Andy & Ari On3 - SPOT THE BALL: After Texas trash talk, Texas Tech wants the Longhorns in Week One

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

After Steve Sarkisian’s comments a couple of weeks ago that seemed slightly pointed at Texas Tech, Joey McGuire and the Red Raiders proclaim they want to play the Longhorns in week one. Offering to pay both buyouts of the Abilene Christian and Texas State games to clear the schedule, would the Longhorns even consider this? Should Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns even consider this proposition? Watch here as Andy & Ari discuss.   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (1:04) Presenting Sponsor (2:46) Intro: Texas & Texas Tech (12:52) What Joey McGuire said (17:58) Trap-Door Mechanism (24:23) Dear Andy & Ari, Protect College Sports Act (34:06) This year’s Penn State & Clemson? (40:54) Spurrier vs Florida in 2006 (45:54) Nebraska Fans, best in the country? (51:56) Best kind of plays in CFB (54:54) Drafting the top plays: Round 1 (1:01:48) Round 2 (1:08:22) Round 3 (1:12:13) Round 4 (1:18:10) Round 5 (1:24:02) Honorable Mentions (1:26:06) Mike Leach eligible for the CFB Hall of Fame (1:28:03) Thanks for watching! See you Monday   After the fellas discuss Texas and Texas Tech, it’s time for your great questions. For Dear Andy & Ari, the guys discuss…   Protect College Sports Act Who is this year’s Penn State & Clemson? Steve Spurrier playing Florida when he was with South Carolina in 2006 Are Nebraska fans the BEST in the country? The Best kind of plays in College Football   Afterwards, it’s time for the fellas to draft their top college football plays of all-time. Watch here as Producer River joins in this snake draft of iconic moments.   Send your questions to: [e-mail] [e-mail]   Our show is also presented by BetMGM!   If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works:   1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB. 2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. 3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sure you use bonus code CFB when you sign up!   Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary.   See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. This promotional offer is not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET (Available in the US) . 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only (if applicable). Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel   Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube here! https://youtu.be/U-ClBUKGdHc   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's Andy and REO3 presented by BetMGM, Texas and Texas Tech has gone full on WWE. You got billionaires volunteering to pay buyouts for Cream Puff games to schedule the Red Raiders versus the Longhorns. What will the Longhorns do? You'll hear from Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire. We've heard from Mega Booster Cody Campbell. This is getting wild, everybody. It is a dear Andy, dear Ari show. You have a question about the Protect College Sports Act, which we talked to Senator Ted Cruz about yesterday.

Question about who could fall flat on their face this college football season. Also, we have another draft. This one's going to be special. The greatest plays of all time. I have the number one pick. Am I going to screw it up? No, I am not. all on today's Andy and Orion 3 presented by BetMGM.

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Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM and Ari. The promos have been cut. It is time to book the match. Texas and Texas Tech, the Texas Tech people still mad. that Steve Sarkesian said that he could take his twos and threes and win the Big 12. And now they are saying they are willing to buy out Abilene Christian, which is Texas Tech's week one opponent and Texas State,

which is Texas's week one opponent, to set up a game between the Longhorns and the Red Raiders week one. Ari, let's pass the hat and make this thing happen. Andy, when you first saw Cody Campbell's, tweet saying that he will pay. What were your initial thoughts? I've got a few if you want to try to remember yours. One was it would be really nice to be a billionaire and to be able to spend money to do

anything you want to the world. But the second thing is, is that this is the greatest sport in the world. And then the third thing I thought was this. And then we'll get back into the Texas, Texas part of it is that, you know, in the offseason, you know, people go on podcasts and they're asked a question like if you were commissioner of college football or if you could make one change to

college football what would that change be you know what mine would be i've never really had a strong thought about this mine would need to create a scheduling mechanism that allows us to do what we did with b yu and coastal carolina a few years ago and create matchups in the moment based on who is talking shit based on who is um doing well and like we can read because like listen when you out, I have to say this because I am amused by this. Steve Sarkesian never said that he could beat Texas Tech with his twos. Steve Sarkesian said that he could run through Texas Tech schedule with his twos. Correct.

So that has nothing to do with how good Texas Tech is. That said, the thing that I think is so funny about this whole situation is that Texas Tech is the one that's butt hurt by this. And rightfully so, but Steve Sarkeesian literally took a dump on the entire Big 12. The Big 12 should be mad about this, not Texas Tech. The Big 12 is mad about this, but Texas Tech has the means to do something about it. Texas Tech has the means to do something about it, and it is a brilliant move by tech, because tech knows, and listen, we talk to Joey McGuire behind the scenes. I kind of know what was going on the last few weeks,

and I think that they were trying to mount their defense. They were trying to figure out how to go about this, and what they landed on was the perfect, response, which is throwing the ball back in their court, knowing damn well that Texas doesn't have the ability or the, or the want to to play this game. Right. Texas plays Ohio State week two. There's no way in hell Texas is going to do this.

No chance. So what is what you do is you say, okay, that's fine. You're so good. Come play us, knowing full well they're not going to play you, which then puts egg on their face. That's the plan here. That said, is. Is it a less than 1% chance that they'll play?

Is it 0% or do we have at least a 1% chance that we can hope to this? To quote the Dean and Animal House, 0.0. Really? Yeah, unfortunately. Now, if they weren't playing Ohio State, if they had a cream puff week two, then it actually would be funny if they did this. because I think Texas feels like it has a good enough team to go, yep, let's do it. Let's kick their ass.

Because I actually think right now, if you've been listening to the show at all, I simultaneously have as much respect for Texas Tech as any new startup powerhouse, right? That's how I would refer to them, startup powerhouse or a team that's attempting to become a powerhouse. That said, not the best off season to talk crap back to Texas. Right. You're probably, probably not, we'll see what happens in the hearing on Monday with Brendan Sorstee, but probably not going to have him. Yeah. You probably start in the Tulsa transfer because Will Hammond's not ready yet because he's still coming off the torn ACL. So, but there's long game. If you're Texas, you actually would feel pretty good about your chances in this game, but they're never going to do it because they got the Buckeyes coming week two.

There is a little bit of a long game to this too, right? Even if they don't play, I think that everybody in the state of Texas, especially the team that are not in the SEC, probably crave the opportunity to schedule them. So even if you don't get the game scheduled for the opener of this coming year, can you do anything from a maneuver standpoint to try to get them on your schedule for future games? Because the truth is that Texas Tech is probably going to be very good this year. but the hope for Cody Campbell and Joey McGuire is that they're not as good this year as they are in three years. So if they have them in the future, that would be great. But here's what you're getting a lot of it.

Can I make the Texas fans happy by bashing Texas Tech a little bit with my response to that? It would be great if they were trying to schedule Texas. It would mean they were trying to schedule somebody. That's true. And then Joey McGuire also said if they don't want to play Notre Dame, we'll take them too, right? Which was another jab. That's great.

And now here's the thing. If Texas doesn't play Notre Dame, Notre Dame will be thrilled if Texas Tech wants them. Because Notre Dame's got to fill that schedule. They're an independent. Question, though, because you have seen a lot of this. I've seen a lot of people who, there are a lot of people who have comments about this

that aren't, I think, 100% up to speed on how scheduling works and how, like, things go. But, like, the prevailing thought process is, if you are going to cast the first stone and you're going to disparage a team in your state from another conference, if that team responds with Come Play Us, it is a weak response to not see that challenge through. And that's what Texas is going to have to live with. Now, Texas fans will be the first to point out that there's nothing to gain, that they're playing Ohio State in week two.

They already have a very hard schedule, all these things, and those are all true. But at the fundamental- It doesn't stop Texas- fans from making fun of you for being soft because they gave you the opportunity, you declined it. And you were to talk shit and then turn your back and not accept the challenge. They have every right to make fun of you as much as they want. I wish that there was a mechanism where when these things happen, because every offseason this happens, right? Like college football off seasons are highly entertaining because it's talking season.

And it's not just talking season for us. It's talking season for the people involved in it. I wish there was a mechanism where there was trap doors and ways to reorganize schedules. But I saw this point from a Texas account yesterday, and I thought it was true. And I don't know, this is probably far more expensive. But if I were Cody Campbell, I would try to buy out Ohio State. I don't think that's going to happen. Because if you buy out Ohio State, then there's no excuse.

