Andy & Ari On3 - The most IMPACTFUL transfer QB of 2025 has hit the portal | It's time to panic at USC

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

You’ve had Wendy’s Nuggs dipped in sauce. But have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11.Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker, try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs.   This show is brought to you by Panini America, makers of the most collectible sports cards on the planet. The Luminance football card series features NIL autographed cards from players including Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers, Cam Ward, Jalen Milroe, Dylan Raiola, DJ Lagway, and Luther Burden. To start collecting, visit PaniniAmerica.net.  This show is also sponsored by PrizePicks, America’s most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code STAPLES to play $5 and get $50 instantly. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/STAPLES(0:00-0:43) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs(0:44-25:48) Intro: Is it time for USC to panic?(25:49-29:42) Continuing the USC conversation(29:43-32:00) PaniniAmerica.net(32:01-37:08) Looking at Ohio State(37:09-37:56) Jake Dickert targeted as Wake Forest's Next Head Coach(37:57-45:15) John Mateer, most impactful portal QB?(45:16-53:51) Ari is done hearing about Mother Nature(53:52-56:45) Is Ari a conspiracy theorist?(56:46-59:14) PrizePicks(59:15-1:10:45) Tennessee fans taking over the shoe?(1:10:46-1:11:21) Conclusion; Dear Andy & Ari tomorrow! [e-mail] It’s a Wendy’s Saucy Take Wednesday, and Andy says the most impactful transfer portal player of this offseason hit the market this week. Ari is tired of hearing about the weather. Producer River, meanwhile, thinks his fellow Volunteers are preparing to invade Columbus and turn the Horseshoe (at least partially) orange. Plus, the Branch brothers hitting the transfer portal is yet another piece of bad news for USC. Andy thinks it’s time to panic. Meanwhile, Ari has grown completely apathetic when it comes to Lincoln Riley. Watch us on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/KBgPsQdS89c Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

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it's gotta be Wendy's at participating US Wendy's. gotta be Wendy's at participating US Wendy's. And welcome to Andy and Ari on three. It is of course, a Wendy's Saucy is Take Wednesday. How you doing Ari? I'm doing good, how are you? I'm feeling saucy today, feeling very saucy. I just posted a comment on three about the situation at USC. Obviously the Branch brothers, Zachariah and Zion went into the portal yesterday.

Many other contributors have already gone into the portal. It ain't good. And I posted a comment basically saying, eh, you can go ahead and panic now. Yeah, I read it last night and I gotta tell you, I felt good reading it after the dinner that we went to. It's no longer my burden, but man. I did hold that over you for two, because you did try to cash out that bet a year and a half in advance and I just dangled it over your head. Yes, you put me on the torture table. That's what friends do. That was more fun for me, honestly.

Well, the dinner was great. The steak was amazing. Yeah. But the year and a half of torturing you with it was way more fun than the cash up front I would've gotten. And the thing that was really annoying too, and bets tend to do this, Andy, is that when they beat LSU in the opener,

I was like, oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute here. They could maybe go 10 and two and get in this thing. And no, that wasn't even close. But yeah, I cannot wait to get into this because it's just, like, listen, there's being wrong about something and there's being the exact opposite of true, right? Like this is like, I didn't,

just because he didn't make the playoff in the first three years doesn't mean that it was that like you could have been wrong about that, but he still could have been the right guy. Yeah. I was so wrong about it. Like this is an abject failure and disaster, like in every way.

Well, let's talk about it now. Let's do it now. Let's do it now. Okay. Because we can do the saucy takes consumer for a little bit. And we can talk USC now. Cause it's interesting interesting because when we were texting about this last night, you said I'm now apathetic toward USC. And here you are shot out of a cannon. And I had a feeling you'd get there because it's you feel I think the same way I do because the column I wrote it on three is not just like, I don't spend 1000 words trashing Lincoln Riley. Right. It's more

about how frustrating it is. Because Lincoln Riley was so good at his job. And was so young. And you could see that, okay, if you tweak this, and you tweak this, and you tweak this, you can be an all time great. Like when Lincoln Riley played Kirby smart in the Rose Bowl, both of them seem destined for what Kirby is now. But only Kirby got there. And it's it's incredibly frustrating because Lincoln Riley is so good at one part of the job, but

does not seem equipped for the rest of it. Well, you know, there's a lot to unpack here. This could be the whole episode. But here's the thing that I saw a lot on Twitter yesterday, and I don't know if it's true, but I want to unpack it with you. A lot of people are saying congratulations Lincoln Riley you ruined two blue blood programs and I don't know if that's true right like the first of all USC wasn't humming on all cylinders when he took over but you know they did really well at Oklahoma during his time like that's some revisionist history of

like well you know exactly and it's not just because Bob Stoops left him an advantageous position. Like Lincoln Riley one was a big reason why Oklahoma was so good in Stoops last couple of years there. In fact, Stoops hiring Lincoln Riley turned the program around. And then look at what he did. Look at what he did. Unlocks Baker Mayfield gets, gets the most out of him. Gets the absolute most out of Kyler Murray.

Remember, Kyler Murray played at Texas A&M. Didn't look anything like that. Turns Jalen Hurts into a better quarterback. He was a much better quarterback at Oklahoma than the one we met at Alabama. I think you'd make the case with Jalen Hurts that that was the single best, most impressive transformation I've ever seen in a quarterback period. And set him up for NFL success because the Jalen Hurts that that was the single best most impressive transformation I've ever seen in a quarterback period. And set him up for NFL success because the Jalen Hurts who left Alabama is not the Jalen Hurts that we see now playing for the Eagles.

Andy, there are times where I'll be watching Jalen Hurts play with the Eagles and he'll make a throw. And I'll think to myself, that man got benched in a national championship game because he couldn't throw well enough. Like I mean like the where he's come from and I don't know if it was just he was, you know, if it was all Lincoln Riley or, you know, but he there's a piece of it there. Yeah. I mean, and then Caleb Williams. Yeah. Right. So like, listen, if your number one claim to fame in college football is you're a quarterback whisperer, then that's a pretty good claim to fame to have, right?

Like if you had to pick one aspect of the game to be excellent at, you'd probably be, I always have great quarterbacks would probably be one of the things or, or talent accumulation, one of the two. Um, but those go hand in hand with that position. So I don't know, like the Oklahoma thing I have a hard time with because they were so consistently good. Other defenses stunk, but, but they were good. And that, and that is the weak spot that we said, okay, but he's young.

He's in his thirties coaching Oklahoma. Yeah. Okay. There's 30, you know, you have 20 good years of being a head coach ahead of you. You'll figure this out. But then there there's the other aspects of this one, which is, are we overestimating what USC is? Like, is that, where did I make my mistake?

