Andy & Ari On3 - The best, most accurate Post-Spring Practice, Post-Transfer Portal College Football Top 25

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

Andy reveals his post-spring, post-transfer portal Top 25, and Jesse Simonton is here to poke holes in it.See Andy's full Top 25 list here: https://www.on3.com/news/college-football-top-25-ranking-post-tranfer-portal-ohio-state-leads-the-way/(0:00-3:37) Intro with Jesse Simonton on Top 25 List(3:38-5:13) Does Schedule influence the list?(5:14-8:43) Playoff Influence(8:44-10:28) Discussion on LSU(10:29-14:39) Alabama(14:40-17:59) Texas(18:00-21:34) Top 12 Playoff Spots(21:35-27:53) Ohio State at Top Spot(27:54-32:47) Georgia(32:48-36:41) Oregon(36:42-41:27) Penn State(41:28-46:28) Clemson(46:29-50:02) Florida State(50:03-53:09) Miami(53:10-55:59) Michigan(56:00-59:35) Nebraska(59:36-1:05:23) Discussion on Auburn(1:05:24-1:09:39) Oklahoma(1:09:40-1:13:59) Kansas State(1:14:00-1:15:35) Conclusion, Wrapping UpIs Ohio State really No. 1? Is Andy too high on Alabama? Why does Andy love Kansas State so much?Andy and Jesse compare Andy’s ranking with Jesse’s conference power rankings, and Andy wants to know why Jesse doesn’t believe in Auburn.Will either one be ultimately correct? Probably not! But it makes for a delightful debate in June.Subscribe to On3! ⬇️ youtube.com/on3sports/?sub_confirmati...Welcome to On3 | The best of college football and recruiting https://www.on3.com/Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and join us LIVE, M-F, at 8 am et! https://youtube.com/live/d_mtwmQA1Q0

Welcome to Andy Staples on three and it's time to do something I swore I'd never ever ever do again. I'm ranking football teams. That's right. I've done everything possible to avoid ranking college football teams since the last time I did this. Well, I've done it a few times over the years, but it's been a while. It's been a while at my last company. There are other people who are more than happy to rank teams. I was like, all right all right you guys rank the teams i don't want to get yelled at but then i realized wait a second we're just talking about college football here y'all can yell at me if you want to that's fine bring it on because i have thoughts and i've seen all these other top 25s come out i'm no, I can do a better one. And it's not what I was doing on my old show.

This is not the Andy Staple show computer laptop operated win Nexus. I think that's it. You know what the letters spell. I didn't do this to intentionally piss you off. If it pisses you off, it's because you flat out disagree with me. And we can hash that out. Or we can just wait and let people play and figure it out. But a man who has very strong opinions about where teams should be ranked, and he's been doing his own conference power rankings, and also the various unit rankings for different position groups throughout the country. On three, Jesse Simonson joins us now to discuss my rankings. We'll discuss his rankings.

And I know there's some places we disagree already, Jesse. Like I looked at your SEC conference post-spring power rankings, and I was like, oh boy, Jesse and I are going to have a chat about the village on the plains. Embrace debate. Embrace debate. Embrace debate. Thanks for having me, Andy. Thanks for having me.

Those positional rankings. I will tell you, man, it's such a good off-season study because you really deep dive. I talk to some people. You use the analytics, the PFF, the sports source, and that kind of stuff. And with so much movement in the transfer portal and how much these rosters have changed,

doing these unit rankings the last two years has really provided a solid foundational launch point for discussions like we're about to have with these power rankings. How do you start to view teams? Where do you rank them up and down? Who are you maybe hotter on coming out of the spring? Who are you maybe a little bit down on? So let's get after it.

Yeah, well, and I've gotten some good education, I think, doing the ceilings and the floors. We've already done the SEC. We've done the Big Ten. We're going to do the ACC here in a little bit. We're going to do the Big 12. And I feel like it's helped me dive into schedules. Like it was interesting as I was ranking the teams, I was trying not to let the team's schedule influence where I was going to put them. Because I think that's, that's one thing we do is we're trying to project it. I like, we're trying to say like when I rank teams,

I don't know everybody else, everybody does it differently, but I'm trying to say, I think if they played the team above would be the team below. Now, obviously there's some styles make fight situations where that's impossible. And especially once you get down below 12 or so, you're going to have situations where a team ranked below can definitely be the team ranked above. But I tried not to let the schedule influence it too much. Like I, I actually think like Rutgers will probably be a, a fringe top 25 or top 25 team mid season based on their schedule alone. And,

but do I, do I think they're going to be as good as these other teams? I don't know. And that's, that's the tricky part because like, as I was doing Iowa, I have Iowa in there. And I think Iowa's schedule may allow them to be, like, 10-2.

But I don't know if they're going to. I think their team's actually pretty damn good. I think they're one of these ones that, going through these unit rankings, Andy, I mean, they have the best linebacker room that's not in Athens, Georgia. Those two guys. I think they have the number one safety duo. And this is for a secondary that lost Cooper DeGene,

and yet they returned Castro at nickel. I'll tell you this, too. A sneaky addition. Iowa quarterback. It's been horrible. Deacon Hill leaves the program, leaves them just with one healthy scholarship quarterback and McNamara is not healthy, but they bring in

Sullivan from Northwestern. I think that's something that could provide them a win or two. We've seen Kurt Ferens, you know, what they, what he's done with this program in recent years, where they have been anemic offensively. If they just don't play with their food and they're bad, they might win 10 games this year again. Yeah, and I've got them at 21. If the offense is good, if the offense is capable, they're going to be much higher than that. They're going to be a playoff.

If the offense is good, I was a playoff team. And I don't think people are quite prepared for that and and that's one the other thing i don't know about you jesse like as i was doing these and i'm sure you as you've done in the conference power rankings you're noticing this too like you're seeing where the the the new playoff is going to impact things because i was much more aware of who I'm putting at eight and who I'm putting at nine. And then I'm realizing, oh, wait, the conference champs get the automatic buys in the, you know, the top four spots. So

like the second ranked SEC team, that's the, that could be the five seed, the second ranked big 10 team. That could be the five seed, not the four, not the two or the three seat. And it's like, Oh, this is, this is going to get really spicy. And then I also thought, so I, I did the, you know, kind of just missed the cut at the bottom, even the ones I had in the, just missed the cut. Like I see a path into the 12 for them. Well, here's a little jalapeno spice for the viewers before you release your top 25 here. I don't believe, because I saw it, we exchanged some texts back and forth yesterday.

I don't believe you have a G5 team or non-power conference team in that top 25. I don't, and I thought about it. I have Liberty in the just missed. And they would make it, you know, if they were the number one, even if they're not in the quote unquote top 25,

whoever is the highest ranked, you know, non-power conference team is going to get a playoff spot this year. Yeah. I had the, I had a hard time with that because I was thinking, okay, which group five team should be in the top 25. And I think the way the transfer portal has changed the sport. Cause a lot of times there were years, like when Northern Illinois went to the orange

bowl that year, like you knew going into the year that Northern Illinois was going to be awesome. You knew that they were going to be the best team in the year that Northern Illinois was going to be awesome. You knew that they were going to be the best team in the MAAC, that they were going to probably go undefeated. If not, they might lose one game. Same thing when Western Michigan went to the Cotton Bowl. Those Boise State teams, we knew. But I look at the Sun Belt. Who's supposed to win the Sun Belt? Maybe Appalachian State. Troy's got a new coach, like Jared Parker takes over for John Sumrall. The American, we don't know, could be Tulane, could be UCF, but SMU's gone. They're in the ACC now.

