Andy & Ari On3 - How Does Notre Dame Bounce Back? | 12-Team Playoff Hypothetical | Dear Andy | Best Helmets in CFB

Episode Date: September 26, 2023

How Does Notre Dame Bounce Back? | 12-Team Playoff Hypothetical | Dear Andy | Best Helmets in CFBToday's show is sponsored by Gametime, the best place to buy last-minute tickets. Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.Subscribe to On3! ⬇️ youtube.com/on3sports/?sub_confirmation=1Welcome to On3 | The best of college football and recruiting https://www.on3.com/Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube - Don't forget to subscribe!https://youtu.be/h7VYGlYFwdE It's a #DearAndy show, but first, we check in on Notre Dame as they have a quick turnaround with Duke in Durham (0:00-10:41)The 12-Team Playoff is in sights for next year's season, but first, we take a look at what the playoff field would look like this year if the 12-team format was in place. (10:42-20:27)It's time for Dear Andy, and we have some GREAT questions from fans:Is Ohio State suddenly tough? (20:28-27:24)Does Taylor Swift's new relationship make Cincinnati the biggest fanbase in all of college football (27:25-30:56)With the new college football playoff format, does the format make way for new fan expectations? (30:57-40:27)How desirable is Michigan State's expected head coaching vacancy? (40:28-44:34)We also have a specific question on bringing your kids to college football games (44:35-46:52)After Clemson's bitter loss to Florida State on Saturday, we receive a few questions asking about the Tigers. (46:53-55:27)Has it always been "line to gain," is this new terminology? (55:28-57:58)We go from one shade of orange to another in Knoxville as we get a question on the Volunteers (57:58-1:04:20)For tonight's extra point, we power rank the top 10 helmets by design in all of college football (1:04:21-1:11:51)

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. I am still in South Bend. Spent some time with Marcus Freeman, the Notre Dame coach on Monday morning. Very instructive interview and just fascinating to watch as a team tries to figure out how to come back from a gut punch. And if you remember correctly, this is what Ohio State was doing Saturday night. So that's Ryan Day celebrating after Ohio State ripped Notre Dame's collective heart out of its chest. You'll hear more about Ryan Day when we get to our Dear Andy segment, because there's still some questions lingering from how Ryan Day responded to Lou Holtz and just the sheer vitriol from Ryan Day in that and why he did that. But we'll get to that in a bit. Let's talk more about Notre Dame, which, by the way, has to turn around and go play Duke,

which is one of the hottest teams in the country, led by Mike Elko, who has done a phenomenal job there. Former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Mike Elko, by the way. And Notre Dame's got to get this figured out because this is their season again. If they want to make the playoff, they can't lose again. They can make the playoff at 11 and one. Their schedule's good enough. Thanks to Duke. Thanks to USC. If Clemson can wind up continuing to win with the exception of the Notre Dame game, there's a chance that Notre Dame can make this happen still. If they play the way they did Saturday, there's a good chance they can make it happen.

I mean, if you look at no turnovers, no penalties, Marcus Freeman was going over this in his press conference on Monday, 176 yards, I believe they averaged five yards a carry against Ohio State. They had statistically a game that you'd think, if you just looked at it, you'd say they won the game. So the fact that it was ripped away from them at the last second, that's a lot to process. And so I was talking to Marcus Freeman about what you do in this situation. And he said he was talking about his former coach, Jim Trestle. So he played for Jim Trestle at Ohio State. And he said that Jim Trestle at times will mention to him,

hey, do you remember when I said this after this game? And Marcus Freeman will say, well, no, I don't remember that. But I remember how I felt. And that's what Marcus Freeman was harping on is it's not necessarily what you say. It's how you present yourself to the team. It's how the coaching staff presents itself to the team and what you do from here on out because they've got to set the tone. And so I talked to Freeman on Monday morning. He had not yet met with the team,

but he'd been going over in his mind how he was going to present everything. And he felt like it was important to present a front like, hey, you made mistakes. We all own those mistakes, but we played a great game. There's a lot to build on here. And so let's talk about the 10 guys on the field because he had a lot of interesting things to say about that. So if you were living under a rock this past weekend, Notre Dame had

10 defensive players on the field for Ohio State's final two plays in that game. They did not know during the first play and immediately after that first play that they had 10 men on the field. It wasn't something that they saw during the play and can be immediately correct. It came over the headset just as Ohio State was about to snap the ball on the last play on the touchdown, the chip train and one yard touchdown run. And so here's what I thought was interesting, because remember, Marcus Freeman is a second year head coach. You know. He's not been doing this for very long. Ryan Day hasn't been a head coach for very long. There are things that been a head coach for very long. There are things that you pick up along the way.

You know, like, for instance, Marcus Freeman played for Jim Trestle. Jim Trestle won a national title in year two at Ohio State, but he'd been a head coach at Youngstown State for a long time, had situationally seen a lot of things. And so this is one where Marcus Freeman and his staff, none of them had addressed this situation before, had to address the situation. So they didn't have a plan in place for it. And now they have put a plan in place for it. So here's, here's the situation. So they get

the news over the headset that they have 10 men on the field. Ohio state is about to snap the ball. What has to happen at that point, you can send another guy on the field. Ohio State is about to snap the ball. What has to happen at that point, you can send another guy on the field, but unless he touches an offensive player, they won't blow the play dead. Ohio State would snap the ball. You would then have a player off sides, so the official would drop the flag.

It'd be a free play. So if you stopped them with the 10 men, because the other guy wasn't going to even be able to get in position they would get another play the only way to get them to blow the plate dead is to touch one of the Notre Dame players or excuse me one of the Ohio State players so here's what they're going to do in the future it was really interesting hearing Freeman talk about the process of this So they have these wise men meetings on Fridays with, with their team, where they talk about different situational football and things that a team could have done better. They'll show clips from around the country and it's stuff that either a team did

well, or a team could have done better. You know, just if they see a team that has good situational awareness, like a guy intercepts a pass while they're protecting a lead and gets down instead of trying to score a touchdown, that sort of thing. They'll praise that. Or if a guy makes a bonehead play, they'll say, hey, if you get in this situation, don't do this. Well, the way they're going to handle this situation from now on. And remember, this is a very specific situation. The ball's on the far hash. It's in the end zone.

