Andy & Ari On3 - Is 5-Star QB Dylan Raiola FLIPPING from Georgia to Nebraska? | Is QB Kyle McCord worth $1 million?

Episode Date: December 12, 2023

In a BIG Show, Andy covers Transfer Portal Movement, NIL Evaluation, and Picks for the first slate of bowl season!Thank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's episode! Bowl Season is days away - don't miss your chance to watch your favorite team. Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.This show also is sponsored by Fanduel, America’s best sports book. Visit fanduel.com/Staples to sign up, and when you make a $5 winning money line bet, you’ll get $150 dollars in guaranteed bonus bets.(0:00-1:32) Intro - Dylan Raiola News(1:33-2:53) UNC QB Drake Maye Opts OUT of Bowl Game(2:54-5:34) Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman also opts OUT(5:35-16:59) Sean Callahan Joins to talk Nebraska and Dylan Raiola(17:00-32:28) NIL Evaluations Market with our financial correspondent, Tim Shamer(32:29-33:53) Picks Intro(33:54-37:54) Myrtle Beach Bowl: Georgia Southern vs Ohio(37:55-41:57) R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: Jacksonville State vs UL Lafayette(41:58-46:52) Avocados from Mexico Cure Bowl: Miami (OH) vs Appalachian State(46:53-51:24) Isleta New Mexico Bowl: New Mexico State vs Fresno State(51:25-56:19) Straco Brands LA Bowl: UCLA vs Boise State(56:20-1:00:59) Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl: Cal vs Texas Tech(1:01:00-1:07:59) Famous Toastery Bowl: Western Kentucky vs Old Dominion(1:08:00-1:09:43) ConclusionIt’s a cavalcade of QB news on a Monday. North Carolina’s Drake Maye and Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman are opting out of their teams’ respective bowl games. But that news got blown away Monday night by the chatter out of Georgia and Nebraska that Dylan Raiola, the No. 1 quarterback prospect in the class of 2024, is considering flipping from Georgia to Nebraska with a little more than a week left before National Signing Day.Sean Callahan of On3’s Husker Illustrated joins to discuss what a Raiola flip might mean for coach Matt Rhule and the Cornhuskers. Sean also explains how that could affect Nebraska’s recruitment of Ohio State transfer QB Kyle McCord, who was visiting Lincoln on Monday.Next, our special financial correspondent Tim Shamer joins to explain some of the dollar amounts in the transfer market. Are good QBs really worth $1 million? How much does a serviceable offensive lineman cost? Which positions aren’t worth what players are asking?After that, Chris Vannini of The Athletic joins to help Andy pick the first six bowl games of the season. There are five on Saturday and one next Monday. Are you ready for some vibes-only picks?Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and don't forget to subscribe!https://youtu.be/U_smE2Rv-FgMust be 21+ and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas StarCasino, LLC. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 firstdeposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com.Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania,Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visitccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP inLouisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope ishere. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call [phone] for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or textHOPENY in New York

Welcome to Andy Staples on three big, big news night. Something brewing in the world of recruiting. I don't know what you're thinking. Is it this big? To lead the whole show? Recruiting news? Yes, it is this big. The number one quarterback recruit in the class of 2024, Dylan Raiola.

Committed to Georgia. Legacy at Nebraska. Remember, Dad Dominick was an all-time great offensive lineman at Nebraska. Committed to Georgia. Moved from Arizona to Beaufort, Georgia to get ready to go play at Georgia? Our Chad Simmons at On3 is reporting that Dylan Raiola is seriously considering a flip to Nebraska. Now, remember, National Signing Day is a week from Wednesday. A flip now means that's probably where you're going.

So does Georgia hold on? Does he flip to Nebraska? We're going to talk to Sean Callahan of Husker Online about that. And oh, by the way, Kyle McCord, former Ohio State quarterback, visiting Nebraska on Monday, thinking about potentially transferring. Are those two things related? Does it matter? Can they get them both?

It's entirely possible. We'll talk about that with Sean in a minute. First little bit of news, quarterback news. It seems to be the theme. Drake May, North Carolina quarterback has opted out of the Tar Heels bowl game. He will not be playing another down of college football. It doesn't feel that surprising. This is one of those where he is potentially the number one or number two pick in the NFL draft. Feels like it's him or Caleb Williams. So don't know if that's worth playing in a bowl game against West Virginia. You know, that's one of those things we probably figure that that level of player is not going to play in that level of bowl game.

So congratulations to Drake May, I guess, on the future NFL career and a good career in college football. I feel like we didn't get to see as much out of Drake May as maybe the hype suggested coming into this year. And I think a lot of that was North Carolina just sort of fell off the map defensively. They were playing really well and then they were done. So no Duke's Mayo Bowl for Drake May.

No Mayo Bath for Drake May. Again, I keep thinking maybe the Duke's Mayo Bowl ends in a Mayo Bath for Neil Brown. And hot seat to start the season. Mayo bath to end the season and win nine games is, I mean, doesn't get much better than that. In other quarterback news, Sam Hartman officially opting out of the Sun Bowl for Notre Dame. That means, well, I'm just going to play you Notre Dame's announcement from today. Peter Angelli gets the start Peanut butter jelly time. Peanut butter jelly time. Way, yeah. Way, yeah. Way, yeah.

Way, yeah. Now there you go. There you go. There you go. There you go. Peanut butter jelly. Peanut butter jelly. Peanut butter jelly.

So if you're not watching the video version on YouTube, which you should be, subscribe to the On3Sports YouTube channel, everybody. That was the peanut butter jelly time meme from ages ago with it's Peter and Jelly time. Yes, that's what it said. Now, if you're listening in podcast form, you're like, Andy, why did you assault my ears with that? Well, I had to listen to it, so you did too. That's why. Peter Angeli, starting against the Oregon State Beavers in the Sun Bowl. No more Sam Hartman. We hardly knew you.

It's interesting talking about Drake May and Sam Hartman. There's probably a bigger discussion to be had later, which maybe as we get into the offseason, we can get into that. Did we feel like those two had the years we thought they were going to have? You know, when Sam Hartman committed to Notre Dame as a transfer from Wake Forest, I thought we're talking maybe he leads them to a playoff berth. He leads them to a New Year's Six Bowl. I don't think the Sun Bowl was what he envisioned.

