Andy & Ari On3 - The Nick Saban Discount EXPIRES | Two of Alabama’s Best Players Plan to Enter the Transfer Portal

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

Alabama freshman safety Caleb Downs and freshman offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor began the process of entering the transfer portal on Wednesday. Both players were the top recruits in the nation for their positions in the class of 2023, and both are taking advantage of a portal window that opened when coach Nick Saban retired last week.Today's show is sponsored by PrizePicks, the easiest way to play daily fantasy. All first time users that deposit and use the promo code ANDY will receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. If you deposit $100, PrizePicks will give you $100. If you deposit $50, PrizePicks will give you $50.Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/ANDYWhat does this mean for Alabama? And what does it mean for everyone else? Jake Crain of Crain and Company joins Andy to discuss the seismic shifts that seem to be hitting the sport following Saban’s retirement. Andy thinks Alabama will no longer get the “Nick Saban Discount” for the best players. (0:00-11:16) Intro - Bama Players in the Portal(11:17-34:44) Jake Crain joins the show(34:45-36:20) Harbaugh Watch 2024(36:21 -41:07) Dear Andy - Can Bama make the playoffs in '24?(41:06-46:07) Clarifyin SEC Transfer Rules(46:08-54:06) Teams in 2024 with Returning QB that can win in 2024?(54:07-56:25) Conference Splits in Playoffs Next Year(56:26-59:29) Talent in the Portal for Florida State(59:30-1:01:57) Penn State's Ceiling?(1:01:58-1:04:39) Kentucky HC Job Threshold in New Era(1:04:40-1:06:53) The Bracket Style in CFP(1:06:54-1:07:44) Immunity Clause?(1:07:45-1:08:40) ConclusionWant to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/nz6l986Zwsg

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. I have not entered the transfer portal. I might be the only one at this point. The big news on Wednesday, two of Alabama's best returning players, Caleb Downs, freshman safety, Caden Proctor, freshman left tackle, entering the transfer portal. Downs, I believe, is officially in. Proctor, not yet, but is planning to go in. And this is big news under any circumstances, but because of why it happened and where we're at in the sport, I think it becomes even bigger. Because what it means, it's what we talked about last night. You're only as good as your last head coach hire. For Alabama, that's Kalen DeBoer. Like everything that Nick Saban did over all those years, all those national titles, none of it means squat right now. That Nick Saban discount that players would give Alabama because they produced so many first-round draft picks, it's gone.

So now, these guys entering the portal, because they can, because Nick Saban left, which opens the portal for 30 days, Alabama has to try to keep them. They may or may not be able to do that. But if you are Caden Proctor, if you're Caleb Downs, if you're anybody who's a very good player on Alabama's roster, now's the time if you want to leverage somebody, if you want to see if you can get some more money, if you can see where your market value is. Like Caden Proctor, such a human does not exist in the transfer portal. Number one offensive tackle recruit in the country last year

started as a true freshman at left tackle for Alifreak and Bama under Nick Saban. Now, it was a little bit rough at first for Caden Proctor, but he got better as the season went on. And there will not be a school in the country who wouldn't want somebody like that. The question is, who does he go to if he leaves Alabama? He's from Iowa. He had initially committed to Iowa. Would he go back home? Would he go to Georgia? Caleb Downs is from Georgia. Caleb Downs is recruited by Traveris Robinson, who just took a job at Georgia. That makes pretty logical sense there,

which would definitely be the rich getting richer. For Caden Proctor, if he doesn't go to Georgia, then it may be spreading the wealth if he winds up somewhere other than Alabama. This is a crazy time in the sport. And I know some of you are like, this is ruining the sport.

No, it is not. This is incredibly interesting, and it is giving other fan bases hope. Viewership is up. There's more parody now than there's been in the last 15 years. It's not all because Nick Saban retired. In fact, a lot of it's the factors of the transfer rules changing, NIL, that combination. But then you add Saban retiring on top of it, and it creates a whole new world. We're going to talk to Jake Crane from Crane & Company about that whole new world.

Because it does feel like a new day in college football. It's like we talked about with T-Bob Abare last night. The empire is over. And now there's a vacuum. Yes, Georgia's really good. Georgia's the logical choice to be atop the sport. But what about everybody else? There's another spot in the national championship game

even if Georgia makes it every year. There's 11 more spots in the playoff even if Georgia makes it every year. So what happens now? What happens with Alabama? And that's what, I wrote a column on Wednesday. Feel free to read it, add on three.

And I led it off with this. If you want to laugh, Google the phrase Alabama recruits itself because I've seen that phrase quite a few times over the last week. Or I guess the last, yeah, the last week since Nick Saban retired. But it's not the case. Alabama doesn't recruit itself.

No school recruits itself. It is a tooth and nail fight for every player in this era of college football. So once Nick Saban retires, those players who went through an entire portal window and said, nope, I'm not leaving because I want to play for Nick Saban. Now that they're playing for not Nick Saban, they're not all going to stay. And it is going to be absolutely wild. Mike Varel from the Seattle Times posted a crazy tweet on Wednesday showing the depth chart from the national title game that happened nine days ago. All the Washington players on the depth chart, basically,

either their eligibility has expired, they've gone to the NFL, or they're in the transfer portal. Kalen DeBoer, he's at Alabama now. Maybe some of them will follow him. Maybe they will replace people who left because they're playing for not Nick Saban. Joseph in the chat, it's not really a sport for you because your career is all about BS. I'm sorry that you hate change and fear change. I'm sorry it scares you.

Sorry, Joseph. The rest of us are just enjoying the football. More people are enjoying it. We've seen the ratings. We know this. And this is going to be a crazy time in the sport because for a lot of fan bases who have felt hopeless in the past era, there is hope now. And a lot of it isn't just the NIL transfer portal stuff. It is Nick Saban retiring. I mean, we talked about that for years.

Every offseason, I get the question like 100 times. It's a Dear Andy show tonight. How many Dear Andy columns, be it at SI or the Athletic, how many in the offseason had the Nick Saban, what if he retires? What happens when he retires question? I could have done it every week if I don't want it to.

I got it every single week from somebody. But back then, be it five years ago, eight years ago, we didn't know that these other changes would be coming. And so we didn't know exactly how it changes would be coming. And so we didn't know exactly how it would look when it happened. Now we do. Dustin in the chat, they have a fans actually feeling what it's been like for most fan bases the last several years. Yeah, it was, it was interesting when Procter and Downs, when that news came out, Hayes Fawcett from On3 reported it. That the Alabama fans saying, well, this isn't fair. And everybody just piled on them because like,

was it fair when you took Jameer Gibbs from Georgia Tech? Was it fair when you took Tyler Steen from Vanderbilt? It's not about fair. It's about market value and who's most valuable on the open market and what school the transfers consider most valuable. And it's really not what school, it's what coach. Because clearly these guys were there to play for Nick Saban.

