Andy & Ari On3 - Could Alabama be this year’s version of 2024 Ohio State? Big 12's Brett Yormark speaks out on Notre Dame | Will Oregon QB Dante Moore return?

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

The first round of the College Football Playoff is just around the corner as Alabama heads to Norman to take on the Oklahoma Sooners on Friday, December 19th. On the On3 Megaboard, Alabama fans are questioning the morale of the entire fanbase ahead of the massive contest against the Sooners. Should Alabama fans be happier? What should Crimson Tide fans expect in the rematch vs Brent Venables and Oklahoma? Watch here As Andy & Ari break it all down here (0:00) On Today’s Episode(0:53) Presenting Sponsor(2:39) Intro(3:40) Will Alabama make a CFP run?(4:11) Modelo(5:08) How do Alabama fans feel?(13:53) Impact of TE Josh Cuevas for Alabama(21:25) First Round of CFP(22:55) Omaha Steaks(24:08) Big 12 Commissioner vs Notre Dame(41:27) PaniniAmerica.net(45:04) Dante Moore to NFL?(54:50) Auburn’s incredible message board post(1:00:05) War Eagle’s Talons(1:01:40) Conclusion: Dear Andy & Ari tomorrow! Later, Andy & Ari revisit the Notre Dame debacle as Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark provided his thoughts on the Irish and AD Pete Bevacqua. Do you agree with Yormark or Notre Dame? After discussing Alabama and Notre Dame, Andy & Ari head across the country up to Eugene. Is Dante Moore expected to return for the Ducks in 2026? Watch here as Andy & Ari dive into the latest with the Oregon Ducks as they prepare to take on the James Madison Dukes in the first round of the CFP. To close Megaboard Wednesday, Andy & Ari head down to the loveliest little village on the plains: Auburn. With the hiring of Alex Golesh, some message board posters have called back a joke involving Tua Tagovaiola. Also, what’s on the talons of the War Eagle when it flies? A jam packed show you won’t want to miss here! Send your mailbag questions in to:[e-mail]@on3.com Our show is presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. This show is presented by Modelo! Some things in life are just made for each other. Peanut Butter and jelly. Macaroni and cheese. Modelo and college football. If you’re watching this, it means you live and breathe football. All season long. You know what that makes you? A Full-Time Fan. Which means you deserve a Modelo. Because football wouldn’t be the same without you. Modelo is the official beer sponsor of The College Football Playoff. Drink responsibly. Beer imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, IL Go to https://OmahaSteaks.com to get 50% off sitewide during their Red-Hot Sale Event. And use Promo Code ANDYANDARI at checkout for an extra $35 off. Minimum purchase may apply. See site for details. A big thanks to our advertiser, Omaha Steaks! We’re also brought to you by Panini! Panini delivers the most collectible sports cards and memorabilia on the planet. Check out the new exclusive Arch Manning collection or the Panini Prizm Draft Picks College Football series. Visit PaniniAmerica.net to start your collection today. Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/C-bERAHpqnk Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Andy and Ari on 3, could Alabama be the team that reminds us of 2024 Ohio State once the playoffs start? Remember, the Buckeyes were getting killed by everybody going to the CFP last year. Same thing for the Crimson Tide this year we will discuss. Also, Big 12 Commissioner Greta, Your Mark goes after Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Vivacua. Maybe there's no deal that could happen between the Big 12 and Notre Dame. Because Brett, your mark, went at Pete Bavakwa. Also, could Dante Moore be headed to the NFL after the college football playoff? We'll discuss that.

It is a megaboard Wednesday. We have some incredible message board threads to talk about. We got BAM online. We got Blue and Gold. We got Scoop Duck. Let's go. Annie Narni on 3, presented by BEDMGM. We are presented by BEDMGM.

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message boards are popping this week, Ari Wasserman, pretty much everywhere. Yeah, it'll be good to talk about something else outside of Notre Dame. So, uh, I think we're still going to talk about Notre Dame. Yeah, but there's other topics. So, uh, you know, that, you know, I know people are kind of excited to get into playoff mode. I don't know about you, Andy, but I always feel like a

like hangover this week. Uh, there's no football this weekend. And it's just kind of like the season just abruptly ends and it always feels that way to me. Um, so I'm excited to talk about the playoff and I watched a bunch of tape this morning, Ari. It got me, it got me going. It got the juice flowing again. Yeah. but it's like it's bizarre that there's like no football on college football I know nights and I got used to it I was in the swing of it but I'm excited to talk about the playoff and some of the bowl games coming up in the coming weeks and fired up to be here as always so mega board Wednesday we're going to start with Bama online because there's a it's a it's a fascinating thing to watch the discussion of Alabama and not just the discussion of Alabama by everybody else because obviously Alabama getting in to the

playoff not moving after getting beat 287 by Georgia in the SEC championship game in the rankings. That's been a big debate point. But I want to talk about Alabama, the football team, because Alabama, and yes, I said football team, so you can, you can drink. Grab a medello. Everybody grab Modelo and help yourself. I did the football team thing that I get on RE for. So crack a medello right now. Stay game day ready all season long. Stay ready for when Andy is redundant. Redundancy is powerful. I don't know if you realize that.

I was watching a show where the host every single time they were talking about anything. They said football game and everything and said football team. It was a really good tool to use when you're being condescending. I don't know if you know that. Oh, I'm never condescending, Ari. I would never, how would I possibly know that? I'm condescending. They're like, why won't you pick up the phone?

I'm condescending all. the time. I'm on a commercial aircraft. Like, if you, like, make it longer or repeat yourself, it, like, drives the point home a little bit more. But, yeah, I'm not going to, I'm not going to give you shit for the thing that I do constantly. So, um, if you want to have, like, a 25-minute discussion about whether Alabama

should move down. No, I don't. I want to talk about Alabama playing Oklahoma next week and what Alabama can do in the playoff. And I'm going to start with this, this message board thread, authored by Evans F at the Bama Online Roundtable. the headline just about everything that I'm reading from fans is negative and this person wrote we've forgotten how to enjoy games and seasons many of you knew going to this season this was going to be tough we are in the college football playoff played in the SEC title game what is the issue and it's a great question and Larson in the first reply says being a Bama fan is torture for some folks I'd find another hobby if it made me so angry slash sad but the truth of the matter is I think it's just that Alabama fans were spoiled by one of the greatest runs in college football history, if not the greatest

run in college football history. I've actually asked myself that question a lot because I covered a team that is in the same kind of general. Very similar to Ohio State. It's like, unless you win the national title, do you even enjoy this? And I think that there is something to be said about being able to take a step back and enjoying some of the smaller things. I think Alabama probably has a way worse case of it than Ohio State and Georgia

because Alabama won so many times that like that becoming the expectation was actually like rational, you know, like they want it. How many, how many is it? I always get confused. How many did Saban win? How many to Saban win at Alabama six? They're right. Yeah.

