Andy & Ari On3 - The Pac-12 is EXPANDING | A SURPRISE on the Texas A&M-Florida availability report

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

Andy and Ari On3 is presented by Wendy’s, home of Saucy Nuggs! The Money Game is a compelling six-part docuseries that chronicles the introduction of the groundbreaking decision by the NCAA to grant NIL (name, image and likeness) rights to student-athletes, permitting them—for the first time ever—to earn endorsement compensation while maintaining their amateur athletic status. The Money Game features inside access to LSU stars Jayden Daniels, Angel Reese and Livvy Dunne through last year. See the world of NIL through their eyes. Watch The Money Game on Prime Video. https://www.amazon.com/The-Money-Game/dp/B0D9KQWC97?tag=on302-20 This show is also sponsored by PrizePicks, America’s most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code STAPLES to play $5 and get $50 instantly. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/STAPLES (0:00-1:01) Intro(1:01-10:59) Pac-12 Adding 4 new schools; ACC Implications(11:00-11:26) Go Get Some Saucy Nuggs(11:27-12:50) Watch the Money Game on Prime Video(12:51-24:40) Texas A&M at Florida Preview; Injury Report(24:41-31:57) PrizePicks' Numbers of the week(31:58-39:26) Dear Andy, who is CFB's Darth Vader?(39:27-41:45) Ryan Day, Kalen Deboer, and Kirby Smart... or the field?(41:46-43:18) Is the meatball the most appropriately named food?(43:19-52:54) Revisions you'd make to CFP?(52:55-1:00:53) The Gap Between G5 and Power 4 Schools?(1:00:54-1:01:45) Conclusion; Wrapping Up It’s a Dear Andy show, but first we’ve got to talk about more conference realignment. The Pac-12 is adding Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State. What does that mean for the rest of the Mountain West? And does it mean other movement is coming on the other side of the country. Also, the SEC availability reports dropped Wednesday night. The Texas A&M-Florida one had one interesting name and one name that did not appear.   Now it’s time to answer your questions… Who is college football’s Darth Vader? Who wins more national titles over the next five years? Kirby Smart, Ryan Day, Kalen DeBoer or the field? Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

We have conference realignment just dropped. Like this is all happening on the West Coast. They're doing this at like 6 a.m. West Coast time. The Pac-12, the Pac-2, the 2-PAC is going to be a six pack. I remember when I was thinking about getting here and taking this job with you, thinking about how much of a challenge it would be, uh, to do a pod every single day. Nope. And, uh, let me just frankly put it out there.

I'm an idiot. There's always something. There's always, always something. Yeah. So big news realignment um i have some takes like always um but why don't you run them through what's going on and then i'll start blazing the microphone yes here so here's what is happening so the pac-12 which is the two-pack which is oregon state and washington state remember how i was saying all along i thought

they were going to wind up merging with the Mountain West and they would then use the Pac-12 intellectual property and it would become the Pac-12 because that has more brand recognition. Well, they're not going to do it that way. And it sounds like the Mountain West put a little too much pressure on them early and the two Pac-12 schools realized they had some leverage here. And so they decided to use it. So what they're going to do is they're going to cherry pick the best of the Mountain West. So they're taking Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, and San Diego State. That gets them to six. Now, the magic number here is eight. And that's not

necessarily a football number. That's an NCAA number, or that's not necessarily a football number that's a that's a an NCAA number or that's what you need to get a full share from the basketball tournament basically and so they have a provisional right now that they you know because of what happened to them but they need to get back to eight and so this will get them to six they're're not done. So they've said this is a, you know, this is a phase one situation and they will add more. I don't think they're adding more from the Mountain West. I don't think that's the plan. I think that they're looking around maybe like a Memphis or a UTSA, a school like that. Because conference realignment wouldn't be complete unless there's something geographically inaccurate involved.

Well, exactly. But there's also, and this is where it gets really spicy and potentially juicy, what two would make the most sense in the Pac-12 who make the least sense in the conference they're in now? Yeah, that is pretty interesting. Cal and Stanford. Yeah. that that is pretty interesting. Allen Stanford. Uh, yeah. So is something going to happen in the ACC because Callis Stanford are in the ACC now and you would think they're,

they're not leaving the ACC unless something happens, but this says maybe something happens. Cause we've talked about Florida state and Clemson. The lawsuits are the lawsuits. There are, you know, Clemson is suing the ACC in South Carolina. The ACC is suing Clemson in North Carolina.

Florida state is suing the ACC in Florida. The ACC is suing Florida state in North Carolina. Like that has not been resolved and will not be resolved for a little bit, but let's say it gets resolved in a way where Clemson and Florida state can buy their way out. If you're Cal and Stanford, you would be like, hey, look, there's this other place where we still have the patches for the jerseys. Yeah, there's still somewhere in the equipment room. And we don't have to fly to Boston and Pittsburgh. The thing about realignment is that you're always taking the latest round or news and trying to extrapolate what that means for the next round because it never ends.

And, you know, it is interesting because you can kind of look into the future, Andy, and see, well, what is the ACC going to look like in five years if it even exists, right? Because like you said, legal battles and all that stuff. But it does make sense, and it would be kind of great if the Pac-12 was able to reinstill some geographical relevance to this whole thing. So, I mean, I do think that they would make sense culturally in that conference, obviously. And it would be cool to bring some West Coast football back. But here's my take on just the initial news. You ever, you like Bennegan's right? Who doesn't like Bennegan's? Who doesn't want to

win the last time you ate at Bennegan's? Uh, that would probably be like 2004 at the one on Bruce B. Downs in Tampa. Yeah. So like in two, in the early two thousands, they were still pretty alive and well, very much 2005 2005. It was hot, man. Okay. There are still a few locations of Bennigan's open. And actually on our route, because we are driving from Nashville to Madison for the Alabama game this weekend, there is a Bennigan's in Illinois somewhere. If you wanted to go out of your way to relive the magic.

But I see a lot of, yay, the Pac-12 is back tweets. And I kind of feel like they're going to have the logo and they're going to be called the Pac-12. But like, is Bennigan's Bennigan. So you're saying this is like Kenny Rogers roasters in Thailand. Yes. Like, I think that it's like, we'll get the brand back. But is the brand still the brand? You know what I mean?

