Andy & Ari On3 - Should Georgia be No. 1? | Top Ten Resume Rankings | Projected College Football Playoff and NY6

Episode Date: October 2, 2023

Should Georgia be No. 1? | Top Ten Resume Rankings | Projected College Football Playoff and NY6Today's show is brought to you by PrizePicks, the easiest way to play daily fantasy. All first time users that deposit and use the promo code ANDY will receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. If you deposit $100, PrizePicks will give you $100. If you deposit $50, PrizePicks will give you $50.Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/ANDYWant to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube, don't forget to subscribe!https://youtube.com/live/ZZDn-Aez5fkTo open the show, Andy goes through some news that occurred over the weekend (0:00-4:23)After Georgia survived a scare at Auburn, the Bulldogs remained No. 1 in the Associated Press poll but lost some first-place votes to Michigan and Texas. (4:24-6:15)Andy is a believer in ranking on resume alone once the season starts, which makes this season especially tough because teams such as Georgia and Michigan haven't played any of their best opponents yet. So Andy's top 10 resume ranking looks very different from the top 10 of the AP and coaches polls. (6:16-16:45)Next, Andy talks to Jake Rowe of On3's Dawgs HQ about the good and the bad the Bulldogs can take away from that win at Auburn. (16:46-36:18)Then it's time for Andy's projected College Football Playoff and New Year's Six games. (36:19-43:05)The schedule turns this week for the Bulldogs, who face Kentucky. It's one of a set of games that have progressively grown more intriguing.Oklahoma-Texas is obviously huge, but Kentucky-Georgia, Ohio State-Maryland, Alabama-Texas A&M and Notre Dame-Louisville are very intriguing. Andy examines the opening lines for each. (43:06-49:43)Next, George Stoia of On3's Sooner Scoop joins to discuss Oklahoma as the Sooners prepare to face Texas in the Cotton Bowl on Saturday. (49:44-1:02:02)Later, Nick De La Torre of On3's Gators Online joins to discuss the disaster that was Florida's performance at Kentucky. (1:02:03-1:19:15)Tomorrow's Show is a #DearAndy Show, send in those questions. You can tweet your questions to @Andy_Staples or email your questions to [e-mail] - send in a video question and have your question on the show! (1:19:16-1:20:25)

Welcome to Annie Staples on 3. Happy Sunday night. We have a lot to digest from last weekend. We have a lot to talk about before next Saturday. We got to get you started getting you ready for these games. This is a blockbuster week of college football. And what happened on Saturday really sets up some of these matchups and makes them even more intriguing. I mean, I think I knew I would probably enjoy the LSU-Missouri game, but now I am really fascinated about how LSU is going to cover one Luther Bird. How's that going to happen?

Because they sure didn't cover anybody at Ole Miss, and they didn't cover anybody against Florida State. So this is going to be a fun one, lots of big games. Obviously, the Red River rivalry is huge. But Alabama at Texas A&M, another big game in the state of Texas. Notre Dame-Louisville looking very interesting. Ohio State at Maryland looking very interesting. So there will be a lot to talk about as we go forward this week.

We have guests from a bunch of these different schools. Kentucky at Georgia is going to be a fun one. But we've got a little news to start out with. Some coordinator moves around the country. Illinois has fired offensive coordinator Walt Bell, replacing him with former Northern Illinois head coach Rod Carey. Hoosiers are 2-3 and rank number 111 in the nation in yards per play. So they're trying to get something going.

Tom Allen trying to save his own job, although he's got a pretty big buyout, especially for Indiana. So we will see how that one goes forward, but that feels like I'm trying to salvage things here. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech, in the first year under coach Brent Key, demotes defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker, who was there with Jeff Collins, promotes Kevin Shearer to the primary play caller.

Georgia Tech is 2-3. Remember, they did beat Wake Forest, but on Saturday they lost 37-28 to Bowling Green. And Connor Bazelak, yes, Connor Bazelak, still in college and beat Georgia Tech on Saturday. So he is, I guess, the killer of defensive coordinators. So Kevin Shearer will take over the play calling there. Sad news out of Knoxville.

Brew McCoy, the wide receiver, suffered a dislocated and broken ankle and had to have surgery. He is out, obviously, for the rest of the season. That was a gruesome injury on Saturday night in the South Carolina game. And best wishes to Brew McCoy, who was just on this show a few weeks ago. It's very sad, and I hope his recovery goes well and he's better and ready to go to the NFL. So the big question, who's number one right now? Georgia's number one in both polls, but do we really feel like Georgia is number one? And

I see in the chat, Zachary says, I'm hoping Kentucky exposes Georgia. I think Georgia's overrated this year and only receiving this credit because of what they did the last two years. Ah, Zachary setting up the resume ranking that we're about to do very nicely. I appreciate that, Zachary. It's a great understanding of the show. Andrew says, yes, Georgia should be number one. This was Carson Beck's first away game. Andrew also says they were down 10-0 and came back to win in a rival stadium.

They kept their cool and did the job. So this is where the discussion goes with Georgia. And it's an interesting debate because should they be number one? Probably not based on who they've played or how they've played. And who they've played and how they've played is really how you should figure out how to rank teams. It's how we do this. But unfortunately, you get this mix of preseason hype and what you kind of did the last couple of years. And it is a little bit pervasive until there's enough evidence to really overcome it. And with Georgia, it's very interesting because

while going down 10-0 in a tough environment like Auburn and then coming back and winning is an impressive feat, Auburn's not that great. And I think the Georgia fans will tell you they don't think Georgia is as good as Georgia was the last two years. So probably shouldn't be getting any credit for what the teams the last two years did. And so what you saw when the polls came out today is Georgia losing a little bit of steam in terms of first place votes. So Georgia's down to 35 first place votes in the AP poll. Michigan has 12. Texas has 10. Ohio State has one and Florida State has four. So there is some variability there. I do wonder if Kentucky gives Georgia problems on Saturday and Texas blows the doors off of

Oklahoma, do you see Texas take all those votes? Michigan, it's going to be a while before we see them play somebody that probably has them jump Georgia without Georgia losing. If Georgia loses to Kentucky, all bets are off. It could be anybody at that point. Probably would be Texas if Texas beats Oklahoma. But it will be an interesting debate going forward. I don't think it's going to matter in terms of the college football playoff ultimately, because Georgia will play enough

decent competition. They'll play in the SEC championship game if they earn their way there. And it'll all shake itself out. But it's a weird thing to do right now. It's a tough bunch of teams to rank because there's not somebody just standing over there big footing everyone. Georgia last year was really easy to rank number one because they came out of the gate and smashed Oregon. Then Oregon started looking great. You're like, oh, they smashed a really good team right out of the blocks. Then they're playing some decent teams in the SEC. It made it very easy to figure out. It's not as easy now. So what we do every week here on this show on Sunday nights is the resume ranking. And that is a ranking of the teams that ignores

everything that happened before this season. So the only thing that happened or that matters is what happened this season. So if you won the national title last season, that's great. We're not talking about that. If you have had a great year this year, but you haven't played anybody yet, that's a problem too, because we don't know how good you are until you play somebody. That's where Michigan's running into trouble because Michigan has been awesome. The how you've played for Michigan is off the charts good. They've dominated everybody. They looked incredible against Nebraska on Saturday. But the who you've played for Michigan is not good.

And so we don't really know how to evaluate them. So I'm doing the top 10 resume rankings. You're not going to find Georgia or Michigan in these. So you can get mad if you'd like Georgia and Michigan fans, but I think probably you understand where I'm coming from on this, that you can kind of play your way in. Like for Michigan, even though the who you've played doesn't get much better until a little bit later in the season, the how you've played may get them in there anyway, because you keep doing this over and over and over again. That counts for something too. I think Washington is a team that we can talk about in that vein. And interestingly enough, Washington struggled-ish for the first time. They don't really struggle, but a one possession win in Arizona, it wasn't quite as close as seven points.

