Andy & Ari On3 - The nation's No. 1 recruit Jackson Cantwell decides TODAY. Will it be Georgia, Miami or Oregon?

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

The nation’s top recruit in the class of 2026 is announcing his decision today. Will offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell deliver a stunner? Or will he join No. 1 QB recruit Jared Curtis in Georgia’s class? Cantwell’s finalists are Georgia, Miami and Oregon.(0:00-7:36) Intro: Jackson Cantwell's decision TODAY(7:37-22:19) Miami's construction of its roster(22:20-29:14) Closing out the Jackson Cantwell discussion(29:15-39:00) Richard Wesley commits to Oregon, Handsome Coaches(39:01-49:59) Takeaways from ACC Spring Meetings(50:00-54:58) Halloween, Continuing the ACC talk(54:59-1:13:41) A Presidential Committee and a 64-Year-Old Law for CFB(1:13:42-1:23:47) CFP Discussion, How times have changed(1:23:48-1:25:00) Conclusion: Jackson Cantwell's Big Decision Speaking of the Ducks, Andy and Ari break down a particularly fascinating Oregon committment video. Andy was at the ACC’s spring meetings on Monday, and he brings back a report on what he saw. He did not see Jordon Hudson, but he did see Bill Belichick with his new PR guy. Watch our show LIVE, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/vCoLjhUij6U Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Want to partner with the show? E-mail [e-mail]

Welcome to Annie and Ariane 3 and it is a big day in the world of on three. This is always a big day when the number one recruiting class announces his decision. And in this case, the class of 2026 Jackson can't while the offensive lineman who looks like he was made in a lab to play offensive tackle. He's from Nixon, Missouri, parents, world weight throwers on the track. He moves well. He's huge and he's got it down.

There's actually Georgia, Miami, Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan, Missouri. But Ari, it feels like it's down to Georgia and Miami. And our guy Steve Wiltfong got on the Wiltfong Whip around on the On 3 Recruit channel last night and had a very interesting update. So let's watch that. And we are starting the show with some major news. Actually, a major shift in

Jackson Cantwell's recruitment. Steve, what is the latest that you're hearing? Yeah, for the last couple weeks, I've been feeling Georgia for the number one recruit out of Nixa, Missouri, who announced his college decision on Tuesday during a ceremony at his school, but talking to numerous sources. On Monday, I feel like Miami is very much right there. They were the leader at the end ceremony at his school, b sources on monday. I feel much right there. They we

end of april and I could you tomorrow and picking and over Oregon and the o of these late conversatio with the Miami camp. Well move for Miami who is al some of these five stars, but this one is special, number one recruit in the country.

So that is a very interesting update, because Jackson Cantwell has been trending toward Georgia. Georgia just got the number one QB recruit in the on three industry rankings, Jared Curtis. This is the number one QB recruit in the on three industry rankings Jared Curtis. This is the number one player in the on three industry rankings. Jackson Cantwell. Yeah, there's a lot to unpack here, right? Um, but we can both probably go out and tell you, you know, as reporters and people who talk to coaches and stuff, like we get a sense of, you know, how bad

sometimes coaches want a certain player. Let me tell you Miami wants him really, really, really bad. And it looks like they are made a lot of headway in the last few days and maybe making that a reality. And I think that that like, you know, this is a prediction show or a theory show. It's just a show. And I think there's a lot to talk about if Miami gets him because when it comes to theory of how to build a roster, Andy, when it comes to theory on how much an offensive lineman is worth, there's a lot here to talk about. Well, David asked this question, and again, we don't know where he's going. He's announcing at 3.45pm at his school today. We don't know where he's going yet. We don't know what he's gonna say,'s announcing at 3 45 PM at his school today.

We don't know where he's going yet. We don't know. He's going to say in these things can take some weird turns at the end. But David asked this question. Why are these kids going to Miami when they have a very small fan base? It must be purely money driven. Well, can I ask a can I ask answer with a question? What is it? What if it is?

What does it matter if it is? Like, that's how a lot of people make employment decisions. Can I ask you a, can I ask you something? If you were really, really rich and you could pick where you wanted to live, wouldn't Miami be like- Coral Gables would be high on the list.

To not just live, but live rich. Like Miami would be like in the top three, right? Like LA, Miami. Be very high on the list. Now, Athens, Georgia is one of my favorite towns in America, so this is a tough one for me. This is a very tough one for me, but of course that is definitely one of those where.

That's always the knock on big cities too, right? Like, oh, it's amazing to live in, but it's very expensive. Like my wife and I wanna live in Orange County. We haven't done that. Hopefully one day in the future, when the show goes big, we're gonna move there, but we haven't done that because of how expensive it is.

But it's like, if you're rich, then of course we'd already be there. You know what I mean? Like that, I don't know. Also, I think people, I've seen a lot of talk about, well, it better be Georgia for the development aspect of it. Like Miami's done a really good job, too, with offensive lineman like Mario Cristobal, even going back to Oregon has built his teams in the trenches. It's not like they're just paying a bunch of money for an offensive lineman. Penny Sewell, I think, turned out to be a pretty good player. That's the guy in Mario. Chris, the ball recruited and developed at Oregon. Alex Mirabals,

his offensive line coach, by the way, deserves some of the credit for that too. He's, he's a very good offensive line coach. So, uh, that, uh, the development piece of this, if you're an offensive lineman, I don't think that, I think Georgia and Miami are pretty close. Now, Georgia can say, we tend to win more championships. They absolutely can say that. Yeah. I don't think that you're, if you're a five star player and the number one player in the country,

that you're like pissing out your development by going to a place that isn't Georgia. That's all. And I think that- Well, case, it, at his position, they're proven developers. So I don't, I think that particular arguments of coach of the program has already proven over his entire tenure at multiple stops that recruiting offensive lineman is a priority for him. Like that's his position. So like it's, this isn't just like, Oh, I'm going to end up at Toledo or something like this is a big deal for Miami.

And I think the reason why Miami is obsessed with having him is because they understand how important it is to have offensive linemen like this on there, especially in the ACC too. Like, I don't know if this is like controversial and gonna make people mad, but I think that it's probably fair assumption of fact that you have a higher level of defensive linemen just in general across the board in the SEC, right? So this makes it a need for people in the SEC, but I think it's more regular in the SEC to have great offensive linemen. But if you have like an elite first round draft pick tackle in the ACC, I think that takes you a pretty long way. Like Miami is a fascinating program because as you know

I'm not overly high on them this year. I think I put them number 20, top 25 that I released on Monday which by the way Andy a lot of people were mad about. I know you're shocked to hear it. Oh actually I can I can I give you one person who's happy? Who's that? Rhett Lashley. Thrilled you left Bessemue out. I mean, you know what? If I can be the reason why a team makes the playoff, then I think that'd be the most important accomplishment of my life.

He's happy with you. He told me to tell you that. Yeah, I mean, like. Every time we do lists like this, one coach is happy with me and unhappy with you and vice versa. Who was the last one that was, oh, Jed Fish was mad at you or was he mad at both of us? I can't remember. He was mad at both of us. And I didn't leave SMU off there 21. Mario Cristobal is not mad at us right now. I talked to him for a while yesterday.

Now, obviously he can't talk about Jackson Cantwell, so we didn't we didn't get to talk about that. But I did talk to him about roster construction because we had this conversation about Miami the other day. And I find this interesting, especially if they wind up getting Jackson Cantwell, because I have a question for you about this Ari, because we talked about how much they've used the portal and how many guys they're getting out of the portal this year, how many guys from the portal they expect to start. And one thing we talked about when we talked about last week is for the most part,

they are homegrown in the trenches. Most of their starting offensive and defensive linemen are guys they recruited out of high school. Akeem Mesadour is a transfer from West Virginia on the D line, but he's been there, I think this is his fourth year there now at this point. So like it's almost entirely homegrown. I believe their center is a transfer this year. So like, can you we you and I have been very clear, we think the best way to compete for national championships, build a national championship type roster is through high school recruiting. Is it possible that it's required to do that in the trenches, but you can you can do more in the portal with the skill positions? I feel like Miami is the test case for that.

