Andy & Ari On3 - Florida State Coach Mike Norvell on the Team Built from Scratch | Dear Andy answers your questions

Episode Date: August 15, 2023

It's a Dear Andy show, but first some news and a BIG interview. Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and don't forget to subscribe!https://youtube.com/live/D8ZjH-0sjKQThe Associated Press poll is out, and Georgia is predicted to threepeat while Alabama starts outside the top three for the first time since 2009. (0:00-6:40)Plus, the nation's top-ranked defensive line prospect in the class of 2024 commits to...Missouri. (6:41-13:54)Next, Florida State coach Mike Norvell joins to talk about how the Seminoles went from a team that had to sell a dream to one that can sell proof of concept. Norvell also discusses how QB Jordan Travis went from a guy asking about a position switch to the unquestioned leader of a team with big expectations. (13:55-32:26)Now it's time for your questions...Will TCU win another College Football Playoff game first, or will Oklahoma get its first CFP win first? Plus, if TCU keeps winning, will someone try to hire away Sonny Dykes? (32:27-37:46)What to make of the accusations in Michael Oher's lawsuit against the Tuohy family? (37:47-42:28)A viewer wants Andy to power rank the upper middle class of the new Big Ten. (42:29-50:54)Does the destruction of the Pac-12 as we know it necessarily doom West Coast football? (50:55-54:31)During the Show, news about former Arkansas and Baltimore Ravens RB Alex Collins passing away broke. (54:32-55:26)Will there be a billionaire who can't afford an NFL team but decides to fund a major college football team instead? (55:27-58:42)A question from a live fan leads to an impromptu advertisement for BirdDogs! Head over to BirdDogs.com/ANDY and use Promo Code: ANDY for a free birddogs tech hat at checkout! (58:43-59:59)The Last Dear Andy questions creates a future segment for during the season. Can Andy truly eat 50 Meatballs in one sitting? (1:00:00-1:04:26)The Extra Point takes us to Rocky Top, where Peyton Manning... is a professor! Could we get into his class with our producers help? (1:04:27-1:05:52)

Welcome to Andy Staples on three and if you heard Ralph Russo from the Associated Press last night. It's not college football season till the first day people drop so folks, folks, welcome to college football season because we have an AP poll. It dropped on Monday at noon Eastern time, and it surprised absolutely none of us when Georgia was an overwhelming favorite at number one. All but three of the 63 first place votes went to the Bulldogs, two to Michigan, two to Ohio State, none to Alabama, which starts outside the top three of the AP poll for the first time since 2009. What happened in 2009? That was Nick Saban's first national championship at Alabama. was the last three times Alabama has started outside the top two of the preseason AP poll, the Crimson Tide have won the national title. So there's that.

We played Nick Saban cracking jokes yesterday. I said, be afraid, be very afraid. A lot of Georgia fans were like, we're not afraid. Okay, you don't have to be afraid, but maybe everybody else probably should. Okay? Look at the poll again. It's all guessing. It's all for entertainment purposes.

It's all to get us talking. And I do enjoy where Texas is at 11, because again, Texas will be favored probably in 11 games this season, especially if we put the lines out right now, they'd probably be favored against everybody except Alabama. So you've got the Longhorns there, but then of course, those who don't believe in the Longhorns will say,

well, the media's overranked them again. Maybe they did. I say they and not we, because I don't vote in the AP poll anymore but you've got Tennessee at 12 Notre Dame at 13 Notre Dame another lightning rod team how the team that lost to Marshall and Stanford how can you have them that high well it seems they think they upgraded at quarterback so maybe that's why and then of course Texas A&M at 23 the the Aggies it's it's amazing how the cycles work on this thing because you think we'd learn our lesson at some point like we hyped Texas A&M up going into last season because they did have

all that talent they'd sign that number one recruiting class it didn't even make a bowl game but we can't help ourselves. We keep saying, nope, nope, got to come back around. And maybe that's true because as I've been saying, if you take that second tier in the SEC West, so you've got your Alabama and your LSU at the top, whatever order you want to put them in. But you take the next five,

A&M, Auburn, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, however you want to order them. They all feel like toss-ups, except for the fact that Texas A&M is the most talented of those teams. So if one was to surge above the rest, that would be the logical choice. But again, can we wait till maybe week two or three? Maybe they go to Miami and win convincingly. Do we have to do this right now? It's just going to

be worse if they're not good. But it is amazing that that is kind of how these things go. But I am excited because it gives us something to talk about something to argue about this Alabama thing is, is fascinating because I tweeted that Nick Saban clip that we played on the show last night. His is Sparky Anderson quote, where he's, he's probably said that 10 times in a press conference over the years, but it's just the lightness of his mood.

And, and I have people say, Oh, Andy, don't you know? It's when he's mad that they're good. It's not when he's, when he's lighthearted that they're good. No, no, no.

When he's light in camp, they're usually okay. Pretty good, maybe. He gets mad during the season the more he realizes they're good. I'll tell you, I'll give you a prime example. 2008, they go to Georgia, the blackout game. Georgia was the preseason number one. Alabama just annihilates Georgia in the first half,

but then kind of messes around in the second half. It wasn't going to cost Alabama the game. Georgia wasn't going to be able to come back, but Nick Saban was breathing fire in the press conference after that game. That's the Nick Saban mad because his team is good, but he needs those particular circumstances. When he gets a little loose, it is time to worry. Although, if you ask Miss Terry,

she says he's been getting more laid back or as laid back as Nick Saban can be for the past few years. It is a strategic change in the era of NIL and in the era of the transfer portal that you got to coach everybody differently. He will tell the story that it was J.K. Scott that convinced him of that, that you could be a little bit lighter. You could do it differently. You don't have to coach everybody like your hair is on fire all the time.

But I don't know. I just get the sense that he's feeling pretty confident right now. I think he feels like we're sleeping on him. And I don't know that we actually are sleeping on him that much because I would have said a few months ago, LSU will be ranked ahead of Alabama when all the polls come out and they're not. Now, if LSU plays Florida State, beats them handily to start the season, and Alabama struggles with Texas, then maybe you'll see them swap places. It doesn't matter. They're going to play each other.

But I just feel like Nick Saban is telling us that he thinks this team's pretty good. And the quarterback thing, I will worry about it when I feel like I need to worry about it. They got three choices. My guess is they're going to be able to figure something out. I don't think they're going to be non-functional at quarterback. And I also think they're going to be able to run the ball very well, which that solves a lot of problems. So we'll see about that. But let's go elsewhere in the SEC. And it's a lot of problems. So we'll see about that.