Like this is – it's much harder. It is. It is. And I think you're landing on Liberty as maybe the safest bet just because they have so many more resources and more talent than the rest of that conference USA. Jamie Shadwell is a really good coach. It would not surprise me at all. Now, does that mean we're going to get a similar result to what we saw with Liberty this past year,

going up against even an Oregon team that didn't have a lot of their horses? That would probably be a little disappointing. But we'll wait for that. We'll wait for that. This is the offseason. This is about optimism and excitement right now. Oh, and that's the thing. I feel like in what I wrote about each team, there was a lot of excitement,

even down in the 20s, because again, you can see the path to the playoff. Now there are a few, like I had LSU at 17 and I think LSU fans are not going to like that. And I, that one, I felt like, okay, I realize you won't be happy with this. And here's, so I'm going to explain exactly why they're here. My thing with LSU is you're losing a Heisman trophy winning quarterback to first round receivers. Yes, you have the best tackle tandem in America. Yes. You have a quarterback you like who has waited in the wings and is ready to take over. But to ask that offense to be as good as it was last year is asking an awful lot, especially when it lost his coordinator. You're asking the defense to be better than it was last year, to be considerably better because it was awful last year.

I don't know that it's going to be that much better. You just did the behind the napkin math that I wrote for a column about 10 days ago on LSU. I mean, you know, you wrote the, I think I kind of did it as a spinoff piece to kind of your thoughts for what Brian Kelly had to say about NIL and how that was kind of misconstrued. But the result is, to me, LSU is just not a playoff contender this year, not a serious one at least, because I just think, again, you just did it.

Natural offensive regression, even if you're really excited about, you know, Kyron Lacey at receiver, Nuss there at quarterback, the tackle tandem you mentioned. But defensively, still a ton of question marks. And what, you know, the fact that Brian Kelly did host a bunch of these defensive linemen, okay, you clearly were not willing to pay them what they wanted. But there's a cost to that.

And that's why you have them, you know, down there 17 post-spring, post-portal rankings. That's why I dropped them in the SEC. I just think that other teams have positioned themselves better entering the summer than the Tigers. Ryan in the chat, I have read after spring practice and I'm skeptical. Spring practice means absolutely nothing.

I disagree, Ryan. Ryan's an Alabama fan, which is funny because Alabama spring practice is the reason I have Alabama ranked number three right now and have Alabama as one of the potential favorites to win the national title. You and I are pretty high on Alabama. I think we're a little higher than others, including Vegas on Alabama. I think they're freaking loaded. I think getting Caden Proctor back was massive.

Like losing Caleb Downs, yeah, that hurts. But it feels like everywhere they needed to add something, they did. And then what they have in terms of on their defensive line, in their linebacking core, on their offensive line, in the offensive backfield. They have everything. They have everything they need, and they're deep. You and I, we're singing the same song on the Tide.

I thank everyone trying to throw some dirt on Kalen DeBoer. In the coaches' rankings, I had him super high. I had him in the top four, and there was a lot of consternation from other fan bases of what has he done, one-hit wonder. Now, this is a guy who's a hell of a football coach. He's built a really strong staff. And I think defensively what we've seen, not only what they did in spring practice, but what they've kind of assembled post-portal,

you go in and get the corner from Wake. You know, these aren't the flashiest guys, but they're pieces that were necessary to kind of pluck around. I think Alabama is going to be really good. It may take a little bit of time to gel. And honestly, Andy, I think the fact that Ty Simpson generated as much buzz as he did is a good thing for Jalen Milrow, because that's just going to continue to kind of keep that engine going where,

you know, he has been anointed the starter, but nothing is guaranteed. And so, you know, he's got to keep showing up every day. And so it was encouraging that Ty Simpson, who's a former five-star, you know, flashed more this spring. And then you have a guy like Milrow, we've seen what sort of electric talent he has if he can kind of harness it all together. Yeah, and so getting some extra guys out of the portal is helpful. Like the secondaries industry, so they get Keon Saab from Michigan to play at safety alongside Malachi Moore.

Top 100 recruit. Yeah, Damani Jackson from USC comes over to play corner. They've also got three alien freshmen who are all like six, one to six, three who look the part already. Somebody, when I was in Tuscaloosa, somebody up there told me, and it's, you know, somebody who's watched this for a while explained like, watch those freshmen DBs because they may be the starters by the end of the season in several cases, because a lot of the times they are better than the guys who were backing up Terryon Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry last year.

They're the next Terryon Arnold or Kool-Aid McKinstry. And that's the part you got to wonder about. Because they may not be quite ready right when they get there. But by a few games in, they may be your best options. And look, I'm telling you right now, like you walk out there and you see that team, you're like, whoa. Saban's not there, but nothing's changed roster-wise. You saw that firsthand. A perfect example of what you just kind of illustrated there, Andy, is we saw that firsthand at Georgia last year with their inside linebackers.

Now, Jamin Dumas Johnson was more accomplished in the corners that these guys are backing up or following in the footsteps of Kool-Aid and Terrian, but he ends up basically getting pushed out. He gets hurt at the end, but he ends up basically getting pushed out because two freshmen, Allen and Wilson, and inside linebacker, Georgia's just like, we have to play these kids. These kids are just better than you. And boom, now Jamin Dumas Johnson is playing at Kentucky.

So I absolutely could see that unfolding similarly with Alabama's secondary and several of those five stars that they have in the 24 class. Derek in the chat says, Texas Longhorn should be number one or two if Alabama is number three with what they have coming back and what they got out of the portal. This is my favorite part of the rankings. This is my favorite part of the rankings. I have Texas at five.

The fact that fans can get so upset about two spots is just, that's, that's. Well, right. In this particular case. Now, if this is last year, Texas at five is, is awful because they don't make the playoff. They, they, they can't compete for the national title. Now three and five puts you in the tournament. Like you're in the tournament and you can just show everybody they're wrong on the field. But let's talk Texas because I am yes, fully guzzling burn orange Kool-Aid as far as Texas goes. I realize this is not as high as Texas fans want, but remember, I was a major Texas skeptic for

a long, long time. And I am, I am coming around on the idea that Sark has fixed a lot of the issues that plague Texas. The one in particular is they didn't create NFL players anymore. They didn't develop guys. Once they got them, they get these four and five star recruits and then nothing would happen. They had 11 guys drafted last year to which you're going to say, oh, well, you know, they lost so much, but look at what they're bringing back.

Like Kelvin Banks at left tackle, one of the best in the country, you know, the two quarterbacks, Quinn Ewers and you got Arch, you you know you've got Broughton and and Alfred Collins on the D-line who were rotating with Tavondre Sweat and Byron Murphy last year like they have top line guys that can compete with anybody and then they went in the portal and they got Silas Bolden from Oregon State they got Isaiah Bond from Alabama they got Amari Nye Black from Alabama like they filled spot like what we always talk about we think Clemson should do they did they spot filled everything they needed well I the one of the guys you didn't mention that they got is is UTSA past rusher Trey Moore who led the country in sacks there you go I mean uh and I think the secondary

honestly Andy's gonna be a lot better too you You get Mbuka from Clemson. You have a couple other guys who are going to be healthier. You did lose one, Terrence Brooks, but I think Texas at five is totally fair. I kind of see these in terms of the top five, ten-ish teams. I think it's Georgia, Ohio State in their own tier and then texas oregon alabama however you want to kind of rank them those three teams right there together for that next year so texas at five hey longhorn fans you can relish the fact that plenty of people have already written that uh if you get the five seed in the playoff this year it might be the best seed you get

so oh that's that's cold all right hey but no it is i'm saying that like the the five is to play the 12 you get the whole game it's but let's if texas is here they're not the five seed by the way that's true that's true that's i just i made that and so every fan is gonna make that mistake i just made i literally just made it in real time and that's the that's the part we've all of us have to educate ourselves on this and figure it. All right, so let's do the exercise based on my ranking. So hopefully you're following along on, on three. You can, you can read my rankings.

