Andy & Ari On3 - Texas A&M hires Duke's Mike Elko | Mississippi State hires Jeff Lebby | Mark Stoops' wild weekend

Episode Date: November 27, 2023

The news came fast and furious Sunday... And we break it all down on tonight's show.Today'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/ANDY(0:00-10:50) Intro - Mike Elko Hired at Texas A&M(10:51-16:07) Jeff Lebby hired at Mississippi State(16:08-25:03) Indiana Fires Tom Allen(25:04-30:08) Houston Fires Dana Holgorsen, 3 potential candidates(30:09-42:18) Andy's Week 14 Resume Ranking(42:19-52:15) Andy's College Football Playoff, New Years 6 Projections(52:16-1:06:44) Nick Roush from Kentucky Sports Radio details Mark Stoops' Weekend(1:06:45-1:18:23) Spencer Holbrook examines Ohio State's Outlook(1:18:24-1:25:25) Conclusion - Grumors and Opening LinesWant to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube, and don't forget to subscribe!https://youtube.com/live/UGOS60Kwuu4Less than 24 hours after a potential deal with Kentucky's Mark Stoops fell apart, Texas A&M hired Duke coach Mike Elko (a former Aggies defensive coordinator) to replace Jimbo Fisher.Meanwhile, Mississippi State hired Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby to replace Zach Arnett. Indiana fired Tom Allen, paying him more than $15 million to not coach (and that was after negotiating the buyout down.Houston also fired Dana Holgorsen, paying a $15 million that Holgorsen once deemed "impossible." Andy breaks down a trio of potential candidates for that job.It's Sunday, so Andy gives you his resume ranking top 10. It looks an awful lot like the College Football Playoff selection committee's top 10, but Andy isn't sure the committee is closely examining the resumes of four 10-2 teams. The reason that matters is made clear in Andy's projected CFP and New Years Six matchups. One or two of those 10-2 teams will be left out of the NY6.Next, Nick Roush of Kentucky Sports Radio joins to discuss the wild weekend for Mark Stoops. It began with a flirtation with Texas A&M, continued with an upset win against Louisville and ended with a decision that Texas A&M would look elsewhere and Stoops would continue making gobs of money at Kentucky.Later, Spencer Holbrook of On3's Lettermen Row joins to discuss what happens next for Ohio State after a third consecutive loss to Michigan. The pressure is squarely on coach Ryan Day now.

Welcome to any staples on three. It is Sunday. It is a Sunday after the last regular season games. And that means there is a ton of news. There are hirings. There are firings. There are so many different things to talk about. There are quarterbacks entering the transfer portal.

There are games to be played. There are coaches coming back from suspension. All of that is happening right now. But the biggest news of the day, Texas A&M has a coach. Texas A&M set to hire Mike Elko from Duke, former Texas A&M defensive coordinator, as its new head coach. Now, this comes after quite a bit of drama on Saturday night involving Kentucky coach Mark Stoops.

Remember, Stoops and Kentucky beat Louisville on Saturday. It was a big upset. They got the Governor's Cup, and then news started coming. Stoops and talks with Texas A&M, and that news stretched into the night. But then shortly after midnight on the East Coast, word came, nope, not happening. So based on people I've talked to, the Board of Regents of Texas A&M was not keen on the idea of a Mark Stoops contract, which probably would have looked pretty similar to the one that they just bought Jimbo Fisher out of. Mark Stoops, meanwhile, wasn't going to get a massive raise to go to Texas

A&M because he's already making $9 million a year at Kentucky, but he was going to have a huge jump in pressure and in expectations. And so the sides did not come together. You had Mark Stoops saying that he's staying after midnight on a Sunday. And then Texas A&M moving on with the search, and they move on to Mike Elko, who was a name that was out there when Jimbo Fisher got fired. Mike Elko has done an incredible job at Duke. Got there, won nine games the first year. They've been very good this year, despite dealing with some quarterback injuries.

I think this is a very good hire for Texas A&M. I like Mike Elko. You know, as far as him versus Mark Stoops, I think the floor is generally the same. You know, we've seen 11 years of Mark Stoops at Kentucky. We know what kind of talent he can bring in. He would be able to bring in top shelf talent at Texas A&M. Would he be able to coach it past Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, LSU? I don't know because we've also seen him for 11 years at Kentucky.

And while the degree of difficulty is higher, there's that staff that follows him around where he's only beaten two SEC teams that finished the season with a winning record in the SEC. That's not great. Mike Elko, now he doesn't have a stat like that, but he's only been a head coach for two years. So he was at a job with a higher degree of difficulty as well. Duke is a much higher degree of difficulty job than Texas A&M and probably about the same as Kentucky considering the difference in conferences. Both of them have been great. Elko, though, is running an offense that is pretty fun to watch when his quarterback's healthy.

And Riley Leonard, it'll be interesting to see because Riley Leonard, the Duke quarterback, is outstanding. He was a guy that people were talking about, okay, what's going to happen with him next year? Is he going to go to the draft? Is he going to potentially transfer somewhere else? Well, what if he went to Texas A&M? I don't know. That would be pretty interesting. But Elko's a defensive guy.

He's the first defensive guy Texas A&M has hired since R.C. Slocum, which that worked out really well for the Aggies. But Stoops' bugaboo throughout his years at Kentucky is that the offense has not been much fun to watch. Stoops also a defensive guy. Elko, thus far in the two years we've seen, seems to be down with running a pretty fun offense. So I think that is going to be a fun one to watch,

fun to see what he does. He got that roster rebuilt quickly at Duke. My guess is he'll do the same at Texas A&M. This is somebody who already has a lot of connections at Texas A&M. He coached there for four seasons as the DC, knows what he's doing there. I would imagine he would try to keep interim coach, Elijah Robinson, Elijah Robinson worked with Mike Elko at Texas A&M. So I think a lot of, you know, infrastructure might be able to stay in place. That's good. He can, he'll have the freedom to go in and say, okay, this worked when Jimbo was here. This did not work when Jimbo was here because he was with Jimbo for four years. So he has a pretty good sense of what's going on.

Mac Daddy Donk says, nothing is announced yet. This brother is jumping the gun. They said Stoops was hired last night. No, if you watched this show last night, we told you Stoops was not hired yet. It was not official because it wasn't. They're hiring Mike Elko. If I'm wrong on this, you can come back and make fun of me tomorrow night, but I'm not going to be wrong on this. They're hiring Mike Elko. If I'm wrong on this, you can come back and make fun of me tomorrow night, but I'm not going to be wrong on this. They're hiring Mike Elko. Chris in the chat says, Ola, did A&M settle for Elko? He clearly wasn't the first choice. Well, the first choice would have been someone like Ryan Day, who was not interested. So we all do the, I wasn't my wife's first choice joke. But you have to ask yourself,

Mark Stoops clearly was ahead of Mike Elko in the pecking order. But I look at the reaction from Texas A&M fans. They seem a lot happier with the idea of hiring Mike Elko than with the idea of hiring Mark Stoops. So Mark Stoops may have wanted the job at first and it may not have worked out. Ross Bjork, the AD at Texas A&M may have wanted Mark Stoops over Mike Elko, but the constituency seems to want Mike Elko over Mark Stoops. And I don't think this is a case of them saying, well, we didn't get the guy we were going after first. So we got to make sure we get behind this one so that it looks like we're all united. Look, this is Texas A&M. They struggle to be united even in the happiest of times. So if a lot of

people there are really happy with this hire, then I think, yeah, they're going to be happy with this one. So we'll see what he does. But I like it when somebody comes in who kind of understands the place, who's worked with a lot of the people on the staff and can make really informed decisions about who to keep, who to let go, who to bring in, how to bring them in, how to run things. I think that, that probably smooths the transition even more. It's not required obviously, but I think it will help. And again, Mac daddy, all I'm saying is wait until it's announced. Instead of jumping the gun, I'm not jumping the gun. They're hiring him. You wait until it's

announced. You watch another show when it's announced, come back and you watch this show and be like, Oh yeah, they're hiring him. Cool. Uh, this, this one should be fun to watch because again, Texas A&M, we talk about this all the time on the show. Everything you need, everything you need to compete for national titles. Money, passionate fan base, location, proximity to recruit, everything you want. Yet for whatever reason, they can never put it all together. And eventually you get the right guy sometimes. So the last team to win a first-time national title was Florida, 1996. That was the Steve Spurrier, his first national title at Florida

and only national title. He was the guy who was needed to unlock that program. Sometimes you just have to find the guy who unlocks the program A&M for whatever reason has never been able to find that person R.C. Slocum who I mentioned earlier came probably came the closest but they've never been able to do it I don't know if Mike Elko is that guy either but it doesn't feel like they're they feel trapped in this one and I think that that was the issue with Mark Stoops he makes makes $9 million a year. His salary is 75% guaranteed at Kentucky, and he's signed through 2030.