Coaches can't get past the 30-yard line. So how do you get someone's attention? They're going to have a signal. He obviously didn't tell us what the signal is going to be, but they're going to have a signal where you take the cornerback on the near side of the field, and you tell him to touch the nearest receiver and get the official's attention nearest you to make to touch the nearest receiver and get the referee's attention

or get the official's attention nearest you to make them blow the play dead and drop the flag because they would have been okay with a penalty on that it's half the distance the goal line it was already very close they were willing to take the penalty but they weren't in position to get the play blown dead so that's what they're going to do from now on. There will be a signal if they're ever in that situation again, where they will tell the cornerback nearest them to touch a receiver and get that play flag, get that play blown dead. And then you can re reevaluate and get it the right personnel on the field. Is it, this is the sort of thing that happens in the heat of a game. And you say, well, what about the player? Whose fault is this? Freeman said on Monday, basically, it's his fault. Don't worry

about who specifically on the staff or on the team didn't do what they were supposed to do. It's his fault because those processes, ultimately, he's in charge of. And it's tough. I mean, when stuff like that happens or you get guys who get dinged up, sometimes this will happen. And you saw, you've seen it around the country. You know, Florida had the situation where they had two number threes on the field in the Utah game. And then later in the Utah game, wound up trying to block a punt or block a field goal with eight guys. So it happens. It's what you do afterward. And you saw with Florida that they seemingly have corrected some of those situations and gotten it taken care of. Theirs was that, you know, the matching jersey number situation.

They seem to have gotten that taken care of. For Notre Dame, if this happens again, there's a plan in place. And I think that's the interesting thing to think about with Marcus Freeman, especially as a second-year head coach. There's so much you don't know. And I go back to when Kirby Smart was in the national title game against Alabama, the one they lost in overtime. And then the following year, that SEC championship game against Alabama, where they did the horrible fake punt

and ended up losing because Alabama came back behind Jalen Hurts those are his second and third years as a head coach there's a lot of learning that gets done in those first few years and I think we can all agree that that Kirby Smart now in I believe he's in year eight as a head coach, and he won national titles in year six and year seven. He's picked up a lot. He's a better coach than he was in year two and year three. Marcus Freeman has a lot of learning he can do, but the difference is they're moving pretty fast.

They were in position to win that game. They're capable of winning the rest of their games. It's up to him and his staff to take these lessons, incorporate them, and keep getting better. Because if they can, there's still a bright future ahead for Notre Dame this season. Forget coming seasons, because I do think they're going to get better. It's one thing. Marcus Freeman seems to have a very good plan at Notre Dame.

It's just a matter of you've got to clean this stuff up as it comes. Right now, I think they're doing everything they can do, and the attitude that they are going to project to those players should have them ready when they get to Duke. They better be ready because that's going to be a very tough game. Next up, new segment. We were talking about this in one of our brainstorming meetings last week. What if there are 12 team playoff now?

We got to start getting everybody ready anyway, because next year there is going to be a 12 team playoff. But what if that were going to happen now? Who would be in position to make it it where would they wind up playing i think this is going to be a fun exercise we're going to do it every week we're going to imagine there's a 12-team playoff this year and tell you what the matchups would be and how everyone would get arranged it's it's going to get you excited because you're going to be thinking about, oh, there's so many different teams that are kind of in the mix for this thing. So we're going to talk about that when we come back.

And then after that, dear Andy, your questions. We've got some great ones. We'll be right back with your hypothetical 12-team playoff. We'll be right back with more show. But first, I want to tell you about game time. It's the place to get last minute tickets. We talked about this Notre Dame Duke game, the game day game, college game is going to be there. Maybe the biggest game at Wallace Wade stadium ever, ever. You want a ticket? You can get in for 123 bucks on game time.

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they've got the lowest prices and the easiest, easiest transactions at the last minute, the stress completely gone. Go to GameTime, promo code STAPLES, $20 off your first purchase. Okay, Sunday we have the resume rankings. From now on, on Mondays, we're going to do the hypothetical 12-team playoff. If there were a 12-team playoff this year, what would it look like? And here's the question that I'm sure you're asking but Andy there will be no Pac-12 at least as we know it next year how's that going to look we're not going to worry about that right now we're going to go with the rules that

are in place they could still change them before the the actual playoff begins in 2024 they still have multiple opportunities to tweak those things. But we're going to go with the rules that are in place, which would be the six highest ranked conference champs get automatic bids. The four buys have to be conference champions. And then we just arrange it the rest of the way. And I think there's some folks that got mad when I did my New Year's Six Bowl projections on Sunday. The Washington people were very mad. I left them out.

And I had North Carolina in there. And they said, well, how is that even possible? Well, it's possible because in that situation, the Orange Bowl has to take an ACC team. But in this situation, all of that goes away. The conference affiliation with a bowl is not an issue anymore. So I'm taking North Carolina out. The other teams that were in that projected New Year's Six will be the same, but I am inserting Washington in there because in this case, you don't have any contractual obligation to take a team from a certain conference. So we'll, we'll just go with that. And honestly, I didn't know how to, especially this PAC 12 teams, it's hard to order them. And so I'm just guessing at who I think will win the league and who I think will be the best

teams. So I guessed that Oregon wins the league and who I think will be the best teams. So I guessed that Oregon wins the league in this case. So here's how I've got it seated right now. I've got Georgia number one, Penn State number two, because I remember I said, I think Penn State's going to win the Big Ten. Now, I could be wrong on that, but I think there's a really good chance if we had a 12-team playoff this year that Penn State, Michigan, and Ohio State would either all make it or I'll be very much in the mix for it going into the last week of the season. I got Texas number three, Florida State number four. I'm saying Oregon wins the Pac-12, which will be a mighty achievement this year. So I got them number five, Michigan six, Ohio State seven.

So yes, that would be me predicting a Michigan win against Ohio State. Sorry, Buckeyes, but enjoy that win against Notre Dame for now, and you can just prove me wrong later. Eight Notre Dame, which in that situation, they don't have to win the rest of their games. I do think probably they got to beat USC, and maybe they could drop one because they would need the quality of that USC win, but maybe not. Maybe if they're just close against USC and win the rest of their games,

it's good enough. 10, I had Washington. 11, I had Alabama. I'm not giving up on the Crimson Tide right now. I thought it was pretty impressive the way they bounced back against Ole Miss. That's a pretty good Ole Miss team. And I think they can win games playing an offense that really does actually accentuate what Jalen Milrow does best.

So I'm going to put them in here for now. Obviously, if they lose to LSU or something like that, we'll just pull them right out. And number 12, that would be your group of five highest ranked champ right now. I'm just projecting Fresno State there right now. Fresno State has beaten Purdue. They have shut out Arizona State. That'd be the same Arizona State team that USC gave up 28 points to on Saturday night. So I don't know if the Bulldogs are going to win the Mountain West, but so far they are looking very good. So that's how I've got it. So how would this work out?

This is where it gets fun. This is where it gets fun. So you know how I feel about the home sites, that it really should be home sites, I think, all the way until the title game would be your one neutral site game. But I could live with if the semis were also neutral sites. But for now, the quarterfinals will be in bowls. The teams that earn the highest seeds will get screwed and not get to play a home game. We're going to work off that. So here we go. Your first game, number 12 Fresno State at number five Oregon, winner to play Florida State in the Orange Bowl. That's pretty exciting. You could have an Oregon-Florida State playoff rematch.

