The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Best Vs. Most Deserving CFB Playoff Debate, Beware Firing Your Coach, Plus Hurts Vs. Allen With Todd McShay

Episode Date: November 27, 2023

Russillo opens by recapping Week 12 of the NFL season and giving his biggest winners and losers (0:36). Then, he breaks down his top 12 in CFB and the cautions of hiring college football head coaches (17:09). He is then joined by Todd McShay to talk about Ohio State–Michigan, the CFP conundrum and Jalen Hurts (33:39). Finally, the guys close it out with some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (79:03). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Todd McShay Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Stefan Anderson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

on today's episode we break down week 12 a huge win for philly are we off the bills finally baltimore your number one team in the afc my college football top 12 a rant on college football coaches being fired or fans wanting them fired. We do all that, our playoff picks, and some draft speculation with Todd McShay and life advice. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah.

And a snow day, again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details.

Week 12, let's talk about it. See app for details. Week 12. Let's talk about it. We start in Philadelphia. Bills fans. This one had to sting a bit. Buffalo's up 17-7. 24-14 later in the game. If you go to the half,

Buffalo had run 28 plays in Philadelphia territory to Philadelphia running only three plays in Buffalo territory. Yardage at the half, 283 for the Billies, 100 for the Eagles. You're like, hey, this is why we have faith in the Bills. This is why we have faith in Josh Allen. There's a very short list of teams that you go in here and expect to win this game. Not that you'd pick the Bills, right? But you get the point. Like, hey, the Bills went to Philadelphia and won. All right, what happened? It wasn't a five turnover Jets game. It was the Bills showed up. The Bills played their best football and their best football still teases the hell out of me. The Eagles were 0-5 to start the game on third down. Every stat

was in the Bills' favor, and then it happened. Normally, I wouldn't give you a game log of something, but it's just important to go over all of these things to remind us how this game turned. It's 24-21. Bill's still leading. Then we get the bad Allen interception. Back in his own territory, his own 27. It's second and eight. We didn't see the second defensive back, so that wasn't as much as like a didn't need it throw. It's second and eight. We didn't see the second defensive back. So that wasn't as much as like a didn't need it throw. It's just we didn't need that mistake. Unfortunately for Allen, that's going to get baked into the consistent interception that all bums us all out. But he wasn't the issue yesterday. He was incredible. Philly takes the lead off of that

one. But Buffalo actually responds. You get a Gabe Davis touchdown off what looked like a 102-mile-an-hour four-seamer, where I'm like, I don't even know how some of these guys catch these footballs from Allen. I mean, it was just, the ball was on top of him immediately. He even bobbles it a bit, but Davis had gotten behind the defense. Credit to him on that one. Buffalo takes the lead. Then Jake Elliott hits a 59-yard field goal in the rain to send this one to overtime, 31 apiece. And you're like, all right, he's not going to hit this one. The Bills' luck has to change at some point in one of these spots. They've been the better team for a game. None

of us are saying they're actually just better than Philadelphia, but for three plus hours, you're like, Buffalo should win this game. And Elliott hits a 59 yarder. Adjust for the wind. You're like, you've got to be kidding me. Buffalo gets the coin toss, right? No problem. They put together a little run. It's third and nine, and that's the incompletion that you're seeing all day today to Gabe Davis, where it's the option route where he's supposed to keep it going. But I thought they did a really good job on the call of explaining that originally it was for him to the corner, so that's why he did what he did, but he got past the defender.

And then there's a bit on the sideline where I don't want to sit here and say Gabe Davis absolutely screwed it up, but it sounds like it might have been a little bit more on him, which is another one of those moments where you're going, okay, well, if Buffalo gets three here instead of seven, the game would have been over. Buffalo gets three here. How do you feel in that moment? Eagles fans, Bills fans, neutral fans. Hertz is probably going to figure out how to do this. And he did. You just knew it.

You just knew the Eagles were going to win this game because they seemed to just win these games. They've been out gained now. And you saw this probably repeated too often. Four straight weeks. And they've won all of the games. Because it's a little bit like Kansas City, the previous game. Like you got done with that one going. That one even more so than the Philadelphia game.

Like the Kansas City game, I went, dude, I think Kansas City's still better. This one, not necessarily the case. Or you start to say, this is just Philadelphia, who they are. It's Hurts. It's his toughness. they do. They expect to win. Because anybody that's ever played any sport at any level, there's something to that mentality of, do you think you're going to win? Do you expect to win? Or you're kind of like, I don't know what's going to happen. And good. Granted, you can't do the first one without actually winning some of the games that are byproducts of each other. Like I said, guys like Kelsey, guys, just this roster, this pass rush that has a serious pedigree. There's some history there with some of these dudes that roster, this pass rush that has a serious pedigree. There's some history there with some of these dudes that are in this pass rush that expect to find a way to make a play late. So look, I'll give you the pick and the picks in general with Allen. And maybe that's

just going to be him. It takes us a really long time with quarterbacks. It seemed like with Jay Cutler, we were year 11 going, well, maybe if there's some of this, some of this, we're like, ah, this might just be it. I'm not going to say that that's what Allen is. And that pick was in such a bad spot. And it was clear he just misread the entire coverage. He just didn't see the second guy, which is not really the mistake you should be making on interceptions as many years in. But he was so great in every other area of the game that if you're blaming Allen today, you just have it out for him. He was one of the few quarterbacks that actually gives you a chance to win that game in those conditions against a team as great as the

Eagles. The Eagles on the other side of it, maybe it's comparing them to this impossible standard because there are moments where I'm like, why don't they run the ball a little bit more? I think that would make a little bit more sense. Why do they keep getting out gained? You're sitting here dumping on the Steelers every single week. Like, hey, they got out gained again. They have a good record, but they stink.

Well, the difference is we all realize the Eagles are a really good football team. I think most of us that watch and don't care look at the Steelers being like, sign me up for them if they make it into the playoffs. we all realize the Eagles are like a really good football team. And I think most of us that watch and don't care, look at the Steelers being like, sign me up for them if they make it into the playoffs. But there's another part of Allen's resume here that's getting a little nasty. And that's the 0-6 in overtime.

If we run through it, loses this weekend, as we just mentioned, the Eagles had to kick a 59 yarder. And I have a number for Jake Elliott's numbers with, with these absurd field goals that are incredible. And then the defense gives up a touchdown in overtime, so there's a loss. Against the Jets, they return a punt for a touchdown.

Loss. 22 against Minnesota. Remember they had the fumble thing at the goal line that ended up being a touchdown. Allen did throw a pick in that overtime. Minnesota wins. 21 at Tampa Bay. He had did throw a pick in that overtime. Minnesota wins. 21 at Tampa Bay. He had a third and out possession in overtime. Brady gets the touchdown.

Done. Buffalo had actually come back in that one, scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter. Kansas City, playoff game. They gave up the field goal, 13 seconds. We all know that one. They lose the coin toss, never touch the ball. Chiefs touchdown. Houston, 19, also a playoff game. Buffalo was up 16-0. They gave up 11 points

in the fourth quarter. They did punt in overtime, but if you add it all up, the average points allowed in these overtime losses for Allen, who is now 0-6, and I'm not saying he's blameless, but some weird shit has happened in all of them. The defense has allowed 31.5 points on average in those overtime losses. So I actually probably felt a little bit better about Allen despite knowing there's a clear gap. And the craziest thing of this whole thing, like I'll just admit, I don't care how stupid I sound. I still think the Bills are good. And they're a 10 seed. It's 6-6 in the AFC.

Speaking of seeding, let's go out to Los Angeles. I don't think it should ever be Baltimore at the Los Angeles Chargers. It shouldn't be at the Chargers. It should always be versus the Chargers because even as Baltimore was closing that one out last night, I heard a lot of Ravens fans on my television. I had a weird feeling. I had this weird little feeling. I was like, the Chargers almost feel like they're due for a bit of a reminder of like, hey, that's a weird win. You know, Baltimore falters.

