Andy & Ari On3 - Week 1 on the Horizon | Florida State DE Jared Verse | Week 1 Lines | Dear Andy: Your Questions

Episode Date: August 29, 2023

Week 1 on the Horizon | Florida State DE Jared Verse | Week 1 Lines | Dear Andy: Your QuestionsThank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's episode! Week 1 is days away, don't miss your chance to watch your favorite team. Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube to watch the show, don't forget to subscribe!https://youtu.be/s28vMAbPIjsIt's a Dear Andy Show, but first, we have some news coming out of the Monday press conferences.In no surprise to anyone, Alabama's head coach Nick Saban has elected to not announce his starting quarterback. What may come as a shock is that he isn't releasing a depth chart at all before the Crimson Tide's week 1 matchup against Middle Tennessee State. West Virginia has also decided not to announce their starting quarterback as they face the Nittany Lions of Penn State in Week 1. Following the trend, Indiana has elected not to announce their..... kicker. That's right, Tom Allen has decided to not name his starting kicker before their season opener against Ohio State and the Buckeyes (0:00-4:58)We head on over to Tallahassee where Andy meets up with Jared Verse to discuss his transition from TE to DE, how he managed to gain 40 pounds in 2020, and his expectations for himself and the Seminoles in 2023. (4:59-18:10)Before we get to your questions, the lines for Week 1 have been released. Does Vegas know something we don't? Andy takes a look at the lines for Florida-Utah, ECU-Michigan, UTSA-Houston, and LSU-Florida State (18:11-26:51)It's Dear Andy time and we answer some GREAT fan questions. Questions all across the board about Sam Hartman's debut performance at Notre Dame, the battle for SEC supremacy between Alabama and Georgia, and a potential repeat field of a previous College Football Playoff. (26:52-01:01:44)For Andy's Extra Point, a fan asks for a random ranking of the song "Ironic" to go from the least ironic line to the most ironic line in the song. (01:01:45-01:04:44)

Welcome to Andy Staples on three and we have moved from talking season to mystery season. Sounds spooky, I know, but with only a few days left before most of the teams in college football take the field for their season opener, some coaches are keeping things quiet they are keeping things secret they are not telling us and they are not telling their opponents what they might do even though they themselves know what they're going to do of course we start in Tuscaloosa where Nick Saban has been juggling a quarterback situation the entire offseason it was clear after the spring game Alabama wasn't happy with what it had at quarterback. No one had gone out and taken the job. The Crimson Tide bringing Tyler Buckner as a grad transfer from Notre Dame

to compete with Jalen Milrow and Ty Simpson. But Nick Saban is not going to tell us how he's going to deploy those guys against middle Tennessee on Saturday. In fact, he's not even going to give us a depth chart at all to tell us how he would deploy players at any position. I know that, you know, your number one focus is not on the game. It's on the depth chart.

And look, there's a lot of competition on the team. And when we put a depth chart out, you all think that's like final, like this is like etched in stone that it's going to be this way forevermore just because we come out of fall camp and that's where it is. But creates a lot of distractions on our team, creates a lot of, you know, guys thinking that, well, this guy won the job now and I'm not going to play or whatever. And quite frankly, you know, we don't need that. And I want all of our players to continue to compete, to continue to compete for playing time, to try to play at the highest level. And I don't want anybody on our team to think they're a backup player or

whatever. A couple of things here. One, the backups know their backups because when they call out the first team at practice, they don't go out. Somebody else does backups because when they call out the first team at practice, they don't go out. Somebody else does. And if they go out, then they get yelled at because they're not on the first team. So they already know that.

But I will agree with Nick Saban here when he says that we, as in us in the media, are not worried about the game. Nope. Not really worried about the Middle Tennessee game. We're assuming that you're going to crush them. I realize you got to worry about it. That's what you get paid the big bucks for. We're worried about who you're going to start a quarterback against Texas. And we're trying to get clues on that, but I think probably we should all just watch the game and we'll have a better

idea, but this is not limited to Tuscaloosa. Let us go to Nick Saban's home state of West Virginia, where Neil Brown begins a do or die year at the helm of the West Virginia Mountaineers. They open against Penn state, a formidable task. If ever there was one and Neil Brown is not telling us who the quarterback is. It could be Garrett green.

It could be Nico Marcio, but he will not tell us to quote Neil Brown. We've gone this far without telling you, basically. Not telling you now. So, the mystery will endure until Saturday. That's all right. I'm ready to watch YOLO Neil Brown against Penn State. I am ready for all stops to be pulled out, all trick plays to be run. So, I kind of like the mystery going in.

Of course, then there's mysteries that don't have to be mysteries. Nobody really cares other than the people involved. But coaches will be coaches. Let us move now to Bloomington, Indiana. The Hoosiers open their season against Ohio State. Another formidable task here. Indiana coach Tom Allen asked whether Chris Freeman or Nicholas Radichich will be his kicker this year, or at least the starting kicker against Ohio State.

Oh, Tom Allen's not revealing that. Oh, he's keeping that secret. Clearly that will be the difference if the Hoosiers pull off the upset of the century against the Buckeyes is making sure we don't know who your kicker is. Coaching paranoia never gets old. I'll tell you who can answer questions. That is Florida State defensive end Jared Verse.

He is a tremendous talker. You're going to hear from him in just a second. You know who else answers your questions? Me! It's a Dear Andy episode. So we're going to first hear from Jared Verse, star defensive end at Florida State. Could have been a first-round draft pick this past year. Came back.

Expects to be a first-round draft pick next year. He and the Seminoles are playing LSU on Sunday in Orlando in the game of the week. We're going to hear from him, and then afterward is Dear Andy. I answer your questions. Let's have some fun. Let's not keep secrets from each other. Here's Jared Verse. We're here with Florida State edge rusher Jared Verse.

First question. We're here in Tallahassee, and that's some NFL camp. So what went into the decision to be back here this year? There was a lot that went into it. My main factor was I didn't want to come back. I wanted to play with all my guys, everything like that. But I did want to develop myself as a player. I wanted to become stronger, faster.

I wanted to get my hands more violent. There was just so much work I wanted to do on myself before I take that step to the next level. How much of it is just being so new to the position? You were a high school tight end. You go to Albany. They make you a defensive end. COVID, you gained 40 pounds.

Like, you didn't even play defensive end until 2021. Yeah. To me, I always felt more natural at the end. Like, tight end was fun. I had a lot of fun. I love scoring touchdowns. Love being in the end zone, doing my little touchdown celebration. But I just always felt more natural at the end.

I felt like, all right, this is where my talents are best used. And going to Albany, they gave me the option to do tight end or defensive end. I was like, I'll do the end. I didn't even hesitate. What was the touchdown celebration? I'm just in case Norvell has a trick play for you. It was always the worst thing.