Yeah, I think that it's it's certainly. How many times has like a first round offensive lineman transfer like we talked about the scarcity of Josh Simmons last year. That's right, but when he transferred, he wasn't. Right. Right. When he was in liability two years ago. Well, in Ohio State is a really good example of this. Ohio State this past year, Michigan the year before, both of them had taken some transfers and started transfers along their offensive line. A couple of them that were one year rentals. But the bulk of the guys in the trenches were homegrown guys. I was just going down the list because it's an interesting thought exercise because we both have come to agree and you found through data that

ready-made receivers aren't in the portal very often. And I'm wondering if you actually did the math for every position. I feel like offensive tackle would probably be similar to that. Anecdotally, offensive linemen move less, especially once they're already in a power conference. Now, Isaiah World, for example, the guy going from Nevada to Oregon this year, the offensive tackle,

that is strictly a play to try to become a first rounder. He wanted to move to a power conference school to try to become a first rounder because Like that he wanted to move to a power conference school to try to become a first rounder because he has the, the, the measurables for it. But for the most part, like, cause Josh Simmons was San Diego state to Ohio state, like he wasn't coming from. Another, like an sec school or an ACC school. And also, if you remember Josh Simmons, two years ago, people

thought he should be benched. Like, so like it's not, I mean, like, ready-made, no doubt about it, offensive linemen, not good ones that are going from, you know, the kid from Rice that went to Ohio State, too, might end up being a first-round draft pick one day as well, but like, and he probably was more ready-made than a lot of players in that position. People were excited about that pickup, but like, there's no, I just don't think you can build your offensive line through the portal like you know, one through five, so I think that writing the interesting part is like if you had to focus on one

position in high school and then worry about the portal, I think the offensive line would be certainly a position I'd want to focus out of high school. I think receiver would be too. Maybe not so much quarterback, because there's a lot of those, but still maybe quarterback. I here's the thing that I think is interesting, Andy. In the world of I'm going to rely heavily on the portal, but I'm going to do high school recruiting to a certain extent,

that's good enough where I'm not transient. Because I think Miami is semi-transient, but Florida State is very much transient. Miami still recruits a top 15, top 10 class every year. They're not recruiting high schoolers. I think that Florida State, if you go back and look at their Mike Norvell high school results, it doesn't look like Florida State classes.

They're not necessarily in the 100% transient camp, but like, do you do it by position or you do it by X number of top 100 players or top 300 players a year that you have to bring in to all across the board in order to get to that point? Well, and that's my question. Is it more position specific? Like, I think it's more necessary for the big guys

than it is for the skilled guys. But that's just a theory. I don't know if that's true or not. I think Miami is gonna necessary for the big guys than it is for the skill guys. But that's just a theory. I don't know if that's true or not. I think Miami is gonna help us test that theory. Yeah, I think that you have to have a certain baseline of incoming talent and numbers, if I had to guess, more so than specific positions. But what we do know about the offensive line is if you have a really good one in college, you're gonna score.

Like that's like, that's a- Notre Dame is a great example of this. Notre Dame's offensive line is if you have a really good one in college, you're going to score. Like that's like that's a Notre Dame is a great example of this. Notre Dame's offensive line is fantastic. And I know that Jane Greathouse had a really good postseason, but like Notre Dame made it to the national championship game without any legitimate first round viewed skill position players on the outside. Now Jeremiah Love obviously is a skill position player that that helped a lot. the outside. Now, Jeremiah Love obviously is a skilled position player that helped a lot. But their offensive line was the driver of that. So like, yeah, I'm with you. Like, I just, I view Florida State, and I keep bringing them up because they are the most extreme example of the highs and lows. Also, when we're talking about Miami, like, Florida State is a team that recruits against them. They play every year. It

makes sense. about Miami, like Florida State is a team that recruits against them, they play every year, it makes sense. Yeah. But like, I think that Miami is building their roster or has, um, in the last four years in a more healthy, sustainable way than Florida State has. Like, I don't, like, I think that there are people who just aren't paying attention who think that Miami and Florida State are similar in how they're building their rosters. And if you actually like pull back the, or pop the hood on that, like that's not the case. So like I, Miami is dangerous in the portal and in high school because of NIL, right?

But also too, they've got a coach that has had a pretty good track record of winning. They had a really good season last year. You know, I think they were a game away from the playoff. Like there's a lot to like about the build there. Like I don't think that I would view this move if Cantwell were to go there as him selling his soul to go to a second rate program. I think that he's going to a program

that should be viewed as an up and coming contender. And they're dangerous. So, yeah, like I think that this would be a huge move. And I think that you're right, Andy, that I think we can both be right. Like, I think there's multiple ways to create a national championship caliber roster. But I think having like, where did you have Notre Dame in your top 25?

Were they top three because of their offensive line? You know how many people hear about that. Number two. So like that, that is a big deal. It's a huge deal if you can run the football and protect your quarterback, there's no question. And it just kind of goes back to like the number one philosophical thing.

And I did this three years ago at the athletic or four years ago now, but like asking player personnel people, if they had X like five million dollar budget, it didn't really matter what the number was. How would you allocate percentage wise, the money to what positions and how many? And I got a large variety of different answers

from people who work in the business of a queue. Some people are like, I'm getting my quarterback and then worrying about everything else first. Some people are like, I'm getting a defensive tackle who can disrupt every play on defense and then worrying about everything else. Left tackle was the one that also came up.

So you have, I mean, what are the four premium positions? Quarterback and tackle, defensive tackle, and corner. Yeah. Those are five. Yeah, I'd say it's quarterback, offensive tackle, edge rusher, defensive tackle, corner. Those are your. Would you rather have a bully defensive end

or a bully nose guard? I would rather have endemicama consume college like because you you can blow up plays from the inside out. Now I don't necessarily think that's. It's not as valuable in the NFL, because I don't think there's that person who can just make his Aaron Donald did, but pretty good. It's very hard to do, but it but in college if you have that that really transcendent defensive tackle

like Nick Fairley at Auburn, who really couldn't translate that into the pros, you can blow up every play. And I think that's a very valuable thing. Ari, I have a question for you that you actually asked me a version of this before we got in the air, and I'm fascinated to hear what you have to say about it, because it's really interesting to me. But if you're watching on Twitter right now, go to the link below the link you're watching and click it.

It'll take you to the YouTube page. You can hit subscribe, you can hit like, and you can join the chat. The chat is amazing. It's the best college football community going. So come on and join us on the YouTube page because that's where you get the best experience of the show. So the chat is very lively today, very lively. So we'll see you on YouTube and I am going to ask Ari a question about the money aspect of this because I think

that's interesting too. Okay, Ari, now that we're all among friends on YouTube, you asked me this question before we got in the air and I thought it was a really interesting way that you asked it. You said pre NIL would Miami ever have a chance against Georgia for a guy like Jackson Canwell. Yeah. So the way I asked it to you was if he picks Miami is this the personification, I like that word. I don't think I always use it correctly. Of NIL flattening the curve. Like I think we probably have enough proof that there's gonna be more parity in the sport as a result of this.

And you know, there are more teams, when I was doing my top 25, and I'm assuming that you jumped into this problem too, when you were doing yours, you know, picking a top 10 was difficult. And in trying to envision which teams you actually think are good enough to win a national title,

I mean, I'm looking at the list here, like if Alabama won the national title, would that be weird? Like, I don't know. I mean, I guess- No, wouldn't be weird at all. Yeah. You have Oregon, you have Oregon at number nine, we're gonna talk about our top 25 all day tomorrow. So get your save your takes on that. Because I

want to I want to hear them all. You have Oregon at number nine, like it would not shock me in the least if Oregon won the national title this year. Yeah. I think too that like, you know, there's some overvaluing of players and talents, you know, but you know, we'll talk about it. I think that like my cutoff for the national championship is just a lot different than it would have been four years ago. He said this over and over again, and it's like also too, if somebody in the teens gets hot, like it's not out of the question to think that somebody 16 through 20 could do it. You know, like what have Austin Simmons is the best quarterback in America this year.

Like, you know, like shoot after we had him on the show, I was like, I got to move on this up like 10 spots. I'm just saying like the notion that a team 11 through 20 could do it is not insane. I doubt that it will happen, but it's, it's not as insane as it would have been to think that, you know, four years ago. I doubt that it will happen, but it's not as insane as it would have been to think that, you know, four years ago. But if you assume that Cantwell going to Miami probably would not have occurred in the past life of college football in 2019, then a five-star player at a premium position going to a program that's trying to build over one of the traditional dominant powerhouses is

literal proof That it's just a different game now like that's and where did the number one offensive tackle in the country go last last recruiting cycle? Yeah, he went to Tennessee which was not one of those schools that was getting those guys yeah in Tennessee also a team that I think values the offensive line position, especially considering the fact that they probably backed up the brakes truck for him. So yeah, like back in 2019, these players just go to Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia. Like I wonder what his top three would look like right now if there was no NIL. Alabama, Ohio State in Georgia.

I can't tell you that right now. That's exactly what it would be like. Like if you want to bring Oregon into this without Nick Saban without Nick Saban would would Alabama be that's a legit question. Like would there be somebody else that replaces and replace them? I don't know.