Now, you'd have to. Yeah, you'd have to find another good game for the Buckeyes, and you're not doing that. Yeah. but I and I also the Buckeyes I actually funny enough Andy I've heard Ryan Day talk Ryan Day isn't absolved from the scheduling hard games for no reason talking point he says things like that too we were at Big Ten media days last year and during the breakout sessions in the Mandalay Bay convention center Ryan Day said there's no point in playing Texas so they're still playing them so I'm I don't care what he says as long as they play them you think that Ryan Day would would feel, just like, bear with me on this. It's a podcast, and we're just going to go on to Mars for a minute. Okay. If you took the Texas game away from Ohio State, that would suck for their fans, but do you think Ryan Day would lose a minute of sleep over not playing Texas? No, not one bit. Like, could you, could you be weak without being weak here? Ohio State will go,

you know what, you guys, you're in a fight, you settle it, we'll figure out a way, we'll go play Akron or something. You go do your thing. And like Ohio State's sketch. schedule still has Indiana, USC, Oregon, Michigan, I mean, Illinois and Nebraska on it still, right? In Iowa. In Iowa. So like they still would have a strong enough schedule

to get into the playoff without playing that game. Like the number one excuses, Texas isn't going to play this game. I don't want to give up Texas Ohio State for Texas, Texas Tech. I want them both to get played. I want them both to get played too, but I'm trying to figure, what game would you rather watch?

Texas Ohio State. You would? Yes. I don't know, man. I love the team. Look, Texas Tech's doing great, but they ain't there yet. They ain't the Buckeyes yet. I know they're not the Buckeyes,

but I would take narrative and interconference play. We know the Big Ten and the SEC is good. I find it very compelling. Like last year, Ohio State and Texas opener was one of the most hyped openers of our lifetimes because of the Archmanning debut, and it was two teams that played in the playoff the previous year coming at it again. But when you really zoom out from that game, it really had no. There's no narrative.

Stop it. Stop it. It was great. I know. I'm not trying to say it sucked. But it's a silver helmet with Buckeye leaves and a longhorn helmet. I know. Stop it.

Stop it. I mean, you're right. You're right. But we didn't learn anything from that. I'm the little girl. I'm the little girl in the Giff. Why not both? Yeah.

Why not both? Here is Joey McGuire, by the way. talking about when he heard what Steve Sarkesian said. You know, Sark, we played him. We got our butts kicked the last time we played him. We're one-and-one against Texas since I've been there. And I said, there's no way they're talking about us. Because Sark's a pretty tough guy.

His teams are really tough. And I would think that if he was talking about us, that he would call us out. Like he wouldn't just say, you know, just kind of this comment of, well, there's another team. our state. And so I guess he was talking about us. So I've actually talked to Keith Patterson and I've talked to J.J. Kenny. And they're willing to take our games. And Avaline Christian will go to Texas State. We'll buy our contract out of Avalent Christian. I'm sure, because Texas has got a lot of money, they can buy their contract out. But I do know there's a lot of Red Raiders

that will help them buy that contract out if they don't want to, and they can come to Lubbock, week one. And, you know, we can figure out if their twos and threes can win this conference. And I know a lot of people are going to say a lot of stuff about me are about us. We didn't score in the playoffs. That's obvious you can take a shot at us for that. We didn't score the playoffs. Last time we played Texas, we got beat 57 to 7,

and he played some of his twos and threes. They kept the crap out of us. But, you know, I know he feels really good about his team and he's making those comments. And, man, we would love to play the University of Texas week one in Lubbock. I do know that Cody Campbell reached out to Stephen Jones, so they don't want to come to Lubbock, then we're going to work on trying to get AT&T week one. So if they want to play week one, then we're ready. We would love to play the University of Texas.

Two things. Rich Rod sitting next to Joey McGuire was trying to hold it together through all that best part of that video. Which is hilarious because Rich Rod also is off camera at least quite the shit talker. Oh yeah. Now, here's where Joey McGuire messes up.

You don't say come to Lubbock. You don't say we're working on AT&T Stadium. You say we will come to Austin. That's how you do. We will come to Austin. Don't give him a way out. Don't give them a way to say, well, but not the, well, we're not going to go to all this. Like, it's hard.

We don't want tortillas thrown at us. We don't want to go to Jerry World. Traffic on I-35 is terrible. There's always construction through Temple. There's always a construction. What are they working on out there? I don't know. But here's the thing.

Joey, if you're going to do this, tell him you come to office. Austin. Anytime anywhere, baby. You can also, you could also prolong the thing, too, where if Sark comes out and says, yeah, we're not leaving Austin, then you say, we'll come to Austin. It's true. You know, it's not like he's not dead in the water there. See, all right, this is, this is me never having worked in professional wrestling, not understanding. Like, you're setting up. So we just saw Monday Night Raw. You're setting up Smackdown. I don't know what that means, but yes. I don't, I don't. watch professional wrestling. So that we,

so that we can book this match for, for WrestleMania or the Royal Humble or whatever. Yeah, yeah. I do watch a lot of reality television, involving cheating and girls and husbands and things. I have seen how you can make a individual conflict last four episodes, though. So like, I do know. Yeah, you're just,

you're just preparing for next week's episode. So, so what you're saying is Joey's going to, Joey's going to offer Austin on the next week's episode. it would be cool i mean i think if you're tex selfishly you would want texas to come to lubbic just from a you know environment standpoint and it's good for your city and all those things but i just i think that we live in a world in college football which is fun you know what that world is called the cc is the capital of this world it's called hypothetical land uh and all the times that we

have with hypotheticals are fun and we have we spend the entire off season this team would do this to this this team would have beaten them this team didn't have a chance all these things. I just wish that we could remove ourselves from hypothetical land every now and then when we're in it and actually go see how it plays out. I would vote for you for Commissioner in a heartbeat to do this. Like, yeah, there should be a mechanism. One game per season. Every team must leave a schedule date open. Yeah. And we will match you up. The people will match you up. We will decide who plays who. You don't even get to decide. But if you You want to talk some shit about somebody.

We're going to put you together. Listen, I know there's a lot of logistics in college football, traveling, hotel rooms, rest, protection of the bodies, all these things. But I would create what was called, and I wrote this down on my notepad, the trap door mechanism. And I would use this as a way, not just when people get out of pocket and say things into a microphone, but there are certain games that I think are necessary at the end of the year, especially when it comes to CFP deliberations. Like if you are somebody who is upset that Notre Dame didn't get a chance to play whatever, it would have been cool if you could have created a Notre Dame Alabama game in the last week of the season last year in a trapdoor scenario to give us games between two teams that are that we need a result for. This is what replaces, by the way, if we keep the playoff at 12 like we should.

This is what replaces the conference championship. The trapdoor game. Ari, if you don't write this column today, we have a problem. Okay, maybe I will. I'm going to steal it from you. I'm going to call dibs. You can steal it if you want, but I don't know. It's all yours.

It's your idea. But like it is kind of an interesting thing of like, well, God, I wish we could have just gotten South Carolina and Bama one more time two years ago or whatever. Like a game that would winner take all instead of a meaningless championship game. Ole Miss Indiana for the last spot in the playoff in 2024. Something like, yeah. Yeah. I love it.

I love it. I love it. I love it. And I know they're not going to take it. I know Texas is going to take this, but this would be entertaining. This would be great television. It would be incredible.

And look, I am all for talking trash. I am not criticizing Steve Clarkesian one bit. I would love if he did this more. I would love if Joey McGuire did it more. I would love if they all did it more. You guys work in entertainment. You are entertaining us right now. What will it be more entertaining is a game.

Now, can I make a request, Ari? I know the college football playoffs selection committee does not consider these things when they are putting games together. Oh, my God, please put these two together in the playoff. If this happens, if they both make the playoff, please put them together. Please make it happen. I mean, listen, you know, you're a pure football guy. And I think I even irritated the pure football guy when suggesting that Texas and Ohio State could take a year off. Yeah.

That is spitting in the face of a pure football guy. football guy. But the thing that you know about me, Andy, is I'm a narrative's feelings guy. And sometimes those, sometimes getting answers to questions or solving a beef or a dispute on the field is more satisfying to me than watching two high-level football teams play each other. I know that's crazy. I want both. And it could happen. It could happen. The thing about this is it could still happen. Texas Tech can win the Big 12. Texas can win the SEC. can be an at-large team.

