Andy & Ari On3 - Will Dan Lanning or Steve Sarkisian BREAK THROUGH first? Comparing Texas & Oregon by the numbers

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

Happy Friday! It's a Dear Andy & Ari show, and the listeners have sent in some excellent questions. The fellas start things off with a deep dive into the numbers against the spread for Dan Lanning at Oregon and Steve Sarkisian at Texas. Which one will get over the hump first? Andy & Ari deliberate.   (0:00) On Today's Episode (1:03) Presenting Sponsor (2:54) Intro: Dear Andy & Ari Day (4:45) Dear Andy & Ari: Sark or Lanning? (15:40) Jake's Manifesto on Texas (22:08) GameTime (23:44) Tom's Trivia Question (27:24) Does the SEC need to win the title? (36:47) Previewing Willie Simmons, C-USA (39:54) FIU HC Willie Simmons Joins (51:02) Opening the season vs USF (52:07) FIU QB's room (57:00) Being a girl dad (1:01:15) Leaving Florida A&M (1:07:31) Pitbull Song for FIU (1:12:43) Ari & Camping (1:18:45) Schedule Change (1:20:34) Closing out: North Carolina vs TCU   Next up, more submissions to Dear Andy & Ari include.... Jake's manifesto on Texas Tom's trivia question on Michigan   After that, Florida International head coach Willie Simmons joins the show to discuss his first season at FIU and what he learned on his path to get there.   Our show is presented by Polymarket!   New User Offer: Deposit $10, get $20 upon sign up   https://app.polymarket.us/S8ac/ON3   Trade on College Football games every week on Polymarket. Download the Polymarket App with code ON3 for a $20 bonus upon sign up.   18+ only. Restrictions and eligibility requirement apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur.   We are sponsored by Gametime! Take the guesswork out of buying tickets to every type of event with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Gametime.co       Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Subscribe to On3!  ⬇️ youtube.com/on3sports/?sub_confirmati... Welcome to On3 | The best of college football and recruiting https://www.on3.com/   Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/Lv0Wt0uYEI4   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Andy and Ariane 3 presented by Polymarket, we talk Steve Sarkesian versus Dan Lannick. Who is the most likely to break through and win a national title first? One of you sent in some very interesting side-by-side comparison information that may change how you feel on this topic. Also, we talk about what happens if an SEC team does happen to win the national title. this year. Plus, a great interview with Florida International coach, Willie Simmons, that's right, the team with the Miami Vice uniforms, Pitbulls Stadium. Willie Simmons, going into year two, took him to a bowl game in year one. Very exciting stuff in Miami. Great chat with Willie Simmons, who also agrees with Ari on the subject of pedicures. Talk to him and everything else

on today's Andy and Ari on 3 presented by Polymarket. We got a new sponsor alert, Ari. We are now brought to you by Polymarket. That's right. Available in all 50 states. Download that Polymarket app. And now we're taking positions. It's what we're always doing.

We're moving markets. It feels great. Yeah. We're market movers, guys. Exactly. So this works very much like what you're used to. The difference is, well, if you've traded soybean futures or pork bellies, you're really going to know what's going on.

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Let's have a show. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by Polymarket and Ari.

It's a dear Andy, dear Ari show. And typically when I see a bunch of attachments to the email with the question, I'm running right past it. I'm running away because I don't know what's going to happen. I got two today where I thoroughly enjoyed the attachments. Yeah. Attachments usually indicate care.

So, you know, you usually it's, this is my 166 team proposal for a new conference alignment. And I'm like, it's not going to happen. I don't care. These, these are, well, one of them is really interesting information and one of them is completely psychotic. So I like them both. Well, you know, I'm privy and maybe partial is the word to psychotic. And I can't wait to get into it, Andy, because I think that podcast should be about psychosis, don't you?

Like, I mean, we should be really in the weeds. We should be, you know, really freaking out about everything. Especially having fancy yesterday. Like, I get that you may, you know, normal people may say, well, why would you get mad about being invited to a wedding during college football season? Like, I get that if you're a normal person. But if you're someone who is watching or listening to this show every day, that ain't you. You're like me.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's okay to be angry. You know, like when you go to a gas station, you know, a rush. And the person in front of you is spending 26 minutes picking out their lottery tickets. Like there's things that should make you mad. Exactly. It's healthy.

Getting invited to a loved one's way. in October. That should make you mad. Should it rate you. All right. Let's start with this from William because this is really fascinating because William has been following along with this conversation that we've had. This is something that we've been having on and off for months of who breaks through first, who wins the national title.

Is it Steve Sarkeesian at Texas? Is it Dan Landing in Oregon? Because we think both of them are knocking on the door. We think it's possible for both of them. So William put the numbers together and some really. really interesting tables that he attached to the email. So here's his question. I thought the Sark landing discussion was really interesting.

So I went into a bit of a deep dive of data comparing them. And since I work in the sports betting space, William Works for Action Network. That's where my mind went. And that's how I started digging stuff up. I think the first chart, which shows their points versus expectations, was super interesting because it shows overall that landing is getting more out of his teams than Sark. And that stats are particularly telling when considering that factors Oregon losing by a hundred in each of the last two playoffs.

The against the spread charts are also interesting and seem to show why people doubt Texas. Yes, they are very good every year through the past three seasons when the spread is within six points either way. Texas is six and five with all of their wins coming as a favorite. Slightly above 500 with similar talent or against similar talent is fine,

but six and five doesn't suggest he'd be able to win three or four straight in the playoff. And so we'll go to the charts that William sent us, and they're very interesting. So the first one is games versus similar talent. So this would be 2003 to 2025, so the previous three seasons in games against teams that are in the F plus top 20. So the biggest power ranking top 20 team. 14 games apiece for Steve Sarkesian and Dan Langing.

Steve Sarkeesian is 7 and 7 straight up against those teams. Dan landing is 9 and 5 against the spread. Sark is 6 and 8 against the spread. Landing is 7, 6 and 1. The average margin versus the spread, Sark is minus 0.8 points. Lanting is plus 4.1 points. So he overperforms relative to expectations.

And then total points versus expectation, Sark is minus 11 landing is plus 58. So that's pretty interesting, all right? So because a similar talent thing is where it becomes more difficult to parse in college football. Like the NFL, that's pretty easy. Every team has fairly similar talent. In college football, a team like Texas or a team like Oregon is pretty rarely playing a team of similar talent. So that's 14 times for each of them over three seasons.

you know, I did this after Urban Meyer was finished at Ohio State, and I went back and I added up every single game that Urban Meyer coached in against teams of similar talent, and he was like 500. Yeah. You know, like I think that, you know, those two records, although Dan Laning has a slight edge, I'm not necessarily sure as overly telling. You know, I don't know how much the data persuades you, Andy.

I just think that's overperforming expectations versus Texas underperforming expectations is interesting. Yeah. But I also think that there's probably a distinction, too, on the types of teams that these guys were playing and where they were ringed. You know, like, I think that a lot of times that there are, there are hidden things. What are you talking about? These are all top 20 teams. No, I know, but not all top 20 teams are built the same.

Yeah, but like Oregon played the national champ twice last year. So like two of the losses in Oregon's ledger were to the Indiana team that won the national title. So are you very, like, moved? Because like, I'll be honest with you, Andy. When I started this question, it was like, which one is going to break through? Laning or Sark first, my initial distinction or thought process was like, I don't know, they both could do it this year. And I don't know which one will do it.

Did reading these numbers make you lean towards landing? Well, let me read you some more numbers. Okay. So this is what William sent us, this is games with the spread six point. either way. So this is telling about talent. Okay. So this could be Texas or Oregon is either favored by six or a six point underdog or somewhere in between on that spectrum. So these are fairly even matchups. These are one score games, at least from a Vegas perspective. Pre-game standpoint, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So in those games, Texas played 11 of them, six and five straight up. Oregon played 10 of them, six and four straight up. Oregon played 10 of them, six and four straight up. up. Texas is four, nine and one against the spread, Oregon, four and five against the spread. As an underdog, now this is a six point or less underdog, but it's an underdog nonetheless. Texas is one and four, Oregon's three and one.

