Andy & Ari On3 - Dear Andy, Is an Undefeated Florida St OUT of CFP? Final Week of Power 5 Era | Dan Rubenstein Joins

Episode Date: November 23, 2023

It's a Dear Andy Show but first, we bring on Dan Rubenstein from the Solid Verbal to discuss the final week of the regular season and all the potential chaos that could arise.Today's show is brought to you by PrizePicks, the easiest way to play daily fantasy. All first time users that deposit and use the promo code ANDY will receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. If you deposit $100, PrizePicks will give you $100. If you deposit $50, PrizePicks will give you $50.Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/ANDYThank you to Gametime for also sponsoring today's show! Week 13 is days away, don't miss your chance to watch your favorite team. Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.(0:00-1:21) Intro(1:22-7:06) Dan Rubenstein Joins(7:07-9:32) Oregon State - Oregon Preview(9:33-19:54) Texas Tech - Texas Preview(19:55 -29:59)Ohio State - Michigan Preview(30:00-34:47) Florida State - Florida Preview(34:48-35:07) Dear Andy Intro(35:08-39:44) Does Florida State Get Left Out CFP Undefeated?(39:45-46:50) What All do Coaches Look at When Changing Jobs?(46:51-51:30) How Many Non-Big Ten West Teams would win the Big Ten West?(51:31-55:07) Will AD's Ever Reconstruct Contracts?(55:08-1:04:54) Does it Take Some Luck to Hire a Successful Coach?(1:04:55-1:10:09) Does USC need to Adopt Some Iowa Qualities?(1:10:05-1:12:37) Is UNLV The Best Group of 5 School?1:12:38 Conclusion - Happy Thanksgiving!Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube, and don't forget to Subscribe!https://youtu.be/5ykhJaQ7Znw

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. It is Wednesday. Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Hopefully your menus are set. Your shopping is done. God bless you. If you got to go to the grocery store at some point today, it's going to be a zoo. By the time you've listened to this, it may already be closed. So I'm sorry

about that. But if you had to endure the aisles on the culinary equivalent of going out to party on New Year's Eve, well, you have my deepest, deepest sympathy. We have so much to talk about because we have some amazing games this week. It is rivalry week, the college football playoff race hurtling to its conclusion. We had the rankings released Tuesday night. We kind of know where everybody stands now. There's some scenarios where it could get really weird. I have a lot to discuss. And of course, who better to discuss it with than the great Dan Rubenstein, co-host of the Solid Verbal, the original college football podcast.

Dan, one of the smartest people I know, is going to help us break everything down as we get ready for the biggest college football weekend of the year. Here's Dan. We welcome the great Dan Rubenstein, co-host of the solid verbal with the great ty hildebrandt you know him you love him dan's everywhere how are we doing dan i'm good i am i'm ensconced in pizza twitter and threads and all those things uh oregon duck pizza and podcasting i guess that's my life. I'm great. How are you? Oh, I'm wonderful. Now, I'm not. Now, I'm curious because you have turned into quite a fine. Is it Pizziole? Is that what they call it? Someone who makes the pizzas. It's incredible. I've been to

your house. You've made me New York style, Detroit style, like all of it and Neapolitan. So you've become an expert on this, but I find that pizza Twitter is as persnickety as college football Twitter. Oh, wait till you see the message boards. It's wild out there. Yeah, pizzamaking.com goes very deep. If you want yeast percentages to theth of a gram, people questioning whether or not you use diastatic malt powder, like for extra browning help, depending on your oven. Like there it goes extremely deep. What's the Emgo blog of pizza?

It is pizza making. Pizza making dot com has been around forever. And it's like professional pizza makers who run restaurants. It's enthusiasts trying to get into it, looking for tips. There's a guy who actually has since passed away who is known as the dough doctor. And so he would answer people's questions about actually bulk fermentation doesn't matter unless you're doing it at this volume. And I might as well stick with cold fermentation. And it's just it's such a like crazy world.

If pizza is important to you, you should make your own pizza. If pizza is good and you like it, you don't need to, but it's a deeply nerdy world that it, there's a lot of parallels with college football. I was going to say, it sounds, it sounds like the people who have instantly become experts on the NCAA rules regarding who you can send to another team's game to scout it. Yes. Which is no one. Correct. Also correct.

Yeah. There are thoughts about different kinds of cheeses, how to blend your sauces, what goes against the grain. And then you have the Italians who look at the Americans as heathens. And then the Americans say, well, Italians invented pizza.

Americans perfected it. Or specifically New Yorkers. And so there's that whole world. It's great. I love being a part of it. That is a very Big Ten SEC kind of feel. Like you invented it, we perfected it. Yes.

Right? Or it's like the SEC playing slowly, grinding out yardage with Jim McElwain, and then advancing the cause. Right? Getting better ovens, quarterbacks. Getting faster players out in space, ingredients, right? There's a lot of, we can sit here and do this during rivalry week if you want, but no, there are a lot of parallels. No, it's hard with this rivalry week because it's so intense.

And then we were talking before, everything's going to change in like nine days. We had an argument break out in the chat on Tuesday night show where we had people saying, you guys don't watch any Pac-12 football. This is not to us, but to each other. How can you say Oregon's not any good? You're not watching the Pac-12. And I'm like, oh my God, the Pac-12 is done in nine days.

There's no more Pac-12 football after this. And to all of those people, right, football got a lot easier for Jaden Daniels after he had to stop facing Pac-12 defenses, right? When he got to the soft landing spot of the SEC. Football got a lot easier for Bo Nix when he stopped playing them SEC defenses, Dan. No, he just got to a good place, right? He just got to a place that was going to harness and foster and trust him without putting an undue amount of pressure on him.

And he was always going to be this good. Auburn's just not a place where quarterbacks can consistently thrive. Come on. It is funny how all this works, though, because you can make that argument both ways for both guys. Of course. Of course. But here's a better argument Bo Nix now plays behind a good offensive line what what

could Auburn never get right the offensive line and receiver by the way you look at the receivers that Auburn hasn't been able to develop and put into the NFL it's like kind of astounding they've had the success they've had when they are successful without developing consistent NFL caliber receivers kind of the only successful program the SEC to not do that exactly and the thing about Jaden Daniels is I always tell people go back and look at Jaden Daniels freshman year at Arizona State because he had Brandon Ayuk at receiver. He had, you know, Benjamin at running back. He had, um, the guy they called the mannequin Darby, uh, at Frank Darby at receiver.

Like he had more pieces around him and lo and behold, that was his best year at Arizona state. Yes. Beat Oregon, right? They, this was like the big monkey off of Oregon's back this year. They hadn't won at ASU in November in a long time.

And they, they obviously shell ASU this year, but that was where that year's playoff hopes went to die. I think it was 2019. 19. Herbert's last season, yeah. Yeah, because Oregon's a playoff team if they don't lose in Tempe.

Correct. Yeah. And that's the thing. I know there's so much existential angst over them not getting in the playoff since 2016, the Pac-12 in general. And it would be kind of crushing if you have this epic historic year where the me almost as much as anything else, nothing beats Michigan-Ohio State at this point, but Oregon-Oregon State, because it's a must-win for Oregon, what Jed Fish has done at Arizona, I think people are hip to now, especially people with job openings, but they're right there.

