Andy & Ari On3 - Greg McElroy BREAKS DOWN the fiercest QB competitions in college football

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

Whataburger fans, it’s time to celebrate — the Mushroom Swiss Burger is BACK! And, honestly, it deserves a welcome party. Two juicy, all-beef patties, melty cheese and two layers of perfectly grilled mushrooms bring the rich, hearty goodness. And let’s not forget the creamy au jus sauce tying it all together like a perfect bite-sized symphony. But here’s the catch— it’s only here for a limited time. So if you love mushrooms, this one’s for you. Don’t be the person wishing they got it after it’s gone. Grab yours today! (0:00-1:11) Intro(1:12-2:34) Whataburger(2:35-5:33) Greg McElroy joins the show(5:54-16:48) Notre Dame's Quarterback battle(16:49-25:06) Alabama QB Competition(25:07-35:29) Evaluating the CFP Rankings Process(35:30-36:35) Rhoback(36:36-39:29) Greg McElroy's Rules for Life, Wrapping up(39:30-43:23) Emphasizing non-conference games(43:24-51:53) The CFP Selection Process(51:54-53:41) Re-hashing the Alabama QB Room(53:42-58:39) Marcus Freeman's decision for QB(58:40-1:01:35) Conclusion - Bama, Dear Andy & Ari tomorrow Happy Thursday! As we get closer to the weekend in San Antonio, Greg McElroy stops in with the guys to discuss Notre Dame's intriguing QB battle, along with Alabama's. For these two heavyweights in college football, there will be a change at the gunslinger position, and the competitions are starting to ramp up, but the timing is off with this era. Watch here as Greg gives his thoughts on this and much more, including the CFP selection process. Later, Andy & Ari revisit some of the topics Greg discussed, including Alabama and Notre Dame. When will we find out the QB1 for these schools? How will the CFP Selection process change, if at all? Watch here in a jam packed show! Watch our show LIVE on YouTube, M-F, at 9:30 am et! https://www.youtube.com/@On3sports Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey 

Welcome to Andy and Arian three. Happy Thursday. Big guest today. National championship winning quarterback. Greg McElroy. You see him on ESPN. You hear him on his own podcast. He's all over the place and one of the smartest guys talking about college football. Now, obviously having been the starting quarterback at Alabama, having been the starting quarterback at Alabama, having led Alabama to a national title, that gives you a perspective unlike any other. But also, Greg just thinks about the game

in a really interesting way. And you're gonna hear that in this interview because we go really deep with him on the Notre Dame quarterback competition. We go really deep with him on the Alabama quarterback competition. And his thought processes on some of these competitions maybe a little different than I thought.

And it's one of those things where you hear him talk about you're like, ooh, I hadn't looked at it that way before. Yeah, and he also had a nugget about the CFP selection committee that I had never thought about before that I want to pick your brain about. So that'll be good. Yeah, this is. It's a great conversation, so we're going to get right to Greg. But before we

do, I can tell you what we're doing on Saturday. If you're going to be in San Antonio for the final four, come by and see us. What a burger is bringing us to San Antonio. We're going to have the water burger food truck. We're going to be set up across the street from the Alamo, not the Alamo Dome, but the actual Alamo monument. We're going to be right down the street from that Alamo not the Alamo dome, but the actual Alamo monument We're gonna be right down the street from that and we're gonna be there from 12 to 4 Central time Because we're bringing home the W with water burger and you can do that too

double points on your orders From Friday through Monday in honor of what's going on in San Antonio Mushroom Swiss burgers are back. Holy crap, have you seen this thing? With the creme aju sauce, with the double patties, the grilled mushrooms, with the Swiss, it's glorious. And you gotta get that before it's gone. But also, if you're throwing a big party,

let's say you're at home, and you're gonna throw a big party for the game, get some water burger partyacks, 10 burgers. You can have them with cheese without. You can customize your fixes. You go grilled jalapenos, grilled mushrooms. You can do avocados. However you wanna do that,

you can do the Whatta Wings Party Pack. And again, if it's April 4th through the 7th, double points on your order. So bring home the W with Whataburger. And Ari, this interview that everybody's about to see is a W, a big giant W from a guy who had a lot of W's as Alabama starting quarterback. Here's Greg McElroy. We are honored to be joined by the great Greg McElroy.

You see him calling games on ESPN. You hear him on his own podcast, Always College Football. You hear him with our friend, Cole Kublick on Mac and Cube in the morning on WJ OX in Birmingham. Do you sleep? No, I also have a one year old. So you don't know not not much. No, it's with one with a six year old, a three year old and a one year old. Anyone that's been in that situation knows that it's as tough sledding. But wait, we love what we do. Y'all are in the same boat as me. There is no off season nowadays. I mean, it's just nonstop. I mean, it's just college football year round and stories year round. I mean, we just had a power five coach get replaced like a week and a half ago. So it's been wild. But it's a it's fun. It's a fun time to be in the industry for sure.

Yeah, uh, Andy's kids are a little bit older, but mine like wakes up at four in the morning every day and comes into my room. And i'm just like, I have no idea what to do. We've tried putting it down late. We've tried putting her down early. I know. Just know that there will come a time when she's not up at four in the morning. I think no matter what you do now, it's up to her. But it will subside. I've now just kind of found, I wake up at five and go and work out. And that's just, that way at least, I can manage my sleep schedule.

I can only control what I can control. I can't control when they're gonna wake up, but I'm gonna go up five, because I know they're not gonna be up by six. So it makes sense. You are both 5 a.m. workout guys, and I need to know how to be this, because I feel like I'd be such a better,

more productive person if I could do it. I think the reason why it is this way, and I don't wanna speak for you, Greg, is that it's the only time you know for sure during the day that you can do it uninterrupted. Like it's awful, like I hate it more than anything, but it's also great when you're done at six. Or like when you're done. Like by the time I get started, I can't talk myself out of it.

You know what I mean? Like, what else do you have going on at five? And frankly, like I listen to podcasts, I listen to the All Show, like I listen to Pate's show, like I'll listen back to some of my shows sometimes, like I'll bounce around. So like, I feel like it helps kind of set me up for the day. I just think here what people are talking about. And I don't I used to listen to like 90s rap like there was no tomorrow. But it's like that I've found that that's not super productive. So because like while you're working out, that's why you had to, it took me a little while because I was really addicted to true crime. I'm like, that doesn't help me. I don't need to know what the heck happened in 1997 with the double murder

and whether or not they found the person. That's not helping me. I need to listen to college sports stuff. So it's been super helpful that we have so many good ones to choose from and a lot of friends that are in the business too to get their perspective. That's it.

