The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1465 - NFL Week 14 Preview/Picks, TNF Recap, Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Henry Jr. Makes His College Commitment, Nick Saban, Stanford Steve, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: December 5, 2025

On today's show, Pat is LIVE from Atlanta, Georgia and Mercedes Benz Stadium ahead of tomorrow’s College GameDay for Alabama/Georgia in the SEC Championship, while AJ Hawk and the boys are back in Indianapolis as they recap last night’s Thursday Night Football game as the Lions kept their playoff hopes alive with a massive home win against the Cowboys, before they preview the college football championship game slate, as well as previewing and picking all the games from the week 14 slate. Joining the progrum for the whole first hour to recap last night’s TNF game, and to preview this weekend’s game, is the face of college football and NFL on Prime color commentator, Kirk Herbstreit. Also joining the progrum is the #1 WR recruit in the country, Chris Henry Jr. to make his college commitment. Later, 7x National Champion, the GOAT, Nick Saban joins the show to preview conference championship weekend. Next, Stanford Steve joins the show to chat about what his biggest takeaway’s from the conference championship weekend are. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you, we’ll see you on Overreaction Monday. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here we go. Welcome to Pat McAfee Show. I'm A.J. Hawks sitting in at Pat's desk. He's down to Atlanta for a big game, boys. There's a big game last night. Lions beat the Cowboys. Football! It happened last night. Obviously, one of the best ever on the call, obviously up there, and Peter makes an appearance. Pat, I know you're down at the beautiful Mercedes-Benz dome right there in Atlanta, Georgia for the SEC Championship. Who do you got with you there? I got a couple guests. Yeah, obviously, Living Legend, Peter, is here. Peter Herb Street, an absolute

stallion, and then Kirk Herb Street, fresh off the call, last night up in Detroit. Shake his hand, Kirk. What the hell was that? What just happened? Take a James, Jayce. Does he have that, Howie Mandel thing? That was unbelievable.

I thought he was doing, I think you were doing Kirk, Kirk. Yeah, I didn't know you were. Yeah, I thought knife hand. Okay, I respect that. I understand that. Peter's here, obviously. But Kirk, obviously, fresh off a flight from Detroit down here to Atlanta for the SEC Championship.

It just means more, doesn't it? That's kind of the big selling point, is it just means more down here. That's what they say. Alabama versus Georgia, it's obviously storied in tradition and a rivalry, seemingly as long as ball has been ball, two great teams trying to take home the SEC championship. Yeah, I think it's going to be a great, it's always a great scene. We do all these games from the beginning to the end, all the way to the national championship. And I always say, and people would say, these conference championships,

they don't matter the way they used to show up here Saturday at 4 o'clock and feel the vibe. in the energy that'll be in this dome. It's still a championship on the line. It's not what it used to be. You win this, you advance in the old days, you lose, you're out, but this is still going to be as good as seen I think college football has to offer. Now there's some championship games where if they lose,

they're obviously out of the conversation. If they win, they might be out of the college football playoff conversation, and certainly chaos could happen throughout championship Saturday. The Big Ten obviously has number one versus number two. And AJ, I talk to you. Thank you for traveling over to Indianapolis to the Thunderdome,

on this glorious Duky Feel Good Friday. On that note, Ohio State, very used to the Big Ten championship games, very used to the massive moments, very used to it all. Indiana, under Signetti here, already in a Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis. Seatkeek sending us stats. The Hoosiers, I think, are about to fill up the Loudhouse in the Lucasoil Stadium. They're not just going to fill up the stadium at night. I think the entire city all day.

Well, how did people in Columbus feel about this? You beat the cute Indiana Hoosiers last year, right? That's kind of maybe the thought. Or do you have respect for their team this year? How do you think Ohio State fans feel about the championship as a whole? No, I think the people that I have been around, the people I talk to, they have a ton of respect for Signetti and what Indiana has done. I mean, Indiana is legit.

You can't, I don't think you can doubt them anymore. He comes back after the great year last year, and they put on another unbelievable performance. So I think it's a great, like, you know, what do you call, measuring tool or measuring thing to say, hey, measuring stick. Leitmus test, all of those old cliches you want to talk about. But I believe, Kirk, you would know even better than I. I believe Ryan Day said nobody on this team currently has won a Big Ten Championships. This is a big deal for these guys.

They want to win. You know, what still would say, if they're keeping score, we want to win the game, even though it is a little different now with the college football playoff in the future. Yeah, AJ, you know, anytime, if you're a player, you're playing for a championship and you're playing a team, let's face it, talking about do you respect Indiana? How can you not respect Indiana? You know, based on what they did last year. But to me, what they've done this year, they're a very different team this second year with Cignetti

because of the line of scrimmage. They're tough to run the football on. They establish their run game. Mendoza gets a lot of the recognition and the credit, which he should. But, guys, I've been more impressed with, they go to Eugene Oregon win. They go in Iowa City in a tough environment and find a way to win without their fastball. They've just overcome the play against Penn State at the end of the game. They've got some moxie about them.

They've got some belief. I just don't think, if this were last year, it'd be like, what did you say, cute story? That's kind of what last year. This isn't that way this year. I think it's a different Indiana team, and I think the atmosphere in there is going to be electric. It'll be awesome. Yeah, it's going to be spectacular. And you talk about maybe this year being different than last year.

I think Signetti can feel it too. Signetti, AJ said, I don't have to be the person that's just like causing headline after headline after headline every single week with everything I'm saying about how great our team is and how terrible every other team is. I think he even says, like, I think we're at a different spot now than we were before. I think that's true. They've been tested this year. They were not really tested last year. They've been tested and they've found ways to win. And I think that gives you a very different team getting into a matchup like this.

Let's get a one half of the hammer. Don. Nailed it. Cowboys. AP tone. Their defense, too, has a little bit of maturity too, right, at all three levels on the Indiana side. I think a lot of people obviously last year did Canada's little brother. Certainly tearing it up O'Rourke on the offensive side, surprising a lot of people.

They wondered about the defense matching up against the big bodies of the big. schools. This year they got some continuity, and they have some people return at big places. Indiana is ready for this, right? Or is anybody ready for Ohio State with the way they live? Real quick, before the guys respond to that, I think that's what we don't know. We keep saying about Ohio State, how good are they? Well, they went to Michigan in a really tough rivalry game in a tough environment, and I think all of us walked away from that, like, yep, they are that team. This team could be somehow better than they were last year because of the way they're getting Julian Sands playing,

the maturity on the outside with Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith and Ennis. They can run the ball now with Bo Jackson. The offensive line looks better. And I think this defense, they are dominant. But with all that being said, again, it's as good against good. And what's great is it's not subjective analysis. We're going to see 60 minutes of these teams kicking each other's asses, which I think that's what we want to see.

Who's the better team? A lot of subjective analysis coming on this particular program. The Athletic Director of Notre Dame, Pete Babolk, will be joining us at 1240 Eastern Time. But Tone, I think the defensive side of Indiana, they are definitely and should be much more confident this year than maybe last year. Does anybody have anything to hold up against Ohio State? And I think Indiana can really do this thing, especially with what Lucas Oil is going to be like. Agreed. And the All-Big 10 team came out yesterday, I believe, and 13 of the 22 positions were either Ohio State or Indiana.

for first team all big 10. So this is obviously a one versus two. But what you're talking about, Indiana had three all big 10 defenders last year. Mikhail Kamara, Aiden Fisher, and then DiAngelo Pons. That was D-Tackle, linebacker, and Corner. They all came back. They're all, all-big-10.

Again, Kamara leads the country in pressures from the interior. Aidan Fisher, obviously, is the leader at the linebacker position. And then Pons is first team, all-big-10 again at corner. So they have guys at every single level. to be like Ohio State Indiana these are the two best teams that they're going to face all season long yeah IU played Oregon which was a really really good test but is Oregon Ohio State probably not we saw that last year

and then coming in this year Ohio State has only gotten better on both sides of the ball so no this is going to be the best test for both teams and two of the best teams in the country facing each other on Saturday nights can be awesome yeah we're very excited for championship weekend and obviously Peter is getting his workout in around this stadium a place that he frequents he knows this place very very very well, but let's talk about last night with another place that Peter was at, and you were at,

how about them, Detroit Lions? Foxy, I haven't even really got a chance to chit-chat with you about this. Because, you know, the game ran late. Foxy, huge win for the Lions. Are we all the way back? I know we got a couple injuries, obviously, that are going to continue to maybe haunt this Detroit Lions team

for whatever, I guess. Are they always going to catch an injury bug, which is just, as Peter, you know, doing his thing, that was awesome. Peter, he dropped the ball under the stage. He was trying to create a crack on the stage where the cameras are with the stage that we're standing on it. Now he's under the stage.

Peter is a dog. I mean, in every single sense of the word there, but the lions look great. Things go their way. And then on the flip side, Dallas Cowboys, CD might go for 1,000 yards in one game. He gets concussed off the ground. George Pickens looks a lot like what Pittsburgh Steelers George Pickens look like,

and the lions get a dominant win. Are the Cowboys Fugays or the Lions all the way back? Foxy is a Lions fan. What are your thoughts on the game? Yeah, all day yesterday, I woke up and I had a little pep in my step because this was a playoff game. Cowboys versus Lions, all the analytics said, whoever loses this game, you're out and whoever wins.

You've got a chance still. And the Lions, honestly, the big-time players for the Lions made big-time plays when we needed. Golf was absolutely perfect. St. Brown was money, Gibbs, all over the place. J-Mo, all over the place. Jack Campbell on defense is an absolute monster and then on the flip side like you guys mentioned

George Pickens just didn't make the plays their big time players didn't make the plays and that's what this game came down to and I just love that we still have a chance it's a long chance but the lines are looking good and the offense is going to have to take over for this team well I was Foxy

I was thinking about you during the game and being in Detroit and I was with you the analytics showed that this was going to be must win. I mean, there's still, I guess, mathematically you're still in it. But yeah, yeah, but this was a must win. Don't forget, this was 27 to 9. I think you've got to give Dallas a lot of credit for they got it to a seven-point game. And how about Tom Kennedy? Huge return. I think people maybe forget about that late in that game.

He had a huge return, almost to midfield to set golf up. And Dan Campbell, you know, when conventional wisdom says, hey, let's run the ball, let's work the clock. He goes play action on second down and hits St. Brown, who, by the way, once again, just shows you the dog that he is, the alpha that he is, by playing through the ankle pain. He's got 10 days now to recover to get ready for their next matchup next Sunday night against the Chargers. But golf played well. I think leaving that game, I think it's really about the Detroit defense. As Foxy, I'm sure, has talked about, they were just not able to affect the quarterback, as Jordan Love last week, really the last four or five games. and they looked like a totally different team.

They played with desperation. They played with an attitude. And when they needed to make the plays right there, Jack Campbell, the Iowa Hawkeye making plays all night, they made the plays they had to do, give them all the credit. Great atmosphere. I love doing games in that stadium. And not just a team, but the fans sensed this is a must win.

And I think they were a big factor in the game as well. Some bad officiating to us. Yeah, a lot of bad offici officiating all across the board. We can't have that beat down the stretch. Yeah, thank you. Very kind of you to send me the text that you sent me to, just thinking in the middle of your world and thinking about me.

He's very cool. Same with everybody else. Let's wrap up the conversation about this game, but Ty Schmidt over at the toxic table and at Boston Connor, Brandon Aubrey is the greatest kicker of all time. This guy's unbelievable. They're calling him butter.

And then on that note, are the lions all the way back in the NFC North, Ty? Is that kind of how you view what happened last night after watching Aubrey do something absolutely historic? Yeah, I mean, it's tough to say they're all the way back because I think we were kind of, you know, like talking about their demise, like they were dead when they weren't. But they're in a position now. Now it's kind of all lies on,

you know, they don't have their destiny in their own hands. They got to rely a lot on either the Packers or the Bears to go on a major Schneide here. But I think we saw last night, like when their offense is clicking, they can beat anybody in the NFL. It's just, you know, do they want to get into these track meets, these shootouts? Because we know their defense. They had a couple, you know, opportune moments last night where they forced a turnover and that obviously goes a long way but Jemir Gibbs it's kind of at this point obviously getting Amman Ross St. Brown back was massive

but when this guy is going and they can get him 20 to 25 to 30 touches a game I think you're hard pressed to find a better offense in the NFL so obviously you know we'll see what they can do down the stretch but boy I mean all eyes now go to Sunday at Lambo between the bears and the Packers and then that's kind of whoever loses that one, that's who the lions are going to be looking at and, you know, maybe trying to nip on their heels a little bit.

And, Ty, I think we've got to give Dan Campbell. I know we all get excited about just who he is as a coach and his quotes and his ad. Man, you know, like all that stuff is awesome. Guys calling the place. Yeah. Second time in his career. And, you know, you lose Ben Johnson. They go with John Morton, doesn't work out.

They make the switch about four or five games ago. And I thought he called a masterful game last week. having golf there in his fifth year in Detroit, fourth year in the system obviously helps. But without Leporta, bringing Skipper in, they just, they come up with just different wrinkles and just can't say enough about him. They played like they needed to win, and they did. Amon Ra, questionable, goes crazy. Montgomery, not really a topic of the conversation because Jemir Gibbs, he goes crazy.

Jamir Gibbs, he goes crazy. It's like, Dan Campbell was in his bag. You know, he was in his back. Now, let's talk about being in a back. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the incredible opportunity and honor to be a part of a massive day for a future goat in my eyes. Now, I have had a chance to understand who this man is for a long time because obviously he is the son of not only West Virginia legend, but football legend Chris Henry. I've had a chance to meet his family, his mom, got ooze in the family, she is spectacular. and this kid, not only is he 6'6, 6 foot 7, 200 and whatever pounds, he's physical, he's

tough, and he loves ball. Some of us might have been trying to tell Pac-Man Jones to tell him, hey, he's been able to dunk from the foul line since, like, freshman year of high school. Let's put him in there. Instead, all he wants to be is a football dog. Ladies and gentlemen, to make his official commitment on where he will be continuing his football career, please welcome. And we're lucky to say this.

Chris Henry Jude. Yes. Chris, how you doing, buddy? We appreciate you joining us, man. Aloha. Aloha. Aloha over there. Aloha.

Aloha. Marlonalee. All right, oohs. All right, family. Chris, whenever I got a chance to kind of learn about your story, your family's story, the only thing that's really come through is just that you're a workhorse, a good person, humble, but an average. Absolute dog on the football field.

We know that you had been committed to Ohio State for a long time. And then obviously, Brian Hartline, accepting a job at USF. You've had the opportunity. I think everybody has understood it to kind of just re-weigh all your options. First of all, if you'd like to chit-chat about your entire recruitment process, and if you would like to let us know where you're playing, you kind of do whatever the hell you want to do right now, Luce. Your world, congrats on all of it.

First of all, I just want to thank God. for just putting me in this position right now to, you know, be able to make this decision. And, you know, I'll thank all my family for just being here to support me throughout this, you know, time. And, you know, ultimately, I've been committed to the Buckeyes for, you know, a long time. And, you know, with Coach Harlan leaving, you know, really impacted my recruitment heavily. And, you know, I really just had to take time to step back and really reevaluate everything. But, you know, just, you know, sit with my family. and taking time to think about it, you know, ultimately I'll be committed and staying committed

to the Ohio State University. You know, I just feel like it just had the right fit for me. And, you know, I made my decision, you know, a couple of years ago and it was for the right choice. And, you know, it was my time, you know, just taking time to think about it and just, you know, step back. You know, even though Hartline did leave, you know, Ohio State is, you know, always been in my heart since I committed. So, no, I'll be standing home at the Allstate. Congratulations, gee.

Congrats to you and your family. Yeah, and we know it's not, okay, who's, okay, who's? Oh, you got to Jersey, y'all. That's great. Okay, obviously a large portion of your life. You grew up in the state of Ohio. Then you go over to Matter Day. how excited it seems everybody is to head back over to the state of Ohio.

I can't wait to watch you over there. Congrats on this decision and tell everybody we say what's up and congrats over there. Will you please? Appreciate it. Man, ladies and gentlemen. Can I, Chris, it's Kirk. I just want to congratulate you. I know this was not an easy decision for you.

When Brian Hartline left, and there are a lot of people who are probably recruiting against, Ohio State that are thinking now, hey, they lost Brian Hartline, they're not going to be able to recruit the same receivers as they've done in the past without him. What's your message to that? And why Ryan Day and Ohio State, why is it the right spot for you when you think about your development and growth of these next three to four years? Yeah, for me, it was just really just, you know, being at a place where I feel comfortable at, you know, it was really, it was never really about the money. You know, I was getting, you know,

Tons of offers, you know, like other places, like double the times of how. But, you know, ultimately it was just, for me, it was just a place where I feel comfortable at, you know, being developed and, you know, ultimately, you know, reaching my goals, which is to be a first round draft pick. So, you know, that's what it was for me. And you got a great quarterback, obviously, to work with. We're seeing Julian San and what he's doing throughout his development as a young guy and maybe make him a run this year to another championship. So just want to say congratulations to you and your family, man. That's a big decision, and I know weight off your back. Hell, yeah, congratulations to you and your family, and to everybody over there,

and to O.H. World, Ohio State. And on that note, a man who is a Ohio State Hall of Famer, A.J. Hawk would like to say some words and maybe even ask a question to the newest, greatest of all time, wide receiver room that the Ohio State Buckeyes have pieced together. Go ahead, AJ. Absolutely, Chris. I played Ohio State a long, long time ago. Actually, with O'Brien Hartline, I was a couple years older than him,

but I wanted to say welcome to the family. It's an awesome situation. I think everyone there obviously already loves you and they're going to love you even more once you're on campus full time. Welcome to your family as well. But I guess what ultimately led you to this decision, obviously choosing and staying with Ohio State?

No, it's okay. I just, oh, it's all right. Hey, we love you, Chris. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Good decision. Great decision. We love you.

Oh, is a. Oh. There we go. Congrats to your Buckeyes. That was big. I didn't really follow. You know, since Brian Hartland left, I didn't really know if he was going to go to.

Who else was in play there? Oregon. USC, Oregon, West Virginia, obviously. Do you know that. That's a fact. I love that. I love that. Don't you do what you just do?

You don't think that's real, Kurt? You don't think they're in the running, Kirk? I don't like what he just did right there. West Virginia was in the running. Of course. Because of who his father is, right? His dad ledger to West Virginia. So him and Pac-Man, obviously, best friends.

Number 15. At West Virginia, yes, and then Pack on the other side. I mean, they were menaces, obviously, on the football field. Maybe the most talent we've ever had on a football team. And that's what West Virginia is going back to. Yeah, we're going back to that. We're trying to at least, yeah. So there's a chance like Chris Henry Jr. wants to come back.

to West Virginia, but I think everybody that knows his family understands what the business opportunities were here because of who he is. They were floating some numbers out there on what was being offered to Chris Henry Jr. from some of these schools. And it's like he's got the work ethic, he's got the lineage, he's got the drive, he's got the mentality. And he obviously has the physical traits. His catch radius is like seven foot something. Chase played him when he was a sophomore and he was still in Cincinnati and he was a sophomore. And you could already see this guy is just kind of scratching the surface.

of where he's going to go and then he ends up going out to modern day and in southern California in Orange County and obviously just continue to get better and better not just big you can see the speed that he has to be able to pull away and then you're going into a system that you know this is going to be the new thing with Ohio State losing Brian Hartline this is a big message I feel like for Ryan Day to his staff for what they've been able to do when you land Chris Henry Jr. like this I think it sends a very loud message to future receivers and future recruits that Ohio State's going to continue because that room has gotten different under Brian Hartline's guidance.

And it looks like with this, it's going to continue, even though he's off to Tampa at USF. AJ, such a fascinating thing there, because to Herbie's point about the statement being made, like, I think everybody understood whenever Chris Henry Jr. was like, well, if Hartline's not there, literally that is the wide receiver room. So I think even people in Ohio, you would know more than me. I'm just kind of checking the temperature on the internet. I think everybody was like, well, he is. I mean, this guy's the guy.

So if he wants to kind of reevaluate everything, I think, everybody was kind of cool with it. I know there were some other schools that thought they really had a shot. Like, they were very excited, but they had no idea. So whenever I get the text message this morning, because I guess it was floating around last night that he was going to want to come on today's show or whatever, I had not heard that. Okay, so like, I had people asking me, and I'm the person that books the show alongside a couple of others. So I had not heard anybody reach out to me about Chris Henry Jr. coming on. Now, does Chris Henry Jr. know that he is a green light to come on this show whenever the hell he wants? Yes. Okay, because obviously I'd

known him for a long time in the West Virginia family. It just feels like that is the right thing to do, and especially with how much respect I have for this dude, he is a workhorse. And not only does he have the size and everything, he is a workhorse. So I would have greenlighted at any time, but I had no conversation with anybody last night about him coming on. This morning I get a text message.

Hey, would it be cool if Chris comes on and announces where he wants to go today? Yes. So then I tweet out that, hey, he is coming on. So I get some questions from some people at different places that, you know, have some wonderings. And I don't think anybody knew. I didn't. I didn't.

I'm getting text too. Pat, I'm getting plenty of text, too. People are not sure exactly what's going to happen. So that was a problem. I mean, the family, obviously, they were prepared. AJ, I think, you know, a lot of Ohio State fans. I think that the noise on the Internet made everybody just assume, now he's going to announce on Pat's show.

He's probably going to go to Oregon or he's going to go maybe to the highest bidder. But, man, how about his comments about this wasn't about money. This is about how I feel and I fit at Ohio. Ohio State. And even though Brian Hartline's not going to be there, I still feel strongly about that. I think that says a lot about Ryan Day. And like I said, I think this isn't just about Chris Henry, AJ. I think this is about a message being sent to other receivers and other recruits down the line about what that room can still be despite not having a heartline there. That was obviously such a big part of it. Yeah. Conman. We saw that, we conman. I'm sorry, AJ. And anything

you want to say about Ohio State Buckeye, you should definitely say it. So I apologize for stepping on you. And what I said in the intro there was very real. We know, we know Pac-Man took on the onus of basically raising family whenever Slim passes away. So we've seen this kind of for a long time now. This dude, they thought he was going to grow too much to be able to not be able to play football anymore. They were like, he's going to be forced into playing basketball. If he gets a six-foot-eight, like he's going to have to play basketball. And he's legit, six-five.

Six-six-seven. So he's like Plaques Burris. Yeah. And he's dog. He views himself as a dog. Like, basketball, guaranteed money. You've got to have the right size. He's going to have it.

You've got to be able to be athletic. He has it. Got to be able to shoot. He was able to do it. We, I feel like kind of a rude person. But I was telling Pack and telling him anytime I was talking to, I'm like, bro, we need to work on that. Yeah. Let's go ahead and get that.

You're going to be six seven, bro. No, like, go ahead and do that. Instead, dude loves ball, Connor, absolutely loves ball and chooses to go Big Ten football into cold. Not that Oregon or U.S.C. would be anything different. It is Big 10 football. West Virginia, Big 12 football. He didn't want any pieces of that. I can tell you that.

But I think this is a big statement also about who Chris Henry Jr. is as a whole. I'm a big fan of this dude, and I'm very happy for him today. Yeah, very, very cool. And also just watching those highlights, like you said, he's 6-7. You're really not sure how fast. He is seeing him pull away is asinine. I can't believe that's a real thing. And then you just think about what they're going to be next year.