So he won't be playing in it. Peter Angeli playing in it. Drake May, no D Duke's Mayo Bowl he was on the cusp it seemed like they were in line to play for the ACC championship and then all of a sudden it just fell apart at North Carolina so a couple of quarterbacks that we thought were going to have probably bigger years not ending this year but the main quarterback conversation on Monday is about a guy who's still in high school who is looking to potentially decide where he's going to go to college we thought he had decided but now it sounds like that decision is back open Dylan Raiola number

one quarterback recruit in the country for the class of 2024 he's committed to georgia but right now all the smoke is coming out of lincoln nebraska and that is where we go to talk to sean callahan of husker online joined now by sean callahan of husker online big doings in lincoln kyle mccord on an official visit from our ohio state quarterback and then comes the news the number one quarterback recruit in america maybe flipping to the huskers welcome to the off-season capital of college football andy staples uh lincoln nebraska yeah it's it's been a wild week um and I think things were fairly status quo. We expected the Kyle McCord visit. Felt really good probably since last Friday

that Nebraska was in great shape with Kyle McCord. Then here on Monday morning, I started getting a few things my way about Dylan Raiola and Nebraska. Things are resurfacing and something happened at Georgia. All of a sudden, next thing you know, the leading industry experts in our business, Chad Simmons and Steve Wilfong, are putting in predictions for Dylan Raiola to Nebraska. It's absolutely you can't make this stuff up. Nebraska could have two five-star quarterbacks potentially on its roster by the

week's end. Dylan Raiola is a legacy at Nebraska. Dad is Dominic, former center, played for a long time in the NFL. He was playing high school football in Arizona, then decided to play high school football in Georgia after committing to Georgia. But Nebraska has never stopped recruiting. Well, you know, his uncle Donovan Raiola is the offensive line coach at Nebraska, and he was the only coach retained from the Scott Frost coaching staff. And the offensive line played well this year, you know,

and things are really strong, I think, with Matt Rule and Donovan Raiola. So, you know, it looks like his position is solid in Lincoln with his coaching staff. But, you know, the Raiola family came to a game again this year in Lincoln, they were on the sidelines for a home game. Um, and they did that last year as well, but, um, you know, you just didn't think much of it that, you know, he's committed to Georgia. He moved to Buford, Georgia, uh, to be closer, you know, to his new school. Um, so nobody really could have thought that this would all come out,

especially he was a, Andy, it was my understanding, he was going to move to Athens or is expected to move there within a week because we haven't been to a bowl game at Nebraska for so long, but I didn't realize early enrollees can move in once the semester ends at their high school. Yeah, and they can start practicing pre-bowl as an early enrollee so they could like he could have theoretically participated in george's orange bowl practices so he if he's making this decision he has to kind of make it right now right and the dead period as you know

starts sunday so uh would there need to be another official visit that takes place this weekend or this week with rielas does he even need to do that his uncle that takes place this weekend or this week with Riala? Does he even need to do that? His uncle's here, so he can come to Lincoln, Nebraska anytime he wants. He's been here countless times as a young kid and even as a high school recruit. So there's not much more that he needs to see. But it's wild because you go back to the recruiting process when he didn't pick Nebraska.

Matt Rule then called a local quarterback, Daniel Kalin, who's from Bellevue West High School, one of the top programs in Nebraska, and he decommitted from Missouri. He was Eli Drinkowitz's quarterback to switch to Nebraska. And that kind of played out over a week's period. And to see it kind of play out again where now they they both could be in the class and kyle mccord coming it it's a lot to kind of digest here well and let's talk about kyle mccord because this is an interesting that was my

first thought is okay what does that mean with kyle mccord but then you think okay kyle mccord is a junior right now he's he's played three years at Ohio State. He has one year of eligibility remaining. He's basically a one-year rental if they take him. It kind of would be a situation like, not exactly like Texas, because we don't know what Quinn Ewers is going to do, but Arch Manning went to Texas with the thought

that he was going to redshirt. He was the number one recruit at quarterback in last year's class, and the thought was he was going to redshirt he was the number one recruit at quarterback in last year's class and the thought was he was going to redshirt and then kind of move into the role when when it was open how's rio on that is he probably wasn't expecting to play early at georgia if carson beck was coming back right yeah i mean i think that scenario makes a lot of sense and if kyle mccord comes to nebraska you can still play Raiola in up to four games if he came to Nebraska,

just like what Texas did with Arch Manning this year. So there's a lot that makes sense, and it would allow Matt Rule to continue to kind of build this team and this roster where by 2025, when Raiola would have theoretically his opportunity, it would be a more stocked Big Ten team. And I'm sure more recruits would look that way when you have a guy like Raiola waiting in the wings and McCord there right now, if that plays out that way.

So yeah, there's a lot to this, a lot of moving parts. And I've been around a lot of recruiting in my career, Andy. I don't recall one quite like this in Nebraska. Well, a lot of times when these flips happen, it's a case where a staff hasn't quit, but the player's been sending kind of little smoke signals along the way every few weeks, every few days as the process has gone along. This didn't work out like that.

It was all of a sudden monday it started bubbling yeah i don't know what happened at georgia this past week but i you know i you did something happen when the rialos were on campus and hanging out last weekend i don't know um you know how what would have played out to kind of get to this point because they moved they moved to georgia to be closer to georgia so there's just so many layers to this thing that yep buford's in gwinnett county it's like it is basically less than an hour drive to athens from where they are so it is it is pretty amazing how that all worked out but yeah it's it's sure uh gonna make for a fun week here to kind of see how this thing plays out and, and where it all goes with Dylan Ryola.

Like, you know, will he announce his decommit? How, how will, how will this all go down now in the coming hours days? Now that the cat's out of the bag and, you know, everybody is kind of projecting what's going to happen next. Sean, it is going to be quite a sprint toward National Signing Day next Wednesday. And you're right, the off-season capital of news in college football is Lincoln, Nebraska, so I expect to be talking to you quite a bit. All right. Hey, thank you, Andy. I appreciate it.

That's Sean Callahan. Big news if Dylan Raiola flips that is a huge deal for Nebraska for Matt Rule and we'll see what it means with Kyle McCord I don't think it precludes Nebraska from getting Kyle McCord for this year because Dylan Raiola will be a true freshman I don't think you want to put that on a true freshman anyway, especially one where at Nebraska they don't have exactly the supporting cast that you would have at, say, Georgia. And if he was going to Georgia, if Carson Beck decides to come back, you're behind him.

They've also got Gunnar Stockton. Brock Vandegrift has now gone to Kentucky. But the chances were that you're playing behind an older guy anyway. So this might be the situation that they come into with an understanding that he's not necessarily going to play as a true freshman. And Kyle McCord could come to Nebraska, help him out, help teach Dylan Riello how things go. Or Carson Beck, if Dylan Riello sticks with Georgia, could do the same thing.

But a lot of drama. And I guess we'll find out what happens on National Signing Day. Next up, we're going to have a little fun. I've had a lot of questions about the money in the transfer market. You know, what are certain players worth? What are certain positions worth? What is this position worth at this level? say power five or group of five? So we're going to give you that information, but we're bringing in our special financial correspondent. His name's Tim Shamer. He sounds a little bit like some other guy who's on one of the financial networks, but he looks, he's got a lot more hair. Let's put it that way.

