Andy & Ari On3 - Defending the Way (Way, Way, Way) Too Early 2025 College Football Top 10 | Orange Bowl Preview

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

You’ve had Wendy’s Nuggs dipped in sauce. But have you had them covered in sauce? 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. Busy mornings, late nights, working through lunch—life doesn’t always leave room for a complete, balanced meal. That’s where Huel comes in. This podcast is sponsored by Huel, spelled H-U-E-L, The World’s #1 Complete Nutrition Brand. It’s a complete meal in seconds—just grab, sip, and go. No more skipped meals or unfulfilling snacks. Huel makes it easy with nutrition that fits into your life. And right now, you can try it for FIFTEEN PERCENT off with the code STAPLES15 at HUEL.com. Fuel up the easy way with Huel today!  This show is also 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(0:00-0:31) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs(0:32-1:26) Intro(1:27-14:07) Reacting to the Interview with Kirk Herbstreit(14:08-15:19) Huel(15:20-17:25) 2 Minute Fueling Your Morning, brought to you by Huel(17:26-24:41) Iowa takes South Dakota State QB Mark Gronowski(24:42-31:09) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs, Traveling for CFP Semifinals(31:10-39:40) Penn State vs Notre Dame Preview, presented by PrizePicks(39:41-48:05) Top 3 of the Way, Way, Way too early top 10(48:06-53:15) Penn State's 2025 lookahead(53:16-55:29) Georgia's Place in the top 10(55:30-59:45) Did Illinois get snubbed in the list?(59:46-1:05:41) Alabama left out(1:05:42-1:08:24) Clemson at 8(1:08:24-1:11:46) Florida's Coming in at 9(1:11:47-1:14:55) Auburn Rounding out the top 10(1:14:56-1:17:03) Conclusion, Dear Andy & Ari tomorrow! [e-mail] Andy and Ari finally will defend their Way, Way, Way Too Early 2025 Top 10, but first we’ve got some news to discuss. Bill Belichick is making the rounds on the recruiting trail, as evidenced by the photos coming from various prospects around the state of North Carolina. He’s also tweeting, which might be a sign of the apocalypse.  Georgia has revamped its receiver room through the transfer portal, and one of the best quarterbacks in the FCS is headed to the Big Ten. Next, Andy and Ari break down the Penn State-Notre Dame Orange Bowl matchup one more time with kickoff less than 48 hours away. Now it’s time to defend the indefensible, a ranking for next season while this season is still going. Here’s the top 10. Try to guess which team Andy regrets leaving out and which team Ari regrets leaving out. 1. Texas2. Oregon3. Ohio State4. Penn State5. Notre Dame6. Georgia7. South Carolina8. Clemson9. Florida10. Auburn Watch us on YouTube instead! https://youtube.com/live/YBNgVb9Se4s Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

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, Parmesan, or if you're a real heat seeker, try the spicy ghost pepper.

Only on Wendy's signature spicy Nugs. I dare ya. That's seven delicious ways to try the Nugs you already love. Pick a flavor, grab some extra napkins, and prepare to Nug like you have never noug before. For a hold away to noug, it's gotta be Wendy's at participating U.S. Wendy's.

Welcome to Andy and Ariane 3. Have to imagine that Bill Belichick is enjoying some delicious saucy nugs as he's traversing the state of North Carolina. Going to see all those high school recruits. We've got a big show. We're defending our way, way, way, way too early. Top 10.

That's the it's saucy as take Wednesday. That's our saucy as take, uh, and really a lot of you are mad. So, uh, are you a lot of, a lot of, a lot of the people are mad at us in general. Mm. I've known about the Kirk Herbstreet interview. Yeah, it, uh, it is what it is. I think that like, he's just a very divisive figure for some reason. I knew people were mad at him.

I didn't realize. No, I know, but like, you know how it goes in spurts last year with a Dylan Raiola stuff, it kind of went up and then it came down and then Florida state went up and came down. Like, you know how it is, but this is similar to the Florida state and the level of anger and outrage. It's similar to that. Yeah.

No. And it's interesting because the thing that I find so fascinating about it is, and maybe it's just a loud cross section of, um, the Midwest, but like, this is as a result of a comment that he made about Indiana. You know, the team took more body shots than any team in the history of the playoff race. Like including from including from us and everybody else. And like, it's just like, I don't know that. I mean, what he said is a pretty common notion.

I think, well, actually John in the chat sums it up very nicely. Kirk curve street thinks strengths of schedule is more important than wins. I yeah. Yeah. I know that's pretty much what he said. So, and we've had this argument on this show. Yeah. And I think we have come down at different parts of it.

And I think like in the aggregate, what he was saying is true. Like if you have a team that had a tougher schedule and more quality wins, that should take precedent over a team that had an easy schedule and more wins, right? Like I think that the issue- But you've put this out and you've cleared this up every time, like the way you say it is the right way. Indiana had to go 11 and one.

Ten and two Indiana doesn't get in. Right. Like that is, that is everybody, that is the committee considering strength of schedule. And I also think that Indiana was fortunate this year that the bucket of teams in the SEC that we were arguing about were not 10 and two. Like if, if there were three teams in the SEC that were 10 and two, then Indiana might've been out. So like the thing is the SEC team solved the problem and Miami Miami in this too, because if Miami is 11 and one, now I think that they get in over S M U after they lost the ACC title

game. But if Miami was 11 and one, there would have been a spot for Miami as well. But Miami was facing the same problem as Indiana, and they did lose that second regular season game. So they were out. And like if Miami would have beaten Georgia in the non-conference and been 10 and two, they probably would have been in like the quality. Or Florida just been better.

Like, and like then that win over Florida had looked better like I don't want to spend this entire episode like re litigating this but like this is the thing that has been bothering me. Why didn't you ask him who should have been there? He named four teams. Did people not hear that also in my response to him, I said there was no other option with to which he agreed. Like we did.

It's like, I feel like this hold his feet to the fire or present what he did wrong. I told him that what he said echoed the SEC propaganda. What the people want that are yelling at you and yelling at me is they wanted us to break him down and for him to tearfully apologize and say, I'm so sorry. Indiana absolutely deserved to be in. I should have never said that. And he's not going to say that. That was his opinion. Andy is it's deeper than that. I think that what you're saying is true. But I think that the reason why everybody is upset isn't that the opinion was that Indiana wasn't good enough or didn't deserve to be in because there's a lot of it was the thought that it was the SEC that an SEC team it is played an SEC schedule deserved it better

overarching thought that there is some sort of huge conspiracy theory behind the scenes that the people who are on air for ESPN are instructed to and are told they have to prop up the SEC. And I think what the reality is, and I believe him when I say this is, is, you know, he didn't, he was at the end of a 12 hour shift where he was on TV all day. He got brought into Sports Center. They asked him a question. He made an opinion to try to get off the air and move and move forward and didn't realize that what he was saying actually echoed the SEC stuff like I actually believe that now you can. You can question whether

or not he uses his Twitter or everything that he said from his personal life like do what you want. If he runs his Twitter the same way magic Johnson does now, I find that very interesting, but like, cause that's what magic X is assistant. Hey, tweet this for me. There are two buckets of people out there. People who think that the sec is in existence only to make the sec prosperous and that Kirk Herbstreet is a agent of ESPN in order to do that. Or people who realize that Kirk Herbstreet is a human being who has takes

and may or may not be wrong all the time the way that we are. And that's it. So there's no way to convince somebody if they believe that there is a conspiracy happening that there isn't. So if you think... And none of these conspiracies are true, Ari, except that the world is run by a cabal of pirates and ninjas. Like that's true. None of the other ones are true though.

Is really most amusing about the SEC propaganda machine that is supposed to exist is, none of them got in. Like whatever you think ESPN is doing... Not only did none of them get in, Alabama threw up all over itself with all of its players against a completely depleted Michigan team. Outside of the playoff. And Illinois beat South Carolina. The thing that I think would be interesting is,

is that like, if Kirk Herbstreet said that before the committee and then Indiana or SMU was left out before the committee deliberated and brought us the bracket. He said it after. And I also don't think he would have said it had we had that result of the Alabama game in hand already. I don't think, you know, I just, I don't know. I'm happy we had him on the show.

