The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Best Bets for the CFP and MASSIVE NFL weekend

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

John is joined by betting guru, Stuckey from The Action Network to break down the upcoming weekend in both college football and the NFL. They dive into the biggest matchups, key storylines, and deliver their expert insight on where the value is for bettors. From College footballs slate of massive playoff games to Saturday and Sunday’s NFL action that will determine who makes the playoffs and who doesn't, they’ve got you covered with sharp analysis and some of the best bets to make this weekend. #Volume  All lines provided by Hard Rock BetSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. The Volume. What is going on, everybody, John Middlecock, 3-and-Out podcast, brought to you by our friends and partners at Zone Pouches. Today will be a podcast. It'll just be me and Stucky. I was going to do a mailbag too, but me and Stucky went for an hour. You know, the next couple days are kind of holidays.

So I was like, let's just do Stucky. I'll do a mailbag probably for Friday with some college football talk as well. So at John Middlecalf is a mailbag. We will get one later this week. and today we'll just be stucky hitting on obviously the Niners game, the Raven game, the Panther game, some other stuff, and then the college football games, which we got four games starting Wednesday night

with Miami at Ohio State. Miami versus Ohio State, not at Ohio State, but then, you know, the games the following day. So let's get excited. You guys know the drill. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast wherever you may listen. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. We'll be live on Thursday night.

reacting to the slate of games on New Year's Day. And then again, on Saturday night, reacting to the Niner game. So make sure you subscribe and never miss a thing. And let's dive into Stucky. Okay. Week 18. I'm lucky enough to get Dad of the Year. Stucky from Lexington, Kentucky.

This is a, it's bittersweet because for the first time on Monday night, it kind of hit me. I'm like, we don't have any more Monday night. like regular season games. You only got four more real college games that matter. I got the elite eight starting. You start doing the math in your head. You're like half the, you know, a large percentage of these week 18 games mean nothing.

So we don't have that much meaningful football left in our life, Stucky, as we turn into 2006. I mean, you just had a child born in 2025. That doesn't make you feel old. I don't know what will, but how you doing, my man? Good, yes. It'll be 240 more days until our next college football game on a Saturday. So that's done. None of the playoff games are on Saturdays, even the FCS championships on a Monday night this year. So no more College Football Saturday. Yeah, no more Monday. You have one Monday night wildcard game.

That's it. Like the rest of the bowl games are going to be finishing up this week. and then it's just a couple of college football playoff games. The NFL playoff should be good. This week will be weird, as usual, but enjoy it. The Sunday afternoon slate and morning slate, if you're on the West Coast, is going to be pretty bad because you basically just have, luckily for the NFL, things broke right, like the Ravens won the Steelers' loss,

so kept the AFC North interesting. The Seahawks won and the Niners one, kept that division interesting. You even had the Falcons upset the Rams, and then the Panthers and the Bucks both lost to keep all that interesting, even into Sunday. So if the Bucks win, at least you have a game on Sunday afternoon. So now this is only three games.

But there was a chance. Like if the Steelers beat the Browns, Steelers, Ravens is meaningless. You know, the Panthers' bucks could have been meaningless. You, if Seattle had won and the 49ers, like, excuse me, if the 49ers had lost, Seattle clinches the division, already. So luckily for the NFL, they got three marquee games in the slots, but then you have now the games in between on your early and late afternoon slate on Sunday. There's some rough ones. You're going to get a ton of backup quarterbacks. You're going to see a lot of line moves this week,

as always. You're going to have a lot of decisions on who's resting, who's not. It looks like there's a chance the Eagles might rest, even though they could move up to the two if the bears lose to the lions. And then the Chargers, they're going to rest. Harball last year in week 18 with a chance to move up to the five, they play their starters in week 18 and beat their Raiders pretty handily. This year, they do have a chance to move up at five, but it would require the Texans losing in the 1 o'clock slate or the Jags, which is very unlikely. And I think that they're probably making the right choice. And then you had this is all week 18 is about for the most part, because then you have a lot of these teams that are eliminated. Do you really,

one of risks like they're going to sit some of their star players. You even have like a Raiders. The Raiders actually be trying to lose versus the chiefs who probably want to get a better draftic. And then why would you play some of your vets like Chris Jones and like they're probably going to sit? But McVeigh, after the game last week, McVeigh is known for resting his starters and not caring about seating.

But this time, I mean, if the 49ers win on Saturday, they get the one seed. and the Rams are locked in to the six. But if Seattle wins, then the Rams can jump them to get the five, which I think is super important this year because it's a difference between probably going to Philly or you go to the NFC South winner. So that's important. And then McVeigh said after the game, we're playing our starters right away. Maybe he was emotional, but he says we need to play that.

I think he was heated. He just lost like his best friend, kind of got embarrassed for the first half. But I do think that they will if the Seahawks win. If the 49ers win, no chance. I think they're sitting everyone against Arizona because you're locked into the six. That's his M.O. And why would you risk any more injuries with the Rams? And it's been a stunt.

Like the Rams had it all 10 days ago. This is your Stafford MVP, 1C, this is the best team by far. now they're on Stafford might have lost the MVP and this was all since they were up 16 in Seattle in the fourth quarter and it's all falling apart since now they might be the 16 going to Philly

Stafford lost the MVP that's life in the NFL on a week to week basis let's just jump right into the to the main event then I'm sure you remember this game this happened not that long ago and it was like a defining moment for Kyle

and a young Niners team with Debo and Kittle and Jimmy G. They beat Seattle on a Sunday night to get the number one seat. Drey Greenlaw had a game-winning tackle at like the half-yard line. And obviously a couple weeks later, they're in the Super Bowl against the Chiefs. And they kind of dominated those two playoff games. I think Minnesota, I actually went to that game, and then they beat that Aaron Rogers team where I think Jimmy threw like 10 times. And Mozart, they ran for like 400 yards. They own the Packers over a couple of years stretch just by just running all over them. A little different operation here.

Obviously, a dramatically different Seattle team. I was looking at the box scores like D.K. Metcalf, Bobby Wagner. Obviously, Russell Wilson was still damn good through a couple touchdowns in that game. I think this is fascinating. We've seen the 49ers now play two teams whose defenses are atrocious, right? And they just, I mean, Purdy's had 10 touchdowns in two weeks. I mean, it looks like, it looks like the best player to the league.

