The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: That's a Bar

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

The official sounder has been fired off: Sports Media Talk:tm: is on the way. After reports of an upcoming massive contract for Stephen A. Smith, Dan and Mike lead the crew on a discussion about ESPN, their new approach to talent, and how Stephen A. and Pat McAfee need to shout "THANK YOU, DAN" from the heavens. The entire conversation between Dan and Mike put Andrew Hawkins in an increasingly uncomfortable spot. Then, Taylor had the news that Bill Belichick interviewed with North Carolina three days ago...SO WHY DIDN'T HE BREAK THE NEWS? Plus, Lane Kiffin's comments on the CFP have Mike fired up and spark yet another debate between Mike and Jessica over the merits of this year's playoff teams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to DraftKings Network. Welcome to the Big Sui, presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan LeBattard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries

that if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face and the habitual liar. That incidentally was Detroit's third game in 11 days. Like that team has separated itself even in a sport where you understand, yeah, Philadelphia might be able

to beat them and Baltimore might be able to beat them and the Chiefs might be able to beat them or the Bills might be able to beat them. But Detroit has everyone in the league knowing that, holy this is the best Lions team there's ever been. Like none of us have seen a Lions team that looks like this one, none of us have believed that there's a Lions team that could do anything like this.

They made two of their greatest players quit and the third greatest went to win the championship immediately somewhere else in Matthew Stafford. Like that history is big I that fan feeling for alliance fan feeling so full of themselves on the field to go after the Packers coach is a Lions fan I have never known and I have never known his father and I've never known his grandfather and I've never known a Lions fan that feels that kind of confident on what their team is because you can't because two of their best players quit early not one

they're two best is he it calvin johnson was better than matthew stafford at what he did their two very best players quit said this i can't play with these people anymore you know you say like that now i think the fan deserved it now i'm like you know what i get it he's allowed to be intoxicated on the field. He's intoxicated with Lions football. That's what I mean. I should have qualified that.

Yeah, that's everything that's happening there. If you want to be with us on Sunday watching football, enjoying our company, having Stugatz sign books, Stugatz is selling and signing books. I believe he's just signing them. We will not be selling steve gotts books there's if you have a steve gotts book bring it he'll sign it we will be selling coloring books signed coloring books

at the watch party this sunday it's at dolphin mall vivo one p m game time with the event is from twelve to five god bless football bunch of the cruel be out there come on out was that better than yesterday yes thank you. My energy, thank you. Yes, slightly better than yesterday. You might have a future in this business. You too might have a contract like Stephen A. Smith's.

One day in the future. I see both of you are vying for it. Andrew Hawkins with his hot takes. And me, so close. And you. What did you guys make of the reporting on the Stephen A. Smith is close to terms? I haven't talked sports media in a while. I've got a lot of interesting stuff here

I have found some interesting stuff out here that that is like The way that he's gonna change the game from inside the machine is gonna be really fun to watch Dan when I saw that first off I was made very happy right because when you look at somebody in the industry and then they set a new high-water Mark you're like wait a second. I'm in this industry I have hope don't tell me that we can't reach the stars when there's footprints on the moon sure Andrew Hawkins You know what I'm talking about leader of men you look at you look at somebody say like oh wait He got how much wait a second there's money around here that we can all make money. Let's let's be happy for this

Yes, Lord deliver us from from all these pick sixes. Yeah From these pick sixes then Yeah from from these pick sixes Then there's also the crushing reality and it's like damn. Oh Steven A Smith is more than a hundred and forty times better at this than me Let's go ahead and play the imaging so that I can talk about Do you get annoyed every time Dan Levitard pontificates about the sports media industry. Well, too bad mother. So I am proud that we have a Miami media company. Those are hard to come by. Not many of those ever,

in the history of this town. And one of the things- English speaking for sure. That's correct. You know what? Yeah, we got about two dozen down here. We've got plenty Spanish speaking, but as we do this party on Sunday,

and I explain to the audience what it bought us beyond coloring books and parties, this audience what it bought us beyond coloring books and parties. This is what it bought us at the middle of what Stephen A. Smith is doing and has done. We were worth a certain thing at ESPN and we jumped as the media collapses all over the place into a different thing that makes us worth a lot more. And Mcfee and steven a smith saw that and bring it to disney and her like and where's hours they give it to mcafee and when you get to mcafee you gotta give the production deal to steven a smith the one thing that i don't

