Andy & Ari On3 - Miami LOADS UP in the spring transfer portal — should that excite or concern?

Episode Date: May 7, 2025

Miami has been very active in the spring transfer portal, grabbing multiple players who likely will wind up either starting or playing major roles for the Hurricanes this season. The latest is former Auburn DB Keionte Scott, who spent the spring at Houston but reunites with former Auburn and Houston secondary coach Zac Etheridge in Miami. The Hurricanes also have added former Texas kicker Bert Auburn, former North Dakota State tailback CharMar Brown, former N.C. State linebacker Kamal Bonner, former Cincinnati receiver Tony Johnson and former BYU receiver/kick returner Keelon Marion. Can the Hurricanes get to the College Football Playoff with this roster? Also, ESPN’s Heather Dinich said Tuesday that the seeding still might change for the 2025 College Football Playoff. Everyone agrees the seeding should change, but for everyone outside the Big Ten and SEC there is little incentive to make that change for this year. Later, Andy and Ari pick their favorite On3 graphics…(0:00-1:04) Intro(1:05-5:00) Miami's Spring Portal Haul(5:01-15:36) How the Canes have assembled their roster(15:37-24:14) Should Miami fans be concerned on how the roster was built?(24:15-30:49) Closing out Miami, Perfect 24 Hours preview(30:50-40:51) Changes coming to CFP Seeding?(40:52-54:18) Best of On3's Social graphics(54:19-55:28) Watch our show live on YouTube!(55:29-1:08:00) Conclusion: Your Perfect 24 Hours(1:08:01-1:08:45) Dear Andy & Ari tomorrow! [e-mail] Watch our show LIVE on YouTube, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/aGmmK-uZNKU Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Want to partner with the show? E-mail [e-mail]

Welcome to Annie and Ariane 3. Happy Wednesday. Happy Hump Day. You're loading up in South Florida, Ari. It's interesting because we talked about this spring transfer portal window as being fairly calm and tame the past two years. Obviously, the Nico Iamaljava drama made it exciting this year. Nico Iamaljava drama sounds like it exciting this year that Nico I am Aliava drama sounds like it could be a children's book. Yes, yes, llama llama llama llama

llama llama llama. Drama Yami Allah was leaving for his. Yeah, I don't know. I didn't. I didn't. I don't mind an author. I just I feel like there's there's some meat on that bone, but by the way that we were just

showing the I am leaving even on three graphics. Later in the show, we are going to pick our favorite on three graphics so far because there was another banger last night and I felt like we really need to just highlight one of my favorite things about the company. So later in the show, we'll be picking our favorite on three graphics. But I want to talk about Miami because while the spring portal has been fairly tame at most places, Miami has been loading up in the spring portal with a few different types of guys. And I think it's interesting to have a

conversation about like what Miami is going to be this year based on how this roster is constructed. Because I was watching the cane sport guys and their show last night or this morning and they were talking about and I hadn't thought about it this way but at this point in in year four under Mario Cristobal they were a little surprised that they're going this transfer heavy and like Chianti Scott is the latest pickup. He was at Auburn last year. He had actually gone to Houston for the spring,

reunites with Zach Etheridge, who was the DB's coach at Auburn and at Houston before. He's at Miami now. But Quyante Scott was a really good nickel for Auburn in 2023. Wanted to play boundary corner last year, did not play well, ended up getting benched. So like, the assumption is he's coming, wanted to play boundary corner last year did not play well ended up, you know getting benched so like

The assumption is he's coming He's gonna play nickel at Miami and he should be fairly productive there because he was an all SEC nickel When he was playing nickel at Auburn, so but you've got him Kamal Bonner a linebacker from NC State Charmar Brown the the North Coast State running back. And Pokemon character. Right, exactly. Jacoby Thomas from Tennessee, who probably was going to start at safety for Tennessee

coming out of the spring. Burt Auburn, the former Texas kicker who had probably lost his job and needed to go find a job. Like, everybody's got a little bit different situation. Like Charmar Brown was really good at North Dakota State and was a a true free agent type like I'm I'm maybe started and I don't know if he started quality here because like Miami still is Mark Fletcher.

So they've got some good players already but the question is are they to transfer heavy and I'm not just talking about what they brought in the spring, like their entire secondary, probably is going to be transfers, most of whom they brought in the winter. So I just want some action with Miami, there's a lot to unpack here. Because if you look at the players they got like, these are a lot, most of these are really good players that their

their old teams didn't want to lose. Now, like the bird Auburn thing, he'd lost his job and Steven San Antonio says, is it fair to say bird Auburn is only getting good jobs because it's a fabulous lettuce? So he's not a good kicker. He's not a good kick. Listen, kickers, they go, they have their ups and downs. Your year starter. Like I don't remember it. I mean, he hit some pretty big kicks, didn't he? Right. But he was losing his job. Like the reason he's leaving Texas is he didn't have a job at

Texas. So, but that's not the case with most of these guys. Miami's bringing it. Most of the guys Miami's bringing in our guys that we're going to start where they were. Did not, the old team did not want to lose them. Like Kamal Bonner was at NC State was a guy who came in because the the starter ahead of him got hurt last year and Bonner played really well. Now that starter is back this year, but they certainly didn't want to lose Bonner. They had plans for him. So I'm interested like in Zechariah Poyser is another one. He's not a spring portal edition. He's a winter portal edition. He was an all conference DB at Jacksonville state and like a lot of sec schools wanted him Miami wanted him Miami ended up getting them. The question is, cause you and I have had this argument about roster

construction in the NIL era is are they, are they leaning a little too transfer heavy or is this a good mix of guys they brought in? Because they have some elite guys that they brought in at a high school. So this is kind of an interesting discussion. First of all, let's start from the top. Do you mind? I'm sure. 12 days ago before these seven new transfers came in, what did we think Miami was gonna be this year? Let's have an honest conversation about that. Pretty good still.

You thought they were gonna be like a nine win team-ish, eight, nine win team or do you think 10, 11 wins? I'd say between eight and 10, depending on how things shook out. Yeah, I thought, so last year I was high on Miami. Like at this time last year, I thought Miami was gonna go to the playoff. And I ranked them in the top 10 of my preseason poll

and it drove people crazy. I'm not nearly as high on Miami as I was a year ago at this time. And I think a large part of that too is because I'm just not, I'm a Carson Beck truther. I don't know that, I think he's a good quarterback. I don't think he's a great one. And I think they lost a good quarterback. I don't think he's a great one. And I think they lost a great one.

But I now think I'm ready to inch toward the 10-win situation. You know, I don't know how things are going to look. I think Notre Dame is probably going to beat them in the opener. But then you have a coin flip game against Florida, depending on what Florida is. And then there's a schedule there that's there for the taking. Like Miami could be a 10- to playoff team potentially this year. What is Miami's toughest ACC game? Is it Louisville?

