Andy & Ari On3 - RANKING the best jobs in college football

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

(0:00-5:06) Intro: Previewing the best jobs in America(5:07-6:40) Jared Curtis commits to Georgia(6:41-11:30) Big 12 Extends Commissioner Brett Yormark(11:31-22:54) Clemson and Notre Dame announce 12 year scheduling agreement(22:55-26:42) Other 12 year matchups we'd like to see(26:43-29:32) Introducing the bets jobs(29:33-31:01) Andy's #1: Georgia(31:02-35:16) Ari's #1: Texas(35:17-38:33) Ohio State(38:34-41:35) Oregon(41:36-45:10) Texas A&M - Top 5?(45:11-47:51) LSU(47:52-51:03) Notre Dame(51:04-54:22) Alabama(54:23-59:42) Michigan, Ari's power goes out(59:43-1:04:05) Clemson, Ari's power turns on(1:04:06-1:07:40) Penn State(1:07:41-1:09:57) USC left out?(1:09:58-1:18:32) The state of Florida, closing up top jobs(1:18:33-1:22:12) Make sure you get the Real ID!(1:22:13-1:22:41) ConclusionAndy and Ari rank the best college football jobs. Not the best coaches, but the best situations. What jobs are best positioned to win national championships and for long-term success? It’s been a while since the guys have done this list, and the NIL era has changed the math. Where will your school fall on the list? Watch our show LIVE, Monday-Friday at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/lI28jxXg64c Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Want to partner with the show? E-mail [e-mail]

Welcome to Andy and Ariane three. It is a best jobs in college football. Hey, we're gonna rank the best jobs because we. We remove the title. We rescinded the title of best job in college football from the University of Kentucky on Friday. We were talking to our friend Nick Roush now that one we sort of bestowed jokingly.

That's the best job in terms of you get paid like eight and a half million dollars and nobody expects you to win the SEC. But now the pressure is too great. And so it's not the best job anymore. But we're actually going to do the real best jobs, the ones that put you in the best situation to win a national title, to have sustained long term success. Ben, you know, over the past, what are you 15, 20 years has been about the same list of schools. I think this is dude are heavy. I know you and I did a best jobs by conference on the old show back at the athletic. We haven't done this in the NIL era though. And it's difficult and more subjective now. Like in the past it used to be, you know,

budget geographical footprint conference expectations done. Like you could have done this list in the past with a grading rubric and just done it automatically. And I've had this idea and I think we should do it this off season at some point. I've had this idea for the last five years and I've pitched it like 10 times we've ever done it. Like we need to have like annual, maybe like we'll shoot for June 1 of like

every year Andy and Ari release program rankings. It's not offseason team rankings. It's not offseason. You know, projections of who's going to make the playoff the following year. It's which programs are the best based on recruiting or the healthiest. Yeah, I like that based on recent success and that's like who's the best program in college football right now and I think that like if you would have asked a year ago everybody on earth would have said Georgia. It probably still is Georgia but is there a discussion about that now? I don't know.

You know this stuff changes fluidly but like I think that's the number one thing of like You know, this stuff changes fluidly, but like, I think that's the number one thing of like, every year we know who the champion of the actual season is, but at the same time, accumulating championships and conference championships and wins and recruiting ranking finishes, is all about the accumulation of data that helps you get to a point where people view you as the premier program. You know, Alabama has been on the mountaintop for almost a decade under Nick Saban, where everybody just universally agrees they're untouchable and they're the best. Georgia temporarily took that throne. Ohio State won the championship. They've been up and down over

the years. I don't know how I would do it. Ohio State's been up and down in the top three. In the top five. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah, I don't mean like down at 11. Yeah, I'm saying like now, like if you want to make a case that Ohio State is the best program in college football right now, I think you can make that case with the way they're recruiting their NIL is all on the same page now. But NIL has changed the math on this, like how willing are you

to spend? What's your capability of spending? And obviously, it may change again, when the house settlement gets approved and all the schools can can then kick in millions of dollars. Because you also too, the old stuff still kind of matters, right? The geography still matters, the administrative buy-in will matter in terms of how they allocate funds, your history matters in terms of no matter how you change the rules of the sport, you can't change the pedigree that is Alabama football, right? Like they are what they are. And that is always going to be or Notre Dame or Ohio State or yeah. So like there's a lot to do there and a lot to consider and it changes very rapidly year over year in terms of the program rankings. But this best jobs discussion, I think changes every year and also has changed dramatically since the last time we did it. And we're going to release our list later in the show. We're going to argue, we're going to talk it

through. You're going to get mad. Some of you are going to be happy, but it's really, really subjective. And it's like in the past, I feel like you could have just done a grading system. It was a lot. It was definitely a lot easier. I think there would be some legitimate arguments. And you know, there's one program that I had farther down than anybody else, pre NIL era. Yeah, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna bring up probably into the top three. And maybe a hint here to you guys to, you know, tease a little bit of what you're talking about. Is this program one where geographical

footprint is terrible, but that seems to matter less now? No, that's another one that I'm going to have up there. Hi. But I'm talking about one that actually has a good geographic footprint, but was fairly dysfunctional for a decade. I don't know. Now everybody seems to be pulling in the same direction. Oh, I know what you're talking about. Okay. That was a good clue. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, yeah, if you don't have them in your top three, then you don't watch. I mean, like that. Exactly. Exactly. And but but that was a very interesting argument. Five or six years

ago. I don't think there's even an argument anymore. So we'll talk about that as we go. We got some news to cover. One of the pieces of news actually ties into this, this discussion we're having, because Jared Curtis, the number one quarterback in the on three industry rankings with class 2026, committed to Georgia yesterday. He had been committed to Georgia. He decommitted.

It became a Georgia, Oregon fight and Georgia wins. So you've got him going to Georgia. That's a big deal. And I tie that back to Steve Wiltfong talking to us a few weeks ago, Ari, about Georgia taking the NIL stuff much more seriously now than maybe early in the NIL era and understanding that the discount of them being able to develop players in the NFL maybe wasn't as big as they thought it was going to be. Yeah. You know, but I also feel like too, like that discount is probably shrinking for everybody, right? Yeah. I feel like if the one program that would get a discount though is Georgia because that they were the king of a sport

and they had all these, you know, pun intended dogs all over the roster. They practice like more intense than anybody in the sport. Like there's a lot of things to like about Georgia, but at the same time, if you're not the unequivocal king of the sport at the moment, then maybe the discount is also an annual floating floating number. I don't know what that, like did Ohio State get a discount this year? Like that's another discussion we've never had before, but like are discounts always in flux? Yeah, I say Ohio State should, as long as Brian Heartline is there, should get a discount

for receivers. But I don't know that it works in the other positions. It actually may just be position group by position group. Like more than more than just going to this program. So we got that piece of news. Another piece of news, the Big 12 extends Commissioner Brett Yourmark for three years. Apparently the Minnesota Timberwolves were sniffing around Yormark and the Big 12 locks him down for the three years. He's done a really good job there because by the time he got there, Oklahoma and Texas were already leaving. He knew what he was going to be dealing with and I do feel like

he's put them in a position to be as strong as they possibly can be going forward. I agree with you. I think that he's been very savvy from a business perspective. And I think at times people have hired people who are business savvy and then that's not good enough because then you're not, you know, a hundred percent keyed in on what's best for college football or your conference. And then it kind of blows back in your face.

Like I think he's made very savvy moves. And I actually like wrote a story today that you read this morning, Andy, about like quarterbacks and like how this is the year of the quarterback big 12 has so many experience, many good quarterbacks. And I feel like at the very least, um, whoever put that photo in the B roll, cut my head out of it. I don't, I don't appreciate it river. I was in that picture.

Um, they, they seem to be situated at least from an entertainment standpoint, like the Big 12. I don't know if this is an illusion because the Big 12 is still involved in an automatic bid scenario or if it's just more fun. But the Big 12 is their games are as fun. It's more fun because it's the only league, it's the deepest league relative to everybody else. It's the most competitively where you have the most teams every year that come in capable of winning the conference title. Everybody's kind of similar.

And like I feel like this year, if we were to handicap the big 12, there's probably like seven teams that we'd say have a chance to win. And then we'll probably accidentally leave out two or three that will have a chance. Because last year we wouldn't have said Arizona State and they ended up winning the league. Yeah. A hundred percent with you. I love watching it and I love the intrigue of it. I feel like the one thing that's missing is the intrigue of which team can actually win

the title because I don't think there's any teams in the league that can win the national championship. But at the same time, Arizona State almost beat a team that was a possession away from playing for the national title last year. So in the playoff and a team that used to be in that conference. So it's a I think it's healthy. I don't know what it'll be like once the new playoff system looks like.