I mean, they have, I think, eight top 100 players in our class last year with the board. So like, I mean, I don't know. I wouldn't I wouldn't rule it out, but obviously a much different ball game. But like, I think that like, even like, if you go look and do a list of like most teams that benefited from, or teams most benefiting

from the NIL era, like Miami and Oregon are probably in the top three, right? Then now look at them. They're in the top three. Yeah, Miami, Oregon, Texas, Tennessee. Tennessee. Which Tennessee, I mean, double-edged sword for Tennessee based on this off season. But I think that that's going to help Tennessee in the long run.

I really do. I think that they're going to learn from that. They're going to refine their their deployment of their money. Well, and I think with Georgia, they have to and this is this is all part of the equation here. Like Georgia has to walk a fairly fine line that Miami doesn't have to walk. Because George is already a national title contender. They're coming off an SEC championship. They have really good players who are already going to be in a, you know, are already high round NFL prospects.

They will put like a bunch of the players from this year's Georgia team will get drafted and will get drafted high So you have to be really careful how much you pay a freshman at Georgia Because you can't pay a freshman more than than somebody who starts for you who's gonna be a first rounder next year And that's also going to be a problem at Miami soon, too Exactly. Yeah, and and then somebody is going to get that guy once it becomes a problem in Miami. Yeah, or the players in the future and older and more experience

are going to get paid more than the market is set for the freshman and then it'll it'll all flatten out that way. But like yes, you're right. But like if you add Cantwell to this mix. Then Miami is in top 10s or more likely to be in top 10s in the preseason for the next four years.

Like I don't know what your process was. I don't think that we actually even talked about it when we talked about your top 25 last week, so I want to talk about it when we do mine tomorrow. But like what was your process for ranking them like I and I see

how people get angry. There's a lot of like oh my team beat that team last year, but that team's ranked ahead. Like I don't even we're trying. I mean, I'll tell you part of it is I'm trying to judge what this year's roster is going to do. And that's why we've done we do them again after the portals change. I don't think about anything else that happened last year. I look here. You know what my process is? Let's look at their 2D. How

many good players do they have? It's a pretty solid way to do it. I don't think about narrative. I don't think about what they've done in the past. I don't think about how many games their coach won in 2017. I think about who's on their team. And that's maybe why I overranked LSU a little bit. They've got a lot of really good players, you know? And... Well, but here, and the problem with that, what we run into is where you miss the surprises is some freshman who winds up being amazing that you didn't expect to be amazing or some guy who's just been kind of behind the scenes developing who blows up.

Remember Quinn, obviously everybody ranked Alabama. Number one the year Quinn and Williams blew up anyway, cause it was Alabama and Nick Saban, but like nobody knew it was going to be quitting Williams that year. Who'd be the most dominant defensive player in the country?

Well, here's the thing about that though. It's like. I we try so much in this to project the future Andy. Uhm? We're not supposed to know what the surprises are. That's what makes them surprises like I don't know. Should we try so much in this to project the future, Andy? We're not supposed to know what the surprises are. That's what makes them surprises. Like, I don't know. That's the fun part.

If Oklahoma starts off 8-0 this year, then that's the I mean, that's going to happen. One of these teams at the bottom half of this is going to be much better. And if it's Rhett Lashley's SMU, who I have 21. Oh, the horror of ranking somebody 21, by the way. Rhett, come on, you can't be upset about that. That's a really good-

I think he thought you left him off. He missed it. He might've mixed yours up with somebody else's. Yeah, I'm gonna text him after this and be like, hey buddy, I got you. 21's a good rep. If you told Rhett Lashley when he took the job that they'd be pre-season ranked 21

coming off of a playoff appearance, I think he would have cashed in on that pretty quickly. Don't you like I'm not I don't know that I'm insulting them. But like yeah, that's the thing. So like but Miami has a if they get him again all in theory here. They would have a player that's a book end on their offensive line for three years that would go into the calculus of how good the team is and that doesn't go into the math of who else are going to add,

who their quarterback is going to be in a few years, what receivers are going to get. Like they're going to get dogs from Miami because that's what they've been doing. The recruiting classes have been good. They're going to win the ACC eventually. Yes, if they keep doing this, they will. Like they have to avoid the letdowns

like they had against Georgia Tech and Syracuse last year. Two things happen in this type of transaction. One, Georgia, although still very good, is not as dominant. And then they become more viable in their conference. And what you do potentially with moves like this is you make the Goliath weaker and you make the middle tier team stronger. And that can change the paradigm of how two separate conferences finish in two years. Like that's, I mean, like, I don't think that people who don't like recruiting understand, like, these are, I mean, how many, how many elite level players do you think you need to have on your team right now to win a national title? And I know that we're coming off of a year where 14 players are not drafted. That's a column. Like I don't because I don't know the answer to that

because I think it's changed. I think the answer was different in 2020 than it is now. In 2012 right? Probably yeah. And I don't think you can have that many now. Because like that's the thing, that's the craziest thing and I don't want to undercut our show tomorrow, but it's such an important piece to this discussion of like, why is Penn State number one? Because they have eight legitimately elite players on their team. Right? Could you come right? They got the two best running backs, Drew Aller, Trevor Pena, Denied Dennis Sutton. Like I mean like you can get to that eight pretty quickly if you go down their roster. So like I don't know if they're gonna be better than Texas but I thought their roster was you know I don't know I don't know I mean like it's all theory but like I think that you need seven to eight maybe even six. Six wouldn't have been enough last year but I mean moving

forward. Yeah Ohio State last year, but I mean moving forward. Ohio State last year was the last of that particular brand of dinosaur. I think that species is extinct now. Yeah. It's extinct because of days like Tuesday, May 13th if Kent well picks Miami. Right. Right. He also picked them over Ohio State too. Who's in the mix?

Correct in Oregon I saw in the chat. I guess I guess Oregon didn't want him because they never get out bit. No Oregon wanted him badly. Yeah, Oregon doesn't always bid the most money. Like it's not an unlimited fund pool at Oregon. It's really not. I know I think that people are going to talk about the pool at Oregon. It's really not. I know.

I think that people are going to talk about the pool at Oregon shortly. Yeah, that was a hell of a video. But yeah, this is this is going to be really interesting to see how this shakes out. It by no mean like George is still probably going to have the number one class in the country by the way, even if they don't get Jackson Cantwell. So let's not if he doesn't pick Georgia, don't cry for Kirby Smart. They're still going to be really, really good. They still got the number one quarterback in the class.

Like they're doing fine. But that's the thing too of like this. It's like nobody is even asserting that Georgia is not going to be one of the five best teams in college football anymore. We're asserting that George's team isn't going to be so good that they can't be beaten by anybody. Like, in the national championship years, you know, they were so dominant that like, you know, the only other team that could beat them was another dominant team. Like, that was recruiting, like, they just had the misfortune of playing in the same conference of Alabama.

But like, if Georgia was any other conference in America, even the big 10 to a certain extent, when Georgia was at its peak, because Ohio State wasn't measuring up to that during that time, like the only team in the country that could end up beating them was the team that they lost to in the regular season by happenstance, because they happened to be in the same conference.

Like, but like now Georgia, although a top five team can get picked off by six teams on a bad Saturday in their conference when that was legitimately impossible in 2018. Yeah, yeah, the result we saw on Oxford last year was impossible from 2018. It could not happen. They could have maybe lost.

You know teams lose sometimes, but what we saw there was they were not the better team on the field. They were not getting blown team on the field that they were not getting blown out by a team that wasn't going to be the national blowout. They were not the better team that day. Yeah, yeah, they had a worse team than the other team on the side on their sideline. Right. So it is this all of this is

changing. What Jackson can't well decides today. We'll see. Because he made he may, you know what? No, I want to go to Athens. I want some Weber Deez fried chicken. I want to hang at Caliantito's. Little BYOB action. He might say that. But he might say, I want to go to the U.

And that would be a very interesting outcome. A very, very interesting outcome. A very very interesting outcome. All right while we're on the subject of recruiting we did mention Oregon. We mentioned Dan Lanning. We do need to watch this video. Richard Wesley announcing his commitment to Oregon. So he's from from LA Sierra Canyon High School. He's a five-star edge rusher. LA, Sierra Canyon High School. He's a five-star edge rusher. This is, there's a lot to unpack here. So let's just watch the video.

Didn't see you there. Well, you know, all the schools, they all show me, you know, such love, but there's one school, you know, show me the most love, you know, I guess it but there's one school. You know, show me the most love you know. I guess it's where I'm going. You ready, coach? Let's get it.

It's time baby. The figurative jumping into the pool. As he jumps into organs pool. A lot going on here. You got the ladies sunbathing nearby. I think that's not an accident. The oh, I didn't see you there. Premium start to any video.

