PTI - Did the CFB Committee Get The Rankings Right?

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss this season's first CFP rankings, which NFL team had the best trade at the deadline, and if a wild hockey goal should've been allowed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Lobon. Tom Brady says he cloned his dog. Should we come clean to the viewers?

I'm Tony Kornheiser. We are clones. The original Mike and Tony have lived at a swingers resort in Antigua since 2016. I don't want to say exactly where. You could have said undisclosed location. I said Antigua. I know, but people know where Antigua is. Nobody can blame me because I am a clone.

No. Do you believe that story? No. No. No. No. commercials, they're brilliant. They are.

They're brilliantly funny. Welcome to PTI boys and girls. In today's episode, the Jets explain why they dealt their best two defensive players. The NHL approves a bizarre overtime goal, and Steve Young joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with the first official college football playoff committee rankings. They have Ohio State 1, Indiana, 2, Texas A&M 3, Alabama 4, Georgia 5, Ole Miss is 6. That's three SEC teams in a row. the Big Ten has a third team in the top 10, Oregon at 9.

The Big 12 has BYU and Texas Tech at 7 and 8, and 2 lost Notre Dame is 10. Wilbon, would you have ranked the top of the board the way the committee did? I think so. I certainly don't have any objections to it. And I think I would have ranked them that way, Tony. The big, you know, the SEC can have 40 teams in a row. We got the top two. That's right.

We got Ohio State in Indiana. Ohio State has a loseable game as we look forward and we spin this forward because everybody will come on television, in every network including this one. And say, well, if they run the table and no one runs the damn table. So let's stop with the running the table. Well, Michigan ran the table.

Yeah, well, you know, then the other nigh don't. Every year. Every year, they're upsets. They're people who lose to people that nobody anticipates because they're all saying if they run the table, Ohio State may not even run a table. They're at Michigan.

And we know what happens when they play Michigan. Yeah. All right. But they're at Michigan. That's a loseable game. Indiana does not have a loseable game. I'm going to say that Indiana's going to run the table. They got Purdue, Penn State, and Wisconsin.

Tell me what you think their record is the three of them right now in Big Ten play. Give me an aggregate. It doesn't matter because then aren't they going to have to play Ohio State in the Big Ten championship? Maybe. It's 0 and 16. That stinks. But if they lose one game, they're still going to make it. So even if they lost Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game.

No, but it would change the number. That's all I'm saying. Which is nothing. It changes. Okay. So I watched the reveal show. I like the reveal show. There was no moves.

Well, I seem to recall Joey Galloway was out there, right? And Greg McElroy, and they said that in terms of analytics, they thought that Texas A&M should be higher than Indiana and Ohio State. They weren't screaming. They weren't angry or anything like that. And I guess it had to do maybe with strength of schedule or some subjective way to make it into object. It's too subjective now. Here's what stood out to me.

Strength of record. I agree with you. going to change. Here's what stood out to me. The total lack of regard for the ACC, which is what happens when Clemson and Florida State stink. Okay. Virginia, here's the ACC. I'll be quick on this. They're the top ranked team at 14. Virginia. Louisville 15, Georgia Tech 17, Miami 18, Pitt at 24. So the committee is saying right now today. Not any of them are good enough to be in a 12-team playoff. Now, Virginia's going to make it. Today. Virginia is going to hear it. I know because they get an automatic-

I'm just saying Virginia may run the table because they got nothing left. Mike, it's not a 12-team playoff because if you don't like the ACC and you stuck with a group of five, which is now Memphis, it's really a 10-team playoff. You're going for 10-slots. Okay, but you're going for 10 slots. Virginia is going to make it. Yeah, maybe if they win, if they win, they got to win the championship, conference championship. Let's move to the biggest moves of yesterday's NFL trade deadline.

your one in seven jets. Yeah, team my youth. Sent cornerback sauce gardener to the Colts for two first round picks and a receiver. And they traded defensive tackle Quinn and Williams at the Cowboys for a second of first and defensive tackle, Masey Smith. The Seahawks picked up receiver Rashid Shaheed. I love that name. And the Jaguars got Jacoby Myers from the Raiders. Tony, which team or teams should feel best coming out of the deadline?

the New York Jets should feel best. Wow. Because they stink. Wow. And they are finally understanding, stop with this delusional thinking, this group of people is not going to help us win. It's not going to help us win. They are opting for a better future,

which may or may not include Aaron Glenn. You know, they traded away probably their two best guys right on defense. So I'll go on the two-time first-team all-pro at Corner. Quinn and Williams, one-time first-team all-pro. They hired a defensive ace to coach their team. and got away from Detroit, and they get rid of their two best players. Because what the Jets get back is hope. They get, in the next two years, three first round picks

and a second round pick in addition to what they already have, and they get players. I mean, if you have a good general manager, and I don't know that they do, that can turn your team around. But it hasn't worked. Okay, but that speaks to either coaching or development. It doesn't speak to the draft.

