Andy & Ari On3 - Why does your show clearly hate Alabama? | Your questions, ANSWERED!

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

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Welcome to Andy and Ariane 3 presented by Wendy's. It's a Dear Andy, Dear Ari show. It's a mega Dear Andy, Dear Ari show. You see the one of the first questions in the title. Why does your show clearly hate Alabama? We will handle that one. Ari, there are a lot of people still very upset about our rankings for the written mail bag that's on on three right now, somebody asked me

if I was going to ask president Trump to pardon us for violating the eighth amendment. So I don't know if you know your, your constitution, your bill of rights that well, but, uh, that they were calling our, our way too early top 25, cruel and unusual punishment is what they were calling it. It's probably the nicest thing they said. Yeah, there was like a weird correlation between sentiment and results, isn't there?

It's crazy how that happens. Yeah. Uh, you know, um, I used to get worked up about the, why do you hate my team stuff? And now I just think it's hilarious. They weren't very good this year for their standard. They had a coaching change. They had a lot of people leaving in the portal. I know that there is. Save it save it. Ari. We we have to answer Ann's question later in the show and we do

have a couple of things. Question about Alabama from SB Silves that I have saved in my back pocket too because he's a big Bama guy and he wants to know is Keele on Russell going to be sick. That's that's his question. So that was a great question. That was my favorite. I know that he's my guy. So how sick is Keele wasn't it? How sick is Keele on Russell going to be? Yeah, he sends me texts or like responses to my Instagram stories and he goes, you think you're sick?

I love that guy. But anyway, he is his daughter goes to school with my daughter and we've become very good friends and he's a huge Bama fan and I want to talk about Keelan Russell. So we'll get to that. But and also the that the principal at my kids school is a giant Bama fan. So we can't have it going around that we hate Alabama.

Yeah, you once said, we know where our bread is buttered. We're not gonna try to intentionally alienate one of the largest and most passionate fan bases and loyal fan bases in the country. So we're not that stupid. If we were gonna hate a team, who would we pick? I don't know. Syracuse.

I don't know. Why would we hate Syracuse? Like you just haven't met Fran Brown. Oh, you've talked to Fran Brown. I love Fran Brown. You've talked to Fran Brown. I'm just thinking about most niche fan bases that wouldn't hurt the show as much.

It wasn't necessarily a targeted attack on Fran Brown and his program. What would be the show that we could the fan base that we could delete that would be less hurtful to us? Bowling Green? Maybe Bowling Green. Producer River says he would hate Pitt. I'm telling you right now, Pitt fans, they'll come at they

will come at your throat. So no. Do a show of like why you hate these teams. Like every team is a reason why you should hate. That's what Drew McGarry used to do that on the on the old Deadspin before it became Zombie Deadspin where he would do it for every NFL team every year why you should hate the Giants why you should hate the Ravens and it was always very funny. So we can't probably do that. I mean, I can come up with reasons why you should hate everybody in a funny way. Yeah. Oh, we have an apology. Apology from gauge. I want to apologize to Aria made a bad comment about his love for the big 10 after watching the Herbie interview. I understand where he comes from. And I'm roll tied till

I die. Yeah, Irish from Scottsdale. They don't care about anything there. Fajitas. I don't think you care that much about fajitas or care for them. Listen, I'm never going to be able to rewrite my history and where I started in this business. So like my, you want to know what conference I actually loved? What's that? Wells. Yeah, that was, that was like, you want to talk about like actual emotional heartstrings that were like affected.

And like I have a chat, I had a buddy who sent me a message on Instagram after Ohio State won the national championship and he goes, all right, cut the shit. Like, are you happy? Or like, Hey, are you, do you get gratification from this? And it's just like, I don't know what to tell people. I don't. We don't. Like it was a really awesome season and a fun story. But the second that game ends, we're live and then we're downstairs trying to talk to people and writing. And I was up till four in the morning working. Like I don't know what people think. It's just like no matter how many times you say it you're never going to reach people enough to know that like my love for the game rests in being around it.

Well the other thing is no satisfaction from any individual team winning and losing ever. Right you in this business you actually become bigger fans of individual people than anything else because you get to know them and you try to treat everybody fairly, professionally, but we're human. You like people you like. So people always ask me about Florida stuff and I'd say, remember when I was on the team, the people who were there like Steve Spurrier and his staff and those people, like a lot of them went to South Carolina later and I still like those people and they were at a

different school. And so you just, it's, it's a little bit different. There are coaches that I've had interactions with that rubbed me the wrong way, but that doesn't mean that like, I don't, that I go home interactions with that rubbed me the wrong way. But that doesn't mean that like I don't that I go home and are like, I hope that guy loses like also. I know that I rub people the wrong way like it happens. Yes. You're also coaches that. I kind of look at how players feel about their coaches more

than how the coaches treat us or deal with us because like Bo Polini was always a little prickly, but his players would run through a wall for him. And he was like, okay, well, that's probably a better gauge of Bo Polini. You know, Bob Stoops was like that, but I had seen Bob Stoops as a player because he was the defensive coordinator when I was a walk-on. So I knew how he treated the people in the organization versus how he dealt with the media. Like Bob Stoops didn't like dealing with the media and I don't blame anybody for not liking dealing with us

we're assholes. But he was great to the players. And so I understood why his players felt the way they did, why the coaches who work with him felt the way they did. Like it, you can't judge it on just media interactions. And I also want to give people a little bit of a cheat sheet of like the, do you hate my coach test? Or do you hate my team test? Ask yourself in the mirror, one honest question. How is my team doing?

And then use it in a graph towards our sentiment and tell me if it's off. Well you know what you're never hurting have we ever like on on a 35-minute anti Alabama tirade when they were winning national titles? Like we ebb and flow with the results of the business and even if you like people think I love Ohio State it's like did you hear me after they lost to Michigan? Was I nice about it? Did you hear me after they won the national title? Was I nice about it?

The answer to those questions probably correlate with the result of what happened. So like, it's just, it's not that difficult. And I got a bunch of it from USC fans because we left USC off the list. And like, they're like, why do you hate USC? What about USC makes you think they should be on the list? They went seven and six.

Yeah. And their roster seems to be not as good as it was. So like, is it more likely that you very much love and rightfully so your favorite team and want to think the best of it, or is it more likely that we see something great and are intentionally ignoring it to mess with you like, like, it's like, that's the mindset. It's like, they can't possibly just be honest about what they're seeing and give me a real assessment of what's going on with my program. They have to have an agenda. And it's like, what person even have, I don't, how can I have a USC agenda, a Michigan

agenda, a Florida state agenda? Like, who am I to have all these agendas? Like, it's like, it's not, they're just not having good years this year. The other thing, the other thing I'm learning, as I'm more into the YouTube world, because the podcast world is a little bit different. The YouTube world, it seems like there's a lot of people out there in YouTube land, college football, YouTube land, like they exist to pump sunshine straight up your ass and they're going to tell you the best case scenario for your team at all times.

And I'm sorry, but that's intellectually dishonest and you're going to see through it after a while. Like also here's what I know. Like conflict and failure is an important thing to talk about, Andy. If nobody ever fails at anything, then where's the drama? You always say, an entertainment product, right? Yeah, there has to be conflict. There's gotta be conflict, there's gotta be drama, there's gotta be realism.

And that's the thing. Listen, you and I both have just discussed of like hey we used to work For the New York Times. We were at the Athletical or at the Athletic the athletic Somebody said psychological like a list to read that look at Ari being philosophical in the offseason I said athletic and read philosophical at the same time. That's what happened at the athletic where Journalism journalism journalism and we love that job, right? Like it was a great job, but we're both here because we think

hanging out and talking with your friends is what we'd want to do. We're fun and a lot more fun, but that doesn't mean that the guiding star of like what forged our careers with you at SI, I mean, at the Cleveland plane dealer and in places that, you know, hold you to a high journalistic standard doesn't, isn't the moral compass of like, Hey, we got to be honest and real with these people. And we have a lot more opinion now than we used to, but like that opinion is guided based on realism and fact and reporting. And will

we be right? A hundred percent of the time? Absolutely not. But like we're doing our best and there's no hatred. Ohio State won the national title on Monday and Michigan was the first team on my list of rising programs Thursday. There's no nexus, okay? And I know people want there to be, but there isn't. Well, and we're not gonna bullshit you.