I just, listening to Ari in the squat squat rack I don't think is gonna motivate. It's gonna be hard for me to replace Jeezy with Ari but I'll try. I will try. I do group fitness classes that charge you if you don't show up. So that helps and then once you're there what are you gonna do? Leave in the middle of the class? People are looking at you. You know it's more like a humiliation factor. But I still do true crime where I'll be driving in the middle of the night or whatever and just listening to him like what am I listening to? Okay, Andy, you can talk about football now. All right, we have to because like if you haven't listened to Greg's episode of Always College Football for Monday, I highly recommend it. It is a great, well, it starts with Stanford, like all you know, good play the hits college football podcast too, but you you got into some discussions about some quarterback situations that I I found fascinating and the one that I

found the most fascinating was Notre Dame, which is a team you got to spend a ton of time around during the playoff last year. So you got to see CJ Carr practice. You got to see Steve Angelli get thrown into the the Penn State game You and you got to see how these guys operate with their teammates and how that works. What have you seen so far and how would you handicap that quarterback competition at Notre Dame? Well, I think I think you have a couple of things. One, I don't know how anyone can disregard what Steve Angelli did in the Penn State game. And frankly, every time he's been on the field, the guy's been super efficient.

And that, I think, gives me great peace of mind if I'm Marcus Freeman. I know what I got in Steve Angelli. I know he's super accurate. I know that my floor is gonna be high because we've already seen him play in real games with real bullets flying. So I know my floor is high. Now is my ceiling as high with him as it would be with CJ Carr? I don't know about that because I've watched both those guys throw side by side and the more impressive arm is CJ Carr. But the most impressive arm doesn't always win out. I've seen guys that can throw at a country mile that are backup quarterbacks to guys like Chad Pennington

because they kill you with efficiency. So I think it's gonna be fascinating to see where they go. I mean, CJ Carr from just a sheer arm talent standpoint, probably the most talented guy on the roster last year. But that doesn't mean he was the best option for Notre Dame. The best option for Notre Dame was Riley Leonard. But, Riley Leonard didn't throw it as well as probably Steve Angelli if they're just going to have a passing competition against Ayr. So, I think it's all about kind of where the team is and where it could head, but I think there's a lot of things that factor into this decision

for Marcus Freeman, and I'm not sure that it's one that factor into this decision for Marcus Freeman. And I'm not sure that it's one that is going to be made very easily as it probably stretches into the fall. Yeah, it's so funny because I feel like the majority of people are just assuming that it's Carr's team. And I understand that because everybody looks at star rankings and they get enamored with star rankings and you know, this guy's the next one. He's the next great one. And Steve Angelli hasn't been a five star in years. I think that's premature, personally, just just knowing how much that staff last year, how much faith they had in Steve Angelli. And look, I made the comparison the other day.

I'm sure all of you guys, and I don't know this for sure, so I guess I shouldn't say I'm sure, but have both of y'all seen Joe Burrow throw in practice? Like, has any of y'all? Yeah. So you went and saw LSU at practice, Andy, like how was Joe Burrow in practice? Not what he looked like in the games.

Not the magician that you see on Sundays now. You watch him, you're like, oh, he's solid. Yeah, pretty good. Yeah, that's fine. I'm not sitting there thinking like first overall pick. When I go watch Jermarcus Russell in practice, I'm like, oh my God. You know what I mean?

That's just, that's ridiculous. Greg, and maybe you were told this too. Like I remember being at Tennessee a few years ago talking to a coach and this was when Hennan was still the starter and the coach warns me, he's like, you're gonna go out there and see Joe Milton. Yeah.

And you're gonna say, this is the best quarterback I've ever seen in my life. Right. But consider how they play in the games too. And it's funny you bring up Joe Milton, too. I think there's people, people get very enamored with talent versus being good. It's not a both you can't just because you have talent doesn't mean you're good. And just because you're good doesn't mean you have outrageous talent. You know what I mean? Like I think people have a

tough time differentiating the two. And it's to me, it's a very different evaluation. Roddy Leonard, total gamer, like baller, you know what I mean? Captivates the locker room, everyone will die on the field for him. He was amazing. But if I need to go with the most talented guy in the roster last year, he's probably not the guy. You know what I mean? But he's great at what was needed for that team. He's great for being able to extend plays, use his legs, tough as nails running the football, short yardage specialist, goal line specialist,

and super accurate on the underneath. So I look at where this program has now evolved to and I think more than really anything knowing Marcus Freeman's background as a guy that wants to win on defense that wants to be aggressive on defense. I'm not sure he's against having a quarterback that he trusts in more of a game manager role. And I'm not saying Steve Angelli is that. All I'm saying is that when I watch Joe Burrow throw in practice, I'm somewhat underwhelmed. But when I watch him play in the game, my mind is blown.

And I'm not saying that Steve Angelli is that. I'm just saying maybe he is. Because Notre Dame did absolutely nothing for 38 minutes or for 28 minutes against Penn State. Bradley Leonard gets dinged, in goes Steve Angelli, right down the field with tremendous efficiency and top flight accuracy. So I think this thing's a long way from being figured out and I think anybody that is counting out Steve Angeli as being the starter next year probably just doesn't necessarily understand the dynamics in the room. Yeah, sorry. Yeah. 2000 on Steve Angeli to win Heisman.

Crazier bets have been made. I mean, it's not out of the realm of possibility. I think we weren't talking about Joe Burrow. I'll be the front runner there. If I'm picking the Notre Dame fighting Irish players. Joe Burrow had an entire year of starting as an average looking quarterback before that happened too. Like Steve Angelli didn't play last year outside of you know a few series and what we saw in the playoff so it doesn't mean that that can't happen. I just think that like the mindset with Steve An Angelou is that

he's not even gonna win the job, let alone be great. You know, so that that's a And he might not, you know, he might not, he might not win the job. And if he does, he might not be great. I don't know the answer to that. All I know is that in limited action against real teams, he's looked very much in control. And just knowing Marcus Freeman, knowing the value that he puts in the team, the team, the team, the team, knowing how he wants to win games. I think having the guy that avoids mistakes, that's efficient, that makes good decisions, that's accurate on the underneath, that gets the ball out. I think those are qualities that he values. I think Steve Angelli has all those things. And he might just be a freakish gamer that we don't know.

