Andy & Ari On3 - College Football’s Transfer Portal KING: Has Oregon’s Dan Lanning taken the crown? Miami's resurgence | Trinidad Chambliss' Return to Ole Miss | UCLA in Top 10 Recruiting Rankings

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

On today’s episode, Andy & Ari discuss the king of the transfer portal in college football. While Mike Norvell and Lane Kiffin enjoyed plenty of success in the first few years of the transfer portal,  has Dan Lanning taken the crown? What about Mario Cristobal - where does he fall in this category? Watch here as Andy & Ari dive deep into the transfer portal numbers here.   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (0:50) Presenting Sponsor (2:40) Intro: CFB new portal king? (8:00) Top 10 Producers of Transfer Portal Talent (13:29) Why Florida State has struggled (18:10) High School recruiting philosophy (27:38) Baerskin (29:47) How Mario Cristobal turned Miami around (38:47) Trinidad Chambliss’ wild journey (51:58) UCLA cracks the top 10 in recruiting (1:04:02) Wrapping up: Conspiracy theories After discussing the transfer portal, Andy & Ari take a look into what Brett McMurphy and Chris Low have been up to lately. Andy & Ari dive into Brett McMurphy’s story on how Mario Cristobal has turned Miami into a true powerhouse in college football.   Later, Andy & Ari head to Oxford to discuss the journey Trinidad Chambliss has been on. Will the popular Rebels QB lead Ole Miss to another CFP berth?   To close, Andy & Ari recap UCLA’s BIG recruiting weekend. How good will Bob Chesney be with the Bruins? Andy & Ari discuss.   Brett’s story on Miami: https://www.on3.com/news/hurricane-cristobal-how-miami-went-from-irrelevant-to-title-contender-in-4-years/   Chris’s story on Ole Miss: https://www.on3.com/news/from-big-rapids-to-the-big-time-trinidad-chambliss-wild-ride-to-ole-miss/   Thanks for watching!   Send your questions to: [e-mail] [e-mail]   Right now BAERSkin is running 60% off on the Heavy-Storm Rain Jacket with free shipping. Text ANDY to 3-6-9-twelve - that's ANDY to 3-6-9-twelve - and they'll send you a link to grab one at 60% off. Get yours today at baerskintactical.com   Our show is also 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 sure you 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. This promotional offer is not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET (Available in the US) . 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only (if applicable). 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! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube here! https://youtu.be/105VLCQ02kM   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's Andy Nareon 3, who is the real portal king? Is it the one who takes the most transfers, wins with the most transfers, or wins and puts the most transfers in the draft? I say it's the latter, and the identity of that person may surprise you. Plus, Trinidad Shambliss talks to our Chris Lowe about returning to Ole Miss, why he's back at Ole Miss, how that all came together, and what is next for the rebels. Also, Mario Cristobal,

Miami's coach sits down with our Brett McMurphy, and he says, Miami hasn't done squat yet, keyword yet. We'll talk about it all on today's Annie and Orion 3, presented by BedmGM. We are presented by BedmGM, the lines and totals we use on this show come from BedmGM. If you want to sign up today, use the code CFB, that CFB is in college football,

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Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Welcome to Andy and Ari on three presented by BetMGM. And Ari, I'm here to declare a new portal king. I read the story, Andy. There's a lot of research. Well, here's the thing. We've passed this crown round a few times. I was interested, I was watching the draft a couple weeks ago and just said, all right, how many of these guys are transfers now?

Because I just eyeballing it, I'm like, there's definitely more people who transferred getting picked than in past years. But since these rules changed, what school has put the most transfers in the draft? Like what schools have the most transfers picked? And so I went from 23, 24, 25, 26. And there's a reason for that. So when the transfer rules changed, that was April 2021. And when NIL was allowed, that was July 2021. So the 2022 season would have been the first full cycle recruiting cycle where transfers were deciding based on money, where they were deciding based on playing. And they had the freedom to move. And so, based. basically the new system, those players, the first time they could get drafted was 2023. So that's why we did the last four drafts. And I thought the numbers were pretty interesting. And like I expected Ole Miss to be pretty high and it was.

I thought Miami would be pretty high and it was. I don't think I expected the school that put the most transfers in the draft to be that school. And it was Oregon with 17 in the past four drafts. Why didn't you expect Oregon? I knew they had a lot of transfers, but they recruit so well at a high school, and they'd had so many homegrown draft picks that I thought it's probably more,

and it is a lot of homegrown, but they had the most transfers and probably the most different kinds, but they definitely have the most of one specific kind, which is I have an immediate need, I'm going to go find this person who has all these physical attributes and is either performed really well at their old school, but their old school is not very competitive,

or they haven't gotten as much out of them as they could. The case of Dylan Thineman, the case of Derek Harmon, so Dylan Thineman's safety from Purdue, Derek Harmon, detackle for Michigan State. Like, they had both played really well. They were proven commodities. They were wanted men in the transfer portal. Oregon not afraid to spend.

Those were positions of need. They just went and got them. Like, they're good at that. But they're also good at taking the guys that maybe you don't know much about. Like Tess Johnson, he went there because Bo Nix went there. And he was at Troy and he played a couple of years at Oregon with Bo Nix. And he winds up getting drafted. So they've done a really good job of finding the right guys and then developing them once they get there.

And I argue in this, because I also went and found for at least the top 10, how many homegrown, non-transfer draft picks did you have? And Oregon had 14 of those. They had multiple first rounders that were homegrown guys like Josh Connerly and Kenyon Sadiq, who signed with Dan Lannning out of high school. And it feels like the programs that are set up to succeed the best in the future are the ones. ones that can do both. And Oregon is those. Miami's one of those. Alabama's been one of those. And Ohio State doesn't have as many transfers,

but when they take them, their high impact. Yeah. I mean, I think that you did a really good job of researching and I don't even want to ask you how long this took. And the last thing I want to do when somebody has put this much effort in is to ask a question that would probably involve hours of more research. But the question that I do have. No, that's probably another good story if you ask.

ask. The question I do have is how much of a correlation is there between number of transfers taken and how many were drafted? Like, like, that to me, it's like, okay, well, Oregon had 17 drafted. How many did they take in comparison to the other ones on the list? Yeah. And that's, that's one we can break down. It would be good to break down for another story. I will say, just knowing what I know, they didn't have to take as many as other programs. They, they, again, have recruited really well at high school. They're not taking. huge numbers. They're not flipping the roster every year. Now they did have

initially, because going from 21 to 22, that had a coaching change. Mario Cristobal leaves to go to Miami. Dan Laining comes in. So a little more turnover there than you would usually expect. But also, a lot of those guys want to stay at Oregon. Because this was not like it is now.

Like, Mario didn't take a ton of guys with him. Right. So here's another take on this, Andy, because I think this is really interesting. And for the sake of the listeners, do you just want to read off the chart of the number 10? Well, yeah, let me give you the, I'll give you the top 10. These are the top 10 producers of transfers in the draft.

