Andy & Ari On3 - Texas Tech BLASTS BYU | What it means for Miami and Notre Dame

Episode Date: December 6, 2025

As championship weekend is underway, BYU and Texas Tech are facing each other in the Big 12 Championship from Arlington, Texas. As Texas Tech went into halftime up 13-7, the Red Raiders never looked back. What does this result mean for the College Football Playoff? Find out here as Andy & Ari break down this game here. This show is presented by Modelo! Some things in life are just made for each other. Peanut Butter and jelly. Macaroni and cheese. Modelo and college football. If you’re watching this, it means you live and breathe football. All season long. You know what that makes you? A Full-Time Fan. Which means you deserve a Modelo. Because football wouldn’t be the same without you. Modelo is the official beer sponsor of The College Football Playoff. Drink responsibly. Beer imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, IL 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 sureyou 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. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. 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 and get one full year of access to The Athletic included! https://www.on3.com/subscribe/C Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/RXdXNyPP5oA Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: 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.

Welcome to an instant reaction initiative, Andy and Ari on three presented by BetMGM and Ari Hoistome a Medello for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. They are the champions of the Big 12, 34-7 win against BYU. This was a bigger ass kicking than the first game. BYU, really nice opening drive, really nice scripted drive, clearly like Aaron Roderick, Rosey. It looked at what happened in the first game and where Texas Tech's defense had been vulnerable. came up with a great drive. They score a touchdown, and then Texas defense adjusts, and nothing

for the last day. I mean, it looked like for a minute there that we were going to get a close and competitive game. Like for the first half, it was a six-point game. But as you continued to watch it, it became clearer and clearer and clearer and clearer that, like, BYU just wasn't going to win. And then the wheels fell off at the end. And I think that, you know,

as it pertains to what most people who are watching this are concerned with is what does this mean for the college football playoff, I would probably assume that that's the the end of the line for them. I think it is too. In the chat, we've got Kuroski saying prepare for BYU fans to claim they should still be in the playoff. They will say that because they went 11 and one during the season. And here's the case for it. Here's the case for it. Okay. Is if you actually believe, and I think I'm getting there, that Texas Tech is going to play for

the national championship. Like if you think that Texas Tech is like legitimately good enough to win three games now and get to the end, then it is kind of a crap hand to be. dealt if you're BYU right like you played one of the best two teams in college football one of the and you beat everybody else you play and then you lose to the to the one juggernaut in your conference um but you know the one thing that they didn't even put up a fight either time that's the problem yeah i mean and i get it like i understand the reasons not to and like i know that this isn't politically correct but the big 12 doesn't have the national respect from a power conference level to get to in yet and how that happens is by teams

like Texas Tech proving that they belong which I think they can. I'm just trying to figure out what the next version of the bracket looks like. And so Texas Tech is the four seed after this most recent one. I think they locked

a buy here, right? They definitely locked a buy. It's a question of whether they're going to be the three seed or the four seed or the two seed. That's a question we can't answer until we see the rest of the games. We need to see the SEC championship game and see if Alabama beats Georgia. We need to see the Big Ten championship game and figure out who beats two and what that means because the big 10 championship game if it's close they could just stay

one and two yeah um for sure i think that we'll will probably have a better understanding of where they are on the you know because i actually do believe that texas tech could and will play with some of the teams that are ahead of them or a little bit of a scenario here so okay let's say texas tech is four let's say that they end up being four uh because because georgia wins the SEC Championship and they're going to be three, then whose Texas Tech wind up playing? They play the winner of Oregon Tulane because Oregon's five. I don't think Oregon's going anywhere.

Tulane will be the 12. We think, unless Duke wins the ACC, when it would be Oregon Duke. Oregon's probably winning that game, regardless of who it is. So whoever it is, it's probably Texas Tech Oregon in the Cotton Bowl. Like, that feels like a pickup to me. Yeah, right.

I think that they, there are... Well, there's a lot to learn about Ohio State. I'm going to our friend Parker Fleming's side. I want to see what the neutral site matchup of that would be. But, you know, Ohio State, to me, still feels like the best team. But their spread for the game tonight against Indiana and the Big Ten championship is now falling to three and a half. It was at six and a half, I believe, when we picked it earlier in the week or five and a half, right? So maybe we're going to find that Indiana is the best team.