Right. Like I was saying about the sunshine pumpers, like you're gonna fall for that, I think most of the people here are smart enough to not fall for it, but we all fall for it every once in a while, but you only fall for it once or twice. And then eventually you go,

oh, well, Andy and Ari shot me straight, so I'm coming back to them. Even though they made me mad when they said bad things about my team, but oh wait, the bad things correlated with bad things happening. Well it's almost like they were talking about the things that were happening. You want to talk about like Ari getting philosophical. Here's one that has nothing to do with sports. Um, I see this in political coverage. I see this in any type of coverage if you're bought into something. But I do not understand the human psychology of only wanting to be told what you want to

hear or what you already believe. Like my whole idea of consumption of media is to inform or to broaden my horizons or to learn something. And if I'm giving you a anti or anti is not the right word, a less than rosy take on your favorite team, you might not agree with that. And that's your prerogative to not agree with it. But wouldn't you rather hear like a realistic and

honest attempt at analysis that just your team is awesome all the time? Go read your favorite team's website if that's what you want. But like, I don't understand why you would want that. Like, and I, if I were a more political person, and I knew what side of the, of the fence I was on, I'd probably want to consume the other side of it from a media standpoint to learn what to broaden my horizon. Like I don't understand the consume what I already believe, consume what I already believe, consume what I already believe, read what I already think, read what I, it's like, what's the point of that?

Like I don't, that's across the board with everybody. Adrienne in the chat is a lot smarter than us. People are going to encode your responses based on their own biases. They will magnify their pain points. We are psychologically predisposed to focus on the negative. You're swimming upstream. Adrian.

I love you. This is the most intelligent comment we've ever received on this show. And I know we're not worthy. We're not worthy. Oh, I feel like we're 13 minutes into the show. We're not worthy. Oh my goodness. And I also too, like, I feel like we're 13 minutes into the show, we haven't taken a question yet.

And it's like, I don't know if people want this. Like, I just know, like, there's, this isn't gonna help. So like there's no, and there aren't enough people to be reached or people to get through. It's all right. It is okay. But we'll tell, we're gonna talk, we're gonna get everybody caught up on what's going on

in the world of college football. Let's do that. With our Hewlett fueling your morning segment. And then we're going to tell Anne the answer to the question of why did your show clearly hate Alabama? Cause that's Anne's the person who asked that question. We have some other really good questions to answer too. But first I wanna talk about Hewlett.

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But I like the chocolate the best. Use the code staples, 15, staples15 at huel.com, H-U-E-L dot com, 15% off plus free gift. You will not regret it. Now it is time for Huel to fuel your morning. Everything you need to know about the world college football in two minutes, rivers start the clock. Dion Sanders, Colorado coach, future Cowboys,

now I'm not gonna get into that, but he had a secondary NCAA violation. Ooh, he mentioned Julian Lewis's name on a podcast, on a coaches show, livestream, when Julian Lewis was still an unsigned recruit and you cannot do that. That is against the rules. So Colorado is correcting this Ari. It's no longer going to be live. So you know how we're live and sometimes you have to poop and we have to figure that out. Dion's never going to have to worry about that again because his coach

so is no longer live because he said Julian Lewis's name. That is so important to the world. Like honestly fire the guy like that's number one story number one story on our site number one story on our site in other news Notre Dame starting right guard Rocco Spindler and starting center Pat Coogan entered the transfer portal. Why is this happening? You say is Notre Dame falling apart? No, no, they are so loaded on the offensive line. That Spindler and Coogan, who are draft eligible but have decided to play another year in college.

They are going to go to the portal because they might not have starting jobs there next year. Notre Dame is absolutely stacked on the offensive line next year, and we've said, this is what we talk about when we say it's gonna be hard to have super teams from now on because it's just hard to keep that level of depth. Those guys were really good.

We know Pat Coogan's Mr. Notre Dame. He'd love to stay there, but he'd also love to play. And there's somebody who could use him. A lot of people who could use him next year. Also, North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick officially signed his contract. It was never a big deal that he hadn't signed. Coaches in college go a long time without signing their contracts. I'm out of time, but one more thing about the Belichick contract, Ari, and I want to get your take on this. In the contract, it enumerates he gets a $350,000 bonus if they make one of the three following bowls. The Tax Slayer Gator Bowl, the Dukes Mayo Bowl, or the Pop Tarts Bowl. So,

Duke's Mayo Bowl or the Pop Tarts Bowl. So, Bill Belichick gets 350 grand if he gets to have the chance to get a bucket of mayo dumped on his head, if he gets to have the chance to eat a ritually sacrificed anthropomorphic breakfast pastry, or I guess if he gets to slay some taxes on the field, I don't know what they do at the Gator Bowl.

Come over here and slay on my taxes. Jeez. Hey, what was that word? Ante ante. Morphic. What does that mean? Uh, the, it means that it is like a human. You've made an inanimate object appear to be human. Oh, that's a, that's an electric word. I'm going to add that to the role. Orific breakfast pastry. Yes. Anthrophomorphic. Anthropomorphic. Anthropomorphic. Got it. Anthropomorphic. Anthropomorphic.

Biggs in the chat. Why does On3 write articles on Colorado self-reporting recruiting violations, but not all other schools? Biggs, apparently you missed every six months when Nick Saban was at Alabama, when the cavalcade of Alabama secondary violations got reported on every website in the history of the world. Biggs, just because you just showed up because of Deion doesn't mean this stuff wasn't going on. Here's another one Andy. Facts over feelings.

Do you think Jaden Davis is going to play for Michigan? I heard all this hype when he signed and now we have Bryce Underwood and Mikey Keene. It's not looking good there. Let's be honest. Nope, and this is how it goes like. Aaron Oland was a big recruit for Ohio State. He's in South Carolina now.

Yeah and I think that's healthy like I mean as much as it stinks if you are a person because here's the thing in the old days of recruiting Andy people would you know it's sign up a five-star quarterback and it's kind of like even happened to me a little bit with Jackson Arnold in Oklahoma but you become emotionally tied to that person especially if they commit early you know. Jackson Arnold was committed to Oklahoma for two years before he got there. So the idea of the future's on its way is a really powerful thing and people want the future to live up to what you think it's gonna be but like if you're Michigan, if Jayden Davis doesn't play because

Bryce Underwood does, you know, what did you do? You got better at that position and it sucks to, uh, go through that. But at the same time too, it's like, listen, we're going to talk about Keelan Russell here later, right? Um, there's no guarantee he's going to be electric, right? You know, he, we should be. Like, I think he's no guarantee he's gonna be electric right you know he should be like i think he there's no guarantee of any of these guys like there's no guarantee of any of these five stars ever becoming who we think they're going to become um and you know what's gonna happen if

keelan russell shows up at mama then he's not what they thought he was or he doesn't develop at the rate at which they they hope they'll recruit over him and they'll get somebody else and i think that if jaydenaden Davis was the truth or was the answer he would have played last year, especially, I mean, that's the thing that I didn't understand. It's like they didn't have a functional quarterback all year and the guy never played.