So Oregon had 17 transfers drafted the last four drafts. Miami had 12. Ole Miss had 12. Ole Miss was kind of the outlier here because they had 12 transfers drafted only five non-transfers. And when I say transfer, I'm talking about you played for one four-year school and then you played for another four-year school. So if it was a Jucco guy who then signed with a four-year school, that doesn't count. That's the more traditional path. That's been available to everybody forever.

Yeah. Okay. So Florida State at number 11 tied for fourth. LSU tied with Florida State with 11. Alabama with 10, Florida with 10, Texas Tech with 10, USC with 10, and then Indiana and Ohio State tied for 10th at 9 apiece. So I have so many thoughts on this. This might be the whole show.

So just, I'm sorry. So here's what I say here. It's fascinating. So when I think of Portal King, I think of people who used the portal and got good results in college with it. Obviously, if you got a bunch of players drafted, you're also going to have good results. Right. If I look at this list and the set of data, I would call Kurt Signetti the Portal King because they won a national championship, had nine drafted, only one home club player. The thing about Kurt Signetti that you need to realize is with him, so Indiana has,

nine transfers drafted. All of them are in the Kurtzignetti window. None of them came from the Tom Allen time. Yes. And they only had one homegrown player drafted. Now they have some people who returned from last year who were still on the team like Charlie Becker. Omar Cooper was the homegrown player. Yeah. And then Carter Smith's going to get drafted this year as a homegrown guy. But yes. So Curtis Rourke was drafted last year. And then I believe all of the other ones are from this year. So to me, like, who's the actual king? I would probably go with the one that. Well, Kurtzignan is the king of college football right now. Yeah, I know. He doesn't need any more weight on his crown. And here's the other thing. I'm just really trying to say that like,

if you don't have anything to fall back on from a high school growth standpoint and you win the national championship based solely, maybe not solely, but majorly, majorly on what you brought in through the portal, like that's what makes the king. If I'm an Oregon fan now, I'm probably pulling my hair out because you see this and that's a lot of talent. The question for Signetti is, does this continue or does it settle into more he gets a lot of the groceries out of high school? Like Charlie Becker is going to be a draft pick and he's going to be a homegrown guy. And how, you know, remember when we talked to Signetti, we were going over his portal

hall this year. They didn't take many transfers. Now they took very high impact transfers. Like we talked with Nate Tice yesterday about Nick Marsh, who comes from Michigan. Michigan State, the receiver, he's going to get drafted next year, most likely. Josh Hoover, the quarterback. So it's going to settle into a situation more like what Lanning has, where if you take one, it is with the expectation that this person is going to start for you and then go to the NFL.

Yeah, and most of the teams on this list, Andy, are teams that have at least some hope of sustained success. And when I say success, maybe that means competing for a conference championship. I don't mean that everybody's. But what I found, Ari, is that you cannot just rely on the portal exclusively. Like, the ones in here that are doing really well are the ones that also recruit well at high school, which, I mean, that's common sense. But, like, that's why I think Texas Tech has the right idea. So Texas Tech is one of those that did not have a ton. Like, this was a clear philosophy change where most of the Texas Tech portal draftees are in the last year.

Or they're almost all this year. they had five top 75 picks in this past draft who came from the portal. And Jacob Rodriguez, I believe, was the only one who spent multiple years at Texas Tech. I'm sorry, Caleb Douglas did too. So three of them were one-year rentals, two of them spent multiple years at Texas Tech. They're going to keep doing that. But what is Texas Tech also doing right now, Ari? Like where does Texas Tech sit in the class of 27?

They're also signing. They're also allocating funds to high school recruiting. Correct. Correct. That's more sustainable than just going back and forth. And the Ole Miss people are going to get mad about this, but this explains why Elaine Kiffin left. Like, LSU had 11 players drafted this period when Brian Kelly didn't even win enough. This is 11 transfers drafted. Do you know how many homegrowns they had drafted? Ole Miss, five. Right. You know how many home runs LSU had drafted in the same period? I'm looking at your list, but yes, 15. 15. Yeah.

So that's why. And only one of those guys committed to Brian Kelly. Everybody else either signed with or committed at Orchran. So that's the power of LSU. Like, they're guys that want to stay. And you didn't need a chart to tell you that. Like, we knew, like, the data backs it up. But Andy.

But that is dramatic. That's a huge number. And but there's a huge difference. And there's a huge difference between how many good players are in the state of Louisiana. versus Mississippi from a population standpoint. So here's the one thing that I want to take away from this, though, because I also think that this is 100% the explanation for why Florida State stinks. Yes.

And like for a place that is a traditional power and a place that is in one of the most talent-rich states in the entire country, Florida State having three players drafted between or three homegrown players drafted between 23 and 2026 is the exact root of their failure. Now, having 11 is a great thing to say, but how many of those 11 came from the one team that went undefeated three years ago? All of them, but two or three, maybe? All but two.

So Darrell Jackson was drafted this year, and Jamie Robinson was drafted in 2023. All of the other ones were in the 2024 draft. All of them. I think this is, which means these guys adopted this philosophy early, were among the first at scouring other rosters and figuring out who could play, and then everybody else started doing it.

And so either everybody else got better at it or everybody else was out bidding him or a little bit of both. Probably a little bit of both. And one of the things that cannot exist at Florida State, and I understand places like Texas Tech that aren't traditional powers and are in a very competitive state might struggle to get five stars out of Texas when, you know, UT and Oklahoma and A&M exist. in LSU and everybody else who recruits the state of Texas. But for a traditional power, that is by far the worst figures.

And Andy, if you go look at the rest of the chart, as you did 100 times, there really are only a few other teams who aren't still at the beginning of building something. You cannot equate Indiana's 9 to 1 ratio or Texas Tech's 10 to 4 ratio as failure because they're only in year one or two of this. Florida State is so much further advanced and they aren't signing players out of high school that are getting drafted. And like honestly, if you want it, and like this is the number one criticism, you can go back and find columns from the athletic and episodes from the athletic

after they got screwed out of their playoff berth. I was wondering like, well, I didn't know that they would be as bad as they were two years ago. But it was kind of hard to envision. And like there's a until Saturday episode somewhere, the now defunct, rest in peace, until Saturday feed where we had Mike Norvell on the show and I asked him, how can you sustain success being such a. transient program because if you lose all these players, like you're not going to hit the way that they hit with all those players three years ago every single off season. There has to be a

compliment to it. And Florida State never had it. And even to this day, even, because like you thought well, they were undefeated and won the ACC and, you know, obviously their season ended in the most brutal way imaginable, which is missing the playoff after not losing. But you thought that that would bleed over into being more recognizable. Like even if you go look at like Miami, Miami just made the national championship game this year. We're going to talk about them later in the show, and Mario Cristobal is saying they have an accomplished shit, which is wrong, because they've re-heard

themselves as one of the best, you know, portal teams, but they also recruit really well at a high school. Like, all the teams that Florida State is trying to beat in the ACC, and all the teams that Florida State wants their team to be like, all recruit really well out of high school. Like, I think there's this thought process that recruiting

doesn't matter anymore, and maybe it's not as exciting because people transfer a lot. But the teams that get high-end, players that even if you sign 20 players over a three year period and 60 of them come in, even if you only hold on to 20 or 25, which is a 35 to 40 percent retention ratio, if those 20 or 25 players are draftable impact players, that's still the backbone of your roster. Oh, yeah.

