Andy & Ari On3 - Florida State QB Thomas Castellanos trash talked Alabama; can FSU be good enough to back him up?

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

What teams reshaped their roster in the transfer portal and might surprise us in 2025?(0:00-6:35) Intro: What did Thomas Castellanos say?(6:36-19:06) What does Florida State's 2025 look like?(19:07-25:18) Breaking down Pete Nakos' Thomas Castellanos Story(25:19-28:25) Alabama at Florida State Preview(28:26-36:46) Ole Miss in 2025(36:47-45:56) What will Oregon look like?(45:57-51:45) Missouri Resurgence?(51:46-53:59) Have we talked enough Miami?(54:00-59:12) West Virginia with Rich Rod, views in the state(59:13-1:05:00) Will Kentucky embrace Motivated Mark Stoops?(1:05:01-1:05:42) Conclusion We’ve talked plenty about Texas Tech and its spending spree in the portal, but what other teams set themselves up for potential success through the portal? Could Florida State come back from a horrific 2-10 season with two new coordinators and a radically revamped roster? Did Ole Miss simply create a new window for playoff contention with another portal haul? Everyone expects Oregon to be good, but can the Ducks contend for a national title with several key spots filled by players who transferred in this offseason? Is Rich Rodriguez trying to do at West Virginia what Curt Cignetti did at Jacksonville State?Watch us LIVE on YouTube, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/wkAoYQVNAZUHosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey Want to partner with the show? E-mail [e-mail]

Welcome to Andy and Ari on where we are writing checks. Our might not be able to cash. Maybe our mouths are writing checks, but our butts might not be able to cash. That is the phrase that I was going for. Ari Thomas Castellanos, New Florida state quarterback, Boston college transfer. He has helped us get into today's topic in ways that I could never have possibly imagined because you, you set this up yesterday. You said, let's talk about some of these teams that we haven't talked about much

all off season that might be able to dramatically improve because of what they did in transfer portal and you brought up Florida State specifically and that was before Pete Nacos story on Thomas Castellanos dropped. Now I knew it was going to be fun to read because Pete called me right after the interview and said this dude popped off. You're not going to believe what he said. But oh man, I could not even imagine how great it was. Let's start with the Bama one that's getting all the buzz. I'm excited man, Castellanos said. I don't know if they know, but you go back and watch.

The game that I played in, we always start fast. I dreamed of moments like this. I dreamed of playing as Alabama. They don't have Nick Saban to save them. I just don't see them stopping me. Okay, lots of unpack there. One, can I ask you something? Can you agree with what somebody said,

but also think that the person who said it shouldn't have said it? Yes. Like if that message came from a Georgia player, you would be analyzing it differently. Of course. And when it came from Diego Pavia, I had no problem with it

because Diego Pavia beat them last year. No, no, I'm not saying problem with it, but I think that what happens when somebody says something like this is that we identify who said it, and we immediately break down the person's credibility in saying what he said. And sometimes we lose track of breaking down what he actually said. Like I wrote an entire column last year after Vanderbilt beat Alabama. And I don't remember if you remember the premise. But the premise basically was that Alabama was like prime Tiger Woods. When Tiger Woods was on the final day wearing his Sunday red of a

golf tournament. He had to play even par golf. He didn't have to be spectacular. If you go back and you look I was on the golf course on Saturday and we were talking about this and a buddy said, if you go back and you look, I was on the golf course on Saturday and we were talking about this and a buddy said, if you go back and look at Tiger Woods' final round from his last Masters win, and I believe it was 2019, he just played even Steve in golf, wasn't spectacular, and everybody folded around him because of his presence. And I think that Alabama had an aura about them with Nick Saban on the sideline, where people just expected them to figure out a way to win because they had the greatest coach of allan on the sideline, where people just expected them to figure

out a way to win because they have the greatest coach of all time on the sideline. And I think if a player goes into the Alabama game less intimidated, less afraid of Alabama, it takes away their superpower. When you look back at Tiger Woods's greatness as a golfer, you have all the iconic moments, right? Of the bumps and the long putts and the amazing, you know, getting up and down and all the things that he's done. I'm not saying he's not a tremendous golfer, but his superpower to me was what he did in getting in other people's heads. And I don't know if that translates quite as much in football because golf is solely a mental game and football is a physical game. But I do wonder if the lack of Nick Saban on the sideline takes 5% away from Alabama's ability to win and

close games that they wouldn't have otherwise lost in the past. They did beat teams off the bus during the saving area. That's that's 100% true. The same could be said of some of the recent vintage Georgia teams where they developed that aura too. So I'm. So. I'm with you, I'm with you. But this is also a Florida State team that went two and ten last year. No, and I don't think that Florida State's going to win the game by any stretch. That's not my

point, but it is a person who said it, but is he wrong is the question. He's wrong. Well, we don't know if he's wrong and that that's what I want to get to. I don't know if Thomas Castellanos is wrong. If he's right about any of this stuff, because Ari, that's not even the most interesting thing he said.

No, I know. But let's stick on this. We have a show. Yeah, on this. Even if Florida State loses the game 52 to 10. Yeah, Nick could cut. I can't say I'm not even gonna try to pronounce his name. I can't. Thomas Castellanos. Castellanos. Castellanos. You know I can't say his name. Uh. I don't know why. I don't know either. There's certain words

that I have a trouble with. Kinda like restaurant. I can't spell it. Um which is crazy cuz it's my favorite thing to do in the entire world. Um could they lose 52 to 10 and could he still be right? He could be right when it comes to a better team playing Alabama. Right, right. Yeah, yeah. I think it's like you don't have Nick Saban to save you. I think that that's the entire story of Alabama season this year.

Can you finally get back to being Alabama after a year off that scares people off the bus, even though Nick Saban is not your coach like that to me? I might write that today. Cause I think that- Go for it. Interesting. I think when you see them coming out of the tunnel,

they will be scared. Alabama's got a lot of good players. But I want to talk about Florida State. You brought this up yesterday and it was a really interesting question. Now we have Jamis apologizes in the chat going, Oh, wow. You guys finally talk about FSU. And of course it will be negative laugh out loud. You went two and 10 last year.

