Andy & Ari On3 - Michigan will RUN THE DAMN BALL | Should Kentucky have punted the damn ball?

Episode Date: September 17, 2024

Welcome to Andy and Ari On3, presented by Wendy’s! Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11.Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker,try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs. This show is also sponsored by PrizePicks, America’s most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code STAPLES to play $5 and get $50 instantly. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/STAPLES The Money Game is a compelling six-part docuseries that chronicles the introduction of the groundbreaking decision by the NCAA to grant NIL (name, image and likeness) rights to student-athletes, permitting them—for the first time ever—to earn endorsement compensation while maintaining their amateur athletic status. The Money Game features inside access to LSU stars Jayden Daniels, Angel Reese and Livvy Dunne through last year. See the world of NIL through their eyes. Watch The Money Game on Prime Video. https://www.amazon.com/The-Money-Game/dp/B0D9KQWC97?tag=on302-20 (0:00-1:02) Intro(1:03-21:05) Should Kentucky have Punted? A DEEP conversation(21:06-22:51) Watch the Money Game on Amazon Prime(22:52-40:49) Alex Orji Named QB1 at Michigan; Impact vs USC in the Big House(40:50-41:57) PrizePicks(41:58-51:30) Tennessee, Danny White announce player fee(51:31-1:04:32) Tennessee at Oklahoma Deep Dive, Josh Heupel's Return(1:04:33-1:05:05) Conclusion; See you tomorrow!Andy and Ari are in their first fight since Ari joined the company. After hearing Mark Stoops’ explanation for punting from the Georgia 48-yard line late in Kentucky’s 13-12 loss, Ari is even madder about the decision. Andy, however, has re-examined his initial thoughts through the lens of analytics and now finds himself on Team Stoops. Meanwhile, Michigan coach Sherrone Moore is doing the thing Andy said on Monday’s show that he had to do. The Wolverines will start Alex Orji at quarterback, meaning Michigan will be run-heavy against USC. This is Michigan’s only chance to compete with the better opponents on its schedule. That doesn’t mean it’s going to work, though. Later, the guys discuss Tennessee coach Josh Heupel’s return to Oklahoma. Andy has a question: Did getting fired at Oklahoma have to happen to make Heupel the coach he is today?Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and join us LIVE at 9:30 am et, M-Thursday: https://youtube.com/live/2cHWgKReaB4 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Annie and Ari on 3 presented by Wendy's. Happy Tuesday. Quite a bit going on. If you listen to yesterday's show, when we were picking the Michigan USC game, I said Michigan has to decide what they want to be. Sharon Moore has to decide if he's going to be the coach who tries to figure out what works

or keeps doing the thing that isn't working. He's going to try to figure out what works. He's going to run the damn ball, Ari. Yep, yep. I mean, I guess you got to do something to change up the offensive performances that they've had for the first few weeks of the season. I don't know if it's going to work, but I commend him for trying. We'll get into that.

We are going to talk about that, but we got to talk about the thing that had you just absolutely heated yesterday you wrote a column about this on three and you you i mean you went off on saturday night in the immediate aftermath you then got an explanation for mark stoops deciding to punt on fourth and eight from the georgia 48 yard line And you were not satisfied with that. In fact, you were less satisfied. You were even madder than before. So before we get into your response. And what's interesting about this is.

In the immediate aftermath. I was tending to agree with you. I went back and listened to that show. I was tending to agree with you. I actually have done a little research myself and I think I've wound up on team Stoops, which surprised me as much as it surprised you, but I have my reasons and we'll talk about it. But first we got to hear Mark Stoops explanation for punting fourth and eight, Georgia 48-yard line, three minutes to go, three timeouts. I don't take offense to the criticism of not going for it.

Again, I've told the coaches on the headset on first, and I had every intention of going for it. I wish we would have gained some yards. You know what I mean? It had a manageable third down, manageable fourth down. But you've got to realize in that same zone on the plus 48, I want to say we had two sack fumbles, one sack, and one sack, and then the next one went back from the plus.

Think about if we get three there. Think about if Coach Stoops goes conservative and we just run it, three plays in a row and kick the field goal there right nobody i mean again and i'm not you know don't you're gonna if you're gonna report this report the whole damn thing you know what i mean like like i'm not but but like if we would have just you know went how many people are saying hey hey coach stoops you're dumb we hit the ball on the plus 47. Why didn't you just pound it three more times?

We're moving the ball really good against a good defense. What if we'd have got those three instead of gotten sacked, instead of gotten sacked, fumbled, and went all the way back to the 22 on the other side? Think about that swing. Nobody talks about that, do they? You know what I mean? So when I had the ball

three times around the same zone and went negative, negative, and on second down damn near had a fumble. Third down damn near had a fumble. We got to that point by playing field position, playing defense. We had a chance to win that game just the way we played it.

We came up a player too short. I stand by that. All right, Ari. I'm going to, now 47 yard line. Sorry, I said 48. 47 yard line. So one yard, even closer to the end zone. Ari, I'm going to let you cook on this.

I am more disappointed that you flopped on me than I am. I have good reasons. I want to hear you talk about Mark Stoops reasons first, and then we'll get to mine. Well, all of my reasons are still the same from the show that we did on Saturday night. But the thing that occurred to me after we did the show and as I was writing the column about it yesterday and on three, Andy, is that we're talking about a man who presumably has the best job in America. We're talking about a man who has probably gotten Kentucky

to or near its program ceiling. We're talking about a situation here where if you win this game, you bring Kentucky to a height that it has not seen. I know it's been a few games away from the SEC championship under his leadership. I think he's an incredible coach and somebody who's done about as good of a job of building a program as anybody has in the last decade. This isn't like an anti-Mark Stoops thing. But if you are going to flirt with the Texas A&M job, I think that's an implication that you yearn for more, that you yearn to play for championships, that to play at

the highest possible level to win bigger, better trophies. And in the moment where he could have done something for a program that doesn't compete at that level, I thought he played passively. I thought he made the wrong decision. Then I thought he took the ball out of Kentucky's hands. Now, the thing that I can't wait to respond to is whatever Matthew came up with, because I'm going to freak out. Like, I'm sure there's calculators out there and analytics, and I wrote in the column, I don't care what anecdote you have or what mathematical equation we're solving or what analytics say, those equations don't take into account that Kentucky was playing Georgia. Like, you can say best defense, worst defense.