We could see this in the playoff. I so hope we do. Do you know what the problem with Texas is? And this might be a clip here, so get your fingers ready. And I'm not trying to be antagonistic. I'm just trying to be wholehearted here. I think there's a lot of the reason why people that aren't in Texas

or a part of the Texas Longhorn community alumni family fanhood. don't like Texas is because they view themselves as better than other teams in their state and around them. And I think for the most part, Texas is one of the top five programs in college football right now. But they have levitated above the rest of us even during their down periods. And if you are a state college football program that's not in the SEC and you're spending a ton of money and you're investing a ton in your football program and you want to be taken seriously as not only a college football program, but a national championship contender, the way that Texas Tech does, I would resent the fact that the team in the SEC that has probably as much money, if not more than you, is talking down and condescending

towards what you're trying to build. So like this to me is not just, well, how good would the Big 12 be? How good would Texas be? I think Texas is going to win the national title this year. They are awesome. This isn't, they aren't good. But I think that there's a, certain attitude that permeates out of Austin sometimes. And the reason why the A&M rivalry is so bitter, where it's like not just a football, we hate each other's situation. It's Texas looking down at someone else. And I think that when you look down at everybody, you're going to get a lot of enemies. And I think people resent that, but it also makes for a compelling television product. So, you know, I think that it would be easier to look down at people the way that they do if they

had a championship in the recent past under their belt. And I think that that's what drives most of the resentment here. Is that fair? Really bold take that Texas is arrogant. Yeah. Never heard that one before. Yeah. I mean, I mean, nobody's ever mentioned that before. I know, but like arrogant like arrogance is deserved. And I actually have a column about the SEC coming out tomorrow because I listened to and saw the comments that Greg Sanky made about how SEC is the best and stuff. And it's like, well, for 20 years when you were, you could say this stuff. When for 20 years,

years when you were unequivocally the best conference in the sport, you could tell everybody how much better you are. I don't want to hear that shit for three years in a row when you don't win the championship. It's time to prove it again. And I just think that like Texas carries this arrogance from 20 years ago. And it's like, buddy, you're back. Texas is back. But you have not won the championship and you did not rule the big 12 for the majority of the last 20 years. Like you don't need to like be condescending towards an entire conference until you have a ring on your finger. That's my, my thought process. Thank you, Joe, Tess.

Play the game. Play the game. Play the game. Play the game. Unless you're soft. And you want to know something? If you play the game and beat the crap out of tech, you're a badass. That's the other thing.

Like, you would be like probably a 12-point favorite in the game. Like, everybody knows who the favorite would be. Texas Tech has an opportunity to put you, to knock you down a peg, and you have an opportunity to prove yourself right. Who loses? Play the game. Texas Tech, play the game in Austin, but play the game. Play the game wherever we can play it.

You know what they say? Spot the ball. That's right. The spot the ball. All right. It is Mailbag Friday. Dear Andy, dear Ari, great questions from you, as always. We start with Matt in Atlanta, who saw the Ted Cruz interview, had a question.

I know it's a big assumption at this point, but let's assume the Protect College Sports Act becomes law with the SEC and or Big Ten immediately try to add one or two more teams in an attempt. attempt to prevent to prevent 75% of FBS schools agreeing to pull their broadcast rights. Kind of a will let you join and maybe we'll even help you with some negative fees, but you can't ever agree to pull your rights. Actually, Matt, there is a clause in the bill to keep that from happening. It says if you distributed more than $1 billion in media rights revenue in fiscal year or on your 2025 tax return that you can't add anybody, or you know which two conferences did that?

The Big Ten on the SEC. Yeah. And again, this is what we were saying, that this bill kind of targets the Big Ten in the SEC. You heard Ted Cruz yesterday. He said the fear is the Big Ten and the SEC will get together and leave all these other schools behind. So that's what they're attempting to avoid.

But that's yet another reason why the Big Ten in the SEC are probably not going to support this bill as written. Now, they may try to get it altered. but if they get it altered away from this, it will piss some other people off and reduce the chances of it passing. Andy. It's probably not going to pass.

Thank you for answering the question, but can I tell you something? I've been marinating on the Ted Cruz interview. Yeah. The last 24 hours. Sure. And, you know, I've got some coaches in my DMs on Twitter talking about it too.

And, you know, we did ask him some pointed questions about the application of some of these things. And the more than I think about the bill, and you know this about me, I'm not some brilliant political mind. I don't know how laws are passed. I don't know the inherent challenges. Like, Ross Dellinger is somebody who can explain to you

the mechanisms of government and how we're getting to these. Yeah, Ross has definitely seen that schoolhouse rock episode. But the question that I just have about the bill, the overlying appearance, we asked Ted Cruz some pointed questions that he did not answer on the show yesterday. and I think a lot of the bill, when you say it out loud, sounds very appealing. Like, I think that there are a lot of things about it that a college football fan could get behind. But how do you enforce any of it?

I agree. There's no answers to, it's very fun to get on a podcast and say, we're just going to change the hiring window to the offseason, just like the NFL. And it's like, Ted, if they could have done that, they would have done it 100 years ago. They would have done it 15 years ago. Yeah, they're not doing it this way because they, like to do it. There's an academic calendar that they have to adhere to. So, like, I feel like

all these ideas are fun to say, and it's really cool to think about what it would be like to actually cap income and play by the rules and do all the things. But how, what's the actual application and the execution of these things? Does anybody get the answer to these questions? The other part of this, too, and the other side of it, now, Ted Cruz had to concede a few things to Maria Cantwell to get this bill even written. because initially he wanted it to say the athletes could never be employees. And Cantwell actually had it written in a way that it almost leads to collective bargaining sooner rather than later. And so, but still, if you just do it as written right now, I don't think it's great for the athletes because it does attempt to limit what they can make.

And that's what I was trying to get at during the interview process. It's like, how can you thread the needle of fixing college football while out not? Because, like, if you restrict transfers, then what you're doing, you know what? Brian Winhorst is a mentor of mine. I have known him for a long time. This is the ESPN NBA report. If you don't know who that is, you're listening. I'm assuming most people know who it is, but thank you.

He is obviously one of the legends of NBA media, but he has an Ohio State fan and we struck up a friendship because he, you know, humble brag, enjoyed the way I covered the team when I was covering the team. And we created a friendship. You know what he said to me once and I've never forgotten it? He goes, leverage in media is fleeting and rare. When you have leverage during a hiring process or during a negotiation, you have to maximize that as you continue on your trajectory

or you might go five to seven years before you have that leverage back. And it's a very good piece of advice because Andy, if he is talking about 98% of college athletes not going pro in the sport that they play, then how is limiting their leverage, which happens two or three years every off season, going to help them maximize their income before they're unable to go pro? Like, I think that there are certain... Well, he's not trying to help them, Ari. No, I know.

It's very un-American. And I just like, I don't know, I literally do not know how any of this stuff would actually work. And the question that you asked, what if Lane Kiffin decided to go to LSU and the bill was active? What are you going to do? What are you going to do if somebody wants to do it? I have a great quote from Pete Golding on that that I had forgotten I had. And I'm going to play that for you right now. And my thing they're talking about the tampering, you don't think head coaches get tamper with? You don't think ADs meet with head coaches?

I mean, we're talking about this new Kiffin and all this shit. Like, who thinks meet with these guys and offering them the jobs before? And then now these are the guys that are on bomb me, like, so I'm not getting in all that. That was good, though. I mean, hold you can. So you have to arrest the athletic director, right? Who is liable here under the guys of Florida? What do you think's meeting with these guys?

That is great. I just like, again, I would love it if ever, if there was no, if it was world peace and nobody went hungry and everybody had a roof over their head. Now tell me how we're going to do it. Like, it's fun to say out loud. But I think the part of the problem. with just, you know, solutions is if you don't have application of the solutions, then what you have is worthless but cozy ideas. And that's what this kind of feels like to me. Well, what I think this might end up doing is pushing the SEC and the Big Ten into a more

realistic solution because one thing I heard at SEC Spring Meetings in Destin that we were not hearing a year ago is, hey, maybe collective bargaining would be a great idea. Because this time last year, it was Danny White, the Tennessee AD, and he was pretty much it. And now, like Roger Denny, the Oklahoma AD talked about it openly, publicly. There were presidents who talked about it behind the scenes. It's real now. They're starting to come around on the idea that they need to solve this themselves, that Congress will not save them. And all it took was wasting millions of dollars lobbying in Congress. And the thing is, you can lobby Congress all you want, but all politics are local. And what comes out,

is probably not going to be exactly what you wanted. And that's what they're learning. Like, oh, no, you can't just buy the exact bill you wanted. Yeah. And like with everything in college football, Andy, every solution has four or five new problems. Every compromise upsets someone else. And it's just not an easy thing.

There's no blanket solutions to all these things. And I do and would be very curious to hear with how the Lane Kiffin provision works. How does that work? Well, I can tell you that the only way they could do it, the only punishment they could give. So in the NFL, what's the punishment for violating the CBA? What's the punishment for a team violating the NFL's rules for the teams? Like, say, trying to steal a coach.

