Andy & Ari On3 - Why the Georgia Bulldogs could be No. 1

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

As the college football season gets underway at the end of this month, Andy & Ari take a deep dive into the pre-season rankings, and to help the guys, Brett McMurphy joins the show to go through his complete top 25 pre-season list. Do you agree with Brett? Who did he leave out? Does Georgia really DESERVE the top ranking? Brett takes us deep into the list (0:00-2:13) Intro(2:14-10:48) Brett McMurphy joins: His full list(10:49-14:12) How does Brett determine the rankings?(14:13-20:50) Why isn't Penn State #1?(20:51-21:59) Academy Sports + Outdoors(22:00-27:35) Where is South Carolina?(27:36-33:25) Diving into the SEC(33:26-35:24) Where Miami Falls(35:25-37:38) Michigan's ranking(37:39-39:21) Wrapping up with Brett(39:22-44:08) Josh Pate partners with On3 | Rivals, Announcements(44:09-54:59) Derek Dooley running for US Senate(55:00-59:15) Tennessee's Streisand Effect(59:16-1:01:09) Off Script with Zak Herbstreit(1:01:10-1:02:46) Conclusion: Dear Andy & Ari Our show is sponsored by Academy Sports + Outdoors! https://www.academy.com/c/backpack After Brett, Andy & Ari dive into some news and announcements, including Josh Pate partnering with On3. Later, we take a look into Tennessee. Derek Dooley announces his running for US Senate, and we take a look back at his best moments on Rocky Top. Zak Herbstreit has joined On3! Follow him here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtHWLruQdRN4zteJud076UQ Dear Andy & Ari later this week: [e-mail] and [e-mail] Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/Pf-y3tl1fr0 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail]

Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3, and it is time for the polls. That's right, three season. We got all kinds of polls. We got the coach's polls out. We got our own Brett McMurphy at On 3, who's an AP poll voter. We're going to talk about his ballot. Ari, there's so many polls. I'm going to have to do my own top 25 again because I realize I've made mistakes in mine.

Like mistakes were made. I don't miss voting in it myself. I don't know if you do. Oh, no. A lot on Saturdays. I personally think that the AP poll should come out on Wednesday and give people two or three days. Our friend, Rousseau, who now works for the athletic, was in charge of coelating all the votes for the AP poll when I was a voter. And there was a point after a national championship game where I nearly killed him because I was trying to write a story on deadline.

And he was coming up and trying to get me to give him. him my final poll ballot i like ralph i don't care don't care we know who won national championship doesn't matter anymore i'm sure that was the least fun that he's uh he had doing that but like nobody puts thought into it because no one has time to put thought in it or when you do put thought into it after week one and you're moving stuff around and you forget that you took ohio state out because you're going to move them somewhere else in the top five and then you send it before you realize you didn't put Ohio State back in and it comes out and it's like Andy Staples didn't rank Ohio State and I'm like oh god I have two here's how I would have

done it but I do like talking about polls because he gives us a benchmark on where things stand both before the season while also during it while not really meaning anything anymore I'm really excited to talk about this specific poll that we have on the screen with our buddy and now co-worker and part of the on three national dream team because I've got some gripes here and I think he was like

don't make fun of me about my poll and I'm like yeah okay we'll see how that goes but that's the point of doing it. How many times does that phrase been under don't make fun of me about my poll I said it a lot in high school let's bring on Brett McMurphy

our own Brett McMurphy we do it. So can we give people the background on what our own Brett McMurphy means why that's why that is the inside joke, why we always say it. Brett? Yeah. So in a previous life, I worked for ESPN. I was there four and a half years. I was part of one of their massive rounds of layoffs. So I basically had a non-compete for a year and a half where I could only tweet or put stuff on Facebook if I was reporting anything. So after I'd been laid off a couple of months later,

UCF is playing Memphis in the American Championship game, and I get a tip, track it down, that Scott Frost was on his way to Nebraska. Well, I report that during the game. I tweet that. Steve Levy, who I love to death, is on the air doing the game and says there are reports that Scott UCF coach, Scott Frost, is leaving after the game to go to Nebraska, first reported by our own Brett McMurphy. Unfortunately, Steve forgot that I had been laid off. And so that caused a lot of, you know, traction on Twitter. And a lot of people saw that. And I tweeted, quote, our own with the, you know, winking emoji. And so that kind of stuck.

So I saw Levy, I think a year after that. And I said, I go, hey, buddy, I appreciate our own comment. I owe you a couple beers. He goes, hell, for all the promotion you got, you owe me a case of beer. I'm like, okay. Yeah, that's funny. Well, you know, we're really happy to have you. And, you know, there's been a lot of news in the On3 sphere early this week,

which we'll get to in the back half of the show. Andy will take you through all of them. You have an outline, right? Because you're going to need, like, something to reference during all the rundowns. But we're really excited to have you here. And hopefully you'll be a main fixture on our show for the season and years to come. I mean unless Ari makes fun of your poll and just dip out never again exactly never again want to get into it yeah I do not because that number one like that that big gee at number one

sticks out because it's interesting like in the past three or four years seeing george at number one shouldn't shock anyone but coming off of the way last season ended changing quarterbacks may be the only like do you think you're going to be the only ap poll voter who has georgia number one i i don't know and i want to be clear i did not do that to be the guy who's you're oh you're the guy that's doing the odd ball top 25 no i i put them there because look my top seven georgia penn state texas clemson alabama ohio state notre dane you could rank any of those guys number one i would not have an issue with it. I just put Georgia there because I think Texas is going to be the preseason number

one. I'm not sold on Arch Manning yet. I think he's very good. I think he's going to be very good. But, you know, Fine Bonn's saying he's the best quarterback since Tim Tebow. I love Feinbaum, but he was out in the sun too long to say something like that. Penn State. Also, Cam Newton is a person who has played quarterback in college since Tim Tebow left.

like yeah yeah there's already been a best quarterback since tim tempo there's a few guys if everything before this year wouldn't have happened i probably wouldn't have georgia number one and i probably wouldn't have penn state number two but i think part of me looked at the success georgia has had and like you said andy they've been preseason number one in the past i don't think they're not going to be number one will i be the only one that puts them at one we'll find out they've got more wins more conference title births, more national championships in the last four years. I think it was a priority to improve wide receiver. They bring in brands from USC, who I think is dynamic and will be an instant impact.

