The McShay Show - Ohio State’s Title Case, Colorado’s Closing Window, and SEC Playoff Scenarios

Episode Date: November 24, 2024

McShay and Muench hop on the mics after the end of Alabama-Oklahoma to give their instant reactions to a WILD Week 13! They start with Oklahoma’s unexpected beatdown of Alabama (06:00), then talk Florida’s upset over Ole Miss (12:45) and what an SEC shakeup means for the CFP. To close, they discuss Ohio State’s statement win over Indiana (27:05) and a Big 12 free-for-all (49:45) The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Todd McShay Guest: Steve Muench Producers: Tucker Tashjian, Dan Comer, Marcelino Ortiz and Conor Nevins Social: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're live, Mench. There's no turning back now. Have you caught your breath? No. My head is spinning. It's spinning. Holy smokes. Week 13.

What a mess. All right. Here we are. So it's just full transparency. It's 11.30 p.m. Eastern time. I'm looking over the camera here. I get Texas A.M. Auburn.

Second overtime right now, 38, 38. And there's some sort of mess that they're, figuring out we've had about 95 messes that have to be figured out today in college football. Hoo! All right. So with that sense of it. This is this, you know, like when when Spotify came to me and said, you know, do we think we should have like a professional host and someone who can handle the trap? Like so far so good, but tonight we definitely need one. But we'll do our best. Okay. So thank you everyone for joining us. We've got a lot to navigate here. And I also want to thank YouTube television today because that four box saved me.

I mean, without that four box, it was like remotes and notes and it was wild. All right. So I just wanted to rip through a few things, Mitch, just to get us started of what I think I've learned today, okay? Here's what I've learned today, 10 different things. I'm going to rip right through them. In my opinion, there are just four teams that are capable of winning the national championship. Okay.

mark that down, we'll come back to it. Yep. Number two, Ohio State is one of them. Number three, Penn State is not. Number four, Indiana does not belong in the playoffs. Get out of here. I saw that look. Yeah, we'll get into that one.

Listen, you're on a roll. I'm gonna let you roll. Number five, same for Ole Miss. Don't belong in the playoff. Number six, Florida is the SEC Terminator right now. And as a 6B might be the fourth best team in the SEC. Interesting. Number seven, my claim that the SEC deserves five teams in the college football

playoff is dangerously on thin ice. Yes. In fact, I don't even believe it anymore. We'll get to that. Number eight, we all, we all appreciate. appreciate what the service academies and what our military does for us, everyone in America does. Notre Dame owes the service academy.

Academies a special gift this Christmas for getting two ranked wins over Navy and Army at the time. Teams that were right, right. I mean, my goodness. What a gift they, they, they owe. Number nine, we have an absolute mess in the big 12. I don't know. We won't even, we'll discuss it. We won't sort at all.

tonight because it's not sorted out. And then number 10, you ready for this? I hope. We've been clamoring for this 12-team playoff. Yes. How about this thought? Maybe we don't have 12 teams worthy of making a 12-team college football playoff.

Interesting. All right. Yeah, a lot to say. Can I had 11? Maybe Boise State better stop messing around or Tulane's going to jump a man. Well, I mean, let's just throw it. Ashton Jinty, Heisman Trophy candidate. Yeah.

First running back off the board when we get to, when we get to next April, something crazy is going on in this game. It's 41, 38 Auburn over Texas A&M. Coaches are screaming. Hughes freezes going nuts. Ashton Jinty left the game against Wyoming, two and eight Wyoming, I believe, coming into the day. And it was a screeching halt.

Screeching halt. Screeching halt was the Boise State offense. He came in and, played Superman in the fourth quarter, let him, it was a key part of that fourth quarter drive. They get the win. Boise State still absolutely in contention to be the, you know, the fifth conference champion to make it in the college football playoff, but there is a growing push. So our boy Stanford Steve today, notice what jacket he was wearing, Tulane, a growing push for

too late, yes. So anyway, all right. So we got, we got Boise State out of the way at least. but that's certainly an interesting discussion that we can have throughout the week. And for the next couple of weeks as we get closer to college football playoff. So those are my 10 things that I think I learned today. Okay. Okay.

I thought we were going to kick things off just a couple hours ago. Like three hours ago, I thought for sure we kicked things off with Ohio State, Ohio State in Indiana. Biggest game of the day coming into the day. Can't do it. Got it look straight to the SEC. We've got to. Go. We've got to.

go Alabama, Oklahoma, five and five Oklahoma, one in five Oklahoma in the SEC. We said it early in the week. We talked to bear, remember? That line is fishy. Yep. And it was 13 and a half, Oklahoma.

Alabama's rolling. And I truly thought it was going to be a battle. I knew Venables, Brett Venables, the head coach, defensive mastermind was going to have something up his sleeve. I knew he was going to make it difficult sledding for Jalen Milrow. I don't think anyone saw this coming, no, right? No.

No, I mean, listen, we can get into the Milro stuff, which we probably will in a minute here. But the more concerning thing for me, Oklahoma, who couldn't run the ball all year, really, 50 carries, 257 yards, and two touchdowns against that Alabama defense today. And that Alabama defense I've looked at all year, and I've said, they don't have the pass brush that they've had in years past. This has been one of the worst pass versus they've had in years. But I thought they could stop the run. And when you're looking at, you're looking at that Oklahoma team running for 257. I mean, obviously they're out at this point, right?

Like, I just don't see any way that they, they get in. They just lost 24 to 3. Yeah. I mean, this was not like a team that South Carolina handled by the way. This was not a, Oklahoma. This was not a fluky play, something. So, I mean, let's just get into it, right? And I wrote it in my notes as I was watching this game.

And this is early on when I thought, we'll touch on this game. But certainly Alabama is going to battle back. It's 10.3 at the half. Ugly half. We've seen Alabama have ugly halves before, but we've also seen them kind of, you know, sort things out. They bottled up Jalen Milro in the first half. He had nine carries for negative two yards, Mitch.

Venables had a, I mean, Venables and his defensive staff had a great plan. This is a championship caliber defense. If you match this defense for Oklahoma with a great offense, you'd be in business. Right. We've seen them. We saw him against Tennessee battling, you know, hanging around, but all the turnovers and just you have no chance after a while. But I guess my biggest, well, there's, I have two huge takeaways from this game, okay,

and they're both Alabama related. First of all, Alabama's offensive tackles, Proctor and Pritchett had, I mean, nightmare is is putting it kindly. This was like devastation type level of performance from them all night long. Right.

All night long. Holding penalties, sacks allowed pressures. They could not protect Millro at all. At all. Number two takeaway. I mean, I remember back seven, eight weeks ago, I'll reference it again, Greenie coming on Sunday countdown in the morning

and talking about why isn't Jalen Milroyo QB. When Rex Ryan's screaming, that guy I watched last night, who's better than him in college football? And Field Yates, I met Field Yates Green, he said in the makeup room, and he said, well, absolutely could be in QB1. I get it. We get excited, and I get it.

He's a phenomenal athlete and throws a beautiful deep ball. You're telling me that guy we watched tonight is ready to go play in the National Football League? No, yeah. Okay. And I love Jalen Mill. I got to have better days. I went to golf with a bunch of guys who know him this summer down to Jim Nagy for the senior bowl.

