Andy & Ari On3 - Is LSU or Ole Miss under more PRESSURE Saturday? | Should there be a non-QB Heisman?

Episode Date: October 10, 2024

Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11.Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker,try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs. This show is also sponsored by PrizePicks, America’s most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code STAPLES to play $5 and get $50 instantly.https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/STAPLES(0:00-1:30) Intro(1:31-3:12) Ole Miss-LSU Availability Report(3:13-5:06) Texas-Oklahoma Availability Report(5:07-8:02) Dressing as a Coach(8:03-13:38) It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Coach Narduzzi!(13:39-14:44) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs(14:45-21:00) Texas-OU Preview, Presented by PrizePicks(21:01-44:20) T-Bob Hebert Joins(44:21-52:00) USC vs Penn State Discussion with T-Bob(52:01-52:57) Dear andy Intro; Thank you T-Bob!(52:58-59:17) New Awards instead of Heisman?(59:18-1:07:56) Are we sure about the Big 12 in the CFP?(1:07:57-1:16:10) Why Oklahoma Fans Hate Ari(1:16:11-1:18:12) Thank you, Vanderbilt(1:18:13-1:19:37) Conclusion, see you Saturday!It's a Dear Andy & Ari episode and we have some GREAT questions from you! We also have an incredible guest in T-Bob Hebert. Before we dive in, we have some news to take care of with the availability reports being released on Wednesday nightWant to watch us on YouTube? Join us here! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnfUCo9oAKUbqgjfmdrxGWTl55VtBQNR5Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey 

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. It is a dear Andy and Ari Thursday. That means you will help drive the show. But we have a lot going on. We've got availability reports coming out in the SEC. We've got some coaches' clothing critiques coming up. We've also got a great, great interview with T-Bob Hebert, former LSU center, current radio podcast host extraordinaire,

talking LSU Ole Miss and lots of other things. And Ari, I am very excited about this. We've got some great Dear Andy questions, and these huge games are so close now. Yeah, I got to say before we get into this that, you know, I was aware of T-Bob. I've seen T-Bob's things. T-Bob's electric. I was very, very happy to be able to talk to him for the first time.

And I think it's going to make for a good show. But it is crazy, Andy, that, you know know we spent all year being excited for October 12th and what October 12th was going to mean with all these big games and then last weekend we got the craziest weekend of the year right there's no way that's going to be topped and then we get this weekend as like the dessert to last weekend uh it is the midway point of the season it kind kind of feels like, but like we are really starting to ramp up now and it's getting exciting. Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, we'll start with Ole Miss and LSU because the, the SEC availability reports came out Wednesday night and Ole Miss LSU. We talked about this on the show about how yesterday, how about how much it feels like

an elimination game for the playoff, even though the loser isn't probably technically eliminated, but the loser would have to win out and that would be very hard. The one key name in this availability report is Trey Harris, the wide receiver from Ole Miss who has 52 catches this year. He is listed as questionable. He went out in the first half of the South Carolina game, does not come back in the second half. Lane Kiffin was very coy about whether he'd be available for this game. They all obviously will have to do another availability report on Saturday, but questionable is probably not confidence building for the Ole Miss fans hoping their leading receiver is going to play in this game.

Yeah, especially when that leading receiver has 52 catches already. He has been absolutely instrumental to the way that Ole Miss's offense is able to move the football. I think there's a general expectation that Ole Miss is going to be able to do a lot of what it did to LSU a year ago, and obviously Trey Harris is a big piece of that puzzle. So certainly something that we're going to have to continue to track. We're not 100% convinced that he's going to play, but with a Lane Kiffin injury report, you never know what you're going to get. This one's a real injury, and hopefully he'll be able to play because you want to see these teams put their best foot forward and have all their best players available.

So one more injury or availability report sorry i can't call the injury report that's not what it's called uh but the texas and oklahoma version of this no the the the kicker michael kern a punter kicker michael kern being questionable i think that that was a little bit of a surprise to the tex. We don't quite know what that means yet. The questionable for Deion Burks for Oklahoma, he's their leading pass catcher. I think that's a positive development considering he was out before. And so four receivers still out for Oklahoma, Jaden Gibson, Jalil Farouk, Nick Anderson, and Andrel Anthony. But that's not nearly as bad as when they played Auburn a couple weeks ago.

Yeah, and it's just kind of amazing to me that Oklahoma could be in the position just like from a luck standpoint where you have that many guys in the same room out or injured. And we talk a lot about the importance of recruiting and depth and all these things, and being in this position isn't Brent Venables' fault. It's not the receiver or coach's fault. Like, it's just terrible luck. And, you know, part of the evaluation of Michael Hawkins Jr. and Oklahoma in general as a, you know, viable offense

is definitely hindered by the fact that these guys are out. So the hope here is that Burks could play. You want Oklahoma, much like Ole Miss, to put their best foot forward, especially considering the fact that this is one of the gems of the year on the schedule every year. We'll have to wait and see what happens with that, but if Deion Burks can play, that obviously is helpful. It's still not ideal for Oklahoma. They're going to have to figure it out. We're going to have our Prize Picks Texas-Oklahoma preview here in a few minutes.

We'll talk about Michael Hawkins Jr. What he has to do in this game, but it is, it is going to be tough still because they are still very limited at their receiver position. Uh, one coach who is trying to, uh, to bounce back is Kalen DeBoer year one is Alabama's coach. He just replaced the greatest of all time and he just lost to Vanderbilt and he goes on his coach's show on Thursday night Ari and it is uh he mentions that it is it was made clear to him that Alabama fans were not pleased that he was just wearing a t-shirt on the sidelines against Vanderbilt now do you think that anyone would care what he wore

if they had beaten Vanderbilt 53-7. Yeah, I mean, I saw some of the message board posts, and I do think that it is, on one hand, really, really funny what people nitpick when things are going poorly. But then on the other hand, too, I think this is a pretty good opportunity to compliment Nick Saban on something, which is that was a very dapper man. You know what I mean? He really put himself together well.

He aged gracefully. He was handsome. I never saw Nick Saban in a t-shirt. Did you? No, he was always in a polo. He wore the he would wear the kind of the pink blazer first the spring game. Now, Gene Stallings always wore a suit on the sideline. Bear Brian always wore a suit on the sideline bear brian always wore a suit on the sideline so maybe you know maybe kaylin devore just comes out in full suit for the south carolina game just be like hey i hear you i hear you we're fixing it do you think there is a because like i am a proponent of dressing down you know this about me like we went to vegas or we went to vegas a few years ago when we were at the Athletic.

I can't remember what the event was. And I'm like, Andy, I didn't bring a sport coat. And you're like, what? Because that's who I am. What is the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame gala? Yeah, it was a gala. And I didn't have a sport coat. So that is where we're at.

And I'm not going to make the mistake again. I got some nice ones hanging in the closet over here now, but you know, the, uh, the whole topic of appearance in coaching is so fascinating, isn't it? Like when you think about like taking care of yourself, being in good shape, you know, being somebody in, in my position, who's been heavier, um, before and heavy now and working on it, the way that people react to you, the way that you are treated, the way that people view your opinions, all those things are definitely impacted by the way you look. where your team loses to Vanderbilt and you're dressed or underdressed in accordance to what people in the South and Alabama fans particularly are accustomed to with Nick Saban, I do wonder if appearance or attire makes you question the person. Like, I don't know if I'm getting too deep on this, but that's where I'm at.

I think you should just cut the sleeves off next time. Like, let the guns out. i i have i have the solution ari fortunately there's another coach in another conference who gave everyone the solution now it's probably still a little too warm for this in tuscaloosa but in the next few weeks it's going to be weather appropriate so uh producer river can you roll the Pat Narduzzi video, please? Ketawa see you saturday neighbor now that is a glorious Pittsburgh cardigan. The Pitt script cardigan. That's beautiful.