Okay. The Jets are 1 and 7 now. They ought to go for 1 and 16 and a complete, Renno. A reno is the kid's sake. Already? What do you think got it better? Indianapolis got it. I'm fascinated by the Jeff because I think that it actually is true.

No, so Seattle. Oh, yeah, they got the receiver. Seattle's got Sam Donald who's playing near MVP level again. Yes, yes, right? And they're going to put Shaheed out there with Jackson Smith and Jigba. Come on now. Yeah. They've got everything.

Seattle just scored 38 in the other Washington last week in your Washington. And then they add a receiver who's a deep threat. Buffalo should have done that. Buffalo should have tried to add a wide receiver. Well, they didn't come up with them. Seattle just did a better job. I think Indianapolis comes out great because Sauce Gardner is really good. And if you're going to go to the playoffs, you have to find too.

Isn't it a lot to give up for a defense four corner? I'm not giving up that much for any corner because it's always somebody, Nandi Assemwa was supposed to be the greatest corner since, you know, Mel Blunt. They only have to be great for two years. That's all they're ever great. Maybe he'd be going for the next two. Let's move to hockey and a controversial goal from last night. In overtime, Minnesota's Marcus Johansson was awarded a goal,

even though the actual netting was off its moorings because the Nashville goalie knocked it off while attempting to get into defensive position. The officials ruled, as is there right, that it was a goal that the puck would have gone into the net had the net not been moved. Wilbon, do you feel like the Wild's game-winning goals should have counted? Yes. The goaltender. moved the net.

He dislodged it. Eustace Annen, he, it didn't just, like, it just happened. No, it didn't just happen. He made it happen. The damn goal counts. Everybody get off the ice. And if I hear from one person from Nashville,

I'll get all of you suspended or send you to an NBA poker game. That would be your punishment. Get the hell out. Okay. So let me go back. There's no other point of view. Let me not be crazy. about this. I understand

why they have this rule. I understand the latitude that you have to give the referees because if you don't, every goalie will knock the netting off. As soon as he gets a breakaway coming out. 100%. And that will happen. So I understand the philosophy of it. I understand what was the word I wrote down that the

officials are allowed to interpret a goal because Mike, it's magic, right? Because the puck did not go in the net. Now they looked at this in Toronto and they ruled it would have gone in the net, had the net been where it is. But if you look at it, the first shot is off. And the second shot, the goalie's sort of standing there, not knowing what's going on.

So there's a part of me that says if it doesn't actually go in the net, it's not a real goal. We should reward the instigator who took the net off. And that's a fair point. That's a fair point. But I'm sort of stuck in the middle here. And I wonder, look, it's a big win from Minnesota. If I'm not mistaken, in the three-tenths of a second left in regulation, the game was tied up by Nashville, right?

And it probably won't mean something down the road because they don't look like playoff teams now. Minnesota is like 13th in the conference. Nationals 11th. But what if this extra point means something? Otherwise, do we need to talk about betting? Do we need to talk about that? I don't understand hockey betting. But I bet you may not.

I bet you one goal is a big deal. I bet you's a big deal. Let's take a break. And it's a phantom goal. Yeah. Coming up, how should Kyla Murray feel about the Cardinals again going with Jacoby Percette? We're going to ask Steve Young. We're also going to ask him how an injury to a quarterback's non-throwing arm might affect his throwing.

So you can't even imagine why Nashville is upset. The puck didn't go in the net. Because your dude took the net away. Get out. Get out. Get out of the building. I'll call the police to throw everybody from Nashville out of the building. Get out.

Don't want to hear it. don't want to hear. We've got several NFL questions for our good friend, the man who would never sit still in the pocket when I blocked for him in Tampa Bay. All the Fame quarterback Steve Young. Let's start with something that's going to have an update in the middle of the question.

Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon says he would start Jacoby Brissette over Kyler Murray, even if Murray were totally healthy because he likes what the offense is doing right now. Apparently Murray is not totally healthy because they just put him on IR and he's going to have to miss at least four games. But if you were Murray, before that happened, and you heard something like this from your coach, what would be your reaction?

That is a death crawl, right? That's a coach that doesn't, if the coach gets fired, you're not going to be fired because you're on the field. I mean, there's nothing good there. That is the thing that you cannot hear as a quarterback. That makes the, Kyle Emery's agent runs to see what the contract says about guaranteed money. Like, how much are we going to get? Because we're not going to get any more. And it's just a really tough spot.

no lo contendez is in the courtroom or no confidence in parliament. Like that is a brutal thing for a coach to stay in the middle of the season. And to me, it really reflects how he and really the whole coaching staff feel about Kyler Murray because everyone knows quarterback is the job in the NFL. It's the most important thing. And so if you're basically putting your quarterback aside, you're not playing. We don't want you to play. Even if you're healthy, we don't want you to play.

if I'm Kyler Murray, I say to myself in a totally vulnerable state, what am I not doing? What do I need to do? Respond not as a victim, which most people do. Respond in accountability and say, what have I, how have I let this organization down? What do I need to do better? Is it whatever we heard rumors about studying? There's all kinds of whispers about it. But just own it. Own that the coach just put you on the pasture, essentially.