So like do you, I don't think people like realize how hard it is to win one national title like Alabama got six in a relatively short historical period um and like it's insane like Notre Dame is a team that hasn't won a national title since 1988 and you won six during the Saban era like it is like in Notre Dame I'm not just singling out like there are a lot of teams that have historic placements in the sport that have gone long periods of time without winning one and like I think I was on the sooner scoop podcast yesterday yesterday with our guys down up in Norman. And like I talked about this a little bit of like,

I think that there has to be a reprogramming from every fan base, the elite ones to the middle tier ones, everybody has to realize. And I'm even talking to myself when I say this, that going undefeated and being excellent, which felt like the standard or was the standard of the four team era, is no longer a rational expectation. It's like Ohio State looked unbeatable this year and they lost in the big 10

championship game. I just think teams are going to lose. And they're going to lose more frequently than they're accustomed to. So, like, the way that Alabama feels right now is probably down in the dumps because you want your team to be a little bit more competitive than they were in the SEC title game. But we're two games away from them being right back on top of the world again. They go up to Norman and win and go on. Like, everything that happened in the season, like, we should be celebrating that.

And the winner of the Alabama Oklahoma game plays Indiana. So plays the number one seed in the Rose Bowl. And from a talent standpoint, If it's Alabama, that's going to be a very evenly matched game, I think. And the thing about Alabama is the question I want to ask you, and it's the question that's the title of the show, could this year's Alabama resemble last year's Ohio State? We're talking about a talented team that played a horrendous last game, horrendous last game. Remember what we were talking about this time last year relative to Ohio State?

are they going to fire their coach? Like, that's what we were talking about. We were talking about this team's going to go and win the national title. We were talking about what do they do about their Michigan problem? Well, this year's Alabama team played a horrific game in the SEC championship game. They looked terrible, couldn't run the ball. Negative three rushing yards. Their longest run was five yards, five yards.

It doesn't get much worse than that. Ari, I went back and watched every offensive snap of, that game. I went back and watched every offensive snap of Alabama, Oklahoma, the first meeting that Alabama lost. There's definitely a window for Alabama to be a better team because I also went back and watched some of Alabama, Georgia the first meeting. A healthier Alabama, which it should definitely be a healthier Alabama, is dangerous in this playoff. It is dangerous because the team you saw, the offense, the defense is fine. The offense, the offense you saw against Georgia will look completely different if a few players are healthy.

Completely different. Yeah. So I think I understand the premise of the question. The premise of the question is, could you be, because be down on your team and then that team go on a run. I think that comparing them to last year's Ohio State team is a little bit hyperbolic because Ohio State had 14 players drafted after last year's team. And like the Michigan game was like a complete aberration to like what their season looked at. All right. Alabama's going to have a lot of players drafted off this team.

I know. Is it 14? It's probably not. But it's probably close to 10. Yeah. I'm not saying that Alabama is not talented. But Alabama, what we saw in the Georgia game, there have been symptoms of that being part of who they were like all year. like it started that way they went on a great run you know you got that Oklahoma game the first time and then the Georgia game and then they didn't look that great against Auburn either

where like Ohio State I think was an isolated incident because of a mental ailment with their rival but I guess the specific situations don't have to match the question is are they talented and good enough yeah can they come out better and so here's the thing this is because really what's happened is Ty Simpson has looked horrible the last two games and now he did it looked like he got dinged up in the Georgia game

it looked like you know I think an ankle or something and it kind of slowed him down because he's a he's a much better runner than what we saw on that but they were running the ball at all too right like it happened relatively early in the game I think if I recall yeah but I don't think that would have mattered I don't think it would have changed anything

going back and watching before that happened like they couldn't run the ball at all there's one player they've been missing that I think changes a lot and it's not Jam Miller who also is going to be back. Jam Miller's their best running back. He's going to be back. But he's not the one that I'm as concerned about. I think it'll be very helpful to have him back. But the guy they haven't had since the Oklahoma game is Josh Quavis. That's their starting tight end. This guy must be so important to what they do in the run game. And I say that because

watching them play with him and then watching the Georgia game and the Auburn game without him, it is a night and day difference. Also, if you watch that first Oklahoma game, this guy was Taya Simpson's safety blanket in that game. He had six catches for, I want to say, 90 yards or 80 yards and a touchdown. It was probably his best game as a receiver. But I want to point out what he does in the run game because the players, they had a freshman and a redshirt freshman trying to replace them against Georgia,

and they got eaten alive by Georgia. And if they block a little bit better on some of these early run plays, you're converting third downs. You're moving the ball a little bit. The game might go differently. So I'm telling you right now, this guy, they think he's going to be healthy. Kaelin Borset on Sunday,

he's pretty sure he's going to be healthy enough to play against Oklahoma. That's going to change a lot because I'll be honest with you. The offense we saw against Georgia, If they trot that out there against Oklahoma, Ty Simpson is going to be batting practice for Oklahoma defenders. Because Oklahoma, like if you watch that first game, Oklahoma's got a free runner on half the dropbacks. They scheme a free runner, which a free runner is a pass rusher who is not blocked by anybody.

And you either do that because you send more than the other team has in protection, or you make it confusing enough that one of the offensive linemen or one of the backs or whoever's in protection does not know to pick you up and they just run at the quarterback. The only way to solve the free runner problem is you need to know who you can throw to immediately. And when Josh Quavis is on the field,

Ty Simpson seems to know who to throw to. And when he's not on the field, it does seem like it's a little bit harder to figure out who you throw to. I feel like this is like such a, a just key example as to why this era of college football is so much different than it used to be. Because back in the day, what did you say? I said, thank you. Like losing one player for Bama, no matter who it was, it could be their best player.

