Andy & Ari On3 - How will the Big Ten and the SEC CHANGE the College Football Playoff?

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

When it comes to making the best hamburgers around the basics matter and Wendy’s?... well they’ve really got those burger basics on lock and boy does it show. So what’s the secret to all those hot and juicy hamburgers? Simple. Wendy’s always crafts their hamburgers with that fresh, never frozen beef they’re famous for. The result? Hot and juicy beefy hamburger perfection - every time. No matter which hamburger you order from the Wendy’s menu, you already know that thanks to those Wendy’s burger basics, it’s gonna be exactly what you were craving. Fresh beef available in the contiguous U.S., Alaska and Canada; not available in Hawaii.  This show is brought to you by Panini America, makers of the most collectible sports cards on the planet. The Prism football card series a vibrantly paralleled base and insert roster featuring college football’s brightest former and current superstars. Panini sets include NIL autographed cards from players including Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers, Cam Ward, Jalen Milroe, Dylan Raiola, DJ Lagway, and Luther Burden. To start collecting, visit PaniniAmerica.net. State and Liberty makes modern athletic fit clothing for men who want to look great and be comfortable at the same time. Whether you’re looking for an athletic fit suit or your new favorite hoodie, State and Liberty has what you need. New customers get 10 percent off when they use the code STAPLES, or you can visit this link: https://tidd.ly/3BY2Amh(0:00-0:40) Wendy's(0:41-1:15) Intro(1:16-8:20) SEC and Big Ten AD's set to meet on Wednesday(8:21-29:56) Discussing the future of the college football playoff(29:57-34:12) PaniniAmerica.net(34:13-39:34) Championship Weekend(39:35-44:18) SEC going to 9 Conference Games?(44:19-50:38) Celebrities to bring on the show(50:39-56:13) Who does Alabama play on 11/22?(56:14-57:37) State & Liberty(57:38-1:03:15) The future format of the CFP?(1:03:16-1:10:39) Big 12's Deal for the CFP(1:10:40-1:16:39) Conclusion: Merch and Ari's "Resort Wear" Big Ten and SEC athletic directors will meet this week to discuss a variety of issues, but at the forefront is how the College Football Playoff will look in 2026 and beyond. That’s when the new CFP contract starts, and the Big Ten and SEC have more power than the other leagues combined. So what’s on their wish lists? Expansion of the tournament to 14 or 16? More automatic bids for each league? What about game sites? Will they keep later rounds in bowls or push to move them to campus? Andy and Ari break it all down.  Watch us on YouTube instead! https://youtube.com/live/4tLbck5eD4E Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

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every single time, no matter which burger you order, Baconator, Single, Double, you name it. You already know that thanks to those Wendy's Burger Basics, it's gonna be exactly what you were craving. Fresh beef available in the contiguous U.S., Alaska, and Canada, not available in Hawaii. Get to Wendy's, get a fresh burger today.

["The Star-Spangled Banner"] Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. It's gonna be one of those days Ari. I can feel it. There are gonna be a lot of complaints, a lot of why, why is this happening? We're here to prepare you for this. We have our own opinions and we will share them with you. You will share your opinions in the chat and that's perfectly understandable. The SEC and the Big Ten are taking over the playoff. They're going to shape it the way they

want to starting in 2026. SEC and Big Ten meetings between their ADs happening this week in New Orleans. Ari, they're gonna talk about kind of the big picture, what that's gonna look like. That's all gonna get presented to everybody else at the next CFP meeting, which is later in the month, which is next week. And we're headed toward probably more expansion,

more format changes. And I don't know about you. I just I kind of wish they just ripped the bandaid off and said, we're going to do all this and then done it. Like this kind of midway point that we're sitting in with the 12 team just feels silly at this point. Yeah, you mean like just from the beginning, just here, it's going to be 16 teams or whatever. And here's the format. Go, just tell us what you're going to do and then get to it. Yeah, it kind of feels like people like change in increments, rather than just making wholesale changes, which is kind of funny because the sport is making

rather than just making wholesale changes, which is kind of funny because the sport is making incremental change in all regards, but at the same time it's shifting drastically. And like the thing that is tough about incremental change is like, A, I understand that people like to move the needle a little bit slower paced, but at the same time, when you move it slowly, you encounter issues along the way that make things more complicated. You might as well just get to the same time, when you move it slowly, you encounter issues along the way

that make things more complicated. You might as well just get to the final thing, see what the issues are gonna be, for the first few years, and then get to a point where you know how to fix those issues. Because it's like, okay, well, we have all these discussions and talks

about what's wrong with the 12 team field, the calendar and all these things, and they all kind of work together, right? And the fixes that we come up with and we discuss and envision are predicated based on the 12 team playoff but if it goes to 16 or whatever it may go to that might create more issues that don't fit into the same

Pieces when it comes to the solutions that we're trying to come up with so I'm kind of with you I don't know what would have happened to the sport if you would have just if it would have just arrived at where it's going to be in 2030 all at once. But like, well, you're talking about Yeah, you're talking about 2030, like whatever happens at the conferences, which I'm not even right. I'm gonna be wrapping my brain around that because that's

that's all coming to so whatever they're doing now, thing though, Andy is if the conferences and rev share and all these things, and the impact that they have on the sport and who's going to be competitive and how many teams can win the national title has a direct impact on what the playoff field should be. Like, like to me with college football, there's nothing, it's not an independent discussion to talk about the playoff and then talk about NIL and rev sharing.

Yeah. I think that they're all intertwined in a way that makes it functional because honestly, the second that we went to NIL and the second that collectives popped up, the sport has become more competitive from top to bottom. It's still top heavy, but it's not nearly as top heavy as it was.

But if the sport would have gone to 16 teams in the old financial setup, then it would have been a complete waste of time and really stupid. So how is rev share going to impact the competitive balance of the sport and how many playoff spots are actually reasonable in that field?

And I guess maybe my understanding and expectation would be. That is the more money you give to people to play with, the larger the playoff should be. Is that a probably a good correlation? But we don't know for sure what that's going to look like. I have a suspicion and I know that you disagree with this that once you get NIL and rev sharing back into the picture, there is a possibility and and I didn't go to Wharton, Wharton, but like, if you have NIL on top of rev sharing, is there not a small chance that there'll be five teams

or seven teams or 12 teams that are financially so loaded that the gap gets split back up again? Like, I don't know what it's gonna look like. So this is a really challenging- I think that's gonna look a lot like it looks now because you see the ones that can make a gap. Yeah. It's more than before,

but less than probably what people want. Right, right. So here's why I think it's gonna go to 14 and not 16 though. Cause I wrote a column at on three about this. And basically, I feel like in all of these things, we should ask the same question. What makes the SEC in the Big Ten more money? I'm not saying this because that's a good thing.

I'm saying that because if you'd like to try to predict what's going to happen, the golden rule applies here. He who has the gold makes the rules. That's what's going on right now. The golden rule applies here. He who has the gold makes the rules. That's what's going on right now. So here's why 14 and not 16. Because if it's 14, there's two buys. There's no buys at 16.

If there's two buys, well, who's gonna get those two buys? Probably the Big Ten and the SEC champs most years. In fact, they could even write it into the rules if they wanted to. Yeah, that makes their championship games valuable. And they don't want their championship games to not be valuable, specifically the SEC. So because that's what you can say. Oh, well, if you go to 16 teams, then ESPN just has to pay more than that. More for that than they would for 14 because you've got a couple more games.

But those two games, those two extra games. You get maybe 50 billion, 50 million bucks a game for them because they're the tail end of this thing. It diminishes as you go higher. Well, if your $150 million conference championship game, uh, you know, from which you keep all the money, suddenly increases by more than that. Mm hmm. It's not worth it.

