Andy & Ari On3 - How did Ohio State turn into a JUGGERNAUT during the College Football Playoff? | Sugar Bowl preview

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

You’ve had Wendy’s Nuggs dipped in sauce. But have you had them covered in sauce? 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.  This show is sponsored by PrizePicks, America’s most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code STAPLES to play $5 and get $50 instantly. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/STAPLES Axia Time is the offical timepiece for both the College Football Playoff and the Heisman trophy and probably the best kept secret in college football.   Their timepieces are heirloom quality and among the coolest designs in the college space. Axia Time has created a series of limited-edition timepieces for all 12 teams in the college football playoff.  each design is limited to only 100 pieces. Check out your team’s cfp designs at axiatime.com, but you better act fast because they will sell out.(0:00-0:34) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs(0:35-25:17) Ohio State's TRANSFORMATION(25:18-27:11) AxiaTime.com(27:12-44:03) Longhorns facing Buckeyes(44:04-51:18) Recapping ASU vs Texas(51:19-56:40) Shoutout to Arizona State(56:41-1:04:15) Georgia vs Notre Dame Preview(1:04:16-1:05:01) Conclusion Ohio State has gone from losing to Michigan on the regular season’s final day to the clear betting favorite to win the national title. How did the Buckeyes finally tap their vast potential in the College Football Playoff? Ari was in Pasadena, and he’ll explain. In New Orleans, Georgia and Notre Dame will play in the Sugar Bowl. The game was postponed to 4 p.m. ET today because of a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning. Andy and Ari will break down the game. How will Georgia’s Gunner Stockton perform in his first college start? Can Notre Dame’s defense absorb the loss of defensive tackle Rylie Mills? Watch us on YouTube instead! https://youtube.com/live/iAqBJGpHCOE Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

You've had Wendy's Nugs dipped in sauce, but have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy's or Saucy Nugs? Take the crispy and spicy Nugs you love and turn them up to 11. Choose between flavors like honey barbecue, garlic, parm, buffalo, or for your real heat seeker, try the spicy ghost pepper only

on Wendy's signature Saucy Nugs. I dare you, that's seven delicious ways to try the Nugs you already love. Pick a flavor, grab some extra napkins, and to nug like you have never nugged before. For a whole new way to nug, it's got to be Wendy's at participating US Wendy's. Welcome to Andy and Ariane, we presented by Wendy's and I think it would have been a very saucy take on a Wendy's sauciest take Wednesday. Had we said after Ohio state lost to Michigan, Ohio state is going to crush

everybody in the playoff and be the runaway favorite to be the national champ after the first two rounds. But Ari, that's exactly where we're at. Exactly where we're at. Andy, you know, I couldn't have done that. Even if I thought that you could have, at. Andy, you know, I couldn't have done that even if I thought that you could have, you would have, you wanted to, you wanted to. Uh, yeah.

Um, there have been certain transcendent moments in the last 15 years in Ohio state history, where that team shows up. Because I think that if you look back to the beginning of the urban Meyer era, there was a fundamental shift in who Ohio state was. Ohio state's always been a, a great program, but it became an elite one. Um, in the sense of the players that it had in every year since 2000. You know, 13, they've had the types of players on their team that they have now.

But for whatever reason, over the course of the past decade, um, plus they have rarely reached their ceiling. And if you actually go back and you look at the, uh, history books, I think you could actually make the case that the four or five best teams in program history, or at least in the modern era, were the ones who did not win the national title. Like the 2019 team, the 2015 team, they've had a lot of great teams that just fell short. And it's always the one. 2014 was a year early. Like, right, that was a surprise. They were very talented. And obviously, we learned that throughout that season, how much talent they had,

but that was, it was sort of like 98 Tennessee when is that, okay. It 99 is going to be the year, but they just put it all together a year early. Yeah. And if you look at the teams that have either won it like the 2014 team that broke through and lost to Virginia tech earlier in the year or the, uh, you know, or teams that got close to winning it, like the one from two years ago when they lost to Michigan and almost beat Georgia. And now this one, it always seems to be the flawed ones, the not great ones that, that break through and get on the doorstep. So, um, you know, I think that that's

part of just the nature of winning a national title of how hard it is to actually do. And sometimes you just need the breaks to get there. Right. And sometimes great teams don't have the break. So I don't know, like, we can't go forward into the show just saying Ohio State's gonna win it. But with the way that they're playing and the players that they have, um, it just kind of seems like they are on the way to me. So, you know, we'll, we'll see how it goes. They're playing Texas in the state of Texas next week. And Texas is a very talented team. I think that they're

flawed too, and, and have some issues, but if Ohio state plays the way that they played against Oregon, they're not only gonna win the rest of their games, they're gonna win the rest of their games by double digits. So we brought this up on the show last night in the instant reaction show. And I said, I'm not gonna say they needed to lose to Michigan because they didn't need to lose to Michigan. But obviously you are the.

The accumulation of your experiences throughout a season and that certainly woke them up in terms of how you prepare, how you game plan, how you call plays. Somebody asked Ryan day that last night and you got video of Ryan day. Answering that question and it's a really. Yeah. Yeah. Let me tell you, cause when he asked the question, I, I like was cringing in the back of my head because if Ryan would have said, yeah, it was the best thing that could have

happened to us. Like he would have gotten scorched. It's like, I was like, I, cause like, I knew someone was going to ask him. It's like, that's the, that's the Ohio state way. Like, oh, you know, it's the low hanging fruit. Yeah. Yeah. Something happened and that was bad. It must be amazing. Like that's it. And it's like, sometimes just bad things happen, but if you're oh, and four in your last four against your rival, you gotta be careful how you answer that question. And you know, so the second he goes, so, uh, you know, everybody was

upset about the Michigan game. What do you, I don't know. I put like, cause like, I was like waiting, uh, for what he said but go ahead and play the clip and we can discuss how he answered it and what and how he should have answered it. Yeah I mean it's hard for me to say something like that but I know that you know your some of your experiences and this team has had great wins this season. It's had some tough losses. And we have learned from those. And you've got to grow and you've got to build and you've got to make sure you're focusing on your strengths

and making sure that you understand what your weaknesses are. And I think that's a big part of it. But ultimately, it comes down to our guys. And I just keep going back to that because these guys are resilient. are and I think that's a big part of it but ultimately it comes down to our guys and I just keep going back to that because these guys are resilient and you know we're in a place where you can hear a lot of noise but they didn't do that and I'm very very proud of our staff, I'm very very proud of our players but we're far from done.