They would overcome it. And like now, that's just not the way it is. So, like, I actually think that this is kind of a tough situation for Oklahoma because, you know, it was a hard fought win the first. time you've beat them two times in a row to have to play them for a third time in two years in the opening round of the playoff with them healthy and motivated I think is a difficult spot for them um my question to you is twofold one Alabama did go on this great run but at their best do you truly believe they could make a run to the national title like at their best and then

two how much do you think of Alabama's most recent performance could also be explained by Georgia just coming on at the right time. That's the question. And I'm glad you asked it that way because the fact that they beat Georgia in Athens suggests that they can beat anybody. But the team they beat in Athens was probably different than the team they played in Atlanta. I would say that Georgia, in terms of improvement over the season, has probably improved

the most of anybody. You look back at Georgia's first half of the year and you look at their second half of the year. I don't know what the actual math breakdown is, but there was a, four or five game stretch there was like this is rough to watch and then like in november they started playing uh they started with the old miss game i i think it started with the old miss game for them yeah the old miss game did they struggle with mississippi state i can't remember no they crushed mississippi state and then we went to texas so yeah the back half of their ear

was dominant the only game that they they had trouble in well florida gave them trouble which that was a weird game. The Georgia Tech game, they lost their center and Drew Bobo in the middle of the game and the offense was not what it should have been.

But when their younger Malachi, I'm blanking on Malachi's last name, but when he took over and had a full week of snaps, he looked fine against Alabama. Yeah. Here's the stretch I'm looking at. It was the Alabama stretch. It's Oliver.

Alabama 24-21 loss. Then they beat Kentucky 35-14. They were never going to lose that game, but I don't know that it was as wide. The Auburn game was dicey. Auburn and Ole Miss were both dicey. Florida was dicey. And then once they played Mississippi State, they ran through the rest of their schedule. But Ole Miss being dicey is not an, almost a playoff team.

Right. The fact, the Ole Miss game was where Georgia's offense really hit its stride. And we started to be like, oh, wait, gutter Stockton's a good quarterback. We also have to acknowledge, too, that they didn't play well against Georgia Tech either. And that was the second to last game. They didn't. But so Alabama. now the question with Alabama is

is this is this just them now or when they get some of these guys back because jam miller's been hurt a lot of the season he's sort of in and out of the lineup quabas has been out since the Oklahoma game and I don't want to point out like just him being in there for the Oklahoma game

doesn't mean they're going to win he played probably his best game as a receiver in that game and they still lost Oklahoma so they've got to do they've got to do better they've got to protect the ball I think Oklahoma is going to be very vanilla on offense unless Alabama can prove it, can score. Because if I'm Oklahoma, I'm just taking care of the ball, and I'm going to let my defense go attack and try to get me good field position.

I'm not going to do anything to hand Alabama the game. But I also think the Oklahoma side of things is interesting because on one hand, everybody's kind of been beating up Oklahoma's offense. And maybe that's fair because, you know, things haven't been going that. well recently, but like, I went back and I looked at the LSU game because I remember watching it. They weren't scoring a lot of points. But Jammater threw for like 325 yards in that game. It's not like they're, and I know that like a few of them, some of some of his yardage have been big chunk plays to Satania on broken coverages. So maybe the numbers are kind of deceiving. But don't you kind of feel like it's been crazy to see how much we've switched up on like what

we expect from Oklahoma's quarterback? And I think that the number one thing for them is if they can cut off his turnovers because, like, John Matier started to turn it all for a lot in the second half. But I don't know if Oklahoma's offense is completely inept. Like, they have enough players on their team. Their running game, I think, has been interesting. And I'm still kind of confused about what happened with Jane Hodge. Both of these team, yeah, both of these teams struggle around the ball. Yeah, but I don't know that no secret. It should be an unreasonable ask for Oklahoma to figure out a way to score 28 points in this game at home, right? Like, that's not an unfair thing. I think it's pretty unreasonable.

Now, that is kind of the premise of the question you're asking here is if Oklahoma goes to Norman and wins, do you think that Alabama goes to Norman and beats Oklahoma, sorry, that Alabama is going to go beat Indiana? Like that's the thing. They're talented enough to, they're talented enough to beat Indiana.

They're talented enough to beat anybody on their side of the bracket. Like, the two teams that I would worry about just completely out-talenting them, are Ohio State and Georgia. And they're on the other side of the bracket. Yeah. So Oregon, I do worry about some. Oregon, because you talk about what they may have back

by the time they get to the quarterfinals. Because, I mean, maybe Evan Stewart comes back too. They could be completely loaded, locked and loaded, in terms of pass catching targets between their receivers and Kenyon Sadieh, like healthy and loaded. And that offense could look, very different. Yeah. Yeah. Texas, yeah. I saw somebody else on Twitter yesterday. I don't know who it was, but like whoever wins the Oklahoma OU game is going or the Oklahoma Alabama game is going

to the Natty. And I was like that. I think that this is like, yeah, I think those people are assuming Indiana is going to be a pushover. Indiana is the best team in the country this year. How many games do Indiana have to play against elite level opponents before people, people, like, start believing they're good. If they tread, whichever of Alabama or Oklahoma shows up to Pasadena, I think maybe people will start to get it. Like, it's like beating Ohio State not good enough. It's crazy to me.

Yeah, beating this Ohio State is pretty telling to me. Like, usually when Ohio State loses these big 10 games, it's like in the cold and they're not late. They were in a dome, dude. No, their athletes were in the pristine place to be the best athlete. least and Indiana still shut them down. So, yeah, I think, I think assuming anything is silly. But I also think you shouldn't assume that if Alabama were to beat Oklahoma,

that Indiana would just roll over them. I don't think that's the case. I think Alabama is good enough to beat anybody on that side of the bracket. The hope is that nobody's going to roll around. Then they're probably looking at Georgia or Ohio State. Yeah, nobody wants to roll over anybody in a second round. You know, there's going to be some blowouts in the first round. You know, that's part of the game.

but once we get to the quarterfinals and the semi-finals, like let's hope to really, you know, quarter-final matchups look like bangers, pretty much all over. Yeah, like I just feel like we can pencil. IU versus OU or Alabama is a banger. Let's assume that Oregon is a game. Ohio State versus A&M or Miami is great.

