Andy & Ari On3 - It’s NICO TIME for Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl | Picks: Who will eat the Pop-Tarts Bowl Mascot?

Episode Date: December 28, 2023

It's a picks show, but first, we have some big news from Rocky Top, as QB Nico Iamaleava is starting after Joe Milton opts out of the Citrus Bowl.Today’s show is brought to you by Fanduel, America��s best sportsbook. Sign up at fanduel.com/Staples. Make one winning $5 moneyline bet and receive $150 in guaranteed bonus bets!(0:00-3:34) Intro: Nico Time in Tennessee!(3:35-20:34) Austin Price from VolQuest joins(20:35-23:59) Picks Intro(24:00-26:38) SMU vs. Boston College (+10.5) in the Fenway Bowl (Total: 48.5)(26:39-30:19) Rutgers vs. Miami (+1.5) in the Pinstripe Bowl (Total: 40.5)(30:20-32:39) NC State vs. Kansas State (-2.5) in the Pop-Tarts Bowl (Total: 47.5)(32:40-37:41) Arizona vs. Oklahoma (+2.5) in the Alamo Bowl (Total: 62.5)(37:42-41:09) Clemson vs. Kentucky (+5.5) in the Gator Bowl (Total: 46.5)(41:10-44:40) Oregon State vs. Notre Dame (-6.5) in the Sun Bowl (Total: 41.5)(44:41-47:09) Memphis vs. Iowa State (-9.5) in the Liberty Bowl (Total: 57.5)(47:10-49:18) Auburn vs. Maryland (+7) in the Music City Bowl (Total: 45.5)(49:19-52:46) Toledo vs. Wyoming (-3.5) in the Arizona Bowl (Total: 44.5)(52:47-54:46) Wisconsin vs. LSU(-9.5) in the Reliaquest Bowl (Total: 55.5)(54:47-59:14) Iowa vs. Tennessee (-7.5) in the Citrus Bowl (Total: 36.5)(59:15-1:00:14) ConclusionWant to watch the show on video? Head on over to YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/g-hhy30kW9wMust be 21+ and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas StarCasino, LLC. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 firstdeposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com.Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania,Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visitccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP inLouisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope ishere. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call [phone] for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or textHOPENY in New York

Welcome to Andy Staples on three greetings from beautiful Los Angeles. I have arrived to cover the run up to the Rose Bowl, Alabama versus Michigan, Nick Saban versus Jim Harbaugh, all that good stuff. And of course, we've got folks in New Orleans getting ready to cover the Sugar Bowl. And we have all these other bowls going on. And one of them got a lot more interesting on Wednesday, the Citrus Bowl. It's on Monday, same day as the semifinal games. But I think there's one fan base that will be watching in droves. The Tennessee fans, of course, they're going to watch their team anyway. But now, even more excited because Joe Milton, the quarterback who started for this season, opting out,

which means it is time for the dawn of the Nico Iyama-Mailava era. We talked about it earlier this week. Avery Johnson, he gets the torch passed to him at Kansas State by Will Howard, who's in the transfer portal. Jackson Arnold getting the torch pass to him at Oklahoma by Dylan Gabriel, who's transferring to Oregon. These are former five stars. Everybody's really excited about what they can be. We're going to see them play on Thursday. On Monday, though, we will see Nico, who is one of the more intriguing freshman quarterbacks we've seen in a long time,

just because of the circumstances of his recruitment, how hyped he was, how excited Tennessee was to get him, what a big deal it was for Tennessee to get him when they did. We'll talk about all of that with Austin Price from VolQuest because it is for Tennessee fans it's huge but this is one of those in college football it's kind of a big one because Nico was the first big NIL deal you know this was the first time NIL was a major factor in a recruitment this was the kind of quarterback Tennessee been trying to get for a long time in terms of his stature as a recruit. And they got him. And I don't know if the rules don't change. I don't know if he winds up at Tennessee or does he go somewhere else?

Maybe one of the places they've been hoarding a lot of the good quarterbacks until they would ultimately hit the transfer portal. So we will see about that. But it was not the only news coming out of the Citrus Bowl on Wednesday because Jay Higgins, Iowa's best linebacker, says he's running it back for the 2024 season. So Jay Higgins will be one of the people trying to terrorize Nico as he starts for the Vols for the first time.

And I tell you what, if you're going to have your first start, the torch passing game, this is not the defense you wanted against. Iowa's defense is excellent. They don't have Cooper DeGene because he's hurt, but it's largely intact. They don't have a lot of opt-outs. It's a scary prospect for a guy who's a freshman who is taking over an offense with some young guys around him. But the Niko excitement is absolutely real among the Tennessee fan base.

And I'm sure there's some skeptics out there in the other fan bases going, huh, you know, I didn't see you making this big a deal about our freshman quarterback when he was playing. I know this one has felt different since his recruitment. I don't know if that translates to the field. We've seen him in mop-up duty. We're going to find out. But right now, let's talk to Austin Price of VolQuest,

who's in Orlando with the Vols. We are joined now by Austin Price of VolQuest. And in continuing with the theme of the week, of the dawn of a new era with a much-ballyhooed five-star quarterback taking over, the one everybody's waiting for, Niko time in Tennessee. Yeah, I mean, everybody's excited, Andy. I mean, it's changed the landscape of this bowl game dramatically.

Not to say that people weren't going to be excited to watch Tennessee play one more football game, but it just adds a level of excitement, especially when they're playing Iowa, which plays such a kind of boring, mundane brand of football. Now you kind of have this excitement. You've got Nico, you've got Cam Seldon, two true freshmen, both in the backfield, one at quarterback, one at running back.

And Nico provides a lot of kind of a jolt to the arm for Tennessee fans. I had multiple Tennessee fans text me as the word started to leak out, you know, right around Christmas and then into Wednesday and said, hey, I'm going to be in Vero Beach with my family. I'm coming over now. We're getting tickets. We weren't going to come. We're now coming.