We don't have sample size know to make that assessment. But he might be a gamer that has a level that we don't know about just yet. But we know if CJ Carr gets the job, we know what he's capable of because his arm talent's ridiculous. And you know he's upset with him too. Like, you know he loves him.

Marcus Freeman loves Steve Angelli. Yeah, right. Well, I happen to think I've always kind of been in line to think if you're sticking around, you're sticking around for a reason. Not that promises have been made. You know what I mean? I don't think, I don't think promises have been made. But Carson Beck waited four years for a reason. You know what I mean? I think there's a handful of guys that if you read between the lines, and maybe Ty Simpson's that way this year at Alabama, I don't know. You stick around for a long time knowing that you might only have two years to play, but it's worth it

because those two years at that place might actually be more valuable than four years at a different place. So I think usually if you wait around that long, I'm always of the belief that I will lean in that direction towards the veteran because maybe they know something we don't. Well, and I'm going to put you in Marcus Freeman and Mike Denbrock shoes, Greg, because I'm curious how you would handle this.

We know Notre Dame is going to have a good offensive line. I mean, we know this because guys who started for them in the national championship game hit the portal because they might not have jobs next year. So how would that influence your choice of a starting quarterback knowing that you're probably going to be able to protect that guy really well? I'm not worried as much about the offense. I think they'll be fine offensively. I think they'll run the ball really well. I'm not worried as much about the offense. I think they'll be fine offensively. I think they'll run the ball really well and the O-line's got a chance to be great. We saw already with Jaggesaw in the bowl game how well he played in the semi-final game how well he played and he might be just an all-american in waiting. See I mean granted small sample size but

looked pretty good against quality competition. So the O--line's got Chase B. Elite. We know the three hit him on start running back. That's a no-doubter. They've got two or three guys coming up, a tight end they love, that they're excited about, even though they lose such a capable weapon to Mitchell. But I think that the offense is fine. The defense is what I'll be paying more attention to for Notre Dame this year. Because if I need a high powered offense to win games, unlike what I had last year, then that would have a pretty big impact on my assessment of the quarterback spot. But if I have an offense that if I get to 24, are 95%. I feel pretty goo I might go. So I think it

adequately did they repla departures off last year. had to play a handful of stretch without big time of those guys that were l six guys that were lost. those five or six guys that were lost, two edge rushers at times, two defensive tackles, their best corner, their best safety, now Xavier Watts who played the whole season but is now gone. I mean, they lost a bunch of guys throughout the course of last season and

the defense didn't drop off much. So I am cautiously optimistic that that group will always be good on defense as long as Marcus Freeman's there. Now, due to defensive coordinator, but Marcus Freeman's still there. So I think it really depends a lot on how confident they are in being able to slow things down, offensively, slow down opposing offenses.

And we'll find out week one. They have Miami on the road week one. So let's load up and let's see how it goes. Because I'm not sure many teams in the country have a tougher first two games than what Notre Dame has on the road week one. So let's load up and let's see how it goes because I'm not sure many teams in the country have a tougher first two games than what Notre Dame has on the schedule this year. You alluded to this with Ty Simpson. So I know you probably didn't anticipate

getting out of this podcast talking about Alabama and their quarterback competition, but what's your perception of what's going on there and what do you anticipate coming out know, coming out of that? It's still so early and I think this group and the staff is a little less likely to show their hand because there's only three quarterbacks on scholarship. I think in the event in which you get to, you accelerate this competition too far down the line, you run the risk of losing one, and now you have two quarterbacks under scholarship and you have to go to the portal and find someone

you're probably not gonna want, anyone may. It's just, I think that they're having to be very diligent with how they're spreading reps, how they're creating competition amongst all three guys, keeping all three guys, keeping all three involved. But I am still of the belief that it's Ty Simpson is the guy to beat. Now, will he beat him? Will other guys elevate and beat him? Perhaps. Ty Simpson, I think if you were to ask me two years ago, I would have said he was the guy to beat because that was coming from the staff. Like this guy, as a red

shirt freshman, the staff all believed that his skill set would have potentially put them in position if he played his best to go and be at their best offensively. He didn't play his best. Didn't have a great spring. Summer was OK. Fall was OK. And then it got good late.

But at that point, Jalen Milrow had already taken control of the quarterback competition. So that was that that was two years ago. Now Ty's a more mature player. He's a more confident player. I think he has a better understanding of what this group wants to be. And I think this coaching staff and the way they handle the quarterback situation will probably be more advantageous for Ty in creating that, that charisma that you need to be good at the quarterback spot in college. Like you got to believe you can do anything as a quarterback. You really do. You have to have nonstop confidence. I think, I think, look, Coach Saban's great. And the previous staff's great, but they were a little bit more, hey, a little more, hey, don't make a mistake, you know, things like that, as opposed to, hey, you can do it. I don't care if you throw four picks, you can do it. You know what

I mean? Like this staff feels a little bit more glass half full with how they communicate with the quarterback spot. So with how they communicate with the quarterback spot. So we'll see where it goes. It's not to say that Keelin or Austin can't close that gap. They're younger. They have really high ceilings. I think the staff knows that in time, that's going to be a fascinating competition to watch, whether it's for the backup job this year, potentially

for the starting job, assuming a big jump from both those guys, or in the starting job next year in the event in which tie is around for one or two, however it all shakes out. But I think it's going to be really interesting. I still would be surprised if it wasn't tied at the beginning of the year for the tie. at the beginning of the year for the tide. You've held that job, Greg, so you understand better than anybody what it is to be the quarterback at Alabama. What's that like? Like when John Parker Wilson finishes up and you're going into spring practice 2009, what is that like when you are competing for the starting job when you're the guy who's expected to win it? You know, it was for me, it was like, finally, you know what I

mean? I'd waited for a while and was finally ready because when I got on campus, John Parker was already the starter. So so never really had much of an opportunity to compete really just competed in, you know, for a backup job for a couple of years, which is great, hey, any competition is good. And I've loved John Parker and support John Parker and knew my role on the team and I just put my head down and just wanted to be better. And like when I got that chance and when the when that job opened up, I wanted to be ready to seize it. My competition was unique in the sense that it wasn't really a competition. I remember week one spring practice, day one spring practice, I got every single number one rep.

