Andy & Ari On3 - Will Alabama be in the top 12? Where will Notre Dame be ranked? | 10 questions for the CFP committee

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11. Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker, try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs. We’re also sponsored by Rhoback, the makers of the most comfortable and stylish hoodies, polos, q-zips, shorts and joggers. Use the code ANDY on Rhoback.com for 20 percent off for all new customers. That’s spelled RHOBACK.com. That’s 20 percent off all performance hoodies, polos and shorts with code ANDY.  This show is sponsored by PrizePicks, America’s most fun daily fantasy game. Use the code STAPLES to play $5 and get $50 instantly. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/STAPLES  This show is brought to you by Huel, The World’s No. 1 Complete Nutrition Brand. ​With over 400 million meals sold worldwide — yes, you heard that right, 400 MILLION — Huel is trusted by millions of people looking to fuel their days with convenient, complete nutrition. Try it for yourself with my exclusive offer for you…. FIFTEEN PERCENT off with the code: STAPLES at HUEL.com. Fuelyour best with Huel today! JLAB is gearing up for college football with some of the top talent in the game – from Travis Hunter to Ohio State’s Will Howard and QuinshonJudkins. These football stars embody JLab’s core values of innovation, performance, and excellence. Just as JLab pushes the boundaries of audio tech, these athletes redefine their sport with skill and dedication. Whether you’re traveling to watch your favorite team, or streaming the game on your mobile device, JLAB has you covered. Find the blue box at retailers near you or visit jlab.com.(0:00-0:39) Wendy's Saucy Nuggs(0:40-3:44) Intro - BIG Tuesday ahead!(3:45-18:09) Florida, DJ Lagway's plan ahead of Texas(18:10-19:28) Rhoback(19:29-24:44) USC to make a Change at QB?(24:45-26:30) PrizePicks(26:31-28:30) CFP Questions Intro(28:31-31:52) Will there be a 2-loss team in the top 12?(31:53-36:52) Blind Resume Tests(36:53-42:44) What Matters More - Good wins or bad losses?(42:45-43:19) JLAB Headphones(43:20-50:12) What does the committee think of Indiana?(50:13-54:48) What should be done about SMU?(54:49-1:00:28) What will the committee think of Boise State?(1:00:29-1:00:55) Does the committee consider rematches?(1:00:56-1:04:37) How does the committee feel about blowouts?(1:04:38-1:06:51) Any 3-Loss teams going to have a chance?(1:06:52-1:08:22) Bottom of the Top 25(1:08:23-1:09:46) Conclusion; See you tonight!  The first College Football Playoff committee ranking reveal is tonight, and Andy and Ari have 10 questions for the committee. Among them: What counts more: Good wins or bad losses? (The Notre Dame question.) Will Alabama be in the top 12 tonight? How will the committee feel about Indiana? How does the committee feel about blowouts?Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

You've had Wendy's Nugs dipped in sauce, but have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy's new Saucy Nugs, take the crispy and spicy Nugs you love and turn them up to 11. Choose between flavors like Buffalo, Honey Barbecue, Garlic Parm, and of course the hot versions of all three of those,

which I highly, highly, highly, highly, highly recommend. Or if you're a real heat seeker, try the Spicy Ghost Pepper Idaria only at Wendy's. That is seven delicious ways to try the nugs you already love pick a flavor grab some napkins and prepare to nug Like you have never Nugged before for a whole new way to nug. It's got to be Wendy's at participating us Wendy's Welcome in Ari on three. It is the day we find out the results of the vote. Of the college footballs playoff selection committee,

at least the first one that doesn't actually mean anything because the last one is the only one that means anything, but at least it gives us a window into what these folks are thinking Ari. It's a huge day for our country, Andy. Huge day. It is. You know, we've been waiting. Where will BYU land? We've been waiting a whole four, one year for this. And it's it's going to be exciting time.

I can't wait to see how much attention we have on our live show today during the reveal of the votes. But you know what? Hey, we're here. Nothing else anyone could be watching Ari and that's, we should tell everybody, come join us 7 PM Eastern time tonight, Tuesday night, November 5th, because there's nothing else that you're going to want to watch or care about. Come join us 7 PM Eastern time.

We will be live as the playoff rankings are revealed. You could watch the show on ESPN, I suppose, but wouldn't you rather hang out with us? Just put that on with the sound off. Yeah, funnier, I promise will be much funnier and probably more realistic to to be honest. It's like we're not going to

just sugarcoat everything. We're going to tell you what we feel what the truth is. And, you know, I think that we have a lot to learn today. You know, and truthfully speaking, Andy, like this is the first time that you and I are gonna be going through this too. You know, kind of trying to figure out

what is this gonna look like? We're gonna have to walk ourselves as much as the people through, you know, not getting fooled by, you know, the rankings in terms of what the seating is going to look like. There's a lot of new frontier here that we have to cover. And it's going to be a new foundation of the sport and the country. So I'm excited for tonight. And what else could you possibly care about? There's nothing else you could possibly be watching. Certainly nothing else that involves the entire country and you know, whether certain states pop and certain ones don't.

Realistically speaking though, if we're alive at six central seven eastern time, we've got plenty of time. We've got plenty of time to catch up on the other stuff. So this is important stuff. And I know that people are on edge. I know that, truthfully speaking, Andy, it's an emotional time in our country. People are certainly keyed up for this one way or the other. And hopefully the one thing that Andy and I can promise you

is that we're a nice little escape from the real issues that we are facing in our country regardless of who wins tonight. So super excited to be here with you tonight and there's no better way. I'd rather spend my election Tuesday. So let's get into it. Let's do it.

So we're gonna have 10 questions for the committee. But first we gotta talk about a little bit of news because DJ Lackaway might play on Saturday, Billy Napier said. Like that is, he got taken off on a cart in the Georgia game. But if DJ Lagway can play Saturday, I think that that makes a difference. And I don't know if DJ Lague is gonna play against Texas on Saturday,

but the way Billy Napier was talking makes me think DJ Lague might play against LSU next week, which whether he plays on Saturday or is not able to play till next week, either way, I think it reshapes the conversation around Billy Napier. So here's what he said. He said, so the good news,

we've had some positive information on that front. That's the positive thing. We do think the injury is less significant. We think there's a pathway for recovery and return. Later, he said, we've not completely ruled him out. And I saw him out for Saturday against Texas. And I think a lot of that will be determined as we move our way through the week. So that's a good thing for all involved and certainly for DJ. It's going to be pretty clear cut once we get to Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. So we'll know. So I would watch that sec availability report on Wednesday. Let's see where they put him. I think they might rule him out or they might have him as doubtful or who knows questionable or probable. We'll,

we'll see. But I think that's certainly something to pay attention to because but I think that's certainly something to pay attention to. Because it does reframe the Billy Napier question if he can play, right? I mean, we thought if it's QB three going against this murderers row that they have these next three weeks that it's probably going to look really bad, even if the defense is playing well. Okay, so I had a weird thought last night. I was thinking about this.

