Andy & Ari On3 - Is College Football Playoff seeding changing for THIS SEASON?

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

The College Football Playoff might have seeding that makes sense in 2025! Andy and Ari break down the news and examine how the bracket might look.(0:00-1:30) Intro(1:31-20:05) Will CFP change to straight seeding?(20:06-21:42) Closing out the CFP talk(21:43-37:02) Ohio State Night Games?(37:03-40:50) Introducing Brennan Marion(40:51-1:00:00) Sacramento State HC Brennan Marion joins(1:00:01-1:04:46) Deion Sanders on Netflix in 2026(1:04:47-1:11:26) What does Nick Saban do these days?(1:11:27-1:17:05) Could you do nothing?(1:17:06-1:19:18) Conclusion Plus, Sacramento State coach Brennan Marion joins the show to discuss taking over an ambitious program that wants to move to FBS and taking QB Jaden Rashada given his history. Watch our show on YouTube LIVE, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/Wmtv8wkSiK4 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Want to partner with the show? E-mail [e-mail]

Welcome to Annie and Ari on three. Happy Thursday. Ari, we got a lot to talk about today. They might get the seating right for the college football playoff. An Ohio lawmaker wants to make a law that would keep various Ohio State games off of Big Noon on Fox and have them start later. But not the Michigan game because they want that one at noon. Nick Saban isn't sure why there needs to be a committee that he's on

that the president has chosen. And yeah, there's a lot going on today. It feels like it's kind of a mishmash of a episode we've got here. A lot of interesting things that probably aren't entire shows, but a bunch of 10 minute discussions that have to happen. Well and also we have a visit from our friend Brendan Marion who's now the head coach at Sacramento State. Remember he was the OC at UNLV, he was the receivers coach at Texas, receivers coach

at Pitt. He's now the head at UNLV. He was the receivers coach at Texas receivers coach at Pitt. He's now the head coach Sacramento State. Normally we don't have a lot of FCS head coaches on, but he's had a really interesting offseason, including signing Jayden Rashad out of the transfer portal to be his QB one. And that is going to be a really interesting situation there. So he'll talk about that and also about why coaches need to be a really interesting situation there. So he'll talk about that. And also about why coaches need to be a

little swagger. And I think he's going to do his part on that one. But first, let's talk CFP seeding because RF founded interesting yesterday, Jim Phillips, the ACC commissioners doing his press conference at the end of their spring meetings in Amelia Island. He gets asked about the 2026 playoff format, automatic qualifiers, all that stuff, the deal where the big 10 and the SEC might get four each and the AC and the big 12 might get two each. That was the question he was asked. Unprompted, he goes to this,

which I found very interesting. He says, I will say this, one of the other things we'll have to look at is just seeding. It just seems like the straight seed might be the right thing for us to consider. talking about this year and every commissioner of every conference has to vote yes if they're going to fix the seating for this year and do it one through twelve instead of having the deal where you have the team that that won the conference but they were ranked ninth and but they're the three seed it was very confusing would have made sense in the old conference alignments, but didn't make sense now, and they need to fix it. So let's hope they fix it.

Nearing consensus is so funny because you know who's not on board. What do they have to do? Tie them down to a bed and hit them with a bunch of soap bars? Like what's going gonna happen here? Stop ordering the code red Ari don't order the code red. This is the funniest thing to me It's like they're not nearing consensus. They've been near to consensus. That's not the story The story is do we have a consensus everybody wanted it? But one person that they started the hearing consensus the ACC shouldn't want it either

But I don't it either, but. I don't know. But here's my deal. It is better for the game. But this is a sport where the leaders of it don't usually do the thing that's better for the game, even if it makes sense, because they're too tied up in their own self-interest.

The ACC probably would be better off with the way it was done last year. But when you have Jim Phillips saying, hey, we need to do this, then that means the ACC is on board with the common sense better for the game situation, which probably means that. off on this because like I feel like it's a virtual lock that the big 12 champ will not be a top four seed. I don't know that that's the case for the ACC. Oh no no I believe that there's a chance the ACC's champion is a top four ranked team. They could be the number one seed at the end of the year. Right I think I think Clemson could very easily be the ACC champ and a top four seed. I think that the big 12 is far more reliant on the by week scenario than the ACC should be. Right. But here's the thing.

It's a one year thing. It's just this year. So I'm not entirely sure how much leverage this provides to anybody because it is a one year thing because the big 10 and the SEC are just going to tell them what's going to happen for 2026 and beyond. Yeah. The biweek thing is an interesting thing. Now the question that I have for you, Andy, then this is something that's been in my head since the beginning of this is that we

love the Big 12. We talk about the Big 12 a lot. We celebrate its chaos. We celebrate that every game is a three and5 point spread, and we celebrate that there are 8 teams that can conceivably win the league this year. My question to you is, once, because it's inevitable, whether it's this year or the following year, once the Big 12 is no longer treated as a power 4 counterpart in the system. Do the interest in their game lane to the average fan? Like, do you think that the Big 12 is bolstered by the favor that they currently carry with the playoff in order of like the winner of this conference? No. Pop four seed?

I don't think the average fan of say like Ohio State or Michigan cares at all about the Big 12. I think college football sickos like us care about the Big 12 a lot because it's the most interesting entertaining product and I think fans of Big 12 schools care about the Big 12. But you don't think that the the product is more interesting because it goes right into the the core of the playoff bracket like the it's it's important the core of the playoff bracket. Like the it's it's. Important to care about the big 12 because you can't care about the CFP seating.

You can't care right, but you're still going to care about him because they're going to get two teams in in 26. Yeah. You're still going to care about it like your cause your team might have to play one of those teams. Yeah, maybe I'm off on that. I feel like getting two teams in is better than getting the buy. I agree and the buy is probably gone anyway if you

go to 16. I mean conceivably they could create a 16 team playoff that has buys. But if it goes to 16 you gotta add another week. The big 12 was guaranteed two teams. I would say that a month ago before this report came out, it felt like the Big 12 was getting squeezed out of college football favor. And in the new system, even though the Big 10 and the SEC get twice as many teams, the fact that the Big 12 guarantees two is a huge boon for the conference. Would you agree?

I think so. And I would assume that is what the Big 10 and the SEC dangled or part of what they dangled because they one they got to keep them happy. But two, because because they do have to keep them happy in the new agreement happy enough that they're being paid enough that they've got enough representation that they don't sue them. Because right now they don't have any antitrust protection. They need to keep everyone happy in the agreement. But I think this from Jim Phillips has more to do with timing, because the Big 12 doesn't do its version of these meetings until a couple of weeks from now. And so by then, everybody's gonna be on board. Everybody will have spoken on this.

Like Greg Sankey's meeting, like SEC's meeting is right before that. And it's gonna be like everybody just turning and staring at Brett Yormark. Yeah, but if there's anybody in the conference space, the conference commissioner space that has the uh backbone and the personality to be the person that's holding the whole thing up is Brett Yormark isn't it? Yes and and this is the part where it's only one year like I don't know who that favors in the

terms of making this decision it is only for one year so if he's if no, I'm, I'm drawing a line in the sand. Like, what are they going to do about it? How are they going to punish the big 12? Like, I don't know, but I just want to throw out there how this would change things. I think, you know, people, it's easier if you have visual aids, if you, if, or if you see the bracket in your mind and you understand. So this was last year. And remember, this isn't changing the fact that the top five ranked

conference champions get in the playoff. So this wouldn't knock Clemson out. Last year, like he still would have gotten elevated to number 12 because they were a conference champion, the fifth ranked conference champ. So here's what the bracket looked like last year. Number 12 Clemson at number 5 Texas. Texas remember was number 3 in the actual rankings. Number 11 SMU at number 6 Penn State. Penn State was number 4. Number 10 Indiana at number 7 Notre Dame. Number nine, Tennessee at number eight, Ohio state. So that was your first round.