Oregon's got to beat Oregon State, or Arizona's going to take their spot. Oh, yeah, absolutely. right there like Oregon's got to beat Oregon State or Arizona's gonna take their spot oh yeah absolutely and look it's in it's both the Apple Cup and whatever we're calling Oregon Oregon State the platypus cup right these two teams playing in there which is great beaver and duck platypus um the uh the idea that Oregon State in its final Pac-12 game and that's everybody's final Pac-12 but their final game as a power team right now, at least, and same goes for Washington State, have this unbelievable ability to play spoiler. They're both on the road, Wazoo and Oregon State,

but Oregon State, it seems especially fraught because they're a pretty good team. Their ability is pretty high in terms of beating a good team. They were right there against arizona they had the the weird fake field goal called near the end of the first half but they've been pretty strong this year and wazoo has been more flawed i think they've lost like six of seven before demolishing colorado but yeah the oregon state oregon game i don't think the beavers have won in eugene in something like 15 or 16 years since since 2007. But the pieces are there.

They had the comeback last year. It looked like Oregon had that game in hand, and Oregon's been airing the fourth quarter in their facility around the clock on the screens. But they have the ability, right? DJU is one of those quarterbacks that he can fall forward three yards on fourth and two, and they can run the ball. Their offensive line is beat up but well-coached, and defensively they've gotten off the

field enough i don't think they're great but oregon is beat up on a lot of below average teams i'll be the first to tell you that and they have taken care of business they do what a great team should do against those teams but oregon state offers a little bit more right they're more complete than usc uh then you look at asu stanford, Colorado. They're just a better team than those. So they're still offering a pretty big challenge. Yeah, I cannot wait for that. And I love the split on Thanksgiving weekend. I love that they move so much to Black Friday.

It feels like everything kind of gets its own showcase now. And that game especially, because it's running opposite the land grant trophy game michigan state and penn state which fans of those teams are going to care about but that's pretty much it and so you're going to get that you're gonna have texas and texas tech playing that night which texas tech is playing better very quietly now they they did just barely squeak by UCF, but they could throw a wrench in lots of stuff. My favorite part of this Big 12 tiebreak scenario is the fact that the games are split, right? So if Texas wins, they're in. We know this.

And then if Oklahoma State wins, I believe they're in as well because they hold the tiebreaker over oklahoma but the big 12's official statement was basically if two of the three teams competing so the oklahoma schools and kansas state if something happens with them and texas loses we'll keep you updated on saturday right it was to be continued right they were, it's complicated. We'll get there. We need to go back to the lab. And that's, it's kind of amazing. And it's amazing that the big 12 is potentially in this scenario.

Once again, after 2008, it is, it is incredible. And we're going to get this. This is, I don't think this is a bug, by the way. I think this is a feature of what, what is to come. Cause everybody's like, there are going to be so many crazy tiebreakers yes it's interesting it's fun yeah it's what what's going to happen is if there are sort of weird branches being pulled out of trees and we don't know what's going to happen i don't know what that means branches pulling pulled out of trees but if if things fall in a weird way we're going to get to I don't know what that means. Branches pulled out of trees. But if things fall in a weird way,

we're going to get to the seventh or eighth tiebreaker. I looked it up when if Penn State had beaten Michigan and then Michigan had beaten Ohio State, Penn State would have won the Big Ten East. Thanks to Iowa. They beat Iowa, which would have been the highest ranked team or the best team

in the West that any of those three had beaten. And i i love all of this it's going to come down to a spelling bee between chris kleiman and mike gundy i don't know what's going to happen if we get down to the 11th or 12th one yeah well it's like the old friday night lights thing they go to the truck stop and flip a coin like i needed a water burger get it sponsored have a drawing like make nelly do it i play one quarter of a tiebreaker find the city that's exactly halfway between manhattan kansas and stillwater oklahoma and you play in a high school stadium for one quarter and that decides it when i was in high school the

the tiebreaker scenario when you had multiple teams that were vying for the top two spots in a district, because the top two teams in the district moved to the playoffs, they would bring them all together and put them on the 10 yard line. And you play a series here and the next two play a series and like televise that. Yeah. I mean,

start in triple overtime, right? It's just two point conversions bouncing back and forth. Who's got the better plays. It's redoing the old illinois penn state game yeah everybody uh you know shows up for this thing you put it in a like a college stadium 50 000 people show up and they run to two point conversions they run a bunch of then they go home right and here's the caveat both teams have to be coached by a former coach so it's bill snyder coaching against less miles smile yeah i don't know so it's you know you really have to dig deep and i love it it's uh it is amazing but yes the sec the big 10 the acc like the acc the

17 team acc is definitely going to have some really messed up tiebreakers. Yeah. I think it was our friend Stewart that said like, it's totally possible as these leagues grow to have three, eight, no teams. And it was like, sorry,

congratulations. I'm going undefeated in the conference. Try again next year. That's kind of what, what's going to happen this year. If you have four undefeated teams and a one-loss team that people think is better. Right. At least you can point to them having the opportunity to go undefeated.

Yeah. And being left out. Yeah. We could set up a bracket of the best teams to never play in a BCS championship game and the best teams to never make a four-team playoff. And there's going to be some bangers in there. What year was the Matt Stafford year where they were great 2008 it was 08 yeah at georgia like that well 07 was the one where they got much better and were just destroying people at the end of the season like if 07 georgia had been in a playoff it probably would have won the national

title yeah this is a good week to do a leftover tournament right thanksgiving week to do a leftover tournament you talk about like 2014 tcu what about 2015 ohio state like i understand why they didn't make the playoff yeah but they would have beaten every team in that playoff yeah unless michigan state were in that playoff michigan state was in that playoff right i suspect they would have beaten them had they played again yeah Yeah, probably. But the Big Ten did go for a stretch without scoring a touchdown in the playoff. There was a weird years upon years, like thousands of days, in which the Big Ten hadn't scored a touchdown in the playoff. But yeah, I mean, personally, right? 2001 Oregon, when Mike Belotti called the BCS a cancer,

when they shelled Colorado. But Nebraska still got into the championship game against Miami. So everybody has that. And there's your leftover tournament. Oh, yeah. Well, 2001, Tennessee and Florida getting into that tournament. Now, I still think Miami beats everybody that year. Yeah, totally.

But it would have been really interesting to see Oregon get a chance to play in Tennessee and Florida. That would have been a lot of fun. But that and that's the thing. Next year, even if they're... So let's say there are three 8-0 SEC teams or three 8-0 Big Ten teams in some future year. They're all making the playoff, though. That's true.

They may not make the conference title game with a chance to earn the bye, but at least they're making the playoff. They're making the playoff. I looked at... I don't know how much you've looked at this year's 12, 13, 14, 15-type teams. Not as fun to argue about right like oh mr penn state like i don't know both of them are pretty flawed that's fine though but i i'd rather that than somebody legitimately gets screwed

between four and five like sure but has somebody been legitimately screwed like you could say ohio state in 2015 but like they had the chance. Well, no, they, I mean, it's, you understand why, uh,

I think any TCU or Baylor fan would tell you they got screwed in 2014. Yeah. Don't give up 60 points in a game to each other. Yeah. To each other. So you look there, there are always reasons, but it's hard to make the case that either one of those teams would have

stopped. Oh, there's no Elliot or anything. Oh, they, they would have been destroyed in the playoff. Like they were very one dimensional. They were all offense.

