Andy & Ari On3 - Florida State SURVIVES The Swamp | Alabama's Prayer at Jordan-Hare | Michigan OUTLASTS Ohio State

Episode Date: November 26, 2023

Andy and Jesse Simonton break down all the action from a rivalry Saturday that wound up being mostly chalk -- but in the most dramatic way possible.Florida State trailed in the fourth quarter but came back to win at Florida.Alabama beat Auburn on a Jalen Milroe prayer on fourth-and-goal from the 34.Michigan beat Ohio State without Jim Harbaugh and sent Ryan Day into a world of hurt.Washington needed a walk-off field goal to beat Washington State.Oklahoma State needed double overtime to beat BYU and secure a place in the Big 12 title game.Georgia played sleepy but eventually beat Georgia Tech.Iowa State and Kansas State played a wild Farmageddon in the snow.Subscribe to On3! ⬇️ youtube.com/on3sports/Welcome to On3 | The best of college football and recruiting https://www.on3.com/Listen to Andy Staples On3 on podcast! Spotify 🎧 : https://open.spotify.com/show/5AhQ4d2m5TQu5Q2vkwtxjt?si=uLK1rMW7QOmLHcZK9URbOwApple🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/andy-staples-on3/id1695325427Follow Andy Staples on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andy_StaplesFollow Andy Staples on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andy_staplesFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/on3sportsFollow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/on3/?hl=en Like/Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/On3Sports/ Shop On3 https://shop.outsider.com/

Hey, it's Andy. It is a Sunday morning on the East Coast, currently watching Cal and UCLA in the last regular season Pac-12 game in the Pac-12 as we know it. Obviously, they have the championship game next week, but just wanted to tag something on to the podcast because you're going to hear me and Jesse Simonson talk quite a bit about a potential move. Now, we weren't reporting it as fact because it hadn't happened, but it was something that was floating around in the ether. And it was that Mark Stoops might leave Kentucky for Texas A&M. Now, it does sound like there were some pretty serious discussions about that. But at 12.16 a.m. East Coast time, Lexington time, Sunday morning, Matt Jones, our pal from Kentucky Sports Radio, tweets, Breaking.

I am told by a very good source that Mark Stoops is staying at Kentucky. Now, if you don't follow Kentucky regularly, then you may not know about Matt. If you do, you know that Matt Jones has about as good of sources as you're ever going to get at the University of Kentucky. And so if he says Mark Stoops is staying in Kentucky, there's a very high likelihood that that is exactly what is happening. So Sunday could get even wilder. If A&M is once again on the hunt, now I don't know if it's a case where you just move to the next name on the list

or if it's a case where you reopen some things or maybe you reach back out to some people who might have said no already. We'll see. But that certainly sounds like that's going to be more of an adventure on Sunday. And well, we already know how this time of year gets. So stay tuned.

We got shows six days a week, and you know we'll do an emergency show anytime we need it. Now, let's talk about these crazy games. Welcome to Andy Staples on three. It is time to talk about all that has happened on an incredibly crazy college football Saturday. Jesse Simonson, it's almost all chalk. Other than Louisville, Kentucky, it's chalk. But the most dramatic kind of chalk I've ever seen in my life. We've got Florida State escaping Gainesville with its college football playoff hopes intact. We've got Alabama with its own prayer at Jordan-Hare. We've got Michigan and Ohio State playing a classic.

We've got Oklahoma State needing two overtimes to beat BYU. Georgia's sleepy. Clean old-fashioned sleep but they did I mean this was this the Homer Simpson gif where he's like you know writing on the chalkboard I will not what you know this was I will not ever doubt that even the most chalk of college football weekends can deliver the most epic of games. Because it was just, I mean, the prayer at Jordan-Hare was insane. The Ollie Gordon show, for them to look like they were going to allow Oklahoma to sneak in and make the Big 12 championship game only for the pokes to, you know, punch their ticket,

keep their bitter rival out. I mean, it was just an insanely bananas day of college football, Andy. Insane. And now we got potential coaching hires. The news is firing. Oh, yeah. Let us start in Gainesville, though, because that's the one everybody was watching tonight.

It was very touch and go for the Seminoles for a while. Florida controlled most of the first half. And then I think when Florida State scored there right at the end of the half, that's when it looked like, okay, maybe they're starting to figure this out. Maybe Mike Norvell's figuring out how to call plays for Tate Rodemaker. But I thought we were going to be talking about, when Florida took the lead again, 15-14, I thought we were going to be talking about the ACC being out of the playoff picture completely.

It was a 1-2, though. It was a 1-2 because not only did Florida State score, and I think they at least got something, but then Florida missed the field goal. And it did feel like that was a major missed opportunity. The Gators did end up getting the lead. But the difference in the game, Andy, was that, you know, these studs that they have on the defensive line,

Jared Burse had two sacks. Jared verse had two sex. Peyton had a couple of sex. I mean, they just hounded Max Brown up front who clearly looked like a freshman. And then they said, you know, might Norvell basically smartly decided even before Tate Roddenmaker got knocked out of the game, let's give the ball to our best player. And our best player tonight was Trey Benson. And so they rode, they rode that ground game.

And Andy, what did they do? They also just let Florida do what Florida does, which is be stupid. Florida commits a billion unforced errors, lack of discipline. A guy got thrown out of the game for spitting on another person. And he was the, and he was the first of, of, of multiple players. They got, you know, tossed targeting on a slide to give Florida state a first down and, and keep, keep them going on a third and long. Yeah. So Tyler, right. And the chat says FSU better be back in the top four. They're not going to be back in the top four. Washington're not going to be back in the top four. Washington still has a better resume.

