Andy & Ari On3 - The NCAA Transfer Portal is OPEN FOR BUSINESS | Where will the top College Football players land?

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

The NCAA Transfer portal is now officially open, and Andy & Ari are here to bring you the absolute latest on all the names that have entered the portal. It's a special LIVE show on the transfer portal and the College Football Playoff semifinal games here! (0:00) On Today's Episode(1:09) Presenting Sponsor(2:55) Intro: The transfer portal is OPEN(4:00) Follow @PeteNakos(5:30) Sam Leavitt to Kentucky?(16:00) Cutter Boley to Arizona State?(18:30) Florida and Aaron Philo?(20:00) Kenny Minchey to Nebraska(22:22) Auburn News?(23:30) Texas A&M(25:05) Penn State update(26:33) Michigan News(29:23) Avery Johnson announces he is staying at Kansas State(31:25) Modelo(32:15) Ole Miss is now the story(40:30) Virginia Tech in the portal: Grunkemeyer or Pribula?(44:04) CFP Semifinals Picks(45:07) Fiesta Bowl Picks: Miami vs Ole Miss(56:36) Peach Bowl Picks: Oregon vs Indiana(1:07:20) Louisville RB Isaac Brown and Minnesota S/WR Koi Perich(1:09:24) Conclusion: Thanks for Watching!  For a look at the entirety of the portal, head here: https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/industry/football/ For the most up to date news and information, follow Pete Nakos here: https://x.com/PeteNakos This show is presented by Modelo! Some things in life are just made for each other. Peanut Butter and jelly. Macaroni and cheese. Modelo and college football. If you’re watching this, it means you live and breathe football. All season long. You know what that makes you? A Full-Time Fan. Which means you deserve a Modelo. Because football wouldn’t be the same without you. Modelo is the official beer sponsor of The College Football Playoff. Drink responsibly. Beer imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, IL Our show is also presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Watch us on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/FCarL7tUFj8 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Andy Arion 3 presented by BetMGM, the transfer portal is open and business is booming. Our guy Pete Nacos, I don't think he slept. I really don't. He's been reporting like crazy on guys like Brendan Sorsby, the former Cincinnati quarterback, who Pete is reporting has visit scheduled to Texas Tech and LSU. Pete also reporting that a new school of interest has emerged

for Arizona State Transfer quarterback Sam Levitt. the Kentucky Wildcats. We'll talk about the various quarterback moves, plus some of the other big names in the transfer portal, Auburn receiver, Cam Coleman, Minnesota, safety coy parritch, who could also play some receiver, by the way. He can do it all. And we are going to pick the Peach Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl.

We got BEDMGM lines for both. We will pick Miami Ole Miss. We will pick Oregon, Indiana. We will have Mulligans next week in case we screw it up, but we will pick them today. On Annie and Orion 3, presented by Bed MGM. We are presented by BedMGM. We use BetMGM lines and totals, and you can join us by joining BetMGM. If you have not signed up for BetMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB as in college football,

CFB, and you'll get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with BEDMGM. Here's how that works. Download the BDMGM app and sign on using the bonus code CFB. Deposit at least $10 to place your first wager on any game. You receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets if your bet loses. Just make sure you use the bonus code CFB when you're signing up. So download the app. Deposit at least $10. Place your first wager up to $1,500 if your first bet loses. Use the bonus code CFB when you sign up. Make this college football. Season 1 for the history books, make it legendary with BetMGM. See BetMGM.com for terms. 21 plus only U.S. promotional offers are not available in New York,

Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler in the U.S. Call 8778 Hope N.Y or text Hope N.Y 4673369 in New York. Call 1-800 next step in Arizona. Call 1-800-3-27-50-50 in Massachusetts. It's called 1,800 bets off in Iowa or 1,800-981-0023 in Puerto Rico. First bet offer for new customers only, subject to eligibility requirements, rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas

Crossing Casino and Hotel. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for bed at MGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Annie and Ari on 3. Presented by BetMGM Happy Transfer Portal Day to those who celebrate Happy Duke's Mayo Bowl Day to those who celebrate. That's coming up tonight. Listen, the calendar is crazy, Ari. We got the Transfer Portal opening.

We now know who the semi-finalists in the college football playoff are. We've got to pick those games because we've got lines from our friends at Bet, MGM. Your alma mater is going to kick it off against SMU in the Holiday Bowl tonight and Wake Forest Mississippi State in the Duke's Mayo Bowl where our guy Jake Dickert and Jeff Leby competing to see who gets a mayo bath. It's a wonderful world of messed up calendars. And I know what? I'm okay with it.

It's good for us, good for the brand. Maybe not good for Pete Nacos to sleep. But I'm happy to be here here with you, Andy. Let's get into it. Let us get into it. And also, speaking of our guy, Pete Nacos, which we're going to have Pete on early in the week next week. He's really busy today. He has calls coming in from agents and player agents and personnel people at different schools all day.

But I want to make sure that you know, check your Twitter right now, your X, the Everything app. Are you following at Pete Nacos? If you're not following at Pete Nacos, you are not getting the most current transfer portal news because he's going to get it before everybody else. So make sure you're following at Pete Nacos. The QR code on the screen will take you to his Twitter page. And you can just hit follow. Our boss, Shannon Terry,

has said if we can get him to 100,000 by the end of the day, today, January 2nd, that we're going to give him a big race. So I, no one works hard. No. What?

He said huge raise. Huge raise. Yes, huge race. Sorry, Ari. And they were all capitalized. Like that was emphasis on huge. Yes. Well,

I love Pete. No one works harder at this company. He's one of my favorite people. in the whole world. And so I want good things to happen for him. So I would like all of you who are not following Pete yet, please follow Pete, tell all your friends to follow Pete, and please do it today. Because this is not because Pete's going to buy me booze for helping. This is not that. It's just because we love Pete. But he's been working his ass off today. And Ari, where should we start? Let's start with quarterbacks in the transfer portal because everybody wants to talk

quarterbacks. Sam Leavitt's probably the most prized quarterback transfer and Pete dropped a bomb. Pete and Steve Wilfong dropped a bomb earlier today because we were talking about Sam Levitt looking at maybe Indiana, maybe

LSU, maybe Oregon. Sam Levitt is from Oregon. But the school that's emerged and the school that reportedly he'll be visiting the University of Hucky. I guess that's what happens when you go hire a dog who's been around dogs

who have been dogs in the portal, right? I mean, Will Stein. I mean, I don't know that it's coming out of his checking account, but, you know, if you get a proven asset at quarterback, when's the last time Kentucky had like a true proven quarterback? Am I forgetting somebody? Steve Lorenzen? Jared Lorenzen, Andre Woodson, after him.