Go for it. And I knew I was going to save it for the show and I'm excited. But let me preface it by saying that there's no question that it's great for DJ, right? Like we are always wanting any player who gets injured to come back as healthy and be back to themselves as quickly as possible. Correct. We do not root for injuries in any stretch of the imagination because the human element is more important than the game. That said, for the optics standpoint, when it comes to Billy Napier's job,

if DJ is unable to play against Texas and against some of the other big time teams that this team is playing. And Florida loses or even gets blown out, but plays respectfully with their third stringer. Optically speaking, is that more acceptable from people who will ultimately decide Billy Napier's fate than having DJ playing and also losing or getting a bucket. Like what- Like getting smoked repeatedly gets him fired, regardless of how that happens. Okay.

If it happens with DJ playing, it absolutely happens. But even if DJ isn't playing, you get smoked three times in a row here, you're probably done. If you win, like here's my thing, and this is what I've been cruising the Gators on online message boards and looking at what people think. There's definitely a couple of camps. There's one camp that's absolutely get rid of him. He doesn't win. And there's another camp that says, look, this team is playing better.

They play hard for him. They've gotten better on both lines of scrimmage as the years gone on. Isn't that what you said he had to do? And so I understand where both are coming from. I tend to lean toward the, you gotta win at some point group because that's the job. That's why you get paid bajillions of dollars to win. So you gotta win some of these.

And if DJ can play, which he should not play if he's not fully healthy, but if he can play and they win, then I think that reframes the conversation. If they were to beat Texas or LSU or Ole Miss, or multiple of those, there's a legitimate conversation to be had. If they don't, I don't know if there is. So your pathway to Billy coming back next year is one and three in those games or one and two in those games?

I don't even know if it's that. I think you might have to win two of them. But you have to win. As a lot of the Florida fans have said, this camp, I'll call them the no moral victories camp. And they're right. Moral victories aren't good enough at the University of Florida. You have to be winning. The job is to win. Yeah. And the thing that's so crazy to me is that Florida had a legitimate chance. Like a real life could have probably should have won the Tennessee game.

And I feel like if they would have gotten that one and everything else about the season stayed the same, including how they played against Georgia, all those things, I think that this would be potentially an entirely different discussion, which shows you what the margin of, of, you know, error is when it comes to sentiment, right? Like, do you agree with that? Like, if they would have found a way to beat Tennessee, do you think that we would have a different thought of what needs to occur in the final month of this season for him to stay? Especially given with what happened against Georgia? Yeah, I think we would. And remember

what I said the night of the Tennessee game after that game, I said, this is worse for Billy Napier than if he'd lost by 50 because they, they did have a chance to win. And the reasons they lost were his coaching decisions, running a jet sweep on fourth and inches when you have a 240 pound quarterback, not going for two at the end, when you have the less talented team and you need to shorten the game. Like that is, those are his decisions. Those are his fault. So-

If LSU beats Alabama on Saturday, Florida will have played in a row, Georgia, Texas, LSU and Ole Miss, all of whom have their, and Ole Miss, if Ole Miss wins on Saturday, that's four playoff teams potentially in a row. And then two weeks previously, you had to go on the road and play in Knoxville.

Like that, I don't know that I have ever seen a harder schedule before. Nope. And we said that going into the year that it was gonna be that. Any year. Yep. Said that going into the year.

So again, if you can win some of these, there's a conversation to be had. I think you got to win them. There's a third camp, too, that you didn't mention in there. This is the camp that I'm in. All right. Billy is a wonderful guy. By all accounts, people seem to love him. He'd probably be a great representative of the University of Florida if he were to be successful and be the coach there for a long time. That said, there are two things that you need to do in this job, which is one, win. But the other thing that leads to winning is recruiting. And he doesn't do that. Now, they've had nice classes that have fallen apart, but he hasn't done good enough in the acquisition of talent in the portal. And he hasn't done good enough in high school recruiting, especially considering the fact

that Florida is a wide open state right now. And Mario Cristobal is showing, you do both well, yes. So to me, if you're not doing the recruiting and talent accumulation piece, then all you're doing is setting yourself up for a reoccurrence of what occurred this year. And if we are talking about DJ Laguay's health and we've been discussing a true freshman quarterback's fate as a direct link to whether or not he's going to be able to keep his job. That means

you're over reliant on one player. Your roster isn't good enough from top to bottom. And to me, that is the biggest offense of anything that you could even describe. Not almost beating Tennessee, you're losing, not losing Miami the way that you did. The reason why this is happening is because of the failure that you did not equip your roster with enough good players and that in the SEC that at Florida that anywhere else that expects to win at the level that Florida does is just not good enough. And I think we already have our answer for that, regardless of what happens in the next three weeks. Well, that said, we're on a different era where you can just buy a bunch of players. So that part, maybe, maybe fixable. But I agree with you because I said this going into the Georgia game. If your fate in year three is tied to one player, you've already.

You're already screwed. Like they're playing hard. If you're three, your fate should not be tied to one player. They're playing hard. They're playing well under him, right? Yep. If you would have done the recruiting piece or the portal piece, imagine playing hard and playing close against these teams if they had five more elite level players on their team. Well, they'd be winning.

They'd be winning a bunch of these games, and they might actually be in the playoff discussion. So like the mortal victory, people are probably right in this and that it is very like and I think that he deserves credit for the team staying like locked in, right? Like we've seen a lot of teams in Florida's situation just punt and lose all their games, or not seem to care, no emotion, all that stuff. Like Florida plays with emotion, they are still bought into his message. And I think that it takes, I think that that piece is really important in a piece that we forget about. So he deserves a lot of credit for keeping his team

bought into the mission. But this is just not a roster that you would anticipate would be Florida good. And you said people are asking you the entire off season, is Florida gonna be good? Are they gonna be better? You live there and you've covered teams that had Florida good players and oh yeah this team just does not have it so whose fault is that. They've gone from playing kind of where I thought they were going to be to playing way above where I where I thought they'd play. they were going to be to playing way above where I thought they'd play.

But it's not like what Florida needs to do. And I don't know that Florida, the current Florida administration will allow this to happen because they're just not, it's not their style, but they need to push all in the way Ohio state and Ole Miss did and just go buy a really good roster to put around DJ Lagway. If you're, if you're going to, if you're going to keep the coach, which I think the athletic director, Scott Strickland wants to do, because that is probably his best path to longevity. If you're going to keep the coach, then go buy him a roster.

Like a real, like exactly what Ole Miss did exactly what Ohio state did. Like use ha use half of what you were gonna pay, because remember, if you fire a billion apier, it's a $26 million buyout, 13 million due upfront. Use half of that 13 million to supplement whatever you were doing in NIL. Rev shares coming, so come next football season, that money's gonna kick in and buy a roster. Like that's the other path. I just can't see Florida doing it.