We probably should have talked more negatively about them over the course. We just stopped talking about them pretty much after the guy refused to eat the dog poop. We just stopped talking about Florida State all the time. That dog poop thing lasted on our on our show at least the entire season, right? At least at least halfway through the season. What do people want us to do? Yeah, Florida State's gonna be great this year. You guys are gonna win the national title. Now, I realize there are some people here on these these college football internets that will say that that will make videos that just say what you want to hear. Unfortunately, you've not come to one of those shows and I'm

sorry. Well, the thing too is that like we were going to talk about Florida State heading into this show before Castellano said that. Yes, yes, we were. This morning that we were going to talk about Florida State. We talked about them yesterday with the intention of really trying to break down what they're going to be because I actually believe I've got a buddy here who's a huge FSU fan and grew up in Destin and like if you ask him he doesn't know what they're going to be. They're winter right six and a half or seven and a half. No one knows whether it's under or over like who knows what they're going to be and they're going to be two

years ago. Obviously, I live around a bunch of Florida State fans too and none of them have a concrete idea of what they think the season is going to be and I don't blame them because how could you possibly know after going from 13 and oh in the ACC gets screwed out of the college football playoff to 2 and 10? Like not a single one of us predicted that fall. And that was the worst fall of the playoff era, right? Oh, yeah. It's it's's gotta be one of the worst ever. Because because like the the Auburn one where they won national title

in 2010 and then Chis it got fired two years later. That was two years later when they went on in the in the SEC like this was the following year. And also their coach ended up getting fired very close right and this coach got a massive extension before the two and 10 season because this is where we go back to Alabama. Alabama inquired about him and their job. Yeah, I think Mike Norvell is one of the most interesting coaches and maybe we're, James,

apologizes right from this standpoint. Cause I don't even know where you stand on just like him as a coach, like where are you with him? Like is he passing the test? Do the last two years average out to two, eight and four years and then it's just status quo there. Like, do you think he's doing a good job? And do you think he's the, because like, I,

I have no idea Ari. I mean, the, the rational person in me says that this guy coached them to an ACC title, to a 13 and a record. And that there's, it's not, he didn't just forget how to coach. Like the rational part of me says, last year was just a really bad year where everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.

I just don't see how it, how that is represented. Cause the rest of his career doesn't look like that. Like he wanted Memphis, which is before he was winning. There was a hard place to win. which is before he was winning there was a hard place to win. And then he he Florida State got better and better each year. He was there until it culminated into that in that ACC title. So to me, rational person, it has to be better. And that he didn't forget how to coach and that they just ran into a Murphy's

Law situation where everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. Has to be. Yeah, I think that this is interesting because there's one thing that I've been critical with and I don't know if this is right or wrong or if it'll turn out to look stupid in the long run. But if you remember one of the first columns I wrote at on three was the Monday night game or the was it the opener? I can't remember what day of the week they lost to Boston College. It's a Monday night game. Yeah. So the Monday night game I thought I was just I was just going to watch, you know, some trash TV with my wife and we were watching the game and then go to bed and then all of a sudden Florida state was getting run off the

field. I was like, all right, well boo, I'm, uh, I'm going to go out there and write a column. And the column I wrote was this is the price you pay for building your roster for last year. And that Florida state is just going to have to live in a world as long as they're building their roster this way with really high ups and really low lows. And like that to me is the consequence of it right like you lose all those transfers that you got some were two years guys was first two or three years was he three. I can't remember but

this is two but they had like they had guys that had been there for four years. I mean Jordan Travis was a transfer. Yeah, but he transferred under Willie Taggart So, I mean, it's really really good though because Johnny Wilson was good Because Keon Coleman was good because Trey Benson was good because Braden Fisk was good and all those guys for the most part Unless I miss speaking here. I can't remember. It's no, I mean, those, those are some of the best players and those are guys who transferred. And when they all walk out the door at the same time, if you don't have the foundation of elite level high school recruiting to back

you up, when all your one year rentals leave, what do you think is going to happen? So you might have a bunch of great years, but you might have lower lows than we're used to seeing from teams that compete at that high level. Because there's one thing about college football that is much different than the NFL. In the NFL, you have ebbs and flows based on which quarterbacks are playing well or which rosters are, you know, but like the best team in the NFL changes dramatically.

Now the chiefs have been one of the best teams in the NFL for a long time, because they have maybe the greatest quarterback who ever played on their team, but for the most part the good teams around them shift. In the college football they don't shift often because traditionally it's the teams that recruit really well and those teams recruit really well every year which means they always have good players regardless who leaves. Now that's changing a little bit and I'm just wondering if you think Florida State should be a team that is as transient as it is.

And we had Mike Norvell on our old show at the Athletic and I asked him, do you view yourself as a transient program? And he kind of talked around it a little bit, but I really do would like to talk to him one-on-one and just be like, hey, are you okay with this? Is this what you want? Or do you feel like in order for you to be successful long-term at Florida State, that eventually you have to figure out how to sign top 10 classes again? Because Florida State was a team, when I grew up in this industry, that was a fixture in the top five of the recruiting rankings, constantly.

And I don't know how, you know, how psychology of these teenagers work, Andy. They've been out of the game for so long that the kids that are coming up now don't remember what they were in 2005 and 2010 and even 2013. Um, I just don't know if this is the healthiest way to sustain long-term success at a place that demands it year over year. It probably isn't, but it's sort of a dance with the girl who

brung you situation. That's how they got better when they were down. And so you keep doing that. Now, the idea was keep doing that until it bolsters your high school or allows you to bolster your high school recruiting, which that sort of bottomed out with 2025. But if you look at 2024, that was as good of a class as they put together out of the high school ranks in terms of what the guys were rated. But, you know, that was a, I believe in the on three industry rankings, they were number 12.

So it felt like they were moving back up. And it was... They were number 12 in the 2024 rankings. Yes. Was that the class that coincided with the great? Yeah, it was. That's the class that coincided with the great. Yes, right after the great season.

Yeah. So it felt like the build was going on and was going to continue and that they were going to then add the piece of elite high school recruiting to being really good out of the transfer portal. And then last year happened. Now, there are a lot of things that happened last year. Again, it's a Murphy's Law situation. DJU, probably the chief complaint there, that taking DJU and the at quarterback set them back considerably. But it wasn't just that. It was that they were back in a lot of ways last year. That's the thing that blows my mind about the whole thing.

Is that like, do we view and it's going to nice segue into this conversation that we're going to have on the show today, which is what do you heed more? What do you respect more? The, the transfer class that Florida state was able to assemble going into the 23 season or the mistake that you make at the quarterback position in the transfer portal a year ago that tanks your season. And it's like, do you view Mike Norvell as a mad scientist right now who went out and like, first of all, Florida State had a really good transfer class this year. I don't know if there's like somebody that's can't miss as Keon Coleman was when they got him. But do you view Florida State as a sleeper team this year that we're not appreciating enough of their haul coming into the year and maybe they are an eight or nine win team and we're over analyzing what happened a year ago or do you think it's entirely possible they could be an eight or nine win team.