So even if you just had to add a little bit to that in terms of salary or in terms of guarantee, you were looking at a contract that was going to look very much like Jimbo Fisher's contract. And it's going to be very hard to get out of if you didn't like it. I mean, they just paid $77 million to buy out Jimbo Fisher where they haven't paid it all yet, but they're going to have to eventually pay that much. So Mike Elko will not cost that much. He will not require that much guarantee. He will not require that much guarantee. He will require some because he's a power five head coach and he's been successful, but it's not going to be the same thing.

So it's not going to feel like win the national title or else that pressure will not be on him. He will have enough pressure on him because he's a Texas A&M coach already, but we'll see what he does. I think there's a lot of people in Aggieland that are excited about this hire, and I'm glad. This would have been a disaster if they hired someone and everybody was checked out on that person from the get-go, and it makes it hard to recruit. It makes it hard to do anything. That situation is not what you want. You do not want to bring someone into that. You don't want that negativity surrounding the program from the get-go. So this guy,

I think, has a good shot to succeed. If you can win at Duke, you know that Spurrier comparison I made, he did win the ACC at Duke. If you can win at Duke, maybe you can win anywhere. We will see. Matt in the chat, did Stoops dodge a bullet, Andy? You know what I think about Stoops' job at Kentucky? I take credit for being the first to call it the best coaching job in America. You and Ari run with it now. Were you the first? I'm pretty sure I was the first. Actually, I'm pretty sure none of us were the first. I think the folks in Kentucky have been saying that a lot longer than we have because the smart Kentucky fans understand what's going on there. They understand their job. They understand the expectations there. And they've been saying, Hey, look, we'll pay you a lot of money and we are not going to run you off. If you don't win 11 games a year, there's not many places where you can say that there's

not many places that pay as much as Kentucky does that will not fire your ass for going eight and four. So I think the Kentucky fans probably beat us to that Matt but if you would like to take credit for it I am I am all for it some more news another SEC school has made a hire Mississippi State has hired Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Levy this is an interesting one as well Oklahoma fans very happy with Levy the last few weeks they They were not happy with Levy after the Kansas game. I think they were ready to run him out of town. So I think if we go back a few weeks, they'd be thrilled to know he's going elsewhere. But Jeff Levy worked with Zach Selman, who is the Mississippi State AD at Oklahoma. Zach Selman was the longtime lieutenant of Joe Castiglione, the Oklahoma AD. So these guys know each other well.

State of Mississippi, the Mississippi State fans know Jeff Levy as former Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff Levy. And one of the funniest retweets of Sunday night was Lane Kiffin retweeting Jeff Levy wearing the We Run the Sip socks when he was the Ole Miss offensive coordinator. Now, I don't know the Ole Miss fans are quaking in their boots because I don't think they were that gaga over Levy when he was there. But I do think this is very interesting, especially when you look at what Oklahoma's going to do. And I'll get the Bryles stuff out of the way now. Jeff Levy is Art Bryles' son-in-law.

He worked with Art Bryles at Baylor. That is going to come up. I think Zach Selman knows that. It came up at Oklahoma this year when Art Bryles was on the field with Jeff Levy's family. It's going to come up. So let's all be prepared for that. But Jeff Levy's gotten multiple jobs since then. Kendall Riles, Art's son, Jeff's brother-in-law, has gotten multiple jobs since then.

So I think they're going to keep working in college football. So you're just going to keep working in college football. So you're just going to have to deal with that. Now, this situation scheme wise is interesting. So it's, it's Mississippi state, which had hired Mike Leach to come in and run the air raid. Mike Leach passes tragically last year. They elevate Zach Arnett, the defensive coordinator. He tried to bring in Kevin Barbay to run a different offense. It didn't work. So now they go back to an offensive-minded head coach.

This is not the air raid. I know people get the Bryles offense and the air raid confused, but they are not the same offense. So this is the offense that Baylor ran back in the day. That Ole Miss runs now. That Tennessee runs now. Will Oklahoma continue to run it? Because if they do, then a quarter of the SEC is going to be running this offense.

Arkansas used to run it too. And then Kendall Bryles went to TCU. And who knows? Sam Pittman, in replacing Dan Enos at offensive coordinator, may bring in another person who runs that offense. Like Sean Lewis is out there, theos at offensive coordinator, maybe bring in another person who runs that offense. Like Sean Lewis is out there, the former Colorado offensive coordinator. He runs that offense too.

So you may see as many as five SEC schools running this offense next year, which is just, it blows my mind. I remember talking to Lane Kiffin about this when he got to FAU. He was talking about when he was the offensive coordinator at Alabama and Nick Saban sent him to look around at different offensive schemes. And that was the one that he felt like was really interesting and that he could do the most with, but Saban didn't

want to add it into the Alabama playbook because he felt it was a little too extreme in terms of some of the things, the really wide receiver splits, like you can't run out routes. It changes the route tree a lot. And so a lot of coaches consider it a bit, you know, kind of a step too far that they don't want to do it like that, but it has been really effective where it's been run. And it was kind of a secret for a while that the people who knew it didn't share it with a lot of people, but Josh Heupel was one of the first people to kind of break in and get taught the scheme. And he went from an air raid guy to running that offense. And he also employed Jeff Levy at UCF. So really interesting how this is all interconnected. And it is going to be kind of the flavor of the era offense in the SEC

as the SEC expands to 16 teams. So that is a really interesting thing because it used to be such a changeup, and now it's going to be something that teams might see three, four times a year in league play. And I do wonder if that changes how defensive coordinators are going to work, how they get hired. And we'll see what Jeff Levy does in terms of bringing in a defensive coordinator, because that that's a tough offense to run defense alongside. You know, I think you're seeing Brent Venables do it pretty well at Oklahoma this year,

but there was, there was some push pull and. And trust me, the Oklahoma folks got off their jet sweep jokes. Jeff Levy loves him to jet sweeps. But fascinated to see where this hire goes. Matt in the chat again said, I heard Arkansas is going to look at Buster Faulkner as offensive coordinator. Buster Faulkner is at Georgia Tech right now. He's a guy who I think you're going to hear his name quite a bit in the next few weeks in terms of offensive coordinator jobs, because he's done a great job with Brent Key at Georgia Tech.

So lots of coaching carousel stuff. This is going to be fast and furious here over the next week as people get hired, as people get fired. We got to talk about the firings to Indiana. Tom Allen got fired and took so negotiated down his buyout. His buyout was 20 million dollars. It was this was the situation Indiana was facing. Pay him 20 million dollars and fire him this year or wait till next year and pay him $8 million. And I, you got a lot of kind of hand wringing over the state of college

athletics when they chose to pay him $20 million. And, and I'm with you. If you're going to do that, just pay him $20 million to not work. Like if you're, and we, we don't exactly know where the money's coming from in this, because some of it may be athletic department funds. It might be what they get from the conference. Some of it may be from donations. But if you have donors footing the bill for something like this, I would love to see donors, instead of kicking in for this, just kick in that money for NIL and try to buy some better players.

Wouldn't that be more effective than paying somebody to not work? And the Arkansas fans all chimed in when I mentioned that on Twitter and said, I think that's what we're doing by keeping Sam Pittman. So we'll see if that's really what's going on. And here's the thing. It's not a perfect system.

You have to spend the correct money on the correct players and on the correct coach, or it doesn't work. And the system's going to change anyway. But Tom Allen, fired in Indiana, sent a really classy statement out. It's been my greatest professional honor to serve as Indiana's head football coach for the past seven years. Representing this university and the state has meant more to me than you can imagine. Our entire journey here has been based on a simple concept, love each other. It's what we've done and it's what we'll always do. I continue to believe it's a recipe to change the world. There have been so many incredible memories made and relationships formed. I'll always be

grateful for the players, coaches, and staff who believed in our vision and gave their heart and soul for this program. It goes on, but really classy way to go out for Tom Allen. So he did negotiate down his buyout. He took $15 million in two installments over the 20 million that was going to be spread out a little more. And there could be several reasons for this. We've not seen the exact reasoning for it. It could be that he's getting all of it, all of that amount much faster than he'd be getting the other amount. Time value of money, it might basically amount to the same thing if invested well. Also, he could have waived an offset where, remember that some contracts have offset clauses where they say, if you are fired and we give you a buyout, your next job, your salary comes out of the buyout. We don't have

to pay you your salary, whatever your salary is. We subtract that from the amount we have to pay you. So it could be that it could be Tom Allen wants to go work as a defensive coordinator right now. And he's a very good one. So schools that are looking for one, that might be the thing. That might be the way to go. Andrew asks, would Andy Staples take a $15.5 million buyout? I say, no, he loves this podcast too much. Guys, if I were offered $15.5 million to not do this podcast anymore, you would never see me again.