And I think, you know, I'm not saying there's going to be 15,000 extra Tennessee fans, but I do think you'll have a trickle- down effect of there'll be a little more orange there than was going to be there uh because of nico starting well and that's the thing i i people might wonder why we're making a big deal about this abry johnson's a huge deal at kansas state jackson arms a huge deal at oklahoma but this is an even bigger deal i I'm trying to remember because I remember I came up a couple years ago during the height of Nico's recruitment and he was playing in the seven on seven tournament in Knoxville and you and I stood out there in the snow and watched him play and I just I the last recruit quarterback recruit going to an SEC school that I remember getting

this much hype generating this much excitement was Tim Tebow at Florida but the difference for Tim Tebow was he had a role right off the bat as a true freshman there wasn't this wait for to see what he could do Tennessee fans been waiting for this for almost two years now yeah exactly it was about 25 months ago he took his first visit to Knoxville. It was for the Vanderbilt game in 21. And, you know, Tennessee became a player then. Then he comes back out in March. He commits shortly thereafter. In fact, that next week I was out in California.

I just happened to be out there with my family. I go to a – his dad invites me to a throw-in session where he tells me, hey, Nico's going to come in next week. So we pre-taped his commitment interview, and the rest is history. And, you know, so Nico has, you know, kind of been building with Tennessee fans for the last couple of years. You hit the nail on the head. And now, you know, he finally gets to the field full-time coming up on Monday.

And if you look at kind of his season in review up to this point, he's gotten better in every outing like you know he was more efficient against Vanderbilt than he was against UConn and more efficient against UConn than he was back in September in those early outings so you know Tennessee fans are excited I think Nico's excited and to be honest with you I've talked to multiple players on this team and they're excited and that's not to poop on Joe because they appreciated Joe a lot but I think this was a lame duck game so to speak and now it's not you can build towards the future several of those offensive linemen are coming back for next year that's big

for nico including cooper mays who will play in this game um you know we'll wait to see what brew mccoy does he was in played an integral part in tennessee getting two lane transfer chris brazel so you know n Nico is, you know, his fingerprints are starting to become all over Tennessee football, and it'll really be that way come Monday. Well, and there's so much excitement, but there's also so much pressure because he hasn't been a starter yet. We haven't seen this yet.

And, oh, by the way, it's Iowa's defense, which makes all quarterbacks look kind of bad. Yeah, I mean, again, the overreactions to Monday will be will be will be drastic if he plays well the Heisman campaign is going to be in full full effect for next year if he plays poorly everybody's gonna go I mean we give the big NIL money and that for that are you kidding me I think no matter what happens good or bad I think you have to understand Peyton Manning took the field against a Washington State team in 1994. I'm not saying that this kid's going to be Peyton Manning. I'm just saying that the level of interest in Peyton

and the level of interest in Nico is similar. Peyton completed seven passes for 79 yards and a 10-9 win over the Cougars. Both teams, Iowa and Washington State, were really good on defense. So I think the biggest thing is play efficient, play well, play mistake-free. And the other thing is when the kid makes a good play, it doesn't mean he actually made a good play. He could actually bust it on that play and it just worked out. And when he makes a bad throw, it may not even be on him making the bad throw.

The receiver may have run the wrong route. So you just kind of let it play out and enjoy Monday. I mean, if you're a Tennessee fan, because they've been clamoring for this, they've been begging for it. They've got it. You've got Nico. It's kind of like when he committed, you chanted my name, you asked for me, you got me enjoy it. Well, so I guess that makes Joe Milton, the Brandon Stewart of this situation is who's the Todd Helton here.

Is there, is there a future Major League Baseball star just sitting there yeah Gaston Moore will Gaston Moore will have will be the backup for his second straight bowl game he will be the number two if something happened to the starter last year would have been Joe this year it's Nico it will be Gaston Moore who was a walk-on quarterback was with hype at UCF and now he rolls in here and you know we asked Hypel about that on Wednesday, and he said, Gaston has a full command of the offense. If we had to turn to him, we'd be okay, and we'd have faith in him.

So he's supposed to say that. But at the same time, I think the staff likes Gaston enough. They've got him to come back for next year, and he'll be Nico's backup a year from now with Jake Merklinger, the four-star from Savannah, being number three at this point. And Joe Milton will be around helping with meetings as they get toward the game. It sounds more like almost a passing of the torch situation. That's what it is.

It's absolutely a passing of the torch situation. He's been around all through bowl practice in Knoxville. He came home for Christmas here to the Orlando area. Made the drive over to the team hotel. He's been involved in meetings all on Tuesday night, Wednesday. He'll be a part of practice all week long, but he will not suit up or play in this football game. And for Joe, it's a chance to turn the page to the senior bowl.

He got an invite to that a few weeks back and start to prepare and then, you know, prepare for the NFL draft and the combine. Because Joe, if we know anything about him, he's going to show well in that type of an event. He's got that ridiculous arm. He runs really well once he gets a full head of steam. And I just think he's going to test out the yin-yang at this thing and be somebody that, you know, some team goes,

I just see us taking a chance and molding him into what he can be. That's what Josh Heupel and them did. People thought Josh Heupel and them were crazy for taking him when he came from Michigan. And, you know, since he was able to get, you know, eight wins out of Joe Milton this year, and, you know, they wish they could have that Florida game back, but they can't.

And, you know, we'll kind of see where Joe goes as a pro. Well, Jim Nagy from the Senior Bowl told us on the show, he said the NFL people want to see Joe Milton because they've heard – They wanted to see him throw at last year's Pro Day when Hendon couldn't. They begged for Joe to throw to Jalen Hyatt and Cedric Tillman, and Tennessee didn't let that happen. They brought in the young man, Dresser Wynn from UT Martin, who won a single-A state title out there for my buddy Derek Rang at Dresden.

And he's now – he actually suited up for the Rams not too long ago. And Dresser's a good, solid quarterback. But they brought him in because Heupel knew if Joe threw at the pro day, it was going to be all about Joee instead of all about jalen hyatt cedric tillman you know byron young and all those players darnell right that that you know kind of went through it so he did not want to put that pressure on joe and he knew joe would have that moment this uh this march and he will and he'll he'll perform well at the combine and at pro day in my opinion so what's joe's legacy going to be at tennessee because

he came in obviously nobody's upset that that hendon hooker took over the starting job and was as good as he was but joe's year as the starter how were people going to look back on that i think they're going to see joe as a good teammate i think they're going to see him a guy as a guy who was extremely talented um You know, missed on a few things. You know, but someone who, you know, loved Tennessee, put Tennessee first. And I think they'll look back on him fondly. Nobody is upset with Joe Milton at Tennessee, like from a fan's perspective. I think two years ago when he had all the overthrows,

that was actually three seasons ago now, against Pittsburgh, people were frustrated. I think when he ran out of bounds at, that was actually three seasons ago now, against Pittsburgh. People were frustrated. I think when he ran out of bounds at the end of the game against Ole Miss instead of throwing it to the end zone, people were frustrated. But I think on the whole, man, they really appreciated what Joe did.

