Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - College Football Kickoff: Chaos Creates Wild College Football Playoff Semifinals: Who Will Prevail?

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

Indiana, Oregon, Ole Miss and Miami battle in the CFP for a shot at a national championship. Who will advance? Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rocket MoneyLet Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at http://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDONGametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.RugietIf you’ve been thinking about taking the next step, now’s the time.Head to https://Rugiet.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGEto get 15% off your order for a limited time.Rugiet Ready. Feel present. Feel confident. Feel ready.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's been about 24 years since the Miami Hurricanes played for something meaningful. Now they're going to be playing for a national championship. Carson Beck and the squad is going to be going in. And Coach Joy McGuire sits down with us and have a conversation about retention and acquisition. Six starters coming back on offense and six starters coming back on defense on a really good football team. And so we wanted to make sure we kept the guys that we needed to keep and then go get some really good football players. All that and more on Fire TV's college football kickoff. You're watching Fire TV's college football kickoff presented by California almonds.

The unofficial snack of football is shaped like a football and feels like a champion. Join us every week as we predict who will deliver when crunch time hits. Snack good, eat almonds. I'm your host Jay Smith from Locked on Sooners. Filling in for Drake Toll today and we're coming in hot from the heart of college football country in Texas. On set with me, two legends. 22-time coach of the year, Coach Gary Patterson, and former Tar Hill and Dallas Cowboy, Jesse Hawley.

We're so close to crowning a national champion, look for our championship preview next Thursday on your Fire TV and Echo Show devices. Let's kick it off. Gentlemen, happy New Year. Happy New Year, man. Glad to have you here today, man. Thank you for allowing me to come in and sit at the big table.

Yeah, we kicked Drake off, we got some color on the table. We got a little more color on the table here. You know what? It makes me feel better. Exactly. Look at that. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? Well, it was a very surprising weekend in college football.

That Indiana-Alabama game, I'm not going to lie, I did not see that coming. And then you've got, you know, Ole Miss making it happen in a rematch. It's been a crazy weekend. So let's go into our first game here. Ole Miss versus Miami. Jesse, let's start with you. We've seen that Miami's defense is just ridiculously good. Yeah.

And they do a really good job to stop in the run. But Trinidad Chamblis and Qaun and Lacey, when they get going, they're going. How do you feel Miami matches up in this game? I think Miami matches up fine. Miami never lacks speed, never lacks athleticism. Even when the teams were bad, they always had speed and athleticism. And then they have those two edgebrushers in Mestador and having Ruben Bain Jr. And those two guys understand the assignment.

And that is to get to Lacey and to get to Trinidad Chambliss and hit them and hit them hard. If you're able to do that, especially against the quarterback, that breaks a guy down so that he's not as a willing to improvise and run and to make those dynamic and magnetic plays in the backfield late in the football game. That's what they want to do. They heat it up. Julius Sane in Ohio State, I think they'll do the same thing against Trinidad Chambers and the Old Miss rebels. Well, you'd have to say about both, both Ole Miss and Miami, both of them. You'd have to say this. You know, you've been in the locker room, you've been on the practice field when you get on a roll, both of them.

Ole Miss beating in Georgia, which that's like if you can get by that one, Miami, Ohio State. So now you've got two teams that feel really, really good about themselves. They're playing great on both sides of the football. They both have extremely high levels at certain positions. And so it's going to be one of those games where that's what we wanted in the playoffs. You wanted to get to where you had all four teams, and in this case, these two, and see what kind of adjustments they made. Ole Miss had to make the adjustment in the first half, in the second half, because they were just getting run over. Miami had one of those situations where Ohio State was the pick, and here's what you have to do to go make a difference.

And so, and they did. And they did it by going right at Ohio State's strength and beating them at it. And I'll say this also when it comes to Ole Miss, you know, I was on the big red and black train, the Georgia train all season long. I watched them in person. I got to call a game for them, and I thought Georgia had found their rhythm. They were physical. All those young players began to mature.

They had the running game going. And the one thing that Georgia was really good at, they were a second-half football team. They were the one of the best second-half football teams in college football. And I kept watching the game wide. I said, no, Georgia is going to drag him out the deep water and they're going to drown them in the second half. And boy, play after play, O'Miss.

They stepped up to the challenge. And when Jordan tried to drag him in deep water, Trinidad Chamis made a play. made a play. And that was something that I did not expect from that Ole Miss team against that Georgia football team who I thought had found their stride. Yeah, and Coach, I was going to ask you about that as a defensive tactician. The way that Ole Miss played Georgia in that game the second time around. I mean, they both went a little bit back and forth. But it appeared that Ole Miss really was prepared defensively for Gunn and Stockton and the way that offense was going. Well, yeah, and they started early. They started with five back. You know, they have that three safety deal where they stay back and they move around. But if you notice in the second half, one of those guys started coming up. more of a seven-man box than a six-man box and sometimes an eight-man box. And, you know, I think that made a difference in the ball game.

