Andy & Ari On3 - Michigan Retreats and Jim Harbaugh STAYS Suspended | How Good of a job is Texas A&M?

Episode Date: November 17, 2023

Michigan is accepting Jim Harbaugh's suspension, and Ari Wasserman joins the show to discuss a number of different topics. Also, the Sickos Committee has found this weekend is HUGE for bowl games.(0:00-19:24) Intro - Jim Harbaugh Suspension and Michigan Outlook(19:25-1:04:45) Ari Wasserman Joins to talk all things going on in College Football(1:04:46-1:09:25) Conclusion: Sicko's Committee Bowl "Bowleligibowls"Today's show is brought to you by PrizePicks, the easiest way to play daily fantasy. All first time users that deposit and use the promo code ANDY will receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. If you deposit $100, PrizePicks will give you $100. If you deposit $50, PrizePicks will give you $50.Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/ANDYWant to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and Subscribe!https://youtu.be/btYCmIYNCTcThe most anticipated temporary restraining order hearing in Washtenaw County history was canceled on Thursday. After some new developments in the NCAA investigation into signal-stealing accusations Michigan officials and Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh decided they wouldn’t go to court Friday to fight the Big Ten over Harbaugh’s three-game suspension. Harbaugh, who already missed the Penn State game, now will miss Saturday’s game at Maryland and next week’s game against Ohio State.Clayton Sayfie of On3’s The Wolverine joins to help explain exactly why Michigan and Harbaugh opted to drop the case against the Big Ten and what the Big Ten offered in return.Next, Ari Wasserman of The Athletic joins to talk Michigan as well as what Harbaugh missing the Ohio State game means for Buckeyes coach Ryan Day — who probably is under even MORE pressure now to avoid losing for the third consecutive time in the rivalry.Ari and Andy also discuss the Texas A&M job and what type of coach it should attract. Ari thinks it’s a top-tier job, while Andy thinks the lack of championship contention is very strange given all of Texas A&M’s resources and advantages. The guys also wonder if there is a big-name coach — like Lincoln Riley or Brian Kelly in 2021 — who might surprise everyone by pursuing the Texas A&M job.

Welcome to Andy Staples on three and everybody's favorite new courtroom drama. No, not suits, which, as you know, me and J.D. McKellar rewatching on Netflix, not L.A. Law for all you olds out there, not Ally McBeal. No, it was going to be Jim Harbaugh versus the Big Ten in a Washtenaw County courtroom on Friday morning, except it's not happening now. That's right. Michigan has decided, nope, not fighting you here. And there's a lot of reasons why.

I could drone on and on about this, but I'd rather have someone who covers Michigan on a daily basis help me break this down. So Clayton Safey from the Wolverine joins us to discuss no Jim Harbaugh hearing, which means he is suspended for the Maryland game and more importantly for the Ohio State game. Here's Clayton. Joined up by Clayton Safey of the Wolverine and we were texting Thursday afternoon right as the email popped into the mailbox that Michigan was not going to be contesting Jim Harbaugh's assumption anymore the most probably the most anticipated temporary restraining order hearing in the history of the washington county courthouse not happening not happening yeah we had kind of heard rumblings of this this morning that uh you

know things could kind of progress in this way there were talks in the days before that they may reach some sort of settlement where he would miss the maryland game but not the ohio state game but it seems like you know we had the nca NCAA big 10 and Michigan, it was like the, the Michael Scott, Andy and Dwight, and they were all, you know, pointing the guns at each other, but it seems like Michigan has put theirs down at least for now in this fight. Yeah. This felt a little bit like a tactical retreat, especially reading what Chris Ballas, the, your publisher at the Wolverine reported on Thursday morning, where he said that the NCAA had been back in, had talked to some Michigan players, and it looked like there's more information to come out on that side of things. Was it a case of Michigan maybe not wanting to have some of that stuff out there and maybe used in a way that would make the suspension stand up anyway, and then you just waste all your time?

The way I see it is partly that, yes, absolutely. And then the fact that the Big Ten was probably continuing to put the pressure on them and the reality that they could put in place some further punishments for Michigan in real time. It's such a weird situation because the NCAA is investigating, but they're immediately relaying their information to the Big Ten, and the Big Ten, under their sportsmanship policy, apparently, right, unless they go to court and prove that they can't, they can, you know, issue punishments in real time, again, so I think that's the important piece of this, where it's like, okay, maybe they are finding stuff, or maybe they're

very intent on disrupting Michigan's game week flow of interviewing players, you know, whatever, like you said, that Chris Ballas reported, and Michigan said, all right, we can't let this happen when we have a special team here. We got two games left. And frankly, you don't want them to say, hey, you can't play in the Big Ten championship game or we're not going to allow you to go to the playoff. Now you would know better than me exactly how much they can do on that front, especially when it comes to the playoff. But I think Michigan probably said, okay, we don't have a ton of confidence in what Friday's hearing is going to result in anyway. And let's not let this go to a place where the Big Ten could issue further punishments. We'll back down for now. The Big Ten, the most key part of that press release, Andy, to me,

was that the Big Ten's investigation is done, that it's in the NCAA's hands. And as we know, NCAA at some point can issue a notice of allegations, but Michigan gets 90 days to respond. 90 days from today, which they're not going to get one today, right? But 90 days from today is well after the season. So this season, other than Jim Harbaugh for three and a half hours on the next two Saturdays is going to go on as, uh, as normally as it can, uh, now that, you know, they're in this situation. Right. And I think that that is an important point to make because if there, if, if there's a tit for tat in this whole situation, if there's a trade going on, it is the big 10 is closing the matter and saying, this is the suspension. We'll let the NCAA handle the rest of it which we all

know is going to be a long time from now right and that that so that that does make the most sense like when you look at it that way but I think you're right I mean it's hard to say because we've not seen a situation like this where a conference has just gone off and punished prior to the NCAA even issuing a notice of allegations. So, you know, reading the sportsmanship policy, there's definitely interpretation for it,

where if they want to attack more on, they probably could have. Yeah, it seems like it. And I'm sure that's what, you know, again, there were discussions over the last few days heading into this hearing

where I'm sure they probably kept bringing that up. Hey, we can, we can continue to punish you. And if you don't get this TRO granted on Friday, and obviously that's not going to, hearing's not going to happen anymore, as we said, but going in, they're probably saying, if you don't get this granted, then we can still kind of do whatever we want here. And I think a lot of it falls back on the judge they got, Timothy Connors, in the Washtenaw County Court. When we found out we were having dinner with a lawyer, I think I mentioned this when I was on on Saturday, but we were having dinner with a lawyer in the state of Michigan, went to University of Michigan.

When he found out it was Timothy Connors, he kind of dropped his head and he was like, oh, shoot, this guy is, you know, maybe not the guy you want up there. So I think they wanted to get that thing last Friday. That was the most ideal situation the fact that went to this Friday was not good news for Jim Harbaugh and for Michigan and when you look at the big picture too that you like you have to and there's always so many angles when it comes to Jim Harbaugh but the press release said that he decided this and that the university supported him if you're Michigan fans I think you very much hope that he decided this, that he's on board with this because, you know, I mean, frankly, he hasn't been on board

with a few of the things that Michigan's done and you want to keep him happy. You want to, you know, make him feel the love as he says. And, you know, that's a key component with this too, when you look more at the big picture. Right. He's more of a wild card than most coaches in these situations. Cause usually the coach just goes all right you pay my checks what would you like me to do and he's the alpha but he doesn't make this final decision potentially right yeah it is and so now they're going to play Maryland Sharon Moore will be the acting head coach just as he was against Penn State one thing to that I think is interesting to point out and for those those who don't have followed it super closely, Jim Harbaugh is allowed to coach them at practice. He's allowed to be involved in game planning.

