Andy & Ari On3 - Georgia THUMPS Texas | Indiana looks like a playoff team | Tennessee smokes (after beating) Alabama

Episode Date: October 20, 2024

Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11.Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker,try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs.(0:00-28:08) Intro - Georgia at Texas(28:09-42:01) Tennessee vs Alabama(42:02-43:59) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs(44:00-53:05) Nebraska at Indiana(53:06-1:00:51) Michigan at Illinois(1:00:52-1:12:01) South Carolina at Oklahoma(1:12:02-1:19:48) USC at Maryland(1:19:49-1;26:20) Auburn at Missouri(1:26:21-1:33:36) Kentucky at Florida(1:33:37-1:41:16) Group of 5 Discussion(1:41:17-1:43:37) Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech in ATL(1:43:38-1:47:23) Miami-Louisville(1:47:24-1:49:02) Virginia-Clemson(1:49:03-1:54:04) Big 12 RoundUp(1:54:05-1:57:37) Colorado at Arizona(1:57:38-2:04:07) LSU-Arkansas, Conclusion Andy and Ari break down an incredible Saturday of college football. Georgia made sure there will be no undefeated SEC teams by beating Texas in Austin. Did Steve Sarkisian panic by pulling Quinn Ewers in the second quarter (only to bring him back in the third)? Indiana crushed Nebraska by 49 points. Are we sure the Hoosiers aren’t a legitimate Big Ten title contender? Tennessee beat Alabama after its offense woke up in the second half? Can this Tennessee beat anyone, or is Alabama just that down? Plus… Illinois whips Michigan. USC collapses at Maryland. Oklahoma is helpless against South Carolina. LSU dominates Arkansas. Miami escapes Louisville. Army and Navy continue their march toward an epic clash. Notre Dame started slow and then played a great second half to beat Georgia Tech. BYU stayed undefeated Friday with an incredible comeback against Oklahoma State. Iowa State stayed undefeated Saturday with an incredible comeback against UCF. Colorado stayed in the Big 12 race by creaming Arizona. Kansas State crushed West Virginia in Morgantown. Clemson handled Virginia. D.J. Lagway was spectacular as Florida beat Kentucky.    Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. There's two minutes left in Georgia, Texas, but I don't think it matters. I think we, well, maybe we don't know what's going to happen. Ari, as I say that, Texas gets a little bit closer to the end zone with Gunnar Helm. Ari, what a day of college football. And it's not over yet because Georgia and Texas aren't finished yet. Yeah, I gotta, I gotta get this loaded up here over here to the left because it's 1030 Central Time.

We're ready to go, but it's never over, Andy. It's never, ever over. It feels good to be here. It's almost over. Quinn, you were just about through a pick, but it would have been over if that ball had been caught, but not over yet. I think we got the point of this game.

I think we can talk about this game. I think we can. I think the Georgia going up 23-0, Sark pulling Quinn Ewers, putting in Arch Manning, Texas having the comeback in the beginning of the second half, but then Georgia saying, nah, we're going to win this game. We're going to go down the field in a very methodical way, punch it in on fourth and goal.

We are going to win this game. I think Georgia made its point tonight. Yeah, you know, I don't know. I'm going to try my best to get through tonight without hyperbole. Wish me luck. You're not going to make it. It felt like vintage Georgia out there to me tonight. For a half?

I think the whole game. I mean, even when Texas was – because, like, listen, we've got to give Texas its due. Like, it's still, in my opinion, one of the five best teams in college football, and they were going to make a run at home. But for, for the most part,

like Texas being as physical and as deep and as talented as it is, like still did not look like as big, strong and fast as Georgia to me in this game. Like, am I, maybe it was an optical illusion, but like Georgia looked like it was, it has just different types of players on it still.

And we spoke after the Tennessee-Alabama game earlier tonight, Andy, and we talked like, is the Super Team dead or the Blue Bloods dead? And it's just like, then Georgia comes out and reminds you that maybe they're not. I don't know. This team just has a different look about it. But Ari, this same Georgia team lost toabama team that lost to vanderbilt in tennessee like yeah the super team is dead yeah yeah i don't know like super teams have lost before you know and the team that it lost to was another team that like is pretty physical. So I, okay. The game's over. I can look at you now. Like I was just,

when I woke up this morning, not in on the notion that I thought Georgia is the favorite to win the national championship. And then I watched this game and, and I, they sucked me back in, man. Talk,

talk to me off the ledge here. I can't, I can't. So if you want to listen to the, the Genesis of can't, I can't. So if you want to listen to the genesis of this conversation, you can listen to or watch our entire conversation after the Alabama Tennessee game, which we're also going to talk about on this show. But we had a whole conversation after the Alabama Tennessee game that you can get on the on three YouTube channel, also on the podcast feed, about how many of these teams can beat each other. Is there a team that is just that much better than everybody else?

There is not. Because as good as Georgia looked, for I'd say a quarter and a half, where it looked invincible, this is the same Georgia team that fell behind 28-0 to Alabama. There isn't one of those teams this year. There is not. Yeah. Well, coming into the day, I picked Texas to win this game,

and I was actually telling people in my personal life that I thought Texas was going to win fairly comfortably, and here we are. They should have listened to me and not you, because I said Georgia was going to win. comfortably. And here we are. They should have listened to me and not you. Cause I said, George, yeah, I guess they should have listened to you.

I thought Texas was the best team in college football when I woke up this morning. And I don't think that anymore. I don't know who, who it is anymore. Maybe that's just kind of the par for the course of what it is. But in terms of if I were a head coach, the last team i'd want to

play is georgia again i think that's probably true i think george is still probably has the biggest collection of freaks other than maybe ohio state but george also has kirby smart and ohio state has ryan day so if you're gonna say the collection of freaks is fairly equal you're gonna take kirby smart yes the collection of freaks is just i just thought like it wasn't supposed to look as stark when they were playing against texas and i felt like it was a pretty stark difference now you know we do have to talk about the quarterback grab ass that we got in the first half of that game because that's a pretty important piece of this. The Georgia win here vaults them back up into the top three, I think, in the polls.

If Oregon weren't undefeated, they'd probably be number one. And I think that we were foolish, or I was. I don't know if you want to join me on this journey in doubting whether or not Georgia was going to be a team that was in the sem-final this year you know and i know every week we we go back and forth we hop and hop to this conclusion and that conclusion but like given the entire body of work that georgia has put on display this year like i'm willing to go into this next week just feeling like yeah they had a really bad first half and weren't ready to play for whatever reason against alabama they figured out in the second half, they got going,

they almost won that game. And here we are like that. That's kind of like how I view this Georgia team. But you just want there to be one that is better than everybody else. And maybe there's just not. No, I just want to live in a world of reason. Your mind is trying to tell you,

no, wait, no, Georgia is better than everybody, but maybe they're just not. I want to live in a world of reason, okay? And nothing makes sense in this college football season. And I'm trying my best every week when I come onto the show at 1030

to talk to you to try to make sense of this stuff. And it's getting increasingly hard to do so because our notions of what we think and how we feel about these teams is changing so rapidly on a week-to-week basis. And we're trying to play the context card of like – even with Tennessee, for instance. It's like I can't even – we're going to get to this, but what is Tennessee? I don't know what that team is right now. It's a team that I thought could win a national championship

then starts losing and playing like crap and then beats Alabama at home. It's like, I don't know, no, which team is supposed to win the national championship. And for so long in this, it's so obvious, you know what I mean?

Like it's just been so obvious and like this year it's not, but I do think that like Georgia didn't instill fear in my heart coming into this game. And I think Georgia now probably is still the, the truth serum and the neck team that you would least want to play. I think if you asked every coach in America, they're the team they'd least want to play. I agree with that completely,

but I also agree with Scott in the chat. The one does not exist this year, and it's a good thing. It's true. I'm glad there's not an Alabama that has a second team that would beat everybody ranked below number 10. I'm glad that doesn't exist this year. I'm glad. But I don't want you to take this as me saying that i'm fine wish they're like i'm kind of cool with the idea obviously of not knowing what's going to happen

or not knowing who can win or if there's actually a situation where there are 10 teams that could win a national championship like i'm good with that like i'm not trying to push back on like that idea but i'm trying to identify which programs or which teams I think are the best. And I'm having a hard time doing that. And that's a weird feeling. It's a great feeling because we know there's a lot of good ones. And we know there's a lot of teams that would give us a fun game if they played each other. But we don't think there's one that would just beat the living crap out of every single team

they play now if Georgia had come back against Alabama I think we'd probably be feeling that way about Georgia right now but again we saw them go up 28 nothing we saw when Georgia came back that Jay Lomero hit Ryan Williams like Georgia Georgia knows Ryan Williams is the only guy who can beat him, and they let him beat him anyway. They're not perfect, and that's okay. Or if they lost to an Alabama team that resembled what we think when we think Alabama. I think, too, watching Alabama move on from that game

and lose to Vanderbilt, play that close game they should have lost to South Carolina, lose to Tennessee tonight, it's harder to understand because on the surface, if Alabama were a 10-2 or 11-1 team that was really, really good and a main fixture in the national championship conversation, then that loss would make more sense. But when you start playing that game of, well, who'd you lose to? Losing to Alabama this year doesn't mean what it used to mean.

And that's what makes it more confusing. And I think like we should probably just even do a show on this. Yeah, I mean, South Carolina lost to Alabama. Like Georgia and South Carolina both left Tuscaloosa like, hey, we should have beaten that team. But should we do a show on this of like ranking the five teams this year that have the most confusing set of results? Like in terms of like. We definitely should.

Scott in the chat throws this one out there. LSU lost to USC, laughing my ass off. Like, yeah. Yeah. Confusing. Like, confusing results are really fascinating to me. It's like, we're here and we're going into mid-October. Could you look me in the eye right now and tell me what Penn State is?

Do you know? I sure can't. They're number five in my poll, but do I know? I don't know. They're undefeated. Andy, we've got to talk about two things about this game, though. We have to talk about Arch because about this game though. Okay. We have to talk about arch because we're 10 minutes in and we haven't said it.

You're making balloons fly up on, on the screen. I don't even know how you're doing that. It's incredible. Arch balloons. I don't know. That's amazing. We do talk about arch.

Did Sark panic? Do you think Sark panicked when he put Arch in the game? Because you saw Quinn when he came back, and he was obviously better. Like, if you just left Quinn in, would it have given Texas a better chance to win the game? So my thought process was that it was a panic move. But as I was watching Arch play, even though they didn't score while he was the quarterback,

I thought that he might have done the move for the same reason why Oklahoma made their quarterback switch, which was Georgia was big, strong, fast, getting after the quarterback, and Quinn couldn't escape it, and Arch Manning gives you that secondary boost. He can escape the pocket better than Quinn. That's not even a debate. That's just a fact. And I thought maybe, you know, they thought they were trying to, you know, juice the team a little bit because they had gotten down 20 to nothing early, trying to get

something going and maybe putting somebody in there that could get some first downs or with his legs or move out of the pocket in the face of intense rush and make a play downfield. But it is very funny to me, and I do think we need to talk about this, which is we spent the last three weeks or month talking about the masterclass that Sark has put on in how to handle the quarterback situation. And with two drives in the first half against Georgia,

like all of that goodwill is out the window. Because I think if you put arch manning into that game regardless of what the score is or whatever the game was in question it was the biggest game of the season yet georgia at home you call into question whether or not the coach believes that the backup quarterback can do things better than the starter and when you do that that oh no see i disagree i think I think the questions were completely answered. They put Arch in. He wasn't as good as Quinn was when Quinn came back in.

You have your answer. Sark's job is to win the game. Quinn wasn't getting it done. He went with a different guy. Settled Quinn down. Put him back in. Quinn was better than Arch. Yeah, but I see this notion of settling your quarterback down.

