Andy & Ari On3 - Lane Kiffin has a DEADLINE (not an ultimatum) to decide between Ole Miss, LSU, and Florida

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

As the Lane Kiffin watch continues, the Ole Miss head coach has a deadline to decide whether or not he will stay in Oxford or head to LSU or Florida to fill the head coaching vacancies there. What will the Rebels coach do? Andy & Ari go in depth on what Lane Kiffin will decide. (0:00) On Today’s Episode(1:09) Presenting Sponsor(3:45) Intro: Lane Kiffin Watch(5:25) Lane Kiffin’s Deadline to Decide(14:14) Rhoback(15:45) Lane Kiffin’s Devotional: Pros and cons(20:42) Gametime(22:02) Booger McFarland Joins(27:03) Georgia’s Toughness with Kirby Smart(29:27) The College Football Calendar(33:09) The CFP Committee this year(35:18) Notre Dame or Miami?(38:25) Is Ohio State the best team?(39:20) Any teams not getting enough credit?(44:12) Coaching Carousel Rapid Fire(49:04) Closing out with Booger McFarland(50:00) Twitter Handles(51:05) PaniniAmerica.net(54:15) Sam Leavitt and Arizona State(1:10:05) Arizona with Brent Brennan(1:11:21) Closing out: CFP Reveal tonight! After the Lane Kiffin discussion, Andy & Ari are joined by ESPN's Booger McFarland. Watch here as the former LSU player breaks down the LSU vacancy, the CFP committee, and the current state of the coaching carousel. Who is Booger's top replacement in Baton Rouge? Find out here Later, Andy & Ari dive into the news of Sam Leavitt potentially leaving Arizona State upon the conclusion of this season. Will the star Sun Devils QB really leave Tempe? And what does this mean for Kenny Dillingham's future with Arizona State? Watch our CFP ranking reveal show TONIGHT following the Kentucky-Michigan State basketball game. Our show is presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Our show is sponsored by Rhoback, the most comfortable clothes on the planet! Use the code ANDY on Rhoback.com for a generous 20% off for all new customers through the end of this week. That’s 20% off all Performance Polos, Shorts and more with code ANDY  This show is also brought to you by Gametime! Take the guesswork out of buying college football tickets with Gametime.Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Swipe. Tap. Ticket. Go. Download the Gametime app today! Visit Gametime.co. We’re also brought to you by Panini! Panini delivers the most collectible sports cards and memorabilia on the planet. Check out the new exclusive Arch Manning collection or the Panini Prizm Draft Picks College Football series. Visit PaniniAmerica.net to start your collection today. Join On3 today and get one full year of access to The Athletic included! https://www.on3.com/subscribe/C Watch our show on YouTube instead! https://youtu.be/YlnkgqRr3SQ Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: 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 episode of Andy and Ari on three, Lane Kiffin says there's an ultimatum, but there is definitely a deadline. We will talk about what Lane Kiffin has to decide and win as he tries to figure out if he's staying at Ole Miss or going to Florida or LSU. Plus former LSU defensive tackle, Booger McFarland joins the show. You see him on ESPN talking college football and the NFL. We talk coaching carousel and college football playoff contenders with Booger. It's a great conversation and also a report from On 3's Pete Nacos and Steve Wilfong

that Sam Levitt, the Arizona State quarterback, is seriously considering entering the transfer portal after this season. He's currently out with an injury. His brother, also his agent, has denied said report, but in denying said report, said that they're still considering their option. So yes, he's considering entering the transfer portal. We'll talk about what that means for Sam Levitt, what that means for Arizona State. coach Kenny Dillingham and more.

All of that on today's episode of Andy and Orion 3 presented by BetMGM. We are brought to you by BetMGM. We use BetMGM lines and totals on all our shows. If you want to get hooked up with BetMGM, download the app right now. Sign up using the bonus code CFB. That CFB is in college football. And you'll get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your. your first wager with BetMGM.

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rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Annie and R on 3 presented by BetMDMG. GM and we were watching Lane Kiffin on Pat McAfee as we were recording pieces of this show because we got the word that he was going to be on Pat McAfee. We're like, oh, my God, does this mean he's going to announce a decision that he's staying at Ole Miss?

That's what it felt like. That wasn't what he did. Yeah. Yeah, it's a weird dynamic between like being a show. and being a journalist, and I know that people who are listening to this have brought this up to us, but it's kind of like, you know, you want to get eyeballs on your show and people are interested in hearing what he has to say, but like, I listened to the interview and you did too, and it's like, it's not the media who's contriving this.

Like, I know that how bad, like, and I will say this, Lane Kiffin, if you'd like to come on our show and say nothing, please do. Yeah, because people will watch it. You come on our show and say nothing. Make sure that's under the pretences that you're going to drop a bomb. that isn't coming. A lot of people have come on the show

and said nothing before. That's great. But if you had the extra oomph of like, well, he could say something, that would be great. Yeah. So the reason for all this is, okay, people are snapping pictures of private planes

that are depositing members of Lane's family in Baton Rouge on Monday. It's been confirmed that members of Lane's family were in Gainesville on Sunday. Lane, meanwhile, within Ole Miss, has to make a decision. And Lane said on Pat McAfee, there's no ultimatum, which semantically is probably true, because I don't know if it's an ultimatum. And I have a column about this add-on three, about the whole situation,

why Keith Carter, the Ole Miss AD, had to give Lane Kiffin a deadline. There may not be an ultimatum because an ultimatum means that there is some sort of massive consequence depending on what you decide. There's a deadline, though. We don't know yet if there's a consequence. We just know there's a deadline. And the deadline is this. By the beginning of Egg Bowl preparation,

which would be this weekend, early next week at the latest, like Monday at the latest. By the beginning of Egg Bowl preparation, Keith Carter would like to know what Lane Kiffin is going to do, whether he's going to stay at Ole Miss or pursue the Florida LSU job. There's a reason for this.

If Lane Kiffin decides he wants to pursue the Florida or the LSU job, Ole Miss has to hire a coach. This is the busiest coaching carous maybe in college football history. So the coaches you would be considering they are all taking jobs in the next two and a half weeks. If they take jobs in the next two and a half weeks, you can't hire them in December or January. they're off the board for you so keith carter needs to know if he needs to do a coaching search now whether that means lane kiff can coach in the playoff or not if he decides to leave is still up in the air there's no answer to that and if he's staying then obviously there's no problem yeah you know what

i'll do it olmos go all in on this year when's the last time olmos had a legitimate chance to win a national title what year was it was i born tree integration Okay. Whatever happens next year and beyond is, in my opinion, a secondary concern but putting your best foot forward and trying to capture what could be a special year. I'll come in and coach next year. I'll do it for 100 G's and a $500,000 buyout and a one-year deal. And then you can do your coaching search next year. Like honestly, I know that this is a tricky situation, Andy, because you're correct. And also, you don't want to have somebody who may be leaving your place for a rival in your conference,

recruiting in your building. And it is, like, not semantics. It is a sticky, tricky situation. And I understand Ole Miss's feeling as if it needs to have an answer to this. So it puts its best foot forward in replacing him. Like, I understand all that. It blows my mind that we're having this conversation as this team is going into the playoff. They are going.

