Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - The Playoff Picture Gets Clearer, and Geoff’s Thicc Six After CFB Week 10

Episode Date: November 15, 2021

Geoff and Gabe break down the CFP playoff picture, starting with Geoff’s top six teams after Week 10 and then figuring out which teams on the bubble still matter. Alabama’s huge win means that no one can knock them out of that number two spot just yet, but Geoff doesn’t think they’ll beat Georgia in the SEC title game. Plus, Oregon is playing winning football, even if they aren’t putting up as many style points as Ohio State.After the break, Geoff shares some insights into Oklahoma and Texas’ bad days, and Gabe wonders if the SEC even wants them anymore. Geoff makes Gabe smarter about how Ohio State can challenge Georgia even though CJ Stroud isn’t an elite QB, and also how the SEC gets away with scheduling cupcake matchups late in the season while other conferences are busy tearing themselves apart.Think you could be the next great CFB head coach? Tweet @geoffschwartz or leave a comment with how you’d turn around USC, LSU, or Texas for a chance to be featured in a mailbag segment!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 15th I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe Goodwin this is Jeff Schwartz of SMAR and you are powered by the Varsity Podcast Network is our college football recap show as we recap the action that happened this past weekend look forward to the week ahead also talk about college ball playoff rankings and what I see is the top six what the committee might do is the top six or top seven now guys it's a's a TV show. Remember, it's a TV show first and foremost. Gabe, how are you? I'm great, Jeff. It was a fairly predictable, a couple little surprises at college football.

That part of my life is in good shape. But I found our new place, Jeff. Next time you come West Coast, I found our spot. Listen to this. It's adult and child heaven. All right. Barbecue, bar, football on TV, outdoors, a giant playground and turf field that's fenced in and safe. Airplanes landing a few hundred yards away.

So kids are mesmerized. All of this is possible for you next time you come to the West Coast. Is it by LAX? Yeah, it's a place called Proud Bird. Wow. Jeff, it's the greatest football place you could possibly go to. Well, I need to do that because obviously to watch football with kids, and that's the one benefit about the East Coast, by the way,

is that most of the time Oregon plays after the kids go to sleep, so I don't have to worry about that at all. By the way, Oregon won last night late, and I try to get off my chest, guys. I know we love style points in college football. I know it's important. We love them. But sometimes it doesn't tell the story of the game. And Oregon's won three straight games by double digits. And they could have won by 21 last night. But Washington State scored with two seconds left. The game before that, they could have won by 21 points, too. They didn't score at the end of the game. They didn't score. A game before that, they could have won by 21 points too. They just didn't score at the end of the game.

They didn't score. A week before that, three weeks ago, they were up 45-14 in the fourth quarter. Pull all their starters. They still won by three touchdowns, but it wasn't as pretty. It didn't look as cool. Like style points is so frustrating,

but this was a weekend, not like last one where we had to survive in advance. A lot of teams played some really good football this weekend. We'll start with our thick six, our top six here. We had a great thick six, by the way. A non-thick six in the NFL on Thursday night. Did not count. And then we had one last night.

Yesterday, Rutgers, their left tackle, scored a touchdown on tackle screen with a neck roll. Dove in the end zone. Big boy getting into second thick six, by the way. Thick six. I'm going to make that a thing. It was so joyous to watch you especially but mike gollick ross tucker all the big boys on on football twitter just going insane for that play on thursday night it was so fun to watch and and for those who missed it robert

hunt of the dolphins um dove into the end zone he caught a screen that wasn't for him. And he just, it's the only time in the history of sport, of watching football, where offensive linemen, college and NFL, was praised for doing the wrong thing and having a mental error. He did both things at the same time. He didn't block his assignment. He caught a pass that wasn't intended for him.

And he, it was 36, like in the red zone. It was a six yard line, like important play. Just did whatever he wanted to do. But it was suchth in the red zone. It was a six-yard line, like an important play. Just did whatever he wanted to do, but it was such an incredible athletic achievement that it just did not matter. I mean, Texas could have used him this past weekend. Yeah, Texas could have used about five of him on their line. Yeah, even though they scored 55 points last night,

so it didn't matter. They're definitely not back. We have to talk about this because you brought it up. They're not back, and We have to talk about this because you brought it up. They're not back. And is Sark already in trouble? Like, I don't even know. They obviously get a year or two to try to figure a program out, but it's Texas. It's not like it ever completely collapsed.

