Andy & Ari On3 - What would a USC WIN at Michigan mean? | Is there a Fansville curse?

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

Welcome to Andy and Ari On3, presented by Wendy’s! Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11. Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker, try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs. 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 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  Fubo has extensive coverage of college football all season long. Catch the biggest and best games, including most of the top 25 matchups, most of the games from the Power Four conferences & many of the games from the Group of Five. Every Fubo plan includes the best channels for live college football games like ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, ESPN 2, FS1, Big Ten Network, CBS Sports Network & The CW Network. The ACC Network & SEC Network are both included with the Fubo Pro plan in select local markets, but can be added if outside the local market for an additional cost. To sign up, go here:  https://www.fubo.tv/welcome/leagues/191261?irad=399332&irmp=5298464 It’s a Dear Andy and Ari show, and you’ve sent some amazing questions…(0:00-16:09) Intro - ACC Settlement(16:10-19:24) Wendy's Taste Test(19:25-27:37) Tennessee at Oklahoma preview, presented by PrizePicks(27:38-35:00) USC's Outlook if they beat Michigan(35:01-36:05) Sign up for Fubo today!(36:06-41:28) Dr Pepper Commercial Curse?(41:29-46:53) Caleb Williams in the NFL(46:54-48:05) Watch the Money Game on Amazon Prime(48:06-56:13) Hiring coaches in expanded CFP era(56:14-1:02:52) Ari HATES Mexican food(1:02:53-1:04:30) Try Wendy's Saucy Nuggs!(1:04:31-1:04:59) Conclusion; See you Saturday NIGHT! What would a USC win at Michigan mean for the Trojans the rest of the way? Is there a Fansville curse that has struck DJU, Bryce Young and Quinn Ewers? How does a school hire a new coach in the era of the 12-team playoff? Should the concept of the “Big 3” Florida schools be retired?  Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

There's probably going to be a settlement in the ACC, and I assumed it would just be financial, and they'd throw a number at Florida State and Clemson, and they'd try to pay it, and that'd be the end of that. But it looks like people are trying to get a little more creative. This kind of bubbled up a couple nights ago. Ross Dellinger at Yahoo had a really good story about it, and then the folks at ESPN chimed in yesterday, and Pete Nacos chimed in, and now we've got a little clearer picture of what's going on. So I'll kind of break it down for everybody. Basically, they would change the revenue sharing so that the schools that get the best ratings, like Clemson and Florida State, will get more money every year. But that's not the big thing about this. That's not the big news. The big news is they're potentially going to change the date on the grant of rights, which is the document that ties the media rights to the conference.

It's supposed to end in 2036 now. It would end in 2030 if what they're talking about goes through. Now, Ari, what is the significance of the date, June 30th, 2030? Is that the day there's no more ACC? No, that is, well, it could be. It very well could be. That could be the doomsday clock. But that is the day the Big Ten television contract expires. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

So I stand by what I said initially then. Exactly. Now, I will say this. I will say this because this is actually somewhat shrewd on the part of the ACC because if you thought you were going to lose in court, and in this case, they were fighting in court in three different states. And so if you thought you were going to lose in court, and in this case, they were fighting in court in three different states. And so if you thought you were going to lose in court, this gives you more time, but it also gives you a chance at the end to possibly redo your own TV contract. And who

knows if Florida state continues to stink like they do this year, it might not be a situation where the big 10 is coming after them. So there might be a situation where the ACC is in better shape. I think it's probably more realistic, which you said, where they have essentially pushed the button on the doomsday clock if they do this, where the ACC as we know it would cease to exist in 2030. And then everybody would kind of go where they go. Remember the big 12 TV contract is up in 2031. They would take things they consider valuable before that went up.

But for the big 10, like Indiana and Purdue were not going to take on any new members that cut into their money. So the idea of if, let's say Florida, Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, Miami, whoever it is, if they came in, they probably wouldn't get a full share. And if you had to pay to get out of the ACC and you didn't get a full share, that was going to be very expensive over a period of time. And it probably was going to negate any gains you got from changing conferences.

So this allows you, if you're those schools, to make more money now, and then you can be a free agent at the time when it is most valuable to be a free agent. Yeah. So the thing that I want to latch onto there that you said that I think is interesting is that there does seem to be this notion or maybe even fact that how good you are on the field takes into account like what your value is at the time and i don't know this because i haven't studied television numbers but i'm sure you do maybe clemson to a lesser extent in florida state but isn't florida state always going to be a very valuable television property regardless of how they perform i don't think it's regardless but but even, yes,

even when they were bad, like in the Willie Taggart era, they were still getting numbers, better numbers than other schools that were doing better in the league. So yes, that's true. Because I do think that the idea of being an important property in this risk game of college football, a lot of times is just indoctrinated in how long your program has been good and whether or not you're a blue blood or on the fringe of being considered one. And I think that Clemson is a very interesting case study here, Andy, because they've always been a very solid program, but they weren't necessarily elite until they went on that five-year run between 2015 and 2020, right? So if you go 10 years, which is a long time in this world,

it's a short time, but also a long time. And Clemson goes back to being a nine and three ish type program the way that they were a lot of times before Dabo took over. Like what is Clemson's value from a property standpoint, a television standpoint on that date in 2030? Right. And then also like, what if Miami is really good this year and then continues to be good? Cause that's another, another factor. And then of course there's the North Carolina factor where look, the sec is always coveted North Carolina. The big 10 is always coveted North Carolina, even if they're not that good at football normally. And they don't draw a huge audience that those, those conferences have wanted that program in their conference.

So if they're all free agents, they would have the choice. But how many teams in the ACC, Andy, do you consider are made men from a property value standpoint? Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina. So Clemson has played their way into that for you. Yeah, I think Miami could be. I think Virginia could be because that's one the SEC has kind of been interested in over the years. I think Virginia Tech and NC State are valuable because I'm one of those people that says you need to care about football deeply to be valuable. And that's why I love what the Sunbelt did. When the Sunbelt expanded,

they didn't go, well, let's go get teams in big TV markets that nobody in those markets actually cares about. Let's go get teams that have an existing, very passionate fan base like Appalachian State, like Georgia Southern, like Marshall. Like they're not in big markets, but they have a bigger audience or a more loyal audience than lots of people. Yeah. And it's like it kind of irks me because there are so many programs that are in a very advantageous situation from a conference positioning standpoint because of happenstance and kind of where they were beforehand and there are so many programs that have a passionate loyal loving fan base that are going to get thrown to the wayside um you know but i i just think that we have talked so much about how the big two conference thing is inevitability. Right.