Did I say, Steve? Yeah, Will Levis was pretty good. for the first the year will levis was with Liam Cohen current Jacksonville Jaguars head coach when Liam Cohen was their OC the first time around that was a pretty good situation they had will levis Wondell Robinson

but yeah it's not him couch Tim couch was really good but yeah but after Tim couch Jared Lorenza and Andre Woodson were both really good but this is this is an interesting one because Will Stein has done a really good job with Dante Moore this year did a great job obviously with Dylan Gabriel

last year and kind of knows what he wants. And here's the thing, in this era, in this day and age, how do you get good quick? You get an old, experienced, really good quarterback who, like, when we had Clark Brooks on, our, you know, the stat cat in the off season, he was talking about Sam Levitt, how he is not only the best thrower of the deep ball, he's the most accurate thrower of the deep ball. This is a guy who can play. He's the only person until Dante Moore who beat that Texas Tech defense.

Yeah, you know, Andy, I think that it's important, too, to at least outline this. And I don't know if you felt this way before the semifinals. We have a bracket right now in the CFP that has Ole Miss, Miami, Oregon, and who did I forget? Indiana, of course. All transfer quarterbacks. And it's not just that. The logos, I mean, this is the first time in my entire career. career, where I feel like I can be on a national podcast talking about Sam Levitt to Kentucky,

and it actually matter in the national championship race. Now, I'm not going to go say, I'm not saying that Kentucky getting Levitt means they're going to be in the final four next year. What I'm saying is there isn't a single logo that you could blast on this screen right now that is impossible to be where the teams are today, God. And this is how it starts. So, you know, we live in a world now where parody is obviously rampant, but it's not just parity. It's not that anybody can beat anybody.

The level or the number of teams that can actually win the national title has increased. So, you know, if you increase your NIL fund. If you can get somebody like this, you can be competitive immediately. Because, you know, I think we all had an idea that Fernando Mendoza at this time last year was going to be a pretty important get. I think he was very good at Cal. But when he went to Indiana, I think that, you know, maybe that wouldn't, wouldn't have struck people as big news, you know, or earth-shattering. Are we going live? Run to the computer news.

And that guy won the Heisman and now is running all over Alabama's defense in the Rose Bowl. Like, this is where it starts. And I think it's an important thing to at least acknowledge. So good for you, Kentucky, not only getting a coach that is young is exciting and has been around some pretty exciting builds and has done well with quarterbacks, but putting yourself in a position to even be in this race. I think is an indication that they feel a commitment to football and maybe are invigorated by seeing a team like Indiana or a team like Ole Miss who has gone out and gotten some guys in the transfer portal

and has upgraded their property or their plot in the SEC neighborhood. I mean, hell, like they're the last SEC team standing. So good for you, Kentucky. Yeah, and the thing is, this is why Kentucky had to make this, the move they made on Mark Stoops, because Hope was running dry. You were looking down the barrel of a whole lot of the same if you kept Mark Stoops, and they were going to pay a fortune to part ways with Mark Stoops.

And he was nice enough to change his deal, to negotiate with them, to not require them to pay that full buyout within 60 days like his contract said. He had, you know, he let him spread it out. Which, by the way, helping them, by the way. In this sense, like, that's a nice parting gift. And I know that funds come from different piles in NIL and revenue share and coaches buyouts and stuff are in different, you know, accounting areas. But I think that there's probably a correlation between what they're able to do

from a compensation to athlete standpoint and what he did with that re-writing. You had to pay all that money at once. There's not a lot of spare around. You probably had to hit up the donors pretty hard. Yeah, I would imagine that this helps that. Every little bit helps there. And look, this is, and I say this all the time. And I know people, like Kentucky fans know this, obviously.

I'm not sure the greater college football fan at large understands this. Like Kentucky people care deeply about football. Yes, they like their basketball team. But they are as passionate about football as just about anybody else in the country. and it's it's not a case of oh they don't care at all they were a little bit beaten down the past couple of years but couldn't you have said the same exact thing you're saying right now about Indiana like three years ago yes well I don't know the difference no the difference was Indiana didn't show up like Kentucky fans showed up over and over again Kentucky fans got kicked

in the teeth from a football standpoint for decades but kept showing up yeah so I want good things to happen for them because I love it when fans are that loyal and they just, they keep coming no matter what. Well, that's the fundamental difference too between Indiana and Kentucky. Both, you know, we viewed or view as basketball first programs,

but Kentucky at least under Mark Stoops had reason to show up. Like Indiana, you know, people say, where were your fans five years ago? It's like, well, what? You have to almost be a psychotic. They never even give you a glimmer of hope, let alone, I mean, Kentucky's giving you that glimmer.

But I think now that Indiana has given Indiana fans a taste of football success, not just a taste of smorgasbord of success. Like, I bet you even if they were in the next five to seven years to go back to being mediocre, their stadium will still at a baseline be bigger or more filled as a result of people tasting this. So, like, yeah, I mean, the thing that I will say, Andy, and I'm sure you agree with this, is that when we talk about Kentucky football, if we were talking about Kentucky football in 2015, I wouldn't want to engage in a discussion about could they win the national championship. What Kurt Signetti has done is a gift to the entire country where every single

fan base out there can dream about doing that. Because I'll tell you, it's a fact. Indiana was about as dire of a program in terms of long-term success, history, relevance, all that, as you could possibly dream up. And like, they are the favorite right now with four teams left to win the national championship. That means anything is possible. And like we were joking about the old misresolved being the Disney movie. Holy crap. You want to talk about Disney movies? Like, Indiana's a Disney movie. Well, that's what Signetti said after the game. He said it'll be a hell of a movie when they make the story of how this all happened. But yeah, if you're Kentucky, you're looking at this. And, you know, obviously geographically, they're border states, they're

close. If you're Kentucky, you're looking at this and going, if Indiana, which, because Kentucky is not obviously a traditional football power in the SEC, but Kentucky has been much better or more recently than Indiana was in the Kevin Wilson or Tom Allen era's in the Big Ten. If Indiana can do this in the Big Ten, Kentucky can do this in the SEC. They can. And I think that the conference affiliation here means a lot, too. Like, I don't know if you want to move the rung of the ladder down a little bit to, like,

well, can Wake Forest win a national championship? I still think that the answer is probably yes now. but the conference affiliation and the money that these programs are getting is certainly going to aid the Big Ten and the SEC programs that are at the bottom of the barrel from doing some things that maybe some of their counterparts and other conferences won't be able to do. Well, and let's be real here, like Kentucky had good seasons under Mark Stoops. They had double-digit win seasons under Mark Soup. And that was in the old system.

So there's no reason that in this system, Kentucky can't become very competitive now. Yeah. And, you know, frankly speaking, we've spent a lot of time talking about Kentucky over the years. So, I mean, it's not an irrelevant program. We spent zero minutes talking about Indiana football before last season, zero. There was nothing to discuss. Kentucky's at least a step ahead there. And if they get Levitt and Will Stein, that's a pretty good one-two punch for a new era.

It's a good start. And I will imagine because, you know, this is a, we talked with Brinin-Soursby about this, actually. and we'll talk about Brendan Sorsby in a little bit because he's obviously on the move as well. But we talked to him about this year at Cincinnati where he was very active in getting their receiver transfers and actually helping recruit their receiver transfers. If you get Sam Levitt, especially if you get him in the next few days, he's going to help recruit for you too. Now, this doesn't mean, I'm not saying they're going to get him.