Remember, they met in the first playoff in the Rose Bowl after the 2014 season. Number 11 Alabama at number six Michigan. Here it is. This is what you big 10 fans have wanted all along. You want somebody from the sec to come up and play in the cold. Well, here you go. Now you've got a chance, Alabama and Michigan. It would be bitterly cold in Ann Arbor, most likely. And the winner plays Texas in the cotton bowl. I mean that just the helmet matchups with those potential, whatever the two potential quarterfinal matchups are and the Alabama, Michigan, it's, it's everything you want. If you're a TV executive, it's definitely everything you want, but that would get everybody very excited. Here's a game I would love to see this

year. I don't care how this could be in, in our real 14 playoff. If this is a game game I would love to see this year. I don't care how this could be in our real 14 playoff. If this is a game, I would love to see it. If this winds up being a bowl game that isn't in the playoff, I'd love to see it. But I just, this, these two teams, I would really like to see play each other. Number 10, Washington at number seven, Ohio state, the winner plays Penn state in the Rose bowl.

Come on. And I know what you're saying. Oh, State already plays Penn State yeah we're gonna have rematches it's it's just inevitable in fact the next game is another rematch is a rematch at the same site it was played during the season which these are gonna happen we obviously see them in the in the NFL playoffs and of course you see them in every other level of sport when they have more games. But number nine, USC at number eight, Notre Dame. It would be nice if it flipped the location. But maybe I should have just in my randomizing and guessing about where everybody be ranked. Should have just put Notre Dame at nine and USC at eight.

But my supposition was Notre Dame beats USC in the regular season. That's the only way that happens. And USC then loses the one key conference game that costed the conference title. So Notre Dame would be ranked ahead of USC in that situation. The winner plays number one Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Come on. That's going to be so much fun. Those matchups sound incredible.

I'm ready for that. If they could do that right now, I'd be fine with it. Because actually this season, it feels like there's so many more than four teams that could really compete for the national title. Most seasons, sometimes it feels like there's only two, maybe three. This season, it feels pretty wide open. I wish they could do that, but unfortunately, not time yet. But we can do this every week. We can dream.

And then next year, the dream becomes a reality. It's going to be fun. I know there's people who don't like change. I get that. But once you see these games and the more you see what potential matchups you're going to get, I think you're probably going to say, you know what? I think I'd probably watch that. But once you see these games and the more you see what potential matchups you're going to get, I think you're probably going to say, you know what? I think I'd probably watch that.

I think I probably would enjoy watching that. You know what? I enjoy answering your questions because you are the smartest, best looking, coolest viewers and listeners on the planet. And you have some great, great questions. When we come back,

it's time for dear andy it's that time when we turn the show over to you your questions asked hopefully i can answer them in a satisfactory manner dear andy that's right we start with ryan and i'm assuming this is not actually ryan day asking this question but going after the octogenarian golden Homer after one successful short yardage attempt against 10 defenders seems a little unhinged. Are we really supposed to believe that Ohio state is suddenly a tough team? Has Michigan permanently done real damage to the brain of Ryan Day? I got a lot of questions like this,

a lot of responses like this over the weekend because of the way Ryan Day vociferously went after lou holtz who yes is in his 80s was playing to a notre dame home crowd on friday when he said that ohio state was not physical and you know it's interesting because it does seem like a weird target. But I think with Ryan Day, it was the most public version of the narrative that's been going around about Ohio State over the last couple of years. And so he seized on that.

There have been a lot of people saying that Ohio State is not physical enough, can't just line up and knock you off the ball. And so after they beat Notre Dame on a play where they had one yard to gain and they got that one yard, I think he felt like it was time to put that narrative to rest. It doesn't put that narrative to rest because they've still got to do it against a Penn State.

They've got to do it against Michigan. Really, more than anything, have to do it against Michigan because it's Michigan that started this. It was Michigan two years ago pushing them around in the second half that started this. I still think last year in the second half, Michigan had started to really lean on Ohio State in the run game. It's just that they popped a couple big ones,

and that looked like, oh, they're just giving up big plays. Well, they were giving up longer and longer runs progressively. So I think with Ryan Day, it's one of those where he is trying to show his team, I believe in you. What people are saying about you isn't true. I have your back. And if you're on his team and you hear him saying that, you're going to love that. You are going to absolutely love that your coach has your back, that he is defending you, that he believes in you. I do think this was more a message aimed into the locker room than it was aimed everywhere else. I know Ryan Day said that he was defending Buckeye Nation and defending that. I don't think that's the case. I know Ryan Day said that he was defending Buckeye Nation and defending that. I don't think that's the case. I think he was sending a message to his own team,

which to the outside world is going to be, okay, great, you're picking on an 80-year-old guy who's just saying that the team that used to employ him is going to win a game. But that's what these coaches have to do. And you have to remember who your constituencies are for Ryan Day his constituencies the Ohio State team the Ohio State fan base the Ohio State administration those are the only people he really has to satisfy so he beat Notre Dame which

satisfies the fan base for now though I think the fan base is still a little skeptical because that narrative by the way a lot of it comes from within the Ohio State fan base. They're the ones saying, hey, I would like it if this team could just line up and knock people off the ball. But they're satisfied for now because they're still winning, and that was a huge win. The administration is still happy with Ryan Day because one thing I thought that was interesting in that Lou Holtz clip is Lou Holtz actually mentioned all the games that Ryan Day

has lost as Ohio State's coach in one sentence there are not many coaches in the country where you can list all their losses in one sentence when they're in year four. So I think that is the other piece of this. Ryan Day, actually, it's year five. It's four plus years he's been there. So Ryan Day is probably defending himself a little bit, saying, guys, I'm running a pretty good program here. You can get up off my back.

Whether you want to believe that probably depends on who you're a fan of. I'm guessing this particular Ryan who asked the question is a Michigan fan. And if you're a Michigan fan, then you just have all the fun you want with this because you've won twice in a row in the series. You suffered greatly at the hands of Ohio State this century. And you're enjoying the fact that you have won twice in a row and that you have been the more physical team and that you've played the way that you would like to play and won the way that Bo Schimbecker would have appreciated. That's great. But for Ryan Day, I think it's more sending that message to his team. And it's a message his team probably needs as it goes into Big Ten play because there will be times when they get challenged up front.

Penn State and Michigan especially are going to really challenge them up front because Ohio State, I don't think they're as good on the offensive line this year as they were last year. Penn State's D-line, much better than what they saw against Notre Dame. Michigan's D-line, better than what they saw against Notre Dame. They're going to have to rise to that challenge if Ohio State wants to win the Big Ten, make the college football playoff, play for a national title.