Joe was a consummate pro. He was a teammate through and through. And, you know, in a day and age where people look to leave and look to bolt and stuff like that, he just put his head down and kind of went to work and got better under Josh Heupel and Joey Halsley and Mitch Militello. And, again, I think, you know, when people look back, you know, several years from now, yeah, I think they'll probably realize

Tennessee could have won a few more games with Joe. But I think at the same time that, same time that Joe did everything he could for Tennessee with a big smile on his face and did everything the right way. It's crazy when you think about going back to 2021, the dynamic of Joe and Hendon and how all of that worked out. I don't know that you're going to see that again in this era of college football. You're not. I mean, look at now.

I mean, you have so many kids that, again, if they get a hangnail, they go in the portal. If their girlfriend breaks up with them, they go in the portal. If the dog eat the homework, they go in the portal. And, you know, those two kids kind of hung in there. When Joe was named the starter, Hendon didn't pout and complain. He kind of just went to do his thing and continued to put his head down and go to work.

When Joe got hurt and Hendon came in and ran with the job and Joe couldn't get it back, he put his head down and went to work and was a good teammate for Hendon. So, you know, absolutely. You know, it's a rarity when you see two guys like that, you know, get along, live together, you know, and really bond. Well, let's talk, Nico. You know, he's played mop-up duty so far this season,

but what can people expect who, you know, who don't follow recruiting, who aren't Tennessee fans? They're going to be like, what is the big deal about this guy? What is it about him that has Tennessee fans so excited? He just has a presence about him. I mean, like he is a cool customer, and he's got a quick release, got a really strong arm. Now, that's not Joe Strong, but, I mean, who's his, right?

Right. But really strong arm, quick release, can throw really well on the run. And I think the biggest thing about Nico is I'd be surprised if on Monday he didn't create a few things when things aren't there and when things break down. And, you know, I think that that's what you can kind of count on from number eight on Monday. And, again, I think he's going to make some mistakes.

You know, Iowa's defense is probably going to bait him a few times into making some bad throws. But I think he's going to make enough plays as well. Tennessee's got a lot of youth in this game on both sides of the ball, tailback, wide receiver, cornerback, and I'm betting a few of these young kids, you know, they, again, they may bust and may give up a play or make a turnover on offense, but I think they're going to make a play or two as well, and I think that that's good for Josh Heupel because this staff has been a little slow to just throw a kid out there. And I think that, you know, the more you see them have success, the more likelihood is,

you know, the greater likelihood is you see them have success in throwing kids out there sooner rather than later. Well, you mentioned a really important name that's not a younger person, a much older person, Cooper Mays. You know, how much about having the line they want to have intact helps those young guys? I think it helps immensely, you know, especially when you have such a young backfield when Selton's in there. I mean, it's true freshman and true freshman, but it's behind a senior in Gerald Menci, a senior in Cooper Mays, a senior in Ollie Lane,

a senior in Jeremiah Crawford, because I don't think, you know, John Campbell's going to play in this football game, and then Jackson Lampley at right guard. So, you know, you've got a veteran offensive line out there. Cooper obviously makes things go at the center spot. He's back healthy again, which will allow Ollie to play guard. And, you know, I think that helps this team. Again, I think winning on early downs, Brent Hubbs said this, winning on early downs is going to be pivotal for Tennessee's offense

to help Nico to play at second and five and third and three instead of second and ten and third and eight. So I think winning early downs will be pivotal in this football game. And it all starts up front with an offensive line that's got a lot of experience and they've played a lot of football in the SEC. Third and predictable is about the last thing you want to be with Phil Parker calling the defense on the other side. The other thing you mentioned, you were talking about the fans and Nico getting a big NIL

deal. His was really the first big deal of the NIL era, and we made a huge deal out of it. In my old place of employment, we wrote tons of stories about it. And I remember when we were there in the spring, you and I standing in the snow there, being around him and his family, you kind of got the sense like if somebody can handle this, he probably can. Because I think there's a lot of people like i go back to to me at 18 years old there's no way i could have handled that situation he seems like the kind of guy like that pied piper kind of guy who just relishes this sort of thing he does i you know i don't think he even

thinks about the nil side i think that a lot of that that is stuff handled by people around him i don't think he thinks about those type things and he was in knoxville so much you know for visits and people just gravitated towards him like they would see him out in in market square or on on gay street or wherever and they just gravitate towards him and all of a sudden he's taking pictures with all these little kids and they've lined up around the corner it's like the episode in the in the movie the santa claus when they're walking through the park and all these kids start just sitting on tim allen's lap i mean like it's it's people just gravitate towards him and uh you know i think that he can handle it i don't think he really thinks about that type of stuff and uh you talk about the pressure, it's on him, but I don't think he really feels it, realizes it.

I think he just kind of is Nico. And I think that that's probably one of his more endearing qualities. Well, I can't wait to see it. And we're all going to get to watch Nico Mania begin on Monday. Thank you, Austin. Appreciate it, Andy. That's Austin Price talking Nico. monday thank you austin appreciate andy that's austin price talking nico and little peek behind the curtain because right now we're gonna go to our non-new year six non-college football playoff

bowl picks that's right we're gonna pick all the other bulls and there's a bunch of them ralph russo from the ap is our guest he's the guy who is in charge of the associated press poll though he does not vote in it, so don't get mad at him about where your team is. He just collects everybody's votes and makes sure they're put together on top of being an incredible reporter for the world's largest news gathering organization.

But Ralph is one of those guys I just love talking football with. I wanted an excuse to talk football with him, and these games give us a great excuse. Now, a little peek behind the curtain. Today, I was flying from Florida to Los Angeles. So we weren't sure if the travel was going to go swimmingly or not. So we pre-recorded this to make sure that I was going to be there. These are all games that are coming up Thursday and in the future. But we recorded this just to make sure there was going to be a show

in case I got stuck at an airport. So when we talk about Tennessee, Iowa, you're going to hear me say, I don't know if Joe Milton's playing. Perhaps it's Nico time. We don't know. Well, now we know. We do know that one. I don't know how much it changes anything. You'll hear Ralph and I with our picks thinking on it without giving away the pick you're about to watch. I think I stick by my against the spread pick and my total pick because you know we always pick the Iowa total. But this is a lot of fun. This is a great exercise because we don't know what's going to happen in these games. Half the time we don't even know who's playing in them. We did our best to try to make sure we gave you the most accurate picture of who's playing.