And now that they're playing for not Nick Saban, it's a different story. It's going to be a fascinating next few years in college football and a really fascinating offseason and this next year. I think if you're other teams in the SEC, you suddenly feel hope that you never felt before. I was talking to my producer, River, before the show. He's a young'un.

He didn't start following college football until Nick Saban was already dominating it. Can you imagine that? Your whole life, all you have known is that Nick Saban kicks everybody's ass. Like, you don't remember Mike Shula, Alabama. You don't remember the waning days of Mike DuBose, Alabama. You don't remember the brief spring that was Mike Price, Alabama, that never actually ended up in a game. All you've known is Alabama on your throat.

River went to Tennessee. And that's a testament to what Nick Saban has done. That's an absolute testament to it. He's been incredible. And I think that's, all of the discussions we have turn into tributes to the man because it's amazing that he did this.

And it says so much about how good he was that this is happening now. It's going to be amazing to watch what happens next. We've got Jake Crane coming up. We've got a Dear Annie show. First, I want to tell you about PrizePix. Download that PrizePix app. Best daily fantasy app going. Use the referral code Andy.

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Now, let's talk a little more about the news from today with Jake Crane, because the Nick Saban era ended last Wednesday, and it feels like it was a hundred years ago with all that's happening now. Here's Jake. We are joined now by the host of Crane and Company, Jake Crane. And Jake, I thought of you as all this stuff was going down because you you've been talking about this on your show quite a bit uh since they've been retired when

they hired kayla nabor you've been in coaching before so you understand this probably a little better than most people but i feel like the nick saban discount has expired. Like these guys who signed up to play for Nick Saban are now saying it might cost a little more for me to play for not Nick Saban. Yeah. Well, you know, I think you lose a little bit of the benefit of the doubt. I think that may be the most hurtful impact of the greatest of all time.

And when it comes to college football and Nick Saban retiring, here's what I'll say, Andy, I think, especially now in the era of the freedom, I call it, it's like the seventies, the free love of the transfer portal. Oh, now is not a better time to commit to a coach.

Why would I commit to a place? Why would I not commit to a guy where I can follow him around wherever he goes? I obviously believe in him if I'm going to commit to him, but if he fits, you know, what I want to do schematically and philosophically, I'm committing to commit to him but if he fits you know what I want to do schematically and philosophically I'm committing to the coach and not the place and I think in Alabama's case and this is a compliment this isn't a negative thing is we've known Alabama has been a monster

before but nobody ever talks about Bear Bryant being the greatest of all time nobody ever talks about Bear Bryant being Alabama Bear alabama right until nick saban came in and regardless of how you want to look at it regardless of team affiliation alabama is nick saban and nick saban is alabama and at the end of the day it's the truth those those that out-of-state tuition those kids weren't coming down from fist pumping on Jersey shore to Tuscaloosa because of the party scene or, or because of, of any extenuating circumstance. Well, well, well, well, let's, let's okay. Nick Saban deserves most of the credit for this, but let's, let's give a tiny bit of credit to Bama rush for this.

No, no, no, no. Listen, I'm not saying Bama can't party. Right. And listen, Nick Saban and the football team were responsible for a lot of those parties, but without Nick Saban and the football team were responsible for a lot of those parties. But without Nick Saban and without this juggernaut that was built and without the allure of what this guy created, the out-of-state tuition wouldn't have boomed the way it did, the out-of-state students. You wouldn't have had this love affair that you've had with Nick Saban

at college football. It wouldn't have become the death star and the crazy part is as much as Nick Saban was making he wasn't making nearly enough compared to what he was bringing in so yeah it's it kind of comes with the territory and I do think you're going to have to pay more out of your collective with someone other than Nick Saban at the helm, because for sure, what guys were willing to do was take a discount because Nick Saban has produced so many first rounders because they can say, I will take a discount on the front end because I know this guy's going to turn me into a first rounder on the backend, or I have a very good chance of that.

And therefore I don't need top dollar to sign with you as a freshman. I don't need top dollar to sign with you as a freshman. I don't need top dollar to stay with you as a sophomore. But now when you're Caleb Downs, when you're Caden Proctor, you were the number one recruit at your position in high school. You then started immediately at Alabama. Downs was awesome immediately. Proctor, it took a little bit, but he was very good by the end of the season. There's never been a better time to market your services.

No, without a doubt. I mean, I think the Nick Saban discount, that's a great way to put it. I mean, the only thing that's more financially beneficial than NIL is NFL. And it was the ultimate pipeline, right? I mean, you look at, turn on any NFL game, whether it be the regular season season of the playoffs I guarantee you at least one Bama players on the roster and most likely there's two or three Bama players that are impact contributors regardless of position on pretty much every team in the NFL so yeah if you're playing the long game right if you're trying to look at the Marathon not the Sprint and it's not like Alabama's broke it's not like they don't have any money yeah uh so you

can buy an NFL with nil it's obviously huge but when't have any money yeah uh so you can buy an nfl with nil it's obviously huge but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty when it comes down between choosing alabama and the pipeline that they've created to the nfl and maybe a school that's offering more nil money but doesn't have as much nfl cachet if you're a smart business person and again you're able to see the beach through the forest why not go why not get the best recommendation ever right Nick Saban regardless of how it went in the NFL for him when he signed that dotted line or he rubber stamped you NFL GMs NFL Scouts NFL head coaches they listen it's it's like getting a a good reference on chocolate from Willy Wonka. Some guys, it just means more. Exactly.

And as good of a coach as Kalen DeBoer is, and his record's great so far, he just doesn't have that long of a track record of doing that. So you can say that's going to happen, but Nick Saban could tell you that has happened. And I think that's the key difference. Yeah, listen listen there were a lot of uh famous you know artists that that sung rock and roll but there was always the first right there's always that that the the golden ticket that to use my second willy wonka reference in as many sentences as possible you're never going to be able to recreate that magic i'm going to

tell you right now caitlyn deborah's an um he's a damn good football coach handy he's won everywhere he's he's been he understands it i don't buy into you have to be from here to win here if that was the case then you may be a great car salesman in michigan but you'd never sell one in alabama that's not the case you can sell cars you can sell cars caitlin deborah can coach football the the main factor becomes how much grace does the al the Alabama fans give him the first time it inevitably goes wrong, whether that be at Wisconsin, whether that be Georgia at home, and I know we're going to get into that. I don't want to dive too far too early if you have a habit of doing that.