Now they can hope that Washington gets knocked out by Oregon. Washington barely beat Washington State, but barely beating Florida and barely beating Washington State are kind of the same thing. One was at home and one was in the swamp, and the swamp was pretty lively tonight, but this was, I mean, back to this game, Florida, Florida state's not going to jump in the top four,

but the committee does have quite the dilemma on their hands, Andy, because the Seminoles deserve to get in. If they do beat Louisville and go undefeated, if there is that spot, the question is, I mean, if they're onto their third string quarterback, what, what,

what sort of team are, are you just throwing to the wolves there? Let me, let me, let me correct myself. Tyler is correct. Florida state will be in the top four. Cause Washington's going to move to three.

Cause Ohio state's going to drop. So Ohio State will be behind Florida State. Right. So they're in for now and it's the question of can they beat Louisville to maintain that spot? We both had the middle fart

there. We had the middle fart, Andy, because Oregon and Texas look so much more impressive than Florida State and Washingtonhington right right exactly and well well all right let's talk about alabama right now because this was incredible when that snap sailed past jaylen milrow i just That's it. It's over. These guys are done. Fourth and goal from the 34. Fourth and goal from the 34. How did this happen? And to set the scene for the three folks who did not somehow see this live or on replay,

Hugh Freeze and the Auburn staff's inexplicable decision to rush two, give Jalen Milrow, like, as if he was playing 500. He had all the time he wanted to. And then somehow, Andy. If you're rushing two, they somehow end up with single coverage in the back of the end zone. Yes, one-on-one with single coverage in the back of the end zone. Yes, one-on-one in the back of the corner of the end zone. It was just inexplicable.

The game management at the end by – I think Auburn fans, you gave them the truth serum after this, how painful that was. They had a rather loss by 28. Coming off the heels of getting blasted by New Mexico State to then lose like that to Alabama when you could have spoiled their potential 11-1 season. That is just galactic, galactic meltdown stuff. Because they muffed the punt, too.

That's how they got set up. Right, got Alabama back in the game. And it was not their regular punt return. It's just all of it was so strange. And look, Alabama playing like that is so strange. And I almost I was about to say it and take the bait and say, well, this means Alabama can't beat Georgia. But New Mexico State didn't mean that Auburn couldn't beat Alabama because Auburn should have beaten Alabama. So Alabama messing around in the Iron Bowl

doesn't mean that Alabama can't go beat Georgia next week because, look, we saw a sleepy Georgia against Georgia Tech. Yeah, I mean, Georgia looked completely disinterested tonight in Atlanta. They sat out a ton of guys and they kind of played like that. They kind of played like they were already looking ahead. I will say this for Alabama. They dominated the stat sheet. They dominated the box score.

They were awesome. They were good on third down. They had more total yards, first downs. They had multiple touchdowns taken off the scoreboard, but we just lamented Florida's lack of discipline and self-inflicted mistakes. That's what gave Auburn the chance to win this game. Alabama was extremely sloppy. They committed umpteen penalties in the first half, and so that's how you get these touchdowns negated. Right after that snap that you spoke about that, you know, sales passed and that's an 18-yard loss,

then Melrose gets another forward, you know, penalty for crossing the line of scrimmage for an illegal forward pass, move them back even more. So if they commit those sorts of mistakes, you know, Alabama's not going to beat Georgia. They have to absolutely clean up some of that stuff. Nick Saban was right. After the game, he was great. He said he's been in these shoes before when they haven't been quite so fortunate, and fortune was on their side tonight. Yeah, and that's really all you can say is fortune because it was not – this should not have been that close.

This should have been Alabama by three touchdowns in this game based on these two teams the last couple of months. But it just – you just don't know. You just don't know from week to week. And we saw it over and over again on Saturday. It started with Kentucky beating Louisville, but then it was the Iron Bowl. It was the Apple Cup. It was BYU taking a lead on Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State coming back. BYU forcing overtime. And then Oklahoma State winning in double overtime. Like, nobody was safe at all. Nobody was safe. Except for Michigan. Except for me. But the thing is like Michigan and Ohio state are both good.

Right. Yeah. They both played a good game and Michigan won the good game. That's, that's really what happened there. It wasn't that they were that far apart. They were six points apart, and Ohio State was moving down the field at the end of the game, and then Michigan got pressure.

Kyle McCord throws a pick, game over. I thought this was a really interesting game, though. I just finished a column. I don't think it's up quite yet on three, but about where Ryan Day is right now in this rivalry. Because I remember being there four years ago when Ohio State had just torched Michigan. Justin Fields had thrown for 300 yards and four touchdowns.

J.K. Dobbins had run for over 200 yards and four touchdowns. Michigan hadn't ever felt close at all. And I remember somebody asking Harbaugh, is it a talent gap? Is it a coaching gap? And as soon as the word coaching gap came out, Harbaugh whips his head around. Looked like he'd have shot laser beams through the person if he could have shot laser beams with his eyes. And although Harbaugh handled that situation differently, it felt the same where he had no answers to give. Ryan Day felt the same way today. There were no answers Ryan Day could give to say, here's what I can do better.

