Andy & Ari On3 - QB CAROUSEL: Ole Miss & Oklahoma Changeup | Trinidad Chambliss named starter, John Mateer injury | Miami's Mario Cristobal Joins | Assessing Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola and Penn State’s Drew Allar

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

As week 5 of College Football is right around the corner, some programs are having to switch things up at quarterback. Ole Miss announced on Wednesday that Trinidad Chambliss would be starting for the Rebels, confirming the notion that was already swirling ahead of this game. Meanwhile, over in Norman, Brent Venables and the Sooners will have to resort to a familiar face at quarterback in Michael Hawkins Jr due to John Mateer needing surgery on his throwing hand. Will the Sooners be able to weather the storm? Will Trinidad Chambliss shine in SEC play vs LSU? Andy & Ari break it all down here (0:00-0:59) On Today's Episode(1:00-3:22) BetMGM(3:23-12:38) Trinidad Chambliss starting for Ole Miss(12:39-20:24) John Mateer's Injury(20:25-23:02) Miami Preview on their bye week(23:03-25:00) Brunt Workwear(25:01-41:22) Mario Cristobal joins(41:23-43:23) Rhoback(43:24-1:00:25) Dylan Raiola Discourse(1:00:26-1:02:15) Gametime(1:02:16-1:09:56) Is Drew Allar Good enough(1:09:56-1:10:30) Conclusion After the QB discussion, Miami's Mario Cristobal joins Andy & Ari on the Hurricanes' bye week. Watch here as Coach Cristobal talks about the culture, attitude, and expectations for the Canes program. Also, you won't want to miss Coach's story on Michael Irvin and his recruiting visit. Later, Andy & Ari continue to dive into the message boards with discussions on Dylan Raiola and Drew Allar. Will the veteran QBs shine throughout the rest of the season? It's a Dear Andy & Ari show tomorrow! Get your questions sent to:[e-mail]    [e-mail] Our show is presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. BRUNT was tired of the workwear brands out there cutting corners. You work too hard to be stuck in uncomfortable boots that don’t hold up. So they built something better – boots that are insanely comfortable and built for any jobsite. For a limited time, our listeners get $10 off at BRUNT when you use code ON3 at checkout. Just head to bruntworkwear.com, use the code ON3, and you’re good to go. And after you order, they’ll ask where you heard about BRUNT—do us a favor and tell them it was from this show. Our show is sponsored by Rhoback, the most comfortable clothes on the planet! Use the code ANDY on Rhoback.com for a generous 20% off for all new customers through the end of this week. That’s 20% off all Performance Polos, Shorts and more with code ANDY This show is also brought to you by Gametime! Take the guesswork out of buying college football tickets with Gametime.Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Swipe. Tap. Ticket. Go. Download the Gametime app today! Visit Gametime.co. Join On3 today and get one full year of access to The Athletic included! https://www.on3.com/subscribe/C Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/w7dGybVywJk Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Andy and Ari on 3, it is quarterback roulette. We got Megaboard Wednesday, and the boards are buzzing because Ole Miss, starting Trinidad Shamblis again at quarterback, this time against LSU. Oklahoma will be without John Mateer, who injured his thumb in the Auburn game in the first quarter, played through it, but now needs surgery, and it'll be out for a little bit of time, probably including the Texas game. We'll talk about that. plus a very special guest. Miami head coach Mario Cristobal talks about the win against Florida and the upcoming game

against Florida State that might be a preview of the ACC championship game too. We'll find out. Also, as Megaboard Wednesday, we'll discuss Dylan Riola and Drew Aller, some very interesting threads on the Nebraska and Penn State message boards

about those two gentlemen. A whole lot to talk about all on today's Andy Nariari. on three presented by betmgm we are presented by bet mgm and if you have not signed up for bet mgm yet now is the best time sign up now use the bonus code cfb as in college football and you'll get up to $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with betmgm here's how it works download the betmgm app and sign up using the bonus code cfb deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. You receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets if you bet loses. Just make sure you use the

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Call 8778 Hope N.Y or text Hope N.Y 4673369 in New York. Call 1-800-next-step in Arizona. call 1-800-327-50-50 in Massachusetts, call 1-800 bets off in Iowa or 1-800-9-81-0-0-2-3 in Puerto Rico. First-Bet offer for new customers only, subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for bed MGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. It is a mega board Wednesday.

And the boards are popping off, Ari. Big, big news on Rebel Grove, our Ole Miss message board. And it actually comes from our guys, Pete Naco and Chris Lowe. They report that Trinidad Shambliss will be making his third consecutive start for Ole Miss at quarterback, in place of Austin Simmons, who is still dealing with an Anglican. ankle injury are we talked a lot about this game yesterday almost in lSU because of well we learned that late kiff's daughter is dating with weeks but this probably will have a much more effect on the game i would imagine already that ls he was already preparing for trinidad shambliss who is the the fair estate

transfer who's been awesome since he's had to take over but this we wanted to find this out i'm sure brian kelly and company wanted to know this and now they've got an answer we still taking the over on this, Andy? You were taking the over because Lane Kiffin said, I was never taking the over. I was just joking. I'm not taking it either. I just was making a joke about what he said. But, you know, I think

that it's a interesting and significant piece of news in considering the fact that this game is maybe one of the three best, not maybe, is one of the three or four best games of the weekend. And certainly have two teams that are involved in this game that are

going to figure into the SEC race. and are still undefeated. So, you know, I'm very high on Austin Simmons's potential and have been since the beginning of the year, and it's unfortunate that we haven't been able to see it, you know, shine through just yet. That said, I think Chambers has done a really good job in his time starting and certainly feel much better about it being at home and the fact that it's not his first start. So I'm very curious to see if the BET MGM line is going to move, Andy. I don't know if it will because I think it was kind of priced into the assumption that he was going to play.

But now we know, and it'll be cool to see it play out. And, you know, speaking about Lane Kiffin and, you know, the TMZ-ish-type episode that we had yesterday, I think it is important and I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Bill Belichick is the first college football coach ever to be on the cover of U.S. Weekly. So, you know, us weekly? Yeah, us week. You're so out of that universe that you've never even. I am shocked that Lane Kiffin. nor any of his family members have made it on the cover of us weekly.

But, you know, dreams can come true. It's not too late. The line, you mentioned, it has moved. It has moved toward LSU. It is now Ole Miss minus one and a half. The total is dropped to 54.5. Maybe they were listening to Lane as well. But, you know, I don't think this news changes my view of the game.

I don't know. It certainly wouldn't push me toward LSU because I would argue that Trinidad Chambliss has been better than Austin Simmons was when he was playing and healthy. Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't think there's enough credit that can be given to, to Giffin for even having somebody that's this capable. I mean, we had this conversation in the beginning of the, you know,

offseason in the middle of the off season, too, of like how many teams in the country actually have a legitimately good quarterback? That's a backup. And I don't know that we knew definitively that Chambliss would fit that mold, but we've seen that he does. So I wonder how many other quarterbacks are lurking in the shadow somewhere, you know, waiting to, you know, get their chance and be very good as well. But I think that this is a monumental game for Ole Miss. I think it's certainly a huge game for LSU, too, because, you know, it kind of felt like they were doing their victory dance. We finally got over the hump.