Yeah. Like, and I know nobody wants to hear that, but they would have been. So, but I would rather see them get destroyed in the playoff. So you can say, look,

that's what, because maybe they wouldn't, maybe they have the game of their lives. And because nobody thought CC would beat Michigan last year. Sure. You're going to have those games. And that's why we play them. I agree.

And look, how many times is that game simulated in TCU wins? Out of 100? 30 times? 20 times? You get two pick sixes. It's going to change the complexion of a game. But that's why you play football. It's great.

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You can make 25 times your money, depending on how you do it. I had a great three-pick power play hit right after I had one of the worst beats ever last weekend. Bo Nix had the amount of rushing yards he needed, and then he got sacked, and then he didn't. And so my Deacon Hill, Deacon Hill, the Iowa quarterback, I knew he was going to blow up. So I had a more than on his passing yardage and I got it. And so I figured Bo Nix will definitely run for more than seven and a half yards. And he did. And then he got sacked and he wound up with seven yards. But then I hit a three-pick power play, which turned $100 into $500, and I felt much better.

Lots of great action this weekend. That Michigan-Ohio State game, of course, is what everybody's watching. They seem to be thinking there's going to be some yards gained in this game. Travion Henderson, 102.5 for the Ohio State running back, rushing and receiving combined. Kyle McCord, Ohio State's quarterback, 237.5 passing yards. J.J. McCarthy, Michigan's quarterback. We have not seen him play that well the last couple of weeks. 201.5 passing yards. Let's go to the Civil War on Friday night. Bo Nix, 313 and a half passing yards. DJ Uyangale, 218 and a half. So they're expecting a big, big night from the Oregon quarterback. Not so much from the Oregon State

quarterback. I think DJU going to have to go way more than if they want to pull the upset. Of course, what's Marvin Harrison Jr. going to do in the game? That's the big one. This is the biggest alien wide receiver that we've seen in years. 87 and a half receiving yards, more than or less than. More than I think Ohio State probably wins the game. If Michigan can hold him down, then I think they may be going to the Big Ten Championship game. But so many great options. And of course, you've got other sports. You've got the NFL, the NBA, the NHL. If they play it, you can probably play it on prize picks. Get that prize picks app, use the referral code, Andy. They will match your first deposit up to a hundred dollars.

So if you deposit a hundred, they'll deposit a hundred. You deposit 50, they'll deposit 50. So much fun. Definitely ratchets up the tension on some of these games and these games are already going to be tense so download that prize picks app and get playing we get the ultimate that's why you play the game game in ann arbor this week yeah because i don't know about you dan i don't remember the last time i was this excited about it because i don't know about you, Dan. I don't remember the last time I was this excited about it because I don't know what's going to happen. Everything about this game is weird. There's a deep, compelling storyline no matter what happens,

no matter who wins or how they win. It is going to be bananas. It is. And look, even excusing all of michigan off-field spying allegations and all of that you have a suspension that comes from that that gives us head coach sharon moore but only on saturday because jim was coaching during the week and it kind of seems and maybe it's just because it's a two-game sample size that and michigan fans got very upset when i suggested that sharon moore doesn't trust jj mccarthy like third and six against maryland's midfield not throwing it not going for it on fourth interesting like that he is coaching like an offensive lineman

as a head coach i have a i have a different theory it's not jj mccarthy that he doesn't trust it was that particular five offensive lineman okay why is ladarius henderson was out right and then um carson had to be moved over because the the the backup left tackle who'd been miles i'm blanking on the name uh but he he had gotten hurt and so the right tackle had had to be moved had to be moved over left. They don't apparently have two tackles that they are supremely confident in. They are more confident when Henderson's on the field. And so I think you can probably call a game

where you have most of the menu available to you as long as Henderson's on the field. So I think that's the issue. Miles Hinton was the one who came in, got hurt, and then they had to move Carson Barnhart over to left tackle. So that was the issue. Sharon Moore knows that situation intimately. Sure.

And I think that's where the distrust came from. So my guess is if he has a line he trusts. He also hasn't thrown a touchdown pass in a month, right? No. Since like October 21st? Mm-hmm. So that's what worries me going into this game, where there seemed to be that trust last year

as he was hitting Cornelius Johnson down the field. And they were opening up the offense, which opened up the running game. And that me is the an interesting subplot here we have two quarterback like kyle mccord's fine but he isn't cj shroud and the offense is fine it's not where it's been and then all of a sudden we have people charting the coaches who have been most profoundly born on third base and ryan day is that's like now a talking point the longer we get away from the urban meyer era like there's a lot of there's a lot of duct tape on these teams right now and that's that's why the story is fascinating this

matchup and i can't wait to watch i i can't either in the day part of it, I think, is maybe the more fascinating thing. As much as you this happened with Michigan, the Ryan Day piece of this is so interesting. Well, one, you've got the Michigan people making their claims that Ryan Day had something to do with them getting turned in, which day day is denied. Right. But let's say someone from Ohio State did have a hand in turning them in. They've now actually succeeded in putting more pressure on Ryan Day than he would have had. Yes, absolutely. And there was a CJ Stroud quote this week that it's like nice to play for a coach who's not stuck up or something like that. That was like a weird criticism. Like there just seems to be a lot of friction in Columbus even more than usual and when you have Marvin Harrison Jr. it covers up for a lot when you have the defense that's been playing as well as it has this year I mean I don't think the pass rush is where it's been but otherwise they've been great like what do you do if the crosser to Marvin Harrison Jr. isn't

there right it worked against Penn State it's worked this year in big moments but like Michigan has a defense that can defend a crosser they can pass off a receiver no matter who it is and so there is something fascinating about both of these teams you know Ohio State being 83 percent of where their fans would like them to be and Michigan not really giving its fans a taste for 10 games nine games of what they could be against a good team like i think it probably 2006 might be the last time or was it 2016 like we've 2006 i think was one versus two yes so that was troy smith i believe yeah it was yep and that was that was the one where the winner was getting into the bcs championship game and the argument was is the loser deserving of a rematch right right right

and then we found out oh wait the whole sec was better but yeah it it was but we didn't know that at the time right like that's the year the sec became the sec and it happened like i was at jarvis moss's locker when he said the thing that caused all that he was he was the florida defensive end who after they beat ohio state goes we played four teams in the sec that caused all that. He was the Florida defensive end who after they beat Ohio State goes, we played four teams in the SEC that were better than them. And that's where all that started. But the thing is,

I remember that year vividly. There was no doubt that whoever won the game was the best team in the country. Yes. We didn't think USC. We didn't think any of the SEC teams. We didn't think any of them had a chance.