But let's go elsewhere in the SEC, and it's a Dear Andy show. Now, we have Mike Norvell from Florida State coming on, and it's a great interview. We're going to talk to him before we do most of the Dear Andy questions, but I do want to answer one Dear Andy question right off the top. It's from Caleb. How many plates of enchiladas and bowls of free cheese dip from Tarahumara's is it going to take for me to forget OU losing out on Nwuneri? So Nwuneri is Williams Nwuneri,

who is the number one defensive lineman in the class of 2024. He committed on Monday to his home state school of Missouri, the Missouri Tigers. Let's watch Eli Drinkwits and company when they got the news. That is Eli Drinkwits leaping into the arms of his assistants to celebrate getting the number one defensive lineman in the country in the class of 2024. And this is an interesting deal. Now, it's not the first time that Eli Drinkwits in Missouri have gotten a recruit of this caliber.

Luther Bird, the receiver, signed a few years ago. Similar ranking situation, five-star guy. But what's going on? And Josh Newberg from On3 tweeted about this on Sunday night, and people were like, what are you talking about? Because Williams-Nuneri was predicted to commit to Missouri. It was not a surprise that he was committing to Missouri. Now, he can start doing NIL deals. He can actually sign a financial aid agreement with Missouri on September 1st and begin doing college NIL deals. It's something that the state of Missouri has allowed because of its law.

Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma both or all have fairly similar laws where they incentivize in-state kids to go to in-state schools. And you can say, well, that's cheating. Well, how's Missouri gonna get the number one D-line into the country? Any other way?

How are they going to do that? Are they going to be in the mix for that most of the time? No. And would they be in the mix for him if he was not from their state? Maybe not. But Georgia was the other finalist, or one of the other finalists. Georgia has been getting all of these guys, and Georgia is still probably on target to have the number one class in the class of 2024. But interesting numbers. And I thought Josh Newberg made a great point with this, that NIL is helping create more parity rather than, and we told you, if you listen to anybody who took high school economics or people who studied economics for a living and became

economists, we told you that this was going to happen. That's how markets work. So when you hear Charlie Baker, the president of the NCAA, or one of these conference commissioners, or one of these ADs saying, NIL is going to kill it. It's going to make the rich get richer and widen the gap. No, it is not. Now, is it going to widen the gap between Toledo and Missouri? Yeah, probably. But it's not widening the gap between Missouri and Georgia. It's narrowing it. It's not completely narrowing it, but it is happening because there are players who certain schools will make an NIL priority and others, they're not going to be as big a priority because they are recruiting guys of a similar caliber and they cannot put as many resources into that one guy. And so it will be a choice that some schools make. And it will mean that sometimes a guy who would have gone to one of the schools that

usually gets the five stars, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, that type of school, goes somewhere else. Maybe they go to Missouri. Maybe they go to Tennessee. Maybe they go to Texas. Maybe they go, who knows? That's what makes this interesting. And so I looked at some numbers here and I wanted to see just how clustered the five stars were over the years. And I went to the on three industry rankings. I went back to 2016. So 2016, 16 of the 32 five-star players, so half of them, went to one of four schools.

Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, or Georgia. In 2018, 18 of the 32 five-stars went to one of those four schools. 2019 was a bit of an oddball year, only 11 of 32. But 2020, back over 50%, 17 of 32. 2021, 18 of 32 went to one of those four schools. Now 2022, what changed? Oh, that's when NIL came in. 12 of 32. Last year, 12 of 32. So far this year, 10 of 23 that have committed. Now they're going to be a

couple more who go to Georgia or Ohio state or Clemson or Alabama. Now, does this, is this definitive proof of anything? No, it's not. We haven't had enough time. There's not enough data and you really need to do it further down the line because obviously Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State still getting the most talented classes. But some of those guys, some of their top targets are being sheared away. And the more you shear away one at a time to each other's schools, it narrows the gap. Is it completely? No, Georgia is still much better than Missouri from a talent standpoint.

But just as Georgia has changed the dynamics between Alabama and everybody else by taking guys that Alabama would have wanted, if a Missouri can get somebody that Georgia would have taken, that helps everybody else. So we'll see what happens, but it is going to narrow it somewhat. Is it going to narrow it completely? No.

The schools that care the most about football are always going to get the best players. That's how it works. But you will see situations where the number one player in a position group goes somewhere other than Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State. I'll give you an example. K.J. Bolden, view for Georgia, the number one safety in the country. He has committed to Florida State.

When we come back, Mike Norvell, the head coach at Florida State, will join us. And while he can't speak about KJ Bolden specifically because he's an unsigned class of 2024 commit, he can talk about how the recruiting pitch has changed at Florida State since he got there because he's getting to sell something different now. And there's a question at the end of this that's two years in the making. I love his answer. Mike Norvell when we come back. We are joined now by Mike Norvell, Florida State Seminoles head coach, coming off first pad popping scrimmage of the season on Sunday night.

Mike, how do you handle that? How do you handle how much contact, how hard you're going to go as you prep for a long season? Well, I mean, there's been plenty of pads popping through these first nine days. And last night was the first full tackle, taking guys to the ground. And, you know, last night was the first, you know, full tackle, taking guys to the ground, you know, the work we've got. And it's necessary. I mean, in our team, we know there's only one way you get tough, and you've got to go practice it.