I think he answered it really well. Yeah he did it really well. Yeah. He did it perfectly of I can't sit there because like there's no such thing as the best thing happening to you is losing to Michigan because losing to Michigan also will continue to be a black, uh, mark on your resume, even if you get it done. So like, I think people will look back at the national title with, with love and, you know, celebration and you know, all the things that fans feel when they win one. But I also think too, the second that they talk to a Michigan fan, they go, we beat you that year.

It's like, it's not as pure, Andy, and maybe it's you rolling your eyes. I don't know. The Ohio State fans aren't worried about how pure it is right now. I'm watching, cuz we got some Ohio State fans in the chat who are new, I think are new to the show. And I am so happy for because we got some Ohio State fans in the chat who are new, I think are new to the show and I am so happy for them because they they were down bad for

Almost a month and now they are on top of the world now the fact that we've seen this team lose two games that we've seen this team lose two games should keep them from getting too cocky because obviously you have to come every week prepared. But we dumped a lot on them when they lost to Michigan. And you know what? If they win the national title,

they're gonna be insufferable and that's okay. Like I am, I give you carte blanche Ohio State fans to be as insufferable and that's okay. Like I am, I give you cart launch Ohio State fans to be as insufferable as you want because we piled on you about as high as we can pile on anybody after that. The reality of the new system is whether we like it or not is that to a certain extent it de-emphasizes regular season results. Now it doesn't mean that they don't matter, but it doesn't carry the same weight that it used to. And I think part of the reason why this rivalry game has become what it is and the obsession of it is what it is.

And this isn't unique to Ohio state, Michigan. It's you know, Alabama Auburn too, but this conference for so many years was decided by who won this game at the end, right? You know, all the way back to the big two little 10 time. And you win this game because this was the original playoff game. And I think the reason why it's so hateful and so passionate is because it wasn't just about beating the team. That's a few hours North, as they would put it.

It's about making the Rose bowl or making the, the, the playoff for the big 10 championship or whatever area you want to go. And I, and I do wonder that like now that it has no impact on your ability. If you have a good year to reach your goals, if quickly or peer or, uh, eventually over time. The passion for the game is going to dwindle because like that like the essence of winning the game is the essence of like winning the year. You know when it's like let people be happy. You gotta you gotta have a bigger picture like this is

going to ruin this or this is like so Michigan beating Ohio State's gonna ruin Ohio State's national title if they win it this year, but if it doesn't ruin Ohio State's national title if they win it this year, then it's going to ruin this or this is like so Michigan beating Ohio State's going to ruin Ohio State's national title if they win it this year. But if it doesn't ruin Ohio State's national title if they win it this year, then it's going to ruin the Ohio State Michigan game in future years. Just let people be happy Ari. Just let them be happy. I'm not trying to make people not be happy. This is the greatest thing in the world.

If you're an Ohio State fan, I'm not saying that they shouldn't be happy. But you know, this is a big picture show and we're not only talking to Ohio state fans, we're talking to everybody. And I, and I think that like part of the reason why, you know, I preferred the smaller field is because it kept the integrity of those games, what they were in, in, in it frankly isn't anymore. So the good news is, is that teams like Ohio state and maybe even Penn state, depending on, you know, the year are going to have, I mean, even, um,

you know, there's eight teams in the playoff that have an opportunity to do something that they wouldn't have been able to do for the first time. Like if Ohio state wins the national championship, this is the first time in history that a team that did what it did on the field in the regular season can go on to win it. So that is the feature of this system and watching Ohio state Avenger loss against Oregon, the way that they did should be gratifying. I'm not, I'm not saying that at all.

So, um, can I ask you an potentially oversimplified question? Sure. Their defense has been playing really well all along. Like the Ohio State's defense has been good all year. Yes. So that's not... The answer is yes.

They've improved some. They were very... They were sacking the quarterback like crazy yesterday. But they have not changed very much. Ohio State's offense is what has changed. Is it just as simple as somebody figured out? Maybe just give the ball to the best player on the field more times. Do you think of Ohio State drew up an offensive game plan that that

involved throwing the ball to Jeremiah Smith on every play they'd win? Not in every play. I think defenses was probably be be on to that. But but if they if they targeted him say 33% of the time. Which is a lot for a receiver. I don't think anybody could beat them. Yeah, well yeah, like. We talked about this. Going into the game and after the game, but Ohio State did throw the ball more in the Michigan game than they had in both, I believe the

Tennessee and Oregon games from a statistical standpoint, but they didn't take shots downfield in the Michigan game. Right. So I think that part of this too is, is how you throw it and when you throw it. And I think that Ohio state has found itself in that it is a throw first team. It knows who they are and they are going to lean into it. And when they lean into it, guess what happens as a result of it.

Basic fundamental football, defenses soften, the defensive front isn't as aggressive against the run. And then all of a sudden you've got Quinn-Shon Jenkins and Trey Henderson, which is why Andy, by the way, when you watch Ohio state play, not just the last two games, but when they're playing at high capacity, even in the first Oregon game, Trey Henderson and Quinshaw and Jenkins break off big runs because they're really talented running backs that are super fast and when a defense is even off a second, they take it all the way.

So like, I think that Ohio State has been very balanced offensively all year Andy, like, and I, and I. I don't, I don't think it's just the downfield shots though. Like look at the first touchdown to Jeremiah. Yep. Go ahead. Look at the first touchdown for Jeremiah Smith yesterday. That's not a downfield shot. That's getting the ball to Jeremiah Smith in space

with a fairly high confidence throw for Will Howard that's not a high degree of difficulty and letting Jeremiah Smith cook. It actually reminds me, I know it's funny that all Ohio State conversations come back to Urban Meyer even when he wasn't coaching Ohio State. Like I covered the 2006 Florida team and Percy Harvin was clearly the best player

on the field in every game. And Urban Meyer and Dan Mullen got kind of frustrated because they couldn't always get him the ball the way they wanted to in the flow of the offense. So they just changed the offense to make it where they got him the ball more times. Whether it was in the flow of their normal offense or they just dialed something up like we're just going to hand it to him or we're going to give it to him. You know, he's going to come in motion and we're going to give it to like it feels like now they're starting to realize if we put the ball in Jeremiah Smith's hands, no matter where we do it, good things are going to happen for us. And Andy, that was a run play, even though it's a pass play, right? Like those short intermediate throws

that happen quickly are run plays. They're more advanced run plays, but tossing the ball to him five yards is a handoff, but it just designed in a way that allows one of your best, most dynamic players to get ahead of steam and make something happen, because that's what they did, and it was perfectly blocked too.