Right. And those teams were stacked. They had great players. They had NFL players. And both of these teams seem to be stacked. It's just, I don't know if I see a team being able to score 27 points in this game, which is a very different idea. It feels like the Notre Dame Ohio State game to me

it it does I I we were talking to to Spencer Holbrook from Letterman Row yesterday and he said he thinks it goes it's a little higher scoring than that I'm not sure it is I I feel like this is going to be a grind it out like whoever can mount that drive in the fourth quarter is going to win the game yeah there's there's something weird about ohio state on the road this year they were down what to ruckers a few weeks ago at halftime they just even like it was kind of a sluggish start against purdue if i remember correctly it was like 10-3 or something at halftime i could be getting these numbers wrong i apologize but there is something that been you know they didn't show much against notre dame when they were on the road offensively and that's early on in kyle mccord's starting tenure but yeah there's that element to it that they're this ohio state team especially an offense just

comes out a little bit spooked maybe it was 10-3 against wisconsin at half maybe that's what it was yeah it was wisconsin it was and so i in ann arbor given the baggage given the pressure that like oh they don't have their head coach oh they haven't been playing super well and distancing themselves from teams these past couple weeks like ohio state has an opportunity but they haven't really shown themselves to be killers away from columbus this year yeah it is everything about it is fascinating can't i cannot wait i'm gonna be there i'm so excited like i've made my plans for like go get breakfast walk to the stadium get their super like soak it all in because this is, this is what it's about. Like when you get a game like this or the iron bowl where the two teams are

both in national title contention, like this is everything. So I can't wait. There's by the way, there's no, you just mentioned, you know, getting breakfast and going to the game and soaking it all in. There's no, in my experience, there's no in my experience there's no drug there's no single experience however r-rated you want to get with this illusion to me that gives me the goosebumps like being at a huge game either on the field or in the crowd or wherever five minutes before kickoff it doesn't even matter the sport it could be football i've been to like a duke north carolina

game at duke and like there is something palpable in the air we're just like everybody is waiting to burst out of their skin in anticipation it's it's a drug it's amazing and especially one like this where you do not know what's going to happen like i would you could tell me any score any victor and i would believe you yeah yeah absolutely and there's no 4k tv that replicates that for as great as the experiences at home no no tv i don't care if you have an 85 inch screen i don't care how comfortable your couch is i don't care how good of a cook you are there's nothing that compares to the five minute mark right before kickoff at a huge game and that's a good time for me to tell you about game time because that is the best place to get nothing that compares to the five minute mark right before kickoff at a huge game.

And that's a good time for me to tell you about game time, because that is the best place to get last minute tickets. Download that game time app. Use the code staples $20 off your first purchase. You can get a ticket right now to the Michigan, Ohio state game in the big house. Now it's not the cheapest ticket, I will admit, but you can get a ticket on game time. And in fact, you can look at exactly what your vantage point would be at that five minutes before the game mark, when you're about to burst out of your skin, a couple more taps, that tickets yours. If you bought a couple, need to send one to your friend on game

day, you can text it to them. So get that game time app, use the code staples, $20 off your first purchase. You want to go into big rivalry games this weekend. You want to go to the game in Ann Arbor. You want to go to the civil war in Eugene. Do you want to go to Florida, Florida state and Gainesville? You want to go to South Carolina, Clemson and Columbia. They got tickets, get the game time app code staples, $20 off your first purchase. We didn't plan to do an ad read there, but Dan just set me up and I was like, that's, that's where I need to tell you about game time. Connor Stallions did that for me a few weeks ago. And then you did it now. Look at that segue pro. Love it. Love it.

Well, Dan, I, one more game I do want to talk about, and it's the one that's happening in my town. I will not be there for it, unfortunately. But this is one of those that when the playoff started, we imagined a scenario like this because we all remember Kenyon Martin in the Big East tournament for Cincinnati on Selection Sunday. I think he got hurt the day before Selection Sunday. And then how does that affect their seating?

Jordan Travis goes down against North Alabama nightmare scenario for Florida state. Tate Rodemaker comes in backup quarterback. He now gets two games to show what he can do. If, if he plays well and they beat Florida and beat Louisville, do you think they're good? I look, you'd have to give me final scores. If they beat them each by double digits. How do you, I mean, how do you say no, right with the precedent of Cardale Jones?

I mean, right. And he's the one precedent we have, which is crazy that it's taken 10 years for that. So the Cardale Jones thing is interesting because Ohio state left. No doubt. Right. I think it was Wisconsin,

right? I did nothing against Wisconsin. Something crazy like that. Yeah. He left no doubt. And so you can say, if there's a drop off, we can't see it immediately. The scoreboard doesn't reflect it. And that's plenty for us. At that point, if you're absolutely demolishing Florida,

who's a flawed team, of course, and Louisville's good, but I think we agree that they're not incredible right now. They lost to Pitt. They lost to Pitt. They're not distancing themselves from average competition. It's fine. It's a great story. It's a great year one, undoubtedly. They beat them by 10 to 14 points and Florida by 10 to 14 points, 17 points.

Like, what case do you have against Florida State, really? Because it's not like Jordan Travis Florida State had been distancing themselves all that often from average ACC competition so if Tate Brottomaker is doing more of the same I don't think the case is terribly strong to keep a 13 and 0 Florida State out I I am fascinated by that one that's that's the thing about this weekend something weird is going to happen somewhere whether it's like Oklahoma, TCU, Texas, Texas tech, Oregon,

Oregon state, Florida, Florida state, something strange is going to happen and it's going to affect everything else. And that is, I hope so. It's been so boring. November has been largely.

So I look, I, I love, I appreciate excellence. I appreciate, I've said it this year. Like I think winning is a skill, like when you. And I look, I, I love, I appreciate excellence. I appreciate, I've said it this year. Like I think winning is a skill like when you're clunkers, whatever,

but winning is an actual skill that, you know, whether you're not, you win 27, 21 or 27, nothing right. Winning means that your players are confident that your assistant coaches are getting the right guys on the field,

that the correct third and fourth down decisions are being made. That clock decisions late are being made correctly by and large and winning is a skill ask miami fans so i am hopeful that a lot of the that we get a little bit of chaos that we get a little bit of clarity but like i don't know we've got a lot of experience quarterbacks we've got a lot of really good coaches like it's going to be difficult for Texas Tech or for Washington State or Oregon State or even Florida man Florida if they just had a little bit of defense if they just tackled a little bit better in the open field yeah I don't think that starts against Keon Coleman and Jean Bell unfortunately it doesn't seem to be that way so it's it's really

tough to see where it comes from, but it's rivalry week, especially we're getting a lot of these teams with spoiler potential, not in the Pac-12, but elsewhere at home, right? Florida's at home, Auburn's at home in the Iron Bowl. So there's at least that element to this where it's just like one last rodeo,

one last opportunity to drive a nail into a rival like it's something and i i appreciate it well you know who has mastered the skill of winning you dan rubenstein yes and pizza and pizza everybody's always happy with pizza i want that detroit style that detroit style you made me when i was at your house was spectacular thank you it's a's a highly underrated style of pizza. Yeah, you have to make it a little airy and crispy because it can get sort of spongy and dense if you don't. And it's sort of a beast to wrangle sometimes, dough-wise. But if it comes out, you're getting a good product.

Dan, you know where I'm flying on Friday? Where's that? Detroit. You need some Rex? I might. I might. You got to pace yourself because you got a game to cover. You got probably something to talk about after the game.

But Detroit's a great food town. You can get great pizza there. Oh, you can also, hey, Slow's Barbecue. Downtown. Clarkston Union up in the Burbs where I stole my mac and cheese recipe from. Nice. Yeah. There's all kinds of stuff

i'm so excited you can get great barbecue you can get great pizza anywhere it doesn't need to be in texas it doesn't need to be new york you just have to find somebody who cares enough and as much as the people in texas or georgia or new york or wherever and that that can be challenging but detroit does it well damn right danenstein, thank you so much. My pleasure. Now it's time for Dear Andy, where you take over the show. Your questions are the stars, and man, you've got some good questions this week. One I knew was coming.