Then I had a really good practice. And at that point I was like, I got this. Like I felt good about it. You know what I mean? I was competing with a couple of guys that, one was a big recruit named Star Jackson. And then there were a couple others that were in the mix. AJ McCarran got there that summer.

So he was kind of late to the party, but there was another kid named Thomas Darrah, who was really talented, walk-on. But I think at that point, maybe he had a scholarship. I don't remember exactly what the lineage was, but I never shared a rep. I mean, literally for all of spring, all summer, all fall camp, never shared a rep. I mean, literally for all of spring, all summer, all fall camp, never shared rep. So it was kind of, I got put on

third base to start camp, and I just had to score to secure the starting job. The other guys were starting at home plate, and they had to go all the way around. So I just had such a big lead. It's just not like the competitions that are going on now. Because now, in the event in which you give a guy a big lead like that, the rest of the guys are out the door. So it's just different now with how they structure the reps and how they try to keep everybody happy. That's an interesting thought process

because I wonder what base Ty Simpson's on. But that wasn't going to be my question. It's just an interesting thought process on exercise. I think based just on experience and he's got a lot of skill, man. He's a very talented kid. If he's ripping it, and he knows where he wants to go with it, and he's decisive, and he's confident, he can go. And he can run, too. I think that's a thing that I didn't know he had until last year. I didn't know he was as mobile as he showed last year. So I think he's probably, I mean, if we're using the baseball analogy,

I would say he's probably at second. I think Austin Mack probably at first and Keelan's probably at home just because he just got there. And so many people have said, well, we want Keelan, we want Keelan. I totally get that mindset. I just don't know how often true freshmen are able to go in. If you wanna reset the expectation level for Alabama

and say, hey, the goal is to make the playoff, then okay, you can run a freshman out there. We've seen that happen before, but if the goal is to win the national championship, I think it's really hard to do with the true freshmen. It's happened twice ever. 1985 in an era in which it was pure run around. I know in 2016, Jalen Hurts got them close, but he was run around, right?

He wasn't having to drop back and drop things in the in the holes. He was mainly using his athleticism. And if you look at the roster that surrounded Jalen Hurts in 16, it was insane. Not quite the same as the roster that will surround Keelan at the event in which he was the starter this year. And then you look at Trevor Lawrence. And Trevor Lawrence in 2018 was a unique situation.

Took him four games to get that starting job. And he was amazing. But if you look at his supporting cast, it was outrageous. I mean, not just on offense, but if you look at his supporting cast, it was outrageous. Not just on offense, but on defense as well. So Keelan will have his chance. And he might be a gamer. But I would be surprised knowing the intricacies of this offense and

the expectation level of the quarterback position. I'd be surprised if that gap, that two year gap of having gone to the installs three times now if you're Ty Simpson, five times now if you're Austin Mac, I would be surprised if that gap can be made up in 15 practices in which they're all kind of controlled to begin with. And I guess we have it here, Andy. Greg McElroy and Ryan Day both born on third base, you know. here Andy, Greg McElroy and Ryan Day, both born on third base. You know, I have.

Yeah. No doubt. You're both in a very great position right now, because it may have taken a while for him to get off third base. But Ryan Day did the old run up, jump, and stomp on home plate. So he's there. I think actually Ryan Day than me.

I can promise you. I don't care how much heat he gets for losing to Michigan. I would trade place with Ryan Day right now, for sure. Other than the six, three, and one thing, which I've lived through having three and one at the same time, which I don't think I would wanna relive, I take yours too.

But, all right, I'm glad we mentioned Ryan Day because you're on the ranking reveal show, which is always controversial. And I love that you are not afraid to give unfiltered opinions on that show. But I'm curious, what did you learn? It just makes me mad that I'm the only one that gets mad. Like, shouldn't we be upset

if there are anomalies in the ranking? Shouldn't we be upset? Yeah, yes. We do it on this show, but... Like, to have a, to at least keep consistency. I'm not suggesting I could do a better job. I can't. I'm just like, if this is this, why is this this? Right. You know what I mean? Like, why is this team ranked on IT? And this team's ranked on resume. Like, it drives me nuts. Because that's all we got.

Every week, I know I'm going in there and they're like, Oh, you just get mad on for TV. I'm like, no, I get mad because I care. We got crushed Greg coming out of the championship Saturday because we put out a projected ranking where we just, I thought we were using common sense cause we put Ohio state fifth, I think. I think we had Ohio State ahead of Penn State

because they'd beaten them and nobody else had wins like that. And people acted like we had lost our minds and are like, no, this is what they should be doing. The thing about the rankings that I agree with Greg with is you need to be consistent in your own rankings. You can't you can't change the criteria in the same set of rules. So like the thing that was interesting is that Andy and I ranked our projected rankings on

the Saturday night after the conference championship games in the way that they would have done it a year ago. This year, they opted to emphasize appearances in conference championship games, which was the first time they've done this in the playoff era, and they did it, I think, because they had the benefit of having more spots. But nothing that they did on selection Sunday bothered me because at least it was consistent in the sense of

if you played in a conference championship game, you were rewarded. Now, could you imagine if the top 11 were the same and then Alabama was 12? I would have gone apeshit. Like it would have gone, I would have gone insane because it wouldn't have made sense. I just want it to make sense and I want everybody to be held to the same standard. Whether what you find important is your prerogative, but if you find it important, you have to find it important for everybody. And that's where I stand on the whole thing. But if you find it important, you have to find it important for everybody. And that's where I stand on the whole thing.

Well, the one if I'm going to play devil's advocate on behalf of the committee, in fairness to the committee, you and I might all three of us might be on the committee, but there's still 10 other people whose rankings might not reflect our rankings. So given the diversity of thought, maybe the rankings do have some inconsistencies and that is what makes it a little bit more difficult. I wish we had a camera in the rankings room and I wish every single committee member like we do in the AP puts out their poll. Hey, this is how I see it. You know, this is how I see it.

And then every ranking, every committee member has, has point total that, that is, this number one, number one team gets 25 points. Number two team gets 24 points, so on, so forth. I think that'd be great. I don't know if we'll ever get to a point where we have that kind of transparency, but we might not need it either.

