team care very deeply about his success. and I think that when a coach passes a no coming back from that moment is when the team quits on them. And Wisconsin did not do that.

Right. And the other part of it that Fickle has kind of revealed this offseason, what also happened then is when they sort of figured out Edwards is not going to be able to come back. We're going to have to roll with something else. And they had that long losing streak. And throughout that long losing streak, they were hoping, okay, maybe this is, is the week. Maybe this is the week. I finally realized, okay, it's not happening.

Let's recalibrate here. So there was that. There was a point where they were on their fourth center. I mean, so many things went wrong for them last year and the schedule was really hard. I think it has to be better this year. It has to. Yeah.

I'm with you. I'm with you. So the follow-up question to that, though, obviously is this. What does the season have to be? because their schedule is much more difficult for him to do it. Like what do you think is a successful season for Wisconsin? And I think it starts with being competitive with Notre Dame next weekend. It would help.

I don't expect them to even be competitive in Notre Dame. I don't think you have to be competitive in Notre Dame to still be pretty good against Wisconsin schedule this year. I would like to see seven or eight wins at minimum. Yeah. And I realized that's still not as good as what they were doing. Yeah, I was going to say being competitive against Notre Dame

is the reason he has the job is because they want to be competitive with Notre Dame, but I guess you can't ask, you can't ask for them to be a finished product this year. You have to ask them to show you that they can be that one day. Yeah, yeah.

So you look at the schedule, Notre Dame, and then they should win a couple games. Is that fair estate? Fairest state in eastern Michigan. And then they go to Penn State. But then Michigan State, UCLA, USC, at Iowa, Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue, Minnesota.

They're winnable games on this schedule. And they might get, like, they got Washington last year when nobody's expecting it. If they're good, they're going to get somebody that nobody's expecting. So you might not need them to be competitive against Notre Dame. I think that the pre, the offseason,

polymarket spread on that one, Andy, is 17 and a half points. What do you feel, what do you think is, Do you think it's fair to say they should be or need to be competitive against Penn State? Is that a fair thing to say? Yes, it is. Yeah. I think Notre Dame is further along in its evolution. For sure.

And that's the thing. If you can be competitive against Penn State, you can be competitive probably against USC and probably against Iowa. So, like, there's a chance you win some of those games. Yeah. I think if they beat Iowa, he's back. Yeah. Because it's such a, it's a single 180 from 180 from one. From what happened last year, I would just humiliated them.

Yes. Didn't I was drop 50 on them or was upper 40s on them? It was a blowout of epic proportions. I got to look up the exact score. I don't think that they made it to 50, but I think they lost by 30 or 40. Yeah, it was a brutal, brutal game. 37 nothing. 37 nothing, got it.

Jumped on them 17, nothing in the first quarter and never looked back. So that is, that's a good one. That's a good, that one's going to be a great measuring stick, but I do, I do think he's going to be able to win enough to keep the job. Regardless what people will tell you, Andy, rivalry still matter. They do. One more, one more. North Dakota State will play for the Mountain West title this year.

I know what you're thinking. Wait, North Dakota State, this is one where even the sickos among us, maybe I don't follow everything. Yes, North Dakota State is now an FBS team. Yes, the NCAA has waived. that rule that says when you move up, you have to wait two years to play in the postseason. So dumbest rule in the history of mankind, by the way. So stupid.

So stupid. So they're not doing that now. And I think if a bunch of Mountain West schools hadn't left for the Pact 12, I wouldn't be saying this. But you had Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State, all leave for the Pact 12. So, and Colorado State as well, excuse me. So those are some really competitive. Boise State obviously was the best program in the mountain west. And then you've got some that have been competitive through the years like San Diego State.

And, you know, so they're gone. So now you're dealing with UNLV and New Mexico, who are going to be the two favorites at the top. Wyoming's still there, Hawaii. could be better this year. Newbies, U-TEP and Northern Illinois, because who doesn't love the mountains of Northern Illinois. But this is a schedule they can live with. So what's the calculus here?

They can be one of the best two teams in the league. Is the calculus here program that is traditionally very successful moves up into a new level, which is inherently challenging, but also doesn't have Boise State on their schedule? Correct. This is not as tough as when James Madison moved into the sum. because the Sunbelt was really deep that year. And so it took a little bit more for James Madison to get going.

