Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - College Football Kickoff: Indiana Hungry for First National Championship Ever

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

The Indiana Hoosiers are hungry to win their first national title ever - but Miami stands in their way.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!GametimeToday'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.WayfairGet last-minute hosting essentials, gifts for all your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holidays for WAY less.Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.  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.

Who would have thought a one possession victory over Notre Dame would lead Miami, eventually the college football playoff national championship, but the stalwart Indiana stands in their way. And today, the number one defensive player in college football, Jacob Rodriguez, joins us on Amazon Fire TV's College Football Kickoff. You're watching Fire TV's College Football Kickoff, presented by California Allman's, the unofficial snack of football. It's shaped like a football and fuels like a champion every week.

We've been predicting who will deliver when crunch time hits, snack good eat almonds i'm your host drake toll from locked on big 12 and the savannah bananas organization and we're coming in hot from the heart of college football country in dallas texas on set with me two legends the former tar heel in dallas cowboy jesse holly and the brand new college football hall of famer coach gary patterson coach congratulate thank you awesome to see jesse come on look at that guy over there he's so humble yeah you know it's took a bunch hey i've learned a lot here. I mean, you just keep learning. He's learned a little something, something. Oh, yeah, I did. He learned something. Yeah, exactly right. This is our final show of the season. We're getting you ready for

Indiana, Miami expert analysis on the way from across the nation. Find us on your fire TV echo show devices. This is your all-access pass, the college football and the national championship. Let's kick it off. Jesse, really quickly before we get to Alex Dono of locked on Cain's and start breaking this game down, who would have thought it'd be Miami, Indiana? You know, I mean, this is one of those games where early in the year, after those two losses of Miami, you're trying to say, oh, well, they're done. They're done. They're done. And it wasn't like the loss that they had were from teens.

You're like, you can't lose to these guys and still think you're going to find yourself in the playoffs. But Miami kept their head down and they kept, you know, a chopping wood and they found themselves in the position. And I'm happy for Miami because it's also lets people know that, you know, when you're picking the 12 best teams, like sometimes despite the losses, a team like Miami should have been in this position. And they've shown you why they should have been in this position. Coach, you set it off the air. Most weeks, you know, it's, oh, this quarterback, this receiver. There are great quarterbacks and receivers in this game, but it's the defense will hinge this conversation on. Yeah, both of them, both of them really play.

And, you know, I go back to our first couple weeks, it was like, no matter what you said, well, it's Indiana. You know, we said, well, this is all going to get stopped. They're getting ready. They're going up to Eugene, Oregon. They're going to play Oregon. Yeah. And guess what happened there? And then you have a Miami team that everybody talked about being athletic.

And then the first game in the season, you saw the great little freshman Wider's then just runs all over the place, right? And then you see how they play on defense. You watch them in the first game and go, they're bigger, they're faster, they're way physical. And so, you know, sometimes, you know, like we do with recruits, you kind of try to talk yourself out of it, what you see on film is what you get.

And you need it. And in these two teams, if you just watch them, what you see on film is what you get. And I think everybody's going to be excited. I think it could be one of those games where it could be a 10-7 ball game and everybody loved watching it because it's going to be fast.

No doubt. Super excited for this one. I'm very excited to talk to Jacob Goans of Lockdown Hoosiers, Alex Dono, Locked on Cain's. They know more about these two teams than anyone. Boots on the ground. Dono is on the other side of this with our playoff playbook. He is the local expert on all things Miami. From Locked on Keynes, Alex Dono joins us. Dono, then there were two. Who would have thought? Let me take you all the way back earlier this season to the Miami loss at SMU, their second defeat of the season. Could you ever have believed? that come mid-January, you and I are sitting right here and those Miami Hurricanes are the national championship. Not in a million years. And I'm very glad that Mario Cristobal and his players had more belief than I did because that loss to SMU, which was their second loss in three weeks,

it dropped them to six and two. It put their college football playoff hopes hanging by a thread. It caused them not even to have the chance to win the ACC. At that point, that became a turning point for Miami. He's been told a few times now by Coach Christopal and some of his players that they basically had a big team meeting a day after that where they watched a 12-minute film reel of the stuff that they did well during their five-game winning streak to start the season. And then they vowed to become that team again to put their failures in two of the last three games behind them. And that was that was a turning point. They never looked back.

