Andy & Ari On3 - Who are the DARK HORSE Heisman Trophy candidates for the 2025 season?

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

You submitted some incredible Dear Andy/Dear Ari questions this week, and we’re diving right in…(0:00-2:02) Intro: Know any Coldplay?(2:03-10:41) Dear Andy & Ari: dark horse QBs?(10:42-20:27) Top Candidates for dark horse Heisman(20:28-26:48) Crimson Tide Heisman?(26:49-32:22) Big 12 QB for Heisman?(32:23-39:24) Does Allar's Experience elevate Penn State?(39:25-40:47) Subscribe to the Rivals YouTube Page!(40:48-44:56) If Arch is successful, will other QBs follow suit?(44:57-54:31) Staying Consistent with Content(54:32-1:00:31) PJ Fleck & Minnesota's Identity(1:00:32-1:12:57) Random Ranking: Top Coldplay songs(1:12:58-1:15:43) Bill Belichick to do a docuseries on Hulu(1:15:44-1:17:04) Conclusion: Backstreet Boys Concert? Who are some dark horse Heisman Trophy contenders? Anyone with odds higher than 30-1 qualifies. Does Drew Allar being one of the few experienced quarterbacks playing on an otherwise loaded team give Penn State an advantage in the national title race? If Arch Manning is successful, will it make waiting and developing cool again for QBs? Plus, today’s Random Ranking is our top five Coldplay songs. Why? You saw the clip.  Watch our show LIVE, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/YgIFdaeq7Wo Want to partner with the show? E-mail [e-mail]

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. Happy Friday. It is one of our favorite days. You guys drive the show. Here we have some incredible questions. Ari is right now cramming listening to Coldplay because the random ranking at the end is going to be the top five Coldplay songs. If you were on the internet on Thursday, that you know why. I wish that we would have opened up the podcast today with me standing behind you with my arms around you. That would have been a cute way to open it. If we were in person, I would have made sure we could have done that. Adorable, but you know, you're, I'm a little taller, so I don't know if anybody would have

seen you. The craziest thing to me about that isn't the affair or how they're even got caught. The thing that no one's talking about with that is that like it was the HR woman who's supposed to weed out in her office relationships are literally literally everyone's talking about. OK, is that what they're talking about?

Alright, and that and that the assistant HR person who just got promoted may have been the person next to them. With the hands over the face. the most distant HR person who five Coldplay songs, Ari goes, I don't know any Coldplay songs, which is incredible because from 1998 to 2015, Coldplay was inescapable. Yet Ari somehow escaped. Uh, yeah, I never said I never heard them. I said, I don't know anything about them, which I stand by. Um, the only thing I know about Coldplay is the funny line from 40 year old Virgin. Uh, yeah, I don't even remember that one, but yeah.

Playing video games and they're going back and forth saying, you know how I know you're, yeah. Yes, yes, yes. Also, Chris Martin was married to Gwyneth Paltrow for 10 years. So there's that. They consciously uncoupled. We are consciously coupled here today though. And we have incredible questions for you. We're gonna start, we're just going right into the mailbag questions because the first one is one, we should have had this show already.

Hand up, we messed up. We should have had this show in the middle of the summer. But this is one we gotta talk about. So we'll start with Eric's question. Hey guys, love the show. I'm looking for Dark Horse Heisman narratives that could take hold the same sort of way Travis Hunter did last year. Plays every snap Colorado Dian Mania. Could you come up with a couple Dark Horse Heisman candidates

and the narratives that could get them to NYC? Each has to be 30 to one or greater to qualify. Thanks. I will push back on the idea that it was a narrative that got Travis Hunter, the Heisman. Travis Hunter won the Heisman because he was the best football player. What surprised me about that was that the Heisman electorate, and Ari and I are both voters, actually chose the best football player instead of just the best quarterback on a national title contending team. I will push back at your push back that there was no narrative involved. I'm not diminishing him as the best. We both agree that he was by far the best player, but I think

that part of winning the Heisman also is circumstance too. I think it's not just who has the best. Well, the circumstance was there was no dominant quarterback on a national title contender because if there had been Travis Hunter wouldn't won. Yeah, also to playing for Dion and being on TV a ton and being the like like you know what I think it was Travis Hunter represented the loud new kids on the block and backing it up. Yeah, there was a lot in the chat says

Travis was objectively not the best football player shaking my head. No, Aaron. He objectively was he literally played both sides of the ball and was the best one of the best in the chat says, Travis was objectively not the best football player. Shaking my head. No, Aaron, he objectively was. He literally played both sides of the ball and was one of the best in the country at wide receiver and at corner. Doing something we haven't seen in like 70 years. It really wasn't close in terms of picking. And you know who else agreed with that?

The NFL draft. I don't know. I don't want to get into, was Travis Hunter the best player in college football with people? Either you know or you don't know. I don't want to get into was Travis Hunter the best player in college football with people that either you know, it's not really an argument. Like if you didn't think that you really don't understand football, I also think too, you have to acknowledge the the the other part of it.

It wasn't just like if he was if Travis Hunter played for Utah last year, I don't know that he would have wanted. I think that playing for Colorado, them being better than people thought, the Deion Sanders aspect of it, the fact that he kind of was the face of a program that was loud and doubted, but also backed it up. I think there's a lot to it than that, more to it than that.

And also he probably had more attention. I think there's a lot of players who have been excellent at football, maybe not as excellent as him because he played both ways at a high level but have existed in programs that aren't really part of the topic of conversation who get overlooked. Like if Travis Hunter was- If Colorado had gone five and seven last year, he doesn't win.

What if he was just on another five and 17 where the coach was like somebody that like 80% of college football fans who don't listen to the show couldn't name. Like if you went and polled a thousand random college football fans and you asked them who the head coach of Utah was, do you think that how many percentages of them do you think would be able to say Kyle Whittingham? It's interesting probably not a high percentage even though he's been their coach for 20 years. Because people don't like I don't know if the random Georgia fan thinks all that much about not the random Georgia fan in here. But the fans though because he beat him in that sugar bowl.

But yeah but you know what I mean though like yeah it's not it's not something they think about um and I do think that in the SEC in the Big Ten especially there is a silo effect where it's like, you are focused on your team and the teams in your conference and like what's going on with a six and six team in the Pac-12 or the Big 12 or whatever might not, like do you think that like Sunny Dykes is a name that people know?

I mean, did have a team in the national title game a few years ago, so. Yeah, that's maybe a bad example, but maybe I'm selling it short. I don't know. No, I think you're right. I think the Dion Sanders effect certainly helped, but also I think there's so there has been some sort of shift in the voting because I don't think 10 years ago, Hunter would have won.

I think it would have been, it still would have been a quarterback. I don't know which I, you know, it's interesting because I have Miami made the playoff cam ward. Do you think he wins? Yes. I think there's a good chance he did. He would have to. Yeah.

So Travis Hunter was a good bet last year that we should have seen coming. I think Travis, we did talk about Travis Hunter as a potential Heisman winner before the season. Like, he wasn't. I drafted Travis Hunter to win the Heisman in the athletic Heisman draft two years ago, and I would have drafted him again last year. But it wasn't like, go bet this.

Right. I don't know. Like, Big Cat from PMT did it. And it's like, if Big Cat does it. I think they placed that bet in September that but it was still 40 to one. Oh, he's already started. That's crazy. Yeah. That's good for him. That was that was a good bet but I am looking at a lot of names here and I'm sure you have a short list of guys that that

could do it and I'm very curious because I do think that like not only do you have to say I think this guy is going to be very good, I think you also have to outline the path in which he is exactly right. I when I tweeted this episode out, I said, there's more science to it. Or more art, art than science to this. Like you have to figure out is this person on a team that's going to be good enough? Are they going to be in our, in our feeds constantly?

