Andy & Ari On3 - Curt Cignetti is CHANGING the way we think about Indiana football | Closing the Lanning loophole

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11.Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker,try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs. This show is sponsored by PrizePicks, America’s most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code STAPLES to play $5 and get $50 instantly. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/STAPLES This show is brought to you by Huel, The World’s No. 1 Complete Nutrition Brand. ​With over 400 million meals sold worldwide — yes, you heard that right, 400 MILLION — Huel is trusted by millions of people looking to fuel their days with convenient, complete nutrition. Try it for yourself with our exclusive offer for you…. FIFTEEN PERCENT off with the code: STAPLES at HUEL-dot-com. Fuel your best with Huel today!(0:00-1:20) Introduction(1:21-9:35) Closing the Lanning Loophole(9:36-14:33) Penn State fan trolls USC(14:34-15:12) Try Huel!(15:13-36:10) Indiana Coach Curt Cignetti Joins the show(36:11-39:22) Wrapping up Cignetti, Revisiting Yesterday's Show(39:23-45:59) Previewing Nico Iamaleava vs Alabama on Saturday, presented by PrizePicks(46:00-56:28) Ari's Saucy Takes: Dan Lanning is a top 3 coach(56:29-1:00:27) The Semi-Finals will feature only 2 conferences(1:00:28-1:07:22) Ohio State and Oregon Rematch.. x2?(1:07:23-1:09:26) Ranking Ari's Takes(1:09:27-1:10:14) Conclusion; Dear Andy & Ari tomorrow - [e-mail] It’s a Wendy’s Saucy Take Wednesday, but first, we have some news and a very special guest. The rules loophole Oregon coach Dan Lanning used to drain time off the clock against Ohio State is getting closed. The NCAA’s coordinator of officials said Tuesday that officials will get the latitude to put time back on the clock if a defense intentionally uses too many players in order to draw a flag.   Next, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti joins the show to discuss how he turned the Hoosiers into a 6-0 team that has yet to even trail in a game this season. Indiana plays Nebraska on Saturday in its toughest game yet. Cignetti explains what kind of players he looked for in the transfer portal when he took the job (because Indiana’s best remaining players hit the portal immediately). He also warns against putting artificial limitations on a program. Next, it’s time for saucy takes. Ari is in the kitchen this week, and Andy will judge which take is the sauciest from takes on the following three topics: Oregon coach Dan Lanning The Big Ten and the SEC in the CFP What we learned in the fallout from the Oregon-Ohio State gameWatch us on YouTube instead! https://youtube.com/live/vTf4EpNGWrk Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. It is a big, big day. We have a big, big guest. Indiana head coach Kirk Cignetti, Coach Siggs. The Hoosiers are 6-0. Their first time being bowl eligible since 2016. So huge stakes in that game. Ari Wasserman cannot wait to talk to Coach Siggs because I cannot believe the job he's done. Yeah, you know, it's a nice little lesson. If you want us to talk about your team more, then winning is a pretty good cure. It was great to have him on. It's awesome to imagine the possibilities of a team that you don't really imagine a lot. They're legitimately very good. This isn't just like, oh, they happen to go 6-0 and they just are about to play the back half of their schedule and get their doors blown off. I actually believe that this is a team

that can finish with one loss or potentially contend for one of those final spots in the college football playoff this year. It is a great story. And to hear how he went about turning it around as quickly as he did is utterly fascinating. So stay tuned for that. It's coming up shortly. Little bit of news to cover before we talk to Kurt Cignetti. The landing loophole.

We talked about it yesterday. Dan Lanning intentionally put 12 men on the field against Ohio State with the hope that the extra man would help ensure there was not a big play. Got flagged for it, but it took precious seconds off the clock, and that was done on purpose. It is an homage to the Buddy Ryan Polish goal line from the 90s. Well, Ari, the NCAA is working fast. It appears they will be closing the landing loophole. Ross Dellinger from Yahoo talked to Steve Shaw, the national coordinator of officials.

R. Pete Nako said on three, talked to sources within the NCAA. It sounds like they're going to close it. And in a way we talked about yesterday, I mentioned this. Maybe there's a way the refs can just put the time back on the clock. Apparently they do have that latitude. So if they feel like the penalty was committed on purpose, they can just put the time back on the clock. Super exciting for future discussions about trying to prove intent.

That's going to be fun. As if reviews aren't enough. Like, how are you ever going to be able to prove that it was intentional and i was just like laughing and thinking about it like if landing would have just played dumb and pretended like it wasn't like he might not be getting uh you know everybody talking about how much of a genius he is but maybe he would have been able to keep it going but i i bet he didn't consider that they would change the rule or look into that rule but you know what this kind of reminds me of, Andy? And this is something that I've seen on Twitter from a lot of people using the word cheating. It kind of reminds me of in basketball when a team is quote-unquote cheating

or committing an infraction to extend the clock by fouling at the end of a game. Like, it's within the realm of the rules. And I don't really find it to be anything other than a really good coaching move. Like, I don't know if you disagree with that, but like, Oh no, no. If the rules allow you to do it and you're smart enough to figure out how the rules allow you to get away with something,'s just smart like that is literally your job yeah yeah that's your job now it is their job as the people who run the officiating program to figure out if you gained an advantage using the rule that was not done in a way that the rule was intended to be used then yeah they're supposed to fix it so i have no problem with them fixing it but i also have

no problem with him doing it so that just means he's gonna find another way to do it steven wilson here in the chat actually said it better than i did um it's like fouling when you're up by three with a few seconds left to prevent them from getting up a three like that's to me it's like you're committing an infraction to gain an advantage, and that's coaching. So, yeah, we'll see how this goes. But I thought that he deserves to be praised for this, not criticized. Yeah, I love that Producer River's throwing Dan Hurley pictures up there. I'm a huge foul-up three guy. Massive foul-up three guy.

Like, always foul-up three. Pretty slick on his toes move for River there, too, to have that ready, all popped out, ready to go. He doesn't play, and we know Dan Hurley fouls up three pretty slick on his toes move for river there too to have that ready all popped out ready to go he doesn't play and we know dan hurley fouls up three although he's rarely up three at the end of the game he's usually up by 27 so it's a little bit easier for him but that yeah that was that was quick i i was thinking maybe they do that in the off season but apparently it is within the the realm of the or i guess within the purview of the referee during the game to one diagnose the intent and to add those extra seconds back to the clock so it is funny though andy because it's such a small thing like you don't see that very often right like? Like that. I haven't seen that in, in many years, but.

But Ari, it's, it's, even if it was four seconds and it was a little more than that, but even if it was four seconds, if there's four seconds left on the clock, when Will Howard slides timeout and they have a, a makeable field, well, they might not have made it, but they had a makeable field goal attempt to win the game. So it made a difference. It did. Absolutely. Yeah. There's no question about it. And I just will repeat what I said on the show yesterday, Andy, which is if you are a coach who drills circumstantial or hypothetical situations in your practice, and you have the frame of mind to make that call and not

only just make it but execute it with your personnel who know what to do um i think it's it's really savvy so we'll see what what goes on with the rules moving forward but oregon earned that win and that was all part of it zach in the chat he has a different basketball analogy it's not fouling up three it is running into the court without a scorer's table buzz playing defense. That would be funny. Let's see if Dan Hurley pulls that. What would happen? I think there's probably a more significant penalty for a sixth man on the court.