And just don't allow it. because otherwise, you know how fast you become a starter in the league to a journeyman, you know, looking for a backup job? It happens pretty quick. You better hustle on this one and make sure it doesn't happen to you. Speaking of journeymen, let's move to Joe Flacko for a second, Steve. And the three games he's played, the most recent three ones with the Bengals. He's thrown for more than a thousand yards and nine touchdowns,

but it's just one and two. As a quarterback, how angry are you allowed to get? with your defense, particularly with what you saw Sunday against the Bears. Well, Michael, we always talk about football is unique because everyone has to go get the inspiration to go ram into each other. And it takes inspiration. You have to want to do it. And how you get there and how do you gather guys? And quarterbacks, half their job is really just psychology. How do I get my guys ready to go ram into people next week and to protect me or play defense? And what you can't do is shame them and make them less incentive to go ran into

people. So you got to be super careful. Now, some teams are so mature that you can stand up and shame them and get them to go play harder and get them. But if you don't, you're new to a team and you don't, he can't, Joe can't do that, right? He's, he's definitely respected, but he's new to the locker room. He's got to be super careful. But I know when he goes home and complains to his wife, he's like, that defense sucks. We got to get them together. But, you know, you can't say to, you can't say to public. You got to gather people. You can't be the, you can't be divisive. You got to gather. You were certainly one of the people I thought of when watching Jane Daniels dislocate his elbow, non-throwing arm. Not that you had that specific injury, Steve, but I just think of quarterbacks in the physical vulnerability.

What does that arm, we're glad it's not his throwing arm, glad it's not his legs. But how important is the non-throwing arm to a quarterback when he's been busted up like that? So you think not that much, right? I mean, even if it's wrapped up and you can't move it, it's not that big of a deal. But we're talking about 99th percentile stuff, like 100th percentile. Like every little thing keeps you from being that perfect anticipatory thrower that can fit it into whole. Like your body needs to be whole.

Now, if you're right hand or your left arm have to be completely whole, no. But you don't realize, ask Brock Purdy about a big toe, you know? I mean, my gosh, he can, you know, it affects his throwing in a big way. But to me, your other arm, you think it's not that big a deal. But if somehow it's not counterbalancing the right way and you've got to be perfect with the football, it makes it super tough. The professor follow up, from what you've seen, would you just say at three and six record for the commanders, okay, Jaden, it's been enough. It's been enough. Let's get you whole again.

Am I going too far? I think you have to in some ways, Michael. I don't think you, the problem is, is we started this idea that we're going to, you know, kind of tank the season, right, for draft picks, started in basketball and, you know, and now it's infected football and it starts to see the theme going. And the truth is, it's not necessarily tanking. It's like, yeah, it'd be smart. James is going to be around for 15, 20 years.

You want him to be that guy. You got to make sure that you, you do everything you can to make sure that he's, now you've got to play him, it's football. But if he's not completely healthy, to me, honestly, I wouldn't. not just say end the season. Go get healthy. If it's week 15 and you're healthy and ready to go and you want to come inspire the troops, I'm up for that. I'm a quarterback that says, I play. If I'm healthy, I play, don't talk to me about management, you know, time clock management, time management, you know, load management. Like I don't, in football, I guess leave that to people who are off

the field that can try to be smarter about it. If you're a player, get on the field. Bill Walshaw, as you used to say, if you're not in the huddle, you're not in the huddle. That was not a good thing. So I think that, you know, if I were Jaden, I would get healthy and just a man to get on the field. Just love playing. We will get you out of here on this. The Eagles decided to keep a disgruntled AJ Brown at the trade deadline saying it's hard to trade great players, which it is. So how far should a team go to try and get a great player more involved so that mentally and emotionally he's better? So the regular season for really good teams that know they're going to get to the playoffs, that's a preparation for the big games. You know.

need AJ for the big games. You need him. So then use this time to figure out, you can't just feed him the ball. Look, the Eagles are a running team. He's watching, you know, all these receivers around the league just lighting it up and it bugs him, right? And he's letting it get to him. So it's bilateral. It's, it's AJ taking care of himself. Like, go hustle. Don't complain. Go win another Super Bowl. Like, like make this happen. And then on the other side, we used to have a part of the game sheet, play sheet was Jerry Rice section. Like, you know, and I think some, Sometimes you can take the great, well, that's the plays that get the ball to Jerry Rice. Right?