Yeah. And I think that reading this and hearing you speak about it makes me feel like we have a hard and fast date of like when that's probably going to happen. Right. Cause the sec, their contract isn't up till 2033, but if the big 10 is going to make big moves, then they'll probably make big moves around the same time.

And they may want to redo their contract anyway. I, cause I think the sec, like I wrote this in my mailbag today, I think sec officials wanted to puke when they saw what CBS and NBC were paying for what they're getting in the big 10 versus what the sec is giving ESPN for not as much money. And I just, I think, versus what the SEC is giving ESPN for not as much money.

And I think they went a little too early with their deal, or they underestimated what their value was, and they're going to probably want to do something. Now, I think they're probably going to try to squeeze a little more out of ESPN sooner rather than later, as ESPN tries to get that ninth conference game. And they're going to say, well, that's going to cost you. Yeah, and the properties that ninth conference game. And they're going to say, well, that's going to cost you. Yeah. And the properties that are in there.

Like from a made men standpoint, the SEC has more made men properties than the Big Ten does, and they're getting paid less. So, yeah, there's probably going to be. I'll give you an example, Ari. Like on NBC in primetime Saturday was Indiana-UCLA. That's not what NBC paid for. Okay. Listen, buddy, you watch your Indiana slander right now. Okay. You want to talk about it? No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. You're

right. You're right. Coach Siggs. I love coach Siggs as much as the next guy. But that's not what NBC paid for. NBC paid to get it like USC Michigan Michigan. That's what they were paying for. Not that. Right. So let me ask you this just bluntly, because I think people like context. I mean, there's so many things in this evolution of the sport that just happen step-by-step, but I want to think a little bit big picture here. True or false, Andy, college football will be the big two conferences in 2035. I hope not. I'm telling you, when we were watching Kansas State Arizona the other night, I was just imagining what the Big 12 race is going to be like this year

and getting very excited. Let's say the ACC sort of disintegrates. That's where Virginia Tech and NC State go. And they fit right in. And I would love watching that. And I don't want there to be a world where that's not important or valuable. Yeah. It's like on one hand, I couldn't stand the expansion of the college football playoff.

But on the other hand, it's almost an inevitability because at least it keeps everybody in the picture. You know, like everybody has accused me over the years. And, you know, maybe I'm guilty to a certain extent of talking about and caring about the teams that win the national championship or the national championship the most. But, like, I don't think this sport is what it is if the Virginia Tech game doesn't matter or if the washington state doesn't matter game doesn't matter you know like we're all on the same page here so but i just feel like with these movements and these revelations that the picture that we know is inevitable is starting to come together piece by piece here yeah i i think like that if this goes through and we don't yet know if this is going to go through this is something that the acc presidents are reviewing and i it's funny because i saw a lot

of reaction as the news was coming out like oh see florida state whined it didn't get its way florida state and clemson won like they won they're gonna get more money and they're gonna get out and be free agents when it is most advantageous for them to be free agents. Like the ACC didn't win here. The ACC did what the ACC had to do to try to prolong itself. And it's funny because we talk about like we were talking about Michigan and the offense the other day. Like you have to even if things aren't ideal, you have to come up with ideas to give yourself the best chance. That's what the ACC did.

Like it gave itself the best chance. So what does it have to happen for its best chance to come to fruition? That it goes to market at the same time pitching this lineup and a TV network says, we would love to pay you a lot of money for that. And then Florida State and Clemson are just like, okay, fine, we're good with that. Correct, correct. I don't think that happens. Do you think that's all this is about?

Do you think that's all this is about? I know I'm not trying to sound naive. Money is always what it's always about. But if Florida State and Clemson get a fat check at the end of the road here from the ACC, is that all it's about for them? Yeah, it's about money for them. Maybe Florida State, it's more personal,

but it's about the gap between the SEC and Big Ten and the ACC. Because the reason I bring that up. Yeah, Florida State and Clemson have to recruit against Georgia, against Auburn against Alabama against Tennessee against Florida like they have to recruit against these schools that are going to have so much more money yeah the reason why I brought that up Andy is because Florida State has made it personal so like it's like I don't know if Florida State can exist in a world where they're getting paid 0.9x what an SEC team is getting paid of x. Bad at math.

I don't know if I said that right, but you get what I'm saying. 90% of what the other teams are getting in the big conferences, or if not being a part of the big conference and having that patch on their jersey matters to them a lot too. Yeah. We're going to find out. We're going gonna find out we're gonna find out and i would suggest if you if you want to be a valuable free agent like like we said some of this is sort of baked in like it doesn't always matter how you do on the field but if you want to be the most valuable free agent

competing for national titles right around the time you hit free agency would be the thing to do yourself you have to and the funniest thing about this is if you want the fattest check at the end of the road, you have to invest in yourself and make yourself a marketable asset. It's kind of like us. It's kind of like us. You remember when we worked at that other company and we got paid to write and we started doing five shows a week and people are like, why are you doing so many shows? They're paying you for that including our own spouses and we were like trust us it'll work yeah well i guess sure enough it worked uh we there's the scared money doesn't make any money and uh that that's one and then you have to spend money to make it so you know you know, that to me, I think is something that rings true very much. So

with the sport of college football, now I understand there's some obstacles there. If you're making much less than other people are making in bigger conferences and it's hard to spend as much on yourself. But you do have to show a commitment to football and it's not just stadium renovations and putting cool televisions in the lockers. It's about putting cold, hard, fast cash into your recruiting budget and to get the collectives going and all the things that you want. Like if you want your program to be saved, you have to save it. So, Justin Lucas, we'll start the Dear Andy portion right here because this is a great question from Justin in the chat. The Pac-2 was pretty openly waiting for ACC chaos. They obviously didn't have it did

they have a little birdie in for them as in the pack to know this also potential acc backfill options memphis or july and hearing the pack 12 out so correct justin they did know this and that's actually when all the rumors started last week we started hearing like i I got a call from one of our FSU guys in the middle of the week last week. Are you hearing anything weird? And then I called some people, NACOS called some people, and NACOS was like, yeah, something's going on. And then that night, the Pac-2 stuff breaks. Well, now the Pac-6. That stuff breaks.

So clearly those things were related. as all of this is ultimately related. So that's the, Elias says, I would be very unsurprised if Wazoo and Oregon State folks don't have contacts with Cal Stanford. They do exactly. And here's the other thing about that. The Cal Stanford thing, if you set the date of the grand rights at 2030 they can be back in the pac-12 in 2030 if this doesn't work out if they don't like this they can just go back yeah uh i guess you know like they say andy the realignment wave is a tidal wave and it's not one that goes away very easily. So super excited to see what this means for the future of the next few conferences.