Never. And I'm not going to be one of those people that would do... What is the podcast equivalent of Nick Saban's School for Wayward Coaches? Would I go back to Ari and be his intern? I think that's probably how it would work. I would be Ari and David Oven's intern over at Until Saturday and just learn under that. No, I wouldn't do that either. That's not how I, if you give me $15.5 million, I am gone. I am buying a beach house with cash. I am putting the rest in something medium risk that I know will grow and you will never see me again. So if you guys want to send that information to my bosses at on three, you feel free to,

because hell, it seems like everybody's giving out that kind of money because Tom Allen was not the only coach fired on Sunday. Dana Dimmel at UTEP also fired. Also, speaking of coaches named Dana in Texas, Dana Holgerson fired at Houston. Now remember, Dana Holgerson is the one who told the athletic in the offseason he wasn't worried about getting fired because of a, quote, bleeping impossible buyout, a $15 million buyout. Well, they did it. And in a minute, I'm going to talk to you about a trio of coaches that I think the Cougars should look at because it's one of those things where normally we come with these lists that are like eight, 10 people long. As it could be this guy, this person works here.

This is the hot coordinator. I'm going to give you guys three. If they hire from that three, I think they're going to be pretty happy. And I think their fans are going to be pretty happy because these are three guys that really seem to fit that job pretty well. But it, it's one of those days. Now we're still waiting to hear, have not heard anything about UCLA. Remember a couple of weeks ago, it was all over the place. UCLA might fire Chip Kelly and then Chip Kelly beats USC handily. And the thought is, well, maybe not. Then they get shelled by Cal in the last Pac-12 after dark game as we know it. So still waiting on that. Have not heard anything about that one. But that's one that everybody still has their eye on.

It feels like the other ones, they've gone and now we'll get the domino effect. So Duke will have to make a hire. Whoever Indiana hires, that school will have to make a hire. Oklahoma will need to hire a new offensive coordinator. Now, could they bring up Joe John Finley? I remember I said, are they going to keep running the same offense? If they want to keep running the same offense, you could bring up Joe John Finley. Just promote it. You could promote Seth Luttrell. Now that's a different offense.

That's the air raid. But you also have him on staff. He's been a play calling OC and a head coach. So all of that is going to be how, how we talk this week. We're going to be talking about all of those moves, the domino effect, and all these staffs are going to get filled. But first, before we get to the trio that I think Houston needs to look at, I want to tell you about PrizePix.

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50. So, you know, the, you've got the Ravens and the car and the chargers playing. So I, I think in the Ravens can control this game without a huge throwing day from Lamar Jackson. So I said less than 235 and a half pass yards and box that in with more than 49 and a half rush yards from Gus Edwards and more than 15 and a half rush yards from Justin Herbert. And this is an NFL game. So I don't have to worry about the bad beat situation that I ran into with

Bo Nix the other day where I needed him to gain more than seven and a half rushing yards. He had 15, he lost eight on a sack, and then all of a sudden he had seven and I was screwed. So that one, if Justin Herbert has one nice scramble, then I'm probably okay. And then I threw another one on there. Isaiah Likely, who I just loved at Coastal Carolina. I've got him at more than 30 and a half receiving yards. And then Keenan Allen, in honor of Cal's victory against UCLA. I'm going more than 88 and a half receiving yards. So download PrizePix.

They use that referral code, Andy. They will match your first deposit up to $100. So much fun. Every, every sport, basketball, hockey, football, baseball, you name it. They've got college basketball squares pretty much every night. Now, college football, we don't have the, the every night football anymore. So we can only do that on occasion, but the good news is plenty of college basketball and NBA. It's right there for you. All right. Speaking of being right there for you, Houston, you got a trio right there for you, right? Staring at you. Talk to these guys and pick one. One of these should be your next head coach. Here's the trio.

In the offseason, Houston coach Dana Holgerson told the athletic Sam Kahn that he wasn't worried about his future because he had, quote, an effing impossible buyout. In the words of Kevin Garnett, when you have a billionaire pulling the strings at your athletic department, anything is possible! Yeah. When you have a billionaire pulling the strings at your athletic department, anything is possible. Yeah. Tillman Fertitta, owner of the Houston Rockets, hotelier, restaurateur,

really, really rich guy. When he decides something needs to change, it changes, even if you have a $15 million buyout. So Houston, which has moved on Fertita's whims for quite some time now, is moving on from Dana Holgerson because you heard it when they fired Tony Levine, who went from coaching to running Chick-fil-A's. You heard it when they hired Major Applewhite and then fired him very quickly. They don't accept or tolerate losing in Houston, and even as they moved up to the Big 12 and the job got more difficult, it didn't matter. They're going to set a high standard, and they're going to pay for what they want, and what they

want is to compete in the Big 12 right now. So what should Houston do? I'm going to give you a trio of candidates. I realize most of these candidate lists are longer. I don't think this one needs to be any longer. I think it needs to be one of these three guys on this list. And if you hire one of these three guys on this list, you have a very good chance of getting what you want. So we'll start with Jeff Traylor. He's the UTSA coach. Roadrunners, seven and1 in the American this year in their first year in American play. Traylor is 38-14 in four seasons at the helm. He's a four-time class 4A Texas State high school coach of the year. Nobody understands recruiting in the Lone Star State as a head coach better

than Jeff Traylor. Nobody. So in terms of roster construction, this is a guy who would be able to put together a very talented roster. He's got the contacts to do it. You want portal bounce backs. You're going to get those. Traylor probably should be on the list of Texas A&M. I know that they kicked the tires on him. We still don't know if A&M's going to make a hire, and maybe it's him. Who knows? Maybe they go back. But right now, it definitely seems like Traylor would be available and that he'd be interested.

So that's one. Number two, Willie Fritz, Tulane head coach. Still a little shocked that Willie didn't wind up at Mississippi State, but this is another guy who has won every single place he's been. Very instructive here. One place that he's won. Now, we can talk about Tulane, where they're going to play in the American Championship game. They actually just beat Trailers Roadrunners on Friday. Tulane will play SMU for the American title. If they win that, they're probably going to play in their second consecutive New Year's Six Bowl. So that's what Willie Fritz has been

doing at Tulane. But he's won everywhere he's been, Central Missouri, Georgia Southern. The one that makes this one interesting is he won at Sam Houston State. So four years at Sam Houston State, three FCS playoff appearances, two national title game appearances, basically recruiting in the same neighborhood as Houston, understanding the dynamics there. You take a guy who wins wherever he goes, has already recruited in the area. It does seem like a pretty good fit. Let me throw a more name at you. And this is the one that I'm sure most of you will be most familiar with. Former TCU coach, Gary Patterson. There is nobody, nobody better at evaluating and developing talent in the state of Texas. There's nobody who's more proven at building a winner in the state of Texas than Gary Patterson,

who did it for years and years and years at TCU. What Gary Patterson needs to do if he gets in a room with the Houston people is explain to them how he will handle players differently in the NIL era. I'm not sure the way he handled players during his heyday at TCU is going to work when players can just transfer and play somewhere else immediately, or when players are getting paid and some are getting paid more than others, you've got to have a little more deaf touch in that case. But Gary Patterson is a very smart person. Look at how well he's done over the years. I think he can figure that out. So if he can show them that he's capable of managing that side of the business, I don't worry about the other part. He's going to find good players,

and he's going to put them in a position to win. So if you're Houston, you just paid a lot of money to make a change. You got to get this one right. The good news is you don't have to look far, and you don't have to have too long of a list. These guys would win there. Just got to pick one.

It's Sunday. That means it's time for another edition of the resume ranking, which kind of is just the ranking at this point. When we started this thing at the beginning of the season, it was based strictly on what had happened this season, not on preseason hype, not on a team's reputation. Now it's just about what the team has done on the field, which is kind of what the other rankings are now too. But I've noticed in the bottom of the top 10 and the top of the 10 through 20 in the college football playoff selection committee rankings, I don't know that they're actually looking at the resumes as closely as they should. So we'll talk about that when we get down there, but we'll

start at the top because obviously there is a lot to talk about in terms of the college football playoff. Now, if all goes according to plan, then maybe not, but we shall see because as college football showed us on Saturday, the plans sometimes change. Number one is Georgia. Bulldogs kind of sleeping against Georgia Tech, not quite at full strength. They will be as close to full strength as they can possibly be when they play Alabama in the SEC championship game.

