Andy & Ari On3 - Michigan’s NEXT Steps | Three teams ready to make the LEAP in 2024 | Texas A&M's Floor & Ceiling

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

It's a #DearAndy Episode! We answer your GREAT questions in this week's mailbag episode and take a look at what Michigan needs to do now that Jim Harbaugh is out as the Wolverine's Head Coach.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/ANDY(0:00-3:25) Intro - ACC Announces Schedules(3:26-9:18) Former LSU WR Kayshon Boutte Situation(9:19-27:48) Anthony Broome from the Wolverine joins us on the Roundtable(27:49-28:57) Dear Andy Intro(28:58-30:34) 3 Programs to Be Most Improved in 2024(30:35-36:32) Big Ten Team - Most improved in 2024(36:33-41:01) SEC Team - Most Improved in 2024(41:02-45:15) Non Big Ten/SEC - Most Improved in 2024(45:16-48:15) Should Oregon be the Favorites in the New Big Ten?(48:16-52:28) Alabama Expectations Next 5 Seasons(52:29-56:34) When are Oklahoma and Texas in the SEC?(56:35-59:34) Notre Dame Outlook in 2024(59:35-1:04:17) Texas A&M's Floor/Ceiling(1:04:18-1:06:13) Uga X Eulogy(1:06:14-1:13:49) Random Ranking of Countries and Sports Combos(1:13:50-1:14:49) ConclusionWant to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/Bo1FSMoBPtA

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Happy Dear Andy show. We were going to do a Dear Andy show on Wednesday night. Then Jim Harbaugh left for the Chargers. And of course, that was that. We spent the whole episode talking about Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan. What happens next in Michigan and all that good stuff, which we're not done talking about that.

Because we're going to talk about that a little more with Anthony Broom of the Wolverine. Three things that Michigan should be doing right now to deal with Jim Harbaugh leaving and try to keep the program as consistent as possible. But also, we will be answering those Dear Andy questions that you guys sent in on Wednesday. Some great questions. I'll tease the first one what are the three teams that you think are going to be the most improved in 2024 and it's you know trying to find that missouri from last year who who's going to have that great year that maybe we didn't see coming? And I've got a couple that I think are going to take some steps and one that sounds a little odd on the surface, but I will explain and it will make sense. Also, what's Texas A&M's realistic floor and ceiling for 2024? What are realistic expectations for Alabama in the first five years of the Kalen

DeBoer era. Lots of good questions. Allows us to really dive into some of the schedules for some of these teams in the new Big 10, the new SEC, the new Big 12, and really figure out how this is all going to work. We've got some news that ACC released its schedules, and we didn't get to talk about that because of the Harbaugh stuff, but we know now where Cal and SMU and Stanford will be playing and when. You guys can look all these schedules up and figure out what your favorite games are, but I will throw one particularly potentially fun one at you. September 28th, Florida State at SMU.

That could be a really interesting game. Rhett Lashley's done a great job at SMU. They've obviously, you know, they're just saying, hey, look, we won't take the conference payout. We just want to be in the league with you guys. Now they got to prove that they can play with the best teams in the ACC. This is a great chance for that. Florida State coming to Gerald Ford Stadium not that Gerald Ford not the one

who played for Michigan but that one I think it looks like a whole lot of fun so we'll parse those schedules a little more as we go because again like like I said in the Dear Andy segment we get pretty deep into some of the other team's schedules. So we will dive into those ACC schedules too in the next few weeks because I do think we've got to examine how all of these leagues in their new forms,

how the schedules shake out, how the divisionless versions of them, if they didn't have, if they had divisions last year, how that matters. And I think there's a lot to digest as we get toward the 2024 season. We have months and months to do it, but it's actually going to be, I think it's going to go by pretty quick because we have so much to talk about.

A little bit of news, though, before we get to talking about Michigan and what the Wolverines should be doing. Wild story out of Baton Rouge. So WAFB in Baton Rouge, the TV station, reported this story on Thursday. Really fascinating. Keishon Butte, the former LSU wide receiver, arrested on charges of underage gambling. Basically, he was charged with creating an online gambling account while he was under 21, using a fictitious name, and then placing about 9,000 bets and hundreds of thousands of dollars wagered, including some bets on LSU football. Now, according to the police report and WAFE's reporting, none of this was in terms of LSU losing a game.

So it wasn't throwing games. When he bet on those games, he was betting on LSU to win. Or in one case, he bet on himself to score a touchdown against Florida State in the season opener in 2022. Or himself to go over a certain yardage total and it i it's weird because obviously if you're playing in the game you can't have money on it it's not gonna work in any way shape or form but i do feel differently when it's somebody saying yeah i'm gonna score a touchdown or yeah i'm gonna gain this many yards like at least they're saying i'm i'm doing this like if they bet under on themselves that's a that's a very different story but

it sounds like this was a lot of wagers you know over a very short time and a lot lot per day so we'll see what happens with kashon butte it doesn't look like there's any concern about integrity of lsu football games during that period that he was playing. But you've always got to worry. And that's the one thing everybody's worried about, the proliferation of online gambling. And look, hey, full disclosure, FanDuel is one of our sponsors. This was a FanDuel account.

It's going to happen with this stuff. We saw it with Iowa and Iowa State. That one, as that unravels, is going to get a lot more interesting because that case has some layers to it as well. But there are going to be players who are involved with this stuff. We've seen it in the NFL as well. And obviously, one thing that players need to understand is if they do anything with their own games, it's going to get noticed. The tracking software, the companies, the sports books, and the universities hire to keep track of this stuff. I mean, they can pinpoint you down to the spot on the map where you are, like the five foot by five foot spot on the map where you are when the the five foot by five foot spot on the map where you

are when you're doing it so it is just don't do it if you are an athlete in one of these games do not bet on them do not bet on your own team do not bet on your own sport probably better to just stay out of that entirely but we saw it with the alabama baseball coach when he got arrested when he got fired it was not a situation where they play around with this stuff they when they find out the the alert immediately goes out because in in this case he's getting arrested today and he's already turned himself in and been released after making bail but they've been investigating after making bail. But they've been investigating this for a long time. They've been looking into this for a while. The alarm bells went up pretty quickly. So that's kind of where it is. Like if you're a college athlete, especially if you're

under 21 and you're not allowed to be gambling in your state, probably best to stay away from that stuff because it will lead to something like this. And again, never on a game that you're involved in. And I know that education has been going on for years at the schools. It's getting ramped up even more now. But we are going to have cases like this just because it's so available in a lot of states now. So it is a strange situation. Kind of wonder what, you know, what was Keishon Butte's thing that he liked to wager on? Well, you know, was it, was it a football? Was it football? Was it basketball? It was another sport. So it was a lot of bets it was in the thousands so we'll we'll see what happens with that case if there's any more going on there but

again it was not a case of throwing football games or anything where you'd worry about that because he was betting when he did the the few instances he bet on lsu football it was for them to win or for him to do well. But again, this is going to keep coming up. You know what else is going to keep coming up? Michigan news, because Jim Harbaugh is gone. We think Sharon Moore is headed to the head coaching job. They have a posting requirement in the state of Michigan where they have to say the job is open. Would anybody like to apply? I'm not going to apply because I think Sharon Moore is going to get it. But what can Michigan be doing right now to ensure that the program is in good shape, that as it comes off a national title but loses its head coach, that it stays as healthy

as possible going forward? Anthony Broom of the Wolverine joined us on the On3 Roundtable channel. And by the way, if you're not subscribed to the Roundtable channel after we're done watching here, go over there. Smash that subscribe button because it is our folks at On3 talking about all the news of the day in college football. And at this point, there's always news every day. But Anthony and I talked about his list of the three things Michigan needs to do right now.