You know, all those other schools are great. the best player across the board everyone has said in college football himself is jeremiah smith so now he's going to be on the other side as jeremiah smith he's got probably the runner up to mendoza this year in the highson voting with julian saying throwing him the ball like when you're thinking about the setup it's incredible and also you know where he's from he did grow up in ohio i know he finished his high school football in matter day in california but what herbie just said you know sophomore year high school that's not so far away and that's where he was he was in ohio a large contingent of his families in

Ohio. And when you talk about competing for national championships, yes, all those other schools are in it, kind of. None of them are in like Ohio State every single year. Ohio State consistently will be in either the Big Ten championship, and if not, they'll be in the playoff, and if they're in the playoff,

they're going to make a run. Like, I can't wait for this weekend, you know, just to see the entire game, but seeing Chris Henry Jr. with Jeremiah Smith next year and Julian's saying will be great. Yeah, and on that note. Let's talk about big news in the Big Ten as Peter just took out

an entire suite section over here to our left. Cameras right. Penn State Ty, there's a lot of people claiming around the internet that they called this and they said this. But yes, literally yesterday or maybe two days ago, Ty, you go, what Penn State's going to end up doing

is they're going to hire Matt Campbell and there's going to be... Tai said that? Ty said that, but I think a lot of people have said it. So I don't want to tie doesn't want a grandstand as if he's the only human that has said it because in this world we know that other people who said it. But, Ty, you did kind of get to a point where it was like, Matt Campbell feels like a winner. He feels like a winning hire for Penn State, Ty. Is that not kind of your thought about it all? Yeah, and I think a lot of people,

you know, just assumed that I was saying that because I'm an Iowa guy and it's like, oh, hey, I want Iowa State. You know, he's such a good coach, get him out of there. And while he is a great coach, I think it gets to a point now where you look at whoever, everyone else that's available or who they've went after and who said no and who's signed extensions elsewhere. This isn't a shot at Iowa State. I think Matt Campbell would maybe, you know, when he's by himself admit, like, I think he's taken Iowa State to the zenith of like what they can be. He's already made that, you know, that they are more successful now than they have been in the last 100 years. He's an unbelievable coach. And I'd be very

interested to see what he could do going to a place like Penn State where he has unbelievable resources and the ability to build a roster that he just simply is not going to to be able to build at Iowa State. Now, part of it, you know, if he stays in Ames, he is already their most successful coach of all time. He's a god there. They'll build a statue, but at a certain point it's like, hey, I know how good

of a coach I am. I think I've kind of taken this program to new heights. A new challenge might be on the horizon, and, you know, obviously he's super competitive. He probably feels like he could be the guy to go into Penn State and turn this thing around and get them going back to where they want to be.

Ty, I was under the assumption that he was almost untouchable at this point. And I know Penn State can pay, whatever that is, they need to pay if this ends up happening. But I kind of thought maybe five years ago when he built Iowa State up, I thought that maybe somebody's going to come in and swoop him up. But I thought Iowa State's done a pretty good job and make it pretty clear, hey, the buyout is ridiculous. no one can come in here and take. He's our guy. So if this happens, that would be a major effort by Penn State to make this happen. Well, that goes to the next point. AJ, obviously we've been covering the Penn State coaching hiring story. They're the first coach to be let go, first job that was kind of opened up or whatever, and then still the last job to have a hired coach. Signing Day has come and went. Chris Henry has

committed to a place, rethought, and then recommitted to a place. None of them being Penn State. state also a lot of places saying uh why would you ever go to penn state they don't even have a coach so they've missed quite an important period here in this entirety but it feels like they've taken a swing on a lot of different coaches and then now we got leaked audio coming out from there it's like all hell is broken loose in this entire penn state coaching cycle matt campbell i think just like i think dayball would be able to get a positive pop from the donors that you'd have yeah i think matt campbell could be a positive pop and also his recruits right could hop in the transfer portal before they even go there. We saw it with Songapoletele. But it's such a different

type of recruit. They don't have any recruits. But yeah, I mean, if you can get a few from, but obviously he's going to go from in this have and have not world. He's done so much at Ames, Iowa, where he's had to kind of like develop, get this guy who's a, he's a tight end, we're going to turn him into a tackle, just like Iowa does. And now you're going to Penn State, where here's here's our NIL very competitive our goal is Ohio State Michigan Alabama Georgia

Oregon Oregon we're shooting for the stars so he he goes from being like we're going to be tougher than them we're going to be gritty and now he's going to have ridiculous talent I'm with Ty it's going to be fun to see again I don't know if he's going to take it what other options though Kurt? Sorry what other options do they have other

in Dayball and like who else are they looking at you think? I have no idea I have no idea I have no idea Kurt I'm sure you can do it Yeah, I mean, there are, you'd be my defense coordinator, let's go do it. Okay, I'm in, yeah. You get the gig, I'm in. Oh, yeah, I got to do it from Ohio, though.

I'm not leaving, but yeah. Oh, you're a Zoom move? I'm going to have to Zoom, and, yeah, the boys got to really pay attention close, but yeah. COVID, COVID, well, he's got his, he's got his young family there. He can't leave them. Yeah, but all those, his kids could easily become Penn State people and not be Ohio. There's nothing easy about that. No chance.

What do you mean? I have a lot of respect for them, but no, we're not flipping. We know who we are You see the double I got double gear on today Yeah, you had to Big time Is that roosters?

Is that a roosters? Oh yeah, it's roosters Roosters, Ohio State situation You know it I love roosters, man Who doesn't? Who doesn't love roosters? Roosters has been very good to us

I would like to say that Roosters has been very good to us So we are very, very grateful for roosters And if you're ever in the Ohio area or anywhere else those rooster franchises are I'll just stop by and try their meat. They got delightful fried chicken and they got delightful sauces.

They're at roosters. Now, on that note, people are going to be eating them with sorrow after the Indiana Hoosiers beat that air. Tomorrow! I can't wait for that game. I'm excited for it. That building should be absolutely insane.

Let's talk about some NFL news. Obviously, not only championship weekend here for college football, which is going to be electrifying, we have a huge week 14 NFL slate that already started last night with the Lions beating the Dallas Cowboys. Justin Herbert, taking snaps. It's a big deal.

I got surgery on Monday, has a game on Monday night, had a fracture in his left hand. He was seen taking snaps in practice. Herbstree, we love everything that Herbert is about, but also I think with a hardball coach team, you're going to have to be tough, and I think Herbert enjoys the opportunity to showcase that he is a dog in yet another situation. Yeah, he is a tough guy, and I think that's a big part of his game, and I think that's why his teammates respect him so much, and start to look at the standings in not just the division, but in the, the wild card. Chargers have some really big time opponents coming up, and they need him healthy

to have any chance, obviously. So if you're a Chargers fan, huge news that he's going to be able to try to gut it out. And again, look at that plate, a few screws, put into his hand, whatever. Let's go play football. I mean, that's a different breed. AJ, that goes back to the story that we heard from whatever we did game day all the way in Gull, two years ago, when Herbert's dad was there. and Herbert, I asked Herbert's dad about why he can punt so good, because Herbert can punt really well. Like if he wanted to, I think if he was to focus full-time for like a year or so, I think he'd be able to become an NFL punter,

just at Herbert with how athletic he is, and he's done in the form. And then also he kicks field goals so good. Like his field goal kicking is just like outrageous. Every training camp they show it. And I asked his dad about it. I was like my first question, and he was like, they love ball. We used to have to tape uprights in our living room on the wall and move all the furniture out.

all they wanted to do was play football all the time. Like he is a ball lover, hardball, wants ball lovers on the squad. Are they able to go, AJ, that Chargers team? There's always, like, so much hope in my mind. How about the game, AJ, that they have this week against the Eagles team, kind of like the Lions last night. You talked about a desperate football team with everything going on after the loss last week to the Bears.

AJ, that's going to be not just big, that's big for both teams, obviously. Yes, I would say. But the Chargers, there's always, like, hope that they can be great. You know, like, I feel like we all think that, AJ. Is it going back, though? Are you going back to the Phil Rivers era when they were, like, you know, getting to the AFC championship? Like, they were just good enough to not make the Super Bowl, it feels like.

I feel like they're over that hump. Now, this is a huge test, though. Like Kirk said, Philly. If you can beat Philly on Monday, yeah, I think it's like, we've said, what, litmus test situation, like we talked about earlier. It's also not their only huge test. Kirk mentioned it, like, and we've talked about the Colts upcoming schedule, but the Chargers have, obviously, the Eagles,

and then they're at KC, at Dallas, which is really, really hard to play at against the Texans and then at the Broncos. Like, they're 8 and 4 right now. One of those games is a lock. I mean, that is a fine, every one of those games. Okay, and let's go to the other side. You talk about desperate football teams.

Coach Tyriani, Philadelphia Eagles, are you guys okay over there? It feels like there's a lot of drama. Have people lost hope in your squad, coach? We don't concern ourselves with the opinions of people outside of the building. We actually did a fun team exercise just the other day. We kind of got everybody on the same page I don't know if you saw in the media Unfortunately coach Patulo did his house egged quite a bit

And he was sitting in his foyer like Herman Boone When that person threw the brick You know through and he had the shotgun ready When Coach Yos Dar was there as well We sat Kevin Petullo down at the 50 yard line In the indoor facility And we threw eggs at him for about an hour and a half We really didn't even practice much

But I just say hey listen I know you guys are frustrated I know you guys can't really stand. I can't publicly say this guy sucks at his job, so we're going to get everything out in the open. We're going to egg him afterwards. We'll probably beat the shit out of him a little bit. We'll put some batteries and some socks and smack him around a little bit. And then guess what?

Guess what? We go in the locker room and everything's peaceful. Everybody's dapping up. Everybody's hugging. Everybody appears as if they are hungry dogs. So I would say, you know, look out for Philadelphia Eagles. We kind of that we handle business in-house. and I think business has been handled.

Now, obviously, if we lose on Monday night in, you know, in L.A., things are going to get pretty loud. And I'm going to have to come up with some new, you know, Syrianism to kind of get through the guys. But, you know, they said on hard knocks, hey, coach, you hear the sky's falling? I say, yeah, sky's falling every day. So what difference does that make? We're still, you know, in the playoffs right now.

And don't let the dogs get into the dance. Don't let the hungry dogs get into the dance, baby. That's why I've been preaching to the team, so we'll see. And obviously, it'd be nice if Saquan-Barkley could run for more than, you know, like 40 yards this weekend. That would be massive. Sounds like that's on you, coach. You know, maybe you and Petool.

I'm not calling the plays. I'm not calling the plays, Pat. You've got to remember, I'm not calling the plays. So it's kind of not. Not even, like, recommendations or anything? You're not even... Yeah, so last week, I think I want to say I recommended the two plays when AJ Brown scored both his touchdowns.

Outside that, I kind of just say, hey, Kevin, you do your. thing so yeah it sounds like you're throwing people under the bus no it sounds like you're doing yeah it sounds like you're throwing your coach under the bus right there well well he's getting paid very well you know he's getting paid very well and i don't know i mean then that just creates another big thing if i if i do the dan campbell thing and i start calling the plays this week and we win 42 nothing does that make things any better i don't know if it does then they're going to be saying i'm a dipship because i wasn't calling the plays all year so it's kind of a lose-lose situation. It's meaningful football time. You've been saying it for weeks now, so we need the

hungry dogs to show up, you know, and it's bring your own kibble season, okay? No one's bringing it for you. All right. Everybody's trying to take your guys as kibbles with pot shots. You talk about a no-win situation. Let's talk about the Patriots. So they got Kraft up for the Hall of Fame and Bill Belichick up for the Hall of Fame. There's a chance they both go in at the same time. Conman, your thoughts on the potential outcomes here with these two going into a football, eternity, if you will. Yeah, I think the only outcomes they both go in. Now, the possible outcomes is

knuckle sandwiches, I'd say. I worry about them standing next to each other. I don't think there will be any outward scene animosity, but I do worry, you know, behind the scenes, is Bill kind of, you know, cup checking Bob Kraft? Is Bob Kraft kind of sending it right

back? A couple credit cards, couple scoops. I don't know, but I do think it will be cool for them both to get their flowers. Bill released his statement. I'm sure everybody who read it definitely believed it. I can say I kind of did, but they are happy for each other allegedly, but I do think they both will end up in there. They both will have a very cool kind of look back at all they did. I personally hope that there's an apology from Robert Kraft with everything that happens in that documentary. And there

is a Bill Belichick, hey, you know what, your scouts can't come down here, even though they probably won't take any players, but they can come down here and at least look at people. See, I'm getting emotional even thinking about it just because it will be kind of a nice little reunion of both of them on that stage. Yeah, they've been on a stage before, you know, at the Tom Brady

Roast. They were in a similar area. Nobody was allowed to talk about anything. If the Hall of Fame lets the bygones be bygones, that'll be great news. Speaking of bygones, being bygones, it seems like we're in the time of year for the college football world where people hold on the grudges forever. Because there's big decisions that are going to

be made. You know, you start at 12, you count down to one. That's how you crown a CFP national champion. Has that been back out? Oh, yeah. We've been pushing. We've been pushing. We've been pushing this. ESPN, who made it, has not been pushing it nearly as much as we've been pushing it, and I don't know if they think we like it or we hate it. It's both, and it's catchy. But on that note, who's getting into those tournaments? Who are going to be a part of the 12? Well, there's a couple teams that have been lobbying, it feels like. There's been a couple teams that have been talking. Let's go to Gumpy real quick. Gumpy. is a diehard University

of Miami fan. Gumpch, the Miami Hurricanes fans have been very loud and I'd say aggressive with the conversation about whether or not they warrant one of the 12 spots. Yeah, it just goes back to the head-to-head for Miami fans. I think Notre Dame's a great football team. I wish

Notre Dame and Miami could get in. I get it. I agree. But the whole time we've been told if it gets to this cluster where they're together, head-to-head matters. And that's all any Miami fans going off of. Okay, so, Tone, One half of the Hammer, Don, don't!

Cowboys. The situation is basically there's one spot, three teams. YU could be one of the teams, depending upon the outcome of the Big 12 championship in which they play Texas Tech, who already has their spot, solidified. And then it comes down to Notre Dame and Miami, basically, getting one spot out of those three. Tone, what is the conversation in the narrative? It has been publicly, seemingly Notre Dame Miami, right? Is what everybody's been comparing?

Yes, everyone's been comparing. Notre Dame and Miami because BYU is in a conference title game and has a chance to win in that. But as I see it, when you look at the bracket here, one through eight, I believe are locked for the playoffs based on what they've done in the season, whether they're playing in a conference championship this weekend or they are off. They have done enough. That is from one Ohio State to number eight, Oklahoma. Then Bama sits at number nine. I don't see a situation where the committee punishes Bama for a loss in the SEC championship against a Georgia team. I don't think they want to set the precedent where in a, if you make the SEC championship game and you can lose and then be out of torment.

So I think those nine are in there. Then you'll probably have, if Virginia wins, you'll have the ACC champion and then you'll have the group of five champion probably coming out of the American, which then is that's 11 teams. So then you have the one spot for Notre Dame, Miami, BYU. Obviously, if BYU loses the Texas Tech, they're going to drop below Miami. So then Miami and Notre Dame are right next to each other. and that's where the committee is going to have to decide and look at all the metrics and the head-to-head. And every other situation that they've done in the rankings, normally the head-to-head is above the other team. So I think it's a tough situation for Notre Dame, but we will see come Sunday night when all the chips are out on the table, how they decide.

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, friend of the program, he was once in charge of a network, a television network, a couple of them actually, before he became, The Mon at Notre Dame, ladies and gentlemen, the athletic director for the Fighting Irish, Pete Bovokwa. Hey, Pete. Hey, guys. Hey, Pat. Hey, Pat, great to see it, Kirk. Good, great to see you, too. Pat, we were listening to your song this morning.

It's a great song. We like it. Hey, Duky, I appreciate that. You are not Duky, and I will say that from the very beginning. And I'm going to release some more songs, Pete. And I'm going to call some suits, some negative things. these songs. Very clever way to do it. Just know that you're not one of those suits. We like you, Pete. Don't we, boy, I don't want to speak that a line. We like beat. We love beat.

He can spin it. Oh, yeah. He can spin it. He was in a suit in the Thunderdown, and he spun a football. I mean, fired pigskin from stage to basketball hoop and then shot a hoop as well. We appreciate you, Pete. We think you're a great man, and we appreciate your time today. No, thank you, Pat. Thanks for having me on. Okay, so let's dive into it. You just heard University of Miami hurricane fan. Gumpy talk about how the conversation is head-to-head matchups. Obviously, Miami says, and Miami did beat you guys first week of the year in the head-to-head matchup. Now you guys are clustered together.

What is your kind of takeaway on the entire conversation right now about Notre Dame, and what is like kind of your guys' perspective on why or how it should turn out? Yeah, no, I appreciate it. And, you know, I start, and Kirk, you'll appreciate this more than anybody being an Ohio State grad. You know, hats off to Ohio State and Indiana. To have undefeated seasons like they've had this year in 2025 is such an accomplishment. But I think with the exception of those two teams who are undefeated, we're the hottest team in the country. I don't think anybody's playing better than Notre Dame.

You think about this 10-game streak of dominance we've had some of the best football I have ever seen here. And I've been a huge Notre Dame fan literally since the day I was born, Notre Dame grad. I think we're firing on all cylinders, Pat. And, you know, for us, when you hear the committee and you hear Hunter talk, the comparison has always been between Notre Dame and Alabama. I mean, he even said that as recently as Tuesday. We've been clustered with Alabama, who deserves to be higher in Notre Dame or Alabama. So that's really what we've been focused on. In my opinion, the committee has really spoken about the Notre Dame Miami issue as I see it.

It was the first game of the season. Miami is a really good team, but quite frankly, you know, as I said to somebody here today, nobody wins the race at the starting line. And I really think right now there's not a team in the country playing better football than the Notre Dame fighting Irish. Yeah, and you mentioned, obviously, Indiana and Ohio State. I think a lot of people will find out about this Georgia team how they've been playing. Texas Tech obviously been playing great. Those top four, I think, are in the conversation.

But to your point about how you guys have performed since the loss to Miami. and to Texas A&M, who's still, obviously, who they are in the entire story of it all. How you guys have played since then has certainly been dominant. It certainly has been. But whenever you start stacking up, like, how you're playing now, first how the head-to-head wants, it's going to get ugly, Kirk. I guess that's just kind of every year for college football. Is that kind of what it always revolves on?

Yeah, I mean, it's all, whether it's 4 or 12 or eventually, if it goes to 16, whatever it is, there's always going to be debates. But, Pat, I just want to say congratulations to what you guys are doing it and how you're doing. doing it. And yet to me, if not the best coach in the country, you certainly have one of the best out there as far as the way he goes about his business, the way he carries himself in representing your university. It's been fun to watch him. Of course, he's from Southwest Ohio, Wayne Warrior, and up to Ohio State. But he is just hitting on all cylinders himself as a coach. So congrats on that. I just wanted to ask you, when you're with Greg and Tony and all the conference commissioners, are we ever going to get to a place where, where we have a system where Notre Dame and Miami aren't sitting here sweating it, trying to, you know, it'd be great they're both in it. You know, like, do you ever see us getting to an expansion that everybody can agree on, especially Tony and Greg, to try to make some sense out of the future of college football

in the postseason? Yeah, it's a great question, Kirk. And I have the privilege of being in that room due to my role here at Notre Dame. And I think there's almost unanimity in that room. that we should be at 16 teams with five automatic qualifiers and 11 at large. I think if we were at 16 teams right now, I think it would be perfect, right? It would be absolutely perfect. These conversations are great.

They're interesting, but you think about a Notre Dame team, you know, again, I'm biased, right? But I think we have absolutely the best player in the country and Jeremiah Love. I haven't seen somebody this electrifying. I go back to Reggie Bush and before that the rocket here at Notre Dame. But, yeah, 16 is the answer. Five automatic, 11 at large, and I hope we get there sooner than later. And I think, Pete, fans of the sport, I don't think they want politics on the selection of the teams. They just want to see the bet, whatever system we use to evaluate, you have the five, and then the next best 11.

Wherever their affiliation is, just let's give us the fans and the players the next best 11. because I think right now we're at a position where it's just, it seems like we're trying to make everybody happy. So what Kirk doesn't want to say here is the group of five champion is what he's trying to bring up right now. No, no, no. It's sometimes when Ben Rathosberger was at Miami Ohio, they run around. If they're

in a certain ranking, you know, put them in. It's nothing against the group of five. It's more about let's just stack up after the five. Best teams. That's all we want to do. When you think about it, you think about the conference championships and hey, that's, you know, we know our role we're an independent. But, you know, we even think

about the conference championships this year. I mean, you think about Miami, we're talking about Miami. You know, they had two tough losses deep into the season, but, you know, Miami should be playing in their conference championship, right, for a chance to win that conference with as talented as a team they are. So I think, I think corrections can be made, but as it relates to the CFP, I think 16 teams is the answer. And I think, you know, I don't want to speak on anybody's behalf, but being in that room, I think there's an overwhelming momentum to try to get that done. And you have an extension, right, to try to come to an agreement by next season? Didn't that get pushed back?

It got pushed back, you know, with your company, ESPN. Will we get there for next year? I'm not sure. You know, I think a lot of people in the room are certainly fighting for that. But hopefully if it's not next year, it'll be the remaining years after that. Because to me, that's the right answer, Kurt. Keep fighting the fight. We appreciate that.

Now, on that note, speaking of fighting fights, what do people say, what would be the contradictory to you saying you want 16 as an independent Notre Dame as opposed to being a conference school? I assume you have to hear a lot of arguments against you guys being independent and an independent potentially taking up a college football playoff spot first teams that have to play a conference schedule. What do you kind of say about that? And what do they say to you that you think like is fair or not fair whenever it comes to you guys being independent? Well, you think about it, Pat, the regular season is more important for us than anybody because we don't have the opportunity to play in a conference championship.

We can't play in the SEC championship or the Big 12 or the Big Ten or the ACC championship. And like you said in the lead into this conversation, there's teams that are playing in these conference championships, particularly in the SEC and the Big Ten, that regardless of the outcome, they're both going to get a spot in the CFP. There's comfort in that. And a lot of people talked about last year that magical run we had to the NACN, championship, and they talked about the CFP economics and the money that Notre Dame earns

through that. But they didn't talk about the other side of the coin, whereas if we don't make it in, we don't get any money. We kind of, we eat what we kill. And so we're kind of out there dangling on our own and trying to schedule the best teams we can. You know, when you look at our future schedules, we have Texas and Alabama and hoping to get something done here with USC and, you know, it's an annual series with Clemson. So we feel really bullish about our independence. It's something, it's part of the DNA of Notre Dame. And, you know, when you have alignment like we do at this university, when you have a coach like Coach Freeman, and I joke with people, like if we went into a laboratory and had to create the perfect

coach for Notre Dame, you'd walk out with Marcus Freeman. And he's not just our football coach. He has become such a part of the fabric of this university. You go to a women's basketball game, a hockey game, you walk around campus, you see Marcus with his wife, Joanna, you see him with his kids. We're blessed to have him here in Notre Dame, and he's a big part why we can stay independent because you've got to be relevant when you're independent. If you're not winning, you've become irrelevant in a second,

and we've got to keep winning, and we've got to keep these seasons going like they have here the last few years. Yeah, nobody talks about Yukon being independent, you know, until their coach goes to Colorado State. AJ has a last question for you here, Pete. Yeah, Pete, you mentioned some of those big games you guys have on the schedule, you know, when you look into the future,

Like, how do you balance that, especially with Marcus Freeman on, okay, like, we want to have these big games and play in these giant primetime games against top ten teams, but also, like, it doesn't, ultimately, you know, you lose against one or two of those. It doesn't help you when it comes to the CFP. How do you balance that with Marcus? You know, we don't make a scheduling decision without talking to Marcus and bringing him into the conversation. And, you know, Marcus is wired in a way where he's not looking for the easy way out. He's like, come one, come all. Let's prove it on. the field. You know, he's wired that way. It makes the team wired that way. And, you know, AJ, one of the blessings we have here at Notre Dame is, you know, when we go on the road, you know, think about that pick game this year, right? We went on the road to Pitt. The place was sold out. Game Day was there. I bumped into Pat there. They retired Aaron Donald's, Jersey. I mean, that was like a Super Bowl for the University of Pittsburgh. So every game we play, and we're fortunate. That's not because of me. It's because of a hundred year plus year history at

Notre Dame. So we're used to big games and we want to play the best teams in the country each and every year. Hey Pete, I just want to ask you one last question. Just to leave this, for Notre Dame fans watching this weekend's games, what are you watching? What are you personally watching based on knowing the committee and how they've ranked these teams? I'm a little nervous for Notre Dame with the move of Miami. If BYU were to maybe get beat again, by Texas Tech, you wonder if they would go underneath Miami and then Miami and Notre Dame are side by side. Could the head to head then give Miami the nod? What are you watching? What are you most concerned about? What are you most excited about? Yeah, I would say,

Kirk, again, I come back to Alabama. Certainly we're interested in watching the Georgia Alabama game, two great games, you know, SEC, great conference. I think everybody in the Notre Dame Nation is a Texas Tech fan this week. I have great admiration. for Texas Tech at DUIU, but no secret. We want Texas Tech to win that game. And then, you know, we've been ninth. We think we should still be ninth, quite frankly. We've made that known to the committee.