Like, I'm comfortable saying it now. they're in they have never been in they've never been in position to win a national title the coach is a offensive genius that people love to have around you let him see it through you let your players see it through you do the best you can to get as far as you possibly can this year even if it means mortgaging the next year to do it like that's my opinion on it that's my opinion even if you stink next year because you didn't hire the right coach promote somebody from within get through next year and then and then have a full coaching service like they're not going to have coaches available next year?

Well, that's the thing. They could promote Pete Golding, the defensive coordinator. Joe Judge, who's on their staff, has been an NFL head coach before, and which, by the way, that's the person, if you're trying to read the tea leaves, if Lane Kiffin were to say I'm leaving and they decided not to let him coach, you'd think maybe Joe Judge interim, and then you let Charlie Weiss Jr. and Pete Golding, the two coordinators call, call plays on their sides of the ball. But I could see, I could get behind what you're saying.

Well, the last, the real question here, and this is the thing that you have to think about, is if Lane Kiffin makes his intentions clear that he wants to leave and then sticks around, is that actually harmful to the unity and the team in that moment? I'd say only if he's recruiting players from the roster to go with him, that can be harmful. Okay. Because if you think that's harmful, then I could listen to that. But my general opinion would be you have a team that's playing very well. You have a team that's together. Lane Kiffin is throwing alley-oops on the sideline. You're beating people.

I wouldn't want to mess up the feng shui of that if I could help it. And even if it means not- You want Lane Kiffin coaching you in the playoff. You do. And even if that means that you don't get your number one choice for his replacement, like that can be a next year problem. Like higher- I'm going to, I'm going to, talk about it from the perspective of Keith Carter, their A.D., because his job's different.

And I guarantee you this is what he's thinking right now. I need to know if I need to do a coaching search. I don't know who his favorite would be to replace Lane Kiffin if he was hiring from this group. Hypothetically, let's say it's John Somerall from Tulane. If he would like to pursue John Somerall, you have to pursue him before he takes the Auburn job. which is another job that he's up for that he seems to be a perfect fit for. So you need to know by the end of this week, beginning of next week, whether you're going to do that. That's why this is happening. But I can get what you're saying.

I can get behind what you're saying. A plan to let Lane Kiffen do it. Now, we've seen coordinators do this. Kirby Smart did it with Alabama before he went to Georgia. Dan Lannning did it with Georgia before he went to Oregon. R. you do recall the one coordinator. who didn't finish the run. Who's that?

I'll give you some hints. This person took, he was the Alabama offense coordinator in 2016. He took the Florida Atlantic job. He coached the Peach Bowl against Washington for Alabama and then was relieved of his duties between the Peach Bowl and the National Title Game. You remember who that is? Yeah, my brain short-circuited.

A very handsome fellow that's on the screen right now. That's right. It's Lane Kiffin. so it's just ironic that he's the one guy yeah that that didn't work out for i don't know why my brain just shorted there i look like an idiot uh but yeah no no you you look like you were supporting me in my rhetorical device and i appreciate that i was yeah i'm a supportive co-host but you know and here's the the final aspect of this too is that if you are a competitive person like i try to put myself into other people's situations even if my situation isn't as high stakes but i knew i was

leaving the athletic months before i left the athletic okay and while i was waiting and the athletic knew and everybody was aware that i was leaving i still wanted the right badass stories i promoted my co-workers i promoted our work i promoted the athletic but it was not your job to recruit people two on three or to the athletic. I shared phone numbers. If that were a critical part of your job, do you think they still would have let you hang around? No, it's different.

But what I was going to say, though, is... But the thing that I would say, though, is that unlike the athletic, there was no competition to be had. But Layton Kiffin probably wants a piece of this too. He built it. He's been coaching it. He wants to win. He's competitive.

You don't think that he wants to try to win a title. I guarantee you he does. And I imagine that he probably wasn't even thinking about the fact that they might say we need a decision from you. Yeah. Because he is doing something historic there. I would want to see that through. Like even if like I, even if I knew that I was going to try to build something else somewhere else, it's almost like rebuilding a car with your bare hands and like having it all detailed and everything. And then right before you're about to drive it, you're like, you got to go build another car somewhere else. Don't you want to drive it one time? No, you choose to go build a car somewhere else instead of driving the one you just rebuilt.

And the person who paid for your car. Yeah, but the person that paid for your car is saying either you drive this one that you rebuilt and you stay here and build another one with me or you leave, you never touch this car ever again, even though your blood, sweat, and tears are in it, and you go try to do it. It's a choice. It's a tough choice. It is a tough choice. We will read from the devotional that Lane Kiffin read from this morning. as he wrestles with this choice.

But first, let's talk about choices for what you put on your body. I'm wearing the Roebuck Hezzie hoodie. If you wanted some, I don't know, if you wanted an Ole Miss one or an LSU one or a Florida one, you could get it right now at Roeback.com. R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com. If you're Lane Kiffin and you just want an Ole Miss one to add to your collection, or if you happen to change jobs and want to add a Florida one or an LSU one to your collection because you're going to need it now, well, go to rowback.com, use the code Andy for 20% off your first

purchase, and you can rock that hoodie either at your press conference to say, I'm staying at Ole Miss, or at your introductory press conference when you go to Florida or LSU. Roeback is that versatile. Also, polos, quarter zips, pants, the joggers, right now are spectacular, buttery soft, incredible, highly recommend. The quarter zips with the helmet stripes, those are beautiful. Looking at the Ohio State went on the screen. Roeback.com, R-H-O-B-A-C-K, hoodies, polos, Q-Zips, joggers, shorts, T-shirts, you name it.

Use the code Andy and get 20% off your first order. I don't know what Lane Kiffin will order, and I think that's what we're all waiting. So Roeback, folks, if you do get an order from Lane Kiffin, please tell us what he ordered so we know. Here's what Lane Kiffin was reading on Tuesday morning, all right? He tweeted this out. This is from the devotional that he's reading from. It's day 223. How do you know what to do next?

You ask yourself honestly what your 90-year-old self would advise you to do, what they wished you had done. You ask yourself honestly what you sense from the beginning, what you have ignored, what you have quieted and distracted. yourself from you make two lists the positives and the negatives and you weigh them and if there's one thing on the left that overpowers the dozen things on the right then you trust that you ask yourself what path will make you more of the person you are meant to be this is a very long paragraph saying make a pros and cons list so a devotional a devotional is like a religious experience right yes okay so is this like a this is like something that you would look at through like spirituality.

Yes, correct. The thing on the left overpowers everything on the right I think is interesting. It is. And I think it's true. And it's something that I'm glad he brought this up

because this is one of those things that I don't think we talk about a lot. And look, we've all made the pro con list when we're making a big decision. But it's true. There can be one factor that overwhelms all the other factors. And I'll give you a pro con list from back in the day for me when I got engaged to my wife

who had to stay in in Gainesville. I was moving to Knoxville. I'd gotten a new job. She had to stay in Gainesville because she was finishing her degree and couldn't transfer. And it was very difficult. Like we were apart, eight hours apart for two years. And like you look at all the cons of that. We got engaged after three months.

like all of the cons on that list outweighed in terms of number there were a lot more than the pros the pros were but I love her that was the one that was the pro and but I love her was way more important than anything else on the other side you didn't write she's a smoke show on the on the pros list

that might have been in there too yeah I understand that yeah 25 years later still a smoke show baby yeah proud of you man But yes, Andy Poole. That is the decision that you have to make. And there may be a shorter list on the side you choose than the one you don't choose. Yep.