And oh, by the way, they had the worst, at least the most drops in the nation last year at wide receiver. They will be improved. So that's going to help Gunner Stockton. And look, we're big on recruiting at our on three in rivals. I think every year but Kirby's first year Georgia has had a top three class so yeah they lose guys to the NFL

they're going to replace those guys I can see why people don't have them number one but I kind of put them there because look I could have picked any of those seven the reason I didn't put Penn State there is if it was just right now if you drop me out of the sky and said who's the number one team

not based on anything else I'd say Penn State Drew Allerback the best running back duo in the country coming back and Jim Knowles coming over as the defensive coordinator from Ohio State. But until James Franklin wins a second big game, he's one in 15 against top five ranked teams, I cannot put them at number one. If that changes, I will put them at number one. And so basically, Georgia has shown me what they can do. And I love the fact that everybody's doubting Georgia. Kirby will use that to the nth degree,

So that's why I have Georgia up there. For what it's worth, last year, I may have been the only one that had Oregon number one. Oregon went 13 and 0. They just didn't deliver in the playoffs. Will Georgia run the table for me? I don't know, but they're projected to be favored in every game. Okay, there's a lot to unpack here. One, I think that is interesting that this is probably the first poll in our adult lives,

or maybe since 2000 or 2000 or the late 90s where you could have seven different teams that you could argue could be number one, which makes us more difficult. I'd say eight. I think, I'm looking at Brett. Did I leave out? No, I, no, I think your top eight. Or didn't be there, too. Yeah, your top eight, I wouldn't be shocked if any of them won the national title.

Your top eight, my top eight are the same eight teams. Like, River, can you show me the coaches poll? Is that the top eight in the coaches poll, too? Because I bet it is. Yep, same eight teams. So it's some combination. And I, this is the craziest part. I would venture to guess that 75% of the people who have a poll

will have these eight teams in their top eight in some order. Texas, Ohio, state. And even if they don't have a poll. Yeah, right. Georgia, Penn State, Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Oregon. Yeah. What are you saying? Good guy.

I'm sorry. So, hey, real quick. Juveniles. Yeah, on something Andy said, and I'll have a story Monday at On3. com promotion there for people that want to subscribe to us and join the party um but andy said since 2004 so basically the last 22 years every year except two years the eventual national champion was ranked in the top seven of the preseason ap poll so for whatever that's worth history shows if you're in that top seven you were going to win the national championship with

only two exceptions in the past 21, 22 years. Here's where, before we go, let me read this for the podcast listeners. I'm going to read Brett's poll just so they have some context. Georgia number one, Penn State 2, Texas 3, Clemson 4, Bama 5, Ohio State 6, Notre Dame 7, Oregon 8, Miami 9, LSU 10, Michigan 11, Texas A&M, 12, K-State 13, SMU 14, Florida, Illinois, 16, Utah, 17, Oklahoma, 18, Tennessee, 19, Arizona State 20, Ole Miss 21, USC 22, Texas Tech 23, Indiana 24, Louisville 25. You go, Ard. So here's my thing with the polls, and I think that part of the reason why people struggle with the polls so much in terms of the nature of them is that everybody does it their own way. And the thing that I have a hard time with, Brett, and you are probably more regular than me,

but when I put together my poll and not just the ones that are on three, but when I actually voted in it, my only concern was to try to predict the future. And I didn't really take too much credence on what happened in the past. So things like Georgia's won a bunch of games and Kirby Smart's a good coach and all those things don't go into the calculus for me. What goes into the calculus for me is who's on the team and how, good do I think they are right now and like I just have a hard time with with Georgia that doesn't mean that they can't win the SEC championship or the national championship we know what Georgia is they're a recruiting machine with a proven track record of winning but I don't know that I could

look you in the eyes and say Georgia's team is maybe even in the top five let alone number one and like that to me might age poorly and I'm sure Georgia fans will clip this and call me an idiot but it is for me what do we look at on August 5th or August 6th whenever the show goes up and what do we think today is the best metric for trying to project what the team will be in December and I think the players on the team and where they are not that Georgia doesn't have great players but I'm not sure I see them number one right now Andy do you do you see what I'm saying or oh I get it I do get it but I I I I I You see about the past in your poll when you do it?

No. But, I mean, well, certain things in the past, like what Brett said about Kirby always having a top three recruiting class, I think that does inform. That's roster. Prediction of the future. Yeah, that's current roster. I do understand. Yeah, I don't necessarily put anything that happened. Like, what happened in Kirby's second, third year, it was a different sport then, so not worried about that.

James Franklin's record against AP top five teams matter to you when putting your poll together. I mean, yeah, because it is indicative of what might happen when these. If you're trying to predict future success, James Franklin's one in 15. For better or worse, he's one and 15. And I agree with what everything you said are, except you kind of contradict yourself because you say you're trying to project how the season's going to play out. George is favored in every game. So if they do what they're supposed to do, what the power ratings,

say what the odds makers say, they're going to be 12 and 0. Yeah. Will they be 12 and 0? That's a different story. Now, I think whether Georgia is actually going to be favored in every game when we get to those games is another story. What would they be favored in against the other teams that are in the top eight? Would they be favored in every one of those games?

I'm glad you asked. Well, I can tell you just on their schedule, they will be, right now they project to be about a four or five point favorite at Tennessee. It'll be a three and a half point home favorite against Alabama. And then the only other lines that are right now? Yes, two and a half. And they're projected a seven point favorite against Florida in a neutral field. Now, like Andy said, the results can change those things.