I'm gonna have a call about that later on on three that that you probably read that tomorrow morning at on three cuz I'm gonna Explore that all of those possibilities a little more because I find it fascinating Ari. I find it very very interesting 2025 Florida football schedule Saturday, September.th. Same as this schedule, but reversed. Yep. Miami in a week two, Georgia week four, Florida state week five, Tennessee, week six, Texas, Georgia is not like four. Whatever, whatever. It's the fourth game. George Halloween weekend. Okay. Yes. Then we have Tennessee, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss,

and A&M all in a row. With a game against Kentucky in the middle there. Oh, it's up here. I'm looking at something else. I should have known that River would be on top. That's a 2-24 schedule, but if you flip where they play the SEC games, then you have the, and the Miami game, then you have the and the Miami game, then you have the 2025 schedule. But Florida State's

also on there. What a Florida State and Florida State, right. And Florida State will be coming to Gainesville. Yeah. So yep, it's gonna be a very tough schedule. Again, it's gonna be the same thing. So you have to decide do you want the same thing? Or can you get something different with the same guy? Or do you need a new person to get something different? It's gonna, I'm telling you, the next few weeks are gonna be really interesting.

I think I'm gonna go to that Florida LSU game because I am fascinated by the entire situation. I actually think of the path to that being good next year or shorter by keeping him and buying a better players. I know, that's why this is so interesting, because we keep looking at all this stuff from the through the old lens and there's a new way to look at it now. And we have to consider the new way. What's a better use of money?

Because at least with a buyout, you're just that's dead money. Yeah, now you're in the buyout again next year, but it's lower, lower. If it doesn't work like as long as you're paying out a salary to a person who was working and then you use the allocated funds that would have otherwise been dead money to improve the roster, he clearly has shown that he can get his team to play hard. He's, he's proven that this year, right? You go get two, two or one explosive, uh, wide receivers. They're young running back on this team is incredible.

He's going to be great if he's around next year. Yeah. Yeah. He's awesome. Get a few really good defenders and you have yourself a team that can compete. Now. The problem is, is that if you're making an investment, and I know we're spending a lot of time on this, but I think it's interesting. It's interesting. If you make an, if you make an investment, you also want to look at the forecast of the maturation of that investment and see like rainbows and sunshine. And it's like the thing that Ole Miss did is very different because Ole Miss invested all that money into a crappy schedule.

Like if you invest all that money and you're much better, but you go nine or eight and four next year with the players that you get, is that money well spent? And you could theoretically have a really good roster. Really good team and go 8-4. Still go 8-4 against that schedule. You're right. You're right. Ari, we're going to talk about Robac for a second, but when we finish with that, we're going to talk about a quarterback change potentially at a place where the guy usually does well with quarterbacks and is not doing well with quarterbacks. But first, let's talk about Ro back.

I of course, am wearing my Ro back performance T the long sleeve version. I love this shirt so much I own seven Ro back performance hoodies that are basically my favorite garments that I have relative stealing pretty much constantly. But you've also got the polos, the quarter zips, the joggers, the new jogger material is so comfortable. If you're not wearing Roeback, you are missing out.

It is the most comfortable, versatile, just awesome athleisure that you can get. So if you'd like to get your collection started, use the code ANDY and get 20% off your first order. That's rowback.com, R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com, and load up because this is perfect performance hoodie weather, this is long sleeve tee, this is perfect weather for that.

This is the time. So use that code ANDY, get 20% off your first order, rowback.com, R-H-O% off your first order. Ro back.com R H O B A C K.com Ari. Let us move from Florida all the way across the country to Los Angeles. Is USC going to make a quarterback change? So USC football.com reporting. That Lincoln Riley may be heading going from Miller Moss to Jaden Myava for the Nebraska game. Jade Myava course is the guy who came in as a freshman at UNLV last year

got thrown in because their starter got hurt and then wound up being the Mountain West freshman of the year. He was going to go to Georgia and then at the last minute decided to go to USC. USC already has now lost five games. They just lost Washington. They're going to give it a shot with the new QB. Can I make an admission to you? You may.

Myava and Pavia were the same person in my brain during the offseason. They don't like I couldn't separate the two. It's not about much taller than the other. It's not about what they look like. couldn't separate the two. One is it's not about much taller than the other. It's not about what they look like. Their names were the same. They both came from smaller schools and like I could not like when Vanderbilt got Pavia.

I thought they got my alpha. That said, there is upside here. Well, she was young and explosive. And I, whenever I think about this stuff, I always think about that question we got like in our first mailbag together back in on three, when someone asked is Miller Moss actually an upgrade from Caleb Williams, like that was a real question that we addressed on the show. It was because he sliced and diced LSU a little bit Miller Moss did but since then it's not been great. The thing that I am on high alert for here Andy is what if USC's

offense just is so awesome now with it with the element. They're gonna feel really bad.'re going to feel really bad. I'm going to feel really bad. You're you're personally going to feel very bad because Lincoln Riley chose the wrong quarterback. If Lincoln Riley chose the wrong quarterback, he could have indirectly cost me $1,000 not indirectly directly. That's true. That's true. Now I would argue that like USC's offensive line

has actually been pretty good at run blocking of late and their backs are like, we are a Woody Marks podcast. So they could just run the ball some and I think they might or stick to the run, don't abandon it when they panic. But I'm interested to see what this looks like and hey Nebraska is kind of in a blender right now too,

so this is a this is desperation. We're like somebody's gotta win some games to get bowl eligible here. Yeah, we also have a comment from Go Dog here. This is any player in the SEC with the first or last name Emery is Emery Jones to me and that is also true for. And that is also true for me. That is also true for me.

That's funny. There's a lot of similar names. You got to admit, like, do you think these, do you think that like, you can understand how I got the mix up? Yeah. Well, so my son this morning gets up and he's a Bucks fan and he's mad because the chiefs beat the Bucks in overtime. And once again, Joanne Taylor did not get called for false start when he when he's pass setting like he's off the line

way before a snap nearly every play. And they missed it on a crucial play last night. And he's like, you want Jennings. Starting too early on his pass, I'm like, you want Jennings is a receiver. He's not pass setting. He's like, oh yeah, Joanne Taylor. Sorry. He's like, all these names are too similar. Yeah, by the way.

Bucks, I thought played a very good football game despite not having a receiver healthy and And also the Bucks have Rakim Jarrett on their team. And I was obsessed with Rakim Jarrett when he was at Maryland. So like in my head, I was like, this is actually gonna go okay. Cause like in my head, if somebody is a stud recruit who then turns out to be-

They're a five star, they're always a five star? If they're a five star in high school in my head, well well first of all rakim jared that was pretty awesome in college too like he was he was good yeah i thought that like and he's also like six five isn't he he's a monster uh yeah i thought last night was going to be rakim jared's coming out party like i thought i was gonna be like everybody's gonna know who this is now and uh the bucks played really well so well to keep his head up it's gonna going to be okay. I actually thought Baker Mayfield was awful and it's turned out that he's really good. And that's another piece of the RE Wasserman can't analyze NFL quarterback Chronicles. I don't, I think a lot of NFL GMs gave up on Baker

Mayfield too. So I don't think you should feel terribly bad about that one. Yeah, I guess it's just like the Browns were involved, so that's probably the problem. I think we should just use that as our North Star moving forward. Exactly. Okay, we got some questions Andy or what we're power into this thing. We do. We do have we have 10 questions for the for the college football playoff selection committee, but before that we're going to talk about prize picks.