I would still, I don't know. I have no idea what Florida is. SMU maybe. I don't know what Florida is. SMU probably. I gotta go to SMU. So here's the deal though, Andy. I feel like when you're transfer portal heavy,

it means you're reliant on replacing big time players that were carrying your team year over year and you don't know who's gonna be in. I feel like a lot of these Miami pickups are, at some spots crucial and necessary, but at other spots luxury. And I think that like, this is not overly reliant. Like I didn't, I didn't have that thought. And I think that in the transfer portal in general, we do a huge disservice to teams that have sneaky

good pickups across the board that aren't the number one story on on three. Like I feel like, you know, we talked a lot about Jon Matier, right? And I think John Matier is the single most impactful. Who Miami went after. Yeah. But he's the single most impactful singular transfer of this cycle. Would you agree with that?

Yes. But I also wonder when it comes to maintaining, flipping or improving a team, if the best way to do the portal is to pick up a FCS running back that was one of the best in that level last year, and a story doesn't have to be the starter when he gets there, by the way.

Defensive backs with experience and all American kick returner like. I feel like when you do things that aren't splashy, but you consistently upgrade the talent at positions, that's what makes your team better. So like, I actually am all about this. Like, I don't think that, and if they didn't get any of these guys, I don't know that I would have thought going into it that they're screwed. I think that right. And Keelan Marion is the guy you're talking about the kick returner from BYU and he's also a good slot receiver. And that they've gotten deeper at receiver in this portal cycle,

but they've also like they've got some young guys they're excited about that they brought in a high school. So one thing I know for sure is I think their lines are gonna be good. And I think that goes a long way Yeah in the SEC. They've got one of the best interior offensive lineman in the country You might be a top 15 pick next year Jojo traders a receiver that I think has a chance to break out They're adding something they're excited about Malachi Tony as a freshman coming in Joshua Moore they're excited about as a freshman coming in a receiver and then you can like the case last year that Mark Fletcher was

better than um uh Damien Martinez at times like I think that they have pieces and of course of Carson Beck is healthy and an above average quarterback you are probably sitting with one of the four best quarterbacks in your conference uh and on the D line they've got they got Ruben Bane who's a homegrown guy Akeem Esadur was a West Virginia transfer but he's been there long enough now that he may as well have been a high school signing. But I do I do buy into the thought that if you think that

your your two safeties in your two corners are all transfers and you're afraid of your secondary being bad. That's a fair assessment but I secondary was bad last year though same was the worst thing I've ever seen outside of USC's two years ago last year. And, uh, I don't know if it could get worse than that. So you obviously want big improvement, but like, I actually like this blend of a lot of young, homegrown talents that are coming up through the high school ranks and then blending it in with, with guys who might not jump off the page and an individual recruitment.

But when you put them all together and analyze it as a group, like I am more willing to think that Miami might not fall off this year the way I thought they could. Yeah. And I think it's more of a, it's a, it's a, it's a filling needs situation, but it's also a building depth situation. I, and, and I, you're in better shape if you're taking transfers who you think have upside, but you don't feel like have to start for you. And I think Miami's got a few of those this year.

Yes, yes. I think it's gonna be really, really hard to replace Cam Moore, Jacoby George and Xavier Restrepo. Like, I mean, I feel like, and Damian Martinez, you know, it's not. Those are your four most productive offensive players and their offense was insane last year. So we have to acknowledge that they're replacing a lot, but Miami wasn't starting completely over like this isn't a Florida State

two years ago scenario where they loaded up, went for it one year. And then the next year they lost everybody. Like I think that Miami is in a pretty good position to be an above average to pretty good football team this year. Well, let's hear the Cane Sport guys talking about this because they cover it daily and it's one of those that, you know, that they're covering the, the horse race of it, like this guy committing, this guy committing, this guy committing. And so to hear Matt Schoedel kind of take a step back and

look at it, big picture, that's what really caught my eye when I was watching this morning. Miami now has taken 18 transfers and I'm projecting 10 to 12 of them will be starters for game one, which is crazy when, if I took my time machine back three and a half years to when Mario took the job at Miami, I would have said three and a half years to when Mario took the job at Miami,

I would have said three and a half years from now, this will be Mario's roster, which it is by the way. The only player who's not Mario's hand-picked player, whether in the portal or recruiting, is Ryan Rodriguez on the entire roster. That's it. So I would have said, this is going to be a five-star, four-star dominated lineup of guys who will be juniors, redshirt sophomores, and then a few free agents. But instead, he's taking 18 transfers. To me,

right now, there's probably four fairly clear free agents, Beck, Brackenmeier, Lucas, and Poiser, just from what I've seen, because I wouldn't have called Lucas a free agent until I saw him, obviously because he was a backup last year, but the other three I would have called free agents, and Kente, I can't call him a free agent. Yeah, he was really good at Auburn, but after last year, it's like calling Bird Auburn a free agent. When you struggle that much that you get benched and your numbers are that bad, you can't just call

that guy a free agent. He has to prove himself all over again. So that's really gonna be the challenge for Kente and for this whole Miami team because they need to mesh together. So I want to steal that from Matt Chodell, by the way, the free agent designation, like we need to we need to actually have that like we'll have a meeting in on three. And by the way, that's Cane Sport. If you're a Miami fan, you're not

subscribed to Cane Sport already. That's our Miami site add on three. What are you even doing? fan, you're not subscribed to Cane Sport already, that's our Miami site, Add On 3. What are you even doing? They are awesome. Gary Furman, Matt, they're fantastic. So I love the idea of the term free agent in the transfer portal. Free agent means this is a starter

who's leaving for a better deal, not I lost my job and now I got to go somewhere else. Yeah. Also too, I know the thing that I've said on the show in the past, I don't know if I've said this, I've come down three that blows my mind. Andy is that so many times a national championship can hang in the balance based on whether or not you make a kicker or a kick, a kicker makes a kick. And, um, there's all this money that's being put

into these programs from coaching and facilities and recruiting, you think about the budget and they don't have kicking coaches. Like it blows my mind. Like I, it's like you would think, like I remember you and I and Stuart Mandel and Bruce Feldman were sitting in a hotel room at a few years ago when Ohio State was playing Georgia in the semis

and they had a kicker who blew it right as the clock struck midnight and I'm like, I thought to myself like they don't have a kicking coach and maybe that's not the reason he didn't make the kick but you would think this is a long way of saying like I think that like B's fine. And, like, I feel like the lowest leverage situation of, like, lost your job at Kicker is, like, you could have a bad few months as a Kicker because you're in your head and you're fine. Like, I don't know. We'll see how that goes.