And one of them is a little difficult. Two of them I think are doable to stay as healthy as possible and keep this thing rolling. Here's Anthony. We welcome Anthony Broom of the Wolverine, who very helpfully provided a handy step-by-step guide for Michigan to deal with the fallout of Jim Harbaugh leaving for the Chargers. Now, Anthony, we'll start before we get to number one with the obvious, the successor question. And I thought you put it very well because you got an email on Thursday from one of those offshore sports books putting odds on who's going to get the Michigan job next. So are you going to be independently wealthy anytime soon? Probably not because I don't even know if some of these – we always get those marketing emails and whatnot. I'm not even sure you can bet a lot of the lines that we get, but one of them had Sharon Moore at plus 200. And let me tell you this. I mean, if there's a PSA for anyone out

there, if you see plus 200 for Sharon Moore, take it and bet your life savings on it because that is free money. Actually, shortly after that, I got one from another book that said they had it at minus 700 in favor of Sharon Moore, which I think is probably accurate. That might be even a little too low on that perspective too. But yeah, interesting times. Here we are. The thing finally happened, Andy.

It did. It did. And I think you have a great step-by-step of, of where Michigan needs to move. Obviously, you know, we're, we're all in agreement.

Sharon Moore, probably the next guy. They just got to go through this posting deadline situation or posting requirement situation. But then what happens after that? And your number one priority for Michigan, and you wrote this in a column in On3, offer Jesse Minter the largest salary of any defensive coordinator in the country.

Do you think that would keep him from going to the NFL? Probably not. I think that of the three steps in that plan that I put out on Thursday morning, I think that's probably the biggest pipe dream of them all. Listen, it's been assumed just like it was assumed when Michigan hired Mike McDonald. The NFL was going to come call him back for him at some point, given that he's from that Baltimore Ravens tree. And it did and have always had the similar sort of vibe with Jesse Minner as well, being someone from that Baltimore Ravens tree. So would he go back to the Baltimore Ravens if Mike McDonald lands a head coaching job? Would he join Jim Harbaugh out in LA? Would someone like the Green Bay Packers or someone else that needs a defensive coordinator

look at him? I certainly think that he would be one of the top candidates, but if you're Michigan, all hands are on deck now in terms of how do we set up the next guy? And again, we assume it's going to be Sharon Moore to be as successful as he can possibly be, not just in the short term, but in the long term. And when you look at those two guys, I mean, they both had the head coaching experience both more and minter this year when harbaugh was out um again i mean if if he's gonna go that's one thing but you know it's the same deal with jim harbaugh to a certain extent you know don't let him walk out the door and leave for the nfl without making him the highest paid coach at his

respective position. So, uh, you know, I think LSU hired Blake Baker for, I think two and a half million dollars. I don't think it's crazy that Michigan would have, you know, the ammo to offer something more than that to Jesse Minter and you give him something to think about. Cause he's one of those guys too, where, you know, with with Jim Harbaugh you felt like if it's not now when for the NFL but Jesse Minner he's a young guy he's gonna be in demand probably the rest of his coaching career honestly so we'll see what happens but Michigan I don't think can afford to let him walk out the door without opening up the checkbook and seeing what it would take from his perspective to give him something to consider at least. Well, and the money piece of it,

whether it's mentor or mentor does go to the NFL and Michigan needs to hire another DC. And if they want to go outside and hire somebody who's a big name, they should have plenty to spend because look at what they'll probably have to pay Sharon Moore versus what they would have had to pay Jim Harbaugh had he stayed.

So there's money to play with there. Oh, there is. And, and there's no, again, I mean, Sharon Moore is not going to be the highest paid coach in the big 10. I don't, I can't really speculate as to what his salary will look like, but I'd assume it's going to be a good four to 5 million less at least than what Jim Harbaugh was going to make. And that does open things up for, you know, support staff and the assistant coaching hires you can make.

And again, if you can take some of that money, a big chunk of that money and make sure that you secure mentor for next season, I think that would go a long way. Again, it still does kind of feel like a pipe dream. But again,

I don't think they can afford one to not do it. And they certainly can afford to make a high-caliber hire for any of these positions that will open up on the coaching staff. So Michigan has the ammo to do whatever they want to do and whatever they need to do. Now we'll see if they decide to do that. So the number two thing is possible and is interesting because the dynamics between the NFL and college football make this feel like Michigan has a really good shot here uh Ben

Herbert is a strength coach at Michigan he's done a phenomenal job the word is that Harbaugh would like him to come with but that position is a different job in the NFL than it is in college football college football I would argue it's the second most important position on any staff. In the NFL, it's different because the players often have their own private trainers. They don't have to be in the facility that often to work out in the offseason. So this one feels like one that Michigan may be able to pull off. Yeah, this is the most realistic thing that needs to happen for them because it's a lot different than the NFL where these guys show up to an NFL camp

and yeah, they might have to put some weight on or cut weight or whatever it is, but they're more or less equipped to do that. In college football, you're taking these lanky 17, 18-year-old kids and turning them into guys that by the end of their college career look like NFL players. And when you look at what led to this jump for Michigan over these last three years, there were a number of things, but most importantly, I mean, they started to finally have, you know, these, you know, the physicality, the athleticism that you need to compete with a lot of those top flight

schools. And Ben Herbert is, is directly responsible for that too. You know, he and Abigail O'Connor, who does the nutrition program there, have been huge in that regard. And they're kind of a package deal here, as far as I'm concerned, and making sure that they stick around Ann Arbor. So again, it's different.

Like you said, those guys have their own personal trainers in the NFL. He's already making $1.6 million at Michigan with a pretty substantial buyout. You know, uh, the Spanos family, I think a lot of people are surprised. They even were able to pony up what it was going to take to get Jim Harbaugh to come out there. But certainly I don't know that they're going to be willing to, to, to pay a premium for a guy that, uh, that I quite frankly, I don't know that they'll need, I know Jim Harbaugh is going to want him, but we'll see what happens there. But, you know, for Michigan to stay in this conversation in the Big Ten and in the national picture, you know, you have to have those elite players and those dynamic physical athletes. And, you know, I think recruiting will obviously look a little bit different.

But in terms of player development, I think Ben Herbert is maybe the biggest piece of the puzzle when it comes to the off-field development. You know, you got to have a staff in place that can put guys in positions to succeed, that can bring in guys from high school and turn them into players. But Ben Herbert is maybe the biggest key to all this. Yeah, I had a great conversation with Kenneth Grant, the defensive tackle from Michigan, who's going to be a massive nfl prospect in a year from now and he was telling me about how ben herbert had helped him and it wasn't even because we all assume oh it's getting me stronger getting me bigger well grant was explaining like it's more about how he's helped with his balance and flexibility and things that also matter quite a bit.