Once they're no longer getting an equal share of the pie as their counterparts in the other power conferences. I do think that the most important thing for every conference, at least in the past, before this all blew up, was having tent pole programs that you knew were gonna be good and competitive on the national scale and every, uh, every season. And the big 12 had two with Oklahoma and Texas, but this is before realignment, you know, the pack 12 had, you know, USC, Oregon,

Washington, the big 10 has what they have. SEC and the ACC had, had those schools. Um, they don't have one of those. And I think that there's a constant intrigue too of like which team could be that. You have teams now that have some money that are in okay geographical recruiting footprints that might be able to employ that both in recruiting and in the NIL space. But, you know, it's still from pound for pound

entertainment factor. There were some BYU games on Friday nights last year that, you know, we went, you know, it was like Friday night, I don't know about you but like Friday night's my date night we go out on dates we get a little drinky we do a little dinner and then we come home and then it's like okay babe it's a big 12 and then watch the big 12 what was the BYU game on Friday night last year we came back from a double date with a couple and the dude just stayed over at the

house and we watched the rest of it and BYU won they They were down like five by three or something with like four, 14 seconds left. They, was that BYU SMU early in the season? No, that was a, that was a good one. You came back, they were losing, um, to somebody and they came back and, and won in the last 15 seconds on like a slant route that went all the way. I don't know if you remember.

Was it Utah or Utah was a very controversial. That was a Saturday night game. I'll find out. Yeah, that was about that was his most entertaining state. River Grounds, right? It's Oklahoma State. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. We, we enjoy it. So anyway, that's the big 12 has a certain romantic piece to me in terms of every spreads three and a half. The games entertaining. And by the way, they also go off the rails a lot.

Like I don't know. Like does the big 12 have the highest off the rails factor of like games that just go crazy? I think he does too. A pretty high rate. But I just like the big 12 because I, I really have no idea going into most games what's going to happen. And I think that there there's fun in that.

Yeah. Speaking of fun, more news. Very Newsy Tuesday morning. Clemson and Notre Dame have announced a 12 year scheduling agreement. So they're going to be scheduled deep into the 2030s. This one starts in 2027 and. This will count as one of the five required ACC games for Notre Dame every year. The other thing is the ACC has changed the way they pay out and basically the more games you

play against big brands, the more money you get. So Clemson locking down that Notre Dame spot which would have rotated around to other ACC schools means Clemson locking down that Notre Dame spot, which would have rotated around to other ACC schools means Clemson is going to get more money. Now, do I think this that Clemson will be in the ACC by the time this ends? Absolutely not. I'm not even sure what the conferences will look like. And I mean, all of the conferences by the time this thing ends. But having Notre Dame on your schedule, probably

pretty safe bet you're still going to be playing Notre Dame on your schedule, probably pretty safe bet. You're still going to be playing Notre Dame one way or the other. Yeah. Um, I think that you use the term before we started talking on the show about it, uh, that I think is good. It's recession proof. Like this is a, this is a property that everybody's going to want to televised. This is a game that everybody's going to want to watch.

And, you know, as we sit here right now, I don't know what things are going to look like in 2033. But you know, it looks like two teams that are going to be very much in the mix for bigger competition levels at the end of the year on an annual basis. So like I also don't know. These teams have played some right, but not a ton. They played some really important games. I feel like over the last.

10 years they've been. They played some fun games like remember the in the COVID year when Notre Dame was playing in ACC schedule and Clemson went out there and DJ you had to play because Trevor Lawrence had COVID and that was that was a fun game. That's an overtime game. So these guys have played some good games. I think this is going to be a really interesting series because it can become a can become an every year rivalry. Like if it become let's say they have in this series

six or seven of those games go down to the wire and are awesome. We might just demand they keep doing it. But the other thing that's interesting about this is, so I have seen a lot of people ask what happens to the SEC ACC rivalry games, the, the in-state rivalry games. If the SEC were to go to nine conference games, would it, would it endanger Clemson, South Carolina or Florida, Florida state or Georgia, Georgia tech or Louisville, Kentucky? I'm told it won't.

And so what's interesting about this is Clemson is not going to be opting out of the South Carolina game. Clemson and South Carolina are going to keep playing. So this is in addition to this. So this is, this is the anti what Matt rule said. Oh, it doesn't matter if we play big non-conference games. Clemson's like, no, no, no, let's play some big games. Andy, there's so much here to unpack.

I want to start with this one thing because I want to get back to that last point because that's my first thought was. This is the antithesis of being afraid to schedule big time opponents. And I think both of these teams will probably be better off doing it in the playoff discussions moving forward as a result of having that, that benchmark game on their schedule. But the thing that I've always thought about, and I wanted to discuss with you, and this is the perfect opportunity is, you know, we, we seem desperate in

college football. Um, I don't know if desperate is the right word, but we seem eager to want to try to establish or create new non-geographical rivalries because a lot of them have fallen to the wayside a little bit in the past. The Texas A&M, Texas one's been revived a little bit, but we also lost Bedlam. Like with the conference realignments

and all the things that happened, the biggest rivalries that you have in the sport, Andy, are all predicated on geography. And as we are de-emphasizing geography into the future, I'm wondering, um, can you have rivals that are on opposite coasts? And what do you think? Well, Notre Dame has historically been able to have right rivals all over the country. And it's interesting because Notre Dame has historically also been the most nationally recruiting program in college football. And it's interesting because Notre Dame has historically also been the most nationally recruiting program in college football. And I also, cause I feel like a lot of geographical rivalries

are not just built on Saturdays in the fall, they're also built on head to head budding and recruiting a lot. Like when Ohio State and Clemson were, you know, going back and forth in the late 2000 teens, is that how you say it? The late teens of the 2000s? I think the teens, yeah.

They also were like running into each other and recruiting a ton and trying to go out and that was as close to like a, like even when they, when Ohio state was Oh, remember the Jackson Carmen recruitment? Yeah. Right. Like when all that stuff goes and gets a big offensive lineman from Ohio, like it was huge. In fact, I was the guy who asked Jackson Carmen the question who like said that

urban Meyer was old and was going to retire soon. Remember that? Fun fact. I I'm the one who had to ask Dabo the follow up because I was in Clemson that day. Tag teaming. That's right. The recruiting aspect of that really ramped it up though because Clemson came in and successfully took a five-star prospect out of Ohio which I think had only been done like once one other time in like the 10 years previous. And they were beating them on the field

and then Ohio State beat them again, or beat them for the first time in 2019 in the playoff with Justin Fields. And then that's what was the last time they played. But I feel like if Ohio State and Clemson played annually and you started off with what we saw in the playoff, that would have been jet fuel to a rivalry. But now we lost it because they don't play anymore. And the last and

they both won evenly or close to evenly and that was it. Like what do you think has to happen in order to create a real rivalry now moving forward and not relying on playing each other like, like Florida and Tennessee were not rivals within the SEC until the SEC went to divisions and they had to play over here. And at the time, they happened to be the two best teams in the SEC. So that created a rivalry. By the way, I don't want to start a rivalry between social media services, but if you're watching on Twitter, it's time to move to YouTube. The chat is so much better.

You can get mix it up. We're going, I guarantee you the argument in the chat when we start ranking these jobs is going to be fire. So head to YouTube right now. The link is right under the link you're watching. We'll see you over on YouTube. Join us in the chat, cause there's a lot to discuss. Ari, does this mean, or is it a hint? Because I, we talked about last week with the sec, if they go to a state

eight or go to nine games for 2026 and beyond, like that's a hint that the college football playoff is going to have automatic bids. Is this a hint that there's going to be automatic bids in the CFP and Clemson's like, Oh, well the ACC is going to have two, So may as well just load up in the non-conference. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of a way to take it, right? Like if you think the response to non-automatic bids should be, you know, let it rip. I also think that this is the same exact response

I would have to non-automatic bids, because you need to do as much as you can in your schedule to accumulate wins in order to overcome the fact that you don't have that automatic blanket holding, you know, around your back, right? Like, I don't know if I think about this backwards, Andy, but I feel like the idea of have to have something guaranteed so then we can lose extra games and play fun games is not how I view it. Mine is I have nothing guaranteed. We have to play good games and win those games in order to get in. Like, I just don't understand this like backwards thought. I feel like it's wrong. So like I do see what you're saying about the like, is this a clue?

