Andy & Ari On3 - The NEW REALITY at Alabama? | An undefeated team GOES DOWN

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

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Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. Happy Thursday. Ari, I made a Wendy's sauciest take. We are, of course, presented by Wendy's. I made a Wendy's sauciest take of the week this week that at least two undefeated teams will lose this week. One of the ones I said was not going to lose, lost last night.

Liberty, which didn't lose a single regular season game last year the only game they lost was in the Fiesta Bowl to Oregon they were undefeated going into the night they went down to Kennesaw State Kennesaw State started this game 0 and 6 they were dead ass last in the entire country in yards per game on offense and in points per game. And Kennesaw State won 27-24. Check out the big brains on Brad over here, man. Coming up with the hot ghost pepper take of the week and you're already almost there on Wednesday night. Come on.

We had a commenter who said all owls will win this week. So now I need to look up for Atlantic and Rice's schedules to see if that's gonna happen but this is this is just amazing like this is this season is wild everything we thought would happen just out the window now liberty did everybody a favor i guess in terms of the discourse because we said oh liberty is going to run through Conference USA. They're going to be 12-0. It would have been 11-0 at the end of the regular season

because Appalachian State had to cancel because of Hurricane Helene. Would have been 12-0 after the Conference USA championship game had they gone through undefeated. That will not happen now. They have a loss. That is no longer an issue. Because I do think there was a possibility of an undefeated liberty being compared to a one loss mountain west champ or or

one loss american champ or two loss of mountain western american champ and those teams would have played much tougher schedules than liberty so this this eliminates that conversation just it eliminates a distraction from teams that are actually good enough, right? Like Liberty was undefeated, but they struggled every week of the year. Yeah, they'd gone to overtime with FIU. They were not having a great year.

Last year, or was last year the year they went undefeated? I think it was. That would be a completely different game, especially because they were blowing people out. But it's so bizarre to see these scores. I think that this was like a 26-point spread in this game. And for them to lose on Wednesday night, it's just another reminder about how you cannot snooze on this sport,

even on the week nights. Yeah. So Liberty's done. They're out of the playoff picture. A lot of other teams still in it a lot of other teams still in it including the missouri tigers the sec availability reports they came out on wednesday night and brady cook the missouri quarterback listed as doubtful for the alabama game the line moved three and a half points

on this news went from 13 to 16 and a half. Alabama is the favorite in this game. No, well, we don't know if it's no Brady cook. We do know he left the Auburn game, got an MRI, came back, put his uniform back on and led Missouri to a win. But now it sounds like it may be the Drew Pine show against the Crimson Tide. Well, I mean, also, too, just the way that Mizzou won last week, it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence if they don't have him. I do think it's great, though, in college football

that whenever some quarterback gets injured, the backup quarterback is just a recognizable name of somebody who started somewhere else that we know. Like Drew Pines, I feel like been in college. Drew Pines started at Notre Dame and Arizona State. And it's just not some random freshman that if you don't follow recruiting, you don't know who it is. It's just like Drew Pines playing? Well, we've seen him start a quarter of a time. It's like when Case Keenum shows up in the NFL as a starter. Yeah, yeah. Look up the Case Keenum game. in the NFL as a starter. Yeah, yeah. Case Keenum game.

Pat Henney is the backup for every NFL team at the same time. But it is a really fascinating situation because, Andy, you know how important this Alabama game is in terms of just trying to get back on track or whatever. And Mizzou, even though they've had a really terrible loss this year, still technically from a record standpoint, isn't out of the picture completely. So one fewer loss than Alabama. So I'd say they're very much in the picture, you know, being six and one and one and one. Like, I don't know if you know, what will be interesting to me is like in the past

getting blown out was like a scarlet letter to the committee like it didn't matter if you had a blowout on your resume i don't know who's the worst blowout that made it in the 14 field i know there have been a few but not that many so like i was to say i don't remember the worst blowout all i do remember nick saban being on sports center that one year i was saying it was 2017 remember ala ohio state had lost at iowa and just just gotten drilled at iowa and nick saban's on sports i believe it's got a van pelt saying if we lost a game like that you wouldn't even be talking to me right now and and it was like the ultimate political talking point right there yeah well and like i'm very curious like in i'm not gonna get

way ahead of myself here because i don't believe that this will happen, but if there were a world that Mizzou ended 10-2 and suffered another loss where they lost on a last-second field goal, if we would get to the end of the season and have anti-Mizzou discourse in any debate of being the 11-10 or 9 because they lost by 100. Here's a really good Dear Andy question. Mizzou discourse in any debate of being the 11, 10, or 9. Here's a really good Dear Andy question that we're going to have later in the show that will help address it. That situation right there would feed right into this question.

So let's put a pin in that one because I do think we can come back to that and talk about that in relation to the playoff, in relation to teams in other leagues and what they're doing right now. So let's talk about Alabama though, because this is a huge game for Alabama. Obviously, they're a 16 and a half point favorite. I've picked Missouri to cover. Obviously, Kalen DeBoer, Jalen Hurts, all the people at Alabama don't care if they cover as long as they win. If they win by one, it's fine. They got to win. And I think the folks in Alabama, the Alabama fans, they're really trying to adjust to this new world.

And I wanted to play a little bit of audio for everybody because I think everybody has seen the pulled quote from this statement, but hasn't heard the whole statement. And I think they're two different things. But either way, it's a really interesting discussion of Alabama. So AJ McCarron, the former Alabama quarterback, who obviously led them to two national titles in in 2011 and 2012 was a guest on the mccready and siski show and neil mccready covers old miss uh tyler siski is a former coach who worked at a lot of different programs including alabama and neil asks aj if this is something alabama fans you know the idea of just routinely losing games is something Alabama fans have to get used to. Here's what AJ said.

You were at Alabama during an era when Alabama just kicked everyone's ass and dominated and was the preeminent number one best, no matter what, the best program in the country. Lost a game here and there, but Alabama was the best program in the country.

Alabama is not the best team in the country this year. That's become obvious. Is this just a season where there's going to be some L's? Is it a blip in the road? Or is this, hey, welcome to a new reality? Or is there some truth in between the two? I think for sure the standard that everybody was used to for so long after Alabama fans went through a bunch of hell leading up to those glorious years. I think it's definitely a different era. I don't think you'll see the same standard from discipline, you know, just things that the team seems to do.

And it's a new day and age. Everybody's worried about fucking tick tock and having a real and, um, you know, being on, uh, highlights for their personal self and personal gain and how much money they can get from NIL. And I mean, we just didn't have that shit back then. So it was a team sport. Um, you came together as a team because you had one common goal, because you knew that's how you were going to make your money was by winning. Winning attracts people to that program.

It attracts scouts. It attracts GMs, ownership to allow yourself, you know, to have that opportunity to go make yourself a lot of money and change your your family tree for a long period of time. And I mean, you can just Bama fans should get used to that in a way of, hey, it's not going to be what you knew, you know, from 2008 up till last year where there was just a certain standard. And that's not a knock on the coaching staff or a knock on anybody. It's just a different era and something I think they're going to have to, you know, buckle up if they're not if they're not ready for it. So what everybody saw was AJ McCarron saying everybody's worried about F and tick tock. And the the the takeaway was he was talking about everybody at Alabama is worried about F and tick tock. What he means is everybody in the whole country is worried

about TikTok, including the players at Alabama, and it creates a different environment, not what you're used to seeing at Alabama under Nick Saban. I don't know about you, Ari. This further feeds into what I wrote about in Dear Anniey last week where i think nick savin saw this coming and knew he could not dominate the way he used to and that is a big reason why he's not coaching right now yeah but i i think that those are two different things andy like when i listen to this and i don't know if you think i'm i'm nuts but i feel like anybody who says they're just concerned about tiktok and social media is just like has an old way of thinking. Like. Was the TikTok era only didn't exist just because of Saban's 20 or 2008 to 2020 like that?