I mean, back in the day, high school recruiting was like baseball. Like, you go three for 10. You're in the Hall of Fame. Right. And you can still go three for 10. I think maybe the challenges for some places is if they go three for 10, meaning three hits and seven misses that they're able to retain their three hits. Like that's a secondary issue.

But I assume that Florida State, if you go there and you're a hit, you have a higher likelihood of retaining your best players because it's a historic program. So I don't know what the reason is or why it's happened, but Mike Norville has never had any traction whatsoever in high school recruiting. And they've had a few non-consensus five-star signs. over the past four or five years, but it really has been, like, you have teams that are signing more top 100 players in single classes right now that Norvella signed in totality during his entire tenure. So if you're trying to like do the autopsy when this is all over of what went

wrong there, like your chart, your outlines it perfectly. Yeah. And it's a tough situation. And it's, but it's also like, this is why Texas Tech is doing what they're doing in high school recruiting. Because they've seen enough evidence that what they did in the portal isn't sustainable. And this is, this is actually, this is going to be Pete Golding's mandate now at Ole Miss, because he takes over, he leads him to two wins in the playoff, they make the semifinals, they lose to the team that plays for the national title in Miami. He has to figure out how to keep this going at a program that has had a harder time accessing those, those blue chip guys. So can, can you build sustainable

high school to the NFL bridge that you also compliment with your transfer portal work. Because they're great at the transfer portal. Well, here's another hypothesis that I want to break down for you, too, going back to Texas Tech and what Ole Miss might have to start doing is, do you believe, and we don't have the data on this yet because we're not far along into it? But if you pay a player out of high school, a ton of money, and you're one of the largest offers or a very competitive offer before they get to college. Do you think that the foundation of that financial relationship

from when they were a teenager makes it more likely for you to retain them if they're a hit in college? I think the person who chooses primarily because of money will continue to be motivated by money no matter what. Money will be their primary motivator and the primary differentiating factor in every choice after that. I think the player who doesn't choose entirely, like, look,

everybody's choosing in part based on money now. I don't want to be Pollyanna about it. But the player who does consider heavily other factors is less likely to just jump for the biggest bad if they hit. You're as equally as likely if you're, biggest offer out of high school to continue to compensate that guy that you paid all that money for in high school at a fair rate if they hit at your program. Like you're not going to back up the brink truck for a hypothetical or a right. You know what you've got and so you're going to you're

going to pay a premium to keep that. And I think that people don't I think inherently people probably would rather not move or change what they're doing. I think change is very difficult. So if you are if you're finding success at a place and that place compensated you handsomely at the beginning, the likelihood of you retaining them once they're already very good. I think that there is like an early investor pay out there or a dividend that's paid by being the first to offer that person a bag. To use a Sabinism, because he always talk about you try to create value for players. If you create value for a player that goes beyond the amount on the paycheck, they will recognize

that. Because Texas Tech has to take these players away from A&M, Oklahoma, and Texas. And then they have to cultivate a successful environment once they're there. But if they continue to do that, that's literally the path to being a power. So I understand why they're doing what they're doing. With these big high school recruits, they have to do the same thing they did with the guys that transferred in. Because we had Joey McGuire on the show, and he pointed out, David Bailey has more sacks last year at Texas Tech than he had in the first years of his career at Stanford combined. Ramello Haight had almost as many quarterback pressures this year at Texas Tech as the whole rest of his career combined at three other different schools.

So if you can do that, if you get the most out of them and you show you get them, that's actually even better with the guys from high school because you're going to get longer with them. We had Mario Cristobal on her show, and he talked about why they want to mix it up, why they want to have some veteran transfers and why they want to get the really high, ceiling guys out of high school. He said it's a powerful blend if everybody has the right work ethic and attitude. And he's right. I mean, you think about Ruben Bain and Francis Maui Noah, homegrown guys. A key Messador was a transfer, but he was there at Miami a long time. Keontes Scott and Carson Beck, one year rentals. All of that molded into a very good team. And then you got Malachi Tony who signed out of high school. You got Mark Fletcher who signed out of high school.

Like, those guys all worked well together. And I think that's the key here. Like, you can be good at the portal. And Mario has been one of the best of the portal. But what he did in the portal doesn't make them a team that plays for the national title without what he did in the high school recruiting part, too. Yeah. And the thing I actually love about Texas Tech strategy here is if you go look at the four-star

and the five-star players that they're actually paying a ton of money for, out of high school. Lyman. They're all linemen on either side of the ball. And if you spend a lot of money on Lyman, as you like to point out in your book idea, live life like an offensive lineman, they tend to also be less dramatic about things

in terms of, you know, if you go pay money for a five-star receiver, and that person scored a lot of touchdowns, and on ESPN, I don't know if his offseason is quite the same as like a really good defensive tackle. Yeah, exactly. Well, and look, that's painting with a broad brush. But yes, in general, the bigger guys do tend to be, they don't want to deal with the drama.

It's not that they're low drama. They don't like drama. So, and also, it's just sheer numbers. There are fewer athletic, large humans than there are athletic small humans. Yeah, and Texas Tech probably feels like they have a better chance of getting the next Cam Coleman than they do getting the best edge rusher in the, in the world. You mean Cam Coleman as a transfer, yes. A transfer, that's what I mean, right?

Like, I think that it's probably easier to find a, I mean, I don't know, Cam Coleman's not because of sheer numbers. But there's more receivers that are game changers. Casey Concepcion is a first round draft pick. He was a transfer to A&M. So from NC State, like these guys, these, and maybe another offseason project, and I can help you with this is which positions tend to transfer the most and which ones get drafted the most.

Because, like, that's another. I think maybe we'd be able to write the chart right now and be pretty close to the actual, the reality of it. But I'm assuming that offensive tackle is probably dead last. Right, right. Jordan Seton is a unicorn. That sort of person doesn't hit the portal very often. And I'm sure that quarterback is probably number one because they move. I don't know if they move the most or just seems like they move the most because it's the bigger news when they do.

But like there are a million quarterbacks every year leaving. And if you look, because like obviously this is just common sense, but the number of transfers drafted. went up every single year. But if you go back, even before the transfer rules changed, were the most common back then players who transferred who wound up getting drafted were quarterbacks. That's because there's only one on every team. Yeah, right, right.

