Andy & Ari On3 - Reggie Bush sues the NCAA and USC | Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said WHAT?

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

Welcome to Andy and Ari On3, presented by Wendy’s! This show is also sponsored by PrizePicks, America’s most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code STAPLES to play $5 and get $50 instantly. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/STAPLES The Money Game is a compelling six-part docuseries that chronicles the introduction of the groundbreaking decision by the NCAA to grant NIL (name, image and likeness) rights to student-athletes, permitting them—for the first time ever—to earn endorsement compensation while maintaining their amateur athletic status. The Money Game features inside access to LSU stars Jayden Daniels, Angel Reese and Livvy Dunne through last year. See the world of NIL through their eyes. Watch The Money Game on Prime Video. https://www.amazon.com/The-Money-Game/dp/B0D9KQWC97?tag=on302-20  Fubo has extensive coverage of college football all season long. Catch the biggest and best games, including most of the top 25 matchups, most of the games from the Power Four conferences & many of the games from the Group of Five. Every Fubo plan includes the best channels for live college football games like ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, ESPN 2, FS1, Big Ten Network, CBS Sports Network & The CW Network. The ACC Network & SEC Network are both included with the Fubo Pro plan in select local markets, but can be added if outside the local market for an additional cost. To sign up, go here:  https://www.fubo.tv/welcome/leagues/191261?irad=399332&irmp=5298464(0:00-1:18) Intro, Rundown of Show(1:18-13:23) Reggie Bush Files NIL Lawsuit(13:24-15:04) Stream the Money Game on Prime Video(15:05-30:19) What did Hugh Freeze Say?(30:20-31:25) Watch Live sports with FUBO(31:26-40:06) Conference Realignment Update(40:07-50:11) Georgia at Alabama preview, Presented by PrizePicks(50:12-1:07:45) Assesing the QB position in the new era of CFB(1:07:46-1:08:35) Conclusion, See you tomorrow! Speaking of The Money Game, Reggie Bush has sued the NCAA, USC and the Pac-12 in an attempt to recoup damages after being denied the right to make money off his name while in college. Meanwhile, Auburn coach Hugh Freeze keeps saying the wrong things. This time, it’s his assertion that if Auburn and Arkansas played nine more times, Auburn would win nine times. Ari went off on Freeze throwing his quarterbacks under the bus after the Arkansas game. This new statement might set him off more. There’s also a good, old-fashioned western standoff between two west coast conferences. The Pac-12 grabbed Utah State from the Mountain West, leaving both leagues at seven. Both need to be at eight to be eligible for NCAA basketball tournament shares, so the race is on. Memphis, USF, Tulane and UTSA all said Monday that they intend to stay in the American Athletic Conference. Next, it’s your Georgia-Alabama preview presented by Prizepicks. Andy and Ari study the Prizepicks squares to decide which will best determine the outcome of the game. Then it’s time to talk quarterback strategy. Andy wrote a column on Monday suggesting coaches may need to rethink how they handle their QB room management when they have a highly touted youngster and a proven veteran with only one more year of eligibility. Do they need to start paying up to keep the old guy?  Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and join us LIVE, M-Th at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/NL31c3c2ygQ Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. It is a massive day of news. There's so much to talk about Ari Wasserman. We've got Reggie Bush suing the NCAA. Hugh Freeze saying things that, well, we'll get to that. Massive realignment out West. Like there's two conferences just basically pointing guns at each other. Like in a spaghetti Western. It is incredible what is going on. Plus, we're going to talk more about Alabama, Georgia. We're going to have our quarterback discussion that we were going to have. There's a whole lot going on. Yeah. It's so funny when you think about having a daily podcast, Andy,

because it was never the cadence was never this intense for me in the past. It was just like, wow, how are we going to do this? And it's such a stupid thought of like, how are we going to fill up the time? It's easy. It's never ending and it's relentless. And I don't even feel like we have enough time. So I'm excited to get into it. And you know, I've been bubbling these Hugh Freeze thoughts all night too. So once we get to that segment, I might get a little fiery, but here we go. You absolutely should. Oh, and Luke Wisdom, Michael Hawkins, QB1. There's more, which we'll probably talk about when we talk about Hugh Freeze

because Oklahoma is playing at Auburn this week. But we'll start with Reggie Bush, which I kind of was wondering when this was coming, when Reggie Bush would sue the NCAA, but he sued the NCAA, the PAC 12, which we'll also talk about a little bit later and USC saying, Hey, uh, you guys colluded to make sure I couldn't make money off my name, image, and likeness when I was playing. And I could have made a lot of money. So you're going to need to give me some money. And this one is amazing to me because the house settlement, they kept saying, well, this'll be it. This'll stop all the lawsuits. No, it's not going to stop anything.

Reggie Bush has an absolute claim here. Like of all the people, think about this, Ari, of all the people who has a better claim than reggie bush who got his heisman trophy taken away who got treated like a criminal in all those stories because some agents gave him some money because he was good at football not even usc like usc didn't give money agents gave him money yeah no the funniest part about this is is that basically anybody who was kind of good before the pre-NIL era uh has a claim of some sort you know like and we're seeing it and we're gonna see it continue

uh but the ironic part about this one Andy is who it's coming from and how he was treated. That's what stands out to me about this. It's like they wish that the extent of what he got and he was okay with was whatever impermissible benefits that he was receiving at the time. Think about how much money that that man was worth because I think you could actually make a claim here, and I will, that he was probably the most electrifying

or one of the three most electrifying players in the history of our sport and I don't know if it was just because it coincided with my childhood and when I was growing up and falling in love with this sport but I don't remember any other player of any era making my jaw drop quite the same way that uh Reggie Bush did and you think about how much money he probably made USC, how much relevance he brought to the Pac-12, all the things. So he got some housing and whatever else he got from his agent. Like that is peanuts in comparison to what he was worth.

And at the time, we took his Heisman away. We made him feel like he was a scumbag, all the things that went on in his life. And the fact of the matter was is that no matter how much he got from an agent during his time in college football, Andy, he was grossly underpaid. Well, I just looked it up because I was trying to remember. I couldn't remember the exact amount. And I don't know if we have an exact dollar figure, but what do you think it was? Don't look it up. What do you think Reggie Bush got? At least that Yahoo caught him for.

What do you think it was? I'm just guessing a dollar amount without knowing off the top of my head. $23,000. Okay, you're a little low. About a hundred grand. About $100,000. About $100,000. Bill.