Like, I mean, it was the perfect play call. And I think that Ohio state's plan in general though, is to do that moving forward. And the thing that was so maddening or hard to grasp is that there were times in Ohio state season where they lost sight of that for some reason. And I think now that they have found themselves and are playing with a lot of confidence and you know, Jeremiah Smith too, frankly, as a freshman and is getting better every week. Like it's not like he was a finished product in week three.

Like he is a much better player now than he was a month ago and two months ago. Cause it's his first season ever playing. It's absurd what he's doing out there. And like I covered, like I say all the time, Ohio state for 10 years. There isn't a single player, I think that played their position better than Jeremiah Smith already plays his. Like, and I'm talking about Ezekiel Elliott and Joey Bosa and Nick Bosa. And the list goes on.

Like this is the best, you can make the case he's the best overall player in Ohio State history already. And he hasn't had the accomplishments yet because he hasn't had enough time. Archie has been one too. He's been through all these. I know.

You are such a prisoner of the moment, but no, I think- No, no, no, I'm not saying he's the most accomplished player in Ohio state history. I'm saying he is the best player physically that they've ever had in terms of where the Orlando pace would like a word. Well, Orlando pace is pretty good. Yeah.

Um, so anyway, someone asked me here in the chat and I think it's important that we get into this on the show. We did talk about a little bit. Did you change your stance about Ryan day? And I don't know, did you feel like that I had a really hard stance like anti-Ryan Day? Because I don't know that I did. I feel like you were translating Ohio State people to a world of non-Ohio State people. Like you were translating their feelings to people who aren't Ohio State fans, who probably root for teams that don't have the year-to-year success that Ohio State has, that don't understand necessarily why the Ohio State fan base felt the way it felt.

I didn't even feel like it was your opinion. I felt like you were sort of explaining the prevailing opinion to the rest of the world. Here's my stance. your opinion, I felt like you were sort of explaining the prevailing opinion to the rest of the world. Here's my stance. And I wrote about this multiple times. I never was at the point where I was like, Ohio state should fire Ryan day. But I was at the point where I thought it was rational to question whether he should, like sometimes we get into fire the sky or should he be fired, whatever

discussions and it's like, shut up. Okay. But after they lost to Michigan, the way that they did for the fourth straight time, I was like, okay, it's time to start talking about this. Um, and I don't know, like you, we came into the post season and I think everybody was generally on board. Like when great things happen like this, you forget it, you know, talk about prisoner of the moment.

We forget where we were a month ago, like try to transport yourself back. And that's why I'm not just handing them a national title because I haven't forgotten what happened a month ago. Like they're about to play a really good Texas team. If they get past it, they'll play another really good team. So I haven't forgotten. And like, and I don't know, here's the, it, they'll play another really good team. So I haven't forgotten. And like, and I don't know, here's the, the, the real question. Like my opinion of Ryan day is this.

And you know what? I think I told you this. I don't remember if it was on the podcast or when we were just talking, but did I tell you about the Brian heartline pizza analogy that I gave to him to his face? You talked about it on the, on the show last night. I'm just going to say it again for people who haven't seen that yet, but Brian Hartline asked me in an honest moment, what do you think of the Ohio State football program in the recent years?

And I said, you have the best, let's, let's make a pizza. You have the best ingredients, the crust, the, uh, the best sauce, the best, you know, flour, cheese, toppings, all that. And, uh, you also have other pizza places in the same general competition area, like Alabama and Georgia who have the same great ingredients. And for whatever reason, Ohio state, despite having every possible resource imaginable to be great has. Has routinely made a pizza that's not as good. And I don't know why. And like when it gets to Ryan day,

I really do believe it is super simple. Ohio state fans are very educated as our sec fans, right? Teams that are, that have fan bases that are constantly who's coming in, who's coming out, who do they hire as the defensive line coach? You know, like fan bases are engaged with the day to day minutia of programs throughout the offseason. That's why we have a show four times a week. Right. Ohio State fans are educated enough to know how this team is built with the players that they have on it. Like Ohio State fans knew that Jeremiah Smith

that we saw in the Rose Bowl existed four months ago. Like this isn't a revelation. Like the world might be catching up, but Ohio State fans know you watched this game. Oh, Ohio State fans knew when he was playing for Shaman Amidana in South Florida. Yeah. So if you really want to understand

why people get so mad, Andy, it's because with the way that this team is constructed and the educated fans that know it, they are absolutely maddened by why it takes so long for them to even reach 80% of the capacity that we saw against Oregon. Right? Like even when they played Oregon the first time, and I know it's, it's a different circumstance, but I thought that Ohio state played great in that game and just lost.

And then you watch this one and it's like their defense. We haven't even, we talked about Jeremiah Smith so much, like they have the best defense in college football by a mile. Like they are awesome. I don't know if you watch them like closely, but they were hitting harder than they've been hitting. And it's like, I think all Ohio state fans want is a good game plan, which they have not gotten on a week to week basis.

And I think that's the fundamental. Fundamentally most rational thing to expect from a week to week thing. Like you might not win every game, but you want your coach to have a plan that puts you in a position to win the game. And that hasn't always been true for Ohio State, not just this year, but past years. And then at the same time, not understanding why Ohio State can't squeeze 70%

of what they saw out of that team from a week to week basis is what drives people crazy. I think that people respect that Ryan Day is a good coach and can build a team that's capable of playing the way. I don't think there's a single team that played as well as Ohio State did yesterday all year in terms of like, wow, that's the, that's the megastar or the death star that we talk about. Like that is it right there. And I think that's the base frustration. It's not that Ohio State has personnel issues or that they did a bad job recruiting a position

or four positions or they're just a bad team this year. I think people get mad because they are so freaking good and they don't play well all the time, especially in big high leverage moments. And I think that's a rational thing. And Doug Lamarie says this all the time, but it's true. When we criticize coaches, it's not like I'm just being an asshole. I'm just throwing it at him for no reason. Like they earned that criticism.

So like if you're like here in the chat right now going, are you an idiot for criticizing ever questioning his ability? It's like, what was I supposed to do in that moment? Did you want me to applaud him and say he's the best thing ever? They just laid one of the largest eggs in program history a month ago. So what they're doing now is great. Sure. But we're not going to erase where we were a month ago because they're playing well. If anything, I'm

worried why they... Well, the person saying that to you... How did it happen even more? The person saying that to you said the same stuff you did, but with more cuss words, but they don't want to remember that they said that. And it's okay. Like, I just don't know in the world, not just in sports or Ohio State football, it's like, when presented with more information, you're allowed to change your viewpoint.