And Signetti and them obviously did get going. And the second year, they were competing for the conference championship and weren't supposed to be allowed to be in it. So I think North Dakota State, which interestingly enough, and this is more of a unique to North Dakota State thing, they don't have a ton of churn. Like they've got a bunch of guys that have played for them. Their quarterback has waited four years for his turn.

to start. And they probably have less churn than 75% of the group of six teams. Now, obviously, like Air Force, it's in the Mountain West. They don't have a lot of churn because the academies can't take transfers. But almost everybody else is churning and burning. Yeah. I don't hate this. I don't hate this. I think it'll be fun. I'm excited to see it. I do, like, we've talked about this before, I question leaving being dominant in the FCS to move to a group of six,

group of five, whatever we're calling them now, conference. Because you're probably not going to move into the power group. Like, James Madison is great as they've done. They've been incredible. But

they're still in Sunbelt. You still take being, you still take being solid at a higher level over great than being in a lower level or not? I, that's my thing. Like, if we gave Appalachian State and Georgia Southern fans truth serum, because they were really good FCS programs or WANAA, you know, back in the day, would they rather be dominant there and competing for national titles recently,

or, you know, relatively regularly, or would they rather be where they're at now? I don't, I think that, I think that they would rather be where they are now, because we always theorize, like, would you rather the G5 or G6, sorry, have its own playoff system or would you rather have a chance of making the actual big playoff? And like Georgia Southern might not be as dominant as they used to be, but they still have a better chance of playing in the biggest stage in the sport, which is, I think, a more enticing thing. I mean, if it wasn't, then teams would be vying for a G6 playoff, and there's not a lot of chatter

for that. So I don't hate it. I'm very high on UNLV this year. I'm very excited to see them play. on Saturday. But, you know, there's two spots in that game, Andy. So that's true. That's, that's why I didn't, I didn't go out all the way with it. Yeah. Okay. So Ari doesn't think my predictions were all that bold. And I don't, I will see. I want to get some right. Like if, if a match last year, two of those are going to be right. I want more than two.

I would like to get more than two. You know, two out of five doesn't sound as good as four out of 10, does it? Or does it sound better? Nope. I don't know. It sounds exactly the same because we're talking for actions. Bad at math. Okay. Let's do it. Let's go into the next segment. Andy. I want to be sweeping the nation. Who am I?

Who am I? So just a little background. I sent the clues to River. And he's like, he's going to get it really early again. You got to redo these. Oh, wow. Okay. So if it. I mean, you got, you got Taston Hill really quickly. last week. Yes, but I had, I knew one piece of information about him that gave it away.

He's from Idaho? No, that he got injured all four years. Like I've just known. Oh, that's right. That's what it was. Okay. So like that, I just happen to be in the right place at the right time. That's a lot of this game. But, uh, you're, there's no, there's a zero percent chance you will be stumped. Zero percent. It cannot happen. But I reorganize the clues a little bit. Number one, Andy. My final year of high school was in 1990. so I don't have a recruiting ranking. I just missed the cut of the modern recruiting rankings era. Okay.

All right. Number two, as a senior in high school, I threw for 3,393 yards and 45 touchdowns. Carson Palmer. That'd be pretty cool if you got it with zero information because no. Yeah. I'm just trying to guess who was a good quarterback in 2003 or 2004. Yeah.

It was a good one. though I had a very successful college career I was second team all SEC in 2002 I was not selected in the 2004 NFL draft okay not selected at all okay keep going keep going number four I won the Super Bowl with the

Giants during the 2007 NFL season in which New York Jared Lorenzen God damn it I told you man I told you man I told you he'd get it. I told you.

Come on. It's unreal, Ari. God. I mean, four is better than one. Yeah, the original, I got it in three.

Do you know where he was born institutionally? I don't. Okay. He's from Kentucky originally. Yeah, yeah, I wrote Covington,

Kentucky, and River got it from that. I'm like, I didn't know that where Geron was born was institutional knowledge. But I tried, I should have done something with the weight earlier.

I don't know. No, the weight was always going to be a problem. Now, what you could have done is not told me he played quarterback, but tell me how much he weighs. Yes, I could have, God damn it. Let's keep going through the clues. Now, yeah. I don't think that most people would get it at four.