And, you know, they've won seven straight games, four in the regular season, three now in the playoffs. and they have the opportunity in their home stadium as the road team in their home stadium to pull off national championship number six. Dono, this is not David versus Goliath. It's not. And a lot of people are pitching it that way because of how good Indiana is.

But this might be like Hulk Hogan versus Goliath. Like this is a really good Indiana team. Is Miami facing that kind of heat, that kind of pressure? I guess I know they are. How are they facing, not heat and pressure? Well, Miami, I think, has the luxury of being able to kind of pretend that this is like a regular season home game, as ridiculous as that sounds. You know, they don't have to travel for this one. They get to sleep in their own beds.

They're doing practices every day at their regular practice facility, and they get to have the same game day routine going to Hard Rock Stadium as they normally would. So I think that really the mission has been to try to stay. consistent. And, you know, they've admitted that when they hit that tough stretch in the middle of the season, they were probably reading their own headlines a little bit too much and they got complacent. But Drake, when you talk about, you know, David versus Goliath or Hulk Hogan versus Goliath, I think Miami relishes that role. I think they were a little uncomfortable being the betting favorite against Ole Miss. I think they much prefer to be an underdog. It's about eight and a half for this game. They were around a nine and a half point underdog against Ohio State.

I think it makes it a lot easier for them psychologically to sort of play into that underdog role. And, man, it's going to be a super, super tough challenge for the hurricanes. I think everybody knows what a well-oiled machine Indiana is. You know, Miami obviously is very, very physical. And if they play at their best, they're capable of beating anybody in the country. But Indiana, I mean, they're stacked, their experience, and they don't beat themselves. So I think Miami's going to have to play a lot more like they played against Ohio State than the way they played against Ole Miss where it was a little sloppy. Miami cannot be sloppy this time around.

Dono, we have about 30 seconds here. You've done an incredible job of giving the pulse of the fan base, the pulse of the team. I know no one is closer to that organization program than you. But in these 30 seconds, if Miami's going to win the game, what are the X's and O's? What has to happen on the field for that to be the outcome? Simple formula. Executing, it's a little bit more complicated. They have to pressure Fernando Mendoza. They have to give him happy feet. They have to make him uncomfortable. Rubin Bain and Akeem Mesidor on the edges. That's what Miami, that's how they got to this point. And Miami's got to be able to run the football. I mean, it's yards have been hard to come by against Indiana. Miami's been playing their best rushing offense these past three games in the playoffs. Mark Fletcher is going to have to play a starring role if Miami wins this game. You have to pressure Mendoza. You have to pressure Mendoza. You have to pressure. run the football for Miami to have a good chance. No one knows more.

Alex Dono, Locked on Keynes. Thanks so much. Thank you, Drake. Let's flip it to the desk. Jesse, I agree with Dono that this is as favorable a comfortability situation as it could be playing at home. Yes. But the college football playoff committee, they have an actual deal with different hotels. They won't be at their normal team hotel.

They won't be in the home locker room for this game. As a player, knowing that I'm in my home stadium in a different environment, does that throw off the psyche? Not really because everything else is the same. I'm still in my same practice facility. I don't have to travel. I'm staying in my apartment and or my home. I'm driving my car. I'm eating at the place that I like to eat at.

And those who have family there, I get to see my family. So everything about the environment is the same. When it gets to the field, it doesn't matter what locker room that we're in. This is home for us. You'll be able to know that the people in the stands, for the most part, are going to be the people that you've seen all year long. your Miami Hurricane Faithfals. And so that bodes well for the Miami Hurricanes.