I hope Pat Narduzzi wears that on the sideline against Cal this weekend. That's undefeated Pittsburgh, by the way. 5-0 Pittsburgh. Are you prepared to talk to your children about a 5-0 Pittsburgh? I am, yeah. And I'm also prepared to talk to your children about a 5-0 Pittsburgh? I am, yeah. And I'm also prepared to talk to them about the Air Force One cardigan combo because that's got to be the first time in the history of mankind that's ever been done.

It was slick. They were slick, yeah. That was a great video. It's Pittsburgh Day, so they want all their neighbors to come out. Now, I assume they usually want people from Pittsburgh to come out and watch them play, but I guess especially they want people from Pittsburgh to come out and watch them play this week. But it's against Cal coming off that horrific loss to Miami where they led by 25 and then ended up losing. But Pitt, one of the stories of the year we just we haven't talked about it that much because

it was one of those things where you know they had a great comeback against west virginia you've looked at the opponents you're like okay is this for real or but like if you get the six and oh it's pretty real yeah yeah especially this year um and i I just think that we probably should have spent more time discussing how amazing their comeback against West Virginia was. I mean, there was a lot happening. That was the Florida potential Billy Napier fiasco that week. But with what they've been able to do with their schedule, that was a very impressive win. And you're looking here, and they're only a three-and-a-half point favorite, I believe, against Cal, but moving forward onto their schedule, they've got some big games coming up with Syracuse and SMU, winnable games, but also legitimizing games. And, you know, we're in the realm

where you have to start thinking about what it's going to be like if Pitt is a 10-0 team or an 8-0 team going into the Clemson game, because it's all right there in front of them them and it would be a very impressive 8 and 0 if they get there. I don't know if it's just me, Andy, but that video

was so cozy. It just makes me want to lay down in a room with a roaring fire and go to bed. Isn't that like... The goal of the Mr. Rogers theme is to get kids to be comfortable. Here's this guy look how comfortable we are with he's putting his shoes on he's tying his shoes he's putting

his cardigan on but it's a wonderful cardigan and i'm telling you pat narduzzi just needs some cardigans to all his coaching colleagues around the country because nobody's going to yell at you for wearing a smart cardigan are you are you a cardigan guy i love cardigans but do you have one like in your wardrobe that you wear to absolutely i have multiple cardigans i have a navy one i have a black one i have a uh tan one brit bought me a abercrombie and fitch cardigan and i just didn't very 1999 abercrombie's making a huge comeback, bro. Okay. They got a lot of cool stuff in there now,

but I put the cardigan on and I felt like Mr. Rogers. I don't know if I'm like cool enough to pull the open cardigan, you know, jeans look off, you know, we're working on it, but you know what I did today? I went to a seamstress to get Lulu lemon joggers hemmed so that they came up shorter. Ooh. Cause I was jealous of your look,

that look you have of those, those dress pants joggers that you wore to football games that come up to your ankle. And it's like, that's sexy ankles. I got to show them off. Yeah. Yeah.

I do too. Actually. I've got, I've got amazing calves, amazing calves. So producer river says if pit wins against cow, Yeah, yeah, I do too, actually. I've got amazing calves. Amazing calves. So, Producer River says, if Pitt wins against Cal, we both wear cardigans on Monday's show.

I have to remember to pack it on the way to Dallas. Now, it's going to be 93 degrees in Dallas this weekend, so I don't know. It's really cardigan weather, but we can probably make that work. I can probably make that happen. I've got to tell you, I'm ready for the weather to break

because this heat thing is just... I'm walking through the carnival on saturday when at 95 degrees it's like it doesn't really get you in the mood to eat a deep fried cupcake the swamp ass days are almost done yes in florida it next week the the high in the 70s low in the 50s days are starting so perfect weather is is just around the court just gotta get through the hurricanes first yeah yeah right but yeah it will be it's not quite not quite cardigan weather yet but you know what kind of weather it is ari it is always wendy's saucy nug weather you've had them dipped in sauce but have you had wendy's nuggets covered in sauce, Wendy's new saucy nuggets, take the crispy and spicy nuggets you love, and they turn them up to 11.

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Pick a flavor, grab some extra napkins, and prepare to nug like you have never nugged before. For a whole new way to nug, it's got to be Wendy's only. I'm participating, U.S. Wendy's. Now, I'm hungry already, but we need to talk about, well, we can talk about deep-fried foods because they will deep-fry anything at the Texas State Fair. They will deep-fry Snickers bars, Twinkies, butter, gum has been deep fried at the Texas State Fair before. There are so many different options.

So we'll hit those on the way in. And then, of course, we will watch Texas and Oklahoma play in the Red River Shootout. Now, this is your prize picks preview of that game. Let us take a look at the prize picks board for Texas and Oklahoma. If you're not playing prize picks, now's your chance to start the best daily fantasy game in America. Download the app, use the code Staples, play $5 and get $50 instantly. Let us look at Michael Hawkins Jr., the Oklahoma quarterback, because I think this is a very telling set of numbers here. There's two squares, and the way you do

prize picks is you pick your squares. You'll have a player. There'll be a statistical category attached and a number. You say more than or less than. Pick at least two squares. The more squares you pick, the more potential payout. Now, these Michael Hawkins Jr. ones are very interesting to me. We'll start with the rushing yards. 29.5 for Oklahoma quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. I can tell you right now, Ari Wasserman, if it is less than that, Oklahoma's losing the game.

It must be more than that. It must be. You think that's the square? That's one of the game. It must be more than that. It must be. You think that's the square? That's not, that's one of the squares. I'm going to hit another Michael Hawkins Jr. square. And that is the combined passing and rushing yards. This is the square. This is the square. It has to be more than that. It has to be considerably more than that or Oklahoma is going to lose. Yeah. And, you know, as we're still waiting to figure out whether Berks is going to play and be healthy,

like that obviously takes a big part into people getting open, people making plays and Hawkins passing yards number. But yeah, it's a pretty low number, huh, Andy? So just in case you're curious because I'm sure you are remember Oklahoma probably player for player was not as talented as Texas last year but beat Texas in this game the reason they beat Texas in this game was because Dylan Gabriel threw for 285 yards and a touchdown and ran for 113 yards and a touchdown. He put them on his back and carried them to a win in this game. That's what Michael Hawkins Jr.

Has got to do. Now you can write your name. In the annals of Red River history here by doing something like that, but that's what he's going to have to do because Texas is going to find a way to get some points. I want to bring up actually a bonus Dear Andy and Ari question that our colleague Clark Brooks asked, the SEC Stat Cat. He says, do you think Quinn Ewers will be rusty or help Texas offense remain a well-oiled machine this weekend?

I think that's a very interesting question, Ari, because he's obviously coming back from injury. Listed as questionable on the, or no, I believe he's listed as probable on the availability report. So Quinn Ewer's going to play. I mean, Steve Sarkeesian's been very clear about that. But the question is, 253 and a half passing yards, more or less. I actually don't know that he even has to go more than that, depending on how oklahoma's offense is performing as the texas defense so that if hawkins goes off then yes quinn you were gonna have to duel him but i don't know that that's necessarily the the biggest thing what one number i wanted to point out that i thought was interesting

is gunner helm their tight end 28.5 receiving yards he had 98 against michigan yeah he's just as low yeah yeah it does feel low uh but you know how it is with tight ends it's a the most aggravating position in the entire world to to you know root for yardage wise when they get lost in the game plan or you know things aren't going in that direction so it does it does seem low and it's been cool to see him emerge as one of their you know considerable consistent threats um but to me i'm not sure that i i think that quinn ewers has to go more than 255 yards or whatever that was i don't think he does either i i do think one one probably the most interesting square for

quinn ewers in terms of what you think is going to happen to this in this game is 0.5 interceptions it's a demon square which is is they mean that means they think it's going to be harder for that one to to and what does ross look like with that question like does rust look like turnover or does rust look like missed missed open receivers uh see i think that when yours look like turnover or does rust look like missed, missed open receivers? See, I think that when yours look like there are varying degrees on that. And I think, you know,

I think Quinn had a bad first quarter last year in this game. And I think that contributed to Oklahoma winning the game. So if he does throw a pick or two and look, Oklahoma's defense is good at creating turnovers. It's not just, they're good at intercepting passes. They're actually great at forcing fumbles and then recovering them. So if they do do that and get some short fields, then maybe it doesn't have to be Michael Hawkins being Superman.

