Andy & Ari On3 - Why LSU at Clemson is the BIGGEST non-conference game in 2025

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

Whataburger fans, it’s time to celebrate — the Mushroom Swiss Burger is BACK! And, honestly, it deserves a welcome party. Two juicy, all-beef patties, melty cheese and two layers of perfectly grilled mushrooms bring the rich, hearty goodness. And let’s not forget the creamy au jus sauce tying it all together like a perfect bite-sized symphony. But here’s the catch— it’s only here for a limited time. So if you love mushrooms, this one’s for you. Don’t be the person wishing they got it after it’s gone. Grab yours today! (0:00-2:10) Intro - Whataburger(2:11-5:19) Final Four Preview/Predictions(5:20-7:04) Top 10 Nonconference Games(7:05-21:36) LSU at Clemson at #1?(21:37-24:33) Other nonconference games(24:34-38:03) Texas at Ohio State(38:04-42:17) Wrapping up with Greg(42:18-52:53) Dear Andy & Ari - Miami's 2001 Team?(52:54-56:28) Rushing the field as an off-team fan(56:29-1:00:54) Rivalry schools for Arizona - Florida(1:00:55-1:11:51) Movies Missed during Fatherhood(1:11:52-1:12:17) Conclusion Happy Friday! It's the day before the Final Four, and Andy & Ari are getting ready to hit the road to San Antonio. But first, the guys go through Ari's top 10 nonconference games of the 2025 season. Do you agree with his list? Should Clemson-LSU really be #1? Later, Andy & Ari sift through some incredible fan questions involving the 2001 Miami team, rushing the field as an off-team fan, and an in-depth discussion on movies at the theater. Watch us LIVE, on YouTube, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/G9LKoritdIUInterested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy and Ariane through Happy Friday. Big day. This is the day your double points start when you order a Whataburger. That's right. Today through Monday, double points for Whataburger. By the way, Whataburger bringing us to San Antonio. We will be in San Antonio on Saturday, noon to four Central Time. Come see us.

Come visit. It's going to be a lot of fun. We'll be in downtown San Antonio. We're very near the Alamo, not the dome, but the actual Alamo. So it'll be closer to your hotels if you are in town for the games. But come see us, we'll have the

Water Burger Food Truck out there. Double points when you order a Water Burger this weekend. It's gonna be spectacular. Ari, we got fun water burger this weekend, it's gonna be spectacular. Ari, we got fun basketball games this weekend. We got Florida Auburn, we got Houston Duke. It's going to be a blast. And of course, spicy ketchup. I wanna emphasize something that I just want people to hear.

And I know it's implied, but I wanna say it. We want to meet you guys. So if you're there, it would be great to see you. And the best part about it is even if you don't care about meeting us, there are going to be burgers there. Really good burgers. Like come stop by. Let's make, let's have some fun. Let's put some faces to names and you know, we want to hear about the show. We want to hear what you think. We want to meet you. We want to build the community. So if you're around, if you're going to the games, you listen to us and you want to stop by,

we'll make a point to hang out. And I'm going to put some burgers down. I think you are too, Andy. And it's going to be a little bit of a struggle. I've been doing these reads about the Mushroom Swissburger. And I have not actually had the Mushroom Swissburger from Whataburger yet. I've had, obviously, lots of Whataburger burgers.

But I've not had the Mushroom a burger yet. I've had obviously lots of water burger burgers, but I've not had the Mushroom Swiss burger yet and. I just this looks like the most amazing thing in the world, so I intend to put some of these down this weekend. Yeah, looking forward to it. Can't wait. Can't wait to eat.

Can't wait to do the show. Can't wait to get to San Antonio. Be in the vibes. Can't wait to watch the games and most importantly can't wait to meet you guys. So't wait to get to San Antonio, be in the vibes. Can't wait to watch the games and most importantly, can't wait to meet you guys. So come by and let's make this fun. It's gonna be a lot of fun. We've talked these basketball games to death.

We know at this point what we think is gonna happen. It's gonna be fun. Ari and I have made our predictions. Ari's on Auburn, I'm on Florida. We're both on Duke. And I made a bet, I made the bet. Ari's on Auburn, I'm on Florida, we're both on Duke. And I made a bet, I made the bet. It was a terrible bet odds-wise, but I bet a lot of money that Duke would win the national title.

Oh, for very little return, gotcha. Well, it's even money, but like, if I would have done it a week and a half ago or two weeks ago, it would have been five to one maybe. It was bad play on my part, but I think they're gonna do it. And I don't know, because I think Florida or Auburn can beat them. I am less confident in Houston's ability, but look, Houston can lock you down defensively.

You saw, you saw what they did at Tennessee. Now Duke obviously has a lot more dynamic scores, so they're not going to, you're gonna hold somebody like Duke to 15 points in a half. You're going to hold somebody like Duke to 15 points in a half. But I do think Houston's going to give him a really good challenge. And then if Duke wins, whoever comes out of that other side can beat them on the right day. You know, and listen, there's nothing guaranteed. If I knew for sure that was going to happen or that what you said was wrong, I would have put more on it. But I want you guys to know that when I say things on the show, if it's not

known already, like I, I really think it, you know, and I don't have to back that up with financial investments into those things. But I, I'm doing the best that I can to be as genuine and real as possible. So I think that they're the best team that I've ever seen with my eyes doesn't mean that's the best ever. But like I've never seen a college basketball team play that way. And I put some shekels out there to back that up. We'll talk about it. It's tough to imagine how how they lose it. You can do it with

with Florida and Auburn. It's hard to imagine with Houston. But if you want to delve a little deeper, go to the on three sports YouTube page. Ari and I have our predictions up for each of those games. We have a long discussion about each one and check it out. Make your decision. Do you agree with Ari that this is Dukes to lose? Do you agree with Ari that Auburn and Duke

will face off for the national title? Or do you agree with me that Florida and Duke will face off for the national title or do you agree with me that Florida and Duke will face off for the national title? We will find out. And of course we'll be there Saturday talking about the games beforehand. Uh, talk to, to John Fanta from Fox who covers college basketball for them. Might be my favorite of the young college basketball analysts. He is awesome. He calls me in my box. And he's very plugged in. Like Kevin Willard was at his wedding. He's a fun dude. And so and also

lots of food takes lots of food takes. So I think he's gonna fit in real well. He's gonna come visit while we're in San Antonio. Very excited about that. And I believe we had the Water Burger executive chef confirmed. I'm very excited about that too. Yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait to get down there and I can't wait to see you guys too. It's gonna be great.

Gonna be fun. Now, we gotta talk a little college football though, because we're enjoying the basketball season, but it's gonna be over on Monday. And then we'll have a little college baseball, but the major, you know the big revenue producing college sports will be over until it's football season. So it got us thinking about the

beginning of college football season, which is going to be here sooner than you think. And. Some of these non-conference games, especially early in the season, are really good. So Ari made a list. He ranked the top 10 non-conference games of 2025. And we can start right away, because I guarantee you, you're gonna click on the list,

and a lot of you are gonna go, what on earth are you doing? How is Texas Ohio State not number one? So, Texas Ohio State number two, LSU Clemson number one. So Ari, let's talk about one, why Texas Ohio State hits the two spot and then why the Tigers and the Tigers in dueling death valleys gets the one spot. Well, the ACE Ventura, uh, you know, Jim Carey, I got a lot to say.