Last year, they were an underdog twice to Texas, and they beat Texas both times. They get Texas and Alabama and Athens as opposed to on the road. I mean, again, I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just trying to give you my line of thinking. And it wasn't necessarily, well, Georgia's been really. good the last few years so they're going to continue this year it's kind of more what and he said they've stockpiled all of this talent and again until james franklin shows he can he can win a big game i can't pull the trigger and put them at number one when everything

else says they probably should be number one with the talent and the acquisition at defense coordinator i really want to hone it on penn state here because i think they're more interesting than georgia i think georgia is going to be good um so here's the thing with that the one in 15 or one whatever of James Franklin's record in those top five matchups. I don't know the answer to this and I've been meaning to look this up, but I'm probably going to venture to say they weren't favored in any of them. If I had to guess, they probably weren't the favorite. And I think part of the reason why is because James Franklin's teams, though very

good, have struggled in big time games against teams that are equipped to win a national title when they've been a step behind. So in my opinion, this is the first year where Penn State actually, you can make, you could say right now with the straight face that Penn State has the best, deepest roster in college football. That's never been true at any point during my professional career. So if you are to go back and look at his one in 15 record in those big games, sure, he probably should have won a few of the ones that they were in because they play close. And you could, you could criticize his coaching from that standpoint, but he never lost games

that Penn State was even supposed to win. And I think this is the first time in his tenure at Penn State where he will be going into games that they should win and will be favored to win. This is his best team. So I don't take any account into, well, he's been terrible in big games. It's like, this is the first time his team's equipped to win them. You know what I mean? So like to me, I put Penn State number one because I look at their team and I say, hey, this is the best team I see on paper right now. Now, I might look like an idiot, but that's my calculus of it.

And Penn State being number two is, you know, it's not like you're saying they stink. But, like, James Franklin's record will either be the black cloud that we talk about for, you know, the next few months, or finally he'll break through and go one-in-one against Ohio State and Oregon and do something in the playoff. But I really think this is, like, you want to judge James Franklin. I think what he does with this team this year will be the ultimate, like, sample size in an experiment or a biological, you know, lab, where he has a great team. He's supposed to win games. he doing those big games now? Like what he did in 2017 and that big game has no bearing on me at all. Right. To Ari's point and to use Brett's reasoning, which I love, it's, it's the old Phil Steele, like how many games are you going to be favored in? Yeah. And it's really like

we had Bill, Bill Connolly on the show the other day with SP Plus. Like that is what SP Plus price to predict is how many games are you going to win. Oregon Penn State. Any guess, I'm on bed in GM right now. Any guess as to the line. for Oregon at Penn State on September 27th. Power rating show Penn State minus 8.7. Penn State minus four and a half is the, you can get it right now on bed. Is Ohio State now? I'm looking to see if they've got it up there yet.

Are you ready? Are you ready for that one? Are they minus, they're plus three, plus two and a half. Ohio State minus four and a half. So yeah, Penn State's four and a half point dog in that. that one. So I agree. Yeah, one in 15 sounds great. You know, we're not going back to, you know, 1990 or anything. Let's go back two years. Two years ago, four point dog against Ohio State, four point dog to Michigan. Last year, three point dog to Ohio State, three point dog to Oregon.

Basically, literally toss up games. He's o' and four in those games. So I am looking at recent results, but obviously the 1 in 15 sounds a lot better than 0.14. But yeah, I do take that into account. Those are four games, coin flip games, slight underdogs, and Franklin has not won those games. I love James Franklin as a coach. I think he's a great coach. For whatever reason, they have not won those games. They should have beat Ohio State last year, but they didn't. And so that's why I'm dinging them slightly from one to two. Why should they have beaten Ohio State last year? I mean, I don't remember the game, like play by play specifically, but if I remember right, I thought they were down. They had multiple times at the goal line, either they didn't score or they committed a turnover, a fourth down, turnover on downs.

I mean, it's, it, it was a game, again, just off top of my head, they should have won. Let me look at something. They had a pick sick on the first drive, and I did think they turned it over or went for it on fourth down from instance. the two-yard line. It might have been twice. But, like, Ohio, like, it's like, are we going to, and I like your points, Brett. Like, I don't want to come across as competitive. No, no, you're fine. It's, you fire away. I think that, I think that I remember the game as four quarters of Penn State being lucky to be in it still.

When the yardage was, Penn State never really did mount an offensive threat in that game. That, that was really the issue there, which it, it came home with Roost in the second half. half of that orange bowl against Notre Dame, too. It's the same. Two of the four losses that were just, and those, I guess, you know, we're toss-up games, but, like, came to the eventual national champion. Yeah, true, absolutely.

Yeah. So I think that Penn State wants, and, like, Penn State's always been really good, and Penn State's always been a top eight to 14 team every year, but, you know, in a season in which I actually expect them to potentially win the Big Ten or to, um, win those games and actually be favored in one of them, as you just said with the Oregon game. Like, this is to me the ultimate test. If James Franklin goes 0 and 2 in the regular season, again, I'll be on your side of the equation.

But I just don't like using past results to guide future thinking when past results aren't equitable from a roster standpoint. And that's always been my deal. And that's part of the reason why I tried to predict that Texas would turn a corner before the season two years ago. people went insane and said that Sarks never won 10 games before and that Texas blows it all the time and what do they do?

They go to the playoff because they have better players. Like Penn State's got good players this year. Better players than maybe they've ever had, humiliably. Before we continue this, and because we do have, I want to go over the coaches poll with both you guys, but I also have a question for Brett that's going to enrage a certain fan base in a state where I was born.