We won our opener. And it's like now that that win hasn't aged quite the way you thought it would. you know, LSU was in a position that still feels like it needs to prove itself and that this year is different. So a very intriguing game for both sides of it. And I'm excited to see if Chambliss can keep it going. Well, what's interesting is he's actually putting up better numbers than he did at Ferris State when he led Ferris State to a Division II national title last year. So, you know, last year I averaged eight yards per attempt. He threw, you know, completed 62 percent of his passes. He threw for about 2,900 yards, 26 TD, six

interceptions. He was only sacked seven times, which is, which is pretty amazing. But so far this year, completing 68% of his passes, 11.6 yards per attempt, four TDs, no interceptions. Like, he's phenomenal. Now, granted, Arkansas's defense, Tulane's defense, not near what LSUs will be. So this will be his biggest test, his biggest test by far. You know, LSU's defense intercepted DJ Lagway five times a couple of weeks ago. So he's going to have to five times he's going to have to take care of the ball.

But if he can, I think he can lead Ole Miss to win in this game. Again, the Ole Miss defense is going to have to show up the way they did against Hulane, not the way they didn't against Arkansas. And the quarterback on the other side, Doug Musseyer is an interesting one because remember

Ryan Kelly said after the Florida game that Doug Nussmeyer, or Doug Nussmeier, that's his dad. Garrett Nussmeier is the quarterback at LSU. Doug Nussmeier can sling it, though. I'm sure he can't. That's how he coaches quarterbacks for the Cowboys and used to be the O.C. at Alabama and Florida and Michigan.

But Garrett Nussmire was banged up. May have limited his ability to throw deep. If you watch the highlights from last week, he was thrown deep just fine. So it may be that Garrett Nussmeier looks different than he looks, say, against Clemson or Florida when he plays against the Ole Miss. So watch out for that because that could be a difference maker. And then we'll see with the running game at LSU. Obviously, Brian Kelly thought the 51-yard run at the end of the Florida game was good and enough.

And I'd imagine in a moment of truth, he would say that's probably not enough that it needs to be a little more consistent. Yeah, no, he got mad about the question because he was mad about the offense and he took it out on the reporter. I'll die on that hill. Yeah, I don't think, I don't think anybody's going to argue with it on that one. Yeah, I think that it's interesting because you worry about LSU's offense and you worry about Ole Miss's defense. And it's kind of like if one of those two units, like is the difference in this game, all the things that are going to kind of, you know, is LSU's offense fixed or is

Ole Miss's defense fixed. Like all the takes that are going to come off of that are going to be interesting. And, you know, of course, the way college football always makes it more context afterward is going to be necessary. But I think that, you know, if you're picking this game, who do you trust? more to do good enough to win. LSU's offense or Ole Miss's defense. And I think that's kind of what you're betting on.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's, you got Joe Sloan versus Pete Golding. So you pick your side there. Pick your side. We've already picked our sides. I picked Ole Miss to cover in this game. Well, Sloan's awesome at his job.

So I think that he's done quite well. I don't know. Has he? Mike Denbrock was the O.C. when Jayden Daniels won the Heisman. I know, but he was the quarterback coach, wasn't he? Mike Denbrock was the OC when Jaden Daniels won the He gets zero credit for any of that? Oh, you get some credit for it.

Yeah, I'm going to assign some credit to, you know, like for being a part of it. Light up Ole Miss and we'll heap you with phrase. Yeah, no, I know, but I'm saying. I think you do, like, I don't know. Like, hey, listen, you were really, really good at your job and we were at the athletic. I was part of the sports section there. So, like, you know, do I get any credit? credit for like knowing you i don't know like i think that you know i i get what you're saying but

you know i i think it's his time this is his chance too this is joe sloan's chance to to break out and and show hey i can be very good at this job i can lead a very potent offense we can go to the playoff with this because really they do seem to have have fixed what they needed to fix on defense blake baker has done that and then personnel wise they're where they need to be defensively. So I got to say if LSU's offense is actually a problem and it costs them this year, that is a level of hell that I can't even imagine when you had the one of the best offenses in the history of college football a few years ago and literally could not stop anybody.

Now you fix your defense and your offense can't score. It's like, God, it kind of reminds me of like that like putting a shirt on and you can't get the sleeves right. You know, you go to the left and the sleeve gets too short on the right and vice versa. I don't I don't think it's. going to be like that. I do I do not think it's going to be a you know fun house mirror of 2020. There's no way that LSU's offense is as bad this year as their defense was in no. And the thing is LSU's offense this year could be very good. We just we haven't quite

given it a chance yet. So we're just getting into the SEC play now. Give them a, give them a shot. Give them a minute. This will be the chance. Speaking of offenses that got dramatically better, let's go to the sooner scoop message boards. Our guy, George, Story, the third. On Tuesday broke the story that John Mateer was going to need surgery on his right hand, his throwing hand. He injured it on a play in the first quarter against Auburn. I believe it hit it on a helmet. Played all the way through the game, had, you know, led a flawless drive at the end to win the game for them.

But he's going to be out for several weeks. They're not sure exactly how many the surgery happening after surgery. you and they take a look at it, then they'll have a better idea when he can come back. The hope is that he can be back for South Carolina, but it sure seems like he's going to miss the Texas game. They've got an off week this week, Kent State next week, then Texas, then South Carolina. So the hope

is he's back for South Carolina. Michael Hawkins, who had to start against Texas last year and it did not go well, now you're starting quarterback at Oklahoma. Yeah, I'm just going to say, just from a fan perspective, this blows. I mean like oh yeah yeah you know Oklahoma it's been well documented but you know last year was an absolute dumpster fire in terms of like the roulette wheel you know luck draw of injuries right like you thought that after last year that Oklahoma had paid its dues in that in that category and it

was time for the pendulum to swing back to the other side and for them to get some injury luck and for like John Mateer to take the the sport by storm to a certain extent you know make people laugh the way he did, and you were in the room, Andy, you know, with the Johnny Manzellon, and the church comment and stuff. And he's heard at this point, by the way, he hurt. Yeah, right. Like, I can't even fathom, too. Like, if your hand is injured enough to require surgery and to miss an extended period

of time, how much pain and how much guts it must have taken to play through the rest of that game. And I only play through the win, you know, and makes him pretty big throws. He played really well. Yeah. So, I mean, I just like, for Oklahoma fans who are listening, like, I feel for you, this sucks. That said, I have a very good memory when it comes to how I have aggrieved people in the past and how they've reacted to it. I do remember being on the tail end of a few