The best daily fantasy game in America, play $5, get $50, instantly use that code staples. I tried to go demon, all demon this weekend. The demon squares are the tougher squares to get, but I had a good feeling about who was gonna score a touchdown and win. I tried to go all demons this weekend. Nico didn't run one in for Tennessee.

That, that, that killed me. Uh, I was close. Uh, Dylan Sampson scored two. I was happy with that. Uh, Lenore Sellers scored a rushing touchdown. I was happy with that. Uh, but I thought against Kentucky, there would just be so many Tennessee touchdowns that one of them would have to be Nico running one

in and it turned out Kentucky's defense played really well. And so it happens, but they're starting to populate. I think that's a handsome card though. That's a handsome card. You did. I think it is too. I think I think I had a good chance and that's one of those like it was $25 to win $275. So, you know, sometimes you gotta, you gotta put yourself out there a little bit. But I also put out a $5 five part play and I'll do that again this week.

So if you use that code staples, when you first download the app, first sign up, you get $50 to play instantly. So you can do a $5 card, that $5 to win 50. You get that 50 instant bucks. You could play 10 more of those cards and have some fun. The board is starting to be populated

for college football this week. Obviously, Maxion starts tonight. And there's Maxion Tuesday, Wednesday night. And then you've got games Thursday, Friday. That Friday, Iowa, UCLA game. Little treat, little appetizer for everybody. So download prize picks. Use that code staples, play five, get 50 instantly. little treat little appetizer for everybody so. Download price mix use that code staples play 5 get 50

instantly. Alright, alright, let us ask some questions of the college football playoff committee and this was this one's your baby. So I want you to kick it off with our first question to the committee. Yeah, well it was my baby, but you were what the OBGYN that helped birth it like we worked on this together.

I don't know if that's a good analogy or not, but there's a, there's a Photoshop in here that I really don't ever want to see. Yeah. It's me as the OBGYN and you as the mom. There's a woman on the stirrups and I'm the doctor with the hair net. No, no, no, no. You're the person on the stirrups. It's your face.

It's the, it's the Arnold Schwarzenegegger Danny DeVito movie, Jr. Yeah. And then what comes out is just the playoff bracket, you know, and then you're just playing catcher. Yeah. So 10 pertinent questions that we, I think we're going to find some things out about tonight, right? So like we have to figure out what the committee thinks. Like as you and I have been going through the season, both of us do a bracketology like exercise every weekend. You do bracketology, I do bubble watch, that also includes a bracket. And we have notions of who we think are going to get in and who we don't think has the inside track based on the way that we have come to understand the committee operates, right? And my anticipation is that the committee will operate in the same exact way in

which it always has. So that shouldn't change. But what does change is actually getting bona fide, real solid information of what the people who are deciding the bracket will think of the teams that we are judging every week. And where they're ranked right now, on Tuesday night, though not, you know, you can say it doesn't matter, gives us an inside look at what they could end up being and who's more dangerous, who's less dangerous than we think. Right. So the first question that we have, and I don't know if they're in any particular order in terms of pertinence, but we're just going to go through them. Will there be a two lost team cough Alabama in the top 12 already? Like we are going into the season thinking that Alabama, if they win or going into the weekend, Alabama is probably a win over LSU away from being comfortably in, right? Right. But they don't have that win yet.

They don't have that win yet. That said, Alabama does have a win over Georgia. And what do we know beyond the shadow of a doubt about the committee? It's that they value more than anything beating really good teams. So they have the most valuable win in the country right now. Are they going to be like number seven, like right out of the gate? Or do you think that Alabama, who has faded out of the playoff discussion for a large part of it after losing to Tennessee, is going to be back down a little bit further? Like, what do you do with Alabama Alabama here? Like if you were putting together your rankings projection? Yeah. Now remember they're not they're not projecting what they think is gonna happen by the end of the season. They're just going on the results that have already happened. So I would think Alabama is a little bit lower because of that. But I will say the committee much more than the voters, the AP poll voters and the cultures poll voters, the committee tends to act more like line makers. They tend to act more like people who rely on power rankings.

And if you're relying on power rankings in Alabama is going to be very high. They're going to be higher than you probably think they should be. Is it possible that Alabama is ranked ahead of a team like Penn State for instance? I could see that because they would say that Alabama has a better what is all right. Penn State's best win is Illinois, right? Mm-hmm. Okay. Alabama's best win is Georgia. Right.

So, but Alabama lost to Vanderbilt. If I had to guess, I would probably think that Alabama would be in the 10 to 12 range tonight. But would anybody be truly shocked if Alabama was ranked number six? No, what if Alabama is ranked ahead of Notre Dame? I can see that because because the Georgia win is probably considered better than the Texas A&M win. I don't know that you could put them in front of Tennessee,

but they exactly where you put in Tennessee if you put Alabama there because Tennessee's beaten Alabama and only had one loss, but teams that Alabama will probably be ranked ahead Exactly. Where you put in Tennessee if you put Alabama there? Because Tennessee's beaten Alabama and only has one loss. But teams that Alabama will probably be ranked ahead of, or could be ranked ahead of, include SMU, Boise State, Penn State, and Notre Dame. So if you take those teams that we all kind of think are going to be in the top 10, like you could find Indiana like coming in at number five, right? But you also like could also envision a world where Alabama is ranked in or around or ahead of Texas because they have two losses but that Georgia wins going to carry a lot of weight and both play Georgia. Yeah, I'm fascinated. I really am because I kind of I feel like this, even though we've seen them do this for the 14 playoff, I'm curious if they're different now.

But I so I had a question here. Let's let's bring up our blind resume question. Producer River is one of these teams five spots better than the other, because that's what the AP poll thinks. Team A is eight and O, its combined opponent record is 34 and 38. Its saggren strength of schedule rank is 41. Its record versus the saggren top 30 is two and O, and its combined scoring margin is plus 124. Team B is nine and O, combined opponent record is 38 and 38. Saggren strength of schedule rank is 54. Record versus saggren top 30 is 3 and 0

and the combined scoring margin is plus 224 and folks in the chat do we have any guesses as to who is team A and 2 is team B so Nick Terry says is that BYU and Indiana I just we saying is BYU team A and Indiana team B. No, you got one of them right. Team A is BYU. Team B is Miami. I'm not saying BYU needs to be ranked ahead of Miami. What I'm saying is are they five spots apart? Because that's what the AP poll has them. I suspect Ari, that these two are going to be closer together in the committee ranking? Yeah, the thing is, is that we have gotten to a place where losses have felt like the end of the world because that's the way that college football has been built for decades. Losses still really hurt you, which makes me feel like going back to the previous question that Alabama should probably be in the 10 to 12 range. And like, I think it's possible that Miami and BYU are directly next to each other in the top five, right? Like Indiana, Miami, and BYU will probably

be all in the top six, right? Like, isn't that like kind of how it's supposed to go if you're undefeated? I don't know. I mean, the thing I think is interesting about the committee and they start, they're like, they kicked us off the first ranking, the first one they ever did. Remember back in 2014, the time Mississippi State was ranked number one in the first ranking. Remember Florida State was undefeated,

was the defending national champ and was number one in both polls. But Florida State had not looked good getting there. And the committee didn't bite and rank Florida State number one, and it kind of changed how the polls ranked them the rest of the way. So like how does that, how do they deviate? Because I don't think the zero next to your, the zero in your loss column means as much to the committee as it does to poll voters. Well I'm going to tell everybody this and I'm going to let out a little dirty secret.