The Clemson, Texas winner played Arizona state. The SMU Penn state winner played number three, Boise state. Boise state was the number nine ranked team, but became the number three seat Arizona state, I believe was ranked number 12 and became the number four seat. Indiana, Notre Dame winner played SEC champion, Georgia, which was ranked number 12 and became the number four seat. Indiana Notre Dame winner played sec champion, Georgia, which was the number two ranked team, the number two seated team, Tennessee, Ohio state winner played number one, Oregon. Now the biggest travesty of all this was Oregon beat Penn state in the big 10

championship game and then got punished by having to play Ohio state in round two. Whereas Penn state got SMU and then Bo punished by having to play Ohio State in round two, whereas Penn State got SMU and then Boise State, which I would argue that beating those two teams far more likely than beating Ohio State in a one game scenario. So are you ready for you ready for what it would have been with straight seating? Sure. Okay. Number 12 Clemson at number five, Notre Dame. Number 11, Arizona State at number

six, Ohio State. Number 10, SMU at number seven, Tennessee. Number nine, Boise State at number eight, Indiana. The Clemson, Notre Dame winner would have played number four, Penn State. The Arizona State, Ohio State winner would have played number three, Texas. The SMU, Tennessee winner would have played number two, Georgia. And the Boise State, Ohio State winner would have played number three Texas. The SMU Tennessee winner would have played number two Georgia and the Boise State Indiana winner would have played number one Oregon. Now there's a couple things that play here. First of all, the first round games would have been much more competitive because Boise State Indiana is not going to be

a blowout. That probably that's going to be a fun game. Yeah. SMU Tennessee could have been a pretty fun game. Arizona State, given the way they play Texas probably put up put maybe put some fighting it so high we'll see if Ohio State had gone into death killer mode it didn't it wouldn't matter and then Clemson Notre Dame could have been I don't know Notre Dame maybe maybe shuts down Clemson's offense I don't know but I think that

would have been a fun game. The other part of that is Oregon, which you can say definitively though. Yes, go. This is important and before you continue. The playoff would have played out differently. Yes, correct. Obvious reasons because there would have been matchups between two teams that lost in their first game. But I think that it would have offered the opportunity for

teams like Oregon to go further. And it would have allowed. Oregon which was the best in the regular season and earned the easiest path because that's how seeded tournaments are supposed to work would have actually had the easiest path. Yeah and also too I think kind of mitigates the risk of first round blowout although I think those will still exist no matter what we do. Oh yeah there will always be blowouts and the thing is like. Could be something we never expected like what if Clemson had gone in there and shock Notre Dame like that would have been or Indiana blows out Boise or vice versa. That could happen right? I mean yeah, absolutely. Time yeah. But that but that's probably a more interesting result than Penn State blowing out SMU. Then also too, if one of

those teams blows out the other one, then they're running into the second round feeling a little bit good about themselves rather than being a team like Boise who had a bye who's just standing on the tracks waiting for the train to come through. Yeah, probably you probably you wind up with two of the matchups that we got in the semifinals in the second round. You probably get Notre Dame,

Penn State and Ohio State Texas in the second round in that scenario. Yeah. I mean, I think that obviously this just makes more sense and it's gonna be a lot easier to do bracketology every Sunday morning at 3 a.m. when you don't have to like try to figure out who plays who. You know it's hard. Yeah I know right. But yeah I know I think that for the most part everyone's on board with this right? Except possibly Brett Yormark. I guess we're waiting to see with him.

Everybody has to say yes to this. We're nearing it. We started at a near consensus. I don't I mean the group of five teams like they shouldn't vote yes on this either if they're just representing their own interests. But if the SEC and the Big Ten say, hey, we'll kick in a little more money, then. I mean, I'll need to go back that back to the fact too of like how you look at it.

It's like did Oregon get screwed last year? Yes, they did. Is Oregon upset that they didn't advance further? Of course they are. Would Oregon's offseason be this much different if they were to play Ohio State in the national title game or the semi final with different seating and the same result happened? Probably not. Like in the grand scheme of things, how important really is it? If you, as long as you're in, then you have a chance to play those teams, you get to figure out how your team measures

up. Like I actually don't think it would be the end of the world if we did one more year of this, because it's like, you know, it's a poker thing, right? Like chip in a chair, man. You have a chip in a chair, and it's up to you to do what you do. And again, I think that it's better to have more fun in the playoff or to win an extra game or to advance. But Oregon would have had to play Ohio State eventually.

Yeah. Penn State would have had to play Notre Dame eventually. And they did. Penn State made it to the to the semifinal last year, but like I'm not necessarily sure and maybe you can disagree with me on this that the entire country as a whole views Penn State any differently than they view Oregon at this moment. I know a lot.

I know a lot of it doesn't because we just talked about you ranking Penn State number one for 2025 and we got the same arguments that we always got. You know, say because that's what we talked about with Penn State too, like the Penn State thing of like it just making the playoff isn't going to be good enough. Like did James Franklin throw some ice on what would have been an uncomfortable seat because they advanced in the playoff rather than just making it? I think you can make that case. But I don't know that Oregon's trajectory as a program. And I wrote this from the Rose bowl in LA, right? Like,

like I don't think their trajectory is a program changed because they got blown out by Ohio state. And especially because of what Ohio state did after that, like if you look at what I say did after you're like, Oh, Oregon just ran into the wrong team. Like nobody was Oregon nobody was going to be in here that you just posted that said talking about this makes me want to cry. Like I understand that, especially because, you know, you change the circumstance, you win an extra game, you advance, you're not as rusty.

Maybe that game goes differently because I don't think that I don't think that Oregon was that much worse or as worse of Ohio State as the result of that game was like I think that they were probably closer, especially considering the fact that Oregon beat that already once like I don't know that Ohio State was four touchdowns better than them that game just got away from them. But if Oregon would have played a more manageable first round game felt good about themselves advanced to play Ohio State in the next

round somewhere else in a dome with that have been different. I don't know the what well and in this scenario, Oregon would have played Penn State in the semis if it got through. Yeah, but if Oregon would have probably still wind up having to play Ohio State, the point I'm trying to make is that if Oregon would have advanced to the national title game and then eventually played Ohio State in that setting with the extra games of you know, instead of being would it have changed something with the

setting have changed it? I mean, because I go like Oregon, I think that you can say with a straight face was just as good as Texas and Notre Dame last year, right? And those games were pretty, oh, yeah, the Texas game, especially competitive. So like, I don't know that, you know, if you if you go back and you look at the way that that's definitely a game, if you play it more, it's probably more competitive. you play it a bunch of times. You probably get a bunch of competitive Yeah, because again, we saw those two teams play in a really competitive game in Eugene

right, so Yeah, like but in terms of How bad I feel for Oregon like on a scale from 1 to 10 maybe a 3 like I don't it doesn't really It's not a matter of feeling bad for Oregon, it's a matter of doing the thing that makes sense versus doing the stupid thing. And it wasn't stupid when they came up with the idea. The idea initially was conceived when the conferences looked very different. And if you had the 2012- And the idea was also conceived to emphasize conference championships. Let's not forget what that means.