You know, maybe it is, but I feel like this is the most important thing to do. If you are in a situation where you don't have those. And of course there's more risk and you're going to lose some of them and you're not going to be in the playoff those years as a result of that. But playing these games and playing like even playing close games against good opponents, like even if Indiana would have lost the second game, but they also lost to like a top 10 team by four that would have contextualized a lot about it. Yeah.

If they'd had Notre Dame in the non-conference or something like that, and they'd played like a two point game in South Bend. Like, yeah. Like then all of a sudden, everyone said they haven't played anybody. They're like, they would, the view of it would be different. So, and I'm not a moral victories and losses guy, but I also feel like too,

in the world where conferences have 22 teams, and a lot of times you're gonna have teams that have really good schedules who go on beating against crappy schedules. There's not as much context about who's good and who's bad anymore. Like, you know, you could conceivably go off of Indiana last year and say, hey, you know, the one time they played a team that was good enough to win the national title, they got blown off the field. And we don't have any other context of how good they are. And that's bad. So, like, I always am a for the promotion of good games because it's fun for us.

It's good for our job and it's great for the viewer. But I also feel like from the program standpoint, you know, playing in good, highly contested games makes your team better, makes them more pliable in the postseason and also adds more context in your argument at the end of the year. If you're a team that's good enough to do it. Cause like the thing that's the hardest part for me about this whole thing, Andy is it's become how do we get in and not how to, how are we good enough to get in? It's like, how do we like snake our way in or weasel our way in and not, how do

we make our team and program good enough to be legitimately worthy of being in? Those are two very different things, right? Like, and I feel like you should strive to play games, play opponents, and now sell this rivalry sell or sell the series as you're gonna be playing in this nationally televised game and build your fricking team to not have to worry about that stuff. Just be good, like build a good team

and then not worry about the rules and the automatic qualifiers. I don't know if that's a rant, I'm sorry, but like that's just how I feel. It's a good rant, and I think that's honestly what Notre Dame and Clemson are both trying to do. Trying to do, right. Because Clemson's both trying to do. Trying to do, right. Because Clemson's never been shy about scheduling difficult

out of conference opponents. They've always had South Carolina, but they'll go play Georgia, they'll go play Auburn, they'll go play Oklahoma, it doesn't matter to them. They've always wanted to go play somebody good, and they've done a lot of home at home with good people. They're doing LSU this year and next. So I like that.

I hope everybody looks at that and says, this is how it should be. Like, let's go find the best games we can find. And then Notre Dame, when you're playing an independent schedule, some certainty is nice. So if you're Notre Dame, this is definitely a good thing for you.

Cause you're like, all right, here's one thing we don't have to worry about every year. Jesse Pinkman, he can't keep getting away with this kind of popped in my head too with Notre Dame for all the people who want them to join a conference. It's like, I got a lot of, does this mean that Notre Dame is going to the ACC? No, it just means that Notre Dame

has one less pillar of scheduling they've got to worry about for the next 12 years. Like it was a huge break for them. Not that they need it. People want to play. No, it's one of their five ACC games or counts as one of their five. So it was, they were going to get this game scheduled anyway, but now they know they've got somebody good every year foreseeable future, but this goes

past the, uh, what's it, uh, grant of rights, right? So this goes, this goes past the ACC TV contract even. And I would argue that, you know, and we had the show when, when all that news broke, I would argue that the ACC, as we know it, probably the clock on it goes to about 2030. So that's, we'll, we'll see what happens going forward. But like I said, if you're Clemson, you're looking at this like,

it doesn't matter what conference we're in or what the alignment is, if it's even conferences at all,'re probably gonna play Notre Dame anyway so awesome let's go yeah yeah so yeah the uh do you want to come up with fake ones now that we if we could be the czar uh and do and create our own 12 year series between two teams that you would pick yeah absolutely i'll tell you the one i want and it feeds into our next our next discussion and create our own 12 year series between two teams that you would pick? Yeah, absolutely. I'll tell you the one I want. And it feeds into our next discussion, our top jobs discussion.

Okay. I want Oregon, Georgia. I had that in my head because we got Oregon, Georgia four years ago and it was a blowout. They weren't ready yet. Oregon wasn't ready yet. I feel like that,

like if you were an Oregon fan and you are like a little upset about the way last year panned out and like maybe you're kind of down going into the off season because Dan Lanning had the best team or felt like the best team from coast to coast last year and then got blown out. for you, think about where you are now and where you were on that Saturday, because you weren't even able to line up and gain a yard in that game. You've come a long way. And I understand that, you know, your last game was also a blowout to a mega team. But like that also isn't sustainable. So I feel like you are in a much better position. And I love the like I wonder like for you, like if you're going to pick a bunch of in this 12 team or 12 year team matchup scenario, if you're going to try to go anti geographical and just try to branch out to give us

something like, like, we just saw them clash over the top quarterback recruit in the country. And I think we're going to see what you this feeds into what you were saying saying where Oregon and Georgia are ones that see each other on the recruiting trail all the time and that adds fire to the rivalry. So I like that. Let's see what else would I really like? I would like Florida USC. That would be fun. That would be a color matchup. Just a great color matchup. Yeah, just like coast to coast. You got a Florida team and a California team, teams that don't play very often teams that I should be for the next 12 years

Pretty interesting, you know ups and downs, but that would be fun You know, which one also stuck out to me, which is would maybe create a regional rivalry that'll get River all perked up What about if Ohio State and Tennessee played every year? That would be good. I was gonna say I'll say in Texas Ohio State because we played every year? That would be good. That'd be pretty cool. I was gonna say Ohio State and Texas. Ohio State and Texas we've seen in the early 2000s. But that's what I'm saying. I thought those were really good.

We're seeing it again this year and then the return game. So I like those. I'm trying to think, like who would Michigan or Penn State, like who would you like to see them match up against in the non-conference? Yeah, like Michigan, Oklahoma this year would be fun every year. That would be different. Well, if we're going to give it not to history, and I know Oklahoma has, has scheduled these guys quite a bit over the next few

years, uh, Oklahoma, Nebraska, I would like that to be a long-term annual rivalry because that was, was the rivalry in the big eight. I'm going off the rails here though. I'm. I'm doing different stuff. What about, you know, Penn State Miami in the chat? That's obviously a- Oh, that's a great one. I love Penn State Miami, yeah. Which one I would love?

Penn State A&M. That, very, yes. I'm just going off the rails here. Like there's no reason for, other than Penn State and A&M seem to be structurally similar. They're in different geographical footprints. Both are in power big-time conferences, big stadiums, fans that get super excited at the beginning of the year. You never quite know what they're gonna be but

they're always good. That would be a great series. I like it. Oh man. Alright, let's put a pin in this because I want to think of a few more of these and maybe on tomorrow's show we'll throw a few more out there. Yeah, we got to we got to talk about the best jobs because we got to thinking on Friday after Nick Roush told us about Mark Stoops situation in Kentucky. We're like, OK, we are going to rescind the best job in America title from Kentucky. And obviously we say that tongue in cheek because it's basically you had paid a ton of money and you're not expected to win the SEC. We wanna do the best jobs in America period. The ones that you have a chance to win the national title,

you have a chance to win multiple national titles, you have the best chance for long-term success. And I'll be honest, I didn't start thinking about this until 2015. And I went on Finebomb one day in 2015 when I was working at Sports Illustrated, and this was going into Mark Rick's final season at Georgia. And I said, Georgia's the best job in the country. They should be winning national titles regularly. That they're not is a problem.

And if Mark Rick doesn't get it turned around they're going to have to make some hard choices and people went nuts not at the the insinuation that Mark Rick needed to turn things around but at the insinuation that Georgia was the best job in the country because they're like how can you say that Alabama's clearly the best job in the country i'm like no Nick Saban is clearly the best coach in the country. But if you ask Nick Saban, he'll tell you that George is the best job in the country. Like, that's who I got the idea from. Yes, I, the Alabama aspect of this is the trickiest part, Andy, because they have been so good for so long. And historically speaking, they are one of the most decorated programs in the entire country.

But is Alabama the job the thing or has it been a product of amazing coaches? Like that and I end you that. But it's a little bit of both because obviously Bear Bryant, Nick Saban. And that builds on it. Like that build it into a, yeah. So like, it's a legitimate question. And it's also why Nick Saban in his post retirement has been adamant about. Trying to make rules in college football that will bring it back to what it closer to what it used to be, because that helps Alabama.