I expect a different looking team in Atlanta this time than the one that was in Atlanta yesterday. So a couple miles away, I imagine Georgia looks a little bit different when they play the tide, but we will get to a little more about that game when we talk about Alabama and where they are on this list. Number two, Michigan, the Wolverines beat Ohio state. They're going to play Iowa for the big 10 title. If they win during the college football playoff, they will either be the one or the two seed, depending on what happens in Georgia and Alabama.

I realize I should probably say what might happen if Iowa wins, but I find it very hard to wrap my brain around that concept. So congratulations to the Wolverines. And going to be really awkward if Michigan wins and Tony Petitti, the commissioner of the Big Ten, has to hand Jim Harbaugh that trophy. That's going to be quite a scene. Number three, Washington. Great win against Oregon.

Undefeated. If they win against Oregon in Vegas, they are in. The problem is if you've watched Oregon and Washington lately, Oregon looks better. Now, they've already played, and Washington won. They have to play again. It doesn't matter how they've looked between now and then. It only matters what happens when they play on the field.

Oregon is a favorite in this game in Las Vegas for the Pac-12 championship, the last Pac-12 game in the Pac-12 as we know it. That said, Washington beat them the first time. Washington could win this thing again. If Washington wins, Washington is in the playoff. There will be no debate about that. Easy, easy. If Oregon wins, well, we'll talk about that when we get to the Ducks. But first, we got to talk about Florida State. The Seminoles, first game without Jordan Travis as their starter. Tate Rodemaker comes in. It took him a little while to get going against Florida. Florida State had to come back at the end to beat Florida. It was not a pretty game, but they won. Now Florida State moves on to the

ACC championship game against Louisville, which face planted against Kentucky on Saturday, which doesn't help the conference at all. That said, Florida State wins 13-0. They should be in the college football playoff. As long as Georgia beats Alabama, I don't foresee a scenario where a 13-0 Florida State gets left out. Now, that probably means there's a scenario where a 12-1 Big 12 champ Texas gets left out in favor of Florida State.

But the committee's just going to go, they were undefeated. Texas would have made it next year. We've already moved on to the 12 team. Blame the Alliance for not doing the 12 team this year. At least that's what I would say. I don't know if that's what Boo Corrigan's going to say. But that's where Florida State's at. I do not think they're going to leave them out unless they're in a situation where they have to judge them against Georgia.

That's the problem for anybody who's kind of right on the cusp, is getting judged against Georgia. if Georgia were to lose to Alabama and you're sitting there with a 12-1 Georgia, all of the power rankings, Vegas, all of the committee members in their minds and in their eye tests are going to go, yeah, but the Bulldogs can beat all these teams. That's what they're going to say. So if you're a Florida State fan, root for the Noles, root for the Bulldogs. You should be fine in that case. Number five, Texas. Obviously huge Louisville fans this week. Huge Louisville fans. Huge Oregon fans too, but I don't know that Oregon helps you because Oregon probably just replaces Washington in the top four. Although Texas versus Oregon in the top four with Texas holding that win against Alabama would be very helpful. What's interesting for Texas is if Alabama beats Georgia, that also could pull Texas up because Texas has a head-to-head win against Alabama and Tuscaloosa. And the committee can go through all

the mental gymnastics it wants to saying, well, Alabama is different. Texas is different. Alabama just beat Georgia. They still played. They would still have the same record. Texas won in Tuscaloosa. That's where this gets really fascinating. So if that happens, I would think Texas is in the playoff. If Florida State loses Louisville and Texas beats Oklahoma State, Texas is in the playoff. If Florida State loses Louisville and Texas beats Oklahoma State, Texas is in the playoff. Now what's interesting about Texas is you watch them play on Friday

and you say, oh my God, they can beat any team in this thing. Any of them. They don't play like that every week. So you don't know which Texas you're going to get. But if you get that version of Texas in the Big 12 championship game, if that's the last vision of Texas that the committee sees, it's going to be a tough decision for the committee. Unless Alabama beats Georgia, then it's probably an easy one because Texas beat Alabama. We'll see what happens. Number six, I've got Oregon. The Ducks favored to beat Washington this week. The way

they've been playing, as I said earlier, they've been better recently than Washington. It doesn't matter though. They have to beat them on the field. They tried three fourth downs in critical situations last time against Washington, got stuffed every time. They got to get one or two of those this time, or maybe leave no doubt. They've been leaving no doubt in their games recently. Washington has been leaving doubt. So we're going to find out how much these teams have changed, evolved, how different they are since that first meeting. And oh, by the way, neutral site this time instead of in Seattle. Number seven, Alabama. The Crimson Tide needed an absolute miracle to win the Iron Bowl.

A miracle. It was the second miracle at Jordan-Hare. The first miracle at Jordan-Hare helped Auburn 2013 against Georgia. But this one, Alabama was dead. Their playoff hopes were cooked. And then they won the game. Jalen Milroad, Isaiah Bond. Remember two years ago, Alabama needed four overtimes to beat a pretty meh Auburn team in the Iron Bowl in Jordan-Hare. What did they do the following week in Atlanta? They beat the eventual national champion, Georgia, and it wasn't particularly close. So we've seen this happen before. The gap between this Georgia team and this Alabama team doesn't feel that different than it felt then.

This is a really fascinating game. And as I said earlier, it can really mess up everything else, make the committee's life very difficult on Sunday. So I'm sure the committee is saying, please Georgia win this so we can make easy decisions. Because if Alabama wins, it gets kind of complicated. Number eight, Ohio State. The Buckeyes are stuck here. There's really nothing they can do about this. Unlike last year, there's not really a path back into the top four. So they got to sit there and wear that Michigan loss. Because remember, playing Georgia in the Peach Bowl reframed things for the Buckeyes.

And you can say, oh, well, you lost to the team that won the national title. There's no shame in that. And if you'd beaten them, which really, if they'd gotten one more stop late in the game, they would have beaten them. Ohio State probably would have beaten TCU for the national title. And so you could really rationalize away what happened against Michigan and Columbus last year. But you can't rationalize away what happened against Michigan in Ann Arbor on Saturday because there's not going to be that opportunity.

Ohio State's going to go to a New Year's Six Bowl. The team's going to look completely different. The best players may not play. It's just going to be a really sour end, and they've got to sit there and think about losing to Michigan over and over and over again, and that's just where they are. Okay, here's where it gets interesting. So if you look at the committee rankings, you see Missouri, you see Penn State. I think Missouri, Penn State, Oklahoma, and Ole Miss are all fairly similar in terms of record, resume, everything. So how do we parse these guys? Because you got to put them in some order and the order that they get put in by the committee is going to determine who plays in New Year's Six games and who doesn't. Next year, it would determine who actually makes the playoff

and who doesn't. I think Oklahoma has the best resume of this group. So I think Oklahoma should be at number nine. They have the best win against Texas, that SMU win looking nicer and nicer as the Mustangs prepare to play for the American Championship. Oklahoma seems to be coming on at the right time. They've been really good offensively lately. So I think Oklahoma probably is the best choice of these four, yet the committee disagrees completely. And I do wonder, will they have a reevaluation of all these teams, either for this ranking or for the final one?

Remember back in 2014, when they had TCU ranked above Baylor over and over and over again, and then before the final ranking, they went, wait a second. They have the same record, and they played, and Baylor won. Why are we doing this? And they moved Baylor ahead of TCU, which was the right choice. But it took them until the final ranking to do that. So they do, like they say, they start with a clean sheet of paper. If they start with a clean sheet of paper two more times, you may see Oklahoma move up.

Penn State, I think, is the fourth of those four teams. So they're not going to be my number 10. I think they probably should be beneath Ole Miss and Missouri. The question is, who's higher, Ole Miss or Missouri? And it is a pretty tight call. Both 10-2, both playing the SEC. They both played Georgia. Missouri was more competitive.

Ole Miss got blown out. But they both played LSU. Ole Miss won. Missouri didn't. Close game. Could have gone either way, but Missouri throws a pick six at the end, and they lose. Missouri has that win against K-State.

Good win. Looks less good with K-State losing the snowy Farmageddon on Saturday. Ole Miss, if we go back into the annals of the early season, has that win against Tulane. Now, no Michael Pratt in that game, but the Green Wave actually have been very good. They're going to play for the American Championship next week. Their only loss is to Ole Miss.