Like this isn't a new thing. I guess. And I know like the ability to monetize it, the ability to create a platform, you use that platform to create a brand for yourself and monetize it only came in in 2021 for the college players. But do we think that Alabama would have lost to Vanderbilt or that they would have suffered as much as they did against Tennessee had Saban been the coach this year? Are we going to make a straight line to TikTok here,

or are we going to make a straight line to the fact, too, that Alabama's going through a pretty rough period where their legendary head coach left and they lost some really good players along the way now they added some good players but like alabama's issues aren't just oh young people in their tick tock like that's not what i see everybody has the same age people everybody's going through it yeah and by the way if it and what you're saying about saban i'm 100 i think the reason why he retired and i wrote this the day that he for the athletic Everybody's going through it. Yeah, and by the way, and what you're saying about Saban, I think the reason why he retired, and I wrote this the day that he, for the athletic,

the day that he left the game, that he's a smart man who, and you're the one who always used to say, he told you in his office like 10 years ago that when he realized he couldn't adapt or he couldn't keep up anymore, that would be the day he walked out the door and he was real about that.

Yeah, he'd do it before anybody else saw it coming before anybody else realized it and like he's a genius because he doesn't have to like have that three or four year average streak on the end of his resume like he went to the playoff and then left like he didn't have to go through like finding out he knew like i buy all that what i don't buy is is that people like teams are going to have issues winning as a result of the same thing that everybody's dealing with like somebody's gonna win like that's the thing somebody always wins so somebody's gonna figure out how to win in this era it's just a matter of who that person is yeah so like i get what he's saying and i understand too like back in 2011 when you went to alabama it was probably purer right you went there because you wanted

to compete you wanted to be a part of the best program in america you wanted to win a national championship and you wanted to come together uh with your teammates for a common goal like i love that like that like 2011 in that regard is nostalgic. And I also am very keenly aware of the benefits of going to Alabama now as it pertains to your potential income. I get that the time has changed, but I just don't know that I draw a straight line between teams can no longer be excellent for a prolonged period of time

because the only thing that their players care about is dancing in front of a camera yeah painting their nails or doing whatever it is that kids do which like ryan williams you know the pictures floating around ryan williams with the painted nails you had ryan williams and i forget who the other receiver was pretending to shoot jump shots when jaylen milrow was was failing to to make the line to gain on a quarterback sneak at Tennessee. So you've got all that. Here's the thing. Like, Ryan Williams is actually the worst example of this.

Because Ryan Williams came in as a 17-year-old and is the best player on the damn team. It's like, why are people criticizing the best player on the team for painting his nails because his sister does it? Like, who cares like i i just i feel like sometimes we're always like trying to like find the reason for why something is happening while ignoring the obvious reason for why it's happening it's because nick saban's not there it's not like even's not there because he saw this coming but it's because nick saban's not there but last last year when Kalen DeBoer led his team to a national championship, you know, TikTok existed, a national championship game.

TikTok existed. Players were able to get compensated for their money. Like all the same issues of like personalities and stuff, you know, he also had Michael Penix Jr. and two NFL receivers on his team and maybe three. So like, yeah, four, I meant to say. Well, yeah, Jeremy Bernard would be the fourth.

Yeah, Bernard's going to be in the NFL soon. So and he's on his team now. Like, I just like I don't know if I just I don't find myself. Sometimes things are really, really deep. And sometimes you have to spend 35 minutes discussing them in order to get to the bottom of like whatever is causing the thing that you're discussing but like in this regard like alabama can never be good again because tiktok or because it's like i don't buy that at all so like and that's just me that's just me no it's not just you you're you're right about this let's and that's what i was

thinking about today because i was i was going over this quote in my mind and i'm like yeah this is this is now aj mccarran's younger than me but he sounds older than me i know this is what every preceding generation said and it's not i'm painting with broad brush because there are people in every generation who don't say the world is going to hell in a handbasket because the younger generation is taking over. There are people in every generation who realize that every generation is just different. And I always think it's funny that everybody thinks the younger generation is so soft. There are people who are 17, 18 years old right now who are incredibly hard workers who are really diligent like yeah people like that in every generation and there's lazy

asses in every generation that's not unique to the generations now are we as as hardy as the greatest generation no we're not we're soft compared to them the boomers were able to buy a house without being hard working right that's the difference no i'm kidding yeah because the greatest generation set them up so yeah so yeah i like the online trend of boomers are evil like i just think it's funny uh the thing that i will notice about myself andy that like, I start to say things now that old people used to say that would irritate me. So like, I like, I know that's like those,

all this new music sucks. Yeah, that was right. Exactly. That was the first time I realized I was old when I said that I said like, yeah, I don't, they don't make music that I like anymore.

And like the music that we grew up listening to feels like the oldies. Now, like I say stuff like that. I don't like the movies they make, you know, that like it's, but like, I also know that like, I say stuff like that i don't like the movies they make you know that like it's but like i also know that like i'm saying things because i'm old like i'm like aware of that like somebody's gonna make some young person is gonna make a great movie that you love so i hope so

right i mean and and that's that's the thing about this some coach is going to figure out how to win a lot with these players this age but in the nil era and his name is probably dan lanning yeah just throwing it out there yeah and like also too like there was once a trend uh still kind of as a trend of hiring young uh moderately attractive offensive minds to coach college and NFL teams. Like that's like not like you don't have to be a 60 year old man to be good at this. You can be. But yeah, it just is funny because like my father, you know, grew up. And when I grew up, I'd listen to like Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath and all the stuff

that he like grew up listening to that mortified his father. And then he listened to the rap music that I like, and he's mortified by it. And God knows what my daughter is going to be listening to when she's, you know, 15, but like that, my son knows every Jeezy song because yeah, that's what we listened to when we're working out.

Like you don't need to lecture Alabama fans though, about how it's never going to be the same again, because kids are different. Like, okay. Or just hire the best coach that you can. And maybe that's still kalen deborah not saying it's not no it's a very tough transition year that would have been tough any any

generation like if nick saban left in 2009 it would have been different let's go back to what doug looney reese was talking about yesterday because i think that's part of it too like the sport's been flattened alabama can't dominate as much as it did before because it can't stockpile talent the way it did before either like yeah eli holstein would be stuck at alabama right now he is on an undefeated team at pitt starting and very good like i got like objectively like playing very well this year yes you're like yeah and that's and that's because rule changed. It's not it's not because kids have tick tock now. And I actually have a theory. I was thinking about that.

I don't know if you're a psychopath like me, but I listen back to our shows when I'm driving. Sometimes you got to air check. That's just good practice. I'm not doing it because I want to make sure it sounds OK. I did it to hear my impression. I do it all the time because I want to make sure, A, that the show I thought was good. But I re-listened to it to be like, oh, man, I should have made that point. Or like, oh, I forgot to say that or whatever.

Or it makes me rethink and it helps me write columns for our site. And I actually wonder, and I have this theory, and maybe we can talk about this another time. Or maybe we can talk about it now. But the Eli Holstein comment that he made and i heard him say it on kingsland north too so like this wasn't the first time i heard him say it yeah it's like is the entire sport flattening in terms of depth yes right we think that but i think the biggest difference in college football today that did not exist in 2015 you know pre-tick tock at nil is that more teams have good quarterbacks like if you go look at the big 10 in general and a lot of teams in the north

like i think 15 of the 18 teams in the big 10 are starting a transfer like yeah nico didn't play his best game at tennessee on saturday and this is the nil or this isn't a transfer like yeah Nico didn't play his best game at Tennessee on Saturday and this is the NIL or this isn't a transfer but like everybody has a really good quarterback and like because those players like Eli Holstein if they aren't going to play at a place will find a new place and then they often excel at the new place there's a reason why everybody has a good quarterback Ari you know 25 years ago everybody every high school coach ran the wing tee and they just hand it off. And now every high school runs a shotgun, like every big high school, Texas, Florida, Georgia, they all run shotgun spreads and they play seven on seven. So these quarterbacks have so many reps, like they're all better.