Not worth it for them. So that's why I think it's 14 and not 16, but 16 I would get, I actually think 16 is probably a better number and just leave it there. Like we'll get into this, Ari, cause I actually want to talk about this a little bit later, the proposal to move the basketball tournament to 76 teams, which is they seriously considering it now.

And it's also the big 10 in the SEC pushing it. See, everybody thinks with me, because I wanted the playoff to expand in football that I just assume they should go up forever. No, I think there's a perfect number for everything. Basketball had the perfect number for years and then they went past it.

64 is the perfect number for the basketball tournament. They should not expand. They should contract to 64. I think 16 might be the perfect number for football. I realize the FCS does 24 and the two does 24. But I think 16 might be the perfect number, but I don't think they'll do 16 because.

All these individual interests like your championship game you wanted to be worth more. I just don't know. I don't know if they do it and like last year if it was 16, then you would have had South Carolina, Alabama, Ole Miss, Ole Miss State. I think is it gets in there. Yeah, if it was 16, then you would have had South Carolina, Alabama, Ole Miss, state, I think it gets in there. Yeah, that would be the last four.

And then there would be a debate about the thing that would be interesting is if you get to 16, how many nine and three teams there would be at the end of the road and how insane that would be every year. Um, but like, yeah, that's the thing. It's like the hardest thing that, and I was thinking about this as I was reading your column, Andy, I have a really hard time formulating a. Hard line in the sand opinion about what the perfect number is, because I have a hard time envisioning what the sports going to look like and how big the

conferences are going to be and how much money everyone's going to have and whether or not the biggest of big is going to separate more than even before in the 14 field. But like, you know, if the playoff last year was 12 and we went to 16 and we got to add in all the teams that we were arguing about at the end of the year, then like that, I don't know that that would have diminished the playoff. I think that it probably would have wound up ending the same. And you might've had a couple more fun games along the way. I think that- Yeah, like Ole Miss might've given us something that we would've remembered.

Like I think that, you know, it is interesting because even in the 12 team field, the one thing that I thought would never happen actually happened, which is a team that I thought was talented enough to compete with anybody in the country being left out. Like I thought when you went to 12, like anybody who has built the way that Ole Miss last year

will just get in no matter what. And that's not what happened. So like, I mean, I guess like the thing that is interesting is that whenever you talk about expansion, like the day they moved to the 12, I think everybody with a brain knew it wasn't gonna stop at 12. The question is, is when it goes to 14 or 16,

then are we gonna go to 24? And like, is that gonna to be the next thing? And I guess like that to me is, you know, what's the number that you get to Andy, where you have to restructure the way the season goes? Like, because like there's a certain point where... Oh, I think once you go past 16, you... And I think if you get to 16, you've made conference title games irrelevant and that week disappears.

And I think that's what they're trying to, that's what they're trying to figure out right now. So when we had Joel clad on the show, he was talking about some ideas and his ideas were, were, you know, have set number of teams that get in from each league, which that's something that Tony Petiti the Big Ten Commissioner wants he was talking about if you do that You change the parameters of your championship game Because it doesn't matter in the same way anymore and

That's also something that Tony Petiti from the Big Ten has suggested. So let's talk about what I think they're going to probably be proposing here. Because it's interesting because it does solve for something that a lot of people have complained about but I think it doesn't solve for it in the way the people complaining want it solved. What's one of the biggest complaints about playoff selection? I mean, I'm probably not gonna get it wrong, but I'll tell you that they think that there's too much

of a brand bias. Pure subjectivity, right? Oh, subjectivity, yeah. Pure subjectivity. They would like objective Criteria to get into the tournament where there's which is what the NFL makes it and who doesn't without having to talk about it Right, right and you don't have a committee of 13 people Deciding who gets in What they're gonna propose essentially takes that out of the committee's hands

What we think they're going to propose is. Four teams from the SEC, four teams from the Big 10, two teams from the ACC, two teams from the Big 12. The highest ranked group of five champ and one at large as a 14 team field. In a 16 team field, you'd have three at largest. So in this scenario then. Is it the top four teams of every conference?

In conference in regular season conference play so like I'll give you an example because I had to I had to go down the Reddit rabbit hole last night. Because I was trying to figure out who finished fourth in the SEC. Because Alabama was the fourth highest ranked team in the committee rankings, but they were not the fourth place team in the SEC. Ole Miss was.

There was a three-way tie between Ole Miss, Alabama, and LSU in the conference standings. And if you go through the tiebreaker rules, it winds up being Ole Miss. So, like that's the interesting thing to me is that, yeah, we got the conference standings up here and you had Alabama listed fourth because that's what the SEC listed on its website

because they didn't bother doing the tiebreakers down that far because it didn't matter for the championship game. And Missouri was also five and three but they would have lost the tiebreaker too. So it's A& Missouri was also five and three, but they would have lost the tiebreaker too. So it's, A&M was also five and three. So what's the committee's purpose? The committee's purpose in this scenario

was to pick the one at large. Seating and picking the one at large, which is going to be Notre Dame when they're halfway decent. Yeah. So. Yeah. Okay. Well, so then you would, you would just hyper-focus on your conference standings and where you land is where you are. There's no arguing.

You know, it's going to be interesting though, is that with how lopsided these conferences are from a size standpoint, like teams like this year's Indiana, who was the bane of most people's existence are going to get to get into this thing because they have a more advantageous pass from their conference schedule. Like and then that's going to make people upset. So like it'll turn on the conference office at that point. You're exactly right. And the thing that that makes me sad Andy is that like when you you always say bug or feature bug or feature bug or feature like is subjectivity a bug or a feature of college football? I think it's a feature. So like I don't know. Subjectivity would be a bug to me if teams that should have gotten in don't, right? Like for me, like the subjectivity of how they chose the CFP this year didn't keep me up at night. Now, is it possible that Ole Miss was better than SMU or whatever Brad from Macon was yelling at me about? Absolutely.

It's possible they were better. This is the Brad from Macon argument right here. Because he's saying, just dictate that four SEC teams get in and therefore you don't have to worry about. Parsing between an 11 and one big tin team that played an easy schedule and a nine and three SEC team that played a very hard schedule and. It's just that's the rules that's that's how the game is played and then what happens to non conference play in the scenario just becomes a relevant exhibition games. Proceeding though so the more you win the higher you get seated but also but what. Scheduling a non hard on conference game doesn't hurt you in your chances to get in the playoffs.

So there you're incentivized to schedule good games. You're going to schedule a bad game when you can schedule a good game and it doesn't matter. I mean, we get a lot of good games like we haven't gotten to the point yet where the non conference games suck. Look at the do they really do? They could be a lot better. Go back to the 60s and 70s and look at all the power conference teams schedules in the noncon. They were all playing only other power conference teams. Yeah, I

just don't want games to feel like the preseason. Well, I don't know that you would. I mean. If the Ohio State, we had no bearing this year. Already agreed that LSU in Clemson, Texas and Ohio State like whoever loses that games not out of anything, right? Yeah, we're still excited for those games. It impacts you because winning it matters a lot too, though.

Like it's not just you're not. The thing that I think gets lost in the discussion of doesn't matter or doesn't does it not is that whoever wins that game will have a bullet on its resume that will probably carry it through whatever issues it encounters later on in the season. So it's not just is the loser eliminated it's also what does it mean for the winner. The stakes aren't just losing it the stakes are also what is so you'd rather see Ohio State Akron as Dean Kowalski points out in the chat because that's the that's what everybody was trying to schedule for in the old. I mean, do you but do you think that if we get to a system where the only thing that matters and

uh playoff expansion is where you finish in your conference standings at every non-conference game we get is going to be a big power five versus power five, power four game. Economically, that would be the smart thing to do if you were the teams. Yeah. You'd sell more tickets, TV would like that better and pay more for it. Yeah.