So there's some media companies that come to mind of like they use a brand, but they're not what they used to be. Did I work for one? Yeah, I don't know. You could think of that. All right. But the interesting part about this is, as you said, though, if this is another first step in more dominoes falling down the line

it is and and so nathan in the chat wants to sneak into dear andy and dear ari here he says with the mountain west teams going to the pac-12 will the fcs will fcs teams backfill the mountain west and so which my money's on the montana schools san diego state and north dakota state very good guess, Nathan. And you are extrapolating very well because that is exactly what the Mountain West is going to do. They are going to probably try to elevate some some FCS schools. And I think the ones you mentioned, Montana, Montana State, you know, the Beth Dutton's favorite school fighting bobcats in Montana State. And then I don't know about North Dakota State and South Dakota State because I I think they've kicked around the idea of going up to FBS for a while,

but I almost wonder if they're just better off being the best programs in the FCS. I don't know. Not everybody needs to chase that. But I do think the Montana schools, it would make sense. Did you bring back Idaho back into the FBS? Because in the whack days, Idaho actually had some good years there in the early 2000s as an FCS school. So that's a potential one. But yeah, that would make sense. And I think they're going to try to make it make some geographic sense if they can. But that's a tough spot for them to be in.

It's crazy because everybody felt so bad for Washington State and Oregon State, and rightfully so because of what happened to them. Well, they're just doing that to somebody else now. Yeah, well, it's just like kind of the food chain. So there's two things I want to ask you. Well, one's more of a question and one's more of a like leading the conversation to the next thing. But does this bring back any warm and fuzzy feelings for you when it comes to like West Coast football and Pac-12 football? No. No, because there's no Oregon.

There's no Washington. There's no USC. There's no UCLA. The Arizona schools are gone. You know, now, the Arizona schools had to be dragged this ball Arizona State especially had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the Big 12. So would they consider it? I don't know. I think they're better off in the Big 12. Like especially your alma mater, for basketball reasons, like the Big 12 is the ultimate

basketball. Yeah, yeah. And Arizona would probably want to stay in there. So I think the ones that went to the Big 12 probably pretty happy with where they are. The one that didn't make sense is Cal and Stanford, and obviously they had to do what they had to do. But we'll see what happens with the ACC down the road. But this is different. Yeah.

So also, too, they changed the playoff, right? Yes. When the Pac-12 disappeared. They're talking about, you know, hopefully if they can get to eight, that they will get CFP money out of that. And they'll get power conference CFP money. Yeah, right. So if they get a power, can they make a power conference out of this new Pac-12?

And do they have to rechange the rules back to five automatic bids? If this all six automatic six. So, yeah. So it changed to five, but four of the top rated power conferences, that's how they had to alter it because we're no longer five power conferences.

Like does the PAC 12 command any sort of this new built PAC 12? I don't think so. Cause it's, it's basically, basically the mountain West. Yeah, no, I'm with you so because it's basically the Mountain West. I'm with you. It's not as strong as, say, the American was before UCF and Cincinnati and Houston went to the Big 12.

It is in no way a power conference. I'm sure they're going to try, but they're not going to get it. But down the line in this made-up scenario, because this is a podcast and it's fun to make made-up scenarios, but if they do find their way into getting Stanford and Cal back over there or something crazy happens and the Arizona schools return, I guess it is within possibility that the PAC 12 could reassert itself

down the line as a power conference. Maybe. I mean, I just, I don't know. I don't know that they're going to have the juice. Kale asks, was it naive of the Mountain West not adding the PAC 1-2 right away, mostly for the sake of protecting themselves? I think they tried, Kale. I think they tried. I think Teresa Gould, who's the commissioner of protecting themselves. I think they tried, Cale. I think they tried.

I think Teresa Gould, who's the commissioner of Pac-12 right now, I think that she did a really good job navigating this, understanding that the leverage was still there for Washington State and Oregon State because the Pac-12 branding is still valuable, especially compared to the Mountain West intellectual property. So that, I think, is why that didn't happen is they realized, hey, we've got some leverage in this. We don't have to just take whatever deal the Mountain West offers us.

We can just take the best of the Mountain West, which is what they did. This is a nasty game, man. Nasty work. Yeah, yeah. People are always making moves behind the scenes and it's uh it's a never-ending thing it feels like so i mean this is the first step now we'll see who else they uh try to add and then of course we'll see in two or three years if anything happens with the acc and we'll be sitting in these chairs and talking about it that's right so we are of course presented

by wendy's uh we had some delicious saucy nugs for lunch. We tried every flavor of saucy nugs. We got a video about that. We'll have to let the people see our breakdown of the saucy nugs. It was a versatile lineup and also very tasty, but the thing I like about it the most is that there was variance

in spice when it came to the flavors, which I think kind of adds a little extra. Yeah. We'll, we'll break it all down. Yeah. We are also sponsored by prime video,

which has the money game, which is something that aimed at the folks who watch this show. Like the people who watch the show are going to love the money game. Six part documentary series, following the athletes at LSU all through last year. So you, you got Jane Daniels is winning the Heisman. You've got Libby Dunn as she's becoming just a megastar influencer, gymnast.

You've got Angel Reese as she is trying to defend a national championship and get ready to go into the WNBA. It's just really interesting stuff. On Prime Video, so much behind-the-scenes access. The part I thought was really interesting in the first couple of episodes you get a lot of behind the scenes of jayden daniels in that lsu alabama game last year and then as he gets remember he took that big hit that knocked him out as he's getting ready for the lsu florida game after that it's it's really interesting look

behind the scenes there so if you want to watch, if you're already subscribed to Prime Video, there's a link in the show description that you're watching on YouTube right now. Just click that link. It'll take you right to the money game. If you have not signed up for Prime Video yet, what are you even doing? You got to get the rings of power. You got to watch Roadhouse and you also have to watch the money game. So click that link. It'll help you get signed up and you'll be good to go. Watch the money game so click that link it'll help you get signed up and you'll be good to go watch the money game on prime video all right all right now we need to talk about this is gonna be our new thursday thing these availability reports yeah so you

you've got the sec and the big ten are doing them a couple of SEC conference games this week. It'll really hit next week when almost everybody's playing conference games. But you've got LSU, South Carolina. You've got Texas A&M, Florida. Texas A&M, Florida is the really interesting one because you and I were talking about Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway. We talked about all week.

Graham Mertz did not appear on the availability report, which is a good thing for your availability because it means you are available. He's not questionable. He's not doubtful. And he is not out. So Billy Napier has a choice to make. I've said my piece on this. I think he's going to go a different direction.

