Andy & Ari On3 - PENCIL IN Matt Patricia as Ohio State DC

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

When it comes to making the best hamburgers around the basics matter and Wendy’s?... well they’ve really got those burger basics on lock and boy does it show. So what’s the secret to all those hot and juicy hamburgers? Simple. Wendy’s always crafts their hamburgers with that fresh, never frozen beef they’re famous for. The result? Hot and juicy beefy hamburger perfection - every time. No matter which hamburger you order from the Wendy’s menu, you already know that thanks to those Wendy’s burger basics, it’s gonna be exactly what you were craving. Fresh beef available in the contiguous U.S., Alaska and Canada; not available in Hawaii. This show is brought to you by Panini America, makers of the most collectible sports cards on the planet. The Prism football card series a vibrantly paralleled base and insert roster featuring college football’s brightest former and current superstars. Some Panini sets include NIL autographed cards from players including Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers, Cam Ward, Jalen Milroe, Dylan Raiola, DJ Lagway, and Luther Burden. To start collecting, visit PaniniAmerica.net.(0:00-2:06) PaniniAmerica.net(2:07-4:18) Intro(4:19-22:00) Matt Patricia named DC at Ohio State(22:01-22:51) Wendy's(22:52-25:04) Ari's Headphones(25:05-45:25) Ari vs Brad from Macon on the Paul Finebaum Show(45:26-51:25) PaniniAmerica.net(51:26-1:10:10) Florida's 6.5 Win Total(1:10:11-1:12:40) Teams in the CFP(1:12:41-1:16:25) On Campus Quarterfinals?(1:16:26-1:18:31) Tennessee's Expectations(1:18:32-1:23:47) Advice for Younger Self Starting a Podcast(1:23:48-1:25:03) Conclusion: Ari's Civics Test Tomorrow! Ohio State has hired its defensive coordinator, and it’s former Patriots DC and Lions head coach Matt Patricia. Patricia, a longtime Bill Belichick consigliere, must replace former DC Jim Knowles and nine starters. Can he keep the Silver Bullets dominant, or will they take a step back? Next, Andy and Ari break down Ari’s clash with Brad from Macon on Wednesday’s edition of the Paul Finebaum Show. Brad thinks Ari is a Big Ten-loving homer who doesn’t respect the challenge of an SEC schedule. It was a battle for the ages. Later, Andy and Ari answer viewer questions… — What is the saucier take (Using Wendy’s sauce flavors): The Big Ten gets five teams in the playoff next year or the SEC only get three teams in again? — Any less confidence in the Florida over 6.5 wins with Billy Napier as playcaller? — Take one 2024 transfer player and put them back to their original team. Who would have the most impactful or be the most fun?  Watch us on YouTube instead! https://youtube.com/live/ICW0EvAvRcM Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

This show is brought to you by Panini America, making this the most collectible sports cards on the planet. The Prism Football Card Series features a vibrantly paralleled base and an insert roster featuring college football's brightest former and current superstars. I have a Lad McConkey autograph that I pulled out of a Prism pack about a couple weeks ago. Ari, I got a couple unopened Prism packs We got a rip here on the show the next few next few days. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the fact that you could even have unripped packs on your desk is pretty remarkable

to me when they sent us the first shipment. I opened everything and you're like, dude, you're not supposed to open those on your own show. I know, but I understand the enthusiasm. Yeah, yeah. Peyton Manning prison prison card right here, in his Tennessee uniform. They also have a bunch of NIL autograph cards from players including Archman and Quinn Ures,

Kam Ward, Jalen Milroy, Dylan Ryle, DJ Lagway and Luther Burden. To start collecting, visit PaniniAmerica.net and hey, watch the show because you're gonna see us ripping some packs you're going to see us ripping some packs. You're going to see us breaking some boxes. We are back with Panini and we could not be more excited. Yeah, and a quick story here, Andy.

I went, I don't know, it's like 2015 or 16, 17. I don't remember what year it was. It was a long time ago to Rockwall, Texas to interview Jackson Smith and Jigba for a recruiting profile. Um, and I just got three obsidian, uh, rares, rare cards here back from PSA, the deep sea mojo, the white electric X and the neon flood all to, uh, three or five or less. And they're all PSA tents. If you have the one on one, this is me saying there's, I want it because I'm trying to do the rainbow on that. But you know, we we're so happy to have them back and me personally and I know Andy and his son too, just like

all my son is pumped. All right. Paniniamerica.net. that's where you go start your collection today. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3, Ari do you have your pencil ready? Because we're going to talk about a guy who's always carrying a pencil around, Matt Patricia. That's a, I'm trying to think like we just got done with me ranting two days ago about how I never have cash. I'm trying to think of a more antiquated thing to carry around all the time than a pencil. Like when's the last time you wrote something?

I cannot even read my own handwriting anymore. And that, cause I used to, you know, when I was full-time writer, I carried around the reporters notebook and I'd, I would carry, you know, I would carry the notebooks and I would write down all my notes and my handwriting got more and more illegible as the years passed as I typed more and handwrote things less. And so I don't bring pencils, pens anywhere. When's the last time you wrote something?

Uh, I've had to sign my name on some things. Like when was the last time I hand wrote anything? It's been a while. Uh, the only time so here's a little personal stuff. But when we bought the house that I'm in right now, we had two mortgages like our mortgage lender came up with a system to get a lower interest rate where if we took two smaller mortgages instead of one big one that the average mortgage rate between the right be short. So we have two mortgage payments for half the amount of what the one would have been. But every month, as a result of this, I have to go to another bank because the checking account that is drawn on the second loan has to be within the same bank that the loan came from.

So I've got to go to a branch and write out a personal check to myself and then deposit it into another account once a month. And like filling out the deposit slip hurts. Like, I don't know. Well, Matt, Matt Patricia is writing stuff that it's, it's interesting to me because he keeps the pencil in his ear. And if you look at his history, so Matt Patricia hired his Ohio state's defensive coordinator.

He was the defensive coordinator for the, the bill Belichick Patriots for a while. Uh, there was that year where year where Belichick had him calling the offense, it was a little weird, but he was also the head coach of the Detroit Lions for a period. But yeah, he always keeps a pencil in his ear. And so his roommate at Rensselaer Polytechnic,

which by the way, very good engineering school, like this is a rocket scientist coach, said he's always done that. The part that amazed me was when he would have the pencil and he's holding a laminated call sheet. Like wouldn't you want a Sharpie? Yeah. Cause like I can see why a football coach

would write stuff down. Well, you know Chuck Culpepper from the Washington Post, right? Like I sat next to him at 25 interview sessions in my life, probably 50. And he has a big legal pad, you know, like a book and he is, you know, going the entire time, shorthand, it looks like my daughter scribbles and I'm like, you follow this? And he's like, yeah, I know. It's like he's writing

down exact quotes in shorthand. And I like to think that's a gift to like be able to do that. I've never written down anything. I have a tape recorder and I just listened back to what I need later. I wish I could write stuff down and just not have to listen back to it. But I very quickly email things to myself as interviews are going on. You do? If it's not a one on one thing, if it's a group interview sort of situation where I'm not required to ask all the questions. Yeah, I'll just email things to myself. Oh, I just the notepad because I'm recording it, but then that way I know where to go in the recording. So yeah, yeah, the time stamp note is good. It's like, oh, he said this at 11 minutes and 12 seconds in.

So you don't have to like listen back to the whole thing to find what you're looking for. But yeah, like the pencil thing is cool. I wish I had a thing. I don't have a thing. It is interesting. Like it's cool until everybody's mad at you and then they use it against you. Because like when he was the head coach of the Lions,

they just savaged him. Who carries a pencil when you have a limited call sheet? Same exact thing that happened to DeBoer in his sideline attire last year. Yeah, no, the t-shirt is great and you're all about comfort and you're not worried about the trappings of being a millionaire coach until you lose in a t-shirt to Vanderbilt. And then all of a sudden you need to wear a three-piece suit.

It's so funny about that too, is that if he was wearing a three-piece suit, they'd be like, why don't they spend less time worried about what he looks like on the sideline and more time coaching football? There's no winning. But it is funny. So I want to get into this because I feel like the... Well it's dear Andy and dear Ari Day. So let's start with a question from Andrew that sort of teases us up here. Do you think Ohio State's defense will be better under Matt Patricia now that he's the defensive coordinator

than they were under Jim Knowles? And I will answer that question unequivocally. If this question is, will Ohio State's defense be better in 2025 than it was in 2024? No, it will not because you will not have that level of veteran talent on the defense. It will not be as good because you have to replace so many players. You will not have a bunch of fourth and fifth years who could

be in the NFL right now. Anchoring your defense. You still have the best defensive player in the country and Caleb downs, but you don't have all that other stuff. So to judge Matt Patricia in 2025 by the standard of Jim Knowles in 2024, highly unfair, highly unfair. Yeah, the question,

I don't know if Buddy Ryan would have a better defense next year. Like, I mean, like, I don't know, like who are the best defensive coordinators of all time? Buddy Ryan was the defensive coordinator for the 85 Bears, right? Like it's not... I don't like, I feel like being a great defensive coordinator in college football is still about who you have. And like that's like somebody from the Notre Dame site called me and was asking me about Chris Ash. And

it's like, well, Chris Ash was really good at Ohio State, but Chris Ash also had like 10 draft picks on his defense. Like, I think it's, it's about as much what talent you bring in and how it fits your scheme as much as it is about like how much of a genius you are upstairs with the pencil in your ear. Like, it's like, so from that standpoint, Ohio State's defense is going to be replacing just about every important person. I think Caleb Downs makes it better. I think that having somebody like that is a nice little like eraser for mistakes. But, you know, Ohio State's defense last year got overshadowed by their offense and Jeremiah Smith. People like touchdowns and true freshman receivers. But like, what do you think was the better unit on Ohio State's team a year ago? I think you can make the case.