The number one problem is, we might not one problem is there's no transparency at all. Like that's the thing that I was talking to Andy about on the phone a few weeks ago. It's just like I went to the college football playoff meeting here in Dallas when they were thinking about, you know, potentially, you know, changing the format for next year is why can't a committee member speak or like you said release their ballot but also too it's just like if the committee chair is going to go up on television and explain the rankings don't explain or answer every question with well we really like their resume they play good defense they play like you don't need to repeat their resume to us explain to me what happened in the room yeah well seven of us were were really high them. And these idiots wanted this team. And this guy, he's really smart. He was with me. Like the thing about it is if committee members start putting

their polls out, then you're gonna have to find a budget for personal security because people will go crazy. But I do think that there's a way to speak freely, freely, without outing anybody either. You could say, well, eight of us felt this way, four of us felt this way. It was a very contentious argument in the room. Here's how we got to the bottom of it. We know that you guys are conflicted with it. We were too. Here's the best that we could do in the circumstance. And I think that people would accept that because we know it's an imperfect system and we know it's really hard and a lot of it is subjective. But it's the secrecy and the hiding

behind long quotes that say absolutely nothing that drives me crazy. Maybe it's because I'm a media member. I don't know. But if somebody asks you a question of why did this team get in or how hard was it to decipher between five and six, explain to us why it was hard and what happened. Why is that so difficult? Yeah, I'm great with that. I mean, we have had committee chairs in the past tell us, well, you know, hey, it was the win against Oregon that put them over the top. I can live with that. If you give me a singular data point, hey, this is why, I'm good with that.

The problem is we get a singular data point. Well, it was that win against the top two team that pushed this team over the edge. And then you have another team that has a win over a top two team that is on the outside looking in That's where I have a difficult time kind of assessing where we're at But I really believe that here as we move forward. I really hope that there is a renewed emphasis on

Strength of schedule. I want to reward teams that played insanely difficult out of conference schedules. In conference will take care of itself. Out of conference schedules need to be prioritized. I think that's something that I would totally support. I think it'd be really important to acknowledge what teams do on their best day. Like, I don't wanna know your floor. I wanna know your ceiling. And that's what I've always valued.

I've always valued big wins. Your biggest wins to me are your most important, that's your most important. I don't care if you lose to Northern Illinois, doesn't matter. If you show me that you can go and beat a top three team on the road, you got my attention. I believe you.

I don't want to judge you by your worst day. I want to judge you by your best day. That's always been the top of my criteria and I wish the committee would follow suit because last year's committee I feel like Did not acknowledge the highest level of quality instead. They acknowledged more Well, they didn't screw it up that bad Allah, Indiana who didn't beat anybody all season that bat, a la Indiana, who didn't beat anybody all season, but played beat Michigan and then lost in a game to Ohio State rather convincingly, but you could point to, well, they dropped the punt snap and they had this happen and you can kind of point to the circumstantial

ways in which that game got sideways. So that's not me taking Indiana deserved to be in, especially when considering who they were being measured against, Measure them against Alabama and Miami and, and, and South Carolina. Indiana deserved to be in over those teams. But I just hope that we kind of reassess moving forward and be a little bit bigger-picture thinking so that we can put ourselves in position to have a strong playoff field in the future. field in the future. I love the non conference emphasis. I because that's what bothers me is you see these people saying your mat rule say well, we don't. It doesn't matter if we

just win in the Big 10. It doesn't matter. And kind of in a weird way think that the thing they're talking about now where they have the automatic bids. I mean it it takes the onus off losing those non conference games so you could schedule them and it won't hurt you, but I don't know if people will schedule them, even if it won't hurt them. Like if you reward them, they'll schedule them.

Yeah, that's the thing. Like, I mean, I think that we took a good step in that direction the previous year where Alabama and Texas played each other and the outcome did not have some drastic devastating effect on Alabama You know because they went on and won the rest of their games, you know Could you like between move remove the Florida State Alabama conversation? I have run a snake at the brunt end of that one. I get it and the floor seat took care of is the non-conference, right?

Yeah, that was circumstantial and hopefully now with the 12 team playoff We'll no longer will ever have to deal with, well, the player got hurt. Like I hate that too, frankly. I get it, but I think it's, to me, it's a little infuriating. But I digress. Moving forward though, if we can, because every team can control their non-conference.

They can control their non-conference schedule. And don't tell me you can't, you can. We see games scheduled and canceled. In COVID, we saw games canceled on Tuesday only to be played on Saturday. Like we can figure it out. VYU played Coastal Carolina with like 72 hours notice. It's not that hard. We can we can figure this out. We can do it. So you're telling me that we can't do non-conference scheduling. We should reward that. We should incentivize that. We want more top quality games across conferences. What were some of the highest rated games last year? Texas, Michigan was extremely highly rated. What was it? You know, I mean, Miami, Florida was a big one. Yeah, Florida, Miami, early this year, Texas, Ohio State will be huge. Michigan. this year to Texas Ohio State will be huge Michigan a lot of huge in the past we've had Oklahoma and Tennessee play against each other last year Oklahoma Oklahoma played against or Tennessee and NC State played last year Oklahoma and Tennessee was in conference but I was thinking like we've had that in the past yeah but you're at Clemson LSU this year yeah there's a bunch of good ones coming yeah in the Florida State we have a bunch of good ones coming, yeah. We have a Florida State, we have a bunch of good ones to look forward to. So I want more of those personally.

I could care less about seeing, you know, you play against two FCS teams, two FBS teams. Like I think we should reward teams that are taking, taking on significant challenges like the college basketball tournament does. The harder the schedule you play, you lose. Fine. At least you tried, you know, I know it's different, but I think there's something that can be learned from that. We'll be back with more from Greg McElroy, but first I gotta tell you about Roe back.

Yes, I'm wearing my performance hoodie. One of my favorite garments because. It goes everywhere and with everything. I have this in about seven different colors. My daughter has stolen three of them. I have this in about seven different colors. My daughter has stolen three of them. I have managed to claw back one or two every once in a while.

I've also got the huddle hoodie. If you have not experienced that, it is like wearing the most comfortable bedding you own. It really, I think it's the most comfortable piece of clothing I have ever owned in my life. But you've also got polos Shorts joggers the new the buttery soft feeling joggers Outstanding from row back and of course quarter zips

More performance hoodies you got to order multiples of these Great deal at row back right now 20% off your first order if you use the code Andy so code Andy 20% off your first order if you use the code ANDY. So code ANDY, 20% off your first order, R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com, rowback.com, R-H-O-B-A-C-K, use the code ANDY for 20% off your first order. Now back to Greg McElroy. Yeah, before we let you go, Greg, we always ask our guests this one question, and you can go any way you want whether you can be serious You can have fun. It's up to you

What is your rule for life and I'll give you the last one we got was James Franklin Said never eat ketchup on a hot dog. We've had some more serious ones, but that was James Franklin's So if you got a rule for life or a couple What you got? Yeah, I I don't So if you got a rule for life or a couple, what you got? Yeah, I don't know if I have a rule for life that involves ketchup on a hot dog. I feel like ketchup on the hot dogs kind of go hand in hand, no?