But this is a different animal, right? This is a team whose offense, I think, is kind of question. I mean, I don't think most people realize because Sam's getting a lot of credit because the back-to-back seasons, 13 wins on two different teams. Last year, he threw 35 touchdowns. And up until the last week was pretty bad. He's kind of been a little shaky, I would say, for a while, you know? And I didn't realize this until I saw the stat. Like, Leas the League in turnovers, a bunch of fumbles, picks.

Didn't Carolina drop a pick last week? Like, he's been all over the map. Now, their defense, Mike McDonald, do you remember the game a couple years ago? That's Sunday night. not Sunday night, Christmas night with that Ravens team, and the 49ers were rolling, he punked them. And, you know, Purdy was like MVP watch,

and it was like Mike McDonald. I don't want to say it was a coming out party because people do about them, but that was like a moment, like this motherfucker's here to stay. And now this year, their defense is awesome. It's crazy some of the stats on the 49ers, like dead last and sacks, which makes sense. They don't have any defensive linemen.

If it wasn't for the Jets and there are no interceptions, they'd be dead last in picks. but can Sam Darnold and that offense take advantage of him? You got Kubiak, who might as well be a Shanahan, who's their offensive coordinator. Obviously, Mike knows Kyle well. Played him a bunch now the last couple years in Seattle, but go back to that Ravens game. I would just lean the home dog here. It's a coin flip game to me.

Don't feel great about it. Obviously, the Niners have a ton of momentum coming in offensively. Trent's probably going to be out, but Kiddle will be back. But you see, I mean, Pierce saw, it feels like he's an NBA. player every time he goes down you think his career's over but god he when he's on the field he's pretty good and you know tonja's pretty good backup quarterback mcalfrey's playing damn well I mean Kyle's just he's him and purdy have been in his own um McDonald's been in his own defensively I mean they offensively they were terrible I thought that first half against

Carolina uh and hell they were bad against the ramps you know up until the end of the game so I don't know I mean I don't have that much faith right now I clear quarterback advantage I think for Purdy right now, and that's to me the slight difference in the game. So I would take the Niners as a home dog. Yeah, I would lean that way. I like the Niners as a teaser piece. I mean, you got to have Kiddle and they're healthy. I think, I mean, you can get away without him against the Bears defense,

but he's such a difference maker, especially, you know, the run game, his ability catching the ball against an elite defense. But you're right about the Seattle offense. I mean, it's in a way. it's been solved almost a bit. Like they, I mean, since week 10, they're 21st in EPA per play on offense. And if you look, I mean, the last week, which should give, it might give the 40, like, they're 40-9th defense is bad.

They just can't get any pressure. I mean, and Michael Parsons was tweeting this the other day. He just kept, he was tweeting about if you can't get pressure on NFL quarterbacks, you're, you're just not going to have success. the 49ers are incapable of getting pressure. But the Panthers are just as bad as the 49ers in terms of pressure rate. And the Seahawks offense didn't do anything. And this has been like, if you go back to, I mean, we could go all the way back to week

10. That's when really this has started. Like against the Cardinals, and it kind of got masked because the Seahawks scored like two defensive touchdowns, like the same exact plays, like right off the back. And they were up like three. 35 nothing in that game. But like Donald threw like three picks in that game. Against the Rams the next week, he threw three or four picks.

You know, against the Vikings, that game was three nothing at the end of the first half until Brosmer threw a pick six. The Falcons, they broke out in the second half, but there was some special teams. That became a three, three at the half. The Colts game against Phillip Rivers, that was an 1816 win in Rivers' first start. you know the they broke they broke out against the rams but that game just flipped on like a punt return touchdown darnall made some mistakes there he was good at the end but this offense is like what they were doing early in the years they were like kubiak the play action was so good they were using heavy personnel and they weren't running it efficiently but with all the heavy personnel

teams were like are we're going to stop you running and then they were just setting up deep shots and they were hitting them the jSN now defenses have said like okay if you want to run it, run it. We're not going to, you know, commit and try to sell out to your inefficient run game. We're going to make sure we stop JSN on the back end and stop giving up these explosive plays. And Darnold is still a statue. And then you get into these obvious passing down situations because they're not an efficient rushing attack. And that's when Darnold is making some mistakes. So yeah, the Seattle offense right now is very problematic. That's what I would be worried about in the playoffs if I was a Seahawks fan because the defense is obviously excellent.

And in the 49ers, it's a complete opposite case. Their offense right now is rolling, party is playing so well, but the defense is just, it's bad. It's just void of talent. They just have no pass rush, and that's going to really, you know, limit your ability to do things and get stops. And we saw that last week against the Bears.

So it's also a tough spot. You think the game plan is that you remember the Lions week 18 last year when they had a mass unit and they just brought the house constantly and he was all over the map? It's going to be one of two extremes. Like it's either we're going to all out blitz the whole game, which isn't like Sala,

but this is the time where you, you know, playoffs, a week 18 game for the one seat, this is when you bring out wild cards and change up your M.O. Or they're just going to sit back and then just try to bait Donald and do a mistake and say drive the field and they're just going to play a ton of, too high and take away the explosive plays

because Seattle is not a very efficient rushing attack. So I could see it going either way. But it's not a great spot for Seattle. Seattle kind of got screwed by the NFL wanting this game on a Saturday because they're on the East Coast on Sunday, short week flying across the country late in the year. That's not ideal. But yeah, I think if this is a coin-flippish game,

if you want to take the points with the Niners, I don't blame you. But if you look at the NFC playoffs right now, I mean, I think most people would agree probably when healthy, the Rams are the most complete team, but they're most likely going to be the sixth seed. And the five or sixth seed, especially if they're the sixth seed, that's a brutal path. They have some injuries now, right?

I think they should be healthier, but you have your offensive line, you have some injuries. We saw how much that impact against Atlanta. You have Devante Adams's injury. But the defense, I think, on the back end still has some questions. I think they're the most special teams aren't great. They're probably the most.

most complete team, but every team in the NFC has a war. I mean, you have, I mean, if you just look at it like this, the NFL, how wide open it is this year, the Ravens, who I think were the best team over the past two years, not this year, you know, in 2024 and 2023. Unfortunately for them, they didn't get a Super Bowl out of it. But in those two years, the Ravens went, 2023, they went 10 and 4 against winning teams, teams with the winning record. And then last year, they went 9 and 3 against teams of the winning record. 19 wins over two seasons. No one has more than four this year.