Wouldn't be shocked. That did not happen. Every time I looked up at the TV, I felt like the football was on the turf. At least the defense wasn't terrible for a change for the chargers uh they had what are they minus four in turnovers last night um jason garrett i think speaks fluent 80 year old by the way i don't know if that's a babble i don't know if you i can't find it on my app i'm still stuck in italian uh and this is baltimore without mark andrews and why zay Flowers two touchdowns are huge because, you know, the beginning of the year

when they started off with him, I'm like, this guy's going to be the best receiver Lamar's ever played with. And he had the run and he had the one that closed at the end. I loved the touchdown, by the way. I know that, oh, well, again, I don't know, man. I just like going up 10 late. Maybe, maybe I'm selfish. Maybe I should be a corner. But now we're paying attention to, and by the way, just a quick shout out to Keaton Mitchell, the running back here. His story is incredible. The rookie at ECU, every time he touches the ball, you're scared. So it's one thing to be prepping the edges of trying to figure out what you're doing with Lamar and containing him. But if Mitchell gets it out of the edge, this guy's just a blur and the numbers are backing up

as well. Just getting the ball in his hands more and more. So Baltimore's the one seed in the AFC. So let's talk seeding stuff still here over Kansas City. At this point, I'm not going to pick any team against Mahomes. I might just say, hey, I'll pick them for the Super Bowl right now. I know that seems stupid, but is it actually smart? If you compare the two defenses who've been the stories really for both of these teams, despite the comeback, again, Kansas City down 14-0 to the Raiders, and then you're like, ah, Mahomes will figure it out.

He does. Baltimore's number two. Kansas City's number four in yards allowed. It's almost 16 yards off. Scoring defense, Baltimore's number two with 15.6 points a game. Kansas City's a point behind them at number three. Opposing yards per play, Baltimore's number one. Kansas City's number six.

It's less than a yard difference there. Against third down, these are a little bit lower than you would think from these two defenses that have been so good in the other areas. Baltimore's 10th in opponent's conversion rate. Kansas City's 13th, 36, 37%. The one that really stood out though, opposing touchdown percentage in the red zone. So the percentage of time the other team is scoring a touchdown in the red zone when you're defending it, Baltimore's the number one team in the NFL right now, allowing touchdowns on only 37% of those positions.

Kansas City is 21st at 57%. So I think when we watch it, even though I feel like Chris Jones is better than anybody Baltimore has on the front, Kyle Hamilton out of Notre Dame, we knew he was a big deal as a first rounder. You're still like, are safeties really going to be able to do this? Can he actually do this at this size? And the answer is yes, because it was like, he can do a lot of things, but can he do it all on Sundays? And he's been a wrecking ball out there. I love watching him play and he's lived up to the height.

And clearly to me, I think he's better than anything that the Chiefs have in the secondary if you're preparing the rosters defensively. But that red zone edge clearly gives it to the Ravens. But here's the thing that we need to pay attention to moving forward, because Baltimore has the toughest AFC schedule remaining. It's actually the single toughest schedule in the NFL. If we do the AFC things, Kansas City has the easiest remaining AFC schedule as far as strength schedule, and it's number 29 overall. So it's Baltimore today, and Baltimore still may be the better team

when this is all said and done, but Kansas City may end up still being the one seed just because of the opposing schedule. Best win? Well, it would be Philadelphia, but we're not going to do that because we already talked about it. Jacksonville against Houston, a good Houston team. I left that game more impressed with Stroud than I did Trevor Lawrence. Like, big time. That throw, Stroud had two throws where he is rolling out across, like he's going right to left. So he's trying to get his right arm going. He had the touchdown on that play where the receiver got killed after he caught it. But he had another one where he was still going that same left to right on your TV screen.

He had another throw where he led the receiver so perfectly coming across, like he was still going that same left to right on your TV screen. He had another throw where he led the receiver so perfectly coming across. He was going the other way. They're going in opposite directions horizontally, and he led the receiver so perfectly. I actually ended up, I know Lawrence's numbers overall are going to be pretty good, but it was kind of a weird game for Jacksonville, but an important one for them to stay alive in the AFC. I'm going to go Denver. Granted, it's Cleveland with a backup quarterback, but it's five straight wins and it's five straight wins with the defense. And I think the best part of this for Broncos fans is you feel like you may actually have, like Peyton gets all this money. It's contentious, which it kind of should have been when Peyton first came in, but then he's not winning. They're getting their asses kicked.

The Miami game on top of everything else. It's like, wait, so back-to-back massive financial commitments were both wrong? Well, the Wilson one still feels wrong. I know that he's going to get all this credit after the fact because they keep winning all these games. But I still, if I look at this again, I think he's had one game over 200 yards in his last seven. Yeah, that's correct. But they have defensively, right? The 70 points against Miami during this five-game win streak, the Broncos have allowed a total of 80 points. So even when you're looking at where they are defensively, they're clearly heading in the right direction, even though that 70-pointer

against Miami drags down some of the overall comparable stats for them in the NFL. So, yeah, I'm going to go Denver. Best win, even though there's better arguments for it. Worst loss, Buffalo. I think we covered that. I'm going with this one. Lions on Thanksgiving. Imagine you, a Lions fan, like we talked about,

the 70-year-old guy that loved that 61 team that got off to the 8-2 start. Well, we're doing it again, Pops. Your Thanksgiving, the focus is on you. You don't care that it's Green Bay. You don't care about any of it. It's Lions football time. And the apps, the early whiskeys were ruined in the first quarter against the Packers. So not only do you get housed again on Thanksgiving, which you were used to. You were okay. There were petitions being printed

out, which I never agreed with, by the way. Let the Lions have their Thanksgiving football. But people were maybe demanding it. It was a yearly thing. Not maybe they were, but I still thought it was stupid. Get the Lions off of my TV during Thanksgiving. When they were bad, I thought it was a bad idea. But now it was your time, your time to shine.

And not only do you give up all those points before anybody's even getting the ovens hot, you're like, wait, Jordan Love might be good now in our own division. He's played really well the last couple of games. Always threw a pretty ball. Just wasn't sure what to make of it. Got off to a really bad start. I don't know what to do with Jordan Love other than maybe we put him a little bit lower on the potential replay. It looks like he's going to have that job next year, especially if he keeps playing like he has three of the last four weeks. 20 points in the first quarter of Thanksgiving ruined. Numbers you should know.

I told you about the Jake Elliott field goal stuff. So here's the deal. He had a 20.9% chance of making his game-tying 59-yarder yesterday. yesterday. He has made all three of his field goals with a sub-25 make probability in his career the most attempts by any kicker without a miss since 2016. Another number, also Philly related, Hurts has won 14 straight against winning teams, the longest since 1950. that Lions fan we were talking about might not even have been born yet. Awards. This might be more of a segment. If things are really slow, then it would be an award.

But I started thinking about the transfer portal for college football and then thought, maybe this is just a better segment. Which five NFL players would have the most, I would say, the most justified argument is what I should say with it, is transferring out. At one point, granted, Atlanta had some big plays. Finally, they got the win this week. But if just Pitts, Drake London, Bijan got together and be like, do you all want to go to SC? Do you guys all want to get out of here and go somewhere else? I think there's a lot of fantasy owners would be like, yeah, I'm okay with that. And then I just started

thinking how funny it would be if like Khan College had a Twitter account and they were like, we welcome our newest quarterback, Mac Jones. And he's in a Vineyard Vines polo. He's like, when's acapella start? So maybe I'll hold off on that. Yeah. So we'll just end on this. This is

the Jordan Poole Award for the worst celebration of the weekend. Greg Dortch gave us the old too small after Arizona cut the Rams lead to 37-14. Our weekly college football top 12. Remarkably, still seven teams alive, I think, for a spot here in the playoff. Georgia at number one, no surprise. Minus five and a half. I'm going to give you the FanDuel Sportsbook odds as well on top of another bigger breakdown on the Pac-12.