Georgia Ole Miss, again, banger, Texas Tech, Oregon, banger. Like, those are good games. So if you if you don't get either of those last two you mentioned then we've seen the greatest upset in college football history in the first off will be a banger exactly exactly I'm so excited Ari I am I can't wait let let's let's get to next Friday night I know we're going to talk a lot about games we are going to the two best games of the first round in back to back days and I think that the Miami Texas A&M game is. very compelling and i don't know if part of that is because we haven't seen them play but we've already seen like i know exactly what that alabama oklahoma game's going to look like and like it's probably just going to be 23 to 21 again one way or the other and you know that reflects in the in the spread but like really finding out who miami and texas a and mr is going to be fun so um yeah looking forward to that all right you know what else i'm looking forward to that next time i

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and then I use the seasoning, and it is, oh, absolutely spectacular. So go to Omaha Steaks.com. Sizzle all the way sale, 50% off site wide. Code Andi Nari for extra $35 bucks off. Ari, let us move to non-playoff discussion that never is going to die until it probably dies next week when they start playing games. There's more Notre Dame.

We'll go to the blue and gold message board. Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark chimes in. Kyle Kelly post. that one. And it is Brett Yormark talking at the Sports Business Journal Intercollegiate Athletics Forum out in Las Vegas. And I've been to this event before. I've moderated panels at this event. It's great because they get everybody together. And people will say, you know, commissioners and athletic directors will say some things on that stage there that they won't say in most interviews. Here's what Brett Yoramark had to say about Pete Bavakwa, the Notre Dame Athletic Director.

I will say this. And I'm a, and I'm a. and I'm a little outspoken about it. I don't like how Notre Dame's reacted to it. So, okay, I think Pete's, his behavior has been egregious. It's been egregious going after Jim Phillips when they saved Notre Dame during COVID. We all knew, and it was very transparent. Hunter was very transparent about it, the chair, that as Notre Dame and Miami got closer together, head-to-head would be a factor.

Okay? VYU lost. They became closer together, head-to-head. had made a difference in that decision. So I think he is totally out of bounds in his approach, and if he was in the room, I'd tell him the same thing. Well, good news. You're going to be in the same room together

when you're negotiating the next format for the college football playoffs. So I can't wait for the sparks to fly. Now, Brett Your Mark, his message to Pete Bavakwa, and I get it, is you bought the ticket, you take the ride. well it was funny because we were having a conversation yesterday about the big 12s uh you know could be a safety net for Notre Dame for my listen if if people of aqua called brett your mark today and said hey the ACC let us out of our deal can we do the same thing with you brett your mark would be on the first thing smoking no i don't doubt that what i'm doubting now

whether people of aqua and notre dame are going to be in line for that like they we just got a text right now did you see it i did i did I did. So this is how petty it's getting with the Notre Dame thing. So Ivan Maisel, great sports writer, actually one of the original on three folks, but worked at Sports Illustrated, even before I did. He had a really cool book that came out earlier this year about Frank Leahy, the former Notre Dame coach. He was going to have a signing at Notre Dame's bookstore on Friday.

they've canceled it. Ivan was a member of the committee. They always had one retired sports writer on the committee. Ivan was that one. And because he's on the committee, they canceled his book signing. It's wild. Yeah.

I like really feel like on one. We've talked about this so much. You know how I stand. But like, Notre Dame got the rug pulled out from underneath it. True. Notre Dame also should have been able to see the potential of this coming. Well, Pete of Aqua should have. I don't blame the Notre Dame players for feeling like they had the rug pulled out. But the coaches and the athletic director should have understood and probably should have said, hey, they should have said the same thing that we said on this show that everybody else said when the first rankings came out.

Something smells here because they have the same resume and the same record. why are they eight spots apart something something's off well just let me ask you because we haven't I haven't asked you this what is your general opinion of Bavakwa's behavior since Sunday I think he's doing what he's supposed to do to protect Notre Dame but I also there is an element of like he needs to focus on the ACC targeting them in a social media campaign like that that That would be, I would consider that out of bounds as a business partner of the ACC. But the Notre Dame got screwed. Notre Dame did not get screwed.

Notre Dame played Miami and lost, had the same record and the same resume as Miami. Of course Miami should have been ahead of them. Of course they should have. I'm going to rephrase the question. Do you think that his behavior is protecting Notre Dame? Well, here's the thing. Notre Dame is an interesting one because the average fan hates Notre Dame so much. The people who love Notre Dame, love Notre Dame, and everybody else hates Notre Dame. So everybody who doesn't like Notre Dame is making fun of them.

They're saying they're a bunch of winers. They're saying they're soft for skipping a bowl game. I don't think he needs to worry about their opinions. I only think he needs to worry about the opinions of people who love Notre Dame because that's who pays his salary. And it's interesting because one thing about Notre Dame being an independent football is they don't have to worry about anybody else's feelings other than people who love Notre Dame. And their inherent value as a program and a television commodity is like an unbreakable thing.

They got a lot of juice. Yes. And a different program with less juice could not do this. And let's also be honest, part of the reason why Notre Dame has such high viewership, high ratings is because I feel like people hate watch them more than other teams. They do. They do. You either love Notre Dame or you hate Notre Dame. And that's a good thing to be in as a commodity, as an entertainment product. It's sort of like the scene in private parts where they're going through the listener survey about Howard Stern. And it's like, yeah, the people who love Howard Stern tend to listen for 30 minutes, chief reason, I want to hear what he'll say next. The people who hate Howard Stern tend to listen for three hours, chief reason,

I want to hear what he'll say next. Like that's sort of name. And when you're looking at the ratings, the ratings don't come with love or hate. All they care is the television's on. It's interesting because if you look at the ratings and the most watch teams this year, actually mostly in the SEC. And obviously there's Ohio State and Michigan.

but yeah and like i think that like when you're a big brand i'm not going to pretend like people don't hate watch ohio state and hate watch alabama they a lot of people watch but they're inherently uh into it because of the potential of an upset every time ohio state's on tv if they're playing somebody and they lose it's interesting so like that that's also part of it but like notre dame is is a is a great commodity i don't know from a public perception standpoint the people who hate them like you said aren't going to change their mind I don't know if they've strengthened the brand internally based on this. Like, I don't know that I would have approached it this way.