I've actually thought about this before. What would happen if you're playing football and there's like 10 seconds left and somebody is running toward the end. And they're about to score the go-ahead game-winning touchdown, and somebody on the bench just tackled him. This has happened. What happened? I don't know. Somebody just trips him or something. I mean, the person gets ejected.

There's a penalty. It was a too much. Where the phrase too much Bama comes from, it's 1954, Alabama against Rice in the Cotton Bowl. And one of the Alabama players on the sideline tackled a Rice player who was running down the sideline. And he got asked afterward. I don't know if it was immediately after the game,

but he said, I just had too much bam in me but i would take an ejection and a penalty if it stopped the touchdown it does stop right right and that's well i i feel like you should if you're if you're a db who's beating the end zone down the field always commit pass interference. Always. Yeah. Because then they have to run a play to score at least. Yeah. It just kind of reminds me of that, like, basketball scene at the beginning where they combine, like, five sports and the outfielder gets tackled by a defensive lineman in the outfield.

I don't know. It just, you know, when you think that this game can't offer any more grab-ass, Andy, it always delivers. And this is the latest thing. And this time i will call it savvy smart genius grab ass so alabama's tommy lewis tackled rice's dickie magel in the cotton well dickie magel was just running away and got tackled by a dude off the sideline so

yeah uh landing could have gone with the too much Oregon defense. I guess that would work. It literally was too much Oregon. It was too much Oregon. Literally too much. One too many Oregons. So one too many Ducks. You know what he should have said to the official?

Quack. Quack, quack, quack, quack, Mr. Ducksworth. You know, the thing, too, is if they didn't change the rule and people try to do this all the time, that also would open up offenses to be prepared for it and being more savvy, spiking the ball, and people losing a game because of it, too. So the other side of it is like Ohio State got caught off guard because people don't do this.

But if people started doing it, you would be prepared for it in a different way. And Oregon could have lost if Will Howard spiked the ball. They moved it five yards they ran another play they had a timeout and they could kick the field goal as well so like there is a risk involved on that so zach in the chat says it wasn't enough that landing had to win by abusing the rule book but he had to brag about it too and he ruined it there is that like maybe don't admit it And they don't immediately move to change it. Well, Lanning gained a lot of street cred with that. You know, you can't.

That he did. He definitely did. Don't kiss and tell when you're 20. But if she's amazing, you want to tell everybody, right? I don't know if that's a good analogy or not. She's advertised. She might be embarrassed that you were involved, but you're not embarrassed that she was involved. We could be that mistake.

Okay. That's exactly right. Exactly. All right. All right. One more thing before we get to Curt C. We're going to stay in the Big Ten. You mentioned Dan Lanning and his street cred.

Well, Jordan Mott has the most street cred of all among Penn State fans. Jordan Mott is the Penn State fan who paid for a special ticket package to run onto the field with the USC football team. He did it in Penn State gear. Ari, imagine if this happened like this weekend Alabama's playing Tennessee and Tuscaloosa or in Knoxville imagine someone paid Tennessee and someone has paid Tennessee to run through the

before it's a much it's a much larger donation than the 15 to 1800 dollars it costs at USC but someone's done it but they didn't do it in the opposite team's colors. They did it in Tennessee gear because they were a Tennessee booster. Imagine someone trying to run through the T at Tennessee in Alabama gear. That person might get murdered. Andy, I don't know if it's just me, but the fact that he's also wearing a tank top makes it funnier to me. It's such a casual... Not only are you wearing the opposing team's logo and colors running out the tunnel,

but you're doing it in such a blasé way because the tank top is just like, I'm here to party. You know what I mean? It's so, so funny. And the other thing, too, is that it's a pretty good idea for USC. I don't know if you can restrict what people wear. But, like.

Is it a good idea, though? Because this tells me you're an unserious football program. Like, the AD at Tennessee would get fired for this. Like, if this happened at Tennessee or if this happened at Alabama or if this happened at Ohio State, they would literally get fired the next day. They would be fired? They would be fired, yes. You think They would be fired? They would be fired, yes. You think they would be fired?

I don't know. They would be fired. Andy, how many people were running? It looked like a solid dozen. Okay, so you're going to make 15 Gs of income a game to have people run out of the tunnel? Maybe you just add the restriction in there. I think it's a great idea.

Any way that your program... Well, you add the restriction restriction you should have added a restriction like when the dude showed up you should be like no no we'll we'll refund your money sir and the gopro too like whoever recorded that like yeah like listen jordan had to think there's no way they're gonna let us do let me do this like he talked to audrey snyder from the athletic uh and she was tweeting out some quotes last night and he said that like people were mean mugging him in the tunnel and he thought he was gonna get his ass kicked which is like would it be the funniest way that a player see the thing is

in the SEC he would have gotten his ass kicked like that's why we know once that USC is an unserious football program like in the SEC or in other quarters of the Big Ten at Penn State or at Ohio State or at Michigan, he literally would have gotten his ass beat before he could do this. But I'm just imagining being Jordan in the tunnel like, they're really going to let me do this? When he starts running with the GoPro, the look on his face is like, I cannot believe I'm getting away with this. It's the tank top, dude. Am I alone? Or is it like the tank top is such

a casual... Jordan hadn't been skipping shoulder days. Yeah, I mean, he's jacked, so good for him. The fact that he's just wearing a Penn State tank top makes it so much funnier. Yeah, no, that's crazy. That's crazy. It's so beautiful. Let me encourage you guys, if you're listening, or any

college football fan that might be out there that is inspired to do stuff, keep doing that's crazy. That's crazy. It's so beautiful. Let me encourage you guys, if you're listening or any college football fan that might be out there that is inspired to do stuff, keep doing stuff like this. This is what we want. I mean, it's okay. Hilarity is a good thing for the soul. I think that that is hilarious. Yes, this is the best part of the sport.

This is like the people who got mad at us about Nick Roush yesterday going off on Nico and calling him a a volleyball player which he does play volleyball or did play volleyball uh but they they got like you guys don't realize that don't you realize that on three rank nico the number one quarterback recruit in his class yes that that actually makes it funnier like that doesn't take away from the hilarity of what Nick said, which had no place in a discussion of Kentucky football, but yeah, I don't even know here.

I mean, it's been 24 hours since that bomb got dropped on this show. And I don't even know where it came from. Like, I mean, like, I don't need, I wouldn't,

we weren't even talking about Tennessee. Nick, Nick was in the kitchen. It's like our, it's like our pals at Wendy's when they're making the spicy ghost pepper sauce. Nick was in the kitchen stirring that up and stirring and stirring and just waiting for the time that he could unleash it upon the world, and that was his time.

I'm happy you brought up Wendy's because I've got some sauce for you today, pal. I don't know if you're ready. It is a Wendy's Sauciest Take Wednesday, and we will have Ari's three saucy takes a little bit later in the show. I will be the one determining which one is the spicy ghost pepper of those takes. But before we get to that, I'm going to tell you a little bit about Huel, the world's number one complete nutrition brand. This is my breakfast for this morning, by the way. Over 400 million meals sold worldwide.