Michigan, number two. They are a 22.5 point favorite against Iowa. Not shocked there. The total is 34.5. Iowa's total, their team total, is 6.5. Do you even dare? I don't. Washington, they're getting nine and a half in the rematch

against Oregon. So I have Washington three, Oregon four. Yes, I think Oregon's better. Can't do it. Let's take a quick comp of why because some people seem to have a hard time with this. But let's face it, most of you guys don't watch Pac-12. If we look at the seven common conference opponents that Oregon and Washington has played this year,

because Oregon had Colorado, Washington had Arizona, and then, of course, they played each other. So it's SC, Oregon State, Utah, Stanford, Arizona State, Cal, Washington State. Washington has beat those seven teams by an average score. We shouldn't say average score. Let's just give you the point differential. By 9.4 points. Those same seven opponents, Oregon has beaten that group by 27.2 points on average.

That's why I think Oregon is better than Washington. We will see. I think the teams have gone from a dominant run for Oregon to where Washington's found a way, despite getting real weird in that Washington State game at the end of it. Some of these opponents, like Oregon's playing it really close to when Washington plays them. The Utah game was in two weeks of each other. Oregon State was back-to-back weeks, and The Ducks just put it on Oregon State a week after Washington looked like they were maybe going to lose that game. They've got the head-to-head, so we shall see.

Number five, I have Florida State. They're fourth in the AP. I know what the AP is doing here. They're putting Florida State in ahead of Oregon because of the way it's all going to work out. But again, it doesn't really matter because it matters more about what the committee is going to do here. They're only 3.5 point favorite against Louisville. Number 6, Ohio State. We've got the Michigan loss. Moves them down. They are not in play

at all for the playoff. And then you've got Texas where they're a 13.5 point favorite against Oklahoma State. So there's really not much surprise to any of this. I got Bama 8. Just to remind everybody, Ohio State would be in the playoff next year. The Pac-12 loser is going to be in the playoff next year.

Florida State could lose to Louisville, be in the playoff next year. Bama could lose to Georgia, be in the playoff next year. Cool. Then we get to Missouri. I have them 9th. They're in the playoff. At least their two losses are kind of good losses. Ten, I have Ole Miss. Their losses are also technically against at least good teams. You could say the Bama one is competitive on the road. Georgia, they got

destroyed later on, so maybe that's not good. Their ranked wins are Tulane and LSU. Penn State has 10 opponents they never have to worry about. They're in the playoff next year. Oklahoma, they've got a great win. They've got two losses. The Kansas loss isn't terrible, but they're unranked now, and Oklahoma State is in the Big 12 championship game. So great win, two losses.

They're in the playoff. Then LSU, who's got one of the worst defenses of any good team in college football that I've seen in a long time. Texas A&M just every single time. No edge set, no edge set, but maybe the single most dynamic player in all of college football. So their losses are sort of good at Ole Miss and Bama and Florida State. So next year, the arguments are going to be year, the arguments are going to be between Ole Miss, Penn State, Oklahoma, LSU, Arizona saying, hey, we got hot at the right time for those final playoff spots. Okay, what I really want to talk about is coaching in college football. Mark Stoops is the head coach at A&M for what looked like four

hours on Saturday. Depends on which timeline you were paying attention to. At one point, he was going to be the guy. And then there was absolute outrage by the fan base. And then he wasn't a guy. And then there was a report that said Mark Stoops had decided to stay at Kentucky. I don't really know if that was his decision. But anyway, he's staying. And that means Mike Elko is now the head coach at A&M, leaving Duke after a couple of years. And everybody seems to be happy with that. I'll admit, as an outsider, I'm wondering, were you so mad about Stoops that you want to convince us that you're this excited about Elko? Because I think if you really look at it, and by the way, as an aside, I have no issue whatsoever with Jimbo Fisher not being the head coach.

It was time. Wasn't even close to being the same guy that he was at Florida State. I did enjoy this one little tidbit that I read about him this weekend that said he had lost focus on what was important because he was so locked into what the recruiting rankings were. They started overlooking character issues because he wanted five stars. I was like, oh, he was the college football coach that overlooked character issues for five stars? So I just don't want it to be misunderstood here. Moving on for Jimbo was the right thing, but I would ask A&M fans when you're like, all right, when we fire Jimbo, who we get, who we get. It wasn't Mark Stoops. That's not what you were thinking of. And I wonder if it

actually was Dan Elko. And I get that Elko's been there. He was there before. He understands Aggieland. He understands all this stuff. And again, I'm an outsider, so I don't really get it. And if you're telling me he's the right guy, great. I don't know what's going to work. Neither do you. But the outrage part of it

and the, wait, this is the best we're going to do, Mark Stoops, is the thing that I really want to pay attention to. Now, what's wrong with Mark Stoops? Let's take a look at the resume. Got to Kentucky in 2013. They went 2-10 that first year. They were 2-10 the year before. He's rebuilding a football program at a basketball school. It was going to be hard. It took him until his sixth season to get to 10 wins. Kentucky's previous 10-win season was 1977.

His overall record there is 73-64. The more damning number is a 35 and 55 record in the SEC. His two best seasons in conference are 5 and 3. You get two of those. So that's not what you want if you're A&M. And your voice was heard on Saturday. And I guess you got your way with Elko. Now, like I said, I'm not sure if he'll be better. He's younger. I think whenever you're a coach, you're better at also another basketball school in Duke. It's like, yeah, but he was two years and they had a nice little run and the

quarterback got hurt. Him going 16 and nine is better than him going 40 and 24, I guess, five seasons there. I don't know. All I can tell you is that the Elko math is better than him going 40 and 24, I guess, five seasons there. I don't know. All I can tell you is that the Elko math is better than the Stoops math. And that's why people got so mad. So I want to talk about coaches being fired in general. I have a couple of rules. Number one, I don't like saying this guy should be fired. I don't do a lot of that. If you've noticed over the years, I don't just start to show up Monday. Let's fire a bunch of dudes. Let's just go with it. Cause I know there's so many things that I don't know. It's actually going on with the team. Uh, number two is even though, and I did this when I was younger and there's certain things you get older, younger, you know, not many people get younger,

but you get the point when you're younger, you're more willing to say some stuff. I think you're older. You're like, maybe I don't really want to do that kind of stuff. Or maybe you get older, you're pissed at everybody. You do want to do that stuff. The point is this, is like, even though I don't like saying this person should be fired, I don't necessarily have a ton of sympathy for it anymore. I understand all the family dynamics of it. But the way these buyouts work, it's one of the best gigs you can get in sports right now as a fired head coach in college football. College hoop isn't bad either.

So number three is I'm always willing to defer to the local people the boots on the ground people telling me about a program whether it's a local reporter somebody i trust or it's a booster you know you never know in the 20 years of traveling make a lot of connections with people and be like hey what's going on with this guy you'd be like man everybody's checked out he doesn't have any energy maybe he's dealing with something at home the local high school coaches are telling their kids like you know he didn't show up to camp he didn't take this kid so now this coach is mad and all this different stuff and like once you start losing that local talent and the high school guys are starting to check out on you and talking to other

connections they have to your rivals and all that kind of stuff like when that starts to happen and we don't notice that because we're not there and we're just national guys spouting off all the time. When I hear that kind of stuff, I go, oh, okay, well, that guy should have been fired. I defer to you because you know it much better day to day than I ever could. But number four, the most important thing when it comes to firing, I feel like firing college football coaches is essentially a peace offering to emotional fans and emotional boosters. When you lose, apparently something must be done because at least something was done,

even if it was fucking stupid. The reason I bring that up is because I think about how I used to get when I didn't work in sports and I only cared about it as a fan. I probably hated every offensive coordinator of every team I've ever rooted for. Sitting there, lunch break, meatball sub, maybe a cigarette, not for me, but sheet rock or smoke. And you're like, this is amnesasy you know you just you can't help yourself you're listening to me right now you know you do it you probably did it today whether you're rooting for your team on a saturday or a sunday you're sitting there with your buddies and you hate the play a draw on third and seven what's with this guy imagine now let's play out that role playing a little bit

further you are that guy same mentality about the way you watch football and the opinions that you have but now you have millions in the bank and you have a voice as a booster of this prestigious university and you're like we got to get rid of somebody because i don't like that we're not taking more deep shots that's the the problem with some of these programs, is they have guys that are no different than any of us as fans, but they're writing massive checks. So something must be done, even if it doesn't make any sense. Even if it's just, well, hey, everybody's mad, so we fired somebody.