Coach, you're a defensive guy. What makes Miami's defense so good? They're just, they're way physical and they can really run. I mean, it's, it doesn't matter anybody on the field from even their de-tackles, everybody can run. And, you know, they've always been that way. They've always been athletic like that. And then when they've had, they've had the offense to go with them.

But they're very physical. They can run. And the thing that's probably been a little bit different is they're very, they're not making maybe the mistakes that I, athletic team, Miami team did before. I mean, they're coming in, they're getting the ball away. And those two defensive vans, I would tell you, they make up for a lot of mistakes. But when you have corners, you can put people on islands, they can cover them by themselves,

and then you have two guys can rush the pass. Or life gets a lot easier as a former defensive coordinator. That speed is dangerous, no doubt. What's so odd is that we are talking about Miami and Indiana in the national championship. We could have never guessed 10 weeks ago, 15 years. weeks ago, this would be the case. It's the seventh new team to play in the title since 2022. Coach is going to tell us between NIL and the portal, how did we get to Miami and Indiana? That's coming up on Coach's Corner. Well, the best part is you see those prices right

up front. There's no surprise fees being tacked on at the end. It's my favorite part. Parker, your turn. They get cheaper as the game gets closer. It's pretty nifty. I do like that. And when the game starts, you can still find tickets on game time. They're like $5 sometimes. Paul, you would tell me all day yesterday. You would not stop calling. me saying I love game time so much. Absolutely. I can actually 360 degree radius look at my seat in the app before check out. No surprise piece.

J.T. you told me you hated game time, which was really concerning. I love game time because I can find Utah basketball tickets for super cheap on game time. And you guys can as well if you had over to game time. Not to the BYU game. You cannot. No. All not and setter.

Yep. Not in Salt Lake. Game Time, download GameTime app code Locked on College for $20.00. I'll be first purchase. Terms apply. That is Game Time. Yes, it is Coach's Corner, and I've been catching so much grief on this show. I am a Hall of Famer. And by the way, I do know something, something.

Yes, he does. Okay, so we're just going. So I want to get into this, you know, how do we, this last show and talking about playoffs. I'm a proponent for them. Let's move the championship games back and let's, you know, all the buys, over the last two years are one and eight, you know, because they don't get that early game and they don't get that opportunity to get ready to get going. I think having 30 days off is a problem for them. I would tell you this much. And I didn't, as a coach, I was kind

of a skeptic about the playoffs and all the things that happened. But it has been, it has been awesome. I think the bowl games show that there are, they are important to do the things they need to do. But, you know, the thing that kind of arrived too out of this, which kind of think I kind of like this is really you have three out of the 12 teams kind of had like owners. Mark Cuban kind of came on the light. You have Phil Knight and you have Cody Campbell. I think we're seeing, you know, maybe we're getting closer to the NFL model, no matter what we say and how we do it.

But, you know, with Miami and Indiana playing in the final game, an Indiana, which is the bottom, nobody ever thought that that would ever change and never talked about football. They only talked about basketball. You got Miami that spent almost 20-some years before they won. national championships. Two teams right here, I think it proves that NIL has made a difference. The portal has made a difference. Now we just need to kind of put our arms around in and find how to how we can make it so it's good for everybody from an educational standpoint and all those kind of things. But I mean, wouldn't you guys agree? I mean, this is besides, you know,

the time off, I think has hurt some teams. But if we could tweak it a little bit, move it up where it's not as long, I think it would help all of college football. It looks like the college football fans have really liked it. College football is alive. Those who say it's dead, they're wrong. They're not watching the right game here. I'll say, and even for Texas Tech, they were a $13 million disparity behind Oregon. Cody Campbell

may be a quasi-owner, but there's still room to grow for a lot of these schools. And another big point, coach, that you've mentioned a ton, and I'm so glad you have on this show all year long. TCU, their admissions skyrocketed when you started winning football games. Indiana, their admissions have gone from, say, 40,000 applicants to 75,000 applicants. What

you do from that? People don't understand. What you do from that is you begin to vet these, the admissions a lot more closely. You're getting better academics out of your students, better professors want to go to the school that's more selective with who they bring in. And from there, you become a better university overall. You're bringing in more money on the academic side. Obviously, it being the front porch, you're bringing in money on the football side. So the rich get richer if you're Indiana, and they have not been very rich in football. Incredible to see new blood in this sport rising to the top. And I think they'll win the national championship.