I don't know. I understand, I want to see Texas, Ohio State, I want to see Florida, Miami, I want to see these games. I think that incentivizes them more than way more than the old system. I don't know how much of how much more incentivizes them. Yeah, it's just like you had in the way that you say that the Ohio State, Texas game this coming year doesn't matter. Like that's basically true, but it's not all the way true. Oh it matters the winner the winner gets a big chip and it's going to help them and I think that's the point is the winners of those games are rewarded. I think if you remove every single angle of importance from games they become inherently less interesting. That's been my stance from the beginning. So like, I know that you're like, Oh, I want to watch. It's like watching,

you know, Ravens verse whatever Ravens versus lions in the preseason. If all the starters played people would watch it, I guess, but it wouldn't have any, but if, if they won't schedule them any other way. And this is how you get them to schedule them. I guess you big old Dules beer guy or what? No. It feels like an alcoholic beverage. Okay. What does Ohio State Akron feel like? Because that's the alternative. Yeah, no. I mean it's a it's a not it's a nothing burger game. You're like I'm not gonna act like it isn't. So we're trying to solve for a problem. Like there is no perfect solution. If there was a perfect solution, it already would have been implemented. Yeah. It's like,

he's even in the NFL, like everybody has a standard of, um, you know, there's a, there's a baseline criteria of how to get in, but every single game in the, in the six 17 or whatever game season it is matters. Like, I feel like making four out of your, you know, 12 games dead weight is a mistake. Like from my perspective. Well, they've already had better match at least half of them dead weight in most places. And usually three or four, four or four of the schools that want to schedule for bowl eligibility. And I'm with you.

It never happens or very rarely happens. But like last year, we would have said that Notre Dame and I you was a was a nothing burger game. And like sometimes even the small teams get a big win that feels impactful in the moment. Like if like that Notre Dame and I you game was a non con game that had no impact or bearing on whether well, maybe it would for Notre Dame.

It's a bad example because they're an at large, but like it just I don't know. I'm not saying that you're wrong. I just want to provide some pushback for people who are screaming through their speakers right now. No, and I understand that because like, I'm not even at this point, I'm just sort of presenting the options.

I don't have a lot of stronger pains anymore. I hate to say it. I used to have very strong opinions on this Ari. They've beaten me down. Like they're gonna do what they're gonna do. Yeah. And I think that's part of the frustration from a lot of people and I do not blame them one bit.

Like you can say, I saw somebody on Twitter last night say, well, it's very simple. The ACC and the big 12 should just stop scheduling the SEC and big 10 teams. That'll solve it. Like, I won't solve anything except commit financial suicide for the ACC and the big 12. Like, if they stop dealing with them, here's the thing. Can you want to be the one who decides that? for the ACC in the big 12. Like if they stop dealing with them, here's the thing. Yeah. Can you want to be the one who decides that? Yeah. Can you have a college football playoff without the ACC? Yes, you can. Can you have one without the SEC?

No, you cannot. So like that it's that simple at this point. Yeah. Yeah. Love for the game says, why don't they just make it three autos for all? Because the SEC and the big 10 are in charge. And they're not equal. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to like, I'm just trying to vision this and you know, it's just, so like, is your opinion that this bet is better? Cause I don't even know if you've shared your opinion yet. Like, do you like this better than the 12?

This hypothetical? I don't, I don't know that I have, again, I don't know that I have a strong opinion because they're just gonna change it again. Like that's the problem. I haven't even timed it. I haven't even time to figure out if I like this or how much I like this.

I think you've got a pretty hard line in the sand of you liking this. You yelled at me a lot over liking this. I like the idea of more than four. I like the idea of a bigger playoff than four because it was just a lot. It was a lot more fun. It was needed. Like, if you actually play the games, interesting things happen as opposed to the like you were arguing with with Brad from making on Finebomb.

Like, you can play all the hypothetical games you want and your your chosen conference can win every hypothetical game. Well, they weren't hypothetical games on the field this year. They were real games. And Ohio State won and earned it like in the hardest possible way. So that was fun. But again, I don't even know how much I

like this and it's again you're going to change it again on us. Yeah. Yeah. Um cuz like fourteen from twelve doesn't really seem like that big of a difference. Like it's like you are where you are and it's just you're moving the line a little bit. But if you start moving how teams get in, I think it's like even more important than the number is how do you determine the teams that go. Bingo, right?

Because if you go to that, if you etch it in stone, that's the different, that's where you are making it truly different than what it was. That's where you are making it truly different than what it was. That's where you are making it a lot more like the NFL. And listen, I understand. I'm the one who says that's the most popular sport in the country.

Maybe they're doing something right. But I also understand that. I like the chaos. In the subjectivity of college football, I can't stand. About like they must be doing something right. It's like, yeah, of course they're doing something right. But like is the NFL's playoff mechanism and regular season

and all the things that they're doing, what makes it the most popular sport? Or is it football at the highest level with the best possible players is gonna be in a- It's because it's football at the highest level. I mean, it's like that you can't use the NFL model and be like, well, there it's the most popular thing in the world, they must be doing something right. The thing that

they're doing right is something that they that they think is the best players playing at the highest level. College football has has a little bit of that too. Like, this is where I argue with the people when they say, well, the basketball tournament, the basketball regular season, no, no, no. Basketball is basketball. We look at football differently as a country NFL's mechanism for how it crowns the Super Bowl champion. And you turned it to a

committee. And yep, did resumes and everything that college does. It would still be the highest rated sporting events in the country. It's not the mechanism in the NFL. You know what, Ari? What? Maybe they should try that. But I'm just saying, like, that's my, like, whatever the time you say, it's the NFL, they must be doing something right.

Like, it annoys me because it's like, it's, they're not doing something right because they figured out the perfect formula on how to play a season, how to crown a champion. It's the most popular sport, and they're doing something right because they figured out the perfect formula on how to play a season, how to crown a champion. It's the most popular sport and they're doing something right because they have the best players playing the game at the highest level and they've got fantasy football in a way because there's fewer teams. You know, people are more bought into the gambling aspect of it. The NFL draft is popular. Like it's not like, oh, if college just turns everything that they do into the NFL, that things will get better. Like I fundamentally disagree with that notion. Like that's not at all.

Like I actually think it's a mistake. The more you make it like the NFL from a week to week thing, I think the worst the sport becomes. Don't make it the NFL. The NFL was its own thing and you're never gonna be the NFL. Well then they should not do- Be college football, be quirky, be weird, be subjective.

Then they should not do the auto bids. Well, that's been my number one fear from the beginning. How many times you heard me say, well, then go be the NFL? I don't want it to be the NFL. I want it to be college football. Everybody listening to the show likes college football better than the NFL. This is the problem.

The players are better known. It's more chaotic and fun. Half the people complaining want an objective way to populate the playoff. No, half the people complaining want an objective way to populate the playoff. Half the people complaining are upset that their team got left out. Nobody complains after their team gets in. That's true.