Right, which matters when the conferences are more. It matters when the conferences are more even, but they're not even anymore. Like you go back to the 2021 alignments and Oregon's the Pac-12 champ and Texas is the Big 12 champ and you do this playoff and that seating rule, those seating rules make perfect sense. playoff and that seating rule those seating rules make perfect sense. Yes it's one Texas I mean it's like one Oregon to Georgia three Texas four whoever the Big Ten champ is probably Ohio State because they wouldn't have had to play Oregon in regular season they would have beaten Oregon was the big pen champ. Oh yeah let's go Penn State one Oregon two Texas three Georgia four

whatever the four of the teams it wouldn't matter Yeah, I mean do it. They would yeah in the top four seeds. So like I think that like the making sense part It's just like I don't have any argument for it the question is is like How messed up is it actually and how important you know, we've had this discussion. It looks dumb It looked dumb. If you were a person who just looked at the bracket who's like the fan that they're trying to reach in the playoff, which is not the sickos that are watching this show every day.

Like those people, it looked dumb when they looked at the bracket. And again, when they conceived it, the conference alignments made sense. It would have made sense, but it doesn't make sense now because the Big Ten and the SEC took the strongest programs from those other leagues. Do you think that the bracket would look less weird if Clemson was three and Boise was 12? It would definitely look less weird.

Because I think that's the thing that really made it look weird. It's weird that there's a group of five team at the three spot. And I think that they kind of, they put themselves in a position with the way they play Oregon at the beginning of the year and how they how they played throughout the year. But I think that like from my standpoint, and I know that I've ruffled

some feathers, but I think that like no group of five team who plays that schedule should ever be rewarded a top four seed no matter what. Like I in my bracket ology, I had Clemson as three or four seed last year. So now that might not be an issue this year because the ACC champ may be like we said, a top four team anyway. It would actually have been rare, but I think that being the ACC champ is more impressive than what Boise had to do. I think that the Group of Five wanted a seat at the table and they got one and they curried a lot of favor last year by getting that first round by and advancing deeper into the tournament. Then, you know, I mean like that's just kind of the way it worked out. But I think

that the Group of Five advancing that high into the bracket is what makes it look weird, not the worked out but I think that the group of five advancing that high into the bracket is what makes it look weird not the the seeding really. If you're watching on Twitter right now and want to talk about what we're talking about next which you do I promise because there's a guy who wants to make a law that would keep most Ohio State games off of Big Noon. Join us on YouTube. It's in the link just below, what you're watching on Twitter right now.

So just click on that YouTube link, join the chat, chat's always hopping. Some of our favorite people in the chat become one of our favorite people in the chat because best college football community is our chat. So head over YouTube now. Ari, what do we think is gonna happen with the seating? Do we think, like everybody stares at your mark

and he's like, okay, fine, do it straight. Or do you think he just goes, nah, we're gonna do this one more year? Nah. We're gonna do this one more year. I don't know, man. It's hard. I don't know. It's really hard to predict because it's,

like I said, it's only one year. So like, I can't really decide what the better move is here if you're him. So, we'll see. We'll see. I it sounds like there's a chance that they may all get together and do what is actually best for the game, which I will view as progress. But I don't know if they're gonna do that. So yeah, we'll find out. But let us move on to the funniest news of the last 24 hours.

So last night, we found out that a state representative in Ohio, in the Ohio General Assembly, named Tex Fisher, who's from Youngstown, has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for the Texas Ohio State game to kick off at noon on big noon kickoff on Fox. And Ari, now normally I'm not for this sort of pork-bell stuff, but I don't think that's a noon game either. I don't think that game should be played at noon. I think Ohio State has to play too many noon games. I don't know that you should codify it into law. I'm not entirely opposed to this. Can I start with a really hot take? Go for it. I think Ohio State and Michigan started 330. Well, this law would force it to stay at noon, which I know is part of this.

But I think Ohio State starting at 330 gives people an extra three hours to tailgate and get drunk and have a good time. And then that that game that goes into the early evening and the sun sets on the stadium is awesome for that game. And they did it. No six. It was perfect. I am like, I know tradition, tradition, tradition, tradition, but like it's better at 330.

I don't think it should be one quarter of this bill which is to keep most Ohio State games off the noon time slot is about how you keep Ohio State Michigan in the noon time slot, which I find incredibly funny. It's like noon games suck except this one. If you can change when the game is played,

like the the back and forth between the Thanksgiving stuff like you can change the time it is played, like the back and forth between the Thanksgiving stuff, like you can change the time it starts. I mean, the only thing that I think needs to 1000% be preserved in this rivalry is the fact that it's the last game of the regular season for both teams. But like what time it starts on Saturday, I've never understood like 3 30 is the perfect time. Like when the sun sets over the stadium and you've got a closely contested game like the 06 game was like the blueprint for what that rivalry is at its peak. But this said like I don't know we did the civics test I don't know like how high ranking of a person Tex Fisher is or like how much authority

he has in our actual government but like the thing I don't understand is like if they were to make this a law is there any actual chance of this being a law? And like does that? No. Like it's just this is just like grandstanding, right? This is complete grandstanding. Can I read some of it for you? Yeah, please. One competing team is the football team of the State University. Both competing teams are ranked among the top 10 teams in the Associated Press poll or its successor of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's football bowl subdivision or its successor. He's future proof in this thing. Division B of this section does not apply if an earlier start time

of a college football game between two teams is a college football tradition. For this purpose, a college football tradition is a start time of a game between the teams of two institutions whose football teams have competed against each other at least 50 times. And the start time has been the same for at least 95% of those games. If a game subject to division B of this section starts at a time earlier than permitted by that division,

the attorney general shall impose a fine of $10 million against either the host teams, football, athletic conference, or the television network broadcasting or streaming the game whichever party scheduled the earlier start time. No state university shall enter into or renew a contract with the National Collegiate Athletic Association and Athletic Conference or a media entity under which any entity directly or indirectly may compel or permit the

university's football team to commence a college football game that is subject to division B of this section at a time that violates that division. $10 million fine for putting that game at noon. $10 million. The thing that I think is interesting about this entire discourse is I understand Ohio State's fans' complaints about this, but the reason why their television deal is so lucrative is because of them. So it's like this like circle of like, box paid all this money that gets funneled directly to you as a result of your popularity. But in order for them to max out that investment,

they have to place you in that time slot. It's not like it's some sort of conspiracy theory. It's literally right in front of your face. They play at noon all the time because that's how Fox makes the most money on their television ratings, of which you're a beneficiary of financially. So like, I know that you want to play more night games,

but the more you play at night, the less money that they conceivably make. Because if they switch the night game that they usually have to noon, the total viewers of the day would be lower. Am I understanding this correctly? You are understanding it correctly. And the specific way this big 10 TV contract works

is that basically Fox, which is a co-owner way this Big 10 TV contract works is that basically Fox, which is a co-owner of the Big 10 network, is subleasing these games to these other networks. But part of the way they did it and organized the deal, which makes Fox and the Big 10 more money, is they guaranteed some exclusive time slots to these other networks. So CBS gets that mid-afternoon time slot, NBC gets the prime time one. And there are weeks when CBS and NBC have the first choice.

And what is happening to Ohio State specifically in these instances are the weeks where the other one has the first choice and Ohio State's not playing a particularly great game Those networks will take the better game Whether that's you know, Michigan USC or whatever it is They'll take the better game Fox then will just take Ohio State versus whoever they're playing because it's because Ohio State is the most guaranteed ratings driver in college football and it's not particularly close.

Like they are the engine. So that's why it's happening is Fox looks at it and is like Ohio State's playing Marshall. Whatever Ohio State guaranteed ratings. Well, and the thing too is that the night game ratings are always higher because people are home at night more than they are during the day and Ohio State doesn't necessarily provide the best bang for your buck in that time slot regardless of who they're playing. You want to make people watch it during the day. That's the entire reason why noon kickoff exists. Well, they also- Because they want more viewers during the day.