Yeah, try everybody. Like you got to, and if he was like, I mean, DJ Lagway, another five-star player comes into the games when people didn't know if he was ready and like makes Florida a completely different team. Like you want to talk about the special young players in the sport. You have a pretty good idea who's going to be special very early on in their careers. Like you know, when it comes to the quarterback position, especially it's like how many five star players like have had the Malachi Nelson career arc and have gone to two different

schools or sat the bench for two or three years, didn't really get an opportunity and then became a Heisman winner in year four. like have had the Malachi Nelson career arc and have gone to two different schools or sat the bench for two or three years, didn't really get an opportunity and then became a Heisman winner in year four. Like it's like either you've got it or you don't. And I think that that goes for a lot of the positions. If you go look at like, you know, like if Jeremiah Smith is gonna be one of the best players

in the country, like he's turned out to be like, we knew that pretty soon. And during my time on a beat and during my time in the national situation, like Ryan Williams, another example, he's going to be great. You know it very soon. There aren't a lot of players who do not to be truly great ones that took three years in the in the microwave to heat up. Right? Is that fair? Like you pretty much know pretty soon. So well, like Joe Burrow did. Joe Burrow took a while. Jaden Daniels took a while. It happens sometimes, but

Jaden Daniels is actually really good as a freshman. Joe Burrow was also behind a freaking Heisman finalist. You know, like it's not like it. He didn't play because he stunk like Joe Burrow wasn't on a team that didn't have a functional quarterback and then didn't play at all. Like he was on a team that chose a Heisman finalist. He transferred. He had a pretty solid junior year and then went freaking crazy as last year than that. And I think that Joe Burrow is probably, you know, Joe Burrow and Jalen hurts and I'm wondering if now Jaden Daniels are the three exceptions to the rule of like, you know, with somewhere. I mean,

even Jane Daniels was awesome at Arizona state. Jane Daniels was really good as a freshman when Brandon Ioke was his primary receiver and you know, Benjamin was running the, the starting running back. Like they were really good. His K his was more of a case of like a talent drain around him. And, and the only position that I feel like T people need time is probably on the lines because the lines take there's a physical element to that that doesn't exist at the skill positions. Like you're either strong and big enough to exist in that world or you're not.

But even then or you have the weird growth spurt situation like Josh Allen, like Josh Allen was not like Josh Allen. Like Josh Allen was not 6'5, 240 coming out of high school and nobody wanted him because he was like 6'4, 195 and that version and he wasn't fast yet. Like he got weirdly faster and like people get faster as they get older but he did. So late pu puberty Yeah Yeah, I want to know like when I physically mature don't you like I don't know like when was I like a complete product I Was about 16 when I stopped growing taller now I got lighter stronger as Yeah, I was capable of being stronger a little bit later on, but I stopped. I hit about my peak physical size at 16 and didn't get any bigger. Andy, why am I incessantly being compared to Danny Cannell right now in the chat? I don't understand.

I don't know, but here's the thing. Here's the thing about Danny Cannell, because I worked with Danny at Series XM. Danny plays a fun character on the radio and on television. He is delightful to work with. He's one of the best co-hosts you will ever deal with. He's such a nice person. He's very giving. He's always like, and he's happy to let everybody make fun of him because it's good for the show. And he doesn't care. And he's not gonna he's not gonna throw it back on you unless you you're cool with it. And I just I can't say enough good things about Danny Cannell love Danny Cannell. And here's here's what else another thing I will say one more thing about it. So when he

got laid off at ESPN, he had just signed a new contract. He could have sat around and done nothing and gotten paid. But the way it worked there is if you want to get paid out of that contract, you can't go get another job. He's like, I don't want to do that. I want to fade away. He went and cobbled together like four jobs because he just wanted to work. He's a good guy. Like, so being compared to Danny Cannell

Don't feel bad about that. I just didn't know if he said something about me or something I don't know why my name I don't think so in the same connect in the same sentence right now Hummus hero is my favorite That's a great so far almost hero All right, let's get to the questions and question which is the title of our show All right, let's get to the questions. Anne's question, which is the title of our show. Why does your show clearly hate Bama, who was a proven winner and with great culture with new coaching staff, but overhype and worship freeze and trash Auburn? They can hardly belt players for the NFL. The draft picks are transferred from other schools. Three years prior, they can't game plan.

I can understand why Anne is mad because with Auburn, we talk about their trajectory and we mentioned that they were in all their losses. There was one loss they weren't in and that was the Iron Bowl. But, but Anne, Anne, Alabama had a great culture with Nick Saban. We don't know if they have a great culture right now. We're going to find out. Kailin DeBoer has been successful everywhere he's been, but he lost to Vanderbilt and lost 24-3 to a 6-6 Oklahoma team last year. Like it is not a guarantee that this is going to work. Have we stopped to like consider what happens there if they go 8 and 4 again?

I know it happens there. Is it over? I don't know if it's over, but it's hot seat time. It's not over. They're not going to put up with that for long. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Two years is enough, but. How many games at Nick Saban lose in

17 years like 14 or 15? Well, remember he lost at first year. Yeah, OK, but things weren't good under Mike Shula. This is why they made a coaching change. Nick Saban retired. Things were going just fine. Yeah. Although he retired during a time in which your roster could drastically change when you leave, which happened, right? To a certain extent. It didn't change that drastically other than Caleb Downs. That's a pretty, pretty big loss. It's a big one. But when you have as much talent as they have. Yeah. You're not supposed to be torpedoed by it. Yeah.

Yeah. So that's the thing. So do you think it's going poorly then? I don't think it's, I mean, by, by their standards, it is. Yeah. Yeah. Their standards is going like most school standards. No, it's going fine. But by Alabama standards, yes, it's going very poorly. I still think that if they give him time, he'll figure it out. Because the one thing that we know for sure about him is that he's an excellent football coach, right?

And when you marry excellent football coach with person who is acquiring talent at a very impressive level, which Alabama did, the top three class in the on three on the street industry rankings yes I think they had ten or eleven top 100 players in those rankings like those classes are the the classes those are the foundations in our new era that are going to continue to be the foundation for the teams with staying power. Doesn't mean they won't have blips from other teams,

but if Alabama signs three classes, four years in a row, like there's no way they won't get back to the mountain top in those four years at some point. Now the question is, is the team and the university and the administration and the fans willing to allow that to, you know, stockpile or are they going to lose patience quicker, move on and try to find somebody else

who can get it there faster. But as you said, Andy, and it's true, the second that this sport changed, the expectation is that you need to bounce back or stay the same. Like there's no two year building anymore. And even though this is what might be happening, Alabama is built different.

And like there is no building process there, especially when you're the perception and the reality is that there wasn't a teardown that needed to be rebuilt to begin with. And like, you know, what's funny is like they, you know, what's the number one criticism for Ryan Day? Born on third base, right? That's what people say about him.

It's like who inherited a better scenario? Kaelin Borg. Would you think that? Trash pile says, we won't know how to work and handle Alabama until he's been able to run the system he wants and Milro could not do that successfully. I will push back on that trash pile. First

of all, if you're that great of a coach, build it around the quarterback you have, or just put in a different quarterback. Like the two guys that we're talking about Ty Simpson and Austin Mac, potentially being the starter this year. We're on the roster last year. If it was that big of a problem, play them. Like now, was without Ryan Grubb, who was his offensive play caller for all those years.

And Ryan Grubb has been fired by the Seahawks. If Ryan Grubb comes to Alabama. Maybe that's the piece that's missing. Washington's offense two years ago was like poetry in motion. Yes, it was beautiful. It was first round quarterback. Yeah, and then a first round receiver and two second round receivers or a second and

third but load it load it now not a first round quarterback we don't think this past year we don't think Jalen Milro is gonna be a first round quarterback and they had Ryan Williams who is a definite NFL receiver. Jeremy Bernard's an NFL receiver. So again, they had the pieces to work with here. But the Ryan Grubb part of it may be bigger than we realize. So I don't know if they're coming back together. We haven't figured that out yet,

but he's available now. So maybe it gets better. But I don't say I like the Ty Simpson thing is interesting to me because Ty Simpson got some run two years ago, right? And it didn't go great. Right. So they were gonna, they were trying to figure out if Milro was the

guy. So they started Tyler Buckner in the USF game. That went very poorly. And then they brought in Ty Simpson and that also went very poorly. And they were like, Oh yeah, Jalen Morrow is the best option. And clearly they thought that under Nick Saban and they thought that under Kaylin D'Avore or they would have done something different. Yeah. So like was Jalen Milrow the problem? I don't think Jalen Milrow is the problem. I think if you think Jalen Milrow is the problem, you're looking in the wrong place because Because Jalen Milro wasn't the problem when Nick Saban was coaching.