Okay, well, one, if you take a coach under contract in the NFL, you owe the other team actual compensation. And not, I mean, maybe it's going to be money, but they're usually going to want draft picks. and if you do something wrong, you break a rule, they take draft picks. Like a first round draft pick is so incredibly valuable. Losing one is an incredible deterrent. Yeah. And in this case, all they could do is say, well, we're going to cut your ability to pay out of the rev share amount. You know, the rev share cap is at, we'll say it's the $30 million.

You're only allowed to spend $15 million this year. guess what? They can't actually enforce the rev share cap. And nothing in this bill suggests that they actually would be able to. They say, oh, we'll give you an antitrust exemption. But I don't know if the school's actually wanted enforced. Yeah. They're not acting like they do now. Yeah. I got this message here, Andy, too, from a coach in the power four. Thank you for saying the calendar does not match up to Cruz. You can't have a January 2nd to 12 portal and then no coach is hired until after the season. You can't have signing day in December.

NFL draft is April. The agency is in March. League meetings are first week in April. Combine is last week in February. They can't reference the NFL unless they mandate a calendar change. Correct. And I don't know how you can mandate a calendar change without adhering to the academic institution calendars.

Like it's so it's right. So it's unrealistic. And that's, but it's what we've been telling them all along. Like asking Congress to solve your problems is unrealistic. realistic. This is what you get. Now, probably got to go solve your own problems. And that's okay. That's okay. Go solve your own problems. Next question. This is from Jared. Thanks again for you guys having a great show. Thank you, Jared. Everyone keeps talking about who can be great

and shock everyone. My question is, who could be this year's Penn State or Clemson, hyped all offseason and have extremely underwhelming seasons? For example, Notre Dame is the one that comes to mind. If they lose a game after the rough end to last season, do the they implode if they lose early, Marcus Freeman seems great, and I think no way. Notre Dame is not one I'm worried about, Ari. They just don't have the schedule to put them in that position, I don't think. Well, and also they're built in a way that, you know what I always say. If you've got a good offensive line, you're pretty recession proof.

Notre Dame's going to have a good offensive line. Notre Dame is super deep on defense. They are built to play in a way that makes them very tough to shock, if that makes sense. Okay. So did you come up with a list? because I have one that comes to mind, and this might seem like I'm drinking Haterade, and I don't want it to.

Hit me with it. I'll tell you if you're drinking Haterade. What about LSU? Oh, for sure. We don't know what LSU is. We are assuming because Lane Kiffin has been great at dealing with the transfer portal, at rebuilding teams through the portal,

that they'll be good right off the bat. but Sam Levitt's coming off foot surgery. Their schedule is very hard. It's entirely possible. They have a lot of very good players. They did a very good job in the portal. They spent a lot of money, and Lane Kiffin's a good coach.

But any time you piecemeal together a team in year one with national championship aspirations, what Clemson and Penn State, the question what Jerry was referring to was what happens to a good team that just kind of gets torn apart internally. And I wonder how that would, how that would work.

Who else, Andy? Who comes to mind? Well, I think Miami still has some question marks because as good as they were, they lost some really good players. When you lose three first round line of scrimmage players, which they did in Francis Maui Noah on the offensive line and then Rubin Bain and Akeem Sador on the defensive line,

that is a lot to lose. They're replacing both starting offensive tackles because Markell Bell's gone to. They have to replace. the center. They're bringing a new quarterback. Now, Derry Mentson may wind up being an upgrade over Carson Beck. We don't know. I think they're going to be fine. But again, I need to see it. And also, as good as Miami was at the end of last season, in the middle of last season, they still did the thing where they lost the two random ACC games. So they got to prove they can't, they don't do that. Like, you do that this year, you might be out of luck. Exactly. Yeah.

I'm trying to think of who else I would throw on that list here. Now, the thing, like with Miami, I don't, I can't see them being like Clemseter or Penn State. Like, I can't see them just falling off the face of the earth. This would be a not make the playoff thing. But they certainly expect to make the playoff. I'm trying to think of teams that have really tough schedules that could force them into a situation. That's not, that's not great. Are we safe in assuming that Texas A&M is going to be as good as they were?

I don't think that's I think everyone is assuming they will be Here's one What about Ole Miss They've got two of the top 15 players In college football on offense But who's to say they're going to make the playoff this year Oh yeah

They have a very tough schedule I mean Pete Golding has as a challenge ahead of him And I think he understands that But yeah That's not one That you just want to say I will say I don't I don't see Ole Miss getting

overly hyped though You see people that have them in the playoff, but you also see them kind of in the back half of the top 20. So I don't necessarily think they're being overhyped. There doesn't feel like there's anybody like Clemson and Penn State.

And the reason we overhyped Clemson and Penn State last year, and I think the reason you're not seeing this happen this year with a lot of teams, is because of what happened to them last year. We just assumed because they were all bringing so much back, they were retaining so much talent, from teams that had been pretty good, that they would just naturally improve.

I think what you need to do when doing this is who are teams that we assume are going to be very talented but might have weaknesses that could be exploited, like Ohio State. Like, are we 100% sure that Ohio State's offensive line and Oregon's offensive line is going to be good enough to run the table this year or to be dominant? Like, I think that, you know, the cool thing about this is like last year Penn State and Clemson were both national championship favorites. but they also were teams that were at crossroads as programs. Like if you think about where Clemson was last year, like it was it was Davosweeney's mad scientist time to show. It was his chance to, great, to show us that he was right and we were wrong, and it turns out right.

And James Franklin last year at this time had a team that was viewed as the favorite and was viewed as better than other teams in the Big Ten. And it was his time to prove that Penn State could get over the, hump and then after they got their hearts broken by Oregon, I think it just all fell apart like a jenga tower. So like I'm trying to think of like narrative based things too of like who's coming into a really important year. And I think Notre Dame, as Jared pointed out, has like the narrative aspect of it. Marcus Freeman wants to break through. He brings back his entire team basically outside of the best running back room in the country. They've got great offensive lines. Their

schedule is easy. Like what if they lose twice next year and miss the playoff? Then what's the narrative about Marcus Freeman now. Now, I don't think that's going to happen because they don't have a hard schedule, but they have lost the teams they shouldn't have lost to before. So maybe that is the answer. I don't know. I don't know. But part of the thing that makes this difficult, too, is like, I don't think even if you

went back in time, like telling me that Clemson would have more draft picks than wins would have been like a wild thing to say. If you would have said that in the last off season, I would have laughed at you. So part of this is that you're not supposed to be able to see it. coming it seems obvious now that it happened but i wouldn't have been like oh they're going to lose a pen state's going to lose a heartbreaker to organ and overtime at home and then implode like that's just not an easy thing to see coming so um i'm excited to see because somebody it's going to happen to somebody andy not everybody's going to have a good year so we'll see we'll see

who it is but uh fun question and i'm excited to see how the see i mean i just these questions just make me want to watch the games man oh yeah yeah well this one this one we'll get us a little warmed up for our, uh, our draft that we're having of the greatest plays of all time. Because it references a really fun play. Maybe the loudest I've ever heard been Hill Griffin Stadium is the play that is being referenced.

So this is from Keith. I've been watching you for a while on YouTube and there's a question I've always wondered about that you might have some insight on. I feel like there are a handful of schools where it's just different at heart. As a gator, I couldn't imagine coaching against UF, especially at the swamp and against a team that's in the championship hunt. When Florida blocked the field, goal against South Carolina in 2006.

Do you think Steve Spurrier felt a little bit of inner happiness? Right after the kick, he was interviewed and he said, this just might be the year of the Gator. I don't think he would ever admit it, but I've always felt like he wasn't that upset. Man, I wish he didn't have that NFL edge, or maybe if Jeremy Foley would have shown him a little more love. So I'm walking at the concert at night. And he walked out with Morgan Wallin the other night.

So this is an interesting question from Keith. And I can tell you the answer to this. this question. I can definitively answer this question. So the play he's referring to is the cock block. So 2006, Florida is beating in South Carolina 1716. Jarvis Moss blocks Ryan suckups kick. Having talked to Steve'sburg about this play several times over the years in this game, he was not happy in the least that Florida won that game. He was righteously pissed. He was pissed about everything that happened right before then, the mistakes his team made that put them in a position to have to kick such a long field goal, the fact that it got blocked, everything.