I'm happy we allowed him to say what he did, but like the idea that we should have like been more stern or I've gotten so many journalism lectures on social media. Let me, let me, let me, let me give you my journalism lecture. Cause I decided a long time ago what I was going to do for a living. I I'll take you back to I'm 19 years old. I'm an intern at Florida today, which is the newspaper Brevard County, Florida. And they had a wonderful internship program where they had me work in news for a period of time. They had me work on the

editorial page for a period of time. They had me work in sports for a period of time and learned so much. It was an incredible summer. The part where I'm in news, where I'm actually performing real journalism, and there is a difference. Like one night, your editor calls you and says, hey, on your way home, go through Coco and go to this trailer park and knock on the door where some woman's boyfriend shook her baby to death last night and see if anybody answers the door. And if they do ask them questions about the dead baby and what happened. Like that's that's journalism. Or another one where a woman fell asleep driving and ran over the man who mows the median for the city who makes

six dollars an hour, called his relatives two hours after he died and asked them about him. Willie Lee Graham, he was 67 years old. He made six dollars and seven cents an hour. The kids in his neighborhood called him Papa. I haven't forgotten a single detail of that day because I learned that's not what I wanted to do for a living and God bless the people who do. There are real journalists out there. They're in California covering those wildfires. They're in the Middle East embedded in war zones. Like

they're doing really important work and what they do is really hard and not all that lucrative usually. and not all that lucrative usually. What we're doing, not journalism. I'm not saying that to absolve us, like we're supposed to get it right, and we have a responsibility to get it right, but please spare me the journalism lectures, because I decided a long time ago, I wanna cover sports and talk about sports all day.

It ain't that serious. It's not always gonna be Watergate guys. Yeah, yeah. I think that's well put. And I think that like what we write on on three is factual. If it's an opinion, it's usually based on discussions with coaches that we've had. If we arrive at opinions,

even though things aren't quoted sometimes, that doesn't mean that it's not coming from a person who would know. And I think that when you listen to this show, my hope is that you will feel informed because I believe that we're informed, right? Like I was talking to somebody the other day, like the Rolodex of coaches between the two of us and people in journalism is pretty extensive, or I mean in coaching and in college football is extensive.

And I believe that we use it. I think you do a better job of it than me. I gotta be better about it. But we, and listen too, I've got in my office here and I'll show you one day, like articles from the New York Times that are on the wall that I framed from when we worked there and like my journalistic achievements that I find to be. But we are in this position as a duo because both of us worked at the most top hat journalism

institution on the face of the earth. They gave monocles when the New York Times bought the athletic. Did you get yours? Yeah. Yeah. And what is it? A cork pipe. Like, I think that we're in the position that we're in because both of us agreed

that we wanted to talk about football with a friend for a living. And like, luckily for us, we get to do that. And every single morning that I wake up, I'm thankful for that. But the notion that we have Jeffrey Dahmer on the show, and we've got to ask him why he ate people yesterday, is the dude is a college football analyst. Also, if we had Jeffrey Dahmer on the show, I'm sure the first question is,

why did you eat people? Yeah, I'm not really sure where to go from there. Like, I'll be honest, like, what are the best moments of quote unquote journalism in terms of interviewing? My favorite maybe ever was when Hugh Grant went on Jay Leno after he got arrested for solicitation while he was with Elizabeth Hurley and Jay Leno's first question out of the box was just what the hell were you thinking and that was it. He didn't really hold his feet to the fire after that either. It was a hell of a question. So you know actually if you go back and I think people know this about me, but I'm really into consuming true crime. He was pretty remorseful at the end of his life.

I think he would have been a good guess. I mean, he became a born again person. He would have been a good guess. I think he would have been a good guess. I think he would have been a good guess. I think he would have been a good guess. I think he would have been a good guess. I think he would have been a good guess. I think he would have been a good guess. I think he would have been a good guess. I think Dahmer was a massive Wisconsin fan. We're going to have to fact check this, Karen. I don't want to slander the Badgers.

Did Dahmer go to Ohio State? It looks like a serial... When Ohio State played Washington, I can't remember what it was. Were they in a Rose Bowl or something? My brain is mush. But there was T-shirts that said Bundy vs Dahmer on it. And I thought that was hilarious. If you go through the serial killers

and where they went, there were a lot of big 10 schools that that hosted serial killers. Stop. I don't know. This is what happens on this podcast. We just get off track. But the point is, is that like, he is not some like evil Empire, Herb Street, right? Yeah, those over bad people. But like, I think that like the idea that like we had somebody on who's evil

and that we needed to hold him accountable for being evil. Actually, he was just a ESPN analyst with a shit take. And I think he knows it's a shit take. And listen, I've been on ESPN arguing about that shit take to other people at ESPN who have it. And it's OK. You want to know who else has shit takes? Me, all the time.

Me? You know who you do? All the time. And guess what? We're just here for the ride, baby. We're gonna be talking about our way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way,

way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way,

way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way Yeah, I got some shit. We got some shit takes for you. That's what the show should be called. Shit takes with Andy and Laurie. Before we do that, we gotta fuel your morning with Huel. Huel, complete nutrition in a bottle right here. 27 vitamins and minerals, 35 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber. If I need breakfast and I don't have a lot of time to make breakfast, this is the way I go. When my wife is headed out the door, going to work,

needs to bring something for lunch that she knows is gonna get her through the afternoon. This is what she grabs. This is the Huel Black Edition. It is spectacular. Complete meal in seconds. Just grab, sip and go. No more skip meals or unfulfilling snacks.

Huel makes it easy with nutrition that fits into your life. Right now you can try it for 15% off with the code staples15 at Huel.com. That's H-U-E-L.com. Plus you get a free gift. And if it's the same free gift I got, it's the best workout shirt of all time. So Huel, H-U-E-L.com, code is staples15 for 15% off. You will not regret it. Now we are gonna fuel your morning brought to you by Hewlett with two minutes of everything you need to know that is going on in college football right now. And my God, there's a lot.

Bill Belichick is tweeting, start the clock. River Bailey. Bill Belichick is tweeting, he is visiting recruits. All of the stuff that I already yelled at Deion Sanders about Bill Belichick is doing. It's wild seeing these pictures. Also just seeing him tweet in general is insane. Bill Belichick is on the recruiting trail. Also, Northern Illinois is going to be a member of the Mountain West because why not? Cal is a member of the ACC. Why can't Northern Illinois be a member of the Mountain West?

Andy, this one seems the most bizarre to me out of all. Why? I don't know. It just feels weird. I can see that. Well, I mean, you can see San Francisco Bay. I'm trying to remember when I've been in Berkeley. On a clear day, can you see the Pacific Ocean?

I think you can. And they're in the Atlantic Coast Conference. So Northern Illinois Mountain West is not as big of a stretch. No, no, it just feels weirder to me. It does, it feels very strange. Very strange. Yes, we still got a minute left,

but we got a lot to cover. Georgia has revamped its recruiting, recruiting room, its receiving room through the transfer portal. We mentioned that Zachariah Branch and Zion Branch, the two USC transfers, Zach Branch is the receiver, Zion's the safety. They're going to Georgia.

We learn on Tuesday that Noah Thomas, the former Texas A&M receiver, six, five, big target on the edge, he's going to Georgia too. So Zach Branch, you would hope gives them the explosion that they lacked. Now USC fans will say that. Wasn't the same his sophomore years

as freshman year Noah Thomas gives them the size the stretch Armstrong capabilities that they may have lacked. Maybe Georgia will have an explosive passing game next year we will see one more one more Mark Grunowski. Quarterback from the South Dakota State Jackrabbit's. One of the best quarterbacks in the FCS. He's headed to Iowa.