But, you know, we got to watch these games with great interest for sure. And I just think, you know, we went from 9 to 10 having not snapped the football. I don't see any way where we can drop two spots. and Miami can go up two spots. Neither of us have played a game over the course of these two weeks. The committee has always had us ahead of them. The committee has admitted that it's always been a conversation,

a fierce conversation, if you listen to Hunter, between who deserves to be ahead of each other, Notre Dame, Alabama. Our feeling, our hope is, if Texas Tech can beat BYU, we're in, question is, are we going to be 10th or 9th?

That's what we're going with. And again, I come back to the fact hats off to Indiana and Ohio State, amazing seasons. Other than that, I would go toe to toe with anybody in saying that we are the hottest team in the country right now. And that's the athletic

director for Notre Dame right there. Ladies and gentlemen, the athletic director for Notre Dame, legend, Pete Bavakwa. We appreciate you. Thank you guys. Good luck this weekend. Good luck, Pete. Yeah, good luck watching the games. Good luck watching the games. So he was yeah, he and I were

we negotiated. He was representing Peacock NBC he once was the president of the golf channel I think at one point and then he moved into being the head of NBC Sports I think and then now he's the AD for Notre Dame. He's a good suit. He's a good suit, right? Boys, we don't hate it. We don't think he's a bad. No, not at all. He's a good suit.

So there are good suits? Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. You know him. There's only a few. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I just didn't know. No, no, there's more. There's more than a few. I mean, faucet suit, technically. He's a... Fossus is a suit, technically. I've never seen him wear it. SVP. He's at SVP. He's in He's in sweatpants all the time

He is injured a lot This guy's got an ankle brace on right now What's he doing? Living a life, I don't know I've no idea what happened That's soccer He's in sweats a lot I is

He's a suit though Yeah he's still a suit though Yeah he's still a new next generation He has an ankle brace on right now I saw it in the bus And he's him in St. Brown Yeah He used him

Amongah St. Foss right here I mean that is That is a wonderful thing I appreciate him joining us But he's always been good Like, that's why he needs to have that treacher, and he loves Notre Dame. And I appreciate the fact that he's like, Miami's not about us in Miami. What are we even talking about?

Well, everybody's saying it's about you in Miami. Yeah, yeah, Bama. We're talking about Bama. Yeah, I feel like they should both be in, like Notre Dame at Miami. Big news coming out of the Big Ten. Matt Campbell and Penn State are working toward a deal for him to be the next head coach. There's multiple steps need to finalize. Pete Damo says there's a lot of shit to get figured out here,

but including agreeing to terms in formal approval of cops. So they have, okay, so Campbell and Penn State are going to get a deal done. Have you agreed the terms? Absolutely not. Do you know how long it's going to be? Nope. Do you know what type of setup it's going to have? Absolutely not. But we're going to do this.

Yes, we're going to do this. Congrats to Penn State. And congrats. It's a good hire. Nothing against Iowa State, but it's a good hire. I'd love to see Matt Campbell at State College. The only hire that I think would have been great. I think it's a great hire for Penn State at this stage of the game.

If they close the deal on that, that would be as good a hire. in this very volatile coaching carousel, that would be as good a hire that I think's been made. I wish I was a microphone in a room with Pat Kraft if he gets this deal done on that note. We appreciate the hell out of you, Herbie. We'll be back on the other side. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice if I change your life.

Listen to Duky. See you, boys. Canada's Wonderland is bringing the holiday magic this season with Winterfest on Select Nights, now through January 3rd. winter wonderland filled with millions of dazzling lights, festive shows, rides, and holiday treats. Plus, Coca-Cola is back with Canada's kindest community, celebrating acts of kindness nationwide, with a chance at 100,000 donation for the winning community and a 2026 holiday caravan stop. Learn more at canadaswunderland.com.

The NBA is happening Christmas Day. Five games, one unforgettable lineup. all about. Buckets for breakfast, breakaways for dessert. It's the holiday tradition. Christmas is our day. With star power from across the globe. The stars, they are going to be out.

The best gift, you don't even have to unwrap it. We want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. NBA Christmas Day begins at noon Eastern on ABC and ESPN. Football! It's what happened last night, right, Pat? What's happening all weekend? beautiful slate of games, obviously college and NFL coming up. Thanks to Kirk and Peter, right, for joining us that first hour.

Yeah, Kirk and Peter, obviously, Peter's always got the juice. And the dogs are going to try to win a big one here tomorrow against Alabama. A championship weekend will be spectacular for college ball game day. 9 a.m. tomorrow on ESPN and live on X throughout the entirety of this entire college football playoff should be quite a scene and a vibe as we're down here in Atlanta, live on the convention center, the SEC Fan Fest. At the beginning of the show, not normally that packed, and then as the show continues, it kind of fills up with a bunch of SEC faithful there to celebrate this championship game,

which obviously two legends will be competing in. And then across the slate up there in Indianapolis, Indiana is going to be the big one. One verse two, Indiana Hoosiers looking to do something that they've never done before. And then the Ohio State Buckeyes looking to maintain their dominance as they're the reigning national champions, favorites to win the national championship yet again, and nobody really speaks about them because all they've done is kick everybody's ass. Will they be able to do that to Fernando Mendoza in an Indiana Hoosier's offense that can spin it in a defense that's great.

We shall see 8B.M. Boots on the ground there at Lucaso. So let's go to the Toxit Table at Boston Connor. I see you wearing that Mendoza shirt, brother. You feel good about the weekend for the Hoosiers? Yeah, I feel fantastic. Look, Ohio State circles two things on their calendar, and they have two. two goals every single years. Beating Ohio State, or excuse me, beating Michigan and winning the national championship. They don't care about the Big Ten Championship. Let's be real

here. Okay, they already earned a buy. They don't give a shit about this trophy or banner. I do, all right? They haven't won this thing since 1967. I believe in these Hoosiers. I'm excited. I mean, I've been a lifelong fan. I've never really heard you talk about Hoosers till today. No, we've waited a long time. My whole life, brother. He graduated for him. Yeah, up in Massachusetts, you know what Massachusetts is? It's a pro sports town, and it's a Hoosier Town, baby. They all love...

Yeah, actually, don't you... Hey, don't you spell it? M-A-S-S-A-C-H-O-O-S-E-T-T-S. Isn't that how you... Isn't that what you guys call it up there? Because of the Hoosier? You nailed it. Not to mention, I do believe, actually, Sig was conceived in Massachusetts.

So throw that into the loop as well. And Sig's name, I mean, as soon as Signetti became a big-time coach. I believe Massachusetts thought like, oh, we'll be JMU fans. And then as soon as he went to IU, it was, oh, thank goodness, we can go back to the school we've always rooted for the Hoosiers. I'm very excited for this. I think it is going to be not just the conference championship game of the weekend, but looking back over the past five, ten years. I think it's going to be the best Big Ten championship they've had in a long, long time. And that's coming off of Penn State, Oregon, which was a great game. But I can't wait for this one. I think

it's going to be a great day of ball in Texas Tech, BYU to kick it off at noon, I think is going to be another banger as well. Yeah, I'm very pumped for the college slate. I'm very pumped for the NFL slate. It's going to be a spectacular weekend. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Cowboys, AP tone, 78% of the money, 76% of the bets, 80% of the money all lost last night.

Is that what I was watching while saying to myself, Of course, of course, of course. That's all I kept saying throughout the entire game about the Lions, being the favorites, even though they didn't look the best the week before, and the line moving to three and a half from three when all the money was going the other way. It felt like the sports books were kind of in their bag. Is that what we just need to understand, tone, going forward? Yeah, that was when we were doing the show, it was 78, 77% of the money was on the Cowboys.

Or sorry, I should say 77, 78% of the bets were on the Cowboys. 80% of the money was on the Cowboys, and then it closed 72% of the bets on the Cowboys and 65% of the money on the Cowboys, so some money came in on the Lions late. We talked about yesterday how the line got better for the Cowboys as the day went on, even though all the money was on them, and they called that reverse line movement in the world,

which is sometimes an indicator that you might be on the wrong side if you're on the same side as all of the money. But Foxy talked about it. yesterday. The Lions, 14 straight wins after a loss, 13 and 1 against the spread after a loss. They were averaging 35 points per game

after a loss. They eclipsed that total last night. They've just been an absolute wagon after a loss and at home. That's just what Dan Campbell football is. They do not lose two in a row. They always bounce back. That was a great win for the Lions last night. In plus territory

last night, the Lions had 29 plays for 216 yards. Average seven point yards a clip four for five in the red zone the cowboys 40 plays 142 yards 44 42 yards 42 yards 42 yards 42 yards oh boy remix we got a glitch going on oh we had a little glitch going on 42 40s yep you kept saying 42 yards over and over and over again I don't know if you can hear us now oh yeah I guess pat we're going to reconnect with you buddy I think it was a situation we kept remix and that was cool it was incredible add that into the next song maybe on an album How do you feel about tomorrow?

Like, do you think Ohio State cares as much as really? I think they absolutely care because, I mean, Indiana is like the number one two team in the country. I think Ohio State wants to prove that they're number one team. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I agree. They are good. They do have a lot of respect for Indiana and sick what they have done.

Sorry, mine just glitched as well. How are you doing? But even just thinking about like nobody talking about Ohio State all year, like is that something too where it's like, hey, now is our time? now is where if we dominate, people will actually talk about us just because it has been one of those situations, like when Georgia went back to back, like, hey, we don't have to talk about Georgia all year because they're going to win it in the end. Like, do you think Ohio State has that same type of mindset?

Yeah, I think they all feel that. I think they feel like, hey, now our season has begun. Like, this is what we came to do when we started out long ago in winter workouts. Like in winter workouts, they were talking about this season and where, hey, when we get to, first off, let's go beat Michigan. That's what we want to do. let's beat them and then we're going to go and that's when our season truly starts after that. I think

this is part of it. This is where I wish that not only the quarterfinals was home games on campuses. Because that would make this game so much more important if it was also the semi-final round at home or whatever because then you're looking at this game would be like for a home field

advantage or whatever one versus two. They'll change that, they'll tweak that in the future. I don't know because I think there's so much money for those semifference. 16 teams, would that help if you get a first round by, maybe you get to play at home in the second round? Yeah, it might, but I think, like, because there's so much money, corporate money for the semi-final game. You lose a home game if you get a buy.

Yes, yes, you do. And, like, I think, like, we've asked Saban before, do you wish the next round, the buy-round was also home-field advantage, too? And he said, yes, that would make sense. But, like, the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, all those bowls. Those all still have to happen. So much, so much money in those bulls that I don't know if it's ever going to happen. But it would be cool if it.

did. Well, I know they'll never do it because we're already in the time where, like, hey, we need to have this playoff ranking show for like the four weeks leading up to this. But could you imagine, like, it would make the conference championships still matter if the first ranking show was on Sunday, it was the final one. Because then it's like, guess what? Indiana and Ohio State, like, this game does still matter a bunch. And I don't know. I mean, like, we've been to Ohio State's facility, like programs like that, like, you know,

your most important trophies. the next one. Like they want to add a big 10 championship to that. But on the flip side, like for Indiana, like this really is like this would be, you know, the biggest deal for Indiana athletics like since Bobby Knight was there and they won a national championship.

You know, it was a long time. And to Ty's point, there has been, I've seen some push on the internet for it only being one selection show the Sunday after all these games. Just like, they should do. Just like college basketball does it. Because then it also doesn't, like the committee put out their ranking

four or five weeks ago, however, whenever it started or whatever, and then they're kind of pigeonholed into those initial rankings. Like, they can't have someone at two one week and then drop them all the way to 11 or something like that because they put them at, like it pigeonholed them into these initial rankings where if they only did the one, it's more free-flowing. They have all the information. They just put one out at the end.

And then there's not as much, like, bitching. You can't contradict yourself with a team like Notre Dame where a couple weeks ago, it seemed pretty evident, like, hey, if they beat Stanford in their last game, they're going to get in. And that's going to beat it or whatever. Exactly. And then so they don't play. And now, like, they have to come up with these new formulas. Well, well, this is the reason we had to move them down. And, like, that is where all the conjecture comes in where people are like, these guys are full of shit. They're just making this up as they go. They have no idea how to do this. But obviously, you know, you need the programming. So that's not going to happen. The Notre Dame argument, like, so when I first came, like, I've been to, okay, hey, head to head to head.

who won. Obviously they lost to Miami, right? So Miami gets in. But then when I hear Pete Bavakwa and I think about it, okay, your team from week one until the last game of the season, you grow so much. You are a different team. Most teams are much, much better. Some teams get worse due to injury and whatever things happen. But Notre Dame is definitely much better than they were week one. So I understand the argument for sure. Yeah, no doubt about it. And then even their loss, I get the head-to-head for Miami, but let's look at their other loss. Like Miami's other loss isn't as good as

Notre Dame bear losing the Texas A&M. Like that's a very, very tough team. Texas A&M basically was a top three team the entire year until they lose in a rivalry game at Texas. So it is such a tough situation. When are they going to get rid of the automatic bids?

Is that also a conversation just because it does feel as a... Sounds like Turk wants that out. Yeah, the conference championship thing just feels stupid because you know that whoever wins the big 10 is one of the best teams in the country. Whoever wins the SEC, one of the best teams in the country. And then typically like in Indiana

or like a Bama, there will be a situation where whoever they're playing isn't one of the best teams in the country. But if you listen to what Pete just said and a lot of people love the 5 plus 11 model, which will be the 5 conference champions and then the 11

at large. So it doesn't feel like those are going to go away anytime soon if they're talking about going to the 16 team. Kirk said they signed an extension, ESPN send an extension? Yeah. So There was a deadline, I think it was a week or so ago for them, for ESPN and the college football playoff or whatever to decide if they were going to 16 or not, and that just kind of got pushed back. They just gave an extension to make that decision.

Okay, good. I think we got things figured out. Pat, what's going on over there, buddy? We got you guys back? Oh, here we go. Hey, I always appreciate whenever people have to dodge, duck, dip dive, and dodge their way through some technology and make some good decision. Shout to Bruce and barcode the entire squad here, getting us back connected and not just connected. We're at the greatest of all time, a man who has no history in this building. Coach Zucayban. Yeah, Coach. Thank you, man.

Thank you. How you doing, Coach? Okay, coach. So the big question is, obviously, there's a lot of football fans where I live and where AJ lives that go, game day should be at the Big Ten championship this year because Ohio State and Indiana is about to be insane. Obviously, could have definitely done that in our eyes. It would have been spectacular. But I think what people don't understand whenever they come down here is there is an aura around the SEC championship.

It's like every year. it does feel like it is the Super Bowl of the South. And what do you kind of think about whenever you get down here, just from your own personal experiences? Well, I think having played in this game a few times, it's one of the best competitive venues that I've ever been a part of because the passion that people have in this conference and the support that this game has had, Atlanta's sort of a great place to have it.

So this building is a great place to play it. And there's usually two really good, highly ranked teams playing in the the game. So there is a lot of history to it. And I don't want to minimize the Big Ten Championship because obviously I coach in that league and that was, you know, really significant if you could win the Big Ten. And to have the number one and number two teams playing for the Big Ten Championship, I think that's the only time two undefeated teams one and two have ever played in that game. That's pretty significant too. So, you know, I think a championship weekend is going to live up to the height. No doubt. Tough decision for game day every week.

you would hope. And the fact that we're a part of a show that people want us to be at their game as an honor. Like that is, you don't just fall to that point. Obviously, what Game Day has done for all these years has made it a special treat every time we go anywhere. But obviously, being and living in Indianapolis, would have loved to be. They would shut the city down. But this place does shut down for the SEC. Let's talk about these two teams. Obviously, you know Alabama very well. You're in the building still. You're around Kaelin of the squad that they have. Feels like what they become through Ty Simpson's arm is a team that could certainly go on a run during a playoff. This Georgia team, though,

Since losing, you know, to Alabama, have become one of the dominant teams in all of football. Obviously, people talk about Indiana and Ohio State. We just had Pete Bavocco, the athletic director at Notre Dame. And he said, outside of them, you know, who's really been as hot as Notre Dame has? I guess Georgia would be the team that you could potentially say that. What are your thoughts on the two teams and how they're playing at this exact moment? Yeah, I think Georgia's playing really, really well. I think, you know, since the Bama game, they've made significant improvements on both sides of the ball,

but especially on defense and in the last three games, something that was a little bit of an Achilles heel for them is getting off the field on third down. They've been doing that better. And to me, in the first game, Alabama went nine for nine in the first half and got ahead by 14 points by going nine for nine on third down, which was a huge difference in the game.

So I think that's going to be important. You know, at this time of the year, you know, lots of teams are beat up. manage and handle from a depth standpoint, as well as a mental toughness standpoint, overcoming adversity at this time of the year playing in the championship game. This is always a great game, and I'm sure it'll be a great game. Ty Simpson has done a great job all year long. And, you know, one of the things that I think is important is, you know,

Ty has been leaving the home position to change plays. Platform. And the other team has changing the defense. So that doesn't create any advantage for you by checking a play on offense. So hopefully he'll do a little better job of that this week, and that won't be a problem for Alabama's offense. Sounds like that was a coaching point that you had, certainly for Ty Simpson. I don't know if you let it be heard in the building or if right now you're kind of letting it fly

and saying, hey, Ty, why don't we fucking listen up? You know, this is the first place we released that kind of information. This is what's, Ty, need to listen before the SEC championship. Last question for me is just about these championship games as a whole. I mean, we are just in the game day production meeting. Obviously, it came up. Last week it came up. In the offseason, it came up.

Are championship games going to lose its Lester? Is it going to lose its Lester? Kirby and Kaelin are telling their teams that the SEC championship hasn't lost to Lester, right? Like that conversation never happens for the actual teams that are involved. It's just kind of the conjecture around it. Is that accurate? Well, I think there's so much emphasis on the playoffs that, you know, bowl games have been

become a lot more insignificant, which they used to be really significant. And I think these championship games because of the, in a way, unfair ramifications that they can have, you've got some teams sitting at home not playing in a game that may benefit from a team losing that is playing in a game,

which doesn't seem quite exactly right, but it does, could happen, will happen probably, because we'll probably reshuffle the deck a little bit after these championship games, but I do think that it has lost its luster, but let me just say this about this game. Winning the SEC is a really significant accomplishment. It always was to me. It always was to our team, and I don't think that part of it for these two teams has changed

at all. Yeah, and they're fans, right? I mean, that's the... Absolutely. Because Roll Tout Willie wants to be able to say that he won the SEC championship. That's right. I mean, there's people. all around Georgia to say them dogs won the SEC, so I don't want to hear it.

That's a big deal. No, it's a big deal. It's a big deal to walk around the SEC in full strut, and so you won the SEC. You guys do that ever? Do you ever go full-struck on them a little bit? Is that just your entire career? You know, that's not me. That's not who I am.

Yeah. AJ, any questions for Coach Saban, AJ? Yeah, I do coach to pivot quickly. I know Matt Campbell, I guess Pete Thammo is saying that they're in talks. Most likely he's going to be the next Penn State coach. Final stages. Final stages, if they figure all of these, all the minutia out. Listen to this, hold on, though.

AJ, hold on, AJ. I would like to tell Coach Saban this. This is what was reported. They're working towards a deal. There's multiple steps that haven't been finalized yet. Like the terms or the compensation or anything like that. Never read anything like this before. But basically just he's going to be the head coach.

Sorry, AJ. Just so you know where we're at right now. They don't know the money. They have no idea the terms, but they both have kind of said to each other, going to do this. Go ahead, AJ. I'm sorry, brother. Yeah, Coach, I just, you know, I'm glad we get to coach the context of it. Like, what would you say

as a coach going from a team like Iowa State, obviously, where you win eight, nine, ten games a year? People are happy, but Penn State it's like, okay, how quick is he going to win a national championship or how he needs to get there in the first couple years? What's it like as a coach, I guess, when that, when you finally take that step to where you're at a place like that, to where,

hey, we have to win every game? Well, but I think that, you know, creating that expectation is actually, you know, not favorable to being able to do it because every time you have a misstep, everybody gets negative on where the program is and what the program can accomplish. And I think the most important thing is to have your administration, your fan base, and everybody stay positive and what you're trying to accomplish and what your goal is.

All right. So these places that have, to me, a little bit of unrealistic expectations that we're going to win the national championship, only one team wins a national championship. and there's a lot of competition out there. There's only 12 teams that get into playoffs and really only 10 of them because two of them may not even be ranked high enough to deserve to get in, but in the system they get in.

So anyway, you've stated your claim. So there's the top 10 teams that get into playoffs. And then you've got to win into playoffs against really good teams and you've got to stay healthy and you've got to have a quarterback and you can't lose the wrong guys at the wrong place at the wrong time. I mean, there's all kinds of factors that go into

whether you can finish the season the way you want. So to make that sort of the goal, which is an outcome, we've got to win the championship or we're going to get rid of the coach. To me is totally wrong, and they'll have a hard time doing it if that's the approach that they take. Look, Matt Campbell did a great job at Iowa State because he won more there than most, so that tells you what the potential of the place is and what he was able to accomplish. I'm sure he'll be able to do the same thing at Penn State. But how many times has Penn State won the national championships since we're going?

we had playoffs, and since we had BCS games and all that. I mean, refresh my memory on that. So why is that their standard of excellence? Well, because they have a lot of money. Good question. And they won back in the day. They won back in the day. So let's go back to that statement about everything's not been decided.

It's not just how much compensation the coach is getting. It's how much money they got to pay the players. Which is what Lane Kiffin actually said in his presser, which I think this would be a good time to bring this up for you, actually, because your name has also been a part of this entire conversation as a mentor for Lane Kiffin, especially alongside Coach Carroll after his dad passed away. OGs in a coaching game have looked out for him, which is a very cool thing. But he said in his press conference, and a lot of people said he was lying.

He said, I didn't even know what I was getting paid. I think everybody was going to pay me the same. So I think Lane knew had a gauge that he was going to get paid a lot of money and everybody was going to pay him the exact same. He said his big question was, how much money do we have for the players? And what he said was LSU clearly had the better setup for what the future is. That's the reality of current college football. Penn State, allegedly, from everything we've been told and what we have seen, they have all of that.

And they haven't been able to get a coach signed, and there's been a lot of panic, I think, amongst their people. Having somebody like Matt Campbell, they win this. I think they win the headline here, don't you think with Matt Campbell, don't you think they can at least with their donors and everything that kind of matters? I think absolutely. I think they're getting a great coach who's proven on a consistent basis. You know, he didn't just win one time. he's won consistently at a place that's not a place that people would recognize as some place you should win all the time.