First of all, you know, uh, this always gets lost in discussions, but Texas and Ohio State's number two, like the thought process that they're not number one does not mean that I don't think it's compelling or going to be an awesome game or something that I want to go to. But when you look at what I personally get excited about, when it comes to these games, like I'm inherently drawn to stakes, right? And if you look at the Clemson LSU game, you have two teams that we think conceivably be national championship contenders, but you also have coaches in very interesting positions. Like I don't think Dabo Sweeney is ever going to be in danger of being fired. But I do think that this is a very pivotal moment for him and his program, because, you know, I did another list a few weeks ago that said, Coaches with the Most Approved, and I put Dabo Sweeney on it, and people freaked out. They're like, How can you put a coach that's won two national championships on a list of coaches to, that have something to prove when the majority of that list is dominated by, by coaches who could be fired? And it's

like, just because you're not in danger of being fired doesn't mean that you're not in a critical position or a position to prove something. And I think that Davos Sweeney is in a position to prove something, which is that his way, the way that he came onto our show and so sternly, you know, you know, doubled down, tripled down and, you know, bet his life on, is going to become really important this year. Can Clemson win and win big against teams that are National Championship contenders with the way that they assemble their roster and the way they do things? And, you know, I have unequivocally been either adapt or die, and Dabo has adapted to some degree, but not all the way. Can Dabo has adapted to some degree, but not all the way. Um, can Clemson be a team in today's game of NIL and Transfer Portal that can win a national title? And I think in this game, you're going to find the answer to that question. I really do. And they're favored by two and a half points. Um, and that's great. And it's a game that's on the road at

Clemson, right? And then you go to the other side, which is when things really go haywire, which is what is LSU this year? What are they? And if they're really, really good and Garrett Nussmeyer turns into a Heisman candidate right away, if he's not already, um, and Brian Kelly finally ends the five game season opener losing streak that LSU unbelievably has at the moment. Then you have a entirely new storyline that I don't think is getting enough attention, which is LSU was awesome. They did a tremendous job in the portal. They have a really good quarterback. I'm very excited to see what Harold Perkins is

this year, because I thought he was one of the best players in college football as a true freshman. And then of course, the other layer to this, which is Brian Kelly. What if they lose? You know, the what if questions that spawn off of this, like a bloom and onion are so like, I mean, and like, I don't know if you have to be a college football nerd to appreciate it, but it's like the Ohio state Texas game is like, oh wow, two really good teams are playing with good players and Arch Manning is playing. Ah, you're like everybody, like, obviously, we get that it's exciting. It's

compelling, we're probably going to go to it. But like the branches of college football nerdiness that come off of this game are more extensive to me. Oh, it's it is multi layered. I thought that your bloom and onion analogy is very good, because there are so many different layers to this game before we started recording I said, you know one thing we haven't talked about this game because the assumption that we keep making is that Clemson is going to be really good this year that. LSU maybe a little bit better, but but isn't going to be dramatically better and it Clemson just wins this game and LSU melts down. But what happens if LSU just beats the snot out of Clemson

the way Georgia beat the snot out of Clemson last year? Like what if that happens? Because if LSU hit on everybody they got in the transfer portal, if some of the young offensive linemen turn out to be good, LSU is a good team. Like LSU could be a national title contender. So at that point-

And I've heard from multiple people, Andy, you as a good team, like LSU could be a national title contender. So, at that point, And I've heard from multiple people, Andy, multiple people who have, you know, both in coaching and, you know, in media, who have been paying attention to LSU's moves, who think that LSU was a Dark Horse National Championship contender. Okay. So like, I don't know where they're ranked in the way too early polls that people have done, but they're probably somewhere between six and 12. And most of those, right? Yeah, we've put them kind of just outside the playoff in ours. But, you know, but that's one game. It's one game from being in the playoff, really. But it's also a different out and beats the crap out of Clemson. Then you have the Oh my God, LSU is here. And then you have the Brian

Kelly discourse. And you also have the Garrett Nussme LSU is here. And then you have the Brian Kelly discourse. And you also have the Garrett Nussmeyer discourse, right? And then on the other end of the coin, you have, okay, Dabo, this is it. We're in a place where what you're doing is just isn't working for Clemson's level. And I know that when he came on the show, like, listen, it's impossible not to like him personally,

right? Like he's like the coolest dude. But I wonder if this is a moment where he, because I asked him on the show, Andy, have you ever had any moments in the shower where you thought maybe this isn't the right way to do it anymore? And he steadfastly said, no, it didn't even occur to him that it's not.

Then I wonder if LSU beats up on them on the road, if he has to have like honest moment with himself, maybe a mirror moment, maybe at a time that's not after the road, if he has to have an honest moment with himself, maybe a mirror moment, maybe at a time that's not after the shower, and really think like, hey, maybe we've got to do things a little bit differently. Maybe the Clemson way is not OK in today's game. Maybe he won't, and it'll just continue down the same path. But as much as you want to tout the ACC championships

and all the games they've won, which by the way, is a great accomplishment, and he should be proud of those things. The thing that we're judging them through the lens of is the Clemson that we grew to know between 2016 and 19 and 20, and the Clemson that they are now, and they are unequivocally not as good as they were in the past.

And maybe nobody is as good as they were in the past. But I think the benchmark level of what Clemson football, you know, had become and what they should be right now is a team that could conceivably win the national title. And they have not been that. They've made the playoff. They've been good. They've won the ACC, but they have not been a team that can compete with the best on the national stage, which we've seen in been a team that can compete with the best on the national stage, which we've seen in season openers and we've seen in the postseason. It bookended last year. They got their butts kicked by what turned out to be a pretty average Georgia team for their standards at the beginning of the year. And then, you know, they were in fighting distance on the scoreboard with Texas, but they really weren't in that game if you watched it. So like, if you, so like, there's a lot there to me. So like if you.

So like there was a lot there to me. Yeah, and the thing about Clemson you just mentioned is. Can they get back to being the Clemson that we grew to know this appears to be the closest they've been for sure version of Clemson with because they got the quarterback. They got young receivers. They're excited about their talented on defense. Now go back to that Texas game. They got dominated on the ground.

That defense was bad. Now I don't know that that defense had bad players. And I think that's the thing I want to find out is how much of a difference does firing West Goodwin and hiring Tom Allen make? Which LSU fans understand because they had the same issue with their defense where they fired Matt House and then they

hired Blake Baker and the defense got better even though it hadn't been really improved on the personnel front. Clemson's defense has been improved on the personnel front and oh by the way, so has LSU's this year. Like LSU took a completely different tack in the transfer portal than the year before. They went out and got people that they needed at positions that they were thin at.

And I think that's what makes this so exciting. Now, I mentioned Tom Allen coming to Clemson, taking over a defense that is talented, but man, you could run on them last year. My biggest question about LSU is can you run on anybody? Because they had this really good offensive line last year that was great at protecting Garrett Nussmeyer in most games, but they really couldn't establish a run game. And I wasn't sure if it was an ability situation or a choice,

like in terms of this is how we're calling the game situation. So are they more balanced offensively because in the league they play in, they're going to be able to do both. So the one thing that's interesting about this game is that with the perception right now is that Clemson is a better football team than LSU at the moment. Like that's the perception on April 3rd as of April 4, as we're recording this. The thing I will say about Clemson is, is that my doubt for them as a program rested in the notion that they weren't able to accumulate enough good players to win a national championship under their system. And like that, I think you could already say is wrong, right?