These are all things that are on the table. But they will have to be better than they were in the second half against Notre Dame because, again, they'll be facing a little bit better competition. I don't know that Penn State and Michigan are going to be that much better than Notre Dame, but in those circumstances with conference titles on the line and a little bit better talent on the D-line, it is something Ohio State needs to worry about. So if Ryan Day is just planting these seeds right now, saying, I believe in you,

I'm going to call on you when needed, you're going to come through, that stuff matters mentally as a team prepares and it goes through a season. So I think that's what it was. I think he's just trying to send a message to the locker room. Lou Holtz happened to be the person who delivered the goods on the silver platter. He needed someone to publicly say they're soft.

And Lou Holtz gave that to him. But if you're a Michigan fan I can understand you're laughing at this right now and you can laugh as long as you want as long as your team does the same thing in November but we got a while before that let's move on this question is from Randy but we'll stay in the great state of Ohio for this one. Does Taylor Swift dating Travis Kelsey make the Cincinnati Bearcats the largest college fan base in the country? I think we may be a little ahead of ourselves, Randy. So Taylor Swift did attend the Chiefs Bears game as a guest of Travis Kelsey sat in the box with Travis Kelsey's mom and by the way I don't know where where they are in their dating trajectory but that is intense watching a game

with mom in the box I think back to when I started dating my wife and I came to visit her. We were living two hours apart at the time. I came to visit her and I knocked on the door of her apartment and her sister, who I had not yet met, answers the door and says, oh, you must be Andy. You're meeting our mom tonight. This was not told to me. I was not aware of this. And all of a sudden I'm at a spaghetti dinner with siblings and mom. We'd only been on a couple of dates. Fortunately, we were perfect for each other.

But you never know. So congrats, I think, to Taylor and to Donna Kelsey for getting that done and looking like they were having a really good time that's an intense situation early in the dating life but I was watching all of the the back and forth on the internet about this whole situation it seems to me the Swifties which are an army of fans and they are very online and they are very aggressive imagine if UCF football fans numbered in the hundreds of millions. That's the Swifties. They'll come after your neck online. But I don't think they're quite ready to adopt Cincinnati Bearcats fandom. They're still working, at least some of them, still working through exactly how football works, period. I saw a couple of handy handy dandy guides where you get

four downs to make a first down, and a first down is when you gain 10 yards. So I think they're going to need a few weeks before they go, wait, where did Travis Kelsey go to college? But then, I mean, if this relationship matures, if this lasts, if she's not writing songs about Travis Kelsey within the next month or so, if this endures for a little while, yeah, the Swifties are going to go deep into this. They're going to say, oh, he did go to Cincinnati. Oh, he was a Wildcat quarterback in the 2009 season and then became a full-time tight end.

Oh, they'll know it all. They'll probably get mad at Brian Kelly for leaving retroactively. Marty Gillyard will say, thank you. You have my sword. And then, of course, they will adopt the Bearcats in season. So, again, if this relationship lasts into November, I think there's a very good chance that the Swifties will assemble when the Bearcats play and may God have mercy on the rest of the

big 12 fan bases when that happens, because you, again, you got UCF fans in there now, and they are aggressively online people, but they are a relatively small faction compared to the army that is the Swifties. So watch out and good luck to everybody else and good luck to Taylor and Travis. They seem like a pretty cute couple. Next up, Tony in Jacksonville, Florida. Dear Andy, this is Tony from Jacksonville, Florida. Greetings. And my question is looking forward to next year when we start conference play in the SEC. Do you think fan bases are going to change their expectations or will they be more realistic knowing that if there's a possible 10-2 season and they make the playoffs or in contention 9-3 if a lot of teams are really good and they kind of cannibalize each other with the expanded playoffs do you think it will give fans more of appreciation that they make the playoffs um kind of like you know 2011 new york giants teams that may go nine and seven or like ten and seven now in the nfl they kind of get into the playoffs do you think that teams will just be happy that they're in

instead of having this crazy expectation to go 13-0 with these new monster conferences? Thanks, Andy, for everything. All right, Tony has a good question, and I think the answer depends on who you root for. It's like anything else. All politics are local. So he asked about the SEC, but we could expand this to the ACC and the Big Ten as well because

they will be getting larger next year and the playoffs expanding. So everybody's kind of in the same boat in this situation. The Big 12 got larger this year. It will remain large next year, in fact, get even bigger. So I think what we, what we've got to do is narrow this down kind of by category of team. If you are Alabama, Ohio state, Georgia, if you are in those fan bases, just making the playoff will not make you happy. Going nine and three will not make you happy. You expect more, you expect national championships, and that's simply not good enough. But that's where you are. If you are a South Carolina or a Kentucky fan, or you are an Iowa fan, or you are a Wisconsin fan, making the playoffs would make you deliriously happy. So I think everybody's going to have to deal with adjusting their expectations now

what I do think or at least I hope happens is we see better non-conference games emerge from the expanded playoff because people don't have to worry about going undefeated or only having one loss to make the playoff and then that way it does normalize being okay with a loss or two and understanding that you're probably not going to go undefeated to win the national title. And I don't have a problem with that. I don't understand the pushback from the purists about why that's bad because,

Oh, there are no great teams. No, there are no more teams dodging good non-conference games so that they can go undefeated. There are very few teams, if you go back through the BCS era and the 14 playoff era,

that really challenged themselves in the non-conference. And every year we're trying to have a great schedule. You know, Clemson would challenge itself, but its ACC schedule was not particularly great. to have a great schedule. You know, Clemson would challenge itself, but its ACC schedule was not particularly great. Alabama would schedule very strategically where they'd play that neutral site game against a Power Five team that didn't feel like that big of a threat.

I just watched Notre Dame and Ohio State play in a home-and-home series. It was outstanding. It was fantastic. And I'm so glad that they scheduled that game. And I know that Oklahoma and Georgia, they've scheduled some series that going forward are going to be great, but could potentially give them losses. Michigan's got a bunch of these. Notre Dame obviously has to do that because of the independent schedule, but they've got some marquee series coming up. I hope that continues,

that other teams look at that and go, all right, it's not going to hurt our playoff chances if we play this game. In fact, it's not going to change our conference championship status at all because it doesn't count in the conference standing. So it doesn't count in the conference standing so it doesn't it doesn't count in terms of whether you get a buy into the playoff or not so hopefully

there will be more of those games and then yes I think gradually how we look at this will adjust it's going to take a few years though you know there will be people who just reflexively say oh they got they got two losses they're. That's not going to be the case. And then it's going to be about who did you lose to? Who did you play? And I think who did you play is the better question than who you lost to because the whole concept of good losses, nobody likes that anyway. But who did you play?