But I do think that there is a major distinction between improvement and because a person wanted a better situation and, like, fleeing a sinking ship because you know you're going to the bottom of the ocean at the place that you're at. Like that's a good thought. I never really thought about it and I don't know if there's a way to make a distinction in the profiles of that. Like if there's like a green little circle next to their name in their portal profile if they were a starter last year and are improving or if they lost their job or they haven't played yet is red, you know

Yeah, I that would be it and look there are some unusual situations Like the Chianti Scott one the the guy they just got who was at Auburn before It's that's an unusual situation. He was good Changed positions because he wanted to change positions was bad in the new position. But he was good at the old position and it looks like he's going to play the old position. Yeah, like what color circle would you put next to Jameson Williams? Hadn't played yet, I guess. I mean he had played stuck behind first rounders. That's really all it was. First

rounder stuck behind first rounders who goes to new place and is the most important player on an offense and then was a first rounder. Like what color is that circle? I don't we have to come up with a new circle for that. That's a gold circle. I don't know. Hey, if you're watching on Twitter right now, it's time to move to YouTube.

The chat's much more fun in YouTube. It's much more interactive and you can subscribe to the on three sports YouTube page and we'll get you'll get a push notification every time we go live so come on over. There's a link right below what you're watching on Twitter. It'll take you right to the YouTube page and we'll get you set up. So let's let's all move over to YouTube right now.

Chat is lively. We got some questions. Evan in the chat wondering how Clemson made the playoff when Miami only had two losses. Well Clemson lost two non-conference games in one ACC game and Miami lost two ACC games. So Clemson was ahead of Miami in the ACC standings, made the ACC championship game and won. And winning the ACC championship if you're unfamiliar is an automatic bid. Well yeah top five, five highest ranked conference

champs, which the ACC champ is probably going to be one of those. So, and we're actually going to be talking about that college football playoff seating very shortly. But this Miami thing is very interesting. They were trying to get AJ Halsey from Houston. He was the safety that went from New Mexico to Houston. He was in all big 12 safety at Houston last year. LSU beat them AJ Halsey from Houston who he was the the safety that went from New Mexico to Houston. He was all big 12 safety at Houston last year. LSU beat them for Halsey.

So that was they they were they were trying to even further bolster their secondary but didn't didn't get that one but they they've done a pretty good job. I think filling the needs they had and a lot of this is still gonna come down to how good is that defense because as you pointed out massive liability last year. You know that they change coordinators. Heatherman comes in, Corey Heatherman comes in from Minnesota.

Which I think Corey Heatherman is going to be a good fit there. Mario Cristobal is a big Greg Shiano guy. Greg Shiano was very important in Mario Cristobal is a big Greg Shiano guy. Greg Shiano was very important in Mario Cristobal's development as a young coach, and Heatherman is also a Shiano guy. And I think they're very similar coaching DNA here. I think they're gonna get along pretty well. Yeah, I'm torn on Miami.

I'm torn. I'm torn on Miami. I'm torn. I'm torn. Well, and I think like what Matt said in the CaneSport video makes sense. We don't know what this team is going to look like because it is so new. If you got half your starters played somewhere else last year, you don't know how they're going to mesh together. You don't know how they're going to gel together. Sometimes it's great and sometimes it's not which you know Miami people should be

fairly familiar with because they've watched Florida State see the the best version of that and the worst version of that. But I also think too and we alluded to this on the show when we were ranking jobs on Tuesday, Miami's had a bunch of coaches who have come in, Andy, the last 15, 20 years, who have had the same general plan, which is put a fence around South Florida, keep all the best players from South Florida at home, make Miami the you again, you know, leading on a lot of the documentary clips and we're trying to make Miami the U again, you know, leading on a lot of the, you know, documentary

clips and we're trying to make Miami cool and all that stuff. And it hasn't worked. And I think that Mario Cristobal is probably the one that was most apt to do that given his history, you know, being from there and all that. But now Miami is in a position as a program where you can attempt to do that while also supplementing your roster with players in a way that they weren't able to do for the previous 20 years. And on top of it, they have been as aggressive as anybody in the country in

NIL and compensation, which all of a sudden is elevating its baseline talent that it has just not had the last 15 years. Yeah, I think that's that's the key is is the NIL era has helped Miami and Miami's willingness to spend in the NIL era has allowed them to upgrade the roster in a way that you know, there's Miami rosters. Yeah under Manny Diaz under Randy Shannon. They were not the same. So and and Look, I don't know if it's ever gonna be like what it was when Mario Cristobal was playing

like the level of talent that those guys had or even like the 2001 Miami team was just Obscene it may not- And most of them are from South Florida too, right? Not all of them though. Like the 2001 team was really interesting because you did have, you know, you had some good South Florida guys, but like Ed Reeds from Louisiana,

a couple of the offensive linemen were Canadian. Ken Dorsey was from California. So they did a good job of mixing it up. So it's pretty interesting. Aaron, with a good correction for me, I'm trying to find the comment in the chat. Chiano is a Butch Davis guy, that's right. So it does actually go back to Butch Davis

and Miami itself. So good point on that one. But I'm not gonna dismiss dismiss because we've talked about roster construction, the belief that you should, your foundation should be out of high school. I think Miami has enough of a high school recruiting foundation here to still be successful as long as they've chosen wisely. The question that we have to have because like I felt like

coming into this is like if Mario crystal ball doesn't work, then like their programmers might be dead. Like if this guy can't do it, then who's going to do it, you know, especially given given the resources they've gotten to build a roster like right. It has to work. But the question I have for you here, Andy, is going into what's year four, how are we feeling about where Miami is

from a roster standpoint? And like, is, because he's done a great job for the first year, the last thing you want. The big three in Florida are really interesting study on this because you have Florida State that we don't know how good they're gonna be. They were awful last year. They've had a great year with transfers, but it looks like it's not something that's sustainable.

Florida, meanwhile, struggled, struggled, struggled. But Billy Napier insisted on. Building up mostly through high school recruiting very occasionally in the transfer portal. That may work, but it also may not like they go. They may go to Miami, get smashed. Miami smashed them last year. Yeah, so like work like what do they think?

That is difficult. This is that in year four. As our cane sport friends said on their show that we played, you want everybody to be a Cristobal guy. There's no more, you know, I think he said there was one holdover from the previous staff. If they were to go nine and three or eight and four and be demonstrably worse than they were in year three, is that a terrible feeling for year four of like your

four supposed to be the year where you're ramped up to be your best. And maybe that's I don't think they're gonna be demonstrably worse because I think that the schedule is pretty manageable. Yeah. Did they go eight and four and but like maybe it's because they were eight and four. I think people are pissed if this team's eight and four people are pissed. What were they last year nine and three right? Or do they go they were ten and two they went ten and two. Yeah, I guess if they go nine and three, but their offense is fine and their defense improves, I guess that's okay.

But this is, and maybe it's just you get undercut by being really successful a year too early. But like I think Miami fans are in the, all right, are we, are we arrived now or because you don't want to like go into this year, have a bad season or an underwhelming season and then like have to go back to the drawing board and be like, how are we going to get back to the playoffs? Right. I think they're going to be fine this year. I don't know that they're going to be a national title contender, but I think they can be a playoff contender. They can be an ACC championship contender. And then whether they are national title contender or not really depends on luck of the draw. How does this, this new group of players mesh together?