But yeah, this is, I think, a pretty important revelation as we try to read the tea leaves of where the sport's headed. The evolution's fun while we're on the path of it, but the most important piece of this whole thing is what is it going to look like? You don't start a renovation project without blueprints, and it kind of feels like this is what the ncaa is doing with college football and it's kind of a ride yeah i i don't think they have any blueprints i don't know i don't think they're working from a place this is this is we're going to throw some of this here and some of this

here and we'll see if it falls down we'll just build another one later yeah andy you want to redo your kitchen in your house just have somebody come over and then when you walk into your house be like so what are we working on? And the guy goes, I don't know. We're just going to make it work. Exactly. Exactly.

All right. You mentioned realignment is a tidal wave. This show is a tidal wave of Wendy's spicy nug sauce, be it honey barbecue, be it garlic Parmesan, be it spicy ghost pepper. Ari and I did a little taste test last week. It was spectacular. Ari, I did a little taste test last week. It was spectacular.

Ari, your official welcome to On3. We are presented by Wendy's, the Saucy Nugs. That's our specialty item. We have every flavor of Saucy Nug. You've been training for this your entire life. You know, I was telling everybody before this, but my dad looked at me in the eyes when I was a kid and he said, son, you can be anything you want to be.

You just got to put your mind to it and work hard. And I said, I want to eat Wendy's on camera. I made it. Here I am. So I'm going to just get started. I'm going to grab some garlic parm. So, okay. I like the garlic parm is a very like, full, savory.

The other, like the honey barbecue's got your sweet. Like this is your ultimate savory here. Buttery and savory. Nothing better than washing it down with a crisp zero too, you know what I mean? Oh yeah, a little Coke Zero action. Mm, now that's the spicy buffalo. That's tremendous.

I think that's kind of the perfect... That might be my favorite. This is the parmesan garlic, and this one I haven't tried yet. It's a little bit hotter. Parmesan garlic. Oh, this is spicy parmesan garlic. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

It's pretty damn good. See this? I keep changing my favorite. I think that's the point of this exercise, right? Yes. That's my favorite one. I could put down 32 ounces of Coke Zero and be like... It will not. Where's the next 32 this exercise yes that's my favorite one i could put down 32 ounces of coke zero and be like it will not where's the next 30 well and hey we're free refills in the restaurant

so wendy's new saucy nugs take the crispy and spicy nugs you love and turn them up to 11 choose between flavors like buffalo honey barbecue garlic parm or if you're a real heat seeker try the spicy ghost pepper only on Wendy's signature spicy nugs. I dare you. It's seven delicious ways to try the nugs you already love. Pick a flavor, grab some extra napkins, and prepare to nug. I've never nugged before. I think we are having some technical difficulties right now.

Hold on one second while we wait for Andy to get back onto the show here. Here he is. Oh, I'm back. I'm back. My internet decided. At least my internet waited until we ran the ad to die, and I appreciate that. So that's good.

Andy, did you miss the part where you took spicy barbecue sauce and wiped it on my face? Because I think that's the cutest part of that promo. I mean, listen, that's our wedding, essentially, right there. Oh, yeah. I had to tell my wife I have a new partner. I actually got married.

Yeah. It's been a long time since I actually got married. I'm going to be frank with you. If your internet was out, I would have just sat here like a deer in the headlights. I had no idea what to do. I was panicking, so I'm so happy to see you. You know exactly what to do.

You know exactly what. And in fact, we have a really good plan today because it's a Dear Andy day, and obviously your questions are amazing and we love you for those, but we know what the next step is already. Cause there's a game yesterday about him going back fired at Oklahoma. So we have to do our Tennessee, Oklahoma preview presented by prize picks. So you, you guys PrizePix is, best daily fantasy game in the world. Use that code Staples, play $5, get $50 instantly. And I'm telling you right now that the college football board is popping and the Tennessee-Oklahoma game is particularly interesting. There are two squares, Ari, in the Tennessee-Oklahoma game that I think will tell us, well, actually it's one square

because they don't have the other one that I thought they might have. So two, there's one really interesting square and it is Jackson Arnold 0.5 interceptions. It's actually a goblin line, a goblin square. So the like goblin square means they think it's easier to get and demon square thing it means they think it's harder to get so like the jackson arnold more than 0.5 rushing or receiving touchdowns is a demon so that's a potentially higher payout the 0.5 interceptions more than is a goblin but i think it's easier to achieve so okay here's my issue with that if if that is a more than then i think we got a problem for the Sooners like that needs to be a less than and if it's a less than i think that the Sooners have a really good chance to win

yeah well i mean this is a really important day and game for Jackson Arnold, who, you know, frankly has shown a lot of signs of excitement, but has turned the ball over quite a bit. Now you expect that a little bit from somebody who's only started what now four games in his entire career, but his first game last year against Arizona on the bowl game, I think he threw four of them and he threw a pretty crucial pick six at the end of this game last week against Tulane and Oklahoma could have lost the game because of it. So, you know, you definitely want to see Oklahoma clean that stuff up. You want the quarterback position to be sharp and, you know, in a world where we're really excited and I can't wait to get up there to see

this game, Andy, two former five-star guys at the quarterback position trying to become, you know, stars in the sport, you know, there is a lot of paying attention that's going to have to happen when it comes to Nico and Jackson. And who plays a crisper game without turnovers is probably going to tell a pretty large story of who wins the football game. Yeah, so some other ones that i'm actually looking forward to seeing too is uh brew mccoy's receiving yards uh or receiving touchdown sorry and uh rushing in reception we got 0.5 box i like more than brew mccoy's a really good young receiver in this game, and definitely somebody I feel like Tennessee is going to have to rely on here.

Now, there are a lot of squares here, Andy, that I'm really excited about because, frankly speaking, I'm at the verge of thinking that Tennessee is a legitimate national championship contender, and there's a lot of squares on this list that I'm thinking more than. Like 287.5 passing and rush yards from Nico. I think Nico's going to escape the pocket a few times and make some plays with his feet in a game like this on the road. That's a really attractive square.