$100,000. I'm going to sound real bougie here. That's not much even for normal people anymore. Yeah. $100,000 is a lot of money, but it doesn't go that far anymore. What was $100,000 in 2002? It went a lot of money, but it doesn't go that far. What was 100 grand in 2002? It went a lot further back then, but yeah, it's not going to change anybody's life even back then. I feel stupid for my grossly low guess, but I just probably figured that at the time,

25,000 was a lot of money, and you could have ripped off a college kid easier then too because it always comes back to that to me. It's like, how much can you give somebody while making them feel important while it actually not being enough? And a hundred thousand dollars probably, you know, hits that bar and you're absolutely right. Andy, a hundred thousand dollars is not life-changing amount of money. You still have to work. It's not going to get you more than a few years of extra leeway, depending on what your lifestyle is. And, and you know for somebody who was basically the faith of the sport for multiple years and carrying usc to the highest of heights in the game um think about how like here's the thing how much did he get 100 grand how much would you even

estimate and i know there's probably no way to quantify this based on you know inflation and you know the way things worked 20 years ago but like what do you think the man was worth at the time? What was he worth to USC? I mean, they won two national titles, one undisputed, one shared. They also had Matt Leonard. They had a lot of other good players, but Reggie Bush was probably the best skilled player they had. I'm just trying to think in terms of NIL right now, what would Reggie Bush have commanded his junior year?

Like if he had gone to USC after sophomore year in this era now and said, all right, I'm on the market. If you would like to keep me, beat everyone. probably because he's a running back he's not a quarterback but but still given the level of wow he provided every game 750 000 to a million dollars right at least annually right for the for one year for his his junior year yeah that sounds worth more than that usc yeah well the thing that's interesting is is that like to me that still sounds really low uh and you want to you want you want to sound bougie uh $750,000 is a heck of a lot of money but it's not enough for you to coast for life like I feel like Reggie Bush was good enough at football to be worth enough money to set him up for life if he never worked another day in his

life like that's how how valuable he was to me um i don't even know if i would call it that in the nfl because he was drafted high enough for that to happen sure sure and that's you know the old way of thinking about it right like well pay your dues now and and get the nfl but even if you take the nfl out of the equation the amount of value that he had for college football, not just USC. I mean, I honestly will sit here right now looking at this camera, Andy, and tell you that I'm not necessarily sure that I would love college football as much as I do if it wasn't for him. Like that was the guy that was the height of the era from when my mind was still developing. You know what I mean? Like that guy is like a God to me in my head. Like, you know, that's, you know, that's the pinnacle of it.

So I don't know how far this is all going to go down the line. I'm assuming anybody who was an all-conference player or even a starter is going to feel like they're owed something because, you know, think about how many people in college football right now in the NIL era who are making a ton of money and aren't necessarily producing the results that you want. You know, I don't want to single anybody out, but there's somebody that pops into my head right now in college football that I know is making a hell of a lot of money and aren't necessarily producing the results that you want. You know, I don't want to single anybody out, but there's somebody that pops into my head right now in college football

that I know is making a hell of a lot of money who is not doing anything. And he's playing. You know what I mean? Like that's. DJU. That wasn't who it was, but there's someone else. We can say it now. Ari.

Okay. Think about how much money Ali Gordon is making right now and he is not producing and I don't know if it's his fault I know they've got some line issues or whatever but like he is probably I think I know the highest paid NIL recipient on Oklahoma State's roster he's supposed to be one of the best running backs in college football and he has not made plays at the level that he's expected to make given the amount of income that he's had. Now, again, maybe that's misallocation of funds from Oklahoma State, Andy, because if you are going to pay a running back a heck of a lot of money

and your offensive line is struggling, then you're misallocating the money. But there's a lot of people in college football, and it's not just DJU and Ollie. There's a lot of people who are making a lot. I mean, think about how much money Jackson Arnold's probably making. And he's not even playing anymore. So for what Reggie was worth and what some of these guys are making, it's just crazy.

And this is just the beginning. I think Reggie's got a better pain and suffering case than anybody else just because of the way he was treated. I mean, he was vilified unfairly that holds I mean that whole story was all twisted because the NCAA wanted to make it out about USC and punish USC when in fact it didn't matter that Reggie Bush played for USC it didn't matter who Reggie Bush played for Those agents were going to try to pay him like that wasn't going to change that. You know, and this is just my my past, Andy. So don't throw me under the Ohio State Homer situation.

But right at the beginning of my journalism career, how the tattoos covering Ohio State, the tattoo gate thing happened. And I know that Terrell Pryor wasn't necessarily as famous or big as reggie bush was of his era and frankly didn't deserve to be um remember his recruitment remember what it was like when he got to ohio state and then not only that um because of selling his own stuff for money i don't even think terrell got tattoos. He got in trouble. He missed time in his college career and then had to go into the supplemental draft. How much money did this man lose because of

the tattoo scandal? That is a joke now. It's not even just from college income. If you want to talk about pain and suffering, he could have been a first-round draft pick, potentially. I wrote it immediately when that broke. Those guys should all go pro. Terrell, prior be your posy. Don't sit around and serve out the suspension.

Don't put up with that crap. Go pro because you're being hosed here. That was the ultimate in how just bass-ackward everything was. Because remember, the Big Ten worked a deal with the NCAA so that they could play in the bowl game so they didn't get their asses beat by Arkansas. Like, they needed them for that. But then they can be suspended after that.

Like, it was such garbage. And I'm glad it's over. And I'm glad they're having to pay up because they were breaking the law. Like, I hope Reggie Bush soaks them for everything because they were breaking the law. Like I hope Reggie Bush soaks them for everything because they were breaking the law. If they had just chosen not to break the law, if they had chosen to let people get money for being good at football, which is not morally wrong, they wouldn't be dealing with this right now, but they were greedy and pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered and and they're getting slaughtered now, and good.

Good. I'm no economist. Enjoy your money, Reggie Bush. I'm no economist, Andy, so maybe you can walk me through this. But there are going to be a lot of lawsuits that are of the same ilk coming out of the woodwork, right? Like didn't Braylon Edwards just file one a few weeks ago for Michigan? And the NC State basketball team that won the national title in the 80s.

So if there are a million of these, because I'm assuming that, you know, if anybody sees somebody sue something for something that applies to them and get money, that they're going to want money too, right? That's just human nature. Yeah. How much money can this system hemorrhage before there's a problem? It's not like an unlimited amount of money. No, it's not an unlimited amount of money.

I don't know. This is going to be really uncomfortable. Yeah, it's going to be very uncomfortable. And a lot of people who've been making a lot of money for a long time are going to have to make less money now. Yeah. But they didn't deserve the money they were making in the first place because they were stealing it from other people. Yeah. I'm with you.