The defense unquestionably. Was a better unit. So, like, the question I don't know should should be do you think it'll be better? Like, and this is the thing that happened at Ohio State constantly. Over the 10 years that I covered them, like when they had a really good player, like if a quarterback would leave, like when Cardale Jones was done or when Braxton was done, the question was always do you think it's going to be better than it was before? And I don't know if that's the right way to frame it. Maybe that's because those are the expectations that there's no pullback and everything gets better every year no matter what. But is the defense going to be OK is the question. Right. Is this the right hire. Is this the person that you want leading the show. And you know on a second note I've actually thought about writing a column about this and I might do it after the episode. But is Ohio State gonna be the new rehab or coaches the way that Saban did? When you look at what has happened to Chip Kelly's career and some of the candidates that have come in, it's like if Matt Patricia comes in, has a good two year run,

is he the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns or the Cincinnati Bengals or the LA Chargers in two years? Like, is that what's happening here? Obviously you have the New England connection. You know, he's got three Super Bowls and Ryan Day is from that area. You know, the Belichick connection obviously goes without saying.

But I think that the general reaction to this has been, I'm not sure about this. Like it seems like a risk. Let's throw on and from AJ in the chat, a bonus dear Andy, dear Ari question. Do we not believe that Knowles is a better coach than Patricia? I don't necessarily believe that. Like, Jim Knowles is a good college defensive or defensive coordinator like he was great at Duke. He was great at Oklahoma State. He was good at Ohio State and then

when he had the best players, he was absolutely lights out. Matt Patricia has been a good defensive coordinator in the NFL. Where it's a lot harder to be a good defensive coordinator. Yeah, you know, and I want to go back to something I just said because I don't want it to come across as me comparing Ryan

Day to Nick Saban. I hope that that's not the takeaway. I just mean that if Ohio State's coming off of a national championship and is able to pay big-time coordinators to come in and coach really good players, there's a chance for them to, you know, turn around their viewpoint as coaches. So yeah, like I am kind of iffy on it because like, I don't know if Ohio State

is actually in the point of like retread hires. That said, he's also been highly successful at the highest level. There were some really interesting- Not to the highest of the highest level. There were some really interesting candidates. Not the highest of the highest level. He was not successful as an NFL head coach. Oh yeah. I think that's where this comes from. Does that matter?

I don't think it does, but I do think in terms of your name recognition and your instant feeling about a person, especially if you're an Ohio State fan, a Michigan fan, like a Big Ten fan, like you're in the area. So you the Lions are something that cross your path quite a bit. And so if you are a Big Ten country person and you hear the name Matt Patricia, probably the first thing you think is, oh, the guy who didn't do well with the Lions. And so that may be somewhat shading how people think about this thing. I think you need to think about it in terms of how was Matt Patricia as a defensive coordinator

because that is the job he's been hired to do. Now, I will point out our friends at Reddit College Football. This was really funny. One of the posters in Notre Dame fans, it was a great hire for the Bucks. Everyone knows that Matt Patricia is wildly respected the injury and his players have loved him at every level slam dunk hire. That is sarcasm. A Michigan fan though, he does have experience destroying a football team in Michigan. So that is, Hey, what is the ultimate goal as an Ohio state coach is to destroy a football team in Michigan. So he's well versed in that. Did he destroy the lions or he didn't destroy it? He was the latest

person who failed to make them good. He was, he was the latest, not Dan Campbell who has resurrected the lions. Yeah. Like the Lions are really good the last two years. I don't think that we should forget what the Lions have been for the previous 30. You know what I mean? Like it's a pretty difficult job. And it's like, I don't know. Like I've been following the Browns my whole life.

And it's like, I don't know that I would take any coach that had a hard time there and feel like they're a bad coach. So yeah, like, but there were. There's some mixed feelings on this because it feels like if he is not. Given or has a ton of NFL jobs at his fingertips, then maybe there's the time is passing by right? Maybe like it's there is there a risk in that to you? Well, he also didn't go with build in North Carolina,

even though he was doing a podcast with Bill. Now look, Bill did hire his son, Steve, as the defensive coordinator. So yeah, this thicker than pencils, I suppose. There's levels. Yeah, but I just look at it like this and here's what I think is gonna happen. I think this is a sign of what we're going to see quite a bit more of as the college

game looks more similar to the NFL game in terms of roster construction and player acquisition and that sort of thing. There will be more movement between the two. Like, right now, the position coaches are all dying to get out of college and get into the NFL because they don't want to deal with having to re recruit their players every single day. And I get that the coordinator level guys, I feel like are happy to move between the worlds. Because right now if you're a if you're a coordinator level guy, and you don't want to recruit, that's fine. You won't be one of the 10 on the road.

They'll have some younger recruiter guy do that. And then you just worry about coaching and you close recruits when they come on their visits and all that sort of thing. So it's easier for someone who has not been in that college football world. Like it used to be, if you were gonna hire somebody as a coordinator, they better be a good recruiter too.

Or you'd better have some other guys in your in your assistant coaching pool that can make up for that. Now, they don't even have to be an on the road recruiter. You just have somebody else who's good at that be that. And the thing that I want to remind people too is that you remember a year ago when Ohio State hired Bill O'Brien and then it turned into Chip Kelly like what the response was to those hires, you know, and then Chip Kelly helped Ohio State win a national championship and I thought outside of one game called the offense masterfully this year and is getting paid six million a year to coach to be offensive coordinator the Raiders now.

So like it's like to me it's oh yeah here we go David Green David and chat says wasn't Chip Kelly considered a failed pro coach as well? No, not many people watch college football because the thing is he was a failed pro coach. He also was an all time great college coach at Oregon. So yeah, also an okay one at UCLA. Chip Kelly also wasn't just a failed pro coach. He was a failed, recently failed college coach too, right? Like people thought that his UCLA tenure didn't go go correctly and you know, he went on record. I just thought he was just okay. Yeah. And a lot of it a lot of it was his refusal to play the game you have to play for for talent acquisition, which is exactly what I was just

talking about. He got to go to Ohio State state where he did not have to play the game for talent acquisition because there were other people on the staff to play it. Yeah. Uh, and he, he can unequivocally call plays. So, you know, and you know, it was a one year stop. He went back and coached with the person that he had been a mentor figure, uh, two, and now he he's off to the races so you know I don't know if I have any strong feelings of like this is

awful I think that when you put a coach who is probably the one thing you can't say is that he doesn't have a good defensive mind although it is kind of interesting that he was in the middle also too of the most peculiar coordinator thing I've ever seen in the NFL. That was so strange. That gave me more questions about Belichick than anything else. To me, I was like, when it happened, I was like, is Belichick such a genius that he decided that if you're a good defensive coordinator that that puts you in the offensive mentality of like, if they're running that defense, I know exactly how to beat like I don't know like if you overthought it, but it went terribly, but hey, he was just he was just copying Jeremy Pruitt because remember Jeremy Pruitt when he's the head coach at Tennessee at one point was

like I'll just call the offense to who uh that worked out. Yeah who um was the quarterback when Patricia was the offensive coordinator there was a Bailey Z happy. It was. It was a combination of Mac Jones and Bailey's happy. So maybe it wasn't his fault when I start that up like hey, yeah. Mac Jones slander. But no, I so let's look at Ohio State schedule this year. What will the biggest challenges be for Matt Patricia? Well, right out of the gate Arch Manning in What will the biggest challenges be for Matt Patrician?

Well, right out of the gate, Arch Manning in Texas. They go to Washington, I'm telling you, Demond Williams Jr., remember the name, Demond Williams Jr., the new Illinois on the road with Luke Altmeier, and now that offense is replacing some pretty good receivers. So Illinois brings back a lot of talent on defense. They bring back their best offensive lineman.