But I also, that's true. Also, like if you come up and you're a recruit like you have a personal quarterback coach you go to the elite 11 like there's more coaching and passing and understanding the game at an earlier age now than there's ever been before very expensive but it's done a lot but like in 2007 or 2014 like river can help me out here but like did tenn Tennessee have a great quarterback every year? I think that all the teams... This Eric Ainge and Slander will not stand.

Actually, was Eric Ainge there? I think Eric Ainge last year was 06. Yeah. I just think that the Eli Holstein example is a very important one because usually when you play Indiana, they don't have two good quarterbacks on their team like those guys would be sitting on a bench somewhere behind somebody not playing at all

so the fact that like everybody who's capable of playing quarterback at a high level like finds a starting position somewhere it might not be the sexiest place in the world but they're on the field makes it hard to close out games every week because you know what curtis rourke might make a throw yeah that the starter at indiana five years ago wouldn't have been able to make and Eli Holstein was at Alabama Nick Saban thought Jalen Milrow was better and played him and thought Ty Simpson was better because Ty Simpson was the backup they were recruiting Julian Salem saying to come in so like Eli Holstein looked at that and was like, I don't know if this is going to be it for me.

I need to go find somewhere I can play right now. And he did, you know, in college football, if you don't have a good quarterback, how crippling that is. I mean, we've talked about Auburn on every episode since the beginning of the year.

Pittsburgh knows because they got it wrong two years in a row. Yeah. And now they got it right. And even though players are more advanced coming out of high school and are better at it, like you said, it's still really hard to find a good one. But now it's much easier for places that don't usually sign top 100 players or proven entities at that position to find one. And if you're Tennessee, who, by the way, had Hendon Hooker not too long ago

and some pretty good quarterbacks in their past, are almost guaranteed to always find somebody out of high school that could play that way. So, like, is it the entire roster is just less deep? Sure. But I think that the quarterback position with the lack of depth and that Texas's situation being so rare, that used to be pretty regular. There were times at places that were competing for national champions.

Or Georgia had Stetson Bennett with Carson Beck backing him up, or LSU had Jaden Daniels with Garrett Nussbaum. We talk about those because they're the anomaly now. That used to be – Carson Beck could be the starting quarterback at like freaking Purdue right now for all we know. He could have been Brock Vandegrift. He could have left like brock vandegrift did yeah so yep that's yeah i like aj had a little which i i'm glad that i'm not that quite there yet and there are some people younger than me

that have hit old man yelling at cloud before i did that does it makes me feel kind of young i don't know if aj has kids your age but like maybe it's just because you're around kids and understand uh i think his kids are younger so yeah like i i hope that like when my daughter gets to a certain age that like that'll keep me young but i do think that being engaged in social media and the internet kind of helps you stay more engaged with things that the younger generation is into now. Like, I think that people like me are probably going to age like from a, like pop culture standpoint, a little bit slower than like my father did, for instance. Yeah. I don't know. I, other than Taylor Swift, I have no idea who my daughter thinks is famous.

No, Andy, you know, you know, a lot of stuff. Like you're like, Oh, it is is true. I'll watch the Grammys and I'll be like, I've never heard of any of these people. Maybe I'm wrong, but you know about the NCAA football game. You know about the TikTok trend. I know who Sabrina Carpenter is. I know like six Sabrina Carpenter songs. I don't even know if my father knows what TikTok is.

Snapface. I love you, Dad. I'm not talking badly about you i'm just saying like you know how engaged you are online right it's definitely it's a very different and maybe aj mccarran's not particularly engaged online because look he made good money playing professional football he doesn't have to be on twitter as much as we do he does not have to be on Twitter as much as we do. He does not have to be on Twitter. Yeah. And also being a part of this job or this career path makes you have to be engaged with everything that's going on at all times. Like AJ during his entire professional career before going into media was

like, okay, I'm not at practice right now. I can turn my phone off or I'm watching film. Like that's like what was consuming. What a, what a glorious life that might be. I just, just for a week, What a, what a glorious life that might be. I just,

just for a week, I could, I could live with that. I mean, Andy, I don't know how long I'd like, I'd like it, but I could live with it for a week.

I want to get back into it, but like, I used to have to call teenagers like five times a week, you know, like, and talk to them about like what, what's going on. So,

you know, I'm cool with the youngins, the teens. Hello, fellow young people. Hello right well fellow young people what you should be doing is listening to all the the hot new songs on the spotify box through your jlab headphones jlab is gearing up for college football some of the top talent in the game from Travis Hunter to Ohio State's Will Howard and Quinn Sean Judkins.

These football stars embody JLab's core values of innovation, performance, and excellence. Just as JLab pushes the boundaries of audio tech, these athletes redefine their sport with skill and dedication. Whether you're traveling to watch your favorite team or streaming the game on your mobile device, JLab has you covered.

Find the blue box of retailers nearest you or visit JLab.com. You get the JLab J Buds Lux ANC over the ear headphones. You can get the Epic Air Sport noise canceling over the ear, beautiful workout headphones. JLab.com. Find that blue box. All right, Ari. We do need to follow up on something that we talked about a lot earlier in the season and it's one of those that people got mad at me for continuing to bring it up and i was like stop it you guys don't can't take a joke not and it's funny the guy the florida state fan who said if they lose to boston, he'll eat dog poop out of a Red Solo Cup. That person did not pay off that bet, and it frankly cursed his team.

People got mad because I kept bringing it up. They said it wasn't funny anymore. And I disagreed with them until today. When a Florida State student, at least according to this video, ate dog poop out of Red Solo Cup to lift the curse. Like, you see the Syracuse frat videos and you go like, I could do that.

You have a spoon? Yeah, of course I have a spoon. Oh, there's gonna be poop on my hand. Oh, there's a lot of poop. Okay, it's clear now. I'm gonna dive in here wait is this good all right bro florida state's cursed we suck at football um but i love college i love florida state and uh thank me when we beat miami yeah not even that bad three two one no like what's up bro just do it all right

there were lots of cuts in there so i cannot guarantee that he actually did that. I kind of hope he didn't. But if he actually did that, Florida State's beating Miami. Andy, the physical reaction that I get just watching it, I have to stop myself from gagging. I had Producer River cut out the part where they show

the dog actually pooping because I felt like that was too much. He didn't gag. i don't think he did it hopefully he didn't like i think that might have been like chocolate frozen yogurt yes because like you don't like that would make you like vomit like that's not like oh that's not even that bad like that would be terrible but the thing is is that i appreciate the effort because you know something has to be done there. Now, the question that I had, and hopefully this isn't because, like,