It was always horrible because we had our band in the end zone. So I always run. I'd score. I'd see the band. I'd be like, you're going to get loud. And like five of them would get loud because we'd be winning. I'd be like, uh. They're like, what song do you want us to play? We didn't know you were taking requests right now. So, yeah. That's the hardest

thing for a guy with, you know. But you can do it as a DN because you can sack somebody and you're allowed the extemporaneous celebration. They won't throw a flag on you if it's just, you know, expression of joy right there after the sack. I started getting in my couple little celebrations,

a little Bowery, a little throw my arms out. I got my celebration game up a little bit. Well, you probably will want to celebrate if you wind up with a sack or two in this first game because you're playing against a couple of really good tackles in Campbell and Jones. What's it like knowing all offseason that you're going against some dudes that you're probably going to see them on Sundays too? Yeah, no, it's good. I love it because I believe iron sharpens iron.

I've always wanted to get better as a player. The only way to get better is to play the best. Here we have some of the best tackles in the country. I'll argue with anyone on that. But then going up against those guys who, you know, they're labeled as some of the best guys in the country. They were freshmen last year. Now they're sophomores.

They're a lot stronger. They've learned so much. I'm like, all right, I can't wait to see how much they've grown for myself. Because film and then real life is two different things. What was that LSU game like for you last year, the first game in this environment versus playing at Albany? It was surreal when I walked in. I walk out to do my little warm-up.

I look around. I'm like, the lights are all shining. Everyone's there. I'm like, bro, what the heck is this? I'm like, I feel out of place. I'm like, all right, I got to lock in. But then after that first snap, I was nervous. I don't really get nervous before plays,

but I was a little nervous right before it. After that first snap, it all just went away. Everything just disappeared, and then I just played. How much has changed in terms of how comfortable you are in this defense and how comfortable you are with everybody else right now versus this time last year uh believe it or not when I first came in I was quiet I just didn't know anybody was gonna come around being loud and like exuberant everything like that but as I got more comfortable I got to know guys like Trey Benson I didn't know guys like Amari Gaynor before he transferred. I got to know Fabian Lovett.

I got to know all these guys. I just became more comfortable with them. Being around these guys, I'm like, all right, this is truly my family. What's the feeling like when you get to a place like this from Albany? Am I going to be good here? Do you know or do you need to get out on the practice field to figure that out? A lot of people asked me was I nervous to get here before this? And I was like, no, I wasn't nervous.

I always felt like I belonged here. I always felt like I belonged to play against the best. Florida State has the best. I was trying my hardest. I got here. I practiced hard. I worked hard. I wanted to show these guys, hey, FCS, I'm going to work.

I'm going to bring y'all game up with me. So let's talk about your move to defensive end, because that was something that they planned at Albany. You redshirted and then the pandemic happens you've got no season you're at home your dad orders weights your mom and dad are cooking you meals every day like how you gain 40 pounds how did you do that so it was mainly my dad he went about the weights because me and my dad loved to work out like that's why I started working out before I even played football. I always worked out with my dad just to get stronger as a kid. And we didn't have any weights at home.

The gym closed down. My dad, it was like day two of him not working out. He was like, I was benching a bed at first because in my room, we had a futon. They could lay out into a bed. So I laid out into a bed. I'd get underneath and I'd just bench. Oh, you were benching the whole bed, the whole futon. Yeah, because I didn't have any weights.

Was there not a truck that you could just lift up? So I was doing that and me and my little sister we'd like push my car and everything like that. Like we were doing anything to get some more game.

My dad was like, I'm going to go buy some weights. Like I found somebody selling them and everything like that. I was like, all right, like go get them today. He went,

he drove like two hours for him. I was going to say, this is the pan, you could not find weights anywhere. Oh no. He drove like two hours before he came back with like a bench,

some bands, the one, two 120 pound dumbbells, 230 pound dumbbells, jump rope, like a bunch of stuff. It was like so weird. It was like nothing but like mesh together. I was like, I got to figure out something. So you had to figure out how to do it. So you had 120 pound dumbbells, which you can't, most people can't even lift those. Yeah. So you got those and you got like 30s.

Yeah, 230. So I'd be like, all right. Because there was like no medium weight. It was like light and it was like super heavy. I'm like, there's no medium. So I got to figure this out. You've probably invented a new workout craze. Everybody's looking for the secret.

So the secret's going to be lift heavy, lift light, alternate. It was just like a work ethic thing. I was never big in motivational videos or anything. But I watched this one video and kept talking about like, if you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe. And I was like, I want to win pretty bad. Like I want to win bad.

So all I did was like, I like, I just lived in the weight room. We'll be right back with more of our interview with Florida state defensive end, Jared verse right after this word from game time, because if you want to see Jared and the Seminoles play against LSU on Sunday,

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but you can be there too with game time. It is the place to get last minute tickets. So here's how it works. You download that GameTime app. You find Orlando. You click Florida State football. You find your ticket. You can get there. Look, it's a big game. It's not cheap. 176 bucks though. Not terrible. Not terrible for the game of this magnitude. 176 bucks. You can be in there. You click that ticket in the game time app. What comes up? It's a photo of the field. And you're thinking, oh, that's the field where they're going to play. No, that is the view from your seat that you'd

be buying. And if you look down a couple more clicks, it's all it takes. And that ticket is yours that easy to get last minute tickets. And oh, by the way, if you would like to transfer them on game day to your friends, you can do it by texting. It's not complicated. Game time makes this entire process easy and stress-free. So whatever game you want to see this weekend or concert or comedy show, download that game time app, use the code staples, and you get $20 off your first purchase. That's code staples, $20 off your first purchase. Go get yourself some tickets right now. There's big games this weekend, guys. It's that easy. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed at GameTime. And so you start playing the end in 2021, and it was pretty immediate adam fuller your dc now

told me that basically anybody who played syracuse that year because albany played syracuse saw you and was like who the hell is that when when you entered the portal what was your phone like and so i entered the portal i officially ended at like 2 a.m because i like had to fill out something and everything like that and i think at like 7 a.m. because I had to fill out something and everything like that. And I think at like 7 a.m. they officially put me in. About 9 a.m. my phone was going crazy. I'm getting calls from random numbers. I'm like, hello? Hey, Jets.