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This bottle, 400 calories, 35 grams of protein. Everything I need to get my day started perfectly. 15% off. Use that code staples at Huel.com. H-U-E-L.com. Okay. I'm seeing in the chat some argument about Indiana. Some people saying, I looked at the first part of their schedule. They haven't played anybody yet. Look at the scores, everybody. They're destroying people. It's not a fluke. Now, are they going to go undefeated?

I don't know. But this is not a fluke, Ari. Yeah, no. I mean, Maryland went undefeated 5-0, 6-0, like six years in a row, I mean like Maryland like went undefeated five and oh six and oh like six years in a row I felt like and it just you kind of knew when when October came that things were going to fly off the rails now you know Andy it has to be said that I don't know that I would put Indiana in my playoff projections yet if they had to play Penn State, Oregon, and Ohio State in the back half of their schedule. They don't.

Okay? They play one of them. They play one of them, but they don't play all three of them. And Michigan is going to be a game. Nebraska this weekend could be a game. It's a game they could lose this weekend, right? Washington isn't a pushover. They put up a lot of yards on offense.

Even at Michigan State is one that you still have to worry about it yeah if you're thinking about indiana in the old realm of indiana like half the schedule is losable but it's not like they are going to be put into a place where they're playing overmatched teams they probably just can't be right now at this part of the of the development of the program so like fluke no not a fluke i think they're just legitimately really good. And two, they don't play anybody who's elite except Ohio State this year. And who knows what could happen in that grab ass of a game if things go that way. I mean, I remember during COVID, Indiana put up like 450 yards on Ohio State when they had Michael Penix and they were really good.

So like, you never know. So, um, yeah, I'm happy that they are here on the show, but we don't just invite everybody that we think is going to be, or that we think is fluky on the show. Like this is, there's a reason for this. And it's not just about this. This ain't fluky. It's also about,

he knows, knows what he's doing. Yeah. Like it's also about having a coach that actually believes he can build something long-term at Indiana. That's respectable. Where six's respectable where 6-0 isn't a joke to people. 6-0 is expected. They might not ever be Alabama, but that doesn't determine whether it's a failure or a success. What's a success is if Indiana is a consistent bowl team that has a chance to rise up every five, six years and win 10, 11 games.

He can do that, I think. Let's find out how he did this so quickly. Here's Kurt Cignetti. Honored to be joined by Kurt Cignetti of Indiana, a man who has not even trailed yet this season. But I know you've talked to your team about when that actually might happen what are you got the sigs for coach six oh come on now i'm smoking sigs baby you're gonna put one right i'm gonna put one right there i do not endorse smoking. See? There you go. I went to the gas station today because I don't endorse smoking either, and I said, give me your cheapest pack of cigarettes for a prop

because I'm just pumped that you're here. I'm pumped about Indiana football, and I'm pumped about the direction of the program. So, Andy, I didn't mean to hijack you here, but it's just great to have you here coach no it's good to be here I'll go back to what I was talking about where you y'all have not trailed but I imagine that's going to happen at some point this season how much does it matter that you have a bunch of guys who started either at the power four level or at the group of five level in other places in their careers for when that

moment comes? Well, I think that comes down more to your culture and your team identity, which is made up of people. And obviously having a nucleus from JMU helped facilitate the culture. And then a lot of the transfers we brought in came from winning programs, bowl programs, teams that had been successful, two, three- year starters. And the guys that stayed were right kind of guys that had a chip on their shoulder. So no, we have not trailed, you're right. But as a coach, you're preparing your team for every situation. And I mean, how are you gonna respond when you're two scores down, three scores down cuz we've had teams come back and

win games that were four scores down on the road in the second quarter. Same token, how are you gonna respond when you're two scores up, three scores up? Cuz the response should be the same. You're totally focused, poised, resilient, in the moment, one play at a time, nothing, nothing, not affected by success or failure on the next play. But when you're in a situation where you're down, you don't wanna see that anxiety or frustration on the sideline. And so you do your best to prepare guys for that situation.

Like you said, we have not been behind, but I'd rather be in the situation we're in now than to never be ahead but you're you're in a position where you have this team in a place that um you know it hasn't been in quite some time right like since the beatles were releasing records and you're sending out emails telling you know fans to get over to the stadium they can they can put off studying and to be there when you guys beat Maryland, when, like the future confidence, the ability to assert that you are going to accomplish things on a level that that hasn't been really common there. A, how do you express and find that confidence at a place where a lot of people thought it was impossible? And two, what's it been like fostering all the enthusiasm and excitement

and not just, you know, with your team, but the campus? Right. Yeah. Well, you know, I had a lot of confidence coming in because I'd had so much success as a head coach, I guess. And I felt like I had done this kind of turnaround two or three times already. So it's just doing it on a bigger stage. And I thought it was important that I set an expectation level when I first got here. I realize I went out on a limb on a few comments, but I just detected the first day I was here how kind of a feeling of hopelessness that it can't get done here once I was here. And I felt like I had to get people excited right off the bat. Now, those are just words, but portray that confidence and expectation level that this is what we're going to do. So, you know, it's a process one

day at a time, obviously, because you got to change the way people think. That starts with your team and then everybody on the outside, too. You know, you're really going to change the way people think, you know, if you win football games. You know, you win one game, you get more belief and confidence as a team and you get the fans, you know, a little bit more excited. And so every success has built upon the other. And when you talk about building a program, it's not only what you do between the white lines, but it's the support from your alumni and your fan base, too, are critically important.

We played the opening game against FIU. I thought we had a pretty good crowd when the game started, come out of halftime, half the people had left. We had two, three score lead. I couldn't, I was like, what's going on here? But it's gotten better every single game and I made a comment in my press conference about it afterwards. And we're sold out Saturday, we're sold out two weeks from now,

two at home or three. So at the end of the day, you got to produce only to grow and build. And we're trying to grow every fast to this program. So I've heard you say that a lot since you got this job, change the way people think. Is that an ever-evolving process? Because you've got a team now that clearly expects to win when they take the field.

What's the next step in terms of changing the way they think to keep them developing into what you ultimately want them to be? The next step is have a great day today. I mean, you're always working on what's going on between people's ears because 90% of this game this time of year is mental. And you've got to deal with success or you you got to deal with failure or complacency. And we're coming off an off week. Guys have had a couple of days off. We got to get back in the groove, get the edge, prepare, put the time in, the effort, have energy at practice, be detailed to give ourselves the best chance of success on Saturday.

So to me, you never arrive. You're saturday so uh like to me you never arrive uh you're either getting better or getting worse you never stay the same and if you're not striving towards something getting better then somebody's catching you so in theory you're getting worse so it's a process all the time uh you mentioned at the beginning uh something that i thought was interesting when it came to reading the room or getting a feeling when you first got to Indiana and you use the word hopelessness. And I think like it's easy to analyze, you know, Indiana as a job and other jobs as having a higher, you know, step or a steeper hill to climb to get to a certain place. But before you took this job and decided to go to a place that is perceived to be a basketball school is in a state that isn't as highly densely populated

from a talent standpoint as some other States that you're going to be competing against. Like, what did you find attractive about Indiana? What did you think the ceiling was going to be there? And when I asked you this big picture stuff as you're 6-0, but like what is the actual ceiling for this Indiana program in your mind? Like when you get to the top, what does it look like at Indiana? Well, look, I firmly believe this.