Like the new system does not help Alabama. Okay, so I mean, I'm gonna, how do you wanna do this? I've got my list here. So do you want me to just- Yeah, I've got mine. And I will say something that happened yesterday helped crystallize how I did one and two. I knew which programs were gonna be one and two.

I wasn't sure what order I was gonna put them in. Interesting, okay. Why don't you go ahead? Because you're freaking me out a little bit. Okay, I am keeping Georgia at number one. I was not sure if I was gonna do that. But I go back to what Steve Wilfong told us a few weeks ago that they're taking the NIL piece more seriously,

that they're making competitive offers in the NIL space because I still think Kirby Smart staff gets guys ready for the NFL as well or better than anybody, that the way they practice, the way they prepare allows them to be better than most teams. They're still in the best geographic area to get recruits. And I don't care what you say or how much money you have, like being able to drive home still matters to some people. So I'm gonna leave Georgia at number one. I was tempted to knock them down one because of the NIL piece of it.

But if they're going to be as competitive in the NIL space as everyone else, I'm gonna leave them at number one. Okay, so I'm going to tell you my number one, which is probably your number two. My number one's Texas. They are a... Oh no. What? Well, we'll get to it. Keep going. You're not doing that, are you? You're going to do that? Do what? Your number one team is gonna be that team? Okay.

My number one team is Georgia. Oh, sorry. Your number two team is gonna be that team? The team you covered for 10 years? That just won a national championship? That isn't afraid to spend an NIL? I thought you were gonna, okay. All right.

Okay, number one's Texas to me. Okay. And I think that Texas is a place that has been a bully a little bit in NIL. Um, they have a lot of talent to go around. They're all pulling in the same direction. Uh, like you said earlier on the show, um, it's a historical program. They're knocking on the door. And part of this too, Andy, is that when you talk about Georgia and Ohio State, like, I don't know how you rank this from a person who's, I rank this as like, if I'm applying to a job, not like which teams have been most like this is not- You just want to live in Austin. I see how it is.

Austin's a great city, but also too, Texas is a storied program that's still dying to get over the top. Like Ohio State and Georgia expect championships because they've tasted it recently. Like Texas has the entire- Yeah, but I think that's still dying to get over the top. Like Ohio State and Georgia expect championships because they've tasted it recently. Like Texas has the entire- Yeah, but I think that's part of it. I think knowing what it takes to win is a big thing. Like- Yeah, but I think that like,

if I were applying for a job, like these are all vacant jobs for me. This is how I did it. And maybe I did well. It's a great way to look at it. They're all vacant jobs. I would die to go to Texas because the chance to be the person who wins a modern day championship for the first time since Vince Young at a place that gives you all the tools to do it,

a very storied place, a very easy place to recruit and a place that's got a brink's truck to back up on a front lawn. Texas to me was number one. And Texas had been number one in the past, like even like in the early 2000s. And I think that in the recent history, it has ascended back up. And I think you can make a case-

See, I had Texas way down, late teens and into the 20s. And they were dysfunctional then, right? Very dysfunctional administration. But since Chris Delconte got there as the AD, he's gotten everybody on board, everybody pulling the same direction. So I like, I don't have a problem. Like, I'm

not even gonna argue with you about this, because I, I can accept Texas is number one, if you're making good arguments here. Yeah. And I also don't think also, who do you think is a better and this is tough. And I'm not looking at top three of that different to be honest with you. Yeah, I mean, we have the same top three, that different to be honest with you. Yeah, I mean we have the same top three but different orders The thing I want to know from you and I'm not gonna argue I just want to know your opinion cuz I yeah, who do you think's got a more advantageous?

Geographical footprint, Georgia or Texas, Georgia. You still think that Oh Georgia players are better than Texas players and George's closer to Florida and Florida players are better than everybody. Yeah Texas is close to Louisiana. That's got a lot of players. And there's this thing called LSU that gets most of us. So no, I know. But if you want to play that game, you can go back and look at Georgia and how they've done in their own in state recruiting the last four years. And it hasn't been tremendous. Okay. I'll take George's recruiting. What? I'll take, I thought I was gonna argue, but like that's insane. The depth of Georgia's recruiting.

No, I know. This is, I'm gonna make the whole state of Texas mad, but like, I'm telling you right now, if you have a choice between Georgia and Florida players or Texas players, you're taking the Georgia and Florida players. Clippett River. Yeah, I, but also like Texas is a place that can go into California.

And, but so is Georgia. Like, I don't, I don't know. Like I feel like first from Napa baby. But no, we're splitting hairs here. And I'm, but I'm glad you said this. I'm glad you have Texas number one because like you're right. And I think there's a chance that three years from now we could be saying, yeah, Ari was looking more

to the future and he was looking more to the past. Yeah, mine is all future predicated. I mean, I'm using the recent past to kind of guide me because NIL was a factor here. And the one thing we know about Texas is that they're ahead of the game and ahead of the curve from Georgia. Georgia is catching up, but Texas is one

of the leaders of it. Texas is like recruiting has gone through the roof because the thing is wheeling Georgia behind the scenes. But Georgia has won national titles more recently. Georgia played Texas twice last year and beat them both times. Like I think Georgia's doing just fine. The thing is Georgia didn't have to make much of an adjustment. They did need to, but the fact that they have now, and if they're gonna be playing the same game as Texas. If it makes you feel better, Andy, Georgia is my number two. So like, I mean, it's not like we're like,

we're 12 spots apart here, but. Well, and I have Ohio State number two and you have them number three. And I have Texas number three and you have Texas number one. I don't think there's that big of a difference between these three jobs. I think if you get one of these three jobs, they should expect you to win a national championship and they're going to give you the resources you need to win it. Ohio State.

Do you want to unpack Ohio State a little bit? Yeah. Ohio State to me was a team that like Georgia had to catch up in an IL. Like if you remember how they were for the first few years, they lost players out of high school and they had two different collectives. It was kind of all over the place. They seemed to streamline their approach

and like last year's roster, I mean, people view as the poster child of NIL and I think that it is, but for very different reasons. People thought that Ohio State bought their team last year. They did, they certainly did, but they bought the players they already had. If you go back and look at the way that they did it, I think that's the most functional way to do it, recruit really good players out of high school, develop the hell out of them and then retain them is such a important piece of this whole

thing. And if you go look at some of the players that made the biggest plays on the biggest stage towards the end of the year, like Jack Sawyer and the strip sack that he took back to win the Texas game. That's a guy who could have gone to the NFL, been a fifth round pick. We've been through this, but Ohio State's NIL was so good and they spent all that money on their roster, but they did so by allocating the majority of their funds

to players they recruited out of high school, which I think is the most functional way to do it. And that's what George has been doing, that's what Alabama's doing right now. And Ohio State's recession proof. I feel like they've proven that. Yes. They've never had a down period in their entire history. Like a seven-year down period of being bad, just this never happened. But at the same time too, I don't think that Ohio State's geographical footprint,

although this isn't necessarily as important as it's been in the past, is as deep as Texas and Georgia. No, it's not. It is good at the top. And that's the thing with Ohio, with West, you know, because you can go into Pennsylvania still. It's good enough at the top that you're going to get some top end players, and you're going to be able to get what you want out of there. And then you can go into other places and get what you need. And here's the thing that we have to acknowledge Andy. If you're not beating Michigan, your life is terrible. Like there is a major risk. And like, listen, as we go down our list, like this is a much different proposition than it was seven years ago.

Ohio State beating Michigan used to be taken for granted. They did it every year for 20 years. And then that you wouldn't really think about that. But now that Michigan is a top 10 job in America and they have obviously opened themselves up to NIL and gotten Bryce Underwood. Like Michigan is becoming a bigger problem for Ohio State for not just because they've won,

what is it the last four? But because they're committing to football the last four, but because they're committing to football in a way that they weren't committed to it while Ohio State was dominating them. Well, and that we're going to get to that discussion too about where Michigan falls on this list because it would have been much further down before. Okay, but not now. Let's keep going.

All right. I love this is like this. What's your number four? What's your number four? Our pod, Oregon. Me too. Okay, but not now. Let's keep going. All right. I love this is like this. What's your number four? Our product. Oregon. Me too. Okay, Oregon. This would not have been on either of our lists five years ago. Oregon, to me, used to be a top 10 job like in the nine to 12 range. But because they have no players, no players in Oregon, period. But Oregon has made California its own state. Like, and I don't know if USC's, you know, they're doing really well in recruiting in 2017.