It shouldn't be this bad. Yeah. The problem is for Sark is, you know, after the game, I saw a quote where it's like, have the players quit or something. And he's like, you got to ask them. I mean, like, if that's the case, then you need to, I mean, like, that's not good, right? No. If you are, if you don't know whether your players, and I don't think that they've quit, but like, it's just, it's not great.

And look, defensively, they're a mess. Offensively, they've been fine. I mean, they've just been just a wreck. I mean, they lost in overtime 57-56 to Kansas, who never, correct me if I'm wrong here, Hank, Kansas had never won at Texas, correct? I believe that's right. I can give you a stat.

Kansas has never won a football game in this decade or something. How's that sound? They stink. How did they? I mean, it's ridiculous. Here's the thing about coaching, and we're going to get into this probably at some point in December when things slow down a little bit about coaching hires.

So there's a lot of people in the hot seat, right? Sark, obviously, after one season is in the hot seat. Dan Mullen had to come from behind to beat Samford this past weekend. We'll get into SEC scheduling in just a few minutes, by the way. And Jim Harbaugh, who's going to win 10 games again after he wins this weekend. When you fire a coach, you have to hire someone who's better. That's a theory, right? Of course.

You don't hire a lateral move and you don't hire down. So Dan Mullen, for example. If you fire Dan Mullen to Florida, who are you getting that's better? People are like, oh, Mario Cristobal. I mean, okay, sure, he won't go back to Miami,

but he's going to Florida. Are you sure about that? Who are you, and before the Ohio State game, everyone thought he was a bum anyways. Who are you hiring that's better?

If you get rid of Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, yeah, you might not beat Ohio State again this season. I don't know. But, Gabe, who are you hiring that's better than

Jim Harbaugh in Michigan that's the question you have to answer look for USC USC is maybe James Franklin maybe I was not impressed with Penn State's play calling against Michigan just kind of the overall body of work like I think James Franklin is losing that USC job six and four this season I mean who so who no USC had to hire someone else. They had lost a team, but this idea of the, there's just this plethora of amazing coaching candidates around the country that are going to revitalize your program. I just don't see it, Gabe. I don't. Well, yeah, we're going to touch on several of the teams you just brought up. And I think it is,

it's sort of like baseball fans with their trade deadline trade ideas. You know, it's all hypothetical. It's all in a blue sky perfect world when people are talking about which great coach is going to come coach their team. Just like, you know, you're going to be able to trade nothing for two all-stars to take your team to the playoffs. It doesn't work that way. I'm glad you clarified. Let's talk about your thick six, though. You were about to get into these teams that you see as the best teams right now and then compare that a little bit to how the playoff rankings will look. Okay. So again, the best six teams is obviously much different than I think the top six might be. And so number one is Georgia, man. Oh, geez. I mean, Tennessee for a few minutes had them on the ropes.

And I think Tennessee's just not good enough to compete. But we saw a little bit of a blooper, right? If you go fast on offense, you have a chance to kind of slow down a big physical defense, which is what Oregon has done way back with Chip Kelly. When Chip Kelly first installed that offense, we played USC in 2007. The entire defense on USC got drafted.

We just wore them down with speed. Now, we were much better than Tennessee. Like, personnel-wise, we were better than Tennessee. But they gave a little bit of a glimpse. But I just don't know. You know, if you make one or two mistakes on Georgia, boom. Like, that's it. You're done.

And so, I mean, they covered that game, too. Like, it wasn't even – it was not even close, dude. I mean, they dominated Tennessee 41-17. Tennessee scored at the very end to make that game a little bit – I think that's the most points Georgia's allowed all season, 17 now. And it was, again, like the last play of the game, Tennessee scored. So they're easily number one. And I don't think anyone's beating them this year.

Alabama, I'll put it number two again. They dominated some team from somewhere that had one win. I mean, I don't think Bama's going to beat Georgia. I just don't. Georgia's, they're so dominant on defense. You have to score 24, 28 points on them, but they're just not allowing points, Gabe. I can't talk you out of anything you just said.