But I still think even if they do that, and this is what happened last year, Texas still came back, and they still had that drive at the end of the game to win it so I I just think I think Ewers is going to be fine like but I don't know that he has to throw for a million yards in this game to win it yeah well here's the thing about Hawkins too Andy is if he does produce more than 200 yards or 210 yards and pass that number and Oklahoma finds a way to win this football game, he's the guy. That's it. Oh, yeah. Like, you know, he has an opportunity here to just stop

whatever Jackson-Arnold discussion is still, you know, left out there in the atmosphere somewhere. Like, this is a pretty big opportunity for him. Oklahoma fans are pretty high on his future, pretty high on his upside, and they've liked what they've seen from him so far. But in any debate about whether or not he is ready or proficient enough as a passer and all that stuff, it's going to be settled on Saturday. Well, I cannot wait to find out what happens. It's going to be a lot of fun.

We'll be there in Dallas to watch it all go down. And look, I'm going to play a little prize picks while you watch. Download the app. Use the code Staples. Play $5. Get $50 instantly. All right, Artie, it's time to head to the red stick. Baton Rouge.

And our friend T-Bob Hebert. Let's talk a little Ole Miss, LSU, and a. And our friend, T-Bob Hebert. Let's talk a little Ole Miss, LSU, and a bunch of other things with T-Bob. We are honored now to be joined directly from the Shire, T-Bob Hebert. Snaps with Aaron and T-Bob. 104.5 ESPN Radio in Baton Rouge with Jacob Hester. The man is everywhere. Former LSU center, Tolkien critic, Star Wars critic, you name it. Look at that.

Look at that, dude. You are magnificent. Unit. About 305 right there, guys. Not to brag. Also not to brag. Could bench 445 at the time. Pretty tight.

Pretty badass. God, that is. I need that one right there. That last shot is just a barbarian of a smushed face picture. I love that. We will get that blown up to poster size for you. You can hang it in Bilbo Baggins' house there. Andy and Ari, it is a complete pleasure to be here.

You know, I'm big fans of both of you and I love both of you. So I'm excited to be. Yeah. Well, I want to tell you a T Bob, I was a little bit nervous having you on the show because like the good hair is my realm.

All right. Like I'm supposed to be like, that's my thing. Like, can I have anything like this guy's lettuce, man? That's incredible. Thank you. That you that that means that

means a lot i've been i've been um a few years ago in 2019 i thought i was balding and i just went through like i grew out like a man bun i let my beard get crazy it got really fat turns out i wasn't balding you know so sometimes shit works out yeah i'd love to go that's like the day of biology class the day of biology class that we we learned that male pattern baldness is tied to uh the mother's side of the family and i realized all my uncles on my mom's side were bald and i came home and i'm like mom i'm gonna be bald because of you it's it's weird i'll say this man and granted for now I've escaped it. And I'm very thankful.

I always thought it would not be that big of a deal, right? But there is something that if you actually think it's happening to you, my God, does it make you insecure? Like, it feels like you're staring death straight in the face. Like, I am getting old and I'm about to die. Here's the thing about just men in general is that like, you don't, nobody gets everything right. Like,

you know, you're either tall or you're short. You got great hair. You're chubby. Don't even get me started on, on other things that could go wrong on the male body. But I got this, like,

this is what I got. Like I have some other issues I'm working through here. But don't take this away. That's the one thing as a 36-year-old man that I can just be like, you know what? I've got my hair. Now, I know they're doing wonderful things in Istanbul, by the way, if that ever happens to you where you can.

I have. Wait, is it true? So speaking of Turkish cosmetics, did Ryan Williams get his veneers done in Istanbul? Are those Turkish veneers? I don't know. I've seen, he's only 17 years old. I don't know the provenance of his, uh, his veneers, but I mean, he has veneers, right?

I'm not crazy. Somebody said, somebody said like this cat is 17, has two arm sleeves in Turkish veneers. He is an absolute menace. I mean, his smile is incredible. It looks great. He's also a fan of the program, which at 17, I just admire the old soul. Yeah, very true.

Very true. I will say that I think that, like, teeth care has probably got to be, like, very low on your bar of things to worry about anymore now because the veneer game is insane and I will say this as somebody who proudly brushes uh in the morning and at night I've got to be a better flosser but if it ever gets to a point where like my teeth are beat like I will lovingly get those veneers because you get you get like an extra point or two on like the attractiveness scale. If you've got wonderful pearly white veneers.

A thousand percent, but it can't, they don't, they don't always, you know, they always don't fit the mouth exactly right though, but sometimes it looks good, but it always looks a bit different. Like they never think that they're doing out there in Istanbul though. Like if you, if you go out there, it's not just to go get the surgery or the teeth. Like they put you up in a hotel, you get the spa treatment. Like it's like a first class.

He's all about the spot. I did see that. I did see that. I saw it. I saw an Instagram real hair thing the other day where they showed it off. It looked like a great time. I would like to plunge Ari into the uncanny Valley though, with some,

some just not quite right veneers. This is like, they look good, but what's going on a skosh too big andy when you brought t-bob on the show you had to have known that we were going to be five minutes into this and this is where we were going to be like yeah he knew it no it's andy's fault he knew i knew it i knew i always know what i'm getting into with t-bob i made it a point to not press record before T-Bob and I spent 10 minutes talking about Lord of the Rings, rings of power. Yeah.

So, which, which also real quick guys, if you bailed on season one, I get it deeply flawed. I think season two is pretty awesome. Like objectively, like I like season one,

but I'm not going to tell you, you should, I get a lot of flaws, but season two, pretty awesome. Like objectively, like I like season one, but I'm not going to tell you, you should, I get a lot of flaws, but season two, in my opinion, does that great thing that all sequels should seek to do where it actually validates and strengthens a lot of season one decisions. At the time I was like,

I don't know about that. So whatever, check it out. Anyway, football guy, but enough about Kelly. We have to talk about football. Do we have to talk about football? Do we have to?

Okay, let's talk about it. Yes, we have to talk about season three of Brian Kelly at LSU because Ole Miss is coming in. Tiger State has been a house of horrors for the Rebels. T-Bob, I know where your heart is in this game, but I also know you understand objectively what the matchup is here with this Ole Miss offense and this LSU defense but as someone who played a lot of night games in Tiger Stadium how big of a difference

does that make uh I mean I think it's a massive like I think so I think the way to approach this game is if you look at Las Vegas, Las Vegas has Ole Miss is three and a half point favorite on the road. So what does that tell you? What's the old line? It's like five and a half, six neutral site or whatever. So Vegas thinks they're better by a pretty big gap. But then if you look at like any analytic breakdown, right? Like there's a great Twitter follow stats of war. I got a couple of gambling guys that do these same sorts of things i got buddies

linking me like uh not football outs or whatever you get the point like you know when analytics guys create those spreadsheets with like a million different categories and then it's just basically like okay advantage lsu or old miss like old miss analytically gamb they have all, they are the better team. All those systems that I've seen give the Rebels like a 67% to 70% chance of winning this game. So then, how does something that on paper looks so one-sided, how does that go awry? Well, it takes something extra normal. It takes something intangible, something that's maybe not decided on the field. And what you can't test for analytically

is what you're going to do in a tough environment like that. And I'll say this, Ole Miss, their first test against Kentucky of the season, F minus, you know, failed it mightily. Got punched in the mouth and folded like a lawn chair that said coming back, going into South Carolina and a Williams rice that was hungry for blood and really just like strangling that game. I mean, just not even make it, not allowing the crowd to do anything that was very impressive. So like you did in South Carolina, that's good.

