Andy & Ari On3 - Josh Pate CALLS HIS SHOT | Previewing the 2025 College Football Season | Nebraska's CFP Hopes | SEC Tier 2: Florida, Oklahoma or Auburn? Expectations for Michigan Wolverines

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

It's a very special episode of Andy & Ari On3, as we welcome Josh Pate to the show. From his favorite game he's ever covered to Nebraska making the College Football Playoff, Josh Pate talks about it all with Andy & Ari. What should Michigan fans expect out of Bryce Underwood in year one? Who are you taking between Auburn, Florida, or Oklahoma? Is Georgia in the BEST spot for this season? A jam packed episode you won't want to miss! (0:00-2:04) Intro: Notre Dame Names it's QB1(2:05-6:17) Josh Pate joins the show(6:18-12:01) How Josh threads the needle with fans(12:02-17:49) The SEC Cluster(17:50-20:19) Previewing Auburn, Florida, and Oklahoma(20:20-22:35) Power Rankings v. Ratings(22:36-25:16) Florida or Oklahoma in the CFP?(25:17-28:37) Auburn vs Baylor Week 1(28:38-30:32) The insane message board community(30:33-33:46) As the Planes Burn(33:45-39:04) Nebraska, REAL CFP contender?(39:05-46:37) Michigan's honest expectations(46:38-50:44) Is Georgia going anywhere?(50:45-59:35) Thoughts after the first 12-Team CFP, Saban's Retirement(59:36-1:01:39) How the sport looks moving forward(1:01:40-1:05:16) Josh Pate's favorite game on tour(1:05:17-1:11:24) Conclusion: Pate's trip to Washington Have a question you want to be featured on the show? Send in your emails for Dear Andy & Ari:[e-mail]@on3.com   Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/68oHZOEHvtg Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River BaileyGuest: Josh PateInterested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail]

Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3, and you will be seeing and hearing from that incredibly swole gentleman that you're seeing in a thumbnail for this show. Yes, that is Josh Pate. We can't have him on the show now, and we're very excited about that. All right, before we get started, though, a couple little house keeping items. There'll be a part later in the show when we're talking to Josh about trying to decipher the videos that teams throw out there. And I talk about all the examination I've done of the Notre Dame scrimmage video from Sunday and what that means for their quarterback competition?

Well, that quarterback competition has been settled. It is C.J. Carr, and you and I had a very good discussion about that in a video that everybody can find on the On Three Sports YouTube channel. Yeah, a 15-minute discussion. That would have been a large chunk of the podcast, but I feel like it deserved its own, you know, place in the feed, and you have it there. So go check it out if you're interested in that. Yeah, it is very interesting situation.

and one of those that would not have seemed surprising two months ago, the fact that they dropped it when they did, given the circumstances, made it more interesting. Also, I want to fact-check myself for something you're going to hear. I just, I'm ashamed and I want to apologize now. When I mention the first Olive Garden, I claim it as in Altamont Springs, Florida. That is not true. The first Olive Garden was in the Orlando area, but it was on international. drive. So the my home olive garden in Altamont Springs on 436 back in the day as a teenager

was one of the first, but was not the first. So just want to. It's important to be right, not first, Andy. That's exactly right. Now, time to talk to Josh Pate about all things. College football. Great discussion. Really interesting stuff on Nebraska, on Georgia. on Michigan. This was a fun one. Here's Josh Pate. Who I wanted to have on the show for a long time, but we couldn't bring him on back in the day

because he was working for the competition. But now he's kind of working with us. But he's bigger than that. He's everywhere. Ari, talking, of course, about Josh Pate. Is this a paid appearance? No. Oh, he's getting zero.

Let's just bring him on. Josh Pate, host of Josh Pate's college football show. The new CFB edition of the locker room with the boys, Will Compton and Taylor LaWan. You are everywhere. Dude, it has been amazing to watch your rise through this industry. And congratulations on not just all the new stuff, but you just got married. And welcome.

So a number of things. I appreciate the conference. kind words, first and foremost. Wasserman, I know exactly what you just did, and it was really slick, and I appreciate it, but I'm not going to comment on it because our situation is dead to me. Thirdly, all right, now I want to get sentimental and serious for a second. I was actually with the busing guys earlier today. They were talking about career. So this is fresh in my mind. I said the most disappointing thing in my first sort of immersion into the sports media business. It was the 2014 Bama, West Virginia opener in the Georgianome.

Oh, yeah. Rest in peace, Georgianome. And it was the first time I was ever in a working press box. Okay. So I have such vivid memories that I went home and I told my dad that I had built it up and built it up and built it up. And the crushing disappointment to me was the realization that not. everyone who covered college football, loved college football, which is what brings me to my next point. If we could go back to the sandwich for a second, I'll just be the jelly here. There's the

two pieces of bread. These two pieces of bread, I know love the sport. When I appreciate that. So thank you. Yeah, we appreciate that too, because we've worked at some places and with some people who didn't. And I've never understood that because, you know, I always thought if you were to go back and tell 10-year-old Andy what his job would be. First of all, he would not believe you, would not believe there's such a thing as any of this that like you get paid to talk about college football. Also, he'd be like, what's the internet? What's a podcast? Are there some things I should invest in? Yeah, that's that's kind of like if you were to go back and tell Julia Louis Dreyfus in the late 80s, early 90s when they first went on Seinfeld.

hey, you're going to want to make sure you own like intellectual property because there's going to be this thing called syndication and Netflix down the road and didn't watch as much in 2025. Yeah, that whole, that whole landscape has changed. But no, I just wanted to say that baseline because I happened to be talking about it earlier today. And it is one of the things I've come to appreciate so much. And I've had a pretty small circle of people that I like to do business with like this. Because I mean, I just, I respect people who love the game. I know both the you do i respect people who love the game and i used to think it's a given and it's not just a given no no it's definitely not and it's it's interesting because like especially having to cover it as

a writer you do get into the issues a lot and and stuff like that but the fact of the matter is once everything kicks off once it's saturday none of that stuff andy it blows my mind how many people do this for a living and don't like their jobs like that's a very that's a very common common thing. And I appreciate you noticing that about us, Josh, because there isn't a single day that goes by where I'm not grateful that I get to talk about this game for a living.

And, you know, it's not always the most loving opinions. I make a lot of people like that. I know that I've got an odd worldview as it pertains to the sport. But what a pleasure it is to show up every day and talk to a friend about football. I mean, like, that's

the dream right there. always good at pissing people off. Josh, you were an expert. I was listening to Your Prediction Show. So the most recent episode of Josh Pates College Football Show, it will still be the most recent when this one comes out, but he's got a very cool one coming out Tuesday night from State College with James Franklin, who will probably talk to you about hot dogs for a while.