That's the thing. You're an offensive tackle. You go to a team. You don't win the left tackle job. You might win the right tackle job. You might slide into guard. You don't have to transfer to play. I don't know if you know this,

but I wrote a story that actually, I think if I recall correctly, what an APC award, APSE award, like 10 years ago. And the story was, I went through 10 years of data. And this was before the portal existed. This was like a 2015-ish. And I added up every five-star quarterback where they were from.

And then I Google mapped where their hometown was in comparison to where they ended up signing in college. And they traveled by far the least amount of miles of any position group to go. to their favorite. So like quarterbacks I found statistically 10 years ago were most likely to stay home when recruiting was king shit. Like they always and I tried to like ask a bunch of quarterbacks like, do you feel like a bigger responsibility for this?

Because you are from there. Like is there something mentally different about being a quarterback that makes you less like, I remember like Mitch Mustaine was one of the weird, the outliers where he went from Arkansas to California. but by a large The school he signed with was 15 minutes from home. Maybe he wasn't, maybe I'm misremembering.

Mitch Mastain signed with Arkansas originally. He transferred to USC, yeah. There were a few players that were from like the south that went to like, and like all the outliers went to like Notre Dame or USC. Like those were the two schools that got them. And it's just like funny

to me because if that was true in 2015, it's equally as true that those players are most likely to transfer if it doesn't work out. So, like, I don't know. But is this funny how things change and trends change based on the system? Yeah. Well, right now, distance from home feels like it matters less than any time because the money has become the primary driver. Obviously, the score has changed dramatically since I did that.

But it was a lot of work and it was a lot of spreadsheets and a lot of Google Maps entries. And you would think that after doing all that, I would have learned something about geography. Andy and I didn't. I don't remember where anything. Yeah. That is amazing. All right. Let's talk a little more about a couple of the programs that wound up on that list very high.

We got Mario Cristobal talking to Bretman Murphy. We got Trinidad Chandler's talking to Chris Lowe. We'll talk a little Mario Cristobal when we come back after these words from bearskin. If you ever been caught in the rain without a jacket, at a game, at a time, at a tailgate on the sideline walking to the car. You already know the problem. And I'm telling you right now,

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Keep it in your truck. Keep it in your bag. next time it rains. You are the guy who's ready. So text Andy to 36912 for 60% off. Andy to 36912. Ari, Mario Cristobal sat down with our guy, Brett McMurphy, and I love the attitude of we didn't accomplish anything yet.

It's clearly Miami has accomplished something. Clearly, Miami's in a place that Miami wasn't in for a long time in terms of where it sits in the college football hierarchy. But that's the attitude that Mario Cristobal and the hurricanes have to have. Because they can't, if they're like, we made it, we arrived, we played for the national title. They're never getting back there. Yeah. It is funny because we have spoken to Mario quite a bit on this show with the cameras off. And that is the most Mario thing that Mario would ever say, right?

in the way that he said. But it's kind of funny because I resent when coaches try to downplay failure in ways of, you know, the windows open now or look at what I inherited or it takes time or be patient, like all those things that I constantly freak out about on the show, irritate me. And I also don't, and I feel bad when coaches downplay success too. because when you think about, yes, Miami was in their home stadium for the national championship game and 40 yards away from winning the national championship.

And I can't imagine how gut-wrenching that is for him, the fans and the players on the team, especially guys like Malachi Tony, who have now become the king of Florida. But to downplay what Miami was when he left Oregon, and when he left Oregon, and he even remember it was kind of shocking to people, why would you leave Oregon? I mean, anybody who didn't know his history was like, why would you take? a worse job in a worse conference, right? Yeah. But when you think about what Miami was when he got there and what Miami is now,

I think that you could make the case outside of, again, Kurt Signetti, that no place has changed more under the leadership of their new coach. And I know that, you know, Mario Cristobal, for the first three years of his tenure, kind of took a lot of crap about being a poor in-game manager. And, you know, the youths never coming back. And you can't get players out of Miami to stay in Miami and all these different things. And when you think about where they are now, looking at next year, if you kind of look at their offensive side of the ball, at least,

they should probably have one of the best offensive units in the entire country. They're certainly the favorite to win the ACC. Nobody's laughing about it. Like, it is a completely different place. So while, yes, they fell 40 yards short of winning the national championship and will remain a footnote on Indiana's Disney movie of the season, to say that you haven't accomplished anything yet, frankly, just isn't true. Well, you have to hear it in the context, though.

He said, you know what? We haven't done shit. The 2006 Miami Hurricanes haven't won shit. We haven't done a thing. And he's right. The 2006 Miami Hurricanes have not done anything. And even though some of those are the same people who played for the 2025 hurricanes, every team is a living organism.

Every team is different. And you have to respect that. And you have to instill that attitude in every team over and over. And that's true for every team in the country. Yeah. No, it's a fair way of looking at it. And, you know, later he says, I believe in a, this is to Brett McMurphy, I believe in a self-fulfilling prophecy, you start thinking like being the hunted, you'll start acting and playing like that. If my dad ever heard me talking like that, he would rise from her grave and beat the living shit out of me.

Oh, we have a target on her back. That ain't ever going to be the mindset. And so I think it's a, it's a, you've never arrived situation, which by the way, you know, knowing how. Mario grew up in terms of philosophies, coaching philosophies, working for Greg Shiano, working for Nick Saban, like really process-oriented. He does not believe in goal-oriented stuff. So I think that's also part of that. If you say you're the hunted, it means you've arrived at some destination, which his mind does not calculate. Like that you don't, you don't ever arrive even if you win. Yeah. And I remember even last year when he was on the show.

him saying things like that about the current team of things are going well and we haven't earned anything. We haven't done anything. I do think that a lot of coaches probably subscribe to the win today mentality. And as boring as it is to say on a podcast, it's probably pretty effective in, in, it's the most effective way to live your life. Like, so I wrote two books with the guy who was the mental coach with Sabin in Alabama, with Kirby Smart at Georgia. He had worked with Mario a little bit too, as Trevor Moad was his name. He passed away a few years ago. And he wrote it all down essentially, and he'd learned a ton from these coaches,

and then they'd learn from him. But it is critically important in their world to never, ever think you've arrived, to never, ever look at what the end result might be. And it's interesting, because when you start, living like that, it's less stressful. Because you're not thinking about how do I get to this faraway thing in the future that feels impossible? Because that can that can debilitate you if that's all you think about. But if you just think about I need to dominate this next task in front of me, it becomes much more manageable.

And you understand why these people are ultra successful too. Because like I would, when I arrive, I will act like I arrived. Like that's like, you know, I will do that. No, you don't. I know. That's the funny thing. You think you would. But like, let's say this show takes off for the biggest show in the world. We're making like PMT money. You won't act like that. You know what you're going to be like? What's the show today, Andy? What are we doing today? I think we should do this. I think that's exactly how you'd be. But I would spend my money like an asshole. Oh, of course. Yeah. goes what I'm saying. But I think Mario has the right attitude here. Now, the renting of a quarterback every year, you got to hit every single time.