LSU is in the mix as well, according to Pete Nacos. But we'll find out. Sam Leavitt, by the way, entered the portal with a do not contact tag, which means he already knows what his choices are. He's not open to your offers. He's heard who's offering and has narrowed it down. Yeah. And I know, too, that a lot of today, since the portal is open,

is who's in the portal and where are they going to go specifically? But I'm also just very curious of, like, who's LSU's quarterback going to be next year? Like, if it's not him, who is it like that? like the school from the school out is just as interesting as the player out. So yeah, that's a really important piece of news and that's probably the right place for us to start. By the way, Kentucky fans will be interested in this too. You know, last year we had what amounted to a trade after the spring portal of Nico I. Amalia leaving Tennessee, Joey Aguilar leaving UCLA because Nico was coming to UCLA,

Joey Aguilar winding up at Tennessee. If Sam Levitt were to wind up at Kentucky, it might wind up. up being a trade of sorts as well because Carter Bowley, who was the starting quarterback at Kentucky at the end of this season, Steve Wolfgang and Pete Nacos predicting that Arizona State is the school to watch for Carter Bowley. He played well too, didn't he? He did. Yeah, you know, that could be, I don't know if you're like me, but like, oh, Kenny Dillingham is, is interested in a quarterback that not a lot of people are appreciating. That kind of raises your eyebrow. funny of that. Yeah, he was like that with Sam Levitt, too, Sam Levitt. Remember Sam Levitt

was leaving Michigan State because Jonathan Smith was bringing Aden Childs with him. And Kenny Dillingham very much recognized how good Sam Levin was. Now, Kenny Dillingham had been coming from Oregon where Sam Levitt is from. So he had a really good picture of what he was getting. And so Cudder Bowley could be the next one that Kenny Dillingham takes and turns into a star. Sam Levitt already turned into a star. We'll see if we'll stop. can grab him because if he can, it's the first major, major move of the Will Stein era at Kentucky.

Yeah. Get your blood pumping a little bit, doesn't it? If you're a Kentucky fan. It does, and that's what this portal does. And I know it drives people crazy, especially if you're losing a bunch of players and don't feel like you're going to reciprocate or not going to get players of equal or better quality coming in.

But this is the thing, like it gives you instant hope. like if Kentucky can get Sam Levitt, it goes from being pretty hopeless going into the Louisville game of last year to pretty hopeful, instantly. Instantly. So this is going to be a lot of fun. We've got questions in the chat.

People want to ask about specific schools and players. OK, Diop Music, 7 says, can you have to get a quarterback, please, hot and ready? I don't know if you're going to Little Cesar's a quarterback. But Florida's going to probably wind up going to Georgia Tech for a quarterback. Buster Faulkner is the incoming offensive coordinator. He worked at Georgia Tech last year. Their backup quarterback behind Haynes King was Aaron Filo. He was set to take the starting job at Georgia Tech next year. He is visiting Florida, according to Pete Nacos, and Pete and Steve Wilfong have already filed a recruiting prediction

machine RPM prediction for Aaron Philo to transfer to Florida, which is what we kind of expected. when he hit the portal. Yeah. And I think that people in Florida are probably like, we just went from having one of the most hyped prospects of all time to somebody that's kind of generally underappreciated. But when you get excited about Faulkner's, the O.C., you've got to trust that his vision's correct on this one.

Well, he knows the guy. Yeah. If he didn't want him, he wouldn't be taking him. If he didn't like him coaching him before, he wouldn't be taking him now. The other thing to remember with Florida is Tremel Jones Jr., the freshman from last year, who was the backup to DJ Lagway last year, who the players really loved, the old staff loved him, he's staying. And I would imagine this will be an

interesting competition between those two to see who wins the Florida starting quarterback job. A couple other interesting ones. Nebraska, according to Pete Nacos, could be the favorite to land Notre Dame quarterback Kenny Menchie. Kenny Menchie was the backup of CJ Car this year. he lost the competition to CJ Carr. He's kind of a dual threat guy from Nashville, good runner. Kenny Menchie, if you remember watching their spring game, is the one who scored and did the backflip. Really good athlete, but he's got a good arm, too.

It's not like he's just a runner. And remember what Dana Holgerson said in that press conference he had before their bowl game when people were asking about, you know, how do you decide who you're going to replace Dylan Riola with? He mentioned how important mobility was. was they'll get mobility with Kenny Minchie. Yeah, and remember, everybody was making a quarterback battle out of this last year. And I don't know how much I bought into it, but still, like, anybody you can do a backflip after scoring is an exciting prospect.

And like, listen, I don't know if you've been trolling the Nebraska message boards lately, but if you want to say sorry at any point to me, you can. And you know who you are. Nebraska is in a pretty critical offseason right now. Because we went from are they going to break through to extending their coach to all the good things to, you know, being blown out in your bowl game and people wondering if they have the right guy now. So it's whenever you lose a guy like Dylan Rayola, whether you think he's the greatest thing that's ever happened to quarterbacking or you think he stinks or somewhere in the middle, you lost a pretty important piece of your identity. and this is a really, really important, crucial offseason for them to get this thing right. And I'm very curious to see how it pans out. Old Man Wisdom in the chat says,

can you guys talk about Michigan State and Pat Fitzgerald having $400 million in the bank? They did just get a very big donation at Michigan State. It is not all going to players on the roster this year. That would be the ultimate. You thought what Cody Campbell did at Texas Tech was something. imagine if somebody did something like that, but that's not really what's going on there. So I haven't heard a lot about guys going to Michigan State quite yet.

So we're going to have to wait and see on that one. KB. Poindexter says, for the love of God, please give me some good news about Auburn. The good news is that Byron Brown is probably headed there to be your quarterback. And you've seen Byron Brown and Alice Gullish work together before. And I'm confident in Alice Gullish because I watched what he did at USF. And, you know, I'm telling you, people think his USFs in Tampa, there's a lot of talent around that it's an easy job. It's not.

It's a very difficult job, which was proven by the two guys before Alex Golish, Charlie Strong, and Jeff Scott. Alice Golish immediately turned that place around with a bigger roster turnover than he's going to have to do at Auburn. I'm not worried about him. Yeah. And remember, guys, like, we're going to go through some names today. like the portal's only been open for what 15 hours like things are going to happen and i don't and i don't know um about you andy but does this portal feel less like earthquakey than last years like some of the names that are in the portal are expected and there are big names not that

they're not but like it doesn't really seem like my jaw hasn't dropped yet today yeah yeah so uh jacob says what's the latest on the aggies uh they apparently like quentravian white tray wisner they're running back from texas uh it is it does appear to be a Texas Texas A&M battle for Cam Coleman, the Auburn former Auburn receiver. But I think Texas would probably be the favorite in that one. I find this really interesting because Cam Coleman, obviously, he was connected to Texas right when we found out he was going to the portal.

And Parker Livingstone from Texas just left. Yeah, he was good. He's going to the portal. He was very good this year. You know what, school he's been connected to already? Which one? Indiana. Oh, yeah, I saw that.