I really, really am locked in, too, on Oklahoma running back Gavin Sawchuck. His rushing yards are very low in these squares, 25.5 rushing yards attempts more or less than, uh, he hasn't really done too much so far this year, but I watched this kid as a recruit. I think he's a stud. He could break one off in this game. There's a lot to choose from here. Let me give you a wild stat. I'm back by the way. Let me give you a wild stat that should influence how you, if you're doing squares for touchdowns for any player, this stat should influence you. And you got to be thinking about this

and decide if it's going to continue or if it's going to flip the other way because it is one of those things that is somewhat random. So Oklahoma's turned opponents over seven times so far this year ari one interception six fumble recoveries do you know how many fumbles oklahoma has forced no how many six they have recovered every fumble that an opponent has there is a skill to recovering fumbles and there is like a way to teach it like

don't be what is the game we watched the other night oh the the unlv kansas game where seven kansas players tried to pick up the ball and run with it when they could have just fetal positioned and had the ball and unlv ends up winning the game because of that uh so there is a teaching part of this so oklahoma clearly good at recovering fumbles but there is an element of randomness to that. Sometimes the ball bounces to you and sometimes it bounces to your opponent. There's more randomness when it comes to recovering the fumble than forcing it, in my opinion. Correct. Correct. Yeah. Like the Alabama players last week after the game about trying to force fumbles and they were definitely trying and succeeding in forcing fumbles. So Oklahoma is a defense that is going to make you put the ball on the ground.

So you could potentially have some very short fields for Oklahoma if that keeps up. So keep that in mind as you decide what your Oklahoma player touchdown squares are going to look like.

Somebody in the chat here said, Andy, that I said that Brew McCoy was young. If I said that, it was because I was having a meltdown because the internet wasn't working he's younger than you younger than me now I'm old I wanted to bring this guy up and I was going to save him for you but we have to talk about Dylan Samson

this guy taught us how to dance after a touchdown and his rushing and receiving square for touchdowns in this game is 0.5. It seems all but pretty certain that he's going to score at least once in this game, right? I mean, the touchdowns are always a little bit random because you just don't know. Sometimes, there may be a play where Dylan Sampson takes a little flare pass and goes 64 yards and gets tackled at the one.

And then Nico sneaks it in like that. You just don't. That's what makes the touchdown ones tricky. But yes, Dylan Sampson is getting into the end zone a lot. A lot. He has nine. Yeah. Producer River says he would take Dylan Sampson for a TD in a heartbeat,

but Producer River's a Tennessee grad. He thinks he's going to score 10 touchdowns. That one's definitely going to be on my card, though. He's going to score. Well, will he dance, though, is the question. Will he be one of the ones we taught him? Yeah, I don't know, but thank you to Dylan Sampson for teaching me that you have to be somewhat athletic to just dance.

And it's a revelation that it's like we sit here and we talk about players and their ability all the time. And it's like, I can't even do a touchdown dance without looking like my muscles are tightening up. So think about how athletic you have to be to actually play college football at a high level, you know? Well, we did learn during that process that you're a better athlete than me. So that's, that's a good sign.

Like you, you pick that up a lot faster than I did. That is your prize picks, Tennessee, Oklahoma preview. We don't know who's gonna be dancing in the end zone. Do you know, pick your squares accordingly,

at least two, you can go up to five. Obviously you can mix and match with other games, you can mix and match with other games. You can mix and match with other sports. You've got that free Caleb Williams square. Almost free. If Caleb Williams throws for a yard for the Bears this weekend, then you will win that square.

Ari and I both used that to win a play last weekend. So I would suggest if you are super confident in something, but not super confident in another thing, take the thing you're super confident in again and combine it with Caleb Williams and you'll be feeling pretty... Play $5, get $50 instantly. It's the most fun way to roll.

All right, all right. We now need to take the people's questions. We got lots of questions from the people i thought we got some really good ones this week i was i was very pleased and as as you've seen the headline what would a usc win at michigan mean is there a fansville curse like these these guys have been thinking very hard about what this should be what this week's going to be and what's going on in the sport in general. Because listen, you know I love all Fansville discourse.

But let's start off with a question from at DD Wag. If USC wins at the Big House on Saturday, what percentage chance would you give of the following? USC in the Big Ten title game, USC winning the Big Ten, USC making the college football playoff, USC winning the national title. So Ari, let's start with the first question. If USC were to beat Michigan on Saturday, what would you put their chances at of making the Big Ten title game? See, when I read this question, Andy, I got a little bit nervous because I think there's a way that you can mess up the math here. So I'm going to try my best to not screw it up as you go down the line.

So percentage chances of making the Big Ten championship game. Well, I'm happy we're talking about USC because I got a takeoff yesterday. Like I was out on USC, and now I'm starting to creep my way back in. They picked up a five-star receiver commitment on Wednesday out of Utah. Things are working for them. Their defense seems to be fixed. Making the Big Ten championship game is a really good proposition for them because if you've paid attention to USC's schedule this year, they don't play Ohio State or Oregon in the regular season.

And I believe the Michigan game and Notre Dame games are much more manageable to picture right now with the way the season's going. So they still have to go on the road to Washington, but their biggest game of the year turns into a home game against Penn State, a game that I think that they could actually win. So I would say that they have at least a 60% chance if they win against Michigan of making the Big Ten championship game. I basically put it at 50 because I think if they beat Michigan, the Penn State game probably becomes a 50-50 proposition. If you win that game, you're probably going to get in. Because the Notre Dame game doesn't matter for the Big Ten Championship. So that's not even a relevant discussion.

The only question I have at that point, I think the Nebraska game, which is in the Coliseum, might be challenging because we don't exactly know what Nebraska is yet, but we think they might be pretty good. But I think if you can beat Penn State, you should feel very, very good about making the Big Ten championship game. So I basically, if they beat Michigan, I put it at 50-50 to make the Big Ten championship game. You may be more right than me, though. I think it actually may be a little bit higher

because there's even a possibility you lose that Penn State game and you run the table the rest of the way in the Big Ten and you're feeling very good about your chances uh then then you're just probably dealing with a uh with a head-to-head situation and a tiebreaker situation depending on how things go for for Oregon and Ohio State so and they play each other so that one of them is going to have a loss correct correct and so we now potentially messy tiebreaker scenarios coming in there, but we knew that. We knew that was possible. But so let's move on to winning the conference.

What percentage, if they beat Michigan, what percentage would you give them to win the conference? 10%. Okay, you went lower than me. I basically, I just multiplied the 50% chance I was giving them to make the title game. Because my thing is, if they make the Big Ten title game, they're good. So I'd actually feel pretty confident with them against, let's say, an Oregon or Ohio State. And so I just said, let's make that a 50-50 also.

So I did 50% times. 50% is 25%. Is that how the math works there? That is how I'm going to have to ask my eighth grader, but I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Okay. Maybe 10's a little bit low. I just have a hard time envisioning that they're going to be able to beat whoever they're facing in that game right now.