I'm going to let you explain this to people because I think it's interesting. But in that moment, in the part of the season that they're in, on their home field, with three timeouts, needing to get a stop if you don't get it anyway, they didn't touch the ball again until there was eight seconds left. You don't give the best team in college football football the program that we were laughing about being Darth Vader a get out of jail free card could you imagine the wave of enthusiasm and excitement that Kirby Smart felt the second he saw that putter come on the field when you know you're

one first down away from potentially losing on the road to Kentucky he let him off the hook and there's nothing that there's no equation or anecdote that you can say right now that's going to change my mind. So you are bringing feelings and I'm going to bring facts because here's my thing. I kill coaches who punt when they should go for it, when the math says they should go for it. I kill them. But if I'm going to kill them for punting when the math says they should go for it,

then I should not kill them when the math says they should go for it, then I should not kill them when the math says they should punt. So there's not a college football fourth down calculator out there on the internet. There is an NFL one that uses years of data. And I used that one because I thought that was interesting. And I actually changed up the circumstances of it so that I imagined if it was the best offense versus the worst defense. So I had, I used the chief's offense versus the commander's defense with the

same circumstances, same time of the game, same number of timeouts remaining. Now the NFL is a little different because it'll, it'll tell you maybe go for the field goal, the 63 yard field goal. If you're in that situation because you have an NFL kicker. But you know what it didn't say at all? Go for it. It said punt or kick a field goal. Every way I sliced it, every team I tried, every circumstance I tried, with that circumstance, with three timeouts, with three minutes and nine seconds to go in a game every single one said punt or kick which they weren't going to kick

none of them said go for it so it said if you have Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey don't go for it punt none of them said go for it so if I am going to kill every coach, and I do, who's got fourth and three and plus territory and punts, then why should I not say, you know what? If I'm going to believe in the math this way, why don't I believe in the math this way and it okay and you say oh it didn't work I disagree Ari what did Oscar Delp do when he caught the ball on George's next possession after Kentucky punted I know what did he do tell me he put the ball on the ground he fumbled so it worked the ball did not bounce the way they needed it. So it worked. The ball did not bounce the way they needed it to, but it worked.

Are you, can I talk now? Okay. And let's also say, okay, because the coaches always say this when we kill them for the analytics. But the situation of the game matters and what's going on and how our team's performing in this situation matters. You're absolutely right. Fourth and fourth and eight. Ari, do you have to throw or do you have to run on that play? I'm so excited to respond.

You have to throw. Okay. Kentucky called passes on the previous two plays. What happened on the previous two plays? It was bad. Did Brock Vandegrift almost get sacked on those plays yes so was kentucky going to make eight yards on that play do you think you have something here by saying that kentucky has a hard time moving the ball against georgia like is that like a revelation they're playing georgia at home it fumbled. Also, I'm not even results oriented.

He could have muffed the punt and they could have recovered it and walked into the end zone. That wouldn't have changed my mind about the original decision to punt. Like you, people say, don't be results oriented. I'm not going to be results oriented. It could have worked. Absolutely. I'm not saying that if you're process oriented, process the process of choosing to punt is the correct choice because you had probably about a 25 chance of making the first down in a perfect situation

in a situation where you can't block george's front you probably had a 10 chance of making it yeah i mean i i think that you could make a case that the play calling before fork down could have been different because they were moving the ball on the ground very well. And I think he was even saying that about him. We agree on that. I'm not saying it's a good situation. I'm not saying Kentucky going for it on fourth down is, you know, absolutely 1,000% going to work.

But your NFL calculator does not take into account the situation that they're playing. They lost by a million to South Carolina the week before. They played neck and neck with the number one team in the country for three and a half. And their defense was playing better than their offense. I understand that. And their defense forced a fumble.

And their defense could have forced a fumble at the 48, Andy. And it would have been a chance to win still. They had to get a stop either way. And I don't know if your NFL calculator has any sort of parallel to college, because the NFL and what goes on in the NFL is completely

different than what goes on in college. No, it's pretty close. I just like, in my head, I don't know how you even look the team in the eye. Well, you can look the defense in the eye. You take the ball out of their hands. You can look the defense in the eye.

I don't know that I want to look the offense in the eye because the offense was busy getting sacked. You move the ball all the way down. Vandegrift had converted a few first downs with his legs in that game. If your answer or your thought is there's no way Kentucky could have gotten eight yards against them, then I'm not going to argue with you. Kentucky is playing Georgia. The only thing I'm arguing is that if you're going to lose,

because they probably would have lost either way, honestly. They're playing Georgia. It's very hard to beat georgia especially when you're kentucky lose by swinging it's like you have to fight tooth and nail the thing that gives you the right feelings rather than the potential right result they did the thing that gave them the best chance to win the guy f. They didn't get the fumble. They were 15 yards away from making a field goal potentially or having a makeable attempt from winning a football game

on their home field against Georgia. Then there's no calculator or anything. It does not persuade me at all because the calculator doesn't take you You're based on feelings. You're thinking completely with your feelings, and you're not thinking like someone whose job it is to do this. The game of football isn't played on a blackjack card. It just isn't.

So, you know, I know that. Well, okay. Oh, you brought a blackjack. Very interesting. Yeah. So you wanted Mark Stoops to hit on 19. You thought Mark Stoops should hit on 19. I don't think that that's what I'm saying at all.

That's exactly what you're saying. The percentage of success was extremely low. It was not necessarily... He was not winning! When you have 19, you have a winning hand. You're losing. You have a 16. 18. Against a 10, and you stand...

That's the way i view it and against an 18 against the 10 you lose he did the thing that gave him the better chance of winning then he did not that's his job 19 against the 10 that gives you a bigger chance of losing that's not correct he did the thing that gave him the better chance you wanted him to do the thing that gave him the better chance of losing and he did the thing that gave him the better chance. You wanted him to do the thing that gave him the better chance of losing, and he did the thing that gave him the better chance of winning. And you're killing him for doing that. According to your calculator.

According to math in general. According to football in general. It blows my mind. If it's 4-3, we're having a different conversation. Now, Nishant in the chat brought up a really interesting point and here's where i will happily kill mark stoops doesn't knowing you're going for it on fourth also change the play calling before more runs to get into fourth and short this is where this is where you attack yeah right here this is absolutely true yeah i agree with it yeah this is because

was playing thinking about a punt and not playing thinking about going forward on fourth down because if you if you have second and eight and you think you're gonna need three and you think you're gonna go for it on fourth down and you're the type who goes for it on fourth down because i think this is what you're you're getting at this is where we do agree i mean even he said it in the news conference you just played yeah three play three plays to get eight you're calling it differently than they called it and our friend clark brooks the sec stat cap brought up, you know, Barry and Brown's wide open on that mesh on third down. And the left tackle just didn't hold his block long enough. I get it.