But I think Graham Mertz probably winds up starting. Yeah. I have also said my piece on this. I disagree with that, but it also kind of felt like the writing was on the wall if he was able to go. The fact that he's not even on it is just an illustration that, I mean, I take that as he's 100% or that he's ready to play. So, you know, I don't know what the plan was going into the season for Florida

and whether or not they thought there was a chance at the beginning of the year had they lost to Miami that they would make a change at the starting quarterback. I think the plan was that DJ would play a lot. But in terms of which quarterback is the first to try out onto that field on Saturday, I'm fairly certain, it feels like anyway, that Grant Mertz is going to be that guy. Now, there was a surprise name on it on the Florida side. Oh, Billy. That's Eugene Wilson, who is Florida's be that guy. Now, there was a surprise name on it on the Florida side. Oh, Billy. That's Eugene Wilson, who is Florida's most dynamic receiver.

And he had his breakout game against Sanford. Now, obviously, it was against Sanford. But the imagination starts to run wild seeing DJ Lagway throwing passes to Eugene Wilson because he has kind of that human joystick capability, you think. And you finally got to see him catching balls in stride down the field well he's questionable now and Nick Del Torre from on three skaters online reported that he got hurt on Monday and so we don't exactly know how much he can be used with it you be something he can just play through, but just another thing for Florida and Billy Napier,

like, oh, come on. Because you're already questioning whether or not Florida has enough skill talent for a place like Florida, and then the best one gets injured. You really hope he'd want to play, and it's like you said this just now, but the imagination does run wild and like that is the good stuff that's what billy napier needs he needs people's imaginations to run wild yeah because you can imagine him being employed next year which is another well you know there's another

thing we need to imagine here because i i had a friend who is a big texas a&m fan texting me yesterday and saying who do you think wins and i And I said, I'm not really sure. I picked Texas A&M, but it's a very tight spread. I'm not super confident in that pick. And they said, this is a must win for us, too, referring to the Aggies. Sure. And you had been mentioning that, and I hadn't thought about it that way, but this almost feels like the run-up to the Florida-Miami game all over again, where whoever loses is melting down. Yeah, so the question is, who melts down more now?

And I think that you could make the case that's going to be A&M fans if they come up short. Because one, Florida has been living in a land of sadness. They've been living in hell since the Miami game. Yeah, you can say it. Yes, they've been living in hell since the Miami game yeah you can say it yes they've been living in hell and when you're living in hell uh sometimes it just can't get worse and sometimes it's just it is what it is like you know where things stand and if Florida comes out they play Graham Mertz and they lose this game um you know just more of the same that they're already feeling. For A&M, and this was true coming into the season, it's like we did not really know who they were, Andy, or who they were going to be.

And I think any time you have a roster that does have guys on it, they have a lot of good players. The Senior Bowl watch list, they had 20 guys on it. 20. Yeah. That's second most to Ole Miss, and it's tied with Georgia. I think that the veteran presence

on that team, mixed with some young talent, is the reason why their over-under win total for the year was 8.5. There was a thought process coming into the year that, hey, Mike Elko has already turned around another program.

That if you were to infuse, and it's the same kind of thing that I talk about with Nebraska, infuse some functionality to it. You could take those pieces and really overachieve. So the question really is, now that they've lost to Notre Dame, a loss that looks a lot worse now than it did when it happened, if they turn around and lose to Florida, do your mind start to imagine negative things about Mike Elko?

How much responsibility do you place on his shoulders in year one? And what should have been or what are reasonable expectations for what A&M was supposed to be this year? Because with A&M, I get it. There's always next year. It's like next year is always the year. And it's just at a certain point, a proud, loud, excited fan base just cannot take it anymore.

And I feel like Mike Elko is going to catch the brunt at the beginning of this year for underachieving or playing well that that Jimbo Fisher like like people were angry coming into the year right it's like it wasn't like this is what he inherited this is not I mean and he went out and got what he could get it Nick Skorton's a great get out of the transfer but he's got to deal with what he inherited from Jimbo Fisher for the most part yeah and here's a theory I've had about A&M for a long time. And I want you to walk me or walk down this aisle with me. Walk down this path. Maybe one day, you know.

Okay. Um, but when you look at A&M's roster and you look at the fact that they had high hopes for a coach, like you saw Dabo Sweeney running around, like when I say high hopes for a coach like you saw dabble sweeney running around like when i say high hopes for a coach i mean like a brand name person that that strikes immediate excitement because that works so well the last time yeah but that's what yeah like it or not that's what fans wanted i know and i think fans crave and want familiarity so because a and m got somebody who was familiar with the program, but wasn't necessarily like a sexy superstar when it comes to like brand and name. If the leash of benefit of the doubt is much lower because they come into the season agitated already. They're agitated that they had the greatest recruiting class on paper of all time two or three years ago, and it's already not going to pan out.

They are agitated because they had a lot of good players on their team and they never could put it together because their coach was stubborn offensively, Jimbo Fisher I'm talking about. And now they're probably mildly agitated because a place that has more money than most programs, a lot of oil money down there, wasn't able to go make a splash that brought in a name that was recognizable and proven. Now, I don't think that's rational because I don't know who that person is. And I think that actually hiring somebody who's proven to be a good football coach would actually do that, play some good. But I don't feel like Mike Elko takes over at A&M during a time where people are at the peak of rationality. Like, I think that he's taking over at a very turbulent time.

And even though he has had next to no time to flip the roster completely and put them in a position to compete for SEC championships. Like, if you start the year losing to Notre Dame, a team that lost to NIU, and then turn around and lose to Florida, a team that's basically on complete fire right now. As an A&M fan, you're Serenda Cobring too, right? Exactly. There's a small sample size problem here because Florida looked awful against Miami. But what if Miami is awesome? What if Miami is a true national title contender?

We just don't know that yet. Cause we haven't seen him play anybody else. Yeah. No, I mean, and that's also on the table for sure. And like the first part of the season is always about putting together the pieces of context that we don't have.

And yeah, you know, I am wondering too, like what if Clemson is an 11 win team that happened to run into a buzzsaw? Like there's a, there's a lot of these examples around college football, but you want to know what, when you've invested as much money as a andM has both in the roster and the buyout and

the coach, um, and you lose two times in your first three games. I think, I mean, I think we have some pretty good context on Notre Dame like that. Like, I mean, I don't think that sample size a little different. So like, I think, I don't know that we're, even if they were playing Alabama on Saturday and they were to lose, it would be really, really upsetting. So they're not playing Alabama. They're playing a very deeply flawed team. Because even if Miami is a national championship contender, I think that Florida's warts travel, to borrow your word.