Did you attempt to play a good schedule? And I think that will be taken into account. And I think the teams that attempt to play a good schedule and I think that will be taken into account and I think the teams that attempt to play a better schedule should get preference in seating and whether you make it so if you're looking at the last that large spot and you've got a team that played some directional school or an FCS school when they could have played a good game and the other team played a good game and they have the same record. Take the team that tried to play a good game. Reward that team because that's better for business. That gives you better games going forward because it demonstrates to the ADs who make the schedule that when you play better games,

you get rewarded. And I think they'll get rewarded at the box office and they'll get rewarded by the TV ratings and they'll get rewarded in terms of TV deals going forward. And that matters too. Because I think fans have very much checked out on the body bag games. They don't want to go. It's expensive to go to games.

It's expensive to travel. If you live two hours, three hours from your university, you got to do the two night hotel minimum, or you got to have an RV. People don't want that anymore. They're not going to come unless they have a reason, unless you've given them a real reason to come. So I think all of these things work in concert. Now the question is, will the Ohio States and the Georgia of the world, will their expectations ever change? And I think probably depends on if they're if they're still winning the way they are. If they are, I don't think they change because you go to the NFL.

No, the Chiefs fans don't expect the Chiefs to go undefeated. But they do expect them to win their division. And they do expect them to have home field advantage for some, if not all of the playoff. So that's what matters. Like the Bills fans, if they don't win the AFC East, they're not going to be happy because they feel like this team is good enough to do it. They feel like they deserve that. So it really just depends on where your team is. But yeah, I do think in the 12 team playoff, there will be a subset of teams that expects to make the playoff every year. And if you don't make it, that's when you start angling to fire your coach. And of course, we're talking about the mega blue bloods in that case. And then there's going to be the

teams that you're supposed to make it every once in a while or every few years. I think this would be your Penn States and your Florida's. And that's where that expectation will be set for now. Now, if you do start making it every few years, then you're going to have to start making it every year. That's just how, how that system works. But I do think there are just programs out there that are going to be thrilled, delighted, if they make the playoff once every 15 years. And it's funny I say that. This system may not last 15 years.

The last one didn't. But Ole Miss, Mississippi State, most of the teams in the Big Ten West, I think Wisconsin maybe probably aspires to something a little more than that. But Iowa, Nebraska, those teams, if put together a special season, make the playoff, they're going to be pretty happy for a while right now. And I know there's people who think Nebraska fans think they should go back to 1994, 1995. That's not real.

That's not how they feel. They would just like to make a bowl game at this point so if they could make a playoff in the next 5-10 years yeah they'll be pretty happy and then you know in the ACC Florida State Clemson they're going to expect that every year Miami will see where their expectations go but right now I think they'd be in the in the mode of, let's just make the playoff once and be happy about that, and then we'll reevaluate.

But NC State, they'd love to just make the playoff. So I do think those expectations will slightly adjust, but what they'll do is just normalize. The teams that would want to fire their coach for only winning nine games will still want to fire their coach for only winning nine games will still want to fire their coach for only winning nine games. The teams that are happy winning 8-9 will still be happy winning 8-9, and once they start winning 8-9 consistently, then they'll be unhappy with that and want more. And that's just human nature. It's not going to change just because the system changed. Let's go to Justin in Detroit. He has a couple of questions. We'll start with number one. How desirable is the Michigan State head coaching position? Would another power five coordinator

consider it or is it not that desirable? I believe it is a top 20 position, but I know not everyone feels that way. All right. Would another power five coordinator consider it? No other power five head coaches will consider it. It is at the moment, the most desirable job that's going to open up this cycle. We'll see if something better opens it's possible, but we don't know that right now. Michigan state's a good job. You know, Mark D'Antonio took him to the top of the top of the big 10, took him to the playoff in the four-team version. This is a place that will pay you, as we learned with Mel Tucker. They paid him $9.5 million a year. This is a place where you can get good players. This is a place where you can develop players. So absolutely, if it's not a top 20 job,

it's definitely a top 25 job. So yeah, there will be a lot of people who want this job. Will they look at what happened to Mel Tucker with kind of a side eye? Absolutely. Because it does, whether you, no matter how you feel about what Mel Tucker's accused of, you can look at that and say, if he was 11-0 right now, would they be trying to fire him or would they be defending him? And I can almost guarantee would they be defending him? And I can almost guarantee they'd be defending him. So you do have to kind of watch your back.

But if you're winning, then you're going to be okay. So who would want it? We've talked about this. It really depends on what else opens up.. Mike Elko at Duke is going to be the hottest candidate in the country this year because of everything he's done. If something better were to open up, then yeah, that's probably more his speed. But this is something that you might look at because the Big Ten teams can pay a ton of money and Michigan State has a recent history of success in the Big Ten. It's not like you're going to go get buried. You can make a competitive program there. You can recruit well

there. You have what you need. So yeah, other power five coordinators absolutely are going to want it. I know the Michigan fans got mad when I made that candidate list and I put Sharon Moore on it. But if Michigan's not open, if Jim Harbaugh's not going anywhere for a while, why wouldn't Sharon Moore consider something like that? Why wouldn't any good coordinator in the Power Five consider a job like that? Because it's a place where if you do the job correctly, you're going to the playoff. You're competing for the conference title in one of the two best conferences. You're competing for national titles if you do it completely right. There's not a ceiling on that. Yes, it's hard. Yes, you have to deal with Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, but those jobs are hard too. You think James Franklin's job is easy?

He gets criticized relentlessly. So yeah, you got to achieve at a very high level to sustain success there, but you don't come in. Unlike at Ohio state or Michigan or Penn state, you don't come in with the expectation that you better win the big 10 right away. But after a few years of good recruiting, yeah, you're, you're going to be expected to do that, but that's okay. Cause they're going to pay you commensurately. So I think Michigan State is a top 20 job, and I do think a lot of people are going to be very interested in it. It's not, Northwestern's open. It's also going to pay very well because it's in the Big Ten, but it's a much different situation. That administration, that may change over before they wind up hiring somebody, but

that's a different deal. You have to decide with that one, am I okay with whatever the guaranteed amount is going into my bank account and this may not work and I get fired? Michigan State, you might get fired too, but you have the opportunity to build a program that can compete in the Big Ten. So I don't think there's any question that Power Five coordinators, sitting Power Five head coaches, depending where they are, would be very interested in this job. Next question from Justin. This is a little more personal one. I have a three and a half year old and a five month old. I recently brought my three and a half year old to the Michigan State game, and it was an experience. I was running around the whole stadium trying to find the one stand with pizza.