And they work with Milro and they rave about him as a human being. You talk to people in that program. Jalen Milro is a wonderful guy, a leader, tough, competitor, great athlete, phenomenal runner. And outstanding deep ball and has the arm. But he's so much developing to do. And you watched him tonight. And yes, the protection was terrible. but when you when you chop off his legs what is what it you know what i mean what is alabama let

alone what is he yeah yes the whole thing and it's not this isn't just i'm coming on to rail milro i'm i just i started with the protection because that even if milro was was an elite level pocket passer right you didn't have anything to work with tonight but you do see the decisions the errant throws just it just it was not a brand of football that that was sustainable when you can't when he can't run and and and what Oklahoma did don't take a thing away from what Oklahoma did their ability to bottle him up sealing off the edges the discipline they play with the tackling in space like they were awesome tonight but but that was a tough watch that was a tough watch Yeah. I mean, I was stunned.

I was stunned. Because, I mean, you had kind of, you were onto it earlier in the week that this could be a much more of a closer game than we thought going in. Never could have seen this. And again, I know all those things you talked about, and I'm just going to go back to it again quickly. Oklahoma just controlled the game with their running game. It just, again, 50 for 257, 50 carries, 257 yards against Alabama. against Alabama. Yeah.

And again, this is a defense. No, and this is the defense that I thought was strong up front, could stop the run, but couldn't get after the quarterback. If you can't stop the run, I mean, I don't know what the identity of that Alabama defense is. And we can talk about more, and you're 100% right. The picks are ugly. I mean, he looked like he was making a pre-step read.

He was very mechanical. I'm just going to throw the ball here based on what I saw, not reading the defense after the snap and how coverages were rolling. It just looked, it did not look good. And then, again, can't run the ball. I just, if you can't stop the run and you can't run the ball, you're not going to win a lot of football games. I mean, I think A&M just went for two.

I'm not ignoring you, but, I mean, we're doing this live. A&M, I think just went for two or they're, I don't know, we're in. Yeah, we're like in the conversation looking at. I think it's, I figure it on a minute. All right. So, so I, and I want, the reason I looked up is because I want to get into the SEC standings, we will have to do in a little bit. Yeah.

I mean, Jackson Arnold, they, they, they, it was 80, 20 run pass, I, I believe. It was somewhere in that range. So what do we, I mean, where do we go from here with the SEC? Well, let's, you know what, let's just transition. I mean, yeah, there's not much more. to say in that game. No. Absolute domination, both sides of the ball.

They stuffed it down Alabama's throat defensively. Milro was ordinary because he was bottled up. And when he was bottled up, he didn't have protection. So it didn't even matter if he was Joe Montana. Right. There was nothing to work with there. One unbelievable play he had, that touchdown throw that he had to Ryan Williams, got the foot in, like just phenomenal play.

Yeah. And it was called back because of a penalty that they confirmed with her being followed. in the booth and that it was it was the wrong call but it didn't matter you know i thought it was going to be that kind of night where it did matter but it didn't even matter right yeah so that leads me to the next the other huge upset today florida old miss yeah should we seen this one coming a little bit 24 70 yeah yeah yeah we yeah we yeah we touched on hindsight right a little bit but i didn't I didn't buy it. I didn't buy it.

Too much, too much to lose. Here's what I thought. I thought Ole Miss had gotten that Kentucky game out of its system. Look great against LSU, but we've come to realize that LSU just, like I said last week, is a splintering team. And Georgia, Georgia, not, Ole Miss is early. Georgia, I'm sorry, the Georgia game. But Ole Miss just, they came out in this game and they couldn't get it going. Montreal Johnson for Florida was awesome.

Against this defensive line to run for 127 yards and a touchdown, I thought that that was huge. But let's face it, like, as great as Florida has been in the last two weeks, and they've played great, and I already said that I would put them at number four, arguably, in terms of the SEC. see. Like the teens on the field right now, the way they're playing with Lagway in there. And Lagway didn't even have a great game. He was okay. He didn't have a great. He wasn't like having Lagway in there was a huge difference maker in this game. It just wasn't. It was all

about Ole Miss. And a couple of things jumped out. No run game. We've said it all along. And remember, do you remember like just a couple years ago? This was a, it was weird to see Lane Kiffin with such a run-oriented football team. Everything was about the run. They had really good backs. They had depth at the backfield. And now you watch them, they just, they can't, they can't run the football.

They're thin. They're thin of running back. When Sean Dutton kids a couple years ago was like, was the backup when he was a freshman, you know? And now, and now they just, they don't have any dudes. And yeah, they, they let Judkins go in free agency as we talked about. Yeah. And they took that NIL money and they got this defensive line that's phenomenal.

But they can't run the football. And so Jackson Dart wound up leading them in rushing today. They're leading rusher at the running back position, Munch, was Micah Davis with 27 yards. Yeah. All right. So now we're going to put it all on Jackson Dart. I thought this was interesting. Okay.

Two things were interesting. Trey Harris. And I don't know if there was an injury. Again, bouncing around four different games. at a time all three different wins right right right Trey Harris had that 43 yard touchdown catcher early in the game right and it was like oh Trey harris is you know they're going to be rolling and and now maybe he's 100 percent now and then I didn't hear from him the rest of the day he was hurt oh he got hurt

okay so so that's what happened so unless I'm mistaken but I'm almost I'm not that that would line up because I just didn't see him the rest of the day right never heard an injury He was on street. He was in street clothes later on. Yeah. By the way, Auburn just upset A&M. Unreal, man. 43, 41 in four overtimes.

This is live right now at 11.45 p.m. Eastern time. And I know most people will watch and listen to this after the fact. But it's kind of fun just getting our reaction to this. Yeah. So now, so now we've got Old Miss number nine going down to Florida. We've got Alabama number six. seven going down at Oklahoma. And then another five and five team,

just like Oklahoma was coming into the day in Auburn, who's been playing better ball recently, another five team knocks off 15 Texas A&M. Three SEC ranked teams in week 13. I don't want to mess with your role in your format, but I'm just going to say it to you, how are you keeping Indiana out now? How are you keeping them out?

I'll get there. Let me turn off this TV so I'm not distracted again. I can't wait to hear this because I'll say this really quickly before we go back into whatever you want to do. I felt the same way after watching that early game. Ohio State Indiana was like, oh, Indiana is out. But after watching everything else, it's unfolded, I think Indiana's back in. I'll counter with winner of South Carolina Clemson, South Carolina Clemson. We'll get to that.

We'll get to that. Okay. But yeah, I hear you. And this certainly didn't help my argument. I got it. But so the run game, it's not there. It's not existing for Ole Miss. It's all on, it's all on Jackson.

And by the way, J.J. Pagis, your boy, who is 12 for 12, I think, on short yardage and goal line situations. I see that. People not watch. Yeah. Two failed short yardage attempts today really were critical. Yeah. Why? Because everyone's heard it running back.

I get it that Florida's got a 430 pound defensive tackle in the middle of their defense. I get that. But why are we running Pagis off tackle? Yeah, that's weird. Twice. And it looked like he had a seam, didn't it? Like, it looked like he had a seam between the tackles. They were, usually the strength of their offense is short yardage with Pagis.