People are complaining. Do you know how much fun it is to podcast and to listen and to listen to other shows and to argue with your friends like that is the feature of our game. I don't want the subjectivity to go. This podcast instantly becomes worse as a result of that. Doesn't it? Dave's here disagrees with us on this says the way college laws done this in the past is the dumbest way possible. All

auto bids earn it. We're not really earning it. You're assuming one conference is worth this many auto bids. Here's the fundamental difference between the NFL and college football that nothing can ever be done to change. Is that in the NFL, the gap between the best team and the worst team is basically the gap between the best team in the NFL, the gap between the best team and the worst team is basically the gap between the best team in the conference, the SEC and the fifth best team.

Correct. The worst team can beat the best team in the NFL on the right day. Right, the Browns can beat the Chiefs on the right day and it happens every week. That's why Survivor Pools exist because nobody knows who's gonna win that week. The Falcons beat the eventual Super Bowl champ Eagles.

Like, yeah, think about that team you saw kick the crap out of the Chiefs, lost to the Falcons on a Monday night game on a two minute drive. So when you have a schedule in the NFL, there are some people or some teams on a given year who have a perceived easier path, right? If you get to play the AFC North instead of the AFC East one year, and the AFC North is bad that year, then of course your schedule is easier. But everybody in the NFL is perceived to be playing a similarly difficult schedule. In college, if you give auto bids to everybody and you say, earn it, the team that earns it in the big 12 probably didn't have to earn it in the same way that the SEC does. That said, the SEC, everybody in that conference is playing against the same teams and it'll probably parse out that way.

But I don't know that you can say auto bids earn it when the schedules are so you're not because you're assuming You're assuming conference strength there and you're assuming the reason The SEC or the big 10 versus the big 12 and the ACC What the distinction you're making is The SEC and the big 10 are harder is what you're saying, which is why you're letting teams three and four in. Whereas in the Big 12 in the ACC, you're only letting teams one and two in so yeah,

so I guess earning the number two team or the number two seed or the being the second team in the Big 12. Is as reward worthy as being the fourth place team in the SEC is what they're saying. I don't know if that's true or not. I mean, I think that's going to vary from year to year. You watched the big 12 lately. I love the big, Ari, you're talking about the number one big 12 over here. Cause I think it's the most fun league in college football. It is the most fun league in college football. It's the most insane one. And that's what we want right insane conferences insane results

so Ari we'll go back to what what this would mean for conference championship weekend but first we got to talk about our friends at Panini America I did promise yeah you know prison draft picks pack ripping on the air this show is brought to you by Panini America makers the most collectible sportsipping on the air. This show is brought to you by Panini America, makers of the most collectible sports cards on the planet. The Prism football card series like this one right here. He's a vibrantly paralleled base and insert Rosser Priestery College football's brightest former

and current superstars. We got NIL autographed cards from players including Archman and Quinn Ures, Cam Ward, Jalen Milroy, Dylan Raiola, DJ Lagway and Luther Burden. To start collecting, visit PaniniAmerica.net. We are gonna rip a pack right here. Sorry. Do it to him. How are we feeling?

We feeling good? I feel great every time I hear that. We're gonna rock your Stalbach right out of the... That is a base card. I got a manning. It's the wrong man Archie Manning. Archie Manning. Chad Ocho Cinco.

Chad Johnson in his in his Oregon State uniform. Oh, we got an auto. We got an auto numbered to 49. He's been on the show Ari to Vandrea sweat one of my favorite guests from the 2023 college football season had a really good rookie year with the Titans. I love them Andre sweat. So he got choked up when he was on the show talking about how people when he went to Texas said, Oh, you're never going to graduate, you're never going to do this, you're

never gonna amount because he was not a typical Texas like five star recruit. He was a he was a high I believe he's a high three star three star and turned into a dominant player in college football. He's become a very good player in the NFL. I love it. Thank you, Penini, the lineman. They're bringing the lineman into this, so I'm really excited about that. OK, you make me nervous with it.

You know you gotta protect your goods now once you get them. I know I know is we got a prison break. AD Mitchell. Got Tyreek Hill. Where did he end up after Oklahoma State? Is that one? Is that numbered? The Tyre kill is not numbered.

The Tyre kill is a is a base card. So the only number one so far is the Tavondre Sweat Auto. We got lucky Irving question on Do you want me to answer your question on where he went after Oklahoma State? Yeah, answer it. It was like a small school in Alabama. I can't remember what the,

it was Eastern or Western Alabama, one of something like that. University of West Alabama. Yeah, yeah. Where Scott Cochran is coaching now, coach, yeah! It's electric. So, we got another big one, Ari. You ready? You Ari. You ready?

You ready? You ready? You ready? Is this one pack? This is one pack. They have 10 cards in these packs. Brilliant, numbered to 99. That is a pretty good one.

JJ McCarthy. And like the thing, I have a theory this year too, because, you know, in the hobby, the rookie cards, the base rookie cards out of like Donnis Optic and Prism in their pro uniforms are usually worth the most. But I'm wondering if with guys like JJ McCarthy who won the national title, like there is a collector value to Michigan fans in a way,

I mean, everybody wants it because it's a rookie card for JJ McCarthy. And we think he's gonna be QB1 for the Vikings this year, right? Yeah, and like the Collegiate National Treasures product that Panini does, which is a higher end product than the one that you're ripping right now, has some really, really cool JJ McCarthy

like CFP patches and stuff. So like I would watch out for that too, but yeah, it's a beautiful card. So we got Jonah Ellis base card, Jalen Milro rated rookie. We've had a lot of discussions about Jalen Milro on this show. We'll probably have some more as the draft approaches. But yeah, I'm going to get a top or get that JJ McCarthy in a top loader. Going to get that to Vandrey Sweat in a top loader. That's a, that was fun. I got one more of those packs too. We

may have to, we might have to rip that on a Thursday show. Yeah, let's just rip it now. Nope, I'm gonna make you wait. Paniniamerica.net to start your collection. All right, all right. So let's talk about if this auto bid thing, cause I don't know, like I don't, unfortunately I don't think it's an if.

I thought it might be an if for a while because it seemed like Greg Sankey and the SEC were not fans of the assigned auto bid for antitrust reasons. They didn't want to get sued, but also because they felt like if you just seeded it straight, it gave them a chance to get more teams in. Year to year, but it sounds like they've come around on that.

So I don't think you have the big 10 and the sec at loggerheads over this anymore. That's why I worry that that's going to happen. Yeah. Um, yeah, like, so like if you went to 14 or 16 and just seated it straight, wouldn't the SEC get more teams than for most years? I would think and I think they're thinking is they're going to get the fifth when Notre Dame is not good if it's 14 or if it's 16,

they're going to get one or two of those other ones. Although it didn't work out well for them this year. Right, you had three SEC teams that were at least biting at the Apple on the final selection Sunday and were left out, all of them were left out. And like, this is the thing that's so interesting too. And I don't know if I'm just misunderstanding this, so save me from being an idiot.

Sure. But this is the first year of the playoff where the committee rewarded teams for going to their conference championship games, right? Like they didn't count SMU's loss. They didn't count. We think, I mean, when did they not? Well, they couldn't in the 14 era.