Did you see his face on the sideline? It looked like he was about to crap his pants. There's no way that he was like, I'm going to put Quinn on the bench in the middle of the biggest game of his career so I can settle him down. That is bullshit. No, he put him on the bench because they weren't doing squat and they were trying to do something. John Wick in the chat. Difference between SEC and Big Ten

coverage. Georgia gives up 31 to Mississippi State. It happens. Ohio State gives up 31 to Mississippi State. It happens. Ohio State gives up 32 to Oregon. Exposed. Guys, nobody said that. Oregon's good. They beat Ohio State. Mississippi State's not good. I put Ohio State number three or two in my poll last week after they lost.

Yeah, Mississippi State's not that good, but getting better. And actually gave Texas A&M a little bit of a game today. Stop trying to get offended about the difference between the SEC and the Big Ten. The SEC's deeper, has more good teams. The Big Ten's really good at the top. That's pretty much it. The thing I don't understand with Ohio State is that Ohio State gets the benefit of the doubt a lot too. It's not like they're a second class citizen. When Ohio State loses,

I didn't read a lot of coverage this week about how they shouldn't belong in the top 10 or how they're exposed or how they suck. We talk about it a lot because they lose so rarely. Same way we talk about it when Alabama loses or Georgia loses because they don't lose very often yeah so yeah there is this like and it's been going on for decades now where there is this like ohio state big 10 like sec inferiority complex where they like create this like sec bias boogeyman and like the fact is is like i don't think they realize that people view oh Ohio State the same way they do SEC teams. They're above that.

At a certain point, Ohio State fans need to just take a deep breath and just realize that when you lose a game, rarely, but when you do, you're often given the benefit of the doubt. You are one of the few teams that made the playoff without winning their conference

after losing the final game of the season. Like, you're fine. Like, people respect the hell out of you. And, you know, there's no big media conspiracy here to, like, shit on the Buckeyes. Like, that does not exist. And the SEC thing, well, the SEC keeps winning national championships for the most part and keeps having the most players drafted every year so it's not really something that's being made up it's just something that keeps happening and

you know everybody notices yeah and the way you do that or change that is by winning on the field and i actually think there might be an opportunity not as much anymore which a big 10 team did last year beat an sec team and then won the national championship so there you go and got a hell of a lot of respect during it in the process yeah okay i don't know why we went off that tangent but like the the arch manning thing let's get back to that so do you think that the way that that game went that we're going to be it's like you know Quinn's the starter no discussion or do you think that we open the door I don't think there needs to be a discussion I think discussion was what took place on the field you don't think there's going to be a discussion or there needs to be one there's definitely going to be one there doesn't need to be one

the discussion took place on the field Arch came came in. Was ineffective. Quinn came back in. Was effective. Play the guy that's effective against the better team. I know, but next time the starter is ineffective, do you open the door to the assumption? Yes, because your job is to win the football game. So you think this is good? Like, you think that this is like the...

Steve Sarkeesian's job is to win the game. It's not to... But we talked about how well you were feeling or help Arch Banning's feelings it is to win the game we talked about how they were losing the game and if the quarterback who's in the game is not playing well and you have another quarterback who you think might play better you put him in we talked about how well he did with the uh the quarterback controversy management right do you there was no controversy there still isn't he's managing this is a non this is a non-issue should we move on then well look if arch had come in and played great and then he pulled him and put quinn back in that would have been a problem nine plays i just think that like the thought process

how many touchdowns they scored while he was playing? Zero There's no controversy The fact that he was in the game I think is interesting It was very interesting When there's no controversy at all and you know 1000% who you want to be the quarterback of your team you don't bail on him

in the second quarter Quinn was getting pummeled and was actively hurting them. They needed to try something different. They tried something different. It didn't work. They went back to Quinn. It worked better. I think we're going to be talking

about this a lot this year. That's all I'm going to say. You don't have to agree with me, but I don't think this is the last time we discuss this. I think that doing what he did... I think that what he did is going to create an ongoing quarterback dialogue as it regards to Texas moving forward. There's always going to be a dialogue because Arch Manning's the backup. And I think the reason why Manning,

the reason why we were just like talking about how good of a job Sarkisian did is because there never was a reason to ask who the starter was after this happened. And there's not a reason now. You and I, I'll double or nothing your USC bet on Monday to see if somebody asks about

the starting quarterback situation. I know somebody will ask about it. Listen, I just put Arch Manning in the headline because I know people will click on it, Ari. I know somebody will ask about it. I mean, listen, listen, I just put Arch Manning in the headline because I know people will click on it, Ari. I know that. But if you're Steve Sarkeesian, there's no controversy. You had to try something. Matt in the chat says, y'all better talk about the refs because they're the worst ever.

Let's talk about the refs. You're mad because they got a call wrong. Some people threw some bottles on the field. They talked about it, realized they got the call wrong and change the call. And your team still won by the way, suck it up. Are we done talking about the rest?

The hilarious part about it. It's not even about whether the call was right or not. It was throwing bottles onto the field may have assisted the refs in having enough time to discuss it in order to change the call, which had things gone a little bit differently on the following possession after Texas scored, like could have altered the outcome of the game. Like that says they didn't get the call wrong. Yes, they did.

Arian Smith blocked the guy so it can't be defensive holding when arian smith blocks the guy and he happens to intercept the pass they are allowed to do it because they didn't review the play they just talked and said you know we screwed that up you know who else screwed that screwed up a call involving a georgia game. 2019, spring game. I'm doing the media people get to be officials in the spring game thing. I'm a line judge. I think I see pass interference. I throw a flag.

Kirby gets pissed, by the way, because he wants to go home. It's the second half. And he's like, I can't believe that guy threw the flag. I saw this on the broadcast later. And I go come running up to our referee. And he's like, I can't believe that guy threw the flag. I saw this on the broadcast later. And I go come running up to our referee. I believe it was Dusty Dvorak was our white hat. And he's like, okay, Andy, who committed the pass interference?

I'm like, I don't remember. Don't remember the number. He's like, you better pick up the flag. I'm like, okay, picking up the flag. In this case, the refs got the call egregiously wrong. I don't think it's great that people throwing bottles on the field gave them time to talk about it and then get the call right. But they did get the call wrong, and then they got it right. Yeah, I think that people are not upset about the outcome of the call.

I think people are upset about what occurred in order to give them the runway to make the correct call. It's like the message I think people are receiving here is that if there is a call that is 50-50. You can throw bottles on the field. Tennessee fans are very excited about this, by the way. You can throw bottles on the field and delay the game 10 minutes, let the refs discuss it, and then maybe they'll change their mind.

So many bottles of French's mustard are going to be bought in Knoxville knowing that you can now do this? It just was funny because the thing I saw when I saw the push-off was like that. Because there was for a seven-minute period there, we thought it was. It was a – the initial call was a terrible call. It was not defensive holding under any circumstances. We had to live with that call for seven real-time minutes. It was like they came back from cleaning up the shit off the field,

and it was like, okay, never mind. That wasn't the call. And I think that's what bothers everybody. It's not that they arrived at the right call. Oh, no, there's Georgia fans saying that they originally got the call right, which is the stupidest thing ever, and if it wasn't a game involving your team, you would never say that. I think that Georgia fans are –

if you think that the call was blundered as a result of this you're wrong i think if you're upset that they have the opportunity to change the call after what happened because of the fan bottle throwing that would be annoying and you have a right to be see matt matt's still arguing me he says how was it terrible call in the defender make contact first he didn't uh it should have been defensive holding not pi it was defensive holding that's what they called originally and they were wrong so it's okay it's okay to be mad because they changed it because people threw stuff on the field that was that's not a precedent you want to set the funniest thing to me during that was that like it reminded me of when they called defensive pass interference.

I was like, Texas is about to lose a game on a DPI that was the same exact situation or call of the Jeremiah Smith one a week before that cost Ohio State the game. Because it was basically the same type of action. It was the same play. Except he pushed him into the interception, which was hilarious. And guess what, Andy? Both were offensive pass interference, and they got both right so like i'm happy that they arrived at the

right call and like texas should have been back in the game as a result of it but if i were a georgia fan i would understand why they would be pissed off because that's not like normal refereeing process to get enough minutes to ponder something yeah no if you get it wrong just say you got it wrong wave the flag off and and be done with it. Because if they didn't throw the bottles, we can agree that if they didn't throw the bottles, can we agree that they probably wouldn't have changed the call? I think you're right. So, like I said, it's a bad precedent. Yeah. So, that said, can we talk about Georgia? Because they do still have dudes.

Michael Williams, absolutely still a dude. Dude, he made Kelvin Banks look like a fool out there, and Kelvin Banks is going to be a top 10 pick. That's how good he is. Yes. That's the beauty of it. And we talked about this in our conversation earlier about Alabama and Tennessee. How many special dudes are there for Alabama?

How many special dudes are there for Alabama? How many special dudes are there for Tennessee? And they both have some. I think Georgia has more. I think Georgia has more than everybody. Trevor Etienne. Can we say he's one

of those special dudes? I think we can. I think we can. Yeah. Jared Wilson coming back at center after being hurt. I think he's one of those special dudes. The super team thing is dead, right?

Like, we can agree on that. Yeah. But there are still teams that have upper echelon talent. It takes more than two years to reverse the 10 years prior of the four-year recruiting class runs that were in the top one or two every year. Those rosters have not completely dissipated yet. They might in five years once this becomes more normal, but the baseline talent on the Georgia roster is still much higher

than the baseline talent on every other roster because of what they've done in high school recruiting. That said, Texas is supposed to be one of the teams, if you had to play that matching game that you play with children and, you know, which of these things are like the other thing? Like I think that if you did that with Georgia, that there would be three or four teams that you would put in that same is like them, and Texas is one of them.

Texas, Ohio State, and Alabama are the other three. Those are the four right now that are built that way. Am I forgetting anybody? No, I think you're right about that. And the thing is, the more of those guys you have, the better the chances you have. It doesn't guarantee you anything, but I think in that playoff situation, and we haven't seen it yet, but in the situation where you've got to win three or four games against teams like that, the more of those guys you have, the better off you are. Now, it doesn't give you a prohibitive advantage

like it used to, but I still think it gives you the best chance. And so if you ask me, who do I think has the best chance of winning the national championship this year? I think I'm probably going to say Georgia, which kind of gets us back to our original conversation of how do we sort this out?

Like if Georgia played Oregon tomorrow, what's the Vegas line? I'm saying Georgia by three and a half, right? Yeah, we said three and a half and four at the same time. Yeah, but Georgia would be favored. Yeah. So I think that's the team we think would be that now the question is can georgia beat let's say indiana and yeah we're going to talk

about them don't worry and then ohio state and then oregon or and then texas or and then Oregon, or and then Texas, or and then whoever, in a row? Because that's the question. And I don't think that passes when the teams that aren't built like Georgia are going to be exposed. I think Georgia is the team that can win that. Right. It gives them a chance.

They're not going to get blown out. They have a chance, and it will take them playing a poor game to lose. But. And that was my bracketology from last week. It will look different this week, I promise. But. I'm excited about this. I really am.

And I'm excited to see Georgia playing like that that again because that's what i want to see out of them i don't want them to be the team that struggles with kentucky i want them to be the team that strikes fear in everyone's heart that's that's what they are so now we'll talk about florida and kentucky a little bit later like that georgia's got an open date and florida's got an open date and then we get to see georgia againstJ. Lagway, which I'm kind of excited about now. Because I think that's a good test for Georgia's defense now. So this will be fun. This stretch run is going to be so much fun to see how these teams wind up.

All right, all right. What do you want to talk about? You can agree that the is the national championship favorite now right now right i would think so i would think that vegas would favor them against every other team in the country that would be would you pick them if you had like your life savings on the line like who would you pick to win the championship right now i think that i would feel the safest with them. I don't feel safe with anybody, but I would feel the safest with them. Yeah, I agree.