I don't know that those are things that you just erase because you played a really good team. They were not competitive in the game. Right. And specifically not competitive on both lines of scrimmage, which I feel like is, that's the part that And it was an opener and it was at home. And even if they were, if Miami turns out to be, because I have them ranked in the top five, like I have a lot of respect and excitement for Miami. I just think that in that specific scenario, Florida should have

shown some, some more fight if they were even kind of good. You know what I mean? Like, I think I know what Florida is. So yeah. So yeah. If Florida were to beat A&M here, if you're an A&M fan,

I don't know, there's a way to frame it. That makes you feel you're one to, you're one to just bury your face in a fuego taco and, and never come out. Yeah. And it's like, I don't know that Mike Elko is going to catch the brunt of,

of hot seat discussions. We're not going to go down that like, I don't know that Mike Elko is going to catch the brunt of hot seat discussions. We're not going to go down that road, I don't think. I hope not. But at the same time, too, you know how quickly you can lose fan sentiment. You already had people who aren't necessarily paying attention to college football all day, every day, who were probably underwhelmed by the hire

just because, like I said, the lack of brand. And then you come out and go one and two, like, that's just a tough pill to swallow. And then all of a sudden you're putting your coach who's literally just got on campus like six months ago, actually almost a year now, time goes fast into a pressure cooker. Because like then next year, it's like, what if Conor Wegman's not that dude? Like, what, what do you do to if Connor Wegman's not that dude? What do you do to replace some of the guys that you're going to lose?

If they win this game, there might be some guy from nearby Willis, Texas. From Willis, Texas, yeah. Maybe the best part about this game is win or lose. You just give them that extra three-second hug. You grab onto those pads. Yeah, one of these. How's your mama now? Yeah, exactly. Really good watching you play out there. grab onto those pads a little bit yeah one of these how's your mama now yeah exactly uh really good really good watching you play out there you've got a bright future ahead of you yeah

oh this is gonna be all of this is gonna be a mess this whole saturday they're like 3 30 saturday in the swamp that's gonna be a mess i i for somebody there's two different types of inherent interest it's whoa two really good teams playing each other who's going to win and what does this mean for the future and it's also like okay there's two trash cans on fire which one's going to catch most of the flame like and i don't think that a and m is that but i think that florida is that but i think a and m fans will feel that way they will feel that way and i think that feeling that way is a transferable thing yeah uh year over year yeah they're already in the dumps right because they could lose this

game and and like you're in a first year in a new coach they could turn it around i think they're tired of talking about turning it around i think they're i think they just want to get off to a hot start all right ari we got to talk numbers because our friends at PrizePix have put out the board for this college football week. And there are some key numbers in some key games that we've been looking at the last couple of days that I think are absolutely fascinating. And so PrizePix, by the way, you download that app, best daily fantasy game in America. Use code Staples. You play $ America. Use code STAPLES. You play $5. You get $50 instantly.

So let's talk about some of these numbers. I am looking at LSU South Carolina, and I am looking at the number for LSU running back Josh Williams, 44.5 rushing yards. And if you're playing prize picks, you decide, I think he will run for more than this, or I think he will run for less than this. You choose that square. You pick at least two squares, pick more squares. The more you pick, the more the potential payout. But I'm talking about this particular square right now, Josh Williams, 44 and a half rushing yards. If it's more than, I think it is a good sign that LSU is winning this game. If LSU cannot effectively run the ball,

they could very easily lose at Williams-Rice Stadium. What does that number tell you? It tells me that they don't feel particularly confident that he's going to run for a lot of yards. I think that number tells you that LSU can't run the football this year. I think that's literally what that says. You can't run the football this year. Well, exactly. I think that's literally what that says. You've got two first-round offensive tackles.

You've got a veteran interior offensive line. At some point, do you assert your will and a back-bust loose for a 100-yard game? I mean, you could, yeah, as you know, you could break off a run and get there. But the thing that I think is most interesting about this is, is that if LSU's running game was in peak form and this was a team that was able to win at a high level, that that would be a terrible game at that number. That's like a baseline of like, this is going to happen.

And that scares me for LSU. And we both picked LSU in this game, but I, I'm the more, the more this goes, the more I worry that I may have been wrong on that one. Well, also too,

we picked the game before we got some of these, uh, price picks numbers to contextualize it. So like that, I mean, that makes me nervous looking at that. Yeah. All right.

Let's, let's look at Georgia, Kentucky, and this is a game that I don't think we're concerned about at that. Yeah. All right. Let's look at Georgia-Kentucky. And this is a game that I don't think we're concerned about who's going to win this game. I think we know Georgia's going to win this game. I want to see, does Kentucky show signs of life after what happened in South Carolina?

Because that is as bad a performance by a team that had high hopes for a season as I can remember. Well, I guess it really dates back to two weeks ago when Florida played Miami. But that was the egg that was laid there. Because in my mind going to Florida-Miami, I could imagine Miami dump trucking Florida. I could not have imagined South Carolina doing what it did to Kentucky and I feel like re-watching that game a lot of that was Kentucky's fault like that wasn't South Carolina being dominant that was Kentucky being awful yeah so what do we get from Kentucky and

the Brock Vandegrift number here 129 and a half yards he He threw for 30 against South Carolina. He's now going up against his former team, which has a much better defense in South Carolina. But you look at the, to, to steal your line about the LSU rushing totals. I mean, if you can't throw for more than 130 yards,

what are you even doing? Well, the problem too is that we don't know that he's going to play the whole game. Well, exactly. He got pulled. So when your quarterback is being pulled, that's a tough thing to try to predict. But the thing I will say is that during Kentucky's good years, when they face Georgia, it turns into a flattening more often than not. And by more often, I mean every time.

Yeah. So now you come in when sentiment is down and it looked like you couldn't do even basic fundamental things the previous weekend. It's just kind of like, what is even... What is a victory for UK on Saturday? What does that look like? Show some fight.