Oh, that's the internet work, sorry. You get one opinion and you have to keep it. What do you think of Ryan Day now? I don't know. What do you think of him now? Like, it's a completely different scenario. They just played their best game in his entire tenure a month after playing their worst game in program history. So do you want to average them together? Which one do you want to lean

on? Like, I don't know. The one thing I am curious from your perspective is if they were to lose to Texas in a 34 to 31 type game, like a great, like a great classic playoff. Right. Both teams play great high level everything. Yeah. Does the Tennessee win and the Oregon win? Is he out of the woods? Like, is he done? And the reason why I bring this up is because after the game is over, I don't know if you read the column I wrote yet. I did. It was beautiful. Thank you. Cart moment with the, with the Mrs. I saw it. Okay. And I don't know if we want to, if river put the picture in here, but I walked out of the press

conference behind Ryan yesterday just to see like, because I knew the golf cart was there and all of that. And like his wife was waiting for him on the back of one of the golf carts and transport them back to the Ohio State locker room. And his wife, well, I saw him sit down and he sat down like this, and he looked up into the sky and I saw his body, deep breath, and then he looked over to the left and smiled. And it was the first time I had seen him smile.

Maybe he did on the stage. I wasn't down on the field after the game. I was with you, but- We have to ask Will Howard, who they also wouldn't let on stage. it was the first time I saw him smile after being around him for 30 minutes. Um, and like, I, not a very good photographer, but that's him with, and his wife didn't say anything to him and just put his, her head on his shoulder. Okay. Yeah. And the thing that I was thinking about while this was happening was

I was thinking about while this was happening was, could you imagine the relief that those two people are feeling in that moment? Like, I don't even know. I feel like with what those two have gone through, um, the whole family has gone through. Like I hope that they were able to squeeze some joy out of that because it was like I cannot imagine what it's been like to be him this past month because especially because he's a normal rational good dude you know who has been through the wringer and I think he should have been I wrote in September like is he he's not a psychopath like most of these coaches are like this is a pretty normal guy and And yeah, now he is he is a football coach. So I imagine the relief probably lasted about 30 seconds before he's like now.

Tomorrow today they're on to Texas. But just like that that that one minute sliver of that day with your wife laying on your shoulder after something like that, Like I was like, good for him because it's like he has been in a pretty tough spot. And I'm not even saying he shouldn't have been because I think he earned that tough spot, but you know, Ohio state is in a really, really good position. They are, and now they have to play Texas. And so Ohio State, if you've been watching this season, if it ends the way the gambling public thinks it's going to end, it could end in a national title. You may want to commemorate that in some way. Let me introduce you to Axia Time. I'm wearing

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official timepiece of the college football playoff and the Heisman trophy. Ari, yes, Ohio state has to play Texas now. And this is where it gets interesting because Texas is, is built very, very similarly to Ohio state. Uh, I'm going to go with this, this comment from DB in the chat because I saw it and it kind of got me going a little bit. DB says, this kind of matchup is the battle of NIL big budgets. Do you expect outspending your opponents

to become a more critical conversation in college football? Guys, I don't know how to break this to you. Ohio State and Tennessee spend a ton of money on their rosters. Ohio State and Oregon spend a ton of money on their rosters. Ohio State and Oregon spend a ton of money on their rosters. If you see a big budget, big 10 team or a big budget SEC team playing in a game, they spend a lot of money on their rosters. They all do. It is not that this game is any different than the game yesterday or the game last week. They're all spending lots of money on their rosters.

We got to get over this guys. Everybody's spending a lot of money on players. Sorry. Soapbox. Yeah. I mean, everybody is spending. It'll be interesting because I wonder if in five years, we're going to have more critical analysis of how it's spent.

Right. Because like, that's the thing. I think people that's where the that's where the good analysis will come because like you look at the the the NFL and the NBA coverage, it's not an analysis of even Major League Base Major major league baseball is probably the best equivalent because there's no salary cap in Major League Baseball. It's not a matter of did you spend the most is did you get the most for your money like that's that's the analysis and there have been a lot of terrible baseball contracts that have sent Major League Baseball franchises back. I know baseball

expert, but like, you know, guys who get 10 year deals and start sucking in year four, but it's all guaranteed money. Yeah, Juan Soto just signed a 15 year contract. It may or may not work. Well, I think that when you sign those contracts in baseball, again, not an expert, but you're basically paying for six years

and then the last nine are just to get you there for the first six. But the thing that is, um, you know, interesting is, is that you're right. Everyone is going to pay and you can average rev shoot rev share coming soon. But I wonder like, if like, like, this is a completely hypothetical, but let's just say a team paid $8 million for a quarterback and that quarterback doesn't ever turn out to be good. Like who is held accountable for that transaction or are we ever going to get accountability for those types of things? Right? Like whoever

decided that's like, yeah, our friends, our old friends at the athletic Zack Kiefer and James Boyd wrote a great story today about the Colts situation We're basically Chris Ballard the GM his time has run out like his the accumulation of bad decisions has probably caused his time to run out and That's exactly what's gonna happen in college football like whether it's the coach who is the primary personnel guy now, or if a team decides they're going to bring in somebody else who becomes the primary personnel person and you're hearing about like, I know like Florida is interviewing people for a

GM type job. Oklahoma is looking for somebody like all of them are looking for this person. You got a former GM Michael Lombardi former NFL GM who is Bill Belichick's general manager in North Carolina now like whether it's the coach or the GM the personnel decisions will be held to account. It's just that we always just did it with the coach before because it wasn't necessarily a budgetary thing.

Are constructed right now. The personnel people or the, uh, collective people are spending money on players, the coaching staff wants, and you might not want to, you know, correct that world, but the money being spent is on the guys, the coaching staff wants you to sign. Now here's where I think it gets dangerous. And this is a completely, this is an off season conversation, but let's have it for two minutes. I think that there are coaches out there that are interested in the vanity of the recruiting win. Like I think that winning a yeah, cause they that's what they grew up in.

Like they they yeah, that's all they've ever known. So I think that there has been money spent and I'm not going to say in which instances on players for the optics of getting the player and not necessarily how good their ceiling might be. And I think that when you're spending other people's money, that is a really, really bad route to go down. And like, I think that you've also like, even like when Jimbo Fisher was coming,

like when our friends at the athletic, you were part of it too, right? You wrote that. Were you part of the reporting? Yeah. Um, when you started, when you get down to that graph of like, yeah, Texas A&M's 2021 class that broke records was assembled by a coach who was obsessed with the recruiting rankings. It's like, oh God, like when you read that, right? Like that is like 22 class was now I don't have a problem with loading up on defensive lineman.