And the Patriots who are going to be, you know, they might get the ones you probably not because Denver's going to win. Probably not. They have one win. They've only played three teams that have a winning record, and they're one and two in those games. So like there's a lot of bad teams in the NFL

and then at the, you know, the rest, it's like there's no chiefs now or like, I'll put the chiefs in the Super Bowl. It is so wide open. You just look at the NFC. It's like, okay, the Niners, offense rolling, but can you trust the defense? Seattle, elite defense, but can you trust Donald and that offense is dwindling? The NFC South winner, get them out of year. The Eagles

offense, I mean, they've gone two different halves this year where they had no past completions and they've won both games, but their offense doesn't score for two, three quarters every game. That's a major question. The Packers, they were my pick originally, but the Parsons injury, other injuries, they are so beat up. So the NFC, it's going to be wide open. I wouldn't be surprised if like any team comes out of it besides whoever wins the NFC South.

Well, one thing, I mean, before the Rams these last couple weeks, I think they would have been, I said this last time on the podcast, not just the sexy pick for the NFC, but I think a lot of people would have picked him to win the Super Bowl. Absolutely. And the one thing that jumps out now, I give, listen, I was hard on the Atlanta trade when they traded a first round pick for Pierce, but I mean, he is fucking pretty

talented. And their defensive line that the Oregon kid that got hurt last night. They were dominating the line of scrimmage. And the one thing for Stafford is, you know, in his younger days, he was much more, and Rogers is the same now. Like they were like scrambles, making plays with their arm. He's a statue now. He can't move.

He's old. And their offensive line, I mean, if you look at the matchups for them, you know, you brought up Carolina defense, obviously, you know, the pass rush. Tampa's defense is a joke. So getting that 5 seed for them is pretty big because the Eagles, you bring 98 back. Like you see fans you up there, that unit is brilliant. I think that would be, and I know they've played them,

they easily could have won this year, they could have won the game last year. That's a rough first round matchup for them just at the line of scrimmage for their own line and a quarterback to can't move in a cold weather game, right? Yeah, massive. And then, yeah, they need to get Alaric Jackson and Dotson back because they're, I mean, Humphreys and their office lines

is not the same. You could see that last night. But this is, yeah, the difference, the most nervous, I mean, just you, I'm talking to you. The most nervous fan base, it'll be Steelers, Ravens fans on Sunday night. But they're the most nervous because that's a win-in-in-in. Panthers' bucks isn't even winning in unless you're the Panthers. But I think that those teams, those fan bases are, they know that they're not going far. the 49ers have a chance to go far

if they win they get the one seed a buy a home game in the division round a home game in the competition championship and then a potential home game in the Super Bowl but if they lose the Rams are going to play their starters

against Arizona who's now a practice squad and then the 49ers are probably going to drop to the six and then you're probably going to Philly The difference between the one seat and then three home games to the Super Bowl and then, oh, wait, hey, you're in Philly next week is astronomical.

So I wish you and other- I would say this for the Philly game. Let's say the 49ers lose this game in Seattle. They go to Philly, all the pressures on the Eagles. It's like Robert Sol is dealing with me and you on defense. You got high-priced players everywhere, you know, It's like you would have no excuse to not win that. You cannot lose to this Niners team with that defense with your offense.

You had AJ Brown, Devante, Smith, Dallas, Goddard, Seekoine Barkley. If you can't score 25 points on these guys, you know, people are heads are rolling. I would guarantee you this. If the Niners of the 16th and go to Philly and beat them, which I would, trust me, Howie does, wants no part of Kyle Shanahan coming in, you know, as an underdog in round one, you lose that game. I mean, Patola might as well pack up his shit because he would immediately get fired.

Yeah, his house is. He might be in trouble no matter what, but. Yeah. And honestly, it's not all his fall. I mean, the quarterback, they're a bizarre team. But their defense is when healthy. I mean, Cooper DeGine's been,

I mean, that guy looks incredible right now. Jalen Carter back. They're just so physical at linebacker. Their defense is good. I mean, yeah, including on Mitchell, he's allowed, I think, the lowest completion percentage of

any cornerback over the past five years. He's dominant. Their defense is elite, but I wouldn't be shocked if the 49ers went to Philly and won that game. The Eagles offense is almost matchup proof in that. It doesn't matter who they play. They go, unless you're, like, completely impoverished, like, giants with all their injuries,

the Raiders. Like, that's the only time their offenses look good in months, like, for a full game. Literally months. It doesn't matter. They played the Cowboys defense and couldn't score in the second half. The Bill's defense is not great by any stretch. And they went 0 of 7, set 19 plays for 19 yards in the second half.

And one because, you know, they had a blocked extra point and then Alan missed the wide-up and two-point conversion. The 49ers could easily go into fill and win. I'm just saying the difference between having to do that and then getting a buy and knowing that they would, they have two home games that close the regular season. They don't have to leave San Clara for two and a half months. as long as they keep winning.

Okay, let's just go to Sunday night. I don't even care about the Saturday afternoon game. We'll come back. The Steelers Ravens just feels right. You know, this game has mattered for a long time, though I think we'd all have to acknowledge. This doesn't quite feel like some of the prime matchups because the Steelers don't think people take the Steelers out seriously anymore.

And Sunday afternoon, I get a DK suspended. Washington breaks his arm. That was a pitiful performance. It really was. I agree with Cowher. He came on once the game ended on CBS. It was like, why did they abandon it? They didn't have much offensive firepower.

Warren was having a successful. They had like 12 carries for 70 yards. They only had 12 carry. Like, why didn't he have 20 plus carries? Why didn't they try to do something else? They've just been a weird offense. Maybe Arthur Smith and Rogers, the rapport of the play calling. Maybe Rogers changing plays in the line scrimmage.

I don't know. But that was a rough watch. I just have little to no faith. Now, there are a lot of, you know, things up in the air. Like, is T.J. Watt coming back? Or she's just kind of sneaky done for the season, and they're just not wanting to acknowledge that? Lamar Jackson, is there like behind the scenes,

Lamar Jackson beef with the Ravens? There's just a lot of weird shit going on. You tell me. I like the Ravens in this matchup. But, you know, Tomlin, Home Dog, they've played well against the Ravens historically. But I don't know. This is a bizarre game. The home, when Tomlin and Harbaugh,

face off in the regular season, the team getting three or more points, I think is 21, 2 and 1 against the spread. It's insane. It's over 90% over almost 20 years. It's been a dog-dominated series. It's usually lower scoring. I don't mind the under here. There's a lot of moving parts here.