All right. Who do we want to talk about next? Do we want to talk about Alabama, Tennessee? Or do we want to talk about this Indiana juggernaut that cannot be stopped? Let's get the SEC out of the way. And these are all kind of related. So I think that that would be because these are the four would you say these are the four best teams or the four most likely to make

the playoff teams along with lsu yes i'm glad you mentioned lsu because i would definitely include lsu in that in that bunch but yes i do think so so okay we did do another video about this i think we talked about like 25 minutes about tennessee beating alabama but i wrote a column about this based on that discussion on on three i'd encourage you to go read it uh if you're a tennessee fan or not but andy my premise and we're just going to start out of the gate with this oh is that actually the chat is reminding us texas a&m is also very much in the hunt. Sure. In the SEC.

So add them to the mix. So six. Good news. They play LSU next weekend. Yes. Yes. In kind of an elimination game. Yes. Yes.

So yeah, that's, we're going to be talking a lot about A&M this week, I think. But the premise of this Tennessee story, Andy, was that this game, though it may not have, you know, created or driven as much

emotion out of Tennessee fans as the 2022 game did because of what the 2022 game meant, that this one is actually maybe more impactful or more important for the actual season they're playing in. And the reason why is because in 2022, tennessee beat alabama that win felt like it was more of a symbolic we have the right coach we're on the right path we can hang with teams like this like it felt like it was like a legitimizing thing for the program to not be viewed or at least you know made fun of in a way that the SEC doormats were made fun of. But we knew that 2022 Georgia was looming on the schedule. We knew in our hearts probably that, you know, I think maybe at the time we had a hard time picking that game because Tennessee was so

exciting that year, but Georgia was the undefeated national champion that year. They played Tennessee and did the boa constrictor thing and just sucked the soul out of their chest. This year, in the context of the conversation that me and you just had about who could win the national championship, like Tennessee with a win over an inherently flawed Alabama team while playing not their best game, I think puts this team in a much more advantageous position to potentially

have a memorable season than the one from two years ago. Like I think that Tennessee, even if they are to go lose to Georgia, being a 10 and two team at the end of the year would probably be an attractive candidate to make the playoff. And this team, if Nico gets better incrementally every week, and you know, I was very impressed with how much stronger he got as the game went on with Dylan Sampson and maybe the number one overall pick in the draft this year at defensive end and James Pierce Jr. Like that this team has the pieces if it gets hot at the end to win a few playoff games.

And like that, I think is a pretty exciting proposition. So I think that there is a gut feeling or a reaction that people have a lot of times to the sport where if a team has a very memorable or exciting win, that means a lot to them. The first thing that we do is criticize the team that lost. Alabama sucks. Kalen Moore is not a screamer. I don't know what that means. People want to bring this accomplishment down. And that's fine. Like, Alabama isn't Nick Saban's Alabama this year.

We can all agree upon that. But Tennessee beating Alabama at home while not playing its best game with the season that it has schedule-wise for the rest of the year, like, this is an exciting wild-card team to me. Do you agree with that? I think it's exciting because they have a really good, like we, we talk about,

Oh, the Josh Hypel offense, blah, blah, Tennessee's best feature is its defense. The Tennessee defense is what has kept it in games. Like without that defense, they don't beat Florida.

And without that defense, they might not beat Oklahoma. Like they definitely don't beat Florida. And without that defense, they might not beat Oklahoma. Like, they definitely don't beat Alabama. They're a dominant defensive team. They're figuring it out offensively, and that's what I think makes them very interesting because the version of Tennessee that we saw in the second half today where Nico was hitting deep balls finally,

not every time, but some of the time, as opposed to none of the time in the first half, last week against Florida, the entire game against Arkansas, where he wasn't hitting any of those deep balls. But when Nico Iamaliaba is hitting the deep ball, Tennessee is an incredibly dangerous team because that defense is not going to give you much and they can score on you very quickly. Once Tennessee got Nico going, and I'm not sure exactly how that happened,

whether it was running him a little bit more, just Hypel maybe calming him down at halftime, but that when he rolls to the right and hits that long pass down the sideline, down the right sideline that sets up the touchdown, that was the moment where you're like, oh, well, if he hits a couple of those, this game's over. And that's exactly what happened he hit exactly two of those and that was the difference i mean and i also was impressive impressed too by

like how much separation tennessee's receivers were getting in the game pretty consistently like even when nico was missing guys like how many times could you count that tennessee got behind alabama's defense? I mean, I think they did it at least five times in that game and they might not have hit those, but like getting separation against Alabama is hard. And even if you're not hitting them, just the ability to do so,

like Thornton's a stud, Brew McCoy's a stud. They've got guys. Like, I think that when you look at the, the whole picture of Tennessee, like right now, it's kind of a confusing team that, you know, has some weird, they might be on that list of five teams with the most confusing results because, you know, they have played a few games, you know, Florida and Arkansas that come to mind that are kind of inconsistent with what we thought they were, you know, through the first five weeks of the season. But I think that this was a pretty legitimizing win of like, Hey, yeah, this is legitimately a top 10 team and winning the way that they did in a very ugly game for a large

portion of it, I think puts them in a pretty, I would say the driver's seat to make the playoff. And let me tell you something, Andy, um, you know, unless you're, I mean, hell everybody, like you made this point on the last video and i even stole it from right out of your mouth and wrote it into the column is there a single team in the sport this year where on tennessee's best day they have a zero percent chance of beating them there's not there's not a team like that i don't know in 2022 it could not when they went to georgia they were completely outclassed like you knew they didn't belong on the same field with Georgia. Now we may, maybe when they go to Athens this year, that same thing happens, but I suspect it's not going to happen because of the defense.

It doesn't mean they're going to beat Georgia, but they don't have to beat Georgia to make the playoff. And I'm not saying they're going to win the national championship, but I think in the pantheon of excitement, like the potential of this team and the path that they're going to have, I think is higher. The ceiling is higher for this team than that 2022 team. And that's because there's more teams and different pathways and who knows, maybe they'll, they'll give Georgia a game.

I think that they're also probably two years more physically advanced than they were because their biggest thing two years ago was that it was still pretty early in the Hypel build. We're two years advanced into the Hypel build from that first win over Alabama, so they're athletically a deeper and much more talented team than they were then. So I think that this team should feel really good about itself,

and I don't want to blow smoke up you know someone's ass here but i really do think that they could advance to the semi-finals if they if they get the right path and they they are are playing well yeah because of the defense i that but i actually believe that nico can get much better between now and december he can and that's what i was talking about with people this week because we had fun with what nick roush said on our show during the week uh nick roush from kent And that's what I was talking about with people this week. Cause we had fun with what Nick Roush said on our show during the week. Nick Roush from Kentucky sports radio. We were talking about Kentucky and then he drops this,

this rant on Nico calls him the $8 million volleyball player who can't hit a goal ball, which was actually an accurate description of the Nico who played against Arkansas and Florida. And in the first half against Alabama, not an accurate description of the guy who played in the second half against Alabama. And that's the thing.

He's a first year starter. It's quite possible. He gets better as time goes on and he does hit those go balls. And guess what? He started hitting him in the second half. That doesn't mean he's going to hit them for the rest of the season, but maybe he will. And the game was a dime.

Exactly. If he does, Ari, they are going to be competitive with just about everybody because they have a very dominant defense. They have Nico and they have Dylan Sampson, who is a just phenomenal back. What I love about Dylan Sampson is not just that he can break one and and he had a couple really long runs today but you feel very confident when you're inside the five

that you can give the ball to Dylan Sampson and he's going to get it in the end zone for you well I mean think about a lot of backs in the country that you're that confident in but how many physical games that Tennessee is going to have to win in order to get to where they want to go and having Dylan Sampson on your team helps you grind those out. Like, you have a person that is going to be able to – and I felt terrible for him. Did you know that stat when he fumbled early in the game? That was his first lost fumble of his entire career.

Like, I don't think that people, like, realize how good he is. And, like, you know, maybe they're not paying attention, but, like, that is a guy. We talked about it Thursday, like, lift you. all the backs in the country are being overshadowed because ashton gentry is so good but dylan sampson is having an incredible season he's unbelievable it's on pace for like 48 touchdowns this year it's insane yeah so let's turn the conversation to Alabama a bit because it is, you know, you talked early in the show about how hard it is to contextualize all this stuff. How it kind of breaks your brain when you see these teams that are supposed to be super teams that are not, that are capable of losing to, say, Vanderbilt or should have lost to South Carolina. It's weird because we watched Alabama dominate for so long.

It is strange seeing this version of Alabama where they don't feel invincible anymore. And look, we're going to talk about Missouri later as it relates to their win against Auburn, but Missouri comes to Escalusa next week. Like, I know with Alabama's loss today, you're thinking, oh, Alabama might not make the playoff because they lose to LSU in Baton Rouge,

which of course is a possibility, but they could lose to Missouri next week. Yeah, I mean, they're out for me. I haven't done bubble watch yet but like i'm not putting them in my bracket this is like you're done for now so they they have to go out and i mean i just like i'm so fascinated and the thing that i will say about alabama which is such an uncomfortable reality is that they are a very talented team but they are not a dynamically oozing off the television screen, dynamically talented team.

Like so many of the previous Alabama squads that we've watched go into national titles in the recent past. Like everybody I feel like on their team, as I was watching it, it's like, yeah, they're all pretty good. But like outside of Ryan Williams,

like there is not the same game breaking going to take over the game when you a game by themselves type of player on either side of the ball. Like there is no Devante Smith on this team. You know what I mean? And maybe Ryan Williams will be that next year or later on this year. He definitely is going to going to hit that point. But they don't have they were in a defensive battle for the most part in this game, right? We can agree. Yes.

Who did you think – Even Jalen Milrow, who you know can make great plays and electrifying first downs with his legs, did you feel like you could point to a player and go, this person's going to make the play for Alabama when they need one? I just don't know who that person is. I thought it might be Milrow, point to a player and go, this person's going to make the play for Alabama when they need one. Like, I just don't know who that person is. And it's almost like. I thought it might be Milrow,

but he actually wasn't great toward the end of the game. Some of the criticisms we had of Nico in the first half, you could easily lob on Jalen Milrow in the second half where he was missing open receivers. Tennessee was getting after him pretty good there too. And that's why too, you feel pretty good about where Tennessee's at. But in terms of the Kalen DeBoer discussion,

I don't know if we have to have this discussion every week. I don't know what the Alabama takeaway is, but I just do not envy the position that he's in right now. No, it's tough and very strange to see Alabama like this. But look, we knew when Nick Saban retired, things were going to be different. And things are different. All right, all right. We're going to talk about how really different things are in the world of college football.

We're getting really weird next because we're going to talk Indiana. But first, we are, of course, presented by Wendy's and Wendy's Saucy Nugs. So let's talk a little Saucy Nugs. Ari, your official welcome to On 3. We are presented by Wendy's, the Saucy Nugs. That's our specialty item. We have every flavor of Saucy Nug. You've been training for this your entire life. You know, I was telling everybody before this, but my dad looked at me in the eyes when i was a kid and he said son you can be

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A little Coke Zero action. That's your spicy buffalo. That's tremendous. I think that's kind of the perfect that might be my favorite this is the parmesan garlic and this one i haven't tried yet which one it's a little bit hotter parmesan garlic oh this is spicy parmesan yeah yeah okay it's pretty damn good see this i keep changing my favorite i think that's the point of this exercise. Yes. That's my favorite one. I could put down 32 ounces of Coke Zero and be like, where's the next 32 ounces of Coke Zero? Well, and hey, we're pre-refills in the restaurant. So Wendy's new Saucy Nugs.

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All right. We got to talk about undefeated Indiana. And you're like, oh, when they play a team with a really good defense like Nebraska, they're not going to be able to score like they've been scoring on these other teams. No, they just put up 56 points after losing their starting quarterback. Incredible, incredible. And it was a good week to have Coach Cignetti on the podcast. Yeah, I don't know what happened to that Nebraska fan Incredible. And it was a good week to have a coach Signetti on the, on the podcast. Yeah.