But the average fan, I think assumes it's just about being able to bench press a ton and putting on weight. Herbert seems to be able to thread the needle between getting guys big and strong, but also having them flexible, having them, you know,

with good balance, good explosion. So it, yeah, it's when you got a guy like that you do everything you can to keep him now number three was interesting too because i think the the average non-michigan fan looks at michigan and they see a school with a storied history a massive alumni base a wealthy alumni base and i think the, oh, these guys probably have tons coming in into their NIL

collectives. That's not necessarily the case, but what, but you said, you know, the thing they need to do now is get on, on par with the top schools in the country in terms of funding their collectives. Yeah. You know, it's been a, you know, in their fight song, they puff their chest out about what? Leaders and best, right? And I think when you look at – I'm not going to turn this into an administrative rant, but I think a lot of the things that they've done as it pertains to NIL and pay-for-play stuff, all of that, I do think it has been more reactive than proactive and that's not going to hold up moving forward i think a lot of those types of a lot of the issues that they've had both self-inflicted and circumstantially are covered up when you have a guy like jim harbaugh who you know he's just got this midas touch about putting guy you know flipping mike saner still for wide receiver where he was hardly used to maybe one of the best defensive backs in all of college football. Those are the types of things on the margins that Jim Harbaugh does. And this is no disrespect to Sharon Moore or whoever might follow Harbaugh at Michigan, but those are the types of

things that you are going to lose out on, which means you need to get back. You need to enhance everything else. So I think that the, from Michigan perspective, the messaging needs to be clear. I think it is clear, you know, right now in this new era that we are entering or that we are, we have entered, if you want your team to be in the conversation, you have to invest in the on-field product. I mean, yes, facilities are important and fundraising, you know, to make things at Michigan more modern is important. But without the top flight players out there to, you know, fill those facilities, I mean, you're just to me with Michigan. I mean, you are a blue bud program. You just won a national championship.

You have one of the largest and wealthiest alumni bases of any public university in the world. Listen, the collectives are doing what they can. The guys at champion circle are doing a phenomenal job, but it has to be more than just them. There has to be administrative support. There has to be proactive thinking instead of reactive thinking. And quite frankly, it's just time to act like you are one of the big boys because you are,

you just won a national title. You went 15 and oh, you have been at the top of the big 10 for three are. You just won a national title. You went 15-0. You have been at the top of the Big Ten for three years in a row. This doesn't have to be a lightning-in-a-bottle three-year run. Now, again, it's going to look different because you don't have Jim Harbaugh, but I think administratively and from a donor-based perspective, everyone needs to step up their game a lot more,

and I think that's going to be a big key and something to watch in all of this as well. How much of that is just changing the way some people think? Because this is not limited to Michigan. I've seen this at multiple schools across the country where some schools are like, yeah, we're all in on NIL. And then others are like, well, they'll have donors who will say, well, I'm not going to pay players. You're not supposed to pay players. I wonder because Michigan for the longest time, no offense, but had its nose in the air about all that stuff.

And now it's probably time to say, okay, you may have not liked it before, but it's okay now and everybody's doing it. You may want to jump on board yeah well circumstance creates action it's why you know we watched ohio state over the last several weeks you know you lose three in a row to michigan then you see them win a national title then bam that's enough urgency to raise whatever it was 13 15 million dollars to buy a team or put together a team that is going to be in the conversation next year. And, you know, with Michigan, I think a lot of what's going on with donors at Michigan is

they don't, the messaging hasn't been there from an administrative perspective to, to tell them that this is an urgent thing that we need to be on top of, because, you know, as recent as a few weeks ago, you know, they open up this, uh this those who stay fund where they're raising money almost basically crowdfunding you know a little slush fund to give the guys that decide to come back for one more year and you know some of the messaging to don't you know you approach donors about it and they'll say well we don't we didn't know this was an issue like the athletic department hasn't hasn't said this is an issue so there needs to hasn't said this is an issue. So there needs to be a more streamlined,

yes, you can endorse a collective, but there needs to be a little more working with the collectives. And again, it's all about being proactive instead of reactive. And that's been far too big of a trait with this leadership over the last few years. Again, it's not limited to Michigan. This is everywhere. I watched an SEC athletic director talking to a group of fans last fall, and a fan just got up and asked, should we give it to you or the collective?

And the AD, I mean, it's a tough spot for the AD to be in because it's a tough question to answer. But you're right. Michigan's administration has to figure out how to message that and make sure they're still accomplishing their goals but also the collectives have what they need to to fund a competitive product because it's you're right it's a different world anthony and very different world now that jim harbaugh is gone thank you so much for uh for the checklist we'll see how many michigan can check off of course it'll be

interesting that's for sure thank you to anthony broom we shall see what happens i don't have a lot of optimism about them being able to keep jesse mentor as the defensive coordinator but the ben herbert thing would be huge if they could keep him as the strength coach. And then the NIL stuff, that's not unique to Michigan. There are a lot of programs that are dealing with how to encourage the funding of the NIL collectives, but also deal with their own revenue raising that the athletic department's trying to do. It's a tricky one. And it's one of those things that it might not be something athletic directors and administrators have to deal with forever. It might just be during this in-between time where you had the state NIL laws get passed, the NCAA was caught flat-footed because it never wanted to change, the schools didn't want to change. They're going to come up with a way to move this in-house.

They're going to come up with a way to regulate it in some way, shape, or form, probably through collective bargaining. It'll all get figured out, but it is a very tricky time for administrators, for schools, for collectives. And so just because the school is huge, has a huge alumni base, has a wealthy alumni base, you should not assume that its NIL collectives are funded to the brim. It's a different situation at every school. So Anthony, we appreciate the look at where Michigan is right now. And I think they're probably watching what Ohio State's doing and saying,

all right, we probably need to get in that game the way they're in that game. And then, you know, they want to keep beating Ohio State. And Ohio State wants to break the losing streak. So we're going to see those two go back and forth. No going back and forth for me, though, as I was doing my prize pick selections for this weekend. If you sign up for prize picks today, use the referral code Andy. They will match your first deposit up to $100. It is the most fun daily fantasy game in America.

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He was great. High school teammate of Mikey Samerstel from Michigan. George Kittle played at Iowa. We know him and we love him. If both of those two guys score touchdowns, I get seven times what I wager. Seven times. That's how the demon lines work. Now, you don't have to do that.

You could also do what I did with Christian McCaffrey. Christian McCaffrey, they have a special running right now. And basically, if he gains one rushing yard in the NFC Championship game, his square hits. So I've got a Christian McCaffrey square, and I've got another square. And so if that works out, the payout is not as high because they're giving me a little break on Christian McCaffrey. But it's a good way to have an idea that you should feel safe that one of these is going to hit. So you can do NFL playoffs, NBA every night, college basketball, Thursday night college basketball. There's Arizona, Oregon State playing.

There's a lot going on in the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga's playing. So all kinds of ways to play on prize picks. Basically, if they're competing, there's a good chance it's available on PrizePix, whether it is cricket, basketball, football, hockey, e-sports, you name it. So sign up for PrizePix today. Use that referral code ANDY and get an instant deposit match up to $100. And now it is time to answer your questions.