And they were terrible today. And it was costly. But the most costly thing in this game. And then quarterback gets too much credit, gets too much blame. get it. I thought this was interesting. I was watching the game, right? And Greg McElroyd, friend, very respected, totally get what he was doing, not even sure he totally picked up on what the truck was trying to do when they threw up the graphic. I don't remember the exact graphic, but it was something along the lines of when old miss got the ball late in the game, it was like,

and they were trailing. It was a graphic that popped up about Jackson Dart. Remember, this guy's played a lot of ball. And they've won a lot of games. And he may go down as the or one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in Ole Miss. And his legacy will always be that he was part of this rejuvenation of Old Miss and what they've done, right? Bringing this program back to life and some consistency with it. But this graphic pops up and it's like, and don't quote me exactly. But it was less than six in situations, fourth quarter when leading his team trailing,

trying to make a comeback in the fourth quarter. It's like 56, 57%. It was at less than 60%. I think it was like five touchdowns, three interceptions. It was not, the graphic was put up there by the truck to basically state, like he's not always been awesome in these situations. Right. Okay. And Greg went on to talk about, I don't know that I'd rather,

you know, not many guys I'd rather have, you know, ahead of dart in this situation. Love having a veteran who's been through a lot of wars, which I totally understand. Fair point. Yeah, I think the truck was trying to point out something a little different. So that registered, like three or four plays later, Jackson Dart throws into triple coverage and throws at an interception beyond tough.

And then and give McElroy all the credit in the world. He called it and it was absolutely true. And the camera angles that they had showed it. He just, he is. And I've been guilty of this many a time. And I did not play at the level of Ole Miss and all of that. But I understand how it happens. You make a determination pre-snap where you're going to the football in hell or high water.

I'm going there with the football. Right. Problem is when you do that and all of a sudden you don't make the post snap read correctly, then you can throw into triple coverage. Yep. And it killed them. That was probably probably the interception. and the single play and decision that decided the fate for Ole Miss.

But three timeouts left, defense does its job, get the ball back. He threw two more interceptions. I know. I don't mean to be laughing. And I know the press conference after apologizing to everyone, I can't even imagine the weight of the world on that young man's shoulders. And I've sat in a room with him for an hour, two different. different times. Love them. Like just there's nothing not to like about Jackson Dart as a human,

as a competitor, as your quarterback, except the decisions he made late in this game. And he threw one interception, got lucky that the ball was bobbled a little bit. They called that back. And then he comes right back out and throws another interception. That one, I wasn't sure that was as much as his fault. I've thought. No, no, the third interception, the second of which that counted actually wasn't. That one wasn't his fault. Yeah. In fairness. Yeah. Can I see something about Legway real quick? He's inconsistent. The Florida quarterback, he's inconsistent. I mean, he just seems to know how to, like, he just has a knack for making plays in big moments.

Yeah. I mean, this is a tied game and he throws that 41-yard dart that gets Florida down there. And it's just, it's impressive. The other thing I will say, and I think this was a, even at one point, they were in like their own end zone. He dropped into their own end zone instead of, like, I handed the ball off to get out of their, like the trust that Napier showed in him. And he completed that pass to get him out of their own, you know, backed up in their own territory. That was the confidence that Napier showed in him and then to pay it off the way he did. Yeah, it was not a great game from DJ Lagway, but there were moments that they needed him.

And he stepped up. Yeah, he played well enough for them to win. And the other thing, I will say there was the muff punt. And special teams this time of year, man. if you if you if old miss had the muff punt and when you do that your margin of error it was the i think it was the very beginning of the first half they had a florida had a three and out muff punt florida gets a field goal they go up three at that point it's it's one of those things man you're you're banged up at running back you're not having a great day you're on the road

special teams and i think that that played a role in other games too special teams can have a big impact on a game this time of year and on on on a on on on on on on a on on on on a playoff standing. I'm just looking at it. I didn't pause for the awkward effect or because I wasn't listening. I'm just looking at these SEC standings. Yeah, good luck. Texas is now six and one.

Think about coming into the day. Texas is six. Oh, and our producers are wonderful people in our truck, if you will, all across the country. Pull up the SEC standings just as we call for it. Six and one, Texas, 10 and one overall.

A&M was right behind Texas. It was supposed to, I mean, we're supposed to have the showdown next week, right? Two one loss, SEC teams. Texas, a one loss overall. A&M, two losses overall. Now they go from, they go from contender, A&M does, to spoiler. Really? Right.

But still, like, still, you go beat the number three team in the country in the final week of the season, and we've got a jumbled mess. Right. You can make up for this Auburn loss pretty quickly. But who's betting on A&M going to do that? But anyway, so there's still something in front of A&M. Let's put it that way. But now they drop down from number two in the SEC behind Texas

to number four behind Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee. All three of those teams, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas A&M have two losses in the conference. A&M is the one of those three teams with three losses. The rest of these teams all have three losses in the SEC and three losses overall. That includes South Carolina, my wild card team that I've been talking about for three weeks now, Munch, followed by now Alabama, dropping to that spot,

Missouri, and then Ole Miss. And that's why I said at 0.3 or 4 in my topics off the top, Missouri, I mean, Ole Miss is out too. Yeah. I agree. Not because I don't believe in a playoff that they're capable of beating a team or two, because I do. But,

and I don't believe that within Indiana. But I don't, here's where I stand with Ole Miss. They don't deserve to get in at this point. There I said. Yeah, well, no,

I think Florida is a much better team than they were, but ultimately there is a six and five team. And a five and five team, I think coming into this game. like you have to handle your business as well yeah so this is i mean this thing's a mess man it's a mess how you like me now georgia i mean georgia's got to be they're the biggest the two weeks that georgia has had yes two weeks of georgia is is amazing um and good for them uh because i do think after watching that tennessee game i mean george is one of the top probably

three teams in the country right um So good for Georgia. That's interesting that they benefit so much. And you know what's even more interesting about this is what if A&M beats Texas next week? Texas has to get in, right? Because there'll be a two-loss SEC team. So I think Texas is kind of a little bit more insulated, where if they have lost, if these games weren't upsets today, Texas, I think, was real danger of maybe not making it

if there were a bunch of two-lossed SEC teams. Yeah. So I think they're maybe a little more insulated. That's actually a really good point. Yeah, the biggest winners in all of the Texas, Texas and Georgia. Yeah. And then obviously Tennessee is still sitting in a really good spot. All right.

Right. I guess now we make a transition to what was supposed to be the biggest game of the day. The big noon kick, Indiana, Ohio State. I felt like, you know me well enough. I felt like we did a good job of explaining to people earlier in the week after our film study of Indiana, why they're 10 and 0. If by some crazy chance they were able to pull off an upset here, the reasons why. And I thought we were, I thought we were kind of dead on the first drive.

Yeah. And even, you know, through the first quarter or so, that first drive in Indiana looked great. The wide receivers were a problem. The Ohio State cornerbacks were in trouble. Yeah. Like, the, Igbenosa, Davidson Igbenosa, number one, he actually got bench for a minute because he had two penalties. And we've always said, and you were the first to point out, he's handsy.

He grabs too much. In the NFL, he's not going to be able. And so you love him in press if he can be physical, but only within the first five yards. The problem is he doesn't have those great, you know, change of direction skills. And so it gets quicker guys who are great route runners. And we talked about it. Indiana's got three really, really good receiver, college receivers.