I'm not sure why Georgia wouldn't have been prepared for it. But they ended up, Ole Miss ended up making plays, and Georgia didn't end up making plays. And at the end, it came down to what it needed to be. But, you know, like I was said, and really I would say about all four teams, you'd look at and go, nobody in college football wants to play any of these four right now. If you had to go pick us and say, well, We're going to go get to pick another one, another game.

And everybody's sit out. We'll watch it on the couch. Yeah, no, I'm out there. We're right there with you. Yeah, okay. Let's get some words from our local experts from Locked On. We've got Locked on Ole Miss as well as Locked on Canes. We got our first game of the college football playoffs to talk about.

We've got Ole Miss and Miami. Right now we have Stephen Willis from Locked on Ole Miss. And Alex, I don't know, over on Locked on Cains. Gentlemen, I'm excited. It's going to be a fun game, right? First time really making it this deep and a true opportunity when a national championship. Roughly 20, what, 24 years for Miami to really be in a big race. So let's talk about this.

Steve, and I want to start with you. What does Ole Miss need to do to win this game? With all the stuff that's been going on, all the noise, the team seems to have settled in well. What do it need to do to win this game? Offensively, they need to stay on schedule and use quick game and moving side to side to wear out those ends for Miami as much as possible. And when you get them on the sideline, go as quick as possible so they can't sub back in.

Defensively, they need to stop the run. The Georgia game, I said all season, it's the simplest game of the season. If you stop the run, you're going to win. If you don't, you're going to lose. This game is really similar. If Ole Miss doesn't stop the run, they're going to get beat by the Miami Hurricanes.

Alex, the one thing that we've noticed about the Miami Hurricanes is that they basically bullied their way through the end of the season. It's been beautiful. It's been old school, punch them in the mouth football. What do the Keynes need to do to go ahead and win this game? Well, it starts with that bully ball. And for Miami, it's been the defensive line. That's been the key to getting them as far as they've gotten here. Ruben Bain and Akeem Mesedor at the edges specifically. This is a tricky challenge, though, going up against Trinidad, Chandblis, with how dangerous he can be when he gets outside the pocket and when he

improvises. So I think there's going to be a big emphasis for Miami's, pass brush on discipline and on containing Chambliss. I think if you get a little reckless going for sacks, he can elude or break a tackle, get to the outside, always keeping his eyes downfield. He's so accurate. So Miami needs to be disciplined. They have faced a number of running quarterbacks this year, none as dangerous as Trinidad. So this is like the final boss of the running quarterbacks that Miami is faced. And then offensively for Miami, I mean, you know, Stephen hit the nail on the head when he talked about Ole Miss needing to stop the run, and that's because Miami needs to establish their ground attack. They've had a lot of success up to this point in the playoffs, facing two really

good rushing defenses the first couple of rounds, Texas A&M and Ohio State, and Miami has been able to get Mark Fletcher, Jr. going in the running game, and I think it's really important in a matchup like this to try and control time of possession to give Trinidad and Ole Miss's dangerous offense fewer possessions. And then, of course, you know, Carson Beck is going to need to be efficient. That's late in the year, been his superpower. I know he struggled at times with turnovers, but over Miami's last six games, he only has one interception. He's managed games exceptionally well. I do think Miami is going to need to hit some plays over the top through their passing game as well with someone like Malachi Tony. But establishing the running game behind Miami's physical offensive line

and, of course, creating pressure and chaos with their defensive line. Those to me are the biggest keys for the Cains. All right, gentlemen, let's give me a final prediction here. Stephen Willis, what do you got? I got almost taking home the win and getting to the national championship game, beating the Miami Hurricanes, 31 to 24. Ooh, high scoring game. Okay, Alex, how are you feeling about the Cains?

I go the same score, just different teams with those. scores. I go Miami 31 to 24. And what an opportunity it would be for the Hurricanes, given that the national championship game is in Miami. So they would love to punch their ticket to South Florida. So yeah, I think it's going to be a good game. And like you mentioned, a little high scoring, but I've got Miami coming out on top. All right. That's Stephen Willis from Locked on Ole Miss and Alex Dunnell from Locked on Cains. Gentlemen, he said it perfectly. That national championships in Miami. Miami has a lot to play for. They can go back home and play in the comforts of their own stadium. What do you guys think about this game? Coach? Well, you know, I said this

earlier. I think Trinidad is he's the equalizer to a pass rush. Georgia had him last week and he outran him, made spectacular plays. I think if, as they were talking about, if Miami's able to run the football and defensively, they can create lost yardish plays like they did last week. I think that's going to be a long day for Ole Miss. Yeah, and when you look at this game last week talking about Trinidad Chambliss and it's the way that he was able to make those plays on schedule, off schedule. He was running around. And had he not made every single play he needed to against Georgia,

they don't win that football game. And that's going to be high alert for this Miami Hurricanes defense. And they understand that. So whether it is Ruben Bain Jr. or Mezzador, they're going to know, you know, the one way that you slow a fast, movable quarterback down, in late in the games, you hit them early, right? You hit them early, you hit them off, and they do a really good job at that. So this is going to be one of those chess match level type games, but to your point, Jay,