So. I would love to see the pros and cons list. Could you imagine? That would be like the number one document that I would want to see like the right next to Connor Stallions like manifesto. Yeah. Yeah. I'd love to see the pros and cons list too because it would be.

a lot shorter than reading whatever Connor Stallion. Like, Connor Stallion's probably had a whole manual for the vacuum. Could you imagine, though, like, if the pros and cons list got published, how, like, fans would, heads would explode? It would, yeah. It would end Twitter, I think. It would overrun Twitter. The OM Spirit, Bingle, Tiger, and Gators Online message boards would melt. Like, would absolutely melt.

The most vivid and true and pure why your team sucks and why your team is good list anybody's ever read. We got to get our hands on that list. Because you know he's making it. You know he is. Yeah. I don't think it's in his head. I think he's written it down.

Like the number one coaching candidate in a carousel with three great options, writing a list and the cons, like how that would pierce your soul as an Ole Miss Florida or LSU fan to read it. It is a pure list of pros and cons about your place from his person. Lane, I ask. you one thing, even if you never come on this show and say nothing, even though we want you to come on this show and say nothing. Just release the list. Tweet the list. Release the files. Yeah, tweet the list when you make the, whatever you make the decision, whatever the decision is,

just tweet the list. That's all I ask. If there's any coach in college football that would do it, it would be him. It would definitely be him. It would definitely be him. all right this is going to continue over the next few days i think there will be a resolution at some point i don't know what that resolution will be and i think that's one of the most interesting things about this i have a column up and on three about the deadline about the potential outcomes ri just gave you a potential outcome where you just let him coach and you don't do a coaching search and i do think that is something to consider QR code is on the screen if you want to read that column right now.

Ari, before we get to Booger McFarland, great interview with Booger talking about Lane, the coaching carousel, talking about the college football playoff. We're going to talk about game time because if you want to go to the game that has the biggest impact on the college football playoff this week, we think that game is in Eugene, Oregon. And you can get in there in the $100. You can get into Austin Stadium. Now, if you want really good seats, you're spending, you know, maybe $300, $400, $500. But you can get in there in the mid-hundreds if you want to be in the building to watch USC play against Oregon.

And it is going to be a spectacular game. I can't wait. Old Plaque, 12 vibes, great uniforms, great everything. It's going to be so cool. You can also get some fairly reasonably priced tickets to watch Missouri at Oklahoma, which, listen, that was a weird game they played last year. year. If Missouri upsets Oklahoma, it has massive playoff implications. If Oklahoma keeps winning, massive playoff implications, if you're an Oklahoma fan, because it means you just keep on rolling. And if you beat LSU, you're definitely in. So go to gamedime.com. Download

the game time app. Redeem the code staples when you sign up, and you get $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. So download the game time app, type your event. The price you see, by the way, is the price you get. They don't tack on stupid fees afterward. Use the code Staples and get $20 off your first purchase terms of apply. All right. Let us talk to Booger McFarland. We are joined now by the great Booger McFarlane. You can watch him on ESPN's college football coverage and NFL coverage.

He is multi-talented because he, well, dominated college football and the NFL. So he can do both. Bougar, we've just been watching Lane Kiffin on the Pat McAfee show, not tell us anything about his future. your alma mater is one of the schools going after lane kiffin what do you think happens here what do you think he does listen i've been knowing lane a long time the one thing i can tell you is i have zero idea um lane is lane is always beaten to his own drum um which is kind of what's made him kind of this evil genius when it comes to offense uh no one really knows what he's thinking uh it's good to be him though it's good to have options and it sounds like he has a lot of them so hopefully he can make the best choice for him and his family man it's uh it's always a uh tough decision when you got multiple uh schools that are after you're and the one you're at it's in the playoff or should be in the playoff based on where they are right now you are obviously familiar with lane and familiar with lSU and like from a fit

standpoint like what's your thought process of what lSU needs well yeah i i think when you look at when lSU has been um at or near the top of the time for college football. It's always been really, really good athletes, a lot of physicality at the line of scrimmage. They've been big, fast and strong and powerful. They've always been to run the football and stop the run. And so I think just what style of football do you want to play, I think it probably needs to be in that category. And it doesn't mean you're not going to be innovative. I'm not saying we go back to less miles where we're running a tall sweep every play. But I do think that there needs to be a level of physicality. And that's not just an LSU, man.

at what Notre Dame is doing, their physical, Georgia. Like, if you want to be among the upper echelon team in college football, you've got to have a level of physicality at the line of streamage. Are there, is there a coach, or are there several coaches you think could bring that to to Baton Rouge? Yeah, I think if you look around the landscape, listen, I think everybody is on, looking at what happens going on with Lane right now. Lane's not the only coach out there.

I think there are several coaches. When you look at the landscape of college football, I know James Franklin took the Virginia Tech job, but I think you have LSU, Florida, Penn State, put them in whatever order you want to. Those are three of the Blue Bluzz of College football that the jobs are there. And I think those three schools are going to be able

to really get a really good coach. And I think there are several coaches lined up at each one of those schools. And the ADs who are at those schools better know the fit. I think Kraft at Penn State, you look at Strickland, at Florida, Virgil Osbury,

at LSU he's been there 30 years he played linebacker there and no one knows the DNA of that place like he does so I have the utmost confidence that Verge is going to know what LSU needs and the same for Kraft I think he understands what Penn State is I don't know much about Strickland

so I can't really speak on that but I think those three schools you'd be surprised at the people that are lined up at those three schools we know what you think of those three and what the best job is but, you know, when you open up this type of carousel and you have this many openings

and not a lot of like slam dunk candidates, if LSU doesn't land Lane Kiffin, are there names out there that you think could be a good fit? Yeah, see, that's what I'm doing. I don't do the name game, man, because everybody tends to just throw out a bunch of names and throw out the hot names. I think I'm looking for, if you ask me,

I'm looking for that DNA. Like, I want somebody that understands the South. I want somebody that understands that football is a line of scrimmage game. I want somebody that understands that you, in order to, in order to coach your team in this part of the country, you better meet your players where they are. And that's usually in the locker room and on the grass. Nothing against BK. BK is more of a CEO type head coach. I don't think the Southeast of the conference needs that.

Like, you got to go down in the locker room with these guys. You're like, you have to, you don't have to be a player's coach. but you better have a relationship with these guys if you're going to get out there and ask them to fight now we've got nine conference games it's going to be nine Saturdays plus another power four so you got 10 Saturdays where you're going to ask your guys to dig in

you sure as hell better know who they are and they better know you because if they got to dig in for you like that you got to have a rapport with them and so I think that described a lot of people personality wise I mean look at the coaches that have been successful in this conference man I mean Nick

Kirby Lane urban Meyer was successful like it's so many different personalities but i think the common denominator is really simple man you better own the line of scrimmage you better be able to recruit the state you're in you better bring a level of physicality to the game because that's how the game is played and that reminds me of something kirby said this weekend after georgia beat texas where kirby said we're going to be more physical we're always going to be more physical here we pay attention to who leaves here because they're not physical enough and where they go and we want to schedule those teams like how how much is that a shot at what texas is right now and how much

of that is just a recruiting billboard for georgia i think it's a combination of all that andy um like kirby's dna hasn't changed i played against kirby i remember in 1998 georgia came to baton rules man and kirby was wearing number 16 this safety running around like he's been the same ever since man like he's a guy that loves the physicality. His teams are indicative of who he is. And I think that he understands that sometimes the passing game may not be clicking. It's a timing thing.