I don't know what happened to that Nebraska fan who promised to do the thing with the the Eric Horn, but it's going to be a long week for him if he goes through with it. I think the Hoosiers were very impressive. And I, I, even in the chat here, Andy, when you were talking about bracketology at the beginning of the podcast, people were like, Indiana, what? Like, I don't think the country has caught up yet. Like, they're not, like, they have not caught up yet.

Did you not watch the game? I mean, they didn't beat Nebraska. They pulverized Nebraska. They kicked Nebraska's ass up and down the field and made Nebraska quit. 215 rushing yards. And nobody carried the ball more than 10 times. Justice Ellison had nine carries for 105 yards and two TDs. The turnovers, the line of scrimmage play,

the explosive playmaking ability from the receivers, quarterback play from the starter and the backup. This team, I could say with a straight face, I think could play with really, really good teams. I'm not going to go as far as to say Georgia or Texas or Ohio State. We're going to get an opportunity to see it. But I do think they are a bona fide top 10 team. We've been saying, oh, we think that they got a nice schedule

to draw in the Big Ten, but then they had to play Michigan and Ohio State. We'll talk about Michigan a little bit later, but I don't even want to play guess the line with Michigan. They're going to be favored against Michigan. I think we're at the point now where if they lose to Michigan, it's a disappointment. I watched that game today going, I think they can play with Ohio State too.

They won't be favored against Ohio State, but I think they can play with them. Yeah, well, I mean, that's going to be a really nice test just for Indiana in terms of just like a test market scenario where it's like, okay, we're talking playoff about this team. What does it look like when you play those monsters that are going to be in the playoff? And like, if they can play a respectable game,

I think that bodes well for their candidacy. Not that I, that it matters. I think if they're a one loss team at the end of the year, they're going to get in regardless, but we're talking about a team now that is going to play the rest of its schedule and be expected to win all, but one of the games that they play. Next week, they get to host Washington. Washington's a team that can put up some points.

They're yardages anyway. I don't know about points. They move the ball a lot. Then at Michigan State, those two games are super winnable. Then Michigan is even more winnable than maybe even one of the first two I just mentioned. Then on the road on the second to the last week of the season against Ohio state and then produce,

they probably lose. Yeah, but it's okay. I think it's okay. Like, I don't know that they have to win. They don't. Coach Siggs isn't going to think they're going to lose.

Coach Siggs is going to have them ready to go. Yeah. I mean, could you imagine if they got to play that game at home? That would have been pandemonium is it right i saw a guy in the chat say they got to get their own fans that stadium was was three quarters full no no a quarter of the people were nebraska fans who bought tickets and they were leaving very early they were gone because they got destroyed but i also think too and like we are guilty of it, that the notion of just expecting Nebraska

to keep it close was disrespectful because Indiana has shown time and time again this year that they are a much better football team. I thought Nebraska's defense had played really well all year. We'll talk about Colorado later, but Colorado again looked very good and nebraska dominated that team so like if indiana would have just won this game 17 to 7 we'd probably be having a pretty similar discussion right now i feel like 56 to 7 is a pretty big statement like and yeah they they got to dylan rayolaola and really bothered him.

And I'm going to tell you this. Rayola cannot move, and it's starting to concern me. Anytime he's under pressure or it looks like he's about to get sacked, it is like play over. And I'm very curious to see if he can grow from that. It's like we were talking about Nico, first-year starter. I'm very curious to see if he can grow from that or like, cause like you, you know, Nico first year starter,

you might, yeah, you might be different after a while. It was something that he was nagged at a little bit during the recruiting process. So we have a very smart bunch of people at on three who do these breakdowns. And you know, I missed that portion of it. And then know i missed that portion of it and then i was told that

portion of it and i can't watch it without noticing it now um and like we compare patrick mahomes all the time because he looks acts and talks and has a haircut like but mahomes can get away from sacks a lot i get away from any nfl and when and not only that when he's pressured and he's rolling like that, picky through, it's like, I don't, I think he's rattled.

And again, he's only started what five games, six games. So, you know, it might be too early, but I think that's really like a blueprint to beating Nebraska and shutting down their offense.

So not to, to hijack the Indiana conversation, but Dylan real is somebody that we talk. No, I mean, they went higher in a Carver option a lot there at the end, and it was more effective. And, Andy, as we're recording this,

UNLV just took the lead in the third quarter against Oregon State. Next week's appetizer is UNLV Boise. So I'm kind of hoping that UNLV wins this game so that we can get excited about next Friday night. Okay, go ahead. Well, look, this isn't a conference game so that we can get excited about next Friday night. Okay, go ahead. Well, look, this isn't a conference game, so we can be excited no matter what. Whether you know any wins or not, we can be excited. I want the hype in Vegas to be off the charts.

Oh, it's going to be tremendous. This is what makes this so great, is we have all of that. But the Indiana thing is one of the great stories of the year. You saw Curt Cigdetti on this show. He knew what this team was. He knew they were going to be good. I'm just so impressed with how they've come together. You can say they haven't played anybody.

I don't care. They've beaten the crap out of everybody they've played. And you're going to see them against ohio state so we'll get we'll get an idea but i think there's a there's a chance there's a universe that this team finishes 11 and 1 and goes to the playoff or even goes to the big 10 championship game now that that will depend on what oregon and Penn State do. But I'm just so excited to see what these guys do. And remember, I remember back at Big Ten Media Days, I mentioned Curtis Rourke,

and Kurt Cignetti was very quick to point out that Taven Jackson also had looked good in preseason practice or in workouts before preseason practice. And don't forget about him. Well, don't forget about him. Because Curtis Rourke hurt his finger on Saturday, and Taven Jackson came in, and it looked like the offense got better. Anybody else's fingers hurt?

I knew you were going there. I can't control myself. Anytime anybody hurts their finger, I say that. Yeah, okay, so we are fully on the Indiana bandwagon. Indiana is going to be in my top 10, and they are going to be in my bracket. They were in my bracket last week, but they're going back in it. Really, really, really excited about this. And, of course, anytime a team you know not one of the traditional powers gets

off to a run like this it's exciting but it's even more exciting because the swag of their coach like i i just think that like the general temperament of their coach really does kind of add a little extra sliver of excitement to this yeah no this is this is going to be so much fun to watch this unfold over the next few weeks and look the big 10 is going to be interesting you know we saw oregon beat ohio state last week we saw oregon then go thump purdue like in in the spot where you could have the let down oregon on friday night just destroyed purdue. The only one who took an L on Friday night for Oregon was Puddles the Duck because he got his head knocked off. And I don't think we've ever seen that before. And that's bad mascot tradecraft. You got to keep the head on.

But that's it. That is the only issue they had elter in the big 10 illinois had the coolest uniforms well coolest throwback uniforms i think we've ever seen you like the helmets that look like old leather helmets the red grange uniforms you liked them love them love and especially considering the way they beat michigan today like i mean it it is appropriate but all right everybody we found the one person who liked them i love those uniforms love them you didn't see the feature on the guy in nebraska who painted who hand painted all the helmets to make them look so beautiful they they looked they looked uh well done i don't know that i would say i would like it i don't know if i say i was so awesome and

they they happened to play a style that was reminiscent of the one red grange played yeah i mean it's you kind of get dragged into those games but andy illinois out michigan michigan in this game right like the the michigan thought was well we might not be able to throw the ball but we're just gonna pound it down everybody's throat and play great defense um that no that was michigan's thought before they benched alex orgy like they decided they were going to like you watch Breaking Bad, are you right? It's my favorite show of all time. So,

you know about half measures. Yeah, no half measures. Jack Tuttle is a half measure. Alex Orji, you were all in like you had an identity and then you decided you didn't want to do that anymore. And now you have no identity and you can't do anything. Mm hmm.

I agree with that. No, no do anything. I agree with that. No, no, no. I agree with you. I still think that if you feel like you can throw the ball a little bit better, I still would anticipate that Michigan would be able to move the ball on the ground against Illinois. I mean, I feel like there's going to be an Unsolved Mysteries episode on how they beat USC doing that. You know what I mean? I think we solved the mystery over in Maryland today.

Illinois' defense is nasty. That's what happened is they kept trying to run in Illinois' defense, and Illinois' defense is a bunch of grown-ass men. We have to talk. Listen, I'm going to sum up the Michigan situation for you real easily. It's an absolute dumpster fire. Their offense is trash, and there's a lot of really good defensive talent that's being wasted on that team this year.

I don't know how much of it's a Sharon Moore issue. Probably very little because he wasn't given an opportunity to go out and get a quarterback that could have made this a little bit more manageable, but like, like Michigan is like off my radar now, like they're out of the situation. I think it's a disservice to not talk about Illinois and the fact that they're 6-1 now, right? Excellent. Illinois is in

the Big Ten race right now. Michigan's offense is a disaster. But Illinois is good enough to take advantage of that. They beat the crap out of them today. Yeah, I was very impressed. And look, the stats weren't crazy, but it was the defense more just standing up when they needed to. I forgot they scored the last touchdown in the third quarter. I really thought they were up 21-7 for like three and a half hours of real time.

Cause that's what it felt like. It did because like I was watching the same Michigan possession over and over and over again. It's because like, like a hell loop on one of those sci-fi shows. Like it was the same thing over and over and over again. And, and rims in the chat.

No way. Illinois beats Oregon. I tend to agree with you. I don't think Illinois has the athletes to beat Oregon. We saw them against Penn State. Did you ever feel like they were in the game against Penn State? No, I don't know that the discussion here is Illinois should beat or will beat Oregon.

I think the discussion here is that Illinois could win 10 games this year. Absolutely. And that's a really good situation for a program that didn't really win 10 games very often in the last 20 years. So maybe it'll be one of those grab-ass end-of-October games that gets close. And, you know, who knows? But, like, that's not what's important i don't think like trying to trying to like size illinois up to the number one team or the number two team in the country

it's just kind of not the point here i don't think no illinois and the thing is i don't think many of us expected this out of illinois because you look at some of the players that they've lost and witherspoon johnny newton like they lost some really good players over the last few years and you're thinking okay do they have anybody of that level right now well maybe not first round guys but they've got some NFL guys on that team and again you are not going to score a lot of points on them I don't care who you you are. They're just going to shut you down. That's what they did with Michigan today. It is kind of funny to think that Purdue dropped 49 points on them last week and put up almost 550 yards of offense and Michigan could barely

get a first down on this game. We're going to see them in Eugene next week. They'll be challenged. Look, I don't know that they're going to be able to cover Oregon's receivers. Ohio State couldn't cover Oregon's receivers. So it's going to be very difficult. I don't know that anybody can cover Oregon's receivers. So like... Can we agree that Oregon got the toughest draw of all the Big Ten contenders?

In terms of schedule, you mean? Yeah. Or is it Ohio state? Because they have at Oregon and at Penn state. I mean, Oregon's only had to play, uh, Ohio state.

They don't even have to play Penn state and Ohio state was home. Now at the beginning of the year, they were supposed to, they're going to Michigan on November 2nd and that was supposed supposed to be a thing. But it turns out that that's not really a tough game. It's probably still Ohio State, right? I think that Ohio State having to go to Oregon and having to go to Penn State is probably more difficult. But also, too, it's funny because the draws when they were drawn up probably seemed fair.

But that's just not the way that the teams performed. Going to Michigan on the road is supposed to be a difficult road trip for Oregon. I think Illinois should talk. Illinois' AD Josh Whitman should call Rob Mullins, the AD at Oregon, right now and be like, listen, you want to make this a fun game? Do you want to make everybody in the country want to watch this game at least for a little while? We're going to bring the Red Grange uniforms. You wear the most futuristic Oregon Nike uniform combination that you can put together this week. And we'll have 1924 versus 2024 which is exactly the the playing styles should probably

also match that no actually you know illinois has got a pretty fun offense and i want to give some flowers to luke altmeyer uh he's a pretty highly rated recruit that's had an interesting career and i think he's playing pretty good football this year. Yeah, I mean, he got beat out by Jackson Dart at Ole Miss. It happens. Jackson Dart's been a good quarterback. So that is, please make that happen. Josh Whitman, call Rob Mullins now. I want to see that uniform matchup.