So let's, let's figure out who is which seed based on the rankings. So I've got Ohio State at number one. So they're the one seed. They are the big 10 champ. They get a buy. We're assuming they win the big 10. I've got Georgia at number two. We're assuming they're the one seed. They are the big 10 champ. They get a buy. We're assuming they win the big 10. I've got Georgia at number two. We're assuming they win the sec. So they're the two

seed. They get a buy. I have Alabama at number three. They cannot be a top four seed because we're assuming Georgia won the sec. Alabama is your five. Yeah. I have Oregon at number four. That's a big 10 team. We're assuming Ohio state won the big 10. Oregon is your five seed. I have Oregon at number four. That's a big 10 team. We're assuming Ohio State won the big 10. Oregon is your sixth seed. Texas would be your seven seed. So Texas is at home. I have Michigan at number six. That's your eighth seed. That's your last home game right there. Now I have Florida State at seven. They get a bye. ACC champ. We're assuming they win the ACC. They're three. Notre Dame at eight. We just sent Notre Dame on the road

to play Michigan because they'd be the nine seed in the playoff. Bring back the rivalry. Ole Miss on the road against In the playoff. Bring back the rivalry. Ole Miss. On the road. Against Texas. Because I've got Ole Miss at nine. Number 10, Kansas State. We're assuming they win the Big 12.

That's your last buy. So that would be your four seed. And then Tennessee would be the last at large to get in. They'd be going on the road playing Oregon. And then Liberty. Yeah, and then whoever the group of five team is. So that's wild. Like, that is crazy when you think about it and produces some exciting matchups.

Five SEC teams? Yep. John in the chat says, getting the five seed is better than being ranked one through four. You get the G5 opponent at home, and then in the quarterfinals, you likely get the Big 12 champ cakewalk to the semifinals. That's why I wondered, Jesse,

because you know they haven't actually finalized 26 and beyond and how that's going to work. I think part of the reason for that is they want to see how this goes, because I think John's right. I think number five is going to be a prohibitive advantage because that fourth conference champ could be like the in some years could be. We think they're probably going to be a top 10 team most years but maybe they're not and so you do have the group of five champs that you play in the 512 game your next game is a 5-4 game at a neutral site like five has a big advantage i would rather be five i think think, than be one. Yeah, I don't know about that, but five, I would say, that's what I was trying to at least give some credence to the Longhorn fans there to say, hey, if you are five, at least you get the benefit

here. I also wonder if, I'm at least hopeful, Andy, that part of the reason why they haven't announced the 26, 27 deals is they're going to come to their senses and we're going to play all these games on campuses until the actual championship. So hopefully that comes with it. And if that happens, then, you know, being the top seed, getting all those home games would just be even more of an advantage and would frankly just be a fantastic environment. Yeah. So Chris, uh, Teresa in the chat, I think my Buckeyes could go 11 and one this year with a loss to either Oregon or Penn state. Let us talk Ohio state who I have at number one. Well, we're going to talk one and two, we're going to talk Ohio state and then we'll talk

Georgia. So let's talk Ohio State. I think probably most people who do these rankings have Ohio State at number one, or they have Georgia at number one, and it's just reversed. I look at what they did roster-wise. I look at who came. It's more to me, Jesse, I don't know who came back, because it feels a lot like the Michigan team last year. Yeah, where everybody who is kind of a, you know, fringe, like third round, fourth round pick, like they're coming back.

And that was huge for Michigan last year. And then Ohio State goes and like, you know, Michigan was good at that spot. Like they got Ladarius Henderson to play left tackle last year out of the portal. Ohio State got Caleb Downs, got Quinshawn Judkins, got Seth McLaughlin. Like they got Will Howard to play quarterback. The one, I think the one concern for Ohio State, and they're going to get to answer this, you know, in that, in that game against Oregon uh was it the first week of October before that their schedule is kind of cake but I think the one issue if there is any sort of kind of you know scarlet a uh for the Buckeyes

it's the offensive line that's been kind of a bugaboo the last couple years did they address it with McLaughlin, the center from Alabama? Obviously, if the snapping, you know, snafus have gone away, they bring back Donovan. But those tackles got to play way better because every other piece on that roster, this is going to – they're going to have the best secondary in the country. They might have the best defensive line in the country.

Playmakers, they got plenty. Jeremiah Smith has drawn just ridiculous comps as a freshman. He's barely been on campus. I'm not sold that Will Howard is going to be some all-conference quarterback. I don't think he needs to be. I think playing in Chip Kelly's system, the fact that he can probably improve one of Ohio State's other bugaboos a year ago was they couldn't score touchdowns in the red zone. I think you add Quint Sean Judkins, you get back Travion Henderson, and you implement Will Howard's legs, that's going to solve a lot of problems there. Outside of the offensive line, I think Ohio State probably has the best roster in college football in 24. Now, can they get it done?

He better. He has to. He has to yeah and that's that's where this is different the pressure on ohio state is so much more than the pressure on everybody else yes george is expected to compete for national titles yes alabama is supposed to compete for national titles but like ohio state you have to beat michigan and you have to go very deep in the playoffs probably win the national title or this season is a failure yeah there is there will be no tarmac lane kiffin style because i believe the game is actually in the shoe but they made it they may uh put him in a box leaving the shoe if they don't beat michigan this year i mean that is that is a a 100 no doubt must must win for a guy who's lost, I think,

like 10 games in his entire career. Kind of crazy. Yeah, Ryan Day has been very successful, but that last three against Michigan is just the albatross. Now, I still think if that field goal in the Peach Bowl goes in, we look at this through a very different prism because Ohio State has a national championship in the ryan day era yes they'd still be mad at him for losing to michigan but it wouldn't be this giant boiling pressure cook does it boil it boils in a pressure cooker after a

while right like yeah it is it is that intense for ryan day because you've got this rival. You were dominating this rival under Urban Meyer, dominating Michigan. Now you can't beat them. They're the national champions. This is the question I have for, and I know there's a bunch of Ohio State fans in the chat, and I'm curious about this. What's more important to you, beating Michigan or winning the national title? And I realize doing one means you probably did the other, but if you had to pick, which one would you pick? Would everybody pick Michigan or would everybody pick national title or would

it be split? Your old colleague, I believe Ari Wasserman is on record of saying that they would pick Michigan, that they were beating Michigan. Beating Michigan. Beating Michigan. Now, he had a big debate with our friend David Ubbin about this very thing several months ago. So that's a great – I would love to hear from the fans themselves

because I think what has also been salt in the wound for Day, not only losing three times, but the fact that, you know, the very first time Harbaugh comes out and immediately swings with the, you know, born on third base. And then he comes back and beats him another two times, including the national championship or including to then win the national championship this last season. So Michigan's riding high. This is Ohio state season. They Michigan's riding high. This is Ohio State's season.

They have clearly pushed all their chips in. There's other teams I'm sure we'll talk about, you know, Ole Miss, Missouri, some of these other teams, Louisville I think a little bit. NC State's gone big on the portal. But Ohio State has, if anybody has crowned the offseason champions, it is absolutely the Buckeyes. What that means could be a whole lot of nothing if they don't actually get it done, though. Yeah, and that's the thing.

