Andy & Ari On3 - Kirk Herbstreit on why Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss is THE FACE of CFB, Notre Dame's title hopes

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

On Thursday night, Andy had the chance to sit down with ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit in Orlando. Watch here as the notable television analyst sits down with Andy as he explains why Trinidad Chambliss will be this year's face of college football and why Notre Dame is his pick to win the title. Do you agree with Kirk? Is Trinidad Chambliss really going to be the face of college football this year? Is Notre Dame the right choice to win it all this year? A jam-packed show you won't want to miss.   (0:00) On Today's Episode (1:05) Presenting Sponsor (2:52) Intro: Previewing Kirk Herbstreit (3:47) Zak Herbstreit's trip to BYU (4:33) Kirk Herbstreit joins (8:48) SEC QBs (12:55) QB that will take the leap (15:21) Gametime (17:27) LSU & Jayden Daniels latest (23:13) Skip Bertman's passing (25:26) Dear Andy & Ari (25:35) Ohio State: End like 2024 or 2025? (35:09) QB Stars Matter? (49:23) Tealbloods? (53:22) Miami & Tennessee (54:11) Indiana & Ole Miss (55:33) SMU (57:20) Clemson (58:40) SEC: Kentucky? (59:39) Texas Tech & BYU (1:01:25) Arkansas (1:04:04) Would you forget about basketball? (1:05:38) Closing out, thanks for watching!   After Kirk Herbstreit, Andy provides the latest on the Jayden Daniels and LSU saga as the former Heisman trophy winner filed a cease-and-desist of his name, image, and likeness for LSU's current CB DJ Pickett wearing the number five jersey.   Also from LSU, legendary baseball coach and athletic director Skip Bertman passed away at the age of 88. Andy remembers the iconic Tiger legend by sharing a story of an interaction with him.   Next up is Dear Andy & Ari, and you have some great questions...   Would Ohio State rather have a finish like 2024 or 2025 this year? Are QB stars more important? Is there a new tier called "Tealbloods"?   Our show is presented by Polymarket!   New User Offer: Deposit $10, get $20 upon sign up   https://app.polymarket.us/S8ac/ON3   Trade on College Football games every week on Polymarket. Download the Polymarket App with code ON3 for a $20 bonus upon sign up.   18+ only. Restrictions and eligibility requirement apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur.   We are sponsored by Gametime! Take the guesswork out of buying tickets to every type of event with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Gametime.co   Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's Andy and Orion 3 presented by Polly Market. Kirk Herb Street joins the show. I caught up with Kirk in Orlando. We talked about who might be able to win the national title this season and who he thinks will be the face of college football. Plus, an update on the Jaden Daniels LSU situation. Yeah, it's a dumb story. But everybody wants to talk about it

because it just gets weirder and weirder and weirder. Also, great questions from you to me and Ari. We answer questions about who the teal bloods are. What's a teal blood? Well, you'll find out. But basically, it's a team that knows how to spend its money wisely. Who are the teal bloods in college football? We'll answer that question from you guys.

Big day, big show. Happy Friday. This is Andy and Ari on 3 presented by Polymarket. We got a new sponsor alert, Ari. We are now brought to you by Polymarket. That's right. Available in all 50 states. Download that Polymarket app.

And now we're taking positions. It's what we're always doing. We're moving markets. It feels great. Yeah. We're market movers, guys. Exactly. So this works very much like what you're used to.

The difference is, well, if you've traded soybean futures or pork bellies, You're really going to know what's going on, but basically you're taking a position saying something to the tune of, I don't know, I think Auburn will win more than seven and a half games. And based on how many other people take the position either with you or against you, that changes your payout. And it also changes as the season goes on. So you've got that. You've also got positions you can take on games that are going on right now, like Major League Baseball, or once college football gets kicked off, there will be positions on. on games that are going on. There will be spreads.

It will be very similar to what you're used to. So, download the Polymarket app and use the code on three. New users get $20 when they deposit 10 on sign-ups. So you deposit $10, you get $20 from Polymarket, and you start trading. Ari, it feels like football season, man. There's nothing better than my two favorite things in the entire world, Andy, college football and trading. That's right. So let's start trading with Polymarket.

Download that app, use the code on three. When you deposit $10, you get $20 right off the bat. Ari, let's have a show. Let's have a show. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur.

Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by Polly Market. Happy Friday. It's always fun. Going into a weekend when you know you're that much closer to college football, that's right. We are 15 days away from Week Zero games. You can feel it in the air. I was down in Orlando Thursday night. Kirk Herb Street and I took the stage at a Florida Citrus Sports event. That's the group that puts on the Pop-Tarts Bowl and the Citrus Bowl. And we had a lot of fun with some people who were there were Florida fans and Florida State fans and UCF fans and there were some Penn State fans and one Notre Dame fan in the back who was very happy because Kirk's pretty high in the Irish. And it was a very fun event.

I got a chance to catch up at Kirk beforehand. And we had a good chat. Obviously, Kirk's son, Zach works it on three now. So if you haven't seen the video yet where Zach Herbstreet goes to Provo for off script with Zach Herbstreet, he had said some stuff about Provo. And the folks for VYU, Rishat said, hey, just come here and see the place. Just come here and see the place. I think he made me move into Provo. After that. But he's doing a great job. So we talked a little bit about that. We talked about

Kirk asking about the me and Ari dynamic. And then we got into the meat of it. How many teams he won the national title? Who are the quarterbacks he's excited to see? And also, what about the fighting Irish? How legitimate are those national title chances? Talk about all that with Kirk Herbstreet right now. You join on three? Love it. My young, my middle son's there. Oh, yeah. I saw Zach. week. Oh, really? So actually, we can, we can, we can, we can talk about this because you know he's the mayor of Provo, Utah now, right? Has he, I love that he went out there. Has he, has he, has he talked to you about that? Like, he told me about the trip. He was so excited. He's ready to go

back. He may cover every Utah. I know. So. Yeah, that was cool that he went out there and got the experience, met Kalani. I said, you're going to have, it's a great town. I mean, it's, now, have you given him hot take advice? I've told him, don't be a hot take guy. Okay. Is he being a hot take? No, no. He's been very, very cautious and polite. Okay. But yeah, it's weird for me because coming up as a writer, you know, you didn't really do a lot of opinion at first. I was a beat writer.

Yeah. And then I started writing columns and sometimes you do. Well, you got to be opinion. And then so I just moved that to now saying that stuff on camera. Yeah. But boy, it makes a difference when there's video of you saying it. Oh, and it lives forever in the world. Are you or are, who's the, who's the.

antagonist who who does it depend on the top ari for sure 100% 100% so you good cop bad cop I'm usually the mean cop oh really or maybe I'm in the smart cop yeah I can see that R is the dumb cop no I just kidding no Ari is Ari is the best because Ari does not view the world like anybody else yeah so I love bouncing things off him because I want to hear his take yes I want to hear where he's going last time we talked and we were talking about social And I remember saying to you guys, are you got to lay off of, you know, like, I don't, my kids, you know, help. And from that day on, it was like, oh, I guess it's your kids tweeting it. I'm like, you guys, it's insane.