USC's recent changes may change that. Yeah, they might change that. But for the time being, Oregon gets what they want for the most part in California and goes out and flips SEC commitments at the last minute and is in like head to head down to the wire commit recruitments with five-star quarterbacks from Nashville like there is Oregon's NIL is probably the leader in the entire country in terms of functionality They also can mirror it with one of the largest corporations and the coolest corporations any kid or teenager would want to be a part Of their uniforms are sick

They play in a conference now that is going to be in the mix every single year. They're going to be rip amongst one of the richest, if they weren't already programs in America. Their facilities are amazing. And I just think that if you take away the, the geographic, geographic footprint piece of it and make it less emphasized in your rent, in your final ranking, you have to have them in the top five. I also think in Texas, probably you can make this argument for them too, Oregon and Texas have shown

that good evaluation plus a willingness to spend on players can change your fortunes very quickly, very, very quickly because Oregon now has one of the best rosters in college football, as does Texas, and they're producing NFL players at a very good clip, and they're in on guys that, basically, everybody who's a big-time recruit, Oregon is in on now. Like, they don't always stay in on them,

but their evaluations of them are pretty good too. Like the ones that that come down to Oregon and somebody else, whether they go to Oregon or not, usually end up being pretty good. So yeah, landing and his staff have done a good job evaluating. Same thing about Sark staff at Texas. They're going to win a national title in the next 10 years. It's going to happen. Like they're going to keep knocking at the door and eventually they're going to break through. It's what we

saw what we said with George and Kirby smart early on in his tenure. They're like, if they keep doing this, they're gonna win one. And they want to the thing that I like about Oregon to Andy that nobody will say, but I'm gonna say it. They played in the national title game during the era in which local talent was king. They already transcended it at a time in which it was really hard to transcend. There weren't a lot of teams in that position

that were competing at that level. So the fact that they were able to do it in another era shows you exactly what they are capable of and now. What the potential is yeah. Yeah, so I like them. Okay, so let's go five. This is where I think we're going to split. Okay, I went a little I went a little book who on this one.

So forgive me. Will you go first then and I'm okay. Explain a and M is a loaded team that we need the SEC Loaded with money not necessarily loaded with the best players right This is an open job Andy when Jimbo Fisher got Fired last year or whenever that happened was it been two years now. God. We're getting old I fired last year or whenever that happened. Was it been two years now? God, we're getting old.

I wrote a column for the athletic that went viral. People went absolutely insane. I said, you can make a case that one of the best jobs in college football is opening. People like A&M sucks, A&M, and it's the same thing. Does being cursed matter? Like apparently it doesn't matter to you. You're the guy who'd buy the old creepy mansion and then get chased out the first night.

I don't believe in ghosts. You're cursed. I don't the old creepy mansion and then get chased out the first night. I don't believe in ghosts. You're cursed. I don't believe in ghosts. They're cursed. Until I see them win something, they're cursed. No, see, that's the deal. I actually think the right coach there.

And also too, Andy, this is the richest program that can get the best players that has the lowest expectations, which as a person taking a job. They have low expectations for five minutes. The second they win something, the expectations are national championship. Well, their expectation or their hope is to win a national championship and they're one of the 10,

15 programs in college football that actually has that as a ceiling. And I think it's crazy because there's another team in the SEC that certainly needs to be higher on this list and I'm assuming might be in your top five that might not be in mine. And they might be in a town in Louisiana that I you know people are going crazy on. You mean that actually has won three national titles this century with three different coaches? Yeah, that one. Okay. I love the A&M job like I and I don't know if this is just me, but like I feel like, you know how I have like kind of an ego, like, and people hate it.

Like I'm like, uh, I'm an arrogant asshole sometimes. Like the romantic thing to me and attractive thing about being a coach in college football is legacy and building something that you can. Oh, you want the statue. You want the statue. You don't want, you don't want to be one of six statues. Oh, you want the statue. You want the statue. You don't want to be one of six statues. You want to be the statue. I feel like I want to be the statue.

And I think that you have a place that has money will compensate the hell out of you, has the resources in NIL to get good players, has a unique and tradition rich place, has a national championship ceiling and doesn't have a person to make a statue of. Like that is attractive as hell to me. And like, I know like the curse or whatever,

whatever bullshit you, I mean, I don't know. I think that the right coach has a chance and does have a national championship ceiling there. You have a chance to make a lot of money and to be beloved in a way that you will not be, you know, battling in the record books with. You go to Alabama, you go to, you know, you know, Georgia or LSU, like all these places where like their last four coaches have won it,

like you're just the next cog in a machine, like I would wanna build it with my hands. I wanna be malleable. And like, that's my thought process. You don't have to agree with it, but I think it's a rational. No, no, yeah. And look, it makes perfect sense. Everything about A&M makes perfect sense. Tons of money,

giant stadium, great location. I always have to have a problem is they're cursed. I always have to have a weird one in there. Like, cursed, and people will come and clickbait. That's how I feel. That's how I feel. I know it's how you feel. I am taking my number curse into account. Yeah, I'm taking the curse into account. My number five is LSU because you can win a national championship there. That's the previous three coaches did because my number

six is LSU but I wanted to go first because I knew you were going to be LSU and I wanted to like make it interesting. Oh yeah. Now LSU is an interesting job and I'm not sure this time last year I would have had LSU this high if we were doing these with the in the NILR because I wasn't sure what where LSU was on that. But if you look what they did in transfer portal this year, you look at the way they've

recruited in the 25 cycle at the way they've recruited in the 25 cycle and the way they're recruiting in the 26 cycle, I think LSU has figured out the formula here. So, you add a place, like, LSU's one of the rare places, Ohio State's the other one, where the kids who grow up in that state really, really wanna play there. And even in the NIL area, I think that matters a lot.

And so, when you have some good recruiting years in LA in Louisiana, and it does ebb and flow a little bit. But when you have deep years in Louisiana, and you get most of those players, you're going to be really good. And I look at mission, money, stadium fan buy in, geography, and history of winning. Like you could make the case that LSU could be one. It is not as wealthy of a state. And if you're gonna have to still get people

to donate to your player payment system, which I think you're going to have to, or you're gonna have to make, whatever happens when the house settlement gets gets approved You're still gonna need rich people to help you out they don't have as many as Texas as Ohio State as Georgia but they have enough they care deeply and

They're gonna have enough money to make this work and they're gonna have enough money to make this work. So I do think there are gonna be cases where those other programs are gonna be able to money whip them a little bit. But LSU has something that most of those don't. Ohio State has it too, where potentially a really good core of good players in your state that want to come play for you.

As long as you are competitive. Yeah. And it's got the unique advantage of being the only big time football, uh, program in a talent rich state, which Ohio state also possesses. Although Cincinnati is in the big 12 now, if you want to count that they weren't for many years in a power conference, but like, yeah, and they're not looked at, it's like Georgia and Georgia tech, they don't really compete against one another for recruits, even though they're both in power conferences. Yes So then you have to go Alabama at seven because like what are you gonna do drop? Do you I don't know? I?

Have Alabama seven because I think that a lot of it has been propped up by the greatest coach of all time But a lot of it the history thepped up by the greatest coach of all time, but a lot of it, the history, the uniform, the stadium, I don't know. They care so deeply like the fact that people care so much about University of Alabama football and the school is always going to pull in the same direction and they're always going to do, you know, try to have the best program possible. I agree with you. Now I don't have them seven though because we haven't done my number six.