The thing is you can be an eight or nine win team in the ACC and that doesn't really get you anything like they could they could lose to Florida Miami Clemson and Alabama and that's an eight and four team. And that's an eight and 14. Yeah. I think that if you ask Mike Norvell in private right now, do you take eight and four right now? He goes, yeah, right. Of course. He just went two and 10. You need eight.

But then again, then all of a sudden, you're eight and four. And what would that be? Year five? Right. And then all of a sudden you take a step back and you have one great year. And then you're not anywhere further along as a program than you were when you took over. But you can't

look at it that way. Like they gave him the contract they gave him. Alabama was sniffing around. We don't know if Norvel or Kaylin D'Avora was the first choice. It doesn't really matter. Alabama was sniffing around both of them. So Florida State did what they did for a reason. You're saddled with the contract now. Like you cannot fire Mike Norvell. And I'll point out Mike Norvell did give back some of the money. Because he's not stupid. Like he understands the optics of this. Because he's not stupid, like he understands the optics of this. Yeah. I don't know how many people would have done that anyway.

Yeah. So I mean, it really depends on how this group congeals together. This is what we're going to talk about with the other teams we're going to talk about today. It's not just the Florida State thing because we're going to talk about it with with Ole Miss, with Missouri, with Oregon. It's, it's how this group, those groups come together. Lane Kiffin has been really good at having a lot of transient guys and having a lot of portal guys. And the team plays well together consistently. Florida State, we saw what can go absolutely wrong with that. But a lot of teams are trying this. I mean, Texas Tech is trying this.

You just wrote a column about the pressure that Joey Maguire's under because of this portal class at Texas Tech. So this is not limited to Mike Norvell, but obviously this is one of the weirder test cases because you had so much success because of the portal and then a ridiculously terrible season because of the portal. But let's talk about who they got.

So Gavin Sawchuck, who you saw running the ball for Oklahoma, Squirrel White, who was a receiver at Tennessee. River's game player. Yeah, Deuce Robinson, who was at USC, who looks like a million bucks, but I think USC fans would tell you they don't feel like he played up to his potential there. A million bucks though, doesn't he?

Like, that is, you know. I know for you, he's one of those, this was an elite recruit that I can't let go of him being an elite recruit. That's what I was just gonna say. I cannot let go of it. You wanna know why? Look at him.

Just look at him. Andy, you looked at me. It matters what you do on the field, not just how you look. I know, but I'm not gonna let go of somebody who looks like that yet. Yeah. So, but I get you.

I understand you. By the way, if you're watching on Twitter right now, come join us on YouTube. Much more fun. You can make fun of me and Ari in the chat in real time. And honestly, you want to be part of this chat. These guys are awesome. Our favorite people in the whole world. They'll become your favorite people in the whole world, too. So we're talking about teams going into next season that could surprise us. It might be one of your favorite teams. Come here. We have to say exactly exactly. So come join us on YouTube. The

link you'll need is right under the tweet that you're watching right now. So hit that one and we'll see you on YouTube now Ari. What does this mean for Florida State? Thomas Castellanos does not want to be DJ U2.0, obviously. He comes in, he's played for Gus Malzahn before. Gus Malzahn is Florida State's new offensive coordinator. He was UCF's head coach. Castellanos played at UCF.

Let's hear some more of what Castellanos said. I didn't have nearly as much talent as I do here, talking about playing at Boston College. I didn't have the guys, but over here, I have some of the best athletic guys. I'm not the fastest one on the team over here. I'm not the most athletic guy on the team. We're saying he was at Boston College.

So just being around these guys and just instilling in their heads the winning mentality, that's what we can do. They've got the team, they got the guys, all they needed was a leader in place to lead them. We need to get back to that mentality of ACC Championship to a good playoff run to a national championship. For me, I know I have the skillset

to be a high-end contender, to be up in New York. This guy has so much confidence. Here's another one. This is what he told our Pete Nacos. I feel like I tore the ACC up by my damn self for the last two years and now I'm with a squad. I hope people don't think Florida State is gonna be the same team it was last year

because we have weapons. People can't just sit back in zone covers and watch me. I hope one-tth of this is true. I love the confidence, love it. Yeah. Does somebody talking like this make you buy into them? I've seen him play. He's pretty good.

But I don't know that he's been that transcendent that like when Pavia says this stuff, like I've seen Pavia go to Auburn and win as New Mexico State's quarterback. I've seen Pavia beat Alabama. I've seen Pavia go toe to toe with Texas. So when Diego Pavia says it, I'm like, all right, I'm in with Texas. So when Diego Pavia says it, I'm like, all right, I'm in. Thomas Casalano is what he's saying is he was doing it with one arm tied behind his back at Boston College. Now I imagine his former Boston College teammates probably disagree with that. He's been fun to watch. He has been fun. And I think if you I

think I could buy into the the notion that if you put him together with a higher level of athlete that he has more of an opportunity to shine. The question that I have, and I think it's a fair one, is who are those players who are going to elevate him? When you talk about some of the best players in college football this year and you think about the receivers and the running backs and the offensive line, I'm not saying that Florida State's team stinks, but who comes to mind?

Who's the person that's in that national conversation? Well, that's the thing. You need Squirrel White or Deuce Robinson or Gavin Sochuk to be those people. And all of those guys are unproven assets that came through the transfer portal. None of those guys were Keon Coleman. But all of those guys were highly touted recruits. They were. All of whom weren't very productive in their actual playing and I'm trying to be the devil's advocate here because you know I get all excited about Deuce Robinson. It's like to me. Deuce Robinson is the type of player that can completely change your team if he reaches his potential and I don't know Thomas Casalano is

also coach Gus now Danny says in the chat. It makes a big difference. Okay, but here's the thing which Gus Malzahn is he And I don't know Thomas Castellanos also has coach Gus now Danny says in the chat. It makes a big difference Okay, but here's the thing which Gus Malzahn is he getting because if it's the one from last year at UCF This is not gonna go well If it's the old Gus Malzahn whose offense moved quickly kept defenses off balance, then yes, it will go well last year at UCF That offense was slow. It was predictable. It was not what you've come to expect

from Gus Malzahn over the years. So was that because of the personnel or was that because of how Gus has evolved as a coach? We're gonna find out. I can buy into it being much better. I can buy into it being much better. I can buy into it. How, how much better? I don't know that I would think more than eight wins, but eight wins is great

when you only won two last year. Yeah. But in the spirit of this conversation, which is who can be much better than we're giving them credit for is that those Florida state reaching eight wins qualify for that? I think it does. I think when you went to intend, if you can, a six win improvement is a six win improvement.