Just roll with it. But you are a master at threading that needle, because you will say things that will piss people off but then you will come back and caress them. It's not like Ari who's like,

Matt Roll soft and other Nebraska fans like, I'm going to kill you. Since we're all doing the kumbaya thing, let's do this. The thing that I have admired about you, Josh, is that you have an inordinate, you have an inordinately large audience. And yet I don't really ever see anybody

say mean things to you. I'll show you. Maybe I just don't see. I'm sure I know it exists because it's college football. But like considering how much you speak that you're speaking alone, how many opinions you have, how many people you visit with, I don't feel like there's a lot of hatred there. How have you been able to manage all these different opinions

without ever seemingly pissing off an entire fan base? I try and be cognizant of who I've been disproportionately negative towards. So then the question becomes, have you been negative toward Wisconsin? Wisconsin's a good example this year. I think Wisconsin's going under five and a half wins. So I mean, that's a really sizable audience up there. You say that. You're saying things they don't want to hear. I'm very cognizant that I've said that since the spring. What I try and do is loop back around and just at least explain the why. Like I think the big key is explaining the why and always maybe sort of tying a caboose of emotion onto it of, hey, I hope I'm wrong about this. Because most of the I do. I mean, contrary to semi-popular belief, I'm not rooting against anyone. I'd love everyone to go 12. I know it would be great for business, but we can't have that happen. But like, I mean, if you feel bad about a team's prospects that given year, you feel bad. Like, we've all got those teams that we're leaning under on. Tennessee, I lean under on this year. Tennessee is one of my biggest viewer bases. I think, I mean, you got a portion that's going to be pissed off no matter what if you

just shoot straight about it and then tag at the end, hey, I've been wrong before. Could be wrong again. It goes a long way with Jack in Johnson City, Tennessee. Yeah, that's my biggest weakness, Andy, is whenever I'm wrong, I'm wrong with certainty. Well, Josh has just got married, so he's just learning these things. But if you are going to be wrong in your marriage, in an argument in your marriage, you have to be wrong with certainty.

It's your only chance. Now, the contrition has to be complete when you are found out an exception. exposed that you were just pulling that right out of your ass. But if you can act like you know exactly what you're talking about, you might get away with it occasionally. It's so, so frighteningly alarming how much this resembles a conversation that happened about 7.49 p.m. We started recording this at 8 p.m. 7.49 p.m. in this very kitchen area, that conversation was had. I ended up number two. in the power ratings of the argument. You always will.

And I add. So, yeah, this is very, very prophetic, but in a like a reverse sort of way. It just happened. Yeah, we argue with each other for a living. And yet I am 0, 900 million in any argument or conversation in my own household. So, yeah, that's welcome to the club, man. And you work with your wife, no? Uh, you know, not exactly.

Like, she was working for Sabin at Alabama. Before that, she was with freeze at Ole Miss. She was with Les down at LSU. so she'd been in the business. It was one of those really weird things where you know of a person and that person knows of you before either of you have met each other, which I guess it happens in like Hollywood all the time. And this is college football. So it just so happened. She had a job. I was very aware, marketing and recruiting at Alabama. If you follow the industry at all, you're going to know that. And I did what I do. And she knew me. And so then you kind of see each other on sidelines. You see each other. If you go in the facility during the spring or summer. So that was. that's the work she did that would have overlapped with the work I did. This is like a college football lifetime movie. Andy, I'm going to write this movie.

No fall weddings. Like we're going to have the meat cute in front of the kicking net where you save her from getting brained by the kicker trying to kick the practice field goal and the kicking net. I have a little game I play with family members at Christmas time called Let's Write a Lifetime movie.

So I have some experience here. I think I can get this thing produced. Yeah. Is this a straight to VHS type situation or do we think big screen for this? Well, no, this is Lifetime Movie Network or maybe Hallmark Hall of Fame. I don't want to limit us, but it will definitely be a straight to stream. We also have a connection too because one of my buddies from high school is like the Lifetime channel like number one star. Oh, wow.

And now is like the number one star on Young and the rest of Andy. He's always the man who's at fault. He's very, very attractive man. man who is like in, so we're in this world. Josh, want to talk about football or do you want to tell us about how you met your wife? I don't know what you want to do, but Andy, you want to talk about football? I want to talk about football because Josh said something just a minute ago that they got me thinking because I did a radio show, Bo Maddinger's radio show in Arkansas on Monday morning.

And Bo knows that audience better than anybody else. He's been in that market for a long time. And he got me going. And he knew what he was doing because it was what is, essentially the conversation R you and I had on the show last week. What is success for Arkansas? Is it possible in a 16 team SEC for Arkansas fans to be satisfied to get what they want? And I was trying to explain more generally that everybody probably needs to downgrade their expectations for success because these conferences are so big and everybody can't win. And it made the Arkansas fans so mad.

And I don't know what to say to people because they want an eight, nine win team every year that occasionally wins 10. And I just don't know that that's realistic, that in the new world, they're going to be these six and six and six seasons and seven and five seasons. And you got to, you probably have to accept that. that or you're going to be in for a world of disappointment. Josh, I know you talked about on your prediction show that you think Arkansas may be going under their season total prediction. And it's a tough situation. Because Sam Pittman, I think, has done a pretty good job other than a bad OC hire

that was bad, didn't work, and they fixed it, and they got better. But I don't know that he's ever going to give him. what they want. No. I mean, I hate it. Like, you guys have been up there. I've been up there. In the spots where the needle peaks,

it's really, it's like another country. It's really incredible to be up there. Like, if you were up there for that Texas game a few years ago. Yeah. It's unbably. It's unbelievable. But that's sort of a blip on the radar screen

over all of where Arkansas football has been. And this is kind of one of those I go back to. Like, I'm saying stuff I don't want to have come out of my mouth right now. wish this wasn't true. But you just hit on one of, I think, the two biggest central stories in the SEC this upcoming year. One of them is how compacted the field is at the top, meaning someone's got to take a bunch of losses, Mississippi State or Kentucky or if Arkansas fits into that group. And then the second part of that is the failure to recalibrate expectations. And that's up and down the conference. I mean, people throw nine and three out perjur.

in Tuscaloosa or in Athens or in places where they've been winning like Austin, Texas, you throw nine and three out and that has such a pejorative connotation to it. And it's not, man, that's not a terrible year. That's not a down year anymore. And then so go downstream and the teams that were normally used to winning eight, you've got to get comfortable with the fact that six wins is not a disaster. But see, you're only comfortable with that based on a pace scale. And if you're paying a coach a certain amount of money, it doesn't matter about geography.

It doesn't matter what history books tell you. It doesn't matter. It's just you're going to pay your way out of which rung you've always been on and up the ladder. And I just don't think that happens the way people envision it. But at the same time, you can't tell someone paying coaches north of $8 million a year to accept what they would deem mediocrity because they're not paying mediocre dollars. They're paying top dollars. I get it.

If I'm, like, if I'm coming off my hip pocket for those season tickets, and I'm contributing to the NIL, which I'd never do, even as a fan, I would never do that. But if I were doing that, you're telling me I'm supposed to be comfortable with six wins, seven wins. No, I'm not comfortable with that. So, like, it's such a catch-22 because I get both sides of it. Yeah. And I started this when the really wealthy coaches were making $5 million.

And the way I explained it is my lizard. brain cannot move fast. It doesn't evolve fast enough to evolve with the pay scale. And back then, I said, if you're making $5 million a year, you better be winning the damn league. Now, if you're making $9 million a year, you better be winning the damn league. Well, guess what? Mark Stoops, probably not winning the league. Making about $9 million a year. Look, if you paid him $20 million a year, he's not winning the league. If I were to have taken the grab claw machine, go to Columbus, Ohio, pluck Ryan Day, and drop him in Lexington, Kentucky and pay him $20 million. He's not winning the league.

So that's just, it's not happening. Might they be incrementally better than they are under Mark Stoops? Yeah, absolutely that could happen. But how much better? Like how, that is crossing the Red Sea. And it's not going to part. There's no magic rod. There's no staff you can lay down and whosh.