Even though they're close, this was a close game. A few plays would have turned it. It doesn't feel that close when you're asking Ryan Day, what do you do about this? You've lost three in a row in this rivalry. No, I mean, you put a blindfold on Andy, and his blind resume screams top five coach in the country. But then he's facing an existential crisis right now,

or that program is because they've lost three straight to the team up North and you're not supposed to lose to Michigan at all, much less three in a row. I go back to the comments that Harbaugh made a year later that Ryan day has still never been able to come back from now that he is lost to an interim head coach which is the born on third base stuff I mean that is going to be fair or not that is going to be you know on his tombstone at this point because he can't beat because he can't beat Michigan and and again I don's fair or not, that's where he is right now,

and that's how a lot of Buckeyes fans view him, and that's why those John Cooper comparisons are only growing louder and louder. Now, John Cooper was 2-10-1, but that was a very different climate. Coaches were not held to the same standards they are right now, and I don't think they're going to fire Ryan Day I mean Ryan Day has three big 10 losses and they're all to Michigan like that is insane when you think about it but they are so unhappy and I have no problem saying he was out coached by Sharon Moore on Saturday Sharon Moore told his players before the game

I am going to be the most aggressive play caller you've ever seen in your life. He went for it on fourth down three times in the first half, once on fourth and goal from the one that was their first touchdown twice on their second touchdown drive. And they converted them both. And then you have Ryan day at the end of the half. They have 40 seconds left. They have fourth and two from the 34 yard line. Turtle runs the clock and sends out his kicker to miss a 52 yard field goal attempt.

Like that's also, that's the game right there. Also turned down a chance to go for it on fourth and one from midfield. What does Sharon Moore also do? Dials up a halfback pass for a 35 yard explosive play, brings in the backup quarterback for a surprise 20-yard run. I mean, he kept his foot on the gas, Andy. And again, Ohio State just, in the end, they turtled at the end. They did not have the metal. They were not battle-tested. And so I think it's a double deal too, Andy,

because Michigan had the better quarterback, who's a guy who Ohio State could have gotten in the recruiting cycle. J.J. mentioned that after the game. Yeah, you circle back to that, that J.J. McCarthy could have been a Buckeye, grew up a Buckeyes fan. And then to fast forward to the present and have the guy you picked throw two just back-breaking interceptions, one that sets up Michigan's first touchdown after the two teams that kind of traded putts.

I wrote a column after the game talking about this heavyweight bout and how the beginning, they were just kind of feeling each other out. And then they started swinging and then they each started throwing haymakers. Michigan had more punches and it's because they had the better guy behind center and the bullying offensive line and Blake Corham at running back. Yeah. Michigan still had the best player. I'm sorry. Ohio State still had the best player or I'm sorry, Ohio state still had the best player. Like Marvin Harrison jr. Was still the best player on the

field, but it felt like after that Michigan had the better quarterback, better offensive line, better interior defensive line, better running backs. And I, you know, Trey on Henderson had been good Mikey Samuels still blasted him twice and then it didn't seem the same after that and I will say the the way Michigan handled Zach Zinner's injury was really impressive too because that was one of those things that could really one you're losing one of your best players that's their right guard who had the horrific, gruesome injury where they had to card him off the field. The next play, they shuffle the offensive line. Blake Corum scores over the left side.

Jumped out in the hole, 23 yards. To break the tie. And then they didn't really have problems protecting McCarthy the rest of the game, even though you worried they would because of the changes they had to make. And it's interesting because that was part of the thing when Ohio State was dominating it, especially the Meyer years. Ohio State was much more talented than Michigan.

They are not much more talented than Michigan anymore, even though their recruiting rankings are still higher. Like you go to the NFL draft. I remember doing it. I did a column off that 2019 game. And in the previous five drafts, Ohio state had had 40 guys picked and Michigan had only had 24 in all the draft in the four drafts. Since Michigan's had 32 guys picked in Ohio state's had 31. So they've closed the gap. Now, Ohio State's guys still get drafted higher, but it's turning on that front too. And Michigan's going to have double-digit guys drafted this year. Their output has gotten much, much better.

100%. yeah i i 100 i i i rubber stamp that that stat is as the closing of the gap as kind of an indicator of how this series has flipped on its head i think it's also because of exactly michigan's response after seeing their all-american guard go down they are the emotionally mature team. They are the resilient team. And for them to literally say, you know, we got this for our dude, one play, touchdown, and then, Andy, they stopped Ohio State right after that. In a flash, they flipped the game. And while it wasn't quote-unquote over, they took control and had Ohio State's you know back to

the the whole boxing metaphor they had Ohio State on the ropes and they just kind of kept them there and just jab jab jabbed until the end of the game I mean they chewed up the last seven minutes effectively of the fourth quarter to just completely milk the clock we got some some knolls mad at us in the chat jesse they're they're mad that we're we're giving you know they think we're giving the knoll short shrift but maximus says not gonna lie i was a little worried about the knolls out of the first quarter i was not worried about florida state once they scored that touchdown at the end of the first half after the first quarter i was still a little worried about them but i thought they were going to beat florida once

once they made it 12-7 i thought they kind of had it figured out. I'm not particularly worried about Florida State against Louisville, though they could lose to Louisville. Who knows? Louisville lost to Kentucky. But everybody in the chat keeps comparing Florida State to Ohio State. Guys, Ohio State and Florida State aren't being compared. Don't worry about them. Worry about Florida State in comparison to Texas. That's the one you got to worry about. Florida State in comparison to

Oregon. That's the one you got to worry about because nobody's knocking. Ohio State is not knocking Florida State out. If Florida State is 13-0, they're in the playoff. Ohio State will not be a consideration. Ohio State needed all this chaos that almost happened today to happen for them to even back in. They're not making the playoff, not winning the Big Ten like they did in 2022. That's not happening in back-to-back years.