It doesn't. The skipping the bowl part looks bad. And again, I do think if they'd had 24 hours to decide they wouldn't be skipping the bowl. The other part of this, and this is the part Brett Your Mark was pointing out, is you help create the system, not Pete of Aqua specifically, but Jack Swarbrick, who held the job before Pete of Aqua did, literally was one of the four people who wrote this up. Do you know what this feels like to me, this whole thing? It feels like a sporting event that was super close,

but a team made a few catastrophic mistakes and lost, and then their star player complaining about the refs for 20 minutes after the game's over. That's kind of what this feels like. Except it's now we're into three days of complaining. Right. And public news conferences and things like that. And it's like, and I get it.

Like Notre Dame fans actually believe, and I think that there might be something to it, that this is one of the most talented and explosive teams that they've ever had. And the pain of losing the ability to, you know, see that through is real. Like, I get that. But like, I don't know, like yesterday when they called the news conference, wasn't there like a thought process that there would be some sort of announcement built into it, something to do with like Marcus Freeman or extension or some piece of news that we were supposed to get? Instead of just everybody wants to talk.

But I will say this about Notre Dame and their public relations. They're really nice about it. And they are pretty accommodating, you know, with various, they're obviously covered nationally, but they have a pretty dedicated local B crew. And they wanted to give those people a chance to ask people of aqua questions with something going on. So that's all that was. Yeah. Yeah.

But I was watching it and I was like, if you're a non-Nodername fan, like you're watching this going, like what the hell's going on here? Oh, yes. And that's, it's catnip for the people who hate Notre Dame. The Schadenfreude is off the charts because the people who hate Notre Dame thinks Notre Dame gets, they think Notre Dame gets special treatment. They think Notre Dame thinks it's poop doesn't stink. Like, they think all that stuff.

I also know that nothing that ever happens in a given season will ever change people from saying this shit. But like, can we just stop next year, like around this time of saying, well, they're just going to put Alabama in or they're just going to put Notre Dame in because they get more TV viewership. Like time and time again, that's completely. shown to be untrue. Like, it's not true.

Like, if they wanted Notre Dame in, or if they wanted viewership, Notre Dame would be in right now. Correct. Well, and not over Alabama. They would have been in over Miami. If it was strictly about viewership, yes. If you're like one of these conspiracy theory people

who thinks that the committee makes their rankings and their proceedings are done based solely on how many people will watch games to get the most money, time and time again, it's proven wrong. Yeah. So just stop saying it. It's annoying. Well, and the thing is, like, this is a weird role reversal for Alabama. Alabama's always been team I test. Notre Dame was team I test this year. And Miami was, too. Nicole, Alabama was team resume.

Nicole Auerbeck tweeted something today that I thought was really interesting. And I want to give her credit. And we were texting about it earlier today. But she said that the college football playoff committee, part of their explanation, and she's true, right, I listened to it, was. for not dropping Alabama down a spot after they lost to Georgia was because they had already beaten them earlier in the year. But if you look at it from an investing standpoint, like that was already priced into their ranking, the win. Right. There were negative news. You don't like, I think that that. Yeah, that was that was priced into their number nine ranking in the penultimate ranking.

It's like when you're investing in a stock, if you go through the stock price, the revenue from the previous quarter is already priced in. So if you have a bad quarter, you can't say, well, their awesome quarter the quarter before is the reason why the price doesn't fluctuate. No, the price fluctuates based on the most recent activity. I think they just said we were going to leave Alabama in the field, but we don't want to move Miami up another spot without them playing. Because remember when you and I did it on Saturday night, now we left Alabama out. So we had Alabama rank number 11. But I had Notre Dame, or I said I had Miami rank number nine because I said the committee's going to flip this and put Miami ahead of Notre Dame. But I think the committee might have looked at it and said, we can't move Miami to number nine when they didn't play.

Yeah. And I also understand why Alabama's in, too, Andy. Like they have, they have quality wins. You know, they shouldn't have said we didn't move them down because they already beat Georgia before. it's to the part of the problems and the explanation they should just say well their resume outweighed Notre Dame so we kept them in the field like that's the explanation not yeah Alabama was they had a harder schedule and better wins like that was it's funny because when i was tweeting about the the Notre Dame stuff and the Notre Dame complaints people kept

saying well okay now explain Alabama like easy harder schedule better wins like that's that's not complicated at all like that's why they did it like and and I would have been fine if they'd left Alabama out, if they put them at 11 and put Notre Dame in, I'd have been fine. If you just come out and say, we think Notre Dame is a really good team and we think they're going to beat a lot of the teams in this field and that they could go deep in this playoff, I wouldn't have been fine with that answer. Because I know Notre Dame be favored over half the teams in the field. Like, I'd be okay with that answer.

But I'm also okay with the Alabama answer, that they played a harder schedule and had better wins. The explanation you just said you'd be fine with what it drove me crazy. I'm okay with the I test, you're not. That's the same explanation that you would have given it by putting them in over Miami. We think they're better than they'd be favored. Like, that's what I was railing against. Yeah, but they played.

There's no hypothetical there. They played. I made a mistake because on Saturday night, when we were projecting the committee, I had Notre Dame and Miami in and Bama out. And then when I went to bed that night, I realized that was a mistake. because Alabama just had too many wins, dude. You said it on the live show that we did before they started revealing the rankings. You said the one nobody's talking about that I can't stop thinking about is what if Miami and Alabama both get in.

And that's exactly what happened. Yeah. And that was because the night before I put my top 12 out on Twitter as you were doing yours. And I'm like, well, when I woke up the following morning, I was like, there's something off about that. And I'm happy that the resume is the guide. I don't ever want the guide to be what do we think is going to happen. That's my number one enemy. So, yeah, anyway, but I'm very interested to see how long this Notre Dame saga is going to continue.

I think if I'm Notre Dame, I probably cut it off now at this point. Yeah, like I've had enough of it. Yeah. And I think they have two. Like, I put in a request for Pete Pavakwa. and they're like, respectfully, press conference yesterday was kind of it. I get it. I understand that.