Oklahoma avalanches on Twitter last year, you know, critiquing Michael Hawkins's ability. And a lot of people were coming to his defense. Now, I think that it'll be very interesting as somebody, and we joked about this on the show. It's like, well, at least the person that throwing in has played for Oklahoma, at least the person they are throwing in has been in these big time environments. And if he has grown and the assumption is because he was so young when he was thrown into that situation, you know, our judgment of Michael Hawkins is every bit as unfair as our judgment of Jackson Arnold last year. He was still behind the same bad offensive line and the inept offensive coordinating. He was still subject to the same, you know,

roadblocks and things that inhibited us from getting a really good look at Jackson Arnold. So if you're to give Jackson Arnold that grace and say, hey, you know, you're going to Auburn. You're going to be in a place that's, you know, more suited to, you know, accentuate your ability. Then we also have to give that grace to Michael Hawkins. And you know what? Maybe he'll play really well. I feel like this is a terrible blow because I thought that John Matier was like on a

Heisman trajectory. And I don't know that he's going to be able to overcome that. And even when he comes back from missing as much time. But like I have watched and you have watched enough Oklahoma, Texas games to know that shit gets weird and like what if Michael Hawkins is really good. I can still hold out hope that he could play. Well, okay, the offensive line is better

unequivocally. Full stop. We know that. The receiving core the coordinator's better. Ben Arbuckle's better at calling plays right now than Southletrella's. The receiving core is better with Dionne Burks with Isaiah Satania. Also remember, Giovanni Gibson will be back.

This is the guy they got from Arkansas Pine Bluff. that was lighten it up in the spring. He breaks his leg at the end of spring practice. He's coming back. He should be playing in the Kent State game. So he should be able to play with Michael Hawkins for a game before they have to play against Texas. So we'll see if he can make the offense better too. It's a much better situation for Michael Hawkins than it was last year.

That said, you still would want to see Mateer playing as Texas, given what we've seen for Mateer so far. And that sucks. But I'm excited to see what Oklahoma is. Plus, I will point out, Oklahoma's defense, as good as they were last year, better this year, even better. This is a defense of Sack Jackson, Arnold, 10 times. They are going to get after the quarterback no matter who they're playing. They're going to be difficult to block no matter who they're playing.

That part isn't changing. And that, especially on the D line for them, their depth is such that they can withstand some stuff. And you will get nicked up through the season. So, like, they are going to be able to get after your quarterback all season, no matter what happens. So I think that's the part of it that will help them because they're not going to have to score. Like, Michael Hawkins is not going to have to score 50 points a game with this Oklahoma offense. Yeah. If he can get them to 25, they're going to be in all these games.

Yeah. And I think that it's a reasonable ask for him. So, you know, listen, Oklahoma with a healthy John Mateer. was going to lose games this year probably because yes look at that schedule it's brutal against that schedule i don't care how good you are to get through that unscathed if if they can get through this stretch and have him back for a home game against old miss on october 25th and i'm i'm skeptical of that but you know i don't know i didn't go to medical school

but if they can get there and they and they have our uh two and one went over kent state close game against Texas but a loss and then they're able to win that last game against South Carolina like you are still in business when he returns so like I wouldn't when I first saw that

he was having surgery Andy actually called me I was on the phone with Mike Elko and I was like oh no when you said surgery I'm like is he done for the year so the fact that you can say surgery and still have the hope that he's back by November is a pretty nice thing

I just hope Oklahoma keeps it rolling. And obviously you and I are going to be going to the state fair and a wonderful, maybe the best spectacle in college football together. I hope that that game is more entertaining. You know, last year when we went was my first time actually going to the game. And it wasn't a great representation of what that game usually features. So I'm hoping that this year we get a better version of it. Bad news, annoying news.

Oklahoma doesn't deserve this news, but not like death toll news. to me exactly there there is a chance and look oklahoma's going to lose games with john mature too like you're not going through that schedule undefeated nobody's going through that schedule undefeated even some of those great teams that finished undefeated against the schedules they played probably would struggle to go undefeated against that schedule so i think they're going to be all right but the defense needs to to be even better it's crazy they haven't forced a turnover yet as good as they've been and as many negative plays as they've created. Now, they drop a couple interceptions against Auburn. They're going to start doing that. So as bad as their luck was

with the mature thing, maybe it turns around a little bit on the turnover thing, because a lot of the turnover part has just been them being a little unlucky. I think they're going to start forcing turnovers. When you get in a quarterback's face as much as they do, you will force turnover. So we'll find out. We go to the message board at Keynesport, our Miami site, Gary Furman's war room. This is one of those champagne problems, message board posts. I like Carson Beck, but, and I'm wondering what the person is going to say, and I click on it, it's shouldn't we be doing the Heisman campaign for Ruben Bain,

which, of course, I'm here for because I think Ruben Bain might be the best player in college football. I have no problem with pushing him for the Heisman. But I was not going to ask our next guest about this message board post, because I knew what he was going to say that these guys have a lot of work to do. Nobody deserves any awards yet. Our next guest, of course, is Miami coach Mario Cristobal. He just beat Florida.

They're about to play Florida State in what looks like a classic Miami Florida State game, like when we were growing up where everybody was hitting. Everybody knows each other. It's intense all the way. I can't wait for this game. Ari and I are planning on being there in Tallahasse. and Miami's in a great position right now. They don't have to win the Florida State game,

but Miami's in a position where they might be able to go undefeated if they can win this Florida State game. And I just, they're built in a way that allows you to win games in multiple ways. Ari, you know, we talked about this, the revamping of the defense. Last year they had to win shootouts. This year, I think they could, they could win a shootout if they got roped into one. But the defense is good enough that it's going to hold them down to where they're not going to have to win shootouts. No, my number one thing with Miami in the offseason, and this is where I erred with them because I have picked against them at times, shit all year, and I've been wrong, has been looking at other places that have had truly terrible defenses and how long it typically takes to repair those defenses usually is more than one year, right?

Like if you look back at what USC was dealing with two years ago, you know, it got better last year, but it wasn't elite last year. When you look at what LSU was doing, it's taken a few years to go from what it looked like when Jaden was there to now. Miami went from one of the worst defenses in college football last year to one that you could actually say is quite good. And you don't see that very often. So it was super exciting to, if you're a Miami fan, like, you know, in the, and you zoom out, and you look at like where Miami was when Mario Cristobal took over and where they are now, you know, you want to talk about knocking on the door. This is the beginning of those knocking on the door moments for Miami, and it's super exciting. We are going to talk to Mario Cristobal in a second, but first, I want to talk to you about

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for the rain and the mud and these things I'm telling you right now that they are made to withstand anything so Bruntworkware.com $10 off with the code on three Now, let's talk about a team that always gets it done in a blue-collar way. Miami, great offensive line, great defensive line, potential national title contender. We'll find out.