But Kalen DeBoer is never going to be able to recreate the magic that Nick Saban did, especially in the ever-changing landscape of college football. It's harder than ever. And it's one thing to be the guy that started the company. It's another one to be the guy that takes it over after the goat. And that's why I said, and some people disagree with this. I do not. And Steve Spurrier agreed with what I said. I don't want to be the guy that follows the goat. I want to be the guy that follows the guy that

follows the goat. And some people will say, and I've heard him say it. Oh, well, that means you can't be afraid to take over for the greatest full time i'm a businessman i'm this is about business if you've ever been in the coaching world this isn't just this isn't about emotion or oh i'm a tough guy look at me you're making the best decision for your career it is very calculated it is very intricate and you can't just base it off pure emotion not saying caitlyn deborah made a mistake but if any alabama fan thinks that he's going to recreate that same magic that nick saban did intricate, and you can't just base it off pure emotion. Not saying Kalen DeBoer made a mistake, but if any Alabama fan thinks that he's going to recreate that same magic that Nick Saban did, you are going to be let down. If any fan outside of Alabama thinks now Bama's just going to disappear and go away and not be important anymore, you are wrong. The answer is typically

somewhere in the middle, but I do know this. Nick Saban was the greatest of all time. What he accomplished will probably never be duplicated, never be replicated. And the guy that follows him has got a lot of guts, but we'll see if he can get even a half of what he did. And if he does a half of what Nick Saban did, Greg Byrne and the Alabama fan base ought to be thankful for it. Well, and I think knowing Greg, he feels differently probably than the average fan.

Like he's probably got a much more realistic view of what success will be for caitlin devore but i think that for the fans they've been so spoiled by this so spoiled that it's almost impossible to live up to this and even if the fans are realistic about it or think they're being realistic about it they won't be well it's it's it's impossible because again this man is the architect right and and the landscape's ever changing i keep saying that but you know what we always say and i think about this i haven't had kids yet with my wife but i do want to spoil my kids to some to some extent right i want to give them everything i want them to have every option i want christmas to be the best ever i want them to have every option. I want Christmas to be the best ever. I want them to get every single thing that they want. Nick Saban was the greatest Santa Claus

ever to Alabama fans. And if you were born in a certain segment at a certain time, you have known nothing but the best Christmases ever. You wanted a pony, you got a pony. You wanted a truck, you got a truck. You wanted a pony that was made out of a truck, you probably got that too. Well, guess what? Sometimes the economy goes down. Sometimes Christmas isn't as balling as it used to be. And instead of being upset about the present times because they're not as good as what they used to be, you ought to be very thankful for the memories. That doesn't mean that the standards should be lowered, but it does mean that reality should be accepted. And what I fear and what I've continued to say, because again, I look at it from a, I know how the sausage is made, I've been there. And no team has sent me a check yet in a while. So I'm gonna tell you what I really think.

If Kalen DeBoer's tenure at Alabama will be defined by the amount of freak out that happens after the first thing that inevitably goes wrong, goes wrong. Maybe it's at Wisconsin in week three or week four. Maybe it's Georgia at home week three or week four. Maybe it's Georgia at home. But Nick Saban had a little bit of leeway when it went wrong, even when they took a lacrosse player down to South Florida and beat USF,

which is amazing in its own right. But he had a little leeway when it went wrong because, one, of what he had done in the past, and, two, he always tends to fix it. And that's what he did this past year. Kalen DeBoer will not have that leeway. And it is like the Soviet Union. Bama fans are used to perfection or it didn't happen. One of the greatest quotes from the movie, The Death of Stalin, is when the Soviet plane crashed and killed all those hockey players, the first thing Stalin said is Soviet Union planes don't

crash. Well, guess what? At some point, the Berlin Wall's got to come down, buddy. You got to expose it to the world. You got to come back down to reality. But what a great ride it must have been. What an incredible ride it must have been. And you should be thankful for the memories. Okay. So now I don't know how to transition to the SEC version of Scorpions singing Winds of Change, but we can start whistling now because they are blowing across. And it's not just the SEC across the whole country. Like we don't know where, like people say, oh, okay. T-Rob went to Georgia. Caleb down is probably going to go to Georgia. Does Caden Proctor go back to Iowa?

Who knows? They don't even have an offensive coordinator yet. So who do you think benefits most from this? What program programs do you think have a chance to take advantage now well you know uh when the emperor dies you pretty much just look to the next in command you got to look at Darth Vader over there in Athens I mean he's over there with the red lightsaber just waiting on this he's he's the protege he's the chosen one one, the golden child, the boy who lived. Kirby Smart.

He's created it almost in Nick Saban's image. Did you just mix Star Wars and Harry Potter? Andy, I might have just done that. I might have just done it. Is your mind blown? But no, again, Georgia's got to be next up, right? Even with what Michigan did this year. Michigan, it feels like this is one of those teams

that had a bunch of old guys that stuck around because they did they went through a lot of adversity and they won be because of that adversity a lot of it was because of the adversity georgia has just turned this into a machine like we we know what georgia is and now all of a sudden in in the battle of of pacific rim one of the machines goes down and there's one left well kirby smart he's the next in line but that's the great part about college football now we're going to a 12-team playoff right there's a lot there's a lot more people eating at the table than there was when nick saban was just running through people because he was so much better than everybody up front we live in a new world kirby smart is not going to recreate what nick saban did but kirby smart will probably get the closest

to it if we're going to see who benefits the most, it's the next in charge. It's Darth Vader. All right. I actually, see, I disagree with you a little bit there because I think Kirby Smart had already equaled or surpassed Saban in the present. I don't think you're wrong. I don't think you're wrong. What he's done is not what Saban has done globally and that he'll have time to figure out if he's going to do that so I I think he was already there and I think Nick Saban recognized that and I think that was probably a piece of this I agree with that but my question now is is it going to be Sark is it going to be Brian Kelly is it going to be somebody in another league is it going to be if Jim Harbaugh comes back can he build you know

something longer term at Michigan where they're competing for championships every year does Ryan Day suddenly take advantage well you know when it comes down to your first point I agree with you I I do think there's a difference between the greatest college football coach of all time and the greatest college football coach right now I think Kirby Smart was the greatest college football coach right now but that doesn't take away from the fact that when you take away the greatest college football coach of all time and i guess the the one b to the one a you're gonna soak up that power vacuum you would think that you would be the one that eats the most when that happens regardless if you were one or two or because now the nick saban discount no longer exists but the current no longer discount does. It does. Here's the real question.