That's, that's part of the science to it. You also have to be more open to younger players. I think now than ever before. Yes. Yes, you do. You know, and it's, and you got to understand it's, it could be somebody that you have not seen do anything yet. And that also means that this person might not do anything.

Like they might stink. So let's talk about who we can't pick. So we've got the BetMGM odds up right now. So here are the people who are not eligible. So, cause Eric who wrote the email said 3000 plus 3000 and up. So Arch Manning plus 600, Garrett Nussmeyer plus 850, Kate Clubnick plus 900, Jeremiah Smith plus a thousand, Drew Aller plus 1400, Dante Moore plus 1800,

Lenora Sellers, Julian Sande, DJ Lagway, Carson Beck, John Matier, Sam Levitt. Those are all the people that are below plus 3000 like Sal. So Sam Levitt and John Matier and Carson Becker plus 2500. So we can't pick them. But that's that leaves us everybody else. Everybody else. Let me just ask before we go into individual names.

If I gave you an option between the players that we cannot pick for the Heisman in the field, who's gonna win the Heisman this year? What would you take right now? The field. Right. Yeah. Yeah, I would definitely take the field because I just think about how rarely it feels like the Heisman winner comes out of the group that we're thinking about at the beginning of the season. Right. Now the question that we also have to answer, which is important, is are you eliminating everybody who doesn't play quarterback in a quarterback year like this? I am not, but I am leaning heavily toward the quarterbacks.

There's I would bet a lot of money that the winner will be a quarterback this year. There's too many good quarterbacks this year for it not to be a quarterback. I think that's fair. I think that's fair, and that's why you know if you could look at the thumbnail of this this episode, I have two quarterbacks on there. Yeah, so if you look at the thumbnail of the episode, you probably gave away two of them. So why don't you start with those?

Well, before that, producer River asked us a question in our chat. Will the winner be a transfer quarterback? And here's the other piece of it. And River and I were going back and forth about this last night, because it's fascinating. Other than Devante Smith and Bryce Young, every Heisman winner since 2017 is transferred. Yeah. At some point in his career. Yeah. Yeah. I mean like that's yeah that's the sport. Um, all right. So let's let's go with the I'll start off with the two that I put in the thumbnail because I think both these guys, there's a chance that they could be very much in the

zeitgeist in November that they could be on contending teams. One guy on a team that we definitely think is going to contend one guy on a team that we don't know is going to contend, but if he's really good, they will. So I've got CJ Carr from Notre Dame who are, I find it interesting. And I, you know, this is more like message board stuff than stuff that's gotten out, I think into the mainstream. But every time some quarterback leaves, like when Nico left, Jake Ratz, Ratz, laugh leaving, like there's rumors about, oh, he's going to go to Notre Dame. And you check into them and they're like, No, we got CJ Carr. So potentially the best offensive

line in the country. Jeremiah loves on this team, Jeremiah loves another possibility here. But again, I'm with you are on the quarterback thing. These guys could be a top four seed in the playoff. If he puts up good numbers, he's gonna he's gonna be in New York. And I think that Jayden Greathouse is gonna put him in a position to put up some numbers in the passing game, too. position to put up some numbers in the passing game too. So like I actually believe and you roast me every year about how I usually go about voting for the Heisman. No, I roasted you because you left Jayden Daniels off your ballot for a stupid reason. that was dumb. Okay. But I also do think like part of the reason like we knew both arrived at the same thing last year with Travis Hunter. But like I also took into account like his background and stuff too. Like when voting like I think about like the narrative aspect of it I think more than

you do. Because I think that it epitomizes the award not just being good at football because if you simplify it to just who's the best player then the wrong person has won most years in my opinion. So when I think about the way people vote now though, the thing that scares me about CJ Carr is I'm not sure the numbers are gonna be there. And do you think- Is they're gonna run the ball really well?

They're gonna run the ball really, really well. Notre Dame isn't an air it out type team usually. And the question that will always remain to me is do you have to have a certain benchmark statistical output to win the award? Oh, I think you do, especially now, especially because offenses work the way they do now and you're going to, you're going to have quarterbacks with counting stats by counting stats.

I mean, passing yards, touchdown passes, that sort of thing. Not, not more advanced stats like air yards and all that. You're going to have quarterbacks with counting stats that are absurdly high because somebody plays for an up-tempo offense versus somebody plays for a more deliberate offense like Notre Dames. Certainly conceivable and I'm sure I could look this up. I'm going to look this up. You talk, but where do you think Riley Leonard finished in passing yards last year? Oh, it was very was it like in the 50s somewhere? Probably I don't know. I can look it up right now, but I'm looking it up

right now, but it's the the point I'm trying to make is that it's a conceivable thought to have Notre Dame in the CFP semifinals and be a very good team that loses zero or one times in the regular season and for. For CJ Carr to be somewhere in the 30s and passing. Riley Leonard finished 39th in passing yardage in the country last year, just behind Billy Edwards Jr. from Maryland, who's now at Wisconsin. He finished 29th in total passing. Well, I'm just going by passing yards. Okay, 224 passing all game because he played that many games. So his yards per game he'd be way down because he played a bunch of games.

Yeah, 89 89th is yards per game. Yeah, but anyway, the point stands on both stats that he wasn't in the top five. Yes. No, and wasn't in the top five. Yes No, and and wasn't gonna be now I will say I think Notre Dame Part of that is because Riley Leonard was more limited as a thrower than CJ Carr Also, they hadn't quite figured out what to do with Jane Greathouse yet. Now they I think they know Jordan Faison was hurt a lot of last season

They didn't have will Pauling yet. Well Pauling is an interesting addition for them Now they, I think they know Jordan phase on was heard a lot of last season. They didn't have Will Pauling yet. Will Pauling is an interesting addition for them. And I just want to make sure that the point isn't to compare CJ Carr directly to Riley Leonard. I know that if Notre Dame is going to be successful at CJ Carr is going to have to be what I'm saying is they probably are going to throw more this year. They are a couple of reasons. They're receiving cores better.

The quarterback is a better thrower than he is a runner. Riley Leonard is the exact runner too. Yeah, but the point so their defense might not be as dominant and they may have to throw some more. The only reason why I brought up Riley Leonard though is to illustrate how far a team can go without putting up big numbers with the quarterback and like I think that that Notre Dame could conceivably go that far again without CJ Carr being a Heisman finalist.

But at the same time, Notre Dame does give you an extra lift. You start further down the track by being like that. And that's why if you look at the actual odds. I think Manti Teo goes to New York if he doesn't play for Notre Dame. Yeah, and if you look at the odds of players that are ahead of him, like Julian saying is has the six best odds in college football, and it's not because he's that much better than some of the other players on the lists because you

are already along the line, if you're Ohio State's quarterback, like that's just how it works. I believe you're now one thing I will say here. If we think CJ Carr isn't going to put up enough numbers to be considered, but we think Notre Dame is going to be really good, then we may want to consider Jeremiah Love in this spot because Jeremiah Love's plus 5,000. But if Notre Dame is a national title contender and they're winning consistently and they're not doing it by putting up huge numbers through the air.

It probably means that Jeremiah love is eating on the ground. The thing that's interesting is, is that Jeremiah love and CJ car virtually have the same odds. Yeah. So if you like look at, and you have to pick between those two, um, I also wonder if having multiple really good team players in the same offense, um, negs you because you don't like it splits voters sometimes. Well, okay.

Devante Smith, Mac Jones is a good example of that. And in fact, that Heisman year or that 2020 season, you had Devante Smith and Mac Jones were both finalists. Kyle Trask was a finalist. Kyle Pitts, who was Kyle Trask's teammate at Florida, probably should have been a finalists. Kyle Trask was a finalist. Kyle Pitts, who was Kyle Trask's teammate at Florida, probably should have been a finalist. Who I will be directing for the fifth straight year, by the way, in fantasy football. It's never gonna happen. It's never gonna happen?

I don't know. I don't know. Maybe with PENX, it'll happen. You saw him play what, 12 times in person? How could it happen? He's incredible. He's incredible. It doesn't repeat to me how it's not working. Let's call him play what 12 times in person. How could it be credible? Incredible. It doesn't mean to me how it's not working. I can't explain it. I can't, but no.

So yeah, we're gonna see that in a few places with the multiple good player. You got the Julian saying Jeremiah Smith and Julian saying and Jeremiah Smith, by the way, both their odds are too low for us to take in this exercise, but you also have the situation where drew our, we can't take, but we could take KT Ron Allen or Nick Singleton. Nick Singleton is another one of my guys that I thought about. Nick Singleton is plus 30,000.

300 to one. Yeah. Well, the problem with him is that he's going to be splitting carriers with another elite running. That's right. Alan. So it's just, if he was the only player on, in Penn State's backfield or the, or the bell cow, then, uh, I think that his odds would be reflective with that.

But so I'll give you one. I'll give you one. All right. What do we think of Dylan Raola? Oh, if Dylan Raola is good, people will be diving to vote for him. Oh, if Dylan Rayola is good, people will be diving to vote for him. Because there's nobody else on Nebraska's offense that is getting preseason fanfare.

I think Nebraska has a chance to contend for the playoff this year, I think. And by that I mean a nine and three fringe 10 and two team, which is good enough. Like you don't have to make the playoff. You just need to be in the mix. And also he has the Patrick Mahomes name record recognizability. Is that a word? I don't even know if it's that. I mean, it might be that people just turn on the game and it's like because he's doing a Patrick Mahomes impression so often. Is that Patrick?

I think I think a general I think a general fan knows who he is. Which really and the fact that he is. Which really is. And the fact that he could have gone to Georgia, like his story is interesting. A player that could have gone to Ohio State and Georgia, spurned both, goes to Nebraska because of home connections and makes Nebraska really, really good again. You know, fulfilling the prophecy, for instance.

I mean, that's the whole thing that we were all talking about last year. Can he fulfill that rule of prophecy? And that, to me, is the narrative angle that also goes along with being very, very good. And I don't know that I believe that that'll happen. But I think at 40 to 1, you ought to think about it.

It's worth $100 or $50 or whatever your units are. I don't know, like, and then you could be a Nebraska fan for a year, you know, it's, and here's another one, and then I'll let you get back to it, Andy. Bryce Underwood. Yep. Also good. We have not had a true freshmen win the Heisman yet.

That's never happened. Still have not had a true freshman win. It's gonna happen happen sometime, yeah? And obviously if Bryce Underwood has a huge season and Michigan makes the playoff, that's it. That's a no brainer. If Jeremiah Smith had a better year, a better game against Oregon in

their first matchup last year, he would have been in New York. Or if they had thrown to Jeremiah Smith in the Michigan game, yeah, which is why they lost because they didn't. If Jeremiah Smith strung together the games that he strung together in the playoff in the Michigan game. Yeah, which is why they lost because they didn't. If Jeremiah Smith strung together the games

that he strung together in the playoff in the regular season, he would have made it to New York. So it's possible. Although he did he had a pretty quiet day against Texas in their playoff run too. But yeah, like everybody's saying Archie in the chat. And it's just like we know. I don't know if we can take Brett. We got to look up Bryce Underwood's odds. I'm seeing 28 to 1

on some of these on something more recent. Oh. So yeah, in July I think he was he was 28 to 1. So I don't know if we can if we can take him. He wasn't on that MGM list though. So yeah, that's why I just assumed he was lower because he wasn't on the list that we were take him. He wasn't on that MGM list though. So. Yeah, that's why I just assumed he was lower because he wasn't on the list that we were looking at. There may be some books where you can get him at plus 3000 or higher. So let's, yeah, because I do think.

28 to one at some places, but yeah, you probably, I mean, we're right in the range of what he's asking though. So. Yeah, if we're using the formula, like he fits the formula because he's at a huge school. There's a comeback aspect to it where the reason they were not good last year was because they couldn't throw the ball. He comes in, he's able to throw the ball. Yeah, I think that's a really good choice. Now, my fear with that would be I don't know that they have the receivers to pull that off

Right statistics, but But maybe some young player jumps up and Who's the best people on their national championship winning team? Was it Roman Wilson? Yeah, probably. He's an NFL star or NFL rotation guy. Yeah. So that's the thing. If we got to figure it out, OK, producer

ever asked about wider seer? I would go with Ryan Williams here. Plus 3,500. Because if we're going to pick Jeremiah Smith, you'd pick Ryan Williams for the same reason. There is one player on this list who is incredibly undervalued from an odds perspective on Alabama and it's not Ryan Williams. Ty Simpson. Ty Simpson being 40 to one as Alabama starting quarterback is just an auto bet to me. Right, because if Alabama is good, he's probably going to put up good numbers. Alabama is probably going to be the national title race. Now the only

potential issue you see is you have a Devante Smith-Mac Jones situation where the receiver is so clearly the best player. But again, you could sprinkle some on Ryan Williams and some on Ty Simpson. That actually might be the best way to go. If Dante. Split it between those two. If Dante Moore is 18 to one and Julian San is 18 to one. Why isn't Ty Simpson? Ty Simpson's 40 to one. That seems to be an inconsistent odd. You want to know why? You want to know why he's 40 to one? Because of Keelan Russell? That's exactly why. That is Vegas saying we're not sure that he's the starter all season. Julian San hasn't been named the starter yet. But who else would it be? Lincoln Keenholz? Who's also on the list? Yeah, OK.

I think the spread some on Ty Simpson, spread some on Ryan Williams is a decent strategy right there. Yeah. Because there's a really good chance one of those two guys could be in New York. Really good chance. Because Mac Jones made it to New York, didn't he? Did he go to New York?

And that's what I'm saying. They both did. Devontae Smith and Mac Jones both did. Well, it was COVID, so I think they were back in Tuscaloosa on Zoom. I think Alabama's starting quarterback 40 to one, no matter who it is, is a bet. I think that's fair.

I think that's fair. The other 40 to one quarterback, or no, I think he's 35 to one, is Austin Simmons at Ole Miss. Because if Ole Miss is in the playoff hunt, it's because of Austin Simmons. And you saw like Jackson Dart started to get some buzz before they lost to, who they lose to at the end last year? Florida.

Florida, that's right. He was in- And he had a very bad fourth quarter in that game. He did. That everybody saw, Florida. Florida. That's right. He was a very bad fourth quarter in that game that everybody saw. Yeah. Yeah. I rewatched that game. I don't know why I forgot it was Florida, but I rewatched the game last week. Just so you know how my mind works everyone. And I remember like, that's why he doesn't remember any cold went off to the sideline and like got really emotional. But then they overturned the it had to come back on the field. Yeah. Yeah, I remember. Yeah. That's

one of the saddest postgame press conferences I've ever been in. He was devastated, absolutely devastated, but Austin Simmons takes over for Jackson Dart. We've seen him in that Georgia game last year, so we've seen him perform when he had to in a in a tight moment, but obviously that's just one series. Can he come in and lead a team to playoff contention?

And again, I don't think you have to make the playoff for this to work, but you do have to be good. Like your team has to be good. So if Ole Miss is a nine or 10 win team, if they're 10 win team, they're making the playoff, but if they're a nine win team that doesn't make the playoff like last year, if Austin Simmons puts up insane numbers that are better than any other quarterback in the country,

he's gonna be in the mix for the Heidem Trove. Yep. And he's a very, very charismatic person, which helps. You know, like when we had him on the show, he was incredible. So, I don't know if you want to dip your toes into Big 12 land again. What about Avery? Do I do. I would. Sam Levitt's the only person in the Big 12 we're not allowed to take.

Avery, do you want to, you want to, you want to Avery Johnson or Devin Dan Peer, either one. Devin Dan Peer. What it, I, what I think somebody, including me, took Avery Johnson in a Heisman. We need to do that. We're going to steal that from the athletic. This year we're going to do our own Heisman draft. Me, you, Naco. Steal our own bit. We gotta do the quarterback draft

where we each take 10 quarterbacks. Yeah, we're going to do that too. There's a there's a listener who keeps score for us. Keeps a whole spreadsheet. Is he is he with us still? What do you think, he just quit? I don't know if he like, you know, left us when you left me, you know, I don't know.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this is, this is someone who was with me. Oh, no, he's with me. Before you even got there. No, he's, he's, he's an RE guy. Okay. Okay, so he's here, let's do it.

Why don't we do that next week? We should. Let's do it Monday. Okay, let's do it Monday. That'll be a perfect on the way to Vegas episode. So the way it works is you and I'll pick 10 each and then River gets to take 10 from all the quarterbacks we didn't pick. And this is a year where I think Team River might have a chance to beat one of our teams. And is the point to, is this a Heisman draft? No, it's a quarterback draft. It's who do you think is going to perform the best at quarterback. And it's stat driven. So yards, touchdown passes.

And then at the end, you can play with who was better at picking good quarterbacks. Correct. And River's gonna have a hell of a lot of people to choose from. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. This is a year where Team River can win.

Okay, so Zach in the chat gives us four quarterbacks in the Big 12 that he thinks we could put on this in this category. Avery Johnson, Devin Dampear, Jalen Daniels, Sawyer Robertson. I would agree with that. I mean, really, I think you could add Rocco Becht at Iowa State. I also think you ask add Josh Hoover at TCU because whoever is the quarterback on the team that wins the Big 12 or that is in the mix to win the big 12 at the end that

has the gaudiest numbers, I think is going to be in the mix. Jalen Daniels could be a video game numbers guy. If things go well, right? So Devin Neal is gone. So Jalen Daniels probably has to pick up some slack on the ground too. So of the non-San Levitt Big 12 quarterbacks, who's your guy? I'd say Dan Peir or Robertson. Dan Peir because he can put up some, like Dan Peir's potential is not with impressive passing numbers. It's not like he's going to throw for 4,000 yards. It's Dan Peir, if he has a good year, could combine for 40 touchdowns

between throwing and running. Robertson, if you look at the way he progressed last year, let's say he comes in and it's even better this year, he's just going to put up insane passing numbers. Aura. They both got aura. They both got aura. Aura matters.

Um, yeah, this is tough, but like also too, it's not out of the realm of possibility that somebody in the Big 12 has a really good year and they win the conference like Kaden Salter, Baron Morton, who's on a very talented team. The most amusing thing to me about Texas Tech is that everybody knows they spent a shit ton of money this offseason to create a super team. I guarantee you if we did the same thousand person survey that like 1% of people will be able to name the quarterback. Which is crazy because Baron Morton is going into his 30 years there starter. I guarantee you if you walk up.

Oh, I know you're right. You're right. Yeah. I do think it's telling that given all that money and all those resources, they didn't go get a quarterback. They like Baren Morton. Yeah. And it's not like,

cause here's the thing, we know when people did kick the tires on people, they didn't even have a lot of situations where there was a guy in the portal and they're like, let's consider him. They were going with Morton the whole time. And so. Next should be in the big 12th race. Oh yeah, I mean if they don't it's even a it's a big problem. All right.

We do have to get some other questions but River threw this into our group chat. Nico? Nico Yamaljava? through this into our group chat. Nico? Nico Yamaljava? He's eligible. I don't know that he's got the squad to get there, man. I don't know. Yeah, he's plus 8,000. But as River points out, he has a transfer QB.

We don't have a lot of transfers on this list Yeah, I've looked of the intriguing so we Robertson's a transfer so many Devon Dan Peer here's a transfer Yeah, but you're right there's not a lot of there's not a lot of transfers Then maybe this is the year that bucks the trend, but I think it might, um, because I do think that between Jeremiah Smith and Arch Manning, it's going to be really hard for someone else to win this thing this year. Our next question actually feeds a little bit into our last

question. This is from Mark. Dear Andy DeRari, have you noticed in terms of sportsbook odds to win the national championship? Besides Drew Aller, five of the top six projected starting QBs have less than 100 pass attempts last year. He does an asterisk for Dante Moore because he had more than that at UCLA in 23. But Arch Manning had 90 last year. Julian Sane had 12. Gunnar Stockton had 83 in two years. Drew Aller is the outlier. Gunnar Stockton had 83 in two years, Duralar is the outlier, Ty Simpson had 45 in the past two years, Dante Moore had eight last year, 213 in 2023 at UCLA.

Does this give added hope to Penn State that they have a massive experience edge on their side? This is a really interesting way to look at it. Is this not looking at it? Well, yeah, it's an interesting way statistically, but yeah, if I'm a Penn State fan, I'm thinking about national championship in a way that I've never thought about it in the recent past. This is the year for Penn State. Like, I don't know how else to say it. You're getting Ohio State in a year where they weren't what they were last year. Michigan is kind of a question mark

Oregon lost a ton from their team last year. They have an opportunity I mean the the playoff almost seems like a layup at this point Like if you don't make the playoff this year, that is an absolute awful season and then they they have They have a receiver which is something that we haven't been able to say in Trevropenia. They got other ones in the portal. They got the best running back duo in the country. Their lines are always good. They got denied Dennis Sutton on defense and Aller, regardless of what you think of them.

Zane Durant too. Don't sleep on Zane Durant. That's the interior defensive tackle that just eats people alive, right? Yeah. Yeah. They have dudes this year. I mean, I put them number one in my poll. So yeah, like, I mean, that's a really interesting way to look at it.

And I know people roll their eyes out, Penn State always loses. So they can't win in the future. It's like, no, Penn State is going to be really good this year. And I think Penn State, I don't know what their odds are to win the national title. But I would sprinkle some cash in there. Well, here's the thing, because I think the question is, because it's Aller,

like if it were a quarterback who'd put up more dominant numbers, would it be different? Because Aller, and the last time we saw Aller throw a pass, that was a devastating pick in the Orange Bowl. That's the problem. If that throw didn't happen, I think everybody would view it differently. That's a devastating pick in the Orange Bowl. That's the problem. If that didn't happen, I think everybody would view it differently.

It's that throw that that one throw. Yeah, Andy, everyone was watching like that's the other part of it. Like I know that he didn't have a throw in the Big Ten championship game that was like. Pucker your. Back. Yeah, I had a few of those. Yeah, like I think that like Drew Aller has been overly

negged overly and I think people resent that he could have been a top, you know, first round pick a year ago or the notion that he could have been and they don't think that he's good enough to be used in that light but at the same, I think that they have over corrected to like people thinking he stinks. He does not stink. Well, and that's the thing. If he's got better receivers this year,

and I do realize he had a tight end who caught almost a hundred passes last year, or maybe over a hundred passes. I realized he had somebody to throw to last year, but when you have multiple somebodies to throw to, I think it makes life a little bit easier, especially with the run game they should have. So his numbers might be considerably better. I let's go, let's look at the odds here for the national title.

Texas is plus 500. Ohio state is plus 525 Georgia, Georgia plus seven hundred, Penn State plus seven hundred, Oregon plus nine hundred, Clemson plus nine hundred, Bama plus twelve hundred, Notre Dame plus. Your boy got Clemson at twenty two to one. Look at that. Look at that. I told I told people at the company too and they were like, oh, all right, well now it's nine to one. So enjoy

having having maybe the best D line in the country and an experienced quarterback and good receivers tends to work in linebackers and you know, coach that's won a lot on that level. So describes Penn State pretty well, which is why Penn State and Clemson are now very close together. The difference between Clemson Clemson and Penn State though, is that Clemson's route to the playoff is basically basically the yellow brick road. I think like I don't like I cannot, what would have to go wrong for Clemson and Penn State though is that Clemson's route to the playoff is basically basically the yellow brick road. I think

like I don't like I cannot. What would have to go wrong for Clemson and I don't know actually let's throw the schedules up side by side because Clemson having Clemson choosing to play LSU in South Carolina in the non con probably makes their schedule about equal to Penn State. Penn State has has Oregon and Ohio State. I know if they somehow go own two of those games, they've got their yellow brick road of just winning the ACC and automatically getting in. So so even if Penn State loses to Oregon and Ohio

State, they can just win the other 10 and get in. Yeah. So yeah, it's basically the same. They're very similar, right down to the quarterback who's been roundly criticized for most of his career between our and clubbing. Getting organ at home helps. Getting organ in Ohio State in conference is a much harder proposition than actually an LSU out of conference. I think I gotta go back to Mark's question. Cause I mean, and I don't know where he looked at the odds or when he looked at them. He forgot Clemson. Yeah, cause cause Kate Club Nick is this is in the same boat as your aller here, and it's probably why you and I have been. Saying Clemson Penn State Clemson Penns like've both had them very much in the mix for this thing.

But I think people doubt club Nick. I don't think that it has a visceral reaction that like James Franklin and Penn State. Well, I think people saw club Nick turn the corner last year. And like he was balling out against Texas in that last game. They're just their defense couldn't stop anybody. Yeah. So I wonder if people's resentment or like doubt of James Franklin bleeds into Aller a little bit too. I think the doubt of Aller and the doubt of James Franklin are the same doubts.

They, I mean, it's, it's basically the, you doubt them for the same reasons, like pretty good, but are they spectacular? Yeah. Yeah. And it's up to them to change that. Right, I think that the odds of making the playoffs are virtually a lock for Clemson, and I don't know if that's true for Penn State.

Yeah. All right, we got a couple more questions, but. First, I do wanna let you guys know, All right, we got a couple more questions, but first, do wanna let you guys know at 11 a.m. Eastern time, we got big news. Four-star defensive line, Valden Sonne from Sweden. It's electric. Will be committing Georgia, Florida, Auburn. I'm missing one. There's one more. But I will tell you, so after Georgia had a D lineman flip out of their class to Texas earlier this week,

if you hit the Georgia message boards, it was, we got to get Valden Sohne, gotta get Valden Sohne. Nebraska is the fourth. So Georgia, Nebraska, Florida, Auburn. If he does not pick Georgia, which by the way, our, our Steve Wolfang has predicted he will select Georgia. Which means he's probably going to Georgia. Yeah. If he doesn't meltdown of effort proportions coming at the dog's HQ message board.

So just be aware of that. Yeah. But love that that rivals are getting into the rivals is the place now boys. That's right 11 AM Eastern Time rivals YouTube page live commitment from Valden Sone. The Swedish defensive tackle he's playing at a high school in Virginia, so he's not playing over in Sweden and then just showing up. He's playing some playing some Americans and then and then he'll be making an appearance at

one of your favorite colleges next year. Okay next question. This was from Reid. Oh nope sorry this is from Eric with a K. I don't want to send this question because it gives Ari more time to fawn over Arch but I thought it was very relevant. If Arch Manning is successful this season, do you think it could influence more QBs to follow his path of sitting for a season or two at the same school before starting? It seems the carousel fires up right after freshman year because the young guys think they should be starting right away. If they see someone being successful the old school way, then maybe we start seeing some more continuity with QBs at the same school. No, no, no.

Because if you've ever met most quarterback parents, they're not the Mannings. Most quarterback parents have dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into private training for their kid. And when their kid doesn't start right away, they're like, what's wrong? What's wrong with your school? What's wrong with your coaches? Can't possibly even my kid. He's got to go But I will say this

Eric with a K has somewhat of a point here and not because not as a because of arch There are other quarterbacks who could be successful this year who would also Help this line of thinking if Garrett Nussmeyer were to win the Heisman He's an example of this if Gunnar Stockton were to be very good at Georgia, he's an example of this. If CJ Carr does it at Notre Dame, he's an example of this. Dante Moore, even though he transferred, can be an example of this because he chose to transfer to a place where he knew he would have to sit. Yeah and like I understand the question I almost feel

like he's like hey please don't transfer and it's true it's just like you do want people to wait and to develop and to be a part of the program and understand the offense and know the building and know their teammates and be a leader and all the things and I do miss the romantic time period where when you committed to Georgia, you understood that you were committing to play three years later. Like that was a thing. What's interesting is Carson Beck did that. Like Carson Beck lived that life. And then he's still going to be Miami's quarterback this year.

Yeah. So, um, I don't know that that people look at arch and go, yeah, well, maybe. I don't know if a high school senior is going to look at arch and go, yeah. But I also think, too. Every prospect is different and players physically need the time. Like, can I point out now all of the guys we mentioned aren't in the same boat, but Arch Manning, his family history is obvious. CJ Carr, who's his grandfather? Lloyd Carr, Garrett Nussmeyer, his father's been the OC at a bunch of major colleges and

is an NFL assistant coach like All these people understand the game in the situation Much differently than the average QB parent or the average QB family Yeah So that's probably a better reason why those guys Did it the way they did it because they had people who understand how things work saying you need to stick it out. This will work out for you here.

I wonder if in 10 years, we have a bunch of data though that shows the faster you play, the least likely you are to be drafted. And if that like actually is used. It's a good question. Although the guy who got drafted number one overall last year transfer twice, but he did play right away everywhere.

Yeah. Ken Ward played at incarnate word immediately and played immediately Washington state and then transferred to Miami. And also too, there's a data backed theory that the more throws that you have in college, the more likely you are to be good in the NFL too. So like there, it kind of goes hand in hand. Kurt Martin's car in the chat asked what position of Cooper Manning play he was wide receiver headed Ole Miss

hurt his neck and couldn't play football anymore. Since you asked. All right, next question comes from Reed. This is for love of the game podcast. We see him in the chat quite a bit here. Hey boys, I started my college football podcast and YouTube channel back in February and was going strong for about two months, but then had started a new job and had been exhausted every day to be doing as much work on it as I would like. Obviously, I'm still obsessed with college

football, but nothing more to make this a full-time profession for myself. So my question is, what are some ways you guys have battled through times you haven't been motivated or struggled to write a piece? And what other tips do you have about making good, consistent content in today's media space? Appreciate your time and love the show. So I take everybody back to the pandemic. So I'm at the athletic, when I got hired at the athletic, they wanted me to do a podcast,

but it's basically like a post-game show. They basically wanted me to do a podcast on Saturday nights after the games. And we were doing, I think two days a week at that point. And this was before Ari had come in and was regularly on the show. And I remember talking to the producer when the pandemic hit and he said, well, I guess we should scale the podcast back. And I said, no, we should add days to the podcast, because there are people who are dying for something that is different than pandemic coverage. And like, we had to dig real deep for those that were reviewing, you know, the program and necessary roughness. And it got pretty sparse during those times. We did the rewatches of the classic college games. You were involved in some of those, Ari. But it was tough. But my feeling was if you keep doing it, especially at a time when everybody else is pulling back and

giving you less, then people are going to stick with you. They're going to find you and they'll stick with you when you come out of this. Yeah. The lack of motivation part never happened to me because I have always kept my head on a swivel from a professional standpoint because this is a very coveted job and position and jobs are scarce and you know, it's an unfortunate reality in our business. But if you are on Twitter,

you see how many people get laid off on a day to day basis in our field. Like me not feeling like doing something was never an option for me. Like, you know, like. The difference is it is our job and in Reed's case, it's not his paying job. Yeah.

He's trying to make it his paying job. And this is the hard part, and nobody ever wants to hear this part because when we were younger and making $0, like you and I probably could have made a lot more money earlier picking different fields. We wanted to do this. You gotta, unfortunately, at the beginning,

you gotta suck it up and just go. Like I remember being a preps writer at the Tampa Tribune, covering high schools, and having veteran writers say, you got to stop working so much because you're making us look bad. And like, I don't care how I make you look. I don't want to be doing this forever. Yeah. What was your first salary?

Do you remember? $30,000 a year at the Chattanooga Times Free Press, which I thought was the most money in the world. It was far more than I was offered for any other job at that point. You know what mine was? It was lower than that, I know. $17,000 as an independent contractor.

Yeah. And you were doing another job to make, to pay the bills too, right? I worked at Allstate Insurance in the mornings. Yeah. And you were doing another job to pay the bills too, right? I worked at Allstate Insurance in the mornings. Yeah. So yeah, like, my thing that I think will shine through with you and anybody who wants to do this

is that me and Andy do this because we love it. And I feel like loving it is the hardest part. Either you do or you don't. You can't fake loving it. And if you love doing it, then the days hopefully that you aren't motivated to produce content or to try it are few and far between because I wake up invigorated every day to like do the show with you Andy. Like I like I if something happens like there are times where you're with your family or whatever you're out and something

happens you need to write something you're like oh this is a bad time I don't feel like doing it I want to be with my family. But like when something happens in college football I crave writing a column you know what I mean like I want to be a part of the discussion. You and I took a six-week break between the athletic and on three for contractual reasons. You were dying. It was horrible. And things were happening, and I was just at home.

And it was hard for me to sit it out. So to me, repetition repetition love for the game. Passion for wanting to produce content will be the three North stars for anybody trying to do this and especially in the podcast YouTube show world. Yeah, repetition and consistency are the keys. Dan Rubenstein who is one of the co-founders of solid verbal which was the first college football podcast. It's the longest running college football podcast, he told me a long time ago,

he said, just keep making episodes. And you will you will build more that way than anything of the consistency will build more than anything else. Because lots of people think they have a good idea, they think they want to do it, and they just run out of gas. And if you keep going, then people will stick with you. Um, we got a chat, uh, in the chat here, wrong one. Are you took a break the same week? My best friend moved to the Ukraine. Those were some dark days for me. Sorry, I'll always be here.

Uh, and I appreciate it. Um, the one thing too, that's encouraging is when you and I started in order to have a voice in college football, you needed to work for a legacy media company. You needed to have a backing. Like when I work, you work for a newspaper or you work for the athletic, just being. In a position, I have a press pass and to be in those environments makes you a little bit more, um, visible just by, by association with the publication, now anybody can do it.

Like if you look at YouTube and the opportunity that it presents, and I don't want to create more competition for us, but like anybody can get a mic and get a camera. I'm glad for that because I'm glad that talented people aren't just blocked. Now if you're talented, it will show up, it will shine through and that's the that's the key thing. Back in the day yeah you did like if I didn't if I never got hired by Sports Illustrated I don't know that I would have been able to build up the the name I had in in in the field because at the time it was who you were attached to that mattered. I do remember it was interesting because it was kind of an aha moment for me when I was

looking at leaving Sports Illustrated. I talked to an agent who represents coaches and media people. And this person said, you're looking at it all wrong because I had said, you know, do you think people will still take my phone call if I don't work for Sports Illustrated anymore? And he said, it's not like that anymore. He said, they will take your phone call if I don't work for Sports Illustrated anymore. And he said, it's not like that anymore. He said they will take your phone call because you're you and it doesn't matter where you work.

Yeah. And so that made me realize, Oh, it is much more about what you can build yourself. And I mean, that's the realization that I had coming here. Like it's like, I was terrified to leave the athletic. I was like, what happens if I don't have the athletic backing me? And it goes from a certain point of like, your name is your brand, not where you were.

Of course we did pick the company that's gonna be an absolute monster. That certainly helps. It was easy to jump ship to a place that I knew would be successful long-term and work for a lot that has a long resume of successful business decisions. Like that was certainly part of it, but like it is, uh, just keep doing what

you're doing. Um, and also too, like, I know I'm not always the best at responding to emails. I try my best, but if you are somebody who's working on a podcast or wants to be a writer and you have content you want me to listen to or I would be happy to You know, there have been a lot of people in my career and I'm sure Andy when you were young you did too Like Doug Lamarice took me to lunch when I was young before we worked together and oh, yeah I had I had people look out for me Chris Harry who covered Florida for the Orlando Sentinel helped me so much when I was in college.

My first job out of college, I was covering Tennessee for the Chattanooga Science Repress. Chris Lowe was the beat writer for the Tennessean, kicked my ass on a daily basis, but also, just because he's a good guy taught me how to be a good reporter at the same time. And he's at ESPN now. There are people who will help you along the way.

And, you know, not everybody not everybody views a good up and coming young person as as the competition. Like it's yeah, I find if the more people you help in this business, when the shit does hit the fan, the more opportunities you might have for a remember when you put a call in for them when they got laid off and so like it's the more people you can help and that's not unique to our business. That's everything but the more people you can help the better off. You know, I'll stay our model saying that they always say is true and I always struck me even when I was on the beat there,

but they always say you win with people and like you really do win with people. So thanks for the question and reach out. I'd love to listen to what you're working on. All right, sailor Joe bonus question. PJ Fleck got an extension to 2030. Minnesota is sold on him. What will it take for the Gophers to succeed in this decade of college football? That is a good question because I do think what Minnesota's paying right now, like you want a playoff, you want at least one playoff appearance between now and that contract runs out, right?

Yeah, I think you do. I struggle because Minnesota is really cold, but anybody who's been in Minneapolis knows it's really cold. Oh anybody who's been in Minneapolis knows it's really cold. Oh, it's such a good town. Like, you know, and I know that Minnesota isn't a beacon for elite level high school football. But in places that have a really cool city,

I always think you could sell this. So, you know, um, I also think PJ plays a style that fits where they are. So they are going to, they are going to run the ball down your throat and they are going to make life very hard for your offense, which that's classic big 10 football. But if you've got to go to Minneapolis in November, that's going to be a problem for you. I went to a away game in Minneapolis at Minnesota in

November and it was the coldest I've ever been. Ever. But there's also this cool like indoor like walkway system there too. Not when you're playing at Minnesota, unfortunately. Minnesota has always felt like stuck between something like stuck between Wisconsin and Iowa somewhere, and like I don't know what like how you get to the next level. Well,

they're they're better than Wisconsin right now. At the moment. So yeah, they have to be better than Iowa like I mean, I mean, I can observe in Wisconsin and Iowa actually is probably the best way to put it be better than Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska. And then that puts you in that nine, eight, nine, 10 wind realm. And one of those years you get in the playoff.

I mean, that's it. It's fun to say, it's fun to say that, but like, what's the application of doing it? Like that's the problem. If you want to, but I think think they're they're headed that way. Like I feel like that. There have been years in the last few years where that that is possible. Yeah, they they've had.

They've had good years and they have one of the sort of 10 and oh a few years ago. I can't remember when that was set 191820. One of those years. Andy. This is the questions answer and I'm going to put you on the spot and you might not know, but at the beginning of the summer we wanted to do a series and we never did it, which is a shame.

Let's go through everybody's identity. Let's let's name everyone's identity. What's Minnesota's? I just told you we're going to run the ball down your throat and you're going to have a really hard time scoring on us. Like they, they actually have a clearly defined identity. Okay. And they just lost their DC to Miami, but he'd only been there a year.

So that makes you think a lot of that comes from the head coach. Yeah. I, I struggle with it because that's how many Big 10 teams identities. Well, how many is it really though? It's Penn State's. That's about it. Ohio State's is ruled a speech with identity. Michigan, it's Michigan's. Michigan, Iowa's. Nebraska, no.

It's not Nebraska's. Wisconsin, no. Not anymore. Michigan State. It's it's Penn State. The other ones actually doing it successfully. It's Penn State. It's Iowa. It's Michigan.

I would argue Indiana is kind of like that. I mean, it's like who's doing it successfully right now is a moving target who want Indiana under six last year was like that, but actually, it's like who's doing it successfully right now is a moving target. Indiana under six last year was like that, but I actually think Indiana's gonna have a pretty dynamic offense. I mean, Indiana had a pretty dynamic offense last year. I think there'll be even more dynamic this year. I think that we're conflating how good somebody is at doing those things in the moment and not who they want or they're striving to be. Like how would I think that they're striving to be the best at that. And I think that's how you have to do it there. I don't think there's another way to do it there. Yeah. Yeah. It's almost like the Wisconsin from 2010. Yeah. Which by the way, Wisconsin has abdicated that identity. So yeah,

maybe they'll take it back, but so I think that's how you do it. I don't think it's easy, but I also said, remember I said one playoff appearance by the end of the contract that I'm not. I'm not asking for much. There was one season in the last five years where they would have made the 12 team playoff at one. They were 2019. They were 11 and two. Yeah right they would have made it. They won their first nine games and their only losses were to Iowa which was 15th time in

Wisconsin which was 11th at the time. Yeah. So and again be better than Iowa and Wisconsin. What did I say? There you go. That's their identity. It's not run the ball and play defense. It's to be better than Wisconsin and Iowa and Nebraska and Nebraska. Yeah. Yeah.

2019 was six years ago, dude. We're getting old. We're so old. You know, my 20th high school reunion is this fall. My 30th is next year. It is. Do you think that would let me skip a day of work to go to it? Like a game day?

I think yeah, I think the things on Saturday. So see, I'm from Florida. So they're smart enough to not have reunions. It would be Arizona. Arizona High School reunion would be on a fall Saturday, wouldn't it? It would never in Georgia. In Florida, they're, they're in the summer. Like even though the heat is miserable, they're still in the summer. Yeah. All right. Random ranking time. Do I just like lay down here or like, what do I do? Like, I don't know. We only pick this topic so we could talk about something else. So we,

we should get the ranking part out of the way, but we're ranking the top five Coldplay songs, our top five favorite Coldplay songs. Producer Rivers joined us. River and I will be ranking our top five Coldplay songs. Ari will not because Ari says, I don't know any Coldplay songs. You put a gun to my head right now

and said name a Coldplay song, I would die. Now that doesn't mean I've never- But the thing is like, you would instantly recognize it as Coldplay if you heard- No, I would die. Now that doesn't mean I've never. But the thing is like you would instantly recognize it as Coldplay if you heard. No, I would recognize. One of like 10 different songs. No, I wouldn't recognize it as Coldplay. I would recognize it as I've heard that song.

Your ability to be oblivious to things that are culturally ubiquitous is stunning. It's like I typed in Coldplay before the show started and type and hit, you know, how Apple music puts the most popular and I hit it on and I'm like, yeah, I've heard the song 1.9 million times. You've heard the top 10. I know, but I'm saying I have no ability. If somebody asked me, have you heard the song? I'd be like, yeah, a million times. And they say who sunk, who sings this? I wouldn't be able to answer it. All right, River, we're gonna do our top five. We're gonna do this fast. Yes.

Because what we really wanna talk about is the Coldplay concert in Boston from the other night. For sure. For me, number five, God put a smile upon your face. What's your number five? My number five is Yellow, the top streamed one on Spotify. That was their first hit. It was all yellow.

I've heard that song. There you go. Of course you have. Number four, I guess officially this is a chain smoker song, but still counts. It doesn't matter. It's Chris Martin singing on it. Something just like this.

My number four is Paradise around that same era. Of course. That's a good song. That's a legitimately really good song. They all are. Number three for me the scientist great piano song great the Willie Nelson covers also a banger. My number three is a sky full of stars. That's a good one. I love that song I wonder, do we have the same top two river? Uh, yes, we do. Okay.

Well, no, we don't. We have one. Okay, my number two is Viva La Vida. Great. Used to rule the world. Seize would rise when I gave the word. No, that's Ricky Martin. So So this song Viva La Vida was like 2008. And I was on the peewee Cowboys football team. and my mom would ride in the car to these games,

and I had my little iPod shuffle, like a little block, and my playlist, my dad had made me, he's like, we gotta start you off mellow, and then really like bang it out at the end. So this was the starting song, Viva La Vida, and it went to... I'm glad So this was the starting song, Viva La Vida. And it went to- I'm glad this wasn't the aggressive song. Like hopefully it had some like Pastor Troy in there.

Yeah. At the end. This was the start and then it was Get Like Me by David Banner and Chris Brown and then Inner Sandman when we pulled into the parking lot. Okay. Cause if you were trying to pump up the Coldplay, your team must have sung.

No, no. All right. And your number one, my number one is my number two, sorry is fix you. But if you watch the live version of this, it is the one song like so when we went out in college and went out and drinking and whatnot, we would always come back and our tradition was like, YouTube on TV, sit on the couch, mindless, he wants you to. And this was like, this was a staple of mine. I would pull up the Fix You Live version from Sao Paulo.

And it's one of the best live concerts I've ever seen on YouTube. Oh, it's tremendous. I have seen that one. So this particular song, if the Florida fans of a certain age are going to remember this, somebody made a video when Urban Meyer took the Florida job. And the soundtrack of it was Fix You. And people were losing their minds.

This is in 2005 before he's even coached a game. And people are like, I cried at the end. Tears screaming down your face. There is a segment of Florida fans that for them, that song will always represent Urban Meyer in fixing the program. That's awesome. And then your number one, Andy?

Number one is Clocks. Clocks. That's a great song. Yeah. Do we know what song was playing when the guy was swaying with the girl though? We it was between songs. So what's your number one River? My number one is Viva La Vida. Okay. So let's let's now talk about the Coldplay concert. River play the video. Yeah. Oh look at these two. River, play the video. Oh, look at these two.

Alright, come on. You're okay? Uh oh, what? Either they're having an affair or they're just very shocked. We do not have official confirmation, but that is the CEO of a company and it's HR Director

and they are apparently married to other people. And this was on the Kiss Cam at a Coldplay of a company and it's HR director and they are apparently married to other people. And this was on the kiss cam at a Coldplay concert. Him dropping down like that is the closest I have ever seen to a human being recreating Homer Simpson disappearing into a shrub. And they make the point that if they would have just kept swaying, no one would have ever known. I think so. That's not true though. Here's, here's, no one would have ever known. So that's not true, though. Here's here's okay.

Here's the thing. So you're in you're at a Coldplay concert. I believe this is a stadium show. Is this this is a stadium. They're in Nashville next week. Yeah. Yeah. So there are 65,000 people 70,000 people at this show.

Okay, if you get shown on the drumbo tron, you keep swaying. The odds of with with your six degrees of Kevin Bacon here, the odds of somebody who knows you, her, your spouse or her spouse, are very high that they're gonna see it. So if you keep swaying, you're still caught. I know, but also to the camera. So your initial reaction to get away from the camera

is the appropriate one. But you're right, it doesn't go viral unless they do that. Your odds of being caught are substantially lower if you just act naturally. Your odds of being caught are 100% if you just keep swaying. It doesn't blow up this way. That bullshit. They just sway. You're still getting caught.

You're just not national news. That's the difference. Yes. Yeah. The reaction was everything. Like what are the top you know what a good random ranking would be? Top five worst ways to get caught cheating on your spouse one panties in the dryer. You know, that would be that would be fun. But I told you this but like I know somebody who got divorced in Arizona because D.Y. with a woman who's not your wife in your car. That's happened in college sports before.

Halloween. Having a woman in your car that's not your wife and then getting hit with a red light camera and then it gets mailed to your house is pretty bad. Like that's a pretty horrific. How does anybody get away with cheating on their spouse in 2025? I just think the person has to be completely oblivious. They have to be you when it comes to Coldplay songs, essentially. Yeah. I mean, I guess like, I think that you could cheat on your on your spouse and get away with it if it was a one-night stand.

I think having an affair is an impossible thing to get away with. Well, and you hear about these people having like remember that the dude who was the head coach at Hoover High School when they had the two-a-day series and he's gone on to become a head coach in Georgia at various places. He had a secret family. I mean, first of all, like we're all adults here, right? I'm not going to get fired. This isn't the athletic. I can say what I wanna say. Say what you want. What sexual pleasure is so great that you would willingly live under that pressure every day?

Like, could you imagine the pressure that a human being would be under? I can barely keep my family happy. I can't imagine because I can't lie when I scratch my rim. No, I know. So how would I keep that secret? Yeah, like my wife finds my Zen containers in my office drawer. Like there's like how do you you can't get away with anything.

And like this guy has to know like he's at a public setting stadium. Apparently, he's got thousands of people. He's around so many people. He's bound like someone that he knows or just recognized. That's the thing with me that got me. They're so casual about this. Yeah. You're taking your person that isn't your spouse to a concert with 70,000 people. Like the odds of you running into somebody just randomly are terribly high. Why would you do that? The thing though is that they're not public figures. So you don't, they don't fit like even if you're very wealthy, like we had interviews with the CEO of Culver's

and her spouse is the CEO of Johnsonville like sausage. And like, I wouldn't know who they were. Like, you know, it would just be people. I don't know. I wouldn't take, if I was having an affair, I don't know that I would want to go to a concert though. I just, I don't understand. I wouldn't take, if I was having an affair, I don't know that I'd want to go to a concert though. I just, I don't understand any of it, but We have like 360. Yeah. She knows exactly where I am at all.

Yeah, right. Like my wife knows where, like she can look on her phone and like know exactly where I am at all times. Well, and that's, that's what it was like. Where did, where did they tell the spouses they were going to be that night? And that's the other thing that I don't understand about affairs. Like my wife knows where I am all the time. And I like have to like, be like, hey, can I do this? Like, because we have like schedules. Right. Somebody has to be watching the three year old at any given moment. Yes. Like with a family without like, I don't know, I, I, but like

the two family thing always freaked me out because it's like, like, how could you possibly live under enough pressure to say, cause I think about how hard it is to make sure your wife is still happy. Right. Well, that's what I always said about, you know, when, when big love was on HBO, that's's, and that show, I think actually probably portrayed it fairly accurately because it's not, it's not, I get to have three wives. It's, I have three wives. Well, yeah, and they, and it's,

the burden of having to hide the other ones isn't even there in that show. Could you imagine the burden of hiding it on top of keeping everything happy? Is it bad that the only thing I think about with all of these stories is logistics? Yeah, like what if you have the Rush Cropes one, the coach who had the secret family, like the family was, I want to say a two and a half hour drive from where he was working and living. was working and living? How much was he driving? And I also think too, Andy, like we have a birthday party tomorrow in gymnastics class, and we're going to get something

framed. And I have plans. So Saturday with my family, like going to the garden. I don't know if we'll have maybe the Home Depot if you have time. I don't know if we have time. But it's Saturday. a good Saturday. But like if I missed one of those a month, she'd be like, what the hell, you're absent. Like I can't like. I'm too lazy to go through all that involves cheating. I think that may be it Ari.

You and I are simply too lazy to actually handle a logistical nightmare that would be cheating. Everything is juice and worth the squeeze in life, right? Yeah. And like, listen, everybody likes sex. There's no, but like the burden of what comes with that is not, does not outweigh the pleasure. No.

It's like paying- The juice is definitely not worth the squeeze. Like paying $1,000 for a can of Coke. I love coke. I Love drinking Coca-Cola But I the the the negative in this world or in that scenario doesn't outweigh the pleasure of drinking the soda Which is the same thing? Yes, and my home depot card is pulled I'm not allowed to go in there anymore. We got news Ari. Oh no. Here we go. River, get this graphic up on

screen. There is going to be a docuseries following Bill Belichick and Jordan Hudson. Coming to Hulu. Are what do we say to that? I don't know. Right, I mean, yeah, I mean, like this is something that my wife might be interested in. Like this might be one of our.

I have some tiny shred of inside info on this, but not really. It the show runner is a person I used to work with at Sports Illustrated. But I'm sure every NDA in the world has been signed so I'll never get the good stories. DocuSeries following, but yeah, you're not going to get the real stuff. It's just I mean, but like Hulu does have secret lives

of Mormon wives on there. And like we were talking about polygamy earlier, so it's all one fat circle here at the end. I love how the only 18 pictures that exist or USA Today pictures that exist of Jordan Hudson or her wearing a dress where that's like completely nothing. And it's like the same thing over and over again. Like I've seen this picture 1.9 million times.

Well, there's a reason people pick it. Yeah, it's not. There are other pictures of her, but I think people tend to go with this. Other pictures of her where she's not like coming out of an ocean with a fishing rod in her mouth. There's that one too, so. I can't wait. I cannot wait.

Front Office Sports, by the way, reporting that the Hulu documentary series. So it's following Bill Belichick in North Carolina. I don't know how much Jordan Hudson we're going to get in it. Oh, I thought the whole point was their relationship. Now this, Well, you know, the graphic just confused me. That was the problem. And I read, I read the tweet too fast. Okay. DocuSeries following Bill Belichick is interesting. It would be funny if,

Do we get any Jordan Hudson in it? I hope we do. Sure we will. Yeah. I mean, it would be weird if she wasn't. It would make you feel like you're not getting the whole story if she wasn't in it. But I am also kind of happy that we have stopped talking about her.

Will we start again? I don't know. We had a legitimate Bill Belichick, North Carolina football discussion yesterday when they flipped Jacob Weatherspoon from Ohio State. And obviously I think we're going to have some legitimate Bill Belichick, North Carolina football discussions. Coming up, they play Labor Day against TCU. That's one of the more fun games of the opening weekend.

So, yeah. Um, lastly, before we go, I want everybody to know I purchased an electric vehicle and now I walk around my house saying that's electric all the time about the car. So my wife is probably going to leave me and then I want to worry about being divorced. But can you imagine there's a Coldplay concert near you? You might see Ari's wife, but not our Ari's list and a. Oh my goodness, yeah. yeah yeah just you know she's going to the Backstreet Boys this weekend sure sure sure a Backstreet Boy

won't sweep her off her feet uh she's going to Las Vegas to a Backstreet Boys concert which I think given how far away this is and the fact that I'm not there and it's in the sphere. I don't know if there's a like that would be a pretty good place to cheat on your husband. That is what I hope that doesn't happen. If you say that's electric five more times before she leaves the electric she's not coming back. That's electric. No, she's going with her three best friends from high school. So my hope is that, and those are their women. But given we don't know where the panties came from, that's a whole other box that we'd have to unpack.

I think it's time to wrap this thing up here. Have a great weekend, everybody. Quarterback draft on Monday. Talk to you then.