You've got to practice toughness. You've got to compete. You've got to, you know, we're going to be very smart in how we do it. But, you know, that's one of those competitive edges. When you're willing to be physical, when you're willing to prepare yourself and train to, to be able to do it for, for, you know, an entire season. I mean, that's part of the, that's part of our process of growth. And, you know, I've really been pleased with the way that our guys have gone about it through

nine days. I thought last night, you know, there was a lot of good work, you know, having everybody, you know, just like a game situation, you know, there was a lot of good work. You know, having everybody, you know, just like a game situation, you know, being on the sidelines, seeing some young guys have to communicate you'll go out and execute you, you know, out there at Doak and Doak Campbell stadium. I mean, it was, it was a lot of fun and you know, I thought it was a productive scrimmage. Is that physicality something you can, you can adjust or something you can have a little more of now that you're

deeper on both lines of scrimmage than you were, say, three years ago? Well, I mean, it's, you know, I do like our depth. And, you know, the competition is probably what helps elevate it in a lot of ways. But for us, it's like I said, there's just only one way to get it. You can't talk about hope about, you know, being tough. I mean, you've got to to get it. You can't talk about hope about, you know, being tough. I mean, you've got to go prove it. You've got to earn that that distinction by the way that you perform, the way that you play. And that's something that our guys embrace. And I mean, it's a 365 day process to

grow and develop that, whether what they're doing in the weight room, the way that they're taking care of their bodies, you know, our athletic training department, you know, they they do a remarkable job. And, you know, you know, they do a remarkable job. And, you know, our guys, they embrace that strength. And when you look at how our teams grow through the season, you know, it's something that, you know, it's got to be earned. And I think our guys, you know, as much as any year before, I think they've embraced that, you know, for these first nine practices. And I really like what they're showing. And we got to have a huge week this week as we're in our second week of, or, you know, kind of that, that last week of camp that we're,

we're rolling through it's it's going to be critical. I heard you use that word strain earlier this off season, talking about one particular play and it's the blocked extra point against LSU last year. And as you prepare for LSU this year, how much can you go back to that one? Cause most people think of an extra point as an automatic, year. And as you prepare for LSU this year, how much can you go back to that one? Because most people think of an extra point as an automatic, as a given. If you don't block that, you might not win that game. We might look at your season very differently if you don't block that extra point. How much can you point to that as you're

talking to your players about, hey, in that moment, that one little extra effort can mean everything? I mean, those are those program-defining moments. And, you know, it's, you know, even when the touchdown was scored on the last play, I mean, I remember standing on the sideline and just holding up one finger, one more. You get one more play. And, you know, to embrace the opportunity, to understand that each play matters. You know, the, to, to embrace the opportunity to understand that each play matters. You know, there was plays earlier in the game that, that put us in that position to, to, for the positive, there was plays in that game that put us in a position in the negative. But, you know, every play matters. And just to, to be able to have that as an example where every player, you know, a part of this program, you know, remembers that, that lived it, you know,

it was on a, on a grand stage. So it was a great moment for that, for our players to show the strain and to be able to capitalize, you know, in that opportunity. But, you know, it's all part of, you know, the emphasis of what we try to bring every day to practice and then, you know, what has to show up on each and every play there on a Saturday night. So I went on the War Chant message boards and boy, they were thrilled to have a University of Florida grad on their message board, but ask them, you know, what would you like to hear Mike Norvell talk about? What would you like to know from him? And one, one guy named Invictus Seminole had a great question that I am going to pass along to you. How did you and your staff

and Jordan Travis himself take the guy who, when you got there said, Hey, I might going to pass along to you. How did you and your staff and Jordan Travis himself take the guy who, when you got there, said, hey, I might need to change positions and turn him into what he is now in terms of a leader and a guy who basically your whole team would follow anywhere? I mean, it truly came down to work. And, you know, we had a and uh in helping Jordan develop to build confidence and what we're asking them to do uh you know we're a rhythm-based you know passing offense and you know that's something that you know I think Jordan you know thrives in and as

he grew more confident and rhythm timing you know he's extremely smart quarterback he understands progressions he understands uh you know protections you know know, where the ball needs to go in a very, you know, quick process, you know, in his mind. And I think just as he's worked through it and as he's had to go through the highs and lows of playing quarterback, I mean, he's experienced it all, but he's never backed off. He's continued to push. You know, I've had the utmost confidence in where he would develop and what he would grow into. He's done nothing. Nothing that he's done has surprised me. And, you know, I have the highest expectations for him. And I believe the sky's the limit to what he can accomplish, you know, not only, you know, in his final year here at Florida State, but for in his future because of

the work that he's willing to put in. And, you know, I think that's what makes him the leader. And, you know, when you're willing to do the hard things, when you're willing to, to push yourself and when you're willing, when you get knocked down to get up and continue to stay focused on the journey, I mean, that's, that's what he's lived out. And, you know, he's a special player and a special man. So a couple of springs ago, you, you had him, you met with him, you had him go out and look at the trophy case.

And, you know, you can see Jameis Winston's Heisman and Charlie Ward's Heisman. And he said, you can you can be this guy. At that point, did he believe he could be that guy? I hope that he did. And I would say that, you know, the work that we've seen and the way that he's grown i would say that he did you know he just maybe might have needed somebody else to also know that they were going to be a part of that journey with him and uh yeah that's one of the things that um you know i just i believe in him i mean i think he's got great talent i think he's got great ability he's got great character um you know and and he cares about others And when you have when you have those traits and a work ethic behind it, that's going to be willing to push.

And, you know, as we've as we've grown the supporting cast around him, you know, I think it's, you know, it's really just all come together for him. And, you know, you see that in the way that he that he plays and you also see that in a way that he prepares on a daily basis. So my friends at War Chant also had a bunch of gray hoodie questions, which I noticed you, you put the gray hoodie from last season up for auction for charity. But my question is about that. Cause I've asked multiple coaches about this. You know, I've had Matt rule asked him about the smock that he wore at Baylor.

We had Biff Pogey from Charlotte on. He doesn't coach in sleeves, which is something you might be able to consider. But how do you decide what your signature sideline wear is going to be? Do you decide that at the beginning of the season? Do you say, this is my thing? Or is it game by game? It's game by game, really, was the thought process. I mean, there's certain things I like to wear. I mean, I like wearing hoodies. But there was a few games last year where I didn't wear them.

And I tell you, the fan base, you made sure our equipment managers knew that there was a desired look that they had. But I'm not overly superstitious. But I think our fan base really is. And so we had a lot of success in a great hoodie. And so we rolled with it, but if it was only as easy as just wearing a hoodie, I probably wouldn't work as much. And so, I mean, it's, you know, but I like the look and we'll see what, what Nike has for us this year. And, you know,

I know our equipment manager, Jason days didn't, I mean, he's he's, he's doing everything he can to make sure he puts it just right. So we can, we can find the apparel that's going to get to take us to the next level. I wasn't sure if it was a Steve jobs, Homer Simpson thing, one less decision to make. This is what I'm doing. I got it. When I get to, when I get to the stadium, I see what's in the locker

and then usually roll with it. So I found this clip from two years ago. It's interesting because you are usually very calm in your press conferences, very reserved. You are trying to keep yourself from cussing in this clip. You guys had lost the first four games, and someone asked you in a press conference about what you sell to recruit. So I want you to listen to this. And I have a question for you afterward.