But before that, I want to tell you about GameTime, the easiest, fastest, most stress-free way to buy last-minute tickets. Let's say you're all pumped up about that Rose Bowl matchup, Michigan-Alabama. Well, guess what? You go to GameTime right now, you can buy tickets to the Rose Bowl, multiple points of view. You look at exactly where you'll sit. You see a photo

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Could be a lot of fun. So if you happen to be in India over the weekend, maybe you get a little San Elmo shrimp cocktail, walk on over to the arena, take in some Purdue Arizona. Download the Game Time app. Use the code the code staples for 20 off your first purchase it is so easy and you can find sports concerts theater comedy you name it if they got tickets to it game time probably has it and they got tickets to all the best sporting events.

So you want to see the best basketball game in the country so far this year? It's on Saturday. It's in Indy. Get them at game time. You want to see a college football playoff game? Get them at game time. Use the code STAPLES, $20 off your first purchase. All right, let us talk transfer portal market. We talked about ComiCord earlier as it relates to what is going

on with Dylan Raiola and Nebraska. But again, even if Nebraska flips Dylan Raiola, it does not necessarily preclude the Cornhuskers from getting Kyle McCord. In fact, it might be a better situation for everybody if they do get a Kyle McCord to play next year as a veteran of the Big Ten and then help Dylan Riello all along if that's how it works out, if Dylan Riello doesn't end up going to Georgia. But what about the market for Kyle McCord, for running backs in the portal, for receivers in the portal, for offensive linemen in the portal, for defensive linemen?

How does that work? What dollar amounts are we talking? Well, we brought in our special financial correspondent, Tim Shamer, to let you know how all of this works and tell you where in the market you should be shopping if you are a big time college football team. My mission is simple, to help you use your collective's money wisely. There's always a

bull of an offensive lineman or defensive lineman out there that you can get at the right price to help your team win. I'm here to make sure that you use your collective's money the right way, that you distribute it properly so you don't get caught overpaying for somebody who won't help. And you let somebody who would help go out the door. Here's how this works. The transfer portal market is two pieces. The guys that are in the portal

and the guys that you're trying to keep out of the portal. Those are your own guys. You got to figure out what are they worth and are they worth keeping? You also got to figure out what are they worth and are they worth keeping? You also have to figure out who can I bring in? How can I afford them? How should I allocate my money? This is very important. All of this matters. You do not want to waste this money because you are begging donors for it. You don't want to waste it. So what do you do? What happens? Let's say you've got a starting running back and he comes to you and he says, I'm going to need half a million

dollars to come back and play for you next year. You know what you say to that guy? I don't care if you're a national title contender. And the one piece you need is a running back. You tell that guy to hit the bricks, sell, sell, sell. You do not want that running back. The key to remember in the transfer portal is you are essentially an NFL general manager. Just because it's college football, not the NFL does not mean that the principles that hold true in the NFL draft and in the NFL free agency market, it's the same sport. So who do they pay the most for? Quarterbacks, offensive tackles, edge rushers, defensive tackles, cornerbacks. That's where you put your money.

If a running back comes to you with an outrageous number, you tell him to walk. Here's why. Especially in college, even more so than in the NFL. If you have a good offensive line, I can gain four and a half yards of carry behind it. You don't need anything else. You can find a running back. You probably already have that guy on your roster. So if you had a guy who gained a thousand yards last year or 1500 yards last year, and he says, I want 350,000, $400,000, and you're not a wash in cash, you don't want that guy. Let him go. And when he goes to other schools and says, I want X number of dollars, I want 350, 400,000, $500,000. They're going to say no, because they're not stupid either. Somebody is going to take him, but you can laugh and think they paid the money, but they

probably at that point will have said, here's what we can give you. And at that point, he's been told no enough that that's where it is. But that said, there are other places where you should spend your money. How about quarterback? Take it away, Matt Rule. Do you feel like you have to address the quarterback situation in the portal by going into the portal? I think that the portal for me is I either want to – if we go to the portal, I either want to get someone at any position, someone with multiple years, I think is on caliber with the guys we have, or someone who's instant impact upgrade,

you know, like someone who can make a difference. Make no mistake that a good quarterback in the portal costs, you know, a million to a million, five to two million dollars right now. So just just just want the same page. Right. So let's make sure we all understand what's happening. Oh, we understand what's happening, Matt. We know you've been doing your research because you are in the market for a portal quarterback. You took Jeff Sims out of it last year. It didn't work out. You're back in the market. We know that Kyle McCourt,

late of Ohio State, is visiting you. We know Julian Fleming is receivers with him. And so that's the question. What are you willing to pay? You just said the market is low seven figures. You said it's a million, a million five, two million. The question is who's a million? Who's a million five? Who's two million? Is Dylan Gabriel going from Oklahoma to Oregon? Is he a million five? Probably because he's a proven just accumulator of yards on the ground, through the air, you name it. What about Kyle McCord? Where does he fit? What about Cam Ward? Cam Ward, he's the high end of this. There's a lot of schools that want Cam Ward, and the more bidders in the market, the price goes up. Kyle McCord, though, he's got some action.

What are you willing to do, Matt Rule? Is this an instant upgrade? Are you willing to go seven figures? Are we going to go to a million dollars? If that's the case, buy, buy, buy. Because you need a quarterback. We saw what happened. Nebraska hasn't been to a bowl game since 2016.

You were so close. You were right there on the cusp of bowl eligibility, but you couldn't get there. You needed a quarterback. And now you're going in the market to get one. And it's not easy because there's a lot of buyers out there. There's a good number of sellers too. It's not like you're looking for a game-changing defensive tackle.

I'm sure you'd like one of those too. Or a cornerstone left tackle on the offensive line. That said, a million dollars. What are you going to do? That's what you've got to figure out. Is Kyle McCord worth a million dollars to you? Because if he is, you could probably make that happen. You could probably make that happen. But that's how these coaches, that's how you got to operate. That's how these collectives, you got to operate.

Unless you just have donors willing to give your collective a fortune and you can go out and get Dylan Gabriel, your Oregon, your Division Street, the collective. Maybe you can go out and get Walter Nolan. Let's talk Walter Nolan. Walter Nolan, defensive tackle, number one player in the transfer portal, according to the folks at On3. I love On3. We should watch that Andy Staples guy. He's great. Walter Nolan is the rarest of rare in this marketplace. The rarest. Quarterbacks command the most. We just said that.

But we also said defensive tackles are a prime position. They are a position of need. They are a position of rarity. Are you going to have to go above half a million dollars to get Walter Nolan? You probably are. Are you going to have to go to a million dollars to get Walter Nolan? I don't know if you have to quite get there. He's not a quarterback.

But you are going to have to pay out because there's one of him. One of him. You want a quarterback if you're Matt Rule and you can't get a Kyle McCord, there's still guys out there. Cam Ward's still out there. DJ Uyunglele is still out there. Tyler Van Dyke's still out there. Curtis Rourke, the Canadian cannon from Ohio U, still out there. Now, you're going to have to pay as much for Curtis Rourke as you are for Common Core? No. But that's where you also want to do your homework. You want to make sure, is this guy this worth it? Is he that much better than everybody else that he's worth blowing a lot of my budget on? Because there's value in some guys that may not be as expensive that are coming from the group of five.

