The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - GBF- Monday Hangover: American Coffee and Marcus Freeman's scent

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

Billy and Mikey A discuss the big weekend in the NFL. All four games were good, which was a nice change from last weekend. Plus, snow days, failed plans, Walmart logos and Taylor Swift heel turns. Will it be a good loss for the Chiefs to lose in the AFC Championship game? Billy gives his first ever college football playoff BBBBBB. Plus, Mike Golic joins the show to preview Notre Dame and Ohio State in the National Championship and Stugotz brings in a surprise guest for Golic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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From streaming to shopping, it's on Prime. God bless football, Mike Ye. God bless football, Billy Gill. Hello everyone, hello world. It's Monday, January 20th 2025 Here we are we made it look at us. We made it through another round of the NFL playoffs. It is National Championship Day Warren Luther King Day to by the way happy more Luther King Day We had a big weekend of sports we we're gonna try this morning To do what we normally do also coming up

we have what is not necessarily the nicest thing that we've done to someone in the past we have an exclusive interview Golic will be joining us to preview tonight's national championship game uh Stugac will be with us for that interview as well and uh Stugac did his thing where he we had a surprise guest for Gc uh and if you listen to it you should know that at the time if you're listening to the audio mike golec was wearing an under armor shirt with the rocks logo on it and then maybe i let him to believe that it could be the rock uh and then spoiler alert and i'm gonna tell you because when he comes on and we just say his name you may not you're not gonna know who it is yeah you may when he comes on and we just say his name you

may not you're not gonna know who it is you may not know based on name alone but it's the it's the coach of Northern Illinois football team the only team to beat Notre Dame this year we kind of wanted to get the X's and O's that how Ohio State can beat Notre Dame tonight and we were really just trying to agitate goal like if I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you and he was a lovely man and I think we fell in love with him and he's probably rooting for Notre Dame today oh and we get to the bottom of one of life's most pressing questions and I don't know why I'm giving away all of the goods now but but we find out what Marcus Freeman smells like.

So if you have one for one to do yourself, what is Marcus Freeman smell like? Stick around. You're going to hear that a little later today. Also, I just want to say God bless football is presented by Spear and if we do game days, please drink responsibly. So we have winners and losers coming up. I have big board bets in somewhat a bridge version of God bless football, because, you know, it's you know, we're down a couple of people. We're down the holidays. People were traveling.

You know, some people said, you know what, I'm going to sit by my TV. Yeah, one of the biggest football weekends of the year, national championship for big playoff games. Well, take this one off, maybe sitting around watching the inauguration today I don't know what people are doing it's snowing everywhere people probably snowed in as well I mean probably not as many people from our office are snowed in since we live in Miami it doesn't really snow here but snowed in right after this Mike he has to go out he has to plow some snow so you can save his family from being trapped in.

You know what, it's more of there are things that we plan to get done today and nobody can get out of the garage until I clear a path. And you know, some of us are, some of us said they were gonna be here and then decided not to, not naming any names or anything like that, but me and Billy are here. And Billy, I'm watching these snow games

because it feels like all the games were in either bitter cold or snow or indoors, the last two games. And I'm wondering, like, is that something you would want to do? Like, if we could go to the Bills game or the Chiefs game or even? the Eagles game where it looked For those of us that live in snow, you know There's snow and there's that wet rain snow and it's it's very different than

Than actual big flakes of snow. Is that something you'd want to do? Like would you would you be okay if I was like hey Billy? I got two tickets to the B something you'd want to do? Like, would you would you be okay if I was like, hey, Billy, I got two tickets to the Bills game. You want to go? Well, so amongst just us friends here, just me and you, it's already happened. I'll confess to you that I was working on something the last two weeks and and really last week like came up with like a good Plan and I had plans to go to Buffalo For the game and we have we have someone that we work with Taylor who went to college with Mac Collins, so

He had assured me that if we were to go we were going to on Saturday and I'm sure he didn't run this by Mac but the plan was on Saturday to interview Mac and we would just be walking through the snow barefoot as we were doing the interview so like we'd be hanging out with Mac just walking around in the snow bear but which would have led to me being very sick but probably worth probably worth it and then we probably would have done to me being very sick, but probably worth probably worth it and then we probably would have done like the idea was like have a Content a quote-unquote content house. It was really just because this was like our cost

Efficient pitch was like well if we get like an Airbnb and there's like three of us going three or four of us going We just put everyone in the same thing. We save hundreds of dollars on hotels that way So it's like, okay well we'll just like we'll say we'll do this interview with Mac which he claims he was gonna get done and then we'll like I don't know live watch along you know this the Saturday night game or something I think Texans Chiefs right and there was it no commander's lines

wow what a game that was we'll get to that in a minute and then on on Sunday because we didn't get approved for credentials, it was almost a benefit, because it was like, okay, cool, like full party mode in the snow, in the Bill's parking lot. And then maybe I pay some penances for my sins against Josh Allen, maybe I go through a table,

maybe it's on fire, who knows, just try something. Ketchup and mustard? That was probably gonna be my line. See, I draw the line there, I draw the line there too like that was gonna be my line just because I then have to like because then it becomes like ketchup and mustard icicles on me all day long and like going through a table okay catching on fire but my wife's not listening okay like I'm fine with with these things you know but eat a disgusting amount of like food and and like since you know I'm not credentialed maybe you know consume any drink that I'm handed like fine that's

part of the job that day but the ketchup and mustard was gonna be my line so it didn't end up spoiler alert I'm here here in my house. That trip didn't get approved. So it never happens. But to answer your question, yeah, the idea of it for a day seems like fun. Like, so as someone who's not like a, you know, snow person, obviously because of where I live, my wife, a couple years ago was like, I want to see snow. She had never seen snow. so she wanted to see snow.

So I told her like, pick a place. And this was for like a birthday present. So birthdays in December. So I said, for your birthday, pick a place and we'll go to, you know, hopefully see snow, like, you know, after Christmas this year. So she ended up picking Chicago and we had no idea how terrible Chicago is

at that time of year. I already see where this is. The windchill is like, I already know where you went wrong. Windchill is like negative 15. It's on a lake. So if you know this and the wind really the windy city really picks up. There is horribly cold. So my my thing on snow is it's fun for like the first hour and a half and then it's like,

okay, this is terrible. Why did we do this? And I don't know if you're the same way. I mean, you need to you need to save your family. You're trapped in the house. Are there any errands? Let me ask you, guys, I promise we're going to get to football. But sure, this is the important stuff. The errands that are not being done today because you're snowed in until you go out and clear the path. Are any of them your errands that are not being done today because you're snowed in until you go out and clear the path or any of them your errands. Of course not. Okay, of course not. So it benefits you to go out and do that and then you theoretically would have the house somewhat to yourself or you will like the busy bodies will be gone.

Maybe kids are off today. So same errands are going to get run. By the kids solo and the kids stay home with me. And honestly, that's that's kind of what I'm putting off, because while they're ready to go run and frolic and play in the snow for hours, I am with you where it's like, OK, this was fun for a half an hour up. You hit daddy with a snowball, I hit you with a snowball, let's go in. They're like, no, let's now build a snow fort and a snowman and go sledding down this minor hill. And then let's drive to the big hill where we

can go sledding a thousand times. And my little guy is going to go a hundred miles an hour and I'm going to have to run down the hill to make sure he's okay and then have a heart attack trying to walk my fat ass back up the hill so that you know that's what it is and so I would much rather run errands and shovel snow than deal with a kid's snow day for the entirety of the day. Why don't you volunteer to do the errand and? Say hey, tell you what, like hey, you know, you could really use a break. I see, like, why don't you stay in?