So this is, as you pointed out, those three and a half hours on the two Saturdays are the only other times he's going to miss them. Yeah, that's that's huge. I mean, you're going to go into Maryland. I mean, they're 19 and a half point favorites. They should take care of business this weekend. And really, for people that don't know, too, I mean, this is going to be their Maryland. I mean, they're 19 and a half point favorites. They should take care of business this weekend. And really, for people that don't know, too, I mean, this is going to be their thousandth win. Whatever their next win is, you would assume it's when they're 20 point favorites this weekend. And Jim Harbaugh, I'm sure it'll pain him not to be there.

But I assume he travels to College Park. I assume he sees them off as they head on the buses to the stadium. And obviously, he'll be on the flight home and everything. So he's not going to be too far away, literally, this weekend. And then obviously in Ann Arbor the next weekend against Ohio State. So that's going to help this team as they move forward. He's going to have his imprints on the game plan. You know, Sharone Moore is basically his closest confidant

when you look at the on-field coaches anyway. So, and Andy, I know you have strong feelings too on the way Sharon Moore handled that game against Penn State. I think you've got to feel pretty good if you're a Michigan fan. I thought he handled it brilliantly. I'm a big fan of keep doing the thing that's working. And so I've had people say, well, what does that say about J.J. McCarthy? If you actually look at it, Michigan had a better efficiency day passing the ball against Penn State than most teams that have played Penn State. So they were doing fine.

And I just, you know, for Sharon Moore, you never know with coaches how they're going to be when they are the guy who has to make those final ultimate decisions about strategy and timeouts and that sort of thing. And I thought he did a pretty good job. Now, he'd gotten a game to do that earlier in the season. But if we're really looking at it big picture, that's still only his second game on the sideline as the guy in charge. I thought he handled it pretty well, given that the 107,000 people screaming and pretty good defense on the other side of the field.

It's huge that he had the experience not only earlier in the year, but in this last game where that, you know, the Bowling Green game, and it really didn't go as planned anyway. They threw three interceptions and turned it over four times. They still won by 24 points. But, you know, this was really the big test for him. Penn State on the road, like you said, and now you go in, and now you know for a fact heading in.

You have your game plan heading into these last two games you don't have to wait till an hour and a half before where you you realize that you're not going to get this court injunction granted by game time so they're going to be better uh you know equipped i think these next couple games with sharon more there he has the big game under his belt which is huge for him uh he still has a lot on his plate he's coaching the offensive line he's the offensive coordinator he He is getting help, though. Mike Hart was the one calling timeouts. Jesse Minter was, you know, I was on the field and walking past the sideline a couple times. You know, there were a couple times Sharon's just sitting by the O-line and drawing stuff up on the whiteboard, even though

he's the head coach, right? And then he would go over and watch the defense from the sideline once he made some adjustments. So it's still something I think they're working through, but I feel like they have a pretty good plan, all things considered. It is amazing to me though. And obviously this will become much more real after the Maryland game, but Jim Harbaugh is not going to be on the sidelines for Ohio State. That is wild to think about in the big picture. I said it on a radio show earlier. We are a part of... There's going to be a book about this. There's going to be a 30 for 30.

We're part of what they're going to be writing about. Maybe it'll be one of us. But the history books here of... The head coach has been taken off the field for the Michigan-Ohio State game. That is not a small thing. It's a historic thing. And it's wild.

And then you think of it from an ohio state standpoint there's a ton of pressure on ryan day right now and you know james franklin got booed off the field and you know people were about to throw some things at him fire his offensive coordinator the next day like right he fired his offensive coordinator like you lost to a team without a head coach you got out coached by a team without a head coach so if ryan day if that happens to him uh then it would not be good news for him. I think obviously, because you already can't lose three in a row, let alone one of them not, you know, with, to a team without their head coach. So that is an interesting piece of this from the Ohio state standpoint. And if Michigan does lose

the, the win for Ryan Day, it doesn't look as good as it would have if Jim Harbaugh was over there. So it feels somewhat hollow, but then it would have if Jim Harbaugh was over there. Right. It feels somewhat hollow. Right. It would be an excuse a little bit, I guess. Another point you brought up that I had not thought about, but if Michigan beats Maryland this weekend, it is win number 1,000 for the Michigan program. And now, Sharon Moore may well wind up the head coach of this program for a significant amount of time.

He might be the next guy after Jim Harbaugh. However, that ends. We'll hesitate speculating on that. We have a while before we have to speculate on that further. But he may be the head coach of this program in the future, but the fact that he's the interim, the active, well, the acting head coach could be the one who puts his name in the book with

Fielding Yost and Bo Schimbechler and Lloyd Carr as the guy who won number a thousand for this program. Like that's an incredible footnote to that particular entry. It is. And I do wonder, cause they did some weird things, because there was one game, obviously, as you know, they had Mike Hart for the second half. It was Jay Harbaugh for the first half against UNLV.

So they've been doing some interesting things with the record book there. But Sharon Moore, we talked to him yesterday, and he said that, I don't know if it's his call or not, but he said it would certainly be Jim Harbaugh's win. And obviously, you wouldn't expect him to say anything else. But you're right. I mean, you look at these records and everything, it's wild that he could be the guy. And like you said, down the road, whenever that is, that could be next year, that could be in five years, he may be the head coach of this program and he would have had that feat in 2023. This is unprecedented stuff. It's, it's crazy.

Now would have been crazy to see the court hearing. So all the TV stations that had lined up to try to go cover it would have, would have been something to see, but does seem like a tactical retreat for Michigan. And now we, we know how it's going to go for the Wolverines for the next two games. No Jim Harbaugh Clayton. Thank you so much.

Appreciate it. This is going to be an incredible eight days or so, nine days or so, because no Jim Harbaugh for the Maryland game. I'm not worried about Michigan in that game. But no Jim Harbaugh against Ohio State is a big one. We will get into that more with Ari Wasserman when he joins. You know, Ari, you love him from The Athletic. My former podcast tag team partner, we were going to talk about a lot of things,

but we're definitely going to talk about Michigan and Jim Harbaugh. We're going to talk about what that means for Ryan Day. We're also going to talk a lot about the Texas A&M job. Who should get it? Is it a great job? What is it better than in terms of jobs? And what level of candidate should they reasonably expect? We'll talk about all of that.

But first, I got to tell you about PrizePix. You know I love PrizePix. You can download that PrizePix app today. Use the referral code Andy. They will match your first deposit up to $100. It is the most fun daily fantasy platform available in a lot of places, including Florida and Texas and California. And how do you play?

You're picking squares. And they have squares for every sport. NFL, NBA, NHL, and of course college football and college basketball. Now, college football ones are the ones we're interested in. This is a college football show. We know the most about college football and we like having fun with these games. And some of these are very interesting this week. I was going through the prize pick selections that had come out on Thursday. How about this one?

The game in Knoxville, Georgia and Tennessee. So Joe Milton, two, ten and a half passing yards. More or less. So you pick squares. You pick at least two, up to six. You decide if somebody is more than or less than the number. So Joe Milton, two, ten and a half. More than or less than the number. So Joe Milton, 210 and a half, more than or less than.