Was my mistake with thinking that Lincoln Riley was going to just turn USC into the Oklahoma West and run through the Pac-12? Because like, you know what, Andy, when I made the bet, it was predicated on playing in the Pac-12. Like like you know what Andy when I made the bet it was predicated on playing in the Pac-12 Like that so like them going to the Big Ten and it was only year three So he had two years in the in the Pac-12 but in year one

They were a half a football away from making the playoff So we can't forget about that like they had Caleb Williams and they were good enough You know at least offensively that year which Jordan Addison to make the playoff that year They didn't do it. But I thought that they would have, that they would be able to build or that his vision probably when he took the job was that he would be able to build what he built at Oklahoma with maybe even less resistance because of the access to California talent that he was going to have and that they would just run through

that conference. That was my vision. That obviously has changed a lot because the playoff has changed. And of course their obviously has changed a lot because the playoff has changed and of course their conference has changed. But is USC, are we overestimating its power at this point? Well, I think you always have. I think USC and Texas and Florida are all very similar. With the right coach, they can be dominant. Without the right coach, they

can be a mess. The question that I have if you if you put them on Texas and Florida level, then I don't know that I don't overestimate them. That's a pretty great place to be. The question is is if you know if they have the right coach, are they ever like peak Texas like could USC be what Texas is now they were the right Carol. So yes, I understand that but it's that was 20 years ago now. So you still do it. You still do it with the

right guy. Okay. Well, here's the hypothetical. Dan Lanning goes to USC instead of Oregon in 2000 before the 2022 season. That's the thing. Like the thing that is tough for me is I thought you were going to get a young visor wearing offensive guru to make

USC cool again. If you go read the column that I wrote the day they hired him at the athletic, it wasn't just that he was gonna bring Caleb Williams with him. It was the entire, it was the statement that USC made from a financial aspect to get him because I'm assuming he has a 10-year fully guaranteed God contract, right? Because that's... Yeah, he does. At the time that he signed that deal, everybody was getting that that deal. And that was the only way they were probably going to poach him from Oklahoma at that point. That they made this financial

commitment to go get somebody that wasn't on anybody's board. Bring them to Southern California, they were going to recruit the hell out of the West Coast, they were going to be so much better than everybody but Oregon in the Pac 12. And they were going to run things. And it was going to look a lot like it did in year one, like every year, right? But now, like I don't even know if, if like Lincoln Riley is the full person to assign the blame in this prediction or if USC just is a more challenging job than I'm giving it credit for. Okay, you didn't answer my hypothetical.

Oh yeah, no, I think, yeah. If Dan Lanning is USC's coach, is USC nationally elite? By saying yes, I'm wondering if I'm making the same mistake again. No, you're not. Dan Lanning, Oregon is a harder job than USC or as harder job as USC. I don't know that I agree with that right now.

It used to be. Okay, Oregon's NIL structure is probably better. But USC is not broke. Ari, like it's not about being broke, but like Oregon does have a certain compensation situation both with the... I'm telling you right now, if Dan Lanning had gone to USC, USC would be the big 10 champ. They'd be the number one seed in the playoff. Yeah. Okay. So then it's not USC.

Then then we go back to Lincoln Riley. And you know what I saw yesterday that bothered me? And I don't know if it's just a disgruntled former player. But when Zach Branch went into the portal, Relique Brown, the running back, the former running back, the former, I think he was a five star prospect at the time, like posted like smart man or something on Twitter. And like, you don't really see that very often. Like sometimes you do, but is there a culture issue in the sense of like, not only are things not working out

there, but do people hate playing for this man? Like, and then that is a- I think we're going to find out. I am very curious to see what some of the cast offs do. Like how does Miller Moss perform playing for Jeff Brom, who is another quarterback whisperer, who also is a very good coach, who took Purdue to a Big 10 title game, who took Louisville to the ACC title game in his first year like if Jeff Brom gets more out of

Miller Moss than the ranking Lincoln Riley did, that tells you something. If whoever gets Deuce Robinson gets more out of Deuce Robinson than Lincoln Riley did, that tells you something. Zachariah Branch in the portal with a do not contact tag that's the don't call me I'll call you tag. If whoever gets him gets more out of him than Lincoln Riley did, that will tell you something. You know what else I'm interested in? The reason for everybody leaving.

Because they don't believe that USC can be good or are they unhappy there? Hold on, Jeffrey in the chat has a comment and I want to unpack this. USC is not better with Dan Lanning. Laugh out loud. Imagine Lincoln Riley with the resources that are at Oregon. Okay. Imagine Lincoln Riley at Oregon. Their defense can't tackle and they don't develop players on the line of scrimmage. Imagine Dan Lanning at USC. They develop players on the line of scrimmage and put them in the NFL. Jeffrey, you don't even watch football like I think what he's trying to that's absurd.

But I think what he's trying to get at is is if Dan Lanning is a master talent accumulator and recruiter or if Oregon has a better landing is a master culture builder like Kirby Smart is like Nick Saban is like Jim Harbaugh was yeah. I know I mean I I have nothing like to me. It's like I think Dan Lanning is. Probably the number one no doubt about it higher than anybody could have right now if they were ever able to get him away from Oregon, which I'm not sure they would be. So like, I'm not pushing back on it. The question I'm

wondering is if Oregon's connection with Nike, not just from how much they're paying players, but like the, the routes to being affiliated with that brand and some of the things that they have to offer, make it easier to get players, which in turn makes it easier for you to build a better culture and look good. Ari, they're in Eugene, Oregon. I know USC is in Los Angeles. I don't care about that swoosh. Guess what USC has swooshes on their jerseys too. It's not, it's not that. Well, I don't think it's just like having the swoosh on your Jersey I think it's like internship programs and brand affiliation and potential to be marketed in a different way they have all sorts of PowerPoint presentations that they're telling these people when they have that they had that forever

They had that when Pete Carroll was at USC and guess what Pete Carroll seems were way better Yeah, yeah, and I'm with you. seems way better. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm with you. I'm just trying to dissect. So, so if I'm just trying to dissect, you want, you want this to be about something that it's not, it's about, and some folks in the chat were right on it early on. And I wish I'd put it this way. Lincoln Riley is a good coach. He may not be a great CEO. He may not be a great CEO. Yeah, well, I mean, clearly, I mean, right, but that's the thing that the CEO part has become so much bigger now. Yeah, and I guess you have to ask yourself the question too

of like, you know, we used to break down like what percentage of being a head coach was recruiting five years ago. Right, then I would say 80% like 80% of the job three years percentage of being a head coach was recruiting five years ago. Right. And I would say 80% like 80% of the job three years ago was getting good players on your team. Now that's still part of the job, but where would the, the CEO aspect of it come into play, talent accumulation, and then also just being a good coach. Like the pie is broken up differently in what you have to be good at.

So I don't know if he's just a terrible CEO, maybe that's the truth, but like, if you're a terrible CEO, that makes you unqualified for the job in the same way that it would be five years ago to be a terrible recruiter. Right, and that's the thing, I think the old rules where you had to sit out of your FD Transferred,

if you had a person who's not a great culture builder, who's not the best CEO, if they got some good players, then they still kept them for a while because they didn't have anywhere to go. Now, if you're not creating the culture that the players want to play in right now, they will even go find someone else who does. Right. So this past year, Zach branch had 47 receptions for 503 yards. You have seen Zach branch with your eyeballs and so have I. The stats don't match up with the talent in my opinion.

Correct. He is which may or may not be Lincoln Riley's fault. We don't know that yet. So I'm not going to blame Lincoln Riley for that. But then whose fault is it? What could be Zach Branch's fault? You know, Kaderius Tony, right? I do know him. Yeah. Kaderius Tony, you just described Kaderius Tony. So sometimes people are insanely talented and it doesn't all

come together. I bought a few of his rookie cards because I thought he might unlock it in the league and it didn't work out for me. But he scored a touchdown at the Super Bowl, didn't he? He did. He did. Yeah. But that's that's the thing. Like, I'm not ready. Because. Because I know it sounds like I'm just bashing Lincoln Riley here. I am not ready to bail on a 41-year-old person who's already done this much in his life. I feel like it's possible to turn this around, but you got to want to. So I had this quote in my column, Ari. I was standing there in Indianapolis when he said this. I wish there had been a camera on everybody.