And Jalen Milro is gonna be a second round pick, I think. Yeah, so. I don't know if that matters, maybe it's just projection based on that. Right, so you can put it all on Jalen Milro if you'd like, but you're gonna be sorely disappointed when you find out that wasn't the problem. I don't know if

I'm gonna look like an asshole for thinking this in eight months and it's possible I'll put myself out there I and maybe this is the perfect time to segue to how sick is Keelan Russell gonna be. Wait, Titer in Florida says the offense change the defense change essentially making every returning starter a new player and you guys are supposed to know this. OK. We've seen offenses change and get better like Kalen D'Avore's offense the first year at Washington much better

than the offense the year before, and it was a new offense. You're supposed to know this Tyler in Florida, and if that's the reality, then what you're saying is is that Kalen D'Avore, who I believe is an amazing coach, brought in something and implemented

a system that made his team worse, which is the exact opposite of what a coach is supposed to do. What people in the national media don't understand is that benching Milro is either easier said than done. He's considered one of the main guys who held the team together when saving left. No, it's not. Players aren't stupid. If they think somebody gives them a better chance to win, they're all worth changing to that player, whether they like the

other person or not. Like remember when Kelly Bryant got benched at Clemson? Kelly Bryant was beloved in the locker room. But the locker room wasn't stupid. They watched practice practice they knew Trevor Lawrence was better did people think that Jalen Hurst was an asshole when he got mentioned in the national title game no I don't think they did but he was a pretty wasn't he like the literal no that modification of hero the player the players were ready for two at that. There had been grumbling because remember Jalen Hurts got sick before the Sugar Bowl that year and so Tua had to fill in during practice and the

ball never touched the ground when Tua threw it to the receivers at practice. Like it was perfect every time. So the receivers like give me more of that. And like everybody knows that Jalen Hurts is like the best teammate in the history of the world. Right? Players aren't stupid. They know who gives them the chance to win. Speaking of best chance to win. Like I just feel it in my like gut that Russell is the best chance to win.

Well and that's the thing if he he's awesome, get anyone else. And I feel like they would have like, I don't know. Don't you think they should have gotten someone else if he isn't like, I would do you know, because they had two other guys. They have two guys on the roster. Alabama, dude, like, I don't know. It's weird. So, yeah, if Keelan Russell's the guy, it's going to be great. And as for Auburn, we're just extrapolating here. This is a team that that was.

Turnover prone and unlucky. There was in a lot of games that they lost. That tends to to balance out. They're going to have a three man quarterback competition that probably will produce a starter that is better than the one they had last year. Their line is their offensive line is about as good as Auburn has had in the last 10 years and probably will be better this year than it was last year. They will probably good at running

the ball. Defensively, They have a pretty good baseline level of talent and a defensive coordinator who has been successful in the SEC before like. So we're just connecting dots here on Auburn. We could be wrong. Yeah, it's a projection of the future, but the dots are pretty sexy. So does that like but like also at the same time too, and I want to ask you this for my question of the day, if you rank a team higher than another team in the way too early top 25 for the following year in January, if somebody put your life on the line and said, who's going to have a better season next year, Alabama or Auburn, who would you pick?

Like that's the thing. Like that's the thing that I think. It'd be a coin flip for me, which is why we had them. I mean we had them two spots apart. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's like, I still think that there's probably a higher likelihood that Alabama just has a better season because Alabama at its baseline, like bad years, eight and four. If Auburn goes eight and four or nine and three, I think that they would probably still be ranked in the same general area at the end of the year,

but that would be a much more important accomplishment. Right. They would consider that improvement, a building block in Alabama would be like, Oh my God, the world is holy shit. The world's over. Yeah. So like also to like there's levels to expectation and stuff. And it be like, oh my God, the world is over. Holy shit, the world's over. Yeah, so like also too, like there's levels to expectation and stuff. And it's like, who cares if Alabama and Auburn finish 11 and 14, or if you want to flip them. The only true real fact is that Alabama ends at number 11, which Alabama would be over the moon for, they would feel like was a disappointment.

So like, it's not, I think that like the praise of of Auburn is misguided energy because we didn't rank Alabama high enough and I don't know that Alabama is in a position that deserves to be ranked number six right now especially considering the fact that the teams in the top six are teams that performed really well this year that bring back a shit ton of talent. Like Texas, Ohio State's the only one, right? Oregon loses the players on defense, but like which roster in the top eight is nine, ten is decimated, none of them. Well that's why Illinois and South Carolina and Clemson are in Florida up there because their trajectory's up, they bring out back all the good players

gamma lose like 30 players in the portal There's some insane number that they're like they lost a lot and it wasn't just guys who weren't playing Which is not normal which is not what it was So guys you can keep arguing with this about this, but the fact of the matter is Alabama underperformed this year. And I don't know if Alabama's roster netted out more talented. We'll find out, but that's why we're not like assuming Alabama just bounces back. Yeah, it's not, it's not that easy. Can't make an assumption now. There's there's a lot of there's a lot of

unknowns here. But yes, let's say Ryan Grubb comes to Alabama to call the plays. And Austin Mack, who is a quarterback who Ryan Grubb and Caitlin were recruited to Washington is what they wanted him to be or Keelan Russell comes in and he's awesome or Ty Simpson does it and he's awesome. Then great. It's gonna work. You're gonna be better. But I also know that there was a guy that was a quarterback who led a team to an SEC title in Tommy Reese's

offense. He was a first year offensive coordinator that year. And they didn't do very well with him. And you can say, well, that's not their type of quarterback. Good coaches figured out with whatever they got. Caleb Moore's a good coach. The question is, for me, Moore more did he need Ryan Grubb with him to have the full full picture because Ryan Grubb was with him at Washington was with him at Fresno State. Maybe maybe they need to be together.

I alert for that. We'll find out. We will find out next question from Philip. Will playoff records replace top five or top 10 records for measuring coaches? It seems like the coaches record to playoff and how far they go will be the determining factor going forward. Ryan Day's playoff record, for example, is now five and three going back to 2019. I do think this is this will be together first before you answer it. Do you

join the four teams record and the 12 team record? Do you start from the 12 team? I think you can join them both. They're both they're all really hard games. They all fit into the like top 10 matchup type situation. Yeah. I mean, I think actually, well, in day's case, definitely they do because everybody they played was in the top 10. They didn't play anybody who just got in because of you know they were a conference champ or something. Yeah, top 10 wins during the regular

season are going to be important because it bolsters your resume to get to the playoff. But what are you going to ultimately be judged by when the when the bar to get into the playoff is so much lower now, especially at big time programs, right? Like no one cares what what your does anyone care that Ohio State lost to Oregon this year? No, no, it's like a completely and utterly

useless and irrelevant game. Well, they care. They care. They beat Oregon when it mattered. Yeah, but I'm saying like the regular season is what the question is, right? Like your regular season top 10 record versus how you do in the playoff. I don't think Ohio State fans are ever going to think about the Oregon loss and Eugene ever again. It's completely irrelevant. It's also more important. It's also more important what your record is when it's winter go home. Right. And losing regular season top 10 matchups don't eliminate you anymore. Like those types of games used to be punitive in a way, especially if you lost two of them, right?

Like if Ohio State would have lost two of them and to Michigan, they would have been in deep shit, right? They wouldn't have gone. But like the only thing that prevails from Ohio State's year that will continually be a discourse is the Michigan game because of what that game means. But if Ohio State would have beaten Michigan and lost to North Nebraska, nobody would be taught.