Now Tiger Stadium at night obviously represents a massive step up. So like if I'm, because I think Ole Miss objectively wins this game. But if you want me to craft a path for how LSU does end up with the win, Andy, to your point, it starts with Death Valley. It starts with an insane crowd that gets loud, makes it hard, and just starts to kind of feed. I mean, look at all the upsets last week. What did they all have in common?

Home teams, right? So, like, sometimes you can just get on one and you start feeding that crowd and that crowd starts to intimidate other team and weird stuff happens. When the crowd, because it's not an if, but when, right? Tiger Stadium is going to leave an impact. Yeah. When the crowd has an impact, does that matriculate into turnovers,

weird penalties, ways for LSU to get on the board earlier? Like, I just, I'm trying to, listen, it's not our first time ever talking about a football game where there's going to be a loud crowd. But what is the actual path on the field to you for LSU? Okay, so that's, so again, and a lot of crowd impact is a bit intangible, right? But there are things like, look, pre-snap penalties,

pre-snap penalties, kill drives. If you are an LSU defense that is already at a major disadvantage and that crowd can create a false start, a delay of game, maybe screw up a protection call that leads to a sack, like that might be LSU's best path to getting off the field. So that's going to be on the field crowd impact. I would say though, if I'm looking at, okay, here's the path to LSU winning on the field.

It is this. Ole Miss leads the country in sacks right now. If there is one thing that LSU's offensive line is still incredible at, it's pass blocking. Will Campbell and Emory Jones, I think, are the best two pass blocking tackle combination in the entire country. They should be able to win the majority of the reps against Oman Mielin and against Jared Ivey.

The interior is very good at pass blocking as well, and they'll be going against Nolan and Chris Paul. I think they'll be solid as well. So you're taking away Ole Miss' greatest defensive trade. I feel confident in that. I also don't think that this Ole Miss defense has seen an offense like LSU. I think we can objectively agree on that. Brock Vandergriff, I love how he's improved every week.

Lenora Sellers, I love his potential. Not close to what Garrett Nussmeyer and LSU's offense has been. Right now, in Bill Connolly's S&P+, LSU's number three in the country. And then defensively, it's actually not about what can LSU do. It's, to me, is Trey Harris going to play or not? Because this is shocking, y'all. Trey Harris right now has 52 catches for 885 yards 52 catches juice wells

has 17 caden lee has 18 preschool and has 10 like excuse me 11 like they they are so so so trey harris heavy and those other guys are really talented and they will have success against LSU secondary as well. I'm just saying, if you take away that guy, that changes a lot of the challenge for LSU. I mean, that might be the best receiver in the country. We are recording this before the release of the sec availability report, but I can tell you right

now lane kiffin's gonna put the entire team on the report is questionable so i don't know that we're gonna know much after that either something embarrassing andy because i just figured out what that troll meant because like last week when they released it i was like why like what is he doing oh he put the whole team no he put like 15 or 25 i don't't know. It was a ton of – Olacek used to do it with Brady every week. It was like three on one side and 30 on the other. And apparently – and I'm slow, but somebody who works with my wife texted me and let me know that it was because people were upset that Ole Miss was faking injuries.

Yeah, that's why it's even – Which is funny, which is like I didn't understand the troll at first. I was like, what's he doing? And now that I see that, that is funny, which is like, I didn't understand the troll at first. I was like, what's he doing? And now that I see that, that is hilarious. Like that, that takes it to the next level. I like, I wonder an Ole Miss fan could probably tell us it would be the, he's achieving peak comedy. If every player listed there is one of the ones who faked an injury, right?

Just to really just middle finger gripping my balls who has who has no patience for anything in the in the Ole Miss Kentucky game got mad because because Lane had somebody fake an injury but the reason he had somebody fake an injury is because Ole Miss was on offense and the officials had just stopped to, I believe, just check the play clock and make sure it was accurate or something like that. And he's like, hell no. You should stop our tempo.

Fake an injury. We're taking a timeout here. I mean, we used to practice that back in the day. I remember in the last miles there, we'd be getting ready for like oregon and other teams like that i can't remember what the signal was but there was definitely like or if like you ever had like an equipment malfunction but they didn't want you to be off for a play we used to do that so i don't know that's a hard thing to police right that that's always going to be a hard thing to

but again trey harris that's the overall point here does Does he play or not? Because that did the same thing you did, by the way. Looking at that stat, I had to stop, reset, reload, reload, go back. No, he really has 52 catches. And that's five and a half games. Remember, he had three for 80-something in the first half before he left with the injury. That's not even with another full game. Who knows what he would have done in the second half

against South Carolina. Yeah. Well, can I, can I ask another one, Andy, if you don't mind, I like him.

I'm just, I feel like we're vibing here. I've always liked you from afar. Ari, I love your work. No, I appreciate it. And hopefully this is the coolest thing about hosting the show with Andy

after a few years off is like all the cool people that I get like back into the, the, but Hey, T Bob. So Andy and I had a discussion about Brian Kelly. a few years off as like all the cool people that I get like back into the the hell yeah but hey t bob so andy and i had a discussion about brian kelly like at the beginning of the year i think it was the week after they they lost to usc so very early in the year can you help articulate to me and and maybe andy could learn too i don't know if he and i are on the same page here. How do LSU fans view Brian Kelly right now? And if they lose this game, what's the impatience level at this point?

Are people starting to wonder what's up? Or am I off? No, no, no, no. On the whole, it's positive. I think where some of the national media was a bit off with Kelly coming into the year is, I think, like, it felt like a lot of outside voices felt like LSU fans were more angry than they were coming into the year. Like, for LSU fans, it's back-to-back 10 win season, something that doesn't happen like super often here. You think it does, then you look it up. It doesn't happen as often as you would think, you know, he had the massive Alabama win,

which gets you a lot of leeway here, won the West year one or whatever. Um, so coming into the year, there wasn't a lot of frustration at all. I would say there was some grumbling about and this is kind of increased i mean you really wasted last year's offense guys look at what jayden daniels malik neighbors and brian thomas are doing in the nfl right now they are dominating the nfl drives me crazy it drives me nuts like you had a national championship offense and you just paired it with one of the worst defenses we've ever seen if If you'd add this year's defensive staff, if you had this year's defensive staff with the personnel they had last year,

I think you're talking about a legit championship contender, but, um, but, but so there's a, there, there's some frustration there. I think the bigger thing this year is losing the USC. That's your fifth season opener. You've lost in a row third under Brian Kelly. People have enough of that. I think the bigger thing this year is losing to USC. That's your fifth season opener you've lost in a row, third under Brian Kelly. People have enough of that. And I've been saying this, like, I think that Kelly pointed to year three as being the year in which LSU would take a demonstrable step forward,

and I just don't see it. Right. So I am still personally a believer in Kelly long-term. I really love the process he's instilled. Uh, recruiting is great. There's a, uh, an excellent organizational competence in the building, right? Like he is a CEO as CEO. And I mean that in a very positive way. Uh, but for whatever reason, you're a year off schedule, you're a year off schedule. Um, and you can point towards things like letting Corey Raymond go to Florida when you originally get the job first, now having to come crawling back to him, um, letting Blake Baker leave before having to come crawling back to him and making blake baker leave before having to come crawling back to him and making him the highest paid dc out there right like you you had some original

decisions when you got the job in that regime change that you've kind of like bringing um making brian polling your recruiting coordinator and now then going back to frank wilson the godfather of louisiana, one of the best ever. It's thrown off to me the timetable a bit where I think year three, the goal is to go nine and three again and try to win 10 games. If you do that, people will be happy. There should be case studies done on the difference between 9-3 and 8-4. And now when you go 9-3, you kind of got to push to 10 with a bowl game.