When, when you lay out the vision of what you want, you live it out every day and the best recruiters we have on this on, on here are the players. Cause they're the ones that get to talk about what it is day in and day out, how our coaches care about the players, how our coaches invest, the focus on teaching fundamentals, the focus on putting playmakers in an opportunity to make plays. But we've gotta go out there and

we've gotta do a better job in every one of those areas. But I'm looking for guys that wanna be a part of that process too. The guys that wanna be successful, guys that wanna be challenged, guys that are willing to step up and step out and go do something that, you know what, they're gonna have to defend. Well, why are you going, why there? Because the best dang fit for them. It's an opportunity where they're going to go get pushed.

They're going to get developed. They're going to have an opportunity to play at, you know, one of the greatest places in the country, right, with a wonderful fan base that cares. And I mean, look, I'm pissed off that we're 0-4, right? And we can bring up how many years it's been. I don't really give, I mean, that's not, I can't control that. I can control this team at this moment and right now with the opportunity.

And so we're going to work our butts off to go get better. And we're going to do it the right way. And we're going to have a standard of how we operate. It's going to be the same standard that we're going to ask them to do in the classroom, the same standard of everything that we do. I'm going to hold myself to it because I've got to be the example. And you know what, does that mean I'm not going to make a mistake? I'll probably make a mistake. Might make one today, might make one tomorrow. That's it's going to, but I will respond to that. And so that's the team I want because I've seen

it work. Okay. My question, that was two years ago. Is that the team you have right now? You know, I'm really proud of the guys that have been through that journey. I've been proud of the guys that have chose to come and be a part of it, you know, even through some challenging moments, guys that embraced it. And, you know, we've worked our butt off, and, you know, we've had guys that have stepped up. And, you know, you've worked our butt off and, you know, you've had guys that have, that have stepped up and, you know, you feel that in the culture of this team. I mean,

this is a team that likes to compete. You know, they, they want to work. Have we been knocked down? Absolutely. And we have gotten up and we've gotten better and we've continued to improve. And, you know, it's a daily process for us. And, you know, we try to learn from every, every example that an experience that an experience that we've had, but, uh, you know, I love coaching this team. I love the guys that I get to do it with. And, um, we've got some, you know, we've got some players that have really, um, you know, taken some monumental steps and, and who they are, uh, you know, on the field and who they are off the field. And, uh, you know, I'm glad just to be able to be a part of the journey with them, you know,

side by side. And, you know, each day, you know, we try to be the example for each other. And, you know, I think that's, that puts us in a great position to, to achieve, you know, wonderful things here as we continue to move forward. I know you can't talk about specific players, but, but obviously recruiting for the future going pretty well right now in terms of the guys from high school that you've got committed to you. Has the sales pitch changed since then? Has it had to change because of the success you've had? No, I mean, it's, you know, as you have success, you know, the vision is not one that's hoped for, it's one that's being lived. And, you know, when guys can see themselves in current players, when they can see themselves out there doing the things that you want them to do,

when you can paint a picture of them. This is why you are such a great fit for what we're doing, because they see you guys on the field doing it at a very high level. And then it's also who we are off the field. And to be able to talk about an all-inclusive program, I mean, we were excited about the 10 wins last year, top 10 finish, you know, all those things. We also had the best team GPA ever in program history. You know, we were over a 3.0 football team academically.

That's a team that embraces the challenge to just be better, to go be their best, whatever it is, things you like, things you dislike. But, you know, when you're willing to live up to that standard, I mean, it's important. And when you find guys that, you know, when you're willing to live up to that standard, I mean, it's important. And when you find guys that, you know, are willing to take the road less traveled just to push themselves in every area, I mean, you know, usually great things happen and you get like-minded individuals. So, yeah, the message hasn't necessarily changed, but, you know, the examples

of what it can be, you know, that's, that's been proven and, you know, they've seen the growth in our program and, and they know that they can bring a new element and even, even a, you know, a higher, higher performance of ultimately where we want to go. So I have to ask you this before I let you go. We, as we sit here on Monday, August 14th, any big announcements planned? Any big announcements? Not that I've been on it. I had to throw it in there. I know you're like, dude, stop.

I got to worry about LSU. I can't worry about this. But seriously. My big announcement is we're going to be practicing tomorrow morning and there's going to be some pads popping in Tallahassee. That's a big announcement. There you go. With all this other stuff going on at the presidential trustee level, is it hard as a coach to keep everybody focused on the thing at hand?

No, I mean, it's it's what we have to live. You know, we talk. I've been asked so many times about expectations for this team this year. And, you know, a year ago, there weren't many outside expectations. There's plenty of people that tell us, you know, that we weren't very good or they didn't think we'd be very good. And if we got caught up in listening to that all the time, then, you know, probably would have, you know, lived up to what others' expectations were. You know, for us, it's, you know, it's about, you know, controlling ourselves,

controlling what we can, what we do on a daily basis, continuing to grow, continuing to improve. There's a lot of talk always around this program because it's a special place. It's a special program. We've got great fans. We have a wonderful administration. And so it's kind of part of the job and part of the position you put yourself in whenever you come and play or coach at Florida state, which, um, you know, it's, it's just,

it's a special experience and, you know, but what we can control is a, is a work that we invest into it. And, uh, you know, the, the standard of, of how we show up on a, on, you know, on a day in and day out basis. So, um, you know, that's, we're going to continue to work. We're going to continue to push and make sure we represent this program the way it deserves to be represented. You heard it here first.

Tuesday, August 15th, 2023. Pads will be popping in Tallahassee. That's the announcement. Thank you, Mike. I appreciate you, Andy. And you have a great day. And go Noles. August 15th, key day at Florida State, because August 15th is the deadline

should an ACC school want to announce this withdrawal from the ACC for the following year. I don't get the sense that there's going to be a big announcement at Florida State. Now, you can always hold in the back of your mind that in this situation, Florida State may go rogue because you've seen what's gone on with the president and the trustees. But if you go back to that last trustees meeting when all of the trustees were talking about how Florida State needs to get out of the ACC, they basically said, hey, it may not be right now. It may be a year from now. I think probably being ready to make such an announcement

by August 15th, 2024, to be in another conference by 2025, that probably feels a little more realistic. Now, listen, Florida State may surprise us, but I know like Matt Baker, who covers the Florida universities for the Tampa Bay Times, spent the day refreshing the Florida State Board of Trustees meetings webpage because they would have to post a public meeting 24 hours in advance. They had not posted as of yet.