I don't care. It, that's a big deal. And let's say they are competitive or win some of those games that we talked about might be losses on the schedule. Like whether it's Alabama, Clemson, Miami or Florida. Like if they're in those games or they win one of those games, that just says they're back where they need to be.

You know what the most ironic part about this whole conversation is? Is that a large portion of Castellanos comments to NACOS kind of through BC under the bus in terms of, you know, I'm the only guy there. I was the fastest guy on the team. I was the most athletic team. I basically tore up the ACC by myself. All those things he said. But I have a feeling that right out of the gate, and this isn't even a commentary on how good I believe Florida State's going to be,

he's going to feel that exact same way when he plays Alabama. These guys are so much faster. These guys are so much. He's playing a team that has much better players than the team that he has. And I don't even know that that's a debate. Like that's not a, that's not even a negative. Yeah. Alabama is pretty loaded, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Like Alabama is going to have especially on the defensive side of the ball. Like Alabama is going to have an advantage at every single position, right? Except maybe quarterback and even then maybe quarterback. We don't, yeah, we don't know about Alabama's quarterback. So we think it's Ty Simpson. That's the assumption. And we don't know how that's going to go. But this is also assuming Ty Simpsons has started Alabama. This is his chance to show, Hey, I should have had this job all along. But if he, if, if Thomas Castellanos thinks that his Florida state teammates are going to go carry the team down the field against Bama, I

think he's going to find out in the first quarter, that's probably not how it's going to go. It's, it's going to be fascinating. Cause listen, here's the first quarter. That's probably not how it's going to go. It's going to be fascinating because listen, here's the thing though. I will say before we get too too high on anybody, remember how high we were on Florida State going the last season and remember how that worked out. I remember being nervous about it. I don't think I was that nervous about it. I thought that I didn't think they were going to necessarily just dominate and

win the national title, but I thought they'd be one of the best teams in the ACC. Cause they brought, they did bring guys back. They had guys who'd played really key roles on that very good team. I miscalculated how bad DJ you would be. It was also a collective disaster. Cause I think once they lost in week one, the team gave up. Yeah, they really did not like,

did not really come back from Ireland. Like they lose to Georgia Tech and they were so flat against Boston College early. And again, Castellanos. So he gets credit for that one for sure. But yeah, they're a very, very interesting team going forward. That Florida State team is going to be one of the more fascinating teams in the country this year. I think they have to be better. I think they'll probably be significantly better.

I don't know if that means they'll be one of the better teams in the ACC, but we'll find out. I do want to do a column at some point in the next two weeks, like ranking the NCAA teams I'm most excited to play with. That's always fun. And Florida State might make that list for me because they have a mobile quarterback and some weapons like Deuce Robinson that will be good in the game regardless of whether or not he's good in real life. Although I don't know how you're the only one who can answer this how much the short quarterback impacts passing because that might be a I didn't I don't know if I got to play it enough to really tell how big of an impact that was but they do they they do say that you will but it's only really if you put them under center so if you as long as you have in the gun which in Florida

State's offense he will be in the gun most of the time. So the playbook you get for Florida State will be mostly gun. So I think you'd be all right. They make him and they will accurately fast. Florida State would be a fun team to play with. Yeah, as the Avery Johnson comes on the screen, speaking of accurately fast. Yes. All right, let's talk about some of these other teams that we have not talked about much this off season that may have bolstered themselves through the portal. I want to talk about Ole Miss because I don't think,

like other than when we interviewed Austin Simmons and when we interviewed Austin Simmons, who's Ole Miss's rising starting quarterback, we were like, man, this dude's impressive. And of course, you and I saw him in person against Georgia last year and was awesome. So, Florida State loses a lot of that. So they went out and got Walter Nolan.

They got Prince William and Miellon on the line of scrimmage. They had Chris Paul, who was awesome last year to transfer. Those guys were all gone. Jared Ivy who'd been there for, you know, actually transferred from Georgia Tech years earlier, but he'd been there. He's gone. A lot of the guys that we thought would be the difference that

would get them into the playoff are gone. Jackson Dark gone first round draft pick. I'm not sure they're falling off Ari. Like if we look at their transfer portal class. Ole Miss got a lot of the dudes. Then a lot of people wanted. In the portal. How many they take this year? They took above north of 30, I believe.

That's right. I thought it was 30. It might be right at 30. I think it's either 30 or 31, but it's a lot. And some of those guys are ones that we thought, you know, if they wind wherever they wind up they're going to be difference makers like Lou cost the tight in from Arkansas was one that we thought would be a difference maker where Oh, no, they had 32 transfers in 32. 32. So that's

my question is like, they got the Sean stripling who was Oklahoma State's best receiver last year. Like they got Keewan Lacey, the running back from Missouri. They got princely's brother Prince Will, Prince Will, who made me Ellen came from Nebraska. So it just feels right to have one of those guys on the team, doesn't he? Doesn't it? There's a third brother too, by the way, is the younger and can you transfer in? But eventually, yes, it sounds like they only want to have one at a

time. But yeah, that's great. That's good to hear. But like we've sort of assumed that Ole Miss drops off here. I don't know that we should assume that. I think the reason why people assume that is is last year's transfer class had like 10 notable names that everybody knew. And it was these, these are the issues you really needed to fix. You went out and fix them with these people. And now those people are gone.

And those people are recognizable coming in, like I know the names that you just mentioned, but like there's no Walter Nolan in this class, right? No, Walter Nolan in this class, right? Correct. No Juice Wells in this class, right? Well, Lucas might be, he's a tight end, obviously. He's not a receiver, but he might be, Stribling maybe. He may be, he's not at this point in the year. Like last year when they got Juice Wells in June, it was like, holy crap. Yeah, Caleb Odom from Alabama is the one I'm curious about because

he was one that the Alabama folks really loved when he got there but they never really found a role for him. He's a big receiver. He might, I don't know, he might actually be a tight end but he's 6'4", 220. So that's one that maybe that's another one of those he was an elite recruit but what does that mean? Yeah, but I also think there's a little extra juice too when somebody comes from Bama, isn't there? Is there though? Because wouldn't they be just be playing at Bama?

If they were Ole Miss, I think that there's like a little extra for them to wind up at Ole Miss coming from Bama, it gives them a little extra juice. I'm not saying it just means that he's gonna be good because he's from Bama, but I do think that there's like always an underlying motivation or underlying sweetness to that, I think. Well, I think this is one

that we may be underestimating this year. Because you see Ole Miss kind of like hanging around in the top 20, near 20ish with a lot of the preseason polls. I don't think anybody really knows what they're gonna be. And the question with Ole Miss, and this is the question we've been asking since Lane Kiffin started there and really kind of came in reshaping the roster through the portal is.