Adam Fuller. I'm like, Adam Fuller? Oh, yeah. Defensive coordinator. I'm like, whoa. I'm like, whoa. And I'm getting calls from like every coach, every recruiter, everybody across the board. I'm like, it was so much at once i was

like yeah like it happened for like two weeks straight i was like oh how did you how did you narrow it down and then decide on on ford state so uh when i went home after the season after i left albany my mom we had like a dining room we put up a whole bunch of boards pros and cons of every team after our visits every like everyone we thought would be like a great fit for me or where i should go. And we slowly narrowed it down based on position, based on need, based on what their defense was. If I felt like I messed with the coach,

everyone I talked to I had a great connection with. But if I felt like I was really seeing myself there, then I came down to Florida State and two other schools. And I was like, I kept looking. Every time I was looking at the boards, I kept seeing Florida State. I kept turning my head back to them. Like, I couldn't even think of any cons about them and everything like that.

And when I came here, I met with Jermaine. I met with Kier. How much did Jermaine Johnson's success in his one year here affect your decision? Oh, it was crazy because I'm like – like, look at Jermaine. We took two different paths. Like, he went to Georgia first, and, like, he did it there. Georgia then came down – came to uh to like down south to Florida State and I'm like uh like we took a different path I'm talking to him like what do you not like about here he's told me his likes his dislikes everything like that I'm like I can see myself in a place like

this like yeah someone where you feel like you truly belong because he loved it here yeah because what he wanted you're right it was completely different he wanted to prove he was an every down player yeah that wasn't going to happen at georgia with seven other first round track on the d line so he came down here and proved that and and i imagine the coaches were happy to show you that and say here's how we can feature you and they love that yeah all right we so we got to talk about that you mentioned earlier you don't have a logo yet yeah but some little kid after a game gave you an idea for one. So put, put it out to all the, all the aspiring graphic designers out there. Cause that's probably somebody willing to do some work for you.

Hey, I need a good logo. I need something real nice. Something to show my brand. Some, you know, verse five, you know,

something like that. Something that really goes crazy. I love a little bit. The kid was onto something though. Cause it was a V, which is the Roman numeral for five. Like this is the next level. The little kid came up to me after the game. He was a V, which is the Roman numeral for five. Like, this is next level. The little kid came up to me after the game.

He's like, verse, like, do verse. But then instead of an S, have a five. And the Roman numeral is already five, a V. And then, like, verse already has five letters. So I'm like, five just, like, makes a lot of sense. Well, I do remember there was a guy who wore number five here who won a Heisman Trophy. Oh, yeah, some guy back in there. Yeah.

I mean, what if that happened? Definitely need a logo. Oh, definitely need a logo. Well, how excited are you for this? Because this is something where you guys have a lot of talent back. You know everybody. Everybody understands what you're capable of. As you go into this LSU game,

how exciting is the possibility of what can happen this season? You think about the whole season that everyone's been talking about, what we're able to do, what we're capable to do, what everyone's expecting. A lot of people are expecting us to go all the way, go the distance. And our main focus has always been, what can we do? And now we finally get that chance to showcase it. LSU is a very good team. They were one of the top teams in the SEC last year. They want to come back and get us for what happened last year. We want to prove, all right, like they got better. We got better too. So it's been like a big game in all

factors, but I'm most excited just to see how much I've grown as a player. Like I came back for a reason. I feel like I've gotten faster, stronger. I've gained 10 more pounds. I feel like I've gotten so much like quicker. I feel like now it's time to showcase it. How do you do that? How do you gain 10 pounds and not lose a step? So I was really – I talked to Coach Storms, and that was my main focus because Coach Storms really entered the body. Yeah.

I went and talked to him. I'm like, Coach, what should I – do you think I can carry 260 with no problem? He's like, I think you could, but we're going to take it. Let's try it. So I slowly gained weight. I gained a couple pounds a month. Nothing crazy. No more than two or three pounds a month. Slowly gained it up and then 260 came.

It was two weeks ago. They came up to me and they were like, do you know what you ran the other day? I was like, nah, what was it? They were like, come in and see it. And they told me. This is on the catapult? How many miles an hour you were running? Yeah, it was some crazy. I went away then. I was about 259.7 or something like that. Right there. I was like, I went away then. I was about two. I think I was two fifty nine point like seven or something like that.

Like right there. I was like, hey, like I can carry two sixty. And now you got to keep it on during the season. Yeah, that's the biggest challenge. It's a good problem to have. That means we're done playing football. It's coming off. So exactly.

Well, Jared, good luck this season. And well, before we go, how do you deal with everybody expecting so much, not just of this team and what you could do, you know, in terms of a championship and that sort of thing, but of you saying, okay, we thought you were going to be a first-rounder last year. Now you have to exceed that this year. My goal has always been – I've never been somebody like on the first

on anybody's board. I've never been that player that like, oh, yeah, we need him or anything like that before like I left Albany. So my main thing is I'm just going to keep doing me. I expect so much of myself. No one could ever expect more of me than I do of myself. No one's ever going to expect, oh, Jared didn't do this. Well, yeah, I expected more of myself.

I had to exceed it. I expected myself to do good last year. It wasn't good enough. So I have to do better. All right. Jared Verse, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Thank you to Jared verse of Florida state for that great interview. Graphic designers, get out there, get working on that logo. Man needs a logo. Let's go. All right. let's talk lines. Week one, with the caveat that everybody's still guessing here. We don't know all that much about these teams.

There are people with inside information for sure, but coaches keep a lid on this stuff pretty well. And also, a lot of times the coaches don't know what kind of chemistry their team is going to have, what this particular group is going to look like. You know, you go back to TCU last year. If you watch the Colorado TCU week one game, you never would have thought that's a team that is going to go 12-0 in the regular season, win a playoff game, play for the national title.

You never would have thought that. But that's just how this works. But let's talk about a couple of these opening lines, because there are some really interesting ones. And we'll start with a Thursday night game. Utah, Florida, that line is moving, everybody. As I'm recording this on Monday, it is now Utah by six and a half. It's moved a point toward Florida in the last couple of days. And I'm wondering if it's going to keep moving because I think that the question is, is Cam Rising going to play? And Kyle Whittingham has said he's not going to know probably until about 10 minutes before the game if Cam Rising, his quarterback who has led Utah to two consecutive Pac-12 titles, if he's going to play. I just, I keep looking at this and going,

he tore his ACL in the Rose Bowl. He has a fairly reckless style of play, which is what makes him very good, but also makes it dangerous to try to play him if he's not quite ready. And if you're trying to win a third consecutive Pac-12 title, do you do that in a non-conference game? So that's the question there. I, you know, I don't know if they're going to be willing to risk that on this game, especially when we don't know exactly what Florida's going to look like either with Bryson Barnes, who is a walk-on, but he's come in in some clutch spots

and played pretty well. He started a game against Washington State last year and won. He came into the Rose Bowl against Washington State last year and won. He came into the Rose Bowl against Ohio State and threw a touchdown pass. So it's possible that they could still win this game without Cam Rising, and maybe you'd take the chance. Rick Neuheisel, former UCLA Washington, Colorado coach, I was on the radio with him last week. He suggested playing Jaquinden Jackson in the wildcat now

Jaquinden Jackson was 6.8 yards a carry last year as a freshman that's an interesting little wrinkle that you could add and and force Florida to think about it now if that's actually in the playbook and something that Kyle Whittingham is planning to do I'm sure he's not happy about Rick Neumaisel throwing it out there on the radio but it does make a lot of sense. That said, we don't know what this Florida team is going to look like either. My suspicion is they're going to be better on defense. We don't know about the offense. Graham Mertz comes in. We obviously saw Graham Mertz play at Wisconsin. My guess is they are going to be ground heavy if they can be. They're going to try to control tempo with Montrell Johnson and with Trevor Etienne.