Yeah, they've been horseshit forever, which I think speaks volumes of the job he does. Oh, that's an Iowa fan. That's Ty from Iowa saying Iowa State is horseshit. But on there, before he got there, I think that is why people are so impressed by Matt Campbell is because, like, his culture is one of success, and it's at a place that I don't think, you know, especially in the modern world, none of us are saying Iowa State's name whenever it comes to NIL conversation, 72 and 55, which is damn near 57. percent previous 10 seasons 41 82 jesus okay before that before he gets there so yeah they were kind

of shite and then matt campbell gets there and they're good and for penn state i think we all thought there was a chance they weren't even going to have a coach next year you know they already missed signing day and allegedly the big deluxe is keeping people away which to get which i think the big deluxe said okay if a car breaks down on sire road somewhere blame me why am i always the guy that's getting blame for everything. Well, it's because he's involved with everything, as are you, okay, in this college football conversation.

Have you seen your coaching tree yet? Have you seen it's the most updated, most recent one? No. Somebody put a tweet up that basically has all your coaches and where they're at right now. It's starting at 12 counting down to one. He's pretty much what it is. Nick Saban's FBS head coaching tree

as of November 30th. Got Kirby Smart at Georgia here, Sarka, Texas, Lane Kiff in LSU, SIG in Indiana, Lannning, obviously, Cristobal, Brent Key, B. Golding, O'Brien, and you name it. Even though they down to, Butch Jones, so I see a gif of him losing his mind all the time.

It is truly a beautiful thing. But, like, you're obviously a part of a lot of different conversations and a lot of different storylines and part of a lot of different people's lives. Lane Kiffin's situation, did you think that was pretty chaotic, even in the scheme of, like, what chaotic situations can be in college football? I don't think I expected it to get as loud and as nasty as it all got at the end. But then after we get through it, I found myself thinking to myself, well, I'm so naive. It was going to get like that regardless.

Is that kind of the thought whenever you're talking about, like, hey, people are going to hate you regardless because it's SEC football? Is that a part of the combo with Lane or any of these guys that have to make these massive decisions? Well, I don't think you can go from one SEC school to another without a whole bunch of people getting pissed off. I mean, that's just a fact of the matter. I mean, because you've got these passionate fan bases on both sides of the fence. So, and anybody that is viewed as somebody who sort of promoted one thing or any of the other is probably going to get criticized too. You know, I have a lot of people calling me asking me for advice based on, I guess, my experience. And as a human being, I don't care if you're a player, a coach, or an administrator, whoever it is, for the love of the game,

I'm always going to try to give them the best information that I can. I never tell them what to do. I always just say, what do you want to do? Where can you do it the best? Can you accomplish your goals the best? Where do you have the best opportunity to be successful? What's best for your family? So I don't make anybody's decisions for them.

I just try to offer the best advice that I can relative to them being able to accomplish what they want to accomplish. Why don't you tell them to go call somebody else and kick rocks? You know, why don't you stay the hell out of it, Coach Saban? Okay, we don't need you telling Lane. Kiffin to go down in Louisiana. We've got a team here in fucking Alabama we're trying to win, and now you're sending Lane Kiffin down to LSU. Why don't just hang up on them and not give them any advice at all?

There's people that think that. Well, if I did that, though, I mean, I wouldn't feel good about myself, not helping people who were colleagues of mine who helped us be successful and created value in what we were able to accomplish. And, you know, you appreciate it. that and you're loyal to those people who were loyal to you who helped you so uh i would have a

hard time dealing with that personally and i think there's a lot of people out there that say well what kind of person would be that way that he wouldn't help his colleagues make choices and decisions that are you know hopefully going to help them accomplish the goals that they have which is up to them not up to fans or anybody else you say you say colleagues nobody's really your colleague, bro. We've all worked in your world. You're breathing a different air, which is why everybody would like to hear what you think in this entirety. And the fact that you give back and listen to everybody is good quality, not a bad one. And I think that situation was insane with the calendar. Obviously, we can get into it all. Also, how close he was to a national championship

with Ole Miss. Don't you think you want to stick it out? What's available at LSU? We'll talk to Elaine Kiffin tomorrow. I cannot wait for that. And I'm excited for everybody's, uh, the internet, especially all the old Miss fans, they're like, wow, this is just going to be a fourth piece for Lane Kiff, and it's like, okay, I mean, we're certainly going to ask some hard questions. Yeah, well, I've heard how it's starting. I think there's some real question. There's some real journalisming happening from our understanding,

from the meeting we just got out of. But also, I think Lane knows some answers on some stuff, too, which I think he knows. And then obviously he'll be able to talk about the decision and what he's expecting out of LSU, which if you talk to anybody that's been around ball a long time, like LSU. You got a good thing set up over there. He got a good setup down there, which he will certainly hit on and talk about as well. I think more explanation will be good, but also a good

conversation at the SEC championship. But you know, this is a, this is a, based on the calendar and the circumstances and in football, it's always difficult when you're a coach, and I've been in this situation before, and I absolutely hated it and couldn't sleep at night over it, where you have an opportunity to go someplace that's maybe better than where you are, maybe not. Maybe you view it as better. Maybe not. And you want to be loyal to the team that you have because of what they've done to create the success that has helped you get the opportunity. So you get caught in the rock and a hard place as to how do you make a decision? Because if Lane would have stayed and hired his coach, LSU would have hired somebody else. So he knows he's

given up the opportunity if he makes that decision, which is really what he'd love to do because of the loyalty he has to his team but you can't have both so and you're going to get criticized probably either way yeah not probably definitely just because then he was stringing along ls you then the lsu people would be mad because he was stringing them along if he didn't pick together i mean it's a college football is insane which is why it's awesome you know but it is an insane situation and the more i learn about it the more situations i go through it's like there was no winning i think for this one but i still would like to restate i was publicly and privately telling lane this he should stay at Ole Miss, me personally,

just because I knew that there was potential a lot of heat coming on the other side of it just by reading the tea leaves of the internet, but also having the opportunity to be, I don't want to say a trailblazer, but like somebody that builds a place and builds a town, you obviously know a lot about this Alabama, not to you, but obviously Bear Bryant was there,

but from where they were whenever you got there to what it became, it's like, that's a cool legacy as well. But granted, the way he talked about it, LSU was a one-of-one job, can't wait to catch up with him tomorrow. Let's pivot, go ahead. You know, one thing about this that I think people probably don't see from maybe the perspective. I think sometimes as a coach, you think of, you said it, you build something, you build a program.

All right, so you take over a program that's not so good, whether it's Michigan State, LSU, wherever I basically went, Alabama, and you build it. Well, once you build it and you have success, what's the next challenge? So that was the hard thing for me. You know, I went at Michigan State, I left and went to LSUO, I went to Miami Dolphins, and I went back to Alabama. So then when you went in Alabama, when do you get to the place in your life where it's enough? Yeah.

And you can just say, okay, every year is like a new job, I'm going to try to sustain this success here, which is much more difficult than building it to start with. Yeah, chasing is something. Building the mountain is always much more fun than once you get to the top of it. Once you get to the top, right? Because now the expectation goes up, like what we've talked about before at Penn State, the expectation goes up, and then all of a sudden you become more anxious about being able to sustain that level of success. So sometimes it's easier to just say, I'll just go build something someplace else.

AJ, what did Mack Brown tell us that, like, we've remembered since then basically what it got whenever he was at Texas? He was more of a relief than like joy after a win. Yeah, and losses were completely devastating. Yeah, a win was relief, you know, because you're supposed to win. And then a loss was just devastation. There was never any happiness. So if you're not able to kind of figure out what it is that makes you happy at a place and wait and keep you going, it's like I guess we can just consider a lot of you college football coaches.

You've got gypsy souls, man. Got a lot of gypsy souls as you kind of try to move around. And then also, anytime you see an opportunity and then you're given like what the max could be, if you're a builder and a creator and things, it's like, oh, I could go do that. And then sometimes you're looking right in fronty, and it's like, we're really close right here, though. You know, like, did we actually complete our goals? That's tough, man. That's a tough thing to do.

Yeah, but to Mac Brown's point, how do you enjoy accomplishing something when the expectation is you were supposed to accomplish it and dominate it before you ever did it? So how does it not become relief just to win a game? And the only joy is when you accomplish the goal of winning the championship or whatever. Which is the expectation. Yeah, and then that's for what, 20 minutes? Exactly. And then what? We got to recruit.

We got to do this again next year. And then it's on. That is why you, having the dog mentality of always wanting to better and get better at the same place is very rare, which is why everybody's asking for your opinions. But when you give opinions, people aren't going to like to hear that you're maybe sending somebody to LSU. Now let's talk about college ball a little bit. You're a bad guy. You're a bad guy.

This guy did nothing for Alabama. guy did nothing for Alabama. I'm joking. I did see you, you were taking some heat on the internet, which I don't like, because you're fucking Nick Saban. You're the guy that we would all pick to put in as president of the United States if you would ever let us. You are the guy.

But I did not make a decision for anybody. Yeah, right. I did not. Yeah, right. All right. So you think I wouldn't have been catching hell on the internet if I'd have said to stay at Ole Miss? Yeah, you're right.

I mean, there's no one of it. Two fans are going to get on your ass for saying that? Me? Yeah. No, they like me because I go, hey, oh, you remember the chair? Oh, yeah, now you're in the music business, huh? How about that shit? How are we are doing?

All right, let's move on. Let's get back to the college football business. Ty Schmidt has a question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach, we talked about this a little bit with you last year, and I understand coaches don't think like this and neither to players, but with the current model and the way it's set up, do you think any coach is maybe, thinking like, hey, that five seed is kind of where we want to be. I understand we want to go

undefeated. You want to be the number one seed. But you look at last year, Oregon, you know, they get the buy and then they get the doors blown off of them by Ohio State, whereas this year they're sitting at five and there's a very good chance that, you know, if they play a two lane or in North Texas, no disrespect to either one of them. But Oregon's going to be like a four touchdown favorite in that game. And it maybe gives them the opportunity to kind of get hot at the right time. So if you're coaching a team, like, would you do you think the buy is almost a detriment in this current model that we're in? Or is that still the end all

be all? No, I think last year the buy was a detriment because most of the teams that had buys didn't perform very well. But I think the real key is, you know, where is your team right now? If your team's playing really well and you've got momentum, which you've created by playing well, because you earn your own momentum, then do you really want to buy or not. Would you rather keep playing and build on that momentum? If your team's all beat up and you got a bunch of guys hurt up at this time of the year and some time off would be beneficial, then I think having a buy week is probably a good thing. So I think the circumstance

determines whether it's a good or buy bad thing based on where your team is. But I think that most, a lot of coaches have to really examine how do we get ready for a game, when we have all this time off. A lot of time. I think, you know, that's one of the things. I mean, you can look at my record. When I was at Michigan State, we went to, what, four bowl games? We got the line and kicked out of our ass and every one of them.

Because I tried to practice from the season to the bowl game. And by the time we got there, the players are so tired of practicing. I mean, psychologically, they just wanted to get it over with. And then I started making it when I went to LSU. This is a one-game season. So we're not practicing. for two or three weeks. Players just work out, lift weights, have seven on seven on their own every now and then. Coaches aren't around them. And then we're going to practice 11, 12 times

before the game. And that's it. And then we started winning because everybody was looking forward to it and all that. So how you manage that time off? You know, sometimes less is more. But as coaches, you think the more you practice, the better you're going to get. Sometimes it doesn't work not at this time of year. It's such a crazy philosophy, especially for the goat to say, it's like, actually, whenever we were practicing more, we got worse, so we need to stop practicing, almost

make them think they have like a little mini-off season, right? And then they'll be excited to get the pads back on and kind of get back into work. That was what you said psychologically you saw from your team. That's right. And we won when we did that, and we lost when we did it the other way. Did you ever win here? Did you ever win this game? I remember

the one we lost here in 2008 to Tebow when we had a young Young team, second year at Alabama, but a bunch of dogs on that team. They just fall freshman. You talk about Mack Brown saying if you win, it's a relief. If you lose, it's devastating. I don't know how many you've won here. I assume eight or nine or something like that.

And then you go, yeah, I remember the one we lost, Tim Tebow, asshole, that guy. I'll never forget it. Like, that's your first memory, which is why you are who you are. Speaking of you are who you are, you've created billions of dollars in NFL revenue for your player. there's a guy up in Detroit who has changed and transformed the way their team plays. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, coach, you recruited Jemir Gibbs, got him to transfer from Georgia Tech, I believe in the 2022 season. What was it like coaching a player like that?

Was he, you know, as electric as some of the other dudes that you've had? I mean, you've had Heisman winners, but Gibbs himself right now is taking over the NFL. He actually just became the quickest or most touchdowns before, or in his first three, seasons. Yeah, there is before turning 24. He also, I believe, passed Randy Moss for the most touchdowns in the first few seasons of his career as well as another stat. But what was it like having Jamir Gibbs? And what do we not know about him as a player or the person that you kind of got to experience that season? Right. Well, you know, I was surprised that when we looked at Jamir Gibbs when he was at Georgia Tech, I saw this guy that had this great

ability to make you miss and probably one of the most important facets of being a great running back is to make a cut and get to full speed. How fast can you get to full speed out of a lateral cut? This guy can do it as well as anybody. I know they compare him to Barry Sanders and he made a lot of guys miss and I played against him and he made a lot of our guys miss. But that's what Jamir Gibbs can do. He's tough. He's a great person. He's a great receiver. And this guy can just do at all. And he's making people miss. He runs behind his pads, even though he's not a great big guy, but he's hard to tackle, and he's got great acceleration and burst and speed out of a cut, which I think makes him unique in terms of his skill set, what he can do as a complete

player in this offense. And you've got to give the Lions credit because they use the guy the right way. They get him the ball the right way. Yeah, they get him the ball a lot, and also they have another running back. Monti who had a big night, but Jamir Gibbs clearly becoming a separate on offense. So fast. So slow, so dynamic. So cool. Do you like the number zero? You like number zero on them or no? You know, I'm not big on what number they wear when they can score touchdowns like he does. So it doesn't matter to me. I mean, he can have no number. Coach, you're the absolute greatest. We appreciate you, man. Thank you for welcoming us here to your SEC championship. It's an honor to be down here. Well, it is an honor. And there's a lot of

memories that go into this place and, you know, one of them was when I first came to the SEC in 2000, Roy Kramer was the conference commissioner. And he had been a very successful coach at Central Michigan, of all places, you know, in Michigan, in the Mid-American Conference. And even before when they weren't in the Mid-American Conference, and he was very, very successful. But this guy is a legend in terms of being an old-fashioned football guy. I mean, he watched high school games right up until he's 96 years old. He's still watching high school games. You know, he's still going and very involved in the game.

And, you know, I always say they don't make them like they used to. I don't think they make very many of them like Roy Kramer. Well, rest and peace of Roy Kramer. Thank you for your services to football and to life. He was the creator of the BCS. Roy Kramer created the BCS. He was a commissioner for 11 years, obviously, ball coach elsewhere, and I believe today he was announced, passed away recently.

Yeah, today. Yeah, so rest and peace. Sorry about that. Hey, sorry about that. Appreciate you, man. We are very thankful that you join us every single week, and tomorrow should be electrifying as you pick Georgia to beat your Alabama team, right?

You're going to call the dogs. You're going to get a thing and say, to hell with Alabama, just like I sent Lane Kiffin down to LSU. I will sick out. Alabama having success. Is that what you're going to do? What do they call it when they take toilet paper and throw it all over your trees at your house?

TPN. TPN, yeah. Is that what you're trying to get? No, no, no, no. I would never want that. Or eggs like they did to Petulah, allegedly, up there in New Jersey and Philadelphia for the Eagles. But we appreciate the hell out of you, Coach.

Hell of a year out of you. You've crushed it this year. You know that. Hell yeah, coach. I enjoy it. And being alongside of you brings out the best of me. I got to say that. do wonder what's going through your head sometimes like the shout up there and

you getting up and dancing getting down low a lot of people said wow good knees on saving he got down there low for the show then you turned it back up I appreciate you riding in there you do you ride in there and I appreciate that but see I wouldn't do that with anybody else but you miss Terry you you miss Terry miss Terry's here by the way happy Thanksgiving Miss Terry happy holidays she gave us a gift he's playing accordion oh accordion on the Christmas card. It looks awesome. Wait.

You look like a real music. What was that about, coach? What was that about? What was that eye roll, coach? I guarantee you that I did not approve that Christmas card. The first time I saw it was today. There's no way that shit's going public. Do you play the accordion?

You play the accordion? I did. My grandma Saban made us all learn how to play accordion when we were kids. One of the reasons that I started playing ball when I was nine years old was to get out of going to recording lessons. Okay, so now the fact that you know the accordion, I might need you on the next song. I might need you on, I might

need you on another song in this entire thing. Hold on, I think we got it here, actually. Let's go ahead and zoom in on that down there, and Oh, yes. So that is the... Oh, hell yeah. Yes. Yeah, I don't know if we can get it focused. Keep it coming.

How many dogs do you have? That's him on the accordion. Unbelievable work out of you. And look at Miss Terry, absolutely crushing it, as we should have expected. How many different photos were taken here and how long does take the piece together here? What were you playing? I had nothing to do with it. What?

Don't lie. Don't lie, Coach. What are you talking about? Merry Christmas, jolly old St. Nick. I thought that was the Italian. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everybody, but you don't need me playing an according to enjoy yourself. I need you on my next song. I need you on my next song.

Is that possible? Let's do that. Absolutely. What's the sound? Wow, wah, wow, wow, wow. That's the sound, right? That's it. I need that on the next song.

Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Nick Saban. Yeah, Coach. I can see him playing the harmonica, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The one, maybe he gets him one that has like the... Like the Bob Dylan one that can hold the accordion, too. He's playing the accordion, and then everyone's something

can bop down and play that harmonica? Have you seen the video of him playing the sax with the Blues Brothers Shades and Hat on? Nick Sabin? Yeah. It's unbelievable. I actually have not. Is that a real thing? Are you just being toned?

I saw that somewhere. Are you thinking when Bill Clinton went on Arsenio Hall? Played the saxophone like in 1993? Maybe I am. Maybe I am. With that being said, Fox, do we pop up the playoff predictions, I guess you're the Rammies for the NFL games on the slate here.

So, okay, comment. Explain what this exactly is right. So the number on the left for the teams is if they win. If the Coltrwin, they got an 86% chance to make the playoffs across the board, you see how that works on the other side, is if they lose. If the Jags lose, they still have a pretty good chance because they have tiebreakers with a lot of the other wildcard teams.

But the other real games that matter here, if you look at it, Steelers and Chiefs. Both of them need to win. If they lose, it is pretty detrimental to them making a run at the big dance. So I know Tony is not shaking in his boots because he's pretty confident in Rogers this weekend, but definitely a must win for Pittsburgh. I would, tone, honestly, you've cut a flip-plop.

You were down the dumps, you know. Yeah, I took my time. You know, on suicide watch for a couple days, but then you came around. It feels like you're back on board with the Steelers. Yeah, you know, I came and I chose to be positive. You know, I was tired of the negativity surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers and the cloud that was hanging over my head. So I thought about it.

And, you know, we're playing for first place on Sunday against Baltimore Ravens who also haven't looked good. And, you know, if we win, we got the keys to the driver's seat to win the AFC North. Okay, yeah, fair enough. Pat, how about Coach Sabin with the accordion? You're definitely getting him on at least one song. the slate is packed for the NFL there with a lot of rammies and coach sabin on the accordion for the next song which is oops is coming out i think in like a week or so and then there's like five other ones

that are coming i mean we got this is just the tip that's awesome i don't want to get into it but it's just the tip of the ducy here you know and i think uh as we kind of settle in it's certainly going to become an enjoyable experience and we appreciate everybody playing it but uh talking to coach sabin there on the way out he was like hey you were trying to get the number on how many I won here. We're 18 and 1 in this building. He said, I won 17 straight here. 17, 13. 10 championships. And you said, well, he probably 8 or 9 of them, didn't you?

You know how pissed he probably was in his head? But he's like, I'm too humble to say it. He said 10 championships, thanks. 18 and 1 in this building. On the way out here, he said that. He said, you were trying to pull the number at this building, 18 and 1 here. I said, who? And he goes, our teams.

We're 17 straight here. Tim Tebow is the only one. Tim Tebow is the only guy that guy. That was literally the first thing he thought about there. And he's got 11 total. 11 total SEC championship? Yeah, so one of them

just wasn't in that building. LSU, probably right? I'm not sure. Probably because the stadium wasn't built, right? Yeah, he was national champion there. I assume they won the SEC championship as well there,

because nobody talks about the SEC championship from LSU. They only talk about the national championship from LSU. And also, I guess conversation is he loved his time down at LSU. Hey, let's go ahead and put some of our let's make our Sunday slate picks here.

AJ, shall we, as we wrap up this, glorious feel-good, Duky, Friday, December 5th, 2025. Duke, available on all streaming platforms. It's an outrageous thing to even say that. Indianapolis Colts favored by one and a half down there in DeValle. Listen, the Jacksonville Jaguars are a boogeyman, if you would, to the Indianapolis Colts, especially down there.

When their team is ass, they beat us down there. When their team is good, they beat us down there. So the thought of them ruining this season and continuing our loss with them is, certainly feasible, impossible, but I like the Indianapolis coats. I like what Danny Dimes is going to be doing second week with a fractured fibula playing. He's going to be a little bit more understanding of the situation. Give me the Indianapolis Colts favorite by one and a half down there. Oh, boy.

Yeah, I love the Indianapolis Colts as well. I love what they're doing. I'm in their city right now, but I'm going Jags on this one. I do not like Danny Dimes having to limp around. The dude's a warrior, and then Adam Shepter's acting like it's a hairline fracture. It's nothing. Oh, everybody would play through this. No, he's a monster.

He's playing through something, but give me the Jags. You get them at plus two. Yeah, that's incredibly painful, I do believe. What can we get, you can get them at what? You can get the Jags at plus two. I'll take that. Jeez. Can I get?

All right, minus one and a half. Yeah. There's a. Are they practicing the chest pass, Dr. Pepper? Yeah, no, I think they're doing the Coke Zero chest pass right now. Oh, it's still, we thought maybe Coke Zero was coming in, but it is still the Dr. Pepper tuition chestline. Can they tell them you got to throw a food? throw it one-handed at least? No.

Why? It's the chess pass competition. No, it's not. Yeah, but remember, the reason why the chest pass started is because somebody couldn't throw it and then they had a win in now. They're like a doctor or something. I forget what it is. Obviously, it's a part of it.

And if they're going to be walked through the whole thing, that is awesome for us to have to deal with here. There's a lot of people that is going to, hey, it's different down here. It's just different down here. Bengals traveling to take on the Buffalo Beals. Interesting story coming out of Buffalo. New Stadium is basically going to be sold out every season. single week, just from season ticket sales or season licensing sales in the entirety.

The Buffalo Bills' faithful are excited for their new stadium, and the Buffalo Bills fan base is obviously spectacular. Would that be enough for them to win by at least six as they host the Buffalo, or Cincinnati Bengals team that had a massive prime time Thanksgiving win over the Baltimore Ravens? Who do you think, AJ? How do you like it? Man, Bill's at home. That was initially leaning in Bills, but man, watching Joe Burrow, you know, breathe some

life back into this team, I'm going to take the Bengals on this. T. Higgins is back as well, by the way. Okay, can their defense stop Josh Allen and them? I guess they did great against Baltimore Ravens. Can we get them a plus six or no? You can get the Bengals plus six or bills minus five and a half? I'll get the, give me the bills minus five and a half. New Orleans Saints take it on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Bucks favored by eight and a half at home. New Orleans Saints, obviously, a team that has been playing better than we thought, even though they're still not good. We thought they were going to be completely ass. Bucks favored by eight and a half at home. A.J., who do you like? How do you like it? In tone, do we have any other line?