And now that our buddy Ralph Russo works at the athletic, I feel a little bit better about it. AP poll voters are lazy and not engaged. Okay. I was an AP poll voter before. Most of them are beat writers who spend their day. The entire day on Sundays.

Yeah, they had postgame pie on Saturday. I was laying on my back on Sundays, but I remember I had some chip to like get the pole in like first thing in the morning on Sunday. Like it was the last thing I did in by like 6 a.m. Sunday morning. Yeah, so like I had to do it on Saturday and a lot of times when you're doing it, imagine covering a night game and then having to do the poll after.

What do you do? You go and you look at the way that the committee did it before and then you use those rankings and you look at the scoreboard and you do your best. But like the fact the fact is, is that like we use the AP poll as some sort of metric or North Star for how we're supposed to view these teams. But the fact of the matter is that the committee's rankings are the only rankings that we actually get outside of maybe the ones that we do, which are meaningless, because they spend all freaking week only thinking about the rankings, watching the teams in the sense of how they're going to rank them, and they use a deep dive of stats in order to arrive at their conclusion. So who do you trust more? The AP poll? Who will look at BYU and go, well, they're not very good because they're BYU. I didn't expect them to be good. And they don't play in a power conference. So

I'm going to put them at eight. But Miami is in the ACC, which we're supposed to pretend is a really good conference because it's a power conference. Put them at four. Like that is not how they operate in that room. And both of us have done the mock committee exercise. All right. You've done it right. Yeah.

I mean, it's really great and crazy to see the depth of resources that they are given in that room. Like they aren't just like, Oh, here I'm going to put like, they are given in that room. Like they aren't just like, here I'm gonna put, they are looking at, like they know what your stats are on Turf or Scratch. Like, I mean, they have every identifiable metric that you can judge a team by and they display it on a board and they're coming from a very,

I think they do a really good job, Andy. Like I really do. I do too. And I know people wanna believe that they care about conference and all that. I don't think they do. Ari, what is your next question? The next question is what matters more, which we've kind of covered but we should cover

again. Good wins or terrible losses? I think the committee has historically told us this good wins a lot more than terrible. And this is the Notre Dame question. We just call this the Notre Dame question. Like Notre Dame has a good winning as Texas A&M and the worst loss against Northern Illinois. Can we agree that Notre Dame losing to Northern Illinois

is the worst loss that any playoff contender has? Yes. Okay. Well, let me ask you this question just as a sub question because I've always wondered this. Do you think losing to a lower level team by one is worse than getting your ass kicked by a good team. Yes.

Like what do you think? What do you think we learn more from like Notre Dame losing to NIU in a sleepy terrible game that they probably wouldn't lose if they played on Saturday or a team? Like do we learn more about Notre Dame losing to NIU or Texas getting its doors blown off by Georgia? Like which one do you think was more revelatory? I think we learn a lot about both teams. I think we learn a lot about both teams that way. And it's one thing if like NIU is the best team in the Mac that's different. But then they use not the best team in the Mac and they use four and four right now. Like they they followed up beating Notre Dame by losing to Buffalo. They lost to NC State. They've lost to Toledo and they lost to Ball State. Now those are close games, but they're still four and four. Yeah. Yeah.

And they're a match team. Here's how I kind of view it. And I might just be wrong, but I like talking through this stuff. Yeah. Like having covered the sport for, you know, a combined 35 years, Andy, you know that there are teams that show up on Saturday and just aren't in it, right? They're not ready to play. They think they're gonna beat the crap out of the team they're playing. They don't take it seriously.

They're not prepping right. They sleepwalk through four quarters. They have turnovers. They just play a really bad game out of lack of focus and lose. But to me, while you should be penalized for it. And in the past era, losing that game probably does go a long way into squalifying you from the field.

I don't know that it's an indication that on your best day, you can't compete at a high level with a really good team that that said in a Georgia Clemson situation or a Georgia Texas situation, when both teams have been taking it seriously all week, you're at home, you're geared up, you know going into it, it's going to be a litmus test for how good of a team you are and you get your ass kicked.

That to me is more telling that that is susceptible to happening again when you play a good team than losing to a bad one that you just didn't care about. Right. And I don't know if that's a more long simulation of an actual playoff game. Right. You're getting closer to looking exactly at what you're going to have to face in an indoor dome in January in the Texas Georgia game than you are in some sleepy Saturday in South Bend. Then I'm not trying to be a Notre Dame apologist here. I think that they should be penalized for that. That was embarrassing and a terrible loss. But I don't know if that loss itself

is enough for me to be like Notre Dame can't compete at a high level. And I don't think the same thing for Texas too, but the Texas game was more, I would say alarming to me because there's way less of an excuse for that than there is for yeah we just didn't take it seriously. The other thing you can consider more in a 12-team field is how a team improves over the year and I think Notre Dame has certainly improved over the year. Like what would the spread if Notre Dame played Northern Illinois tomorrow be? Like Notre Dame

minus 25 again? Like but probably yeah but what if Texas played Georgia again? You think Texas would be favored this time? I don't. They would not. What changed? Yeah, I don't know. It's just like a good thought exercise because it's like, oh it is bad and that's why bad losses

don't disqualify you in the committee's mind because I think that they're rational enough to know that bad Saturdays happen and in this new system, those are forgiven very easily. Now the problem with Notre Dame specifically is that they don't have any great wins as of right now to counteract that terrible loss. If you look at their schedule right now,

the one win that they had that was supposed to be carrying the weight for them was Navy and the Navy turned around and lost again on Saturday. Like that's not gonna be a thing. They lost to Rice, yeah. And then A&M lost to South Carolina. And A&M lost. So, like, and that win will probably carry them quite a bit,

especially if A&M ends up beating Texas at the end of the year. But, like, my view of Notre Dame, and there's proof in the episodes of this show, was very much not changed after the NIU game. Like, I came back the following week and said they're probably still gonna make the playoff and I had been like riding with Notre Dame since then. And I think you may be right,

unless Lincoln Riley got it right with Jay and Mahava and all of a sudden USC's a wagon. Which is, by the way, you laugh, that could happen. I'm laughing, like I'm serious. My view of Texas. Walking out of that Oklahoma game that you and I went to in Dallas. And what I think of Texas now has completely shifted.