So as we're recording this, 8.31 p.m. Eastern time on Monday night. Nothing has been posted. So not expecting any sort of announcement. The guys at War Chant are on three Florida State site, not expecting an announcement right now. But again, a school where the president and all the trustees will get up and say, hey, we may be doing this, that we got to get out of this league. When they will say that publicly, when no one else will, even though other schools are thinking it, we can't completely predict what they're going to do. So we'll wait and see on Florida State. But right now, it's time for Dear Andy. We've already teased you with one Dear Andy question. And I do want to point out, so Caleb who asked the Dear Andy question

about Williams Lunari, he's an Oklahoma fan. He was asking how many enchiladas he's got to eat at Tarahumara's and how much free queso. Tarahumara is the best Mexican restaurant in Norman, Oklahoma. A great quirk of Norman and some of the other kind of OKC suburbs, free queso. They don't make you pay extra for it.

So just wanted to pass that information along. I feel like that's the service we can provide you here at Dear Andy. But we got some other really good questions. Lots of you sent them in and they pretty much run the gamut. Let's start with Tom who asks about a guy that, that we had on the show earlier this week, Sonny Dykes. Dear Andy,

I just graduated from TCU and I just finished my first day of medical school at the university of Oklahoma. So my question to you is, do you think TCU wins another playoff game first or OU wins their first one after having gone 0-4 in their first four? Secondly, if Sonny Dyches keeps TCU in the playoff hunt in the Big 12 championship game,

do you think he would leave for another job? Or do you think if conferences do implode in 2034-36, TCU could get pulled up with the big boys? So there's a few questions going on there, but we'll start with Tom Spurston, which is who wins the next playoff game first? So would that be TCU getting its second playoff win or Oklahoma getting its first?

This is a tough question with a 12-team playoff coming. It really is because that 16-team Big 12, the 12-team iteration of it, I thought looked like a two-bid league most years. This 16-team one may be a three-bid league. And so if TCU is among the best teams in the big 12 year in and year out, there's a really good chance that TCU makes the playoff as often or more often than Oklahoma in the next 10 years, because Oklahoma will be in the sec, obviously quite a bit of competition. Now they're going to be years where the sec probably gets four teams in, so Oklahoma is obviously going to have a chance to get in there. And in that format, especially coming from where these two would be coming from, either one of them could win games when they got in there. So I have a hard time picking the answer to this, and maybe my answer depends on what happens next

and the answer to Tom's next set of questions, so Tom's next question is if Sonny Dyches keeps winning the way he did last year, is he going to get hired away somewhere else, and I can probably answer that pretty definitively because if Sonny Dyches keeps going the way he did last year, if he has two more years like that in the next three, well, guess what? At some point in that stretch, either Texas, Texas A&M, or Oklahoma, or multiple of them are probably going to be unhappy with who they've got. And they're going to go out after somebody else. And Sonny Dyches is probably going to be that somebody else. Jeff Traylor at UTSA may have something to say about that too. But

Sonny Dyches is the guy that those three probably would all look at and go, hmm, hmm, I think he could win here. So that would be the craziest part is if I answered Oklahoma as the answer to Tom's question, but with Sonny Dyches coaching them because Brent Venables didn't get it done. I don't know if that's necessarily the case. I think my answer is Oklahoma. And I go back to, it's the same reason I keep giving when people ask me, will Oklahoma or Texas win the SEC first? And answer is Oklahoma, and I go back to it's the same reason I keep giving when people ask me, will Oklahoma or Texas win the SEC first? And I say Oklahoma just because Oklahoma tends to be good most of the time.

They're ridiculously consistent, have been almost the entirety of the time they've played college football. So it's very hard to bet against them in a situation like this, but that is that, that Sonny Dykes scenario, you know, let's say A&M and Jimbo get crosswise at some point, Texas feels like Sark isn't necessarily the guy at some point, Sonny Dykes, if he is winning, not necessarily like last year because it's going to be pretty hard to recreate last year over and over and over again, but if he's winning pretty consistently, he will be a candidate for that for sure.

So that's what makes it hard also to pick TCU in that respect, because can he stay? Now, to answer Tom's question about would TCU get pulled up, if you win enough, history says you do, which is what happened to TCU. It's what happened to Utah. But the question is, is TCU a big enough brand? It certainly has the history going back into the Southwest Conference. Is it a big enough brand to justify getting into the Super League? I think if you look at how competitive it's been since it's been in the Big 12,

I think if you're talking about a 45-team Super League, whatever all that's going to be, I would think TCU deserves inclusion in that. I would think its location helps. And just the way the program has run over the last 20 years, I do think it would be worth it, but it's the TCU Oklahoma thing because of the way the 12 team playoffs is going to be formatted. It almost feels like a dead heat as to which one of them would win a

playoff game next. But that is a great, great set of questions from Tom. We now move on to HJ. Andy, what do you make of the allegations Michael Ower has made against the Toohey family? With no real details yet, it feels very sad, yet unsurprising. And I agree with that assessment of it. I've read Michael Ower's lawsuit against the Toohey family. I also saw that Sean Toohey, who we probably would have referred to him as Michael Orr's adopted father previously, but according to Michael Orr, that's not the case. Let me give you a little bit of the background of the case.

So Michael Orr, if you have not heard the story, you've lived under a rock. The story The Blind Side was a book by Michael Lewis. It outlined Michael Orr's story growing up, very tough environment in Memphis. He goes to Briarcrest Christian School. He gets taken in by a family there, the Toohey's, which they owned a bunch of restaurants. They had quite a bit of money. And he ends up going to Ole Miss, ends up becoming an NFL player. And there's a movie based on the book. The book was a bestseller. Sandra Bullock played Leanne Toohey, the mom of the family in the movie.

And so Michael Orr alleges that the family never adopted him. Essentially, they had him sign papers thinking they were adoption papers, but he was already 18. And he was actually signing into a conservatorship, which allowed the family to make legal decisions for him. If you follow the Britney Spears case recently, that's a similar situation. So what he's alleging is they made considerable money off the movie, The Blind Side. It's actually an NIL story, which is crazy because this is actual NIL, not what the college football version of it has become, where if you make a movie about someone, a real person, you have to purchase that person's life rights. That's the phrase, life rights.