But still, the difference between 9-3 and 8-4 might as well be the difference between night and day. You know, Black, like it is massive. Well, Andy, I think this is an interesting thought because at the beginning of this segment, we were talking about LSU and Ole Miss stacked up on taking Tiger Stadium out of it, and we got to the conclusion, T-Bob helped us get there, that Ole Miss is probably a better football team.

Yeah. And based on what I know about LSU and the players that they had on the team last year and whatever happened to Harold Perkins on defense last year, this team could have won a national title with the players they had offensively last year, had they had a competent defense. Yeah. So I am to the point where it's like LSU who enjoys the starkest, most amazing recruiting advantage in the entire country of having that entire

state to itself, being in a position where we can say in year three of any coach's tenure, not just Brian Kelly, any coach's tenure, that Ole Miss is categorically better is just a weird thing to say out loud and be okay with. But I look at what LSU is bringing in right now. And T-Bob, tell me if I'm wrong here. I look at what LSU is bringing in in terms of Underwood, DJ, some of the guys that they have on the hook.

The 25 class is huge. It goes a long way towards calming everybody down. I don't think people understand how big and fast this guy is as a corner. Bryce Underwood is the number one QB in the country. So it feels like the talent part of it is getting, getting there. The big, yeah. I mean, I, again, I think, yes, I think, I think it's kind of like how I view now. Well, Auburn is this just like exponentially worse, but like the thing that Hugh freeze has to hold on to right now is like, look guys, look at this class I'm built. Like it's coming.

Okay. Yeah. Brian Kelly's not that that desperate but no doubt the quality of the 25 class really really helps i think the bigger thing that lsu did um and the thing that'll have the longest effect on the tail is the coaching changes made on defense i believe in blake baker uh i think bo Bo Davis is an elite defensive line coach. I think Corey Raymond is an elite DB coach. Kevin Peoples on the edge. Everybody raves about Kevin Peoples. And look at the play of Braden Swenson and, and, and Sabian Jones and

Paris Shan. And, and, and, and this is what like, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm too close to it. Right. Because I watched this LSU film. I watched a lot of film, but I watched like the LSU film specifically for like three hours on Sunday. Right. And I go over it with like a fine tooth comb and there's a lot LSU's defense reminds me of Nebraska last year, where if you just zoom out and look at the results, it looks a little similar, you know? Still, you know, Nebraska's out here still losing one-score games, still turning the ball over, whatever. LSU's still, like, not great on a per-play basis.

Like, there's a lot of flaws. But if you actually watch them and you zoom in, you saw the differences. They were harder hitting, stronger, more like this LSU defense this year, they play with such better technique that it's not even close it's just that at any given time they may have five freshmen on the field right guys are no longer out of position but they might just be losing the one-on-one battle it's not an ma it's just that they're not quite good enough to keep up with that receiver. So from a coaching standpoint, I love what I'm seeing now that it's defensive staff.

It, they just need to get these young guys older and they need to get more talent in. And as far as, I mean, are you raised a good point? It's crazy that we sit here, but old dude,

Ole Miss would have made a 12 team playoff two of the last three years. Yeah. And they added, they added like Ole Miss spent a lot of money to put themselves in a position where that was said but like you also said it's a timetable issue it's like yeah I'm just like rationally speaking like that's not usually okay at places like LSU so it's it's cool to hear that they're actually being rational about it well I'm being rational um it's not it's just a timetable issue yeah it's a small issue like it's not timetable rational. It's not. It's just a timetable issue. Yeah, it's a small issue.

Like, it's not. Timetable is everything. It's not overwhelming. It's definitely not like overwhelming anger yet. But, like, let's see what happens if you just go get your ass whipped this weekend. You know, because, I mean, that's all that matters, guys. That's the best part about it. It's just the results.

It's just the results. You see it in all college towns a guy's losing and next thing you know there's texts and whispers about well i heard he's never there in the off season or i heard he's running around with this girl he's that and the second they get a big win it all it all disappears and it just all dries up completely like that's why if you're a college football player or coach, you don't like how people talk about you? Well, guess what?

You live in one of the only vocations where you have direct control over how we talk about you. The myth of America is that it's a meritocracy. And I wish that it were. But guess what? College football is. is you win and we love you and everybody loves you you lose and you don't it's that simple well I'm glad you mentioned that because I did want to bring up another coach who changed jobs on the same day as Brian Kelly

because I heard you and Aaron Murray talking about this on snaps with Aaron and T-Bob which by the way if you're not subscribed to that if you're not watching that you need to be doing it it's a bunch you guys were talking about USC Penn State and I laughed so hard because you were you brought up the meme like USC goes to the Big Ten it's like an entire conference of Utah's and then you T-bop are like and penn state is the most utah and penn state so yeah so the original meme i saw i wish i could credit who was on twitter but they said oh usc like oh you hate playing utah well guess what you just joined a fucking conference full of utahs but like when you look at Penn State, they are absolutely the most Utah.

They are Utah with more financial investment. They're Utah with a higher pedigree of history. They're Utah with more talented players. I mean, and it sucks, man, because I actually really like this USC team. I think there's a lot of good there. I think that what DeAnton Lynn has done with his defense is a stat. They lead the Big Ten in getting off the field on third down. Lincoln Riley, you want to talk about wasting offenses,

both Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly continue to be bosom buddies in so many different ways. If he had somehow made a move like this a year or two ago, who knows what USC would be? I love the fight they showed to come back against Michigan, even though they lose. I love the fight they showed to come back against Wisconsin. I think Miller Moss has good weapons and is courageous. I just don't know what to make of them though, because then they lose to Minnesota and the Michigan loss looks worse and worse. And if you lose to those two in the manner that you did, how in the hell do I think that you're going to beat Penn State?

The only thing, and I don't know how you boys interpret this, I have seen the stats going around that what, like, in the Big Ten this year, if you travel, it's like two or three time zones. I think you're one and eight. One and eight, yeah. Yeah, so it's like that's the only element of this game that in my mind works against Penn State and that's just like a flimsy element for me and Penn State has to ride a bus to get on the plane James Franklin was complaining about that you know all of us who've had to get

to State College I was gonna say like do not want to hear it yeah andy you know how many times i had to go to state college during my my time in the big 10 and how many blizzards i've had to drive through those mountains beautiful drive depending on the year wait so is it like impossible to been is it impossible to get to i've never been there just really really hard impossible place to get to in america and there's here's the thing too t-bob there are zero hotels basically. I think there's like two or three hotels. So if you are somebody who, I mean, there are a lot of people driving through the mountains late at night after night games, like through one lane roads and stuff. Like if you had to stay in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after covering a Penn State game, like I have like four times in my life, like you're driving at two in the morning through like backwoods roads where if you take one wrong turn you're off the side of a cliff oh see that's great see we're not we're not used to elevation change yeah here in louisiana it's beautiful it's

the mountains no it's flat flat around here bro yeah i'll never forget uh back in college we played west virginia and we uh we stopped at a gas station in pittsburgh and there was like a 30-foot hill like the gas station was like a 30-foot hill and like the entire team was like gathered around just a just a hill just a simple grass hill kind of like looking over the edge like oh oh, shit, what is this? Elevation change? What? That was a very good memory. Also, we beat the hell out of West Virginia. Fun place.

Yeah, that 2011 season, that's the best regular season resume anybody. Because you beat Oregon that won the Pac-10. And won the Rose Bowl. Yeah, you won the SEC. You beat Alabama that won the national championship on the road. West Virginia won the F bowl yeah you won the sec you beat alabama that won the national championship uh on the road west virginia won the fiesta bowl that year well no no won the big east and beat clemson in the orange bowl yeah orange well that's what i mean yes they got the dc fired at clemson we beat the orange bowl champions we the rose bowl champions be the national champions and if arkansas could have held on against ohio, we would have had the sugar bowl champions as well.