And with the offensive line, they feel like they're pretty good up front. I think they feel like they're as good or maybe a little bit better than last year. So we'll see. But that line is moving. So keep an eye on it. We've got a few more days until the game.

Six and a half right now, but seems to be moving toward Florida. Let's talk about Michigan. No Jim Harbaugh on the sideline. They are a 36 or a 36 and a half point favorite against East Carolina, depending on where you're looking. If you're worried about whether they're going to be able to get things together with Jesse Mentor coaching the team, he's the defensive coordinator. This is his game as interim coach. you're worried about whether they're going to be able to to get things together with jesse mentor

coaching the team he's the defensive coordinator this is his game as an interim coach remember four different people will be the interim head coach over a course of three games i don't i don't worry about michigan in a game like this i really don't they they have a formula that allows them to just steamroll people now sharon moore looks like he's out for this game as well as a suspension for his part in the NCAA investigation. But again, not worried. It's such a veteran-heavy team. They've got offensive linemen for days.

They've got big guys up front on defense that can move. I'm just not worried about them. It's a huge number, but I think as long as they don't just call it off and say, we're going to run the clock out here, they can cover that. Here's an interesting one. Houston against UTSA. This was a fun, fun game last year with three overtimes. Remember Clayton Toon supermanning over the goal line in overtime number three.

UTSA is a one-point favorite. Now I think, okay, Houston's moving up to the Power Five. UTSA is moving up to the American. Shouldn't Houston be the better team? If you watched last year's game and you realize that Houston got pillaged in the transfer portal and UTSA brings back a lot of really important pieces, I've got a feeling UTSA can win this game and probably by more than one. It might not be as close as Vegas thinks it's going to be.

So that's one that you may look at it at first glance and go, wait, why are they favored? No, there's a pretty good reason why they're favored. And it's that we think Houston takes a step back. Now, we'll see. Donovan Smith is the new QB there. I liked him at Texas Tech. But what does he have around him? You know, this is a team that lost Hank Dell,

who's now probably the Texans' best receiver. Like, Houston does not have the same kind of firepower they had last year. Let's go to Sunday. This is, this is a fun one. So LSU is a two and a half point favorite against Florida state. So, you know, look less than a field goal, essentially a pick them the number on that game, 58 and a half. I don't know. I think that one may be a little low. I think this game could wind up being a track meet. Remember last game, they played pretty sloppy.

LSU definitely played sloppy at first. Florida State jumped all over them a little bit. But Florida State was sloppy too. They had the fumble going into the end zone that would have just iced the game and i think both offenses are going to play at a higher level than what we saw last year and i also think for lsu the secondary is still the biggest area of concern and then no mason smith because he's suspended that's your interior pass rush or your best interior pass rusher i still think harold

perkins gonna be able to get some pressure and and they've got other really good players mckay wingo you know they've got guys that that can get pressure but 58 and a half 58 57 and a half in some places i got a feeling both teams are gonna be able to score in this game. I don't think it's going to be just, you know, one of those slobber knocker slug fest type things. I think you're going to see, especially with those receivers, Florida State's got a lot of weapons. Now, Keon Coleman, the transfer from Michigan State. You saw Johnny Wilson blossom last year.

Jaheim Bell is the transfer from South Carolina. They can do a lot of things with him. I'm not predicting a Florida State win necessarily. I'm just saying if LSU is going to win, they're going to have can do a lot of things with him. I'm not predicting a Florida State win necessarily. I'm just saying if LSU is going to win, they're going to have to score a bunch of points. And I think you could see a game where both teams are in the thirties or one team's in the high thirties of the forties and one team's in the high twenties. So 58, 58 and a half, 57 and a half, wherever that falls feels a little bit low. We shall see, but this is, this is the first week. Everyone's just guessing. That's all we know. It's, it's hard to do that.

The line makers have a very difficult task in a week like this. And we are going to act like we have all this inside information. Most people don't. There's not one line I'm looking at going, well, I know something that tells me this is definitely gonna happen. I just, it's not out there right now. And we'll see. Some of these lines will be hilariously wrong, but probably because a coach also thought it was gonna work out that way and it just didn't.

Because you just never know until you see a team play on the field. And and guys we're getting everybody on the field this week it's time now for dear andy one of my favorite parts of the week where i answer your questions about college football and all other things and you've got a bunch this week i'm really excited about some of these the first one i feel like maybe we're getting a little too excited about some stuff but then that's what the beginning college football season is for so let us go to sam who has a question about notre dame with notre dame's offensive line being nfl elite possibly a really great defensive front.

Could Sam Hartman be the missing piece to a possible run to actually win a playoff game? Okay. Sam is not Sam Hartman, by the way, but let's, let's piggyback that on Brad's question that he emailed in. I propose this to a certain hot take artist, former colleague of yours. Can't imagine who that might be. And I'm curious your thoughts. After watching Notre Dame versus Navy, I have come to the conclusion that Sam Hartman is the greatest QB to have ever suited up for Notre Dame. Yes, I know all the big names and I know their numbers won't translate or compare well to today due to the different styles of eras. But I think it will go down as the best thrower of the football, college only, to have ever played for them.

This is good. Good that you had that caveat, college only, to have ever played for them. This is good that you had that caveat since Joe Montana played for them. This is their Russell Wilson year, referring to Russell Wilson's year at Wisconsin. Like 2011, though, they will also lose two games, as Wisconsin did, and miss out on any playoffs. Tell me where I am wrong or crazy, and then Brad adds a PS, I am not a Notre Dame fan. Okay. Interesting that everybody has gone completely in on Sam Hartman now that he has shown what he can do against Navy.

And yes, let us consider the competition. Navy, probably not that great. Probably not the best defense he's going to play. So I get that he looked amazing. But I do understand where the optimism is coming from, because here you've got a guy who has not been able to play behind this level of offensive line in his career. Wake Forest, he had really good receivers.