Now, let's talk about the group of five a little bit, because I think teams have gotten smart about this. Collectives have gotten smart, but so have some of the players. Some of these group of five offensive linemen who are all conference, they want to go to the power five and they know that good quality experienced offensive linemen are in short supply. So they know they're worth quite a bit to these teams. Based on talking to folks with collectives, if you would like to get a pretty good group of five offensive linemen who is leaving his group of five school and coming to the power five, you start at $100,000 and you go up. Here's why. The thought is the group of five schools don't have money. They actually have more than you think.

A starting offensive lineman at a good group of five school, probably getting between $35,000 and $50,000 a year in NIL money already. They know it's a valuable position. They understand. They are using what they have to make sure those guys are happy and stay. And again, most schools doing that with their offensive linemen, which is why you don't see a lot of good offensive linemen in the transfer portal. So when they go in, you got to make sure you give them a good offer or they're not coming to you.

So you got to start in the six figures for those guys. If you've got a guy with a lot of power five starting experience and he's pretty good, well, now we're talking $150,000, $200,000. It's not cheap, but you know what's more expensive? The quarterback you paid for in the portal all mangled because you can't block. So pay up for those offensive linemen. Pay up for that quarterback. Pay up for those edge rushers, running backs, linebackers, receivers. You can find those guys. Pay up for those positions I told you about. That is how you win. You can find receivers that your expensive quarterback playing behind your expensive offensive line can hit. You can find a running

back who can run behind your expensive offensive line. What you can't do is overspend on a running back, on a receiver, and not leave yourself enough money for the people who block. Because if you do that, it will not matter how much you pay that running back. It will not matter how much you pay that receiver. Your quarterback will be hamburger meat, and that running back is going to get smushed. It's a failure.

Buy, buy, buy offensive linemen. lineman sell sell sell running backs i used to laugh when nil was about to become a thing and people would say but what what what will happen will the offensive lineman get mad because the quarterbacks get all the money and i said what what sport are you watching do you know what the second highest paid position is in the NFL? It's left tackle. They're going to get paid. And guess what? They are getting paid over and over again in the portal

and to retain them so they never go into the portal. If you're a collective and you're smart, you've taken care of those big uglies up front before they go in. But if you need somebody up there and there's somebody good, you better make them a juicy offer or they're gonna have plenty more.

So that is your lesson for today on how to find what you need in the portal and what you've got to do. Because if you're not willing to pay for the positions that are rare and of need, then you will not get what you want. You will be disappointed and your coach will get fired. But if you use your money wisely, hopefully your coach has recruited some good players out of high school because if he hasn't done that,

you're gonna lose anyway. But if you use your money wisely and your coach has recruited some good players out of high school and you just fill in the needs and the needs are always up front, just fill those in. Your quarterback stays upright.

Your running back has holes to run through. Your receivers can catch balls from your upright quarterback. That's where the money goes. So offensive linemen, buy, buy, buy. That is Tim Shamer. And I don't know if that is the worst Jim Cramer impression on the internet or the saddest Jim Cramer impression on the internet. But I do know that trying to do that guy's voice will blow out your throat.

I don't know how he does as much television as he does. Also, he doesn't have a Brooklyn accent. I don't know why I was veering into the cast of Boiler Room, but that's where it wanted to take me. So we'll work on that. We'll work on Tim Shamer because I have a feeling

he's going to make some more appearances as we go through because the market is ever evolving with NIL. But right now. We got to make some picks. Because there are bowl games. There are five bowl games on Saturday. There's one bowl game next Monday.

We need to pick these games. Now these are very difficult games to pick. Because. There's a lot going on. A lot changing. A lot in flux. In the world of college football, especially with these teams. So brought in Chris Venini from The Athletic, one of my favorite

people, to help us break it all down. But first, let me tell you about FanDuel. All these lines come courtesy of FanDuel, the best sportsbook in America. You can bet on these games. You can get totals on these games. You can do first half, first quarter. FanDuel's got it all. College football, NBA, NFL, you name it. Go to FanDuel.com slash staples. And if you make a $5 winning money line bet, so you basically, you say, I think this team will win, and you win. You get $150 in guaranteed bonus bets. It's a great deal. It's a great way to have a little bit of extra fun.

Just throw a little taste onto some of these bowl games as you're watching. Because, look, we're all going to be watching. We love football. Throw a little taste on there. Fanduel.com slash Staples. Make a $5 winning Moneyline bet. Maybe that's your $5 Moneyline bet. Maybe you just like Western Kentucky

and you make a Moneyline bet. Or maybe you like Ohio U in the Myrtle Beach Bowl and you make a Moneyline bet. If you win that one, $150 in guaranteed bonus bets. FanDuel.com slash Staples. Here's Chris Vanini with some vibes only picks we are joined now by the great chris vanini of the athletic and chris has drawn one of the toughest guest picker roles this is the vibes only bowl picks because we are picking the first six bowl games so there are five games on saturday there's one game on monday and chris i i feel like we should be straightforward with

the audience here like we don't know what the hell is going to happen in these games no it has never been this difficult to think about bowl games i mean for the last couple years it was hey you might have some guys going pro you might have some guys sitting out but now you've got like starters galore in the portal and every single bowl game that we're going to talk about we had to do some research into who's actually playing on this team yeah who's in the portal who's who's going to the well we're not a lot of going to the nfls in these so we'll get to the going like the next week and the next week are they going to the nfls but this is this is portal watch we'll let's just let's get started so again vibes only because we don't like we don't

know how the team's going to feel about being in this game we don't know what sort of shrimp they're going to eat before the game like this is this is all very up in the air so we will start with clay helton leading georgia southern against the ohio bobcats in the myrtle beach bowl which is the game that i think ultimately one of our podcasts will sponsor. Either mine or yours is going to sponsor this game. Back when I was at The Athletic, we would talk about sponsoring a bowl game. The Bahamas Bowl is in Charlotte now. That doesn't even count. I think the Myrtle Beach Bowl is the game. Yeah, is Myrtle Beach the sponsor?

Is there anyone with it? I don't even know. This is the game that they play at Coastal Carolina, right? Yes. So it's actually in Conway. It's not even in Myrtle Beach, but it is on the teal. Yeah. So Georgia Southern knows this stadium, I guess.

And this is the first game that you sent me to talk about. And it was the very first one. I was like, oh, this game is very different in reality than it was maybe in your head yeah it's curtis rourke because curtis rourke this would have been easy if curtis rourke is playing yeah yeah curtis rourke is not playing he is in the transfer portal he was the mac player of the year last year he is not playing cj harris their backup uh was out for the year with an injury earlier in the season so they're going to be down to their third string quarterback. Parker Navarro, I believe, will get the start, formerly of UCF. Ohio's top two running backs are also in the portal.