Oh, I didn't see you there. OK, I don't know. There are four things that I've noticed in this video. One is what is what is that swimsuit? That's not a swimsuit. That's just boxer shorts, right? Like those are that's not even boxer shorts. That's like the that's like the yes spandex like what you wear under when you're working out that like the scream mask. Is that what that

is? I think it is and figure out what that was. But that was the level of confidence in your body required to wear this. You better be a five star edge rusher. I guess with my household, I should get those underwears because underneath will probably make anyone scream. But the other thing that I noticed is that Dan landing doesn't know how to do a cannon ball. I don't know if you want to run that back, but he put his hands behind his head where

you're supposed to put your hands underneath your what was that cannonball form? I wasn't supposed to be a cannonball. Hold on. Let's look. Okay, yeah. Wesley definitely does a cannonball. Yeah, if it's not a ball, but what is it? I've never seen. I don't know. It's not a can. Can opener is where you hold one knee up and turn around. Yeah, but that's that is like I don't know. Maybe it's oh my God, we got a five star. Like maybe that's what it may be.

Maybe. Yeah, but also to anybody making fun of Dan landing, I would definitely jump in the pool if I was a coach getting a five star. Absolutely. I would do anything. How many college coaches are confident enough to rip their shirt off for one of these things?

Now, obviously, Coach O back in the day would do it anytime. Did Coach O ever wear a shirt? I don't think I've ever seen him with a shirt on, let alone. He wore a shirt and it made a big show of ripping it off at various team meetings. Never a sissy blue shirt. No, no, no, no.

At UCLA game will forever live in infamy. But I, what's the percentage of college coaches who are ripping the shirt off? Like Mike Norvell is in great shape. He'd do it. Uh, Manny Diaz, I think would do it. Jake Dickert saw him yesterday. The new wake forest training would like, oh, Marcus Freeman. do it. Manny Diaz, I think, would do it. Jake Dickert saw him yesterday, the New Wake Forest Coach. Marcus Freeman. Marcus Freeman would embarrass the five star. The five star would

be like, no, I quit. Hey, Jack, Terry, if you're watching this, can you make a graphic of most attractive male bodies in coach form for us? We're going to rank them top 10 right now. And the words you just have under it, because you like your one word, hot. Yeah, and then you can also bring back the Dion Wood graphic and we can all make a, we can have a day of it, you know? You know who would probably do it that's kind of an under the radar?

If Bill Belichick is going God. is going to take pictures like the Gordon's Fisherman, pulling out his young girlfriend with the fishing rod who's dressed up like a mermaid, he can jump into a pool for a five star. I would love to see that. I would love to see that. And actually Ari, you've brought us to our next topic.

That was an amazing segue by the way. He just sent me, he's not going to do that. So, all right, I'll get somebody else to do. I do think. Hey, new, new, new, hey, Hayden, the new graphics guy. Yeah. We'll go to my thing, but like, yeah, we don't, we don't need you, Jack. Who's the last ugly coach to win a national title?

Well, this is very subjective. Think about it, they're all handsome. OK, moving on. Are you looking up coaches names? I'm not going to, so quit asking. I'm not talking about this. I'm not going to, so quit asking. I'm not talking about this.

I think that there is a correlation between physical fitness, handsomeness and recruiting. Maybe not, I mean, you go back in time 20 years. You might be able to find somebody who's not aesthetically pleasing, but you know. He was just old Larry Coker in the chat from Ozzy catching a stray. I mean if we're going if we're going back to 2001 or we're going back to the 90s, then you get my point here. Oh yeah. I want to tell the viewers and the listeners here, by the way, this is a conversation that Ari has wrote me into more times than I care to recall.

You had six podcasts. It's a coach conversation. Yeah. I already see it right into the camera. Like, look at this. I'm trying to center myself up here, but like yeah. I mean, I think that like it's an unfortunate reality in life, Andy. And that somebody who has how handsome you are when you get up to the camera like that.

It's beautiful. Like I actually angel scene. I know we were just kind of playing around, but like to be serious, you know, as somebody who has been very, very big, still a big guy, but was massive. You know, a year ago, the way you are treated, you know, you're treated, you know, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated, you're treated like to be serious, you know, as somebody who has been very, very big, still a big guy, but was massive, you know, a year ago, the way you are treated in public, the way people view you, I think you are treated differently when you aren't. So like, I do think that there is a certain level of, you know, bias towards, you know, people who aren't in great shape in terms of, are you as good at your job? Well, like if Mark Mangino looked like Marcus Freeman because this is the guy who won the Orange Bowl at Kansas.

Like, yeah, I mean, I think that there are certain coaches out there. Um, then we're not going to actually play the game, but that I wonder if their physical appearance does hurt them at times. And like that's cause that's just human nature. The any way that it would hurt me, like I was terrified like to go through job interviews even when I was really, really big. It's like who wants a podcast host who has nine chins?

You know, like I get it. And I don't know why we're talking about this, but it is, people have a real- I think it's something that a lot of our audience deals with and you and I have obviously dealt with it I mean both of us were a lot bigger not long ago Yeah, and even to this stuff like 50 pounds that I want to lose but like it's just People perceive you your opinion your qualifications your ability to do

Whatever you're applying to do differently if you're not overweight Yeah, although nothing about it change. Yeah, I think I think you're right about that. It's it's people look at you differently. The the the first impression is completely different. You can see it on somebody's face like also it's harder to dress nice when you are big because it's hard to find clothes that fit you properly like it's like and then the

way you present yourself is your view to sloppy even though it's kind of out of your control because there's hard to find clothes that fit you properly. Like it's like, and then the way you present yourself is you're viewed as sloppy, even though it's kind of out of your control because there's not a lot of clothes that fit you the way that it would. And like, that's the funniest thing about a lot of clothes. It's just like, if you put like a 20 or a hundred dollar suit on Ryan Gosling or a $5,000 suit on somebody who's overweight, Ryan Gosling is gonna look better.

Like the clothes can only fit you too far. You know, like- That's the one thing about losing the weight that I realized, because I used to be very, I gotta get this brand of shirt and this brand of pants. It doesn't matter if you're in shape. You wear a paper sack. I was spending all this money on T-shirts

that were thicker fabric to try to hide. And now I just wear T-shirts from Gap because it's just like, they're eight bucks and people doesn't, people don't know the difference. But yeah, that's the thing. So I mean, I've noticed it on my wife too. I feel like she looks just as good to me

when she's wearing her Amazon stuff as she does with the nice stuff. And I don't know. Anyway, so if you are interested in ranking, send me your rankings of top 10 hottest coaches. Send your hottest coaches, we will get the graphic going. I mean, do we not think that there's a correlation between Marcus Freeman's attractiveness and the turnaround of Notre Dame football?

Like, is there not even a 1% impact of that? I guess we have to see what happens at LSU. Is that the only way to really judge that? I don't think that Brian Kelly's ugly. I just think that Brian Kelly's ugly. I just think that the influx of... But who's Marcus, I mean, who competes with Marcus Freeman's question?

Marcus Freeman's just hot. There's no other way to put it, you know, in the most factual, I'm just trying to be... We've made people so uncomfortable with this show. It's amazing. Yeah, I mean, we are what we are. I feel like we should. You know, when you click play on the show,

you know what you're getting. So... We can, we are. I feel like we should know, you know, when you click play on the show, you know what you're getting. So we, we can, we're all friends here. We can have this honest conversation. We absolutely can have this honest conversation. And by the way, on May 13th, if the podcast goes sideways, it's your fault for being here. Like it's, you know, like this is the way it goes. May 13th. But we love you. Yeah, actually we do. We need to turn it back a little toward football, but not really Because the the person I'm about to talk about was at a beauty pageant all weekend. So oh, here we go Oh, yeah, Bill Belichick We're on to Miss Maine. I

Saw Bill Belichick yesterday at the ACC spring meetings. I did not see Jordan Hudson Did not your heart's well there Were you trying to find her? I walked around the hotel a couple of times. I took a couple of laps around the old Ritz Carlton, but did not see her, was told not to expect to see her. And like when Bill got there, he went straight into the meetings because he was still, he was the only coach still carrying his suitcase.