Eight and a half across the board. Okay. I like the, I like Tampa Bucks at home. Give me bake and the crew, too. Eight and a half feels like a lot, but I think they figured out. Me too. Let's go. The Pittsburgh Steelers taking on to Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North rivalry of all rivalries.

The Baltimore Ravens used to be the Cleveland Browns. Pittsburgh Steelers hated them in Cleveland. Then they go to Baltimore. They hate them there. This year, both fan bases are waiting to bury their respective teams upon a loss this weekend. Neither team, neither team's fan base, I would say, believe that their team can win a Super Bowl. And that's what we're in this whole thing for. Tony Diggs, how do you feel here just a couple of days removed from the massive robbery of these Steelers and Ravens taking place?

Yeah, I think I should let everyone know first that the dog in this matchup when it's Tomlin versus Harbaugh is 26, 6, and 3 against the spread. So normally the dog, it's always a close game. So normally the dog covers in this one. But the last two, the Ravens have covered seven and a half and nine and a half because they've been able to run it down the Steelers' throats. I don't see anything different on Sunday. I think the Ravens will win easily. Okay, so you're trying to reverse jinx this thing, it feels like.

No. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it? So I heard Lamar got stepped on missed a practice Wednesday, but he's back. Yeah, he's back. Yep. Doing fine. That could be very painful. Give me the Steelers here, man.

they find a way to keep it close all right i'll take the ravens i'll bite it doesn't feel like that should be the case at all especially with how they played favored by five and a half that feels like a lot of points in this particular rivalry everything kind of stinks a little bit yeah a little ducky so i'll take the ravens just like last night sea hawks falcons seehawks good on the road road warriors actually favored by seven heading down into this beautiful stadium which will play host as the falcons are at home a j who do you like how do you like it I like Seattle, man. I like Sam Donald and Seattle

and what they are doing. Their defense, I think, is sneaky good as well. So give me the Seahawks. It's actually six and a half. I believe I'm frozen on your side. Am I frozen? You guys are completely frozen on my screen. You look good.

No, you're good. You're good. Okay, good, good, good. It's great to be here, boys. It's great to be here, boys. I like the Seattle Seahawks with whatever one we can get. Miami Dolphins favored by two and a half going in and take on the New York football jets.

I like everything I'm seeing from Aaron Glenn, even through his challenge flag. in a cool way. NFL films release a little footage of him dropping that thing with a little pizzazz and then talking a little bit of shit. Maybe they're fun in their culture over there. Is there any other lines we need to know about this one tone? You get the Jets at plus three or the Dolvenman's minus two and a half. Okay, AJ, who do you like? How do you like it?

I've gone back and forth on this one, but I like what Aaron Glenn's got going on. Give me the Jets plus three here. AJ's been great at picking games. I have not been. So the fact that I'm just seeing so many differently than him does alarm me, but give me the Miami Dolphins, even though it's going to be cold in New York. Give me the Jets. I will take the Jets.

This is a something's got to give game. Their stats are coming out. Tua undefeated against the Jets, Tua in under 40-degree weather hasn't won a game. So it is a something's going to happen where a team will win a game that they haven't ever. I'll take the Jets plus three. I completely forgot about the Miami Dolphins team whenever they travel north of the Mason-Dixon line in the winter. Tennessee Titans traveling into Cleveland. I like the Cleveland Browns,

no matter what they're favored by, especially at home. Yep, I like the Browns as well. Miles Garrett going to try to set the sack record, get four or five. Three or not. Washington commanders taking on, we can get that at three and a half, you said? Yep.

We will certainly do that. Washington commanders taking on the Minnesota Vikings. What's the health status, boys, of the Washington commanders and the Minnesota Viking? Jaden Daniels is a go. Yep, it just got announced that he will start Sunday versus the Vikings, and I also believe J.J. McCarthy passed concussion protocol.

Not sure if that's good or bad, but I guess he is going to just go out there and spin that thing, is what he said. And Coach O'Connell and Josh McCown basically told him, like, hey, don't worry about, you know, playing to a T perfectly. Just go out and spin it. I'll take Jaden over nine. AJ. How about you? Yep, same as you, commanders. Denver Broncos, seven and a half. Is there any other lines tone? They are, sorry, I'm scrolling down, Broncos, you can get them seven. You can actually get them at seven if you want.

Okay, AJ, you want them at minus seven? Yep, I love the Broncos here minus seven. Me too, Bears, Packers, Ty Schmidt, it's a big one. You're asking me, I'm taking a pack here at home. Wow. Okay, AJ said, I don't care what the number is. Give me the Green Bay Packers. Micah Parsons coming out and saying they got no respect.

I don't respect them either. I hate them. I like that it's a real robbery. The Bears have a real. real team this year. So to the Packers. Ty Schmidt, you like being favored by six and a half or no? That seems a little high to me just with how

well the Bears are playing. I do still think the Packers are going to win. They're hoping to get a couple guys back who have been out the last couple weeks. I think playing at Lambeau is a massive advantage. I could see this being a field goal game. I don't know if it is going to be

six and a half. But yeah, as you see there, it is going to be frigid at Lambeau on Sunday. How's Ben Johnson done against the floor? Pretty good. Like the lions over the last few years. They don't love each other. Yeah, they don't.

But the lions over the last few years have really kind of taken it to the Packers. Give me Da Bears. Okay. Now, how many points am I getting? Six and a half. Six and a half. No more? Nope. Now where?

That's way too many anyway. Come on. The bears should feel disrespecting. Point dogs against Eagles. All right, let's go to the Rams and the Cardinals. I like the Rams, minus eight and a half, minus eight, whatever we can get as they travel out to beautiful Phoenix. We absolutely love them. The public is also on the Rams, no matter what the spread would be against Cardinals.

And I'll wake up the next day feeling good taking the Rams. How do you feel, AJ, in this one? I think the Rams are still one of the best football teams in the NFL, so give me the Rams here. Coming off a loss, too, you know, to the Panthers, maybe Matthew Stafford, Schaer, McVeigh have their thing and then the Houston Texans that's a good football team CJ Stroud knocking off the rust the defense the Houston sack stations a problem the chiefs in the middle of a dynasty are they going to be able to find it they're favored by three and a half at home AJ who do you like how do you like it honestly

I like the Houston Texans here I know they're underdogs in Kansas City I like CJ Stroud he's doing and obviously the Houston D will continue to play well I like the Kansas City Chiefs a lot this is Travis Kelsey's flannel I've worn it a couple times because it's kept me very, very comfortable in like the 30 to 50 degree weather range. He is a beast. I appreciate the hell out of him in my homes and Jones. Give me the Houston Texans.

That's a good football team representing the AFC South, getting three and a half points. We'll continue digitally. Stanford, Steve, we'll stop by to wrap up some of the college football conversation. We'll hit all the other storylines, and then we'll go into a greatest weekend of college football and NFL football that we've had all season. Be a friend, tell friends something nice to my change your life. Play Dokey. Goodbye.

I think I got it in it. I think I got it. Oh, yeah. All right. I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick. They might be done with this. I'm kind of feeling it. And then Stanford, Steve, will be up here.

And, boys, let's enjoy the hell out of what we're about to do. This is a great weekend of ball right now. Hell yeah. I mean, the more, the closer we get to it, the more excited I'm getting for it all. And don't feel obligated to play Duky, but kind of, though. And also, get creative. Get creative with Duky. Get creative out there.

I can't wait to see what you do. Obviously, we'll be doing giveaways and fun shit for everything. And, yeah, let's take a break. Stan for Steve will be on the other side. AJ, I appreciate you so much for driving over to Indie, brother. Of course, easy. I enjoy it. Enjoy coming in here, seeing the Thunderdome.

And, yeah, it's always fun, man. Have you heard that since the last time you've been there and then the time before that and the time before that, Foxy and I still have yet to lose? Oh, you guys are still winning like that? We're on quite the run. Really? Bruce not played?

Bruce was a clutch shooter when I played a couple weeks ago. Downtown Bruce Brown. Bruce? Yeah, downtown Bruce Brown. He's our only insider. Yeah, not only that, but he also changed to a right push shot in the middle of the game if the lefty one's not falling, which he ended up doing to us yesterday, which is obviously a sign you're not going to win the game. And him and Connor kind of had that. But Bruce is the only insider in the game who also participates in the league in which he is the insider.

So we appreciate what Bruce does for journalism for you ball and also for the game. But Foxy hit our first walkoff the other day because normally we shoot. first so we're always on defense to end the game so debuts and bone well who was it gone man debuts and connor de butts and connor first time together tough very tough team they beat us then now we go to championship game right they can shoot first so we're shooting last it gets to 11 10 Foxy last shot so they win they have 11 points already Foxy shooting with 10 our first ever time ever really doing this Foxy steps up banks at home sends it home not banks at home not banks at Hits off the back of the rim, sends it home, and full bang.

Boom! Ah, I lost my shit. What a moment. Connor was not exactly thrilled. Neither was but. But it has been getting very intense, and I'm going to be honest. I don't know how long the game's going to last, but it feels good winning. Foxy, way to go, brother.

I'm very proud of what you've been doing. I would say that was by far and away, our best day of U-Ball as an office as a whole. Those two games, Dibah in the first game when they beat us, that was also a walkoff. So, yeah, it was incredible. We're just on quite the run. Bruce, what is the insider business saying about UBall right now? We played a fun game. Dibone and I were looking like the Cincinnati bangles on the defense event, so got to clean that up.

But, yeah, you know, just looking to grow the game, keep the integrity of the game intact as much as possible. Okay, and Connor, what are your thoughts as we sit here when you were just one jumper from Foxy away from being the child? of U-ball and getting that bedazzled little ball that's been sitting over there on my desk for the last couple of months moved over to the toxic table. I mean, it was a good debut for Debutt and I, I thought. First game we've ever played together, we took you guys to the ropes, but the chance was the chance for a reason. You got to bury him when you got the chance. You can't just kind of pitter-patter to the end. You know, we didn't play great on defense.

They didn't make enough shots. And maybe next week, me and Debutt will have another chance. Connor and Butts, good team. That's a good U-Ball team. That's a good U-Bull team. There are some teams that really scare you, AJ, and especially guys that can play on offense and defense-aside and also know strategy a little bit.

It's, yeah, there's some good teams out there, and we're going to stay focused. We're 18 and 1 in that building, and we're going to try to continue that, AJ. And are you playing today? Have you played? I don't know if I'll play today, but I believe me and Bruce hit a walk-off against you in Foxy

like a month ago when I played. No, it was Friday, so it wasn't against them. Oh, yeah. It wasn't against me, brother. But we are undefeated. Either way, Bruce had a walk off. Just know that ain't against me. No, no, I was wearing the wig.

You had to walk off on Halloween. It was against you and Foxy. Yes. Yeah, obviously, I understand. If Bruce hits a walk off, it gets shoved under the rug. But Bruce did it. Good job, Bruce. He's the insider.

He's supposed to be doing it. You're right. You've got to put that out, Bruce. That's on you. Yeah. I mean, how am I supposed to know if it happened against me if he doesn't put it out? You're right. I mean, what are we even, what do we even talk?

Just like saying and telling you 18 and one. Hey, yeah, by the way, fucking never lost one time. So that's it. I owe this place. Go ahead and tell him, whatever you talk about. Ten championships in this fucking thing. I mean, think about him walking on here. Just God, welcome to my fucking stadium.

This is how he should feel. And we'll go ahead and celebrate that tomorrow. Hi there. Surprise. 30 for 30 presents Boo-ya. Can I get a witness from the congregation? You can't stop authenticity. Boo-ya! Stewart was exactly like you saw him on-camera, off-camera.

He dialed it up 10%. Can you imagine the impact of young black boys and girls looking at that going, I feel seen. He changed the culture. He changed sports. Stream Boo-ya, presented by Medello, right now on the ESPN app. Talk about stepping up. It's time to level up your game.

Introducing the all-new ESPN. app. All of ESPN, all in one place. Your home for the most live sports and the best championship moments. The electricity is palpable. Step up your game with no annual contract required. It's the ultimate fan experience. Level up for more on the ESPN app or at stream.espn.com. Sign up now.

Welcome in Hour 2 of the Pat McAfee Show. I am A.J. Hawks sitting in for Pat here in Indianapolis. He's in Atlanta, big SEC championship game tomorrow. Boys, we have a big first hour. Football! It's what happened last night, right? Pat, what's happening all weekend? We've got a beautiful slate of games, obviously college and NFL coming up. Thanks to Kirk and Peter, right, for joining us that first hour. Yeah, Kirk and Peter, obviously, Peter's always got the juice. And the dogs are going to try to win a big one here tomorrow against Alabama. A championship weekend will be spectacular.

for college ball game day 9 a.m. tomorrow on ESPN and live on X throughout the entirety of this entire college football playoff should be quite a scene and a vibe as we're down here in Atlanta live on the convention center, the SEC Fan Fest. At the beginning of the show, not normally that packed. And then as the show continues, it kind of fills up with a bunch of SEC faithful there to celebrate this championship game, which obviously two legends will be competing in. And then across the slate up there in Indianapolis, Indiana is, going to be the big one. One verse two. Indiana Hoosiers looking to do something that they've never done before. And then Ohio State Buckeyes looking to maintain their dominance as they're the

reigning national champions, favorites to win the national championship yet again. And nobody really speaks about them because all they've done is kick everybody's ass. Will they be able to do that to Fernando Mendoza in an Indiana Hoosers offense that can spin it in a defense that's great. We shall see 8 p.m. boots on the ground. There, Lucaso. Let's go to the toxic table at Boston Connor. I see you wearing that Mendoza shirt, brother. You feel good about the weekend for the Hoosiers? Yeah, I feel fantastic. Look, Ohio State circles two things on their calendar, and they have two goals every single year, beating Ohio State, or excuse me, beating Michigan and winning the National Championship. They don't care about the Big Ten Championship. Let's

be real here. Okay, they already earned a buy. They don't give a shit about this trophy or banner. IU does, all right? They haven't won this. thing since since 1967. I believe in these Hoosiers. I'm excited. I mean,

I've been a lifelong fan. I've never really heard you talk about Hoosers till today. No, we've waited a long time. My whole life,

brother. He graduated for her. Up in Massachusetts, you know what Massachusetts is? It's a pro sports town. Yeah. It's a Hoosier town, baby. They all love.

Yeah, actually, don't you, hey, don't you spell it, M-A-S-S-E-H-O-O-S-E-T-T-S. Isn't it? Massa-Hus. It's, isn't that what you guys called up there because of the Hoosiers? You nailed

it. Not to mention, I do believe actually Sig was conceived in Massachusetts, so throw that into the loop as well. And Sig's name, I mean, as soon as Signetti became a big-time coach, I believe Massachusetts thought like, oh, we'll be JMU fans, and then as soon as

he went to IU, it was, oh, thank goodness, we can go back to the school we've always rooted for the Hoosiers. I'm very excited for this. I think it is going to be not just the conference championship game, of the weekend, but looking back over the past five, ten years, I think he's going to be the best Big Ten championship they've had in a long, long time. And that's coming off of Penn State, Oregon, which was a great game. But I can't wait for this one. I think it's going to be

a great day of ball. In Texas Tech, BYU, you to kick it off at noon, I think it's going to be another banger as well. Yeah, I'm very pumped for the college slate. I'm very pumped for the NFL slate. It's going to be a spectacular weekend. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Cowboys, AP Tone, 78% of the money, 76% of the bets, 80% of the money all lost last night. Is that what I was watching while saying to myself, of course, of course, of course. That's all I kept saying throughout the entire game about the Lions, being the favorites, even though they didn't look the best the week before, and the line moving to three and a half from three, when all the money was going the other way.

It felt like the sports books were kind of in their bag. Is that what we just need to understand, tone, going forward? Yeah, that was when we were doing the show, it was 78, 77% of the money was on the Cowboys, or sorry, I should say 77, 78% of the bets were on the Cowboys, 80% of the money was on the Cowboys. And then it closed 72% of the bets on the Cowboys and 65% of the money on the Cowboys. So some money came in on the Lions late. We talked about yesterday how the line got better for the Cowboys as the day went on,

even though all the money was on them. And they call that reverse line movement in the world, which is sometimes an indicator that you might be on the wrong side if you're on the same side as all of the money. But Foxy talked about it yesterday. The Lions, 14 straight wins after a loss, 13 and 1 against the spread after a loss. They were averaging 35 points per game after a loss. They eclipsed that total last night.

They've just been an absolute wagon after a loss and at home. that's just what Dan Campbell football is. They do not lose two in a row. They always bounce back. That was a great win for the Lions last night. In plus territory last night, the Lions had 29 plays for 216 yards, averaging seven point yards a clip, four for five in the Reds. So on the Cowboys, 40 plays, 142 yards, 42 yards, 42 yards, 42 yards,

remix, we got a glitch going on. We got a little glitch going on. 42, 40. Yep. You kept saying 42 yards. over and over again. I don't know if you can hear us now or oh yeah I guess Pat we're going to reconnect with you buddy I think it was a situation we kept remix and that was a good cool it was incredible that into the next song maybe on an album like the 40 key yards

how do you feel about tomorrow like do you think Ohio State cares as much as you really I think they absolutely care because I mean Indiana is like the number one two team number two team in the country I think Ohio State wants to prove that they're number one team yeah that makes Now, this is, yeah, I agree. They are good. They do have a lot of respect for Indiana and sick. What they have done, sorry, mine just glitched as well. How are you doing?

But even just thinking about, like, nobody talking about Ohio State all year. Like, is that something, too, is where it's like, hey, now is our time. Now is where if we dominate, people will actually talk about us just because it has been one of those situations. Like, when Georgia went back to back, like, hey, we don't have to talk about Georgia all year because they're going to win it in the end. Like, do you think Ohio State has that same type of mindset? Yeah, I think they all feel that. I think they feel like, hey, now our season has begun. Like, this is what we came to do when we started out long ago in winter workouts.

Like in winter workouts, they were talking about this season and where, hey, when we get to, first off, let's go beat Michigan. That's what we want to do. Let's beat them. And then we're going to go and that's when our season truly starts after that. I think this is part of it. This is where I wish that not only the quarterfinals was home games on campuses. Because that would make this game so much more important if it was.

also the semifinal round at home or whatever because then you're looking at this game would be like for a home field advantage or whatever one versus two don't change that they'll tweak that in the future can i don't know because i think there's i think there's so much money yeah for those semi-final games would that help if you get a first round buy it might it might you get to play at home after in second round yeah it might but i think like because there's so much money corporate money for the semi-final game you lose a home game if you get a buy yes yes you do and like i think like we've asked Saban before do you wish the next round the buy round was also home field advantage too and he said yes that would make sense but like the Rose Bowl the the Fiesta

bowl all those bowls like so much so much money in those bulls that I don't know if it's ever going to happen but it would be cool if it did well I know they'll never do it because we're already in the time where like hey we need to have this playoff ranking show for like the four weeks leading up to this but could you imagine like it would make the conference championship still matter if the first ranking show it was on Sunday it was the final one because then it's like guess what Indiana and Ohio

State like this game does still matter a bunch and I don't know I mean like we've been to Ohio State's facility programs like that like you know your most important trophies the next one like they want to add a big 10 championship to that but on the flip side like for Indiana like this really is

like this would be you know the biggest deal for Indiana athletics like since Bobby Knight was there and they won a national championship you know i think it's a long time and to tie's point there has been i've seen some push on the internet for it only being one selection show the sunday after all these games just like they should do just like college basketball does it because then it also doesn't like the committee put out their rankings four or five weeks ago however whenever it started or whatever and then they're kind of pigeonholed into those initial rankings

oh like they can't like they can't have someone they were carried at two one week and then drop them all the way to 11 or something like that because they put them it like it pigeonholes them into these initial rankings where if they only did the one it's more free flowing they have all the information they just put one out at the end and then there's not as much like bitch you know you can't you can't contradict yourself with a team like notre dame where a couple weeks ago it seemed pretty evident like hey if they beat stanford in their last game sure they're going to get in and that's going to be it or whatever exactly and then but and then so they don't play and now like they have to

come up with these new formulas well well this is the reason we had to move them down and like that is where all the conjecture comes in where people are like these guys are full of shit they're just making this up as they go they have no idea how to do this but obviously you know you need the you need the programming so that's not going to happen the Notre Dame argument like so when I first came like I've been okay hey head to head who won obviously they lost to Miami right so you Miami gets in but then when I hear Pete Bavocco and I think about them okay your team from week one until the last game of the season you grow so much you are a different team most teams are much, much better. Some teams get worse due to injury and whatever things happen.

But Notre Dame is definitely much better than they were week one. So I understand the argument for sure. Yeah, no doubt about it. And then even their loss, like I get the head to head for Miami, but let's look at their other loss. Like Miami's other loss isn't as good as Notre Dame bear losing the Texas A&M. Like that's a very, very tough team. Texas A&M basically was a top three team the entire year until they lose in a rivalry game at Texas. So it is such a tough situation. When are they going to get rid of the automatic bids? Is that also a conversation just because it does feel as a Turk wants that out? Yeah, the conference championship thing just feels stupid because you know that whoever wins the Big Ten is one of the

best teams in the country. Whoever wins the SEC, one of the best teams in the country. And then typically like in Indiana or like a Bama, there will be a situation where whoever they're playing isn't one of the best teams in the country. But if you listen to what Pete just said and a lot of people love the 5 plus 11 model, which will be the five conference champions. Okay. And then the 11 at-larges. So it doesn't feel like those are going to go away anytime soon if they're talking about going to the 16 team. Kirk said they signed an extension?

ESPN signed an extension? Yeah, so there was a deadline. I think it was a week or so ago for them, for ESPN and the college football playoff or whatever to decide if they were going to 16 or not. And that just kind of got pushed back. They just gave an extension to make that decision. Okay, good. I think we got things figured out. Pat, what's going on over there, buddy?

you guys back oh here we go hey i always appreciate whenever people have to dodge duck dip dive and dodge their way through some technology and make some good decision shout out to bruce and barcode the entire squad here getting us back connected and not just connected we're at the greatest of all time a man who has no history in this building coach yeah coach thank you man thank you how you doing coach okay coach so the big question is uh obviously there's a lot of football fans where i live and where a j lives that go uh game day should be at the big 10 championship this year because Ohio State and Indiana is about to be insane. Obviously, could have definitely done that. In our eyes, it would have been spectacular. But I think what

people don't understand whenever they come down here is there is an aura around the SEC championship. It's like every year it does feel like it is the Super Bowl of the South. And what do you kind of think about whenever you get down here, just from your own personal experience? Well, I think having played in this game a few times, it's one of the best competitive venues that I've ever been a part of because the passion that people have in this conference, and the support that this game has had, Atlanta is sort of a great place to have it. So this building is a great place to play it. And there's usually two really good, highly ranked teams playing in the game.

So there is a lot of history to it. And I don't want to minimize the Big Ten championship because, obviously, I coach in that league, and that was, you know, really significant if you could win the Big Ten. And to have the number one and number two teams playing for the Big Ten championship, I think that's the only time to underline. defeated teams one and two have ever played in that game. That's pretty significant, too. Got great ball.

I think a championship weekend is going to live up to the hype. No doubt. Tough decision for Game Day every week, you would hope. And the fact that we're a part of a show that people want us to be at their game as an honor. Like that is, you don't just fall to that point. Obviously, what Game Day has done for all these years has made it a special treat every time we go anywhere. But obviously, being and living in Indianapolis, would have loved to be.