Let's talk scenarios now. Because I think it all sets up pretty easily at this point, as long as one thing happens. And that one thing is Georgia beating Alabama in the SEC Championship game. Because Alabama beating Georgia would complicate things quite a bit. But if Georgia beats Alabama, Georgia's your number one seed Michigan will beat Iowa they'll be your number two seed Washington if they win against Oregon will be your number three seed if Oregon wins then we'll talk

now we have something to talk about but I do think of the 12 and one teams, well, this is where it gets weird in this scenario where Georgia beats Alabama. If Florida state wins out, Florida state is going to be in, they're going to be three or four, right? I'm not crazy, right? You're not crazy. I, and I actually, and so then what you're leading us down the water to here, if I'm the horse, you're taking me to the well here. Uh, but what about Oregon and Texas? That's exactly is that's going to be the committee's that's going to be the committee's dilemma is which team do they feel like is the better one loss team thus far? They have rubber stamped Oregon as that team the Ducks continue

to look impressive we talked about it last night what they did to Oregon State uh was another signature win to kind of cruise past the Beavers there meanwhile Washington's just kind of getting by so I think it only gives us further credence of why you and I both believe that the Ducks will win in Las Vegas on Friday, but we'll see. They need, they obviously have to if they want to get into the playoff. I do think in this scenario, Andy, and this may make Florida State fans mad, you'll get in, but you won't be the three seed. They're going to put a one-loss team at three ahead of Florida State because of where this Florida State is roster-wise at quarterback right now. Seminole fans aren't going to like that, but that's what's going to happen. Yeah. Fair or not, that's what it is. I'm with Maximus

in the chat. This would be a great season for the 12-team playoff. That would be a lot of fun. The argument we'd be having, I think, Jesse, for the 12-team playoff. That would be a lot of fun. The argument we'd be having, I think, Jesse, for the 12-team playoff right now would be that last at-large spot between Oklahoma, Missouri, Ole Miss, and Penn State. Three of those would get spots and one of those wouldn't. So who would be left out? Well, the irony is in the 12-team playoff, I don't want to lead us down a bad deal.

So all of them would get in because Louisville would be out after losing Kentucky. Well, no, they wouldn't unless they beat Florida State, which they would both get in and Louisville would have just, that loss would have meant nothing and they still could have gotten a bye week. Zach brought this up in the chat.

We need to, we need to discuss this. If Alabama beats UGA though, they'll make it no matter how much it upsets people is what Zach says. All right. Here's the, here's what complicates that. If Alabama beats Georgia, Texas will be 12 and one. If they beat Oklahoma state with a head to head-head win in Tuscaloosa will Texas be ranked ahead of Alabama and then will Alabama and Georgia both get in because that's three spots and Michigan's going to get the other one if that's the case the results got to matter Andy I think

even if even if I before this weekend I believe that Alabama was the better team over Texas. I'm not sure we can say that tonight based on how the Iron Bowl went. We certainly can't say that this weekend based on what we've seen. Based on what we've seen. And so I think the committee would be able to lean on the most recent results. But it will be hard for the committee to leave out the sec champ who just, if it happens snaps, you know,

a team's 30 game losing streak or 30 game winning streak to the two time defending champ. So that is going to be quite the debate, but we're not there yet. We got to get there. No boy Rex says, so both of you are fortune tellers. How wouldn't we be number three?

If we were 13 and 0 at a 12-1 team, Will? Only because of our QB? Make it make sense. Yes, partly because of your QB, partly because you're not going to be viewed as being as good as that team. They will say if you played, you would lose. That's what they'll think. You should be thankful that you're getting in.

Yes. Like at all. That's the whole thing is that you're still, your, your team is still being Florida state would still be being rewarded for an undefeated season. But the committee would also admit that. Having to play George is not much of a reward though.

That's the problem. Well, true, but they, but they would, you know, Maximus says that moles get held to a different standard. They're not being held to a different standard.

They're being held to the same standard as everybody else. And people think if they played Oregon, they'd lose. But unfortunately, there's not a 12-team playoff to actually let us see the freaking game. That would be better. It's not fair to anybody, to Florida State or to Oregon or to Texas or whoever we're talking about here, that it's going to be some judgment call.

That's stupid. They need to be able to play it out. Well, the other thing is that to that, I didn't see that questioner's name, but getting judged unfairly, the irony is, Andy, Florida State's resume is worse than these one-loss teams behind them. But they're undefeated, and the results have to matter. They can't. The Florida State fans here in the chat cannot get over the Ohio State thing. But Ohio State losing their QB and making it is a different story.

No, Ohio State's not making it. Guys, let it go. Ohio State isn't making it. Are they referring to the 2014? Are they referring to the 2014 team? Yeah. You mean when Ohio State put Cardell Jones in and beat Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten Championship? Okay, I'll give you this.

If Tate Rodemaker beats Louisville 59-0, you got no problems. You don't need to worry about anything. You think that's going to happen? You'll be the three seed. Yeah. Yeah. So if you win 59 to nothing against Louisville, there's nothing to worry about.