And actually, this one came before the College Football Playoff Selection Committee released its rankings, but I think you guys knew where this was headed. So we'll start with Darren's question. What are the chances that an undefeated Florida State gets left out of the playoff, and what are the most likely scenarios to make that happen? So I think most likely a 13-0 Florida State will make the playoff. Obviously, they're in a weird situation. Jordan Travis went down against North Alabama.

Tate Rodemaker, the backup quarterback, is in. We've not seen this happen actually that much during the playoff era. We saw it in the first year. You heard Dan and I talking about it. You've got Cardale Jones coming in for JT Barrett. JT Barrett got hurt against Michigan. Jones gets his first start in the Big Ten Championship game against Wisconsin. They destroy Wisconsin. Ohio State gets the four spot and winds up winning the national title. We've not seen it again since then. Tate Rodemaker is going to get two games to start to show what he can do. They're at Florida.

Then they've got ACC Championship against Louisville. The Florida one, that should be a nice kind of break you in kind of game because their defense has been very bad. This is a game Florida State should win. The Louisville game, considerably more challenging, better defense, very good pass rushers. So Rodemaker will get challenged and he'll show one way or the other whether they need to be there. I think probably by winning or losing in that scenario, because I don't think it matters how I know Dan said the point differential might matter. I don't really think it matters how much they beat Louisville by as long as they beat Louisville. Now, what are the scenarios where this might happen where they get left out? I think the key to it is Washington finishing undefeated and then also Texas

winning the Big 12 at 12-1. If those things happen, then things get weird, especially if those things happen and Alabama beats Georgia in the SEC championship game. So the one that Florida State would have to worry the most about is an undefeated Washington, which would have a much better resume, then a 12-1 Texas, which would have a win against Alabama and an Alabama win against Georgia, because that also brings Georgia into the equation at 12-1. Because here's the deal. A 12 and one Georgia coming off a loss to Alabama still passes the eye test for most people better than a 13 and a Florida state better than 13 and a Washington.

That's the issue there. Like I'm not as worried about the loser of the Michigan, Ohio state game jumping over any of these people. But in that scenario, you can have problems. One of the other tricky parts of that is Texas having beaten Alabama and Tuscaloosa. I think the committee, given its druthers, if Alabama beats Georgia, would like to make Alabama the two seed behind the Big Ten champ or the three seed behind the Big 10 champ and the undefeated

Washington. But you almost can't do that because if they're both 12 and one in Texas, one in Tuscaloosa, it's really hard to justify that. And then again, what do you do with Georgia? So that's the scenario I think where Florida state gets squeezed out even at 13 and oh, but I don't think that is a very likely scenario. I think more than likely Georgia is going to beat Alabama and that is going to take Alabama off the board. And you're not going to have to worry about that. Then you're worried about an eye test with a 12 and one Texas. And maybe the, maybe the eye test wins out for Texas, but I think given the way Texas has played, I don't think that's a slam dunk.

I don't think that's a very easy eye test. I think in that scenario, the 13-0 Florida State gets into the playoff. But that's where it gets tricky if Texas finishes 12-1. So if I'm a Florida State fan, you obviously want your team to keep winning. That's the easiest way to handle this., you obviously want your team to keep winning. That's the easiest way to handle this, but you also want, you want to, we're going to beat Washington in the PAC 12 championship game so that the PAC 12 champ has a loss and you can, you can parse resumes that way. You'd probably prefer Texas doesn't win the big 12 because if Texas doesn't win the big 12, that takes the Big 12 off the board entirely too. So that's probably what you should be hoping for. And really just

hope Tate Roderbaker comes out and lights it up. Because if he does, I think there's a really good chance Florida State is 13-0 and in the playoff. Our next question comes from Nathan. It's on video as his questions usually are. and it's another great one. We get into these crazy debates about what is or isn't a good job in college football. And people inevitably talk about one specific thing, money. I think Texas A&M is the perfect example of this. But what do coaches actually think about when looking at taking a job? Obviously, money is part of that.

Location could be part of that, too. But are there things that coaches look for and look at that we as fans really don't think about so much that could actually make a difference? Because sometimes it seems like to fans, coaches make lateral moves or moves that just don't make sense. So what is the reason? Nathan, you're right. It is not always money that these coaches are looking for, but sometimes it's money, but in a different way. A lot of times coaches aren't looking for a higher salary for themselves necessarily, or the highest possible salary for themselves. A lot of times they're looking for how much are you going to let me pay assistance? Will you give me more money

to retain good assistance? Will you give me resources to hire the amount of staff I think I need to hire? Those things matter quite a bit more, I think, than the actual salary for the coach. Now the coach's agent will want to make sure the coach gets the highest possible salary, but most head coaches aren't thinking about it that way because most head coaches did not get into the business to be rich. They were just basically working for nothing at first and never imagined getting paid what they get paid now. So now they're just thinking about, okay, how can I build the strongest organization around me?

And I think, like, remember when Brett Bielema left Wisconsin, they were winning the Big Ten routinely. He leaves for Arkansas, which is a second tier SEC program at the time. Why? Because Wisconsin wouldn't pay up to keep assistants and Arkansas was going to give him a massive assistant coach budget. That's why. Because you feel like, okay,

I can have a couple good years, but then I lose assistants. And if I can't replace them with assistants of the same quality, or if I can't pay to retain them, this won't last. And so that's why that's a really important factor for them. Sometimes it comes down to the same factors you or I would think about when taking a job. How much does our spouse want to live in this place? How much do our kids want to live in this place? Are there good schools? And a lot of times, because these coaches have worked in multiple places, it might be them going back to a place where they were an assistant for a year, but everybody's just loved living there. A lot of the time,

you're thinking about your spouse. How much are they going to enjoy living there? Do they have a support system here? Do they have friends here? Because you're not going to see them very much. The coach's wife is raising the kids basically on her own, is doing all that stuff basically on her own because the coach is working all the time. So what is the support system around that family? Are they by themselves? Is it just them and the other coach's families? Or is this a place where they might have family nearby or they might have lived there before, really loved it, have a network of friends there? That stuff matters. It's crazy because we think about these jobs, they're so high paying and

they're so high pressure, but that can make your life tremendously easier as a head coach. If you know that your family has a support system in place where if you are working 17 hours a day, they're still going to be okay. And they're still going to have a nice life and have fun. And they're not going to be really mad at you because they never see you. So those are a couple of things that you factor in. And then a lot of it comes down to, do you feel like you can recruit there? Is it a place that players want to come? Are there factors within the school that you can sell? And sometimes

that's the quality of the education. Sometimes that's location. Those things matter a lot. And so a job that's in the deep South, well, you're looking at and going, I live next to a lot of players. I'm not going to have to travel as far to recruit. I'm going to be able to sustain the roster I want because there are more players nearby. It's easier to recruit. I'm going to be able to sustain the roster I want because there are more players nearby. It's easier to recruit them. So if you're trying to decide between a job there and somewhere in the Midwest, you may take the one in the South just because there are more recruits around and it's easier for you. I think that's another big consideration, almost as big as, what are you going to let me pay my assistant coaches? But those are the big ones. And

I think we're finding this in the NIL era, and I think we knew this already with coaches. And I feel like this is actually kind of universal. It's not unique to football or to coaching or anything else. If you just take the biggest bag, there's a chance you may be unhappy. You have to consider all the other factors when you take a job because sometimes the amount of money does not cover the amount of grief and stress and everything else that you're going to have to deal with because you didn't take the job that allowed you to have the other things you needed to succeed. deal with because you didn't take the job that allowed you to have the other things you needed to succeed.