Yeah. And I think that's probably the smart thing. I think it went two days longer than it should have. I think that, you know, because even last year, like when Bama got left out, the SEC popped off a few things, like the night of or the day of, and then it kind of dissipated. Like the fact that we were into Tuesday and it was still going on was kind of wearing. Let's be real, they were still popping off in May and Destin at their spring meeting. It popped back up.

Yeah, no, I know. But it wasn't like a three-day long tirade. This will pop back up too. Probably, I would say in late January, around the national title game, when the commissioners and Pete Bavakwa are together trying to hammer out the 2026 playoff format. I think that is when this will pop up again. Yeah, but Notre Dame already won in the current format because now they have the top

12 assurance, which is a complete. Right, but if they go to 16, they don't have that assurance anymore. No, I know, but they already got, like, again, next year, if the system stays the same, which I kind of hope it does. Because Andy, like, I don't think we've even acknowledged this, but when you put up the bracket, River, put up the bracket. Like, I was like, oh, well, who lost in their conference championship

game this year that benefited from losing? It's like, nobody has a, and if the ACC has a decent champion this year, it doesn't look like this. Like two lanes at 12, the team at 11 would be a team that probably can be very competitive against Ole Miss. But I don't think that you could sit back and say that any of the teams with a buy have unequivocally easier path to the semis. No, no, I would not say that. Actually, you look at Penn State's route and it was like, oh, my God. Like, that doesn't exist this year.

I think this works. This is functional. It's functional. And I think it adds drama if somebody that you think is good and somebody that you think could win. games in the tournament is left out. I think that's fine. Like if they had an imperfect flawed season and they're left out, it's okay. You should have won more games.

I still think they're going to go to 16 because I think all of those people, all those stakeholders want it, want it to go to 16. I wish they wouldn't, but I think they're going to. Yeah. And then how many years of 16 do you think we'll get before they expand it again? Got one. You think though, like what do you think? Big 10's been pushing for.

24 already. If I had to put you on the spot, though, and just say in 2035, so 10 years from now, what will playoff field size be? What would you guess? Oh, I don't know, because I think the league's going to be different. I don't think it's going to be 136 FBS teams at that point. Yeah. In 2035, the entire sport is probably going to be different. Yeah, that's the one. That's the issue with everything. Like, yeah. So I don't know. Ari, let's rip a pack. Panini. Go to Panini in America to start collecting your favorite college and NFL stars. I got a pack of Donoros right here.

This is 2025 Donoris. And are you, you let me know what you got down there on your desk. I'm going to take a look at some of these. I've got a bunch of cards that I pulled. Look at this, Andy. They call me stack. Look at all these.

I ripped the 2025 Prism Collegiate myself. I went and bought a bunch of boxes because I love it. Here's some of the hits that I got while you're, looking through yours. Here's a 2025 rookie Ted McMillan signing day, Blue Ice, and that's number to 75, Otto.

And he's a dog. And I might keep that one. You know, not very often you get Arizona player. That's as good as he was. Here's a purple Julian saying NIL card. We love the NIL cards on the show. I do. This one's numbered to 99. Here's a Travis Hunter

trophy hunting. Blue Ice to 149. I've got Marcel Reed, another NIL card, got a few Jackson darts. We got Chador Sanders in his Colorado. A big game the other day. The Browns, Will Browns, unfortunately. But yes, Shador's getting better by the week. And then last one, I'll show, and then I'll let you get to it, is Ashton Jenty, blue,

the 249 auto. And then there's a, I don't know how well you can see it, but in the shadow box of where he is on the art is like a Bronco, a boy. Boise Bronco. Oh, nice. This is cool. A nice card. So I have a I pulled a Tuatong of I little press proof that is numbered to 199 out of this pack just now. There you go.

I got a Derek Harmon rated rookie. We're going to talk about Oregon in a second. Derek Harmon played for Oregon last year. And also number to 99, Tony Pollard autograph. So he had a pretty good game. And he played against Cleveland. I don't know if it counts. Yeah, not a bad rip there. If your

NFL player that you just pulled goes off against Cleveland or did they have to go off against somebody else. I think you got to go off against some. Well, I know, Cleveland's defense is really good. So you make a good point. Tony Pollard had a huge game on Sunday. Yeah. So I'm fine with, yeah, if you go off against

Cleveland, you've done something. Hey, Andy, I want to show two more, or three more cards because we're talking about Notre Dame, and I hit a bunch of Notre Dame cards, and they're beautiful. This is a Benjamin Morrison snake skin. It's a very short printed, like, in case it. And like, you see the snake skin on the

card? Yeah. And Notre Dame's uniforms are beautiful. They look great on cards. And then this one is just a card that maybe I should just give away to somebody who listens to the show is a sign of good faith. This is a real olive branch. But here's Riley Leonard, Gold Shimmer Otto. And the

coolest thing about this card is it's only numbered to 15. The gold shimmer is like one of the most exclusive ones to get. And Riley Leonard led them to the national title game last year. That'd probably be a nice keepsake for some of the players. Also, Riley Leonard pressed into action with the Colts, although Philip Rivers is now

signed so we'll see if uh you know he comes off i thought that was a joke i cannot believe that's real 44 years old i think he retired for like four years though like when's the last time he played an NFL game 20 20 20 i guess when your wife stops having children like you you know it's uh it opens what else you're gonna do with that many children have this much free time uh that's why he's leaving to get some free time true panini america dot net to start collecting your favorite college and NFL stars. Let us head one more place on the on the megaboard. We'll go to Scoop Duck. That's our Oregon site. Justin Hopkins, Jay Hop, the publisher

posted a thread around a story that he wrote called Oregon players facing tough decisions on the NFL. And of course, the one everybody's talking about is Dante Moore. Because like Kenyon Sadiq does not have a tough decision. Kenyon Sadiq is going to the NFL. He's going to be great there. he needs to go to the NFL. He's going to be a very high drafting. Dante Moore is a more interesting situation because I don't know that he's quite ready yet,

but I think if I look around at the draft class for quarterback, sorry, he's still maybe more ready than the other guys than the other guys. I've seen his name popping up on mock drafts. And my thought process was that he was coming back for another year, but if you're going to be a top 10 pick, man, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know that you can wait. Though I will say Oregon's an interesting place to think about that because I do think

that probably as everybody watches Bo Nix, like Bo Nix starting so many games in college, whether that's at Auburn or at Oregon, I think is what made him attractive to Sean Peyton and has allowed him to be as successful as he's been so far in the NFL. Now, I realize that their defense is really good. They have other parts of their team that have made the Broncos really good. But I think if Bo Nix had been kind of like a one-year starter in college and had a similar last year in college, like he probably doesn't come in and do what he's done in the NFL.