And man, did you have some awesome questions this week. It is time for Dear Andy, where you take over the show and I answer your questions. And I love these questions this week because a lot of football related ones, which is great because we've been talking about coaches moving and transfer portal and all that. So it's nice to actually look toward the football football season and you guys asked me a lot of things

that really made me dive deep into some 2024 schedules and i think that's something that we're gonna have to do as this offseason goes on because it's very different depending on how your schedule sets up and everybody's schedule is going to set up really differently than it has. You've got the teams moving to different conferences. Obviously, that's a huge difference. You've got the Big Ten and the SEC eliminating divisions. That's going to create differences in schedules.

And again, we don't necessarily know if a schedule is going to be easy or hard. We're assuming certain teams will be good and certain teams won't. That's going to get flipped on its ear once the school starts. But I do think we can make some preliminary guesses based on these schedules. And let's start with Mike's question. This is a great way to start it. Which three programs are you looking at to be the most improved in 2024? So what Mike is saying is let's find the Arizona. Let's find the West Virginia.

Let's find the programs that from year to year are going to make a jump. So I'll tell you who I'm not considering for this. Like you may ask, why is it Ole Miss in this list? Well, because Ole Miss was really good last year and we're expecting Ole Miss to be incrementally better, which would make Ole Miss a playoff team because Ole Miss was good enough to be a playoff team last year had there been a 12-team playoff. But there's not enough of a jump for them to make. They would have to jump to national champion and maybe they can do that anyway. But they're already a double-digit win program. So that's not the type of program I'm looking for. I'm looking for programs that can

make a significant jump, change their place in the hierarchy, essentially. And in one case, it's going to be a team that is coming probably maybe back to where it was in the hierarchy a couple years ago. So I picked three. I've got one from the Big Ten, one from the SEC, and one from the new Big 12. And we will talk about all of them. So we've got Ohio State from the Big Ten. And I know you're going to want an explanation for that because they are also a double-digit win team. I've got Tennessee from the SEC, and I've got Utah from the Big 12.

So let's break it down. Why are these the three that I think are going to get better, that are going to make a jump next year? And we'll start with Ohio State because Ohio State was 11-2, and you're probably going, okay, you just said Ole Miss was a double-digit win team, and so they don't have the room to jump. Ohio State does, and here's why. Ohio State was 11-2 last year. But what if Ohio State had been in the new Big Ten last year? Now, when we show you their schedule, I'd say Ohio State actually got a pretty good end of the stick

in terms of the new Big Ten schedule. But it's not going to be like that every year so just in a random year of the new big 10 if ohio state had been in there with oregon washington ucla and usc in the mix would the 2023 buck guys have been an 11 and 2 team i'm not sure they would have i i think this is a team that benefited from having basically a three-game schedule of Notre Dame, Penn State, and Michigan. And they lost one of those. So what makes it different this year? Well, a lot of stuff. I'll start with the part that is not going to get talked about as much.

Because Bill O'Brien getting hired as the offensive coordinator got all the headlines. Will Howard coming as a transfer. All the transfers they got. Caleb Downs. Quinshawn Judkins. All of those. Those got the big headlines. What sort of went under the radar, JT Tui Malau coming back.

Jack Sawyer coming back. Latham Ransom coming back a veteran defense this was a really good defense last year like their offense was the problem at Ohio State last year veteran defense most of which is coming back it is very similar to a lot of the Michigan guys saying we did not like the way our season ended when we lost to TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. We're coming back for one more shot. And that is what this feels like in terms of how veteran heavy they are on defense. Now you add in Caleb Downs, the transfer from Alabama, who is going to be an All-America safety. And what that does is it allows you to move Sonny Stiles to linebacker,

which is where he should probably be playing based on his size. All of a sudden, you're an even more versatile defense. Like Jim Knowles has so much to play with this year. Now, the offense has to be better. The offensive line has to be better. So far, they got Seth McLaughlin from Alabama, who was the center, and everybody remembers what happened in the Rose Bowl. Now, if Seth McLaughlin from Alabama who was the center and everybody remembers what happened in the Rose Bowl now if Seth McLaughlin still has some issues snapping you can play him at guard and you will have a really effective guard because no one ever had any qualms about Seth McLaughlin's blocking so O-line should be better had better be better that's one of the problems at Ohio State. And Will Howard is an upgrade over Kyle McCord, a quarterback. I get that people from the Big Ten, from the SEC, don't respect the Big 12. I'm telling you right now, Will Howard is an excellent quarterback. The competition in the

Big 12 is good. He led Kansas State to a Big 12 title in 2022. He has not had this level of talent around him. So much more talent at Ohio State than he had. Then you add in the Bill O'Brien aspect of it. Ryan Day stepping back, not trying to do 90 things at once. Bill O'Brien, he's a punching bag because the New England Patriots offense sucked this year. Well, guess what didn't suck? Alabama's offense the two years that he was the offensive coordinator. The Texans offense most of the years he was the head coach. The Penn State offense when he was the head coach there. So they're going to upgrade offensively.

And then when we look at Ohio State's schedule, I know I just said if they'd been in the new Big Ten last year, maybe they don't win as many games. This is a harder schedule than last year, but as the new Big Ten goes, it's not bad. It really isn't. You're going to get Iowa, and we'll see. I think Iowa should be a little bit better, especially at that point in the season.

They're getting Cade McNamara back. We'll see what happens with their OC situation. They're at Oregon in October. That's a very tough one. They're at Penn State. Then they got Michigan. They don't have a Notre Dame-type out-of-conference game this year. So Ohio State, of the teams in the Big Ten that are going to be competitive,

has probably the easiest schedule so this is a team that should be 11 or 10 and 1 going to the michigan game or or 11 and 0 like that they should be and then win or lose if you're if you're 11 and 0 going to the michigan game you're in the playoff if you're 10 and 1 going into the Michigan game, more than likely you're in the playoff. The question is whether you're going to be in the Big Ten championship game because that's going to be number one versus number two, no more divisions. So the question is, would Oregon potentially be in the Big Ten championship game? Is Ohio State Michigan going to be for a spot in the Big Ten championship game? And we'll see what happens with Michigan.

Obviously, a lot in flux there as well. But I just think Ohio State has done the things it needed to do, taken the steps it needed to take to put itself in position to have a huge 2024. Like national title level 2024. Whether they get there or not is another question. Whether Ryan Day gets over the Michigan hump is an entirely different question. But the offseason steps they've taken suggest that they will be prepared. They will have the roster to do this.

So that's why I have Ohio State here. I realize I started with an 11-win team from last year, but again, we all watched that team. Against a lot of schedules, it wasn't going to be 11-2. This will be a better team than last year's team. Let's move to the SEC. We've got to find this year's Missouri, basically. And Missouri was the team last year.

We thought, okay, what's going to happen here? We were a little confused about Eli Drinkwitz getting the contract extension after 2022. But then in 2023, they were awesome. They looked great. Very complete team. Some veteran corners, veteran edge rusher, good quarterback in Brady Cook. Cody Schrader was one of the stories of the year in college football. So they were fantastic.