That's good. And that leads to Ohio State and Ryan Day. Buckeyes fans upset today. I get it. Three straight losses against Michigan. Not supposed to do that. You're wondering, Ryan Day, Tubby Smith?

Day is 56-7 at Ohio State. They have been ranked as high as number two in every season he has been there in the AP poll. His worst AP finish is number six. But he's lost to Michigan 3 straight does something need to change? two words, fuck off I know it sucks but you have a coach

who has one of the 5 most prestigious brands in college football who is getting you into the playoff or getting you into the playoff conversation up until that last game against Michigan. And it still worked out last year. The national championship was Georgia-Ohio State last year. All right?

He is doing a great job. I know it stings this week, but it doesn't make any sense. And what's so perfect about any of the day criticism is that it mirrors the Harbaugh criticism. Harbaugh comes into Michigan, doesn't beat Ohio State forever, but they're still winning games. He'd won 10 games in three of his first four years there, but it's not meeting expectations. This guy did videos. He's sleeping over at recruits house.

They did the video. Who's got it better than us? And I just love the idea of the Harbaugh boys in the back seat. Dad's going, who's got it better than us? That's parenting. But because he brought all this attention with him, it was like, well, no, you got it. And it was like, no, it's actually been okay.

And I would ask, I'd be like, what's the deal? Like, it's fine. Like, is Harbaugh happy? Yeah. Is Michigan happy? Yeah. The people in charge, they're happy with it. He's happy.

I go, that's all I got to know. Because I saw tons of people that I used to work with on TV going, well, you know, this is not what you'd expect with Jim Harbaugh. He can't beat Ohio State. They have that COVID season. People wanted him fired. And I said, and I pounded on the table then. I'm pounding on the table now with Ryan Day.

It's like, look, if you're going 7-6 with a bowl game in there, fine. But if you think it's your right that you're supposed to be 12-0, 13-0, and always beat your rival, go to the group of five then seriously and i you know maybe you guys think like that's a loser mentality no it's a realist mentality if day's losing to michigan every year and you feel like the the program's nose diving then then we can have that conversation but they're're not. And the reason I bring this up is because you look at what happens with A&M and they're like, Hey,

we've, we've got this awesome gig. We're in the sec about to have some new neighbors that you're not too excited about, but you've got this Texas money. We hear about it all the time. The recruiting is incredible. Like if you ever just kind of put it together,

this should be a program that went to national championship. It's a top 10 job in the country. Like who knows? Maybe it's even better than that. Like, like who are we getting? It's like, oh, Mark Stoops? Wait, that's not what I was told. I thought this was a top 10 job.

And that's the warning to Michigan fans when they wanted to get rid of Harbaugh. Ohio State fans are flirting with it now. I can do this all damn day. Florida's on their fourth coach since Urban Meyer. Dan Mullen finished 7th, 6th, and 13th in the AP, his first three years there, and then had a 5-6 season. I get it.

Okay. It's not Florida. Not what you're there for. How are you feeling now? Let's stay in the state of Florida. Miami has tried literally everything for like two decades. How are you feeling now? Let's stay in the state of Florida. Miami has tried literally everything for like two decades. How are you guys feeling?

One of the funniest ones, Lincoln Riley. I mean, any idea that he shouldn't be the guy there now. It's crazy to me. SC fans went from making fun of the topography of the state of Oklahoma to going, wait, maybe this guy's just a coordinator. What the hell's the deal here?

Now, granted, this was not a good season at SC, but I guess my solution would be you just want to keep getting back into the cycle. You want to keep doing it all over again. Again, I don't think Lincoln Rise is actually going to be fired. I just think there's a lot of upset fans the whole time. I remember back when Bob Stoops went from big game Bob to 0 for 5. Like, wait, the 405 area code, they're calling them 0 for 5s? Penn State fans, your guy doesn't beat those other two teams. Beats everybody else.

I'm not the biggest Penn State guy. Iowa, you're patient. Texas, Sark questions. It's you're patient. Texas, start questions. It's like, eh, all right, maybe. You still don't even know. I remember when Texas and LSU were fighting over Tom Herman. LSU, yes, we got Brian Kelly. Wait, he didn't bring Tommy Reese?

A&M thought they were going to do better than Mark Stoops. A&M thought they were going to do better than Mark Stoops. As an aside, I think 90% of you guys would take Urban Meyer tomorrow. You know you would. A&M thought they were going to do better. And maybe they did. Maybe they did with Elko.

But it's a warning. It's a warning to all of these prestige programs. They're like, 12-1 is just not going to cut it. Not here. Dan Lanning can't be your plan for everybody, okay? It's a bit like the backup quarterback. When the starters aren't playing well, everybody wants the backup in there. But the reason it's different is at least the NFL coach knows who the backup is already. College football fans, you may not like the answer of who the replacement could end up being. Todd McShay joins us. I just finished a long rant about college football coaching and clearly

obviously with the money there's less patience than ever before you're gonna appease the fan bases all this stuff the outrage for A&M when they thought they were getting stooped it's a celebration now they've got Elko we can kind of take this in any direction you want to go to but let's just start with this like what can you tell us about Elko? Well, it's kind of like dating or relationships, right? You get done with one, whether it's a girlfriend, boyfriend, and typically your next relationship is with someone who's significantly different, kind of the opposite of who you had. And Jimbo Fisher can always recruit, offensive coach.

But I always question, can he galvanize a team? What's his leadership like? Is it a bunch of individuals or is it a team that's playing with a structure that's in place? Nick Saban is a great defensive coach, defensive backs. He specialized in that for his entire career. great defensive coach, defensive backs. He specialized in that for his entire career. But the reason Nick Saban's so successful,

that Urban Meyer was so successful, that Jim Harbaugh, to a certain degree, has had such success, is in very different ways. They find ways to create a structure that builds a team environment. And I don't see that. I've never seen that with Jimbo Fisher. It's never

really been about this team building process. And, you know, I just, I'll never forget going into, um, into his office and meeting with him recently last year, the Miami game in his office, the two, two, um, jerseys that were hanging were Dennis Rodman and Pete Rose, you know, listen, it's a, it's a microcosm. But like, if you're really about like team building and high character and those sorts of things, are those the two dudes that you want representing you in your head coach's office where you're meeting with broadcast teams every week, you know, every week of a home game? It just it struck me because it was like, of course, because everything that you hear from players that played for him

and everything that you hear about what's going on, that kind of makes sense, right? Now you bring in Elko, who is a physical coach. Defense was a strength at Duke. Team building was what it was all about. It's all about team, physicality, toughness, those sorts of things. And I mean, Texas A&M the last few years, especially not this past year, but the year before, they've recruited to a level where they should be winning a lot more games,

right? So now Elko comes in from a program where they couldn't recruit. And yes, the standard and the comparison is different when you're in the ACC versus the SEC, but you're talking about elite recruiting classes. And now you have a coach that can build a team that is going to bring physicality. That's going to bring, you know, just a way about them to galvanize a team. I like the fit a lot. Does that mean it's going to work? Does that mean they're going to, they're going to, you know, consistently be up there with Georgia and Alabama every year? It remains to be seen. And obviously, this is going to be a whole new challenge for Mike Elko. But I do think that he, like all breakups, you find someone who's going to kind of fill the voids that you were missing, something completely different than what you had.