It'd be the perfect season for them, right? Like it wouldn't matter if they lost in Nebraska as long as they got into the playoff and beat and they almost did like, yeah, you know, yeah. Like the reason why the Michigan game stands out is because it means so much to them. But in terms of regular season games, who cares? Yeah, as long as you're not. I'm with you on that. I think the the winner go home.

It's like that in basketball. You know, what's your NCAA tournament record? Do they even track top 10 wins in regular season basketball? Honestly, is that a thing? It doesn't mean anything like they go back. Like, it's also there's so many games and the results are so variable. I mean, Tennessee was number one a couple of weeks ago went to Florida and lost by 30.

Yeah, aren't the SEC basketball rankings right now like just like a pinball machine where the foul balls are bouncing all over the place. Basically, who's playing at home and who's on the road? That's basically what it is. Dude, SEC, it just means more down there, you know? Well, you know, they got to do something. They don't have a football thing anymore. Hey, watch your mouth. We're going to lose.

Why do you hate the SEC? Why? I don't know. It's terrible. But I've just held this long grudge against the conference that where everybody in my family went to school, It's terrible. But I've just held this long grudge against the conference that where everybody in my family went to school, including myself. So I'm going to look at the basketball rankings right now because I am completely and utterly unplugged from it. I couldn't name a single player in college basketball outside of Cooper flag. Bama.

Is number four in basketball. Auburn is number one. Oh no. Alabama did just go to Kentucky and win. They did. They won a rep last weekend. So that's my trick. Oh no, it's it's like the iron bowl of basketball is going to be spectacular You got Tennessee Auburn tomorrow. That's a big one in the jungle the Big 10 and the SEC are flipping because the big 10 used to be very deep and good at basketball, right? But didn't they go like 20 years without winning a national title? They never produced champions in basketball like the SEC still produced more champions in basketball. So basketball like the SEC still produce more champions in basketball. So.

Like the Big Ten would have these great regular season teams and then just sort of all apart in the tournament. I'm going to say this. I booked a trip to Vegas for March Madness because we go every year Andy and I don't know if we have to do shows there or not. But if we do, I'm going to be hammered on the show like there's no way around. Oh, I would expect nothing less like are there are there, are there, I think that the, who wins the basketball championship is a complete and utter like lottery ticket.

Like I think who wins the football championship had like, it seems so random to me in basketball, right? And maybe it's not because the Yukon dude keeps winning, but it just like doesn't produce champions is such a like weird thing to think or care about in basketball because who who's going to win the title any year? Well, the other thing is it's not in route. It's not limited to two leagues that can produce champions. Basketball has multiple league system. No, the ACC is bad this year oh do you

could show it be awesome yes like Duke is really good and everybody else is kind of it the Big East is very good in basketball though the Big 12 is excellent in basketball so how River had a had a what's his name on the graph Tuesday Dan Hurley yeah Dan Hurley yeah sorry I love how we had the graphic here? Dan Hurley? Yeah, Dan Hurley, yeah, sorry. I love how we had the graphic ready though. That's elite level producing. We have lots of Dan Hurley B-roll packages. How do you, I need to go and like watch him do this.

Like how does he do that? Like the day when we had a guest on last week who brought up like- He has a Finder on his Mac MacBook and he types in Dan Hurley. I know but as somebody Was bringing up a touchdown play last week. Uh-huh. He hit the touchdown play He was talking about because rivers the best producer in the business. That's why we don't we don't give away too many of his secrets That was I was just an electric. I was on electric play. He's incredible, but yes, but yes, to answer to answer

Phillips question. I do think the playoff record will become the standard people know what is most important and winning in the regular season against top 10 teams used to be the most important thing to like put yourself in a position and unfortunately now it's just not it's important to win because it bolsters a position and unfortunately now it's just not. It's important to win because it bolsters your resume but it doesn't eliminate you anymore so what it's not is important to track. Not that people won't. I mean they'll put up the James Franklin 2-18 against top 10 opponents graphic all day long but like it's not like James Franklin

losing to Ohio State at home is probably frustrating to Penn State fans still, but what are they? They're probably frustrated that they lost Notre Dame way more, right? John in the chat I want to see Dan Hurley and Kurt Signetti argue about who is a better coach in their sport.

I would actually pay to see that, but then Dan Hurley like yell at a ref the other day and say, don't turn your back on me. I'm the best coach in the fucking sport. And that what he said, basically not. And actually I was going to say not in so many words, but yes, in that many words pretty much.

Yeah. And he's got numbers here said Ari is not realizing that college football starting in the college basketball. And it's like, that's been my number one fear. Like in this, it's not though. You want to know why? Because it's fun. Why it's not? Because it's football. Why it's not because it's football. And we like football better than we like basketball.

How many NBA regular season games you're watching? How many NFL regular season games you're watching? It's not that complicated guys. We like football better than we like basketball as a nation. We will continue to like football better It's a better sport We like basketball. I love college basketball. I love the NCAA tournament The first week in the NCAA tournament as much as I love football is my favorite sporting event of the season college basketball You love the insanity of the NCAA tournament. I actually like regular season college basketball to watch like basketball. Come on, get out of here. Yeah, no, I'll watch it. Now I gotta get into. I gotta be pretty deep in a

conference play. I'll be honest even thought about turning a college basketball game on. Oh, I've watched a few. I've watched a few in the last few weeks, but once football is over and there's nothing to bet on, that's when I get it. Like here's like, hey, I'll take Louisville minus five. Well, there you go. There you go. But no, I mean, that's crazy to me about basketball

is that I can watch four quarters of it and retain zero information on who the players are. There's halves in men's college basketball. You're watching women's college basketball than what the four quarters. No, but I'm saying like, if I watch, like if somebody says, take Louisville minus six tonight, you won't regret it.

And I take Louisville minus six and watch the whole game. At the end of the game, I won't be like, oh, yeah, that Louisville point guard is his name. I don't I don't retain the information. Yeah. But I guess Cooper Flagg is like LeBron, right? Like he's like the next to the flags. Awesome. The main event. But is he like the next NBA phenom or is he just a really good college player? No, he's going to be the number one pick and draft next year. Okay. Yeah.

He would already be in the NBA if they didn't have the age limit. Okay. Got it. All right guys, you've heard me say this a lot, but I'm going to say it again. Wendy's Nuggets. The greatest are presenting sponsor. You've had them dips in sauce,

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Georgia tech's toughest conference games are at home, except for Duke. And Georgia tech returns one of the most underrated QBs. So yes, Haynes King is back. Jamal Haynes, they their running back is back. They lose Eric Singleton, yes. How saucy is this take? It is not spicy ghost pepper, Ari. It's not that spicy.

Well, I said spicy honey barbecue. We have, it is. It's, there's tang to it. There's a little bite to it. But a little sweetness too for the Georgia Tech fans. If any of this happens, we've spent a lot of time discussing Bama, but like are we certain of Georgia next year. Oh, see that's the thing. It's like it's not this

would be really really spicy if like Georgia was juggernaut Georgia and Georgia is going to have a good defense next year. It doesn't even matter who's on it. We know they're going to have a good defense. But did they address their lack of explosive playmaking ability at the skill positions in the offseason? Is Gunnar Stockton going to be really good next year? Like there's Zachariah Branch, the answer USC fans will say, they'll say, no, he never produced targets, but he didn't, didn't perform. They'll say that he is an electric return man who didn't ever hit offensively.

Like, I don't know, but I think it was, it was a good step in the right direction. Right. I mean, Zachariah branches, that's the person to go after in a portal, but Georgia, I mean, if you think about it, like Brock Bowers and Lad McConkey were guys that Georgia signed. Lad McConkey, Brock Bowers is a guy everybody wanted. Lad McConkey was a guy they kind of unearthed and developed. They've not done a great job of that in terms of explosive pass catchers in the past couple of years. Yeah. And there wasn't like a cam Coleman in the portal.

There wasn't a Jordan Addison in the portal. Right. You got to get those guys as freshmen. And that's you and I were talking about that yesterday off there. Like you've got to get those people. Not everybody can get Jeremiah Smith, obviously, but Cam Coleman, Ryan Williams. We've had this question about Florida, you know, because they're losing their top two receivers because they're out of eligibility. Kamir Dike and Elijah Badger.