I'm like, I took a break. Yeah, Lane Kiff is taking a break now. Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah. His son, either his son made a better, Greg Sanky told him not to. Yeah. Depends on who you believe. Yeah.

Lane says. He'll be back. Yeah, no, no doubt. So I don't know about you. I am very excited. for this college football season because I was, I've been on shows and they keep asking me, well, who do you think has a chance to win the national title?

And they'll say, well, it could be like as many as six or 17s. I'm like, no, it could be like 15. I'm with you. I'm with you. I was saying earlier, you know, usually if we were sitting around talking like this in middle of August, it was Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and Clemson. And it was it. It's like everyone else, you have to catch lightning in a bottle.

Not now. Yeah. You know, and let's face it, none of us really knew with this NIL and this portal. At first, we were scared of it. We didn't really know what to think of it, especially a guy like me, I assume you, kind of traditionalist, kind of set in our ways. I get my arms around paying the players.

I just, I didn't realize it would just be this many players and basically being bribed to play for universities. And at first, I didn't really like the idea of that. But now, like, seeing the talent more evenly spread out, I enjoy it. Like, I enjoy Vanderbilt. I enjoy Indiana. I enjoy teams that really,

never had a chance to really be in this discussion. And now everyone's kind of in a discussion. I'll shout out my high school economics teacher, Anna Van Lendingham at Lake Mary High, because she's the one who had me comfortable with how the pay scale was going to work. Oh, really? And just learning that in class and how just how markets operate and supply to me. Did you think when this first started, this is where we're going? Yes, I thought that.

But what I didn't know is how bad it would get in terms of the guys just holding schools hostage. I don't like that part. But the part where Alabama and Georgia couldn't just stockpile. A bunch of first rounders. Yeah. Oh, we lost our left tackle? No problem. That's okay.

Yeah. Next guy. Well, and think about it. You know, I go back to when Alabama and Georgia played for the national title in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. They lose Joan Williams, their left tackle. In comes Alex Leatherwood. First round pick. Yeah.

At one point, there were four or five true freshmen on the field those last couple drives for Alabama, right? Yeah. They just had, it was freak show. Yeah. It was just like, no problem. We're good. Day Smith was a freshman. Right, right, right.

Too, I mean, it's so much fun to watch that, those days. But I also, I don't know, like, if I asked you right now, who do you like in the SEC, doesn't it just come down to quarterback play? Like, there's so much equality at skill and defense. It's just like, I don't know, which, and the SEC's loaded with quarterbacks. And it feels like the quarterback play is going to be better because the guys that were getting broken in last year, like Arch, are more comfortable. But like, it's interesting I was thinking about this because I did a mock playoff and I said, I got to take a swing.

So I put Michigan in there. But I dropped Ole Miss out. Okay. And I immediately regretted it because I was like, wait, I just dropped Ole Miss out and left Oklahoma in. But do I trust Trinidad Chamblest more than I trust John Mathew? And I think I do like Trinidad Chamliss to me, he, I think is going to be the face of college football this year. I think he's as good as a sport has to offer at that position. He's the guy I would trust the most.

Totally. Right now. Based on the way we watched him play this last. Because I'm not an NFL GM. Like I'm not worried about if I am stocking a college football team and you're saying pick a quarterback. Hard to beat him. That guy's a stud. And the way he does it too, right?

I mean, I love his story too. I mean, to think about. Fair estate. How does that happen? Like nobody, none of us. I was sitting here this time last year. We were previewing Ole Miss. Austin Simmons.

I was on the field when he let him. is Georgia? Yeah. How do you not think he's going to be after getting a taste? And that wasn't great weather that day. He just went ding, ding, ding, ding. I was like, oh my God. I was standing on the sidelines.

I watched Jackson Dart go into the locker. I'm like, well, this is, this game's over. It's over. All of a sudden, the lefty comes in. I'm like, who's this dude? And meanwhile, he's Missouri starting corner right now. I know. I know.

Yeah, when they law, when he went down early, Australia, I was like, just like we did with Dart, I was like, oh, well, that was a cute story. And then here comes Trinidad, Chamblest. So you just, it's impossible. It's impossible to know who's going to, like Josh Hoover. I thought Josh Hoover did some really good things when he was at TCU. And I think he's going to a scheme that's very, very different.

Like his coach said, we got a running game, we play defense. He's going to have to make better decisions, but he's maturing, you know. What is it, three years of TCU? And, you know, I love IU this year. I mean, how do you not love? Well, and I've, I'm not doubting Cignetti ever again. Like, I screwed up last year. I left him out of my way too early.

top 25 and then our advanced stats guy at on three did a top 150 impact players and Indiana had as many as anybody like they had to be as many as Texas and it's like oh okay they're they're going to be legit but what's interesting about that is a lot of those guys when he picks up transfers he doesn't go to Ohio State or Texas yeah he finds diamonds in the rough yeah evaluation and then development and fit into his scheme but they all and he has two of the best coordinators that outside of Lewington and the Big Ten, I don't know if a lot of people appreciate how good his coordinator are. Well, and that's the thing. If he lost Mike Shanahan or Brian Haynes, I would wonder, does he keep up? Are they going to be okay? Lost his strength coach to Tennessee.

Yes, Derek Goins. Yeah. That's a big deal. But the coordinators being back. And as long as he's there, I use a, they're real. Yes. And that's the thing. I'm sure you get this all the time. People think they're a flash in the pan, can't believe what happened. Oh, he'll, but it's so funny how it's changed because I had somebody write to me the other day and say, Well, what if they just win nine games this year? I'm like, it's still Indiana winning nine games. No, no, no, no. Like when you're a nine win or plus program, you're, I don't care.

Whether you make the playoff or not, let's get back to reality. Nine wins, that's a hell of a year. You know, in Indiana, I mean, they're going to name a street after you. Right, five years ago, nine wins in Indiana. You're crazy? I know, that's how quickly things change, right? Then they lose his program in history comes to football. And now nine wins sucks.

Before I let you go, I want to. asked that we talked about the quarterbacks that kind of got broken in last year. Yeah. Who are you most excited to see your two? I'll get like we were in Columbus last week, sat down with Julian Sayan. Yeah. Dude's been in the squat rack. Like he looks different.

But Julian Sayan, CJ Carr, Arch Manning, guys that we started to learn about last year, but I'm wondering who takes that leap? Jordan Maiva, Maiva, because he played the previous year late with some injuries, but I still look at him as a kind of second year guy. I may be wrong. I just think there's something going on out there this year. I think they could be real. Lincoln seems to be talking differently.

