Andy & Ari On3 - Oregon CRUSHES Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl | Ducks Advance in the CFP

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

Join Andy & Ari LIVE to breakdown the Orange Bowl between Oregon and Texas Tech. As the Ducks and Red Raiders kick off the New Years Day slate, who will join the Miami Hurricanes in the semi-finals? Watch here as Andy & Ari react live. This show is presented by Modelo! Some things in life are just made for each other. Peanut Butter and jelly. Macaroni and cheese. Modelo and college football. If you’re watching this, it means you live and breathe football. All season long. You know what that makes you? A Full-Time Fan. Which means you deserve a Modelo. Because football wouldn’t be the same without you. Modelo is the official beer sponsor of The College Football Playoff. Drink responsibly. Beer imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, IL Our show is also 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/pf5VinrnA9c Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's college football playoff reaction show presented by Madelo. Oregon and Texas Tech started out playing a rock fight turned into a blowout. The Ducks, 23-0-0 winners of the Orange Bowl. They are headed to the Peach Bowl for a semi-final Texas Tech. Meanwhile, continuing the curse of the teams with a buy. Now, 0 in expanded college football playoff history. We'll talk about it all on today's CFP reaction show presented by Medello. Welcome to an instant reaction edition of Andy and Ari on 3, presented by Madello.

Ari, I am in the orange hole. I'm in Hard Rock Stadium. It is the orange hole. It was an absolute demolition at the end. It was a rock fight at the beginning. And maybe Texas Tech should just consider buying an offense as well as a defense next year. you know andy uh you're at ground zero of narrative city today so uh i hope that you're you're ready to dig into some of these things well okay the buy thing is so funny because i i know and i said

this to people in the press box i was like guys do not write the buy jinks story don't do it don't because you're you're going to get it filed and then one of the two next games the team that had the buy is going to win by like 50 so don't do it just don't do it it's going to kill you a very skewed stat because it's not like the teams that we're losing were losing to inferior teams. Right. This was the other part of the game. It's like, you know, six games in a row where the better team won is a wild stat. I mean, I guess you could try to make a thing of it if it turned out to be the, you know, a five or six year trend, but, you know, we still have a few more games where teams with buys are playing

in it and, you know, I'm not sure that's going to hold up. And, you know, here's the thing, Andy. I think that this game, if I were there, here's what. but my takeaway from it would be that you still need to do more than one year of building before you have a complete team. It doesn't matter how much money you have. It doesn't matter how many portal players you get. If you emphasize spending big money in bolstering a position group, you can't bolster an entire team.

And I think that the takeaway here for a lot of people is that the Big 12 stinks and that Texas Tech didn't play anybody and they finally played somebody that can expose that weakness. It's like, no, Texas Tech's defense played its ass off. And I know that the score would indicate a blowout. I thought their defense was awesome. Oh, no, no. Their defense was incredible.

And I think Oregon players will tell you, when I go down to interview Oregon players, I guarantee you the offensive players from Oregon, I'd be like, those guys were awesome. It was hard for Oregon to move the ball. It was a close game until it wasn't. And it would have been a closer game if Texas Tech scored a touchdown. Ari, it's 13-0 with Texas Tech. sitting on the Oregon 34-yard line, fourth and inches. And that's when they motion out Morton

and run that Wildcat read option where it was not blocked correctly because there was no unblocked defender, but it wouldn't have mattered because the entire Oregon defensive line pushed the Texas Tech offensive line into the laps of the two backs. So, I mean, that's the thing. And I'm going to read you a quote from two days ago. This is from Bryce Betcher, the Oregon linebacker. And it was it was interesting when he said it i was thinking hmm i probably need to uh to file this one away and i had asked him a question about them discovering players who could contribute when they'd had some injuries like they had some injuries receiver they found some some other people who could help them out as the season went on and they had this at various positions

throughout the year and he he's the one who turned the conversation toward roster construction he said i think we've got the best overall team you know they might have some stars and we've got some stars but stars don't win you games team wins you games and he was right and it was almost it he's always like he was winking the entire time because i think you know he's he plays for organ's defense so he'd been watching the tex tech offense for a week and a half at that point like they knew they knew tex text text offense was not very good they knew their offense was good maybe not good enough to put up a ton of points on tex defense but good enough and they knew they knew what their defense was.

Yeah. And that's the difference. The thing that I love about college football, but is also simultaneously exhausting, is that every single result of every game has to be a referendum of a trend or in an indication of something that's happening in the bigger picture.

And it's like, I would like to sit here right now and say, well, when you have a team that's purchased through the portal in the offseason, you can make a really good team, but you can't beat a team that's been recruiting top 10 classes every year for the past decade. And it's just like, well, my Nied Ohio State on, Friday night, and the exact opposite happened.