Versus AP top ten opponents, Texas is five and six, Oregon's six and five. In one score games, Texas seven and five, Oregon seven and four. So very similar in that respect, other than... Oregon outperforming as an underdog. Now, I know, I know. This is a small sample size, too. I know that the question already provided a ton of research. What I would be very curious with Andy is comparing those numbers to teams that broke through.

Like, how much different are the teams that won the national championship the last few years? Yeah, if you're talking about, I would bet if we had George's 2018, 2019, 2020 numbers, they would look. somewhat similar to this. Yeah. Now, those teams have fewer losses because they won the championship. So if you're taking into account. Well, no, Georgia didn't win it. I'm talking about the three years before Georgia broke through. Oh, yeah.

But what I'd be very curious to see is how much the numbers in terms of against the spread and expected points and all those things would actually look like for teams that actually won it. Like how different is it? Because, you know, the numbers when comparing them head to head is interesting. it would be cool to see the numbers for everyone and see how different they are. Well, I think

this might make me lean a little more towards landing. But again, it's a very small sample size. Is it also kind of amusing to you that the thing that would skew the points one way or the other in terms of spread and stuff is red zone efficiency? I think a Texas fan would say that,

would raise their hand and say, that's it right there. Yeah. because if they score one or two more touchdowns in games, like those numbers change because it's not a large sample size. Exactly. My number one retort for this would be, well,

these numbers weren't taken into account when Cam Coleman was on the team. You know? So, like, I do think that. But now they got a five star. No, another five star.

They already had a lot of five stars. They don't have a five. Andy, Cam Coleman's not a five star. He's a first round draft pick. Like that, there's a distinction between those two things. But I think,

that it's important to note, Andy, that Lannie has done a better job the last few years. And I think that's something that the listeners and both of us learned today. Like, that's an important thing to know. Yeah. How much it moves me in terms of how I view this year. I don't know that it does particularly that much, but I started this question not knowing the answer. Like they're both very, very talented teams.

They both have coaches who have been knocking on the door. And, you know, frankly speaking, you know, for, for the things that you you can find in the data that Oregon has a, you know, edge at, I think you could also make the case that Texas has fared better in the playoff. And I don't know how you would break that down mathematically, but, you know, the one thing that Texas has that Oregon doesn't was a very competitive game against Ohio State two years ago. Right. And Texas played Ohio State right after Ohio State blew out Oregon and Texas played a very competitive game against it. So, yeah. So, you know, I don't know who's closer.

Oregon made the playoff last year, Texas didn't at all. Like, I think there's a give and take with this type of thing. Yeah, I think this is, this is going to be really interesting, and it's going to be fun to watch because they're both capable of it. Both have rosters that are capable of it right now, and presumably we'll have rosters capable of it in the coming years. I mean, it's going to be amusing because it's very conceivable, if not probable, that these two teams will play each other in the postseason this year.

Could play each other for the national title fall. They could be in the title game against each other. I mean, honestly, like, I don't know, you know, if both teams have similar regular seasons and do what we think they can do, they'll both be on the opposite ends of brackets because of their seed. And that could lead that up to it. But, you know, if one team drops a game that they're not supposed to or whatever, like they could be in the same side.

So we'll see. Yeah. Let me give you a wild landing stat, though. I think I've mentioned this on the show. Sure. He's lost eight games at Oregon. And four to the eventual championship. Four of those are the national champion.

Yeah. Incredible. I mean, yeah, I do think optically speaking, Dan Lannning has been hurt by the way that the last two seasons ended. But when you actually zoom out and look at the aggregate of the talent accumulation, the proficiency during the regular season, the thing that Lannie has done is that they don't lose games, they're not supposed to. He's done a really good job. And Sarks got in Texas to that spot generally. The Florida game last year is really an outlier if you look at the last few seasons.

For the last few seasons, for sure. I actually think that, you know, when I look at what they've done, I look at them very similarly. Now, the question that, you know, I think Sarkesian has the edge in is who had the further distance to traverse to complete the build to this. And I would probably make the case that Oregon was a little bit closer based on where Mario Cristos. Oh, yeah. Where Mario left Oregon for landing to take over was a much better place than what you could also make the case that Oregon is much further advanced. now than Oregon was beforehand. And that might not even be a Mario Cristobal discussion.

That just might be an NIL-era transfer portal situation where geographical locations of high school athletes became less important. Because that's the one thing that Texas has always had an edge with. They had 500 blue chip players within a 500 mile radius of their campus every year. So, you know, listen, I don't know how much this will help you, but it is certainly fascinating to look at the numbers, Andy. I appreciate them. Before we move off of this topic,

I want to read you Jake's question and then a little bit of Jake's manifesto. This is from Jake. After listening to the media pumped Texas all offseason, the start of this year has honestly been the best case scenario for Texas haters like me. So I decided to put together what I'm calling my Texas is a fraud program manifesto. He attached a four-page document. And here's the preamble to the four-page document. I'll admit it up front.

I'm a certified hater. I love to hate watch almost as much as I love to watch my own team, and no program feeds my inner hater more than Texas. Every August the same tire headline resurfaces, Texas is back. But every season, when you actually look into the numbers, the story under Csesee-Sorkeesian stays the same. Soft schedules, quarterbacks who stall out,

offenses that fade, recruiting classes loaded with stars that end up wasted. And it goes on for four pages. The first subhead is the, schedule mirage. Offenses that fade. Talent in, wasted out. By the way,

I don't need to read all of this to tell you that most of this has already been disproven. Yeah. Well, also it depends on how far you're going back. Yeah.

Because, like, I think the thing that Steve Sarkesian has done much better than his predecessors as getting the more out of their good players and getting them drafted. Like, you know,

my number one stats that I love to share on the show that, like, keeps me up. at night when I think about it is that Texas went 20 years between Vince Young and Bejohn Robinson without having a single first round draft pick on the offensive side of the ball. When you think about the types of players that they signed during that 20 year period, that's almost like more unlikely than the Big Bang theory.

Like, I mean, like, it's just like unbelievable. You have teams in the FCS that had more first round picks on the offensive side of that during that time period. Jake closes the manifesto with an appendix. and the last thing in the appendix is Keith Price's Washington passing statistics. I mean, I love you, Jake. Like, this is the sort of hatred we need in college football. Yeah, no, I think this is healthy in a weird, unhealthy way. You know, the one thing that I think that our show is missing,

and I think we can maybe try to do better at, maybe even starting this season, Andy, is having more fan voice in the show. Yes, we're going to have a phone number. number for you to call in. Let's advertise this now, so you're already thinking about it. We're going to have a phone number. I want you to call in after your team's game and just let and tell us how you feel. But also if you're a hater, like, you don't have, it doesn't have to be about your favorite

team. I would like, I don't know how long it would take Jake to read the manifesto. I don't know if this is like kind of like. You don't know if the voicemail would, would just cut him off. Yeah. And he'd have to do it. Like that scene in swingers, he just have to just pick up on the next one. Are you getting like 10% Unabomber vibes here?

I don't know. But I would be very curious to have him read it for us, especially if he's like a charismatic person because like that would be a really funny. Jake is a very good writer. Like the writing in this is clean. It's persuasive. Yeah. As River pointed out, I would really like to know if this is just a crazy Oklahoma fan or are we like talking about some random person who, like roots for Arizona State who's just like hates Texas.

That's another great question. Jake, let us know one way or the other. I'm thinking you're an Oklahoma or an M fan. I lean toward A&M. Yeah, but then it's even funnier if you're a TCU fan. Yeah, I mean, it is possible that they're just like a Baylor fan. Yeah, but I would love to know. But I do think that when people put an effort the way that Jake did, and you spreadsheet people out there do.

Like, I do think that if you were going to put as much time thinking about something related to college football, and you want to share it with us that we should be better about presenting that for you. So, you know, that doesn't mean we're going to do it for everybody. But if you said, let me just tell you this, Andy. I don't know if you agree with me. If your subject line to my email includes the line manifesto, I'm opening it. They're all going to include the word manifesto now. He's guaranteed that.

Did you do the word count on this thing? I have not. Oh, Lord. I don't know how long it'll take you to do it, but I would be very curious. I'm thinking we're looking at a solid 1,500 words. Okay. Yeah, I mean, it takes me about an hour to write a 1,200 word column. So like it.