new blood that you get some of the older blood. You look at a team like Indiana, right? The average age on Indiana is 23-year-old, 23-year-old. You look at a guy like Carson Beck, right? Carson Beck, when he came out of high school, he was in the conversation of the guys that are playing in the National Football League right now. Ruben Bain, when he graduates, he'll be a 25-year-old player, right, 24, 25-year-old player.

So you're going to get some of these older players. And I think that's one of the thing, Coach, you know this as someone who has to coach 18-year-olds and 17-year-olds. It's a lot different to coach them much more mature. You can put more on their plate. They're much more settled, not as erratic as you would have a 17, 18-year-old as a guy who's 23 years old. So that's something that some people may not like. Of course, the college, the high school seniors may not like because they're kind of getting pushed to the side.

But more teams now are putting some of these older men on the roster that's giving you a better brand of football so that now all the teams that were dominant so far now, you can add at Indiana gets into the mix. other teams like that Texas Techs Fonzies wearing the mix because they're able to get older players on the roster. Well, yeah, a couple things. That's what we always said about BYU having, they always coming off of missions. You know, they had older players that were married, you know, more stable, you had a more stable home life, all those things. They weren't thinking about all the crazy stuff. You know, and as you said, Drake, you know, when it comes to universities, and I always said this, you know, we're not the most important part, you know, athletics is the porch. It's the most visible. It's what you've seen. It's not the most important part of the house. And for us to know that there's one more component that can make, that can take a university, that's why there's so many smaller universities that are trying to get to Division I football,

they see how much it changes. I can tell you one local just outside of Fort Worth, and that's Tarleton State, you know, building facilities, doing the things they're trying to do, and they're coming to the forefront. They got in the playoffs. They went a couple, two or three deep, and you, rounds deep, and you look at it. and go, you know, you can change what people, what they think about you because of that. And for us, outside of at TCU, outside of the state of Texas, California, the West Coast became like the number one application area of the United States, just for the simple reason that L.T. played there.

Yep. We played out there in the Mountain West. You went to the Rose Bowl. More people understood what was going to happen and who you were. And then they said, well, let's go check it out. And I think that's, I think that's big for people to be able to, universities, and students to be able to get a different idea of what's going on in the world instead of, here's where I'm going to go to school because it's an hour down the road.

Man, I know where, this is the longer show, it's the last one. But the story you always tell about LT walking a mile both ways to practice every day at TCE where the facilities were revamped and now you're a Hall of Famer. That's just, that's awesome. Because he did that, I'm a Hall of Famer. Let's just put great players make great coaches. Crazy. Coming up, let's get to Jacob Goans for some more.

playoff playbook. He's the expert on Indiana. Jacob, let's go. Live from a dungeon, Jacob Goans, locked on Hoosiers, joins college football kickoff the talk. Indiana. He is the expert on all things, IU. All right, let's do this. I asked Alex Dono earlier if he could have ever imagined that Miami would be in the spot after their loss earlier this year. Obviously, IU has not lost a game. Could you've imagined, though, August of 2025, the Indiana Hoosiers undefeated in the national championship game mowing through teams. I want you to go back to how you sat in August when you were much more tan back then. Could this have ever happened?