That's what you get. You steal from other people, eventually you would have to pay it back. At least hopefully. But that's fine. Because here's the thing. They're going to keep putting football on TV. TV networks are still going to keep paying for it. They're going to keep staging football games that 90,000 people 100,000 people are going to keep showing up to. So guess what? It's're going to keep staging football games that 90 000 people 100 000 people are going to keep showing up to so guess what it's not going to end the enterprise because there's still people who want to pay to see it so now they just they're not allowed to steal from these people anymore they're going to have to pay some of the people they stole from and that's that's the end of it speaking of all this now that we're in a new system which has its own perils pitfalls all kinds of new stuff one way to find out more about it is

watch the money game on prime video incredible docu-series following lsu athletes through last football season and and and spring and winter. And so you get Jayden Daniels, Angel Reese, Livvy Dunn. These are all people that have taken advantage of the NIL system, but kind of in different ways. Like Jayden Daniels, I don't know that Jayden Daniels even had any clue how good he was going to be as a senior. And by the way, Ari, I don't know if you saw him last night. Jayden Daniels is that guy in the NFL now. Uh, but angel Reese did know going in that this was going to be the year to capitalize.

Libby Dunn was already an influencer essentially who wasn't allowed to make money. And then an L came and she could make money as an influencer and it, it just went supernova. So it's so interesting how all of this changed so fast. And it kind of dovetails in what we're talking about with Reggie Bush. And so if you'd like to explore that further, watch the Money Game on Prime video. All six episodes are out right now. Click the link in the show description of the YouTube video that you're watching or the podcast you're listening to. It'll take you right to it if you're're already a prime video subscriber, if you are not a prime video subscriber, by all means, click that link and get yourself signed up and you can watch the money game, NFL football on Thursday nights, the rings of power.

There's a new episode of that coming out Thursday. Just saying it's fantastic. Watch the money game. Click that link in the show description it'll take you right there all right all right your favorite coach is still talking so you had a rant on saturday night after hearing hugh freeze throw both of his quarterbacks under the bus following the loss to arkansas but hugh freeze was not done because on monday went on Tiger Talk, basically the coach's radio show. And, well, he had this to say. I mean no offense whatsoever to Arkansas or to Cal. I love Sam Pittman. I hope he wins the rest of his games.

But I'm telling you the hard truth is we play them nine more times, we beat them nine times. And that's what's hard to take. And it's hard for our fans, I'm sure, and it's certainly hard for us. And you have 460-something yards, and we only had 50-something plays of offense because we turned it over five times. Ari, do you know who this is? I do know who this is. I do know who this is.

Do you know who this is? Who is this? This is Dan Mullen after losing at Kentucky. Oh, wow. Well, who gained more yards? Yeah. You know what's crazy? Is that if you have a quarterback or quarterbacks

who are prone to turning the ball over, they're probably going to turn the ball over in the other games too, Hugh. They keep the score of the game because the points scored is the hardest thing to do, and it keeps track of who's doing it the best so the reason why you had less points than Auburn was because your team was unable to score um which is the point of the game and I just don't know what you gain from this I like I'm I'm hearing it and it's like is he supposed to be thinking that he make like that making fans feel better does he think that he's not throwing his quarterbacks under the bus again like every

single thing that there was about this interview just rubbed me the wrong way it's just like you lost and the reason why you lost is because you gambled on your quarterbacks and you gambled wrong it's your fault again it Tuesday. It's still your fault. What is the point of that? And by the way, it's wrong. There's no, I would bet any amount of money. I think I would leverage my entire checking account right now to be able to sim 10 games of that in a row. I guarantee you Auburn would not win nine of them. I'm not even sure they would half of them. They probably win five of them. They move the ball on

offense, but when you have a quarterback or two that are prone to turning the ball over, that's not just because they had a bad game. It's not like they had no turnovers for the past month and then had five in one game, then maybe have this conversation. But they turn the ball over every single game,

which is why you keep benching them and replacing them over and over again. Like it's, this is insane to me. Here's the other piece of this. The turnover sucked. And actually the most costly turnover is not one of the interceptions. It was the fumble through, you know, the fumble into the end zone when you're about to score. That was way costlier, But here's why you can't say that. Because I think there are games where you can probably say that. You can't say that about this game. Because how did Arkansas put the game away? By running the ball down their throats. Remember, they get bailed out by a pass interference call, get a first down in their own territory, and then they never throw it again and wind up in the end zone. That is Auburn's fault.

That is not Arkansas getting lucky. That is Auburn not being able to stop it when they know what is coming. You will lose 100% of the time when you do that. 100% of the time. And that's just the physicality of the sport, too. That's not happenstance. That's just man against man hitting each other and the stronger one winning. That's football in its purest form.

So I understand that the man is frustrated. I totally understand it. I throw my controller against the couch whenever I throw an interception in the NCAA. I can't imagine if that was my whole life, my whole livelihood. And you feel like you're doing good things and people turn it over. Like he's not allowed to be frustrated.

He is. But the way that this man behaves in public, it's just awful. And I don't know how long. I think that, you know, it's still very early in his tenure there and i'm not going to turn on the the burner to you know begin this hot seat discussion because it's far too early for that probably no but i will but i will say we will stop that right now like no but here let me finish my point though my point is is that when you lose and then you behave like this I think that you are shortening your own clock however long it may be I don't I think people will get tired of you

faster I think people will like like do you think that Auburn fans are listening to what he's saying right now and are galvanized by it or are annoyed by it like I'm very annoyed yeah I went on the message boards at Auburn Lime last night just to see where they're at they are annoyed by it they they yeah what they what they are trying to do and i understand this because i they they've seen this all go down a lot of different ways especially at that school they're trying to avoid this becoming another brian harson situation where they're trying to frag the coach a year and a half in. Because I do think Hugh Freeze understands the assignment. And there is a path for Hugh Freeze to turn this into a winning program. But this isn't helping. And I think it's a source of

massive frustration for the Auburn fans because they don they don't want to hear this they just want to hear we're going to make this better and then they do it the problem is they got to play Oklahoma this week which you know who's great at turning you over Oklahoma's defense then they play Georgia then they have Kentucky and Missouri like or Missouri and Kentucky, on the road, by the way. They're staring down the barrel of five consecutive losses if this does not turn around quick. Yeah, well, here's the reality of the situation, though, Andy. And it's just like sometimes you are what you are. Auburn's going to have quarterback issues this year.

And I think we could have predicted that they were going to have quarterback issues going into the year, but I don't like when a coach throws his players under the bus. But if he were to say in a diplomatic way, like we went about recruiting the quarterback position a certain way this off season, and we're going to have to evaluate how we do it again in the future basically you know a nice way of saying we messed up how we that would be him taking blame rather than blaming the quarterbacks i think that that would be the the way out here like the way

out here is that our quarterbacks stink we would win every time we played if they didn't turn the ball over and they listened to what i told them to do like that. Your job as the coach fundamentally, Andy is to be able to get your players to do what you're telling them to do. It's almost another admission of guilt because the best coaches in America all have an idea of, of what perfection or success looks like and their players do it. That's the definition of being a good coach. So don't tell me that the players aren't doing what you're saying. You can't get your players to do what you're saying. And it's either one of two things. One, you're not coaching well

enough or two, you did a terrible job with the evaluation of your position and they are physically incapable of doing what you're telling them to do. Either way you slice it, it is your fault. Either way. Yeah, and so here's the thing. I want to give a little silver lining to the Auburn people because I'm looking in the chat, and there's a couple Auburn fans in there, and they're talking about, hey, remember when we lost to Diego Pavia in New Mexico State last year?