Their linemen were capable, but not NFL guys. He's playing behind NFL guys now, and I think that's what's interesting. Now, to get to the meat of Brad's question, where he talks about where Sam Hartman ranks among Notre Dame's quarterbacks all time. He's right. Stylistically, you can't make comparisons between the eras because Notre Dame's offense has always historically been pretty conservative. You're just not going to get the Joe Theismann and Joe Montana giant numbers because they didn't have big numbers back then. Joe Montana completed 52% of his passes at Notre Dame because that's the era he played in. It was not a passer-friendly era.

I think the guy we need to look at is Brady Quinn. Brady Quinn had Notre Dame playing very well in 2005, 2006. He threw for 11,762 yards in his Notre Dame career. Now his average yards per attempt was 7.3. His adjusted yards per attempt 7.4. That's where you go, Oh wait, they still were not that explosive at offense. So you go forward a little bit, Ian book,

who led Notre Dame to a couple of college football playoff appearances, 7.8 average yards per attempt, 8.3 adjusted yards per attempt. Also still not great. 8.3 is good, but it's not off the charts good. And so I think we need to look at what Sam Hartman might be able to do in terms of explosiveness. Now, last year at Wake Forest, he averaged 8.6 yards per attempt. 2021, 8.3. 2020, 8.1.

He got better every single year. And I think that's important too. But this is a guy who completes a high percentage of his passes can throw the ball downfield and yes can play in a more explosive passing game that is actually throwing the ball downfield and not just throwing these high confidence passes close to the line of scrimmage and seeing what's going to happen so that part is very interesting and very favorable comparison to recent Notre Dame quarterbacks. You know, if you look at, look at the guys that have played there, Rick Myrer,

you know, if we want to go back, he averaged 8.6 yards per attempt. That actually is very good considering the era he played in, but the Sean Kaiser 8.4, probably the biggest physical skill set of any of the recent Notre Dame quarterbacks. But it still wasn't a great bunch of Notre Dame teams that he played on. So I do think Sam Hartman can make them better. Interesting comparison that Brad makes to the Russell Wilson year in 2011 in Wisconsin. Because what was interesting about that is when Russell Wilson went to Wisconsin after a very good career at NC State he made what Wisconsin did much better he was the perfect guy to insert into that offense and make everything they did just a little bit

more and they'd had good quarterbacks like Scott Tolzien was a good quarterback, but Scott Tolzien was not Russell Wilson. And it just made their offense so much more dynamic and explosive. That is the hope I think for Notre Dame people with Sam Hartman. Now we're not going to know based on what we saw against Navy, if he's going to be a great quarterback for them, if he's going to lead them to an incredible season, We're not going to know after the Tennessee State game on Saturday either, but I will say we should have a better idea after they play NC State in Raleigh week two.

So Sam Hartman has played NC State three times. He's one and two against them. The games have all been fairly close. Last year was a nine point game. That was the biggest margin of victory for either team. In the last two games, he's thrown six interceptions against NC State's defense. Now, Tony Gibson, the defensive coordinator at NC State, he likes to heat you up or drop a bunch. And it's sort of, it's not that simple though. It's not like I'm sending seven or I'm dropping eight every single time. There's some delayed blitzes in there where it'll look like he's dropping a

bunch. Then all of a sudden a couple of guys come, he's going to make the quarterback think a lot. He's going to change the picture a lot. And he's going to make it where you're so used to getting pressured that when they drop a bunch, you don't know how to handle that. Sam Hartman's older, should be able to handle that okay. What I find interesting about this though, Notre Dame with a veteran accomplished offensive line. How do they block that group? Because NC State is going to be good on defense this year. If they block that group better than Wake Forest did and give him time, you may see a different Sam Hartman against NC State than the one who threw six interceptions the past two seasons. If that's the case, then yeah,

get really optimistic. If they're pressuring him and he's still throwing picks, then I don't know that you're going to see anything appreciably different. But if they're blocking those guys and he has time to pick NC State apart, then yeah, I think you should probably get pretty excited about that. So I hate to give you the, you're going to have to wait a couple weeks to find out, but you're going to have to. A week from Saturday, we should have a lot better picture of what Sam Hartman is at Notre Dame and how that's all going to work together. It's going to be fun to watch. I really think that he's capable of this and that line is capable of blocking like that. If we see that against that Tony Gibson defense, I think, you know,

maybe you don't quite go as far as Brad. That might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but yeah, get pumped about what Sam Hartman can be at Notre Dame. We go down to Nathan. He's in Jerusalem. He's asked a question every week for the past three weeks. Why does Nathan keep getting his questions on the air? Well, one, we like the international flavor. But two, he asks great questions. And this one is no different. Dearing, my question to you from Jerusalem today is this.

Every year, a hundred some odd FCS teams play against FCS teams. And every year, some of them inevitably lose, including some Power 5 teams. So looking at the schedule this year, who do you think is the most likely FBS team to have their season ruined by an FCS team that kind of sneaks up on them? All right, so Nathan actually offered some suggestions

in the tweet that accompanied his question. He said, Northern Iowa versus Iowa State, Holy Cross versus Boston College, Idaho Cal, Howard Northwestern, and Sanford Auburn. A couple of those made my list as well. So here's what I did. I looked at the preseason poll for the FCS coaches and who they thought was going to be good this year, who played in the FCS playoffs last year, who was good last

year, and then who's playing a game against an FBS opponent. That's the easiest thing. And probably the easiest way to predict this is you find the best FCS team playing against the worst FBS team. So I think that the one that he and I both agree on is Holy Cross at Boston College, September 9th. I know what you're thinking, Gordie Lockbomb's not walking through that door, but Boston College under Jeff Halfley has a lot to prove this year. Holy Cross is one of the better teams in the FCS. That feels like a possibility. He did mention a game on Saturday, Northern Iowa versus Iowa State. And this one, because Iowa State is dealing so much with the fallout from the gambling investigation and you don't know exactly,

they know who's going to play, we don't exactly know who's going to play. But we've already seen Hunter Deckers, their starting quarterback, it got wrapped up in this thing. So as they try to figure out how their team best works with who they can play, that feels dangerous. But UNI was 6-5 last year. They've had better years in the FCS. I don't know that this is definitely one of the teams that can pull the upset.

So another one this weekend that I thought was interesting, that if this had been a couple years ago, I think I automatically would have picked it, is Missouri State at Kansas. That game's on Friday. But Kansas is good now. Lance Leipold has made Kansas good. I don't think we have to worry as much about this. Plus, Bobby Petrino no longer at Missouri State.