Yeah, no, I agree. You're never gonna jump at Penn State like thinking like that. I'm the muscle guy, but yeah, I'm fine with ketchup if that's the direction you want to go. My big thing that I always teach my kids, my rule in life's life's not fair. All right, figure it out.

We have three rules in our house. Be kind, be respectful and be a good teammate. Those are the three rules in our house. And then the one that I've found to be extremely valuable in our line of work is other people's opinion of you is none of your business. So if you hate me, that's not my business, that's your business.

I have nothing to do with that. You know what I mean? And believe me, there are plenty of people that loathe our opinions in our industry, but it's something that I've used and it's been helpful for me mentally and something that I've tried to pass lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you.

I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you.

I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going I got that tattooed on my back. I need that. I love that. I also love the life isn't fair. If you ask my kids when they were like seven and five, what does daddy always say? In unison, they would say, life is not fair. Yeah. I used it on my daughter yesterday. You know, like a preconceived number one, life's not fair. All right, good, we got that.

All right, what are the things you need to do as a person? Be kind, be respectful, be a good teammate. That to me is kind of speaks for itself. Those are my kids will tell you right now those are all the rules like we're good. And then they're now just now coming around to other people's opinion of you is none of your business. So it's been it's been helpful in our house. We love it. Those are my those are kind of our rules. Yeah, I'm gonna stitch that into a pillow and give it to Ari. I actually need that because I'm the one who gets well, I don't

know about you. I get wound up. People wind me up. I used to and then I got off social media and spent a lot better. Yeah, I cannot do that. Yeah, I am finding the crochet person. Other people's opinions are none of your business, comma, Ari. Love it. Great. Thank you so much.

Enjoyed it, guys. Ari, I love what he said about incentivizing good non-conference games. How do you do that? Like, is it just as simple as writing it into the committee's instructions? Like, if a team played a really good team in the non-conference, weight that more?

So that's the interesting thing about the weight concept. Because you have all of these guidelines, right? That the committee is considering. But the guidelines that are weighted fluctuate year to year based on who's on it and what they find important. And I wonder if you could ever have a committee that uses guidelines that are pre-weighted where it says you will consider x, y, and z more than a, b, and c. And everybody is supposed to follow the guidelines based on that. Like that, I don't know if that's too restrictive. Yeah, I mean the basketball committee has the net rankings which sort of bakes that in.

It bakes in how tough was your non-conference schedule. Yeah. So like the thing that I think gets us there in terms of incentivizing teams to do it would be to not to lessen the consequence of losing those games and then of course, great and the benefit of winning them, which I think has kind of already been done, Andy. Like, that's the thing that drives me crazy. And I know that you hate hearing guys like Matt Ruhl say, we're not going to play a tough non-conference because it doesn't matter, because that just fundamentally isn't true. It strikes me that the teams that have won those games have historically been rewarded for winning them. Right. And a lot of times teams have been able to overcome losses.

So I think it's the teams at the end of the year of, well, they beat X, Y and Z that are the ones that are getting in and the teams that don't have those are the ones being left out. So from that standpoint, I don't understand how people don't already see that. So like that to me is that's why I went crazy when who was it? Was it Greg Sankey that said something about the SEC should just yes. Yes, he was saying, well, why? Why are we going to do this? If if our teams are going to be put and his teams were losing conference games at that time, it wasn't a nonference issue. Right. So like, and I think that if Wisconsin would have gone on to win 10 or 11 games last year, Alabama may have had an extra quality win that they wound up not having by playing that game that may have gotten them in. Who knows? What if Alabama had a fourth game like that or a third? I don't remember how many quality wins they had, but you understand. They had Georgia, LSU was a good win. But yes, if Wisconsin had been a playoff contending team, that win in Madison would have meant a hell of a lot

more. Right? Part of this is because they schedule these games so far out, you can't really control how good that team's going to be when you make the schedule, which they can fix that too, if they wanted to, like if they, if they were going to do a big 10 sec challenge, which is something they've talked about, you could actually set it up where. They're open. These teams this year have home games. These teams this year have away games and we are going to match up the most competitive matchups we can make.

If like future scheduled said B B one zero versus sec future opponent to be cited. They could decide at three weeks in advance and that would be fine. Now I don't know if that would be fair and equitable. Just right after the previous season ends. You decide it in January. It's fine, yeah.

That's also kind of hard because with the way that rosters are turning over year over year, it's kind of difficult to, I mean, No, but you have a general idea of who's gonna be pretty good, who's to take a step back? Better idea than it would be if the game were scheduled seven years earlier. No question. So this kind of bleeds into something else that he said that I found interesting.

And I don't know what your take is on it. So let's go through it. But when he said his main rubric for finding what he finds important in the selection process. It's how, what your ceiling is, right? And we've been doing so. How good are you on your best day is what he said. But he also said that he doesn't necessarily take

and put as much stock into teams on their worst day, which I think fundamentally supports his thought process of like, hey, let's reward teams in the non-conference who have these big games. But my question- The team he didn't mention that I felt like that described last year was Ole Miss. Now, here's the interesting thing. Ole Miss's toughest non-conference game was Wake Forest. What if Ole Miss had played Clemson in the non-conference or what if Ole Miss had played yeah, I'm had played Penn State? How different would that be?

Yeah, well that's the interesting thing of like, I don't know that I agree that you can look past some of those things. I just like, Alabama should not have been able to survive what happened in Norman, right? And they didn't. And I don't think Ole Miss, I think Ole Miss didn't survive what happened to them

at home against Kentucky. I think that ultimately was what doomed them. Yeah, I think that so from that standpoint, I think you got to kick that that notion out of the equation. And you got to say, well, we're not going to weight losses against quality opponents. But if you lose to a really bad team, you have to take that into account, which then promotes. When you think about it, if that line of thinking means, well, why would we play a team that's not very good? Because if we lose that game, we have far more to lose than losing to a good team. And you start like, kind of programming.