It's like, Jerry needs the ball. Okay, call these plays. I think in some ways, make an AJ section. Let him know that you care. It means to, you know, it's like, it's not easy. It doesn't mean this is going to happen by magic. But we as a coaching staff, we know, AJ, that you're vital. And we're going to do what we need to do to make sure that you get the football as much as we possibly can.

We're going to make an AJ section. So great to hear you. I love that. Very rarely do we get someone, use the phrase, has no local. contendry and bilateral in the same conversation. Only a lawyer. Only a lawyer. I love that. Thank you, Steve. Thank you. Thank you, Steve. Let's take one last break. Still to come, the Live Tour adds a fourth round. And Wimby and Luca face each other tonight. Tony, stay awake? No. Come on. No. Come on. No. Wimby, Luca.

What time is that? It's like 11. Happy time, people. Happy 38th birthday, Jason Kelsey. Jason is the football playing Kelsey not engaged to Taylor Swift. Jason doesn't actually play football anymore, having retired from the Philadelphia Eagles a couple of years ago. Jason now is a podcast and works for ESPN, just like me. I've never met him, though, Mike. Have you met him? Travis Kelsey is going to the Hall of Fame.

The question before us is, should Jason? He spent all of his 13 NFL seasons with the Eagles after being a sixth-round draft pick out of Cincinnati in 2011. He was first-team all-proes six times as the Eagles. Center, went to seven Pro Bowls, was on the Eagles 2017 Super Bowl champs. Plus, he was the tip of the spear on the brotherly shove. Hall of Fame. They're both going.

Travis is definitely gone. I think Jason, given what he did in those trenches with thankful stuff? I would think. I would think. Right? I think so. Happy anniversary, Greg Maddox on this day 17 years ago, the future first ballot Hall of Fame pitcher won his 18th and final gold glove.

Maddox won more gold gloves than any other player at any position. Maddox won 13 of his 18 consecutively from 1990 to 2002 and won four consecutive Saw Young's during that stretch. In those four seasons, Maddox had a 75 and 29 record with a 198 ERA. Jim Cott second to Maddox in gold gloves as a pitcher with 16. Brooks Robinson, 16 gold gloves and third. The active pitcher with the most gold gloves is Max Fried, who won his. fourth this year. Nobody has 14 or 15 gold gloves. Pudge Rodriguez and Ozzie Smith had 13.

Roberto Clemente and Willie Mays had 12. I think Mike Hampton is the person who broke that streak. On gold glove? Madison said goes. Doesn't it dawn on you? The further we get away from Maddox's career, the greater he is. We knew he was great then. We now know he's even greater than that. I think if they had one more World Series, I think there would be a bandwagon for him. Happy Trails to the Live Tour playing 54 holes. The league announced yesterday that it will be moving to a standard 72-hole four-round format starting next season. The decision comes as a way to qualify tourney scores to the official world golf rankings. But the change is surprising, given that a big selling point to players had been the shorter format. The name Liv is actually just 54 in Roman numerals.

Maybe they'll change the name to L-X-X-I-I-I or Lexi. I want them to keep the shorts. Do you like the shorts? Yeah. I hate the shorts. I do. I can't tell you what. And the music. Glad they're getting rid of the 54 holes, but keep the shorts.

Look at you in a blatant attempt to suck up to young people. I think what's going to happen down the road is there's going to be fluidity between both tours and people are going to be able to play. You don't see a merger. Well, that's what I'm saying. Fluidity, a merger of sorts. Let's go to the big finish. Let's do it.

A judge cited with Michael Jordan, the NASCAR has control of its sport. Is that significant? Yeah, the judge is saying you've been operating under monopolistic practices. Kudos to 2311, Jordan and Denny Hammer. For changing the status quo in a sport that's been run by a singular family for forever. Kudos to them. Women's number one, Arena Sabalinka is going to play men's number 652, your boy, Nick Curios, in an exhibition in Dubai.

You intrigued? I was intrigued by Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs. I would probably watch a set of this to see how it worked. I probably would. Freshman Cambozer had 15 and 13, and Duke's win over Texas. Is that a big deal? He came on in the second half. Arizona freshman co-opete.

Wow, that's his dunks. The expansion Toronto tempo of the WNBA hired Sandy Brandello as his first head coach. I know you've got to like that. Yeah, she won a title with New York and then they canned her. I didn't really understand that. Last one, Spurs at Lakers tonight.

You excited? Oh, Wembe and Donchich? Yeah. I presume Donchich is playing. Anytime you've ever watched Limbaugh yet this year, have you? You've got highlights. Like everybody else. Clips, what are you, 18?

Highlights. We're trying to better the next time. I'm Tony Cornhunter. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, Knuckleheads.