And I think that's exactly what A&M got. But again, like to your point, this is the time of year we see all these firings, right? And then we see teams go out and spend all of this money. I mean, we've never had a situation in college football where, what was it, $122 million now is being paid in buyouts from this year. The guys that have been fired and the vast majority of that is Jimbo Fisher, $70 plus million. But you're always looking for the guy that's going to come in and be the answer and change everything. I've got news for you. There are a lot of really good coaches out there that have systems in place, that have structure in place, that have been with great coaches before and know what they're doing. But there are only,

you know, a couple few guys out there that can come in and I'm saying, yeah, like, no matter where Nick Saban goes, they're going to be great. You know, no matter where Jim Harbaugh goes. And yes, Michigan struggled for a few years. But I just, I believe in what he does. Now, when he leaves, everyone in the organization is going to be like, thank God Harbaugh's out of here because he drives people crazy. But Bill Parcells drove people crazy too, right? Very different ways, but there's something about certain individuals. But outside of like two, three guys in college football, I don't want to say they're all interchangeable, but I think the fan base gets so excited. We're getting rid of

this guy. We haven't won. We haven't met expectations, but that doesn't mean the next guy is going to come in and be the magic elixir. You know, he's going to fix everything. So I think we have to be careful where we are in college football now, like the amount of money that's being paid out to these coaches just to buy them out because a rabid fan base wants that. And Jimbo Fisher getting rid of him, I absolutely agree with. Some of the other decisions that have been made or are about to be made, I'm not sure that they're, you know, that's the right decision, but it appeases everyone for

two or three years, right? Or two or three weeks. Yeah, because Dabo would have been on this list. The timing of it, you can't really do that now, but, you know, his story in the last decade or so. Absolutely. Dabo would be on that list.

Lincoln be the guy that everybody would want. Now, as he can't get anybody to get off the field and third down. So it's like, okay, you know, and I'm just like, all right,

relax a little bit. And you had LSU and Texas fighting over Tom Herman. And now he's a Florida Atlantic, you know? So it's, it's crazy. That goes to my point, right? Right there's only a few guys there are, there's an elite tier of just a few guys. Then there's probably, I don't know,

15 or so guys that you feel really good that are going to lead your program and you're going to have success. And now like Dabo, this is the worst of it for Dabo. They're still, you know, they're still finishing strong and are going to win. I don't know. I haven't looked at their record yet, but what is it? They're going to win eight, nine games. Last year, it was a horrible year.

They won 10 games. So there's a whole bunch of guys that you know you're going to have a certain level of success with. And then after that, that third tier, it's just kind of intertwined in terms of what you're going to get. So how much money? And I think Elko, to this point, is kind of in that third tier. We're not certain. He hasn't proven over time. And he hasn't had the opportunity.

Maybe he turns out to be great. But there's only less than a handful of guys that are in that elite first tier in coaching where you know, all right, give them a year. Like Saban came in, they weren't good the first year, won a national championship the next year. You know, Urban Meyer was like the second year everywhere he went playing for, won a national championship, like, you know, Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, Ohio State. It was always like that second year, you know? So I don't see many guys out there.

Kirby's smart. You put him in that category now because of the winning they've done, but the perfect situation, the perfect time, the perfect recruiting base. But again, less than five guys where you would say, it's an absolute lock. This guy comes in, and we're going to be competing for a national championship pretty much every year. Yeah, and that's kind of where I'm at with the Michigan-Ohio State thing right now

because Ohio State fans are upset. I understand it. You lose to Michigan. Sometimes I wonder if these two fan bases, like seriously, would you rather go 8-4 and beat your rival or go 12-1, lose to your rival, but have a chance in the playoff?

And the way some of those guys talk in each fan base, and I don't know if this is an accurate representation of what you see, but I'm like, I think some of you guys would rather go eight and four and just beat that other team. I think that used to be the case.

I don't think so anymore. I think it's about getting in the college football playoff. Well, you would make sure it changes. Right. What's that? You would, you would think so.

Like the normal, the same person would go, all right, it sucks less to arrival bragging rights here a whole thing we're gonna go play for a national championship now and the reason i look at the day thing it is a mirror image to the harbaugh deal was that you know people were talking about harbaugh and there's a lot of people on the air this isn't just you know a guy tweeting there's a lot of people on the air place we both work where they were just totally comfortable going up on tv being like Harbaugh should be out of there.

And I'm like, they're not going seven and five, you know, or seven and six of the bowl game, eight and five eligibility. But what are we talking about? Like, what do you think is going to happen with the next guy? So it's not so much about solving a problem. It's punishing the person for losing the game. You didn't want them to lose and day for whatever you think of him, the biggest Ryan day detractor. Like it's, it's just a hard argument to make. Yeah. I know it's disappointing. Now I know it's three years in a row. You've been

in the mix every year he's been there. And that's really all you can ask. The problem is, especially in the big 10, where you don't play a strong schedule. I mean, they played Notre Dame. I credit Ohio State for doing that. Michigan doesn't do that, right? The problem is, you know, I just made the comparison of, like, what's more important, getting in the college football playoff or beating your rival.

In this specific case, Michigan, Ohio State, because you don't have this great record, like, Georgia, Georgia will most likely, in a close game, if they lose to Alabama, still get in the college football playoff. But that's a rare exception. And that's not a rivalry game, you know? So that rivalry game, because the schedule in the Big Ten is not very strong, that is going to determine whether you get, that was a college football playoff game. That was a play in game. There's no question about it. And it has been the last couple of years.

So you lose three straight and now Ohio state got in last year and, and they were able to overcome it and they almost beat Georgia. So like you look at Ryan day and his, what's gone on. Yeah. Three straight against, against Michigan. They've lost,

but they want a handful before that with Ryan Day as a head coach. And they go in the college football playoff and they were a couple of plays away from beating clearly the best team in college football a year ago in Georgia. It wasn't even close. You look at the TCU game compared to what they had to go up against with Ohio State. So you can't tell me Ryan Day is not a great coach. Ryan Day is one of the best six, seven coaches in college football. I'm convinced of it. There's nothing like offensive scheme, play calling, motivation,

everything that you're looking for. And, yeah, they've lost three straight to a more physical Michigan team that has been sick and tired of losing to Ohio State, and it's kind of everything has come together. So to me, the talk about Ryan Day is not our guy anymore that has been sick and tired of losing to Ohio State. And it's kind of, you know, everything has come together. So to me, like the talk about Ryan Day is not our guy anymore is the pinnacle of absurdity. Let's talk about that game a little bit. We were talking, texting, even a little halftime check-in

based on what we had seen. And it feels like... I love when you call me during a game. And it feels big. Text here and there, yeah it's a good game when you when i see rossillo show up on like a phone call like all right like this is big this is big i don't get many calls from you uh well look i don't want to interrupt the film work you know and i know you go back and double check all your work but that game felt a lot like JJ McCarthy's got five throws in him that Kyle McCord doesn't. And there you go. Yeah. And, and I said this to you yesterday or Saturday when we were talking,

JJ McCarthy to me is a classic case and Michigan quarterbacks in history, not a bunch of them, but some of them have been better pros than college quarterbacks. What they asked J.J. McCarthy to do is very limited. But what he's developed into as a guy, and yeah, there are some throws that he misses that he shouldn't miss. And I also account that to like, if you're throwing the ball 40, 50 times a game, you're going to get into more of a rhythm. So it's hard to like run the ball seven out of 10 plays on a drive and then be highly efficient as a passer. It's like old school football where if you go line up like some mid-level quarterback in the NFL today and

his stats and efficiency numbers are better than Troy Aikman, it makes sense. You're just not in that rhythm. J.J. McCarthy is not asked to carry this team. They're not throwing the ball all over the field, but he makes some plays in the game. I hate using the word manage, but he manages situations. He's learned how to be the best version of a Michigan quarterback that you can be. You look at a couple of throws, like that touchdown throw. Did he see the safety or not? I'm not sure. But to put that ball in between. The fumble controversy on the Wilson. Yes. The way he threw that ball in there.