Do they do this every year? Can are can they continue to be good while having this much turnover in the portal or do they have a year like 2024 Florida State at some point down the road? Yeah, they have a really good quarterback, so my hope for them is that they don't have that experience. Well, you and I think he's a really good quarterback because we saw one drive. But I also thought he wasn't a really good quarterback. They would have behaved differently in the portal. That's true.

They're not shy about going and getting somebody if they think they need. They didn't get anyone. Yeah, they got they got Pierce Clarkson, by the portal. That's true. This is they're not shy about going and getting somebody if they think they need. They didn't get anyone. Yeah, they got they got Pierce Clarkson, by the way. I don't know if you remember that guy. That was well, Steve Clarkson's son, the QBV son, you know, Pierce Clarkson was at Louisville. So yeah, so I think that like they have a much higher floor than Florida State last year. But it probably looks to me like a nine and three ish type team again. Which is weird. What if they're not? What if they're 10 and two and they make the playoff? Like the last year's team was supposed to. What if this year's team does? I think that would be a nice little redemption mark for Lane Kiffin because as much as I think the thing that's so interesting is that I think he's a really good coach. Okay. And I think that your point is correct in that he has proven time and time again that he can take a transient roster and make it a functional unit. Like they play well together for the most part.

Yeah. They blew it last year. There's no other way. They did. They absolutely blew it. That team, had it gotten into the playoff, could have gone very deep in the playoff and might have been one of the teams that could have competed with Ohio State. I think that that team playing peak performance, that team that we saw when they hosted Georgia could have won the national title. Correct. Could have won it, not just competed with Ohio State could have won it. I agree. And the fact that they lost to Kentucky

and lost to Florida is mind-bending to me. And to me is a abject failure. And I hate to, you know, when I say these things, people get mad and, but like, honestly, if you're an Ole Miss fan, you might be offended by that. But like, am I wrong? No, as Scott in the chat, and Scott's clearly a verbaler, a fan of our friends Dan and Ty at the Solid Verbal,

when you're clunkers, when you're clunkers, that's the part Ole Miss has to learn. That's the next step in Ole Miss' development. If they want to be an elite program, if they want to be good every year, you got to figure out how to do those. It's almost like the opposite, because Ole Miss has really traditionally done a good job

of winning the games they're supposed to, and then they would lose the games they're involved in. Right, and now the Georgia game was the ultimate flip-that-on-its-head scenario, and then they go to Florida after an open date and lose. It just sucks, because in that stadium, you were there. We were on the sidelines at the end there. Like that was a we finally did it moment as a program. And to not be able to cash that in with a playoff berth is just devastating. So

if so, they were to get, if they were to get to it this year, I think that that would make for a nice redemption arc. And like Lane Kiffin could hold his head high on that. I don't know that I buy that that'll, there's too many good teams in the SEC this year, I think to get, go that far. But like, you know, I think this leads us into the best class in my opinion, it's not the biggest class, so it's not number one. But, and I don't even know if this counts as a team that we haven't talked a lot about it,

but I do think that we've overlooked them and that's Oregon, Andy. I mean, if you go look at Oregon's. Oh yeah, no, I think you're right because I think our assumption is Oregon can't possibly be as good as they were last year. They were the best team in the regular season last year. They were the clear number one seed in the playoff. They won the big 10. Had they not had to play Ohio State right out of the gate in Rose Bowl, probably would have gone into the playoff and would have gotten closer to a national title. I don't know that they're going to be that different and they might actually be better

based on what they got this year. Yeah, I mean, obviously a lot is. Hanging on the shoulders of Dante Moore, right? And I think that we aren't 100% clear on what that looks like. But if Dante Moore went into obscurity after being a five star prospect that was thrust into a dysfunctional situation as a true freshman UCLA and actually

got really really good. Like, has anybody stopped to question what if Dante Moore is a top five quarterback in college football this year? I think that we've taken him for granted. Or at least sold him short of his potential. I don't know for sure what that's going to look like. I'm very intrigued and excited to see what it looks like, but I have pretty high hopes for him. But then when you look at the players that they brought in, they have the most proven, really good players coming in of anybody. They don't have the largest class. I think they have 11 or 12 incoming transfers this year. They have 11. And that's not that's kind of like Ohio State last year. Ohio State, I think had eight,

which to me, is an assertion of health, right? You are recruiting well enough where you do not need to bring in 30 guys to make sure you don't have a disaster. They have a roster they feel good about. They didn't have to go get a quarterback. And they were able to bring in pieces that were difference makers at a lower level, meaning amount. They got better players at less positions because they had less needs than other teams, which is the healthiest way to do it. To me, this is the perfect draft. This is the perfect transfer class. I know that people get excited about 30 and 26 and 34. I don't know if I were a coach, if I would want 34 players to come in. So if you look at the 11 players that they brought in, Emmanuel

Pregnon, the offensive lineman, and we don't talk about offensive lineman on the podcast. Yeah, but he would have been USC's best returning offensive lineman. Now he starts for Oregon. Mackay Hughes, who I think is college football's leading rusher last year. Returning rusher, yeah. Returning rusher, right.

Not Ashton Gentry by any stretch of the imagination, but was one of the three best running backs at the lower level, and I think is going to be highly productive. They brought in Isaiah World, an offensive tackle from Nevada, who I think analysts are saying was the second or first best offensive tackle transfer prospect in the entire thing. They also brought in Bear Alexander, which I think is a speculative play. Yeah, that one made me shake my head. Hands up, but also, what if he's good? Can we stop to think, like, what if he's good? I think we know by this point. I think we've seen what we need to see.

But we'll see. Dan Lanning knows this better than I do. This wouldn't be a podcast if I didn't say his name, Andy. Yeah, I know. You keep making me think. And then, of course, Dylan Theoniman, the safety from, you like how I can say Theoniman, but I can't say Castellanos. Isn't that hilarious?

It is very strange. But you've got the Castellanos thing down now. I think you've practiced. Wait till tomorrow, wait till tomorrow. But I think might be an all-American safety. So you think about safety, two offensive linemen, interior defensive linemen, electric running back and feeling pretty good about your quarterback, not to mention

they have some pieces in place already. I think it's a shame that Evan Stewart got injured because he would have been, I think, a really productive and important piece of their offense this year. He's out with a, was that a knee injury, Andy? Did he blow his knee out and spray? I believe it was a knee injury, a patellar tendon, I think. Yeah, so, but Oregon, you have number six. So you were a little bit higher, but if I could go back and like look at maybe the rankings, I might think, cause I think I put them at nine.