Because my wife knows. Because my wife knows, like, you're not fooling her. You're not telling her I'll run the errands to give you a break. She goes, no, the errands are the break. She knows. You know what's funny? And by the way, Texans 14 Chiefs 23,

Patrick Mahomes continues to just get every call, even when he's not getting hit, it's roughing the passer on Patrick Mahomes. You know what? Listen, I want to get back to the snow stuff, but that, that fake flop he did where he was trying to get the call and didn't get one, that's the kind of thing that'll make you not like him because you get every call. You don't need to sell one.

You get every call and I'm, I get it. The refs did this and okay, I get it. But like, you don't need to make a bad situation worse. The perception is already, you get every call. Don't flop. Please don't flop. Well, the one, the one where the two Texans hit themselves in the helmets and he ducked under both of them

and Troy Aikman nearly lost it. He was just kind of wandering around there in the middle of the field looking to get hit. Which is kind of, it sounds like a crazy thing to say but once you see it and you're looking for it, it's like, okay, he's trying to just get hit here. Like hard, soft, but he's just looking to get hit which, by the way, and we'll get to it. Like our friend Josh Allen, not immune to that criticism either.

He just doesn't get the same number of calls that Patrick Mahomes gets for whatever reason. Also, big storyline of that game, huge storyline of the game that we haven't gotten to yet. Kaylin Clark was sitting next to Taylor Swift, so that has now been covered. From big time Swifty to now, I guess, friend for a day, Caitlin Clark and Taylor Swift.

How did that happen? Like, who called who to be like, did Taylor say, hey, Caitlin, you should come to a game with me one day? No. And Caitlin was like, so the playoffs. And he was like, oh, I don't know that we're we're playoff sweet friends. I was thinking more like week seven against the Panthers. You should come to the game. So I'm thinking and I don't know this, obviously.

How how would I know this? And we have we have we get to winners and losers this is gonna be a winner and loser we got to that a minute I think what happened there was and it could be wrong I would imagine that there was somehow a Kelsey connection there right like maybe she met Jason or someone crossed paths with Travis and then they're like oh we should get you out to this game and I don't want to look I think I think it's documented Taylor Swift was not a huge sports fan

before this right like we kind of know this so I'm gonna say that maybe they met yesterday or they had me be met once or twice in passing before but I'm gonna say that maybe they met yesterday or they had maybe met once or twice in passing before but I'm thinking maybe Saturday was their first like time hanging and as you could see like it started out like Caitlin was in the back of the booth and it was like hey right up here up front next to Taylor maybe they you know. Trying to stay warm, had a couple drinks or whatever, just hanging out, just became close friends, and then they're hugging at the end of the game.

And really, you know, I like to say shout out to Brittany Mahomes, who just, you know, just delivered a baby. They just had another child. The Mahomes family. Congratulations. What a blessing. But I was seeing I was seeing early and early Taylor and Brittany vibes there between Caitlin and Taylor so hopefully you know Brittany doesn't get out of the picture for

having a child that would be horrible and I hope that's in prayers that's the situation I still want to see if Taylor will stay with Kelsey if if they lose that's kind of winning. She's only known winning. And it's really bothering me because I don't really want the Chiefs to lose, especially considering who they're playing now in my allegiance. But at the same time, part of me wants to know if Taylor like if Taylor's on the cusp of breaking up with just hypothetically,

not reporting anything, please If she's on the cusp of breaking up with him like It's a bad look if she waits till after they lose because yeah like well you were just in it for the Super Bowl Well, she could she could be the villain in that story Especially if they make it to the Super Bowl again, and there's a Super Bowl album about it. Well, then she's the bad guy. Wow. Imagine like a Taylor Swift heel turn, you know, like she becomes like NWO Hulk Hogan. Yeah. I don't think that her fans would I don't think her fans would allow that to happen, though, you know, like she's going to be the wrestler that never goes bad,

which like there's not a ton of them. Hey, Joe Mixon had 88 yards in the touchdown. Huh? What a game. Where did if we were to rank the games from this weekend Rams Eagles Texans Chiefs commanders Lions Ravensbills that was probably the worst of the games right that was the worst of the games it wasn't bad it just this is this is no coming off of a big makeup week from last week yeah coming off of a couple bad playoff weekends, this was a good playoff weekend.

Four games and four courses. Including the college weekends and those, because the college football playoff weekends were dreadful. At what point do we start sort of looking at the Texans? Because they make the playoffs every year, and they've never seen a championship game. Like at what now in their defense, I can't ever remember watching a Texans game where I thought they're the better

team and they should win and they, yeah, and they didn't. But at the same time, like the Texans make the playoffs every year it feels like because of that terrible division, but they never win. I think that the Texans so like it's similar to the Steelers right the Steelers get there and then are out early but the Steelers have obviously you know a great history and a very passionate fan base and I am putting myself now in a bad position and I don't want to be like enemy number one of the Texans fans I feel like part of it is because they're the Texans you know what I mean

yeah Texans so it's like ah we're kind of just happy to be here like just two years ago they were terrible before they had CJ Stroud so it's like okay like we're still kind of winding up I think one I think next year might be the year that if CJ doesn't get a playoff win it starts a little bit like Okay, CJ like We're making the playoffs, but now we need to we need to win in the playoffs I mean everybody knows going into like when they Start releasing when the schedule of playoff games is gonna be you get to circle that Saturday that first Saturday

Four o'clock game. You know that's going to be the Texans. You know they're hosting that playoff game because they're the team that they just like, all right, I guess we got to put the Texans in their usual slot. And then they're done. And it's like, okay, congratulations. You made it to the Saturday playoff game. Well, they made, no, this year year. I mean, they won a playoff game this year. I know. But I mean, it's it's they're never they're never a threat. They're like we're never talk about them like, oh, man,

who's going to beat the Texans? Like even when they're good, like they're you're not. You've never seen a championship game. Coming into this season, it felt like we were going to see some of those games in the regular season, whereas like, oh to be hard and then like they had so many injuries and T.J. wasn't as good this year seemingly as he was last year. the Texans gonna have this is not where I thought you'd be today but what are the Texans gonna have to do in the AFC to become a team like that because the Chiefs I'm not gonna say are kind of you know on the way down in their dynasty but if the Chiefs lose next weekend to the Bill spoiler or if the Bills beat

the Ravens if you didn't watch any of football but you're listening today, that happened. We'll get to that in a moment. But if the chiefs lose to the bills and don't make the playoffs, while they will fail in their quest for the first three-peat ever, I don't think it will be entirely surprising

if they don't beat the bills. And I also, and this sounds weird don't think it's a failure of a season for them if they don't repeat and win the Super Bowl because they while they had the best record in the AFC they snuck by a lot and it felt like they were just kind of hanging around for this time it's like the weird it I guess like the way you think of like load management in the NBA is what the regular season felt like for the cheese but somehow they still won all of those games you know what I mean like it felt like we were kind of just cheese were coasting through the regular season and then come playoff time they're going to turn it on and by the way

anyone who's worried about Travis Kelsey you're an idiot because he was incredible incredible in that game to the point that it was almost negligence by the Texans to let him be so open so often I couldn't believe how many times that came Travis Kelsey was just standing wide open in the middle of the field. It almost feels like we got cheated like he could have been doing this all season. Like could he have been doing this all season load management telling you I did. I don't think you're wrong.