I don't know. But like the way I saw Texas Tech play makes me feel like they belong on the same field. I'm hiding my screen from you, Ari. I'm not a cheater. I would never do that. What is the spread in a neutral site, Texas Tech, Oregon game? I would say Texas Tech by two and a half. Texas Tech by four.

Very interesting. Yeah. So, you know, certainly I think that backs it up. So if you're BYU, you probably feel like you got Delta shit sandwich here a little bit, and I understand why. But at the same time, too, I think we'd be having a more detailed conversation about their resume, their strength of schedule, because it does stack up pretty favorable. when you zoom out and look at the numbers to some of the teams that are ranked ahead of it.

But it's just the sour taste in your mouth of like, hey, they played a really good team twice and like we're not competitive. Well, and I'm about to compliment BYU to answer Jason's question in the chat. Jason says, do you have any concerns about textability to finish with sixes instead of threes, especially against a team like Oregon, Ohio State? Well, I have a concern with everybody against Ohio State. That's a different story. But if you're worried about Texas Tech finishing with touchdowns instead of field goals,

BYU had a lot to do with that. BYU is one of the best defensive teams in the country. Yeah. So a lot of that is because, but Texas, Texas still scored more than 30 in this game. Yeah, I mean, if they were to finish with sixes instead of missed field goals, they might have won 51 to seven. So, you know, I do think that like every single team with questions like that you have, you know, like I could go down the list of questions I have for every team in the playoff. Can Ohio State run the ball against teams with a really good defensive line? Right.

I don't know. Like, I mean, nobody's perfect right now. It's funny because people, if somebody's watching this not. right when we're doing it. If they watch this, let's say, Sunday morning, they'll know what happened in Ohio State, Indiana. We don't yet. So we don't really know what to think about those two until we see the place.

Let's talk about the Big 12, though, because I think this is an interesting thought. When we were at Big 12 Media Days earlier in July, it was in the Dallas area. You came into town. It was a very lovely weekend. Yeah, it was in the Cowboys practice facility in Friscoe. We went to Kanye Russo, really good pizza place up there in Frisco. But Brett Your Mark said something that you and I have referenced on the show a few times in the fall, which is his goal as the commissioner outside of stumping for multiple

teams right now because he's trying to best to get as many in as possible, is for actual teams in the big 12 to step up and make noise nationally and separate from the other ones in the big 12, but then also separate enough where they are equals to some of the powerhouses in the other school and the other conferences. Because the number one thing that hurt the big 12 when they lost to Oklahoma and Texas is that the entire conference no longer got to say, well, the champion of this league got through Oklahoma and Texas to get to the be a champion. They lost their two most important tent pole programs out of their league, which then made them feel to me, whether this is fair or not,

closer to a G5 conference than the SEC, because there's no consistent dominant program that is recruiting at the same heights as some of the powerhouses in the other. So if Texas Tech is going to come in and spend $30 million on their roster and assemble a group of players that actually has the physicality, the talent, the speed, and the strength that you will find on an Oregon roster or a Clemson roster or a Michigan roster or an Alabama roster, then all of a sudden winning the Big 12 becomes more powerful to all the other teams, including BYU and years two and three and four, because you will get the credit for winning that conference that doesn't currently exist right now. Do you buy that? I do, and I think Texas Tech can help that. Like, you got to ask the question on a mailbag show. This was about a month ago.

Somebody said, would you rather have three of your teams in the playoff or one of your teams go to the national title game? And I said, one of my teams go to the national title game. Because they're talking about my league the entire month. You see the quality of that team. I would rather have that. Texas Tech is capable of that. We just talked about how potentially they could be favored

in a quarterfinal game if you win that quarterfinal game in the semis. Texas Tech could be that team for the Big 12 and you can say all you want to they bought a roster everybody else did too

and Texas Tech roster looks more like an Oregon roster a Georgia roster an Alabama roster I'm not going to say Ohio State because I think Ohio State's roster looks better

than everybody's but it's closer to those than it does to the rest of the Big 12 you know what's kind of interesting and I don't know one of my favorite week week rituals every Sunday night is to watch the new episode of Landman

with my wife. I really enjoy that show. And I'm sure a lot of the people listening have watched it. Billy Bob is a legend. There's some very John Hamm was on it. If you haven't watched the first season, I'm not going to say anything else. Demi Moore's in it. The reason why I bring this up though is that if you watch this show, you know it's a pretty badass aesthetic. Like whether that, like as I'm not a cowboy, I live in Dallas. I'm nothing like the people that are depicted in the show. But