And so Michael Orr apparently signed his life rights away for the movie and didn't realize it. And so he claims that the Tooheys made considerable sums of money, that they split it amongst themselves and their biological children, and he didn't get any of it. Now, Sean Toohey has punched back here. He told Daily Memphian that they didn't get much money from the movie. They basically split $14,000 apiece,

including a share that went to Michael. And so both sides add odds over what the story is here. And we'll see if we ever get the real story or if there's a settlement. Michael, it's interesting to me that this comes out now. I would have thought with something like this, it would have come out maybe during his NFL career because he was a successful NFL player. He made plenty of money. He's not doing this for the money either. He's got money. So what prompted this and why didn't this happen earlier? Because I would imagine this has been simmering under the surface for quite some time. So I would like to find out a little more about this. And if this does inch toward a courtroom, then perhaps there'll be some

discovery and we'll learn a little more of the details. Because I do think the details are going to be very important here. Because basically you have two sides telling completely different stories. And it is sad. And that story, you know, I remember reading the book. I still have never seen the movie. I figured I read the book. I know what the story is.

And that story, Michael Lewis in, I believe, the acknowledgments or the notes, he lays out, hey, this was, I knew Sean Tuohy. I've known him for a long time. Obviously, there's something to do with them being big Ole Miss boosters and and interestingly enough Sean Tuohy when he talked to the Memphian on Monday said the conservatorship was a way to appease the NCAA because they didn't want this is Sean Tuohy saying this didn't want Orr to get in trouble with the NCAA because they were big Ole Miss boosters so I will be very curious to see what the other details of this are, because it just seems like the two stories are very far apart. So the truth, it could be somewhere in the middle. We don't know.

But it is sad that this is how it maybe concludes. And, you know, we don't know what's transpired between those parties in the meantime. But, you know, it's Michael Orr's story, ultimately. And if he didn't get anything for it, then that probably needs to be rectified in some way, shape or form. Let's move on to Dan's question. This is a fun one, it's gonna probably tick some people off when i answer it handy quasi realignment question here with the addition of the west coast teams to the big 10 there's an impressive upper middle class of teams when you think of washington

oregon ucla iowa wisconsin nebraska michigan state if those two figure it out so power rank all those Washington, Oregon, UCLA, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Michigan State, if those two figure it out. So power rank, all those programs going forward in the Big Ten, how you see the upper middle class playing out, and please put the Badgers number one. This is a fantastic question from Dan, and he's right. The upper middle class of the Big Ten gets a lot deeper when everybody else shows up. Now, I think the Big Ten needs this from a competitive standpoint,

from a product standpoint. I've said, I think the SEC's 16-team product is still probably better than the Big Ten's 18-team product, but the gap is very narrow at this point. And so I'm guessing by Dan's omission of USC here that he is putting USC in the upper crust. So we're going to have to, before we do this, we're going to have to all just agree that Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and USC are their own echelon. So it's those four and we're going to rank the next bunch. Now, I don't know that I can put these teams in specific order. I think I got to do some tiers, but I think it's the top tier feels easy to me. And I think Dan's going to like this. The top tier of this bunch. So we're talking Washington, Oregon, UCLA, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska,

and Michigan State. The top tier of this, and I do think this is pretty mobile. I think I'm just talking about right now as we stand in 2023. And I think your fortunes can change here, but the top tier of this bunch is Oregon and Wisconsin. These are teams that I feel like are talented now, and given the way they're coached and the way they're going to recruit over the next few years, they're going to be capable of building rosters that can compete with those four we mentioned in the upper echelon. Dan Lanning, beefing up the talent at Oregon. Luke Fickle helped build Ohio State into what it is right now, then went to Cincinnati, made them the first group of five team to make the playoff.

Now he's at Wisconsin, and Wisconsin clearly has told him, we're going to give you the resources to be really successful here, because he wouldn't take that job otherwise. So Oregon and Wisconsin definitely feel like the top tier of this bunch. Now, just beneath that is Washington. Especially, we've seen what Kalen DeBoer can do. And now that they're going to the Big Ten, if you're Kalen DeBoer, I don't know that you're movable anymore. That was the one thing.

When Washington was in the Pac-12, I worried somebody in the Big Ten might steal Kalen DeBoer. Remember when Indiana had those couple magical seasons, magical for Indiana? Kalen DeBoer was a big part of that. And so people know him in Big Ten country, and I was thinking maybe somebody's going to throw some of that Big Ten money at him. But Washington, now a Big Ten school, not getting a full share for a while, but still, you're in the club. And so I think that makes Kalen DeBoer a lot less movable and possibly immovable at Washington,

which means they can get considerably better when they have a steady hand on the till. Now we saw what they could do with Chris Peterson there. Kalen DeBoer, if he just maybe bumps the talent level up a little more beyond where the Peterson era was, but keeps the development similar, you can absolutely be a team that competes for playoff berths in the Big Ten. I think that Iowa probably belongs in this tier as well. Now, we've got off all our jokes about Iowa's offense. I know. I understand.

But if Iowa's defense is going to be this consistently good, and Iowa's special teams are going to be this consistently good, if they ever get the offense thing figured out, they could be a very good team even in the new Big Ten, even in the deeper Big Ten. And I still think there's a day coming where Kirk Ferentz says, you know what, I've done a lot here. I think I'm happy with what I've done, and I'm going to ride off into the sunset.

And I think LeVar Woods is going to get the job. And I think it's going to be very interesting to see what he does offensively. He's the special teams coordinator right now. He's been the tight ends coach. Oh, what's, what's been the bright spot of Iowa's offense for a long time? Oh, the tight ends. That's right. So that allows you to maybe keep Phil Parker as a defensive coordinator. I think there's a chance that Iowa could definitely be in that second, second tier of this bunch. And obviously both of those teams could, could push their way up UCLA, Nebraska,

Michigan state. All of these are capable of moving up good recruiting by UCLA in the middle of LA. If chip Kelly decides that's what he wants to do, you know, he signed a five-star quarterback this year. That was a little bit different than what we've seen from Chip Kelly in the past. So they're a possibility.

Michigan State, we saw the year they went to the Cotton Bowl under Mel Tucker, the one that got Mel Tucker the big contract. It's doable there. We saw Mark D'Antonio have that, the one that got Mel Tucker the big contract. It's doable there. We saw Mark D'Antonio have that program as one of the best in the Big Ten. It is doable there. If it's doable at Wisconsin, it is doable at Michigan State. It's just a matter of can Mel Tucker get it done?