Yeah, if Kurt Signetti wants him, your coach should probably just try to go get him. Like, just cheat off Kurtzignetti's paper. For you Indiana people out there that, you know, have come around to accepting their good this year, but now are wondering whether they can sustain it. That type of deal is what makes you sustain it, right? Indiana is an attractive portal destination for some pretty good players. So, yeah, that, you know, we could do an entire episode and probably will on the

wonders of Kurt Signetti and what he's accomplished there, Andy, man. I still can't fathom it. I, you know, I yeah, you know, we lectured people and yelled at people about not falling for the logos when I zoom out and I try to. We, but we

screw that up this off season. We should have had in the end in our top 10 and we didn't at least in our top 10 because they were bringing back everybody important except Curtis Rourke and they had upgraded it quarterback. Yeah. Got a question from Sergeant Garius here. Can you give us an update on Penn State, please?

Yeah, you guys should like this. And I realize some people say, oh, when the coach just brings the players from the old place, that's not, look, you're not seeing a ton of departures from Penn State. You're seeing that roster stay fairly intact, which means that Matt Campbell likes what he saw when he got there. But let me give you some names. Rocco Beck, the quarterback from Iowa State. Pete Naco says Penn State's where he's probably winding up. I mean, it's kind of obvious because we saw him play for Matt Campbell.

But also Carson Hanson, the running back from Iowa State, Benjamin Brommer, the tight end from Iowa State. And we saw Luke Reynolds at the portal from Penn State. So that's, you know, that may be a, okay, I might not be a scheme fit here anymore. But you're seeing the best of Iowa State's offense, apparently. headed to Penn State, and that is a very good sign for Penn State because they're going to be able to hit the ground running. Yeah. And Rocco Beck is a clear upgrade from Drew Aller, right? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Rocko Beck is a much more, a much better college quarterback than Drew Aller. Yeah. Now, you know, it doesn't matter what the pro pro stuff is. I don't care about that.

We'll talk about that when Brett Beck's done. Yeah. So, Keitho, 1989, any Michigan updates, The one name I want all of you to remember, if you're a Michigan fan, is John Henry Daley. John Henry Daly is Utah's best edge rusher. He's entered the portal. It certainly sounds like the idea behind him entering the portal is to follow Kyle, winning him to Michigan. Finish the season this year with 48 tackles, including 17 and a half tackles for loss, 11 and a half sacks.

So you think about the really good pass rushers. that Michigan has had over the last few years, you know, Aidan Hutchinson, Josiah Stewart. They've had really good players off the edge when they've been good. This is the time to get somebody like this, and it's somebody that knows the defense that Kyle Whittingham wants to run. And remember, Jay Hill, the coordinator from BYU is coming to be the Michigan coordinator. So this is somebody who knows Kyle Whittingham, knows what he wants.

So John Henry Daley is a very big pickup if they can get him out of the portal. Yeah. And it's follow me season too. So, you know, the portal a lot of times too, it's like it's kind of a big puzzle. You can kind of put things together based on familiarity in previous relationships. And that one seems kind of like a layup to me. Yeah, exactly. This is going to be a very interesting next week or so.

I think a lot of this stuff's going to happen fast. These dominoes are going to happen fast. Like you're seeing Pete and Steve Wilfong put those RPM predictions in pretty quickly on some of these players. And I don't think it's going to be, I don't think it's going to be a long time. This is much more like NFL free agency now. It's because like an NFL free agency that that tampering period opens and you just have that slew of deals to get reported in the first 24 hours. And you know where all the big guys are going. And I think that's what's going to happen over the next, probably over this week.

weekend in college football. You're going to see the visits happen this weekend and the commitments happen very quickly. And then there's that second wave after that. But yeah, I do think on three should should brand like the previous two weeks as tampering week. We should. We should. There's some money in there, I bet. Happy tampering season. We just call it tampering season. Like the holiday season is tampering season. Yeah. I mean, is it not? They keep changing the dates on the portal, though. That's the problem. Oh, it's definitely tampering season. Like, it's, There's nothing but tampering for those two weeks. So, yeah, we'll find out more about this in the next few days.

Monday we'll probably have Pete on to break a lot of this down because I think we'll have a lot of destinations for a lot of these big guys. But before that, I do want to point out one person who did it, who zagged when everyone else zigged. Avery Johnson at Kansas State announced he is staying at Kansas State. He will return for his senior season. I don't think there was a fear of him going to the NFL. But remember, Colin Klein, the new head coach at Kansas State, did recruit Avery Johnson as the K-State

Offensive Coordinator, coached him as the K-State Offensive Coordinator. So they are reunited now, and Avery Johnson is going to stay. Home State guy finishing his college career where he started, which that's a man by stog these days, are you? Yeah. You know, we'll be honest, too. Like his career at one point felt like it was going to be like a Johnny Man Zanzel situation. And that hasn't happened yet. But I do think there is something to be said about

having somebody who's been in your program for four years is familiar with the new head coach that you've had. I think that you could head into the offseason if you're Kansas State hoping that he has a really productive in his best year there. Like having a senior quarterback, I mean, at times I think can be bad because it means they weren't good enough to leave. I don't know if you wouldn't put this under that category, but I think that this is a net positive and something that Kansas State should be celebrating. Absolutely, absolutely. And you laughed at me when Jade Miava said he was staying at USC,

and I was like, they should celebrate every time one of these guys stays. I'm serious. If you got a situation where you're starting quarterback is happy and wants to stay, and the coaching staff is happy with him and wants him to stay, by all means, celebrate. Put out the release, put out the video, celebrate. So one place. they're very much celebrating is Ole Miss and we're going to talk about

Ole Miss headed to the semis we're going to pick those games but and talk about the very interesting situation still involving Lane Kiffin Ole Miss the former Ole Miss assistants who are headed to LSU who are still coaching Ole Miss through the playoff we're going to talk about all that in the second already but first I want to talk about Madelo grab yourself a Medello. Kickoff means it is time for Medello. The end of the first quarter also means it's time for Madelo. Your coach just left. It's time for Madelo. You signed a new

quarterback out of the portal. Time for a Modelo because Medello is the beer of full-time fans. Also the official beer of the college football playoff. So grab yourself a medello. Stay game day ready all season long. I've got the Madelo Negra right here. We've got the Madelo Especial in the fridge at home. The medello Amber saw that. the store the other day. That looks pretty awesome. So Modelo is right there where you need it everywhere.

You can find it on tap. You can find it in cans. You can find it in those beautiful bottles with a foil. Grab yourself, Mandela. Stay game day ready all season long. All right. Let us talk Ole Miss. We're going to pick the Ole Miss Miami Fiesta Bowl in a minute. But the Lane Kiffin piece of the Ole Miss story doesn't stop. We talked about a little bit after the game. but our guy Chris Lowe covered the Sugar Bowl last night

and got some really interesting audio from one of the Ole Miss defensive tackles and it's one of those things where you kind of wonder how everybody feels about everybody else and you know you saw some Ole Miss players kind of make fun Elaine Kiffin on the way out nobody's really said anything outwardly hostile though this is about as close as it gets. Zabian Harris

Ole Miss defensive lineman talking to Chris Lowe well this is what he said definitely what Kiffin tried to do he tried to be a damn announcing and say he was trying to be like the announcer for it yeah he was trying to be a troll we're going to troll him

he got so for him he's going to be a troll we're going to troll him and what he's talking about it is there was a report that Lane Kiffin had reached out to ESPN wanting to be part of the broadcast at the Sugar Bowl, at the Ole Miss Georgia Sugar Bowl. I don't know if that's true or not.