But again, even 12 hours after we recorded it, it changed. Because that's how things go in 2023 in college football. But it's a lot of fun. It's much more fun than picking against a coin. Here's me and Ralph. All right, we got to pick some more bowl games. We're joined by my friend Ralph Russo from the Associated Press. How deep do we have to go in these bowl games?

Not very. This is my excuse to get Ralph on and talk about some college football. Because, Ralph, I don't know about you. I enjoy following the news. I think it's fast and furious right now. But I can only talk about the transfer portal so much. I would agree with that. I mean, at a certain point, it becomes a little overwhelming. It's hard to combine the offseason and the postseason, but college football has managed

to do that. It's got great talents, college football, and somehow it's managed to combine. It's acquiring the players' season with still playing the games, but it's managed to combine it's acquiring the players season with still playing the games but it's also turned the bowl games into something of a mess we still love them we still are watching them but it's hard to really take them i don't mean this in the way like they don't mean anything it's hard to take them seriously right right because because you don't and and you don't know now you get some crazy stuff you get some wild games or some weird situations but it's not the for the most part the teams that you saw in the season now we will obviously talk some transfer portal because some

of these players are not going to be there and all that i but a few of these games the teams actually do kind of resemble what we saw this season which is is fun too so yeah that's the interesting thing finding the teams that are like somewhat tethered to the regular season like oh yeah that's that looks like the team i watched in november right as opposed to some of these other teams where it's like well who's who's this playing quarterback for new so we are going to do the games from thursday on that are not new year's six or playoff and it's a lot of games this is i think it's 12 so this might be speed round andy yes this is going to be fast but this is this is one of my favorite times of the year

because it's just wall-to-wall football all day. Yes. And the kids are home. Now, I've got to hit the road. I've got to go to Los Angeles for the Rose Bowl. I'll be in New Orleans. I'll see you in Houston. Man, it's funny because the stomach of me wants to be in New Orleans with you.

The rest of me is happy to go to LA, but I'm with you. Like I'm, I'm happy with New Orleans. I can't, I always, I like New Orleans as a town. Of course I love New Orleans as an eating town. So I'm generally okay with New Orleans, but it is the Rose bowl. It's Michigan, Alabama, Jim Harbaugh, Nick Saban, is the Rose Bowl. It's in Michigan, Alabama. Right. It's Michigan, Alabama.

Jim Harbaugh, Nick Saban in the Rose Bowl, which is a pretty intoxicating mix. Although, little secret, I think Washington, Texas might be the more fun game. I think it's a more fun game. I will go with you on that. Yeah. It's going to be the better game, but I think it's going to be the more fun game. Yeah. I think it'll be interesting. But let's's talk about these because we got some interesting ones

here and i start so i sent notes to ralph before we we recorded this because i would never ask somebody to pick all these bowl games without trying to help them know who's playing who's not going to the northeast close to your home smuU and Boston College in the Fenway Bowl. SMU is a 10.5-point favorite. Preston Stone and company playing against a Boston College team that has a long list of opt-outs. But if you have not seen Thomas Castellanos play, there's a deep drive to left field.

Castellanos, sorry, wrong Castellanos. He's a trip. Yeah. Thomas Castellanos is a trip, man. He's fun. He's a wild player who does a lot of wild things. He makes some great plays. He is just sort of, I mean, he basically is Boston College's offense, right?

They've gotten better this year on the offensive line. Won't bother breaking down Boston College. He leads them in passing and rushing. Yeah, he is a fun player, but SMU I think is also – and I know, again, they've had a couple of – I think they've had a couple of opt-outs, but I would also say this. SMU was ticked off about being sent to this game. Yes.

Now the question becomes – What does that mean? Because they thought that they deserved a new year six. I talked to Rhett Lashley about it. You know, again, there was a lot of, there was a lot of attention on Florida state getting snubbed. I think he thought like, Hey man, what, what happened to us? Like we kind of got snubbed a little bit too. So are they ticked off being in a baseball stadium on december 28th or are they motive or are they like what are we doing

in a baseball stadium on december 28th against the the red socks right like they didn't even know but boston college also it's it's gonna be cold smu now dallas gets cold dallas has ice storms but not regularly like the college players are used not regularly. The weather up in this part of the country is supposed to be somewhat mildish over the next couple of days. I'm going to go with SMU because, again, I kind of just want to boil it down to I know this is the better team. Yeah. I can't get into the psychosomatics and and all the you know who's

how they're going to show up and who's going to be there and are they going to be motivated I'll just take the better team because I think if we played this game in November in one of their stadiums SMU would win big I I am with you here this time I will agree with you this time I'm not just gonna it's fall season no I I think I think you're right about this time I will agree with you. This time I'm not just going to, it's fall season. No, I think you're right about this one. I go back. I watched all of Boston College's season finale against Miami. If SMU is clicking, Boston College is going to struggle to stop them. So speaking of Miami, they are also headed your way very close to where you are.

Yes, and I was up your way this past weekend, and it was also quite mild once the day began, once the sun came out. And so this Rutgers-Miami game, same reason you just mentioned. I don't know that Rutgers, which is a one-and-a-half-point favorite, has that big of an advantage because of the weather. But yes, Rutgers is a one-and-a-half point favorite, and Miami does not have Tyler Van Dyke, Colby Young, Don Chaney, two-fifths of its offensive line, Kim Kinchens, Leonard Taylor on the D-line.

That's a lot to not have when Rutgers has almost everything. It's a lot of good players, too. It's a lot to not have when Rutgers has almost everything. It's a lot of good players too. It's a lot of really good players. I think, again, I defaulted back to if they played during the season, who would I take? Rutgers is still really limited offensively, even as good a season as they had. And listen, 6-6 for Rutgers these days, that's a big step forward. They've been able to run the ball really well. Menangai, their best running back is playing. They're so limited in the passing game that even

with the pieces missing from Miami, here's what I, here's what I boiled it down to Andy is Ruben Bain going to show up? Yes. Ruben Bain's playing for Miami. I'll bet on that guy. I'll bet on that guy being a big problem for Rutgers. And if you don't know who Reuben Bain is, he was a freshman, edge rusher. You'll know him in a couple of years because he'll be a top three pick. Exactly. If you don't know him now, understand that he will be off the board very early in the 2020, 4, 5, 2026. Do I get that?