You're right. I was like, is that a mistake or is that the best throw of the day? I don't know. Regardless, it was decisive and you couldn't have placed it any better. And then a little bit later in the game, I think it was the next drive, like rolling to his right, kind of going out of bounds, throwing the ball down the field on the sideline, completing that throw. Like if you're going to play in that offense,

you're not going to get a ton of chances. But when you get opportunities, you've got to make throws. And to your point exactly, Ryan, he made some of the throws that Ohio State didn't get from their quarterback. And that to me, like with McCord, he's just, that's what's held them back. And when you're not, and listen, Ryan Day can go off on this rant. I'm not saying they're not tough, Ohio State, but they're not built to be a Mack truck. They're not built to be this physical team. They're pumping out first round draft picks at wide receiver. They're pumping out first round draft picks at quarterback. They are more of a Ferrari,

a race car versus Michigan is just a bulldozer. That's what they do. So they've had, Ohio State had to really transition and become something that they're not. And they can manifest it all they want. They can talk about it all they want. And they're from the Midwest, and they should be this big, overpowering physical team. But they've been built to have first-round quarterbacks, first-round receivers, and really play to the strengths of their skill guys. And that's what's made them different than every other school in the Big Ten for a long time. And so, to me, it was forget toughness. Everyone's like, well, you're saying Ohio State's not.

I'm not saying they're not tough. They're just not built to be a physical team that's going to win in these kind of games late in the season. Weather's not ideal. And when they've got to run the football and they don't have a first round quarterback who can get them out of trouble and open things up and force Michigan into a place where it's not a comfort zone. Yeah, and Marvin was going to have to be just insane. And you thought maybe one of the corners going down for Michigan

that would get him free. And, you know, he did have the touchdown there late. That drive where Ohio State ran it right at him, I didn't know that any team in college football could even do that to Michigan this year. But whatever, it's a possession. But, you know, to your toughness point and the rant about what Ryan Day did against Lou Holtz, which I understand.

Whenever you see somebody on TV picking on you, you think it's only happening to you. And I think after that Notre Dame win, that was Day probably trying to fire up his guys. That was like a moment in the season. It's creating a mentality. Right, right, the whole thing. But second possession is fourth and one.

It's a 46, his own 46. And everybody's obsessed with going for it and fourth down all the time. That told me, he's like, yeah, I don't think our guys can get it. I don't think our O-line can get it against this defensive front from Michigan in fourth and one, even though it's a really big spot. So I saw some people criticizing him for it. It's like, no, I actually think he knows his team. And I think it's why he's probably even more sensitive to any questions of toughness because if there was one flaw with Ohio State beyond McCord it was like you just didn't know how that whole line was going to hold up and I'd say over the course of the game they actually showed up a little bit better because you know when you watch them both play Penn State I wasn't blown away by Ohio State whereas Michigan I felt like even though like we can we can talk points and the score differential and the whole thing like hey they were both close games or whatever I don't know man Michigan felt like they were totally in control of penn state in control yeah ohio state even though they won i just was like i you know i'm not i'm not sure and it still ends up being a close game of the whole thing so all right michigan moves on uh

they're favored by 22 against iowa uh here i want to talk a little bit about the playoff stuff because you know the way i look at it right now, ranking wise, and I gave out my top 12 and, you know, I don't, when I give it out, like there's no point of me that thinks Washington is better than Oregon with the way the second half of the season has played out.

But, you know, what's the point of playing any of these games if you're not putting Washington ahead of them? So even though there've been certain weeks where I start doing my notes and trying to figure out my top 12, I'm like, actually, yeah, you're sure you could be different and say, screw it. I don't care. I think Oregon's better, but it's just not fair to Washington. And of course we'll see what happens this weekend. And that brings us to Florida state. Uh, they find a

way against the Florida team. That's good enough to scare you. It's a competitive game and they're on their backup. We thought at one point, we weren't sure he was going to come back. They're favored by only three and a half against the Louisville team that loses to Kentucky, but Louisville's capable as we know if you watch them throughout the year. I think it's pretty... If Georgia beats Bama,

it's Georgia. Michigan beats Iowa, it's Michigan. If Oregon Iowa, it's Michigan. If Oregon wins the rematch, I have no issue there. For me, it's going to come down to Florida State and Texas. If Florida State's 13-0, even with the backup, over the course of the weekend, as much as I hate this expansion thing, then I have to be true to that now. If Florida State's 13-0, I've got to put them in over Texas with the better win. i think some people would

point to like well wait a minute why is why is oregon and over texas because i've watched all the teams play and i think oregon's the second best team in the country right now i pick them against anybody except for georgia i just would might be yeah i might be wrong but i think they have it all i think they have everything and part of that's probably the georgia pedigree uh and i don't care what the oregon georgia score was from from previous seasons uh which probably be brought up by some but that's that's like in that scenario playing out that way i go georgia michigan oregon and then florida state and that's feels a little unfair to texas uh and of course bam would have the two losses so it wouldn't matter.

Yeah. I mean, if Georgia wins, Georgia's won. If Georgia loses, Georgia's in and Alabama's in, in my opinion. And that's where it gets interesting. Michigan's obviously in with a win over Iowa, which we assume. I think I saw the spread was what, like 20, 22 and a half points already. The beauty is the Pac-12 championship, it's again, like the Michigan-Ohio State game, it's a playoff, basically a playoff game. It's a play-in game. Washington wins, they're in. They lose, they're out, vice versa for Oregon. So that kind of solves all of it. And those become our three teams if Georgia wins, right? Florida State is the most fascinating case study to me because you've got Tate Rodemaker who comes out as 12 for 25. They throw for, what, 134 yards.

I've got the numbers. Yeah, 134 yards. And you've got these three playmakers, right? Johnny Wilson, Keon Coleman, Jaheim Bell. Coleman had one catch for 24 yards in that game. And then Bell, Wilson, and Coleman combined had 10 catches for 126. If you look at them the rest of the season, what they've done production-wise, to me, you get into a playoff situation, let's say Florida State is four, because if Washington wins, they're going to be the number three seed as an undefeated team. And if Oregon wins, I still think they'll be the number three seed over an undefeated

Florida State team because they've beaten Washington and their schedule has been a lot harder. And Florida State has a question of quarterback. If Florida State gets in and beats Louisville, congratulations, because that's a tough Louisville team. I don't care what's happened recently. That would be a win that earns you the right to go play and being undefeated. But what's the spread Georgia versus Florida? You know, 14, 13, 10. Georgia versus Florida State, you mean? Sorry, Georgia versus Florida State.

It's double digits. Yeah, it's double digits. Versus Georgia versus Oregon if they were the four seed, or Georgia versus Texas. Georgia versus Alabama, we know what that is. I'm just saying it's hard for me because the four deserving teams are Georgia, if they win, Michigan, the winner of the Pac-12, and then FSU. No question.

But are those the four best teams? Nah, they're not. Texas is a better team than Florida State. Texas had to head with Florida State, even with Jordan Travis in there, I think would be favored in that game. That would be a great game. But without him, with Tate at quarterback,

Rodemaker at quarterback, Texas should, I don't want to say roll, but Texas would have a decided advantage. Alabama would have a decided advantage. So that's the thing I struggle with. You play the games for a reason, as you talked about, Ryan, but I want the four best teams in there. And that this year, if Florida State beats Louisville,

it's not going to be the four best teams at that point. They're just it's not going to be. Yeah, and that has been the number one mission statement from the committee the entire time. So I'm glad you brought it up. But then people try to counter it a bit at times where it's like, well, yeah, OK, if it's four best teams, then, you know, why is it? You wasn't the fourth best team in the country last year. But at some point with with Bama's record, like I didn't argue Bama last year, you know why isn't you wasn't the fourth best team in the country last year but at some point with with bama's record like i didn't argue bama last year you know i was like all right sorry yeah it's not happening you know the cost of a loss has to actually mean something i totally

agree i'm just saying at the end of the day it it sucks. And will it be solved with a 12-team playoff? No, it's way worse. It's way worse. Yeah. It'll be more fun. No, I already ran through it. Everything that just happened Saturday doesn't matter. Cool.