I said this, and I'm going to get to the next part. But if I was Kirby Smart, the moment I knew Nick Saban was going to retire, I would have called Jimmy Sexton and said, I want the clause. There's only one out there. And you say, Jake, what clause are you talking about? Nick Saban had a clause in his contract where he had to be the highest paid college football coach. So either he was at the top

or if somebody usurped him and got paid more, that clause would act. It would instantly put him to number one. And there can only be one of them. Because if you had two, they would just go back and forth until you reached a trillion and beyond. It's unattainable to do that. So if I was Kirby Smart, that's what I would have gotten.

I don't know if he did or not. But when it comes down to who else can do it, yeah, there's a lot of guys in the running, but there's only one secretariat right now. And that doesn't mean that somebody won't catch them or they can't. Sark's at Texas, right? The mega rangers built for you.

You just made the playoff. Your quarterback's coming back. The question is not, can you do it once? It's, can you do it over time? There is not another team, right? I guess you could say Jim Harbaugh in Michigan because they've made the playoff as many times as they have. I guess you could say that. But there is not another team right i guess you could say jim harbaugh in michigan because they've made the playoff as many times as they have i i guess you could say that but there is not another team that has recreated the same elite success that has been able to to rebuild and reload the

roster and be able to turn it over as quickly as georgia has and the way it's looking going into this next year with carson beck coming back even with what they lost what they've added to the portal it has to be georgia if you're looking at it just evenly, that doesn't mean Sark can't, that doesn't mean Ryan day can't, that doesn't mean these other guys can't, but there's only one secretariat right now. And he's sitting in Athens. Yeah. And that's the thing. The question now is, does Georgia become the dominant force the way Alabama was in this, this will actually tell us whether Kirby can come close to equaling or surpassing Nick Saban like this well Andy let me ask you this though let me ask

you this though to your point earlier hasn't that already happened I mean George is one I mean long term long term the longevity of it is what makes Saban's run so amazing I agree with that I think a lot of it determines or depends on how you define, you know, that level of greatness. Is it reaching what Nick Saban did or surpassing that? Is it getting close? Is it being championship relevant for as long as he did? I think it's how you define it. But if anybody, if anybody has a chance, and I don't think they will, but if anybody has a chance to catch Saban right now, it's to be Kirby but with but with the the cyclicality I think that's a word of college football it is now who knows man who knows well and that's that's what makes it so interesting the vacuum that Saban leaving creates I feel like creates more excitement in the sport there are fan bases who felt like Nick Saban is standing on my throat and felt like that for a long time. And now he's not. And the question is, does Kirby Smart just replace that feeling?

And Auburn's the best example of this because how many coaches did Auburn fire because they were not as good as Nick Saban? And save your Brian Harsin stuff. Like Gus is a prime example of this. Gus Malzahn was a good coach. In another era, he might be viewed as one of the all-time great Auburn coaches.

Instead, he got run out and paid at the time the highest buyout ever. Jimbo surpassed it because he wasn't Nick Saban. I mean, now if you're Hugh Freeze it feels like the world has opened up for you yeah uh there's never and and I put this on social media uh on Wednesday I mean Hugh Freeze could not have picked a better time to take the Auburn job right the underbelly is showing if you are going to strike, you strike right now. And I don't think this window is going to be open for very long. And I think a lot of people who weren't watching Alabama before the Nick Saban era think that

Alabama has always been invincible like this. They have not. Alabama made more bad coaching hires than anybody. But in the time we sit in right now in where we are but when's the best time to kill the monster before it's grown that's when you take advantage of it now and it looks like that's what he's attempting to do but uh i would argue a little bit that there was parts of nick saban that 10 that may have been good for auburn auburn fan to keep reaching and trying to attain that right trying to gain greatness but that 10 that may have made it better we will the auburn fan base would much rather sell that in to not have nick saban there because that's right andy it felt like a foot was on your throat because

it was and you were gasping for air and anytime you ever got a breath of air right it was the most delicious sweet air of all i've never come back from the afterlife, but I'm pretty sure that first breath of air when you come back from a coma, it's just got to be all the goodness and deliciousness rolled into one. That's what it kind of felt like. It's the kick six, basically. That's exactly right. It's the best way to put it. But yeah, if you're going to strike, strike before the monsters put together.

It's just the best way to do it. And if you're Hugh Freeze, you need to show progress this year. We'll see with Peyton Thorne. But outside of that, I mean, I think he's making the right moves. Yeah, he's got to figure out the quarterback thing, but Alabama's got to figure out some stuff. And interestingly enough, if they're going to get some guys in the springboard, again, we don't know if Calebaleb downs or caden proctor's leaving

we don't know that yet like if alabama really wants to keep them there's a way yeah well it's again i mean i think you have guys and i don't think that caleb and them are doing this but you would almost be stupid now if you were a big time player to not enter the portal or let the higher ups know their thoughts of entering the portal to leverage your NIL, right? I mean, again, it's a smart business. You cannot like it, right? But if you don't like me not paying taxes, fix the tax loopholes. But I do pay taxes for anybody that's asking out there. It's the same thing.

Like if you don't like the rules, if you don't like the rules, then change them. But I don't think in this case that's what's going on. I think a lot of this was attached to T-Rob, who's now at Georgia. But no, I mean, again, until just like we see in high school recruiting, until that NLI is sent in, until I see your name on that paper, and it used to be the fax machine. I actually miss those days. But until that fax comes in, you can still go anywhere.

And for Caleb Downs, there's still time. For Caden Proctor, there's still time. But again, at this point, Andy, with the transfer portal, as somebody that's just watching it, I've got too much investing in high school. I don't have time for this. I don't have time to sit here and worry about whether our starting safety is coming back. Not because he's going to the NFL, he may go to georgia i'm just whatever happens happens i'm not shocked by anything in the transfer portal anymore i may be surprised a little bit here and there but at this point i mean it's it's it's it's a little tough as someone like i'm new to on three but the the folks who've been here since the beginning and who've worked for for the other companies that do this stuff like we gotta rewire the brains of the recruit Knicks

because keeping your starting safety is actually more important than signing that five-star guy. I mean, imagine how the coaching staffs feel. They've had to build new wings of recruiting just to keep the guys they have. I mean, and it's got to be, recruiting was already exhausting. I did it. It's 365 days. It never stops.

You get done with one class, you've already been working on the next two classes for a year building those relationships now you add i'm having to find a way having to take my time not that i didn't want guys to stay before but i'm but we're now having to try and go into business negotiations because i don't know if my starting defensive end is going to be back? I mean, goodness. The sleepless night, it costs. This has cost college football coaches at least, out of the three and a half to four hours of sleep they get at night, at least 45 minutes to an hour. Like this is player safety?