Do you think you're going to win 59 to nothing against Louisville? Not based on what we saw tonight. Because Flores' defense isn't very good. I'll say this, Andy. Based on what we saw tonight. Because Flores' defense isn't very good. I'll say this, Andy. Based on what I saw tonight, I feel even better. I kind of teased it earlier, but I feel even better about our pick of Oregon. Washington's offense is just not right. And Caleb DeBoer dialed up an awesome play on that fourth down

when he dialed up basically the reverse option. Penix flips it backwards to Roma Dunze, who becomes his lead blocker, and it's like a 25-ish-so run that set up the would-be game-winning field goal. But Penix was off pretty much all afternoon. Basically, one of their touchdowns was a complete freebie because Washington State State's defender literally just fell down at the line of scrimmage and Adunze was able to run 50 yards wide open down the field for a score um yeah I just you know they continue to kind of get by by the skin of their teeth. They're kind of this year's March Madness survive and advance team.

But I think now that they're running up against a Ducks group that just seems to be humming and humming on both sides of the ball. I can't wait for the game on Friday. We talked a little bit about it last night, but now that we've seen another data point, the last one from Washington, good for them. First undefeated season since 1991. We'll see if it lasts more than a week. Exactly, yeah.

Washington wins, they're in. I think Florida State wins, they're in. Unless Alabama beats Georgia, then it gets all complicated. And based on what we saw tonight, I don't think Alabama is going to beat Georgia. Now, maybe, maybe we get their version where they are the Auburn in the iron bowl today, but it will be, I mean, that game is going to be intense because talent wise, Alabama, do you, let me, let me ask you this, Jesse. Of the teams Georgia has left to play, Alabama in the SEC championship game

and then potentially two opponents in the college football playoff, does Alabama have a better chance than anybody else to beat them? Man, that's a great question. I would say man for man man you're probably right i mean obviously alabama is the most talented team per uh you know the blue chip ratio and all the four and five stars that they have accumulated on that roster i think they're that's probably the scariest team for georgia yeah outside of outside of maybe Oregon, that's probably the scariest team for Georgia to play. Because Michigan is trying to be a version of Georgia, just with less... As good as they are, as much NFL talent as they have, they're trying to be a better version of Georgia

with lesser athletes. And so I think that this is, you know, it's kind of crazy. Kirby Smart has more national titles than wins over Nick Saban. So he's going to – this is his chance to tie that two to two. Again, Georgia slept walked their way past Tech tonight. They clearly – they were not overly interested. It didn't seem to be in that game. I can't wait. I mean, next weekend,

I don't know what we're going to get. Who knows what we're going to get from Oklahoma State, Andy? Exactly. They didn't show up in the first half against a bad BYU team, only for Ollie Gordon to run crazy wild in the second half. He scored five touchdowns. All of them came after halftime or in

overtime but then the pokes still tried to give it away ollie gordon scores the game-winning score inside the final i think it was like 45 seconds and they right and then byu well they get the extra point block so it's not a four-point win or not a four-point lead. BYU goes down, kicks the field goal. Crazy, crazy. But it was their, I think, third largest comeback in school history. Gundy was feeling himself afterwards, that's for sure. Before we leave the Big 12, I do want to point out Iowa State won a snowy Farmageddon. It looked incredible on that.

I mean, just piles of snow in that kansas state iowa state game and uh matt campbell and company emerged the victors uh i will say this about the big 12 championship game if we if we see the version of texas we saw on friday against texas tech texas is winning the big 12 championship but we, we've not seen that version of Texas every single week. And that is sort of the thing we keep saying is, are they going to consistently perform like that? Cause I will, I will say this, Jesse,

you know, that question I asked you about is Alabama, the team best equipped to beat Georgia that could potentially play Georgia in the next three games. I actually think player for player, Texas might be that team if they are firing on all cylinders. But there's a version of Texas that Georgia just boat races. So it depends on which one shows up. Yeah, and Texas is bugaboo about not scoring touchdowns in the red zone

would loom large in a game where you need as many points as possible because that's the other thing andy you know what we're about to enter now that we've officially crossed the the the the equator of regular season into big boy football where it gets hot and spicy we're playing in domes and and kirby smart has shown what these what his team can do when you get on these fast tracks and suddenly 40 points turns into 50 burgers real quickly and so can they do that against Alabama I don't know but they have shown that an absolute ability to do that in these college football playoff games which so not only you have to play, you know, against the Georgia defense, which is not as good as it was a year ago, two years ago for certain, this is an offense that is capable of lighting up the scoreboard fast. Well, we think we got the playoff. We don't know

what's going to happen, but we think we have a handle on the playoff scenarios. Jesse, let's talk coaching carousel. We know one thing. Jonathan Smith has been hired by Michigan State. We got that down. He goes from Oregon State. Thumbs up to that one. Yeah, it's going to be, I think that's a good hire. I think he did a great job at Oregon State. You knew when conference realignment happened that Jonathan Smith was going to get plucked by somebody because Oregon State remains in conference limbo. And even though it's his alma mater, there were a lot of teams that were going to be really interested. So he goes to Michigan State. That's a done deal.