2017 Auburn losing to Georgia. I guess is the one like I mean TCU made the national title game three years ago and they didn't win their conference championship game right? So they were worried for making it still, but every single team that performed like it wasn't just who got in and who got out like where Penn State was seated this year was a reward for reaching the Big Ten Championship game. See, but they oversee the teams that made it

because like Penn State's resume and comparing to Ohio State's Ohio State in theory should have been seated higher in this year's field. When we did it, we seated them higher than Penn State. But they didn't because they rewarded teams who made the conference championship games. So my, my, my overall question here to you, and I'm assuming that we would have gotten to a point, we were talking about expansion regardless. But if we, if like South Carolina would have gotten in over SMU, like if they would have penalized SMU and Rhett Lashley who came on the show and was complaining about this before it even happened, his worst nightmare came true and SMU was penalized for losing to Clemson in the ACC Championship game and they would have put an Ole Miss, Bama, I mean for a

while there the betting odds had Alabama as a favorite to make the playoff headed into that that Sunday. Right. Would this discussion look different? Like, I think that because we got to a point where the SEC got left out in mass scale, that we are now having a more intense conversation about fixing the seeding than we otherwise would have had SMU been the one that got screwed for quote unquote. It's interesting, cause I actually in the SEC I was texting with somebody. In SEC land about this yesterday and their their their thing is,

hey, this is an overreaction to 2024. Their their thing is that's what it feels like don't don't have auto bids because the SEC has a better chance to get more teams in if you don't in most years. And I don't know if that's true or not. I don't think there's a big enough sample size to really judge. And that's the other problem is you're making changes

with those sample size to know what your changes are gonna do. Or you're any SEC fan who legitimately feels as if the SEC is the most superior conference in college football, then this almost feels like you're scared of being left out, so you've got to make it in the rules that you can't be. Like, it feels like a almost a position of weakness. That notion came from the big 10 originally. Like the sec, if we believe that this was a blip on the radar for the year and that this should fight this, you should. This isn't what I would want.

I would want more teams in. I wouldn't want to limit myself to four when in most years I could get five or even six depending on whether or not it's 14 or 16 teams who are admitted to begin with. even six depending on whether or not it's 14 or 16 teams who were admitted to begin with. And like, listen, if you think that Vanderbilt beating Alabama or Ole Miss losing to, who did they lose to? Kentucky, like is a norm now, then go ahead sign the contract, do this.

But like if Ole Miss wouldn't have lost to Kentucky and Alabama wouldn't have lost to Vandy in a 14 team field, you might have had six teams in. This brings us to another thing that they're going to be talking about this week, Ari, and that is the possibility of the SEC going to nine conference games. And I think all of this is interrelated. So we've talked about this for several years at this point. I remember writing about this back in 2021. Most of the SEC at that point was ready to go to nine conference games.

It has nothing to do with fairness. It has nothing to do with the big 10 and everybody else complaining about them not playing nine conference games. It had everything to do with not everybody just automatically sells all their season tickets. It's becoming harder and harder to sell season tickets. They wanted to shake up the conference schedules.

They wanted to shake up their home schedules. They wanted to have those team, the teams that do schedule hard out of conference. One of the teams that don't. To be forced into scheduling a tougher game, which would be the ninth conference game. And they were all set to do it. And then some things changed. One Nick Saban didn't like the three fixed rivals that Alabama was going to get. So that turned Alabama against it to ESPN. They want to give them any more money, which I think is the most understandable reason

not to do it. But now there's a way for them to work together with the Big Ten to get more money from ESPN for that ninth conference game, and here's what it is. And again, all of this stuff is interrelated. I can do the wind horse fingers. You're friends with the wind horse, right? So I'm gonna do the Brian.

Yeah. That's my guy. Okay. Now why would that be? Why would they do this? Now why? Yeah. I still don't even know what he was talking about

when that meme was created. I believe it was a Rudy Gobert trade. He was trying to explain why Rudy Gobert was gonna get traded somewhere, I think. But why would that be? This is the, why would they be talking about this in New Orleans? So I wrote about this before the SEC and Big 10 80s

met in Nashville back in October. The Big 10 can help the SEC leverage some more cash out of Disney. And here's how. The Big Ten would like to do a scheduling arrangement with the SEC where they do match some of their best teams in the non-conference every year. And you're already seeing that.

Texas and Ohio State are playing at home and home. Oklahoma and Michigan are playing at home and home. So some of these are already scheduled. But they would like to schedule it every year. So you'd have like Tennessee, Penn State, Oregon, LSU. But the Big 10 does not want to do this unless the SEC plays nine conference games as well, because they want to feel like they're on a level playing field relative to the playoff and making the playoff. to the playoff and making the playoff. So if the SEC would go to nine conference games, the Big Ten would agree to this. The SEC can go to ESPN and go, hey, you realize you don't get any Ohio State games or Michigan games on your air anymore. You used to, but now

you don't because they don't have a contract with you in the Big 10. Would you like to have Ohio State on at least once a year? Would you like to have Michigan State, Michigan on, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Oregon, Penn State? Would you like to have them on at least once a year playing in a good game? We can make that happen for you. You just got to give us some more money. Oh, drink. How do we do that in the podcast world? Like, how do we leverage like other, I mean, I guess we kind of do. We just don't have to pay them.

Right. We should start paying guests. Like, Mac, if he pays pays his guests and it's brilliant. Like, so we need a three million dollar budget to have like the three most sought after guests in America come on once a week. Who would be number one? Oh, Elon Musk. I don't think it would mean much to him. Oh, you're thinking I'm thinking like I'm thinking football people. It's it's like our conversation with Big Cat.

He's like you you you gotta move into true crime and politics if you wanna do the big numbers. Okay, so we're trying to think of like who could we have on the show? Who in the sports world? Oh, cuz I was thinking I was now you you pulled me out of the sports world and now you're gonna yank me back into the sports world. I was outside of the sports world now you're gonna yank me back into the sports world I was outside of the world we can do both we can do we can do both we had Taylor Swift obviously but again that's a drop in the bucket to her I'm trying to think of like if you could

have one non sports person on our show who would draw the most views and I think there's one person right now. Okay. And I'm not sure I would want him on the show, but it would be Kanye. Nope. You don't think he would get the most views? I think he'd get the most views once. With the way he's acting right now?

And then never again, once. I'm not saying recurring guests, I'm just saying if you have one 30 minute spot with Kanye right now. Oh no, see I'm talking about the McAfee model where we pay a million dollars a year and they come on once a week. Yeah.

Oh, once a year or once a week for a year. Yeah. Taylor Swift would be good. She wouldn't take the deal though. Michael Carter says, Timothy Chalamet, Hey look, when he was the guest picker on game day, I was impressed. He knows ball. Yeah, he knows ball.

Timothée Ch. He knows ball. He knows ball Drake knows ball Drake and Kendrick at the same time Ferris con suggests that Would be electric LeBron James probably because he's one of the most famous people on earth. Yep I think he has his own show. But yeah, yeah, so But that's the car we outb's where we outbid. We outbid McAfee for Saban. But I think but I think if we actually could pay somebody who would want the money and would drive ratings in a good way, I think Connor Stallions would be pick a.

I think Connor Stallions that way, I don't think we'd have to pay a million. I think I like the way your heads out here though, because I think we get from bang for your buck. Yes, agreed. And again, I don't think that people would want to listen to him every week for a year. I think they would want to hear him for no, no, no, that would be a limited engagement. Like, that would be like 30 grand for a month. Yeah. I think we could pull it off. We can ask him anything. Yeah. Scott Aldridge says McConaughey, but he has to explain what the Minister of Culture does.

I'm in. I'm in. McConaughey is making a difference there. I don't like this sarcasm when it comes to that position. What does McConaughey think about a ninth conference game in the SEC? That's what really matters. We can have him talk about that. The thing I've always wanted to know about McConaughey is how much does he actually engage with the sport or is he a mascot once a week? Does he actually listen to college football podcasts and does he care about if Texas is recruiting a five-star

kid at Houston? We gotta find out if he posts on the Inside Texas message boards. I mean, do you think that McConaughey is aware when Texas picks up a big commitment? I think so. I think he's on that level of fan. Because is that the litmus test between casual fan and diehard is what, how much you know about roster accumulation? You know, the, the one I was the most surprised to learn about, and I've never verified this, but, but I've had enough people tell me that I choose to believe it Adam Duritz, the lead singer of counting crows was like a giant cow. Fan like, I don't know if he posted on message boards, but he like, he read him.

Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. Uh, Shane Gillis is a true legit Notre Dame fan. Yeah. And I saw him live, um, in Dallas. One of the funniest things I've ever seen in my entire life, by the way, that guy's hilarious. Um, and he was talking about Notre Dame and like one of the bits from the show

was, uh, his show was going to Notre Dame came games as a kid and I thought it was really funny. You know, who was a really big Ohio State fan that we still listen to me and Landis do our Ohio State show was Richard Lewis from Curb Your Enthusiasm. I don't know that about him. Huge. Yes, you told me this before. Rest in peace. Yeah. Yeah. And do you remember the the yeah, God rest his soul. But do you remember the how big of a

curb your enthusiasm guy? Are you? Not huge. I've seen a lot of episodes, but okay, there was one episode five years ago or four years ago, where Larry and Richard like would argue about when it's too late to say happy new year in the year. Yes. When's it too late to say happy new year? And I think they came up with like the D nine third eighth, like once it gets

past the eighth, no, no more happy new years. So I, I, I messaged, uh, Richard Lewis on Instagram. I mean, sorry on, on Twitter, cause he followed me. Um, cause he's a big Ohio state guy. And I just said, I was watching Curb Your Enthusiasm and you had me dying. I want you to come co-host a podcast with me and Landis about Ohio State.

Would love to have you on at any point, let me know. And he just responded, and this was January 20th, recovering from shoulder surgery, which I think is a fair excuse because when you're recovering from surgery, you're probably not up to going and having a microphone in your face, but all at the same time too, it made me feel like it was totally like a curb episode of like, can you picture Larry David going, what is having shoulder surgery have anything to do with talking into a microphone? Like, so you don't need your shoulder.

Yeah, I think I combined him with Seinfeld because I hear I hear Larry David's voice through Jerry Seinfeld in every episode of Seinfeld. So and I said, well, here's to a speedy recovery and we'd love to have you on if you're up for it in the future. Happy new year. And I said that to him on January 20th, which was I thought funny and he didn't respond and then I hit him again and he goes, uh, I'm still recovering from multiple surgeries. Um, and only in one episode I'm laying low PR wise. Please understand. Richard Lewis loved your show. Like I couldn't get them on,

but the way that he would talk to me in the DMS was the same way he acted on the show. Do you imagine Larry and him arguing about whether or not shoulder surgery is a, is an excuse for not coming on. On our show. It would be amazing. Good. Uh, Dave's here says, Bill Belichick's girlfriend.

That would be a good one. I'm in after she wore the, the Falcons 28, three deal to the, to the Superbow Bowl party, I'm definitely in. Yeah, I've got a lot of questions for her. I've got a lot of questions for her. So yes, this, this, this'll be a good, but we have to ask them all how they feel

about the SEC going to nine games. But if the SEC did go to nine games, I'm gonna guess the actual answer is probably Donald Trump, right? Probably at this point, yeah. I think that do big numbers. I mean, he's the number one media driving. He's not running for anything anymore. He's he's elected, so I know.

But every time he speaks, people are either love watching it or hate. No, I know. Yeah. Yeah. Now, there's a bit like it's the Howard Cerns. It's the private part scene times a billion. They love him. They keep listening because they want to hear what he'll say next. How about the people who hate him? Oh, they listen 30 minutes longer. Number one reason want to see what he'll say next. Yeah, we can do that. We have I don't think we need to pay Greg saying let's let's just we do need to have Greg Sankey on. So I'm going to put that request in today. And I'm hoping we will have him here shortly.

Because I do think once the dust settles from this, he's going to he's going to make the rounds and talk about this stuff. Yeah. Because I do think once the dust settles from this he's gonna he's gonna make the rounds and talk about this stuff. Yeah, so cuz I I would love to get his honest opinion on this nine game thing because He's sort of danced around it for the last few years. I think I know where he falls on I Think he wants the SEC to play nine conference games It has for a while So you're always a GTFG right good for the game.

That's what he says. That's what you want right? GF TG Yeah, well that that's what he says. You know, I don't I don't know that the either either party the SEC the Big Ten can can say That they're all all good for the game that that's their their whole goal right now. I Mean if you can drop that FCS game that we get November every year that would be fantastic for everyone

Yeah, take make that a conference game. I mean you're talking talking about Ohio State Akron. I mean, like, what are we talking about with the SEC? They're playing a conference game and you don't have to on 1122. Yeah, Georgia State is that is the Georgia State logo. Is that a new one? Georgia State's not an FCS team. But no, I know. But is that I never seen that logo before? It's a new panther. Yeah, this they have a new one. Now Georgia State's not an FCS team, but no, I know. But is that I had never seen that logo before. It's a new Panther. Yeah. This they have a new Panther. I believe so. Hmm. It's this fierce looking Panther. I know.

Oh no. Wait, is that Eastern Illinois? Hold on. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't think that was Georgia State. Eastern Illinois. Okay. So yes, let's not have that game. Yeah. Yeah. Eastern Illinois Panthers. What's a better panther than yes. Would you? Yeah. Georgia States Panthers different. Yeah. So secondary market tickets right now for Eastern Illinois. As low as $22. It's so funny because I'm looking at the Alabama schedule and it's got the secondary market tickets for all the games next to it. So the Wisconsin game in Tuscaloosa 119, the Tennessee game 226 Oklahoma game 128 Eastern

only game 22 bucks. How good would you be at the FCS lower level logo game? That sounds like a Friday grab a segment right there because I don't think I don't think I could get any of them. Like I feel like I could get any of them. Like I feel like I would be terrible at it. Every single power conference in a split second, every single group of five team in a split second. I feel like this down to the lower levels.

No shot. I feel like living where I live. The Southern conference teams would be easy to ID. Like if you showed me the Wofford Terriers, I think I'd get that one and the Furman Paladins. Yeah, I mean I've gambled on enough college basketball. I think that that would

help me out a little bit and like the NCAA tournament probably creates some familiarity with like a wall. I like I know what Wofford's logo looks like. But that would be a fun. I was just saying you have to be a team that has a basketball team that gets into the tournament regularly.

Yeah, right. It's like, I don't know, like, if you would have said what college is that, I would have never gotten Eastern Illinois. Well, I thought it was Georgia State. We could come up with a new quiz. There you go. That could be a new bit for us where we come up with quiz questions once every Friday, you know, and you can quiz each other.

I think, now, our Friday show this week is Ralph Russo and the ombudsman. Yeah. But next week, next Friday, we're gonna do that. That's gonna be FCS logo quiz day. Yeah. I think the people in the chat will be better about this. But do you wanna talk about how they

corrected us immediately here? Do you want to talk about how much I know about government? I think we already did. I think we've covered that pretty thoroughly. I know. But I want you to give me my flowers. Like, hey, bro, you know, you know, everything there is to know about the government. You know, 80% of the easiest possible quiz we could give the government. That's what% of the easiest possible quiz we could give on the government. That's what we know objectively. Oh my God. Oh man. Should we pay Doug like Maurice to come on

the show regularly? Thinking of other guests we could just pay. I think Doug would love to come on the show. I think you would have to pay him. I think he would do it for free. If he could talk about those topics that he likes to talk about, sure. Yeah. One more bit of business before we finish up. State and Liberty.

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because State and Liberty has it all. Use the code staples at stateandliberty.com for 10% off for new customers. This is a hell of a deal because they do not put stuff on sale very often. I know because before they started doing ads as a very regular customer, always looking for codes, never finding them.