We're looking for this year's version of that. Who can kind of take that next step? Now, this is a team that I chose that had a decent season last year. They went 8-4 in the regular season. They won their bowl game. But it wasn't what their fans wanted, and it wasn't what they expected. And this is a case where, again, if you look at schedules, they might have one of the better draws

in the SEC. And I speak, of course, to the Tennessee Volunteers. So Tennessee returns one of the best edge rushers in the country in James Pierce. Nico Yamame-Alava is the new quarterback. You saw him in the bowl game. Reason to get excited. And Nico, I think, is really the key here. If Nico is significantly better than Joe Milton, we are talking about a 10-win team.

And a 10-2 SEC team is making the playoff. We don't know yet if Nico will be significantly better than Joe Milton. We know that Brew McCoy, the receiver who was hurt in the middle of the season, has decided to come back for another year. We know that they added Chris Brazel from Tulane at receiver, Holden Stays, the tight end from Notre Dame, added into that mix. And Nico is going to have some targets. They lose Gerald Mincy, the tackle, who goes to Kentucky.

They bring in Lance Hurd from LSU, who, very good player, but was stuck behind Will Campbell and Emory Jones on the depth chart at LSU. So he's a guy who's probably good enough to start most places in the SEC. LSU just happens to have two superstar junior tackles can tennessee do this can josh heupel get them back into the double digit win club this is this is the year we find out you know what is josh heupel going to be long term is he going to be a guy who can build Tennessee into a year-in,

year-out SEC contender? Let's look at Tennessee's schedule. They don't have to play Missouri. They don't have to play Ole Miss. They don't have to play LSU. They don't have to play Texas. That's great. They do have to go to Oklahoma. They have to go to Georgia. I think we're all just looking at Georgia in November as a loss. So let's just write that off. But they get Florida and Knoxville. And given what Florida's bringing back, I wouldn't talk about this game except Tennessee took a bad loss at Florida last year. And for whatever reason, the Vols can't seem to win in Gainesville. But they do seem to have gotten the monkey off their back in Knoxville. So they get them in Knoxville. They get Alabama in Knoxville. And no Knicks save it. We don't yet know how much difference that makes.

They got an NC State neutral site game early in the season. That could be a nice non-conference win if the Vols can beat the Wolfpack because I think NC State is going to be pretty good. You got Grayson McCall coming in to play quarterback from Coastal Carolina. They've been solid basically every year under Dave Doran. The question is, will they be better than solid? And there's a good chance they will. So that could be a nice non-conference win.

But that at Oklahoma, at Arkansas, Florida stretch, if somehow Tennessee can go 3-0 there, you're looking at a potential playoff team. That is a potential playoff team. So the Oklahoma game for Tennessee I think may wind up being you're looking at a potential playoff team like that that is a potential playoff team now so that the the Oklahoma game for Tennessee I think may wind up being that key matchup where if you can swing that one you're in really good shape down the stretch now again I'm not writing off Alabama they beat Alabama two years ago with Saban this is a chance to show hey this rivalry

is going to be different now that Nick Saban's not here anymore. So that's the Vols. But if we're going to boil the Vols down, their chances of being one of these teams, it does boil down to Nico. How much better can Nico be than Joe Milton? And if he is, then get very, very excited. Let us move to the new Big 12. Utah was one of the best programs in the Pac-12. Last year at Utah was a very strange situation. Cam Rising coming off a knee

injury in the Rose Bowl that was very serious. And I think they knew before the season started that they weren't going to have Cam Rising all year. They also weren't going to have Brent Keithy, the tight end, who was looking like a first-round prospect before he got hurt in the 2022 season. But he's been out, and now he's back. So they move into the Big 12, which is a much easier league than the version of the Pac-12 they left. Now, a lot of years, the old Pac-12 and the new Big 12 would be the same competitively, or the new Big 12 would be actually a little bit better. But the Pac-12 last year was so deep that this will be an easier road for Utah. If you look at their schedule, every game is winnable.

We had that at-Georgia game with Tennessee, and we're schedule, every game is winnable. Like we had that, that at Georgia game with Tennessee and we're like, well, that's a loss. There is no game that you look at on this schedule for Utah where you think that's a loss. And so the, the, the reason the schedule looks like this on the graphic, whether you see a bunch of road games in a row, a bunch of home games in a row, we don't yet know exactly what the order is going to be. Cause the big 12 still working on that, that, I think, will matter. Order will matter, and we'll have to parse that when it happens. But at Oklahoma State, at UCF, look like the two really tough ones here. You get Iowa State at home. You get BYU in the renewal, that rivalry at home. Arizona,

remember Noah Fafita and Totorio McMillan coming back. Brent Brennan is a very good coach, the guy who replaced Jed Fish, so don't count out the Wildcats just yet. But overall, this is a much more manageable schedule than the one Utah had to play last year. And the Utes went 8-5, but they kind of ran out of gas. And that's to be expected. You never had the quarterback you expected to have.

You never could quite get that going. So they lost five of their last seven. I don't think that's going to be expected. We didn't never had the quarterback you expected to have. You never could quite get that going. So they lost five of the last seven. I don't think that's going to be a problem now. So again, Cam rising is back. Brant Keithy is back. They got another tight end, Carson Ryan, who's from Utah, but played originally at UCLA. He comes in. They have Landon King, who came from Auburn before last season.

So that position group is very deep. On the line of scrimmage, they're always good. They lost Jonah Ellis, who was their best edge rusher to the draft. But almost everybody else who contributed on the defensive line is back. All three starting linebackers are back. And of course, Kyle Whittingham is their coach. And Kyle Whittingham is one of the best coaches in America. And also, if you keep wondering, who does Kyle Whittingham look like now that he's grown his hair out long?

The answer is Sylvester Stallone. Sylvester Stallone with long hair. Kyle Whittingham with long hair. Pretty much the same guy. I don't know if that has anything to do with how good Utah will be in the new Big 12. But Sylvester Stallone's in a show called Tulsa King now. That's in Big 12 territory. Maybe Kyle Whittingham will own Big 12 territory, but Utah seems like a team that I would consider one of the favorites, along with maybe Kansas State,

to win the new Big 12 in 2024. So those are your three teams that I think have a really good shot at jumping up one level. And again, it's a matter of where, what level were you were on and then what level are you moving to? So that's why, that's why Ohio state's on there. Ohio state last year did not look like a team that could compete for the national title this year. They do Tennessee last year did not look like a team that could compete for the sec title. I don't know if they do this year either. But they certainly look like a 12-team playoff team. They didn't last year. Utah, I think they get back to what they were when they were back-to-back Pac-12 champs.

So they've got to do it in a new league with new competition. But I'm excited to see what the Utes do. So those are going to be three really interesting teams to watch. do it in a new league with new competition but i'm excited to see what the youths do so that's gonna be a those are gonna be three really interesting teams to watch but let's move on to mark because mark is also looking at the new conference alignments trying to figure out who should be really good who should be favored mark says am i way off to think oregon clearly should be the favorite to win the Big Ten and not Ohio State? They have the better quarterback and softer Big Ten schedule.