We just don't know. There is definitely a world where you list off five transfers that we spent zero time talking about this off season in November and go, they're all point. Like nobody saw Florida state coming either. Right. We knew they'd be pretty good that year. We didn't think they'd be 13 and Oh, yeah. Right, we knew they'd be pretty good that year. We didn't think they'd be 13 and 0. Yeah. So Steve's in the chat asked, do I think Cristobal, if he could go back in time with SAID Oregon, I know. No, because Miami's home.

Yeah. I mean, if he was, I think there was more to this decision than which programs better because you could have made it. No, it's being able to see your mom. Like I'm being 3000 miles away. That you could make a strong argument and probably say factually that Oregon was further along as a program than Miami was when he left. So like he knew what he was doing there. Yeah, so I'm very intrigued by Miami.

Notre Dame's not the way I'd want to start with a team that is fairly, fairly new. But the thing is, though, like Notre Dame has no film on your defense. They have no idea what that's going to look like. That that's somewhat of an advantage. You know exactly what Notre Dame's going to look like coming in now. They're going to have a new quarterback. They can I think CJ Carr, probably more arm talent than Riley Leonard.

So it's going to be a little bit little bit different than than what the offense looked like last year. But you basically know like, they're gonna try to smash you with Jeremiah love before they do anything else. Notre Dame on the road at the moment is a seven and a half point favorite. Wow, seven and a half. Hmm. Now, you know how I feel about Notre Dame's offensive line. So I'm

I know, but Miami's got great lines too though. I don't know that they're going to go. No, I like Miami in the line of scrimmage and. That's that's not the transfer portal heavy area. Now they've got some like Brockermeyer who was at Alabama and then TCU playing center this year, so we'll find out. I but I am excited about this because I do think there's a lot of different ways

to skin a cat when it comes to roster building. I don't know if there's only one correct way. I think there's the right, there's the best way and the worst way and a lot of wiggle room in the middle on how you can make it work. This is in the middle of that, yeah. But I think it's closer to the best way than the worst way. Would you say that Florida States was the worst way and a lot of wiggle room in the middle on how you can make it work. This is in the middle of that, yeah. But I think it's closer to the best way than the worst way. Would you say that Florida State was the worst way?

Yes. Yeah. Even though it worked out for one year? Yeah, and I think, like, the thing about Miami that I feel like is a little bit different from that is what we just said. Most of the line of scrimmage play is either homegrown or somebody you got as a transfer, like Hakeem Esad or you got as a transfer

early in his career. So they're playing most of their career with you. That's where I feel like the most development is required with the big guys. And they seem to be able to do that. They seem to be able to find good big guys and develop them. So the skill guys, I feel like are more interchangeable.

If that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. But I think Miami is intriguing. And you know, if they play Notre Dame tough or dare I say win that game and Florida's really good, then you've got another great Florida, Miami matchup like three. Right. And honestly, honestly they beat Notre Dame

You don't even have to be Florida like just just go in the ACC you go in there You go in there playing with house money But like we're just making the ACC title game at that point you'd be fine I kind of wish Florida Miami were opening with each other again because I was just awesome I know I know that's gonna be that's gonna be a really intriguing set of games because We'll know what happened with Miami Notre Dame will also know what happened with Florida at LSU the week before so you know what we have both teams could be in kind of very desperate straights or both teams could be house money. It's May 7. God August 31 is going to be awesome.

There are so many good games that day. I know. I know. I know. It's like I want to go to Texas, Ohio State. But I kind of almost want to be somewhere where we can just sit there and watch games like eight iPads. Well, or I don't know if Well, or I don't know if we wind up getting a sponsorship by certain type of company that maybe has lots of comfy chairs and lots of flat screens and possibly in the desert somewhere. Maybe that's the kind of place we should spend the opening Saturday. So when I grew up, the only place I wanted to be on fall Saturdays was a football stadium. And as I've gotten older, there's one other place I would rather be than football stadiums on a fall Saturday. And that's in the desert Andy

doesn't have to be in the desert. Not anymore. Could be in Tunica, Mississippi, could be in Atlantic City, could be in Detroit, could be in... Are we speaking this into existence? Dude, honestly, like, we have had a lot of fantasies about how we could have a rolling sponsorship for the season. Like if we went to zero games and we were just in different sports books around the country every weekend, that would be like my family could

leave me and I'd be fine like if they think that they think that the travels too much. You know, we'll have to deal with it, but that would be. That would be something for me and very yeah, I just who says no aspect to that for me. I'm I'm I'm all in we'll we'll we'll get it figured out but I'm I'm very excited. Pass and getting into the press box

and the internet working and whether or not we can shoot a video because there's too many people there. The cell signal, the microphones, it's all set up. You just come downstairs. You hit a button in an elevator. Ding. It's six in the morning. You walk by a blackjack table and sit in front of 28 TVs where you can bet on the games. I don't understand any but like how anybody would rather be anywhere else on any day. It's the greatest thing.

I think there's a there's still a definite draw to being at the actual game. Those are very fun. And especially when you're when you're hanging around with all your college friends, you're drinking beers, like, oh, you and I are different because we want to watch all of the games. Like if you are, but if you have your team, you want to go to your team's games. Yeah, sure.

I do think that at the end of the show, if we have time, I want to hear, and I'm going to give you a half hour to let this marinate Andy you are alone You have 24 hours How is that 24 hours spent I? Want to hear that your perfect 24 hours, and it doesn't matter where that you can pick any location any schedule I already have mine

so hmm So I can go wherever I want in those 24 hours. You can be wherever you want. You get to pick your last 24 hours on earth. What would it be like? Wait, that's kind of morbid. You get your Father's Day gift this year is 24 hours anywhere you want with an unlimited budget.

How would you do it? But it can't be like I would own a yacht. Like, I mean, it's like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. I got you. We'll work on that. Okay, we'll talk about that at yeah, yeah, yeah. I got to work on that. Okay, we'll talk about that at the end of

the show. We have to talk about the college football playoff right now. Uh our friend Heather Dennett from ESPN was on the Pat McAfee show yesterday and was talking about the seating format for the college football playoff for this year

and she said basically everybody in the room agrees the seating needs to change, but they won't vote on this thing because there has to be unanimous vote to change it for this coming season. Everything 2026 and beyond is open and on the table for discussion.

But for this coming season, if any changes are to be made, they must be unanimous. Every conference must agree. So I think Ari, we all agree that the seeding sucked last year, that it looks stupid, that the team ranked fourth should be the four seed and not the sixth seed or the seventh seed. So there's something stood out to me about this, though. Hmm, the report that everybody thinks it should change. Everybody. Well, that's what I'm getting to. Okay, if I am the other

conferences, why in the world would I change it if I'm not the big 10 of the SEC? Why in the world would I change it for this year? change it? If I'm not the Big Ten of the SEC, why in the world would I change it for this year? So that is, of the leagues that have to vote, there's only two that would want to change this year. So I don't know that they're ever going to get the only reason, the only way they get to a vote where they change it for this year is that the Big Ten and the SEC then cut a deal to give the ACC and the Big 12 and Conference USA and the Sun Belt and the Mac something in the next college football playoff agreement, whether that's money or something else. But the only way I give you my vote if I'm the ACC or the Big 12 is leverage it.