First, with the Steelers, defensive. I mean, they say that Watt has a chance. Now, Tomlin said last week he needs all full participants. So he needs to be a full participant practice every day. of the week. So we'll know tomorrow today if he's a full participant. Is that because that injury is different than like a rolled

ankle or something? Yeah, that's what he said. He said because it's a medical condition because if it's this lung. So we'll see if he's back. James Pierre, their corner, he's been banged up. He's been really good for them. Brandon Eccles is also banged up. So they have some defensive injuries that are worth monitoring. Also, their starting guard, Isaac Semolo.

He's questionable. Calvin Austin, I think they need him. He didn't play last week. They needed his speech. because the problem with the Steelers' offense right now is without D.K. Metcalfe, and you saw this last week, and D.K. McCaff, it's not like he's the best receiver in the NFL, but he's still really good. He's, it's his, the gravity, number one, he can make plays and he can go down the field, but the gravity that he commands, right? You can watch whenever the Steelers are near the goal line. You'll have a corner on Metcalf, and then you'll have a safety cheated over there.

Without Metcalfe in there, you can just man up. like last week it's Adam feeling Scotty Miller and MVS you just man them up and your safeties can come up and then now they also lost darn out Washington who's out for the year that's big because they want to go heavy and now you don't have Metcalf so you want to throw to your tight ends more and he found a nice role in this offense so without Metcalf this just becomes a much easier offense to defend and there's just no explosiveness. I assume they're going to try to lean on their run game.

The one good thing here is that the Ravens can't get pressure. Like you watch a rate. They're like the 49ers defense. Now they have a lot more talent on the back end because they haven't had as many injuries as the 49ers, but they don't get pressure. So Rogers is not going to have to just be like getting rid of it in one second. Miles Garrett where they got to worry about it. Yeah.

Yeah. So but can the Steelers receivers actually get open? I have my doubts. But then on the other side of the ball, when, like the Ravens, who's playing quarterback? Is it Lamar Jackson? Is it Tyler Huntley? If it is Lamar Jackson, is he not 100%?

And then he can't move as well, and their run game isn't as good. And then the Steelers have had a lot of success containing Lamar. If it's Huntley, it probably would benefit 100% healthy. Huntley, like, it probably benefits their run game more. And then they're going to feed, you can run on the Steelers. They're going to feed Henry here, just like

last week. You can run on the Steelers. The Steelers know that. Do they load the box? But I mean, the bills, that's all the bills did. They just ran all over them with the same play. So, so many moving parts here. Like, as a Ravens fan, I don't even know who I want to start. Like, I want to, obviously, you want a fully healthy Lamar. He's way better than Huntley, but

he's not fully healthy. He hasn't been all year. And every time you see him, he's not. So I don't even know who I want. but it's going to be I think it's going to be ugly. You expect Lamar Jackson to be on the team next year? Um, depends how this season ends. Like I think they're mad at him that he's not available at the end of these seasons?

Yeah. I think that there's some, there's some stuff going on. You also could, it also could be Harbaugh. So, like if the Ravens don't make the playoffs this year and they lose Sunday night,

there's definitely going to be, some big change. I don't know what exactly it is, but there's going to be some big change coming for the organization. So, but here, and here's the thing, if the Ravens get in and, like, Lamar is healthy, like, they could win the AFC.

Like, the one in two seeds are the, are the Pats, the Broncos, you have the Jags. Like, this is not, this is not a gauntlet a FC the bills are probably going to have to go to the Jacksonville who is playing as well as anyone

like the Jags are playing so well the bills are obviously dangerous with Josh Allen one of those teams is getting knocked out on the first weekend so like the Texans are still dangerous that's probably who you'll have to play but you get to the divisional round

and the conference championship like are you really that scared of playing bow nicks and the patriots like they're good teams but this isn't the peak buffalo and kansas city teams of the past years that you had to get through so if lamar can somehow get healthy and the ravens get in um they could make the super bowl um but if they don't i think there's going to be big changes so yeah um that's that's why we love the nfl and uh obviously the script writer's got it right and it's going to come down to the last game

of the regular season on Sunday night. The thing that I'm most confident in that game is that it'll be low scoring. I think the Ravens are going to rely on the run. The Steelers, the receivers can't get open. There's no explosiveness. Like they actually hit some explosives for like the first time in months

against the Ravens when they first played. But that was Metcalf. And he's not there. So I think this should be a lower scoring game. Probably come down to something random. but there's a lot of moving parts here with injuries and then the Ravens quarterback situation. Not sure I'll have a bet on it other than I did bet some undersawall. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor Hard Rock Bet,

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We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going to. Don't? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs' tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening. at Roland Garris, every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jen she went.

I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface, because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee and the...

And this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Okay, I guess I'll just ride Todd Bulls, Baker Mayfield lying in the sand game.

It doesn't even guarantee them the division. But at home, I don't know, what a bizarre season from them. I saw you tweeted out either last week, yeah, it would have been last week against Miami. me like they're a terrible team. But Carolina, I mean, they, quarterback just threw 50 yards. Yeah, Carolina's not good either. The best team in the division is the Falcons.

Yeah. The Saints are kind of hot too. The NFL should step in and say the Saints Falcons is for the division. I agree. They should just change the rules. Funny enough, that game could decide the division if the Bucks win. And the way that

Who would the Rams, Seattle, or the Niners? they would much rather play Tampa or Carolina than they would go to the road in New Orleans or Atlanta right now, right? For sure. Definitely don't, none of all those scenes are chooses over Atlanta. They have a good defense. Atlanta just has a dumb staff and historically bad special teams. Like if you look at this, this Atlanta team,

they easily could have 11, 12 wins. I mean, they lost, they lost to the Patriots, in New England by one because they missed an extra point. They've had like four kickers this year. They lost to the Jets. They out gained about 150 yards because they muffed a punt at the one. I mean, they almost blew the game last night because they had a fuel goal to go up 17, blocked and returned for a touchdown.

They lost the Colts game in overtime. They gave up like three long returns in that game. I mean, their special teams are historically bad. They blew the Panthers game. Everyone got hurt. They lost an overtime in that game. I mean, this team has like four or five. The Bucks game they blew early in the,

the year. Now, they probably should have lost the Bucks the second time. But I mean, this team easily should be a 10 plus win team with their schedule in that division. But they're not. It's typical Falcons. The most, like this would make so much sense that this NFC South, what's going to happen is the Bucks win and then the Falcons win on Sunday and the Panthers get in at eight and nine. Like that would be, that would wrap it all. And it would be so Falcons to finish eight and nine Tide for first and not get in. And somehow finished tied for first when they've been eliminated for a month from the playoffs. And they finished tied for first.