They didn't need much. They added a bunch anyway. And Caleb Downs is probably the best player anybody got out of the port. Right. So that's why we're looking at it this way. This feels like an all-in because they are going to lose all that defense. JT Tumala, Jack Sawyer, Denzel Berkley. Those guys are going to the NFL.

Latham Ransom. Those guys are going to be in the NFL next year. And it's Ohio State. Look, they've recruited well. They'll have good players behind them. But will they be at this level where we are assuming that they can play for the national title? They might have to build

back up to that with younger players. This is the year it needs to happen. So let us go to the team most likely to keep it from happening. If that is to come to pass, that'd be the team that beat Ohio State in that peach bowl that I was talking about, the Georgia Bulldogs, who did not make the playoff last year because they lost to Alabama in the SEC championship game. Had the 12 team playoff been in effect, we might be talking about defending national champion Jordan. Which would be a three, which would be three, three in a row, which as you and I outlined a year ago was so, and it came to fruition that it just how hard it was going to be something that had not been done since before World War II with Minnesota. So can they reload?

I mean, Georgia, the offensive line is not a problem at Georgia. They're stacked there. I think the defensive line is going to be better. A year ago, they regressed a little bit. That's natural. You lose Jalen Carter. Yeah, after what you've lost, it's very tough to keep that up. You send five guys or whatever to the NFL draft in the first round

over the last couple of years, you're going to regress a little bit. So I think the run defense, which is around 20th in the country, it should be better. Those linebackers I talked about earlier, you know, Wilson, Allen, I think Javon Walker is going to become just a household kind of name as a Swiss Army pass rusher, inside-outside guy. And then offensively, you know, Georgia has very quietly, I think, assembled an elite group of playmakers.

Now, I don't think it's as good as Ohio State's or maybe even Oregon's, but it rivals just about everybody else, and they've, you know, you get the veteran tied in to supplement Oscar Delp from Stanford. You bring in Colby Young from Miami, who's now kind of your big weapon, Javon Wims type, you know, ball winner on the point. Yeah, your red zone threat, yeah. Yeah, and then you bring back, you know, Dylan Bell and some of these other guys at Arian Smith I mean they're gonna be they're gonna be really good and so that game against Clemson week one's gonna be fun their schedule to your point is much tougher but how do you kind of relay that right here I think fans also have to get used to the fact that we're not

going to see undefeated teams you know really all much anymore. And so if you lose a game in the regular season, it's no longer the end all. Well, like Georgia, Texas could be the first of two or even the first of three. Right. That's, that's the other part you've got to, got to look at. And I know some people don't like that, but yeah, I keep, I keep getting people asking me like what, you know, conference title games aren't going to matter anymore. Like the big 12 title game two years ago, didn't matter. TCU lost and made the 14 playoff.

Like it's, it's not going to change that. And then the rematches, well, we get rematches in every other sport. How many times did the Patriots and the Colts play? You know, how often are the chiefs in the bills playing now? Like we get rematches, and they happen, and it doesn't make us any less excited when the teams play when there's big stakes. Yeah, I mean, you're much more of a fan of kind of the 12-team expanded stuff

than I am, but I do think I've kind of basically landed on the fact that some of these games are going to be awesome, and sometimes they're going to be duds, and that's just the way it's going to play out. Some of these rematches are going to be the best games we've ever seen and some of them are going to be like man i really wish there was a couple other teams here because or another team in this spot for this is that spot so it the the best part is we are going to get some really really fantastic games georgia texas something we've never seen that's good like in the regular season obviously that's going to be great Ohio State Oregon getting out on a nearly annual basis is going to be awesome uh Texas Texas A&M I'm

stoked yeah it's interesting I'm reading this uh Ronaldo versus Messi book by the guys who wrote the the club about the English Premier League which is possibly the book Greg Sankey used to help design the 12 team playoff. Uh, but the, this, in this book, you know, there's a situation where Barcelona,

Messi's team has to play Ronaldo's team, Real Madrid four times in 18 days because of how the, the La Liga and the Copa del Rey and the, the champions league schedule worked out. And it was just this massive, like you could actually have that with Ohio State and Michigan. Can you imagine like two Ohio State-Michigan games

in a span of about three weeks? Or three, possibly. Yeah, I mean, and I think in some seasons that's definitely going to happen. Which is why they're considering maybe moving that game. I don't think they need to move it. Okay, let's talk about another team in the Big Ten that I have ranked very high Which is why they're considering maybe moving that game. I don't think they need to move it.

Let's talk about another team in the Big Ten that I have ranked very high because this is what before, if the Big Ten hadn't expanded, I think it would be very possible most years or a lot of years that Ohio State and Michigan on Thanksgiving weekend is round one, and then they're just going to play again round two. I think the addition of Oregon changes the math on that because this is a roster that can compete with anybody. Now, here's my issue with Oregon, and I've got them ranked high, so I'm expecting them to break through this year, but Dan Lanning had the best roster in the Pac-12 the last two years, and they did not win the Pac-12.

But as I keep reminding people, Dan Lanning was in his first two years as a head coach. He's a very young coach. You learn things. Like we talk about Kirby Smart. How much criticism did Kirby Smart take his first few years as a head coach? And then look at what he's become. I think Dan Lanning's going to break through, but this is a team that is built to succeed right now. This team should be in the Big 10

Championship game in year one, based on the talent they have and the schedule they have. And I think Dylan Gabriel may be, maybe the most important quarterback addition in the transfer portal this off season. Yeah. I don't think there's any quibbles with that. Just considering he led the big 12 and passing yards, I think efficiency touchdowns all that a year ago. And you just pluck him right into Willstein system. I'm,

I'm with you on Oregon. I'm sky high on the Ducks this year. I think that just because you haven't yet doesn't mean you can't or won't. And so Dan Lanning has shown that while he has had some issues with game management, fourth downs, over-aggression, he just gets it. And he has set up this program to contend on an annual basis. They go in in the spring, Andy, and they really don't have a bunch of questions.

They really like where the roster's at. And yet they still, okay, defensive tackle. It's a bear market. You know, Brian Kelly and these guys are out here griping about the cost of business at that position specifically. And Oregon is just like, well, okay, we'll go get Michigan State's best defensive lineman. And they just pluck that in to a group that returns Jordan Burch

and some of their top pass rushers. And then I think they probably have with Evan Stewart, Tez, some of the guys there at receiver, that they're going to be a really dynamic football team. Yeah, Evan Stewart's an interesting one because I don't think he really reached his potential at Texas A&M. And I think, you know, based on you talk to people there, it's probably a little bit the fault of the coaching staff and a little bit the fault of Evan Stewart himself. And the question is, at stop number two, do you learn from what happened at

stop number one? And if he becomes that dynamic kind of do everything receiving threat that we thought he would be as a recruit, that's an element that I don't think Oregon had last year. So, and then you look at Josh Connerly, who was Dan Lanning's first big recruiting get beat out USC for him in Dan Lanning's first winter at, at Oregon. And then a Johnny Cornelius who they got from Rhode Island out of the portal last year. A very good tackle tandem there. Like I think LSU has the best tandem of offensive tackles, but Oregon's right up there. So like, that's, that's huge. They've got everything they need. Now they need to show us, they can do it on the field. And it's going to be fascinating because you'll have

Ohio state, you'll have Oregon, you'll have Penn state, you'll have Michigan all fighting it out at the top of the big 10. And it's not just going to feel like a two team race anymore. I don't think. Yeah. And, and can another school that – is this the year that Penn State kind of puts it together? Can Andrew Koltanecki – is he able to finally unlock Drew Allar? I'm a little bit skeptical. I love Koltanecki's offense. It's more of skepticism than Allar.