Well, you got one now. Staples is your code, 10% off for new customers at stateliberty.com. All right, all right, before we go, we talk about the playoff. What would, I'm trying to phrase this question properly because I feel like I've done a bad job with this because I'm supposed to have a stronger take on it,

but I don't because I'm just tired of everything constantly feeling like it's in the washing machine. Would you like them to just stick with this 12 team thing for like 10 more years and then readjust? Yeah, or do you think them just move to the next thing? I think this was fun. Like all we talked about when I would push back on it was how much fun this was going to be and how cool it was and how new blood I thought this was really

fun. I didn't come through the like the only thing that people were complaining about was the first round blowouts and that's an unsolvable issue. So that's going to happen. Yeah, the playoff mechanism did. There weren't teams that didn't play that I felt bad didn't get the play. So like if it were me, I would just go. Automatic bids for every conference champion, one automatic bid, and then I would rank them, and then I would see them one through 12 without giving automatic buys to every conference champion, one automatic bid. And then I would rank them

and then I would see them one through 12 without giving automatic buys to conference champions. And that's how I would do it. So like the Mac and then conference USA too? No, no, no, every conference champion that's in the system right now, power conference champ. So four automatic bids. Okay.

And then I would do eight teams that were at large and let the committee figure it out so we can keep the subjectivity. And that way everybody who plays in a conference that's a power conference controls their own destiny from the beginning to make the playoff. And then I would have an automatic qualifier for the highest ranked G five team just so that everybody's included and then I would have it ranked straight like at this point. I don't think I would go back to four because the sports changed and my opinion was wrong about that, but I think that the more subjectivity that we could get the better. I don't think that solving subjectivity helps like I'm not for that and and and I'm glad we talked about this because that's the part

I was going back and forth on in my mind was, well, everybody bitches about this. So it would give them some criteria and it takes that out of the committee's hands. And I guess it makes the regular season, at least in conference play more relevant because those games- Every Tuesday night is fun is fun every Tuesday night November is fun. Okay it's that simple it's fun entertainment product right and you can't come me with it you can't come me know you always been me this is always been me.

Okay you know i've always wanted to argue about the stuff you know, my, my, the biggest joys I get in my life are the columns criticizing the committee on Tuesday nights. That's true. Like the fact that like we don't get that anymore sucks. If that, if it goes to that, like I, and I also think too, the best part about the subjectivity is that it exists, but nobody really gets screwed. Like, nobody this year got screwed. Did anybody get screwed this year? There might be people who had a distaste. Right.

I think the Ole Miss, South Carolina and Alabama fans and the Miami fans probably felt screwed. But I don't think anybody else was feeling. And the thing is, like I said, like I always say about the basketball tournament, I don't think anybody else was feeling, and the thing is, like I said, like I always say, but the basketball tournament. I don't feel bad for the teams that didn't get in. Right, I don't feel bad for them. They had a chance to win more games and they didn't. Two years ago, feel bad for Florida State two years ago. Correct. They did everything they could and they everything they were supposed to do and they got left out. That is not the case.

And that's never going to happen again, where you're going to have somebody who did everything they're supposed to do. And they got left out. Yeah. The thing I guess like, and I don't know, maybe we could discuss this or maybe it's just water under the bridge at this point, but, um, did BYU get screwed last year because there's a huge BYU hive of like, Hey, we had a pretty good resume. We're, they could have made the big 12 championship game.

Yeah. Maybe don't lose to Arizona state. Yeah. Like, so again, that's the, it was completely out of the conversation while South Carolina and Alabama were in it and I think you could make the case that BYU had a strong enough resume to be in that discussion. That's all. Because they went to SMU in one early in the season. That's what was helping them. They had some pretty good wins on their schedule and they went 9-0 to start the year. Like I think that like I don't know that I don't know that BYU got screwed not making it. I think it's weird that

BYU wasn't more of a fixture of the discussion at the end of the year. I don't I I don't know that I don't know that BYU got screwed not making it I think it's weird that BYU wasn't more of a fixture of the discussion at the end of the year. I Don't I I don't think non SEC non big team 10 teams are going to be fixtures of the discussion Now maybe if you've got like a Clemson That Kicked off the season by beating an SEC team or ends the season by beating South Carolina. That's a different, a little bit different animal probably. But I think a lot of it will depend on what you did in the non-conference.

Or, or the Big Ten and the SEC may decide they want to do four, four, two, two, one. They may go to the playoff, you know, the other commissioners would be like, we want to do four, two two one they may go to the playoff you know that the other commissioners be like we want to do four four two two one and let me ask you that okay before we go I'm gonna ask you this I'm gonna put you in the shoes of Brett Yormark the big 12 commissioner you are Brett Yormark I'm not asking you to be Ari Wasserman and and what what you think is most fun or what you'd like to see the most.

Big 12 commissioner hat. Yeah, if you're Brett Yormark and I come to you with this deal that lets you get two teams in every year guaranteed. You taking it? Yes. That's what I think too. Jim Phillips in the ACC,

I don't know if you're as fired up about taking that, but you're probably taking it. I think if the system stayed the ACC, I don't know if you're as fired up about taking that. But you probably think if the system stayed the same, the years in which the Big 12 gets two teams in would be far fewer than getting to it. The ACC. Yeah. Well, and the other thing is the Big 12, like you take that deal because you're probably going to end up with one most years. Correct. Correct. Two every year, the math's going to work out in your favor. Over the long term, right? Yep. Yep. I'm in that picture. Oh, Dave's here. You're correcting my numbers.

442211. That's where I was leaving out the extra one. Yes, 442211. Yes. Four, four, two, two, one, one. Yeah. And that's the thing. Like part of this, like the sec and the big 10 don't have to get everybody on board, but it's in their best interests to throw some bones at these guys. So they are happy. Yeah.

And also too, as you know, the defender of the little guy who's me now, I want everybody's conference to be included. I want the G5 to feel like they've got a piece of the pie. I want the, I mean, if you have, like, I guess it's like one thing too of like, that we have to consider that we didn't talk about, which is like keeping the big 12 race engaging and fun. Like, if you have two teams in the Big 12 who automatically qualify, think about how much fun.

It was already a blast this year watching Big 12 football. But if you would have had two teams who got in, then this would have also created an opportunity for Iowa State to have a moment that it's never had in program history. And it would have had Colorado, BYU, and Bay even, not chomping on the bit there at the end of like, hey, could we sneak into number two? And like all their games are crazy Sunday night games that they play sometimes. And the Big 12 is the most entertaining football we get in terms of

grab ass, right? It's amazing. Well, and here's the thing, we didn't get to this before, but we should talk about this again. If in terms of like, grab ass, right? Like it's amazing. Well, and here's the thing, we didn't get to this before, but we should talk about this again. If you saw the episode with Joel Klatt, you already know about this. But if you didn't see that, what he suggested, which is also what Tony Petiti, the big 10 commissioner suggested is for the big 12 in the ACC. If you have these auto bids, if you have these two auto bids in each league, instead of a conference championship game,

you have two games on championship Saturday, number one versus number four and number two versus number three, and the winners go to the playoffs. So for last year, that would have been Arizona State, Colorado and Iowa State BYU. That'd be fun. I would watch the hell out of that. I mean, it would be really refreshing in the new system

to actually have games where the results matter outside of the playoff. So that would be nice. It's just being around the playoff is essentially what it would be. It'd be an extra round of the playoff, but then at the same time too, you'd have more teams engaged at the end of the year. I think I can get on board with that. I think it'd be fun. There's a version of that you can do in the Big Ten and the SEC as well. I don't think you have to, if their champs are getting buys. I mean, the problem with it is, is that like, when you look at the Big Ten and the SEC, the way that he set it up, winner of three versus six and winner of four versus five go like the distinction between being the sixth best team and the third best team in the SEC, which is usually a pretty huge distinction. Anymore based on is basically nothing like all you have to do is finish six. Yeah, we're looking at the conference thing. So we have the top eight up. We don't have LSU listed. They were also five and three. We're looking at the conference thing. So we have the top eight up.