Yeah, 2026 draft. So I'll go with Reuben Bain in this game. That's what I'll go with. Yeah. And Francis Mau Maui Noah coming too. I think I'm going to take Rutgers in this game because you mentioned if they were at full strength. I'm not sure, but I think that would have been a pretty good game between Rutgers and Miami because Miami, other than the FSU game

where they played a little bit above their skis, I don't know that Miami played at its potential. Well, Texas A&M, I guess. There's also the who wants to be there part of it, too. I mean, Rutgers is going to be pumped to be in this game. Rutgers is all about Rutgers wins this game, and that season looks pretty darn good like you throw Miami on the wall of your bowl wins that's significant to Rutgers I'm going to take Miami but understand that is a very significant accomplishment for Rutgers to be Miami under any condition and that's

why I'm taking Rutgers and also there's there's the familiarity with the coaches Greg Chiano yeah kind of helped bring mario cristobal along greg ciano was an assistant on the miami staff when mario was playing mario you know his career kind of greg ciano helped him along early in his career so they're they're one of the great what ifs my uh andy there was a uh mario cristobal was the rutgers coach for about i think an hour and a half or something like that. When they were looking for a replacement for Shiano, they had all bought Mario. Yes, when he went to the Bucs.

Yes. And the deal fell apart. There's rumors about Mario's wife wasn't really down for moving out of Miami. He was still the FIU coach at the time. But there's an alternative world here where Mario Cristobal was the Rutgers coach yes and and I could have seen that I could definitely see that but yeah that'll be a fun one that that will be interesting to see those two because they they really know each other well here's a good one have you seen a game with an animal mascot yet because you're about to

NC State Kansas State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. K-State is a two and a half point favorite. So, Peyton Wilson, NC State's best player, is not playing. He's a linebacker. He's going to the draft. Will Howard, not playing for Kansas State. Also, Ben Sinnott, their fullback, tight end, H-back kind of

thing. He's not playing. Kobe Savage, the safety, not playing. Their secondary is in the portal i think now their entire offensive line is playing and cooper bb exactly and this is avery johnson day so the five star the freshman the hope of the future will be starting for Kansas State, the beginning of the Avery Johnson era, if you will. Who you got? Yeah, I'll take that. I'll take that part of it. I'll go with Avery Johnson, five-star quarterback. They unleashed him a bit during the season. Show him like, hey, we can look at what we have here. This is a weapon. He wasn't fully weaponized but now they're all in that's why

will howard's in the portal so yeah i'll grab kansas state here um against a north carolina state team that is very good defensively was sort of limited offensively all season even with the kid concepcion i wanted to call him dave concepcion well when mj morris was starting they weren't as limited but then he red shirts goes in the portal. He's going to Maryland. But that was a weird deal because they recruited over him. And then we're like, oh, yeah, we decided we changed our minds. Brennan Armstrong's not the guy. Can you start for us now? And he's like, I was supposed to redshirt. So that was an awkward situation. but now he's going to Maryland. So Brendan Armstrong is starting this game. I also will take K-State. Here's a gambling stat for you, Ralph. You ready?

Kansas State is 7-0 against the spread in the last seven games after a straight-up loss, and they did lose in that snowy farmageddon to Iowa State. Which was a batty game. What a crazy game that was. Listen, I also think that Kansas State, to Iowa State. Which was a batty game. What a crazy game that was. Yeah. But yeah. So listen, I also think that Kansas State, you know, this is a stable program. Yeah. I like Kansas State in this. Again, I want to see what Avery Johnson, what looks like here. So we mentioned teams that kind of looked like themselves. I think this is the game we're about to talk about is the one

outside the playoff in the New Year's Six where the teams look most like the in-season version of themselves which is weird to say because one of them is missing its starting quarterback Arizona Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl now Arizona is a two and a half point favorite in this game no Dylan Gabriel Jackson Arnold will be starting for Oklahoma now just like we said Avery A, the dawn of the Avery Johnson era for K-State. This is the dawn of the Jackson Arnold era for Oklahoma. Yeah, understand that the reason why Dylan Gabriel is in Oregon is because of Jackson Arnold. There's certainly a possibility that he could have stayed and competed, but they understand, Oklahoma understands, and I think Dylan Gabriel understood,

that this kid's coming. He's going to be the future here at Oklahoma. So maybe it's best for me to go make some NIL money somewhere else and play my last year of college football somewhere else. But as you said, Arizona's also loaded for here, right? They want to be here. This is the best season Arizona football has had since Rich Rod won the division, I would say. What was that? 2017, 2018? Yeah, they played Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Yeah. Yeah. So it's been a while since Arizona has been in this spot. And

again, a lot of times I think about it, you know, again, from that, who wants to be here? What does it mean to Arizona to beat an Oklahoma in a bowl game? That's a big deal. As always, these lines brought to you by FanDuel. Go to FanDuel.com slash Staples and sign up if you place a $5 winning Moneyline bet. So if you pick one of these bowl games and say, all right, I'm going with Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl against Iowa. Say, I'm going to pick Tennessee to win. If you place a $5 bet on the Vols and they win, then you are guaranteed $150 in bonus bets. So place any winning Moneyline bet, college football, NFL, NBA, it doesn't matter.

And you get $150 in bonus bets. FanDuel is America's best sports book. It's the easiest way to get some action on the games. And these bowl games, you got plenty of action to go around because you can go with the line, you can go with the total. Once they start, you can bet them live. All kinds of ways to have fun with these games. And the best way to do it is through FanDuel. So go to FanDuel.com slash Staples.

$5 winning Moneyline bet gets you $150 in guaranteed bonus bets. And now on to the picks. I'll take Arizona here because of the fact that they do have their quarterback and i think this is a big deal the other thing too like arizona was no fluke this no they were good yeah by the end of the year they were clearly the third best team in a good pack 12. right and jane delora is not a bad quarterback but but Noah Fafita came in when Delora got hurt and was just better. And so Delora's back in the portal. Fafita looks like he could be a star in the Big 12 next year. I talked to George Stoya from Sooner Scoop about this yesterday.