Now we have to play him at Vandy. Think about that, that Auburn's afraid of losing to Vandy right now. That that's where they're at, but I'm going to, I'm going to throw a little silver lining at you. They are moving the ball. They're actually moving the ball really well. If they can stop throwing it to the other team. And look, I think I wouldn't rewatch the game. Peyton Thorne certainly played better than Hank Brown in that game. I think he gives you a better chance to win. The last interception wasn't even Peyton Thorne's fault.

It was a, it was the receiver alligator armed it. It bounced off his hands and into the, into the arms of an Arkansas defender. Like there's a way out of this. This team's averaging 6.2 yards, or 6.3 yards a carry. Like, and you say, oh, well, you know,

that includes the games against the teams that weren't any good. Against Cal, which was the worst game they had, they averaged four yards a carry. Against Arkansas, they averaged 5.6. Like, Jarquez Hunter's worst game is 5.7 yards a carry like they are moving the ball and maybe they just need to try to move it on the ground more if moving it

through the air is too dangerous but when they are throwing when they are not throwing to the other team they are throwing it pretty well peyton Thorne's averaging 10 yards per attempt. This isn't probably a USC-Michigan discussion, right? Like, not USC, a Michigan discussion or an Iowa discussion where your offense just fundamentally can't get a first down. Well, it is kind of, though. It is kind of, because what did I say about Sharon Moore last week? What was the whole point of that? Yes.

You figure out a way to put your team in the best position to win a game with what you have. Hugh Freeze is not doing that because he keeps calling things that keep getting the ball put in danger when he has an offense that moves it very well on the ground. So maybe you adjust your thinking a little bit and you do the thing that wins you the game. So you're saying play like Michigan if you're Auburn. If you have to. Like if you go out there running your normal offense and you throw a pick in the first two series,

shut it down and run it at them. Because you're running really well. You're good at running the ball. Well, I will tell you, Andy, the spread for the Oklahoma-Auburn game opened as OU minus 2.5, and it has now moved to OU minus 1.5. So people are thinking that Auburn's going to either win or be in the game. Because people are realizing that Auburn's not that bad

and there's an element of randomness to this. Yeah, well, there's an element of randomness to fumbles and bounces and hips and stuff. I don't know if there's an element of randomness to the interception that Hank Brown threw before halftime. Like, there was a line there between, like, what is a random turnover and what is a forced, an unforced turnover and what is a mistake that you made.

And I think that there were some unforced turnovers and there were some forced turnovers in that game, especially in the first half. So I think if Hugh Freeze goes back to Peyton Thorne, who's played a lot more and didn't have any, that I recall, egregious, terrible mistakes, that maybe that gives you the best chance to win because your thought is to limit the backbreaking turnovers. But Peyton Thorne, at his best, is not a very explosive player.

So I guess we're not at the point now where you bring in Cam Coleman and you're hoping for explosive plays downfield and moving the ball in chunks. What you're wanting to do is have- Ari, 10 yards per attempt? You will take that. You can win the Heisman averaging 10 yards per attempt yeah that's true but what i'm saying though is is that like you're probably going to be in a position where you are limiting throwing the ball downfield as much as you want because you don't want to turn the ball over you move the ball on the ground you sustain drives you hold the ball longer and you do your best to

keep yourself in games without having a catastrophic mistake. So, like, you know, I don't know. Here's the thing. I saw this in real life, Andy, on Saturday night. Oklahoma's defense is freaking awesome. So, like, if you are, you know, in a position where you think that they're going to get 10 yards an attempt and not turn the ball over on Saturday,

I think that you're probably going to be sorely mistaken. I think Oklahoma's going to get out. Well, right, and they're probably not going to be able to run the ball as easily as they did on Arkansas. Arkansas's offense, I think, is really fun and exciting. I think it's possible to score on Arkansas's defense, and they would have scored more had they not turned it over. But that said, when you're down three and the other team just decides to run the ball,

that's not the fault of the quarterbacks. That's not the fault of interceptions. That's you just getting straight up beat. That's your defense getting straight up beat. So you can't say that if you played it 10 more times, you'd win 10. Or if you played it nine more times, you'd win nine. Because you wouldn't. Because if Bobby Petrino's thinking clearly,

he just stops throwing too. Yeah. And you can't stop them. They had a pretty easy time running the football at the end of the game there. Yeah. So that's where it's at. But Hugh Freeze needs a win,

whether that's against Oklahoma whether that's against well I don't I don't know the ones coming against Georgia but Missouri Kentucky Vanderbilt Hugh Freeze needs to figure this out and he needs to be the one who figures it out like it doesn't have to be a quarterback magically not throwing the ball to the other team Hugh Freeze put your team in a position where that quarterback doesn't have to throwing the ball to the other team, Hugh Freeze puts your team in a position where that quarterback doesn't have to throw the ball to the other team, where he doesn't have to put it in danger at all. You actually are capable of that. You have it. I said this about Kansas State. I said this about Michigan. If you have a running game that gains six yards every time you run,

you never have to throw if you don't want to. So just don't if you don't have to. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there are only a certain amount of teams in this sport, and I guess Michigan, to a certain extent, may be one of the few that can still run the ball for six yards of carry when the other team knows you're running the ball

like that's that's a really like the statistics there are are nice no you obviously you're gonna have to throw the ball a little bit but the problem but the thing is if you are running the ball that much you're not going to be dealing with a lot of confusing coverages you're not going to be dealing with a lot of disguised things because they're so scared of you running the ball. Again, Hugh Freeze has the option to change some things and make this work. That's what the money's for. Figure it out. All right. Ari, we're going to talk about

FubBO. If you wanted to watch that Arkansas, or excuse me, the Auburn-Oklahoma game or the Arkansas-Texas A&M game, you can watch on FUBO. Catch the biggest and the best games, including most top 25 matchups, most games from the Power 4 conferences, and many games from the Group of Five. Every FUBO plan includes the best channels for live college football, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN1 and 2, FS1, Big Ten Network, CBS Sports, and CW. You can also get the ACC Network and the SEC Network

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mess. Cheaper, easier, everything you need with Fubo. All right. All right. Before we get into more Bama and Georgia discussion, which we definitely need to talk about, we got to talk about the realignment going on. Monday was one of the craziest days of realignment in college sports history. Now, because of the schools involved, it doesn't get the headlines that say Texas and Oklahoma going to the SEC or Oregon and Washington and USC and UCLA going to the Big Ten. It doesn't get that. But what happened was nuts because basically you've got the PAC 12. They are trying to get to eight schools because eight schools is the magic number where the NCAA recognizes you as a conference that can have an automatic bid to the NCAA basketball tournament. You get shares.