Because like their team, in terms of who is on it. If we look at everybody else that we think has a chance to win the national title, they compare very favorably. Yeah. Very much in that conversation, if not ahead of it. And the other person that we have not even mentioned on this segment yet is Cade Klebnick. Like, you know, Cade Klebnick was really, really good

down the stretch of last year. Clemson's coming into a season where they have a seasoned veteran at the position that may take a huge step forward. If Cade Klubnik takes a huge step forward from where he ended last year, we're talking like first round draft pick level of play here. So you add that into the mix. And it's like you have two teams in this game that could conceivably win the national title next year. And you're getting it on August 30th, right out of the gate, and it's a True Road game at Clemson. And it's like, OK, so when you want to, like, argue with me about whether or not, you know, Ohio State and Texas is more compelling, you know, I think that you can make the case that Arch Mania is a big enough story that that carries the ship for you. that Arch Mania is a big enough story that that carries the ship for you, because I know people just like, I want to see Arch, I want to see Texas on what, what Arch's team is. But at the same time, when you look at the Ohio State-Texas result, it doesn't compare to the meaning of what this, the result of this game is going to tell us about, about programs, directions and trajectories. The loser of the Ohio State-T isn't met with a column of the sky is falling. Right. No, it's gonna be like, oh yeah, but they can still go win the conference. They want to go win their conference and get it. This year is a declaration. It's not Florida Miami last year where the, you know, I call it a pitchforks and torches game where

the losing coach, everybody's gonna want to fire. But this is one of those where if you listen to the post game show for the losing team, it's an absolute freaking meltdown. Yeah. It will be a meltdown of epic proportions. Like, and if this game ends, if this game ends like 38 to 35, and it's just a fun entertaining game,

and maybe it'll be at night, I don't know the times to TBD, but like, I think that there are certain ways that this game could look where you feel okay about both teams still, but like if one team blows out the other one or one team looks bad. And I don't think that's gonna happen with Clemson.

Like I think they're gonna be a very good team this year. There's a baseline level of competence with Clemson. LSU has a lot of new pieces. Yeah. The thing about LSU is it could be they look one way in this Clemson game, and then by the time they play Florida in week three, they look completely different.

Yeah. That won't matter if they look bad against Clemson. Like, it won't matter because people still go berserk, and then if they come back and improve and then beat Florida, then everything sort of normalizes. But it will be high drama either way. The stakes will feel very high.

Yes. And then there's this other tentacle that is just an ongoing conversation about this game, uh, at the risk of this being our whole show. But, uh, the general thought process of like this question, which is, is Brian Kelly a good coach right now? Like, you know, I know that that sounds harsh, but there are a lot of people who don't think he's doing a very good job right now.

Um, and like, I know he's been successful and consistent and they've won their side of the SEC a few years ago and all the things That you want to say about him But when you put Brian like I think that you could make the case that Brian Kelly is the most divisive and most Feeling spawning human that is a coach in college football Like I think you're right And I think the guy on the other sideline in this game is also in the top five of that list. But I also think is not even close to Brian Kelly.

Like which person's face draws them. Like if you put a picture of Brian Kelly's face on the screen, he draws more reaction from a- Oh yeah. Everybody has a very strong opinion. Yeah. And like, I don't even like, I know people like have come down on Davos Sweeney because of like, put foot in the

mouth moments. But do you think that there's like a large portion of people who generally just dislike him as a person? Like, I don't know, maybe. But like, I think there's a lot of people who just dislike Brian Kelly as a person. So I would agree. So like that to me is also interesting of like the schadenfreude potentially of LSU, who was the big bad wolf who took Notre Dame's coach away and then they might have ended up with a sack of potatoes that didn't get him where they wanted to go. Which may not be the case because again, I think they did a great job in the offseason. And I think LSU has a chance to be very good. And also, objectively speaking, Brian Kelly is a very good coach.

He's a very good coach. He wins a lot. Yes, he does win a lot. He wins a lot, but he needs to win enough. And there's a line between those two things in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Yes, and the line's different in Baton Rouge than it is pretty much anywhere else. Yes, like the line of hero at Notre Dame in the line of failure at LSU are right here. Yeah.

The same. 10 games at LSU is a disaster. 10 games at Notre Dame, you're pretty good. Maybe not anymore now that they played in the national title, but when he was there, he was doing just fine. And yeah, so I think that the Brian Kelly aspect of this is really interesting. And also speaking to like if LSU loses five games this year, like are we in a hot seat discussion?

I don't think they can afford to pay that buyout. But I mean, it's five games. Texas A&M fire Jimbo Fisher. We're we're across the Rubicon now. Who knows, but I know. That this game will feel huge. The result of this game will feel huge no matter what, no matter how it goes. So that's why Andy put it number one and I agree with Ari.

OK, that's what I was going to ask you, because before the show we looked at the graphic and I'm like people are mad that I put Texas in Ohio State too and you're like yeah, cause this number one like you said are mad that I put Texas and Ohio State too. And you're like, yeah, cause this is number one. Like you said that, like, did I change your mind? Yeah, cause it, cause the average person is going to know. I, I agree with you all along.

Okay. I'm, I'm a storyline person. And the reason we watch it, it's TV. This is all this is, is reality television. And this is a juicy code of the same show to me. Yeah. Texas, Ohio state has the bigger stars, the bigger to me. Yeah. Texas Ohio State has the bigger stars, the bigger brand names. Yeah.

But this has the more juicy storylines and the more potential for fights. Do you know anything about wrestling? No. Okay. If Chris Finini was here, he could help me out with that. But like in WWE, cause that's a soap opera, right? Oh, wrestling, I mean, I know a little,

I watched it as a kid, so. Okay, but like, do you know who the big people are? Cause I'm not, but like when the two most famous people in WWE fight, that probably is a big event, right? Right. But aren't there underbelly stories of like the guys who are trying to rise up and like take it from the people who are at the top like more

compelling. Like, yeah, sometimes sometimes you have a much more compelling character beneath the two headliners. And that's like, if you look at the bottom of this list, which I don't know if we have enough time to get to, but it's like Auburn Baylor and Illinois Duke being on this to a random fan is like, what the hell I don't give a crap about watching Illinois Duke. That's gonna be one I've got one you left off that I thought

should have been on there. Georgia Tech, Colorado. Interesting. I saw I saw that. But which game would you remove? It would either be Auburn Baylor or Illinois Duke. But I'm with you on both of those. Like Illinois Duke is one that people are going to see.

And then Ari's got that at number nine if you don't have a list in front of you. But yeah, people are gonna look at that and say, you know, what are you? What are you talking about? Illinois brings back the core of a team that won 10 games last year. Duke went out and got Darien mince is either the best or the second best quarterback in the portal this year. Yep. And they were like, it is going to be well, maybe the third or Carson Beck also in that mix, but Carson Beck is not number one or number

two in that list period. Okay, so it's Darien Minssa and John Matier, however you want to put them in order. Yes. And Duke won nine games last year, too. I don't know if people forgot Uh, and it's a game for Illinois. Like what if this is like the breeding ground? Is that a weird way to say it is breeding ground? Even a word. Maybe what if this is like the, the entry point to this year's Indiana? I listen either one. Although I don't think Illinois would even qualify as this year's Indiana because Illinois won so many games last year. I know people, but I don't know if would even qualify as this year's Indiana because Illinois won so many games last year I know people but I don't know if the general fan sees them coming

Yeah We've tried to hype them up. All right. Well, let's do talk about Texas in Ohio State because that is a very fun game it is arch mania coming to the horseshoe it is a Rebuilt Ohio State team. It's a terrible word to use, I guess, because Ohio State has so many talented players. But I mean, that that defense is gone. That won the national championship. Most of those players are gone. Caleb Downs is back. But could you renovate it Ohio State?

renovate it's good. Rebuilt is wrong because they're still going to be talented, but I think Caleb Downs are the bones of the home and now that they're they're replacing other elements and modernizing it to the I don't know. I'm trying. Yeah, I mean, Jeremiah Smith is the best player in college football or the most important player. However you want to phrase that. He's the most amazing person in college football right now.