I think they were just like hey, here's a really good play where Travis will be wide open, but we're going to save this for the divisional round because there's just no reason to use Travis Kelsey until then. Yeah, yeah. Do you have any more thoughts on this? You want to move on to the next game because you were just saying about saving plays. Ben Johnson pulled out a play that shocked everyone that I don't think anyone had ever seen. And he he was putting on a show for any team that had interviewed Ben Johnson,

the way they were doing some of these trick plays, you're like, oh, oh, that could be my next year? Like, oh, okay, let's do that. It was such the story of trick plays where he ran two or three of them in the game and the first two worked really well. There was that one where they pitched it to David Montgomery or then

did a shovel pass and you're like, Oh, this is amazing. Ben Jones. That was, that was, that was the play. I like where you're going. And then he does the other one where Jamis Williams for some just throws an interception because he's Jamis and William throws an interception when Jamis and William should a not be throwing and B should not be throwing in that situation. And you're like, Oh, yeah, bad day for it. Can I tell you the rollercoaster of emotions I went on? So first trick play that we just talked about, I was like, Oh, okay, like we're showing off.

And then the second one, I seriously turned and I said to no one because my wife is not paying attention at all. But so I guess I turned to my wife and I turned and I said, guy's going to cost himself a job on that on that failed trip plan. Like, stop getting cute. You're going to cost yourself a job, buddy. Like, you're fine. You don't need everybody wants you. Don't don't do this to yourself.

We don't need to do this. Dan Campbell crying after the loss. Not commanders 45 lions 31. Dan Campbell crying after the loss. Not the Manders, 45 Lions, 31 in case you didn't know the score of that game. It was unsurprising or surprising, you said. Dan Campbell crying is not surprising. No, he seems like a very emotional man. One way or another.

Oh, dude, yeah, like he might have cried if they won. Like he might have been like, I'm just so proud of these guys. Yeah, tears of joy after halftime. I feel like it was Aaron Andrews but I could be wrong said I spoke to Dan Campbell. He lost he barely could talk to me almost lost his voice and like that's that's it though like that's that's the state his voice is probably always in like I would hate to hear Dan Campbell's May voice you know I mean like give him a couple months off let it recover heading into like you know the summer workouts post draft he's now had a couple months maybe has some tea or whatever and his voice is like I don't want to hear that version of his voice like I want to hear his voice at

all times exactly right I won't recognize it yeah like what is he what does he sound like when he's just ordering breakfast in June yeah oh man yeah hey give me give me two eggs do it it would be funny like a really high-pitched voice we just had no idea because he's just always the thing is it's, I don't like my I don't according to K func. Yeah, I don't I don't view him and I'm I'm sure I'm wrong about this. I don't view him as like the tyrant yelling coach like on the side like a particularly like if you think like the college coaches like a Saban or whatever like just like

berating his players yelling them like that's not how I view him losing his voice like I view him just like doing everything like very intensely like you go up to the Lions facility in the morning he's like like just really excited about like everything's like who's ready to work calm down Dan like relax also for those of you who were not part of this which is everyone in the world except me and Mikey because we were having this conversation privately, we were talking about coffee this morning. Mikey, and I don't want to betray him here, bit of a coffee snob.

Very much. And he was talking to me and realized coffee, not super huge down here in Miami. We've got some Cuban coffee. In fact, I will tell you this, and this is, I don't want to do like the whole thing where it's like Miami is the only place that says this this but I don't think it's super copman I guess it is but like we will refer to coffee is American coffee like like everywhere like no that's American coffee just because like we have a lot of Cuban coffee down here it's like do you want American like I like I want coffee and they're like American coffee like yeah American coffee so if I were if you just plucked me down right in the middle of Miami and I said to a random person where can I get a coffee would they send me to a place where I can get an American coffee or a Cuban coffee depends where they send you is American

coffee the way that it's it's described in a lot of places it might just unfamiliar I would imagine a lot of like it might be just unfamiliar I would imagine a lot of like when I'm saying like sees you never say American coffee when you're getting coffee yeah yeah I don't I mean I don't think yeah Hartford area Connecticut I don't think there's a ton of Cubans up there no there could be wrong I'm not sure there's any I mean if they work for ESPN maybe they're in the you know area who knows the commanders in the Lions game the other two were so good to these three games we have to talk about so Rams Eagles commanders Lions Ravens bills they were all very good and they were all very good I think

for different reasons yes I think that the commanders lions was like the shootout with not the best defense Jared Goff multiple interceptions coming out party for Jayden Daniels if you haven't been watching him all year long you're like whoa Who is this guy who actually i'm adding this way I have i have a new a big loser for the weekend winners and losers presented by smirnoff the world's number one vodka Please drink responsibly you know what let's just do this right now Just do it and losers presented by smirnoff the world's number one vodka please drink responsibly the first winner our first loser of the weekend responsibly the first winner first loser of the weekend sugaat's friend Joe Shane because for the rest of time for the rest of time

Joe Shane is the GM of the New York Giants for those of you don't know and he knows to God's because they were part of the same country club Joe Shane for the remainder of time every time jaden Daniels has a big game we will see the clip of hard knocks where his i believe teenage son was telling him you should really trade up to get jaden daniels while he's going around and asking all of his children on the weird hard knocks that we've never before it was basically hard knocks joshane we just put a camera in joshane's

office and see what it is that he's up to in the offseason kind of like creepy if we're gonna be honest with you so it's just kind of we're just seeing what it is that the the Giants front office so you can get a good idea of how to run a franchise the Giants front office is doing in the offseason and now we have the famous clip that we've seen over and over again of Joe Shane's teenage son telling him, you know what? Trade up and get Jayden Daniels in this draft. And he literally says to him, you're only going to get this job once. You might as well try to win.

And he says, you know what I'm going to do? Trade Saquon Barkley or let him go. Like, I don't, I don't need Saquon. We don't need Jayden. We got Daniel Jones. We're perfectly fine. He's going to be here a long time. Jets fans would trade right now for his teenage son as opposed to Woody Johnson.

Wow, could you imagine? Who gets all of his ratings from Madden. So I think, and correct me if I'm wrong here Mikey, I think Joe Shane's teenage son is the only person that hasn't applied and been interviewed for a job with the Jets because every single person on the face of Earth has completed their interview with the Jets because we're told every single day someone else has completed it. Some of them in person, some are on Zoom, but every single person is applying for every single Jets job and they're letting us know about every single was Kate McCown. The latest one. Did I see him? Josh McCown. Okay.

Uh, Josh McCown, uh, the, the, the funny thing about the, the really funny part about it is Woody Johnson is paying a consultant firm to, to, to give him like names to interview and be part of the interview. And I'm sitting here going, what are you paying for? Cause they literally gave you a list of everyone ever associated with the NFL ever. And they're like, hey, here's the list of people you should look at and it's 19 pages long.