So is a wide receiver. So you can kind of get a vibe here on where things are at for Ohio. And that is why Ohio is a three and a half point underdog in this game. Cause, cause Clay Helton's Eagles who like to chuck it around. So if you're used to watching Georgia Southern play in past years, this will look nothing like what you've seen before. They are fairly full strength as, as it will be. Caleb hood is their,

their volume receiver. He's got 94 catches for 917 yards this year. That's not a great average but it is a lot of catches and they throw a lot so this could be a uh this could be a shootout and not in the way that uh that most people would like to see a shootout played but i i love it i'm gonna again that we got to go with a lot of vibes on these i am going to take georgia southern to cover because they will not be blinded by the teal yeah i mean you mentioned it i don't think people realized if you didn't pay attention to the sunbelt or georgia southern they were the triple option team forever as a lot of people

remember clay helton comes in and they start chucking the ball like as much as anybody in the country they went from like bottom of the country and passes to top of the country it passes and because they had some pretty good receivers when they got there it turns out and hood is one of them and so last two years they've been chucking it around a lot last year kyle van trees from buffalo was their quarterback this year it's davis brin formerly of tulsa and so he's like top 15 nationally in passing yards per game the one thing i'll say though about ohio they are missing a lot of those offensive weapons they have a very good defense like a very very good defense especially past defense against the team that's going to throw the ball a lot remember they shut down iowa state in athens 10 to 7 that game yeah pretty ugly game but

but they got it done uh you said you're taking georgia southern i am taking georgia by the way you you mentioned they like to check around 535 pass attempts for the eagles this year that would have been like 30 years worth of passing for ge Southern, Eric Russell turning over in his grave hearing about this. Yeah, I am taking Georgia Southern as well. Did you do an over-under of 48.5? We don't need to do the total. Iowa's not playing here. So we're good on this.

We do the Iowa total. I didn't, I'll full disclosure, none of these totals looked weird. So I didn't feel like we needed to go too crazy on the totals. But this total is a little bit lower than some of the others. We will go next to the New Orleans Bowl. Let us travel to New Orleans. They've got to get the dome warmed up for the Sugar Bowl. Jacksonville state versus

louisiana lafayette jacksonville state a three and a half point favorite in the first bowl game in school history yeah if you haven't watched them rich rodriguez is their coach uh quite has had quite a run these last couple of years he was at uofa a couple years ago and yeah like everybody paid attention to james madison going undefeated and whether or not they could get into a bowl game and threatening to sue and all that stuff jacksonville state was in the same boat they were a second year transitioning team up from fcs and they had a pretty good season i think they went eight and four i think at the regular season so like real solid year zion webb is their their starting quarterback kind of does everything for them uh they're pretty good 52nd and sp plus offense 80th and defense but they run the ball a lot a couple weeks ago uh against louisiana tech

they rushed for 522 yards seven touchdowns and then lou Tech fired their entire defensive staff so uh that's a team that likes to run the ball big fan of what they've done at Jacksonville State yeah and it's Rich Rod it's the guy who invented the read option so it's funny because everybody thought this was his audition to go back to West Virginia and then Neil Brown won like crazy this year, and West Virginia didn't open. So Rich Rod with the only Gamecocks in a bowl game this year. So sorry, South Carolina. They played them tough too. Yeah, they did play in the Gamecock Bowl.

Yes, in November. And it was fairly close for a little bit. But, yeah, this is an interesting one. And Louisiana Lafayette had been kind of one of the better teams in the Sun Belt. This was not their year. But this is a way to end it well. But I think this is a situation. So you mentioned Jacksonville State not being the same boat as James Madison.

Why are James Madison and Jacksonville State in bowl games? Because there weren't enough eligible teams that weren't transitioning. So that's why Jacksonville State and James Madison are in bowl games. James Madison is playing the Armed Forces Bowl against Air Force. So this will be, I would imagine, a very big deal for everyone associated with the Gamecocks. This might be a good little feisty crowd, too, will be uh i would imagine a very big deal for everyone associated with the game cox yeah this might be a good little feisty crowd too because these folks have never been to a bowl game before

and it's a pretty easy drive and louisiana has played in this game many times i think they made four years in a row under hudspeth back in the day um chandler fields are starting quarterback got hurt in week two i think against uab he returned for the last couple of games and has played pretty well. Jacksonville state does not have a good pass defense. So I expect Louisiana to be able to move the ball in the air. Neither team, it looks like has any major portal guys. So they should be mostly full strength, I think. Uh, and I think I'm going to take Jacksonville State here. I like what Rich Rod's

done. I think they can run the ball and move it quite a bit. I think the hardest part with all of these games, Chris, is finding motivation. This one's easy. We know where their motivation is coming from. It's their first bowl game. They're clearly very excited and they also have a coach who understands how bowl games work has been in a bunch of them like isn't going to be well how do i handle the practice what do i do about this i i think and especially with one of these early ones you just roll basically the season ends you roll into bowl practice and then you go so So, yeah, I think Jacksonville State's going to cover this one just because you got the Rich Rod factor. He knows what he's doing here.

Louisiana Lafayette, this is same old, same old to them. But the Gamecocks, very exciting, very new. All right, we head down to Orlando. So, the Cure Bowl, Miami of Ohio and Appalachian State. This is the Avocados for Mexico Cure Bowl, Miami of Ohio, and Appalachian State. This is the Avocados for Mexico Cure Bowl. And now, if we haven't seen the latest Avocados for Mexico's commercial, it is football related. And it is the coach telling the quarterback he's not going to start in the tune of the Avocados for Mexico theme song. We're not going to start today.

But I think we don't have a lot of, we don't have to say that to anybody. Do we? This isn't a huge portal game either. No, I also, I didn't see that commercial. I'm going to have to go seek that out.

Oh, it's tremendous. This is, this is a bowl game. The sponsorship's always weird because it's the cure bowl. It's about, I think it's around like breast cancer and stuff like that. Yes, but it, but it's always weird because it's the cure bowl. It's about, I think it's around like breast cancer and stuff like that. Yes.

But it, but it's always, but it's not like the sponsor isn't cancer prevention theme. Yeah. It's squawk random. Yeah. Yeah. So very good.