I had no idea he played for the Giants. I did remember that. Yeah. He backed up Eli. on one of those teams. I had no recollection of him backing up Eli Manning. But can we keep going? River Four's fine, right?

Four's okay, right? Yeah, it's fine. You got it on four or five last week. No, I know, but I was trying to be tricky. And like I feel like I've given you zero like Jared Lorenzen-ish clues yet. Like what made him noticeable or memorable has nothing to do with anything I said. You said he said he was second team all SEC but was not picked in the draft. So I was like, okay, who is a good SEC quarterback?

That could have been any lineman. But you already told me you a quarterback. I know, but just because I told you passing yards in high school doesn't mean that he was a quarterback. Yeah, I know. Like, we've been tricky before. You obviously got it. I messed up. River, you were right.

You're attractive. I'm ugly. You're smart. I'm dumb. Finish. Finish the clues. Number five, I won Mr. football award in the state of Kentucky in 1998.

Would that I've given it away? Because that was lower. Yes. Definitely. Number six, while playing at the University of Conflict. Kentucky, I started 41 games through for 10,354 yards and 78 touchdowns. Number seven, at Kentucky, I set school records in total offense. Passing yards and passing touchdowns, breaking records set by Tim Couch in 1999 before he was selected number one overall in the NFL draft.

Number eight, my nicknames were the hefty lefty and the Pillsbury throwboy. And number nine, after unfortunately struggling with my weight my entire life, struggles that were exasperated by the leg injury that ended my playing career, I unfortunately passed away in 2019 at the age of 38. And I just realized in an effort to reorganize my clues in order for you not to get it at number four, I didn't even, I took out the clue that was his weight at all, which was bad execution on my part. I should have said he weighed 400 pounds or 300 pounds and clue one. But then the reason why I didn't though is because if I said he weighed 300 pounds and clue one and then told you we threw the thousand yards. The second you said he was a quarterback got to know, sure, Lauren. Yeah. All right.

Maybe it was. Yeah. I thought this one would be fun for the people. people who listen, just because you have an insane memory. We love Jared Lorenzen. May he rest at peace. I mean, he was so much fun to watch at Kentucky. Yeah.

Yeah. But I also had no, I remember that he finished his pro career in the arena league. I had no idea he was Eli Manning's backup on that team. Yep. Yeah. No, it's it. The thing is, Jared Lorenzen was actually a really good quarterback. He was to weigh 300-something pounds.

Like he was a really, freaking good quarterback. And also first ballot Hall of Fame nicknames. Oh my God. So many good ones. The Pillsbury throwboy was probably my favorite.

So, all right. Ari. It is Thursday. And this is something we'll all have to get used to for the time being. Dear Andy, dear Ari, now a Thursday thing because we don't have shows on Friday during the season,

because we have shows on Saturday during the season. So this Saturday, we will be live and we will be on after the North Carolina TCU game from Dublin. So that game is a noon Eastern kickoff. So we're thinking probably 315, 3.30 Eastern time is about when we'll go live. We want you to come join us. We want you to get in the chat. We're going to all mix it up.

We miss you guys. You know, we had to change the way the show work because the way the YouTube works is always changing. So we did the pre-recorded thing. We miss mixing it up with you guys live. That's my favorite part of the post-game shows we do, of the emergency shows we do in news breaks. I love seeing you guys being able to react in real-time.

So I am pumped about everybody coming back, and I want you to all be there. So as soon as that game ends, you'll get to push notification that we're going live. We'll also send it out on social media, and then we will hit it. It's going to be amazing. Yeah.

And also when we get into the season, the question segment of the mailbag. It would probably be a mailbag show will be a little bit more robust, but we're still in preseason mode right now. So, you know, we love your questions and we will get to them. So let's get into it, Andy. Okay, first question comes from Ian. I think George Reister's take on last Thursday show about the loser of Ohio State, Texas missing the college football playoff was fascinating.