Like you're never going to go wrong having good defense. Well, I guess they did. But you usually don't go loading up on defensive lineman. Like you're never going to go wrong. Having good defense. Well, I guess they did, but you usually don't go wrong. Having good defensive lineman. But if you look at the way that class was constructed, it wasn't balanced. It wasn't. It wasn't made to a, to fit how you play. Andy, it was just trying to be number one in the country.

And like when, when Nick Saban did this or when Kirby Smart says this, when he said, we don't look at rankings, we do our own evaluations. They do. Now they see the same things that like our guy, Charles Power sees when a guy, when a player is really good. The difference is like your Kirby Smart's, your Ryan days, your Nick Sabans. They're also looking at how they fit in with everybody else on the roster and the way they play schematically. And I think that's where it gets lost sometimes. But that's how it's that that's critically

important in a day and age where you're deciding how to spend a limited amount of money. And I know there's no salary cap. There may or may not be in the future, depending on how, how the schools want to handle this, but that doesn't mean there's not a, that doesn't mean there's not a limited amount of money. Everybody has an upper limit. And so you have to figure out how to use that money. Yeah. Most efficiently, you know, and during my, my conversation with Ryan

Heartline this past week, we had a discussion about how he's recruiting, uh, receivers. Cause you know, he's signed a million five. He's the best receivers coach in America and the best recruiter of receivers in America. And I, and I was asking him about whether or not he should, or like his philosophy is changing about like high school versus portal and how do you evaluate portal guys and stuff and he goes, listen, dude, like I know that things have been going well here and I'm obsessed with making sure that they continue to go the same way. He feels like people are like waiting for it to start for the bottom to

fall out and I think at some point it might just because it's impossible to sustain this forever like there's no other Jeremiah Smith around the corner, right? Like, I mean, eventually there's going to be a drop off in the receiver. There may not be another Jeremiah Smith around the corner, but the thing about Brian Hartline is, you know, we can like, it's interesting because people keep comparing Jeremiah Smith

to Marvin Harrison Jr. Like Marvin Harrison Jr. was not the level of recruit Jeremiah Smith was, wasn't even close. He developed like that at Ohio State, Emeka, Bucca, like Ohio State has it and this is this is a testament to Heartline. They have the Jeremiah Smiths who came in as five stars and then like he'll become a first round pick. But they also have the Chris Olaves who were under recruited and then developed into great fighters. Yeah well Olave too was kind of an interesting thing because he missed of a two is kind of an interesting

thing because he missed his entire senior season because of an eligibility transfer issue. So he didn't get evaluated properly. But the thing that is that you're right though, because like then what he said was how many five star receivers are there in a given cycle? Like six, he goes, we're not taking this. This was an incredibly rich year for like, you think about Jeremiah Smith, Ryan Williams, Ryan Wingo at Texas, Kam Coleman at Auburn. This was an incredibly dense year. It's not gonna be like that most years.

But he asked me to name the five star receivers that were in Marvin Harrison's class. And he goes, listen, there were guys out there we could have had that we're not, like they're selecting. And I think that you have a certain ability to do that when you have Ohio State stature. But I wonder once money comes in, if everyone's going to get to select to a certain extent, right? Like it's not just about go get the number one player at the position in the recruiting rankings anymore.

It's about go use your money to select the person that fits your roster. I go back and forth on this because markets tend to balance themselves out. And we've seen that like the market for the best receiver in the class, like it tends to find its level. So almost everybody's gonna be offering about the same amount of money. So then the money ball people are going to have to be like, well, your evaluation of saying, hey, that person who's commanding X number of dollars doesn't fit my system or my roster, my culture, my scheme. So I'm going to use 0.6 X to go get this four star that might

not be as sexy, but we wouldn't have had any chance to get in the pre and I'll era. And we're going to allocate our funds in a more smart way. Even if optically, it doesn't look great on national signing day, which is where I think that you're going to find like the thing that like Tennessee and Texas A and M and some of the teams that like came out of the gate for NIL and they're just like firing. Like, I think that like a, it worked to a certain extent for both of them, right? Like maybe more so for Tennessee than than A&M because like, listen, Tennessee isn't

on Ohio State's level this year. But really, I think we're going to find out that nobody is so like, and Tennessee is on such a higher level than they were five years ago. Yeah, right. Like they're not you can't like look somebody in the eyes and say Tennessee is worse off for spending spending money on NIL. You can mock them for not being as good as Ohio State with NIL. But the part of this equation that everyone's forgetting is that yes, Ohio State has spent a lot of money on their roster. But I think more than half of their budget is on retention. Like this is a very veteran team of highly, like Jack Sawyer and JT Tui Malauau were five star prospects before

NIL existed. Like these are four year guys. So you have an NIL laden roster that's also combined with the traditional five star prospect that came into the program before it was by your way in and it's a combination of both. And that's why I took a supercharged version of what Michigan was last year, because not only do they have those veterans, those veterans were five stars and like they had to pay a lot of money,

like Jack Sawyer and JT and some of the guys that are on this defense could be playing in league and making money. So they had to pay those guys to come back. So like that roster is constructed in a way, like it's like, yeah, well, well, Texas and Oregon are similarly situated, but Ohio state is deeper than both of them because they already were recruiting in Texas, maybe to a lesser extent, because Texas recruits better than

Oregon traditionally. I think Texas is getting there. I think Sark has done a great job of roster building at Texas where we've talked about this. They started creating NFL players again. And you see it like when you see Tavondre Sweat playing for the Titans, like he's one of the bright spots for the Titans this season. Tavondre Sweat was a guy that actually for Texas wasn't even a big recruit, but they developed him and turned him into an NFL caliber player. And then they're also either recruiting or bringing through

the transfer portal. These guys that are freaks. I mean, I think Colin Simmons is a freak like Gunnar Helm is a freak. But if you're great, if you're wondering why Ohio State is in the position that it's in, it's because of Jeremiah Smith. Sure, right. And it's probably because to a certain extent,

Will Howard, by the way, played his best game as a, as a Buckeye yesterday. And it is probably partially because of Quinshaw Junkets. But like, if you look at like their defense, they also paid and got Caleb Downs, right? Like they spent money on that in the pool. That's the best, best player is Caleb Downs. Well, he's not the best player who was ever in the transfer portal because Joe Burrow and Kyler Murray were transfers, but it's Joe

Burrow until he's up there. Yeah. Yeah. The thing that's scary. And then I'm going to finish my point is that Jeremiah Smith's got two more years after this and Caleb Downs is still a sophomore. Like I think people forget that he's coming back next year. Yeah. But it's also, Ohio State's also in this position, not just because of those acquisitions, it's in this position because Denzel Burke's not playing in the NFL. And Denzel Burke got torched by Evan Stewart in the first Oregon matchup and then didn't, I think, got thrown out once yesterday.