They would shut the city down. But this place does shut down. for the SEC. Let's talk about these two teams. Obviously, you know Alabama very well. You're in the building still. You're around Kalin, the board and the squad that they have. Feels like what they become through Ty Simpson's arm is a team that could certainly go on a run during a playoff. This Georgia team, though, since losing, you know, to Alabama, have become one of the dominant teams in all the football. Obviously, people talk about Indiana and Ohio State. We just had Pete Bavocco, the athletic director at Notre Dame. And he said, outside of them, you know, who's

really been as hot as Notre Dame has? I guess Georgia would be the team that you could potentially say that. What are your thoughts on the two teams? and how they're playing at this exact moment. Yeah, I think Georgia's playing really, really well. I think, you know, since the Bama game, they've made significant improvements on both sides of the ball, but especially on defense. And in the last three games,

something that was a little bit of an Achilles heel for them is getting off the field on third down. They've been doing that better. And to me, in the first game, Alabama went nine for nine in the first half and got ahead by 14 points, by going nine for nine on third down, which was a huge difference in the game. So I think that's going to be important. You know, at this time of the year, you know, lots of teams are beat up.

Who can manage and handle from a depth standpoint as well as a mental toughness standpoint, overcoming adversity at this time of the year playing in a championship game. This is always a great game, and I'm sure it'll be a great game. Ty Simpson has done a great job, you know, all year long. And, you know, one of the things that, I think is important is, you know, Ty has been leaving the home position to change plays platform. And the other team has changing the defense.

So that doesn't create any advantage for you by checking a play on offense. So hopefully he'll do a little better job of that this week, and that won't be a problem for Alabama's offense. It sounds like that was a coaching point that you had, certainly for Ty Simpson. I don't know if you let it be heard in the building or if right now you're kind of letting it fly and saying, hey, Ty, why don't we fucking listen up? You know, this is the first place

we released that kind of information. This is what's... Ty, need to listen before the SEC Championship. Last question for me is just about these championship games as a whole. I mean, we are just in the Game Day production meeting. Obviously, it came up. Last week it came up.

In the offseason, it came up. Our championship game is going to lose its Lester. It's going to lose its Lester. Kirby and Kaelin are telling their teams that the SEC Championship hasn't lost its Lester. right like that conversation never happens for the actual teams that are involved it's just kind of the conjecture around it is that accurate well i think there's so much emphasis on the playoffs um that you know bowl games have been become a lot more insignificant which they used to be really significant

uh and i think these championship games because of uh the in a way unfair ramifications that they can have you've got some teams sitting at home not playing in a game that may benefit from a team losing that is playing in a game, which doesn't seem quite exactly right, but it could happen, will happen probably, because we'll probably reshuffle the deck a little bit after these championship games. But I do think that it has lost its luster,

but let me just say this about this game. Winning the SEC is a really significant accomplishment. It always was to me, it always was to our team, and I don't think that part of it for these two teams has changed at all. Yeah, and they're fans, right? I mean, that's the... Oh, absolutely. Because Roll Tow Willie wants to be able to say that he won the SEC championship.

That's right. I mean, there's people all around Georgia to say, them dogs won the SEC, so I don't want to hear it. That's a big deal. No, it's a big deal. It's a big deal to walk around the SEC in full strut and say you won the SEC. You guys do that ever? Do you ever go full-struck on them a little bit?

Is that just your entire career? You know, that's not me. AJ, any questions for Coach Saban, AJ? Yeah, I do coach to pivot quickly. I know Matt Campbell, I guess Pete Thamel is saying that they're in, they're in talks. Most likely he's going to be the next Penn State coach. Final stages.

Final stages. If they figure all of these, all the minutia out. Listen to this, so hold on, though, AJ, hold on, AJ. I would like to tell Coach Saban this. This is what was reported. They're working towards a deal. There's multiple steps that haven't been finalized yet. Like the terms or the comprehensive.

compensation or anything like that. Never read anything like this before, but basically just he's going to be the head coach. Sorry, AJ, just so you know where we're at right now. They don't know the money. They have no idea the terms, but they both have kind of said to each other, we're going to do this. Go ahead, AJ. I'm sorry, brother. Yeah, coach.

I'm glad we get to coach the context of it. Like, what would you say as a coach going from a team like Iowa State, obviously where you win eight, nine, ten games a year? People are happy. But Penn State, it's like, okay, how quick is he going to win a national championship or how he needs to get there in the first couple years? What's it like as a coach, I guess, when you finally take that step to where you're at a place like that to where, hey, we have to win every game? Well, but I think that, you know, creating that expectation is actually, you know, not favorable to being able to do it.

Because every time you have a misstep, everybody gets negative on where the program is and what the program can accomplish. And I think the most important thing is to have your administration, your fan base, and everybody stay positive and what you're trying to accomplish and what you're going to accomplish. goal is. All right. So these places that have, to me, a little bit of unrealistic expectations that we're going to win the national championship. Only one team wins a national championship, and there's a lot of competition out there. There's only 12 teams that get into playoffs, and really only 10 of them because two of them may not even be ranked high enough to deserve to get in, but in the system they get in. So anyway, you've stated your claim. So there's the top 10 teams that get into playoffs. And then you've got to win into playoffs against really good teams.

and you've got to stay healthy and you've got to have a quarterback and you can't lose the wrong guys at the wrong place at the wrong time. I mean, there's all kinds of factors that go into whether you can finish the season the way you want. So to make that sort of the goal, which is an outcome, we've got to win the championship or we're going to get rid of the coach. To me, it's totally wrong, and they'll have a hard time doing it if that's the approach that they take. Look, Matt Campbell did a great job at Iowa State because he won more there than most, so that tells you what the potential of the place is and what he was able to accomplish.

I'm sure he'll be able to do the same thing at Penn State. But how many times has Penn State won the national championships since we had playoffs and since we had BCS games and all that? I mean, refresh my memory on that. So why is that their standard of excellence? Well, because they have a lot of money. Good question. And they won back in the day.

They won back in the day. So let's go back to that statement about everything's not been decided. It's not just how much compensation. the coach is getting, it's how much money they got to pay the players. Which is what Lane Kiffin actually said in his presser, which I think this would be a good time to bring this up for you, actually, because your name has also been a part of this entire conversation as a mentor for Lane Kiffin, especially alongside Coach Carroll after his dad passed away, OGs in a coaching game have looked out for him, which is a very cool thing.

But he said in his press conference, and a lot of people said he was lying. He said, I didn't even know what I was getting paid. I think everybody was going to pay me the same. So I think Lane knew had a gauge that he was going to get paid a lot of money, and everybody he was going to pay him the exact same. He said his big question was, how much money do we have for the players? And what he said was LSU clearly had the better set up for what the future is.

That's the reality of current college football. Absolutely. Allegedly, from everything we've been told in what we have seen, they have all of that. And they haven't been able to get a coach signed, and there's been a lot of panic, I think, amongst their people. Having somebody like Matt Campbell, they win this. I think they win the headline here.

Don't you think with Matt Campbell, don't you think they can at least with their donors and everything that kind of matters? I think absolutely. I think they're getting a great coach who's proven on a consistent basis. You know, he didn't just win one time. He's won consistently at a place that's not a place that people would recognize as some place you should win all the time.

Yeah, they've been horseshit forever, coach. volumes of the job he does. Oh, that's an Iowa fan. That's Ty from Iowa saying Iowa State is horseshit. But on there. They were before he got there. I think that is why people are so impressed by Matt Campbell. It's because, like, his culture is one of success,

and it's at a place that I don't think, you know, especially in the modern world, none of us are saying Iowa State's name whenever it comes to NIL conversation, 72 and 55, which is damn near 57%. Previous 10 seasons, 41, 82. Jesus, okay, before that, before he gets there. So, yeah, they were kind of shite,

and then Matt Campbell gets there, and they're good, and for Penn State, I think we all thought there was a chance they weren't even going to have a coach next year. You know, they already missed signing day, and allegedly, the big deluxe is keeping people away, which I think the big, Deluxe said, okay, if a car breaks down and sire road somewhere, blame me.

Why am I always the guy that's getting blamed for everything? What's because he's involved with everything, as are you, okay, in this college football conversation? Have you seen your coaching tree yet? Have you seen it's the most updated, most recent one? Somebody put a tweet up that basically has all your coaches and where they're at right now. It's starting at 12 counting down to one. He's pretty much what it is. Nick Sabins, FBS head coaching tree as of November 30th.

Got Kirby Smart of Georgia here, Sarka, Texas, Lane Kiffin, and Ellis. LSU, Sagan, Indiana, Lannning, obviously, Cristobal, Brent Key, beat Golding, O'Brien, and you name it. Even though I see a gif of him losing his mind all the time. It is truly a beautiful thing. But, like, you're obviously a part of a lot of different conversations and a lot of different storylines and a part of a lot of different people's lives. Lane Kiffin's situation, did you think that was pretty chaotic,

even in the scheme of, like, what chaotic situations can be in college football? I don't think I expected it to get as loud and as. nasty as it all got at the end. But then after we get through it, I found myself thinking to myself, well, I'm so naive. It was going to get like that regardless. Is that kind of the thought whenever you're talking about, like, hey, people are going to hate you regardless because it's SEC football? Is that a part of the combo with Lane or any of these guys that have to make these massive decisions? Well, I don't think you can go from one SEC school to another without a whole bunch of people getting pissed off. I mean, that's just a fact of the matter. I mean,

because you've got these passionate fan bases on both sides of the fence. And anybody that is viewed as somebody who sort of promoted one thing or any of the other is probably going to get criticized too. You know, I have a lot of people calling me, asking me for advice based on, I guess, my experience. And as a human being, I don't care if you're a player, a coach, or an administrator, whoever it is. For the love of the game, I'm always going to try to give them the best information. that I can. I never tell them what to do. I always just say, what do you want to do? Where can you do it the best? Can you accomplish your goals the best? Where do you have the best

opportunity to be successful? What's best for your family? So I don't make anybody's decisions for him. I just try to offer the best advice that I can relative to them being able to accomplish what they want to accomplish. Why don't you tell them to go call somebody else and kick rocks? Why don't you why don't you stay the hell out of it, Coach Saban, okay? We don't need you telling Lane Kiffin to go down in Louisiana. We've got a team here in fucking Alabama we're trying to win, and now you're sending Lane Kiffin down to LSU. Why don't just hang up on them and not give them any advice at all?

There's people that think that. Well, if I did that, though, I mean, I wouldn't feel good about myself, not helping people who were colleagues of mine who helped us be successful. and created value in what we were able to accomplish. And, you know, you appreciate that. And you're loyal to those people who were loyal to you who helped you.

So I would have a hard time dealing with that personally. And I think there's a lot of people out there that say, well, what kind of person would be that way that he wouldn't help his colleagues make choices and decisions that are, you know, hopefully going to help them accomplish the goals that they have? Yeah, but you said colleagues. Not up to fans or anybody else. You say colleagues.

Nobody's really your colleague, bro. Okay? We've all worked in your world. You're breathing a different air, which is why everybody would like to hear what you think in this entirety. And the fact that you give back and listen to everybody

is good quality, not a bad one. And I think that situation was insane with the calendar. Obviously, we can get into it all. Also, how close he was to a national championship with Ole Miss. Don't you think you want to stick it out? What's available at LSU?

We'll talk to Elaine Kiffin tomorrow. I cannot wait for that. And I'm excited for everybody's, the internet, especially all the Ole Miss fans. Like, wow, this is just going to be a fourth piece for Lane Kiff. And it's like, okay, I mean, we're certainly going to ask some hard questions. Yeah, well, I've heard how it's starting. I think there's some real question. There's some real journalisming happening from our understanding, from the meeting we just got out of.

But also, I think Lane knows some answers on some stuff, too, which I think he knows. And then obviously he'll be able to talk about the decision and what, he's expecting out of LSU, which if you talk to anybody that's been around ball a long time, they're like LSU. You've got a good thing set up over there. He got a good setup down there, which he will certainly hit on and talk about as well. I think more explanation will be good, but also a good conversation at the SEC championship. But, you know, this is a, based on the calendar and the circumstances and in football,

it's always difficult when you're a coach, and I've been in this situation before, and I absolutely hated it and couldn't sleep at night over it, where you have an opportunity to go someplace that's maybe better. than where you are. Maybe not. Maybe you view it as better. Maybe not. And you want to be loyal to the team that you have because of what they've done to create the success that has helped you get the opportunity. So you get caught in the rock and a hard place as to how do you make a decision? Because if Lane would have stayed and hired his coach, LSU would have hired somebody else. So he knows he's giving up the opportunity if he makes that decision, which is really what he'd love to do.

because of the loyalty he has to his team, but you can't have both. And you're going to get criticized probably either way. Yeah, not probably, definitely. Just because then he was stringing along LSU. Then the LSU people would be mad because he was stringing them along if he didn't pick together. I mean, college football is insane, which is why it's awesome.

But it is an insane situation. And the more I learn about it, the more situations I go through, it's like there was no winning, I think, for this one, but I still would like to restate. I was publicly and privately telling Lane that he should stay at Ole Miss, me personally, just because I knew that there was potential a lot of heat coming on the other side of it

just by reading the tea leaves of the internet, but also having the opportunity to be, I don't want to say a trailblazer, but like somebody that builds a place and builds a town, you obviously know a lot about this Alabama, not to you, but obviously Bear Bryant was there, but from where they were whenever you got there to what it became, it's like, that's a cool legacy as well.

But granted, the way he talked about, it, LSU was a one-of-one job. Can't wait to catch up with him tomorrow. Let's paper, go ahead. You know, one thing about this that I think people probably don't see from maybe the perspective. I think sometimes as a coach, you think of, you said it. You build something. You build a program. All right, so you take over a program that's not so good, whether it's Michigan State, LSU, wherever I basically went, Alabama, and you build it. Well, once you build it and you have success, what's the next challenge? So that's That was the hard thing for me.

I wanted Michigan State. I left and went to LSUO, I wanted LSUO, I went to Miami Dolphins, and I went back to Alabama. So then when you went in Alabama, when do you get to the place in your life where it's enough? Yeah. And you can just say, okay, every year is like a new job, I'm going to try to sustain this success here, which is much more difficult than building it to start with. Yeah, chasing is something.

Building the mountain is always much more fun than once you get to the top of it. Once you get to the top, because now the expectation goes up, like what we've talked about before at Penn State, the expectation goes up, and then all of a sudden you become more anxious about being able to sustain that level of success. So sometimes it's easier to just say, I'll just go build something someplace else. AJ, what did Mack Brown tell us that we've remembered since then, basically, what it got whenever he was at Texas? He was more of a relief than like joy after a win. Yeah, and losses were completely devastating. yeah a win was relief you know because you're supposed to win and then a loss was just devastation

there was never any happiness so if you're not able to kind of figure out what it is that makes you happy at a place and wait and keep you going it's like i guess we can just consider a lot of you college football coaches you got gypsy souls man got a lot of gypsy souls as you kind of try to move around and then also anytime you see an opportunity and then you're given like what the max could be if you're a builder and a creator and things it's like oh i could go do that And then sometimes you're looking right in fronty, and it's like, we're really close right here, though. You know, like, did we actually complete our goals? That's tough, man.

That's a tough thing to do. Yeah, but to Mac Brown's point, how do you enjoy accomplishing something when the expectation is you were supposed to accomplish it and dominate it before you ever did it? So how does it not become relief just to win a game? And the only joy is when you accomplish the goal of winning the championship or whatever. Which is the expectation. Yeah, and then that's for what, 20 minutes? Exactly. And then what?

We got to recruit. We got to do this again next year. And then it's on. That is why you, having the dog mentality of always wanting to better and get better at the same place is very rare, which is why everybody's asking for your opinions. But when you give opinions, people aren't going to like to hear that you're maybe sending somebody to LSU. Now let's talk about college ball a little bit. You're a bad guy.

You're a bad guy. This guy did nothing for Alabama. guy did nothing for Alabama. I'm joking. I did see you, you were taking some heat on the internet, which I don't like, because you're fucking Nick Saban. You're the guy that we would all pick to put in as president of the United States if you would ever let us.

You are the guy. But I did not make a decision for anybody. Yeah, right. I did not. Yeah, right. All right. So you think I wouldn't have been catching hell on the internet if I'd have said to stay at Ole Miss?

Yeah, you're right. I mean, there's no one of it. Two fans are going to get on your ass for saying that? Me? Yeah. No, they like me because I go, hey, oh, you remember the chair? Oh, yeah, now you're in the music business, huh? How about that shit?

How we are doing it? All right, let's move along. Let's get back to the college football business. Ty Schmidt has a question for you, coach. Yeah, coach, we talked about this a little bit with you last year, and I understand coaches don't think like this and neither to players, but with the current model and the way it's set up, do you think any coach is maybe,

thinking like, hey, that five seed is kind of where we want to be. I understand we want to go undefeated. You want to be the number one seed. But you look at last year, Oregon, you know, they get the buy and then they get the doors blown off of them by Ohio State, whereas this year they're sitting at five and there's a very good chance that, you know, if they play a two lane or in North Texas, no disrespect to either one of them. But Oregon's going to be like a four touchdown favorite in that game. And it maybe gives them the opportunity to kind of get hot at the right time. So if you're coaching a team, like, would you do you think the buy is almost a detriment in this

current model that we're in? Or is that still the end all be all? No, I think last year the buy was a detriment because most of the teams that had buys didn't perform very well. But I think the real key is, you know, where is your team right now? If your team's playing really well and you've got momentum, which you've created by playing well, because you earn your own momentum, then do you really want to buy or not. Would you rather keep playing and build on that momentum? If your team's all beat up and you got a bunch of guys hurt up at this time of the year and some time off would

be beneficial, then I think having a buy week is probably a good thing. So I think the circumstance determines whether it's a good or buy bad thing based on where your team is. But I think that most, a lot of coaches have to really examine how do we get ready for a game? when we have all this time off. A lot of time. I think, you know, that's one of the things. I mean, you can look at my record. When I was at Michigan State, we went to, what, four bowl games?

We got the line and kicked out of our ass and every one of them. Because I tried to practice from the season to the bowl game. And by the time we got there, the players are so tired of practicing. I mean, psychologically, they just wanted to get it over with. And then I started making it when I went to LSU. This is a one-game season. So we're not practicing. for two or three weeks. Players just work out, lift weights, have seven on seven on their own

every now and then. Coaches aren't around them. And then we're going to practice 11, 12 times before the game. And that's it. And then we started winning because everybody was looking forward to it and all that. So how you manage that time off? You know, sometimes less is more. But as coaches, you think the more you practice, the better you're going to get. Sometimes it doesn't work not at this time of year. It's such a crazy philosophy, especially for the goat to say, it's like, actually, whenever we were practicing more, we got worse, so

we need to stop practicing, almost make them think they have like a little mini-off season, right? And then they'll be excited to get the pads back on and kind of get back into work. That was what you said psychologically you saw from your team. That's right. And we won when we did that, and we lost when we did it the other way. Did you ever win here?

Did you ever win this game? I remember the one we lost here in 2008 to Tebow when we had a young Young team, second year at Alabama, but a bunch of dogs on that team. They just fall freshman. You talk about Mack Brown saying if you win, it's a relief. If you lose, it's devastating. I don't know how many you've won here.

I assume eight or nine or something like that. And then you go, yeah, I remember the one we lost, Tim Tebow, asshole, that guy. I'll never forget it. Like, that's your first memory, which is why you are who you are. Speaking of you are who you are, you've created billions of dollars in NFL revenue for your player. there's a guy up in Detroit who has changed and transformed the way their team plays. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, coach, you recruited Jemir Gibbs, got him to transfer from Georgia Tech, I believe in the 2022 season.

What was it like coaching a player like that? Was he, you know, as electric as some of the other dudes that you've had? I mean, you've had Heisman winners, but Gibbs himself right now is taking over the NFL. He actually just became the quickest or most touchdowns before, or in his first three, seasons. Yeah, there is before turning 24. He also, I believe, passed Randy Moss for the most touchdowns in the first few seasons of his career as well as another stat. But what was it like having Jamir Gibbs? And what do we not know about him as a player or the person that you kind of got to experience that season? Right. Well, you know, I was surprised that when we looked

at Jamir Gibbs when he was at Georgia Tech, I saw this guy that had this great ability to make you miss and probably one of the most important facets of being a great running back is to make a cut and get to full speed. How fast can you get to full speed out of a lateral cut? This guy can do it as well as anybody. I know they compare him to Barry Sanders and he made a lot of guys miss and I played against them and he made a lot of our guys miss. But that's what Jamir Gibbs can do. He's tough. He's a great person. He's a great receiver and this guy can just do it all and he's making people miss he runs behind his pads even though he's not a great big guy but he's hard to tackle and he's got great acceleration and burst

and speed out of a cut which i think makes him unique in terms of his skill set what he can do as a complete player in this offense and you got to give the lines credit because they use the guy the right way they get him the ball the right way yeah they get him the ball a lot and also they have another running back. Monti who had a big night, but Amir Gibbs clearly becoming a separator on offense. So fast. So slow, so dynamic, so cool. So you like the number

zero? You like number zero on them or no? You know, I'm not big on what number they wear when they can score touchdowns like he does. So it doesn't matter to me. I mean, he can have no number. Coach, you're the absolute greatest. We appreciate you, man. Thank you for welcoming

us here to your SEC champion. It's an honor to be down here. Well, it is an honor, and there's a lot of memories that go into this place. And, you know, one of them was, when I first came to the SEC in 2000, Roy Kramer, was the conference commissioner. And he had been a very successful coach at Central Michigan, of all places, you know, in Michigan, in the Mid-American Conference, and even before when they weren't in the Mid-American Conference, and he was very, very successful.

This guy is a legend in terms of being an old-fashioned football guy. I mean, he watched high school games right up until he's 96 years old. He's still watching high school games. You know, he's still going and very involved in the game. And, you know, I always say they don't make them like they used to. I don't think they make very many of them like Roy Kramer. Well, rest and peace of Roy Kramer. Thank you for your services to football and to life.

He was the creator of the BCS. Roy Kramer created the BCS. He was a commissioner for 11 years, obviously, ball coach elsewhere, and I believe today he was announced, passed away recently. Yeah, today. Yeah, so rest and peace. Sorry about that. Hey, sorry about that.

Appreciate you, man. We are very thankful that you join us every single week, and tomorrow should be electrifying as you pick Georgia to beat your Alabama team, right? You're going to call the dogs. You're going to get everything and say, to hell with Alabama, just like I sent Lane Kiffin down to LSU. I was sick of Alabama.

about I haven't successful. Is that what you're going to do? What do they call it when they take toilet paper and throw it all over your trees at your house? TPN. TPN, yeah. Is that what you're trying to get? No, no, no, no.

I would never want that. Or eggs like they did to Petulah, allegedly, up there in New Jersey and Philadelphia for the Eagles. But we appreciate the hell out of you, coach. Hell of a year out of you. You've crushed it this year. You know that. Hell yeah, coach.

I enjoy it. And being alongside of you brings out the best of me. I got to say that. I do wonder what's going through your head sometimes. Like the shout up there in Eugene, you getting up and dancing, getting down low. A lot of people said, wow, good knees on saving. He got down there low for the shout, then you turned it back up. I appreciate you riding in there.

You do. You ride in there, and I appreciate that. But see, I wouldn't do that with anybody else, but you. Miss Terry. Yeah, Miss Terry. Miss Terry's here, by the way. Happy Thanksgiving, Miss Terry. Happy holidays.

She gave us a gift. He's playing an accordion. on the Christmas card looks awesome what was that about coach what was that about what was that I roll I guarantee you I guarantee you that I did not approve that Christmas card first time I saw it was today there's no way that shit's going public

do you play the accordion I'll play the accordion I did my grandma Saban made us all learn how to play according when we were kids one of the reasons that I started playing ball when I was nine years old was to get out of going to recording lessons. Okay, so now the fact that you know

the accordion, I might need you on the next song. I might need you on another song in this entire thing. Hold on. I think we got it here, actually. Let's go ahead and zoom in on that down there, and so that is the... Oh, hell, yeah.