It was 31-24 win. It always felt like they were safe, but it was closer than what they've had in the past. They were not just blowing people out. So let us go to the resume rank. We will start at number 10. This is the only one I have with a loss in the top 10 in the resume rank, and that is Notre Dame. They needed a 95-yard drive to beat Duke, but that was a great win. They showed that they are very tough against Ohio State in a loss. I realize that

there's no such thing as a quality loss, but if you can take Ohio State to the last play, that's better than what most teams can do. Notre Dame plays Louisville this week. Louisville is undefeated. Now, their who you play does not get them on this list, but if they can win it, they might jump onto this list. Notre Dame needs to win this, needs to keep winning. Notre Dame still has a chance to make the college football playoff,

but they got to win out and they probably got to get a little help. Number nine, Kentucky. The who they've played prior to this weekend didn't tell you much. They play Florida, which had lost to Utah, had beaten Tennessee. And it wasn't just they beat Florida. It was the way they beat Florida. They dominated Florida on the ground. Ray Davis goes for 280 yards rushing.

It was a just manhandling of a team that had manhandled Tennessee a couple weeks earlier. So Kentucky at number nine. they go to Georgia this week. If they go win in Athens, they may be number one next week. So we'll see how this goes. But this is where Georgia's who you played gets better. And we'll see where Georgia lands. Like if they beat Kentucky, they're going to land on this list. It's a matter of where at that point.

Number eight, Miami. Now that A&M win, the Texas A&M win for Miami continues to look better and better because Texas A&M continues to play better and better. It's the only really good one Miami has. That's why they're not higher. But they do have a stretch coming up where they've got to play North Carolina and Clemson in consecutive weeks. And they also have to play Florida State down the road. So they're going to get tested. We'll,

we'll know where Miami sits after the, after that stretch of North Carolina and Clemson, and we can probably rank them a lot more accurately. Number seven, Washington state, the Cougars had the week off this week, but on Friday night, they got to watch the team. They just beat Oregon state beat previously undefeated Utah. And in a pretty dominant fashion, it was 21-7. Utah never really had a chance. Now, granted, Utah is not what it can be if Cam Rising gets healthy, if Brent Keithy gets healthy, but we don't know when that is. And the fact of the matter is they had beaten Florida and UCLA without those guys. So it's a pretty impressive fact that Oregon State beat those guys. Washington State beat Oregon State and beat Wisconsin, which is not lost again.

So got the Cougars there. Number six, Washington. The who you've played, we're not so sure about yet. But the how you've played has been awesome. Arizona tested them a little bit, but it is a conference road win, just like we talked about with Georgia and Auburn. So Washington continues to be very good.

And with Washington, we're gonna know because they play number five, Oregon, on October 14th. Oregon and Washington both have a week off before they meet in Seattle on October 14th. Oregon and Washington both have a week off before they meet in Seattle on October 14th. Oregon continues to dominate everybody too. They fell behind Stanford six to nothing. They beat Stanford 42 to six. So Oregon comes in at number five. Number four, Penn State. You know what you're saying? Who'd Penn State beat? Well, Iowa still hasn't lost again. And Penn State beat them 31 to nothing.

And that season opening win against West Virginia, we're like, oh yeah, you beat West Virginia, whatever, whatever, Neil Brown's getting fired. West Virginia's four and one. They're two and oh in the Big 12. They just won at TCU this past weekend. West Virginia might actually be good. So again, that's why we do this. The resume is the resume. And right now the teams that Penn State has beaten

have been okay. Is Iowa great? Not by any stretch of the imagination. Could Iowa still win the Big Ten West? Yep. Sure. Good. And Penn State beat them 31 to nothing. So that's the thing about this. Number three, Ohio State, one of the best wins of the season, going to Notre Dame and winning. We'll need to see more. We'll get more. Undefeated Maryland this weekend.

That's going to be a fun game. Remember 2018, Ohio State went down there and Maryland scared the hell out of them. Maryland probably should have won that game. There was a two-point conversion that Maryland didn't get that they should have gotten. And this could be fun. This will be a great test for Ohio State's defense because Talia Tungvalu has been fantastic. And we think Ohio State's defense is quite a bit better. We saw them limit Notre Dame, obviously,

to 14 points. Duke, pretty similar situation. They limited Notre Dame for most of that game. So how does Ohio State handle an offense that looks pretty explosive? If they can shut the Maryland offense down or at least slow it down, I think that is a very, very good sign for the Buckeyes. Huge opportunity for the Terrapins, though. Number two, Florida State. The LSU win. Does it lose a little luster because they lost to Ole Miss? Maybe. The Clemson win still looks good.

And look, I get Clemson also lost to Duke. I think we all agree that Duke is good. Duke would be just outside the edge of this list. So Florida State now in a position to make a run at the college football playoff. Miami, probably their toughest game left on their schedule, but they've got to play Duke also. But this has been a good run early for Florida State, and now they have a chance to figure some things out, get everything really right before they play Miami.

And if they do that, then the next toughest game probably is the ACC championship game, which could be against Miami again, could be against North Carolina, could be against Clemson still, but probably not. Could be against Louisville, for all we know. But they will play somebody very good there. Number one, Texas. Carolina could be against Clemson still, but probably not. Could be against Louisville for all we know. But they will play somebody very good there. Number one, Texas. I flip-flopped Texas and Florida State this week because that win against Alabama looks even better

now that Alabama seems to be figuring some stuff out. Once Alabama decided Jalen Monroe was QB1, they started looking better. Texas beat them with Jalen Monroe playing quarterback. Now, granted, I don't know if the offense was exactly the same as what Alabama is doing right now, but that win was very impressive. And then they handled business against Baylor. And then they handled business against Kansas. It was not the Kansas game we all wanted to see because we wanted to see Jalen Daniels get to play, but unfortunately his back tightened up before the game. That's all right. Texas dominated,

actually was a little bit sloppy and could have won by quite a bit more. They were dominating in terms of yardage. They did not finish off a lot of things early, but Texas can erase any doubts. They can eliminate any questions by going to Dallas this weekend and pounding Oklahoma. Or if Oklahoma beats Texas, the Sooners hop way up on this list because they've just been very quietly going about their business, but they feel like they've got a pretty good team. We're going to talk to George Stoya from Sooner Scoop later in the show about where the Sooners stand coming out of that Iowa State game, getting ready for Texas. Because we all remember the disaster for Oklahoma that was last year's Red River shootout. I don't think it's going to be like that this year. I think this one's going

to be a very competitive game. If Texas wins, they probably further cement their spot right here. But if they lose, I don't think it eliminates them either, because I think you're probably going to see each other again. So this is going to be a very fun week where this ranking could look considerably different next week. Considerably different because Alabama, Texas A&M could affect it. One of those two teams could win and plop themselves here. Georgia, Kentucky, we mentioned. Louisville and Notre Dame, Ohio State and Maryland, all of these games could affect this. So it looks weird, right? When you see that the top 10 and then you compare it to the AP poll and the coaches poll, I know it does. but by the end of the season, they're going to look

pretty similar. It's just a different way of going about it. I think it's a more honest way of going about it because we're just not using any preseason hype to prejudice our ranking. So we will try and see how that goes going forward. I imagine there'll be quite a few more fairly wild swings as we get going. But right now, I want to tell you about prize picks. My weekend on prize picks was a little rough. I had one entry. This is the easiest way to play daily fantasy. Most fun available in most states. You pick your squares, you pick more or less, and you watch the games and you have your action. For the second consecutive week, I did a five quarterback flex play where I'd like to root for people and not against people. So I had more than for all these guys

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He ended up with 84 yards. Luke Altmyer, the Illinois quarterback, did surpass the 21 and a half rush yards. And then Jace McClellan, again, Alabama kind of spread the wealth. I needed 78 and a half. He only had 63. So it's one of those things where a couple carries here and there can change how things go for you. But it was a lot of fun, gave me a lot to pay attention to and a lot to sweat out. So if you want to play PrizePix, how do you do it? You download the PrizePix app, use that referral code Andy,