Guys who can get in and out of breaks, leverage their roads, know what they're doing. And it was a problem for the first drive. But honest to God, the coaching decision, and it wasn't like brain surgery. This was not. But Jim Knowles, the defensive coordinator for Ohio State, recognizing that the four-man rush just ain't going to work today. Right. We need.

But as we talked about leading up to the game, Rourke does not have a monster arm and he does not have mobility. He's not a threat. So what's our job? Like hell and high water, we better, we better affect the quarterback. We better, if we're not even getting home, we better get him off his spot, make him uncomfortable, make him throw on the run. That's because you let him sit in the pocket with those skilled receivers who are outstanding

route runners, outstanding contested catches. They catch everything. We talked about it. You're going to be in for a long day. what it kind of looked like it could be right after the first drive but now all of a sudden went to five man pressures and it was it was six or seven guys that were hot at the line of scrimmage that you know the quarterback had to account for he's having to overthink he doesn't know where the pressure's coming from the offensive line struggling and my goodness did it pay off tj

toi moya laa too toi toi toi moa la sorry twoi moya plus jack sawyer plus cody simon equals five sacks. They got home five times today. And it wasn't just the sacks. It was the constant pressure. Rourke never looked comfortable after that first drive. So Jim Noel recognizing that we've got to, we've got to dial it up,

don't care if we're vulnerable. Our corners suck right now, but I'm still going to take a chance. And we're going to gamble on that because, because number one, if we don't get to Rourke, we're going to be in for a long day. So let's figure that out right away. it was really disappointing that Indiana couldn't figure out a way

to shore that up a little bit because there it wasn't like they were getting beat up in one-on-one matchups it was more like they were turning guys loose I thought there was and we'll see when we go back and watch tape maybe I'm wrong but I'm watching it on TV and I'm thinking scheme-wise they didn't have and this should not have happened because Ohio State's blitzed a lot more since the Oregon game we know this and it just seemed like scheme-wise like they were trying to block JT with the backside guard on these play action. It was like, what are we doing? Like, you can't, like,

their scheme-wise, it didn't seem like they had a great answer for how they were going to block up these pressures. So that was tough. But, I mean, it's anyone who watched the game knows that's exactly what happened. As soon as Ohio State dialed it up, that offense started to shut down, which is also, you know, the other thing about it is you look at the rushing numbers and they look bad because their punter had negative rushing yards and their quarterback got sacked five times

or whatever the number was and negative yards. They actually, the two backs kind of ran the ball well. You know, so they couldn't, they weren't like gashing Ohio State. They were, they could have been balanced and more consistent. They just could not block or they couldn't, couldn't figure it out to hold up for the past direction long enough to make plays in the passing game.

17 does have some juice. Yeah. That was fun to watch. You know, when he got a chance, but it just, it wasn't going to be enough today. I mean, the other, the other thing. Yeah. And listen, we knew they were going to be bigger, bigger, faster, stronger. There was no question Ohio State was bigger, faster, stronger.

We all, like, didn't take a Super Scout to figure out the talent level difference. But to your point in a couple different areas, I, listen, I can't respect Ryan Day more than I do. I can't respect Chip Kelly more than I do. And Jim Knowles proved his worth. Jim Noel proved his worth once again. And, you know, some people, people have differing opinions on how great he is or just okay. Whatever that is, he had a hell of a day today. But I did think coaching, not that they were going to get out coached,

but I did think Indiana's coaching was going to be at that level because it had been all season. right and they were they were playing better than their talent level would indicate all season long and we watched the tape on both sides of the ball hat on hat in the offensive line receivers running great routes the timing the precision defensive side gap discipline you know understand all the things that you look for in a well coach team they were check plus plus okay right but they didn't make adjustments on the offensive side they didn't have the max protection and do the things they didn't get that figured out. And then in special teams,

you can't go into the shoe. Yeah. That big of a talent discrepancy and botched that punt that led to seven and then give up the punt return. Caleb Downs is Superman to me. He's amazing. I mean, he's returns before today. He had a couple returns last year at Alabama.

And then he had two returns. The third punt return of his, of his. season he goes for six in the biggest moment right Caleb downs is different on a bouncing ball by the way he didn't even field it clean it's like bounce and he scoops it and what a great story like his brother obviously Josh downs we knows with the Colts his dad you know just a football family like studying tape when he was like eight years old four years old like this like he's just but he's born for this and even not knowing the story. We taught we did a whole, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes on, on Downs the other day.

I wasn't even watching. Remember, we were doing an evaluation on the Ohio State defense, and I know Kay Downs. Like, I know who he is. But I'm not studying him like an NFL draft prospect, because he's not eligible in 2025. But there are certain guys you just can't help. Right. And I came away from studying that Ohio State defense, trying to early in the season, trying to get ready. And like, oh, no, no, no, like he would be, he would be the top safety in this year's class. And we've got a great safe, great couple. great safeties. Malachi Starks. Some people think Malachi Starks could be a top 15 pick. This guy's significantly better than him.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I agree with that. Like, I would put him up there, like Will Johnson, Michigan cornerback. Travis Hunter, if you could only draft him as a cornerback, I would still take this guy. He's that special. Yeah. I don't disagree. I mean, there's what check, tell me a box that he doesn't check, smart, versatile, fast, physical could cover, he plays the run. I thought he set the tone, even though that Indiana, first drive was really good for Indiana. He was setting the tone on defense early,

the way he was coming up and hitting guys. You can't turn on the Penn State tape without just seeing him everywhere. I just, I don't know what box that he doesn't check. How high would he go in this draft? Top five. Top 10, top five, maybe. There wasn't a safety top five. But definitely top 10 because he's that talented.

Like I, Derwin James, I'm just like going through like, Derwin James Antoine Winfield Jr. Like I think he's got a chance to be. I'm not saying that those are the NFL cops. I'm saying like who are the best in the league. I think he's up like I think he's got a chance to be at that kind of level.

I truly do. I think Caleb Downs has a chance to be a like one of the one of if not the elite. at some point in his career, I think Caleb Downs could wind up being the best safety in the NFL. I don't disagree with that. Yeah. Again, but he's a sophomore, right?

And he's a true sophomore. That's what we're talking about. And that's how impressive he is now at Ohio State. I mean, I don't know what else we can say. But with all that said, all the heaping praise on Caleb Downs, you still can't give up a punt return and you still can't.

So that was it. So we kept saying, and listen, Will Howard was efficient. 22 of 26. I just like his fit in this offense. He understands it. He operates it efficiently. He's not going to make big mistakes. They want to be a run first team.

All the passing game works off the run game. They've got, you know, one of the best, the, arguably, I mean, Ryan Williams for Ohio State. But Smith is up there with the elite true freshman, Jeremiah Smith. an absolute star. And it's hard to get them the ball sometimes as much as maybe that kind of talent should get it right now. But Will Howard isn't going.

It's kind of like the Jackson Dart thing with Trey Harris. He's not going to force feed that player because it's about running this system for what's best for this team. And Will Howard puts the team in front of him and he's going to put everybody, he's going to put team in front of everybody else. Right. And that's why he works so well.

they've got so many stars. They've got two stars in the backfield. They've got a, they get two stars at wide receiver. And it just so happened. And by the way, watch it, go back and watch the tape,

because I saw enough today on replays, and I was really looking for it. Number four was getting double covered. Like, Indiana was going to take him away. And they were like, fine, take him away. We got Judkins.