While bold, his explanation made a lot of sense. to me. Part of what makes this theory so interesting is that if we assume it will be true, it adds massive stakes to an already-hyped matchup between two of the sports biggest brands. Yes, fans want more big matchups than non-conference, but high stakes are a big part of what makes those games so appealing. If the loser can walk away from a huge game, it's still in great shape, how big was the game, really? The sport is great because there isn't enough oxygen in the room for everyone, even in the 12-team era. That got me thinking, what other games on the calendar could be oxygen games? I defined an auctioning game as a match-up between two teams with

legitimate playoff aspirations where the winner keeps hope alive by sucking up all the oxygen in the room while the loser runs out of air and likely misses the playoff. All oxygen games are big matchups, but not all big matchups are oxygen games. For example, Notre Dame Miami should be a great matchup, but I don't think anyone expects the loser to be in much danger. My vote is LSU Ole Miss. Both teams have a ton of upside, but the loser probably has an uphill battle, and I don't see both teams making the playoff.

I'd love to hear what other games you guys think fit this criteria. Okay, Ari, when we talked about earlier in the show, USC Penn State, whiteout game, could be that, especially for USC. Well, it's funny you bring that up because my first thought was USC Oregon, and if Oregon wins, then that takes the oxygen away from USC. Right, right. But USC has chances still to play its way back in at that point.

If they lost to Oregon and then they lose to Penn State, they're up against it. This is probably a terrible comparison, and I don't want to put evil on Trojans fans, so forgive me. But last year, here's my theory on what went wrong with Penn State last year. Penn State spent the entire offseason, you know, dealing with the burden of being the number one team in the country,

people actually picking them to win the Big Ten, and for James Franklin to finally get over the big game hump. My theory is that when they, had their hearts ripped out at home against Oregon early in the season and an overtime loss, despite the fact that that game in and of itself wouldn't have qualified as an oxygen game was so detrimental to the like mentality of the team that things just kind of came off the rails after that. I think that the USC game against Oregon at home in September kind of fits that same criteria because that's the game where the rubber meets the pavement for USC. That's the

game where all the talk turns into concept or or into tangible results. And if USC plays Oregon at home, everyone's amped up. They're undefeated. This is this year's different and they get blown off the field in their own field. I bet you they completely go off the rails for the rest of the season. Like I don't think that this team can sustain getting its ass kicked. I think they can sustain losing. But if they get their ass kicked by Oregon, they're not making the playoff.

I would agree with you there. Can I, can I throw one at you? Sure. Can I give you Alabama, Georgia in Tuscaloosa on October 10th? That's, by the way, the same day as the USC Penn State Whiteout. Georgia will have played Oklahoma and Vandy at that point. So we'll know some stuff about them. Alabama has to play Tennessee and Texas A&M after this.

And then LSU. Yeah, I'd be more on board if Georgia didn't lose. lose to Bama in the regular season in the last two years and still make the playoff. Like, that's already, but, but maybe this. Would you take Alabama, Tennessee? Yeah, it just depends on how you view these two teams as like preseason oxygen getters. See, Alabama, Tennessee will be interesting because Alabama will have played Georgia, Tennessee, will have played Texas.

We'll have a much better idea. Ooh, producer River with a really good one. SEC opener for both teams, new coaches. In fact, yeah, one of the coaches was going to go to one place and then changed his mind and went to the other. Yeah. Yeah. Florida at Auburn, Week 3 is a really interesting one. Yeah, I got another one for you.

Okay. Off the radar. Yep. What about BYU, Notre Dame and Provo? Ooh, I like that one. I like that one because that essentially, if BYU wins, it reframes their season entirely. If they lose, they got to win the Big 12. And they're right back into the position they were in last year.

And if BYU beats Notre Dame and then puts Notre Dame back in a position where Notre Dame cannot lose to Miami or their season is exactly a carbon copy of last years. Like that's, I think, my favorite one on the schedule. Ooh, I like it. That's it. That's the perfect one. We're going to move to the next question just because you nailed it right there. All right.

From Jason in Seattle. Now that Keel and Russell has won the Alabama QB1 spot. I can't help to think about Austin Mac and what might have been if Kaylon Dabore had stayed at Washington. DeBore was glowing about Mack's potential when he was a freshman, and coming off the Huskies' 2003 runner-up season, it's not unreasonable to think that Mack would have beaten Dylan Morris for Washington's QV1 for 2024. Mac could be currently starting year three as Washington's starter had he and Kayle and Abor stayed at Washington. Possibly a first-round pick, Michael Pennix was, other potential changes for some. This is a sliding doors moment here.

where is Jed Fish, if not at Washington? Where does Will Rogers play in 2024? Does DeMond Williams go to or stay at Arizona if fish is there? And what does that mean for Nova Fafita? Are there any other similar QB coach moves that come to mind that worked out as poorly for the QB as they did for Austin Mac? Well, I wanted to start to answer to this question before we really dive into it and just say like Austin Mac's not a dead man walking here. Like, a might play some this year. You never know the circumstances of a season.