What they've done is, so ESPN used to dump its bad games at noon. And Fox on opportunity there by putting a good game there. And the way they've done it is, for the most part, when they have first choice, their games are so good that ESPN won't try to counter program with something really good.

So ESPN basically goes, okay, we'll, we'll wait till prime time. You can have new. But then the prime time games on the other networks at the same time are still watched because people watch football in prime time. Like it's hard. It's harder.

It's because they're good games because they're giant STC games. It's harder to command attention at noon than it is at seven. So like, it's like, it's not a affront to Ohio State. It's not a let's screw Ohio State out of big nighttime atmospheres at home. It's a literal financial decision that helps bolster the contract that you guys signed in order

to make as much money as possible. And it's just like they could play Ohio State Michigan State on Mars at 4 AM and people would watch it. You know what I mean? Like it doesn't matter. Well, and that's Ohio State. It does not matter what time the game is. People will watch and that's it's a compliment to Ohio State. It sucks for Ohio State fans who hate new games like that. That's the problem. It when it boils down is Ohio State is actually too good at drawing viewers,

and that's why they keep getting stuck in there. Yeah, and I guess there is like a J.C. Corrigan here on the chat said Ohio State is at a serious disadvantage with all the West Coast home games needing to start later. Same for Penn State and Michigan. Where like the actual travel time and like what time the correct start, you know, because those games have to go on CBS or NBC because you're not starting a game in Eugene or Seattle or Los Angeles at 9 a.m. local time.

Right. So every single time they go on the road, they're more likely to play in a more difficult time slot. And when they host them, they get the easier, because like, that's the thing. It's not even so much about like what the sky looks like. It's all about atmosphere. And it's just like I've covered Ohio State games for 10 straight straight years and the noon atmosphere does not compare to the night atmosphere. And like, the thing that really sucks about this more than anything is, is that like last year, the big noon stuff got in the way of Penn State having Ohio State as a whiteout. Like, and it's like, if you, if you, and like, that was great for Ohio State, they didn't have to go to Penn State and play at night. So like there have been times too, where it's probably working their favor. But like as a consumer, that screws Penn State people

because they want their biggest game to be at night too. And that's right. So producer River just texted us and he's like, I'm looking at Ohio State schedule and the two games that would warrant a prime time starter, Texas and Penn State. Well, guess what? They're guaranteed to not be primetime.

Those are going to be at noon. Yeah. So you can make a law, but I mean, that law would would fiscally hurt. I mean, because like if that law actually, it's not going to happen, but if ever came into play would like Fox be less inclined to pay as much money next time if they can't squeeze out every dollar or cent that they can get out of this? Like, that's the thing. So, correct. Ohio State's amongst the most wealthy college football programs in the country. And a large part of that is not just the, you know, large alumni base and in vast interest, it's the television deal that, you know, comes with that. And the television deal that comes with that is most effective with this system. So you live by the sword, I guess you die by the sword a little bit, but as a consumer, I'm with Ohio State fans and that it's not as fun.

I get that. If you're upset about it or hate it, totally. But you have to understand why it's happening. It's not to screw Ohio State out of their best environment. It's to make the most possible money from television revenue. What I wish Fox would do is, and the problem is they probably have to give back some money to either NBC or CBS depending on which time slot we're talking about. Like remember the old CBS-SEC contract was each week the best SEC game starts at 330 on CBS Eastern Time but they had one prime time game and I think they had two noon games

every year as well and so that prime time game was was built in it was baked into the contract and they got to pick one of those like now Fox would have to go back to the table. With the Big 10 and with NBC and CBS to buy its way into one prime time slot a year, but shouldn't it do that or two prime time slots a year like just have that at its disposal because I don't care how big the SEC game is.

At. 730 or 8 PM Eastern time. If you have Ohio State Penn State, guess who's watching? Which game like the the the Big 10 game is going to get better ratings. Yeah, or play the Michigan game at night. Now the reason they don't do those in November is whether they don't want if there's no storm, they don't want people trying to drive home. They don't want if there's a snowstorm,

they don't want people trying to drive home at night in the middle of the snowstorm. That's why they do it. But I'm with you on the 2006 330 situation. That game was spectacular. So. 330 is the best game time for any game to kick off. Yeah, you got enough time to get drunk.

It's the elite time slot. You're done at dinner time. Yeah. You're done at dinner time. Yeah. You're done at dinner time. Yeah, it's perfect. And you get the fourth quarter at night, which is great. Unfortunately, commerce is not allowing this to happen.

But yes, I would like it if they would. I'm gonna cover a game too, Andy, because you can sleep in a little bit, take your time, watch the early games, maybe get a little lunchy. Then you go to the stadium, you cover the game, you have the press box brats or whatever, and then you do your stuff and then you're out by eight. You can watch the night games at home. It's amazing.

But commerce is not allowing it. Hopefully there's a way to have a sensible solution to this. I'll point out. Fox kind of announced Texas, Ohio State at noon and then took it away because everybody's complaining. Maybe they're trying to make something work here. It's gonna be at noon. I know. I'm just trying. I'm I'm I'm holding out hope. I'm holding out. By the way, if we go to that game, noon would be great because there's a buffet of football that day. Oh seriously like listen listen

we should not have an opinion on this officially speaking because all sports writers prefer noon starts. Also can I can I say something to Ohio State fans? So I don't know like the like the people here are like us right the people watching are like us where no matter who my favorite team was I am watching from noon till midnight. Like Saturday is my day to consume it. Isn't it such a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling to watch your team at noon, like maul somebody and then you have the win in the bag

for the day and then watching the rest of the sport unfold for the rest of the day while laughing at teams that lose? Like, isn't that kind of fun? Like rather than the anticipation of, I hope we win at night and like living through that turmoil all day. It's kind of like having an NCAA tournament game on the first round on Thursday and then getting that win and then getting to watch the tournament on Friday as a winner like without having the angst and stress of that. Like that I mean that there are some there's some are you intentionally doing this to meet a little high estate fans?

Oh no I think that there there's do you remember what happened to needle Ohio State fans? No, I think that there's... Do you remember what happened to them the last time they played a noon kickoff? Oh yeah, I mean they lose sometimes. They're not undefeated. The rest of the day sucked! Let me tell you something Andy. The rest of the month sucked! Covered a lot of Ohio State games. They win a lot more of the games and they lose. So, I'm not needling anybody.

they win a lot more of the games and they lose. So they I'm not needling anybody. Yeah, that that last noon Ohio State game was not great for them. So yeah, no, that was bad. Yeah, but you know, the previous 25 years were pretty good. Like, I don't know. All right. We'll find out what they're going to do. I don't think there's going to be a $10 million fine, but I admire the pluck of Tex Fisher, who looks like he's about 22 years old. Also, if your name is Tex, and you live in another state, but Texas, like, I know that you're just a badass. I don't know how I'm gonna go that far,

but I admire his pluck. I certainly do. All I'm saying is, is I wouldn't want to honk at a Tex, at a Tex in traffic. Let's just put it that way. Yeah, that's true, that's true. You don't know where that's gonna go. Are you speaking, do I? Yeah. Of course.

Yeah. What do you think it is about human nature that causes rage in traffic to be so much higher than it is in other areas of life. Is it because you're in your car? You're treating me from doing the thing I want to do and you're being stupid about it. Which happens to me every day outside of the car, so why in the car is it worse? Because it also could put you in mortal danger.