He was really mad. I know everybody loves their school. And I understand why Keith's asking this question. Because I'm not sure there's anyone on earth who loves their school more than Steve Spurrier loves the University of Florida. But in that moment, Steve Spurrier was very pissed because he felt like he had a good team. they should have won that game and they made mistakes

that cost them that game, which is, look, you have to understand you're a person doing your job at that point when you're Steve Spurger and his job is to win games for South Carolina. So no, he was not happy about that, not one bit, but that was one of the craziest plays

I have ever seen in my life. And again, the loudest I have ever heard Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. I think this... I just don't think it's possible for a coach who's employed to win games to ever feel happy for any rooting interests outside of what's best for that. Exactly. Exactly. And that's what that's one thing. There's a little disconnect with fans where they think, oh, you could never, I could never go against my, yeah, you could. If it was your job,

you could. Yeah. So, I mean, we see it every day. I mean, I will, I will say, I, because I was asking around some people in Gainesville who know Billy Donovan really well and said, you know, if, it, really may take an NBA job, but what if he doesn't take an NBA job this year? What if Kentucky opens? Would he possibly take it? And somebody who knows him really well goes, I don't know if that Catholic guilt would allow him to coach as the opposition on Billy Donovan court. Yeah. So some people, it may, it may still, and then he didn't, obviously he didn't go to Florida. He went to Providence, but his, you know, the cornerstone of his career was at Florida. but I do think it's what you said like it's your job you're you're not worried about that in the

moment yeah good question though it's a great question you know it is fun to kind of think about like the human emotions that play in in fact like it's like that's the thing feels like I think about like Ryan day as Ohio State's coach playing Northwestern with his son at quarterback it's like you know there are certain things where it's like as a father like that one actually you you might be, you know, kind of rude. The Harbaugh brothers played each other in the Super Bowl. Yeah. But that's crazy.

Like, I think it's a parent's inherent desire to see their children prosper. And I would put myself in a bad situation if it benefited my daughter. So, like, I think that, like, maybe a father-son relationship could be a little bit different. I think Ryan Day is so competitive. He'd be like, I'm going to kick your ass on. Yeah. Let's go. I mean, maybe that's part of them, too.

It's like you don't get to, I just don't think you get to being a college football. I bet his son, I bet his son would feel the same way. And that would, that's why that would be so much fun. Do you play basketball with your son? We have. Or be competitive with him as a man now? I'm a little afraid to. His deadlift numbers are pretty good right now.

Yeah. So I, if you were playing one-on-one basketball with your son right now, would you want to beat his ass? Yes. Okay. Yeah, I would I would want to humble him. Yeah. Would I? Probably not.

Would I want to? Absolutely. Yeah. All right. Is it draft time? Not yet. We got one more question and then the question that sets up the draft. Okay.

First question from J.B. and Omaha. I'm a massive fan of the show, never miss an episode. I learn a lot, listen to you guys. Well, thank you. I had a question for the Friday mailbag. Nebraska sold out every football game since 1962, has a decades-long sellout streak in volleyball,

plus the 92,000 attended volleyball game Memorial Stadium. Nebraska is consistently in the top 15 to 20 to 10s for men's basketball and took over OKC in March Madness this year, gets good attendance for women's basketball, takes it over the Big Ten tournament baseball every year, and softball is taking over the Women's College World Series and has had near sellouts every home game in the last couple of seasons. With the support Nebraska fans give to such a broad range of teams

within the athletic department, does Nebraska have the quote unquote best, however that is defined fan base in college athletics? If they're not number one, they are on a really short list. They're either top two or one or the fact that he keeps showing up for every football game. And I know there have been some moments where somebody said to come in at the end and buy a bunch of tickets. But the loyalty they've shown, no matter what. Because look, they were kicking everybody's butt and then now they're not.

and they're still showing up. The volleyball thing is amazing to me. He's right about what they're doing with softball now. Like, they're awesome. And like when you go to that state, everything revolves around University of Nebraska. And the other part about it is they're just so nice when you're at the games.

They're awesome. They treat visiting fans well. I've never thought about this, Andy, but I think that this is really important. Yeah. And I always draw. back on personal experience, but I think that's true this way. There are a lot of Notre Dame fans that didn't go to Notre Dame. There are a lot of Ohio State fans that didn't go to Ohio State.

I think there's a difference between loving your state schools football team and loving your university. And I think that when you show up for non-REB sports or atypical sports that aren't on TV or aren't on Sports Center, you're illustrating a love for the institution that maybe you don't have at other places. And that's not to say that there aren't massive Notre Dame women's basketball and volleyball fans and people who don't exist that way. But from a robust love of the university, loyalty to the university and alumni base, I would probably venture to put Nebraska towards the top of that.

That said, I think you're also at a huge advantage when you live in a town that doesn't have any competitive sporting events to attend or things that you're not in a big city, right? Like, Lincoln's a fairly large town, but it's not like, from a sports standpoint, they have an entire monopoly on the entire state, right? There's no pro teams in Nebraska. Right. So I think that there's probably more of an outlet. If you're an Ohio state fan, you probably were really bought into the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA

playoff run here, where you're more bought into things that are happening around you that maybe make the smaller sports that are happening now. Now, there are other schools that have, like LSU, obviously they're incredible football fans, but they're incredible baseball fans. They support gymnastics really well and always have. They support softball really well. So there are fan bases that do sort of spread out. But I mean, these guys fill the football stadium for a volleyball game.

You know what would be an awesome. You know, it would be a fun episode that could spark from. this question. What if we did a top 5, a top 25 post-spring top 25 of fan bases who deserve their team to be good the most? Well, Nebraska's number one with a bullet. Is Nebraska number one? Nebraska's number one. Tennessee is up there. Tennessee. In terms of just passion and love. Or loyalty to a team that has stunk for a long time. Like I like South Carolina fans deserve a ton of credit for this. Like I don't know, you're paying attention to the NBA playoffs. right now. It's kind of cool to see

Nick's doing it. Like those have been loyal, pretty robust fan base for a long time and they've been terrible for two decades. And like for them to be in the NBA finals, like is a really cool thing. Like I enjoy watching, like I really enjoyed and took self, I don't know

if this is the right way of putting it. I took joy in the fact that Indiana's football fans that have been loyal to the program got to see something remarkable last year. I thought that was a cool thing. So like, you know, I've had my run-ins with Nebraska fans online. And I've had my run-ins.

I'd love to see Nebraska be good. Texas A&M fans. Yeah, A&M. That's why do you think I'm always like Aggie, Aggie, Aggie, Agie on the show? Like, you don't think that- Is you married one? If Brittany walked into this room right now, I am not positive. She would know who Mike Elko is.

That's true. It's true. So, like, I think she does, but it's not Brittany. Like, I, and sometimes when I write about A&M, people like, he's married to a cult Aggie woman. It's like, she doesn't get. a shit about sports. If you met her for five minutes, you would know there's less than zero impact on my,

my, my football takes based on her happiness. But I'm around a lot of Aggie fans. And they are loyal to, and they have been, like, they have a whole, like ailment named after their family.

Yeah, any derangements. And they've been kicked in the teeth over and over again. Yeah. So, like, Nebraska fans never quit. What about USC fans?

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. It's been a long time, man. And they're still showing up, right? I think. I don't know. I don't know. That'd be a fun.

It'd be like most deserving fan base. That would be a graphic that would go really hard on. Oh, yeah. And people would get real mad. Yeah. No matter what we did. Most deserving fan bases of a winner. That's right.

All right. Last question from Dan. We're going to set up the draft. What do you guys think are the most exciting plays that happen in any given game. My personal ranking, this is, according to Dan, your team runs a successful fake pun on fourth down. Two, player runs around in the backfield before breaking free for a long game.

Every Barry Sanders play. Three, game winning turnover on defense. Four, seeing a blindside rusher take one step is untouched and has a clear run at the QB and you just know what's about to happen if they don't throw it. Five, seeing a stupid play call worker, you tell yourself you never wanted to see it again, looking at you, Willstein against Penn State, calling a tight-in shuttle pass at the goal line. What is my favorite type of play?

I do love the no, no, no, no, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, the no, no, no. Read the last part, though, because I don't know the answer to this, and I scream at the reaching all the time I watch it. If you do a most frustrating moments in the game, I'd like to nominate punt returners for a catch inside the 10-yard line.

When do they start planning, stop planting your heels of the 10 and let anything else go ahead for a probable touchback? Yeah. They are now coached to fair catch it at the five. And I don't understand. Is it because punters have gotten so good now that they? I think the Aussie punters are so good at spinning it that they really can hit it and get the English on it where it stops on the three. Or you don't want it to go back and hit the returner if it goes over their head, I guess is the reason.

But like how many times are you fair catching it at the four? And it's like, why are we? Even like the cost benefit of like it landing at the one. Well, that's the thing. The analytics must be telling them that catching it at the five is less dangerous than letting it drop at the five. Yeah, I guess. All right, but go ahead. No, no, no, no, no.