And I think everybody kind of has these different kind of guidelines in their mind. Like one of mine, and I was thinking about this in relation to the basketball tournament this year. Like, if you've been blown out, It is a giant red flag for me. Blown out is a good one. Yeah, more so in football, but I was thinking about it in terms of basketball this year, so. Tennessee earlier this season in basketball, they were number one in the country. They went to play at Florida and got beat by

30. And I was thinking OK, who else that was in the Elite 8? Got beat by 30 this year? Nobody. Right. The other teams lost games, but they never got blown out. So Tennessee, what happened to Tennessee against Houston in the elite eight? Well, we had a preview of that. It's possible for them to get blown out.

It's in the, in the realm of possibility, which look, their resume was so strong, they were going to make the NCAA tournament be a high seed in football. It's a lot. Tighter margins. And I think getting blown out in football should be a massive mark against you. No matter what, yeah, I'm with you 100%

because being blown out is not a fluke of a day. I think being blown out is a sign of weakness. Yeah, it is a you're being exposed and like George is a great test case for this. Georgia got blown out by Ole Miss. And I didn't go in even though Georgia was the SEC champ in the two seed. I didn't go into the playoff thinking George was going to win it. Right. I'm with you. So even though Georgia was the SEC champ in the two seed, I didn't go into the playoff thinking Georgia was going to win it. Right.

I'm with you. I mean, up until this year, if you were blown out, it was basically a disqualification from the tournament. So this is the first year where we had a test run of, if you were blown out, you still had a chance to play in the tournament. And none of the teams that were blown out

were able to advance in it, really. So I think I'm with you and I feel like I'd be pretty comfortable saying that if you are blown out at any point during the season that your likelihood or chance of. It means you're probably not good enough. You're not good enough. Right. And that's okay. And it's okay to say it. Like, you know, so yeah. Okay. That's one thing if you like, you have a Heisman trophy winning quarterback

who missed that game because of injury. We're only that differently. But if you came into that game at relatively full strength, got blown out. Yeah, like Georgia came in. I probably don't think you can win the national title. That was a big game. It was on the road.

It was an important matchup. You know, Ole Miss had its back against the wall. Like I left that game feeling like Ole Miss You know was a national championship contender Ole Miss lost his starting quarterback for a series in that game and Austin Simmons came in and But I think we actually came to find out is that neither of them maybe it may have been as good as we thought they were so like that that is That's a really good point, Andy. I'm trying to think of like what matters to me.

I think that that would probably be in agreement with that. Like I'm trying to think of things that like annoying me and it's like. That's it like when a team when you know a team isn't good, but you have to pretend that they are. Yeah, I guess some people might think that I. Might have played that game a little bit with Indiana,

but I actually thought that Indiana was a good football team last year. I didn't. I wasn't. I don't play that game. You heard Greg say that like he said he felt like they deserve to get in. Indiana was a good consistent team and. Even though the Ohio State game, there were circumstances you could you could use to

explain it away. But it is interesting because you're going to get more of those arguments where there will be some teams that had a lighter schedule that just didn't screw up. And there will be some teams that played a harder schedule that have some high highs and some low lows. And you got to, you got to decide who in that environment, in the playoff environment where they're playing an elite team every time, who has a better chance of going through and winning some games.

Yeah. And the one thing that you'll learn about me if you're new to the show, and if you've listened to the show for years, is that like I have gotten into trouble. Because once I decide a team isn't very good or stinks, you know, in Ari language, Ari stinks, like Ralph Rousey on my throat all the time about it. You can't say they stink. I'm very vocal about it.

I don't like the pretending of it, which is a compliment to Indiana because I actually didn't think they were bad last year. So, but if I think you're bad, I'm gonna say it on the show and people are gonna get angry and they're gonna call me an ass, whatever, but like that think you're bad, I'm going to say it on the show and people are going to get angry and they're going to call me a, you know, an ass, whatever. But like, that's how I feel. But I do feel like this kind of also moves into the next thing, Andy,

I wanted to bring up to you. And what is your thought of the notion that making every single committee member show their work publicly? I agree with you that you would need a security detail for everybody, if everybody had to put their name to it. I think you have the compromise that would work the best.

Just be honest that we had a difference of opinion in the room. There were this many people who felt like this, felt very strongly that this team should be in and this many people felt very strongly that this team should be in. You don't have to pretend that everything's unanimous. We know it's not.

I think your compromise works the best because the thing is it's one thing to have AP poll votes public, coaches poll votes public, when they don't actually affect anything. Yeah, and you see how people react to those. This affects how millions of dollars move around the sport. You have to be careful there. Look, letters A through L,

I just said member A, member B, member C member C member E and released the ballots. Um, that way. So that we can, you know, without putting names to it. But I know they don't just like rank them one through 25, but like a way for us to check work or like a way to say, well, if you want to do the analysis of why team X was number seven and team Y was number 11, here's the work that we got from the committee. And here's how they got it. I've said it the other day. If you go back to the selection show for the basketball

tournament this year, when Keith Gill came on the Sunbelt commissioner, he came on with Bubba Cunningham, who's the North Carolina AD, who couldn't talk about North Carolina getting in because he wasn't in the room for any of those discussions. Keith Gill gave a really honest assessment of what they did, how the conversation worked, and what happened. And he just said what happened, and it was amazing. Yeah, just say what happened. It's okay. It's okay.

So, yeah. I gotta, we gotta talk about what Greg said about the Alabama quarterback competition, because I had not thought about it in those terms. And he's obviously, he's there, he's an alum. He's got a really good pulse on how this works. They have to be so careful about how they split reps in this situation because if anybody thinks they're gone,

that they don't have a chance, they're gone. And it's three guys, three scholarship quarterbacks. You really don't want to go into the season with only two. So they got to be kind of tread tread lightly here. Yeah. Um, I almost feel like you take a quarterback even if you can't play to be your fourth. Um, you know, I used to think, I wrote a column back in 2000, like, 11, 12, one of those years about how teams should no longer waste a quarterback, a scholarship on the fourth quarterback. Because if you get to that person, then you're screwed anyway. So who cares? Now, I think that everybody should probably have four because of the

volatility of the departures. Like you can't put that fourth one may stay and wind up saving your ass. Right? Like I feel like there was no point in using one of your 85 on a fourth string quarterback in 2012. That person was not was basically not even on the team. Maybe your second one if you're not,