Spoiler, it was in the upper deck. Or buying an ice cream sandwich, leading to what can best be described as an ice cream moisturizer for her arms and face. I have pictures, if you're curious, and it was adorable. In the end, we made it to the second quarter, and I had to bail for my sanity. And Justin asked if I ever brought my kids to games. And I brought my kids to games now, but they're much older. They're 14 and 12 at that age. No, I did not necessarily bring them to any game that I wanted to see. If you want to watch the game, you're not going to be watching

much of the game. If you, if you, the idea is to bring them for the experience so they can enjoy the sights and the sounds, then yeah, that's the way you do it. But to understand, you're their waiter. That's your job. You are 1 million percent focused on them. If you get to watch a snippet of the game, that's just a bonus. So the people with little kids, if you want to get them used to the crowds and you want them to just kind of ooh and ah at the spectacle of everything then yeah go for it but if you want to watch the game then that's not going to work and obviously if you can't find somebody to to stay home with them

then you stay home watch it on tv wait till they're a little bit older and they can really appreciate it because it is a lot of fun when they are older and they do appreciate the games and they'll watch with you. And that's so you're you're you're headed that way, Justin. But yes, right now, if you're going to take them to the games, then you need to make sure you understand you are there to serve them whatever they want, whether it's the pizza in the upper deck or the ice cream sandwich that they're going to wear the whole time. That's your job. And they'll thank you for it later. They may not remember it, but you'll have the pictures and they'll have the feeling and they'll know. So it's really just depends on how you want to experience the game. But yeah, you're doing it as a dad. You're not doing it as a Michigan State fan.

So good, good job dadding, Justin. Next up, we have a pair of questions from Clemson fans that I felt like needed to go together. We'll start with Andy. I'm generally a pretty pessimistic fan, and the results lately with the Tigers have not given me much reason not to be. However, even with the loss yesterday to Florida State and the general direction of the program lately, I feel like there's some reasons to be positive about this team's future. With some patience and experience, Cade Klubnick could have a pretty high ceiling, especially if he sticks around until his senior year in Garrett Riley's offense. The young wide receivers show a lot of promise, and the 2024 receivers class looks really good, and I'm impressed by the development of the secondary

and the recruiting on the defensive line. I know there are a lot of people who seem to think this program is basically dead, but I feel like with a little patience and just a small embrace of the transfer portal, this team's future is really bright. Am I wrong to feel this way? Thanks from a sad tiger looking for some positivity. And now this one's from Matt. Hi, Andy.

It seems undisputed that Dabo Sweeney's insistence on almost never using the transfer portal has hurt Clemson, who could very realistically in this year with an eight and four or seven and five record. Let's say that Clemson and Dabo decide to amicably amicably part ways at the end of the year. And Clemson brings in a coach who has willingness to use the transfer portal to fill key roster holes. What would you say the ceiling would be for a Clemson team with a new coach that embraces the transfer portal? And how many seasons do you think it would take for Clemson to reach that ceiling? All right, I think Andy is the more realistic of the Clemson fans. I think Matt, Andy says he's pessimistic. Matt's the pessimistic one, eight and four, seven and five.

I'm going on based on what I saw on Saturday against Florida State. That team can do a lot better than eight and four or seven and five. That team has a high ceiling this year. If it plays like that, it's going to win almost everything else. It might drop one more, but 10 and two or nine and three is very realistic. If that team can, can replicate what it did Saturday, if it plays the way it gets to get it did against Duke and makes mistakes, then no,

there will be a few more losses, but Dabo Sweeney amicably partying all that? No. Unless that's just what he wants to do, that's not going to happen. There should be no pressure on Dabo Sweeney to leave. There should be pressure on him to do a few different things. And I think when you look at what Andy said, he's right. If Dabo Sweeney just changes a little bit, just tweaks a little bit in terms of roster management, how they handle the transfer portal,

I think Clemson could be just fine in the new era. It's not that far off. What you saw against Florida State, and Florida State looks like the best team in the ACC. Now, we'll see. Clemson's still got to play Miami. They might be pretty good this year. They are obviously trying to build a roster that looks like Florida State's or is even better than the one Florida State has now.

That's Mario Cristobal's mandate when he got that job. So it will get tougher. But if you're Clemson, you can definitely build on what you have. You know, they've got a bunch of NFL D linemen still. They will continue to do that. They continue to recruit the same types of players they've been recruiting all along. They haven't had the elite quarterback since Trevor Lawrence. But how often do those guys come along?

They do need to work on that. But in terms of the portal, if Dabo just dabbles, Dabo dabble in the transfer portal, then I think you, you've got something going there. Think about this. This is a very simplistic way to look at it, but let's say Clemson had been open to taking a receiver out of the transfer portal when Keon Coleman left Michigan state and Keon Coleman had been open to the idea of a bunch of different schools. He wasn't. He was looking at a pretty limited number of schools. But let's say he was just wide open.

Anybody in the country, you know, hit me up. I'll come look. If Keon Coleman were on Clemson instead of on Florida State, who do you think wins that game? Clemson would have won that game. You take Keon Coleman off Florida State, they lose. You put him on Clemson, Clemson wins. It's that simple. And so one player could have turned that. One player probably could make Clemson the best team in the ACC at the right position.

You don't have to go wholesale into the transfer portal. You don't have to flip 30 roster spots a year that aren't seniors leaving and freshmen coming in. You don't have to do that. Florida State has embraced the transfer portal. It's been very helpful to them. They've basically set up a system where if they've got a hole, they're going to try to fill it with the best transfer player available right now. Now, I think that's in service of eventually

getting to where Clemson is in the high school recruiting piece of it. And if you look, Florida State's high school recruiting has gotten better and better and better. But when Mike Norvell got there, they couldn't sell what Clemson could sell. So they had to do something different. They had to adapt. Clemson hasn't had to adapt because they've been getting good high school players. So all they have to do is say, hey, we do have some players who leave each year because they're not playing as much as they'd like to. We can replace those guys out of the portal instead of replacing those guys with high school players who may take a couple years to develop. We can replace them out of the portal with somebody

who can be good right now. And the people in the portal are going to look at that and go, oh, I can go play at a place that puts people in the NFL where I'd play alongside a bunch of future NFL players, which could make me look better. I think they're going to do that. I think they're going to want to join that type of program. So it's not like you have to completely overhaul everything you do. It's just a slight tweak because I don't think Dabo is going to start running people off at Clemson. He's not that type of guy. That's not the program he's built. Continuity is a very important piece of what he's done at Clemson. I always go back to those years. I think it was 2015 to 2018.

I did a study when I was at Sports Illustrated. There was a four-year period where they only lost seven people to attrition. It's unheard of in college. Even back then when the transfer rules hadn't changed. It was incredible. Nobody could do that. So that's what they want. They want that level of continuity.

They want players to stay in the program. They want to develop them. But they still did lose those seven to attrition. And now with the transfer portal rules different, that number would be higher. Replace them strategically through the portal rules different, that number would be higher. Replace them strategically through the portal. You do that, you're going to get better instantly at certain positions as long as you evaluate well. And if we go through Clemson's history under Dabo Sweeney, they tend to evaluate very, very well. So I think that is the solution there.