There's something cool coming though. How far away is Amelia Island from where you live? About 2 1? Hours so you didn't stay in the rest last night. No, I drove home last night. I would have stayed. I know you would have, but it's like 1200 bucks a night. You think I'm gonna stick on three with that? Yes. I'm a company man, aren't you? Yeah, we are. We are company men. We do stay in Marriott's a lot when they're not media hotels. We've always been

good. Even at the athletic, we were good about that. That's right. That's right. We bring value to the company. So yeah, Bill gets there. He's got a suitcase so I'm assuming straight off the plane from Miss Maine and Didn't Dane to talk to any of us, you know Dabo Sweeney with multiple national championships is doing like local radio interviews and but you know interviews. But, you know, the assembled, and there were a lot of North Carolina, like triangle media types who came down to cover this thing. But now, yeah, nothing from Bill. But speaking of Dabo and speaking of Bill, last night, the ACC network recorded a segment with Reese Davis hosting. Bill Belichick meets Dabo Sweeney, like a round table with the two of them, which I am fascinated to hear what that means, what that

is. Now I'm told that Dabo didn't know Bill Belichick. They did not really talk a whole lot before that. So I really can't wait to see where that conversation goes. I like Dabo as a human. I think that he's entertaining. I loved his spot on our show. Does anybody ever met Dabo Sweeney in person and not liked him?

No. But there's a lot of people who can't stand him. And if they met him, they'd love him. Yeah. So here's how right before I left last night, this is this was the scene. So the coaches meeting gets out. They all go to the reception except Dabo and Bill because this is when they had carved out some time to film this thing. So they're in this room, they put this sign on the door, said filming in progress, do not disturb. But Dabo's wife's looking for him. So it's Dabo's wife and Tony Elliott, the head coach at Virginia,

who used to be an assistant on Dabo's staff, and they're standing there and they're just cracking jokes about this whole thing. And meanwhile, Dabo and Bill are in there, hopefully spinning gold. Like I cannot wait to see this thing. I mean, it does kind of seem like very different personalities because like Dabo was like out there flamboyant, funny, like engaging long winded, you know, like he has a saying for everything, right? Uh, and then Belichick is the exact opposite in those ways. He's not warm, he's not engaging, he's not long-winded, he doesn't seem happy to be there. Well, and that's, that's my, like the bigger question, like the conversations I was having

a lot of people yesterday is it was more on the football side. Like I realized the Jordan Hudson piece of this has taken. Like taking over the conversation and every time we try to talk about Bill Belichick in football before before the CBS Sunday morning thing, nobody really wanted to talk about it. But the football part of this is what fascinates me because I'm in there watching. You know, Jake Dicker at Wake Forest or, uh, Dave Doran, NC States coach, obviously Manny Diaz, the Duke coach, like these guys are playing bill Belichick this year. Yeah.

I I'm sure they want to have a win against bill Belichick on their resume. Like, is this going to go anywhere near what we think it's going to go? That's the fun of this right? I mean yeah I need Bill Belichick as a coach in college football still. The man has won was it six Super Bowl or five? It's six, right? Six.

And then two is a defensive corner, so really eight. And his number one goal in life right now is to do the thing that Dabo Sweeney has done nine times. Win the ACC, yep, exactly. And Dabo showed last year like how good at that he is because that was not necessarily his best team. They definitely didn't think the defensive coordinator was up to snuff because they fired him after the season.

And he still won the ACC. So like that's what you're up against. Yeah. And Clemson's gonna you're up against. Yeah. And Clemson is going to be awesome this year. I'm excited to watch that interview. Oh yeah, can't can't wait now. Bill's going to Good Morning America on Friday too. So like,

is this like the rehab? Is this like the rehab tour? Bingo. Clearly they got somebody got to him and said, listen, you have to do something to turn this around. Because all anybody wants to talk about is your girlfriend and the mermaid photo and the we're not talking about this and all of that. So you have to get the conversation back to North Carolina football. But it's funny because Bill has been very anti talking about North Carolina football, but it's funny because Bill has been very anti-talking about North Carolina football since he's gotten the job. Let's like, I didn't like me and Jordan Hudson, I think have the same qualifications for PR.

So let me try to do my best here. Okay. I go on Good Morning America if I want to repair the image. I don't talk about North Carolina football at all. Nobody cares about North Carolina football. You think the people watching Good Morning America care about North Carolina football? Definitely not. You think they're going to listen to him talk about his too deep and that's going to make them forget what they want? No, you go onto the show and you talk about the things that everybody is talking about and you put your side of that

out there. That's what you do. You have a frank conversation, a frank, uncomfortable 30-minute conversation airing out everything that you need to put out there to put out a secondary view of what has happened here. Because all we have is what we have from reporting from New York Post and Pablo Torre. Like that's what we're going off of. And then on top of that, there's a lot of gaps to fill in on your own, which then leads to conjecture, you know, and guesses and, and rubers.

So, you know, I have my thoughts of what this probably is. You have thoughts of what this probably is. People have those thoughts, but why do they have them? Because we're left to put, to fill in the blanks ourselves. I personally would go onto the show and I would bring her with me. I would sit down and have an honest conversation.

How'd you meet? What's the nature of your relationship? Why is she involved in business? What happened with all this properties? How did, where do those come from? Talk about it. Even if you're lying, talk to Miranda and talk about it.

That's how you beat it. You don't go out there and try to redirect the conversation that looks more suspicious. Ari, you'd be the best and the worst PR guy ever. Because the best PR advice is always just tell the truth. Yeah. Or take the truth and pack it in your head. Do people want to take that? No, you don't have to just tell the truth.

You're not like coming clean. Nobody committed a felony here. They're too resentful. Right, exactly. They can do whatever they want. I don't I don't want anybody to tell me who to love any more than I'd want to tell them who to love and who to be with. But we have to we have to address frappe. Jay Katz question in the chat.

Andy, would you ever recreate the fisherman picture? You the fisherman fishing Ari out in the mermaid outfit? Yes. And Ari, I would even be the mermaid in this. You can be the fisherman if you want. Andy, I think we need to space out the previous topic in this topic until like a different show. We can't go all in on this show now. We just got done talking about the 10 most handsome men in college football. Now you want me to pull you out of the sea with a mermaid? You know, we're, we're. I'd look good in a mermaid tail.

Let's be real about this. Are you know what? I think that like we have never done Halloween together. And I heard like it's really hard for me because like. Oh no. Oh my God. But wait. Here's the thing I gotta tell you.

I know what you're gonna say. It's the South. It's the coastal Carolina. Coastal Carolina unlimited food. October 30th. We come back to my house and do Halloween at my house. And then we go cover Florida Georgia next day. Let's go.

I am at the very important phase of life where Halloween is very important to my daughter. Like we watch movies during the week. Like right now we're watching Beauty and the Beast. And like my daughter will turn around like while she's laying in bed with my wife and I, and she'll be like, okay, mommy is, I'm Belle, mommy is the teacup and daddy's the beast.

Cause of course I am, I'm always the big ugly thing. But like it is- Becomes handsome at the end. But she's mapping out for Halloween. Like we watched Moana last week and I am the demigod, and she is the pageant. You're Maui? Moana.

Yeah. So she's like, this is a thing. So I got to figure out when our neighborhood's trick or treat is, but I would love to do that. Halloween's on a Friday. Your trick or treat's probably on Halloween this year. What day of the week is Halloween this year? Friday.

It's never on the night of Halloween. That's good. If it's not, let's say the previous Saturday, we could have, we could have- It's usually like two days before or after it, and I would assume that Friday would make it less likely. If that is the case, your ass is on a plane- We're living in a different Neighborhood like it doesn't have to be the same neighborhood. Right. We take her to nicer neighborhoods. We get the king size Snickers are you live in a king size Snickers neighborhood.

Let's be real here. Now, you know, we're a mile and a half away from Highland Park, Andy. It's a whole different ball game over there. I'm just saying October 30th in Conway, South Carolina. Marshall takes on Coastal Carolina on the teal unlimited food, which we have to test out. We're not covering the game. We're going to the game. Correct.

Yeah, we're going as fans. We're buying tickets. We're downloading the app because we're taking advantage of the unlimited food. If we go to this. We're downloading the app because we're taking advantage of the unlimited food. If we go to this. I am not. Writing or anything like this is like a drunk and eat fest where you film it.

Correct. River has to River has to be professional, but we don't wait a second. If it's on the 30th, I can, at the worst case, we're going no matter what and I can fly back Friday morning and do Halloween if it's on Friday. Right, but the way to really do this is we go from there, drive back to my house,

where we do Halloween together at my house. What's the deal with Halloween in your house? In the neighborhood that takes Halloween more seriously than any neighborhood in the country. Yeah. What what happens in your neighborhood on Halloween that makes it so different? You guys all get blocked the streets off. You're only allowed to trick or treat for 3 hours. Otherwise, it would turn into a just complete shit show. Uh everybody throws a party. So,

you just you walk wander from house to house like a few Halloweens ago, I wandered into a house and wound up getting a glass of Pappy handed to me. Like that is how it goes on Halloween in our neighborhood. Okay. And then you, but you are, your family always is like decked out with Halloween costumes. We don't mess around.