It's kind of fun to transport yourself into the West Texas, into those badass oil men. And like, I think it's a pretty cool thing that the Big 12 has a program that signifies that aesthetic, is using the money from that aesthetic in order to build a program. And they play like badass. Like, is that not cool? Didn't,

did Texas A&M not use oil money to buy their roster too? Like at this time, it's a very interesting intersection between the release of that show and their investment in the roster. And I don't know as much about geography as you, but Lubbock is more of the West. test like more west Texas ish type aesthetic than college station right no it's not it's not an aesthetic already it's it's called geography but who who fits the geography more who cares why are we talking why are you disagreeing with my point right now i'm saying that i think it's really cool that

the big 12 has a program that fits that aesthetic in that money and that that that blue collar oil man badass that has nothing to do with anything why does that even matter how does that have nothing to do with anything they used their money to build a roster. Yeah, so do everybody else. I know, but like people are saying it's negative. I'm saying it's positive. Good.

Cool. Here's Quentin in the chat who doesn't know ball. 59th ranked strength of schedule. They'll lose first round. Quentin, Texas Tech's not going to play in the first round. I hate to break that to you. They're going to get a buy. Yeah.

Also, I want to make this point to BYU fans who are watching and any fan of a team that has a really high strength of schedule. It is not a flex to have a really high strength of schedule and lose. to the teams that make it high. Well, and also, it's losing is one thing. Being non-competitive both times against the best team on your schedule. It's like what makes me like want to like run in. If one of these games had been competitive, we'd be having a different conversation right now.

Yeah, but there are a few teams in the current college football playoff bracket that have really high strength of schedules who failed to beat the best teams on their schedule, which then completely defeats the purpose. We're about to talk about Notre Dame with two losses. You do it. By a combined four points. So I don't care what Notre Dame strength the schedule metric is. It does not matter to me. Yeah. So, all right, we do need to talk about this because do we think BYU stays where they're ranked or do we think they drop below Miami now?

I think BYU's finished. Is that the question? I'm asking when they're ranking the team. They will fall behind them. Okay. Yes. Which will put Miami right next to Notre Dame. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Of course I see. This is all I think. about. Andy, it's important to tell the listener, though, that every single team that lost in their conference championship game a year ago fell back in the rankings. So like that, that is if you, I don't know how much we can glean off that. Like asking you to get kicked out of the playoff, but they still fell back in the right ranking. So my understanding or assumption would be that BYU would too. Okay. Now, yes, I do understand the trapdoor idea that they will be next to each other continue okay we've talked about this you know how i feel about this this situation if they

get well in a place next to each other because this is what people seized upon after the rankings were revealed on tuesday night that if miami and norder dame were were somehow put next to one another that the committee would then finally honor the head to head that they have not honored any previous rank um yeah you know what the most ironic thing about this though is that if the loser of the c c c championship game is bama that they could conceivably still put a team between them they could i don't think that like it's guaranteed i don't think they would though because that would put alabama out of the playoff and i don't think they're going to do that yeah um Alabama now the game hasn't started yet the game's about to kick off Alabama probably have to lose by 40

because Alabama's already beaten Georgia this is not a situation where they played twice and it was the same blowout both times like this I think this is an interesting dynamic to talk about Andy because I think that you and I have been and I think the country by and large has been operating under the assumption that if Alabama loses they're 100% in and like I think they're probably in I think it's likely that they're not lose by 40 but I think let's just say they lose by 10 in a competitive game then they're not they're going to be in so like do you think that that is a safe fact yes and why Because they have better wins than the other teams that we're talking about.