Here is Mario Cristobal. We are joined now by Mario Cristobal, the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes coming off winning is Florida off this week, but Florida State looming in Tallahassee next week. And Mario, I just remember last year after you beat Florida. Florida State. We actually played it on the show last week. We were talking about what it meant to dominate the state. And you hit the table and, I mean, it was emphatic. How much does that mean where you just beat Florida? Now you go into game against Florida State to own the state of Florida. Well, I mean, we have an unbelievable opportunity coming up. Obviously, Florida States are a great football team.

I mean, they have maybe, if not the strongest, one of the strongest resumes in college football right now. And, you know, when teams in the state of Florida play, you've seen it forever now. The intensity behind it is, it's a different level. All these guys know each other. They've all played against each other in high school. And, you know, they want the opportunity to compete and win.

So whenever these teams get together, and I remember from being a player to being a GA to coaching, the intensity and physicality and violence of it is off the charts. Mario's, you know, wondering because, you know, you, I thought were very savvy with the, you know, fist pound after the Florida game. But, you know, in covering recruiting in general, at times I think that results of individual games can be overblown. In the state of Florida, that doesn't seem to be the case because of the relationships and how close everybody is geographically and, you know, all that. you know how much does winning a game like that do for you in the building when you're recruiting and then how much is the potential of this game being between two undefeated teams and feeling

like a vintage Miami Florida State game due for your program build well I think winning in general always certainly adds to your ability to validate your messaging right when you're going out on the road and recruiting but I also do believe this because I mean, I took over a program with a staff, not just myself, over at FIU when they were 0 and 25, and over at Rutgers when they were 1 in 11 and Oregon when they were 4 and 8. Winning does validate a lot of things, but there is a football season, and then there's almost like recruiting and signing day season. And they don't necessarily tie up, match up together all the time.

So I think it's the most dangerous thing in the world in recruiting is to assume that winning a football game, or winning football games naturally leads to really good recruiting. It could be of assistance. It could help you, but it's an entirely different game and one that has to be taken with the same intensity as you approach everything else you do in your program. Well, let's talk about the part comes after recruiting, the development part, because I think about when you took this job,

you know, you get it in late 2021, going to the 22 season. Your first class where you had a full cycle was that 23 class. So that's that's C.C. Maui Noah. That's Ruben Bain Jr. Mark Fletcher. You know, guys who are cornerstones of this team now, how much have they grown since they got to your campus, since you saw them as high schoolers? And is this exactly what you envisioned for them at this point in their career? That was the most challenging recruiting job by an entire staff that I've ever been a part of because upon arrival, you know, it was a little bit frightening. the caliber of the level of roster that we were walking it to. And then you had to play out of season

where you were getting your teeth kicked in week after week after week. And you're seeing these guys outside of Hard Rock Stadium. And you're being flat out, blunt and honest and saying, yeah, we are not real good right now, but this is our blueprint. This is our plan. This is what your significance to this plan means. And stick with us.

You know, we will not let you down and look at our history. and by the grace of God a lot of hard work they did and every single year we've just been getting better and better and better and those guys are a massive reason why and i'll tell you what the other part i thought was really neat is we had a week and a half or whatnot when we took the job to put some pieces together and those pieces were wesley besaint um matthew mccoy um anez cooper gosh who else was in that um we had some some really you know, some really important pieces that are playing out. They're playing great football for us right now.

And they went through all that junk. You know, they went through the beatings that we took. They saw the progress. So they took all the steps. They never skipped the steps. And unfortunately, you know, when you have a starting point like that, you can't skip steps. And they went through every single one of those painful ones.

Mario, I think that the plan at Miami has been very straightforward for, you know, every coach that, you know, has come through there, especially the ones before you in terms of keeping the kids in South Florida home. Obviously, you know, Miami will only go as far as, you know, those players will take it. And I'm wondering, as you guys have seen sustained improvement year over year success in a way that Miami hadn't had, what's it like walking into a high school hallway now? Do people receive Miami differently in South Florida now than they did three years ago? There's been a drastic change over the past couple of years, and it's still ultra-competitive.

And it's still about not only getting top-tier South Florida talent, but getting the right ones, the ones that really fit the program and that this place fits, you know, what they're looking to do and the way that we do things. And while at the same time, I think we do a really good job, our staff does, I certainly don't want to take the credit. It's we do this thing, again, as a team, is the fact that we have a really good blend of portal players that are older, that have a year left, portal players that have multiple years, and then high school recruits, high school signes,

where the experience with the high level young talent, with experience with years in the portal, as long as the attitudes are right and the level of talent, the caliber of work ethic is right, that's a really powerful blend. And I think all that stuff together has proven that whether you're local, whether you're from the other side of the country,

that you're going to have an opportunity, to play here at the highest level. Andy, if I can just jump in here, do one more, just a follow up to this. What do you think had to be done differently by you and your staff that previous staffs were unsuccessful doing? And I'm not saying to throw, you know,

anybody under the bus or to say anything specific. But I'm just wondering, like, was the plan seems the same to a certain extent because that area is so important. But what have you guys been able to do to unleash that plan in a way that, you know, Miami had a hard, time doing for the previous 15, 20 years before your arrival?

Well, I think I'll start by saying that we have, there's been a ton of progress because the starting point, I mean, I could go on for hours of what that starting point was like. And that was, you know, a pretty challenging situation. But we're not where we want to be yet. So I think when we get to that point, I think it'd be great to reflect and say, okay, these are the things that we're done. It's a very different plan. But here's the thing.

I respect anyone that's come through here before. or anyone that wore a hurricane shirt or helmet, you know. So, and I always try to pick and choose my words respectfully so it never comes across as, oh, that's wrong and this is right, because, you know, you never know, and you don't judge. So we have a very regimented blueprint for what we look for, and it's not just for the locker room, it's for the developmental office, for the recruiting department, for the academic section. and we all recruit it the same i want to be honest with you we recruit people in the building the same way the same approach and i know i didn't answer your question but uh i guess what i'm

trying to say is that um it it's it is different it just it's a very lengthy dive well just make me a promise the time when you you decide you want to get into that because i feel like that is super fascinating um please just let it be to me yeah yeah no that's mine we just well the best part about is that the appetite to improve is is really strong like we know that and there's like i look at the game the other night i mean there's so many errors so many things that we have to do better what we want to accomplish requires us to get a hell of a lot better and the appetite for that is strong so the DNA is being cultivated the right way we are recruiting the right kind of guys that are capable of learning that or digesting that and

making it real so a lot of progress but a long long ways to go So I know it's important in your program to always have great play on the line of scrimmage. It's important going back in Miami history to be great on the line of the screen. I want to fact check something that Art Kehoe once told me. So your old offensive line coach at Miami, he said that the offensive line while he was at Miami never won a single day at practice. Never won a single day. So I want to fact check that first. Did you guys ever win against your D-line?