Their stupidity can put you in mortal danger. That's true. I also think that it's- So it raises the stakes. Being in your tin can and being able to yell and say things and do things that you otherwise wouldn't be able to do without getting your ass kicked in person and then drive away

if it doesn't go the way you hoped. We lost me. Welcome back, Art. Welcome back, me. You lost me? You didn't hear what I said? No, I lost, we lost me. I thought we lost you. It was one of those weird things.

So, that's okay. Yeah, it is. It is stress. Somebody cuts you off in traffic and you feel like you're about to get into an accident. That causes rage. I think it's the putting you and your family in danger aspect of it that makes you matter.

So, I think that's pretty normal human nature. Yeah. All right, all right. Speaking of upstarts of people who are trying to do something that's never been done before, we're gonna coach on now. He's got a team. It's in the FBS that's going to try to head to the FBS. He just took a quarterback that it's in the FBS that's going to try to head to the FBS.

He just took a quarterback that we've been talking about for years who we've never really gotten to see be a full-time starter, and now we are. Sacramento State's Brennan Marion. So he's got Jayden Rashada as his QB. They're trying to do even bigger things. Like if you look at their transfer portal rankings, they're getting a lot of dudes that were at big programs.

You asked him during this interview about getting an official visit from from Ryder Lions, who's a massive class of 2026 quarterback recruit, who normally wouldn't even be thinking about a school like that. He obviously can't talk about that. But that's a, that's a big deal. Yeah. It was really cool to have them on. And it's always exciting to see like the emergence of a new program. Try something. I always buy myself. I always buy into the fact that like, this is just like the fact that he said

it in the interview of this kind of like being a real life person who's having an NCAA dynasty I thought was hilarious. Cause that's exactly how I view it. I don't want to blow that up. I mean, Brennan, but Brennan's that generation, like he played at Tulsa in the early 2000s, like that he grew up playing the game and playing the video game

and understands how that works and how that feels. And yeah, it's really interesting to see, because we've seen him go from an FCS offensive coordinator to a Power Conference position coach to a, to an FBS coordinator. And I'm very interested in his career arc, because I think, I think he's going to be a Power Conference head coach at some point. And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to have him on because I just, if you listen to him talk, you see what he's aiming at here and what, you know, but taking Jayden Rashad is a bit of a risk, but at this point he also might be that distressed asset that helps your team a lot.

Cause this is somebody that Brennan saw during the recruiting process and understands what he could be. So let's talk to Brennan Marion about Sac State, Jayden Rashada, Mike Biby, Shaq, you name it. We are joined now by the new head coach at Sacramento State, Brendan Marion, and we talked to coach, let's see, you were offensive coordinator at UNLV last year. We talked to you, we talked to you as the receivers coach at Texas and the receivers coach at Pittsburgh and what's it feel like being the head guy now?

It's been awesome. I mean, the president here, the athletic director, the city of Sacramento has been just welcomed me and my family with open arms and, you know, just excited to, you know, put together a big season this year. I want to ask you about Ricky White, but we'll do it at the end, because I'm obsessed with him and I have no idea how that human being felt with the seventh round. Your program has gotten a ton of headlines over the last few months, you know, about NIL budget and your guys' desire to move up and all those things. Like what, you know, about NIL budget and your guys desire to move up and all those things like what You know we talked about building programs a lot on the show But it seems like you guys are at the beginning of trying to actually build a program physically

I mean, what's it like to take that job and be in the in the middle of that? Yeah, it's been awesome I mean I've always wanted to get a program where, you know, if you look at my career and you go through my resume, a lot of the places that I went as a coach, you know, the year prior was the season and then we had a great opportunity to build up it. You know, I really don't say the ground up because Sacramento State did have a couple like three straight winning seasons and then they had a rough year and then, you know, but as far as trying to go FBS and the NIL structure and really making this a, you know,

like a big time team in a big city has been really cool from the standpoint of like, that's like your childhood dream to like, if you played the video game like dynasty mode, you create a team and you like build it up the way you want it to be. And so the stakeholders and people in Sacramento are very excited about what we're trying to accomplish and get done here.

And a lot of things have moved very fast. I mean, I've only been here, you know, four to five months now. And you see kind of the momentum and speed and pace in which we're moving at, you know. And so, you know, I think sky's the limit as far as where we can take it and continue to move this program forward. Well, and so the headlines were saying that you guys had raised millions of dollars in NIL budget. And was that going on before you got hired? What was the vision for the program that the administration told you? Because they also have said, hey, we're moving to FBS.

Yeah, the president was very adamant on that he was going to do everything possible to raise the funds and give me access to create a FBS Power 4 type roster here with through the NIL funds that they you know created through the SAC 12 program. And that's a very real thing that those guys put together before that that had nothing to do with me. That was something that the president actually went here president would actually went here as a student. Then he left for a few years and was at San Diego State and different other stops and he came back here and now he's the president and

he's from the area. And so there's a lot of people from this area who really want this program to really go to that level and he's the guy who's championed that from the start. And now I'm just the guy who kinda teaches him what know, teaches him what it looks like to, to put a big time football program together. But we talk a lot about, uh, you know, program building. You talk about the stakeholders, um, of the program and how excited they are about the momentum, your dynasty mode, your personal ability to do that.

That's all very fascinating, but to contextualize the future, what does the if everything goes perfectly, what does the future of Sac State look like in your perfect world? Like five, six, seven years down the line, if you do it right? Yeah, ultimately that I mean, the first thing that comes with that, you want to put a quality product on the field. So obviously, we want to make sure that we're a winning program. We have a tradition of winning. And we're able to have conversations with Power4 conferences, and they want to take on our Sacramento media market, which is a top 20 media market. And they want to have a team and a university that represents the state of California and the state capital of California.

And so ultimately if we put the right product out there on the field, then we'll be more desirable to conferences around the country. And so then we can be, right now you gotta be in the top four power conferences if you wanna be taken seriously in football. And so that's really our goal.

to be taken seriously in football. And so that's really our goal. So one place where, if we were to look to find you, where you're going to see, be seen alongside those power conference teams is the transfer portal rankings. Because you went in there and got some players who were at some pretty big schools, the one everybody wants to know about, and I'm going to ask about them right now, Jayden Rashadaada because we all followed his recruitment. We saw him play at Arizona State. He went to Georgia last year.

He went back in the portal looking for a place where he could be QB one and now he comes to you. How is he handling that move and what what made you decide? Okay, I want to bring him in and I want him to be my quarterback. Yeah, I think anytime you know, you, I want to bring him in and I want him to be my quarterback? Yeah, I think anytime you talk about that, that is the most attractive position in football. I mean, you have to have a real guy at the helm, not just the real guy from the standpoint of your on the field play, but that sets the temperature of your team that can lead your team, that sets the temperature of your team, that can lead your team, that can be the guy in the locker room,

and he possesses all those qualities. And I think the journey that he's taken and the turns and twists that he's had in his young career so far has led him to this point to be a very mature young man, a great kid, and really put himself in a position where his talent now can be shown and he does have some scars and stuff that have made him a little bit tougher of a kid and being able

to come here and take us to a new level as far as upgrading our quarterback play. I think you have to have a guy who's a real guy in that room. You can't just have an average guy there. And so obviously, I met him when he was young. I was recruiting him when he was in high school at Pittsburgh High School, which is 45 minutes to an hour down the road, depending on how you drive, from here in Sacramento. And so, he's a local kid. I think his reception has been very big here. We're very excited about what he's going to bring to our program and upgrading our quarterback room. And we think that he has the skill set to really set our offense on fire.

that to really set our offense on fire. Obviously, in the building phase, interest is good, right? And I know and I'm not implying that you brought Jaden in because of how big of a story he's been in college football. But how much does that marriage local kid who has had gone through a lot during his college career coming back home to a place that's trying to get eyeballs on. And people are gonna be inherently interested in how he does and how good he can be. Is that a good thing for program too, if things go well? I mean, obviously if you're winning, but to get new eyeballs onto your team?