That was what was out there. All the Ole Miss players saw it, obviously. Lane Kiffin, initially the plan was he was going to go with the Louisiana governor to the Sugar Bowl. He then decided not to do that. He decided that would be a bad idea. He ended up getting introduced to the crowd at the Pete Marevich Assembly Center at the LSU Kentucky women's basketball game by LSU basketball coach. Kim Mulkey. So that's what he did last night and then I think was ended up at a meeting.

I don't think he stuck around to watch Kentucky hit the game winning three-pointer in that game. So Lane Kiffin now in a situation where he's got these LSU future offensive coaches, Charlie Weiss, the offensive coordinator, the rest of the offensive staff that is currently still coaching at Ole Miss with Pete Golding. But those guys have to help LSU fill out their portal class. starting today, Ari. Yeah. This is all going to get, this is a very weirder before it gets better.

Very layered discussion. And I just wanted to get your take on this because I don't know. I don't even know how to feel about it. How do you feel about Lane Kiffin, like continually like tweeting the Trinidad and Tobago flag and, you know, kind of like. I'm fine with that.

Like, I mean, those guys played for him. Yeah. I'm fine with that. But what I'm curious about is does he put any pressure on these guys that are currently coaching Ole Miss that are coming to coach with him at LSU to not do their best in preparation? You know, is he going to, is he going to be mad at them if they're not doing everything

they're supposed to be doing for LSU right now? I'm curious about that. And the more I think about this, and this is where I think the Ole Miss players like Zavian Harris are coming from. I've thought about this over and over since last night, Ari, and I want you to tell me if I'm wrong. Lane Kiffin went to LSU. He took the LSU job because he didn't think Ole Miss could get here.

Right. He didn't think Ole Miss with him coaching could get there. And now I'm starting to wonder if you allow your assistance who got on the plane with you to Baton Rouge the day you took the job to return back if you didn't think they would win their first game. Well, he thought they'd win their first game. He didn't think they'd win their second game. Sorry, yeah, would win this deep into it because now if there's some question as to whether

those guys are even going to be around for the next game, which, by the way, is in less than a week, right, or a week. Which one's first? That's the first one. It's in six days from today. If they aren't going to be around, I think I saw Ross Dellinger tweeted about this earlier that there was some question about whether they're still going to be on the staff or not.

I don't think there's going to be a question now. And I'll tell you, if you want to be a folk hero for your Charlie Weiss Jr., you'd be like, give me an ultimatum. I'm staying at Ole Miss. And I bet, like, Charlie Weiss Jr.'s buyout, by the way, at LSU, is something insane, like $5 or $6 million. It's like two or three times his annual salary. If I were Keith Carter, the 80th, Elmiss, if it came to that, I'd pay it.

Yeah. I mean, it's just like, if you're going to let them go or permit them to go be a part of the run, then that means you make that decision eyes wide open that if they actually go on a run, you might not have them for a while. Ball 997, not understanding the dynamics here. it was the money who would turn down a $90 million contract, ball guy. Ole Miss would have given him the same amount of money.

The money was not the issue. Ole Miss and Florida and LSU were all offering the same amount of money. Anything that Lane Kiffin would do or could do to distract or demand or any word you want to use to the current LSU assistants who are still with Ole Miss right now is worse than not letting them than not letting them stay to begin with. But you asked me last night, does he get a ring? And I said no, and you push back on that.

But I'm telling you right now, you don't give him a ring. He left you because he didn't think you could do this. He didn't think you'd be here. And we're going to pick the games in a second. But I can tell you right now, any of the four that are left, if you tell me this is what happened in these two games and they won the national title, I would believe it. Any of the four can win.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like Lane Kiffin's behavior in the moment would feel like a X of your showing up to your wedding and giving a toast about how awesome of a partner you are to the crowd. That's, I mean, that's what it feels like to me. So you can, I think that you can care about your players and text them and say congratulations or, you know, make it actually genuine and dancing in the music video, right? now isn't like a good look to me and i'm like somebody who gets their feelings hurt but if i were on

old miss's team and like i saw the coach who left us because i felt like he didn't believe in us celebrating our success after the fact that would rub me the wrong way and i i don't know if you were with me on that i say no i i am with you on that i also think he if lane kiffin's smart he doesn't push it with the offensive staff he lets them finish out at old miss i mean I think the portal is finished or I mean it started so I think his involvement in his fanhood of Ole Miss football should stop I think he should pour himself 100% into the building of LSU and then if he wants to make a post after old miss's season is over congratulating them or celebrating their success or acknowledging how far they went depending on how things go

I think that's fine, but like you don't need to live tweet the games with flags at Trinidad and Tobago. Like, you know, you made your decision and like you're not a part of the run. That doesn't mean that I don't think that he would be entitled to credit if they win the championship. I do think that regardless of how you feel about Lane Kiffin, he did build that team. And if that team wins the national championship, you deserve some of that aura because that team doesn't exist without you. But we don't need the cheerleader along the line. way. I think I speak pretty clearly for Ole Miss fans. I would be surprised if they agree with that. Yeah. Right.

Coach, Sean, before we, this is one more question. I did mean to get to this earlier because we were talking about the Penn State, the guys going from Iowa State to Penn State. Did you all already go over the Virginia Tech Transfer Portal stuff? There is one name to look for with Virginia Tech right now, and that's Ethan Grunkemeier. Remember Rocco Beck, we said probably headed to Penn State to follow Matt Campbell from Iowa State. Ethan Grunklemyer, who finished the season as Penn State starter, looks like he may be headed to Virginia Tech to play for James Franklin. Now, you always wonder, like, would they follow the head coach or they follow the coordinator?

Andy Kodalnicki, who was the Penn State coordinator last year, he's going back to Kansas to work for Lance Lighthold again. Remember, that was who Penn State hired him away from a couple of years ago. So Ethan Grunkermeyer, it looks like is following James Franklin, to Virginia Tech. And Virginia Tech will be interesting to watch in this portal. Like how many Penn State guys wind up there? And how many, we already saw, you know, guys who were committed to Penn State, guys

who were being recruited by Penn State during the Franklin era, we already saw those guys. And, oh, another potential Virginia Tech quarterback transfer. Remember, Bro, Pribula, who started his career with Franklin at Penn State, was at Missouri last year, Penn, excuse me, Virginia Tech is a school to watch for him, also Georgia Tech, according to Pete Nacos, a school to watch for Bob Pabula. So there are lots of potential dominoes to fall, especially when they're not before Penn State made their hire, I was kind of rooting for Pabula to go back to state college, because I thought that would have been a cool story given the way that his career

ended there. But I guess he's from York, PA. Like, he's from right there. Yeah. But I think going to play for Franklin would be a close second because Franklin was very outspoken during that whole process in defense of his... Supported him, yes, through what was a difficult time and could have made life very difficult for him and didn't. And so, yeah, I thought that was pretty telling. So we'll... And maybe the reason he has his quarterback of the future, too. Like, that's the other lesson in life here, man.