You're a professional writer. You're very fast. Yes, I'm very good at it. But also the writing is not the hard part, the research to back up the points as the hard part. So I would love to know how I'm going to read this. How far do you go back? Because I do think that there is some. I actually have a column about this, Andy, that is in the sphere.

Jake Lockers mentioned. Okay. So we go back. I mean, Keith Price predates Jake Locker. But I wrote a column that should be online by the time this show goes up that is about Steve Sarkesian and why people doubt him. And actually, Jake Locker was before. Keith Price. My bad.

Yeah, that sounded right. But I am very curious about the, you know, Dan Lannning and Steve Sarkesian to go back to the first questions, like general doubt from the public. You know, like, I think that, you know, there aren't a lot of instances where somebody has actually done

a great job and gotten not that much credit. Maybe they're more common than I think because the only thing people can consume is did you win the championship or not? But like in the aggregate, when you zoom out on both jobs that these coaches have done, like I don't know if there's a rational person out there that would say they've done a bad job. Like Texas is a fraud.

No, Texas was a fraud in 2016 when they went like five and seven in the big 12. Like, yeah, I mean, there was some pretty bad. There were some pretty bad Texas seasons. If being a fraud is making the SEC championship game and going nine and three against a very hard schedule and being a very good football team, then like, I don't know who you root for, but they better be like Bama or something because Texas is probably in the top three. percent of accomplished programs the last three years, right? Yeah, I'd say so. All right. Before we get to our next question, let's say you want to see the Texas Longhorns play.

And, you know, maybe that Ohio State ticket, maybe that's a bit much. Maybe you want to see them game one, which, by the way, so Texas is playing Texas State in game one. If you haven't seen Brad Jackson, the Texas State quarterback, he's freaking all. Awesome. So I'm a little, like, I think Texas is going to win this game, obviously, but I want to watch it because I'm intrigued to see Brad Jackson going against that Texas defense. You can get in. Still not cheap because it's Texas. But there's a get-in price of 104 bucks on game time for that Texas, Texas State game. Game time has your tickets to every sporting event, every concert, every comedy show, you name it. I use it to get my daughter tickets to Megan Maroney earlier this year. We had a blast at that show.

highly recommend if you're looking for a good show. But it's college football season. So you want to go see Texas open the season against Texas State. 104 bucks get in. You want to go see Texas against Ohio State. They got those tickets too. Might cost you a little more, but they got them. Or maybe you take the other side of this and think Dan Lannning breaks through first.

And you want to see Oregon open the season against Boise State. Well, guess what? You can go to game time. You type in that game. You can be looking at what your view would look like at Austin Stadium from your seat in Section 36, row 81 for 84 bucks. It's a pretty good deal. Pretty good deal.

So download the GameTime app. We're reading the code, Staples for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. That's Game Time. Code is Staples, STAP, L-E-S, $20 off your first purchase. All right. Our next question comes from Tom. It's a bit of trivia.

A bit of trivia. This is a great question. I'm going to ask this to you and producer River. This is one of those. looked it up when Tom sent the question. And then I told you guys, don't look it up because I want to see if you can get it. Who are the only two big 10 teams that have beaten Michigan twice in the 2020s? So it's going to be right.

It's not Ohio State. So like it is not question. You know that. Okay. Can I just guess? I don't know. You can. Yeah.

USC? No. They haven't been in the conference long. enough. Think back to the disaster of the 2020 year, and that will be your guide. This is the year the Harbaugh got his pay cut.

Wisconsin? No, but that was a terrible game for Michigan in 2020. That's the game I remember from 2020. That's the one where there's a screenshot of the Wisconsin offensive line opening five separate holes on one play.

Yeah, that was the one where I was like, this is the end for Jim Harbaugh. So I don't know what else happened in 2020, but I don't recall that. We established backstage it was not Purdue. I guess what it was Brom and Purdue that got him, but it wasn't. Okay.

Now, it was, I believe, the same coach got him twice for one team, but two different coaches got him for the other team. Is it Iowa? It is not Iowa. I don't know.

Come on. Who did, okay, who is Michigan's other rival that is in Ohio State? Michigan State. That's correct. Is that one of them? We got them in 2020. And remember 2021, the Kenneth Walker season? Yeah.

Oh, yeah, we watched that game live together. We live casted. We screened that game live. So Sparty's one of them. That's stupid that we didn't get them twice. Yeah. In 2020 and 2021. All right.

So who do we always talk about in this show? Who broke everybody's brain? Signetti, Indiana. He beat him once. Tom Allen beat him in 2020. I believe Penn Ex is still healthy. Now I see what you're saying. Think about the 2020 season as your guide.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's Indiana and Michigan State. That was a hard question. That was. That was. How weird is that? Michigan State.

should have been the first guess. I mean, like, that was stupid of me because they had their number there for a minute. But I don't know how many people remember that 20, because Michigan won so many games between 2021 and 2023 that, like, you forget that they lost that game. That was a classic game. It was a incredible game. I mean, that's why I guessed USC, because USC beat them last year. And I thought maybe they played them. Kind of manhandle them last year. Yeah. That was good. But, yeah, probably should have gone with traditional Big Ten teams before expansion because that would have given you more matchups. Yeah, they just hadn't played, you know, against USC.

Yeah, trivia questions are fun, guys. It doesn't have to be Hugh Hey, am I? That was fun. Like, that wasn't a question. That was just cool to talk about. That's a great trivia question, Tom. So thank you for that. All right.

Final question today comes from Joe. Dear Andy and I, in my sphere of college football, it doesn't seem like the SEC is the top of the food chain anymore. How would the narrative in the CFB world change if the SEC won the CFP this year? Is the 2014 playoff pushed off a few more years? Do bragging rights amplify between the two powers rendering the ACC and Big 12 useless?

Thanks for all you guys do without being over the top. Ari, if Brandon Walker invites you on his show, disrespectfully declined. I disagree. I had a lovely time on Brandon Walker's show. Yeah, I don't have a feud with him. I don't know. I just don't know the man.

I think paints ginned up a feud with him. Like, T-shirts are being printed. We may actually need to create a, a feud with somebody. Yeah. I mean, like, I don't know if this is like a terrible for business idea,

but like as many people who can work in our industry and be successful. Brandon and Josh, I think are better at the, the carnival barker salesmanship than we are. Yeah, because they're like actually probably best friends. Yeah. They're actually entertainers.

Like we, we need to get on their level. So, I mean, like it takes a long time to, I mean, we were journalists. We're trying to become podcasters.

Hey, Brandon was in a, like Brandon was the editor of the sports editor of the Northwest Florida Daily News in the 20. in the 20s. So, like, he just, he's got a little more flair for this. We got to figure it out. We got to figure it out.

You know what we need, my number one thing that I think we need, and I don't know if it's possible to unlock this, but we need River to embrace the craziness of being a Tennessee fan. Like when Tennessee loses or when Tennessee wins, like he needs to pop up and just freak the f out. See, he is that. I know, but we need to get him to reveal it. Yeah.

It boils on the inside, but he never lets it out. Because Andy and I have had this discussion, actually, because you get accused of being a Florida fan all the time. I get accused of being an Ohio State fan all the time. But I do think that there is something that would be gained if that were actually true for us. Well, it's interesting because, like, the Florida fans, and I was messing around, I was talking to the people on the Gators online message board this week.

and I said something about and I know you guys suffered through Billion Napier saying, you know, we need time to build this, all that. And one of them said, I know you suffered through it too, Andy. Don't lie. I actually didn't. Like, I've been doing this so long that it's not like that. And also, I didn't grow up a Florida fan.

I grew up a South Carolina fan. So it's a little bit different for me. But when the Chicago Bears lose a football game, what does everybody think? What is Big Cat one going to say about this? Yeah. Like people like watching people react. Like when Mississippi State loses,

Brandon- if I actually felt that way. Yeah. But if I, like, let's say if Florida lost, like say, the Marco Wilson shoe throw game. Like, if I,

if I really did feel that way, I'm sure my reaction would have been volcanic. I'm just telling you, as a sports consumer, when Oregon loses, I enjoy those like two-minute, like, sad clips that Dan Rubinstein

puts out from the solid verbal. When Mississippi, State lost last year, although it was quite theatrical. I don't remember what game was it where they were winning and they blew it when Brandon Walker was there and everybody was laughing. That was the Texas game. Yeah, that was hilarious. Like whether it was real or not, who cares.