Okay. And are there other teams that are going to be out of the playoff that have better wins than some of the teams that we're going to be talking about that are out? Possibly. So then why is that a guarantee for them? Because they're not leaving them out. I'm telling that. I mean, that's great to say.

They'll have a win against the three seed on the road. I agree. And by the way, I agree with you. But I'm saying I don't know if we can operate under any assumptions based on. You can not assume it. And I'll assume it. And then when they put Alabama in the field tomorrow, I'll be like, okay, cool. Yeah.

So then, like, it's just like, you can't use thought processes for why they will be in the field that also apply to Miami when they're going to be out. That's all I'm saying. Like, it's the same exact thing. So it's not the same exact thing. Except they're, they're probably, Alabama's best one would be much better than Miami. Their best win would be. Yeah. So now Alabama's got a horrific law.

I just think that it's bad, it's a bad idea to use last year's committee to try to formulate any guarantees about what's happening. I'm not, but I'm, okay, can we get to the point? the point of this is that they are probably going to be directly comparing Miami and Notre Dame together. Yes. Back to back. Yes. At that point, do they honor the head to head or do they not?

What is your gut instinct? My gut instinct is that they will not because they could have already. That's what I think too. Yeah. I was really surprised at how many people seized on it. I think a lot of it, obviously Miami fans are going to because they want that to happen, I think they would have already.

I just don't know why they, and you and I have both said, we think the head-to-head winner should be the one that gets in when the records are the same and all other things are equal and their resumes really are pretty equal and they have the same record.

But I also think the committee would look even stupider flipping them now. Because why didn't you have Miami ahead of them before? But optically, if they are next to each other in the rankings and it stays the same, that also looks stupid. It's kind of like a no-win scenario. Yeah, the committee's going to look stupid on that no matter what, because they did this all along, which never made sense.

Yeah. One of the person in the chat here says, it's never laid to do the right thing. And I agree. Like, you didn't ask me what I think should happen. You asked me what I think will happen. Yeah, that's right. I know what you think should happen. I don't have to ask.

And I think you agree with me on what you think should happen too, right? So like, we're going to head to head in that situation would take it. But I think that that was probably the best case scenario for Miami, too, right? Like Notre Dame was hoping that happened. They need these side-by-side comparison. And they don't want, every team that we think can be removed from the field is a good thing for Miami. So we'll see, you know, I saw that the odds on bet MGM, Andy, for Miami to make the CFP, like, dropped from plus 650 to plus 310 or something. Interesting.

So I don't know. I mean, they don't know anything. Yeah, they don't. But if BYU, and it's really, it's what happens that ruined Great Vine, Texas, if BYU does drop at all and it puts Miami next. to Notre Dame, they're going to have to reconcile that and they're going to have to explain it one way or the other.

Well, I don't know. You saw Hunter your check interviewed on Game Day and Nick Savon. He goes, did he answer any questions? Yeah, my whole idea, yeah. Like, I don't, like that doesn't move me at all because if they have to explain it, they can just say something that doesn't make sense, like they always do and just move on. So, you know,

we'll have an offseason discussion or maybe a discussion on some of the shows that are leading into the playoff about like the need for transparency. I saw this column floating around a bunch this week of like, why do we have weekly rankings and all that stuff? Because it's a TV show and they want the ratings. And I think we need them because it's important for us to have a gauge of how we don't need them. If they if they just did one, that would be perfect. But I think our show is better off with it. Well, our show is better for us, but it's not better for the sport. Yeah. I guess like we could still just rank them ourselves at

that point. Which we would. But I think that the number one thing that we should be getting and I don't know what the best way to go about it would be would be more transparency on how they arrive at the issues and transparency isn't a CFP committee chair trying to speak for everybody like another transparency method whether that means cameras or replays of the discussion or transcripts of the discussions or something ever do that I promise yeah I know but you know so but like if you're somebody who is like hanging on the edge of your seat for Hunter Eurochek's final discussion points like he's not going to say anything that's revelatory Did you see the TV interview with Reese Davis on Saturday morning?

That's what I just talked about. Have you ever heard of a rhetorical question? It wasn't rhetorical. All right. All right. So you and I both think the same thing, though. We think if they wind up side by side, the committee will still keep Notre Dame ahead because they've done that all along.