know i don't know if what i'm about to say is true because this part bums me out i didn't totally understand it i don't know why around the horn is actually going away no one has told me but it has the ratings first take dot so it doesn't it's not a business sense thing that makes any sense to me i need the reckless speculation here cuz i don't actually know this hold on a second time to go away though journalistic credibility and get red layers

here is something like to call reckless speculation. You're good. Thank you. I'm guessing that they're gonna put whatever Stephen A. Smith wants wherever it is that he wants it and there'll be something for him at 5 p.m. there because Stephen A. Smith wants it because he has just changed the game on if you guys give McAfee a deal for 20 million and a production deal and he doesn't have the ratings I have and he doesn't then what are you giving me you give me everything Disney has you give me everything that's here because Disney needs me more than I need Disney right now because I've been building my on your dime in front of

everybody on the side and if I take it somewhere else I'm going to be able to sell it for more than all of these other people sell it for. Yeah but I will say that McAfee does a lot for that network and the college game day ratings have totally turned around they're averaging more than two million viewers McAfee is a big reason for that he also does things in digital video that Stephen A Smith doesn't quite do. Not yet. He does things in the pot well he does Stephen A does do digital audio and video but he has that siloed to his own he has those carved out he's not doing it for ESPN now McAfee to a degree does it for ESPN and also does it for himself it's a it's a kooky deal but McAfee I would not say McAfee

doesn't bring the ratings that Stephen A does because McAfee can point to that Cadillac on Saturdays and be like I'm a big reason for that turnaround. They're going to try and kill Stephen A more than they already are. Right? If that deal goes through and everything is it like he's going to be just on 24 seven. Well, the problem is him there. He's a workaholic. So he wants all the things inside and outside of the machine, but he's going to get them is the thing. Like this is, this is going to be a groundbreaking deal that no one in the history of the media has seen before. He's always wanted to be Howard Cosell

and he's going to be the modern day version of Howard Cosell. But you know how like in the NBA and the NFL we've seen this with quarterbacks before, like wait, you're giving them what? That's gonna ruin contracts for everybody else. ESPN, along the time that they got rid of us, had a different approach when it came to talent. And don't

worry, Hawk, I'm going to be very careful around those. I was going to say, I'm looking how to jump into this. This is a very weird situation I'm in currently in this conversation. I think we all understand. Hold on, do I need to let him go for a second? Hold on, let me see if I can help him. You never served a penalty for the brothel thing. Hold on a second. The brothel hustle thing.

Yeah, it happened though. Delayed penalty. We had six on the ice. Let's go. I've got the other one on now. I've got multiple things going on. Hold on a second the brothel hustle thing. Yeah, it's a penalty. We had six on the ice Let's go. I've got the other one on now. I've got multiple things going on. Hold on a second I'm gonna let me find the one delayed penalty. I've got the right one now. Hold on We've got a penalty five minutes major asshole We're giving him cover are you the He doesn't want to sit here and talk with us about this thing. We're giving him cover. Are you the asshole for a reason?

You got to understand his situation here. But what I would say is they pivoted and they realized that we have a bunch of talent that's in an upper tier. You know what? Forgive me for a second. Forgive me. Major Pinoli on the ice. Five minutes for spreading propaganda.

Might be worse. Major penalty on the ice five minutes for spreading propaganda I said you're good not helping them. Yeah, don't worry. We're all gonna come around and make the point here, which is thank you, Dan I'm pretty sure that's how this one is the word Dan says you're welcome but they have a different approach to talent and instead of like spending in on a bunch of But they have a different approach to talent instead of spending in on a bunch of people that would be like, are they an A level store or are they A minus B level? They decided we're going A plus across the board. We're going superstar game changers.

But if that reported number that's attached to that deal is accurate, it's going to have a trickle down effect and it's gonna be difficult for them to navigate on their contracts going forward because you're gonna say things like, are you to tell me that Stephen A. Smith is 75 times more valuable to this company than I am? To which, yes, would be that answer.