Yes. Yeah, I don't know if we can get it focused. Keep it coming. How many dogs do you have? That's him on the accordion. That's unbelievable work out of you. And look at Miss Terry, absolutely crushing it as we should have expected. How many different photos were taken here and how long does take the piece together here?

What were you playing? I had nothing to do with it. What? Don't lie. Don't lie, coach. What are you talking about? Merry Christmas, jolly old St. Nick. I thought that was the entire.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everybody, but you don't need me playing an accordion to enjoy yourself. I need you on my next song. I need you on my next song. possible. Let's do that. Absolutely. You see what? What's the sound? Wow, wow, wow, wow. That's the sound, right? That's it. I need that on the next song.

Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Nick Saban. Yeah, Coach. I can see him playing the harmonica, too. Oh, yeah. The one, maybe he gets him one that it has like the... Like the Bob Dylan one that can hold the accordion, too. He's playing the accordion, and then everyone's one can bop down and play that harmonica? Have you seen the video of him playing the sax with the Blues Brothers Shades and Hat on?

Nick Sabin? Yeah. It's unbelievable. I actually have not. Is that a real thing? Are you just being toned? I saw that somewhere. Are you thinking when Bill Clinton went on Arsenio Hall?

Played the saxophone like in 1993? Maybe I am. Maybe I am. With that being said, Fox, can we pop up the playoff predictions? I guess you're the Rammies for the NFL games on the slate here. So, okay, comment. Explain what this exactly is right. So the number on the left for the teams is if they win.

If the Coltrwin, they got an 86% chance to make the playoffs across the board, you see how that works. On the other side is if they lose, if the Jags lose, they still have a pretty good chance because they have tiebreakers with a lot of the other wild card teams. But the other real games that matter here, if you look at it, Steelers and Chiefs. Both of them need to win.

If they lose, it is pretty detrimental to them making a run at the big dance. So I know Tony is not shaking in his boots because he's pretty confident in Rogers this weekend, but definitely a must win for Pittsburgh. I would, tone, honestly, you've cut a flip-wop. You were down the dumps, you know. Yeah, I took my time. You know, on suicide watch for a couple days.

But then you came around, it feels like you're back on board with the Steelers. Yeah, you know, I came and I chose to be positive. You know, I was tired of the negativity surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers and the cloud that was hanging over my head. So I thought about it. And, you know, we're playing for first place on Sunday against Baltimore Ravens who also haven't looked good. And, you know, if we win, we got the keys to the driver's seat to win the AFC North.

Okay, yeah, fair enough. Pat, how about Coach Saban with the accordion? You're definitely getting him on at least one song. The slate is packed for the NFL there with a lot of Rammies, and Coach Saban on the accordion for the next song, which is oops is coming out, I think, in like a week or so. And then there's like five other ones that are coming. I mean, this is just the tip.

That's awesome. I don't want to get into it, but this is just the tip of the dokey here, you know. And I think as we kind of settle in, it's certainly going to become an enjoyable experience, and we appreciate everybody playing it. But talking to Coach Saban there on the way out, he was like, hey, you were trying to get the number on how many I won here. We're 18 and 1 in this building.

He said, I won 17 straight here, 17 straight here, 10 championships. And you said, well, he probably eight or nine of them, didn't you? You know how pissed he probably was in his head? But he's like, I'm too humble to say it. He said, 10 championships, thanks. 18 and 1 in this building. On the way out here, he said that. He said, he were trying to pull the number at this building, 18 and 1 here.

I said, who? And he goes, our teams. We're 17 straight here. Tim Tebow is the only one. Tim Teague was the only guy that got. That was literally the first thing he thought about there. And he's got 11 total. 11 total SEC championship?

Yeah, so one of them just wasn't in that building. LSU, probably, right? I'm not sure. Probably because the stadium wasn't built, right? Yeah, he was national champion there. I assume they won the SEC championship as well there because nobody talks about the SEC championship from LSU. They only talk about the national championship from LSU.

And also, I guess, conversation is he loved his time down at LSU. Hey, let's go ahead and talk about the SEC. put some of our, let's make our Sunday slate picks here, AJ, shall we? As we wrap up this glorious feel good, Duky Friday, December 5th, 2025, Dukey available on all streaming platforms. It's an outrageous thing to even say that.

Indianapolis Colts, favored by one and a half down there in DeVal. Listen, the Jacksonville Jaguars are a boogeyman if you would to the Indianapolis Colts, especially down there. When their team is ass, they beat us down there. When their team is good, they beat us down there. So the thought

of them ruining this season and continuing our loss with them is certainly feasible and possible, but I like the Indianapolis Coates. I like what Danny Dimes is going to be doing second week with a fractured fibula playing. He's going to be a little bit more understanding of the situation. Give me the Indianapolis Colts favorite by one and a half down there. Oh, boy. Hey, I love the Indianapolis Colts as well. I love what they're doing.

I'm in their city right now, but I'm going Jags on this one. I mean, I don't like Danny Dimes having to limp around. The dude's a warrior, and then Adam Shepter's acting like it's a hairline fracture. it's nothing. Oh, everybody would play through this. No, he's a monster. He's playing through something, but give me the Jags. You get him at plus two. Yeah, that's incredibly painful, I do believe. What can we get, uh, you can get them at what?

You can get the Jags at plus two. I'll take that. Jeez. Can I get all right, minus one and a half. Yeah. Uh, there's a... Are they practicing the chest pass, Dr. Pepper? Yeah, no, I think they're doing the Coke Zero chest pass right now. Oh, it's still...

We thought maybe Coke Zero was coming in, but it is still the Dr. pepper, tuition, chessbook. Did they tell them you got to throw it one-handed at least? No. Why? It's the chess pass competition. No, it's not.

Yeah, but remember, the reason why the chest pass started is because somebody couldn't throw it, and then they had a win in and out there are like a doctor or something. I forget what it is. Obviously, it's a part of it. And if they're going to be walked through the whole thing, that is awesome for us to have to deal with here. There's a lot of people that is going to, hey, it's different down here. It's different down here.

Bengals traveling to take on the. Buffalo Bills. Interesting story coming out of Buffalo New Stadium is basically going to be sold out every single week, just from season ticket sales or season licensing sales in the entirety. The Buffalo Bills' faithful are excited for their new stadium and the Buffalo Bills fan base is obviously

spectacular. Would that be enough for them to win by at least six as they host the Buffalo or Cincinnati Bengals team that had a massive prime time Thanksgiving win over the Baltimore Ravens? Who do you think, AJ? How do you like it? Man, Bill's at home. That was initially leaning bills, but man,

watching Joe Burrow, you know, breathe some life back into this team. I'm going to take the Bengals on this. T. Higgins is back as well, by the way. Okay, can their defense stop Josh Allen and them? I guess they did great against Baltimore Ravens. Give me, can we get them a plus six or no? You could get the Bengals plus six or bills minus five and a half. I'll get the, give me the bills minus five and a half.

New Orleans Saints take it on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bucks favored by eight and a half at home. New Orleans Saints, obviously, a team that has been playing better than we thought, even though they're still not good. We thought they were going to be completely ass. Bucks favored by eight and a half at home. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it?

In tone, do we have any other line? Eight and a half across the board. Okay. I like the, I like Tampa Bucks at home. Give me bake and the crew, too. Eight and a half feels like a lot, but I think they figured out. Me too. Let's go.

The Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North rivalry of all rivalries. The Baltimore Ravens used to be the Cleveland Browns. Pittsburgh Steelers hated them in Cleveland. Then they go to Baltimore, they hate them there. This year, both fanbases are waiting to bury their respective teams upon a loss this weekend. Neither team, neither team's fan base, I would say, believe that their team can win a Super Bowl. And that's what we're in this whole thing for. Tony Diggs, how do you feel here just a couple of days removed from the massive robbery of these Steelers and Ravens taking place?

Yeah, I think I should let everyone know first that the dog in this matchup, when it's Tomlin versus Harbaugh, is 26, 6, and 3 against the spread. So normally the dog, it's always a close game, so normally the dog covers in this one. But the last two, the Ravens have covered 7 and a half and 9 and a half because they've been able to run it down the Steelers' throats.

I don't see anything different on Sunday. I think the Ravens will win easily. Okay, so you're trying to reverse jinx this thing, it feels like. Hey, Jay, who do you like? How do you like it? So I heard Lamar got stepped on missed a practice Wednesday, but he's back. Yeah, he's back. Yep, doing fine. be very painful.

Give me the Steelers here, man. I think they find a way to keep it close. All right, I'll take the Ravens. I'll bite. It doesn't feel like that should be the case at all, especially with how they played. Favored by five and a half. That feels like a lot of points

in this particular rivalry. Everything kind of stinks a little bit. Yeah, a little dinky. So I'll take the Ravens just like last night. Seahawks, Falcons, Seahawks, good on the road. Road Warriors, actually. Favored by seven, heading down into this

beautiful stadium. which will play host as the Falcons are at home. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it? I like Seattle, man. I like Sam Donald and Seattle and what they are doing. Their defense, I think, is sneaky good as well.

So give me the Seahawks. It's actually six and a half out there. I believe I'm frozen on your side. Am I frozen? You guys are completely frozen on my screen. You look good. No, you're good. You are good.

Okay, good, good, good, good. It's great to be here, boys. It's great to be here, boys. I like the Seattle Seahawks with whatever one we can get. Miami Dolphins favored by two and a half going in and take on the New York football Jets. I like everything I'm seeing from Aaron Glenn, even through his challenge flag

in a cool way. NFL films release a little footage of him dropping that thing with a little pizzazz and then talking a little bit of shit. Maybe they're fun in their culture over there. Is there any other lines we need to know about this one tone? You get the Jets at plus three or the Dolvin's minus two and a half. Okay, AJ, who do you like? How do you like it?

I've gone back and forth on this one, but I like what Aaron Glenn's got going on. Give me the Jets plus three here. AJ's been great at picking games. I have not been, And so the fact that I'm just seeing so many differently than him does alarm me, but give me the Miami Dolphins, even though it's going to be cold in New York. Give me the Jets. I will take the Jets. This is a something's got to give game.

Their stats are coming out. Tua, undefeated against the Jets, Tua in under 40-degree weather hasn't won a game. So it is a something's going to happen where a team will win a game that they haven't ever. I'll take the Jets plus three. I completely forgot about the Miami Dolphins team whenever they travel north of the Mason-Dixon line in the winter. Tennessee Titans traveling into Cleveland. I like the Cleveland Browns no matter what they're favored by,

especially at home. Yep, I like the Browns as well. Miles Garrett again, trying to set the sack record, get four or five. Three and a half, it's likely. Washington commanders taking on, we can get that at three and a half, you said? Yep. We will certainly do that. Washington commanders taking on the Minnesota Vikings.

What's the health status, boys, of the Washington commanders and the Minnesota Vikings. Jaden Daniels is a go. Yep, it just got announced that he will start Sunday versus the Vikings and I also believe J.J. McCarthy passed concussion protocol. Not sure if that's good or bad

but I guess he is going to just go out there and spin that thing is what he said. And Coach O'Connell and Josh McCown basically told him like, hey, don't worry about playing to a T perfectly. Just go out and spin it. I'll take Jay 8 and over 9. AJ, how about you?

Yep, same as you. Commanders. Denver Broncos, 7 and a half. Is there any other lines, tone? They are, sorry, I'm scrolling down. Broncos, you could get them 7. You can actually get them at 7 if you want. Okay, AJ, you want them at minus 7? Yep, I love the Broncos here minus 7.

Me too, bears, packers. I'm taking the backers before you ask me. I'm taking a pack here at home. Wow. Okay, AJ said I don't care what the number is. give me the Green Bay Packers. Micah Parsons coming out and saying they got no respect. I don't respect them either.

I hate them. I like that it's a real rivalry. The Bears have a real team this year. So to the Packers. Ty Schmidt, you like being favored by six and a half or no? That seems a little high to me just with how well the Bears are playing. I do still think the Packers are going to win. They're hoping to get a couple guys back who have been out the last couple weeks.

I think playing at Lambeau is a massive advantage. I just, I could see this being a field goal. game. I don't know if it is going to be six and a half. But yeah, as you see there, it is going to be frigid at Lambeau on Sunday. How's Ben Johnson done against the floor? Pretty good.

Like, the lions over the last few years They don't love each other. Yeah, they don't. But the lions over the last few years have really kind of taken it to the Packers. Give me Da Bears. Okay. Now, how many points am I getting? Six and a half. Six and a half.

No more? Nope. Now where? That's way too many anyway. Come on. The Bears should feel disrespecting. Seven point dollars against Eagles. All right, let's go to the Rams and the Cardinals.

I like the Rams, minus eight and a half, minus eight, whatever we can get as they travel out to beautiful Phoenix. We absolutely love them. The public is also on the Rams, no matter what the spread would be against Cardinals. And I'll wake up the next day feeling good taking the Rams. How do you feel, AJ, in this one? I think the Rams are still one of the best. football teams in the NFL, so give me the Rams here. Coming off a loss, too, you know, to the Panthers, maybe Matthew Stafford, Sean McVeigh

have their thing, and then the Houston Texans, that's a good football team. C.J. Stroud, knocking off the rust, the defense, the Houston Sack station's a problem. The chiefs in the middle of a dynasty, are they going to be able to find it? They're favored by three and a half at home. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it? Honestly, I like the Houston Texans here. I know they're underdogs in Kansas City. I like C.J. Stroud what he's doing, and obviously the Houston D will continue. continue to play well. I like the Kansas City Chiefs a lot.

This is Travis Kelsey's flannel. I've worn it a couple times because it's kept me very, very comfortable in like the 30 to 50-degree weather range. He is a beast. I appreciate the hell out of him in my homes and Jones. Give me the Houston Texans. That's a good football team representing the AFC South, getting three and a half points. We'll continue digitally. Stanford, Steve, we'll stop by to wrap up some of the college football conversation.

We'll hit all the other storylines. and then we'll go into a greatest weekend of college football and NFL football that we've had all season. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. I might change your life. Play Dookie. Goodbye. I think I got it in there.

I think I got it. Oh, yeah. All right. I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick. They might be done with this. I'm kind of feeling it. And then Stanford, Steve, will be up here. And, boys, let's enjoy the hell out of what we're about to do.

This is a great weekend of ball right now. Hell, yeah. I mean, the closer we get to it, the more excited I'm getting for it all. and don't feel obligated to play dukey but kind of though and also get creative get creative with dokey get creative out there i can't wait to see what you do obviously we'll be doing giveaways and fun shit for everything and uh yeah let's take a break stand for see if be on the other side a j i appreciate you so much for uh driving over to indy brother of course easy i enjoy it enjoy coming in here seeing the thunder dome and uh yeah it's always

fun man have you heard that since the last time you've been there and then the time before that the time before that. Foxy and I still have yet to lose. Oh, you guys are still winning like that? We're on quite the run. Really? Bruce was a clutch shooter when I played a couple weeks ago. Downtown Bruce Brown.

Yeah, downtown Bruce Brown. He's our only insider. Yeah, not only that, but he also changed to a right push shot in the middle of the game if the lefty one's not falling, which he ended up doing to us yesterday, which is obviously a sign you're not going to win the game. And him and Connor kind of had that, but Bruce is the only inside.

in the game who also participates in the league in which he is the insider so we appreciate what bruce does for journalism for you ball and also for the game but foxy hit our first walk off the other day because normally we shoot first so we're always on defense to end the game so debuts and bone well who was it godman debuts and connor de butts and connor first time together very tough very tough team they beat us then now we go to championship game right they can shoot first so we're shooting last. It gets to 11-10. Foxy, last shot.

So they win. They have 11 points already. Foxy's shooting with 10. Our first ever time ever really doing this, Foxy steps up, banks at home, sends it home, not banks at home, hits off the back of the rim, sends it home, and full bang.

Boom! Oh! I lost my shit. What a moment. Connor was not exactly thrilled. Neither was but. But it has been getting very intense, and I'm going to be honest.

I don't know how long the game's going to last, but it feels good winning. Foxy, way to go, brother. I'm very proud of what you've been doing. I would say that was by far and away our best day of U-Ball as an office as a whole. Those two games, DeBah, in the first game when they beat us, that was also a walk-off. So, yeah, it was incredible. We're just on quite the run. Bruce, what was the insider business saying about U-Ball right now?

We played a fun game. Debo and I were looking like the Cincinnati bangles on the defense event, so got to clean that up. But yeah, you know, just looking to grow the game, keep the integrity of the game intact as much as possible. Okay. And Connor, what are your thoughts as we sit here when you were just one jumper from Foxy away from being the champion of U-Ball

and getting that bedazzled little ball that's been sitting over there on my desk for the last couple months, moved over to the toxic table? I mean, it was a good debut for DeBud and I, I thought. First game we've ever played together. We took you guys to the ropes, but the chance of the chance for a reason. You got to bury him when you got the chance.

You can't just kind of pitter-patter to the end. You know, we didn't play great on defense. They didn't make enough shots. And maybe next week me and D, but we'll have another chance. Connor and Butts, a good team. That's a good U-ball team. That's a good U-ball team. There are some teams that really scare you, AJ.

And especially guys that can play on offense and defense aside. And also know strategy a little bit. It's, yeah, there's some good teams out there, and we're going to stay focused. We're 18 and 1. in that building. And we're going to try to continue that, AJ. And are you playing today?

Have you played? I don't know if I'll play today, but I believe me and Bruce Bruce hit a walk off against you and Foxy like a month ago when I played. No, it was Friday, so it wasn't against them. Oh, yeah. It wasn't against me, brother.

But we are undefeated. Either way, Bruce had a walk off. Just know that ain't against me. No, no, I was wearing the wig. You had to walk off on Halloween. It was against you and Foxy. Yes. Yeah, obviously, I understand.

If Bruce hits a walk off, it gets shot, under the rug, but Bruce did it. Good job, Bruce. He's the insider. He's supposed to be doing it. You're right. You've got to put that out, Bruce. That's on you. Yeah. I mean, how am I supposed to know if it happened it gets me if he doesn't put it out? You're right. I mean, what are we even, what do we even talk? Just like saying, telling you 18 and 1. Hey, yeah, by the way, fucking never lost one time. So that's it. I own this place. Go ahead and tell him, whatever you talk about, 10 championships in this fucking thing. I mean, think about him walking on here, just God, welcome to my fucking

is how he should feel and we'll go ahead and celebrate that tomorrow all right be your friend tell a friend something nice and change your life take fight fight fight feel good Friday December 5th this is the Pat McAfee show

I'm AJ Hawkinson and for Pat he's Atlanta SEC Championship boys big game football What's up I see old Stanford Steve with the Ole Miss Q Zip huh Stanford how you do?

doing, buddy? I'm good. AJ, it's really good to hear. I don't think it's Mike. It sounds off. Is your mic not on? Is your mic picking them up, Pat? Is your mic picking them up, Pat? Can you hear them? Yeah, you sound good. You got me? Yeah. Okay, okay. I just

noticed a little extra juice in AJ after last Saturday's outcome in Ann Arbor. You're talking about Ohio State. I want to congratulate, AJ. I know what I know. That's got, that's it. There's something about your alma mater when you're watching, you can't do anything, but you're rooting your ass off for them.

And then that's been a long road. They got the national championship, but I could see it. I could feel it, and it's awesome. How many days was it? 2,191 days. Wow, AJ, congrats you, AJ. I mean, yeah, of course that, you know, there's a COVID year in there. It wasn't just strictly, wasn't strictly like a normal situation.

There was a year they didn't play and all that. But yeah, it was, it's good to get away. It's going to go on board. Yeah. But, I mean, you guys needed it because if that would have been another 365 days on top of 2,191. Boy, that would have been. I mean, you needed it. We did need it. I agree. We did need it.

We did. Let's talk about Ohio State now, playing Indiana, a Big Ten championship. We've talked about it a lot. Obviously, the city of Indianapolis is shutting down for it. I mean, they've got a Hoosiers basketball game at 3.30. Then obviously, the Hoosiers are in the Big Ten championship for football, which wasn't even a pipe dream

just three years ago for any Hoosier fan, which a lot of them live in Indianapolis. It's going to be apeshit there for the Big Ten championship. Your thoughts on these games, because obviously this Hoosers team is different than Hoosier's team last year that kind of they dokeyed the bed almost against the Ohio State team last year.

What do you guys think the crowd's going to be? Do you think 60-40? Seek has actually some stats on the amount of purchases from Indiana and then the purchases from Ohio. Now this is just from Seek, Big Ten James, 39% of the buyers have come from Indiana, 23% have come from Ohio. Last year's game to New Oregon

and Penn State had 25% buyers from Indiana, 25% buyers from Ohio. So in general, this game draws a lot of local demand, but Indiana is making up for a disproportionate amount of this year. It's going to be very, very Hoosier heavy. It's going to be very Hoosier heavy because the worry is Ohio State does this all the time. Indiana has

a chance to do something they've never done before and I think the city and the state are jacked up about it. But you also, this is what makes Ohio State great, is how crazy and large that army is of a fan base. They look at it as a challenge now. You're going to get people that were like before the Michigan game, we're like, yeah, maybe we'll go, maybe

all right, yeah, we're going. They said Indiana is going to have home field. We're going. That's how awesome that fan base is. So We've been waiting all year for the matchup, Pat. I tend to think it's going to be a lower scoring game. I like the personnel on both defenses, and we've talked before. Ohio State, the biggest difference in this team from last year, they don't have the difference makers on the defensive line,

but as a team and as a whole, they swarm you. And with Indiana, being at that game in Eugene, I was really impressed with how they lived on the other side of the line of scrimmage. They pride themselves on chaos, disruptiveness, getting in your backfield, and making quarterbacks make tough decisions. So it's a fascinating matchup. I wonder about what they're going to do with Pons. Will he track Jeremiah Smith on that side? So you've got some chess matches there. But Indiana has all the goods you want to go against this. Indiana cannot let the ball go over their head. That's another thing that they keep everything in front of them, which is good in this

offensive line for Indiana. She put up her shut up. They're in a conversation, and that's what Ohio State has also. So no matter where you look at it, the matchup is great. I mean, we didn't even talk about the quarterbacks. Yeah, I mean, two quarterbacks potentially battling literally for the Heisman and Fernando and Julian Sane. Julian Sane, I guess, has been in a couple big games this year, but Mendoza, he obviously has been, but for the team as a whole, Indiana. We talked about this a couple different times, and I mentioned it about them maybe being stuck in the lights last year,

not really believing who they are and what they are and why they are. This year, AJ, it feels like Indiana very much believes in who they are. And to Steve's point, both quarterbacks are good, both sets of wide receivers are good, both defenses. I mean, obviously Ohio State has a potential historic defense. Indiana's defense, I think they're top 10 defense as well. What are your thoughts on kind of the mentality that Indiana has this year? And does Ohio State just have that because they're Ohio State and they have to have that, even though a lot of their players potentially have never been in this situation?

Yeah, I mean, I think Ohio State players, they definitely, I think they have a ton of confidence. But they also understand the deal, and they understand that Indiana is absolutely legit. They're not taking them for granted. I would promise you that. But I think Indiana believes, like, I think Indiana believes, like, what are you talking about? We deserve to be here. Yeah, we are number two-ranked team in the country, and they believe they could be number one. So, yeah, I think that's what sets up to be an awesome game.

And with Stanford Steve saying that, like, you might be right, especially what, there's these stats showing up, too, that Hembo saying how much zone coverage Indiana plays. I'm sure they're going to want to join saying to, to, to, to, take a few chances, you know, instead of just taking your medicine, you know, dinking and dunking your way through. That's what teams would try to do to Aaron Rogers when I was in Green Bay, get in zone, let him complete balls in front, and we're going to go up and make a tackle, and hopefully he tries to take a chance over top, and that's when we pick it off or you have a mistake.