But you also just had a situation where nobody blocked anybody and they almost, you know, knocked the ball out and took it away. As the head coach of the Kentucky football program, you have to know that what was going to happen and what did happen was going to happen. You had to know giving the ball back to Darth Vader. You had to know that Oscar Delp's fumble was going to bounce out of bounds instead of into the hands of a Kentucky player?

You know what? I think that that fumble was very fortuitous, and it's a shame they didn't get it back. The odds of that actually occurring and it's a shame they didn't get it back. The odds of it, of that actually occurring and it happening are probably pretty low. So the fact that they got that far, the odds of a fumble on the ground going to that is very random. The thing that happened is exactly what everyone knew was going to happen.

And the coach of Kentucky should have known that was going to happen. So they got closer to getting a fumble than they, than I thought they probably would have. It's crazy that that happened. They could have gotten it back and you're right. It could have happened. UT bag. How does putting give you the best chance to win?

Because you have to, your defense has to make the play. I mean, if you go, if you stop them three and out, you get the ball back right after the two-minute warning, which should give you time to go set up a field goal. That's the ideal situation.

That's not what happened. That's not what happened. By throwing it, right? Well, eventually. But here's the thing, Ari. Here's the thing. You would have more than one down to throw it in that situation. Also, they forced a fumble, UT bad gumps.

They did the thing that would give them the chance to win. They just, the ball did not bounce to them. Even if the fumble didn't happen and they would have stuffed them on three straight plays, they would have gotten the ball back probably at their own 30 with two minutes left, right? And that should give them a chance. Pest Control agrees with you. He says, what I'm missing is that you can still force a three and out and or fumble even if you go for it and fail.

This is true. This is true. And I will point out, in Ari's defense, the play that Delp fumbled on started at the Kentucky 48. Right. And the fumble happened on the Kentucky 41. Once the clock was already basically gone, even if they would have recovered it, how much time was on the clock?

They would have had to throw the ball down the field to get into field goal range in the same type of scenario. They would have had to throw the ball down the field to get eight yards on fourth down. But I'm saying what your scenario is, and you keep bringing up the fumble, that even if they would have recovered the fumble, they would have been in a very under-the-pressure situation

to pick up chunk plays, and not just one, but two, with very little time left on the clock but they would have had multiple downs and timeouts or opportunities to stop the clock by by going out of bounds like they would have had more control i know but what do you think is the higher likelihood of them getting fourth and eight with three timeouts left and still getting a stop the higher likelihood was them getting a defensive stop timeout the likelihood of them getting a defensive stop and getting the ball back with some time was higher than them getting the fourth and eight which is why he did it yeah i mean according to the calculator sure yeah according to math as opposed to your feelings worst team

in the nfl and the best team in the nfl are very much closer on the field than georgia and kentucky are so it's like it's not even parallel to me no if you go look at the underdogs because they're much worse than georgia is much worse in the nfl this week that were five and a half point underdogs or higher went nine and one against the spread and they won four you understand what i You understand what I did? When I used the calculator, I put the best offense. I was making the point. I understand. The best offense in the NFL and the worst defense in the NFL are closer together than Kentucky and Georgia are. It's not the same sport. You're still not getting it. I flipped it to make

a point. Kentucky is way worse than Georgia. Kentucky's offense is way worse than Georgia's defense yeah their chances of making it were almost none like if the if Patrick Mahomes chances of making it against the worst defense in the NFL are almost none then what are Brock Vandegrift's chances against Georgia of making it. Less than that. Kentucky would have gone for it and then not gotten it, how we would be viewing this game. We view it now as a choke job.

And I view it as being cowardly at the end of the game. We'd be viewing it as a lot. Because you view playing defense as cowardly and playing offense as brave. I view being brave in situations where you can go out and win the game in two plays in that situation as brave, yes. They could have won the game if the fumble had bounced their way.

I know we have to move on, but the last thing I want to say, Andy, is Mark Stoops said in his news conference just then that you played that Kentucky wanted to go win the game the way they had played it right which is they'd scored 12 points so would you rather win it with your defense there are three minutes left in the game you do not play field position Iowa ball with three minutes left on your home field when you're 15 yards away from a game. There's nothing that you can say. What's Georgia going to average this season? 35? I think it was a really hefty debate and I was really hoping that you would come close to changing my mind. I actually didn't even I know, you're bad at math. I'm bad at math.

I also feel like I do understand a little bit about this game, Andy. You're talking about Kentucky and Georgia in Lexington. We're not talking about the commanders and the chiefs. We're talking about Kentucky and Georgia. Kentucky's defense is a lot better than Kentucky's offense. And you let Kentucky's defense have a chance. And they forced a fumble and they didn't get it. If they win this game, the entire field, the season, the program, everything,

Mark Stoops, it's so much on the line. And being passive is just not what you're in a position to do in that moment. I don't care what the calculator says. I don't care what Iowa would have done. I don't care about this cool story or the fact that he fumbled at the 50 where they already were. It doesn't matter to me. Go for it.

Be a man. Okay. You think playing offense is manly and I understand that playing defense is also manly. Dot says scared money don't make no money and scared coaching don't make no legends. Yeah, the guy who says scared money don't make money is about to make $26 million in a buyout.

So I don't think that's really the best turn of phrase for that one. Ari, we got to talk about money anyway. The Money Game, incredible docuseries on Prime Video about the dawn of the NIL era. They follow LSU's athletes last season. So you're talking about Jaden Daniels as he wins the Heisman,

Livvy Dunn as she becomes a global megastar, Angel Reese as she defends a national title and prepares to go into the WNBA. And it's insider access brought to you by Shaquille O'Neal and other folks who are very inside this game. It's so fascinating to see how these people navigate this process. Like who helps them?

Jaden Daniels, it's his mom. Libby Dunn, it's her sister. And just a very enlightening look at the NIL era. I've got to finish binging it. I've got a couple more episodes to go, but I've been just locked in on this thing. So if you want to watch the money game on Prime Video, if you're already subscribed to Prime Video, just hit that link in the description of this YouTube video that you're watching. It'll take you right there. If you're not already subscribed to Prime Video, well, what are we doing? Let's go. You get the money game. You get the rings of power. You get NFL football on Thursday nights.

It's one of the best deals going. So give it a shot. Check out the money game. I'm just the Jaden Daniels stuff alone. This audience is going to love it. So hit that link in the show description, get yourself signed up for prime video and watch the money game. Now, all right, we're gonna talk about a guy who's got to earn his money this week. That's Sharon Moore, Michigan's coach.