I'm not just giving it to you because it's the right thing to do. If Brett Yormark wants, thinks that the seating should change, because that's, he falls under the umbrella of everybody, right? Right. What does he think? I'd love to know the answer to that question. How does he think it should change? Well, if you're the casual fan, and I think if you take your commissioner hat off and you look at it from the good of the sport,

casual fan standpoint, they should just see them straight. And about what do you think he thinks? Oh, as the big 12 commissioner? He is the big 12 commissioner. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. As the big 12 commissioner, he is the big commissioner. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, as the big 12 commissioner, I want my team to get a buy that it's never going to get any other way. So then what would the change that he's on board with be? That's the thing I don't understand. If everybody thinks it should change, what does he think it should be? I want to leverage it for

something in 2026. I will trade you my vote for this year. This is the only year it's going to be like this. Anyway, yeah, you give me something I want. It's the only way I would do it. The one thing that you have to acknowledge is that this vote is a asset that will no longer exist. What do you call like an airplane seat that's not used? It's a pre. It's a diminishing asset. Yeah, a hotel room that's not rented as a diminishing asset? Like you have an

asset, you have something to sell, but if nobody buys it, no matter how expensive or cheap exactly, you lost money. So like I think that the actual right play from the Big 12s standpoint is to try to get something that will pay dividends long term in exchange for what you might lose out on in the one year short term. Now the question is what is that? Because I think, I think the big 12 and the ACC are going to get two automatic bids if they go to that in the next format, which is about the best they can hope for. On three just posted our job ranking, so if your phone's buzzing. So social media is going to be fun today.

Yeah, I'm just going to, I don't know, we have another show that we're appearance we're recording today, which is good. It'll be a nice distraction, but I will get into the comments and fight with you because that's how I am as a human. That's right. Top 10 college football jobs, not top 10 college football coaches. It's the jobs. But you watched yesterday. You know. If you didn't see yesterday's show, go back and check it out because we did rank all the top 10 college football jobs. I'm going to get absolutely smoked by my A&M today. And I'm going to get smoked by the A&M today. And I'm going to get smoked by the A&M fans for not having them there.

But no, Texas A&M is in my opinion the most despised program in college football for no reason. They're a bit of a lightning rod. Bit of a lightning rod. You have to do this. Hate rankings. You don't think that they're number one? Who does the Patroll fan distrubute? no and Notre Dame Notre Dame the most hated team? I think Notre Dame like has completely shifted in the paradigm of that. Okay, I don't know. There's they're still hated I don't don't keep you people respecting them. No, it's not hating them. They became likable last year Well, they're very likable if you don't care, but most people care and hate Notre Dame.

So all right. So I agree with you. If I'm Brett Euromarck, I don't give them my vote unless they give me something. If I'm Jim Phillips in the ACC, I don't give them my vote unless they give me something. If I'm Keith Gill from the Sunbelt, I don't give them my vote unless they give me something. If I'm Keith Gill from the Sunbelt, I don't give them my vote unless they give me something. And honestly, Ari, I don't know if they have a something that they are willing to part with. Pick up something. Let's pick up something. What would it be?

Because, like, if the SEC and the Big Ten are going to get four automatic bids to a 14-team tournament, and they're going to get the ACC and the Big 12, too, where's the lever? What are you levering here? Did you lever a scheduling alliance? That, okay. That might work. If I'm the Big 12, I would love to have a scheduling alliance with the SEC because that means I got SEC teams coming to my stadiums every other year. That means sell outs. That means my TV package is more valuable

because those teams are coming to my stadiums. That's a good one. And then it allows you to potentially gain property both in the television market, but also in the equity of your schedule if you were to win those games. ACC Big 10 scheduling alignment. Yeah, or you approach both and say,

we'll do a four-year period or a five-year period or six years. It has to be even home and home, three, three with each. And we'll do three with the SEC every other year with the big 10. And then we'll do big 10 for the first four years or first three years. And then the next three years, we'll do the 10 for the first four years or first three years and then the next three years We'll do the SEC which gives you scheduling

Big games for your teams and I thought like this is the kind of bleeds into the rant that I went on to yesterday I've like instead of trying to like this whole thing is about weaseling into the playoff If the big 12 knows that it has gonna be you know An uphill battle to get in then the best thing that the big 12 can know, an uphill battle to get in, then the best thing that the big 12 can do for itself and trying to get in is to gain quality wins. And like, that's the thing, they might not win most of them, but like if BYU plays Texas A&M one year and beats them, like then, and then they go 11 and one, they're probably going to get in. Or what about-

Well, and these would be viewed as really good, fun non-con non conference games like people would love to watch these games. Watch like Clemson Clemson's not in the big 12. Clemson got Notre Dame for 12 years in a row now like who wouldn't want to watch like Florida go play at Kansas State one year that'd be fun. I went to an Auburn Kansas State game several years ago on a Thursday night. That was a just awesome, awesome game. Awesome atmosphere, incredible, you know, that they really didn't turn out. Here's how you pitch it.

You guys are going to get more auto qual, automatic qualifiers than we are. But in this scenario, there's still a chance to get multiple. There's still going to be at largest too, right? Yep. One at large and it's still going to be at largest too, right? Yep. One at large. And it's usually going to be Notre Dame. It's usually going to be Notre Dame, but Notre Dame's not going to go 10 and 2 every year.

I would say if I were Brett Yormark, we'll give you the automatic qualifiers. You guys are going to win this battle anyway. But I want a scheduling alliance because I want to increase the potential that the big 12 with quality wins. If there are two teams, one wins the conference, the other team goes 10 and two and beats an SEC team to get that at large bid. They at large try to make it even at the end. I like it. I like it. I think that's smart. And they lose because they have their automatic qualifiers. So even if they end up losing, you're still going to get your four.

Right. That's what we end up losing, you're still going to get your four. Right. That's the SEC and the big 10. If they get four automatic qualifiers, none of them are going to worry about strength of schedule concerns. They'll just schedule anybody at that point. They'll be willing to schedule as hard as you want at that point. Right. And the teams that are not that don't have as many, which is going to be the majority of the sport, has a lot to gain by playing harder schedules against those teams because you want to have the best possible resume in order to try to acquire one of the at large spots. So this will be an interesting Oprah Winfrey next few debates. Like they got to figure this out for 25. Like they have to do this in the next month or so. Right. Your mark is very clever. He's nothing if not clever.