I think six is probably more appropriate. I, you know, it just depends, cause that cluster at the top of the big 10, whoever wins the big 10 is gonna be in the top three. I think I have Illinois ahead of Oregon though. And maybe that'll turn out to be right. I don't know. But I have Oregon in my playoff.

Excuse me. Yeah. And they should be, and we should probably consider them perennial playoff, a perennial playoff team as long as Dan Lanning's there the question really is are they gonna be better than last year and it's tough because you know, they lose a first-round defensive tackle and a first-round offensive tackle and They had a lot of talent that left but to your point

Most of transfers they took are instant impact guys who were proven at their last place and they're plugging in alongside guys that were very highly rated recruits that have been developing at Oregon. That's the model that we think is supposed to be the one that's going to work most consistently. Now we don't know that yet because this is basically a new era, but that is the model that we suspect is going to be the best model. Oregon is a stock I would invest in. I think that you missed the boom, the pre-Dan Lanning buying opportunity where it was still

very speculative. I think it's still a growing company that will continue to rise. You're not going to get the 10x right out of the gate like you might have gotten if you bought it right when he was hired, but this is a team that I think I feel fairly certain will win a national title in the next decade at some point. That would be a fun show. Which teams do you think will win a national title in the next decade? Who would you buy? I think that would be a fun show. Which teams do you think will win a national title in the next decade? Who would you buy? I think that would be fun.

I think Oregon would be why don't we do that tomorrow? You want to look at that? Yeah, we're shopping the shows live two days in a row. You want to talk about like money podcasting? You want to talk about? Hell yeah. This is the conversation that Andy and I have when the show's over every day.

What should we talk about? I think it's really interesting. I, there was a stat that David Stern in his period as, as NBA commissioner, which was a very long one, only awarded eight different teams title. Like handed the Larry O'Brien trophy to eight different teams, eight different teams title like handed the Larry O'Brien trophy to eight different teams eight different franchises and then Adam Silver in his time has already handed the Larry O'Brien trophy to nine different franchises. I'm kind of wondering are we are we going to enter into a period like that where

over the next 10 years are we going to see eight different national champs as opposed to three different national champs? the eight different national champs as opposed to three different national champs. Yeah. What would your number be if you had to guess for the next 10 years, how many different teams will win it? I have a guess. I would say six. Yeah. Which I like, okay. We'll have to go through the list, but I think, okay, 2010 to 2019. That's a 10 year period. Um, how many different teams do we get? We got Auburn, Alabama, Laura State.

Clemson will do 14 to 14. You don't want to make LSU. There were five, there were five in that 10 year period. Yeah. But that 10 year period also had a blend of systems. Yeah. So do, do, do 14 to 24, 14 to 20. So the, the, yeah, the college football playoff air.

Yeah. Okay. Ohio state. Oh, I didn't know. This is six, six in 2010 to 2019. So Ohio state, Georgia, uh, Clemson Clemson LSU LSU. Michigan, Michigan. That's it. Six six.

Six is pretty good. Six is good like seven or eight would be even better because because you like who then jumps into that next if you did the 2014 to 24 season. You would have six two in the NFL, right? Mm hmm. Each one three times and I think the Eagles won it twice in that period. Yes.

Yep. So you'd have six. So it look, parody is hard everywhere. But I would have got a nice little thing going right now. I never would have thought though that the NFL and the college football would have the same number of total champions over a 10 year period. Yeah, that's encouraging. And that's right.

The NFL has a lot better system in place to ensure parity. And that's funny because that also coincided with college football's most lopsided talent dispersion. Mm hmm. Yep. So I yeah, I think that's going to be a very interesting. one sided with college football's most lopsided talent dispersion. Yep. So I, yeah, I think that's gonna be a very interesting. Maybe it's actually eight now. Maybe it is. And the question is who were the other ones or like. Are is Alabama even one of them anymore? I mean, that's that's the great question, but let's let's stick to today.

Let's stick to teams we're not talking about, transfer portal classes. I'll let you throw another SEC team match. We got a show though. We got a show. We got a show. We got a show. What's the next team?

Let me throw one more SEC team at you. Missouri. Obviously Bo Pribula made headlines because he left Penn State before the playoff run and transferred to Missouri. And we've talked about that. We talked to James Franklin about that. Obviously, James Franklin wasn't mad at Bo Pribula.

Bo Pribula is a guy we were very excited about. We thought he was going to be Penn State starting quarterback this year when it became clear that Drew Aller was coming back. That job wasn't open anymore, so he went looking. He's a very athletic guy. that Drew Aller was coming back. That job wasn't open anymore, so he went looking. He's a very athletic guy. We know Missouri has a manageable schedule. Does Missouri keep, like, stay as consistently good as they have been the last couple years under Eli Drinkwitz? That's the question. They did get one of the best portal pickups, right? Was Damon Wilson viewed as one of the best portal pickups, right? Was Damon Wilson viewed as one of the best portal pickups?

I would think so. Ohio State wanted him, so that's good. I mean, that's what other teams want him. They lost their best player. Luther Burden. Yes, lost their best player. But Mizzou was gifted. The easiest schedule in the SEC and they had a very easy schedule last year. Uh, and I wonder if we'll look back at this era and say they had a transfer

class going into the 24 season that was good enough to do better than they did. And if they'll look back and like once the SEC schedule reshuffles and. They don't get as easy of a draw as others. Kevin Coleman's the one I would watch. Kevin Coleman was Mississippi State's best receiver last year. And he's at Missouri this year. So I think. I think there's a chance Missouri is not bad. Like like nine, 10 win type team.

Yeah, like what they were last year, nine, 10 win team. I mean, the problem was like, they got smoked by Texas A&M and they lost South Carolina. So when they, when they played teams that were kind of equal, they didn't look that good. Yeah. But also too, Mizzou is probably very happy with the notion that, you know, Texas A&M and Auburn and those teams are viewed as equals.

Cause it wasn't so long ago where Mizzou was kind of an afterthought in the conference. Like I think Eli's done a good job. Oh, he's done a very good job. And I'm just wondering, like, are we underestimating, same thing with Ole Miss. Like, are we just underestimating a coach who has demonstrated a fairly good track record of success. And this one, even more than Lane Kiffin, has a more manageable schedule. So I guess it kind of also depends on how much you trust Bo Pribiola. And we saw a taste of it. And I wonder if there's a difference between being a change-of-pace quarterback who comes in where everybody expects to run and then you throw a little bit and

then being the every down guy. Yeah. And, and look, we've seen this a couple of different ways. You know, we've seen Nick Fitzgerald leave and it was okay at Mississippi state. We saw Will Levis leave Penn State. Who he was that guy. Will Le us was that guy at Penn State and want it being a very good quarterback at Kentucky. The question I guess I have for you.

So I have a Penn State take. Okay, I thought Trace McSorley was like the perfect college quarterback. Yes, not somebody that a lot of people will look back in 10 years and go, wow, remember watching Trace McSorley? But as somebody- Trace McSorley and Connor Shaw from South Carolina, like kind of peas in a pod, like great college quarterbacks.

Yeah. Perfect for their schools. And I watched a lot of the Ohio State, Trace McSorley, Penn State games in person. Like if Bo Pribula could be Trace McSorley, very slippery, athletic as hell can move the chains with his legs and critical third downs just be a thorn in the side for four quarters and hit some big throws in crucial moments. Like I think that would be a pretty good proposition. Like is that a fair? I would agree. Yeah, I think that's a great comparison. Yes, that if he's that at

Missouri, Missouri's gonna have a really good year. Right, period. And also Penn State was more than willing to go into next season as with him as their guy, which I think is a good thing. Oh, yeah. Like, yeah, if Alar leaves, Pribule is the starter at Penn State, we're not having this conversation. Like we didn't have that conversation during the playoff. But that's sort of the way things worked out. And nothing anybody can do about it now.

Yeah, we've got one more, I think, Andy. But can I ask you one question before we get to the last one? Sure, yeah. I have a toxic trait. I ask somebody if I can ask them a question before I ask them, constantly. Can I ask you a question? Do you have any bonaka? All my friends are just like, can you just ask the question? asking constantly. Can I ask you a question? Do you have any bonnaka?

All my friends are just like, can you just ask the question asshole? Like I don't need you to preface every question you ask me with, can I ask you a question? Is there a team that will be in the national championship discussion in mid November that we're not talking about right now that we're gonna look back at and go,

we are stupid for not talking about them on June 24th. I think Ole Miss might be that. Okay, so I wanna check those boxes on this show. I wanna be able to go back and be like in June 24th. Yeah, we've talked about LSU. Indiana is the one that I think people are sleeping on again, but we've talked about that. We talked with Clark Brooks about impact players and how many Indiana brings back. We've talked about that.

So I think Indiana being in the playoff hunt, being one of the better teams in the Big Ten, would not be the biggest surprise in the world. Well, there's another team that we weren't scheduled to talk about that we have to acknowledge. Okay. You know who I'm going to say? Nope. Miami. Oh, we talked a ton about Miami.

That's I know, but we've talked. I've talked negatively about Miami. Have we? I don't think I don't think I've been that negative about Miami. I feel like because we had the conversation of are they too portal heavy at this point in Mario Cristobal's tenure, but I keep saying yeah, they're portal heavy, but not in the trenches. Like they're building in the trenches through homegrown players. And that seems to be where you need the homegrown players.

And they also have Jojo Trader, who I don't think people think much about right now, but is going to be a stud of receiver. Carson Beck of healthy is a manageable quarterback. They've got Charm our Brown straight from the Pokemon card collection. Also can any doesn't have to be there starting tailback. Yeah, right. From David Rukas coming from Wisconsin. You guys have read enough about that to know that's an important pickup. We can talk about the Wisconsin Miami lawsuit later. Yeah. James Brockmeier was a former, I believe, five star,

or maybe his twin was a nice interior line pickup. I feel like I wonder if I'm selling Miami short as a team that brought in 20 players to go with a pretty solid foundation. No, Miami should be. I had Miami in my projected playoff. You do, yeah. Maybe I'm talking to myself. Yeah. Maybe I'm talking to myself, but I've kind of been like Miami had their moment last year and they blew a generationally good offense and they lost all those players and now it's hard to

like picture them being that good again. Maybe I'm off on that. I don't know or maybe they they're going to be 8 and four. I have no idea. If only they played a really good team to start the season that might give us an idea. Yeah, we're not talking about that team because we've talked about them quite a bit.

We're talking about Notre Dame at time Notre Dame we believe will be good so. Yeah, OK, let's go to the last one then Andy. The last one. This is a shot in the dark and I don't know. But I'm just looking at the construction and it looks familiar. Rich Rodriguez appears to be trying to do at West Virginia what Kirk Signetti did at Indiana last year. Six transfers from Jacksonville State, so not as many as Signetti

brought from James Madison to Indiana, but quite a few and just a massive roster overhaul. Massive, like completely different team. Are you ready for good West Virginia with Richard again? How sweet would that be? That would be fun. It would be crazy if they did it right. Like if they were as good right off the bat as like it's like he never left. Remember 2007 they were almost going to

play for the national title and they lost a pit but they were one of the best teams in the country that year. Oh yeah I mean as a team, as a podcast that's discussed the video game. Because clearly nobody's talking about West Virginia in terms of the big 12 race and understandably so because there's a lot of good teams coming back in the big 12, a lot of great quarterbacks returning in the big 12. We don't know what they're going to be at all. 49 transfers in Ari 49. Yeah.

And they're not allowed to dance on tick-tock. Um, I gotta tell you something I'm a little embarrassed by and remorseful of. I've never seen a game in Morgantown. I've been to a basketball game there, but I've never been to a football game there. I've only been to one game in Morgantown. I've been to Morgantown multiple times during practice

to interview people. The only game I went to is the 2018 Oklahoma game, which was on Black Friday and was for a spot in the Big 12 championship game. It was a great game. The Oklahoma people will say, Oh, they got a good call. The West Virginia people will say they got hosed by a hit out of bounds call late in the game. But that was Dana Holgers West best team in West Virginia. I remember walking out of the stadium that night, hearing the fans talk and being like, Dana's going to get the hell out of here because they're pissed and they don't seem to realize

that it's like next year's team is not going to be better than this year's team. Yeah. I like West Virginia, not the school. I like the state. It's very underratedly pretty. Oh, it's beautiful. Did you see Ren Baker, the athletic director, I wish I had the tweet to send River. I'll try to find it. He sent a photo from his backyard of a rainbow over a river, like in a gorge. It was incredible.

I'm trying to Google that right now. I'm a big sucker for backyard. I mean, Lincoln Riley's backyard photo is still permanently undefeated, but I'd love to see it. Yeah. Ren Baker, I think frequently posts these great backyard pictures, but you're not gonna say it's better

than Lincoln Riley's backyard. And I'm not sure there are many people who would take anything over Lincoln Riley's backyard. Oh, I see this. Is that his backyard, are those mountains? Yeah. Oh wow, that's really pretty. There's a little, oh, that's-

That's not even, the one in the daytime is not even the really good one. There's one at sunset with a rainbow. I believe it's Wren Baker Baker might be the president of the university, but I thought it was Ren Baker. Yeah, it's it's pretty incredible. Yeah, that's that's gorgeous. Yeah, I see the rainbow one.

That's a that's a that's a top 10. Backyard view. So but West Virginia, one of the more interesting team, there's the rainbow. Yeah, one of the more interesting team, there's the rainbow one. Yeah, one of the more interesting teams to me. Is that a pool? I don't even know. I think that's a rain-slicked deck. That's a pool.

It's, oh, is it a pool? Oh, even better. Yeah. All right, Ren Baker, congratulations on the incredible backyard. I'd get Samford back there. All right, Ren Baker. Congratulations on the incredible backyard. I'd get hammered back there. Yeah, I see a fire pit. And I've gotten Ari's fire pit started.

Yeah, it's also broken. So you're going to have to fix that. That's not my fault. Not broken, but like last time I tried to turn it on. Yeah, call the gas company. I ain't messing with gas. The gas company is from a propane tank. Yeah, but that it's a gas.

It's a device that uses gas. I try to turn it on for like we had a Super Bowl party and everybody was coming over and I was going to turn it on as like a nice it was cold out, you know, a nice like welcome feature. The fireplaces on you come to the front. People have some beers out there waiting for the game to start. Yep. And like the flames coming out of it was like a flicker and I was like it's a really nice fire pit it's in the front yard just run out all your propane you need to get a new propane tank just

to refill how could I have possibly run out of it I didn't turn it on I don't know the Super Bowl wasn't there on the first time I've never once even touched it yeah well maybe I did maybe you just maybe you left the valve open I don't know. The Super Bowl wasn't there on the first time. I've never once even touched it. Ah, well. Maybe I did. Maybe you just, maybe you left the valve open. I don't think I did. We're letting propane out the whole time. Maybe.

Oh, I'm gonna work on that. I'll get back to you. All right. All right, one more team we didn't talk about. And we're not gonna talk about them in the context of today's show, because these were teams that we suspect are going to be significantly better. Or like with Oregon, they were already really good,

could stay really good. But our friend Matt Jones from Kentucky Sports Radio, he's ready to fully embrace motivated Mark Stoops, and he's hoping now that Kentucky itself will embrace motivated Mark Stoops. The fan base at KSR, they kind of started this and we had Nick Rauch on before the Kentucky Derby. He was telling us about motivated Mark Stoops and it's a message board thing at KSR where they kind of say it tongue in cheek. But Matt Jones makes a compelling case for Kentucky to fully embrace it. Show the video. We said this last Friday.

I'm all in on the motivated thing. I know it started as a joke. I know it started as a joke mocking Mark Stoops. Now they gotta lean into it. Agreed. Lean into it. That picture that the one dude made with him smoking the cigarette and and having the bourbon

It's cool. Like I know it was used to make fun of him But it's actually kind of cool UK needs to lean into it motivated mark stoops might be all we have this year So I'm for it and I hope UK gets by it, too can Can you imagine if as the the Kentucky football team team comes out of the tunnel game one that they just put the words motivated on scoreboard like they're about to play Toledo just motivated. How awesome would that be? It'd be amazing.

It was funny and it is funny. It won't be funny if they suck. Yeah. But if you do it at the first game, you don't know if they do or not. See, don't worry about that. You have, you have a week till Ole Miss shows up and they did beat Ole Miss. Their opener is Toledo. Their opener is Toledo at which actually that's also not a gimme. Like Toledo is usually pretty good in the Mac. Yeah. I was gonna say like

that's not like they're not playing, you know, Sacramento Northwest Community College. You know, Ari, you know, I'm opening the apps here. I kind of want to know what the line is on Toledo, Kentucky week one. I kind of want to know what the line is on Toledo Kentucky week one. These eyes. I'm looking, I don't know if we have a Toledo Kentucky line yet, but 12 and a half, 12 and a half. Oh, oh no. River producer river sees 10 and a half.

The year, no crucial numbers crossed there. I think it's the same idea. It's two scores. Yeah. Does that feel a little juicy to you? That feels a little juicy to me. I mean, what, you're not a Zach Calzada believer? I'm a Jason Candle believer. I take the points, but Mark Stoops is motivated.

The question is, is Jason Candle more motivated? Jason Candle, who's more motivated? Mark Stoops to prove that he's back or never left or Jason Candle to have another good year and get an awesome big job somewhere. I don't know. Any other Mac school? It's a hard Mac school team to play in the opener. I don't know. Any other Mac school? It's a Mac school team to play in the opener. I'm just saying like I wouldn't pull your life up on the scoreboard

where motivated Stoops t-shirts coming out of the tunnel. Like I'm not sure I'd mess around before that one. Yeah, that's a mess around and find out situation. So this is another show by the way. I think that we need to do in July of. Really sneaky games and lines. Sure, because that's a sneaky game right there. It's a sneaky game. That is any other Mac school you want to open with.

Not that one. Yeah, especially with Ole Miss just sitting there breathing down your neck too. Well, yeah. I mean, look at Kentucky's early season's get. That is brutal, by the way. So we've just discussed how tricky Toledo is. Ole Miss comes to Lexington.

Ben, what's that third logo, Ari? Well, that's Eastern Michigan, right? That is Eastern Michigan. You're not going to get me on Mac schools. Come on. But then they're at South Carolina, at Georgia, and then Texas comes to town. And then Tennessee, and then Auburn, and then Florida. Marth. What are you looking at? I'm going to see if I can try to find their overrun or win. I don't see four wins there.

Listen, do you? No. Okay. Especially if they drop to less than a hundred. I'm going to see if I can find their overrun or win. I don't see four wins there.

I'm going to see if I can find their overrun or win. I don't see four wins there. I see it. Listen, do you? No. Okay. Especially if they drop Toledo, massive problems. Massive problems. It's four and a half is their total. So I was scheduled back at the-

Four and a half? Let's find five. Let's see if we can find five. So Toledo, Eastern Michigan. Let's say that that that goes You better hope Tennessee Losing Nico is takes a serious downturn They're gonna be Tennessee Tech. I don't know if they're gonna be Vanderbilt Louisville finally beat them last year

You could take Kentucky 200 to 1 to win the national title if you want. There you go. I'm going to put a dollar on it. I think you should. You should be highly motivated to put a dollar on them. All right. Tomorrow's show. How many teams do we think will win the national title in the

next 10 years and what programs are they? Don't know if we're going to say Kentucky, but we are highly motivated just like Mark Stoops. We'll talk to you tomorrow.