Show some signs of life. Be in a two-possession game in the third quarter and hit hard and be on assignment and just be a team that cares because it didn't even look like they were going through the motions. The defense looked so confused against South Carolina. There were guys running open and that defense

is not usually like that. Brad White does a good job. They're usually in the right places. Nothing nothing made sense last week. So Gavin Wim said is the backup, the former Rutgers starter. So highly rated prospect from Kentucky who went to Rutgers and returned back. Like,

right. Yeah. So we'll, we'll see what happens. One more number on thrashing. That's from Texas A&M at Florida. Uh, Le'Veon Moss,

the Texas A&M running back. His number is 70 and.5 rushing yards. And my thinking on this, Ari, is if it's more than, then you are looking at a pretty comfortable Texas A&M win because they have dominated on the lines of scrimmage. Yeah, well, I think that's the number one question about Florida, really. I mean, well, not the number one question, but the question that we haven't been talking enough about is

where is Florida's line play? Their D-line looked terrible against Miami. Terrible. So what are we going to see against Texas A&M, which does not, we don't think, have as good of an offensive line as Miami. And you can also have a pretty solid ability to stop the run without ever having a good pass rush because those are very different you know jobs so i don't know how much you can extrapolate on cam ward's jersey not ever

being touched in the entire miami game but i don't come into the florida game with a ton of confidence that this defense is going to get after it yeah um and connor wegman if he has the time back there like we could see a whole new Connor Wegman too because as you know, when there's no one in your face, it's a lot easier to go through your progressions and to go through your reads and to make good decisions and move the football. I'm not high on Florida's defense either, even though the number one discussion point always is what to do with the quarterback. So Connor Wegman's prize picks number, by the way,

200.5 passing yards. And if he goes more than 200.5, then Texas A&M wins. I think that's more telling than even the rushing yard. Okay. Well, if you like any of those squares that we just talked about, you can play those. But there's one that prize picks is going to offer you that It's just make things a little bit easier. Every weekend in September, you get a free Caleb Williams square. So remember they do all the sports. So you just click the NFL tab. There's a Caleb Williams square 0.5 passing yards more than. And so if he throws for a yard, you win that square. So if you're feeling super confident about one of the ones we've talked about, just tag that with the Caleb Williams

square and you're, you're feeling really good about the way you're playing. So use that code staples, play five, get 50 instantly. That's prize picks. All right. It is dear Andy time. Your questions answered by us. Let's start out with one from Justin. James Earl Jones, who passed away at age 93 this week, may he rest in peace, has many acting credits to his portfolio, but he's mostly known,

I don't know if he's mostly known, but very well known for voicing Darth Vader. Saban and Harbaugh have left college football. Who is the Darth Vader of college football? And could there be multiple Vader's in college football? And this is where I wish I had asked producer river to have that bleeped Kirby smart speech ready. Cause instead of I've been waiting for this my whole life offense defense that that that's the sound of college

football's dark fader kirby smart is college football's dark fader there's no question about okay so i think we might have our first major disagreement what on our show um this is but i have to ask for context all right okay is darth vader just the villain or is it like a multifaceted layered? Oh yeah. I don't know. I didn't know that James Earl Jones was the voice of Darth Vader till just right now. And I don't know,

uh, guys, I don't like this. It's not my thing. I'll never be a star Wars dude. Okay. But I'm saying like, do people just,

is he just, are we, is this a funny way of saying the villain? Well, it was Darth Vader was the villain. I know there's some weird family tree stuff going on there. Spoilers for a movie that came out in, well, I guess it was Empire Strikes Back. So spoilers for a movie that came out in 1980.

But yeah, Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father. He is former Jedi Anakin Skywalker. He was a good guy who was then turned into a bad guy but to become a bad guy in the movies by emperor palpatine yes by palpatine yes i think i got some of that to stop my uh daughter's throw up he's a stiff lord always there are two palpatine for bad gas and all right okay i'm sorry. So is it just the villain? It's the villain. OK, well, it's not the bill. It's the force that seems unstoppable.

So when you meet Darth Vader in A New Hope, you don't. How in the world can anyone overcome this? That's how you feel about the Darth Vader of college football. OK, well, that's two multifaceted things. So, like, yes, I agree with you that Georgia is that entity. Yeah. But is Kirby Smart a villain? I think he's a villain to everybody who is trying to beat Georgia.

I actually wrote this. I think that Kirby Smart's a very likable dude. Oh, trust me. He's one that you like. If he was my team's coach, I'd love him. But if you ask Florida people, if you ask Alabama people, if you ask, well, Alabama people like him because he was their defensive coordinator.

But anybody who, if he's in their way. Yeah, but that's true for anybody. Who's the, like, like Jim Harbaugh last year, people did not like him. But Nick Saban, everyone respected, but everyone feared him like Darth Vader. Right. But who was Darth Vader last year? It wasn't Jim Harbaugh. Because I feel like, so we're not talking just about pure villains here

because like Nick Saban was the force that you, how do you overcome this? Okay, all right. So I'm just trying to work through Star Wars stuff here because I do think that Kirby's smart. Like, I don't know that other fans, and I don't see it a lot. I could be wrong, but like, I don't know that USC fans are like, God, I hate Kirby. I don't know that other fans, and I don't see it a lot. I could be wrong, but I don't know that USC fans are like, God, I hate Kirby Smart. I don't know.

I don't know that Ohio State fans are like, God, I hate Kirby Smart. Let's turn that over to the chat. Do people hate Kirby Smart? I respect his success, and he is like. Goat dog, Saban was Palpatine. All right, River, play that speech. Trust your preparation. Your is prepared for this. For 365 days, I think about that locker room.

Think about getting our opportunity. All you went through this week to get ready for this game, now is when you pay the price. You go out there with energy, enthusiasm. Hey, guys, ain't nobody in this room should be cautious. Ain't nobody in this room should be nervous about. Go out here. Don't think about this room should be nervous about it. Go out here. Don't think about scoreboard.

Don't think about s***. You think about knocking the s*** out of the house. Did you hear what Box said on Monday? When I sat in the s***, I wanted to s*** right then. Two years out here. Two years. You got pride and joy. Tell me you guys up.

You're going to play the right way. You play the right way. You knock. You stay out. You tackle the ball. It's easy. Look at the right. Putter in the offense and kick special teams, guys.

It's about who we are. I believe in you. Let's go get it. Sounds like my CPAP machine. No, no, seriously, though. Like, I'm reading the comments. How are you not afraid of that if you are a team that aspires to win the national title? I just think it's easy to admire. Like, I don't think I would despise that person.

But are you afraid of it? Then yes. If that's like, because like, okay. So it's not just pure villain because I feel like there are people, there are people like Kirby smart on the list of most unlikable coaches in college football, I think is relatively low. Yeah. Like sometimes people just hate the best and that's just it.

Like Nick Saban did get hated, but like, did people just like despise Nick Saban? Yes. Okay yes okay so like I don't know that Kirby Smart is there and I actually think watching that video is more proof of like why he's cool well I know I like you would want him to be your team's coach but yeah if you if you need to beat him you will fear him but people don't view Kirby the way they viewed Urban Meyer yeah they do you don't live around florida fans i do urban meyer was not a very liked person across the board from coast to coast i understand regional you are looking at likability from a standpoint of we get to know these guys you've got to think about it like a fan well i know but you live in the in a rivalry zone i'm saying like let's use like like teams that

aren't impacted by georgia very often like do arizona state fans have an opinion about jim harbaugh did they have did they have an opinion about everybody has an opinion about jim i think that they did like i don't know that like an asu fan is like god i just cannot stand kirby smart like i just don't think that's real uh and uh you know it's an interesting thought but i do have like a an actual thought about villains of the sport and who could be villains. I think Lincoln Riley could be a villain. Yes, I agree.