That number keeps getting smaller, by the way. No, no, no, I know he's 140 times more important to that network, certainly, than I am, but I'm saying for other talents without naming names. If McAfee or Greenberg comes up, they're gonna be pointing to that deal because that's gonna set a new standard and they're gonna be doing the math.

Is he really that much more valuable to this company than I am? That's just the nature of talent contracts. Mike, you've turned into David Sampson during the each year old conversation where the $100 million contract is gonna end the sport and now 15 years later, you've turned into David Sampson during the each year old conversation where like the $100 million contract is supposed to end the sport. And now 15 years later, we've got a billion dollar contract.

Well, it's been redefined though, because this kind of thing, as they cut costs all over media, and I tell you that media is collapsing, it's hard to make the argument that media is collapsing when you can afford to pay Stephen A. Smithith the kind of money that allows him not only these things but also uh... disney property access that is kind of huge uh...

more valuable perhaps since then even the money we're talking about and i'm also guessing i'm guessing that he also gets to do outside of those things all the politics that he wants and everything that he wants everywhere else but there is not enough time in the day for him to do all of the things that he wants to do in terms of conquering money-making and then spreading that money around to help build whatever it is he wants to build to leave a legacy for others behind him in the business because he's interested in that too.

This isn't just a money game for all the people who are competing at the top of it. It's the power game of how do we rescue the parts of media that are going to remain three years from now? Let me be abundantly clear though, because I was just talking about the possible ramifications. I think the ramifications are good, because if it's always good and you got this when when we had our deal with our wonderful partners over at DraftKings, which is even McAfee said thank you because That's great. That's a number that's out there in the public space and you're growing the industry for others If there is a talent that should be the highest paid in the game. It's Steve. Well, no, it's Stephen A Smith

But then we get to do the math like, well, is he 150 times more important than us? And it's all great stuff for the industry. So I say, you're the greatest of all time. Set that number to an absurd place and keep reaching for the size. I also want to make just one clarification because I'm forever being aggregated here in spaces that can cause me problems with people. There have been times that McAfee feels like for whatever the reasons that I have not been supportive of what it is that he's doing. So the math that I was simply giving you before was to show you the basic humanity as we talk about crazy insane numbers of, if we'd leave ESPN and that opens up the door for McAfee to turn everything that he did,

he had the deal at FanDuel that he got that was like the one that we've got with DraftKings, and then he says, nope, rip it up, I'm going there because I can do the things that Stephen A wants to do. When Stephen A sees that happen, and it's a deal for acts with production expenses that also have millions of dollars in it that that allow mackinfied to go on game day and do all that

i'm gonna pay a hundred thousand dollars for a kick of a pay a million dollars to erin rogers to do this over here steven a smith sees the new person get that at a company that once wouldn't allow the precedent between Dan Patrick and Keith Obermann to be, no Dan we can't put a TV in your office because then Keith will want one. The precedent that they've said You could have talked about this on Monday without Hawkins in there. Yeah, I'm just, just along the way.

So what, is this all bad? Wait a minute, why does this make it all, does this sound bad for E.S.? What am I doing that it puts him in the bad position of talking around? Don't ask him that directly objection your honor. Yeah Do the thing again? Yeah The Union is back to the what Andrew Hawkins yes, I'm pro Union you talk about Yeah, do that a***** yourself again. Goodness gracious. I've been thinking about this. The reason why my brain, I figured it out, the word association of brothel and hostile, the movie hostile. Which is also a brothel.

When he, they're going, he goes states somebody and turns to a brothel, that's where my brain just subconsciously took it. I think it's the L at the end for both of them too. Right, it's the O. Hostel, brothel. There's Es and there's Os also. There's Es and there's Os. Similar vowels, yeah. Eastern European thing.

Yeah, it's like a... Hostels need a better PR agent. Hostels are good hotels. Brothels need a better PR agent, am I right? Well, without your own bathroom. No? But brothels are the... I'm confused about all this.

I'm just kidding, hostels definitely need a better PR agent. I think PR is good for brothels right now. Let me just be clear, I've never stayed at either. Yeah, me either, it's a problem. I've only ever seen them in movies. It's just like, there's bunk beds and you share a communal bathroom. I hate that.