Against the Georgia defense, I don't know. But 210 and a half for Joe Milton is not a big number. It's not. Carson Beck, meanwhile, that man's got his weapons now. They're expecting big things. 287 and a half, more less for Carson Beck now the one I'm the most interested in for the quarterbacks though my man Deacon Hill from the Iowa Hawkeyes he had his best passing game since he took the starting job after Cade McNamara got hurt against Rutgers last week, he was slinging it.

He's only got a number of 127.5 against Illinois this weekend. Now, Illinois and Indiana engaged in a little bit of a shootout last week. I don't know that Iowa is going to be able to play a pure shootout, nor will they want to. But if Deacon Hill can have the performance he had against Rutgers, which is a pretty good defense, then I gotta go more than on this one. I can tell you right now.

So Friday nights, I'll send out potential picks. Sometimes Saturday mornings, I will. And we'll do it on Twitter. And some of you guys will give me advice and I'll often not take it. But occasionally, I will, and we'll do it on Twitter. And some of you guys will give me advice and I'll often not take it, but occasionally I will take it. But you're not talking me out of this one. I guarantee you I'm going to have a play that includes Deacon Hill more than 127 and a half. Guaranteed. But there's some other fun stuff like Michael Pennix Jr., the Washington quarterback. He's going to Corvallis.

They're playing at Oregon State. Remember, Oregon State is favored in this game. So Michael Pennix, two and a half passing plus rushing plus receiving touchdowns, more or less. That feels like an automatic more than. We're going to talk a lot more about Michigan. We've already talked a bunch about Michigan. Well, here's your, you got your Michigan pass catchers,

your targets, Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson. Now remember, Michigan only threw eight times against Penn State. I don't think that's a function of Sharon Moore being the acting head coach. He's the offensive line coach. He just wants to run it. I think that they felt like that was the best way to beat Penn State. I would imagine that they are going to throw the ball quite a bit more against Maryland. So Roman Wilson is 54 and a half receiving yards.

Cornelius Johnson is 38 and a half. That's a juicy one because, again, I think they're going to throw a heck of a lot more against Maryland than they threw against Penn State. So, you know, that Roman Wilson number, they only threw for 60 yards total, the whole team, last week. I'm guessing that that number goes significantly higher this week. So go to PrizePix, download that app, use the code Andy. They will match your first deposit up to $100.

Get in on the fun. Use the code Andy. They will match your first deposit up to 100 bucks. Get in on the fun. It is a blast going through. Your games are about to start. And you're like, ooh, who do I have? Well, this weekend, I don't know who else I have. But I got Deacon Hill. I'm riding for Deacon Hill this weekend. We will discuss that Iowa and Illinois potential shootout and the Greek God that is Deacon Hill

with a man who I know appreciates a unit of a quarterback, Ari Wasserman. You hear him on the Until Saturday podcast. You read him at The Athletic. He's my former podcast partner. We have a lot of fun every time we get together. And we tend to argue a little bit when we get together. So you may experience a back and forth that maybe if you're new to the show, you have not seen before. But we get a little fired up sometimes. And this Texas A&M job fires Ari up big time. So we're going to talk a little bit about the Michigan situation. But we're also going to talk about what that job is at Texas A&M and who it should draw.

And I guarantee you it draws some fire out of Ari. Here is my man, Ari Wasserman. Oh, the boys are back in town. It's Ari Wasserman, my fourth-packing partner. The boys are back in town. The hosts are back in town. Of Until Saturday on The Athletic. The writer of many hot takes at The Athletic.

You're especially blazing this week, Ari. You know, I like to think of them as well-thought-out analysis. But, you know, whatever you want, whatever you want to call it. When you type up, and I know how, like, when you get inspired, because you and I are the same way in terms of our hot take column creative process. Like, when I get inspired, that 850 to 1200 words flows out of me in like 20 minutes and you're the same way in like 15 minutes because i already know how i feel it's it bubbles inside of my stomach i don't know what it's like at on three when it

comes to like i'm sure you have carte blanche or whatever what you to write whatever you want but like at the athletic i've got to ask permission oh i ask no permission anymore it's amazing like can we do this is anybody else working on it and it's a good system i'm want, but like at the athletic, I've got to ask permission. Oh, I asked no permission anymore. It's amazing. Like, can we do this? Is anybody else working on it? And it's a good system. I'm not saying, but like during that, like 15 minute period where it's like, am I writing this? I'm like about to vomit with all of the ideas that I have. So when it finally gets to the point where I can rip the tarp off, lay on the bed and type it out, my keyboard is worn down pretty good.

So yeah, I mean, I feel very reasoned in what i wrote about texas a&m i'm sure we'll get into it i know there's some michigan news here but yeah you know like i think i was the i had a unique take again about michigan on friday that i don't think people agreed with which is i thought that the big tens um suspension or quasi fake suspension of jim harbaugh was premature oh I think a lot of people agreed with that. And I, but I also think a lot of, cause you, you came back around and got the other people with the stop crying, Michigan, nobody feels sorry for you column a few days later. And people thought I was a hypocrite, but it's like, I can think that it was premature,

but also not feel bad for you. Correct. Nuance, nuance has no place in that sort of writing. And that's, that's your problem but yes yeah my my process now like because i remember at the athletic when you when you had that idea because there's so many talented college football writers you have to make sure somebody hasn't already squatted on that take or that somebody wasn't already working on something and so you know you call the editor you're like hey i got this what are we what are we thinking and then you're just kind of waiting like get waiting for that green light now my my boss is like just don't get us sued i'm like all right let's go yeah i hopefully uh i'll never get us sued but the cool thing about

waiting sometimes too is that the university president will tweet out something that's completely asinine and makes it feel like a tragedy happened and it'll help you it'll help you kind of iron things out so you know they this is a highly complex situation when it comes to michigan and you know there's a lot of things to feel we don't know all the answers to the questions that we're all desired or burning to get to and i know we will get to that point eventually here you know maybe i'm so disappointed right now because as we're recording this michigan has just sent out the release saying that there will be no hearing on Friday morning.

They're not going to court. Jim Harbaugh will accept the suspension. So he's going to sit out the Maryland game. He will sit out the Ohio state game. And that is just, just the game itself because he can work in practice on the game, planning all that stuff, but there will be no hearing.

And Chris Ballas at the Wolverine reported earlier on Thursday that the NCAA continued its investigation, interviewed some Michigan players. Perhaps some stuff came up there that makes things a little more difficult for Michigan and made it where this was the move. This is what seems to happen with Jim Harbaugh every time. It's like, bang your fist against the table, don't do anything, and then, okay, I accept the penalty of whatever it is like I don't know isn't isn't that the the legal

the legal trope that yeah if if if the law is on your side pound the law if the facts are on your side pound the facts if neither is on your side pound the table yeah I don't know what's going to happen there um I've had this sneaky suspicion that in February or March, the real hammer is going to come, which is why I thought the fake hammer was weak. It's like if you have enough information to suspend him for Saturdays for the final three games of the season, don't you have enough information to just actually suspend him indefinitely

until you get to the bottom of this? It's either do it or don't to me. It's like now they're going to come back in the big 10 championship game and the playoff like if because michigan's still good enough to beat ohio state and win the big 10 so if they do that he's just gonna come back triumphantly on a white horse and his hair blowing in the wind and come back for the big 10 title game and the national championship race like nothing happened will the white horse be endorsed by milk yeah yeah i don't know i sure hope so and a bunch of flock of chickens are flying around because apparently you can eat

those now when you couldn't before they're not nervous anymore it's not a nervous bird it's just a bizarre thing to me it's like everyone's like well you have to punish him now it's like no they didn't really they didn't really punish him that bad and trust me my hottest take you know i don't know if it's a take i wish he was coaching in the game i want i wish he were on the sideline for the oh okay well we'll get it see i'm disappointed because i had this whole set of questions about what if judge judy actually adjudicated this case how would it go would she rule for against jim harbaugh that's out the window now so i will will move on to the next.