All in one year. It was one year. Well, T-Bob, it has been a pleasure. Uh, I cannot wait. Whiskey and wine.

The show you do at Mount Mascona after each LSU game is one of my favorite guilty pleasures, bro. This Saturday is going to be unhinged as if it isn't every single saturday but yeah this is gonna be crazy we've talked about potentially getting ripped and doing a show yeah we want to hear a drunken show yeah you you want to hear what it sounds like t-bob will will take you there we do so so the entire premise of this show is we go live right when the clock hits zero,

zero, zero, and it's only on YouTube. So no sensors or anything. And I mean, it's, it's honestly as much of a, like an X rated comedy show as it is analysis.

Cause we're drunk, we're smoking cigars and just talking about whatever the hell we want to. Um, I don't know how explicit I explicit i'll keep it not too explicit right here but last year my argument for jayden winning the heisman had to do with the difference between if you were to be cuckolded by jayden daniels first bow nicks and how those are two completely different things right two completely different experiences you do completely different experiences and and and that's why jayden uh you know did

version but i understand it completely you know because the truth of the matter is t-bob is that like i have maybe six to ten thoughts that run through my head during a given show that could get me fired. Yeah. That I just need. I don't know if you're like this, Andy, but I have to actively tell myself don't say that a lot. So even at the beginning of this show, I mentioned something that maybe I shouldn't have.

So we are cooking with gas. You handled that with grace and class. Sorry. Yeah. The, the, it's like the only commercial all nude tastefully done. I went, um, yeah, I mean, I, I, I had the opposite where I was like, you know, nothing was really happening in my career. And then I, I, I i and then i got to start

doing whiskey and wine and i just said like f it i'm just gonna let it fly and that was when i started getting like more opportunity i'm kind of like bane like nobody cared who i was till i started making dick jokes right nobody cared who i was so i started to put on the mask i know that i know know that's my reference. The darkness. We were born into it, brother. All right. Thank you so much.

For you. Thanks. All right. Love you, boys. Later, Eddie. Later, Ari. Take it easy. Enjoy the game this Saturday.

Thanks again. Later, guys. That is the great T-Bob Abare and incredible hair, but also just incredible spirit. We don't need to be complimenting his hair now that he's gone, okay? This is the guy. Yeah, this is the official lettuce of Andy and Arby. He's got a lot of other qualities we can compliment.

We don't need to bring attention to his perfect hair. Well, as we discussed during his segment, I'm just happy to have hair still. I've beaten the genetic lottery on that one. I was supposed to not. So I'll take it and I'll just live with it. It is time for my favorite segment of the week. That is Dear Andy and Ari. Questions from you, the viewers and the listeners.

And there's some great ones. I want to start with this one from Zach because it feeds into a conversation that I feel like we've been having every week. And it's actually a pretty good idea. Andy and Ari, I've been a Buffs fan since 2009 when I was a freshman. I've been through the worst of the worst when it comes to Colorado football. and so Deion has been incredible. Given that Travis

Hunter is the best college football player, he should be the highest in front runner, but isn't because he's not a quarterback. Similar to the NFL MVP, which has just become a quarterback competition, do you think it's time to create a system like they have in baseball where they separate pitchers and batters, create an equally prestigious award for quarterback and one for non-qb your thoughts i think that's a really good idea i yeah i don't know if you can do it because like you have to get people to believe in the award and and feel the way they feel about it and that's hard to do it artificially the heisman has done that over you know decades yeah that's the problem with it it's like The Heisman has done that over, you know, decades. Yeah. That's the problem with it.

It's like, you can say prestigious award, but the thing that makes the Heisman prestigious is the history of it. Like you, you can't just throw it out there and be like, okay, everybody, this is an award we have to care about now.

Um, that said Travis Hunter's odds in the award race are like three and a half to one now. Like, I think he's coming, they're coming, coming up like i i do think that he has a chance to win this award like i i think he has a better chance to win the award than ashen genti which makes sense now i will say if ashen jenny continues to average 10 yards to carry it will be very difficult he has 4,800 yards rushing

at the end of the year then i mean there's a limit before you but i don't think it will be very difficult he has 4,800 yards rushing at the end of the year then I mean there's a limit before you but I don't think it would be that but yeah I mean yeah if he if he breaks Barry Sanders record I think there's a really good chance and averaging what he's averaging he can break Barry Sanders record well let me ask you this because we're both on team hunter if he does break Barry Sanders record, does that make you second guess your Hunter decision? Like, is there anything Ashton Gentry can do to change your mind? I think it just depends on how they play down the stretch. Like if Hunter starts disappearing in games on either side of the ball, then he's not going to be able to carry this through. But if Hunter, like they're playing

Kansas state this weekend, ifvis hunter has a touchdown and a pick and they beat kansas state and they're sitting there you know potentially competing for the big 12 title which if they can beat kansas state they can definitely do that like of course you keep travis hunter out there and i i just think it depends on how they keep playing because i think the amazing thing about travis hunter is he keeps doing this again and again and again. And you wonder, like, how does his body not break down playing all these plays? It's incredible. Well, his body broke down last year. So your hope is that that doesn't happen again.

Yeah, he took a dirty hit in the Colorado State game is what happened. And then he missed some time. Like this year, he seems like he's doing fine. So I would love if they both just ball out the rest of the year because I'd love for it to be a contentious you know hard to figure out like last year was so easy we knew Jaden Daniels was going to win the award like it wasn't even close yeah the thing that kind of stinks here is that I hope that whoever wins the award isn't just the layup quarterback that's all and like the thing that that we

argue about about the heisman is kind of a nice argument like i don't mind having it i know that you despise the way that i view it but the thing that i just wish i could get everybody to do is to at least come up with a thought process that involves a critical thought before casting your vote yeah like you don't have to agree with everybody right and i just have a i have a process if i'm starting a college football team from scratch and i get the first choice and the only data i have available to me is what happened this season who's the player i'm taking first that's how i do it that's what that's a process i think a lot of people just go oh i don't know it's who you know who's really good okay what's the stats look like okay we'll just that's not

how it's supposed to be done yeah so i also think that they need to completely and you know even take my vote away i don't care but i think they need to take away half the votes or more and like make it harder to have one and you have to be covering college football full-time and all the things that go into play about actually knowing what the award's about. I want Cole Kublik and T-Bob Abier voting for the Heisman. I actually want the Joe Moore Award Committee to vote for the Heisman. That would be my favorite. What if they only had former offensive linemen voting? It'd be amazing.

I mean, they're smart. They'd be very good. I mean, they're smart. They're handsome and smart. So I like Zach's idea, though. So to do like a Cy Young and an MVP. Now, sometimes pitcher does win the MVP. Like Justin Verlander won an MVP not long ago. But usually it is somebody who's a batter, position player.

And then the Cy Young Award goes to the pitcher. I kind of like that. I don't know how you – because we have all the awards for all the different position groups, but you could have the Ashton Gentry Award for – who would it go to? Who's the player – I mean, you could make it the Charles Woodson Award because he did win the Heisman over payton man that one time but who's the player like the honey badger award for the dude who's

just all over the place yeah but he's not a quarterback so he's not gonna win yeah yeah no i mean i like the idea i doubt whether we could create the prestige of it. Not instantly, no. We can't manufacture that. That said, if we should have a research team or somebody go through all the votes, and if you just voted for the token quarterback for the last five years, you should just have your vote stripped from you. Well, I think it's pretty easy.

If you submit your vote before all the games are played, then you should... Why do they even open it? Yeah, that's a test that you failed. Right, don't open the voting until after the games are played. But that's only two days. Yeah, you're voting online. It's not hard.

It takes five minutes, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Now, that would be the way to do it. Everybody who submits their vote before that championship Saturday. They get an email as instantly your vote has now been revoked. You're not watching the games and we know that. So yeah, that'll be good.