Oh. I blew it. Okay, go. You do six. You ready? Yep. Notre Dame. Interesting. And I would not have put them here five years ago. I don't even know if they'd be in the top 15 because what was the biggest gripe about Notre Dame? And a lot of it was Brian Kelly, indirectly saying it, not being able to get kids into school. Correct. I don't, they seem to be able to now recruit a talented enough roster because you saw that like they got to the national championship game in spite of lots of injuries last year. And so they were deep. And they also didn't get an easy path into that. Like they played a slog to get to the national title game. So I think now that you, and a lot of it may be because the NILR

has flattened the sport slightly that Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, it's harder for them to just build the super teams. Like that's where Notre Dame benefits because a roster that would not have been able to compete with those types of rosters before now can because they're, they're very similar at the top of the roster and there's a little bit of depth there. I, and I think Marcus Freeman has done a good, really good job recruiting. It's proving that you can make a deeper team than, than maybe you could in the Brian Kelly era. I think more than, more than anything, I think Notre Dame is the beneficiary of the fact

that super teams are becoming rarer. Cause I still doubt that. But they're also very willing to spend on players. Very willing. I doubt still, and I don't know if this is wrong or right. You know, I'm the big Notre Dame guy now, but Notre Dame's with push come to shove with the recruiting region,

which has meant the least amount of them historically, but, and the standard and culture of the place. Cause the thing that you have to understand too about Notre Dame is not, it's not for everyone. I feel like if you want to go to LSU or Alabama or Georgia or Ohio state, you could find fun and your type of vibe there, no matter what you are like Like you have to be a specific kind of person to thrive at Notre Dame. Thrive at Notre Dame. Um, and then academically speaking, like I think that those two things make it

more difficult to build a super roster. Um, but they might not ever have to now, which I is the reason why I moved them up, but I didn't move them up quite that high. So I also had Alabama at number seven. Okay. For the reasons that we're and this is again we talk about like Nick Saban has made this abundantly clear and I think Nick Saban probably was hinting at it before he retired. The NIL era makes it tougher on Alabama to do what Nick Saban did. Nick Saban looked at the NILR and said, I probably

can't dominate the way I did because I can't build as deep of a roster as I did because they can't create more millionaires in Alabama. They will never have more millionaires in the state of Alabama than they have in the state of Texas. Nick Saban has made headlines this week. We haven't talked about it, but he has been talking to President Donald Trump about trying to reform and potentially sign an executive order. I don't know. We could have a talk segment about this tomorrow, because I don't know what that would look like or how it would be applied. But I think that what you said about the NIL space, and if you are an Alabama fan who is upset to see them so low on our lists, your former legendary head coach is telling you why they're number seven on our lists. Yeah, basically I formulate all these lists based on what Nick Saban thinks. Like, the first time I moved Georgia to number one is because that's what Nick Saban thought. This is a reflection of what Nick Saban thinks and what he wants Donald Trump to do is is basically

Hand out an executive order that turns back the clock That makes it where there is a hard cap on what players can make which I don't think can happen Without repealing the Sherman Act which has a lot more functions way beyond college sports So I don't I don't think that's going to happen. Or if it did, it would be very temporary because you just can't arbitrarily cap an entire workforce's earning power. It's not going to happen in this era. So I think that's not great for Alabama for the reasons that we've listed. Now, does that mean Alabama can't produce great rosters

and win national championships? Absolutely not. Because just like we're talking about Notre Dame, the flattening of the sport, like as long as you evaluate well and you have a deeply caring fan base that's gonna fund you, which Alabama does, you're in the mix.

And like does history still matters to a certain extent, right? Like being Alabama matters to every high. Like that's the thing. How much what's the life cycle of? I think if you are five years removed from a title, that's the life cycle of what you look like in a fan's head. Or I mean, a recruits head. Sorry. Like I think people like will remember Alabama's dynasty

and Nick Saban run who are listening to the show for the rest of their lives. But when Nick Saban won his last national championship, the five star quarterbacks, five years removed from a title will have been 11 when that was happening. So you have to like frame yourself in the mind of like what do recruits member. And I think that the five year cycle

is a very interesting dynamic as it pertains to how you're viewed in recruits minds. And they still have it, but like their history should speak for themselves, but like continuing to win is always important in that regard. Which is why Kaelin DeBoer is on the pressure cooker right now.

So who do you have at number eight? Okay, eight, Michigan. All right, that's why I got at number eight as well. This sucks. I'm sorry. I know you wanted to argue more. Michigan I have at number eight because it's a team that broke through

and won a national title. It is a wonderful academic institution, although not the type of place that will restrict the type of person who will want to go there. It's got some of the most beautiful uniforms in college football. It's got an iconic stadium. And now it's doing- All right will want to go there. It's got some of the most beautiful uniforms in college football. It's got an iconic stadium.

All right, get to the point. They're willing to spend now. That's why they're here. They're willing to spend now. Well, I'm just saying all the things. Historically speaking, it's a Blue Blood program that's willing to spend now. We had this discussion. Remember sitting, were we at Michigan or Ohio State? I can't remember which year it was.

It was after the game. I was yelling at you about putting chicken fingers in ketchup and they would have been like 20 on the list back then. Right. We were having this argument. Oh, why? And I wrote a column for the athletic that year. It must have been 2019. It was, uh, that was the year was, was 2019 the year that Michigan was favored? No, no, 2018 was your Michigan was favored and Ohio State blew him out. And then 2019 Ohio State just blew him out again. This was the year that Jim Harbaugh got the question of, of worse. Why is there a gap? Yeah, he got

really mad when it when when the guy said, Is it coaching? It wasn't coaching. It was a willingness to do what you got to do to win national championships, which if you look at the chat right now, it's all about Michigan a willingness to do what you got to do to win national championships which if you look at the chat right now it's all about Michigan's willingness to do what it has to do it's basically Ohio State fans calling Michigan cheaters and Michigan fans saying no no no no so it was uh late November 2019 was when you yelled at me about the chicken fingers right that's okay this was the same argument. And you and I were in agreement about Michigan at that point.

Like they need to treat football the same way Ohio State treats football or they will never and as a university. You remember that night or the night before we went out drinking with Nick Baumgartner, who was the Michigan beat writer at the time. Now it was like a NFL draft guru in Detroit. And I got, I drank like 12 Bud lights. And I was like, I was not there. I was at, I was at another game the night before.

So, Oh, I was screaming at him in the bar of like why Michigan standards weren't higher, why they were okay with losing to Ohio state. And if you like look at the headline from the game, I sent it River I'm gonna give him a minute to put it up but it bothered me and I used to like get called a Michigan hater all the time because like I would be like why are you guys okay with this like I thought that Jim Harbaugh should have been fired after year five yeah I this this was not a an uncommon opinion. This was we've lost story by the way he's frozen on the screen. It's amazing. Like I love this look on his face, but. This was how we felt and how everybody felt and it felt like Michigan didn't care as much about winning at football as Ohio State did. I don't think that was really in dispute.

And what you saw after that is if you're asking Ohio State fan, Oh, Michigan started cheating. Well, nah, that probably isn't what really did it. Michigan started taking it very seriously. that probably isn't what really did it. Michigan started taking it very seriously. Jim Harbaugh revamped his staff, got rid of a lot of older people on the staff that were kind of from a different era, brought in a bunch of new people.

They recruited much more aggressively than they did before. You can argue whatever you want about the Conor Stallion stuff, that's fine. I don't really care at this point. We've talked that to death, but now you get into the Jerome Moore era at Michigan and look at what they did last offseason. Look at the Bryce Underwood situation. They could not complete a Ford pass. They had one of the worst passing offenses in college football. There was a kid in Belleville, Michigan, who was the number one quarterback recruit in the country who was going to

go to LSU and they put together a Godfather offer to get him. So that should tell you what you need to know that Michigan is willing to spend the money. The willingness to spend the money on players. It's the same reason I have Texas moved up is the same reason Ari has Texas in number one. It's the same reason I kept Georgia at number one. It's the same reason I have Notre Dame in the top 10 when I wouldn't have pre NIL era. It's the same reason Oregon's in the top five. have pre NIL era. It's the same reason Oregon's in the top five. Being willing to spend the money on players at this point in this era is all that really matters. You have to have

that willingness. You can't say we're going to do this on a discount or we're going to out evaluate everyone. You have to evaluate well too still, but you got to be willing to spend. So when the special player comes along, you can get them. And I hope Ari is okay. Hope Ari is okay. We've lost communication with Ari. So hope he's all right. Hopefully he's just power went out of the house or something. But oh, power did go out at the house. So we will we will move on. I've got I'm going to go to my next one on the list. I'm going to go to number nine on my list. It is Clemson and This is the first time conference affiliation comes into it, especially in the era of

Maybe multiple automatic bids per conference Clemson in an ACC and I realized that this may not last for very long This that that this system may not last for very long. This system may not last that long. It may only be a three or four year period. But Clemson in an ACC that gets two automatic bids, which is what we think is gonna happen in 2026, feels like a program that can pretty much pencil in a CFP appearance in a lot of years,

where all you've got to do is be one of the two best programs in the ACC and you're in the playoff. Clemson has a more exaggerated version of what we're talking about with Alabama where you're not creating more millionaires. It's not a huge fan base. It's actually a relatively small fan base, but they're incredibly passionate. They are willing to devote resources to their program. You've seen Clemson, they're working on trying to close that gap money-wise between what they

get from the ACC and what the SEC schools they have to compete against recruiting get. But also, that series they just made with Notre Dame is for getting more money. Because the bigger the brands you play, the more money you're gonna get from the ACC in the new system. So they're doing all that. So I do think Clemson can just stay where it is in the top of the sport where the access to the playoff

for Clemson is going to be, I would say easier, than a lot of these teams that we've mentioned. We'll see. I mean, if the Big Ten and the SEC are getting four spots, then maybe I'm wrong. Ari, I had Clemson at number nine. Would you agree or disagree there? I don't have them at number nine. Sorry, Notre Dame is my number nine team.