He's got a little edge to him. I felt the same way. And I talked with him. I think he's excited. And Gary coming over to run the defense. I don't know. I think they have a chance to, and I think Penn State,

I know Beck's played a lot of football, but I think Matt Campbell, we were talking earlier about Summerall in Florida. Yeah. two guys that just fit, like, that's what these programs needed. I would say Penn State and Florida are probably the two guys that came in, and I think they're going to hit the ground running, especially Penn State, because of their schedule, because of all those Iowa state transfers.

But I think Maiva, and I think Archmanning is going to get so much attention. Let me say C.J. Carr. Because I think Notre Dame has a real, look at their schedule. Compared to what the Big Ten and the SEC go through, it's kind of embarrassing. I mean, they, they could walk to 11 and 1. I mean, they, USC hadn't gone out of it. Right. I love that BYU jumped in.

I'm glad they did. Yeah, that's a good game. We have SMU and Miami late, but they're a home in November. It's BYU, Miami, and SMU. Yeah. There's three games. Yeah.

I think C.J. Carr, I just, I watched him in an elite 11 thing back in Massland, Ohio, when he was going into his senior year of high school. And there was just a presence about him that was different from all the other guys, maybe some taller, maybe some faster, maybe some through the ball. But there was something about him that I just left thinking, that kid's got, like, whatever it is, that kid has it.

And then I was excited to see what he would do when he went to Notre Dame. And I was like, I can see why Marcus feels so good about this. I think Notre Dame can win the national title. Not only they get in the playoff, I think they'll have a bit of a chip on their shoulder. They did such a great job of just not complaining. They got left out. Could have made a very strong case to be in last year. I think that carries the day for them this year.

I think he's going to have a monster year. I think Notre Dame could win at all. That's it. Replacing two first roundbacks, but maybe the best receiving court they've had in years. It'll be fun. Kirk, thank you so much. Always, man.

Appreciate it. That is Kirk Herb Street. And he is headed to Baton Rouge week one. That's where college game day is going to be. That's where Kirk and Chris Fowler will be calling the LSU Clemson game. Clemson at LSU, Lane Kiffin's debut as LSU's coach. If you would like tickets to that game, you can get in there on game time for as little as $183.

Now, you want to sit 50 yard line down low? You might be closer to $500. This is a hot ticket. Lane Kiffin's debut, Davos-Sweeney bringing the Clemson Tigers in. Who's the real Death Valley situation going on here? But it is going to be a fun game. to be wild in Batoners, going to be great atmosphere week one on Saturday.

Hey, maybe you want to see Louisville and Ole Miss on Sunday. That's another big one. That's going to be another really fun game as we get you ready for, you know, LSU going to Ole Miss and Lane Kippins returned to Oxford in week three. But the rebels start out with a very tough game against Louisville. That's going to be in Nashville. Well, you can get tickets for that game for under 100.

bucks right now. That might be the game of the weekend, week one. 81 bucks is the get in price right now on game time. Download that game time app. Use the code staples for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply, of course. Every football game, baseball game, basketball game, concert, comedy show, you name it. They're all on game time. I used game time a couple weeks ago. We took my daughter to the Megan Maroni concert in Sunrise, Florida. It was spectacular. The seats were great. We knew exactly how we'd be seeing the stage because you can see that on game time. So let's say you want to go to Clemson, LSU, you click on the ticket you want,

and it will show you that exact view from that exact seat. You'll know exactly what you're getting in. And by the way, no hidden fees. The price you see is the price you pay. So download the GameTime app, Dean of Code Staples for $20 off your first purchase. Let's talk LSU because that Jane Daniels story absolutely blew up yesterday. And I get it. I had people texting me all day like, Andy, this is a dumb story.

Why do you guys keep talking about it? Well, one reason is it blew up and that's all anybody wanted to talk about on Thursday because I think there's the confluence of factors here. It's an LSU story. It's Elaine Kiffin's story. It's a Jaden Daniels story. It's a Washington commander's story. It's an NFL story.

And it was also a really slow news day. So all of that, you know, roll into one. and you get a legitimate kerfuffle over the number five, and whether DJ Pickett should be wearing that or not. We know what Lane Kiffin said about it, because he said it last week when DJ Pickett came out, the number five, because the folks who cover LSU knew something was percolating here.

And then, of course, the letter from Jaden Daniels' attorney comes out. And I don't know that Jaden Daniels or, you know, maybe it's, maybe it's Jane Daniels' mom, but whoever had this idea that it was time to bear down and say, you cannot give out my number. How dare you give out my number? I don't think they calculated what the response was going to be. I don't really think they understood how that was going to look

and how that was going to be taken. because I would say the prevailing sentiment here was not in favor of Jaden Daniels and the number five, and that being sacred. And, you know, again, Joe Burrow getting that treatment, they're not giving out number nine. So I get why Jane Daniels might be mad, but there is no upside to this for him. It is blown up in his face. And again, I don't know if it's him, his mom. who's actually doing this, but it looks bad on his part.

And all you need to do is read the statement that Jaden Daniels put out on Thursday when clearly it was now damage control time. I have been locked in on training camp, and that's been my number one focus. I have a lot of gratitude for my time at LSU, and I'm proud of what my teammates and I accomplished there. Obviously, there are issues to be worked out between my team and LSU, and my hope is that it will get done privately. My sole personal focus is on commanders football.

I realize the business of football is unique, and I trust all of this can be resolved. Yeah, this is a response to people going, hey, Jaden, why are you worried about DJ Pickett wearing your number at LSU when you should be worried about winning games for the commanders? Because, you know, you went to the NFC championship game your first year and you guys stunk last year. Now, Jaden got hurt, obviously.

But this is a bad look when you're in the middle of training camp because it clearly looks like you're focused on other things. He puts the blame on, quote, unquote, his team. Here's the thing. If Jaden Daniels goes, I don't care about this, it goes away immediately. Jaden Daniels can say, hey, lawyer representing me, just tell him, don't worry about it. You could do that right now. It doesn't have to be resolved privately.

It can be resolved very publicly. Hey, I'm not worried about it. Don't worry about it. It's cool. That's it. That's all you got to do. Meanwhile, DJ Pickett said his piece on this. He was promised the number.

He's wearing the number. Here's DJ picking. About the number situation. What a number of my whole life since I was four years old. It was a number I was promised. Yeah, and I wish Jayden the best. Good player. And he did real good here.

So that's all. That's all! That's all! The funniest response to that, that video started making the rounds on the internet of DJ Pickett at the press conference. And the funniest response was that first DJ Pickett interception of Jane Daniel, is going to hit like crack. It's what somebody wrote underneath the video.