I refuse to watch any of that Bama game. We will get into that. It's a disgrace. And I was watching some of the Georgia-Tennessee game, and that whole window was rough, man. That's normally the best part of the day, right? Like for me at least, kids are starting to chill out. I got two or three games to pick from on the big networks,

and they were just a bunch of duds in that hour. That Georgia game was not competitive. No, it wasn't. It was not competitive at all. So next up on this, okay, the third best team in the country, I really think Ohio State's playing good football. I know that the rankings will still have Oregon third, and I think Oregon's playing good football too,

but Ohio State, they kind of weathered a couple storms. They could score. They're the only team that has a chance, I think, to score on Georgia in the country. Like, score consistently on Georgia. I'll put them three. I'll put Oregon four. Again, it's just a style points thing. Oregon's just not going to give you style points. It's not what they do, but

they've allowed 47 non-garbage time points the last three weeks, and they've rushed for 1,000 yards. They're a good football team, guys. I know that you want to hate on the Pac-12. Entering this weekend, according to Chris Felica, ESPN, in College Game Day, he put out strength of schedule rankings for the top 10 teams.

Oregon had the number one strength of schedule out of the top 10 teams. Now, it's going to change because Oregon played Washington State and Ohio State played Purdue. But now Oregon gets a ranked Utah team on the road this weekend. So they're number four right now. All right. Can I just jump in and say also, though, that people have to remember if they're comparing Oregon and Ohio State,

which we may not have to do any longer, but if you're trying to compare them, every time Ohio State looks better, every time they win another important game Oregon looks better yeah look I just it's just it's it's frustrating to me how um this again this narrative of like Ohio State has gotten better but Oregon hasn't our defense has gotten a lot better yeah we're running the ball better now. Like, we're playing better football now just as Ohio State is playing.

But no, do we play a different style of game? Yes. Oregon is going to try to grind you down to the nub. In the second half of games, they're going to run the football. Every play, it's like, hey, you have to stop us. We're going to grind you down to a nub. And Ohio State doesn't just do that.

They have a high-powered passing attack. We don't have that. You can win different ways. So, number five for me, look, I think Michigan is the fifth best team in the country. They didn't, I don't know if they're good, but they keep winning games, Gabe, and they do it kind of like the way Oregon does, right?

They just kind of grind your ass down, play good defense, don't make mistakes. There's something to not making mistakes. There's something to that, right? A lot of people, defense. Don't make mistakes. There's something to not making mistakes. There's something to that, right? A lot of people, a lot of teams make mistakes. They don't. I'll put Cincinnati six.

I do think that they, I do think that Michigan goes ahead of Cincinnati in the playoff. I think that's going to be the top six. Okay. Even though Michigan

did just beat Michigan, even though they lost to Michigan State, the committee showed you last week they don't care about that. And Cincinnati struggled early on to put away in South Florida is they're bad. So I think that that's how it's going to go. Okay, well, you just gave me my segue, which is that you're basically counting on

or the committee you're thinking is counting on SEC and the Big 12 to sort of beat each other up enough that they can leave Cincinnati out until they just have to put them in. That's what you're counting on? I think last week showed very clearly that they're going to wait until the last second to put Cincinnati in. Because remember in 2014, that was the year Oregon got in. TCU was like number three all year long, and then boom, they went to number five in the final rankings. They don't want to put Cincinnati in. Because remember in 2014, that was the year Oregon got in. TCU was like number three all year long. And then boom, they went to number five

in the final rankings. They don't want to do that again. And they'll all play each other. Ohio State and Michigan play each other. Oregon's got Utah twice. This will all work itself out. Or Alabama, Georgia are on a collision course to play each other.

It'll all get sorted out. Cincinnati, if they keep winning, they'll be in. Yeah. No, they'll be in. Yeah. They probably set it up well, because they can basically say, what do you want from us, to whoever complains. You've had a little Freudian slip there when you said Oklahoma by accent,

but let's go there, because that was actually the biggest, newsiest game of the weekend, and now Oklahoma may be irrelevant to the playoff chase. That's debatable. But when you got two QBs, you have none. Well, now Oklahoma has two QBs again, right? Right when we thought we were going to give Caleb Williams,

the true freshman, a real chance at the Heisman, we thought they were going to beat Baylor for their best win of the season and go on this run down the stretch. But nope. Not only did they not win, Caleb didn't look good, and they went back to Spencer Rattler. What the hell are they doing? I don't have to read you all the takes, but Skip had it best.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Lincoln Riley just made the mistake of the year, replacing a struggling Caleb Williams with preseason Heisman favorite Spencer Rattler. There goes Caleb's Heisman chances, the national championship, and now they've somehow created a quarterback controversy. What the hell are they doing? Yeah, so if you have two quarterbacks, you have none, right?