Because of one game. Yeah, but it wasn't just one game. It was getting your ass kicked by an actual like good team that may not actually be the juggernaut that we think they are like that and we won't see Gary and we won't see Texas against that again until they go to Kyle Field on the last day of the regular season so we will find. Find out more than yes. We got to talk about we were talking about wagons we're talking about one of the ultimate wagons but first. wagons. We're gonna talk about one of the ultimate wagons. But first, let's talk about JLab. JLab is gearing up for college football with some of the top talent in the game from Travis Hunter to Ohio State's Will Howard and Quinn Sean Judkins. These football stars embody JLab's core values of

innovation, performance, and excellence. Just as JLab pushes the boundaries of audio tech, these athletes redefine their sport with skill and dedication. Whether you're traveling to watch your favorite team or streaming the game on your mobile device, JLab has you covered with every kind of headphone you could want. Find that blue box at retailers near you or visit jlab.com. Ari, I'm gonna let you take this one

since this is one of your questions. This is one of your questions. Yes. What does the committee think of Indiana? Now we know that the committee with their statistics and their research and the fact that they watch all the games, which, by the way, AP. I just got that cranberry song in my head and their statistics and their metrics and their tanks and their bombs and their guns.

Never heard that before my life. Yeah. You've never heard zombie by the cranberries? I don't know. Maybe not. You're a 90s baby. I might have heard that, but the way that you just presented it wasn't a very good like sample size. And their tanks and their bombs and their guns, they are crying. They're still dying. You don't know that song? What is wrong with you? I've never heard that song in my entire life. Yeah, your impression of Paul Finebaum was good, better than this. I don't know what that was.

I'm sorry that I can't sing like Irish person Dolores O'Riordan, May She Rest In Peace. In your head, in your head. I would play it on the show just to see if I've heard it. Cause one of my weaknesses in life, and you know this about me, Andy, is that like, I don't know any celebrity names. And I also like have no like name recognition

when it comes to these types of things. So like, if it was on the radio, I'd be like, oh yeah, I've heard the song a million times, but like I have no ability whatsoever to like recollect it right now. Well, we can't play it or we'll get a copyright strike. I can sing it, but that's about the best we can do. So let us move on to those things.

We're nowhere near invading their copyright with whatever that was, okay. What does the committee think of Indiana? I think that the entire country was really late to the party. I was late to the party, right? Like after week four, I was still like, yeah, they wouldn't be able to beat LSU. And like, that was very wrong. But they still have that IU logo on their helmet, and they still don't have a very tough schedule. So being undefeated and blowing everybody out is a super impressive thing. And I truthfully believe that when they play at Ohio State, if they get through this Michigan game on Saturday in which they're 14 point, 14 and a half point favorite, that they will probably be a 10 point dog.

But that's really good. Like I think that's an indication of a really good team. What is the committee going to think of Indiana and where they put them right now on Tuesday night? All right, let's play guess the ranking. Okay, let's play guess the ranking. I think Indiana will be ranked. Okay, they're gonna have Oregon.

They're gonna be ranked behind teams that are gonna anger Indiana fans. They're gonna to Morgan first. Like we know that, but then it's probably going to be Ohio state will be too. I guarantee it. You think so? Okay. Not Georgia. Okay.

Well, I think Georgia will be three if Ohio says two and then four. Okay. Miami. I bet Miami is above Indiana. I think I think Indiana will be five or six. Yeah, there's six. They're going to be behind Texas. I think that Indiana is going to be like 8. OK. I think Indiana is going to be ranked behind Texas. I think that Indiana is gonna be like eight. Ooh, okay. I think Indiana is gonna be ranked behind Texas. I think they're gonna be ranked behind Notre Dame potentially.

I think they're gonna be ranked behind BYU. And did I say Texas already? I think they're gonna be behind Texas. And they're- You think they're gonna be behind BYU? Okay, well- They do, yeah. BYU is undefeated and has the SMU win,

which is really good. You use case state when still looks really good, even though case dates lost another game. BYU has the I think you could make the case. That BYU has the best resume of the unbeaten is outside of Oregon. Right, I think it's fair. I think it's fair. I mean beating Miami and Miami's got the Virginia

Tech game in the Cal game that's sort of like we sure that in the Florida game does no carrying of weight for them so for for yeah, but it's a nice helmet game. But as you guys have to know, the committee doesn't pay attention to helmets. They look at data like they don't.

They're not swayed by human emotion in the same way that we are now. But as you guys have to know, the committee doesn't pay attention to helmets. They look at data like they don't. They're not swayed by human emotion in the same way that we are now. They might at the end of the road, but like I don't know that Miami's gonna be helped because they're like, yeah, well Florida is actually playing really good football, right?

Like I don't think that that does anything, but I think that weren't playing this way when they played Miami, which is another thing. Again, we talked about what's it look like as you go on through the season different. So the question is going to be and Notre Dame is going to pop up a lot in these discussions but what's going to matter more to the committee is the committee

going to think that Indiana's unbeaten and beating everybody by 14 or more points is more impressive or are they going to think that Notre Dame's win over A&M is more worthy of a higher ranking? Like I think we're going to get an idea of like we've talked about this and I don't know if it's if it's even going to present itself but if Indiana loses to Ohio State by 10 points on the road in a very good game and they finish the season at 11 and one and are not in the Big Ten championship as a result of it. We're gonna find out tonight

whether or not Indiana fans have to sweat. Like if Indiana is like number nine or eight in the poll tonight, then I think that's a bad sign for them. Then you want Indiana- Then they may be sweating against a two loss SEC team. If you don't want Indiana to be sweating at the end of the year against the two loss SEC team. If you don't want Indiana be sweating at the end of the year against

one loss, S and U team, they might be directly compared to other teams. And like at the end of the road, like SMU has a better, uh, I gotta go look at SMU's resume, but if they, if they run the table and they, uh, lose to Miami in the ACC championship game. SMU is win over pit may be more impressive than anything that Indiana did. Right? Like that. How Louisville finishes will matter too. Like if Louisville wins out and they're nine and three with losses to Notre Dame, SMU and line Louisville's other losses to somebody good. So Louisville lost to Notre Dame. Is that what you said? I said Notre Dame SMU and who else they lost to another good team Miami. That's it. Okay. Yes. So if they were to win out that nine and three looks good. That looks like a really high quality win for SMU. Also a high quality win for Miami, too, by the way.

By the way, I spent all day on Sunday thinking that SMU was out if they don't win the ACC and like now I'm questioning that. Well, I'm glad you're questioning that because that's the next question. That's so like to me here. If you look at the projections or think of the projections of where teams are ranked like if SMU in Indiana are near each other in tonight's poll, then you're going to have a frickin' dead heat at the end of the year, like, and maybe margin of loss to good teams.

I'm going to have that here. You want a hot take? You want to clip this? I'm afraid to do it. Do it, but I'm going to do it. this. I'm afraid to do it. Do it, but I'm going to do it. I think that SMU has a better chance of beating Miami than Indiana does of winning at Ohio State. I don't think that's an unfair take.

I think SMU Miami would be a track meet and it really might come down to if somebody throws into coverage whether that's Kevin Jennings or Cam Ward and there's a pick that's a you know kind of a service break situation. I don't think that's a hot take at all. Like I don't think that Miami is a guaranteed ACC champ right now. Like I think that SMU's chances of winning their conference are higher than Indiana's. And Indiana plays a tougher schedule from the standpoint

that they would have to play Ohio State. And if they win that game, they'd have to play Oregon. Like that route is so much, like that's not even a slight at Indiana, that's just the fact. But playing at Ohio State is just more difficult, obviously, right? And playing Miami would happen on a neutral field, so that would help. And yeah, but anyway, what if the debate at the end of the year is one loss SMU

versus one loss Indiana? I mean, and both of those teams lost to their conference champion. How do you do that? Indiana has a tougher schedule because playing in the Big Ten is tougher than playing in the ACC, but SMU would have sexier wins. Right, and did Indiana's path through the Big Ten

equal SMU's path through the ACC? Because SMU had to play Louisville and Pitt. So now Indiana can erase all of this by just beating Ohio. Like what if Indiana lost to Michigan and beat Ohio State? Like we wouldn't even be having this conversation. That they're in. Yeah. Yeah.