I think people don't like how that Oklahoma U.S. There's a reason to not like him. Brian Kelly is a villain. I think Dabo Sweeney, if his team ever gets good again, could be a villain to a certain extent. But I also think that guys like Dan Lanning, who smoked cigars on National Signing Day and made that video on purpose of pregame of Colorado,

we're fighting for wins, not clicks. Dan Lanning has that edge to him, too. He just hasn't won yet to put it out there yet. But there's some guys out there that have a little sense of, I like him, I don't like him, that have nothing to do with how good their football team is how well they recruit. Well, Lane. Yeah. But I think Lane can go either way, depending on how you feel. Yeah. Some people love Lane and some people don't, but like nobody's opinion of Lane Kiffin is like, God, Ole Miss is just too good. Like there's their opinion of him,

his past and who he is as a person. Yeah. So yeah. But you know what? I'll go watch Star Wars. I'm not going to do that. All right. Our question comes with jay asks who wins more national championships over the next five years herbie smart ryan day and kaylin deborah or the field am i doing it right i think so there you go you got it i mean there's no other way to answer this question dude like you want to like get you want to be like, get – you want to be, like, different, go be different. But, like, I'm taking Kirby Smart. Like, what are we doing?

Well, no, no, no. It's those three together or the field. Kirby Smart. You think Kirby Smart will win more than all of them? That's not the question. The question is, Kirby Smart plus Ryan Day plus Kalen DeBoer. Oh, okay. Sorry, I misunderstood that.

Sorry, I was too busy doing the... That was a snore. Probably the power coaches. Yeah, I don't even think this is a question. It's obviously a question. I don't think there's a debate to be had here i think they will over the next five years because i would say those three i would bet they they account for at least three national titles in the next five years and that makes it impossible for the field to to have more yeah no i'm with you um the there's a certain few coaches in that category that I think could make it interesting.

Like Dan Lanning is in the field. Lane. Lane Kiffin's in the field. And this is an interesting year. Mario Cristobal's in the field. Billy Napier's in the field. Yeah. Okay.

No, but I mean, I don't know if it's open and shut, but there's no way that you could pick. Lincoln Riley's in the field. You have a lot of teams that are pretty good this year that are in the field. James Franklin's in the field. Yeah, James Franklin's in the field. Who are we forgetting?

I still think it's those three guys. Yeah. You could have probably given me Kirby Smart and Ryan Day, and I probably would have still gone with it. Yeah, It's just too, like, you could have probably given me Kirby Smart and Ryan Day, and I probably would have. Yeah, Kirby Smart and Ryan Day. You give me Caleb DeBoer at Alabama, too. Added into it, yeah. And, like, one of those three teams do seem like one of the,

like, already out of the gate this year. If, like, I had to bet, like, that would be, my champion would come from that pool. So the rest of that question, or part two of that question is the meatball, the most appropriately, appropriately named food. Yes. Yes.

It is a ball of meat. And it's, it's like it was search engine optimization before anybody knew what that was. Like this show is called Andy and Ari on three, because I am named Andy. He's named Ari. We work it on three.

And so we want you to go, Oh, I, what is, what's that show? Andy staples and Ari was, you literally type in what you would type into Google. That's the name of the show.

Yeah. That's why we named it this. So the meatball named long before the internet existed, just named perfectly. Hey, what are you making? Balls of meat. Oh, what are other foods that kind of in that category though like cheese stick cheese stick is good mozzarella stick yeah mozzarella stick

there's too many syllables yeah one though chicken nugget chicken nugget is good saucy nugs saucy nugs is good saucy nugs is perfect um yeah no that i i think that because like things like pizza don't work because it doesn't describe what it is. Yeah, it's a pizza is an abstract concept. Yes. Meatball is a ball of meat. Yeah. So yeah, cheese sticks good.

All right. But meatballs are good. That's a great question. Great lower third from producer River here. If you're watching in video form, if you're if you're on the podcast you need to watch the video version every once in a while because you get some treats like this this beautiful lower third with a picture of a meatball that says is the meatball the most appropriately named food i love it all right next question this is from sarong in your post week two playoff predictions you said not to freak

out if a better at large team is noted in the top four because those are reserved for conference champs. I think the casual who isn't paying attention until later this season is going to freak out. Probably the same for when they realize the 12th seed is likely going to be for the group of five rep and not the 12th ranked team. This is more of a comment leading into, what revisions would you expect from the committee? Would you like to see in upcoming years about playoff seeding?

Do you think they'll explore reseating? So the best teams remain, or do the bulls want a spicy saucy nug quarterfinal? For example, if all the lower seats advanced in round one, is it better to have USC, Ohio state in the sugar bowl or Ohio state UNLV and gamble on the USC, Utah winter versus Ohio state for a semifinal?

What are the teams got to pick their opponents? I think the NBA has brought this up for round ones, but no traction. What if they reseated the whole bracket instead of just the half you're on? So the reseating, the NFL does reseating. They're not going to do that because they have the neutral site games already set, the bowl game. The bowls want to know who they're getting, which, again, it's stupid that they're doing these in bowls.

I'm going to say it again because maybe they can't hear us. It's really stupid that you're doing this in bowls. It should be on campus until the championship game. So here's the thing about the reseeding. I think we look at the bracket this year. And I actually posted this on Twitter and people got mad at me. So to me, I was just looking ahead at the way that the season could play out and I thought well you could actually make the genuine case that the best thing that could

happen to Texas this year is losing to Georgia closely at home because that would knock them out of the top four but they would probably finish somewhere in the five unless they had to play as long as they don't make the SEC championship game and have to play them again yes but even so, they could win the first one and lose the second one and then still be in the same scenario. Losing to Georgia once could be the best thing that happens to them if that lines up perfectly because you could make the real case that being the five seed this year is more advantageous

than being the one seed, which is stupid. It shouldn't be that way. But yeah, five gets to play 12, and if they beat 12, because that's going to be the easiest first-round opponent... Then they would presumably play the Big 12 champion in the second round. Or the ACC champion.

Or the ACC champion, depending on which one's weaker. Who probably won't actually be ranked number four. And it's within the realm of possibility that the number one seed would have to play the Big 10 champ in the second round, right? Not the champ in the second round. I'm sorry, the big, yeah, the next great Big Ten team. Or another great SEC team.