You know, he's getting some of those players to come look at East Lansing. He's not getting them to sign on the dotted line come December. If he could ever do that, then they can definitely move up. And then obviously Matt rule in Nebraska. We, we know the deal. Lots of potential in that program needs to take some baby steps, needs to get bowl eligible first. But you know, I think if you talk to the people at Nebraska, you talk to the fans, they understand 1995 is not coming back, but it's utterly realistic that they can be a team that wins nine, 10 games a year. You know, the, the Bo Pelini era

was not that long ago and they're winning nine games a year. They can be that kind of program that does that. And then every three, four years, they have a veteran heavy team and they're competing for college football playoff berths. So they can be in that mix too. But this is what the Big Ten needs beneath the superpowers at the top. That's what makes the SEC so interesting. What makes the SEC so interesting is when a Tennessee becomes good, when Arkansas has a really good team, when Ole Miss or Mississippi State has a really good team, and they all care deeply.

The thing about these, with the exception of probably UCLA, they care deeply about football. And I think UCLA's administration does. I don't know that their fan base does. But all of the other fan bases and administrations are 100 in on football it matters to them and so i think that's going to make the the week-to-week competition in the big 10 quite a bit more rugged and a hell of a lot more interesting and dan thank you for that question because you're absolutely right it is going to be highly highly entertaining to see what happens in the big 10 and especially in as you term it the upper

middle class of the big 10 we now go to israel first question I've ever gotten I think from someone who is currently in Israel and it's from Nathan hey Andy I'm coming to you from Tel Aviv Israel the homeland of your former co-host my question is why have so many of the talking heads over the past month or so said that the death of the Pac-12 will effectively kill West Coast football. Isn't it just as likely that fan bases in Washington and Oregon and USC will be reinvigorated by having their teams play in conferences that actually matter, playing meaningful games against teams that are actually good for a change? Isn't realignment just as likely to make West Coast football great again? This is a good question.

And so to answer Nathan's question, I think part of it has just been the shock of this conference that we all grew up with that existed long before most of us were alive, suddenly crumbling before our eyes. I think that's where you're getting that knee-jerk reaction of, oh, West Coast football's dead. No, Nathan's exactly right. West Coast football's not dead.

If USC wins the Big Ten, they didn't move USC to the middle of Iowa. Like, it's still in Los Angeles. It is still very close to the Pacific ocean. So it is West coast football. It's just the conference members are in different places. So if Oregon, if Washington, if USC, well, maybe even UCLA, but if those teams are competing at the top of the big 10 every year, that's good for West coast football. And I do think that probably helps the West coast people stay home. I was, I was listening to Amon Ross,

St. Brown getting interviewed on part of my take the other day. And Amon Ra went to USC. His brother, Equinemius went to Notre Dame. And he said, if, if Equinemius has stayed another year,

Amon Ra would have gone Notre Dame to play with his brother. But since Equinemius was stayed another year, Amon Ra would have gone to Notre Dame to play with his brother. But since Equinemius was leaving, Amon Ra's decision, the final decision was, I'm going to go to USC because I feel like the California kids should play in California. And you think about that. If you keep the Bryce Youngs or the C.J. Strouds in California and they don't go to Alabama or to or to Ohio State then perhaps those teams are competing for national championships just as the California transplants help their teams do that so yeah West Coast football is not going anywhere. In fact, some of it is playing in better conferences now.

And a lot of it was the Pac-12 itself this year notwithstanding, because this year the Pac-12 is very much holding its end of the competitive bargain up, but most years it didn't. And so it felt like those teams didn't have to go through the same gauntlet that the teams in the Big Ten or the teams in the SEC did. Well, now they are going to have to go through something like that. Or when you're talking about Utah, Arizona State, Arizona, Colorado, they're going through a gauntlet in the Big 12. The Big 12 is going to be a hyper-competitive conference where just about everybody has a chance. And Elias Gray, the West Coast kids who do go elsewhere are more likely to come back thanks to transfer rules if it doesn't work

out immediately. That's true, Elias. And I also think just Lincoln Riley at USC as a Big Ten school, I think that makes USC extremely attractive to anybody, anywhere in the country, but especially to the locals. So I think there's a good chance that USC is the one that breaks it out. We'll put this one from Zach. And this is a really sad story. This happened. This news broke while we were on the air. Former Arkansas running back Alex Collins has passed away at age 28.

And so Zach says, what's your favorite memory of the late Alex Collins at Arkansas? I just like watching him run. They called him Diesel, and he ran so freaking hard. And he was perfect on those Brett Bielema teams. And it's just very sad to see that news because I just, I mean, 28 years old. That's awful. So just thoughts and thinking about his family and his loved ones. And it just sucks.

That's awful, awful news. But rest in peace, Alex Collins. We got one more serious question to answer. And then we've got a couple fun things, hopefully lighten the mood after that terrible news there. But the next question, this one was very intriguing from Nick. I've been waiting for this.

What if a billionaire that's always wanted to own an NFL team suddenly realizes they could own a major college football team via NIL, funds the thing to the tune of a hundred million a year and buys nothing but four to five star talent doable. Are we heading this way? Okay. So the point about a billionaire not being able to afford an NFL team, this is true. They're very expensive. You just saw how much the commander sold for. And you can definitely, the get-in price on a college football team is a lot lower. Now, I would argue that we've seen this happen, not necessarily in the NIL era,

but we saw it with Boone Pickens at Oklahoma State, where he essentially funded them to the point where they were capable of having the resources of a team in a better league than they were in, or certainly better than they would have otherwise. It helped put them near the top of the Big 12 resource-wise, where they had been near the bottom before Boone Pickens started pumping all that money in. Oregon and Phil Knight, I think you have a similar situation there. Now, no one has said they're just going to do it to fund NIL. You can talk about the John Ruiz situation at Miami,

but I don't really think that's the same thing. It certainly do. A hundred million a year would be an awful lot though. I don't know that there's anybody with that much to burn and especially not that much to burn on a very unpredictable age group. I think if you've been listening to me long enough, you know how I feel about 18 to 22 year olds, that they are the most unpredictable age group in the world.