That's what I would imagine Indiana's defense wants to do, but Ohio State, they're going to want to run the ball. You saw what happened against Michigan. They ran the ball the whole second half, so I would imagine they want to keep that going. Lamar Bow Jackson, unbelievable, how fast and quick, and his name. Just incredibly awesome. He's certainly a stud for Ohio State. So you're saying Indiana, is this going to be a bend but don't break style defense?

So maybe they will get yards, but it's going to get stingy down to red zone. Is what you're saying, AJ, if you're Indiana defense, that's what you're trying to do? If I had to predictor, I had to try to play defense against this Ohio State offense, yeah, like, hey, let's get them into third and medium, third and long, if we can. Hopefully try to get some pressure on them and try to get Julian Sane rattled, which we haven't really seen Julian Sane rattled. So that's your own hope. crazy? I saw him with his

cool hair after that Michigan game, and I'm like this guy's never lost to Michigan. He has no idea. It's 2,191 days thing, like Julian Sains walking out of Ann Arbor. Hair looks unbelievable, flawless just in his thing. Favorite to win the high has been first year starter. Nobody's really talking about him. He's like losing the Michigan, never heard of it.

And then he just kind of moves. It feels like he's been the most ready for the moment out of anybody almost. And that's what I was really happy with being. Did you stay for the tunnel to see the teams last week come out? Like Michigan was hooting and hollering. Ohio State, the door opened. You'd the music in the locker room and it was just a deadpan down the tunnel then they get the ball first play double move to tate gets broken up but you're like okay ohio state's coming out here

throwing haymakers and they always have that in their bag you know you saw the one to jeremiah smith and they opened it up with the one to tate the offensive line has given them the ability the i don't want to take anything away from saying but his offensive line has kept him protected this is a well hard thing this guy thought good because everybody else is good around. No, no, no, no, no, not at all. I'm just saying they have done a great job of protecting him. How about not only protecting him, also a Julian Seine, we're going to be back next year. We got Chris Henry Jr. on the way. Who? Jeremiah Smith's on the other side. We got this Lamar Bow Jackson guy who's going to be

here. I mean, it's just unbelievable. Max Clare, does you have any years left? He's gone. He's gone. Okay, so he's tight end. I'm sure they'll find another line. I'm pretty sure who doesn't want to go play in that offense at tight end. I mean, good Lord. Who doesn't want to play for a Ohio State. AJ, that is a real thing. Chris Henry was legitimately torn, I think, on whether or not will Ohio State still be Ohio State? Because Brian Hartline, who's the wide receiver coach, offense coordinator, who has had that wide receiver pipeline for so damn long. Incredible what he's done.

Good luck to him at USF. But Chris Henry Jr. is saying, I'm going to stay and go to Ohio State. And Ryan Day, just operating in a manner as if they are in the middle of a dynasty, it feels like a cool thing to do to have the honor to go to Ohio State at this point. You get to practice every day with Jeremiah Smith. I mean, that's, that's, when everybody talks about heartline in the, in the legacy of that wide receiver room, that's what's made it is the younger guys come in, and there's always an older guy that's showing him the reins, and it's just a way about going things in that offense, and you learn responsibility, playmaking ability, accountability, all that stuff is in that room because every guy is better than the next. It's amazing how it's worked out. And then he's got downs on the other side. They're playing defense against every single practice.

I mean, AJ, it's a good time to be in Ohio State Buccott, brother, unless Fernando Mendoza says that's us now down there in Indianapolis at the Loud House of the Big Ten Championship. Let's pivot away from that. Let's talk about this Big 12 championship game. Obviously, Texas Tech is a team that we have fallen in love with just because the way they've done it. Their money people are actual football people. So it's ball money people that are running it. They build up the trenches. They got a great D-line.

They got a great offensive line. Obviously, when Baron Morton's playing, they look different than whenever they had to backup playing for a couple weeks. Texas Tech is stacked. Texas Tech seemingly for the long haul going to be great. That's good for Lubbock. BYU, Baird Bachmeier, his worst game was against Texas Tech. He's a freshman.

Does he able to bounce back? And what happens here implication-wise? There's one spot kind of looming. If BYU is to win this game, obviously that changes a lot. BYU loses this game, there's going to be chaos to get into that college football player. Oh, man. And it's, what was it, three teams for one spot. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I look at BYU. I like the position they're in having already played Texas Tech. You talked about how they're stacked on the lines of scrimmage. I think it's a huge advantage to have known what you're getting up against and going to their place. Now you're going to a neutral site. It's sold out. Jerry World, 90 plus thousand.

And what I've watched with BYU since that loss is they've taken the reins off Bear Bachmire. They come out against TCU the following week. He throws for over 200 yards. He does it with his legs on the road at a tough game at Cincinnati. They come back down 14-0 against UCF team. who really disrupted him and sacked him four times last week. And L.J. Martin's healthy. L.J. Martin is a NFL running back.

And now you have him full go. Texas Tech is going to get BYU's best shot. You've got to figure this is backs against the wall. Every quarterback run is going to be in the playbook. Every trick play you got with L.J. And Bear Bachmeier running the football is in there. And they have the receivers to make plays too. So I like the spot that BYU is in.

You know you have to earn it. You've got to win the game. game to get in the playoff. And I think they're going to give Texas Tech all they can handle tomorrow. So 1⁄2.5 point spread is not good news for BYU, says the stats from Hembo. You know, double-digit underdogs are 10 and 48 all the time in conference championship games straight up. And then double-digit underdogs from traditional Power 5 conferences are 4 and 34 all

time straight up in conference championship games. So what we're saying is certainly have an opportunity, but whenever the sports books view it as a dominating game for one side in the championship games. It has tended to gone that way. On that note, Texas Tech beat the hell out of BYU to last. Yeah. I mean, in Texas Tech, I think they're very comfortable against anybody. You talk about Sataki re-signs, Joey McGuire re-signs.

So obviously these are two teams that are going to be the way that they are for the foreseeable future in the Big 12. But Texas Tech is a real deal. And because they're in the Big 12, nobody's really talking about it, AJ. I think if they were an SEC team or a Big Ten team, I think they get a lot more chatter. But Texas Tech has built the right way if you want to go on a college football playoff national championship running. No, they absolutely are. They're hot right now. I wanted to stay up and see, like, okay, 12.5 point in line.

Is there a chance that Texas Tech just blows them out of the water here and we have a blowout? Yes. Absolutely. I mean, that's the other thing. BYU did not play well in Lubbock, AJ. When you go back and look at the muff punt, they missed the field goal, they shanked the punt. Like, everything that could go wrong went wrong. Rodriguez had a pick and a force fumble, which he seems to do every single week,

and the field position was tilted the whole game. Now, I will say, seven red zone possessions, field goals two touchdowns, you know? So there was some positive and they did get after, you know, Morton with pressures in that game. And that's the one thing about Texas Tech that I need to see again. I want to see that offensive line. That's what you have to rely. When you go on and play these championship games, road games, neutral site, whatever, your offensive line, your defense have to travel and play well. Texas Tech is up against it tomorrow with all the pressure on them. I'm really interested to see how they block

VYU knowing that they were playing with their hair on fire and nothing to lose. Congrats about that. They've seen Big 12's tough conference. Hard Edge has been found too. And Texas Tech won by 49. Okay, in their last game against a really difficult team in a really difficult place.

They can certainly turn it on if they want to. And then you're wearing the old miss quarter zip here, just kind of sending a little message to people down in Oxford saying, hey, we still love you, we still think about you in this entirety. And then also, obviously, Old Miss, looking to get into the SEC championship in the future with Old Pete, maybe trying to win National Championship, Alabama and Georgia here playing at the SEC Championship. What do you think is the storyline of this game?

And why are you wearing and repping for the Old Miss folks? Even the polo underneath. I mean, it's a full thing. We got the deal. I'm thinking Old Miss, man. Like, it's a rough spot to be in. You got the whole deal. Trying.

A whole deal. Hold deal. Ken Crane, shut up. You got the outer deal. You got the new deal. You got this deal. You got that deal. But the Ole Miss people had been through it.

Yeah. They have been through it. Yeah, and they have an opportunity. Imagine if we go there for a home playoff game, it would be insane. Oh, man, it would be insane. For some people, it would be a little bit worse, I think, than others. You know, I think the Ole Miss people think some of the people up there on a game day set were certainly doing their absolute best to make sure that Lane was going to go elsewhere.

I don't think that's the case. I don't think so either. I think a lot of the people, now granted, that's just knowing them. And then obviously you can put together a lot of theories. But I think, like, in theory is where, like, Herbie was talking. Like, in theory, he should be a lot of coach his team. Like, he loves his team. He puts his team together six years.

He's been there. He should be able to do that. The current reality that was never going to be able to work, I think. So that's certainly the counterpoint to it. Yeah. But it's just passionate bunch, passionate conference. And Ole Miss, this close. I mean, to going on a run right now.

So it's a wild, wild scene down there. But I appreciate you doing that. Let's talk about this SEC championship game, Georgia, Alabama. Georgia might be one of the most dominant teams in the country right now. Yeah. And then it's, it's just. I think it's one of the hardest things we have to do when we're doing this on a weekly basis, is forgetting what a team looked like the week previous.

Georgia did not look good against Georgia Tech. They lose Bobo, their center, and after they lose him, all communication is off. Georgia Tech plays some zone, Stockton had trouble with that, and Georgia just didn't look like themselves without their front guy making all the calls up front. And then I go back to the time they played Alabama, they played that game without their two starting tackles. So they have to get the run game going. You see the play action that they get going, throwing the balls to the tight end.

That gets everything going. They like to up-tempo. Gunner likes things fast and hectic. But last week they got slowed down and they did not look good. And on the other side, people just want to talk about Alabama can't run the football. I think they got a pretty darn good defense. Now, they're not going to have Overton up front, but that's secondary, I think a lot like Ohio State where they help out in the run game where they don't have to line up in the box.

They're that athletic and fast where they can help out. out on the run. So Georgia has to run the ball to keep those guys down, I think, with the playmakers. And I still like Alabama on the perimeter with Ty throwing the football. My question is, is this the Ryan Williams game? Like, where has he been? He needs to, they have a huge advantage with their NFL receivers against that secondary of Georgia. Georgia's not as bad as they were early in the year. They've got experience, but I still like the NFL players that Ty has to throw with. And I think that's the difference in the game, and I lean towards Bama. Ty Simpson, special arm talent, obviously, whenever you have weapons, you have weapons.

Georgia's defense, to your point, has, though, kind of found their way a little bit, being able to get to the quarterback, being able to stop the run. This Georgia team has been very good, as obviously they're in the SEC championship, kind of clearly states. Caitlin DeBore as an underdog against big-time coaches, some good stats coming out. As an underdog, he's three-and-over-over-as-Danning, two-and-over is Steve Sarkisian, and two and over is Craby Smart. Sorry, he was underdog in six to seven of those games.

So DeBoer, I think, kind of relishes in the underdog. Nobody thinks we're going to be able to win kind of atmosphere with his team. Maybe they're able to get it done here. And the chaos of college football playoff doesn't seem to really have an effect on this particular game, but who knows? Who knows whenever you talk about it all? And then let's talk about the real chaos. Notre Dame, Miami.

We had Pete Pavqua on earlier today. I think he did a good job. I think people Falkwood did a good job. Now, Gumpy is a Miami fan. He goes, well, there's some things he certainly omitted from his case as he was speaking up here, and that's kind of the world where we're in right now. What do you think is going to be the biggest argument after this weekend whenever we talk about starting with 12, counting down to one?

Nice, nice job, though. It's almost time. I'm just going to say, when are you guys going to get going? Oh, Pete, you can sleep. Oh, we've been going, dude. Come on as much as we should. What the hell is that? Oh, Snapey Steve.

Sleepy Steve. Oh, we got an Ole Miss Tarpon. Don't, don't do that. Sleepy Steve, sleeping on the fucking countdown jig. I can't believe it. Sleepy, Steve. Get it cranked up. Sleepy, sleepy.

I think we should play in every show. Been cranking debt. Yes. Yeah, we have been cranking debt. Yeah. That's good call, Ty. Thank you. We cranked that right now.

Not enough, though. We know it. Not enough. Don't be signed with this. No, we should. We should start and end every show with it. And we need to learn the other lines. Yeah, you got to lose the other line.

Remix. No, there is already a remix. So what we heard, there is a, there was a radio cut, I guess, where there's an extended version with a third verse that we have never heard until last week. We were running the video and then it's where we thought it stopped. It continued. There was a whole other surprise for us at the end. So it might be a newer song in our eyes. Once again, not enough people respected it for what it was last year, which is a banger.

You've got to keep it fresh. Yeah, well, you're starting with 12. Counting down to 1. And on that note, who do you think is going to be a part of the big chatter about 12 to 1 the CFP National Champion? Well, here's the deal. I thought it started this past Tuesday with Miami not jumping Notre Dame. Because now you have two teams that aren't playing this week, and I just don't see how a committee is going to jump a team with either team,

playing this weekend. So I think it's basically set. I am on the argument for Miami when teams are that even resume record. What else do we have? Oh, they played? Who won? Give me that team. That's the way I feel about it. But I know it's not going to play out like that. That's kind of what Bavacua said. Bavacua said they've already decided Notre Dame in Miami. So I understand what everybody's saying. We're a different team now than we were then, which is certainly a valid argument. And the reason why college football would never be able to get 100% right is because there's an argument for every team. If I'm Miami, I'm certainly not happy about it either in its entirety. But Bovacra said it's already been decided. His worry is Alabama.

Like he's saying that you need to lump us with Alabama. Both had tough starts, tough losses. Obviously, Florida State vastly different than Miami and Texas A&M. But that is who I think Pete and Notre Dame people are saying we need to be having a convo with as opposed to Miami, even though that's not a reality. Yeah, but if Alabama wins this game, it's no argument to me. Their resume supersedes anything Notre Dame brings to the table when you talk about that. What if they lose is this game? What if they lose?

I could see Notre Dame, you know, jump in Alabama. And then people would be like, well, what's the purpose of playing a conference championship? Understood. Everybody, I mean. You're a part of the problem, Steve. No, not me. Not me. Sleapy.

Sleapy, Steve, part of the problem. Unbelievable. All right, I can't wait to see you tomorrow morning, brother. We appreciate the hell out of you. Are you ready? I can't wait. What are you asking Lane Kiffin? I know, I'm not on that.

What would you ask him, though? What do you want to ask him? I want to ask him if he studied Coach Saban or he's been around him so much that his hand gestures are identical. The press conference was like, I was like, oh my God, it's coach talking in the meeting. Oh, you think.

Like the same hand gestures all the time. He even did it with Marty on the tarmac or the trail, wherever the hell they were. The hand gestures are identical. Okay, so I thought he won that press conference, by the way. Yeah. The room laughing. showed some empathy he was trying to get choked up tie is that what our takeaway was yeah for sure

yep didn't quite get there but he made a pretty convincing compelling argument that wow this guy really cares about this and connor doesn't believe it obviously that's a hell of a face right there but i think what he was trying to send was like hey this was a hard decision like he tried to say that a couple different times while also complimenting lSU and telling him that they're the number one job in the country which is what he has to say as the coach of the team but i think There's going to be a lot of information coming out of his convent tomorrow. I'm excited for that. I'm excited for the fucking championship Saturday, and we love you, Steve.

We appreciate the hell out of you, man. I appreciate you guys. Have a great weekend. Thanks, gentlemen. He's not an otter guy or the otter guy or the otter, honor guy, or the otter, honor guy is Stanford for Steve. Yes, Steve. What do you think, comment? You don't believe that Lane Kiffin was getting choked up?

Absolutely not. I don't even really want to go into it just because of my true. feelings. I'm trying, I don't know. I don't remember seeing or, like, I don't remember watching it and thinking, like, oh, he's trying to get a motion. It was when he was talking about when he first pulled up and he finally saw a stadium. He called Coach O as well.

I felt the power of this place. Called Coach O and said, Coach, I feel like I got to start talking like you right now because I'm down here. It's kind of what he said, which kind of goes back to Brian Kelly saying my family as soon as he got down. You know, so that's certainly something. All right, boys. What a day?

What a Friday. Hey, listen to Duky, AJ, on your way back to Ohio. I'll do it again. Believe me, I will. It's good. It's got a nice little beat. No sound. Just run the clip.

Just run the soft. Oh, that's, okay, I can do that too. Yeah, that's easy. I had my iPad last night and my phone just running it all night. You're trying to, just trying to, the goal here is to let the Algos know on these, you know, these music platforms. Because we're starting at zero here again, which is cool. That's actually, like, kind of a fun thing. new profession new brand new ideas new canvas everything like that so it's like letting people

letting the algorithm and the platforms know that it exists is a big deal and uh yeah i'm enjoying the hell out of it man it's been a very emotional kind of dive through the notes section dukey not so much dukey was a freestyle that we decided to make into a song but like all the other songs that are coming it's like there's some you know there's some history and there's some stories and some mindsets and some messages I hope my daughter hears so like I'm very pumped and thankful for the opportunity uh from the folks uh Ernest and Seth and Big Loudon Deville records and jelly roll piece in this whole thing together it's like this has been really cool last night was a lot of fun and uh I'm very very very very very very fucking thankful to be living a life in which I can try

to do these things that I'm such a fan of and uh it's crazy AJ it's crazy life it's a dumbest life of all time I'm trying to enjoy it's awesome man and you got to be around like it sounds like all the people that you have collabed with that helped you with this are all like the top of their game and the best of the best. Yeah, so I go to the NFL, I have Adam Venetary in the same, you know, kind of world.

We go into the internet space. I get a chance to kind of watch Portnoy as the Barstool brand is literally putting rocket ships on with investment from private equity and go from Barstall from what it was with one floor in New York, two floors in New York to this conglomerate media company worth billions or whatever the case is i got a chance to watch that so it's like

everything that i greenie was the first one to really put me on tv so i get to watch him kind to do his shit it's like i get very very very very lucky that i get a chance to watch people who are very good do something bob covoy into i tried bob covoin from bob and tom yes exactly still coming through the office it's great to see him it's like i i've been very fucking lucky that i get a chance to watch goats kind of do their shit and then try to either you know see what I can take from it or see what we can learn from it and try to give it a go. And in the music space, it's like, yeah, Ernest is a fucking hitmaker. That's why he makes hits.

He makes good songs, like the perfect person to help me out with it all. And then Seth, being a co-founder of a record label, Big Loud, which the people on Big Louder, like the people in music right now, like actually. So like for this guy to take time out of his life to be like, no, man, let's do this. Let's try to make it something. It's like, it's been really fucking cool, man. It's been really cool. And then the music community reaching out to me saying, like, that they're pumped

that I'm doing this. and like welcome and all this stuff has been vastly different than basically any other profession that we have kind of dabbled into so i'm very very thankful for the music community and very thankful for the opportunity and i would just uh if you want to listen to it certainly give it a go there's more coming and get creative with this thing and get creative i want to see it we can't wait to see it a j i love you man i appreciate your boys great work this week boys great work this good congratulations yep yes it's awesome behind the glass go work boys go work foxy great editing really good stuff yes sir like kirk said great job foxie for the lions win thank you

congrats herbie i love that man i love that man just kind of bouncing around was peter really trying to dig underneath the stage yeah so the ball fell in there and then so he knocked the one stage that was connected to this stage back so he could get down turns out that would have been enough room because there's a wall back there so he kind of almost got stuck as the camera he's awesome I would like to say I think Peter's an awesome dog oh yeah I think

anybody that's ever met him is like Peter's an awesome dog he's an awesome dog though like he's a dog dog dog big dog strong dog fast dog loves getting a ball yeah loves getting a ball he sees a blah blah blah blah blah check ball check ball check ball check ball at all times so I love him but yeah he was

going to rearrange his whole fucking stadium that is just that's that's Peter football there to debone talk and the graphic design boys appreciate all your hard work this week voice

appreciate your voice Zit Mitt Bill squad appreciate you guys Gumpy really good stuff out of you this week Gump Gump like that over last night

that first half was obviously a little bit scary it's nice to go into the weekend with a couple dubs on Gump yep more points and how about the United States soccer we got a good draw for the World Cup don't we

Unbelievable draw Australia, Paraguay, and then the winner of a 14 playoff between Turkey, Romania, Slovakio, and Kosovo. So what does that mean? U.S.S.A. What is the way I see it? Kosovo. Slovakia. Slovakia, I think, is what he meant to say, but obviously Canada could pronounce it a little

bit differently. We're not 100% short. Australia, how are they? They're big athletic people. Are they good at the soccer or no? They're decent at the World Cup, but it shouldn't be a problem, as I see it. Is it Ray Gunn't play in, though? No, I don't know if Raygun's playing.

That was the dancer, right? It makes it. There we go. Here it is. So, United States, Australia, Paraguay, and then the European playoff there, we should make it through here, right? Yeah, it's a great draw. Great draw. Uh-oh.

How many teams total entering the boys? Do we know? 32. Go ahead. No, go ahead, AJ. So there's 32 teams start. Or how many? 48 this time.

40. Okay. So if we get through this stage, what's it down to? How many get out of this stage? 16, right? To a pop? Does one team get out of this? 32?

So now, so two teams come out of it. So it did go, it used to be round of 16, but now it's a round of 32, then round of 16, obviously. Wow. So the elimination round just adds a whole other game, basically. So in the past, if we made it to the elimination round, it was a huge ordeal. This one, we need to make to an elimination round and win an elimination game, I think, for us to consider this a success, especially with how we feel about this team. Gumpy? Yeah, I'd say win, too, because of the added team.

as well. I think with this squad, the way they're playing coming into this, I think quarterfinals should be the goal. We're talking to lead eight? We're America. We want to win the tournament, don't we? What do we? Yeah, you obviously want to win, but yeah, I'm just saying if you got to the quarter final, I think that would be good. Okay. Now, I obviously don't believe that. We're trying to win the super duper cup here. Okay, Gumpy's trying to say what realistic expectations should be for this particular squad versus maybe the rest of the world who's had their coach for longer than three months like we've had with our guy coming into hosting a World Cup.

cycle but what paunch is done is try to find a different group of americans to play on the soccer team a more dog-like squad yes so i think we actually do have the players that could win in those elimination games as opposed to getting scared in those elimination games which seems like the personality trait that paunch is looking for in the team is like fighters dogs and in those big games will play their best connor is that what you're thinking as well yeah like to be honest winning of course the whole thing would be great as long as we don't look like a bunch of bitches I'm good with it. If we go out there and we make it through our group,

even if we don't make it through our group, if we're basically snapping necks and taking names, I'm okay with that. If Australia, Paraguay, in the country of European playoff sea, ends up limping away from the group, that's how I'll feel good about the entire team. Agreed.

I think we lost you, you muted. Someone mute you, a gump step on it, or Peter, shoe on it? Is that one working Gump? No, we can hear the stadium noises but not your mic. Yeah, that's weird. We can still hear the stadium situation, but not you guys. Gump, sing a little bit.

No. That's a weird situation. That is interesting. Nothing. No, no. No, we got none of that audio, but we have stadium audio. Feels like, right? Yeah. Yeah, I got stadium audio. We're hearing like the. Maybe that's Oh, yeah, Gump, we might be on your other mic. We're picking it up, it sounds like, at your table. See if that's the one. Peter must have just been gnawn on those wires.

Don't ever do any mime work in Canada? He did actually on Saturday nights. Oh, he's in a box. He's in a box. Are you in a box? Where are you? Oh, now can you get out of the box? Oh, someone's knocking.

How do you get out of the box? Get out of there. Answer the door. Yeah, it's the door. Get out of there, Gobbs. It seems kind of like a one-trip pony. Oh, he's a robot. You're a left-handed door opener.

There's no door handles on the left side. Tight fit. Oh, there. You guys in a European phone booth? That's amazing. No, we still can't hear you. It's pretty amazing. All right.

Yep. Oh