I want to see the Red Grains unis against the Oregon unis. Like, I need chrome Oregon helmets. I need as futuristic as you can possibly make this. Let's have it. Yeah, chrome ones. chrome ones clash of styles let's do it all right i'm gonna give you a trio of teams who all feel like they're in a similar place in terms of existential crisis you can decide which one we're gonna tackle first first. We got to talk about them all. Yeah. USC, Oklahoma, or Auburn. Where are we going? You had to put me on the spot for this one, huh? I would probably say... I would probably say Oklahoma.

Okay. All right. And the reason why is because I think that the baseline expectations of what is demanded there is the highest of the three. That is correct. And Brent Venables is further along. No, no, he's the same amount along in his tenure as Ryan Riley, given that happened at the same time, the same offseason. But it is really like USC is losing games.

And I saw somebody tweeted, USC really did blow up the Pac-12 so they can go on road trips to Minnesota and Maryland and lose. And I thought that was really funny. Oklahoma seems broken right now to me. Like USC is just losing. And I mean, they've got a whole laundry list.

Like USC has blown leads the last couple of weeks. Like Oklahoma in the first quarter against South Carolina, I was thinking, are they going to need a running clock in the second half? Like legitimately, will they need a running clock? And like, could not block South Carolina's defensive line at all.

This is one of those games too, where it's like, you know, we are wrong quite a bit and we laugh and joke about when we're wrong. But, like, we're on the money sometimes, and, like, I think we nailed this. Like, I don't think I can understand, and obviously with the hindsight benefit here, it's easy to say, but, like, why was Oklahoma laying points in this game again? Like, we asked that question out loud in our pick show on Monday. It's like your offensive line is the issue and you're going up against these beasts

on the South Carolina side of the ball that you cannot block. And that turns into a very disgusting offensive situation. Like Oklahoma should not be giving points to anybody. Like they're not scoring. So, you know, and they also on top of it,

not being a very good team now made another confusing move with the quarterback position. They burned Jackson Arnold's red shirt and it kind of calls into question like the whole thing of what are we doing with the quarterback situation? It's like, if your premise Andy, from the beginning was that the only reason why, or the main reason why they went to Michael Hawkins Jr.

is because he was the one that was able to escape pressure, then why would you bring in Jackson Arnold when your offensive line is getting its ass kicked? It doesn't make sense. I'm not even saying that I disagree with the move one way or the other. I'm just trying to make sense of it, and that's the hardest part about it. There's no sense to be made. There no answers there are no answers we we went over it all week on the show we we had multiple segments on the show that just that discussed oklahoma and what what went wrong where the mistakes were made i mean there are mistakes that go back to lincoln riley's tenure that were continued at the beginning of Brent Venable's tenure where they just weren't recruiting high school offensive linemen the way they do you

want to talk about the quarterback thing like did that like concern you like I mean it didn't concern me because Jackson Arnold had had the conversation with Brent Venable's I mean Brent Venable's talked about it this week they had had the conversation of hey i think i think they told him if you want to do this if you want a red shirt you can't but he's like no if you want me in i'll play and so they played him if they say if he says i'll play then you play him if you feel like it'll help i don't know that anything would have helped today but i don't know i don't know if i'm just like a dramatic i'm just like a drama queen so to save me because like you you shut me down no I want you to be as much a drama queen as possible

I'm very disappointed I'm still disappointed that conversation got shut down so quickly um but like does the decision to go back to Jackson Arnold under the circumstances in which they did. They weren't in a closely contested game or needed a spark. Like their offensive line was getting killed and Michael Hawkins Jr. was not effective. Does going back to Jackson Arnold in this game undermine the decision to begin with to you? No, I don't think they had a lot of options. And again, remember, I'm the guy who says there's always another quarterback. So I don't think they had a lot of options.

And again, remember, I'm the guy who says there's always another quarterback. So I don't think they're that precious. Like, you're going to lose one of these two at the end of this year. Oh, well, sign another one. That's just how it works. Like, so I don't, I think there have been so many mistakes made. But process is important. Process is important. Like if you're, if you are, and it doesn't even have to work, but like out of my coach,

I just want to understand the process of why we're doing the things that we're doing. And when you do things that are conflicting, it confuses and frustrates me. There's nothing confusing about this. Their offensive line is not good and all their receivers are hurt their offense stinks so they're trying they're trying as much stuff against the wall hoping something will work and nothing's working that's good well we're in a pretty advanced portion of brent venable's tenure at oklahoma to be throwing shit against the wall, Andy. So that is the discussion. Sorry.

That is the discussion. You want to talk about him deciding on quarterbacks. I want to talk about the big picture. The big picture is the quarterbacks because to me it undermines the entire process of what we're doing. Not having a good offensive line undermines the entire process of what you're doing. They went into the season with an unloaded gun and they knew it and they let this happen

and it's their fault. And when Jeff Levy left, you decided to hire Seth Luttrell instead of hiring someone who could run the offense that you were running before. So the big picture is more than the quarterback stuff and my question is why was Brent Venables extended over the summer who was going after Brent Venables who was trying to hire him dude an hour and seven minutes into the episode, you dropped that on me? It happened. It's a legitimate question.

I think that my general philosophy with extending coaches is that they don't get extensions unless somebody else wants them. Right, and no one else was trying to hire Brad Venables. Or they've wanted a high level. Show me who was trying to hire Brent Venables. Or they've wanted a high level. Show me who was trying to hire Brent Venables away. If you show me proof of that, because nobody's told me about that. I talked to all these agents, and not one of them has said, hey, did you hear Brent Venables was looking at this other job? He was not.

Yeah. So you just made it harder to fix this. I would imagine there's going to be an offensive staff revamp well that has to happen right like somebody here's the thing they're at old miss they play maine they're at missouri they play alabama they're at lsu with all due respect to the main black bears i think oklahoma can win that one but they might lose those other four and if they do and you are oklahoma and you demand excellence and you're five and seven in year three year freaking three what do you do?

It felt like we could get to this point at some point, and we arrived here. Today was the day we arrived here. I was walking out of the stadium for the Tennessee-Oklahoma game, and I asked Kerry Murdoch how he feels like the Oklahoma fans view Brent. And he said that they love him. They respect his fire and his passion and that they, you know, are basically sticking with the guy, but they're going to want to see offensive changes to the staff. And I thought that was a rational, you know, outlook. Yeah, that was a long month ago. Yeah. And it was, it was a week Yeah. That was a long month ago.

Yeah. And it was a week ago. It was exactly a week ago. Oh, you're talking about Tennessee game. Okay. When I walked out with him. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. When he said that, that might have changed. It's been a long month. Yeah. I think it has because the cumulative effects of all they're going to like, no,

maybe look, the defense is, is, is pretty good. So maybe they can win one of these, like maybe they can beat Missouri. We'll see. But if they go one in four over this next stretch, and if they look as pitiful as they did on offense,

the last two games, I think the cumulative effect of that, people are underestimating how angry everybody's going to become the Alabama and LSU game at that point. Yeah, I mean, it's a tough way to end the season. They're going to be so fed up at that point. I mean, honestly, at Ole Miss, at Missouri, home against Bama at LSU is kind of a gnarly way to end the season, too.

Like, that's not a cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination. So, and Oklahoma didn't get any favors given to them in their SEC scheduling situation either. So, yeah, I mean, we've talked about Oklahoma probably more than any other program. And it just is more of the same confusing crap. And it's confusing, but not right. They didn't put an offensive line in place. The staff was keenly aware of it. They didn't sign enough offensive linemen. You wrote a great column about it.

Go read it. Yeah. And the thing is they knew they were going to the SEC. Like that's, that's the part that. Now the class of 21, you're excused. You didn't know you're going to the SEC. That's the part that... Now, the class of 21, you're excused. You didn't know you were going to the SEC. Class of 22, no excuse. You knew you were going to the SEC. You knew. You understood what the rosters are supposed to look like, and you didn't do what you needed to do. And now you're paying for it. So they have to decide what they want to do.

But we have two other programs in existential crisis right now. And we'll go to the comment from John Wick in the chat. Oklahoma fans are comforted by how bad Lincoln Riley is tanked. Auburn fans are irate. Well, we're going to talk about both of those groups. Let's talk about USC and Maryland though. So USC was up two touchdowns on Maryland. Maryland scores in the fourth quarter with time to go. Plays the analytics card.

Goes for two. Down eight to cut the lead to six. It's 28-22. USC faces fourth and inches in Maryland territory and tries to kick a field goal. That field goal is blocked. Maryland then takes the ball down the field, not off the block. The offense then scores the touchdown to win the game. This is the third time USC's blown, well second consecutive game that USC's blown a 14 point lead. I don't know if they led by 14 against Minnesota.

So I don't know if we want to overanalyze this, but if you are at the 24 yard line of Maryland and you're up by six with two minutes left in the game and you're facing a fourth and one or shorter, do you kick the field goal there or do you remind yourself that you're USC and try to get a first down to end the game? I don't have a problem with kicking the field goal.

I have a problem with after you get the field goal blocked, your defense still gives up a touchdown. There's a lot of problems involved here. That game was over. They could have gotten a yard and ended the game, and they opted to do the thing that could have gone wrong, and it went wrong. And not only that, they returned at 30 yards to midfield.

So even if you go forward and forth and want to get stuffed, that's still a 25-yard-plus field position situation with two minutes left. That stuff matters. Well, and also, the touchdown before the game winner, the touchdown that they did the two-point conversion after to make it 28-22, if you watch that touchdown run, it is everything we made fun of about Lincoln Riley USC defenses

over the last two years, two plus years. Like, guy gets hit in the backfield and breaks every tackle and scores. Yeah, is this like where you officially cash the bet and make fun of me? Like, are you going to take your moment? No. I don't even feel like it's... You've suffered so much the last three seasons because of this bet.

It's worse than the money. I know. So I'm enjoying that part of it. I've told you. I'm just going to spend a lot of that on a lavish dinner for both of us so you're gonna you're gonna reap the benefits of losing this bet but i am just can i can i can i go dad of teenagers for a second yeah please help me i need any i'm not

even mad i'm just disappointed not in you yeah. Yeah, I know. USC. But in Lincoln Riley, like, I'm mad. This is a very smart person. How does this keep happening? Yeah. It's off the rails. And then also, too, like I think you said in a press conference like this week or recently that recruiting the state of California is their priority. And then like the orange county register like fact checked it and apparently has only gone to bosco and matter day like twice or once this entire year so it's like i and it's like if your answer is you think california players suck and you don't want to recruit them

like you can't say that we we know you like georgia players because they keep committing to you and then decommitting yeah but it's like, that's not a good plan because they're not going to stay committed. Like, it's fun to go spend all the money and fly across the country and, you know, get commitments early on and recruitments from big time players who are just going to end up signing with Georgia or Alabama. It's just like, what are we doing? I just don't know what we're doing. That's what I say a lot. Whenever I'm like upset in public, like today at the pharmacy, for instance,

I had to pick up some antibiotics for my daughter. And this woman was standing in line in front of me for like 20 minutes, asking questions. And I interrupt. I just said, what are we doing? I involved my legitimate questions about her medications. I think that you should have,

if I were president of the country, and I think it's important as we're coming up on election time. I mean, we could write you in. Every single person, when dealing with a customer service representative in a place where it should be easy to do what you're doing, should get a six-minute clock. And if it goes off, you buzz, you have to go to the back of the line. Like, I think that like, if you are one of these people who just goes to the front of a line and then causes everybody else to wait because you're an incompetent person that you should not be in public. Like, that's my number one pet peeve in the entire world. Like, if you're at a rental car agency, like, and you hear the questions that these people are asking, or if you're a person who struggles to figure out what seat you are in an airplane or how to open up the overhead bin in confidence in public is my number one pet peeve in life and i involve myself like i'm one of the i'm a person who involves myself with these people i'll say what are we doing or are we okay

that's yeah that's right i've got a two-year-old with me who's got an ear infection and like is like in pain and i just want to get out of here. And I'm in Walgreens for 37 minutes because the person in front of me can't figure out if the debit card, what her PIN number is. It's like, I can't deal with it. I just can't. I'm sorry. It's almost midnight, and I'm cranky.