Right. I mean, it does in terms of seeding and who you have to play. In the end result, it does to a certain degree. But yeah, it takes away a lot from the end of the season. There's no question about it. But ultimately, I don't know. I just struggle with it. I would so much rather see...

If you're in the room, you're one of the members of the committee, and Florida State, with Rodemaker, beats Louisville, which I think is still a good win. It takes a ding with the Kentucky loss. Right. And Texas takes care of Oklahoma State, which still a good win. It takes a ding with the Kentucky loss, but Texas takes care of Oklahoma State, which is a good win. You're arguing 12-1 Texas with the Bama win because the thing is,

it's not like Florida State's got this bad non-conference, man. They got the LSU win, and that win's a really good win. It is. It is. I'm saying I would vote Florida state in because they've earned it and anyone who's played a game like there we go you go and you run the table undefeated like they deserve to be in there i'm just saying if you take a step back and say like all right what

is the what are the best two matchups for the semifinals it's not florida state involved in that that's all i'm saying okay you're you're absolutely right. I agree with that. I think some people would, there's a lot of Oregon strength of schedule stuff that it's like, okay, well, can they play Oregon State and then Washington first? And by the way, there comes a time where however you want to craft your argument, oh, well, here's our three top 25 against rank. It's like, okay, when they were ranked or currently ranked. You start digging into some of that stuff. You can present a really compelling argument and tear down the opponent

because that's kind of what the head-to-head is here right now is that it's becoming the Texas-Oregon battle because if Florida State beats Louisville, then it's like, no, the argument is in Texas and Florida State. The argument is Texas with the one loss against Oregon with their one loss. And people, I think, would argue correctly that Texas' win at Alabama is still a harder thing for them to do than anything that Oregon did where the rematch is going to be a neutral field. But sometimes I'm just okay saying I've watched all of these teams, not every single minute, not every single snap, but I put my watching resume up against a lot of people and I feel entirely comfortable

feeling great about the Oregon football team. I would just be in the room going, hey, I don't want to hear it. Let's say, throw the records out. You have no responsibility to the records, no responsibility to anything else besides, Ryan, you have watched football all season long. I don't care what, two lost seasons, it doesn't matter. Everyone's eligible for you. I'm telling you, pick me the four best teams that will create the best playoff in terms of the,

Ryan Russillo's best four teams in the country. I don't care what the record is. Go ahead. In order. Georgia, Oregon, Michigan, and Texas. Yeah. Would you pick Michigan, Oregon? Like, who would you pick?

Georgia. It sounds like you like Michigan more than oregon which is fine yeah i think slightly i think slightly i i i've seen more from oregon i think michigan might be slightly better but i i would have them two three i also think the conference it's not even comparable i think the top half of the pac-12 compared to the top half of the big 10 is like two entirely different products i totally agree and there's something too that's where where i have to get to like team four five and six clearly you know oregon's oregon and washington is is kind of on the level of michigan ohio state i don't think that's

outrageous thing to say your top two okay there's your top two but there's something to the fact that you got to like play decent teams every every week to like oregon and what the pac-12 is the best the pac-12 has been in like a decade right yeah of course right on the way out which sucks but like look i think but i think 20 non big 10 west teams in power five football would win i think i come up with 20 teams that would win the Big Ten West. Oh, yeah. I don't think that's crazy at all. It's not. It's not. And I'll just say this.

If Texas and Alabama played on a neutral site tomorrow, and I know Alabama's coming off the Iron Bowl, and that game's always crazy, but who would you take? I'd pick Alabama. Right. But is Alabama fourth? No, no. I mean, it doesn't matter. I just like playing these scenarios out. I love it too. But like there's, as I bring up far too often every season, this circular argument of like, okay, well you're, you're putting more importance on that this year.

I'm like, yeah, that's this year. That's this year. But going back to last year, I don't want to hear it. I know Bama lost to Tennessee, who was rolling last year, and LSU in a two-point conversion. But that second loss, when you start doing the who's the best team, all of us thought Bama was better than TCU. But then what's the point? Then what's the point of doing any of this if Bama is going to have a second loss? Now, great. Those are two really great losses. Yes. And my affinity for the SEC and the arguments that I've made, I didn't argue Alabama over TCU last year. So I was like, what? You can get... Now, granted, if a couple teams had two losses and we're talking about three two-loss teams

and comparing them for the fourth spot, then it would be different. But that's not what we were doing last year. And, you know, look, if Bama loses against Georgia, there's no conversation. I wouldn't imagine anybody in the room is going, well, hey, are we sure? The weird thing would be if Georgia lost. If Georgia loses to Bamaama do they still get in um

i think they absolutely do in other years it's not even a question but like this is what it's been it's it's a lot of depth i mean going up into last week now although how states lost they're out of it but it's still seven teams alive for this going into championship weekend which is incredible i think fsu gets knocked out and I think the committee has a real easy argument. Yes, undefeated, and we get it, but there's no better win than what Alabama had over Georgia. Georgia only loses to a top-seven team in the SEC championship game. Alabama program and FSU doesn't have its starting quarterback. It's an easy out. So you think it would be—we don't even have to seed it.

I think it would be Alabama.'t even have to i think it would be alabama in no order i think all right if i seed it i'll seed it i'll seed it i think it would be michigan one yeah alabama two oh no well it's no yeah it would be michigan one winner of the pack 12 alabama three georgia four yeah because what you really want to avoid even though i've heard this stuff in the past or whenever like i'll pay attention especially back in the days we're always traveling and everybody always have their theories be like oh the committee's not going to do this the committee won't do this and then it would be like actually the committee did that like they didn't care the committee would not give you a two three matchup of bama and georgia they just correct correct that's what and that's why it's easy to put

put them at three and four because they're not going to play is it it's i don't root i i don't root for teams against team four teams i just you know it's it's part of our job. But I feel dirty saying this, but I just want to be honest because I believe in transparency. For the good of college football and for the good of the college football playoff and for the good of just being a football fan, aren't we all, if you're not a Florida State fan, kind of rooting for Louisville this week? I don't want to bring you down with me.

You don't have to answer. I got it with your pause. But if you want the four best teams, and listen, Tate may turn, Roderick Mayker might turn out to be a great quarterback in the future, but if you want the four best teams, don't you want to see Georgia,ia michigan winner of the pack 12 and maybe texas or alabama georgia michigan and the winner of pack 12 like doesn't that feel like it's the strongest for those combinations it is and it's only because jordan travis isn't playing

there but i yeah you're right i don't want to be brought i don't want to be brought down by your anti-florida state statement there um yeah now you're gonna get everyone against me i understand it it's not anti-florida state it's pro who are the four best teams at this point given the quarterback situation of florida state period i touched on in the beginning but again i can't wait i cannot wait until next year where arizona is all right, but our three losses were the first half of the season. And that's when Mississippi state was rolling. They were like, Mississippi state was good the second week of the year. And we've got, you know, we, we controlled the game for 57% of them against top 40 opponents. So, um, anyway, all right, let's do one last draft thing here. Actually,

there's a couple things there's two more things i want to do with you here uh the updated draft order after the giants dominant win against the pats that field goal that field goal miss at the end of the patriots giants game like could you know i don't want to go overboard, but it legitimately for the, for the next five, 10 years could change the, the, the futures of those organizations. The Patriots are now sitting at, all right, so let's go through the order.