What about coach safety, Andy? What about that? Nobody talks about that. Well, they do need to work the calendar a little bit so these guys can actually get some time where they don't have to freak out about this every day but yes it is uh it is such a different job and but if you are a non-alabama sec program it's also a different job today because nick saban's not there on the other side and you you might have a chance of some of his players like they might be leaving

well well listen you know dad went out for milk never came back you know what i mean you we're not we're not scared about him coming to the door anymore right it's it's open hey you know it's it's not at some point it's not cool to be 40 and go into college parties like it like it just it's the way it's the way the world works man it's it's cyclical and it's just it Saban's been at Bama for so long it I think some people don't even know he was at LSU I really believe that Andy I think there's some people out there that just don't even know he was at LSU that's how long this has seemed but it's a brand new day man you walk outside and hey you know maybe the earth is flat I don't know it is it is a different world i'm glad we have you to help us navigate it jake thank you so much andy i love coming on with you man

always enjoy your work you're one of the few guys that uh i listen to outside of of our show when we're on it but uh always love coming on here and it's going to be interesting man i would say this uh in closing if you're an alabama fan um it's it's not time to panic the sky isn't falling but there is a changing of the garden reality needs to be accepted and for the rest of college football you know may the best man win we'll see it's gonna be fun but yes so the Alabama is it's gonna be okay yeah you made a good hire you did just maybe not the greatest of all time that's okay though yeah you you got you've got good memories Pepsi's okay it's cool oh there's a bunch of fans now they're real mad oh good idea no it's not yeah they're like screw the Alabama talk Pepsi is underrated and I'll die

on that Hill but now that it's uh always fun to join you guys and look forward to keeping up with it as we move on in the new era of college football. That's exactly right. Jay Crane, Crane and Company, watch mornings. That's right. You can wake up with them. Thank you, Jake. Anytime, Andy. That is Jay Crane talking about the new era in college football. One era that's not going to happen. We speculated on this the other night. We just figured, hey, the Cowboys, ignominious wildcard weekend exit. They're going to fire everybody. Maybe Jim Harbaugh winds up with Jerry Jones.

Nope, nope, nope. Adam Schefter reports that Mike McCarthy's staying as the head coach of the Cowboys. So scratch that one off the list as a possible Jim Harbaugh destination. But remember, right after we got off the air last night, the Falcons posted that they had interviewed Jim Harbaugh for their head coaching job.

So still waiting. Harbaugh Watch 2024 continues and will continue until we hear, I'm taking a job or I'm staying with Michigan. And we do not know what the answer to that is, but we shall see. Perhaps other NFL teams in the mix, the process ongoing. He's interviewed with the Chargers and the Falcons. The Falcons also interviewed Bill Belichick.

So if you had that on your bingo card going into the last season, that the Falcons would wind up interviewing Bill Belichick and Jim Harbaugh. It's, yeah. Falcons, Arthur Blank, though, has never hired someone who wasn't a first-time NFL head coach,

which is an interesting fact. So that would be Harbaugh and Belichick both have been NFL head coaches before, obviously. So very interesting situation there. We're going to keep watching Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh Watch 2024 will keep going. But right now, it is time for your questions. Got lots of good Dear Andy questions this week.

And we will start with one from at JLo791. And it is very topical. With all the departures from Alabama, do you think they can make the 12-team playoff this year? Or do you think they take a major step back? I think we have to define what step back means, what major means in this case, because I think Alabama fans who are used to Nick Saban levels of dominance would consider 10-2 a major step back. But the thing is, if they go 10-2, they're going to make the playoff,

and they're still going to have one of the most talented rosters in the country. Because let's say they lose Caleb Downs and Cain Proctor. They're going to get guys in the portal in the spring. Now, we'll talk about whether they could be from the SEC or not when I answer this next question. But there will be plenty of good players who want to play with the other good players at Alabama. They didn't all leave.

So I also have some faith in Kalen DeBoer. We've watched him win everywhere he's been. He's one of the more respected coaches in college football. He took a Washington team that was four and eight the year before he got there, went 25 and3 over the next two seasons, and made the national championship game. So I think there's two things going on here. We got the – there will be a drop because Nick Saban's standard was so high. But I don't think it's going to be that big of a drop. The question is how unhappy would that make Alabama fans if it's just a slight drop? I just – I still think they're going to have a roster capable of making the playoff. I still think they're going to have a roster capable of being competitive in the SEC.

I don't think that's going to be a bad thing at all. So Shorty says, if he has consecutive 10-2 seasons, Bama fans will be crying. Oh, they'd be mad because that's a step back from what Nick Saban was doing. They would definitely be mad about that. But I still think they're going to be good enough to be competitive for a playoff berth. Remember, we'll actually get to this part in another question too.

But I do think if you're in the top three in the SEC, you're probably making the playoffs. So you're competing for one of those top three spots in the SEC, this Bama roster that he's going to wind up with. Now, unless everybody leaves over the next week and a half, two weeks, I just don't see that. I think he's going to have a roster capable of a player. Listen, it's still Alabama. They have a collective. It's not like the collective has no money it's a matter of how you choose to spend your money and they got to make sure they take care of the guys they need to take care of it might be that now caleb downs and caden proctor because of

what they are that good at that at their positions you you might decide that what it would cost to keep them would make it harder to keep enough of everybody else. So you got to do the math. That's the thing you got to work on. You have to be able to make that math work. And that's every school in the country right now. And I know everybody thinks there's like a blank check at Oregon or a blank check at Texas.

It's not a blank check. Somebody's still got to pay real money for this stuff. Thomas in the chat. As a Bama fan, 10-2 gets in the playoffs every year. As long as we're in the playoffs every year, I don't think DeBoer will be going anywhere anytime soon. Agreed, Thomas. I agree. Because even if 10-2 a couple of years in a row were to disappoint some of the more extreme fringes of the Alabama fan base,

I don't think Greg Byrne and the administration are going to be upset about that. I think they're going to be very realistic about Nick Saban was very special. There's never going to be another one of him. And that's okay. As long as you're being competitive now. there's never going to be another one of him, and that's okay. As long as you're being competitive now, and you are fielding a good roster, winning games, I think they'll understand.

But we shall see. Taz says, laugh out loud. As long as we make the playoff, every we'll be happy be ready for disappointment yeah every year in the playoff is uh is asking a lot even with a 12 team playoff i don't know by the way nick savin made it eight of ten years in a 14 playoff oh my god this is gonna be it's gonna be rough next question from CFB CauseDog on Twitter. Can you clarify some of the rules regarding transferring and specifically the SEC rule? For instance, can players contact a coach before the player has entered

the portal without violating any rules? We know coaches are not supposed to initiate contact. And as a follow-up, if a student from one SEC school enters the portal in January, can he stay at his current school and enroll at a new school in the summer and be eligible to play in the fall? This assumes that the rule survives the legal challenge. It assumes the rule survives the legal challenge. It also assumes the rule isn't changed by the members of the SEC this spring.