So you got him going against that Texas defense was going to be a lot of fun. Now Texas defense has a lot to replace. Jaday Barron's not back there anymore. You know, the two defensive tackles Collins and Broughton are gone. There's a lot of unknown that's going to happen in or we're going to learn more about in this game. But the thing is, because both these teams come in as unknown with with a lot of unknowns, I don't know that we're going to get a grand proclamation from either one in this game.

If Ohio State wins, is that a grand proclamation? In a close game? Yeah. No, it's not a grand proclamation. It's great. It's great for Ohio State, but it doesn't. Yeah, we think both of these teams are capable of making the playoff and competing for a national title. See the Ohio State minus three and a half number to me is off.

You think it should go that it would be the other flip the other direction in Ohio Stadium, but, I think Texas is more complete from a certainty standpoint at the moment. Like, I'm surprised Ohio State's laying more than a field goal here. And maybe I'll just look like an idiot and Ohio State will just rock, rock the boat again next year and be awesome. But like, in terms of like, I always go back to this, but I do, you know, two months ago, I did a list of the top 10 returning players in college football, and Ohio State had one and two, right? So like, maybe that's the answer. But Texas had five. Texas had some guys on that list, too, though.

That could have been on the list. So like, you know, this will be a really good game. And I'm super excited. But like, I think Texas probably has the advantage at quarterback at the moment right you would think that like Texas is probably in a better spot I think Texas is bringing back C.J. Baxter, who is a 5-star, who I think is going to be a beast. Ohio State obviously has the advantage at the receiver position, but like I don't, I mean, I guess 3 1⁄2 is basically a pick-em on a road, but like Texas is a team that I think is going to win the national title next year. And like Ohio State has questions about how great, it's going to be a 10-win team at its baseline always. But like I don't know if I look at this Ohio State roster and think the same way that I did about their playoff run a year ago, they're going to have to rebuild this thing a little bit. And that's the word, because when you lose that many players to the NFL draft, you do have to rebuild it, even if you have good pieces to work with. right that Texas has more experience returning. And more wide, even if they don't have the complete wow factor, like Jeremiah Smith. But Texas has good receivers coming back like

Ryan Wingo year two, I'm really excited to see what he turns into. I mean, you have your Ryan Wingo could be a top 10 top five receiver next year. And then you think about like all three levels of their defense with their, you know, the players that they have. I mean, I don't know. Like Texas to me is the team that we both picked to win the national title and they're getting their dogs on the road

and the opener against a team that has to replace like 20 players. Does that make sense to you? Not really. Not really. I mean, the thing is, Texas has to replace a lot too. They've got to replace a lot on their offensive line. And we've talked on the show about that, where I think it's a pretty strong signal that you did not see Texas go crazy in the transfer portal on the offensive line. They're like, no, the guys we have in the pipeline, we feel are good. They did go interior defensive line heavy in the transfer portal, which that they didn't have to do that last year. Last year they had Collins and Broughton coming back even though they had lost a first rounder and a second rounder on their interior D line.

So that's the one where you kind of worry. But again, what's Ohio State's offensive line going to look like? Yeah, there's a lot, a lot of unknown here. And Ohio State did lean on some young offensive linemen last year that are going to come back during their injury woes that are going to be starting in their interior, interior offensive line. And they did get the best offensive tackle transfer out of Rice in the transfer portal. So they did, you know, plug into some, some places. But, you know, also, too, like, are we 100% certain? Like, I think I feel more confident that Texas' quarterback is going to be awesome next year than I do Ohio State's. Now, I'm sure they'll be very good, whoever it is. They've got options. It's Ohio State.

Yeah, we think it's Julian saying, but if you read Letterman row, they're saying Lincoln Keenholz had a great day the other day and saying struggled. So it doesn't sound like it's a 100% certain who that's gonna be. Yeah, I don't know. I covered that team for a long time. I will tell you right now that Lincoln and Keenholz

will not be the starter there in the fall. You gotta spread the compliments around. That's how it works these days in spring fall. You gotta spread the compliments around. That's how it works these days in spring practice. You gotta spread them around. Make sure that person stays out of the portal. My number one problem, and maybe I'm just a terrible businessman, is that I don't like living in fantasy land.

Like I'm like, let's just, you know what's gonna happen. The shortest point between two things is a straight line. And let's put the, let's just draw that line. But yeah, like the, this it's like really hard to talk about this game, Andy, because, um, if you're, if you're not overly positive about a team that just won the national title, you're come across as a hater or you'll come across as you think they stink. It's like, I think Ohio State fans understand.

I mean, maybe, maybe- I hope they do. People who aren't Ohio State fans don't, but I think Ohio State fans understand very, very well what they lost. Yeah, I mean, I really like, we can talk about this Ohio State for a second. Like, I think Ohio State's number one goal next year

is to beat Michigan. Like, I don't think that there's anything else State's number one goal next year is to beat Michigan. Like I don't think that there's anything else that they need to accomplish next year after winning the national title last year. Obviously they want to make the playoff and obviously they want to win ten games. I'm sure they will but they have to win ten games and they have to beat Michigan next year and everything on top of that. I think is gravy from my perspective. Obviously you want to win the national title or compete for it.

And I'm sure they will. They're very good. They're very well coached. Their roster is stacked. But my number one concern, if I'm an Ohio state fan is to end the Michigan losing streak, um, and then move forward into the future with the, with the ring that you won last year, like, I don't know if like, you have to overthink like what's important next year.

No. And, and I think you've bought a lot of grace with that run last year. And then you're forgiven, I think a hundred percent of the way, if you could beat Michigan, I think like that, that's it. Like there's nothing else. Um, especially if Michigan's a good team next year, which I anticipate they will be. So, um, but the, the other part of that is Ohio state could lose to Texas, wind up playing Texas again in the playoff and be a completely different team by that

point, because so many people are in new, new positions and, and new, you know, inexperienced guys are taking on bigger roles. Yeah. And I'm sure Ohio state will make the playoff. Um, I mean, it's, I'm comparing them against the team in this conversation that I think is going to win the national title. So this isn't a, this isn't Ohio State stinks. This is, I don't think Ohio State right now is as good as the team that I think is the best in college football at the moment. Like, you have to contextualize that, that thing. So, that that thing so well and and what if OK, here's another thing. Now we talked about with LSU in Clemson the meltdown aspect of the losing team.

But what if Arch goes up to the horseshoe and balls out? Does Arch mania just take over? College football does that become the biggest thing in college football? Right from the get go in 2025. If you put this team number this game number one on your list, that's what you're doing it for, right?