They bring back Luke Altmeyer at quarterback. We need to see what they can do at receiver, but that one, and then obviously Penn State at home in probably the biggest conference game they play until the huge one at the end of the season. Yeah, really tough first four games, right? Two of them, I mean. Opening at home against Texas, and I think that's a game that is kind of like,

you know, where are we at type of a thing for both teams even? I think that's true for Texas as well. Then you get to bounce back against two teams that you'll probably be favored by 30 over. And then next thing, you know, you're on the road at Washington, a team that might be much improved. Like Jed Fish doesn't just stink at coaching now. You know, they had a bad year last year, but I do believe in his ability to assemble a roster. And they got to Kario Davis, too. Like, they got some players now at Washington and a quarterback that's going to be super exciting. If Ohio State starts off the year, you know, three and one or two and two, then you might have some questions. But again,

they don't have the same caliber of athlete on defense from top to bottom on the two deep as they did last year. So the expectation that he is Knowles or that Ohio state's defense is absolutely dominant the way that it was a year ago is probably just irrational expectation. that it was a year ago is probably just irrational expectation. It is irrational. And like you said, it could be Buddy Ryan, it wouldn't matter. Like they're going to probably take a step back just because it will be very difficult to assemble a defense like that from a talent standpoint

in the future in college football. That said. It's possible for them to be very good again. They still have the guy we think is the best player on defense in the country in Caleb Downs. Ohio State has not stopped recruiting top five classes. So I definitely think it can be good. Is it? Is it a slam dunk? No, it's not. We've never seen this guy at the college level before dunk? No, it's not. We've never seen

this guy at the college level before. But again, you're not asking him to be the head coach. You're really not asking him to be a big recruiter. You're asking him to coach defensive players, put them in the right places, call the right plays. We've actually seen him do that at a

higher level. So I'd say it's a fairly safe bet. Yeah, and there's some important players that are stepping into big spots this year. You know, if you look at their 2D for 2025, you'll see guys like Kenyatta Jackson, who's a six foot six defensive end, he's a senior, you know, you kind of hoping, you know,

to have a similar career arc to Jack Sawyer. At the defensive end spot, Edrick Houston's a top 50 player who's now a sophomore and ready to step in at defensive tackle. Sonny Stiles is a senior that has been productive for Ohio State at linebacker. They're getting Iggman-Nosin back. Jermaine Matthews played a lot, Lorenzo Stiles a corner. Caleb Downs and Jalen McLean. And they've got guys who have been highly rated recruits and dudes who played. So it's not like they're going to be barren next year. It's just they're not going to be what they were in terms of depth and overall talent.

Exactly right. So that's why it's a pretty safe bet. Because the players are probably pretty good. Are they going to be as good as last year? Probably not. But we'll see. Ari, when it comes to making the best hamburgers around the basics matter and Wendy's, well, they've got burger basics on lock and it shows what's the secret

to all those hot and juicy hamburgers. It's simple. Wendy's always crafts their hamburgers with that fresh, never frozen beef that they're famous for. The result, hot and juicy beefurgers. It's simple. Wendy's always crafts their hamburgers with that fresh, never frozen beef that they're famous for the result. Hot and juicy beefy hamburger perfection every single time. No matter which hamburger you order from the Wendy's menu, whether it's the Baconator, the Dave's single, the double. Oh, that was pretty good too. You already know that thanks to those Wendy's burger basics, it's going to be exactly what you were craving.

Fresh beef available in the contiguous US, Alaska and Canada, not available in Hawaii. Go get some fresh burgers at Wendy's. Ari, the Wolverine scoop in the chat says you do have a thing. Those incredibly overpriced headphones are your thing, Ari. Yeah, they were really expensive. Also the best headphones I've ever had, so I don't know. Like

for me, you know my philosophy is I don't have a lot of nice things in terms of like everything I wear is nice or whatever, but I spend money on the things that I use daily. So like I have a nice computer. I have a nice I get a new iPhone, you know every year every two years. I have a nice I get a new iPhone, you know, every year every two years. I have headphones because I use them both for work and you know, traveling and all that I use them every day. And I really like how they sync up with my phone. And you know, I had Bose ones before and those were good.

But these are the best noise canceling headphones ever had. I were they too expensive? Maybe? I mean, they're 500 bucks. You think $500 is expensive for headphones? Yes. It was like, I'm seeing. Extremely expensive for headphones. Yeah. But like also,

In your job, you, every day. Every day. And like, I don't know if I could do the Dr. Evil, like one earpiece thing like you. I have the second, the second one's right in here. I have the second one, but. I know you need it for the show. The question I have the second one. The second one's right in here. I have the second one, but I know you need it for the show.

The question I have, and I don't even know the answer. This is a question for River. But does the sound does the show sound worse if I don't use them? I've always used headphones while podcasting, and I don't know if like I need to. What do we say River? It's just a safe bet to make sure you don't have any like noise echo or anything like that so. Yeah, yeah. And it's like I find that like when I have them on and I'm in the show like I am in this room with you.

Yeah, you're like if I take them off and then there's a noise over there that I hear then I'm like distracted like I think that $500 is too expensive for headphones, but I'm willing to pay the premium if I get the best ones in that price range that I use every day. And I think that's fair. And like, you know, shoes and things like that, I've spent money on, but you know,

if I use it every day, it's something I'll spend money on. So that's your thing. You went on national television yesterday with those cans on your head to debate Brad from making on the Fine Bomb show. And this was spectacular. Ladies and gentlemen, just spectacular. Ari versus Brad from making the debate to end all debates. The folks at the Fine Bomb show incredibly gracious. They've let us use some clips from this show because it was a barn burner. River, let's play the intro to this thing.

Hell out of here. My whole problem with you, Ari, is that you call Paul an existential threat to college football, and the way we see it down here, you're the existential threat with college football, trying to get teams in this playoff and writing about teams that have no strength of schedule. They have no recruiting.

All three teams we're talking about are in the sixties and the seventies in recruiting. They don't have the players. They don't have the money. They don't have the facilities. And so you're trying to put them in there. And I'm sorry, if you want to Georgia TCU over and over and over again, that's what you're going to get. And down here that smoke ain't gonna flow. First of all, Paul, I don't even know if we ever talked about this, but I never said that you as a human being are an existential threat.

I thought that your point of view in that moment was. So I don't know if that's the way that people took that, but that's not what I wrote. I love Brad just comes off the top rope. Existential threat. You, how dare you suggest that Indiana should have made the playoff? How dare you Ari? So for people who don't know, because I don't know if we told them, I see somebody in the chat was wondering, Brad from Macon is a person who would routinely call in to Finebomb after my appearances this past season

and like call me a little tenor and like freak out. So they're like, I'm like, I'll debate this guy because you know, I kind of get a little amusement out of it. And the thing is that I'll say is, I like the passion that they have down there, right? Like that's the thing. Like Brad. Oh, Brad was amazing.

Like Brad brought it the entire time. He's a cartoon character of every SEC fan out there. Right? Like that's what people view. Here's where I'm disappointed in you though, Ari, because right off the bat, when he mentions Indiana and their recruiting and all that, first of all, he uses the stars matter argument on you and you don't come back with I invented stars matter.

The hell do you think you're talking to? But what shouldn't you have mentioned? And I realized we were at the game. This is some garbage time stuff, but who lost by more to Notre Dame in the playoff by more points. Indiana or Brad's Georgia Bulldogs. Yeah, you know, it's like when you have 10 minutes to talk to somebody who's screaming at you, it's like you definitely don't get everything off your chest that you want to get off your chest. But here's the other thing too. Like when you're talking to a person from that point of view and you listen to the entire interview, he never made a single factual point that it was a caricature of of an argument and like the the idea that Indiana shouldn't have been in the playoff isn't even a rational thought because it wasn't a discussion. That wasn't even about what you say. It's about how it makes you feel. Yeah, here's here's right. Here's where I was very impressed with you because you kept it together and you just kept coming at him. So here's

the part I loved that you would not let go of and I'm glad you didn't let go. The thing that I wanted to ask you though, and I'm going to ask it over and over and over again until you answer my question, is if you think the committee was negligent and didn't do the right thing, which was Paul's platform or discussion point at the time when there were blowoffs in the first round, what do you think they should have done? Disregarding all the results and just put the teams in from the south that you like? I don't understand what's going on here. What's the resolution to your problem?

Some of the team, they got to build parameters on how you get into the playoff, number one, and putting boys who stayed in there, especially with a first round buy is the biggest bunch of bull crap I've ever seen in my life. So what they're gonna have to do is put parameters in there. And number one, did the committee screw up and put some teams in there that shouldn't have been there? You damn right they did. And what is your solution to the problem, Brad?

What should they have done last year? What is your solution to the problem from last year? What should they have done that they didn't do that you got mad about? What do you think they should have done last year? What is your solution to the problem from last year? What should they have done that they didn't do that you got mad about? What do you think they should have done? Number one, they should have left Indiana out because they didn't play a time. Brad?

Indiana. They should have left them out because they had no top 45 wins. They had one game on the schedule, and they got the damn break speed off of them. Put in Ole Miss. schedule and they got the damn breaks beat off of them. Put in Ole Miss. So he finally got to Ole Miss, like you only saw about a few seconds of that.

I was an owl. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. There were multiple minutes of Ari just saying, name a team that you would rather have seen other than Indiana. And he finally got Ole Miss out of his mouth. And I actually, like I said, I told Paul this because they had me on to recap.