Yes. I thought so. I thought you'd say it. But where he was right, this is. This is no, and with plain just basic four-down cover, too, it was successful if after a scrimmage, they counted up a dozen plus yards of rushing. Because they were like a, I remember being a freshman, it's Russell Marilyn, it's Cortez Kennedy, it's Bill Hawkins, Greg Mark, you know, some of these unbole, I mean, you name it, this. I can go on it on those guys forever, but it was extremely difficult to get any kind of movement because those bodies were thick. powerful explosive and they played like absolute maniacs they're very violent football players

so what is it now when it's when it's when it's rubin bain against markell bell when it's a keen messador against matthew mccoy like what does that look like at practice it's what you want it's it's getting to what you want to look like it's they seek each other out that's the best part there's no skipping reps hiding like if we go to block destruction or one-on-one two-on-toes inside run middle drill whatever it is they seek each other other out they won't take reps unless it's against each other because they know at the end of the day that's that's really the secret sauce the secret sauce is in the dirt you know it's working against each other so i i knew you're going to win the other night in the first quarter when i'm watching your

offensive line basically the pile would just move five yards like the back would get we get the ball he'd run about two he'd hit the pile and then the pile would move another five yards and you guys are still doing that in the fourth quarter so my question is who gets more excited about that you or Alex Mirabal, your O'Line coach? You know who actually gets really excited? The skill guys, I think our skill guys have really bought into being more physical. They bought into being team players, and they're heavily involved in the run game as well. But, you know, as to coach Mirabal, you know, obviously I've known the guy for almost 40 years.

We went to high school together. But he does an exceptional job. And I could tell just watching out of practice today, he's nowhere near. being content. And his players aren't either. And honestly, his players don't want, they don't want any praise right now. They know we miss on several things the other night that really could have, you know, made us a little bit more successful against a really talented and a really good defense because they got a lot of really good players. So just a lot of work to do. I'm trying to say how to ask this diplomatically. What's it like, and I mean this

is a compliment, having a psychopath like Michael Irvin on the sideline. Did you see these videos. I don't know how aware you are of what's going on, but he's really getting effort on your sidelines. What's it like having him out there? Well, I mean, he was kind of one of the hosts when I officially visited here way back in the day. So I know the intensity that he's going to bring, you know, and during the game, am I aware of anything outside of what we're doing? Absolutely not. Have you seen the clip of him? Yeah, I got more send it to you because like that he was he was fired up but you know what he did what he did honestly a year ago he came to we had 400 plus uh members that came to the alumni reunion and he

spoke to the team off camera no recording no nothing and he went right at some some really important things that were the basic principles of being the miami hurricane way back and also letting them know that we don't want to go we're going forward with you guys we don't we're not trying to make this nostalgia theater we want to make sure we're here to help and mentor and assist and i mean mike is uh he's all hard he's all hurricane you know obviously his history is awesome and we're seeing a lot of guys coming around and that's really good for our program what did you you said he was one of your hosts when you came to visit way back i think everybody was hosting that you could tell us what that evening looked like it was a very successful recruiting

evening yeah i don't think we're going to get that saving that for the book we all uh we all committed even if you didn't have an offer you committed but you know what honestly it was i used to come over here on a bike or hits a ride or walk whatever it took i absolutely loved absolutely loved watching practice and what they did and uh the physicality, the level of competition. Those guys try to take each other's bed though. And I wanted to be one of those dogs. And I didn't know if I was good enough to even come here.

So when I got the shot, I was, man, it was awesome. So one guy who does look like an old school came before we let you go, Ruben Bain Jr. He's from Miami Central. You knew in high school he was going to be a really good player. But what he's doing this year seems just incredible. And it seems like he has a knack for just ending the game. against Notre Dame with a couple

plays right at the end. I remember watching you guys against Florida and it was 197 and Florida still got a little bit of a shot and I was like, well, they haven't really gotten home in a minute and then boom, Ruben Bain, his DJ lag winning game's over. Can you tell when he's about to do that? Well, I mean, he gets

chip lock, double teams, backs come through on him. They slide the protection to him, so we move him around a lot. He's he's an explosive play away on every play. quite frankly you know it's a matter of uh it's just a matter of time i guess he just the level of effort he plays with and physicality is is second to none and i can tell you right now just going out there and watching practice he's not uh you know not happy with his performance

he knows that there's a lot more to give a lot more to accomplish and he's going to he's going to work hard and over this week to make sure that he and his teammates get better and he hit him with the rule for life. Oh, yeah. Oh, we didn't prep you for this, and I'm sorry, but I have a feeling you have a good answer for this. When we have coaches on the show, we ask them what their rule for life is or their rules for life. Like, I have three, never complain about free food, never complain about free beer, never skip leg day. I feel like if you do those three things, you're a happy person. Do you have one rule or a couple rules that you just live by? Yeah, I have a few. I'll just throw one out. I just don't ever let anybody out work you.

it seems like you're you're doing that right now i mean this is this is off week but you you're as intense as ever sounds like practices as intense as ever so good luck as you uh go forward here we got a long way to go man you know we're improving and uh we recognize that part but when you watch the tape you know we we got work to do and um again what we want to accomplish just requires us to get better so we're at it uh we're very aware of the things we have to get better at so Let's just keep working. Mario, thank you so much. Thanks for being here.

It means a lot. Thanks for having me, guys. Appreciate you. Take care yourself, and we'll see you in Tallahassee. Yes, sir. Thank you. We got more Megaboard Wednesday coming up. But first I want to tell you about Roeback.

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That's a beautiful hoodie right there. Tons of teams with the collegiate collection, but also when you're not reping your team. If you just want a great beautiful piece of clothing, hoodies, polos, quarter zips, you name it, shorts. The Roeback shorts are fantastic. I'm working out in those now. The shirts, the tech shirt that I was wearing on yesterday's show, outstanding. So go to rowback.com, R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com. Use the code Andy for 20% off your first order.

Code Andy, 20% off your first order. That's Ro-B-A-C-K.com. You can rep your team, but you can also just look good, whether you're at work, whether you're in the golf course, whether you're out to dinner, you name it. Yeah. Fall is the official season of Roeback, but they also make great golf shirts, too. I know that part of the thing. but I've been getting, I've been hitting the links a little bit more lately.

Nice. Yeah, it's a very comfortable, perfect golf shirt as well. So great stuff. And I'm, the temperature's starting to drop and we're starting to get assigned. You know, we got some assignments that came in for games later in the year where we're going to have to go up into the cold weather. My huddle hoodie is sitting there in my closet just calling to me. If you have not experienced the huddle hoodie from Roeback, it is the warmest hoodie known to man. And so I can't wait until temperature drops enough to wear that.

But right now, perfect H-E-H-E-H-E-H-E-H-E-H-E-H-E-H-E-H-O-B-A-H-A-K-A-K-A-A-K-A-A-K-A-K-A-K-A-R-R-A-R-R-E. All right, all right, let us now go to the megaboard. And there was a post that kind of bugged me, kind of irked me. And really the whole conversation kind of irks me. And this was from Husker Online. Here we go. It's about Dylan Riola. And I think the people who watch you, Ari,

and think you hate Nebraska and everything, they assume we're just here to bury Dylan Ryolo. We're going to be like, oh, he's cosplaying Patrick Mahomes, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm not here for that. But I'll read you how the post begins. It's starting to question Dylan. He has not shown the, and then it cuts off.