So you say that. and here's a good example of what you were asking me about a few minutes ago how do you say that delicately enough where people don't hate you and it is a very very like hundred foot off the ground tight rope walk because you don't want to sound disrespectful to passionate fans because passionate fans is why your entire world exists right so like you got to empathize with that but at the same time you got to shoot straight about it yeah uh man you're you're teaching me how to be a human being tonight i really appreciate it because i've really struggled with that uh i just go it's not happening and then we move on.

Josh, okay, so speaking of Delicate, we're in the SEC, we're talking about big expectations. We're talking about, you know, pay scales and all these things. I'm going to give you three teams. Give me two that are going to be successful and give me one that isn't going to be successful. Florida, Oklahoma, and Auburn. I mean, the first two would be successful for me. The third is, I mean, it's a wild car, but if I've got to pick one that's not going to be successful, I think there's a lot. There's a lot lower floor of the caliber of team. Auburn could be than the other two. The schedule thing is like omnipresent. Anytime you say Oklahoma, anytime you say Florida, you can't even get the words out of your mouth before someone says, but that schedule. So yeah, that notwithstanding. I think the floor is a lot lower. I don't even know what the floor is. I don't know what the ceiling is for Auburn. That is a five and 17, 10 and two team, neither surprises you sort of thing. I think about them. And it's, you know, it's not.

so ironic that it's the same quarterback in the two scenarios I'm about to give you, for examples, rather, but what was Oklahoma last year? Oklahoma was not some fatally flawed top-to-bottom program. They had a fatal flaw. They hired poorly at Offensive Coordinator, or rather they had an oil and water situation with quarterback and offensive coordinator. It didn't work and throw it out. But you looked at the rest of the roster, and the reason I believe in them this year is

because I think they had a really, really good multi-stack. recruiting class situation. They're good at portaling. They just didn't have it at quarterback in OC. Well, then I go to Auburn and I think the same thing. You got multiple classes on top of each other there. You got really, really good, probably an underrated receiver room by national standards because no one has seen anyone that can really throw the ball to him effectively. So they don't know what they have down there. But if you don't have the key to put in the ignition, it doesn't matter what's under the hood. So I'm asking that now about Jackson Arnold at Auburn, the same way I would have been at Oklahoma last year. The other, I got no doubts about Mateer. I got no doubts when he's healthy

about DJ Lagway. I've got no doubts about either of those talent rosters. I'd prefer not to start a true freshman at tackle if I were Oklahoma, but it's college football. Like no one's perfect anymore. I believe in those first two in my own power ratings, like I think they're top 10 caliber teams. I don't quite think that about Auburn. I got a much bigger question mark on Auburn's forehead than I do OU or Florida. Andy, if I can jump in here one more time, I'm very interested it because I'm one of the guys that is watching you the night before on your Friday night lines and you're talking about the power ratings and I know that you have this big battle with everybody of power ratings aren't rankings and all that stuff and I find that to be a very

funny bit. But what's your process for your for making your power ratings and how do you arrive at them? Yeah, partner with a data scientist that speak numbers fluently 10 years ago. Do that. Tell him what you want weighted and then continue to evolve that system over time to where you're doing nothing different than any other person who has their own set of power ratings does. I just think it's a lot more fun to take what's behind the curtain of your predictive modeling and turn it into content. And I will look at the space for a while. I didn't really think no one, I didn't think people were doing that effectively. Like there were some niche-based podcasts that you could listen to, but no one was really like taking the concept of power ratings and doing anything more than referencing them.

Like, to me, I look at that. That is like a stone cold lock piece of content. That's a franchisable piece of content. And it doesn't hurt that there's a certain portion of the public that will never differentiate between rankings and ratings. And so it fills my soul every week to remind people that there is a difference between the two. Yeah, ranking you get punished for lost, a power rating. Alabama loses to Vanderbilt and remains number one. That's because you're just setting the line for next week with the power.

A rating, which you're going to favor Alabama, even though they just lost to Vanderbilt. That's it. Here's the beauty of it, too. So any kind of power rating my model has is not going to differ too much from that of Fanduel, for example. So you can either waste time yelling that, oh, you're just an Alabama homer or an Ohio state homer or you're in the tank for the SEC, or you could realize, wait a second, his numbers look very similar to the Fandual numbers.

Fanduil will let me bet on those numbers. So if they really are flawed numbers, let me just go make a killing on it. Yet every year we get to December, and no one seems to have done that. No new millionaires. It's amazing. All right.

So I found this very interesting with your JP poll rankings. And this is, you know, you have these teams power rank this way. So you've got Florida and Oklahoma both in the top 10. Yep. Florida 9, Oklahoma 10. In your playoff prediction,

which obviously you're now forecasting out. Things can happen, but you have Florida in and Oklahoma not in. So what has to happen for that to happen for the Gators and not to happen for the Sooners? I just trust Florida's offensive line more. Like those predictions are a lot more me tossing that computer aside and just saying, here's what I think is going to happen. Forget the power ratings for a second. I just tell me if you disagree with this.

When you're at this point of the season, do you not find it more comforting when you look at a team and say, okay, if they stay healthy, yeah, duh, everyone needs to stay healthy. But do you not find more comfort in looking at a team and saying, you know, this kind of team profiles is one who could win 19 to 13, but could also win 35 to 29 if they need to. I feel that way about Florida. I went and watched Bama Scrimmage Saturday. I feel that way about Alabama. I think I may feel that way about Oklahoma.

but it's a lot more contingent on offensive line. I don't have a huge question about Florida's offensive line. So that was the difference for me. Yeah. So Jake Slaughter, Austin Barber, those guys. And that's what we say on this show a lot. Like good offensive line gives you a high floor. You know, it travels.

It's one of those things that you always feel comfortable about if you've got a team that has a very good offensive line. And Florida's offensive line got a lot better last season. Oklahoma's is a question mark, which it could be very good. just we don't know yet and you guys have to help me man i'm so irrationally high on auburn right now that's why i asked the question it's a good roster are you know like what i need to do to help myself like i think that they're very undervalued right now as a program maybe the best offensive line they've had in 10 years speaking of a great offensive line they've got two of the best with two of the

top 15 receivers in the country and a quarterback position that at the very least i anticipate will be far along in comparison to where they were a year ago. And I think Hugh Fries knows how to coach. So I don't know if that's going to manifest in more wins or a playoff spot. But I just, I see the love that Florida and Oklahoma are getting and I've shared in that love. Andy, we've talked ourselves into all three of those teams all summer. Yeah, I feel like Auburn. By the way, positive news on Monday on DJ Lagway,

some of the, maybe the first positive news in months that, He was playing an 11-on-11 and looking good and throwing well. Love it. Put him in a hotel room and lock the door. He's still out of practice, buddy. Hey, how about this? So I want you to be right about Auburn. So here's what I want to not caution against.

I want to try and feel that Baylor game out. I think that thing is going to be just ugly. I don't think that Aranda is going to let them beat them running the ball. I think Auburn may be terrified to sling it all over the yard in week one like to me that Baylor game is get in there i don't care if we have to win the thing three to two a la Tommy Tuberville versus Mississippi State you got to win the thing and get out and regroup and then i think it's Oklahoma is the next big game like kind of a lose when they play but i think people may watch Auburn and there's a world where they lose that game and it's

torch and pitchfork time there's a world where they win that game but they win it because Baylor's like minus two turnovers and it's like Auburn didn't win it Baylor just lost lost it. This team is still fatally flawed and they're screwed. And really what it will have been is a game plan that was custom built to go make sure they survive Baylor. And then we'll take the information we got and we'll regroup and we'll throw it all against the wall over the next two weeks. That I'm looking forward to. Like I'm starting to in that game. In the last few weeks, I've gone to that line because I think they're laying a point in a half and typed in a mortgage payment and then hit X. You didn't do how many times?