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Absolutely. Let's talk about the Gamecock in the room or the game cock that's not in Brett's poll. No South Carolina in your top 25. Now, I've said to people, and I'm probably guilty of doing this wrong in my poll, at least one of these SEC schools that we are hyping, up as a potential playoff contender is going to finish unranked. So you're putting your comb on the table here, the Coxcomb on the table, and say in South Carolina.

Can I respond? I'm ready. Okay. First, I got an email. I actually got an email. From Gabriel, I won't put out his last name because. I don't want to do that to him. But Gabriel sent me an email.

Yeah. Big fan of your work is the title. And then he says, that title is a lie. Your list was garbage. What's your vendetta against South Carolina? Mad because they beat your favorite team or something. Maybe it's time to retire old time or you're clearly becoming senile.

Best, a disrespected South Carolina fan. So there you go, Gabriel. Best. I like, he's like, best. With warmest regards. Best comment, yeah. I hope you crawl in a hole and die. But he might have uncovered something there.

If you want to talk trash to somebody, do the subject line is like something super nice. They're more likely to read. No, look, with all due respect. No, I do. I will read any email I get. So it doesn't matter how bad it is. I'm impressed he didn't have profanity in it.

I do not read comments on Twitter. It's too much time. I know Andy does that. I can't do it. But yeah, if people take the time to email me, I will respond. Why no South Carolina? Okay. Let's take away what I think.

Their power rated is the 10th best team in the SEC. That's not me. That's the power ratings. Should the 10th best team be in the top 25? Maybe. Maybe not. You shouldn't disqualify them, but let's say that for the 10th best team. Obviously, Lenore Sellers, dynamic quarterback, one of the best.

in the country, no question. My reasoning for not putting South Carolina in there is I do not have a vendetta against South Carolina. I do not have a vendetta against Shane Beamer. I love the state of South Carolina. I visited many times. They lost a ton on defense. I believe five players do the NFL draft. You look at their schedule. Ari, you're talking about projecting the season. Of their 12 games, they're only going to be a favorite by more than 10 points in three games okay so basically every every the other nine games are going to be literal toss-ups they are projected again it's projections to be an underdog in their final six SEC games their one total i believe is seven and a half off top of my head i may be wrong it is seven and a half okay so seven

and a half so should a team that's projected to go seven and five or eight and four be a top 25 team In my opinion, hey, guys, it's just my opinion. No, they should not. That's why they're not in my top 25. Good news for South Carolina. Last year, top 25 poll, the preseason poll, we have all this information. I'll give you, each of you guys take a guess. Of the top 25 teams in the preseason poll, how many finish the year ranked out of 25?

13. Sorry? I was going to say 11. 12. You guys nailed it. You can flip a coin, have better luck, getting the top 25 right. So the good news is South Carolina, I don't have you in there. So you can get, you can be in the final poll. The bad news is you'll probably be in the preseason top 25 poll,

which means you got a 50-50 shot of staying in there. You also have the top eight teams in the SEC in the poll, so they're probably just kind of bitter about the cutoff. And like the number one, the number one thing that you, you'll hear from SEC land, which is what we heard all of last year, is, you know, how could you possibly have the, or the ninth best team in the SEC is better than the third best team in every other conference. And how could, like, it's like, I don't know that there are, you can't even argue what

the power ratings say, but it's like, are they not as good as Indiana, I think is where you're going to get catchback or flack. Are they not as good as Louisville? Like, that's where I think the problem is. And that, that is a solid argument. I don't go exclusively power ratings because I think it was last year. You talked about Bill Conley was on. I think S&P, after Alabama lost to Vanderbilt, ESPN's power ratings,

S&P, whatever it's called, still had Alabama number one. So that's my issue with the power ratings. They don't seem to hurt teams when they lose. Obviously, when we get more into the season, if you lose games, even against a good opponent, I think you still have to suffer the consequences a little But an already kind of a team that sums up perfectly, your point, is what to do with Florida. I have them at number 15. Power rating wise, they're close to the top 10 by some people's opinion that are smarter than me.

But you look at the schedule. I've got seven teams on my preseason top 25 that Florida plays this year. And, you know, Andy knows it better than I do. If DJ Lagway is not healthy, they're going to be fighting to stay at 500. If he's healthy, they can beat anybody. Six and I was a starter last year. If Florida played Indiana schedule, I would bet whatever money I had on Florida to make a college football playoff.

The problem is Florida does not play Indiana schedule. They play Florida schedule. So do you penalize Florida for playing arguably the tough of schedule, or do you put them where they are based on how good they are as a team? At least for Florida, I put them where I think they are based on where they are as a team. and did not penalize them as much maybe as others for the schedule that lays ahead. See, I think you have to put a stake in the ground with Florida. They're either probably a playoff team or unright.

Yeah, well, that's the other place you could put the stake. Like, yeah, it could be, they could be 10 and 2 or they could be 6 and 6. And it's a pretty fine line that probably has a lot to do with DJ's Health. Yeah, and that's the issue we've got with the future of the college football playoff. You guys have discussed before with automatic bids or not automatic bids. We can't compare teams out of conference when we can't even compare teams within the conference because the disparity of the schedules. And Florida is a prime example.

I did a radio hit with our friends in Arkansas. and I don't know if Arkansas, I don't know if there's a tougher five game stretch than what Arkansas has when they go, I think it's Ole Miss. What is it? Oh, we look at this because this is the one with Notre Dame in it too. At Memphis, Notre Dame, at Tennessee, Texas, A.N.

Yeah, well, there's a group of five in there that will be the biggest game that group five team has ever played at home. And yeah, so the Arkansas folks are like, Hey, can we get a schedule like somebody else other than Florida? Because ours is incredibly hard. Well, I will see you, Arkansas, and raise you Oklahoma. River Throw Oklahoma schedule up there. I will once again read off Oklahoma's last seven games.