Any P4 program with the right commitment from the top, the administration, and support can be successful. That's how it is. Most of these places in the top, let's say, 15 or so have had their down years, have had their up years. You look at when Bill Snyder went to Kansas State a while ago. They were losing this team in college football history. He rattled off about six, seven, nine plus win years in a row.

And there's been other people. Oregon hadn't always been a great football team. Now they have in recent history. So you just need to have the proper commitment from the top and the right people in place in your organization, a blueprint and a plan. So I knew Indiana, the Big Ten TV contract that they signed a year and a half or two years ago really caught my eye at the time. I'd played here a couple times 1987 when I was at Rice and 2000 at NC State, thought it was a beautiful place.

Being the son of a coach, I've always followed college football, so I knew the history of Indiana pretty well. And but I felt like I had done this kind of turnaround at a couple other places I'd been and was confident in my ability to attract the right people on the staff and recruit and get this thing humming. We've always had really good year one success, big turnarounds year one. And after the December signing period, because my first day on campus, we had 10 offensive starters and a transfer portal half our defense.

So we signed 22 transfers in December, but they were all two, three-year starters where they'd come from, good players, high character kind of guys, the right kind of people. I felt really confident before Christmas, you know, looking at our schedule and what we had recruited that, you know, we really could put a season together here. Now, you know, I think we made progress in the winter. I thought we made progress in spring, summer, fall camp, but you still got to put it on the field. And these guys have, you know, we're still in the middle of the race here. so I don't spend too much time looking back.

I heard you say that when you took over at IUP and took over Elon and also JMU, you had the old staff. You interviewed the old staff and had them rank the players on the roster 1 through 50 to figure out just sort of the lay of the land. How different is that when you get to Indiana, you get the rankings, but then some of these guys are already in the portal? Well, I had to scratch a lot of names off that top 15, I'll tell you that, because they were already gone. Yeah. Jeez. But that's a roadmap, and it helps. It's never 100% accurate, and people change year to year.

They get better or they get worse. But it's sort of a starting point. And then you interview the old staff and you get their opinions on guys and stuff like that. So what's the ceiling? The ceilings whatever we determine it'll be and there's no self imposed limitations. I mean, if you've got a plan and a process and you do the right things daily,

you get better every single day. The margin for error in this game is very slim. And so, like, I'm not the kind of guy that says, oh, yeah, well, you know, you can win 10 at Indiana, but that's BS. No. I mean, you prepare every week to be successful, and then you're on to the next challenge. Kirk, in the world of talent accumulation, I think it's probably a little bit easier now to, you know, recover from what you had to deal with day one in terms of attrition on the roster, right? You know, five years ago, four years ago, it was how good are you recruiting classes out of high school and how good is your hit percentage and how good can you keep teams or players on your team?

From a recruiting standpoint, how much does a fast start in year one boost your trajectory as a coach in a program? How important is it to convince the next set of players, the next wave of players that Indiana is an attractive place to go? And frankly speaking, I know your famous quote of someone asked what's your sales pitch. Well, I've won a lot. Like I thought that was really powerful, but like what is the sales pitch past that to people who might be skeptical of whether or not Indiana has staying power in this certain situation moving forward? Yeah. Well, you know, nowadays with the portal, um,

it is what it is. You have to adapt, adjust and thrive within it or you're not gonna be in the game. In our particular situation, it kind of helped us out because I realized early on we need a lot of new faces and we recruit a lot of good players. Now the JMU, there was a group of guys there that when I took this job, I never really entertained the thought right away that some of those guys may wanna come listen to them as soon as I told the team in the locker room. They had in their minds decided they wanted to come because they had chips on

their shoulder like why wasn't I recruited by Virginia Virginia Tech and you know those guys have won five championships in five years. So, you know, we had needs. What did we have to say? The only thing we really had to sell was sort of what we've done as a staff in the past in December. You know, offensively, our last four quarter we had done as a staff in the past in December. Offensively, our last four quarterbacks been player of the year in the league on offense. We've had 2,000 yard receivers in the same season two last three years.

Generally lead the conference in scoring. Defensively, been number one in the country at sacks, TFLs, against the run, usually in the top five. So those were the kind of selling points, you know, that we had in the vision of where this program was going to go and what we expect, what we thought we could get done year one, which, you know, a lot of the guys you bring in a portal, they only have a year or two left. So, you know, they're looking for an opportunity to play on the biggest stage possible,

but they want to be successful too. And they got to, they got to see themselves fitting into the scheme. So I think from that standpoint, it all came together. Now we're kind of going to be in this situation again next year because of all the guys we had to take in December and post spring. We got to hit it hard again. But I think every year you want to take 15 or 20 high school guys because that's the foundation.

More successful you are on the field, that's going to open doors to more and more recruits that those doors may not have been open 12 months ago. But at the end of the day, I really believe this. A lot of these guys, I know you rank them two, three, four stars, five stars. There's not a big difference between a lot of these guys. I mean, you've got to have a certain amount of ability to play here and be successful at this level. And like to me the character, moldability, coachability, habits, what was his upbringing like?

Did he have a good mentor? Overcoming success, failure, being persistent, resilient, good team guy, good teammate, those are really important things to me. You know, as a recruiting coordinator and a coach at a young age, I made my mistakes a long, long time ago on potential and talent. You know, they got to have the right stuff. And that's what I like about those guys that are two- and three-year starters at these other places is, you know,

I think there's an intangible factor about a guy that's three years in a row he started he's played in every game you know i mean that means he's durable that means he you know he's got consistency and performance he's trusted those kind of guys you win with how did you decide that that curtis rourke was your guy we we've seen him play in action in ohio and it's obviously his brother was very good in the mac as well but what you just said how do you decide in the you know speed dating process of the portal that this is the guy who has the stuff i need to be my quarterback yeah and we've had all types be successful we've had the pure dual guy and the pure pocket guy he's closer to the pocket guy, obviously. First of all, you get a guy like that, he's in the portal.

What's the first thing? I Google him, right? Google me, I win. I mean, and he played a year in a Mac in 22, career stats, a lot of touchdown passes, very few interceptions, started a lot of games, won a lot of games, won a lot of games, engineered a lot of two-minute drives for touchdowns. You watch tape, you see a guy that can make the throws, but you can just tell on tape that he understands how to play quarterback.

Some guys are wired to play quarterback. He grew up, brother was a quarterback, so he studied the position, obviously, and had a passion for it. And you could see those things show up on tape. And, you know, after we talked a few times and he came off for his official visit, there was no doubt we felt like, you know, we could build around him. And, you know, your offense is always going to change a little bit depending on who your quarterback is and, you know, what else you have offensively. You got to be flexible in that regard. And, you know, he's thrived. And all those guys that we've had, because the last three have been one-year transfers,

they all come in the first two weeks of spring and they struggle. And then they start to get it near the end of spring and camp. They're a different player. But you really see them. You really see what they're all about when the games start. You know what I mean? And we've been fortunate. All these guys have kind of stepped up and played at another level.