On top of that, Ohio State has to travel to Autzen, which is no easy place to play. Here's my thing, Mark. I don't think Oregon's schedule is softer at all. I think Ohio State got the best draw of the new Big Ten schedules. I think Oregon's schedule is actually kind of tough because they get Ohio State at home, but they have to play Ohio State. They have to play at Michigan. Actually, let's, well, Michigan's November 2nd. So let's go over Oregon's November.

At Michigan, Maryland, which has been pretty good, and got MJ Morris in the transfer portal at quarterback. If you didn't watch him play at NC State, you're going to be pleasantly surprised when you see him. November 16th at Wisconsin. Now they get a week off in between, and they close with Washington, but that is a rough closing month.

Rough. Plus, their non-conference is not super easy. They're playing at Hawaii in Week 0, so they get to play an extra game. They play Boise State at home, and they're at Oregon State in the non-conference. Oregon State is going to want to prove something in the first year that they're not conference rivals, but the rivalry continues. You've also got Purdue, Illinois. I don't think it's that easy. Now,

do I think Oregon will have a say in who wins the Big Ten title? Abso-freaking-lutely, because they're playing both Ohio State and Michigan. And if they split those games, there's a really good chance that Oregon is in the Big Ten title game. And I think that's the thing we got to remember. We keep assuming that it's just going to be Ohio State, Michigan play at the end of the year, and then the next week, Ohio State, Michigan play again. I don't think that's a very good assumption when you have Oregon in the mix, when you have Wisconsin getting better under Luke Fickle, when you have Penn State still there, when you have Washington under Jed Fish. And look, I know

everybody says, well, Kalen DeBoer left and all these players left. The situation Jed Fish is taking over at Washington this year is light years better than what he took over at Arizona. And he made them competitive pretty quickly. Do not count out Washington right off the bat. Just don't. So I don't know that Oregon has an easy road, but I absolutely think Oregon should be one of the favorites in the Big Ten. I just think given all the factors that we talked about when I was talking about Ohio State a few minutes ago, I think Ohio State probably should be the favorite going into the season.

That doesn't mean they're going to win because they still, again, they still have to get over the Michigan hump. They have to play Oregon and Autzen. They have to play at Penn State. But everybody's got it tougher now. Everybody in the Big Ten and everybody in the SEC. Speaking of the SEC, our next question comes from Corn Whip. He said he stole this one from the Bama Online Roundtable,

which is a fine, fine forum. Alabama has been coached by the GOAT for 17 years. Now they're coached by not the GOAT. What's a realistic expectation for college football playoff appearances, SEC championships, and college football playoff championships in the next five years? So if Nick Saban were still there, I could probably give you a fair number on this. It would be at least one national championship and maybe two. It would be

four out of five years making the 12 team playoff and maybe five out of five years. And it would be winning the SEC at least twice. Like, I think that would be a fair assumption, even with Kirby Smart at Georgia, even with Texas and Oklahoma coming into the SEC. But since it's not Nick Saban anymore, all of that changes. Like, Alabama moves not, like, it's not disaster.

It's not over. They just move from unbelievably great, ridiculously high expectations to a very good program that should be a good program year in and year out. And that's a different level of expectation. It just is. So here's what I'd say you should be happy with in a five-year period. I'd say I still think with this roster, you should be able to make the 12-team playoff four out of five years.

I think that's realistic. I don't think that's saying too much. I mean, you're in a league that is going to get at least three in every year and possibly four. You want to be in the top. So that's just saying, can you be in the top quarter of the SEC? I think Kalen DeBoer can do that. So four out of five college football playoff appearances in the 12-team format.

Not unrealistic. SEC championships, this is where it gets tougher. Because this is where you not being Nick Saban, Kirby Smart still being Kirby Smart, and Texas and Oklahoma making the league even deeper, this is where that becomes quite a bit tougher. So I'm going to say one of those. One SEC championship. And national championships, well, if you can win the SEC,

you can win the national championship. Nick Saban proved you don't have to do both in the same year. Then Kirby Smart showed you don't have to do both in the same year. So I'd say one of those two. I'd say all of those are realistic expectations given what Kalen DeBoer has done in the past and given the roster he took over. And I know what you're going to say, but they lost Caleb Downs and Caden Proctor and all these dudes enter the portal. Well, Caleb Downs and Caden Proctor are really the only two of that bunch that we're not in a situation where they're fighting for a starting job if they're at

Alabama next year or maybe not getting a starting job and knew that and that's why they moved on they're going to have a really good roster so all of these expectations are realistic so four CFP appearances one SEC SEC title, one national title. Not unrealistic for the Kalen DeBoer era at Alabama. And I know what Alabama fans are saying, well, that's not good enough. No, it's good enough. It would be good enough for everybody else, except maybe Georgia at this point. And it really, if you can keep that up, you're doing really well.

If Kalen DeBoer can keep them at that up, you're doing really well. If Kalen DeBoer can keep them at that level, he's doing a great job. And even if it's a little bit below that level, he's still doing a great job. So that's the part that, is this a successful hire or not? That's what you're looking at. And if he doesn't win a national title within the first five years, as long as he's moving toward it, I still think it's okay. It's sort of like the Kirby Smart situation where you never worried about Kirby

because they were always kind of making progress toward it. They were always in that mix. Keeping them in the mix is the key here. Like, are they in the mix to compete for the SEC and the national title most years? If he's doing that, he's doing his job. This question comes from Brian, and he's an Oklahoma fan, so he's very interested in what happens here. At what point are Oklahoma and Texas considered SEC members? I mean, technically, can Alabama

raid Texas's roster for their underachieving players who would then be immediately eligible, or will they have to abide by SEC rules and sit a year? So here's the deal with the SEC. The SEC has a rule that says, if you enter your name in the transfer portal in the winter window,

you can play next season at another SEC school. But after the winter window closes, and when coaches leave, that also counts, then you can't. So when the spring window opens, if you're at an SEC school and you want to play next year somewhere else, you've got to go outside the SEC. And if you're an SEC school wanting to take transfer, you've got to take somebody from a different conference if you want them playing for you this year. So Oklahoma and Texas are Big 12 members officially until 11.59 and 59 seconds on June 30th. And then as soon as the clock strikes midnight July 1st, they're members of the SEC.

So how is the SEC handling this? I called the SEC to make sure I had this right. And according to the folks at the SEC, you will not be able to transfer from Texas or Oklahoma to an SEC school or from an SEC school to Texas or Oklahoma and play immediately if you transfer in the spring, if you put your name in the portal in the spring window. If you're in the portal now, you're fine. You're not going to be able to do that. So if somebody at Texas wants to go play somewhere else, they are going to have to go to

another conference to play somewhere else. And the thinking on this is most of these folks, because they'll be at their current schools for spring practice, they'll finish the spring semester, probably not coming to the new school usually until the start of the second summer term, which would be in July, that they would not be able to do it. So if you're thinking or you're worried that, say, Texas or Oklahoma is going to raid Alabama's roster following spring practice, that's not going to happen. Or if you're worried that Alabama would raid Texas or Oklahoma's roster after spring practice's not going to happen. Or if you're worried that Alabama would raid Texas or Oklahoma's roster after spring practice, not going to happen. And that's specifically why they did this rule.