That sounds dangerous because I watched the movie and I just now associate, when there's a hostel, there's a brothel not too far away from it. There's hostels in Miami Beach. Are there? There's brothels in Miami Beach. I'm? There's a brothel in Miami Beach. I'm sure there are. Not, well, they can't just be,

they can't be advertising it. Come on. Here's what I'll say about the Stephen A. Smith contract now that I acted like I wasn't gonna say anything. Is, now it's like football in the sense you've pushed the veteran money up and you've pushed the rookie money up, right? Pat Mack, if you be in the rookies where like,

Sam Bradford was coming in and they were like, they're making too much, but then also the veterans were making money, then they put the rookie wage scale on and it ruined everything. Because now you're capping the guys coming in early and now nobody can make money, you're cutting veterans. So the fact that now everybody's getting paid,

both the rookies and the extreme vets like Steve and A Smith, I feel like that's a great situation to be in for talent. To your point, Mike. This is a fantastic thing for talent all across and creators, content creators, because you wanna keep pushing where the ceiling is. Always. Anybody that's in this game wants the water level to rise

and establish a new high point because that's gonna be used for better or for worse. Another piece of confetti just fell. This is amazing. Congratulations. That's just a still dated back. That's how big that Peacock announcement was. That's just the way that all these talent contracts go.

You're gonna say, well, that guy's worth that to you, so I must be worth blank. Yeah, and it also prevents you from, like when I think about McAfee, who obviously is incredible, I have a ton of respect for McAfee, I've looked up to what he's built on his own, and then leveraged it literally anywhere and everywhere, because he's like, I am the entity.

Well now for someone like Stephen A. Smith, again to your point, who sees that, this gives you an incentive to say, okay, well it's still not too bad to stay in house at ESPN in this world of creators, in YouTube, in social media, where everybody is trying to build their own thing, much like this company here who has the ability to do so.

Yeah, and Stephen A is certainly charting his own course in that McAfee built that outside of ESPN. He built something that was attractive that ESPN wanted in on. Stephen A, while he's been at ESPN. He built something that was attractive that ESPN wanted in on. Stephen A, while he's been at ESPN, has gotten carve-outs for his own digital enterprises, and he is growing those while being their most known talent, certainly their most important talent over there.

No one's really been afforded that over there, so he's charting a new course for himself, but also a happy byproduct of that is he's charting a new course for himself, but also a happy byproduct of that is he's charting a new course for everybody else because that's what leadership is. He may not have gotten into this thinking that he was a good leader, although I'm pretty sure he thinks he's an amazing leader. I've seen him say that he should be president. He is an amazing leader. He's following Dan's lead. I mean, let's be honest. Well, thank you, Dan, is how this all ends. There you go. Thank you, Dan.

What a confidence drop the hell is got there there is excellent work by you uh... but when it comes to involved you know evolving sports media types i want to ask you guys this question because uh... this is it's one of the most amazing stories i've ever seen in the history of sports media he was let go by the s p n and now he returns to conquer it al michaels lot of people are complaining about him last night complaining that that game he

wasn't meeting the moment with his enthusiasm as an old person al michael's but one of the greats there's ever been and is getting more and more criticized every time he does a broadcast tricky thing aging with grace in this space. ESPN has done a great job with Lee Corso and Dick Vitale. How do you do this? Yeah, well, Al Michaels is awesome.

His voice across something makes it feel big. I'm not gonna pay attention to rabble rousers on the internet. I like hearing Kirk Herb Street and Al Michaels on a game. And by the way, I don't know how many of you actually carve out parts of your day to watch the pregame from Amazon, but Al Michaels on a game. And by the way, I don't know how many of you actually carve out parts of your day to watch the pregame from Amazon, but I think it's spectacular.

I love that team that they have there. They've actually built a really compelling, good product. Now, we saw what happened on Thursday when teams have full rest. There are certain inherent things at Thursday Night Football. Hawk, maybe you can attest, is someone that's played in those Thursday night games on short weeks and as part of the

players union that. I was in the wave of games on Thursday that sucked. Yeah. That was like my hair. Were you in that game where. Playing the Jags and. Were you in that game where they're like, F it, Josh Cribbs is quarterback now.