Yeah. And I don't know if this is the direction that you were trying to take this megaboard topic. But, Andy, when you look at this article, doesn't it mean, he's like, God damn, they're good. Like, Oregon's awesome. Oregon's unbelievable. But you, I don't say more questions. Oregon, like, in and out of like, you know,

wow, they're really loaded to, we're not talking about them that much. And then you look at the roster and say, holy crap, they're really loaded. And it's like, I just want people to realize that last year could, this could be the inverse of last year for them. Yes.

Yes. And I think they're probably happy they're getting to play, knock any rust off. And then they'll go play the quarterfinal game against a really good team, probably Texas Tech. or well, definitely Texas Tech. Oregon's the one that has to earn the spot.

But it would be Texas Tech against Oregon in the Orange Bowl. Okay, so our friend Dane Bruegler from the Athletic, who is one of my favorite draft analysts. He's the guy. I know his process. I know how connected he is. I know how much work he does. You watch us film you around,

which most mock draft people don't do, I think. Yeah. So in his mid-season, 2006, Big Board, he had Dante Moore as the number 12 pick and his QB3. Now, he had Ty Simpson's QB3, is QB1 and Fernando Mendoza's QB2. I think the Ty Simpson shine is off. Though I will say

one of the other potential megaboard topics I had was Alabama fans debating whether Ty Simpson's going to be back. And that's more of a timing thing with Keel and Russell than anything else. Dante Moore is welcome back at Oregon. That's not the issue. The issue is

Dante Moore going to be, because I'm looking at this list, Lenora Sellers, he's got his QB4, that's probably not happening now. Dante Moore may be QB2 behind Fernando Mendoza If you were in the draft When was the list that you're reading from Bruegler published? Was it before the year?

About a month ago? Because you know the thing that I think is so interesting too About these sorts of things is that that is such a moving target too. Yes. Like, you know, there's still games to be played And a lot of these guys are playing in these games. So it's like if Dante Moore, you know, leads Oregon to the national title game,

like that might change the math on that too, you know? Yeah, and Dane put out his first mock, I believe, last week. So I'm going to take a look at that and see where he's got Dante. I don't want to pile on Drew Aller, but did he make a decision, a mistake coming back? I might have. Okay, so here's where Dane has Dante Moore in his mock draft that he put out last week. Any guesses as to what spot? I'm going to guess a range.

I don't know where the teams are picking. So I'm not an NFL expert to that level yet. I would say number eight or nine, ish. Number two. Oh, okay. Well, if that's the case. Yeah. Now, we don't know what's going to happen because right now the, the tight,

well, the Titans won on Sunday, so that helps them a little bit. But the Titans were in the position for the number one pick. They're not picking quarterback. So they'll either trade that or pick a position player. But if it's a quarterback needy team, he has clear. Cleveland trading up to Tennessee to the number one spot to get Fernando Mendoza. He then has the Raiders trading up to number two to get Dante Moore. That'd be a pretty good spot.

The moral of the story is not that that's going to happen. It's that probably these are the two biggest quarterback prospects in the draft. And so Dante Moore has to decide what he wants to do because what makes this interesting to me, Ari, is we've already seen Dante Moore do the unconventional thing. When he left UCLA, he could have very easily gone somewhere that would have guaranteed him the starting job. So he could have been a starting quarterback in 2024 at the power conference level.

He's obviously very good. So he thought it would be better for him to go to Oregon, to sit and learn behind Dylan Gabriel, and then become the starting quarterback. And I would not argue with that logic because he's been awesome in his first year as a starter. So the question is, will he do the unconventional thing again and say, you know what? Historically, quarterbacks with more starts in college tend to be more successful in the NFL. I'm going to play another year in college.

Because remember, it's not like 10 years ago. He's going to make good money in college, but not as good of money as he'd make as the number, you know, two, three, four, five pick in the draft. I mean, I think the philosophical discussion is if you're going to be a top five pick, do you is the choice made for you, but it feels like it is to me. So, but yeah, I, I, Oregon plays at bad times and on peacock a lot. I don't know if a lot of people have gotten a fool Dante Moore experience. I think that watching him play, um, is going to be really fun for a lot of people

that probably haven't watched him play all that much. I can't imagine that Oregon television ratings have been off the charts this year. They haven't played a lot of interesting games and they've been playing in weird time slots and on weird networks. Yeah. Yeah. So he is very good. In case you're wondering what the total value of the number two picks contract is. No, there's a fifth year option, but the four years are set up already.

It's a four year 46.5 million dollar contract. So, and then if you're, let's say, let's say you're down at number 10, it's a four-year $26.6 million contract. It's a huge difference if you're a top five. Yeah, it is, it is. Yeah, number five overall gets $40.8 million over four years. So you're going to get paid, you know, in the low, like in the single-digit millions, if you're Dante Moore playing in Oregon next year.

You just have to decide, would you rather make more and get closer to. to contract number two in the NFL. The low single digits, by the way. There's a huge, you know, $2.4 million. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Because like if you're the number two pick, your year one contract is $8.4 million. Or actually, that's year one cap hit. I think there's a, there's a bonus that you get a big bonus at first. So. Yeah.