Oh, it was funny. That's the thing. It's real. Those guys aren't faking it. And I think the audience knows when you're faking it. That's, and that's why we're not going to, we're not going to fake it. But River is not faking it and we need to access the Tennesseanus of that because he is fake.

He's actually miserable. We've watched. Tennessee games with him in the living room. And it looks like he wants to die the entire time. I went upstairs at the Oklahoma game. Oh, yeah. Tate Sandell was, Tate Sandel put a steak through your heart last year.

There's nothing like college football that makes you feel dead inside yet so alive, right? Like, it's just, but I do, I feel like we need to be more characteristic about the things that make, like, maybe not in the regular season, I mean, off season, but like in the regular season, And if Tennessee loses a heartbreaker or wins a great game, like last year when Georgia beat them in that crazy overtime game, like River should have opened the show for five minutes. Like it was just, you know. We'll make that happen.

We will make that happen. Yeah, Rivers had to be the official spokesman of Wall Twitter. And like you have a big responsibility in that title because there's some people out there that have some thoughts. No, I know. They always have thoughts. Yeah. Always.

So as to Joe's question, I think it's good for business, as in the college football business, if one of the SEC teams won the national title this year, particularly against a Big Ten team in the national title game, because, yes, then the sniping back and forth becomes even more interesting. It's not fun when one is just dominating the other. Like when the SEC was dominating and the Big Ten would complain, they're just whining at that point.

Now the Big Ten is dominating. When the SEC does it, it sounds like, whining. So if the SEC were to win and then you have on the backside of that three big 10 titles in a row, then that sniping back and forth becomes much more interesting and much more fun. I also think that if the SEC wins the championship this year, that it will do everything in their power to delegitimize what the Big Ten just got done doing. Yes. So when it talks, when it comes to trash talking like that, like as Andy is as mentioned, is great. So I, I don't know, Andy, is there a playoff implication here if they were to win the championship?

I don't think so because I think that has less to do with who's winning and more to do with just straight up numbers and math and how much some TV network's going to be willing to pay for something. The deadline to make a decision on the 2027 playoff format is actually December 1st. Now, if you remember last year, it was also December 1st and then they extended it to January and then they extended it deeper into January. So maybe it won't be decided by the time this year's playoff starts. But allegedly, according to their own deadline, it should be decided one way or the other before the playoffs starts. So I don't think that necessarily would affect that. But I do think it would affect just these straight up bragging rights, like the sub-tweeting and the direct making fun of that goes on at the various conference media days.

Yeah, but I also think that the SEC was so powerful for. so long that like it's going to take longer than another year like even if the big 10 wins it again this year the SEC is still going to feel like the most powerful conference like I don't think that the big 10 streak is at like we're not at the like lopsided phase of this rivalry feels like the most powerful conference now I mean I think they do in the south well yeah but I'm talking about everywhere yeah I'd be very curious because I even more money the big 10 makes more money the Big Ten has the last three national champions. You know, Andy, I even caught myself.

AP number one and number two. I just caught myself on this show doing it. But when we were talking about Oregon and Texas, and I made that comment earlier in the show saying, well, the quality of opponent that. That's why I pushed back. I was like, what are you talking about? When Oregon plays a good big team, it's the same thing.

It's so ingrained in the fiber of most people's fabrics from the last 20 years that it's going to take longer than three years for it to, like, get flushed out of the system and to become neutral again. Well, if the Big Ten keeps winning national titles, it won't. Like, in my head, Auburn, as a 500 team, is a better football team than Washington at 500. And, like, I don't know how long it's going to take for that to go away. And Washington has been more recently successful than Auburn. Right. I'm just saying gut reaction based on the recruiting rankings era.

there it is that now we see the reason we we get to the root of the problem yeah and that was like the whole thing that propped up the SEC's dominance for 20 years they had better players so like you have to like wash that out of your brain and it takes it takes a while and listen I've been on the forefront I think the front lines I should say of you know defending the big 10's prowess and its rise and it's robust nature I still think that the big 10's bottom portion of teams needs to get better. I think that there's some eyesores down there. You guys make a ton of money, spend it.

Get better. Right. And I think that hopefully we'll get to a point where everyone in the Big Ten cares as much as everybody in the SEC. I don't think we're there yet. But I do think that the financial shift has certainly played a factor in this. Yeah. So, yeah, I do think, again, better for business, I think for both leagues, if it's a little more of back and forth

instead of one dominating and then the other dominating. It's more fun if they're sniping back and forth and there's a chance that one of their teams can win it. But make no mistake. If the Big Ten wins it again this year, they will still snipe. Oh, no question.

Yeah. As they should. Yeah. I mean, the SEC did it when it was dominant. So I don't blame either party for what they're doing. Ari, got a very fun guest next. Next, Florida International head coach Willie Simmons, the Panthers, you know them from the Miami Vice uniforms,

you know them from Pitbull Stadium. You also know them from reeling off four consecutive wins at the end of the last regular season in Willie Simmons' first year on the job. And listen, they're in Conference USA. That sucker is wide open, wide open. Let's look at Polly Market right now. Let us look at the market for the Conference USA champion because this is a, again, wide open league.

Currently, 29% of the market on Liberty, 23% on Western Kentucky, 17% on Jacksonville State, 12% on Delaware, 10% on Florida International, 10% on defending champ Kennesaw State. You saw Jerry Mack, the Kennesaw State coach on this show. And by the way, Kennesaw State just announced their starting quarterback will be former LSU and Syracuse quarterback, Ricky Collins, who by the way, Kennesaw State's starting quarterback from last year who won CUSA and Mario Odom is now at Syracuse. So that was basically a trade. But I have a feeling after you hear Willie Simmons, though, you may, your thoughts on the

Panthers chances this year may change because this is a guy who's been winning wherever he's been. And he's been a head coach for a long time because he was a head. coach at the FCS level for a long time before he got the FIU job. So I am fascinated by his rise and Ari. We talk about this with Jason Eck when we had him on last week, the New Mexico coach, who had been at Idaho and had been spent much of his career as an FCS assistant. I think if you have Signetti winning the way he's winning, if Bob Chesney goes to UCLA and wins a bunch of games, if Willie Fritz continues to have Houston as one of the best teams in the Big 12,

all of these Power Conference schools are going to go, wait a second. Maybe people who win at every level just win. And I think that's why it's important to have these guys on our show because, you know, people might not be all that bought in right now, the general fan, and how FIU is doing. But it's really cool as a fan to familiarize yourself with personalities that might be in the spotlight in a few years. And Willie Simmons, 45. year old guy who's been a head coach for 13 years now or this is 13th season as a head coach there was one

one in the middle where he went to duke but as an assistant but very experienced head coach and a very young man so um yeah i i'm fascinated by this and uh also by the idea of a pit bull penned and recorded theme song for f i you we're going to get into that with willie simmons and uh I might have some ideas after the interview. We'll preview that. Here is Willie Simmons. We take you now to Pitbull Stadium. We're Willie Simmons.

Getting ready to start season two at Florida International. And like, when you tell people you play in Pitbull Stadium, does it still get a rise out of everybody? It does. They always ask how he comes around, how often we've seen them. That's usually the number one question we get. We're excited to be here in Pitbull Stadium.

And thankful to Scott Carr for having the vision to do this, I think, at not a third year of the stadium renaming. So I want to bring a championship to 305 and hopefully have Pitbull do a concert at halftime. How often does he come around and how often do you see him? Well, I didn't know what I took the job. He's probably one of the businessmen in the world, being on the worldwide tour. So I think he has a residency in Vegas.

I actually think he had a residency here at the Heart Rock. hard rock up in Hollywood. So he's doing a lot of touring, a lot of concerts. Did have a chance to meet him for the first time this spring, which was a great opportunity for us. And he's committed to doing more with the program. So excited to see what that looks like. Yeah, the theme song's still coming.