But I think Penn State, they're're gonna be a top you know ish team in the big 10 again and if they can't put it together why couldn't the nitty lions win it so i have i have penn state at 12 in the ranking which if you're a penn state fan you see that you're like oh god come on because if this if this playoff system had been in place the whole time, Penn State would have made it six times since 2016. They would have been in this thing six times. Now, in this particular one, at 12, if you wind up 12 right here, you're out because there's no group of five teams ahead of 12.

So you would be the first team out, and that would just deepen the ennui because I think that's the word for it with Penn State like the fan base understand they're not happy I talked about when I went to the Penn State Michigan game last year hearing the fans boo the play calling in the second quarter was mind-blowing like are you serious like you're in this game. This game is not decided and you are booing the play calling, but I get it. They're frustrated because they haven't seen an exciting offense since it was Saquon Barkley, Trace McSorley, Mike Gusecki with Joe Moorhead calling the plays. Can Andy Kotelnicki come in with Drew Aller? Julian Fleming comes in at receiver,

but you lose Keiondre Lambert-Smith to Auburn. Can they be a more dynamic offense? And there's a little bit of what we argue about with Iowa here. Kirk Ferentz at Iowa has changed offensive coordinators, but it's probably Kirk Ferentz's offense at the end of the day. James Franklin, with the exception of kind of letting Joe Moorhead do his thing, it feels like he's kept his thumb on the scale with the offense, in part because the defense has always been so good. Well, the defense is going to be really good again. But if you want to beat Oregon, or if you want to beat Ohio State,

or if you want to beat the best teams on your schedule, you got to let the offense cook a little bit. You know, this is a bit of a sequitur but i think it fits uh because we're talking about penn state specifically with the expanded playoff andy do you think that because you just mentioned that penn state might have made it six times or something since 2016 if the system had been in place uh i'd be curious out of those how many times they might have won you know because i think penn state is such a great example of they're the the positive of the 12 team playoff because they've been just on the outside looking in number three in the big

10 but then if you just get to the playoff a bunch of times but don't win any of those games does it become kind of like an NBA team you know that makes the second round over and over and over yeah you make the second round but you're never making the conference finals or what sixers and you end up firing you end up just going through all these coaches so I'm kind of asking just hypothetically I'm just thinking out loud myself is this kind of a scenario where whoever that 12-ish, 13, 10, whatever team that's going to be constantly flirting with the end of the rankings each year, I wonder if their fan base is after the first couple playoffs.

They're like, yeah, it's cool that we made it, but if we're not winning it, what's the difference? I think expectations adjust quickly. I think you're dead on. If Penn State is right, is kind of on the edge, either just making it in and playing a road game and losing or not making it at all, that piece of the season will not be that exciting for them.

Exactly. And look, there's a lot of Sixers fans. The Venn diagram of the Sixers fan base and the Penn State fan base is probably pretty similar. The Sixers fans understand this ain't working. We can't get there. We have Joel Embiid, but we just can't get there. And Penn State has got to break through.

They've got to prove that they can play on the level of Ohio State and Michigan and now Oregon. Or, yeah, the fan base is going to be like, that's it. Cause you, you can't plateau unless you plateau at the top, like Nick Saban. Otherwise people get bored. And, and, and, and I guess we just described 2024 Clemson. Let's talk Clemson. I'm glad we're going to talk. We'll talk Florida state in a little bit too, because I think they're a really interesting team, but let's talk Clemson because Dabo Sweeney, the transfer portal was a big topic last week. You know, we, we talked about what Dabo said last week where he said, you know, the, the players in the portal, most of them aren't

good enough to play here. He's right. He's. He's not wrong about that. And then basically says anybody that could actually help us, we can't afford. Which we don't know the finances of their collective. I'll take him at his word. He's saying their collective doesn't have the money for that. Okay. Never want to call yourself a broke boy out loud, Andy. I don't think that's good. I don't see the positive in

that either i'm with you here's what clemson so clemson has guys like peter woods defensive tackle one of the best players in the country they've still got that sammy brown the linebacker that they signed out of georgia he's gonna be awesome they've got those guys sprinkled through the roster they have elite talent but they don't have it everywhere. And that's the problem because Georgia does because Ohio state does. And especially at the receiver position, like since T Higgins left, they have not been dynamic there. They've not been able to develop the guys they have signed.

And that's like the one place in the portal where you consistently been able to find some difference makers. It's not like you, you can't necessarily find a difference making offensive tackle or edge guy in the portal. Maybe, maybe somebody will this past year, but since it started, that's not been a place that you could really get those kinds of players, but you have been able to get impact receivers and Clemson is just not, not there. They've said, no, we're going to develop our own, but none of them have developed into what we're used to back in the days of new Hopkins,

Sammy Watkins, T Higgins, Mike Williams, Hunter Renfro, Adam Humphrey. I mean, that's a very distinguished list. Yeah. And, and Dabo's, you know, can opine as much as he wants about how much he loves his guys and how much these are our guys. And we believe in our guys, but it's just, it's been a dereliction of duty that he has not used the portal at all. No one, you know, I think too oftentimes when dabbo enters this conversation because he's so uh honestly transparent which is great about his views on on the transfer portal

i think too many people swing way too hard one side or the other no one is saying that clemson needs to add what old miss did or what colorado did or even like three guys. Yeah. If you just pluck and get four or five guys, three guys, whatever, that is how you build a sustainable roster. And the idea, you know, this is where I do think it gets misconstrued, Andy, because the problem, and I had a column on this, I think a month or two ago, just really looking at the data. You know, the problem is, is that for years, what Clemson was so successful at was the

offensive line, the receivers, as you mentioned, and they certainly got it masked. You know, any other deficiencies that they had were masked by the fact they had the best quarterback maybe in the game that year, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence, what have you, but the roster retention is not there anymore. The idea that Clemson doesn't have players leaving their program is not true. They are losing players to the transfer portal. And so yes, Dabo may not run off as many guys as other, but they're losing a significant amount of four, five, and blue chip recruits each year, and they are not supplementing that back in other than just high school recruiting,

and that's just not enough in today's age. Yeah. For example, Toriano Pride will start at Missouri this year, at cornerback, because Missouri lost Dennis Raystraw, lost Chris Avanshrain, needed immediate help at a position where they'd been really good. Mubaka started in Texas. So Toriano Pride goes to Missouri, and now he's

going to start there. Yeah, the safety, their starting safety is going to Texas. He's going to start at Texas. And so you just have these little bitty guys that are just going. The wide receiver, who wasn't great at Clemson, but he certainly, I think, would continue to help.

He's going to start at Notre Dame this year. Yeah, Bo Collins. Yeah. And so you just add all these up, and you don't backfill at all. And you picture that with what Florida State has done, and that's why the Seminoles are, you know. And also what NC State has done, because that's another team Clemson is going to play annually. So you get NC State at done because that's that's another team Clemson is is going to

play annually and and so like you get NC State at home this year that's good but like NC State Florida State Louisville at Virginia Tech is going to be a tricky one for Clemson Virginia Tech's going to be sneaky good this year and they also play Georgia I've just identified five potential losses on this schedule. I don't think they're going to lose five games, but nine and three, eight and four, perfectly plausible. And guess what? If that happens, you're not making the playoff.

If that happens, I think, what was it last year that Davos said, buy stock. I think a lot of folks will be selling off whatever they have if that comes to fruition. Yeah, yeah. So we'll see about that. Now let's go to the team I have ranked the highest among the ACC teams, and that is Florida State. This will be a very different looking team this year.