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for that $100 deposit match. Now, let us talk a little more about those Georgia Bulldogs because that was a fun game in Auburn. For someone with no rooting interest, it was a lot to watch. It was a joy because you had Auburn taking a lead. You had a very good game plan

from Hugh Freeze and company. You had Georgia fighting back, figuring it out. You had Brock Bauer showing you why he was the best player on the field. So much going on. We had to break it all down with Jake Rowe from Dogs HQ. Here's Jake. We are joined now by Jake Grove Dogs HQ. Very exciting game in the loveliest village on the plains for Georgia. Not what Georgia had hoped for. I think they are tired of playing exciting games. They would like to play a boring game

like they got used to. But Jake, should we get used to this sort of game with this particular team? Well, first of all, thanks for having me. And you hit me up last night and I thought I was going to have to do this interview for my Buc-ee's. That would have been spectacular and you can always stop at Buc-ee's and do the interview

that would always be listen I wanted to there was a lot of traffic in that Buc-ee's last night after that Auburn game though um Andy I just I think this team you know I think this team just kind of I don't think it's complacency I I think it's youth combined with some injuries. And I just think they've had a hard time kind of finding continuity throughout this season, throughout the preseason. They're starting to get healthy, but they're starting to get healthy with guys who haven't done a whole lot. Whether it's they haven't done a whole lot in their career

or they haven't done a whole lot lately in terms of practice, in terms of getting integrated into this team. Now, with that said, I think, you know, that Kirby Smart, listen, there's a lot of things that, you know, it's almost like standing over a golf ball and you're not very good. You're trying to think about all these swing thoughts that you need to, I got to do this and I got to do that. Well, Kirby Smart has a lot of different things, right? It's, you know, the process, it's focus, it's intensity, it's passion, but there's a big part of it all is on Saturdays, you don't beat yourself. And Georgia is here lately, you know, a couple, two or three times

trying to find ways to make the mistakes that get them beat. And they made two massive ones on the road yesterday. And I would like to say they're fortunate to tell about it, but they didn't get a whole lot of – I don't feel like they got a whole lot of breaks in that game. So it's a weird team right now, Andy. And I have a lot of confidence in them finding a way to win ballgames. I have a lot of confidence in them not melting down or going away or, or, you know, you know, going down their leg or anything like that.

But I don't have any confidence in them just kind of grabbing a team up and saying, all right, this is what I want and I'm going to make you do it. Yeah. That's the interesting thing because they, they, they seem to be missing that, but yes, when they've gotten in trouble, they found a way out of it. And I thought with the Oscar Delp fumble, that was the moment where they could have crumbled. And if it hadn't happened,

we're probably not even talking about them being worried about losing. We're probably talking about them kind of cruising to a win. But they did find a way out of it. And so I think, can they use this for what I guess what I'm asking is can they build on this and then get some guys healthy get some seasoning on the guys that are inexperienced and then they've got that in their back pocket but then they can start dominating again or are they just going going to be a team that has to do this against pretty good teams? I mean, I think you've just kind of laid out, you know,

the two avenues or two of the three avenues. The other is just to drop a couple games and make this elementary. You know, I think those are the two avenues Georgia fans would pick if they could. Like Robert Frost and, you know, two in the woods. Two roads diverging in the wood. That's right. They would love to take the road that eventually forks into the two things

that you're talking about, which is what it's been thus far. I still think Georgia is talented enough to do that. The schedule is going to get tougher, though. I mean, all of a sudden this schedule that wasn't very good, and honestly I still don't know how great it is. Kentucky's going to be ranked. Missouri's going to be ranked. Ole Miss got a big win last night.

Florida is not, you know, God, that was a poor show yesterday. And that was – but Tennessee seems to be finding a little something after that loss to Florida. So, all of a sudden, the schedule looks looks with the way George is playing, it looks like, hey, if you run this table, that's going to be incredible. If you get out of it with less than two losses, that'll actually be pretty good the way you're playing. I still think George is really good though. And Carson Beck, I mean, there's not a whole lot you can say about a second half where he goes 16 to 20 uh for 238 while he's trailing most of it i mean he was trailing he completed one pass next time

he got it he was trailing um and then kind of played his best football of the year i i do wonder mike bobo as a play caller has he found his rhythm yet? Because it seems like this team, especially now that Ladd McConkie's back, you saw Rara Thomas get into the action with a couple catches that converted third downs. Brock Bowers obviously is amazing. It feels like this is a better throwing team than it is a running team. Yet the play calling seems to be more traditional. Let's run on first down. Let's set this up.

It feels like if they flip that, it might make them tougher to stop. I agree with that, Andy. I really do. And I think also on top of that, which is so weird to say, they're a little banged up on the offensive line with having to move some pieces around, and they're a better pass protection team than they are a run blocking team, at least on a consistent basis. But then if you look down and watch the flow of that game,

the first touchdown drive they put together was primarily run game. You look at the game-tying touchdown, it concluded a couple big plays in the pass. It also included a couple big plays in the run game. I think the consistency is really lacking for Georgia in the run game right now because they're having to rely on, you know, Dejan Edwards, who I think is a fine SEC back and a converted wide receiver. And I think if they can get healthy at running back to the point

that Kendall Milton is the Kendall Milton they got for the final six to five to six games last year, which listen, that's not a given. Kendall has battled injuries his entire career. Get Roderick Robinson back, get Andrew Paul up the speed. I think that's going to help the run game out a lot because, you know, I think Dajun is carrying a lot of the load. I mean, he's got 19 or more carries in two of his three starts this year,

two of his three games. So they're leaning on him a lot. It's not like he's balling heavy, as Herschel said. It's not like he's wearing out. But I think that will help out the offense a lot. But I do agree. I think this is a throw to set up the run type of team. And one thing I was really interested in in the the Auburn game is, is they didn't,

they didn't challenge the edges with the passing game. Everything, I wouldn't say it was all downfield, but it was all over the line of scrimmage, not a whole lot of screen game. Yeah. And then you've got Brock Bowers who, you know, it's interesting because George's best player, it always seems like is somebody who's maybe his impact doesn't show up in the stats because jalen carter last year you know it was probably somebody on the defensive line the year before but this is brock bowers best player on this team i don't know that he's going to get a lot of heisman traction because his numbers won't be anywhere near what what these quarterbacks are what what some of these receivers are.

But they don't win that game without Brock Bowers. No. No, I don't think they win it without Brock Bowers primarily. I mean, it's almost like Brock Bowers won, come down a few rungs to get to two, and then maybe you say Carson Beck, Ladd, McConkie. I mean, I don't know. I think you probably could Carson Beck up there a little further with some of the things that he did with under pressure,

a guy bearing down on him, completing a third down pass, running for seven yards to cut the chains in half on second down. I do think he did a lot. Don't get me wrong. Ladd-McConkie had some big catches. But, I mean, the impact of Brock Bauer is the one-handed catch on third down. The turning that square in into a touchdown, you know, to make sure that Georgia didn't, you know,

kick three and really put Auburn in a situation where it had to drive the entire field. I mean, with the way Auburn was throwing the football, that seemed like that, you know, that pretty much ended that ball game. I mean, that's the feeling I got. He's just special, man. And then when you turn around and you look at, okay, Dajun Edwards takes a little counter play off left tackle for 14 yards,

and you look and it's because Brock Bowers is just taking a defensive end and put him on his back. I mean, you talked about doing stuff that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. He kind of is that rare unicorn that does both. He does a lot that doesn't show up and a lot that does. Yeah, it's going to be fascinating to see how people treat him in terms of the Heisman Trophy race because I do think he's one of the most important players to his team in the country.