Were you in that one? I wasn't. That one was a great one. That was a good one. But I think they do a great job with it. And now they also have this flex scheduling. You see when they actually have a good game, conceptually Thursday Night Football is an amazing idea. And I think that the broadcasting for a company that is just starting with this

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bucks. Only on DraftKings the crown is yours. 789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bet must win to receive reward. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co.slash.bball. Don LeBattard Sub 500 seasons it's been lonely Now the best player's on our side Been losing and losing for much too long But now we're back with New York pride StuGuts Jalen You've got us on our feet. J-Land, we're gonna win the East. J-Land, without Randall, we're still doing fine.

This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats. Let me put in front of you a couple of college football stories, one of them involving Bill Belichick, okay, because I was surprised, perhaps I shouldn't have been. I hadn't heard a lot of people talking about him to college, interviewing for the North Carolina job just sort of disoriented me. Wasn't it? Because of the youth movement in Chapel Hill?

I wasn't expecting, you guys were unsurprised by this? Well Taylor actually told me a couple of days ago that this was happening. Taylor's super plugged in over there. Anything Chapel Hill, you just run that by Taylor. You want to just revealing your sources. No, no, no. I mean, it's out there now.

And you wonder why Stephen A makes the big bucks. You want to ask Taylor about it? Taylor told me. Taylor told me three days ago. Apparently, his dad used to coach at North Carolina. I think this is him just kind of kicking the tires. And it does appear that the NCAA is going to follow more of an NFL model.

The NCAA is going to get all the things that it's looking for. And we know he can relate to 20-year-olds. Let's not forget that Taylor once texted Mac Brown that Mac Brown should be fired from UNC. That is not a real story. He didn't tell me he was going to get fired. Yes. It was on accident. Somebody had said, like, he should be fired from UNC. That is not a real story. To protect him, he didn't tell me he was gonna get fired. It was on accident. Somebody had said, he meant to text his buddy,

Mac should be outta here, and he sent it to Mac Brown. That is worse. There's no version of that that sounds better. It was Roy Williams, so it's much better. Oh, UNC, I got my old UNC coaches mixed up. That's my bad, it's on me. And you were so eager to do it that you didn't even hear anybody Correcting you like you were just a puppy dog so excited to tell him that story that you didn't even hear the people who were

Correcting you man. You sure you don't want Taylor on this. He's really good I do want Taylor. Thank you for putting him there because look so don't ask what he's doing down there and Thank you for putting him there because look so don't ask what he's doing down there and Andrew I am going to explain to you something Taylor related at the last watch party We did the only bit of stay there Taylor, please. I would love for you explaining me He knows it's coming so he wants to leave before you say yeah. Yeah. Well, yes so There's more to it though because I I i mean to explain this to park in the audience

taylor's a bit of a meathead uh... taylor uh... loves our show and uh... is very helpful and wants to uh... uh... help everybody is a producer but every once in a while again will break out and i'll get distracted and become a very volunteer that's how you describe him now he's not a volunteer. He gets paid, but things like what I'm about to tell you happen often. It's all real.

Not a volunteer. So this person who evidently is more plugged into North Carolina than anybody and should be breaking North Carolina stories left and right, because he knows all of them because he played for the North carolina football team i am in near uh... you know near windward getting out of my car uh... yesterday and i'm not

i'm getting out of my car like man bellichick to north carolina that like interviewing that surprising and as i'm doing it taylor through the sunshine loves miami I'm surprised he wasn't shirtless just waves It's like hey Dan and keeps moving and I'm like, is there any reason you didn't break this story and Like just says yeah had it three days ago, but it doesn't tell anybody Just doesn't just wanders around in a media company doesn't know to impress by breaking a Belichick story that like I think that would have been a nationally important story. And.

It might have been able to get him paid here. Instead of the internship he's clearly doing. He's being paid. Oh. But, you know. But no insurance. No insurance. By the way, we're pushing back

that he actually is a meathead. There's no doubt his voice sounds like a meathead, but he's not a meathead. I'm a meathead. Okay. no doubt his voice sounds like a meathead, but he's not a meathead. I'm a meathead. Okay. Okay, but anyways, at the last watch party, somebody's, I said, you got any constructive criticism for our show? And his only thing was Les Taylor.