We got Henderson. We got a mobile quarterback. And we got this guy who's probably going to be a second round draft pick in a Mecca, a Bucca. And he went for 780 and 1 today. Yeah.

Emeka had seven catches, 80 yards, and a touchdown. So I just think Will Howard continues to be what they need from him at the quarterback position. And when it's all said and done, like, you want to see in games like this, do championship teams show up and do what they're supposed to do and make it empathic? They did that against Penn State. They showed up. and the score wasn't as big as it could have been. And Howard, that was the game we said. What do you mean?

It could have been bigger. Oh, they could have won that game. Ohio State could have beaten Ohio State by 21 had not been for three plays. Where the three plays? Well, the touchdown that he fumbled out of the back of the end zone. Oh, you're talking about the Penn State game. Yes, the Penn State game. Okay, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I thought you're talking about today. Yeah, I agree with that. It's been a long day. I get it. We get into that. No, no, no, my bad. Yeah, they could have.

won the Penn State game by whole touchout okay yeah so and and they did it again today against against Indiana who's a lesser version of Penn State right and Oregon was on the road early in the year had a chance late in the game and will Howard made him a critical mental error but he's learned from that he didn't go in the hole he didn't like that's an easy place Columbus to to kind of lose confidence and start to hear hear all the outside noise uh-uh hasn't has not let anything thing affect him. And now they're rolling. They get Michigan, obviously rivalry game. Michigan's not to the level, but we've seen crazier upsets than that. But I expect them to come out and take care of business again. Yeah. And I want to say this about Ohio State and put a wrap on this. And you can

put a period on it. But this is what I want to finish with. You can argue Texas is more talented or is up is just as talented. You can argue Oregon deserves to be ranked number one ahead of Ohio State, and I would argue with you. But going into the playoff in terms of confidence, battle tested, where they've been and how they got here, I would argue Ohio State comes in kind of like built, built Ford tough, if you will. They're right. Because they lost their game.

They lost their game against Oregon on the road. They bounce back from that. They just finished their third top five matchup, right? Then they've got to go beat the rival Michigan that is owned Ryan Day. And I get it, Harbaugh's not there. I get it. Michigan's not that good. But I promise you.

It's the only game that matters in that state. Okay. And so they've got to exercise that demon. Okay. And so they're assuming they will have done that. Then they go and play a Big Ten championship that will be their. That will be their fourth. Find me another team because it doesn't exist.

I mean another team that has four games. I don't even care if they lose that game. I'm saying having to play and fight in four top five matchups. And I think they can win that game. But bottom line, Ohio State will go into this college football playoff. The most battle tested team. And I think we'll have like, what is it, iron, iron strengthens iron? I think they go in with like they've been through the most and they're like ready to go.

Georgia would like a word. I think Georgia would like a word. And I think that, but I think to your point, those two, it's Ohio State. And it's Georgia that have been through the gauntlet. So you led this off by saying there was four teams that you thought could get through. the gauntlet and win the national championship. Correct. Am I right about that? Yeah. Let's just go.

Okay. Perfect time to go there. Okay, go. My four, and I want you to do this while I'm listening him off, and we'll only take a couple seconds. And I'll, true serum, always transparent on the show, before seven o'clock kicked off through the first quarter, there was, it was five teams in Alabama was one of them. Yeah.

They're not on that list anymore. I saw things tonight that are absolutely. frightening and it's it's too late in this season though and quite honestly had old miss rolled against a good florida team it could have been six it could have been six but it's four now and that's like late in the season handling the weekend week in week out grind and and i the cream rises and here's the cream to me and i want to know how deep you'll go because you you may say eight that's fine but i want to know like in your mind if you're betting your life on it.

Like these are the teams. I have to have the confidence level. And I only have to go to if McShay's not forcing me. I can do two. I can do three. I can do four. I can do eight. As many teams as you want.

Right. But truly that you are going to place all of your confidence points on these amount of teams, I can only go four deep. It's Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, and Georgia. Is that an order for you? Is that you feel the best about? Maybe not. Can I tell you something that really is bothering me?

Probably, yeah, for right now I'll say, yeah. Something that's sticking in my mind about Oregon really quickly. Do you remember they went into the Pac-12 championship game last year against Washington? Do you remember the lead up to that game? And they were nine and a half point favorites going into that game. Yes. And I thought they were going to win that game. Even though they had lost the Washington earlier in the year,

I thought they kind of were on a roll that they were going to go in. I wonder, I'm sitting here asking myself, is that Oregon team. It's the same shit with Utah, too. What do you mean? In previous years. Okay. Right.

So in my mind, do you think that Oregon team is better than which Oregon team is better? Last year's Oregon team or this year's? This year's. Really? Yeah. I think it's a debate. I think it's, I think it's, I think it's a debate. And I wonder how well they just haven't had the adversity that is Georgia and Ohio State has.

And it kind of scares me. I, so when I, I could go for, but if I'm being 100% honest, it's Ohio State and Georgia. Texas scares the hell into me. They are, they, yeah, because the defense is so good. But I'm not convinced. So you'd rather have more, let's say you had $100. Right. I'm going to bet $25 on those.

I get $100 to disperse between those my four teams, Oregon, Ohio, State, Texas, and Georgia. This is a better way to do it. Yeah. I give you $100. You're willing to take out, so you're saying Ohio State. I go 50 Ohio State and 50, Georgia. So you don't even want $10 on Oregon.

You would rather more money to stand more money because of confidence. I shouldn't say that because that's that's kind of where I was hedging a little bit. I feel much so I would go 44. I'll go 40 40 40 on Ohio, and then 10 on the other two because I do think those, I think there's another drop after those two, right? All right. So let's do this.

So we agree that those, you're putting a tier within my first tier. My first tier would be Oregon, Ohio State. All tears with us all the time. Always tears. You're taking it, the first tier would being Ohio State and Georgia, and then the second tier being Oregon, Texas. Yes.

All right. So we both, there's a line after those first four. I definitely think so. After that, and I haven't thought of this. I'm doing this on the fly. After that, who's your next, if you get one more team, you can put money on? Not. I'm telling you right now, again, this is the gauntlet to run, like, to make a run, right?

I might. Who win? Like, there's nothing else. There's no like, oh, you get some points or you get it. Oh, they had a great game. They won two. No, like if they don't win the national championship, you get nothing for it. I'm not putting any money on them, but I might.

I know, but I'm giving you $10 additional and I'm getting $10 additional or $100 or $1,000. Yeah, yeah. Yes, yeah. I'm going to take that Fandul money and I'm going to put it on Tennessee probably. That's funny. That's the same team I was going to go with. I hate to agree so much. A head of Penn State.

That's happening lately. That's all right. I'm sure everyone listening and watching disagrees anyway. So it will, you know, um, I don't want to play Notre Dame in the first round, by the way. It's not Penn State who was ranked fourth. It's not Notre Dame who was ranked six and we'll probably bump up one spot. It's not Miami. Right.

It's not. Yeah, I mean, there's nobody else. Everything else is ravaged right now. Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. I don't want to play Notre Dame in the first round, by the way. don't want to do it.