Yes, yes, yes, yes is the best. Yeah. And the one I keep thinking about is Ole Miss at Alabama in 2015, Chad Kelly through. I can't remember who's helmet it bounced off of. But like that play ends up winning Ole Miss the game. Like Alabama comes back, but it's not enough. If that play doesn't happen, Alabama wins the game. And Chad Kelly to do anything to make it happen.

He said he basically was praying to his grandma after he threw it. Like, God and Grandma help me out here. You know what plays are very satisfying to me? You know the plays where the punter catches the ball and like the Aussie, like, roll out and then kick deal? Yep, yep. When they roll out and the punter looks up and there's nobody around and they just run for a long time. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Brad Wing was the best at that when he was at LSU. There's nothing more satisfying to me than like watching a punter who's never carried the ball in his life get a 31-yard gain because no one's around. That is great. All right. Now let's have a draft, Ari. Oh, boy. I'm scared. This inspired me.

That question inspired me. We're now going to draft the greatest. plays in college football history not since 2000 greatest plays in college football history so this is going to be different for everybody i was doing my big board and realizing that my number 15 may be somebody's number one and they will have a legitimate argument for it yeah but i also know what your number one pick is and he's picking first rivers when i'm picking second rivers picking third i know what you're taking already uh so um this was not an obvious pick though like with with the rivalry draft it was an obvious pick. Michigan and Ohio State was going to go number one. With this one, this was not an

obvious pick. I think there are five plays that could be number one that I think a lot of college football fans would feel like are number one. And it really kind of depends on how old you are, where you're from, all of it, what you would pick. But for me, number one, the greatest play in college football history, the most insane play, the one that had the longest tail, the one you just will never, ever forget in your life, is the kick six. There is, there's no way you didn't watch that play and go, oh my God, because it is Auburn wins the SEC West. The game, like, should have been going to overtime. Nick Sings. Saban made a mistake.

Like, you never saw Nick Saban make a mistake. Yeah. Kicking the field goal was a mistake. Attempting the field goal was a mistake. And it's just one of those things that you could never write the script in a million years. If you, if you handed it to a movie studio and said, this is the way the game ends in our movie, they would be no way it's not realistic enough. But the cool thing about that play, too, is that it had reverberations on the way the season played out.

Yes. Like, it wasn't just. at a rivalry game in an exciting way the game ended. Like it had implications in the national championship race. So like it was a huge moment. And I think that everybody remembers. And I don't know if this is a good metric for how to do this draft, but everybody remembers where they were when the play happened.

Yes. Like it's one of those plays. Like I was in a press box writing and I was covering an Ohio State game. And I had to run back up to the press box when they showed it. downfield or downstairs because it changed the playoff discourse. And I had to go write a story of how does this impact Ohio State? Not the playoff. It was the BCS.

It was the last year of the BCS. So it was just a wild, wild, wild day. And I will never forget it. And I think that that's probably number one. Would that have been number one for you? It would have been for me. So for me too. I do think that like I disagree with the fact that it's not obvious.

I think that this one is obvious. There's nothing more iconic to me. I think when you hear. Because I think I'm interested because I, we're doing a snake draft. So I don't pick again until pick number six. I think there are five plays that could be number one. I'm being curious if I get one of them. If you two leave me one of these.

Yeah. The problem with that is that there's two plays in the same game that should be together, but are separate. But we'll get to that when we get to that. All right. My number one pick also involves Alabama, second and 26 to win the national championship game. I'm going to get one of my five. Yeah.

Yes. Is that not one of your five? Nope. Wow. And it decided the national championship and I was on the sideline for it, which is. That's part of the reason why the ups and downs of the national championship in those like, like, what is it real time, two minutes to go from sack to title, what it meant? for Georgia and the fact, Andy, that the thing that gets lost in this whole thing is that, like, Nick Saban did perhaps the most psychotic but brilliant thing anyone's ever done on a stage

like that previously in the game, which was putting in a quarterback that was not the starter after your team was getting pummeled. So I don't know. My jaw, like, was sore for four days after I saw that because it dropped so violently. And I don't know. I'm surprised that's not one of your five. And does that mean that I've messed up the draft already? Like, you get in my head sometimes. But like, is that, I just thought it was iconic. Like I said, anything, probably anything in anybody's top 20 is going to be somebody's number one. So, no. And look, when you say it second and 26, freshman quarterback just got sacked, national title on the line, overtime of the national title game. You cannot create a bigger moment. Like, I just. That tells you how many incredible plays

we're going to be talking about today. I'm very curious to see. You'll have to reveal your top five at the end. I'm going to end up maybe getting some of them. Maybe those are my five. We'll see. Yeah, I've got a three on here too. And I'm curious, like, if my plays are your plays. Okay, go ahead.

All right. So I am taking it back to one of the first core memories I ever had with college football. 2007 in the big house, App State, Michigan, the blocked field goal to solicit by the win. This is so good. Oh, my gosh. That is a great choice. great choice. Yard sale at the big house is what the former

Appalachian State quarterback, I believe Steve Brown was his name. He was the color commentator on the radio. He just starts to, yard sale in the big house, yard sale at the big house. It was incredible. That was just one of the crazier, the craziest upset of my young childhood. And Caden Smith, producer of the Hard Count with J.D. Bale was telling us a story when he was at App State.

Former App State football player, Gainesmith, yes. Former App State football player, he said that Corey Lynch, the guy that blocked the field goal, came and talked to the team his sophomore year. And he said that Corey told the team that every day at practice, he would tediously work on field goal block and take it very, very seriously. Yep. And you know, you just see it right there. I did an oral history on that play 10 years later.

Corey Lynch told me he nearly suffocated in the pile after that play. Like he, because he had a full body cramp because he played the entire game, like, and it had to give everything to block that kick. And so he essentially went into a full body cramp, nearly suffocated. But it was, that's just one of the most amazing games. And the way it ended was wild. Yeah. Just unbelievable. Oh, man.

Was that one of your plays? Nope. Okay. Yeah. I know. Yeah. This is going to be a wild draft. Okay.

River, you have another pick? All right. So now I'm going to go with the defensive play. I've gone special teams. Now I'm going defense. 2013 Outback Bowl. Give me Jadavion Clowny's hit on Vincent Smith. That play was on every commercial that college football could ever have for the next two years.

And honestly, I think that play itself is what made Clownie the number one pick the next year after that. I think you're right. So I was at the game. Do you remember what happened to play before? They started the ball very close. It was wrong. Yeah. It was a ball don't lie moment.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I will say this, Andy, you weren't there, or you were there, but I watched it on TV. You know those hits that you can feel through the television? Like those hits that are so hard that it almost like, if you have like a subwifur or a base, it would like rumble in the room. Yeah. Like I've never seen a hit in real time that I could feel on my couch.

Like that was like. It was wild. So you're not supposed to cheer in the press box, and I didn't cheer in the press box. You just went, oh! When he hit him, I stood up and just go, oh! And it wasn't just that, though.

He hits him so hard, and he knocks his helmet off. Just palms on his left hand. That's the other part, is him taking the ball with his left hand. It was one of those athletic things I've ever seen in my life. Yeah. It's actually kind of surprising the. Clowny's had a pretty long and okay NFL career, but I thought his NFL career would be a little bit more dynamic.

But that is a, the problem I have with that play, and the reason why I wasn't going to pick it is because it just was in the Outback Bowl. Well, it's interesting because that Outback Bowl actually, I covered the Peach Bowl the night before, flew to Tampa.

This is an S-I. They had money. They were like, yeah, go to do your thing. Why are you even there? But yes, so Dylan Thompson leads to South Carolina on a game. game-winning drive. But I remember going downstairs to interview people for the story. And I'm like, you know what? I'm just writing about the hit. Nobody cares about anything but they hit. Only thing that anyone cares about. So this is, so this is on me now. And I am trying to decipher

which one of your five plays are. But here's what I do know from a strategic stage. Well, you know one of them to kick six. So I got four more that would have been potential number ones for me. But I think I know for sure that you are, before I make my pick, I want to make sure that where on the same page here. You cannot take both, or you cannot take both Boise plays with one pick, right? Nope. Statue and circus are different plays. Now I know you're not going to take both with the next two picks. That would be insane. So I'm not going to take Boise, although I want to, because I know I'm going to get one coming on the back end here. I am going to go with the Iron Bowl, 2003 Mill Road to Isaiah Bond game winning pass.

It's called the grave digger. It's called the grave digger. And I figure like you have to have, wait, wait, I think I made a mistake. You've made your pick. You made your pick. The pick is in. That's a great pick.