Wow. Okay. I mean, that would explain why he's under the desk of Mike. I don't even talk on the show. We're just giving voices to the vocal minorities. All right, get out of here. Thank you for all your good work interning on the show and you should have broken the Belichick story

because I think that one is super interesting. I wanna play some audio of Lane Kiffin and Mike Elko here because there are two different kinds of stories that I wanna get to. But let's begin with the Lane Kiffin sound because the Ole Miss coach, I love him. I love that he's a part of this program. I love that he has resurrected himself

after a couple of stumbles and that he continues to be wildly interesting and doesn't care either if anything he says makes sense. I think that this is probably what you're going to have to get used to as fans. You know, teams having multiple losses in this conference and they kind of tricked me into it. It's why it's why it's just different. It's just totally different. And these comparisons of other conferences and ACC and big 12. I mean, it's just like, it's you might as well

be in different leagues, not conferences, different leagues. You know, like here's the NFL, here's the SEC, here's those few Big Ten teams, and then here's everybody else. So you're going to see it in the draft. You know, it'll be different like it always is with the SEC, the amount of kids drafted out of here and there. And so it's really a bad system. Here you go, you got me going. It's just a bad system. It's a bad system, and you go, you got me going. It's just a bad system.

It's a bad system and you got people in there in place of it. And I don't know, they gave me the list to the coaches today. You know, any of those coaches ever been down here in the deep south into these stadiums and played in these games that are on this? So how do they even know? How do they even know what it's like to have to go win in these stadiums in these places, and on the road of teams that they say, well, these teams are 500 teams. And we have the week

where the three favorites all lose on the senior day and night in three of the hardest stadiums in America to play. It's much different than where these other conferences go and play. They're six and six teams that they got to go play are five and five teams at the time. Just totally different. And you got to get up for it every week. It's a lot easier when you got to get up for two games a year, you know, to get your team up.

I do not agree with him. I think the nation does, though. I think the committee does. I think the prevailing feeling is the SEC is the next professional league. There's professional football, there's the SECailing feeling is the SEC is the next professional league. There's professional football, there's the SEC, and then there's everything else. I think it's outdated information. It's wrong information, but I think most people, it's the information they have.

I think most people disagree with Lane just because of the nature of their losses down the stretch too, but he says it's difficult to go into those SEC places. And I think he made a lot of good points in terms of like where players are drafted. But just know Louisville and Miami played two of the SEC teams he lost to on the road and won by a combined 50 points. You really feel like you know that one. That's a bar.

That's a bar. Miami blew him out by 40 and you lost on senior day? Get out of here. He looked over at you over his left shoulder. You lost to Kentucky, brother! You lost to Kentucky, brother! Louisville went over there. Wasn't hard for them. I think most people do disagree with Lane, Dan. I feel like he's the wrong messenger for this given the season that they've had and where they had it and the talent on the team. I really just think most people are like, yeah, we're not buying it this year, I'm sorry. It's just not true.

Jessica, okay, so I would say to you though, that you and Mike are in the weeds on caring about college football in a way that fuels college football to its rabid heights. But if people who really like sports and are watching on Saturday, but not consuming college football the way Mike is investing in it and Jessica is snorting all of it,

I believe that most people still believe that SEC football, that if I just go around the country hey do you think it's harder to play in an SEC stadium than all the other states in Louisville then in Louisville do you think it's harder yes or no they would say yes but that do you think the SEC is better than the other conference do you think the SEC is better than the conference the Duke is in and that Louisville are in yes or no they all say yes I think that's outdated information it depends on the stadium Vanderbilt stadiums half under construction

They still upset Alabama in front of mostly Alabama fans like fans nobody But here's damn about what the plan is they they're better because they have better players But Lane have more money they have a better recruit if you take the whole team of Alabama And you put them on Toledo guess who's going in the playoff well Toledo did win at an SEC team we beat Guess who's going in the playoff? Well, Toledo did win at an SEC team. We beat Mississippi, and it wasn't that crazy to play. You know why, Jess? Their players sucked, OK?

It wasn't rocket science. But it just means more over there. I will say that while Lane is making a losing argument for Ole Miss, he doesn't realize that, no, for that very logic, you won. There was an ACC 2 loss team that was borderline, and an SEC 3 loss team, and they used your logic lane.