Like, they didn't go into the portal. They got one receiver out of UCLA from the portal. But I would argue the more important pickup they got was they flipped Dallas Wilson from Oregon. The incoming freshman who is the top rank receiver or one of the top rank receivers in this class. Let's go down the list. This is an interesting case study. Let's go down the list. OK, the best receivers in college football this past year. Luther Burden High School signee.

T Mac. At Arizona High School signee. T Mac at Arizona, high school signee. Jeremiah Smith at Ohio State, high school signee. Ryan Williams. High school signee. 17, I don't know if you knew that. High school signee. Tess Johnson was a transfer, right? Yep.

Trey Harris. It's transfer. Xavier Restrepo, I think was a signee, right? Yep. Trey Harris. Transfer. Xavier Restrepo, I think was a signing, right? Signing. Yep. Who am I forgetting Colston Loveland, who's a tight end, but he was a signing high school signing. Yep. Travis Hunter transfer, but kind of a high school, but signed with the coach. Just follow the coach just followed the coach follow the coach Yeah, and then I guess maybe number 10 might be like Isaiah Bond or something. I don't know

I was getting and he was well, I'll just look at these, you know, you look at the obviously like Nick Nash Yeah But Nick Nash was a high school I believe he was I school son, you know, I think he's a transfer So cam Coleman, I a high school. I believe he was high school sign. You don't think he's a transfer. So Cam Coleman, I think high school signing. Yeah. I'm just trying to think of like game like he's like Ryan's Millenial High School Signee. How many teams do we say in the portal?

Like wide receivers, a huge deal like Notre Dame, Penn State, I think Florida, I think Georgia, you could have made that case. And it's like there weren't like legitimate. No doubt about it. Guys in the portal are going to come in and be open. Like, you know, it's just not I think high school signees at receiver. Then I don't know if there's a reason for this seemed to be. Maybe it's because receiver you can be special anywhere.

And I also think you pop almost always pop in immediately. And when you pop immediately, there's no reason to leave. Right. That's why because they they pay you to stay like Eric Singleton is in Kevin Concepcion. I think are the two exceptions right now. Kevin Concepcion at NC State was very accomplished. I think realized he had a huge opportunity in the portal. Eric Singleton, who getting back to the Georgia Tech question we you know,

he they lose him, but they have Hanes King back. You can play Hanes King the way you want to play Hanes King because obviously Hanes King is not running the ball. He's not as effective, but he's very effective when you have to worry about him as a runner in a thrower, they have Aaron Filo coming back as well.

And Aaron Filo is going to be one of the better backup quarterbacks in the country next year. So I just think Georgia Tech can be very good that, uh, Tyler Santucci, their defensive coordinator, Jess Simpson, their D line coach, there was a concern that some schools were going to come try to poach them. They kept them. They kept Buster Faulkner, their offensive coordinator. I think Georgia Tech could be a serious contender for the ACC title. I don't know about beating Georgia, but look, they were tough. They played Georgia tough two years ago in Atlanta. Obviously

eight overtimes in Athens last year. Like, yeah, none of this is far-fetched Yeah Antonio Williams at Clemson's also a high knee high school signing. Yes So like that's another one that we got in the chat here tighter in Florida Are you put your money where your mouth is $1,000 that Auburn doesn't finish ahead of Bama? Hit me up off air I'll look into the actual numbers of like, like what the odds would be and then you give me odds we can talk about it. You think you're this guy doesn't

know who he's talking to. Yeah. Vance with a question in the chat. Is my belief that in the NIL era Ivy League schools the true sleeping giant, it only takes one mega rich a hole and they have plenty of them. Here's the thing, Vance. It's if Ivy League schools ever decided that they wanted to get back into big time football, because remember, they were big time football. When football started, the Ivies were big time football. But they

deemphasized it a long time ago. They just had their antitrust exemption run out like it expired. They had an antitrust exemption that allowed them to all agree to not give out athletic scholarships. If one of them decides to give out athletic scholarships, they all will. And if you can get a scholarship to an Ivy League school, I think there's a lot of players who will go for that. Like the players who are going to, and not just the ones that are going to Duke and to Stanford now, like a lot of the, your Michigan, Chinese and, and you know,

guys that are going to Ohio state or guys who want to go to Alabama, if they, if they can get into the Ivy league school, which they have a rolling admission standard for athletes where you can take a certain number that would be this close to normally getting in and a certain number that would be this close to normally getting in, and then you can take as many as you want that would just get in.

But- Are the classes harder at Harvard than they are at Michigan? I know it's harder to get in, but once you're in is the academic. I think it depends on your major. I think, and I think that goes for just about anywhere. So when I took an official-

Do you think I could have graduated from Harvard? I know I never would have been able to get in in a million years, but do you think if I would have gotten in, and here's the type of student I was. I went to U of A, I dedicated all of my resources and energy to internships in the student newspaper and spent zero time in class and got a 3.0.

But again, that is- I think you'd have to work a little harder than that in class. I know, but do you think that if I went to Harvard, the question I've always wondered is like, hey, there was nothing I could have done to get in. Well, I am about to tell you from personal experience, like when I went on my official visit to Princeton, I asked the people like, cause we were, you know, I had a host who

was a football player and we were hanging out with, with other athletes, there were women's basketball players and track athletes. And I asked, like, I remember asking these girls that we were talking to, can I, would you mind if I looked at the homework that you're doing right now? Like, can I just look at how hard it is or, or, you know, how, try to gauge how difficult this was, this will be if I decide to come here. And they were doing a math, it was a math class and it was stuff. I kind of understood. I was like, oh, okay.

Cause I think in my head it was like, oh my God, it's the Ivy league. Yeah, they're splitting the atom in their math classes. They're not doing right. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Like that's the thing. But they're also, they also just went to, you know, they went to high schools like the rest of us

and learned, you know, that stuff. And so you've got to build on it. Yeah. Yeah, when Hari graduated, if I went in and really tried, could I have a degree from Harvard? It's been a question that I, because I'm not a, I don't think I'm a book smart person. But you're an intelligent person.

Jason in the chat, this is a great, great contribution. And my god, we have're an intelligent person. Jason in the chat. This is this is a great great contribution. And my god, we have smart viewers and listeners. I'm a grad student at Yale, I TA'd for an undergraduate class last year, the classes aren't difficult, but the caliber of student elevates the level of conversation and makes curves harder. That makes sense. That makes sense. It's just the discourse is elevated. And probably everybody's pushing each other hardest part about getting an Ivy League degree is getting in not getting it. I would think so, but I think you probably have to be pretty on your Ps and Qs when you're there. Like you can't you can't fart around everybody is in the top fraction of a percent of their class. Yeah, but yeah, like I was like, cause I went to Arizona and like, I was like, the classes were the classes. And I think, I think the people you're around is, is important too.

I always go back to like the, the people who are at the student newspaper and in, in the student publications. When I was at Florida, like it was murderers row. And I think being around those people made me a lot better. So like Andrea Adelson who works for ESPN, she was the sports editor at the student paper when I was the assistant.

Student newspaper. Yeah, like Israel Gutierrez was our basketball beat writer. He's on ESPN now. Aaron Andrews was working for the student radio station at the time. It was insane how much talent was running around. Can I tell you who I wrote with at Arizona? The very handsome Shane Bacon, right? Yeah, he was the basketball guy when I was the football guy at Arizona. And he has the best life. Been a while since I've seen you, Shane. Hope you're doing well. I see your Instagram and like you're living the,

he's got the best life in golf outside of being a professional golfer. See, my guy, Dan Rapoport, who worked at SI, has it pretty good too. He works for Barstool now. He's on that 4Play podcast. They got a pretty good deal going. They're always playing with PGA guys.