They run the ball so well. If you play outside, too, if you're going to play an outdoors game against Notre Dame in the first round, because those are all home games, I don't want to play that game. Yeah. I think between Love and Leonard,

that that team can be a handful on any given night. I agree. Love is, I mean, there's nothing to get to in that game because they just ran through another service academy. There is a different running back talk about every single week.

I mean, we could talk about love tonight. I'm guessing we're going to get to Devin Neal when we get into the Kansas, the Kansas Colorado game. Oh, you bet your ass we are. And I already talked about Montreal Johnson, Montreal Johnson from Florida. Yeah, Florida. Hunter for Auburn.

I mean, it's just. And we talked about 17. Yeah. Was it Ellison? Is that? No, Ellison six. It's, um, how my friend is name

John Tay or uh no I'll get it I have a read here Lawton Tyson Lawton Tyson Lawton thank you yeah um so anyway all right so I mean I think I think that's a good way to kind of

contextualize this whole thing is the like the confidence thing to me while everyone's been screaming for a 12 team playoff again I go back to my initial statement. I don't know that there are 12 teams currently that you feel truly deserve to be in there. But more importantly, I only

I truly only believed that Fork and win the national championship. Yeah, what do you mean they don't deserve to be in there? You don't think that... We'll get to that. We'll come back. We'll come back. Okay. We're almost there. I want to tease you and the listener the whole time. Yeah. You don't deserve it.

Who are you to say? Go make love to yourself, Munch. Bad time guy. All right. So I do think it's worth, like, we got to get to the Big 12. And I know it's not, it's not the SEC. I know it's not the Big Ten, but I feel like we covered that as much as we can. The Big 12 is an absolute mess.

It's fun, though, too, right? It's awesome. BYU had a lockup. BYU was right. BYU was a four seed, like two, two ranking reveals. shows ago. Yeah, done and dust. Now look at the four-way tie.

Four-way tie. We've got Arizona State, six and two in conference nine and two overall. BYU. Iowa State. Do you remember Iowa State still plays football? They got some guys, man. They're pretty good. No, I know.

Their receivers are going to senior bowl. They're going to be in the NFL. I'm just saying like, no one would. This was Colorado and BYU. Before Colorado got back in it, it was BYU. Arizona State was like a cute party school. You know, like, let's go have fun there. Arizona State's not,

now they've ripped off four in a row. Yeah. So let's get into two games that kind of made things, presented some clarity, but actually it's the opposite of clarity, presented this mess that we have. Kansas, Kansas, Colorado,

and we knew it. What did we say? Watch out for Oklahoma. That line's fishy, but I don't think they'll lose, but they'll hang up. And then, and then Colorado, Kansas,

the play of the week was take Kansas. Just like the play of the week last week was take Kansas. Two weeks in a row, they have had the ficious line and fan duels, you know, FD, FD sports book of any game out there. And both weeks, they've come through. Kansas, Colorado, 3721 was the final. It wasn't even close. They tried to make it close at the end.

They were playing the buffs were playing catch up the whole day. They did not realize the fight that they were in. I want to make two points and you can go where you want with this. Okay. Three, actually. They're going to be quick. Travis Hunter, it was his show. He's wide receiver one.

Doesn't need to play cornerback. He's wide receiver one. And if he's the number one overall pick and he's the first one since Keishon Johnson in 1996, I'm fine with that too. In a class that's not loaded with elite players at other positions, including in especially the quarterback position, if you're just taking the best damn football player and a player in a league where the receiver position continues to rise in terms of its positional value, I think now's the time. I'm not saying he's going to be, you know, one of the best five receivers in the league, but maybe he can be.

And I know this. He's just explosive. And when they needed it did not, it was not an offense. It was how do we get the ball to Travis? And that got him back in the game. The third touchdown, did you see? Did you see what he did to that poor? And that cornerbacks can be in an all-star game and get draft on a day three. I think it was number two. Was that Brian? Was that Kobe Bryant or the other guy? Let me say that.

It doesn't matter. Well, you know what? Let's not bring up his. Let's not bring up his name. Yeah, why are we going to do that? He broke his ankles off in the shortest area. So that was almost aside from this game. Like everything we knew about him.

We just did a full break down on him. But Travis Hunter was just, he's, The stars played well. Yes. Shador holds on, holds on to the ball too long. Still is a problem. Yeah.

Still a problem. But at the end of the day, Colorado's defense, which has been much improved this year, absolutely failed. Yes. I was ringing the endorsement. That's my guy.

Silman Craig, the safety number seven. Of course he comes out and has the worst game that I've seen him on tape. Yeah. Missing tackles. Overpowered at the goal. goal line, made mistake, several mistakes. But that way, it wasn't on him.

I'm just mentioning him because I just highlighted him. The defense failed. Out of position, couldn't stack up at the line. And Devin Neal was sensational. 207 Russian yards, I think it was 80 receiving yards. Bottom line, 287 yards from scrimmage with four touchdowns. Yeah. That's it.

I mean, that's the bottom line. I mean, and then you look down and you're like, oh, that's why Kansas had the ball for more than 40 minutes in this game. I mean, again, like, it's simple, man. Like, there's just certain things. If you tell a coach, hey, the other team had the ball for 40 minutes, they're going to be like, yeah, well, probably going to have a hard time winning that game. You tell the coach that you gave up, you know, a 200-yard rusher. Oh, well, good luck winning in that game.

Like it's just, there's just things that are really difficult to overcome, right? And these are these are red flags, man. If you cannot get them off the field, it doesn't matter that, that Shador Sanders completes 23 out of 29 and that Travis Hunter is the best playmaker in the country because you can't get them the ball enough. You can't get the possessions.

I mean, it was unbelievable. And Devin Neal, 41 touches today for almost, oh my goodness, almost 300 yards. and four touchdowns. At the end of the day. He's so tough. I mean, it's fun to watch that kid run, by the way. And how about Kansas?

Go ahead, sorry. Kansas, sorry, I'm on a rant now. No, no. Kansas, the last three weeks, a team that was basically written off as dead after this terrible start, after going one in five and then two and six to beat Iowa State, BYU,

and Colorado in three consecutive games, It says a lot about that program and the pride that that program has. When you look at this, you know, traditionally at Kansas, you know, it's a basketball school. They're not that great of football. Those kids deserve those, the coaching staff, those kids deserve a ton of credit for the way they've showed up the last three weeks. I'll tell you a basketball school, Indiana. Oh, here we go. No, here we go.

I mean, two teams you don't want to play in college football right now. Florida and Kansas. Right. And three weeks ago, if we had said that, it would be a laughing stock. Right. I mean, it's amazing. It's amazing how it changes, the landscape changes week to week. It really is.

I don't really want to go anywhere with this, but I can't help, but just, Colorado is just the mountain west version of Miami. Ooh. Yeah. I mean, I think Miami has more. Miami doesn't have Travis Hunter, but they probably have more. I give you stack the skill guys and weapons. Maybe.

Although I do like Colorado's receivers, but I do think like talent-wise, they're, yeah, deeper. There are more guys in Miami. I think the offense, the offense is a little, the offense is better in Miami. The defense is better in Colorado has been. but what's the difference there's i don't they're both they're both dangerous teams on a given week but can't trust them because their defense isn't good enough and they've got flaws they

got flaws up front offensively right yeah so i mean i don't hate it i like the running game for miami a little bit better but i get offensive lines better their miami's offensive lines better yeah i don't hate the comparison but you know what else is funny like it's funny how expectations change, right? If you had said that Colorado was going to be a three-loss team at this point in the season and have a chance to go to the Big 12 championship, everyone would be like, wow. Huge success for Coach Brown. What a year for Colorado.