Yeah, it's not a guarantee, but if it happens, it's going to be a huge deal. For sure, for sure, and I and I think it's going to happen. I think he's going to be really good. I think he's going to be really, really good. Now are we ready for that? Because you and I joke about it. We always joke about, oh, we're going to put Archie in the headline and people are going

to click on it. I think people will get fatigued at that real fast if he's actually good. Because I think people have been conditioned to think, oh, you guys keep telling us. Like at this point, if he's not Andrew Luck, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, Mac Jones, 2020, like all those guys rolled into one, then it's gonna be considered a letdown. But the fact of the matter is he just has to be a good college quarterback and he can take considered a let down. But the fact of the matter is, he just has to be a good college quarterback

and he can take Texas a long way. I think Quinn Ubers was a good college quarterback. I don't think he was a great one. I think he was a good college quarterback and they were within one possession late in the game with the national champion in the semifinal. So if you are a step or two better than Quinn Ewers, which is 10 steps behind what Cam Newton was,

I think you have enough to win the national title. Now, the thing like, it's like, people got arch mania. And like, I know, but like, it's like, does he have to be one of the, Cam Newton is the greatest college player of all time. Like, you know, like, is that what he has to be in your mind? And like, and here's the second-

I don't think everybody's mine, but I think there will be, there will be a group of people who will not be satisfied unless he is. Our producer, River Texas, Arch Mania will reach levels of Johnny football if he plays well. The thing about it though, I don't think we'll ever get the Scooby-Doo costume with the two ladies on the side. Like Arch, Arch is not going to wear the scooby-doo costume. And that's with Johnny, you have to consider and you have to acknowledge too, is that Johnny mania didn't happen till like October, right? Right.

Johnny mania didn't have like half the country. Johnny Manziel had the shirtless mugshot come out that summer. Nobody knew who the hell he was. Right. And people didn't know who he was. The general fan didn't really know who he was until like, Alabama, right? And when was that? Was that October or November? It was it was it was actually early November. He was

putting out because I remember writing a column about the numbers he was putting up because it the numbers through like his first few SEC starts were they compared really favorably to Cam Newton's in 2010. And so I did a side by side comparison. I was like, these numbers look the same. And people are like, what are you talking about? Like, it's true. And then you see him play in person. It's like, oh my god, this is incredible. Yeah, I was at that.

I was at Alabama LSU game that Alabama won in overtime the week before in Baton Rouge. And then the next week I was in Tuscaloosa for the Johnny football game and it was full on like, but as soon as that happened, you knew this is going to be the most famous person in the country on, on Sunday. Can I say something? Yeah. Johnny Manziel was probably one of the most famous person in the country on Sunday. Can I say something? Yeah. Johnny Manziel was probably one of the most entertaining players I've ever seen in college football. So let me just start there.

You know what I think it's lost in the Texas A&M Johnny football mania that some nationally that no one ever talks about? Mike Evans is really, really, really, really, really, really, really good. Yes, yes. Like Mike Evans. Huge piece of that. Huge piece. Receivers in the history of the NFL. Can I, is that true?

It is true. Like Mike Evans is a top five receiver in football history. Yes. He was awesome. Yes. Like, you know, but like, Cam Newton and Johnny Manziel put up similar numbers, but you know what? It looked very differently.

Well, right. Cause Cam Newton, the other players that started for Auburn's offense that year, do you know how many NFL starts they combined for? Zero. One. One of the offensive liners started a game. That's it. Yeah. So that's now Philip

Lutzenkirchen would have played for a long time in the NFL. He passed away in a car accident, but that that was that's the difference. Johnny Manziel had a first round left tackle, had a first round guard, had Mike Evans at receiver. Like it was a good team. It was a really good team. Yeah. And I just like- First you're gonna write tackle too. I just sometimes I feel like, and I don't know, maybe I'm off on this, but I just, I feel like Mike Evans doesn't have his

due in football history. And I don't even think it's an A&M thing. I don't think he has his due in NFL. Oh, it's actually more of an NFL thing. He, in terms of just pure production over time. Jerry Rice is the only one that really is making the stat up or does he have 10 consecutive thousand yard seasons? He does now there was an argument about the way they got him the thousandth

yards at the end of last season. Because they left him in the game that was already decided and they ran a play that they probably didn't need to run to make sure he got the yards. But if you hear Liam Cohen talk about it, they had a play called for him on the previous drive and the opponent ran a defense that they just couldn't throw it to him. So they went back and tried the same play again

and he was- I don't care, he got it. I don't give it. He got it. No, it in and the thing about it is. He's been doing it on good teams on average teams on bad teams like it doesn't matter. He gets his either way. Yes, so yeah, I just like Mike Evans. If you're listening because I know you are we love you. We love you. We love you. You're awesome.

All right, other games on this list before we get to Dear Andy and Dear Ari. I love Michigan, Oklahoma. We probably need to, I mean, we could dedicate a whole show to that game or to those two teams because. And I think you could make the case they should be higher than four Like I think that you could make a case that they like from a from a blooming on yeah You have Florida Miami there, which I?

Think it's less interesting than it was last year because last year was the season opener. We really didn't know much This year, it's game for Miami will have played Notre Dame and Florida will have played LSU. So it's a rivalry. I think that's part of the reason why I put it up there. Also like that's going to be a critical moment in the Billy Napier time arc and possibly the Mario Cristobal. And I think that actually the way I was thinking about it, you can let me know if you agree or disagree with this is that

based on where it falls on the schedule I actually find it to be more compelling because Billy Napier might not it might not just be like the opener I kind of need to know what happens In Notre Dame Miami first And I kind of need to know what happens in LSU, Florida Like if I can't contextualize that game yet. Yeah, I almost feel like it might be even more interesting if both teams like have lost. Oh yeah, no, if Notre Dame clobbers Miami and LSU beats Florida,

it becomes a desperation must win, oh my God game. It's a little bit different if Florida's coming off a win in Baton Rouge and they're like, yeah, it's a non-conference game, whatever. But tentacles, tentacles on the Oklahoma-Michigan game are massive. Like if you want to do them to the tentacle, like Bloomin' Onion, LSU, Clemson talk, like Michigan, Oklahoma, we can do the next 40 minutes on. Like if you want to talk about it.

Let's save it. And let's talk about it next week because I think that's a game that there's a lot of talk about. I think Alabama at Florida State, which we're assuming is going to be a bloodbath. Could be really interesting too, because for state is not going to be as bad as they were. Well, I'm assuming they can't be as bad as they were last year. as bad as they were last year. Anything but yeah, it's hard to be so let's let's save. Let's save those and talk about them next week because I I do think like you. You're right, Michigan, Oklahoma.

You could fill two hours talking about that game. The various. Yeah, you got two coaches that are in interesting positions. You have a potential five star freshman starting at one place. You have John material in the like. I'm not going to blow it, but like, there's a lot

there on back. Yeah. All right. Well, let's, let's wait on that one. Let's move to the mail bag because we have some incredible questions. I'm going to start with one that Willie sent early in the week. Willie, Willie is a very dedicated commenter here One of my favorite commenters always smart. I don't know that I necessarily agree with his first sentence

But I'm willing to go with this since everyone in America knows that the greatest college football team ever is the 2001 Miami Hurricanes What would you imagine that roster would command in NIL? Now I would argue that 95 Nebraska has a case to be made for the greatest college football team ever. But in terms of pure future NFL talent, there is no argument to be made. It is 2001 Miami and this is a great question because I'm not sure you could have this roster. Now I just there's certain elements of depth to it that I do not think you could have now because those players would just go somewhere else. Because they wouldn't want to wait. They wouldn't want to sit behind anybody. You know, on sports reference, when you like look at a former roster, like, do you ever go to sports reference? Yeah, yeah,

yeah. The number of NFL badges on 2001 Miami is like, you almost feel like it's an error. Like, you know, the NFL badges next to names. And like,'s an error. Like, you know, the NFL badges next to names. And like for those who are unfamiliar. They had, let me get one number. They had 17 first rounders on this roster. My God. Yeah, like, Kellen Winslow was a freshman

who only had two reductions that year. Like, Walter Payton's son was on the team and he like didn't even carry the ball. Well, okay. Here are the running backs on this team. Clinton Portis, Najee Davenport, who became famous for something else much later, much worse, Willis McGahee,

Willis McGahee and Frank Gore were freshmen on this team. It's insane. Yep. Frank Gore averaged 9.1 yards to carry as a freshman on this team. And they were both huge recruits. But other guys on this team, Vince Wilfork was a freshman. Jonathan Vilma was a sophomore. DJ Williams was a sophomore. They had the greatest safety in the history of the sport.