It's not that far off. It doesn't have to be that much different. I realize there's a lot of frustration in the fan base, which happens when you're used to that level of success that they've been able to sustain for that long. I don't think it's necessarily possible to sustain that going forward as dominant as they were because Florida State has simply gotten better because Miami is getting better because North Carolina has gotten better. I think it's going to be more crowded at the top of the ACC just because other programs have finally started to pull their weight. But Clemson can stay at the top. They can be in that group. They just have to tweak a little bit. Again, go back to that Florida State game.

You take Keon Coleman off Florida State, you put him on Clemson. That would be the difference in the game. And it doesn't have to necessarily be him. It could have been another top player in the transfer portal, whether it was a receiver, whether it was an offensive lineman. All you got to do is take the transfer portal, whether it was a receiver, whether it was an offensive lineman, all you got to do is take the right ones, one or two, two or three. I'm not saying 20.

It's doable. It's doable. And you don't have to run off Dabo to do it. I think Dabo is smart enough to recognize what's going on and realize you can adjust without throwing out everything you've ever done. Now that's not something you can solve this season, but it is something you can begin preparing to solve in the off season. And I do think Dabo is smart enough to do that. So we'll see what happens, but it's not, it's not that drastic of a change, and they could be just fine. Next question from Tyler in Seattle. I've been a college football fan my entire life, 68 years old. It seems to me that about a year ago, all of a sudden, the first down or first down line became line to gain.

Did a memo go out or something? Am I hallucinating? No, Tyler, I think I know what happened. So officials have always called that line the line to gain. In officiating terminology, when they were being taught how to officiate games, that is called the line to gain. That's the way it's written in the rule books. So that phrase has been around for decades and decades and decades, probably been around longer than you, even though you're 68. Where I think it's become popularized and where we've started to hear it more is in these replay review descriptions and explanations that the referee has to give every time they either decide to uphold a call or change a call. Because remember, they've got to go, they look in a little thing, they come back out, and they tell us what happened,

and they tell us what they're going to change or why they're not going to change it. Well, that's where the phrase line to gain is getting used a ton during games. And I think once the replay reviews started, which was several years ago, they started using it, announcers started picking up on it, fans started picking up on it they started using it. Announcers started picking up on it. Fans started picking up on it. And then it became more commonly used. It was something that only officials used before. But now once we've heard it announced to a stadium full of thousands of people and in front of millions on television, it sort of seeps into our brains.

And then we start using it too and it's an elegant phrase i mean line to gain is exactly what it means you you have to gain that line and you could call it the first down line but if we're being efficient with our words what if it's first and goal well a touchdown is officially a first down but there's a little more to it than that. The goal line then becomes the line to gain. So I don't know. I like it. I think it's a very deft use of phrase, whatever long ago referee decided to write it in the rule book that way. Maybe it was, it was John Heisman. Maybe it was pop Warner who knows, but I do think it is a very, very elegant phrase. So I'm kind of happy that it has become part of our mainstream football lexicon as well, not just limited to the folks

in the striped shirts. Our final question comes from Trevor. Dear Andy, I like to think of myself as one of the more reasonable Tennessee fans. I'm 24, so most of my life I watched Tennessee be average at best. Unrelated with the first Tennessee game I attended was the 2019 Georgia State loss. Because of all this mediocrity, I've had pretty low expectations, and when something good actually happens, I'm ecstatic. When last season came and ended, I was pumped. This was the best Tennessee team in my memory. Hindenhoeker going down versus South Carolina was tough, but the Orange Bowl win was an amazing end of the season, especially since it was without the majority of our playmakers on offense. That Orange Bowl victory made me believe we would be okay without Hindenhoeker, Jalen Hyatt, and Cedric

Tillman. I messed up. I raised my expectations. I'm not in the club that's yelling Joe Milton sucks, put in Nico, the sky is falling, but I thought we would look significantly better than we do now. I was pleased with the win this weekend versus UTSA, but Tennessee still did not look like they could score whenever they wanted to, like they did last year. I need help, Andy. Should I revert back to just being happy to win more than six games or am I safe to have higher hopes? Ooh, this is a tough question, Trevor. This is a tough, and it's tough. If Trevor hadn't included his age, then I might answer this question differently. So he's 24.

He wasn't alive when Tennessee last won the national championship. He wasn't there. He doesn't know what 98 feels like. So we're going on a guy whose earliest memories, because we probably start noticing this stuff, remembering when you're six, seven years old, early, maybe the SEC East title in 07, maybe.

But probably your earliest memories are 08 when they're firing Philip Fulmer and then the Lane Kiffin year and then the Derek Dooley era. So like his best memories as a Tennessee fan might be 2016 beating Florida and then beating Georgia in the Dobdale boot game. And then everything come crashing down when they lose to South Carolina. Or again, like he said last year, beating beating Alabama then finishing off in the Orange Bowl so Trevor's expectations are not what we think of when we think of the traditional Tennessee

fan expectations because we think of the person who lived through the 90s who saw them be one of the best teams in the SEC one of the best programs in the country consistently year after year after year, or someone who's even older who remembers the glory days back way, way back when. But Trevor's never lived that. The best he's lived was last year. So he got a taste of it, and then they go lose to Florida, and it's like, uh-oh. Wait, is this back to every... I don't know the answer to that, Trevor. I think it's up to Josh Heupel and his team to figure out

whether they can bounce back this season and whether they can make this a special year again. I don't get the sense that they can run the ball as well as they did last year, which takes that offense out of sync. And maybe when Cooper Mays gets back and is playing and the offensive line is fully healthy, maybe that's different. Maybe that allows the offense to be a little more score at will. But it may also be that Hindenhoeker was very special, that Jalen Hyatt was someone who

was so fast that very few people could actually cover him. Cedric Tillman banged up a lot of last year, but really helped get that thing going in Josh Heupel's first year with Hendon Hooker. And so I just, I think it's, it's so hard when you get your first taste of success in a while, because it is impossible to understand or figure out if it's going to be sustainable. And I think that's the big question for Tennessee is you saw them build with Hinton Hooker. Could you sustain it with another quarterback? I do think you can. Is Joe Milton the right one? I don't know yet. I don't know. And it's hard to answer that. I'm with you.

I don't think it's time to say just go to Nico, go young, figure it out later. But I do want to see more out of this offense than we've seen so far. It felt like they were so out of sync against Florida, again, because I don't think they could run the ball the way they want to. And this offense, if you're not gaining yards on the ground, if you're not gaining yards when the box is light, you can't throw because they'll just keep the box light and stop you from running the ball, and they'll be able to cover what you want to do through the air.