And we're ways off from that because DJ's got at least two more years in college. But as long as he's healthy, DJ Pick is going to be in the NFL. And they may see one another someday. But yeah, this all could be taken care of very easily by Jayden Daniels if he wanted to or if his mom wanted to. But clearly they're continuing to press the issue. I don't think it's going to matter for LSU. DJ Pickett seems to be moving on with his life,

wearing the number five. Lane Kiffin has said his piece on this, and well, we'll see how it goes. Remember, Lane Kiffin has not given out the seven or 18 jerseys yet, which are special in LSU lore. Seven is Patrick Peterson wore it, Leonard Fournett, Grant Delpit, the Honey Badger. So that's kind of the playmaker number.

And then there's 18, which is the leader, the heart and soul of the team. number. So those numbers are going to get given out at the end of camp as well. This all might go away if, you know, DJ Pickett is honored with the number seven jersey. But if DJ Pickett wants to wear number five, Lane Kiffiths is probably going to be like, you know what, you could help me win games right now. So I'm cool with that. You wear number five all you want. But that is the current situation with the number five and LSU that became a huge story Thursday that, I think if there had been any other news,

I don't think it would have been such a big story, but everybody was fascinated by this thing. There was some sad news out of LSU on Thursday. Skip Burtman, the former baseball coach and athletic director at LSU passed away. Beloved, beloved figure in LSU athletics, helped bring LSU's baseball program to absolute national prominence.

And it's a huge, baseball is a huge sport there. And then he was the AD there for a long time. I remember covering a game in college. I was working for the student newspaper at Florida, and LSU came to town for a weekend series, a Friday night game, and they had a pitcher named Randy Keisler,

who was really good through 98 miles an hour consistently. I think he was hitting 98 in like the eighth inning. He threw a gem of a game, but Florida's pitchers were good that night too, and LSU ends up losing on a walk-off wild pitch in either the bottom of the ninth or the bottom of 10th. I can't even remember which one. And I remember we hustle down and we're interviewing everybody and Skip Burtman's sitting in the dugout and we're all standing around him.

And I said, I said, coach, how do you get over a loss like this? And Skip Burtman goes, pills, pills. And he just looks right at me, he goes, son, I'm not a football coach. We're playing another game tomorrow. And I just love that. I mean, that was Skip Burtman in a nutshell. He just always, always funny, great coach. knew what to say and uh rest in peace skip burtman and and condolences to his family and to everybody to

ls u because he was truly one of a kind so that is uh that is the lsu update there always seems to be something going on there so uh but but yeah rest and peace skip burtman and now maybe we they move on to the business of of lsu football of getting ready for clemson and look i get it we we are going to blow up anything LSU because of Lane Kiffin, because we know when we talk about Lane Kiffin, you guys watch it. And so there may be another little 10% of teapot that happens before they actually play a game. But we're not that far away. We've got three weeks till LSU and Clemson kick it off in Tiger Stadium in primetime.

That's the college game day game. It is going to be so much fun. You know what else is fun? When Ari and I get to answer your questions, you guys had some great ones this week. So here is Dear Andy and Ari. All right, Ari is my favorite time of every week. Dear Andy, dear Ari, when the folks ask us the questions, we attempt to answer them.

Some really good ones this week. Folks have been listening to the show, and the topics are definitely hitting home. So I want to start with one from Rich. Dear Andy and Ari, I'm aware that I might be shouting this for my lawn, but as someone who did not attend or have a local connection to Michigan or Ohio State, that game mattered a lot more when losing meant you were eliminated from national title contention. When you can lose, finish fourth in the conference, and win the postseason tournament,

the rivalry game doesn't matter as much. I always try to finish Dior Andy and Derey with the question. Do you think Ohio State would rather have the season to end like 2024 or 2025? So this is, you know, Rich listen to the whole conversation about Bryce Underwood and Kyle Whittingham and the rivalry. and and this is he's just pressing the Ari button here. You know that that scene in Billy Madison where the kid threw the sandwich at the bus driver. And yes,

he's grabbing the steering wheel. That's how I feel right now. You might be the next rest of peace to Chris Farley, by the way. But I'll turn this damn bust around. I'll lend your little precious field trip. it would be insane to say that they would rather get knocked out from the playoff than win the national title. I think that.

But the part of the question that really kills me is that he's correct. That part of the reason why we're seeing the rivalry sentiments slip away is because they ultimately don't really, in most cases, or in some cases, impact your ultimate goals. Um, so the thing that I think is interesting and, and hopefully special about the Iron Bowl and Ohio State, Michigan and other rivalries of that ilk is that the hatred or the passion and the importance of winning that game will withstand, um, what happens in the season. So I think that they would certainly rather win the national title than not win the national championship. But God, Andy, it sucks. that that's even a question. It does. And the thing is, like, I don't think it diminishes the passion.

I think part of it, part of the joy of the rivalry games and what makes them so fun is you do get to talk trash to your neighbor, to your buddies at work for an entire year after you win it. And, like, I think what's so interesting about 2024 is even as Ohio State fans were celebrating a national change, championship, their Michigan fan friends could still kick them in the crotch with the, but you lost to us. We planted our flag on your field. Like that, that still counts for something. But don't you think it's a net negative for college football that you could win the national

championship in the same year that you lose to your rival? I don't know. Did it make second and 26 any less exciting that Alabama lost the Iron Bowl that year? Did you even remember that? No, of course I remembered that. But I get what you're saying, but I'm assuming to the fans of the team who lost. I'm sure Georgia fans are pretty upset about it.

I'm sure they are. But I don't think it changes. Oh, you're meaning, you mean Alabama fans are probably still annoyed by the fact that they lost to Auburn that year. Yeah, I don't think they care. That sucks, and that makes it a worse rivalry than Ohio State Michigan. I think Ohio State fans care. You should always care.

I mean, you act like you don't care. It's the same thing that Bryce Underwood did earlier in the week. He acted like he didn't care because they lost. I'm tired of that. In 2018, I'm sure Auburn fans, as Alabama fans were celebrating the national title, they just won. I'm sure Auburn fans are like, hey, remember when you went to Jordan Hare and got your ass kicked? Enjoy your national championship.

You know what would be interesting, though? And if you're an Alabama fan, I want you to write in because I don't know the answer of this. If you were to rank the national championships or the national championship seasons where that one would end up. Now, obviously, you have the most exciting finish possible. So that makes it special. Yeah, that was definitely not a lot of people's favorite team, though. I think 2020 was one that Alabama fans really loved 2009 because it was the first national title since 1992. I think a lot of Alabama fans love the 2015 team, which may have not.

been the best of that bunch, but was just a really lovable group. I would bet they lost old miss and you thought the season was over and then they came back. If I could like wager money on this, if you pulled the Ohio State fan base and you asked them to rank the seasons or the teams that won the national championship, the three that have done it since 2002, 02, 14 and 24, that 24 would be distinctly last as a result of what happened to me. Because it lost in Michigan. Yeah. That's, well, and that's crazy because they also went on the craziest postseason run. I think it would have more to do with the age of the person. I think somebody in their 20s would say 24 was their favorite because that's the one they remember the most.