It's something that came up last year. They talked about it, but they didn't end up changing it. And the reason they didn't end up changing this rule that says, if you want to transfer from one sec school to another and play right away as an undergraduate, not as a graduate, your graduates are different, but as an undergraduate, you have to go into the portal in the winter window. You can't go into the portal in the spring window. And so they thought about changing that last year and the coaches and the ADs talked about it and they said, look, this makes our lives easier because most of the guys

who play for SEC schools want to play in the SEC. So if they were, if they were to transfer, they want to transfer to another SEC school. And if that's not available to them, they're going to stay. And for the most part it calmed everything down you saw a couple isolated cases like bear alexander leaving georgia to go to usc but you didn't see a lot of cases where somebody who was going to play a pretty decent role at a big sec school was going to leave in the spring to go play another conference and so that is why they would probably keep this rule now the question that got asked about a player initiating contact you're not supposed to do that for the players you're supposed to enter the portal first and then you have those conversations

but we all know it happens we all know the coaching staffs at other schools are putting out feelers, be it with a high school coach or with a speed trainer, with a quarterback's trainer, all of those people in the player's orbit, they're going to check with to see, is this guy happy? Is he thinking about maybe doing something else? You're going to see that, and you will see it the other direction too. A parent is going to want to reach out and find out if there is a market for their kid before the kid enters the transfer portal. Because remember, once you enter, your old school can say, oh, that's it. Your scholarship's done. We're done here. You're off the team. And so you kind of want to know. So that communication does go back and forth,

even though you're not supposed to. The other question, if a player were to enter the portal in January or in this window right now, can they stay at their current school and then enroll in a new school in the summer? Yes, they can. As long as they entered the portal in this window, they can play for the other school in the fall. When they get to the other school and when they choose the other school, doesn't matter. They can do that as long as they entered the portal. But if they haven't entered the portal,

then they can't stay in conference. So that's the other issue for Alabama. And this is why I wonder if Alabama might decide that it would support a change in that rule, because now Alabama is going to going to need to fill probably a few spots in the spring window. And I would imagine there's some quality players in other conferences that would love to go play at Alabama,

but I think Alabama would probably like to have the option to, to have the whole country open to them, the whole menu and not just the, the non-SEC part of the menu. So I am interested to see what happens there. I do think for the most part, the coaches and ADs still agree though, it makes their lives a lot easier because it is different. Recruiting is different in the SEC, always has been. And it's the same in the transfer portal and that market. It's much more intense. And so if they could limit that, they could. As to whether it survives a legal challenge, that's a good question. I think they actually have maybe a little bit of a defense because they can say, look, there are other options. We're not saying you can't transfer and play next year.

We're just saying not here. So be curious to see what happens because the, one of the big stumbling blocks for the transfer rules or, and having any transfer rules at all at this point is they're essentially non-compete clauses. And when the schools have spent all these years saying the athletes are not employees that, you know, that they're not contractors, they're not anything, they're just students. Well, it doesn't square with holding them to a non-compete. And that's, that's why you saw the injunction that's allowing those second time undergrad transfers to play, because in court, you've got to be able to argue that, and it's hard to argue. Let us move on to a football question.

This one comes from Mitch. In the age of transfer portal QBs, not many teams have won in year one of a quarterback. Trevor Lawrence and Mac Jones. You're talking about year one as the starter, not necessarily year one on campus, though that was both for Trevor Lawrence. If you factor in the 2024 season, how many teams are true contenders for the national title that one, have a returning quarterback, and two, actually have the talent and depth to compete? Okay, this is a great question.

So the obvious answer at the top of this list is Georgia. Carson Beck comes back for year two as a starter, and obviously Georgia has a deep roster that continues to be deep that may get deeper, depending on who winds up transferring to Athens. Now, they did lose a lot of players who were not playing or not expected to be starters next year. And that doesn't mean those players were bad necessarily. It means they weren't as good as the ones that were going to start at Georgia, and if the margin is fairly close,

some of those guys are going to help other teams immediately, but Georgia's roster is still going to be probably the most talented in the country, so that one's an easy one. Then it gets tougher. You know, Texas made the playoff. They bring Quinn Ewers back. This is year three as a starter for Ewers. Now I do think it's interesting because after that sugar bowl, you look at it and you go, Hmm, when Quinn Ewers has a bad game, it's a bad game.

He has a great game. It's a great game, but there is a lot of variability there. And you wonder about Arch Manning. that a possibility would you would you consider having a competition i don't think steve sarkisian is going to have an open competition as long as arch is cool with the situation but they should certainly have the talent and they have a quarterback coming back who will be a third year starter penn state brings back drew aller but i just that one's tough because they have to get better offensively. Andy Kolonicki starts as the offensive coordinator. Now Tom Allen comes as the defensive coordinator.

Kolonicki was at Kansas. Very creative. If James Franklin lets him be creative and they have more dynamic receivers, then maybe we're talking about something different. You know, they got Julian Fleming from Ohio State. Perhaps they have that person. I was talking to my friend Ari Wasserman the other day and the way he put it was very interesting.

He's like, they were a KJ Hamler away from being more competitive against the Ohio States and the Michigans of the world. And that's probably exactly right. Like if they had a KJ Hamler level receiver from being more competitive against the Ohio States and the Michigans of the world. And that's probably exactly right. If they had a KJ and Hamler-level receiver on this past year's team, especially the Ohio State game, I think they're pretty competitive. The Michigan game with the way that went down, I don't know. Well, I mean, if they had one field stretcher, maybe it's different.

Maybe Michigan has to throw more in the second half because they're feeling pressed. Alabama brings back Jalen Milrow. Say what you will about Jalen Milrow. He got much better as the season went on. I don't think he had the best Rose Bowl, but again, the snaps were at his shins pretty much every play. I don't think that's his fault. So I like the idea of Alabama bringing back Milrow. We'll see what happens in this offense with Kalen DeBoer, with Ryan Grubb, but they certainly fit the profile here. Another one that I think we're all probably going to have in our preseason playoff predictions, is Ole Miss. Jackson Dart is a transfer.

