Bussin' With The Boys - Josh Pate Picks College Football Playoff National Championship W/ Will Compton And Taylor Lewan

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

Welcome back to The Locker Room with Josh Pate, Will Compton, & Taylor Lewan! This week, we dive into the National Championship matchup of Indiana VS. Miami. New episodes every Wednesday at 6:00 PM CT.    Timestamps: 0:00 Open 3:20 Season Recap 5:00 Josh / Will Beef 27:45 Land Man Review 33:16 Season Review 48:41 Indiana VS. Miami See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to another episode of the locker room, boys. It's a sad day, it's a bad day. This is our final show of the season. We'll be talking. We're going to recap our futures picks, Indiana, Miami, the national title game. We're going to talk about all that. We're also just going to hang out and talk shop because, again, it is a sad day because this is the final episode of this season.

But to tell you guys, thank each and every one of you so much for leaving comments throughout the entire year, for following along this show, following this channel, everything in between following our content, Fall Don't Live tour, busing fall tour, when we collaborate and mingle and drop content and everything else. And you guys comment underneath that means the world to us. But with every death, there's rebirth. There's some talks and whispers right now what this show could possibly be next year. And I'll miss that right here in other worlds. But we also know that it's the college football landscape.

Anything can happen. This could be a Kenny Minchie situation with Josh Pate that we're talking about right now. But neither here nor there. The standings, we have a tie going into this championship. championship game going into the national title. Josh Pade is 44 and 44. Taylor Luan is 44 and 44. This game might decide that we're going to have to figure out a tiebreaker of some sort

if they have the same pick. Willie C did go undefeated in the semifinals, 40 and 48, respectively. We're happy you're here. Welcome to the show, the locker room. Leave comments along the way. Make sure you're subscribed. Let's have a show. This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers, I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen.

We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late. comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art.

rallies are relentless, and at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She's an outsider to win the French name. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome in to the final Lockroom, College Football Edition episode. Moment of silence for all of us and how much of a great year it's been. Thank you, college football. Thank you, college football, for everything you've given us. It's been an amazing year. Let's have a little energy, because we have one last little deal from Fandorke from you guys. And as you know, Lockroom was presented by Fandole Sportsbook, which is America's number one sports.

But before we get into things, we just want to remind you guys that gambling is for entertainment. And Fandul always has your back with tons of responsible gaming tools to make sure your place stays fun and stress free. Check out Fandall.com forward slash RG or the responsible gaming section in the app to learn more about staying in control of your game. This is it. This is it. One game left. One team crown. One last shot.

to boost yourself with a big win. The college football championship is here. And Fandall, once again, is giving all customers a final profit boost on a final game day. It's your last boost of the season. Ready in the app for the biggest matchup of the year, pick the side you believe in,

or build a parlay that fits the moment, then apply your profit boost and go after a boosted payout with everything on the line. Fandil is the best place to get into the championship action, and when you win, you'll get paid instantly. So make sure to visit fando.com slash busing to get your college playoff profit boost token. Can I just?

That's just nervous energy. Yeah. What's on your mind? What are you feeling going into this last episode? A whole lot. Oh, a whole lot. Part happy, part sad, part anger, part bittersweet. But the first thing I'm thinking since we're on the spirit of this is our last show of the season

is I really feel bad for people who are finding the show for the first time. Because our numbers have grown every week. So you know, statistically, there's someone who just happened upon this video. They're like, wait, I like this show, hopefully. Wait, this thing's been going on all year? I don't get most of the inside jokes. I don't know why I haven't watched this all year. Think about what they missed.

They missed the whole Nebraska thing. They missed. They always miss the Nebraska thing. They missed the coaching search carousel. They missed the whole Michigan thing. They missed the bus and bowl. They did miss the bus and bull. They missed the Fall Don't Lie tour.

they missed one of the one of the most like down to the wire pick chases that we've had in recent memory because we've only had one on the show because we've only had one version of the show so hey it's going to be a long spring i would encourage people to go back and watch the previous shows that's great you know the biggest thing they missed camaraderie vibes friendship yeah trench warfare seeing energy feeling energy feeling energy feeling like they're a part of the energy What they missed is love. Yeah, yeah. That one feeling you get as a small child

when your mom, you're cold, comes to you and wraps a little blanket around you. That's the feeling that this show is willing to give you weekend and week out. And then you don't get it again until you do a college football YouTube show decades later. Or until somebody tells you

they're zooming in from their hotel at 2.30 in the morning. And that right there... That's a good feeling. It's something they'd be missing out on. They're like, what is William? does really see mean by that here's the good news that is the good news if this is the first time somebody is watching the show luckily there's enough drama to happen in this show because

josh pate's name was thrown in an absolute blender on busting with the boys most recent episode with jose pate not on the bus with jose p not on the bus that that was strategic there was a jp there to defend me yeah but it was not me yep yeah all right go ahead i would like to give i i don't have i i was in vegas fighting for my life i would love for both of you to have the floor I can sit back as a third party if I need to mediate anything. What happened, if JP wasn't there, all I'm saying is, it could have been catastrophic. Not only for you two, but for us as well. Because there was a painting being illustrated by one individual that I thought to myself,

oh my God, and the words came out of my mouth is Josh Pate for the boys. Yep. And I called you Judas on the internet. Did you? So I may take it back. He called us Judi. Judea, yeah. Plural of Judas, yeah.

You said that publicly. I asked what the plural of Judas is, which implied that I was kind of labeling both of you. But it's not closed. I wrote that in pencil, not pen. So I am prepared to have it out. Now, I have a grin on my face. William has a grin on his face.

Those are the kind of grins you have when you think morally you're in the right. Both of us think we're in the right. Okay. I'm willing to, I'm going to defer. I'm willing to take the ball second half. So you've won the toss. Yeah.

Okay. May I add both of us think were morally in the right and we also understand the other side. I'm not going to go as far as to say I understand your side yet. That was the first olive branch. That was the first olive branch that was swatted away from one Josh. Yeah, brother. Hey, you can't go to a timeout this early. We just did the coin toss.

You just caught the kick. This is the first play of the game. We're wasting one. This is Michigan Penn State. That's crazy. I know you to bring that up. So you're telling me that for everybody at home listening, we're planning out this trip to hit both semifinal games.

Yep. Crystal ball. We have it our way. It's Burger King. We fly to Arizona. We watch that game. We sleep in Arizona. Take our time.

Get some breakfast in Arizona. Get out to. It has some zips in Arizona. Know that we get all the time in the world, make it out to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl. It started at what, 7.30 Eastern? Something like that. Officials timeout.

No, no, no. Officials timeout. Officials timeout. You can't lose the toss, go on offense, call a timeout, and then just start running plays. The timeout is for me to have a moment to talk.

We're playing, that's the game. You guys are in the middle of it right now. You're essentially running your first drive. So you want me to stop? No, no, no, you're good. It's just your timeout. It's no longer a timeout. We're in it now.

Hey, I haven't flinched. Two or three false starts on the opening drive already. We're not understanding the rules. I was like in the middle of a conversation. I'm like, hey, let's try to explain stuff to me. I'm like, so do I, are you want me to keep going? We go, hey, let's talk about it. He goes, time out.

Starts talking about it. Thinking, wait, no, no, no. We're in the lines right now. The game is happening. So your timeout's gone. We're in it now. I don't make the rules. I don't know the rules.

I'm the efficient. I'm making them up as I go. Yep. So what's the next? Your timeout is gone. You want to talk about it? Go ahead. You're talking about Crystal Ball right now.

Carry on. It's tough. That's a tough way to realize that. Also, you're backed up. It's first and 20. So crystal ball, that's kind of how we would operate the trip. We're trying to enjoy. Go to the college football playoffs.

Semifinals. However, something came into play. Josh Pate had to be in Atlanta to, broadcast, Zoom, whatever, from the stadium. Mercedes-Benz, you had to be in the semifinal, in the atmosphere, in the environment, calling in to get up, to do your hits,

get up, first take, all of it. Early in the morning. Early in the morning, no problem with that. So we had to figure out a way to fly, hey, we got to fly out from Arizona on Thursday night to get there land Friday morning. It's going to be a grind. Going to land it, two, three in the morning.

But we're doing it, because the boy has a, the boy Josh Pate has an obligation. That's why we're doing. So as we're flying and land, go to the game in Arizona, land in Atlanta, and it's 2.30 in the morning, and you drop a bomb of, I just got to zoom in from my hotel room. It doesn't have to be on site in Atlanta. Fireworks go off my head on a second.

So then why did we have to, but I didn't want to jump to conclusion. I'm like, so when did you know this information? And you say you knew it on the way to Arizona. So optically, we could have switched stuff around and stayed in Arizona and not left the Miami Ole Miss game early. I don't know if you were. And I would have met Ray Lewis. Your bladder kept you from meeting Ray Lewis.

Yeah, that's very, very white. So that is where the understanding, if you're sitting there in your chair thinking you're morally right, but you can't understand this side of the situation of being for the boys, we could have switched some planes up and had some fun at Arizona and took our time to get out of Atlanta. I can't help you. First drive's over. Let me just step in for a second. time out again this is what happens but there's not another JP to come and defend you right now

because this is this is the exact tone that was taking place on the bus but you know how before go ahead I love you I love you too man you saw my tweet yesterday okay this is my time now it's your time's my time okay hey that's a warning you got to pick it up I like you're You're throwing so many different new rules at me right now. Buddy, you're not even explaining the boundaries. You had your top 15 plays. You ever ran one of them yet. I scored on the opening drive.

That was New England Patriots the other week. This is Nebraska's the best three-win team of all time. All right. I'm even going to bolster your argument. That's how sure I am that I'm in the moral right here. Back up six weeks-ish. We're doing get up in New York. We're on a very tight timetable.

Because you've got to get back, because you got to be somewhere at 1.15 in the afternoon. Do you remember this? Yes. And our plan is we're off air at what, 10 o'clock in the morning? We're out of there by 10-10. We already got the escape route. They're holding the freight elevator for us. And then at like 9.55, someone comes over from the first take studio and they ask, can they get me for 20 more minutes, which may very well push our landing time back to where you miss your family obligation? And what did you say? I was hesitant.

I was. I was totally thinking about myself. Skip that far. Skip that far. Yeah. I was going to see. Yes. Yes.

We can do that. Yeah. Without hesitation, let the record show. Without hesitation, said, yes, anything for you. So there is precedent already this year where you guys have been over backwards to help me because it was a very, very great career opportunity for me. And I was appreciative of that, right? All right.

So this would not have even been the first time. that you have put me over you. Selfless friendship. It's what it's all about. Right? Absolutely. Okay. What would you do if you were in my position?

And you knew that we're going to try and go to both games. Dream scenario, knock out two playoff games. In an ideal world in your crystal ball, we're on the field for those games. But I digress. I digress. We're at the games. And the producers. the producers, the producers from Get Up and or First Take,

doesn't matter which show. They say, you're going to be in Atlanta Friday morning. Yeah, I think I will be in Atlanta Friday morning. Let's get you from the venue. Let's get you over there. You're going to be a couple of blocks away. Let's get you from the venue. But then it goes back and forth throughout the week.

Now, you didn't know this because this didn't really concern you. So I was just trying to deal with them. So first off, it starts with you are going to be there. Then you're not going to be there. All right. Then it changes back to you are going to be there. Right? So we've already had some ping pong back and forth, little production uncertainty.

And then I tell JP, because we do have to plan for these things. Hotel rooms have to be booked. Flights have to be changed. I tell him, can we get out of Arizona? Can we get to Atlanta? It's all agreed upon. Then on the flight out there, it's still really, really wobbly. It's really uncertain.

And then they say, hey, looks for now like we're going to zoom you. We're just going to go Zoom. I'm thinking in the back of my mind, morally, this may not. be done. This may not be the last time they switched this up. We've already got everything booked. This is, you're a kid, your goldfish died while you were at band camp and your parents flushed him down the toilet and they told you that he went to heaven. What you don't know won't hurt you as a kid. I'm figuring at that point, you've already resigned yourself in your mind that you flew from New York to Nashville. Now you got to Nashville to Phoenix. Now you just know you're going to go to Phoenix to

Atlanta. You've already girded your loins up mentally. You're zoned in. You're prepared for it. It won't hurt you if I don't tell you. Plus, they may switch it back up on me at the last minute. So I have told him I'm going to be in Atlanta. I'm going to be in Atlanta. All's well. We do have to leave the game early, which I will admit suck. And I hate that.

It's a great game. Created for some funny moments like when we got on the plane. Yep. Yep. Thank you. And you missed your shot with Ray Lewis and Michael Phelps. And I hate that, although I take zero responsibility for it, but I hate it. And we fly and we watch Carson Beck win the game.

So it was a very, very colorful ride. And then you may take a little 20 minute nap. Not me because my seat wouldn't recline, but everyone else is able to take a nap. We eat some sushi. The only meal that we ate, period, on the trip, was eaten together. Contrary to popular belief on another show that airs about 37 feet from us right now. Yeah. Can I take an official's time out?

Absolutely. Okay. Let's back up a bit to last week when it's, you're going to be a really the venue you're not going to be at the venue you may zoom you may not zoom at any point did you communicate this to will compton i communicated it to clump oh that because as he's telling the story that's a tackle for loss sack right there but didn't i document that didn't i just say that like i was in pretty constant communication with clump you said jp no no no no i was talking to clump about travel no jp just defended my honor after the fact at any point did you communicate

to Will that, hey, it could be from the venue. It cannot be from the venue. Josh, I love you. No, when I told him, I told him I had to do it from the venue. Yes. Yes. I booked it. We were going to land and stay in Arizona. And then when I called Josh and let him know what my understanding was, he said, oh, that's not going to work because I was going to do it live from Atlanta. Yeah. So this point is at the point where we had originally agreed, let's do it from venue. Then maybe we're going to Zoom you, no, let's do it from venue. This point right here. Got you. This is when I'm talking to Clomp. Yeah. Yes. I never knew that it wasn't going to be then until, because I asked you on the ride there,

what time you were going to be live from the stadium. And now we arrive in Atlanta. It's neon blue in the van. It's raining. It's 2.30 in the morning. I'm staring out the window. He's staring. He's, is that Mars? Is that Venus? Like, he's got that look in his eye. He's staring off in his face. And he's asleep, but his eyes are wide open. And somebody asked, I think JP said we're going to come with you to the stadium in the morning. What time are you going to leave? We may not even go to sleep. We're going to come over there with you.

And I said, we're just going to do it from the hotel room. I tried to say it under my breath. I tried to say it quiet enough. And then this happened right here. I'm looking out the window of the van. Hold up. Hold up. You don't have to be at the venue.

What are we doing here? What are we doing here? We could have been in Arizona. We could have gone to sleep. And at that point, you could just, you could laugh and you could hope it makes for good content. Do you really want to state your entire case that takes 15 minutes in a van at 2.30 in the morning? No one's going to remember it anyway. So I just decided to laugh it off.

Send them an edible arrangement or something later. And we'll just call it even. But what hurt me the most, and this is out of my control. But what hurt me the most was the next morning, I didn't know how deep. it had cut you until I saw the video of you guys eating breakfast basically across the street from me and I'm on the TV clearly in my hotel room and you're standing there watching. Buddy, tear. Yeah, what else?

Partially from laughing, partially from just empathy rolled down my face. I'm watching him on first take. Just seeing the hotel background like this. Dude, just zooming in from his hotel room in Atlanta. Because all I'm thinking, as I'm hearing a story, a simple look, brotherhood isn't perfection. But when you communicate with each other and you know that you might be stuck in a situation, hey fellas, I'm just going to get this out of the way right now.

I might not have to be at the venue tomorrow, but they've been so wishy-washy. I don't know if I'm going to have to be there or not. For in case we think that we might want to stay in Arizona, we still need to go to Atlanta because I have no clue at ESPN's thinking. Right there, the bags pass. you communicated. Like there's no, there's no, there's no feeling you have in your body when you're trying to whisper it under your breath. Like, I'm just zooming in tomorrow. Because what you felt in that moment when you're saying that answer, you're like, okay, I got to unleash a lion

from his cage right. I got to tell him the goldfish is dead. I got to tell him he didn't feed the goldfish. It died. I was having to do that thing where JP's sitting behind you. So I'm having to talk past your ear hoping you're zoomed out. I'm looking at the window, just staring at the stars, whatever it is. Wait a second. Looking back on it. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I might have said the timeout. Like, time out. It took so long for you to stop looking out the window was what got me. It's so funny because it's exactly how you told the story. Looking back on it, would you have communicated differently? I think looking back, with all the information I have now, when they originally switched it from stadium to Zoom, I would have said, let's just keep it like that.

Because that was two days, maybe. That was before you and I talked about booking. So we would have been able to book however we wanted to. We would have been able to stay out there. We would have seen Carson Beck do his thing in person. We would have seen Mario rage out on the field afterwards. We would have seen the pass interference call live. Who knows maybe you meet Ray Lewis in the post game? Maybe we're hitting a dance together.

I do want to... I do want to say one thing. Like, the viewers of the bus were led to believe that it ripped your... heart out not to be able to spend an extra day in Arizona. Like you have such affection and such love for Arizona. I don't want to use the words you used when we were on our final approach into land. But first off, Clump finds out it snows in Arizona because he called it, and I quote, fake snow from the air. So he finds that out. And then every, we saw like a crater from an asteroid. We're learning all sorts of things about the topography of Arizona. You're basically running the Arizona

a tourism bureau on the plane. You do everything, but you have the speaker in your mouth. You're literally like a bus tour. You had some commentary on the state of Arizona, which led me to believe... By the way, that wasn't cool. You let me to believe it was no big deal to you. Like, hey, first bus out of here, I'm on it. I didn't really think it was a big...

I thought I was doing you a favor. You treated Arizona like you spoke about Atlanta. That's how you were treating Arizona. I know. I'm trying to tell everybody how great of a state Arizona is where it's located, all the things you can go do out of nowhere. Will goes, man, Arizona ain't shit. He didn't even say Arizona. He just said A-Z?

Yeah. I was doing one of the things where I'm looking out the window. I'm hearing Taylor whole cord on how incredible Arizona is. And I'm just like, I have just a grin going on in my brain. Like I'm just going to throw out that. You know, Arizona sucks, bro. What are you talking about? Sounds like a weekend of hurt. Sounds like everybody was kind of about to get each other this weekend.

Could have communicated better. Wild random shot at me, being excited about my. State? That's just ball busting, bro. Oh, yeah, you're right. Yeah, that's just ball busting. Whenever the moment came up and the 2.30 thing came out, because I'm like assuming, because again, what he hoped happened, like I didn't hear what he said. I think J.P. might have just told me what Josh said. Isn't that what happened, JP? You might have like tap me. Josh doesn't have to be at all. You're telling you didn't hear it. No, no, you get to hang on, hang on. You heard it just. But I want to say somebody might have like,

Hey, do you hear what Josh said? But it was something like that. But either way, it's like perfect opportunity for ball busting. Because like the feeling he was explaining that he was trying to like have it under his breath. It's like, okay. Yeah, we're doing it easier. Yeah, this is not good. We're just going to do it from the hotel room.

And then we had to walk home in the rain. We did. Pouring down rain after the game, which was a splattering. And we get out of there. Now, the good news is we got home before midnight. So that's nice. Yeah. The bad news is.

Signity owns Dan Lannning. That's the bad news. You guys had a couple of moments pregame. I saw it on the vlog. You had a couple of moments. Yeah. We were one that we were going to post on social when Laining walked by in the tunnel

and he looked at me and he was like doing this. But by the time the caption was put together and Clump showed it to me, pick six. I was like, hey, put that way. Let's not put that out. So just to put a bow in this conversation, we'll start this way. You both start where you're on opposite.

you're about to go into a fight, play a football game against each other. Will goes in and says, I believe that we both believe we're right, however, we can see the other side. And you said, I'll speak for myself. I don't see it that way right now. How do you feel at the end of this whole entire conversation? I can't imagine that if I woke up in New York and I had to do a show, and then I had to go pick up someone in Nashville, and then I had to go to Arizona, as bad as it may suck, and then I had to leave Arizona. and then I found out at 2.30 in the morning, after you've been up, what, 24 straight hours?

I did something like that. I can imagine I may rage out a little bit internally. I wouldn't show it. I'd keep a strong poker face. I can imagine that that would do something to me. Now, would I be mad at me? Would I be mad at ESPN? Who's to say?

Does it even matter at this point? No, it really doesn't. So I guess maybe morally I found some middle ground. I love you. Such a relief. Glad we're friends again. It's beautiful, but honestly, I'll just talk to you guys.

Josh Pate really just took no accountability and told Will, I still feel the same way your emotions are yours, and I'll shake your hand and Will took that. It was like, we're all good now. Because I know, I know, that's how I saw that all go down. And Will goes, I fucking love you. And really, you didn't even say,

I could see it from Will aside. You're like, I can understand why Will is mad because all the things he had to go through, but really, it hasn't needed to do it. things. I didn't say his name specifically. I just said someone. Yeah. And secondly, in the vlog, I thought the most poignant moment was next morning, you guys are in the restaurant, eat breakfast, and you're just, you're just talking to the camera and you're airing out all your grievances. And you're saying, Pace's not even here right now. If he was here right now,

you probably dropped some philosophical quote on me. And I'd agree with it. That was the best far. I've taken a couple more days, still got that all done. We feel good. We feel good. about that you guys are in a good thoughts yeah yeah i know i know his heart and he said even though he was like i don't understand the side and then when he says he he he if he'd go back he'd communicate like that's all i needed to hear we got a couple of wrinkles if the question ever came up if someone ever asked is josh peat for the boys is it 100% your head no yeah he is 100% josh peat would never hurt the boys without question he's for the boys that's beautiful i just need to shake your hand again very unselfish friend who

And to prove it, I'm going to take you guys on a little adventure this spring. That's all I want to say right now. I cannot wait. But that's all I want to say right now. That's all I want to say. I'm so excited for that. That's going to be so much fun. Stay tuned.

Stay tuned to that. You said we may not come back from several predictions this year. But what I'm taking you on, we literally may not come back. And that's what makes it fun. And just like when I was in college and playing football, if I don't come back, it's a good life. Yeah. That's how I would have wanted to go. Yeah, that's how I would have wanted to go.

let's talk about these future fix. Do you want to start with just going conference by conference, Heisman National Championship, or do you want to just look at the records right away? This show is brought to us by Jim Beam, and the postseason upon us is upon us, and there's really nothing like it, but the postseason can be stressful.

Crushing losses, wild upsets, your unhidged six-game parlay, falling apart at the little last second. Things can get rough, and it can leave you feeling a little bit sour. But you've got to look at the bright side. Once your team is out and handed off to decompress, Headed off to decompress, you can finally relax, and now you can actually enjoy the postseason

without all the heart palpitations. That's where we're partnering with Jim Beam. We want to help you turn that lemon of a loss into delicious, tasty Jim Beam and Lemonade. Because it's really the perfect bevy for the off season. It's refreshing. It's got that perfect sweetness, a little bit of tang on your tongue, and best paired with stress-free watching when your team is out. So gather the boys grab some Jim Beam and Lemonade to make the rest of your postseason just a little bit sweeter. refresh your season with Jim Beam and Lemonade best enjoyed together.

Please drink responsibly. Jim Beam, Kentucky, straight bourbon, whiskey, 40% alcohol by volume 2025. James B. Beam Distilling Co. Clermott. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news.

We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. Starting a trend. But this one's extra special.

So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes.

I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little. Notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen.

We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay.

Jenshin win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Kentucky. Back to this episode. Man, I don't know if I want to do any. There's another option.

You guys watch Lain Man? Boy, buddy. We had a whole conversation on the plan about Landman and how it's not up to snuff this second season. I still watch it. Okay, what's going on? And did this last week turn around for you? Can I just say there were some text conversations happening deep into the night about this?

This dude right here, I don't care if you don't even host it with anyone. It's just you stream of consciousness. If you latch onto a show, let's say it's Lamb Man, I would listen to a 10-part podcast series of you just airing your thoughts. Because like if you're vocalizing what I read last night, several paragraphs, not even wait for a response he's just hey you mind listening for a second I got some stuff to say about land man

I would listen to that I'll look into it yeah we did we will did we go back and forth I mean I said yeah I was rattling off a lot of things like he said something to spark the conversation because I updated him on

the news that we learned about yesterday that we can't share on the show but Josh texted me at yesterday 923 please advise when you've watched a landman this week first text back I need grandpa to take down the new PT and then I just started to rattle off you know my thoughts on the show I didn't disagree with them did this in the last week do anything for us because when we sat there I'm like four weeks behind I think I watched the first episode of season two it did the worst thing ever it made you think the next episode could do something for you Yes.

Damn. I might have to jump on. Yep. In a massive side story that, again, has nothing to do with the main storyline, but could gain, could garner a certain audience to be excited about what was happening in the side story. Kind of like stranger things. So what does land... No.

Here we go. All the time. So what does Landman have to do with our futures picks? They're just thinking about coming. I don't want this show day. I don't want this season to end. I just want to hang with the boys. and I know when we get to through the football aspect of it, the football portion, it's over.

It's going to be over. Yeah. Ours, what do you got? With my picks? No. I was just curious if people have been watching Landman. So we could talk about some Landman. Did you end up what you watched the entire episode?

Yeah, I got thoughts separate from yours that I won't use because they really are spoilers. But yeah, I got some thoughts. We'll offline it. That's the hard part is we're talking about it now and it's only been a few days since it's been out. Can I guess this side story that has nothing to do with the main story? But you can you see the side story colliding with the main storyline? Somehow, some way. Yeah, I guess, yeah, I guess somehow, some way, but they could have done it differently.

They just, the main, the main story of the entire show with like oil cartel, war, negotiation, all this stuff. Yeah, it's only in bits and pieces throughout the episode. The rest is filled up with nonsense. like the mom and daughter and the old people's home. I think grandpa's getting shown quite a bit. I do love his one-liners. He's got some good philosophical takes. Grandpa's the guy that sits there every night in the wheelchair and looks out. He's just watching the sunset. Yeah. Now he's at the house. He moved him with dad. He moved in dad. I love seeing the bridging of the gap between dad and

son in that storyline. But a lot of it, it's like, say it's a 50-minute show, 40 minutes of it is some of these side stories. That you don't care for. Yeah. You're, you're going to They're funny, they might make you laugh, but once it's rained its course a few times, they're like, okay, what are we doing? Why are we building out an entire plot around this? It's like someone showed up, said, we got 10, 50 minute episodes to fill. We've got about two episodes worth of meat here. What do we do? And someone in the back said, leave it to me. And then they just threw a bunch of fat in there. Stick with me here. Wife, daughter, old folks home. My advice to you was watch the show on 1.75 speed. that was my first advice too. It kind of sucks because he's been talking about

Will is always big on like a multiple multitude of shows but Landman came up and I was sitting there with my wife I think a week or two before the second season came out and I was like we should put this on I heard it's great and we flew through that first season and it was like I am so excited we wait until now to watch it

because the second season starts like in four to five days from now and then I watched the first episode I like to lean back and kind of binge a little bit and then when I check it with Will three weeks ago on my head anything happened in Landman is like, not really. And then we have the conversation on the plane going to Arizona

and you guys have your whole takes on. Basically what we're talking about now is like there's not a lot of ass behind the show. Yeah. It's really just a lot of fat you could cut off. There's some ass in the show. Bang. You're doing exactly what you're doing. Wow. That's true.

Wow. But hey, that's right though. He's right. But this has been one episode. True. And we're really just prolonging this. finale of is Josh and Taylor going to pick different teams going into the national championship? Yeah. It's just no one wants to go home. No one wants to go home. We enjoy it that

line. It's the last show of the tour. No one wants to go home. By the way, great zinger over there by the demon. A little uncoff. Yeah, a little uncove. This is the truth. The truth, hey, truth doesn't care about feelings. Futures picks. Love land man. I look at the futures picks saying it for everybody at home I can see this card. There's only one green highlighted. Are you? Are you serious?

The whole sheet. The whole sheet. Taylor 1 in 5, Willow and 6, Josh O'Ns. This is for conference winners? Conference winners, Heisman winner, national champion. Yeah. Which I do take pride in this national champion pick because there was that graphic that came out last week. Yep.

With all the sports media figures. And there was only one individual that still was alive in the hunt. Knowing that you had in the end. I knew. You're like, damn it. If I go back, I need to... Yeah, but I'm kind of happy because then it wouldn't be

what we have right now, which is two tied, two individuals tied going to the National Championship. Yeah. You know how I looked at it? How? That graphic? I'm a year away. I was a year off. What they said about Josh in that graphic, though?

Homer. Can you read them off? So the national champion, Taylor had Oregon. He was speaking about the on-three graphics that went out with all the college football personalities and their teams that they picked. He was the only one that had a, team left, which was Oregon. In the semifinal, yeah. I had Texas and you had Alabama. Surprise,

surprise. Indiana, Oregon, Ole Miss, Miami. Yeah. Reasonably at the beginning of the season, the only one of those teams anyone that I know of would have picked would have been Oregon. The other three no one would have picked, right? Right. Maybe Indiana second because they made the playoffs last year. I never saw anyone pick Indiana. Not with Ohio State sitting there. Like Michigan hadn't played the season. Penn State was top five preseason. Remember that. And Indiana has got to go to Penn State. Don't forget what you know now. Indiana's got to go to Oregon. And I love that you said that because Penn State, people that want to hate them Penn State now, like that roster is still a top 10 roster in college football. And was perceived to be top five. I mean, haters of Penn State were ranking them number eight preseason.

Yeah. So Indiana had to go to Penn State, had to go to Oregon. Plus you got this whole idea in your mind that, man, now everyone's on to them. They're on everyone's radar. Certainly you got sophomore slump potential. You get complacency, but now we know better, but you couldn't have known better at the beginning of the season. I didn't see a single person pick Indiana to win the national title. I didn't see a single person. On the topic of Indiana, a lot of conspiracy theories in the Internet right now. Ooh. There it is. You know how the Internet is.

They go crazy. Hey, no one knows better than me. And Indiana, people are saying that they're hacking catapult. Mark Cuban, big investors. Is he the owner? You put the tin foil hat on. We're just putting a tinfoil hat on right now. Mark Cuban is an owner in Catapult.

Catapult is the technology that a lot of college football teams use. To watch film, break down plays, give coaches notes, track guys and how fast they're running, how much they're putting out from a V-O-2 Mac, all the things. And Mark Cuban, who's an alumni of Indiana, he owns that company, or is an investor in that company. Do you know if there's any truth to this, Josh Pay? I personally don't know if there's any truth to this. don't know if there's any truth to this. I can tell you there are some people that believe there's truth to it. However, I've told every single one of them, show me, and no one has shown me anything.

Certainly if you do to the college football world what Indiana has done, it's going to rub some people the wrong way, because you're out of your place. Your place is to serve up a win to us. All of a sudden, you're not doing that anymore. And you look way better than we think you should be able to look. So instead of crediting you, we're going to be suspicious. Hey, I got no problem with that because I'm a little skeptical about things in life as well. Hey, how are they doing that? How are they getting that good so quick? They're less talented than this team.

How are they running circles around them? Got no problem with that. I'm going to stop well short of just baselessly throwing out claims, but these people haven't stopped short. So I've asked, there's like half a dozen people that we're talking about, whose opinions I at least somewhat respect. Some of them are outright in the coaching industry. So I've said to every one of them, you got any person? of it. It's all speculation. It's all speculation to this point. So what I'm going to do is until otherwise notified, I'm going to laugh in people's face about it until I'm showed evidence.

Right. That's all I can do. Yeah. To be on the wrong side of that. One of my favorite things to do in early 2026 is to go on X formerly known as Twitter and get on these spaces. And with all the transfer portal stuff going on. I have like these, you know, one percenter Michigan Wolverine fan bases that start these spaces and they kind of break down on the day of how the transfer portal went and stuff like that. And I've jumped in probably half a dozen of these at some point. You can go anonymously or you can just show, you can show, hey, it's me in here. And I do. And every time we get into conversation. And I jump in last night, they're breaking down Snowden and French and these guys who got in the transfer pole. Everyone's real excited.

For French. For French. They are saying we're national championship. contender. I kind of fall back a little bit like, boys, we got to see some development and see how good these coaches really are. But the topic comes up about Indiana. And all these Michigan guys are just screaming. Like they have already drawn a line in the sand. These guys are cheaters. And I let them go for about 30 seconds before I hit them with the Will Compton looking out the bus. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Give me time. I go, if there's any fan base, it should probably fall back about this. It's probably us.

Let's just, let's sit back for a second. Like, well, we didn't do anything on my boys. Hey, I'll hold that flag forever. However, three years ago, two year, two and a half years ago, the same conversation was happy with Michigan. And there's a lot more evidence around that than there is around Indiana. Wow. You held up the mirror.

Maybe we should just kind of fall back to which they were like, fuck that. Their cheers. And I realize I love these group of boys. That's the internet, man. Yeah. I can't wait to go to. Arbor for a game next year. Hopefully the fall don't lie to her is there or we're there. And I have a couple of guys that I can't recognize it all with their faces, but they say,

hey, you've been in my spaces and we're like boys just because of that. You don't know me. Similar to George Kittle and guys being his DMs. Yeah. And then you go to parties that he hosts Kittle Fest. And they're like, oh, how do you know George? We just DM them one day and we became boys. That's what I'm hoping happens throughout my space's journey.

Wow. I shake a dude's head. And he's like, I'm like, so how do you know Taylor? He's like, I'm the, what is it? the Bryce unleashed. Underwood Unleashed. It seems like he's the leader of the group. He's always going on the spaces.

Yeah. And it's so funny to go through their timelines and to watch them be like, Bryce absolutely sucks. And then like three hours later, it's like, this kid's going to be elite. Yeah. They just live, everything is just so emotional. And I love to be a part of it. Feels like you really understand the fan base when you do that.

Wouldn't change the world. I suggest anybody out there, especially you, JP. Like, there's a couple of spaces for South Carolina. Just go in there and just enjoy the conversation. conversation. It is fun, ma'am. It's a good time. But this is telling me that we sucked at our futures. Who didn't? Yeah, I'm going to get this because I do believe that your national champion, I have a suspicion that is going to be the same as, same next year as it is this year. You really think so. You think I was a year too early? No, I think you're going to believe you were a year too early.

To where Alabama paint comes back out. Yeah. Should I let my dad make my picks for me? You let your dad make your picks. Who's the new quarterback for Alabama? Keelan Russell. He's going to start. Everybody's telling me how great that kid is. He'll win the Heisman. Not even in the Heisman odds on Banduel right now.

Alabama won the SEC championship. Alabama will win the Big 12 championship. Your dad will pick all of them for every conference. I've been seeing stuff too in the Alabama world about spending in the IL. Good or bad. Kind of like they're not keeping up at the times or the elite of the elite. They've always handled it conservatively and it's just a new age. I don't know, I'm sitting there listening to these guys.

I can't remember their names, but they're kind of talking about, you know, the Bama NIL, the portal, the spending that goes on, the positioning that Bama uses that they think is leverage, but it's actually not leverage and hurts them because they're not trying to keep up with all the biggest spenders in the conference and trying to kind of get over that hump that every team's trying to get over. Yeah, of like hating NIL or resisting NIL or feeling like you can do it a certain way and still win at all, which I mean, I guess you can, but I just didn't know.

They expect a team like Alabama to hear a fan base talking like that. Yeah. The SEC is so interesting to me because they've obviously been so dominant forever. And now this is the third national championship where no SEC team cannot win. Next year, though. And Paul Feinbaum even goes on live TV and says, the Big Ten is the superior conference to the SEC. I'm not sure what happened, but he's basically putting a full indictment in the entire SEC right now.

What do you think the issue is? several fold. Number one, the Big Ten's allowed to try too. So you could just have that there's somewhat of a cyclical nature of football. You could have that the NIL has changed the top of the tallest trees or both of those things could be true. I think there's like a layer. It's not the top layer, but there's a sub layer that the SEC for so long had an edge talent-wise that they knew they roll out of bed every morning and then they have it. Not so much because they're great, but because of what geography was in college football. Because the SEC was willing to do stuff under the table that the rest of college football

wasn't willing to do. You're basically paying kids to stay home. Like it's not the toughest proposition in the world to convince a kid from Tuscumbia, Alabama to play his football in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, or like Clarksville to go play in Athens, Georgia. So I think they got a little lazy in the way they hire staffing. It's just a theory I'm working on. I can never prove this. But I think they understood it may behoove us to hire recruiters over coaches in the SEC,

because that's really our lifeblood. We need to maintain this massive talent edge on the rest of college football. Therefore, we don't need to win on the margins. We don't need to squeeze the sponge a little harder to get a few more drops out. Like University of Illinois, Iowa, they got to do that. We're Florida. We're LSU. We don't have to do that.

So then the sport didn't change gradually. It changed pretty quickly over the last five years. It's changed pretty radically. And I think the SEC got caught with its pants down. And I also think the SEC got caught with buildings full of people that probably are 75% of what may be in those Big Ten buildings from a pure standpoint of football acumen, an ability to coach, an ability to develop, because for so long in the SEC, they knew, we need to be C plus or B minus in those areas, we'll be fine.

Athletes will just win for us. So I don't think there's any one thing. Like, yeah, you could say NIL changed things, which it did. But you got to get more specific on what it changed. And then from the SEC's viewpoint, okay, well, then let's get specific on whether that's permanent. Is this just cyclical? Does this come back around? Because like I grew up watching pro wrestling, huge fan of it like in the late 90s, as every kid my age was. All right. So you got WWF that's on top for a long time. And then Ted Turner invests in WCW. And then it blows up. And then WWF takes a

back seat for like 82 weeks in a row. They get beaten the Monday night ratings. Then Stone Cold Steve Austin emerges. And then they retake the throne. But from that point forward, it wasn't cyclical. WCW just died. And it never was. again. So like how does college football look? Is it just back and forward jockeying for position? Or did NIL really just do something that permanently alters the landscape? I would imagine that's not true. But you never know. My crystal ball doesn't see that for in the future. I love a good wrestling analogy. Always. I was a big WCW fan. You were a nitro guy? I was. I was. Bill Goldberg. When Sting came over,

Paul Kogan came over. That was huge. Did you see the documentary of Vince McMahon? Which one? The one where it's essentially talking about all the doings, like when WWF was taking the backseat. Everything that you explain. I'm like, I'm remembering that documentary with Vince McMahon. It's a fascinating period of time. Yeah. And Ted, what was his name?

Ted Turner. Ted Turner. Yeah. Own the Atlanta Braves. That's why I knew Ted Turner. He owned the Atlanta Braves when I was doing. Because he was also a wrestler in WCW, like him owning it, right? Yeah, he owned WCW.

He owned Turner, TBS, TNT, all of those things. And he used that ownership of TNT to get into the wrestling business and then give his brand, WCW, a prime time spot on Monday night to go head to head with WWF. Until that point, they were running unopposed on Monday night. You got two-hour block of time on USA Network on Monday night. And then all of a sudden, Ted Turner, a billionaire, comes into the room and says, I think I'm going to get in the wrestling business. And since I own a network, I'm going to give my brand two hours of primetime TV on Monday night. know, by the way, we're going to go live, whereas WWF was just taped at that point. And then we're going to start giving away their results on our live show to disenfranchise

viewers from turning over to WWF program. It was lethal. All out war. He was like, I'm going to join the show. He became a wrestler. He was an actual wrestler. Millionaire who owned a network company. Took WCW and said, I'm going to make you guys the biggest in the show.

Hey, this guy named himself. And then joined the chaos. Join the show. Yeah. This guy in the 80s. But the needle in his butt was joining the show. No shit. Because he's like NW.

He was part of NWO, yeah. I don't remember that part. Black and White NW. Eric Bischoff. Not like a part of it like he's one of the founders, but you know, just in it from his position going in and out of the world. Listen. But yeah, I remember him as like a, he was wrestling. That's pro wrestling.

That's all make believe. Ted Turner named himself manager of the Atlanta Braves for a game in the 80s. And then Major League Baseball had to step in and say, that's not happening. So this guy in a real legit sport, one of the big four sports said, I own the team. Why can't I be the manager? And then Major League Baseball had to step in and say, because you just can't. You got to retire. Just be the owner.

Yeah, so he was one game manager. And then he, I don't even know if he won, but he hung up the whistle. So Wikipedia's got to be crazy. All that glades. A manager in the MLB, pro wrestler, billionaire, own a cable, a network company. that's this is a world that you guys I see both you guys eyes light up about that I never was invested in ever here's what fascinates me about it all right I think there's so many parallels to what we do to the world we're in like I ingest a ton of podcasting about that topic from that

era and I don't even care if you don't like wrestling you you can never have watched an episode of pro wrestling in your life the parallels to the way the modern digital media ecosystem works so readily correlate with how pro wrestling worked in the late 90s. There's so many lessons to be learned. It just so happens that I also liked wrestling growing up. But even if I didn't, I could listen to that. Can you imagine people saying we fill this show with fluff

and don't talk about college football enough? This is just old school podcast. That's all it is. All right, before we get into the True Classic Game of the Week, I want to talk to you about True Classic. You can find True Classic at Amazon and Costco, Sam's Club, and Target Nationwide, or you can go online at Trueclic.com forward slash Bussin.

The pants on right here. They're hiked up pretty high right now, but I'm telling you they fit great. They got the stretch, the elasticity in them. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special.

So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast,

I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen Chinchin win. I mean, she went down at three to, two. Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lerna Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now.

And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where dope. is not only legal, but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast, Superhuman, documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Good, feel good, play good. get at the true classic game of the week um all right let's talk about indiana and miami yeah this is it dude this is a true classic game of the week every week's got games only one fit just right this is the true classic game of the week we got the national championship hard rock stadium in miami and miami is at home but they are the way team yeah playing indiana who's favored by eight and a half and the total points in that game is 47 and a half right now you josh pate you're 44 and 44 i am 44 and 44 Compton is here as well.

But a couple good wins throughout the year. Couple good wins throughout the year. You had a good showing. Yeah. Like that 40 and 48, what do you call it, respective? Respectively. Respectively. Like, that's a good, that's solid.

Don't patriotizing, man. Now the line has to be drawn in the sand. Because two weeks ago, we sat there talking about the Rose Bowl. Yep. You looked at me in the eyes. And I actually looked you in the eyes and said, if you're so confident about Alabama, take the money lines. And what did you say?

I already did. You already did. And that blew up. Yeah, I died. Now we have another opportunity where Indiana has a win margin of 31 points. They're now being talked about with the 2019 LSU and some of those Alabama teams, the best teams to ever be assembled while only having seven blue chip players. Yeah, which is insane. But the talk is happening. Why do you think it's insane? I don't never do the comparative thing. I never compare Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth for the same reasons. But I think that you're talking about teams, whether it's 2019 LSU or 2020 Alabama that would skull drag any team that exists right now. 23 Michigan. Yeah, exactly. They would skull drag 2023 Michigan too. So this is only five years ago. That might as well be 50 years ago with the way college football has changed. Okay.

And you don't need to do that. You don't need to go down the, it's like the LeBron Michael Jordan debate. I just never needed to do it. I think I got a crazy take that both of them are pretty good. I don't need to denigrate one to like build up the other. I don't need to take 2026 slash 5 Indiana, a team that if you want to tell me it's the greatest story in college football history, I'm not even pushing back on it and say, yeah, but you know, the probably wouldn't beat 2019 LSU. All right, probably wouldn't. Yeah.

Nobody else would either. Probably wouldn't. So the question is, is, are you taking Indiana? I'm glad you asked. Let me pull my pants down and get them more comfortable. Nobody, including my own parents, has taught me more lessons in life than Kurtzig. Nettie and the 2024 slash 25 Indiana Hoosiers. I think they got to teach me at least one more lesson.

Because as of now, unless you talk me off of it in the next 10 minutes, however long this preview goes, my current plan is to pick Miami to win this game. Outright. My current plan is to pick Miami. For the show, we'll do numbers. Yep. Because it sounds like you're doing Miami. I'm taking Indiana.

Dude, go with what your gut tells you. My gut tells me... And you'd think Miami money line, then God damn it picked the Miami Money Line. He just spent a week, half a week. How long did you stay in Vegas? I was there the same time you guys were doing the playoffs. I got back Sunday. Oh, so like a couple of days.

All right. So, I mean, you're speaking math. You're breathing in math and numbers like it's oxygen. This is second nature to you. So I walk in this morning before we start recording. And you're kind of trying to feel me out. I'm kind of trying to feel you out. You know we're deadlocked.

We got one game left. someone's going to be able to walk away from this game saying, I had a winning year. None of those other two dudes did. That's how important this game is. Which means more than we can even imagine right now. Yeah. It's everything.

It is. It's everything. And you heard, because you would never watch my show the night before you do a show with me. Not anymore. Never. You heard that I picked Miami plus eight and a half last night, but you also heard that I picked them to win the game outright, right? I heard you're taking Miami.

Yeah. From a source. And so you, with a straight face, like a true serial killer would, you look at me and you say, hey, we got to break our tie. You picking Miami outright? I said, yeah, let's just go money line. Like in a one-off scenario where the picks are supposed to be 50-50 either way, it's really a true coin flip. I'm just going to forget the eight and a half points that I could get here.

And I'm just going to go Miami Money Line. Putting the seesaw statistically with me totally up in the air and you totally on the ground, And you thought I wasn't even going to be able to see through that. So I refuse the money line proposition because I'm terrified of Indiana. Because I know what the Rose Bowl did to me. I'm still not back. I showed up for the shows, but I'm still not really back from the Rose Bowl. Two and O last week.

It was all in the Simmons. Luck. I was on the floor in the bathroom, flipping a coin right before the show went on the air. It was pure luck. By the grace of God, I'm here. And we get to pick this game. and I'm going to do it in reverse order. I'm going to give my pick and then give the reasons.

So my pick is Miami plus eight and a half. Do I think they're going to win? Yes, I picked them to win. But my pick on the show is Miami eight and a half. We're going eight and a half, right? Yeah, we're going eight and a half. Yeah, okay. My pick is Miami eight and a half.

Let me ask you a question. Do you think Miami's best game is good enough to win this? Because you assume Indiana is just going to play the way they always play, right? Yeah. Do you think Miami's best game is good enough to win? Yes. You win? You think they're good enough to win.

I think they're good enough to win. Okay, I do too. So I got a bunch of things written on this piece of paper, but really it boils down to do I think they're going to play their best game. Because Indiana is really good at knocking you off the tracks and derailing you and you're like, why aren't we moving? Why can't we play our best game? Because they're really good at forcing you off of your fastball.

This is the first game out of the games Indiana's played in the playoff or including the Big Ten championship game, honestly, where I don't just look at it and say on the line of scrimmage, that team's got to deal with Miami or with Indiana. Like, yeah, everyone's had to deal with Indiana. They're a handful to deal with line of scrimmage. It's the first game where I actually have looked at Indiana and said, yeah, you guys got to deal with them too. Because I really think Miami can do some damage on line of scrimmage.

Now, what does that mean for the game? To me, it means it becomes a little bit harder for Indiana to just control the game on the ground. Like, they've been really good running the ball. They're so lethal on third down. They're like first in the country by a mile on third down offense conversion. rate because it's always third and two because it's always third and one. I think Miami not only possesses the ability to stone them against the run a little bit, but not necessarily like have to commit a bunch of numbers to do it. Miami kind of is good at doing what Indiana does, which is stopping

the room of four. Yeah. And so you can't really stretch the field where it's hard to do it. You also can't run the ball. So I think Miami can do that. And at that point, it really just comes down to, is Fernando Mendoza in the same zone he was against Oregon. Because if he is, Indiana will just win the game because no one's beaten Indiana. If he's in the kind of zone he was against Oregon. If you took away the turnover is in the Oregon game, Indiana is still winning that thing handedly. Just because of the zone that Fernando Mendoza was in. So question becomes, can you stop the run? I think they can't enough. And then can you get after him enough to where I don't think he's going to throw like three picks or anything, but he's not in the same kind of zone he was against Oregon.

He's just human. And then you pull that offense back down to earth and you can ugly up the game, which they're comfortable with, Indiana is, but you ugly up the game and you give that size differential a chance to manifest itself in the fourth quarter. You're averaging 330 on your O line. They're about 270, 275D line, which hasn't mattered all year

because they're really, really good technicians. But I also think Miami's really good in that compartment. And if I can get this thing into the fourth quarter, it's one possession or tied either way. I trust Miami's ability to get over the finish line here. So that's why I took them to win. But that style of game really makes me eager to take the eight and a half.

So that's why I took the eight and a half. Yeah, both teams have the ability to do what they want to do all year to each other. Yep. Right? They want to run the ball effectively. They want to control the line of scrimmage. They want to get into third and manageable situations. Here's what concerns me.

Go ahead. You're right. I haven't seen Indiana be the victim of like critical mistakes all year. I've seen Miami be the victim of critical mistakes. Right. So like my entire thinking here is they avoid the critical mistakes. Indiana's like they're just cruising altitude. Miami's like we could maybe get up to 42,000 feet,

but we could fly at 28,000 feet the next week. So I'm just rolling the dice that they hit 41,000 feet in this game. Right. That is the point of which I look at Indiana and I'm like, this is a team that is going to win the national championship because you can run the ball effectively. I love the note about the offensive line. They're averaging 330 versus defense that's averaging 270.

However, the gap integrity that the defense has is absolutely incredible. when you get to third down, they, I think their defense is like 31% of allowing offenses to convert. I believe that's the correct percentage. They just don't make mistakes. The game they made the most mistakes in

was the first game against Oregon. They had multiple false start issues, the clock management issues. But then you get to a two-minute situation when there's 28 seconds left on the clock and Fernando Mendoza does what he does best, and that's hit the outside the numbers to Sarat and Cooper,

throwing back shoulder throws, once the corners have turned their shoulders. I've talked to Will about this a million times. Like, Fernando Mendoza runs more RPO than any other quarterback in the entire college football landscape. And when you're as a defense, if you're trying to stop that and you're trying to stop the run, yet you have Cooper running a quick slant, which gives you a read. And you have Surrott, who's running a vertical when he has press coverage against him.

And Becker, who's a stud. Yeah. So you have these guys that he has multiple outlets on every single play, essentially, even though they are a 50-50 we're going to run it or pass it to where we have this get out of jail free card in these areas because Cooper's going to run this three-yard slant and have enough separation to move the ball five yards or I got sarat who's got the cornerback's shoulders already turned and I can throw that 15 yards down field and he's just going to turn to it and stop and it's either going to result in a pass in our DPI or it's going to result in a contested catch that we've

seen sarat convert over and over and over again throughout the entire season. Question, question. Go ahead. or the status on Miami's corners. OJ. Frederique. A couple of them went down. Yeah, OJ. Frederique is the one they're still, as of yesterday, still iffy on, which is a huge deal to monitor. We're still, what, five days away from the game as we're recording this.

So there's no way to know because I don't think they'll know until the weekend. But it looks like Mesaador's good to go. The other guys who were banged up, it looks like they're good to go. I think OJ. Frederic, who is a very, very important player here when you're talking about what you're talking about. I think he's still questionable. I think that's the status. Because the back shoulder chemistry that Mendoza and Sarat have.

Yeah. It's not just Sarat. I mean, Cooper as well. They can switch. They're interchangeable as far as like throwing that ball. And I've asked well a couple of times, like how do you defend that if you're a defensive player? And there's really no answer for it.

Like those guys are playing like Ole Miss was competitive and trying to get some of these balls away. And Sarat 13, the strength he has in his hands to come down with it. Yeah. It is just, it's impressive to watch. They're winning games by I think plus 31 point differential on average throughout the year. They're blowing out teams. They're doing things that we haven't seen in this new landscape of cultural playoff.

Like if you look at teams that have had buys in the last two years, there's only been one team that's one that's had a buy. And it's been Indiana. So like regardless of circumstances, history, stats, you use the perfect analogy of they're just cruising at this altitude. And there's not a whole lot of turbulence. And any time we have seen turbulence, whether it be early in the Oregon game, the first time they played or against Penn State, when they had to go back and have a two-minute drive to win the game. They've handled it. They've handled the diversity. And so when I look at these teams,

and I'm being as cautious as I can not to be super critical of Miami because I think they're a fantastic team. But it really just comes down to do who, this game is all going to be who makes the least amount of mistakes. And I said it last one, ESPN, if Carson Beck has a two-minute drill against Ole Miss, what's going to happen? And I say bluntly to the camera,

Ole Miss will go to the national championship. That exact situation took place at the game you guys were at. and Carson Beck marched his team down the field and now is in the national championship. So I have a lot more respect and Carson Beck has a lot more in his bag that I even expected to, him to have. Malachi Tony, absolutely incredible, opens it up where you have to allocate two guys to him while you have a back like Fletcher who's ripping the rock for like six yards per carry. So they have a lot of things going for them. But at the end of day, dude, it's who makes a mistake, who has more Emmys, who doesn't handle the clock the best?

and that edge is severely on Indiana side. That's why I sit back and I'm like, yeah, eight and a half points is a lot, but I think there were, what, 10 points against Alabama? They've had larger spreads throughout this. I think Oregon was four, and then they, yeah, so they've been, they've handled business every single time, every single game throughout this process when you're like, hey, this is a good, feel, good story, and now we catch yourself where they're in the national championship.

it's they're undeniable at this point it's where if you go the other way unfortunately you have to learn a lesson and the lesson is 44 and 45 big netty big netty big netty big netty i feel like i'm watching the national title take place right now the saviness in moxie of big netting he's he's unfazed he has every he has everything when it comes they scored touchdowns they get interception his face is stoic he's focus on the process over and over and over again. And he's got a quarterback that just is all about the team. He is the George Kittle of quarterbacks in the sense of it's all about the team. Like, don't even focus on me. Don't even look at me. It's about the team. Now you got Hemby and black in the backfield, too, that are a one-two punch that always happen to spring a big run

and then always fall forward in situations. It's going to be a great matchup. I think it's going to be like one of the bloodiest first quarters we ever see. And it's who flinches first. And Indiana has refused to flinch all year. I'm waiting on that moment that you just talked about. Like I'm taking Miami, which means I got to go against Indiana. Even if the game starts out, okay,

Miami gets a 3-0 lead, Indiana touchdown 7 to 3, another field goal from Miami. Man, got in the red zone, couldn't convert, but that's okay, one-point game, early second quarter,

back and forth. It's really kind of a struggle. No one has that clear edge. Even if I get that game, you would think, oh, he's comfortable. The game's kind of settling in Miami's getting their game script.

It's Indiana. You're just waiting for that three minute period where they score and then someone botches something on the ensuing kickoff and they get it and they kick another field going. It's just a ten point swing in a minute and a half and then you go three and out and they got the ball at midfield

and then they're driving and you're looking and saying wait a second. It was just a tie game. They're up 10, about to go up 17 and oh wait, they get the ball to start the second half. Yeah. And then They double up on you now. It's 17.

Terrified. Dude, their operation on two minutes is incredible. It's unbelievable. I go back to that Oregon, Indiana game in Eugene, Oregon. There's 28 seconds on the clock. And they're on like the 26, 27-yard line. And they do what most people do in that situation is they run the ball. And it's like, hey, if we get a big chunk, we'll start to press it down the field.

They have multiple timeouts. And they end up getting 12 to 15 yards. A hemby around the left side. And then it's just chunk play after chunk play where guys are. They're running outs. They're catching the ball, even two feet. They're having NFL catches. And they're just moving the ball, five, 10 yards, 15 yards to the point where they're on the 37-yard line and they kick the three.

And it's like, that is operation. That is coached. That is everything that these players go in. They're like, oh, 28 seconds, two timeouts, that's no problem. We're good. Let's go score. We've operated over and over and over again. What gives me pause about Miami because they have the ability to do all the same things I just talked about to Indiana.

You float back to SMU and Louisville. And it's like, Indiana doesn't have those blips in the radar. They have never showed us. They've only, in the words you used about Ohio State, as so many teams have given us question marks after big games. And then at the time you said, Ohio State has only given us answers. Now it's Indiana in that position where all year, well, yeah, Miami lost to this team, Notre Dame, should they be in Texas?

Like they just beat the number one team, Texas, Indiana. There's a lot of question marks taking place, but Indiana has only giving you answers every single week and deep into these playoffs in the National Championship. Here's what I wonder. So what changes? Yeah, here's what I wonder. I think Miami did show you several blips in the Ole Miss game.

Like I think there were two 10-point swings they left on the table in the Ole Miss game. Now, you can look at that one of two ways. You could say there are the things that will cost them against Indiana. They were in plain sight and you ignored them. Or they go on to beat Indiana and you look and say, it turns out their most vulnerable moment, against Ole Miss, but Ole Miss just didn't cut the head off the snake. And so they didn't have to learn their lesson with a loss.

They learned their lesson, but they still won, and they applied it, cleaned everything up, and they played their best game in the biggest moment against Indiana. Obviously, I'm banking on the second scenario for my pick, but I don't know. And we also have a way talked about how that last play for Ole Miss, Trinidad Chambers in the back left of the end zone was easily a DPI that could have a lot of the, yeah, it is. But a lot of those situations are where we could be talking about a different team playing against Indiana and this national championship. Could be.

You'd also argue on Miami side how you letting Ole Miss get in the position to throw a hell merry like that. I would have loved to have seen an extra play just for the actress. Yeah, absolutely. Well, at the end of the day, Miami deserved to be in that game. I don't want to take anything away from Miami. I just think when it comes to complete, mistake-free football that you look at, it's like, how do we beat him? It's like, hope they fuck up. And hope is, hope gets you killed.

And unfortunately, I think Miami gets killed in this one. We interrupt this episode because we are brought to you by Form Energy. Form Energy delivers best in class taste with natural flavors and zero sugar. Form Energy has natural caffeine derived from green tea. And it comes in a variety of flavors like Scream and Freedom, Grape smash, blue, blitz, orange, fury, and perfect for those who put in the work. For the person who wakes up in the morning, gets a workout in, puts in a full day at work. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers.

And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. we created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We're the first people to do podcasts. A pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers

was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in time. tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris, every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay.

Jenchian went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman. Human documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Bill gives it their all when they get home. You are a form energy guy. Form energy, we do the work. Where are you going? I don't even know. I'm trying to break down, watch this national title on full with both of you guys. I personally think my gut tells me Indiana is.

going to win this game, but eight and a half is too many points. I'm going with Miami plus eight and a half. I agree with you guys laid out so many different angles perfectly. When I was leaving both of these games, my initial reaction is Indiana is going to kill this team. But then when you look at, when you go back and actually dive into the game of Miami, drop four picks, those 10 point swings that we were talking about on the plane. And also Carson Beck has these moments where fortunately they were incompletions, but he has a, the ball's always there to be picked off, like if you're Ole Miss. that Ole Miss, it nears the defense and plays at that level like Indiana does, to where, again, we're in the conversation of Indiana.

They never really have a false step. They never make a whole lot of mistakes. Like Indiana will make you pay for those kind of throws. But it's more of the roll in the dyes, hoping we get an incredible football game and Miami's going to play their best football. Because if they do, like they have, again, they match up well with Indiana. The beef that they have up front on both sides of the ball matches up really well with Indiana. Their ability for Fletcher to run the football, Carson Beck, he's been playing much better

to where I'm trying not to where I've always allowed myself to get caught in the SMU in Louisville. Like I've been a hater of the ACC all year long. Now they have, not only did they handle one of the best defenses in the SEC in Texas A&M and handle the best defense in college football at the time with Ohio State, which Indiana beat them, what, 13 to 10? And Miami just out physicaled Ohio State in the fourth quarter and took it away, snatched the soul from Ohio State. Snatched the soul and the game was closer than the scoreboard.

And then showed that they, okay, are they going to be able to keep up with the high powered offense of Ole Miss, like, how's the defense going to look? And I was getting so pissed off when they kept dropping interceptions, because one of them is a pick six. Another one's arguably a pick six to where if they capitalize on those mistakes, like this game is going to be incredible. But Indiana, when I fantasize about their story, I feel like this crew right here, let's say 20 years from now, you look back and realize this could be the only 16 and 0 team that we see in college football because of all the parity that's coming into the sport. to where we look back 20 years from now.

I was like, yo, we got to witness that game, like, in person, go to their semifinal game and just see that the storylines unfold throughout the year knowing that Indiana was just a shitty football team throughout the history of college football. Right. So I fantasize about that. I fantasize about Miami, the confidence, the swagger, the attitude that this team always had in the college football landscape as we were growing up.

And then you're trying to tell this generation about Miami. And since Christopal's gotten there, you've seen these windows of opportunity, whether it's situational football that gets them beat, mental lapses, the penalties that get them beat in years past, they had a very, like, when I look at the Ole Miss game that they just had recently, they had some penalties that they, that was very uncharacteristic of what this team has done throughout the year to where you sit back and almost go, oh, Miami's kind of being Miami right now with some of these penalties. Some they didn't even get called for. But again, seeing Miami if they can get over this time and win this national title to where the U is back. I know Cristobal hates that. I fantasize about that. I think the points are too long, so I'm going with Miami plus eight and a half, just because I believe,

as far as the trenches go, the defense being, if they're able to be more opportunistic, if they get those opportunities on Mendoza, because, again, they can stop the run with a lighter box because they have the catch, which means defensively,

you have those extra guys for the RPO situations. It's just who's going to win the 50-50 balls when you get those back shoulders competing against Surat and Coofer, were in those receivers. But I'm taking Miami plus eight and a half. One thing you brought up to when you're talking about Carson Beck is like, he's, I mean, this is a seventh year in college.

This is it. This is it for him right now. And you see his level of maturity taking place throughout the playoffs where he's got younger guys around him. He's got a lot of guys that are like, you know, barely able to drink, 20 years old, 19 years old. And he is just being a, he's being a fantastic leader for that team because of his age and how long he's been able to see the game.

And it's like, that's a really cool story. But then you look at Indiana, they have 44 players that are 24 and 25 years old. Like, they're the oldest team in college football. And it's that level of maturity. Because we've all been. You see the level of maturity too. At the college age.

When you get to college, you know, someone's got, you go on and have like a case race. And you, like, really are like, you know, I'm out of, I can booze. I can do all this. You're partying. You're kind of learning about yourself as an individual. Now you're out of your parents' house.

But then you get to like 23. And you're like, hey, that was a lot of fun. Now I'm going to slow down because your brain just starts to be like, these really aren't the important things. This is where I need to focus. Yeah, these guys are reading newspapers in the morning. Exactly. So I look at this team that has 44 players that are 24 and 25 years old. They're not worried about the frat houses and the house parties, the bars, all those things.

These are grown adults. The phrase, these are grown-ass men. The phrase, when I was your age, has come out of the mouth of several Indiana players. Yes. to the young bucks talk about how sore they might be I remember those days Yeah, yeah, yeah

All those guys say calling them fresh legs Man must be nice to be as young as you One day you'll be in this spot Yeah, exactly It's like, well, I won't be another COVID So we won't Hopefully I'll be in the league I'm excited for this game

It's gonna be awesome Walking out of those both those playoff games My initial gut in the second game We got to watch was Indiana Oregon And just seeing the ass beating that Indiana put on Oregon. It's like I'm walking out of there thinking, yo, Miami doesn't have a chance.

But every day that goes by, the pendulum swings for me mentally, for whatever reason, it just swings more toward Miami because, like, this team's got everything that they need. The offensive line, like I'm standing up there, I don't know how many times I'm patting JP and clump on the shoulder.

Look at that offensive line. I don't know if it was the all whites making them look so big, but what's the name of the left tackle? Markell Bell. Markill Bell, for the love of God. And we're up in a suite. And I'm like, yo, these dudes are massive. I think Bell's the biggest player in the sport.

He's the biggest human I've seen in the sport in several years. It is nuts. And then the cats that got across the line of scrimmage on defense with Mesidor and Bain, they have it all there. And you can just feel the identity that they have taken with Cristobal. And I love seeing Christa Ball getting in the post game pressers or the media he did the next day where he's going back and forth with Sabre. And he's going back and forth with Scott Van Pelt after the game.

I'm like, it makes me just root for it. Yeah. I had that same exact feeling about Oregon and Indiana. And that was the result we got. If I swing the other way, every Indiana fan you meet when we were out there in Atlanta, incredible. Man, they just like pat you on the head. They smile and they say, it's okay.

You picked against us a few times this year. It's okay, man. We get it. We get it. I didn't believe it either for a second. Yeah, we're smiling. You know, we're all on this ride. Yeah.

We love you anyway. At what point does that fan base, because you've brought it up how they've been, as long as football has been going on, and Indiana Hoosiers have had a football team, they've been bad up until these last two years. At what point does that fan base flip to, we're so excited to be here to, we expect this. I don't know, bro. I was sending you the example. I think it's quicker than we think. We know what a little bit of success does some people's heads.

It's there. It's there already. From this point forward, I think they're there. So let's say the couple of interactions I have to believe, because you have to believe at this point Indiana is going to be in the playoffs next year. I would assume, yeah. Yeah, right? And let's say they go over to the first round.

They might beat up a muffin, a G5 muffin, and then they go and play a real team, and they lose. Are Indiana fans like this fucking Signetti guy? Especially if they win Monday night, by three. But if they win Monday night? No, if you win a title, you're set. They can miss the playoffs the next year. And you say, hey, man, everybody has to hit the reset button. Why should we be any different?

I just wonder, and I can say the same thing about Mario, when you get this close, because it's not the BCS anymore, where it's just two teams finish their season, voila, you're in the game. Miami had to win three to even get in this game. Indiana had to win two, and really three because they had to beat Ohio State too. So they both had to go through it to get in this game, and you get so close and you lurch for the belt, but you just miss it off your fingertips.

You fall to the mat. That feeling in the expanded playoff era, it must make you feel like it's so borderline impossible to get all the way back there again. Think about how many things have to go right for us to get all the way back there again. It's tough. It's a big climb. Everything you just said to me made me think, man, I wish you would get into NFL football a little bit. Because that's the playoffs. You play the Wild Card Division, the championship, and then you go Super Bowl.

And it's like, you get right there. and you never it's like you never go back and I feel like you would enjoy the storylines taking place in the NFL can I tell you a secret go ahead none of you are going to believe this I've watched every playoff game no you haven't who you who you like right now let me float you a theory you're right Caleb Williams pretty good player pretty good player pretty good play good take pretty good player right elite I think that chapter of his book is yet to be written elite moments the other day oh yeah talking about changing the fate of an entire city on that fourth down throw.

Fourth and eight that throw, it's not just in the elite category. I feel like it's making its own category because that's how unbelievable it was. That throw to me was the best story I've ever seen in my pair of life. I noticed that Josh was watching some NFL football because he had a tweet and then at halftime I shoot Josh a text and I'm like splattering in Chicago. Oh my goodness. And I saw that. Then would you end up saying you like I need one more touch.

First off I told you because it was 213. And I said, you can't do that yet. You can't do it. Because my biggest fear is premature splattering. A lot of people I fear is about other premature things. My fear is premature splattering. Because if you tweet out, it's a splattering in blank. And then that team comes back to win.

That's the ultimate freezing cold take. You will never live that down. I've never suffered a premature splattering. You want to never suffer to premature splattering? Never. Never close. Never even close. So I've waited until the game's for sure over to say it's a splattering.

But it's an inexact science. And at 21 to 3, you texted me privately. I didn't reveal this. You just revealed this. You said, it's a splattering in Chicago. And I said, can't do it yet. Maybe one more touchdown. And we can do it.

We can't do it yet. And sure enough, Chicago comes all the way back to win. I screenshot the text, but I marked your name out. That was you? And I tweeted it out. And I said, I hope it never comes out who sent this to me. It just came out. God.

Because I sat there. I have my thoughts. I still wish we could go back. he could tweet that out just because the whole just stay in college football all everything that would come from would just be so funny but yeah you would love to you're watching it you're enjoying it right now a little bit aren't you where's john harbaugh going not to the titans as much as k adams wanted me to say yesterday wow do we have any inkling of who the titans might be getting i have not my ear to the ground at all i'm not at all today they said harball is one of the

That's clump right there. It's a nice place to live. The source of clump. It's a great place. It's a nice neighborhood. I'm a decent, decent source. I am,

I am hoping it's Arthur Smith. I am hoping it's Arthur Smith. Non-selfishly. No selfishly. No, absolutely. Yeah. Just for the betterment of the franchise. I want the Titans to be great.

I think Arthur Smith is the man to make them great. And that mustache. He gets it. We feel good. So you're, I'm going. Miami. I thought you were going to take a total on the national title game.

That's what I thought you would do. I was thinking about it. Which would be just like play up both things. I'm taking the over. Give me the over. It's a great game. It is. And honestly, good luck to you.

Thank you. It'll be fun to watch. 47 and a half. That's over. That's an over game. Could be. Indiana gets up big. Indiana gets up.

Miami starts the press. And then they have. comeback or Indiana takes advantage and picks more points but there it'll be so you think this is gonna be it Indiana is gonna like handle well the game is handel the game is eight and a half Indiana's favorite in half like I'm taking Indiana eight and half I believe we have a potential splattery on our hand where do you see where we sit back in it like going into the fourth quarter going oh no bro they really did it with this level of talent like this might be the best coaching we've ever seen in our entire lives

How do you, it's 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. What's the commentary in the game? Is it a one possession game? Is it still nip and tuck or are Fowler and Herb Street already eulogizing Miami? Right. And they're already crystallizing what the story of Indiana is. Yeah. And everyone's already worried on Miami message boards about which quarterback we're going to get in the portal.

Like, where is the mind? 10 minutes to go into game. I see this game where they're sitting there and Fowler's going on and on about Indiana and how great of a season they have. and they've really gotten over the hurdle and look how amazing this is. And there's going to be a moment where it sparks in Kirkcorp Street's head

where it's like, we've been giving a lot of flowers to Indiana. He's going to switch it. It's like, Indiana has been amazing, but we also have to give a lot of credit tomorrow. Chris Spall and these Miami hurricanes. People want to talk about the U being back. The U is back, regardless of the circumstances

of what's happening in this game right now. They're going to have a big future ahead of them. That is kind of what in my head is going to take place. Sounds like either way. It's a double-digit lead for Indiana at that point. Yes. So it's out of reach. Like games decided.

You just wait. Fowler will be sitting there and they'll be back and forth about how great Indiana is. But Kirk's going to be the one to flip the script on the, let's also talk about how great Miami is.

That's what's going to take place in this game. It's pretty anticlimactic. I guess it's right in line with what Indiana has done this year. To me this is a bow on a great college football season. Yeah, but don't you want

to see something down on the wire just to like... No doubt. I think we all would, I mean, not based on the show, I don't, but I think if Indiana goes and they do what they've done this entire point,

playoffs to everybody they played against it's a perfect boat of like this logo has never sniffed this like this has been one of the coolest seasons we've ever watched we've been a part of i don't know if it's because we've dove it into it more than ever as individuals or the show or it's actually that good it's that good it's like if indiana takes it here and you can see a lot about Miami as well like the you being back you know the 90s nice does whenever that the you was it's like that's that'll be exciting as well but seeing that logo hoisted trophy after a dominant

win as like this might have been the best year of college football ever and that's what's excited. Hey, can I tell you something? I think it was the best year either way. Really? Best year for us. Well, if it's flipped on the other side

that he's talking about, it's a close game. We could have ended on that. We're really, we're really could have ended right there. Like you're saying it's going to be a a big win for Indiana. It's going to put a bow on the greatest or the best college football we've seen. And he's like, I think it's the best college football we've seen either way. And I'm like, well, the other side of it is just a barn burner of a game that we all love.

And we're like, damn, what a year of college football. Either way, we're all winning. Either way. Yeah. We've won. But now I have to find out who wins. Yes. Because the only thing that matters is record.

Exactly. Exactly. And again, before the show, Colump was saying that we have a verbal commitment for the show next year. I don't know if we were allowed to announce. that. Do you round a pause for a... But hey, no, no, I think we applaud it over on the other side, but now you, we got to remember we're in the world of college football. We got to still recruit them. Formal commitments don't mean shit. Talk to them out to a dinner. Contract isn't signed. We can't wait till April to reach back out the page. Yeah. Hey, let me ask you, did something

happen recently to you? What's the deal with the verbal commit? I mean, you really forcefully said that. Did something happen? Can you imagine. Oh, okay. Just learning about what goes on. Even the contract that you could be signed and you could pull a DeMong Williams. I may go do a show with Will Stein. You should. And you should zoom me in. Or call me and FaceTime me in at some point. You guys buried the hatchet, though.

I saw you talking. I saw you and Stein talking. We had a good little conversation. We had a good little conversation. We have a common friend that we are both close with that we were kind of also growing our friendship over. Okay. That's what it's all about.

You want to come to a Kentucky game? No, buddy. It's just too far. To come up to Kentucky for the spring tour? No. I'll say this about Nebraska because it always comes back to Nebraska on this show over the last three years

this is the most excited I've been to watch Nebraska this next season. Oh yeah. This quarterback, this UNLVK, I can't even pronounce his name. We've done it six times yesterday. Anthony Calandria. I fucking love him. Piss and better. I saw one clip.

I'm obsessed with him. Magic in his legs. Yeah. Live arm. That was the scouting report. 3,600 yards last year. And the kid fucked it. He's got the juice.

Yeah, he's got the juice. Nebraska's in a great spot. Some say the best spot in recent years. You're too early. In a fitting end to the show, Josh Pate completely punted on saying if he's verbally committing to coming back next year. Isn't that fitting?

It's a fickle game. It's a fickle game out there. Reportedly I am. I'm reportedly verbally committed. Isn't that accurate? Clump's reporting it? I'm reporting it. Has NACOs put it out there yet?

He has not put it out there yet. I don't have a graphic yet. We'll make you a graphic. Koop. Boom. Can't go back on that. Can't go back on that. If recent history has taught us anything, you can't go back on the graphic.

I love it. I feel good about it. Yeah? I feel good about it. Feel good. All right, big hugs, tiny kisses. Thank you for an amazing year. Let's give a round of applause to everybody here.

All the boys, Beeman in the back, producing the show. It's been an amazing year. Thank you. Big hugs, tiny kisses. 21 plus and present in select states. For Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 plus and present in DC, in D.C. Opt-in required.

Bonus issued as non-withdrawable profit-boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook. Fanduel.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler

or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-7-9-7-77 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Hope is here. Gambling helpline-M-A.org or call 800-3-2-7-50-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts.

Visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Call 1-8-8-Hop-N-Y or text Hope N.Y 46737369 in New York. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. First online real money wager only. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets which expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply.

See terms at sportsbook. Fandule.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit fanduel.com slash RG. Call 1-88-78-977-7-77 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit ND Gamblinghelp.org in NARLAND. Hope is here. Visit Gamblinghelpline MA.org or call 800-32750-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-8778-Hope NY or text Hope NY in New York. Hey guys, it's us and the Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin.

And I'm Nick. Guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions.

Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know. Tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. on Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends,

me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. and at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast

for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garros. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lerabachina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcasts on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHart Radio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.