Kurt, you've been watching your team evolve week by week, right? Like every win, every success, you build on those things, right? How has the temperament in the locker room, the belief that something special can happen here, evolved during this time period? And do you feel like your team is changing on a week-to-week basis for the better? Well, I think our team has, I think we have a lot of confidence. And, but I also think that they understand, most of them,

strongly understand that it is a process. And that every day, you know, they've got to have a great meeting, you know, a great practice. They've got to put the work in, the time in, the effort. They've got to have good habits off the field, you know, get their sleep, eat right, all that good stuff, do some extra film study, and have themselves in the best position to be Saturday. And, you know, that's kind of the culture.

And I think we've got a lot of guys on this team that are good leaders, played a lot of football that get that. I know you got a lot of stuff to do big game against Nebraska this week. So I just want to, before we let you go, I'm going to let you know about the stakes of this game. This there's been a thing on the internet all year with fans of different teams saying, if my team loses, I'm going to, but this one, my top of mall, uh, this person

named Scarlet and cream says it's been the end of B, Nebraska. I'll shove an ear of corn up my ass. So just, those are your stakes coach. That's what you're dealing with at noon on Saturday. That wouldn't feel very good. It wasn't for you though. Coach. Thank you so much. I'll see you. Thanks. Coach, thank you so much. Thanks, guys. Appreciate you. I think he liked that better than the cigarette thing.

I think we need to normalize showing the coaches the irrational what I'll do tweets, because that was hilarious. Yeah. That was hilarious. Yeah, that was great. Like I would have enjoyed the Chris Kleiman burrito like or or or Kalani or the showing Kalani Sataki the burrito one. At any time anybody does us, we should just have the coach on the show to show them because it could be a running bit for us because they need to know what's at stake. It's not about or imagine if we had Mike Norvell on before the

Boston College game. Coach, do you understand what's at stake it's not about or imagine if we had mike norvell on before the boston college game coach do you understand what's at stake here because like i i'm fairly certain that if indiana wins like kurt signetti will remember that like in the back of his head he'll think about that oh yeah yeah he's thinking is that guy shucking that ear corn or is it going going with the with the with the shock on these are all things that that need to be asked so i am glad we asked him that you go boiled there or what like what do you like what's the move there do you like soften it up a little bit okay we can move on creamed that's you just you shave it all off and make cream corn and then you do it i think the guy actually did the burrito so yeah i don't want to see that uh i've been i've been i've been meaning to go try

to find that i'll let you know how i'm gonna after the show i'm gonna go find it and i'll let you know no don't don't find it don't watch it we don't need to see that just just knowing it happened is enough for me yeah yeah okay well different uh different preferences for different people i guess all right all right before we get to your sauciest takes presented by wendy's we do have to talk about something that happened on the show yesterday. It was kind of a stray because we were talking to Nick Roush about Kentucky, but Nick seems to always veer the conversation toward Tennessee. I think Tennessee lives rent-free in Nick's head, but he dropped this about Nico.

This is fun. It's not always fun for your specific team, but it is fun to point and laugh from afar. So Tennessee fans, I know you're out there. I know you want me to get triggered, but hey, I don't have an $8 million volleyball player who can't throw a goal ball. So it's okay.

It's okay, guys. Hyposystem's fine. You're going to be fine. Maybe you'll find a quarterback who can hit some open receivers it couldn't against florida you'll probably figure it out against kentucky but it's okay as long as you're not winning national titles doesn't look like you're gonna be doing it with that guy so fine by me have fun with that guy that's just cold i also think it's a little

premature i mean the dude's a first yearyear starter. Let's not go crazy here. But I will say I was a little taken aback watching the Florida-Tennessee game at how many open receivers were missed. Yeah. So let's talk about Niko. Let's have a Niko conversation heading into the Alabama game. So we're going to do this through the prism of his prize picks board this week.

So if you haven't been playing prize picks, you hear about it all the time on the show. Best daily fantasy game in America. You download the app. You play $5. You get $50 instantly. And the way it works is you pick squares. You'll have a player. There'll be a stat attached to that player. It could be a college football player, NFL player, major league

baseball, hockey, basketball. It doesn't matter. They got everything. They got darts. They got e-sports, you name it. So for Nico this week, some interesting numbers. His number for passing yards is 199 and a half. And you decide whether he's going to throw for more than that or less than that. And I think really what you're deciding is if you think Tennessee is going to win this game, because if you get the same kind of performance that you got in the Florida game, they ain't beating Alabama. You're going to have to get a more consistent performance. More open receivers are going to have to get a more consistent performance. More open receivers are going to have to be hit. And, and really, so I, on the price picks app,

when you pick a square, you can actually look at the stats from the last five games relative to that number. So his number is 199 and a half passing yards. He has not had more than 199 and a half passing yards since the NC state game where he had two 11, the Florida game, he had 169, but I I'm thinking about this Ari. So he needed another 31. That's really, there was one throw where a guy was wide open and he missed him that would have easily gotten that number. So we're only talking about one or two throws here could be the difference between Tennessee winning this game and losing this game yeah well first of all I think it's a pretty good sign if you're a Tennessee fan that the number is that high right I mean to to do that

uh 199 and a half when you're playing what's supposed to be one of the better defenses on your schedule and you've only done it once and the team you did it against has been giving up a lot of points to a lot of people i think that bodes well for just the thought process of the game my gut instinct here would be to go less than 199 and a half not because i don't think nico's good or that he can become more accurate or get over his freshman, you know, lumps. But given his average output and the opponent, that seems like a pretty high number, doesn't it? It doesn't because, like you said, the opponent.

Are you assuming Alabama's defense is good? Are we sure Alabama's defense is good? I'm assuming it's better than NC State, right? Like I'm assuming defense is better than NC State right like I'm assuming it's better than is it I'm assuming it's better is it better than Florida played last week and I don't know that Florida's defense is good either but they they shut down I would like to see I don't know Arkansas shut down Tennessee but I think that its ceiling is higher right like where we're yeah so I mean I don't know i think florida played out of their mind on saturday so if that's if florida playing out of their mind

is a eight out of ten or seven out of ten for alabama's defense then you know what happens if they play a nine you know i don't know so you like more than but no i like that if they play a nine? You know, I don't know. So you like more than? No, I like that if they're going to win the game. Now, here's another one that I think we should throw up. The passing plus rushing, 224 and a half. This is actually the easier one to tell are they going to win the game or not. So, Nico is a very athletic guy. He doesn't look to run like he's not a run first kind of quarterback, but he, when he gets going, he can run really well. I think you saw that in the bowl

game last year against Iowa, where he scored several touchdowns on the ground. But since the NC State game, he has not really tried to run very much. So, you know, the Arkansas game, he's got 11 rushing attempts, but a lot of that was scrambling, getting sacked, that sort of thing. So you go back to the NC State game where he ran eight times for 65 yards. That's the best game they've played. That's also the best passing game he's had. That's the most comfortable he's looked best game they've played. That's also the best passing game he's had. That's the most comfortable he's looked throwing the ball all season.