And there's not even a quarterback controversy. It's just that it's not working for Oklahoma. And Lincoln Riley panicked again, right? Because nothing's working. The offensive line's not playing as they have in the past. There's no deep passing game. It's just not working as well as it has in the past. And when you pull a quarterback like that, you hope to get a spark.

But the reason there's no spark is because the parts are not working very well. It's not like they were quarterback away from winning this game. They weren't close to doing much of anything in this game. And teams have either figured out Lincoln Riley or figured out the formula they use. Or Caleb Williams and Spencer Rattler just aren't as good as we thought. Which, by the way, completely possible this year, because the quarterbacks this season just aren't as good. And Oklahoma's eighth in the college football playoff rankings, and everyone's like, oh,

Oklahoma should get some love. Well, I'm going to show you that that's why they weren't getting any love, right? Because they have this tough stretch, and they weren't able to do it. And look, Baylor offensively wasn't great in this game. They had a long 80-yard run to set up a score. But Oklahoma just got their butts whooped, manoped man like they're not as good this season and we look at Clemson Oklahoma um even like a Florida or it's some of yours are just not as good Gabe and I know it's hard for fans to accept that's the case and I'm a fan of a team I get that but sometimes that is what it is you're just not as good one season. Oklahoma gave high expectations as usual.

They're not as good this season. Now, all that being said, the Iowa State of Homeless weekend, who they've struggled with in the past, they go to Oklahoma State, who's playing some really good football, and Oklahoma State's going to be a top seven-ish team, seven or eight right now.

And then if they win, they beat Oklahoma State, I'm fairly certain they would play them again in the Big 12 championship game. I think that's right. Almost like Utah and Oregon play each other so quickly. So I'm surprised that kind of this quarterback whisperer hasn't been able to find his guy this year.

But it's not – it's like i mean it's you have down years sometimes like it is it kind of just is what it is sometimes jeff i mean come on i grew up a mets and jets fan you don't have to explain down years to me uh well no no i mean down years when you're a good team and then you have a down year not when you're just bad always have a down year oh sorry well okay then i became a bandwagon uh Lakers and USC fan, so I also understand this feeling. There you go, but USC hasn't been good since you were on the bandwagon, though. Okay, but that's not why I brought it up. And if we're going to just trash on the people who helped put this show together,

let's just point out for a second that poor Hammer and Hank are a producer from Texas. Well, he's not from Texas, but he's a Texas guy. Worst losing streak since the 50s? I don't even know if they had more than six teams in college football in 1956, but five-game losing streak for Texas. We talked about Sark being on the hot seat. That's obvious. But, I mean, they're losing to the teams that are the gimmies.

They're only supposed to lose to Oklahoma maybe, and now they're losing to Kansas? I mean, my goodness. It's fun to bash on them, but Texas hasn supposed to lose to Oklahoma maybe. And now they're losing to Kansas. I mean, my goodness. It's fun to bash on them, but Texas hasn't been good in a while. I mean, it's what they are now. They have to find a way to get out of this sort of perpetual suckiness. And I've said this for a while now, and I think it's the case for USC, for Michigan a little bit, not so much for Michigan.

I don't think Harbaugh really is this way, but Texas, Florida State, Miami, Nebraska. Stop talking about the past. Stop talking about what we used to do. Talk about what we're doing. Did Nick Stanton ever talk about his team 10 years ago? No. Like, talk about the few. I don't ever hear Georgia fans talk about the 1980 championship.

Like, they talk about now, here and now. Talk about now. And they talk so much about the past. I see this with USC all the time, man. Oh, my God. What we did 18 years ago. Okay. Recruits are 16 years old right now.

17 years old. They don't care what you did 20 years ago. I love this take from you. You know, you're a progressive guy. You're a forward-thinking guy. That's why you're an Oregon Duck. So let me look forward for you then. If you don't want to look back for Texas, let's look forward.

When does the SEC call and say, hey, just kidding. That whole deal we were trying to work out blew up all of college football. It's off. You stink. You'd be the ninth best team in our conference up all of college football. It's off. You stink. You'd be the ninth best team in our conference if we let you in. You're out. Any chance?