I'm not in on the sorcery realm of the Internet or the Syracuse frat trend that they were talking about at the beginning of the video. I don't even want to know what that means. Like, sorry, call me AJ McCarron on that one. I don't want it. I don't even want to know. Don't tell me. I don't know what's going on at the syracuse frat circles but um you know it is coming up on halloween uh october 31st is about

a week away can somebody else lift the spell or did it have to be three two one no i guess we're gonna find out saturday all right yeah does somebody take that on for him does he does does this guy our our guy i'm blanking on his name right now and i'm not sure his parents want his name out there anyway but good lord uh his name is chase uh of course his name is chase but yeah i mean if this if this works though chase is a legend so by the way there is a guy who kind of did some stuff like this when he went to florida state and his name is burke kreischer he was in college at florida state about the same time i was in college at florida he was a legend in florida state and so i'm sure a lot of people

know who burke kreischer is now he's a stand-up comedian very funny uh has this entire well a routine that became a movie called the machine but that's based on something that happened when he was a florida state student okay i'm not familiar with his movies um but i have seen a few of his stand-up specials he doesn't wear a shirt yeah he should but he doesn't yeah that's the joke oh wow yeah so this chase is going to be a like if florida state beats miami this weekend and like i say chase you went through a lot of effort for the line to only move down one point so somebody watched this video and was like i'm gonna put a couple shekels on florida state yeah many people i love that you're saying the word shekels now i love i love that i love that

you know what i yeah i cannot i gotta tell you i've had like false hope for a dead cat bounce for florida state for the past it ain't coming and it just isn't coming. You would think that Florida State would put together a great game. We don't even need to show DJ Producer River. We're going to see Brock Glenn and there's been a lot more Luke Krohmann-Hauk conversation coming out of Tallahassee the last few days. So we may see Luke Krohmann-Hauk, the freshman from Savannah, Georgia. But Miami too does have a defense that tends to give up some points so you could maybe talk yourself into this being a rivalry game i actually think that miami

is going to win like 63 to nothing i think if i'm being honest like yeah florida state won 45 to 3 when they were down there two years ago because they were trying to make a point miami's gonna try like remember the ed reed speech from 2001 when miami's up in tallahassee it's halftime miami's kicking the crap out of florida state anyway and ed reed's like i'm hurt dog and he talks about florida state just beating the living crap out of out of miami earlier in his career that's what they're gonna get like they might might even bring in Ed Reed to give that speech. Yeah. And by the way, Hey,

just want to do a quick victory lap here. Like if you were one of the guys or girls who yelled at me at the beginning of the year for putting Miami in their top 10, welcome to the shows guys. Welcome to the show. Cause here we are. And it's a team that I think is probably going to go undefeated this year. So that's two in a row.

Now, I don't know who I'm going to bring next year, but Texas last year. Texas before the season I took a bunch of crap for last year. Playoff. Miami, obviously the route to getting there. Yeah, you were the only one saying Miami was going to be good. How brave. No, I'm just saying, like, putting them in the top ten, I overranked them at the beginning of the year, and people were upset about it.

So I just wanted you to know that I feel pretty good about being, you know, on the ground floor of this thing. That's all. Well, listen, Ari, you do not have to eat poop. I wouldn't. To make your team better. I am curious, like, how far would you go if it meant your team was going to win?

If it would guarantee victory for your team that weekend, how far would you go? Yeah. Well, let me ask you this. Being in this profession, when is the last time you rooted for a team and felt the way that people listen to the show feel about the team? When I watch my kids team play. When I watch my kids football team play. But that's the only thing because the profession has beaten it out of me in terms of watching professional and college sports.

Because I love watching sports. I love sports i don't know that like there's been a result in a very long time uh if like since i was 13 how about if it's a team you bet live oh that happens surely happening right now man oh yeah no that's four times a weekend okay yeah no how far would you go Happening right now, man. Oh yeah. No, that's four times a weekend. Okay. Yeah.

No, how far would you go? Well, that's financially motivated. And I would go pretty far depending on the side of the bed. I don't know that I would ever, the only time I would ever put dog poop in my mouth, Andy, as if it were to save my family. Like, I don't know that there's anything else that I, that, that would be super dried out. I might be willing to do's anything else that would mean enough to me. If this was super dried out,

I might be willing to do it for money. But that's probably it. How much money would it take for you to take a bite out of a piece of white dried out dog poop? It'd have to be a good amount of money. Like enough to buy a Ford Raptor or enough to never have to work again?

It's a five-figure number, possibly a six-figure number. I guess I would take a bite for like 50 grand. Yeah, I took a bite out of that chip for the show. I've gone pretty far. What's the worst thing that can happen? You puke. But yeah, the good news is the good news is all of you out there.

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So once you have enough earnings, you can redeem gift cards for your favorite brands like fanatics dicks lululemon stub hub home depot and many more there's even ticket giveaways and fun contests use where you can use your points to enter so new rewards are added weekly right now users will get 50 free wonder that's the name for these points that's the name for these points. That's the name for this, this currency within the app wonder, uh, just for signing up. And that alone would score you a $10 fanatics code, a $10 off fanatics code and a chance to win tickets to the national championship game.

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for LSU Texas A&M. The biggest game of the weekend. I am so excited for this game. It's one of those, it's not an elimination game. We got to come up with a term for these pre-elimination games. Yeah, yeah. I think that I actually thought that we have to workshop this because we should not call games elimination games anymore.

Unless they are. That aren't actually legitimately your right. Like when LSU beat Ole Miss in a game, because LSU has played in one of these already games elimination games anymore unless they are actually legitimately you're right like when lsu beat old miss in a game that because lsu's played in one of these already where it's where it's kind of like a we'll call it a a pre-elimination game so yeah when lsu beat old miss we were like all miss isn't running the table they're gonna be out but they're not out yet like they can conceivably run the table keep winning and they could be in the playoff but they're gonna be out but they're not out yet like they can conceivably run the table keep winning and they could be in the playoff but they're probably not going to the loser of this

one probably isn't going to run the table but could so it is a pre-elimination game and it is a fun one and we've already seen lsu survive one of these and they did it in all you know really dramatic fashion beating Ole Miss in overtime at home they then went on the road and beat Arkansas now they're on the road again at Texas A&M these two teams each have a loss but they're both non-conference losses so the bigger piece of all this is the winner is in a decent position to make the SEC championship game. And so this is going to be a fun one, Ari. Let us look at this through the lens of our friends at PrizePix. So if you're not playing PrizePix, it is America's most fun daily fantasy game.

Download the app, use the code Staples, play $5, and get $50 instantly to play for a new user. Now, the way it works is you'll have a player attached to a statistical category. You'll say, I think this person is going to do more than this or less than this. So here's an example. CJ Daniels, receiver from LSU. He missed the Ole Miss game. He came back for the Arkansas game.

So his number for this game is 55 and a half receiving yards. Now, in the Arkansas game, I believe he had 87 receiving yards. So he had more. And that was coming off an injury, coming off being out for a game. Now he's back very much in the flow of the offense. We're still waiting to hear about Chris Hilton. He's listed as questionable still for this game. He was listed as questionable last week and did not play as well.

But C.J. Daniels is probably going to be i would think a big target for garrett nussmeyer in this game and garrett nussmeyer is i don't know about you ari i think garrett nussmeyer might be the best quarterback in the sec uh i don't know about you andy but i think he might be the most underrated player in college football oh one-upsmanship there it was his number on prize picks is 284 and a half and you know if we look at Garrett Nussmeyer this year the Arkansas game is the only one of the last five where he hasn't gone more than that number and he's had some really big numbers he had 409 against South Alabama 337 against Ole Miss 352 against against UCLA, 285 against South Carolina. So that was just

a tick above. But this is a guy, and I think this is interesting, Ari, because Texas A&M has one of the best pass rushers in America, but he has seen two really good pass rushing teams in South Carolina and Ole Miss. He has seen people in his face and it seems like lsu will just let him throw through it because in that in that old miss game they just kept chucking till they came back and won i mean obviously when it comes to to that number um you know i i know that lsu is going to put them in a position to reach it from an attempt standpoint you You have to worry about, you know, the crowd and the defensive line and all those things because that can, you know, have a pretty big impact on a quarterback's ability to perform. But, like, this is a pretty big opportunity for Garrett Nussmeyer in general and LSU.

Like, if they go in there and win this game, he goes more than 284.5. Like, I think we start talking about him in the way that we should have been talking about him a month ago. It's getting to the point now where this looks like maybe one of the most defined NFL prospects to position in the entire sport this year. LSU has made it into a lot of people's top tens this week. Not in mine yet, but if they win this game, I think this could be the like blast off position to like where oh yeah they're they're in my bracketology in the field if they win this game and a and it probably is too there but i i have them as the they're the next two out you know we have the next four they're the first two of the next four out yeah who would have thought so it would be me like that look at us not me not me how about that, another guy we need to talk about, Le'Veon Moss for Texas A&M.