We don't have LSU listed. They were also five and three. CCC play. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Is last year's SEC schedule the way that it went? Like what you think is going to be normal now? Do you think it's just going to be nine teams clustered?

Or do you think that was a weird year? Especially because nine conference games. I do. Yeah. Yeah. But I think that that would be entertaining. So if you're the big 12, but I think that. That would be entertaining. So if you're the big 12, you take the deal. With and you do the you do the one

verse four two verse three. Championship week like that. That's a fun like one of the games is Friday night. One of the games Saturday. But how do you determine who's the conference champion in this one? Who at regular season stand one seat. You just have a regular seed like basketball has like a regular season champ. I think it would go absolutely bananas if the conference champion lost to the four

seed in the first round, which would happen in the big 12 all the time. I think exactly it. Well, it's a bit thief situation. It's just like the basketball tournament. Like you have the team that goes through the season and you know, is 20, 26 and six and they were 15 and wanting conference play and they just get knocked out

in the semi-finals of their conference tournament. It's like, oh well. Yeah. That'd be crazy. That'd be some crazy stuff there. But you're right. If, in the big 12 at the top, because you mentioned BYU like shouldn't be why you have been more of a talking point. BYU

absolutely could have made the playoff in that scenario. They could have won that one game and made the playoff. Absolutely. Colorado could have made the playoff in that scenario. They could have won that one game and made the playoff. Absolutely. Colorado could have made the playoff. Colorado Arizona State with a playoff berth on the line would have been a blast to watch. Yeah. So if that's the way it goes, that would be a way to add some more fun to it. So thank you to Joel Clatt and also to Tony Petitti, because I know you've been pushing it too. I think that would be a fun way to do it.

But we'll see what they decide. The SEC and the Big Ten ADs are gonna get together. They'll come up with some ideas. Those ideas will get presented to the other commissioners. And probably in a way, let's like, here's what we're gonna do. Feel free to sign on or not. And that's how things are gonna go in 2026.

So, I don't know if we've solved anything Ari. We probably didn't, but hopefully now you understand a little better what's going on this week. I think it's a fun show and it's always fun to theorize about the future. Super excited to see what starts trickling out of these meetings and what seems to be a likely landing point. But just keep it crazy, man. Just keep college football crazy, please. Keep it dysfunctional, please. It's like the keep Austin weird t-shirts. Yeah, right. Keep college football weird. That is what you want. You know what? That might be our first piece of merch.

We haven't done any merch on this show yet. Keep college football weird. What are we gonna do merch? I think we just came up with our first shirt. I know, how, I just don't know how labor intensive merch is. Like how hard is it to set up a merch store? Good question. We have some very smart people at Andre.

Is it super easy or is it really hard? Would you guys buy merch? In the chat, if you're here. smart people at Andre. Is it super easy or is it really hard? Would you guys buy merch? In the chat if you're here, let me know. I've always wondered like would you wear ass clown t-shirts? The Andy Sapel Show computer laptop organized win nexus that I finally remember what the letters meant. Steven San Antonio is in he's buying merch. Yeah.

Mike says he'd wear an Andy and Ari t-shirt. All right. Do we start doing giveaways? We get people on the show and we can build this thing up and you know, he's throwing out. I mean, I'd wear Andy and Ari merch. Hell yeah. It's a workout shirt.

Done. As you look at the picture of Andy on your phone and just go, oh man, I wish I was Jack like that guy. We need, we gotta talk to our pals at State and Liberty. Do we want to do some State and Liberty Andy and Ari merch? That's a fancy Andy and Ari merch. Yeah, do we have a minute? Because like, I'm going to Cabo this week and my wife said I have to go to the mall because I don't have resort wear. Is that a normal thing that you would hear from your partner? It's a normal thing you'd hear from your wife, and my wife would probably say the same thing if I didn't have a session with resort wear. Resort wear? Have you ever heard that before?

Yes. Cabana wear. And she said that I don't have proper footwear for a beach vacation. I think you do. I was like, what, you want me to wear espadrilles? Like, what am I? Like I'm- You need some flip-flops? I don't- I have Nike slides.

Do not wear the leather- She said you can't wear Nike slides around. Don't wear the strappy sandals. I don't have strappy ones, but I have slides that just have a Nike swoosh on them that I take out the trash. That's fine. But- Yeah. But your wife not going to be cool with that.

No producer ever says Birkenstocks. No Birkenstocks. No, she got me. She didn't get me Birkenstocks. She got me the rubber ones that are in style now. And she got me a few knit button downs that are like have holes in them. But have you ever seen these like people, these, these shirts that are like, they have designed holes in them all over the place. So it's like airy, but also covers your body.

I got to show you. It's a fishing shirt. Yeah, she got your fishing shirt. It's a nice shirt. I think she got you. She sure. It's like heavy knit, but it's also exposed. And she said, I don't have the, I don't have the right shaped face for a bucket hat. So I don't know what that means, but we're working on it. What shape face is required for a bucket hat? I just think she means not round. What is the ideal face shape for a bucket hat?

I've never even thought about this even once. I think your number, just text her. Yeah, I should. I will say, though, because I always imagine myself in a variety of hats, and I always end up with just a baseball cap. I don't think my face shape works with any other hat but a baseball cap.

Yeah. So like, no, I'm chubby. Will Rees-Goop wants to know about an Ari Real doll. So, uh, will raise good wants to know about an Ari real doll. Bobblehead. Yeah, Andy and Ari hats. I like this. Okay, we have heard you. We will.

We will run that up the flagpole. I like it. Yeah, we got to come up with our slogans and stuff, but we'll we'll keep college football weird is a great one, and I saw somebody in the chat saying the city of Austin will sue you know they won't like that. That's protected because it's a parody. And do you know who actually? Fought that fight for us all the way to the Supreme Court.

There's a college football connection here. Uncle Luke, question Uncle Luther Campbell. Luther Campbell fought it all the way to the Supreme Court when he was fighting against the people who owned Roy Orbison's music because he had, Two Live Crew had done a parody of pretty woman and He said his argument was parodies protected by the First Amendment and The Supreme Court agreed so thank you Luther Campbell if we do some keep college football weird shirts We'll keep the city of Austin off our ass Yeah, yeah I'm gonna go try on this crochet button down that I got. Oh the crochet. I got one of those. Those are cool. Those are actually good for around the pool.

You know what's made a real comeback? Jawline. Your jawline is spectacular. Dude, I'm gonna be so hot. There's gonna be insane. As in temperature wise or in terms of like sexy. Yeah. Okay. All right. Send pictures.

We'll let the we're gonna let the chat decide how hot you are. So hot right now. I'll be bundled up in Park City. That's where I'm going. So we are. We're not. we don't do tandem vacations yet. Give it time. Hopefully soon.

Hopefully soon. Give it time. Andre wants a t-shirt, 3XL. We got to make this happen. I would love to do that for you. All right. We will talk to you tomorrow. A little more prep for this meeting.

More talk about potential conference combination just in basketball. Weird stuff going on. Weird stuff. Talk to you tomorrow.