It's electric. And that's everything you know, two minutes viewing your morning with you'll can we talk about Grunowski a little bit though? Because I feel like, now, Cade McNamara had helped Michigan win a big 10 title as a starter. So I don't feel like that was a big stretch in terms of transfers, but it feels like Iowa keeps trying this transfer thing

instead of, you know, developing a homegrown QB. Like, the further we get away, the more I respect CJ Beathard. Because CJ Beathard bawled out at Iowa. Like, is there ever going to be another quarterback under Kirk Ferentz who could put up CJ Beathard numbers? Because if they can, Iowa's like a 10-win team when we were at the athletic and the Iowa terrible offensive year, two years ago. Or wait, maybe you weren't there, but I was there. I wrote a story about this quarterback who committed to Iowa, like in the midst of the Brian Farrans mania.

And that's called him. And I was just like, dude, why would you commit to Iowa right now at this position? Like, cause I thought it was interesting and he was a good kid and I can't, I'm trying to remember his name. I can't remember his name, but, um, it turned out that he was like not a quarterback and like they moved him a receiver and he's transferred out already. And I, and the reason why I bring this up is because the homegrown thing is a really nice idea.

But Iowa has got to be the hardest place to recruit a quarterback to that has the goods to be CJ Beathard, right? Like why would anybody who has that upside and I'm not even saying like NFL upside. I just mean upside enough to throw for 2,000 yards in the season. Why would anybody want to do that? You know, and I and I feel like.

You know, Brad Banks was forever ago. But like the thought that that's the I went on this ran on the old show, are you? This is probably three years ago, like. Does Kirk Ferret's not remember Brad Banks like why doesn't he just try to find somebody like that and that they just not come come play for him? Like if I were Iowa and I don't know if it's even possible, but I would round up every single last dollar that I have and go find the most electrifying dual threat quarterback who can run the shit out of

the ball and also is a proficient enough passer to hit the out routes and the tight end routes that they like to throw and just let that person just go crazy because I do feel like the problem with Iowa's offense to a certain extent is that their offense is boring vanilla and it's meant to complement the defense but also to the quarterbacks can never move and I feel like if you added the Gronowski can move Gronowski at 10 Russian TDs this year and I think I think that's this is the part I like because he's played in an offensive system that isn't that different from

what they do and he's shown that he can move the ball through the air and on the ground. This feels like the most proven, you know what you want. of the transfers that they've got. Cause like Deacon Hill is a good example of that. Like nothing probably they had seen from Deacon Hill on film before they got him suggested it was gonna work. And it didn't work.

Like this guy at least has shown over and over again, he can do what you want him to do. So I'm actually a little, I'm a little excited about Iowa. Do you know what it reminds me of? You know that Cody Bollair, you know, truck and trailer action? Yeah, yeah. I said, right. Absolutely cannot.

Iowa cannot, cannot exist without a truck of a quarterback. And like, I think that that manifests in different ways. Like when I think of a truck, I think of like Deshaun Watson at Clemson. It's like, they're obviously not going to get that guy, but a person who can will like, I don't know, like maybe like a Diego Pavia or somebody like that, that would come in and move the offense down the field because he exists, not as a complimentary piece,

because they keep having trailers at their quarterback, but there's no truck on the offense at all anywhere outside of the tight end position most years. So like this year they had a really really good running back right and I think they their offense improved enough where if this offense was married with last year's defense, they probably would have made the Big Ten Championship game and beyond not beyond, but you get what I'm saying beyond where they went.

And like, I don't know how Iowa finds a truck of a quarterback. And maybe this is the answer. Maybe you go down and get the most, uh, you know, efficient and productive player from the lower level and hope that that translates to some degree to your program, but I just don't understand how a place that loves football as much as Iowa does. And a fan base that's as big as, and passionate in a place that's frankly had as much success as they've had.

Has struggled so profoundly to just get a quarterback. Like when you think about the teams and the transfer portal era that have pretty good quarterbacks that are just been nothing burger programs for a long time. Like Iowa should probably fall somewhere in line higher than that, right? Well, like Indiana getting Curtis Rourke. Now, that's obviously, but like why couldn't Iowa get Curtis Rourke? I mean, but I think I would have more success than Indiana. Like, why are you not rating the Mac every time there's a good Mac quarterback? And there's also like a you know chicken in the

egg scenario here because like Curtis Roark was really good this year but Indiana's skill position players on offense though not equipped to beat Notre Dame were still really good. They're really good. Yeah. Get open against you know defenders on Maryland and you know, I mean they they scored points against Michigan like they had good players. Can I ask you this though Ari because it now remember last year was the first year under Tim Lester at Iowa with the offense. It wasn't Brian Farrance anymore and the offense did get better. So Grunowski was a guy that that I think a lot of schools were hoping would transfer before this

past season. I remember his name coming up and then he ended up staying at South Dakota State. Is it possible that Tim Lester being there, the offense getting better now unlocks that where a good quarterback will consider that? I mean, I think that if they take another step forward next year, like, I mean, like, here's the thing, if Grunowski goes out there and is awesome and like becomes like the Diego Pavia story of next year, which I guess is always on the table and you

have somebody with that much production coming in. And he's a dog. Like that's a winning program at South Dakota state. Like they are, they've been really, really good. Yeah. Then like, then you get people to view you differently. Um, I understand why it would take a few years to get out of the hole that, you know, existed two years ago, right? Because it's like on one hand, it's a

scheme issue and the scheme has a certain glass ceiling over it because they're not going to open it up too much as to not play Iowa football. And then on top of that, it's hard to get personnel in there to make this work better because people don't want to play in that shit show of an offense. So like, the fact that they improved, I think is a great, great sign, I think probably a successful year. Still have a long way to go, though, I think. But like, this is the type of thing that I think could work. So I'm excited

to see how it plays out. All right, we are about to defend the indefensible. The top ten at first we do need to go over the Orange Bowl one more time. One more time. Penn State Notre Dame. We're gonna do this with the Cotton Bowl tomorrow as well. But Penn State Notre Dame getting ready to play the Orange Bowl on Thursday night.

I'm headed to Miami after this show. Driving down. Yeah. Yeah, we're gonna see all all that is lovely about the state of Florida. Enjoy our perfect weather here in the sunshine. How much coast do you get? Is the poleway just right down the middle of the state or do you get any coast? I will stay in the, I'm a turnpike guy. Now you can switch over to I-95 in Fort Pierce, but it's not like driving. It's not like driving north on I-5 through San Diego County in California. Like you're not on the cliffs of insanity.

Like you don't get to see the water from there. Oh, I've never driven 95 all the way north from Miami. I've only gone up to Boko, but yeah, you're not missing anything. There is a Buc-E's between Saint Augustine and Jacksonville now, though. So we've got that going for us. I've got to think about that. If they put Buc-E's everywhere,

I think that the novelty is going to go away. Well, good news, they're not going to put Buc-E's everywhere because in the northeast, in California, the real estate is too expensive to put that large of a gas station. I know, but the fact that you can go to Buc-ee's today is stupid to me. It's like then the next time you come here, it's not gonna wanna come. It makes you feel less special

as a Texas resident. Well, I actually think Buc-ee's is pretty overrated after you've gone 10 times. Like I think it's the cool thing in the world. You want me to really make you jealous? Hmm. I can go to Wawa and Buc-ee's. I know.

I know every time I go to Florida, like I went the last time I was in Florida, dude, I was covering the no, not the last time I was there alone when we didn't come to Gainesville. I was covering last year's Georgia Florida game in Jacksonville and I ate Wawa for like six straight meals. Like I didn't even try to go any local restaurants. I was just like, I'm going to eat the Wawa for like six straight meals. Like I didn't even try to go any local restaurants. I was just like, I'm gonna eat the Wawa sandwiches the entire time and I had it all planned out.