They won't play the champ because they'll be, I'm saying like another great team from that conference. The 8-9 winner is a hell of a lot scarier. Right. Probably. right probably so would you rather play an extra game against a team you're favored by 18 to 21 against and then go out and play the big 12 or acc champ the lowest rated ranked conference champ or would you rather not play one game and then end up playing the loser of the big 10 championship yeah or the or the loser of the sec champion that stinks. But when you get down to reseeding, though, Andy, is how do you possibly do it from a year-to-year basis

when some of the best teams in the toughest matchups, you can't predict where they're going to be year over year. Like the second or third best team in college football could conceivably be in the Big 12 one year. Well, no, no. No, reseeding means at the end of each round of the playoffs, you're going to reseed it. To the lowest.

Yeah. But like the lowest isn't always going to be the easiest matchup is what I'm saying. And that's the problem. Deliberately misseating the bracket makes it impossible to do that. Having it in bowl games makes it impossible to do that. But in this system, it's not like the NFL. In the NFL, you seat it based on where you finish, and all the teams are relatively equal once you get to that second

and third round of the playoffs. But in college football, if a team is the 10 or the 9 seed, they theoretically could be the third best team in college football. So how do you reseed it to avoid? They wouldn't be the third best. The 5th seed would be the third best. No, but I'm saying the 6th seed could be the 4th best. You're misunderstanding me. There have been years where teams don't make the 14 field that would have won the national title potentially had they made it. So on paper and record is very different than who they want to play the least. So the ninth or eighth or 10th seed one year could be a two or

three loss Georgia team that nobody on earth would want to play, but they got hot at the end of the year and made it. And that, so it's like like you can't do a receding scenario that automatically creates the easiest path I'm not talking about stats and records I'm talking about who do you not want to play and like the truth serum discussion like that right and that's so like so wrong brought that up in the question like I actually think it'd be so much fun if they just ask the one seed who do you want to play first like yeah that would be the most insulting thing ever if they pick you. But they probably would just pick the 12.

But then in the second round, I guarantee you they're not picking the loser of the Big Ten or the SEC Championship game. They're probably not picking the third place team in those conferences. Right. The choose-your-own-adventure aspect of it would be amazing. They'll never do it.

Would you imagine if they did the choose-your-adventure and they televised it? Yes. It would be amazing. You have the coaches like let's say let's say Alabama is the one seed. You have Kalen DeBoer standing there and you're like, okay, Kalen, who do you want to play first? And who would you want to play the winner of second? And so he'll name those three teams. And meanwhile, you have live shots of those three teams going

well, the thing that would be really pure comedy teams and meanwhile you have live shots of those three teams going well the thing that would be really pure comedy is because it would happen eventually is that if you picked your adventure and then lost exactly because it'd be amazing I could get yourself like be like we want to play that team well you're going to piss off that team by naming them as the one

you want to play yeah so you've got put the target on your back but it does kind of interesting to have like what team do we match up with well exactly exactly do you think we could run the ball on the best that what's the best thing that we do how does that match up with the worst thing that they do like i i think that that would be that would be comedy and that would be highly entertaining i just don't know how practical it is now i don't think so the question and somebody asked me this on reddit the other day when i was doing that q&A, Andy, but it's like, what is the actual solution to ensuring that the top seeds have the easiest paths? And the truth is that there is no easy solution.

And the second point here that I'm going to make is I don't know where we lost it. And you can clip this, River. Go ahead. But we have somehow in this big scheme of expanding this playoff to 12 lost the plot that this is supposed to be about crowning the national champion and it's supposed to be really really hard so even if your team has a bad route it happens to people in the NCAA tournament all the time but if you want to be the national champion of the sport then beat whoever you're playing because this isn't like a everybody love everybody tournament where everybody gets to feel good if you get a really hard team and you have to beat Georgia in the second round,

then beat them if you want to be the national champion and quit crying about it. That's how I feel about it. You know, that was a very beautiful way of saying that, very forceful. I believe Ric Flair said it better. Oh, I don't like wrestling. If you want to be the man, you got to beat the man. It's true.

Come on. We're going to talk a lot about seeding, and there are in this system going to be teams that get jobs. Well, there are. What's going to happen? We already know that the SEC and the Big Ten have already said their piece. They would like to go to 14 in 2026. They would like to only have two buys,

and we all know who's going to get those two buys in most years. So I think that's – But then I'm okay with that because they would have beaten the teams that they played in the first round anyway because there aren't really 12 teams good enough to win a national championship in a given year. At most, they're sick. That would take away the deliberate misseeding, which would probably help.

But what do you think about the deliberate misseating of, like, you're in the playoff committee room and you know who's better. It might not be who has the best record or who accomplished the most, but you know, like, do you think the people in the committee – Well, they did that. They did that last year. Yeah, so they have to do that. They thought Alabama was better than Florida State. No, but I'm saying in this new field, do you move teams up and down

based on which teams would have the easier path yeah do you like do you like foresee like does the committee have the frame of mind no no that the the if georgia's a two loss team for some reason that no one's going to want to play georgia in december they're just going to they're just going to rank it the way they see it and then i realize everybody thinks it's a giant conspiracy that espn's pressing a button i don't think so i think they're going to rank them the way they feel like they should be ranked yeah but you know and the good news is as a viewer when teams get screwed because they will right some teams will have a more advantageous path it happens in the ncaa tournament it happens in the nfl didn't it kind of happen uh you know in the nba this year

didn't people say the celtics had the easiest path to the nba finals in the NBA this year, didn't people say the Celtics had the easiest path to the NBA finals in the history of the sport. So like it happens, but that's also happenstance. And the good news is, is that when teams do get screwed, unless it's your favorite team, it's going to result in an awesome game for us. So like, it's not that broken. And guess what? Winning a national championship is supposed to be the hardest thing to do.

And if it's hard, then it's going to be hard. Like, I don't really have a lot of patience for like, oh, we got screwed in seeding. You think that Georgia wanted to play Ohio State in the first round of the 14 field two years ago? Nope. But Ohio State on paper was the fourth best team because they lost to Michigan and their record was worse.

But do you think they were worse than TCU? It happened already. Georgia knew if they beat Ohio State, they were winning national. Yeah. So they got screwed in their seeding and they were the number one seed two years ago and won the national title. So it doesn't matter like that. Like so yeah, that's my piece on it. Next question.

Willie, send us a video. Dear Andy and Ari, I have two questions for you. And yes, Ari, that is me proudly displaying both of my Houston Astros championship replica rings. Because as a real fan, we don't care what anybody else thinks about our championships. You still have to call us champions.