I'm sure he can come up with something that he could leverage. I like it. I like it. So they also have to come up with the total format for 26 and probably have to do that by the end of the summer. It's electric. So get cracking guys. up with the total format for 26 and probably have to do that by the end of the summer. That's all that trick. So get cracking guys. Time's a-wasting. One more thing before we go, Ari. So we found out last night that Akron was going to be

not bowl eligible because they did not have a high enough academic percentage rating and of course there was a an on three graphic for that and it was Zippy the kangaroo looking very happy but under underneath it said ineligible. I laugh when I see Zippy and then ineligible. Yeah, like he's he's gonna be missing the games. The graphics at on three have been tremendous. And you know what I think is crazy and I miss I miss the days where it caused outrage from people before people understood what they were doing. Remember like the first few weeks when they were doing this and like people. So Jack, Jack Terry's the guy.

He's the maestro of this. I have asked him to come on and explain. How he does this, how he comes up with these. There's the oral one beers for rowdy beers in the transfer portal, betting on himself, the Hunter Deckard swan. And Hunter Deckard's the Iowa State quarterback who got suspended for gambling. He went into the draft and so the graphic

was betting on himself. Put the Niko one up. Put the Niko one up, River. I want us to, he sent this one to us like four or five hours. In the group chat before he even left. We're like, if he leaves, he's like, if he leaves, this is what's going up river. I want us to he sent this one to us like four or five in the group chat before even left. We're like if he leaves, he's like if he leaves, this is what's going up. I believe in so Jack does not want to come on and explain his process because I think it's a little bit too much like a magician revealing his secrets. Yeah. It's gotten to the point where, and I know there are other people, not people who just work with us, but the new guys in the audience,

like when a news story hits, everybody's like, what's the on three graphic gonna be? So we've got to go through some of these favorites. One of my personal favorites, cause our friend Nicole Auerbach really crystallized the whole thing when this one came out. Can you put up the Diego Pavia one, River?

It says, suing. So this is when Diego Pavia filed a lawsuit against the NCAA to get that extra year because he was in JuCo. And our friend Nicole Auerbach, who we used to work with at the athletic, and she's an NBC now, she said, does everything need a graphic?

And me and Ari were like, yes, Nicole. It all needs a graphic. Nicole got really fired up about this behind the scenes, but I think she has come around now. Oh, yeah. Because there were a few. I think once you understood that it was not serious and that we were just doing it to make people people smile. Like I think that the charm of it,

like there were people who were like this is like this is like This is the Cal the Cal one when they had Jay Nott and a couple other guys go to the transfer portal and it's Oski the Bear putting the L I'm describing it for the podcast listeners

and by the way if you're listening on podcast if you don't normally watch the YouTube version of the show, go watch the YouTube version of this show so you can see all these graphics because they're tremendous. But the Oski the bear is doing the L thing on the forehead. Yeah. Was it in the smash?

I was like, in the shape of an L on her forehead. I'm trying to like remember exactly like what, like all this one's obvious, but like some of them I forgot what the news story was. That's the best part is is you can kind of relive the season. Hey River, can you put the Notre Dame the Notre Dame one with the leprechaun up? That's a tremendous one and I had I had forgotten this story. Ruin Notre Dame had the flu ahead of one of the playoff games. I feel like every single big game, half a team has the flu before it. And it never, like when's the last time you saw a team has the flu

reports and it actually turned out to like matter in the game? There, hmm, there was one and now I can't remember what you want it was. Where there was a college football team that it had like 20 guys out one game. With the flu. I want to say it was like three, four years ago and I'm blanking on which one it was, but it didn't bother Notre Dame in this particular case. They won the Orange Bowl, beat Penn State.

But the photo selection here is where the genius lies because it's a flu story. The leprechaun mascot looks like he is coming off the biggest sneeze you ever saw in your life. It's just perfect. Put the one of Eli Drinkwitz up. Oh, this is the one where we might have gone a little too far. This is when this is when Missouri it came out that

Missouri had decided they did not want to take part in this Netflix show that's coming out about the SEC. And so it's a photo of Eli Drinkwitz. It's got the Netflix logo in the corner and it just says passed. That made it look like Eli Drinkwitz died. And so like we had to point out he's very much still alive. They passed on being in the Netflix show. But you noticed it. Yeah. Like if somebody ever announced a death and they did that, that would be pretty crazy.

So I think we can't. Yeah, no, please don't. Because I will say, it spawned a lot of imitators. Our friends at UnSportsmanLite Conduct and Barstool, last night for the Akron one, like we put in Eligible on ours, they put dumb on theirs. But the imitators, I think would probably announce a death that way, please don't do that, just don't do it.

Yeah. We're trying to do it in a classy way. Yeah. River the Michigan flag one, please. That's a, this is tremendous. We sent River 25 of these last night. so it's taking a minute to get to everything. Alright, here it is. Michigan planning the flag at Ohio Stadium and the word felony underneath it because remember the the Ohio state legislator wanted to make it a felony to plant a

flag midfield. Yeah, I would. I love that day that that one actually did one of the best too, cause people were so mad. Oh, here's another one. Can can you River please put up the Desmond Howard one? Cause that came out of this game as well.

What the phrasing on this one is just spectacular. Psychotic obsession. What was the story on this one again? This is Desmond Howard talking about the the lunatic fringe of the Ohio State fan base that the people threatening Ryan Day and what

what not for psychotic obsession with talking about Ohio State, which is why I'm right now. Yeah, the double entendre piece of that was tremendous. Yeah, so funny. Oh, is it? The double entendre piece of that was tremendous. Yeah. So funny. What else is there? Oh, the Mario crystal ball. Mario crystal ball is a cloud. Oh,

no, it's this might have been our best one. The bevo exiled from the, uh, the peach bowl. Yeah. Everybody's like he wasn't allowed their last. They don't let it over. Let any animal mask. I don't care. We got a chance to post a picture

of bevo and put Exiled on it. We're doing it. And it's in the cage. The perfect. Yeah, because it matches with like, it's really funny. Now the Mario Cristobal when there was some internal discussion in the office of Do you do this because Mario Cristobal had come out very strong. He was not he was very unhappy with the discourse around Kim Ward and the decision to not play the second half of the of the bowl game and.

the talk about cam or you know, just shutting it down, quitting at halftime for lack of a better phrase was bullshit, which is true. He didn't quit at halftime. The plan was to play him for a half and then they were going to play Emory Williams so that went according to plan is just that they didn't

exactly answer those questions in a forthright manner after the game, and it allowed for a week of stupid conversation about this whole thing, which Mario Cristobal correctly deemed bullshit. But if he'd said all that at the beginning, there wouldn't have been that week of conversation and we would never have gotten this graphic. Yeah. The best one, Andy, was the Dion one. Put it up.