And the viewers and listeners have heard this time and time again. Texas and Dallas at South Carolina, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, at Alabama, Missouri, LSU. That is unfair, completely unfair. At least five will be ranked. I think Missouri and South Carolina are the ones that may or may not be, but you could have seven ranked teams in that stretch. And yeah, this is, I had Oklahoma in my, in my top 20, I think there will be drastic improvement.

Certainly there better be because Brent Venable's knows what's at stake. He already has two losing seasons. I'm sure you guys remember the only coach to survive three losing seasons at Oklahoma. That was, oh, I don't know, a hundred years ago. So he's taken over defensive play calling. Obviously, they brought in the duo from Washington State to get the offense going. But that Michigan, if they lose that Michigan game, man, it's going to snowball. If they win that Michigan game, maybe they can gain some of them before they face that

murderers row on the back half, like you mentioned, Andy. And where they end up at the end of the year doesn't, I mean, that's for the games that aside where you think they are now is where they are, regardless of what their schedule. Like, that's the hard part with like, how many games is Georgia favored in? How many games is Oklahoma favored? That's probably very different depending on what's right. Well, you're trying, but you said you're trying to predict the future. So we are trying to somewhat predict what we think's going to happen throughout this season

with this poll. And that's the problem. Like people hate the preseason polls and they say, oh, abolish preseason polls. No, no, no. They're never going to get rid of preseason polls. season polls because you click on them you comment on them you're going to watch this video because we talk about them like they're very interesting to people we just as humans love to see things ranked in order and love to disagree with the order well they're also going to get much harder

to do like they used to be very easy to do uh the other piece of this is it's going to change like i don't know about you guys but with what the way i rank teams or project the playoff all that stuff. Once the season starts, I'm throwing all of the past stuff out and just worrying about the season. That's right. On three puts us in a tough position in the most beautiful way possible because we have to start doing the first. I do bubble watch after week one, which is insane. But you do your best to, hey, what did I see this weekend? Where do I think these teams are going to be? And then you formulate it and change it as the year goes on. But, you know, this to me, I think how many of the teams in the top 15 could conceivably win the national title this year?

I think you could make the case that it's 11. Yeah, I don't know. I agree with Andy. I don't think you go beyond eight. I think it's, well, I want to, there's two actually. You could win the national title. Okay, it's your nine and ten, Brett, and in the coaches poll, it's their nine and ten. They're just in opposite orders.

Miami and LSU. You have Miami nine and LSU 10. Yeah. They have LSU 9 and Miami 10. Let's talk both of those. I'm not going to sit here, though, and let you say that Miami win the national title and not say that Florida could. I'm not saying Florida can't. Okay.

All right. I just wanted to make sure we were on different. No, no, no, no, no. Listen, if Miami's on that list, Florida's on that list too. And they'll play each other and we'll figure out who's better. Yeah. But Miami's got fewer bodies to climb over. So they actually have, I think they have an easier path.

So I think if we were going to put odds on it, I'd give Miami better odds because basically they've got a two game schedule, three game schedule, or these SEC teams have multiple bodies to climb over, if you will, or a bigger degree of difficulty. Yeah, because Miami can lose to Notre Dame in Florida and if they run the table in the ACC in the regular season and then win the ACC, they're in the playoff as a, you know, seven seat. If you're an FEC fan, cover your ears, because I don't want you to melt like the Wicked Witch of the West when water gets dumped on her. But Florida can also lose an extra game and make the playoff because they're a tougher schedule. I think Florida could conceivably make the playoff at 9 and 3 this year. And I agree. Oklahoma. There's a few teams like that.

Yeah. I agree. I mean, Alabama and Ole Miss and South Carolina to an extent were in the conversation where the last team out, nine and three, without the strength of schedule that if Florida would have. have. I absolutely agree. And one kind of twerky thing to this is, you know, projecting, you know, what we're thinking and all that. I did my bowl projections for on three, a couple weeks ago. And who did I project is my number one seed? Notre Dame. Do I think Notre Dame's the best team? No. But when you look at their schedule, Miami and Texas A&M and then a bunch of tomato cans with USC thrown in there, they probably had the easiest path where I think Oregon was an outlier last

year. I don't think we're going to see any power five, excuse me, power four conference schools go undefeated anymore because of the difficulty of the schedule. And I think that opens up the possibility for Notre Dame to get that number one seed. Do I think that means they're going to win it? Absolutely not. But they should have less wear and tear. Oh, boy. Sandy, what about what about Michigan at 11? What was the thought there? You're asking me or Michigan, or Andy? You, I just like, I don't have to Michigan at 11, so that's you. That's me.

Okay, last year, Michigan could not throw the football. The offense has to be improved. With Underwood, Chip Lindsay comes in an offensive coordinator. The defense, I believe six guys back, which doesn't matter. You still have transfers. They should be better defensive. the last three and a half games over last year they only allowed two touchdowns including games against the Ohio State University in Alabama but I think already the main reason I have

Alabama excuse me I have Michigan up at 11 is because last year Michigan only outgained for their 13 opponents and they still somehow finished eight and five that's remarkable usually when teams are outgained you guys it's basic one-on-one you're going to lose those games Michigan found ways to win without an offense that could throw the ball downfield I just think they're going to be vastly improved on offense I think the defense is going to be solid like it is every year and so that's why I've got him up at 11 will they do that I don't know last year they were preseason top 10 they did not finish the year ranked Sharon Moore joins a club of 10 active coaches who started the year with a preseason top 10

ranked team and finished the year unranked. I love all these stats. I don't know how you remember all this. And that's me saying that. Michigan is number 14 in the coaches poll right behind South Carolina, which is not in your that was a lot of fun. You're going to have to come back very regularly. So I'm just telling you right now.