Ed Reed. They also had, it's just, it's insane when you think about the level of talent on this team. They had Sean Taylor who might have been one of John Taylor's probably if he does not get murdered. But top five safety in the history of the NFL. I'm looking at the list here still. It's like on trial rolls on this team.

Mike Rumpf great corner. He played in the NFL and I can think is a prominent high school football coach in South Florida for a while. Bryant McKinney. Philip Buchanan. And you didn't even say like Andre Johnson on offense. You didn't say Jeremy Schocky. Like it's unbelievable.

I know. It's unbelievable. And it's like, this is the team that would have held up in the super era team. Held up. They would have kicked the crap out of the super team here. Yeah. Well, 2019 LSU against this team would have been maybe the greatest football game ever played. Okay, so let's go through the numbers here. Let's see if you're going to have to because you got some help and I want to I consulted Pete Naco.

So our guy on three who is tight with all the agents understands this market better than anybody else. And I'll point out the 2002 Miami, which had a lot of these guys on the team, played a 2002 Ohio State team, which was kind of close to that level of that 2002 Ohio State team, which was kind of close to that level of. That 2002 Ohio State team had. Didn't the 2000s team set the record for most draft picks in a single year? I believe they believe something like that. Like I think they had like 23 players on that roster or something that were draft.

I don't know. It was it wasn't 23 in in a single year. Cause that's, that's more than the record. But, um, but yes, so there were teams before that super team era of 2009 through 2023 or 20, well, I guess 2024 that certainly would have held up. All right. So here's a question. What do we think and Pete Nacos crunched the numbers on this. What do we think is the total payroll for this team? If you if you use 2025 NIL dollars? I'm gonna look like an idiot. I don't I don't I don't know.

13,000. That's $13,000. I don't think that like you do it for me. I don't even think you get like a backup. You know, I didn't mean to say thousand. I meant million but like I think that's too low because didn't like Ohio State's last year was 22 million, right? So, so like I'm Pete says just the first rounders alone from the older guys would have been 13.7 million. Okay. So, but the whole thing would have cost between 20 and 25 million.

Yeah. Cause the question is like, how much are you paying for Gore? How much are you paying for McGahey? They're freshmen, but they were massive recruits. Right. They were five stars. Um, what keeps the cost down shockingly is Ken Dorsey. Yeah.

Ken Dorsey is a good college quarterback. He winds up being a seventh round draft pick in the NFL. If you had a higher profile quarterback, this probably goes up by $3 million. But you still Pete's thinks you still have to pay Ken Dorsey a million bucks in this situation because Kenny Dorsey coming off productive seasons. Do you know what I have a hard time with? Is evaluating like Vince Wille fork as a freshman and Jonathan

Vilma as a sophomore? You know some of the younger players that we try how the how the Jonathan Jonathan Vilma becomes a starter that year. Yeah. And is just. Off the charts great, but they probably aren't paying

Jonathan Vilma that much going into the year. Clinton calories they're probably paying really well going into the year. Andre Johnson's a sophomore, but I think they're paying that they are. They know what they have in him. They know what they have in Shockey. They're paying those guys. Bryant McKinney Bryant McKinney is probably, now Ed Reed,

because I said, I didn't tell Pete the team at first, I just gave him kind of the breakdown, and I was like, yeah, one of the safeties is the greatest safety you ever played football. So, Pete just basically put him in the Caleb Downs slot. Like whatever Caleb Downs is making now, he put Ed Reed there. So Ed Reed is probably the most expensive player

on this team. I would think Bryant McKinney would be second or third most expensive, the left tackle. Cause that dude didn't give up any sacks in college. Yeah. It's just crazy to look at this all on one list. Yeah. It really is. It's it's remarkable.

It is and I wish they had been challenged. I like I wish there had been a team that could have challenged them more. I don't know. I don't know that there could have been because I covered Tennessee that year. If they'd beaten LSU, they would have played Miami in the Rose Bowl. And they had some really good players like they had John Henderson and Albert Hainsworth on the D line. But that Miami team would have rolled them. The Nebraska team they ended up playing in the Rose Bowl was not that good. The Big East threw a little bit at them, but not really.

It just, I don't, there wasn't anybody back then that was like this. Yeah. That's a... Yeah, I don't even know why I said 13 million, because I had the context of what people think that the best rosters from last year were. That was a stupid guess, but 25 million sounds about right. Yeah, which, look, somebody could afford that like Ohio State, probably Georgia, probably Alabama could afford that right now. If they needed to. Yeah.

Yeah. Here's, here's, here's the problem. Or whether or not those players that are young and turn out to be NFL draft picks there. Now, Sean Taylor played on that team as a freshman. He was good enough to play. But does somebody throw a massive bag at Sean Taylor to say, hey, look, you don't, like they already got a bunch of old guys. You come in and be your star right away.

Ditto for Frank Gore, ditto for Willis McGahey. Antrel Roll would have been a day one starter. Yeah, that's the question. I don't know if you if you do believe that the super team era is coming to an end, then you agree that you have to think that those players would have gone elsewhere. I think they would have. Miami would not have been able to pay the freshman to keep those older players. They would not have been able to pay the freshman

enough to have all those fresh have all of them. Yep, I'm with you. So it's such a good question, Willie. I love it. That was amazing. So thank you for that. Want to go down memory lane too. That was my childhood right there.

Oh my God, that was that team was so freaking good. And if you if you want to get pumped. That was my childhood right there. Oh my God. That team was so freaking good. And if you wanna get pumped, go watch the Ed, I believe it was the 2001 game. It might've been 2000, but the Ed Reed speech at halftime of the Florida State game where he starts talking about how bad Florida State beat them

when he was a freshman. Oh, I'm hurt dog, I'm hurt. Unbelievable, unbelievable. All right, our next question comes from Jacob. He sent this one to Ari. So I'm glad you guys are starting to send them to Ari. Yes. Hi Ari, I'm a big fan of the show

and I love listening to you guys while I'm working. I changed semi tires for like, what a job, holy crap. Electric. You guys helped me pass the time while giving some awesome insight behind the scenes of the sport. I really don't have a question so much as I think I might be the only person in history

to have done this and I figured I should share. I live about an hour and a half north of South Bend but I'm a diehard Michigan fan. Back in 2023, I had the opportunity to go to the Notre Dame USC game and I couldn't pass it up. It was an awesome atmosphere and the game was pretty entertaining even though it was a blowout. The Notre Dame fans stormed the field after the game

and I couldn't just not go on the field, right? Not only did I storm Notre Dame's field in full Michigan gear, but I also got a picture with the Leprechaun. So I guess my question is, do you think I'm the only person to have ever done this? And please forgive me for the atrocious here. Now, listen, this flow is very good, Jacob.