All right. Next question comes from Sam and I really like this one too, because I actually kicked this around when I was doing bracketology this week. And it may be that I end up doing this in bracketology in a couple of weeks, you know, sometime in the next couple of weeks, people keep talking like the big 12 champion is getting into the playoff. What happens if Boise state keeps winning? Oregon wins the big 10 army and Navy go on army and or Navy.

Well, I'm not in or army or Navy goes undefeated beating Notre Dame. And the Big 12 championship game is, let's be spicy, 8-4 Colorado beating 8-4 West Virginia. Are we sure that the Big 12 is getting a team in the playoff in this scenario? And would it break people's brains who have failed to understand the new playoff says five highest rated conference champs and not power four and highest graded group of five? This is a good question.

Now, I don't think that scenario would happen. I do think eight and four West Virginia could make the Big 12 championship game, depending on how they go, because they have two non-conference losses. Colorado only has one non-conference loss. I doubt anybody's getting into the Big 12 championship game as a three conference loss team,

with a six and three conference record. So I think it'll still be a Big 12 championship game as a three-conference loss team, like with a six-and-three conference record. So I think it'll still be a Big 12 team, but the scenario that Sam laid out, it's possible. It is possible. I mean, what if the Big 12 just goes completely off the rails? Well, I mean, we would have to get our coin minted for sure, our plus three and a half minus three and a half big 12 picking coin but it could because everybody is pretty similar

it like right now it does not seem like anybody's super dominant now it may be that colorado or iowa state or texas tech or it might be kansas, even though they lost to BYU, or it might be BYU. But the fact that I've just named all these teams, like... Well, let's play a game. Let's do this game real quick. And it's a very easy game, but it's just to illustrate a point. Who are the two best teams in the SEC right now? That would be Texas and...

Who am I supposed to say? Texas or Alabama and Georgia. Okay, I think it's pretty clear what you're supposed to think. Maybe Tennessee. Maybe this game is backfiring. Yeah. Who are the three best teams in the SEC? You might have a problem if you think Tennessee is better than Alabama.

Okay, Texas, Alabama, Georgia. Okay, I'll say that. Yeah, yeah. Who are the three best teams in the SEC? You might have a problem if you think Tennessee is better than Alabama. Okay, Texas, Alabama, Georgia. Okay, I'll say that. Yeah, yeah. Who are the three best teams in the ACC? Clemson, Miami, and SMU. Who are the three best teams in the Big Ten? The Oregon, Ohio State, and Penn State. Yep.

Now, who are the three best teams in the Big 12? No idea. No clue. And it's like, even if you are kind of unsure of the third team and the other conferences, this is just, this is bonkers. Like there's no, I wouldn't even know where to begin. And last week when we were doing the big 12, uh, or the bubble watch and we were doing the bracketology, it's like, you get to the big 12 portion of it. It like uh like i didn't even know where to begin um because they've all beaten each other already and they haven't even all played each other and there's just no identifiable rhyme or reason that you could like do you feel good about putting byu

at four or is that just what it looks like right now nobody feels good about anything with the big 12 it's like i i kind of feel like if you make a prediction in the sec acc and big 10 you could probably feel moderately comfortable about it you might not be right but like you could feel comfortable even making the prediction i don't even know like like what to predict in the big 12 and feel comfortable with it here's my question so a 12 and 1 boise state or a 12 and 1 unlv because both of those things are possible as a Mountain West champ. Because the Army or Navy thing I'm down for. Like if Army or Navy goes undefeated, they are getting in. They're going to be ranked higher than the Big 12 champ.

Like they are. But unless it's Iowa State and they just go undefeated. But the Mountain West champ at 12-1 or at 11-2, because it could be that the loser of the regular season Boise State-UNLV matchup wins the championship game. I don't know that they're going to be necessarily ranked higher than the Big 12 champ. Well, let's just put yourself in the boise camp right now okay if boise beats unlv twice and does not lose again for the rest of the year and ashton gentry breaks barry sanders rushing record yeah which i think are two three plausible things like it's not like

ashton gentry breaking that record helps the other thing happen right that's what so you it's not like ashton jindy breaking that record helps the other thing happen right that's what so you it's not you don't really have to suspend belief that much to put yourself there right in fact you might even say that's a likelihood that they are at least undefeated at the end of the year in their conference their only loss is a last second loss at oregon i think that that combination of things would make them more attractive to me to be a team that can advance in the 12 team playoff than whoever is the big 12 champ. If that big 12 champ is a three loss team. Yeah, I do think that's entirely possible. And, and the thing is, like I said, I, I doubt you doubt you'd have a team that lost three games in Big 12 play making the championship game.

But we've talked about West Virginia, and they are undefeated in Big 12 play. And if they go 7-1 in Big 12 play, and they're 9-3, and win the championship game, they're the Big 12 champ. And if they do that against those teams would you rank them higher than the boise state i just described i don't know if i would and that's where the discussion it has to be yeah so i i think that's a great question from sam great thought exercise because we do need to break out of that. We've not even seen one of these things yet, so we shouldn't be assuming how they're going to go.

Yeah, and honestly, I bet you there's listeners out there that didn't even put that together because it's so easy to take for granted that like, oh, it's just the four power conferences and whatever. Every time Bracketology comes out, you get somebody freaking out because there's a Big 12 team at number four and an ACC team at number three, and you've got to explain it to them. And I had somebody today, or not today, this week say, clearly this person doesn't know how the bracket rules work because the top five in the bracket have to be conference champs.

And I told him, try again, champ. But it's new. You want me to put you in a blender right now? What if Army or Navy go undefeated and Boise is the team that I just described? That's what we talked, that was the whole question. No, but they're both going to come in. Yeah, they're both going to get in.

Yeah. And the big 12 champ might not so yeah yeah no that i mean listen the the army navy scenario like an undefeated army or navy is getting into the playoff and is probably going to be the three or the four c so be ready for that like be ready for that if it happens yep that'd be pretty cool too it would be it would have to rest their entire team for the army navy game so nobody gets injured i don't think they will do that well i mean they're the military come on step up did you did you read our friend out of the military what did you read our friend chris vanini's story when he was talking about he did

a story on on the possibility of them having to play two army navy games they they will not there's no quarter here like they're not rooting for one another the army guys are i hope i hope navy loses every game and the navy guys are like i hope hope Army loses every game. Yeah. So they're not arrested anybody. That is the patented Chris Vanini type story, though, for sure. I'm happy. Oh, it's right in his wheelhouse. Perfect. Yeah.

If there had been a WWE connection, it would have been amazing. Yep. All right. If only if only miracles could happen. I think he would ascend into the heavens if that was if that if that happened. Nobody loves anything more than Chris Vanini loves wrestling. Listen, we all got to have... I had barbecue, he had wrestling.

You've got Wendy's spicy and saucy nugs. Yeah. Next question comes from Brian. This is Dear Ari. This is not Dear Andy. This is Dear Ari. Dear Ari not Dear Andy. This is Dear Ari. Dear Ari, how have you not figured out that the Oklahoma fans have been against you ever since Lincoln Riley left and you jumped on the USC bandwagon?

We told you what he was. You refused to believe it, and you called us sour because he left. Your $1,000 payout to Andy will end the grudge. How do we feel about that? This is me calculating whether or not to dig myself deeper or just to be like, oh, you, you're right. Leave me alone. I'm an idiot.

Like, I don't know. Let me ask you. Let me ask you. Just you. You answer the question. I'm going to put it on you. I don't need any more of this shit on Twitter right now. I'm just like, if I had had enough, you win.