Sometimes the quarterback receiver, you may not have elite guys at those positions. But the one thing that you can do, the easiest thing in football to do is to turn around and hand the football off. And he understands that. Mike Bobo understands that. Defensively, when you can stop people

and hold teams down, you're always going to have a chance to play. So Kirby Smart's team, he may get criticized for the lack of five-star receivers, but what he'll never get criticized for is not having an above-average to great defense and a team that can run the football. And that's why the consistency at that program has been there. And so when you look at against Texas, Texas, although Texas has had great players, every time Kirby has taken Texas and put them in the phone booth,

they come up a punch or too short. they always lose the game at the line of scrimmage. Last year, they sacked them 13 times. This year, it was more of the same from a physicality standpoint. I know the sacks went there. I think they had three sacks in the game, but Arch was running for his life back there. And Georgia was able to run the football.

So the stats may tell you a different story, but if you watch the game, I don't think those two programs are in the same category when it comes to the front seven and the offensive line. Booker, what do you think about this time? of year in college football with all this stuff happening like are you enjoying yourself do you enjoy the coaching carousel discussion do you enjoy um you know it happening while the playoff is at the apex like what is your personal opinion of the calendar and the way things are going at the moment well

you would love for the calendar to be different you would love for everything to seasons over coaching carousel ends take a vacation come back transfer portal like you would love for to go like that. But quite frankly, guys, that's not life, man. And if you're a coach that's looking to make $10 to $15 million a year, depending on who you are, you're going to have to make tough decisions and deal with the calendar how it is. And yeah, the playoffs are supposed to be a time where we celebrate college football, home games on campuses and all these different things. Well, it just so happened that's going to coincide based on, you know, what we all wanted, which was one transfer portal. Well, we got that. Well, you can't have it all. So we

wanted one transfer portal, we got that. Now at some point, if you're a team looking for a coach, you're going to have to get a coach before the transfer portal. Oh, wait, we wanted an early signing day because too many kids were having to wait. So we got an early signing day. And so now, hold up, wait, so do I have to get a coach before the portal or before the signing day? You're never going to have it in a perfect world, which is why I think some of these decisions that are taking place at Penn State, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, State, Arkansas are going to be imperfect decisions. because of timing and all that, and it may get messy.

I just think when it's all said and done, that the calendar is what it is, and I think when you prioritize things, what's the most important thing? I think if we look at the most important thing with player movement, getting one transfer portal, I thought it was the number one thing.

So we got that. When do you want that? We want that after the season. Well, are we going to get it in the middle of the playoffs? Well, yeah, it's going to affect the final 14, but if somebody's leaving during that, that's their own fault. So when you look at everything, I think they tried to prioritize what's the most important.

So we went transfer portal, we went signing date, well, transfer portal, playoff, signing date. And those things just happen to all take place in, what, about a four or five week period. It is amazing. And the playoff, I mean, it just, we're recording this a few hours before the committee reveals its rankings and burger i know these rankings tonight don't matter the ones in two weeks are the ones that matter or i guess in three weeks but what do you think happens in terms of of Oklahoma and Alabama and and probably Oregon's going to be you know in that mix somewhere

uh Oklahoma beating Alabama how does that change things well i think it gives Oklahoma a path to the playoff because if they beat Missouri LSU 10 and two Oklahoma with those wins is going to get in probably as an at large. I think it put Alabama in a tenuous situation where they have to beat Auburn. If they don't beat Auburn, now you're looking at a three-lossed team, and it starts to get a little iffy.

And so now, if you look at it, you got based on what we see, what, Georgia, if Ole Miss wins out, Ole Miss is in, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Alabama. Like all five of those teams probably deserve a playoff spot, so you give the SEC an option maybe to get five teams in the playoff.

I don't know if it's going to happen, but all those teams are going to be 10 and 2 or better, right? You look at Oklahoma, Georgia, Ole Miss, Alabama, Texas, A&M, yeah, they're all going to be 10 and 2 or better. So in a year where we were trying to get automatic bids and all that good stuff, I think we've, in the first year, since they kind of retooled with all the seating and stuff, we see a scenario why the SEC doesn't want auto bids because they are in line to get five teams in the playoff this year. The committee this year, you know, they're all different, but the committee this year seems to be emphasizing projective metrics in a way that they haven't in the past when putting these rankings out, using some of the data from, you know, different sources to try to figure out, like, how things look from a mathematical standpoint,

maybe even emphasizing them more than the results of the games. How have you viewed the way the committee has gone about their business this year? And do you like that? Well, the committee has been charged with a very, I guess, unexact science in trying to rank teams before the resume is complete. And I get it. It's a TV show. We like it. I'm a part of it.

I understand it. But every committee is different. And I think this committee has given you a little bit of insight. In just about every situation, when it comes to head-to-head, they ranked a team that's won the head-to-head battle above, except when you, when you're going to you. head battle above, except when you look at Notre Dame and Miami. And I do think if Notre Dame and Miami both finished 10 and 2, I find it, man, it's going to be hard if Notre Dame gets in above Miami. I'll just put it that way.

It's going to be hard for a lot of people to understand that. But I do think the committee is doing a really good job. I think that there are a lot of metrics involved. I'm not a big metric guy. Like when I heard Mac Rhodes start talking about the interior offensive line play of one team, I'm like, I don't know if I really want you in the weeds. But what that tells me is the coaches in the room are dictating the conversation. I think, man, like it's really simple.

Like, who do you think is a better team? Is there a defense better, offense better? Are there a defensive team, offensive team? Like all the different things, I think there's a certain level of football we need to get to. But by and large, I think the committee is doing a really good job. I just don't know if it's ever going to be a perfect. scenario where everybody on the outside can follow. I think that's what we want.

We want a committee that we know what they're going to do before they do it. And quite frankly, when you get 12 people in the room, it's going to be an inexact science. It's going to be subjectivity. I think that's the thing that we have to deal with. So, Booker, the ACC is using you as propaganda. But I wouldn't call it propaganda. It's the same stuff we've been saying, too.