No, because of the revenue in Texas is the highest producing athletic department. No, I would, no. I would, it'd be funny if they did, Gabe, but Oklahoma and Texas are not going to win the same in the SEC, man. It's a different beast. Okay.

But they will get to schedule Southwestern Texas State in Week 11, though. So that might be helpful. Instead of Kansas, you're playing Southwestern Texas State. Okay. You keep teasing this topic that's driving me crazy about SEC scheduling. We're getting there. Cincinnati, you mentioned them, and we talk about them as being outside, looking in, just waiting for some of the big boys to knock each other off.

I watched a little bit of that game Friday night, and I bet a lot of people got their first real look at them because I think all of us were like, ah, whatever, I'll pay attention when I have to. So they're the only thing on on Friday. It was just ahead of the men's national team game. By the way, America, we beat Mexico 2-0, big game. But I watched the fourth quarter, and I saw a team that really isn't that good,

and I saw them give up a 98-yard touchdown drive to a freshman from USF. They gave up 28 points. The Cincinnati team just isn't it, and that was my first chance to see it. They're not as good as they were last year. They were better 28 points. The Cincinnati team just isn't it. And that was my first chance to see it. They're not as good as they were last year. They were better last season. Which is crazy because here they are with their best chance yet.

Look, there's this thing that's happening where people say, I've seen this obviously with Oregon and with even Notre Dame last season who was the four seed, is they say something like, well, Oregon can't beat Georgia or Notre Dame can season, who was the four seed, is they say something like, well, Oregon can't beat Georgia, or Notre Dame can't beat Alabama. Yeah, no shit, man. Like, no one's beating Georgia this year. Cincinnati, Oregon, Oklahoma.

Like, anyone you put in that four seed, Oklahoma State, Michigan, they're not beating Georgia. But Cincinnati keeps winning football games, and at some point you have to reward them for winning football games. Yeah, they lose to Georgia by 21 to 28 points. Well, Oregon might lose by 17 points instead.

You know what I mean? Like, it's hard to beat Georgia this season. But that doesn't mean that they can't get the chance. Because, again, if they keep winning out and everyone loses or just kind of stays the same. If Alabama loses to Georgia, Cincinnati's probably in. Obviously, if Alabama loses to Georgia, Cincinnati's probably in. Obviously, if Oregon loses,

Cincinnati's going to be in. If Ohio State loses, not really to Michigan, maybe. But Cincinnati, it feels like they're going to be in at some point, but not to the final week. And then they get their chance. They play Georgia. They're in the playoff.

Lose by 21 to 28 points. And we just say, all right, well, that was fun. That was fun. But no one would have done better. I mean, Alabama, no name last year, right? Everyone's like, oh, Alabama's going to get creamed. Yeah, well, who would have done better?

Like, who would have done better? These semifinals are all blowouts because there really is such a big talent discrepancy most often between the SEC team and whoever else they're playing. It's just the way it is. Okay, well, then let's talk about one of the teams that's not in the SEC but has been competitive,

at least historically, if I'm allowed to look back in time, Jeff. So Ohio State escapes the Purdue spoiler makers with the big win. That could be the first of six ranked wins in a row that they're basically going to need to get in. We're just giving them ranked wins from here on out. But here's the thing, Jeff. I've sort of talked about it on the show without having watched a lot. Now I've seen a little bit more. I just don't. You're not going to convince me C.J. Stroud's a great quarterback. I mean, I know the offense is great. I know he has NFL receivers at every position, and he's probably fine, but you can't convince me he's great, and you need to be great to beat the team you keep bringing up, which is Georgia.

What do I make of Ohio State if that's the best they can do? So Ohio State's offense reminds me a lot of Alabama's last season for this reason. Devontae Smith won the Heisman last season because he was just the best wide receiver in the country. And everyone would decide, was it Mack Jones or Devontae Smith? It was Devontae Smith. It was easily Devontae Smith. And this offense, you look at