Are we talking about it? Worth and 31. What's the goal from the 31? What's wrong with it? There's another one that you're going to take now that I was going to take to keep there from. There's like 10 more. But you guys are.

we're showing our ages here and let me put it this way. My fellow mature Americans are going to love me. I'm going to get you. Okay. We are showing our age here and there was a play from the early 80s that I think you're going to take that you should not have been able to get in the second round. And I made a mistake. And it's on my list and I just forgot about it for a second. But I'll take that second.

I mean, that was one of the craziest plays I've ever seen in my entire life. So I'll take the Iron Bowl 2023. And the funny thing about it, too, is that it's Jalen Milrow to Isaiah Bond, two players who, you know, I don't know will go down as legends that Alabama. Maybe they will. Like, tell me about the rivalry, Andy. Like, one transferred, one went to the pros after being victimized as the reason why they underachieve his final year.

But are they heroes in Tuscaloosa forever, Isaiah Bond and Jalen Milro? It have to be. I mean, think about the circumstances. Like, I was thinking about this as I was making my big board. In how unlikely these plays are, this may be the most unlikely. The most unlikely. Yeah. And I realized that my first two picks are Bama.

Maybe I'm just going to be a hero in Tuscaloo after this draft. There's a lot of Bama representation. But I will allow you now, Andy, to go take the band play. This isn't the band play. To most college football fans, it is simply called the play. The play. 1982,

Cal Sanford game. Stanford, led by quarterback John Elway. It was down the field, kicks a field goal to take a 20 to 19 lead with four seconds remaining.

The ball is then kicked off. There are five laterals on the play. The Stanford band is on the field. A trombone player gets run over in the end zone. It's the craziest play of all time. Crazies play of all time decided this edition of the rivalry

is still, if you see the video, you have no idea how it happened. I know that there's some people who will say that Miami Duke game with the eight laterals. Yeah, but one guy was down. Yeah, the ACC went back the next day and said that it counted. This one was totally legal between two ACC. Oh, wait, they weren't ACC teams back then. But this is the quintessential college football play.

It's all of college. Everything that makes college football great crammed into one play. And just so you know, I'm sure that was the mistake. That's why I went, oh, because I had it written here. And I should have taken it. I am now going to get three, at least, of the five that I was considering for number one. Wait, I didn't ask you, because I wanted to ask you, was the Iron Bowl second and 31 or the fourth and 31 on your list?

It's on my big board, but it was not on my top five. Your top five. Yeah. Yeah. So now I've got to figure out which of the other top five I want to grab right now because I think you guys may grab one. But I'm going to grab this one because I saw this on TV when I was six years old. Are you kidding me?

You're not taking a play from the festival? All right. I was at the Fiesta Bowl. I was at Boise State, Oklahoma. It's my favorite game that I've ever covered for very personal reasons. I've told the story on the show before. It's not in college football lore

in college football history. It doesn't match this play. 1984, Boston College at Miami. Doug Pallutey. The Eagles are down. The game's pretty much over. Got to throw a hail.

Mary number 22 quarterback whatever we're in number 22 Doug Flutie drops back ball goes through multiple hands and winds up in the hands of Gerard Phelan touchdown miracle hail flutie it's a dot flutie effect yeah it's unbelievable oh yeah I told you I was going to show my age here I saw this play on TV when I was six years old I saw I vividly remember watching this play on TV and It was incredible. Absolutely incredible. So hail flutie is my third round pick.

Yeah. And I'm not trying to undermine the pick because obviously it's iconic. But like there have been a lot of Hail Marys. But not like that one. Okay. So now I don't have to take anything from Boise because now River's not going to take two in a row. This is amazing. I'm going to take the Michigan State punt block touchdown as time expired in 2000.

The trouble with a snap. That to me was one, first of all, it's a rivalry game. So it kind of to me feels like, you know, heightened because of Michigan, Michigan State. They were both very good that year. And I'm trying to think of plays that I've seen and witnessed. I don't know that I've ever seen anything that improbable or that insane ever. The guy has a surrender, Cobra at the end. The play is called

Jalen No, the play is called Trouble with the Snap. Yeah. Oh, Trouble with Snap. Yeah, but that was the iconic Surrender Cobra. Oh my gosh.

Yeah. Yeah. Jalen Watts Jackson was the player who picked it up and then ran it in for the touchdown. Remember the TV reporter, the local TV reporter who was doing the standup as if Michigan had won?

Yeah. And he's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, what? That was incredible. Yeah, that's on my big board. That's a great one. All right. So back to me. We'll stick in the mid-2010s.

I will go with Central Michigan versus Oklahoma State in 2016. Oh, this was nuts. The untimed down where Central Michigan bombs it down the field. The guy catches it and just scampers all the way to the other sideline to get into the end zone. No time left. Central Michigan wins. guys we are leaving some meat on this bone and we're going to get yelled at real bad. Yeah, I mean there's a lot of plays.

And I'm having a hard time with where to go for the rest of my draft because I have like five plays left and I'm going to get both of them. And it's just like there are like you said like this might be like a graphic that gets us into some trouble. So, okay. River, what's your next pick? All right, my next pick, I'm going to go 2010, Michigan State versus Notre Dame, Michigan State's fake field goal to beat Notre Dame and Brian Kelly in overtime. Touchdown to win it. It's a good one. No, you're going to get killed on this. I am going to get killed. You're going to get eviscerated. You're going to be like, yeah, you're a little little baby. I'm too young for this man. Yeah, it was a great play. That was awesome.

but I don't even know if this is the best fake field goal that year. Maybe not. Guys, guys, I don't know what the fuck if we're doing here, but I'm in the fourth round now. Is this correct? Yeah, third round. You're going to leave it for me or what? I'm taking Invincible, the Vince Young run.

How's that? That was one of my five. Yeah, I don't know how we got this far without that being gone. But you've also guaranteed that I'm going to win. So thank you for that. I don't need to describe it, do I, trailing in the Rose Bowl with a national championship on the line. The Longhorns face, fourth and five in the waning seconds against the Trojans, the defending national champs, but Young scramble to the right, then dashed past the pylon for a game-winning touchdown,

lifting the unbeaten Longhorns to the first national championship in 35 years. I think what it keeps Jackson to say, Vince Young to the corner! Yeah, it was young to the, you didn't get, yeah, you were watching it live. I was in the press box, yeah, that one, and I didn't get, A lot of people gone down to the field. I couldn't. I was writing for a newspaper, had to get it in at the buzzer.

And so I was watching from the Rosewell press box. And it just, when Lindale White got stopped on fourth down, you knew that they weren't going to stop Vince Young. Like USC was not going to, he was going to do whatever it took to get texted in the end zone. And like, even though it was fourth and five, I had no doubt he was going to score on that play.

I don't know. after everything that night. I think I messed up. There's no reason why this should have fallen this far. I should have maybe flipped it. If you had given me five choices, like just one, two, three, for five,

this would have been one of my five. Yeah. And it's frankly, shame on us for this getting, I mean. Shame on me. Shame on y'all. Because I've gotten,

so I had five, the five of the top of my big board, I'm going to get four of them. You just took the other one. Okay. So now, You have two. Two.

It's rounded out. The most beautiful play in college football history. I can't call it the greatest play because I picked the kick six already. But the most beautiful play to me in college football history, Jared Zabransky running the ultimate backyard football play. You ran it as a kid playing with your friends, the Statue of Liberty. Ian Johnson takes it from him. rolls in for the two-point conversion,

drops to one knee, and proposes to his girlfriend, Chrissy Popatix, who was a Boise State cheerleader. Boise State beats Oklahoma. Miracle. Miracle in overtime. So when picking the two,

I would have chosen the Statue of Liberty, too, just because it's aesthetically pleasing, but did you have a hard time picking which of the two plays to go for? Right. So there's two very famous plays in this game. Statue and Circus was the name of the play. That's the name that Chris Peterson and Brian Harsen gave the play. And so they called Circus when they were trying to get it down the field. And it was probably the more improbable play, the hook and ladder.