I don't think so, right? Because coming out of last year, it was the idea of, okay, first year was cool. First year was exciting. But what can we do? What can we build? How can it be better for the Indiana Hoosiers? And I think it was get back to the playoffs, maybe win that big game against a big opponent and see what happens. but no, undefeated number one team, Heismid trophy winner, national championship game, no.

Nobody in their right mind would have picked this. And so that's what makes it so special. And that's what makes Monday night so anticipated around Bloomington. I can't speak for the desk here, but I'll speak for myself. I think Indiana is going to win this game by double digits. And that is probably what you should say after watching what they've done in the college football playoff. How do we get there? How does Indiana pull that off against a Miami team that still deserves their flowers, especially defensively?

it's what they've done all year long, which is avoid big mistakes. And the few times you do make them, you make up for it, which is why Fernando Mendoza is so good. He rarely turns the ball over when he does. He just leads a touchdown drive afterwards to make up for it. Run the football, which is what Indiana loves to do. And force turnovers on defense. The defensive line is aggressive. The secondary gets after the football.

And then they cash in on those turnovers as well. So playing aggressive, but not out of your means and doing whatever is necessary to win football games and trusting the process. That's what Kurt Signetti has talked about all season long since day one when he took the Indiana job. I'm with you. I think Indiana wins double digits. I like 3117. I like Indiana to be pulling away down the stretch in the fourth quarter and we're celebrating with about five minutes to go. Yeah, we've got about 30 seconds left here, Jacob. You gave me the prediction there. So let's flip it to Miami. If they are to win this game, and I know it's odd to ask you this question, but even Alex Dono was so locked up in the moment of, well, we're in the championship.

great, that it's hard to derive that answer. If Miami's going to win this game from your standpoint, what goes wrong for Indiana? I think Miami has to get after Fernando Mendoza. Sack him four, five, six times for several turnovers for him and completely shunned down the run game. If you stop Indiana's offense consistently, you can win the game. Problem is, guys, you know this. Nobody's been able to do it so far this year. That's Jacob Goans, the expert.

He is from Locked on Hoosiers every single day to Locked on Podcast Network. Goans, thanks so much. Appreciate the time. To the desk we go, Coach, you told me after that Oregon game, I brought it up a few times now. You watched Indiana. It wasn't exotic blitzes. They're just that good. And I mean, good on good at the championship game, does any of that have to change? Well, here's the thing that happens when you have a team that's good enough that you don't have to do crazy stuff. You don't have to change game plans between games, and you can do what you do.

That means within their zone package and their man package and their fronts, they get to play the plays and stuff that they do all the time. They're not doing a defense. They're not doing a defense that they haven't played before, so they think they've got to do this to stop Miami. And that's when, you know, you have a team. I love watching teams when I watch them. They don't look out of place. They don't play fast, but they play quick.

Yeah. You know, so when I say so when we used to say, when the ball goes away, stay all day. It's like, you know, when they start seeing the backside run across because people are threatened, they think it's going to go to the house. No, my job's back here. They're going to take care of their business. When you have a defense that can do that, not a lot of bad things happen.

And I think Indiana is one of those teams that they sit there in quarters and they do a little bit of go to single high. They fooled me on the first play where they had the pick. I thought it was sitting out of quarters. And actually, they rolled down to a single high coverage. The corner just sit there and read the quarterback. And so, you know, they just have some guys that are older that are playing really confident. And when you have a team like that, it's just you've got to go beat them.

We used to say when you go on the road, you've got to take a ball game. They're not going to give it to you. That's what Miami has to do. Miami has to go take the ball game. And really it's up to whether Indiana is going to give it to them or not because they've been playing that good. Love that point, by the way, about assignments. The trick play is neutralized because of how disciplined Indiana is.

Jesse, this matchup for you? Yeah, for me, you know, I'm going to take it the opposite way and for what Miami can do so very well. We look in and we focus so much on Hakeem Mesedore and so much on Ruben Bain Jr. But talk about number zero, Scott. He's one of the best blitzings. players that they have on that Miami team.