C.J. Stroud, is it C.J. Stroud or is it Olave or Wilson? Two guys are going to be first-round draft picks and wide receivers. Is it the scheme that is really set up to throw the ball deep and kind of get behind defenses so the numbers look better that's what i think it is right cj stroud's a good football player but he's not in my opinion he might win the heisman i don't know but i i i attribute it

more to like the scheme and the weapons that i do just overall cj stroud play because most of the Heisman winners are quarterback Lamar Jackson Cam Noon Tim Tebow Marcus Mariota like they bring an element of running the football with their legs

they have signature plays that you're like wow that is a Marcus Mariota play that's a Lamar Jackson signature play we don't really have that with CJ Stroud

right now and maybe it comes up against Michigan State this weekend maybe it comes up against Michigan in two weeks but there's not like that no I've seen plenty of great catches by wide receivers I've seen guys running open and the ball has to get to them so I'm not minimizing Stroud's ability to get the ball to wide receivers but I'm with

you Gabe I don't think he's as good as the points they put up but he's still a really good quarterback like I think that I think the bar is just so high if we're talking about Heisman winner. Yeah, okay. Then I agree with every word of that, and I guess what I would say to my eyes, his receivers are always wide open. They look completely uncoverable, either through scheme or just pure talent.

They're always a couple steps away from whoever's trying to guard them. And he throws the ball in their vicinity and they make a play. I have not seen too many balls thrown in the perfect spot, as you like to say, throwing them open or giving them a lane after the catch. I see guys who are just sort of doing unbelievable things to get wide open and then barely able to grab the ball, and then not gaining the yardage they should. It seems like they're actually not that good. Who, the wide receivers?

No, the wide receivers are great. I'm saying they could be a lot better if he could put it where it's supposed to be. That's what I'm saying. Right, which is really the Mac Jones-Devante Smith discussion from last year, where Devante Smith actually could have been almost better if Mack Jones threw the ball. Devontae Smith made a ton of tough catches.

And so this will talk about it. I think it's more an environment of the offensive wide receivers than it is just the quarterback. Okay, well, maybe if C.J. Stroud's lucky, he can end up on an NFL team where you don't have to follow the rules. There's no consequence for being a dirty player. You know, maybe the whole world will be gifted to him like it was for Mac. Maybe that'll be his future.

Good luck, C.J. The NFL determined that was not a dirty play, and therefore Mac Jones did not get fined, Gabe. You have to trust the NFL in these circumstances. Oh, very credible, you know, system we have here. Oh, very credible system we have here. I feel like Mac or somebody in the Patriots organization is like a cooperating witness in whichever of the investigations is going on right now. Like, what do they know? How are they not getting fined for that?

Except, okay, except the difference is that Tom Brady got suspended four games for an equipment malfunction. And the rule book says like $5,000 fine. They owe the Patriots a little bit of leniency after that bullshit. You've seen enough mob movies. Well, maybe you haven't. Actually, I like mob movies. I've seen all of them. Okay.

So you've seen mob movies. You know that there's this moment where whoever it is that turned on the inside of the mafia is dealing with the FBI agent or whoever it is. And they got to be like, look, man, you got't you got to take me out in handcuffs like you can't. It'll be too obvious that I'm cooperating with you. You know, do something. Rough me up. Put me away for a couple of years. Otherwise, I'm dead meat. That's what they do. These little stupid little punishments. Oh, a half million dollar fine. Oh, we took away a draft pick. Oh, a half million dollar fine. Oh, we took away a draft pick.

That's all just to cover their tracks, Jeff. It might be. I mean, it certainly might be. I mean, I've always thought like Taysom Hill has copper mat on Sean Payton. Like there's something he has, like something, there's some naked photos of Sean Payton or some secret he has, why he gets paid so much money to do nothing. So yeah, it's possible that New England has something on,

Robert Kraft has had something, maybe he's the one funneling all the money to Goodell, the $64 million a year, whatever Goodell makes. So, all right, this is a, yeah, we're off the rails. All right, let's get back to SEC's scheduling. Well, we were talking Mac Jones, so let's talk about the team he left, Alabama. I looked up before this week, excited for, hey, man, it's November. It's getting late in the year. What great games are there?

I just did what I did every week. I scrolled down the top 25, and I saw some pretty good matchups. I was really excited about Oklahoma Baylor. I saw, wait, who? I can't even remember the team's name. Alabama was playing some team from the California Penal League, and they were favored by 50-plus points. 5-0-plus.

I think it was 52-and-a-half in some books. By the way, Alabama has rarely covered those 50-point spreads they did yesterday. 50-something points, and they covered, and probably didn't play anyone in the second half. I didn't even look. It's insulting to all of our time to have to look at games like that. Why on earth is Alabama playing whatever the hell that was in November? How is this possible?