But I'm not bashing Dylan or blaming him for the Bishingian loss. He made some nice throws and the stats look good. The problem I have is he's not letting the ball go. The line had a rough night, but I saw some guys open on curls and things, and he would just not let throw the ball. Here's my question. For coaches or film junkies, things I did not see live and you can see on film. I think at least a couple sacks are on him for not seeing guys or simply not throwing it away.

But here goes, if there's any takers. Is Dylan too conservative or scared to release the ball if receivers are not open? He may be a great pre-snap guy, but is he a slow processor post-snap? Okay. I'm ready to offer the full-throated Dylan Riola defense here. Please. But before you get into that. Yes, let's hear what Matt Ruhl had to say this week at his press conference,

because he talked about it too. And this is dominated the discussion. And I get the Patrick Mahomes thing. I know it bothers people, and I know people want to talk about it, But I just, I don't know. Here's Matt Rule. Are you that the narrative about Dylan is not about that pro. And it's about whatever they're talking about on CBS or it's about all-field stuff.

Yeah, I just have always, I'm very hard on our players from an accountability measure. You know what I mean? I think I believe that I hold them highly accountable because I want every player someday to say that their life is better because they play it for us. And I know people might kind of roll their eyes, but that's all I want. I want them to say, I had a better life because I went there.

So that might be sometimes challenging them, but outside of that, I'm going to defend them to the endth. I know how hard they work. Like, even if a guy didn't play well,

like, what's the point of, like, burying him? Like, what is the point of burying that kid? Like, like, I want to try to build him up.

I'm not talking about fans. I'm talking about, but when it comes, sometimes I think things are just so lazy. Like, he's, he's,

he's completing 75% of his passes. He's played two power four teams. Like, Even the play with the touchdown to Jacori, like, that's a, that's an elite level check. That's not somebody in the headset looking over the sidelines, and I'm going like this. That's Dylan playing quarterback, man. So, yeah, I say it to everyone every time the media comes in, I'm like, you know, let's not do the whole just the Mahomes thing. Now, I mean, I get the Mahomes thing, but that's just such an easy, let's talk about the football.

And I think he's playing football at a really, really high level. And if you look at his growth from last year to this year, like he got hit early. He had to run around early. And yet he's one throw, you know, and that throws not all, I mean, it's on him. It's also on the tight end. And tight end breaks out when he's supposed to sit down. Tighten does what he's supposed to do. The ball's completed.

And we don't have to throw that interception. So it's a little bit of everybody. But yeah, that doesn't bother me as much as, as like, I want people to see in these guys what I see in them, right? They play their, they play their tails off. And I think, you know, Dylan's playing quarterback at a really high level right now, personally. And also, I got another version of that. our app that we're using to capture these videos sometimes gets a little wonky. So here's Matt Ruhl talking about Dylan Ryla in German.

Because I'm not for she might for she might be. That might be. But, but I'm obviously, therefore I'm going to protecting, to end. I know how hard they are even when a player not good has.

Where's you should you then begrabbing? Where's should you learn these young. I'm going to build. I'm not from fans. I read about. But when it's about, I think I sometimes, that the things just only foul are.

I think he had 70% of his Pess are successfully. He had against two power minus four teams just played. Sogar the spielg with the touchdown against Yakori. That is an elite level check.

That is not someone with headset who over the side line and says, that is Dylan, the quarterback, he played, man. Okay. I didn't understand the word of that,

but I did hear the English version before. Andy, listen, I am here with you and I want to talk about how well Dylan Raola has played. But I want to also back up because you and your wonderful Switzerland being aren't in the throes of the depths of hell with Nebraska Twitter right now.

And I want to explain something. But I'm not even trying to be Switzerland here. Like if I thought he stunk, I'd tell you, I think he stinks. But I'm saying you're Switzerland in the sense that you're not a part of what. I don't know that you're seeing what I'm seeing. I just think he's a convenient lightning rod for people who aren't. aren't really watching the game to criticize and say, oh, that's the, that's the problem right there. He's not the problem. He's not. As a result of the clip that you just saw and played

from Matt Rule, there has become or been this groundswell of Nebraska fans online, and maybe they don't represent most of them or many of them, but they are very loud online that have convinced themselves that the entire national media has gotten to a place where, you know, where they refuse to compliment Dylan Rayola and that they are obsessed with the cosplay thing. Okay. And one, we have acknowledged it on this show.

I don't think that either of us have ever criticized him for it. I think that we've talked about it because it's something that you have to talk about. And there's things that you need to understand. People criticize DJ Lagway quite frequently. People have criticized Nico I Amaliava. They have criticized Carson back. And they've criticized everybody a lot.

So it's not just a Dylan Rayola is the only person. person being criticized. Two, he's making a seven-figure salary now, and he is in the public eye. So if there is something to criticize, he's certainly, you know, able to sort of the blunt of that. The Mahomes thing, though it's not something that we've given him crap for, has to be acknowledged. And it's made tremendous rounds on social media, Andy, millions and millions and millions of impressions, many of whom aren't even college football fans because it became a TikTok sensation. So it's important to understand that he was also a five-star prospect who was at one point, I believe the number one player in the country. People latch on to those things,

especially when that player flips multiple times and they go out of their way to criticize them, and Raola is not unique in that. And also, I think it's been a completely and utterly fair criticism coming into the season to question whether or not the bottom half of his body is good enough to get him to that elite level. Now, that doesn't mean that he can't overcome that or that he won't get better, that he hasn't played well. But a lot of the criticisms that people are latching onto, at least from my perspective, are things that we said in June that aren't true anymore. So I wanted, I wanted to use that as a way to, you know, set the stage for you to talk about how well he's played because I agree with that. Like, it's like, I don't even understand

why people are upset. So go ahead and tell everybody that you believe that Dylan Raolo has played well, because frankly, it's in the numbers. He has. He's not the problem for Nebraska. The problem was it got the offensive line got their ass kicked on Saturday. Well, and it's not just the offensive line. And look, I understand, and this is what that message board poster was asking. He's asking good questions. You know, how much of this is Dylan holding the ball and how much is this is the line? And it takes a village to pass protect.

So it's not always just the line. But how important is that and how much is on him and how much is on everybody else? He was under pressure the entire Michigan game. I want to say it was 75 to 80% of his dropbacks. Somebody was in his face. I was just watching a cut up of his best plays. His best plays. None of them came in a clean pocket.

Like he's debating a sack every single play. The other problem is they're just not running the ball very well. So they gained 94 yards rushing. You back out the sacks. It drops down to. it drops down into the into the 40s. So like even 94 yards rushing wouldn't be good enough. But they are just not effective running the ball.