They may need to get him running a little bit. You always heard those quarterbacks are like, I got to take a hit before I really feel in the flow. Maybe that's what they need. Maybe that's what Nico needs to do is run a little bit, take a hit or two, and it settles him down and he throws better. Because I think he might be more efficient that way. Yeah, or just run just a quarterback draw right into the teeth of the defense on the first play of the game. Just let him get lit up. You know what I mean? Listen.

I'm joking. You're joking, but Alabama's going to run Jalen Milrow. No, no, but I know joking, but like Alabama is going to run Jalen Milrow. Like, no, no. But I think that you're like, this is a more attractive square to me than just the passing one alone, because we do know that Nico can extend plays. Right. Like, I think that, you know, it is easy to feel down on the freshman for the receivers that he missed, Andy. Right. freshman for the receivers that he missed, Andy, right? But at the same time, too, Tennessee beat Florida when he played, I think, semi-poorly, right?

This wasn't what you anticipate he should be playing. I would say semi-poorly. I think just straight up poorly would be the right word for it, yeah. So that's great for Tennessee. If your quarterback who is playing in his first year as a starter doesn't play well and you beat an SEC team that played really well on defense. Plays the best game on defense, yeah. Granted, Florida's got a laundry list of issues it's got to work through,

and they shut themselves in the foot repeatedly, but you are in a position where you can learn from that, grow from that, and be ready to play in a game that's as big as this one. Now, 199.5, it's going to tell the story of the game. It is. It is. And I'm curious to see if they run a little more, if they've decided that's not going to be part of the offense.

I'm a little surprised because as athletic as he is, you can use that a little bit. You don't have to lean on it, but you can use it a little bit. So tell me how you feel about those numbers. 12 and a half, longest rush for Nico, less or more. Put a prize picks, download the app, use the code staples, play $5, get $50 instantly. All right, Ari, it is time for Wendy's sauciest take.

Wendy's, you've had Wendy's nugs dipped in sauce, but have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy's new saucy nugs's you've had Wendy's nugs dipped in sauce but have you had them covered in sauce Wendy's new saucy nugs take the crispy and spicy nugs you love and turn them up to 11 choose between flavors like buffalo honey barbecue garlic parm or for your real heat seeker try the spicy ghost pepper it's only on Wendy's signature spicy nugs that's seven delicious ways to try the nugs you already love so grab grab some extra napkins, pick a flavor, and prepare to nug like you have never nugged before for a whole new way to nug. It's got to be Wendy's at participating.

U.S. Wendy's. Ari, I need to know how we, you have three takes for me. What's our range here? Are we going like, because you know, you can pick the spicy garlic parm instead of the regular garlic parm. Like, are we, are we spicy garlic parming up to spicy ghost pepper? Or is there like a regular garlic parm in here? They're all spicy. Uh, and I think it's possible that one might even reach

ghost pepper for you. So you're going to have to tell me, um, and I like, listen, before we go into this, I just want to remind everybody that we use these takes as a way to discuss issues or to discuss how we feel about things. So sometimes they're right. Sometimes they're wrong. But I'm just going to let it rip. It's a podcast. We're here. We're friends.

We're all having a good time. We're a family here on Andy and Ari. Let's start with number one. Dan Lanning is a top three coach in America right now. And I was thinking about this. Yeah, I was thinking about this. And, you know, we did joke a little bit about Bruce Feldman and Stuart Mandel's annual ranking of the coaches every summer, right?

It's a fun middle of the summer piece. And if I were ranking the coaches from the standpoint of who I would want to build my program right now, I had a really hard time coming up with two other, or after you got through Steve Sarkeesian and Kirby Smart, other slam dunk choices over him. Dan Lane and Kurt Cignetti. Yeah, and Kurt Cignetti is somebody who should be pretty high on that list as well. Now, there are multiple ways to gauge success in the sport.

There are people like Kurt Cignetti, perfect example, had him on the show today, who have proven to accomplish more with less. Okay. And then there are people that are at programs that, that are expected to win national championships or compete for them, especially conference championships. And they've shown through the entire job description that they can build a roster and win games that put their team in a position to do so. And Dan Lanning got his first signature win, and I think it's a good time to discuss this now that Oregon has this win

over Ohio State under its belt. But given what he has done from a building standpoint at Oregon since he left Georgia to be their coach, think about the transformation of the program. Think about what Oregon was in their first game and think about what they were on Saturday. Obviously, NIL is a part of this, and Oregon has a pretty nice NIL situation, so that's part of it. But he has recruited at a level where they built a roster that went pound for pound, play for play, blow for blow with Ohio

State, a team that is reportedly spending $20 million plus on their roster. Who are you hiring right now to... Who are you hiring right now if... Let's just come up with a random team. Not that they're leaving their coach, but who would you hire to run LSU's program? If you've got a team in Gainesville, Florida that aspired to win national titles? Yeah, perfect. Gainesville, Florida. In college football... I don't know how you came. I don't know how I did not come up with it. That's the bigger question.

But like, okay, if you could go hire anybody, pie in the sky in the sport, current sitting head coach, can you come up with four or three other names before him, before you get the landing, if it were possible? I don't think so. Because it's going to be Kirby. It's going to be Sark, which I still, like Sark's not a slam dunk either.

With Sark and Dan Lanning, you've seen it and you think, okay, if they keep doing this, then they really belong here. But Kirby's the only one you feel like absolutely belongs there. You don't see that with anybody else because you need to see it more with Sark and Lanning. But those are the two that I'd say have,

one, they've done it. Now they're starting to win those games. But also they've done it in this era and they've proven to be adaptable to this era or well in landing's case, not adaptable is sort of, he's sort of like Bain. Like he didn't adopt it. He was born into it. So here's a comment I wanted to highlight. It's crazy, buddy. It's crazy. Everyone thinks that landing is a Nobel prize winner. Now I was at the game last year in Seattle and they lost that game 100% because of Lanning's all-gass, no-break decision-making.

Let's relax. And I want people to understand that the decision to name him a top-three coach isn't predicated solely on the fact that they beat Ohio State on Saturday. It's much deeper than that. I'll go back to that Washington game in Seattle. Other than not kicking the field goal at the end of the first half, his other go-for-it-on-fourth-down decisions were correct. They just didn't execute.

It's the construction of a roster that was able to beat Ohio State that is impressive to me. It wasn't that they won the game. They are in a position to win that game on Saturday and ones into the future because of him being able to excel in the modern era of college football and assemble a roster during a very difficult time in which it is to do so.

So like, go back and be like, oh, he went for it on fourth down against Washington last year. And it's like, that's not the point. Okay, like that's not the point at all. So if you want to like get micro. Well, actually it is the point to me, because if you do that, if you make the right analytical decision over and over, you're going to execute more of the time than you're not.

