Andy & Ari On3 - Ohio State OBLITERATES Tennessee in CFP | Buckeyes set up Rose Bowl rematch with Oregon

Episode Date: December 22, 2024

You’ve had Wendy’s Nuggs dipped in sauce. But have you had them covered in sauce? 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.   Andy and Ari react live to the Tennessee-Ohio State first-round College Football Playoff game in Columbus.Tennessee fans made a mark on Ohio Stadium, but even with a strong road crowd, the Vols fell to the Buckeyes, 42-17. Ohio State moves on to face Oregon in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. Watch us on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/LXRYKm8MGdY Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

Hey, welcome to Andy and Ari on three presented by Wendy's Ari. We are here at Ohio Stadium where we just watched belt meet ass. Yeah. Ohio State destroyed Tennessee. Yeah. We have said on the show multiple times in the last month and even years dating back to, you know know 2020 that if Ohio State shows up, yeah, but he wants to play them and Ryan Day and this program has gone a long time showing us that you know, and it was easy to doubt that that existed, you know after what happened at Michigan and stuff with that. What's it? We're talking about see that. Oh right there. That's that's where they had the

fight. That's where the flag was attempted to be planted I guess it was planted. There was no planting of anything tonight. There's no nothing Well, except maybe the seeds of potentially a national championship run was unbelievable. Buckeye seeds? Buckeye seeds. Nuts? Listen If you're an Ohio State fan, there is nothing more that you could have asked for on that field on Saturday night. Nothing. No, it was perfect. First of all, second target to Jeremiah Smith, which was a touchdown by the way, came with 10 minutes to go in the first quarter. That's how many targets he had in the entire Michigan game. And they kept going. And it was just, it was

like someone tapped them on the shoulder. And by someone, I mean everyone and reminded them they have better players than everyone else. And they acted like it. Yeah. So, you know, the thing that was really interesting about the breakdown or lead up to this game, Andy, was we were unsure of whether or not Ohio State had the will, both from a coaching staff perspective and a team perspective to get up off the mat. Yeah. Because they legitimately lost what might have been the worst game in Ohio State

history. Like I'm not even being hyperbolic there. Like that, which is weird because you're usually very hyperbolic, but I, you know, it's up there. It's up there. It's not number one. It's up there. Yeah. Yeah. And like, you know how the temperament was with the fan base toward the head coach and you've seen the head coach, you've seen him on TV, Ryan day. And it just looked like he was living in a, in a personal hell. Yes. You know, and sometimes when people get to that place, there's no coming back from it. So to see Ohio state come out here and play a brand of football that frankly

speaking, they should have been playing all year and do it to a really good team. I think you could make the case that that was the most thorough domination of a very good opponent since the Wisconsin game in the big 10 championship of 2014. Here's the thing they, well, I'll give you two, uh, 2018 Michigan, I think was like that 2019 Michigan was pretty similar to that. But here's the thing, just because they should have been playing like that all year, they didn't. Yeah.

But it doesn't matter. Because if they play like that from this point forward, they might win the national title. The team they're about to play in the Rose Bowl, Oregon, might be the best team they play. Yeah, right. And it's a team that they've already played on the West Coast to a one point situation in Autzen.

And you know, that team right there that we watched can beat Oregon. They can beat anybody. Now the question, I guess, goes back to can they do that three times four times in a row because it's really, really, they gotta win three more games in a row. International championship by any stretch of the imagination. But at least if you're an Ohio State fan, you can take solace in the fact that that still exists. Well, it was interesting because watching the we talked a lot about the play calling.

We talked a lot about play selection. You know, we were talking about the Michigan game and we almost acted like they they ran every play in the mission game. They actually ran fewer times than they threw in the mission game. They just didn't space them out correctly. They did not try to hit their best players as often as they could have. Yeah. But they started out...

Sean Byersmith had two targets in that entire game. They started out this game intent on featuring their best players. Like, we were joking in the press box. We're like, oh, this isn't a buka play. Like, we knew it before it happened because you could tell they're just feeling it and they realized where they had matchups. Now, you can criticize Tennessee all you want. Tennessee's offense has not been particularly great all year.