Okay, all right. Not only did my power go out, there was like a loud noise. So it was my like, like my generator or something does bust. Like I like, I don't know what. Somebody we've had that happen at our house before. We're basically like somebody crashed into a transformer quarter mile away and the whole block went out in the house. And I'm a little bit nervous about it. Like I think it's a good news that the power came back on like Four seconds later, but yeah, I don't know that that's necessary something in your house. That may be something down the line So, okay. I hope so because I don't have the animo or the ability to do any of this stuff Okay. Yeah, no, so anyway to put a bow on the Michigan stuff that he put the graphic up of the story

I wrote that day. He did. He did. We, we, we were talking about how Michigan at that point didn't feel like you. And you said that, that how urban Meyer killed the game, my story the same day was about how Michigan doesn't care as much as Ohio state about football. And I would say that it's abundantly clear now that they do, but they weren't acting like it back then. Yeah. Okay. Well, anyway, we are on the same p... So we've, we put a bow on that. Notre Dame's my nine for all of the same reasons that you had.

Clemson at nine, I think, makes sense. I am still kind of on guard for what they like. I don't know. I'm still skeptical for like Davos plan. Like I think it might work, but we'll see. Yeah, we'll find out. So who do you have at number 10? Willie TS, those are you always say Stanema? Yes, I do. It's a flaw of mine. Andy makes fun of me for all the time. Stamina. Do you also say supposedly?

No, that's the one that drives me insane. This is the word I can't say for whatever reason. I cannot spell restaurant, which is hilarious because it's my favorite thing to do in the entire. My daughter, when she was learning to speak, pronounced it restaurant, restaurant, and we still say, are we going to go to a restaurant or eat at home? That honestly sounds a lot like the way the word is spelled so I don't blame her

for that. It's a very dysfunctionally spelled word. Yeah so my number nine is Notre Dame. Do you want to go to your 10 now? Or have you? Yeah, you go. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna go with my 10 and this is one that I also probably would not have put here, but I think I think they are now. They're now there and it was a case of administrative. Not caring as much about football as they probably should, and now they do, and that's Penn State. Yeah, interesting like I struggle with Penn State

because Penn State is in this general area. My number 10 was Oklahoma though. Also a good one. The reason why is Oklahoma is a storied program, a place that has had very few downturns the way that Ohio State did. Like I feel like they're like even Ohio State light in the sense that they haven't had like five year periods of being bad. I know we're kind of in the midst of one right now where it feels

like things aren't going to be better. But like, if I know one thing about Oklahoma, it's that it will always be good. So I, but Penn State also too at this, at this point is kind of breaking through at a time in which Oklahoma is declining. Um, and I think you have to take what's happened in the recent past with a little bit more measured, you know, meaning, you could put Penn State in the sec right now and they'd be fine. Like yeah, Penn State's roster is loaded. So, but I feel like with the sport changing both in NIL and in the

playoff and in the conference alignment. Piece of it. Like I wonder if Oklahoma is going to have a harder time avoiding downturn seasons now that they play in a conference where the seventh best team can beat anybody like that. Like, like that's the thing that like kind of blows my mind. This is where I wonder where we're going to test history here, because historically, Oklahoma has always been good.

They have had a couple of the late 90s downturn, but really have not had many downturns. I, Ohio States never had a downturn. Oklahoma's really only had the one. So I wonder if Oklahoma hasn't had a downturn because they've had advantageous schedules for a long time. Like, that's where we test history here. Exactly. It's always in my mind because Texas had downturns in the same conference and they were just and they're my number one team on this list so maybe that's wrong. In the big 12 could have been downturn city because we've seen other historic teams and

programs have those in that conference but you know Penn State I think is a good choice there Penn State would probably I just did 10 I did 10 too but we got a comment in the chat from USC priority and I'm glad they brought it up because I think this is an interesting I didn't intend to, but we got a comment in the chat from USC Priority and I'm glad they brought it up because I think this is an interesting discussion to have. USC is a top five college football job. You guys amaze me for all the wrong reasons. Okay, USC Priority, so here's the thing.

This is one of those, if this is true, then this also has to be true. If you think that USC is a top five job, what do you think of the job Lincoln Riley has done? Because if it's a top five job, then he's doing a terrible job. And you know how I feel about it. I don't think USC is that easy of a job. I think it's hard.

This is, and I had the same thing about Texas for a long time. And I have the same thing about Florida where everybody thinks it's such an easy job because of where you are. But history says it's been a few good coaches. That have really succeeded there, but not everybody can do it. Like, yeah, the reason LSU stays on these lists is because everybody can do it there. With USC, and I don't know if this is going to be offensive to some, but I don't think that USC has fan support that you find in the SEC.

Like, I think that their fans are fickle for a lot of a lot of them. Like I don't think that the base like I mean, I know like what the numbers for like their posts are and stuff and like if they're not doing well, their fans are checked out. Like I don't think that in Oregon is a more similar fan base to what you see in the rest of the Big Ten in the SEC. Except the Lakers aren't yeah, the Lakers aren't 10 minutes away, you know, and the Ram.

I don't know. LA's got beaches. I don't know if I'm not saying they're bad people. And I know that there are diehard USC fans that are plugged in like USC priority year round, right? Like he's here talking about it on May 6. But like, I feel like if USC drops two games out of their first six, like their fan base is gone.

Like, and I feel like that to me is maybe part of the reason. But if you want to like come up with like a hypothesis for why places that seem to be easy jobs on paper. I mean, like, listen, I have a team that's never won anything in my top six. USA priority, we're going off best jobs or easiest jobs. The best jobs are easier to win in than the worst jobs. Like if it's hard to win, it's not one of the best jobs.

I think it's a priority. It's like, for to win, it's not one of the best jobs. I think it's a priority. It's like USC priority. It's a combination of everything. It's how much money you make. It's the resources you get. It's fan buy-in and stadium you play in. It's, you know, NIL support. It's recent history.

It's all these things, you know? And if you want to put USC in the top five, go ahead. But I just don't know that there's been a lot of top, I mean, I think Texas A&M was a really good coach. Texas A&M is the exception. But I don't know that I like, but see, I don't have Texas A&M in my top 10. Texas A&M, Andy, though, I think is interesting to open up another, you know, thought process. Which team or teams that have had 15 year downturns since the year 2000 are also still equipped to win a national championship moving forward. Like I think Texas A&M is the exception to that rule. Are there any other ones that would fall into that mix? I guess USC maybe, right? I mean USC is in that conversation of like teams that haven't really been nationally relevant for a long time. Who have a ceiling of national title and I don't know

if USC ceiling is national title right now. I think Florida I would put Florida ahead of USC. Florida is not on either of our lists. No, and then Bruce River points out we don't have a single school from the state of Florida in our top 10 and I'll tell you exactly why is someone who lives in this state and has followed these programs very closely, them competing against one another is part of the problem. Like I have always pushed back on the argument of, oh, Florida recruits itself, Florida state recruits itself.

No, it does not. Miami doesn't recruit itself. Like it is war down here. And everybody else is coming in to get players too. It's not like it's just those three competing. You know, Alabama comes in and grabs the best receiver every once in a while or Ohio State comes in and grabs the best receiver like the last time you have to deal with

that to made the playoff 2015. Florida State made in 2014 14. Yeah. That's crazy. We're 10 years into this thing and the team from Florida hasn't made the playoff. It's hard. The jobs are difficult. And like the Florida job is the same thing. Like I was talking about with USC, they've had two all-time great coaches who won national titles at Florida. That doesn't necessarily mean like everybody else has been pretty mediocre. Fiance in the chat said this and it's correct. They compete against each other, but also Saban like kicked out their knees from all three of them at the same time. Or the best players in the state every year.

Yeah. Well, and Cole points out Florida players leave the state all the time. And I would argue that Florida is probably the one where there's the least I gotta stay home or the least feeling like you're tied to home. Most of the population is from somewhere else or their parents are from somewhere else. So there's a lot of ties to other states too.