Now my kids are in various stages of like, my son is getting to where he maybe doesn't, but it will probably depend on what the other guys and what the girls in his grade are doing. Yeah, isn't it? Girls want to dress up. He'll dress up like this phase of adolescence where dressing up is like you do it unironically and it's like exciting for you and And then you get to adolescent stage where dressing up is for losers. And then you get to young adulthood. And then the girls start wearing shorter costumes and you're like. Yeah, and then you get to college

and then Halloween becomes awesome again because girls just wear bikinis with bunny ears and then that's it. And then you go into adulthood and you dress up and go to bars and stuff. So like I went back to dressing up. Like last year Liv was a doctor and I was the patient and Britt to bars and stuff. So like I went back to dressing up like last year, um, Liv was a doctor and I was the patient and Britt was a sexy nurse.

And she doesn't like when I call her a sexy nurse. She's, she's just the nurse, but she goes, we're going to a three year old, a two year old Halloween party. And you keep telling everybody I'm a sexy nurse. Like, what are you doing? And I'm like, this, do you know who you married? And just much like you guys know who, what show you're listening nurse. Like, what are you doing? And I'm like this, you know who you married and just much like you guys know who what show you're listening to, like this is the it's not my fault. It's yours. River clip that. Are you saying it's not my fault is yours is going on the soundboard. But now so interesting AC back to the ACC spring meetings, it is a very different vibe in the ACC now

than it was the last couple of years because you don't have schools in the league suing the league anymore. Everybody's getting along. I think in terms of like what happens next, like even with Clemson and Florida State, everybody's just, we don't know. It's kind of out of everybody's control.

It almost feels like everybody's just sort of happy again. Like, hey, we don't know what's gonna happen. We can't really change it if we wanted to. So let's just roll here. I blacked out. Are you just imagining your wife as a sexy nurse? Yeah, that's what happened, honestly. Yeah.

I sent River a picture of my wife on the Ween costume because I wanted you to rate it. But yeah, this is... Would you say that the ACC spray meetings was productive? Like, what was the most interesting thing that you feel like you found? I just feel like the vibe's so different. Like, like, did you what did you was the most interesting thing that you feel like you've you found? I just feel like the vibe so different. Like they really are. They I mean, I want to project the image of them singing

kumbaya. But I think they understand like everybody's kind of where they're at now. And they understand like, everybody's tried everything they can try. For Satan Clemson have sued the ACC settled. And whatever is going to happen over the next five years is going to happen. And I'm not sure how much the people in the room are in control of that. And I feel like there's this sort of acceptance, like just kind of letting go, like, ah, all right, let's just see where this goes. Yeah.

And where it's going doesn't seem exciting. Well, we can talk about that too. So I have a column out at on three and it's about the presidential committee sort of but but one of the things that I think the presidential committee is going to try to do. And it's a very specific thing. So Cody Campbell, the Texas Tech chair of their Board of Regents, former Texas Tech lineman, he played there in the early 2000s as an oil and gas company that actually he and his former high school classmate, who was one of his teammates at Texas Tech, they run it together.

They just sold a bunch of assets for four point something billion dollars, four point one billion dollars. And so he's one of the people along with Nick Saban, who's been tapped for this committee. Now he can't talk about this stuff yet because they haven't really filled out the committee, but he's written some things that kind of tell you where he's headed, what his thinking is. And one of the things I found very interesting that he wrote was it's in a publication called Federalist and he wrote it in April. And he said one of the things he'd

like to do is take the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act, which is what allows the NFL and the NBA and Major League Baseball, allows their teams to get together and act as a single seller of television rights. So this way, the UFL can't sue the Cowboys and the 49ers and the Packers and say, you're acting as a cartel. They want to put college sports into that essentially as another professional sport which it is and The thought is

There would be so much more money available from all of the leagues being able to get together and sell their rights as one Which is true the TV people have been saying this for years That you might be able to convince the Big Ten and the SEC to not do a Super League, to just say, okay, we're going to make more money and then we're going to share this TV money and everybody's going to then like the SEC and the Big Ten schools still probably have the most, but the gap would close somewhat. And I found it interesting

because I don't want a Super League. I don't think a Super League would be interesting. I know a TV executive, if you asked him, they want a Super League. They want like the top 25 programs and that's it. I don't want that. I like that college football is broad and that you can go to places like Lubbock,

Texas, or you can go to places like Boise, Idaho and see cool college football. So personally, I hope they might be able to pull this off as asking Congress for stuff goes. I feel like this is something Congress would be more willing to do than just saying you can blatantly violate the Sherman Act and cap players earnings because I don't think I don't think they're going to get that no matter how bad they want it. Right. But this they might be able to get. Now here's the problem.

Ari, this is what I wrote the column like it's double edged sword because that also is the thing. If you do it wrong, that allows the Super League to be created. So that's the one I watched the closest because the thing I want is continuation of broad college football, lots of teams, lots of interest, you know nationwide. But if they do it wrong, then it then it's the top 36 or 48 or whatever it is. And I don't want that.

Yeah, nobody. I don't know. Does anybody want that? I even wonder if like the fans of the teams that are TV executives want that? That's it. Yeah. But I'm just like, there's such a big divide between What TV executives want and what conference? I don't think if you ask the average Alabama fan or Ohio State fan because obviously their teams would be in the Super League safely And would be very competitive in the Super League But I would bet most of them like no I think it's cool that we that we get to watch TCU BYU and and that's still sort of a big deal.

Like I don't think most people want that to go away. Right. I don't think anybody wants it to go away. And there's a divide between what people who make money want and what people who consume the product and create the money want. And I don't feel like we've had a pretty good track record the last three years of providing the consumer with what they want.

And like, that's the thing that kind of irritates me too. You know, yesterday I didn't love the way that like our debate went. And I don't think I did a very good job of discussing like the potential playoff and what the drawbacks that might be. But the thing that hit me, I was in the shower this morning thinking about it, I was like, what are we gonna talk about?

Always the best time. I was in the shower. And the thing that I think is weird about the playoff stuff is, and I even conceded this to you during the conversation yesterday, Andy, of like, if you're gonna have these big conferences, the play-in at the end of the year to make the playoff between the top six teams might make the most sense

because there's no way that you can play all the important games in the regular season because of conference size. But then it like kind of hit me that like we're designing the playoff and we're designing things about college football when the very structure and the basis of what makes things run is constant flux. Right. And so one of the things that Cody Campbell wrote in this essay was that because TV money is why we have these weirdo Franken conferences anyway, if you balance out the TV money in that way and everybody's making a good amount of TV money, you may be able to reorganize in a more logical way.

I don't know that they'll do that though. I still think the Big Ten and the SEC didn't spend 100 years. It's like knocking on a castle and asking the king to bring a 3500 square foot home instead of his castle. They're still gonna live well, but nobody wants to give up their castle. Like it's that simple. Exactly.

So that's my question is how do you get them to even think about that? And I don't know if I don't know the answer to that. I really don't. So are people just tired of the constant flux? Because it's like, even if like this 16 team playoff that we discussed yesterday comes to fruition, it makes sense with the way that the roster or the conference. Yeah, but if they change, what happened completely radically altered again in five years, like, they got to redo it again. We do it. And maybe that's the answer. We just redo the playoff every year, every five years to make it make sense for the current structure. But like, I don't think that anybody is under the illusion that the current way that the conferences are set up as the way it's going to be in 20 years. So what are we doing with the playoff? A structure that makes sense to start from would be the better way to... And the college football playoff was going to

expand to 12 before the playoff, before the conferences exploded, which is what made last year's seeding so stupid. And like how are we going to avoid being in situations where the playoff that exists coincides properly with the way that the sport is set up? How many more dumb years are we going to have where the playoff doesn't make sense because we put the cart before the horse? We never know. Yeah, it needs to start with the organization of the sport, and then you build out everything around that. The opposite all the time and

like I don't know if there's a way to stop it from being the opposite because the conferences are constantly in flux and they don't miss and and if you're the Big Ten in the SEC like you said what's the incentive to do anything different it's it's so stupid that Oregon's in the Big Ten it is stupid that Texas is in the SEC it is really really stupid That Oregon's in the Big 10. It is stupid that Texas is in the SEC. It is really, really stupid at Stanford's in the ACC. It's it. Andy, there's no other way to put it. It's stupid and I know that we have to

live with reality, but it's dumb and no one likes it. And I wonder what teams I'm sure the Texas loves being the SEC because the paychecks that come with it. But like I wonder if the teams love it. You think Oregon loves being in the Big Ten? The football players, I don't think they care. I think that the other sports teams probably don't love it when they have to fly across country on a Wednesday night. Like that's so fun. Me like if you asked Oregon, would you like listen?