They just had three teams to pick from, and you finished third in that regard. But your overall point? That's what got Bama into the playoff. Do you say rocket science on purpose? That was a good pun. No. As you can tell from the brothel hostile situation, my work association is a little off today. But thank you, I should get the makeup from earlier.

You really are wounded. Are you unforgiving of yourself on mistakes? Like you're really hurt by the public mistake of confusing a brothel and a hostel. No, I'm not hurt at all by that actually. He does seem insulted that we offered makeup to him though. No, no, no, no. He's just like, I don't need makeup, look at me.

I'm like, you look good. Well, I felt like when people say like, hey, do you need makeup? And I've like never requested makeup. I'm like, well, I would rather you just tell me, hey bro, you got blemishes. I have never seen our makeup staff so insistent. Exactly, me either.

And I'm like, well, yes. If you're telling me I need makeup, then please, don't have me in here not looking like a heartthrob. Get paid to do it. Per person. Which is why I do it. I wouldn't do it if I didn't know. I was like, come on, share it.

Next time, just say a little pounder on the nose. It's fine. It's called leadership. It's called teamwork. Do you understand how weird it was for me to see him say, no, I'm good. Look at him, and I'm like, no, he's beautiful, he's probably been beautiful all his life, he's fine, and then they leave,

unless, he says, unless you're telling me I need it, and they're saying, no, you don't need it. Then the next commercial break, they come in, and you need it. Well, then you start getting a little shinier because you're talking. That's actually good work there, it cracks out. I'm actually sweating right now,

because I'm hot. You can use a little powder. I'm used to a little, a colder weather. Like when you play in the atmosphere of somewhere like Toledo, and you got 28,000 screaming fans, right? That's a tough environment for anybody. SEC or not.

The thing that just happened with Mike Ryan and Jessic, I'd like to put a final bow on all of this because i would say i was startled this weekend delighted that our little show just got grabbed bike college football argument talk where jessica wants to talk on day she's not here in jerry wants to talk on days he's not here and mike wants to talk on the day he missed even though he monopolized the three days before that, that he was here, and then he gets back here and he says something, and then he says it to me,

and then by 50, and he looks at me and then he says, that's a bar, because he wanted to end the note on a bar. And I- Left you speechless. Left you all speechless. Run the tape. I was like, I guess we're going to break now because I killed it so god damn good. Not 30, not maybe 30 maybe Stephen a is only 50 times better than me. That was a damn good delivery

I could not 40 on on that 50. Can I get though one final night? I don't want a Closing argument. I just want to send I want I want Jessica and Mike to go bar for unsaid bar one more No, just I want to finish the subject for the for unsaid bar. You want more. No, just I want to finish the subject for the week. I rest my case after I left you speechless. Okay. Gavel. Jessica, any further thoughts on this?

That was his closing argument. Any further thoughts on college football argument? I know I'm getting you after the martinis and the hangover. Yes, there's SEC bias. Some of it is deserved, some of it is not, and Miami still should have beaten Syracuse. That's all I got, that's all I got. That's it. Also, we have a guy that is presently employed

by the University of Michigan making these arguments. They're all gonna protect themselves, because let me tell you something, if Indiana had the same record as Miami, Indiana was getting in. Because those two, look, it's, the fact of the matter is. I don't think that's true. Well, this is an ESPN property.

How dare you talk about immaculate ward manual like that. Oh wait, sorry, incarnate ward. Damn it, I screwed up your screw up. Brothel Hostel. But you made a face at him on Indiana, and he needs rebutting here on the idea. If Indiana lost to Michigan, they would have been out.

I don't think so. Yes. What's weird to me is like, Yes. Do you think, They would have been out. Can I ask you a question? I like them.

Can I ask everybody? If they lost to Nebraska, they would have been out too. There's no way they would have made it if they lost one of those games. Can I ask everybody a question? That's what the whole week sounded like to people. I'm gonna ask everybody a question now and it's not, I don't have my own take on this.

I'm just curious. You think there's Hoosier bias? You think there's Indiana Hoosier bias in football? That's crazy. No. If, so, everybody was telling me the timing of Miami's loss was bad. They lost to Syracuse at the end. It sounds like a gobble.