And remember we get paid by the hour. Yeah, so there's two moves by consulting firms, I think, and I've never been part of one, but I aspire to be part of one one day because it seems like quite the legal racket. So there's two moves. There's that move that they pull off where they just give you a billion options,

and then at the end of the day, Mike Tannenbaum gets the job, or, or, and I don't know if you've seen this yet, Mikey, but if you want like and if you're a listener, Google this now at home, Google the old Walmart logo and the new Walmart logo. 2025 Walmart logo and the old one and you will then see the second function of consulting firms because this is Quite the magical move that I'm sure they were paid hundreds if not millions hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars for this move where they basically just Highlighted the text and hit bold and then in the little Sun looking thing that they have they just made that a little bit thicker and move it a little bit closer together. Yeah. You know what? This is the job I want. This is the job I want. You've you've changed the course of my life. I want to be a consultant to say, you know what you guys would do? You know what would drive your sales? Bold. I think the hardest part and it's like the

uh like the elaine bennis of the job where it's like okay now write 30 pages on why this is different and why this represents the present standing of the company and they will just the new bold look really envisions the direction of the future that this company wants to go in. It's more it's really and and if notice it's slightly closer together that represents the unity within the company and within the community and really within America moving forward that we aspire to bring everybody together while you're shopping through our exact while you're shopping through our to not gear too far off of our unified vision and really honoring the legacy of Sam Walton. It's like, thanks guys, perfect.

With one eye on the past and one eye on the future. Exactly right. That's why. Okay, so the Lions did kind of what the Lions do and they, except for last year, and they blew it. And the commanders now, are they gonna be not the favorite on the field, but the rooting favorite in the NFC easily up against the Eagles? Is that just like area bias for you? Do you hate the Eagles?

So I think as someone who grew up in New York sports fan, even though I'm a Boston hating New York fan, not a Philly hating one, I can't, I'm with them in like, I don't like Philly. I was wondering, like for you, this college football national championship, which we'll get to in a few minutes with Mike Golick, you said like, there's no good outcome for me. Like I'm gonna have to watch either Notre Dame or Ohio State win.

Yeah. And for me, like I, I, it's an easy choice for me. I'm rooting for Notre Dame, even though I'm neutral about Notre Dame, it's an easy choice for me, but I'm looking at the teams left for the NFL and I'm wondering like, what's best case scenario for me and the clear answer is Washington. Yeah. But like I will be upset if pretty much any other team wins. Huh. So you the Chiefs is just you're tired of the Chiefs. It's that I'm tired of them it's like and I'm Patrick Mahomes is kind of becoming a little bit of a sports villain in like the flop The flop is kind of the kind of thing where you go. All right, I'm sick of this I'm a little I'm a little over it

Huh? I will I will remind you and I'll say tread lightly chiefs kingdom embraced us earlier this season Listen, I it's not not them it's not even the team it's it's it's fatigue and and I don't think any Chiefs fan would be like yeah I don't know I don't see that yeah yeah so the Chiefs obviously are in the Bills beat the Ravens we haven't gotten to that yet but we'll get to that you don't like the Bills you can't listen you can't be a Jets fan and be like yeah you go Bills yeah that's yeah that's that's true somebody asked me if i would rather the dolphins win the super bowl or the patriots oh i just left i couldn't answer that

really yeah i just left you don't like the dolphins that much i kind of thought that the dolphins were irrelevant to everyone at this point in time. The dolphins were the were the biggest rival for the longest time. Yeah, but that's a long time. So good. Yeah, like it's it's it's. But those Patriots don't exist anymore. Those Patriots are the past Billy is what I didn't got.

Yes, that's right. That's why we still use the yellow. Yes, because of the Patriots. Um, All right. Well, the commanders now are everybody's darling favorite team and they've gone from a team that is playing with house money to a Team that now everybody is hoping and praying beats the Eagles next round. I think I think I Think outside of Philadelphia. I think outside of Philadelphia, I think pretty much everybody because like even Cowboys fans and Giants fans who are like I can't root for my rival or like yeah but if I had to root for one of my rivals it'd be that one. Yeah yeah I made

the mistake yesterday in fantasy you can compete against this in fantasy go to dkng.co slash smirnoff our fantasy contest is presented by smirnoff the world's number one vodka please drink responsibly when we're this late in the game of fantasy and you only have four games there's very little variance in who everybody is taking a lot of people are just taking the same people so you have to go out on a limb and and really find where the hidden gems are so I thought everyone is going to do Josh Allen this week because you know it's easy money so I went with Jayden Daniels which ended up working out except except he was doing this cute little game where he was passing the ball up until the two yard line and then they were running everything in So we were not getting any touchdown points. So while he had a great game He didn't get me what I needed Jameer Gibbs. Oh

Oh Jameer Gibbs. Oh Jameer Gibbs I thought he was gonna carry me to fantasy heaven and then I made the mistake of taking Derek Henry over safe on Barkley because my thinking was This is my thought process. I had looked at the weather and I was like, Buffalo is going to be a messy game. They're going to be running all day long in Buffalo. And sure enough, it was OK. It was pleasant enough.

Josh decided I'm passing today and he was going to throw also. So did so did Lamar to his detriment. But Josh decided he was going to pass today. I can't imagine. And we've now skipped the game. We'll go back. I can't imagine catching a ball in that weather, because it must be like catching a bowling ball.

And Mark Andrews, oh buddy. Wow. Maybe they should have let the air out of the ball a little bit. So some Hall of Famers would say the best way to combat that is to let a little air out. Some say that you say. Some. Some say that.

I have thought this year, this is completely obviously unrelated to what we're talking about. I have thought this year Tom Brady's been fine. People are very anti Tom Brady. He's fine. I mean, I'm not going to put it this way. I'm not going to not watch a game because of Tom Brady Taking some sort of stand to bring Greg Olsen back like I'm okay. I'm watching the game I'm fine. I want him to be better. I want him to be better. I'm gonna be better that he's not good I'm not saying I feel like I

Feel like what he does is he? I feel like what he does is he analyzes every play. And I'm like, you know what, Tom? Some plays are just a one yard run and they can just be a one yard run. Whereas he's like, no, see, here's what's happening. And it's like, I don't need to know. Maybe just give me a little personality and a little less analytics there.

Now here's the tricky part. Who tells him that? Cause I think that may be where we're at Because I think that may be where we're at. Not a person. I think that may be where we're at with this experience. It's like, Tom may come in. I don't know if he's going in and he's like, how'd that go?

And everyone's like, that was great, that was perfect, Tom. And he's like, okay. And then he goes home or he's just like, I'm Tom Brady, I got this. But it's probably somewhere in the middle, right? No one wants to be the person to sit down and be like, Tom, Tom, listen, let's see what's what's so funny about that. A little little behind the scenes, a little little little ETS, little little bragging on my part here.