But that's also, Auburn's a great example of how we overreact to every little snippet. So I'm sure both of you saw the clip the other day from practice of Jackson Arnold not getting the ball out fast enough for Hugh Freeze's taste. And Hugh Freeze takes his visor and slams it to the ground. And it's the whole internet, the whole ass internet is like, well, Jackson Arnold's not going to get it done.

Hugh Freeze doesn't believe in him. Look at Hugh Freeze melting out. guys i spent a lot of time around steve spurier in my younger days he threw his visor a lot when he was mad at the quarterman you you left out the best part though they also had an interview session with hugh freeze after that practice and asked him about throwing his visor and it took every fiber of the man's being to not throw his quarterback under the bus again i don't know if you saw that but it was amazing it did look like he had the collar the shot collar on like i was like i can't do it don't say it don't say it yeah i just

can i just drop in for a second i i've made made it a point to go as many places as I can, spring practice, August, so far, fall camp. That's the thing that got out because someone was rolling on it. And I like how they deleted the tweet like a minute later, but it's already captured. I just want to say, I've been to several places where they're expected to compete for the national championship. The Hugh Freeze meltdown is not even top three that I've seen this August. So I'm just, I'm trying to caution people like it happens. Football coaches get mad at it.

I just want to toss this out there. Believe it or not, you could go talk to Bryce Young or to a tongue of Iloa or any of Saban's quarterbacks. Ask them what they went through in fall camp. And they were eventually going to go on and go like undefeated to win titles. Yeah. And also so much of fall camp, too, is just like who was lucky enough to actually be rolling in that moment.

I think about how many moments like that come and go with nobody capturing it at all. So, like, I don't overreact to that, but I do overreact to the good clips. There was one. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, like when, did you see that one with John Matier, like, sidearm the ball to Dionne Burks in the back of the end zone? I almost passed out, dude. Oh, that is the Kermit Giff. That is the, right of the way.

I was deep at a hole with Notre Dame Twitter when they put the 29 second video of the scrimmage out on Sunday. And it's like, it's like the throw CJ made, you got to see the whole thing. They caught on the touchdown that Kenny Minchie threw. So that must mean it wasn't a good thrott. I'm like, guys, guys, it may have been that the camera person was not in place to get the classic NFL film shot. All we need to do is the unsolved mysteries mask on whoever threw it. So we don't know who the person was that threw the ball. You know, I don't know.

That's, I do love it. That is one of my favorite things, though, just this is a prudering all of the 20-second clips that come out of these practices. Oh, dude, it's one of the things that really ruins Christmas for you the most. if you're a college football fan is you go like seven pages deep on a message board thread about why this video was edited that way by the university. I love living

in that world. Unfortunately, I'll then go talk to the creative media director and it's like you said, Andy, yeah, we just weren't in position for the shot. It had nothing to do with anything. The shot just sucked. The coaches couldn't have cared less what we put out. I don't want to hear that. I spit on that. I dismiss that entirely.

Is there any reason? Is there any other sport where the actual sport intertwines or intersects with conspiracy theory more than college football and why? No, no. And this is, this is even after the interest in recruiting has waned a little bit because of how, you know, like, you know, like more scenario-ish and transactional, the whole thing has become, which I hope we boomerang back to.

But that's, dude, like you rewind 10 years, 15 years ago in the heyday of recruiting. And then that's just another pancake on top of the staff. of the conspiratorial world that is the college football message board to become Twitterverse. I love it. I live in that. Josh, I take it you read as the planes burn. Yeah. The greatest work of fiction in the history of college football. Hey, let me tell you something. I've never spoken about this publicly. There was a poster. All right, so let me back up. I am in 2010. I'm in college. That's when the Cam Newton stuff is happening. I am broke. so were all my buddies.

So we had a count on all of the 24-7 sports message boards at the time. That's what Shannon was running at the time. And so we all used each other's log-ins. One of my buddies, who now lives in North Carolina, that's as specific as I'd like to get, started a, like a series of posts over on the Alabama board, claiming to have, like, tons of inside information about Cam Newton, NCAA investigation and stuff. He happened to be posting it under, like, my name. And so we are now 15 years later, and I can't go on the network, on three or any of the other ones, without every month or so, someone claiming that that was me.

That's 15 years ago. And it was never me to begin with. It was him, man. I remember as the plane, please continue. Yeah. So as the planes burn was on the tiger dropping message board, which by the way, former poster Stormy Daniels, She was on tire droppings. Son of them up.

But it went like 256 pages before they locked it. And it was essentially every conspiracy theory about Cam Newton and what happened with Cam Newton in 2010. And when Auburn announced they were retiring his jersey, that's all I could think of is we need a new chapter of as the planes burn. That is our pyramid. I mean, that is our great pyramid. That is people finding that 3,000 years from now and wondering,

How did they build this thread? Like, how was this impossible? And all you need to know is Stormy Daniels posted on tiger droppings. The Secretary of Defense posted on tax eggs. Absolutely, yes. Yes. And then you also find out later in life, you hear the stories about how many very, very high-level names and media may not have participated without a burner at least, but they were scrolling that thing every day just like Teddy from Tibido was. us like they were glued to it it was it was the best of times yeah if you're if you're a beat reporter

you're not reading the local message board you're not doing it right i mean that's yeah speaking of conspiracy do you guys remember cam wins the heisman and the the show that ESPN chose to follow the heisman the heisman was a lead in for the 30 for 30 SMU um 30 30 you want to talk about It's unbelievable. It doesn't, you can't write that any better. I remember as the planes burns saying, this is ESPN telling us something. They know something. They clearly know something.

They wouldn't do this if they didn't know something. Well, Josh, I'm going to rescue you for a second because I don't want you to get called an SEC Homer. We've talked a lot about the SEC and all these things. But the one thing that did stand out, funny enough, a fan base that currently hates me. Nebraska is in your playoff field. Talk to us about Nebraska and what made you go that avenue with them. Yeah, I tried

not to overthink the room on this. I believe in the Matt Rule, year three stuff. I do believe the market is undervaluing the link up between Holderson and Dylan Ryola. I would just expect progression in Dylan Ryola's game, period. I just think he's paired up with a really good coordinator, and I've got it graded

as the easiest strength of schedule in the Big Ten. So I'm asking myself if they get to 10 and 2, are they in? My answer is yes. I think they're in if they're 10 and 2 and I've actually got them going 10 and 2. So that was a long and short of it. It's not a position by position breakdown. It really was not that in the weeds for me. Yeah. Well, I am excited about Dane Key because I don't think they had anybody could stretch the field last year. We know Whitman Johnson's good. They bring in Elijah Pritchard who started at Tackle at Alabama. They bring

in Rocco Spindler who started in Notre Dame last year. I'm with you on this. My thing is I don't know if it's Nebraska or and you you broke this down very well on your prediction show because you kind of tiered the big 10. There's a tier in the big 10 of Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana. Like these are all teams that could be very good. U.S. C's in there, Andy. Yeah. Which is crazy to think about. But yes. Yeah. That's that's the question to me. in the SEC, it's, I don't even think there's separation hardly between tier one and tier two. In the Big Ten, it's really weird. If you look at the odds board, you've got the Big Three. And then there's Michigan, kind of it may be in like a little area on their own.