Now, eventually it may change because it is different from everybody else's. But their feeling is it might survive a legal challenge because it is different from everybody else's. You still can transfer and play next year. You just can't do it within the SEC. And, you know, I think the SEC coaches like this because most of the players in the SEC want to play in the SEC. So they don't want to transfer to not the SEC. That said, there are schools outside the SEC that I think would be enticing for good players in the SEC. You saw last year when Bear Alexander left Georgia for USC.

Bear Alexander was not Georgia's best defensive tackle, but he was a good defensive tackle, would have had a key role on the team. He left for USC, but you didn't see much of that last year from SEC schools. So there just aren't many places that these guys would go. Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon. Those are the types of places that those players would go. Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon, those are the types of places that those players would go. Now, if I am Michigan, which will be under new management, if I am Ohio State, if I am Oregon, I do worry about an SEC school going through spring practice, like in Alabama

or Texas or in Oklahoma, going through spring practice going, ooh, we have a need here. Let's go get this. So you still got to worry about that. But as far as Texas and Oklahoma having their rosters rated or rating some SEC school's roster, as far as it is, as far as the SEC is considering it now, the way they're interpreting it, they will not be able to do that. So should stay fairly calm. The rosters you see now for the current SEC schools and for Texas and Oklahoma

probably going to be pretty similar to the rosters you see going into the 2024 season. Next question comes from Tony. The Notre Dame schedule is a little lighter for 2024. If they can get past Texas A&M to start, comes from Tony. The Notre Dame schedule is a little lighter for 2024. If they can get past Texas A&M to start, are Florida State and USC the biggest hurdles to keep them out of the 12-team playoff? So this is an interesting question too

because we assume that Notre Dame needs to go 10-2 to make the 12-team playoff. And most years, that's good enough. This schedule actually looks like one of the weaker ones for Notre Dame in the past few years but I I don't know at one I'm not sure how weak it is that's that's the part that the assumption that it's weak because I think Texas A&M is going to be pretty good and they play in

college station right out of the gate the other game that I would worry about is they get Louisville on September 28th. Louisville whipped them last year. Louisville will be better than Louisville was last year when it made the ACC championship game. So that's one to worry about. Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It's a neutral site game that happens to be two miles from Georgia Tech's campus. I imagine it'll be a pretty decent crowd split, though. There'll be quite a few Notre Dame fans in the building. But if you haven't seen what Brent Key's doing at Georgia Tech,

that's going to be a tough out, too. That's not going to be an easy game. And then playing Florida State at home the week after you played Navy, I'm not worried about them losing to Navy. I'm worried about them dealing with a triple option team, D-line getting beat up, and then having to play a very good team in Florida State. That's the concern with the way that schedule works. Now, you do get Florida State at home, and I think that's probably better. They also play Virginia after Florida State, and I don't think Virginia's going to beat Notre Dame, but I just want to do this as a public service announcement. If you didn't watch a ton of Friday college football last year, you missed out on Anthony Calandria at Virginia.

He's so much fun. Anything can happen when he drops back, good or bad. And so I think as he gets older, he's going to be a lot of fun to watch. And Virginia could be better. I think Tony Elliott did a really good job with them as the season went on last year so i'm not saying that the at usc usc is a mystery here they were not very good last year notre dame exposed them and and it was all downhill from there for usc but lincoln riley's always going to have a quarterback whether that's miller or Jordan Maivea, the transfer from UNLV.

They're probably going to be pretty good offensively. Can DeAnton Lin make that defense better? We don't know. That's the biggest question. But Notre Dame should, looking at this schedule, be able to go 10-2. I think assuming they get past Texas A&M early is a big assumption because I think Mike Elko is going to make the Aggies pretty good,

and the Aggies are very talented. So that's the one. If they can win that one, though, I think they should feel pretty good about their chances to make the college football playoff. On that same line, our next question comes from Debauchery Ag, which is a great Twitter handle. Dear Andy, what floor and ceiling do you give Mike Elko in a revamped Texas A&M squad for 2024?

How do you see the Notre Dame game at Kyle Field playing out? Well, we just talked about that. Now, Tony's assuming that Notre Dame's going to win. I don't think anybody should assume victory in this game. I think A&M and Notre Dame is a very good matchup and very excited about that one to open the season. But let's talk floor and ceiling. So again, we've got the new SEC. We've got the new schedule. So how does Texas A&M schedule match up with other new SEC schedules. Who do they have to play?

And that tells us a lot. Like, they're not playing Alabama this year. They missed that one, which I'm sure they're thrilled about. Even without Nick Saban, it's still scary. They are at Florida early. This is one, like, with Florida, they have that brutal end of the season. Butida could be feisty early in the season and you got to be you got to be careful with them they're gonna they do have some good young players and so that that one's the one that that texas a&m needs to

figure out how to win the arkansas game obviously is one of those that we'll see where arkansas is as bobby patrino as A&M fans know. Hiring Bobby Petrino to help your coach on the hot seat didn't work for A&M, might work for Arkansas, but we'll see. The October 5th visit from Missouri, I think, is a pretty key one for Texas A&M because we don't really know what Missouri is going to be. If Missouri is what it was this year, that game is going to be a fight, and Texas A&M will be lucky to win it.

If Missouri takes a little bit of a step back, that game could be a little more winnable, but then they got LSU late in the season. They closed with at Auburn. And then obviously the Texas game at Kyle field. So I think a lot of it depends on how good are Missouri and Auburn next year. I do think Missouri, unless some of these really young players are just great right away,

they may need a year, kind of a step back year. And then next year in 2025, they're about as good as they were in 2023. Auburn should be better this year. We're going to see what Auburn does at quarterback here in the next few do they do they stick with peyton thorne do they go into the portal and grab somebody because that's a that's a scary one when you're going to auburn of course that is also the spot where new mexico state beat auburn last year so we'll see what hugh freeze and company do but i think mike elko is going to make texas a&m better i love colin klein as the offensive coordinator hired you got a healthy Connor Wigman coming back.

I'm excited to see what they are offensively because I think Wigman in Colin Klein's offense is going to be a lot of fun. Now that Notre Dame game, who's quarterback at Notre Dame? Riley Leonard, who was Mike Elko's quarterback at Duke last year. So there'll be some familiarity there. Riley Leonard is going to know all about Mike Elko's quarterback at Duke last year. So there'll be some familiarity there. Riley Leonard is going to know all about Mike Elko's defense. And Mike Elko is going to know all about Riley Leonard's tendency. So that'll be a fun one.

But if I went with a floor on the A&M schedule, I'd say it's eight and four. Because I don't think this is the hardest schedule in the SEC by any stretch of the imagination. I think it's one of the better draws in the SEC by any stretch of the imagination. I think it's one of the better draws in the SEC. So I'm going to go with eight and four as the floor. The ceiling, let's say Mike Elko gets in there and maximizes all that talent. Ceiling's 11 and one.

They should get pretty excited about what they can be. And obviously, it's Texas A&M. There's a lot of, I'll believe it when I see it with them, but I do think Elko was a very good hire and I'm excited to see what he does there. And if he can get the most out of that roster, this is a team that can make the playoff. And it's interesting how many more teams that we're talking about as potential playoff teams and what that does for off-season excitement, what that does for in-season excitement

as some of them are going to surge forward, some of them are going to get knocked out. But think about the last time Texas A&M, we were talking about them as a potential 14 playoff team. It was 2020. You know, this is in the 12 team. Potentially they're, they're in the mix going into every season.