Yeah, I always say, I mean, if the quarterback plays great, he's bigger than the head coach, he's bigger than the president, the AD. I mean, if the quarterback's playing well at any university, right, he puts himself in a different light than everybody. Everybody wants to be the quarterback. Everybody wants to be that guy.

And so if he does everything that he's supposed to do and continues to follow the structure and plan and the program that we have for him, I think he'll do very well here and ultimately, put himself at the forefront of college football for his play, and that's really what it's about. That's really what he came here for, the opportunity to show, improve his skillset.

And so you met him when you were working at Texas, right? And that was the, he's the same class as Arch Manning So obviously Texas would Arch Manning was the first choice He chose Texas but was was jayden one of those guys that you guys were looking at in case arch didn't sign Yeah, I mean there was there was a he was definitely on the the short list of guys I mean we were you know, everybody there in the building was all in on Arch Manning and the Manning family was awesome and a great family. I think it was a great group staff effort with Sark and Coach Millwee and

B and everybody was Terry Joseph. I mean, everybody was all in coach banks. Everybody was all in on getting arched. We had looked at some other guys just in case. I mean, you always want a contingency plan, but everybody there was all in on arch. Rashada, though, was just one of the kids that I saw, the Bay Area being one of my territories

that I've recruited for years because I was a high school head coach in that area. Everybody that I knew from the Bay Area, telling me this kid is the one, this kid is special. You gotta come see him throw, you gotta come see him. Like the day that I came to Salem, the University of Florida was out, other teams were, I mean,

everybody came to see the kid throw. And I just, the thing that I really took away from watching him was his leadership of his team. There was no coach out there on the field. I mean, he took the entire team out there that Pittsburgh High School and they ran through the entire route tree. They ran plays. It was very clean.

A ball didn't hit the ground. I just saw like man, this guy's really mature and he's really got something to him. I mean, he could go out there and lead his whole group without, you know, any coaching or, you know, people yelling. I mean, he just, just did it seamlessly. You guys had a 5-star quarterback visit recently. And we're not allowed to say whose name it is. But Well, he, you can say he just can't. So it made big news. What does that say about your program and the potential and the caliber of players that you guys are equipped to recruit?

Yeah, I mean, we kind of run our, we run our football program like a Fortune 500 company. We have guys that are responsible solely for recruiting, guys that are responsible for entertainment, guys that are responsible to connect with the administration, guys that are just coaches, coordinators. I mean, we do things a little differently. And so, we've been able to get the players around the country to come here for unofficial visits, for official visits, regardless of high rated guys, low rated rated, I mean, everybody in between. Very excited about what we're doing here. And I think that's just the staff's collective effort

on creating a winning product and making sure that we have the right amount of, obviously to be a great program, you need great players. And players are very excited about what we're doing here because of what our staff has done in their prior stops and the buzz and kind of the way that we've raised here. And so it's been great to get those guys that have came here multiple times on visits. I mean, we've had highly rated guys come here

multiple times in one of the year, and they're in constant communication with our staff and we're not treated like we're just this little old, I always say, we're just this little small, humble, quiet program up in Sacramento, but the kids and the families are really, you know, and that's all Florida to all the way out here in California. I mean, people are very excited about what we're doing. And so that's just a testament to our to our staff. I'm looking on the Sac State website.

I like you were talking about with your president who clearly wants to make splashes and wants Sac State to be talked about all over the country. If you look on the website, the general manager of the basketball program at your school is one Dr. Shaquille O'Neal. Now, I believe Dr. Shaq's son is a basketball player there as well. But having that kind of energy, like they're raising tons of money for you guys,

they're bringing Shaq in to work with the basketball team. What does that energy feel like on campus? Yeah, I mean, it's almost like, you know, I worked at the University of Howard and that's kind of like the atmosphere that we kind of have created on campus. I mean, it's really come as you are, be yourself. We accept all walks of life, you know, and you really can just grow and and kind of be yourself here. And and the president, you know, that's a testament to him and his cabinet

of of people who have gotten that done where you can come here, truly be you and thrive. And he's created this, you know, him and the athletic director have created, you know, hiring guys. I laughed with Coach Bibby. You know, we're like the only two coaches in America with like tattoos on our hands and neck, you know. And so I think that, you know, having guys like that and that kids can relate to and also have, you can see guys that look like you, that have made it to the highest level at their playing careers and their professional careers.

I think it gives parents and families a calming presence that they know that their kid can come here and truly grow and thrive and, you know, be in a great environment. And you have to forgive me. I have to ask why, well, how good is Ricky white and how did you fall into the seventh round? Go for it. I just like, I don't understand it. Yeah, I have, I have no.

Yeah. I was, I was yelling at, so I used to coach, uh, uh coach Jerry Jones's grandson Paxton at Texas. I'm calling him during the draft, like what's going on Ricky White, man? Like what's going on? Tell me what's going on in the draft room. Like tell me what's up? Like what's the problem? Why is he not drafted yet?

And so Ricky's gonna do an awesome job there. He's ready to roll. He's gonna prove it. I mean, like he always has on the field. I mean, he had back to back thousand year seasons there at UNLV. I'm sure that he'll be an asset to the Seahawks and he'll make a lot of plays.

I just, I don't know, for whatever reason, there's a lot of things that go into that. I don't disrespect anybody's process or what they see. But the key thing was him getting drafted. He was able to do that. I don't disrespect anybody's process or what they see. Um, but you know, the key thing was him getting drafted. He was able to do that. Um, and you know, I'm looking forward to him having a great NFL career. So we now know you, we especially since you become a head coach, you've made, you know, we're looking at videos of you in practice that the cowboy hat is a constant.

You got the boots and everything. Are we going to go bum Phillips and wear the hat during games? That that's, that's the question. Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to, you know, I have a lot of respect for the coaches of the sixties, the seventies, the eighties. You know, those guys had real swag. I mean, I always say these guys now, unfortunately,

I've been the greatest thing about being a head coach is I'm not forced to be an assistant anymore. I always say when you have to respect somebody else when it's their deal, you have to do exactly what the head coach asked and be a good steward of the program. And so I'm blessed that I'm the head coach now and I'm going to wear whatever I want out there. And it'll definitely be, there will definitely be some outfits out there. You know, there'll definitely be some, some swag out there. Not, you know, I never thought that the wrinkled clothes with the Nike's was, was swag, you know, or a polo. So you'll see some, you'll see, you'll definitely see some outfits out there for sure. You'll definitely see some stuff. I don't understand why some of the richest and

powerful most powerful head coaches in college football can't wear pants with the proper inseam. Have you noticed that you like look at the sidelines and like their pants are four inches too long? It's like, come on, man, you have to have a tailor by now. Yeah, I still got I still got some receiver left in me. I mean, if you're a real receiver, you care about the way you dress and you walk around, you have a little swag to yourself. So I'm gonna keep that going as a head coach. I'm glad that I'm grateful for everybody who let me be assistant for them.

Thank you, but it's time for me to absolutely be me. And so I'm excited to You know be able to not just be out there and like you said, uh some some wrinkled khakis and uh, an apollo Well, and especially the You used to work with todd graham. So you've done the britney spear. He ate of the britney spears mike, so cowboy hat britney spears mike

I can see it. I can see it the like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm still works on those guys, the game. The party up still it's not. Yeah. Rod Wave and how is Rod Wave getting you pumped up to hit somebody? Yeah. Yeah. They're a little bit more emotional, man. It's a little bit different. A little more. A little more emotional. Emotional. Thank you so much.