There's a lot of money involved in that. They were at six. They're trying to get to eight. They talked to a bunch of different schools and you get an interesting statement in the middle of the day from Memphis, from UTSA, from Tulane, from USF saying, we're committed to the American. We're good here. It's like, okay, that's interesting. Then you get a statement from UNLV. We're committed to the Mountain West. We're good here. It's like, uh-oh, what's Pac-12 going to do? They're going to have to go like get the Montana schools or something? Oh, no, no, no. They went and got Utah State. Utah State says last night that they're going to the Pac-12. Now the Pac-12 has seven schools. And the Mountain West has seven schools.

And you need eight. They're just pointing the guns at each other so las vegas review journal reports late monday night that unlv which had said it was solid in the mountain west earlier a few hours earlier they're reconsidering some things maybe they want to go to the pac-12. Also Gonzaga may be in the mix for the PAC 12 as a non football member. Like this is crazy. Like one of these conferences might not exist by the end of the day. Yeah. And it kind of feels like something's going to happen Tuesday.

Yeah, it does. It does. Like something, something is going to happen. And when all this started, I was one of many people saying, hey, look, they're just going to merge. Washington State and Oregon State are going to merge with the Mountain West schools. They'll use the Pac-12 branding. They'll call themselves the Pac-12 because it's a stronger brand. Like there would have been a very clean way to do that. It didn't work out because I think the, the mountain West maybe overplayed its hand negotiating all that. And now we're waiting to see, like,

are they just going to take like with the mountain West, just dissolve and all those schools go to the PAC 12 and they become like a 14 team league or would they merge? Or what if the American in the mountain west or the american in the pac-12 like it's all on the table now so american and and save me from being an idiot but my understanding is that the american has a really solid television deal in place right so i mean solid-ish compared to solid-ish to to the power schools. But the Pac-12 has no television deal in place.

So we have a bird in the hand versus potential battle here. Yes. And there's exit fees. I think if you're Tulane or Memphis or USF or UTSA, you're going, look, this is sort of six of one, half dozen of the other. The amount we're going to have to pay to get out of the American, we're going to have to make that back up in the Pac-12. It doesn't compute. It doesn't add up.

It was more sensible for them to stay. Plus, remember, we don't yet know what's going to happen with the ACC. If they are going to reduce their grant of rights by multiple years, then they put the detonation clock on their league and they're going to have to backfill. So those schools might wind up going there. Yeah. It is so interesting to me too, Andy, because we are now merging former power schools with former group of five schools and having to retrain our brains to understand how to even consider the final product of these conferences is going to be interesting when we get there. It's a group of five conference. And that's the thing. I said, use the Pac-12 branding because in your mind,

as soon as you, like when you hear that name and you see the patch on the jersey, you're like, oh, power conference. Yeah. That's not what it is. Let's be real here. That's not what it will be.

Let's say the Pac-12 wins this. They wind up with the most teams. They wind up with the bulk of that group. It's not a power conference. Well, yeah, yeah. Well, it's a group of six conference at that point. I've got a take on some other conferences not being a power conference either at this point. But here's the – I'm going to just give a round of applause here because, you know,

everybody thought that, you know, Washington State and Oregon State were in the fetal position on the west coast they were left out they were left for dead and they rose up from the darkness baby and now they're and now they're breaking skulls now they're breaking exactly I listen it is a blood is a cutthroat bloodthirsty game that they are playing and they, they lost it last year. They're winning it right now. Now they still got to, they got to finish the deal.

They got to finish the drill today, but I'm amazed at just how this has gone. And, you know, there was that crazy day during the, one of the earlier rounds of realignment where the whack was trying to just gut the mountain west and mountain west commissioner craig thompson who had actually he'd just been at his daughter's wedding he was in an airport the whole time he had a flight delay he essentially gutted the whack like ended the whack as a as a an fbs conference in a matter of

hours from the airport because the WAC was trying to steal a couple of their schools. And he's like, eh, you know what? I'm going to steal a couple of the WAC schools and that'll be that. And that's exactly what happened. That was wild. What's going on Monday and Tuesday this week, even wilder. Hey, can we start a new segment on the show where you explain things to me that I don't understand that has nothing to do with sports? Cause you said something earlier on, and I've heard this a lot. You said it was just like a spaghetti Western. Can you explain to me what that, like what the Genesis of like the spaghetti part of that is? That's easy. Um, so these were Western themed movies, like American Westerns, you know your clint eastwood type movies uh

i believe the the director's name is felini he was an italian and they filmed them in italy so they call them spaghetti westerns okay got it i didn't know that see the more you know yep there you go i mean co-hosting a show with you andy is just like reading an encyclopedia because the one thing i've always said and like people are like so like how's andy and i'll be I mean, co-hosting a show with you, Andy, is just like reading an encyclopedia. Because the one thing I've always said, and people are like, so how's Andy? And I'll be like, yeah, he's a really cool dude. But the one thing that you need to know about him is that the guy seems to know more than the average person knows about everything. Like, there are certain things with me, like I don't know.

Like, somebody just made a joke about how this is like how Hulk Hogan joined joined the wwe and it's like i'm sure you know what that reference means i have no idea what that means like like i don't i just like wish i had i can't remember the story of hulk hogan joining wwe uh from whatever regional i think i think what goat dog is trying to say is when hulk h joined WCW and started. You're doing it again right now. You're doing it again. Yeah. Like where it's like, oh, you can just have an intelligent conversation about wrestling right now. Like there are things that I think I know a lot about.

Gambling. Stocks. Video games. Fast food. And then everything else I know nothing about. And college football in there too. it's not useful i can promise you that because i forget like i was supposed to buy dog food yesterday and i forgot so yeah i think i think there are better uses for brain cells than than some of this useless trivia it does help on a podcast i will say that it does all right

we got to talk prize picks but we're going to talk prize picks in a very practical way because we've got your georgia alabama preview presented by prize picks and look download prize picks use the code staples play five dollars5, get $50 instantly. You know how it works. You're playing squares. You're picking squares. You pick at least two, you pick two or more. The more squares you pick, the higher the potential payout. There's already a board up for Alabama, Georgia, Ari already aboard. And I think we can use these, we can use these numbers to try to determine what's going to happen. And right now, the first thing I look at, the first one in the corner,

is a Goblin Square for Arian Smith, the Georgia wide receiver, 40.5 receiving yards. So Goblin Squares are the ones that are a little bit easier to get. You say more than, and it's a little bit easier to get. You can go to a demon one, which would have more. But I think if Arian Smith is in the 50 to 60 yard range, that's pretty good. Dominic Lovett, his number's 46.5. If he's more than that, Dylan Bell, his number's 32.5 receiving yards. If he's more than that, like, if you see those, if two of those Georgia pass catchers go more than, I'm feeling really good about Georgia in this game. Yeah.