I mean, when you get that opportunity, I mean, if Drew Aller would have been a first round pick last year and he did, he came back to develop and then he got oh he probably he probably should have gone was he a fifth round pick now if he's a third round pick i don't know how far he fell i mean i'm sure people still fall in love with his traits so maybe it'll be higher than that i don't know but it's certainly not as high as it would have been had he just left well he's also coming off an injury

won't really be able to work out for anybody like it's it's a bad situation and and i think there's been enough stories about that where if you if you are reasonably assured now here's the thing should or sanders thought he was going to be a first round draft pick and that wasn't a case of him you know somebody blowing smoke like lots of people thought he might be a first round draft pick he went in the fifth so you got to be he was projected in some of these to go one one right so you you've got to be somewhat careful with this you got to be careful who you listen to but i i have no doubt that dan landing and the staff at organ do their homework and get very honest opinions from the nfl people so my guess is dante more will be

presented with accurate information, and then he can make a decision. Yep. So I'm very, very intrigued to see what happens there, because, again, he made the non-conventional decision once before, and most people don't. So perhaps he does it again. But if I'm Oregon, I'm hoping to find maybe a new quarterback next year. I might have to just be careful with that. I'm sure they'll find one, too, by the way.

Yeah, I'm not really worried about it. They are really good at. All right, we have one more megaboard thread. And this one, this one is just for fun, Ari. This is a callback. I really love when college football fans have long memories and remember very obscure things. So this is from the Auburn Sports Message Board. It's, they call it the corner. Betis posted this, and it says, Goalish language barrier. If you know the history of Alex Goelish, the new coach at Auburn, he was born in Russia. So we'll start there.

I haven't heard of mention, so I thought I would address the tiger in the room. He seems like a great coach. So I'm wondering how his transition to the states has been as far as communication goes. Are we doing anything different, like special playbooks are relying on signals more when he's calling plays in game? I thought I saw him point to receivers a couple times

and defenses might catch on if he's pointing to who Byram is going to throw to the ball to, they're already moving Byron Brown there too. The only time I've been out of the... Matterfackly, too. Yeah, the only time I've been out of the country is when I was shipped to Nam, and I was confused as a Yankee learning to...

And I was as confused as a Yankee learning to square dance. So, if you think that is serious, don't. Okay. Betis is kidding, but Ari, do you remember the famous message board thread that Bettis is referring to? I don't, no. I need to be better about like historical message board culture. You're better at that than me.

So when Tuu Tunga Vaila was Alabama's quarterback, there was a, there was a threat on one of the Alabama message boards because two is from Hawaii. The person was concerned about a potential language barrier. the person was not kidding okay just because I'm really bad at this sort of thing the language in Hawaii is English right yes now there is like an ancient Hawaiian language the one with all the vowels or well who are born and they have the same vowels they just don't have any consonants

but yes if you watch the the Apple TV show Chief of War with Jason Mamoa they speak in that language but Hawaiians don't speak that language anymore are they speaking English. That's like hearing somebody say like, yeah, I'm not, yeah, you get it. That's crazy. But that is it, that is a great call.

And I love that Bettis did not tip his hand at all. Like, here's the thing. And I don't know if you're struggling with this. I struggle with who's being serious and who's not online. It's true. Because there's no sarcasm font, unfortunately. And there's a very dim line. between what somebody would think is obviously sarcasm

and like what someone else's true thoughts are. Like I snapped at somebody today for saying, I'm never going to forgive you for Notre Dame not getting in the playoff. And I was like, all right, dude, whatever. I said something back then he's like, I was joking, man. I was like, oh, my bad. Like, I've gotten 25 messages that were serious about that.

So, yeah, you know, I've got to be, you know, I have really struggled Andy recently in the snapping back at people department online don't do it i know i really need to go see i have the same problem i and i'm trying to be better i'm way worse not always better i'm way worse than you at it oh i know because i just let it go like i find that i need to just completely remove myself and just let all that kind of wash out and then come back with a new topic yeah because if you get sucked into the debate there's always going to be someone willing to argue with you it's it's like those it's like those those kung fu movies where there's just you know you you dispatch one and then 10 more come at you

and i don't think i've ever won i don't think i've ever won an argument online you will never have somebody be like wow you've completely changed my mind yeah i'm so glad we had this discussion yeah but now alice gulish yes originally born in russia speaks meticulous english uh because I think he came over when he was very young. But that is a, I just love, again, I love when college football fans remember the obscure of the sport and then can instantly recall it. And the fact that, like, everybody on the board got it, like got the joke immediately. If you read the thread, everybody gets the joke. And it's just beautiful.

It's beautiful. And Auburn fans are good at this. I mentioned this the other day, the Auburn, Georgia thing, where in 2007, they're in Athens, Georgia's kicking Auburn's butt, and they play crank that by Soldier Boy. And then in 2017, Auburn's kicking George's butt, and the first notes of crank that come out, and the whole stadium just blows up. Like, I love when college football fans are petty and remember things like that. Hey, Andy, can you teach me something about the SEC before we get out of here?

Sure. the thing that is on the eagle's claw is that a camera or a tracking device if it flies away that's a good question i am uh that's not learning something about the SEC that's learning something about falconry and uh not being a falconer myself uh falconry is is i believe the term the catch-all term for people who have birds like that birds of prey yes so it is an eagle not a falcon but it is a bird of prey so you have a falconer who would be could you imagine did you ever watch that HBO murder mystery about the staircase did you ever watch that anyway I have not I threw his wife down the stairs and she like split her head

open on the stairs and great you spoil it for me thanks well I don't know actually I don't remember whether he actually did it or not so you should okay uh one of the defense attorneys said that the gashes on the back of the woman's head were actually from a door that was left open and a falcon coming in and attacking her. And I think about that every time I see this picture. That is what the attorney's called an alternative theory. Yeah. Like, did you imagine getting attacked by a falcon?

It's wild. We got a bunch of birds of prey hanging around. Yeah, like there's an owl that hangs around the football stadium at my kid's school. And so when they play sometimes, the owl's just like sitting on a goalpost. And owls can be aggressive, I think, can't they? I mean, they're birds of prey. Look at those claws, man. It's a beautiful animal, though.

It's a beautiful animal. Beautiful. Beautiful. Ari, this has been a lot of fun. You know what else is fun? When you guys drive the show, and that's going to happen tomorrow. Dear Andy, dear Ari, you know where to find us. Andy Stapleson3 at gmail.com.

Ari. Dot Wasserman at On3.com. And we are going to answer your questions. I know there's been a lot since the playoff bracket came out. bold pairings came out. People are starting to say, I'm going to enter the transfer portal now, even though they can't actually do that

until January 2nd. A lot to break down. Send us your questions. We will answer the best ones on the show tomorrow, and we will talk to you on Thursday.