I just don't know that people are going to recognize that because the numbers for a tight end are not going to look like the numbers for a Devontae Smith-type wide receiver, which is what it takes to win the Heisman you're not a quarterback Jake Kentucky comes in this week Kentucky coming off a huge win against Florida you just saw Ray Davis go for 280 yards against the Gators this is a team that feels like they they want to be what Georgia is from a physicality standpoint. But I almost wonder if that hurts Kentucky against Georgia because it's something Georgia's used to seeing every day. Yeah, I mean, I think if you're Kentucky,

the matchup is always difficult with Georgia. It just is. I mean, because while I think Georgia's more gettable this year than they have been last two, I don't think there's any doubt about that, you're put together exactly like a team that is put together probably a little bit more talented than you are. Just a little bigger, just a little faster.

You've got to play them on the road. I think another thing that really hurts Kentucky this week is that Auburn game we just saw. I think that hurts Kentucky a little bit too. Because, listen, Auburn's not very saw, you know, and I think that hurts Kentucky a little bit too, because listen, Auburn's not very good. I think Georgia got their best shot. I thought they had a great game plan. I thought they had an electric environment. There are,

there are absolutely apparitions and ghosts and spirits inside of Jordan, Jordan hair stadium. No doubt about it. All right. They're there. I hadn't seen them, but I know they're there uh uh you know I mean the guys in the press box were talking about is Auburn Jesus real yesterday I mean you know there are days at Jordan hair and I've been there at 2017 regular season Georgia game is one of them 2017 Iron Bowls another one there are days where you you could bring the 1985 Bears in there and they would lose because you just can't win. They would lose or they would just be so happy to get out of town. Exactly.

But that's why with Georgia yesterday, I think getting out of that helps. I mean, that's sort of like Alabama 2021, the team that beat Georgia in the SEC championship game, barely got out of Jordan hair. Barely. With the Heisman Trophy winner. It took everything the Heisman Trophy winner championship game barely got out of Jordan hair barely with the Heisman Trophy winner it took everything the Heisman Trophy winner had to get him out of there and back to my point though is you know I've got this theory that anytime a team loses before they

play you and then they get you at home it can it can be very difficult and and this really started to kick up 2016 Georgia-Tennessee because they had just gotten pantsed at Ole Miss, and they had no business as a football team hanging with that Tennessee team talent-wise. I mean, Josh Dobbs, you know, Hertz, you got, you know, Jawan – I can't remember his last name. Zennings.

Either way. Yeah, he had the Hail Mary catch, you know. Yep. And Georgia kind of dominated that football game. You know, Derek Barnett, all of those fantastic players. Georgia kind of dominated that football game. I thought they, you know, I think Georgia came in as like a 10-point home dog

and probably should have won that game. Break up a Hail Mary, you win a game. That was that exact scenario. Auburn had that exact scenario. Auburn had that exact scenario. Georgia's got that exact scenario. Now, does it always play out that way? I don't know, but there's something about like, you know, not the exact scenario for Georgia, but, you know, because they actually won. But I think there's a very, you know, the difficult, the try to, the things they did to beat themselves, the struggles, um, that made that, you know, very tough. I will say this though,

I got to give kudos to Georgia and Auburn for a four penalties for 45 yards in that game. Um, that made it kind of easy to watch. Yeah. It, it's interesting because Auburn's not a pretty offense to watch by any stretch, but I did think Hugh freeze had a nice game plan for Georgia. And that's one of those kind of warning flares to the rest of the SEC. Like, when this guy gets the players he actually wants, you could be in trouble.

Yeah, and he found a way to use the good parts of the really good players that he's got. I mean, I think that Peyton Thorne's speed surprised Georgia a little bit. I thought it was interesting after the game because it looked this way in real time, and sometimes it's kind of one of those things that makes you, you know, kind of make a little bit of an inner smile. I remember looking over,

and I told one of the guys next to me in the press box, I said, I think Kentucky watched the UAB tape because they were doing some of the same pin and pull action type stuff that was giving Georgia a lot of problems in that game. And Auburn just looked like they'd been running it forever. And that's how they used it. But the quarterback run is really what killed Georgia. Yesterday, I think they allowed, I want to say, of the 200 or so yards,

they allowed like 120-something, whether it was to the quarterback, and 27 carries for 94 yards for the running back. So I think those are all things that kind of you look at this come and match up with Kentucky, kind of give you some – I don't know if it's confidence, but some reasons to believe that Georgia can play better run defense. I mean, another reason to believe that is they just always do play better run defense than that.

But kudos to Hugh Freeze for that. Kudos to Auburn for their very best shot. And kudos to Georgia for overcoming a couple of catastrophic mistakes. You don't do that on the road very often. A lot of times you end up getting laughed at the next morning when you play a bad team and turn it over twice in their territory and give up two touchdowns. You end up being kind of the laughingstock of somebody who lost to a bad team on the road. Yeah, and that's what these games turn into one of two things. If Georgia goes on, wins a bunch of games, plays for the national title,

this is just a bump in the road where they learned a lot. If they end up losing a couple, it was a warning sign. So we're going to find out which one it is, but I don't think Devin Leary is the one that's going to run all over them. They've got to get the backs now, figure out how to get them down on the on the ground against kentucky and that's going to be a fun game big saturday coming up in athens cannot wait thank you jake rowe you got it man it's a big saturday in a lot of places a lot of places, a lot of places, including in Dallas. Red River shootout, Red River ride, what are we calling it? We can call it a shootout again, right?

We can understand that means they score lots of points, right? That's all it is. So we're going to call it a shootout. That'll be fine. But it'll be a very big prove-it game for Texas, but also for Oklahoma. And it will probably have a bearing on who plays for the national championship. Now, that might not decide anything in the Big 12, because we might see these two teams play again in Jerry World,

but we'll see. One of them might get knocked out. So before we get to these games this week and the opening lines for these games, let's talk about my projected college football playoff, projected New Year's Six. They just released it on Twitter. There's a lot of, ha-ha, this list is trash.

I get it. I get it. I'm picking Penn State to win the Big Ten, just as I have all season. So when you see Penn State in the playoff and you don't see Ohio State and Michigan in there, I get it. You think I'm stupid, and I may be, but it's the one I have playing against Penn State that if you asked me two weeks ago, would I have this team in here? No, I wouldn't have. So in the Sugar Bowl, I've got number one Penn State versus number four Alabama. That's right. I'm saying Alabama runs the table,

wins the SEC, goes to the playoffs. I can't believe I'm even saying that. I can't believe two weeks after the USF game that I'm saying that. But Alabama seems to have rounded into form very quickly. And after I saw what I saw with Georgia and Auburn, I thought, you know what? I don't know if Alabama can beat Texas A&M this weekend, but I also don't know if Georgia can beat Alabama. So I don't know where this goes. So I put Alabama in there because right now,

the way they're playing, it feels like they can beat anybody. But again, they may go to College Station this weekend and lose. So we'll see. But Alabama feels like they've figured some stuff out. So I went with them. Penn State, you could probably consider that a placeholder for whoever comes out of the Big Ten. Whoever wins the Big Ten, be that Penn State, Ohio State, or Michigan. Remember, Michigan's got to go to State College this year. If Penn State had to go to Ann Arbor, I would have Michigan in this spot already. Because Penn State doesn't win in Ann Arbor. But they have a chance in State College. And they always play Ohio State

tough. So we'll see. I think Drew Aller makes the difference. Perhaps I'm proven wrong. They play Ohio State not too far from now. We'll have a much better idea by that point, but I'm sticking with the Nittany Lions for now. In the Rose Bowl, I have number two Texas against number three Florida State. So what that means is I think Texas is going to win this thing on Saturday. And it means that I think Texas is going to win out. This is distinctly possible. Texas could also lose this Saturday. And if they went out from there, get their revenge against Oklahoma at Jerry World,

I think they'd probably still wind up in the playoff. But I know what you're thinking. This shuts the Pac-12 out. This is me predicting that they cannibalize each other. Again, we got to wait and see with Oregon and Washington in a couple of weeks, who really is the cream of this thing? USC, I think we saw that they are what they were last year. I don't trust USC to get there because I don't trust USC's defense. I trust Caleb Williams completely, but I don't trust USC's defense. So really we're looking at Oregon and Washington

as the potential national title contenders coming out of the Big 12, which they could be. I think if you can get through this Pac 12 at 12 and one, you're in the playoff. Even with other stuff that, you know, whoever else might, might get out of their leagues. I think 12 and one in this pack 12 gets you in. The question is, can you get there? Because like I mentioned Utah before, what if Cam Rising comes back and they're a completely different team and they're knocking off these contenders? They've lost once. They could run the table and do it. But maybe UCLA to beat somebody.