The last Alamo Bowl was a preview of a playoff game this year, Texas-Washington. I could see this being a 12-team playoff game next year. Wow, that's a good call by you. That absolutely could end up working out that way because you could see Jackson Arnold turning out to be. And I think in many ways Oklahoma is still building up, right, under Brent Venables. I don't think we saw the best of Oklahoma this year. We saw them take a step forward. And I think that they believe with Jackson Arnold

and another more experienced recruiting class, tighten up that defense a little more. Now you have what Oklahoma should be, which is what they think will be a contender in the SEC. So that's a problem. The SEC didn't completely haze Oklahoma with its first schedule. be which is what they think will be a contender in the sec so the acc or the obviously the sec didn't completely haze oklahoma with its its first schedule so it's not great ending with alabama and lsu but it's not the end of the world when you can have a couple losses or maybe even three losses

and still make the 12 team playoff i'm going to take oklahoma in this particular game though the defense is intact basically and. And I'm, I think that's going to be very helpful. I, I, as good as the PAC 12 was this year, I'm not sure the defenses were great in the PAC 12. And I don't know that Oklahoma's defense was the greatest either, but I do think they've got some talent on that team. They're going to try to heat up Noah Fafita and it's going to be probably maybe a little lower scoring than we think. I think Oklahoma might have some trouble against Arizona's defense as well. This should be a fun one, though.

I think you're right. I think this is two teams that are generally looking forward to being here and strapping it on and seeing what happens. Yeah, I cannot wait. Now, here's a weird one. Clemson, Kentucky in the Gator Bowl. Clemson's a five-and-a-half point favorite in this game. Oh, I believe it's dropped to four-and-a-half now.

Ray Davis is playing for Kentucky. Phil Moff and Will Shipley are playing for Clemson. But outside of the running backs, the star running backs, some of the more talented players not there for clemson uh jeremiah trotter nate wiggins ruk orahoro off the you know not on the defense because they have opted out xavier thomas is playing um but devin leary here's an interesting stat so kentucky's quarterback devin leary three games against clemson wild at NC state. Now, granted, I just mentioned that Clemson is not a full strength defense here, but never had better than 5.7 yards per attempt.

And he, now he threw for four touchdowns in the 2021 game, but it was, it took 44 attempts to get 238 yards, not an efficient game, but it was, it was tough. He got sacked a lot. Like this'll be interesting to see him can he can he exercise those demons yeah Kentucky's just had a hard time offensively until they played Louisville which always seems to figure out their offense uh they've had a hard time offensively all season you know listen I understand a lot of that really good Clemson defense and it is a really good Clemson defense, hasn't been at this game.

But I'll take a really low-scoring game, and I'll even grab Clemson. Those points are a little scary because you think in a low-scoring game it could be 14-10. It could be 17-13 or something like that. But I'll ride the Clemson defense. I'll ride the fact that they have a few more offensive pieces there. I'm not really sure who's playing wide receiver for Clemson these days. We'll see what happens when they show up. But I'll ride with Clemson in this game.

Interesting thing about Clemson in this game too also, the number right in front of me, they still have a chance to get ranked in the final AP poll. I think if they win this game, they were right at the right of others receiving. I could probably make an argument that they should have been ranked already. I think if they win this game, they slip in. And I believe that would be 13 or 14 straight years that they finished ranked. Only Alabama is better over that span or has a longer current streak.

So Clemson has something to play for. They seem to be playing better at the end of the season. I'll go with a Clemson team that I just have a little more faith in because Kentucky's offense seems so glitchy all season. Yeah, that's, that's the thing. Clemson seems to have figured some stuff out. And I think even though they lost some players like Bo Collins is, is gone, he's going to Notre Dame.

He's one of their receivers. I do think that they've got a core group that seems like they know what they are now. And Kentucky, like you said, kind of funky other than the Louisville game. They've had games where they put it all together, but a lot of that was against teams that could not withstand them on the ground i think clemson will be able to control them a bit on the ground so i'm even without some of their dudes i still like that clemson defense yeah they've they still have good players this is they have not stopped recruiting well at clemson you know he doesn't use the portal but he still recruits good high school players so right

and some of them were playing he's on his freshman this year so yeah so here's here's one that feels like good god only knows what's going to happen in this game we go to el paso which god only knows what happens like it could be sunny and 70 it could be snowing like we know you never know with the sun bowl just how things are going to go. Oregon State, Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a six-and-a-half point favorite in this game, but there is no Sam Hartman. Steve Angelli getting the start.

No Audrick Estime. But they do have Jeremiah Love and Jadarian Price. And I do like the young backs for Notre Dame. I've liked them all year. But Blake Fisher, Joe Ault have opted out to prepare for the draft. They're two offensive tackles. Their center, Zeke Fisher, has transferred to NC State, and guard Rocco Spindler is injured.

So completely different offensive line. But that said, Oregon State is rolling in here with also a new quarterback, a new coaching staff. And I don't know if you want to go through all the Oregon State is rolling in here with also a new quarterback, a new coaching staff. And I don't know if you want to go through all the Oregon State opt-outs, but I would just say because of that. Yeah, it's a lot. It's most of them. Most of them left with Jonathan Smith, and about a quarter of them are in Michigan State now. I think the way I would break this one down, Andy, is pretty simple.

Notre Dame at least has its coaching staff, right? Yeah. Now, Trent Bray is becoming the head coach at Oregon State. True. So there is some continuity there. Like, he's not the interim. He is the next head coach. And here's the other weird one.

This is the strangest thing, and we've got a couple instances of this. I didn't mention we were talking about Miami and Boston College. Jacuri Brown starting for Miami. He started two games in 2022 for miami and didn't start in 2023 well guess who started for our oregon state bengal branson who was seven and one as oregon state starter in 2022 so there is that i mean so if you have somebody who you think can be competent back there at quarterback for oregon state uh the tight ends in the portal that damian martinez we're not really sure he's suspended i believe he's out yeah i think he's out right like you haven't they haven't changed their mind on damian because he got suspended so i i get what you're saying about

the continuity with tyler bray there but I I ultimately I'm going to come back to the Trent Bray not not former Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray so funny I have he was he was the first sleeved up quarterback I believe I have been um that has been a problem for me for the last month in writing about uh Trent Bray and all that coaching move. I have been stuck on calling him Tyler Bray for about a month. All that's all the time. I have certain names that I cannot get the other close name out of my head. Yeah.