Wawa meatball sub is so good. They actually sell legitimately good sandwiches and I think that they're saying- And by the way, we are not being paid for this. Like other college football podcasters, if a gas station chain would like to pay us to endorse them, we have positive takes about all of them. Like I can say great things about loves,

I can say great things about pilot, I can say great things about Buc-E's, Wah Wah, Sheetz, you name it. Yeah, but before we get sponsored, I will say that I believe that Wah Wah's food is superior to Sheetz, although Sheetz has more variety. And I think that Wah Wah's is superior to sheets, although sheets has more variety. And I think that while was sub is better than the poll. A bonus Wendy's saucy take

Wednesday take. Now, obviously, if there's a Wendy's in the gas station, I'm just getting saucy nugs. But then there are Wendy's and a lot of loves across the country. Right. And so the Wendy's loves partnership I'm going to embrace here. If you can get Wendy's saucy nugs and a loves and then walk into the loves and get the pork tamale, that is gas station nirvana. Is the pork tamale the one that is on the roller? It's on the roller grill. Yeah. It's tremendous. So get really get like get the spicy buffalo

saucy nugs. Yeah. Pork tamale. It's there's nothing better. Nothing better. I love how divisive roller food is like some people are like, Oh, it's amazing. And some people are like, Oh, God, like if I told my wife, I ate something up the roller grill, she would like be like, Oh, my God, you're disgusting. You make me sick. The roller grill is the best.

It's the freshest food in the gas station. Like I make fun of Ari because he'll walk into a gas station at 1 30 in the morning and grab a sandwich that the expiration date is like 1 37 AM and it's one 36 AM expiration dates or suggestions. They're not, it's not and it's 1.36 AM. Expiration dates are suggestions. They're not, it's not like, it's fine. Like, I have, can we, I know we gotta get back to the show. One last question and then we'll veer off this completely. Yes.

We can wait until he squeezed in a bonus Wendy's ad here. Come on. When you go to a grocery store, I've always wondered this. Yes. And there's expiration dates on food. And let's just say like bread for instance. Two part question. One is the expiration date that's on there when you can't eat it anymore or when it has to be purchased by and if it's

when you can't eat it by anymore, how many days past that like if you let's say like sour cream. I ran milk. They always said seven, but I just smell it. Okay. So, and so because like some some will be marked sell by which is not consumed by it's sell by but some are also marked expires. So which that means it expires. My wife was making us turkey tacos for dinner a few nights ago. And we had sour cream that was the expiration date was January 2nd and this was like on the fifth or sixth and she refused to eat

it. It's already sour. I smelled it and it smelled fine. I took a little taste. I'm like, it's fine. She's like, no, we need to go get more sour cream. And I'm wondering, is she the rational one or am I the rational one? Like should you think both of you are? I don't mess with dairy usually because it's like I do the same thing you do. I smell it. I taste it. If it's weird, I throw it out.

Okay. Cause like I really struggle with expiration dates, especially like on things like bread and my wife will throw anything like My wife is convinced that if I if I put a steak on the counter to warm up to room temperature that it's suddenly gonna rot Yeah, and you're supposed to warm it up to room temperature before you put on the grill by the way It's in my wife's defense like part of the problem was that like we're feeding a three-year-old So like anything with like like that my stomach can handle maybe or his cancer. If anything goes wrong you're gonna projectile vomit yeah and staying up all night so like she's ready to be careful. I think it's a little bit over the top with the

expiration date shit. I think it's just like okay it's it's a general area of time like it doesn't have to be like the second the clock hits midnight the day on the package like you can never eat this again or you're gonna die.. No, no, no. And sometimes they're just trying to get you to buy it so they can get you to buy more. All right, Orange Bowl. Interesting numbers. I want to point out,

let's look at the prize picks numbers for this. Prize picks, best daily fantasy game in America. Use the code staples when you sign up, play $5, get $50 instantly. So if you look at the two starting quarterbacks in this game, you got Drew Aller, 185 and a half passing yards. You decide if it's more or less. You've got Riley Leonard, 159 and a half passing yards.

You decide if it's more or less. Remember, Riley Leonard just beat Georgia throwing for 90 yards Ari. Am I wrong to think that less than for both these quarterbacks with these two defenses is out of line. No, I mean, it's if you're expecting like a, you know, cuz like I think I'm expecting this, like a closer version of the Georgia game, the Georgia Notre Dame game.

Like, is that fair to expect? I think that that's what I feel like is going to happen. And I also feel like the score is going to be kind of similar. The scoring numbers. So that was a 23, 10 game, like a 23, 20 or a 23 2317 type game feels about right here. Yeah, I gotta tell you, I think I texted this to you yesterday. Like, I don't know if you can see my phone as a text. Can you see the balance on

there? I I'm sure it looks very high. I see lots of numbers. Like I, I've had a pretty good year on this thing. And I got a buddy that helped me out with a few hockey things that hit like I'm, I'm getting up to almost three. That's right. Prize picks, not just college football. Yeah. NBA, NHL, NFL, darts, eSports. If they compete prize picks has probably got a square for it. So, uh, but I still think the key square, if we're talking prize picks in this game, is your Riley Leonard rushing square. That was the key in the sugar bowl. 47 and a half right now. It's actually gone up since we talked about it the other day.

Hello. It is. He rushed for 80 against Georgia. I think they discovered that Riley Leonard's. Legs not that I discovered it at least are willing to use it. Like is the X Factor in the football game like overall in my opinion. Yeah.

Well, and the other thing is wasn't completely healthy when he got to Notre Dame. I don't think he was completely healthy when the season started. I think he's actually gotten healthier as the season's gone on and now it's sort of all or nothing. Like you are going to run him. Because you have to, you don't have a choice. Now, Jeremiah loves going to play really, really good at it. Like it's not like, yeah, he is. He's like,

he's the one of the more athletic running quarterbacks in the sport. Yep. And Jeremiah loves going to play. Marcus Freeman said that James Franklin said Abdul Carter is going to play, which we both of them had basically said that the players themselves that said that. But now we have the coaches saying that too,

so we're going to get as close to full strength as we can get with these two teams. Obviously, Riley Mills is out for the season for Notre Dame. They lost him in the Indiana game. But I think this is going to be a slog. I think points are at a premium. Tyler Warren, your sixty six and a half number like Penn State's going to have to have to force feed Tyler Warren to get to that number.

Yeah. And I'm wondering to how well Notre Dame is going to be able to cover him. Xavier Watts baby, as Xavier special really, really, really good and Notre Dame's defense goes about saying, like, there's only one team in here that's going to be facing something in the playoff that they haven't faced already, right? And that's Penn State, Penn State is going to be facing a defensive front and a defensive backfield that, you know. You played Ohio State? No, in the in the playoffs, is what I'm saying, to get to this point.

Oh, yeah, yeah. So far, right? Yes. Notre Dame has had already gotten through a team like Penn State, and we might come to find out that Georgia isn't as good as Penn State this year. Yeah. But they've already kind of shown that they can be the physical aggressor in a game like that in the postseason. In Penn State, I thought held their own physically against Ohio State at home when they lost to them. So maybe this is just a nothing burger, but like I do wonder like if Notre Dame comes into the game like dead set on stopping Tyler Warren from having an impact. Can Penn State score enough? Like that's to me the number one question because

I do think that Riley Leonard is going to get his on the ground. And I do think that, you know, Notre Dame is probably going to score. Like I have more questions about Penn State's ability to score than I do Notre Dames, which is funny because Penn State actually has has the X Factor guy that we keep talking about. Yeah. I mean, what like who what do you value more? Do you value Tyler Warren's versatility? And like, by the way, we did say like he's like not Jeremiah Smith or like a prototypical receiver like those catches he made in in the last game those touchdowns

He's an alien alien. Yeah, so I don't want to sell him short, but would you take Leonard's legs or? Warren's X Factor here. Here's here. Here's the thing. You have to include something else in here When we've when drew Allers needed to move he can move he can And that's that's why I picked Penn State in this game like that what you just asked me When Drew Allers needed to move, he can move. He can. And that's why I picked Penn State in this game. Like that, what you just asked me is that is what put me over. Cause this is really, I feel like this is a coin flip game. That's what pushed me over.