Some clashing type of things here, but, but I don't think people really enough people paid attention to the job that Chuck Martin did this year at Miami of Ohio. They had a, they, they beat Cincinnati in the non-conference. They had a pretty good year in the Mac and then their starting quarterback,

Brett Gabbert gets hurt at the very end of a loss to Toledo. And you think their season is over. Ohio is going to win the Mac East. No, they went five and oh, the rest of the way, it's crazy beat Toledo in the Mac championship game with their backup quarterback, Chuck Martin, incredible job this year. A guy who's been there for a decade. I think a lot of people forgot, and their defense has been absolutely lights out. This game does have one of the strangest portal situations, and that is there is a key player in the portal in this game,

Graham Nicholson, the kicker for Miami of Ohio, who just won the Lou Rosa Award. He won the Lou Rosa Award while he's in the portal. And so I don't know if he's playing in this game or not, but in a game that could be pretty low scoring, that could be a big thing to know if he plays or not. So shout out to Miami. That is crazy because I'm thinking about this. If you're a kicker, like if you're a kicker like if you're a

quarterback and you're in the portal like curtis rourke we were talking about with miami of all or with ohio u you know curtis rourke's visiting like i think he visited wake forest he was visiting some schools and you don't want to get hurt because you could sustain an injury that could cost you some of next season if you're a kicker the possibility getting injured is is there but it's very limited like right do you just go run it back one more time with the red hawks i'm not sure i looked it up i couldn't find an answer uh briefly but it it is interesting to have a kicker like that you know we don't have a ton of special teams guys like that in the portal and especially someone who just had a big week uh last week and then Appalachian State uh good turnaround job by Sean Clark they were like three and four to start the year it looked like he might get fired uh and

then he basically just like kind of changed their strategy to get a lot more aggressive on both sides of the ball they have they've been racking up a ton of tackles for loss ever since then Joey Aguilar the quarterback really emerged in the second half of the ball. They've been racking up a ton of tackles for loss ever since then. Joey Aguilar, the quarterback, really emerged in the second half of the year, more than 3,500 passing yards. But they have a key player in the portal too, running back Nate Noel, their leading rusher.

Very key player for them. But still, Appalachian State, six and a half point favorite despite that. So it's a tough call. See, I'm going to go with the Red Hawks to cover here. You're going to give me almost a touchdown. They did. You think about how they ended the season. Now, Appalachian State, as you mentioned,

ended the season strong, but then the Sunbelt Championship game was not what they wanted. It was John Summerall's last game at Troy. Like, Troy took them to the woodshed. So I'm thinking that Miami of Ohio, they're coming in here. Everybody's getting guacamole. We know this.

Avocados are sponsoring the bowl game. So I think I'm going to go with the Red Hawks to cover with that touchdown. We'll see if Nicholson plays. That would be nice. But if he doesn't, I think we'll be okay too. Yeah, I think I'm taking Miami to cover the 6.5 as well because Nate Noel is out, the running back at App State. I know App State always has a long list of really talented running backs. A couple years ago, was it Cameron Peoples I think broke the record in a bowl game at more than 300, I think backs a couple years ago was it Cameron Peoples I think broke the record yeah guards in a bowl game at like more than 300 I think a couple years ago

but I just really like Miami's defense I think they keep the slow scoring and I'm gonna have Miami cover as well all right we we keep agreeing I got a feeling we might agree on this next one too just because I think we probably look for the same piece of information about this game. And I was very happy when I found it. New Mexico state against Fresno state in the New Mexico bowl. Is Diego, Diego Pavi going to play?

Yes. Diego Pavi is going to play. That is New Mexico state's quarterback. That is the guy who was caught peeing on the New Mexico logo before that game. He also crushed Auburn 31-10 at Jordan-Hare. Diego Pavia needs to go down as a college football sickos legend. He's a state champion wrestler out of high

school. He goes to junior college. I think he won a state he's a state champion wrestler out of high school he he goes to junior college i think he won a junior college national championship in mexico military maybe and then he comes to new mexico they get to a mexico state they get to a bowl game last year they do what you said which was be caught peeing on the new mexico practice field earlier this season and they basically wouldn't let him make him available for the media after that. He beats Auburn the way he does. This dude leads the team in rushing, leads the team in passing incredibly tough,

looks like a wrestler when you see him and just everything. And he didn't play in the conference, you say title game because he was hurt, but all signs are he is going to play. Yes. And I'm very excited about that. If you remember him in the quicklane Bowl last year against Bowling Green, that's when a lot of people first saw him.

This is the only time people will see New Mexico State for a lot of people. So watch Diego Pavia, extremely fun player. Oh, yeah. I'm just so excited that he's going to play. And he strikes me as one. It does not matter what the motivation of the rest of the team might be. It doesn't matter what the situation might be. If he is on the field, he is going flat out, balls out all the time.

Yes. Yeah, one of those guys who's better throwing on the run than in the pocket. It's just he's better when things are kind of crumbling around him. So New Mexico State, you mentioned vibes, New Mexico state, incredible vibes coming into the season. They've this season, they've won 10 games. Jerry kills got them going to two bowl games for the first time since like the sixties. There was a video a couple of weeks ago of him smoking a cigar in the locker room while the student, while the players are chanting about buying a keg and stuff like that. It's just immaculate vibes coming out of New Mexico State.

The opposite, really, at Fresno State, which is Jeff Tedford, head coach, is out for a bit due to health issues, TBD on what his future is. They lost three straight games to close the season. The defense really struggled, but they do have Mikey Keene back at quarterback. So very, very big vibes difference in this game. Yeah. Now this was Fresno State started hot. Remember, they beat Purdue early and they started five and oh, and you were thinking,

OK, this is a team that could win the Mountain West. This is a team that maybe could make a New Year's six bowl if they're the Mountain West champ. Then they lose to Wyoming and then it starts to get a a little shaky but the end of the season was bad the last two games they lost to teams that fired their head coach and that is a bad sign right there so yeah i mean i i was gonna pick new mexico the second i heard diego papi was starting new mexico state i'm sorry sorry sorry they mad. They get mad when you get it wrong. We were talking about Bronco Mendenhall on the show last night.

So that and that's what and we were just talking about peeing on the Lobos logo. So that's I was getting New Mexico in my head. And this is the New Mexico Bowl, which is played at. Well, there's a Lobo logo involved here. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's what's in New Mexico Stadium. I guess I don't know what they put in midfield. But yeah, there will be there will be a Lobo logo involved here. Uh-oh. Yeah, it's at New Mexico Stadium. I guess I don't know what they put at midfield.

But yeah, there will be a Lobo logo somewhere. The practice field will still be over there. Yeah. Oh, my. Okay, New Mexico State by 1,000. Done. Yeah, I'm honestly surprised it's only three and a half because of all that.

Kind of makes me wonder. But no other notable portal losses between these two. Fresno State's backup quarterback is in there. But I'm going New Mexico State, too. It kind of seems too obvious. It does. And you kind of wonder who the dude is who's feeding Vegas this information. It's like New Mexico State might be a little off this week.

Maybe Pavia is still hurt and you know maybe they got are they partying with Pavia to find this information this is what I want to know this is this is the important information so yeah all right we'll go to a game where the vibes in this game like they're all crossed up so it's ucla and boise state in the la bowl which this feels chris to me like an old an old las vegas bowl like back in the day like a pac-12 mountain west match up in the in the vegas bowl and these would always be fun when when byu is in the mountain west or it'd be boise state or somebody like that playing against a brand name from the Pac-12. And I guess we don't get any more of that after this year because UCLA will be in the Big Ten. But UCLA, everybody thinks that Chip Kelly is going to get fired. They hammer USC.

Chip Kelly is not going to get fired. They get destroyed by Cal. Dante Moore is in the portal. Meanwhile, Boise State, they do fire Andy Avalos. They then go on a winning streak. They win the Mountain West, but now Talon Green's in the portal, their quarterback. Yeah, yeah, Spencer Danielson, yeah, becomes the head coach.