Oh yes. Okay. Let's go to the Dion one. This would got me in trouble with Alice in Chains fans. So it's Dion. And then there's a Cowboys logo, and the word would and it's basically the story was Dion would take the Cowboys job if offered, which was I think like an Ian Rappaport or an Adam Schefter story. And so this was the graphic that Jack created for it. And our friend Stuart Mandel from the athletic, you know, the word, like using the word would as a single sentence,

where you just say would as a guy, like that's been around for a long time. That's not new to the kids these days, but I think Stuart missed that one. And so he's like, must be some Alice in Chains fans over it on three. Now I did point out that would is the best Alice in Chains song and it's not close.

That made Alice in Chains fans mad. There's some man in the box people and some rooster people and some them bones people that did not appreciate that. But I also pointed out that there's a lot of people who use that word as one sentence. And there's a different meaning for that. People use this graphic in text message strands with me. It's amazing.

I have a lot of single friends and this it's entered design. They use this as like a way to express that whenever talking about somebody there into or something like they will just send the Dion graphic. It's hilarious. Oh, it's going to be so much fun. This. I just want to just wanna know what comes next. Cause can we take it to another level is the question or do we, cause like I said,

this has spawned a lot of imitators. But I don't think anybody's as good as Jack at this. I just don't think they can do it as well. Yeah, I mean, a lot of them too, like, drive a lot of attention to the story that it's supposed, I mean, obviously that's the purpose, but like we have a pretty big account that posts these and that account sends them to the story.

So they actually had a very functional purpose. And what people don't realize is, is that if you're sending them to your friends because you're mad or it upset you or it triggers you, you're doing exactly what it's designed to do, which is to be shared. So it worked. It worked.

Yeah. If you sent this, make fun of it. Congratulations, you played yourself. I can't even remember why they did the pop tarts one with Cole in the Pop Tarts. I assume. The ritual sacrifice. Oh, River has the explanation.

The Pop Tarts one was when they announced the concession menu at Mercedes-Benz and they're like a they're like friendly prices and stuff like that. There were no Pop Tarts and this was right after Cole Kulick did that. So they put Cole on there. That's a long way to go to get to that graphic, but I will take it. Yep. I will take it. It's funny that you're showing that to me. I've had like, do you have like weird cravings every now and then like for things that you haven't eaten in years? And I had one for pop tarts yesterday for some reason. I haven't had pop tarts for seven years probably. Like, felt like I wanted one yesterday, but that passed now. Well, I had to buy some Pop Tarts the other day because my son has started buying them out of the

vending machine at his school. A two pack of Pop Tarts from the vending machine is like three bucks or $3.25. I'm like, dude, I can buy an entire box of Pop Tarts for the vending machine is like three bucks or $3.25. And I'm like, dude, I can buy an entire box of Pop Tarts for $3 at the grocery store. So let me just buy the box and I'll put the two pack in there for you. Fiscal responsibility. Jack is watching the show now and he said, Pop Tarts was to troll Cole because he was hating on our graphics. Oh, that's good to know. So, what did we learn today?

What did we learn? Everything does need a graphic. Everything. Everything does need a graphic. Yeah, great job Jack. Love it, love it. Especially when it makes our stories pop off. So good work. All right, so again, if you're listening in podcast form, find the YouTube page for that one.

But let's all cross pollinate here. If you're watching YouTube every day, but you can't make a YouTube episode one day, subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform. On Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, and you can just listen to us if you're on the go and you don't have time to watch. If you're a podcast person, but you want to see how magnificent Ari's hair is every day, you need to subscribe to the On3Sports YouTube channel so you can watch this in YouTube form because we move around, we have graphics, it looks cool.

So you got both, best of both worlds, but today when we're talking graphics, you're gonna wanna watch that on video. So, yeah, I can't wait to see what what comes next and. To echo some people from the chat when we were talking about Miami and we're talking about that Miami Notre Dame game to open the season. I cannot wait for this college football season Andy. It sounds like you're winding it down and I'm not going to let you.

I want to hear about your 24 hours. I have. Oh, that's right. I wanna hear about your 24 hours. I have to hear. Oh! That's right, I forgot. Want me to go first? So you can like hear it now? Well, let me reset it. If you're just joining us, earlier in the show, Ari presented a thought experiment to me.

You have 24 hours and you can be anywhere you want, you can do anything you want. It's not your last 24 hours and you can be anywhere you want, you can do anything you want. It's not your last 24 hours on earth, but how would you spend your perfect 24 hours? All right, go ahead. And the thing that's crazy is that you never realize it, but when you're single, you could do this whenever you want. And now when you're a married person

with responsibilities and children, it's harder to, like 24 hours alone sounds amazing. It never in a way where like my entire life was this before. But here's what I would do. I would be in Las Vegas. I would so I want to start my 24 hours at midnight. Okay. So I would go to bed at midnight, and I would sleep in with no alarm.

I would wake up whenever I woke up naturally, and then I would scroll on my phone for 35 minutes in bed before ever rolling out. While doing so, I would place 9,000 wagers on whatever sporting event. This is by the way in football season, so it can never happen. Let's just say it's a college football Saturday. I'd put all my bets in, then I would go down, by the way, in Las Vegas, I'd be at the Encore. I would go to the spa,

and I would do the steam sauna, cold plunge circuit. I would get a 90 minute massage of some sort. Take a shower at the place. Leave, go get breakfast. I would go to the sports book and then I would sit there for six or seven hours drinking and watching sports gambling on it live, whatever. I would then go take a walk through the, um, shopping area,

you know, maybe buy something for myself because I like the shops there. Um, then I would go to a nice steak dinner by myself or somewhere and get a five-stop like, you know, 200, $300 meal and eat it by myself. By the way, I left this out. I would be eating all day at the Sportsbook. Then I would go to a poker table. I would reapply bets and I would play mozzarella sticks get consumed at sports book. Yeah. Okay. And I would play poker around 8 PM for the night games while the games are on TV and playing poker until midnight that night.

That would be my 24 hours. Okay. I think I'd, I'd probably gambling and eating, but I would get a massage in there too. I'd probably be in the's gambling and eating, but I would get a massage in there too. I'd probably be in the Keys, go fishing in the morning. But that's super early. The beauty of there is you don't have to get up at 4 in the morning to go fishing. So I'd just sleep until a nice normal time, but then do a little...

I don't even know if you go deep sea fishing. I'm going to go inshore fishing. So I'm going to try to get some mangrove snapper, maybe try to get a little flats fishing, get some trout. And hopefully it's lobster season. Some of them will grab some lobster too when I get back from fishing. And that's lunch. I'm cooking the fish and the lobster. My family can be there or not. I would prefer if they're there, but if they're not, it's okay. I can do that myself. And then I'm just going to sit there and watch the watch the water for a while. And I'm hoping it's a day. Well, it is my perfect day. So let's we'll do it that way. We'll just have, because I'm setting the perfect day,

I want one good college football game in each window. So like started at noon while I'm cooking lunch and I'm just gonna eat lunch, drink beers, watch college football, have the TV outside, watch the water, come back inside, enjoy some air conditioning, maybe make a margarita, go back outside, watch the sunset as the second game concludes,

but of course I can see it. I'm like getting goosebumps right now. It's a perfect day. And I know there's probably a bunch of 20 somethings that are watching or listening to this going, that sounds like the most boring day I've ever heard of. In 10 years, when you either have little kids or have had little kids

and you're chasing around the older ones now, you will die for a day like that. Yeah. And you know, your perfect 24 hours with your family is a little bit different, but I just mean, if I got a 24 hour break, they just do me. Because that's the one thing about being married that you don't really consider.