So I think you have to take a holistic approach. And part of that holistic approach is what I talked about with the family stuff, which again, I know most people aren't considering, but you'd consider it when you change jobs, all these coaches are definitely considering it when they change jobs, because that can make you very happy or can also

cause an incredible amount of stress. One of those things leads to success and one of them doesn't. So that's really it. I mean, those are the factors besides just straight salary that the coaches are considering as they consider these jobs. And watch the carousel, see how people make their decisions. You may see somebody turn down a job that you think, well, why would they do that? They're going to pay them so much money. Well, there may be a reason and it's one of those, somewhere on that list. Not enough for assistance, not a place where you feel like your family would be happy, not a place where you can get the quality of recruits that you want to get. Those are the biggies. And those are absolutely, I think all three of those are more important than just the pure salary in your paycheck. Because if all three of those things align and you've got resources, players, a happy family, you're going to make more money later on

because you're going to win. That's the difference. This is a great one from Chris. In honor of the last ever week of Big Ten West football, and let's face it, a 27 and a half point total in the Nebraska-Iowa game is the ultimate way to send the big 10 West out with a bang. How many non big 10 teams would win the big 10 West this year? The over under is

29 and a half should have been 27 and a half. I think given this, this week, um, I just did power five teams. I think we've seen with UCF and Houston and Cincinnati and BYU moving to the big 12. It's not that easy when you move up and have to play the power conference schedule like that. It is a grind. So I'm trying to pick teams that I think would have a better record in the big 10 than Iowa does. And I was got a good record or would be able to beat Iowa if they play because Iowa is clearly the best team in the big 10 West. They've already won it. 10 than Iowa does. And Iowa's got a good record or would be able to beat Iowa if they play because Iowa is clearly the best team in the big 10 West. They've already won it. And so who, who among these other schools would be able to either beat Iowa or just compile a better record against

the schedules that these guys are playing? So I went by conference with the other four power five conferences. So I didn't get to 29 and a half. I got to 19 though, 19 schools that I think would win the big 10 West if they had a big 10 West schedule this year. So here's my list, Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Missouri, LSU, Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, Louisville, NC State, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Oregon State. That's my list. That's 19 schools that I think would win the Big Ten West if they had a Big Ten West schedule. It's so crazy that this is finally

going away. I'm not going to miss these divisions at all. I know there's some angst over this. My friend Stuart Mandel at The Athletic said there's going to be some crazy tiebreakers, but just like Dan and I talked about, these are features, not bugs. These tiebreakers are going to be great with these huge conference schedules, and there will be so much more variety in the schedule. Now, I've been very critical of the SEC for staying at eight conference games. They need to go to nine. I think they're going to go to nine. I bet they'll go to nine before they miss a Texas-Texas A&M game.

So what you can do is you play this bridge schedule that they've got for 2024. You flip those games around for 2025 and play another eight game schedule. And then at 26, you start your nine game schedule. Because again, I don't think they're going to have Texas and A&M in the same conference and not have them playing. As far as the Big Ten West, I'm really interested to see what happens at Minnesota, at Iowa, at Illinois, as they try to figure out how to navigate the new Big Ten. Luke Fickle being hired at Wisconsin tells me Wisconsin is trying to win

the whole Big Ten. They understand Big Ten West is going away and they're not going to be able to compete with the style they were playing. Him hiring Phil Longo as the offensive coordinator tells me they understand they now have to compete really with Ohio State, with Penn State, with Michigan, UCLA, USC, Washington, Oregon. They've got to compete with those teams now. I do think you're going to see a schematic evolution with some of the other teams. I don't know if Iowa is willing to go that far, but I look at Matt Rule. They've done what they've had to do at Nebraska this year because of injuries. That's not what they wanted to do though. What Matt Rule wants to do is run an offense that will be effective in the new Big Ten. He's not building

for the Big Ten West because let's face it. He's only going to play in it one year, but how about PJ Fleck? How about Brett Bielema? How about Kirk Ferentz who have played for a long time in this division who that's a style that's worked for them. I don't think it's going to work going forward. They've got to figure out what will work in the new big 10, what will make them, and I'm not saying that they should expect to win it all that often. I'm saying you've got to figure out how to finish third. How do you finish third in this new Big Ten and get yourself in the college football playoff? It's probably not playing the way they've been playing,

so we'll see what happens. Next, we have two very good questions from Travis in Houston. I'll start with number one. Will the immediate buyer's remorse that Texas A&M and Michigan State with Penn State and to a lesser extent USC and LSU all questioning their own buyout situations finally get athletic directors to stand up to Jimmy Sexton and the other agents? Or will at any time a blue blood job opens, will every coach with one decent season get massive extensions?

Will A&M having to actually pay such a mind-numbing price serve as a turning point and get other programs to stock giving coaches so much guaranteed money or paying 20 plus million to fire coach become the new normal across the sport as TV money goes up with the other 130 FBS programs to leverage? This is a great question because there is more money coming into the system. Now, I think there may be less money to spend on coaches soon if they have to start sharing with the players, if they have to do like a straight revenue share with the players, which I think is probably coming. That may change it. That may be what really slows it down. But I'm not sure if Jimbo Fisher's buyout

is going to slow anything down. I'm watching Florida right now because that's a buyout. Billy Napier, $32 million, $16 million due within the first 30 days. That's a buyout I would never expect Florida to pay. And I've been saying that all year. I don't think they'll do it. I think that they'll say, you need to revamp your staff. But I don't know. Stranger things have happened. It seems like an obscene amount. And it's an amount I don't understand. Billy Napier was making $2 million a year at Louisiana Lafayette.

They weren't bidding against any other Power 5 schools. He had turned down Auburn and South Carolina the year before, but those jobs weren't open when Florida went to hire him. LSU was open. They weren't looking at him. They were looking at Brian Kelly. And then Oklahoma was open, but they weren't looking at him either. They were looking at Brent Venables. Yet somehow Billy Napier winds up with a massive buyout. It would be $32 million after this year. After last year, it would have been $38 million.

Brent Venables ends up with a fully guaranteed contract at Oklahoma. This is the same coaching cycle, same coaching search cycle. Brent Venables made $2.5 million at Clemson as the defensive coordinator. He had four more years on his deal. The buyout that Brent Venables should have been offered as Oklahoma's head coach, fine, you offer him the same salary if you want, but the buyout you offer him, you offer him maybe 12 million bucks and it goes down every year. And his agent would probably say, well, no, that's not enough. And you say, okay, cool. If he would like to be Oklahoma's head coach, he can take that or he can continue to be Clemson's defensive coordinator because that is who you were bidding against.