I love the physicality that Miami's playing with. They brought it to Ohio State. I mean, they have been playing a physical brand of football up front in the trenches, offensively and defensively, and if they can continue to do that, impose their will defensively and really make Ole Miss being those scramble situations, I think with the level of speed that they have, aggressive

that they have, Miami can find themselves in the national championship in Miami. My good friend Michael Irvin would love that. Well, and it helps a team that wants to win by defense when you're getting 10 days and not 7. You're giving those big guys up front, more rest,

more able for their bodies to get healed, you know, feel better about themselves, shoulders, legs, and so. Yeah, this time of year, but we say it all the time. You can run the football, and you can play defense. You got a chance to win a lot of football games. But you got to give Ole Miss credit. I mean, they've just kind of come out and said, you know,

we got a lot of weapons and you've got to stop them all. And shortly, you know, even with all the stuff surrounding Ole Miss, got to give a lot of credit to that coaching staff and to those players. With all the, you know, with their coach leaving and who's coming and who's going, God doing double duty, for them to keep their. head down and focus and go out there and find themselves in the semifinals of the college football playoffs. Kudos and hats off to all those players at Ole Miss. Yeah, they were focused. The football gods are kind of on their side, I think. For sure. Because if everything had happened, because

you know, a lot of things were going, were not, they weren't treated very well, I don't think. They weren't. They weren't. And like you said, Miami's defense, that focal point is stopping Kiwan Lacey, had 98 yards and two touchdown. So that's going to be critical. So let's talk about our next game, which is going to be Indiana and Oregon, a rematch from the big team. and early this season. Today's show is brought to all of you by Fandall. Fandall is exactly where I go every single week during the NBA season. I'll shoot you straight. I don't love watching the NBA. I'm a college football guy mostly in FFL here or there. But what makes the NBA so much better is Fandle because I go in on Fridays for happy hour. It's not alcoholic. Don't worry. BYU fans. Fridays already feel different

during basketball season. This NBA happy hour is an hour and a half where Fandul has specials across the board. During happy hour, you get boosts, bonuses, surprises. So each and every Friday, before the games tip off, 6 to 7.30 p.m. Eastern, appointment television, appointment viewing on Fandall, a little basketball, a little action, a whole lot of Friday energy. NBA happy hour only on Fandall, the official sportsbook partner of the NBA. It's Fandul, the official sports book partner of the NBA. And we've got Spencer McLaughlin from Locked on Ducks. We've got to talk about the game in the college wall playoffs. Spencer, how's it going? I just want the game to start already, but I'm excited to be on with you guys in the meantime. It's the best way to pass the time until the games kick off.

Well, talk to me. You're going up against a Big Ten foe, and you actually played each other this season. How do you feel like Oregon is prepared to go up against Indiana for a second time? I don't think we can fully know the answer to that question until the game kicks off, because the two biggest questions are not ones that I think Oregon has made huge strides in since their last meeting. Problem number one, they failed to protect Dante Moore. He was sacked six times in the game with an offensive line that was one of the three finalists for the Joe Moore Award this year. How does that happen? Brian Haynes, the defensive coordinator, should win the Broils Award for the best coordinator in the country. If he doesn't, we're canceling the award. And Jay, you're going to help me make that happen. Maybe we'll unless Gary Patterson to pull.

some levers behind the scenes as well. His ability to generate free runners at the quarterback with simulated pressures, absolutely bamboozled Dante Moore and the Oregon offensive line. They have to be able to find that answer. The other thing they struggled with, which we saw in the Texas Tech game as well, is Oregon has struggled finishing drives and turning them into touchdowns. Now, you've got two great defenses in this game. So I think points are going to be at a premium, which I think just makes it all the more important that when teams do drive down inside the 30 or 20 in this game, they've got to find a way to turn it into seven points. But against the best defenses that they face this year, that has been a struggle for the ducks. And so with Indiana, Fernando

Mendoza, a Heisman trophy winner. Last week, he played flawless football roughly. Can Oregon create enough pressure or at least cause a turnover to help them to get this game? Yeah, I think they're absolutely capable off a week in which they forced four turnover. against Texas Tech. And look, Indiana's got a better quarterback, a better offensive line, and better receivers. And I think the running backs are about a wash between the two teams, though I like both for Texas Tech and Indiana there. But, yeah, Oregon's defense wasn't the problem.