Worked with a lot of former athletes. Yeah, a lot of good ones, a lot of great ones, a lot of names, the ones. No, and here's the thing. They all still want to be coached. They still want the film room Monday. They still want you to say, hey, here's what you did well, here's what you got to work on, here's how you do it. They all still want that. Yeah, but I I don't think there's many people telling Tom, Tom. Well, you have to, you

have to get over, you have to be willing to coach Tom. Yeah, here's a wow. Tom, I'll do it. They bring in a lot of check. I'll do it. Bill Belichick media coach after a year in the media himself. He's he's one. No one was giving him tips on you know, I mean, it's like whatever Bill gives us. Bill gives us like I'm not I'm not sitting.

I just don't want to be coached. Yeah, no, I just don't want to be coached. No, not going to happen. sitting. Coaches don't want to be coached. Yeah, coaches don't want to be coached. No, not gonna happen. Anyways, Rams-Eagles, we got to a point. Rams seemed to put that one away, or sorry, Eagles seemed to put that one away. Rams got right back in that one. I don't know how they managed to pull that one off, that safe one. That was the best game of the weekend like yes, you asked before Washington and the Lions was the most entertaining but the best game of the weekend was the one that went down to To that. Oh, maybe Buffalo. No because here's here's here's

this is this is what I will tell you about Buffalo and and the Ravens that game was not as exciting and fun as the commanders and Lions game and I don't think was as good as the Rams and Eagles while they seem to have been playing in worse conditions in Ramsagles Ravens bills was a little bit sloppy like it was it was a close game but not a classic game if that makes sense like I feel bad for Lamar Jackson because Lamar Jackson aside from you know the turnovers but Lamar did what he had to do to win that game and now that will be forgotten within a few weeks and then next year in the playoffs it will go back to and and they'll be you know the videos and the notes of how Mark Andrews was

a big loser and winners and losers presented by Spear and Off the World's number one vodka. And there'll be a slight note, but history will forget that Mark Andrews had that two point conversion dropped, that he had that fumble and it will just fall back on Lamar not being able to get it done. Unfortunately, because again, he did everything that he could do and he is going to be the victim in this narrative because they did not lose because of him but that's not how it's gonna be remembered and here's the other thing I'll say about that game it went down to a failed two-point conversion because Mark Andrews forgot how to catch and I don't

think it could have lived up to the hype I don't think anything we could have gotten in that game could have lived up to what we thought we were going to get in that game. Yeah. And then we came off of a really good game. I think maybe that's why I don't view it as the best game of the weekend because I was expecting so much more than I got and I still got really good. Yeah, no, this weekend, this weekend was great. Yesterday's games were great. Again, the fact that we were saying Texas and Chiefs was the worst game of the weekend. That wasn't even a bad game. No, it was just there was three really good games this weekend setting up. If the season ended today, Mikey grew great matchups. Next week, we have the commanders and the Eagles, which you have already told us you want the commanders

to win the Super Bowl. You're rooting for them. And then we have Chiefs and B Eagles, which you have already told us you want the commanders to win the Superboy rooting for them. And then we have Chiefs and Bills, which I think this is only the second time that they're playing each other in the conference championship with Mahomes and Josh Allen, because I think they always end up running into each other around sooner. So I think this is the first time since 2020 the Bills are going to be in the AFC championship game and it's lining up nicely for them because as we mentioned you know results of this week's game aside the Chiefs do seem to not be the Chiefs that we've seen even though they looked pretty good but that could just be that they were the playing the Texans if the bills were to make it to the Super Bowl on somewhat of a down year on his 15 and

two Chiefs team I think this works out great for everyone because that even Patrick is like well you know now he can go home spend time with his kids and you know the pressure of the three Pete is done and then next year's a kind of a bounce back year whatever but we'll see I'm excited about that one that that one is the Sunday night game next week I believe so are you saying are you saying that if the Chiefs lose the AFC Championship game it's a good loss is that all it's a are you it's a good loss for the Chiefs yeah it's a good loss if they lose the AFC Championship game you're saying for the Chiefs because that's gonna set them up for the next five years it's a good loss if they lose the AFC Championship game you're saying for the Chiefs because that's gonna set them up for the next five years it's a good loss

yeah it's a quality yeah quality loss by the Chiefs okay let let me say this the Chiefs are the team of the commanders because if the commanders lose they weren't supposed to be there and by the way by the way people of the world I believe if you go back and I'm asking you not to do so but I believe if you go back about five or six weeks ago I said the commanders might be frauds so don't go back and look into that you have no reason to go back I forgot that you should do you have no reason to go back six weeks and listen to old episodes of God bless football. All that stuff's dated. I would appreciate it if you did, but don't do that.

We don't need that. Just, but like Walmart, we're just focusing on the future with our new, our new look here. One eye on the past. Exactly right. Well, no eyes on the past in this situation. Both eyes on the future. If the commanders lose, meh, you know, whatever.

They weren't supposed to be there. If the Eagles lose, people are gonna wanna fire Sirianni again. Obviously, that's what's gonna happen. They're gonna want to immediately fire Sirianni if the Bills lose you start having that conversation of I saw a clip of Peyton Manning talking to Kevin Clark about Josh Allen and he was saying that Josh is facing some of the same things

that he would face in his career at this point in his career where was paid a manning is really good but and Josh Allen is really good makes all these great plays but and he was saying how Josh needs to remove the but which is kind of where this game is, is this is a game to get to the Super Bowl. If he doesn't win the Super Bowl this year, he made it to the Super Bowl. And then there's like, okay, we'll be back, whether they are or not, it doesn't matter. But the thinking will be okay, we'll be back to

the Super Bowl. This is a great step to make it to the Super Bowl, not how we wanted the season to end, but a great step. If he loses this game, you're kind of right back in the exact same position. It's the first time again in five years that they've been to the UFC Championship game, but you're back in the same position of here we go again, which is unfair to him because going into the season, no one thought that they would be anywhere near this position. They thought that this was going to be an off year for the Bills. They got rid of Stefan Diggs.

What are his weapons gonna be? So I think he's got to win, which is why. If the Chiefs, good loss. Maybe good loss for the Chief. Maybe you see, even though now we're in it, now they might as well go all the way, you know, if you're the Chiefs. Because you're not, what are you getting? Two weeks off? Like that's, I'll play two more weeks. What difference does that make? And if you don't make the playoffs, you get a whole month or you lose the first round? You get extra week now. You might as well two weeks. Anyone can do two weeks, right? Sure, okay. There's a national championship game tonight. We haven't really talked about the Rams and the Eagles again

Well, all we've really said is say Kwan so good and I don't know that's how much more needs Much more needs to be said about that game? So national championship is today We're gonna talk to Golic and we're gonna talk to the head coach of Northern, Illinois Illinois, I know what happened to me there the only team To beat noted in this year, but before we do that Mikey, I thought it'd be fun If I gave you because it's Monday, obviously need it. I thought it'd be fun if I gave you a little BB BB BB National championship edition. So the first one that I'm gonna do here. Is this the first ever BB BB BB college? Yeah, remember you ever I think I think this is the first college edition of this game

And if I'm gonna be honest with you as to why it is that I'm doing it besides the fact that it is Monday it is because right now my record on the season is 47 and 29. And in my dream fantasy world, I go three and own I hit 50 wins and then I am sitting pretty and maybe moving forward this then becomes for the last two weeks of the season. Maybe this will become a Friday situation, but I'm leaning towards no because Stugats doesn't seem to like me doing this and he doesn't seem to like when I win these things because he'll just tell you how great his record has been even though he changes the lines in every single one of the game so