Yeah, I'm going to the bullpen. But this is one right up your alley, Ari. Because what if Michigan, led by Sharone Moore, not Jim Harbaugh, beats Ohio State? Yeah. It's a freaking bloodbath on the Letterman Row message board. Yeah, I was at home for the game last year, and we went live after that game, like five minutes after it was over,

and I had that burning column bubbling in my gut feeling of, like, this is unacceptable. Like, the head coach of ohio state can't lose this game you can't punt i do love how you're you're referring to your best columns as a feeling that usually precedes vomiting or diarrhea yeah no i mean like i was just like i need to write this in our podcast that we went for 15 minutes on youtube was like stopping me from writing it i remember like it giving me acid reflux, but I'm very nervous that day. I finally, but I was like ready to ride.

Like I had it in my head of like, this is, I had the nervous bird line in there all lined up. Like everything was in the column did really, really well. That said, like, what is the column? I was thinking about this while going to the bathroom this morning, actually, what is the column this year? What is the column this year what is the column this year like if Ohio State just loses you know 24 to 20 or 31 to 24 or something and it's a close game it's just

like sometimes really good teams just win games and like I don't know but not if their coach is suspended no I know I know I'm not I'm not saying that he gets off scot-free. It's just like, how do I write a column that's interesting that isn't the same exact thing that I wrote 365 days ago? Couldn't you just write it again? John Cooper and then copy-paste, copy-paste, copy-paste, copy-paste? Copy-paste, copy-paste. I mean, like, if they lose three in a row, then I think that that comparison rings.

I think it becomes fair. You don't need 10 years of data in order to get to that point because Ryan Day, as we all know, has been very successful leading the Ohio State football program in every other avenue. They played a tremendous game against Georgia last year. They came up short, but you would hire that Ryan Day and that team to coach any team in college football. His record against Big Ten opponents, I believe, is 30 or 40 or 40 something and two and the only two are the michigan game so if you

can't figure out a way to get that like that's that's a major problem and you know last i feel like the last two losses were way worse because i thought ohio state's teams that lost those games were probably better than the one that they have this year although their defense is much better michigan is a much more advanced version of itself now too. And it's on the road. It's going to be a tough spot. But the thing that everybody always says is like, Ryan Day snitched and Ryan Day didn't want this to happen.

I don't care about any of that. I really don't. I don't care about it either. But also too, if you put yourself in Ryan Day's position, don't you think he has nothing to gain by playing in that game against the not a not a thing like i'm sure if they win hoping that yeah of course he spends all year like like any coach competitive would like if fans actually bought into what they were saying and they're like oh he's too scared to play jim harbaugh it's like do you think that that's how coaches' minds work? Like, he's eager to flip the script, you know?

Like, I don't know if they beat Michigan now, it's because Harbaugh wasn't on the sideline, and if they lose to Michigan now, it's because he's John Cooper. It's like, you can't win. And I just think that this is going to be, this is the most highly anticipated version of the game since 06, and I think that you could make a case that this is even more anticipated than that game was because they're both probably still going to be undefeated

like they were in 06. But now you have all this scandal hanging over the balance of it. You've got Ryan Day's position as Ohio State's coach hanging in the balance. And, of course, you've got the college football playoff, Big Ten Championship, all that there too, and on top of that Harbaugh suspended so it's like but but like 2006 because 2006 the loser's probably out right title game and in this one provided florida state doesn't doesn't drop a weird one or or you know washington there's too many teams like yeah it's probably watching it

beats oregon state it probably means the loser of this game of the michigan ohio state game is out it's out yeah yeah i mean people like to use last year's ohio state michigan game as an illustration of why the regular season doesn't matter now but that was such an extenuating circumstance they couldn't find four viable options last year yeah and how many teams are still technically playoff worthy as we go into week 12 8 it's 9 yeah i mean nine teams that are in like this weekend all the sec teams are playing their fcs opponents and the only one that i really feel like is in much danger of losing i guess maybe two would be texas at iowa state yeah um they're they're hanging seven and a half and then washington on the road of oregon two and a half point dog. So it's, we need a weekend where teams lose unexpectedly,

but we're not going to get it in the SEC this week because they don't play division one football teams basically for power five teams. And then everybody else kind of seems to have like organs playing ASU. I mean, who else is playing anybody? I mean, Ohio state's playing Minnesota. I don't even remember Minnesota 28 point, 28 point favorites. Like this is going to come down to conference championship games and rivalry weekend. playing Minnesota. I don't even remember. Minnesota, 28-point favorites. This is going to come down to conference championship games and rivalry weekend, and I think that's the way the sport was intended.

It's like if you want the 12-team playoff, and I'm not going to drag you down into the pits of hell with that, but this is actually kind of playing out to be kind of like that where you have the conference championship games are so pointless most years. I mean, if Oregon and Washington play in the Pac-12 again, and you have Texas and Oklahoma playing, Texas is playing for its life, and then you have Atlanta, which is Alabama, Georgia.

These are really important games that are happening before the playoff committee reveals their final ranking. So, yeah, I don't think that the loser of the Ohio State-Michigan game this year is going to be afforded the opportunity to be like, ah, we're still going to get it. I think if you lose, you're out. And especially if it's Michigan, because they have the weaker non-conference schedule and all the other stuff.

But you wrote when Harbaugh got suspended that this kind of weakens the product. I don't think it weakens the product, or I don't think it makes people less interested. I don't know that it makes people less interested. I think this is more interested. This is freaking weird. The ratings are going to be through the roof.

No, I don't mean that people aren't going to watch. I feel like if the game was a 10 out of 10, without Harbaugh, it might be 9 out of 9 out of 10. It is not the peak version of itself. I always remember this as the one they played without Harbaugh. That makes it a different version of it. I don't know, but half of the rivalry wants to get revenge. I put up a poll on my Twitter because I was curious about this

of asking Ohio State fans, and who knows who voted in it, but do you want Jim Harbaugh to be suspended for the game? And I think like 70% said no. I don't think people, like Ohio State fans, want to beat him on the sideline. They don't want to go another year with fans want to beat him on the sideline they don't want to go another year with the bull you know how twitter is well they didn't have our boss so yeah it's ohio state it's a program that's used to winning like they're not ducking anybody they're

not gonna be like well i'd rather play with no they'll take they'll take on whoever and i think ryan day was probably hitting that no button over and over and over again on that. Because like you said, he's the most incentivized to want Jim Harbaugh on that sideline, but he ain't going to be there now. Because if you lose to Harbaugh and it's your third loss in a row, it's really bad in Columbus. But it's not nearly as bad as losing to Sharon Moore. Like the way that you're analyzed. Yeah. And if you beat Harbaugh, that's great for you. Did you really get the monkey off your back're analyzed. Yeah. And if you beat Harbaugh, that's great for you. Did you really get the monkey off your back?

Yeah. Yeah. If you don't, if you beat more, did you really get the monkey off your back? Right. Yeah. But it's like, I'm like my family. I got 15 Wassermans coming into my house for this Thanksgiving, and it's going to be an eccentric, eccentric bunch.