You've been offended about this comment for two years because I've heard about this. Well, not two years. It happened in July of 2014. Yeah, whenever that was. I've heard about it 19 times. Yes. The look on all of our faces, because there were probably 15 of us in this gaggle asking questions of Lincoln Riley and the look on our faces had to be just, what did he say? Excuse me. So here's what he said. Last night when you add you so behind baseball here and I'm going to let Andy say his comment here in a second. Yeah.

So behind baseball here, and I'm going to let Andy say his comment here in a second. Yeah. When Andy and I write things for On3, we send them to each other to just fact check and make sure everything's good. And Andy sent me a text like at 9 PM last night and said, hey, can you read this USC column? And before I opened it, I knew what the lead was. Yeah, I've mentioned this a few times. It's one of those things like, well, Producer River can attest because when he said it,

and Pete Nacos too, because Pete was at Big Ten Media Days with me, I think Pete was the first person I saw after I walked away from this thing. And I'm like, Pete, you're not going to believe this. So here's what he said. Someone had asked him, and these were a lot of the local reporters from LA, and they were asking some pretty tough pointed questions at this point. And someone had asked him about, you know, where they are relative to the top teams in the Big Ten. And this is what Lincoln Riley said. He said, We are at the top of the Big Ten Conference. We're at the top of any conference. I don't ever look at ourselves as below anybody, and I never will. Look where Ohio State and Oregon were two years ago.

Look at what they took over and look what we took over. It takes time. I'm not a magician. I can't wave a magic wand and have everything be perfect right away. Find one area where we haven't made progress. This thing's got momentum. It's coming.

Nothing is gonna stop it. That's fine. They started at a different point. We'll see where it ends up. Well, it ended up with them in the playoff and you at six and six. And also the magic one thing, like did Lincoln Riley not pay attention to his own results?

Like his USC's first team was good. And then it got worse. I don't want to say easy because there's no such thing as being a power for coach and having an easy time. This should be a lot easier than it's been, right? Like the part of the reason why. I know, I know. And that's, I'm glad you said that because that's a, that's a really good point because

that's something in living in the state of Florida, I hear a lot. And I think now people have seen Florida, Florida state, Miami struggle at times enough to understand. Cause I used to get out of shape when people would say, oh, Miami recruits itself or Florida recruits itself or Florida state recruit. No, it doesn't. Like they're all actually very hard jobs. You have to be good to be good there. And same it doesn't. Like, they're actually very hard jobs. You have to be good to be

good there. And same thing for USC. It's not easy. It doesn't recruit itself. You have to put in the work, you have to be willing to do it. And you have to do to succeed on the level that we're talking about. You have to be willing to be as maniacal as Kirby Smart, as Nick Saban was, as Dan Lanning currently is at Oregon, as Jim Harbaugh was at the end at Michigan. You have to do all of those things or it doesn't work. So I didn't say easy. I said easier. And my assumption is if you're being paid $10 million a year that you're putting in the work like

if you're not putting in the work, then what are we doing? Right? Like if you're getting paid $10 an hour or 10 million a year, that is my putting in the that's my question because like the thing what when we sat there in Las Vegas. At the Pac 12 championship game that they lost to Utah after the game and I'm writing my column. What what did I say like I've said this over and over again because it drives me insane. Why don't you just call someone who

worked for Kirby Smart or Nick Saban? Ask them how they practice defense and just do that. God, we were in Vegas and I was a half away. Could you imagine the meal we could have had there? We wouldn't have gone as far. No, it wouldn't. I don't know. A thousand wouldn't have gone as far.

Nationals come at them price. It's about like Vegas now. So I don't know. The Vegas steak houses are I went on a date with Brit at the to the steak house in the win I can't remember what the place is called. It's the one down by the waterfall and we just both got I got a drink and she got a drink and Steak and her fish or whatever and it was like 450 bucks just for two people

so like Really good steak. I'm a way more expensive date than Britt as we learn from her. Well, I mean for two people for two people and we just got a few meals and a few sides and two drinks like it shouldn't have been 500 bucks. That's true. Your problem with mine is I was deliberately trying to run it up and yeah the whiskey was really good. It's called the SW Steakhouse. If you've been there, it's really good. Oh, that's the one of the ones. It's called the SW steakhouse. If you've been there, it's really good. Oh, that's the one at the one.

It's a very urban steak was the place we paid off the USC. Yeah. But Ari to put a bow on this conversation, because I think the people might be tired of hearing me say this over and over again. And I think that's, that's probably what's so frustrating to me. Cause I like Lincoln Riley. I met him when he was the OC at East Carolina. this over and over again. And I think that's, that's probably what's so frustrating to me, because I like Lincoln Riley, I met him when he was the OC at East Carolina, I remember going

to Greenville, North Carolina, to talk to him for the first time thinking this guy, he's got it. He's got the world on a string, he's got it figured out. And I just don't understand, like the path is there for you. You just have to decide to take it. And it feels like like that quote I read to you feels like denial. Like deliberate denial. Like I'm gonna pretend we're as good as Oregon but I'm a football coach and I can watch film and I can look at our rosters and I know we're not. Yeah. And now what about their roster?

Because everything's always about next year, right? Now what? Right. They lost every identifiable player that was a difference maker for them? Who am I forgetting? Right, and they have Hasan Longstreet coming in at QB and you talk to the folks who cover recruiting

and Hasan Longstreet is supposed to be an excellent quarterback and this is a you know a Southern California kid so hopefully that works out for them because I don't want USC to fail like the peak hero years were so much fun though they weren't absolutely like they killed everybody they were a blast to watch I was gonna ask you what do you think, listen, programs have downturns, right? Programs have a period of time where like Florida's going through one now, Notre Dame's been through one, Alabama was one before Saban.

Everybody's got their moments. What do you think that Pete Carroll did? Or what do you think his magic was? Like we know what Nick Saban's superpower was, right? Evolution and being able to keep up with the times and just being a master motivator. What did Pete Carroll unlock there that nobody's been able to? I mean, cause everybody's tried to follow that plan. What did he do? He recruited the best.

It wasn't just him recruiting the best of Southern California. Everybody says, oh, Pete Carroll just own Southern California. No, no, no, no. Like he went all over the place. Mike Williams was from Tampa. Like, yeah, Nicole Robes from Frostproof, Florida. They went everywhere to get good players. Joe McKnight from Louisiana. Like.

So. They. Took the best players, accumulated. Okay. So you got an X NFL coach who's a good evaluator. So he does these great evals. He finds these great players. He stacks them up and pits them against one another every single freaking day. He created up and pits them against one another every single freaking day. He created a such a high level for competition for starting spots. And the competition was open every single day that their edge was just unbelievable. And that's exactly what Kirby smart does exactly what Nick Saban did. Like it's no different. Pete Carroll dressed it up in a different vibe.

Like we'll Carol will fair would come out and do practical jokes and stuff like that. Saban did like it's no different. Pete Carroll dressed it up in a different vibe like Will Carroll, Will Ferrell would come out and do practical jokes and stuff like that. Pete Carroll also made it cool. To play at USC, I thought that Lincoln Raleigh was going to be able to make it cool, Andy. Pete Carroll's a little more of a showman than Lincoln Riley. Lincoln Riley, Lincoln Riley shuts practice down. Lincoln Riley shuts practice down and then Pete shuts practice down. And then Pete Carroll's

the one who has like, Hey, we have practice today. Anybody can come. But, but I think with Pete Carroll, you know, you look at the early years of the Seahawks, Pete Carroll, where they were really, really good. Their culture was good too. Like they just that Legion of Boom culture was very similar to what he had at USC. Now it's different in the NFL because obviously you are playing for your job every single day. But they they also I one thing that you notice when he got to Seattle, they didn't have any sacred cows.