So I wanted to temper myself. I wrote a column on three on Wednesday saying that they're giving us a reason to pay attention again but like I don't want to I don't want to go all the way back in yet like I I'm very excited to watch this game and I think it's possible that they'll be able to score on anybody and and who knows who they're facing at the end of the road but like in my mind right now their opponent would be Ohio State and I think that making the the Big Ten championship game is going to be a pretty tough proposition to begin with but like if they were to play Ohio State tomorrow what would your percentage chances of them winning the game be it would probably would be pretty like one out of ten maybe so I need to see I kind of need to see the Michigan game first that's yeah so I'm being a

little conservative here but I do think that the percentages are going to go up on the next question. OK, the next question is, what are their chances of making the college football playoff? And I'm with you. So what would you say that that percentage chances if they beat Michigan? I would say 45 percent. OK, you went lower than me. I said 50 percent again, and I actually think it might be higher than that, because I think if you, but basically I picked 50% because if you can make the Big Ten title game, you can make the college football playoff. Now, they still might lose to Notre Dame, which would affect their college football playoff resume. But, you know, if they beat Penn State, well, let's say they go undefeated in the Big Ten, they're definitely in. If they lose one in the Big Ten and lose to Notre Dame, they're probably still in, depending on where Notre Dame is. But I could be losing two bets in that case. I've also got to keep some structural integrity here because I can't have a show on Wednesday where I say Notre Dame has a chance

to win out and then give USC a win in that game. I think that USC could probably be in the big 10 championship game as a 10 and two team, and then end up, uh, 10 and three, which might knock them out at the end. So like 45%, I think is a pretty fair number.

Um, I'm not a hundred percent certain that they're going to beat Notre Dame at the end of the year. I'm certainly not certain they're going to beat Penn state and hell, we're not certain that they're going to beat Michigan this weekend, but if they do beat Michigan, which I think they will, they are in a pretty good position to make that college football playoff. And I think 45%, given where we started this year is a hell of an improvement in a three week period. Yeah. Yeah. I think my outlook on them is bright and considerably.

Now, if they go to the big house and lay an egg, it's obviously very different. And I think that's, what's most intriguing about this game, Ari is we really don't know. And we don't know what Michigan's going to be because they're, they're changing quarterbacks. Uh, this is Sharon Moore saying, you know what, perhaps I was too hasty starting Davis Warren, even though clearly they had kind of been preparing for an Alex Orji-led offense for most of the offseason. So this is probably the offense that we were expecting to see and that they were working toward for most of the offseason. So I don't know if that's going to be any better or not. I have no idea. And that's the beauty of this. I'm so excited to sit down and watch that game on Saturday. Yeah, no, I'm, I'm very much looking forward to it.

I got to figure out what time this game starts at that 2 30 PM. All right. So I'll be in Norman in front of a TV, maybe some popcorn. I'll be ready to go. Yeah. Yeah. As goat dog says,

you'll be preparing for an orgy. Won't we all. Yeah. All right. If you want to watch that game, well, our friends at Fubo have extensive coverage of college football all season long. Catch the biggest and best games, including most of the top 25 matchups, most of the games from the Power 4 conferences, and many games from the Group of Five. Every FUBO plan includes the best channels for live college football games like ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, Big Ten Network, CBS Sports Network, and the CW.

The ACC Network and SEC Network are both included with the FUBO Pro Plan and select local markets, but can be added if the local market, added outside the local market for additional cost. They also have regional sports networks, sometimes offer live games. Also, now offering special promos, $30 off the first month for all U.S. plans. So there is a link in the description to this show that you are either watching or listening to. So on your podcast platform or on YouTube, you can click the link in the show description. And ba-boom, sign up for Fubo. And you are watching.

You are cutting the cord, but you are still watching. And you can watch it on any device anywhere. So hit that link and sign up for Fubo. All right. All right. Question number two. And if you are watching on Fubo, you,

you will see this, these commercials a lot, but I love these commercials. I hate that. I, I woke up feeling the cheesiest coach commercial. And I did have another question in his mailbag saying, does that wheel of cheese still have eligibility?

And if so, how I think he probably took the COVID year, but we're going to talk fansville. This is from Jeff. Is there a Dr. Pepper NIL curse? DJU is, well, we know. Bryce Young is benched and now Quinn Ewers is hurt. What is going on with that 23 flavor drink? So since NIL came into existence, Ari, we have seen this. We had DJU showed up, was the first athlete in a Fansville commercial. His situation has obviously been well-documented this year. It ain't going well in Tallahassee for DJU. Bryce Young was quite good for Alabamaama was amazing in his fansville commercial

with the the son of the state fans who winds up going to coastal and bryce young did the uh did the i'm taking over your life thing and and was very creepy in that commercial uh but no he has been benched by the carolina panthers and now we've got quinn ewers who's just abstrain out like it's it is it's like lightning hit him is there a fansville curse so this is like the new madden curse then that's what we're gonna do with this um or the new listen i used to write for sports illustrated i i have taken part in cursing oh uh producer river, producer river says, is Caleb Williams still somewhat safe from the curse? Cause Caleb was in those commercials too. Uh,

I don't know. I've watched the first couple of bears game. Let's put it this way. I'm glad price picks has given us the 0.5 yard square. Cause he hasn't really thrown for much more than that. Are we going to talk about Caleb Williams for a second after this question? Cause like, I'm kind of very,

I think it's interesting. Not an NFL show, but sure. Why not? No, not an NFL show, but maybe a college angle to it i want to ask yes i agree okay let's talk about this first i don't think so and here's my reasoning bryce young is rich as hell now and was drafted very high so like i don't know if the curse like extends into your nfl career this is a college show and he had a really damn good career at alabama so i don't know if i would go that far and quinn's gonna come back when not done for the year or anything like he's gonna play this year so um you know i don't know if i would go that far but like if something terrible happens to somebody

then maybe we can revisit it down the line because that isn't the best collection of results for people in that commercial. But I don't think it's the worst either. The Madden curse, people have season-ending injuries every year, right? That was really, really bad. And Bryce Young's story is still going to be written. I don't know if I'm convinced that he stinks now

all of a sudden or forgot how to play football. I think he's small. And that's always a risk when you're not kyler murray who might be the biggest freak of an athlete in the entire nfl and i'm go look it up like what that guy can do with his body um and carolina is just not the best place to be i think for a quarterback their roster is not great andy dalton's not going to be throwing darts all over the field on sunday so um you know but, if you're the first pick in the draft, then you're good by me. So here's what I want out of the Fansville season this season, because they've cracked

the lid on this. They've opened the door. So I want this fully explored. Face painted state fan, his child, who we saw as a baby back in season two, goes, was I born a tech fan? And the fact is he was. Now, in that season two commercial, like you see the kid's mom,

the wife of face painted state fan. And she does the, I don't know, when you see the kid as a tech fan. And we haven't seen the mom in five seasons. What did like face painted state fan is not stable. He's not a stable human being. Like, what did he do?