Connor Wegman coming back changed the math for A&M. It's a little hard to predict what Connor Wegman's going to do because we've only seen him start the last two games coming off the injury. He obviously was awesome against Missouri, and it felt like it really did kind of open up the offense. But this defense will get after you. against Missouri and it felt like it, it really did kind of open up the offense, but this, this defense will get after you. Now LSU still not awesome on the backend, but they are really good at rushing the quarterback and making his life miserable. But what A&M can do to take pressure off of Connor Wegman, I think it's probably a little easier for A&M to run the

ball on LSU than it will be for LSU to run the ball on A&M. So Le'Veon Moss is an interesting person in this whole thing. His rushing number is 84.5. He's hit that for the last five games. He didn't hit it in the Mississippi State game. His rush plus receiving yards number is 101.5, and he's hit that in four of his last five games as well. So I would expect heavy, heavy doses of Le'Veon Moss in this game.

Yeah, the difficult proposition that you have here is that, like, Texas A&M has two running backs they like a lot. Amari Daniels carries the ball almost as much. So, like, you have to hope that he pops off a big run. So if you like this number, you might look at some of the other squares for total yardage or longest run if it's offered. But they have a really, really good running back tandem, both of whom looked great in that blowout win over Mizzou.

And Connor Wegman is going to be impacted by this as well. So it's like, what kind of game do you anticipate Texas A&M having in this? Do you feel like they're going to, you know, be able to run the ball pretty well on LSU to set up a pass? Or do you think it's going to have to get to a point where Wegman takes over and matches what Nussmeier is doing through the year in order for A&M to get this one at home?

Yeah, it is going to be so much fun. This game, the atmosphere is going to be great. It's exactly what you want in your kind of, this is one of those games that the 12 team playoff has added some fire to you. Although even in a 14 playoff,

this would be a very big game. This would be the elimination game in a 14 playoff. Now it's pre-elimination game. It's going to set up another elimination game and probably two more elimination games at some point down the road so these are this is the game between the the team that you think this is like to be the third best team in the conference right like as doug asked you who's the third best team the third best team in the conference that might actually be the best team in the conference if that makes sense yeah i mean it is these both

have really good rosters yeah and the great thing about it i mean if a and m were to win this game their remaining schedule uh is south carolina new mexico state auburn and texas like we could be setting up here and like honestly i know we haven't made a decision on where we're going for rivalry weekend if it's between one loss a and m and one loss texas like i'll get we're going for rivalry weekend. If it's between one loss A&M and one loss Texas, like I'll get fired. We're going to be there. Like,

I'm just like, I'm not going to not go to that. So we're, we're going to that game. You can come stay at my house again and we'll sit on the roof of the Kyle field press box. It's just like one of those places where it's like, you know,

we're, we're, we're trying to think which game would be the best to be at because of like, who's going to get in and who's not going to get in. And I generally agree with that. I feel like this might be one of those games where you just had to have to be there. Like to understand the hatred level,

the fact that it's the first one since, since 2011. And then you, if it had those stakes attached to it. Yep. It just, it's off. I think it, it's off the charts. I think it's going to be the loudest. I've never been to Kyle Field, but I've heard about the legend of Kyle Field.

I've been there on the outside of it. I've been there for some pretty big games, and it gets very loud. Very loud. Pandemonium, and there's a Buc-ee's on the highway down there. There are multiple Buc-eeies and maybe some some deer sausage maybe some uh i do i like to smoke turkey sandwich fuck you it's it's pretty pretty oh by the way uh a few months ago had the uh crispy chicken sandwich there it's pretty electric there you go the one thing that they used to have that they don't have that bothers me is that sliced

sausage sandwich where they put the barbecue sauce with the sauce. They don't make that anymore. Bizarre. Well, we can also stop at the Wendy's for some saucy nugs because we are, of course, presented by Wendy's and we do love the saucy nugs. We also have another new sponsor, our friends at Panini America, the makers of the finest sports cards in America. The Luminance football card series features nil autograph cards from players including arch manning quinn ewers cam ward jaylen milroad dylan rayola dj lagway

and luther burden and all right you've got a caleb downs autograph card over there yeah yeah so uh i don't know if you people know this about me but but like, I can, we see the card already. Oh yeah, of course. Got the card right here. Uh, Caleb downs. Ooh.

Autograph card. Um, very nice. Trying to get this to work on the camera here. Uh, it's incredible. I see it. It's beautiful.

Um, and you get the auto on there. Um, I don't know if people know this about me, Andy, but like, this is a thing for me. Like I am really into it. Um, and you know, I, I, part of know this about me, Andy, but like, this is a thing for me. Like I am really into it.

And, you know, I, I, part of me makes me feel like I am a kid again, you know, because we all did this when we were children, but now like the hobby has taken a whole new world of, you know, Instagram and eBay and all this stuff. And it's a really, really cool way to like invest in young players too. Like because cards values go up and down and, you know, you have an ability to be like, Hey, I watched this kid play at X college. I think he's going to be awesome. I'm going to buy him early and, and try to chase him through the products and then grab him, put them in a, in a box somewhere, and then hopefully it increases in value. I love everything about it. So I've been ripping the Luminance product that they sent,

and I have bought already on my own. I've got the stack of cards here. Andy, I've got to show you. I'm going to get up for a second. All right. I will show you. This is the Luminance box. We're going to rip a pack of these on Saturday night.

So we'll show you what you gonna rip a pack of these on saturday night so we'll show you what you get in a pack of luminance because it is kind of cool to see like these names like that that's one of the things i like about the nil era is like you could get a card of these guys where you couldn't get you couldn't get cards of these guys before yeah and it's not just the nil guys the nil guys are awesome because it's like the first time you get their autos and some of your former you know favorite former college football players in the nfl i got this bucky irving card he's having a really good uh rookie season here go ducks baby on green ink on that parallel but like i've got like if you came into my office like i've just had stacks of cards of like like look at this monster here this is a cj stroud rookie card number to 249 um that i'm gonna go have graded um out of donruss optic you know i've

got some i've got some nukes here it's not going quite as well uh for this three color um select here for for bryce young tank bigsby's you know making a tank bigsby's getting it done in jacksonville yeah like i've got some quentin johnston like these are all like short print numbered cards and the thing that i love about um the the hobby now that wasn't necessarily as prevalent when i was a kid um um you know they sent us a box of select guys this is a gold uh card that i pulled on friday from the the box that panini sent and this this is a club level select Bijan Robinson and it's numbered to 10. There's only 10 of these on earth.

So the fact that they're serial numbered on the back really excites me because you know specifically if you want this card and this parallel, this color, this go gold, there's only 10. And obviously you can imagine what the value of the cards are that are short printed like that. So like Rasheed rice,

like I am like over here collecting, grading, you know, buying, selling, doing all the things that I can. It's like a, it's like all of the intersection of my favorite things.

It's football. It's investing. It's all the stuff. So like, I love it. And I'm so happy that our sponsor, because like, it is just generally some of the most fun that I have

in my personal life, and I spend all my money on it. So thank you. If you want to start collecting like Ari is, visit paniniamerica.net. That is paniniamerica.net. All right, Ari. We have a bunch of really good Dear Andy and Ari questions. There's some interesting playoff scenarios.