You got to experience the most, yeah. But 02, I think, the perfection of 02 and then, of course, 14 with the backup quarterback situation. Like, they beat Michigan both those years. And that's a time where there's three national titles this century. are all incredibly interesting in the way they won them. Yeah. But I do hope that the passion for these rivalry games will endure. And I was thinking more about some of the comments that we made earlier in the week.

And I wish that I was more verbal about what I'm about to say on the last episode that we had about Ohio State, Michigan, is don't spend time in the off season or the regular season puffing up college football for being unlike any other sport and being the best. sport in the world and listening to the show and being a huge part of what makes college football special in one breath and then in the other breath diminish the importance of these games because I think that those two things go hand in hand and anybody who acts like they don't care when they lose or that they're not important anymore or all those things I think is the disservice to the sport. So I do think that winning a national championship is obviously the ultimate goal for everybody in the biggest prize in college football. I don't think that anybody would trade the biggest trophy ever. But in terms of like what makes college football,

like down to the fabric of what it is, I think it's those games. And anything that we can do to protect them and their importance, I think is important. Not just like I said, I think neighbors and coworkers and all of those people who interact,

who went to these various universities, they're the ones that keep this flame lit. Yeah. If you are a Michigan fan who tortured your Ohio state friends for that entire year after they won the National Title with, but you couldn't get it done in Columbus when we showed up.

God bless you. Because you are the reason this sport rules. Or if you are an Ohio State fan who kept a clock on your wall of how long it had been since Michigan had beaten you guys. Like, you're the reason the sport is the best. The Auburn fan who has the kick six radio call as their ringtone is the reason this sport is the best. And I don't want to hear out of your mouth or anyone's mouth ever that they don't care

that they lost the rivalry game to moderate what happened afterward. Things happen afterward. Second and 26 happened afterward. Ohio states run to the national championship. And I'm sure there's other examples of teams in the past who have lost a rivalry game and still won the national title, though probably much more recent than longer than in the distance. Well, I mean, don't act like you don't care.

You lost the iron. There was a certain 20, 24 to 21 game in Tallahassee. November 1996. Yeah, that had an impact on your life. Yeah. Certain 52 to 20 game in the Sugar Bowl on January 2nd, 2007. But a rematch also, I think, avenges it. And that's the other thing that we didn't mention is that, you know, while that question

is true, like there's probably going to be instances in the future where Auburn and Alabama. We're going to get, that's the thing. We're going to get a Ohio State, Michigan playoff game or an Alabama Auburn playoff game. It's going to happen, yeah. Yeah, it's going to be really interesting when it does. But when you only play. play once and lose and then win the national championship,

you can celebrate your national championship while also not acting like you don't care. It's a fan instinct to act like you don't care, but every Ohio state fan cares deeply that they lost to Michigan that year. They can act like they don't care, but they care. But see, that's why the Michigan fans can still can still poke at them. And when

they do, it hurts. And it should hurt. Because it was one of the worst losses in program history, and that doesn't just get erased from history. It matters. But yes, winning the national title. like that national championship. They do. They do.

All right. Next question for Matt. Was the obituary for Ari's beloved Stars Matter written too soon? With the transfer portal and teams getting older, is the better question, do quarterback stars matter? For example, a lot of time I spent discussing recent struggles of Davos Sweeney and Lincoln Riley. Are Davos Sweeney and Lincoln Riley really good coaches who started being considered great due to transcendent college quarterbacks and returned to the norm when the run of great

quarterbacks ended? Dabot with Deshawn and Trevor, Lincoln Riley, with Bill and Baker, Mayfield, Kyle Murray, Jalen Hertz, and win healthy Caleb Wilson. Are the return of Clemson to USC to national title contender really more about getting the right quarterback than the reinvention of Davo discovering the transfer portal and Lincoln learning how to spell defense? Similarly, is the knock on James Franklin being a good coach who can't win the big game really more about the fact that he's not had a transcendent elite quarterback? Is he a really good coach who's one transcendent quarterback away from joining the great coach club? Love the show, keep up the good work.

So I push back on this a little bit because Clemson had good teams. Like the Kelly Bryant led Clemson team in 2017 was the number one seat in the playoff. Like that was a really good team that year. Last year's Clemson team arguably as talented as that team, when you look at where everybody got picked in the draft, they were a bad team by Clemson standards. I don't think that had anything to do with the quarterback. I think K. Klovening, like, you could have had a better quarterback than Kovning, but there was still something off about that team. Yes.

Well, here's the reason why the Stars Matter thing has died. Ready? I'm going to do a bonus, who am I? You're not going to get it. It's just one question. In the 2023 recruiting class out of high school, I was ranked the 2,672 overall player or I was a three star prospect. Okay, you got it.

Good job. That's two for you. So when you look at the totality of the number of players on a certain team, there are a lot of players who were underrated in the high school days that turned out to be very important players. Like Miami's ratio of blue chips. isn't going to have any bearing on. I don't think he had any stars as a recruit. So like this actually happened to me on Twitter this week

where somebody sent me the blue chip ratio and showed that Georgia is winning that as a reason why they should be number one in a response to our show earlier this week. Remember I pushed back on the fact that they would be number one in the polls. And like in 2017, if somebody showed me that, they unequivocally would have been number one in my poll. but it's so different now and quarterback stars also don't matter you think Miami gives a crap that Darian Mensa was ranked as a three-star prospect in high school it has no bearing on it again cam Ward was

ranked lower cam Ward wasn't even ranked was he yeah so but i'm just like saying going into this year like Miami might be viewed as a team that has maybe the best total offensive unit in the country if they can figure out their offensive line which i'm assuming they will given the pedigree of their coach. But you can't quantify with recruiting rankings anymore who has what? Because in 2017, Darian Mensa might have transferred, but he wouldn't have transferred twice. He would have finished his career at Duke probably. So like, I just don't know the best way to actually, from a data standpoint, go about picking who's going to win games anymore because we know who's the best at the end of it. When we go through the NFL draft, the NFL draft always showed us at the end.

Yeah. But in 10 years ago, you could look at those total stars on teams and pick with very, very good accuracy, if not infallible accuracy, who was going to be good. Now there are so many guards in linebackers and edge rushers and players like Jared Verse who go to places that that weren't ranked at all, who actually turned out to be very good, developed somewhere else, get plugged into NC State's roster and is the best player on their team, and it's harder to quantify that now, which makes all these preseason shows more fun. You and I were just this whole episode this week about the nine different teams that could be ranked number one, maybe.