Did a great job winning the Mountain West, but now you got to go into this game without – similar to Ohio, you don't have both your top quarterbacks because Maddox Madsen, the freshman, got hurt earlier in the season. And so they're down to a third-string quarterback as well because all indications are Taylor Green seems unlikely to play. But they do have running back Ashton Genti who is a stud running back oh he's awesome has already committed to coming back next year as a boise state team that can run the ball

very well um and and it really is like spencer danielson got this job because he got boise state back to looking like boise state you want to talk about bad vibes i mean, the mood the last couple of weeks under Andy Abvelos were very, very bad. That's part of the reason the coaching change was made. And you get Spencer Danielson in, and the players are just happy again. Even before they started winning, they were just like, it's nice to have a coach who cares about us. And they were campaigning for him to get the job. So vibes are still very good at Boise State.

However, you're down to a third string quarterback, and that is iffy for anybody. Yeah, does Jared Zabransky have eligibility left? Like, can we just call him in? I feel like this could be one of those emergency situations where you should be allowed to just call in, like, a former great quarterback of yours who didn't really have an

nfl career like so you're not it's not a super advantage like you're not bringing in a hall of like it's not like if miami of ohio were missing their quarterback they couldn't bring in ben roethlisberger but you could bring in jared zabransky to play one game i would love that i think he's down in Texas now. I talked to him a couple years ago about being on the cover of Incidentally Football. So yeah, I mean, Kellen Moore, he might be an interim head coach in the NFL pretty soon,

so he's probably not available. Yeah, Ryan Didwitty's coaching in the CFL. I mean, you got some options. Boise State, if you're a Boise State quarterback over the last like 10 years, you're probably coaching somewhere at this point. So that's pretty good. And speaking of quarterbacks, Dante Moore in the portal for UCLA.

Ethan Garbers should be available. It sounds like Chip Kelly said he got injured in the Cal game. So possible backup quarterback situation here, or third string, third string. I'm guessing Garbers probably plays is that colin schley if if garbers doesn't play probably i think that's yeah former kent state quarterback colin schley the most productive quarterback against george's defense in the 2022 season so yes i got that going for you so the yeah the vibes are all weird in this game ucla's favored i i can

understand that not because you don't know what's going like here's the deal with boise state taylon green and maddox madsen are the only qbs who've thrown a pass for them this season yeah so if neither one's available like taylon green was on an arkansas visit this weekend so i don't think he's playing i don't think he's playing i don't think he's coming back to play he didn't rule out coming back to boise state but he ain't playing this weekend that said the vibes of ucla feel terrible even though they know chip's coming back now so but they did lose their defense coordinator usc so i'm gonna go with boise state to pull the upset this is a tough one. This is probably the toughest one.

And because we've agreed on all of them, I think I'm going to flip it here. I'm going to go UCLA. I think Ethan Garbers is going to play. I think it's enough against a Boise State team that will have a quarterback who probably hasn't thrown a pass this year. So I'm going to stick with UCLA. But yeah, this is going to be extremely weird vibes game. There are a lot of these games. Again, we have no idea what to expect coming into a lot of these.

But that is this perhaps more than any other. So I'm going to go UCLA. Let's mix it up. All righty. We finally disagree. We come to our first power five on power five bowl game, though the the term power five really doesn't exist anymore uh cal texas tech in the independence bowl this is a not the typical you know the independence bowl for years held out as you make fun of the sec team that gets in the independence

bowl like that your punishment is shreveport which by the way if you've ever been to shreveport it is not punishment by any stretch of the imagination the shreveport bo which, by the way, if you've ever been to Shreveport, it is not punishment by any stretch of the imagination. The Shreveport-Bossier City Metroplex is incredible. Go to Strawn's and get some pie. I highly recommend it. Get the shrimp buster at Herbie K's. It's a great town. That said, what do we think happens in this game? Cal, fresh off a monster win against UCLA, but their OC Jake Spavitol has decamped to Baylor. Texas Tech, meanwhile, fresh off getting annihilated by Texas. The first thing I thought of when this matchup was announced was 2004. Now, maybe I'm starting to feel old and dating myself, but do you remember Cal Texas Tech in 2004 and the controversy around that and the Rose Bowl?

That was the reason Vince Young went on the national stage because Cal didn't get to go to that Rose Bowl to play Michigan. They took Texas and said nobody on Michigan could tackle Vince Young. He had an amazing game the next year. Texas wins the national championship. And Texas Tech ended up beating Cal, I think, which was an Aaron Rodgers team. It was Aaron Rodgers' last game at Cal. Yeah. Yeah, and I think it was Holiday Bowl, and they lost.

So this is going to be revenge. If Cal wins this game, they are retroactively put in that 2004-2005 Rose Bowl, I think. So this Cal, they won their last three games to get to a bowl game, but they don't have Jake Spavitol, like you said. Fernando Mendoza was playing well to close the season. They have two starting linebackers in the portal as well, so you've got some losses on offense and defense. Texas Tech has a lot of wide receivers in the portal,

so this is another one of those what's the motivation what do you got you got some young quarterbacks playing in this game and who they're throwing to maybe a bit tbd yeah well and in texas tech you've got baron morton who was banged up at the end of the season and uh you know tyler shook has moved on but he's he got hurt early in the season this is it. It's weird because they were expecting so much out of this year, and I think the Wyoming loss early just sort of deflated them. They played well against Oregon but then lost, and then it never was what they wanted it to be. So we'll see if they can make this kind of a launch pad for next year

because they had a nice little streak going but i think that loss to texas just brought them crashing back down to earth so joey mcguire better get him fired up for this game that said he strikes me as the type who could so are you going texas tech yeah i think i will go texas because again i have no idea what's going to happen in these games. I really don't. We think Cal is playing well. They're rolling into this thing. But how much of it was that Jake Spavitol was calling plays really well and Fernando Mendoza and he had kind of the mind meld going on. Texas Tech is moving toward next season at this point.

So if I'm Joey McGuire, I'm going young. I'm going guys that are pumped to play and get some real playing time. I'm going to go Texas Tech in this one. I'm going to go Cal. I'm going to go Cal. I was high on them coming into the year. They stumbled a little bit a couple of times, but they got the offense going toward the end of the year. I think they got some good talent going with Cal. I was high on them coming into the year. They stumbled a little bit a couple of times, but they got the offense going toward the end of the year. I think they got some good talent

going with Cal. So I'll tell you why the Texas Tech thing. It's because a couple years ago when Texas Tech played Mississippi State, I think it was a Liberty Bowl. It looked like Mississippi State was going to roll them. And that was the one where Mississippi State showed up and you found out like 17 players weren't playing yeah Texas Tech just destroyed them and that was Donovan Smith I think starting at QB for Texas Tech that game and it's like there's always going to be a game like that where you just think because because I would vibes would tell me to go with Cal on this one. But, I mean, it's just always something. All right, one more. And this one's going to be a quick one because I don't think there's a lot of folks that – well, first, I'm going to give you a little quiz on this one.