You work with us now. You have to come on the show whenever we ask. You're an on three employee. And I love that. That I have that power. Brett, we need you. I love it too. I'm just hoping the next time that we have dinner together that, you know,

actually I can sit within 20 feet of Ari because that would be a real feather of my cap. So I'm hoping, Andy, that I can work after that. I know you and I go way back. so we're good. So I'm just hoping that I can get into that inner circle with Ari that I'm like within 20 people of him when we're actually having dinner for, Brett. You have to say any text to you all is hideous memes that basically would get you canceled if they ever showed up on screen.

Yeah. I will not confirm and deny that. That's like that would get me canceled because then they'll assume that I'm in the files. And you know, that's, you don't want to do that. You know what I mean? Like, you know, but yeah, Brad actually we talking about Eli Drinkwitz at this point. Yeah, I, that was not. Hey, he brought it up, not us. I just said the file. What you did with that is up there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're talking X files, my bad.

Yes, right. I try's out there. But I do know that the entire podcast audience now is like, what are these memes and what do they say in them? And it's way worse than you can ever imagine people. I'm telling you. but it's uh no it's not no it's not okay all right we we will be right back we have several special announcements we have a former SEC coach running for the U.S. Senate stopped me if you've heard this one before and a big time controversy over a blurry video we'll be right back Okay, all right, big day, hear it on three, several announcements going out. The biggest one is we have partnered with a school that, you know, we don't talk about this school very much, but I think we're going to talk about it quite a bit more. Pate State, Josh Pate, headed to his new gig, going to partner with us.

He'll be, on three will be the exclusive source for Transfer Portal News and data on Josh's show. his show will be available on YouTube and the normal podcast fees, but also will be shown on the On Three Rivals channels and Yahoo Sports. So this is part of our partnership with Yahoo Sports, and then Josh is going to come on board. And when he talks about different things in the transfer portal and recruiting, he's going to be talking about us. We may have a little crossover action.

We'll see. I talked to him a little bit about it at, at Big Ten Media Days. So that is a fun one. Welcome to Josh Pate. We're very excited about that. Also, I've got a little side project now. Part of our partnership with Yahoo is,

so I know a lot of you probably listen to the college football inquire, which was the great show that Dan Wetzel and Ross Dellinger and Pat 40 did. Well, Dan went to ESPN and they couldn't do that show anymore. It's coming back. but it's going to be me and Ross Dellenger and Stephen Godfrey. So we're going to do that a couple times in the week in the off season, three times a week during the season. That will not, of course, have any effect on Annie and Ari on three.

I will be driving Ari crazy constantly as usual. Yeah, it's a big day for On Three. I'm super excited to potentially work alongside Josh Payton. I don't know that we're 100% coworkers, but hopefully we'll treat it like that. And he can come on the show. And if he ever needs either of us, I'd love to go on his show one day.

He's a really nice guy and super excited to see the success that he's had. It's great for us to be able to, you know, to partner with him. Yeah, he's been really cool to us. And this is a little behind the scenes part of it. We went to work for his main competitor, the main competitor of the place he was working. And he could not have been any nicer to us. And he did not need to be.

And that was always cool. and I'm just excited that now we get to be on the same side of the fence. And because his show is a monster and people love hearing him talk about college football. So I'm excited. And then the other part of it, just kind of teaming up with Yahoo. I've worked with a lot of these guys that work there for a while. And obviously, Ross and I work together at Sports Illustrated. Ross Delinger is their star college football reporter.

and so it's fun to get to do some stuff with him again because that was very one of the sadder things when I left Sports Illustrated was not being able to work with Ross anymore so really excited about that and Ari have you seen the graphic that Marina made or our graphic designer and I don't know if you fully appreciate this it's Thanos with the infinity gauntlet and you're one of the infinity stones yeah I don't know what that means

but it sounds really cool you know it does seem like we are on the right side of the fence here. And, you know, a lot of the things that we have going on on three are super exciting. And, you know, we work for a person that has illustrated time and time again that he knows how to build not only a business, but a successful one. And, you know, at a place that considers college football the only thing, the entire world that hasn't been the case for me or you at any point in our careers. And it's been really cool to see them invest into our sport and us and our colleagues at a way that can get us all together. So I'm super excited about. And this season feels huge.

Like, I don't know about, does this feel bigger than these other college? Maybe I feel that way every year. I'm trying to, because I get this way when we get close to the season, because it's always been so long. But this season just feels so big. So I can't wait. Yeah. And I can't wait to see what everything looks like, you know, when it comes to the coverage that we're going to have. but you will be inundated by us and by our colleagues with all the important stories all year long.

And, you know, as we're, you know, creeping into the middle of August already, we're right around the corner. And I know that we're both used to, you know, make this show as good as we can and to continue to enjoy college football together with the family that we've created here. And, yeah, super excited and can't wait to get going. All right. So we have a couple pieces of Tennessee adjacent news. It's not all Tennessee stuff because one involves a former Tennessee coach. And I don't know how many Tennessee fans want to claim him.

So let's start there. On Monday, are Derek Dooley, former Balls Head Coach, son of legendary Georgia coach, Vince Dooley, obviously, former NFL assistant, but mostly former Tennessee head coach. He wore the orange pants back in the day, announced that he intends to run for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, which is his home state, of course. I am fascinated by this. Obviously, we've seen Tommy Tuberville go from major college football coach to the U.S. Senator, but this is one where because Tuberville, he got fired at Auburn,

but was viewed as a good Auburn coach, like had a bunch of wins against Alabama. Like if you asked Auburn people, they would have been like, yeah, we, we were pretty happy with his tenure. there were things we would have liked to have happened differently, but we were pretty generally happy with it. There's not a single Tennessee fan who is happy with Derek Dooley's tenure, but I don't think that translates to Georgians being happy about voting for him. That's the question. I think that if you, you know, tank your rival and then go back to your home state,

that you are a sympathetic figure to them, no? Maybe. But I will say, there's a lot you can do. you're opposing Derek Dooley, if you're in a primary or if, let's say he gets through the primary and you're in the general election against him. First of all, you must ask him on the debate stage. How in the world did you sign zero offensive linemen in the class of 2012? That was his final recruiting class at Tennessee. That is a I quit, I give up move right there. Zero. And remember, there's no transfer portal at this time. Yeah, that's insane.