Tennessee's defense had been good and Ohio State flat out embarrassed the Vols. Embarrassed them. Yeah, and like the thing too is just like, I don't know how important it is to the general fan to relitigate what happened here a few weeks ago. The thing that I think is really interesting is at least Ohio state came out in this game and was going to do who they are. Yeah. They were going to be who they are.

They weren't going to try to play someone else's game. They weren't going to try to prove they were tough. They weren't going to go try it out. Michigan, Michigan, they just came out and threw the fricking ball. Yeah. And on third and one, they threw the ball on fourth and 10. They threw the third and 10. They threw the ball. They threw the ball the entire game. You want to know why? Because Tennessee can't cover Jeremiah Smith, Cardinal, Tate, and Mekka. You know who else can't anybody. So and that defense, which has been good all year, like the defense was an involved for the Michigan game.

They were still great. Yeah. And you know, like that's the thing that we also have to take into account too. And I think that we, um, spend a lot of time talking about Texas and how they have the best defense in the playoff, but from a personnel perspective, Ohio state is right there, if not past. So like we saw Oregon have some success against them. So I do think this will be the Ohio State defense's toughest challenge coming up.

Yeah, and like a good defense in college football these days isn't shutouts and 10 points and 13 points. Well, they scored 17 on a garbage touchdown tonight, but like, you're not going to hold a really good offense to 17, you can hold Oregon to 28 or 31 and still feel good about it the way you played. So like, you're gonna give up points and that's gonna happen. But if Ohio State's offense can be who they are, and their defense can show up the way they've showed up all year, you know, say for the fourth quarter of the Michigan game, like Ohio State is going to be a very difficult team for anybody to beat. And we knew that this was a potential, we didn't predict it because Orion Day didn't give us a reason to. Right. But, you know, the thing is, if they're gonna the playoff Andy lose being you yes lose trying to to be somebody You're not somebody you're not and who they are is Jeremiah Smith 12 targets in a game

Carnail Tate five targets and that kick buka nine like that. Yeah, they are well and the thing is like Jeremiah Smith I think leveled up tonight. Well, yeah We already knew he was going to be good. I've been saying on every, like, when I go on these other shows that are kind of more, like when I was on the Dan Patrick show, I started to tell the folks who maybe occasionally tune into college football but don't always live in the world

like we do, I'm like, this guy will be the best receiver in the world in five years, maybe less. Do you remember one of my first loss he takes it on three? Oh, that Jeremiah Smith will be the best receiver in the world in five years. Maybe less. You remember one of my first saws he takes it on three? Oh, the Jeremiah Smith will be the best receiver in the country. It was week two and I said already, and let me say this, and you correct me, but based on body type, physicality, size, I think he could play in the NFL right now. He would be in the NFL. He would be wide receiver one, not for every NFL team, but for a lot of them. And I'm telling you right now, in five years,

he would be wide receiver one for every NFL team. And whatever team he's on, he will be. So, you know, and that's, and like that Ohio State, that's who you live and die with. And the Quinshaw and Judkins and Trey Henderson are good, but you have had bad offensive line injuries and you have to accept that. Well, you know, and that's the way it is.

One thing I thought Ohio State did really well in this game was use the entire width of the field because yes, they attacked vertically with with Jeremiah Smith, but there was a lot of stuff there like slipping a buka out of the backfield and forcing Tennessee to defend sideline to sign them because once you do that, that's when the running plays start working. And that's exactly what happened. They spread Tennessee out. Because Tennessee was scared to death

of them going and attacking sideline to sideline and all of a sudden you pop a big run up the middle right? And that's what opens up. They sell out or they go. They drop back and then you hit him underneath. Like that's can. Can we give a little credit this Ohio

State offensive line which we have been very harsh about? Well, and rightfully so on the second play game, you know, it was like, Oh boy, this is going to be a long night. And you know, it didn't really kind of feel that way. And I, Ohio state did a very good job of designing an offense that put Will Howard in a position to not just be a sitting duck back there too. They rolled them out a lot. He was on the run, you know, by design quite a bit.

You know, receivers were getting open and I thought they did a really good job of balancing short intermediate passes and hitting the run game when they were supposed to. And then of course, you know, guys were open the entire game and guys are gonna be open all year for the rest of the year.

So like, you know, I, I don't know if you wanna do this. You tell me if this is a bad podcast. I don't, I you want to do this. You tell me if this is bad podcasting. I just cannot fathom the place that Ryan Day and Chip Kelly got to two weeks ago. Yeah. Like I don't know how you could get down that bad and like design a game plan that ignored what you like. It was such a bad game plan.