And I thought choosing Ole Miss rather than Alabama or South Carolina threads the needle nicely if you're Brad, because you can make better arguments for Ole Miss, I think. But why didn't you just come back with why can't they beat? Kentucky at home like I didn't say who they lost to but I said they lost to a bottom half team by 100 And the SBC were Kentucky's only SEC win Who Ole Miss was Kentucky's only SEC. Oh, yeah. Yeah. yeah, yeah. Sorry, I thought you were talking about Old Miss.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's just like the thing too is that we get into it, but it's just like, okay, man, like if you want that to happen, like here's the sickest thing, Andy, is that he was throwing how I used to feel out there as fact now. And like, I actually still kind of think

this is gonna be a banana land thing to say. But like if Ole Miss got hot and into the playoff, they could have played for the national title. Cause they had a roster capable of it. Yeah, no, no, no. So what you're arguing, what you're arguing, I didn't even fundamentally disagree that, and I said this on the show,

that Ole Miss wasn't more talented than Indiana, but the thing that we have to do in the sport to stay in reality is to use the results of the field to dictate who earns the spot. So I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding of what the playoff committee is supposed to do. Well, he also didn't understand that the committee had no choice with what they did with Boise State. Yeah, like it's also part of the rules. So like if you're an anti expansionist,

then that's what you are. But the thing that my pet peeve in life is when people throw out problems and they don't have the solution to it. All they do is problem, problem, problem, problem, problem. And there's no solution to that problem. And if your solution is nonsense, then your problem can't be taken seriously.

You have to have a solution that is rational and changing the rules and not letting Boise in, this isn't, it's not planet earth, and then putting in a team that lost to Kentucky in three times, you have to earn the right to play for a national championship. It's not let's make a playoff that has the most competitive games. It's select the teams that earn the right to be there. Like the regular season still is a thing and if you don't do your part

in the regular season then you don't earn the right even if you are a very deep and talented team to compete in the next stage of things. So like to me, my number one thing has always been, like do I think for sure that they got the best 12 teams in at the end of last year who were playing the best football? I think you could have made the case at South Carolina and made a real case that South Carolina would have been more equipped to compete with Penn State and Notre Dame in the first round.

There's no question about it, right? Like, but South Carolina through its own fault, maybe not even so much its own fault, with Penn State Notre Dame in the first round. There's no question about it, right? But South Carolina, through its own fault, maybe not even so much its own fault, Lenora Celestriot hurt one of their losses that they eliminated. Well, in the LSU game, there's a heavy, the refs stole that one contingent among the South Carolina fan base. Yeah. So if you don't adhere to losing three times as a punitive thing, then we're playing games for no reason. And that is the existential threat to football. It's not fine bomb. It's not irrational fans who want to come and scream at me.

The problem is, is that we have to adhere to the guidelines of the sport, or we're going to tell 90% of the people who follow the sport and listen to the show that the games are- Your percentages are way out of the way. You just said that SEC fans encompass 10%. Yeah, that's it's okay.

In terms of actual interest in college football, the people who care about the SEC, probably more like 35 to 40%. Yeah, I mean, you're probably right. I mean, like the big 10 probably more like 40%. Yeah. 90% of teams. Cause Indiana's in the big 10.

So it's not just big 10. Like you're alienating Indiana's fan base. You're in aliating Minnesota's, Michigan States, everybody that is a team that could be good, but isn't a blue blood. You're saying even if you win the games that are on your schedule, that it doesn't matter. Like you cannot do that.

That is the, like all the things that we talk about. And we, NIL, we talk about and we NIL we talk about you know the expansion and the you know seating of the playoff and revenue sharing and all the things that are changing in college football. The only existential threat because you don't hear me say that often. I don't say that I'm not a I'm not a oh the world's ending kind of guy am I. But if you do if you got to a point where Brad's reality was actually not a Looney Tunes show and actually became true Then what you'd be saying is unless you win your conference You were gonna give it to the SEC. So that means that Arizona States if they would have you know, I wonder it was an automatic cup but like all the games that were played by teams in Colorado and SMU and all the games that were played by teams like Colorado and SMU and Indiana and all the teams that were on the bubble at the end of the year that, hey, were they as good as South

Carolina and Ole Miss? Maybe not. But what's more important? What's more important, assembling a good team or being a good team? And I actually push back at the notion that Ole Miss would just roll over Indiana. They could. Ole Miss had the potential to win the national title, bud. Like you and I were at the Oxford, you know, blowout of Georgia. We were on the field after the game. I'm like, holy s**t, that's a team that could could go do this whole thing. So like you're not educating me on stars matter. Like I get it pal. I know Juice Wells is good. I know Presqu good. I know it was just funny watching Brad basically be Ari circa 2019.

No, what Brad was versus Ari circuit 2025. Brad was arguing against the expansion of the playoff without realizing it. Well, right. Cause he kept bringing up how many times the sec had won. Well, if you ask the folks in the big Ten, they would say, well, the SEC won because they didn't have to go through the grinder or the gamut. Now, I think the SEC would have won the national title a lot of those years.

Oh, for sure. No, the SEC won because they had the best teams all those years. Yeah. But if the sport has changed and they don't unequivocally have the best teams every year, they probably will. Most years still, right? As players, this system is going to make it different. Like this system is going to, there's going to be some luck involved. Like this year, the the best team won, like the best roster one. I don't know that

it's always going to be like that as you go forward. And like also to like, you know, we talked to Cole Kublick, who's going to be on the show next week. And he made a point that I wanted to bring up here. Now it's just like, you look at next year's top 15. And it's like, who's going to be on the show next week, and he made a point that I wanted to bring up here now. It's just like you look at next year's top 15 and it's like, who do you think is going to win the national title? It's like, oh, I don't know. Like four years ago, you could be like, it's going to be Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State or

Clemson. And you would have been right. 90%. And I would argue that this is more fun than that. Like us not knowing now. And that's the thing that's made me second guess my expansion stuff. Because my anti-expansion stuff was from the Brad point of view. It was, why are we making it 12 when there's only four that can get in?

But you needed the NIL transfer rule change. You needed that to change the dynamics of talent acquisition first. You needed that to change the dynamics of town acquisition. If they would have done this in 2016, it would have been dumb. It would have been dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. It might have been more entertaining. Right. Your eight seats just getting slaughtered. Slaughtered every time. Yeah.

Unless the eight seat is a Georgia team that had an injury that, you know, caused them to lose an extra game and they still got in. But, you know, you can't, like, that's the thing too. And that's what Doug got mad at you about. It's like you can't go, well, there's more players in the NFL that we know there's better players in SEC's world. We know that the teams have better players. You said that. And the thing is, I thought you made an interesting point. We talked about this a while. This, I don't think we talked about this on the show, but you brought up what if the NFL does not take more players from the SEC this year? What if in sometime in the next two

three years that finally changes and I'm very curious to see it. Like I actually don't think it's going to man. I think that the SEC is still going to predominantly have the best players because the predominantly the best players exist in the high school. In the South, will they will they be clustered more across the 16? Yeah, rather than concentrated among four. Will there be more players that that's the question first of all, and I think that we already saw that happen last year, but then also to will there be more players from Atlanta playing for Clemson? Will there be more atlet

players from Atlanta playing at Arizona State and USC and all those things? Clemson's a bad example. It's two hours from Atlanta. That was a terrible example and I realized I said it. I'm not good at geography. I'm like, yeah, I think they concentrate on Atlanta pretty good. You know what I'm saying? Not traditional SEC. It's not just a breeding ground, but like well Mississippi State have more is also a good thing. Correct. Arkansas. You know, we cannot do. We cannot. We cannot. We cannot do. Is could you imagine if what

Brad wanted happened last year and they put Ole Miss in in South Carolina in and left SMU out and Indiana out? Like what the message that would have sent like don't you think that that would have been a I don't know. The games might have been better in the first round.

They might've been better, but what message like that's the thing. Focus on the message. Cause like Brad might actually be right and say, yeah, well South, you don't want TCU or Georgia again, put Ole Miss in. And then Ole Miss comes in and they're fired up to get in and they're awesome. And they beat the crap out of somebody in the first round or the Ole Miss that lost to Florida and Kentucky shows up and they get their doors blown out. If Georgia Ole Miss shows up, they could go to the title game and play at the Ohio.

Yep. All right. That's before we let Brad go, we need to let I because I feel like we've piled on Brad a little bit here. I want everybody to see Brad's finest moment because this was this was awesome. Brad, let's let's slow down here. I think we've exhausted that question. And what I want to know, Brad, beyond that specific question, you seem to have a real

beef with Ari Wasserman. You mentioned his name kind of funny. So I'm going to let you ask Mr. Wasserman a question since he asked you one. Go ahead, ask him a question. I mean, you know something, here's the thing. We know you're a beat rider for the high state at one time in your, in your career. You know, you still got that red mustache right above your lip when you drank all the Kool-Aid for the big team and I'm just telling you right now, you need to wash it off. The teams in question here aren't even in the big 10. Outside of Indiana was a one-loss team.