He's now the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. If this were two years ago, I probably would have been penciling this in as the answer to the question. But let's look at a few other ones as we go down the list. These are teams that are kind of top 10 type FCS teams. Now, I will point out the best of the best in the FCS not playing FBS teams this year. South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Montana State have no FBS teams on their schedule. Remember last year we watched South Dakota State, Iowa, freaked out about Iowa's offense, justifiably so. But I think we may have been watching it wrong.

That game ended 7-3, Iowa. South Dakota State went on to win the national title in the FCS. So we were watching a really good team playing against Iowa. Yes, Iowa's offense was bad, but that also was a very, very good team playing against them. So we don't have any of those teams playing FBS teams this year, but we'll look at some of the other top 10 type FCS teams that are going to be playing FBS teams. You got Furman, South Carolina on September 9th. I think South Carolina is probably too good at this point for that.

Interesting one, September 16th, Sacramento State at Stanford. Now, this was one I might say is a possibility, except where did Troy Taylor, Stanford's coach, come from? Sacramento State. He knows that roster inside and out. I'm guessing he's going to be able to put together a pretty good game plan against that team, which doesn't know his roster inside and out. September 16th, this is one that Nathan mentioned, Sanford at Auburn. I got a feeling Auburn's going to be all right under Hugh Freeze. I think we've seen Hugh Freeze

enough to know that he's going to make them better pretty quickly. I'm not that worried about it. Weber State at Utah, September 16th. Again, Utah's your two-time defending Pac-12 champs. Not worried about them. Maybe they don't beat Florida in the season opener, but they're going to be favored against Florida too. I'm not worried about them against Weber State. Here is one that I do worry a little bit about the home team, about the FBS team. William and Mary at Virginia, October 7th. Weird spot in the schedule. Good FCS team going to an in-state FBS team. I don't like that spot for Virginia. That's the one.

If I had to pick any of these, it's either going to be Holy Cross Boston College or William and Mary at Virginia. I'm going to go William and Mary at Virginia as my pick for Nathan's game where an FCS team beats an FBS team. It's probably going to happen in one of these games. That's the one that feels the most likely to me. So we'll see if that's right.

It's going to happen. We're going to go, whoa, that came out of nowhere. But those are the ones that feel the most likely because you have a good FCS team playing. It's an FBS team that may or may not be that good. And the timing on that Virginia, William and Mary game also is weird because it's not a season opener. It's not a kind of pre-conference schedule kind of thing. Virginia plays Tennessee right out of the gates. So they're obviously a big underdog in that game. We'll see. Tony Elliott's

got a tough job there, but hopefully for his sake, that doesn't happen because that would be very bad at that point in his tenure. But that's the one of these that makes the most sense in terms of highest expectations for an FCS program, lower expectations for an FBS program, and a weird, weird spot in the schedule. All right. Now we go to a question from Tanner. And I realize it may take the entirety of the rest of this show for me to read Tanner's question. This is a manifesto, folks. And it's about a subject near and dear to my heart. And that is the Iowa Hawkeyes,

specifically the Iowa offense. We all know about the drive for through 25. The Brian Ferentz, the offensive coordinator, in his contract, essentially, they have to average 25 points a game. They have to win at least seven games or he will be fired, essentially. It's like a loser leaves town match. So let's hear what Tanner has to say. Strap in folks. This one's a doozy. I see many folks ecstatic to talk up and about new look, Wisconsin under Luke fickle,

especially on offense with Phil Longo as the offensive coordinator, which is understandable. But are those same folks overlooking the contextually radical moves that have gone on at Iowa? I get how the drive to 325 can be all-consuming for many. That said, actions can speak just as loud as a coaching staff overhaul a la Wisconsin, and Kirk Ferentz has brought in 10 transfers this offseason, all of whom presume to be in the two deep week one, including eight on offense.

Notables from that offensive octet include quarterback Cade McNamara, a legit CFP-tested signal caller with wins led over both Ohio State and Penn State, where Iowa will visit week four. Tight end Eric Hall, McNamara's old running mate at Michigan, who adds to a tight end group that consistently excels in iowa city wide receiver kayla brown an ohio state transfer whose top 100 prep status makes him the highest rated hawkeye at the position this millennium wide receiver seth anderson whose father flipper anderson still holds the nfl record for receiving yards in a single game with 336. Shout out the old LA Rams.

Offensive lineman Rusty Feth, a Miami of Ohio transfer whose name and appearance, you see his picture up there, yeah, absolutely screamed must-see TV. Fullback Hayden Large, a 6'5", 250-pound converted tight end from Dort College. Need I say more? Hell, Portal Cork was even able to scoop up a backup kicker with 29 games of experience at Central Michigan and do it roughly three weeks after his resumed backup at the position had his NCAA eligibility more or less nixed for,

among other offenses, betting the under on the 2021 Cy Hawk game. My point being, this is far from the status quo at Iowa, who many begrudge for quote-unquote doing the same thing year after year and consistently winning eight-plus games in the process. This is a program that has clearly made moves to address its biggest flaw, and if it can pair mere competence on offense with what has arguably been the nation's best defense and special teams for three to four years. Now, I'd ask you, Andy, just how high might the ceiling

for the Iowa Hawkeyes be this season what a question what a question and by the way i too am excited for hayden large the incredibly named fullback slash converted tight end from dork college here's the thing that he didn't mention that tanner didn't mention i'll go back to big 10 mini days i was i was listening in as kirk ferentz was on the podium and he didn't mention, that Tanner didn't mention. I'll go back to Big Ten media days. I was listening in as Kirk Ferentz was on the podium, and he was going through all of the problems that beset their offensive line last season,

where they were inexperienced or people were hurt. And he's like, this guy's back, and this guy's back, and this guy's more experienced. And it's a whole laundry list of things. And I thought, uh-oh, we're getting off all our drive to 325 jokes right now. But they actually may be fairly competent on offense. And I do think that's going to happen. I do think Iowa will be much more competent offensively.

Remember Cade McNamara got hurt in the preseason. Kirk Ferentz didn't seem particularly worried about it. But we'll see what that winds up being and looking like over the next couple weeks but in general they're gonna block better it does feel like they're gonna have better targets for a quarterback who's more capable than what they had last year so i i agree that the drive for 325 we may not even be talking about that by mid-. They may be so far beyond that that they're clearly going to hit all those minimum numbers. And Ryan Ferentz will be eligible to keep his job. We'll see.

Stranger things have happened. But it is a pretty good team already. Even if the offense didn't get as abysmal as the offense was the defense and the special teams were so good last year that they were a bad game against Nebraska away from playing for the Big Ten title so you ask what the ceiling is this year and I'm the ceiling is Big Ten West champions are they going to be better than all of the above Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State? Probably not. Can they be the best team in the Big Ten West? Yes, they can.