The ACC put out a tweet yesterday and had a bunch of different luminaries, including you and Joel Clatt and some other people, and it's what you just said like Notre Dame's going to be 10 and 2 Miami looks like they're going to be 10 and 2 hope they both get in but if they're buying for one spot let's not forget they played on the field

Burger we got we've been yelled at by Notre Dame fans all season over this but I just I don't know what else to say it's not a personal thing against Notre Dame it's just the games have to matter don't they games have to matter man I'm a firm believer this we did this a few years ago

man with Florida State we took the conversation off the field and put it based on what we thought like football is the game we don't have to do that man like if teams if a powerful team goes undefeated they should be in the playoff all right

they should be there should have been that way with Florida State if 10 and 2 Florida State excuse me 10 and 2 Miami 10 to Notre Dame are battling for one spot it's got to go to the team that won the game on the field I don't care about some people will say well who's better now well this is not about now this is

about this is the resume contest and if it were about now let's just cancel all the games until late November and just played three or four games and tell me who's better now it's not about the now it's about when you stack your resume and if the resumes are comparable in this in this hypothetical 10 and 2 Notre Dame 10 and to Miami I saw one team beat another team you have to take the team that won the game I think that's what they'll do but I'm really not sure based on what happened to Florida State a few years ago, whether or not they're going to allow the on-the-field score and the own-to-field product to matter. You know, I think what happens in this business and it's part, you know, it's fun, is that we get

bogged down on these debates. And, Bougar, I agree with everything you just said, especially because, you know, I think at times, like Notre Dame is favored in some of the metrics that they're using. And I just don't think that that should be the priority. but what ends up happening is that the doomsday scenario just doesn't even come out to be like relevant somebody loses to somebody and then we don't have to have it I am very curious what will happen if push comes to shove and there's one spot left and the debate comes down to just those two teams it's wild and I'm with you 100 percent yeah I hope hopefully that's not the doomsday scenario but if the SEC gets five and you got Indiana Ohio State Oregon and that's three, that's eight. The group of five is nine. Big 12, 10, maybe 11, depending on BYU and Texas Tech.

Like, you really got one spot left, right? Like, there's a scenario when you got one. And so it's going to be interesting, man. I don't know how they're going to do it, but like that's a realistic scenario that might happen. So is Ohio State best team in the country? They look to be the most talented. I think they haven't been tested yet, Andy,

so I'm not really sure. The one time they got tested was the first game of the year against Texas, make it at what you wish. We've seen what Texas hasn't been. But I think Ohio State's way better now. We're going to learn a lot about Ohio State against Indiana because I know Indiana

is a lot better than they were last year. And we saw that game last year. So I think Indiana has a real shot of beating Ohio State. But I may be wrong. We'll find out come the Big Ten championship, assuming Ohio State can take care of that they really can't beat over the last four years. Booker, is there a team that we aren't that, I mean, obviously we know who the 15, 17 teams that are in the mix are.

Is there a team that you really like that you feel like isn't getting enough credit? I think the team that could win it all, I don't know if it's getting enough credit now, I think Notre Dame can win a national championship. I think, I think A&M can win a national championship. But I think when we look at Notre Dame and you look at A&M, you ask yourself, do I trust CVA Carre, do I trust Marcel Reed based on some scenarios that I've seen?

I think both teams have things that they can lean on. um everybody likes texas tech i i don't know the defensive line is really really good the defense is really good um am i ready to stack up like here's the game i play let's just take texas tech and i played this game earlier i'm going to take texas tech and i'm going to name a team and tell me off the top of your mind who you favor all right texas tech notre dame oh that's tough okay because I think Texas Tech would hold them down

like I don't know that they'd score much on Texas Tech okay could be Georgia Georgia Georgia Texas A&M um

probably A&M but not sure because A&M hasn't Notre Dame is the best team A&M's played I mean Notre Dame is probably the answer to your question though

like Notre Dame's slightly my point to that exercise if you go down the list is that like Texas Tech is going to have to get the right matchup, I think, to not only advancing the playoff, but advanced deep in the playoff. Now, can they do it? Sure, but I think it's going to be so matchup driven. I tell you

this spot, most people want to be in. Whoever's in the fifth spot is probably going to, it's going to be like, man, we didn't get a buy. Yeah, but you're at home against JMU. You know what I mean? Ari yelled at me when I said that that's what Georgia would want. Now, Georgia's actually in a better situation because they might get four and not have to play in the SEC championship game. But yeah, if you're five, you're not playing in the SEC of the Big Ten championship game, you are, or you're Texas Tech and you do have to play your championship game, but you're getting that group of five team. And then you get the four seed.

You don't get the one seat. Like eight, nine gets the one seat. Hey, that's why this whole thing is going to be matchup driven, man. Like, like the five spot is a really good spot to be in, dude. like it is a really good spot to be in because of the home game, the revenue, the opponent, you're going to be not saying that it's a shoe in win, but whoever the five plug them in, Texas Tech, Georgia, Ole Miss, would be favored by, what would you say, 10 to 14 against AMU?

More than that. Probably 19. Yeah, that's right. So it's a very, very envious position to be in that five. I just want to be put on record because Andy threw me under the bus there. I yelled at you because I thought you would want to go play the SEC championship game. And then if you win that game, which doesn't eliminate you, if you lose, you don't have to play anybody. I think if we gave Kirby Truths, Sirum, and said, do you want to go play Alabama or Texas A&M in Atlanta? Or do you rather just not play that week and have to play at home against JMU or Navy or North Texas or Tulane? I think he's going to take the second option. Boog, am I right or am I wrong?

I think you'd be wrong, and here's why. Just because of how much I know the SEC championship matters to the people that have been in that conference for a long time. Like, man, I'm telling you, it matters, man. Like, yeah, there's only one national champion. I get it. But the next best thing in America is the best conference in the country. That's the SEC.

It matters. It matters when you get the destiny, man. It matters. Kirby has been in the SEC all his life. It matters. I'm telling you. you. So, yeah, I think you'd probably be wrong. But who knows? I mean, it's not a bad consolation prize. Yeah. They might actually hit the biggest, though, because if they don't

play in the SEC championship game and end up with the top four seed, they don't have to play anybody. And they get six weeks off. It feels like they might get the skirt both. Yeah. We shall see. I think the SEC championship game is a champion game is ultimately going to be Texas A&M and, what, Alabama, right? I think Alabama's going to be favored over Auburn and Iron Bo. So I think that's going to wind up being what it is, if I'm not correct, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, you're right. I think it's going to be a lot of fun to see this go down because this Iron Bowl is going to be fun now that Alabama's got to win it.

And we got a good couple weeks coming up. Bougar, thank you so much. And we will talk to you again very soon. Before I go, let me get you guys as opinion. on one thing. You guys asked me about the whole coaching carousel. I'm going to name the school, name me each one of your favorites to get the job, Penn State. I have no idea. That's the one I struggle with. Like, here's what I say about Penn State. If Bob Chesney from James Madison, if, like, he'd already coached to James Madison for three years and then gone to Boston

College or gone to Syracuse and coached there for two years, it'd be a no-brainer. They'd just be hiring him immediately. So my thing about that is, why don't you just, just hire Bob Chesney now. What about Pat Fitzgerald at Penn State? I could see it. I could see it. I actually could see Pat Fitzgerald at Stanford or UCLA, maybe even a little bit better. Yeah.

Stanford, it seems like a great one. Yeah, Stanford makes more sense. Oklahoma State. Eric Morris from North Texas, and he brings the quarterback. All right. I like that one. Arkansas. This one's tough.

This was tough because I think you're probably talking about like a Ryan Silverfield from Memphis or an Alex Golish from USF unless, so John Tyson is their big booster that, you know, Tyson Foods. He's the one who funded the Caliperie hire. If he wants somebody different, I may go with who he wants because if he's going to give me more money that way, then I can get better players. So I don't like I don't know who he wants. Does he want someone who's more like a known commodity?