Will that happen with Dary and Mensa? We don't know. But getting Dary and Mensa and Cooper Barcate is a pretty big addition. They're right at the end of the transfer portal. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that if you go look at their too deep, I mean, we think about like established quarterback,

Mark Fletcher's back at running back, Malachi Tony's one of the four best receivers in college football, Cooper Barcate. Is Cooper Barcate, like, is Xavier Restrepro a good comp to him? No, Cooper Barcate is probably from a physical standpoint. Like, we'll test much better going to the NFL probably. The type of way that he would fit into the offense, which is a lot of needy mouth.

But yes, in terms of productivity, quarterback safety blanket kind of guy. And remember, Cooper Barcate and Dary Mentsa played together last year at Duke. Yeah, so they already have the chemistry. If I go across the board and you know that their line's going to be good. I think that like if I had an early pick of who's going to be the best offense in college football, like Miami would definitely be in the top five of that discussion and maybe even number one, depending on what you think is most balanced.

I would agree with that. I don't know. I don't know. But I look at the schedule and there's only one game on it that makes me feel like they're going to lose. Now, Miami has lost games that they shouldn't have in the past. And that's certainly much like Notre Dame, their chief objective this year because they're not going to have a lot to fall back on, we think. And CFP deliberations, if they don't have quality wins and they have bad losses. But, you know, they certainly look like a team that should be ranked in the top 10 to me.

and a team that we should all be kind of viewing differently after the run they went on. Yeah. I would agree with that. And this is the question, because we keep wondering when do those random losses stop? Because even last year they had the two losses. They had a loss to Louisville. They had a loss to SMU. And obviously those are not bad teams, but those are not teams last year that should have been beating a team that played for the national championship.

So this time, if you have two of those, if you look at. look at that schedule. Like, you can't have two of those because you might lose to Notre Dame two, and then you're nine and three, and you're definitely out of the playoff. So you got a hold serve and the ones you're supposed to win, and I think that's the difference. But that was a really good story by Brett. Go check it out. I think that Miami is probably here to stay, Andy.

I agree. Now, let's talk about the team Miami beat in the semifinals because they believe they are here to stay as well. Most importantly, they have the quarterback back. We're talking about Ole Miss, of course. Trinidad Shamless had a great interview with our Chris Lowe explaining exactly how all this happened. I mean, Ari, this time last year, he still had not even gotten to Ole Miss's campus. That's right. Was he working out Planet Fitness or something?

He was, well, he was going to transfer. And so he was looking at transferring to a group of five school. Temple was the most likely candidate. He was going to take a visit to Temple. Temple was going to give him the starting job if he came. Ole Miss liked him on film. Joe Judge and Charlie Weiss Jr. liked him on film.

And they said, hey, come take a visit. Just come look. We can't promise you a starting job because it's Austin Simmons job. But if you'd like to come as a backup, we'll take you as a backup. And they ended up getting him to sign before he left. He was going to go to Temple to Philadelphia for a visit there. And he ends up signing with Ole Miss and having this incredible season after replacing Austin Simmons in week two.

And I think what was really interesting is what happened afterward. Or, well, it wasn't even afterward. It was during the playoff run. Lane Kiffin leaves. following the regular season, he goes to LSU, and we're all asking, is he going to take Trinidad with him? Is Trinidad going to go with him?

And Trinidad right before the Peach Bowl, or excuse me, right before the Piesti Bowl, says, I'm staying if I'm eligible. That's another story entirely. But that was a big moment, I thought. I thought that was a big moment for Ole Miss in general. Like when Trinidad and Keywon Lacey said, we are staying.

I think that felt like a turning point for Ole Miss, even though you would think beating Georgia in the playoff was a big enough turning point. Yeah. I have a philosophical question to you because I thought about this a lot, and I think that his transferring,

I don't think we'll ever know this, but if it was so already clear that he would be eligible, and there was no question about it, do you think this would have played out differently? Hmm. That's a good question. according to him, he wanted to ride with the people who gave him a shot, right with the place that gave him a shot.

Now, you could argue that Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weiss Jr. also helped give him a shot. So they were at LSU. But I have no problem believing that. Now, if you're talking about could you do that case in a case, in Louisiana and get the same result, I think you could. But they were able to take the risk either. Right. Now, look, we know Lane well enough to know he would have a contingency

if that would have happened. Lane has a contingency for Sam Levitt. His name is Husson Longstreet. Yeah. So. I mean, they would have still had Husson Longstreet and it would have been fine. But lastly, here's the question I wanted to ask you,

though, because you have been somebody who's been recruited. If you were Trinidad Chambliss, would you be more loyal to the coach that sought you out and gave you your shot or the place that you chose? Okay. Well, that's a complicated question. Because the coach he seemed to connect with the most at Ole Miss, who was one of the two people who unearthed him and recruited him to Ole Miss, is Joe Judge, who is still there. Mm-hmm. And in the quote, he acknowledged that the offensive staff left, and that made him feel a certain way. Yeah. But if Joe Judge were at LSU, would he still be there? Like, I mean, these are all revisionist history.

See, I think that would be a really interesting question. Because I think Joe Judge still being there makes a big, big difference. So here's what Trinidad told Chris Lowe. He said, yeah, it was definitely weird process, him, him being Kiffin, leaving right when we were getting a chance to play for everything we'd work for. And also just because me coming from Ferris State, our coach was there for the longest time, and he will retire. That's true. Fair of State's coach is a lifer. I guess I wasn't used to something like that

and used to the situation and how he handled it. I mean, it is what it is. It's a decision that he made. He thought it was better for his career and better for his family. That's what he prioritized. And Trinidad also told Chris Lowe that he has, quote, no hate or any less love for Coach Kiff. And he gave me a great opportunity to come here and play football.

and I'm truly grateful for that. He made his decision, and I wish him the best luck, except for September 19th when we play him, which is just awesome. Like that date down, if it's not already etched into your skin somewhere. I mean, that's going to be something. But, yeah, I mean, I also think, too,

that the transient nature of rosters now makes it more understandable when coaches are transient. I think that it probably would have been easier to resent a coach back in 2015 for leaving than it is now, because players leave so frequently. Because it almost felt like back then when you signed a national letter of intent, you were signing it for the coach and the place, expecting that that coach would be there.

Remember back in like when you were working at SI covering recruiting, how important it was, how many years the coach had left on his contract during national signing day, all those storylines of because people were bound to that place in a way that they're not bound anymore. Like I think that Lane Kiffin handled his situation poorly. I think that everybody probably thinks that. I wonder if he even thinks that. Not that he would change.