And even if he doesn't, if Keelan Russell turns out to be awesome and he was in a neck-to-neck battle with him throughout the rest of the whole off season. There's a, no shame in that. And B, makes you semi-marketable next year's. He's already given up. The problem is he's already given up three years, one sitting at Washington and two sitting at Alabama. Like he's supposed to be starting by now. And it's probably what he envisioned.

Now, one thing I will correct on this, where does Will Rogers play in 2024? Kalen DeBore was the one who got Will Rogers. Cala de Borris' plan if he stayed at Washington was Will Rogers was starting 2024. Now, would Austin Mack possibly have taken over for Will Rogers in 2024 as DeMond Williams did at the end of the season? Then, yeah, maybe. As for Jed Fish, that's a really interesting question because I would assume Arizona would have remained good. They would not have had the step back year that they had when Brent Brennan took over. and they couldn't block anybody.

Honestly, not to go over, not to like try to rewrite history too much, but they returned a lot of the team that was. Yeah, they would have been very competitive in the Big 12 in 2024. And the thing is like there weren't a lot of jobs open in 2024. So I don't know that Jed Fish would have gone anywhere. But what if, Ari, what if Jed Fish had led Arizona to a Big 12 title? And then his alma mater of Florida opened. I mean, my gut instinct was Florida.

when I read the question. Just based on the way the timeline was. You would have him staying in Arizona two more years and then being the lead. Also, I wonder if that would have impacted. If he's just won the Big 12 at Arizona, like he's a leading candidate at Florida. 1000% would have been in Florida.

So I'm trying to think of other coaches quarterback moves that have not worked out well for the player. Which, by the way, I think that means DeMond Williams is Florida's quarterback at this spot. But I don't know that DeMond Williams would go to Arizona. Because remember, Fafita is still there. And if you ever met no Fafita in person, like you understand his size,

the NFL people are just not going to, they're not going to be in them. So as long as he was effective at Arizona, he was going to be the starter to Arizona. So, DeMont Williams would be somewhere else. I don't know where he'd be. Yeah.

Are there other quarterback coaching moves? that come to mind, Andy? Because I'm having a hard time with this one. Not really because usually when the quarterback follows the coach, they start. We're going to see this. It'll happen again. It's not. Yeah.

And I'm sure somebody's yelling at their phone right now. Yeah, I'm sure there is. But here's the thing that is different about this, though, Andy. Usually a player like Austin Mack doesn't follow the coach when they move up to a place that recruits so differently from the place that they are, right? Right. Like, this is a profile move that where Keel and Russell would go there. Like, he didn't take a job where a five-star all-world quarterback would even,

like, I just think that, like, in general, that's a harder thing to do unless you're going to be the starter in year one. Yeah. So, you know, I don't know. We're supposed to be better at this, but it's harder to imagine it because, most of the time, like you said, it's like an Aaron Philo situation. Now, he followed an offensive coordinator, but you are hand-selected to be the guy at the next place. Correct. Correct. So, yeah, I think there will eventually be more stories like this, but it's just it hasn't happened yet.

Usually they've gone and they've started. All right. Next question from our friend, Steve in San Antonio. Maybe a little too late to ask a question, but as I watched the Vince Young documentary on Netflix last night, It was absolutely lunacy how much it seems VY and Jeff Fisher still hate each other. That is crazy. It made me think, though, of how much Ari loves Cam Newton. It's not just Ari. It's Andy, too.

Yeah, I mean, like, everybody with the pulse. Excluding all NFL stuff, if you had to use championship year Cam or championship year Vince Young, who would you take? I think it's very close, but I'd side with Vince. In addition, do you think UT beats USC? If Cam is the QB, I don't think they do. We're assuming it's Cam the same age he was when he played at Auburn and not Cam, who was a junior in high school when Vince Young beat USC. I would take Cam. I would take Cam.