Like remember they signed Matt Flynn and drafted Russell Wilson in the third round. And even though they'd spent significant money on Matt Flynn, they're like, Russell Wilson better let's start him. You know, Richard Sherman is a six round draft pick. Didn't matter. Like he was better. Well, well, here's a question then does USC need a showman? Do they need to match the Hollywood vibe? I don't think it's like, yeah. Like Pete Carroll had Snoop Dogg running routes of practice. Like, do we need to have somebody in that position that has, you know,

Patrick Swayze would win there and he's not a showman. Yeah. I think, I think you, you lean into what you're good at. And that was something Pete Carroll was good at. He had kind of a mischievous, you know, whimsical streak. But you don't have to have that. You just have to make people want to kick ass for you. Yeah.

Dan Lanning makes people want to kick ass for him. I don't care if Oregon has a money cannon, Texas has money. Ohio State has money. Michigan has money. Yeah But now now USC doesn't have players in a quarterback yet a proven one anyway, so Coming back, I guess we think is that the store. I don't know I Don't know. And I worry this is the one thing that he was supposed to be consistently good at.

Yeah, I worry this gets worse before it gets better too. Because again, he's got the God contract. What is it going to be before the God contract becomes by Audi? Ari in two years is still expensive like Jen Cohen's the AD there she she came from Washington she didn't hire Lincoln Riley she actually hired Caitlin DeBoer Washington so she kind of knows what she wants what she's looking for it's a tough situation and I I wrote this in the column I think they're just praying Kevin Warren former Big Ten Commissioner now the the

president of the Chicago Bears goes, you know, I think Caleb Williams needs to see a familiar face every day. Can Chicago offer him a compensation package and a deal that makes him, that would make him wanna leave? Like, oh, I think if the pay was anywhere close, he'd take the NFL head coaching job just to escape this and start, oh, head coaching job. Sorry. I thought you meant oh yeah, you're

thinking OC. No, no. And that's the thing. Like, yeah, if I were Lincoln Riley, I don't care how bad I wanted to get out of somewhere. I wouldn't take an NFL OC job because that's like a 90% pay cut. I mean, he's not qualified to be an NFL head coach right now, so that's not gonna happen. No, they're not gonna hire him. You hire, the only time you can hire a college coach to be an NFL head coach is if they're coming off of awesomeness. Because it's already a leap to do it, to begin with.

Like you saw, like when Urban Meyer got hired from, by Jacksonville, like there was some mixed emotion about that, right? And maybe he wasn't on a high either the people who were mixed about it were right so but who but who was wrong about that i thought i thought he'd be able to adjust better than he did he didn't so yeah he made what four months speaking of of those guys let's uh let's let's shift gears a little bit uh we gotta tell everybody about panini though and I'm looking at my good as gold Justin Herbert autograph here,

and I'm thinking about Jim Harbaugh, who you talk about coming off of awesomeness. He was awesome, winning the national title at Michigan. Now he's with the Chargers. He's got Justin Herbert. I've got this beautiful autograph, but with Panini America, you can also get cards

of some of your favorite college players because the Luminance series features NIL autograph cards. Some of the names are just awesome. Arch Manning, Jalen Milrow, DJ Lagway. I've got an Arande Gadsden, the second one that I pulled from a pack of Luminance cards. And I love that he signed it OG2. Also was a Dolphins fan growing up. So dad, I remember very

well Ari. You just went and got a bunch of cards. What you got? So I have collected cards of players like covered and players that like I've interviewed like during the recruiting process and like I've got to know pretty well and I've got two nukes here. One's a collegiate card that I got back from BGS today. This one's Justin Fields. And this is a patch autograph from National Treasures. Now, Pinedi sent us this year's version.

This was from 2021. And it has a piece of the national title game patch on the card with his auto. That's the five. And if you like a college player or team, you could do that. And then this one's one of my biggest cards I have. This is a one-on-one Garrett Wilson

with an NFL swatch there. That's the chest plate NFL badge. And that one is- Oh, from the Jersey, that's cool. Yeah, that one is one of one. So this one's a nuke, as they like to say in the hobby. And then here's some from Immaculate. Here's a Flowers rookie autograph patch

that I just got back. Very nice. Open for a better grade. And then Sam Laporta first off the line patch autograph. That's one to 18. These are number 18. So I love I love Sam Laporta at Iowa. And I love him even more on the Lions

because it's so much fun watching him get to play with other people who could also catch the ball and run with it. One last nuke here, Andy. Jordan love rookie Otto and I love his autograph. Look at that. That's beautiful. So visit PaniniAmerica.net to collect your favorite college and NFL stars. Start your collection today. Visit PaniniAmerica.net. Now, Ari, it is a Wendy's saucy take Wednesday, but before we do that, because we've got to talk about something that you and I and producer River were texting about yesterday, because there's a really interesting little moment

on the Pat McAfee show where Dan Orlovsky from ESPN was joining them. And the name Mike Vrabel came up. And Orlovsky said, I think Vrabel knows up and Orlovsky said, I think Vrabel knows where he's going. Oh boy. After this season and McAfee kept saying pro or college pro

and Orlovsky wouldn't answer. And we got all excited. Oh, does this mean, does this mean Ohio State? Ari, I don't want to burst everybody's bubble, but our friend, General Bob Carpenter, Bobby Carpenter, former Ohio State linebacker, who is a friend of Mike Raible, tweeted this morning. That Orlovsky's silence was not because he was going to Ohio State. It was because he's probably going to an NFL team that has not fired its coach yet, and he did not want to step in it. Makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the thing about the Ohio State stuff is their season's not over. So like if Ryan Day wins the national title, right? They're not going to fire him.

No decisions have been made. And I don't, I still firmly believe even if they lose on Saturday, he's not getting fired. Like, I'm sorry. And maybe I'm wrong, but that, I think Ross Bjork, the AD there, now he's new, but he's got that chip in his head that like, I can't fire somebody with this record.

I can't, just can't do it. So. Well, here's the thing. I've got a lot of opinions on this. Okay. One, Ohio State might not be very good next year. Like when we, like we might do a way too early bracket projection.

And when I say not very good, I mean early bracket projection projection, it was not very good. I mean, by their standard, like they might not. I don't mean like six and six, but they're looking right down the barrel at nine and three, in my opinion. Um, if you go, they're playing Texas really in the schedule, like they've got a tough schedule next year and they're going on the road to Michigan, who presumably is going to be better. Penn state is bringing back drew Aller and they they're they're working it in the portal right now. Like they don't like in terms of like

last year when Ohio State lost to Michigan a year ago they lost to the eventual national champion eventual national champions and it was a tough loss and certainly I think one of the biggest additions of the rivalry in history because of like the Connor Stallion stuff and all that stuff. I think one of the biggest additions of the rivalry in history because of like the Connor Stallion stuff and all that stuff. But the thing that I don't know about with this is if you don't want to or can't fire him now, then you are bringing him back into a season that's going to be a transition season anyway because next year they're losing half of their roster and I don't know what they're going to do in the portal to fix it.