Well, he wishes the calendar were different, so he didn't have to handle it that way. He had to make a choice. And I think most non-LSU fans believe he didn't choose correctly, not because they don't like LSU, but because I think most people feel like they would stay in that situation. And I don't know if they would. I don't know if most people would.

It's a different. It's different when you're when you're that person, when you are the one actually faced with the decision. Yeah, I don't fault. Here's the thing. It doesn't matter whether you would have stayed there or whether you think LSU is a better place. All that matters is that he does. And he had to make that decision. So, and he had to make it during the time.

He didn't pick the timing of it. So everybody will probably think he's a scumbag for leaving when he did because it wasn't the admirable thing to do. But when your life is at stake and your place where you live and you're happy, and your career goals and where you exist, I was all in the balance. Like I, he made a crappy decision, but it was the only real dischoice that he kind of,

you know, I feel for him. He could have stayed. And look, here's the thing, Trinidad Shameless. Now, look,

his is different because he only had one more year and he still didn't even know if he had it at the time. Well, let's say Trinidad Shameless leads them to a win against LSU and leads them back to the playoff. He's a legend at Ole Miss. forever, like on par with Archie Manning. I agree.

Think about that. Yeah, but I don't think that the returns of whether Lane Kiffin made the right decision or not are going to be fully in until four years down the line. No, yeah, that's, and what Pete Golding does and Trinidad Chamos will help with that this year, what happens at Ole Miss also will be part of the calculation. Now, as far as Trinidad goes, we had an interesting conversation with our friend Nate Tice from Yahoo. He analyzes the draft and watches all this film. He's worked in coaching. He was a quarterback at Wisconsin. And he is much higher on Trinidad Shamblis that I think a lot of

those NFL types are, which, look, he had an incredibly productive season in college last year. It sounds like Nate's expecting a huge season from Trinidad in 2026. Yeah, and congrats to Nate. He stepped on a lot of landmines yesterday. He stood in the paint, and I thought it was a really good episode. You've been reading the mentions from the videos I've been posting and you've been posting, but people were fired up yesterday. Oh, yeah. People don't like hearing the truth sometimes either, you know? So I watched and you watched and we all watched him perform in the playoff,

and I think that the word I would use for Trinidad Chambliss's performance in those games would be awesome. Like, he was great. Here's Nate explaining from a scouting perspective why Trinidad's so good. Well, now we have to talk Trinidad. shameless because he is definitely in the 27 draft he's not getting another yes but are we sure are we a hundred percent sure but please not please not a thousand percent sure but but all right but he seems like one of those that like from a physical standpoint you go all the NFL people aren't they're going to discount him they're not going to they're not going to like but his production was so good at the end of

last year his ability to operate was so good if he does this another year it feels like he'll be fairly undeniable come draft time. Yeah, I, I'm, I'm surprised, I have him over a lot of other guys that even when we talked about. Like, I have him over Carr. I had him over Sorsby. I had him over, uh, saying like I, I, I, probably in the same tier and probably actually probably if I had like gun to head, probably over Mensa as well.

Um, but man, I, I, I really liked him because I scouted him because I thought he was coming out. And so I was like, all right, I got to watch you. So I watched a bunch of games. And I, of course, watched the playoff games on TV and then watched all 22. And I, a guy that I compared him to Jeff Garcia, former 49ers quarterback, who was undrafted at San Jose State, ended up playing in Canada. And then went up to the 49ers was a pro bowler where they're about the same size. I thought Chambliss, though, working from the pocket was really cool.

When you usually get these undersized guys, you can kind of compartmentalize how they're going to play, kind of stereotype them. Going, okay, you're going to break the pocket. You're going to throw a lot on the move. okay, there's going to be a lot of go balls. He's thrown over the middle, which is not a thing you usually see with a shorter guy, which also shows off his anticipation and understanding of space. He's got good arm. He's got a quick throwing motion.

He can create, of course. He's the guy. I'm all about tools, all about traits, especially at a quarterback, but he's one of the guys I'm willing to make an exception for because he understands how to play quarterback. I really, really enjoy watching him. Like I have a day two grade on him, which I think is very fair. and I do think that like I just I prefer watching him play maybe over some other guys just to just because how we understands to play it. So he's one of those where as high he's as high as I can get on a guy that maybe lacks those ideal tools and traits.

Shoot, if he snuck up like if he came out this year, I had a late second or early third round grade on him, which is kind of the same I had as Nussmeyer and Simpson. I would have those two above them, but same grade, same tier. So one went in the first round, one in the seventh. So somewhere in between there. But I do think like he's a real, he's got more real quarterback to him that I think he even gets credit for. So really fun player. I'm excited to watch him this year.

Like he's just one of those guys. I enjoy watching, but he's got more real NFL quarterback to him than I think he gets credit for. That's the thing. He's not a cute little story. And I would hope that what you saw at the end of last season proves that. Like crunch time. in the game against Georgia in the late fourth quarter,

he's unstoppable. Like, this is not, this is not your Disney movie? Well, it could be. It could be a Disney movie, but this is, this is a guy who, I think everybody who plays him is going to be pretty scared of this year. So, excited to see

what Trinidad Chambers can do. We know he's going to play now that all the legal wrangling seems to be over, and that seems to be set in stone that he's going to be playing for Ole Miss this year. And just hearing that, though, makes it interesting that he even went through the legal wrangling that he had to. Now, maybe he might be able to play himself in. But I don't know, like, if you go back and you listen to what Nate said about him, like, I think that that's probably going to be his grade a year from now because he's not going to grow four inches.

And he's not. I mean, it's all. So, like, you know, part of that, too is just like your NFL destination is going to be your, maybe your fate. now maybe a whole year of being awesome, pulls him into the early second round or something. Like, I don't know. But if he would have been ruled against and ineligible for college football,

I still think he'd be in a training camp this year. Agreed. I think you would have been drafted. I think he would have been drafted. Ari, this is not the thing I thought we'd be talking about if you'd ask me eight months ago, nine months ago. but we got to talk about UCLA surging in high school recruiting. In the class of 2027, a top 10 recruiting class currently in the rivals industry rankings landed five blue chip recruits over the weekend.

They still, like, there's still more to come. There's official visits and all kinds of things to come. Bob Chesney is hitting the ground running. at UCLA and Ari, after watching UCLA for the entirety of the Chip Kelly era, they were trying to recruit

better out of high school than Deshawn Foster era but weren't really successful. Bob Chesney's not playing around. Yeah. And the thing that you'll see here too is just like that number one player in their class that they got committed three days ago, Juju Johnson,

is from, is a corner and he's a little bit undersized which maybe is why he's not a five star but plays at long beach polly which is one of the USC go jack rabbits um so like i do think that this is the beginning groundwork of some pretty exciting stuff and i was actually at a breakfast at my daughter's daycare a few weeks ago and we were sitting uh with some grandparents that came in for it uh from who live in Pasadena, huge UCLA fan season ticket holders, everything. And they said that the vibe around the fans and the program has completely altered and shifted to the positive.