So, I mean, he did it. That actually gives me more confidence in him than, than you'd think. He did it against Ohio state. They didn't convert and they still won. Like, it's not just like they went forward on fourth down inside the five yard line and didn't convert it remember so like it's like this is going to happen when you do those things but Zach says what Kiffin has done for Ole Miss is more impressive they have 11 10 win seasons ever and Kiffin has two of them Ole Miss was four and eight five and seven six it's true unless your goal is to get to 11, 12 wins national title

because Kiffin hasn't proven he can beat the really good teams yet. Like, Lanning just beat a really good team. Lanning beat a superpower, and Kiffin hasn't beaten one yet. And we thought that Ole Miss was going to be situated from a talent perspective in the same exact way as Oregon this year, right? Like, they were at least in the same conversation. Now, Oregon might be deeper. Yeah.

But Ole Miss has guys, and they haven't done that yet. Yeah, producer River asked, what's Kiffin's signature win at Ole Miss? And I think the answer to that is last year's LSU game, which was a shootout, but LSU wasn't an SEC title contender last year. They had the Heisman Trophy winner, but they had the worst defense in the country.

So, it's not the same like Lanning's already moved past that because he beat Ohio State so like Kiffin needs to beat Alabama or Georgia now Kiffin beats Georgia later this year maybe we can we can have a discussion uh Sarks already beaten Alabama like we can have a discussion and I think like, this is not, if, if you are anybody who's looking for a coach this year, cause this is a really good conversation to have. It is very difficult to figure out who to hire because we're still only three years into the NIL era and the world is different now. Like you need coaches who understand this and who can work within this system and there's not a big enough sample size to know who can't landing so far

has been very good at it sark has been very good at it it is going to be a lot of guesswork for teams that have job openings to figure out who can actually succeed and that's my list by the way number one kirby number two sark three landing like those are the three actually succeed. And that's my list, by the way. Number one, Kirby. Number two, Sark. Three, Lanning. Those are the three. Who's four? That's impossible. If we're going to complete Mount Rushmore, who's number four?

Yeah, we argued about this for like 20 minutes and couldn't come up with a good answer. Yeah, because it might be Ryan Day, actually. I put Ryan Day into four, and River was like, are you sure you want to do that? And I was like, I just don't know who else you would pick if it's not him. Because Ryan Day has done the roster part, which is the hard part. But Ryan Day has failed in the game part,

which is the only thing people care about part. So Ryan Day could shoot up to number two if they win a national title this year. So, like, this is all in – What about Kalen DeBoer? We had Kalen DeBoer. Here are the coaches that we were discussing. Kalen DeBoer, Brian Kelly, Dabo Sweeney, and Ryan Day.

Those are the four. So, like, that said, it's just like Dabo Sweeney is one of the best coaches in our era. He has done something that no one else has done, which is turn a solid program into an elite superpower. But Dabo Sweeney has not proven beyond the shadow of a doubt, plenty of doubt that he can operate in this world. So like it's hard, like as you're ranking them, it's like easy to be like, yeah, well, James Franklin won a bunch of games at Vanderbilt 15 years ago. But it's like that does nothing for me in the discussion of who's the best coaches now. So like this, you know, we're 55 minutes into this.

This could be an entire episode, and I'm sure it will be in the offseason. But Dan Lanning, to me, would have been in the top three even before he beat Ohio State. Like this isn't a reaction to the Ohio State win. It is brought up during a time in which we're talking about him. So like that to me is, I think it's just an appropriate way to like give him his flowers because I think he deserves it and, you know, earned it on Saturday. All right. I'm going to say that's like a spicy honey barbecue.

It's got a little sweetness to it. Like it's not, it's not, it's not totally, it's not all edge because it's not, it's not far-fetched at all. Yeah. What's your next thing? When you think about the sport the exact same way, Andy, like we, and you like, I think analyze it the same. I think it's hotter to a lot of people listening than it is to you. So we'll see if you think it's hotter than Andy thought, let us know. Okay.

Number two, the college football playoff semifinal will only be big 10 and sec teams. That's not spicy. That is regular garlic parm. Really? Of course it will. So there's no team in your mind outside of those two conferences that can win two playoff games this year. Nope. Maybe Miami, maybe Clemson, but probably not. That's going to depend on their draw. Oh, no spice at all?

Okay. No. Oh, I misread that. It would be more spicy if you said one of them was going to get in to the semifinals. One of those other ones. Yeah, but I don't believe that. Scott says plain plain unflavored vegan nugs oh wow that's my first flop of the take season okay all right i thought i had something

there like no it's it's well here's the thing and this is this is a probably an example of again of you and i kind of view the sport the same way that's going to be hotter to a lot of other people the people who are enraged by the fact that the sec and the big 10 are taking over the sport the same way, that's going to be hotter to a lot of other people. The people who are enraged by the fact that the SEC and the Big Ten are taking over the sport or have taken over the sport, those people, that's going to piss them off because they want to believe that that group of five champ can maybe do it and be a Cinderella or the ACC champ can do it. And maybe they can't. miami or clemson can but i've seen clemson against georgia and they might have to play two georges

to get to the semis yeah they only have to play one who knows okay so maybe it wasn't spicy because now that i'm thinking about it it's like i'm having a hard time coming up with who it could be right so like well let's just look at my bracketology again so in this week's bracketology i have i have miami against notre dame in the first round miami hosting that game but then they have to play texas in the sugar bowl in round two well could they get past Texas? In your bracket, I think Clemson could make it to the semis. Could they beat the winner of Penn State Texas A&M? Yes, I think they could. I don't know if River has my bracket because that's the one that I used when I did this.

Look at the bottom there. There's no path in my bracket for any team that's not in those two conferences to get in my yeah you need iowa state to shock georgia and then all of a sudden clemson has a path in there um but yeah it's a little bit georgia after losing by 100 when they play i don't know if penn state beat indiana penn state oregon i think would be but then that would be the one i'm sorry that's all big 10 what am i thinking uh yeah so anyway but like if would be the one. I'm sorry, that's all big 10. What am I thinking? Yeah. So anyway, but like, if you hit the river,

put that back up. So we have Notre Dame, Kansas state pit, SMU, Texas tech. Like, I don't know who, who we're talking about here. Like there's not even very many options to go off of right now.

And like the 12 is kind of bubble heavy because there are a lot of teams that are still got good records, but that conference is going to sort itself out. And there's probably only going to be one or two at most that are even in the picture to begin with at the end of the year. So I just don't know who it's going to be. You're right. Okay.

Those were naked wings, I guess. Those are the regular girl. Like, listen, sometimes you don't want the spice. You just want the savory. And that's where the regular garlic. Like, listen, sometimes you don't want the spice. You just want the savory. And that's where the regular garlic parm comes in.

I think that the spicy garlic parm is kind of a cheat code because it gives you the best of both worlds there. The spicy, savory. And like, but then if, but it's a little bit different flavor than say spicy buffalo, which everybody's accustomed to. Yeah. Okay. Last take then, Andy. And I don't know if this is going to be spicy for you oh by the way i'm getting i'm getting wendy's nugs for lunch and possibly for dinner i might i might get them too

actually i want one of those like wendy's gold cards like it's like an amex uh yeah black card but within yeah we gotta look into how to do that. I got to... Oregon and Ohio State will play three times this year. This is... Oh, okay. So we're going with the opposite of my... This will be the only Oregon-Ohio State matchup.