Maybe Oregon State beat somebody. Maybe Washington State beat somebody. That's the problem. It is a gauntlet right now in the Pac-12. It hasn't been like that in years. So if you can get through it, you absolutely deserve to be in the playoff. I'm just not sure anybody's going to be able to do it. Peach Bowl, I've got Georgia against Michigan.

Again, this is just a prediction of Alabama beating Georgia in the SEC championship game. It could be the opposite. Georgia could be in the playoff. Bama could be in this spot. And Michigan, they're going to put a good big 10 team there. Good TV matchup, orange bowl, North Carolina versus Ohio state. Remember the orange bowl has to take an ACC team. I last week, I don't think I explained that very well in the column and people are like, why is North Carolina there? And this team's not in the city. They have to take an ACC team. If Florida state makes the playoff, they're going to take

another ACC team. So that, that takes aoff, they're going to take another ACC team. So that takes a spot away from somebody else. Cotton Bowl, Oregon versus Notre Dame. Notre Dame does not have to win out to get to this. They can lose one more game. So they've got Louisville this weekend undefeated. They got USC. They got Clemson.

They could lose one of those. If they're 10-2, they'll be in one of these games. Trust me. They want the Irish on your television. Fiesta Bowl, Fresno State against Washington. Fresno State's got an interesting win this weekend. They right now look like the best group of five team, but to stay in that spot, they got to keep on winning. They have to go to Laramie, Wyoming. Wyoming is a ton of fun to watch this season. I don't know if you've watched them. Did you see them against

Texas Tech? Did you see them when they were tied 10-10 against Texas in the fourth quarter? Wyoming's a fun team. So you're going to serious altitude and you're going to play the Cowboys. So I cannot wait to see that game on Saturday. That one could go a long way toward helping determine who plays in that spot for the group of five in New Year's Six. So will those things turn out? I don't know. We got a lot of football left to be played. This weekend, we have a lot of games that will help us figure these things out. And the lines, well, they're already out. Our friends at FanDuel have put out a bunch of early lines.

We've even got a couple way early lines on games down the road. We'll start with Red River. Texas opens as a five and a half point favorite against Oklahoma. This feels about right. This actually respects Oklahoma quite a bit. I think people feel like Oklahoma has been flying under the radar a little bit. I think Oklahoma has been better on defense. Offensively, we don't know yet.

They've routed some teams that haven't been very good. When they played Cincinnati, they only scored 20, but they held them to six. So it feels like a very different Oklahoma team than the one that played against Texas in the Cotton Bowl last year. Ohio State and Maryland, that opened 19 and a half, down already to 18 and a half. That's some respect for the Terps who they can explode on offense. And this will be a great test for Ohio State's defense. And again, remember a few years ago, there was a weird, weird, weird game at Maryland. And Ohio State barely escaped.

So we'll see what Mike Loxley's team can do. But this could be fun. Ohio State's defense against Tali Tonga-Vailoa. We got Kentucky going down to Georgia. This game opened with Georgia as a 16.5 point favorite. Georgia is already a 14.5 point favorite. So a lot of respect for Kentucky from the gambling public. And this is one where it also could just be a lower scoring game these two teams similar styles they're both going to try to pound each other the the thing I think is the difference is that Devin Leary I don't know that he can throw Kentucky to a win here it's you saw him

against Florida now he there were a lot of drops but he does not seem as dynamic as Carson Beck does. So I could be wrong, but both of them should be able to run the ball a little bit. But Carson Beck, we've seen when he gets going now, sometimes it takes a bit to get going, but when he gets going with all those weapons he has, they can light it up through the sky. So I think that's the difference in that game. Alabama opened as a four-point favorite headed to Texas A&M. That is now down to three and a half. Texas A&M is playing really well right now. It has been really fascinating to watch how they've evolved since the Miami game. And the more I watch them, the more I think, maybe it's just that Miami was pretty good.

It may not be that Texas A&M has issues protecting or issues tackling. It may be that Miami's offense is good and Texas A&M struggled with it, but against other people, they're fine. Now, Alabama can be explosive. They're going to probably run the ball pretty well. But remember, Jalen Milrow throws a great deep ball.

So if they can protect Jalen Milrow, give him time, there's a chance he can hit a few on Texas A&M, and this becomes a very different game. But Max Johnson looked very good against Arkansas. He's getting more comfortable as a starting quarterback. Connor Wigman's out for the year, so it's going to be Max Johnson the rest of the way. That game could be huge.

Colorado opened as a six-point favorite at Arizona State. That's now down to five and a half. So this is the part where we probably stop paying as much attention to Deion Sanders and company because they're not playing either a new game. You know, that's, it's not a new thing to us anymore. We've seen them play.

So like when they played TCU and they played Nebraska, everything was new and shiny. They're not playing a powerhouse. Like when they played Oregon and USC, they're just playing a team that realistically based on what we've seen, they should be able to beat. And you know what? If Colorado can go beat Arizona State on the road and get another conference win and have a fourth win

and be two wins away from bowl eligibility, well, guess what? That's a pretty damn good coaching job by Deion Sanders and company. And it will be fascinating to watch as they get closer to that mark because if they can make a bowl game, and company. And it will be fascinating to watch as they get closer to that mark. Cause, cause if they can make a bowl game, that's a sign that says, look out next year, because they're going to get better players. The roster will be even better. And in the big 12, they're probably going to be pretty competitive. One more Notre Dame seven point favorite going to Louisville. We haven't paid much attention to the Cardinals probably.

I said in the offseason, I think Jeff Brom's going to get it going at Louisville. I didn't know if it would be this year or not, but everybody who knows the ACC said, hey, the schedule is very favorable for Louisville. So don't be surprised if they're in the mix longer than you think they will be. And so far, 5-0. They went to NC State and won on Friday night. This is a big one for them. And Notre Dame is coming off two absolute meat grinder games against Ohio State and against Duke. So this is Louisville's chance to really make an impression.

And Notre Dame, again, third consecutive night game. They've been pounded by their last two opponents physically. I think Louisville has a shot to keep this one close and make this one very interesting. One more game that FanDuel has thrown out there for us, and this is off in the distance a little bit, an early Penn State-Ohio State line. So this game's in Columbus. Ohio State is six and a half point favorite. That game's on October 21st. We don't yet know what time it's going to be, but it is going to be a classic matchup.

Two teams that both feel like they deserve to win the conference title. Two teams that both feel like they deserve to make the playoff. Michigan's still out there for both of them. Six and a half point favorite for Ohio State. Does that feel high? Does that feel low? How do we feel about that? I feel like it's a little high right now. Obviously,

I'm the one who's predicting Penn State to win the Big Ten, but if I'm thinking just objectively here, I didn't pick them. If I have no idea who's going to win, it feels a little high, a little high. When we come back though, let's get back to the Red River game. Oklahoma disposed of Iowa State. Very different feelings right now going into this game compared to this time last year. Can Brent Venables and the bunch pull off the shocker in Dallas? We'll be right back with George Stoya of Soonerscoot. Now by George Stoya from the road. We are, we're going, what concert are we going to, George? I'm going with my girlfriend to the Laney concert. I honestly hope she doesn't listen to this.