I mean, it is a coin flip game. It is. And it's amazing. And I'm so jealous you're going. I know you asked me like- I'm very excited, very excited. Now I'm hoping that we're that I'm going to get to join you at the Cotton Bowl. The forecast is I flew to Miami tonight and then we covered the game together and then neither of us could get back to Dallas.

That would be bad. We'd probably get in trouble for that. But I would love it. I would love it. Jay Weiser in the chat is Penn State's performance against Oregon's defense. Any comparison that it's certainly in terms of talent level. Sure. I think that and then and remember Penn State was very effective against Oregon's defense. So it was the best we've seen their offense play. So I'm excited about this. Thank you, Jay Weiser. You're making me feel better about my pick, but I really do think that like Notre Dame's defense dude the way that they played against Georgia and I don't

know how much of that is like. George's offense stinks and was using a backup quarterback or what, but like I thought Notre Dame's defense played menacing football against Georgia. Notre Dames defense is really good. It is not because Gunnar Stockton

was a backup. I don't think, but I think they're going to be good against anybody. You know, but I think they're going to be good against anybody. You know like I think so much in college football. Andy with eye test is like offensive football like Ohio State for instance is like the apple of everyone's eye right now because their offense looks insanely good right but like the two most impressive units to me in the entire

playoff are actually Ohio State's defense and Notre Dame's defense so far like, you know, Notre Dame's defense the way they played against Georgia like the eye test of like always being in the right position arriving at the football with power in in hits that are you can feel on the television telecast like yeah, the way that they were playing it was like by the middle of the second quarter is like I don't think Georgia has a shot to win this game and then it turned out to be the case because of why I think

Kirby smart said it before the game and and and he was certainly paying them a compliment He's like their defense look like our defense yeah, and It was actually the better version of it that day. So yeah, no, I'm so excited for both of these games, but especially this one, because it feels like it's going to be a tightly contested game. Or if one of the teams blows the other out, it'll be a surprising result that we have a lot to talk about from. So I just, yeah, I'm ready to roll. Headed to South Florida after this cannot wait cannot wait Ari

Prize picks you got the big balance the big brain on Brad If you want to get like Ari on prize picks Download it use the code staples when you sign up play $5 get $50 instantly. All right, it's time You know that gift where you have have the guy in the movie with the sword and there's the entire horde of the opposing army coming at him? You know what movie that's from? What movie is that? Is it Braveheart? How am I supposed to know? I thought it was like Lord of the Lord of the Ass or something like that. I mean, it might be a Lord of the Rings movie. I can't remember. But I don't know what it is. We are that guy We we are that guy today because we put out our way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way

too early top ten late last week We had a coach come after us and on on further review. I think he may have been correct. We had Every fan base on Earth that's not mentioned here. And then some fan bases that are mentioned here. Bias and of course, we go again. And of course, the people who say you can't do these because they influence the rankings. Yeah, show me where everybody

had Indiana in the top 10. Show me where Florida State was still in the top 10. Like no where Florida State was still in the top 10 like no, no, they're gonna play some games and they'll figure it out. The fact that like 4 million of you. Looked at the the graphic over the weekend tells us you want rankings. You like ranking people like to see the rankings.

Yeah, and like, you know the reason why it says way way way three times is that we realized that to see the rankings. Yeah. And like, you know, the reason why it says way, way, way three times is that we realized that we did the rankings before like all the roster pieces settle. So like, for me, I thought this was just a fun exercise of like, where do you think teams currently stand? That doesn't mean that by March, a team that's not in it could be number six, if they ended up doing something, we'll get to an example as we move down this list of one where the the information changed after we put this out and it's like oh I think we have a mistake here so yeah you're you're

gonna see that so let's let's go through the list. We got Texas number one, Oregon number two, Ohio state number three. And I know I'd like the initial question I keep getting is why Ohio state down there, when you guys keep saying you think they're going to blow through the rest of this tournament, win the national title. And it's just because the reason we think Ohio state is so good right now. And the reason we think they can win the national title is they have all these older defensive players who put off going to the NFL to come back. Yes, they have Jeremiah Smith back. Yes, they have Caleb downs back. The two best players at their positions in college football, bar none next year, but Jack Sawyer, JT Tui Malau, Ty Leek Williams, Jack Sawyer, JT Tui Malau, Tylek Williams, Lathan Ransom, Denzel Burke, the list goes on. These are NFL players that will not be on that defense anymore.

And so I obviously feel like we should give them the benefit of the doubt, which is why we have them in number three. But the idea that they're still going to be the best team in the country after losing all that is a big ask. Yeah. And like the thing with Ohio State is when have they not been a top five team like in the last 15 years? Like they've had good years. They've had great years.

They've had some down years, but they're always trusses been there. years. They've had great years. They've had some down years, but they're always his trestle's been there like since Jim Trestle, who was hired in 2001. Yeah. They have been one of the five most talented teams in the country every single year. And they have the best player, I think going into next year, you could say they've got the best offensive player and the best defensive player. So like, that's a pretty good starting point and the thing

That will be interesting to us like Damon Wilson we got the crystal What's the the RPM the RPM? Yeah, we we have the RPM That they might get a five-star defensive like they're gonna get guys and they have a bunch of players That what happens when you recruit like high school recruiting still matters. They've got a lot of really good players. So Texas number one because of arch like we know their quarterback situation. We've seen him play. We've seen him start a game. We seem to start a couple games. We're confident that that keeps rolling and also I feel like at this point, Steve Sarkeesian has shown us that he can bring in.

Transfer portal talent to plug the holes, but also the transfer portal talent to plug the holes, but also they can develop. They've done such a good job recruiting the line of scrimmage out of high school. Yeah. Um, Texas also has some players who may not be national stars yet right now, Andy, but are going to be national stars maybe as soon as Friday. Like, do you think that Ant Hill and Colin Simmons are like known by everybody? I think like the audience for our show, which is really deep in the weeds,

does, but not the casual fan. Like they're not aware of those guys. I, I, the one I always bring up with Texas is Ethan Burke, who would be a defensive star almost anywhere else, but they're so loaded there. Yeah. You know, and I think that what you're, what you're going to end up seeing, um, in our rankings is just a pretty big respect for the teams that have accumulated talent from the high school ranks at a pretty impressive clip in the on three industry rankings, right? Like you're gonna use the, like I know that. It feels like that's the most solid foundation. It is, it's not, it doesn't feel like it, it is, okay?

Yeah. The things that have half of their roster built of blue chip players that they handpicked and have developing are the ones that, not everything is portal, portal, portal. Portal's important. And like I think Oregon, our number two team has done such a wonderful job of marrying the two things because Oregon has done a lot more as a portal

quarterback, but he's also a guy that they had committed out of high school. He flipped to UCLA because he wanted to go play immediately. He gets to play immediately. UCLA is like, you know what? I think I kind of want to be developed. I'm not sure if I'm ready yet. And so he goes, decides to go to Oregon, where you can sit behind Dylan Gabriel for a year. Now, we don't know if Dante Moore is going to be a superstar

quarterback. But I tell you what Ari, that decision making process gives me some hope. Like, that's a very mature decision. Yeah, a mature decision, but also to like Evan Stewart announced he's coming back like they're going to have really good lines like Oregon. I think this year. Though their fans are disappointed by the way things

went in the playoff. I think there are a few teams that are still like at the base point of their upward trajectory. Now, like I think Texas is another one. Like it doesn't feel like it. And Texas may like if Texas wins Friday and then goes on and wins the national championship like they're there. They've broken through. Yeah, Texas is playing with house money right now a little bit right like Texas two years ago was a laughing stock coming into last year. If you predicted them to go to the playoff, I did. The reaction to that was you're a moron. You're you're winning two games in the playoff. Is just another step in the progression of this is an everyday year or an every year thing until they break through.