You can't burn bridges in college football anymore. no bridges did people cross back over in the last four minutes of this podcast quite a few and he called like going back to kansas that's a bridge that you know i mean i don't need to re-outline it for you well and i have talked to you and i have talked to parents of recruits you know parents of players who were big-time recruits who they always told them and this is you know back in the old era they would tell them you know be very nice if you decommit still be nice like be nice to every coach that calls and his interested in you because you never know when you might meet him again down the road.

That's more important than ever. Like, whether you're a coach or a player, just be, it's like the, it's like Roadhouse. Just be nice. Andy. Because you do not know when you're going to wind up back to the other. I think SMU's entire recruiting strategy is to recruit every high level player in the state of Texas so that they're ready to pounce on them in the year after that they don't, if they don't play right away.

Oh, yeah. I don't think that winning the recruitment is even important anymore. Well, it's what, it's what Joey McGuire talked to us about before the season. started where all those people that they were in on first that ended up signing somewhere else, they felt like they'd have a chance to bounce back on them. Now they got the money to maybe get them out of high school. But it's definitely a good strategy in this era. All right, Ari, enough portal for now.

We do need to talk about some games. We will be hitting the portal very hard next week, but huge, huge games. The college football playoffs semifinals are set. games look amazing because I feel like any of the four teams that are left can win the national title. And we talked about this last night, Ari. I believe this is the first time in the history of the sport. We can say that. Right.

And like you're going to ask me to pick games right now and I'm kind of dumbfounded. So, I mean, let's go do it. It's hard. These games are like they're very small spreads. We have a three point spread and a four point spread. It's essentially pick them games. you know what on this podcast we celebrated how awful I was at picking games all year I do want to take a moment to pat myself on the back and say the big fellow is 4-0

in the quarterfinal games so maybe I'm starting to fuel myself a little bit that said I don't know who I'm picking yet we're going to talk through it and then I'm to make a decision yeah I don't either I don't either that's all right we'll start with we'll go chronologically we will start out near your hometown in the Fiesta Bowl old miss and Miami we just talked about the Ole Miss Lane Kiffin of it all we don't know what's going to happen

with those Ole Miss assistants who are supposed to be working for LSU simultaneously we'll find out Miami is all set they're ready to roll they're they're coming into it healthy and it feels like they're set so Miami is a three point favorite

in this game and this is remember we were doing the who's going to make the playoff what's the case for Miami what's the case for Notre Dame What's the case for Alabama? Remember we did all the hypothetical matchups using Parker Fleming's site, and Miami was favored over almost everybody.

Ole Miss was one of the teams that back then Miami would have been favored over. Miami does come out a favorite in this game. Miami is better on the offensive line and the defensive line than Ole Miss. I'll say that right now. We know that. We've seen that. We saw Miami against a very good Texas A&M team, and again against Ohio State, the most talented team in the,

in the bracket. Miami's better on the line of scrimmage. Ole Miss has the better quarterback. Oh, Craig. So here's the deal. You know, having watched Miami in person two days ago, their defensive front seven, which I've been obsessed with since the beginning of the year,

was the difference in the Ohio State game, period. Like what, what Akeem Messador and Ruben Bain did, on defense and what their offensive line did to Ohio State's defensive line on offense was something to behold. That was an absolute butt kicking. And I know that Ohio State had a chance at the end of the game to win, but they found Ohio State's weaknesses,

and they exploited them with their elite level players. I am not convinced that Miami's offense is very good. Maybe good enough to do what it needs to do, But if Ole Miss scores 31 points in this game, do they win? They're going to win. I will say, I will say the Ole Miss defense is going to allow Miami to score more points than Texas A&M or Ohio states did. The Ole Miss defense is not as good as either of those two defenses.

The Ole Miss defense came up with some pretty critical stops in the Georgia game. And they didn't stop Georgia once the first time. Right. That was probably their best game. The two-two-lane games, were very good, but this was probably Ole Miss's best game defensively that, that Sugar Bowl against Georgia. So perhaps they're coming into their own. But I also think this is one where you can turn Carson Beck loose a little more. You can turn Malachi, Tony, C.J. Daniels loose a little

more because I think it's going to be easier to throw the ball against these guys than it was against Ohio State or Texas A&M. So I think Miami can score on Ole Miss more than Miami could score on those other two teams. Conversely, though, I think Ole Miss is going to be better offensively than Ohio State and Texas A&M more against Miami. I mean, and Trinidad Shameless's ability to get away from pressure. Like, he's running away from those monsters at Georgia last night and making things happen out of thin air. Like, he can do that against Miami too. And look, I know Miami played Marcel Reed, who's a very, you know, athletic quarterback. Shamblis has this.

like six cents back of his head thing going on. I'm telling you they can score on Miami. Yeah, Marcel Reed, I think, ran for a ton against Miami, didn't he? But he got sacks seven times. Yeah, I don't know what his... You have to back out the sacks to get his actual rushing numbers.

But the good news for Miami is having to play in that contain Marcel Reed type defense is going to help them, having to contain Trinidad Chambliss because they've already dealt with a quarterback that is mobile within the pocket and then can slip the pocket and do something bad to you after that. So they've played a game like that recently against a good opponent. But I think...

But Chambliss is more dangerous making you pay downfield when he escapes the pressure. Indeed. And the other thing that's more dangerous is Tewan Lacey. And Miami should understand this as well as anybody because Miami will hammer you with Mark Fletcher Jr. when they're on offense. Kewan Lacey is a violent runner who breaks tackles. We saw him fumble last night. He got the fumble out of his system.

I wouldn't count on that again. So you're probably not going to see another one of those. There are ways that you can convince yourself for both of these teams. If you think that Miami has the advantage up front and you're watching Miami beat people because they're manhandling them on both sides of the line of scrimmage. I think that you could cock yourself into them

being able to do that again. Then on the other hand, I think that you have a hard time, or I definitely do, have a hard time envisioning a game where Ole Miss scores 17 points because they're just so good and balanced offensively.

Yeah, I don't have, like, they're going to score more than that. But I think Miami, I think Miami is going to score. And the thing is, the question I have is, can Miami control the 10?

tempo of the game with its run game because I'm not sure Ole Miss has had to deal like you saw Nate Frazier pop in some big runs on Ole Miss last night when Nate Frazier got hurt that's that's when Georgia's offense stopped working yeah okay Miami has has several guys that you feel like it's not just Fletcher like Miami has a few guys that you feel comfortable with you saw it like they were giving it to Shamar brown there at the end of the game they're not Byron Pringle got the ball a few times and ran a lot down the stretch. So I do think Miami might be able to control the tempo, which maybe gets Trinidad out of rhythm if they can hold the ball for a long time.