I could not name a single song by this band. So I got roped into this, but it's going to be, I think it'll be a good time. Well, I appreciate, you know, being a good boyfriend. You do these things because listen, you're gonna have to work a lot this week because Oklahoma is playing Texas. So your, your time for socializing is very limited. And let's talk about this right now, because I am curious the vibe after the win against Iowa State how different was that than the vibe after that loss to TCU last year where they they lose Dylan Gabriel and you know oh no you're gonna have to go into the Texas game without Dylan Gabriel now it feels like they

are going in completely firing on all cylinders yeah it's it's night and day, Andy. I mean, again, last year, things were starting to crumble for Oklahoma, and there was little hope going into that Texas game that they had any chance, and obviously they didn't. I mean, that game was not even competitive a year ago, and you were starting to see everything just kind of fall apart for OU. This year, they're playing their best football, and again, I know they're 5-0, and they haven't really played anybody. You could argue their best win is at Cincinnati, who knows how good Cincinnati really is. But they're winning these games, and they're winning them in dominant fashion,

5-0 against the spread. They beat Iowa State by 30 last night. They've just been taking care of business, Andy. And the narrative with Oklahoma all offseason was their schedule lines up to where they should be 5-0 heading to Texas and feeling good about themselves. And I think there was a large part of people here that thought, oh, well, they'll just skate by. They'll have a close game. They haven't really had that. They've just taken care of business. Dylan Gabriel's playing great football. He talked last night about his confidence has never been higher.

I mean, he was talking trash to Iowa State players, running guys over in the end zone. I was like, where did this guy come from? So he's playing confident. The defense, they're forcing turnovers. They're making plays. They're making adjustments in game. We saw that against Iowa State last night.

So I think it's all of those things. Oklahoma feels really good about themselves and they are flying under the radar a little bit coming into this one. I think the narrative is going to be about Texas, but I think Oklahoma feels like they can go in and win this football game. So we've talked about Dylan Gabriel before and his history and kind of why they were a little bit limited in what they could do with him last year but how much does knowing Jackson Arnold is there allow them to do some of the things like they did against Iowa State where they don't seem to mind if he takes off running and he can run people I mean this is a guy who was committed to army at one point for goodness

sake so he was going to be a running quarterback and now it feels like they've kind of opened his toolbox entirely 100 that that's what Jeff Levy, the offensive coordinator has done. And it's one of those things that they're letting him play free. And I think even Dylan knows because last year he knew the situation at backup quarterback. He knew if he went down, Oklahoma was going to be in a really tough spot. And you really saw that after he went down, after he got hurt and he came back a couple of weeks later, they stopped running him. I mean, it was, it was basically get the ball out quick. Don't let Dylan get hit. Whereas this year they're doing a lot of RPO stuff. He's making the right reads. You saw that a lot against Iowa state. I think he ran the ball eight times

for 37 yards, two touchdowns, first time in his career, he's rushed for two touchdowns in a game. So I think it's freed him up. It's freed up the offense and for a team that's really kind of struggled to run the ball this year with heat, when he can use his legs, it opens up more things in that run game. And I think team defenses are having to account for it. So I think it's, it's, you know, having Jackson Arnold not only pushes Dylan, because Jackson is going to be a great quarterback, but it also allows Dylan to be like, okay, you know, if I do get a stinger or I do get beaten up, like I know there's somebody behind me that can pick up the pieces. And it's the same for Jeff Levy, right? Like he knows, Hey, I know that there's a talented kid right behind him that we can trust to come in and do

what he needs to do. I was watching some of the interviews with the players from, from the Iowa state game, and they seemed very happy to turn the page to Texas and start talking about it. How long have they been thinking about what Texas did to them last year? Because obviously that is, it's a very embarrassing situation and probably something nobody ever imagined when they came to Oklahoma. Yeah, look, they'll tell you they didn't think about it much, but they're lying. I know last night Danny Stutzman was asked, you know, how long has your mind been on Texas? And he said just about 46 minutes ago. And it was, you know, 46 minutes after the game ended. I'm like, that's just not, that's just not true, right? I mean, they know those guys that were on that team last year that walked off that Cotton Bowl field, you know, losing 49 to zero. They've been thinking

about this for a long time. I think it was Jaden Gibson, you know, that said the freshman wide redshirt, freshman wide receiver that was on the team a year ago said, Hey, I'm not going to talk about it just yet. You know, I've been trying to keep it out of my mind for the last few weeks. So that tells you that they have been thinking about it. And even Dylan Gabriel talked about it, you know, him being on the sideline last year, not being able to play said it really hurt him. and that this is something that he's dreamt about playing in this game and coming back this year to be in this game. And so this is something that they've been thinking about for a long time. They haven't talked about it. You know, it's funny, you listen to Brent Venables and his players sound exactly like him. I mean, even he was asked about it last night, you know,

hey, everybody's said about you guys, nothing matters until the Texas game. And he goes, well, that's not true. You know, we think week to week. It's a nameless, faceless opponent is what he always says. But there is something different this week, Andy. Anybody that's played in this game, been to the game, covered the game, knows it's different. It's always circled every single year. And especially for this Oklahoma team,

you know, this is a game that I think that they feel like they want to go out and make a statement and maybe that's winning the game. I think it's also just being competitive compared to what it was last year. I'm sure the players won't say that they want to go in, but I think for a lot of OU fans, it's more so, hey, put some points on the board this year at least and also be in the game at the end. Well, and the other piece of it, and this is weird because it's now changing and going away as they go to the SEC, but this could also be the first of two rounds of this game. They'll just move to a different DFW stadium the next time.

Yeah. So I know you can't look at it that way if you're on one of the teams, but I imagine that's in the back of your mind if you're the coaches, if you're Steve Sarkeesian and Brent Venables, that it's not over if you don't win this one. Definitely. And that's why it was important to start 5-0 for Oklahoma because even if they go lose or even if Texas goes and loses this game, you look at the rest of their schedules and you look at Oklahoma, maybe West Virginia is a tougher game than what they originally thought.

But then, you know, you've got UCF, Oklahoma State doesn't look very good, BYU and TCU. You could slip up along the way there, but they're going to be favored in all those games. There's no reason that if they lose to Texas, they can't still be in the Big 12 title game and playing for a chance to still get in the playoff

with one loss. So I think that there's still everything in front of them. I think it's more so they will just want to prove that they're real, that they're legit, that they have made these improvements that they've been talking about for nine months ever since the season ended saying, hey, we went out and got these great players in the portal. We went out and recruited a top 10 class. You know, we went out and we worked in the offseason in the weight room and fixed some of the defensive and offensive issues that we've had. I think that that's what this game is about is, hey, you know, we want to make a statement. I'm sure Texas feels the same way that, hey, we are a real national title contender.

This wasn't just a fluke beating Alabama, an Alabama team that who knows how good they actually are. So I think that's how both teams are looking at it. But yeah, I mean, I think either way this game goes, as long as you don't get blown out, right? If they get blown out, then, you know, the world is falling. But I think that it's one of those situations, they go out and they play a good game. And maybe you come up short in what is always a crazy game, you still feel good about yourself and the rest of your season. So Oklahoma's defense is much better this year than it was last year. You see far fewer busted assignments.

You see guys where they need to be. But how much of it is them learning the defense and how much of that is them upgrading the talent on the defense? I think it's a combination of both. I mean, clearly they've gotten a lot more talented. And again, I don't want to pick on certain players, but when you go from Jeffrey Johnson and Justin Broyles to, you know, a DJ Terry and Peyton Bowen, you know, you're talking about five-star guys,

you know, replacing guys that were just okay players. You're going to make more plays. And we've seen that through five games. They're getting more turnovers. They're getting more stops. I think they are in the top 10 and third down defense, which has been really impressive. And then you add that on top of the guys that came back and are feeling more comfortable. I mean, you look at a Danny Stutzman who's in the Butkus conversation. I think he's, you know, top five in tackles among Butkus award watch list members. You know, I think he's number two in tackles for loss.