New Mexico State Aggies. So the SEC does this. The schedule, every team gets a layup in November. So Alabama played New Mexico state. Now Florida played Stanford. They were losing at halftime. And that's not, it's not the way it's supposed to be.

And the next week is really the week. So it's, oh, it typically is before rivalry week. So next weekend, Georgia has Charleston Southern. A&M is Prairie View A&M. Kentucky has New Mexico State.

So they're going to ripe off of the Alabama win. Mississippi State has Tennessee State. And then Tennessee has South Alabama. And LSU has Louisiana Monroe. I bet LSU can lose that game too, which is really funny. Because Louisiana Monroe has won some of these games before. I think that's where the water boy played. What are these schools?

It is. Okay, so the SEC does this the week before they play the rivalry games to kind of give their teams a little bit of a bye week. Now, to be fair, some teams do have tough non-conference games. Georgia played Clemson this year. Alabama played Miami. Alabama does schedule up, but they only play two non-conference games to start the year,

and then they play the SEC schedule and then play one this week. I actually like this kind of schedule. It'd be nice if instead of Oregon playing Utah this weekend, we played Utah State before we played Oregon State, right? It'd be kind of nice to have that built-in sort of bye before you play your rival, before your biggest game of the year a lot of times. But this is no different than Oregon scheduling Stony Brook. It's just Oregon plays that team at the beginning of the season.

The SEC plays them now. That's the big difference between that. But also, too, part of the issue is the SEC has eight conference games. The Pac-12 has nine. So that is why this extra game sometimes feels even weighted differently to help the SEC because they have that fourth game where the Pac-12 doesn't, the SEC doesn't. The Big Ten, I think, plays nine conference games.

They play eight conference games. It's advantage for them. The Pac-12 needs to go to eight conference games. They 100% have to do that and schedule a Utah State, a Portland State, something, something, something, East-West Tech State, and do that and schedule a utah state a portland state uh something something something east west tech state and do that in this last week of the season i'm for that i'm for the schedule if it helps us make a playoff then that's what has to happen and that's the reason i brought it up is like you know whatever this is within the rules obviously this is

something plenty of fans knew about i'm bringing it up because it was so jarring this particular week it's gonna be more jarring next week when all those, the ones that just rattled off, there's like six of them next week. Yeah, so really the crux of this is the SEC plays eight conference games and most college conferences play nine.

So they'd schedule this one extra game this time of year. But look, again, Alabama and Georgia played up this year. They played Clemson. They played Miami. Like they've scheduled, Oregon plays Georgia next season

in week one. Like some of these teams do schedule tough non-conference games. It's just this extra week where they don't have a conference game and everyone else does kind of shitty for those other conferences. Well, I didn't like it. And I think everyone has to either agree it shouldn't be this way and sort of regulate it away,

or it will mean, like you just said, every other conference that wants to be more competitive is over time and schedules take years to fix but they're going to have to do what what the sec is doing and then we're going to have some percentage less number of good football games every season because everyone's going to do this but if you expand the playoff then you can schedule up again, right? That's true. Look, they're showing you this season, they have rewarded Oregon for going to Ohio State and winning that game.

If we go to a 12-team playoff, maybe Oregon will have to play Ohio State because they're in really no matter what. I mean, Oregon, USC, Utah, those three teams will be in the playoffs two or three times, two of the three every single year, right? Just kind of virtue of how the playoffs would work out. But it doesn't. Oregon's not in the playoff without beating Ohio State. That's right.

So there is some incentive to keep playing these bigger games. And if, again, if you are an automatic qualifier into the playoff for winning your conference, playing a big non-conference, like if Oregon-Georgia play next season in week one, if Oregon loses that game, they're probably not a playoff team, right? Because no Pac-12 team has run the table since 2010.