What are you talking about? No, Ohio State. Yeah. You're pro Little Ten, and that's the way you are. You're pro Little Ten, and you're going to beat them up, and then you're going to sit there and try to pull us down. We're not believing that smoke because of the jokers. Hey, Brad. Did you watch the Super Bowl or 30 players

were from the SEC versus the Big Ten with 21 did you see that we're sick and tired of being a little tense farm system down here can I ask you just a question that doesn't even have to do with with college football and just in general who do you think is more likely to be biased on this topic the person who listens to the fine bomb show every day and is sitting at the Georgia pullover or the guy who went to Arizona and lives in Dallas? That's the one thing. The red mustache line.

Because here's the part that impressed me about Brad that I just because I remember the first few times I went on TV and I realized Brad's called him to show a few times, but this, this was a level of showcase that Brad has not gotten on the fine bomb show before the first few times I went on TV were miserable. I was awful. I was so nervous. I was so scared to say anything like Brad is coming full bore. He's coming up with this stuff off the top of his head. That was impressive. Like Brad, Brad with reps is a good show host. Yeah. The only thing Brad needs is to inject some facts into his, his, I'm not sure that matters.

Like it doesn't know not anymore. I'm not sure it matters. The thing that it was interesting is, is that like that was his finest moment on the show. And it was a funny thing to say. But if you listen to the 13 minute spot, The thing that was interesting is that like that was his finest moment on the show and it was a funny thing to say But if you listen to the 13 minute spot like he didn't say one thing that was factually accurate So like like that to me is like again In this day and age does that matter on television? And do you know do you know what? Um,

It felt like to me and I might have said this to you off air or on it, I can't remember, but I play poker a lot, right? You know, and when you're playing poker, there's a certain understanding if somebody is raising in a spot or if somebody is, you know, that a player that you're playing against is going to be clinging to some sort of rubric of what to be doing.

Like there are certain expectations and ranges you can put somebody on. Even Blackjack is like this. If you have somebody at the table who's not playing basic strategy, you get mad at them because you're now not gonna get the cards you expect to get. I'll tell you one time I almost got my ass kicked

at a Vegas blackjack table before. But in poker specifically, you make moves and decisions based on a certain level of credit that you're giving to your opponent. So if your opponent is raising you have to think well, you know in this spot they didn't they didn't raise in this spot they raised in this spot they called here you're you're doing gymnastics in your head, but if the person you're playing against doesn't know how to play then sometimes you're assigning

Significance to moves that they do when they don't know what they're doing, which then causes you to not know what's happening and lose. Like I think a professional poker player playing against an erratic human that could have anything is a harder thing to do sometimes than playing against somebody who's good at the game. So like that's what it was like. I was like, I didn't know what this man was going to happen because it doesn't exist was a rational counterpoint of what the committee did wrong and what they could have done to fix it because you want to know why it doesn't exist. No one else who's so savo in the chat says this is Dunning Kruger effect which and she goes on to say it means you're too stupid to understand how stupid you are which is a good definition of the Dunning Kruger effects. Dunning Kruger is irrational overconfidence about something you have very little knowledge about. And I don't think that's what this was with Brad. In terms, it was in terms of the argument, but see I'm looking at it in terms of someone who runs a show. What Brad did was great television.

Brad created great television. I don't care if he was right. I care if it was fun. The producer of the Finebombs show knows what they're doing. And I think that I was a little bit afraid of, and maybe this kind of happened a little bit, was going on the show and arguing with somebody who's being irrational makes you look stupid yourself. And I'm not even saying that Brad is stupid. I think he has a very narrow point of view of... I don't think he's stupid. He has a very narrow point of view of what he thinks it should look like. And he disregards all facts as it pertains to whether or not that fits his viewpoint,

which happens a lot in all walks of life. But like, arguing in that scenario is difficult, because I'm trying to have a rational conversation with somebody who's being irrational. And then it makes me look like I'm a rational. Well, you are a rational sometimes. Yeah, I am sometimes. But that's- When Panini products are involved,

you can be extremely irrational. You get very, very excited. I'm very excited because we are back with Panini America, makers of the most collectible sports cards on the planet and Ari showing off some of his newest acquisitions that is, is that the Garrett Wilson? If you are a card person, you know what I'm holding up here. That's a tell the folks who aren't and tell them why it matters. Okay. So this is a 2023 Panini prism, a one of one Garrett Wilson rookie card and the

best patch or swatch you can get on a card is the NFL shield patch. And this one is like one of the legit ones off of the jersey and it's a gold vinyl one of one. So this is the only one on earth that exists. I sent it into the greater and it got a nine. It doesn't matter because it's the only one. And like if Garrett Wilson ever becomes what I think he could become, maybe with a functional quarterback one day, this card is going to be worth a lot of money.

So then I have I have a cracked ice rookie ticket to, I think it's 21, of Amon Ra St. Brown right here. That's another very rare card with his auto signature. Some of these rookie cards that I have here are potentially worth a lot of money if these guys continue to produce in the league. So, like that's my thing. Like I like to buy high end cards of players very early in their careers that I think have a chance. And like, if you remember, like Amon Ra was a five star prospect, I believe. But then when he got to the league, was he like a sixth or seventh round pick? Like he didn't have a great career. He can name all of the receivers who were selected above him.

I believe he was the 14th receiver selected in that draft. And he was like a sixth round pick, right? Yeah, he lists every I think he was a fourth round pick, that lists every day the receivers that were picked ahead of him every day. Yeah. And like the thing though, is that like at the time, and this is what's so fun about collecting, is that you could, Amon Ra cards when he was a rookie in 2021,

were fairly reasonable to buy. Or if you hit them in a package, it wasn't like, oh my God, this is an unbelievable hit. The joy of it is, is that you don't always know which players are going to come out of nowhere to become elite level NFL stars. Like, Amon Ra, I knew had the physical traits because we follow his recruitment.

His career at USC didn't go according to plan. But then when he got to the league as a fourth round pick, you could pick up his rookie card, very high end rare ones, because that's what this is about, right? You want to hit rare cards that are serial numbered and then you hold them for a while and then it turns out to be who he is.

The values of these cards increase dramatically. And that's what I love so much about the hobby. It's the intersection of all of my interests. It's sports and football, right? It's gambling to a certain extent because you don't know what's gonna come out of the packs that you do buy. That's the thrill of opening a pack, right?

Like when you see- You might get this Pukunakua. Yeah. Like a one of 10 prison card. That thing's a monster. Andy is a gold, they pulled a gold Puka, gold disco out of select and that's a one of 10. And it's like, that car is probably worth a grand

or $1,500 if I had to guess. And like, he pulled that out of a pack. And like, when you see the joy of it too, is when you get the cards out of the pack and you get the print of it, you can see on the side, if it's a very rare one, and like that rush of like, who's this player going to be is unlike anything else. Sometimes it's big and sometimes it's just some random

third stringer who's never. I'm also learning the excitement of seeing those silver numbers on the back. Oh yeah. That tell you how limited it is. Yeah. The lower the print run, the better. So a lot of the cards that I buy, like this Amon Ra,

I didn't pull this one. I just bought this one and it was still fairly expensive. I think I paid like 100 bucks for it at the time or $120. But now it's probably worth 1000 because of how good he's turned out to be. And of course, the grades on the matter as well. So like that's to me, like if you feel like you know ball, or you make this guy's underrated, or no one's talking about him, you can make some money doing this too. So, you know, you pull that's the funniest prison. The prism draft picks ones, which I've got two packs of those that we're going to open on the show here in the next probably next week. I love those because you don't know with some of those guys if they're going to hit yet.

You know what they were in college, but you don't know if they're going to hit the NFL yet. And so you can get a guy and be like, oh, I love this guy in college. But if you hang onto it for a second, that guy might turn out awesome in the NFL as well. Did it like night? It might not work out. You wanna know who I've been buying a lot right now?

It's cheap as hell. And I don't know if it's gonna work out as Malachi Corley. You know, he was a really, really good college receiver. And the unfortunate reality about the NFL is there are so many really, really good college receiver. And the unfortunate reality about the NFL is there are so many really, really good college players who go to the League and never do anything. So you can be wrong a lot, but you can buy a prism silver auto of Malachi Corley for 10 bucks right now.

You put that thing in a slab and he turns out to be who he was in college at some point. It 10x is now sometimes it goes bad. Like look at this one here. This is a Jamis Winston. This is your guy right here. I've always thought like that he was good enough to be a pretty good quarterback in the NFL and obviously with collecting two it's about their personalities right like you

guys are you listening? Sign Jamis Winston and let's let's add some value to Ari's card. God, God deliver Jameis Winston from pick sixes, okay? That's right. But like, that's the fun, like sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but like, I like investing, gambling and sports, I like collectibles, I like all these things and I get to have them and it seems like, it's like, oh, I'm sitting on a,

on an Amon Ra card right now. It's like now like I have a vested interest. It's like fantasy football, I'm sitting on an Amon Ra card right now. It's like now, like I have a vested interest. It's like fantasy football, but in like cardboard form. It's like these players are on my team. I have guys I root for every Sunday that aren't on my fantasy team because I'm like, God, I want them to be good. So that's what I like about it.