I mean, all I know about Shane is that he's been on, he's very handsome. So he went on, he was on NBC's master's coverage. He goes and plays all the courses, all these companies sent, he's obsessed with golf, it's his favorite thing in the world, and they send him clubs and bags and gear and shoes and polos and all this stuff and he just

Posts them like he gets all that shit for free He gets to play the courses and he gets to cover those events like that's insane. What a life. Yeah Well, he's also incredibly handsome that that I think that being handsome is definitely something that like It's a big it's a big deal in this world. That's why I got so far Exactly. Exactly. I mean, look at look at the lettuce today. Oh, the jawline. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We're working on it. We're getting hardest fade in the universe. When I got married to Britt and I posted the picture on Twitter and everyone said, wow, holy shit, you out kicked your coverage.

Like that was like really nice because I'm happy that people think that my wife's pretty. But also like there's only so much of that you can read before you take personal offense to it. You know what I mean? Before you realize it is the most backhanded of backhanded compliments.

It's like yeah, like are you saying she's pretty or you calling me a fat slob? That's not attractive like I don't know. It is the right is the Roger Federer backhand of backhanded compliments. So this this past year I've made it my personal journey. To when Britt and I are together for people to not think what the hell happened there.

Like that's like, that's been one of my main motivations here. Yeah. And I'm like, I'm a good looking dude. You're very good looking. You know what we can do to make you more good looking? We're gonna put you in some state and liberty. So right now I'm wearing the Avery Pique Polo from state and Liberty. I had the full State

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So that 10% off is a very, very nice way to start. Use the code staples, stateliberty.com. This time of year, the crew neck sweaters are great. Work with everything you can layer him up. They look good in the office. They look good at the bar, you name it. And of course, if you need to get very dressed up, the athletic fit suits are amazing. It feels like you are not wearing a suit.

It feels like you were wearing. Something comfortable like I've never been comfortable in suits. The other night at the National Championship game, I'm wearing my state a suit. It feels like you were wearing something comfortable. Like I've never been comfortable in suits. The other night at the national championship game, I'm wearing my state Liberty suit. I felt just like it was moving with me. It was perfect. So go to state Liberty commies, the code staples 10% off for new customers. Ari, I have another question for you. This is from Spencer and I really like this one. Right. These three SEC quarterbacks on likelihood to win the Heisman Trophy.

Arch Manning, DJ Lagway, Lenora Sellers. And... That's the order. Well, here's the other part of this. Remember, the SEC was just sort of left out of the Heisman this year. I do think there's a chance it comes back in a big way just because you've got returning quarterbacks in the SEC with some experience and everybody's very excited about them. Can I ask this a different way of you?

I think I know the answer to this, but I want to hear how you'll do it. If I give you these three players, Arch Manning, DJ Lagway and Lenora Sellers. Or the field for the Heisman Trophy. Which would you take the trio or the field? The field. I'd still take the field too. Just because I think there's a quarterback out there we're not even talking about and I do think the quarterback strike back next year. They were not hard. It's really hard with the Heisman because people come out of nowhere all the time. The thing is, is that like Arch Manning has brand equity. And I think that's really important

when it comes to the Heisman race. Like I think that Travis Hunter had brand equity too in terms of like what he stood for, what he did, who he played for and what they accomplished on the field. The thing that I am a little bit concerned about when it comes to Sellers and Lagway is like Jaden Daniels is the only quarterback really in the what last 10 years who transcended losses because his stats were so gaudy. Like I think it's possible that DJ Lagway and Lenore Sellers like look the part in a way

that makes you Heisman worthy, but I fear that their teams won't be good enough. Like I don't know. You gotta make the playoff now. Well, actually you don't. Travis Hunter's team didn't make the playoff, but Travis Hunter transcended losses. And he did something.

Because he was doing something we've never seen. Yeah. I think if you're a quarterback, you have to hit certain litmus marks that okay Kim ward had made the playoff He's he's closer to Travis Hunter or maybe beats him, right? I don't know that anybody would have beaten Travis Hunter this year But cam ward was in the top three of our Heisman straw poll thing, right? Like all year Yeah, every reason the top three the Heisman straw poll thing, right? Like all year. Yeah, he's in the top three of the Heisman voting. Like so like to me, it's like Arch Manning is the perfect Heisman candidate

because he's the Texas quarterback that are probably going to make the playoff next year. And like he has a name that everyone recognizes people are going to be locked in on him. And like he has a chance to put up some big stats both as a runner and a passer. Like I think that like he is the perfect Heisman candidate in January. I think DJ like like honestly, I think I would take DJ lag way over the other two just as a player on my team. I think the oxide is higher with lag way. He's got it.

The thing about lag way. He's got to fix a couple things. His his accuracy needs to improve. And he's got to cut down the interceptions. He had too many interceptions this year. But I think you Yeah, I can forgive that, considering- The way you talk yourself out of that is you say,

okay, he wasn't the full-time starter, he wasn't getting reps with the ones, even when he became the full-time starter, then he got hurt, you know, he hurt the hamstring against Georgia. So you can make the excuses, but once he's the full-time starter, there are no more excuses.

Like you've got to get the and then I think if he does get the completion percentage up based on what we saw from the explosiveness it's gonna be pretty pretty interesting. There just isn't another quarterback in college football I would take over him to start for my team starting next year week one. Well and that's the thing I had like I had somebody on a Miami fan that was mad about our video from yesterday. A lot of those. Say, well, Beck had a better year than Lagway last year. I'm like, yeah, but if you ask every college coach in America, would you rather have Carson Beck or DJ Lagway

as your starter this year, what's the answer going to be? Yeah, it's not even a debate. They're all going to say Lagway, every one of them. But they also fall victim to the same thing we all do. It's not even a debate. They're all gonna say lag way every one of them, but but they are also Fall victim the same thing we all do like they're only look they're looking it upside. They're like hey, hey, why did he that if he hits? DJ lag way has a chance potential special special special in a way That we probably haven't seen Like there's gonna be good quarterbacks every year who put up big stats and make nice

throws. I think it's possible that like DJ lagway ceiling is look back in 10 years and go holy shit that was the best player of the decade. Like that's what I that's what I see when I see lag way. Like I don't know if I'm overstating that. I think that's how I think that's how some Florida fans are feeling though. They it's interesting because the Florida fans are still fairly skeptical of Billy Napier and are very upset that he didn't hire a play calling offensive coordinator, that he didn't, you know, change much. I just, I think the reason he's doing that is because he's

still on the hot seat. Like he still has to coach for his job next year. So I think he's going with the devil he knows over the devil he doesn't know. But I also think he's looking at it like if the team that he puts on the field this year is the team that played LSU in Ole Miss last year, like that team should win somewhere between 8 and 10 games. Eight's not going to be good enough. Everybody's be mad at him if that's what happens. But if it's nine or ten, they're probably okay with it. Yeah, ten wins gets them in the playoff, probably.

Right, especially against that schedule. Yeah, ten wins against that schedule, and I think that too, a more advanced DJ lag way, who's the full-time starter, another year of evolution, bigger, stronger, faster, all that stuff, wins you games you didn't win this past year. Like I think that you also have to account for that. Spurs up in the chat, Sellers has the same upside. I would agree with that too.

I would agree that Lenore Sellers upside is pretty off the charts. Yeah, I mean, he's incredible. That's why he's in the question. And I think with same with Lagway though, now Sellers obviously started the whole season, question. I think with same with lagway though, now sellers obviously started the whole season. But it still was a case where you went into the year not really knowing because you

hadn't played him in a game, you know, I hadn't played with him in a game yet to know exactly what you could do with him. Now you have a full off season to design the offense around what you know he does best during the game. I'm talking about sellers here. I think South Carolina's offense is going to be seriously evolved. That you know to take advantage of everything the lower sellers can do. Yeah, but in order of most likely to win the Heisman, which was the question.