I may this may be the last one of the season to be determined we were talking about Ohio State and Notre Dame before Mikey and You were saying how you have become a Notre Dame fan. I was at a instead of Buffalo I was at a three year old's birthday party yesterday, which was a surprise birthday didn't know about But then found out like oh we are going to a birthday party in two hours so and and oh can you go buy a present for said birthday party, which I had to do so I Went to this birthday party yesterday and I was talking to you know some of my brother-in-law was there I'm talking to some of the dads and and they like you are rooting for Notre Dame which I thought was weird and I think is just an age thing down here because Miami has a

unique hatred for both teams the older generations remember Notre Dame and the Catholics versus convicts and they hate Notre Dame. I don't like Notre Dame because I think they're annoying but I don't have the same passion because also I don't really care about the University of Miami. Now Ohio State has like a Miami still believes that they were robbed a national championship to Jim Trestle and Ohio State so they do not want Trestle and Ohio State. So they do not want Ohio State, even though Ohio State has won a national championship since, they do not want Ohio State to win the national championship. So down here it's kind of interesting

because of the whole University of Miami dynamic with both teams. So anyways, I am going to take So anyways, I am gonna take the over 45 and a half points. So all that to say you're not picking a team yet? Well, this is what I'm gonna say. I'm taking the over of 45 and a half points. Why am I taking the over, you ask? Because I have done terribly this year when I take the under at anything. So I have told myself, Billy, stop taking the under at anything so I have told myself Billy Stop taking the under just root for an entertaining entertaining game, so I'm gonna take the over of 45 and a half points

That's my first one my second one Jeremiah Smith anytime touchdown Like that one. I'm just doing that one for Mikey because Mikey said take Jeremiah Smith anytime touchdown last time Let you have it. I was and then you, no, no, it's fine, it's fine. And then Fuentes said take Jeremiah Smith over everything. But I trust Mikey more than I trust Fuentes, so Jeremiah Smith anytime touched on. And finally, and again, we're gonna tie Mike Golic on here next. And I want to thank Jess and Lucy because I reached out to them to see if they wanted to join today. I had both were willing and I ended up saying, you know what, it

is early on Martin Luther King Day. You go ahead and enjoy yeah. Well they're both going to the national championship game tonight so I said you know what you guys just enjoy this week enjoy this game enjoy the national championship we'll catch up with you later this week so uh shout out to them because they were willing to come on and partake in the fun today and again the fun is not stopping we're going to talk to Mike Kolik coming up next. And I'm really gonna try to agitate him if I'm gonna be honest with you. My final pick headed into agitating Mike Golic. Notre Dame plus eight and a half.

Yeah, it hurts me. It really hurts me to do it. It hurts me so many points. And selfishly, I don't know if they're gonna win. I want both teams to lose, but. I selfishly just want a good national championship game because there have been some stinkers as of late. I just want a close one.

Eight and a half points is a lot of points. So anyways, coming up next, as we've teased a billion times by now, Mike Golick gets us ready for the national championship game with a special guest. What is, Dax are you? Tracking all our cars on Carvana Value Tracker on all our devices? Yes, Kristin, yes I am.

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Head to salesforce.com slash careers to learn more. So Mike, I have a theory on the national championship I want to share with you that I'm not sure you're going to be too fond of, but I've been floating it out there. All right. I believe that it is best for business for you for Notre Dame to lose the national championship this year. And I'll tell you why. Hear him out.

Mike, Mike, hear him out on this. This isn't a bad theory. He's been peddling this for a while. And to be honest with you, originally I had your reaction. I was like, come on, man. Mike wants Notre Dame to win, but he's got he there's some logic to this. This is going to take something from you here, Billy. OK, well, here's here's the deal.

Naturally, your heart wants you wants Notre Dame to win the national championship. But your head may not. And you just don't know it until I now give you this theory of mine. I believe that once Notre Dame wins the national championship, I think some of the opportunities that you get as a distinguished Notre Dame name are going to start going to the Riley Leonard's of the world. You know what I mean? They're going to say, you know what? Let's get, let's get some national champions on here. And I feel like then maybe they're going to disrespect all of what you've done for

the university for all of the years, for all these Johnny come lately's. And I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. So I, because I care about you and rooting for Notre Dame to lose so that you get to still have your Sterling standing within the community. I appreciate that very much. Welcome. Um, I disagree. Oh, give give the give the fruits to the people who won the title. If that they get the accolades, they deserve it. So be it. If if I and

L and and happens, you know, I'll raise an eyebrow, but I don't know. No, I'm just, I am all for giving the love to those who win it. So while I understand and I appreciate your concern for me, I still hope that they win the title. What about, what about the, the, the, the crop that isn't part of the national championship team, but like the Kyle Rudolph, who you like you didn't win a national championship, but you're just newer to the Notre Dame community. It'll be interesting how now a lot depends on how much you're around. Right? You can't just you can't just show up, you

know, once a year, and expect to have the red carpet laid out for you have to kind of be around. Yeah, be a game. You have to be a practice you have, if you're invited to talk to the team, talk to the team. So you have to stay involved with the team. But this is my concern, Mike, is I feel like now your six month commitment to Notre Dame is gonna have to become a year round commitment,

or maybe we spend a lot more time at the South Bend estate. You know what I mean? Or maybe they say, you know what, this is nice, you're a block away from campus, but this is for winners, you're gonna have to move three blocks away from campus now, you know what I mean? Like, here's the thing. I believe, I believe that you believe that they're not going to do this to you. But I believe they're not going to stab you in the front. I think we need to keep an eye on them because it's the ones that you love the most that can hurt you the most and I think that if if we're not looking out for you they may they may break your heart and I don't want you to

be heartbroken. I appreciate your concern for me. I am personally and not worried about it. I have too much respect for Marcus Freeman that he wouldn't do that to former players because he's made such a point of bringing former players back into the fold. But it's noted, I do appreciate your concern. Yeah, how do we feel about Father Doud? As far as? Is he one that would hurt you? No, no, how about Father Doud,

the new president of Notre Dame, and Pete Bavacqua, the new AD of Notre Dame and people of aqua the new ad of Notre Dame here They are their first year in the game in the gig and and their teams playing for the national championship I mean, that's pretty damn impressive. Yeah, Mike is Billy trying to convince you Notre Dame should lose. Yeah Not just in shocking but what they are for nice reasons, right? Thank you. Yes. Thank you Right. He has the Goldick family in mind. That's exactly right. Yeah. He does.

He does. So while I do appreciate that, I'm not too worried. You know what? It's a good problem to have. Right? It may not be. That's what I'm getting at is it seems hypothetically like a good problem to have until we have it.

So I'm trying to avoid it. Yeah. You know? I have a golden heart for the golden domers. You know what I mean? I'm willing to roll the dice. Okay. All right. Mike, are you worried about Marcus Freeman leaving your school?

Oh. No, no, not at this point. I don't think he wants to go to the NFL just yet. He just signed the extension with Notre Dame. They're paying him good bucks. I do think he'll be around. I know his name has been attached to the Bears, but I, I don't think that he wants to, I'm not sure what his goal is if he wants to coach in the NFL or not.