You were not bidding against another head coaching job. You were bidding against him being Clemson's DC. Florida was bidding against Billy Napier being the coach at Louisiana Lafayette at 2 million bucks a year. So they should have said, okay, 2 million bucks a year. You got five years left on your deal,

10 million bucks. Buyout's 12 million. Buyouts, 15 million. And it's going to go down every year. If you don't like that, you can continue coaching Louisiana Lafayette because we have other candidates. That is how they should do it. It is never how they actually do it. All right, let's go to Travis's second question. Is hiring a college football coach as much of a crapshoot as drafting a quarterback in the NFL? Many quote-unquote sure things, Tom Herman, Scott Frost, fail, while the pan-hire of a position coach, Dabo Sweeney, can lead a team to a mini dynasty.

You can go back through old coaching carousel grades and laugh at them like old scouting reports of QBs. Mel Kiper would retire if Jimmy Clawson wasn't a franchise QB, much like the NFL draft or indicators. And you can use resources combine or search firm to figure out red flags and have an idea of who is good or bad. But does hiring a successful head coach come down to the same blind luck it

takes finding a franchise QB. Same goes for five stars and QB recruiting as well. I think that's a really smart way of looking at it, Travis. And it's true. I remember reading, I believe it was a Malcolm Gladwell story where he was talking about, he was comparing NFL quarterback draftees to teachers and basically saying, you can interview a teacher, you can look at their transcripts, you can see what classes they took in college, but you really never know how good they'll be until they stand in front of a classroom. Same with a quarterback moving from college to the NFL. The speed of the game is so much faster and And really, it's the same when they move from high school to college. The speed of the game is different.

The dynamics are different. The leadership qualities required are different. So all of that is to say that, yeah, until you see this person in this job, you don't know. Now, there are times when you feel like you know. And a lot of it's when they're moving from one similar level to another, when the move is almost parallel. I'll give you Urban Meyer going from Florida. And I realized there's a year in between to Ohio state. You knew exactly

how Urban Meyer was going to work at Ohio state because you saw him at Florida. You know what the competition level was at Ohio state relative to what it was at Florida. That made sense. That was a fairly easy one to predict. But you mentioned Tom Herman and Scott Frost. UCF and Nebraska are very different jobs. Houston and Texas are very different jobs. So what works at one of those may not work at the other one. And I'll go back to the Urban Meyer example. I remember early in Urban Meyer's tenure at Florida coming from Utah, lots of questions. Well, this offense

that worked at Utah is not going to work in the SEC. And Urban's like, no, it'll work once I get the players who are capable of running it. And he was right about that, but that doesn't always happen. That doesn't always translate. Sometimes you move from the lower level to the upper level and there's something missing. There's something that you can't quite put your finger on that you can't make work. Like with Scott Frost, it may have been organizational skills and a lot of the minutiae of the CEO part of the job,

which is harder at Nebraska than it is at UCF. There's just so much more. There's so much coming at you and you have to deal with it. And so, yeah, you don't know. And I'll go back to the fact that every time I see a coaching carousel situation and the athletic record says, we got to hire a sitting head coach. That's when I'm like, wait, Dabo Sweeney wasn't a sitting head coach. Kirby Smart wasn't a sitting head coach. Ryan Day wasn't a sitting head coach. Why? Why do you have to hire a sitting head coach? Because I think hiring the head coach who's been a head coach is just as much of a

crapshoot. And I'll go a step further. I think even sometimes when it seems obvious, we don't know. Like when Lincoln Riley went from Oklahoma to USC, it seemed like the surest of sure things. And he certainly made USC better immediately. But what about now? All Oklahoma fans say, well, he told you. Well, you told him because you were mad because he left. Not because when he was your coach, you took a critical eye. But they're right. Like in their anger, they went back and looked at the Riley area in Oklahoma

and identified some potential red flags that have now manifested themselves in a big way at USC. But if you'd asked me on the day that Lincoln Riley left USC or left Oklahoma for USC after year two do you think everybody's gonna be mad at Lincoln Riley I was like hell no Lincoln Riley is gonna be kicking butt now I realize they made that bet with Ari Wasserman that they wouldn't make the playoff in three years but that was when it looked like they weren't going to expand the playoff to 12 it was also when it looked like the Pac-12 was not going to necessarily be as deep as it would be this year. And we didn't know that the USC was going to go to the Big Ten yet. So we had all of

those things. And I would have told you that he would have them much better now, that they would be in a position to roll because some of the issues at Oklahoma where they weren't, they weren't capable of getting the real blue chip of the blue chip D lineman, offensive lineman, because a lot of those, a lot of those guys from that part of the country were going to the sec schools. I assumed with Lincoln Riley at USC that he would be able to scoop up all of that talent on the West Coast. Yeah, Oregon would still want it. Washington would still want it. There'd still be SEC schools or Big 12 schools trying to go get it from there. But USC is such a big brand. It's Hollywood. I just figured they'd go play for him. That has not been the case.

You look at their recruiting since he's gotten there. He's not recruited very well on the line of scrimmage. He's not getting those guys. They're still only going to the same few schools. So that's the thing. It is an absolute crapshoot. You don't know. And that's kind of. It is an absolute crapshoot. You don't know. And that's kind of why I go back to the previous question that Travis in Houston asked.

Why are you giving these guys these incredibly large buyouts when you don't need to? Like, yes, LSU, if you're hiring Brian Kelly from Notre Dame, when you're competing against his current Notre Dame contract and anybody else who might want it, you've got to give him a fully guaranteed deal. I understand that. I understand why Texas A&M gave the one to Jimbo initially. The second one was them panicking

because Scott Woodward, their athletic director, had gone to LSU and fired Ed Orgeron. And Jimbo didn't have a buyout at Texas A&M. And so they just panicked and gave him a fully guaranteed deal. They could have taken a critical eye at the first couple of years he'd been there and said, okay, do you deserve this? But they didn't. Because I think if they'd have looked at that, they'd have said, you know what you deserve this? But they didn't. Because I think if they'd have looked at that, they'd have said, you know what? If whatever wants him, he can have him

and we'll just go hire somebody else. That's the other thing that these ADs, and this is, I'm kind of answering both of Travis's questions at once here. These ADs need to understand, you got to be willing to tell your favored candidate to walk and you got to be willing to let your guy walk when they're trying to hold you hostage for more money the reason they can't do that very well is i don't think ad's identify replacement level coaches very well baseball has a stat called wins above replacement war. And basically what it tells you is this is how much better this person is or worse than this person is then the like dead ass average person. And so if you're a power five program, it's

usually pretty good. And you've got a coach who's finishing eight and four every year. And they say, or their agent comes up and says, well, my guy needs to have five years on his deal and he needs a little more money. And you say, that's cool. We could find 10 other people to do that, to do what he does. So he can go and we'll go find somebody. We'll be happy to take the buyout from the school that he goes to and we'll use it for the next person. But they don't do that. They go, oh God, we can't lose our coach.

We got to whatever, what do you want? What do you want? How do we pay you? That's what happens. So they've got to figure out how to stop doing that and start saying, and it's hard. It is hard. It's very easy for me to say that it is not

easy for an athletic director who knows they're going to get lit up by all of their boosters and all their fans. How did you let this guy go? And it's really hard to then turn around and say, well, he was just okay. Because you've been telling everybody he was a genius because that's part of the job. But they've got to be willing to do that. They've got telling everybody he was a genius, because that's part of the job. But they've got to be willing to do that. They've got to be willing, when a coach is just okay, let him walk. Because you can find just okay anywhere.