I think it was the order that was listed in the question. Oh producer River. Do we have the video from Inside Texas? Okay, speaking of Arch Manning, our friends at Inside Texas, On3's Texas site, they created a fantastic video where they went out and asked Texas fans in Austin, where they went out and asked Texas fans in Austin, who is Arch Manning's father? So James Hayden, take it away. You guys know who Arch Manning is?

Yes. Who is Arch Manning's dad? Oh, is it Peyton Manning? Peyton Manning? I don't know. You wanna phone a friend? No. They wouldn't know either?

Wait, oh, like call one? Is it like a John or Mike? Jason? Who is Arch Manning's dad? Peyton Manning. Question, who is Arch Manning's dad? Is Arch Manning himself? No. Oh, why am I blanking? I know this. Who is Arch Manning's dad? Bro, I know his name. It's like on the tip of my tongue. Who is Arch Manning's dad? Bro, I know his name, it's like on the tip of my tongue. Who is Arch Manning's dad? Cooper Manning. You win a $50 gift card from Academy Sports and Outdoors. Congratulations.

What are you going to use it on? I need some new flip flops, honestly, so I might get some flops. Maybe a basketball. Our guy getting new flip flops, we're knowing that. So, nobody guessed Eli. What are we trying, what's the guy who said Arch himself trying to say? Is he trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say that he's trying to say? What's the guy who said Arch himself trying to say is he is he trying to say Archie was cloned? I Don't know what the hell was going on in that That video I'm gonna level with you. I

Think he was trying to say that his grandpa was his dad, right? That's what he's trying to say, but like, yeah, how's that work? Yeah, I don't know. That's a there's a lot to unpack there. I also feel like too with those videos and I don't know if I'm just like a skeptical asshole, but I feel like then they do this with political videos too. It's just like you ask a million people the same question and then you weed out the four dumbest answers. Right. You only pick the funny answers. Yeah, right when they say Hawk tua That's the one you use by the way. She's going to she's going to federal prison, right? Listen who among us hasn't gotten suddenly famous and gotten involved in a pump-and-dump scheme

suddenly famous and gotten involved in a pump and dump scheme. Can you imagine? Life comes at you fast! The arc of like you're just some nobody who lives in a small town in Tennessee to like being one of the most famous faces on earth for two weeks and now you're going to prison for a federal pump and a federal crime. Like in a six month period. Because she got famous like in October, right? Like it was during football season, I think. Yeah, during football season. And like we're in January and like she's gone. She has vanished. She's no like, oh, she's back now. She went to

sleep and but like think about like being in a spaces on the internet talking to people who by the way if you lost money in that you deserve to because what do you think? You're an idiot. I mean you're incredibly stupid if you pay for. People are like I lost thousands of dollars. She goes alright guys I'm tired I'm gonna go to bed. That was so electric. I guess it was in July she got oh okay six months six months uh of fame to to this was a hell of a lot like she'll have a great autobiography one day maybe she'll read it from the maybe she'll write it from the can I don't know she's gonna have some time possibly she can tell her autobiography to somebody through the payphone

She'll flip on whoever did this and she'll go with no jail time she'll just get a fine Vance says I wonder how pookie feel pookie's her boyfriend by the way But the the thing in question belong to pookie Ari this weekend no college football, but there are football games. So our friends at PrizePicks have a special gift for you. Download that PrizePicks app, use the code staples, play $5, get $50 instantly. Jaden Daniels is your almost free square point five passing yards if he goes

more than that. So if he throws for a yard against the Eagles. You're going to win that square the way price picks works. You pick at least two squares. You can pick as many as you want. The more you pick the higher the potential payout. You got Patrick Mahomes more or less than 253 and a half. I don't even know if that matters. I want to see a chiefs bills game like the crazy one a few years ago when the Chiefs scored in 13 seconds to win it. Though I'm starting to think they're letting Patrick Mahomes game the system a little bit too much with the calls.

Josh Allen, 230 and a half passing yards more or less, but the bigger one for Josh Allen, the.5 rushing and receiving TDs. Do you think Josh Allen's gonna run for one? Always a possibility. So make your picks. Play $5 get $50 instantly when you use code staples to sign up. Yes, sir. Can I tell you a fun story about that 13 second bills game? Of course. I don't know if how many people in our chat plays play prize picks or a separate activity like me who just best the games But my wife and I have never sat down in this six years. We've been together and watched a football game from start to finish outside of the Super Bowl

But we usually have a party and she's not paying attention. So she's not a football watcher, but she knows in my extracurricular activities and one day that day when that game was played, I had. I think 500 bucks on the bills or even more than that. And she came into the room in the third quarter and was just like, Hey, can we like hang out or do something? Or do you want to watch this? So in my Brain I said, how can I make this fun for both of us? Because I want to watch this So I told her about the bet and I said Britt you watch this game with me

This is how much money I can win If it hits you can take the amount of money that it is and go buy anything you want from Neiman Marcus. So she immediately locks into the game. Okay. And she's looking through the thing and it might have even been more than 500. It was a lot of money. I remember because I was like certain the bills were going to win that game. And she's like watching the game but sitting next to me in bed with her laptop on her lap looking through the website and like she's engaged in the football game And then the bills go ahead with what was it 13 seconds left? And we're celebrating in bed

She's excited we win everything's great bills moving on turning her into a Degenerate in this in this process, everything's great, Bill's moving on. You're turning her into a degenerate in this process, it's great. This is the first time she's watched a game, like with me. And she grew up in Vegas. She's gonna be sweating WNBA regular season games before you know it, you're thinking. So then we watch the most miraculous thing I've seen in the NFL ever. We lose. And she is like upset.

And I said, babe, your number one thing with me in our relationship is that I allow gambling results to impact my mood. Do you get it now? So I spent $500 to teach her a lesson as it turned out. But now she understands because like to her, it's like if you lose a bet, you're an idiot. Or like how could you think that that was like the way people lose bets in this world is so gut wrenching. And I'm happy that she got to experience that. I think everybody needs to experience that at least one time. Nothing cleanses the soul more than getting your ass kicked and we did. Bad beat. But like ever since then she's like kind of understood like that something weird happened like what you know it's like she's with it. So anyway that

was my small tale here at the end of this at the end of the show before JD goes live. But like this is my household, this is where I live. I'm telling you, like I pour my heart out of this thing. That's real, that happened. And you, see that's the thing, I wonder, had you won that one, would she feel differently about your little hobby? Or would she, or she cares?

When I win, she doesn't care either, it's annoying. I won a lot of money the last few weeks and I told her, she doesn't care. She cares. When I win, she doesn't care either. It's annoying. I won a lot of money the last few weeks and I told her, she's like, awesome. I was like, okay. Leave me alone. I don't think she wants to encourage me. I think is like the route there, but like it, it's a very functional and loving marriage.

I'm happy I have her. Because if she got upset or was like clinging to the results of everything I did all the time too this wouldn't work. So like you know she understands if you win one week you might not be so lucky the next week but I do. How could you take the Texans plus two and a half Ari? She's completely and utterly desensitized to it because she grew up in Las Vegas and ever in during the party poker era. So like all of her relationships and boyfriends that she had throughout her entire life or degenerate gamblers because that's the city she Vegas and ever in during the party poker era. So like all of her relationships and boyfriends that she had throughout her entire life or degenerate gamblers because that's the city she grew up in.

So when she finally met me like it wasn't bizarre to her. Like if I would have like married some girl from Bakersfield California I'd be like a villain. I'd be like a I'd be like to me this is just like her like her upbringing like this is just normal. And that's why it works. So yeah, like I also do have a wife that books me and my friends trips to go to Vegas every year for March Madness is opening weekend. So like I've got it made in the shape, but. Doesn't get any better that.

Alright, when next everyone sees us, we will be in Mobile for the Senior Bowl. We'll be talking to some of our favorite former college stars as they move on to the next level. We'll do some exit interviews with them as they leave college, head toward the NFL. It's gonna be a lot of fun. And hey, Monday through Friday, no off season. We don't stop.

We just keep going. We'll talk to you on Monday.