I can't wait. Have you bought your tub of cottage cheese in honor of our not i didn't not doc scott doctorman the iowa beat writer for the athletic so he was on with ari and i last year for the thanksgiving sides draft yes we drafted thanksgiving sides and and late in the draft he went with black olives which i actually do enjoy a nice olive spread before any big meal uh but then he went cottage cheese and it was one of the ultimate record scratch moments on the show because i have never seen a bowl of cottage cheese in a family gathering also too we're drafting thanksgiving sides pal they're gonna be there at the end you can sign them as undrafted free agents you don't

need a waste of pick i i caught on to something you just said though to you like i love a nice bowl of of olive variety before any meal do you get olives before meals is that a thing um not i don't usually get the olives my mother-in-law will put them out and we have some friends that that almost any kind of dinner party situation they throw they will have an olive spread and a charcuterie board i've never seen an olive spread in my entire life really i mean i don't know not like at a house you've never been to a you never in a wine bar where i mean it's on the menu i mean i guess yeah i mean wine bar but like it just i wouldn't even think if brits like we're having people over for dinner

i wouldn't be like okay let me go get this sick you wouldn't put that's why i was out to not i've always yeah no and i've always seen the olive bars, like Whole Foods where they have a whole thing of just olives, and I was like, that's overkill, isn't it? With the prologue stuffing or with the fig stuffing? Oh, yeah. But I guess I'm just willing to admit, Andy,

that maybe I'm just a novice when it comes to the joys of a diverse olive spread. There's nothing wrong with a diverse olive spread, man. You get the little thing that has like the four different compartments you go with some black olives you go with some green olives you go some blue cheese stuffed and you go with like a prosciutto stuffed with provolone can't beat it it just it just gets it gets the appetite going yeah i'm just a i'm a good old-fashioned rolls guy but you know i will, but maybe I'm just not classy enough.

I don't know what that – We need to cross the bridge to cottage cheese like our friends in Iowa. I like cottage cheese. I think it's a great spread. It doesn't go with anything. Before we move on to the Texas A&M conversation, which I definitely want to have with you, I took the Iowa over this week. I think I'm right.

The Cooper to Gene injury hadn't happened yet we picked on monday so i i'm not trying to like draft off of that it's just that illinois threw for 500 yards last week and if you looked at this the stats and and watched the game when io played rutgers it was deacon hill's best game every single week when this spread keeps dropping not spread the over under total yeah it's it was 31 then it went to 30 and a half then i mean last week's got i think down to 27 and a half yeah open to 28 and a half and it hit it keeps going under it keeps going under it keeps going under i don't know the last time an iowa total hit the over western mission it's a the iowa total is the iowa under is eight and two this year.

Yeah. I, I, and they're getting 30 and a half, right? Like, yeah, I don't know.

Look at Deacon Hill. Look at, look at this man. He's a unit. Yeah. Hey, it's like a DJU except not fast, big or strong or accurate.

Yeah. I don't know. I think he weighs more than you too but again listen i love quarterbacks who resemble me because there aren't many not very many of them so uh but no i did take that all right let's let's talk texas a&m because this is this is the conversation in college football this week we knew something was going to happen eventually because they weren't getting where they were wanting to go the buyout was going to be eventually because they weren't getting where they were wanting to go. The buyout was going to be huge,

whether you did it this year, next year, the year after that. So they go ahead, rip the bandaid off. They fire Jimbo Fisher. And you write a column that says, watch out because Texas A&M is a great job.

It's like the ultimate sleeping giant column, which we know that, but they can't ever get it figured out. Well, I think there's a difference between sleeping giant and attractive job. And let me ask you this. You know how we used to break into games in the middle of it that we didn't plan for? Let's play a game.

Okay. I want you to list every job that you definitively think it is not a debate is better than the A&M job. Okay. No debate. Right. No debate. Because the, like I did my two question test column to explain why Dan Lanning should stay at Oregon. Because I think that the Oregon job is better because it's a big 10 job

where you can regularly finish in the top three, the big 10. So that was, because I think if you have one of those jobs, unless it's Alabama or Ohio state calling you, you don't move. So I can only get to four, by the way, but it's Alabama or Ohio State calling you, you don't move. I can only get to four, by the way.

But that's a debate. I agree, and I understand a reasonable person would say Texas A&M is a better job than Oregon. I just happen to disagree. I don't want you to be one of these people, if you're listening, that goes, they haven't won anything ever. That's not the question. The question is, from a coaching perspective, if you are a candidate with a job or without one now, name five places, no, not as many as you can, that offer you a compensation and upside package from a job standpoint

that is better than what Texas A&M could offer you. Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, LSU. That's four. I'm assuming that's your four. And I think you could have a debate with Alabama. Right, because Nick Saban has made Alabama the job it is. Who wants to follow that? Bear Bryant made it a really good job too.

But Alabama is harder than people realize because of Auburn. And Nick Saban is just that good. And Auburn has the right guy there to recruit and stuff too now. It's not like it's Brian Harsin on the other sideline. Yeah. And I'm saying from an attractive standpoint, and maybe this is a secondary column, but if I'm a coach, I don't want to have to follow Nick Saban.

Also, the Alabama talent pool isn't nearly as good as what you have in Georgia, which is why Kirby Smart. Georgia is the best job in the country. It's not close close but i think that you can make a debate if you are like let's just use dan lanning as an example because dan lanning's name got brought up if you are dan lanning and you were forced to leave oregon uh-huh and you could pick between the alabama job and the a&m job he probably picks the alabama job because he probably picks the Alabama job because he coached at Georgia and he knows the infrastructure. He also worked at Alabama. But which one would you –

I just think that A&M just offers too much. It's like not – Two things can happen at A&M. One, you go there and you become the first coach to win big in the history of the program and they build a bronze statue of you in front of kyle field and the other one is um you get fired after failing miserably three years down the line and your grandchildren's grandchildren can go to private school on a month's check for you like it is just it's there's no losing here

i i just don't know like al Alabama, you got to go in there. You got to replace a legend. You have to, you know, get the. I would take Alabama though, because Alabama has won before the people in charge. It's the same thing as an NFL franchise. Like there are good NFL owners and bad NFL owners. Like you want to work for a good franchise. Texas A&M has yet to prove it's a good franchise. It is a more extreme version of

the texas job because texas has had the pockets of dominance a&m's never had that but texas is another one where every time it opens we're like it has all these resources it had all these advantages but for whatever reason they can't get it going now it looks like they're gonna make this year correct i don't think that they're never being good is a good enough reason to not go there. Well, no, you're right. If they hire the right person, we're all going to look back and say. Imagine that. Yeah.

Like, I know you wrote a column. And listen, Oregon has the NIL money. Geography, like you pointed out, isn't as important in recruiting in 2023 and 2024 as it was in 1995. They have the Nike money. They're a cool, recognizable brand. They have one more. You can't say Oregon's never done anything. They're an easier conference.

They're an easier conference. They're an easier conference. They're an easier conference. Assuming they are an easier conference. It's not a debate, but it's not an easy conference. No, no. The new Big Ten is't an easier conference. It's not a debate, but it's not an easy conference. No, no. The new Big Ten is not an easy conference. But the new SEC is a slog.

I know, but you also will probably miss half those teams on your regular schedule, too. You're not going to be playing Oklahoma, Texas, LSU, Bama, and Georgia. The problem is Arkansas is going to have good players and Ole Miss is going to have good players. That's true. Mississippi State is going to have good players. It is easier.

I'm not going to argue with that. It is easier. I'm not going to argue with that. It is easier. But the Big Ten is a place that will put yourself in a position to make a lot of money, and you can win big there too. So I get that. But if you ask me which team Dan Lanning would be more likely to win a national championship at in the next two or three years, I would say A&M, especially if they're able to keep the roster together.