They won four fucking games last year. They won one game two years ago. And now they lose a turnaround. Right. And they lose a tough one. Yeah. These guys stink. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

You know, like this, this team's at a hell of a year. And I loved, I don't know, do you see Coach Brimes a speech after the game? I did. I thought it was dead on. It was, what do we do now? Like, you guys, you read all the press and we got caught. He pulled the line from Nick, from Uncle Nick, St. Nick. Yeah.

The success is intoxicating. You got intoxicated by success. He pulled that line on Nick's playbook. And what do you do now? They're good friends, and why wouldn't you? But yeah, what do you do you know? got Oklahoma State next week. And, you know, that looks like an easy game based on what Oklahoma State's done this year. But don't mess around. You take care of business. You've got a shot to still

get. Yet you still have a shot to get in the playoff, man. Yeah, two teams, two, two out of the four teams of the Big 12 are going to wind up. And honestly, we, we can sit here and try to sort it all out right now. It is, it is complicated. I think Daniel, our producer, simplest big 12, I'm just going to read it. Simple as big 12 tiebreaker scenario. Arizona State at Arizona next week will host Iowa State versus Kansas State

which is against Kansas State next week in conference title game if all teams win out. Right. So Colorado doesn't control its destiny. No. So Arizona State and Iowa State do.

Right. Who's Iowa State got next week? I'm looking right now. Thank you. This is like breaking news, just for us. Iowa State is at Utah. Oh, Arizona State. Utah.

No, hold on. No, no, no, Iowa State. That's this week. Yeah, Iowa State just, that's just sweet, Utah. Yeah. Apologies. It's not the best in the business for nothing, folks. Yeah.

All right. This is right now. So Colorado's got Oklahoma State on Friday night. Okay. BYU hosts Houston, Arizona State at Arizona and Kansas State at Iowa State. I mean, this is still wide open. Yeah, it's wide open, man. Kansas State.

All right. So, yeah, so it's a huge success for, I mean, you're probably going to have the Heisman trophy. Oh, oh, Fandul. I love our guys at Fandulul. It's 1228 Eastern. Updated Heismanods just popped up. You ready?

This is breaking news. It's a blowout. This is after Travis Hunter, this is after Gentie came back and played Superman, all that. You ready? Top four. Yeah, it's an absolute blowout. I overhyped this. It's like Richmond over William and Mary.

I guess we just got to it. Although, happy birthday, Dave Cooney, who we played with the University of Richmond. Oh, Coondock. Joe Douglas flew in from New York. Elio M. Bernoni, who's Mr. Iceman to many of you people with bar stools. That's all the hockey gambling. Carrie Goodwin, who's a linebacker force. They're all out in Boston.

12 miles away from me. You know what I'm doing? This with me. I'm talking to your ass instead of partying with those guys tonight. Happy 50th birthday, Dave Cooney. All right. Travis Hunter, minus 750. And then look at the different.

Ashton Ginty plus. 600 then talk about another drop off cam ward plus 1200 and then all the way down to plus 6 000 for dylan gabriel so this thing's in the back if we didn't already know that we know it now yeah i agree it's interesting too because i wonder how many can we just get to arizona state for a second yeah go for it no keep going i mean i always had a couple things i was impressed how many hysman trophy winners were on three lost teams oh i don't know you know what i mean i want to look into that i don't know either but i'm guessing not a lot and it's an individual award and it should absolutely be travis hunter no i i love where it's going this year where i mean not no dylan gabriel's the

only one there like legitimately with a chance to win a national championship and he's it's plus six thousand so yeah no i i love and and i don't think it's because of voters or it's just because of the situation. Yeah. You know, because Quinn Ewers hasn't played that great for Texas and he got injured and came in and came out of the game. And Will Howard is operating in offense very efficiently, but he's not a superstar and Notre Dame doesn't have a superstar quarterback.

And Alabama has a superstar quarterback some weeks and the quarterback is very average other weeks and they just lost their third game. Like the whole thing's a mess. And so the Heisman is going to be a mess. And so let's just focus on the best player. That's absolutely what it is this year. Hunter's going to be the person who gets his name announced and he will be the next Heisman trophy winner.

But Ashti being there is honest to God. Like I, we'd love to see a guy like that win, but but just being there is a huge honor as well. Dan just hit us. It was Caleb Williams in 2020. Yeah, you had to really big, keep on that. Way to go. Nick Shea.

Way to, way to think. Arizona State. Why are they there? I'm just like Kenny Dillingham he's man he had a day with some quotes and some behaviors but how bad are those kickers his kickers must be the worst kickers ever I mean come on bud let's focus on the positive Arizona states won six of seven

they had a weird loss at Cincinnati they've run one four in a row since that loss Sam Levitt keeps getting better every week Cam Scada boo is a dude I mean we featured him he was a that's that's my guy I told and I talked to NFL scout. I told you this. Out of the blue, out of nowhere, we were talking about all these different players

and high profile guys. He's like, I just got to tell you, like, don't sleep on scatibu, this guy translates. And he has since then, like he got injured, he got nicked up a little bit, came back, he's been highly effective. Today he finished with 147 more rushing yards and three

touchdowns. He was just a workhorse. Yeah. And how about the storming the field early? That's becoming a new, was that South Carolina? We stopped doing that. Yeah, South Carolina. Then they did it tonight. It wasn't on them this time. Like, the game was over.

Like the refs called it. And then all of a sudden there was a review after the fact. But ASU, man, 28 to 9, they were leading late in the third quarter and almost gave this one up. But hats off to Dillingham, to Levitt, to Scataboo, and Arizona State. And he's an Arizona state guy. Like, he grew up in that area. So, like, it's always cool to see the. coach who's alumni who has roots there kind of bring think about what i mean my my boy herm i love

i love him i truly love the man but that thing that thing turned good and then it turned ugly fast fast yeah see how quickly he's turned things around there is really cool and and listen we're here for the chaos and there's chaos in the cc there's chaos in the big 12 we'll see if kansas state can can pull off the upset next week and give colorado a shot to get back in the big 12 championship they don't i wouldn't say that they definitely deserve it anymore but we all kind of want to see it just because the story right everything that we'll go and there's got to be a big 12 there has to be a big 12 champion in there given the current rules and and i understand why but um but let's just look at it and i guess we'll wrap it up here Notre Dame's in

the acc gets one in but that that one's going to be interesting Okay. 12 is going to get one in. And then there's the Boise State or Tulane, the fifth conference champion. Right. So that's five spots, okay? Notre Dame, ACC, Big 12, and fifth conference champion, Boise or Tulane. So that leaves us with, no, that's four.

Sorry, Notre Dame, ACC, Big 12. It's five. The power four plus Notre Dame is what you're saying, right? The conference winners plus Notre Dame. Yeah, but I'm just saying the ACC and the Big 12. I'm leaving out the SEC and the Big 10 for now. So eight spots are remaining after Notre Dame, the ACC champion, Big 12 champion, and either Boise State or Tulane as the fifth conference champion.