That's how he feels about Lincoln Riley because now he has to pay me $1,000 because Lincoln Riley can't put a defense on the field that can stop anybody. Yeah. Does it not bother you when people struggle with rudimentary tasks in public? All the time. I'm just trying not to be the asshole here for once. I've been the asshole enough.

I think people should remind me. I go to the grocery store at three in the morning and do dry runs on the thing so I'm not the person holding people up on the self-checkout machine i'm about the life i love you i love you i love you too bud i think you should stand up at lincoln riley's press comments in it do you know how much your coaching has inconvenienced me the past three seasons andy will not let me live it down the problem is is that when i made the bet

the pathway was so clear and obvious and easy and i lost because you were legitimately one half of football you were you were one caleb williams twisted ankle away from winning the bet when i made the bet i thought he was going to have three years of Pac-12 play with Caleb Williams playing two of them, was going to dominate Southern California recruiting and create a roster that the Pac-12 had only seen in Oregon and definitely win the conference one of the three years. And then they went to the Big Ten and are losing to Maryland in year three of the tenure. Oh, and Minnesota.

I forgot about that one. They did lose to Minnesota, and that of the tenure. Oh, and Minnesota. I forgot about that one. They did lose to Minnesota, and that's the part. You blew up the Pac-12 to lose to Minnesota and Maryland. That's special. They're richer, though. They're richer.

They got more money. They are. They are. But they're not getting what they want. Lincoln Riley can't escape to the NFL. It's not like three years ago when the Dallas Cowboys might have hired him if they fired Mike McCarthy. There's no escape now.

You're in for a penny, in for a pound, unless you want to pay a Jimbo Fisher type buyout. Well, at least he can sit in his backyard and look at the ocean. His backyard's spectacular. You ocean his backyard spectacular you know his backyard is probably not as nice but also is probably very nice because he probably lives in a very big house Hugh Freeze let's go to Auburn so Ari we picked Auburn to beat Minnesota or beat Minnesota I got Minnesota on the brain now after USC uh we picked Auburn to beat Missouri and for most of that game Auburn was beating Missouri and Missouri and for most of that game Auburn was

beating Missouri and it felt for most of that game like Auburn was going to get its first SEC win and then Brady Cook came back in off the sidelines after being hurt he was hurt on the first series he came back in in the second half he leads Missouri. Auburn just could not move the ball when it needed to. Couldn't get stops. I, I, you know, I have been Mr. Run the ball, run the ball. And they did try to run the ball and they did try to keep the ball on the ground and they didn't throw the ball to the other team for once, but I was not right. They could not just control the game, running the ball. They couldn't just run the ball and win.

They needed to be able to throw. They tried. They did not put the ball in harm's way, but they also did not put the ball in their receivers hands enough to win the game. Yeah. So when you look at the three scenarios that you gave me, cause like,

I don't even know what there is to say about Auburn. Like you get it. It's a dumpster fire, which I'm trying to ask this like politely, but I guess it doesn't matter. We're just friends here. Yeah. Any chance that any of the three coaches that you mentioned,

like how high of a chance do you think that any of the three are not the coach there next year? Hugh freeze has the highest chance of getting fired. And'll tell you why because buyouts matter and hugh freeze's buyout i did the math on it i believe it's 20 no 22 million but it's also spread out evenly over the length of the remainder of the contract as opposed to everybody else's where they, it's either larger or there's a, like a large upfront. Like if Florida's fire, if Florida decides to fire Billy Napier, which is a $26 million buyout, half of that is due within 60 days. Hugh Freeze doesn't have that. So essentially Auburn can just make it a budget line over the

next, I believe five years, four or five years. I can't remember exactly how long his contract is. So it's actually the easiest to get out of. But would you want to do that with the recruiting class that he has in the boat right now? And what I told the Auburn fans when I was on their message boards a few weeks ago, I think this is after the Oklahoma loss, I said, look, just watch the recruiting class. If it falls apart, then you've got a bigger problem. If you keep the class together, you should be fine. Now I think Auburn's got to win at least one of the next two games. I saw Kentucky against Florida on Saturday night. Auburn can beat Kentucky.

We talked about Vanderbilt. We've made all the Diego Pavia jokes. We know Diego Pavia took New Mexico State into Auburn and beat them already. That's not a gimme. But Auburn can win that game too. ULM's actually a tough game this year as well. Another New Mexican quarterback, Aiden Armenta. Not General Booty, by the way. He's not starting anymore, but Brian Vincent doing a really good job there. The next three games are not gimmies, but Auburn can win them all. And if they do,

I think everything's probably okay for Hugh Freeze. If they lose to Kentucky and Vanderbilt Katie bar the door if the recruits start getting picked off there could be a big problem yeah I mean he's got one pretty important one but you don't it's not just Deuce Knight the Napier thing

Lagway was obviously very important DJ Lagway who we'll talk about later but the top of their class got strip mined at Florida last year. They kept DJ, but the rest of the better part of the class got stripped mined. Some by Auburn, actually. And so Auburn's going to have to work to protect those commits, get those guys in the boat, make sure they sign. If they do, I think they're going to be okay long-term,

but this is not encouraging. Like this doesn't feel like the Hugh Freeze that was beating teams at Ole Miss when he didn't have as much talent as they did. He's now playing teams where I feel like he's got equal talent and occasionally more talent and they're losing. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a rough deal there.

Which coach of the three do you think is most deserving of being fired? I think it's a tie between the guy who left Oklahoma and the guy who replaced him. Because neither one are doing the things that they were hired to do. And they know that. They knew what they were, they knew what was expected when they got there and they're not doing it. Yeah. It's a rough deal for those three places.

Yeah. Now Hugh Freeze is in year two. So if this continues into next year, I'm not going to be nearly as charitable with him either but the the oklahoma thing and i i've said this over and over and i i am curious to see how it plays out i do not think oklahoma will tolerate mediocrity they are not a program that accepts that historically. Brent knows, but he knows. I mean, he's very familiar. Oh, he 100% knows.

He understands. All of these coaches understand. Like, say what you will about Lincoln Riley, and I've said I think he was managing our expectations going into this season when he was saying, I'm not a miracle worker. Look at this roster I inherited, which is complete BS in the year 2024. Like like you can't say that in year three it's your fault if

your roster is not good enough but he was managing our expectations trying to tell us this is going to happen but i don't know like does usc pony up the dough to do anything about that? It's very expensive. Yeah. And the amount of money that they paid, it's not going to be easy to get out of. Right. While we're on the subject of all this,

let's, let's go to Florida, Kentucky, because I wrote earlier this year that it's got to end. You got to make the decision on Billy Napier. I will earlier this year that it's got to end. You got to make the decision on Billy Napier. I will say this. They played their asses off against Tennessee. I think Billy Napier's decisions probably cost them the game against Tennessee,

but he did get them ready, and they did play their asses off. And then they come in against Kentucky in DJ Lagway's first SEC start, and I got to say, Florida looked fun. Like, DJ Lagway's first SEC start. And I got to say, Florida looked fun. Like DJ Lagway's awesome. It's nice that they're playing Georgia, Texas, LSU, and Ole Miss all in a row now. I know. And that's why everybody's like, well, have you changed your mind? I'm like, no.

I said before the season started, I thought they were going to finish 5-7 or 6-6. And you have to win one of those to go 5-7. Now, Florida State feels pretty... I'm feeling pretty good about Florida State right now. But you have to win two of those to go 6-6. It's fine to feel good about Florida State right now, but after that four-game stretch, you might not feel great about it. Right, exactly. It's going to be very hard.

Very hard. But let the Florida fans enjoy this tonight, Ari. Well, also, too, usually when a team was in Florida's position, the one thing you don't say about them when their coach is viewed to be as a dead man walking quote-unquote is them fighting as hard as florida fight it i i think that speaks very highly of billy napier i i think that and and look a lot of us are gonna have to eat a lot of crow if they wind up bouncing back like what if they win a couple of these games? What if they win three of these games? I mean, you kind of have to keep

them at that point, right? What three? What three are we winning here? I'm not falling into that trap, Ari. Okay, yeah. Well, I mean, it would be very interesting. Like, dude, Florida-Georgia game. You heading

over there? You gotta be there. We could go to state college you are predicting that they will be Georgia aren't you what's that you are predicting that they're gonna be Georgia right that's what I am not most decidedly not so no but I know sir not not LSU not Georgia'll see you at Ole Miss. Do you know what? This is going to sound weird, and I don't know if it's just because it's after midnight delirium, but Billy Napier has such kind eyes.

I want him to do okay. I feel like he's a good dude. I think there's a lot of people in that boat because the people who work for him do like him. The players like him. It's perfectly acceptable to feel that way. He's got a lovable face. There's certain people who have a punchable face.

I don't think that Billy Napier has a punchable face. It's the opposite, yeah. It's a huggable face. You know what I mean by that? Yeah, it's a very huggable face. I'm not trying to get weird, but yeah, Billy Napier has a huggable face. No, but listen i think the florida fans should enjoy their night i think it could be very difficult going forward

still but enjoy this enjoy dj lagway you want to talk about this freshman running back for a second jayden ball oh he's awesome too yeah cole cubelik called that though he did the spring game and was like this dude's the guy uh set an all-time record for florida touchdowns in a single game today with five trey burton that's who he tied dude you know you start to see the pieces that could be really good for them in the future and you could start talking yourself into it. I don't want to prolong this podcast any longer than I agree. And that's the thing. Like what I said before the season is,

is it's got to look a certain way. Even if you lose those games, like you can't get blown out. Are you competitive? Like what if they're competitive against Georgia and Texas and lose and competitive against LSU and lose? Like that's the conversation you'd have. I'm going to look really stupid because I already said you got to fire the guy.

And I've said the decision's been made, and I think it has been made, but also know that the same emotional people who say, I'm going to stop writing checks to you if you keep this guy can have the same emotions go in reverse if the team gets better. And I will say watching DJ Lagway hit receivers in stride, because you and I watch a lot of quarterbacks who can't hit receivers in stride. And you haven't seen a lot of that at Florida. contrasted but it's pretty different so maybe i'm just i'm gonna say maybe out there i'm gonna say maybe i'm gonna look like a dumb ass and that's okay because i don't want to see people get fired anyway so but are you know how i feel about the rest of the schedule. It is very difficult.

I am still not very optimistic. That said, let them have their night. Kentucky fans, I'm just sorry. You have a very weird team. I don't know what to say. It's a very strange team. And I don't know where you go from here. Because this was the one you were hanging your hat on.

Like Mark Stoops seemed to be able to beat Billy Napier in these styles make fights situations. So now you have Hugh Freeze. And Ari, can I say, like if I had to predict what the on three various team site message boards will look like next week, one of Kentucky sports radio or Auburn live is going to be in complete and utter meltdown in shambles this time next week. That's a layup more, but more so than anywhere else. Like, if you want to go... Although, I will say, one of the Auburn Live thread titles

after the game, after the Missouri game, was was Harsin a better coach than Freeze? That's where they're at. I saw that. I saw that message for geniuses, right? I saw that. Yeah. So that's where they're at. I saw that. I saw that. That's where genius is, right? I saw that. Yeah. That's where they're at. I think the Kentucky fans are out on Stoops after the South Carolina game. They're back in after the Ole Miss game.