Question number one, is there an update on Les Miles and his vacated wins in trying to get into the Hall of Fame? And then two, which is actually my real big question, is with everything that's going on that's changed with the numbers of scholarships and coaches being on the field, I've noticed a pretty significant trend of G5 players having success at the P4 level, but not so much in the reverse. So I think that could start to create a little bit of a distance or gap in the talent, but then also with now the opportunity for G5 coaches to be on the field and actually make a significant name for themselves in the P4 as an assistant or an analyst, I think that's also going to continue to see a lot of those coaches really move up to the P4 ranks. So my question is, in how long of a time are we going to see where there just becomes so much of a gap between the G5 and

the P4 that they really aren't even in the same conversation anymore and maybe even hopefully getting the G5 their own playoff system okay so we got two questions from Willie we'll start with question one the last month there's no update on Les miles and his lawsuit to try to get his vacated wins back. Remember the hall of fame, the college football hall of fame, you have to have a 600 lifetime winning percentage. And less miles is just below that because of the games that got vacated at

LSU. Now, if less miles had never chosen to go to Kansas, it'd still be above that threshold, even with the vacated wins. So we'll see what happens with that. But to Willie's other question about the gap between the power conferences and the group of five. It's a very different question or much, I guess, a much more interesting question now than when Willie said it yesterday.

Because for sure, because it's like 12 stuff. Exactly. So now we kind of get to see that in real time like they're going to try to say we're a power conference because we have the name of what used to be a power conference will anybody buy that I don't know man what do you think I don't so. I think they will look at the lineup and say, you've got Oregon State and Washington State, two programs that occasionally were good in the Pac-12,

but weren't always good in the Pac-12. And then you've got a bunch of Mountain West teams. And then whoever else you add, whether that's somebody from the American or somewhere else, or if you were to get Cal and Stanford back somehow, I don't, I don't think if you put that side by side with the big 12, you put that,

we'll see what the ACC would look like in that scenario. Cause we don't, we're again, we don't know with Florida, St. Clemson, what's going to happen. Like a bubbling down here.

And it's just like, it's bubbling. But is it, is that anything like the Big Ten and the SEC? No. Not even close. Can I say something that might be really offensive? I'm a little nervous, though.

When has that ever stopped you? I'm going to whisper it. Oh, boy. What's the distinction between the Big 12 and the New Pack 12? The Big 12 has better teams they're in my opinion a power conference is a team is a conference or a group of teams because when the power five was instituted that had one two or more national powers that were absolute top tier program so. So wagons. Okay, so you need national title contenders. I think you need wagons in your conference

because the wagons beaten along the way legitimize you, or they win your conference and legitimize the conference. But if you don't have either, like I'm not saying that the new Pac-12 that is just being introduced now has got better programs than the Big 12.

That's not my point, but we are going to have a conversation and we just asked about the distinction between power and non-power conferences. And I do think at a certain point, we are going to have to call into question why the big 12 continues to keep that banner when they don't have a wagon in their conference. Like, what is the distinction between half of the Big 12?

Why does UCF get to carry their own power conference banner, but Boise doesn't? It doesn't make any sense to me. Well, and that's what's going to happen. And so what Willie says with the G5 playoff, I definitely could see something like that. Listen, I think we're headed toward a Super League whether we want it or not. And I think there's going to be

another level between the Super League and the FCS that will be everybody else. And I don't want it to be that way. I think a lot of people are trying to cobble this together and that's why the Big 12 and the ACC are treated the way they're treated right now, where they are in this kind of elevated status. Because there are a lot of people, even people in charge of the sport, I know everybody thinks they're all just going for the money and they're all trying to ruin the sport. But I think there are a lot of people who want to keep as many programs involved as possible. What do you think is the better system? Having a G5 playoff where there's a champion at that level or including

them in an unwinnable playoff? Well, they just want the money from the unwinnable playoff. Okay. So I wouldn't turn that down if I'm them. Yeah. Because if you do your own playoff, you don't get that money anymore. Yeah. And I see people here in the comments, Andy, like saying the dude just compared the big 12 to the new pack 12. Yeah. Because if you do your own playoff, you don't get that money anymore. Yeah, and I see people here in the comments, Andy,

like saying the dude just compared the Big 12 to the new Pac-12. I understand the distinction that the Big 12 has better programs in it right now. I understand that. That's not what I was saying. Do you understand what I was saying? I do understand. Was that clear enough, or do I need to explain it again? What you're saying is there are no perennial national title contenders

in the Big 12 like there are in the SEC. And I don't know if it's fair that the Big 12 gets to be on even footing with the SEC and the Big 10 and even the ACC to a certain extent. Well, the ACC, as long as it has as it's currently constructed, because it's like you get the same perks of all the teams that have to go through things that are much harder than you. Like running the table in the ACC is much easier than running the table

in the SEC. Obviously, that's just a fact. But also, if you run the table and you're Duke and you beat Clemson, Louisville, NC State, Florida State, and Miami along the way, then that legitimizes you as a person or a program, not a person, a program that deserves one of the top four spots. And I'm not necessarily sure that going on, I mean, the Big 12 is probably the most competitive up to bottom, top to bottom conference in America in terms of not knowing who's going to win the conference, but that doesn't mean that anybody's outstanding. It means that everybody's similarly good

like that. So like, and there's two different things. So there's nobody in the top that you would feel like is in the top five loses one. There's a lot that you feel like are in the top 15 through 40. Yeah. So, so it's, it's, it's not easy to go undefeated. I'm not belittling the big 12 of somebody does that. And if they do, they'll be represented in the playoff. And in the past, it was still the same. I know UT and Oklahoma were there.

The Big 12 was still viewed a little bit lower than everybody else, and they could get into the playoff as a champion. I'm not saying they shouldn't be included in the system, but I do think that we have to call it like it is and just say the Big 12 is reaping a lot of playoff benefits despite the fact they don't have a lot of playoff benefits despite the fact they don't have a wagon in their conference is that like not a fair thing to say or think no it's a fair thing okay it's absolutely fair okay speaking of the big 12 yeah there's a big

12 team on the road tonight guys can't wait the party school bowl is happening in san marcos texas tonight we're not going to talk to you again until probably after the Alabama-Wisconsin game. But hang with us on social media. We'll be tweeting through this one on Thursday night. Huge games on Friday night, by the way. Arizona-Kansas State. One of the games of the weekend, I'm going to say it. That's going to be a fun one.

And also, UNLV Kansas should be a lot of fun. So, guys, your weekend, it starts now. You can just go home. Quit working. We'll talk to you on Saturday.