Yeah, that I don't know. Not sure on that one. LSU. Kenny Dillingham. And we'll probably talk about why in the next segment. Interesting. Florida. Lane Kiffin's the one everybody wants.

I don't know if he's coming. I think you're probably at that point in Eli Drinkwitz, Jeff Brom or Brent Key. or Kenny Dillingham. I think Kenny Dillingham would work at Florida too. I'm letting you cook, Andy, and I trust your opinion on it.

Every single answer that you've given is a sitting head coach. Yes, I know. And I don't know if that's right. As opposed to what? As opposed to like Will Stein, the Oregon offensive coordinator, Glenn Schumann in Georgia.

Some of these schools aren't going that route. Here's what I think is happening. I know we got to go. I think the big schools are going to get sitting head coaches. I think the secondary schools are going to get the group of five coaches. So, other words, I think, I think LSU Florida, Penn State are going to find Arkansas, LSU Florida Penn State are going to get the pick of the litter.

Then I think Oklahoma State, Auburn, Arkansas, Stanford, are going to get the group of five of Bob Chesney, Alex Golish, Silverfield, Shannon. Summerall. Like John Somerall, I would think he's all. It's the reason why I pushed back, though, Booger. Right. Go think about the top 10 coaches in your head in college football, and I bet you eight of them were coordinators when they got hired in their current positions.

Agreed. However, I think timing is different now based on where we are. Like, there's such a, there's such an impatience now based on what Chris Signetti did in Indiana, based on what took to a much lower level, based on what Dion did in this first year of Colorado. Or Lane's done it, Ole Miss. Correct. Like, you have to come in now and you need to have done it and do it on a high level.

I don't think people are willing to get the hot coordinator and let him grow on the job because the further, like the longer you grow, the more gap or the bigger the gap that's happening between your program and the ones that have it rolling like Georgia, Ohio State, and others. The one coordinator, I'd say, Booger, that I think has a shot. in this carousel and it's because he has access to the best players or has historically been able to recruit the best players is Brian Hartline at Ohio State. Okay, if that's the case, why won't Penn State hire Brian Hartland?

I would before that. I've said that on this show that they should consider him. I got you. Yeah, and I think a lot of these coaches, like Dan Landing went nine and three in his first year, and one of the losses was the George in the opener. But the other thing about that is Oregon didn't hire Dan Landing because it fired Mario Cristobal. Mario Cristobal had left

and left a really good situation. Urban Meyer retired and Ryan Day inherited a great situation. Mark Richt was good. The closest comparison to these things, especially Penn State, is Mark Rick getting fired at Georgia. And they just hit a home run with Kirby.

Yeah. So it's tough, man. Yeah. But I like the lightning round, Bougar. That was awesome. We got to do that more often. Yeah, it's just fine, man. Because we don't know any.

Like, it's just, it's a bunch, It's a bunch of spitballing, and I think all three of us have enough knowledge in the conferences and college football to kind of have an idea of what these schools are looking for. But even then, we don't know. So it's always fun, man. Thank you guys for having me. I'm always listening. Ari, uh, make sure you keep giving Andy a hard time, especially when he starts going off. I listen to the podcast.

It's funny early, early in the morning when I listen to it, R is always the one. Andy, slow down a minute. Wait one second. Wait, wait a minute. Think about this. And that's when I started laughing. Good, I'm happy we make it off. Boog's not only long enough that I do,

I do tend to get off the rails pretty quick. I know it. I know it. It's all good. Hey, thanks for looking and thanks for talking soon. Thanks for being here, Booger. Thanks. Later, fellas.

That is the great Booger McFarlane. Of course, you want to follow him on social media. On X, his handle is just at Booger, which I wonder if you had to buy that or did you just, was he the first to claim it? He probably had to talk to somebody about that, unless he was on Twitter in 2008 and got it. I don't know. We'll have to ask him next time.

It's a tremendous get, though. Tremendous. Yeah. You know, my Twitter handle was taken, but it was taken by a person with the same exact name, obviously. And right when Facebook first came out, I was in college. So I would just like friend random people like back then. before you knew how, like, social media worked, and I friended him. And he's just some random Ari Wasserman in Chicago.

And then I sent him a Facebook message saying, hey, can I have the handle on Twitter for my job? And he was like, yeah, no problem, dude. And that's how I got mine. Reasonable people all over the world. Yeah. They still exist. Ari, we got to open a pack of Panini. Before we talk Sam Levitt, by the way, maybe the biggest free agent in college football.

We'll see. but Arizona State quarterback Sam Levitt maybe hitting the portal Pete Nacos and Steve Wilfong reported that on Tuesday there's a lot to discuss with that it's not just about Sam Levitt it's also about Kenny Dillingham

and Arizona State and the future of that program but first Panini America.net to start your Panini collection the most collectible sports cards on the planet I have a package of Donorous Elite right here that I'm going to rip and we're going to take a look inside you have of course

your slabs and slabs and slabs of Finini where you have excellent cards everywhere. I love these Donorous elite ones. They're very shiny, very, very, very shiny. And we got Josh Allen, got the playmaker Michael Irvin, Golden Tate, former Notre Dame receiver, Golden Tate. Phil Sims. He's not just Chris Sims' dad. everybody you won a couple Super Bowls and a full throttle Marvin Mims who was

clocked at 20.93 miles per hour last year that one is numbered to 799 so full throttle Marvin Mims all right you got on your desk right there I have all the Donriss elite cards that I pulled out of that case that they said here's a Woody Marks refractor. That's number to 999. Remember Woody Marks, U.S.C. running back now. Quavius Marks, that's right. They call him Woody because he wouldn't stop wearing his Woody pajamas from Toy Story. Here

is Dylan Gabriel to 99. Some of these aren't numbered. You got to look out for them at the bottom there, Andy. I don't know what's going to happen with Dylan Gabriel. He got hurt over the weekend. I don't know if you heard. Shador was only bad because he didn't get first team reps while he

was the backup. I agree with that. He's going to be a pro bowler. now that he's getting all the first team reps. Here's another one, Andy. Curtis got to work. I got to get some of these. Canadian cannon. Yeah.

And then of course, Pat Bryant, who's doing really well in Denver so far. But yes, I'm, I've got to be honest with you. I'm all for it's the Brown's fault, the Browns fault conspiracy theories. Like there's no way like the Browns didn't mess him up, right? Like, if you think about track record, you know, all we've ever seen is Shudor Sanders be very good and all we've ever seen is the Browns being bad. It's also possibly not going to be a good NFL quarterback.

We'll see. No, but for the time being, I'm going to say, hold your Panini Shaduror Sanders cards for now. Hold them. Yeah, well, they're actually very expensive. So if you are not a believer, I might actually sell them. But, you know, we'll see. Everything in cards, too, is pop culture, Andy. If you are a famous person, that's definitely a good value ad.