Yeah. You have, you have. Jack Sawyer would have been a second or third round draft pick. Yeah. Had he gone out. Like on the Bengals right now or something. Yeah, they bangles could really use him right now actually, but I digress.

So and he's also like Jack Sawyer is playing the best football of his career like Ohio State's seniors are ascending all at the same time that they're getting the same output from Caleb Downs and getting the same output that you could expect from Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Iguuka. These are all pre-NIL dudes who are now making NIL money. So they are in a really, really good spot.

It was a masterclass really Andy of assembling a roster as somebody calls me an Ohio State hater. Okay. Well, let's talk about the other roster that they're going to play against in the Cotton Bowl because it's a pretty, pretty capably assembled roster as well. Texas, you know, they struggled to beat Arizona State. They gave up a 16 point lead in the fourth quarter. They needed a miracle on fourth and 13. They, you know, thank Arizona State for running that zero blitz. But I've been thinking about the Quinn, yours thing, because,

because you said we got to have the Quinn, yours arch conversation. I'm like, do we really? Because he still made the throw on fourth and 13 that needed to be made. Like, I don't know that we need to have that conversation. I think Ohio State obviously has a better defense than Arizona State, they will challenge Texas. I think this could look like that's the two Texas Georgia games where both of both offenses struggle more than they've struggled against other teams.

And he I don't know unless something radically changes how they're gonna score dude. Like I'm at that point. Like we've been talking about Texas's offense needs to snap out of it for a month now. So if you don't want to have the arch discussion, that's great. But I don't think they need to be in a game like, yeah, it's Clemson stinks and had like the number 101 rushed defense in America.

Like that's why we need Texas is offensive line. If you want to see Texas score. And compete with Ohio State this game. Texas is offensive line needs to look like it did in the Michigan game. You and I were in Ann Arbor. And we're stunned at how well Texas is offensive line and look obviously Texas has five NFL players on the offensive line. We'll see Cam Williams should be back for this game by the way the right tackle. He missed yesterday's game but he was kind of like if needed break in case emergency break glass he could play he'll be able to play next week. But against Michigan full strength defensive line Michigan early in the season everybody healthy That Texas offensive line looked dominant. It doesn't it does not look like that. It didn't look like that in either Georgia game It didn't look like that yesterday

Like it's got to get back to that Yeah, because they have to be able to run not necessarily as well as they ran the ball against Clemson because that that was a case Of that defense is not very good at stopping the run, but you've got to be able to run, not necessarily as well as they ran the ball against Clemson because that, that was a case of that defense is not very good at stopping the run, but you've got to be able to run the ball some against Ohio state, or you're not going to be able to throw the ball at all either. This isn't a sack adjusted number, but, uh, Texas rushed for 1.8 yards again, a carry, um, against Arizona state, against Arizona state. Sorry, blacked out. a carry. He is Arizona State against Arizona State. Sorry, blacked out.

But I do think too that like Matthew golden and like the game that he had, like is what you would want to see from a Texas receiver. Cause their playmakers haven't really been like, as I say, a bond has been injured. Like, you know, I thought he played a really good game. Deandre Moore is somebody who came in with a lot of, uh, hype and you know, he had a pretty big catch on a fourth down. Ryan Wingo had a big catch too. Ryan Wingo is a really, really good young player.

Um, I just want to see consistent production out of these guys. And I don't like, like, here's the thing. You know, something's up, right? Like you watch Texas and go, there's something not working. And you might like look at it and go offensive line. Right. But at the same time, too, do you believe that there is a quineer discussion? Or do you think that's the, did you lose me?

Uh, you're good. You're good. That's it's, it's an Andy computer issue, not an Ari Mike issue. I apologize. Oh, thank you. Do you think that any of this is quineur's discussion or do you think that it's, that's the low hanging fruit because quarterback is the easiest position to criticize.

I think it's a little bit of both. I also don't think we have the information because I don't think the two starts from Arch necessarily gave us enough info to say he's definitively better than Quinn Ubers. And also, I think Steve Sarkeesian has shown he's a pretty good football coach and he continues to have a lot of faith in Quinn Ubers. And I think probably we should respect that.

Yeah. My prediction coming into the game, the playoff was that Texas would advance the national title game, but would change their starting quarterback in the middle of it. And that's probably not going to come true. But I think the spirit of that prediction is like kind of presenting itself right now. And I wonder at the very least, I'll turn the question around on you. Do you think the only way Texas

beats Ohio State is if arch is running the offense in crunch time? I think that the only way that Texas beats Ohio state is if arch comes into the game and provides an element that Ohio state's not prepared for, or that Ohio state surprised by. Like, I don't know if Quinn yours is going to go out there and beat, beat that Ohio state defense without the, without a Jeremiah Smith on his team. Like what, how are they going to, because Ohio Ohio State's gonna score 38, 35 points probably,

right? Like we have to, that's just gonna happen. Like I don't know if that's. I mean, based on what we've seen the last two weeks, I think that's a reasonable assumption. So like, can, can, cause like did Texas go literally three quarters without scoring much? Two and a half.

Yeah. I mean, it was basically the middle of the first quarter until the, the start to the middle of the fourth quarter. And can we be honest? Like Arizona state heartwarming stories are not to do that. I'm not the 2000 Ravens out there. So like, you know, with what they're missing, some of their best players, they should have, they should have been able to score a bunch more.

And honestly speaking, like on the first possession, I was like, Oh boy, that is this hot Texas. Is this, is this the team that we thought was in there? And then, you know, for two and a half quarters, it's like, okay, well, here we go again, you know, and I don't know, like when's the last time Texas put out an offensive effort that you were like, wow, into it. This team's got it. Like it's been a long time.