That's what I'm waiting for because you, well, actually, that's the thing. Like, you guys have a pretty good post-game victory celebration that you do. But if you added a theme song, to that. Would that just take it up a notch? Yeah, I think it would. You know, we want to be shirtless as much as possible. We always try to go shirtless out the wins. And so we had a nice pit bull song that maybe reference, you know, winning or taking shirts off, probably going for the viral.

I mean, the name of a song should just be tarps off, no? Hey, I'm sure he is his team trying to write that down and take it back to him. First of all, listen, coach, that's a hit. Like, there's no question that's a hit. But for those who don't understand, because everybody's doing this TARP soft thing at the Major League Baseball Stadiums now, like you were on the cutting edge of this. So let us, I'm trying to remember which win this was. I think this was your sixth win last season. This is your fifth win last season.

This is your fifth win. So let's show a little post game in the FIU locker room. Say, man, I'm so damn proud of y'all, man. Love y'all guys so much, man. Your heart, your attitude, your grit, everything about it. Like, it's fun to watch y'all play. Now, stay fun tonight, be smart, 24-hour rule. We come back tomorrow, ready to go to work, right?

So again, season ain't over. We gave these seniors our homecoming win, all right? Now, we got to give them another one so we can get to another game. Everybody get me on that. Hey, all y'all recruits, okay? Hope y'all be Panthers, all right? Because when we win, we take these jobs out. Just imagine Mr. World Warwick coming in.

I'm telling you. I'm telling it's perfect. It's perfect. Bring back members. Remind me I got to get in the gym because it's coming. You're in the gym. I see your Twitter. You're in the gym every day.

You're posting your treadmill times. Hey, look, I got some hardcore college teammates. They'll call you out. That shirt comes off and they see some body fat or some love handles. They're trying to call you out on this. Remind me never to go to FIU. Well, let's talk about how many celebrations you had last year because there's a point you're three and five

and then you rip off four straight wins, get bowl eligible. At what point did guys start to believe it? At what point did you realize things were starting to turn? Yeah, I think it was really after that fifth loss. You know, we knew that it was going to be a hard, a hard fault season. Conference USA is notorious for having close games. I think last year we were second to the SEC and the margin of victory in conference conference games.

So every game is a knock down, dragout. And, you know, we had lost some earlier games in the season where we had played bad on special teams and gave us some explosive plays on defense for touchdowns. And once we kind of start figuring things out, we thought we had pretty good footing. But then we go up to Missoula and play Missouri State in a game that we felt that we should have won. And we played as bad that we played all season.

And now we're sitting at three and five. We have a stretch now that includes, you know, Liberty, who has perennally been one of the toughest things in the conference, Jacksonville State, you know, who's the reigning champ. You know, and we're like, hey, six isn't going to be easy to come by. We can't lose two more games. I mean, we lose two more. We're out of this thing.

We didn't really talk much about trying to win four straight. We didn't say anything about winning four straight. We just, I challenged them in the locker room at the Missouri State, after Missouri State loss in the locker room. I say we have a decision to make. And this is going to be a real gut check moment for us. We've got to have a come to Jesus meeting. We've got to figure out what type of team we're going to be.

And I'll tell you what, the practices started getting more fired up. They called a player only meeting that next day. and I think for the first time since we had been here, they really started to believe that if we just played good football and gave us a chance to win, that we can win every game. And that's what those guys did a month of November, and it was a fun month to be a part of and gave us that first bowl bid in six years.

It was very exciting for us. You know, you have momentum going into the postseason. You have momentum going into the off season. Explain to me the plan to build. year over year. I know it changes, you know, especially now. Everybody comes and takes your players out of the portal, too. So you have to deal with that. You were saying it the nice, the more brutal way. Yeah. But how do you, how do you build a program at FIU year over year? Yeah, I think, you know, I've taken this stance and this approach, you know, for a great of half of my coaching career,

probably my playing career. And I tell the team all the time, you know, if there's something that only we're dealing with, then I'll listen to all the complaints in the world. But if it's something that everyone's dealing with, I don't want to hear your complaint. And so there are 10 teams in this league. I'm pretty sure all 10 teams got rated by the power fours as far as talent goes. If there's an all-conference player is a good chance

that there's on somebody's powerful campus right now. And so we're all in the same situation. And so for us, it's about identifying needs. One, retaining who we can. And so we had to go in and make some decisions to try to work hard, retain some by top players, knowing that we were going to lose some of the other ones to the portal. And then it's identifying where we're not hold. And so we felt we went to the improved offensive line.

We lost a lot of guys there. Secondary, we were depleted, you know, four to five starters, transferred out. And so we really had to do a lot of make-up work in that area. Wanted to get more depth at linebacker. The defensive line needed to get way more depth. And so that's really what we're attacked. So we look at the portal, look as high as powerful all the way down to Division 2 to find players.

And we feel like we did a really good job of identifying quality players that can come in. And we placed a premium on experience. A lot of the guys we brought in from lower levels, Division 2, FCS, were guys that had a lot of snaps that were, that were, they had played in games. And so hopefully it won't be shell shot the first time we roll out in an FBS stadium. I knew you were going to complain because at, looking back on your career, like your first head coaching job, 13 years ago at Prairie A&M, you get there, they've got APR problems, they don't even have spring practice.

And then you win, you have three winning seasons in a row, which is something that's only happened once in 50 years before that at Prairie View A&A. Like, that's a tough place to coach. And you, you won a bunch of games. And then you go to Florida A&M in your hometown, coach them there. how much have you had to to adjust during your coaching career to kind of the hand you're dealt I'm 45 I've been playing the hand I've been dealt for 45 years I think for you know for me it's a gift and a curse you know I grew up in Quincy Florida which is 20 miles west of

Tallahassee. Shanks High School. You know Shanks High School very. Shanks built up now so yeah but if anyone knows anything about Quincy it is the only is how the only county in the state that's predominantly African-American is one of the poorest counties in the state. It's one of the most illiterate counties in the state. And there are not a lot of people that make it out of Quince of Florida. And so, you know, we grow up knowing how to get it out of the mud and playing the hand that you're dealt. And so, you know, we didn't know we didn't know we were poor. Like we didn't know that we didn't have money until I saw people with money. You know what I mean? But that once I got to college and I became an adult, I was like, man, we really were we really were poor. So you just learn how to make it happen. You know, my mom raised me and my two other sisters. Well, my grandmother raised her nine kids on my mom's side.

My other grandparents raised their 10 kids on their side. I never heard anyone complain. Never hit. And I never saw us go without. And so it was about making it happen with what you would dealt with. And so when I took over prayer view, again, no, no spring practice. Okay, so what? We can still go out here and work.

We're not to practice with a ball, put pass on. We can still get work. Went to Florida A&M. Same thing. APR certification issues. First spring there, we didn't have a work. We had one working ice machine out of three. And so we literally squirting hot water in our mouths during practice. And again, had the first winter season there in seven years. And so, you know, you can complain and not do anything or you can be thankful for the opportunity that you have, knowing that you've

been blessed to coach this game and it impact young people. And you can roll your sleeves up and go to work. And that's the approach that we've always taken. And so, you know, know, I joke all the time with, you know, my now agent, not all the time, but I've joked with them now and joke with my last agent and said, you know, one of these days I'm going to take a job while walking there the first day and it's all laid out and it's like, hey, just go ahead, coach ball. I wouldn't even know how to act. Like, I wouldn't even know what to do if I went to a job and everything was already laid out,

like the foundation was there to win right away. So it's just part of it. And, you know, I've been blessed to be around a bunch of coaches and players who share that philosophy of not complaining and really just helping these young men understand. understand that in life, that's the choice we have. Like, nobody's going to help you, nobody's going to feel sorry for you. Make it happen. Your kids, your wife, your family, they're going to depend on you to make it happen

when the odds are stacked up against you. And it's your job to do that. Willie, you're playing in your opener, a team in the same state that has a lot of hype around it, maybe more resources at USF. What's it like to welcome Brian Hartline to the fraternity of head coaches? Well, it'll be a fun experience for us. You know, an opportunity to play, I think the last year, them playing in Raymond Jane Stadium before they, before they open up their new stadium. So we're excited about the opportunity, excited that we don't have to travel very far.