So I'm going to put Ole Miss here at number 10. You may disagree with me, and that's fine. All that matters is what the committee thinks. But I wonder if the committee actually does a real reevaluation or they just lazily put what they've been putting the last few weeks i think they may come around to my way of thinking on this we'll find out now it's time to project who's going to play in the college football playoff, who is going to play in the New Year's Six Bowls. This has a lot to do with what I talked about in the resume ranking segment.

How the committee views this quartet of 10 and 2 teams of Missouri, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, and Penn State will determine who plays in some of these games. What also does contracts. That's right. Remember, we're a year away from this not mattering anymore, but right now, contracts still matter. Not as much this year because the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl, which are both contract bowls, they'refinals so they're they're out of the mix they'll get the top four teams regardless the orange bowl is the only bowl in the new year's six this year that we've got to worry about who's in what conference they're going to have an acc team in there whether it's the acc champ or the highest ranked acc team not in the playoff so

that will be florida state or louisville the question is is florida state in the college football playoff or not because if florida state is in the college football playoff louisville is in this game win or lose the acc championship game louisville would be there the thing that complicates it for the four teams i'm talking about is that florida state would still be in the new year's six if they lose to louisville so State would still be in the New Year's Six if they lose to Louisville. So they wouldn't be in the college football playoff, but Louisville would get that Orange Bowl spot with a win in the ACC championship game. Florida State would slip into another spot in the New Year's Six. It would still take a spot away

from those four that we're talking about. And that's what makes this very interesting. So we'll start at the top Sugar Bowl, number one, Georgia. I've got number four, Florida State here. I'm saying Florida State beats Louisville 13 and 0 they're in. Rose Bowl, number two, Michigan versus number three, Oregon. Yes, I think if Oregon beats Washington, the committee would move Oregon ahead of Florida State, but would not knock Florida State out of the playoff. They would just swap Oregon and Washington. That puts Washington in the fiesta bowl. I've got them against Oklahoma because I think if the committee reevaluates the resumes, they're going to say that Oklahoma actually has the best resume of those four, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Missouri, Penn State.

I could be wrong here. This could be Penn State. This could be Missouri, but I'm saying it's Oklahoma. Cotton Bowl. I've got Texas and Ole Miss. Now, Texas, if they win the Big 12 and they're 12-1, they're going to be probably left out if Florida State wins the ACC Championship game. And that is going to be a pretty bitter pill to swallow because this Texas team is really good. And from a resume standpoint, probably deserves to play the playoff, probably can beat more teams in the playoff than Florida State could. But they're not going to do that to a 13-0 team.

They're just not. I've got them against Ole Miss. So Ole Miss and Missouri, I think are a really tight one. Penn State, I actually think has the worst resume of those four that are duking it out for those spots. Ole Miss and Missouri, it's really close. You could go either way. Just Ole Miss beat LSU. Missouri didn't. Missouri's best non-conference win is Kansas State. Ole Miss's is Tulane. They're both good wins. K-State losing against Iowa State doesn't help. Tulane moving into the American Championship game certainly does help.

So that's really where it is. And so I've got Texas and Ole Miss in that game. And then I've got Alabama, Tulane, and the Peach Bowl. Tulane's got to win the American Championship. They will get the spot for the highest ranked group of five champ. I don't know that SMU would. The question now is if Tulane were to lose to SMU and Liberty were to beat New Mexico State for the Conference USA title, will Liberty get that spot as an undefeated Conference USA champ? That will be really

interesting. So I'm going to watch the committee's rankings very closely on Tuesday to see where they put Tulane, where do they put Liberty, and do they put SMU in there at all to maybe give themselves some insurance in case they want to throw SMU in there if the Mustangs win. Very, very interesting situation. Well, and let's not forget UNLV. Let's say UNLlv wins the mountain west so keep your eyes peeled where where does two lane wind up where's liberty where's unlv and does smu make the rankings because those will help determine who plays in that new year's six bowl spot going to be very weird in the last year of doing this but listen it's college football you wouldn't have it any other way all right so you you guys have thoughts on the ranking and on the projections

and uh saundra in the chat number three washington is great what is crazy about number three washington washington has a great resume they've beaten Oregon. They've beaten every team they've played in a really good league. The Pac-12 has been a really good deep league this year. So absolutely number three, Washington. Now they still have to beat Oregon again. And obviously Vegas doesn't think they're going to. Persistent Jordan in the chat says Texas loses the Big 12 championship game. Listen, I'm not going to argue with you on that. I think if the Texas that played Texas Tech on Friday and the Texas we've seen in certain games this season plays against Oklahoma State,

that they're going to beat Oklahoma State pretty soundly. But I don't know if that's the case, if the Texas we've seen and a few other, like the Texas that played Kansas State, they may struggle against Oklahoma State. That may be a tight game, four quarters, and we don't know who's going to win. So I am ready to watch all of these,

especially ready to watch Alabama-Georgia for the reasons I said. A couple years ago, it was a very similar situation. The ending of the Iron Bowl this year was a little more dramatic. Crazy both ways. R. Farcia says, 12-1 Oregon is getting left out. Texas has a better win.

Well, if Alabama beats Georgia, yes, Texas has a better win. If Oregon beats Washington and Alabama doesn't beat Georgia, I'd say the, the Oregon win against Washington and the Texas win against Alabama would be kind of equal. I think they'd be viewed fairly equally in the committee's eyes. So this is the big one though. This is from Michael. If Bama wins the SEC championship, you've got to put Bama and UGA in the playoffs. I know there's a lot of people who don't feel that way. I know most of the people who are fans of SEC teams do feel that way, but I think most of the committee would feel that way because at the end of

the day, it's for best and they're going to say Georgia can beat all these teams. That's the thing. You can call it the eye test. You can call it whatever you want. You can call it using Vegas spreads because Georgia probably, even if Georgia loses to Alabama, Georgia would probably still be favored against everybody,

including Alabama, by Vegas. You can call it whatever you want, but they'd find a way to put Georgia in, I think. I don't think they'd just leave them out because Georgia could win the whole thing. And that may be the question they have to ask themselves is, do we think this team can win the whole thing? And if the answer is yes, then you're going to put them in over a team where you answer no to that question. And that may seem unfair, but it is unfair. It's a dumb system.

That's why they're changing it. Next year, it's 12 teams. So it's going to be a fun weekend. Because I do think, not knowing what Texas team we're going to get, the Oregon-Washington game on Friday should be awesome. The first game was so much fun with the fourth down tries and Michael Penix and Bo Nix just completely dueling. Bo Nix in this case, well, and Michael Penix, get another shot to burnish their Heisman Trophy resumes right before the voters vote. I think this will be a fun way for this system to go out. It would suck if the system goes out with an incredibly controversial no-win situation for the committee. Because there is a

potential no-win. There's a couple of potential no-win situations, but the one we talked about is you got a 12-1 Oregon Pac-12 champ, 12-1 Texas Big 12 champ, 13-0 Florida State ACC champ, 13-0 Georgia, 13-0 Michigan. You're going to leave one of the 12-1 teams out, and it's going to suck for whoever that is. And you can say, well, you shouldn't have lost that one. It's true. You shouldn't have, but it's not as much fun as a 12 team would be this year. It would be great if they could just fast forward to that. But unfortunately, one more year of this. Now, as interesting as next weekend will be for us to watch, I do not think it will be as interesting as the one Mark Stoops lived this past weekend was. Definitely one of the craziest Thanksgiving weekends you'll ever see for anybody. Mark Stoops, candidate for the Texas A&M job, Kentucky coach, pulls off an upset.