Over Oregon? Yeah. They might have a harder time getting there, but getting there is only half the story. Just ask TCU how far getting there gets you. Listen, you get the right coach at A&M and he either brings the right quarterback or Connor Wigman ends up being the right quarterback, then yeah. No, you could pretty quickly do it. They're way ahead of Oregon in

total talent on their roster right now. I'm not saying that won't change, but I think that you have a better opportunity because for as good as Dan Lanning has done at Oregon, they have not amassed the amount of talent in a single class or in their class in general. Other than Alabama, Georgia, or Ohio State, who has ever accumulated the amount of talent? A&M. That's the answer. 2022 class, exactly.

So if you're talking about the debate of should he leave or should he go, Dan Lanning can go make $100 million from A&M and actually have a chance to win or win 10 games. Listen, too, I know people talk about how A&M is short. He has a better chance of being like, okay, if you had to make a bet in the next five years. I don't want to bet with you anymore. I know, I know, I know.

I'm going to win that USC bet, but that's cool. So we know Dan Lanning's not going to take the Texas A&M job. This is just a hypothetical here. Yeah, it's just an example. If he were to go to Texas A&M job. This is just a hypothetical here. Yeah, it's just an example. If he were to go to Texas A&M or stay at Oregon, which is the one where in five years he'll have more playoff appearances? I would bet Oregon all day, every day, twice on Sunday. The 12-team playoff, man. I don't know. You don't got to win your side of the conference anymore. But that's how you have to – if you're a coach,

you can't pretend it's the old system and evaluate it that way. We have to think about it the way they have to think about it. What you're saying makes me more interested in being able to win a playoff game rather than making it. I think that's good enough to win playoff games. I do. But I think that the roster would be better at A&M in five years. I think you're probably right. If that's the answer to the question it's like which roster would be better in five years i think we both would agree that it would be a and m but i think you can build

i think you can build a good enough roster to make the to play for national title at oregon in in 2024 i don't think you could have done it in 2010. I think you could do it now. If you go look at the numbers, I believe that Texas A&M is one of only four teams in the entire country that has double-digit five-star prospects. Yeah, that's correct. Ohio State, Georgia, and Alabama are the only other ones. What are they, A&M? And, you know, Texas has nine. So those are the, like, group A teams on our podcast that we talk about. I just feel like what you're saying is true.

I think that navigating the Big Ten and making the playoff, the 12-team field, would be easier at Oregon, but I don't know if he would ever have the roster that can win it. So would you rather trade the appearances, or would you rather not make it as much but put together the one roster that wins a national title like the problem with texas a and m because it it may just be cursed is you may not make it at all like that and then what's the and then what i know you you make a bunch of money and you're fired i got it i get it all right let's let's

let's turn this conversation because dan Lanning's obviously not going there. We need to figure out who is going there. And obviously you've got your Mike Elkos, your Jeff Trailers who are going to be there. I'm sure they're going to talk to him. One of them may get hired. But this feels like a job, Ari. A couple of years ago when LSU opened and USC opened. I don't know that a month before any of us would have suspected Lincoln Riley to USC,

Brian Kelly to LSU. I think Lincoln Riley to LSU was something we were asking about in the weeks preceding those moves, but it was a surprising move for both guys. Who out there might surprise us by being interested in this texas a&m job because i think you're right i think a lot of coaches will look at this and go holy crap that's a lot of money holy crap that's a lot of talent i can get a roster there that i can't get here there is not a single thing that a&M or that you need to win a national championship in 2023 and 2024 and beyond that A&M doesn't possess. So how many jobs can you say that about 15?

Well, the question that you're asking is which coach would leave a place that has all those same assets to go to? Right, right, right. Because there's a lot of coaches that are at really good jobs right now that don't have the same assets like let me is this like just us girls talking here like i don't know if i'm gonna start up a room and reel but i had a dream what if ryan day loses to michigan way to tie it back arey wait no it's a gift i've learned a lot about hosting since you got you were gone i don't know I mean, this is like bullshit. Like, I don't think there was any chance that he would ever go,

but like the Ryan day is one of only. Okay. We are two years away or removed from Lincoln Riley going from Oklahoma to USC, Brian Kelly going from Notre Dame to LSU and Mario Cristobal leaving Oregon to go to Miami. And funny enough, we're having this discussion. How much better of a job is A&M than Miami? Can you believe that the previous coach left Oregon for Miami

and we're having this debate right now? Yes, because he's from Miami and played at Miami. I know, but it's just like, I don't know. I'm from Phoenix. I would go the opposite direction if I had all the things that Texas A&M was offering. But I don't know if that coach is out there right now. So the only one that I could come up with in this weird,

bizarro world example would be if Ryan Day loses to Michigan, he feels unappreciated at Ohio State because people will call for his job. And he's only lost three conference games. And he'll be like, you know what? I'll just take my family to a place that's on the outside of Houston about an hour, an hour and a half away. Where they never get mad if you lose games. Well, but like maybe for a different reason.

Like he's had a pretty good record otherwise. I don't know. It would be funny if he went to A&M and just kept losing to Texas. But A&M, square one for A&M is win 10 games. Like I don't think you've got to go there and win a national championship in the first two or three years to be successful. In fact, and I know that they were kind of trapped by the Jimbo contract, but Jimbo had more than enough runway to get something going there. They didn't fire him

in a knee-jerk reaction after two years. I know they couldn't have, but he had a long time. So I think that it would be a pretty attractive place where if you won 10 games, you would be a god. They've only won 10 games one time since 1998. Isn't that remarkable? Think about how low the bar is you want to talk about how mark stoops is the best job in the country because he works at a place that doesn't have high standards he gets paid a boatload of money with an insane buyout why not go to a place that has 110 000 pure person stadium that will like carry you out like rudy if you win 10 games one year winning 10 games in alabama is a failure of a season winning at an a&m completely

is a different paradigm. So the only person that I think matches, well there's two. Who's the other? That matches the Lincoln Riley the Lincoln Riley aura I think would be Ryan Day. But there's one other name that's been creeping up a little bit in a funny

way, but that's Dabo Sweeney. If you're Texas A&M and you want to make a splash, Dabo Sweeney. If you're a Texas A&M and you want to make a splash, Dabo Sweeney. That's hiring Jimbo again. I know. I would hate it. It would be a terrible hire, but never underestimate. And the one thing that I've learned talking to A&M fans that my wife is friends with and the people I exist around in Texas, and not that they're the chief czar of what A&M's upper brass is going to do, But they are not swayed or excited when you start bringing up rational names like Jeff Traylor or Mike Elko or anybody else.

They want Michael Jackson. It makes sense. It might work. Yeah, they want to. Because part of the A&M aura is we have more money than you, and we'll show you that by hiring whoever we want. And if they go get somebody at UTSA. Sometimes in their history they've done that. Jackie Sherrill and Jimbo Fisher. It's been an utter disaster yeah so here's the thing

you're like who's that person i mean if they hire dabbo i think it would be a disaster you can't hire a person who's having a downturn at his current program you gotta use a transfer portal he doesn't use a transfer portal and also has been on record even before nil existed saying if they ever pay the players they'll retire he's He's not Mr. Throw money at problems guy. So he's out or he's not a fit. And I don't think Ryan Day would go. I think that he really cares about raising his family in one place in Ohio state's one of the top four jobs in America. So this brings us to the next topic, Andy, which is can the lack of Lincoln Riley like candidates and that dismisses the notion of Lincoln Riley like candidates? And that dismisses the notion that Lincoln Riley would bolt from USC because it is not impossible.