And we talked about this yesterday and we said, something's got to change. That offense is not functional. Davis Warren had one of the weirder stat lines you will ever see against Arkansas State. He threw the ball 14 times. The ball never touched the ground. It went to Michigan receivers 11 times and it went to Arkansas State players three times. That's not going to work, especially when you're playing USC this week. You can't afford to give USC the ball. That offense is too potent. So, Sharon Moore is making a change. Producer River, let's play that Sharon Moore clip. Yeah, Alex will start on Saturday. Excited for him. He's been in here

chomping at the bit, so we'll move on from there. Yeah, just hit the range, perform like he did in the first couple weeks of camp. Like I said, I thought he was in a really good place and Davis outperformed him in camp at the end and would love to see him just take the reins and do what he's been doing, through those first couple weeks. And I think he will, he's had a great couple weeks of practice, so has Davis. But obviously, he had to perform in the game and excited to see what Alex is going to do.

And he's been in here setting his tail off the past couple days like he always is. But, you know, you can see it right up even more. All right, Ari. They're going with Alex Orji. Do you think that changes anything for this USC game? Yeah, I mean, I think that it really just kind of implies exactly what you were talking about on the show on Monday. I think that

you make this decision because you know you're a running team, you're not going to force throwing it, and you're going to try to do what you do best, which is pound the football and play defense. And we know how fond you are of defense, so I think that it will be interesting to see if they can corral. I'm still fired up man like i'm like i'm so like it's the chat is

on your side by the way the chat is completely on your side everyone's on my side andy like it's not whatever that's all right listen i'm not always gonna agree with everybody it's okay i like when you don't agree this is what i'm happy to be on an island here yeah but let's get back to michigan i'm sorry it's i have a toxic trait where if i get into an argument about something like three hours later like i'll like jab the person i was in an argument with when we're not even talking about it anymore i gotta work on that um but yes i think that usc has proven that it has a better defense right right? We think they have a better defense. We know their offense is going to score. So when you look at the best route for Michigan to win this game, it is to hold the ball for long periods of time and play really good defense, right? And also putting USC's money where its mouth is by proving that its defense is still good.

You know, we have a shutout. They did really well against LSU. There is some proof in concept that their defense is better, but going against a team that pounds it as well as Michigan, this is going to be tackling well, right? Filling gaps, playing sound assignment-oriented football. And we're not that far into the season yet, and it's not too late for USC to have a defensive regression. So I think I like this like this i mean i think my assumption was that orgy was going to start the entire offseason um i don't know if he's a terrible thrower but i know that uh davis wasn't getting it done so you kind of do what you have to do you already have a loss uh on your schedule

you know this is a 12 team era michigan is still in zero and zero and big 10 play. Like do what you got to do to try to win this football game. Well, and I think, I think you're right on this, that Sharon Moore went on to say in that press conference yesterday that, that orgy was basically winning the job. And then the last two weeks of camp Davis Warren outplayed him. And yeah, I was, I was reading Clayton safety from the Wolverine and our friend Austin Meek from the athletic. And it really sounded like this is, this is Sharon Moore saying, I made a mistake that,

that I let that last two weeks influence my decision, maybe too much. And that I should have gone with what we were planning all along. And this is, I go back to Alabama last year, Ari, when they couldn't quite decide if Jalen Milrow was their guy. So they didn't call plays specifically tailored to Jalen Milrow really until after game four. So they played the first two games. They lost to Texas in game two. They went to USF. That was when they started.

Only then did they start acting like Milrow as a starting quarterback and kind of game planning that way, calling the game that way. And so maybe that's what happens here. Maybe this becomes the offense that Michigan's supposed to have because this is the one they were planning to have most of the offseason. And I would imagine it's very run heavy. In the headline, I put Michigan will run the damn ball. I think this probably makes them a 60% to 65% run team. But I go back to last year with Alabama, and I realized like Jalen

Monroe's evolved as a quarterback. We saw him on Saturday, but early on there were guys running open because people were so afraid of what Milrow and the backs could do on the ground. I would think orgy and Michigan's backs would probably scare you in a similar way. Yeah. You know,

it's funny. It's like, even in life with, with me and you and everybody like there is a struggle between who you want to be and who you are you know like and I think that there is a very profound connection to football of like I'm sure Michigan wanted to be a team that threw the ball really well but there has to be a realization at some point that it's probably just not who they are this year that doesn't mean they stink or they can't win football games.

It just means that you have to lean into that, you know, be happy with what you are and try to cultivate what you are and use that to, to win football games. So I don't know if that's enough. You know, I, I don't know if, you know, like Michigan one with this formula last year, but Michigan also had a first round quarterback that could get him out of some jams and throwing situations, and he was really good with his feet. I do think that this is a very important context game because going into it, Andy, we think that Michigan kind of stinks

so far this year because of what we've seen on the field, and we think USC is a playoff team because they're on the field. It's like, are we absolutely certain about either of those two things? Are we see as great? Are we certain that Michigan's going to have a really bad year? Like the spread here, you know, in this over under to me is an implication that there's some confidence that Michigan's defense is going to be able to slow them down. And this is going to be a football game.

So how do you do that? You move the chains, you control the clock, you control the ball you limit the plays then you just be yourself and that's what i think this really is all about yeah and okay we haven't actually talked as much about usc you you talked a lot about you know yesterday their offense and what miller moss can do with those receivers but this is a big one for lincoln riley because i feel like if he can go to Michigan and win this game, that maybe we're sort of all the way back in on Lincoln Riley, because I think we were, I know I was starting to doubt. And I said it all off season. Like I think Lincoln

Riley's too smart to not make the adjustments he needs to make. He too young he's got too much coaching ahead of him to not adjust here and it looks like he's adjusted but again we probably need to see that because we don't we still don't know what lsu is exactly yeah well you know being out on lincoln riley is a very relative thought you know and i think that i'm happy we're having this conversation because i think it could be 30 000 foot views of both programs but my out on lincoln riley was never about what he has proven time and time again to do really well which is divine to design very fun exciting offenses to develop quarterbacks and to put points on the board the thing i was out on was the notion that he was a top five coach and program builder in the country. Like he was on many of those lists when he was leaving Oklahoma and first

getting to USC, because you cannot have a coach who fundamentally cannot field a good defense. And, you know, people will say it's not his defense. He's not, he is an offensive coach, but it's his job as a head coach and a program CEO to put the right coordinators in place to do this. And the thing that bothers me about USC more than anything, Andy, is what if they would have gotten Danton Lynn last year? You know, when you had maybe one of the best, most talented quarterbacks of the last 10 years on your team, what if you would have made the right hire when you first got there and had a really good defense or a much better defense in year one you would have already owed me a thousand dollars they were already a half away from making the playoff in