And in order for this Miami team to win, they're going to have to heat up Finoa Finoa. I keep best his name, Mendoza. They're going to have to heat him up. And they have the personnel to do so. And that's one of the things that they have to be willing to do at home in Miami is, hey,

let's throw all caution to the win. Let's get after this quarterback early. Let's not let him get his feet set. Let's let him have good timing. Let's make him feel the pressure of us all day long. And I think that's something that Miami can do with those guys up front. We've delayed so much our special guests on the show today. He's Jacob Rodriguez, our Go Nuts player of the year brought to by California Alman's. And Jacob is with us right here,

right now on College Football Kickoff from Fire TV. You're watching College Football Kickoff presented by California Alman's, the unofficial snack of football, shaped like a football, and fuels like a champion. Every week, we've been predicting who will deliver when crunch time hits, snack good, eat almonds. It's our Amazon Fire TV, college football kickoff, go nuts, player of the champion. We've been predicting. We've been predicting. the year. Jacob Rodriguez, linebacker from Texas Tech, but before linebacker at Texas Tech, and you've been asked this a lot, but I want to take a bit of a different angle. Quarterback at Virginia, go back with me to you sitting at UVA deciding I'm going to make a change. I'm going to Texas Tech. Could you ever have imagined you'd be sitting right here as the

defensive player of the year in college football? Yeah, not ever. Yeah, this was not ever at the thought that, you know, I switch positions and kind of get in the situation that I'm in to where, you know, great things have happened for, you know, Texas Tech and then, you know, my career. It's just something that, you know, when you get the transfer portal, it's something you hope for, but it's a long, long-lost hope. And so, yeah, something that I'm very thankful for. You know, Jacob, one of the questions that I want to ask you is, you know, for as long as I can remember, Texas Tech has been known for their offense, right? It's always been the Patrick Mahomes, the Michael Crabtree's of the world and just, you know, the putting up a bunch of points.

But this year, it's been really about the defense. Like, what was the, you know, what What was the main thing that you can see, of course, being the force behind it of this thing changing over to now defense is the thing that's running the show? Yeah, it's a big thing for us. And, you know, that's just how you play good football is you got to play good defense. And for you to win games on the road, for you to, you know, win big championship type games, playoff games, you got to be able to play defense. And that's something that we kind of, you know, stuck our neck out and took a lot of guys in the portal early before the season started. and it's just something that mattered to us. And so we always say, you know, we play defense in West Texas.

And it's something that, you know, means a lot to us and meant a lot to us this year. So, Jacob, this is Coach Pete. So I want to go back to the quarterback situation. I don't know how much you know about me, but that's all I did at TC was, has changed players. So what was the mindset when Coach McGuire, because we had him on the show and he talked about, look, we don't want to take you as a quarterback, but we'll take you if you come here and play linebacker, you know,

We heard the story about, you know, sleeping on your floor and your brothers, all the things that you had to go through to make that happen. Was it, did it really change your mindset or is it something you already had inside of you anyway? You were kind of that kind of makeup anyhow. It changed my mindset a little bit about football, you know, growing up and, you know, only ever being a quarterback. And that just is something that, you know, I associated with football and, you know, my life is I was a quarterback. But, you know, when I was asked to make the change, I'm a big team guy. And I'll do whatever it takes for the team to win. And that's kind of how my freshman year at Virginia went,

was just kind of doing whatever the team needed. And so then, you know, moving forward, doing whatever, you know, they needed there. And, you know, I was happy to fill that role. And it's just crazy to see, you know, how far it's come from there. Jacob, with all the awards that you've won this year, how do you divvy that up, right? Do you keep some with you? Do you send some back home?

Like, where do all the trophies go? Because we're going to send this one to you as well. Where do all the trophies go for Jacob Rodriguez? Who gets a chance to have those displays at their house? Yeah, they're going to be at my house. Yeah, they're for sure going to be down in a man cave somewhere hanging out and, you know, with a spotlight or something on them. There you go. You deserve that.