The last time they were just clicking on all cylinders on offense was the Florida game, but that was the one where DJ Lagway didn't play so they knew Florida wasn't gonna move the ball at all. Mm hmm. Like you're terrified. You're terrified of making a mistake against Ohio State because they can punish you on the other end. You're terrified against making a mistake against Georgia because they can punish you on the other end. The, uh, the thing here is that the spreads five points, right? And you have to acknowledge the fact that Texas has an amazing offensive line and I don't know if the data in the spread is accounted for this, but Ohio state's defensive line was pretty bad at like getting to the quarterback and sacking him in big games. And I think they sack Dylan. Until yesterday, like Oregon has a good offensive line too. So like Ohio State's defensive line is playing the best football it's played all year. So,

I mean, I guess like the path to victory for me is running the ball well, controlling the ball a little bit, you know, moving it incrementally and not turning it over. And like also to Quinn yours has to hit the shots when he takes them. But he has under thrown some balls that should have been touchdowns in multiple critical interception yesterday. What was an under throw? There was a, there was an under throw earlier in the end zone that probably should have been picked off. They were lucky that the receiver actually did a decent job of playing DB. On that. I think it was Isaiah, but I think they were throwing it Isaiah bond in that particular case, but yeah, the, the, the underthrows he's got to be careful with

because he's in so Ohio state, those are picks every time. Yeah. So I'm actually kind of surprised that there hasn't been more arch package. Like if you don't want to go all the way and just say, hey, Arch is the starting quarterback now. I'm surprised there hasn't been. Drives or looks or formations or even plays where he comes in and does something to catch the defense off guard when his offense needs a spark. I think it's a case of Quinn's ankle being better and feeling Quinn's like Quinn's more mobile.

I mean, you saw Quinn score a rushing touchdown on yesterday. So I think that's probably the reason you haven't seen the arch package that much, because the arch package was put in the in the Texas A&M game. Out of necessity. Because what happened? He scored a touchdown. Wasn't it too? He scored two touchdown. Wasn't it two? He scored two against A&M? I thought it was two. He was good

against A&M. Yeah, it was good. Yeah. I mean, even Quinn, you were like, it's inject stem cells and it was his ankle tomorrow and it'd be 100%. Like he can't move like Arch. So like it's I'm just trying to come up with solutions for a stagnant offense. So if you think that that's just offensive line has to get healthier and Quinn has to be more accurate than I can ride with that. But like that's the that's what I just don't watch.

I don't think Steve Sarkeesian agrees with you and I trust his evaluation better than yours. So but my evaluation is that they are not doing a very good job of scoring at all. And like for a long time. So if that's if that's just who they are, then fine. But like how did you watch that Ohio State performance yesterday and think, how they shouldn't do anything to switch things up? And I'm sure they will. Listen, they're going to have to come out and play their best game. If Texas wants to to even be competitive in this game, they're going to have to play out and play their best game. If Texas wants to even be competitive in this game,

they're going to have to play their best game because Ohio State is. If this version of Ohio State is the one we're going to see the rest of the way. That's a dragon right there, an absolute dragon. Before we before we go, before we put the Peach Bowl to rest completely, we do need to salute Arizona State one more time on a great season. Cam Scataboo for being amazing. And Kenny Dillingham, Ari, we finally have a head football coach who has the same cultural touchstones as us. Let's watch this clip from the Peach Bowl press conference yesterday. Cam Scataboo talking about puking and Kelly Dillingham

showing he's one of us. Cam, there were reports that you were ill in the sideline during the game. Could you give us an idea of what you were going through and how much that impacted you at all in the game? Yeah, I mean I threw up. I mean I threw up. I drank too much water too fast and I was kind of feeling slushy and then fell better after so puking rally, you know, I Was I felt a lot better after throwing up, you know, and That's when it all started, you know, I had a rough first half. I was I wasn't feeling too good

That's like a half. It was a different ballgame. So Pukin rally. It's what I, that's the same thing. I think that's the same thing. I thought when I heard it too, it was like, we're getting into a generation of, of coaches who have grown up during the times that we did, which is like, we're getting old, but, um, we're going to start hearing our pop culture references that will have our children rolling their eyes in 15 years or 10 years or if your kids are probably rolling your eyes now. Currently, although these references and you may call me a terrible parent for this, but I did show my 15 year old son, varsity blues the other day and he loved it.

He loved it. Yeah, I mean, I think 15 is a good age for that, right? Well, also, he appreciated my analysis that that Jonathan Moxon and Lance Harbour brought the spread offense to Texas High School football, even before Mike Leach took over at Texas Tech and everybody started trying to copy what they were doing. It was just, you know, it was spectacular. I don't think we give James Vanderbeek enough credit as a football innovator, but. I'm glad Kenny Dillingham like that. That's an off season interview for us. We we're going to get Kenny Dillingham on the show and we're going to have him break down film from varsity blues.

Yeah. The, uh, that'd be hilarious. If we, uh, are being honest with each other, and this is one of my takes, and this is my experience and this is nothing to do with football, but I think that. Kids learn a lot from movies. Like I was 13 and watched American pie and became a man that day. Like, you know what I mean? Like I know.

Like, we'll just tell mom we ate it. watched American pie and became a man that day. Like, you know what I mean? Like I know, like, and like, listen, you might laugh at me, but like every 13, 12, 14 year old kid who watched American pie for the first time learned something. And I'm not saying to go hump a pie, but I mean, like, there are a lot of sexual things in that movie that were foreign to me when I started watching it and I think it's just part of growing up. So I don't think you're a bad dad I just don't think I wouldn't wanted to watch American Pie with my father either. So American pie well, there were certain scenes in Varsity Blues that still stand out to this day

But you know, I get it He's a that's not the scene I was thinking about either. The Maytag scene. That's the same scene as Pukin' Rally. Yeah, right. He pukes in the washing machine, they're on the dryer. Yeah. By the way, Puking in the washing machine, so before that movie came out, I learned the Puking in the Washing Machine.

So before that movie came out, I learned the Puking in the Washing Machine thing, not personally. When I was a sophomore in college, we had a party. Had a keg, word spread through the apartment complex. You know how that works. Rando starts showing up. And some guy who we didn't know know who was friends with somebody who lived across the hall from us like comes in over serves himself and I see him running toward our laundry room and I'm like no no no no no no and he pukes in the washing machine and I throw him out and I'm like wait a You know, of all the places to puke,

this is probably the second best one. And so I just turned the washing machine on and puke was gone. It's great. I think puking in the washing machine is, yeah, I guess the toilets number one, right? Number one, easy, just flush. Yeah, but the washing machine actually,

you don't have the overflow that you have to clean up But I also yeah I was gonna say you actually can make a case for number one because when you puke into a toilet there's projectile that you've got to wipe off the seat and you can maybe miss it the Right wait what washing machines are big targets? Yeah Yeah, or is bigger in a washing machine, but uh, all right so kids If you've ever learned anything from uncle Andy and uncle Ari that's it if you're at a stranger's house and you get

too drunk just puking their washing machine hopefully there's clothes in there it'll be fine because it'll wash it out that's right all right I'm glad we're teaching lessons to the kids. We gotta talk about Sugar Bowl though. Sugar Bowl is today, 4pm Eastern Time. Obviously, the reason it's at 4pm Eastern Time is an awful reason. There was an attack on Bourbon Street Wednesday morning. They postponed the game perfectly understandable, trying to get everything secured. So now you have Georgia and Notre Dame as intriguing a game as it was before.