year one with a really bad defense and it's like I can't let him off the hook for making the wrong decisions with his own coaching staff and the last thing I'll say when you want to talk about getting back on USC's side, like they have a really good team this year. And I think there's a real chance that they're going to make the playoff in this new 12 team field. But I'm also not very happy

with the way that USC is recruited. I thought they were going to own the West Coast and they just haven't even really been that huge of a factor in their own area of the country, which is Southern California. So there are a lot of things about the beginning of USC's tenure with Lincoln Riley that I'm kind of disappointed in. And I don't know if winning against Michigan is going to change my viewpoint on that, but he's certainly winning back a lot of welfare, not just because of individual

gains, but because he showed the ability to make the hard decision with his coordinator and try to repair and fix what was really wrong with his program as a whole. Yeah, that's exactly what I think has happened. But again, it's a small sample size because if Michigan averages seven yards a carry here and wins this game, I don't think they would blow them out. I think even with the good players Michigan has on defense, it's still going to be very hard to keep USC's offense completely in check. But if Michigan is just rolling down the field on the ground, there's a really good chance they win this game. And we may say, oh, nevermind. It's all the same again. So we talked about this

being kind of the week of discovery. I feel like there's going to, we're going to discover quite a bit about Sharon Moore, about USC, about Lincoln Riley, Dan Lynn. I think we're going to discover a lot here. Yeah. And I don't know, did they announce yet? Or are we still waiting to see if Loveland's going to play in the game? Great, great question. Torian in the chat had the same question uh more said it did not seem as serious as it initially looked

but i don't know that that means he's gonna play this weekend so and i think they'll probably be pretty cagey about that yeah so we'll we'll see uh on saturday if loveland plays but you have your number one offensive weapon that's not a running back potentially out of the game. And I do think that a really good Michigan defensive performance in this game limits USC to 24, 27 points. Do you think Michigan can score 30 playing this way? That's the question.

I mean, not, not based on what we've seen, but I don't know what they're going to look like in the, because this is the offense. And I'm thinking in, in kind of what we've seen, but I don't know what they're going to look like in the... Because this is... The offense, and I'm thinking in kind of like blue sky terms, the ideal version of the offense that I'm envisioning Alex Orji running at Michigan is not a scoring juggernaut.

It's a time-consuming, yardage, break-your break your soul offense, if it works. Like the ideal version, if it works, is they just mash you and mash you. And that's the sort of thing that does not. Because we're not talking about Bernard Robinson here, right? Like somebody who's going to take 80 yards every time he touches the ball. Yeah. Well, actually, you know what I'm thinking about? Like what Texas A&M kind of ran against Florida last week?

Yeah. That. Like that's kind of the ideal of what it should look like where you need to move the ball. You're just going to keep handing it off. Let the quarterback run some. Yeah. And like Marcel Reed made some plays. So I think maybe the difference too here is you run the ball

as effectively as A&M did against Florida, but you also pop some passes in crucial moments and make plays. Because I think that Reed deserves a lot of credit for the way that he played in that game too. And I'm not saying Orgy can't do it, but I do think that there needs to be a passing element. Maybe not, you know, something that you rely on, but something that, you know,

you gamble on a little bit and hit on in crucial points of the game. Uh, Nate, Nate in the chat, Nathan, Andy wants Michigan to be the new Iowa. No, I want Michigan to use the players they have on the roster to put the best product on the field. They can. And we talked about this already after the Michigan Texas game, this season's going to be different for Michigan because of the way the transition happened last year. They could not fill the holes on their roster and could not get a portal quarterback because of the way Jim Harbaugh left, because of the timing of all that.

I suspect, and I don't know how you feel about this, I suspect next year will be different because they will have a better chance to create the balance on the roster that they would prefer because they're going to actually be able to use that December portal window. And they'll have had, you know, a full a full cycle of recruiting with strong time. They're probably going to lose three of the top 10 players in college football on defense next year. So, yeah, and they have not recruited at a clip that is uh showing you that they can replace those guys at least not year over year maybe in three years but not right away so yeah no i think that this is going to be a really

interesting game and the thing i do think is worth note andy is that the pendulum has swung pretty rapidly here um you know from the beginning of the year, the preseason notion was Michigan might be a 10-win team, a playoff team, somebody who can compete for a Big Ten championship. And I think now the story is how good is USC actually and is this going to be another win that proves that they are the second or third best team, maybe the fourth best team in the Big Ten this year?

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. And I can't wait to see it because, again, Discovery Saturday. We talked about all the different games where we're going to learn just more about teams. And Michigan, USC, Louisville, who haven't really seen play anybody yet, they're playing Georgia Tech. The Auburn-Arkansas game, I think we're going to learn a lot.

Yes, sir. I got to say something. Go for it. USC doesn't play Oregon or Ohio State in the regular season, too. So, like, I am cautiously optimistic that I'm going to backdoor this. Like, I think, and for those who are not aware, Andy and I placed a bet with each other for $1,000 two years ago. And my side was that USC would make the playoff in the first three years and his was that they

wouldn't andy was a half away from losing in year one but frankly speaking was right he was on the right side of this this was like gambling 101 even when you're right sometimes you don't win uh still maybe gonna be wrong because usc probably wouldn't make the 14 field uh and i would have lost because that was still the 14 field and they hadn't been in the big 10 yet when we made that bet so you initially got the better side of it when they moved to the big 10 i was like oh boy their schedule just got much harder than it was before and then it and then it went back in my direction with a 12-team playoff. But I didn't even have USC in my top 25 in the preseason. So if they're finishing in the top 11, I still think that that would be a much better outcome

than I thought was even possible coming into the year. Oh, yeah. Listen, if they are better on defense and, again, proving once again that you don't doubt link rally on offense like it i'm happy to be wrong on this like because that's what they paid for that's what they're supposed to get and i'm happy if lincoln riley evolved as a coach into one that can have a good defense opposite that incredible offense because that's that's what he needs to do to take the next step. And he's a young guy. And I don't want to see the same thing just keep happening over and over again.

So I feel like this looks like progress. But again, we could be saying a completely different thing on Saturday night. And that's what makes all of this so much fun. And we also could take a moment of appreciation before we move on to the next thing. Yeah. That as much as I despise the fact that the PAC 12 doesn't exist anymore and that conferences don't make any sense geographically and that like things are just kind of all over the place.