I'm trying to think, like, what the roster might have looked like, but people take five a year. Yes, yes. Let's say you took seven last year, you might take three this year. But, yeah, you average five a year. He took zero. He did not take 10 the year before. No, that's not a good look. What do you think the results would be if Brady Hoke ran for Senate in Ohio?

Ooh. That's a great question. See, here's the thing. I think Brady Hoke running for Senate in Ohio, them being happy he tanked Michigan, that's a lot more happiness than Georgia fans being happy that Derek Dooley tanked Tennessee. I think you'd have to have tanked Tennessee and Florida. Well. Which, and the old-timers are like, Doug Dickie!

No, but he was good at Tennessee. He had a bad record of Florida. But he was that, well, he's a good at first. to be like, yeah, I'm going to go run for public office now at this point in their life. I don't understand the motivation, but I also don't understand politics. I wish him the best. Hopefully he's a good person that wants to do good people, good things for the people in Georgia. I wish I had more of, you know.

Wait, if you were running for office or if you, you know, were ever thinking about running for office, if you got it in front of a microphone, would you ever make a World War II reference where you, compared your your group to the Germans. Is that what happened? It happened. River played the clip. You know, right now we're like the Germans in World War II. All right.

Here comes the boats. It was coming. You know, the binoculars, like, oh, my God, the invasion is coming. All right, that's what they did. They were in the bunkers. It's coming. They call Rommel. They can't find Rommel.

What do we do? I'm not doing anything until I get orders. Have you gotten Rommel yet? All right? And the Americans were the exact opposite. We hit the beach and we're on the wrong spot. What do we do? I don't know, but these guys are firing.

We better go hide over. there and blow some stuff up to get up there is he referring to irwin okay irwin rommel is that what he's doing yeah he's he's he's doing ramel yeah he's doing an impression of a nazi yes okay that's almost he's trying to get another nazi on the on the radio yeah pretty much my entire life seen anything crazier than that i've never seen that clip oh it gets It's crazier. Do you heard the phrase shower discipline by any chance? Uh, why don't you play this clip and let me see if it tops impersonating a Nazi on a podium?

You staff infections, so we did a clinic yesterday on proper shower technique and soap and using a rag. We put some new rags in. Y'all think I'm kidding. All right? I'm serious. Yeah. I mean, you know, we had, I told them, we had the worst shower discipline of any team I've ever been around. And so we talked a little bit about, you know, application of soap to the rag and making sure you hit all your body.

You know, you can neglect it trying to cut corners and it shows in how you practice and elsewhere. So I'm hoping we show some improvement in that. This is a man Ari who once put 13 men on the field on defense and lost LSU because he had 13 men on the field while LSU is getting a delay of game penalty that would have cost LSU the game. Yeah, I still think that the first video clip was a little bit crazier than the second.

Although I do, did he get, like, you remember this, I wasn't around when this was, like, did he get completely destroyed for that? that a little bit and it's i mean twitter existed like social media existed at that point so it got passed around but it i don't it wasn't a huge thing like it would have been today that would have been a major thing although we're also desensitized to that word so i don't know uh you know what would happen but that that seems pretty alarming to me it was an oh mcdermit from the bills Yeah, he did a 9-11 hijackers.

I mean, that, that blew up pretty big. Then you get suspended? I don't think you got suspended, but it's one of those things where if you don't have Josh Allen as your quarterback, it might get you fired. But this is too uncomfortable for me to actually joke about it. Like, I don't like that. I like joking.

Can we talk about the shower technique? We absolutely can talk about shower technique. So let me ask you this, because I'm curious about this. Here's my shower technique. and it's going to get a little graphic, okay? Do you know what tea tree shampoo is? Oh, yeah. You know how it makes you tingle?

It does make you tingle everywhere. I buy the big jug of the tea tree at home, and I like get it and foam it up in my hair. Yeah, yeah. And I move it in so that it like feels like cold air is being blown. Then I take some of it on my fingers from this area, armpit, armpit, back door. Okay? So, like, everything feels fresh.

And then I take a lufa, put my soap on it, and I scrub my armpits, like, my middle area and my behind. But I'm not somebody who, like, makes a huge effort to bend over and, like, scrub my calves and my, like, shins. Like, are you a soap everywhere person? I emphasize the crucial areas, but I don't have, like, good coverage. You have-soap your arms like this? Far better shower discipline than I have. my showers last about 45 seconds unless I'm just feeling very sure and need to stand in the water. You have to get the hygiene area is good.

Yeah. Or if I'm if I, if I'm doing the shampoo and want to let the shampoo settle for a little while. But I don't come in with a plan. Let's put it that way. No, I do the same thing every time I'm in the shower. Now it's showered. Everybody does the same thing. Don't they do it?

I'm not sure I do the same thing. I don't even know if I use if I go through the same order of operations. Oh, I have an order of operations. I go in there, and it's like, but like now, it's not, I don't think about it. It just is what it is. Everybody shampoos before they, they soap their body, right? No. Soop your body before you shampoo, you're a psychopath.

There are people who do that. No, there aren't. There are. I'm a shampoo first person, but everyone is. But also, I may sometimes I forget to shampoo and start soaping up, and I'm like, oh, I got a shampoo. River, get up here. What? Do you shampoo or shape or soap your body first?

I do body wash, face, face, yeah, body wash, face, shampoo. That's my, that's my routine. What I've learned today is I have the least shower to split of anyone on the show, by the way. You do shampoo last? It's a plan too. Well, it's shampoo then conditioner, but yeah. You put shampoo in, you shampoo your hair, you leave the soap in your hair, then you soak your body, you rinse yourself off, and conditioner is a lot. are you nuts i might be according to you

i don't know if i'm passionate i'm curious you should do a twitter poll how many people but i will say if you don't do tea tree shampoo do it there is a little out of benefit that i alluded to at the beginning try it it's great and any makers of tea tree shampoo who would like to advertise on the show partner with us. Advertise it on 3.com. Put a little pep in your step, literally. Yeah.