As we record this at 11.52 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, the rumors are out there about Mark Stoops being the candidate at Texas A&M. Started hearing his name Wednesday night, Thursday morning. It got louder and louder as we got to Saturday. You saw Mark Stoops beat Louisville. So if that's his last game at Kentucky, it's a pretty good last game. Aggie Twitter is ablaze right now, Jesse. You almost wonder if they leaked this thing to see what the reaction would be

and then to avoid another piano situation. That's what I asked you before. I wondered that. I was texting with someone before we hopped on if that was the case just because textags.com. Billy Lucci, hopefully he's got a bunch of employees manning the message board tonight because Texags is on fire, as you said. It's an interesting hire, Andy,

because obviously we both think highly of Mark Stoops. He's a competent coach. He's a solid coach. He's done more with less at Kentucky, but I do think there is an absolute lack of ceiling there which makes this an interesting decision by Texas A&M that you had you fired Jimbo Fisher yeah for 75 million and you basically just hired a more competent version of him is that really going to take you don't know if they've hired him yet

like like Billy Lucha's not reporting that yet. True. Very true. You have not seen him yet from the usual suspects. We've gotten the top target tweets from some very good reporters, but top target and hired, not quite there yet. But I will say this about Stoops, and this is the question you have to ask with Stoops, and I don't honestly know the answer to this question.

Was Stoops at Kentucky's ceiling or his own ceiling? If he was at Kentucky ceiling, if it was only at Kentucky ceiling, but he can do more than he can do more at Texas A&M. I do not doubt that if Mark Stoops gets the Texas A&M job, that he will recruit very well there. He recruited well above where Kentucky should be able to recruit. He will get great players at Texas A&M if he gets that job. The question will be, can he compete then with Nick Saban, with Kirby Smart, with Steve Sarkeesian, with Brent Venables on the field? And that will be the big question in the new look SEC. And I don't know the answer to that i will say if you didn't like being strong over you know strapped over a barrel by jimbo fisher given what mark stoops makes it kentucky and the security of his contract to kentucky he's gonna command something

similar a and m like you're gonna have to give him a raise and more security which is gonna put him kind of close to Jimbo territory he was making what eight million uh with the Wildcats I mean you know he did it was just two months ago when they lost by like 40 points to Georgia that he lamented the lack of NIL right that's not gonna that's not gonna be a problem at Texas A&M. But they lost to South Carolina last week. Yeah, I know. And as you said, he is recruited well at Kentucky. It's interesting because he's done a lot of great work in the Ohio area. That's obviously probably not going to be a place that he really hammers

when he's at Texas A&M. If he's at Texas A&M, we should say again, this is not official. This is not done. He is just the rumored top target. The question for me, Andy, if this is how it ultimately plays out, is he the ceiling or was Kentucky the ceiling? I think that is the 30,000-foot view. If you want to get granular on it,

it's was he holding the offense back at Kentucky because his offenses have not been very good. And that obviously is the glaring issue with what Jimbo Fisher was dealing with the last few years at Texas A&M, which does scream some red siren concerns. Well, now Stoops is a defensive guy. He's a former defensive coordinator.

So really it would be higher dependent, and you assume he'd bring Liam Cohen or maybe, I don't know, he could afford anybody he wanted if he got the A&M job. If he leaves, Troy coach John Sumrall would probably be the choice at Kentucky. That seems like a former dc yeah former dc at kentucky former wildcat that that makes the most sense if that happens the other one that's floating around on on saturday night and this is a name that's been floating around for for the last couple days is uh is jeff levy at mississippi state jeff levy

is oklahoma's offensive coordinator, a former Ole Miss offensive coordinator. And you saw Ross Dellinger tweet that he was the top target of Mississippi state. Ah, this one, I don't know about this one. This Oklahoma is ready to run him off. Oklahoma fans were ready to run him off like three weeks ago.

Now I realized he was Ole Miss's offensive coordinator. And so now you, you would run the same offense as Ole Miss. I'm not sure that's a good reason. I was literally just going to say though, Andy, who's happier Oklahoma fans who wanted Levy out of there or Ole Miss fans who were tired of Levy when he was in Oxford. I don't know. I think Oklahoma fans are pretty happy with Levy right now. I think they're pretty happy. I think Ole Miss fans would be pretty happy with levy right now i think they're pretty happy with it i think old miss fans would be pretty happy with with uh you know their biggest rival hiring jeff levy too i don't i don't get this one at all not when there was other power five guys like a chad well who obviously he

came out and said you know i'm i like where i'm at with. First undefeated season in their school history today. Yep. And Jamie Chattel not in the mix at Mississippi State, it doesn't seem like. Now, with Jamie Chattel, I kind of wonder, do you hang out and wait for South Carolina to potentially open in a year? Do you hang out? Like, what about North Carolina? I know Max said he's back, but, man, North Carolina has not been good. No, you talk about a dispiriting finish.

You know, USC wasted Caleb Williams. They seem to certainly waste Drake May because that was a bad way to go out. I mean, they just got housed tonight by NC State. Yeah, it was terrible. 39-20, the Wolfpack go 9-3. So Dave Doran, and shockingly, we've not heard Dave Doran's name this entire coaching carousel. This is the time he should be jumping.

He just doesn't seem to have a landing spot. No natural openings. I think Jamie Chabot would be great at a South Carolina or a North Carolina. And Tennessee is his dream job. That's not a secret. He wanted to get into the mix when they hired Heupel, and it was just deemed he wasn't ready, or that powers that be deemed he and his staff, which had zero Power 5 experience, wasn't ready. Perhaps a year or two at Louisville, and they continue to win a

couple of Conference USA championships, they'll be in line for a bigger job. There's going to be more dominoes to come, Andy, because whether it's Sumrall or somebody else at Kentucky, obviously Oregon State has a bunch of Pac-12 options where they could go Ryan Grubb or they could go for a sitting head coach. I think they have some interesting candidates there. That's going to be a tough job now that it's not quote-unquote power five. Do you bring Bronco Mendenhall back?

Yeah, you mentioned that last night. I think that would be interesting. We talked Florida State beating Florida. Let's talk about Florida. I have been told over and over again that Billy Napier is safe, but everybody keeps asking me. So I'm going to ask you, what do you think is going to happen? I think Billy Napier's biggest safety net is that it's not only the $32 million, Andy,

it's the fact that the powers that be at Florida are not going to allow Scott Strickland to hire a third football coach. But you can do that if you want. You can do the double if you want to. I'm blanking on the last one, but I do know Ole Miss did it in 2011 with Pete Boone and Houston Nutt. It's been done before. It just makes that $32 million plus that.

It's just a one-two thing that I just think it's going to be too much for the folks at Florida to overcome. I'm not saying it wouldn't be justified. The results just haven't been there. Again, a lack of discipline has been the hallmark of this team, this program, this entire season. Yes, they do have a top-five recruiting class, but that's teetering a little bit, Andy. They saw several deep commitments, and can you hold on to that? Yes, they do have a top five recruiting class, but that's teetering a little bit, Andy. They saw several deep commitments.

And can you hold on to that? This was the youngest team in the SEC in terms of the guys on their two deep who were getting snaps. And now you squandered back-to-back chances. Yes, they were against top 10 teams, but a back-to-back chances to secure that sixth win where you needed those 15 practices. And so the other reason, Andy, I think you don't fire them is because look at the 2024 schedule. Do you want to put a first-year coach with a team that's still going to be in transition? Do you want to hand them seven, eight losses? Because I think the writing's on the wall one way or another. I do not foresee

a turnaround because of what they have next year. Here's the problem. Let me, let me give you this scenario. Probably he's got to hire an offensive coordinator to replace himself as the play caller. Maybe he's got to hire a defensive coordinator. We'll see if they decide to make a change there. Special teams. He does. He definitely needs to hire a special teams coordinator. Now, all of these people are not going to just jump at the job. People that would be qualified that you would want. They're not going to jump at the job because they're looking at it like I'm coming into an either lame duck or complete hot seat situation. So you've got to pay them more and you've got to give them longer term contract.

You've got to give them more and you've got to give them law longer term contract. You got to give them like three year deals. So you're going to save $6 million firing next year versus firing now. But how much are you going to, how much more are you going to spend if you have to do this with the coordinators? Like it's a great, we, we saw this.

Well, we saw it was a must champ. They did. They had to, they had to give Kurt Roper a two-year deal as offensive coordinator. They had to bring in a couple other assistant staffers and give them multi-year contracts. We've seen it.

Andy, you and I have been around – we've done this dance before around the floor. I was on the beat. You were obviously at SI National guy back then. But this is – we've seen this dance before here in Gainesville. We certainly have. And I, I, it's a tough question and I don't, and I don't think that it may be easier for us to say they won't do it because of X, Y, and Z, but we're,

we're naming a lot of reasons of why they could. Well, I think the main reason you don't do it is at a certain point, you can't just fire somebody every two, three years. You can't keep doing that. You got to let somebody have some time. And the guy who beat Billy Napier in Gainesville tonight is a great example of that. Mike Norvell had a bad first season,

obviously took over a really tough situation after they fired Willie Taggart and it was the pandemic, but he started that 2021 season 0-4. And I think there was probably a point where if Florida State had the money, they might have considered doing something to him in year two. And boy, are they glad they didn't now. But I will say this. The difference between the year two Norvell team and the year two Napier team is the year two Norvell team. Fought, fought, fought, got better, better, better. It felt like did not look undisciplined as you got toward the end of the season. And that that feels like the difference.

But again, and this is what I would say if I were Billy Napier. As you got toward the end of the season. And that, that feels like the difference, but I, but again, and this is what I would say if I were Billy Napier, if I'm defending my job. Yes, they lost, but on the road against Missouri, which is a top 10 team.

They, they fought and were in a position to win the game against an undefeated team in a rivalry game. They were in a position to win the game. Against an undefeated team in a rivalry game, they were in a position to win the game. So if I'm Billy Napier, I'm going, okay, you say Mike Norvell had a young team be better and at the end of year two, if my schedule's flipped

and I'm playing not good teams right there, we're winning those games. So I get where he can defend that. I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other on this. I know there's a lot of Florida fans that want to see a change. I don't really have an opinion because I think you can make that argument. I just made the financial argument. And if you make the financial argument,

you probably make the move. But if you make the, you got to give somebody time eventually argument, I think there's merit to that. There is, there is. But I will say to counter your counter, you know what Florida fans are saying? And they may not be saying this exactly, but I'll use a metaphor.

It's easy to let Mike Norvell be the guy that gets to bake that cake when he doesn't live or exist or work in a kitchen with another dozen great egg pastry shifts. Right. And now that Texas and Oklahoma. Kirby Smart is the difference. Right. Now that Oklahoma and Texas are coming into the league and, you know,

you play Kirby every year, you're going to face off against Saban every other year. Texas is on the schedule next year. You're playing LSU. The further, allowing the cake to bake makes sense in a vacuum but it can burn and you it can burn badly and suddenly you know you're staring at the at at looking up you know from the bottom of the sec when you're a proud program like florida that has two championships in the last two decades yeah it is going to be a very interesting time in Gainesville because again,

if they don't make a move, you're still going to see a lot of staff moves and that's like coordinator domino stuff is going to happen too. We're going to see, we'll see more head coaches get officially hired on Sunday. We'll probably see some more get fired on Sunday too. And then we'll, you know, those jobs will fill. The dominoes will then go. You know, we said if Stoops were to leave Kentucky, we think it's John Summerall from Troy would be the choice, but we don't know.