I think a lot of folks might look at that first game and say, oh, 30 points. Boy, that's way too many. And I'm sure that anyone from Tosh Lippoy to Bryce Betcher and every player in between would tell you that it is too many points. But if you watch the actual game, the defense kept giving. Oregon's offense chances to retake the lead, to take control of the game, and they failed to do it, and they failed to sustain drives. So they put the defense on the field for a lot of plays, for long drives that Indiana was able to execute because of a couple of key situational conversions.

That's where Indiana has been great this year. And I think that's the biggest area where Oregon's defense has to improve. Even though the stats would tell you they were pretty good situationally against Indiana, they can still be better. And it might come down. to just a couple of plays, and that's the key for this Oregon defense. All right, Spencer, five seconds. Give me a score prediction for this game. I want Oregon to win more than I have wanted most things in life, but I think Indiana is too good of a staff and just a darn good football team,

and I struggle to pick against Kurt Signetti. I'm going the Indiana Hoosiers 19, Oregon 13, ugly, weird score. Something funky is going to happen in this game. 1913, Indiana wins. That's Spencer McLaughlin from Locked on Ducks. Gentlemen, how are we feeling about this game? Jesse. I'm excited about this game, and we're going to talk a tonne about all the athletes on the field,

you know, Dante Moore or Fernando Mendoza, and those are rightfully so. But boy, am I impressed with Kurt Signetti. I mean, he has gotten this Indiana football team. They have the pulse and the heartbeat of snipers. I mean, they don't blink. It doesn't matter where you. you go, who you put them against. It doesn't matter. Stadiums, size,

place, home, away on the moon in the parking of Walmart. Kurt Signetti has figured out a way he is locked in with this team so much. And coach, you understand this for being a guy who has been on those sidelines to have the pulse of your football

team. This team doesn't blink. And I look at this game and I say automatically, Indiana will be prepared for whatever Dan Lannig is going to bring to table and they are going to make the right plays when it matters the most because of their coach, Kurt Signetti. Well, the key is what he's trying to say is that Coach Signetti and I are older, okay?

That is it. But it's okay. I call it wisdom. Now, this is how I look at it. Both defenses are allowing less than 15 points a game. One's allowing 10, one's allowing 15. So I tell you, the big key to this ball game, both offenses are scoring just under 40 or over. 40 points of ball games. So both offenses, the one that decides that I don't need to score

40 points for us to be successful and goes ahead and takes the mindset of grinding it out. I'm going to find a way to score that extra point and do the things we need to do. Because they've already played each other once. It came down to a single score game. It's one of those things where you do all of it. I really true believe that the offenses, if they'll have patience, you know, it's like if you're these two quarterbacks and what got me on this was Mendoza's talked about in practice at the start of the season when there are two days about, guy, either this defense is really good or I'm just not as good as I was. He was saying that in an interview and it's truth, you've got two really good defenses that don't give up

very much. You've got two offense that are used to scoring a lot of points. Which quarterback can just take a deep breath, get the ball handed off, throw to the guy, check down, kick a field, go when you have to, score the touchdown when you need to, and when you need to, and when this game because it really doesn't matter if it's by 100 or it's by one. The key is to win by one, right? And so I think the team that has that kind of discipline that doesn't make any difference. And I think the Dan Lanning team for Oregon, even though I'm also a big fan of everything that Indiana's done, but I do believe that the first ball game against James Madison woke them up. You'll have 35 points and they came back against a Texas Tech team, turned the ball over, got everything

done. I think it's going to be one of those games for the ages. Really, to be honest with you, I think both semifinal games are going to be rocking. Yeah, to add to that, too, this is what's most fascinating about this. This is our third time that we have a repeat matchup in the playoffs, right? You had Oklahoma, Alabama. You're going to have this game here with Indiana versus Oregon. I'm wondering, and you had Ole Miss versus Georgia last week. So each week, each round, we've had a repeat matchup.

How does that factor in? because the second team won the second time this time around. The losing team has won the second time around. Yeah, I mean, anytime you have to play a team and coach, you can speak about this from the coach's perspective, far more than I can. But anytime you have to play a team the second time around, I mean, they now see, they know your tendencies,

they know the good guys, the bad guy, they know where your weak spots at, the chink in your armor is at. And so you have to be able to prepare for that. Yes. And then you also have to have an answer, right? You have to bring something new to the table, some wrinkle that they haven't seen before.

And then the best part about that is, when do I bring that wrinkle at? At what point in time of the game? Because if you have that wrinkle that you've been working on, you're saying this is going to hit exactly what I needed to hit. If I pull it out the cars too early, and now I need something late, I can't go back to that. So that's the cat and mouse game that will be played between Kurt Signetti and Dan Lannick. It's that when I need that play that we've been working on,

will it be there and will it hit? Yeah, and all of us, if you remember, we're all sitting at this desk in the early season. And I'm like, okay, well, Indiana's better. It looks like they did what they did last year, and they're repeating, they're playing really well. And I'm like, well, they've got to go. The Austin Stadium, they've got to go beat Oregon up there.