So I am not outlining Indiana beating Ohio State, by the way. Yeah, no, that's possible. Yeah, when I said that SMU has a better chance of beating Miami, that wasn't to say that Indiana has no chance of beating Ohio State. Just to be clear. Well, I, I am very curious. Okay, we play guess the ranking on Indiana. Okay, shall we play guess the ranking on SMU? Yeah, I think that SMU is probably going to find itself outside of the top 12. I think Indiana is gonna be in it. I think SMU will be out of it.

So we think like 13, 14? 13, 14, I think Indiana will be like seven, eight, nine. Okay. I cannot wait for tonight. I really wanna see this now. Which bodes very well for Indiana because if that's the case that Indiana, they're probably telling you that Indiana

would win that head-to-head discussion if they were both, well, cause like here's the thing too, that as they're going to be lost, they're probably going to have that head to head discussion. It's it. So the way the way it works is they kind of do it in blocks of threes. So I'll be curious to see if like if we see Indiana and SMU, if they're more than three apart, it means they they didn't even really think that SMU was in the same discussion as Indiana. Well, you know what? The thing is that I have to admit right now, and I'm sorry to tank the entire show, but Indiana would get in over SMU because SMU would have two losses in the scenario.

This is true. It would be one loss versus one loss. It would be two loss versus one loss. I think that their loss to BYU could be to two conference champions, so that would make it tougher. Like if they lose to Miami and B. This isn't even a column, but this is an interesting bonus question,

and it's obviously not something the committee can answer tonight. Losses in conference championship games, do they or should they weigh the same as losses in the regular season? Because you earned your way to that game by winning. Yeah, I'm with you. You have you have a second loss because you were good enough to play in a game at Indiana and that situation would not have played it.

So yeah, I still think that that's not how it works, because I think if you lose twice, you lose twice. But that would be interesting. OK, you want to go to the next question? Yeah, let's let's go to the next question, because this is another great one, because we have not talked about anybody in the group of five yet,

but somebody in the group of five is going to make the playoff. Yeah, what will the committee think of Boise State? Can we just tell them what's happening right now behind the scenes of the show? Because like we have to. Cole Kublick is roasting Andy for saying yesterday that he would have a rap show. I'm getting like all these dings in my head because I get texts on my computer,

which I have to figure out how to shut off by the way. I'm like a boomer when it comes to that. I can't get my text to stop ringing. And I like to see is Andy while I'm talking arguing with Cole Kublick about whether or not a rapper is the peak of driving experience. By the way, we're this show. Call sends me something that it looks like it looks like a Wells Fargo truck. Essentially, he's like, why don't you say this?

And I was like, am I transporting large amounts of cash? I think I would rather drive the Raptor than whatever that thing is that he just sent you. That's what we're doing here. I you picking the Raptor than whatever that thing is that he just sent you. That's what we're doing here. Are you picking a Raptor? Cole said, Cole said, Ari said any vehicle. And so I responded to Cole. Maybe I get a Shelby Raptor that you should also get like you could just go like tank or like cruise ship. Like I said, any vehicle.

I didn't have to be. I could I could have them modify, like make an F 450 Raptor. And then don't get out even more. I could have them modify like make an F 450 Raptor. And then don't get out even more. He sent you something that they would have had at the beginning scene of the town. I don't know what that is, but okay. Number six, Andy, what will the committee think of Boise State?

They are a one loss team with a quality win over Washington State. Yes, I said Washington State and UNLV. And they had a last second defeat on the road at Oregon, which by many people's accounts, everybody's account, is the number one team in the country. It also has one of the best players in college football in running back Ashton Gentey.

The Broncos are the clear favorite at the moment, Andy, to be the representative of the G5 in the playoff this year. But when we are discussing seeds and bracketology, a lot of times we see Boise like at the 12 just because they're in the G5. Like is it possible that like Boise is just like number six tonight and they actually would rank them higher? I don't think they're that high tonight. Is there a way that Boise is a top four seed and one of the P4 conference champs is actually

not in the top four? I think a lot's gonna have to happen. You need absolute chaos in the Big 12 for that to happen. But if BYU's playing against a, well, BYU could be playing as a two loss team and lose in the Big 12 Championship. So maybe that's their possibility right there. But I do think there's also the possibility

that Boise State, if it were to win out, even if it's not ranked above one of the other conference champs, which would take it up to the four, it still could be ranked ahead of an at-large team that gets in. So it could be 10 or 11, depending on how things go. So if they're in the top 10, Tuesday, that would be a higher

starting point for the thought of like the wheels turning, because the seeds won't correlate to the to the rankings, because you would have to reflip them and get the top four in order. But if they think of you as a top 10 918 team right now, and you keep winning, there's a high likelihood that you would be the G5 representative and could be like the 9 seed when it all and if it's absolute chaos descends on the big 12 and you have a two or more lost team playing as a two or more lost team in the championship game.

Yeah, what if Colorado is like the big 12 representative in the playoff as the 12 seat. Like that's possible, right? Like, absolutely. 100%. And, or like, Iowa state is not out of this thing yet. Texas tech is not actually out of it yet either. That's like, so Texas tech with that win against Iowa state, if they could beat Colorado, they'd still need help. They need somebody else to be Kansas State, but they'd have a tiebreaker over Iowa State. If they wind up at the same conference record, Texas Tech be alive in the 31 team list that I've got to break down right after we're done here. They're not on it. I think they should.

If they win this week, they still only have two losses in the Big 12 and they'd have a tiebreaker over Iowa State. So they still need Iowa State to lose again. They'd have the tiebreaker over Colorado in that case. And it would come down to them in K-State and I'm not sure how that tiebreaker works. Yeah, I think there's too much hoops to jump through there. Like I think, like, technically they're probably not mathematically eliminated, but there are a lot of teams that aren't mathematically eliminated. We're talking about the playoff here. I don't know that they're going to make the playoff. So, I mean, I guess if they did, that would be the craziest thing that would happen.

It is, it is still possible because look, Kansas state just lost to Houston Ari. I am not. Out on the idea that Kansas state would lose two more. Cause remember if, if, if Texas tech wins this, they would still need Iowa State to lose one more in the conference. But Iowa State could lose to Kansas this weekend. Yeah. I'm telling you, the Big 12 chaos could put Boise State at four if BYU doesn't hold serve. Yep. Here we go. Next question, Andy ready?

Yep. Will they consider potential rematches when ranking teams? That's we can tell this quickly. No, they won't. And we've both done the mock selection. We actually do the bracket ology every week. Like when I'm when I'm seeding the teams, I don't even think about who they're playing. And I guarantee you the committee is not thinking about it either. They're not worried about if there's rematch, not worried about if it's two teams in the same conference playing in the first round, they don't care.