Way back out again after Vandy and now after this way, way out so i the stoop's flirtation with texas a&m is going to i think erode things but i don't know how long that takes because it's another situation where from a money standpoint he's not going anywhere no he's doing anything but it's not a not a pleasant situation so ari we've been talking for 90 minutes we still have many games to talk about many teams to discuss uh i i can we talk about the the american race which at this point is starting to look like army and navy

marching toward one another and i i realize that that's a bad pun it's probably yeah rimsy wants to see the saucy nuggets commercial again because he's just tired he's just tired i told you this was already told you this is going to be a four-hour show yeah I honestly don't know how far away we are from ending this thing. Like, what are we like halfway through this yet? We haven't talked about Miami. We haven't talked about LSU beating Arkansas. We're going to talk Army and Navy now because I I've seen a lot of confusion about this. So I want to explain this.

And I think how they do against Notre Dame will determine whether they're in the playoff mix or not if one of them beats notre dame i think otherwise it's probably the the boise state unlv winner and and maybe only the second boise state you don't even want because there's a good chance they play twice they're playing friday night in Vegas, and there's a chance they could play again in the Mountain West Championship game. And UNLV is now up by 16 points with a few minutes left in the game. So they're going to be a one-loss team

going against a one-loss Boise on Friday night. Yeah, so we're feeling good about that. So you've got that. You kind of got parallel tracks there. You've got... And I think those are the two conferences we're talking about. Like the champion of one of those two conferences is going to the playoff. So you got Army and Navy heading toward each other. And but it would not be in the actual like official Army Navy game and actually talked to somebody at one of the schools this week. And they were like, it's so weird because all of our bonuses and everything else and the commander in chief's trophy is tied to the official army Navy game. But there is very much a chance that army and Navy could play in the American championship game the week before that. And that might determine whether one of them gets into the playoff. And it certainly would determine whether one of them wants money at stake because these conference

championship games are about selling tickets and on TV and all that stuff. But if they were to play in the American championship game, could we just cut the shit and just move it to the stadium in Baltimore wherever they play? We can't, unfortunately. I just wish. Sorry, I guess my camera died.

I don't know why. I just wish that we could capture the magic of the Army-Navy game, Andy, while also having a playoff spot on the line. Because when they play it again after the one that determines who goes to the playoff, it's going to be anticlimactic. I don't even know why they would show up pride well they will show up because imagine if you won the aac and then made the playoff and then like the loser beat you the following week like how crappy that would be chance if that happens the loser of the champion of the conference championship game will beat the winner

because the winner is going to be getting ready for the playoff. Yeah. So Army crushes East Carolina. Bryson Daly, the quarterback for Army, threw for a touchdown and ran for five more. He had 31 carries for 171 yards. Kanye Udo had 19 carries for 102 yards. It was basically a name your score situation.

Navy also basically had a name your score situation against Charlotte. It was 51-17. Could have been worse. Navy's defense was turning them over like crazy. This is going to be so much fun if this comes to pass, but now Navy plays Notre Dame. Navy and Notre Dame play at MetLife Stadium. That's the game I think that will determine, and then Army plays Notre Dame later. Those two games will determine whether those two teams are

considered for the playoff or not. That game is next week, noon Eastern, MetLife Stadium. I can't wait. let's just say boise beats unlv twice yeah their lone loss is a one loss oregon to oregon who was i think i think boise's boise's probably in in that case unless you've got an undefeated navy or army that has beaten notre dame yeah like that's what i was going to say though like if no if navy is undefeated

and beat notre dame is that a more impressive resume than what, that's what I was going to say, though. If Navy is undefeated and beat Notre Dame, is that a more impressive resume than what Boise's got? Because the other thing with Boise is, too, is when you rank your teams, you also consider who's on the team. And if Ashton Gentry is breaking Barry Sanders' record, I think that would influence where people ranked them, wouldn't it?

It would. But if, if one of the service academies is undefeated, then it's going to be different. Now Navy's best game, best win is Memphis and it's Memphis is only loss, but it's Memphis has not been like wire to wire. Great in those wins, but they play Bucknell temple,

UAB air force, Charlotte. Like that's not exactly murderer's row after Notre Dame they play Rice USF Tulane East Carolina and then of course Army Army and Notre Dame are the the featured slots there they got to win those and so I will see what happens I mean I I'm very excited for this Navy-Notre Dame game because it will give us a better idea. And then, of course, the night before, we'll have had UNLV-Boise State,

so we'll know kind of which one of those is in pole position. Although, again, they could just see each other again, and each of them has a loss to a power conference team already. I'm going to make a prediction, though. I think that if Boise is a one-loss team that beat UNLV twice, they're going to go ahead of an undefeated Service Academy if that happens. Disagree. Bet they don't.

We'll have to make a bet about that, but I don't know that it will ever come true. But I think that Boise would get in. I think there's a chance they could both make the playoff, though, in that circumstance. Yeah, I think that the ACC and the Big 12 would have to help them out there and make sure that there's no two qualified candidates. We're going to talk about the Big 12 helping people out. Yeah. We're getting there.

But yeah, I think that the gentee factor matters, even if it's not supposed to. The gentee factor does definitely matter. And the fact that they were very much in a game with the Oregon team that we think is one of the best in the country. Yeah. I think that's like proof of like, if Oregon is the big 10 champion and Boise's only loss is a one law of one

or two point loss in the final seconds against Oregon, that almost feels like a quality win that Navy or army wouldn't have. Yeah. You gotta be careful with the, with the quality losses. people don't like us talking about quality losses i'm just saying i also i think you're probably maybe i'll go viral for this i'm gonna say it like okay the group of five doesn't really play by the same rules as the power five because the group of five is just constantly trying to prove that it's worthy of playing with

power five conference teams so if the best team in the country beat you in the last second on their home field, that is already proof of the intangible of, can they play with these types of teams? Cause you've already seen it. I think that matters differently when you're talking about the proposition of a group of five team being in the tournament more so than a quality loss would be from P4 to P4 opponent. Does that make sense sense now we're not having this conversation if notre dame beats navy

and army so let's talk about the irish they went down to atlanta played georgia tech in mercedes benz stadium this was a close game for a half georgia tech scored first notre dame tied it it was basically 7-7 most of the first half. In the second half, Notre Dame looked awesome. Riley Leonard played, I think, as well as he's played since he's been at Notre Dame. This was not... And I thought Pyram filling in for Haynes King did a good job at Georgia Tech. It wasn't like Georgia Tech played poorly. I just thought Notre Dame was really good today. They're going to make the playoff, dude. I've been telling you since the day

after they lost to NIU. Feels good. I'm starting to agree with you. I mean, yeah. And it makes that Boise State or UNLV discussion very easy because it will be Boise State or UNLV as long as Notre Dame keeps winning. So here's the thing that I heard this week. And I, our former coworker, David Ubbin was talking about this and I wanted to ask you,

cause it's an interesting discussion. If Notre Dame loses or splits the army and Navy games and has two losses at the end of the year, is that a playoff team to you? I think it depends on everybody else. Like he is certain that they will make it. No, because I think their schedule will be considered and their schedule will be weaker than a lot of SEC or Big Ten teams that they're going to be up against. Yeah, I don't think they're going to make it with two losses. I think they have to win out.

So unless you think the whole picture of their schedule, which is marginally tough wins, but nothing that stands out, but doing it all in succession, like if the committee can talk themselves into it, but I don't think that's how the data is operated or works. So yeah, I think they've got to win out. I think they win. I don't know, man.

Navy and Army are like scoring 40 points in the first quarter. So there are games like it's, then it's a, it's a style, style make fight game. So it'll be interesting. I think Notre Dame can play that way. I think Notre Dame is built to play a physical game. I mean, that's how they won the A&M game. That is how they won the Texas A&M game.

But A&M doesn't fool you with trickery and then strike your throat when you're not looking. Yeah, and the thing is, Army and Navy's offenses are quite a bit more creative this year than they have been in recent years. And throwing a more through this year, too. Yeah, Drew Kronick, the new OC at Navy, especially his offense, a lot of fun to watch. So we'll find out. Let us move to the ACC, because I mean, on any other day that Miami Louisville game, we probably would have talked about the first 10 minutes.

It was so much fun. When Jeff Brom called that fake punt, I was like, this is going to the wire. This is going to be fun. I thought the Damian Martinez run that put Miami up two touchdowns was amazing. Kyle Brandt does the angry runs on uh on the nfl network i don't know if they ever do college version or if he'll he'll ever honor a college run but if there ever was an

angry run that was an angry run but he carried their whole defense into the end zone it was incredible it was incredible and i never had any doubt that cam Ward would get Miami back down the field if he needed to. I was a little disappointed in the last onside kick by Louisville because I thought... Didn't give him a chance. Yeah, yeah. But I thought they fought. I thought it was a fun game. And Miami wins it.

Now, look, Miami and Clemson feel like they're on a very definite collision course to play in Charlotte. The thing is, I think if they both keep winning, they're playing for the bye in Charlotte. I think they're both getting in. All right, I'll give you some one-hour and 45-minutes-into-the-show takes. One, I think that is possible, and I'll listen to an argument if you want to say that Miami has the best offense in college football. That's a take. I don't necessarily – that's not a wild statement to me because, like I said, when Cam Ward got back onto the field, my first thought is, oh, it's fine. Every time Louisville would tie the game, it's like, oh, Cam Ward's going to lead them down the field.

They're going to score again. Like, no problem. Okay, so everybody's just accepting it. I don't know if they're the best offense in the country, but they're among the best offenses in the country. They have a very good offensive line. There was a fourth down play, and I texted you. I can't remember when it was in the game.

It was very early in the game. I texted you. I'm like, that was an I have a great offensive line. Go for it on fourth down for Mario Cristobal. they don't have a weakness they've got great receivers they've got a great offensive line they're running back and carry a defense into the end zone and their quarterbacks are heisman finalists probably so like i like they they can score on anybody now the second take um is that i think that their defense is going to cost them a game that happens before the acc championship which is not which is going to cost them a game that happens before the ACC championship,

which is going to set up a do-or-die situation for them in Charlotte. Because like Notre Dame, we're going to talk about their schedule. Going undefeated is really, really hard. Going undefeated with a bad defense is impossible. I think if they're 11-2, they're okay. If if we're playing guess the game i can guess the game right now it's at syracuse that's one georgia tech scares me uh depends on if haynes king plays but yeah um that at syracuse maybe i keep trying to talk myself into flor state and Florida state lost the Duke. So,

I mean, I don't know, but like, I don't, I don't, I don't see Florida. I see them trying to make a point the way Florida state made a point the last time they played Miami.

I just think it's going to happen. They don't have a good defense and it's a, it's a shame, but they don't. Yeah. So, and Clemson does Clemson does now they may also have a good offense we'll see that wasn't good against Georgia but as we saw in the Georgia Texas game Jordan

defense pretty good so I think Clemson got a little bit of that Texas Georgia if we're being honest in that game yeah yeah I think they did so question is, is Clemson's offense really better? Will you read that? I think it probably is. But they haven't played anybody that really definitively proves that. Zach just said that he would bet his life savings that Miami beats Florida State, that there's no chance. Zach, have you not learned from the dog poop guy,

the burrito guy and the corn cob guy? I think that's his real face too. If you want to clip it. Yeah. I'll have the IRS having a lean on this man's house before the end. We're not doing that. We're not doxing people. Are we're not doing it.