And this is going to be a wild next week or so, Jesse, because you've got potentially classic PAC 12 championship game, potentially classic SEC championship game, very interesting big 12 championship game, very interesting ACC championship game, the big 10 championship game. We're pretty sure we know what's going to happen, but think about this, Jesse. The only thing standing between Tony Petitti, the Big Ten Commissioner, handing Jim Harbaugh, the man he suspended three weeks ago, the conference championship trophy,

all the stands between Petitti and having to hand the trophy to Harbaugh are Kirk and Brian Ferentz. And Mr. Deacon Hill. Deacon Hill. The absolute unit of a quarterback. I cannot believe that. Can Iowa's Jared Lorenzen, black Jared Lorenzen, throw for over 100 yards against Michigan?

What you got? I don't think so, but I'm very excited to watch that game just because of the drama stuff. Oh, it's going to be incredible. And unfortunately, we did see that result two years ago, and it was, what, 41 to nothing. But let us hold hope that we'll see a much more entertaining game in Indianapolis next weekend.

Listen, we're going to see a lot of entertaining games, Jesse. We're going to see some very interesting coaching moves. There are going to be a lot of fan bases. Like, again, you want to, you want your message board geniuses night. Go look at what they're posting from, from tech sags right now. Like they're on fire right now.

What let's, I guess right before we wrap up, what, what if, if, if in this hypothetical stoops goes to A&M and Kentucky gets Summerill. Do you think Wildcats fans are actually a little bit like, hey, we were ready for a reset?

Well, interestingly enough, our friend Clark Brooks, the SEC Stat Cat, who is very attuned to the Kentucky program. Dogged Kentucky fan. Yeah. He said, sure, let's without thought replace the longtime successful coach with a guy from the Sun Belt. That's worked out so well for Florida. That's exactly what he tweeted about an hour ago.

So maybe not then. Yeah, it's going to be interesting because, you know, with a lot of these jobs, I don't know that there's a candidate that's going to make everybody happy. But I will point out, because we've been very wrong on some of these guys before, Jesse. Like, we all thought Scott Frost was going to work at Nebraska. We all thought he'd be great. Sometimes it just doesn't work. And I remember Jed Fish being fairly universally panned when he was hired at Arizona.

He's been awesome. So you just don't know. You don't. And as I peek at Twitter, as we wrap up here, we are, as someone who was on the ground and wrote some columns that did well and got a lot of buzz during the Shiano nights at Tennessee or Shiano Day, the Shiano, the sacking Sunday, we're not there yet on Twitter, but there is some

just insane outrage right now from Aggieland over these rumored reports. Something I literally haven't seen since Sheano. I was in Auburn on Sheano Sunday. Remember, so this was after the 2017 Iron Bowl, Auburn wins, to set up an Auburn-Georgia rematch in the SEC title game. And I remember you know sitting there because Gus Malzahn had a press conference on Sunday night and so I went to the Gus Malzahn

press conference and chit-chatted with the Auburn beat writers and all that and we're all just like are you looking at this Tennessee stuff like and I just you realize at a certain point, like, oh my God, it's really turning. Like they're, they've made a deal and they're going to have to go back on it. And that's the only time I've ever seen something like that. I have seen times where a name got floated and the backlash was so bad that a school moved on. And remember, Tennessee fans know this. It could get worse. Because it did get worse.

It did. I actually thought, you know, this shows how stupid I am with this stuff. I thought Jeremy Pruitt was going to be good hire at Tennessee. I think I got to know Jeremy a little bit. I think he's a hell of a good football coach, a hell of a good football coach. I think he was an awful people manager and had no idea how to run a program.

And that played itself out. Well, spectacularly, I should have listened to Aaron Murray. Who was adamant. He called it right away. Adamant. And Murray got dumped on immediately for that. Well,

by a bunch of Alabama fans. Let me, let me throw another Aaron Murray thing at you. Aaron, Aaron is a good dude. I worked with him a lot at Sirius XM. Obviously you see him calling games on the SPN. He's also got a podcast with our friend T Bob.

Maybe. Aaron also said this to me several years ago on a radio show we were doing together. He went on about a 15 minute rant about the way Jimbo Fisher makes his quarterbacks hold the ball. Like they have to keep it caught by their ear. Yeah. And he's like,

it makes them so robotic. They can't play free nobody does that anymore nobody's done that in 10 years like he's just going off after that i could never unsee it i was totally out on jimbo fisher after that because i could not unsee it and i was like oh there's kellen mon like that oh there's zach calzada playing like that oh there's haynes king doing that i was laughing because our our friends bruce feldman and sam khan and max olsen did a story in the athletic about what went wrong at texas a&m and in that was that that entire recruiting staff

were saying jimbo made his quarterbacks hold the ball by their ear and they can play free and it was just great like it's but yes so if Aaron Murray says something immediately after a coach gets hired I think we need to treat him as an oracle like because he seems to have it he seems to nail it every time oh man night night. Night, night in College Station. It's going to be a long one for Texags, man. Well, guess what? We do this show six nights a week during the season. We got another show on Sunday night. We will definitely be talking about all the news that we'll be breaking on Sunday because I guarantee

you there's going to be a bunch of it. We will talk to you then.