Cam would have beaten USC with Texas. Cam dragged that team to the national title. You know my favorite stat from that year, Ari. How many combines? How many combines? How many combined starts did the players on Auburn's offense making the NFL excluding Cam Newton from the 2010 Auburn team? One. I know that because you've asked this question to me off air, at least 17 times.

Yeah. Nick Fairley was very good at defensive tackle, earned being a first round draft pick. Obviously, didn't play that well in the pros. But Nick Fairley was awesome for Auburn that year. But that was really it. I mean, Philip Lusseltenkirkin was good. he of course passed away would have been a successful NFL player

that he would have been the only other successful NFL player from that offense Vince Young was playing with better players but like why would I take Cam Newton over Vince Young? Cam Newton could throw Cam Newton was a far better pass than Vince Young and just as good of a runner. I got a follow up to this.

Would you rather go out with Margot Robbie or Sidney Sweetie? Like Margo Robbie. I'm just saying like Like, that's what I read when I heard. Like, they're both. I'm going to pick. Yeah. Like, I would take Cam Newton too because, and I love that like the obsession with

Cam Newton is like, I've like cornered that. But I think that everybody who follows college football is obsessed with him. Like, it's not a unique. Now, the thing about that this is the only comparison you can make where somebody's not picking Vince because. Yeah. The thing that made Vince so amazing is he was massive. He's huge.

And he's that fast. Cam Newton's just as big. just as fast and is a lot better thrower with the football. Yeah. I mean, Cam Newton's probably the greatest the college football player of all time. So, like,

that's just who we're going to pick. Like, is there anybody that you would choose over Cam for an individual season? Like, like, 2019 Joe Burrow has a case. I don't think you can do it.

I still think I take Cam because Cam doesn't need Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase. Yeah, like the supporting cast for Joe Burrow was so extensive. It wasn't just that this supporting cast was good. He happened to have two of the best receivers on the face of the earth on his team at the same time. And I honestly am very curious. It's hard to say this stuff because you don't want it to come across as drinking haterade. But like Joe Burrow had one of the single greatest seasons for a quarterback in college football history.

But I don't know if that means that he's one of the single greatest college football quarterbacks of all time. I think he was also in one of the greatest situations ever. I'll take him there. And honestly, like, I don't know we're not supposed to use NFL stuff along with the college stuff. But him taking the Bengals to the Super Bowl that year, going to Kansas City and beating the Chiefs in the playoffs, like, Joe Burroughs is that. I mean, the question that you just is. The question is this. And you can't answer it because you'll never know is how many players who played the quarterback position at other places would have done the same exact thing at LSU with those weapons around him.

I don't think they would have done the same exact thing. The numbers are absurd. You have to be a special quarterback to put up those numbers. I don't care how good the surrounding talent was. And it's not that he's not special. That's not what I'm getting at. I just, I think that the thing that makes Cam Newton remarkable

is the stat that you like to mention. It's that he dragged the team to start to finish. And that's why I'll pick Cam Newton or almost anybody. Yeah. Yeah. He's literally dragged a team to a title. How many teams, how many other players could you say dragged a team to a title?

None. Like none. Not a single one. Yeah. So all that to say. Because if you look at the talent Vince was playing with at the time, he had good players on offense, but they especially had a bunch of really good players on defense.

But like two of his offensive linemen were drafted with him in the same draft. Well, the other thing that adds to the cam, I mean, sorry, the Vince Young Laura is the team that he beat. Yes. I think, and that's the thing. Like, the question that Steve asked is not the question he should have asked. He asked, would Texas beat USC with Cam Newton instead of Vince Young? Yes, they would.

Would 2010 Auburn have beaten 2005 USC? Not a chance. That's right. Yeah, like the Cam Newton season, as remarkable as it was, like, is not possible in the expanded playoff era. Right. actually it's more possible in the expanded playoff era. I don't think they could win five games in a row like that. That's true.

And if you remember that season, they had a very close game against Clemson. They had a really close game against South Carolina earlier in the year. Now, they beat South Carolina pretty handling the SEC championship game, but the regular season game against South Carolina could have gone either way. I was at the Mississippi State game on that Thursday night. They won Nick Fairley dominated that game, but that game was probably closer than you'd want it to be.