Um, but I don't think he wants to right now. That would be my guess. You know, Billy, it was interesting because Mike did not come down here for the orange bowl for the semi-final game. Um, he is going semi-final game. He is going to the national championship game. But I found it interesting that, you know, we were discussing whether or not Mike Golick

wanted to stay over at your house, sleep on that couch right behind you. I thought Mike was a lock for the Orange Bowl, but I think it was Billy's house that scared him away. So I don't know what happened. But it did happen. It was that staying at your house, Billy, and the fact that I have PTSD about that stadium in Notre Dame. They played there for the title when my boys were

on the team in 2013 in that stadium and got smoked my Bama. So I didn't feel like revisiting. It looks very different now, Mike. You wouldn't even recognize it from that game. They have the roof on there. Like, it's a totally different vibe, but I get it. I get it. Not the house thing. I don't understand why you don't want to stay at my house,

but I get the whole PTSD from the stadium. I'm gonna assume it's that. It's more that. Just look at that couch. How inviting is that couch to lay on so my legs can hang over the end of it? Oh no, that's a sofa bed that pulls out Yeah, like they all have that bar in the bar that would be awesome

He's going to lay down on it now as he's laying down I'm gonna ask him a super comfortable dog Yeah, he cares about you so much. He has a Chris Sims jersey, Mike, but you notice he doesn't have a Mike Golic senior Jersey. No, he doesn't. Right. Yes. No, he doesn't. Oh, he's Billy's playing like a champion today.

Got to be honest with me. The bar, the bar just would be right in the middle of my back. I would just get a horrible night's sleep. We're supposed to have a special guest for Mike Golick. We're hoping that special guest appears here on God Bless Football. If he does, he does. If he doesn't, we will have to reschedule it. But since I have time and Billy's putting his bed back together. Oh, he is coming in here, Mike? Yeah, they just emailed to do they want to get him on now and I said, yes, please. Yes, please. Any second here. email to do they want to get him on now and I said yes please so yeah yes please

second here okay I go look we will have you out of the time that you need to be out at I promise you but you'll I look forward to this guest well it's a it's a special guy now it's any guesses yeah you want to take a guess I listen knowing you guys I have no clue zero clue no us, you kind of have a clue. It's nice that you wore that shirt today, I'll just say that. Yeah. He's wearing a shirt of the rock

for everyone who's listening. Wow. Yes. Yeah. Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't we? We have someone coming on. Listen, I think he thinks, guys,

that it's Andy Reid. Really? Yeah. Because every- I think he thinks it's the rock now. I would have thought it would be someone associated with Notre Dame. Yeah, well, maybe. Who knows? It might be. Maybe. I have a question for you, Mike Golic, that I want to get to the bottom of, because Jessica

told this story on the show a couple weeks back. So she was there for the first playoff game. Yes. Where you guys were hosting Indiana. Yes. And then she told us that there was a gathering at your house after the game where some former players were there. And she ran into Shane Gillis,

who was just kind of hanging out at your house. Now, not at the house was you or your son because you both went out of Dodge right after the game, had flights to go and you weren't there, but still hosted a house party for a who's who of Notre Dame people. Yeah, that was a turd. And I didn't even know that Shane Gillis was there.

I had heard that he wanted to come by. Well, you weren't there, I mean. And have a couple of beers, but Mike and I had to go work the Penn State SMU game the next morning. So we had a 1 a.m. flight that we took, and my son Jake was at the game as well. He drove us to the airport,

so while we were all going to the airport, Shane Gillis, Kyle Rudolph was over the house, Braxton Cave was over the house, and they were with Shane during the airport, Shane Gillis, Kyle Rudolph was over the house, Braxton Cave was over the house and they were with Shane during the game and Shane as they were, they used our house as kind of a place to wait for an Uber, Shane came by and was just hanging out and Jess Metana who we're talking about, she was staying at the house, we had her stay at the house for the game. She walks in and says, there's Shane Gillis sitting there having a beer. I mean, I thought I had heard he might come over,

but I knew we weren't going to be there. So yeah, we just kind of host people even if we're not there. Not everyone, not everyone is hosted. Sometimes we ask to come and we're not invited. Yes. Well, no, that's on purpose. Right, well, I feel- I just opened my couch

for you. Hey, there he is. This is the coach of our national champion. Wow. Because Notre Dame is headed in. We have the head coach of Northern Illinois. He is on with us right now. The only team to a beaten Notre Dame. He is the national champion. Their team or you're a bunch of national champions coach. And here's why Mike, we think they're the national champions and we're going to have coach kind of give us the keys to beating Notre Dame. Since his team is the only team that has beaten Notre Dame. But not only did they beat Notre Dame, not only did they beat Notre Dame on your field, Notre Dame paid him $1.4 million to kick your ass. So he is a true national champion.

Thomas Hammack joins us right now. Coach, are you with us? You're the national champions of Notre Dame beats Ohio State. Well, I appreciate you guys having me on. Hopefully I can get in less trouble, but I'm certainly excited to watch that game on Monday night. Coach, let me tell you, I was at that game. I was very sad at that game. But I mean,

as a former player who played for a number of coaches, I was extremely, when I sat down and got over the sadness of Notre Dame losing, I was so happy for your players and you as a coach. I mean, for coming into the stadium. I mean, at what what were you saying to the team on the sidelines at halftime when you were we kept expecting Notre Dame to come back and they weren't? Well, I think going into the week, we knew it would be a physical contest. And we are, we build our team inside out. So, you know, we could withstand the physicality of the game. We felt like we had a chance. And I thought, you know, when they scored that first drive,

and then obviously the next kickoff, we started at the two yard line. When we had a chance to score that touchdown, I think we settled into the game. And it wasn't going to overwhelm us physically. And it was just about playing clean football and giving ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter. Do you guys think that he's really happy? Do you think Mike in the moment was... Billy is questioning your sincerity. No chance. It'll take a win on the championship game for Mike to truly be okay.

No, no, as I said in the moment't happy. But then listen, it's the reality in Northern Illinois won the game. I was happy for for the players and and I know he had some injuries. He got hurt in that game, but Ontario Brown. Wow. I mean, he was he was so big in that game. I mean rushing and caught a couple of balls for over a hundred yards. I mean, you you needed a guy to stand out and in that game anyway, he's really stood out.

Yeah, you know, he was a difference maker for us. He has been a difference maker for us in our program. And he allowed us to even the playing field with his ability to create explosive plays. So he certainly gave us a chance. And then obviously, our O-line and D-line played really really well that day and the rest is history. So coach as the only team as the only coach only team who has beaten Notre Dame please give Ohio State and Ryan Day the keys to beating this Notre Dame team. Yeah well I think you know Notre Dame is obviously a great football team the way they've been able to overcome our loss and get better each and every single week.

I think speaks value to Coach Freeman, his staff, and the players. They are very, very gritty. You know, defensively, they play a lot of man coverage, which, you know, I think that's going to be an interesting matchup with Ohio State and their receivers. That's going to be the key to the game, in my opinion. Obviously, Texas played a little more too high last week. But if they stick with man coverage, can their DBS handle those receivers? I think it's gonna be a matchup to watch. And then obviously Ohio State is very, very good on

defense. I think the quarterback has to neutralize the pass rush. Texas quarterback couldn't run last week. Obviously, Riley Leonard can run and extend plays. So if he can have a chance to keep keep them in normal down and distance, I think they'll give themselves a tremendous chance to win. So when you're when you're game playing and Notre Dame plays about as much man as anybody in the country and with Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Abouka, I mean that that's gonna be a difficult task. As a coach, and this is for Al Golden, the D coordinator, do you change up and say, we're gonna have to play more zone?