I guess the one highlight here is that we get USC at Michigan in September now. So like that, like this is a very intriguing matchup. We never would have gotten it in the past. It's a helmet game for sure. It's a discovery game for sure. But like kind of excited that we get this

now that's one of the positives of of television money uh reshaping our sport so just a moment of appreciation because i do bemoan it a lot i do i'm negative a lot when it comes to the changes i will be positive when positive things arise that's that's my olive branch to you yeah and who knows this could become like a legit rivalry. And that's the other. We don't know which of these will become rivalries because sometimes teams have to be thrown together and then have classic games against one another,

and that makes a rivalry. So USC-Michigan would be a really fun rivalry if it became one. So we'll find out. All right, we got to talk tennessee and oklahoma but first i'll tell everybody about prize picks the most fun daily fantasy game in america use that code staples you play five dollars you get fifty dollars instantly ari and i both use the almost free caleb williams square this past weekend to win. I needed it because I just, I was not doing great, but they give you Caleb Williams 0.5 passing yards. You say more

than 0.5 passing yards. He throws for a yard and then you win. Uh, you pick multiple squares, pick at least two. The more you pick the the higher the potential payout. Caleb Williams throwing for a yard in a loss allowed me to break even this weekend, essentially. It allowed Ari to go up. So pretty good deal. But that's how PrizePix works. They are currently populating the board for college football for this week. But also you've got the NFL. You've got the WNBA.

You've got darts. You've got esports. You name it. They got it. You've got darts. You've got e-sports. You name it. They got it. It's a whole lot of fun. So download the price fix app. Use the code staples. Play $5.

Get $50 instantly. All right. While we're talking Moolah, Ari, before we get into discussion of the Tennessee-Oklahoma game, I just put a story out on three and have an interview with Tennessee athletic director, Danny White, about something they're doing that's very interesting. They are announcing a 10% talent fee will be added to all their ticket sales going forward, basically to pay the athletes. So this is assuming that the house settlement goes through, the revenue sharing starts next year. They are doing this to raise more money to pay the athletes.

And the way they, you know, it's 22 million a year that the schools would be allowed to share if this settlement goes through. Because there are extra scholarships allowed in the new scholarship caps. Danny White was estimating that it's actually going to cost about $30 million total if you want to fully fund it. He believes the 10% fee will allow them to recoup about a third of that. So about 10 million of that. But what do you think of this? A school just saying, hey, it's like going to a restaurant and you have a group of six or more and they throw the 18% tip on there before you even get a chance. That's what this feels like. Yeah. You know what it kind of feels like to me? And I'm not saying it's not smart.

This is a new world. We have to do what we have to do. But you know, like when you go on an airline and you have to pay to check your bag or you go to a hotel and you have to pay $8 to park, just put it into the price and don't insult me just just just don't even just just make the the season tickets and the tickets that you're selling 10 more expensive don't say anything and then recoup some of the costs that you have and and that's it so i think that like it becomes a bigger deal and i don't know if there's like a rule maybe there's a rule or something that you have to signify or show like where 10% is going. There's no rule. I don't think anybody's thought about this yet. So 10% – I mean, listen, everyone's going to have to do this because that is a lot of money that they're going to have to recruit.

But I'm not saying they don't have the money, but people are going to want to recoup their investments in the players. So Tennessee is going to put a 10% fee out there right but like everybody's going to have a 10% increase or a 15% increase of their goods and services because when money goes out money has to come in somehow so I do think that as a fan maybe this is different than the analogy I made maybe they want to pay the 10% so they can feel like they're helping their team I don't know the psychology there. I do know that this is going to be an important thing that everyone's going to eventually have to do, and Tennessee's just on the forefront of it.

You can probably do it easier at Tennessee right now than almost anywhere else because their fans are happy right now. They feel like things are going well. Can you imagine if Florida tried this right now? Yeah, next week, if you want to go to a Florida game, you've got to pay 10% for the talent fee. Yeah, somebody in the chat immediately said, or on my Twitter when I posted this story, they immediately said,

well, is Florida going to give them 10% back? Yeah, the talent fee in the NFL is just called tickets and sales and television contracts and yeah everything's a talent and i do think it's all going to come together but but this is this is interesting because the first time we've seen a school do this i got a clip from my interview with danny white if you want to watch the full interview it's available on the on three sports youtube page or you can click on my story it'll be embedded in there but uh i had because i asked him because this you know the house settlement hasn't gone through so i asked him because the House settlement has gone through. So I asked him,

how do you prepare for this when you don't really know what the rules are going to be? And how flexible do you have to be over the next year or so? Because it feels like a lot of this stuff is just coming. You're dealing with what a court says or what, you know, a state decides and then all the other states change their laws. How flexible have you college administrators had to be in these last few years just to manage that and deal with that? Yeah, you're trying to solve a problem when you don't really know a lot of the details yet. And so we're, we're, we're doing different scenarios all the time. But we can't just put a 10% fee in the laps of our fans with a month before the season starts. We have to be prepared and there are financial realities.

I think in any scenario, it's going to become more expensive to compete at the level that we want to continue to compete at. And we have aspirations to grow even more competitively. I know our fans do too. We're proud of the accomplishments over the last few years, how much better we've gotten across the board. Proud of finishing number three in the All-Sports Cup nationally. Proud of winning the SEC All-Sports Cup the last three years.

All that's great, but we're still hungry for more. And the talent fee and all the other ways our fans support us are a huge part of that equation. So that's it. And in the chat, I got to find it. Yeah. DA imagine Florida state asking their fences right now. I think, I think if your things are going well, you can probably do this and Tennessee's got a 15,000 seat waiting list or 15,000 person waiting list or 15 000 person

waiting list for football what was your strategy in the car that you said i thought that was really funny do you remember we were talking when you said about the wait list you should probably raise the prices all the way up until there's no wait list i think that's what an economist would say is is yeah raise your prices until there's no wait list but the problem and the problem with that is if you start to lose that didn't not only do you not have a wait list anymore you might have some people not wanting to buy so yeah no i get it but it was just a funny thing it's a thought it's like okay well you have 15 000 people who are lining up who will probably pay more than the 100 000 who are buying it now but i do think that like

there is like we're still in this influx situation just in terms of like accepting what college football has become. And I think that it's becoming more and more regular. Like the notion of donating to an NIL fund, though, I think is stupid. Like doing it this way hopefully will kind of negate the feeling of donating to something else. Like, I feel like fans would probably be more likely or more willing to pay a fee that goes directly to the institution to compensate the players than they would be to giving it to a third party and, and trusting them to just figure it out, you know?