Be the most Falcons thing ever. I think that's going to happen. I kind of do, too. So I did bet the bucks. I hate the buck. I think the bucks are terrible. I've been saying it for months. Since week seven, Baker's 28th in EPA per play.

I don't know if he's hurt or part of it. He might be hurt. Part of it as he came back crashing back down Earth. You got to remember over the first. He was playing at like an MVP level that we've never seen before in the final two minutes of games. Like it was so unsustainable. They were winning all these games with like the last drive. That was never going to last.

And they've had injuries. It looks like Tristan Worf's will play. That's big at left tackle. And the Panthers can't get pressure. Bryce Young is not the same quarterback. It's away from home. I mean, he's not great anyway. But I had to play the Bucks here.

This is the first time we've been betting the Bucks all year. And yeah, this is my first bet on the Bucks all year. I just got under three. I don't think it should be under three. Two weeks ago, the bucks were minus three in Carolina. Now, they lost by three. It's a coin flip game. They out gained Carolina.

Jamel Dean had a coverage bust at the end of the first half with like 20 seconds that led to a touchdown. He ran the wrong coverage. But now they're laying two and a half. It's just two weeks later. And it's not like the Panthers had a good data point last week. I know the Bucks didn't lose into the Dolphins, but the Panthers threw at 24 attempts for 50 yards.

So I have to play two and a half worth. I know there's some other injuries, Dean Reddick, their guards, but this Panthers defense can't get pressure. It's Bryce Young on the road. I think this is the bottom of the market on the bucks. Like everyone, no one wants to bet them now. They haven't covered in two months. They're 0 and 8 against the spread in their past eight games.

one in seven overall this is the bottom I mean you're two weeks ago they're favored by three in Carolina now they're like two and a half at home I have to take it it's terrible it sucks and what I think

my prediction bucks win Falcons win on Sunday and the Panthers get in the playoffs at 8 and 9 and host a game and what's the line on the bucks

or on the Atlanta Falcons minus 3 games in Atlanta Falcons minus three. I don't mind. The Falcons, you never wanted that as a favorite, though. Like, you bet them as a dog. Because they're just...

Tyler Shuck's, you know, like, Purdy Jr. right now. He's hot. Shuck is very hot. Now, I will say, like, it's maybe the Shuck love is at, you know, you're at an all-time height. He's, the last, he's played the jets, the Panthers, the dolphins, the bucks, the Panthers. Like, I mean, he's on, they're on a run of playing, like, the worst teams in the NFL. So, but the Falcons will probably find it. This game is going to go to overtime.

That's what's going to happen. Saints Falcons is going to go to overtime. And if they tie, the Bucks go to the playoffs. If the Saints win, the Bucks go to the playoffs, the Panthers win. I mean, if the Falcons win, then the Panthers go. It's going to get wild. I'm actually really excited for it, but I did bet the Bucks in minus two and a half. Lean Falcons, but I just, I hate betting them as a favor because they're special teams.

They do dumb things. But they're like a decent team. They got a good defense. Cousness is playing well. Pitts has emerged. You know, London will be his third game back. Bejohn is unbelievable. Their offensive line is good.

If they just had like a decent special teams, this division will be wrapped up and they would be an interesting team in the NFC, but it's not. We're going to have a team that's probably going to get blown out in the first round. If you and me were Andy Reed and Breed and Wech, and we're going to play the Raiders, a team that, you know, in theory it's a historic rivalry since we've been there.

We've kind of dominated. But we go, listen, why are we just going to win this game and just hand them? There's no guarantee Fernando Mendoza's going to be a top 10 quarterback, but give them the opportunity to resurrect their franchise. We don't really need to do that much different than what we've been doing because we got Ola Kano or whatever rolling around out there. But why don't we make sure, and I bring the owner in as well, why don't we make sure we lose this game?

You know, Lamar Hunt remember in Al Davis, I think used to butt heads way back in the day. It's an easy one to like, okay, let's, you guys took care of business. You got Crosby, he was running around playing basketball. He looks fine. I mean, Crosby was just the best player in the field two weeks ago against the Houston Texans. I mean, he was incredible in that game. And Bowers on IR. It's like, I see what you're doing, which I would do it too if I were you.

But I'm going to ruin your season. And here's the thing with the Chiefs. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. If the season ended today, they'd have the ninth overall pick. So a loss, now, Cleveland, the Saints could technically win. That pick could be like eighth. I mean, this is, it could be a big swing with an extra win to get to seven. You're in this world of like the Cowboys, the Dolphins, Tampa, Atlanta.

You just kind of swim in a different world. Maybe that goes from eight to like 14. You know how sometimes those swings happen. I think the Chiefs are very incentivized. to lose this game for multiple reasons. So, yeah, this game is wild. All of a sudden you get like Bain, the kid, the Miami Passer, or whoever, right? Like, you could change your franchise with like, oh, look who they got him and like Ladd McConkey in the second round.

I mean, you get two top 10 picks in the first second round. Like, I could change the course of, you know, Mahomes and Andy's second run here. Yeah, so this game's fascinating. I will say there's a scenario where, well, number one, If the Giants win, they play the Cowboys, they're like $5.00. The Giants win at one, the Raiders have the number one pick already wrapped up. So that's worth mentioning. The Cowboys are going to try, though.

Dax already said, like, I'm just saying like that is. But if the Giants lose, in order for the Giants to get the number one pick, then Vegas would have to win. and then you would have to have at least two of these four teams win Seattle, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Chicago. So if like Seattle lost, there's a, what I'm getting at, because then it would come down to strength of the victory.

There's a path for the Raiders to win and still get the win-pick. Yeah, there's a path that the Raiders know at 4 o'clock or 1 o'clock. It doesn't matter. But they already have the one. I don't know if they're, like, if they're even going to consider it. I don't know. But so, like, number one, they don't know that during the week. They won't know that until the one o'clock games are over.

So who are they going to rule out? Is Genty going to get ruled out? I mean, Gino's already been ruled out. Who else are they going to rule out? Not that they have a lot of players that matter. I mean, last week they basically took out their best defensive player. They ruled Colton Miller out their best offensive player in Bowers. They were actively trying to lose.