Where is she? That's kind of, this is like the Scientology founders wife. Like we got to know what, where, where did she go? Where, where is face painted state fans wife?

Um, do we know what happened to the Scientology guys wife now? Or is it still a mystery? I don't think we know. I didn't know she was missing. I got to look into this. I'm a big true crime like mystery. Oh, yeah.

You need to watch those documentaries. There are many, many documentaries. But I know I went a dark place here with this. But look, Fansville, you've been around a long time. It's time to go to some dark places. We need to explore all of your little nooks and crannies. I mean, if your wife isn't on board with your college team, then she's out. Now, it doesn't have to be morbid.

They could have just gotten divorced. Well, no, no, no. She was a state fan. But the implication is that she cuckolded him with a tech fan. Oh! Oh! I love explaining the finer points of Fansville to people. Yeah, that's funny. It's a rich tapestry.

It's a great story. It's not just a commercial. It's a story. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's funny. That's funny. All right, so fans will curse. We don't know.

Caleb Williams, Ari, you have the floor on Caleb Williams. Okay. So I watched the game on Sunday night. All right. And like anybody who has listened to this show or my previous podcasts knows that like I have this sickness where I collect football cards. Okay. And I do it because I like trying to prospect getting guys that are cheap, then turning out to be really good. And then trying to sell them later or collect cards that are worth a lot of money.

And I hit a Caleb Williams card in a break and I sold it for an obscene amount of money a few weeks ago. And I felt a little remorse about it because me, like everybody else thinks that Caleb Williams is going to be the greatest player of all time because we watched him play in college, and it's kind of hard to envision a world where he misses. And then I watched the game on Sunday,

and I was appalled by how bad it was. And I don't know if that's just second game as a starter, like too early, but like DJ Moore's body language and some of the plays that he made there was one play specifically that everybody's talking about and i'm sure you saw if you watch the game where they grabbed his shirt he spun out of it ran backwards like caleb williams does and then threw the ball down to the field that was picked and i'm wondering did we get too blinded by caleb williams magician stuff when he was in school? And are you at all concerned

that that stuff is not going to translate well for him in the NFL now? It's like the question we got a few weeks ago about is Miller Moss better for this offense? Because Miller Moss plays in structure. And Caleb Williams is always breaking out of structure because he's capable of it. And the fact of the matter is you can get away with a lot more in college than you can in the NFL because the defensive ends don't run as fast as you in college, but they do in the NFL. So this is like Caleb Williams situation and Bryce Young situation, very different. Like Caleb Williams has good players around him in Chicago, right? It's not a bad roster. He's got real, legit playmakers. They've built up that offensive line.

There's no reason to not be good or not be adequate right now. I don't expect any rookie right off the bat to be good, but to be adequate. In college, but you saw it. You saw it when they played better defenses. I think the Notre Dame game last year is a great example where Caleb tried to do everything, and sometimes that's to his detriment.

He's a magician. The word you use, magician, is the right word. The problem is you can't do as many magic tricks in the NFL. Like you've still got to know how the magic trick goes. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, you cannot outrun a linebacker in the NFL the way you can in college.

And I don't know who are the best freelance quarterbacks in NFL history, but like, did, did Michael Vick turn his back to the line of scrimmage a lot? Like, I feel like he plays recklessly in the NFL when it was Michael Vael vick didn't because remember michael vick played under center and with a fullback in college yeah right so when he turned his back it was just straight up play action but like even lamar jackson doesn't doesn't do stuff like that does he like he's a very elusive

and gifted runner but he doesn't play recklessly like he has a lot of lamar jackson also played in an nfl offense in college. So it's just something to keep track of because I'm not going to revisit that crazy thought that USC is somehow better off without Caleb. Can you imagine if Caleb was on this team, what we'd be talking about right now? Oh, he'd be killing it. We'd be talking about them winning the national championship,

potentially, if their defense is kind of good. So I'm not going to do that, but I do think that the – as somebody who has gambled a heck of a lot of money on football cards in my lifetime, the prospecting of quarterbacks from the college football to the NFL is such a crapshoot. And, like, even people who think they know what they're doing, including the people drafting them, it's like,

are we on Caleb Williams' game does not translate to the nfl mode yet like i know it's only week two and he still might be a 10-time pro bowler but like it's scary to watch because it was like deer in the headlights out there so here here's the thing i'll say what i about caleb williams what i've said about lincoln riley i think both of them are very smart i think they'll figure it out we'll see like this year we, we think Lincoln Riley may have figured out the defense thing. How do you have a program culture where you can actually play good defense? I don't think Caleb Williams is dumb. I think Caleb Williams will figure out how to operate effectively because his skill set

is still bigger than almost anybody else. Yeah. Sorry for hijacking the show, but that was a deer-handed question. Oh, no, no, no no i think this is an interesting conversation because it is an it's an interesting usc conversation too and and we're gonna see miller moss again against a very good defense this or like so can caleb williams play in structure and like what does good offense look like at usc in structure like we talked about a little bit but like we're seeing it now, high alert, seeing USC in structure.

And, you know, Kyler's kind of the prime example of that. Kyler played in structure until, until structure broke down and he absolutely had to run at Oklahoma. And then he was, you know, too fast for anyone to catch,

but we've actually seen it. We've seen the perfect version of that in Lincoln Riley's offense in college. It was Kyler at Oklahoma. Right. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. All right.