Got it. So now we get eight spots left. I was huge on it has to be five SEC and should be three big 10. I'm still not backing down totally from that stance, but I will throw in there. There's a scenario in which Clemson goes and kicks the living daylights out of South Carolina and gets in having not played in the ACC championship game. Or there's an unbelievably tight game between SMU and Miami and SMU still sneaks in.

But I think it's more likely that things are going to just be sloppy and slushy in the or you can take a lousy Indiana football team. I don't mean truly they're lousy. I just, they haven't played anyone. They had 106 strength of schedule. And I just, South Carolina's strength of schedule is eight. Yep. Indiana was 106 prior to this week.

And obviously would go up having played Ohio State. My point in all of this is you've got 14. we just talked about Notre Dame, ACC, Big 12, and the fifth conference champion, occupying four spots. We know for certain it's going to be at least three from the Big Ten, and

that is Oregon, Ohio State, and Penn State. Okay? We know at least three from the SEC. That's Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee, as of right now, right? Right.

Correct. So there's two more. spots. Yeah. Let me let me ask you something. What's so great about Penn State? Oh, I don't think. We just talked about how they could have got blown out in that Ohio State game and they barely be in. I already said, like, they're absolutely overrated. I don't, like, I don't, like, I just got done watching Ohio State just demolish Indiana. And then I turned, you got to remember the time window. Like, that was, that was noon to three.

30. 3.30 kickoff. Now I'm watching, I'm watching Penn State. And I can hear James Franklin now. And by the way, onions, James Franklin. Hats off. And I'll take my shots when I can take my shots. But I also want to be very clear.

Penn State survived in large part because he made some really ballsy decisions in that game. The fake punt to extend that drive. That could be. You're like three minutes left on your side of the field. Menchie, that ends their season. That ends their season. I can't listen.

So my point is, credit. So you're saying that because Penn State's more talented roster-wise that they deserve. And on paper, they played Ohio State close. On paper they did. You know, like, I'm like. So what are you trying to?

So do you all are two from the Big Ten now? No, no, no. I want four. I think Indiana's in. And I didn't think Indiana was in after the game. But it has to count for something. It has to count for something that they blow out all those teams. They play the schedule. It's not their fault that Washington sucked this year. It's not their fault that Michigan sucks this year. Like you can't, it's not like they were ducking guys. They still play a pig 10 schedule. They play the schedule that was in front of them. All right, Fanduel. So now, now I have to know. Indiana neutral site. This will be Tuesday.

show neutral site Indiana versus Clemson much more importantly for me Indiana versus South Carolina yeah shit Indiana versus A&M you're gonna take but you're then you're talking Indiana versus Ole Miss I get the odds I get the odds I understand that but that's that's not what this is about though is I know that I know that yeah okay I want to see those odds yeah I yes and no I'm not conceding that mensch I'm really not I get it's not about what Fanduil is saying or what odds makers are saying. I understand that that's not what the committee is discussing, but I am saying that the committee is there to provide us with the best 12 teams.

And so if Fandul comes back and anyone comes back, if Fandul comes back and says they're six-point favorites, they're a touchdown favorite, well, isn't it our first? job is committee members to put in the best 12 teams. Yeah, give me the Penn State odds against those same teams. Okay. All right. So now we get some stuff to get to on Tuesday. We always have stuff to get to, man. I know. And I know Penn State's going to look better. I think Penn State's the more talented team. I think the odds are going to favor them more. But I just, I have a hard time. I just don't know how you leave him out. But again, I didn't think

they would leave Florida State out last year, and they did. I watched SMU recently against BC. Like, I'm sorry. I guess I have SEC bias, but I'm talking about, and Clemson hasn't been great, and they almost lost a pit. I get all those things. But like, I know talent.

Yep. You know? And SMUs, they're a good team, and they've got some athletes, and they do some good things, and they're explosive. But, like, I watch them, trudged through that game against BC.

Mm-hmm. They lost to BYU. They lost to BYU. He was losing to everyone now. Yep. That that win doesn't look like what it used to. Yeah, so I don't know. But is my out of the ACC championship

game right now? No. Why, are you reading something that I don't know about? No. In the standings, it has SMU and then Clemson. No, Clemson. That must be wrong. I believe so.

I mean, we need to double check. It's probably wrong. My understanding was Miami and then the tiebreaker there was with Clemson and Clemson and SMU and because SMU beat Louisville and Clemson lost to Louisville. That was the difference. But I think you're right. That's what I remember hearing too. Yeah.

Yeah. All right. It's off the rails. It's now 12. 43 a.m. Eastern time. But we also know that Clemson's going to get their doors blown off by South Carolina, right? No, I don't know that.

I love, I, you know, I'm a, you know I'm a South Carolina, like, yeah, apologists this year. And I believe in them, but I, I don't, doors blown off now. I mean, yeah, you're right, because South Carolina is a little inconsistent. I like South Carolina in that game, though. It's going to be an awesome, it's going to be an awesome game. Yeah. Yeah. You have a great defense for South Carolina.

you've got a high-powered offense at times for most of the season for Clemson. And then the other side, you got Sellers, Lenore Sellers, who was great last time out against Missouri. And they needed him to be. He's kind of like a role reversal. Both games. I mean, if you think about both their, Clemson, I know Clemson beat up on what was a Citadel today. Yeah. Clemson in their last competitive game against Pitt, it was a role reversal.

The defense saved them against Pitt and their offense struggle. And for South Carolina, it was their offense that saved them and their defense that struggled. So I'm just excited to see that game. I'm telling you right now with as craziest things got, I told you, what did I tell you this week? Yeah, you did. Triptophan. Yeah.

Triptofan time. You're on campus. Where's everyone? When's everyone leaving going home? Are you coming back on Sunday? You're leaving on Tuesday? Things, the schedule changes. There's people in your ear.

There's just noise. And then you smell the triptophan. And shit starts to get weird this time of year. It always does. This week and next week. There's always weird upsets. Always weird games. And we saw a bunch of them today.

Today was awesome. It was awesome. We're all over the place. I apologize for our, you know, we don't have a professional host here. Mention and I are doing the best weekend. We covered a lot. Head is definitely spinning. We'll talk on Tuesday.

We'll be back on Tuesday. Hey, live viewers. Thank you. in there. It's 12.45 a.m. Eastern time. Yeah. It's no joke. And we appreciate every week. It's been kind of a, you know, the numbers have gotten a little better. But what

everyone tells us at Spotify is the people who come on are staying on. So we appreciate you, truly. And we'll get to, we'll get to some questions on Tuesday. We've got a lot to cover. We're not going to have a show on Thursday. So we're going to fill a lot in. It'll probably be like a two hour and 40 minutes show. And we'll go from there. So if you're there, if you can do us a favor, subscribe, like, review, pass the word along, trying to make it in this crazy world,

but don't like begging. But we appreciate you being on and listening and watching, and we will, we'll check you out on Tuesday. Mench, get some sleep, bud. Thanks, man. All right. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit r g dash help.com call one 888-78-88-88-88-98-9-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in maryland hope is here visit gambling helpline m a.org or call 1-800-32750 for 24-7 support in massachusetts or call 1-877 877 8-8-N-Y or text Hope N.Y in New York.