Paniniamerica.net to begin your collection. It's so much fun. It has been so much fun getting to rip these packs. And again, I got a couple that I cannot wait to rip on the show next week. Ari, it is a mailbag show. It is Dear Andy, Dear Ari. We have a bunch of good questions.

Raul in the chat put this up really early. I'm here for the Billy Napier OC talk. I am a huge skeptic of Napier's control of the offense. I hope Andy and Ari changed my mind. So the question actually comes from a viewer named Andrew, who saw something that I posted on the Gators online message board earlier in the week. And it's, it was about Ari and I's conversation about the win totals last week where Florida is a six and a half win total on FanDuel and Ari and I both said that seems too low because even if they go over that everybody's still going

to be mad at BillionApier like they're going to need to win nine or ten for for people to be happy so Andrew's or the I'm sorry it's Maliko's question Maliko's question is any less confidence in the UF over six and a half with BillionAp the play caller. So here's my thing on that Maliko. I've been under the assumption that Billy Napier is the primary offensive play caller for about a month and a half now. I wrote a column at on three probably a month ago where somebody asked me about this very topic. And I said, it looks like Billy Napier is going to be calling the plays again. I, you again. When he got told he was coming back or when the negotiation happened where they decided they were bringing him back, that was the Thursday before the Texas game.

So they had just lost to Georgia. Lagways hurt. You don't know exactly how long he's going to be out. And they're saying Billy Napier is coming back because basically they kicked around the idea of firing him. At that point, they didn't feel like they could get anybody that they really, really wanted to replace him. And so they figure let's stay the course with him,

see what happens with DJ Lague. And guess what? You got an LSU win and Ole Miss win in rapid succession. They finished on a four game win streak. Well, when they decided to bring him back, he was basically told, hey, there's a few things we'd like you to do. One of those things was hire a play calling OC.

And at the time, he probably had no choice but to agree to that. But after he beat LSU and Ole Miss, with him calling the plays, he didn't have to agree to that. But after he beat LSU and Ole Miss, with him calling the plays, he didn't have to agree to that anymore. And so he kind of slow played it, and slow played it, and every, okay, who's gonna be the OC?

Well, time went by, and the OC got hired. Now Russ Callaway's gonna have the title, but Billy Napier's the play caller. Ari, I don't know how you feel about this. My feeling is if you're Billy Napier and you know you're still going to get fired if things don't work out next year, why would you put it in the hands of somebody else when you think you're better at the job anyway? Well, I think that you thinking you're better at the job anyway. Well, I think that you thinking you're better at the job sometimes often leads to bad results.

Like, uh. Donning Krueger, Susevam. You know, the thing that's interesting is, like what's the biggest difference about Ohio State this past year? Like Ryan Day gave a play calling the year before and they won the national title. And that doesn't mean that Ryan Day's

not good at calling plays, but it also isn't just about how good the coach is at calling plays. It's also like if Billy Napier isn't calling the plays, do they not have all those dumb ass penalties that they had against Tennessee because he's on top of stuff? Like it's like it's a bigger picture than that. So like to me or do they or do they not call a jet sweep on fourth and inches when you have a 240 pound quarterback.

Like how dialed can you be on the entire game when you're in your faces in a play sheet? And I think that that's the number one thing. So I personally would have liked to see him hire an offensive coordinator, somebody that he trusted. I don't know if going like if I'm gonna go down, I'm going down with the play sheet. My hand is the right way to look at it. I think if I'm gonna go down, I'm going down with the play sheet in my hand is the right way to look at it. I think if I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down trusting my instincts

on who are the right coaches to be around me because what is being the head coach? It's about being making the right hires. It's about trusting your instincts as a boss to allow people who are gifted at what they do to do their jobs. So like, I don't know if I'm kind of like, well, you know, there's a new quarterback, and I'm just going to stick with what I've done is the right thought. It might turn out to be right. But I

would have preferred if I were a Florida fan to have seen him follow through and finding somebody who is a who's a gifted and proven play caller. Because it's like Florida isn't like some small podunk school. Like Florida should be able to hire a very attractive candidate for that position. But here's the problem. When you have a coach on the hot seat going into year four who was almost fired in year three, when you're hiring coordinators, you've got to overpay for that coordinator.

You've got to commit to probably three years, even though you may, and so that's maybe having to buy those out. Because that's the issue. Year. Right. Yeah. But like, it's like a high risk, high reward scenario. But like, if you're the OC at Florida, and you get to play with DJ Lagway, like your benefit of that is pretty high ceiling stuff, right? Like when I went to the athletic, you know, I knew, Hey, this could not work and I might be out of a job in two years, but the the result or the benefit of taking that risk was so high that like I had no choice but to give it my best shot. So like and that worked out really well now.

It doesn't mean that if it would have gone out of business during COVID it would have worked out well. But like it is just a uh I think that he needs to do everything in his power to assemble the best possible staff around him because they can lose a game because of something that he didn't do. You know what I mean? Like that's the thing. So I think I think the issue here is that Billy Napier trusts who he trusts. And that circle is really small. And that may be his downfall. It could be his downfall. That's the, but it also could be the way he consolidates power and consolidates influence and saves his job and gets himself another giant contract.

Cause he has the one thing. That is the ace in the hole and that is number two that is DJ lagway because here's what could happen this is this is an entirely plausible scenario at least I think you tell me. You tell me Billy Napier continues to call plays, continues to keep the circle tight and he's to run a fairly insular program. DJ Lagway is just that good and they improve this year. Maybe make the playoff, maybe not, but improve enough that it's fine. And then the next year, the last year with Lagway, they make the playoff. Maybe they went a whole lot. He's getting an extension at that point. When it when you still won't know if it was DJ

or him. Yeah. But that doesn't matter to me. If you can get DJ, that means you can get DJ again. Like that, like that, like you always say, there's always another quarterback. It's like, to me, it's like, yeah, but I what would you rather change my mind on that because like I'm thinking DJ doesn't come along that often. Yeah well also too I think that if DJ plays well enough to lead Florida to the heights to which you're describing I think Florida's fans probably take that deal anyway right like you you extend the coach that not, it's like DJ Lagway is so good that it's a smoke screen. That means they won a hell of a lot and you take the wins and then take your chances with the guy moving forward, right? I think you're right about that.

Like to me, it's like, okay, I guess if Florida, Florida can be afraid of extending the wrong dude all at once, but if they get to a point where they to extend them, it means they won something. Like I think they're just dying for that. So, you know, DJ Lagway does not come along very often. But they do have a coach who unequivocally can go out into Texas and get a five star quarterback to come to Gainesville and thrive there. And to me, like, that's a major piece of the puzzle. So like the thing about Billy Napier is, is like, he has a kind eyes. I don't know if that's a weird

thing to say. Like I actually like, I feel bad coming down on him. I don't know what it is about him. Like some coaches, it's like, Oh, this guy I can, I can dump on him for like, when I'm, I like, I find myself rooting for him in a way that I don't root for other people. And I don't know what that is. Do you get that sense like that? He's just a likable dude. I know there's players like him because they had every opportunity to quit on him last year and not only did they not quit, they got better as the season went on. But what do you think it is from my perspective of like why Ari in Dallas, who has never met him in person, has a soft spot in his heart for this guy?

Maybe it's just the kind eyes. I mean, you've always said the look of a coach influences you like the way Marcus Freeman fills out a Q zip makes you respect him like so I just think that might be an Ari thing more than it's starting to sound a little bit more different than I was intending it to kind eyes eyes and, and, uh, looking good in a quarter zip is the key to my heart. I don't know. I just, I feel like there's something about him in his aura that makes you feel like, uh, yeah, right.

Adrian being in the chest is rooting against Napier is like rooting against a golden retriever puppy. I don't think Adrian is being complimented. I think that that's exactly what I'm saying. There was something about him that makes you want it to work and I don't know what it is. But like my yeah, my SEC homerism is kids taking getting the best of me again. But like, yeah, Willie T in the chat. That's the sarcasm font right there. Yeah, SEC hom referring to the SEC homers. But like I do think that Florida has the pieces to be a very good football team and I think that the reason why I thought he should have been

fired at the time that you did a year ago was because I didn't think that they were doing enough in the talent acquisition phase of things. I thought they fumbled the portal the year before and they didn't get enough better players to make a better team last year. And that was concerning. But in terms of like, what they've done in the time since in terms of just what they did on the field to end the year, but then also too, it seems to me, and you would be a bigger expert on this than me, but it seems to me that they did up the talent, the baseline talent on their roster in the last few months.

Also, you saw, you saw the talent develop. Like, like my biggest concern and the reason I thought it was over. They got physically dominated up front by Miami and Texas A and M. Yeah, just demolished on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Yet they didn't against Tennessee against Georgia againstSU, against Ole Miss. Like Ole Miss had the best defensive line, well not the best defensive line, because it was probably Michigan, but Ole Miss had one of the best defensive lines

in the country. They were the toughest team to run on in the whole country. Like Florida had the best rushing day against Ole Miss that anybody had. It still wasn't great, but it was better than anybody else. And it was like, okay, was better than anybody else. And it was like, okay, maybe you did see this. Maybe this was what you were seeing in the offseason and telling us that you were seeing.