I understand that like making as much money as possible is always what happens, but just funny because we make fun of kids for doing it. But when the actual institutions that are paying them are also doing. Oh yeah, but like if you could say Oregon, you could make roughly what you're making now, but being in the conference with Washington,

USC, UCLA and all the teams that were, you know, Arizona, Arizona state and like Arizona schools. Yeah. Well, like don't you think they would rather that be the case? Like the regionality of the sports, what made it so beautiful? The West West Coast football was great. West Coast football is what I grew up on. West Coast football still exists to a certain extent, but it's kind of muddied. It doesn't make any sense. No one wants this. Because the Arizona schools are playing the Big 12, which has a little bit different identity than the Big 10,

where the California schools and Oregon and Washington aren't. Yeah, it's very... What about a 16-team playoff that has eight conferences of 12 teams with automatic qualifiers and six at-large spots? That makes sense. I think that's ultimately what a lot of people would want. But again, you have you have to rip down 100 years of history to get there. And that's going to be hard. Because these people spent this time accumulating this power and they're not going to just give it up. I just want to rip down four years of history and go back to where we were in 19. We were pretty close to the 19. That would it and if you right if you had If you had the conference alignments from 2019 last year and this playoff that we have yeah with this playoff format

The seating would have made sense. And we're done. Yeah, right. Like you, you agree with me on that? I was, I'll concede. I would have been good with that. Yeah. Yeah. No, I, I wouldn't want much more than that. I'd be good with that.

Yeah. It's like you have to expand the playoff to have more spots for teams that are. In conferences, they shouldn't be in. Yeah, because the SEC has to have four spots because there's an extra four teams in there that weren't in there before that can actually make it. That wasn't the case five years ago. And Big Ten same thing. Yeah, it's, it's frustrating. And I think that's, that's the source of everyone's frustration, because there's not an easy solution to any of this,

and the only reason why you like these play in games is because it's a necessity as a result of dysfunction. Most interesting way to do it in the current situation. Disfunctional conference situation, right? But yes, if you if you would reorganize the conferences, you really don't need that. If you had a more logical organization, you don't need that. And I wonder if all the problems that we're facing

in college football are just predicated based on dysfunctional conference alignment. I feel like if you did it at every- It is a huge driver of it. We can't even properly crown champions right now. We're flipping coins, is that what we're doing? We wanna flip coins? You wanna fuck up playing on the pool. Well, if they go to the play in game situation in the Big Ten in the SEC,

winning the championship doesn't even matter. Finishing third, they're not going to play for the championship. They're just going to say you're number one. Or they'll do coach amps with one and two if they're tied. Somebody emailed me yesterday and said that if we do the play in situation that it's conceivable that a team at seven and six makes the playoff. It is conceivable. Yeah, if let's say it's a team, probably like we'd be talking about what a big 12

team that lost Florida State conference games, Florida State who lost to Florida and Alabama this year and then I think they'd have to it would be highly unlikely because then they would have to lose the gimme non-conference game too, but if you go on three and non-conference and then you have three losses in conference play or you'll go on two against Florida and Alabama and then you lose four conference games. Um it'd be really hard in the ACC or you will go 0 and 2 against Florida in Alabama and then you lose four conference games. It'd be really hard in the ACC because you have to finish.

You'd have to finish in the top four of the AC. Yeah, right. I'm just trying to think of like a team that has two marquee like South Carolina, for instance. Don't like if they have South Carolina lost boat, it lost to Virginia Tech and Clemson. Yeah, and then lost four times or five times in the ACC and finished sixth in the SEC and still not going to finish. They're probably not going to finish sixth at four and four though. Mathematically, that's not going to happen very often.

Like you'd, you'd have to have a couple teams going to be to be five and three. Yeah, I mean, it happened last year to be five and three. You'd have to have some 8 no teams to make that happen. Yeah, but even if you if you make it less drastic and be 7 and 5 like the 7 and 5 team making the playoff could happen. Sure. It happens in the NFL all the time. Yeah, I guess. But if you I mean Clemson was that team last year. Yeah, it like the last three. Here's the fundamental

disagreement that I think you and I have on this is that we both agree, I think. Or at least agreed in 2020 that college football had the best regular season, correct? If of all sports. Yes, do you still believe that? Yes, do you believe that because the games are getting better or because the stakes of the games matter more like I think that there's a fundamental shift? Well, that's that's see. That's the part that the people arguing

with me don't get. Unless they're going to make it a 15 game regular season, the scarcity of the games is what makes it the best regular season. It is the most scarce regular season in sports. Scarcity of good games to me? That's why it's better. There are fewer games. Yes.

But I think that the games that you used to get in college football had inherent stakes in most of them. So when you start putting in a system where 18 that's seven and five could conceivably make the playoff. I think the last 20 years have watered down non-conference schedules in a terrible way. I think if people are willing to make harder non-conference schedules with auto bids, great. I think it comes down to what you prefer then. Do you prefer high quality helmet games with less stakes or do you work or do you like? Yes, every high quality helmet games with less stakes. Because I'm getting the stakes at the end of the season. I'm still getting the games with the stakes. OK, but then you are talking about the postseason, which is why I think people like me who care about the regular season are pushed back on it.

OK, well, because you you so what are you going to do on a Saturday in October? Because I'm going to watch college football. I'm not saying you have to agree with me and like it better or worse. What I'm saying is you have to acknowledge that the regular season is becoming worse. Fine, still better than the other regular games.

On the helmets. You are you are watering down the and is it better than every other regular season still? Yes. I don't know. I mean, the NFL season would be very similar at that point.

Yeah, the NFL is the most popular sport in America. Seems to go pretty well for them. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I don't know if the NFL's regular season is the best popular sport in America. Seems to go pretty well for them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I don't know if the NFL's regular season is the best regular season because it's the best regular season. It's not. College football is better.

College football is better. Yes. So what I'm saying is, will college football seasons still be conceived as better, or will it be more like the NFL where you watch it because it's football, but it's not as inherently interesting as it was before. Either one is perfectly fine. Yeah, I'm like a I'm a regular season defender. So if you don't care about it, that's fine.

It's something you don't actually need to worry about that. Like it's it's it's a silly argument. Who cares? Like getting on an airplane, you either like football or you don't. So you might as well just do everything as an exhibition and have no champion. We'll just watch football like I don't know. All I'm saying is is that you yesterday I thought you had a hard time acknowledging that the regular season was getting worse and I think we've come around to you acknowledge that

the stakes are lower. That's all I want to hear with me because you're like I'm right you're wrong. Whatever. I just get my argument all along has always been my argument all along has been stop telling me about basketball in the regular season and how that ruined the regular season. It's not basketball. It's football and people like football better. And people will keep watching because it's football.

As a co-host of this show though. Like when we argue, I'm not necessarily as interested in changing your mind. What I'm interested in is having a point that the person who's listening to the show can then say, hey, I know I got I got yelled at today because who did you're being intentionally quiet because we recorded that segment segment your daughter was asleep and So they said you got to fix the audio you just sound shrill and Ari's Ari sounds quiet

I'm like, yeah, cuz I was trying to be quiet and then they like you guys stop talking over Ari You have to stop talking over Ari when people yell at me is code for Stop disagreeing with Ari and challenging my worldview because it hurts my feelings because I've seen people yell at me is code for stop disagreeing with Ari and challenging my worldview because it hurts my feelings because I've seen people yell at you. I talk over talking over me because they agree with me. I do need to like here's the thing. My daughter's room is like through the hallway here and like I need it like she can't hear me so I was just being overly cautious. I didn't want to wake her up but like I just thought it was funny because he thought like we'd change the mic being overly cautious. I didn't want to wake her up. But like, I just thought it was funny. Cause he thought like we'd,

we'd change the mic levels or something. I was like, no, no, no. He's just trying to be quiet. In this world, I would not put it past somebody to come up with a conspiracy theory that you were choosing my mic level. But I just like, I was dissatisfied with the way it went yesterday.

Cause I don't think I was able to articulate my point. I don't want you to agree with me. I just want you to acknowledge what I'm saying. And then I'll let the person who's listening. Oh, why a hundred percent acknowledge it? A hundred percent. I feel better about it now. Yeah.

And like, listen, the one thing I want you to take away from that Andy is, is that if there was a play-in tournament at the end of the year, it would be freaking awesome. Like I'm not trying to discount how cool. No, but I agree with you. It's an ad hoc solution to a problem that didn't have to be created in the first place.

And also too, the thing that you also have to acknowledge in college football is that you're putting, so we watered down the regular season, like it or not, from going from four to 12. Okay. Yeah. So now if you water it down even more to the next stage, that might actually still work. But the thing that I'm constantly afraid of is, is that this is a progression.