And like, want to know why? Because this stuff is possible now. And Andy, I'm old enough to remember when UCLA used to sign top 10 classes. Like, and I know that we. Wasn't that long. Jim Laura Jr. got a lot of good players at UCLA. And I know that they have some disadvantages, right?

Like their stadium is not on campus. It's an academic first place. all these different things. But buddy, if I were a five-star prospect, I'd like to take a visit to UCLA. And I know that, like, I'm having affinity for California, but a lot of people do. So, you know, I don't know that this means this is a victory,

but, like, this is a massive victory in the short term. It seems like UCLA also is ready to spend a little bit because obviously there's a financial component to this. Look, USC did this and did it at an even higher level for the 2026 class and they're continuing to do it for the 2027 class. Like USC, Chad Bowden gets hired as the GM. They shifted their high school recruiting model to something that they had not been doing previously under Lincoln Riley.

This is Bob Chesney coming in and saying, we're going to do this from day one at UCLA. And it is possible. Like you mentioned, the Jim Moore era, there were Blue Chip recruits coming to UCLA in almost every class. Like, when I was in every class, like, in every class. UCLA was the top in bigger.

country like that's like when i was in school ucla was one of the scary teams in the pack 12 so like i think that they might have a different set of challenges now that they're in the big 10 and playing against some teams like i think Oregon obviously has advanced tremendously in the 15 years since i was in school uh u USC is very hungry to get back they're now in a much more competitive conference top to bottom but man i could think a worst place is to play college football than that place well so uh You got the inside scoop on the rivals YouTube channel hosted by Josh Newberg. He had Greg Biggins on. Greg has been covering recruiting on the West Coast forever.

Greg had some really interesting things to say about what the vibe feels like at UCLA right now. You know what? I'll tell you what, Josh, Bob Chesney, that he's the guy. Like I talked to Trayvon Patterson. Yesterday I might drive home from a terminal. I was out in San Diego. Trayvon's Long Beach, probably head coach, Juju Johnson's head coach, Dante Wright's head coach.

He played at USC under Pete Carroll. He's been to two USC practices, and he said, dude, this guy reminds me of Pete Carroll. The way the UCLA practice are set up right now with the energy and the vibe and the radio and the music pumping and the guy that he goes, it's like our old USC practices. He goes, Bob Chesney reminds me so much of Pete Carroll with the energy. And it's not fake.

It's not put on. It's natural. And I think Chesney also hired a really good young staff that gets after it from a recruiting standpoint. They have a great support staff. And obviously, you always have to mention elephant in the room. They have to be doing a good job with NIL. And that was always my question. I think a lot of people said, hey, can you still compete from an NIL standpoint with these big heavyweights? And I haven't heard any numbers. I don't really get into that as much. But obviously, they are. If they're beating out Oregon and Texas and Texas Tech financially, they're obviously

putting some figures on the table, right, to make it good for these players. So it's the total body of the NIL matched up with everything else that UCLA naturally has to sell and a head coach who gets after it. I, mentioning him and Pete Carroll in the same sentence it's interesting, but it's not me saying that,

it's not Greg Beggton's saying that. It's somebody who played for Pete Carroll saying that, which I think is very interesting. Anytime you start throwing around Pete Carroll's name, Andy, I get the quiver. So, like, I, that's, Andy, we just saw something happen in Indiana buddy nothing's crazy anymore well and and chesney i think kurt signetti's success probably helped

bob chesney get this job you know bob chesney was the guy who succeeded curt signetti at james madison but it's not just that it's that they had a similar career path before james madison where they'd gone you know up different levels like signetti starts at cal u in pennsylvania at the D2 level. Then he goes to Elon at FCS, and then JMU's FCS, and then they move up to FBS. Bob Chesney's been at Division 3,

he's been at Division 2, he's been at FCS, like he has been all of the levels and won at all of them. I think that whenever you get a person that's one at all levels and has shown an ability and a consistency to be on the winning side of things,

that's always a good plus to a place that has been on the losing side for a long time. So. And this is what I wonder when you get somebody who's a clearly good evaluator. And Signetti, again, is the, is the ultimate version of this. But someone who's a really good talent evaluator and then you give them some money. Because, like, remember, we used to talk about the Brian Harsen situation in Auburn. Brian Harsen, great talent evaluator.

Like, no question when he was at Boise State, he was excellent at finding guys who were undervalued and getting the most out of them when they got to college. The problem is when you get to Auburn, you need some of those guys, but you also need to be able to beat Alabama and Georgia for some of the guys that Alabama and Georgia really want, too, because you were also dealing with Kirby Smart and Nick Sabin, who were also great evaluators, also great developers.

So you have to beat them for the guys that they're going after. Bob Chesney, if he can evaluate and develop like this, if he's willing to wait into the waters of fighting big-name schools and big-name coaches for recruits, which with NIL is easier. If you either have the money or you don't, then UCLA could get good fast. Without question. Sorry, there's a person with a hammer in my house. Andy, we got to have him on the show, bud.

We do. We do. I have sent the request. Okay. It has not been granted yet, but I suspect. it will be at some point. So I want to write something about this, but I want to write it with his voice.

So if we could kill... And his voice is very northeastern. Yes. It's so interesting because this is a guy, like we said when Penn State opened, like if he'd had another job between JMU and Penn State that they would,

he would have, Penn State would have hired him immediately. UCLA may have may have jumped in and gotten a really good one. Because remember UCLA, acted very quickly. He was in the boat. They didn't want to mess up the JMU playoff run

by announcing it, but they he was, it was pretty much decided he was going to UCLA fairly early in the process. And so UCLA was very aggressive in trying to make sure they went out and got him. So this is going to be one of the more interesting. Like, I don't know,

maybe this is a column that you and I need to kick around. One of us needs to write. This may be the most interesting year of first year coaches in a long time. Oh, for sure. Without question. It feels like a total generational shift.

Yeah, it's the generational shift of the SEC. The Big Ten has coaches coming in who are different in age, but less with more people, more with less people going to more places, like Kyle Whittingham. I just cannot wait to watch Penn State and Michigan this year, dude. Like, both of them, I think, are fascinating. Right. Yeah. I mean, Matt Campbell and Kyle Whittingham prime is, it's funny because on the age scale, you have three different, like the three new head coaches in the big 10 have all been big more with less guys.

Kyle Whittingham's older. Matt Campbell's kind of in the middle. Bob Chesney's younger. Yeah. But they have really proven that they can do more with less. And now they have more. And all of that is in the box. And the beautiful bow that's around that coach's box is the clown show.

that is Lane Kiffin. So, like, I mean, like, when you think about all the things that are coming into play from first year head coaches, I think that that is a pretty dynamic recipe of interest, but also for very different reasons and across the country. You got it. And also, Andy, I don't know if you saw this, but today I wrote a column for On Three that's just published. That's the 10 most pivotal seasons in 2026 for programs. Utah made my list because, like, I think the Morgan Scally thing is really interesting. So, like, yeah, like there's a lot of, a lot of different places with first year guys that I think are, are very interesting for a bunch of different reasons.