Okay, so it's the Notre Dame USC game. He comes in Michigan gear, just to show of solidarity. in Michigan gear just to you know show of solidarity. Hey I don't I don't I said this is this has got to happen have happened elsewhere where like the game we were at last year at Ole Miss Georgia and the Ole Miss fans stormed the field. There's had to be somebody visiting a friend at Ole Miss who went to like Alabama that week. And and the Ole Miss friend is like, hey, we're going, let's go. We're going to the-

Yeah, but does the Ole Miss person who has an Alabama friend there have a friend that's wearing Alabama gear to the game? It's like- Yeah, I don't know that you'd do that. Like Notre Dame fans are pretty gentle. They're pretty nice. I don't think you'd walk'd walk into to Vaught Hemingway

wearing full Alabama gear when Alabama's not playing. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I think you take some some coconuts to do that just in general because whenever I go to a game like I've gone to sporting events as a fan and the pros a lot. Um I like sports. I always just wear like I went to a stars game a few weeks ago and I like Dallas Stars and I like bought a Dallas Star windbreaker at Target more like I always like that on the house like the person that wears the random jersey not because they're a fan of any team, but like I'm going to a game therefore I must wear this one jersey that I own, but it's like a Brett Park Packers Jersey and their college football game. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm happy that like the thing too, is that like when you can supersede, like your interests as a fan, like your specific teams interests and just know like this is part of college football history, I want to be a part of it. I think it's pretty cool. So, you know, I think it's dangerous to wear random stuff to hostile stadiums. I don't know if I would do that in the SEC, especially,

you know, like there's the religious aspect of Notre Dame means that they're probably less likely to get your butt kicked. But well, it's awesome. This is also the crowd that for years, the old people would tell the young people to sit down. And at a certain point, like the Notre Dame administration had to come and say, no, no, no, no, please

stop yelling at them for cheering. Like you're supposed to be allowed. So, um, yeah, but Hey, thanks for listening to the show and I'm happy. Hopefully you, uh, you know, got a smile on your face while changing tires. Um, thanks for doing that. That's the Lord's work right there. Exactly. Semi tires, giant tires. All right. Alright, so it comes from Casey.

Dear Andy and Ari, if you had to send your kids to Florida or Arizona's rival school, where would you send them? Now is Casey asking what I can I send my kids to Arizona State? Even though that's Ari's alma mater's rival like like I might be down for that.

If my daughter wanted to go to Arizona's rival, like I might be down for that. If my daughter wanted to go to Arizona's rival, where would you send? And like for me, this is a layup because Arizona State is the only answer and ASU is awesome. For me, it's a little more tricky because like you asked a Florida graduate,

it kind of depends on when they graduated, who they're gonna identify as the chief rival. Like the old, old, old, older people are always gonna say Georgia. The people from my era are gonna say Georgia, Florida state, or Tennessee, depending on their own personal flavor. So like my thing on this would be is it like what is the poll result?

Who that's a good question. We should ask Florida people that we like like who do you identify as your biggest rival Georgia Florida State or Tennessee? I it's probably going to be more Georgia and Florida State and then it is Tennessee but. Like. My thing on that is, I'd love to send one of my kids to Georgia so I can go hang out in Athens.

It's the best college town in America. And, but, that said, I live in Florida, which means if I send them to Florida State, it's cheaper. So, I kinda like that too. And I don't know about you, Ari. The one thing about fandom that I do not get is the people that are like, because I've got some friends in Gainesville that are like, wow, I don't want to set foot in Tallahassee, it just smells up there. Like Tallahassee is super fun.

Tallahassee is an awesome town. I hear a lot about this in Texas where like you T fans will like. I'm never going to college station places a whole college stations cool. Yeah, but listen. If if you have beer. And like a good burger place or a good pizza place or good wing place or good

barbecue place I'm going to have a good time. Yeah. Yeah, I I gonna have a good time. Yeah. Yeah, I've never been to a college campus. I was like, oh, this place sucks. No, it is strange. I mean, I don't think most fans are that way, but there is a certain element of fan bases that are like, oh, I can't be seen in the rivals town.

No, no, no, trust me, you can go have a good time. And this reminds me of a, we had a letter writer or a, we had a viewer write in with a mailbag question during the year we were apart. And I thought it was really interesting. And they actually did send me an update on it. And it was, it was, I'm a, like this kid grew up a diehard Florida fan, whole family went to Florida, got a scholarship to Florida State, and asked, it's like, what do I do?

Do I just wear Gator stuff to the games? Do I, do I even go to the games? And like, go to the games with your friends. You don't have to wear Florida or Florida state stuff. Just go to the games. I bet you'll become a Florida State fan because all of your friends are, it's part of the social element of the university.

You're just, you will fall in love with it. If you're making good friends and you're enjoying your college experience, you will fall in love with it. He wrote back a year later, he's like, I am now a Die Hard Seminole fan, I love it here, I met some of my best friends. He's like, I told you!

It's not what you grew up with, it's those memories you form when you're at college and the people you meet and the experiences you have with them. And then one of the great communal experiences for those of us who attend these large universities is the college football experience. Yeah, and being in the stadium with all those people. Yep. So, but yeah, if I had my choice, I think I'd send it into Georgia. Yeah, because that's just more, I think I'd send it into Georgia. Yeah.

Because that's just more time in Athens. Athens is awesome. All right, one more. And this one comes from Matt, and it hearkens back to a conversation that Matt and I had on social media the other day. He said, can you and Ari Wasserman talk about the great movies you know you missed

during the first 10 years of your kid's lives. That would be for me. And Ari's missed the last couple of years because of his daughter being born. And so what this stems from is I made a really stupid joke while watching basketball last weekend because they had a ton of commercials for The Accountant 2 on.

And I saw The Accountant 1, and I remember liking it, but I don't really remember many of the details of the movie other than Ben Affleck's, like an assassin accountant who's also autistic. But I didn't remember John Bernthal playing the brother, which is a very important piece of the movie. I didn't remember John Bernthal playing the brother, which is a very important piece of the movie. And so I made the joke, because I saw the accountant two commercial

for the 50th time in a row. And I said, what do they think Casey Affleck wasn't believable enough has been Affleck's brother? And it was like, you're an idiot. Bernthal was in the first one. And I'm like, I don't. I'm sorry, like I remember the hangover was the last movie we saw when my

wife was pregnant with our first at the theater. I really don't remember much from the hangover until about 2022. That's crazy. So here's the deal. Anybody who's listened to our show, even back to when we were at the Athletic will remember my stance on modern entertainment in the movie form.

We've had discussions about like the Academy Award nominations from like the 90s, and you go through it and like you see like the movies that they released when there was like a brand new movie in the theater you wanted to see every week. And like now I just like did a quick Google search on like the Academy Award or the Oscar nominees for best picture for the past year. And like I've never even heard of eight of the movies that are on here. I feel like the the ones that are up for the awards these days, they're all just super depressing. And I've like I would watch those when I was younger. But I just don't have time for super depressing as an old person.

The thing that I don't even know. My life's got enough going on. I don't need to be worried about your problems. Here's the thing that I need to know though, Andy. So any, I like drama. I like crime thrillers. And I like movies like American history X for instance, I think is one of my favorite movies

and even though it's the depressing movie, I just think it was really well done. And I like those types of like crime thriller movies. So I am not a huge comic book guy, as you know, and I'm not a huge sci-fi horror dude. So like, are these movies even in the theater? Like, Anorah? Matt gave me a list of what I missed during that period.