So like, I do think that we're going to get to a point where this is just regular. I don't know if you're going to have to have something that comes on the bottom line that says a 10% talent fee. You're just going to pay more for your tickets be part of the price everything's more expensive now i mean i went to costco the other day and spent 500 and i don't even know what i bought yeah you know you're exactly right and the other part of this i think is that ad's really are understand that the model right now is not sustainable like because who because who's funding these collectives?

It's not the rank and file fans. It's the big donors. But the big donors are also still being asked to make the big donations for all the capital projects, all the other things that the athletic department wants to do. All that needs to come under one umbrella. Like that, because you keep asking those people to do that and they're eventually going to burn out.

Well, eventually. They're already burning out. Like at most schools, they're already burning out. And those people are saying, I'm not doing this anymore. And you need to come up with a different way to fund it. And to be perfectly honest, like you said, the way you fund it is your ticket sales and your TV revenue. And like, it's part, it should just be part of your budget. The same way it does in every other professional sport. So it's a pro sport now. And that's just the way it is. But also to, you know, I'm assuming that NIL funds probably go like this based on results. I think people are going to have more fatigue donating year over year. If the teams

aren't very good, you know, like I can't imagine that the people who donated to the Florida NIL fund are feeling really good about what they did with their money right now. Well, whereas this time, but that's also, that's also why I'm confident in saying the Florida decision has been made because the second, those people were like,

no more for this administration or this, this coaching staff, the decisions made for you. It doesn't matter. Like, it doesn't matter how you feel about it anymore. Florida thingida thing it's true for all the teams that aren't good that have nil funds you know i mean i can't imagine that the people who spent money on ohio state's nil fund last year were very excited about the way that season ended like it's not just

like being bad when you have an investment in something just like the stock market or anything else if you put your money into something you want to see a return on it. So now you're just kind of being put in a position, at least at Tennessee, that's forward thinking on this to just, you know, that be part of the package that you get when you buy tickets. And it doesn't really feel quite as donation-y as maybe the NIL fund would. Yeah. And I think that's where it's all going. And I think this is probably sort of a nudge by Danny White in that direction because that's true what he'd like to see. I think it's a smart move to be on the forefront. Like Tennessee has been from the beginning a pioneer

when it comes to situating its roster and its program with enough money in order to survive in this new era. And I do think that is much as in coaching. If you don't evolve with the times, your program is going to suffer. I think this is an administrative level thing too. If you don't do the things that are necessary to keep everybody happy, healthy,

and paid, you're going to have issues. So I do think that this is a smart idea. And I just think that this is the first program that's going to do it. Eventually everyone's going to do it. Yeah. I would think this is, this is coming down the pipe from everybody. Let's talk about Tennessee on the field because this game is so exciting.

Tennessee going to Oklahoma. It's Oklahoma's first SEC game as a member. It is Josh Heupel's return to Oklahoma. And Ari, so we're doing the Wendy's sauciest takes tomorrow. And you're responsible for the three takes this time. I'll be judging which of your three takes is the sauciest. My first one is that Kentucky should have gone for it. I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Yeah. Well, we could. Listen, if you want to, we could do that again. I'll run it back tomorrow. No, we're not running it back tomorrow. You have to come up with something new.

You've already written about it and we've talked about it twice. All right. But since you're responsible for those three, I've got one that I've wanted a take that I've needed to get off this week. So I'm going to get it off here. Okay. Josh Heupel needed to be fired at Oklahoma to become the coach he became ultimately at UCF in Tennessee. Let's unpack that. Getting fired at Oklahoma, sending him on the vision quest that led him to this offense

because he ran a different offense at Oklahoma that led him to the Baylor Art Bryles offense that he has taken and then evolved to the version they run now. He needed that. He needed to go on that vision quest, find that offense, and find who he was as a coach, which allowed him to work, do well at Utah State,

do well at Missouri, which put him on the radar to become UCF's head coach, and now here he is at Tennessee. I know he's still very mad about getting fired by Bob Stoops, and I understand why. But as bad as it was, I'm not sure he's this guy without it. I've seen a lot of the Bob Stoops clip on Twitter this week. It's going to be a fun week.

That's a very interesting thought process, and if you don't write about it, I'm just going to steal that idea. We work together. I'll write about it.'m just going to steal that idea say we work together now i'll write about it oh god oh god no but it's a really smart uh analysis there because it's possible that he might not be who he is today had he never left um and the thing too is that he kind of worked his way up the hard way this isn't just like he got gifted the tennessee job when he was young like he he went to multiple stops learned something new cultivated his knowledge built programs and then was eventually hired here and even when he was hired at Tennessee he was never appreciated right away

and now it's like you've said this and I 100% agree it's like this Tennessee with a pick of who their coach could be even find somebody outside of Nick Saban that they would rather have at this point. Yeah. And, and that's the thing, like with all these jobs that are going to come open this year, I you've,

you've mentioned this multiple times. And I think, I feel like we should remind people like whoever you think is the ideal coach might be, but nobody thought Josh Heupel was the ideal coach for Tennessee, except Danny white. And look how that turned out like sometimes you know the right guy is that like who were the slam dunk hires of the last 10 years and did they work and not work like Scott Frost comes to mind

there wasn't a single didn't work i thought i mean like jim harbaugh worked right obviously yes yes but for the first five eventually eventually people forget in the covet year they like people wanted him out you know like it takes time sometimes too and like my whole premise um with college football and i think it's like the Dabo Swinney hypothesis here is that there are programs that actually have the right guy and because patience doesn't exist anymore that having the right guy never gets to materialize because they're fired too soon like Dabo I think won 10 games in his second year at Clemson but I think in year three people were out on him if I remember correctly they were and he made one he made a very drastic change he fired

Billy Napier as his offensive coordinator and hired Chad Morris and then the following they won the ACC and then they you know had that horrible orange bowl against West. He fired Kevin Steele as his defensive coordinator, who wound up actually becoming a very good defensive coordinator against those offenses later in his career, but fired Kevin Steele and hired, well, here's how we bring this full circle to this Tennessee-Oklahoma game, Brent Venables. Brent Venables, yeah.

And Brent Venables, I think, was the last missing piece that created that clemson dynasty and why was brent venables available another decision by bob stoops and this one i don't agree with as much as the like the josh hype when their offense was stagnating they hired lincoln riley their offense did get better bob stoops was going to basically demote brent venables so he could make his brother the DC and his brother was not a good DC at Oklahoma that's why Brent Venables went to Clemson and it ended up creating you know ultimately completing what Clemson needed to be

and then help Venables wind up getting the Oklahoma job but there is an alternate world in there somewhere where the ball bounces one way or whatever, where Clemson could have fired Dabo like it before Clemson became what they became. Cause he didn't have the equity. They, they,

they easily could have just said, you know what? We tried with the interim guy. He had a nice, nice year, but this isn't going to work. And they didn't need something better longterm. And you don't get to see that materialize.

