Andy & Ari On3 - Ole Miss-Oklahoma INSTANT REACTION | SEC Thriller in Norman as Rebels knock off Sooners

Episode Date: October 25, 2025

Watch here as Andy & Ari instantly react to the showdown in Norman between the Oklahoma Sooners and Ole Miss Rebels. While Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss had a 22-10 lead at halftime, Oklahoma clawed its way back. What does this game mean for CFP implications? Watch here as Andy & Ari react here. Our show is presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Join On3 today and get one full year of access to The Athletic included! https://www.on3.com/subscribe/C Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/x1NLc0i_qmo Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to your instant reaction edition of Andy already presented by BetMGM and Ole Miss has beaten Oklahoma in Norman. Check another item off the list for Lane Kiffin. He has now beaten a ranked SEC team on the road. That was one of the things they said he couldn't do. And he did it. That's the first time. That's the first time at Ole Miss. Really?

I don't know if he did it at Tennessee. He almost beat Alabama when he was at Tennessee. Tennessee. That's a pretty surprising stat. You would think with how many teams are typically ranked in the SEC, he would have beaten like number 24. That was the stat. That's why it was the stat. So yes. Yeah. So obviously two very different sides of the coin here. You know, Ole Miss continues to move forward after, you know, suffering their first loss. But, you know, man, I don't know. Walk me through your column. about Ole Miss, because I want to know what you're taking. Ole Miss is in the playoff. Sharpie, Ole Miss playoff team. Because they're not going to lose two more against the rest of this schedule. I know probably shouldn't say that, but they're not going to lose two more against the rest of the schedule.

They play South Carolina at home, Citadel at home, Florida at home at home at Mississippi State. They are not going to lose two more against the rest of the schedule. Ole Miss is going to the playoff. Yeah. Yeah, you've never cursed anybody before. I'm sure it'll be okay. But if you lose in Florida last year, the hope is that they wouldn't do that two times in four games,

one of those games being against the Citadel. So I think that you're probably pretty safe in that regard. Yeah, so obviously that's a huge situation for Ole Miss. And I think that it's always so funny because in college football, like all the time and in the offseason, we talk about, you know, this is the year for a team. This is the year. this is the schedule sets up the talent sets up they add these players and blah blah blah blah blah

and then they don't make the playoff and then the year that they're not supposed to be as good they make the playoff um and that's what's so interesting about the sport um you know hey congrats to lane kiffin man he's the hottest coaching candidate in the country right now and you know i was always amused even during the week about you know they need him to lose or teams need him to lose so that they're free to get him early he's proving why he is and i think that's an important thing and hopefully old miss has a front row seat to why they need to, you know, back up the brink truck to match whatever offers are going to come this way,

because I'm assuming he's going to get, like, five. Yes, yeah. I mean, look, Lane Kiffin is obviously the top choice of Florida. I don't know if Penn State wants him, but why wouldn't you? I would expect to be a lot richer person if I were Lane Kiffin. But this is what I've been saying all along. The Ole Miss fans got mad because they only watched the clip with Josh Newberger. They didn't watch the whole video.

But what I said was 15 years ago, there's no decision to make you're going to Florida. But now you can win the national title at either place. Either place can pay you the same amount of money. And if you are 11 and 1 at Ole Miss and going to the SEC championship game, which is a distinct possibility, why would you leave? I'm just, why?

Give me a reason why you would leave. Palm trees. I don't think that's a good enough reason. Yeah. No, I'm with you, man. I'm with you. You know, and I think, too, you know, as Ole Miss fans are piling in here watching this instant reaction, I know that as they continue to, you know, enjoy success, the ironic part about it is like the Ole Miss losing Lane Kiffin discourse gets louder and louder and louder. I thought that that was a really good performance from a team that I picked to lose this weekend. I thought that that defensive performance, now, I don't know if you, what do you think that was?

Was that a great Ole Miss defensive performance or was that Oklahoma's offense stinking for the most part of the game? Because if you take away a few big plays. I think it was Ole Miss's defense playing better than it played last week. It wasn't perfect, but it gave up a couple huge plays. I thought there were some mistakes that Ole Miss made and still won the game anyway. Lane Kiffin blamed himself for one of them, and it was his fault, putting Austin Simmons in on the goal line. that cost them four points. They ended up having to kick a field goal

when Trinidad Shambliss would have just hit the open receiver and that would have been a touchdown. And then they went forward on fourth down in their own territory. That only cost them three points. But the going forward on fourth down, the more I think about it, I'm not going to criticize him for that

because that's just the team and the culture he's created. And so you ride with that. You sure about that? You sure about that? I think it was, I think it was stupid in the moment, but there is, isn't that what they always say about, you know,

the Lions and the NFL that like they're going to go out all the time. They're going to, like, I feel like there's a limit to like where it's like if you have an 18 against the 10, you're not hitting. Like that, you know, you might always hit on. I don't know, man. With Trinidad Shambliss, I feel pretty good about fourth and one from our own 17 yard line or whatever. I feel pretty good about converting wherever it is on the field.