You know, I think five games in the state of Florida before we travel out of the state. So really excited about a short trip, relatively short trip for our guys. A lot of familiarity, you know, between players on both teams. And, you know, it's a game that I think our guys will be really fired up for. So looking forward to it. I've got a few more weeks to prepare, but I think it's going to be a game that really gives us a chance to show, you know, not only ourselves, but the country what we're made of.

Now, you had a very good leader of quarterback last year and Joe Scheisty. He's still there, right? Joe's on your staff now, and now working with JJ Cole, who finished last season's Appalach and State Starter named your starter to start this season. And how has that transition been? It's been great. I mean, Joe, Joe's awesome. I mean, he's, you know, Joe came here to coach.

You know, we knew that when we signed Joe last year, that he was coming in with the intent to learn from us and, you know, get entrenched into this space. And as soon as he was able to hang the cliques up, because he did have a brief little cup of coffee and one of the little football leagues that they have, you know, he came here, came back home as a grad assistant.

And he's doing a phenomenal job working with the quarterbacks. You know, it's great that he just played. So he's a real example. He's a real life example of what perseverance looks like. Joe didn't start the season as a starter. Joe had his own share of adversities battling through injury. There are a lot of times where he could have cashed in or got dejected or whatever the case may be because he wasn't starting.

And the guy that was starting wasn't playing phenomenally well. And so, you know, he had every reason to be a bad teammate. but he didn't. And it paid off for him in the end. So it's great from that regard that he can really show JJ what planning this offense looks like. He can show the rest of the team what perseverance and hard work and dedication looks like.

And I tell you what, man, Joe's going to be a phenomenal football coach when somebody's smart up to hire him full time. So hopefully we're going to hold on to him as long as we can. And it's Joe Pazanski, by the way, Joe Shishty's his nickname. And so Mrs. Pazanski just want to make sure we knew we knew that. So, yeah, now that's great to just have that experience and someone who can connect with a guy.

And they didn't play together because normally, you know, if you had a guy going from player to GA, it would be, oh, here's this guy who was a younger guy in the room and now I'm going to bring him on. But no, JJ was elsewhere. He was at App State last year. It was Iowa State before that. Entire new quarterback room.

Yeah. But that's college football. in today's planet. Andy, how familiar are you with J.J. Cole? I am familiar. So you know the fun fact that this kid wears a size 16 shoe. He probably would be a kicker

because he comes from a kicking family if he didn't have enormously, freakishly large feet. Yes. Very famous name in the kicking world, by the way. Yes, as, you know, kicking camps and all the things that go along with it. But what's it been like with a quarterback with a size 16 shoe, Willie? I can't even get down to his feet because it's amazing how tall he is.

Yeah. Jayne actually visited us when we first got here in 25. And so came down for the official visit, he and his dad, had a really, really great time. You know, really like what we were doing offensively to see himself in this offense. But obviously, we had an incumbent returning, Kiwan Jenkins. And so, you know, he didn't go in with the idea of wanting to be a backup and see him behind a guy. And so ultimately made the decision to go elsewhere to absolutely. state. After the season, obviously Joe took over, graduated, Key One, Saturday,

entered the transfer portal. And so we had an opportunity for a quarterback to bring it to come in. And so Joe, I'm sorry, JJ jumped in the portal. And obviously, he was our first call. He and his dad were very excited to come back down. And, you know, we didn't have to do all the winding and dining that we did last time because, you know, he's seen all the glist and glamour. So we really was just able to sit here and talk ball, you know, for a whole day, show him exactly how we're going to use him in this offense, what he brings to the table, what he needs to work on, all the things we expect.

And it was a great, great opportunity for us to truly get to know who he is as a person. And it's been a great mayor so far. So we're really excited about JJ. He has all the intangibles that you look for. He's a coach's kid. He's a student of the game. He's a quiet leader, but a really good leader. You know, it really, really works hard to do things the right way.

And he's earned a respect of his teammates. there's no greater trait to have as a quarterback than the respect of your teammates. And so never close to a quarterback this tall. You know, we're going from a 5 foot 10 quarterback last year to a 6 foot 7 quarterback this year. And I'm saying 6 foot 7 to be modest because I think he actually may be taller than that. Oh, is he like a KD situation where you won't say he's actually how tall he is? You list him shorter than he really is because I don't think anybody wants to see a 6-9 listed quarterback. But just stand beside him.

There's a photo of me standing beside him. you would think he's almost seven feet tall. I'm just under six feet, and he towers over me. So if they put him on a scale, a measure, I think he may be taller than 79 inches. All right, we've got to talk, because you're not the only coach in Florida who has mentioned nail grooming habits,

but you're on with Ari Wasserman, who is a big-time manicure, pedicure, proselytizer. Fruit's River, please show the photo of the nail spa day with the girl dad, with your daughters. This is, this is, this is, this is Ari's jam right here. So I'm going to let you two just, just talk it out here. Yeah, I don't understand. I actually saw, and I go, it's a little bit different because Caleb Williams gets a lot

of crap for painting his nails and he like opened up about that in an interview. But like I was a manicure, pedicure person before I ever had a daughter. and I think it's an important part of just, you know, hygiene and maintenance. But when you have a little girl to take with you, isn't it just the best? Oh, no, it's awesome. I mean, you know, with sons, it's always hard to try to find ways of entertainment. Like, you got to go out in the yard and throw with them. You got to take them do those sports-related stuff.

I mean, they want to be active, you know. The only thing that my son would do that's not active is we'll go watch Marvel movies because we're both huge Marvel fans. So if a new Spider-Man movie or whatever comes out, that's our three hours to just sit there and enjoy Marvel. If it's not that, it has to be something physical. So after coaching all day and being out of the sun, sometimes I don't want to go out in the yard

and run around and chase my 9-year-old son. With the girls, hey girls, let's go get our nails done. Oh, yeah. I'm the best dad in the world, winning. Like, it's done, nails, done. It is so funny because when you have a daughter and Andy, I'm sure you had this too, but like my biggest fear was, I like sports.

I like, you know, things that are related, very masculine things. How am I going to connect with this little girl? And then it turns out that it's never, it's never been a problem at all. My daughter's 15. And we have never lacked for things to talk about. Yeah. She dances all the time. She does ballet six days a week.

I don't know anything about ballet. But we always find something a way to connect. And it's, it is fun. It's great. I'm with you because it's, it's great to have. have both sides of the coin because like my son last night comes to me and says, hey, can we watch film together for this game we got this week? And I'm like, absolutely.

Absolutely. But then my daughter is like, hey, this is going on a dance. How do I handle this situation? And it's, I don't know. It just feels natural. It's great. But I need to take her. I don't know if I can take her to get her nails done now because she has a whole thing.

And her mom has a whole thing with her. You go with? You gotta go with them. Okay. You gotta go with them. And now, you gotta be careful sometimes. The mom, you know, feels that that's their thing. So, you know, but for me, because they're still in North Florida, and I'm in Miami.

So she has that time with them. Whenever I go, then that's my time, right? So when we were together, you know, the years at FAMU and the year in Durham, it was a little tougher to have daddy daughter Nail Day because that kind of cut into some of mom's things. things. So then at the house, sometimes you got to do it at the house. Like sometimes it's, hey,

let your daughter's paint your nails. And now they screw them up. Yeah. Get them fixed on your own. But you got to be creative. It's funny that you bring that up because, you know, my daughter's now just doing soccer for the first time.

And it's the first, like, sport she's doing because everything else is ballet and gymnastics and very feminine things with her mom. But I'm in charge of going to get the soccer uniform this week. Like, I get to go pick out the shin pads because she's like, can I have anything? And that's my role this week. So, yeah, but it was really cool to see that picture, and I'm with you, man.

And by the way, even if my daughter didn't exist, I want to be male forward nail maintenance. Because I think it's an important thing to do, and it feels great. Who doesn't want their legs rubbed for 20 minutes? Hey, I'm not too proud to admit it. We'll have to ask Scott Frost and Mike Norville how they feel about it. We already know how Summerall feels. What, the heartline? Yeah.