But there have been a lot of slam dunks or good hires that haven't worked. So when it comes to hiring a football coach to lead a program in the modern era, it almost feels like as big of a crapshoot as picking the quarterback you want to lead your NFL team. I watched the Caleb Williams game the other night, and I'm like, this guy looks like he doesn't belong on the field right now. And I'm not saying he can't be great eventually, but this is supposed to be the most can't-miss prospect

since Trevor Lawrence, who's also struggling. So it's hard to feel really good about who you're hiring immediately, but I think that very soon into the tenure it didn't take long for josh heupel to be like all right guys this is my this is my deal now like yeah i got it going there don't be upset the day someone's hired be upset two years in when it looks like what's going on in florida like i i don't think that we have a very good feel and the reason why they pay millions and millions of dollars for these search firms to do the thing that we do on this podcast is you there's so much money invested in and who the coach should be there's so much money invested in who the quarterbacks are scouted for the the nfl

like these are really big decisions and frankly with all the money in the world thrown at it you still get them wrong all the time correct correct, Hypel definitely seems loose going back to Oklahoma. Should be a great crowd. It's a passionate fan base. I'm expecting them to be extremely quiet for us out of respect to me and our program, too. Josh Hypel's got jokes. Yeah.

That would be nice. This is a national title, people title people you're gonna keep it down when we're on offense right right i mean it would be honestly i don't know if this could ever happen but it would be super respectful and like i think a really nice moment in sports like you would see in a movie if like the place was silent on tennessee's first offensive play oh that would be cool could you imagine the atmosphere that would be cool. Could you imagine how cool of an atmosphere that would be? I think they're going to do the exact opposite, but it would be kind of a cool, like...

I hope they say his name at some point before the game and the crowd cheers, because I think they will. I think the Oklahoma fans will definitely cheer for Josh Heupel once, and then they'll get back to booing his team. Yeah, but I just, like, you know, I do think that in college football, when you win a national championship for a program, whether it be a player or a coach, that even if bad, uncomfortable things happen after that, you're always one of them.

Like, I just think that that stays with you forever. And even if they're going to hate Tennessee and hope like hell their team wins, that there should be a level of respect and admiration for a person that put a trophy in your building because that doesn't go away. Well, Hypo got asked about that. Well, let's go ahead and get to it. What are you going to talk about? Let's talk about Nebraska.

So you go back into Norman. Have you thought about the emotions when you walk into that stadium? Yeah, it'll be unique. I had teammates and friends back there. They hit me up a little bit early. They were starting last week already. It'll be unique going back into that stadium. It's going to be a viewpoint. I'm not sure I've ever spent a day on the opposing sideline inside of that stadium, not even for a scrimmage. So it will be different, but it's one that I'm really looking forward to. There's so many people that have been a huge part of my journey that I get a chance to go back and hopefully get a chance to say hi to a bunch of them. You know, it starts with teammates. It's coaches that I had. It's a lot of coaches that

I coached with. There's a lot of personnel that's still there. Guys that I coached, a guy that was in my wedding. There's a lot of people back there that I'm familiar with and have a lot of respect for. Ari, I cannot wait for this game. I'm very jealous that you're going to be there because this is something the Oklahoma fans have been waiting for for a long time. Not that the hype will return, but just them debuting in the SEC, them being able to show against kind of an old line, old school SEC team,

hey, we've been dominating in football for a long time. And then Tennessee, you've got Niko Mania, you've got maybe Josh Heupel's most complete team since he's been there it's it's just beautiful yeah and again another uh piece of admiration for the game that we get despite the fact that it stinks at Texas and Oklahoma to me and out of the big 12 anymore I'm I cannot wait to get up there. I'm fired up. I don't know.

Do I go Friday night? Do I go Saturday morning? Like, I don't know. You know, we're going to figure it out, but it's going to be a night game. It's going to be awesome. And I think that, you know, regardless of who wins this game, that it's going to go a long way in helping us contextualize who's legit and who's not. Like, I predicted on Monday that I think Tennessee is going to win this game

by multiple scores. I think that is going to win this game by multiple scores. I think that they are that good this year. And I'm actually starting to question whether or not I think this team belongs on the same field as Texas and Georgia. Like I, like I'm almost there to like, could Tennessee win the national championship this year? Like that is a thought process in my head.

So I'm expecting big things. I mean, Andy, the pieces are in place. The pieces are in place. They're complete, but they have to be able to do things like go to Norman and win a game. That's how you prove it. Ari, I'm going to give you a recommendation.

Now, Norman, Oklahoma, suburban OKC in general, one of the more interesting things about the place is hardly anyone charges for queso and queso is extra everywhere else. So just a thought if you're looking for bargain shop, but I'm going to give you another one. If you decide to go up the night before, or if you decide to go up just very early on saturday and you want to have a little breakfast or a little brunch go to neighborhood go up oh keep going but talk slowly and dirty to me so you're you're gonna want to order the hot jam biscuit scratch made biscuit with jalapeno peach jam fried chicken breast bacon one egg however you want it i would suggest over easy

uh so you can break that yolk and let it just trickle down uh cheddar and then breakfast potatoes or hash browns for an extra two bucks you can make it nasty which is there's gravy on it too all right make it nasty make it nasty i mean i think I kind of have to go up the night before after that. Like, I mean, because I do need to wait. At the very least, I'm probably going to leave my house at like 7 because I want to get to Norman in time for the kickoff of the 11 a.m. games and have to be in a hotel or somewhere where we can do an instant reaction video if something goes off the rails.

So I guess I could make a case of like, why are you going up the night before, honey? Because I want to make it nasty and norman exactly now she she's not gonna know what that means when you explain that it's about a biscuit she's probably still gonna be pissed yeah but you got to do a better alternative it could be something way worse so like you know hey exactly i mean her imagination's gonna run wild and when you say well it's this biscuit she'd be like okay okay okay i'll see you that's fine ari it has been a pleasure you need to go clock in at the take factory we need three of your sauciest takes for tomorrow for Wendy's saucy take Wednesday.

And I will be judging yours. I've already gotten my one takeoff for the week. We've had our major argument for the week. We might, who knows, depending on how saucy you get, we may argue a lot tomorrow too, but I cannot wait. And we will talk to you guys tomorrow.