Yes, sir. A couple of Super Bowl trophies next to him. Nice. Him and Coach P. He'll be college wall hall of fame together in two years. Jacob, before we get you out of here, and we're going to send you, they've told me we're going to send you this trophy of just nothing but loose almonds. So I'm not sure. I guess we'll glue them together.

somehow as our college well kickoff go nuts player of the year from California Allman's last thing for you, Indiana, Miami, two very good defenses. Where do you lean in the national championship as far as a team that has the edge? Yeah, I like Indiana. I think they've looked solid all year and, you know, they play a really good defense. And so is Miami and, you know, being at home is, you know, going to be an interesting factor, even though they're their white team. And so, you know, there's just a lot of good football being played from Indiana.

and I'm excited to see kind of how that game unfolds. I'll be excited. The Texas Tech legend, Jacob Rodriguez. Thanks so much for joining college football kickoff on Amazon Fire TV. Thanks, Jacob. I appreciate you guys. Yeah, it's been a blast. And another massive thank you to Jacob Rodriguez for joining the show today.

Time for our Crunch Time selections from California. Alman's shaved like a football, fuels like a champion. Coach Crunch Time, Indiana, Miami. Well, because of Coach Signetti being my age, I've always been an Indiana fan. But I'll be honest with you. Fort Worth Kid starting center. Brock Meyer for Miami, know the family well.

So I'm going to go kind of a different way of doing it, but I'm going to kind of go with sentimental favorite here. I'm going with Miami. Oh, you're the ACC guy, Jesse. Come on now. Yeah, for me. I'm staying in the ACC. Wow.

My crunch time player is going to be Mark Fletcher Jr. And shout out to Mark Fletcher Jr.'s. She's afraid to fly. So she drives to every single football game, He traveled over 1,500 miles to California to watch them play. She won't have to drive this far to watch this game because it's right in their backyard. I think Mark Fletcher has a tremendous game. This game will be won on the back and legs of Mark Fletcher, Jr.

In the physical style of running the football for Miami. I see, I thought that was going to be the odd man out here, right? Mark Fletcher, to Carson Beck, to the defense of Malachi, Tony, the Young Corps with the veteran leadership. Screw that, man. And the better football team's going to win. Indiana wins this game by double digits. It's at Miami. It doesn't matter.

Kurt Signet, Google him. And when you Google him on Tuesday, he'll have national champion next to his name. Shoot, we got a... No, he just got just win. Can we... I think Coach's microphone's kind of fizzling out here. We've got Eric, wherever Eric. Oh, here he comes.

Your microphone's fine, Coach. He's our Hall of Famer. Go see him. Thank you very much, Ale. Where you're at, I'm sure. Hey, this has been a pleasure. Just let me tell you there, Drake Toll. I'm sagged for you and your next show.

Drake, you do it. I'm going to tell you what. Jesse, I think he can go back and play. I think he's been working out. I think the Cowboys need to get him back in the rotation. It's all. And thanks for the balloons, for heaven's sakes. Congratulations, Coach.

Congratulations. The college football Hall of Fame where we couldn't let him go without a big celebration, coach. It was an honor to share the desk with you. Hear your knowledge all season. to you, the player's perspective that you gave was incredible. I'm just the 24-year-old man. To get to soak all this in has been so cool, and we are blessed to have an extremely talented crew. You will see their names, right? And usually, you're not supposed to do this. I'm breaking

the rules. You'll see their names scroll by. And without each and every one of those names, we wouldn't have this show. It wouldn't work the way it does every week. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The incredible presence of the viewers. And just honored to be here. That's a wrap. That's it. College Football Kickoff, Amazon Fire TV, season number one. And big thanks again to Coach Patterson, Jesse Holly, for bringing the heat to you for riding shotgun with us. Stay locked in, stay fired up. Enjoy the national championship game between Indiana and Miami. College football kickoff out.