I don't know if they can do that. And guess what? They did. And so the one thing about it is Oregon is not going to be surprised this time. I mean, and everybody in the country knows now how good Indiana is. And so I think it's one of those things where pretty soon it comes down. you're not going to fool anybody. It's going to be a battle of wills who actually is going to last for the last play.

And I won't be surprised it comes down to somebody's kicking. Somebody goes down and kicks a field goal. And then the other team comes right back down. It's got to make like a 55-yarder to win the ball game. I mean, I think it's going to be one of those kids. And if that turns out, everybody's going to buy me dinner. Yeah, everybody going to buy your dinner. All of them has been one-score games, and now we're getting ready for that.

But we got a special treat for you. In the coach's corner, we're actually going to have Coach Gary Patterson talking to Red Raiders head coach, Joey McGuire. It's going to tell you a little bit about the team. Coach McGuire, happy New Year, Merry Christmas, happy Big 12 playoffs. Joey, I tell you what, there's nobody that's more excited, had been more excited to see your run in the Big 12 conference.

And then the playoffs, I know it didn't turn out the way you're wanting. I know you're still not overly over any of that stuff. But I'm going to tell you right now, I mean, first time, 12 wins season. I mean, we can just go down the list. So thank you so much for coming on our program and being a part of us. Yeah, Coach, thank you for having me, man. Whenever they asked or when they said, hey, Coach Patterson, I went you on a show.

I jumped all over it, man. You know how much I think of you and really what you've done for my career, man, I remember so many times going out there and watching all practice and just what you did over the years on defense is what everybody strives for. And that was one thing this year, man. We brought defense to West Texas for sure. You did. Yes, sir.

There's no doubt about it. And you know, I'll tell you what, it's just the beginning. I think that's the best thing. The plan that you have right now in place and how you're doing it from the portal and how you really, you do a great job. You've always been a great job, even at Cedar Hill High School, as far as the chemistry of your teams and how your kids were built and how they like to play. I mean, you can see it.

You can see it on the field being a Red Rader also. So it's cool. So tell me about this year and this experience. I mean, it had to be something that was like dreamlike. I mean, it's happened because, you know, everybody talks about the portal, but you've got guys like Rodriguez and, I mean, your two linebackers, both were guys that were, you're giving scholarships. They weren't part of the portal process and doing all that.

So, I mean, it's way cool. Well, you know, I mean, you know, because you did it. I mean, whenever you do something for the first time, it's really special. And, you know, we did something for the first time, the first 12-win season, you know, the first mid-12 championship. But what, you know what? So many people don't understand that are outside the building looking in. I've been doing this for 31 years.

I actually starting my 32nd year right now because I started in January. And this was the healthiest locker room I've ever been a part of. And the other thing, like everybody says we brought all these portal guys in and this and that. We hold every GPA record in the 100-year history of Texas Tech football. And our GPA record was 3.13 was the highest GPA we've had. And this team broke it. We had a 3.23 GPA, and we had 33 college graduates playing in the Orange Bowl. Oh, wow.

You and I both know, man. That doesn't happen if you have a bad culture. No, that's just unbelievable. I mean, you know, because again, you and I both grew up in the time that it's 40, not four. It's not just about what's happening right now when they're in college is how you grew them up and all the different things from work ethic, how you treat people. And you've always been a guy that's been like that. I think that's the thing that I cheered most about. I know, I know your, I know your journey. I know everything that you've had to go through. And to me, that's, that's what makes it special. There's so many stories like that. And you have, to be honest with you,

you have so many stories like that on your team. I mean, right, he was like sleeping on his brother's couch or whatever. I mean, yeah, it's incredible. You know, he was a high school quarterback. I did what you, you did so well. I, you know, whenever he was in high school, we were recruiting him and I was, when I got on the phone with him and first talked to him, I really kind of pissed him off because I was like, hey, listen, Jacob, I don't see you as a quarterback. I see you as a safety or a possible linebacker. And whenever Bronco Menon Hall decided to resign at Virginia, he was looking for a place. And I talked to his high school coach and a couple of other buddies. And I was like, you know, listen, man, I love the kid. But he's a linebacker. And he did. He walked on for us.

He literally took out alone for that semester, slept on his brother's floor. And it's a funny story. I'd never heard it until about a month ago. But he said that first spring, he was like, I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it through practices because he was a quarterback. He'd never been hit. You know, you don't hit your quarterback. So he was like, every single day I would come out of practice and my body was hurting. My hands were hurting.

and he just, and he's such a special person and special story. And it was awesome for him to win all the awards that he won this year. And he earned every one of them. Well, I know there's about a hundred of those. So tell me, Portal, you guys have already done great in it going forward. You're recharging. I know also that you guys are doing well in the high school ranks too. I mean, it's really, it's really fun.