Yeah. I don't know if anybody, yeah, we'll have to disagree on that. Like I like that they go. Like what the field is unheard of. Yeah, especially playing as a team that hadn't gotten a first down in like a real time. Already did it. Who won the game? Ole Miss.

Okay. Did being aggressive win Ole Miss the game? Yes. Yes, it did. So they were aggressive. They stayed the same throughout. Was that a mistake in the moment? Yes.

Is being aggressive as a general, is being aggressive as a general program philosophy a bad thing? Not for them. It works. Right. I think that all those things can be true and it also could be stupid, which I think you agree with. I believe in my guys. I believe in my guys. I believe in my guys. You know how I am, man. I'm all for going forward. I know. You know, I was just like, listen, I have a very high governor for, oh my God, they're going for it moments. Like I sat up and it and was like, what they're going for this? Like even I was like, wow. The way Shambliss is playing at the moment, I might have made that same to see. Like he was so good at that point.

It's like, well, why wouldn't you punt it away because Oklahoma can't get a first down and they can't score? But then maybe the thought process is even if we don't get it, they're not going to score. And then they didn't. So like, they only got a field. That's the thing. They gave up a field goal. They made a two possession game, a two possession game in that whole sequence. It didn't really change much.

And I believe in the following possession, all missed march down the field and got a field goal too. So they basically just chewed up the. entire quarter um you know at no point i mean i guess there was a certain point when oklahoma took the one point lead where it felt like things were starting to fall apart for old miss but like there was like maybe 10 real-time minutes uh this afternoon where it felt like oklahoma was going to win yeah and i think it's a pretty good thing because like listen you know we're going to have to you know flip the coin here and talk about oklahoma in a second but you know oklahoma's a fairly good team a team that had visions and thoughts of going nine and

three. I think we came into the weekend, or at least I came into the weekend, thinking that Ole Miss was kind of fraudulent in the sense of like, if you go look at their advanced stats on both sides of the ball or on the defensive side of the ball, there's some alarming things there. And then I was wondering, too, like if their resume was kind of setting them up for a position where they were going to get exposed. And that 75-yard or 76-yard touchdown pass to Satania that we saw in the first half, I thought was going to happen quite a bit in this game and it didn't. There were a few big plays, but it wasn't the hallmark of the game the way I thought it would be like if i'm an old miss fan right now not only am i excited about the fact that

like i sharpied myself or it feels like i sharpied myself into the playoff i think you feel pretty good about the the potential of actually winning games once you get there too because yeah you know that was a hard environment it was raining out like you know Oklahoma felt like they had to win that game and i think after we're done doing this i'm going to write a column about how oklahoma had to win that game and they didn't um big win for for old miss and i think you can't say enough about you know this year's team. I don't know if I believe they can win the national title, but I do believe that they are maybe a lot better than I thought they were coming into the weekend. Yeah, I mean, look, they're going to be in the mix for the SEC title. It depends on how everything

else shakes out. The tiebreakers probably what happens with Georgia the rest of the way since Georgia has that win in hand against Ole Miss. But they're in great shape. Ole Miss fans crack yourself a Modelo. That's right. Modelo sponsors us and is the official beer of the college football playoff, grab yourself, Medello. Stay game day ready all season long, and you should be celebrating Ole Miss fans. You should be cracking many Medellos tonight because this was a huge win for your program, for your team, for everything, because they're going to make the playoff. I am very confident in saying that already thinks I'm cursing you. They're going to make the playoff. So grab yourself a medello, enjoy. You've been ready all season. You've never lost a party at Ole Miss. So of course,

you know where to find the medella now on to the sadness let's talk about oklahoma i'll start with a comment from brandon i hate when oklah loses because all the stupid people criticize brett vettibles this loss is 90% on john meteer 5% on isaiah satania and 5% ben arbuckle that's interesting man who hired ben arbuckle and therefore took john meteer's the quarterback hmm who did that that? Whose decision was that? Ari? Are you going to answer that question? I thought you were talking to him. I was just going to sit here and, you know, Brandon was just going to answer it, even though he's not in the studio. Brandon, that you were going to answer. I didn't know, yeah, we, yeah, Brent Venables made all those decisions. I was still trying to break down in the, in the, uh, oh, his math

came up with it. Because even if it, if you say, even if you take Brent Venables out of the math equation of culpability, like I still don't know if that's the correct breakdown of, who's that fault here. It's definitely not. John Mateer was not good in this game. Yeah. But it's definitely not 90% John Mateer. It's some of the defense. Remember, remember how Oklahoma had the best defense in the country? It may turn out that it was really good against teams that had bad offenses. Yeah. You know, and I hate getting to a point where it feels like it's like, okay, well, all the analysis that you do for an entire year. Like, I think maybe part of it too is that, you know, you give up 34 points. That's a lot of points.

but it's not an obscene amount of points to maybe one of the best offensive outfits in the entire country either. Like, I think it's like a little bit of both. It's the same amount. It's one less than Georgia gave up to them last week. Yeah. Right?

35 last week. 35, I believe. Yes. Yeah. So, yeah. And we came into the weekend thinking, or I, you know, we talked about this, but like Oklahoma's plan for the rest of the year

had to be win the games you're expected to win or win the games that you're favored. as I wear my pet MGM hat. They had an opportunity here to reclaim their season to put things from it's Brent and Venables on the hot seat to maybe optimism. And they failed to do that today. And I think the conversation about Oklahoma season now officially goes into the dark mode area of like, it's not what can we do, it's how bad can it get.

Yeah. You feel like that's, well, let's pause before we look at what Oklahoma has left. And examine Ronald's comment here because this is an interesting one. Oklahoma had two freshmen on the O line and one was in his first start. Give him a break. Ronald, it's the University of Oklahoma. You're supposed to win every game. You don't get a break. You don't get excuses. You're supposed to have a good offensive line. You're supposed to have a good quarterback and you're supposed to have a good defense. It's the University of Freaking Oklahoma.

The second you start saying stuff like that is when you accept the loser mentality of programs that do not expect championships. It is the University of Oklahoma. Get this guy a chef's hat. Sorry, like, you're supposed to win. You're supposed to be good. You're supposed to compete for championships.

You can't make excuses. And we're certainly not in the, the year of the coaching tenure where that would be acceptable even if you wanted it to be. Correct. It's year four. It's like, so the fact that you have those personnel issues right now is also a problem. So like, however you want to slice it, like, whatever. If the personnel issues are the reason why you lost, then you're the reason that you

had those personnel issues and that thus it's still your fault, which goes back to the, you know, rhetorical question that Andy asked one of the listeners here that I didn't chime in on. So like, I don't know. Wait, hold on. The LG wants to come after both of us. Ari, that's a poor take. Losing by 8 to a good team should not put you on the hot seat. Also, the problem is Bill.

Who's Bill? Bill Beedenbow? The offensive line coach? He's talking about Landis. Yeah. Like, guys, that's also Brent Benneville's fault. He's in year four. If his offensive line coach wasn't getting the job done,

he should have changed him. Like, I don't understand where the disconnect is. Yeah. I mean, like, it's kind of an interesting tenor to see Oklahoma fans in the chat here trying to, you know, back up their coach. You would think that that would be the exact opposite feel that you would get. But there's a healthy percentage of them that are not. Let's, River, post the schedule that remains for Oklahoma. Okay, Tennessee, Alabama on the road.

Missouri, LSU, at home. They're not going to lose all these games, sorry. They're going to win some of these. But are they going to go four and oh? probably not. I think two and two seems very reasonable for this stretch. And actually, a good team probably goes two and two in this stretch. Like an above average team goes two and two in the stretch. Unfortunately, that means Oklahoma finishes eight and four. That's probably not going to get Brent Venables fired, nor do I think

it should. But he's got to be careful. Like, don't go below that. Don't drop below that. I mean, two and two in that stretch is a pretty good run. Like, that's the thing. Like, that's the baseline expectation of like that's pretty good like the second it dips into unacceptable which what i think would be one in three um which by the way would be difficult i mean even though like you that means you have to beat one of those four teams and that's difficult thing to do uh you are in danger so like again i think that today was the turning point of oklahoma season they had a chance to to turn something into you know excitement and optimism and instead now we're like looking at dire scenarios like that's just the way i viewed this game that's the way i viewed it coming into the

weekend, and that's probably what I'm going to write here, of like, hey, you know, maybe CFP was a little bit of a pie in the sky thought process, but, you know, at least you wanted to put yourself in a position going into November to believe that that was still possible. And now that this felt like an elimination game for them. It sure did. And they still can't, look, they can make the playoff if they went out. Like, that is still on the table. So it's not over yet.

And we buried them after the Texas game. They came back and played really well in South Carolina. so it's not over yet but they don't even have to win three and one i think maybe gets them maybe maybe it depends on what happens with everybody else but yes that's a very tough schedule they would they would have the toughest schedule of anybody in the in the mix and so well here's the more important question you believe that they're equipped to beat anybody on that's maybe lSU with the way they're playing right now but the way you said i think they go two and two i i think two and two is realistic i don't really think i was realistic so they have to beat tennessee or missouri

and then we're already chalking up LSU as a win? I'm not chocking up LSU as a win. I'm just saying, I don't know where LSU is going to be at that point. Believing two and two is a pretty optimistic belief, I think. Yeah. Justin in the chat, Oklahoma was only expected to go eight and four in the off season. Exactly.

See, it's eight and four. Look, it's an improvement over last year. You build on that. You win one or two more next year. You're in the playoffs. It's an interesting comment. How often do you think that we as consumers of the sport have expectations in August

and then depart from those expectations when they come true in October, November. I do think the early surge by Oklahoma raised our expectations for this team, but as we just saw, as Justin just pointed out,

this is what we thought they were going to be. This is exactly what we thought they were going to be. They've won some good games and then they've lost to a couple of good teams. Exactly where we thought they'd be. Yeah. And, you know, I think that he, I think my personal opinion is that Brent Venables has done enough this year to keep his job for another year. But again, that's always the jury's out scenario. I'm not, I'm not making that declaration until I see what he

does the next four games. I'm saying through the body of work that we've seen so far. Like, if, if, like, you had to make the decision today, keep or, or fire, I would say keep him as today. But again, you turn around and lose in a bad way next week, you know, that's a, that's a fluid situation. So, you know, I think as of right now, I would not have lost my faith in Brent Venables. I think, you know, you could still lose it, though, in the season.

Yeah. So we're going to get, well, we'll see, Tennessee has to beat Kentucky. I think they will. But we'll get it, we'll get an elimination game between Oklahoma and Tennessee, essentially. I know you think Oklahoma getting it and get a 9-3, but I think they have a chance to it.

It's not a guarantee. Let's let the Ole Miss here. Yeah, we'll play it off. We'll play it off with Austin. Hottie, Tottie, as long as we take care of business, we have a real chance to make the playoffs after this week. With the coaching talk, it feels so good because of that. Love you guys.

Love you too, Austin. And, hey, Austin, you don't have a chance to make the playoffs. You're making the playoffs. Enjoy it. Yeah. Grab a medello and crack it open tonight, Ole Miss. A few other things to close us out here, Andy. I know you wanted to go.

But first of all, Sailor Joe is one of our most loyal listeners. Are you all going to cover the Sark NFL rumor? I'm sure we'll talk about it at some point on tonight. Yeah, we'll talk about it during the show, but I will say the fact that his agency put something out, it's pretty telling that maybe this did not come from a very credible source. You would think that's where that would come from, yeah.

And I know you're going to say, oh, well, they probably leaked it and then put out the statement. That's not how that works. They never do that. Yeah. Also, Vance, here in the chat, one of our most. loyal listeners. Allow me to be an annoying, proud alum, Memphis. Memphis beat USF as we are on air. What a freaking comeback, by the way, because they were down 10 for most of the fourth quarter. Congratulations to Memphis. We got a call up Brian Silverfield, get him on the show again

because they are in great shape. Even though they lost the UAB, still in great shape. Yeah. So, yeah, we have a lot to break down tonight. That was a really fun noon window. We've got a lot of action happening. Auburn one. Hugh Freeze finally made a quarterback change after a crippling pick six, and guess what they won? Yeah, their offense moved the ball the entire second half. It's hilarious. Shockingly, all they had to do was change quarterbacks. Yeah, three weeks too late, maybe.

I guess we can talk about that later. And I think I saw that. Bill Belichick went for two in the first overtime to say, you know what, we're going to win or lose it right here, and they lost. Yeah. Congratulations, Virginia. Might be in the Alabama Sleepwalks Terror Dome at the moment. So we'll see.

Oh, and also one more, one more, Ari, one more, I'm Wake Forest walking off SMU hitting the season over already. Congratulations, Jake Dickert. I said, I tweeted Jake Dickert coach of the year. And somebody's like, what about Brent Key? I was like, did you watch the Georgia Tech Wake Forest game? Brent Key's voting for Jake Dickert. Yeah. But Wake Forest has five wins, so they're over the bed.

MGM preseason win total, and they play Florida State next week with a chance to get bowl eligible. Electric Times. Great window, even better one up. That's happening right now. We'll talk to you at 11.30 p.m. Eastern tonight. Break ball down and, unfortunately, something huge happens to be right back on.