Special's hard. But if you tie yourself into these massive buyouts, it's going to be even harder to find special because you're gonna be stuck with just okay for longer than you want. Next question comes from Justin. With the comments made that Lincoln Riley may have his seat getting warmer, could Riley inject some Iowa into the program

with the transition to the Big Ten? What if he hires Brian Ferentz as a line coach and Phil Parker to improve those team functions when moving to the Big Ten? I don't think Phil Parker's leaving Iowa, so let's nip that in the bud right there. Phil Parker's the Iowa defensive coordinator. He is a miracle worker. His defenses are amazing, and he deserves to be the highest paid coordinator in the world. He probably should be paid more than most head coaches. I said that. There's your Phil Parker. Brian Ferris is a line coach. Sure, he's going to need a job. And he's a very good line coach. He's not a very good quarterbacks coach. Which, again, goes back to whatever Iowa was

doing the last few years. Why have have one of the best O-line coaches coaching quarterbacks? Why does that make any sense? So yes, that would be a fun thing to do. They need to be better on the offensive line. Brian Ferentz is a very good O-line coach. Now that job's not open right now. That would be up to Lincoln Riley to make that decision.

The defensive coordinator job not open right now. That would be up to Lincoln Riley to make that decision. The defensive coordinator job is open right now. And I know there's some names out there. I know the USC fans want Jim Leonard, the former Wisconsin defensive coordinator. And based on what I've heard, he would be happy to take it if they would move the university of Southern California to Madison, Wisconsin. And I don't think that's going to happen. So I'm not really counting on him to be in the mix for this one, but some other names that are floating around there. Zach Arnett, the former Mississippi state head coach, who is a very good defensive coordinator at Mississippi state and at San Diego state before that Rocky long guy has worked in Southern California has also worked opposite an air raid offensive tactician. While he worked, he was Mike Leach's defensive coordinator before he became the head coach after Mike Leach passed.

Jeff Collins, another one, another former head coach out there. Jeff Collins was a phenomenal defensive coordinator at Mississippi State at Florida. He was a very, he was a good head coach at Temple. It didn't work out at Georgia Tech, but Jeff Collins, the guy who will play some D now I would imagine that he's the type of person. If he talked to Lincoln Riley would want to guarantee that, Hey, we need to be able to practice in a way that lets my guys get the work done. They need to get done. And I think Lincoln

Riley needs to be open to that. And that's not unique to Jeff Collins. I think a lot of different coaches would feel that way. But I do think that's a big one right there, where somebody who has coached defense at the highest level, who understands what it looks like. Because I don't think Lincoln Riley knows what it looks like. So he needs someone who has seen what it looks like. So he needs someone who has seen what it looks like to help him out. Tony white at Nebraska is another guy whose name is

popping around and Tony white has done a great job at Nebraska. Their offense has not been what it was supposed to be tons of injuries, but that defense has kept them afloat. They're trying to become bowl eligible this week against Iowa, but the defense has never been the problem. Tony White's been great. You heard Matt rule this week talking about Tony White is a potential head coach and that he needs to be picky about what job he takes. But that's, that's another one who definitely you could think about. Pete Kwiatkowski is another one. Jen Cohen, the new USC AD would know him well because Kwiatkowski was at Washington with Chris Peterson. He's at Texas right now.

Texas, another one, another guy named Jeff Choate coaching linebackers who used to be the head coach at Montana State. Like there's a couple guys who would be really good in that role. Jimmy Lake, speaking of guys who worked at Washington, he's with the Rams right now. He's in LA. Is that somebody that USC might take a look at? But they have some options.

It really comes down to what Lincoln Riley wants to get out of his defense and how willing he is to let that defensive coordinator get a say in how they practice, how they hit and what sort of tone everything takes, how physical a team they want to be. And I do think if you bring somebody in who allows and Lincoln Riley allows that person to run a fairly physical practice, that's going to make the offensive line better too. That's going to make the rest of the offense better because they're going to have some resistance. They don't have bad players at USC. They're not that far off. I know Lincoln Riley,

we make fun of him for saying there's four or five plays. They're more, they're farther away than that, but you get the right leadership in there, the right coaching staff, and you run it the way that teams that win national titles run practices, then you got a shot because you got players, you got talent. It's not, the cover's not there. Last question from c kurtzman on twitter could unlv slide into that spot held by liberty only two losses to michigan and fresno state and the rebels did beat vanderbilt ricky white not being on the bulletin cough list is a criminal and barry odom is the coach of your hands down i'll throw another coach from unlv on that list brennan marion is a criminal and Barry Odom is the coach of the year. Hands down. I'll throw another coach from UNLV on that list. Brendan Marion is a guy that a lot of people are asking around about within the business, the go-go offense that he runs, uh, some, some triple option principles

and spread and vertical passing game combined with the triple option. It's a beautiful thing. It's, it's somewhat similar to what Jamie Chadwell runs at Liberty, but they came at it from different directions, although both of them developed it at lower levels. Brendan Marion was the offensive coordinator at William & Mary and at Howard, and that's where he developed it. And then he's been working as a receivers coach at various places, at Pittsburgh when they had Jordan Addison when he won the Blitnikoff,

and then at Texas recently. But I think people are wising up to the fact that this is a good offense and this is something that you may want to bring to the power five with Brendan Marion as your offensive coordinator. So they got to try to keep him at UNLV, but that is an interesting one. UNLV might be able to, but I think Liberty has a very good shot. Now Tulane is the one in the position to get that highest ranked group of five champ right now. They are the highest ranked group of five team in the college football playoff rankings. That doesn't mean they're going to wind up there because they've got a pretty tough road. They've got to beat UTSA this weekend. They may have to beat UTSA twice, depending on what happens in the rest of the American. So Tulane's been living a little bit

dangerously the last few weeks. Can they finish 12-1 because they had that one lost Ole Miss? We'll see. There's not going to be an undefeated team in the group of five unless it's Liberty. Liberty has UTEP this weekend. They should win that game. Tough, tough Conference USA championship game against New Mexico State, which just went to Auburn and won 31-10. So we'll see what happens. But Jamie Chadwell and Liberty could be in the driver's seat if Tulane falls. I like the UNLV idea, but I think Liberty would probably have to lose for UNLV to get in the mix there or whoever wins the Mountain West to get in the mix there. But we shall see. Going to be a fun, fun weekend. We got Thanksgiving. We got Black Friday games. We got Saturday. This is going to be an incredible next three days.

Thank you so much for being with us. As we talk about things we're thankful for, I'm so thankful for you being here, watching these shows, listening to these shows, sending in these amazing questions. You really, it just, you make all of this so much fun to do. I cannot believe I get to have this job and I am so thankful for you.

Everybody have fun. Be safe on Thanksgiving. We will be back with a post-game show, Black Friday. That's our next show. Lots to talk about, I guarantee. And of course, all those big games on Saturday, we've got a post-game show there. So enjoy your Thanksgiving. I'm on the Hard Count with J.D. Piquel. If you can't get enough of me, you can find me on Thanksgiving on the Hard Count. We will talk to you after the games Friday night. Thank you.