Like he's playing great. Last year, he didn't even know where to line up half the time. So you add that on top of guys that are just more talented than what they had a year ago, whether it's freshmen or transfer portal guys, that's just going to cultivate success. And I think there's also just a belief. And I think there was sometimes last year that

guys, and they're no longer in the program, didn't really believe in what Oklahoma was doing. I mean, they had to process some of those guys and a lot of those guys ended up transferring to lower tier schools and it didn't work out at Oklahoma. So I think that that's what it is, is there's a belief in what they're trying to do on top of they are getting a lot of really good talented players in the program again whether it's through their you know recruiting ranks or uh through the transfer portal i mean again rondell bothroyd a guy that's come in and he's not going to show up in the box score but uh he's setting the edge and that's something oklahoma just could not do in the run game a year ago uh trace ford from ok from Oklahoma State's making a lot of plays. Safety

Reggie Pearson from Texas Tech is making a lot of plays. So again, I'm repeating myself, Andy, but yes, it's a combination of both those things. Well, so what does this mean for Brent Venables? How big is this game for him? Because it felt like after the Texas game last year, I know I had a lot of questions about just the administration of the program. How do you not have a backup quarterback ready? All of those things. It feels like a year later, if they come in and either are very competitive against Texas and a,

and a close one, or they beat Texas that you're like, Oh, okay, nevermind. He got that fixed quick. It's huge. I mean,

I think the fan base and the players are bought in either way. I mean, you don't want to get blown out in this game and I don't think they will. I think they're going to be very competitive in the game, but if you go and win all of a sudden, you're feeling really good about Brent Venables in the direction of this thing. And I think most people would already say they do. And we've seen steps this season. Again, they haven't beaten anybody great, but they're beating teams that a year ago. I'm not sure they beat. And so they And so they've already taken one step in the right direction this year. If they go and lose to Texas, it's not the end of the world. I still think this thing is a process. It's going to take time to get to where they want to. But if they go and beat Texas, maybe all of a sudden you're

fast forwarding this thing. Maybe all of a sudden you are competing to go to the college football playoffs. Something that I don't think a lot of people in the media or the fans even thought was possible this season. I think the expectation was 10 and two, maybe make the big 12 title game. And maybe somehow you win that game, right? And you go play in the sugar bowl. Like that was the ceiling. I think a lot of people thought for this group. So if Brent can go in and beat Texas, which I think this is probably the best Texas team in the last decade, if you can go and beat this Texas team in that environment, it only, you know, again, fast forwards what this process is. Yeah, that would be a paradigm shift for sure. George, go be a good boyfriend. You got a lot to work, a lot of work to do this week. Appreciate it. Awesome. Thanks for having me, Andy.

George, story of the third from on three sooner scoop and we go from a program that is very happy to one where there are a lot of questions it's nick delatore from gators online we bring him on to i i think he i feel like he can talk to the florida fan base the best because i know i got a lot of questions after that Kentucky game on Saturday. People say, what's going to happen? What do you do about Billy Napier? What can you do? And I think the answer is you probably can't fire Billy Napier because he's got a massive buyout.

So you probably need to be patient. But what happens next is a great question. Is there going to be a staff overhaul? Is there going to be any kind of material change to help fix some of the issues that keep popping up? We'll find out. But Nick told you this would happen. I'm just reminding everyone, Nick told you this would happen. So here is the great prognosticator Nick del Tori from Gators online joined out by Nick del Tori of Gators online and we are going to give Nick his flowers right now because on this show months ago months ago he predicted that Florida would beat Tennessee

and then lose to Kentucky and that the psychological damage from that would be maybe even worse than if they'd lost to Tennessee and man I just never seen and and we said this would happen I remember standing with Zach Albaverde who you work with the Gators online in the swamp after the Tennessee game saying well well, if they lose to Kentucky, this is all gone. And it is all gone. Yeah, I think it started to go away two weeks ago against Charlotte. But to me, it's just Billy Napier wants to be what Mark Stoops has built to Kentucky. He wants to be physical.

He wants to be a bully. But Mark Stoops has been building it and recruiting to that identity for 11 years. So I don't know why in year two you go to Mark Stoops house and try to out Kentucky, Kentucky. Will Florida get to that point at some point? Yeah, I think they can. They're recruiting great. They can get to that if they want to. Do Florida fans want to be a different version of Kentucky? Probably not, but you're not there yet. And that's the Kentucky game that I envisioned.

Florida was just not going to be able to be physical enough. Now, I didn't envision Ray Davis running for more yards than anyone almost ever in the history of football against Florida. But that's kind of how I saw the game going all along. And credit to Mark Stoops, that Kentucky team was better than I guess we thought. We didn't know who they were because of who they had played, but now they've played Florida. Well, here's my question. Is there a fundamental flaw in aspiring to beat Kentucky

when Kentucky's not what you should aspiring to be Kentucky when Kentucky is not what you should aspire to be in the sec? Kentucky is about to go play the team that Kentucky aspires to be. And what's interesting is Georgia is probably a worse match or like, or Kentucky is probably a better matchup for Georgia than Auburn was yesterday, even though Auburn is a worse team. And so that's the part I struggle with is, I don't know that being Kentucky helps you either, because that doesn't get you where

you want to be ultimately. Yeah. I mean, Billy Napier came in and he said, if you know me, you'll know that this one hurts and it hurts because they got beat playing a brand of football or by a brand of football that he wants to have. And I think when Steve Spurrier was sitting in press conferences complimenting Kentucky's punter after winning by 45, it's not because they out-Kentuckied Kentucky. It's because they used their speed on the outside. They used their speed at linebacker on the defensive line. Florida is a

fertile recruiting ground for skilled position players. And the coaches that have had success at Florida have had fast teams that lean on that. So I don't know that being the next Kentucky and listen, like LSU plays that brand of football as well. Defensively, Georgia plays that brand of football defensively. so i don't know that billy naper wants to be a three yards in the cloud dust team but when he looked across the field at mark stoops and that football team he thought man that'd be nice to have to have a team that played like that yeah and and the question is at what point can billy napier have a team like that and can they keep the recruiting class together long enough to do that because that that's really the big question is you look at the recruiting that Florida's done

the players that Napier's brought in do seem to be some of their best players right now so more time would suggest that you're going to get more of those but how good do you have to be this season how how much more do you have to win this season to ensure that class of 2024 that's committed now signs on the dotted line? Yeah, I think Florida, listen, before the year I said seven and five, that's still certainly on the table. The key to me, the linchpin of it all is DJ Lagway. He's the kind of player, if you watch Swamp Kings and people are like, I wanted to play with Tim Tebow. People want to play is DJ Lagway. He's the kind of player, if you watch Swamp Kings and people are

like, I wanted to play with Tim Tebow. People want to play with DJ Lagway. And I think he's all Gators. So you might lose a player here or there, but the two that I think are really important are Xavier Fils-Aimé, who's a safety, the number one player in the class right now, according to our rankings from Texas and DJ Lagway. You've kind of got your best offensive and best defensive player right now. Those guys are both bought in and they're guys that other people want to play with. Now, listen to Andy, if the bottom falls out of this thing and Florida doesn't win a game the rest of the year, we might be having a different discussion,

but I think Florida will be a six and six or a seven and five team. And you'll keep most of this class together. I think that's the problem is people are trying to count out the games from here on out and figure out where seven comes from. Obviously Vanderbilt becomes more critical than usual, but they lost to Vanderbilt last year. Like there's no sneaking up, especially given the situation now. How critical is this game with Vandy coming up? Yeah. Zach on a rapid reaction yesterday called it a must win. I called it a must not lose. I don't know if I'll call Vanderbilt must win games, but that's certainly a must not lose. And

if you start counting that out, you have to, if you want to get to seven wins, you have to count Vanderbilt in that. You probably have to count at South Carolina, but the way Florida's looked on the road under Billy Napier, I don't know if you can. This will be a team. It'll be interesting to see what the crowd looks like. It's homecoming. There's a lot of stuff going on. I think people were excited. The swamp has been great. It was fantastic for the Tennessee game. We'll see what the crowd looks like because the internet crowd certainly says they're never going to another game until Billy's gone. But we'll see what the crowd looks like for Vanderbilt. Yeah, I think it'll more depend on the weather than anything else.