They did not just roll through that season. When Cam really got rolling, though, it was pretty amazing. Like when they beat LSU, the Georgia game, and obviously the Alabama game, the Camback was one of the most incredible games in college history. But I still take Cam in that circumstance just because he gives you the same size and speed advantage

that Vince does, but he just throws better. Yeah. And Cam, Sam Newton has unique style. You like his hats. He like his hats better than his hats. It's not just his hats. Everybody talks about his hats.

Have you ever seen what's under the hats? Like, like, well, that he's actually very, very eccentric style. He's also very funny. Like, I love Cam on the mic.

Yeah. I think, I think he's a very good podcaster. And I think his, his reaction to Bill Belichick, Jordan Hudson, as someone who played quarterback for Bill was hysterical.

Like, go find that on the internet. You will be laughing your butt off. So he is a lot of fun. One more question, Ari. I think this is a scam, and I'm not sure what the scam is. But you can help me with that. Hello, my name is Emily. I am currently looking for a wedding planner for an upcoming wedding

and came across your business profile. Are you available to discuss your services and availability? I would love to learn more about how we might work together. Regards, Emily. I think this is like the scam where they say, are you available for private lessons coach? Yes. I get that email at least nine times a week still. Do you still get that email? I do. And okay, so it was described to me how it works. And it seems like way too much effort for anything. Yeah. But in the event, you actually did email this to a real coach who would offer lacrosse lessons or soccer lessons or whatever you say. Okay, I'm going to do it for my three kids.

I'm going to book you out for two months. Let me send you a check. And so they send you a check, which is for over the amount they said it was going to be. You deposit the check. They say, oh, no, I've accidentally put too much money in that check. Can you Venmo me the difference between that and what we talked about? And of course, the check itself never clears, yeah, at all. Yeah.

So you Venmoed them money and it's gone. That is way too many steps. I'm assuming this is the same thing where I tell them, yes, I'll plan your wedding and here's how much it will cost you. And they send more money and I Venmo them back the difference. But I then started to imagine what myself as a wedding planner would be like. And not to make certain members of the college football podcast world. mad at me.

But I live in the South. If I got calls saying, we'd like to book Saturday, October 10th for a wedding. I'd be like, are you sure you want to do that? Do you have any Georgia, Alabama fans in your family? You know they play that day, right? Are you sure, absolutely certain

that that's the only day you can get married? married. Might I recommend a Friday wedding. Everybody takes Thursday and Friday off work. Thursday night is party night. Get really drunk. Have the wedding Friday. And then enjoy your college football Saturday. I mean, there's a reason why Jewish people get married on Sunday, Andy.

I thought it was because, you know, people are less, well, I guess the... It's because the Jewish Sabbath is on Saturday, but... You know, you're synagogues are booked on Saturday, right? Yeah, I was just making a college football joke. Can I make a take about wedding planners? yeah in general all being a wedding planner is is just being like the logistical point guard for everything right like there's no you're you're essentially a contractor it's like when you hire

a contractor to do your kitchen same thing like i don't know anything about weddings but i feel like i could do it i feel like i could plan i would absolutely want i would want the brittney spears headset yeah you get the headset on but like the bride and the bride's family is the as long as you have the of what they want. You just put the catalog down on the table and then they tell you what they like and then you're just yell at you the whole time. No, I know, but like,

you're not a creative genius when you're a wedding planner, right? You're just organizing the things that the people. You are someone who puts out fire. Actually, producer River would make a great wedding planner because he is always got to deal with like some sort of logistical nightmare that we've created.

And I think that that's the thing. Because what a good wedding planner would have to do is when the flower person calls and says, I know they wanted the lilies, but there's a, there's a lily shortage in Cambodia right now, and we're going to have to switch to another flower. You find the flower that they'll be like, oh, that works great instead of they're just streaming. I guess what I'm saying is, is that being a wedding planner is no different than being an elaborate party planner. Or a contractor.

It's the same thing as your tile guy says, I can't find the grout color they want. What do I do? Probably maybe I'm being highly offensive and I don't know, but like it just in terms of creative, creative gifts, like if the person who you're who's paying you is picking everything, all you're doing is organizing when stuff comes in and how the party goes off. But being great at logistics, being great at logistics is a job. Yeah, no. I'm not saying they're not great at logistics.