Jordan Travis is gone. Jared Verse is gone. Braden Fisk is gone. Keon Coleman is gone. Now Fisk and Coleman were one-year guys there, but Burst was there a couple of years. Jordan Travis was actually a transfer portal guy that Willie Taggart took from Louisville,

but it was a four-year guy at Florida State. It's a different group, but in a lot of ways, it may be a deeper and more talented group than what they had last year. Apparently, the reports of Marvin Jones Jr. coming out of Tallahassee are pretty spectacular. And so he could wind up being their best edge rusher

and they don't really drop off after losing a first rounder in verse. Well, and they returned a guy too, opposite of him who's really good. I think that tandem is going to be really good. I, Jermaine Johnson 2.0, I think Florida, Florida state fans would sign up for that. It's so funny because when you bring that up, like I mentioned that to Mike Norvell last week at, at ACC meetings, he's like, no, very different than Jermaine because of what's around those guys. For sure. For sure. But I was just going to actually make the point that it's kind of funny No, very different than Jermaine because of what's around those guys.

For sure, for sure. I was just going to actually make the point that it's kind of funny because I think it also, you do the transitive property here. I think that also speaks to what Georgia feels like about its pass rush. Yeah. In 2024, where they're just letting a former five-star like that walk. I mean, the train from Tuscaloosa to Tallahassee has been really positive. I think for Mike Norvell, you get a starter and Earl little at nickel. I think that they like what they're going to have at Rondell Williams at tailback. You get some offensive linemen. Um,

you know, no one has been better than, than, than Norvell at identifying precisely the type of player and who they want and then hitting on that guy you know yeah they have just they have such a success rate it's been really good they need to get better and florida state fans have talked about this uh you know some fsu experts have noted this they have to start getting a little bit better off the field in terms of high school recruiting. But I think they are, I think you look,

it's been a gradual build of better high school recruiting as they've gotten better on the field. They have, but they have top five potential, I think as a high school, as a prep recruiting program. And they haven't quite reached that. Again,

I am very high on mike norvell i think florida state coming off last season's storied season uh if dju can just not kind of mess it up frankly i think the seminoles are gonna be the clear favorites in the acc well and that's the thing how good is dj we are gonna be we've seen him at Clemson. We've seen him at Oregon state. I don't think he's ever going to be what he was hyped as clearly. And that's fine because that happens, but I do think he can be a very good starting quarterback for them. If he does, what do you,

you know, what might Norvell asked him to do protects the ball. And DJ doesn't have a terrible history of committing a bunch of turnover. So as long as he's careful with the ball, I think they have enough, enough weapons around him and then a good enough defense that you can play that way and be fine. And I do think this is the team to beat in the ACC. I do want to talk about one of their ACC team that I have ranked. I've got Miami at 13 and I realize that the Georgia tech game happened that we've seen Mario Cristobal with good rosters, not get as much out of good rosters. But at a certain point, I'm a believer in when you have better linemen than most of the teams you

play, it almost doesn't matter how you coach the team. You're going to win a lot of games. And I think Miami's gotten itself into that spot. Now they still need to, like when they play Florida State or when they play a better team, like they need to also manage the game well from a coaching staff perspective. But I think they're in a situation now

where on the offensive and defensive lines, they're going to be the better team in most of the games they play. Well, they certainly, uh, I've liked a lot of their additions in the transfer portal. This has less to do with the roster building than it does with, with kind of the guy in charge and what happens with his football teams on Saturday. There's going to be one hell of an anxiety bowl here in Gainesville, Florida. Pitch sports and torches bowl, that's right. I mean, Napier is on the quote-unquote hot seat.

And I think, frankly, that aside from Ryan Day, probably no coach faces more pressure that isn't probably seriously in danger of losing their job than Mario Cristobal. I mean, he has a 10-year contract or what have you. But year three now in Coral Gables, the first two years have been – first season was horribly underwhelming. Last season you bounce back a little bit, but you still have quarterback problems. You have the game, you know, costly game management that costs you a win

versus Tech, like you said, just refusing to kneel. Miami's gone all in. I mean, the fact that, you know, Cam Ward flirted with the NFL for so long, you know, and then came back to college just to go to Miami, all the work they've done in the portal, they're going for it. Now we're going to see if they can win these games, you know. The off-season hype has never been shy down there in Miami. going for it uh now we're gonna see if they can win these games you know this is the offseason hype has never been shy uh down that down there in miami now we'll see if they can actually live

up to the smoke yeah the smoke the smoke that they're running through as they come onto the field that schedule purposefully andy i i yeah i know that that, you look at it, you're like, that's 10-2 right there. It should be. Whether it is is another question because, like you said, anxiety bowl in Gainesville at Louisville isn't going to be easy. Florida State, you get them at home. USF, man. USF, that's right.

Alex Golish doing a very good job there. I'll mention Virginia Tech again. Sneaky good. Virginia Tech is going to surprise some people at Georgia tech. That's another one. Like Georgia tech's going to be a tough out. Like Florida state has to play them in Ireland to start the season. Not going to be easy.

Jesse Haynes King, man, before we go, let's go back to the big 10. I want to talk about two different big 10 teams. So we haven't talked directly. We've talked tangentially about the defending national champions. We need to talk about the defending national champions,

the Michigan Wolverines. They lost a lot. A lot. But I don't think they drop off all that much because I think they have the best two defensive tackles in the country in Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. They may be the best cornerback in the country and Will Johnson Sharon Moore being elevated a head coach means all of the development you've been doing on your offensive line continues

so I'm not I'm really not worried about them at all in the trenches I'm not worried about them at all on defense it's just a matter of what does the offense look like, we assume, with Alex Orji running it? Yeah, Michigan has answered a lot of questions this offseason to me. I labeled them, you know, even before some of their additions in this last week in the secondary when they've got three guys, I think, in like 24 hours. I labeled them one of the transfer portal winners just because they were able to hold on to the bones of their rosters. All these rumors running rampant that Graham and Grant were going to end up at Texas and that Will Johnson was going to come to the SEC and all that stuff.

And none of it happened. They kept all these guys there. They return, you know, a first rounder at tight end. They're going to run the ball. They're going to be physical. And you see that schedule. I think they're going to be good. Now, you know, can they contend for a national championship?

I don't think they have the top-end depth and talent that Ohio State, Georgia, and some of these others that we've discussed do. But I think Michigan's going to be pretty darn good. And so the fact that, you know, some other folks have them, you know, third or fourth, fifth, sixth in the Big Ten. I just don't see that. I think the regression monster isn't going to come quite as hard as some folks anticipated. Yeah, I think they're going to be fine.