We're trying to figure out what's going to happen. Ari, we played Guess the Prize Picks number yesterday on Gunner Stockton. And I think a lot of people were in the same boat I was. So if you're not playing Prize Picks already, download that app. Play $5, get $50 instantly when you use the code staples to sign up. PrizePix is a lot of fun. I have a PrizePix play right now.

I think I'm getting a reboot on, or it just converted to a flex play because I had Evan Stewart more than three and a half receptions and he didn't play. So, but I had Gunnar Stockton at more than 178 and a half yards, which was up from when we talked about it on the show. We talked about it on the show yesterday. It was a hundred seventy and a half.

It was a hundred seventy eight and a half when I made the play. It is now a hundred seventy nine and a half. So everybody saw that number and was like, I think he's going to throw for more than that. Yeah, I feel like I don't know that he's going to even have to like the way that the game goes, it'll be interesting to see, you know how George's defense does like

there is a world where George's defense just overpowers Pence. I mean at Notre Dame, right? Like there's I don't know. I don't think anybody is going into this game thinking it's going to be an aerial assault by either team that it's going to be, you know, throwing the ball like crazy. Riley Leonard's pass yards number is 180.5 and his his rush number is forty six and a half. So the basically the thinking is the key to victory here is Riley Leonard with his legs, keeps and drives alive, You know, frustrates the Georgia defense.

And I do think that that's how it works. If you're Notre Dame, like you need Riley Leonard to be able to use his legs, to extend some drives, then you can wear them down with Jeremiah love. And I, I kind of starting to think it's going to come down to who's more dynamic, Jeremiah love or Trevor eating in this game. Yeah. Yeah. There's this game. Yeah. Yeah. There's no question.

And like, they're going to need to run the ball. They're going to need to possess the ball and you know, Jeremiah love has. Become one of the most consistent best players in the sport this year. And I don't know if people have been sticking around long enough since the NIU game to notice it, but you know, Notre Dame open this game, Andy, as a, uh, I think one and a half point favor. One and a half and it flipped in about 10 minutes. Yeah. And that flips back now because sharp money came back in.

Yeah. So we'll see what happens. But like, I think Jeremiah love and, and Riley Leonard are obviously the two keys of the game here, because I think Notre Dame's offense is going to do a really good job of, or Notre Dame's defense is going to do a really good job of or Notre Dame's defense is going to do a pretty good job hanging in there with Georgia's offense and you know, listen, we've been very wrong about games going into it.

Like this could be the first day that Gunner Stockton is a household name in college football too. Like that's out there so. Or Riley Leonard becomes a Notre Dame legend. It's like right all of those things are possible. That's what that's what's so exciting about this game. So yeah, check those prize picks numbers that they may fluctuate a little bit before kickoff just because again, I think people think Gunner

Stockton is going to throw for a little more than than that, but it may have settled at this point. But download the prize picks app, use the code staples, play $5, get $50 instantly. All right, the thing about this game that I think is so exciting is just what I just said. Like what Gunner Stockton could be a Georgia. Like this is a kid from Rabin County, from Tiger, Georgia. He owns cows. He hasn't named his cows yet, by the way. Some dairy, some beef. I saw him interviewed by our guys at Dogs HQ about this topic. His hairline is, well, he's a veteran.

Let's put it that way. This dude could be a legend after this game. Yeah, it doesn't take much in with big time programs to, you know, cement your yourself into the history. You know, I saw Cardale Jones walking into the Rose boy yesterday. And it was like, he had a very brief time as Ohio state starting quarterback. And he's a made man forever. So, you know, it'll be very interesting to see what we get here today.

And, you know, obviously we were off on both games yesterday, we thought the Texas Arizona State game was gonna be a blowout and that Ohio State and Oregon was gonna be an instant classic and was the other way around. So, you know, the funnest, the best most fun thing about college football is that it is pretty unexp... it's about the unexpected. And there's a lot here that could could go off the rails. And I'm super excited to see it. And you've nailed the line moves on this game completely because

I when you know, I wrote the column coming out of the Notre Dame, Indiana game that Hey, Notre Dame is going to open as a favorite against Georgia. While we were driving to Fort Wayne, it flipped to Georgia favor by a point and a half and you said now the shark money is going to come in at the end and flip it back to Notre Dame being the favorite. And that's exactly what happened. Yeah. And you know, like it or not, I think there's this notion that George is just going to SEC him out of the building. But like, I don't know what planet you're on if that's

what you think. I think Georgia, I think like we have to have a conversation about this. And if, if Georgia ends up winning this game, the conversation might just be, or the call might be is just like Kirby Smart's best coaching job since he's been there, which is insane considering the fact that he's two national championships in the last few years. But taking the team that's efficient down that floor could be.

No, I think that's a legitimate claim. If we think about this, the two national championship teams were so stocked with talent. They were so loaded. And then the team that almost won the national championship that lost to Alabama on second and 26, that team was absolutely stacked with NFL talent. Now, you can say what you want about Mark Richt,

but that was probably the product of his best period of recruiting, or his best sustained period of recruiting. And then Kirby Smart then added on to it with some very good players, including Jake Fromm, who was a freshman that year. So like that's, it's not that wild an assertion. Like Kirby getting this team to the semis might actually qualify as his best coaching job in Georgia so far. Yeah. Yeah. So can't wait to watch the game.

I'm headed to the airport here now. I'm just wish me luck Andy with the with the LAX rental car return situation because my flight's at 1230 and I'm not going to get there till 930. So if it takes. I'm in danger. Um, and then of course the Georgia game, we, we got to talk about what's happening today here in the second. You can just run. Like I, we've talked about this. You can run farther and faster than you think with your new line is what you

don't know, uh, my wife and kid were with me in LA before, and because she was flying home alone with my child, she left her suitcase here, which weighs 700 pounds and I have to check things. So like we've got a lot of work. Yeah. Um, but yes. Uh, yeah, I'm excited to, to lug all my luggage onto a shuttle and then check a bag. Um, like it's, yeah, we, I got a lot going on, but I'm excited for the writers. Don't check't check bags very often. No, ever. We, as a society, have agreed that we don't check bags. Yeah.

Listen, it is like the admission of defeat when you walk up to that little counter and have them put the sticker on. And you know that you're going to have to, instead of just walking out of the airport, walk down like a schlub and wait by the carousel. Oh. Ari, it's been a pleasure. Good luck getting home. We'll talk to you after the sugar bowl.

We'll talk to you guys.