Or do you say, hey, we're in the national championship, we play mostly man, we're just sticking with what we do? I think that's gonna be the interesting thing for that game, right? It's hard for a team to change what they do in one particular game. I think they played what, 15, 16 games already. They are who they are.

I just think it comes down to if they can guard number four, those other receivers, even Tate played really, really well last week. So you got three guys that can be explosive and dynamic in a passing game. I think really that's gonna be the matchup of the night. Coach, so are you with us? Here's what I'm proposing, okay?

If Notre Dame beats Ohio State, they win the national championship, okay? We think Notre Dame should have to go to Northern Illinois and play you guys. Do you agree with that? And do you think we can make that happen? Hey, listen, I think that would be fantastic to bring Notre Dame to Husky Stadium.

I'm sure it'll be a sold out event. You know, if they want to play us at Husky Stadium, I'm all about it. Okay, would the school be willing to give back the $1.4 million to make this happen? Double or nothing, double or nothing? Hey, listen, you know, unfortunately, I think that money is already spent in the athlete department.

So although I'm sure I don't know, they may be willing to give that money back to get Notre Dame to come to Husky Stadium. That'd be interesting. I'd be I consider raising the money to make this happen. Coach, coach, when you guys beat Notre Dame and you go after the game and you shake hands with, you know, Coach Freeman and you see some of the other players, you like go up to any of the Notre Dame players and say, you know what, like, we got room for you next year on this roster if you want to join a winner.

Like, did any of that happen? You know, to be honest, I was hoping they didn't come up to our players. You know, just from the standpoint of you know, obviously, I'm sure the NIL budget is extremely high. And for us to beat them means we had some guys that can play at their level. And I think, you know, I was more concerned about that. But certainly, I think after we beat them, I think there was a lot of a lot of teams across the country that really started to scout our roster, which is always a tough thing in this day and age of college football. What did you say and what did Marcus say to you after the game in the middle of field?

You know, it was kind of a blur to be honest with you. You know, my emotions was running all over the place, but he said, hey, great game. You guys played extremely tough and physical. And he said, you deserve to win. So for him to say that, you know, what, first of all, his humility and who he is as a person is unbelievable. And I don't know him well, just had a chance to meet him when we played him. But the way he carries himself, obviously, you know, he's 39 years old, as James Franklin pointed out, which I thought was very, very interesting. But, you know, he handles himself in the most utmost way. And what a great representative for Notre Dame.

Is he as good looking in person as he is on TV? I mean, you know, I think the thing that's funny and I've never told anybody this story, you know, when we talked before the game, I was just thinking to myself, you know, man, what type of cologne do you have on? I said, I'm sure I can't afford it, but you smell really, really good before a game.

That's what I was thinking when I had a chance to meet him. But obviously, you know, that's what I was thinking when I had a chance to meet him. But obviously, you know, he, he's a, you know, great looking guy and, you know, handles himself well. And, and, you know, I'm hoping for the most, the best one. You shouldn't have a rooting interest in the national championship game, but it would be fair to assume that you'd like Notre Dame to win, correct? Just because of the fact that you would then be the only team that beat the national champion. I imagine his kids are aware of it, right?

Well, I think, you know, I think I, you know, I think I'm a Marcus Freeman fan. So the way he embraced me have a lot of respect for him. He didn't have to do that. And obviously we played them and we have been the only team that beat them. So, you know, I think that would be a fitting in if they won the national championship and we were the only team that beat them. So I think that would be a fitting in if they won the national championship. And we were the only team that beat them. Yeah, you should hang a banner and we are willing. Listen, I am telling you right now,

we will come up to the North of Illinois and we will throw you a parade. Oh, hold on. Are you interested in that? And Golik, Golik, he'll be in, he'll be in. Wow, Golik, you will? Yeah, I'm not interested in that whatsoever. We were good on that particular day and we'll

always have that moment. You will. You'll always have that memory and that's something that will last for you and the kids for a long time. No doubt about it. Coach, what were you doing to James Franklin there? I mean, what happened? What you mean? I mean, he made the comment about Marcus Freeman being 39 years old, James Franklin, who still hasn't won a big game against an AP top five team. He's won three more than I have in my career. Um, what were you doing there? He took a shot at Marcus Freeman, his age, like James Franklin should be taking shots at anyone. That's what I said. I'm definitely not trying to get in trouble today. I just, I thought it was an interesting

dialogue back and forth because obviously your age doesn't mean anything in the coaching profession is what you do, your body of work and what Coach Freeman has done over the last three years or so speaks volumes about what he is and what he's about and that's the only thing that should matter. Agreed. Well, Coach, thank you for doing this. It was fun. Uh we if you don't mind this show will declare you as national champions if Notre Dame wins whether you like it

or not. Yeah, we're going your hour. between you and Michigan this week. I maintain beating a team that you shouldn't beat on their home field that collected 1.4 million dollars to do so is actually better than winning a national championship. million dollars to do so is actually better than winning a national championship. Coach, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you have to deal with this. I hope you guys edit this really well. It made me look good. The last time I said something, they edited it out and it said it was the best dump of my career. So I'm sure. What was the second best dump of your career?

Stop it. Coach, just go. Coach, go. I appreciate you stopping in. Leave before it gets too crazy. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks.

We appreciate you doing this. It had some fun with us. Thank you. What a day. In all honesty, what a day for them that had to be. Wow. It was an awful day for me. What a day. In all honesty, what a day for them that had to be. Wow. Yes. What a day Monday will be if you could if you guys could take care of Ohio State, huh?

Yeah. Yeah, will be not many people given Notre Dame a chance. That's for sure. But hey, we're in the game. And I think I think it'll be a hell of a game. Yeah, Mike will let you go here in just a second. Just back to Marcus Freeman NFL. He'd be crazy. He is good. Mike, if you win here in just a second just back to Marcus Freeman NFL. I he'd be crazy

He is good Mike if you win a national championship at Notre Dame It will never get better and bigger than that for him He'll never be more relevant than he is again It comes down to what your goals are if you want if you want to coach at the highest level That's the NFL if that's a goal of Marcus Freeman's and eventually he gets the chance to he may take it because that's a goal It's just like a player a player would like to play in the NFL. That's the goal and to hope to make it. So if that's a coach's goal and they get the opportunity and he takes it, I would be bummed he left Notre Dame, but I would be happy that he got

to achieve a goal. All right. I'm torn now, man. I like I'm with Billy on if Notre Dame wins, it's bad for the Golic family and I desperately want to annoy North Carolina. I'll risk it. Again. I'll risk it being bad for the Golic family. Believe me. Yeah, but suddenly Kyle Woodard is walking down Radio Row and he's doing the beef jerky diabetes thing. That's okay. I've had a good run. Thank you for doing this, Mike. We appreciate it. All right, you got it, guys. God bless football.

I know that. God bless football.