So that changes optimism that changes everything in the off season. They still have to prove it on the field though, but I do really like the potential there. Next question comes from our friend, Matt. He's a Georgia fan. He's very sad this week dear andy would you please take some time on your show to eulogize the best good boy whoever was ugga 10 also known as q it would mean a lot thanks yes rest in peace q short for barbecue. Don't tell PETA.

Ugga 10, the most successful of the Uggas, the white English Bulldog line that represents the University of Georgia. With Ugga 10 as the mascot, Georgia went 91-18. The Bulldogs won two SEC titles and two national titles. But the moment where I knew UGATEN was special was before the Sugar Bowl, following the 2018 season. When Bevo charged UGATEN, UGATEN was smart enough to get the hell out of the way. Because you say, oh, you know, I want a bulldog that stands up to that. No, no, no. When 1,700 pounds of beef are coming at you, you move.

And Ugga 10, if you watched him in action over the years, he's not the most fleet of foot animal. But Ugga 10 had some get off when Bevo started coming. The explosion was there. Ugga 10 had clearly been paying attention to the D-line drills that Georgia was doing. Uggeton was a very good dog. Very good boy. Two national titles. Two SEC titles. 91-18. Rest in peace.

Hope that beautiful doghouse in the sky has a nice view of all those national championship trophies and i hope you have a you know george grad louis grisard the great columnist from the atlanta journal constitution the guy who inspired me to get into this business hope he comes and pets you every once in a while all right our final question it's a random ranking and it comes from our friend Nathan across the sea. Dear Andy, I'm coming to you from the campus of Tel Aviv University with a random ranking. Having lived overseas for over half of a decade now, one of the things that I miss the most is obviously college sports. So I want you to give me your top five. If another country had a college sports atmosphere like America does, what country do you think would have the coolest college sports and what would that sport be? You can either go logical like Canada and hockey or you can go completely crazy like Canada and beach volleyball.

What do you think? Give me your top five. I'm not really thinking Canada's beach volleyball program is going to be great. I don't know about the University of Guelph's beach volleyball team. Not optimistic about that one, Nathan. But I did make a top five list. We'll start at number five. And you gave us our number five. It is Canada with hockey, because I do think if you put Canadian hockey, like the

major junior, all those levels that are just, you know, you have to get through to get to the NHL. If you put those at universities in Canada, so instead of, like in America, you have, they'll go to Michigan or they'll go to Notre Dame or they'll go to Boston University or the University of Denver has a good hockey program. Put them at the big universities in Canada and those best players, because their best players don't go to the college level

unless they come down to the US. I think they could have some fun there. I think the tailgating would be tremendous, lots of little bats flowing, and have the games in the morning, Tim Hortons and whiskey. Come on. What would be better? That would be the most natural fit, and I think they would have a lot of fun with it.

Number four, Brazil beach volleyball. Now we have beach volleyball collegiate programs in the U S now it's, it's the, one of the faster growing collegiate sports in the U S but Brazil would just dominate and the talent level, the number of beaches and the volleyball programs there. I mean, come on. This would be a cutthroat competition and huge population. They love to go to the beach. Let's do it. Let's attach those two universities in Brazil and have that school spirit and school pride. i think it'd be great number three russia slap fighting i don't often fall down youtube rabbit holes but when the when the eastern european slap fighting videos started coming out i certainly if you've never seen one of these so you've

probably seen an arm wrestling competition or at least you've seen the movie over the top so you understand how this works you have two guys standing across from one another at a table and so it but instead of arm wrestling basically one guy has to stand there while the other guy just hammers him with an open hand slap and it is magnetic like you cannot tear your eyes away from this. Because the guy's just standing there and all of a sudden, what? And it's just these giant Russian dudes just hammering each other. Well, imagine they were doing it in their school colors. Imagine they were representing their universities. And it's interesting because we don't, in America, we have this collegiate model and we have a lot of college sports, but the college sports that are popular are team sports.

They're not really super individualized. There is college tennis and college golf, but it's not the same thing that they don't draw the same crowds. Like imagine the kind of superstar you'd become. Like in America, if you had NCAA slap fighting and it was something that everybody came to see, like imagine being Georgia's best slap fighter

going against Ohio State's best slap fighter. It'd be incredible. So listen, Russia's got a huge population, lots of universities. Let's build this thing up. Let's make it a huge television event. Oh, I can just imagine. And again, if you watch the YouTube videos,

I'm warning you now, it's pretty disturbing, but you're probably gonna watch for like two hours straight. So just be aware before you fall down that rabbit hole. Number two, this one should be obvious the united kingdom soccer football as they call it they're so i mean they already essentially have this with their teams with their professional teams where each one has its own personality you've got old cool stadiums and and new gleaming stadiums but there's a lot of old cool stadiums still there's a lot of little quirks to each fan base there's certain songs that this fan base sings

and this fan base sings i i think i think it's a natural fit if you moved it to the university setting and obviously the way they do it they're they're pro clubs have developmental leagues and that so you're you're in arsenal's developmental league or you're in Manchester United's developmental team. If they were attached to universities, that would be way more fun. So would Oxford participate? Or would Oxford be like Harvard where they're like, we're going to be FCS here? I would love it. I think that would be such an easy transition for those folks, because again, they're, they already understand the idea of having your own songs and your colors mattering

and your, your stadium having its own architectural quirks. And yeah, I think that'd be great. But the number one, listen, this is an easy one. I'm just thinking from a revenue growth standpoint, India and cricket. A billion people. A billion is a lot of people. And this is the sport they love. I heard an interview with Nick Khan,

who's the president of the WWE. He was on Pat McAfee the other day. And he said that WWE is actually the second most popular sporting television in India behind cricket. So think about how many people like cricket because there's not like number two is sports entertainment, not actually a sport. So this is a huge, huge growth area right here. You know, I would, all the universities, imagine everybody getting together. They're flying their colors. They've got the scarves.

We got to do this. I still don't have no, I've read up, I've watched the game being played. Don't understand it one bit. What I do understand is a billion people love it, and there's money to be made there. So let's do it. I mean, if the NCAA gets out of the football business,

if the SEC and the Big Ten are like, we don't need you anymore. Get out of here. Maybe you move. Maybe you move to India and create an organization that governs college cricket. Create an NCAA tournament of cricket. Oh, it would be amazing. that governs college cricket. Created NCAA Tournament of Cricket.

Oh, it would be amazing. A billion people and they all love it. That's a market right there. What a week it's been. Thank you for all those great questions. They were tremendous. Again, loved being able to dive into the schedules. But man, it's been another week. We had more fallout from Alabama and Nick Saban retiring.

We had Ohio State ramping up. We had Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan for the NFL. Now we're going to wait to see what happens next at Michigan. But there is no more offseason. It never stops. But we are going to have lots and lots of fun here in the offseason. Headed to the Senior Bowl next week. So we'll be talking to some of your favorite former college football players

about their careers, about their coaches, about their time on campus. And then what comes next for them. It's going to be a fun week and cannot wait to share it with you.