But we didn't believe you because you got demolished the first couple games you played against good competition. So yeah, now I'm not sure like because my thing was last year tell me, show me what they've done to get the roster better other than sign DJ Lagway. Well, it turns out their offensive line was developing, their defensive line was developing. And so now I kind of have to trust them a little bit that they feel pretty good about the players they have like Listen Jake Slaughter is probably the best center in America You feel pretty good about Austin Barber at tackle you feel great about Kayla Banks coming back at D tackle and then they feel they like some of the young edges that have been

kind of building to this point, so I been kind of building to this point. So I do think they're better. And like the receiver part of it, you think about this Shamir Dike and Elijah Badger were their best receivers last year. Mm-hmm. They get Eugene Wilson back, but I'm not assuming Eugene Wilson's gonna be

their most dynamic receiver. My guess is it's probably gonna be one of the two freshmen, either Dallas Wilson or Vernal Brown III. Like, and this goes into that receiver story that I was talking about that I'm working on for on three, you're almost better off taking the, the highly rated freshmen who potentially has the higher ceiling than trying to solve that in the portal. Now they did sign Jay Michael Sturtevant out of the portal from UCLA.

So he's going to play, but he's pretty good too. Like he's not, I don't know. He's not JJ Smith, but he's a productive player. Well, and that's the thing. And so you, you hope that either Vernell Brown or Dallas Wilson or both lives up to the recruiting hype as a freshman in the way that a Jeremiah Smith, a Ryan Williams, a cam Coleman did. Their freshman year. Yeah, and Dallas Wilson, for those who don't know, is a kid from Tampa who is 6'3 or 6'4, Andy.

I don't remember if it's something I had. Big kid, 195-200 pounds, who was rated in the on three industry rankings as like the number 41 overall player. Like, so we're talking about a fringe five-starnell Brown is a is a industry five star. Yeah, he's right. Even higher overall and like to me when you have those two equations there like the odds of both of them not impacting the game immediately are probably pretty low like they both they both will probably be productive, but one of them is going to hit. I don't think that both are going to be non-factors.

Yeah, so this is why, this is a very long way of explaining why I feel like Billy Napier feels more comfortable continuing to call plays and doesn't wanna give it up. I think part of it is that's his personality. He wants to control as much as he can, and that may be his downfall. That may be his downfall.

But to answer Maliko's original question, does it make me feel less confidence in over six and a half? No. This arrangement, I think, will get them over six and a half. It got them seven last year and they're going to be better this year. Yeah. And now you're talking me into potentially a fringe playoff team. Which is what we've been talking about. And I don't know if they will be or not, but I think as long as you've got DJ lag way, you feel confident. And that is what Billy Napier probably did. Like when the season ended after they beat Florida state,

he probably turned, turned back and looked at the previous three weeks and said, you know what? I don't have to do any of these things. These people are telling me to do. I just need to do this for a whole season. Yeah, we don't know if he can or not, and we're going to know by October 15th. If you look at that forward game stretch, they have their

effort. The two openers. Yeah, we're going to know by October 15th where things stand. And hopefully for their aspect, it would be a pretty good thing. But LSU, Miami, Texas and A&M on the road is a pretty tough stretch. You could be sitting at four and two. But you also still might have a chance at you to make the playoff. The thing that's rough about that is that three of the four of those games are on the road, including Tiger Stadium and Kyle Field too,

are the hardest places to play in the entire world. And then going to Miami again, I think there'll be a ton of Florida fans at that Miami game. But I also think too, after what Mario Cristobal did last year and pounding the table, remember that? It shows all the recruits in Florida, the trajectory of the programs in the state and like pounded his fist. Like, oh yeah, that one, win that one, that one's important.

So, totally, I think the good news for them too, lastly, to put a bow on, is that they don't have to play Miami immediately. They get a few weeks into the season. I think the warm up. Yeah. I think that helps a little bit, but yeah. They cannot be what they were upfront

at the beginning of last season. If at any point that team returns, there's a problem. There's something especially demoralizing. And I think LSU fans could probably teach a PhD course on this of like losing your opener. It's like, it doesn't mean that your team is doomed or you can't make the playoff, but like there's just a psychological thing of like we're oh and one that really, I think, drives you down into the dumps a little bit. So, you know, for them to be presumably 2 and 0 going into the stretch run there of those four games, I think probably, you know, might help them iron out some things and be more prepared to compete with LSU there. But like Florida plays in a lot of games.

Outside of Texas, those three of those four games are like loser coach in, in a world of hurt. Like if they beat Brian Kelly, Brian Kelly's, you know, being tortured. If they, if they beat Mario Cristobal, what the hell are we doing in year four or five there? And then we go into A&M and then, you know, let's be honest. I think that a lot of people are pretty excited about the trajectory of Mike Elko, but if they go, you know, eight and four again, then the stuff's going to start up a college station again. So like, imagine, imagine this, this is, this is just because this way the schedule worked out this year, and it's so different than what it's been in the past. Florida, Tennessee

is November 22nd. It's the last conference game for Florida. And I believe the next to last for Tennessee. That could be a loser leave. What if both teams are sitting there at eight and three, or I was not at eight and three, I'm sorry, at nine and two. You think that high pulls in that world? He's not in that world at that point because he made the playoff this year.

Yeah, I don't think so. It's also the Tennessee coming to Florida thing like there's a there's a weird whole juju around that that it's it's unexplainable at this point where Tennessee has had the better team at times. Maybe just cannot seem to win in Gainesville. Maybe that weekend we can get a credential for River and the three of us can go stay at your house and you know maybe bring some Tennessee juju down to Gainesville and see if that helps a little bit. I know River has been dying to go to a Tennessee football game and we work for 12 hours every Saturday and it's like maybe we could get to a place where we bring him to a Tennessee game and then he can enjoy that while also working. He came to the last Tennessee Florida game in Gainesville and sat there with me and I'm a little inside. So it's possible. But all right, next question. This is from DD wag. We've already done our Wendy's ad for today. But this

is how well we trained our viewers. Yeah, with the saucy nugs because Wendy's has moved on to the freshness of the hamburgers. But we're still talking a little saucy Nuggets here. What is the sauce you're taking using Wendy's sauce flavors? The Big Ten gets five teams in the playoff next year, or the SEC only gets three teams in again. I feel like this is pretty easy, Ari. The Big Ten getting five teams in is ghost pepper. Five teams is not a typical thing to expect. Um, but like again, there are some teams in the big 10 that can throw a wrench in that. Like if Illinois is really good, um, you know, I see like a projection. The thing that I want to say about the SEC is that there are what seems to be six, 10 and two teams in that conference. Like if you like look down, Georgia is going to win ten, right? Texas is going to win ten. Tennessee should win ten.

Alabama should be nine or ten win team next year. Ole Miss, I don't know. But like if you have seven teams. LSU, Florida, Texas A&M. We think Auburn's going to be better. South Carolina. There's a lot of teams that expect to win nine games in that conference. And when that happens, it's harder for the teams to not have three losses at the end of the year,

which may have happened a little bit to them this year. So, you know, I don't know, like, if Fendi is going to have a pulse this year, or, you know, if there's like Mizzou is going to be tough out, but like if teams start losing to the bottom half like they did last year and then beat each other up at the top it's going to be really hard for them to get a bunch of teams and again because they're just going to be a bunch of three and four lost squads. I think the SEC or the Big Ten getting three teams in is not a very hot take like it just depends on how the things break out it's quite possible it's only three. Yeah but I think it's I think it's a three. Yeah, but I think it's certainly that both conferences get three each, right?

Like you can say that. Yes, they're gonna get at least three, but it might be just three. Yeah, so this year it was a little bit more stacked on the big 10s favor, and I think funny enough, you could say that the ACC even had a few, if you wanna count Notre Dame, because they play such an ACC schedule,

but between SMU, Clemson, and Notre Dame, a team that played a lot in that conference, I thought there was a pretty good spread despite the fact that the Big Ten had five last year. All right, I got a question from Wiley E. Dog. What will actually happen first, a collective bargaining agreement between players and schools on campus quarterfinals or a group of five

school drops sports and I'm taking this to mean a group of five school drops all sports including football, not some sports to just make way for football. My guess on this is on campus quarterfinals. I think we get. I think we get that. Not this coming season,

because they can't change that for this coming season, but I think I think there's a chance we get that not this coming season because they can't change that for this coming season, but I think there's a chance we get that in the 2026 season. Yeah, people liked it. It was great. I think that the thing with the on-campus playoff games that is interesting is that the four teams that got to host a playoff game this year are four traditional powers that are used to being showcased on television every week. So like to me, it's not that the playoff atmosphere at Notre Dame wasn't special and electric,

we were there together and it was. But I am most excited about teams like ASU in Indiana, and teams like that who aren't typical college football powers who get in, who get to have that moment on their campus because they didn't get to. It's just Texas got another game, Ohio State got another game,

and Notre Dame got another, who was the fourth one? Penn State. Penn State, yeah, these places are used to hosting big time college football games. And I think that the showcase of the sport is getting Alabama to go play in Boise. Like that would be awesome. So like to me, like that to me

is what will make these special. So as much as I enjoyed seeing two home playoff games back to back days with you, I wish it would have been at places that I don't typically go to already. Like, you see what I'm saying? Like if A&G got that moment. No, I'm with you.