But because of the proposal and the fact that it won them the game, and again, it's the ultimate backyard football play, I have to go with statue. I told this story on the show before. So I actually covered that game. I was the Tampa Tribune Florida Beatwriter. The only reason I was there was because I had landed in Phoenix that day to cover Florida in the national title game against Ohio State. And I was like, well, I want to see if my stuff works in the press box because it was

a relatively new stadium, new press box. I just wanted to make sure I could send and wasn't going to have any issues logistically on the night of the national title game. So I was like, well, I can get. get a credential of this game and I'll just go. And but the other part of that is that was my first road trip since my mom had passed. And the whole fall of 96 had been really rough. She was dying of cancer. I was living in Gainesville. She was in Orlando. I was going back and forth quite a bit. I'd spend, you know, a couple days a week with her so my dad could go to work. And, you know,

we just, we talked a ton of football. My mom, and you've listened to the show you while, you know, my mom loved college football. Absolutely her favorite sport, two-time Alabama grad. This is the year that Alabama is firing Mike Shula. She passed before she found out, you know, Nick Saven got hired.

But the, she loved the underdogs. She loved, like her Tuesday, or her Thursday night team was Toledo. She loved the Rockets. She loved Boise State. And so for her,

you know, for me to be able to see Boise, State beat Oklahoma, knowing she's up there watching. And in the most, in the way she would have loved the most, that's, I love this play so much. I will always love, like, I picked kick six as number one, because I know when you guys look at it, you're going to say, well, that's the most important. And it had the, the, the most reach and the most effect on the game.

This is still my all-time favorite play. Yeah. Yeah. That was moving. I thought that this would be higher on the list. And I'm very excited. And I'm very excited to hear what your last one is. I am going to let, well, first of all, I'm going to piss off my alma mater,

because the grads of my alma mater are going to hate this play. But this is one of the most improbable plays in college football history. It produced the greatest radio call in college football history. And I'm going to let Larry Munson introduce it. Back third down on the. in trouble got a block behind him gonna throw in a run complete to the 25 to the 30 linds got 35 40 linds got 45 50 45 40 1 lindsay 25 20 50 50 10 5 linds scott linds scott i can't believe it 92 yards and lindsie really got in a foot

race i broke my chair i came right through a chair a metal steel chair with about a five-inch cushion i broke it the booth came apart Well, the stadium fell down. Now they do have to renovate this thing. They'll have to rebuild it now. This is incredible. You know, this game has always been called the world's greatest cocktail party. Do you know what is going to happen here tonight?

And up at St. Simons and Chekyll Island and all those places where all those dog people have got these condominiums for four days? Man, there's going to be some property destroyed tonight. That's good. All these places are all these dog people have condominiums for four days. A steel metal chair with a five inch cushion. The greatest call in college football history. So third and 11, Georgia trails floor at 2120 with a minute five to go. They're on their own seven yard line.

What year is this? 1980. So Georgia goes on to win the national title this year. If they don't win this game, they might not win the national title. Persia Walker's a freshman. Buck Ballou is the quarterback, throws to Lindsay Scott, one of the most iconic plays in college football history. And I will argue with anyone, the greatest radio call in the history of college football.

Yeah, that was a pretty amazing radio call. Is the radio call better than the play? Like, I don't know. I mean, and not if you're a Georgia fan because they were dead. Like, they had lost. I mean, that's what Larry says. I think he keeps going. You thought it was over.

I did too. Yeah. It's unbelievable. There's going to be some property destroyed tonight. St. Diamond. So now that I am up with my final pick, I have reached a familiar crossroad,

which is draft like Andy so I can suck up to everybody or take something that I think is truly remarkable for my own memory. and I'm going to do what I always do, which is pick something that none of you would have drafted, and I don't know that either of you would have drafted this if we went 10 rounds. But it's one of the most remarkable things I've ever seen on a football field, and that is the 2002 National Championship game early in the third quarter

when Marius Claret stripped the ball after a pick away from Sean Taylor. I don't think that I've ever seen a play that is as important to winning a national championship game and effort play. It's not a Hail Mary. There weren't bands on the field. There weren't, but like in terms of actual football fucking plays, like that was the ultimate football play. This is great.

I got, I got one like this that could be an honorable mention. Antoine Carter punching the ball out from Mark Ingram in the Alabama Auburn game in 2010, because if he doesn't do that, Auburn doesn't come back and win. Ohio State does not win the national championship without that play. And I know there were some other ones in that season.

and in that game, I personally think that the O2 National Championship game is one of the five most entertaining and best college football games of all time, and I thought that was the single most dynamic play not only in that game, but of the season. So, you know, I could have gone Bluegrass Miracle here. I'm not blowing anything now the draft is over.

Like, there are certain plays that you could have. River has another pick. Yeah. No, but he has the floor now. There's no blowing. Yeah. Yeah, what you got, River? I am going back to the,

not the iron. Bowl, but the Deep South's oldest rivalry in 2013, the prayer and Jordan Hare. Yeah, I was wondering if this was coming. That's right. Man, this play here is just improbable, unbelievable, all the words you want to use, but just crazy stuff in this season, Robin. And it makes the kick. I think this, right, this makes the kick six possible.

I actually think this might be more improbable than the kick six. Yeah, that this was just. unbelievable. I mean, there's like, what, two, three defenders that can just breadbasket and catch it for an interception. Yeah. And it's just crazy. This was the preamble to the kick six. So, yeah. I was wondering if this was going to get taken because it's on my, it's on my big board. And it is, because like one doesn't happen without the other. I was in Nebraska covering a game that day. and I remember we were waiting to interview players and somebody goes,

you will not believe the way Auburn won. And everybody just, you know, because at that time you can't just look on your phone. And when we got an eye back up with the press box and saw it, I was like, oh my God. Yeah, any honorable mentions we need to rattle off. America is the Big House Cordell Stewart. Yep.

the 06 jump pass against Florida against the LSU, Andy? I don't even think that was the most important playing that game. What about the... Riley Cooper hitting early Doucet and making him fumble at the goal line on the kickoff was... Bush push. Bush push was one I thought about.

You mentioned Bluegrass Miracle, which is 2007 LSU Kentucky. He was a really good one. I was thinking of Johnny Man... Excuse me, 2003, LSU, Kentucky. Johnny Mansell against Bama when he bobbled the snap. Yeah. He was like, oh, gracious.

Yeah. Hitting Ryan Swope in the back of the end zone. And the Alabama fan behind him just going. Yeah. And they never seen that. 2016, Tennessee, Georgia, Joanne Jennings, Hill, Mary, Kett in Athens. The dobb nail boot. Well, how about another Tennessee, Georgia game I was at?

The hobnail boot. Yeah. David Green to Veron Haynes. We also forgot about the Michael Crab Tree. Not forget, we didn't draft Michael Crabb Trees. Reception against Texas. Yep. 2008, Texas Tech, Texas set.

And this is the problem. Like what we've just mentioned, the honorable mentions we've just mentioned, is somebody's number one. Yeah. Yeah. This past year I would have, I considered Omar Cooper's catch or Fernando's run into the Enzone in the national championship. So that would have been this past year's selections for me.

Yeah. Yeah, this was really hard, but I just, this was so much fun. Yeah. And I hope everybody had as much fun as we did. And I am sure everybody's got a different list. Everybody's probably got a different, you know, personal favorite. This is, look, I am not kidding. I am so excited for college football season.

Andy question. I need it to happen soon. I need Texas Tech in Texas to figure out how to play. Go ahead, remember. Do you have a favorite Mike Leach play? Well, it's the Crabtree play. Okay. So that's when he was in Texas Tech.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's, so that is Halloween night. I think I had just covered a Florida, Georgia game. So I was in Jacksonville. We'd just go to a restaurant and eat dinner and watch the rest of that game. And this is 2008 when Texas, Texas Tech in Oklahoma all wind up tied atop the Big 12 South. And so this play affected the national.

championship picture because if Texas wins the game, and remember, this is the game where Blake Gideon has the interception in his hands and can't squeeze it. If Texas wins this game, Texas goes the big 12 championship game. Texas ends up playing Florida for the national title instead of Oklahoma. Because Texas had beaten Oklahoma that year, but then Oklahoma beats the crap out of Texas Tech. There's a three-way tie, and Oklahoma wins the three-way tiebreaker. Yeah, that's awesome. But kudos to Mike Leach now for being able to make the college football Hall of Fame ballot. Britton Murphy was on that. So they tweaked the win-loss percentage so that really so Mike Leach could get on the ballot.

He's going to get put in there. Yeah, because the thing about Mike Leach is he always won at places where it was really hard to win. Texas Tech, Washington State, Mississippi State. He won where it was not easy to win. And so I'm glad they changed the rules a little bit, and he's going to get in. And I cannot wait to see the pirate enshrined. And I wish he was still here to see it because he loved college football history. He loved, well, he loved all kinds of history.

But, man, he deserves it. And so can't wait to see them vote him in. No, that's great. We will leave you with that great news. Going into the weekend, we back on Monday. It never stops. But man, I'm going to be thinking about these plays all weekend. We'll talk to you that.