So, like, there's no rhyme or reasonable. And I think in this specific instance, Texas Tech just didn't have a well-rounded enough team to win a game, but their defense, that defense could exist on the field with any defense or any offense in this tournament. Yes, it would be, you're right, it belonged and the offense didn't belong. But remember, even before NIL, before any of this, Oregon has been building up to this for like 20 years. You can start with the end of the Mike Belotti era, the beginning of the Chip Kelly era,

where they had this elite, like DeAnthony Thomas, elite skill talent playing in a unique offense. And then they started getting other, like they started getting the DeForest Buckner's. They get the good linemen every once in a while. And then Mario Cristobald comes in and he decides, I'm going to get a lot of good linemen. And then Dan Lanning comes in and he goes, I'm going to port the entire roster building strategy from Georgia. And oh, by the way, now we're allowed to pay players. So they've been preparing for this. And the thing is, like, it's not like they didn't use the portal either.

Dylan Thineman had a great game. He was probably the most famous portal edition coming from Purdue, former Big Ten freshman player of the year. As a dog, dude. Yeah, he's awesome. But who would you say were the most impactful, important, critical transfers for Oregon this year? I'd say they are Isaiah World.

And they're starting left guard. Those guys had, if they didn't get those guys, I'm sure they would have had some pretty good lining behind them. But, listen, Dan Landing doesn't go spend money in the portal unless he knows he needs it. And he needed those guys. And those guys need a difference today. You know, and I think back, too, Andy, to like last year when Oregon got blown out at the Rose Bowl by Ohio State, the next day I wrote a really long column about how Oregon is built and situated to compete at this and that they'll be back.

And it's like, I think, too, in this new expanded playoff, regardless of whether or not you want to have a discussion about whether the regular season should be emphasized more. or less that in this new world of college football, it's just going to be harder to spot who the national champion is going to be in November now. And like Oregon, you know, there was a really hard fought good win. I don't know if they're going to win their next game or not. But like when you look at like Miami and Oregon teams that we had left for dead in the middle of the year who are coming out and are playing really good ball now, like it's just more unpredictable than it's been in the past.

And like Oregon can go out and win a national title, but I think I'm proud. of you and I for both consistently reminding the listeners of what Oregon is built out of, and I think you saw that today on both sides of the ball. You wrote this column after the Rose Bowl last year. You're like, guys, this wasn't a terrible year for Oregon. It just ended badly. Like Oregon was a great team last year. They just got caught in the wrong spot.

I would argue that Texas Tech got caught in the wrong spot today because Oregon got to be that team this year. And another conversation I had with Bryce Betcher a couple of days ago, like he said that has been motivating him since that game ended. And he's not for he's not stopped thinking about it. He's not forgotten. And I was like

oh, is that one of those you flush the game? He said, no. He's like, I want to be reminded every day so I don't have to manufacture any sort of chip on my shoulder. It's just there. And he's not the only one that's been thinking about that. They were in this spot last year and got blown off the field and they made damn sure it didn't happen again yeah and i think too just

in college football in general andy teams that suffer uh defeats in the postseason the previous year but still are made out of the right stuff are going to be back the following year and teams that win the national title the year before are going to get knocked out like it's just not going to be like i think we just need to like wash this Alabama this Alabama thing out of our heads where the same team is going to win six out of eight years it's not happening anymore yeah it's just too hard to do It's too hard to stack that level of talent because, look, the most talented team in the country is out. Ohio State was the most talented team. They're out.

They weren't that much more talented than Miami, and you and I talked about that all week. They weren't that much more talented than this Oregon team I just watched. They're not that much more talented than the Indiana team that beat them in the Big Ten championship. And the thing that really stood out to me, Andy, too, last night was that Ohio State was the most talented team or is the most talented. talented team in the country, but if you have two important positions that aren't up to snuff and the other team has really good ends, they can blow up your entire season. And I think the thing that we're going to find here, you know, to move it forward back to this game and other games that we're going to watch today and into the future is that it's harder to have

a first round draft pick at every single position now than it's ever been before. And those matchups and those, you know, styles make fights, games are actually going to, you know, determine who wins the national title now. If this were five years ago, it's very similar to an even more popular brand of football, Ari. In the NFL, what happens? The talent gaps are not very big. They attack the weakest link on the team over and over and over and over again. And that's exactly what's going to happen now.

Yeah. They will find. The one guy who's going to be an accountant is going to get picked on over and over again. 2020, Alabama didn't have that thing on tape that I can remember that you say attack that. but Miami probably spent the last two weeks watching Ohio State's tape and go, you know what, we're going to just relentlessly attack their tackles and we're going to blow up their offense. Like today, Oregon's players probably looked at Texas Tech's offensive output and said, hey, you know what, we're just going to shut this team, this down by doing this,

this, and this in order to get, you know, those weaknesses. And Oregon was very well prepared for this game that you're watching them pre-snap and they are calling out everything that's about to happen. And Texas Tech was, you know, look, they were very predictable on offense. Oregon knew everything they were going to do. And honestly, I'm not sure if it mattered because Oregon was physically dominating them. The receivers couldn't get separation. Oregon's defensive line was, again, putting offensive linemen in the laps of the quarterback and the backs.