They're losing a lot of guys. I think they're probably pretty aggressive in the portal and they're losing half of their roster and I don't know what they're gonna do in the portal to fix it. They're losing a lot of guys. I think they're probably pretty aggressive in the portal. And they're gonna have to be, but they haven't been so far. So the... Quinton Joyner, one of the USC players who's leaving, who averaged 7.6 yards of carry, he's already visited there. Now, he's also visiting Texas Tech, which we're gonna have to have a chat next week about the Red Raiders in the portal because they are Texas Tech, which we're going to have to have a chat next week about the Red Raiders in the portal because they are basically getting visits for everybody big. But the thing too is just like, OK,

so they're going to go get a running pack. OK, well, good. I mean, I don't know. They're losing their entire defensive line. They'll have Julian Sand, and a lot's going to fall on his shoulders because he's presumably going to start next year. But then they're going gonna have Caleb Downs

and they're gonna have Jeremiah Smith. So if you have a good quarterback and the best receiver and the best safety in the country, you have a good starting spot. But what I'm saying is that like, if you are reserving your judgment for Ryan Day based on what they do next year, like the outlook for like,

how is it gonna be better than what they had this year is like a grim outlook at the moment. So like if Mike Raible were to be around, I could totally understand the rationalization of you go get your guy now if he's willing to do it. But again, I'm not saying that's what Orlovsky was saying. I just don't think he's willing to do it. I think he's he wants to be an NFL coach. He's the top of the list for anybody who is an NFL owner with an opening. But like next year when we go into Ohio State season, let's just say Ohio State loses to Tennessee on Saturday or loses to Oregon in the second round. An early exit from the tournament. Does he come into next year on the hot seat? Like is that what we're thinking?

Kind of, yeah. Okay, so if he goes into into so then what would he have to do if it was national championship or bust with a $20 million roster this year to save his job next year when they're going to be unquestionably worse from a talent win the big 10 be in the national championship mix like that. That's it. Like the same thing you have to do every year at Ohio State beat Michigan on top of that too. Yeah, go go beat Michigan on the road. Yeah. Yep. So there you go. Frankie has a question that will lead us into our saucy takes. Who's going to coach Wake Forest? Well, it's going to be Jake Dicker. Former Washington State coach Jake Dicker. Our Pete Nako is reporting that, the Athletic reported it, Matt Zenitz from 24-7. This is one we mentioned yesterday as a possibility. Jake Dickert has done a fabulous job at Washington State. Not his fault that conference realignment happened around him. And unfortunately for Washington State, that's what's gonna happen is you lose people.

And so Jake Dickert headed East to take over at Wake Forest for Dave Claussen. And that brings me to my saucy take. And it relates to Washington state and people leaving Washington state. The most impactful transfer of the 2025 off season is in the portal now. It is John Matier, the quarterback from Washington State. This guy is awesome. If you did not watch any Washington State games this year, I want you to go to YouTube.

You're watching on YouTube now, or if you're listening in podcast form, click on YouTube when we're done with the show. Just watch some highlights of this dude. He is spectacular. Imagine Cam Ward, who came from Washington State to Miami. Imagine Cam Ward, but devastating on design quarterback runs. Because Cam Ward's a good scrambler. But you're not necessarily running a lot of QB power with Cam Ward.

You're kinda, you know, snapping it to him and just let him cook. You can snap it to material and let him cook, but you can also just say, you know what? We're gonna pull these guys. You run behind him and he does some incredible things. This guy is going to make whatever program he goes to better immediately. Now the assumption is that program that he's going to is Oklahoma because Ben Arbuckle was the OC at Washington State.

He's now the OC at Oklahoma, 29 years old, Wonderkin. We think that's where Jomiteer ends up, but a new suitor. Has joined the fray in it. It's a familiar familiar move. Miami, the place where Cam Ward went after he left Washington State and then became a Heisman Trophy finalist. Also making a play for John material. Could you? Could you make the case that Miami would be a more desirable landing spot for materialer at this point?

No, because he's OCs it at Oklahoma. I know. I know. It's like real. But if you took the coaching connection out of it, where would you rather play? Like with the whip players, would you rather play? Well, I, yeah, the thing with Oklahoma is you actually, if, if you're John Mateer, you probably got to help them get your playmakers. Like you're probably going to have to help recruit your playmakers there. Which I think is perfectly fine. Miami has a better offensive line.

We know that. And Shannon Dawson, the offensive coordinator at Miami, is an air raid guy. Like, speaks the same language as you. So, it would be a fairly seamless transition there too. is an air raid guy like speaks the same language as you. So. It would be a fairly seamless transition there too. You know who's at Miami today? Who's at Miami? AC Concepcion. Yeah, he's pretty good. I'm just saying, like from a playing standpoint,

you could make a case that Miami is a more desirable place to land. Oh, yeah. Well, and who he knows on the coaching staff. Yeah. John in the chat much earlier. Asked a really fun question and it tells me that John's John's definitely been reading, reading up on things. Said which Jordan Brands school is Zach Zachariah Branch going to? I will point out that Oklahoma is Jordan Brands school. So.

Just that is the rumor that he lands at a Jordan Brands school. So for those who don't know what the Jordan Brand School. So just that is the rumor that he lands at a Jordan Brand School. So for those who don't know what the Jordan Brand Schools are, it is Oklahoma, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida. Am I missing one? I think UCLA is Jordan Brand now too. Yeah, but yeah, Mattir is going to go to Oklahoma, I think, right?

Like that's- I think so too. This feels like- And it could be the first step too for like Oklahoma, I think, right? Like that. I think so too. This feels like. And it could be the first step too for like Oklahoma, cause he's awesome. Oklahoma has every single thing a program could ever need to be great. And they've been consistently great. Hey, they made Lincoln Riley look good

cause they're so great. Like, to wrap it back around. Look, all that. But Oklahoma to me has untapped potential and I actually like love Brent Venables as a human. Like, I think that like they can do it. And they're going to have, as Sean points out in the chat, now I realize they're losing some people like Danny Stutzman is going to the NFL, but they're going to have a good defense. Like Brent Venables is going to field

a good defense. Yeah, there's no question. That's like a guarantee, right? Because he's a defensive mastermind. And like also too, I don't know if this is true. I don't know if there's a way to look it up, but it's just my perception that fixing a bad defense is so much harder than fixing a bad offense. Like I feel like- Because a bad offense is fixed by bringing in the right QB and a bad defense there's a lot more moving parts you have to deal with. Yeah, so like if you've noticed that like teams like and this this is a struggle with maybe this isn't a Lincoln Riley thing but like teams that have had bad defenses have had bad defenses for years right like it, oh, they brought in a new OC or DC. Background version 2.0 in North Carolina.

Like it didn't matter who they brought in, the defense couldn't play. Yeah. All these teams that have traditionally had bad defenses continually have bad defenses. So like from that aspect of it too, like from a playmaking standpoint, I understand why Metteer might like to play at Miami,

but from a program, like the thing that's interesting is like if you had to buy stock in which program will break through first Oklahoma or Miami, who are you buying that in right now? Oklahoma is the blue chippiest of blue chip stocks. The only blue more blue chip stock than Oklahoma is Ohio State. I've said this a million times.