So I'm not. You know, I don't know if you looked at the box score from the game, and I didn't write about this, but I remembered it. How many receptions and yards did Malachi Tony have against the Buckeyes? wasn't many was not many five or something 16 yards and they won yeah

they got nothing out of the past they got really nothing out of the passing game in the A&M game or the Ohio State game I think they'll get more in the Ole Miss game yeah and maybe that'll be one of Carson Beck's big games because I think Carson Beck has been one hell of a trailer the last few weeks

maybe we'll see a little bit more of the truck out of him but I'm I'm kind of torn I'm not saying that Malachi Tony played like shit I'm just I'm just saying they didn't need him yeah no he yeah well he said Tony made key blocks

their receivers block really well downfield Tony made a great block on that wider your screen on the third and short on the last drive like it was it was the block that popped it open for CJ Daniels that's not yeah we're talking about just conventionally moving the ball through the air Miami hasn't really been able to

do that or had to do that in the playoff so far they'll be able to do it, I think, in this game. I actually think, too, that you can make a case that every one of the four teams left is a team of destiny. If you want to write a Disney script for all of them, you could. Let's do it. Or again, heartbroken, completely broken last year on the turf in Pasadena.

Yeah. Going back up north to swallow in their self-pity and try to figure out how to get out of this hole is back and here for vengeance. Yeah. Miami returns to the desert after they're having that. they're heartbroken in that same town 25 years ago. It's their first big game in 25 years. I love that you, the native of the Valley of the Sun, says the same town when you know it in traffic,

it's like an hour or 10 between Tempe and Glendale. Those are two different towns. You're right. I mean, if you're worried, it's a different zip goat, I think. But don't interrupt my movie trailer voice. I'm sorry. In a world where old Mrs.

Coach leaves for LSU. Trinidad Shamblis comes from Division 2 to lead the rebels to a national title After being cheated on by their spouse You forgot about that I said the coach left Kurt Zignetti the man who's never smiled Goes up a level and does what no one thinks

Could be done before with a quarterback who only smiles Like it's amazing Oh my goodness Okay, so let's pick. All right, you're stalling. You have to pick the game. Miami is a three-point favorite. Who you got?

Lines of scrimmage. Give me Miami. I'll lay the points. I'm, I think that, you know, good defense, front seven advantages on both lines is that's the key to me. And I'll go with that. So I'll lay the points with Miami. And you know how I feel about big people. To quote Mario Cristobal, Mass kicks ass.

So I also will take Miami to cover in this game. Wow. I thought you were going SEC there, Andy. I'm not going to lie to you. Well, if we're doing like the stereotypical SEC roster, Miami has more of it than Ole Miss does. Yeah. It's hard to turn your back on the big fellows

when the big fellows have been winning you games. I'm telling you right now, my favorite play of the playoffs so far is the, I think it was Shamar Brown on the last drive of Miami the Ohio State. I can't remember if it was a first or a second down run. They hand it to him. He gets two yards past the line of scrimmage. He gets hit. There's like three Miami blockers and Shamar Brown. And then there's like four Ohio State tacklers and everybody's kind of in a big pile. And you see Francis Maui, you know, with the right tackle for Miami, number 61, just look

at it and go, I can move the whole damn thing. And he just runs into it and his legs are driving and driving and driving and it goes like six more yards yeah i'm miami's done that in a bunch of games i love it when they do that teams that can do that can win any game any game that's why i'm picking miami my favorite play from the playoff is also a miami play and i think it was the quadruple lateral from the texas ianm game that went for a yard uh but or the final play of the uh o miss uh georgia game that was a pretty fun play to watch too but you know i i think that it's it's really hard to doubt old miss they're you know everybody's feeling good they feel scorned they're on the same page um i'm very curious to see what the coordinator situation is going

to be and what that's going to you know amount to with lane kiffin and the distraction part of it but pete colding and his squad have done a tremendous job of excelling during a time that is quite the distraction so like for me i'll uh you know pick miami but just know if you're an Ole Miss person listening to this that like we're very much on board with the potential. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not saying Miami's going to win by a ton. This is, it's a field goal spread here, guys. This is basically a pick them. I got to pick somebody.

And I'm usually going to go with the team that is more dominant up front. So, yep, let us move to the Peach Bowl. This is a game I'll be covering in person. Indiana and Oregon, this is a rematch. Indiana is a four point favorite in this game. They played each other in Eugene in October. Indiana won 30 to 20, despite Fernanda Mendoza throwing a pick six. This is a prime example of Indiana doesn't make many mistakes,

and even when they do, they usually play so perfectly otherwise that you still can't beat them. They held Dante Moore to 5.5 yards per attempt through the air and picked him off twice. they held Oregon's rushing attack to 2.7 yards a carry, 30 carries for 81 yards. Some of that was sacks of Dante Moore, but Oregon did not run the ball very effectively. Jordan Davidson and Noah Winnington did not have the greatest games, although it's interesting because some of it may have been playing from behind because, like, Jordan Davison averaged 7.4 yards of carry. No, Woodington averaged 5.4 yards of carry. but I think they were they were trying to to catch up and just had to throw the ball a little more

and it didn't quite work for them this is one where Indiana didn't particularly run the ball great against them but it's it's Indiana winning in the margins as Indiana does and it's one of those even though they had the pick six that put them behind I didn't feel like they were in any danger even though, again, the Brandon Finney Jr. Interception return that tied, sorry, didn't put him behind, it tied the game at 20. The 12-play 75-yard drive right after that that ends with the Elijah's rat pass from Fernando Mendoza,

like, it just felt inevitable. Indiana just feels like a wagon this year. And I don't know if it's, if you read too much into the Alabama game, you might take your eye off the ball a little bit because Indiana was just better than them. And frankly speaking, Alabama is a talented team, but it wasn't a very good team. A lot of good players wasn't a great team. But it feels almost impossible to bet against Kurt Signetti right now, right?

Like, doesn't you just give off that? And like, you know, I'm a Dan Landing stand. I'm higher Dan landing over anybody. I still think I might hire Dan landing over Kurtzignetti if I was starting a program today. I think, you know, just based on, you know, Cignetti's just like, but listen. I'm going to score another touchdown just because you said that.

I'm just saying like based on years of, of roster improvement in Cyanese, like there's more, you've got a longer runway. Now, I have Googled Kurt Signetti before. He's won everywhere he's been. You know,

maybe I wouldn't. I don't know. But what I do know is Kurt Signetti is like, given the wink and the gun to Pat McAfee before the game. It's just like, would you want to bet against that guy? I wouldn't want to bet against that guy. And I like Oregon. It's very hard to.

It's hard. It's very hard to. Now, here's the thing. Oregon, and you mentioned the sum of the parts, the individual parts are great. The sum of the parts is even better. This is a very well-constructed team. I will say, I don't know that their offensive line is as good as it was last year. And I think that might be where the difference is here, because we know Indiana is really good up front. And you saw it against Texas Tech where, like, David Bailey looked shot out of a cannon, and they really struggled to block him at times.

And they struggled to block Ramello Heights. They struggle to block Lee Hunter up the middle. That was the issue. And, like, if we're going with the four offensive lines in this, that they're left, I don't know where I'd put Oregon. and it would not be one or two. I think you know you'd put it at four. And that's okay. I don't know if they'd necessarily be four because I'm not sure we're Ole Miss.