You need to be looking for Shador. You can hold their sell. the part of the game. That's the stock part, right? That's exactly right. Well, I'm going to be ripping packs looking for Shador. Paniniamerica.net to start your collection today. All right, let us talk Sam Levitt. So on Tuesday morning, Pete Nacos and Steve Wilfong report that Sam Levitt, who is out for the season with an injury right now, is doubtful to return to Arizona State, but likely

would wind up somewhere else in college. This would be huge because Sam Levitt, you saw him lead Arizona State to a to a big 12 title last year, damn near led him to a win against Texas in the Peach Bowl, was playing well this year, is the only quarterback who has solved that Texas Tech defense, by the way. So now he could be on the market. Yeah, when I saw this tweet,

mine went in 19 different directions, Andy. And I don't know what direction you want to go in first. But the first direction wasn't, wow, we have a really good player in the portal. It's like, Wow, this sucks. I don't know if you are in that camp with me, but I got a lot of college footballers broken texts from people. And I don't know where you left on.

And you grew up in Scottsdale. So a lot of people you grew up around Arizona State fans are around that, you know, that's their program. And yeah, if you. And a lot of responses on Twitter from random non-Ohio state fans, too, kind of resented it. And I think that we need to understand and we don't yet because this is brand new. why he would want to leave. And of course, that opens trap door number two, which is, is Kenny Dillingham going to leave?

Like, there's a lot of layers to this that are really, really interesting to sift through. Now, the one thing I will say is that if nothing is wrong at Arizona State and Kenny Dillingham does decide and want to stay there long term, I think this is just another illustration of just how freaking hard it is to build a program. Like, you have a quarterback, you do something that Arizona State hasn't done in 20 years, years last year. You're returning the quarterback that was a main part of that run who everybody wants and knows is good.

Obviously, things have gone tremendously bad for them. And still, with the bad luck they've had this year, they're still alive, sorry. And they're still alive in the Big 12 hunt, which is another, I think, illustration of why Dillingham is an attractive coach. But like, how is Arizona State supposed to build something that is year over year good if that is not a place that a really good quarterback? want to stay again we don't know the reason why we don't you know maybe things have just gone poorly and he needs a fresh start i don't know but like it's just back in the day you know if you had the

right guy you had that guy for three years and you could try to build while the players are on your team or on your team you can lose your best player at any moment not just from injury anymore but because they decide they don't want to be there anymore so it's an unfortunate thing and, you know, what's he just going to go end up at a SEC team or Miami again next year, and then we're going to start over? Like, I think that the entire feature of the portal was that more teams were able to get good players than they were able to before. But if you're a good, if you're a team that's considered middle of the pack,

then you have a great player, then you're, it's harder to keep them, too. Like, it's a two-way street. Right. Now, they could break the bank and keep him. But the problem is, Miami can spend a ton of money too and put more talent around him. Some SEC school or Big Ten school

can put more talent around him. Remember, Sam Levitt didn't start out at Arizona State. He started in Michigan State. And Jonathan Smith got the job. He brought an Aiden Childs, and Sam Levitt was the odd man out in that situation. So he's been through this process before. The difference is he's going through this process now

as maybe the most wanted guy in the portal. There will be other quarterbacks who enter the portal, probably high profile ones, but I'm not sure there will be one that is as accomplished as Sam Levitt already. You say, like, put more talent around him. And it's like, yeah, you're probably right. But they also had like Jordan Tyson and Cam Scadaboo on the same team last year. They did. Is it that hard to, if you're Arizona State?

Would you rather have Arizona State's offensive line blocking for you or Miami's offensive line blocking? Miami's, no question. I'm not saying you're wrong about it. but yeah i mean that's the thing like you you can you can and you're the one who always says the rudy story doesn't exist and everybody wants it to but it doesn't in reality and that that's the truth so rudy story is all these guys would just stay at their schools and wouldn't take more money and wouldn't go to a place where they thought they could win a national championship and wouldn't go to a place where they thought they could play with better players but the fact of the matter is

that's what all of them are doing. Yeah. Is the lesson here, if you are a middle or lower tier program, the way that Arizona State was when Kenny Dealingham took over, that your best shot at ever tasting success is catching lightning in a bottle. Like, how is Arizona State supposed to build something with lasting results and consistent results? If this is just like, oh, well, you know, I'd rather go play behind Miami's offensive line. somebody's always going to have more.

How are you going to build it so that you can have sustainability? Now, we've seen multiple times teams pop out of nowhere. And maybe this is just another reminder of how much of a genius Kurt Signetti might just be, right? Because they are doing it two years in a row. But I think I feel bad for Arizona State fans. Like that's just a hundred percent. It does suck. Now, look, Vandy kept Diego Pavia.

So it's not impossible. Sometimes the guy stays. And Leavitt stayed this year. Levitt could have left after last year. Yeah. Which brings us to the next point. This is, and probably the bigger conversation. I don't know that he is leaving because he's getting a sense that Dillingham is leaving,

but I wonder if Dillingham feels a sense of being defeated by this, which then opens his mind to, I can't live like this anymore, which then opens his mind to, I'm ready to try something different. Now, we have to talk about his background for the 100th time because it's important. Kenny Dillingham is from Arizona. He grew up and went to Arizona State. This program is closer to his heart than just like randomly finding success there. This isn't like a Lane Kiffin scenario. So that is the selling point.

But if somebody calls him and we spent a lot of time talking about who's the coach that is going to get the guaranteed contract from the big school over spending because they're desperate, who's going to be this year's Lincoln Riley? Who's going to be this year's Brian Kelly, who leaves a place that we think they're ingratiated in and just surprises people. And like, now that I think about it, Kenny Dillingham might be the closest thing we have to that in this cycle. Well, and this cycle has a lot of accomplished coaches

who are at their alma maters, but their alma maters are not traditional powers. So that would be Kenny Dillingham. That would be Brent Key at Georgia Tech. That would be Jeff Brom at Little bit. that would be Clark Lee at Banderbilt. These are all guys that are at their alma maters right now, but their alma maters aren't considered destination jobs.

So would they leave for something that is considered a destination job? Like if LSU or somebody like that wanted Kenny Dillingham, is he willing to listen? Because I don't think just any old school could get him out of Arizona State, but I think a really good job could. I think there's another aspect to this, and I'm going to sound like a snob. So just bear with me.

But we had a conversation internally yesterday as a company about doing a who gets to go to the Fiesta Bowl raffle. And you sent the link to the J.W. Marriott on Lincoln and Camelback that everybody. The Camelback Inn. Yep. Yeah. Five star resort that hosts the media for. I'm the only sports writer in the world who doesn't get it. Like I've stayed there.

It's fine. It's not that great. But the other sports writers are, they think it is like. the greatest hotel in the history of the world. I love it there. Sure, but there are other really nice hotels within five miles that are just as nice, if not nicer. Oh, yeah, no, I'm sure.

Yeah, I've stayed in a few of them. Yeah, if you mean like, why is it better than the other ones that are directly near it, then, okay, we can have that conversation. Yeah, like the Scottsdale Princess or something like that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, sure. Yeah, no, okay, I thought you meant like, I don't understand why people like Scottsdale in my head of them. I love Scottsdale.

Okay. 100%. You know what the rate is for that hotel this week? $800. My wife has business there and I think she might be going. Guess what the rate is for that hotel on Wednesday, tomorrow night? $850. More.