And really, it may come down to that Iowa-Wisconsin game. That may be the one that decides who plays for the Big Ten title. But I do think there's a really good chance that this team, even if the defense isn't as good, because let's be honest, it was so good last year that it's going to be hard to match how good it was. That defense carried that team much farther than it reasonably should have, because there have been times when you've had an abysmal offense and a really good defense. There was a Boston college year. I believe Matt Milano was the star of that defense. It was a Don Brown defense. I think Steve Adazio was the coach where they were probably statistically the best defense in the country. And the offense was

miserable and the team was not very good. Last year's Iowa team, again, almost made the Big 10 title game in spite of an offense that is one of the worst we've ever seen at that level. So this could not only be a competent offense, but a above average slightly offense. And you add that to what is almost always a capable defense. And then special teams led by LeVar Woods, always very good. Yeah, this team should realistically compete for the Big Ten West title. Are they going to be better than Wisconsin? I don't know. I still believe in Wisconsin because this is a program that was reasonably good, did fall off some, but didn't let the wheels completely come off,

fired Paul Chris before it got any worse, and then hired Luke Fickle, who we know is capable and we know can build a program. So I think Luke Fickle is going to come in there and make Wisconsin better immediately. So does that mean that, that Wisconsin is definitely going to be Iowa? No, it doesn't. Because if this, if this version of Iowa is what we think it might be, they're going to be competitive with just about everybody. And remember the thing about Iowa is like when they play a Penn state, if the defense is as good as we think, and the offense is above average, they got a chance in a game like that too. And that's something that last year we wouldn't have said.

So I am very intrigued by Iowa. We're going to get off the jokes. But it may be that we don't have any more jokes about the drive to 325 by week two, week three, if this offense is what it could be capable of. So RIP those jokes because we use a lot of them. But listen, if it means we get to talk about Hayden Large and Rusty Feth, I'm all for it. What a question. What a question from Tanner. All right. Let's go to Matt. Consensus at ESPN is that bama wins the sec quote-unquote because saban didn't hear or read one guy provide actual football reasons they also ignore how bryce young hit

a lot of mediocre play from a talented but not well-developed offensive line so how or why does georgia lose to bama i did find that interesting on the week zero college game day when everybody on the panel picked Alabama to win the SEC. It's almost like they decided, each one individually decided, I'm going to be contrarian. No, I'm going to be contrarian. No, I'm going to be contrarian. Listen, the safest pick is still Georgia to win the SEC and probably still Georgia to win the national title.

They're probably going to have the best offensive line in the country. Defensively, we know they're loaded up front. We know they're loaded pretty much everywhere. In terms of playmakers, Brock Bowers, then you add Dominic Lovett to that mix. The backs are going to be pretty good because they're running behind that line. Carson Beck has a bigger physical skill set than Stetson Bennett. Is he a better college quarterback than Stetson Bennett? That remains to be seen because Stetson Bennett was very good when the lights were on we don't know about Carson Beck yet but the everybody's shifting to Alabama it's really weird because three months ago we were all assuming that LSU was had surpassed Alabama and then we started hearing Alabama talk we started hearing Saban talking and I'm, I'm as guilty of this as anybody, the confidence coming off of Nick Saban right now suggests to me

that Alabama is going to be really good regardless of their quarterback situation. And so that said, I have picked Alabama to win the sec West. Does that mean I think Alabama is going to win the sec or win the national title? Not necessarily. I still would lean toward Georgia on that one because I know what they are. I know what they're going to be. Alabama, now, look, they don't play till December if they play at all. At that point, Alabama will be better tested than Georgia because they will have played a tougher schedule. But that doesn't mean that Alabama will be appreciably better than Georgia. In terms of talent, they're both going to be extremely talented. And so I'm not ready to go that far yet.

I will give you some football reasons, though, because Saban is not a good enough reason. I agree with you, Matt, on that. But I will give you some football reasons. I think up front, Alabama is going to be very good. I'm excited to see Jaheim Otis as a sophomore, even though Will Anderson is gone. I think the combo of Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell is still going to produce a very good pass rush out of Alabama. They're probably a little faster in the secondary than they were last season. And that did seem to be their undoing, especially against Tennessee,

where they just couldn't keep up in a lot of cases. And you saw how Georgia played Tennessee a little bit differently than Alabama did. And I don't know that Alabama could play them that way last year. Maybe they'll be able to play them that way this year. We'll find out in that game in Tuscaloosa. Offensively, yes, the quarterback situation's up in the air. No, I don't know who's going to start. I think we're going to see two and maybe three people in the season opener against Middle Tennessee, and they'll decide on somebody for the Texas game. But I do feel like we're going

to see Alabama zig where everybody else is zagging and kind of in the way that Georgia has done that. You know, Georgia, while they have an explosive offense, it is very much based on them mauling you up front. And Alabama should be able to do that. I look at what they did at offensive tackle where there was concern about what they were going to do at left tackle in the spring and you know jc latham has stayed at right tackle and caden proctor the true freshman from iowa looks like he's going to be the guy at left tackle i like it when a team says you are clearly a better right tackle than you are left tackle so we're going to leave you there and let you be good at what you're good at. Caden Proctor, they clearly feel confident in him that he, to put him there. Cause you would put an older guy there if you didn't feel supremely confident that the young guy can get it done.

And they've got a pretty good track record of when they do start a true freshman at left tackle, the guy's pretty good. Cam Robinson, Andre smith that you know you don't do that lightly and i don't think it's being done lightly with caden proctor so the stable of backs really good i think justice haynes is going to be a star maybe matt he's a georgia fan mad that justice didn't go where where his dad veron went but i would like to see how that develops but i think they're going to have, you know, Jason McClellan,

they're going to, they have veteran backs. And then the Haynes is, is kind of the wildcard freshmen. I imagine with Tommy Reese, who, if you watch his, his offenses at Notre Dame,

they're going to try hard to establish the run, beat you up up front. That's, that's just how they, how they operated there. And I think think you know this is what we've been watching Georgia do to people and Alabama has become or had become more of a pass first offense more of a pass to run offense instead of a run to pass offense

and maybe it helps because remember last year was the first year in a while that Alabama had not had really dynamic receivers who could just win one-on-one matchups easily. And they struggled to get open at times. Maybe you're going to need a little play action to help get them open, to help draw the eyes of the defense away and let that guy get an extra step and maybe get open. Maybe that's something they need where they, you didn't need that when you had Jalen Waddell and Devante Smith, perhaps some of these young receivers do grow into something like that. And if they do, then you've got a big problem. But even if they don't, if Alabama can, can reliably gain five, six yards on the ground, that passing game is going to open up regardless of whether it's Jalen Milrow or Ty Simpson or Tyler Buckner quarterback. So I do think Alabama is going to be

very good. Do I think they're necessarily better than Georgia right now? No, no, I need to see that first. I think Georgia is going to still be the most loaded team in the country. Does it mean they're going to three-peat automatically? No, There's a reason it hasn't been done since 1936. It's really hard to do. But, yeah, the idea of everybody on that game day panel picking Alabama was, that struck me as everybody thought they'd be the only one to do it, and then they ended up all doing it. And it looked much weirder that way.