And then there's that six or seven team deep tier three. And the last, like recent history of the Big Ten has shown us, it's a pretty fixed Tier one. Like that's a closed club. No one's reaching their hand out of the grave. my big question for that entire conference is, is that the case again this year? And even if it is, like, can someone at least break through and get in the playoff? Because in the SEC, like, you go eight or nine deep. And I think, yeah, I can see that team making the playoff.

How deep is that line in the sand in the big 10? Well, Nebraska, okay, let's say they go 10 and 2. What does that do in that state? How much does that change everything for them? because this is what they've been dying for for a long, long time. So I think people would immediately say, oh, that

would be this year's Indiana or that year's SMU. If you said that, those people would throw rocks at your face because they would think to themselves, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We were always supposed to be here. We fell off for a little while. We're just reclaiming our rightful place in the hierarchy of this sport. And hey,

I say more power to them. But what it would do for the state is it would light it on fire in the best of ways. That would be, I mean, that would be like a rebirth of, you know, you get to tell 19 year old kids that this used to be a mega power program. And now, you know, one year sample size, we'll see what the future brings. Maybe they're back. Well, and I remember talking to Riola at Big Ten Media days. And he was talking about how, how important it was to be in the group that brought it back. And I think for him specifically, because his dad played there, it is, you know, the bloodline, but also the fact that he could have gone to Georgia or he could have gone to Ohio State and he chose to go to Nebraska, I feel like that's the stuff of folk heroes.

And so if they do it, as you just said, it's probably because he took a big step. Yeah. And I think Dana Holgerson has a lot to do with that if it does happen. So I just think about the nuance. Like if you really believe that the Big Ten took itself more seriously a few years ago, let me back up for a second. What I mean by that is I'm a big believer. I've always had a theory that when they signed this latest media rights deal,

there was either an unspoken understanding or an outright spoken understanding. Ohio State, you guys are good. Penn State, you're good. Oregon, you're good. Michigan, we trust you. You're good. You take this stuff seriously. Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Wisconsin.

you guys don't pull your weight like you need to. It's inexplicable that you're not better. You need to be more aggressive. You need to be more all in. You need to hire better. And Wisconsin did that with fickle. Hasn't paid dividends yet. But Nebraska did that with rule. Michigan State did that with Stewart. Like a lot of them have done it. And so now what you're waiting for is you know the seeds got planted. You think the soil is fertile enough. Which one's going to sprout first? So like Nebraska's got a chance. They clearly look like they're in best position to Sprout first this year. But then if they do, okay, all the stuff we talked about, notwithstanding,

beyond that, is it a new wave, like a new crop of tier three becoming tier two in the Big Ten? That's the longer term 2026 and beyond story there to me. Two Big Ten thoughts from me, and I'm terrible at math, so you help me out here. But I think that the extra two teams and the conference that they have equates to more schedule variance and the ability for more teams to potentially do what Indiana did last year.

And secondly, moving gears, I'm not going to drag you into the pits of hell of the Michigan discussion from last weekend. But I do think that Michigan is a highly interesting team this year because they play multiple teams that are in, you know, important parts of their coach's tenure. I mean, they play Oklahoma in week two. That's a really big year for Oklahoma. They play Nebraska in the first half of the season. They play Nebraska without their coach, by the way.

Yeah. They play, hey, they play Southern Cal too. But they're also like a very hard team to read. Everybody's on the Bryce Underwin bandwagon, and, you know, to a certain extent, I guess I am, too. But I have no real feel for what Michigan's going to be. And I feel like what Michigan is is going to tell the story for other teams like Nebraska. Do you have a feel for what you expect out of Michigan this year? And tell me what you think about the sanctions.

Absolutely no feel. No feel whatsoever for what they're going to be. Sanctions, boy, I mean, I'll give you a link to a video. I was joking, but if you want to, yeah, if you want to go into it. Real, so games to talk about, Ari. We just want to bring Connor in. I know he's available right now. Like, you just want to dial him in that.

You know what the vacuums were for? Do what now? You know what the vacuums were for? Because we've, that's what, you know, the pictures of all the vacuums that was on his porch during this whole scandal. Oh, yeah, yeah. That's all I care about. I don't care about anything about the scandal. I just want to know what was going on with the vacuum cleaners.

That's a great question. The FOIA. I mean, if you know, yeah. We want them on the show. Connor, if you're watching. Come on the show for five minutes to explain the vacuum. He follows all. of us on Twitter. We got a shot, guys. He'll probably go on Josh's show first.

I heard from him like two or three times before noon the day that thing dropped. I'll ask him, let me ask him. I hate that I've become the middleman between Erie Wasserman and Connerstein's, but that's where we are in life right now. You need to, if you ever talk to him on your show and you don't ask that question, you're dead to me. Yeah, that's low. That's small J. Journalism, if I don't. Yeah. Came to us all. All right. So that was a great and thorough analysis of the investigatory side of this. As for the on-field side, I got no clue what to expect from them. I do think you got to be careful judging them early in the season because I think they are a quintessential peak late sort of team. I mean, when I get them in November, I think they look

a lot different than when I get them in late August, early September. But you brought up the good point. So they got Oklahoma. They got Wisconsin. That game against Southern Cal, I mean, I want you to think about what the Big Ten could look like. What if Michigan goes and upsets Oklahoma? That would be a small upset point spread wise what if they do that what if they do beat nebraska and meanwhile SC i think their game of the year is low key the game at illinois because i think that sets up the entire rest of their season i mean what if we just get undefeated versus undefeated out there in the coliseum on october 11th and finally i get what i've wished for which is a reason to go to a USC home game as the game of the week because i've been doing this four years now have not gotten to go out there for a game

yet. It is amazing when they're good. Yeah. The Coliseum is so cool when they're good. And that would be fantastic for the new Big Ten, for the sport. And it would be incredible probably for USC because if there's any team that wants to get somebody back for the way they lost last year, it should be USC wanting to get Michigan back. Because Michigan laid bare all of the flaws of the Lincoln Riley administration at USC in one drive you know you want to talk about the sarah mclaughlin special that was the single most humiliating thing i've ever seen uh or at least two minute drive with no pass drive with no throwing yeah yeah pants on the ground nothing you can do about it and there's no excuses either there's nothing that you can even say other than all right guys you got me like i mean like i don't know

i was watching that i was at the oklahoma um tennessee game and that was on the screen in the press box and i was i was dumbfounded i was just watching it dumbfounded it really does become academic at that point. It really is just, we've got a bulldozer, you've got a station wagon, watch what happens. But guys, here's the thing about this. So if they could do that, and I suspect Michigan's defense will continue to be good. We saw Wink Martindale coaching essentially their 2024 backups against a basically full-strength Alabama in the bowl game. And they look good. Like Ray Sean, Benny and company, I have very much faith then. What if, as your new co-host, Taylor-Luan, Michigan grad points out, they didn't have the passing turned off this year?