Heartline's a tattoo parlor guy, so. I don't know if heartlines a manicure, pedicry guy. It looks more like a tattoo. It might surprise you, though. It might surprise you. I'll text them and I'll ask. Yeah, we need to find out. Willie, you mentioned your time in Durham.

And I find that the career path interesting because you left what had been a really great year, after a really great year at Famu. You know, you had taken them to 12 and 1 and HBCU national title, essentially. And you went and joined Manny Diaz's staff at Duke. and what was behind that decision and what did you learn in that year that maybe made you a better head coach when you came back to head coaching at FIA? Yeah, you know, a lot went into the decision.

Obviously, at that point, I had been a head coach for nine years. Had had a relative level of success, as you alluded to, and had had some interview opportunities, you know, with other programs, and just could never quite get over the hump. And, you know, getting feedback. So that year, going into the 23rd,

year really made it my point to to really kind of see what the landscape was and what was being said on the global on the national scale about, you know, me as a coach, my prospects of elevating in this profession. And so talk to athletic directors, talked to some search firms, even talked to some head coaches at that level, and just really kind of pick their brain and say, hey, look, this is where I am as a coach, here's my record, here's what we've been able to do. If I aspire to be an FBS head coach, you know, can I do that being where I am? Obviously, you had Dion who had just done it from Jackson State, but before him, they had been done this as Willie Jeffries in the early 1980s or late 1970s.

And so, you know, I'm in a space where I'm trying to basically make history and move up and elevate from an FCS, HBCU, to an FBS program as a head coach. or do I take the path that some others have taken and take a lesser role at a higher level to move up? And the unanimous feedback was you have to get to the powerful space. If at all possible, get to the powerful space, even if it's as an assistant coach. And fortunately for me, Manny Diaz, the guy that I've known for 15 plus years now, actually longer than that, had the opportunity to work with during my time in Middle Tennessee State. had just taken the Duke job.

And, you know, just after the celebration bowl win, you know, we had a conversation. He had a running back position open. And he asked me if I'd be interested. And I told him, I think about it. And I called him back about five minutes later and told him that I love the habit. So, again, great opportunity to go to Duke, help Mani build something there. And I tell you what, man, I'd know Mani had been around him. He's an amazing ball coach, one of the smartest coaches I've ever been around,

way he sees things and just puts things together. But just to see the way he interacts with the team, how visual he is as a teacher, that's what I took away from him. But I've always been a guy that likes to present to the team and talk to him. But it was more audio. It wasn't very visual. But just sitting in a man at Diaz team meeting is unbelievable.

Like, you would be amazed at how he puts graphics together. And it's, I don't know how he does it. Like, I use chat GPT and all the areas. eyes, but like, man it is to put up a 15-minute team meeting presentations together in like 15 seconds. Wow. Like, I'm telling you, like, it is the most. I know why?

You know what his first job was. He was producer ESPN. He had to learn how to do that stuff. It pays off. It's like literally like, it's like rain man. Like I'm telling you, it's like rain. That's amazing. Get there and see like, man, how did you, like, what did you find this graphic?

Like, by Google certain things and you can find pictures. and graphics, like, I don't know how you found that. Like, to speak to this, but it's, it gets the team drawn in, you know, snatches their attention. And we had a place like, you don't think you have to do that. Like, you're with some of the smartest kids in the country at this level, but he was still able to grab their attention. And so I really took that with me, and I'm a bad carbon copy of it.

But I do think it makes me a better presenter to the team now because it's all visual. Anybody who can win the way you won at Prairie View, can win anywhere. You don't need to worry about copying anybody. But congratulations on that first year, and good luck with this one. This is going to be a fun one. Yeah, we think so. We're excited about it.

I think the schedule shapes something nicely. It's nice to not have a powerful opponent on the schedule. Again, it's going to be a tough game against South Florida. We know that. Obviously, Buffalo coming in week three. It's going to be a very tough game. And then obviously, we have to go up the road to our rival week four. So, you know, it's not a Katewalk.

But, again, it's not like last season looking at the number three team in the country going to their place. The year before, they went to play Indiana. And so, again, not having that top 25 power four team on the schedule definitely feels a little bit better. But again, I'm excited about the team we put together. I think we have a very talented team, a very deep team. And it's on us now. Like I told the coach of staff, it's on us. It's on us.

So we'll see. Well, and it's on Pitbull to get that theme song done. TARPS off. I'm telling you, it's going to the top of the charts. The minute he puts it out. It may have to be in Spanish though. So you have to come up with the Spanish translation. That would be fine.

Listen, I can ask Chad GPT right now. TARPS off in Spanish. Let's see what it's it. Loan. Hopefully it's not a... Okay. Sin Camisa That sounds like a more interesting name of a song

Of course I feel like Sin Camiseta would be Ladies taking tarps off So he might go with that one You should be careful You don't know what you're saying in Spanish Andy Just relax with the translation right now Look mad money did the Super Bowl

I don't think that it was censor in the Exactly I think we're okay Yeah So I listen Sin Camisa Number one hit Mr. Worldwide, former Mr. 305, current Mr. 305, Willie Simmons.

Thank you so much. Thank you guys. I look forward to seeing y'all again soon. Yeah, appreciate you being here. Thank you. Andy, can I make an admission? Yeah. I don't think that people that don't live

or haven't lived in the state of Florida realize how much of an icon pit bull is. He's Mr. Worldwide. You know my mother-in-law? Sorry. My wife's brother. mother-in-law travels to go watch him perform? I can believe that.

Now, it's interesting, though, because he's a bit of a divisive figure. Because when he was Mr. 305, he was a much different performer. Like, he was a straight-up rapper. The songs were dirty. They were raunchy. And now the songs are, you know, there may be some innuendo in the songs, but they're pretty clean. They're very radio-friendly.

And that was a conscious commercial choice by him. He's talked about it. Like to become Mr. Worldwide, to become this global icon. And it's interesting because the people who liked him when he was a raunchy rapper from the 305, like that, a lot of those people like, I don't like the new stuff. So let's hear your idea for the song here, Andy. I know. Yeah.

I was going to say, so I'm not going to even try to go back to. his roots. Though I, if you actually like hip hop, I do recommend his early stuff. But I'm going to go to the Mr. World Wide era where basically when he wants a hit, they licensed the sample from a big 80s or 90s pop hit and they just roll. Like there's one that samples take on me by aha. That was a big hit. He got he got signed up to do a song for, I think, the Aquaman sequel. And, And they sampled Africa by Toto. So it didn't matter what he said. You were just jamming to the beat.

So for this one, I figured out. I had to figure out the song first. What was the sample? I have the sample. I have a nice 80s hit sample that'll work with our theme of TARPS off. I have a great 80s playlist. So I don't know. I'm very curious to see.

Okay. So we're going to go back to Orvada. Young Turks by Rod Stewart. I don't know. Young Turks, yeah. Tarps off, be free.

No. Are you telling you that wouldn't slap? It would. That's a good beat, too. Like, you just sample that bit. That do, do, do, do,

yeah, that was just my guess. I don't know what you're going to say. No, because Willie said, maybe you want to do it in Spanish, some in English.

I think we're going to do it in Spanish. We're going to do it in Spanish. So, Madonna's Lais La Bonita. Last night, I did. dreamt of San Pedro So that

The chorus that song is Laisla Bonita So When we win sin camisa When we win scene camisa How much time would you spend on this because At least 45 seconds Okay

The Spanglish thing makes sense Especially considering the fact that it is the 305 I actually think your young Turks idea is better. Tarps off, we win tonight. Yeah, and then you can do the second, when you repeats it, then you can say it in Spanish, right? You don't need to. You don't need to.

You just go straight English at that point. Yeah. Parps off, we win tonight. I was listening to that song this morning. We win tarps off tonight. Yeah. I'm embarrassed that I actually put several minutes of thought into this. And you just opened your playlist and had a better idea.

Well, I just happened to listen. I was listening to that song this morning while driving my daughter to school. So it just kind of happened. But, you know, that song, Rod Stewart's an icon. I mean, I, I, I've been a hip hop head my whole life. And like just recently have I really started to discover some. Can I show you some of the songs I've discovered real quick, Andy? Just recently that I've been listening to.