We'll see what happens, though. Maybe they're right. This question comes from Dan. If I told you the final four team playoff was the exact same combination of teams as one of the previous years, which year would you put money on? Selfishly as an Oregon duck, I'd like to repeat the first one, which would be ironic to have the same first and last four teams. And it's kind of plausible. And then Dan also asked for a random ranking of most to least ironic things in situations that Alanis Morissette mentions in the song Ironic.

Now, weirdly enough, I'm not gonna say ironic because it's not. I have actually done this before. I will review that in my extra point because it is something that needs to be discussed every so often. But let's get back to Dan's bigger question. Could we see the same combination of teams from one of these other years? And I think that's very interesting.

We've not had a repeat yet. It's been very close. There've been a lot where three of them were the same as another one, but we haven't had a repeat yet. So let's throw out the ones that we definitely aren't going to see. We're not going to see 2015. Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, plausibly I can see all that, but Michigan State, they would have to have some incredible transfer portal luck for that to happen. 2014, Dan mentioned. I do think that's plausible. What you need, obviously, is Oregon to win the Pac-12.

I think that can happen. I think Oregon might be the best team in the Pac-12. And of the teams that can win the Pac-12, because you're going to need to be a 12-1 Pac-12 champ to do this. Of the teams that can go 12-1 in the Pac-12 and win it, I think it's USC or Oregon probably. But it also could be Washington, which brings in the possibility of 2016,

which is Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Washington. So we got a national title game as fun as that one was. That would be pretty awesome. 2017, Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma. This feels like one, if you predicted it right now, nobody would even blink. This one definitely feels like something you could predict. But if we go back to the questions we answered

at the beginning of this segment, then potentially 2018 and 2020 seem possible. 2018 was Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Oklahoma. 2020 was Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame. So perhaps that group can make this happen. I don't think Alabama, Michigan, Georgia, Cincinnati is ever going to get repeated. Georgia, Michigan, TCU, Ohio State, I also don't think gets repeated. So what do we think? I think the most likely repeat is 2017. If we're going to have that same group again, some combination, and I'm not doing an order here.

This is just the order it was in that year. Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma. That makes sense. You could see Clemson winning the ACC. You could see Alabama and Georgia playing for the SEC title as either both 12-0 teams or the one-loss team beats the undefeated team. And then you can see Oklahoma winning the Big 12. And I think 12-1, Big 12 champ, probably good enough to go, especially if the Pac-12, they all beat each other up and the champion has two or three losses. The Big 10 putting two in is a possibility. That's, that's

one that, you know, we only had the one year of that. And also TCU made it in that year. I think TCU could be pretty good this year. I just don't know that they put together the kind of magic that they did last season. If it's somebody from the big 12, I'm thinking it's Texas, Oklahoma, or maybe Kansas state would be a 12 and one Big 12 champ that could bake the playoff possibly. But Texas would mess up this whole scenario because they've obviously never made it. I would like the new blood. We're going to get new blood next year no matter what

because there's going to be 12 teams instead of four. But if I had to do it, I do think bookending it with Alabama, Oregon, Florida state and Ohio state would be fun. And, you know, if you think about what would have to happen there, you would have to have Oregon beating USC, beating Utah, beating Washington. I mean, you have to go through a loaded pack 12 and you can only drop one in that bunch. Ohio State, it would probably mean it would definitely mean they struck back against Michigan. It would mean they beat Penn State in Columbus.

That's not going to be an easy task. Michigan beat Ohio State in a thinking Michigan beat Ohio State in a fluky way in 2021 to saying, oh, no, no, Michigan feels like the team that's going to win that game in that matchup. So. They have a lot to overcome, probably as much as Oregon and Florida State in this scenario in Alabama, like they got to win the division, they got to beat LSU first. So this is not going to be an easy one. The LSU, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma from 2019. How's Georgia not going to wind up in that playoff is my question with Georgia's regular season. So I think you've got to look at the ones Georgia has made. And 2017 seems the most likely because of Cincinnati in 2021 TCU in 2022 it's

hard to imagine them being back all right let us move to the second piece of Dan's question my extra point Alanis Morissette the song ironic ranking The song Ironic ranking what happens from least ironic to most ironic. There's really not much that's ironic in this song. If we're going to talk about what's actually ironic, I would say probably an old man turned 98. He won the lottery and died the next day. That feels ironic and very sad. But a no smoking sign on your cigarette break is not ironic. You work there. You know where smoking is prohibited and where is it allowed. How do you not know this? So a traffic

jam when you're already late, that is poor plan. A death row pardon two minutes too late, you should have hired a better lawyer. A black fly in your Chardonnay. Well, if you're drinking Chardonnay outside, it's quite possible a fly flies into it. It's also just bad luck. Rain on your wedding day, bad luck. 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife. Poor planning. Next time you're at Costco, just buy better. That's all I can say about that. Meeting the man of my dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife. Why isn't that guy wearing his wedding ring? Like, what's the story? Like, if you didn't meet him while playing a contact sport,

him not wearing his wedding ring is an alarm bell that he's probably not actually the man of your dreams, whether he's married or not. But you don't know that because he's not wearing it. So I don't know. Free ride when you've already paid. I guess if you buy your bus token and you drop it in the slot and then look up and there's a sign that says free rides today, that could be considered ironic, but just not a ton of irony in that song. It's more bad luck, poor planning, and just a lack of understanding of your workplace

with the no smoking thing. I don't know. But Alanis was like 17 when she wrote that song. So I'm going to give her a pass on that. Still slaps, but Head Over Feet is the best song on that album. Sorry. These are the rules. All right, we got a big show for you on Tuesday.

It's Hot Take Tuesday. And who better to celebrate with than the great Paul Feinbaum, the king of the hot take, the man who brought hot takes to college football long before any of the rest of us had even incubated a take. Plus, I will be unveiling my college football playoff predictions.

I know you've been waiting with bated breath. They're coming. Also, my boldest predictions for the 2023 season. We are very close to actual games with every team playing, not just that week zero appetizer. We're almost there. Hang in there, everybody. Talk to you tomorrow.