So we did talk about this in the Picks show on Monday Monday and I've had about 24 hours to marinate it. I actually wrote a story on three that's up right now. Just four thoughts about the game. And as I was going through it, like I started to realize that I was feeling a lot more comfortable and confident with the Alabama pick. So, yeah, those numbers are all very manageable numbers for Georgia pass catchers to get to. But are any of those numbers like eye popping out of your head, you know this person's going to get there type of a thing? And it just reinforces my angst about it. Well, right. And there's no guarantee of that. And I think the lower the score, the better the chance that Alabama wins.

I think Georgia probably, if it gets into where it's a shootout, where Georgia's scoring on Alabama's defense quite a bit, then I think there's a good chance Georgia wins. And I know that's probably counterintuitive because you're thinking, okay, Alabama's got the explosive offense. If it's a shootout, Georgia's not gonna be able to keep up. No,

but what you're saying is that Georgia was moving the ball too at that. Remember that both these teams have good enough defenses to use the defense. If it's playing well to dictate the tempo of the game. So it's not, if you are moving the ball, then Georgia may play a little bit different game defensively if they're moving it than if they're not moving it. They're going to get more – they're going to try to make Alabama more conservative if that's the case.

So – and then, you know, Jlen milrow is is sort of the x factor in all of this his passing yardage number is 204.5 which and and i uh one thing to point out we had a question in the chat from ben weather might affect the game no uh it's possible so there's a hurricane in the gulf and obviously i'm looking at this because it may hit us but it is probably going to make landfall in florida thursday late afternoon into the night it's moving very fast it actually may not affect the georgia alabama game because it may have it may be north of there by then uh they would get it probably sometime friday night saturday morning by saturday night i think the

storm would be somewhere else if it keeps moving as fast as it is and that's your meteorology segment with andy and ari uh there he goes now everyone just talking about the speed of a storm i have to know this because i have to know if my kids are going to school on Thursday or Friday. Like this is, these are, these are important. I had to buy water this morning.

So the Milrow number, the, the passing number two Oh four and a half. Like if he's more than that, I think, I think George is in trouble because if Ryan Williams is the Ryan Williams has that demon square, .5 rushing and receiving touchdowns, if he's getting loose, George is in trouble.

Yeah, well, I think that there's been a lot of Jeremiah Smith mania in college football this year because he's been very good. And for whatever reason, it feels like not enough people are appreciating how good ryan smith is could you imagine if georgia had him uh no that would be pretty terrifying i have a change like if georgia had someone to take the top off the defense i had a dream about that last night um i know it doesn't really help us in this conversation, but I just thought that's the missing piece that Georgia has and Alabama has it. I think that that

demon square of more than.5 receiving in rushing yards for him is a very attractive play. It's not a freebie. No, no, sorry. Yeah, touchdowns. It's a very attractive play because if Alabama's going to win this game, I think he's going to have to make plays. I think he's going to have to be a game changer. He's going to have to get behind the defense. He's going to have to score.

And I think that that's going to happen. So I am in love with this kid's talent. He's fast as hell. He's 17 years old, and he's going to be a household name in the sport for the next three years before he's off to the NFL. So Jalen Milrow, also 251.5 pass plus rushing yards. That gives you some flexibility. But this is you answering a question about what you think Jalen Milrow is

in 2024 versus 2023 because this is a game. Now, last year, Jalen Milrow was really good against georgia in the sec championship game there were other games the michigan game the arkansas game some other games were early in the tennessee game the first half of the tennessee game where it felt like he took some sacks that maybe he didn't have to take and that's the question does he walk into some sacks or he's over that now because if he's over that now and he doesn't do that anymore that 251 and a half is pretty enticing because he's gonna gain his on the ground the question is how many sacks will he take that that reduces that rushing total yeah he's averaging 52 yards a game uh on the ground this year and has had a few explosive play if you're viewing jalen milrow as somebody who's

rushing the ball 15 times a game like that's not his game anymore no oh he's gonna squirt loose for one long it's like the lsu game last year right squirt loose for a couple long ones yeah and i think that that's on the table uh especially considering how many people georgia has to cover in this game but i don't know that the extra rushing yards on that number uh sways me because i'm not sure i think that that's going to be more of a random does he does he find some green on a play and rush for 45 or 50 on one play is more than it is a sustained 4 6 8 12 13 17 type of you know rushing statistic output so producer river saying go for the demon square 0.5 rushing receiving tds, Jim Miller, Alabama running back. I think he just likes to say Jim Miller. And I will say Jim Miller is a hell of an interview,

by the way. We talked to him after the Wisconsin game. I can listen to that guy talk all day. So, you know, if you get that, you're going to get another good Jim Miller interview. So they're the producer river trying to wish good content for the show into existence. And I appreciate that.

You know what's interesting is that you would say that Jam Miller would be the perfect name for a running back but it just makes me want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich Andy. Every single time I hear the name I just want to put a little jam on some peanut butter and maybe toss it in the toaster or something.

It's probably lunch today by the way. Is that what you're going to have? I'm going blueberry preserves for the jelly. I've never heard of a human being even buying that. So that's incredible. That's what I've gotten in the fridge right now. But I like that.

When I was a kid, it was purely peanut butter with apple jelly. Obviously, grape jelly is your classic. But I'm not always in the mood for grape jelly. Strawberry jam makes a great PB and J, but I'm telling you the Palantir all fruit blueberry preserves. You, I, you may be too young to remember this commercial, but I know the people in the chat do. I know that my old people in the chat remember this, the, the Palantir all fruit commercial where you have all the fancy people at the table, please pass the Palantir all fruit, please pass the the plan or all fruit commercial where you have all the fancy people at the table please pass the plan or all fruit please pass the plan or all fruit and then there's a guy in a cowboy hat could you please pass the jelly and then the woman faints uh i don't i just every time every time i'm scooping it out and putting it on the bread i was like could you

please pass the jelly so you went to the grocery store and you were in the bread. I was like, could you please pass the jelly? So you went to the grocery store, and you were in the jelly area, and you're like, okay, there's grape. I'm going to not pick that up. There's strawberry. I'm not going to pick that up. I'm going to get blueberry jam. Yep.