Actually, I'm going to go to the one that I said, when we're talking about the Alabama situation earlier and the Missouri situation and you're talking about starting at 48 minutes, love the show. Love it. You were, you were talking about if let's say Missouri gets blown out this weekend and they wind up as a three loss team so this question is from max says love the show long time listener first time writer you guys have been my go-to for workouts which i don't know about using us to work out i don't think i don't think i would like my voice should be pumping you up in the squat rack but that people can't end up like that guy. He says, nothing riles me up like listening to Ari's asinine opinions on the 12-team playoff,

which he's glad he's come around on, even if it was at the expense of my Seminoles and Mexican food. And Mexican food. But Max was listening yesterday with Doug LaMaurice. Your attempt to claim, this is my attempt, to claim BYU is a Southern power got me thinking about a scenario or two that nobody but myself seems to be talking about. It's the general consensus that the Big 12 will only receive one playoff bid since nobody is allegedly good enough to run the table in that conference. But from where I'm sitting, it seems that three teams have separated themselves from the pack. The scenario

of what happens if the Big 12 championship game features undefeated BYU and undefeated Iowa State seems pretty cut and dry. The winner gets the bye likely underseeded at the four seed expected to get their doors blown off by an inferior sec runner up while the lower goes on the road for a playoff game when they should be hosting the scenario. I'm curious about in the sick of me and is rooting for this. What if BYU runs the table, but instead of undefeated Kansas, excuse me, instead of undefeated Iowa state, they meet a one loss Kansas state that has just beaten Iowa State in Farmageddon. And they get their revenge. Because remember, K-State has a loss to BYU.

So K-State gets their revenge against BYU in the Big 12 title game. So you have 12-1 Kansas State, 12-1 BYU, 11-1 Iowa State in that situation. Is the committee really going to look at three one-loss Big 12 teams with quality non-conference wins whose only losses are to each other and try to convince us that a couple inconsistent three-loss teams from the SEC are better teams? Let me do a short answer to Mac's question. No, they're not putting a three-l loss SEC team in over those teams.

Might they put a two loss SEC or Big Ten team in over them? Yes. Which brings us back to, will a blowout stop you from being added in? And like, I think that's interesting because like you will, we do talk about the number one disconnect that fans still have after seven years of the 14 field, which is they think the committee cares as much about who you lose to as they

do, who you beat. And that's never been the case. They care more about who you beat a lot more. So, but the one thing that the committee does care about traditionally is if you were blown out like if you were blown out that is a referendum on your resume that it's a red it's a huge red flag yeah yes so if you were blown out and you're a two loss sec team like mizzou for instance let's say mizzou loses uh to alabama and then runs the table because their schedule is soft, right? And they don't play in the SEC championship, and it's just a rematch of Georgia and Texas.

What do you do in the scenario where you have 10-2? I don't think Mizzou gets in over any of those three in that scenario. I think that the fact that they were blown out the way that they were by Texas A&M makes it really difficult. Now, if they would have lost to A&M by three or two at the last second on the road and then lost to Alabama, I think that you would be able to forgive that schedule. But, like, there would be nothing else on the schedule

to prop them up in order to put them in. So I think you have to, like, look at who they beat. I think if you had a two-loss team that beat somebody who's in the field, beat one or two teams that are in the field. Then that two loss team is going to have a better chance because none of now, the thing is though, those big 12 teams,

they will have wins over teams that should be in the field. At least like at least two of them will. So, because one might get left out, but at least two of them will so because one might get left out but at least two of them are getting in in that scenario yeah the question is it does a third yeah well i that's what i was actually kind of curious to hear you answer like do you think that there is a world where they they have three in yes it's exactly what you said if you've got two lost sec or big 10 teams that are that are two lost teams because they played a soft schedule and they lost to the the best teams they they played

especially if they got blown out yeah yeah so yeah i see it's possible like this was the number one thing i was afraid of like losing so uh you know in this world but you know the Doomsday scenarios. This was the number one thing I was afraid of losing in this world. But the Doomsday scenarios in the end of October are my favorite college football pastime. And I do think that if BYU and Iowa State, they don't play, right? They both ascend to the Big 12 championship game as undefeateds. And you have a very close competitive football game i don't know that i can see a scenario in my head where both don't go but the third team super fascinating super fast yeah that that's that's the one that needs to worthy in this scenario the 11 and one

iowa state that lost for him again that's the that's the tricky one so i i can't wait i i am really excited to see how all this plays out and i don't like i i everybody keeps asking us to predict what the committee will do we don't know what the committee is going to do no and like will it operate in the same exact way that it did with the 14 field or does the calculus change like does the way that you view i think i think the way they view certain things does change like where they put certain teams like would florida state have been number five last year or where they've been number four because it doesn't make a difference whether you get into the playoff if they both get in yeah like last year but i wonder if they'll do the same thing with 12 and 13 or you know 11 and 13 depending probably but that the that team has

less of a claim than the undefeated conference champ that is left out for a one loss conference champ so yeah the one thing that i wish that i would have said when Big Cat was on that I just didn't say, and I was listening back to it is the 12-team expansion thing is difficult for me because I know that it's not over. That's the other thing. This is the beginning. It's going to 14 in two years. Yeah, and who knows what it'll be in 10.

My thought, though, is that I have zero remorse for you at all and this is like and i don't know if you're gonna be like this too but if you are 13 like i don't give a shit like i like there's no like like it's like i actually had a great deal of remorse for florida state last year like it and should have yeah what were they supposed to do yeah yeah so like but like if you're 13 like go cry me a river like you're not if you can't get into the 12 i don't know if i've said i just like i just wanted to say that so i wish i would it's fine yeah all right this question's from trenton and i think

it's fascinating when i covered this in the written dear andy we don't have to go through every single one of these but i but the names on this just pop. Looking back, who are the best and worst hires in the 2022 offseason? That's like end of the 2021 season, going into 2022. Don't make me relive it again. Don't make me relive this again. Every episode, I got to go through this shit every time. Well, hey, we don't have to talk that much about Lincoln Riley. make me relive this again every episode i gotta go through this shit every time well hey if you

we don't have to talk that much about lincoln riley we can just kind of place him where in the hierarchy you can't ask this question and that not be the first thing that pops in your head i don't listen to these names because i don't think it is the first thing that pops into my head first thing that popped in my head i'm scarred i'm broken so i'm brian kelly yeah lincoln riley mario cristobal dan lanning billy napier brent venables mike elko not going to his current school but going to different school kaylin deborah going to a different school like this was a wild coaching carousel wild good ones in there and some really bad ones in there marcus freeman

sunny dykes who took his team to the national title game in year one like are you kidding yeah so okay so who's the worst are we just going say billy napier because he's gonna get fired like is that what's gonna happen yeah i mean look there is a hail mary chance he could keep his job it would require them to play very well against some really good teams and dj lagway to wc off the charts amazing which is possible by the way it is he's really good or he's gonna be really good but my suspicion is that kirby smart has two weeks to scheme up a freshman quarterback that usually doesn't end well so we'll we'll see we'll see how everybody feels about that after the georgia game brent ven, he's not getting fired, but obviously people are not huge fans of Brent Venables right now in Oklahoma.

Lincoln Riley. That's the thing. The three hires of the power conference schools, the three hires that we're talking about as negative are Lincoln Riley, Billy Napier, and Brent Venables. And that's it. And you know what is so crazy to me? Everyone else is either neutral or very positive.

It's like so easy for me to sit here in my cozy little office on Wednesday night and like criticize that hire. But it's like those were all slam dunks like at the time. Yeah, they didn't know. They didn't know. Exactly. The thing that is so interesting to me about just hires in general is like, can you really give USC flack for doing that? No.

It's like Nebraska hiring Scott Frost. Not one of us said a negative word about Nebraska hiring Scott Frost. No. Not one. Nobody knew that was word about Nebraska hiring Scott Frost. No, not one. Nobody knew that was coming. And that's the thing. It's like process oriented versus results oriented. And I understand that there are merits to both, right? Like if you do something and it works, then you did a great thing.