Then everything gets weird. Nick Roush from Kentucky Sports Radio joined us to break down a wild, wild weekend for Mark Stoops. We are joined now by Nick Roush of Kentucky Sports Radio. And Nick, Mark Stoops seriously considered leaving the best job in college football. We got to talk about this. Yeah, yeah, we got to talk about this. It was a heck of a day, Andy, but I do think a lot of it started. I got some weird vibes out of that South Carolina game. We walk out of the press conference and we see Mark Stoops sitting on the ground,

talking with Eddie grand, the former offensive coordinator, who's kind of his old head, kind of a guy. He's off. Yeah, exactly. And he's sitting there just head on his hand,

just looking exasperated because that, that loss was a terrible, terrible loss. And the way things had been adding up, their two and seven in their last nine SEC home games, they had back-to-back years where Kentucky fans thought eight, nine, ten wins in with seven and five seasons and losing record in SEC play. You thought things were kind of coming together where the Jenga tower,

somebody was going to pull a block out, and that South Carolina game was going to make it all fall down. And so that kind of started a lot of stuff where you're kind of putting things together and you're like, something's going on here. We might think that Bork Stoops is on his way out. Well, and you and I texted midweek. I think it was right before the night before Thanksgiving. I was making mac and cheese for Thanksgiving dinner,

and somebody had sent me a text, and it was a list of potential Texas A&M names. And I knew two of them, and Stoops was the other one, and I hadn't heard that yet. So I text you, hey, have you heard anything about this? And you guys at Kentucky Sports Radio, of course, were on this already, and you'd been tracking it all week. And when did it dawn that it was actually serious, that there was actual conversation going on? Like you, I did not want to step away from the

sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving day, but we did have to get on the phone with some folks. And it was just enough to make you think that something about this time was different um you know there had been some retirement rumors that were swirling um you know he mentioned that he he had to get something for his ticker right he comes from a family with um you know heart issues his dad right not a joking master like yeah coaching a game. So, yeah. So those retirement rumors were out there. I got good intel, and those were refuted. But the way it was worded, it's like, well, something else might be going on here. And just, you know, that conversation that we had, Andy, that in reaching out to other people, you're like, oh, this isn't just your normal

Jimmy Sexton work. This is real. And then it's almost like somebody pulled the pin, pulled the cord on Saturday morning, and the football game just served as a nice four-hour distraction because from that point forward, it was full steam ahead. Something's going down. What's it going to be? it ended up being even crazier than we than we all expected well and what makes this so fascinating to me is i i call kentucky the best job in america and the reason i call it the best job in america is because they will pay you like a national title contender but they don't expect you to be a national title contender texas a m does but the salary scale is not as such that somebody could leave a job like kentucky i i think any any pretty good sec

or big 10 job like you're not going to get a commensurate pay bump relative to the pressure bump that you would get and that's what made this that that's what made this so weird is because i would i would assume you're going to get something more but it doesn't necessarily justify the level of press because like when you go to a m you're going to be expected to win 10 11 12 games a year they fired jimbo fisher for not doing. And so that's where it seems strange to me, but then, so let's talk Stoops' contract. He makes an average of $9 million a year in this deal, which runs through 2030. It's 75% guaranteed. So if they were to fire him for cause, like right now, it'd be 45 million bucks. So you're talking about a contract that is not

all that different from the one Texas A&M just bought out, which I think ultimately was what happened when they present that contract. Because from what I understand, Stoops was never actually offered the job. It was kind of pending Board of Regents approval of a contract. The Board of Regents looked at the contract. We're like, this is way too close to the Jimbo thing and it's not Ryan Day it's not a what they would consider a slam dunk hire you know there'll be questions about suits and so that's where it sort of stopped and then you get the message from stoops hey I'm staying and A&M goes back to the search yeah and there was always something about this job that, I mean, fit,

right? Like Mark Stoops certainly has the, what's he he's raised the four at the university. The amount of investment that he's gotten into this football program is unprecedented. So it's not that he isn't a proven commodity in this league, in this conference playing against a challenging schedule, but it is the fact that he is the Midwest coach that's coaching the northernmost SEC program. Going to Texas would be a little different. I know Bob had a ton of success at Oklahoma, but it would be different. And I know that the other part of this too, is that, you know, you were tired of the Jimbo style,

the bad offense. And he, his last job was with Jimbo coaching defense. So that part of it always felt a little weird, a little off to me, but it did make sense from Stoops' perspective. I think that he can, he's like,

there wouldn't have been a better time for him to walk away, to go knock off a top 10 Louisville team, get another 7-5 season, and then the table's kind of set for the next guy to where he wouldn't have felt bad. It would have felt like a step up going to A&M. So I think the timing would have worked out well, but I don't think the fit did. And to go back to your talk about how Kentucky's the best job in America, that's always going to be hard for whatever the next school is going to be to hire him because of what he's paid at Kentucky. And what's funny you mentioned it, Andy,

is that there's not national championship expectations, but there is kind of A&M expectations now where fans are expecting 9-3 and 8-4, right? Yeah, and Stoops has done that to himself, which, look, that's why he's getting all that money. He's done a great job of increasing everyone's expectations. And it's interesting because I go back to what he said after the Georgia game where he was talking about they got the NIL money, they can do all this.

And I do wonder how much of it is for his own edification, for his own information. Does he want to know what it would be like if he was at a place like that? And could he take that next step? I would imagine that's a pretty natural inclination for somebody in his position. Yeah. Well, and not only that, I also think that when you're just at a place for 11 years, that is so hard to do in this day and age in college football. So much has changed. The pressures of the job, there's just a lot.

Fatigue is probably the right word. But when all of this was happening Saturday night and people were already creating their hot boards to figure out who would be the next coach, there's part of the fan base that gets a little excited for it. You know, the last time there was a coaching search, I was a 22-year-old intern, and now I'm the guy who's been doing this for more than a decade

who's got a couple of kids, right? Like, it's just – so I think fatigue a lot played into just the kind of weariness where you have two seasons where you fall short, and I think Stoops was looking around, keeping his head on a swivel, seeking out a sort of reset button. And you know what? Maybe getting called by the rich hot chick down in Texas, maybe that's enough to help kind of like, all right, let's shake this off and let's get our groove back. Well, and how much of beating Louisville under those particular circumstances plus this can be its own reset button? Oh, it certainly can because I know

there was a lot of the glaring issues within the program, offensive line play hasn't been up to stuff. You had these talented receivers. You finally think your offense is taking a step forward, and they seemingly just have sophomore slumps for most of the year. Finding a quarterback. Kentucky hasn't had a 3,000-yard passer in the Mark Stoops era. That's not a very high bar.

You have to be able to score. You can't just score 14 points in a road game against that south carolina defense that texas and border regions decision is starting to make a lot of sense as you as you break those off so but there's some big offensive problems and there was a lot of chatter in lexington about like the locker room and what do people have confidence that soups can get this turned around when you win like that. And then you see, uh, you know, the biggest job opening and you have this sort of, uh, I don't even know how to exactly describe just how close that was to happening. I mean, that, that, that was unprecedented, right? Like there's so much

happening at once that when you come back and you kind of exhale there should be a lot of hope and belief that listen that was nuts that was a wild day but you know what we can turn that into positive we can get this train back on the tracks um because there is a lot of energy now kind of shot in the arm in the program that for the next months you you can use that to go make out like gangbusters in the transfer board well and I thought it was interesting because while the Texas A&M search has been pretty herky-jerky they clearly fire Jimbo without really a set board of who who they wanted if Mark Stoops had left Kentucky, Mitch Barnhart, the dean of SECAD, sounds like he was ready to roll. Like they had it locked and loaded.

Yeah, yeah. John Summerall, he played and coached for Rich Brooks. He coached with Mark Stoops. He's an excellent recruiter. He's 22-4 in his first two years at Troy, only 41 years old. And he's got a great relationship with Brad White. You know, there would have been hope that he could keep some of that continuity there. Um, he would have been a, a, a pretty easy hire.

I think of course they'd kick the tires on the usual suspects. I think Liam Cohen would also be in consideration if he didn't just hop with stoops to A&M. But, um, the, the timing to make that happen, it felt like the stars were aligning. Uh, some role is definitely though. I know he gets thrown in a lot of those, uh, in felt like the stars were aligning. Sumrall is definitely, though. I know he gets thrown in a lot of those, in the mix for a lot of those. Feels like he's going to be kind of like a Billy Napier, Andy, where he just can kind of wait out to pick the right SEC job whenever it opens because he's got Troy rocking and rolling.

Maybe not the right name to say right now to folks in folks in the sec east but I don't know that John wants to be compared there but you're right it is exactly like you know what I mean yeah yeah no it's exactly like Billy Napier at Lafayette and uh it is it's a good place to be because people will just keep throwing more money at you as the years go by but Mark Stoops same thing i i think he's built a great thing at kentucky and whether this was all a and m's decision all mark stoops decision or somewhere in the middle which is probably yeah where it was that's that's usually the case right like it's not all stoops are there's it's gray there's not a lot of black black and white in this business. Yeah. He's in a good spot. And I do wonder if this flirtation now, he looks back as he goes into the transfer portal,

goes into finishing off this recruiting class and says, you know what? I am in a really good spot. Right now, Kentucky's got the number 22 recruiting class. And it is loaded in their front seven to Brian Robinson uh the Smith twins and Corbin a bunch of talented edges a bunch of great linebackers they got a shutdown corner uh from Cincinnati into Ryan Nichols they've got a quarterback a top 100 quarterback one of those and cutter bully and then you look at the portal landscape and you're going to have to I I think the biggest apprehension of your

kentucky fan going in this offseason is that last year they went in the portal and they said we're going to invest in the offense they did all right on the offensive line and that turned out well but then your return on investment ray davis had a thousand yard season but this is a little up and down a little consistent devin leary was not what you thought he was going to be and now you're going to have to go and you're going to get a running back you're going to get a quarterback will rogers for mississippi state is an early name that we're kind of keeping an island he entered the portal but it's also an air raid guy right like it how's that going to work not what liam cohen runs for sure exactly so it. Exactly. I know I can say that moving forward next year that Mark Stoops and Liam Cohen are under an agreement that the offense is going to look

a lot different, not only incorporating a little bit of spread offense, but the days of huddling after every snap are over. They're going to play faster. They've been one of the slowest teams in all of college football the last two years, so they're going to speed things up. I can say that confidently, but even if they go and get XYZ top transfer quarterback and great running back and receivers, there is going to be a little trepidation where now it's, you really got to show me. You got to prove it to me because Kentucky fans have fallen for that before. So go out and go out and get it done.