That's what happened? Okay, just curious. Yeah. You know what else is good when I want to change things up? Huh? Apricot. Oh, I like apricot. But, yeah, I mean,

I wouldn't put it on the Pantheon above the two goats. You know what I mean? Listen, sometimes you got to change things up. We're going to change things up now. We're going to talk about a column I wrote yesterday. We actually started talking about this

a little bit on the show yesterday, but we didn't have time to let this segment breathe. So now we do. I was writing about the situations at Oklahoma and at Kansas State, where I think Oklahoma fans watching that game Saturday night against Tennessee are going, oh God, why do we not have Dylan Gabriel playing quarterback for us this year? Why is he playing at Oregon? And then Kansas State fans watching Avery Johnson throw interceptions to BYU players who are not actually near any Kansas State players going oh god we could have Will Howard still and we don't now before the Oklahoma fans get into this

I know it's a lot more complicated like it was not a case of Brent Venables going, I'm just choosing Jackson Arnold over Dylan Gabriel. Like when Jeff Lebby got hired away from Oklahoma as the OC to become the head coach at Mississippi state, it probably made it where you weren't getting Dylan Gabriel back because unless Venables could promise it was going to be exactly the same offense, Dylan Gabriel had other options. And so I understand that they were rebuilding the same offense. Dylan Gabriel had other options. And so I understand that they were rebuilding the offensive line. What I was curious about, because the K-State one is a

more cut and dried, like they picked Avery Johnson and the reasons they had to do that too. I'm not ripping Venables or Chris Kleiman for this. What I'm asking is Ari, do we have to change how we think about this? Where if you've got a veteran QB, even if he only has one year of eligibility left, but he's a veteran QB who's been good, do you just have to pay to keep him and let the young guy walk? Well, I actually think that it is an interesting situation, Andy, because your premise, frankly speaking, let's just put it out there, is that there will always be another quarterback. If you lose a young guy who hasn't proven himself yet,

go get another one, right? Yes. And I think that that makes sense. But in Kansas State's situation, where Avery Johnson is a top 100 recruit from the state of Kansas. That doesn't happen very often. So I think that there's always another quarterback for Oklahoma. I think there's always another quarterback for Georgia and Alabama and Ohio State and even Michigan potentially if they were given the opportunity to go get one based on the timing of that. I don't know that that's true for everyone, that is.

So I think if you're Kansas State, you're kind of in a position where if you know you're going to lose Avery Johnson and you are high on his potential, not just in the immediate future but the long-term future, you almost have to take that assessment based on how good you think the rest of your team is going to be that next year. Do you let the kid walk because you know your team can win 10 games and make a playoff run if you keep the veteran? Or is your team going to be an eight or nine win team at best, regardless of who the quarterback is, and make the decision for your future at that time? Now, obviously, it also depends on what the expectation of your fans are because some places,

you know, when me and I had Ryan Day on the show a few weeks ago, we were talking to him off camera a little bit and he said, you know, at Ohio State, you can't just plan for what you're doing here now. You have to do next year and the year after and the year after because you can't lose four or five games in a season. So I think the calculus is very different on a year-to-year basis depending on what your roster looks like, but also to your program. Who are you? Are you going to be able to go get another quarterback that has this skill set?

And funny enough, maybe the answer to that question in your mind is yes because Will Howard, if I don't recall, was a four or five star player. So Kansas found Will Howard so they could find somebody else. But I do think that like there was no blanket answer to this. I think it's very. Kansas State has repeatedly found good quarterbacks. I mean, Colin Klein was a great quarterback in college. Like Michael Bishop was a great quarterback in college.

Al Roberson, remember that name? Yeah, exactly. So it is possible but i i understand that's what that that's why i wrote it the way i did like i'm not ripping anybody i'm genuinely asking the question because like i don't know that chris climbing had another choice but i think the distinction you made well also you talk about expectations kansas state does expect to win the big 12 this year or came into this you're expecting to win the big 12 yeah if they don't and it's because they got shelled by byu or because they're the type of team that can get shelled by byu

and you wouldn't be that type of team with will howard then you messed up yeah right right so yeah i wouldn't trade immediate success if you feel as a coach and you analyze your roster of like, we could go win the Big 12 this year. I wouldn't think about two or three years down the line if you're looking down the camera right here at a potential playoff season. I think you always take the good season that's right in front of your face first. But here's the other thing too, and maybe I wasn't on three yet and I didn't have access to the message boards yet but i don't recall kansas state fans being all angry about this i don't remember oklahoma

fans being livid about this i think that both programs were fine with it because on the surface who you were trading for or who you were opting to was a player that had a heck of a lot of potential based on his recruiting ranking. And like, honestly, if you've read or heard anything about Jackson Arnold since his arrival at Oklahoma, it was that he was a stud in the locker room from day one, that people gravitated toward him, that he was going to be the next Oklahoma great. So like now that we're sitting in this position with Hawkins starting, um starting against Auburn on Saturday and that Oklahoma is having a quarterback disaster the same way that Auburn is, this was not on my expectation list coming into the year. And that's why I asked the question because a lot of the stuff in the NIL era has sort of copied what has happened in the NFL in terms of the pay scale.

I'm wondering if the quarterback situation will then copy what has happened in the NFL because that's where the thinking is different. In the NFL, if you have a veteran quarterback who has tread left on his tires, you don't even think about it. You don't let him hit free agency. You re-sign him. Do I think the Cowboys are

going to win a Super Bowl with Dak Prescott ever? No. But Dak Prescott is a safer choice than trying to draft someone better than Dak Prescott. Because there's a better than 50% chance that whoever you go after next is not better than Dak Prescott, and then you're going to get killed. So that's the part in college, which I know you have to do in the NFL, but I think it's loser mentality. I agree. Excepting mediocrity because you don't want to be terrible is such a loser.

I think what the Cowboys was, they shouldn't resign CD lamb. They shouldn't resign Dak. The only person they needed to resign was Micah Parsons and then go from scratch. But that's not how that works. Well, receivers in the NFL too are pretty important.

Like having a bonafide number one. Yeah. But if you're, if you're Jerry Jones and you let that go to free agency and the quarterback you have next year is not as good as Zach Prescott, you're getting murdered like that. Not literally, but obviously figuratively

on all the Stephen A. Smith debate shows. But he already is. But he already is. I know. I mean, people make fun of him all the time. Yeah. So here Luke in the chat says, Michael Hawkins has been outplaying Arnold since the spring.

The coaches have known who's better. They've let Arnold fail on the national stage before they could make the move. I don't think it really works that way, but it may be that he's better. But that also plays into what I said. There's always another quarterback. And Ari, you're probably right.

Kansas State is a different case than Oklahoma, than Auburn, than Tennessee, than Michigan, than Ohio State, like Florida. If you're one of those, there's always another quarterback. In this case, Oklahoma may already have that other quarterback. But we have to retrain our brains. Especially the people who read us, hear it on three, and follow us here. There's a much higher percentage of people in our audience that are recruitniks, that follow the recruiting. That's still not higher percentage of people in our audience that are recruit nicks that follow

the recruiting that's still not the the majority of college football fans the majority college football fans just watch the games they just want to win the games but there are a lot of people it's a it's a healthy chunk that follows the recruiting and they fall in love with these guys and and they become like this is my guy like dj lag for a Florida fan that's their guy Jackson Arnold for an Oklahoma fan was their guy and when I was writing the column I looked it up just to see Jackson Arnold committed to Oklahoma eight months before Dylan Gabriel took a snap for Oklahoma the love affair had gone on longer yeah and there is a certain connection to that. And I think the reason why, especially with players who arrive to your school through the high school ranks, is that people who go to that school have an inherent connection to people who opt to do what they did and to walk the same type of path. If you're a transfer and you come in and you're awesome, people will love you. That's not what I'm saying. I mean, Dylan Gabriel didn't start his career at Oklahoma. Now they're wishing he was still there.