What if they turn that on? Like, could we be talking about a playoff team? I know you actually said under eight and a half on your prediction show. Yep. But I think given their schedule, if they can throw, there's a good chance of our playoff team. Yeah. The thing I ask in the follow-up is I don't. think anything of their receiver room. So that's the problem. You've got the guy who's capable

of pulling the trigger. Now, that's why I have said with Michigan, and I said it with Lawan today on the episode, I think that they'll drop tomorrow. I said, you won't think this way. Michigan fans won't think this way, but I'm an outsider. So when I look at them, I'm thinking of them through a prism towards 2026, because I think you're a year away. I think of Bryce Underwood putting on a performance this year that makes you say, dude, if he only had wide receivers. And then the follow-up is spend as much money as you need to go get wide receivers so that this time a year from now, we're talking about them the same way that like Oklahoma folks are talking about how they went and attacked the portal or Penn State folks. Hey, we went to attack the portal. We like replenished

our receiver core. If he shows the ability, like if there are nine wins this year, but it's, it's a really, really feisty nine-win team. I think they look and they say we could be a national championship team a year from now. And we're going to make sure we surround him with right pieces. The whole NCAA cloud is behind us. There is no reason, there is no reason whatsoever why a kid should turn us down coming here. We're going to pay top dollar for them. Unlike several years past, we've actually got maybe a best quarterback in the country candidate. That's what, anything they give me this year's gravy, I think it'll be a very inconsistent year. I don't think they have dynamic pass catchers at all. And that's fair because that hasn't been their style.

So I think of them as a transition style type team this year. Yeah, I think about that, too, and I don't know if I'm irrational sometimes or just lack patience. But I feel like, you know, Sharon Moore and his staff, you know, it's their job to, you know, identify that weakness on their roster that we all can identify from our living rooms and fix it before it becomes a problem to fix next year. And they didn't do that. And I don't know if it's harder to get receivers in the portal when you haven't thrown it well or if Bryce Underwood, you know, he committed late. I understand there's mitigating issues and factors there. But, like, if they had one, like, if they would have gotten like Casey Concepcion or somebody, like, there, there were guys out there that, you know, Trevor Pena, you know, Trevor Pena, anyone. Like, think about if they got one of those guys, how we would be viewing Michigan.

I bet you wouldn't be under eight and a half. Yeah, I just think what you said, though, in the initial part of that statement is true. I think you needed pop. I think you needed proof of performance. I think that's what those top dollar kids were demanding. And so I think Michigan would have had to deliver far above a meal. on dollars-wise to land even above and beyond Penn State those Penn State hadn't slung it all over the yard but at least they could sell Drew Aller like what are you selling in the spring

portal what were you selling before we let you go Josh I do want to ask you about another SEC team because I was intrigued by something you said you're talking about Georgia and that if their offensive line went back to being a plus unit that you're talking about a team that that could win the national title. And I think that is, it's interesting with Georgia because they were so stacked with talent. Ari and I always talk about how kind of, it feels like NIL has killed the super team era. And you may not see a team as talented as 21 or 22 Georgia again. But they always dominated on both lines of scrimmage.

And that's been my biggest question is, are they going to have the aliens on the offensive line? also on the interior defensive line to get back to where they want to be. I think it is, like you said, the biggest or most important pivot unit in the SEC. If Georgia is a minus or better on the offensive line, if they're back to their old ways on the offensive line, number one, they'll probably be in Atlanta because I trust the rest of the team. I trust that they will not lose for the same reasons two years in a row. I was told by someone on that staff, the wide receiver room here may be the alpha position group on this team.

I don't know that we've ever said that about a Georgia team, but they didn't say it as if to say, dude, our offensive line's soft. They actually believe, like if Juan Gaston, who is a true freshman battling for a starting guard spot, if he grabs that job, and I think he will, they feel good about that. But yet, you know, the feedback that I've gotten from their staff,

they'll listen to the stuff I say about them. And the fan base, you know, they think you're a hater. Coaching staff kind of echoes the sentiment. Like the coaching staff, you're kind of right. Like, that's how we feel internally. Now, we're confident. We think we got dogs, no pun intended. We think we can get after it.

But, you know, last year we thought some things that didn't end up coming to fruition. But I just think that offensive line is the trigger mechanism for everything else on that team. And that means if it's good, that means you've probably got the answer to try and neutralize when Kiffin comes in your back. backyard, when DeBoer comes in your backyard, when Sark comes in your backyard, when you go play Napier, a neutral site. That's what it all comes down to. And Ari and I were at Ole Miss Georgia last year. And I'm standing on the field watching that unfold. Josh, you were there too, weren't you? No, I was somewhere else. I can't remember. There was another huge, yeah, LSU Alabama was the same day. And so it was shocking watching Georgia get beat up front by that Ole Miss defensive line, which was really

good by the way it wasn't that's not it's not a shameful thing like that was a great group but you just weren't used to seeing it because you'd seen georgia just push everybody around for so long but i think you're right if they can't get back then by one gaston by the way the freshman offensive lineman you mentioned six foot seven three hundred sixty pounds yeah it's not a it's not a normal true freshman that's like some of these people people get like drunk on preview magazine culture think a true freshman starter is a true freshman starter no matter where replacing a starter is replacing a starter no matter where you go watch texas or georgia or ohio state or alabama practice i went and watched oregon practice this past weekend uh no just because you don't know those kids

names does not mean the same thing as not knowing a kid's name at maryland i promise you those are freak shows that it just even in the portal era they've got them waiting in the wing doesn't guarantee they're going to win anything like 11 games but they got them. Andy, I went out to Oregon Pena Sewell's freshman year. I think he'd played a couple games at that point. And Mario Cristobal sees me before practice starts. He's like, you're going to want to take a look at this freshman. I'm down there watching it. I'm like, oh my God. He was in high school last year. How's it even possible? Andy, I've waited 48 minutes and 47 seconds to ambush you. But, But I've got, I think, friendly, I've got a friend.

I've got a comrade in my corner about this topic of conversation that I haven't had on the show in a long time. I think Josh and I were very ganged up on. Very outwardly against the expansion of the playoff at the beginning of this. And Andy has railroaded me with guests for the beginning of time. I'm an idiot. I'm the Game of Thrones gift right now with the whole army coming at him. I'm like, oh, let's go.

But I'm actually going to be nice. I'm not going to sick him on you. I think I know where Josh stands or at least stood on the 12-team expansion. What I wanted to know from you, Josh, is after experiencing it for a year, were there any things that you felt like we were wrong about three years ago when they announced this change and have you come around to liking it at all or would you still put it back at four if you could? I wouldn't put it back at four if I could now because the genies out of the bottle.

Like if I could go back in time where you had never experienced expansion, okay, that's like would I try to save? bowl season but you can't save bowl season now because like the the train's already left the station so i wouldn't i wish that i could go back and wipe everyone's memory clean and then i would just do it a different way i think they did the right thing by changing the seating but now you're you're in the whole overton window thing of you know someone like me who didn't want to expand to 12 well now you're fighting the battle of oh look another leaked story about going to 2014s or 20s which is garbage and i think most of us saw through that but like it's it's all the sudden hey

Maybe stay at 12. Yeah, that's a win. Like, they've got me. 12 is a win now. I'm fine with 12. Yeah. Welcome to the resistance. No.

Yeah. I always said there was a sweet spot. Yeah. And I always thought the sweet spot was 16, but having seen 12, I think 12 is probably the sweet spot. So I would prefer if they would just keep arguing and leave it the way it is. There's one thing that I think I'm guilty or at least was an oversight on my part two or three years ago. I was writing columns screaming at the top. my lungs it's that the expansion of 12 at least made like cam scataboo story matter it made certain

things that we might have overlooked or the stage wouldn't have existed for players to have moments that they wouldn't have had and i think that you know all three of us here even though it might seem at least on my from view of me that i don't i think that the more inclusion of those moments are probably good for the sport good for our audience good for the general fan and Andy and I just have a different viewpoint on what it means for the regular I also think the change in the sport might actually make it right even if it was more wrong before where there are more teams that feel capable of going through that tournament winning national title now than there were four years ago four years ago only five teams could win it it was

stupid to go to 12 but can I float a theory for you yeah sure let's say we never expanded the playoff. It was still 14. Yeah. Let's say that even the portal in NIL don't come along as we've known them. Let's say I do nothing more than remove Nick Saban from Alabama.