The people who say they're never coming to another game tend to come to more games. Fresh hell in the special teams department they've got a you know they get a stop Kentucky's punting they try to jump the shield that's something you can't do again something that is tied back to coaching and special teams coaching the detail-oriented part of billy napier's staff where they say you have a you know have all these people and we we you know chart every little thing and we we handle every little detail they are so sloppy on special teams what can they do about this now i mean they don't have a an on-field special teams coordinator. Their special teams coordinator is an analyst.

How do you fix this in season? They had 11 guys on the field. That's true. Now they had defense later. Well, it didn't matter. That's pretty demoralizing. Not the game changer coordinator's fault. Yeah.

No, that was not his fault. And I jokingly noted, oh, that Florida has 11 on the field. Immediately is the leaping penalty followed by a 75-yard touchdown by Ray Davis. So I don't know what Florida can do. They sell mats at Dick's Sporting Goods that have little circles and you just put people on them. Kentucky had one on the field yesterday, which I got a joke out of.

Billy's not wrong when he says we've taken steps forward. Trace Mack's been great. He had one hit a ball that kicked off and went out of bounds yesterday, which is not great. For the most part, he's kicking touchbacks. Jeremy Grosha had a good game.

Picking the place kicker that doesn't get every kick blocked seems like a fairly easy thing to do. I think I could have done that. The fact that you didn't pick him first – Questionable. But it's all these little things that keep propping up. They need to play one clean game on special teams and maybe we'll get off their back for a little bit but this right it this is the problem when

you sell that you are the most detail-oriented staff in america and you put out one of the sloppiest products it doesn't match yeah i just i don't know that billy will make a move uh uh you know in season but then you look at it and you're like, okay, well, how do you get a dedicated on-field coach? Florida fans want an offensive coordinator. How do you get that? You're full. Your staff is full.

So you're firing one of the two offensive line coaches to make room for an offensive coordinator who then is also going to be your special teams coach. It won't be the same person. There's some math that you have to do because the staff is full. And who are you getting rid of to create? Unless the NCAA is going to say, hey, yeah, you can have 11 assistant coaches. That actually is something that everybody thought was coming because they're worried about a lawsuit.

And that may be why they set it up this way. They may have set it up this way intending that that rule is going to get changed and you're going to have all those people as on-field coaches and it won't matter you'll you won't be dealing with the analyst thing but that's not what happened so they'll have to figure it out but i do think if this continues as it has they will have to make a staff overhaul, but that's not a question for now. Let's talk about the elephant in the room because Florida fans, when they're interacting with me on Twitter, there's a lot of them that want Billy Napier gone. I try to explain to them, it's a $31 million buyout, 50% of it owed in the first, I I believe 60 days like I can never imagine Florida paying that

so Billy Napier is not going anywhere right I don't yeah I think that's it's short-sighted for for the fans that want Billy Napier gone and I think it's I think there just needs to be changes I I've never been inspired by Billy Napier's play calling. I think he wears too many hats, and I think he was brought here to build a program, and that takes time. I don't see Florida paying that buyout right now. Also, if you're doing that,

I don't see Scott Strickland being the guy that makes that next hire. So if you're firing the football coach, you're probably having a new AD. And at what point are you, are you starting that in October? Are you starting that in November? What are, what's going to be your coaching in AD search?

If that's the road you're going on, I don't think outside of Billy Napier going two and 10 this year with wins over McNeese and Charlotte, I don't think he's getting fired. I don't sit here even in Lexington, Kentucky after watching that game, think that Billy Napier is even on the hot seat to get fired this year. If you look at how bad could it get this year, do you go 4-8 this year and then look at that 24 schedule, but that is still a scenario that has Billy Napier here for the 24th season yeah I I just think that they're gonna have to they're gonna have to try to do the best they can with

what they have this year and I do think he's going to be under some pressure to make some changes going into next year and what what how drastic those changes will be will depend on what happens next. What do you think it is about them on the road? And this goes back to the Dan Mullen era. They're 1-13 away from the Swamp in their last 14 games, so dating back to the last time they played in Lexington. But Billy Napier is especially bad on the road. The only win he has is against Texas A&M when a lot of the Texas A&M players were out with the flu.

What is it that they need to get straight in that environment? It's tough because it's – Billy Napier harps on it, talks about it all the time about we practice for this. We spend time in training camp practicing at different times so that we're ready for a noon game in Lexington. We'll be ready for an 11 a.m. kickoff in Columbia, Missouri in November when it's probably 37 degrees. So I don't know what it is. And that was one of my big questions. Procedurally, you were a nightmare. You had nine penalties. Two guys were in the same jersey against Utah.

Have you cleaned it up? Have you fixed it? You go to Lexington and you add on another penalty. Now you have 10. I don't know why it's difficult. You see the good teams go on the road and just get wins. Georgia beats Auburn. It's something that falls on the coaching staff.

How do you not have your team prepared to play unless they're sleeping in their beds at the standard in Gainesville the night before a game? It comes down to the coaching staff and not just Billy Napier, all of them. You almost wonder if they're overthinking it. I've seen lots of teams win national titles practicing at the same time every day. They don't change a thing. It know it's just it doesn't have to be this complicated right and maybe it's not maybe they maybe they do over complicate it maybe that's part of the problem and maybe they you know in in the desire to be detail-oriented they maybe they're a little too detail-oriented they don't they don't make it simple enough but these are the questions they'll get over and over and over again until they start playing the way they claim they're going to play when everything comes together.

And I think that's also the other issue, Nick, is they keep promising this style of play, and you've seen it once, and that was against Tennessee. And so it does get frustrating watching that and hearing, no, no, it's coming, it's coming, and then it doesn't come. So is there, you know, with the youth on this team, is there a path to those guys kind of grown up as the season goes on and this does get better? Or is it going to be when they play a good old team like Kentucky, like Florida State, like LSU, that this is just what they're going to have to deal with?

You might want to cut this out if you're a Florida fan. Click away from the show. I think this is who Florida is. At some point, you are what you've put on tape. And Florida's young. And as a trying to help Florida fans cope with things, I keep telling them the best players on your team are young, the guys that Billy Napier brought in.

But you're going to take bumps and bruises when you're leaning on young players. I just think Florida is not where – Florida can go to the ballpark and not bring their A game and look like they did against Charlotte. If Georgia or Ohio State comes to the ballpark and they don't bring their A game, they'll probably beat Charlotte 35 to 7. It won't be that close. Florida's just not there yet. They're not a program that knows how to win that is used to winning Georgia looks bad against Auburn but that's a program who knows how to win and they're just going to find a way to do it Florida's not there yet it's going to take time and for those young players to build a culture but Florida can lose to anyone on their schedule but I think

outside of Georgia, I think even if I would put Florida State into the group of teams that I think Florida could be. On the right day. Yeah. On the right day. And at home. Yeah.

And at home. So they got Vandy at home. They should be able to handle that. And then they're away from the swamp for a while and they'll have to figure that out. Nick, you're going to have a lot to write about. Join me on the roller coaster over at Gators Online. Thanks, Nick. That is Nick Del Toro. And yes, there is a lot to deal with in Gainesville. Billy Napier is going to be getting question after question after question, but hey, what are you going to do? It's a nice extra point, just an appeal for me.

Hey, we got a Dear Andy show tomorrow. Well, I want your questions. I love your questions because you guys ask the best questions and you make this show very interesting. So hit me up. You can find me on Twitter at Andy underscore Staples. You can find me on Instagram, Andy underscore Staples. You can email me, andystapleson3 at gmail.com. We love when you shoot a video of yourself, send the question in,

and we can use that on the show because you get to be the star. We got Nathan in Jerusalem who sends a video every week from Jerusalem and he asks incredible questions. So don't let Nathan hog all the spotlight, but we're going to have fun on that show and I cannot wait to see where you take it. We'll talk to you tomorrow.