That's a spicy take. So what you're saying is Ohio State's going to beat Penn State. Because if Ohio State doesn't beat Penn State, that eliminates your second potential Oregon-Ohio State matchup, probably. That probably knocks Ohio State out of the Big Ten championship game. So November 2nd, in-state college, that's a big one for Ryan Day. Big, big, big, big, big one for Ryan Day. Mm-hmm.

This is kind of spicy because I think before the Oregon game, I would have said, I don't think so. I think Ohio State's definitely going to at least split those two games. They couldn't lose them both. I can see Ohio State losing both of those now. It is a possibility in my mind, but then them playing a third time so the second time i can definitely see them playing because that would be ohio state beats penn state you know runs the table the rest of the way they play in the big 10 title game and then it just depends on what side of the bracket you get on if you get on the same side of the bracket there's a high probability that we're gonna know how to get that further ohio state and oregon will play three times

even if they're on opposite ends of the bracket. That they'll play for the national championship. That's spicy ghost pepper right there. Because that means one of them's beating Texas. That means one of them's beating Georgia. That's spicy ghost pepper right there. The draw would have to be right. I think the draw would have to be right. But I think that we watched... The draw would have to be right right like i think the draw would have to be right but i think that we watch the draw would have to be right but you're eventually going to

run into one of those yes yeah and it's possible one of them would have to run into two so that's what i mean by draw being right like you don't want to have to play both of them on for one team might lose if they have to play both yeah Yeah. Your, your original take is spicy Buffalo. That version of it where they play for the national title is spicy ghost pepper. Well, let me ask you, and I don't know,

we were coming back from the red river game. We were watching the game on the phone while driving around a carnival. So like you were driving, I was watching the game on the phone. It was, we were all being very safe, but I've gone back and watched large clips of it after, because wrote a column about ohio state today and how it's not time to give up on ryan day if you're down on him did we not watch the two best teams so far like outside

of texas right like i think that you can make a case that these are two of the three best teams no you don't think so just watch texas play so they're not the You don't think so? We just watched Texas play, so they're not the... I don't think they're definitely the two best teams. Georgia's played... Was that the highest level football game of the year? No. Don't say Alabama or Georgia. I'm going to shut this off.

Maybe it was Alabama-Georgia? I thought that that game... They still could. ...was two teams playing... Are you sure if Alabama played Ohio State? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. No, no. We're not even considering Alabama in the top two of the SEC, by the way.

Yeah. I thought it was the highest level football game I've watched all year. I thought I saw a lot of receivers running wide open deep. I think that it was high levellevel players making high-level plays on both sides of the ball. I don't know, but I took away from that game that Oregon can compete with the other big monsters of the sport. I already think Ohio State can.

Them losing that game doesn't change anything. This take is more about Oregon proving that it can. That's fair, but now Ohio State has to come back and prove it. The onus is on Ohio State from this point forward. Buddy, it's hard to tell the future. Listen, if Ohio State lost to Alabama, Alabama beating anybody is not surprising. Alabama can go beat the Bengals for all I care. Like, they're really deep and talented and fun.

They seem dysfunctional in places right now. They're not playing high-level football. But if Alabama shows up and plays high-level football, there's nobody in college football they can't beat. The same is true for Georgia. The same is true for Ohio State. And now the same is true for Oregon. I think that I wouldn't have been 100% certain in saying that before the weekend.

So we added a new team into the super team mix, which then allows me to get to the point where I think they will absolutely play again in the Big Ten championship game. I don't think there's any other team in the Big Ten that can play with these two teams. And we'll find out in two weeks or whenever they play Penn State. And then if the bracket lines up correctly, it's just a way of saying that I think Oregon

is a lot better than I gave them credit for going into last weekend. We'll also learn a lot about Nebraska in the next two weeks because they've got Indiana this week and then they've got Ohio State. We're going to figure out exactly how good that defense is. I don't

foresee Nebraska beating Ohio State, but I am very curious to see Ohio State against Nebraska's defense. The thing about Ohio State, and if you put up the Big Ten standings again, River, I want to look at this. Indiana, Oregon, and Penn State are all going to have played Ohio State.

If Ohio State wins out, they will have beaten Penn State and Indiana. Correct. And Nebraska, which is above there. There are a few teams that Ohio State does not play. I think Illinois is one of them, where if Illinois were to win out, they might hold tiebreakers that go down the list there. So I don't think Ohio State 100% controls its destiny to make the Big Ten championship game.

I think that there are some weird, wacky former Big Ten West teams that would maybe hold tiebreakers. But it would be kind of funny to think that if Ohio State won out and didn't play the Big Ten championship game, that there's a sliver of possibility that that could happen. Yeah, I think that because their schedule is a little bit harder, they would probably get, I'm trying to remember exactly how the tiebreakers work, but they, they favor the team that has the harder schedule.

And so I think Ohio state's conference schedule being harder than Illinois conference schedule or Indiana's conference schedule is going to be helpful to them. And now obviously they do play Indiana. So they, they will, they'll have the head to head if they beat them there. So I can't wait. I can't believe we're talking about this.

I cannot believe we're talking about Ohio State's potential to make the Big Ten title game relative to Illinois and Indiana. You have to rank the takes, Andy. This is easy. The three times. Three times, fool. That one, that is This is easy. The three times, three times fool that, that one, that's, that is the spiciest, the, the spicy ghost pepper version of it, where they play for the national title of the third in the third meeting. Yeah.

That's the ultimate. Number two is the Dan Lanning take. I tend to agree with it, but I think you're right. I agree with you because we, we look at the game the same way. There are going to be a lot of people like, what are you talking about? And then the third one, that only the Big Ten and the SEC will make the semifinals.

That is the blandest of the takes. Yeah. No spice whatsoever. It's still tasty. It's still tasty. Well, that's the thing. The regular garlic parm is delicious i know so it all depends on what mood you're in if you want to go regular garlic parm or spicy

garlic parm or maybe you don't want to go all that savory maybe you want to go a little sweeter and you go spicy barbecue that's that's the the tricky part there you just have to decide what kind of mood you're in or or or you get five of one and five of another and five of another and five of another did i just have you eat 20 nugs i think it's a lot of nugs no i think i could i know i could do it yeah i know i could do that one uh we we've had that with another chicken nugget brand where I tried to eat as many as I could during a show. We're not going to do that again because that damn near killed me. But that's okay. Ryan, what is the take level of a nugget dipped in Frosty?

Well, actually, that's your semi-final take. That's a spicy nug, a saucy nug dipped in a frosty yeah the uh dipping in the frosty is a very in like regular thing it's just not something i've ever done my my wife was a big fries and frosty when she was pregnant yeah when she was pregnant fries and frosty all the time. Yeah. All right. Ari, tomorrow is Thursday. Our favorite day of the week. It is a dear Andy and Ari day.

Get those questions. And we've already got a few really good ones, but you know how to find us. I am at any underscore staples on Twitter and Instagram. He is at Ari Wasserman on Twitter and Instagram. You can email Andy staples on three at gmail.com. If you have a truly epic question or you want to send one in on video. By all means, we love your questions. We love it when you drive the show on Thursday. We'll also have a Texas, Georgia preview and

should Jackson Arnold redshirt or should Oklahoma even be having that conversation with him right now? Talk about that on tomorrow's show. We'll be right back.