Then, of course, you have coaches that are other programs that are really interesting situations that I've had long tenure coaches. So definitely, and I know I feel this way every offseason, but like I cannot wait. There's so many stories to track this year and I just cannot wait to sink our teeth into the season. It's going to be a great year, I think. Yeah, it is going to be a lot of fun. This is just, there's so much going on and there's so much new that you can't predict. Like, think about two years ago.

We weren't even talking about Kurt Signetti taken over in Indiana. Now, last year we were talking about them because they were coming off a playoff run. We still didn't believe they could win the national title. The world is changing rapidly. And there are going to be programs that come out of nowhere. I got to tell you, UCLA,

having a top 10 recruiting class in May was not on my bingo card. So I'm excited to see what they do. Excited to see what Bob Chesney does. And this is only the beginning. So a lot of recruiting left to get that class in the boat. And then we get to see what they look on the field. It was a nice little throwback to getting excited about a flurry of recruiting commitments. Felt vintage.

We did it with USC last year. That's true. We did. So we're hitting the other side of the rivalry now. Mega board Wednesday tomorrow. What is everybody buzzing about on the message boards? Who knows? Maybe more UCLA buzz.

Get somebody else. But we will peruse the message boards on the On3 network. Ari, our off-topic conspiracy theory thing hit last week. It did. People loved it. Yeah. I actually had people. telling me their conspiracy theories in person.

So maybe we just make it tinfoil hat Wednesday. Ten foil hat Wednesday would be good. And it can be a conspiracy theory about college football or it can be a conspiracy theory about anything. Yes, send in your best conspiracy theories. We've had a few people send them in. Also, we've had a few people try to debunk the Coke conspiracy theory, the new Coke conspiracy theory.

The more logical explanation, and apparently this has been pretty well documented, is the Pepsi challenge, the blind taste test commercials that Pepsi had been doing, that was eating market share from Coke. And Coke was worried. So they made new Coke, which tasted more like Pepsi. And then people rebel because... Because Pepsi's sweeter.

Coker's hated it. Yeah. So they tried to make a Coke that tasted more like Pepsi because Pepsi was winning the Pepsi challenge, not just for the commercials. the blind taste tests were favoring Pepsi. Also, who are these people who don't know, if you put a Coke and a Pepsi can next to each other and told me to drink it, I would get it.

Who doesn't know the difference in taste by now? I don't think people, I don't think most people think about the flavors they're tasting as deeply as you do. Or I do. I think you and I are similar on that, but I don't think most people are like that. I could drink Coke, and I could tell you where it's coming from.

bottle can glass draft. As you were like which bottling plant it was coming from, that would have been amazing. But like you, like there are like Coke tastes differently. Yeah, Coke out of a two liter tastes different Coke out of a can and different in a bottle of a fountain. Yeah, and I can tell you where if you, and it would be harder, but if you poured them all in a glass and gave me a straw,

I think I could do it. We met, next time we're together, we have to try this. But, uh, yeah, I'm like the thing that, is so funny is you call me a, what is it, a raccoon? A raccoon, yes, you like trash food. The reason why I gained all the weight that I gained wasn't because I'm a huge overeater. It's because I was like literally addicted to sugar drinks.

Yeah, I was bad about that in my younger days too. Like I would have in college, I'd take a two liter of Mountain Dew and I would drink it like a can. Yeah, and if you drank a two liter of Mountain Dew every day, that is probably 3,500 of calories of excess pure sugar with no nutritional value. I don't even want to think about it. I mean, think about it like me. Like if I had, I would say I was probably drinking four or five cans because I would go

to the gas station and get the 32 ounce one. So like you have to like in four or five cans on average of Coke or Pepsi a day. So a can of Coke is 150 calories and I think 40 grams of 45 plus grams of sugar times five, that's 200 grams of pure sugar and caloric intake a day before you even talk about what you're eating. Yeah, of course you're going to gain some weight. But you know what? If I could make anything, and I want to ask you this, if you could make anything on earth zero calories, would you pick a food or would you pick a drink? Oh, if I could make beer zero calories, like zero calorie medallos and it has no impact on your same taste and effect on you? Let's go.

Give me zero calorie, medalli. But like, what about, like, pizza? Zero calorie pizza would be amazing, too. Because, like, you have to think, like, what's the biggest life hack? If you could eat pizza for two meals a day and then have a salad with chicken on. And pizza, pizza is also cheap and readily available. Yes. So that would be great if you would have zero calorie pizza.

If you had zero calorie pizza, you would have a six pack. Yeah. You'd be able to beat life. Or if I had zero calorie beer, I would buy a mini six packs. Yeah, but you wouldn't be drunk all day every day. You wouldn't be able to do that. No, probably. I would have a bigger impact on your day-to-day life.

And I think that my might be like Mountain Dew if I could choose one, because I would drink it all the time, feel like I'm having a treat. Good news, Larry. There's a diet Mountain Dew that tastes one-tenth as good. Yeah, I know. Dieter Mountain Dew is actually one of the better diets. It is, but my biggest pet peeve, and then we'll go. I know, but this is if you're here, then you're staying.

Hey, look, you're a diehard if you're here right now. I have people in my life who have said, why on earth are you so into regular soda, diet Mountain Dew or Diet Dr. Pepper or Diet Coke or Coke Zero taste better than the regular Coke. And I think that's the most insane thing in the entire world because the fundamental reason why soda is popular and good is because of the sugar. It's not just a taste thing.

It's almost like saying, oh, no, no, it's as good as Bud Light. Like, no, it's not. You're a sugar pure. story. I get it. I get it. The ingredient that makes it addicting in it. It's not even so much the taste. It's the feeling you get when that hits the back of your throat, bro.

If you've stayed this long through all of this, by the way, we love you so much. Yeah, I love you too. So sorry about that. You are our people. But yeah, send us your conspiracy theories because that's another fun off-season product.

Yeah, but the one requirement. Also, Ari, I need a who am I from you? tomorrow. Yeah, we'll do it tomorrow. But the one thing I'll say with the conspiracy theories, let's try to keep some of the very serious, gross ones out. Let's do fun of light, hard ones. Yeah, we want funny conspiracy theories. This is not that kind of YouTube channel. We don't want to take it over by the onion. We are on YouTube, Andy, and you have to be aware that those two things. Oh, I know. You heard the onions taking over Info Wars. So is it? I don't know. Yeah, I just, yeah, we don't want to flirt too close with some of our neighbors on this,

on those platform. Right. Although they do numbers. They do numbers. They do. They do. Yeah. We'll talk to you tomorrow.