First of all, Hollywood has. I was going to say that you did text me at one point like two months ago. how come nobody told me Holland Oats was awesome every single Holland Oats song is good Phil Collins has never missed a day in his life Tears for tears. Against all odds baby yeah that one never never ever

misses the Doobie Brothers nobody told me that had like 20 awesome hits Oh do you're great! Listen to the music. White Snake is this love? Billy Ocean America I was listening to America. What's your favorite Billy Ocean song? Lover Boy or get out of my dreams get into my car? I think it's Caribbean Queen

to be honest with. Caribbean Queen is very good. What about Christopher Cross's sailing album? Like, come on. What are we doing here? I mean, that's quintessential yacht rock. Yeah. So I don't know if this is, everything I have here is yacht rock, I guess.

Christopher Cross, by the way, the name of the band, not the guy. Okay. I didn't know that. See, I'm learning. I only learned that like a year ago. Did you know? So I drove my family car back from Colorado to Texas on Saturday last week. and I drove through what I think might be the most beautiful stretch of highway I've ever seen.

And I was just listening to this yacht rock playlist on Apple Music. And I was just like, I'm going to add that one to my library. I'm going to add that one to my library. And I've been jamming to yacht rock for the past two weeks. Let me give you the ultimate yacht rock song to add to your playlist. Okay. Let me see. Steal Away by Robbie Dupree.

Okay. Let me just throw it on it. Throw it on the playlist. You'll not regret. it. It just, I don't know, like, listening to, like, hip hop music didn't feel appropriate for driving, like, through the Rocky Mountains, right? I don't know. It started with John Denver and then it went to... Sometimes I'm in the mood for hip-hop and sometimes and not. It really isn't location dependent for me. Oh, I like to vibe with, like, the, like, area I'm in. And I felt like soothing yacht rock was appropriate when you're looking out at some of these beautiful views.

by the way, another thing that you need to know about me, you kind of know this about me because every single time we travel, I like envision what it would be like to live in the place that we're in. But the one thing of all the manly things that you guys make fun of me for, I had this thought last week. Yes. You always make fun of me for not being able to fix things around the house or hang a picture or swing a wrench around.

I actually wish I was a person that knew how to do outdoors things. like camping like camping or getting the gear that you need to have a campsite or to pitch a tent to go hiking because I got to say man this country is really freaking beautiful and like the feeling that you get when you're out in the middle of nowhere or looking at like a beautiful landscape that has hiking trails everywhere and I see all these people with crap all over their trucks and pulling over and pitching fires and doing all this awesome stuff and being one with nature like I like wish

I was able to do those things because I kind of feel like being outdoors would be amazing. Aren't you? You are able. Yes. You are very able to do that. You could go to Academy Sports and Outdoors tomorrow. I went to Academy Sports and Outdoors and went to the outdoor, like an REI type place and like went through all the like gear that comes with being proficient with camping and being outside. I would think I would have the same exact meltdown that I have in.

I think I think we have an offseason show idea, River. Yeah. Like, Ari Goes camping. Have either of you guys ever gone on like a really? I'm not a camping person. I fully admit, like I love fishing. I do not have any desire to camp. Being an outdoors person.

I think is like a very healthy just to like be out in the air and to get your hikes in and to be one with nature. But there's so much beauty in the country that you don't see on interstates. Like there's so much and there's so many people out there attacking. Within 30 minutes, you would be having a complete and total meltdown. So you think that I only enjoyed it because I could get back in my car? Yes. I think you would enjoy it if you were in an RV. I don't think you're going to pitch a tent and like, I am not a hiking person.

I had the urge while going through, like to be with just walking with incline. Like, yeah, yeah, walking with incline, but also traversing the. And you're not doing ultramarathons through the mountains. I'm not saying. I'm not saying go be somebody who you would be on ESPN running 19 miles, but to like go up into a campsite and to like even have your car there and to open up the doors and whatever. Like it would be cool to spend a night out there. I've been to Sedona with my wife a few times because it's like only an hour and a half from where my parents live. And like we've gone on hikes, but we've always resorted right back down to the mountain to a clean nice hotel room.

So you go to the hotel and you interlocked fingers on the private, private balcony of the hotel? Brent and I had a very similar night. Yes, in Sedona, but it was appropriate because we were dating. Because you were actually married. Okay, that's good. Yeah, yeah. What do you think about an RV? When I saw that picture, I'm like, I know exactly what they're feeling right now.

I have felt that. And I think I've actually been to that hotel. All right. There's not that many hotels in Sedona, guys. What? What if you got an RV and just like drove that around the country to RV parks? My only RV experience in my life has been renting an RV from Columbus, Ohio, and driving. all of my friends to the Kentucky Derby.

How did I guess? Yeah, so I've driven an RV, but it was one of those cruising America ones. It wasn't a very big one. See, I would love to have an art, like I like the idea of having an RV, but I want someone to drive it for me. I don't want to be responsible for driving.

A lot of maintenance with those. A beast like that. I kind of feel like because all these shows like Yellowstone and all these like beautiful shows of Cowboys being out in nature like are popular right now, it like makes me feel like I want to sleep in a tent by a stream. It's the same thing though when we're driving through Kokomo, Indiana, between Indianapolis and Notre Dame and you look around and you say, I can live here.

I romanticize. And then we pop open Zillow and you see how much the houses cost. I romanticize the financial existence of having an $80,000 home. Well, I don't think you even get that anymore. But yes, you do romanticize it. You would hate that. again, it's something you would hate after 30 minutes. Yeah, maybe I'm just a daydreamer. I don't know, but I will say. You know you better than you know yourself. I had the urge to put on some hiking shoes, Andy, and go up the mountain.

And I'm not a very active, like, I think I'm semi-active, but like, I'm not a huge outdoors person. There was something about the-brunt boots? Yeah. Very comfortable. Put those things on and go on a little bit of a walk. Yeah. Brunt workwear, coat on three. $10 off. Ari, we got to tell the folks something about the schedule.

Yeah. As you're here on the tail end of a Friday show, this is our last Friday show for a while, at least the last planned one. Because football games start next week. We'll be on Monday through Thursday. Shows will drop at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on YouTube. And then on Saturdays, starting week one, we'll be coming to you at 11. 30 p.m. Eastern time after all the games. Now, week zero, we're going to do a little different. Week zero, we're coming on right after

North Carolina TCU because I just don't think we're going to keep the takes inside. I don't think we can keep hold the takes. What time is that game even happening, Andy? What time is that? That game, I believe, is a noon eastern kick. Oh, okay. Got it. So we'll just let it rip on Saturday, right? Yeah, it's like five or six in Ireland, but it's, yeah, noon eastern

for us. Okay. So hey, love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. So, Monday through Thursday, 3 p.m. time on YouTube. That's when the shows will drop. And then that Saturday, August 29th, will come to you live after the North Carolina TCU game. Yeah, Aviva Stadium. Nothing yells college football more than a Viva Stadium. But we're back. Remember when they, remember when their credit card machines broke and they ran out of beer because they just gave it away? That happened. Do you, do you have a take on international games? I saw Josh Pate was out there very, very against

them. And I was like, who cares? Like, I don't care. Yeah, don't care. Yeah, don't care. If you can sell them out, great. And so they sell the ones out in Ireland. They try to do it in Brazil with Virginia and North Carolina State this year, and nobody bought tickets. So now they're going to play NC State, Virginia in Charlottesville right after the North Carolina TCU game. So, hey, if that's a banger, we might come back on. Who knows?

Listen, one thing's for sure. This North Carolina TCU game, no matter what happens, we will have something to talk about. Like, I think there's no doubt. That is a guaranteed take game. We will have takes regardless of the outcome. And I do love that Bill Belichick before inevitably descending into the path of an anonymity this year gets his own solo show to start it off. Because like that's what happened last year. Everyone's like, I'm going to watch.

Like we didn't, we didn't give Georgia Tech a chance against Florida State two years ago. And Georgia Tech won. Listen, maybe maybe they'll win. But regardless, last year, currently on Polly Market, 76% of the market on TCU right now. Yeah. I'm not holding my breath for it, but I can't, I'm holding my breath to watch it. I cannot wait. I cannot wait.

I'll talk to you Monday.