And there just wasn't much they could do. Yeah, and we're getting this here from one of the listeners. You all clearly said Ohio State was going to win. We did. And Texas Tech was going to win. didn't. But if you're looking for a podcast, yeah, yeah, I know I pick Morgan. We're making stuff up and getting mad about it again. But the thing that I wanted to say is, that's the point we're making, though, even if we did pick Texas Tech to lose or to win,

it doesn't matter. If you want to go find a podcast that's 100% on telling the future, just let me know where it is and we're going to listen to it too. I'm just going to follow them and bet those games and I'm not going to even do a podcast. But the point too here is that like we are explaining and saying right now that the way sport is made up is making it increasingly harder to predict the results of these games. And I think that's exciting. That's fun for the sport. Like now that Ohio State's eliminated,

and we have two exciting games coming up this afternoon. Andy, who's going to win the national title this year? I don't know. The team I just watched, the team I just watched, Oregon, has all the pieces you need to win a national title. They have everything you need. And I think, too, regardless

of who wins the next two games today, you're going to feel at the result of those games that the winner could go win the national title. and we're going to head into a semi-final with two good games against two capable teams on both sides of the bracket that are going to have the pieces to do it. Now, which matchups are going to favor one or the other? We'll get to that when we get to that. But, you know, we're getting a more pure playoff system now than we've ever had before. And I think if you're upset about that, then you're just, you know, that's one of the benefits.

Well, I do want to give a little credit to James Madison, though, that went to Eugene and had an offensive game plan, definitely a first 15 script. that had Oregon's defense struggling a little bit. So, I mean, Bob Chesney, like, if you're a UCLA fan right now, and you know Bob Chesney's coming to the Big Ten, like you are pumped because of what you saw him do against Oregon. The other thing I'll say about Texas Tech is this was not a failure for Texas Tech. No, no. Texas Tech hadn't won the Big 12 since the Big 12 existed.

They won the Big 12. They made the college football playoff. Now all they have to do is evolve. roster building strategy to do what you did this year where you built an incredible defense and also spend some money to build an offense. Yeah, I think, too, that like in this NIL era, we're going to have discussions, too, of like, was there a ROI on the NIL and are people going to be motivated again? If I'm Cody Campbell, I'm fired up about my investment.

I'm right more checks, maybe. Yeah. If you write more checks and you build a defense, that's 85 to 90% as good as this year's team, they're going to lose some guys that are important, but who isn't? And then you go out and get, like, can you imagine, like, is Cam Coleman, like, worth three and a half million dollars to tech now? He might be. I don't know. But I thought that it was a person who we've heard his head, you know, that's, I guess, the top of their wish list. If Brendan Sorsby is their quarterback today, this might be a one

possession game. I thought that, like, knocking on the door is going to be more important. The teams that knock on the door are going to eventually break through. Miami has been knocking on the door, not quite on this stage the last few years. They're breaking through right now. Oregon's breaking through. They've been knocking on the door for 20 years. And what I think is going to happen in this playoff system moving forward, Andy, is that a new team is going to break through every year, every two years. And it's going to be fun. Now, as we get geared up to watch Alabama, Indiana here starting in the next 20 minutes, you know, we're going to get to a place where

it might be a new team or it might be the same old, same old, but it's going to be a hodgepodge of new and old and it's great and beautiful i think this is working well and i don't have a referendum on the big ten's thinking or the big twelve stinking i don't listen i i am not i'm not going to take part in the conference yelling at one another like last night people wanted us to make grand sweeping statements about i i love the we got a tweet where somebody wanted us to make a grand sweeping statement about the ac c and the big 12 and the cc and the c and the big 10 based on the Miami, Ohio State outcome. Well, no.

There's only teams for two of those leagues even involved in that game. So am I supposed to now just say, am I supposed to now just completely bash the Big 12? I'm not going to do that. Yeah. It's like the team that lost last night was in the Big Ten, and the team that won today was in the Big Ten. I don't know.

It's exhausting. We'll see when all the games are played if there's any trend to follow. But in the moment, I feel like this round so far, two games through it, feature two really good teams playing a really good game and somebody had to lose. I think Oregon was obviously clearly the better team in this regard, and they're able to advance. And I'm excited to see what happens this afternoon when we get two more awesome games. That's right.

You talked about New Blood versus Old Line Blue Blood. Guess what? Indiana, Alabama, about to kick off in the Rose Bowl, we'll talk to you right after that game. So Crack of Madello, it's kickoff, which always means it's time for Madelo. and we will see you after the Rose Bowl.