We appreciate it. Thanks, Brennan. They're a little bit more emotional now. They are. I'm a little bit more emotional now. They are. I'm a little bit more emotional. I never thought I'd see a day when Party Up didn't get people moving. I'm sure it does. I'm sure it does. I hope so.

I might lose my faith in humanity. We do need to have a segment on the show about what the hell is going on with Britney Spears. And if nothing else, the younger people listening to the show can Google her to figure out who she was. I had the poster of her in my dorm room in the Hit Me Baby One More Time poster. Was that the number one selling poster in the history of humanity? No, that would be the Farrah Fawcett poster in the late 70s. But same concept, same general concept. So we're too old for that, or we're too young for that, both of us.

I'm Googling it. It's a classic. She was Dayton Lee Majors at the time. Oh, is that the one where she got, yeah, in the red bathing suit? Yeah, yeah. I've seen it. The parents just phenomenal.

Yeah, yeah. So I. I think I can't wait to see Brandon on the sidelines and cowboy hat like we got to make that happen. I mean, we do. I think he's there. Dion is like kind of beating him to the punch on that one. That's true. Has he done the cowboy hat during the game?

I cannot recall. There's spring. I have all the time. I don't know if he wears it on the sideline on Saturdays. He's doing all the games. I mean he looks really like Dion Sanders looks good in everything he wears so like he can do whatever he wants. He's like one of these people like I'm having a really hard time right now finding. Hold on while the subject. Finding. Hold on. While we're on the subject of Deion Sanders, there's news. Oh, go ahead. Got a Netflix documentary. Primetime coming to Netflix later this year. I think this is going to be Deion's version of The Last Dance. Basically like how, you know, The Last Dance was kind of

Michael Jordan, his version of all that stuff. This is going to be Deion's version of his life. his version of all that stuff. This is going to be Dion's version of his life, which I'm fascinated because I'm not as interested in the Colorado coaching stuff because we've we've seen it all. It's all so recent, but I really want to know a lot about him playing at Florida State, his NFL career, his Major League Baseball career like the they had the 30 for 30 on the Dion double. But I just think I'd be fascinated by that producer River play the play the promo. Guess what?

I heard a rule. I ain't one for rules, but I heard a rule. Prime time is going prime time on Netflix in 2026. Oh, now give me my theme music. 2026. So I have to wait but I am very excited to watch that Steve in the chat says he's worn out with Dion significant overload. I'm not like I think I want to see Dion talking about like I hope they cover it when he was at Clemson with Florida State and he goes to the bottom of the hill when they're about to run down the hill.

And he's like, come on down the hill, come get your whooping. I want the whole story on that. You know, I actually am too young to recall much of Deion Sanders college career. So it'd be kind of cool to live through that. I've gone and watched the highlights in the past. But I mean, I'm still pretty young to even remember like the highs of his like baseball career. Like, I mean, because those early stuff and I was like five years old. So, you know, getting a refresh on what made him one of the greatest athletes

in the history of sports is going to be fun. I don't watch it. I don't I understand if people are have had Dion overload in the sense of like we talk about him a lot on the show and what he does from a roster building standpoint, but like This isn't that this is completely different about Like his pro career what made him What made what's the reason why people are so fascinated with with Dion and why everything he does kind of?

blows up for a lot of us of a certain age. He's such a transcendent athlete. He was such a huge megastar when we were growing up and or like my when I was a young adult, like. This is Dion Sanders doing this stuff like that still resonates with me. So to kind of relive some of that would be would be pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, I'm with you. I can't wait to I like I like some of the sports documentaries on Netflix are terrible and some of them are great. I hope it's a good one. I'm very I did too. I think the whole yeah, the untold is usually been told,

but yeah, we'll see or the untold remains untold and they tell you what's already been told. Speaking of telling Nick Saban did some telling on Wednesday on Finebomb. Uh, the big headline out of this was him saying there doesn't need to be a presidential committee, even though he's on the presidential committee. I don't know that everybody took away what he meant for people to take away from that because he followed that up with basically everybody knows what the issues are in college sports. Let's just do something about it more than just talk about it. What I

thought was more interesting was he's kind of joking around about his retirement and everything and what he you know what he does during the day and miss terry and him driving her crazy but then he said something after that. Play that clip River. Finally, you people say you retired. It doesn't based on what I see from you on TV, we was involved in this issue. You don't really seem like somebody that's retired. Well, you know, I'm not good not having anything to do. You know, the day I retired, Mr gave me the 10 Commandments of Retirement. And within one week, she said 10's not enough.

So I'm not ready to retire. I need something to do. Keep busy. Stay out of her hair. So, and I like working, you know, just, and I didn't get out of coaching because of the system in college football right now. I got out because of my age. I thought it was affecting the program.

I didn't want to ride the program down. And I think the people at Alabama now will do a great job there. I thought that last part was very interesting, Ari. And it's also like, so peek behind the curtain. 2017, I'm working for Sports Illustrated. I'm starting to work on the potential national title game game story.

That is essentially the story of the national title winning team season. So naturally I was working on an Alabama story that year. And so in the, I believe they had an open week, or no, they didn't have an open week. They were playing an FCS team. I think that the week before the Auburn game and I went to Tuscaloosa and I talked to Nick Saban in his office for a little while and he said something that really struck me and

I wasn't the only person he said this to. He said this to multiple people over a period of about three or four years. But this is 2017 and he basically said I'll retire before I ever let it drop off. He's like, I'm not going to be there and watch it go down. And so this is him saying again, he felt like there was a potential drop off coming with him coaching. I don't know if that's true or not. Like he may be underestimating himself, but the fact that that he thought that is is very interesting to me. Yeah and I also wonder too like if

that was a long word salad of I can't keep up with this stuff at my age. The new system isn't why I left. My age was, but my age probably got to a point in his life where he didn't want to. The thing that we've always said about Nick Saban is that he was the master of adaptation. And I don't know if this is the most drastic adapting he would have had to do. And at this age, I'm not sure he, I wonder if he even had enough in the tank to want to adapt to this like that's the thing I think you're right. I think that's probably what the way the math he did in his head because Look, how many times did they change the rules?

To stop something Nick Saban was doing and he just pivoted and and still did everything better. There is one Unequivocal fact that I think you and I can agree upon Which is that if Nick Saban wanted to attack this era, he would have done it beautifully one unequivocal fact that I think you and I can agree upon, which is that if Nick Saban wanted to attack this era, he would have done it beautifully. So when people say that he retired because his advantage, like here's the thing, like Alabama had such an advantage under him because of his talent accumulation

in the super team era that he would have been able to do that constantly. But I still think that he would have existed at a very high level in this era. If he wanted to adapt to it, it just might not have been every single person who comes through your program wins a national title like it used to be like I think that they might have won one every five years instead of one every other year,

you know, but I still would have been an excellent program. The thing that makes me kind of sad Ari is that I would have been an excellent program. The thing that makes me kind of sad Ari is that I would have loved to see how he would have adapted to this era. But I think he would have like everything he did was so much smarter and and ahead of the curve than everybody else. So it would have been fun to watch him do that. He also would have existed in a time where the actual NIL discount would have still applied. Like I still wonder, Absolutely. 100%.