All that said, though, I'll go with Notre Dame here. It also goes back to this a little bit of this, like who's going to have the better number twos, right? I know Notre Dame has a lot of guys that have opted out, but I also know that Notre Dame also goes back to this a little bit of this like who's gonna have the better number twos right i know notre dame has a lot of guys that have opted out but i also know that notre dame has probably has a bunch of players that they will be relying on next year to move yeah well and it's the offensive line that's the most important part here in this discussion and these are the players who will be starting for notre dame on the offensive line next year it's not like they didn't go to

notre d Dame thinking that they would instantly start so they've been sitting behind these guys patiently they're ready to show what they can do it's the next wave of Notre Dame for the same reason I will take Notre Dame I think I think they'll be able to run the ball in this game and so I will take Notre Dame to cover now we get man if you'd have told me when, when Iowa state loss to Ohio, that they'd win eight and they'd be in a bowl game. And yeah, I did a good job. Oh, I think, I think Matt Campbell did a great job. I think Rocco Beck was just,

cause you remember Rocco Beck started because Hunter Deckers got caught up in the gambling investigation. Right. That was a very close to the fall practice situation that he got thrown. So Memphis, Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl. It's a home game for Memphis. The Seth Hennigan-Rock-Taylor combo still intact. I expect Memphis to score some points in this game. So one cornerback, TJ Tampa, might opt out for Iowa State,

but Matt Campbell expects to have the whole team basically other than that. That is a big number though. And Memphis has been a bit of an odd team this year. Like they're good. They've been a good AAC team, but you haven't looked at them and thought, like, oh, this looks like the Mike Norvell teams. You know, it doesn't quite look like that. However, nine and a half points. They're playing close to home.

It's weird also because this Iowa State team, the last we saw of them, they were averaging, like, 16 yards of play in the snow against Kansas State. But that was not like they were the rest of the year. Right. That's the part I'm trying to reconcile. Like, who are they? The team in the snow was nothing like the team that played all year. They were an offense that was a little more grindy, and they made some plays, but they were certainly not a prolific offense. So I'll take Memphis. That's a lot of points and just assume it's going to be, you know,

a game that's, again, that's simply a single-digit game and that gets me the cover on Memphis. This is a tough one for me because this is the best defense Memphis has played except maybe Missouri. Yeah. Memphis did score 27 on Missouri too. But I'm choosing to believe that the team we saw in Farmageddon is Iowa State going forward okay I may be completely wrong but I'm gonna take the Cyclones here I a magical

finish to their season Rocco Becht from from Tampa to to uh Ames Iowa Iowa. Maybe he's the next Brock Purdy. Who knows? Wow. I'm going to stop there. It's too much. Music City Bowl, Auburn versus Maryland. Auburn's a seven-point favorite in this game. Ralph, the last time these two teams played, it was 1983, and it was Boomer Esiason versus Bo Jackson. Can you imagine? If nothing else, great history here. Nothing else. You know, yeah, picking this game.

So I don't think Tua is – Talia is not playing. Talia is not playing. So that doesn't – but Auburn, you can't really throw the ball that much anyway. And Alford's in the portal. And this is another one where I remember trying to do my picks before the bowl season, before we even know who all the opt-outs were. And I just found myself thinking, that's a big number. Let me just take those points there.

Do I think Auburn will win? Yeah, I get the suspicion that Auburn, again, is a team that's building towards something. So they look at a bowl as a bit more of an accomplishment. Hey, if we win this game, we got seven wins in year one under freeze. So I could see them playing the motivation game a little better than Maryland. So I will take the points, but my suspicion is Auburn wins a relatively close game. So I'm going to take Auburn to cover here. I think choosing Peyton Thorne and kind of giving him that vote of confidence

and look, the portal opens again after spring. So we know we don't exactly know, but it sounds like Hugh Freeze thinks Peyton Thorne's his guy for 2024. And I do think that allows them to kind of let the offense gel a little more. I think it took them a while to figure the offense gel a little more i think it took them a while to figure out what what everybody was good at right at auburn so the last time we saw them play they should have beaten alabama yeah amazingly auburn's still got dudes so yeah i'm gonna go with auburn here to cover even with the touchdown and and my friend patrick maher

would tell me stay far away from that number. If it were six and a half, it's an automatic take. But once it goes to seven, don't do that. I know. I'm down with that. I'm going to take it anyway. I'll take that seven. I'm going to take it anyway.

All right. We go to our my friends Big Cat and Jake Marsh will be calling this game the barstool arizona bowl toledo and wyoming craig bowl retiring at wyoming his final game jason candle still shockingly at toledo despite being very good at toledo for a long time but has not gotten the the call up into the power five so this is an interesting one because daquan fenn who was probably the best offensive player in the mac is gone he's going to baylor soenn, who was probably the best offensive player in the MAAC, is gone. He's going to Baylor. So Tucker Gleason will be your starting quarterback for the Rockets. Meanwhile, Wyoming still has Andrew Peasley,

and if you have not watched Andrew Peasley play football, he is a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. He's a wing it and sling it and run around kind of guy, and efficiency is not really his game. No. Kind of like. And like efficiency is not really his game. If you're like kind of like high level efficiency quarterback, but he is definitely a Wyoming type of quarterback,

right? He kind of makes the plays when they need to be made. However, they need to be made. I'm going to go, I'll take the points in Toledo in this game. Cause again, I'm just going to default back to sort of like,

I think that's the better team. I think Toledo is the better team, even though I don't know exactly what form I'm getting of them. But I'm going to go back to like if I can get points with the team that I think is the better team anyway, I will go grab that. Probably a mistake because, you know, you're also trying to send Craig Boll out with a victory. But I'll lean towards the better team, and I'll let you take Craig Boll's victory tour. This game was wild last year.

I can't even remember who played it. I just know it was nuts. It was Mack against Mountain West, and it was crazy. I think the interesting thing about this game this year is you don't have to just stream it, right? Like, it'll actually be on the CW. I believe it, yes, on the CW. It's been a stream-only game.

Just like those ACC games that curse the favorite in every game. And does the CW curse continue where Wyoming is doomed now because the Wyoming Cowboys are the favorite in this game? Ooh. And by the way, salute to Craig Boll. Ten good years at Wyoming with a very difficult program. Guy coached Josh Allen. And, of course, his great time at North Dakota State

where he won a bunch of championships. So guy could really coach, and, you know, he's going to go, you know, pick up his feet and take an easier job as the head of the coaches association yeah that's exactly right so basically he's going from uh coaching players to uh his main job will be allowing coaches to uh to complain and bitch at him exactly and and so where is the coaches association headquartered waco texas he could actually walk he actually walk and see daquan Fenn practice for Baylor next year. That's a good point. If he wants to.