A turkey. A turkey gobble. Throw some of the Hawkins I like him from last week in the mix. I like him. There week in the mix. I like him. There it is. So everyone says that the timing of Miami's loss

to Syracuse was bad. I like him. And that overlooks the timing of Alabama's loss to Oklahoma is bad, but I guess because it happened a week earlier, it's less bad. Georgia, I like him. That's all the argument is. But they beat him in September.

So if Miami had a loss in September, I guess it would have been fine. So if my- If they had a good win, it would have been fine. Here's my point. Here's my question for you guys. Switch the weeks. Say Miami's loss to Syracuse happens the week that Alabama lost to Oklahoma, and this past week Alabama loses to Oklahoma the way that they did, which is 24 to 3.

Who has the better win though? Do you think Alabama gets in if the most recent thing that you saw, not the thing that you saw two weeks ago, the most recent thing that you saw from them was 24-3 losing to Oklahoma, and you just swap the order of Miami's loss to Syracuse to the win against Wake? I like them.

If you lost to Syracuse and Georgia Tech earlier in the season, you would have already been out of the ACC race. You would have been ranked at the top 15 going into last week of the season. Do you think already been out of the ACC race. You would have been ranked at the top 15 going into the last week of the season. Do you think Alabama gets in if the last thing that you saw this? We would have stopped talking about Miami a month ago instead of four days ago. Is this my answer?

It's a good question. I'm asking, if the last thing that you saw from Alabama was the only other game that they played before that against a FBS team, if they lost 24-3, and that was your last impression on the season of Alabama, do you think that they get in? Miami would have been out the second that their ACC championship game hopes were dashed, but they lost their second game of the conference in the season.

I like them. I am done with this bit. Well, but it is the ending argument is, don't lose to Syracuse and Georgia Tech. Right, but don't lose to Oklahoma doesn't exist, which is the benefit of the doubt that Lane Kiffin seems to think he's not getting. Brother, you got it. You just weren't good enough to be the one to get it. So let me get to this Mike Elko sound because I was saying most of the season that Texas A&M had a team that had three defensive linemen

who might be taken in the top hundred and they could wreck something like an SEC with that kind of defensive line. But let's just hear from Mike Elko, who has been a good quote this season, which is not what I was expecting uh... talking about where he finds himself in the middle of the mediocrity of the s e c there's reports that some states have been able to target go into rev share deals third student athletes i know that law here prohibits that still was that

at all any challenges with that in how do you see that shaping things up moving forward no i i not that. That wasn't a challenge for us at all. I think we're in a really good spot, and I don't think NIL played any role. NIL didn't play any role in our inability to land anyone. Maybe our NIL plan didn't allow us to get involved with certain kids or to continue to recruit certain kids or to match a number that might have allowed us to land certain kids.

But that was more of an internal plan than it was a lack of resources. I think you have to be really intelligent when you manage this thing, how you manage it for the culture of your program. You see some of these insane freshman deals. I would just like to know how the upperclassmen in their program feel when these freshmen come in making five times more than the returning starter. And so I think that will be a really interesting dynamic

for a lot of these programs when these freshmen show up on camp. I see Hawkins and Chris Cody and Mike Ryan nodding vigorously. And I gotta be honest with you, to hear a coach talk that way about the finances of college football is so brazen that I still can't get used to it.

I'm still not used to a coach talking about the business that cleanly but he ain't wrong. No, I mean you could probably play that clip and then make a call back to the Stephen A. Smith situation, right, because that is economics of anything. I like him. Not that callback. What are we doing here?

I forgot who that was, but then Chris reminded me of who it was that you said you liked. People tend to forget what happened with Jaden Rashada. It'll be curious to see. I'm not here to rain on the parade. We'll all figure it out. Maybe Underwood's an incredible investment. It certainly got vibes going good

and they had a good recruiting class thereafter because they had a lot of positive momentum. At that position, I'd rather keep my powder dry for something a little bit more proven because we know that the portal's gonna be popping this year. And as Coach Elko spoke to, it does have a residual effect to the rest of your Ross. It's gonna be hard to manage Howdy folks it's Mike and guess what it's Miller time

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