It's not going great right now. I know, but I would never hire Lincoln Riley to recruit in the SEC. I don't think he wants any part of that smoke. No, I know, but if they're like Lincoln Riley, I know things aren't going well. You're hitting reset. Your quarterback's leaving. You haven't recruited incredible classes to USC that you can't turn your back on. Which is why you wouldn't want him at a and m i know but you go to a and m what's a and

m is is one caleb williams star away from being really really good i think uh with the roster that they have i think that you could you mean a guy who won the heisman and then didn't win it the next year and went 10 and 2 the year he won the heisman I'm trying to bring you into the Texas A&M temperament. It's the same thing as Johnny Mansell! I know, but what do you think Texas A&M fans would be more excited about? Jeff Traylor or Lincoln Riley? I'm trying to give you candidates that scratch the itch to flash. Oh, you're right. They would definitely be more excited.

And here's the thing. If Dan Quinn, who's an Aggie, were not sitting – if he was struggling with the lions right now, if you were not sitting on a roster, the Superbowl, maybe right. That could probably win their division maybe for the next six years, especially if they get a good quarterback to replace Jared Goff in the next

couple of years. Like he it's, it might be something you think about, but the thing is like, even the idea of an NFL guy, college coaching is so much harder than NFL coaching now because of recruiting and NIL that, you know,

the NFL is going to want that. You know how much Dan Campbell makes off the top of your head? I probably ate 9 million a year. It's not, it's way less. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm just saying like,

if here's the thing, I think A&M is going to learn its lesson and not give out a God contract of 10 years, 100 million guaranteed because now they're going to be paying somebody 13,000 a day for like the next 37 years. I think that they might think better of it, but I don't think A&M is going to lose the guy that they want for money. And if they offer Dan Campbell in a banana land pie in the sky scenario, $11 million a year to come coach A&M and he gets 300 or 400% more than he's currently making. It's not, there's no such thing as too much money and wealth accumulation. So I, again, I would be shocked if any of these come true, but we're, we're certainly talking about the pie in the sky, home run, scratch the ish, the flash hires. Now here's the, here's okay here's let me go back to realistic hireland tell me if i'm crazy about this okay because i i started looking up jeff uh jeff

trailer's contract so he's the the utsa coach uh former texas high school coach he actually would be a really good fit at texas a and m um so he makes 2.8 million dollars a year there his buyout is actually a huge buyout for group five school. Like if he were fired after this season, which obviously he won't be because he's undefeated in conference play right now, uh, he would be owed 14.4 million. So if you're a Ross Bjork and you hired him at Texas A&M, what are you paying him? And what is the buyout guarantee? Like you tell me, I would, I would pay him. I had offered him 6 million a year, maybe less.

And I'd say, I'd structure it so that his buyout was like 15 million. And when he, when his agent goes, well, that's only 600,000 more than his buyout would be now. I'm like, you're right. I can make it a dollar more. If you'd like that, would you like to be the Texas A like you're right i can make it a dollar more if you'd like that would you like to be the texas a&m coach or the utsa coach you decide like that's how they should negotiate these things but they never do well also too and this was going to bring me to the next point is we're trying to find the coach that will tickle the a&m fan base the most or make the biggest splash the way that Riley did when he went to USC and Kelly did at Notre Dame. The notion that A&M could be saved from itself because there isn't an obvious candidate that does that is something that might be the saving grace for them yes i i agree and and a normal candidate a quote-unquote normal not a not a superstar giant splash candidate will probably allow them to have a reasonable contract i mean

none of these none of these numbers are reasonable in the real world but reasonable compared to what we just saw with jimbo fisher right, right. So I don't know. The thing is, like, what do you think Texas A&M needs? Like, there's a want, there's a flashy, there's a desire. I will tell you the two guys who I think would do really well there. And there's one guy, like, I put his name up for every job, and the fans of his current school get mad at me for this. But I just think he'd win everywhere because he has.

And the way he's done this particular job suggests to me that it does not matter where you put him, what level you put him at, he will be successful. And that is Lance Leipold. Kansas is not fluky good. He turned them from the worst program in the power five to a pretty good football team that could play with lots of, you know, almost anybody.

I mean, there's certain, there's a certain profile of what good coaching hires look like these days. And unfortunately it does. He doesn't fit that profile. Now you've got to start thinking outside of the box a little bit of just like how much does building a program matter? It's like we talked about this on the previous show all the time.

Lance is smart enough to know that if you put him at Texas A&M, he's like, okay, I can get five stars. Let's go get some damn five stars. And he'll develop them too. Yeah, I think they're at the point now too where they just need to have a functional coach that runs a good offense, knows how to win the locker room, and just can be competent. But the thing that I don't know about that is, is that what do you emphasize first? A coach that has illustrated an ability to build a program that was in the dumps into a more sturdy, more fun team?

Or do you need a maniacal recruiter that can continue to accumulate that talent at the same pace that Jimbo Fisher did. And I don't know if the candidate is out there outside of Dan Lanning, which makes me want to write a God contract for him and get him to come. Even though he said he didn't want to leave. Like, I don't think that there is a better slam dunk of a hire out there for A&M than Dan Lanning. And if he is dead set on leaving. He's perfect because you've, you've seen him recruit, you've seen him recruit at the level that you need when he was at Georgia. Yeah. And you've also seen him, you've also seen him recruit pretty the level that you need when he was at Georgia. Yeah. And you've also seen him, you've also seen him recruit pretty close to the level you need as a head coach at Oregon,

where it's a little bit harder to do that. And so I agree with you that the, that he's the easiest one. Let me give you the other one. Okay. And the more people I talk to, the more this guy intrigues me. His name is going to be up for multiple things this year.

I don't know if A&M is in the cards. I don't know if they would consider him. He's at your alma mater, Ari. I know. I knew you were going to say that. Leave my friend alone. Leave all my friends alone. Can't they be happy for one season? We had Jed on the show last week,

and he's explaining the 2022 recruiting class to us. Like, if he gives that answer to an athletic director making a hire, like, I would hire him on the spot based on that answer alone. Well, he gets it. That's the thing. The other thing with Jed Fish is there's another job that's probably opening up here pretty soon that he has connections to. UCLA, absolutely. And the three best players on Arizona's football team are all from Southern California so I would track that

I don't know I have a hard time believing that he's going to be the head coach at U of A next year which is unfortunate because his his alma mater is not opening but that's one where people are good in a year exactly exactly but you know ucla is is one where i think they might be fighting or trying to decide between him and jonathan smith who jonathan smith's another one another one i would seriously consider but i just don't know like does jed fish like if you're the a&m brass i like when you put a thumbs up this camera i didn't do that i i didn't know how that happened oh um i think it does that yeah i don't know i'm i didn't go to medical school i just know that it pops up on the screen do any of these names make it happy um make a and m happy that's the thing

it's like if they got jonathan like we're college football nerds we watch it every weekend we understand what jonathan smith built at oregon state i've seen up close and personal what judd fish has done to rejuvenate the program kick people's ass like how much we i know but do people know that do people know that i know they don't but you know a lot of aggies i know a lot a lot of aggie like they've never that you go back to like the wrecking crew defense in the 90s. Like they love those guys. Like how, how much would they love a program that just flat out beat people's asses? Like Jonathan Smith's Oregon state teams do like, I don't mean on the scoreboard necessarily.