But the connection, the emotional connection that people have to the players that come in through the high school ranks, live in the same dorms that they lived in, live moderately the same life, go to the same restaurants. There is a thing there. It's not the same life you lived. I know, I know, I know. Even 3-1-L, it wasn't the same life you lived, but I get it. I understand.

They walk through the same classroom hallways and the same restaurants and the same bars. I know they're not living in the dorms next door to you. I mean, at Arizona, they did. I lived in the same hall as Willie Tui Tomo when I was in college. So, like, that's not... I don't know if that's how it is everywhere, but

I know they have athlete dorms now too. Yeah, but it is, it is exactly what you're saying. It's an emotional attachment that probably doesn't need to be that emotional because the quarterback is making a business decision. They're doing it because they like the coach or they like the offense for the most part. Now, sometimes it's like childhood fandom, like Tim Tebow at Florida, but it's not always like that. And usually it's not. Usually it is a business decision. They're not making the same decision you made, even if you think they are. And so don't get,

what I'm saying is if you're a fan of a power program, don't get so sentimentally attached to your five-star quarterback. There's another five-star quarterback next year and another one the year after that and another one the year after that. And if your coach is doing it right, he's signing one of those every year. Only about one out of every three or one out of every four of them is going to wind up being your starting quarterback. And none of them may wind up being your starting quarterback because you may have to take a transfer.

Who was the five-star quarterback from somebody else right yeah what i'm saying is stop getting so emotionally invested in a 17 year old who hasn't proven anything yet and get financially invested in a 22 year old who. I mean, when you say it like that, it's very logical. But it is very hard to make people think that way. You have to consider that in this business, even when I was covering a big-time beat with really good players on the team, the fan interest inherently will always be on what's next. If there's a five-star quarterback who's coming in and you have a five-star starter, the people will read more about the person who is coming than the person who is there.

I think it's human nature to constantly yearn for and dream about and consider what the height of the next wave could be. Unless you're a Chiefs fan. Are Chiefs fans the only people in the world who don't think this way? Well, because they have the best quarterback in the world who has like

10 years left. So like that, that definitely helps. And like currently things are great. But like even Ohio State fans, when I was covering them, were more concerned

about who they were getting than who they had and who they had was pretty awesome. Always. And I just think that because fantasizing about the future, that's why mock drafts are so popular. Why? who they were getting than who they had and who they had was pretty awesome always um and i just think that because fantasizing about the future that's why mock drafts are so popular why because people want to know who their team could draft they want to fantasize about what it would be like

to have jayden daniels on their team or uh you know jj mccarthy whoever else it is so um that is easier said than done because i don't think people are getting attached to the quarterback i think they're getting attached to the idea of what the quarterback means. And CLT Meach points out Malachi Nelson left USC and no USC fans care. Right. Because they have Julian Lewis coming in. He's the next one. But guess what?

They always had Miller Moss. Turns out he's pretty good. So you as a coach, though, let's just wrap this thing up here. You think that it's a better – your premise is it's a better bet to go with the person that you know what you're going to get out. Yeah, especially if you have high expectations and you know where – like you already know where that person's ceiling is. If knowing where that person's ceiling is,

you think that person can get you where you want to go. For example, Kansas State playing for a Big 12 title to make the playoff. Oh, how could we possibly know if Will Howard could lead Kansas State to a Big 12 title? We already know that. He's done it. Yeah. So that's why. But again, like you you said it's more complicated than that no one disagreed with chris kleiman's choice no one including me so i'm not ripping him for it i'm just saying now that we've got some some data and some evidence coming in it may be that those people who do it at the highest level for the

most money with the most riding on it they might be on to something yeah well and also too like as i find out year over year sports are a long journey and it looks bad now but if avery johnson is a heisman finalist next year, he'll look like a genius. So it's just like, it's like the story's not written yet. Well, that's the other piece of this. I'm glad you mentioned that because Will Howard is one year. And that's the part of this that the NFL equation doesn't have. Will Howard is one year. Avery Johnson is at least two more and possibly three more.

Jackson Arnold was possibly four more because he redshirted last year. He only played four games. So you're right. If this year doesn't work out but the next two are great, then the coach made the right decision. So I think that the actual thought process here isn't necessarily which quarterback to pour into. It's what year to pour into, right?

Like if you know that your team is with that quarterback is capable of doing something great, even if that means sacrificing the future by losing somebody you want to have around for three years, that that is a worthy payoff because you want to get to the point where you get the trophy. Right. Like, so I understand don't ever trade the current greatness or the current potential of the team that's coming up for the potential of the team in 2025.

Right. But I also don't know that that always ties in directly to that decision. You just have to make the best, you know, choice for what comes up but like you never know what's going to happen in three years down the line with anybody i mean right let alone the river with a good point we wondered should josh heupel have started nico earlier last year should bench joe milton started nico maybe but was it worth it would it have changed anything last year i don't know

that it would have ultimately for tennessee or what if he's just better now though like you know everything's revisionist history you never know yeah so my number one my favorite one andy was you know and i got roasted for this uh on the last show I was doing, but like I was doing a thought exercise about two years ago when Sean Clifford was the starting quarterback at Penn State. What if Drew Aller played that year instead of Sean Clifford? They might not have won the Rose Bowl, but Drew Aller might have been much better last year when they were in both games that kept them from making the playoff. We don't know how that would have played out,

but you know, they chose Sean Clifford. They got a trophy for the Rose bowl and it turned out that that was the right decision, but we'll never know what the alternate path would have been. Had drew Allard played that whole year, got the experience and been a much more effective passer last year when Penn State's offense stunk and they lost the only two games on the schedule they couldn't lose.

I mean, this is just a game that you can play with everybody. Absolutely. Absolutely. And that, again, like I said with Hugh Freeze and all these coaches, that's what the money's for. You get paid to make those decisions, figure that out, make the best decision you can. It's not easy, but that's what the money's for.

Ari, tomorrow, Wendy's sauciest take of the week i will be coming up with three takes you'll be judging which is the sauciest i am sure there will be more realignment news we also have some bonus pick segments that we couldn't get to on monday that games we need to pick We need to pick Ole Miss, Kentucky, and we also need to pick Minnesota and Michigan. So we'll pick those tomorrow. I'm sure we'll talk realignment and I will have three bold and spicy takes befitting the spicy saucy nug sauce that I know we will all be enjoying at some point this week, because I will be enjoying that at some point this week. Ari, it's been a pleasure. Talk to everybody tomorrow.