So that's where Tennessee's got to get better. When that box gets light, they have to be gaining five, six yards on the ground because that brings the other person in the box. That opens up what you want to do in the throw game. So we'll see. As far as the existential things, what you should expect, you may want to brace yourself.

You may want to brace yourself. This may feel, I'm not going to say Jeremy Pruitt era, but it may feel like kind of the mid Butch Jones era where you're just not quite there yet. And that, I know that's frustrating, but that was a really good season last year. There's a lot of teams in the SEC that are spending a lot of money to try to be as good as Tennessee was last year. So they're going to be trying to knock them off. The wins against Tennessee are going to feel bigger. They're going to get everybody's best shot.

All of the things you actually want to happen. But the problem is when you don't have the team to withstand it, it's not the results you want. So Trevor, good luck. And I think the probably the best thing I can say to you to make you feel better is at least you're young because you've got some older Tennessee fans and I'm sure they'll, they'll tell you about it. They thought they were getting back to the nineties. They thought they were getting back to year after year after year. And they know what that feels like. You don't even know what that feels like yet. So imagine how they feel right now. Hang in there. Go to Scramble Jake's.

Get one of those cinnamon rolls. You're going to be all right. But as far as Tennessee, yeah, I don't know that this is going to be a special year. It's going to be okay. Hang in there. Today's extra point comes to us from Nathan in Jerusalem. It's another Dear Andy question. He wants a random ranking.

Take it away, Nathan. Dear Andy, I have a random ranking for you today. While watching football on Saturday, I realized that San Diego State might have the most badass football helmets of any team, which made me wonder, if you were to make a 10-team conference with the 10 teams with the best football helmets, who would be in your conference? And would it be good enough to be a power conference? That is a great question, Nathan.

And yes, those San Diego State helmets are beautiful. These are the ones that they wore against Boise State. The result was not obviously what they wanted, but they look great doing it. All right, let us do this. Top 10 helmets. And it's interesting because this is hard. This is not necessarily helmet logo. There are obviously iconic helmets, Penn State with the one navy stripe and the white helmet.

But is it that great of a helmet? I don't know. So it's really eye of the beholder kind of stuff. The San Diego state one is cool. Might be a little bit busy for my taste. It did not make the top 10. Some of the ones I picked go, you know, veer toward the classic. Some of them veer toward the futuristic, but it's, it's really just a matter of taste here. So number 10 for me, Ole Miss, but only the powder blue. You saw them against Alabama this weekend. They wore the powder blues with the white jerseys and the gray pants.

It's a beautiful combination. Those powder blue helmets are gorgeous. Number nine, Alabama. The team Ole Miss was playing. The numbers on the side of the helmet. Hardly anybody does this anymore. This is something that a lot of teams used to do, but it's just not very common anymore. Alabama has kept that. I like the fact that everybody's got a different helmet. Hard to

lose your helmet because a lot of teams, they have the sticker with the number on the back of the helmet. This one, you see it right there. Oh, that's my helmet right there. Number eight, LSU. A lot of teams have a helmet logo with the mascot, and a lot of teams have the lettering. Either it can be script like UCLA or Florida, or it can be block lettering. LSU does both and makes it look really cool. The block LSU with the curve over the Tiger logo. It's a beautiful, beautiful helmet. Number seven, Oregon, but only the chrome ones. I'm talking about the silver chrome with the wings.

These are the ones that Oregon wore. They debuted them against Russell Wilson in Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. And I remember when Oregon ran out in those things, I was like, Oregon by a billion. I love those helmets. Lots of people have copied the chrome helmets. You've seen Kentucky do it. I like when Kentucky wears theirs, but Oregon was the originator and it is still so cool. That's my favorite Oregon helmet. I like it so much better than all the other ones. I think it should be their permanent helmet, but we know how Oregon operates. That's not going to happen. Number six, Clemson. Probably the most recognizable helmet sticker decal.

Now, there's one up here, the next one, I think is a better decal. I think it's the cooler decal. But that tiger paw is really just perfect. And it pops off the orange, you know, exactly who you're looking at when you see Clemson. Cause you,

you know, there's other logos where you see like the Georgia G the green Bay Packers use the same G the, uh, the Grambling State uses the same G it's not as iconic as that tiger paw. Like, you know exactly what you're looking at when you see that white tiger paw flashing off that orange helmet. Number five, and this is the traditional helmet, not any sort of alternate.

SMU, the white helmet, red pony. That pony logo is my favorite helmet sticker that isn't wings or some other thing. That's just the mascot logo as a helmet sticker or as a decal. It's the best one. I love that running Mustang on the SMU helmet. Always have, always will. Number four. I bet most of you don't know what this helmet looks like, but it is so cool. And I'm actually surprised more teams in the FBS don't at least do an alternate like this. Dartmouth, very old school.

So it's not winged entirely like Michigan or Princeton, where you've got the wings going all the way across the helmet. It's got a couple stripes on the temples and then a big D right in the middle of the forehead. So you've got the logo coming right at you if somebody's blocking you. So that one's so cool, and I'm surprised there aren't more copycats with that one because it is a very, very fun design and old school. And so if you're thinking about making an alternate helmet, take a look at Dartmouth's helmets.

Number three, Ohio state love the silver, but the Buckeye stickers are what really set it off. And I realized Michigan uses helmet stickers for state uses helmet stickers, but the Buckeye stickers are the coolest. Maybe it's the, the old, this is sports center commercial from the mid nineties with the, you know, the guy who's supposed to be the, the Ohio state equipment manager. And he's like, make a big hit. Buckeye!

I love that whole thing. But I love that you can kind of chart a player's progress through the season by how many stickers he has on his helmet. It's so cool. And again, the silver just is awesome. The colors for Ohio State are very hard to beat. The scarlet and gray with the silver helmets. They call the defense the silver bullets.

It's a great combination, but that helmet, it's great on its own. You throw the Buckeye stickers in, it becomes almost perfect. Number two, the team Ohio State was playing this weekend, Notre Dame, shiny gold, can't beat it, repainted before every game, glistening in the sun just like the golden dome on campus it's it's it says this is college football and of course number one the wings michigan love the wing helmet it is so cool and i know other schools do it it it harkens back to to the days of leather helmets but but Michigan does it better than everybody else.

It is the coolest helmet in college football. And yeah, Nathan, I think my conference would do pretty well. I really do. I think my 10-team helmet conference would do great. A little worried about Dartmouth competing with this bunch, but I feel like we could be very nationally competitive with this group. Thanks so much for watching and listening today. It was fun show. Great questions from everybody

for dear Andy on Tuesday, Notre Dame running back. Audrick estimate joins the show talking about how the Irish get back with a big game at Duke this weekend. And we'll talk to Nick Roush from Kentucky Sports Radio as the Wildcats try to make it. I'm saying it's three in a row against Florida. Big game in SEC country this week. Talk to you tomorrow. Thanks for watching!