It's fun for me watching from the outside. inside in. It's not as much fun for you, but it's been fun for me watching the outside end and watching you guys replicate, you know, try to replicate exactly what you did. And, you know, when you get a good business plan, keep doing it. And so like the Soresby kid, that has to be a great story too. I mean, with everything, my homes, go down the list of everything. And he's a Texas kid, isn't he? He's a Texas kid. He's from Lake Dallas. You know, we signed the highest ranked class high school-wise in the history of Texas Tech this year. We're excited. We signed 21 high school kids. 18 of them are moving in January 10th. So they're going to be on campus. Wow.

And then, yeah, we were able to get QB1 and it was a, you know, it was a collective effort. I've known his dad for a long time. One of my other high coaches that was a high school coach, Dave Martin knew his dad, and then getting him back to Texas. And my home, and our good friend, both of our good friends, Cody Campbell, he was a big part of it. You know, he got on the phone with him whenever he was able to. Pat was and just, you know, got him to understand, like, what we're trying to do here.

He was a big get. You know, we got a really good defensive end out of San Diego State, Trey White. We, you know, we were bringing, we brought back two of our three linebackers that started for us, so we were able to get the Austin Romaine kid that's played at such a high level at K-State. And so we are. We've really started feeling like we're reloading and retaining.

You know, like we have six starters coming back on offense and six starters coming back on defense on a really good football team. And so we wanted to make sure we kept the guys that we needed to keep and then go get some really good football players. Well, you know, I told your guy, first off, I want to say this. I always, everybody talks about Cody, but I did want to give John Sellers a shout out. Amen.

I could do it, but I, you are one of the good guys in this profession. I can't get you, everybody understand. I can't get you to go play golf though, but I'm working. But you know what, but guess what? It shows that you didn't because I was such a bad golfer because all I did was work all the time. And now I heard you got a simulator in the house, so, so you're trying to, you're trying to sneak. Your man, Kenny Perry's been, uh, telling you.

Yons. So, but you already know. You already know most of these white hairs that I got this year were trying to deal with Kenny Perry. You had to deal with him too, so you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yeah, it was funny, Grant McAzzell and he and I were doing this event, and we were talking just about like downtime and hobbies and everything. And he's like, you know, me and you, we don't have a lot of hobbies. And we were talking something about golf. And he goes, yeah, that's kind of how I decompress. And I was like, what are you talking about? He goes, man, I put a simulator in my barn. I went right to Debbie and I said, hey, look, I know what I want for a present. Grant was able to get one. We need to start talking and working this out. And so it really

just is. It's kind of being able to decompress, hit a couple of balls. And the guy that's getting the most use out of it, though, is my son. You know, Garrett is our running back's coach. You've known him since he was. Oh, yeah. He was in elementary school. He was running around. Yeah. He's growing up. Yeah. He's a little bit better coffer than I am. Well, someday you'll have plenty of time to do all that. Right now, you're trying to win championships

and trying to get in the playoffs and win a national championship. Look, I'm not going to keep you. I told him I'd keep you less than 10 minutes and do all of it. But I did want to thank you. And again, from the bottom of my heart, congratulations. I'm serious for the state of Texas. Everybody said, well, why would you? I mean, you were a horn frog.

I said, look, there was plenty of Red Raiders or plenty of, Longhorns. Nate, keep going down the schools. A&M that were there when I was in the Rose Bowl. And I said, if you're not rooting for being a Red Raider in the playoffs right now, along with A&M, they got beat out a week before. Then you need to get off of it. So congratulations there, Coach McGuire.

Thank you, man. Now, I'll be rooting for you. And, you know, I like having John and Cody here in Fort Worth so I can bother them here. But it's cool. And any, if we can ever help you, let me know. You hear me? This is awesome. Congratulations.

Be ready to come out here this spring, and I'll get you the schedule with KP and everything. I love for you to come out and watch his practice and, you know, see the guys. Plus, just see the, I mean, you've been out here. You've played in this stadium. It's changed so much. I love for you to be able to see it. I will. Yes, sir.

Mr. Perry's been after me to get me out there, so I'll get out there. I'll see you later. Yes, sir. Reck him. Thank you. All right. Welcome. Today show is brought you by game time.

Happy New Year's Eve, by the way, everybody. Go drink and be merry. Not for Baylor fans, BYUu fans. What you can do is you can go to game time, though, and find, I went to game time, found tickets for concert tonight. I'm going to see the Avid Brothers niche band, North Carolina, driving up there, going to buy a car on the way? Why not? Why not us? College football season, bowl season.

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Terms apply. Again, code locked on college, locked on college, $20 off. Download the game time app today. Game time, locked on college is that code. That was a great interview with Coach Gary Patterson and coach Joey McGuire over there at Texas Tech. Coach, I kind of want to talk to you about this. You spent some time with Texas, you know, after you left TCU, and it was kind of when the transfer portal was really going.