All right. I am going to take Wyoming against my better judgment. Andrew Peasley got a wife and a kid to go home to. This is last college game. Don't know if there's going to be an NFL career in his, in his future. Would love to see him in Canadian football. If we're being real about it. He feels like a really good Canadian football quarterback.

I'm just going to play this out. Like a Wyoming offensive coordinator, Andrew Peasley in like seven years, right? I'm in, I'm in. But man, I'm telling you, CFL feels real perfect for him. Give me the Cowboys. All right, we got a couple more, Ralph,

in the marathon of these games. This is the Cowboys. We got a couple more, Ralph, in the marathon of these games. This is a strange one. The Relia Quest Bowl, formerly known as the Outback Bowl, used to be a Bloomin' Onion mascot running around. I don't know what a Relia Quest is, nor do I know what its mascot looks like. But this one's in Tampa. Wisconsin versus LSU. LSU is a nine-and nine and a half point favorite.

No Jaden Daniels, but Malik Neighbors, yes. And Brian Thomas, yes. So Garrett Nussmeyer, definitely somebody to throw to. No Braylon Allen for Wisconsin. Obviously, Chez Malusi still hurt. Jackson Acker and Cade Giacomelli are your two co-starters on the running back depth chart. But here's the thing, Ralph, because I just set it up to say, I'll take LSU to cover because

they've got those receivers, but let us not forget that LSU's defense is terrible. Yeah. This is going to be maybe the ultimate test of just how bad is your defense because if you can make this wisconsin offense had even at it even at full strength never really launched right it wasn't kind of the dairy raid never really no tanner mordecai probably okay but they didn't have any receivers who could get separation like it never felt like they were a threat to just score quickly like they had to grind it out on the ground and now there is no Tanner Mordecai and there is no Braylon Allen so you're not grounding it out on the ground there is Tanner Mordecai oh is he playing this game I thought he was yeah he couldn't he wouldn't miss

it for the world okay I thought he was still hurt and that he wasn't playing either. Okay. But I will still take LSU. I'll be the one who takes LSU. All right. Then I will take Wisconsin to cover because it's a big number. Would have preferred it went to 10, but it's a big number. And I think the Badgers, against this defense, might be able to score. Because it's a bad defense. All all right now we go to one where we have to pick the spread but we also pick the total in all of this team's games it is Iowa Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl Tennessee's seven seven and a half point favorite Iowa total, not Iowa's team total. I'm sorry. The game total, 36.5.

Joe Milton, we believe, is going to play. We believe. We don't know if this is the dawn of the Nico Iyama-Mealava era. Yeah. But we think he's going to play. By the way, well done. Well done with Nico's last name. Absolutely.

For Iowa, it's basically everybody who's healthy is there. Cooper DeGene is out because of the season-ending injury. Which quarterback went in the transfer portal from Iowa? Not Deacon Hill. Spencer Petras was still on the team. Did you know that, Ralph? As soon as he went in the transfer portal, yes, I knew that. Yes.

That's what I was reminded. When he went in the transfer portal, I was like, wait, he's still there? Oh, yes. That's right. He's there. So Iowa's leading receiver, I believe. Oh, go ahead. No, I was going to say, I like what Iowa's bringing to this game. Listen, Torrey Taylor's showing up, right?

The punter's not opting out. I think Torrey Taylor's going to be there. That's right, best player in this game, probably. Most of the defense is going to be there. Again, as you said, Dijon's still hurt. You know, again, I'm looking at that seven and a half and seeing the way Iowa plays, knowing a Tennessee team. I could see a situation here where Tennessee wins 23 to three or something along those lines. I'll take Tennessee to win.

I'll give Iowa a little benefit of the doubt here and sort of envision in my head something that looks like 20 to 13. I think that could be a possibility there. I see where you're going with this. I will ask you a trivia question. Do you know who Iowa's leading receiver is this season? Well, it would have been one of the tight ends. It is a tight end.

It is. But it's not Eric Hall. It is Eric Hall. He hasn't played since midseason. That was my next question. When was the last time Eric Hall played? He has had missed the last half of the season. He has not played since October 21st.

That's incredible. That's incredible. Yet he still leads. And he's a good player, by the way. By 47 yards over second place Nico Ragaini. Can I reconsider this? Can I reconsider my stance here? You know that Iowa cover is seeing me a little farther off now?

James Pierce running after Deacon Hill. Suddenly I'm finding myself thinking like, wait a second. Iowa is really going to have a hard time breaking 10 here. And I think Tennessee will arrive with something good enough to break. You know what? If I can. If I can. If I can, if I can. Absolutely.

I'm going to flip that around. I'll take Tennessee in the points and assume something a little closer to 20 to 3. I agree with you. And we're both taking the under here. 36 and a half feels impossible. Because we've seen Tennessee's offense play. Oh, it's not wonderful. Iowa's defense is going to slow them down.

Yeah, and they'll probably run the ball a bunch so the clock will be moving. Torrey Taylor will do his coffin corner thing. They'll play the field position game, play it slow. Yeah, I like the pace of the game will be perfect for the under. There is no danger of this one encroaching on the start time of the rose bowl none whatsoever and if it does trust me you'll be able to flip over without much you know without worrying you're gonna miss anything this game starts at 1 p.m

eastern time on january 1st it will be over by 315. Now, 345. It'll be at 345. Somebody's taking these. I'll go 330. All right, Ralph. That was fun. It was great to actually talk football. Yes.

Yeah. There's been a lot of non-football stuff lately between the ACC and the Portal and everything else going on. And it is nice. Wait, the ACC and the Portal? What did I miss. And it is nice. The portal that what I miss. I mean, they might as well be trying to be. I think they petitioned for a waiver is essentially what they did. They just petitioned to a judge for a waiver to get into the portal to have extra eligibility.

Is that what's going on? I don't know. Listen, it's, it's, it's the most college football thing in the world for a school to be like, we're suing our conference. And the conference is like, no, we actually sued you last night in another state. We sued you first. No takesies-backsies, I believe, is the legal term for that.

Ralph, it's been a pleasure. I will see you in Houston for the national title game. Absolutely. Always a pleasure, Andy. Thanks for having me. See you. See ya.