I do think if there was a 14 playoff again, they might be capable of winning the national title. I think the fact that you've got to win three or four games in a row against that level of competition is going to make it very hard for this particular team. For the same reason it'll make it easier for this Ohio State team. Just like that Michigan team last year. That Michigan team last year would have been great in a 12-team playoff because it would just grind people down. And by the time they played another team that had played two or three straight games

against elite talent, that team would have won a no part of Michigan's line firing off at them. So I do think that – Harbaugh would have tried to get every game with fewer than 20 pass attempts just so he could win a national championship with a school record 17 games and then afterwards be like, but have patrick mahomes at quarterback hey listen it got jj first round draft pick it not not to the chargers but but it got jj drafted the first round all right one more big 10 team before we go we gotta talk albert oh we do have to talk about auburn so let's talk about this other big

10 team then we'll talk all right nebraska i've got them number 25 and i realize nebraska has not won very much lately they have not gone to a bowl game since after the 2016 season they were five and seven last year why are they ranked i know you're asking last year. Why are they ranked? I know you're asking that Andy, why are they ranked? I'm telling you right now, if this offense just stays the hell out of the defense's way, this team is going to be above average. I don't know if I'm ready to say good, but I am definitely ready to say above average and a bowl game will be the least of your concerns so i had them fifth in my big 10 rankings so this lines up right there i basically had them and iowa as a coin flip um so we are in lockstep with the corn huskers now are we gonna get fooled again you know is

this the famous uh george bush fool me once fool me twice well you can't fool me you know, is this the famous George Bush fool me once, fool me twice, well, you can't fool me. You know, I mean, like, I don't know. I, is it, are we too heavy leaning on a five-star freshman quarterback? Probably. But I really like what else they have on this roster. You know, Matt Rule went pretty hard in the portal year one, much more high school based, not as many pieces necessary year two he has that you know track record of the year two bump anyways but you get a guy like Isaiah Nayer uh from Texas who you

know was injured but two years ago was awesome at Wyoming I think the receiver room is going to be a lot better you get Dowell the running back from Oregon I just think offensively like you said if they just can't if they can't throw up all over themselves, when they led the nation in turnovers, Matt rule told me himself, I mean, you know, if it's, it's, you know, if some butts and candies, but yeah, I get it. But if we didn't turn the ball over a thousand times last year, we might've won eight games, nine games in year one. What can we do if we just play functional offense in 2024 and i think and that's when these guys believe that that's the key because i mean there were times last year

where the offense actively sabotaged the team the minnesota game i don't know if they would have won the colorado game anyway but the iowa game for sure you know they just had the Michigan state game, the Maryland game. Like they had a game. They were in deer. They literally intercepted a pass with 20 something seconds to go. And they gave it right back to them. And I was able to kick a game winning field goal within the last time. It was just.

Yeah. Black magic stuff. Yeah. So that's like Nebraska was more right there than you realize. It reminds me a little, not, not quite as extreme, like the 2012 Michigan state team, I think it wound up being seven and six, but they played a ton of one score games. The defense was awesome. The offense was non-functional and you were like, Oh, if the offense can do anything, they're going to be, and they ended up winning the big 10 and going to rose bowl i don't think nebraska's gonna be that good but if the

offense can be a net positive in any way shape or form this is a this is a pretty good team so i i'm excited to see what that looks like and we'll find out really when they play coach prime week two that'll be that'll be a fun one. Everybody, everybody's tuning in for that one. That's a prime time NBC. That's going to be fun. All right. Let it, let us get to the one that, that yes, we are probably argue about this one because you had in your sec conference power rankings, you had Auburn 12th in the league i have auburn number 20 in the country which i'm trying to count my sec teams that i have above them i think that means i have them like seventh in the sec so notably you have them above above oklahoma i do say in him

yeah uh kind of in the similar similar you and you have them below Kentucky and Florida as well. I do. Yeah. I'll give you the floor first. Yeah, I could argue that you could move them up versus Kentucky. I like what Auburn has done roster-wise this year. I think there's not a lot of arguments with that for the bones of kind of what Hugh had to now what they sit here exiting the spring. Receiver position, you get the Georgia

State kid, obviously Cam Coleman, five-star freshman, Lambert from Penn State, not an all-conference guy, but a solid piece. I think there's some concerns still on the defensive line for Auburn. The offensive line should be a lot better. You get Percy from Mississippi State. It all comes back, and maybe I'm overthinking it. The guys at our Auburn site would certainly suggest that is the case. But the fact that you have the last two or two of the last three games where they just get completely smoked against New Mexico State

and then in the bowl game against Maryland. What happened in the one in the middle? I got you. I got you. I understand that. I'm just building the case here because my point is it's not like Auburn had a bunch of guys suddenly checking out and then transferring out of the program.

This is not like Hugh did a massive calling of the roster. A lot of those guys who were in those games are back. And specifically the starting quarterback. And, you know, the fact that Hugh basically right before the bowl game was like, you know, Peyton Thorne is my guy. And then he goes and Willie walks it and he's like, you know, scratch that reverse it.

We're going to reopen the job. We may look for a guy. And now we enter, you know, or finish spring practice. And it seems like they flirt with some guys, but there's not really somebody that they're super high on. Lo and behold, it is going to be Peyton Thorne. He's fine. You know, he's a fine, he's a jag, whatever you want to call him.

I don't think he's going to screw it up for him. I just don't know if he's a guy that's going to be capable of, of winning them football games. And I think 2025 is going to be the season where they get, you know, a real do at that position that's surrounded by these playmakers that they've added where I'll say, Hey, Auburn's a top 20 team. Here's the, here's the thing. And I don't know what it, say, hey, Auburn's a top 20 team. Here's the thing. And I don't know what it is about Auburn. I don't know if it's the water from the municipal water supply that makes elite play callers not want to call plays when they're at Auburn

because it happened to Gus Malzahn, and then it happened again to Hugh Freeze when he got there. Hugh Freeze, the best there Hugh Freeze the best thing he does is call plays and he gets there and he's like uh too much going on not gonna call plays gonna hire Philip Montgomery gonna let him call plays well Hugh Freeze midway through last season realized that was a mistake that mistake has been corrected This is a man whose play calling scared Nick Saban so much that Nick Saban tried to change the rules. So now he's calling plays again.

And oh, by the way, they've just added this new rule, speaking of changing rules, where he can just radio into his quarterback's helmet, throw it to that guy. Which, by the way, he would do before anyway. Like there were times when he was a Liberty and Malik Willis was his quarterback. And you can see Hugh freeze pointing, like throw to that guy. So now he can say it without anybody seeing him. They're not going to be as wide open as they were at Liberty. I'm not,

I don't need to be, I had, they were at Liberty I'm not They don't need to be They got backs I got no quibbles with Hugh as a play caller I mean, I think that, you know, his track record speaks for itself I just, again, it's skepticism in Again, especially when we're looking at Whether from a national perspective or the SEC Am I going to bank on Peyton Thorne?

Am I going to say, hey, I've seen some five-star flashers from Conor Wegman. I don't know what Jackson Arnold has, but he looks like he might have something. But you know where his ceiling is. He looks like he might have something. And so you start doing some of these kind of machinations and comparison between these programs, and that's just kind of how I kind of laid it out. I understand completely, but I'm telling you right now. Now, here's the adventure that is Hugh Freeze.

You may have a New Mexico State game. Right. Maybe that's against Louisiana Monroe and General Booty. I don't know. The danger of not showing up against a team you're supposed to beat is there, but also the thrill of beating a team you're not supposed to is there too. And you saw it last year when they played Georgia way tougher than they should have and should have beaten Alabama. Like you, you can get them up for those games. So Auburn fans, you're used to the rollercoaster.

You're on the rollercoaster. I'm not predicting that you're used to the roller coaster. You're on the roller coaster. I'm not predicting that you're going to win the SEC. I am predicting, actually, I have them eighth in the SEC. So we're not as far apart as people think. Before we go, I do want to talk about one of their SEC team, because this is one that I think is kind of in the same boat as Auburn. They play each other as well. I have Oklahoma at number 24. Now, Oklahoma fans probably don't like that, but I actually have more confidence in them than Vegas does.

You know, this was a team that their initial win total came out at six and a half. People hammered the over on that. It's now moved up to seven and a half, but it's stuck there. So there's not a ton of confidence in Oklahoma being a 9-10 win team. I think this could be an 8-9 win team. I think it's a bad year for them to have to rebuild their offensive line. But I also think it's freaking Oklahoma. Like Oklahoma's not bad really ever.