So the defenses don't have to even respect that. They just come after Dylan Riola. And so he's doing the best he can. If he gets adequate protection either or and would be would be better, but either or adequate protection. or an effective run game that works with their past game, it's a very different situation for him. He would have some clean pockets.

And it's also important to point out because if you go back and watch clips from our offseason, there was one like really brutal one. You have to acknowledge that we went through. And it's like, how many quarterbacks would you take over Dylan Rayola? And we took most of them over him. And in some of those cases, in many of those cases, we were wrong that we should. shouldn't have done that. And Dylan Rayola did, in my opinion, there are a few off-platform throws that he made in that Michigan game. There were certain times where he looked dead to rights

and might have been dead to rights sackwise in the past that he stepped through and avoided pressure and made, you know, throws down field that moved the chains. So you have to acknowledge that the thing that I was most concerned about, which was his inability or my viewpoint of inability to escape and evade pressure and extend plays, I thought has improved, which is an Oh, it's improved dramatically. He just can't do it every freaking play. And like, so I just did their sack-adjusted rushing yards. Sack adjusted.

So take the sacks out. They average 1.8 yards of carry. Yeah. Not going to get it done. Not acceptable. Matt Ruland himself in his news conference said that the most disappointing thing about the game was that the Michigan controlled the line of scrimmage. Now, also, we have to acknowledge, too, that that's Michigan's entire existence

as a program right now. Like they will win in their entire way of winning games is by doing that. And, you know, I think the most frustrating thing more than anything is that I believe that Dylan Rayola would actually be more in the forefront of the conversation certainly would have had Nebraska won the game. You know, that now that they've lost by three points. Yeah. When you consider how badly Michigan beat Nebraska at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, the fact that this was a three point game is a miracle. so and one of the reasons it was a three-point game was wearing number 15 he got them out of trouble in a bunch of cases where he should have probably gone down and and lost yards yeah but i don't

i i i think what bothers people is the patrick mahomes thing just the he he you know he looks like him he does the warm up whatever i don't care i don't care what you want to do he said he said the numbers actually an homage to Tim Tebow. So, like, and I get it, because if you're that age, when you see 15, that you're thinking Tim Tebow. So I just don't, like, I get that he's a convenient lightning rod. He's easy to make fun of because he's, he's pretending to be Patrick Mahomes before the game. And you know the other thing that no one is acknowledging about the Mahomes thing? He really looks like him. Everybody makes fun of Patrick Mahomes. That's true. Even though he's the best quarterback, possibly of all time.

And they make the, the, people sent me this meme of Patrick Mahomes looking like Darlene from, what's the show? Roseanne. Like, it's like, he gets made fun of all. He's the greatest quarterback maybe of our lifetimes. He gets made fun of all the time. So, it's either him or Tom Brady. He's one or two.

Every single time he talks, people like, rub his voice over is Kermit the Frog. He make fun of him all the time. Like, when you are famous and you go, uh, viral on TikTok, you are also seeing a lot of criticism from people who don't even like college football. Yeah. And that's what I just think it's really easy to make fun of Dylan Raola. It is not easy to watch the game and figure out what the real problem is. But he's not the problem. Yeah. He's not the problem. I just resent being lumped into other conversations about him that we're not a part of as if we haven't acknowledged his improvement. Like we have acknowledged it from the

beginning like no one we were wrong or I was wrong in my analysis I think so it looks like it that that you know of some of the players I would have taken earlier on but holy crap I was wrong about Dylan Rayola I was also wrong about like nine other quarterbacks like I don't understand this like Nebraska you got to let this go no no it's not me I'm talking about this Nebraska mentality not just with me with in general of like Dylan Rayola is like being isolated as the only person. You know how much shit DJ Lagway is taking right now? I live in Gainesville, so yes. He's been Nico Yamaliava right now. Do you think it was fun being Carson Beck in the off season? Like, Dylan Rayola is going to get made fun of and criticized by everybody all the time because

he's a five-star quarterback making more than a million dollars who looks exactly. What's crazy is if if things get better for Nebraska, he'll actually probably get criticized even more. Yeah. Just because he'll be more prominent. If things get better for Nebraska, there was going to be more of the other side of the coin that you feel like you're missing right now. If you think that he can take the shots because of the Mahomes thing, and that's annoying you right now, you will not, it's not being offset by the flowers he deserves because unfortunately, Nebraska's not an interesting enough national storyline to draw those headlines yet. But I believe that Matt Ruhl's going to get them there.

I believe he has a shot to get them there. I wrote, one of the first things I ever wrote at On Three was about how cool it was that that Nebraska had somebody who could go viral. When's the last time Nebraska had a player that could go viral at all? Good or bad? Like, these are all good things. Like, I just do not understand this, like, this, like, victim mentality that a lot of people are illustrating online.

It's like, you're doing fine. Just relax. It's going to be okay. Well, let, they're allowed to get mad about whatever they're allowed to get mad about. They can, they can be mad about whatever they want to be mad about. It's misguided for me, though. It's misguided. But the criticism of Riola is misguided, too.

it's are there a lot of people out there criticizing raola's play right now yes i don't you're not you're not the only person in the world so don't no i'm saying i no i'm saying i have or would i be would i have come up with the entire conceit for this segment if there weren't people doing that i i don't know yeah i mean i guess maybe i'm i just my algorithm is missing it but i'm not seeing a lot of national media members writing hit pieces about how bad he's playing right now so um you You know, whatever. It's more of a video thing. Yeah.

Because you can just throw the B-roll of the Mahom stuff in there. I'm telling you it's because it's easy and convenient. That's why it's being done. Yeah. But you actually watch the game. He ain't the problem. Yeah. I bet on Nebraska this weekend and lost, by the way.

So like where my head was at going into that game, it was like, yeah, I think they're going to win. So. Hook, got to be, quit being so defensive with Nebraska. But also really upset because when they were down 10-0, I hammered plus 550 because I thought... It was not a bad idea because they were moving the ball and they just had gotten stopped at the goal line. I thought that plus 550 was the wrong number for the way the game was going. And then they tied it. And I was like, all right, we're in business, baby.

Yeah, but the other problem that I didn't mention, by the way, because I was focusing on the offense. But you can't give up explosive runs like that. and I realize Michigan can do that to people. They did it to Oklahoma, too, but you can't do that. You can't give up one of those in a game. You can't give up as many as they did. So it's both lines of scrimmage, and unfortunately, that's a hard thing to fix in season.

But it also may be that Michigan's really good at that part of it, and they ran into a buzzsaw with Oklahoma, so we may see them do this to other teams, too. So I'm not ready to throw it all out with Nebraska yet, but I am ready to say, Royale is not the problem. Yeah. I don't think he's the problem. You got to fix the lines of scrimmage. That's the problem right now.