you know, depends on how things go right now. Now like if Alabama loses a quarterback in the portal prematurely. They go into the season with an untenable situation of well, if our core starting quarterback gets injured then we don't have a backup. Like that's bad. Yeah, yeah,

so it's it's a it's a strange situation and then you know you've got the Notre Notre Dame deal where I don't think anybody's leaving if Like if Steve Angele wins the job, I don't think CJ Carr is leaving. I think that they're still going to be there both be there this year. And that's a pretty good situation for Notre Dame, I would think. I'm the guy, I'm the person who has just assumed that CJ Carr is going to win the job. So like to hear somebody, you know, talk about it from that standpoint was interesting to me. And I think I Greg Greg spent a lot of time around them. Because remember, Greg called the Orange Bowl, which was, you know, they had a

lot of time around them in Miami. Greg, I believe Greg called the Sugar Bowl too. So he got to see them kind of evolve through the playoff. And the way Angelie's teammates talk about him and act around him, that's what gives you the sense that this guy's got a real shot. Yeah, it is just like. I watched the game. The Penn State game obviously you did too.

You were you there. You were there, yeah? Did he play like Joe Montana on that series or is that revisionist history? Like I thought he did well. He wasn't perfect, but given this. OK, let's remember the circumstances. Yeah, Riley Leonard and I believe Spindler. I think that's the play Spindler.

I think they lost Riley Leonard and Spindler on the same play. So you've lost a guard and you're starting quarterback on the same play. It's almost halftime. You're actually being physically dominated in the game like on a way to get three and

He played great now There's a fumble that gets recovered by the right tackle That if that doesn't because remember DDS comes through and crushes Angeli. Yeah But he got right back up and not phase. I thought the way he handled that situation was something that if you cast that forward, if you project that forward into into this guy's your starting quarterback, it's a pretty swagged up dude. Like that's somebody teammates will

follow because he handled that situation so well. And you also have to take into account too, like where Marcus Freeman was forged and like, he was like, you know, do that. I was born in a brother. Like he was like, Jim Truss. He's an Ohio guy who played linebacker to Ohio State. Like, I mean like that,

the way that Greg McElroy was describing it, like I was just like, oh man, the sweater vest is back baby. Like I didn't I didn't know. The problem that people have with this is that CJ Carr was a five star athlete who people feel is an NFL draft prospect. And I'm not necessarily sure that Steve Angelli fits that mold. So that's you know who Steve Angelli might be like.

Might be like Greg McElroy. Yeah, I think that was a big time recruit. He played played at a huge school. Might be like, might be like Greg McElroy. Yeah. I thought you were going to say, Greg McElroy was a big time recruit. He played, played at a huge school. Like he played for South Lake Carroll, but he was not the biggest, highest profile quarterback recruit at Alabama.

Like Star Jackson, the guy he had to, he who was in that spring practice competition with him was a more high profile recruit. But Greg was the right guy for that team. Yeah. practice competition with him was a more high profile recruit. But Greg was the right guy for that team. Yeah. So maybe yeah, I too. It's like I did a way too early quarterback competition projection winner list. And like I put car there. But like I maybe I'll be wrong. I don't know. I think that one's a really interesting one to watch. And I

also think they're not going to say anything. Coming out of spring, cause they want them both to stay. Yeah, but I think the other thing with like the playing you're you know holding your heart, your cards holed close to your chest like players know like they might not be saying it in the media, but people know where they stand like I don't think

that I buy into the notion of well, correct the players into thinking they're both in it, even if you know who's going to win the job to keep them there. It's like, I think that like the way you practice and the way that the coaches respond to you, all those things, I think it's quite apparent, whether you have a shot or not very early on. And I frankly think it's a disservice to the actual athlete to do anything. We were playing Brown say it a few weeks ago. The Syracuse coach where he's like, we're going to name a quarterback because our players aren't stupid. They're going to figure out who starter is. Yeah, and it's not right to the kid to lie to him. Whether it be through, you know, important like in.

No, what if they don't really know though? What if what if the two guys are really close? Then that would be a reason to stay. But I think that that could be the the issue here. You know, it sounded to me like Greg thinks that the Ty Simpson is gonna be the guy to Alabama unless there's just some like you know stratospheric leap from yeah from Russell or Mac that I thought was interesting about the Ty Simpson discourse was that

he viewed what he said about if you want to go win the national championship, you go with Ty. If you want to make the playoff and look to the future, you go with with Keelan and like my notion was the exact opposite of that. If you want to make the playoff and be steady,

go with the guy who's more experienced. But if you want to go for, you know a home run swing, go for the ultra talented kid who never lost a high school game that has measurables that jump off the page that might reach his potential at the end of the year and get you over the top. Like that, like I looked at it the exact opposite way, but he's closer to the program and knows more about it. So like he, you know, I try trust what he saying is true. And he's lived it too. That's the, that's where I think Greg's perspective is really interesting because he's been

that quarterback who was surrounded by tons of talent, who if you get the ball out at the right time and you make the throws when you're supposed to and make the decisions you're supposed to make, everything's going to go really well. And perhaps that's Alabama, because Alabama is a loaded team. Athletically, this year, they're going to be better receiver this this season. They're still going to be really good on defense. They're still going to have a really good offensive line.

Like, maybe that's what you need, because we've talked about this. I've gotten on the Alabama fans who say it was all Jalen Millrow's fault, but in their defense, Jalen Millrow made a lot of mistakes, whether it was turnovers or walking into sacks. And if you take some of those mistakes away, perhaps the season turns out differently. Right. Yeah. But these two quarterback.

I mean all these quarterback battles are insane and I'm really, really looking forward to seeing how they shake out here as the season goes on or as the offseason progresses. I'm so excited and I'm excited about what we're trying to talk about tomorrow because you have a column up it on three about. The best non conference games right of the season ranked about tomorrow because you have a column up at on three about the best non conference games right of the season ranked and there are some absolute banger. So listen, we got to get ready for the final

four. We will do that. We're going to answer your questions. Dear Andy dear are you know how to find us at any underscore staples on social media at Ari Wasserman. Andy staples on three at gmail.com Ari dot Wasserman add on three com. Send us your questions. We do we do have a we got that great one from Willie. We're gonna answer that one for sure. But we're also going to talk about those great non conference games. We'll see if I agree with Ari's rankings. but you're going to be even more excited for football season.

So we'll get you excited for the next football season. Get you ready for the end of the basketball season. Hey, what better way to spend a Friday? We'll talk to you then.