I do too. I do too. I will be. Unless they saw the plane flying over the Great Blind Hotel. That's true. Somebody is dragging a banner saying, what do they say? Head to head matters, put Miami in something like that? Head to head matters Miami in exclamation point.

Okay. As Nicole Auerbach pointed out, that is like an amusement park hotel that has like very You cannot see outside. It's like the largest hotel on the face of the year. The entire design of the hotel is made so that you never leave the hotel. You never walk outside. Yeah. But I think there is like a glass roof.

That's true. But the point of it isn't against the committee. The point is for everybody to tweet about it. So everybody sees it. Yeah. but yes go ahead oh no i i'm fascinated by this this is now i believe the most interesting question that we're going to be asking tonight maybe now listen the c c championship game is about to kick off the big 10 championship game kicks off the ac c championship game is

going to be going to be something with the five lost duke in there yeah that we didn't we haven't gone live yet since but like james madison did not look convincing on friday so i wonder if that creates a more duke well we had nanny diaz on the show and he He's like the ACC champs going to get in. I was like, okay, whatever many. Now I'm like, you might be right. Yeah. Like I honestly, I'm going to tell you this right now.

If Duke wins a close game tonight, I have no idea what they're going to do. I agree with you on that. JMU is in the field. This is why. This is why. Rankings, but I would have known. I would like them to rank down to 40. Can we start ranking down to 40?

Yeah. See, that's one of my ideas that isn't so stupid. Because I'd love to know if, like, so James Madison was 25 this week. Yeah. Was Duke 26? or was Duke 38. Could have been 26 or they could have been 51. Right.

I have no idea. Five losses. No idea. Yeah. That'll be intriguing because like two G5. Like we just got done having a five minute discussion about the Big 12th place placement in like the hierarchy of respect of conferences. And then like we're going to put two G5 teams in. Right.

And well, and the Big 12 is much more respected than the ACC. Yeah. So somebody needs to write a column or have a video tonight on what would Duke's record be against J&B? But, Ari, if they did drop BYU, bring Miami up, and they did decide Miami should jump Notre Dame, the ACC, we might have two teams in, or it might just have one. Now, if you really want to go tinfoil hat Saturday. I mean, if Virginia wins, the ACC definitely gets one in. Tinfoil hat Saturday here, Andy. Is Duke, I'm trying to wonder if, like, Duke's placement.

in or out of the bracket has any impact on Miami because of the total number of A. It just crossed my mind, too. Is there anything down that rabbit hole or is that like a, like a, if Duke wins, they could put J.MU in, and so J.M.U would be the 12 seed. They could put Miami in as the 10 seed as the final at large, and then the ACC would only get one. Right. I think that could happen. But is there any scenario in your mind that it's even possible that ACC gets to? Yes. Okay. If, if they were to flip Miami, and Notre Dame, and then Virginia wins.

Yeah, but do you think that doing one or the other has an impact on the other one? I don't think Virginia winning will change the Miami. Yeah, Virginia wins that, yeah, right. So, I don't think, but if Virginia wins, they're definitely in. I guess I should have said like two with Duke being one of them. Right, exactly, yeah. It's going to be fun. Guys, we'll be back after the SEC championship game.

We'll be back again after the night games. We got that huge Indiana Ohio state. And I'm just say this now, Ari. I don't care what that's for in terms of seating. I don't care if they decide to leave them one and two. I just can't wait to see that game. Yeah, no, I just revelatory. You know, if these are two or the three teams,

they're the only two unbeaten teams, right? Yeah. So like which one is supreme? And like I honestly feel like if Indiana were to win the game or keep it close, that might change how we view the rest of the playoff, because I think it's just kind of like everyone's assuming Ohio State just going to do it. And I don't know if that's the smart thing to do yet. So we'll see, but hey, nothing better than this job.

We get to watch ball together. all day. We're going to do some columns. Stay tuned to On Three. We're both going to be writing today. Thank you for setting up the wonderful studio River, and it's going to be a great day. And as these results come in, Andy, we can further contextualize the game that we just watched, too. So just stay put with us. We're going to be doing this to what? Midnight.