Do you believe that when Riley left and I jumped on the USC bandwagon, that all the Oklahoma fans that he is describing in the question were actually just like not bitter? Oh, they were very bitter. Yeah. Come on. It turned out there, there are complaints that they ginned up that day that they were probably

espousing somewhat on the message boards at the end of that season because it had not gone as well as the previous seasons. I, and I'm sure they complained about his defenses. I know they did it for a fact but and rightfully so yeah they kept those to themselves when we criticized him when he was oklahoma's coach so it's a little hard to believe you when suddenly you come out with this laundry list of complaints about the guy the day he leaves like i didn't hear shit about that energy before yeah

and that's kind of the thing that we were talking about on the show earlier this week it's like they can criticize them but you can't like i i get that but i don't think that there was a huge groundswell of oklahoma fans saying get the hell out of here lincoln you can't put the defense on the field like i didn't see any of that i know they were they were hurt they were hurt when it happened yeah but and like they're sour grapes see i the thing is two things can be correct that reaction can be sour grapes and i think was sour grapes it also has turned out to be correct you know what it kind of reminds me of it's like if you're a dude and you got cheated on by your girlfriend okay you obviously feel betrayed when that happens um your girlfriend in your relationship is now over they go off into the world and your last taste of who that person is

or your opinion of that person is that they're a piece of crap cheater and then they go off into the world and find a new suitor you are telling all of your friends after they cheated on you that they are terrible then that person gets married to a new person and then they're cheats on them too and you're like and then it's like i told you but like you never told us before you got scorned and it's not that you weren't right. It's not that you didn't call it, but don't tell me that like, this is something like, so that's the only thing when I read that stuff, it's like,

was Oklahoma technically right about Lincoln Riley after he left? Then the way that things have happened at USC. Absolutely. Do I think that those are preexisting emotions that were bubbling up inside of their inner bodies before he left? No, I don't. I only buy half of it. And like also, too, I do think they I think they complained about the defense stuff when he was there. No, absolutely.

But complaining about the defense stuff is not the same thing as I told you what Lincoln Riley is. Right. He is never going to be good. He's a fraud of a coach and whoever hires him is going to rue the day they did it like that's not at all how it went so so like that's okay and you can hate him and you can take joy in it not going well but like from an analysis standpoint put yourself back in my position as an unbiased person that's looking at it right down the middle. USC is a very attractive job on the surface. It's located in a very talented area. It's by the beach.

They have been very good in my lifetime. There was no obvious job or, I mean, coach available at the time to replace Clay Helton. USC comes out of the rafters and steals Lincoln Riley away, having to pay him more than $10 million a year to do it, which is a proof to me that they were going to be invested and committed to winning in football. You bring this guy who has like 10 Heisman Trophy quarterbacks to California. Caleb Williams is coming with him they have this beautiful hype of what's going on there uh usc is cool immediately you have all this heisman luster coming with him why wouldn't you think he would be able to recruit well in california i think it's funny because the the next to the beach thing was the biggest part of that criteria i mean like people got all all pissed off about would you rather live in southern California or Norman?

Norman's a wonderful place. That's not the point. The point is that if you follow football, you're supposed to think that that's going to go well. How do you not? USC finally got a slam dunk sexy coach who every college football reporter on the face of the earth put in the top five of their coaches list. Maybe you think the person

didn't want the sec smoke and that's probably a giant raid red flag yeah i mean i don't know if that's if that's the way you think happened then fine i don't know that i buy that is that is that well that he left oklahoma because he didn't want to be in the sec i definitely think i don't think that the reason i'm sure that it was part of it of like who wouldn't want to go to usc and play in that pack 12? Like they weren't in the big 10 when he took the job. Right. It is definitely when you take the job,

you're in the pack 12 and your biggest rivals in the conference are Oregon and Washington. That's much more manageable than Ohio state, Michigan, Penn state, Oregon, and Washington. Yeah.

It's in Minnesota. You're losing to Minnesota. Utah. This week. There now you're losing to Minnesota. Utah. There's Utahs everywhere. Yeah, you get the most Utah of any Utah. Like, more Utah than Utah. Penn State. So what do you think happened here?

And we are so off the reservation, but you poked the bear. I knew where this was going when I picked the question. Let me ask you. If somebody came to you at the end of your contract with on three and was like, we will pay you a hell of a lot more money. And for you to be successful, you only have to work one 10th the amount and it'll be easier for you to reach your goals.

Like as a human being, you probably would want to think about that right so like to me i know if i leave without you it's that the show's not going to be i'm coming with you pal no but the thing is we're never going anywhere this company is amazing and i love it here the last thing i'll say though is is that do you think that he got this job offer and had an opportunity to go make 10 million dollars a year live in a resort off the coast of the Pacific. And then, oh,

by the way, got to play a PAC 12 schedule or mate, or do you think that it was just, oh, I'm too afraid to be a part of anything I'm leaving right now. Like, what do you think came first, the offer or the fear?

I think the, the telling his agent, Hey, I'd entertain job offers. So you think that the fear came first? Yeah. Okay. And if it did,

then he's like a, then Oklahoma, if that is what happened, then you were right. Like that is like the most, there's a reason I've ever heard of that. I took Ari. Yeah.

By the way, I will take a football away from being wrong immediately. Like cash check or wire transfer. All are acceptable. How do you want it? How do you want the money? $100 bills, probably. I'll tell you.

I'll tell you this, though. If USC keeps losing and it's just a miserable year for me. Like I'm going to find the smallest denomination possible to pay you this money. Like I don't know what a thousand dollars of pennies looks like, but you know, I got to figure it out. Yeah. It's a large bag.

All right. This question is from Carson. You don't even have to chime in. I'm going to answer this one very quickly. I just thought it was interesting. And I, I feel like I've found a theme in this particular question. Carson says, if you're the athletic director at Oklahoma State,

how drastic are the measures you're taking to get things back on track? Is it time for Mike Gundy to go? No, it's not time for Mike Gundy to go. Just wait until next season when nobody expects him to do anything. When everybody expects him to go 6-6 or 7-5, he will win the Big 12. We've established Mike Gundy with expectations does this. Mike Gundy, when you don't see him coming,

wins the ton. So just let this season play out. It's not going well. He's playing. I'm not going to tell you who the quarterback is. Okay. It's not going to go the way you want next season they're going to get picked to finish like 14th in the big 12 and they're going to win the damn thing just watch

oklahoma state um is operating at its ceiling right that's a program i think so i think he raised the ceiling so much yeah right not year, but just as a program whole. In general, yes. Like, I don't know when you say move on from Mike Gundy, what you think is going to be on the other side of that. Yeah. Remember, as a program, making a bowl game was a very rare thing before Mike Gundy announced the thing that you expect every single year.

Yeah, it is. I will say this. Beautiful jerseys. Okay. I don't, I don't ever like comment on Oklahoma State's jerseys. And I think I know, but you're just pissing off the Oklahoma fans again. Oh no. Can we go back to Oklahoma?

Please don't hate me. I don't hate you. I think Brent Venables is really cool. I like a lot of things about the program. Like, like it's not personal just next year when Oklahoma is awesome and Texas stinks or something out, you'll, you'll invite me back. All right. Our final question comes from Crawford. That's a good little dose of perspective in light of all this talk of super leagues and championships. Can we take a minute to thank Vanderbilt, and I'll throw in Diego Pavia here, for reminding us that college football is about having fun.

100 programs have no shot at the playoffs, but they play on Saturday too. Sometimes they get to take the goalpost for a stroll. On Saturday, we were all Commodores fans for a moment, and it was great. And of course, Crawford throws in, go Dawgs. That is a great message from Crawford he's absolutely right listen i i watched that crazy liberty fiu game on tuesday night i was watching jacksonville state and and new mexico state on wednesday night it is fun like we watch it because it's fun not necessarily because we think somebody's gonna win the national championship or go to the playoff we watch it because it's fun, not necessarily because we think somebody's going to win the national championship or go to the playoff.

We watch it because it's fun. So thank you Crawford. And thank you Diego Pavia for reminding us of that. Now, Ari, we got a big weekend of teams that could make the playoff all play in each other. Let's go. I'm ready.

I'm ready. I'm excited. We'll talk to you Saturday you