He's going to, he's got some excitement around now, Andy, but there's going to be a fair share of naysayers. And I do think that's when Stoops is at his best, right? That's the Youngstown and the chip on his shoulder. Just keep Dion Walker.

That's all. That's all I have to say. Keep Dion Walker. Nick Ross. Thank you so much. It's always a pleasure, Andy. Spencer Holbrook of Letterman Row here at Michigan Stadium.

Spencer, Ohio State has now lost three in a row to the Wolverines. Ryan Day said after the game, you work your whole year for this. Everyone's devastated. But where do they go from here? Yeah, it's interesting because last year you thought that they still had a chance at the college bowl playoff and they ultimately did because of the caleb williams injury and usc and this year that path just doesn't really look viable so last year they could hold on to that and say let's let's see how the cards play out but it's just a little different this year there's not a blowout there's not a defensive big plays that you can kind of

say okay if those don't happen if we can eliminate those you know defensive big plays that you can kind of say, okay, if those don't happen, if we can eliminate those, you know, no big plays this year. So you eliminate the things that gashed you the first two years. Um, you eliminate a couple of the things on defense that you thought you had solved. Um, and I really don't know. It is, this is as peculiar as a time that I've been on the beat because it's just, where do they go? It's, it's a great question. Well, and I don't think they played particularly poorly against Michigan. I thought they played well and got beat by a team that's probably a little bit better. Yeah, I mean, I think the bottom line is J.J. McCarthy didn't turn the ball over and Kyle McCord did.

That's exactly right, yeah. Kyle McCord played a really nice game. He really did. I think if you go back and watch throw by throw, you're going to be really impressed with what Six did. But trying to force it in to Marv and Will Johnson's right there that that's the first touchdown right there you give michigan a seven yard field to get up seven to three seven nothing then you go down and kick a field goal good on 14 to three he claws his way all the way back and that was a kyle mccord clawing back he

made some really good throws and then he gets hit on the last one he throws an interception two turnovers to no turnovers that's your ball game i mean you give michigan a seven yard field and then you don't capitalize in the final minute when you thought you had something that that's the difference yeah and and that was that last interception the pressure yeah probably causes that that's not necessarily a bad throw like he's getting dragged down but it was a situation where ohio state's defense put them in that situation by not getting off the field sooner. Which is just so weird because this defense has hung its hat on third down efficiency and getting off the field. You look at the stop rate.

They're one and two in stop rate. Michigan didn't really get a lot of stops either. Ohio State did. If you had told me that Ohio State would have a drive where they ran the ball nine consecutive times and scored a touchdown in the second half, I would have said, oh, how much did Ohio State win by? Yes, and that is probably the most head-scratching thing

because Ryan Day, nobody's going to ask Ryan Day if Ohio State's tough. I know the Roman Wilson quotes out there, and that's fine. Players are going to be players. But if you watch that game, you're not questioning whether Ohio State is tough. You're questioning, why couldn't you get off the field on third and nine repeatedly in the first half, and what happened on fourth and short? Because Ohio State got tough. You're questioning why couldn't you get off the field on third and nine repeatedly in the first half and what happened on fourth and short, right? Because Ohio State got tough short yardage. They did what they needed to do on the offensive side, in my opinion, other than two turnovers. Um, it's just, I said in our video on Letterman row on

Saturday night, you went on the margins in this game and 30 yard punts are not winning on the margins and two turnovers are not winning on the margins. And that's the difference in this game and 30 yard punts are not winning on the margins and two turnovers are not winning on the margins and that's the difference in the game well and the thing ryan day got crushed over was the end of the first half yes he has fourth and short and i think it's really when it's placed in contrast with sharon moore who told the michigan players before the game he was going to be the most aggressive play caller they had ever seen and goes for four or three fourth and shorts in the first half and so you have ryan day with a fourth and short with about a minute to go and instead of going for it they opt to run the clock down and try to kick a 52 yard field goal

as time expires that they miss yeah it was a fourth down so you it's a push pull right you right you don't give it back if you're ryan day you don't want to give it to him at the 40 yard line with 25 seconds to go but you want to be aggressive and i again like we said on our video on saturday night ryan day against georgia last year went for that and he took a shot at the end zone before he kicked that field goal and if he didn't get the fourth down he lived with himself yeah and there's something about this game that that just it gets the best of people yeah it's just a different game that's what urban my always talks about how it is just a different game and you have to be different in this game and sharon moore and the michigan staff i'll give

him a lot of credit two straight years now on a big time play they've ran a halfback pass yes second straight year that michigan has thrown a pass with a running back and ohio state has shown no creativity in its play calling two straight years and when Michigan ran that is is pretty key because so you have the Zach Zinner injury injury they they have to move Carson Barhart to guard they bring in a new right tackle they were worried about protection because remember Blake Corum scores on a run right after that yeah the next play so that that was the next drive and I think they felt like they couldn't protect McCarthy so they needed to do something that looked like the run plays they'd been running which it did was a very condensed formation so as soon as they pitch that play pops wide open yep

and and really it was them more protecting themselves than anything else and i think i think they thought that was going to be a score yeah it ends up being a field goal yeah when as good as jj mccarthy was that was the longest be a score. It ends up being a field goal. Yeah, when as good as J.J. McCarthy was, that was the longest pass for Michigan all day. Yeah. Congratulations, Ohio State. You didn't give up your 40-yard plays that you've been harping on all year, and you still get beat.

And that's where we go back to the top of this. Like, where does Ohio State go from here? You've eliminated all the things that you thought were the reason that you lost the last two. And Ohio State hasn't used it as an excuse at all. Fans have, but the program has not. the signs doing whatever you want to say even that is now like put to bed like everything was even there's really nothing they can say yeah at this point and you're still just at the point where it's like okay what has to change yeah what do you do because three straight

is three straight and well this is where michigan was like I remember being in this stadium a few years ago and you know going to Jim Harbaugh's interview after they got beaten 2019 they got destroyed by Ohio State and people at Jim is it is it recruiting is it coaching is it and he had no answers and just like Ryan Day Saturday night no answers I think it's belief to be honest with you because these Michigan players they taste it in 2021. Like, Aiden Hutchinson walked out on the field for the coin flip, and I said, this guy's 1-3 against Ohio State. They've celebrated him, though,

because he was the senior class that turned it around. Yeah, they broke the streak. You have to be the senior class that turns it around. You've got to be that group that gets it done. And Ohio State, now, next year, for the first time since the 90s, will not have a class on the roster that has beaten Michigan. They might have a couple players from the COVID year holdover, but you are talking a full recruiting cycle

without players that have beaten Michigan. And so something has to change. Michigan right now certainly has the belief. And Urban Meyer said it during the week that Ryan Day has to beat Michigan. And that's the part that, how does he deal with this? They're going to have to play one more game this year, and then obviously they're recruiting,

and then next year is a very different Big Ten. Yes, and they'll go to Oregon next year. They'll play Michigan again next year. They go to Penn State next year. It is not an easy road to get back to 11 and 0 before you play michigan in columbus so it's you know right for ryan day it's you have to block out the noise you got to continue to block it out and it's just going to get louder which makes it even tougher you've got to block it out you've got to figure out how to win on margins because again the last three years they just have not done that and then you've

got to instill a belief like there are still people in this building who have beaten this program this is not a goliath and it didn't look like a goliath out there it looked like another really good team yeah they have they have to say the same thing that michigan said to its players two years ago it is and you know i've lived this rivalry for, for 27 years. Tim May on our staff, he's done this for 40 years. It is a rivalry of runs. It always has been. It always will be the eighties nineties. Look at Michigan's run the two thousands and 2010s. Look at Ohio state's run. Ohio state has to figure out a way not to make this a decade run that Michigan goes on. And that starts in Columbus next year in november and again i told