Ohio States never had a downturn in its entire football history. Oklahoma has had one in the mid to late 90s before Bob Stoops got hired. That's it. One. They're always good. How long does a downturn have to be for it to be a couple years? A couple years. Are they having one now? They still had a 10-win season in between the two years they consider to be mediocre That's the problem like that's Oklahoma's good always Yeah, they are The kids electric though, it'll be exciting to see where he goes is he that he's the most impactful that was your take. Oh Yeah, yeah, he's gonna he's gonna be the one that that makes the biggest impact and hey,

what's that like naked? What? You don't think that's saucy out of all the players transferring? The number one quarterback on the board is the most impactful transfer is hot. Okay, we know he's the number one quarterback on the board. I'm not sure the casual fan knows like, oh, were they watching the CW to see John Matier? Well, I know, but I think that it's just become accepted by people that he's number one, right? Anybody who's watched him knows he's number one, but I just don't think that many people have watched him yet. Yeah.

Like he's gonna come in and the fans who, not the people who are with our show every day, but the ones who flip it on when the games start are going to be like, holy crap, who is this? Yeah, no, he's awesome. I think that's a casual fan that might be saucy, but I think if you like, whittle it down to the basics of what you're saying, I see where you're going with this. This is this is an Andy doesn't know his audience situation. I don't know. I got your audience. But you also know that your audience is really smart,

which means that your stake is not hot. That's what I'm getting. Yeah. All right. Your saucy take art. I don't know if this is saucy either. I don't know if we brought it. I think it is because I I I, I, before you say it, I'm just going to imagine our friend Ralph Russo from the athletic formula, the Associated Press,

steam coming out of his ears. Well, you know, as you say this, me and Ralph Russo had like a really, really, really long and ongoing debate about how often a human being that's rational should check the weather app on their phone. And he said he should do it every day when you wake up. And I'm like, I literally never look at it ever. I just like look out the window and get an idea.

Hey, it's you know what the day is going to be. It was on the group text. Ari. Yeah. Folks, this group text started like on a Tuesday night in the morning and was still raging like Friday at 5 p.m. And I never chimed in maybe once. It's just Ralph and Ari going back and forth, back and forth about the freaking weather. Because you live in a place where there's actual weather emergencies. And like I think it's also where I grew up. It's like I grew up in Phoenix. Like, the weather is very consistent there.

Yeah, like you don't have to like look every day. So maybe that's where I grew up. I think if you compulsively check the weather app on your phone every day or like are consumed by it, there's something like off there. Like I don't understand. Are you saying Nick Saban is off? Yeah.

Because he compulsively checked the weather. Yeah, and like there are? Yes, he can possibly check the weather Yeah, and like there are times, you know Where like the weather is nice in the morning and then there's storm comes but it's like what? If a storm comes then what this is this is purely upbringing Purely upbringing for you. You live in a place where the weather never changed But the only time that the weather impacts what you're doing is if you're doing something outside and in those instances you check the weather but if you are in the mall or at your house or going to work like what you're going to work either way like what is it whether to bring an umbrella like I have no idea like what people are looking for like last night there was a bad thunderstorm in Dallas I

didn't know it until I got an alert on my phone on the way to pick up my daughter from school. And then it hit on my way to go pick up my daughter from school. But like three alerts on your phone, you wouldn't have known about it unless you check the weather. But nothing changed. I drove in the, I didn't nothing changed about my day because of it. I had to go pick up my daughter either way. All right, let's turn this to football because there is a football related reason for you being and I actually agree with you on this one.

I'm really, really tired of this cold weather bullshit Andy. Like it's like, okay, it's cold. They gotta go play in Ohio stadium and SMU has got to go to state college and it's gonna be freezing. And it's like, yeah, it's not like every single newspaper writer who still approaches the job like it's 2003 like is like eating

this alive right now. And it's like everyone's being asked, Nico, have you ever played in cold weather before? It's like, yeah, probably when he practiced yesterday. It's cold. It did snow in Knoxville. Yes. Last week. I thought it was funny because Nico mentioned like a seven on seven tournament in Michigan. I actually like a seven on seven tournament in Michigan. I Actually covered a seven on seven tournament in Knoxville that Nico played in an April of 2022 where it snowed Like me and Austin Price were out there just freezing our butts off and like everybody's cold And I know that everybody goes to like of Hennessy played at Georgia It was 55 and the heater was broken and everyone like okay. right you don't think Ohio State's gonna be cold it's

20 degrees outside I'm gonna be cold you're gonna be cold it's gonna be it's gonna be a cold night well and let's talk playoff history so playoff history right because we don't have any college football history to go on here. But in the NFL, where's the place everybody says, oh, you don't want to play there and in the winter and in the playoffs because just people great home field nonsense Lambeau Field. Who is who has won the last two playoff games?

In the winter at Lambeau Field. I don't even know. I don't remember who was that. I have no member visiting team. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the San Francisco 49ers teams that don't play in don't live in cold weather. Ever play in cold weather on the road in cold weather like the Dolphins aren't good. It's like I get it.

Like if you are a Miami and you've got to go to state college, it's a shock to the system. But I got news for you. Nobody likes playing in the cold. Okay. And also if you know anything about Ohio State, they're the team that's probably going to be more worse off for it.

We've had this discussion like they're built for a dome. Like we had the joke conversation and maybe they just put a dome on the horseshoe. Two years ago in Ann Arbor or whatever it was the weather was the number one excuse. Yeah. And you had their athletic director Gene Smith say they're going to play their game in a dome because of weather in Indianapolis. John said you don't want to play in Buffalo in the playoffs. Didn't bother Joe Burrow

a couple years ago. But also to that's playing in a blizzard and playing in cold is different. But playing in a blizzard, don't you think Tennessee would prefer to play in a blizzard? Ari Nick in the in the chat says and then great great pull on knowing the SID at Ohio State Jerry Emig needs to issue both sideline passes and no press box and maybe it'll change your mind. Listen, I would love to be on the sideline on Saturday. We're not saying it's not cold, but I'm not saying it isn't cold.

I'm saying I'm tired of it being the number one narrative of the entire weekend. We gotta talk about something. It's cold, okay, that's it, we moved on. That's it, it's gonna be cold for both teams. Like I'm tired of it. And also too, like it was unseasonably warm in Dallas yesterday, probably because of the thunderstorm.

I put those two things together without looking at the app. Can you believe it? And- Sorry, I'm a meteorologist, folks. So, but like Dallas, okay, like so Dallas gets cold, right? I'm wearing a hoodie right now. It was freezing when I dropped my daughter off this morning. Playing in Pennsylvania in state college

in 19 degree weather for SMU is going to be a different environment than they're used to being in, right? I get it. But do you think that like Penn State wants to play in that ship? Like they, I don't, I know nobody wants to play in that. I will listen. Dylan Sampson and Tyler Warren, I think are the two people I don't want to tackle in this weather like Dylan Samson in the Tennessee Ohio State game Tyler Warren in the Penn State SMU game

Those are the people I don't want to don't want to have to tackle in this weather But if you gave like Josh Heiple the truth serum in the neck and he had to tell the truth Don't you think he would prefer to play in a blizzard? Homies from North Dakota, of course he was I mean, but think about the way Ohio State is built. If Ohio State has to run the ball and can't throw it to Jeremiah Smith, which funny enough they didn't do in the Michigan game either when it was beautiful outside, and then they have to go up against that defensive line in the freezing cold, and they have Dylan Sampson the who's favored in this matchup now? Everyone's talking about the cold and how it's going to favor Ohio. Ohio State wants it to be 74 degrees and sunny out. That's how they play. They're the worst off for it. All I know is I'm packing essentially like I'm packing for a ski trip for this trip. Let me ask you this. Let me ask

you this. And maybe it's nothing. Okay, maybe there's no change, but I have thought about this. If Ohio State played Michigan in a dome the last four years, do you think they would still be 0-4? Or like, is there even a thought to it? Good question. It's a good question. Like with the faster track and the no weather elements and it just played inside and like a in the cotton bowl. It's it's a legitimate question and that's the scary part. And I think that it's a legitimate question that probably makes Ohio State fans want to put their head through a wall.