But, yes, you have the Chiefs who, regardless if they want to, say the Raiders already have the one pick locked up, they want to improve their draft pick, which they rarely get to do. So what does that mean for the Chiefs? Yes, I bet them against the Broncos, because that was Christmas night against Denver. You're trying to play spoiler. Remember the week before in Tennessee, they were lifeless. And now, this is week 18. Like you said, you're incentivized. the players on the field are going to try,

but do you sit Chris Jones, do Nick Bolton, you know, Carlathus, worthy, right? A lot of these guys, you could just sit them all. And then you have a third string quarterback in Ola Dukin. I mean, the Chiefs had 130 yards and 3.3 yards per play last week. I get it was the Broncos defense. But this line is crazy.

So Ola Dukin and potentially a shell roster is laying six on the road in in Vegas. I get that Bowers and Crosby are out. But the Raiders were just mine. I mean, the Broncos were just minus seven and a half in Vegas. And the Broncos were just minus 13 and a half in Kansas City. That's an enormous move. So like how much is this tank worth?

But the Chiefs might also be tanking. So I don't know. I feel like the bet in the game is the Raiders. catching the points, but it's ugly. Any other games that you like in this weird slate? I love the Bengals. I think the Bengals roll the Browns. So the Bengals, their offense is obviously clicking right now.

Like some of their young offensive line pieces are playing better. You got Barrow back all your pieces. Barrow's going to start and play. And their offense right now is clicking. And the Brown's defense is just not the same. unit on the road like they have one objective here it's to get miles garrett his sack record and their defense is just not that i mean over the past three years the most profitable home team against the spread the browns the least profitable road team the browns and i think they're six

and 20 against the spread um on the road it's been pathetic but the other thing is that on the other side of well i don't think i don't think that they could slow burrow up enough to a point where they can keep up like you can do that against the stealers offense which was very short-handed but they're not going to have Fanon here most likely, Najoku, and their offense is basically throw it to Fanon. That's how good he is as a rookie. Luckily, he was in there for a quarter before he pulled his groin last week, and he caught a 50-R touchdown, because after that, their offense couldn't do anything.

And the Bengals defense is actually playing much better. And it's, I think it's, there's always going to be a lot of variance in defensive numbers over short-term timeframes, but there's reasons to believe. why the Bengals' defense is much better than it was. Now, over the first 10 weeks of the year, they were historically bad. I'm talking like if you go by DVOA or adjust for opponent, they were the worst DVOA defense through 10 weeks of all time. So adjusting for opponent year, they were that bad.

Why is it improved since week 10? So over the past six weeks, they're one of the better defenses in the NFL from an EPA perspective. And it's not like they played clowns. I mean, they played the Pats, the Bills, the Ravens twice, and then, you know, they played the Dolphins and the Cardinals. But the Cardinals' offense has been putting up points, and they shut them down last week. Why has it even been better? One, they changed their front alignment. Slaten is playing much better.

They're getting something from Murphy up front. They have two rookie linebackers in Carter and Knight who were basically unplayable for the first 10 weeks. like unbelievably bad, but they've been playing better, which you'd expect for rookies, both of them. They're still not great, but they were not, they're like serviceable. And then they moved Dax Hill out to outside corner, and he's been locked down. And, I mean, he's been unbelievable since moving to the outside.

And then DJ Turner's been one of the better corners. That's been their one bright spot for the entire season. So now they have two really good outside corners. And a lot of it is because this guy, I always forget his name, Jalen Davis. He's been on like the practice squad. He's been around for a while. He took over the nickel roll and is playing well. And then the other thing is that you had a new defensive coordinator come in and Al Golden, highly respected guy.

So it took him some time to like figure some things out. He's changed some things schematically. So their defense is actually respectable. And that's a, they're not great. It's not a good defense, but it's not horrendous. and they are improving. And that's all you need to slow down this Browns offense, which is abysmal and it's going to be probably without Fanon and Nijoku.

So, yeah, I think the Bengals roll here. And you might have a little bit of an emotional letdown for the Browns, right? Like the last week was kind of their Super Bowl to spoil the Steelers season, potentially. So, yeah, I like the Bengals to roll. Elsewhere, there's not much. I mean, there's a lot of, like, all right, who's playing, watch, and it's still early in the week. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what?

We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the, the early names of our band

before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say,

Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, A blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalif 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris, every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface, because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court-side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness.

So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, He doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud.

But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming? after me. Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Let's talk about some games that in the matter. Let's hit on a couple of the quick college football games. You know, Miami's defense is pretty good. Yeah. Right? And we just

saw, you know, Indiana, who has a really good defense, you know, give slay. in them a little trouble. Now you get this long layoff. It can go well, but it can also, they prove last year that, you know, it cannot go well. They came in and like boat raced Oregon in that game, which was one of the crazier, I would say, outcomes I can remember just because it happened so fast. Now, I think a lot of people just don't trust Carson Beck. Yeah. But like, nine and a half feels like a lot of points for a team with NFL guys all over roster, especially like you said last week in the trenches or two weeks ago against A&M.

And like, you got good offensive and defensive line. Like, you can just hang in games. You can run the ball. They started running the ball at the end of that game against A&M. I heard someone say, like, they were at the game against A&M. I think it's underrated for people sitting on their couch how much the wind was blowing. Like the wind was, you could see it when they put the flags up. You can look at the field goals in that game.

Yeah, it was. Yeah. So is Miami kind of a sneaky live dog here? maybe not to win the game, but plus nine and a half feels like a lot. Yeah, that's the way that I would look, especially with a total, it's 41. Like the points are going to be at a premium. Getting over a touchdown is even more valuable. I do think that the Miami defensive line can cause the Ohio State offensive line major problems.

I think that the Ohio State offensive line and their running game is where they are significantly worse than last year. I mean, obviously you lost Henderson and Judkins. Their running game is just not as good. And then their offensive line, specifically on the right side. And this Miami team in the trenches, they have a top five offensive and defensive line. That will help. So I think that they can,

they're going to play a lot of too high. They're going to take away the explosive plays. They're going to let their defensive line and make plays, make the Buckeyes drive down the field. So yeah, I think their defense can hang. My biggest concern is the Ohio State defense is elite. Is Beck? Is he going to make mistakes?

And which he is prone to. to do because he did not play well against A&M. Now, there was wind, and A&M's defense is good, but it's nowhere close to as good as Ohio State. That would be my biggest concern, but, yeah, I think this will be a lower scoring game. Two really slow methodical teams. Ohio State was the slowest team in the country this year. Now, a lot of that was load management, and there's this narrative out there that, oh, well, they did this last year, which they did, and then once they got in the playoffs, they sped it up.