Before we get to our next question, which is a great one from Anthony that we could actually spend multiple shows on and probably will as time goes on. We're going to talk about the money game. Inside look at LSU at the dawn of the NIL era, you get insider access to Jaden Daniels, to Libby Dunn, to Angel Reese, and you learn how they navigated the NIL marketplace, how they dealt with all the pressures of everything. It's fascinating. Six part series on Prime Video. If you're already a Prime Video subscriber,

you click that link in our show description, whether it's on podcast or on YouTube, it'll take you right to the money game. You start watching. If you're not already a Prime Video subscriber, you click that same link. It'll take you to get signed up and you're going to want to be signed up anyway

because you get NFL games on Thursday nights. You get shows like the rings of power. You get fallout. If you haven't watched fallout, it's amazing. So it's going to be a lot of fun, but the money game is right up the alley of the folks who watch this show. So I'm telling you right now,

I've binged it. It's awesome. You're going to love it to hit that link in the show description. Watch the money game on prime video. All right. Our next question comes from Anthony. Dear Andy, my question is regards for hiring of the coaches coming up soon. Possibly Billy Napier could be getting fired in the future, but how do you see the expanded football,

the expanded college playoffs having an impact on that? Because National Signing Day is the 5th of February, but the National Championship ends like January 26th. So there's very little time in between. Do you see schools wanting to wait for the hot young assistant at one of the playoff contenders? How do you see this playing out in the future? This is a great question. Cause Ari, I don't think we know the answer to this and we've talked about it a lot in

terms of Florida, because we know they've pretty much made their decision on Billy Napier, but this will not be the only school that deals with it this year. And definitely not the only school that deals with it going forward. There're going to be a lot of schools that have to deal with this. So what would you do, though? That's how you should answer that, then. What would you do or what would I do

if you were an AD at a place that you needed to make a change? Florida's different because we don't know if the AD is going to be there still. Okay, but let's just say you're the AD of Florida now. Okay. And you want a certain hots shot assistant from georgia who glenn schumann on one of our favorites who i think is the guy that's who i would hire like again take take that for what it's worth but that would be my pick and i don't know we talked about on video you can go find on the feed here we had a 10 minute on on three channel video we actually

didn't that video never oh we didn't we didn't do that video we yeah we didn't okay then let's do it now you're right um andy do you wait well okay your your choice your glenn schumann choice actually makes this easy because there's precedent for this. Like that's simple. You do the Kirby smart thing. You do the, you know, basically every time they tried it with Lane Kiffin, they actually ended up firing Lane Kiffin in the middle of Alabama before he went to FAU, but they did with Jeremy Pruitt. They did with, with Kirby smart. If you, if it's a coordinator, it's fine. Like you say, okay, you coach him through the playoff, but you recruit for the new team. You can't recruit anybody off your own roster.

Kirby smart will come, you know, down the hall and beat you, beat your ass for that. So that's easy. If you want to do that, that's easy. It's a much more complicated situation. If the person, the Florida fans want, who is Lane Kiffin, if he were interested or if say Eli Drinkwits were interested and their teams were in the playoff. Because I think if you're the head coach of a team in the playoff, especially a team that's in the same conference as the one that's trying to hire you, you are now at cross purposes from a recruiting standpoint. And I don't think you can do both. I don't think you can say, I'm going to coach my team in the playoff and recruit for you. Cause I remember when Florida hired urban Meyer at the end of 2004, Meyer said,

Hey, look, Utah were the BCS busters. I'm going to coach this team in the Fiesta bowl because we earned it. These players earned it. I want to be here with them. And he did. And so did like,

he had assistants that stayed with him at Utah that then came with him to Florida but that was a simpler time because you didn't have to deal with the transfer portal at the time the other piece of this is the transfer portal being open in December and most of the players that you're going to want especially if you're the SEC, where if you want to go SEC to SEC, you can only do that in the winter window. You have to be able to get those players. One idea I've heard, and this is an interesting one. We talk about the sport becoming NFL light. This is a very NFL type method of acting here, is you hire a general manager who stocks the roster. They work with the collective. They make the deals.

They do the evals. So they stock the roster. And then when the coach can come, they come. But this is my issue. And this has apparently been happening. So Florida's had some people calling potential general managers and the general potential general managers ask, so who am I working for exactly? Who's hiring me? In the case of Florida, it would be Scott Strickland, the current athletic director. Again, we don't know what his

future holds. The other question you ask is even if the AD is still going to be there, will the new coach fire me as soon as he gets there? And I don't think the current AD can answer that question because he doesn't know. Now, you could go to the agents for Lane Kiffin or Eli Drinkwitz or who, it doesn't matter. Name the coach. You could go to that person's agent and say, here are the GMs we're considering.

Who would they like? Who do they like working with? Who would they be happy to work with? And you choose that person and hope that when, if the coach takes the job, that they'll get along and they want to work together. But yeah, I don't think there's no good way to do this. There is zero good way to do this.

And I almost wonder if some of these schools that are looking for new coaches, but considering people whose teams are in playoff contention, kind of hope they lose the third game, like take loss number three in November. Or here's another thing that might just sound crazy. But the expectation when you get this new coach of flipping the roster and doing it immediately has to be tempered. There has to be some sort of grace that the person that you hire is an impossible.

I don't think you can do that. I'll go back to the story I did a few years ago where I talked to Danny White, the Tennessee AD, about hiring coaches. And Danny White's got about as good a track record at hiring coaches as anybody, especially recently. So he's hired Josh Heupel at UCF in Tennessee. He hired Lance Leipold at Buffalo. So that's his football. He hired Nate Oates at Buffalo. Nate Oates was two years out of being a high school coach.

He elevated him from assistant coach to head coach. And look at what Nate Oates is two years out of being a high school coach. He elevated him from assistant coach to head coach. And look at what Nate Oates is doing in Alabama now. Like the guy's got a great history. And one of the things Danny said, and he said, this is critically important and you have to think this way is there is no year zero. You hire the person who can be successful right away. And if you don't think they can be successful right away, you find somebody else. And I think that's critically important now because like I had a question in the written mailbag where somebody, it was a Wisconsin fan who said, you know, how much weight do you put into the phrase?

Gotta let coach get his own guys in. And I said, in 2024, you put no weight in it like if a fan says we gotta let our coach get his guys in that's a fan who doesn't understand how the sport works now if an ad says that that's an ad who's about to get fired yeah i just don't know how much you evolve your thought processes when I'm assuming when Danny White said that to you, the current rule structure wasn't in place yet. Like there's just like, no, it was. And he said he's evolved it based on that. OK, well, yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I it's just a very difficult situation. It was difficult before, but now it feels impossible. So we'll see how teams navigate it. But it's it's definitely going to make program building in year zero hard really

yeah yeah and that's you you've got to go into it with the idea that there's no year zero you just got to accept that because i think that's one of the problems that doomed billy napier is he was allowed to have a year zero and then year two was allowed to be another year zero and nobody put any pressure on him they're like hey about about time to get the roster better dude yeah right and here we are so just very very interesting questions all right our next question comes from Brian I don't even know if I sent this to... Oh, we got it. Okay, perfect. Ari, I laughed when I read this because I know what your answer is going to be. And I just want the people to hear your thoughts on this topic

because I love it. You got to give up one for the rest of your life. What's the move? All Mexican food, which includes Tex-Mex, Taco Bell, etc. All Italian food, which includes pizza. Or all Asian food, Chinese, Japanese chinese japanese etc but also all indian south asian cuisines as well so ari i know which one you're giving up but tell the people which you're like a you're like a producer on the bachelor for choosing this one because you knew

it was going to create chaos you knew it was going to create chaos. All right, guys. You want to hear the take? Here's the take. I think Mexican food is the bottom barrel food category in all cuisine. And it's not that I don't think it's good. I like a good taco. I like chimichangas. I like all those things. I like tortilla chips. But these people don't have carbs in their cuisine.