Texas Tech talking about they just, you know, landed Renan Sorsby out of the portal. How do you feel about the portal now with the new window that just started? Things feel like it's kind of all over the place. Well, it is, but I think coaches are starting to get an understanding of what they have to do. Everybody else, it looks like chaos, but I think they all have a GM now. They all have a recruiting room. they have that have all those names up there. They know how they want to put their stock in, where they want to spend their money, how

they want to do it, who they want to keep on their team. You know, and you've got to give Joy credit and you've got to give Cody Campbell, which is kind of their GM extraordinaire from the outside looking in that's really helped him. But yeah, you're talking about a guy that was a high school coach that ended up going to Baylor, helped their program, and then, you know, he has an opportunity, he has an opportunity to be the head coach at Texas Tech. And everything that was going on had an unbelievable magical season. First 12 wins, Big 12 championship, number four slated in the playoffs gets a buy.

And so talking to him about, really, about all the things. But the cool thing we brought up, they got to us, they got their guy and Brendan Sorsby. I think that was the biggest thing because I think if everybody talked about, what was Texas Tech lacking in the playoffs was probably their Achilles seal. And nothing against their quarterback. But he was going to have to play really well. And so they went out and really got another Texas kid, even though he played at Cincinnati,

but he's from Lake Dallas. And so I think it's kind of a staying close to home. And I think, you know, when you listen to the interview, you find out, too, that, you know, like they all do, the Texas high school coaches all know each other. Somebody knew his mom and dad, all of that kind of stuff. And so they're a lot closer than what you think. And Jesse, as a former player, going seeing the way the portal is today, compared to back in your day and where everybody stuck it out to,

finish out their four years or three years if they decided to go to leak earlier. Like, what's your, what's your thoughts on this, how this is going right now? Yeah, back in my day, man, if you decided to transfer, you had to shit out of year. Yeah.

School to school, right? But now, you know, it's all about the cash, baby, dollar dollar bill, y'all. And you talk about, you know, yes, them going to get their man and Brandon Sober from Cincinnati. But we're talking about the numbers at this thing is happening.

And it has the thing that's surprised me the most. I wish I'm a tad bit jealous. I wish I still have some eligibility left. You know, young Jay Holly out there, man, you know, at Carolina, my ticket would have been nice. My price tag would have been nice. But that's the thing. Just to put this in perspective, you're talking about now, remember Matt Ruhl said this a couple years ago, he said to get a starting quarterback now out of the portal.

It's going to cost you anywhere from $1 to $4 million. And there's been talks about, you know, guys like Sam Levitt and now Brandon Sorosby. They're getting the upwards of $5 million to play quarterback as a rental. Because these guys aren't going to be there very long, right? This is a rental. One year. Just to put that in perspective, the number one overall draft pick in the NFL draft this year, Ward, his contract, he gets about $14 million annually. And that's for the National Football League.

Shador Sanders, who was taken in the fifth ground, his contract as a whole, his four years, is around $4 million. So you're talking about now, a college quarterback will make $5 million in a season. making more money than some quarterbacks who may be starting in the national football league today. 10 months. That's what you're running them for 10 months. So a guy said this to me today and I think it's just perfectly what it is. He said, well, what's college football because you know, ROI, you know, ROI as far as rate of return, right? And the guy said, you know what, this is like the cutting horse. You got, it's very expensive to be on, but it's a hobby. Yeah. It's a hobby. And so at some point in time, these guys that are putting their money in,

they're going to start asking about their rate of return and what they get. And to be honest, whether it's like cutting horses. You get a great horse and you get it. Very few people really make any money, but it's a very expensive horse to do. And, you know, really the only team, the only entity that really wins when you get like here in the playoffs, if you did buy and you get like Texas Tech, is really the university itself, not necessarily the people that are putting the money in. Yep, no.

Because you can't buy that kind of advertising. You're talking about like a TCU. we went, when we went to the Rose Bowl, when we got there in 98, 4,000 applications, when we went to the Rose Bowl, went to 24,000 allocations, and when they played for the national championship, it went to 42,000 applications. Well, just in simple math, let's just say an application was 100 bucks. Yeah. Okay, you just look at the numbers, what the numbers are just, and what it costs is just

to turn in an application, and so you start talking about, and every, every chancellor at any every university would tell you, they couldn't pay for that. that kind of advertising if you didn't do it. And so they're winning. The key is going to be, and there's a lot of talk out there, is how it comes to a situation where, because personally, from a coach standpoint, we always said it's not 40 or not four.

So here's what you did in college in four years. How can we get where we can channel this and whether you get to 401K are doing all you can. So you know these kids somewhere between 40 and 50 that they can have a return. and there's going to be something because we know as we get older, that becomes very important. Absolutely.

But they don't know because, you know, what are you going to do for me tomorrow, right? And you know, right? And I'll say this also. The one thing that I think that we miss now in college football, which is a sad thing is that we miss, like I am a true blue tar hill, right? I spent four years at the University of Carolina played football and basketball in a national championship, right?