Since the league expanded to 12 teams, no one has gone undefeated in the conference. So if they lose to Georgia, they're going to win 12 games in a row to get back to the playoff. But if you're an automatic qualifier, you lose to Georgia, you still win the Pac-12 at 10-2, 11-2, you make the playoff. So it will benefit scheduling to have a 12-team playoff format

where you get automatic qualifiers in. Yeah, okay. I guess when you say it all, it does actually mean that some of those great early season matchups are effectively like first round playoff games that just played out of order. I sort of follow the logic now. All right. Well, I mean, look, I'm not looking forward to seeing Georgia beat Charleston Southern next week. I'm not looking forward to that at all. Ole Miss Vanderbilt pass. Although I guess that's not really one of those weird ones. That's just a crappy game. Ole Miss, Texas A&M, kind of an exciting game. Heisman race heating up. The names are starting to take shape. I don't think it's going to be the kind of Heisman year we expected,

but it's got some names. I think Kenneth Walker is going to win at Michigan State. I think so, too. That's my guess, just because, you know, Kenny Pickett's not a big enough name at Pittsburgh. He doesn't have a signature moment. You know, we have a signature moment from Kenneth Walker, and he still has two games coming up, Penn State,

and he has Ohio State. But really, the Heisman this year should be Matt Ariza, the punter from San Diego State, who also kicked a game-winning field goal last night. Matt Ariza was on pace to set the all-time record for punting average, and he increased his average last night. He averaged 55.6 yards per punt last night. He should win the Heisman. This show has been the Matariza champion squad. If he were going to get any Heisman votes,

it's because somebody listened to this show, hear him come up every single week. I wish for this young man that he had figured this out about a decade sooner because he is about to head to the nfl where no special teams is required where kickers don't get to play where punting is frowned upon he he he he punts and does field goals yeah i know it's unheard of he set the record last night for most 50 yard punts in the season um and he had 33 dude his guy is a monster he should be he all hail our heisman king he's the he is the otani of special teams but you know he is the otani of special teams um all right gabe can i correct the record on something i said earlier it's a very critical important thing for the listeners of this show hammer Hammer and Hank, our producer, who I said was from Maryland and then became a Texas guy.

Actually, incorrect. From Texas, grew up in Maryland, went to Texas, found his roots. So he was born into this Texas stuff. I don't know who Hank roots for. I'm so confused. He just roots. You know what I like about Hank? Deep down, Hank is just a troll. Just like me. He just roots for other people's so confusing. He just roots. You know what I like about Hank? He's he deep down. Hank is just a troll.

Just like me. He just really just roots for other people's unhappiness. He's he's he's like, I think he's like a Longhorn Yankees, Lakers, like that type of guy fan, like Cowboys fan. They're just like,

he just kind of picks the bandwagon teams. That's how it is for this new generation of tick tockers. You just, you pick what you like, you know, you 45 seconds and that's enough for me. There's no investment. There's no time spent.

There's no pain. It's all joy for these Gen Zers. These Gen Zers. We sound like old grumpy men. Is he even Z? Are we cycling? He might be Gen A. We might have to come back to the beginning again.

He's so young. What is after Gen Z? I don't know. I don't know what comes next. Like, what are our kids z i don't know i don't know what comes next like what are our kids i don't know i i i scared to see what they grow up like our parents are baby boomers we're millennials i'm top tier millennial i think i i really identify more as gen x so gen x is between baby boomer and Millennial? I thought so. I don't know. I think I am technically by like a few months a Millennial,

but don't equate me with a Millennial. Oh, wait. I think our kids are Gen A. That's what I'm saying. We're just going right back to the beginning again. Oh, so you were born? Which is perfect because they won't know about history. They won't think think anything happened before them it'll be just what you want for college football their history doesn't matter anymore what well actually we're technically gen y we're gen y technically yeah what year what year are you born 82 yeah between it's gen y

or millennials are born between 81 and 94 or 96 so that's us okay and then hank was born in what like 2013 is that about right that sounds right to me so he's he's gen z makes sense he's gen z and then uh gen a is our kids so congratulations norman and Olivia. You're Gen A. All right. Well, we're out of stuff. We have an NFL show on Tuesday that will be really interesting this week as we get Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson both coming back. In the snow. It's snowing Lambeau right now.

Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a wild NFL weekend that we'll touch on on Tuesday, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson both coming back. In the snow. It's snowing Lambeau right now. Yeah. I mean, it's just going to be a wild NFL weekend that we'll touch on on Tuesday, and then you're making bets on Thursday, and I know things are getting hot for you there. Pac-12, 4-0 again this week. Boom. 26-9 this season in the Pac-12. Moneymaker. That is never going to happen again.

We had a favorite at some point. I don't know, but not now, guys. All right. We'll talk to you guys tomorrow. All right. Powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. Talk to you guys then.