No, they didn't. They played just really slow again. Um, so we'll see. Like, there's talk with a play calling at Ryan Day. It's going to be more involved in the play calling. Heartline's still there, but he's going to South Florida after the season. So we'll see if that changes. I don't know, but like, from what we know, this will be a really slow, methodical game.

We're like just, you might have like 10 to 15 fewer plays than a normal game, an average game. That makes the points even more valuable. So, yeah, I think you have to look at the points. I think it'll be a defensive battle. I'd be lying if I said I watched that much tech. I do respect, I mean, I think Utah and BYU are obviously good programs. They beat the shit out of them three times. So it's like, clearly they paid for this defensive line.

You know, Oregon's favorite in this game, morning game. I don't know. I mean, long travel, right? This game's in Miami, correct? So this is, I don't know. I guess I would take Oregon. I don't feel great about it. I just don't have a great feel for Texas Tech beside.

I know their quarterback's been a little hit or miss, but the defensive line is just really good, right? The defensive line, like high-end guys. Like, you can create havoc. Yeah, defensive line with height. David Bailey is just the pressure. The linebackers is a stud. Yeah, Lee Hunter, nose tackle, Jacob Rodriguez,

Ben Robert, Jacob Rodriguez is a linebacker and watched him. He's a great player. So, like, their, my biggest question for them is their corners. They haven't really faced elite passing attacks all year. Like Utah doesn't have good receivers. BYU's decent, but they don't have like this electric passing attack. That's my biggest concern of them. But their defensive line, we'll get after any quarterback.

We'll get after any offensive line. And in this Oregon team, their offense didn't look. It looked pretty pedestrian against most of the high-end defenses they played. Right against Indiana, it wasn't great. Even on the road against Penn State against Iowa. Now, there was some weather and. involved in there. But when they played like these high-end defenses, it wasn't great, which it led to me to think that this game's going to go under. I like the first half under two.

Morton, the Texas Tech quarterback, he's still not at 100%. He has a hairline fracture in his leg. He says he's at like 80% now. Tech can't really run the ball. This is like the best defense they will play all year. The only top 20-ish defenses they played all year were BYU and Utah. And I mean, those games were at the half were like 10, 7, 10, 10, nothing, 7, 3. they were ugly low scoring games they have a rhythm timing based offense too they've been out they've been on a long break a lot of these air raid-ish offenses when they have long breaks this is going back to leach takes a while to get back in the rhythm you can see some slow start so i like some first half under some full game under um i believe in the tech defense making enough plays that defensive line

is super elite their linebackers are super elite and this is the best defense that tech will face all year. Their running game isn't consistent. It's very inefficient. That's how you want to attack Oregon. That's not the strength of Texas Tech. And Morton's not at 100%. So I think this will be a lower scoring game.

So I played some first half under, some full game under. If it got the three, I'd consider Tech. But I don't have a strong feel on the side. Yeah, this is, it's a little like the Indiana, Ohio State. game. Now, obviously, Indiana's playing another huge game, but like this would be the biggest win the history of the day. I mean, this would just be a massive moment for the program.

It doesn't get any bigger. For Oregon, you know, obviously their expectations now over the course since Chip got there is like, can be for national championships. Not saying that this wouldn't be like a, they'd be disappointed if they lose, but it's like they're a big picture program at this point in time. Yeah, next year's the year.

I mean, Oregon could win all this year. I don't think they will but it could. I mean, it's pretty wide open. But next year's the year for Oregon. We'll see about Dante Moore and what he decides. I assume he's going to go. But if he can see him coming back because they can pay him like, they can pay him like $10 million.

I can see too. If he comes back, like this next year is the year really for Oregon because they are so young. You look across that roster. They are, I mean, because they lost a ton from that roster from last year. And they,

I mean, they obviously have a pipeline of recruits and then they fill in with the portal. But their roster is set up next year to be. I mean, so is Ohio State, but like those are your two favorites going in the next year. So anything that they, if they were to win it, that would be just house money, found money this year. But yeah, it should be a good entertainment. The tech defensive line, like the front seven for tech is national title best in the nation good.

I would say this, you know, when it was 17 nothing, you're like, God, this Bama team's a joke. and then it flipped. Clearly, Meteer, I don't know what the hell happened to him. You know, after the hand injury, he was a shell of himself, and he was bad in this game again. I mean, you look at Indiana played two really good teams, and they won by 10 on the road at Oregon, which was a massive win for their program, and obviously the biggest win, the history of Indiana football, when they would beat Ohio State. They blow out a lot of the bad teams, but seven points feels like a lot against Kalin, who's excellent against high-end opponents. And you just have to go, well, Bama obviously has a bunch of high-end guys on their roster.

Did they find a little something? They get a little momentum. No one on their roster. And I'm not saying this is correct, but we'll look at Indiana like an equal. You know, how could they? They fucking are at Alabama. But I don't know. I kind of like Bama in this spot, plus seven.

A little risky. little risky. It might be, you know, recency bias on the second half. Yeah, I mean, they definitely got fortunate against Oklahoma. I mean, they had Oklahoma somehow. They have like elite special teams all year. They have a Lou Groes Award winner missing kicks. They dropped a punt.

They dropped a wide open touchdown. I could have made it, what, 24-7? Mitch year throws the pick six at the end of the half. Like that, everything that could have went wrong, went wrong. My concern with Bama, I mean, like, this team for like a couple months has not been playing like an elite team, not even like a top 10 team. I mean, they should have lost, they could have easily lost to Auburn. They should have lost that South Carolina.

There's just been a number of games that they've gotten away with this year. And why is that? So like, well, they cannot run the ball. They are one of the worst rushing offenses in the country. So that when you're so one-dimensional and you play elite teams, it's very difficult to win. And on the other side, they don't really get elite pressure. They're like, so if I look at these two teams, one of these teams can run the ball, that's Indiana. One of these teams can get pressure. That's Indiana. I think that might

end up being the difference. But Alabama, with their talent at receiver and Simpson, like, they're, I mean, they have the capability of hitting explosive plays and winning this game. The Batman special teams also all year have been really bad. But that's just hard to rely on. And Indiana knows that, has extra time to repair, really smart staff. It's just a super unsustainable formula to try to win these. games with just like Simpson having the drop back in known passing situations against the defense that can get pressure that is really good. And you have to get, I mean, Indiana, two of the teams that people wouldn't be surprised won the national title, Oregon and Ohio State, they won both, both away from home. So like, you have to give them credit for that.