Oh, $1,200. More. $1,600? You're over now. It's a $14.50. Wow. And I'm just saying this as an illustration of like, Kenny Dillingham gets to live there. Like, that's part of it, too.

It's like some of the alma maters and I get like the heartstring pole. Like, he is somebody who grew up in Scottsdale and left Scottsdale. I am somebody who grew up in Scottsdale and left Scottsdale. You don't appreciate what you have while you're there until you leave. I think he has appreciated what he has now. Like, it is a really amazing place to live. And like, I don't know about other cities and other alma maters, but like you also get to live in a place where when people get big,

payouts at work or retire want to move there. And I think that, like, that's not overrated. I think that's a thing. So I don't know, but like, this is the column that I wrote while me and you were together in Nashville during championship weekend last year. It's all well and good to say you like mountains and 72 degree weather in January. But if LSU calls and says, we'll give you $100 million to coach us, all of a sudden the warm and fuzzy feeling about being in the mountains.

Right. Suddenly, State College, Pennsylvania looks very attractive as a residence. Yeah. So I don't know. I don't know. And if I were somebody who was trying to build something, like when I bought my daughter, my parents bought my daughter for her birthday,

a dollhouse, and it was the worst four hours of my life putting the thing together, if somebody would have come into the room while I'm trying to build the thing and take, taken an essential piece of it away from me and said, keep trying to build it without this. I would kick it down and want to leave. Right.

Or you went to the store, got another piece, used it for a while, and then overnight someone stole it again. You know, and maybe that's an oversimplification of the situation, but I can understand being a coach. What's the number one frustration of any coach when they're out of doing a job? Personnel, players, jimmies and Joe's.

Always. I think that you can also just kind of boil that back down to do we have enough support or enough money or enough fan buy-in or enough administrative buy-in to get those players and keep them. And if he ever gets a feeling like this isn't working for me, then I can understand why you might open your eyes to that. So I don't know. This is all speculation. My understanding and my assumption was that he wanted to stay there long-term and I've been operating under that assumption. but my assumption doesn't mean shit if somebody calls him with a blank check at a traditional program and like listen we also have to acknowledge too that there are a lot of big jobs open

right now and not a lot of candidates to fill them so that means desperation and finances are going to go through the roof and if lane kiffin sets the new job market with the circus that he's going through under right now and kenny dillingham to get 90% of that because of desperation uh which he still might be able to who knows who knows it's just you have to think about it. It's, you absolutely do. You're, you're actually irresponsible to yourself if you don't, but it does suck. I, I want to, I want people to understand it sucks. You know, I'm going to make people mad. I've made people mad when I said this about Oklahoma and USC and Lincoln Riley. It's not better to live in Auburn, Alabama than Scottsdale. So, and I've never even been there.

I know for a better to live in Auburn, Alabama if you're winning national titles. So that's the thing. My thought was maybe this crazy son of a bitch is going to figure it out and do it in Tempe. If he ever gets to a point where he feels like he's at the end of the road and you can't go any further and as a competitive person and somebody who is doing this for a living wants to win national titles and he feels like he has maxed himself out, then your only option is to go live in Auburn, Alabama. Yeah. And try to get those things. And I don't know if he's there yet. This is just a conversation, just guys being dudes on a podcast.

But I was frustrated for him this morning when I saw those. Yeah, I'm with you because I do think his intention when he went to Arizona State was to be at Arizona State, not to use it as a stepping stone for anything else. But would it be understandable to you if because the circumstances changed in the way they did, he looks at it differently now? And my hope for him is that there's nothing that could ever happen where he doubts himself or doubts his program. But if you asked LeBron James in an honest moment, he might have even said this publicly. I'm not an NBA head that clings to every word he says, which championship means the most to him? I bet you it's Cleveland. It's a Cleveland one.

Got to be. So, like, if you ask Kenny Dillingham, would you rather win the national title at Auburn? Or would you rather win the national title at LSU or any of the other jobs that are open? or win the big 12, five years in a row and make Arizona State consistently good and become a legend at your home, what would you rather do? I don't know the answer to that. Yeah. But, you know, we always talk about national championships in this realm because that's what people are driven by.

But I also wonder if somebody can be at a place long term, never win a national title, but still be the greatest coach that ever coached there and build that up to a place. Like, that's a pretty good existence too. Like, I don't know if the end of the road has to be national title. There are a lot of coaches who coach for 30 years who never get a national title. It's hard. It's elusive. And for a long time,

they're the same group of five teams were the ones winning it. If you are hoping is that this new era is going to usher in parity like we've never seen before, then maybe he should not feel that way. So it's confusing. It's deep. But my hope for Arizona State and the people that I know who love them

and all the people who love college football is that maybe another program can just keep their freaking guy and actually build something rather than it just being, Okay, well, young hot-shot coach who has already done more with less goes to LSU. It's like, okay, LSU is going to be LSU no matter who they hire. Like, why don't we let some of the young bright stars in the sport actually stay somewhere long enough to build something new so that there's a new program to talk about because if he leaves ASU, then it goes back to relative obscurity and we talk about them once a month if something crazy happens.

And other than that, we don't talk about it. It's been fun talking about. Exactly. Ari, I will give Arizona State some immediate hope for right now. They play Colorado this week, Territorial Cup against Arizona's next week. If Arizona State wins both these games and BYU loses to Cincinnati or UCF, Arizona State is playing for the Big 12 title against Texas Tech, a team they've already beaten. Which is why you want to keep your coach.

Exactly. Unbelievable. By the way, I don't know if this is a good. segue, but I would be remiss if I didn't bring this up. How about those freaking wildcats, baby? How about those wildcats beating Cincinnati on Saturday? You're talking about coaching your way off the hot seat. Brent Brennan has certainly done that. You know, we talk so much about coaches' expectations and not meeting those expectations and buyouts and who's fired and who's going to get fired, who's not doing

enough. Like, that's so much of the sport because there are so many places and it's hard to like keep. It's pretty cool to talk about somebody who could have been fired after one year who turned the program around and is seven and three and has a chance to finish nine and three. Like I think that like acknowledging like Brent Brennan isn't a coaching personality that's going to move the needle for the national audience. But like, you know, if you're a Purdue fan or a Mississippi state fan or anybody else, it's pretty cool to see an underachieving program do something cool and turn it around very quickly. So good for Arizona, and maybe that Arizona State-Asu Territorial Cup will be one for the ages this year. So congrats to Wildcats at Tucson. It's been a fun year for you.

I would agree with that completely. Now, big day to day, huge news day today. Could be a bigger one tomorrow. You never know. But it's a message board, megaboard Wednesday. So we're going to be taking select topics from the on-3 megaboard, and there will be so many things to choose from. And also remember, around 8.30 p.m. Eastern time. But basically after the Kentucky-Michigan State game ends.

Why is it always Izzo? I cause a lot of timeouts. It's always good. But college football playoff ranking reveal at the end of the Kentucky Michigan State game before the next game, we will be there with you live, revealing the bracket. I know YouTube TV and Disney have made their agreement. We still think you should watch it with us. I think it's more fun if you're watching with us. So come join us.

My lost iPad is going to be delivered today. So I'm going to have it. We're going to be ready to go. We will talk to you tonight when they reveal the rankings. Thank you so much for watching. We'll see you that.