And I don't think they're going to be bad this year. So I had a column about a week or two ago kind of looking at the Sooners, and I just kind of asked the open-ended question, you know, is this a team that can play playoff spoiler? And that's kind of where I landed with them, Andy. I would have them in a similar spot, maybe four or five spots higher. We'll see when my post- post spring rankings come out, uh, top 25 comes out on Monday.

I just think, you know, their schedule is so ghoulish. It's one of those things where I'm not, I'm not so worried about that in terms of these rankings, but I think it speaks to, to what you were talking about with the Vegas, you know,

over under some folks being like maybe down. I mean, Oklahoma got dealt a tough, tough draw, especially compared to Texas for year one in the SEC. And when you factor in, you're going to be starting five new offensive linemen, even though I do think they've gotten a couple all-conference guys from SMU and elsewhere. That's a tall task, First-year starting quarterback.

Now, I really like they got some dudes on the edge. They got some pass rushers. And Oklahoma fans went ballistic on me that I did not include them in the top ten safety unit rankings because how dare I leave out Billy Bowman. But, you know, their other five-star hasn't quite lived up to expectations yet. But I like the Sooners. I like the Sooners. I don't think that maybe just because they don't win 10 games doesn't mean

they're not a quality 10-ish. But here's the thing. If they do win 10 games, they're in the playoff. Yes, they do. Absolutely. I think we should probably gather and reevaluate after they've played Tennessee and at Auburn. So Tennessee's their first SEC home game. Auburn, their first SEC road game.

I think we'll have a much better idea after that what Oklahoma's going to be this season. Because, listen, Tennessee's a potential playoff team. I've got them in the top 10 in this ranking, but if Oklahoma beats them and then goes and beats Auburn, I think I recalibrate. Agreed. Did you see who else is on that schedule though? And this is where I think it's going to be fun. I mean, you're talking about, but I mean, I'm not even talking about just the SEC, Houston and Tulane. Those are two very games that Oklahoma should win and probably will, but it then becomes the body blow theory

where those are going to be games that you still have to get up for. You're not just going to sleepwalk past a big 12th. I don't know how good Houston's going to be in Willie Fritz year one, but John Summerall taking over Willie Fritz's old team at Tulane, that one you do worry a little bit about. You at least got to wake up, and then it's like, oh, and then we got Tennessee, Auburn, Texas. You got to play at Ole Miss and at Missouri.

Two teams are going to be in a lot of folks' top tens. That's a tough, tough schedule. At LSU. Oof. Good luck, Brent. Bill Satterfield, the Oklahoma fan in chat is uh he's apoplectic like oh auburn will be an easy win cole says cole's never been to jordan hair oklahoma's never played at jordan hair i don't know how to break this to y'all. Ain't nothing in the big 12 like that.

No, nothing. No, not even, not even Kansas. Andy's beloved Kansas state has that atmosphere. Yeah. Listen,

Bill Snyder family stadium is, is a fun place to watch a game, but it, it, it ain't Jordan hair. Okay. One more before we go one more. Why do I have Kansas State so high?

Because I am driving the Avery Johnson bandwagon. I have Kansas State number 10. I am expecting them to win the Big 12, though I will say that is not a supremely confident pick because you will notice I have Utah at 15. I then have Arizona at number 19, and I think those three teams could be very good. I also have Oklahoma state ranked.

There's a lot of teams that can win the big 12. I think I'm going to put them all together when my rankings come out on one day. I'm literally, because I think it's literally just shaking up a, you know, a, a,

yeah, just seeing what, no, just like a, almost like a candy jar. And like, you get to pick out which starburst you get. Because I mean, I, I four or five – the Big 12 is going to –

we've discussed this before. The Big 12 is going to be – they're not going to produce a national champion, but they're going to produce one hell of a fun season because West Virginia is going to have a fun team. Obviously, Avery Johnson and kind of his five-star flow. Texas Tech people are excited. yes you might come back i like i like a lot of what oklahoma state has i mean i think oklahoma yes sneaky so gonna be a fun fun league so 10 10 is probably a little bit too rich for me but i understand it because you're riding all in on on the john. Yeah, and I do this with probably one player every year,

and I feel bad. Last year it was Cooper Beebe. It was one of them. He had a good year, too. Yeah, I know, I know. But no, Avery Johnson. So Avery Johnson is probably the fastest quarterback we've seen with this level of arm talent in a long time i'm trying not to

say lamar jackson but it's i i'm telling you he's cross racial the cops that were the best so well and he's really fast like when you see avery johnson at top speed you're like okay that's fast and there were some throws last year where you could tell like, this is not your typical, I'm just a track star quarterback. Like he could. And that's the thing with Lamar, like for all the criticism Lamar ever got as a passer, he would make some throws at Louisville and he obviously continued to do that in the NFL where he's like, no, no, no. There's the NFL arm talent right there. It's, it's abundant. It's just, he's so good at this other stuff. Why wouldn't you use it? Hey man. Yeah. You got a Cadillac. You need, you need to take it out for a spin and make sure that

you actually get that horsepower going because I, I, what a Avery's teased, you know, some, some insane potential. Now it's just going to be putting it together. Hopefully, hopefully they've improved the playmakers around them too. You know, they've, they've certainly added some guys. Yeah.

We'll see if Dylan Edwards, but I mean, they, they've got good backs already. It's not like Dylan Edwards has to come in and be the number one running back. So this is what's his name? Let,

let the AC or let big 12 and rushing. Yeah. So they've got what they need to, to be pretty good. And they've been relentlessly confident throughout the Chris climate era. So I'm just, I'm excited to see it. I'll,

I'm always excited when you see a new court and Jackson Arnold, kind of the same thing at Oklahoma, like the five star ceiling, the, the, the, the arm talent that's obvious. Now, Jackson, like Avery Johnson in their bowl game against NC State

looked a lot better than Jackson Arnold in their bowl game against Arizona. But that's one game. So we don't know. But it's exciting when you know there's these potentially great players that they've just got to get to their ceiling and we're going to see something special. Yep. I mean, you know, Nico, could we, could we, could we see arch? You know, there's a lot, a lot of these sophomore dudes who, who could be, you know, capital D dudes in 20.

Yeah. It's going to be a lot of fun this year. This was a very instructive exercise, this top 25. Whether you agree with anything I said in here or not, I bet you looked at it and you're like, oh, what's the playoff going to look like now? As you kind of put these teams into the bracket, it could be fun. And November is going to be fun. Like because like you mentioned, the Big 12, we do these ceilings and floor things and you know the the widest split we've had is we've had a we had i think we had usc where they their floor was like five and seven and their ceiling was like 11 and one or ten and two like the big 12 is going to

be ceiling 11 and one floor three and eight for like 10 different teams it's going to be amazing yeah yeah everybody except colorado no look they could be good too that's the beauty of this i i don't i don't know if their ceiling is 11 and 1 but they could be much better i agree with that yes and that's another topic for another day because as we know when we talk about colorado the numbers go so jesse it's been a pleasure i cannot wait to see which one of us is correct, but your rankings come out next week. So I will probably have you back on to yell at you. There you go.

There you go. Appreciate it. Jesse Simonson from on three. Thank you so much. That was fun. I just, I get more excited about this season. Every time we do this, every time we talk about what these games are going to be like,

how this may work out ultimately, as we come down to that final week, what the playoff selection situation is going to look like. It's going to be fun guys. We just got to get there. Long offseason. Don't worry. We're going to keep you going. We will keep you thriving through the offseason. We'll talk to you tomorrow.