I mean on the line of scrimmage and like in the sec, that's kind of how you have to win. So like, I would not be shocked if Jonathan Smith is at UCLA or Michigan state or somewhere like that next year. I don't know that he's sexy enough to hire. in so like i would not be shocked if jonathan smith is at ucla or michigan state or somewhere like that next year i don't know that you he's sexy enough to hire him like what his personal desires are either right and he's a west coast also he's from pasadena he went to oregon state and he's also um a part of the team now that is no longer it's like in conference predatory well

and that's why that's why we're even talking about this because yeah usually when you're at your alma mater you're doing well you're not leaving but his his situation's so unusual but and if they win and beat Washington I think they will this weekend then he becomes a much sexier candidate in one weekend but there's nothing sexy about those guys except I do think they'd win. And the Fish one is interesting to me because he did recruit above his level, above Arizona's level as soon as he got there at the high school level, not just in the portal. And I think that is interesting because that means you could go to a Texas A&M or a Big Ten school, and you would start getting really good players right away.

You know what I appreciate about Jed Fish is that, you know, and I pay closer attention to Arizona than other programs just because I've got a lot of friends who live and die by it. He got to Tucson, a place that he really didn't have much connection to, and he treated Tucson like a place that he has been his whole life. You know, he knew what the selling points of the program were. He knew what people wanted to hear. He has Arizona in position with five-star prospects at local high schools.

He's recruiting Southern California really well. He did a very good job. He got Gronk to come back for the first time in 10 years. You know what? The one little factoid he gave us that impressed me the most. What's that? So in that first full cycle recruiting class, 2022,

his coaches were not allowed to offer anybody who played on a high school team with a losing record. Yeah. I told our coaches, no high school kids with losing records. We just, we needed to bring winners into the locker room. Yeah, that is cool.

His thing was, we've been through enough losing. We don't have people who know how to win. And they don't have anybody who knows how to win. So if you just bring in freshmen who are only used to winning,

maybe that will help. Yeah, well, I mean, like, listen, I don't know how in the weeds you guys got with, but like before the class, well, I mean, like, listen, I don't know how in the weeds you guys got with, but like before the class before he got there, Arizona was a power five school that signed only one top 1,000 player in the country. And they had to honor all of those commitments.

They made him honor every one of those commitments. Three lost teams. So I can get a, like, I just get wary when it's very early or relatively early in someone's head coaching tenure to like give them that contract. But if they negotiate it the way that you said, which is, hey, I know we're used to this. The money will come if you're successful here. Would you rather be the A&M coach or the Arizona coach and we'll give you X number of dollars or the UCLA coach, I think that you can make that sales pitch, save some money, chip away at that loan that you are paying off with Jimbo

and try to build something there. So I think that this tug of war between flashy and we are rich and doing the prudent thing with a coach that actually knows how to adapt to a program and build it the right way is going to be a very tricky tightrope for A&M to – it and build it the right way is going to be a very tricky tightrope for A&M to, it's just like would be the most hilarious outcome if they just got Dabo or they got Lincoln Riley. Like,

could you imagine it's like they just offered Dabo Sweeney $120,000 or $120 million contract over 12 years, fully guaranteed. This guy comes and he's talking about how the, the program is built in god's name image and likeness and we're not going to use the portal and it would just be an epic disaster but if you like if you want to talk about funny that would be funny because people would be excited about it our guy would be telling our guy the yell leader who taught you how to be a yell leader

like he'd be doing old he'd be doing old rock jokes and yeah he'd be laughing his butt off dabbo sweeney does strike me as the only coach in America that would legitimately laugh at the jokes at the Friday night yell. Oh, 100%. 100%. I want to put him in the overalls. Whoop! I want his overalls to say good bull Dabo.

But we have to leave the possibility open that A&M will hire somebody out of the NFL or find somebody that we're not considering and give us a little bit of a... Because they have so much money. Money. So much money. And people are more driven by it than people want to give them credit for. A lot of people are driven by it. Ari Wasserman, I would pay you $76 million to not work.

That's how much I love you. man i appreciate that i would love to pay 76 million to work even i know i like my job um but i'll take 76 million to not work i've got a few uh few i've been watching selling sunset do you watch that show uh no oh it's just a real estate show with very attractive men and women on there that just sell $80 million homes. And it'd be a good life. It'd be a good life in Malibu. You could buy Sunset, sell Sunset, do it all. Yeah, I would do it.

Ari Wasserman, you can hear him on the Until Saturday podcast. You can read him at The Athletic. You are the best. It's good to see you, Andy. Miss your face so basically what you just experienced is what happens when ari calls me on the phone every couple of days we just figured we'd record it let you guys hear it because we get these arguments all the time and it's funny because we actually i think we we agree that the Texas A&M job has a lot going for it.

But I think where we differ is Ari assumes that as long as you have money and are close to recruits and have a big stadium, that you are automatically qualified to play for national titles, to be a national title contender. I just think there's more to it than that. I think if that were all it took, Texas A&M would already have some recent national titles, but they don't because that's not all it takes. Whatever it is that they need, and honestly, I'm not sure if it's just hiring the right coach or if there's some other, like if there's some sort of ritual that they need to do to get a curse lifted, but they just haven't been able to do it. So I think there's more to it than just you have a bunch of money in a big stadium and you're, and you live close to recruits. But we'll find out because if they hire the right coach and all of a sudden they're making playoff every year, compete for national titles, then Ari's right and I'm wrong.

But we shall see. More immediately. in the playoff every year, compete for national titles, then Ari's right and I'm wrong. But we shall see. More immediately. We've got some really interesting games this weekend. Obviously, we've talked a ton about Oregon State, Washington, and Corvallis. We've talked about Georgia going up to play Tennessee. We've talked about Texas and Iowa State, the game that could, if Iowa State were to win,

could plunge the Big 12 into tirebreaker hell. Thank you again, by the way, for George Stoya and Eddie Rudasevich from Soonerscoop yesterday coming on the show and explaining the entire Big 12 tiebreaker procedure and what changes they made this week, because I was struggling with that one. So if Iowa State wins, we'll have a better idea of how that's all going to work. But I think that's going to be a fun game in Ames. Our friends at the Sickos Committee, though, pointed out five games that we all should be watching because the stakes are big for all the teams involved.

So the Sickos Committee folks, who are some of the smartest people on the internet, I love them so much, they're calling these games bowl eligibles. Basically, it is a five-win team versus a five-win team, and the winner is bowl eligible. In this case, because this is week 11 and everybody's played 10 games, these are all five-in-five teams. There's a lot of symmetry right here.

But you have UCF at Texas Tech, Marshall at South Alabama, Boise State at Utah State, Nebraska at Wisconsin, Syracuse at Georgia Tech. Winner of each of those games is going bowling. I tell you right now, the Nebraska one feels the biggest. They need to win this to go bowling. They play Iowa next week. That one's going to be tougher. And yes, I know they won under interim Mickey Joseph against Iowa last year. But I'm telling you right now, they need to win this one against Wisconsin. And given the way Wisconsin has been playing, I think there's a good chance that Nebraska finally does get bowlers.

Remember, they've been trying for a couple of weeks. They've lost two in a row. They lost to Michigan State and they lost to Maryland. So they need to get over this hump. This would be big for Matt Rule and his program. But Georgia Tech, Brent Key, year one, are they going bowling? We'll find out. Their even-odd game thing has been snapped because they won an odd game and lost an even game. So we can't really go by that anymore. But these games are going to be fun. So everybody's saying, you know, week 12, where these guys, especially in the SEC and the ACC, they play some cupcakes. It's not the sexiest slate. There's always something fun to watch.

And I'm telling you right now, it's this week where the most off-the-wall results come. So brace yourselves, everybody. No court hearing on Friday. Let's have good football all weekend. We'll talk to you after the game.