And so investing that level of cash is risky because you can, you can have the best recruiting class. I mean, Texas A&M had the best recruiting class last year and it got them a five and seven season. Now you can say, okay, you get four of those in a row. You've got Georgia. Suddenly you've got Ohio state, you got Alabama. So yes, you are in the mix at that point. You would definitely be in the hunt for national titles, but I just, just, I don't know that there's anybody willing to burn that kind of cash over it. Because the thing about an NFL team, if you're buying an NFL team,

even though it's very expensive, history says you're going to make your money back and then some, and probably a lot. You're not really going to make your money back on this. You're doing it because you want to win. You just want to burn it. That's really the only way you can do it. So that's the question.

So Elias Gray mentions Elon Musk in the chat. That's the type of person. I don't know that he'd get all that interested in college football. But yes, the type of person who would say, I'm going to buy my favorite social media platform for $44 billion. Yes, that's the person with money to burn enough to do something like this. But I don't think we're going to meet that many people. All right. I got a question from Taz here. I know I said one more serious question and then we get to the goofy stuff.

This is new. Taz, lighter question for you. Inirties. Now, do I give up looking cool for game day and just accept cargo shorts and game day polos as my game day attire? Listen, Taz, the cargo shorts. I think we all, we all remember that line from super bad. I don't think I need to say it. It's probably not appropriate for family audience, but we all know that line. What are you trying to hide a flask? Is that the deal? Let me tell you, and we're not contracted to do this all the time, but you know, you've been watching this show. I've been talking about bird dogs.

Get some bird dogs, dude. They're not cargo shorts, but the pockets are plenty deep enough. They got lined they just they feel like they were made for you birddogs.com slash andy promo code andy free tech hat it's beautiful that'll that'll cover your head in the bright sunshine and it's nice and light but the the line shorts you cannot beat it on a hot day. You just can't. And their polos, I started wearing those. Another perfect game day attire.

So, you know, you can figure this out, but you don't have to wear the cargo shorts. And here's my problem with cargo shorts now that I have entered this athleisure phase of my life. And it's probably becoming a podcaster and learning about all these companies that sell athleisure phase of my life. And it's probably becoming a podcaster and learning about all these companies that sell athleisure, but the cargo shorts are just too heavy. The thick cotton. I mean, if you're out in 98 degree heat where I live, the heat index every day has been over 105. You can't stand out in a stadium like that with heavy cotton shorts on. You need yourself some athleisure. So birddogs.com slash Andy. That's my advice to you.

They didn't even pay for an ad tonight. They're getting one anyway because it's a legit question. You really need to know. Producer River, where's my meatball question? Where's my last question? This one from Jay asks, how many meatballs can you eat in one sitting? I don't know the answer to this and I'm worried because I might try to find out the answer to this. The listeners of my old show know we had a moment where my former cohost, Ari Wasserman mentioned a Chick-fil-A nuggets.

And I said, you know, I think I get a hundred Chick-fil-A nuggets. And I said, you know, I think I could get a hundred Chick-fil-A nuggets in one sitting with utmost confidence, utmost confidence. And I think there was probably a time in my life when I probably could have gotten close to a hundred, but Ari said, I'm calling BS on that. I don't believe you. So I went and got a hundred nugget platter. We decided that for every nugget I ate, we would give some money to charity. And I started eating and it was all during one show. And for the first 35 nuggets or so, I'm like, this is the greatest show I've ever done. This is the, this is the best day of my life. Unbelievable Chick-fil-A nuggets, one after another, just down the hatch. I get into the 50s. Stomach starts to turn. I'm

just like, oh boy. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. I got to 61. I thought I was going to die. So we know where I am on Chick-fil-A Nuggets. So meatballs, we may have to place a bet on this during the season. Daniel Garrett asked, how big the meatballs? What is on the meatballs? These are the questions that matter. And that's exactly right. So we are not talking about Italian restaurant appetizer meatball where you get it and there's a giant meatball with some sauce on it and it's over noodles and you mash it up and that is a dish in and of itself.

It's not that meatball. I think we're talking Swedish meatballs. We're talking in that sauce, which by the way, is going to severely limit how much you can eat. But there's a little Swedish meatball, and I've done this at parties. If you have Swedish meatballs in a crock pot at a party, that is where I will post up. I'll just take a toothpick, which one after another, pop, pop, pop, pop. So I will say theoretically, and we may have to test this later. I think I could eat 40 Swedish meatballs in one sitting. I think I could, this is, this is me betting conservatively here. Cause I, the old me would have said 65 or 70, but this is, this is me being conservative. I think I could do 40. Uh, Matt says rookie mistake on the Chick-fil-A nuggets. You got to

go with the grilled nuggets, Matt. We decided not to do the grilled nuggets because we knew I would go over a hundred on those. That would be too easy. That, that might be 150, but the meatballs question yet Swedish meatballs. I think we can pull this off. 40 is realistic. 50, maybe pushing it.

The sauce though. That's, that's my question because you got to have them in that, in that thick sauce. It's sweet. Brody says he thinks I can get 50 plus. All right, guys. We'll have to figure out if there's a game that we're going to bet on

and my punishment will be figuring out. Well, not even a punishment. Maybe we do the charity thing again. Maybe we do a Swedish meatball marathon. I just have the crock pot in front of me. And as I do the show, I'm just popping into my mouth. We can, we can do this. I like where our heads are at right now. This is we're in, we're in mid season form and the first game hasn't even happened yet. I think that's, that's good sign. It's a very good sign. All right. We move on to

the extra point. And this is one that the producer River very excited about. He's a very good sign. All right. We move on to the extra point. And this is one that producer River very excited about. He's a Tennessee grad. Guys, guess who's a professor now? Peyton Manning is a professor at the University of Tennessee, an adjunct teaching a class. He's joining the College of Communication and Information as a professor of practice this fall. A nationally recognized media personality, entrepreneur, and sports commentator, Manning will provide transformational learning opportunities. Guys, I think we need to take Peyton Manning's class. That would make a great show. We audit Peyton Manning's class. All right, River, you graduated from the University of Tennessee. You got connections there. Get me a seat in that class. We're going to Knoxville.

We're going to have some stock and barrel burgers. We're going to scramble Jake's for brunch. We're going to all the places that the Vols took all those recruits that they weren't supposed to take them. And then we're taking Peyton Manning's class. Professor Peyton, I cannot wait. Meanwhile, you shouldn't be able to wait for the next episode of Andy Staples on three. We've got Arizona coach Jed Fish and JD Piquel drops by to do some over-unders.

What season win totals look especially juicy? We'll talk to you then.