you this earlier in the week the clock is already ticking literally already ticking in as soon as this game ticked off it kicked off the the clock flip right clock flips back and they go back to every single day you look at the clock until the game and you prepare for it every day it's not that ohio state hasn't done anything different than what they did in the urban meyer era i don't and that's why it's so tough to figure out where they go from here, because they're probably going to an orange bowl that they have no interest in being in. Right. Right. They're going to playing a Louisville or maybe a Florida state, depending on how things shake out. Yeah. They're not going to be real thrilled about that. I would

imagine. No. And it's going to look like a lot different roster when we get to Miami, I'm sure. Or Dallas, wherever they, wherever they descend the Buckeyes, it's going to look like a different roster. Do you think we've seen the last time we're going to see Marvin Harrison in an Ohio State uniform? Yeah, I would say probably. I hesitate to do that, though, because he is the kind of guy, like, if you got to know him a little bit, he's the kind of guy

that really would want to play, but I'm sure he'll be advised not to. There's a lot of guys on this roster that would be the same way. That 2021 recruiting class, as special as it is, it's maybe the most talented that Ohio State's had top to bottom, and they're 0-3 against Michigan. So a lot of those guys have decisions to make based on that, and some decisions at Ohio State and Michigan are made on that.

Well, and that's interesting because Blake Corum talked about that after the game because Zach Zinner got hurt. Zach Zinner was another person who came back along with Blake Corum talked about that after the game. And he, because Zach Zinner got hurt. Zach Zinner was another person who came back along with Blake Corum because they felt like they had unfinished business. Now for them, it was to go deeper in the playoff. But you're right. There probably will be some Ohio State players who are on the fringe or maybe on the fence about it that want to come back

and be that class that breaks the streak. And in 2013, Ohio State did that. They went to the Orange Bowl against Clemson. They got beat in the Orange Bowl. They come back and be that class that breaks the streak. And in 2013, Ohio State did that. They went to the Orange Bowl against Clemson. They got beat in the Orange Bowl. They come back. They bring a lot of guys back who probably could have went to the NFL, and they make a run. 2014, they win a national championship.

Now, college football looks a lot different than it did then, but it can happen. Ohio State has shown that it will happen at some point, and so you've got to try to convince some of these guys to get back. But there are some guys that, you know, as, as tough as it of a pill as it is to swallow, they've seen the last time out of Ohio state. Well, and what's really interesting here is if this all had happened next year, these teams enter both eight, no in the big 10, they would play again next week. Yeah. But the thing is next year might not be like that because there

will be an Oregon and a Washington and you know Penn State might be better we'll see what happens with USC like yeah it's going to be a different look for everybody yeah and that's why this was so what it was two versus three but it's not just two versus three. It's not just 11-0 versus 11-0. It's the last edition of the rivalry that truly is what we all know the game to be. That if you lose, you suffer for a year. If you lose, you are done. And Ohio State got the very rare golden ticket last year and almost capitalized on it, almost wins a national championship. You're not doing that this year.

And so at 11-1, this season is a failure. And that sucks to hear for Ohio State fans because you beat Notre Dame on the road. You beat Penn State in a team that some of us picked to make the college football playoff. You went to Madison and got a tough win against a team that's struggling but in a tough environment. You felt like this was a really good group. And you come here and 11-1 all of a sudden just looks like an absolute disaster compared to 12 and oh, and again, it's, it's on the margins. The difference between disaster and, and perfection

is, is so fine in this rivalry and Michigan learned it for so long and now Ohio state's learned it pretty hard. Spencer. Appreciate it. Thanks, Andy. That is a very tough situation that Ohio State and Ryan Day find themselves in because there's really nothing you can do right now. I believe it's actually 371 days until they play again. So you've got to find a way to get back in that rivalry, and that's about it. But we'll talk plenty about the Buckeyes. We'll definitely talk about the Wolverines. I am actually still in Michigan.

I am going to visit Schembechler Hall on Monday. We'll talk with the guys from the Wolverine, interview coaches, players, that sort of thing. And we'll get you ready for the Big Ten championship game. But something else out of the big 10, our good friend, Bruce Feldman works for Fox sports, works for the athletic.

He put out a candidate list for who might replace Tom Allen in Indiana and Alabama, South Alabama's Kane Womack. That's, that's one. I know that his name has come up quite a bit in this one. Alabama offense coordinator, Tommy Reese, another good one. Justin Fry, Ohio State's offensive line coach.

Indiana alum is a name that a lot of folks have been talking about for Indiana, but the one Bruce included, and I know I'm sure his finger was trembling as he was going to hit send on this thing. I'll quote Bruce's tweet. A big wild card candidate who has support with some key IU folks. Ready, folks? Ready for this? Ready? You ready? You ready?

John Gruden. That's right, baby. We got groomers back. The groomers are back. It used to be this would only happen when Tennessee opened, but I love groomers so much. Can I tell you what my favorite groomer is? And for those who are uninitiated, a groomer is any rumor about John Gruden potentially taking a head coaching job in college. That was, again, limited to Tennessee for years and years. My favorite, I think this appeared somewhere on VolQuest,

I have to say. And look, VolQuest posts have been vindicated, especially with the whole Connor Stallions thing. But my favorite one is, I can't remember how I wound up on the phone with it. This is a Tennessee fan I know, and she said, I hear that John Gruden has accepted the job, and he's in a private jet circling Knoxville right now, and he's waiting to get the signal to land. They will call up to the pilot, and then they will land,

and he will be introduced as the head coach. And I'm trying to imagine a Cessna Citation flying in circles around McGee-Tyson Airport in Alcoa, Tennessee, just running out of gas. Like, at what point, what if they ran out of gas. Like at what point, what, what if they ran out of gas with John Grinch is sitting there sipping, sipping a diet Coke, waiting for the signal to land and save Tennessee's football program.

God, I love groomer so much. Thank you, Bruce, for bringing them back into our lives. I don't know that I don't think John Gruden is going to get hired in Indiana, but man, let's get some more groomers going before they hire Kane Womack or Justin Fry or Tommy Rees or whoever it is they're actually going to hire. Love the groomers.

All right. It is Sunday night. We do need to talk opening lines and there are opening lines from our friends at FanDuel on the conference championship game. So are we ready? Oregon and Washington. We've been talking for several weeks about what this line would be. It was hanging around six and a half, seven in previous weeks. It's at nine and a half now. Oregon by nine and a half is your opening line. Oklahoma State, Texas. Texas by 13 and a half. After all the weirdness in the Oklahoma State BYU game and some of the weirdness in the Texas games we've seen, I might say this is a do not touch game because we're going to have to pick it on the pick show, but I don't want to pick it.

This feels like a stay away. Georgia, Alabama in the SEC championship game. That one had been Georgia by four and a half was hovering around. Now Georgia by five and a half as of Sunday night. Michigan, Iowa in the Big Ten Championship game. Michigan by 22 and a half. More importantly, the total, 35 and a half. I'm really bad at math. I'm trying to figure out what that score would be. So we're talking probably 28 to five, maybe something like that. Does that sound

about right? 29 to six, maybe that's it. 29 to six, I think is what we're talking about. We sure I was going to score that much. We'll pick the spread and the total on the pick show. Patrick Maher from the Vegas Sports Information Network, he hosts Sharp Money, so he actually knows what he's talking about. He will be our special guest picker this week. One more line. Louisville versus Florida State in the ACC championship game.

This one obviously has changed when Jordan Travis got hurt. It's Florida State minus three and a half. I don't know what's going to happen in that game. Louisville just looked very bad on defense against Kentucky. Kentucky's now won five in a row against Louisville. It might just be they have some sort of mojo over them. But I don't know. I think Florida State, with the chance to adjust to Tate Rodemaker,

it did feel like they figured things out by right around halftime when they scored that first touchdown against Florida. And it felt like it went a little smoother. But they still needed to come back in the fourth quarter to win the game. So I don't know what happens in that game. I really don't. We're going to get another weekend unpredictable, I think, and that's great. That's what we want. So thank you so much for watching. Thank you for listening.

Got a pick show tomorrow. Like I said, Patrick Maher from the Vegas Sports Information Network, sharp money. You can listen to it every afternoon. He will join us. Very good friend. We haven't had him on the show before, but you're going to love him. He's from Michigan. Somehow went to South Carolina. It's not very strict. Dates his dated reality TV stars. Hates pie.

There's a lot going on with Patrick. We'll get into that and we're going to pick some games. We'll talk to you tomorrow.