The tortilla is the lowest form of carb that exists. Italian food's got bread and crust, and Asian food's got bread and deep-fried flavoring and all those things. This isn't a health standpoint, but I don't think that the bar from the best Mexican food and the worst Mexican food is nearly as wide as it is between the worst Asian food and the best Asian food and the worst Italian food and the best Italian food. And I've been roasted by this in my band group chat. I've been roasted by this about this take by Andy. Um, I think every single Tex-Mex restaurant on the face of the earth is basically the same experience and the same food. Um, and I could live without it. I gotta tell you, I'm, I'm truly enjoying you getting roasted in the chat.

Yeah. Cause this was me the other day with the, the Mark Stoops discussion. So I'm glad to be in a situation where I'm not the one everybody disagrees with here. Just tell me in the chat. Tell me in the chat. If you go to a Tex-Mex place, I live in Dallas. My wife loves Tex-Mex. We go all the time. Every single place is the same.

Every single one of them. They're all the same. Cuban Missile says, y'all need to try some Cuban food. Cuban Missile, I took Ari to a Cuban restaurant a mile from my house. It was delicious.

Cuban food is not Mexican food. They're very different. We're not talking about Cuban food right now. Yeah. So that's the way I feel about it, Andy. And, you know, that's not true. Here's my issue with it. And I will, I got to say, way i feel about it andy and uh you know that's it's not here's my issue with it and i will i gotta say i actually i probably i don't know which one i'd give up in this one italian is the one i

would definitely not give up especially if it includes pizza so it'd come down to mexican or asian and maybe a coin flip for me but your idea that there's no such thing as elevated Mexican food is just wrong. It's wrong. Dan Rubenstein and I went to Casa Enrique in Queens. It's a Michelin-starred Mexican restaurant in New York. And it is not the same five ingredients, just reheated. The mole chicken at that place is life-changing. And it's actually probably the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant you can eat at in new york uh it is spectacular so there are good elevated versions

of it you just haven't had it yet yeah i mean yeah okay well whatever i've been to a mill i grew up in phoenix and i live in dallas i've been to a million mexican restaurants have i been to the best one you've ever had in queens no i, I've never been there. Maybe. But I've seen, I've seen how you order. Like you get very intimidated by menus and you tend to freak out and freeze up and order the wrong thing. It's like our friend Bruce Feldman who always freaks out and orders a turkey burger. Like there's never been a turkey burger that made anybody happy. So I also think that Taco Bell is the bottom barrel of fast food. Like, I just don't think that it's like, how could you possibly pick Taco Bell over In-N-Out or McDonald's or a place that has buns and French fries? Like, it doesn't make any sense to me how you could ever think that those two things stack up to one another.

Well, I think you should pick Wendy's, but that's just me. Yeah, what I'm saying, if you had to pick Taco Bell or Wendy's or Taco Bell at any burger place, this is a Taco Bell discussion. How could you possibly pick Taco Bell over those places? I just don't understand. I would take Wendy's a thousand times out of a thousand. I mean, I have only gone to Taco Bell when I'm obscenely hammered at 3 in the morning, so I've never gone to eat lunch there on a regular Wednesday. But I just cannot fathom. It's good. I'm not even saying ited at three in the morning. So I've never like gone to eat lunch there on like a regular Wednesday, but I just cannot fathom. Like it's good.

Like I'm not even saying it's not good. It's good. Taco Bell is good. Mexican food is good. I like Mexican food. I like Tex-Mex, but to act like they're not all, I've been to a million Texas rest,

uh, Tex-Mex restaurants in my life. They're all the same. I do love the, the, the people going, wait, are you talking about Tex-Mex or Mexican? No, okay.

Stop acting like there's a real distinction. You're just trying to sound fancy at that point. And Dan Rubenstein took us on the tortilla taco tour. And those places were obscenely good. I'm not saying that a really good, well buttered tortilla is good or isn't good. It's delicious. But is it better than ciabatta bread?

Like, are you really going to put tortilla up with the million? Is it better than an Olive Garden breadstick? Where you were there with your family? Let me ask you, is the best tortilla you've ever had better than a well done piece of bread? I will say, so if we're going chain restaurants papasitos in texas their fresh tortillas are better than almost anything papasitos is chilies man it's on the no it is not it's the same place go go get those tortillas go

ask for those tortillas go get a shrimp brochette at Chili's and see how that works out for you. Go get a shrimp brochette at Chili's and see how that works out for you. Go ask for that. It's all medium-grade, fast, casual Tex-Mex. Yeah, no. You're wrong on this. The chat has told you. Like, you're wrong.

I think Steven Wilson here isn't telling me that. He's saying amen to papasitos because i'm right and you're wrong all right one more question our friend nathan you did this from israel nathan your question so we're staying outside of the second shake shack to ever open in israel which made me think of a random ranking for you um if you guys were in a foreign country and you could only have one American fast food restaurant, what would be your top five restaurants to move to that country? This is an easy one, Nathan. Number five, Wendy's. Number four, Wendy's.

Number three, Wendy's. Number two, Wendy's. And number one, drumroll please. Wendy's number three Wendy's number two Wendy's and number one drum roll please Wendy's do you want mine now yeah number five Wendy's number four Wendy's number three Wendy's number two Wendy's number one Wendy's nothing better than those saucy nugs there, bud. Beautiful! Saucy nugs, Coke Zero, Frosty. Also, listen. I love the saucy nugs as much as the next guy. But if you're trying to eat a little healthier,

Wendy's gives you the chili and baked potato option. Wendy's chili and baked potato hit. Wendy's nuggets are not deeply battered and fried the same way as other fast food nuggets. So if you actually look at the nutrition facts of like a 10 piece, it's not that bad. Like you can eat a 10 piece nugget for lunch and like still lose weight. And I have been doing that. So that is exactly true. The spicy buffalo would be the one that would be the one folks.

This has been wonderful. Thank you so much for your questions. We love those questions. Get them in. You can get them in early and often for next Thursday to our, we got South Alabama, Appalachian state tonight. We got all Syracuse,

Stanford and Nebraska, Illinois on Friday night. Can't wait. It's time, buddy. We will talk to you after the games.