Like, what is the next water count going to be? There's going to be a point where they overwater it and we're getting closer and closer to that line. And like, I don't want to cross that line because there is a- But like, I'll give you, the NFL, they added the two more playoff teams a few years ago, like they don't need to add anymore. They should be done at 14, like 14 of 32 getting in plenty. Don't add more. Right.

And like, I just like, and in this case, like 16, probably don't need to add more ever. Yeah. After that, 16, then I think you're actually going to flip the script and be like, I think, oh, no, I will. Probably don't need to add more ever after that. If we get past 16, then I think you're actually going to flip the script and be like, I think we're done. Oh no, I will. You and I will be on the same side at that point because 24 is very unwieldy. And I know the other divisions in football do it. I know they do. I don't think it would be a good idea. This makes sense.

16 I think is too much. I still think 16 is too much. I think 16 is fine. I think it's necessary because we need to have spots for the what ifs because the conference is fucked up. I messed it up, sorry. Correct. If we're saying the power conferences.

It's good enough. Yeah, if we're saying the power conferences, the ones that produce the real contenders, it's 16 out of 65, or 16, yeah, 16 out of 65. That's the power conferences, the ones that produce the real contenders, it's 16 out of 65 or 16. Yeah, 16 out of 65. That's the power conference in Notre Dame. We have to call it like it is. Texas made the playoff last year. But Texas had the easiest SEC schedule of anybody else in that cluster. And it's like, Texas didn't win the conference, and they were a pretty high seed. And I don't know if they had a fair and equitable route there than if you compared it to like what Florida or South Carolina had to go through. So in order to play in game, you have to do it so that the teams that screw during the regular season with their draw Texas wouldn't have been in the play in game. Texas would have been just what I'm saying, like just in general, whenever a team I was using last year's results, but I'm saying every year like Indiana's draw was not equitable to what Ohio State had to go through last year. Like you have to have those games at

the end of the year to make sure that everybody plays each other because there's no way we can do it in the regular season. And I think that adding a ninth SEC game would help that but the only way that the ninth SEC game is getting added is if you already messed up the system to do that that way. Like you know they should do the ninth SEC game now and then keep the system so that we have more context at the end of the year when it comes to ranking teams. But they won't do that. We had conversations last year about whether or not coaches in the SEC were going to have to meet at a Flying J or a Lubs in the middle of nowhere and flip a coin. Like that's not in a sport

that is as sophisticated and it has money driven as this one is like whittling it down to that is insane. Like it's funny and it's fun to think about like Friday night lights and like, you know, stepping on the quarter and not knowing what it is and like how funny football thing in the world flipping a coin in the gas station. But like that's not where we need to be as a sport like here. But here's here's my thing Ari. I'm with you to a point. I want it to be weird and messed up. Because I think that's part of what makes college football so lovable. Yeah, I mean, it is

weird and messed up. It this weird and messed up? Because it's the thing too, it's like it's almost even contra contradicting yourself in a sense of like, well, I want to make it more like the NFL, which is the most functional and equitable sport in the world. And then also at the same time

wanted to keep it quirky and it's like, OK, well which one is it? Because it's like we don't want it to be can't can't have both that's I know it's it's it's a problem because you can't have both. And that's it's a problem, because you can't have both. And that's what we're dealing with now. That is the fundamental argument of, are they going to completely corporatize it? And, because what Cody Campbell wrote about,

if that happened, it'd be great in an ideal world that you'd have all of the teams that are in the FBS still in the FBS. The more logical conclusion is that there'd be some sort of compromise and it'd be basically the power conference teams that were part of that and everybody else kind of get punted down toward the FCS. CS. Um, and you, let's say you reorganize those teams into 16 team leagues or 18 divisions or whatever that was logically spaced and geographical, which sounds an awful lot like

another league I know, like, yeah, it sounds a little too polished. Yeah. I mean, I, but that's the thing that would keep it 60 because I think 65 is better than 32. Well, I'll see your theory here and I'll raise you one that makes people angry. But as much as I believe that NIL is important and real and fair. I am starting to become nostalgic for the times where like all the back alley negotiation for players behind the scenes in the shadows was like is like romantic. You want double bags of cash back. I actually I don't even know like if it's just like here's the thing. I caught myself being old yesterday. And I was talking to a friend about the music that I grew up listening to and how it's the oldies now, because they don't make hip hop music the way that I like it anymore. Really, it's it's all mumble stuff.

I don't think they make it the way anybody likes it. I just don't think the kids know. Like, the only person who actually raps anymore, I feel like is J Cole and like Kanye is making a whole new set of music that you might be into. I don't know. Kendrick is okay. Kendrick, there's a few out there that are still kind of doing it. And like some like Benny the Butcher and guys like that that are still like kind of like that. But for the most part, mainstream hip hop music is much different than it used to be.

You know, the only people who can, other than like Kendrick, who can actually rap and have a great flow and are lyrically fun and creative, the ladies. Megan Stallion's a better rapper than 90% of the men out there. And I do it with movies too, Andy. They don't make good movies anymore.

I say things like my dad used to say, like, they don't do this anymore. They don't do that anymore. And I wonder if I am getting to a point where college football was the love of my life growing up. And I viewed college football in a certain way in the system that it was when I was growing up as the peak of humanity.

And I wonder if like, I am struggling with my opinions on where the sport should go because I can't let go of how things used to be, or if that's actually used to be better. Like, is that's the same thing with like NFL night, like NFL uniforms. Just remember everybody thinks what was going on when they were 16 to 19 was the perfect way to do it. Everybody. So I wonder like so like in the struggle to

give real uninformed informative sorry what I said real unbiased informative opinions on the show. I like the real uninformed, informative, but I feel like that describes the show better. I want to do my best to service the audience in a way that's real and informative, but I also struggle to get out of my own way as it pertains to my romantic view of what college football should be based on when I happen to be born. You know, and like we are getting into the business side of it in a way that we haven't anymore. And I think that the most people who listen to the show kind of share our time periods. So I think that a lot of us who are making

these decisions can't speak for the 20-year-old fan, because a 20-year-old fan, you know, even came up in a different era, came up in a different era. So like I do miss West Coast football. I miss when recruiting stories and like, even though they were bullshit before, still the family atmosphere. Yeah, that's why recruiting coverage has changed. Like the discussion around Cantwell today was much different than it would have been five years ago here Let's help William in the chat. What time is it? Well select a school 3 45 p.m. Eastern time 345 p.m. Eastern time is when he will make that announcement. Yeah, so

That's what's where I'm at so like I don't know 2014 2010 2005 like those are good years. Of college football and I had a really good time with it. Like I think that the playoff era is the best era because like I do love the playoff. But I miss. I don't know. Maybe I don't miss the super team era, but I miss the way recruiting happened during this. I don't know. I'm don't miss the super team arrow, but I missed the way recruiting happened during this. I don't know. I'm conflicted on it. You just you just want the the bag man stories. That's all. I don't ever want to get to a point. What was the Texas assistant coaches animal who

bit somebody? What was that? What animal? Jeff Banks. It was not his monkey. It was his wife's monkey. Okay. Her her name as a dancer, I believe was pole assassin. Okay, I'm just saying like I just want that to be it. That needs to be a part of the sport and I don't know if anything that we talk about on the show will ever change that. Exactly. Yeah. I mean like my entire professional college football life was predicated on recruiting

rankings and now recruiting rankings don't matter as much anymore and I kind of feel like I'm out in the wilderness. But hey, this is let's bring this show full circle because we do have to get off the air because JD's got to come on here soon. But it matters today because the offensive tackle essentially created in a lab to be the number one recruit in the country is deciding where he's going to go to school. 3 45 p.m. Eastern time. Keep it here. The on three recruits YouTube channel.

I hope you're subscribed to that as well. They're going to have full coverage of Jackson Cantwell's commitment. JD's going to be talking about in a hard count. This is this is still a big deal. Like, you are the wrestling fan who got up and is like, it's still real to me. This is still real, period. If Jackson Cantwell says he's going to Georgia

or he throws up that U or shocks the world and says he's going to Oregon, like, it's a big deal. Big deal. Yeah, big deal. Big, it's still a big deal. I'm not trying to act like it's not. It's it's a huge deal. It's our entire business. I just mean the way it used to be done was different, so yeah, yeah, enjoy far more McDonald's bags,

but not now and I love you. I know you get a McDonald's franchise that you get to run. I love a good Culver's bag. That's exactly right. Well, we'll take that Culver's bag anytime. Ari, it's been a pleasure tomorrow. We argue about Ari's top 25. Of course, he's wrong.

I'm not you then.