And they have the Heisman trophy winner at quarterback, a really good, a really good offensive line. They have a better, they have a better offensive line than Alabama. So I think Indiana gets it done. If you took the points with Alabama now at 7, I wouldn't blame you though. But super cool matchup of like... Indiana's going to have a season. It'd be pretty crazy when you look back that... It's just crazy to think about

Indiana is a 7-point favorite on a neutral field on the college football club against Alabama. It's pretty wild. You know, George, I saw Lane Kiffin talking about how his coaches, you know, I mean, they're working two jobs. A lot going on to get a pretty big pass against Tulane, which clearly they

match up where the game never has a shot. George, I remember watching this game in the middle of the season, and they just went up and down the field. I mean, they scored at will. And then all of a sudden, the fourth quarter hit in Chambliss, he kind of like melted down. They started getting pressure, and he turned into like a different quarterback immediately. It was like, what is going on?

And, you know, that kind of flipped Georgia's, like, that gave them a lot of momentum moving forward after that win. And, you know, Lane doesn't call plays. I've seen a lot of people talk about this, like, Charlie Weiss called like over 95% of the place. Lane would chime in every once in a while in a big spot or when he'd see something. But Charlie Weiss was, this wasn't one of those situations where he was an offensive coordinator by name only. Yeah.

Lane would just have his wrinkles. He would make some in-game calls, some aggressive stuff. So like their core of the defensive coordinator and the offensive coordinator are still there. Their defense isn't as good as a lot of these other teams. Right, from a personnel standpoint. You know, when you talk about Oregon, Miami OSU like Texas Techsteeline that that ain't that ain't whole miss correct they got a score now the running back suite quarterbacks when he's on he's fucking good I just wonder I see these clips of

curvy just lighten them up in practice I wonder if he's kind of thinking like this could be number three this year there so I mean I guess I don't have a great feel for this game I just I wonder if old miss kind of runs out of steam here yeah I would lean Georgia but as always with Georgia I'll be looking to bet them live they go down so much in games like more than any good team that they're not good on the script offensively bobo their office quarter is not good on the script oh miss usually is and they'll have some wrinkles here they'll have some like i i think that they will probably start fast here and then the best in-game adjuster in the sport and that's what happened in the first meeting

kirby started changing some of the looks he's won them countless games by adjusting so he already did that against Ole Miss once. I think Ole Miss will have some counters early. So if Georgia gets down, I'll be looking to bet them live. But I think Georgia will be able to run the ball here. They might get Kobe Young back. It looks like they will get Colby Young back at receiver. He got hurt in that first game. Hasn't played since. That'll give him another big target. So yeah, I think Georgia gets it done. I think the line is about right. But if I can get like a cheap number on Georgia Live, if Ole Miss scores first, if it's like 14-7, 14-3, I think this game could play out similar to the first meeting. The one thing that gives me a little pause with

I do kind of want to root for Ole Miss after I kind of do too, right? Like the Georgia game against Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech's defense is really bad and they played on a neutral field and they couldn't move the ball. And that game, I can't get out of my head. That was two weeks ago. They just couldn't do anything. I don't know what happened that week. So like now I'm so confused about the Georgia offense. I thought it was like ascending. And that game just has me. Now they beat Alabama after that.

But that game is, I just can't get out of my head. But I do think Georgia advances would lean them on the number. We'll be looking for them live for sure. And then if we do get, if the chalk does hold, I think we're in for, some really good semifinals that I'm looking forward to. But part of me does, like just after what happened with Kiffin, Ole Miss making a run, I think it would be pretty cool.

I would totally agree with you. Well, enjoy a rager with a, you had a son, right? Yep. A baby boy. So enjoy New Year's Eve and enjoy the games. and we will talk next week when we see the the brackets come out, which I think you and I, we've already been hitting that,

but it's going to be really hard to bet on this playoffs because these teams, like there's no, not much difference in any of these teams. So it should be a pretty exciting NFL playoffs. As for damn sure. So let's enjoy the games and then get after it. Yeah, good luck to your Niners. Oh, by the way, the one question I want to ask you is, is Warner potentially coming back?

I've heard rumblings. I mean, he shattered his. I mean, I've, I've, I'd be stunned. Super Bowl. Like maybe the Super Bowl. Okay. Which seems a little, now he was out there celebrating, but I would.

We got a long way to go before that's even a conversation. Okay, let's talk about a couple teams that I think are pretty zoned in right now. And as a lover of the draft, I know a lot of you are as well. It's always fun around this time of year. Who's going to draft where, all the bad teams, fighting for pole position. and one major source of, I would say, draft conversation has come from the Raiders because of the situation they had with Max Crosby.

Brock Bowers went on injured reserve. Like, it's a tank job. I have no problem. Anyone tanking in sports in general, the last, you know, stretch of a season, right? As long as the Raiders tried to be competitive, they were not, didn't work out. And now they're here.

You didn't come this far to draft. fourth. Might as well draft first. They haven't had the number one overall pick since way back with Jamarcus Russell. That thing obviously blew up in their face. Ironically, they found a quarterback who was a long time starter for him in the second round in Derek Carr. But they're staring down the barrel at Fernando Mendoza. They control their own destiny, just lose, get the number one overall pick. But I haven't heard many people talking about the Chiefs. The Canseed Chiefs who have been to five Super Bowls in six years are having a season from hell. They're currently drafting in the top ten. And if they lose this game, pretty

good chance, they're going to have the eighth overall pick. So that would give them the flexibility. They could get up even higher and potentially get one of the best non-quarterbacks in the draft. They could stay at eight and get a star right there. They could trade back, gain some extra like second round picks. They can retool on the fly. The other thing is the Raiders are in their division.

So this is not some uncommon opponent that you play once every four years. It's a team you play twice a year. So why wouldn't you, you know, intentionally try to screw them. If I'm Andy Reed and I'm Brett Veach, I'm telling my owner this week, we are going to lose to the Raiders. Now, they've been losing games, you know, against the Titans, against the Broncos with this, you know, third string practice squad level quarterbacks. They might not have to try that hard. But the Raiders are clearly actively trying to lose. And to me, if I'm the chiefs, I think a huge part of this conversation, we match them. And we make sure we try to screw them

over. And who knows, there are some other scenarios where the Raiders can actually win this game and still maintain the number one overall pick, but I'm making it difficult on them. If I'm the Chiefs, I've come this far, I've had such a crappy season. I'm going 6 and 11, ending up with the eighth pick, and retooling this bad boy on the fly. Adios. The volume. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers.

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