Like that never would have existed seven years ago. So like quarterback stars do matter, but I don't think that we could ever lose sight of the fact that a quarterback is the hardest position in general to analyze and to break down. Talking to Cody Belair. Cody Belair, one of our star masters at On Theron. three at the symposium last week. And he said quarterback is by far the hardest thing to do. So I think that the importance of having a great quarterback still remains because it's still

the sport of football. But how you rank them is not as important and where you get them and how you get them varies greatly. So, you know, it is a very interesting dynamic. But the other thing, too, that we have to consider Andy is that because there are fewer backups across the sport, because everybody's getting paid to spread out and start, like the number of teams that have a very good corner. starting this year is so much higher than it was seven years ago.

So many more teams have a really good quarterback. Joe Burrow doesn't sit for three years at Ohio State anymore. And I actually think that you could make the case, Andy, that quarterback now means less than it ever did before. I know it's still very important. But like we just saw a team with the Heisman finalist and four, four picks in the top 11 losing the quarterfinal because they didn't have enough offensive tackle power to stop the defense.

Teams are not deep as they were. are more holes, which means that you're more susceptible to losing, even with you have a good quarterback. And the odds of you playing a team with a really good quarterback are much higher than they used to be. Yeah. And I would also push back on what Matt said about Lincoln Riley. Lincoln Riley didn't get it done with Caleb Williams. Yeah. Like we were at that Pac-12 championship. He did get hurt at the end of the first half, but cost me a thousand bucks. That's it. They didn't make the playoff with him. They had Caleb Williams the next year. I would argue that it was more Lincoln Riley's issue with defense.

Because guess what? Lincoln Riley's got a really good quarterback again. Jade Maya was awesome. Yeah. But if you look at the Big Ten, a lot of teams have good quarterbacks, which means you have to be better everywhere else in order to beat them. Because even if you're a 10% advantage at quarterback,

even the most transcendent quarterbacks aren't always the ones winning it. But what's crazy is, you know, obviously now like a whole whole, Ohio State and Michigan both have guys who were five-star quarterbacks. But look at the other schools here. Now, Dante Moore was a blue-chip guy when he signed with UCLA. DeMond Williams was a little bit under the radar. Rocco Beck was very under the radar. Katyn Hauser, who's going to take over at Illinois,

was a Michigan State recruit. And when he left Michigan State, it was like, I don't know that he's going to wind up being very good. So Colton Joseph, who's taking over at Wisconsin, who could be excellent, he started out at Old Dominion. So the most expensive quarterback in the portal this year was Sam Levitt, right? It was MENSA. MENSA.

Okay, but Sam Levitt, too, I think was a, I think he was like a fringe top 100 players. So not a five-star recruit, but not a bad recruit either. But, you know, I do think that the quarterback position, you can really outplay your ranking as Miami is going to be the professor in that class with Cam Ward and now Mensa. But it's just, I wish that somebody could come up with a pure data-driven system to help guide us in the postseason. But you guys like to make fun of college football analysts for not being accurate in their preseason predictions. But it's never been harder. It's never, ever been harder to be right about these things. Well, and also there's a, and we're working on this at On 3.

This is something we talk about internally. It's just everybody's still trying to figure out how to do it because the game keeps changing so fast. But the fact of the matter is, it's very hard to determine team talent on a year-to-year basis now. Before, you could just add up the star rankings of all the recruits you sign. And you could have a, you might not be completely right, but you have a general idea of who the most talented team in the And the reason why you could do that, Andy, is because if you had 60 out of 85 players that were blue chip players and then you accounted for half of them being misses, that still means that you have 30 hits at blue chip players on your roster. Like it didn't have to be precise. It just had to be about totality.

And back then, players remained on teams. A lot of times, too, the thing that you have to take into account is like whoever, you know, you might have Malachi Nelson on your team and then you get a five-star prospect that, you know, goes into your ratio, but that has no impact whatsoever on it. And that didn't really happen as much before. So it's just, it's just, what you need is a rolling evaluation. Like you're evaluating every player on every roster every year. and you update that at the end of each season,

which I'll be honest, we don't have the manpower for. I don't know anybody has a manpower for that. And there's a lot of players that transfer rather anonymously that don't have a lot of tape. Yeah. That turns out to be very good. Exactly. And that's the other piece of it.

Unless you have people who also can then get the assistant coaches from various schools to say, well, we saw this kid in practices last year, and we know he's really good and he's going to be good where he wound up. first of all, they might not even be honest about that because they might not want to tip anybody off. And the other piece of it is, like, it's just, it's hard when you haven't seen them play together when you haven't, you don't.

Because for example, we keep bringing up this game, but I'm fascinated by this game. Alabama goes to Lexington to play Kentucky Week 2. Both teams have radically revamped offensive lines through the transfer port. I have no idea which one will be better than the other. No idea. If you just go by recruiting rankings or transfer portal rankings,

you would say Kentucky. But I was watching the video of the center that Alabama took from Cal Poly playing Utah last year. Buddy, he was awesome against a bunch of NFL D-Lineman. And nobody cares. about that transfer in the off season. That's not what moves the needle. Cam Coleman moves the needle.

Right. But that player might actually be the heart and soul of an Alabama offense that can run the ball again and make the playoff. It's just so much harder now. So I don't know if there's a data-driven thing. I think the thing that we've tried to rely on is which teams have the most perceived draft picks. Or, you know, Clark Brooks at On 3 does a very good job of re-ranking players

and giving people grades. So I've been using, like how many players in the on three top 300 does a team have? You know, and Oregon has the most at 15, which made me feel like I underrated them a little bit this year. So like that, remember I wrote the column when Clark put out his top 150 last year.

Yeah. I wrote the column. We blew it with Indiana here because look how many good players they have. So good players, I think, is obviously always the heartbeat. The way you quantify those good players obviously has changed dramatically. and I still get labeled with the recruiting stars, you know, snob thing and it's kind of true. You made it your brand, buddy.

I know, but like it's, it is my brand. It still says it in my, in my, uh, in my, uh, Twitter profile. But like at the same time, I also have to be man enough to admit and people have to adjust to the fact that that's not necessarily true anymore. So I don't use it. I don't view it as the end all be all when pre-ranking teams. And I certainly think that maybe. if you did it after week four, Andy, instead of trying to do it before the season,

if you had a bunch of film people breaking down how transfers performed on the field through a month of games, you might be able to decipher that better like in the middle of a season. But by then, we already know who's pretty good. So like, it's just, it's just a really hard thing to do, especially with how much anonymity there is. Yeah. Well, I think it makes these preseason rankings and shows a little bit harder to do in terms of. too, right? Isn't it?

Would you rather go into it not knowing? And it makes the beginning of the season a blast as you figure out who's actually good. And it also makes it more fun for fans of every team that don't, like, used to go into the season and go, well, do you have a certain number of five star or four star players or your team? If you don't have it, well, there's no point. We're going to stay. Go up all.

Yeah. Now everybody has at least a reasonable, uh, path to excitement for the first month of the season. And, you know, we, we can find out too that you can have a rough few weeks start and still have a really good team that comes together. So, but if we learn anything from Clemson and Penn State last year is if you have a ton of draft picks on your team, but your quarterback doesn't play to a certain level, that's also a ticket to not reaching your goals.