But I don't think if Texas loses to Ohio State people are going to be like, oh, Sark sucks. This whole thing is for nothing. They're building something. And I think we've accepted that that Sark has them in a position where they're going to be. Yeah, they're going to be here like next year. Like I think that Quinn, you were I'm going to write about

this today and I'm trying to figure out how to frame it, but I think that like Quinn yours is the ultimate trailer. In the truck and trailer scenario and he's not a thing. I think you just wrote your lead. But then I also feel like the play that he made in overtime against Arizona State was the biggest Truck situation I've ever seen like if you go like read about the pre snap ever emotion and I think I can think of another Texas quarterback who?

Who was the ultimate semi truck in a very big game? Yeah, I know his name was Vince Young 20 years ago, but yeah in a very big game. Yeah, I know his name was Vince Young 20 years ago, but yeah. Like what if Arch Manning is like the actual truck truck truck truck truck right like Texas is at the beginning of their ascension is my point. I think Oregon's at the beginning of their ascension. Ohio State is what it is and then we get to number four Penn State and Penn State is just a very veteran team. Well, and here's the thing. Like you keep bringing this up and now I'm

hearing more people bring this up. As long as Dural or comes back. If suddenly you're out of real life, that will be the number one pick in this draft. Yeah, I wrote the column after the the quarterfinal game that it's crazy that he's coming back or has already made the decision to come back. What else have you read or seen from that? Is there more smoke coming out of that? Yeah, yeah. A lot of the NFL personnel people and they like Dane Bruegler mentioned it and the people

who follow the draft. And I think it's like there's probably some NFL GM's kind of wish casting drew our into this draft, even though he said he's not going to be in it. Because other than Chador Sanders and Cam Ward, like who do you? Who do you want to pick? Quinn yours, Carson back, Jalen Milro, like, has there ever been a has there ever been a draft where, like, no quarterbacks are taken in the first round?

Or do you just have to take the- It's been a while. Well, like the Aaron Rodgers draft was really interesting cause Alex Smith went first and it was known that it was gonna be Alex Smith or Aaron Rodgers and that this whoever didn't get picked was gonna fall, but he ended up falling like number 24. I think that's where the Packers got him. I don't think you're not going to see that in this day and age. Like there's too many quarterback needed teams. The

Titans need a quarterback. The Giants need a quarterback. The Raiders need a quarterback. I just named three. I'm also there's only two that you'd feel comfortable with probably right now taking the first. I'm interested in the notion of we have a dire need for a quarterback. But we have the number seven overall pick and the only two that are there are gone. The notion of do you spend the seventh overall pick to get the best quarterback available because that that need is so dire and potentially overpaying or picking the wrong person or do you just go we don't have a quarterback for another year.

We'll address this next year when we can get one. We like like that to me. Well, I, I, I think you, I think you just, because you just talked about the Raiders and the jets, because the Raiders were six and jets are seven and they're both in that boat. Right. And it's like assuming Rogers isn't coming back to the jets, I think it's safe. drew aller goes into the draft He could end up being the seventh overall pick in the draft this year without having to play an extra year in college as a Result of that need and the lack of other players in it

So like from a business standpoint, then I wrote about this last week It doesn't really make any sense to me now the difference between the number one pick in the draft and the 15th pick in the draft, I think is an upwards of $20 million. So if you think you can play your way in through one year to being the number one overall pick or being in the top five, you make 15 extra million. But number seven, number one, isn't nearly as stark. And you get your ball rolling towards.

The second contract, yeah. What everybody wants. So like if I were Drew Aller, if I'm looking around and I'm not trying to wish cast, you know, Penn State not having a quarterback after Bo Pribula left. But it's such a strange situation because the timing of it. Yeah, the timing of it was so,

but the timing of it is why Bo Pribula left when he did, why all that happened. I was actually surprised when Aller said he was coming back. And now, again, like Ari said, Aller has a very interesting business decision. He said he's coming back. I'm gonna take him in as word that he is. That's why Ari and I put him,

put Penn State at number four here, but it's a fascinating, fascinating discussion. that he is. That's why that's why Ari and I put him put Penn State at number four here, but. It's a it's a fascinating, fascinating discussion. We got Notre Dame at five. We think CJ Carr is the guy at Notre Dame at quarterback. We think they're going to go homegrown this time instead of after two years of renting one. Stephen Gellie is still there, too. We'll see what happens after the season, but he's the one who started the bowl game for them last year. So I just, the, the one thing I don't worry about with Marcus Freeman is talent acquisition and depth.

Like they've shown they can get elite talent and they can build, they can build depth. Like that offensive line is going to be nasty next year. Nasty. That offensive line is going to be nasty next year. Yeah, nasty. Yeah, so like Notre Dame I think has gotten to a place now where it feels pretty comfortable about its year over year stability, right? Yep. But then you get to the bottom half of this this rankings Andy as we get 52,000 for our show.

The SEC nests of it is what made everyone go crazy. The SEC is the number one Acid drip of college football consumption like this is I'll point out you didn't fight back too hard on these No, no, no, I didn't yeah, yeah So but this is what I'm saying is is when you get to the sec heavy top, you know, six through 10, that's why everybody I think was upset. Like I think that the top five are like, yeah, okay. Yeah.

Well, so we went Georgia six, South Carolina seven, Clemson eight, which I think Clemson is, is a de facto sec team. Like this feels like they belong in there anyway, but that's, that one's making people mad too, for other reasons. Florida at nine, Auburn at 10. Georgia at six, let's start there, because I think this is a, this represents a shift, because the assumption in the last few years is,

Georgia is one of the best three programs in the country. Well, I hate to say it. Go check tape. This is where they should have been ranked coming into this year. Right? Like the, the, the number one overall thing coming into the year. We are very, I mean, I was very vocal about being concerned about their lack of offensive skill talent. I think their defense was very good this year, but I think their defense,

we assumed would be like 2021 Georgia. And I think that the uniform on the team created an illusion that they were better than they were. They were good, they were not elite, okay? Well, and also like, if you look at these mock drafts and they have like three of their defensive players going in the first round. Yeah.

And you're like, how, how, you know, why are they not in the semis? Yeah, and like listen, Georgia every year is going to have that. And I think Georgia being in the top six, the representation of that they're losing a quarterback who's been a multi year starter. I thought Gunner Stockton looked pretty proficient. Um, in the sugar bowl, I don't know if you agree with that. I thought that like he looked, I thought he was fine.

I think the Gunner stock in Ryan Puglisi competition will be really interesting. And they went out and did some stuff at the receiver position as you illustrated during the Hewlett ad. I think that we feel pretty good that Georgia like Ohio State and you know, I think that the snub here and the thing that drives people nuts is the lack of Alabama, which we can talk about. We can.

Well, let's go to South Carolina first, because this is where we got a little pushback from a coach and. I actually somewhat agree here, but South Carolina bringing back. Lenora Sellers is huge. Lenora Sellers is one of the most exciting quarterbacks in college football. And remember they still weren't admitting he was the starter going into the season this year. Like it's a full off season of all full on Lenora Sellers. We're building the offense around him.

We're building the whole plane out of the North sellers. Their left tackle was a true freshman this year. He was a five star. He pops right in Dylan Stewart on the edge, five star pop right in. Now look, they lose Cochran, our Nick Em and where they lose some talent. But I think Shane Beamer has shown you that he can mix pretty good developmental guys with elite talent. And when he has some elite talent, which they do at quarterback and, and coming off the edge and a left tackle

That they're pretty good Is this another upswing team Yeah, I well that's what that's all of what the the bottom the last four of these are these are all these are all trajectory teams we think they're on an upward trajectory. And the one team that we should have had in this list and River bring up the tweet because this coach called us out on it. Brett Beileman when this came out said, on three, you're still feeling New Year's Eve, basically asking if we were drunk when we made this. And you know what? I think Brett's right. I think his team should have been in this. We should have found a spot for Illinois and dropped one of these others out.