He came in from USC, but that was a long time ago. He's entering year three as a starting quarterback in Oxford. They've improved on their defensive line through the transfer portal. They've improved their receiving core. They got Juice Wells from South Carolina, who, when he's healthy, potentially the best receiver in the SEC. So that one is an interesting one. They might have the talent level, but you saw them play at Georgia

against the healthiest version of Georgia last year. It did not go well. But they get Georgia again this year. We'll see what happens. Now, I want to give you three that do not have a second year starting quarterback. These are all first year starting quarterback situations, but they're good rosters where the new quarterback has played a lot of football, has been a quality starter somewhere else. And so I think that these three are possibilities just because of the experience level of their quarterbacks, not necessarily experience in that particular offense. So we start with Oregon, which brings in Dylan Gabriel. He just spent the last two years as Oklahoma starter. He defense has a lot of talent. That definitely seems like a possibility

that as they move into the Big Ten, they could be really good. Again, he's new to this offense. Will Stein and him haven't worked together before, but Dylan Gabriel has played a lot of football. Another situation like that, Ohio State, where Will Howard comes in. Will Howard led Kansas State to a Big 12 title in

2022. He started on and off dating back to his freshman year. And the only reason he's not still there, still starting at Kansas State, is they had to choose between him and Avery Johnson, who's the in-state five-star guy who has more eligibility left, who was a freshman last year. So Will Howard joins an Ohio State team that brings back a ton on defense. Ohio State's going to be great on defense next year. How good they are on offense is the big question mark. What kind of staff changes might they make? How is that going to look? There's a lot of question marks around that,

but I don't think you should question that Will Howard is a good quarterback and should be able to be an upgrade over Kyle McCord. Now, no more Martin Harrison Jr., but Jeremiah Smith comes in. If you've watched a little Jeremiah Smith high school highlights, this guy's going to be really good. One more. Notre Dame, Riley Leonard coming in from Duke and Riley Leonard was an excellent starting quarterback at Duke. You saw the difference

between Duke with Riley Leonard without he's a two-year starter there. They've got quite a bit of talent coming back and they have a schedule that is very conducive to making the playoff. Now, is it conducive to winning a national title that I don't know. That's a, that's a bigger question. So I want to give them the benefit of the doubt there though. Cause I do think Riley Leonard having played a lot is capable of getting in the playoff for sure. One more, I left off with it, with a more experienced starting quarterback, Missouri, Brady Cook, he's back. Now, the question with Missouri is they've got to replace some pretty big losses defensively, some really good players up front and in the secondary.

So if Eli Drinkwitz can fill those holes, I got some faith in Brady Cook. Now, he was a dynamic quarterback for them last year, and it justified Eli Drinkwitz's faith in him. And this is a quarterback who was getting booed going into the K-State game and then led them to one of the best seasons they've had in a long time. So those are the ones that I think could do it in this era.

And Carson Beck, Jackson Dart, those seem like the two who feel like they're the most comfortable in their offenses, that they can lead them to new heights. Georgia, it's familiar heights. It's only been a year since they won the national title. But I do think those are the ones that I would look at the most.

From Tufai on Twitter, what do you think the conference splits I do think those are the ones that I would look at the most. From 2Fi on Twitter, what do you think the conference splits will be going into the playoff next year? How many teams from each conference will get in? For example, could a one-loss non-champion from the Big 12 or the ACC make it over a two-or-more-loss non-champ from the Big 10 or the SEC? Absolutely. Absolutely. The Big 10 or the, excuse me, the big 12 or the acc could be multi-bid league so one league's gonna go to a group five or one one bid's gonna go to a group five champ

the sec champ's gonna get a bid the big 10 champ's gonna get a bid the acc champ's gonna get a bid and the big 12 champ I'll get in. So if that were to happen, that takes two more spots away. Cause we've already got their champions in from each league. So that's four spots that leaves three spots. At least three more spots. So you could actually have a two-bid ACC, a two-bid Big 12, and either the Big 10 or the SEC gets four in. I do think that's possible. But you looked at the playoff with the Big 12 especially. Even if you took Texas andoma out of the mix there

would have been a lot of years where they would have been a two-bit league had there been a 12 team playoff so i don't i don't doubt that i and i also think especially with the big 12 it's going to be so competitive at the top there there will be multiple teams that are capable of winning a title you'll go into november with a bunch of one loss teams now the the question is i don't think that there's a question like a one loss getting in over a two or three loss sec or or big 10 team i think the question will be when you're judging like a two loss big 12 team or a two loss acc team against a two loss sec or two loss big 10. That's where I think the SEC, the big 10 is going to get the benefit of the doubt. But I do think you should not be surprised if the ACC or the big 12 or both are two bid leagues. Speaking of the ACC and boy,

there's a lot going on with this school in the ACC. This question is from Chris. Dear Andy, as a Florida state fan, it's easy to get excited when you read the headlines about the former four star recruits we've added in the portal from schools like Georgia and Alabama. How many of these types of transfers are difference makers stuck behind an experienced blue chip player?

And how many are players who might have had an inflated rating coming out of high school and didn't develop where they were? Maybe more importantly, how do you tell the difference when a lot of these kids haven't played much? That is a great question, Chris. And there's no easy answer for the last part of it. How do you tell the difference? But I will say where this helps because they're going to Florida State and not somewhere clear across the country, there's a really good chance that Florida State was either in on their recruitments early or they have somebody who was in on their recruitments at another school that they have a really good idea of what these guys were. I would imagine with a lot of these guys, these are players Florida State wanted at a high school and scouted, had on their board.

And I think given that it's florida state given what we've seen from florida state over the last few years you probably want to give that staff the benefit of the doubt because they've been really great at evaluating players in the transfer portal they've been fantastic at that so i think they probably have a pretty good idea who they want off of these rosters who maybe hasn't played yet. And like you saw Florida State, when Amarius Mims briefly entered the portal from Georgia a few years ago,

they were all over him. And he wound up being a really good player. Now Georgia got him back because he was pretty important. Again, the offensive tackles don't grow on trees. So that would be, I think I would have faith in them in this situation. Now, it's interesting because the roster they used to raid most frequently was South Carolina's. It's interesting to see them raiding Georgia and Alabama's rosters now.

And the thing is, you're not going to get starters necessarily from Georgia or Alabama most of the time, today's news accepted. But usually it's those players who are not starting yet and who don't feel like they're going to start this year. So I think that's really up for debate. And we're going to have to see once those guys get there. Now, some of them you may be just taking on blind faith. Hey, we thought they were good coming out of high school.

We think they can be good now. But you've probably done your homework. You've probably got some idea about what they were as workers at Alabama and Georgia. So you probably have enough intel. Again, because of what we've seen from Florida State so far in the portal, we give them the benefit of the doubt. Five Star QB10 asked a question in the chat. What about the group of five auto bid?