While we're in Knoxville, let's throw a couple of things out there. First of all, Boo Carter, back as a full participant at practice on Tuesday. That was a whole thing. That was one of those typical off-season things. Like, oh, oh, okay, he's going to be fine. And then we'll see what happens.

But also, So our guy, Austin Price at BallQuest, has solved one of the mysteries of the weekend. So if you were on social media at all this weekend, you saw a video clip of an interception at Tennessee football practice. It was a beautiful interception. Eagle-eyed viewers of this clip noticed the person who threw the ball is blurred out. And of course, assumptions were made. Is this one of the three quarterbacks buying for the starting job at Tennessee? Joey Aguilar, of course, the transfer from Appalach Estate to UCLA to Tennessee,

essentially traded for Nica Iamaleava, Jake Merklinger, George McIntyre, the two young guys. Was it one of those guys? Was Tennessee protecting its precious quarterbacks? because we don't know who's going to win the job and we don't want everyone piling on because God forbid someone throwing an interception at football practice. That never happens. It looks like Google Maps

when you drive by a location that's supposed to not be seen. Yes. So it looks like something you would see on unsolved mysteries. No one gives a shit. This is unbelievable. Well, this is the stricand effect in effect

because had this person been unblurred, nobody would have even noticed this. clip. They'd have been like, nice interception, okay, moving along. But it became a thing because of the blur. For those who don't know, the Streisand effect is there was a photographer who took pictures on the coastline in Malibu and published them. And I believe it was on a website. And one of the photos was of the back of Barbara Streisand's house. No one was actually looking at this website. Hardly, I think there were maybe several hundred views. No one knew it was Barbara Streisand's house. It wasn't until

Striseand had her lawyers issue a cease and desist and try to get this thing off the internet that everybody realized it was Barbara Strangstein's house and the views of it multiplied and then everybody knew what Barbara Strysand's house looked like. It's the same exact thing as what happened with the ducking at the concert a few weeks ago. Correct. Correct. So in Tennessee's case Austin Price, the intrepid

VolQuest reporter, revealed who threw the mystery interception. The thrower of the mystery interception was, drum roll please, tied in Miles Kitsom, who is not a quarterback and might throw the occasional interception. But there's an explanation for this. This was not Tennessee trying to turn nothing into something. this was not Tennessee trying to do anything to protect the quarterbacks. It's actually standard policy.

They tend not to show, they try to blur out people who are in non-contact jerseys because they don't want to expose injured players. That's what it was. Kittsleman's in a non-contact jersey in this video. That's why you got blurred out. Oh, man. I love when conspiracy theories turn out to just be something completely stupid and no one cares. Which is not nearly as much fun.

Yeah. as they're trying to protect the quarterback's egos. I would even be more happy to believe that they were trying to run through trick plays, and they didn't want you to know which athlete on the field may do that or something. This is insane. But see, now that the world knows it was Miles Kitzelman, Fime Josh Heiple, I do put in a trick play for Miles Kittsleman because now the opponents are going to be like, well, that guy just throws interceptions.

There's certainly not going to run a trick play with him. Yeah, yeah. It's a, no other sport could this occur. I'll just put it that way. This is what makes college football great. And I'm happy we got to the bottom of it. And another reason to subscribe to VolQuest. This wouldn't happen in the NFL, right?

Like, they'd never do this. Nothing that happens in college football. It happened in the NFL. Yeah. This is pure college football right here. Pure college football. That is. By the way, speaking of pure college football,

another thing about college football, former teammates interviewing one another. Happens. Another edition we have here at On 3, Zach Herbstree, son of Kirk Herb Street, former Ohio State quarterback, Zach's a former Ohio State quarterback. Zach's a former Ohio State walk on tight end. He worked, or he played for the team. He worked with the team while he was still in school. He's now working for us. And he's got a show called Off Script. His first guest for Off Script, Julian Sayan, the guy we think is Ohio State's QB1. this year. Roll that.

Yeah. You're a Cali kid. You moved, you went originally committed to University of Alabama. And you were there for how many, a couple weeks? Just a couple weeks. I was there for, yeah, a couple of weeks while they're doing bowl prep. And then turned, ended up transferring to Ohio State after Coach Stavement left. I just kind of wanted to know like what went through, what was that process like for you?

Why did you choose Ohio State as opposed to maybe somewhere close to home or? to home or well yeah when i ended up going to albama i wanted to go play for coach sabin um and you know when when he retired i uh i decided to uh to transfer in um ohio state was just a big uh a big decision for me and i was i was excited to make it just because of um you know the quarterback development history they've had uh with coach day and um you know the guys like justin field c j stroud um come before you know they've done a great job with quarterbacks and then just the the talent they have of the office of skill positions It was definitely a great decision for me, and I couldn't be happier.

Watch that whole interview with Julian saying on the On3 Sports YouTube channel, which by the way, you should be subscribed to because then you'll know every time we come on as well. Ari, one more thing I want to tell everybody, Friday is a mailbag show. We love your questions. Get them in early. Dear Andy, dear Ari. Andy Staples on3 at gmail.com. ARI dot Wasserman at On3.com fire away with your questions.

We answer those on Friday's show, the most fun time of our week. Ari, that was a blast. It was a bad show, yeah. A little terrified that I know what you do in the shower. It's good to know. I mean, I know a lot. I knew a lot about you before. I feel like I really know a lot about you now.

Yeah, you're going to learn more. go on. So happy to tell you. Everybody, get that tea tree shampoo. Get it up in there. Let it tingle. We'll talk to you tomorrow.