I don't know how it's possible. But the question I have for you Andy is we're not going to go back and talk about Michigan for 10 minutes, but does what happened at Michigan give you pause for this team's potential moving forward because they could have a bad coaching like or is it just it's not Michigan they played well okay or already passed it like that was I will I will give you an example and and I think we mentioned this a few weeks ago and you kind of poopoo'd me the 2015 Ohio State team which I believe was more talented than the one that won the national title the year before well it's the same players just more experienced right

right so one of the best teams in the country did not make the playoff because they lost to Michigan State. Remember when they lost to Michigan State, they sort of forgot Ezekiel Elliott was on the team in the second half. Ezekiel Elliott pops off after the game in the postgame press conference. Like I asked that question. Did you know that? I know you did. Yes. What? And the gist of it is what the hell are we doing out there or what it was exactly?

Yeah, don't you think you should have carried the ball more tonight Z? and and his answer was in many more words will duh and But here's what happened That week now granted. This is the urban Meyer staff is different staff, but that week they changed the way they called plays They changed the mechanics of their play calling. Against Michigan the following week, it was like a completely different offense. And that offense continued into the bowl game.

But that was a period where there was a 14 playoff. Michigan State had beaten them head to head. Michigan State won the big 10. So Michigan State was going to the playoff. And there wasn't a place for Ohio State in the playoff. That team would have made the playoff this time. I would bet you that team would have won the national title. This team can do that if they learned their lessons

from the Michigan game. So that's a long way of saying that the Michigan game's like a good thing for them? I'm not saying it's a good thing. I'm saying if you learned your lesson, you can win the national title. Well, the question that I have about that, Andy, is why was that a lesson or something you needed to learn to begin with? It doesn't matter. It's over. It happened.

I know. I know. How do you need to learn that lesson? All right. Well, inside baseball. So Ari and I were driving up here today. We were in the gas station and we were talking about when our wives get mad at us. And sometimes we mess up. A lot of times we mess up. And the thing is, once you've messed up, and this is the male brain's way of thinking about this, once you've messed up, your next thought is, how do I solve this? Like, what do I have to do to fix this?

How can I make? I messed up. So what can I do next to make this better? The husband thinks forward, the wife thinks backward. And so they will be rightfully yelling at us saying, or not yelling at us, or however saying, but you messed this up. How did you mess this up? Or if you didn't do it, this would not happen. Yeah, and my response is frequently, I know, I messed up, I'm sorry.

I'm trying to do the best I can to fix it now. And my response is, I don't know why what happened to get here is important at this moment. Let's try to find a solution. So do you understand what I'm saying now? I do. Yes. I do, but to give my wife credit

because she's a rational person, a lot of times when she's doing that, it's also trying to prevent symptoms of the same thing from occurring again. So I'm not trying to waterboard Ohio state with bad memories. What I'm trying to get to the bottom of is whether or not one of the worst coaching performances in the history of the program is a Michigan blocker or a symptom of an ailment that will rise again during this playoff run.

I think there's so much psychic freight associated with Michigan. Psychological freight, probably not psychic. Psychological freight would have been don't run the ball, Ms. Cleo would have told him roll the roof. Psychological freight associated with the Michigan game that is not associated with playing any of these other teams. There's history with Oregon this season, but here's the thing, you managed to clock a little better at the end of the game.

The official doesn't call Jeremiah Smith for OPI, which I would say half the time to 75% of the time, that doesn't get called. Like they win the game. Yeah, I know. And like nobody's revisiting the Oregon game because sometimes you just go on the road and lose to a better team and a high right both

played both teams played well in that game the relitigation of the Michigan game isn't because they lost to Michigan it was the plan that this coaching staff put in place for that game yeah so I don't know because it is so bizarre five minutes into this game five real-time minutes on five game minutes you knew it was it was like different yes like you could tell immediately that they were not going to play that way not entirely because i thought when tennessee oh yeah with took the ball down when they when they get interception which may or may not have been an interception down here and then they took the ball down the field and scored and it's 21 10 and half you know ohio state tries to kick the field right before the half doesn't work. It will make, huh, uh-oh, this could get away from them. And Ohio State comes out, gets a stop right away, scores right away, and it's over. And that was an important moment. The domination of the third quarter

told you this team has learned something. But you also knew from a vibe standpoint in the first drive that they had the ball, that they were not going to call the game poorly. Like you knew it. Like you could feel it immediately. Like the second they hit Jeremiah Smith over the top for that 37 yard touchdown on their opening drive and how they got down, you know, they were the beneficiary of some, some penalties and stuff that extended that drive. But when they scored, it was like, okay, well, Jeremiah Smith is like five

minutes into the game has the same amount of targets that he had in the entire Michigan game. They're getting people open. They're throwing the ball. They're being aggressive. I'm third and short to throwing it. They were who they were, you know? And like that's the, so here's the number one, like I'm going to pull back the

Ohio state curtain because I'm more familiar with this program probably than any other program, but the Ohio State curtain, because I'm more familiar with this program, probably than any other program. But the Ohio State design as a program is a design to win games like this, right? Yes, they are designed as a, as a at the DNA level to compete against Georgia, Alabama, and you're not talking about Ryan Day's Ohio State, you're talking about Ohio State in general, I'm also talking about Ryan Day's personnel decisions, like they have, like Ohio State during Urban Meyer with Carlos Hyde and those guys was a run first spread team.

This is a pass first team. They designed this team to be able to score 45 points in the Fiesta Bowl against Georgia. But the game that we saw in 2022. But that build did not jive well with what you had to be like to beat Michigan at their best. So there's been this like topsy turvy back and forth of how should Ohio State be built? Should they be built to beat Michigan and more of a run heavy big ten hard nose talented team? Or should they be built to beat Alabama and Georgia? And the thing is when they were kicking Michigan's ass, they were doing it through the air. There's been a very big, very, that's like during the heart of the urban Meyer era,

they were kicking their ass by being a very hard nosed run team, both from the quarterback position to the run position. Their, their identity as a program at Orion day has shifted for a lack of a better word to a more finesse like team. Right. And those finesse teams in domes, when it's not cold outside against other skill position players score a lot of points. Here's the thing.

It was cold outside. Yeah. They were playing as a team that had really good athletes. But Tennessee has a lot of dudes. But Tennessee was not attacking Ohio State the way that Michigan attacked. Tennessee's offense isn't capable of attacking downfield. Like you saw where Tennessee is deficient. They don't have the receiving like they don't have the receiving core they had in 2022. Dylan Sampson was hurt for a lot of this game. So a lot of the run game that they had relied upon, they had to kind of shift that to

Nico Yamal Yaba. Yeah, it was not. But in those games where their offense has failed them, their defense has still been good and their defense couldn't do anything. Yes, Ohio State. So and I think too though, like going back to what I was gonna say though, is it's like the existential crisis of who should you be as a program, you can deal with that in the off season, but because you lost to Michigan

and you gotta figure out how to fix that. Yeah. But as you move forward into the playoff to play Oregon, you as a team probably match up with Oregon as well or better than anybody else in college. Here's the thing. Go be yourself. Ari, they match up as well or better with everybody left in the playoff.

If they play Georgia and Georgia starts pounding it like Michigan does, that's where you start wondering, hey, can Ohio State hang in there? This Georgia doesn't pound it like they can't. Yeah, OK, so they're a throw first team. I'm with you. But Ohio State's team and program is built to win the Rose Bowl.

They're built to go do this in domes or in beautiful LA settings and they are through it. Now in the offseason we're probably going to have to have maybe this week even a conversation about how do you view this Ohio State season because I do think it's a very interesting question. I still think it's the same like I said for the last few weeks. It's still national title or bust. It's still a failure if you don't carry it through. But if I'm an Ohio State fan, I am feeling a lot more confident

about the idea of carrying it through. But are you completely at the end of your rope if you are an Ohio State fan with Ryan Day? Or did he earn back any welfare? I would hope so. He had them ready, they were loose. All the things that we talk about psychologically that were wrong with them in the Michigan game They got right tonight and it did seem like

For a bit lack of a better term pucker season at the end of the first half I'm loose they were at the end of the first half when Ohio State Blew a 21-0 lead to make a 21-10, and then Tennessee scored late in the second half and then got the ball back. Like people in the press box were joking and you could kind of feel like the tension was coming back of like, okay, well, Tennessee's getting the ball. They can get within four here if they score.

And it's like, oh boy, here we go again. Ohio State comes out in the second half, gets a stop, then goes out and scores and then beats them up from there. Like that was a pretty critical moment for me because there was a moment there of like, well, it was Ryan Day's team. I'll tell you what one of the biggest for me because there was a moment there of like, well, is Ryan Day's team? I'll tell you what one of the biggest plays in the game was. It was the third down speed option that Tennessee ran. Yeah, first series of the

second half. And since he fans were criticizing that play call, what a bad play call is actually a pretty good play call for the situation, especially if you were going to try to go for it on fourth down. Lathan Ransom made an incredible tackle. Incredible to stop that play and that did it. Got them the ball back and they go down and score and that's the game. And so they just needed to be able to dominate like this against a good team. We haven't seen Ohio State do that. Now and they should have been capable that are capable because what we just watched out there Andy is the team that I've been saying off super team. Like that's what it looks like. And we have, that's what you pay for. That's what that roster was paid for. Exactly right. So now can we talk about,

this was he had another blowout, but it felt very different than the other ones that we saw this weekend. I think I had some fun on Twitter. If you weren't, if you weren't a Tennessee fan, this weekend. I think I had some fun on Twitter. If you were, if you weren't a Tennessee fan, you loved the schadenfreude of this because you've got everybody who isn't a fan of an SEC team going, huh, did Tennessee deserve to make it? Same, the same arguments everybody made about Indiana and everybody made about SMU

and everybody made about Clemson. They made it about Tennessee because they were getting their asses kicked. But even the other SEC fans, like the Florida fans were enjoying watching Tennessee get crushed too. Yes they were. Very much so. The SEC stuck together better. No, no, no. The Alabama fans, not fans of Tennessee, like they were they were enjoying watching that. Only the SEC teams that can benefit off of the SEC's reputation. Mississippi State. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So the thing that was frustrating, and as you saw, I had a meltdown today.

We were together in your hotel room and I melted down. And I also wrote a column, a pretty strongly worded column. I don't know if you've gotten a chance to read it yet, but I went pretty- Took aim at Paul Feinbaum. Yeah, because it was nonsense. And like all of the stuff that you read all morning about Indiana and SMU was that none of that was online at

night where it's like, okay, well there's an overmatch team and a semi-final game. What the hell? Like you don't see that. And like, I think that that's the reason why people get frustrated because the SEC does get the benefit of the doubt, but you can make all the same points about, you know, SMU and Indiana about Tennessee and you're not going to do that. You want to know why? Because Tennessee is a really good football team in Ohio State's really really good

yeah, and like sometimes when you get down to the end and You know, you're playing against good teams the good the good better teams just win by a lot, especially at home And you've seen it through the years like Alabama Coming out like gangbusters Against the Kyler Murray, Oklahoma team like that Kyler Murray Oklahoma office was awesome This Ohio, but they got four straight stops and that game was over Yeah, the doors blown off. Yeah, let's get their doors blown off all the time You know what? I'll be interesting to track and I had this thought we didn't talk about it

But we spent so much time talking about seating and home field and how important that was gonna be the home teams went for no right well can we talk about the seats in here because Yeah, how many how many Tennessee fans were here? Are you? I would say thousand thousand if I had to get 30,000 Tennessee fans. It was and it was a it was a sign of how fed up Ohio State fans were after

the Michigan ticket prices were because the ticket prices dropped. It was very easy because what you think about it if the prices for the tickets were 100 bucks if I'm a Tennessee fan and even if I don't have a ton of money, I'm getting in the car, I'm driving the five hours north. Yeah, it's not a far drive. Exactly. Yeah.

Coming into the stadium and then I'm driving after the game to Cincinnati, finding a cheap Marriott and crashing and then driving home the next day. It's not an expensive trip. Yeah. So Ohio State fans came into the game fed up with their coach, fed up with their program, not feeling really good about whether or not this team was able to compete at this level and they didn't want to come. And like that's the first time I've been around this program my entire adult life basically. And this is the first time I've ever seen that in Ohio state allowed that to happen. And I think that,

you know, if you really boil it down, had Ohio state lost this game in any fashion, I would have been awful. When you think about the optics of just how many Tennessee people were here and like how many like, and they would have moved down. It would have been awful. When you think about the optics of just how many Tennessee people were here and like how many like and they would have moved down. It would have been like all of this whole side of the stadium was Tennessee and it would have been a very bad look because that's like, you know, you always say like with what you're saying about the buyouts when when the buyout is expensive.

Just math. Yeah. Like isn't that kind of what it looks like at the end when another team comes in and yeah, your stadium lose games. You're supposed to in fact like I learned that with the Willie it looks like at the end when another team comes in and you lose games you're supposed to win? In fact, I learned that with the Willie Taggart situation at Florida State and did it with ticket math. And so you're exactly right. So conversely, watching all that orange stream out of the stadium in the third quarter. The last nine minutes of this game were backups playing against backups.

Think about that. That's how thoroughly Ohio State dominated Tennessee. Yeah. And Ohio State now has 10 days or whatever to, you know, rest up, maybe get some so their offensive line healthy. I think they should feel pretty good about their offensive line and you know, from a tactical standpoint, the Oregon Ohio State game is gonna be awesome. I had a saucy take that they would play three times this year. You had a saucy take that they would only play once.

We're both wrong twice. We'll take time number two. We'll take time number two. I can't. I can't wait to see the Rose Bowl. The next round has two games that I cannot wait for. Cannot wait for the Sugar Bowl. Georgia Notre Dame cannot wait for the Rose Bowl, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State Boise State could be fun in the Fiesta. The one that really. I'm not so much looking forward to is Texas, Arizona state,

though the Sun Devils have have surprises. The ones you're most excited about, because I'm most excited about Georgia and Notre Dame. I think I'm most excited about Ohio State and Oregon. We already saw it. So I mean like the intrigue of seeing something, but I want to see it again too. It's so if it hasn't been so good the first time, I don't know that I feel this way.

I just want to see Notre Dame, if they can do what I'm saying, I thought they could do all year. Like, I'm so intrigued by that. But I thought that, you know, a lot of annoyance in how this was covered to me. Like, I don't know if you struggle with it. I struggled a lot today. And maybe that's part of why I was such an asshole late at night on Twitter. But like, I just don't I didn't like the discourse. I did not like course of the day. Um, and I think the, well, listen, people like to complain and it would have

mattered if this was the 50th year format. Yeah. If you had four blowouts in the four first round games, people were going to complain. If the NFL playoffs has straight blowouts in its wildcard weekend games, everyone will complain. Here's the actual reality of it. And I'm not going to. I told you so or anything, but I kind of am. I don't think that the blowouts of the first round games was a symptom of the wrong teams being chosen.

I think it was a symptom of too many teams being invited and like it doesn't matter. It's fine. I liked it. But like you said earlier, maybe the curve hasn't been flattened nearly as much as I thought. Or maybe it was just home field advantage is really important. Yeah. It's been cold. Yep. And I think the weather is overblown, but it's not easy. It's so much harder to win in this environment. I don't care how many Tennessee fans show up like it was a home field advantage. Yeah. It's a hundred two thousand people. This is a crazy place.

It's hard to go from Dallas to State College. If you think like Kevin Jennings played poorly, it's like kind of in Jennings. State College is really hard to get to and like it's like hard to play and it's a different climate and the time zones. Like I understand like, you know, the home game's a different climate and the time zones like I understand Like you know the the home game thing really does matter Which which is why I hope they will change it so that a team like oregon can be rewarded at home game The team like georgia can be rewarded with a home game oregon's sitting at home watching this game to see who they're playing And they're like this is our reward for being number one Like yeah, we got to go play these monsters in the rose bowl and they already know how good they are

They played them once oregon. Yeah o. And Oregon should be rewarded in other ways. I think Oregon should be playing Boise again. I don't know, but that's just the way it is. So yeah, I thought that this was a very revelatory game in the sense of Ohio State. I'm very curious and excited during the week to get into Ryan Day discussions because, you know, I mean, I'm thinking about what I'm gonna write tonight

and I'm having a hard time with how to contextualize this because I know being here for as many years as I've been here, Andy, how much that Michigan game means to these people. And like, it is such a bizarre thing. And I asked you this question and I'll ask the chat and I'll ask anybody who's listening, if you remember something like this to email me, but when's the last time a coach has been two or three wins away from winning a national title who

also felt like they were coaching for their job. It's such a bizarre. And that is how important it is. So when I keep harping on it, and I keep bringing it up, I think it's more to service the Ohio State fans that care about that. Because I don't know that there's another rivalry. I mean, I don't know, you tell me you're in the south, what other what SEC is the is the Iron Bowl like that went out when when Alabama lost to Auburn and then won the national championship? What year is that 28 2017 17?

Were Alabama fans like kind of like at the end like didn't know cuz like I think at the end if Ohio State Well, cuz they beat they'd beaten an incredible Georgia team I know on second and 26 and overtime like it didn't matter rivalry game stick in their gut No, they didn't care because Cause they were beating them regularly. Okay. It was now there was a time like Tommy Tuberville beat Alabama five years in a row and, and the fourth one got Mike Shula fired.

So yes, it happens. Wins the national title this year. Losing to Michigan will be something that makes it less sweet. I'm not saying they're not going to enjoy it. And I'm not saying that people aren't and I Ohio State fans You know I'm wrong you tell us I Do know they want to know this I want to answer this to people that I am on Twitter I follow a bunch of people from the Ohio State world that I've come to know People were some people were rooting for Ohio State to lose so they would fire their coach tonight like that

They were not gonna fire him. I know but I'm saying people like let's get let's rip the band-aid off and get every show I've gone on the quiet. If Ohio State loses, will they fire right? They're never they were never going to fire him. How many places that are this proud and this concerned about football that you know, in this in this country, that would not come to a home playoff game because they're upset about a rivalry. I know I'm trying to explain it. I know I got you. I know

different here, man. It means the it means the way are you just saying that it just it just means I don't know if more means more. I think that there's no rivalry in college football where the results of that game mean more to the people who are involved. Well, I think so feel a little better if they win four in a row and win the national title better. But I don't. Yeah, we'll talk about it. I don't want to. Well, we have a

torpedo art. We have a whole lot to talk about this week. Now, obviously, there's a holiday in the middle of it, but we're going to have Monica. There's that there's also Christmas. We are going to have a lot of discussions. We want to talk Ryan Day. Producer River has pointed out the text, you know, he obviously has the pulse of the Tennessee fans as a Tennessee grad. And he said, you know, that we need to discuss whether Josh Hypple, if this is his ceiling, or can he do better than this? I mean,

short answer, I think he can. But I think that's something to discuss. Tennessee successful season, right? Yes. But it sucks. If they just get back here next year, and get their asses beat again, then it's not. They got to do some work at the receiver position at the board. But when, but Tennessee's been not been in this position in so long that yes,

getting here was the success. Now you try to build on it. Ohio state has been here. Ohio state has been getting here. So that's the difference. But we'll talk about Tennessee and what happens next. If you're one of the thousands and thousands of Tennessee fans who drove up here, let me give you a little... There's a Buc-E's enrichment on your way home? There is a, I think it's a pilot flying J, but it's a new one. And I know you might not want to

donate to the Haslums, but right now you might be the best, depending on how you view it. Yeah. But or not right now you might be the best but depending on how you view it. Yeah There's a flying J between Columbus in Cincinnati on your way back down 71 when you guys were as a troop Cinnabon open 24 7 I've surely eaten in there before I'm gonna try to figure out what it is. All right hot take is there a better emotional meal then emotional Cinnabon Yeah, I think emotional McDonald's is no, the emotional cinnabon is much better. Emotional McDonald's is just sadder. Emotional sweetness is so much better than emotional savory. But donate to the NIL collective indirectly and

get a cinnabon in return. You know, it's just a tip. It's between Jeffersonville, Ohio and Cincinnati. There's a flying... Is that near the Hell is Real billboard? It's past the Hell is Real billboard on the left. It'll be on your left as you're driving down south on 71. Hopefully you guys can all go in there and donate to the NIL fund. Like it is a successful season, I think, for Tennessee. And if you are a vol Twitter person

You can email me and say sorry about the seating stuff. I'll forgive you We love you vol Twitter. I'm sorry. I love this way But but guys you're still going you're going to Pasadena. It's gonna be great game. I'm very excited about round two Ari my fingers are about to freeze can't feel my yeah f**k. Yeah, fingers are not even there. We are. We're going to go talk to some players and coaches. We'll talk to you on Sunday.