Especially if you go about it like I did, which is being single your entire 20s and then meeting your wife in your late 20s and then getting married in your early 30s and then having kids like I never appreciated or realized like if I wanted to wake up in the morning and do like being able to do whatever you wanted to do without it, like. Burdening somebody else or schedules or, you know, that was a freedom that I'll never have again, you know, like, and it was a little bit different. My, my, the way my life shook out was a little different.

So we got married very young, as we pointed out on this show, like I was a child husband. But we didn't have kids until we'd been married for eight years. So we had plenty of time as a couple to go be adults as a couple, do all the things we wanted to do. And then we had kids. And trust me, once you do, that's over. Yeah. So anyway, my perfect day would also include my family. But this was like a solo activity. And like, yeah, your perfect day did also include my family, but this was like a solo activity and like yeah You're perfect data not includes your family at all

But I mean at the beginning I said like your perfect alone day My my 24 hours sounds awful to somebody that's incredible You know, that's like I don't like exactly what you like Have you ever had a massage in the wind? It's the most amazing thing in the history of the planet. So like I don't know if you're a massage person I never had a massage so I was 31 then I went with my wife Reluctantly and I was like, holy crap. I've missed out on this my entire 20s a

Lot of laying around and watching sports and the one thing that I'll say is that we are internally eternally blessed For being able to do what we do for a living. And the fact that we are very busy and working on Saturdays is a blessing beyond all comprehension. The one thing I will say is a drawback to doing this for a living is is that I never get to just enjoy a fall Saturday the way that you guys who listen do. Like I do wish like every now and then, maybe once every three years. Like I do wish like every now and then maybe once every three years My NFL Sundays tend to be like that now like college football more. I like the college football, right? Yeah, and and I'm I feel I feel you I've tried I I'm trying to and finding a lot of joy as

I get older and just Sports in general like I don't know if you watched the Pacers Cavs game last night, it was spectacular. The ending of that game was amazing. And I don't have the rooting interest in either team. So that was awful for me, but I'm happy you enjoyed it. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry about that.

But no, I mean, the Knicks game the night before, the next Celtics game the night before it was awesome Like I've really enjoyed Just diving into sports that I don't necessarily have a rooting interest in but I love the the sheer thrill of competition The way things tighten up in the playoffs like I'm really really enjoying the playoffs thing that yeah for sure I love watching sports too. Um, the thing that is, that blows my mind though, is I haven't had a day in the college football Saturday where my brain is

completely turned off and I could just lay there, eat pizza and not feel like I have to react to everything or I've got to write this or we got to get on a show or we got to travel or you know, like sitting, I can tell you when the last one of those was for me. I was 14 years old or sorry, 17. It was championship Saturday in 2007 for me because I was covering Florida as a beat writer for the Tampa Tribune.

Florida wasn't in the SEC championship game. So I didn't have to cover anything that day. Because that's also not a full day. Like I want a full slate. Yes. But I, and I got the SI job like two weeks later. So like then it was, I was always going to be working at it. So like that is the last college football Saturday

that I got to just show out. The thing that you also have to understand too is that like, while we're watching these insane games and you guys are sitting on the edge of your seat like how's this gonna end what's gonna happen like Andy and I are like what are we gonna talk about what if this happens when are we going live yeah how are we gonna structure this how am i gonna write this how am i gonna like what's the takeaway here like and that is exhausting in a beautiful way but like what's fun though is we feel all the same things you feel with anxiety on the side

when that crazy ending happens so yeah um but yeah thank you for taking that ride with me Andy uh and maybe one day on three like on my 30th anniversary like Shannon will be like go have your day go take your Saturday well I'll tell you what Go have your Saturday. Well, I'll tell you what, we'll turn it into content. Like, we'll just have, I'll trail behind you with a camera. I mean, the truth is, that day could be duplicated on a Sunday and be just as bad ass. So like, it doesn't have to be Saturday,

but I would love to. Yeah. The thing that I love about college football is, is it feels like it's NCAA tournament day one every Saturday because there are so many games. And they're all happening at the same time. Like, it's NCAA tournament day one every Saturday because there are so many games and they're all happening at the same time. Like it's like perfect. In the NFL, it's like you got what?

Six games going on at once and then- The NFL has too many games going on at once. They gotta figure that out. They should just have one game every night of the week so that there's never any- I think that's good else plan. So I mean like just- Careful what you wish for.

Just always having an NFL night game every night of the week would be an amazing feeling So Raymond in the chat Andy, you know where Crystal River, Florida is Raymond. There's nowhere in Florida that I don't know where it is I am well acquainted with with Crystal River and Inverness and Citrus County Yes, I do. Do you know where Manatee Springs State Park is? Dang it, Ari. I just went to a website.

Is that in Homasasa? 40, 543 things, obscure things to do in Florida. In Manatee Springs. Where is it? In Chiefland, Florida. And manatee in Chiefland, Florida. I was in Chiefland. Oh short drive for me. When this I do know where Chiefland is. Okay, Chiefland is about 40 minutes from me and the reason we you always hear about Chiefland is the local TV.

There's a there's one car dealership in Chiefland and there's always like it's one of those that where they put their kids in the commercial and the kids on it's cheaper in Shafeland. Dude, I'm looking at the 450 obscure things to do in Florida and that state is just unbelievable. Like what's going on out here? There's a living home assassin. There we go. You're going to leave Florida. There's a ghost town at Ellaville. You should go check that out. I have heard about that. I have never been to Lee, Florida, there's a ghost town at Elaville. You should go check that out. I have heard about that. I have never been to it. Yeah. OK, so you I guess you do pass the test.

I've never heard of it. I'm a very experienced Florida man, so don't you worry about that. In anywhere in Texas, I don't know where anything is. It's a very large. It's a much larger state. But I don't even know like areas of Alice. That's true. We gotta get you some pommazos. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what that means, but you didn't even know what that is. It's a kind of sandwich. Yeah,

I need to go right now. I'm starving dipped in Guarido peppers. Let's go. Well, it's a good show. Hey, before we go before we go, dear Andy, dear Ari tomorrow, our favorite day of the week, you guys drive the show. You know where to find us. Andy underscore Staples on social media at Ari Wasserman on social media. Andy Staples on three at Gmail dot com. Ari dot Wasserman at on three dot com.

Send them in. Send it in as Bill Rafferty Bill Rafferty would say. We love your questions like last week's Mailbag Show was one of my favorite shows we've ever done. You can come.