They probably would have lost. They probably would have lost all of them. Right. Because like they have some deep issues that haven't have got to be figured out. But I think I think a dominant run game, which is what Michigan used at least three of those years to beat Ohio State. Doesn't really matter what I mean, but if you also is it is exacerbated by the cold, but it still works in the warm.

For sure it oh that travels, you know, I'm not saying I'm not. It's not an excuse. I don works in the warm. For sure. Oh, that travels. You know, I'm not saying I'm not. It's not an excuse. I don't have an excuse. They lost. I don't care. But. The state is built to play in the dome.

Ari, we love you. You're the type of guy to question everything. I bet you're a conspiracy theorist. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I think that it's funny when everybody dismisses all of them. You're, you're, you're very very intellectually curious and I love that about you. But like most of the stuff is stupid, right? Like, oh, the COVID vaccines got a microchip and all.

I'm not going down that road, but one of them has to be true, right? Like, like some like it's the one that is that keeps everybody coming back. Which one's true? Like the JF JFK ones definitely true, right? Like JFK wasn't just killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. Like I live in Dallas. I've been to the place my dad's obsessed with it. Like there's a lot happening there. The truth predicted you were going to bring it and go on to JFK next knew it.

No, no, no, like Bush did 9-11 like there's all these different like oh, John's true. Dude, I saw the thing. I'm not doing a very good job of like pretending like I'm not a conspiracy theorist because like I really am not. But somebody asked me if there are aliens. And one time I watched this video on YouTube, Andy,

and the video shows or tried to explain how big the galaxy is or the universe. Yes. And I guess we know. Which is why I believe there are aliens because there's just too much stuff out there. So from the known of the edge of the universe, I guess, takes hundreds of millions of light years away. That's how far it is. That is a distance that I can't even comprehend. Think about the speed of light traveling for a hundred million years is infinite.

It's infinity. There's no way. So we're the only ones in this speck of sand on a speck of sand in the entire universe. Like you know, arrogant you'd have to be to believe that? And that is your existential moment with Ari. But no, I agree with you completely on that. And I am not a conspiracy theorist. Haven't they already found like,

I just believe in math. When I went to Arizona, like they had a huge Mars department and I took an astronomy class when I was in college. Haven't they already found like proof of water and fossils like microscopic fossils? Water. There's like microscopic fossils of like small organisms that existed on Mars at one point I think they've already shown that. Flat Earth is if you think it's a flat earth then I think you're nuts because there's actual pictures of the world. We have like literal pictures of it.

I'll do the universe. All right. First, we got to talk about the Zodiac killer. Okay, stop. Okay, we're going to talk about what's going on in Columbus this weekend because producer Rivers saucy take involves what's going on in Columbus this weekend. Let's takey take involves what's going on in Columbus this weekend. Let's take a look at that through the lens of price picks first our friends at

price picks the best daily fantasy game in America download the app use the code staples play five dollars get fifty dollars instantly what does price picks think Niko's gonna do? 188 and a half passing yards what about Will Howard 235 and a half passing yards 188 and a half passing yards. What about Will Howard? 235 and a half passing yards. 188 and a half passing yards for Nico. Ari, is that enough? Can Tennessee win if that's all, if Nico throws for 189 yards?

Yes. Because Dylan Sampson goes more than 93 and a half yards. What's the best running back in college football in Ohio is they can't stop the run when it matters. It's, oh Ohio State was supposed to have the best defense in college football this year and they shut down Michigan for three quarters then gave up more yards in the fourth quarter than they had in the entire game on the ground. Yeah. And that's the issue because, and it's funny because this also ties into the Indiana Notre Dame game. Ohio State and Indiana's defenses statistically are what you're saying Ohio State is like Ohio State's defense statistically is awesome but against Oregon

against Michigan when it mattered it didn't show up Indiana time in the last three years, Ohio state has gotten a stop that it's absolutely needed in a game they could lose. I guess to this year, right? Nebraska and Penn State, but they've failed to get a stop against Georgia in the playoff. They have not stopped Michigan in the fourth quarter once at any, they haven't punted in the fourth quarter of the last four years. That's the stat for you. That's crazy, right? Michigan has not punted in the fourth quarter against Ohio State in four years. They didn't get a stop against Oregon and they did not get a stop against Michigan on either of the

five. So you're saying Tennessee just wears him down, wears him down and Dillon Sampson has a crazy fourth quarter. I'm questioning Ohio State's clutch factor with its defense because when you get in the playoff, you need to get stops in the fourth quarter and they get stops throughout the game and they're really good. They have come up short getting stops and big moments against teams that they shouldn't lose to. Um, so that like, Dylan Sampson square is what are

you saying? Play $5, get $50. We use the code staples is up for, and they've got the ball. Like I would not feel confident that Ohio state gets the stop they need. Like they get a ton of stops. They rarely get the stops they need. All right. Well, that Dillon Sampson Square on prize picks is one you may want to check out. All right, producer River, time for your saucy take. Now, disclaimer, Rivers of All for Life. I am grew up a Tennessee fan, attended Tennessee, worked, worked in the video department at Tennessee. So he's trained by the balls.

Yes. Yes, I am. I am one of us. You are ball Twitter. I am. This is the least toxic version of all Twitter. When you see ball Twitter, people yelling at you and creating graphics. This is the guy right here.

That's what it looks like behind the screen. It's cool. I'm buying into it. Tennessee fans are actually going to take over the shoe this weekend. I think these are your people, River. How much of this is is is so for those who don't know, there's been an undercurrent of all Twitter this week saying, okay, here's how you get tickets to this game. Here's how you buy them through Ohio State.

And then once all that was done, like people were making AI images of themselves in Ohio State gear to try to trick the Ohio State system into allowing them to buy tickets. Can you explain to me why that's necessary? I think they're, I don't know. state system into allowing them to buy tickets. Can you explain to me why that's necessary? I think they're, I don't know. When have they ever seen a picture of me purchasing a ticket of anything? Right.

But they don't want the opposing team to take over. Ross Bjork, the AD has said, don't let this happen. Don't sell your tickets cheap. The problem is, and I think with all the hundred thousand plus seat stadiums, it's just a lot of seats, like, and not everybody can go. And Tennessee fans are highly motivated. I know we, I said this earlier this week, River, I don't think Ohio state fans are going to let it happen where there's, it's like a third Tennessee fans, but you think it's gonna be a pretty big number.

Yeah, I think that this fan base is just crazy enough to do it. And we saw a tweet from BallQuest last night that said on another site, 42% of the Tennessee Ohio State tickets sold on SeatGeek have gone to Tennessee residents. And I've had a lot of people I've been on the phone with, are you going? Are you going? I'm not.'m not staying home base to produce and all that good stuff. But there's a lot of people just coming out of the woodworks. And if you know anything about this fan base, they're knocking fuzz. They're crazy. And we know. Yeah, we've been on the business end of all Twitter before.