Never thought he was the problem. Yeah. We got one more really juicy message board post to talk about, but before that, let me tell you about game time, because if you'd like to go to any of these big games this weekend, if you would like to see LSU and Ole Miss, Trinidad Shambliss against Garrett and Usmire, well, you can be at Vaude Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.

for not too bad of a deal. Less than 200 bucks, you can get really good seats in Oxford. Also, maybe we're going to see Indiana, Iowa in Iowa City. Big road test for the Hoosiers who just dominated Illinois last week. You can get tickets to that game for less than 100 bucks. You can get really good seats in the low hundreds in Iowa City. So download the GameTime app, redeem the code, Staples for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply, of course, and Ari, the best thing about GameTime.

of course, is the number you see is the number you pay. They don't tack on like 90 bucks worth of fees. Yeah, that's the worst thing about ticket buying experience. And the fact that game time has alleviated us of that nightmare is the reason why I exclusively use our app to buy stuff in this category. And go to Texas Rangers games where you get free buffets where you get to just pick out to your heart's consent. You know, wait to the last minute of a baseball game by a suite in the Lodge area that has that access to all you can eat. I ingested 12,000 calories because of game time. that's right the last minute part of it is amazing the if you're on the fence about a game

hey pop open game time day of i guarantee you you will be very pleasantly surprised by what you see and you may wind up using that code staples to get $20 after your first purchase terms apply of course download the game time app you want to go to a game they got you Another quarterback thread. This one's very interesting. And I think strikes at the heart of one of the biggest games of the week. And it's from our Penn State site. And it says, tough conversation.

This is the headline. Tough conversation. Is Allard good enough? Is Drew Allard good enough? And this is from the Wizard of Camelot on our Penn State site's message board. and says, you know, former five-star prize recruit, now 30-year starting QB. I think everyone can agree that Drew Aller has improved every year since arriving at Penn State. But this is another case of looks the part versus actual production.

What is Aller's best game's career? USC, he also threw two picks in that game. Likely, what we come up with is game versus mediocre to bad competition, he has yet to put together a good performance against an elite defense in his career. none of this is unfair he's about to play organ this is his chance to show that yes he has all the physical tools and now he can put it all together against a great defense or it could be a game like he played against notre dame last year which was not good enough and that's what we're looking at because you know i think a lot of people are looking at that drew aller came back another

year when he probably would have been a very high NFL draft pick because he's tall and big and fast and has a huge arm. The idea was to get better as a quarterback and be more ready when he got to the NFL, but also to have these moments in college that he hasn't had yet. Now's his chance. And I think the Wizard of Camelot posting on that message board, everything they asked was completely fair. One of the best days of my 2024 was when you, me, and a few other people gathered around in Nashville for championship weekend last year.

I wrote a pretty solid column about Kenny Dillingham that I still thought hit pretty hard. And then we ordered dominoes. And we were just in the man cave because, you know, we have a man cave too at the On Three office. And we were watching the games. They have these big TVs mounted. It was great. You're laughing, having a good time, and eating great A pie. The one thing I take exception to, and I don't know if you remember it this way,

but when I read the part of he's never put together a really good game against him. Oh, I'm glad. I am so glad you're bringing up this game. I am so glad. I actually thought that was, I know he threw two interceptions, but in Oregon's 45-37 win over Penn State in the Big Ten championship game, the game had no bearing whatsoever on anything other than who wins the Big Ten. It's not feeding.

Drew Aller completed 20 of 39 passes for 226 yards, three touchdowns, two picks, and he also rushed for 54 yards on five attempts. And he made some really good off-platboard. Ari. Is a 51.3 completion percentage good? So that's what I was getting to. Andy. Is that being good enough to you?

No, absolutely not. Okay, because I actually thought he played really well, just watching. 5.8 yards per attempt, 51% is a bad game for a quarterback. When I watched the game, as we were watching it, and I could have been in a cheesy bread coma. I don't know what it was. I remember my initial thought before looking at the box score was he played well. Like, I think sometimes when he played well, they would have won the game 52 to 45. interesting okay so i i'm i'm remember you think i'm remembering it bad no i remembered it wrong too i went

back and watched it after i looked the stats you rewatched it yeah okay because i remembered him being dominant in that game and i saw the stats i'm like whoa i know but what do you think's more important stats are the way it looked while you were watching it both being efficient Completing most of your passes. Completing most of your passes for an efficient number of yards. I hate stats because they change, I don't know, because you're right. I agree with you.

I don't disagree with you. Like statistically it was a bad game or not a great game, I should say. Yeah. Now, if you throw the ball 39 times, yeah. If you were efficient, you threw for 350 yards. I think if Drew Aller played that way, Every week, Penn State has a chance to make a deep run.

Now, that's not elite. But the question is, is Drew Aller good enough? I thought the way he played in the Oregon game. Well, let me give you the, so the poster mentioned the USC game. Let me give you the stats from the USC game. 30 of 43 passing, 69.8%. That's good. 391 yards.

That's good. 9.1 yards per attempt. That's good. Two TDs. Three picks. That's bad. Three picks, bad. Picks are bad, period. Now, I can't remember if all those were his fault.

So I'd need to go back and rewatch to find out that. Because we ascribe the interceptions to the quarterback, but it's not always their fault. But those passing numbers are what you want from a QB. That's an efficient game. And he's had efficient games against West Virginia, against Bowling Green, against Kent State, against UCLA, against USC.

This is last year. against Wisconsin before he got hurt. Not so much against Ohio State. Not so much against Oregon. Not against SMU. Not really against Boise State and definitely not against Notre Dame. So what does that tell you? The one thing it does tell me is that last year they could have won the national title

if he played an elite level and they didn't. That's right. That's the difference. So if he can. And he hasn't played. game yet against that team. So, like, I think this is an important game for him. This is huge. This is huge. If he can raise his level of play against those types of players, that is how you do it. That is how Penn State ascends. That is how Penn State becomes a true

national title contender. That is how they, they're not the favorite for the national title anymore, by the way, I bet MGM. It's now Ohio State. They took over for him this week. But I would bet you if Penn State wins this game against Oregon, that Penn State will jump right back there. And I would bet you if Penn State wins this game against Oregon, it is because Drew Aller played a really good game. Yeah. That was a really good preview of the game.

I cannot wait. I am so excited for this game. White out Oregon. Dante Moore gets his chance. Kenyon Sadiq blew up against Penn State in the Big Ten championship game. Maybe we get to see him do some crazy, freakishly athletic stuff in this game.

Decorian Moore, his first really big game of his college career. He's played a few already, but this is the first really big one. True freshman receiver at Oregon. This is going to be so exciting. This week is fantastic. We got big show tomorrow. It is you guys helping us control the show. Mailbag episode, you know how to find us.

Dear Andy, dear Ari, Andy Sapols-on3 at gmail.com, Ari.wasterman at On3.com also scheduled to join us. Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz will ask him about drop kicking and all kinds of other stuff. We'll talk to you tomorrow.