How different would the top of the field look? Like Georgia would still be pretty dominant. I'm not saying that we would have rid ourselves of certain programs having somewhat of a death grip. I just think it would have opened the window if you changed nothing other than Sabin's gone from Alabama.

Would we view Urban Meyer is the greatest coach of all time in that case? I mean, let Sabin be at Alabama, but he retires in like 2018 or something like that. Oh, okay. But I'm saying about the time everything started to change, and then you saw the manifestation, or so we allege, of those changes, that's the time Saban retires. And you can even argue Saban retired because of it. But moot point. Oh, 100%. Go back to like 2019, 2020, whatever.

Let's just say COVID turns him off. And he leads. So starting in 2021 and beyond, it's a Sabinless college football world. Let's say none of the other changes happen. You don't expand the playoff. There's no portal. There's no NIL. How much more relatively open do you think the competitive window would have been at the top?

Georgia remains as dominant as they would have been. They don't have their bottoms of their recruiting classes getting siphoned off. Ohio State doesn't have the bottom of its recruiting classes getting siphoned off. Michigan's probably still coming with Harbaugh. Yeah, I agree. So I'm trying to think of who else benefits from that. I think Davo probably benefits from that some.

But would Newblood, like would Lane Kiffin be able to get Ole Miss into the mix? That's the question. Could you make the case that I'm thinking about Bama recruiting classes, okay? And I'm thinking about. about without Sabin. Now, I don't know who they replace Sabin with. Maybe they would have hit a home run on the replacement hire. I think they did with the bore. But like, let's just say

they replaced him with a pretty good option. I think about how it loosens the Alabama recruiting class. And if I add one more player onto Clemson's roster per cycle, Florida's cycle, all but I just think about what that does if you throw the Christmas ornaments all over the place. I did that to all of them. They did. They did. What I'm saying, though, is NIL gets the credit for it. And I'm not saying it hasn't had anything to do with it. I don't think the playoff expansion has had nearly as much to do with it as people. The freedom of movement and NIL had a lot.

And the freedom of movement doesn't get the credit it deserves because you don't have that. I don't think it moves very quickly. I don't think it changes very quickly at all. Always struck me with Sabin, and you know the Christmas ornament thing I think is good, is that a lot of the Christmas ornaments, were on the tree came out of Florida. Yes.

I think that like Sabin is the direct reason why all three of those teams have stunk relative to their expectations for the past, you know, decade. And I wonder if he would have left five or six years earlier what that would have meant for Florida State. What have that meant for Florida and even Miami? See, so you're saying it. The state of Florida recruiting has been the under, not underreported by the three of us, like we see it, but it has been the underestimated story of college football.

Plus, it's Alabama. Alabama, that 20-20 national title game had an entire defensive backfield from the state of Florida, utterly insane. But it's not just them. Clemson's roster, Georgia's roster, Ohio's roster's littered with them as well. And so if nothing else happened other than the big three or at least two of the big three at any given time in the state of Florida, would it somewhat locked down the state. That's two less players for Bama, two less players for Ohio State, two less player for Georgia per cycle. So you could write a whole book just on that topic. And let's just say it was one to stick with your example. Let's just say Florida in this instance is the team that kept them home. If you were to add four to five more elite level Florida players to a roster four times over that four-year period,

that's 20 players in almost a third of your roster, or I mean a fourth of your roster of elite-level players are not on your team. And like if they didn't exist, maybe one of those teams that have won a national title. A great example. is the receiver position. Amari Cooper, Jerry Judy, Calvin Ridley, and then Jeremiah Smith to Ohio State. The list goes on. What is the unusual thing that used to be normal that is now unusual is Florida has the two top rated receivers in the state in the class of 2025 in Dallas Wilson and Vernel Brown. Yeah. It hasn't happened in a long time. Would Dallas Wilson be on Alabama right now if Nick Saban was the head coach.

Very good chance. I mean, he was going to Oregon. Yeah. So if he's willing to go to Oregon, he definitely would have been willing to go to Alabama to play for the greatest coach at the time. Yeah. So, you know, to me, like,

I wonder if, like, Florida is going to be the wire gift, right? Like, let the whole world know we're back up because, like, if they can get their recruiting classes in order. I mean, also, too, we have to be honest about it. Like, the three, big three Florida schools didn't have recruiting first coaches for a long period of that same time. too, right? And Mario Cristobal and Billy Napier certainly are that. Yeah. You know, I don't know

that, you know, Dan Mullen really strikes me as the type of dude that was, you know, looking at people. We're going to talk about recruiting when it's time to talk about recruitment. We'll talk about it when it's time. Yeah, it's time. But like, yeah, it's time, Dan. It's always time. But yeah, that was fun, dude. That was fun. I think the sports better with the Florida teams being good because that was my childhood and USC being good. That was my child, the college football for my childhood hasn't really existed and it would be really fun to see it come back. Think about the mechanisms in place.

All right. So this is another whole storyline we could follow here. Texas and Texas A&M are both back. They're both prime players in the playoff picture, the talent acquisition. They are snatching kids in the state of Texas like they should. The new recruiting momentum at Southern Cal bears close attention, I think there's got to be some validity on the field this year to hold that class together. But if that's the case, all right, that's part two. And then part three is in state programs, Miami's already got it

going. Florida's got it going. If those programs, Southern Cal, Texas schools and Florida schools have their act together, it more so than NIL or the portal is impacting programs that used to just cherry pick. I mean, I'm at Bama the other day. I'm watching Dijon Lee, who is a six, four true freshman corner. Some reps with the ones, by the way, just blanketing receivers. And they got pretty good ones at Alabama. And I'm like, let me check Southern Cal Kid.

Okay. Like, if that's all the sudden roaming the sideline at USC in mass, instead of going 3,000 miles to rural southern teams to play, that's a game changer. He's from Mission Viejo, isn't it? It's either modern-day Michigan VA. It's somewhere. Already can't imagine anybody would move from there to that.

I can't imagine anybody would move from a beautiful Southern California town to two. Hey, Josh himself said he's been dying for the last four years to go out to a home game at USC. I'm not the only one who thinks California is elite. I'm trying. My balls are in their court. I'm trying. I just don't understand what happened when Caleb was there. There wasn't one game.

Yes. No, there wasn't. I'm trying to tell you. There wasn't. The Caleb Williams game for me was when he was still at Oklahoma, going to Red Herb. That was a good one, too. Yeah, it was. All right, before, all right, one last question.

Because I'm fascinated, since you've been going on these tours, what's your favorite game? What's the one that you always remember you were there? It was the one we just mentioned. It was Red River Shootout, which is what I can still call that game. And it was the game where Caleb came in and leads Oklahoma back. Texas has a pretty big lead. They lead Oklahoma back.

but now imagine growing up in rural Georgia, you are preached to about the Iron Bowl because you're close proximity to Auburn. You view Ohio State Michigan as overrated as a rivalry and you view Red River as a distant third overrated as a rivalry. So that was the backdrop. That was sort of the tapestry against which my childhood was lived. So I get to go to the Red River shootout for the first time. The experience is otherworldly. And I'm taking the story I'm about to tell you back to my friends back home. So this is what happens. I go sideline for most every game I go to. I have no interest in being in the press box.