And I'll tell you why. Now part of it is we didn't have all the information necessarily because when we were doing this, some of this stuff was happening and we made the list and then got more information. We knew Luke Altmeyer was coming back. I think we knew Gabe Jacobs was coming back at that point too. The Xavier Scott and JC Davis, I don't know if those decisions had come down yet, but

basically Illinois' best players are coming back. Also late last week, they got West Virginia's best receiver out of the transfer portal. And so they are a massive upward trajectory team just beat South Carolina and in a game where everybody was playing like it was a it was a good toe to toe game. We should have had an Illinois in somewhere in six or 10. Andy, if Illinois is 11. Well, that's the thing. That's the dirty secret is the next time we do this, it's going to be a top 25 so we could we can we can put Illinois in.

We can move Florida and Auburn around and nobody gets Illinois at number 15 is more than reasonable. I don't feel like I made a mistake here. Like, I don't know. Like, I know I think Illinois is going to be the the the old like maybe not quite as here. Like, I don't know, like I know that you do. I think Illinois is gonna be the old, like maybe not quite as hyped as Ole Miss was this off season, but I think that the discourse around Illinois is gonna be very similar

to what the discourse around Ole Miss was last off season, which is interesting, because that's where Luke Altmeyer came from. But that is, it's perfectly reasonable. They were were really good they ended the season with a huge win they bring back their most important players so we probably should have put Illinois in so hand up by the way i've reached out to Illinois we should be getting Brett Bielma on the show here in the next few weeks i i said just he can blast away all he wants. We'll give him the floor. The thing that is. Interesting to me is when you do a ranking like this in January, when the current season isn't over with, you have to decide yourself.

And the reason why, when we put this together, I wasn't like passionate about moving teams around is that like, for me, like the difference between seven and 10 and seven and nine, like, I don't like get moved by that at this point. This is just a projection. But you have to make you have to make a thought process to yourself of like, how do I want to do this? Do I want to do the teams that are returning the most players and I know are going to be pretty good? Or do you want to go with the teams that have tremendous upside that could read it? Let me post a comment from Vance, who by the way, answered one of our other questions too. Vance says, is Michigan the sleeping giant for 2025? Which top 10 coach can't afford a bad season? That meme is from Game of Thrones, you nerds.

No, actually we're not nerds enough. I am embarrassed as an actual nerd. That's why I'm the books for you. I watched every episode. That is Jon Snow facing down. The Bolton Army. Ramsey. Ramsey Snow, and they made him and they legitimized him and made him Ramsey Bolton.

Flay the Flays people, the Bolton's Flay people. All right. So I'm not the nerd for not knowing that, by the way's Flae people. All right, so. I'm not the nerd for not knowing that, by the way. I'm never gonna be called a nerd by somebody else. I am, I'm a bad nerd and I'm embarrassed. But Vance asks a good question, and we did consider Michigan for this. And my feeling on this, and I think, Ari,

you felt the same way, kind of need to see them run a functional offense first. Once that happens, Katie bar the door. Their defensive linemen are really, really good. Yeah, and even look, the guys that were playing in the ReliahQuest bowl, you think about, these were the backups for the most part on defense and they were awesome

Like I'm very excited about what Michigan can be I just need to see how dynamic the offense is gonna look now that Sharon Moore has a full Offseason to to find who he needs. We'll see if it's Bryce Underwood We'll see if it's Mikey Keene at quarterback Davis Warren. It sounds like it's gonna come back They have a new offensive coordinator and ship Lindsey. We will see, but yes, that's one of those like very quickly if their offense looks good, you'll see us pop them up in the rankings. Replacing Mason Graham isn't gonna be easy. So like that's also-

Or Kenneth Grant, yeah, or Josiah Stewart, right. Yeah, this was funny. Clemson at number eight. I gotta pick up the old Randy because he paid five bucks and it's just funny. Oh, okay, sure. Missouri belongs that, this is Jay Weiser. Missouri belongs at number 8. I got to pick up a grandie because he paid 5 bucks and it's just funny. This is Jay Weiser. Missouri belongs at number 1 so Alabama can be guaranteed a great ranked win. Oh! Do we get into the Alabama? Let's get into the Alabama of it all real quick. No Alabama. There's a reason for that.

I feel like a fool a little bit. Okay, go ahead. I mean, not a fool. My column about Kalen DeBoer a few weeks ago ruffled a lot of feathers because I thought you asked about dairy expiration dates. It aged like milk. Yeah. I don't know that I would have written that had I known the portal situation. So why don't you go into that and then well, so it's interesting. Good. You can look on our, on, on, on three,

on the transfer portal page and you can see how many players are coming in and how many players are going out and almost every very there are very few teams have more transfers coming in and going out like you probably should have about a minus four, five, six because you're trying to you're actually trying to create some attrition there in the transfer portal but I'm trying to find Alabama's exact number. It's a very large minus number. Alabama's lost a lot of guys, like Elijah Pritchett's the latest one, starting right tackle from the last two years.

Alabama's lost a lot of guys that I think they would have liked to keep. And that's not normal. Like normally with your Ohio States and your Alabamas in your Georges, they losing a bunch of people out of the transfer portal, but those are all people who aren't going to play who just they've been. You know they they see the freshman coming in and they're better too and they're going to leave and go find somewhere where they can

play. I don't feel like that's the case this year. Yeah, I mean I think that a large portion of their defense is returning. And yes, it is. No thing that is interesting about Bama is too. And it's just like, I think that this actually might end up being true for Ohio state too. Like we don't know who their quarterback is going to be. And I think we have a better idea of the Ohio States is going to be, but like who is Alabama's quarterback next year?

So minus 17 on the, the transfers in versus transfers out right now, uh, for Alabama. And, and so like, if you read their message boards, it's like, Oh, it's Ty Simpson time. Well guys, Ty Simpson was on your roster this year. If you hated Jalen Milrow that much, if he was that bad, why didn't Caitlin DeBoer just go to Ty Simpson? Yeah. Austin Max there too. He's, he's the one that DeBoer brought from Washington. We don't know. They've got a Kielan Russell. The freshman is coming in from Texas. So that may be the guy who knows. Well, Russell being from the DFW area like is a frickin stud dude. Like he's going to be awesome. And certainly part of the reason why I viewed their offseason as a success

is being able to sign a top you know three class with ten top 100 players in the the on three industry rankings I think is is the thing that we didn't know he'd be able to do or has never done before in his career and he showed he could do that and I don't know how much of that is him or how much of that is Alabama but they recruited the right way and they brought in a five-star quarterback from out of state. To me, like that is everything Alabama is built out of. Right. But as a person-

And we've seen that move. Jalen Hurts started as a true freshman at Alabama. A true freshman who can play. He's a pretty big kid, so he might be able to come in and just be awesome immediately. But I think that the reason why Alabama, in the the current situation isn't in the top 10 is because they've got too many question marks at too many positions and too many people have left for us to answer those questions. So you know Caitlin the board has time to replenish and he's bringing in a great class but the jury is still very much out on how good Alabama is gonna be next year. Yeah so that's why Clemson now. Interesting case because we did see see their defense get wrecked by Texas in the first round of the playoffs, but they also fired

their defensive coordinator West Goodwin and now they're hiring somebody else. The Garrett Riley hire. I feel like we were out on that last year at offensive coordinator, but now now that we've seen him as a second year and the offense got better like. out on that last year at offensive coordinator, but now that we've seen him as a second year and the offense got better, like I Realized it's a small sample size because Dabo typically hires from within But some of the most impactful hires Dabo has made has been when he's been willing to go outside The most important hire of Dabo Sweeney's tenure was hiring Brent Venables to be the defensive coordinator. He's at that moment again, because it's not like they

have bad players on defense. They have good players on defense. Hire the right defensive coordinator. And oh, by the way, Clemson is using the transfer portal now. Like, do you think this roster will be more complete at the top because they're using the transfer portal? I do. more complete at the top because they're using the transfer portal? I do. I think that them using the portal is a nice illustration that adaptation is happening which wasn't the case. I don't know if I truly believe that Clemson's gonna be a legitimate national championship

contender because they took a few guys in the portal. I think this is a year over year process because they aren't recruiting at the same level that they used to either. So like the fact that they're playing the game puts them back in the game but I don't know if Clemson's roster issues are a one year over year fix. In fact like if you were going to quibble about anything about this list, because doing it together is difficult. Like I might've dropped Clemson out, like and I feel like Illinois is probably more likely

to be good, to be really, really good next year than Clemson, but Clemson's upside is higher. So it's like, what do you pick? Right, right. And both of like, both those schools get back a good quarterback. Like, yeah, it's, if we'd have done a top 15, I'm telling you right now,