But like sometimes you do the right thing and it doesn't pan out. And like also too, like with Brent Venables and Lincoln Riley, they have contracts that will afford them the opportunity to turn it around. And there could be a world where Oklahoma is just awesome in three years and Brent Venables is hot. He'll be given the time to fix this, I think.

So, I look back at how I analyzed Jim Harbaugh for the first five years of his tenure there and if it were up to me after year five I would have fired him and then he won the national championship a few years later so like that to me is like a lot of times too it's like until the story is written

completely like I think I would go with Billy Napier because a it was a risk they got him from a lower level right I understand why they did it I understand why they would hire him I thought it was a risk they got them from a lower level um right i understand why they did it i understand why they would hire him i thought it was a good hire at the time but it's not gonna work out probably so like that one's an easy layup i also just like cannot like get upset or fire off dragon breath takes on usc like hiring lincoln riley as if they didn't just try to pay this guy $10 million

a year to revamp their program. In terms of process, it's like having pocket kings on the turn and then going all in and getting called down by queens and then a queen coming on the river. Did you make the bad

play by going all in and having the best hand? It just didn't't work it doesn't mean that you were stupid for doing it so like that like there is a there is and trust me i've had a lot of days uh in the casino where i've done the right thing at a poker table and wound up losing so like i i think i might have a higher temperament for understanding uh how that goes but like i don't like i don't view like oklahoma or usc in a negative light for trying with these guys i just hope they figure it out well let me give you the guys i said because i split them into categories i didn't rank them numerically because some of these are fairly even

but the currently looking great category listen to this murderer's row dan lanning brian kelly mario cristobal and here's one ret lashley ret lashley won the american last year and is currently undefeated in conference play in year one in the acc yeah ret lashley is going to be a person who comes up this year right in the coaching carousel world like you know is he like what are the odds that he is smu's coach is going to be a person who comes up this year, right? In the coaching carousel world. Like, you know, is he, like, what are the odds that he is SMU's coach next year? Is it high or low?

I'd say even because it would depend on the right job because now it's an ACC job. So it's not as likely that he leaves as it would be if it was an American job. But yes, if the right sec job. And the thing is, remember let lash, right. Lashley is a Northwest Arkansas native.

So if Sam Pittman, I think Sam Pittman's coached his way off the hot seat so far, but let's say they went and lost Mississippi state this weekend and everything just fell apart. Like then maybe he did coach at Miami for a while. Yeah. And I don't know how much this matters if at all, but like,

is there a team in the city that you live in that might be interested in Rhett Lashley? I, that's a good question because he is an ACC coach now, though. They probably would like, I can just see them like, Oh no,

he's a group of five. He's not a group of five coach. He's not, but I could see that. So, but I do think you, we talked earlier in the show about there will be coaches who figure out how to win with this generation of players. Right. Lashley just may be one of those guys. Like, I think, I think that's entirely possible. Let's let me, let me go with the, my, my favorite category of these hires here for a good time not for a long

time kayla board went 25 and three in two seasons at washington and took them to the national title game won the pack 12 like that's a great hire like you whatever's going on in alabama who cares like washington made a great hire it will be it would be interesting too if like you did like uh two coaching carousel rungs of this question. It's like, who are the best and worst hires of the 2017 cycle? And who are the best and worst hires of the 2021 offseason? And a coach was the best of the 17 and then worst of the 21? Because all that stuff is all about fit and how you're how you're doing oh well the the best hire of the the

you know after the 2014 season going into i'm sorry after the 2015 season going into 2016 the best hire in hindsight was scott frost at ucf yep and then the worst hire but like it's like was it the worst hire or was it the hire that ended up the worst like it was the best hire at Nebraska that they possibly could have made it just did not turn out well um so and but Kate so Kalen the here for good time not for long Kalen DeBoer Mike Elko gets hired at Duke Duke had gone 5 and 18 the previous two seasons and Elko goes 17 and 9 in two seasons at Duke totally revamps the roster like you knew some he was going to be good wherever he went and lo and behold turns out he's pretty good at Texas A&M the other one and I didn't this is the only group of five higher that I included on this one because I think we are going

to really think highly of this guy as he goes forward. John Sumrall at Troy. He went 23-4 in two seasons at Troy. He's already doing really well at Tulane. They lost to K-State in Oklahoma, but Tulane is a good team. And he had to take over. When Willie Fritz left, there was a lot of restructuring to do. John Sumrall would have been Kentucky's coach had Mark Stoops gotten the A&M job at the,

the A&M region is not revolted, said we're not hiring that guy. And then they went on to Elko, but Summerall would have been Kentucky's coach. And like the whole, like Florida wants Lane Kiffin. If Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss, don't wouldn't be shocked.

Cause John Summerall was Lane was Ole Miss's new coach. Like that's how, how highly everybody thinks of that guy. So this was Ole Miss's new coach. Like that's how, how highly everybody thinks of that guy. So this was just a murder's row. Marcus Freeman is the only guy I couldn't put in a category because I've got, you know, Tony Elliott and Sonny Dykes and, and Joey McGuire kind of in the,

they're, they're, they're doing fine. They, they might need to do a little better, but they're doing fine. Brent Prye is in that category too. Marcus Freeman,

I put in his own category called Ask Again After Saturday. Because like, there's no shame if you're a pretty good team and losing to this Navy team. But if you're Notre Dame, you're supposed to win this game. The thing that I think is so funny about Marcus Freeman, specifically Andy,

is that like it keeps changing every week. Like, you know, who the best and worst hire is on of the 2022 offseason when it comes to which side of the fence marcus freeman is on is what what week i mean shit right now it's good it's going well it's going great if they lose the naven on sunday then what niu marshall stanford and men on the field against ohio state like all of that stuff also adds up and if it adds up too many times then you got a problem but he gets him in the playoff this year he's fine and then everything just sort of keeps going along swimmingly so again ask me again after saturday let's let's do another question this is from forge i i thought this was a really interesting

question michigan won last year's championship by running the ball and playing lights out on defense, especially on the line of scrimmage. In previous two years, Georgia was similar. Is it crazy to say that the only teams I see following this championship formula are Tennessee and Ohio State? Can you go first, please? I just put your brain in a pretzel didn't i yeah yeah just just go first let me let me think i actually think oregon runs the ball fairly well too and their d line is pretty good like mateo uyangale is freaking awesome on oregon's d line so yeah i think they might also kind of fit into this. It's interesting because in the written version, dear Andy, I got a question and I'm not, I wasn't using it on the video, but I got a question about, is it a problem that Georgia's

passing more than they're running? And this is the first time in a long time that Georgia is a higher percentage throw team than run team that they're throwing the ball 56% of the time. So like even Georgia doesn't fit into this category. Tennessee, I don't, I don even Georgia doesn't fit into this category. Tennessee, I don't, I don't think wants to be in this category. I think Tennessee would like to be throwing the ball more.

They would like for Nico to be hitting open receivers more often and having huge, but you also lean on your best plays through the air, right? You also lean on your best player and Dylan Sampson's their best player. Yeah. Or their best offensive player. Yeah. Or their best offensive player. Yeah.

Because their best player is probably James Pierce. Yeah, that's true. No one's better than James Pierce. I think you nailed it. So I think that's a really interesting take. And I hadn't thought about it that way, but it is. It is probably true. I think Tennessee needs to be able to score more, though.

They need to be hitting some of those open receivers so they can win in a shootout. Tennessee and Georgia both, I'm a little concerned about their ability to win in a shootout. The one time Georgia's defense faltered was the first half of the Alabama game, and they couldn't come back, even though Carson Beck threw the hell out of the ball in that game.

The Texas game, their defense set that up. The offense wasn't playing particularly well until the end of the game. So the scoring drives before the 89-yarder in the fourth quarter that iced the game, Georgia's scoring drives were 13, 13, 34, 25, and four yards. Like they were not moving the ball effectively. The defense was just setting them up to punch it in.