Western Kentucky versus Old Dominion in the famous toastery bowl. What is a famous toastery? Literally, as you were saying that, I was typing it up. I don't know. It's just a picture of toast. Is it a brand of bread? I don't know. It's a brunch restaurant.

Oh. It is a brunch restaurant in Charlotte. Okay. I like that. It looks pretty good. At least it's local. That's better than when we had the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl and there isn't a Zaxby's in Dallas.

That is crazy. At least it's relevant to the location. It's not the Bahamas Bowl. I'm sure those teams are incredibly sad that they're not going to the Bahamas. But, you know, get some brunch out of it. This is such a letdown. You're supposed to be going to the Bahamas. Yeah.

I mean, speaking of letdowns, Western Kentucky did not have the season I think a lot of us thought they would. We thought it would be Western Kentucky Liberty playing for Conference USA. Western Kentucky lost a couple of games we didn't expect. They had the nation's leading passer last year. Austin Reed came back with a lot of his weapons, but they took a step back in the passing offense. He's still really good.

He threw for 3,300 yards. Malachi Corley, really good wide receiver. They just weren't as explosive as they were a year ago. They have a couple of guys in the portal, but they may or may not be playing Western Kentucky has it last year, had a number of guys in the portal who played, and then some of them came back. So they,

they should still be able to throw the ball around a lot. Old dominion, not great on offense week, decent defense. Did you see how they made a bowl game? By the way, did you see the end of that Georgia state game? I did not see the end of the Georgia state game.

They were down 24, 14 with less than two minutes left. They kick a field goal and then they get a safety because of a bad snap from Georgia state. Old Dominion gets the ball back scores on the final play of the game to win and get to a bowl game. Ridiculous. One of them.

And they're like, we're going to the Bahamas. No, you're not. You're going to Charlotte bowl game. Ridiculous. And they're like, we're going to the Bahamas! No, you're not. You're going to Charlotte. Yes, yes. Player to watch in this game, I think he's playing, Jason Henderson, linebacker, tackling machine. He had 170 tackles this year, 186 last year.

However, however, there is an asterisk on this a bit. 246 of his 356 tackles over the last two years are assisted. So I don't know what the old... So he's like a tackle vulture is what you're saying. He sees somebody getting tackled and he's like, I'm jumping in on this. Yeah, I don't know if the scorekeeper at Old Dominion just really likes him or something, but it stands out when you look at his solo tackles compared to everybody else. Well, I remember in the early 2000s,

the SIDs at Arkansas and Ole Miss felt like they were having a competition to see who could credit their middle linebacker with the most tackles. And you'd see these guys with like 157 tackles in a season, and it's like, no! And when they play on the road, they wouldn't get credited with as many tackles in a season. And it's like, no. And, you know, when they play on the road, they wouldn't get credited with as many tackles because somebody else is doing the

official scoring. So it was it was very interesting. So that one we'll have to watch, we'll have to watch and see if he's just hopping on or he just may have a nose for the ball. He's just maybe always around the ball. And if that's the case, then God bless him. All right, so where am I going with this? I'm going to go Western Kentucky in this game. They won their bowl game last year in a blowout. I think Old Dominion doesn't have enough firepower.

I think Western Kentucky is going to be able to score a lot. Austin Reed is going to put up a lot of passing yards and western kentucky yeah covering two and a half or no wait they're the underdog in this game they are the underdog very surprising who are these people feeding vegas this information i i would not recommend betting on bowl games here until you know stuff at the last minute it's going going to be very, very difficult. Listen, if you want to just have a little taste of something just to enjoy, you know, make the game a little more interesting, I can't fault you there. But yeah, please be responsible with these games

because nobody knows anything. Old Dominion, they did, you know, they're a miracle that they're here but they're not in the Bahamas so I don't know how excited they're going to be it's basically you drive down to Charlotte I don't know about that both of these teams have played in a Bahamas

bowl in the past they have played in a classic Bahamas bowl the first Bahamas bowl the one where Central Michigan ladder lit around a million times Yeah. Western Kentucky played in a classic Bahamas bowl, the first Bahamas bowl. The one where Central Michigan ladder lit around a million times and scored on the last play. And then went for two and lost, and Western Kentucky goes home the winner.

They were down like 35 points in the second half of the fourth quarter of that game. Jeff Braum was the coach. Dan Enos was the Central Michigan coach. That was one of the craziest finishes that didn't end up counting or didn't end up being deciding because they went for two if they get that two-point conversion we're talking about that play like with cal stanford it was insane go look it up on youtube sometime it was unbelievable it was the first bahamas bowl ever and we're like this is going to be the greatest postseason event of all time like every

year is going to be like this i think they went for two because they had a plane to catch i think that was the the reason i i would have been upset how are we not staying a couple extra days down there in the bahamas that's what i would have i would have wanted i would have actually gone to overtime you missed your flight well i guess we're still here you know let's go down that water slide again exactly exactly all right in the spirit of the bahamas bowl i'm gonna go with western kentucky because it is it is the it is that game it's like it's like how the micron pc bowl became the blockbuster the blockbuster bowl became the micron pc bowl became the champs sports bowl well i could keep

going no micron pc that was uh wasn't that the boise bowl or which one was the there was a one of the boise bowl was a computer bowl oh no no i'm sorry famous the blockbuster bowl became the car quest bowl became the champs sports bowl move cities went miami to to orlando and then it's been a bunch of different things russell athletic bowl yes so look i've i've covered a miami beach bowl in texas i've covered a rose and then it's been a bunch of different things. Russell Athletic Bowl, yes. Look, I've covered a Miami Beach Bowl in Texas. I've covered a Rose Bowl in Texas. We can do a Bahamas Bowl in Charlotte.

They didn't need to change the name, in my opinion. Well, Famous Toastery appreciates your business, so go get some omelets. The Famous Toastery Bowl, Western Kentucky is the pick, and we're getting two and a half points. Who's got it better than us? Chris, thank you so much. I made the Michigan mistake.

I did the Michigan thing. See you, Chris. See you. Thank you so much to Chris Bonini. That was a lot of fun because I love these games. I love the bowl season. Listen, I don't think the bowls need to be in the college football playoff. I think those games need to be on campus. But I still love football games in random locations on my TV in December.

That is never going to change. So you keep those games coming, bowl people. and we will keep talking about them, watching them. And hey, the will be exactly eight days from when recruits can start putting pen to paper. And either faxing them, and they don't have to fax them in anymore, by the way. But the faxes still work. A lot can change between now and then. There is a lot going on in the world of recruiting, the transfer portal, and of course, we've got all those bowl games. Keep it right here at the On3Sports YouTube channel. If you're not subscribed already, hit the subscribe button, give us a

thumbs up, get in the chat, have some fun. We're going to have a lot of fun over the next few weeks because this news is not stopping. We'll talk to you tomorrow.