And so I'm on the field. It's the cotton bowl. It was built shortly after the Mayflower came over. You check me on the date, but it's not too long after the Mayflower came over. So you got one tunnel in, one tunnel out. You got the state fair going on. So if you're on the sideline, you've got the first half, clock ticking down. I think there was a field goal right at the end of the first half.

I'm standing in the tunnel. As soon as it hits and the bell rings, I run up. I go buy tickets at the ticket window. I go play some carnival games. I get myself a funnel cake. I want a chicken head, a little chicken hat, by the way. And then you go back into the stadium, and I kid you not. You want to talk about cinema now.

You're walking down that tunnel. Both teams share that tunnel. And so I'm walking back out onto the playing surface as the second of the two teams is headed back out. There's also artillery after like every score, every first down, everyone takes the field. So you have to either plug your ears or just deal with it. And I realized, I said I love. loved the sport, but I really didn't know how much I loved it until I got to experience that

game. That is my favorite setting in college football, is the Cotton Bowl, OU, Texas. I know that there's some close seconds. I'm not discounting Rose Bowl. I'm not discounting any of that. The Cotton Bowl, OU, Texas, unbelievable. And that, my friends, is the power of funnel cake. Yes. Yes. I still have pepper sugar on my black shirt during the second half that someone had to point out to me. Hey, buddy. Underrated snack in existence. White powder there. It's just funnel cake powder.

Just funnel cake, buddy. That's the only place that they say that. The cops go, all right, that checks out. Yeah. What did I have last year, Ari? We had the, Korean dog. There it is. Cheeto dusted Korean corn dog.

Yeah, that was a, that was a corn dog with cheese and spicy, flaming hot Cheetos. We both ate it. Yeah. You had a turkey. We ate a lot. Yeah, that was really good. Fortunately, it wasn't much of a game. I didn't have to think very much.

Basically, I just critiqued Oklahoma's offense and how back the scheme was. We had a day that day. But, yeah, we see Josh on the road quite a bit, so we're usually in the same spots. But that is the joy of this job. The joy of this job is we grew up where we grew up, and we were exposed to certain types of. And so my mom went to Alabama, so she taught me all about Alabama. My dad went to South Carolina. I grew up in the state of Florida.

And so that was my exposure to it. then I get to do this job and I get to go to see games at Penn State and see games at Ohio State and see games at Oregon and games at Oklahoma. And you get to see what everybody else grew up with and why they fell in love with it. And it is awesome. Yes. Yes. I went to Washington two years ago for the first time when DeBore played landing up there at 3330 game. And I remember so vividly thinking this is one of the top five loudest places I've ever heard. I never thought I would say that. but then also I got in the building early it was a I think a noon Pacific kickoff or like 1230 I got in there like early in the morning you're watching the sun come up over the sound it's just

it looks like a screensaber and so I remember thinking to myself I grew up in the deep south and so like I watched Georgia people and Alabama people and Auburn people every Saturday in the fall my entire life I was up at Washington in Seattle and I was thinking to myself these people have been sailgating. These people have been doing this and coming to this venue and looking at this incredible painting of a setting their entire lives. And I wasn't even aware this was going on up here when I was a kid. Yeah, Laning definitely still should have gone for it. So, you know, I still agree with every one of those fourth down calls. Ari, by the way, is terrified of covering a game there because Mount Rainier is an active volcano. You know that? True. That's true.

I just wait at any moment. Hey, buddy, I honeymoon down in St. Lucia and had to explain to the new wife what the difference is between dormant and extinct because she thought it was extinct the volcano down there and it is very much just dormant yeah yeah i think you tell it back you but like can you be this maybe this millennia this millennium maybe next millennium yeah josh we kept you for a millennium but it has been a joy thank you so much and uh we're so happy that that you are hanging with us now and and and not the competition and and we can call you up every once in a while and cannot wait to see

all the things you got playing for this season. Where are you guys going week one? Do you know yet? Clemson. Clemson, okay. All right. We're not, yeah. Do you lap it out beyond week one, or do you just wait and see? No. We just kind of wait and see

because I think a lot of it is you've got to, you kind of got to ride the momentum. Because I've had some situation, like when I was at SI and I was doing a game every week, I had so many situations where I was kicking myself because I had planned this out preseason. I'm going to be here. And I'm sitting there like, why am I here?

There's no way to avoid it. We were at A&M, Texas last year when Ohio State lost to Michigan. Like, you can't, you know, you know. Greatest video we've ever done on the side of a road next to a Texas Roadhouse. We, he lives. I got a sad Texas Roadhouse story that I will tell before we were at this. There are no sad Texas Roadhouse stories. I got one.

I got one. And when I tell you, I grew up, I grew up on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, I never left Columbus, Georgia. I barely went west of the Chattahoochee, and I lived on the Chattahoochee. I never been to Savannah, Georgia a single time my whole life, and I grew up in the state. So we didn't travel. We didn't go anywhere. Texas Roadhouse comes to Columbus.

I kid you not. I've been to that one. We went there five nights a week. It's like just a delicacy. I mean, that because we couldn't really do the Red Lobster because that's too pricey. So I am convinced that Texas Roadhouse is a local restaurant that someone has opened in Columbus, Georgia. To the point where when I finally like leave Columbus for a little while and I see a Texas Roadhouse in like Birmingham or, you know, Carrollton, Georgia or somewhere, I'm thinking, oh, wow, that restaurant that started in Columbus like they branched out, I was that ignorant to it. I didn't even know it was a chain restaurant.

I had no idea. Texas Roadhouse was a chain restaurant. And you want to talk about fish scales being peeled off the eyes. That's when I realized the world is bigger than Harris County, Georgia, after all. Yeah. Well, there are no fault of your own. No, no, it's my fault. It's absolutely my fault.

It is not your fault. But it's interesting because I have one like that, too. We went to this delightful Italian restaurant. I lived in Longwood, Florida, Orlando, suburbs, Seminole County. there was this delightful Italian place in Altamont Springs called the Olive Garden. The OG, absolutely. Actually, was the first one, though. Yeah.

That's actually a better story because if you got in on the ground floor of Olive Gardens before it spread, that's great. That's something to brag about. There's no better restaurant on the face of the earth than to just gorge yourself than Texas Roadhouse. You would feel like it's so good that you would feel like it transcends above the chain. So I could see. I actually haven't. And it's the cousin of Texas Roadhouse, Logan's Roadhouse story in the state of Georgia. I was driving from either, I think I was driving from Atlanta to Columbia, South Carolina,

going to see probably Coach Spurrier, I think, when he was coaching at South Carolina. And I stopped for dinner in Augusta at a Texas Roadhouse, or it was at Logan's Roadhouse, actually. The hopped on the road, yeah. It is hopping on a Friday night. Everybody's, like, people are dressed to the nines. And I, we were, my parents were high. school teachers growing up like if we could go to steak and ale that was big night for us and it just

brought me back because I've been very lucky I've gotten to go to some very cool places you know some michelin starred type places but that Friday night at a place like that where they serve very cold beer in pitchers and you can get a decently priced steak and the rolls are awesome there's nothing better nothing better oh man I just throw your peanut shells on the floor they'll clean it up it doesn't matter it's heaven yeah almost heaven they you know almost heaven the next lyric is west virginia now that's right well it's tudors biscuit world but that's another story for another day and we we we can do this forever josh so thank you so much i know you've got to get to state college tomorrow but we will be watching uh enjoy james

franklin and his rant about the hot dog with ketchup only because it's coming i appreciate you guys Nice, Josh. Appreciate for being here, man.