Or not a thing. I mentioned the group of five auto bid when I was listing who might make the playoff. The group of five highest ranked champ will get an auto bid. So that's the one thing still. But remember, there are going to be fewer auto bids because there's no PAC 12. All right. Next question from a phonic TX on Twitter. What is Penn state ceiling?

Realistically huge fan base, huge pool of money for NIL does. Okay. Recruiting and transfer portal, but it's just third place team behind Ohio state and Michigan, no matter what a touchdown short each and every year. Well, okay. First of all, they're not just competing with Ohio State and Michigan anymore. Washington just made the national title game.

They're in the Big Ten now. Oregon's in the Big Ten now. So this isn't just a Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan thing. But as far as the ceiling goes for Penn State, what is it? It's the national title. It's a reasonable expectation for Penn State to make the 12-team playoff and to compete for national titles. That is completely fair.

They have the recruiting territory. They have the fan base. They have the money. They should be able to do this. Now, what's interesting about next year is they don't have to play Michigan in the regular season. They play Ohio State. They play Washington at home. They're at Wisconsin. I do think Luke Fickle will have the Badgers better. They're at USC. We don't know what the Trojans are going to look like in the next version with a new quarterback, with a new defensive coordinator. But Penn State's schedule is very manageable. They've got to go to Morgantown early.

That's going to be tough because Neil Brown brings back a lot of West Virginia's team from this year. But I think it is a perfectly reasonable expectation. If you're a Penn state fan, the Penn state makes the playoff next year. I think if they, if they don't, they're underachieving.

Now, should they win the national title? I don't know if they're there yet, but they should be competitive for it. They absolutely have the raw material, the resources, everything you need to compete for national titles. So it's a matter of just doing it.

And Andy Kotelnicki, a lot of pressure on him as he comes in as OC. How creative will James Franklin let him be? Because if it's like what Lance Leipold let him do, whoo boy, that was a fun offense to watch at Kansas. That was a very fun offense to watch at Kansas. So hopefully that's what you get to see from Penn State's offense next year because it will look very different than what you saw last year. Next question from Todd.

I know you've said Kentucky is the best college football job in America. Does the new college football playoff bring others up to that threshold? It's a good question. I hadn't thought about it this way. I actually think the new college football playoff might make Kentucky not the best job in America anymore because Kentucky fans might start saying, Huh, we're not making the playoff and we're paying Mark Stoops how much? Because I don't think anybody's expecting them to make the playoff.

I do think there have been years under Mark Stoops where Kentucky would make a 12 team playoff. The question is how many times do you have to do it? I don't think you have to make it all that often. I think you do it. If you can do it once every five, six years, maybe once every 10 years,

you're probably good. So that probably keeps Kentucky in the, in the best job in America, top spot because they're not going to fire you for seasons that everybody else in the SEC at programs that are reasonably competitive would get fired for. And I think that's helpful. Now, that may change.

The more success they have, the more the expectations may change. I will add a school to the list. I don't know. It doesn't overtake Kentucky. But Florida State's now paying Mike Norvell $10 million a year. That is a result of whatever happened with Alabama. Again, we don't know where Mike Norvell fell in the pecking order, whether he was offered the job before Kalen DeBoer took it,

or whether they were just worried he might be offered the job and wanted to make sure they made an offer to lock him down. But at the end of the day, he's in the eight-figure club annually. That's pretty good. The difference, though, between Florida State and Kentucky is Florida State will still get real upset. That fan base will get real upset if you are not competing for national titles. If they are paying you $10 million a year and you are not in the mix,

you're not winning the ACC or making the 12-team playoff or winning games in the 12-team playoff, Florida State fans will say, why are we paying you all this? So Mike Norvell inherited a bad situation, built them up, went 13-0 and won the ACC this year.

So he's trajectory- trajectory wise he's doing fine we will see what happens with florida state and the acc uh pete thamel reported new filing today by the acc where they basically said they want the court to issue an injunction that doesn't allow florida state to take part in conference governance while Florida State's suing the league, which should get very, very interesting. I can't wait to see the arguments back and forth on that one. All right. This question comes from Matt. Matt's a Georgia fan. So you can, you see where this is coming from. Dear Eddie,

why did the college football playoff choose a big dance style bracket for the new playoff that can be unfair to the top seeds instead of an NFL style playoff bracket that recedes every round to protect them? Could this change in the future? It's not going to change. If you've got quarterfinal semifinals at neutral sites, because they're going to want to know when the, when the bracket is set, who they're getting. People are going to want to know where they need to travel.

So I don't think it'll change as long as that happens. Now, I've always said that they don't need to have those in bowl games. They need to have those on campus until you get to the national championship game. If you did that, then you could reseed because you're not inconveniencing as many people. But I actually think it's more of a feature than a bug because they want a little bit of the purposeful misseeding.

First of all, the top four going to conference champions only, those guys getting a buy. That is to keep the conference championship games valuable. That is to have some stakes for the SEC championship game, to have some stakes for the Big Ten championship game, the ACC championship game, the Big 12 championship game. So that's not going to change. And also, you're going to get more variability. You're going to get seed upsets that may not be Vegas upsets. And I think that's going to be exciting as a TV product. And I think that's why they're doing it. I think part of the reason why.

But again, as long as the quarters and semis are in bowl games, they're not going to recede. If you get an NFL-style venue set up where it is the home site up until the championship game, then it would open up that possibility. But sorry, Matt, I know you're Bulldogs. You want to make sure they're protected and they don't have to play some incredible eight seed in the quarters too bad you're gonna have to deal with it this question comes from mitch mitch is a michigan state fan you see where this is going does your

current contract with on three included immunity cause mitch is of course, to my speech last night about what Michigan needs to insert into Jim Harbaugh's contract to make him happy. Dan Wetzel reported that he's looking for a clause that would make it where his job is safe no matter what happens with the NCAA. You've read that from Chris Ballas and our friends at the Wolverine as well over the last few weeks. So I don't have an immunity clause in my contract. No, I got to live clean. If I mess up, on three is like, you're out, you're done. So I live a very boring life and that's okay with me. But I don't want you guys to live boring lives. I want to help make your lives more exciting. And good Lord, the amount of news in this sport in the last week have made it really, really fun to cover. We're going to keep talking about it. On Thursday,

we'll talk to some folks about what their programs, the programs they cover, are going to look like in the post-Saban era. Because I do think it changes things for everybody. We're also going to talk a little college hoops with Joe Tipton, get it ready for the weekend. It is going to be a whole lot of fun these next few weeks because basically you wake up every morning, you're like, I have no idea what's going to happen. We still don't. And oh, by the way, Hardball Watch 2024 continues. We'll talk to you tomorrow.