So, you know, analyzing these teams is very difficult, but I think it's more fun and it makes for better off seasons and certainly the best first month of the season that we could probably ask for. Oh, absolutely. And I love that now you can. you can really mostly have hope. There are a few teams that enter the season without hope. But like if you're in a big 10 or the SEC,

you've probably got some hope for your team. Yeah. If you're a UCLA fan, you have hope for a future that didn't exist seven years ago. Yes, agreed, agreed. All right, next question from Mike. Hi, Andy and Ari. About a year ago this week, Andy tweeted out as Blue Blum, bloods in college football. So that was, I guess, sometime in August 2025. And then a few months later,

someone coined the term green bloods. I can't remember who we stole that from, which started in July 2021 when NIL began and ushered in a new era of college football that included conference relignment and the portal. These changes allow new ways for more schools like Texas Tech to becoming a blue blood. This, of course, caused the blue bloods to increase what they were already spending to counteract this movement. As we enter the fifth year of this new era in college football, how have the blue bloods and the green bloods acclimated themselves to becoming teal bloods. Teams spending large amounts of money wisely

for a long-term success. How would you position both groups on the graph based on how well they've adapted in the last five years? And he attached a PowerPoint slide, which I love. Love that. Please include teams I might have missed. And based on the Monday podcast,

Indiana may not belong on the graph yet because their superpower is the man on the sideline in the quarter-zip. Apologies, the podcast listeners. Enjoy watching along on YouTube and hit the subscribe button while you're there. Thank you, Mike. Hell yeah.

Appreciate that, buddy. Yesterday, I was on the mountain. I mean, I'm in veil with my family for a few days, and I took my daughter, what's it, zip lining. She went on a zip line for baby. Zipline. And somebody came up to me in the area where we were getting her equipment and her helmet.

She goes, hey, I love the show. Really appreciate what you guys do on YouTube. And I feel like we are growing. And like Mike, you know, thanks for reminding people to subscribe. You want to see our faces more. But like I'm feeling it more in public now than I ever have before. And it's really exciting time to be here. And I think this is a wonderful question.

And anytime we can get a PowerPoint slide and a prompt to follow, Hall of Fame, first ballot Hall of Fame listener. Thank you. I'm dumb. So you're going to get more out of me with a PowerPoint slide than you are with an Excel spreadsheet. Just saying. Yeah. new term too teal blood by the way i i love how he labeled the y axis on this thing at the bottom

is past the hat at the top is blank check every year which would obviously be texas tech um and then and then the the blue blood's logo on the helmet is the the low end of the x axis and and expanding the trophy case is the upper bound of the x axis okay so as far as the blue bloods go Ohio State, Michigan, Georgia, Notre Dame. I'd say all spending money very wisely. They're spending a lot of money. Texas is spending a lot of money, but they're getting, I'd say they're mostly getting the results out of it.

Texas didn't make the playoff last year, but neither to Notre Dame. There's one exception on there. Who's that? Blue bloods that aren't green bloods. I'd say Florida State right now. Florida State is the exception to that, yes. for the list of the Blue Bloods, and I had a whole system. You can go back and read the column from last year.

What determined Blue Bloods? It had to do with winning national titles and multiple generations and that sort of thing. I had Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Michigan, Tennessee, Ohio State, Texas, USC. And then just under that missing the cut were Auburn, Clemson, Clemson, Florida, Nebraska, and Penn State. So we can include them too. Florida State, definitely the outlier here in terms of spending. And that might be temporary to, you know,

I think it is. I think it'll be temporary for everybody because the thing that made Blue Bloods, Blue Bloods was investment and into the program and caring about being good at football. And that didn't just go away. You know, the meeting getting players has changed. But that's still a very important element. Miami in the holograms and waterfalls era of college football spending did not invest like other people.

But in the NIL era, they have invested very well. Tennessee is one that's invested money all along. I don't know that they've gotten the results they want out of it. So that's a legitimate question. Do we feel like Tennessee is spending wisely? because I would argue that Tennessee, you can put them in the same bucket as Oregon and schools like that where they're going to go out and pay for what they think they need.

Yeah. Are there teams that should be included here that aren't? Well, Indiana certainly spends money wisely. We know that. I'm trying to think. And sometimes I could use an aide by looking at the preseason rankings here, see some of the teams here. where would old miss fall

old miss would fall in the very wisely spending and i think kind of the model for schools of that ilk where you've got money you're in a you got some money you're in a big conference but you are not one of the the traditional powerhouses so you have to think a little differently and and i give their athletic director keith carter credit for saying hey look we have some facilities projects plan

but we might want to pause those and let's just take that money and put it toward players and let's win some football games. And they have. And I don't think this ends with Lane Kiffin leaving. I think Ole Miss stays good. So I think they've hit upon something. So I actually think Ole Miss should be

definitely in this group where they've figured out how to wisely spend their money. So yeah, Ole Miss, congratulations on being a teal blood, I guess. How many programs out there would you say are Texas Tech Light? non-traditional blue bloods who are trying to allocate money in a way or an investment in a way that they never have before.

Is Texas Tech a unicorn or is there anybody that's kind of like them? So SMU probably? SMU comes to mind. SMU tried to do this with player payroll for years. And the only problem was it was against the rules at the time. And then they got the death penalty. But SMU is spending a ton of money because the thing that's interesting about SMU is it has one of the higher player payrolls in the ACCC.

they have the resources they need. We had Rhett Lashley on the show last week. He's very happy there. He feels like he's been given what he needs to succeed there. They're not taking any conference money. They don't get any ACC TV money. And you can say, well, that's less than what you'd make in the SEC of the Big Ten. But zero is way less than that.

Zero is a lot. Yeah. No broke boys, no new friends. Exactly. Yeah. But like, so SMU donors are kicking that, you know, kicking in that money. to make sure that they're competitive. This was predicated based solely on being included into a power conference.

This wasn't a design for NIL. They've done what they have to do now that NIL has done it, but they were like, we'll pay whatever we have to pay, both in NIL and, you know, making up the difference in what we would have been getting from television revenue from the conference in order just to be in it. So like that's just their pockets are deep, but I do wonder if SMU will ever be able,

because SMU is spending amongst the top in the, ACC, but I don't think they're spending anywhere in the stratosphere of Texas Tech. Yeah, well, Miami and Texas Tech are probably pretty close to each other. Yeah. So that would be the one ACCC school that's similar to that. But SMU's up there. You know, SMU roster spend would put it, you know, comfortably in the middle of the SEC or the Big Ten, I think.