Is it a company that exists to be viewed as a good wedding. Planner. You are just good at logistics. You're not creatively amazing. But I feel like I could do logistics. Oh, that's a nightmare. I feel like it could be a great logistician. You know, just to keep with the offseason theme of we're an hour and 10 minutes in, let's go off the rails a little bit. You know this, but we're taking our daughter to Disneyland in the middle of the week in September for a day. Do you know how much anxiety I have right now with the logistics?

of the app and getting in and making it to the rides and trying to reduce ride times and all this stuff. And it's just like, this is supposed to be a wonderful day for our daughter and she's five and I'm sure just being there will be good enough. But like going to Disneyland seems to be like a full-time wedding planner-ish type job for the parents. Oh, you're right. And it's awful. So the last time we went to Walt Disney World in Florida, my wife spent the entire time. on her phone trying to manage the fast pass system. Was she miserable? Yeah.

Well, now, let me ask you. Until you get the passes to the ride you want. Like, we can do Star Wars now. Let's go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Would you, how much? So we had a talk at the dinner table last night. Do you pay the thousand to avoid this and have somebody just do it for you? Oh, do they do like a concierge service where they do it?

There's like a butler person who goes with you to the park. and just does everything for you. I couldn't do it. Like, I couldn't. I want to enjoy the day. I know. I know what you're saying. And I understand, like, it's funny because you say that, like,

I still recoil from the amount of money you're talking about. But I also know how much it costs to just go what that is relative to what you're paying. It's actually probably not. It's not as insane because that's not even the bulk of the expense of going. Not that bad. But, like, I just don't. It's one of those things that I have a hard time. saying I would do because getting on an airplane just see my I could see my mom looking down at me

from heaven like you boozy little so yeah it's not being bougie and it's not even an unwillingness to do it it's a fear of spending all the money to fly there the spend of the hotel and all the things that you're doing only to get to the end of the day and feel like you drop the ball it's not because it's not for a convenience factor it's to ensure that we have the day for her that we're planning. Yeah. No, I understand. But, and then this, I guess that person is essentially your wedding planner for your,

yeah, your day at Disneyland. And man, I don't know. I just, that, those theme parks, and it's not just, it's not just Disney. The other ones are the same way. They have come up with so many ways to ring every last penny out of you. This is why I'm not really a theme park person because I, I feel like paying obscene amounts of money and then ever. greater obscene amounts of money to have money wrung out of me like I'm a wet sock.

Yeah, like when you go to a resort, it kind of happens that way. But you pay to go and then when you're there, you know you're going to have a relaxed, wonderful time. Yes. Like going and paying all this money to go to Disneyland only to be rewarded with crippling anxiety with the hopes of not letting your child down. And you're going to Disney land, so at least the weather would be nice. Like, in Florida, you're paying for the right to stand in line in the heat.

Yeah, I'm not trying to spend five grand in total for the trip and then do three rides because I've been standing in line for because you know me like standing in line is my hell to begin with. Yes. So like paying money to stand in line seems miserable. So I don't know what we're going to do. I know there's probably people who go to Disneyland who have a down pat and it's not that bad for them. But like for people who are completely unfamiliar with it, like trying to get her into these brunches where the princesses come by and this bibbitty bibbibbibootique where they can dress up like it's like it's hard. to like get spots, dude. It's like I feel like I'm like joining a sneakers auction over and over again.

That's exactly what you're doing. Yeah. Except it's the Bibbidi, Bibbidi Babbat boutique. Yeah. Enjoy it. Enjoy it, live. You have no idea how much hell of your parents are going through right now. Yeah.

And Andy, just so you. We have been through. By the way, we've all, all of us have been through our own personal trials and tribulations here. Because the off season is long. And it's been a while since Ari and I stood on the field in Miami and said, oh my God, Indiana just won the national title. Let's do it again. Guess what? The next time we have a show, college football will have been played.

North Carolina, TCU, Week Zero, in Dublin, noon kick on Saturday, me and Ari live right after, right here on the On3 YouTube channel. Do not forget to subscribe so that you get the push message right when we go live. We made it, everybody. It's time for football. We'll talk to you after the game.