I think that of all the coaches in college football, there are a few that I think get a discount. I think that Brian Hartline gets a discount on receivers. I think that Kirby Smart probably gets a discount on his entire roster. So maybe Ryan Day, too. Even I think Dabo Sweeney to a certain extent because of the type of kid that he recruits. But there is nobody in college football that would have commanded a more consistent and big discount as Nick Saban because playing for him was worth the money you would be sacrificing in a way that I'm not sure you can say about any other coach in the sport still. Yeah, playing for him, you could actually quantify how many draft picks playing for him would push you up.

And there's money that you can attach to that. So, yeah, I think you're right about that. But it's interesting to hear him say it that way. And I think I'm glad he's he's saying it because are we going to also like create our 10 commandments for retirement retirement because I've got a few ideas of mine. Listen, I guarantee I'd be a lot better retired person than Nick Saban. Yeah, this idea of I can't do nothing is fascinating to me. But that's how you achieve the kind of things he achieves and why we're just schmucks. How long do you think you could live before you went crazy with nothing going on in your life? I actually don't think I'd make it very long. I used to be

a lot better at chilling out and doing nothing. Like in my 20s I could sit around on a weekend day and channel surf. And I think this is pretty universal for a lot of people. Like once you have kids and you're dealing with it now, having a young child, the idea of having hours to do nothing, there was nothing planned, like it sounds awful when I think about it.

It's funny the way you're saying it because the thing I long for the most is hours to do nothing. But you won't stay up. Now that you've lived with a three-year-old in your life, you'll never be able to do it again. But I long for that. I stay up later on weeknights than I want to, because it's the only time of the day

where I don't have to do anything. I still still I was like still in that phase and I don't know. Oh no I was and I was like that too. When when my kids were little I would wait until everybody went to bed and I would savor those you know 10 to 10 midnight watching NBA playoff game or something. Play around with my cards watch the NBA like that's what I do because like on the weekends, and I don't know, I think that Anne and Britt are kind of similar in this. Like Britt is an over planner.

So we have play dates, we have lessons. I mean, at three, like our daughter has a more intense social calendar than I did in my 20s. The thing is you as the parents will stop planning that stuff. It will just be planned for you when they're in various activities as they get older. It's planned for me now, but yeah. Well, right, but it won't be planned for a convention. It won't be planned in your house, let's put it that way.

I have lived from Saturday till Tuesday by myself this coming week, and I already know what's going on. We've got this, we've got swim lessons, we've got that. She's already texting other moms and friends of mine, their husbands, to see if they wanna do a play date. She's on top of it. I'm gonna have to report back because I'm about to go through a different kind of

life change time you know management situation because I've got a kid that's gonna start driving in August and suddenly I don't have to take him everywhere what do I do at that time other than freak out about you know driving I think that's worrying is probably gonna be my number one activity at that point. Yeah, like I feel like if I had nothing to do from Friday to Saturday or Sunday, I mean, I would probably play a lot of poker.

I play video games, but like, I feel like if I ever got to the phase of life where my entire week was nothing, like I would try to come up with something that was like a hobby that I was good at. Like I just thought this would work. That's what I think would happen. I think-

I would like to like fix it up myself or something. Do something that would be fun and gratifying in a way that was only for you. Right, which is not nothing, by the way. That is something and it's actually one of those things that if you get good enough at the hobby, it can become a profession if you're not careful. So yeah, yeah.

But I feel like if I'm Nick Saban, if you think about the amount of time that this person has had taken by his profession and how he has been nonstop full born, maybe all those years of that has made him forget or making him incapable of living in a place where he can play golf and go lay by the pool and read a book. Like maybe people just like forget how to be that way. I think you do. Like if to work like he did for as long as he did, I don't think you can just automatically shut that off.

I don't think that works out. I didn't have a job. I was under contract with the athletic before I came to on three and wasn't allowed to start working at on three until August and I think my final day was in mid July, August 31st. So I had six weeks off of no work and we were moving at that time. So I had things to do every day, but I feel like I would be like a road trip person or I'd be like, Oh look, there's this thing that I've always wanted to see. I'm going to get in the car and go drive and see it.

Like I feel like I would find ways to do things. I don't know that. Yeah. And it's not there, but you wouldn't do nothing. Like you're not, you're no longer capable of doing nothing. And I trust me, you've told me enough stories. You were pretty good at doing nothing in your twenties. Yeah.

Well, I am very good at doing nothing when sports are on. Like it's like the NFL, like on an NFL Sunday, I would consider that nothing. Like NFL Sundays don't count. You consider waking up at 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. putting in bets for the NFL Sunday, ordering pizza and laying on your couch, watching all the games in red zone

from noon till after the Sunday night game in between, take a, uh, a siesta or two because you're have carb loaded and watch 60 minutes before the night game and then falling asleep in the fourth quarter of the night game is nothing. Or is that, is that a day to you? No, that's a full day. Like if it doesn't count, it's not nothing. If football's on, it's nothing. If you're just if football's on. Yeah, it's nothing if you're just like, what's on Netflix right now?

You remember when I ordered the Slurpees to my house? Like Britt was gone from noon and Liv was at my mother-in-law's and I had from noon on Sunday till our show on Monday morning to myself. And all I did was order Chinese food and lay in bed and like watch football all day. And then I ordered Slurpees. I didn't move and it was the best day of my life.

Yeah, watching football is not nothing. Okay. We're a football all day. And then I ordered Slurpees. I didn't move and it was the best day of my life. Watching football is not nothing. Okay. We're a football positive podcast. Watching football is something. Yeah. Anything else is potentially nothing. I think it's interesting to make a distinction between watching football and channel surfing.

It's the same thing. It's just your form of entertainment. It is not the same thing, Ari. We are having very limited supply of football. Very limited supply. I mean, even the NFL, they're only playing games for five months. Like. Yeah. I mean, even the NFL, they're only playing games for five months like. Yeah, I mean, I will say this season is kind of going by fast

and like the thing too is that like I don't know about you. I get very sad at the end of the college football season every year because I love it more than anything. We will never forget when you do it. Or that's just like I said this. I did. I did it twice. It was so good, I needed to run it back. And by the way, by the time it got to the front door, it was the perfect...

You know, sometimes when you get a Slurpee, it's too cold and it's hard to suck up the Slurpee because it's frozen. It was the perfect temperature when it was on my doorstep. But then I'm like, okay, well, I can use a Reprieve. I can be a more active father, and I can be around my family on the weekends and do these things. It'll be nice for a few months to not be frantically worried that something happened all the time,

and then by the middle of February, I'm like, this sucks. And then I want to get back to it. But this is going back pretty quickly. So I'm savoring the good dad stuff for a while, because I'm a terrible dad in the fall. I don't know how you are. I'm like non-existent. Yeah, it is hard. It's our busier time. But I think people in various professions have that where they have certain times that are busier than others. So I think people are used to that. But we have to get busy and go because JD's on in 10 minutes.

The hard count, JD Pickel, right here on the On3Sports YouTube channel, which you should be subscribed to. So watch JD, hit that like button. Watch us hit that like button too. But we got, dear Andy, dear Ari tomorrow, we have some incredible questions for that, by the way. I'll give you a little sneak preview.

There's a great Nebraska question and there's a great Notre Dame question. So, you're gonna be a lot of fun tomorrow. Gonna dig into some win totals on Monday. Cause we got new updated win totals this week and I need to digest them and we need to discuss them. Also I'm gonna work on a column because I've been inspired by texts from Youngstown. What needs to be a law in college football? I'm open to any of your

ideas. You need to take ideas but I'll help you cook on that one. I got a few. Beautiful. All right guys, we will talk to you tomorrow. Your questions answered, Dear Andy DeRari, on Friday.