Yeah. So they are definitely trying to make sure they have a competitive roster. What about Clemson? What's your perception of Clemson? So they're spending competitively on the roster. I don't know that they're not at the top. Like they wouldn't be at the top of the SEC or the Big Ten if you put them in there. They're one of the top teams in the ACC, obviously, but below Miami in terms of spending.

Whether they're spending it wisely or not is another question, but that's also a coaching question as well. because I think the draft would tell you they had talent last year. And nine draft picks. It makes me feel like they are spending it wisely. You're spending it wisely if you have nine draft picks. Like is that a fair blanket statement? You're spending, yeah, you're spending your roster money wisely. The question is, are you spending your coaching money wisely?

And that's a hard question. Like, it feels like a blasphemous question asked because this is what we said over and over on the show. Like Davos-Sweeney retires today, he's one of the greatest coaches in college football. history. But is he one of the greatest college football coaches working right now is a different question? Coaching is a major important piece to this. And I think the SEC, which I would assume spent the most, no, maybe the Big Ten spent more, right? But amongst the two most expensive conferences didn't reach their goals and had to fire a bunch of coaches last year. So just because the SEC had

one of those years where everybody everybody's exploration they came up. Yeah. So, you know, we'll see now with a lot of, you know, it's like a youth movement of new guys and I'm excited to see how that plays out. And so, like, could Kentucky be part of that group? Because one of the things that

I think surprised us was how much they gave Will Stein to get things rolling in terms of roster. You know, he went out and got a bunch of expensive offensive linemen. That's not easy to do. They were given a pretty good checkbook to go, go fill out that roster. And so if that

works, then maybe Kentucky can put itself on this list. Yeah. And the other question, too, is that this is like a moving target. How much you spend in relation to your other, to your peers changes every year. You know, Texas Tech could spend a ton of money, but if Texas keeps boosting his money and Ohio State keeps boosting their money, then Texas Tech isn't as outweigh, you've got to like, it's And remember, Texas Tech's not outspending all those schools. They're just spending their peers in the Big 12th. Yeah. So the question is, can anybody else in the Big 12 do that?

BYU is an interesting one because we just saw BYU by the most expensive basketball player in the country in A.J. DeBonser, who wound up being the number one pick in the NBA draft. But they have not spent that way in football. Is that something that will come that will. happen. I don't know. And I look at me started on my theory. I look at Kalani Sataki's comments recently, going back to when he was with us at Big 1280 days, but also more recently where it seems like he's been, reading between the lines,

it sounds like saying, I'm not sure I got all this stuff that I was told I was going to get when I turned down Penn State. And I don't know that's necessarily roster spin. That could be anything. That could be anything. that could be assistant coaching salaries. It could be infrastructure resources for the program. That's a lot of stuff that also counts and also matters.

So I don't know exactly which element he's talking about there, but I don't think BYU is in that we're just going to spend and we're going to win. I don't think they're there yet. I think they could get there. Like they're one of the few schools, I feel like if they wanted to, there's a few people in their donor base. You could flip a switch. If you could activate them, then all of a sudden everything changes. I actually think Arkansas is one of those two where they've done it in basketball, where John Tyson gets activated.

I'm going to go get Cal. I'm going to go give Cal everything he needs. But they don't have that, even though they've got the Walton fans. family and Walmart is a big sponsor. Like if you watch their games, there's Walmart signage all over the place. Jerry Jones, obviously,

was a captain on their national title team in the 60s. Jerry Jones isn't allowed to do anything, right? Would that be collusion? I'm unclear on that. I don't think an NFL owner can do that. And like the Dolphins owner is a big Michigan guy, Stephen Ross. I don't know that you can do that.

But Arkansas has the Walton family. They have other fairly, well, you have to at least acknowledge, Andy, that it's so much. But that's, I hate it. Well,

actually, let me back that up. The Walton family also owns an NFL team too. They own the Broncos. Yeah. It's easier to do it in basketball. If you go out and two guys and a coach, you're pretty good.

Is it easier that? Like, here's my problem. Like, we're talking about like $20 million and potentially $25 to $30 million basketball rosters. Yeah. If you spend $20,

25 million like you're an AD and allow your coach to spend $25 million on a basketball roster if you don't make the final four you should all be fired like that's a giant waste of money in basketball getting being successful in the addition of one player has far more impact on the team

than it does with one player in football that's true so like that you could go out and spend a crap ton of money on a quarterback in football but if you don't have line running back a receiver dbs and a defensive line you're done. It doesn't matter how good the quarterback is. But here's my thing. If I'm at a school, if I'm at a school that spends 25 million on basketball

and doesn't make the final four, the next year, I'm telling the basketball coach, you get seven million. We're going to use the rest for football. Yeah. Because I bet I can make a much better football team with that money. Jason Exit on the show. People only like basketball because they prefer good basketball over bad football, but it's a football country. And I think that every... Jason is a wise man. That's like, I mean, it felt like you that came directly from your brain. Like, because it's true. But I do think that now you have like Indiana is the obviously the number one example.

But buddy, once you taste the sweet nectar of being good at football, is basketball even matter anymore? Like football's, football's king, man. And I hate to say, I know basketball is important. It's funny that you say that. But like,

if you've ever been to a Kentucky football game, like you understand those people are very passionate football fans. Yeah. Very passionate. It's football. And if they ever got national title. good. They might forget basketball and heartbeat.

Yeah, like, I mean, honestly, Indiana fans right on in. Do you care about basketball as much as you did two years ago? Hell no. I don't know. Yeah, no, I see a lot less Tom Crean jokes on the internet now. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, so as far as the teal bloods go, I do think, like, Ole Miss definitely belongs on the list of wise spenders.

I think Indiana does too. I am interested to see, like, does Oregon break through international title? Does Tennessee get back to the playoff because they have spent that way? Does LSU get to the playoff now that they are spending that way? It's my perception that Georgia does not spend as much as some of the other teams on this list, and I'm very curious what seven more years of that looks like, or if that changes it. I would foresee them coming up to the rest of the group. Yeah.

But still maybe doing it a little bit differently. Because I think Kirby wants to still sign guys out of high school, develop them. And I think everybody else is kind of abandoned that. But if you go four more years at Georgia without winning a championship, your viewpoints on spending. Like Ohio State and Texas still recruit tons of Blue Chip recruits out of high school, but they are much more apt to go get what they need in the transfer portal. Yeah.

Great question, though. It was a great question. So that is utterly fascinating. Utterly fascinating. Hey, Ari, we got a fun week next week because we're going to have a bunch of scrimmages in these preseason camps. So we're going to learn some stuff. Football. We're going to be coming into, as we go through the week, into second scrimmages, which we talked about this with Tennessee and Alabama yesterday.

Post-scrimmage number two tends to be the magic time when the quarter. back gets decided upon. So we may be, we may be getting some news on that here in the next couple of weeks. So this is going to be fun. We have a lot coming up, got some fun guests coming your way. We are almost there, everybody. Almost there. We'll talk to you Monday.