Yep. Your next question, Andy here is how does the committee feel about blowout losses? This is this only gets interesting if there's more chaos, I think. So there's two teams that are still theoretically in the hunt that are kind of the poster child for this. And that's Missouri and Illinois. So both of those are two lost teams. They're in the SEC in the Big Ten respectively. Were they to win out, which is going to be challenging for

either one of them, but were they to win out? Would their block Missouri lost by a combined 65 points to Texas A&M in Alabama. Last by 31 A&M 34 to Alabama. Illinois lost 38 9 to Oregon in a game where Oregon probably could have scored 70 if it wanted to. So if they get to 10 and two, which means and this means that there's been a lot of chaos in if it wanted to. So if they get to 10 and two, which means, and this means that there's been a lot of chaos in general, would they get dinged?

Would they get left out because they were blown out? So I'm like, I'll be curious about if they're ranked at all this week and where that would be. Well, Illinois is out because they lost on Saturday. So they're not a part of this. Oh, you're right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

You're right. They're actually one of the few teams that there were 31 that we calculated last week that were still alive for the playoff. And I think the vast majority of them are still technically alive because the losses that occurred over the weekend happened to teams that were still like very, like either undefeated or one lost team. So like a lot of teams are still alive, but Illinois is one of the few that dropped out. But

you know what, Andy, the blowout losses don't only pertain to teams like. You know. Mizzou like what happens if Texas loses to A&M by a point and they're being compared? Does Texas getting blown out by Georgia matter? Or did the scoreboard make it look less bad? Like, I mean, yeah, is that a... I don't even know if you consider that a blowout. George dominated the game.

McCarson Beck throwing a bunch of picks in the game that kept Texas in it, makes it look like OK, you know, Texas did happen at you know Texas caused those to happen so. I don't really consider that a blowout 30 to 15. Yeah, I don't know. It felt like one. I don't know.

It did it especially felt like one in the first half so that a sub question to this question would be. Does the score have to be a blowout for the committee to view it as a blowout? I think I think we're talking three touchdowns or more. Okay, so we don't have anybody like that other than Missouri. And Missouri has two like full on got destroyed

games. So they're another one into another one. Where's that? Okay, this is a crab ass one. Okay, but you got to bear with me. Sure. Sure. SMU loses a game. Clemson reasserts itself as the ACC champion and then makes it to the ACC Championship game, not assert itself at the

champion as the championship game representative and then lose to Miami. If Clemson finds itself in a debate as a three-loss team at the end of the year for the final spot, which is possible, would getting its ass kicked by the Lakers in South Carolina but then they make the ACC Championship? Right. Or they lose to the Miami A's. No, no, they would lose to the ACC.

They would lose to the ACC. Oh, they'd be out. They would be out. They'd be out. Yeah, they would be out. They would be out. But what if they're being compared to another team that has three losses because chaos can reign? Yeah. Well, actually, let's get to that question because I asked that question. OK, go ahead. Go to the next one. Because there's one. I think there's only one team that can get in with three losses right now.

I said, and my question was, any three lost teams gonna have a chance? There's one team. That team is Vanderbilt. Okay, so Vanderbilt's got the win against Alabama, which is great. They took Texas to the wire. Cool. They lost to Missouri in overtime. They lost to Georgia State, which is awful.

That's like a Notre Dame NIU level loss. But here's what they would have to do to get to nine and three. They have to beat South Carolina win at LSU and beat Tennessee. If they were to do that, there is a possibility that they would have wins against two playoff teams. There may be three, probably two though, because if even if LSU were to beat Alabama, if Vanderbilt beats them, then Vanderbilt I would assume goes ahead of them because they'd both be three lost teams. But would that be something you consider because at that point there's a good chance Alabama and Tennessee, now maybe Tennessee's not, maybe Vandy hands Tennessee's third loss,

but Vandy would have some awfully good quality wins and probably at least one winning as the playoff team. I think I could take the trip with you there, but I'm not putting them in on the 31 now. No, I don't think you should, because I think the chances of them winning their final three games. Well, I had Florida. I had Florida on it last week. So if I had Florida on it, do I have to put Vandy on it?

Like, I don't know. It's the same. It's the same. Florida's resume would have been more impressive, probably. And Florida wouldn't have the Georgia State loss. Like, the Georgia State loss is. Part of the pun, the anchor holding Vandy down here with Florida.

They would have without question been in. If Vandy did this, I don't know that it would be guaranteed. So like that I still think that even if they didn't remark, it wouldn't be guaranteed, which probably would keep them off the list, but I do like where your heads at. OK, last question, Andy ready? Yep, and this one was mine and I don't have any specifics, but I think it's important. Here's the question, what does the bottom of the top 25 look like? And this is an important thing because as we look at the rankings, we get very fixated

on oh, why is Indiana 6 instead of 9 and why is Boise number 11 instead of 13 whatever. But a lot of times it's the bottom half of the poll that starts to matter a lot and maybe not so much on November 5th but on November you know 29th it's going to matter a ton. You want to know why? Because if there are teams that have four losses or three losses or even five losses that creep into that bottom half of that poll, then that counts as top 25 wins on your resume, which will then in turn look like good wins at the end of the year. Which the committee seems to care a lot about. They care a lot about that.

Like on their final ranking, that is the most common justification for why this team got in or why this team is ranked where it's ranked on the last day, is they had this many wins against teams in our top 25. Which yep, 20 times an arbitrary number, but that's where they're that's where they're setting the line. But I'm going to be locked in on the bottom half of this tonight because I think it's going to tell us a lot about who has quality wins next week as we're talking about this going in.

Again, so yeah, keep your eyes on not just the top half of the top 25, but also the bottom half because it's going to tell the story. And at the end of the year, if there are inevitable debates, the teams that are ranked 20-25 are going to have a pretty important influence on the teams that may or may not get it. great. A little bonus question. It's not a Deere-Annie and Arriday, but this is a, JC has a good question in the chat. If Army goes and beats Notre Dame and then do they get ranked higher than Boise State? Yeah, I would think so. And I also think if Army goes undefeated, they would be in over Boise State. Now that's where you get that really interesting one of, is the Big 12 champion at that point. Because it depends on who it is, and it depends on how many losses they have. So there's potential for a lot of chaos coming up.

Yeah, a lot. You know what? I can't stop thinking about is what if Boise would have just beaten Oregon would they be like number one right now? They'd be in the top five. I think yeah Anyway, what well they're gonna get an extra dose of us today Andy They're gonna get an extra dose of us if you're not tired of us yet, which I'm sure you're not

7 p.m. Eastern time right here on the on three sports YouTube channel will be live as the playoff rankings are revealed We'll talk about it And of course, we'll talk about it. And of course we'll talk about it again tomorrow. Plus tomorrow is a Wendy's saucy take Wednesday. It is my turn to deliver the sauce. Are you not have not been saucy enough the past two weeks. It's time to get saucier. Let's go.

We'll talk to you tomorrow. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey