Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Lincoln Riley Bombshell Fallout and the CFP Landscape After Rivalry Weekend

Episode Date: November 29, 2021

Geoff and a triumphant Gabe share their take on the shocking news that former Sooners coach Lincoln Riley has accepted the head coaching position at USC. Geoff calls it the biggest hire  in  Pac 12 history, and Gabe can’t wait to see which five star quarterback Riley decides to bring in.The fireworks of this deal almost overshadowed an incredible rivalry weekend-- tune in to find out the state of Geoff’s Thicc Six after Michigan and Oklahoma State’s huge upsets. Plus, Alabama barely escapes the Iron Bowl with their playoff hopes intact, and who in the world is going to win the Heisman?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's Monday, November 29th. I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe Gillen. This is Jeff Schwartz of Smart. You're powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. And Gabe, I've never been wrong before, but this is going to be the first time I've been wrong about something. I've been very wrong about something. USC has hired a new football coach. That football coach is former Oklahoma Sooners coach Lincoln Riley. It is the biggest hire in Pac-12 history, I'd imagine. I mean, at least recent history. And we'll talk about that, what it means for my beloved conference, what it means for Gabe's bandwagon fanship of USC. And we'll talk about college football playoff rankings.

Michigan beating Ohio State, obviously. We got a bunch of playoff games. Not playoff games. We got a lot of championship games this weekend. But, Gabe, I landed yesterday. I was in LA. I came back to Charlotte. I landed about 3.30 p.m. Eastern,

and that's when the flood of tweets started out. It was like, they think Lincoln Riley might be the guy that all of a sudden, boom, he is the guy. And then I knew someone at Oklahoma. Boom, it happened. Lincoln Riley was at USC. It happened. And I am wrong. I said USC was not the Just boom, it happened. Lincoln Riley was at USC. It happened. And I am wrong.

I said USC was not the job people wanted to be. And to be fair, up until then, the evidence said I was correct. I mean, like USC had never been willing to pay anybody. And they are paying Lincoln Riley a heck ton of money because he was reportedly getting like $12 million from LSU. These are private. Someone's paying Lincoln Riley. Gabe, wow, incredible. It's great news for the trojans uh it's great news for for people like

me to just point at you and say ha ha ha jeff you told me it wasn't a good job you i kept asking you why wouldn't you want usc over lsu or florida or some of these other positions. Now the guy who everyone thought was going to be the Cowboys next coach is coming to USC. Yeah. So let's talk about why this happened. Please. Tell me all the good things. It was pretty interesting after they lost Bedlam to Oklahoma State.

He said, I will not be the LSU coach. Well, yeah, he was right. He's not the LSU coach. He's the USC coach. From reports, it seems like this happened fairly quickly. He was not really on their radar originally, or just they didn't think they could get him. And then after Bedlam, they made a

hard push for it. But I gotta imagine they talked beforehand. I can't imagine this came out of nowhere. But here's the truth of it, in my opinion. He has done a lot of Oklahoma. He has made the playoff four times, I believe. They've not won a playoff game yet. They have won the Big 12 every year except this season.

He has developed Heisman, first round, first quarterback taken. Lots of great things at Oklahoma. I would imagine he felt he was maxed out at Oklahoma. And this presented him an opportunity to go somewhere else and make it easier on him. Two, and this is true, everyone's saying this, he probably didn't want to go coach in the SEC. Why would you?

Why would you? He's recruiting everyone in California to Oklahoma. Why not go to USC and recruit the same kids to USC? They have four kids committed to Oklahoma that, off the top of my head, that just decommitted, by the way, from Southern California. A top running back in this class, three kids from the same school in Southern California, a five-star quarterback in Malachi Nelson.

They're all going to go to USC now. All going to USC. And that makes it easier for him to recruit if he's already in the region where all these kids are at. But I will say this, Gabe. USC, when they won with pete carroll we talk about reggie bush and matt leinard and and and lendell white and all this they won because they mash people in the trenches all their offensive defense alignment got drafted same with alabama same with georgia

now same with clemson right you got ohio state you have to mash in the trenches and lincoln riley's number one job is not getting the five-star quarterback. It's important. Not getting the five-star wide receiver and running back. It's getting offensive defense alignment. That's been a problem out West. There's not as many big bodies anymore. They're leaving the footprint. And right

now, my school, the Ducks, have a monopoly on those players. And they're not from California, by the way. They're from Utah, from Texas, from Washington. So yes, he will get the five-star quarterbacks. But guess what, guys? There's enough to go around. CJ Stroud, Bryce Young.

Oregon just got a five-star from Arizona. Like the idea that this all of a sudden puts the rest of the conference out, especially Oregon, is not true. It's actually great for a conference because now every game against USC, national televised, especially Oregon, is not true. It's actually great for our conference because now every game against USC, national televised, top 25, the conference title game is not Utah-Oregon. It's USC-Oregon.

It's fantastic. It's great for our conference. But I will say, though, again, Lincoln-Riley is going to have to work really hard to rebuild the trenches and find ways to get those big bodies to not go to Oregon from Utah or from Texas, but to go to USC now. Yeah. Well, I want to bring up something else about Lincoln Riley that I find interesting

that will also segue us to all these other teams. And yes, of course, everyone, we realize Michigan beat Ohio State. We're going to be getting to all of that. We'll get to that, yeah. The thing that I associate with Lincoln Riley as what he's been maybe most innovative and successful with is, and you sort of alluded to it, you know, his ability to maneuver the transfer portal, which is something coaches are still trying to figure out and players are still trying to figure out. I feel like he never really bothered

to recruit the quarterback because he'd just go find somebody else's second best guy and then turn him into the best guy. Do I have that about right? And he's got two good quarterbacks at USC right now, but can't he just sort of almost like trade for all the guys he needs? Well, that's a big part of what college football is now, right? The transfer portal. We're seeing it now where players are entering the zone.

Ohio State backup quarterback. I wouldn't be surprised if Caleb Williams from Oklahoma said, you know what, I'm going to go to USC as well. It's what everyone's doing. That's what all these top schools are doing. They're taking important transfers. I mean, Alabama's doing it. Alabama's a starting linebacker.

There was a five-star from Tennessee. This is the game. So you have to recruit locally, but then you fill the holes with transfer players. And when Lincoln gets there, he'll have to see what's on his roster, who he wants to keep, and where he's going to go. And I get it. Oklahoma fans feel very scorned by this because it never happened to them. They never had a coach leave like this.

But this is what every other school deals with. And now with open transfer, all right, the kids are pissed that Riley left. Go to USC with them. You can do that. It's allowed now. And that doesn't mean Riley wants you, but it means that you're allowed to do this. And yeah,

the transfer portal will be big. Again, I'll just caution. I'll say this. It's going to be important to make sure the trenches are dealt with at USC. Again, they're going to be fine. They'll get enough skill guys.

They'll get the corners. They'll get wide receivers. They'll get running backs. But are you going to get the big boys up front? And are you gonna play better on defense i mean that was his problem oklahoma and you hope at usc and that's again pete carroll's teams played great defense can you play great defense so um but nonetheless man like this is it just feels like the pato has a little bit of juice now like it just it feels great and we can't change the time of day we play

right we're going to have some late games usc will be on 10 30 eastern it's just the way it is but this helps everything else does it help us get a better tv deal probably if usc is good right does help us get it better advertising if usc is good yes is it more brand awareness to patch off yes like all those things are big bowl games yes playoff teamsoff teams. Yes, this all helps what we have is issues out west. So as far as Oregon real quick, because everyone's going to talk about Oregon. Everyone's going to ask me about Oregon.

Does this worry me? Not really. Oregon in the last 2019 and 2021, the last two years, we played 24 games, 26 games, we're 22 and four, I believe. We played USC once in those 26 games. We don't play them every year. We meet in the Pac-12 title game now, sure.

But if we made the title game, that means we're pretty good too. We're in the tougher division up north than it's the south. So to act like this is a death knell for Oregon, it's not now, of course. Are we going to get Justin Flo from L.A. and Kayvon Thibodeau from L.A.? I don't know. But guess what? We got great recruiters, too. And we have a culture already built at Oregon.

We're about to send our third straight guy in the top 10. Possibly the first pick overall, Kayvon Thibodeau. Like, we have a thing going at Oregon. It will continue going at Oregon. And again, we have a monopoly on the big fellas. Is USC going to break that from us? So this only makes everyone's job tougher. I get it.

But also it's great for the conference. Again, I think it's important to have a little bit of juice back in what we do out West. And if at least the titles, great. But Pete Carroll only won one. Just remember that. One title. So it's not like there was this long run of titles.

Oklahoma won zero with Riley. And I will say this, too. He didn't have to build a program up. You follow USC, Gabe. There's a lot of building to be done at USC right now. He was handed that program there. And I have faith that Riley will do it. But it's not the first year.

If he looks at, like, 10 wins next season sorry it's not gonna happen like there's a lot of things that usc needs to fix okay fair enough but if he brings that quarterback with him you will get quarterbacks look at riley will get we'll get quarterbacks that is not a problem i have i have that but if you can't block for him and you can't stop anyone else then you're not going to go 12-0 every year, right? You'll lose at Arizona on a Thursday night because you allowed 45 points. That's what you want. And again, I say this a lot, and we'll get to Ohio State in a second and some other schools.

Winning 10 games is very tough, and you should be commended for winning 10 games. So USC might not win any titles with Raleigh, but if they're back in the contention each season, that obviously is very important to the school, to the athletic department. And I give Mike Bone credit, the new athletic director. He got the money from somewhere. Now, it's a private school, so we're not going to know probably how much he's getting

and who gave him the money and who paid. But, like, Gabe, they got it done, man. It's wild. I didn't think USC would ever pay for a coach. Well, I am excited for next season. I start every season excited. I'd like to be excited after like two or three weeks of the year this year or this next year, but they're out of it for now.

So let's talk about the teams that are in it. Obviously a huge rivalry weekend and some major, major changes to the top four. So why don't you take us through it in order here? And, you know, George is worth a minute, Obviously, a huge rivalry weekend and some major, major changes to the top four. So why don't you take us through it in order here? And, you know, Georgia's worth a minute, but I'll get to the things I think I learned after we take a break. Start us with the rankings. All right. So Georgia's won, obviously.

No doubt about it. Excuse me. Georgia's won. I think Michigan now moves up to number two, 11-1, a big win against Ohio State. And I want to get into more Michigan in a few minutes because there's a big lesson to be learned about what happened in Michigan this past weekend. Cincinnati is three, and Oklahoma State, for me right now, is four. That could change quickly, but they beat Oklahoma at home.

It's a good win. I mean, they're 11-1, guys. They played better this weekend. Again, that could all kind of flip about. Alabama, I guess, is still the one to question, right? Like, what do you do with them? I put Alabama. Oh, geez.

You can't put. I forgot about Bama, right? So, Georgia, Michigan, Cincinnati. I think Oklahoma State's playing better than Alabama right now don't you well I mean they did just beat the team we the coach we spent a lot of time talking about and they've got a great defense I don't know if I'm ready to call anyone other than Georgia better than Bama yeah so um okay I'll just do I'll do Georgia, Michigan, Alabama, Cincinnati for now as my top four. I'll put Oklahoma State five, and I'll put Notre Dame six.

Even though I do think Georgia handles business this weekend, they're a six-and-a-half-point favorite, and Alabama's out now. Obviously, the cleanest path to this is Michigan wins, Oklahoma State wins, and it's Georgia, Michigan, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State. It's like that simple if that if iowa wins or if baylor wins i mean no names in obviously probably um it's going to be a really no two lost alabama's out they're out with what they played i think especially if you've won

lost oklahoma state and uh if And if Oklahoma State loses and Michigan loses, yeah, two loss, Bama might be in. So I don't think we're going to have that problem. I think Alabama's going to lose and Michigan will win. But that's what I have right now for six. And it feels like it's a fun year. It's a unique year. I like that we have a little bit different this season.

Yeah, it'll be weird. I think the powers that be, you know, folks who are counting on ratings are definitely rooting for Alabama to win the SEC and then justify putting them at the one and Georgia at the three. Otherwise, boy, I mean, Oklahoma State and Cincinnati in the same year. Michigan would be fun. They'd love that. But Oklahoma State and Cincinnati are not bringing you a lot of numbers, I wouldn't think. Yeah, I mean, but that's what this season is. No, I know.

I mean, it's the most fair thing for a football purist. It's right. I'm thinking like the guys getting paid big bucks at some of the networks. They're probably a little worried if Alabama loses. 100%. Yeah, because if Alabama loses a hundred percent yeah because if Alabama wins then both Georgia and Alabama are in and they get the problem solved all right so let's let's uh take a quick break and then come back with a few other things I think I learned

as just one of the fans out there you can make me a little bit smarter uh let's take a pause and come right back all right Jeff we're back it's time for a few things I think I learned so you can make me a little bit smarter. Obviously, we spent some time talking about the Oklahoma coaching vacancy, but let's not breeze past Oklahoma beating them. And now Oklahoma having a very desirable job for someone else to take, right? So Lincoln Riley's moving on. Feels like one of the best coaching vacancies in recent history uh who do you like to end up in oklahoma well um as much as adam schefter likes to have sponsored tweets by cliff king bear's agent it's not cliff kingsbury

um that's not gonna happen i mean the the the names that have been brought up so far are mark stoops right which is you know the brother of bob stoops in kentucky he's doing That's not going to happen. I mean, the names that have been brought up so far are Mark Stoops, right, which is the brother of Bob Stoops in Kentucky. He's doing a good job right now. There's a talk about Shane Beamer, South Carolina's head coach, becoming the Oklahoma head coach. Obviously, Bob Stoops is coaching the bowl game. I think Tony Elliott, the Clemson office coordinator, defense coordinator,

I forget what title. He's got some ties to Oklahoma as well. It'd be a heavily coveted job. But again, you're going to the SEC. It makes that job more difficult. Oh, Venables. Yeah, Venables, the Clemson DC as well. I mean, those are the same names everyone else is hearing.

There's no – it's not cooking, to put it like that. And desirable job, of course. You've run the Big 12 for a while, but you're going to the SEC now. How desirable is this job as a third or fourth best team in the SEC? It's a big difference. And it's really interesting because Oklahoma left the Big 12, and they did so thinking they had Lincoln Riley as their head coach. And I wonder if they make that decision with another coach.

And the answer is no, right? They just stick in the Big 12. Because if you find a coach, and Oklahoma's been good most of their entire program history. But if you hire the wrong guy or the guy's not successful, then you go to the SEC and win seven, eight, nine games. It's not as a desirable job. But my guess is probably Stoops or Beamer will get the job.

Yeah, Stoops feels right. The thing that I have to laugh hearing you say, well, Kingsbury isn't going to go back and take that job. But, Jeff, you're the guy who tells me his second half of every season is a mess. And he's going to collapse. I would not hire him. Oh, you think Oklahoma won't want him? No.

Okay, fair enough. I just had to, I couldn't let that go by without a comment. All right, well then let's talk about the best actual game that probably any of us saw with the most impact. So Michigan pulls the win, beats Ohio State. A thousand things to discuss from this game. I'm just going to say you should just go and run with this. But I think the biggest take is, and it ties to Lincoln Riley, is if you give a pretty good coach time, he eventually will take you where you want to go. The question is, can you give him time? Jim Harbaugh had time.

He kept on losing Ohio State. He kept on underachieving, but they gave him another bit of time, and he got the biggest win in, I would say, recent Michigan history. And it feels pretty damn good now if you're a Michigan man. So, you know, is there something to be learned from that? Well, I guess the question is, you is, what does underachieving mean? Because you win 10 games every year, it's pretty good.

Obviously, underachieving is not beating your rival and having issues doing that and beating Michigan State. But I will say, to your point, this is the point I wanted to make. This is the example you have of letting someone build a program. Because it took Dablos to win nine nine years from the championship at clemson uh oregon fans are jumping off the ship because we were 10 and

2 and not you know not 12 and 0 it's like guys look what michigan just did it takes time they are one win away iowa who they're're 10-point favorites against, from being in a college football playoff. It just takes time. You have to let a coach work through it. We're seeing now, with all these coaches being fired, that sometimes it's hard to find the next guy. It doesn't mean that you're hiring someone better.

I've argued this for a couple years now. If you fired Jim Harbaugh, who are you hiring who's better? And what's even more impressive about the win this past weekend is they won in two ways that are very important for Harbaugh and the culture he's building. One is in the trenches. They won with offensive line play, running backs, and Aiden Hutchinson dominated that game, the 97.

It would be probably the second pick in the draft behind Kayvon Thibodeau. It might be the first pick in the draft. We'll see. Number 97. He should be in New York for the Heisman. Like, he's 13 sacks, set a record for Michigan in one season. Fantastic player.

And two, what they have been lacking, what we saw better in this game was kind of creativity and game plans to keep Ohio State off their scent. And we had not really seen that the last couple of years in this matchup. There was creativity. There was some speed in offense and defense. There was a willingness to not let Ohio State just throw the ball down the field

for huge chunk plays. It was a really impressive game, start to finish. The snow was, oh, snow was so cool. Watch that game in the snow. Good for Michigan, good for Harbaugh. I liked watching it. It was a lot of fun. And did the game also put aside

some of the previous doubts we had? Like we were saying weeks ago, Michigan, we don't know. Who have they beaten? Defense looks pretty good. Where's the offense? Offense is very much there, and defense clearly can hang. So I don't really feel like they have any more question marks,

which maybe is why you instinctively put them at two ahead of Alabama when we spoke about them earlier. What win does Alabama have where you're like, oh, my God, got to put them in number? They have some scary losses, in fact, the last couple of weeks. Yeah. Well, close losses. They didn't lose the Iron Bowl.

But yeah, they've had some. Sorry, scary, almost losses. Yeah, almost losses. Yeah. It was possible. I mean, you could argue they should have lost the Iron Bowl, but obviously they didn't. That weird overtime format. I don't know.

I don't really care. Guys, if you play 60 minutes and two full overtime periods, you can't win the game. I don't care if you lose in a weird overtime shootout style, like whatever. Auburn should have gone for two and used that first two-point play they used and just gone for two after they scored and won the game.

And won or lost in the first over. They have nothing to lose. Why not go for it in that situation? It's... Ohio State, though, has some soul searching to do. They've lost two games this year by getting beat up in the trenches, like being run right at by Oregon and Michigan. And they're going to have to do some searching on how they fix those issues. Everyone sees that now.

Not everyone has the talent to do so. But they got run right at right at and um they they got to figure out next season how to avoid that happening yeah well i mean they got a problem because now harbaugh is like you know he's chirping i mean he feels confident if anything i wouldn't say that he ever lacked confidence but he knew he was he knew he was not it in the Big Ten. And now I think you saw this. He was talking about Ryan Day. He said some people were born on third and think they hit a triple.

First of all, good burn. Second of all, buddy, look at yourself. Weren't you born on third? That was exactly the right insult to throw at at a coach who yeah he took over a pretty good program but i mean do you think that the rivalry could somehow get even better are we are we looking at like a real one two in the big ten now i don't think they're ever i mean i think there was always a one two the problem is they just oh i said always beat their ass and now they did and now so it feels a little better um you know, I feel like this is one of those rivalries

where we're going to get in the Pac-12 Conference where USC and Oregon are on separate sides. So they play each other in, they might play each other once every three, four years, but they play each other in the big game this weekend. And, you know, this game would have been great for the Big Ten title game. And now Michigan has to go play Iowa

because Wisconsin just blew it against Minnesota. And Iowa's just going to try to grind them out, too. I don't think Iowa's going to win. But would it surprise you if Michigan lost this game? No. No, I guess it wouldn't, truthfully. And then you would have an Iowa-Utah Pac-12 Rose Bowl could be a possibility. Iowa-Utah Rose Bowl, which the Rose Bowl would absolutely despise.

I mean, you could have – the options for the Rose Bowl now are basically Iowa-Utah, Ohio State-Oregon, Iowa-Oregon, or Ohio State-Utah. Those are the four choices. I think, obviously, Ohio State-Oregon they would love. I wouldn't want to play them again. But, yeah, that would suck for the Rose Bowl. Iowa, Utah. I mean, I can't think of anything more boring.

You just picked the two most boring-sounding places on earth with teams that are intentionally boring. Utah isn't Salt Lake City. I mean, it is like an actual city. I know. Fine. Get at me. Get in Jeff's mentions if you want to defend Utah.

Let's not fool ourselves. Iowa and Utah aren't known for partying. Well, maybe Iowa is. Anyway, all right. Let's talk about the one team that, you know, look, we've just sort of accepted for the last several weeks that Georgia's defense is so damn good that they have to be number one. Their quarterback, Bennett, looked great. Probably his best game yet. Great momentum heading into the most critical games of the year.

But let's spend a little time on Alabama because they did scare us, right? Auburn's playing without Bo Nix. They shouldn't have really been able to give him a game. Instead, they make it terrifyingly close if you're an Alabama fan. You've talked about it. They don't look as good as they have in the past. But are we all fools for thinking they're somehow flawed? Isn't Nick Saban and like every five star in the country just going to figure this out when it matters? What's the early line on this game? I don't feel like they can be considered anything

but a three-point underdog. They're a six and a half point underdogs and that's crazy so give me bama so here's the thing about bama and this is a thing we're seeing oh have oklahoma this season happen notre dame this season happen alabama this season offensive line play just not as good this year at those places it's really that simple alabama's offensive line is not good they have good players ev Evan Neal will be first-round draft pick at left tackle. I mean, they have good players. Oklahoma, offensive line, not as good.

Notre Dame, not as good. And the only theory I have, Gabe, about this is, A, defenses have had more time to repair this year than last year because of COVID. So maybe there's a little more uniqueness on defense. But a lot of players came back to school because of COVID. So maybe there's a little more uniqueness on defense. But a lot of players came back to school because of COVID. They were allowed to come back. And coaches will tend to defer to veterans over playing young guys,

especially without a lot of practice time now. They put the veteran in. They know they're not going to mentally screw up. They might screw up physically, but they're not going to mentally screw up. They can trust them to play. And maybe those guys just aren't very good, and the young guys are just waiting to play or better. I mean, I know, again, I refer back to Oregon a lot

because I watch them play. Now, Oregon has a true freshman offensive guard who might be their best lineman, but he's a young player. He doesn't play very much. It's hard to get him. It's hard to, instead, we have two, like we have a seventh-year senior playing guard.

It's just okay. But the young kid's great. He's going to be a first-round draft pick one day. But he just can't play yet. He's just sort of But the young kid's great. He's going to be a first-round draft pick one day. But he just can't play yet. He's just sort of not ready to play a full game yet. And I wonder if that's happening in Alabama, Oklahoma, Notre Dame. Now, some injuries are happening in Alabama, Oklahoma, Notre Dame. Plus, for so many years, these teams put out pros.

And some of you are going to have a little bit of a dip in talent. It's impossible to continue to put out guys at that level each year and alabama just cannot move anyone off the line of scrimmage they can't pass block as well as i have in the past now defensively like will anderson defensive end is fantastic like their defense is fine it's just their offensive line is not what it's been in the previous years yeah well i don't have anything smart to say in response that was all helpful is bryce young good enough though to just like make some plays i mean people think he's a heisman winner like can he just make up for a lesser offensive line uh he's trying to but i don't think he can't you know the uh the the heisman this year is who man what a mess I don't know who's gonna win the Heisman I mean no one

Aiden Hutchinson I would say that that the Heisman should go to either Aiden Hutchinson Will Anderson or or punt God Matt Ariza but those are the three choices for punt God has my vote you can't give it to you cannot give it to CJ Stroud or Bryce Young you just can't they're not they're not good enough this year they're not even the best players on their own team. Can't say it better than that. Jeff, I want to sort of conclude. Maybe this will set up some final thoughts from you, but I noticed a tweet from Roger Sherman,

who we like. He puts out some good stuff. In fact, he was the one who turned us all on to the podcast. So Roger tweeted this. Someone besides Oklahoma will win the Big 12 for the first time since 2014. Someone besides Clemson will win the ACC for the first time since 2014. Someone besides Ohio State will win the Big 10 for the first time since 2016. those other conferences, not the SEC, all fell apart this year. And maybe this is a sign of parody. Maybe this is just a fluky season.

Who knows? What is your read on this many conferences seeing turnover? It's good for the sport. I think it is, it's a year like we're having the NFL, by the way, too. It's just like a year where there's a lot of parody this year, and I kind of like it. Now, I don't think it's going to last. I don't think Clemson's going to suck forever. The Big 12 is going to change because Riley's gone, 100%.

But it's nice to have different champions, right? It's nice to have Baylor, Oklahoma State this weekend, Michigan, Iowa. The Pac-12's the same. It's Oregon, Utah. The ACC is what, Pitt-Wake? Is that what it't even I don't even know I also don't even know in the ACC it's nice to have different games Georgia Alabama is the same obviously but isn't it nice this weekend to look forward to watching different teams like I'm going to Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game for

a Fox uh tailgate a party thing like I got to do some research on Michigan and Iowa. It's kind of nice. Like, I wouldn't have to do anything for Ohio State. I already know who they are. I know who Wisconsin is. Iowa and Michigan, be more fun and do some more research on those teams. Yeah, it's a weird thing, though, right? Because it also, the other side of this is, I haven't thought about the ACC since Clemson

lost its second game. I just haven't thought about the ACC since Clemson lost its second game. I just haven't thought about it. That's maybe not fair, but if the big name teams don't dominate those conferences, we kind of just lose sight of them on the national level. I don't mean to say that local fans aren't paying attention, but it's hard to keep talking about the best team in the acc if we know they're not going to get a spot in the playoff and so i wonder if you know what it means for these conferences to not have one or two superstar teams um how quickly do they fade into like not as relevant i don't i don't think anyone's in fear of that happening right now but i wonder how how quick it can happen um say that again real quick well i guess i i don't there's no point there other than to say

like clemson was the acc the last few oh yeah i mean look the the pac-12 has this issue too right where the organ lost to utah two weekends ago no one no one cares anymore right that's that's all i mean and it's on us and but but it's not really our problem i mean we we as much as and look i mentioned earlier i like the parody right like i kind of like having different games this weekend but to be fair if it was ohio state wisconsin clemson miami we probably pay more attention to it nationally this is the way it is we like big brands we like big. You know, we talk about wanting parity in a playoff system.

Yeah, we'll see how much we watch that parity. This past week on Thanksgiving, Raiders-Cowboys. 38 million people watch Raiders-Cowboys.

38 million people are not watching Seahawks-Jaguars play, right? The Raiders are not a playoff team. The Cowboys, I think they are,

but they're not playing good football right now. And their coach has tested positive for COVID, by the way. So people watch big brands. It is what it is. So we like parody, but we don't actually watch parody. You know, March Madness, right? We love the upsets. But guess what we don't watch? George Mason, Kansas State in the lead eight. don't watch that game watch Duke Kentucky right it's just what it is so it's fun to talk about parody it's fun to watch it sometimes but nationally no one cares when unknown teams play I'm not going to watch a second of Pitt Wake Forest I admit it I'm just not I don't even know when it is it's Saturday I imagine

at some point I don't know I'll be in Indy I'll be doing like I don't even know when it is. It's Saturday, I imagine, at some point. I don't know. I'll be in Indy. I'll be doing my... I just... Two non-playoff teams. And I'm sure people feel the same way with the Pac-12. It's Friday night, 8 p.m. Eastern. Nah. I won't be surprised if not many people watch that game.

We just watched that game two weeks ago. Yeah. I like that you were like, I don't know, when's that game? You can't guess when the ACC championship game is. It's probably Saturday. Good guess. Saturday. Saturday at... Well, the question is know, when's that game? You can't guess when the ACC championship game is. It's probably Saturday. Good guess, Saturday. Saturday at, well, the question is, is it the night game Saturday?

Or is it, because the SEC game is at 3.30 Eastern, I'd imagine, right? That sounds right. This game is in Charlotte. I should know. It's in Charlotte. Maybe you should go, Jeff. Save the trip. Don't go to the Midwest.

It's cold there. Stay local. Yeah, it's a night game. Go watch Sam Hartman and the other guy. It's at 8 o'clock. Yeah, Michigan, Iowa. So the Big Ten and the ACC play at the same time. Georgia, Alabama play at 4.

And, of course, the Pac-12 and the Conference USA Championship Friday night. What a treat. UTSA, Western Kentucky. Woo-woo. UTSA, Western Kentucky. Woo woo. UTSA blew their chance at the perfect season. There's a video that USC football just posted of Lincoln Riley and his family stepping off the airplane.

And it looks like a family that's very happy to live in Manhattan Beach. Who wouldn't be, Jeff? I gotta say, I don't spend much time down there. You live closer to Manhattan Beach than my parents do. I had dinner there, I don't know, two years ago when I was in town with someone. And oh my God.

Yeah, I get why people live in Manhattan Beach. I was like, oh, all right, I get it now. A few years ago, I think it's fair to tell this story. I was walking down the street in Manhattan Beach and I see a golf cart driving towards me. And I'm like, what the hell? It's a golf cart, like, on the road. And I look, and I'm like, hmm.

It's a very good-looking person in that golf cart riding shotgun. Huh. I look over, and the good-looking man driving the golf cart down the street in manhattan beach is matt liner they just got beautiful people living a good life i i've told my wife that if we ever moved it would be from manhattan beach i don't have that much money yet we're working on that but like if i ever got like a big time like full-time job doing tv or radio and out in california That's where we'd live. There's no doubt about it.

It's a very nice place. And many of our colleagues, once they've earned some real cash, they end up there. So Lincoln, welcome to the neighborhood. Fight on. Jeff, we got a show to do Tuesday, talking NFL. Interesting weekend. I don't even want to say good weekend. Interesting weekend to talk about. Have you paid attention to who the one seed in the AFC is? No, I don't even want to say good weekend interesting weekend to talk about and have you paid attention

to who the one seed in the AFC is no I don't want to talk about that we'll have a chance to get into that on Tuesday's episode and then Thursday

you're making some bets we don't want to talk about I'm not talking about the Patriots until we have to they're actually the second seed but they're the best team

in the NFL right now I can't talk about that until I have to well at least you got USC. You have some happy UFC vibes before you get just Bill Belichick downer vibes. So we will do that later. Guys, I'm excited for USC.

I'm excited for Lincoln Riley. I work for Pac-12 Radio. I'm excited for my job. This is great for my job. I love it. All right, guys, take care. Go Ducks. And we'll talk to you guys next week for College Football.