And I've seen a few of these, and a few of these I saw later. So once my kids were a little bit older, so I do remember them and remember really liking them. But the accountant, American Hustle, Argo, Arrival, Baby Driver, Birdman, Boyhood, he put it in alphabetical order for me. Boyhood, Creed, Dallas Buyers Club, Jango and Chain,

Dunkirk, Ford versus Ferrari, Gravity, The Hateful Eight, Hell or High Water, Inception, Inglorious Basterds, Interstellar, the John Wick movies, Edge of Tomorrow, Logan, Logan Lucky, Man of Steel, Manchester by the Sea, The Martian, The Nice Guys, Planet of the Apes movies, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Sicario, Whiplash, Zero Dark Thirty. Like Sicario is a good example of this.

Sicario, I did not see when it came out. I probably saw it three years afterward, but it was awesome. Like that's one you would love. You've seen Sicario. Yeah, is there a single movie on that list though that could compete with like best pictures from the 90s? Like all those movies, like Whiplash,

I've seen a few of those. I didn't watch Planet of the Apes and I don't like those aren't my movies, but like, is there a single crime thriller on that entire list? American Hustle was really good, but I don't know that it competes with those. Yeah, I'm just trying to think like best crime movies from the 2000s. Like Logan Lucky is a great heist movie, but you're not gonna be like, that's my favorite movie ever. It's just a fun heist movie. I don't know, I don't feel like, I saw Argo in the theater and I fell asleep

because it was the most. That's been Affleck's fault. Yeah, but like also too, like I don't feel like there's any movie that he just listed off there that you could like go to bed feeling like, oh, I can't believe I didn't see it. You know what I mean? It'd be like, if you like say I've never seen Forrest

Gump. It's like that there's no movies that they make out here that like are in that category. We talked about that. It's just moved to television. Like, yeah, my wife and I are watching and I know you're you guys are watching 1923 right now. 1923 is better than any movie. Yeah, I mean, I'm just like look like. I don't. Here's the thing. I don't know Andy and you have to

tell me is the reason why I haven't heard of anora the brutalist, a complete unknown conclave Amelia Perez. I'm still here. Nickel boys the substance because I'm in my baby bubble or because they don't promote these movies and they're not in the theater like

like they don't. They certainly don't promote these movies and they're not in the theater. They certainly don't promote them to you. But like back in the day, meaning 2005 when they made a movie, every single time they cut to a commercial break during the Alabama Georgia game, they showed trailers of awesome movies coming to the theater. Like, I mean, that's those art house movies are not the ones they're promoting. There's not a huge promotion budget on those. So, well, I hate I think we've identified a hole in the market, though. But like, as an aura was an aura, a movie that I just heard for the first time right now, because I googled it. Did they

even show that movie and movie theaters? Or believe so? I just a collection of remakes, children's movies, horror movies, and comic book movies. That's all it is now. It's the same crap over and over and over again. It's remakes, remakes, remakes. Everything they do is a remake. It's like nobody can come up with a new idea anymore.

And then the middle tier- I have a new idea. What's that? And my new idea is, hey, there's no promotion for these movies. If you have a super depressing Oscar bait movie, promote it on our show. Yeah, we'll do it. Email, advertise it on three.com.

Yeah. Is movie phone even a website people go to anymore? Movie phone? I have no idea. I have no idea. I just, all I can think of is the Seinfeld episode. Why don't you just tell me what movie you'd like to see? Yeah. Why don't you just tell me what movie you'd like to see? Yeah.

Why don't you just tell me what movie you'd like to see? All right, I'm just clicking on a random movie theater near me. Here's what's in the theater. The Move, The Woman in the Yard, I don't know what that is. Death by Unicorn, I don't know what that is. Hell of a Summer, don't know what that is.

Captain America, which I think they've made 1900 of. So like, congratulations, go watch Captain America. New Captain America Captain America Anthony Mackie I believe he's an LSU fan Mickey 17 never heard of it Nova Kane Mickey 17 looks interesting what is it by the I don't think you'd like it oh Nova Kane uh Dog Man the Monkey those that's what's That's out what I know. Dog Man is books my kids read when they were in early elementary school. Back in 2005, when there was a movie you wanted to see in the theater, like five at a time and you didn't even know,

like where you had a conflict of like, what should I buy a ticket to? I just remember when I was in college. Like my freshman and sophomore year in college were just epic. Year 1996, 1997, those were epic years for movies like. Going to see Boogie Nights in the theater. It's just tremendous.

And then every week it seemed like there was something else cool, but yeah, that's not. That's not how it works anymore. Five. I just did a random year. 2005, Coach Carter came out, which they don't make those movies anymore. Just like middle tier good movies, like middle budget movies, right? Yeah, I love Carter. I thought that was an awesome movie. But like that's not a movie that will be remembered in the annals of history as one of the greats. But it's probably better than 90 percent of the movies they make now. Wedding Crashers came out that year. the 40-year-old version came out that year, the longest yard remake came out, Waiting was a hilarious movie.

They came out. Mr. and Mrs. Smith, that was a great movie. I'm trying to think of other movies that I'm trying to... The Ringer, remember that movie? I don't even know if they could make that movie anymore. The Ring or The Ringer? Oh, The Ringer. The Ring, yes.

The Ring also, but that was a few years earlier. Yeah. Sin City came out, that was a few years earlier. Yeah. Sin City came out, that was a weird movie. V for Vendetta, I don't know. Brokeback Mountain came out. I don't know what you think about that. But like, I don't know. Like, I just feel like now,

if you even scroll down to like, the movies that are in the 30s, that they are more, like, Coach Carter was the 37th most grossing movie that year. And and it's like that was a great movie. I don't know. I don't know Maybe I'm full. Yeah, I I think that the the money for that has been moved to television Yeah, and television is great. Like I mean the White Lotus right now is incredible and there's always something to watch on TV But like I I miss I cannot tell you, it's been years since a movie came out

that I've been like, I cannot wait to go to the theater and see, like I can't even remember the scene. I miss comedies that I would just repeat the lines over and over, like, cause you've been around, me and my wife, we basically speak in movie quotes. And so like we showed the kids best in show the other day, You've you've been around me and my wife. We basically just movie quotes and so Like we showed the kids best in show the other day and it's like oh, that's where you get all of these

you know five things that you always say and You know space balls for me is another big one like that, but like There's no comedies like that anymore. It was weird. We watched we were on spring break. We watched the one on Amazon Prime That has Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell and I believe it's called, You're Cordially Invited. And I said to my wife, I was like, it was okay. It was a decent movie. It's not great. But I was like, that's the first comedy I've watched

in like five years where I actually remember a couple of the jokes. And I actually wanna a couple of the jokes. And I actually want to see it again. You want super bad, you want old school, you want like I mean like the fact that they, I don't even know if they could make super bad anymore because people are. It might be a struggle. So, but yeah, like I do miss movie theaters.

And they're fun and it's an experience. We took our daughter to see Moana too. And that was the first time she went to a movie and that was cool. But like I haven't gone to a theater as an adult in six years. And it's not because I don't want to and it's not because I had a kid,

it's because there's no reason to. And that's the saddest part of it. Well, hopefully we'll get some more, but. We will be entertained this weekend by some great college basketball because we got the Final Four. We have Florida Auburn. We got Duke Houston. Ari and I will be in San Antonio thanks to what a burger. What a burger food truck will be with us spicy ketchup for all. We cannot wait to see you. So come join us on

Saturday, noon to four in San Antonio. We'll talk to you on Saturday.