We're not hunting people down. We're not doing that. We are not those people, but Zach learn your lesson. Remember the corn cob guy. Don't do it i actually think i would rather lose my life savings than do the corn cob thing but um okay go ahead and and talk about uh clemson i interrupted you so appalachian state nc state stanford florida state wake forest virginia I don't know that we feel like we've

learned much about Clemson's offense. They have a week off, then they play Louisville. I'm kind of excited for that one. That's at Clemson. We know Jeff Brom's going to make it fun. We know he'll pull out all the stops. That's the one they got to get over. And of course, then they're at Pitt or they're at Virginia tech at pit. I think at pit is the, is the other one that, that you want to kind of look at, but maybe Virginia tech starting to figure some stuff out too.

They had a really impressive Virginia tech look like a wagon against, against Boston college on Thursday. So yeah, Clemson is going to be challenged more than Miami is down the stretch. South Carolina is going to challenge Clemson because of that, the two edges. So, but I think the ACC is still in decent shape to get two in. The Big 12, I don't know. We'll find out.

The two undefeated teams in the Big 12 that are undefeated out of conference and in conference were challenged mightily this weekend. Ari, I was at Halloween Horror Nights Friday night with the kids at Universal going through haunted houses, and then I saw the truly scary thing of Oklahoma State scaring BYU, and producer river just put up a score that said Oklahoma State won 35 to nothing that's not what happened but it was 35 32 or 35 sorry 35 31 with about 15 seconds left to go and our guy Jake Ratzlaff, just a stone-cold killer. Yeah, that was a really – I felt smart because I thought that Oklahoma State money line was to play before the game because it just felt like that Friday night Big 12 grab-ass spot.

The great Ollie Gordon game, like the first good Ollie Gordon game of the year? Yeah, but BYU's not getting bitten by a Big 12 bug. I mean, they could have lost that game, maybe should have lost that game, even though if you watched it, you knew who the better team was. It just kind of got away from them there in the second half. But to drive down the field and score with 10 seconds left, I mean, that was just ice in veins. Like, that was awesome.

And then Iowa State, too, the same thing happened on Saturday or Saturday night where they had a two minute drill stones at the end of that UCF. So for those who don't know, UCF got up two touchdowns on Iowa state, there was a pick six. There was another pick six that the guy dropped the ball ahead of the goal line. UCF just punched it in. So really Iowa state through two interceptions that turned into UCF touchdowns. iowa state was down two tds they came back they're down 35 i believe 35 31 no they're down 35 30 and the clock is running they have no time outs there's about a minute left and they they throw on first down and like okay well of course you're gonna throw on first down this will they had a pass interference call that that put them

in position to score gave them a few cracks at the end zone but they had no timeouts and i was like they're gonna they're gonna do this all through the air well second down they run a draw with rocco beck i'm like what are you doing the is running. But they get right back up to the line of scrimmage and Beck scores. And it's like, oh, they knew all along what they were doing. Like Matt Campbell did not forget how to coach when Brock Purdy left. Like, Ari, do you remember, wasn't it Ohio U that they lost to last year where the Iowa State fans trying to fight Matt Campbell after the game? Like, yeah, look at how far they've come since then. Were the Iowa State fans trying to fight Matt Campbell after the game? Yeah.

Look at how far they've come since then. Well, here's the thing. I want to, as we tie these two things together, who goes in your four spot in the Big 12 this week? Because I'm struggling with this. I'm leaving BYU there. Well, I've had a thought about switching them. They've got the win against Kansas State,

and Kansas State is just murdering people now. Like, Kansas State went to Morgantown and crushed West Virginia. Yeah. So, but I've had two Big 12 teams. I've got to figure this. I haven't even started this yet, but I gave some thought because I'm really impressed by Iowa State. Well, I am impressed by them too. I got to figure out what to do with them

because I don't know that I can put two big 12 teams in the bracketology bracket. And I don't know that I'm confident that, because like, I guess I used to have in person a couple of weeks ago. You shouldn't be in a game with them in the final minute. If you aspire to make the college football playoff, like you should be dominating that team.

So that's the part that I'm, but going undefeated is hard. So I respect that, but this is going to be, this is going to be a crazy season. So Iowa state's going to get a week off. Then they're going to play Texas tech. So Texas tech was undefeated in big 12 play they remember they had the loss to washington state they're

undefeated in big 12 play until saturday when they got annihilated by baylor like the baylor team that we're sure is getting its coach fired like they got crushed yeah yeah i don't know what to think it's i think the only thing you can do right now is focus on the top two undefeated teams. And well, I mean, here's, here's another one. You got to give credit. Ari, we're on the internet. We can't do that. There there's a, there's a one loss, big 12, one loss in conference, big 12 team that we haven't mentioned. That's right. The Colorado Buffaloes. They went to your alma mater and beat them down. 34-7 they beat Arizona.

Colorado's defense is good. Can I get you to say they're good? I think we have to get to the point now where Colorado needs to start getting talked about. Deion's doing a very good job with the team. They're a win away from bowl eligibility. That was my big prediction that they'll make a bowl game. I wasn't going anywhere beyond that, but golly.

And, and Travis Hunter missed the whole second half of this game and they still won 34 to seven. So they, they have become a more complete team than I think you or I ever imagined they would. Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, there's no question.

I still stand by my overall criticisms of Deion's building of the program long-term, but in terms of what he's been able to do with this roster and the games that they've been able to play and win, there's no question that they are much better than I thought they were going to be this year. So I thought after the opener, it was just another repeat of last year,

and that's definitely not the case. Yeah. Well, they're still in it. They have one conference loss. It's to Kansas State. So they, like all these other teams we've talked about are still in it. All of them have to play.

Well, they don't all have to play one another. Most of them have to play one another. I think BYU probably has the easiest path remaining. Colorado has played Cincinnati. And I will say Cincinnati has been one of the more surprising teams this year. Ari, I know we don't,

we don't have the graphic ready. Cause we didn't, we weren't sure how many teams we're going to get to talk about today, but like Cincinnati beat Arizona state. Brendan stores be the, the former Indiana quarterback has played very well for them. And I, I mean, I really don't know. Brendan Sorsby, the former Indiana quarterback, has played very well for them. I really don't know.

I just don't know how this all ends. Yeah. It is kind of good, though, that we have Colorado to watch because they're just an entertaining team. Their personalities are entertaining, and their offense is exciting, and they've got a good pass rush. The Big 12 was always going to be the craziest conference. I just don't know if we can get to a point where we have two in right now, but I had two in last week.

Do we think we can stall until we find out if Oregon State can come back on UNLV or at least send it to overtime? I mean, if you want to be here all night, let's do it. They're down eight. They have them all at the UNLV 21 and second and eight with 48 seconds left. It's just amazing. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm watching it over here. If, if UNLV loses, that would be kind of annoying because I was hoping for Friday night to be awesome, but Friday night can still be awesome, but it does, does make it where probably Boise State needs to win that.

Yeah. But again, this isn't a conference game. I know. I just don't want them to have two non-conference losses going into the Boise game. I want them to be hyped for it. Well, I think there's going to be hype anyway. Because I really do if you and lb loses tonight and then beats boise twice then there's an undefeated yeah the other part of it is that they probably

will play boise boise state twice ari by the way we are almost at the two hour mark this is easily the longest show we've ever done yeah all of you who are still hanging in with us, we love you. Thank you so much. By the way, we haven't been doing this, and we need to start doing this. Sunday mornings, I do want you to, if you are listening to this in podcast form on Sunday morning, please tell me what you're cooking for breakfast. Just hit me up on Twitter and tell me what you're cooking. That was, on the old show, that was my favorite part of Sunday mornings,

waking up and people telling me what they were making for breakfast. What do we got, Ari? We'll still be awake when they're making breakfast at this rate. There's a timeout. We're probably seven minutes of real time before we know what happens

in this game. Nobody's throwing anything on the field, right? Nobody's throwing anything on the field right nobody's throwing anything on the field uh but oh okay actually there's a flag and there's three seconds left so if you want to sing me a song or something these eyes these how about i talked about talking about wendy's nugs and then the saucy nugs flavors that you can get at wendy's talk about the lsu game if you want to talk about lsu oh my god how do we go ahead all right yes lsu arkansas lsu came in and dominated arkansas i apologize to lsu i have not been right i think on an lsu game this year i think i picked them to beat usc and they lost uh and then i picked old miss to beat them last week and i picked arkansas

to beat them this week i am just picked Arkansas to beat them this week. I am just sorry. I'm going to start picking LSU every week from now on. They have turned into – Every week until when? Next weekend? No. I actually still feel pretty good about it. I'm just saying that's a pretty tough situation next weekend.

They're going to Kyle Field. Last play of the game for Oregon State. First and goal. Incomplete pass. Are there any flags on the field there's no volume but people seem to be confused about something but now they're celebrating uh you know right there we go all right so lsu's defense played a great game against arkansas this was because arkansas look we we saw Arkansas beat Tennessee and we saw Arkansas play tough against everybody.

They were like played eight and I'm really tough, but LSU came in and won this game pretty easily. Like I never felt like they were in, in a lot of danger in the second half. Yeah. You definitely could have talked yourself into Arkansas mucking it up at home against an LSU team that's lost to USC, but I think we've probably reached the point in the schedule

where we have to stop thinking about how many games does a team have to win before you don't hold their opener against them. It's like the same thing with Clemson. It's like at what point do you move on from that? And it's like it looks worse and worse and worse every week that they lost to USC, but I don't know the LSU that played today would lose to USC.

I very much am looking forward to... I don't know what my plans are next weekend or if I'm going somewhere, but I'm interested in maybe going to that game. I've never been to Kyle Field for a game, and that's going to be a quasi-playoff game next week, so I'm thinking about it. So LSU probably has to split A&M and Alabama.

They don't have to win out. If they're 10-2 with this schedule, they're in. So they've just got to win out. If they're 10-2 with this schedule, they're in. They're just going to split those. Nothing I saw from Alabama today says that LSU can't beat them. Nothing I've seen from Texas A&M so far this year says that LSU can't beat them. Now that said, either one of them probably could beat LSU. I'm so excited for these two games because it's going to be that that level of atmosphere you know a and m i don't think it necessarily knocks them out if lsu beats them like if they

were to win out they they could still get in alabama however now if i think i can play missouri is it like if missouri beats alabama then maybe then maybe Alabama's done by the time LSU gets there but my guess is LSU's going to be trying to knock Alabama out of the playoff once and for all yeah the next two weeks for LSU is going to be super interesting

and A&M they didn't have the best game against Mississippi State today they got it done and they preserved what's going to be a potential top 12 matchup next week in the SEC. Yeah. Well, I cannot wait. This was an incredible Saturday. So many different storylines.

Ari, I'm trying to think. The games themselves. Well, obviously, USC Maryland came down to the wire. Alabama-Tennessee was very tight the whole way, but not particularly pretty. Georgia-Texas, I don't feel like was in doubt for very long. But the storylines coming off these things were incredible.

Oh, yeah, for sure. Well, there's a lot of dumpster fire storylines. There's that, too. I don't. But it's interesting because I don't feel like we hit those as hard as we could have. Well, it was kind of a busy day. But, you know what? The great thing about this is that we have a show on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday.

And I'm sure we will revisit because we did a drive by on the three dumpster fire programs. I think we've probably talked enough about Oklahoma, but we could, you know, dive a little bit deeper in on maybe Auburn and USC. But no, I think we did a pretty good job of getting around. I mean, two hours and three minutes. I think I think we covered it all. I think know, I think we did a pretty good job of, of getting around. I mean, two hours and three minutes. I think, I think we covered it all. I think so. I think we did send us the pics of your breakfast. We love that.

We'll, we'll be back with the bracketology video on the on three sports channel on the YouTube channel. Probably talk to some, some fan bases. We may have to talk to some people off some ledges. We have to get, get some people pumped. We're going to talk, talk to some ledges. We may have to get some people pumped.

We may have to talk to Tennessee fans about what the world may look like if second half Nico's the guy from here on out. Oh yeah. That could be fun. Never ceases to amaze me. Never disappoints. Ari, I can't walk.