And I also think like Arizona State for winning the conference should be rewarded with a home game. Yeah. Not rewarded with a trip to Atlanta to play Texas. Yeah. You get to play a team in your stadium on national television and everybody's watching.

You get to showcase your campus. You get to showcase your town. You get to showcase your program. And I think that like that to me is like the coolness of it. Like I don't, I don't need to see another home game at Penn State. There's 10 of them every year that are on national television that everyone's watching.

I want to see, I mean, who's the most obscure team that could make the playoff? I mean, Arizona State's pretty obscure going into last year. Indiana certainly was, but how cool would it have been if Indiana played at home? I mean, if Iowa State could have made the playoff, like Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa, I've been to, like I've been to probably the biggest kind of national result that happened in that stadium in the last 50 years. I was there when they beat Oklahoma State in 2011. Like that place is incredible in a big game.

I've seen the pictures of that Max Olson posted when he went to Kansas games a few years ago. What was that big Kansas upset that he followed them through the town and they threw the it's like Lawrence, Kansas hosting a playoff game. Like that's what it's Manhattan, Kansas. If you've never been to a game at K State, it is an awesome environment, but it's one of those places that you're probably not tuning into every single week.

Yeah, or if a Tennessee fan or a Mississippi State fan is watching a game, like how familiar are they with Tempe? I don't know. Yeah. Probably not that familiar. And I've been there a lot in my life and blacked out there. Yeah, Producer River points out Stillwater.

Imagine a playoff game with still water because that's the tightest it's the tightest stadium in America like the the sidelines there it's like two feet between the sideline and the stands and the people in the front of the stands have those paddles like it is that would be incredible the visual of that would just be incredible yeah yeah bonus question from Rocky Top Tom because he heard something you said. Yeah. Ari, do you honestly see Tennessee winning 10 games? I have to be honest, I don't unless our offensive line become disciplined men. We're going seven and five. I don't know if Tennessee is going to win 10 games next year. What I do know is that they

expect to, right? Like that's a team that I think is in that Rocky Top Tom is a Tennessee fan who doesn't expect that. But I would, I would imagine I'm I'm I would agree with you Ari, that if we surveyed the bulk of Tennessee fans, they'd say it has to be as good as it was last year. Because last year didn't end well enough because they got blown out. Now they got blown out by Ohio State who blew everybody out. But I'm looking at here at the schedule though, it's like, if you think they're going to go seven and five, what are those five losses, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, Bama, and one other one? Like that's a bad season for them.

I don't think they're going to go seven and five, but eight and four is possible. If they lose all four of those games, like, yeah, yeah. And what I'm saying is and Alabama and Florida on the road. In the context of the SEC and how many teams they get into the playoff though like. Oklahoma going to Norman, I mean going to Knoxville would be difficult Georgia going to Knoxville obviously is difficult and like that that's Tennessee is a team even if they're not a ten win team that

can beat another ten win team and knock them out of the playoff. There's a lot of like if Tennessee is like the weak link here, that's a pretty sturdy weak link, I think. And also too, Nico being another year into this, Mike Matthews coming out and being really, really good if that happens. Like they have the pieces. I know they lost Dylan Sampson and James Pierce, but they have guys that I think can really step up. And I even put Matthews on my list of players, maybe some of those Florida receivers should have been on it too, but of players who have a chance to break out in a big way next year. And you know, I think Josh Hypple has done a good job there. So I think that they deserve the benefit of the doubt of a team that at least is a tough out in that conference and could, if not make the playoff themselves get in the way of another team trying to make it. One more question, Ari, it's from Reid. It's a, it's a professional development question. I see he actually came in and put it in the chat as well. But as someone who is starting a college football podcast and getting into the media

space, what is one tip or piece of advice that you would give to your former selves starting out again? There's a few of these, and we actually got asked about this when we were in New Orleans too. Ari, the one I didn't say when we were in New Orleans that I would like to add to the list. Don't try to sound like anybody else.

Don't try to sound like Colin Cowherd. Don't try to sound like Joel Klatt. Don't try to sound like anybody else. Don't try to sound like Colin Cowher. Don't try to sound like Joel Clatt. Don't try to sound like Ari. Be yourself, be you, be unapologetically you. And that will resonate with people. People have great, finely tuned BS detectors. They know when you're not being you. Be you.

Yeah, I'm good at that. You can't be anybody but you. That's the best part. As River says, be like Brad from Macon. Honestly, that's why I said Brad from Macon was great TV, great podcast, because he was exactly who he is. He didn't apologize for it. He didn't care if he was right or not. He didn't care if he was right or not. He did not care if he was right or not. I'll give him that. My advice. So here's the thing that we have to acknowledge, Andy, and we are so blessed to be in this position, but I think also too, we are in this position and a byproduct of this position is working for publications that were very big.

Right? Like when you were an SI guy for how many years were you there? 11. Yeah, over 10 years I knew. And I was at the Athletic and you're writing stories that are in the New York Times, like you have a built-in audience advantage from that standpoint. So building a college football talk show on YouTube on your own volition by yourself as a lone wolf I know is extremely difficult. So the advice that I would give you in that respect is that I wouldn't be as results oriented. I would do it because you love it.

I wouldn't do it because you enjoy it. Don't do it because you think you're gonna get rich. Yeah, yeah. You might not. Yeah, like I wouldn't do it because you feel like a million people are gonna watch you right out't do it. I would think you're gonna get rich. Yeah might not Yeah like I wouldn't do it because You feel like a million people are gonna watch you right out of the gate and let me tell you Andy and I have very large platforms and we write stories that have gotten millions of views in the past and we can tell you firsthand that building an audience is Freaking hard dude, like we're still struggling with that. Like we want that

And the other thing I'll say is is is, is, I love this now, cause back when we started Ari, there was kind of only one way in and it was very narrow, but now like Josh, Payte came from a different place than we did and figured out how to build a successful platform. JD, Piquel did the same thing. And then those two took a kind of similar path. But like Spencer Hall from Every Day Should Be Saturday and he you know he does shows on ESPN, he's shut down Full Cast now. Like Spencer Hall came from a completely different place and built himself into a superstar. Like it doesn't matter where you come from now. If you're genuine, if you bring something to the table that nobody else does, you can be successful. And I think the reason why you and I are here, even though we took the journalism writing path, is that we just genuinely love doing this. And I think that like my piece of advice

that my dad gave me when I was a kid, and I still think about it, and I think it's true is if you fall in love with what you're doing, then the money will come. The views will come. The success will come. Focus on what you love about podcasting, which is talking into a microphone and getting your points across. And you know what? Five people might watch it at first, but you know what?

It might turn to seven. Then it might turn to 11. And as long as you are focused on the work and you are focused on doing a good show, eventually you might get to where you wanna go. But don't get discouraged in the beginning if you're not getting the results that it takes. Look, we got 175 people watching right now.

We want that number to be 50,000 one day, but it's brick by brick, baby. It's not over the top. I like Ari going for the McAfee numbers. Yeah, no, I mean, I want- That means we're making like 18 million a year. I'm in, let's go. I mean, I don't know.

I want to be one of the, if not the most listened to college football show one day. But like, I also know that what we do on Thursday, February 13th is a step in that direction. And if I got bogged down with the numbers on a daily basis, there would be some good days. There'd be some really sad days. But at the same time, I love being here with Andy

and I love doing what I do. And that's what I focus on on a daily basis. And my hope is over the course of time, as you do anything with any goal, small steps to large distances, focus on the next step and then you'll make it. Well, I will focus on the next step, but I'm also now you've got me,

you've got the wheels spinning because I want those McAfee numbers. All of you out there, imagine, I know all of you have seen the movie PCU, I know you're all as old as me. It's just like when when draws tells Katie, Katie, you're a freshman, find 5,000 people. Find 5,000 people, all of you, tell them about the show,

tell them to get their asses to YouTube every morning at 930 AM a.m. Eastern time. And we'll all have a big happy community. And Ari and I will make 18 million bucks a year. No, I'm kidding. Thank you, every single one of you for being here. Thank you for every single person that you've told about this show.

And we hope you keep doing it. Don't forget to follow or subscribe or whatever the word each platform is using right now on YouTube on Apple podcasts on Spotify on Amazon and whatever you listen wherever you watch Make sure you follow so we don't miss an episode but also Thanks and my by the way Tomorrow on the show

By the way, tomorrow on the show, Ari takes the government test. Ari goes to school. We got questions. If you didn't listen, a few days ago when when Jim Trestle was named the Lieutenant Governor in Ohio, we got into some civics with Ari and it was very interesting. So Ari will be taking the American government tests tomorrow. Cannot wait. We'll also talk some college football.

But right now, right here on the On3Sports YouTube channel, in three minutes, JD Pickel comes with a hard count. So give JD a follow and go watch that show. We'll talk to you again tomorrow.