So every time I turn on the TV and it's Tar Hill Blue, I feel a sense of pride. But when you have guys jumping from team to team after year after year, where you don't have that. You know, because if I'm at school, A, one year school, B the next year school, see the next year school, you don't have a sense of pride anymore about that university. People don't look at you as, you know,

they would as a Michael Irvin at the University of Miami or stuff like that because all of these guys now, they're bouncing around to these universities because there's transfer portal. You can just move. You can chase the bag. and no one has that legacy about your university anymore. Coach, you're talking about you were at TCU for 20 plus years, right? You're always going to be known a legend.

Imagine the guys that jump around year after year after year. You've got nothing to hold on to when that's all set up. The other side of that, too, is, you know, relationships, you know, somewhere when it's, because 98% of them when they get done in college are not making the NFL, right? We're talking, and probably... You're going rolling something other than sports. Yeah, and so at the end of the day, one of the things about is, relationships, the guy that's going to say, you did this for my university, I'm going to give

you your first job. This is what we're going to do. And then put me on, let me be a guy that I'll call for you if you get in. The sad part about it is, is that you could play somewhere three years and then you go grab that bag, right, and you go do something. And then the whole, you hurt their feelings. And then the whole university said, now don't come calling. Don't call back. Don't call back and ask me to do something for you because, The bottom line to it is, you left us. Yeah, that's always been the fascinating thing to me about the booster space of you really don't get the big benefit the school does, but you're doing it because of school pride.

And that's the reason why you want to invest in it. And nowadays, they're investing a ton, but that return is a little bit more limited. As a Troikman, he'll tell you about that. But it's now for us to talk about our crunch time selections. You're watching college football kickoff presented by California almonds, the unofficial snack of football. It's shaped like a football, and it fuels like a chance. Join us every week as we predict who will deliver when crunch time hits snack good eat almonds Coach Jesse we got to talk about this.

So who are, who's your crunch time selection for this first game of Ole Miss and Miami? Well, for me, Ole Miss is Trinidad. He's the equalizer. I mean, you can put all those guys if they can't catch them and won't matter. Yeah. And for me it's Malachi Tony, right? He is the spectacular young player from Miami. You get the ball in his hands and he can make some.

something special happen. Now you got to hold on to the ball now, you know, because he dropped the ball couple of times. You got to hold on to the ball. But Malikatoony, he is the spark plug. He is the difference maker for this Miami offense. And they have to find ways to give him the football because he can make him play. To me, it's got to be Kiwan Lacey because that 98 yard, 98 yard two touchdown game against Georgia was critical for them to win that. As you mentioned, coach, Trinidad Chambers was making some magic happen. And there's those moments where if he didn't make something happen, they could have lost that game. But Kiwan Lacey getting those yards because Miami does not give up rushing yards,

45 yards against Ohio State. That's massive. And if Kiwan Lacey can get going, takes a little pressure off Trinidad-Chambliss, there's an opportunity for them to do something. Well, yeah, and he did it with a bad shoulder from the previous ball game. Exactly. I think that's a big deal. That shows a lot about him.

Toughness. Lots of toughness. Okay, so for this Indiana-Oregon game, what you got, Coach? Well, it's going to be hard. going to be hard. Even though both are friends. Love Dan Lannning, but you got to love the defense at Indiana. I'm going to use the defense in Indiana. I mean, those guys have been just playing rock solid.

I mean, for me, it's low-hanging fruit, right? Give me the Heisman trophy winner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fornoza Mendoza. I mean, this is, I love about Fernando Mendoza is that he doesn't blink. He's, his energy is high. He can tell he's a smart, intelligent football player. And this team will ride on the arms, shoulders, and backs of Fernando Mendoza.

So the Hyland Trophy winner, he's my crunch time player for Indiana. For me, it's going to be that Oregon wide receiver room. Like, they've been dealing with a lot of injuries coming into the game last week, even though they got a chance to have some of those guys back like DeCorn Moore, the true freshman that's a ridiculous athlete. They're starting to get those players back. But the question is truly how healthy are they going to be coming into this game? Will we get that 95% version when they play against Indiana in the rematch

for an opportunity to get revenge from earlier this season? Well, yeah, and if I was going to pick probably somebody for Oregon, And the only way that they win, just listening to our locked on Oregon Duck, right? And I would say it's going to have to be the offensive line. They're going to have to be able to protect him. If they can protect him where he can get it to the wide receivers and they can run the ball a little bit, I think that would be a plus for the Oregon Ducks. That's a wrap on this week's college football kickoff.

We get down to the final two games next week. Same time, same set, same unapologetic football energy. Big thanks to Coach Gary Patterson. Jesse Holly for bringing the heat and to you for Roddy Shotgun with us. Enjoy all the action this weekend. Stay locked in. Stay fired up. And we'll see you next Thursday right here on Fire TV.