I think Ole Miss and Oregon are kind of in a similar spot. You're also talking about an offensive line that has two massive human being transfers that are like the most important players on their team. Oh, I stood behind Isaiah World yesterday. He's one of the largest human beings I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, yeah. What does he wear like a size 27 shoe? I've never seen anything like that before.

Yeah. He was so freaking big. Yeah. But he also, you know, when they, because they were moving David Bailey between him and the right tackle, and they both needed help with Dave Bailey. Like one-on-one, it was tough. Yeah, but I think that's probably true for most offensive alignment in college football. I would say so.

Yeah. But the thing is, Indiana can do this to you too. Yeah. if you did like a draft of players in this game how many of the top 15 picks do you think would come from Indiana well the high trophy winner yeah do you think it might be half do you think it might just be like seven eight

I think it's I better be split down the middle and if that's the case then I like Indiana in this game I like the way they're playing I like they're rolling I believe in what they've done more in terms of like concrete evidence of being elite. They've beaten Oregon once already. They've beaten Ohio State.

They've manhandled Alabama. And if you want to like try to like poke holes in a resume or cast doubt on what a team has accomplished, I think it's easier to do that with Oregon. Again, we've got a four point spread here. I can see both of these teams winning, but having to make a decision, I'm probably just going to stick with Signetti. I mean, it's just hard for me to bet against that man right now. Well, and I'm just looking at the

just looking at the lineups and really, yeah, it's amazing what Indiana has been able to do this season. And I think the top line stars for Oregon, we know better because we knew him in recruiting. Like we knew who Mateo Uiungali was

when he was early in high school because his brother was a big time recruit too. But we've known Dylan Thineman, who was the Big Ten freshman of the year when he was at Purdue. We just, we've heard all these, like, I still don't know that we fully appreciate guys like Tyreek Tucker.

Guys like Aiden Fisher. Mikhail Kamara, like, Mikhail Kamara and Aiden Fisher and DiAngelo Pons are kind of the headliners on the defense, but like Tyreek Tucker had 11 and a half tackles for loss. And, you know, he's, he's the big guy. I, up the middle. the 300-pound guy in the middle. Like, that doesn't happen very often.

Right. You know, Andy, too, when you kind of like look at Oregon's season, we were talking about how this was kind of going to be the inverse of last year. And it's like, well, what happened to Oregon when they played the team that they beat in the regular season for a second time? They lost, right? Yeah. You know, they were undefeated in the regular season and they lost.

They floated from coast to coast, you know, start to finish. as one of the best teams in the country, if not the best. And they lost. This year was the opposite of that. And now they get to get a rematch for a trip to the national championship game against the team they lost to earlier in the year. That's the opposite of what happened last year. Like I could buy that idea too. Oh, yeah, Bryce Betcher from Oregon, the linebacker. I was talking to him the other day. And he was talking about how much the Ohio State game still burned from last year,

that the loss in the Rose Bowl. And they used it all offseason as motivation. and they're still using it. And I said, do you ever flush? And he's like, no. So I don't want to. Like, I need that motivation. I want to be motivated. So I guarantee you they're using the loss to Indiana as motivation now.

So this is going to be a test for Dan Lanning because he's going up against. Look, Kurt Signetti might be the best coach in the country. You said you might hire Dan Landing over Kurt Signetti right now. I don't think I'd hire anybody over Kurt Signetty right now. What this has done is America is America. To haunt me. Yeah. Yeah.

What this man has done is an absolute miracle. And I am just not sure I can pick against him. You said it too. I don't really want to be on the same side as you on both these games, but I got a feeling we're both coming down on the same side here. I'm hot. I don't know if you know. You are hot.

I was three and one. I did fine. And by the way, you initially got Miami Ohio State wrong. You had to mulligan it. That doesn't matter. Being smart enough to change your mind and get it right is what's important. I actually think that's more impressive

admitting you were wrong and changing your course before you could be wrong. Yeah, this is one where you've almost got me ready to pick Oregon because of the points and also because of what you just said, Oregon felt victim to this last year where they lost the same team that they had beaten earlier in the season.

Dan Lanning's an excellent coach. These players were really good. Perhaps they learned something that first meeting against us. Indiana, but my problem with that is it just feels like Indiana is playing better than it was when they beat Oregon. It seems like a runaway train right now, and I don't want to stand on the tracks. We might end up being wrong, and if we are, we'll talk about it. But I'm just going to go ahead and lay the points and hope for the best. But, you know, again, both of these

games, both of these teams, all four of these teams, I think could win the national title. And I just want that, as people are watching this, I just want that to be as clear as possible. I don't think I can pick against Coach Siggs until he loses I think I'm done picking against Coach Siggs give me Indiana to cover

we'll see where it falls but I am so excited about these games because again four teams left and it feels like all four can win the national title do we have an update on Evan Stewart what was the vibe there

when you were there with them this I mean they ruled him out very quickly so but but he has done some stuff I don't know I think at this point that they've got what they need but yeah if they could get him back that'd be wonderful but they did rule him out very

it felt like they ruled him out more quickly for the Texas Tech game than they ruled him out for the James Madison game so we'll find out Ari before we go lots lots of interesting transfer portal news we're going to hit it all when we come back on monday we should know more destinations we come back on monday we talked a lot about quarterbacks at the

beginning some some other position guys louisville running back isaac brown we'll find out where he winds up that is a big time big time back available in the portal also coy parich the safety slash receiver from Minnesota. This guy is very versatile, incredible athlete. He has said he's open to coming back to Minnesota, but he is exploring his options right now. That's one that I could see a lot of schools jumping in on. This is kind of like Dylan Thinemann going in,

coming from Purdue last year. He wound up at Oregon. We'll see what Coy Perich does. But we'll look at all that over the weekend. we'll break it down when we come back on Monday. We'll probably have Pete Nacos on. But while we're talking about it, remember, if you're not already following at Pete Nacos on X,

the Everything app, we're still calling it Twitter. We got to get him up to 100,000 followers by the end of today. That's Friday. So it's 4.10 p.m. Eastern on Friday. Before midnight tonight. And I think midnight central is what we're talking about, because that's where our boss, Shannon Terry, is located at central time.

huge raise for our man Pete if we get him to 100,000. Huge range. That's through January 9th. Oh, no. Oh, we have until January 9th? Oh, man. We're getting, we're getting, we're getting, I'm sorry. I thought we had it.

I thought Shannon was really trying to challenge us. This isn't even a challenge. We are getting Pete hooked up with a huge raise because we're going to get him over 100,000 followers because he's the guy who has all the information that you guys want. You want to know what's going on in the transfer portal and you want to know before anybody else follow pete naco's subscribe to on three by the way right now if you subscribe to on three oh it's live waserman making her appearance but if you subscribe

we made it an hour of nine minutes line uh i'm gonna be all right well i'm gonna i'm gonna finish plugging because right now you get a year of on three for half price 59 99 if you join on three right now on Friday as the transfer portal opens so thank you for watching be sure to subscribe to the on three sports youtube page as well but 50% off so you can have your team site your message board all the news you want you want to know who's going wearing the transfer portal you want to know who's coming to your team subscribe to on three right now we'll talk to you on Monday. Hey, go ahead.

Okay.