So I know Georgia mauled Texas in that game, but the more I look at that box. Yeah, yeah. But the more I look at that, and like, honestly, you can't take away the defensive opportunities that created the short field, but like every single one of Georgia's drives. No, I'm not. I'm just saying, what if Texas plays better offensively? That's what I'm saying. Does Georgia have the horses to keep up if they play again? What I was going to say is that Texas gave them the game.

I mean, they just gave them short fields over and over and over again. I'm going to throw one at you that we aren't talking about that we could be talking about on Sunday. A&M. Agreed. Connor Wegman, and I think for them to get to the playoff, it has to be because Connor Wegman diversified that offense, made them more dangerous to the air and less one-dimensional,

but they're also really good at running the ball, and they're really good at getting after your quarterback, but they also can stuff the run a little better. I, I feel like they're, they're stuffing the run better than LSU, which is also great at getting after your quarterback. Ole Miss can stuff the run and get after your quarterback too, but Ole Miss can be torched through the air as Garrett Nussmeyer showed by throwing it over and over and over again in Baton Rouge. Yeah, I'm looking up the stats for one other team. Okay.

And you know what? This is a 12-team error. We're going to throw some stuff out. Yeah, go for it. What about Iowa State? Good defense. They've got great skill players. Yeah.

But they play fundamentally. UCF is in that game because of Iowa State's offensive mistakes. You cut those out, that's a very different look in final score. Yeah. And I'm trying to, like, look at, like, where Iowa State is nationally in rushing offense statistically. And remember, Iowa State has two highly dynamic receivers. Yeah.

Yeah, Iowa State still is in the top 40 nationally in rushing, but I view Iowa State as a team that can move the sticks in multiple ways, but like a Midwestern team that can play good defense, come up with big stops, and then also make huge explosive plays in the passing game when they're down. I think Iowa State's maybe a blend here. Now, Iowa State gives up five yards a carry. That's the thing I'd be concerned about if they have to play,

let's say if they saw Penn State, if they saw Texas A&M, if they saw an Ohio State or a Tennessee. That's what I'd be concerned about if I were them. But everything else you said is 100% correct. They've got receivers that scare the hell out of you. Rocco Beck is a good quarterback. I'm just trying to think of teams that are maybe in between 16 and nine right now that isn't just like Georgia. Who are we forgetting for how they play? I don't know. It was Notre Dame in that discussion. Notre Dame's interesting because it feels like Riley Leonard's gotten quite a bit better in the past few weeks. He has.

I feel like he's much more comfortable in that offense now. Clemson, Producer River says, that's a really interesting one because their defense lights out. Even in the Georgia game, their defense was playing really well. They just kept giving Georgia more bites at the apple because the offense could move the ball on Georgia's defense. The offense has moved the ball on everybody else. Now, it might be a function of the schedule, but I think the offense is better than at the beginning of the season. It isn't quite as Michigan-y, but what about the most obvious one which is penn state that

yeah that that's what i was thinking we mentioned i mentioned that with i like if penn state saw iowa state i imagine penn state would just try to keep it on the ground and take advantage of that i do think penn state needs to be more dynamic through the air. Now, I think Tyler Warren allows them to do that to an extent, but I still think one of the receivers needs to help stretch things. This is my worry about Georgia right now.

There's no Brock Bowers, no Ladd-McConkie. There's really nobody who's replaced them as that game-breaker field stretcher just scares the crap out of you. You you got to find them at the start of every play and they also aren't running the ball as well as they usually do they the last three seasons they've averaged over five yards carry they're in the four and a half yard range right now so uh i do wonder if roderick robinson can come back because he he had i think he averaged

8.2 yards of carry as a freshman, but he had surgery before the season on a turf toe and they, they keep listing him as questionable. So like, I do wonder if they got him back, would that change the math on the right? Cause with Georgia, it's,

it's the, it's the run game, not being as good along with the passing game, not being as explosive as it was. Yeah, absolutely. So this is so interesting. There's so many different scenarios, and I love these different matchups,

these theoretical matchups that we're coming up with. Because Iowa State, that John Haycock defense, it's the one everybody's copied. Like everybody in the sport has taken stolen aspects of that defense. So yeah, I think that's going to be a really, really interesting situation. All right.

One more question. We'll close with this one. It comes from Crawford. Am I the only person hoping to see the Georgia-Vanderbilt rivalry revived in Atlanta? That's right. These two teams played every year in the divisional era of the SEC.

They are not scheduled to face one another this year. What is the path for Vandy? Vandy has to beat Texas this week, right? Hand Texas lost number two in the league, and then they have to beat Tennessee. But if Vandy ran the table, Vandy's in the SEC championship game, maybe. It depends on what happens with LSU and A&M, right?

I think if Vandy ran the table, just, I don't know mathematically if they control their own destiny. I'd have to look closer at it. But my prediction would be right now, they would be the number one seed in the playoff. Look at that schedule! They beat the crap out of Virginia Tech.

They beat Alabama. They would have beaten Texas, LSU, and Tennessee. Then the SEC championship game would be the greatest resume in the history of the sport. Oh, they're in. Yeah, they're in. They're one.

They're in. Number one. And if you make it that way with that path, you can beat Georgia in a one-game scenario. If Vandy gets to Atlanta, here's my promise to you. I'm picking Vandy. Like, that's...

100%! Would they build a statue of Diego Pavia in downtown Nashville? Are there statues of country musicians somewhere in that city they could put Pavia next to? Well, those are on Music Row. I mean, you have to build the statue of diego pavi on the west end where vandy is yeah but yeah absolutely i mean no question about it but what a question like the the beauty of this oh wait i gotta find this other question

i didn't include it and i don't know why i didn't include it the ones i sent you guys Oh, wait. I got to find this other question. I didn't include it, and I don't know why I didn't include it in the ones I sent you guys. But I'm going to find it right now. Because it is funny. It's from Jeff. So this is a callback to something I said in a previous mailbag show. This is an incredible question from Jeff. That you are going to hear it and you're going to say, this is so easy. And we get to the end and you're like, nope, this is really hard.

Andy, you win $100 million if you can pick four programs, one from each Power Four conference as of next season, that you are confident will not make the 12-team playoff in its first 20 editions. One team from your four makes it, you lose. Which four are you taking? My producer River with the photo on the question card. Well, that's the obvious one. We're definitely taking Vanderbilt. My producer River with the photo on the question card. Well, that's the obvious one.

We're definitely taking Vanderbilt. I'm confident that Vanderbilt will not make the 12-team playoff in the first 20 years. And first of all, are we sure it's going to go for 20 years? The last one only went for 10. So are we positive? But let's say it does go for 20 years. I'm confident Vanderbilt won't make it. Go to the Big Ten.

I have two schools here that I feel very confident will not make it. Indiana or Rutgers. You can pick either one. I don't think they'll make it. So we'll go with Indiana. So if we have to pick one, we'll go with Indiana. So I feel very confident so far. Hey, Andy and Ari.

Andy, many, many months ago, I asked what power for schools you'd be willing to bet a lot of fake money on to never make the 12-team playoff in the next 20 seasons. Indiana was your choice for the Big Ten, and Vanderbilt was your choice for the SEC. Is college football amazing right now or what? That's funny. It's true. It's incredible.

He's right. I did say that, and I'm an idiot. Yeah. Well, I mean, those were the layup picks. Everybody would have said that. You're not stupid. It's just this is crazy. Yeah, what a day.

What a day. I've never been so happy to be wrong. I cannot wait to see what else happens this week. One undefeated team has already gone down. I said at least two would go down this week. There's another one playing tonight. Syracuse plays pit. So my Wendy's sauciest take of the week was that at least two undefeated

teams will lose this week. Liberty has already lost. Can Pitt survive the night? We'll find out. We'll talk to you later. All right. Outro Music