I don't think 7 7 to 15 is all that different. I think it's yeah, and 8 to 11 certainly isn't like an in the thing too. Is that when you release these lists and everyone's like, what are you doing? It's like, alright bro, you try it like it's like, it's like it's some easy thing to do. It's really, really difficult and like a lot of

this too is like if your name's on the list anywhere, then awesome news for you. And it's like, also, if the team stink, then this will be rectified. But I think it's also a way to give teams flowers who have been pretty good at their off-season acquisitions and retention, which is where we get to Florida and Alabama. Or I mean Auburn.

Florida and Auburn, let's get to the pure. This is pure trajectory. And we could be completely wrong, so we'll start with Florida, Florida. Started last season badly. We all fired Billy Napier. I wrote the column like after the at Texas A&M game, it's gotta end.

They did something that I've never seen. We're in mid season. They suddenly turned into a competitive team that could beat teams that were competing for playoff spots. It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. Now, I think the biggest reason for that is obvious. DJ Lagway is special. He is what was advertised when he was a recruit. And so when you have that kind of quarterback who can be super special, everybody gets very excited. But the other thing about Florida

that I thought was really interesting is their offensive line got better and not just because of the quarterback like when Lagway was hurt against Georgia Florida's getting a push up front from a line that had gotten bullied by Texas A&M and bullied by Miami and then against LSU and against Ole Miss they were were affected. Like if that's gonna be what they're gonna be and they didn't lose anybody really, like Jake Slaughter, the center's back, Austin Barber, the left-hand side, they're gonna be effective on offense. Now, I know a lot of the Florida fans are upset

because Billy Napier didn't hire an offensive coordinator and the thought was one of the reasons they agreed to let him come back is he was going to make some staff changes. I think what happened was when they beat LSU and they beat Ole Miss, he got enough leverage to say, hey, this is working. I don't want to change anything. Yeah. And that's the big question, Mark. Is that going to be the downfall or is that going to be the thing that allows them to continue to progress? I do not know the answer that I don't what does yeah. I guess this is an off season discussion, but I am

curious of like what does Florida need to do for him not to be fired next year make the playoff. Ten and two with a quality win. That gets you in. I think that gets you in against that schedule. Assuming the schedule is what we think it's going to be like, you know, assuming the teams on the schedule are as good as we think they're going to be but given the mix of teams, I think there's a really good chance they play a good like because

it we don't know what Ole Miss is going to be. We don't know what LSU is going to be but one of them is probably going to be pretty good. Texas is probably, we have Texas number one. They're coming to Gainesville next year. They always play Georgia, you know, like so this, I don't know what Miami is going to be. We think Tennessee will still be pretty good. Like, so they should have a chance for quality wins,

but that also means they can lose a bunch of games. So I don't know. I think this is going to be a fascinating season in Gainesville. And again, what happened this year was something I have never seen before. And I don't know if it's a sign of anything, but I also know if you feel like a quarterback is special, you bet on that guy. And I think DJ Lagway is a guy you bet on. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you. Alright, let's get to the good stuff now. Yeah, let's get to Auburn. Cause this is I had a so I have a friend in my neighborhood

who's an Auburn grad came up to me in the gym yesterday and said you got you got Tigers number 10. I was like, yeah. He's like, you sure? I was like, yeah, sure. But then I went through the reasons. This was a team that had a horrible season this year. Horrible.

But other than the Alabama game, they were in every game. They had some crippling turnovers at the quarter, you know, from the quarterback position. They have addressed the quarterback position. I don't know how well they've addressed it. We're going to find out because I think the jury on Jackson Arnold is completely out because it's very hard to judge based on what we saw at Oklahoma, because the line in front of him wasn't very good and none of his receivers were healthy. Yeah. They have cam Coleman and Eric Singleton.

They are a team, like you said, that I think was in every game this year for the most part. They're improving the quarterback position, we think in a pretty important way because I think that like if they also have Daniels for Stanford and they also have Deuce night coming in as a freshman, so I don't want to just assume Jackson Arrows the starter I Think that we can safely assume that no matter who the starter is that the play of quarterback will be Improved greatly from last year right or from this year. Well and in part because they're having a real competition They're having a real competition. They're

having a real competition. And I think it's very, very, very helpful to have two really good receivers on your team. Like in college football, if your receivers are really good, your team is really good. They have really, really, really good receivers. And I think that their defense and their ability to run the football last year was. More than passable. So and also too, when you think about the preseason top 10. Like you can be flirting with number 10 at 9 and 3 like being number 10 doesn't mean that you're going undefeated next

year. But the bar to being number 10 at the end of the year is not as high as you as you think when you're looking at this list. So if they have a really electric offense and they hit on the quarterback position regardless of who that guy is, they play really good defense and they run the hell out of the football like they did this year, I mean think about how non-functional their offense was and how many games in the SEC they were in this year. I don't know if that's an illustration that the SEC was bad this year or if they were just a really good tough team. Probably six to one half Does any other but Auburn to is like the best bad team I've ever seen

Right. They weren't not getting smoked in these games So That's the thing a Lot of times the ones that are just a bounce to the ball kind of situation When they when a bunch of them don't go your way one year, a few of them go your way the next year like it's the universe tends to balance these things out unless you're Nebraska. Yeah, unless you're right. Unless you're Nebraska, but you

know, I think we did a pretty good job defending this Andy. like I mean, I don't know like it also too. I think I think Florida and Auburn actually very easy to defend. I think given all the information we have now about Illinois that we did not have when we were making the list, it's much harder to defend leaving them out and I'm not even going to defend it. Like I'm telling you right now the next time we do this, they're probably gonna be in the top 10 and also to like the next time

we do it. It'll be a top 25. So there's more context and then also let's do it at the end of the spring portal window. I think it's a good. That's a good one. Unless they tell us to do it at the end of the spring portal window. I think it's a good. That's a good unless they tell us to do it again because they love the rankings or we can do it again once the fall window portal closes and we know what teams have going into

the spring. We can do a pre spring one and then a post spring one. Now you're talking my language. Why wouldn't we? Like it's an it like why wouldn't we talk about these things? Of course, that's the whole point of the show. Yeah, like let's do it every week. That's right. Speaking of things we do every week, we have not done a certain thing in the past three weeks because of holidays and the playoff and everything else.

And for that, we apologize. But dear Andy and Ari, we'll be back tomorrow. And of course, we would like you to contribute because we love your questions. We love when you bring up things that we haven't thought about. You know how to find us. Andy underscore staples at Ari Wasserman. Those are your social media handles. Instagram X Andy staples on three at gmail.com. If you have a truly epic length question that doesn't fit into a social media

post, send those questions. I can't wait. This is going to be so much fun. We made it. The whole show may be mail back tomorrow because we haven't gotten to answer your questions in three weeks and I love hearing your questions. So smart questions too. So they're fun. Yeah. Yo re.wasmintedon3.com. Feel free to email our directly to if you're a cut and paste person. I'm a cut and paste person. I understand. I understand. But I'm very excited about your questions. Cannot wait for tomorrow's show. Send them in and be internet famous for like four seconds.