Yeah. People have family in other states. You would think that Florida is a nice place to live. You would think that it would be the opposite. I am curious as the, you know, so like my kids are our first generation Floridians. Like my wife and I both weren't born here. Our families moved here when we were kids. My kids were born and raised here. Like I wonder if that changes that. Cause there's, there's obviously generated several generations of that.

We have about Arizona state, right? Like it's a big place and you know, but like, they're like, I would say that George is experiencing the opposite of that. As, as the population in Atlanta grows and has grown over the years, I wonder if the allegiance to Georgia has declined as a, you know, percentage of people in the state because people are moving in from somewhere else. So you have Ohio state fans or you have Michigan fans or Penn State fans or South Carolina fans or whatever moving to Atlanta, because that's where the jobs are. Like that probably changes.

It probably isn't. Well, I got to up, you know, you wake up, I gotta go to Georgia. Yep. So- TJ, what do you think is the best job in Florida? I think it feels like it changes from your, I will say, I think Miami is a much better job than it was since Dan Radicovich became the AD

because he has impressed upon them the need to act like everybody else, the need to spend like Florida and Florida State spend. They weren't doing that because they'd done so well in the previous era, but the world had kind of changed on them and it was leaving them behind. And I do think what they've done since Radocovich got there and you've seen the resources they've given Mario Cristobal. So I'd say that job has gotten much better than it was, but I'd say all three jobs are pretty similar right now.

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know how to answer that. I think that Miami I don't know. I don't know how to answer that. I think that Miami has the least loyal fans. You tell me you live there in the fewest, I mean, but also has the best geography. Well, yeah, I mean, South Florida is a loaded place. Like you talk about metro areas in America, the best metro areas for football talent concentration are South Florida, Atlanta and Houston. So like it's theoretically should be easy, but I argue that being the Miami coach is

hard to recruit in South Florida because the politics of it are different for you than it is for even the Florida coach coming in. Like the politics that Mario Cristobal has to deal with in South Florida are much more difficult because if he doesn't offer some kid when the kid's a freshman then oh you didn't show love and you're not recruiting the area. And so I'm going to go elsewhere just to spite you. Or if you offer the kid as a freshman, you can't, and the kid doesn't develop, you can't pull the offer. So it's a tough one.

Yeah. It's not an easy place. And like, the thing that I think that I marvel about with Miami, Andy, is that every single person who has taken the Miami job has the same exact plan and the plan never works. Like, it's been 20 years of keep, keep, you know, Miami kids, build a fence, yeah, yeah, you know, build a fence around our own area. It's like, okay, well, maybe you got to do something different, because it's just that's not working. And every time Miami hires a coach, they act like, you know, you know, we're going to do this. We're and it's just Mario. I think Mario has made demonstrable improvements. Of course he has. Yeah.

And so we'll see if they break through during a time in which Miami has been able to upgrade its roster heavily in the portal. Like, right. It's not right because they're dominating Miami recruiting. They're doing it in a way that wasn't available to Miami as readily as it is now too. Like he's in a different spot. Well, I'm I know people people are gonna disagree with this.

I think this has been a really fun discussion. And here's what I will tell you, Ari. I'm looking at our top tens and I'm thinking about what schools might be in 11 through 20. We can do it. I think the sports flatten maybe more than we thought. So here are teams that I would consider for 11 to 20. Ready?

Florida, Florida State, Penn State, Tennessee, Auburn. Yep. Wisconsin. I would have Texas A&M in that group. Maybe Old Miss a little bit higher than they would have been in the past. I don't know where you do it. Nebraska, South Carolina.

Well, USC, I think USC's belongs in this situation. Michigan State, I think is interesting now that they're gonna have a new AD. Arkansas, Washington, like there's, there's a teams in there that I would put in the second tier there that you would have to maneuver. But there is, you know, I think like Tennessee definitely probably has to show up somewhere

in the top 15 at this point. Yeah, and Auburn too. And like we've talked about Auburn as a potential playoff team this year. Like I think at this point because before I would have said you have to be in the top five of these to win the national title. I think at this point you mean the top 15. Yeah, maybe top 20. If you do it right, if you have the right mix of players and you cycle up to a veteran team like in the 12 team playoff era, I think if you're in the top 15 of this.

There are teams on in your preseason top 25 that I think would be interesting in like job rankings. Texas Tech and SMU come to mind being in Texas with all the money that they have. BYU is interesting for you know, various reasons. Arizona State. What do you do with Arizona State? Because Kenny Dillingham is not even making $5 million yet, right? Yeah. So, you know, there's... Because we have to also take salary into account, right? Like Ole Miss is certainly a team that I think Ole Miss will pay.

Well, we also have to do our tongue in cheek when we'll have to figure out what that is. We're running out of time because we gotta we gotta get out of here so JD can get on the air but we do later in the week and maybe somebody will ask us that for the mail bag on Thursday. We do need to figure out what the new Kentucky is because because that's really the best job. I mean, Kentucky is still pretty great because he's going to get a lot of money, but so much money.

Yes, trying to think of like places with low expectations that pay a ton but give you some good resources. I had a nomination from Justin who's in the chat often and corresponds with us on Twitter a lot. He he suggested Minnesota which I think is getting up there in terms of what they're gonna pay yeah so producer River wants to add a public service announcement the real ID thing is taking effect on Wednesday like if you got to fly you got to have that star on your driver's license. What? Yeah, so River had to go to the DMV and sit for four hours to get his real ID the other day. Because I don't know why, because if you know the history of this River was six years old when this law passed, they have been phasing it in for 20 years. Like in the

state of Florida, they just sent me a driver's license that had a star on it. Like River apparently got a question the last time he renewed his driver's license. Maybe when you was it when you got your driver's license when you were 16, they asked, did you want real ID? No, it was when I was a 21 in college. Why did they even ask? Just do it. They're like, do you want it. Tennessee, get off the Schneid. I haven't. I haven't had. I don't know what you guys are talking about at all.

And I want your driver's license. Does it have a star on it? It's downstairs. But if it doesn't, I can't get on an airplane. He's going to have a bad day at the airport coming up soon. I have clear. Does that help me subside this? Because I never pull my ID out. You can bring your passport now clear clear probably required you to have a real idea already when you sign

Yeah, I never even see you're probably good when I go to the airport. Yeah, you're probably good You just do the retina scan so scans my face and then I pay with my palm at the Whole foods. Yeah, we're all my body is a wallet Yeah, I I will say as Steve in the chat says, make sure you travel with your passport. I actually have the passport ID card, which does not work as a passport, except I think you can go between Mexico and Canada

in the US with just the ID card. And I keep it as a backup in case I lose my driver's license, which I did one day at your house and I got to the airport and I'm like, oh, I have my passport ID. I can get on the plane. Will they not? Like they let people on the plane who lose their wallets all the time, they just take you into a back room and they ask you an extensive questionnaire to make sure that you're.

You're going to need to have that star on your driver's license. That's the rule. So what do I do? If I don't have the star on my driver's license, I'm flying in a few weeks. Go get a new driver's license that has a star on it. Good luck. I don't like going to the DMV. It sucks.

It's awesome. I think you're probably fine. I think Tennessee is the only state where they actually ask the question. They're like, why would you ask that question? Everybody needs it. Just put the fricking star on it. It's not complicated.

I'm gonna go look right now. I don't know why did you say no river? Because I think they were gonna charge me at the time and I was turning 21 that weekend and I'd rather use the money It's like five bucks They said like $25 That's a lot of racket I had to go to the DMV two weeks ago and I was only there for 40 minutes Which was a nice surprise. So 25 the $25 Four years ago. Is that worth the four hours you spent River? Is that worth the four hour?

Four hours every time the weekend. I turned 21. Yeah, I'd trade it. I'd still do it I'd keep those $25 and I was 20 see that it all it all worked out and you got on a plane last week You had a real ID Yeah, everything went fine. I know it was righteous bucks, man The night I met my wife ladies night at Market Street pub in Gainesville, Florida May 25th 2000 the the cover was five bucks. I had 40 in my checking account at the time So that five was a pretty big investment. That's a lot of work.

I was a year and a half old. Let's go. Stop. Stop. All right. Stay tuned to the On3Sports YouTube channel because JD Pickel will be joining you with the hard count at 11 a.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Central.

We will be back tomorrow as we are every morning, 9.30 a.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Central. We will be back tomorrow as we are every morning, 9.30 a.m. Eastern time. We gotta come up with the new Kentucky. So that's one of our topics for tomorrow. We'll see what the rest of the day brings. We'll talk to you soon.