Here's the thing. Ohio State fans are freaking crazy too. OK, exactly. I know that they act like all Twitter doesn't get me one that's unhinged. The thing that I don't know, because listen, I went to every Ohio State game for 10 years and the only thing I ever saw in 10 years, I saw some high point. I saw some low points was Ohio State taking over other team stadiums, but that usually only happens, like, at, like,

or used to like Indiana, or like the worst one was when they played at Cal, like in 2014, or 15 or 16, whatever year that was. There is an opportunity here, maybe, because Ohio State fans are apathetic at the moment, I think, even though, and they've been playing in these games regularly for the last 10 years. And Tennessee has been starving for a game like this. And Ohio State fans are angry. So I don't know if that is going to be the case, but when you say, take over the shoe, like, what does that look like to you?

Cause I'm very interested to see what that actually looks like. To me, I said a third of the stadium, which was about 35,000 Tennessee fans. I was basing it off of, you know, I traveled with the team in 2002. I just can't imagine that. I can't imagine. If it is, it's going to be crazy. This was in Baton Rouge two years ago. So just a big look at now.

I know it's warm and sunny and it was in the middle of October, but that's in Baton Rouge and Columbus is a shorter driver drive than Baton Rouge for the fans. And I mean, what quarter was that? Oh, that's pretty crazy. But what quarter was that? That was the fourth quarter. That was the end of the game. They had all the LSU fans left at that point. Yes. Yes. So like, I mean, and that always looks more drastic that way. I don't know, I don't know. But like the tickets, like you can go onto game time

right now and get tickets for a hundred bucks, right? Like I think- Not for that game, they're more expensive for that game. Hundred bucks, hundred bucks for the Penn State game, which one of the people in the chat just pointed out, like it's a noon game and it's very difficult to drive to a noon. Like let's say you live in Philly or Pittsburgh. You say, Oh, well, you know, it's a three hour drive. Just get up. Like if you've ever tried to get to Beaver stadium from the interstate, like that part

of it takes an hour and a half. Yeah. So like that that I understand why it's those tickets are a little bit lower. But let's let's see what on game time right now. A little bonus bonus game time ad use code staples for $20 off first purchase terms apply right now. Tennessee, Ohio State. Okay. Ticket prices are dropping still have been dropping all week right now. The top 1% value, which was, is, is 15 a row 25. This is actually a pretty good seat. You're, you're basically like kind of on the five yard line. Got a little nice three quarter view of the stadium. 194 bucks a seat.

It's not bad. You're in that you can get in the nosebleeds for 111. Yeah. The ticket prices come way down. Yeah, I think that's what I don't understand. Like the AI, like anybody can buy a ticket to any game. Yeah, I think is we're nearing below face value like that's.

I've had I've had friends trying to sell tickets. They bought them early for $250 apiece. And now the market's way below that. But Hypal, he did comment on it. trying to sell tickets they bought them early for $250 a piece and now like the markets way below that but Hypal he did comment on it. Josh I know you're focused on things on the field but Tennessee fans have been really enthusiastic to find tickets and to buy tickets to get this game any part of that surprise surprise you that they've managed to find their way into that stadium? Not with this fan base. It's a nice short drive up there

and Christmas is right around the corner. It's a great Christmas present. Knoxville to Memphis is a longer drive than Knoxville to Columbus. The thing that made it interesting to me- We made it to Columbus to Knoxville drive earlier this year. We did it.

And I want us all to just envision this though because people have like lost their minds With some of my takes about the rivalry and how important it is But Ohio State is a top seven seed in the playoff and hosting a playoff game and people are upset right now Yeah, like that like think about how important that game is to them You know like they still like Tennessee is fired up to be playing in this game and they want to go wild. These tickets, Ohio State fans are just like, ugh. So like when you talk about apathy, maybe part of the reason why Ohio State hasn't had prolonged down periods is because the fan base has no appetite for losing at all.

And like there's no temp, like like even even though they lost a game that outside of bragging rights and rivalry is inconsequential to their goal of winning a national title they're devastated right now. So how do you respond to devastation? Do you respond by staying at home and saying I'm not going to go to another game until Ryan Day is not the coach or do you go support your team no matter what? Like that like that to me is is kind of an interesting psychological thought there. And I'm seeing in the chat, I don't think people are,

because somebody in the chat says, oh, Ohio State has a bunch of casual fans, no match for an SEC fan base. No, Ohio State would fit right into the SEC. Their fans are just as psychotic as Alabama fans or Tennessee fans or Auburn fans. Like there is no difference. And which is why I have such a hard time believing

that this is going to be as orange as River thinks it is. But I actually think too that like there are Ohio State fans out there and I don't know what the percentage would be. They were hoping or will be okay with Ohio State losing to Tennessee because they want their coach to be different. Why? They would rather rip the band-aid off now and it's a lost season. They lost him. Like, here's the thing too.

And we haven't had to talk about this and this could be a whole other episode. Probably going to have to like, if you win the national title as an Ohio state fan, but you lost to Michigan during that season. You love the national title because who doesn't love an Addy, but like it doesn't feel the same, right? Well, they've never had a season where they won the national title and lost to Michigan, so nobody knows. If Ohio State wins the national title this year, they're not going to be

a renaming Lane Avenue undisputed drive like they did in 2014. No, but I think they'll be effectively obnoxious. Yeah, I mean they'll celebrate, but it would suck that... what's the essence of being a fan? It's to talk shit and to go onto the internet and you get to like Michigan fans can say we beat you. They can't national title year like that takes away from it a little bit.

I love this. This is what I love. I love that we are in the place of can Ohio State win the national title, but it be completely unsatisfying like I mean, I don't know if unsatisfying is the word, but it would be like hitting a nice card out of Panini, but it coming out with a dent on the side. Yeah. It's like you have the card,

but there's something wrong with it. You got what you wanted, but there's a defect because like listen, everybody's like Ohio State's not winning the NAD and it's like I'm with you I don't think they will but they also have the third best odds to do it. They are virtually the same as Georgia right now. So like they I don't know Ohio State's offensive line issues I think are going to show up in a way that cost them a game eventually and I don't know if it will be on Saturday or later

on in the tournament. I mean, and that is that is the issue here. Yeah, you're talking about. One of the deepest defensive lines they're going to face this weekend if they get past Tennessee, Oregon's defensive line is very, very good like the path for Ohio State is unfortunately. Be set on all sides by teams that can exploit their biggest weakness. Is there a single team in the bracket that Ohio State cannot

beat? No. That's the thing. So if they get hot. Maybe they can get hot. I don't know. I doubt that they can get hot and honestly, if they go Tennessee. If they beat Tennessee and beat Oregon and then beat Texas. They have earned that's to get to the national title again. That's not even to win it. That's to get there. Yeah, Ohio State would could in theory to win the national title have to beat Tennessee, Oregon, Georgia. Or Notre Dame. Yeah, exactly. Or whatever. Yeah, like whatever the path is.

Or Penn State. Yeah, it's crazy. Yes. Yeah, I don't think they're going to do it, but it's all happening. The games are this week. The games Friday night. We're're gonna be in South Bend. Saturday, we're gonna be in Columbus. Tomorrow though, we're gonna be answering your questions. Dear Andy, dear Ari, you know how to do it. You know how to find us at Andy underscore Staples

on social media, at Ari Wasserman on social media. If you have a particularly epic question that does not fit in 240 characters, Andy Staples on three at gmail.com. Send us your questions. We will answer on tomorrow's show. So much fun. We are so close now.

We're just fighting.