Bears have the number one pick because they, they have the trade with the Panthers. The Panthers are one in 10. That's, I don't want to say it's locked in, but right now it's looking pretty good. The Bears are going to have that number one pick the cardinals are sitting at number two two and ten record patriots now are sitting at number three with a two and nine record and then the bears with their their own pick are sitting at number four with a three and eight record then you got

a whole bunch of teams commanders giants titans jetsuccaneers, and chargers all have four wins, four wins. So there that that's kind of a mess at number from five to 10, but by, by winning that game, by the Patriots missing that field goal at the end of the game, which would have only put it in overtime and we would have seen what would happen. But by winning that game, the giants are now now in that kind of cluster of 5-10. With a quarterback situation moving forward, the Patriots are sitting at 3. And the Cardinals, because of Kyler Murray's contract, and you're hopeful that he can turn things around and stay healthy, the Cardinals are not likely to take a quarterback.

I mean, they would be in salary cap purgatory if they were to change directions there. And you have Marvin Harrison Jr., a generational type talent at wide receiver. So very likely the Bears pick at one, they take Caleb Williams, let's say from USC. Cardinals take wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. from Ohio State. Patriots now with that loss,

if the draft was today, still six more games to go. But the Patriots now have locked themselves in temporarily to that number three spot to take Drake May, the quarterback from North Carolina. And after that, like Jaden Daniels has had a great year at LSU. He could be a great pro. J.J. McCarthy, I think, could be a better pro than college player. Like there are a bunch of other guys, one of the deepest quarterback drafts in a while. But it's really about Caleb Williams and Drake May. And some teams I've talked to have May ahead of Caleb Williams

and others have Caleb Williams ahead of Drake May. But bottom line is there, and I've said this before, I said this when we were out in Vegas, there are three rare diamond players in this draft. And it's rare to have that, you know, three guys that you look at that could legitimately change a franchise. And those three guys are there. And the Patriots, by losing, are now in that number three spot,

which to me is fascinating. Like one game, yes, you've got to play out six more games, but one game could be that that could have changed the fate of the organization for the Patriots and the Giants. If you were the Kraft family and you land in the top two picks, would Belichick be the guy that you would want to bring in the next supposed generational quarterback? Oh, geez. You suck. Or am I the best? Asking me that question. No, no. It's a great question.

I'll say this. It feels like... I said this right before Brady left and New England finally took that step backwards. People were calling for the demise of Brady, the demise of the Patriots for a while. getting out of New England and kind of the rumblings and the stories about Kraft and Brady and Belichick. Clearly at that point, and I don't think everyone kind of knew what was going on behind the scenes and now everyone knows what was going on at that time. It just, it felt like that was the time, like legitimately it's over. That runs over. And Brady left, won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay and the rest is history and the Patriots haven't really won, haven't done anything since. This is the time, what I'm hearing, it's kind of the same feeling and information I'm getting. It's not necessarily, obviously, Belichick will go down maybe as the greatest coach in all of the NFL history, right? It feels like this is the time where Kraft, Belichick need a reset.

Okay. So it's not that I don't think Belichick is the right guy to bring in a franchise quarterback and start things over again and rebuild because I think he absolutely can even at this point in his career. I don't think Belichick in New England with the Kraft family, with the current situation, I don't think that that will be the direction that it goes. Robert Kraft, a real solid by like going out of his way to like issue this kind of statement is this mea culpa of like, just so you know, every, every like telling all of Massachusetts, you know, this wasn't Bob's idea. So it was, it was like really calculated the way a lot of stuff was going on and we've been over it a ton. So I think he answered the question. I don't need to do any more on it. All right.

Last thing here. the question. I don't need to do any more on it. All right. Last thing here. Where are you willing to go with Jalen Hurts as far as the neighborhood for him with other quarterbacks? I think Jalen Hurts right now, it's... Watching Tom Brady over the years, it wasn't always the prettiest. It wasn't always the... It wasn't always like all four quarters it was but no matter what the situation was and i'm again everyone's gonna say you're saying he's tom brady i'm not saying he's tom brady but there are two guys in the league down three points six points seven points i don't know why i have balloons going in my background you see that

it's a celebratory moment. Thank you. But I think two guys in the league that I trust the most that I think are in their own tier, and it's Jalen Hurts and it's Patrick Mahomes. Other than that, I think there's a bunch of really good guys. I would trust San Francisco with Brock Purdy. I would trust Josh Allen. He's 0-6 in overtime.

And it seems like a lot of bad breaks. Cisco with Brock Purdy. I would trust, you know, Josh Allen, he's 0-6 in overtime and, you know, it seems like a lot of bad breaks and Gabe Davis in the game, you know, in the recent game on Sunday night, if he runs, if he goes, continues to go straight on that choice route, the option route and gets open, then Buffalo wins the game in overtime. But Josh Allen, to me, might be the most physically gifted of all the quarterbacks. And I would love to go into a game with him and I shoot, I would take him in the fourth quarter down three or six points and all that. But there are two guys, in my opinion, it's Jalen Hurts and Mahomes when you're in that final drive of the game. I'll never forget like watching Brady. This is a great,

great example. Even Brady late in his career, when things weren't going well, I actually took my son to a game against the Rams. The first NFL game, flew down to Tampa, had a great weekend, swimming in the pool, good weather in November. This was like his birthday present, awesome time, get to the game. Thanks to Les Snead, again, the GM for the Rams, got us on the field, sit down in the stands, the game starts. It might've been the worst three and a half quarters of football I've ever seen to the point where I started feeling bad for my son. Like this is a terrible gift, you know, terrible, like watching this, like it just was boring, right? They couldn't do anything offensively. The Rams kind of sucked too. The defenses were

just controlling the quarterbacks were on the ground and then the fourth quarter they get the Tampa Bay gets the ball back with like a minute left they hadn't done anything offensively and you still were like they're gonna win this game and they did and that was like that was it was kind of a microcosm of his career no matter how bad the first three and a half quarters are no matter what's going on no matter what situation, if you give him the ball under two minutes down one score, he's going to find a way to win. And I'm starting to feel like that with Jalen Hurts. You can outplay him for three and a half quarters. It doesn't matter what's going on. He could be fighting with A.J. Brown on the sidelines. There's some issue that's going on. Whatever it is, I saw what i think it was 158 down down whatever points they were down field goal whatever i forget the exact situation but he got the ball and i was

like they're they're good they're good you know and then that was the case and it's just remarkable like i i just watched shaylen hurts and i think he's got something special that very few i think he and mahomes are the only two guys that I absolutely would rely on when it was overtime he was in Buffalo getting the three but more so the Gabe Davis you know option route mix up I was like it hurts it's gonna score yeah it's over it's it was the same thing I felt the same way um but for you to just go like it's Mahomes hurt hurts the cutoff, that's pretty incredible because this is somebody now.

Grant, you studied him for the job. Who else would you put in there? I'm not giving up on Allen. I think in a year, two years from now, we'll be like, oh, I remember when people were trying to say like, there's all these guys better than Josh Allen. Like Josh Allen was insane yesterday. He was awesome.

He was the best player on the field last night. Right. So I'm not. The turnovers are bugging me. You know, the early down, your side of the field, don't need it, throw. He's got too many of those. I've already pissed off the Florida State diehards, and that's going to be enough to deal with this week.

And the Bills Mafia, like, they're a nightmare. I'm not saying, like, I think Josh Allen is arguably the most talented quarterback in the league. He was the best player on the field against the Eagles. I'm talking saying like I think Josh Allen is arguably the most talented quarterback in the league he was the best player on the field against the Eagles I'm talking both teams for if you're talking about all four quarters and he put them in position and did everything he could there was a couple drops late in that game there was the the miscommunication with Gabe Davis he's done everything you can ask of him but I'm just saying the two guys that I believe in, in that one specific situation are Mahomes and Hertz and everybody else.

And Allen would be near, if not at the top of the rest of the guys, but I just don't have that same trust level. That's all I'm saying. That's totally fine. And I think that's just observing the downside of Allen versus like when Hertz screws up now. And this is something else too. Like if you had told me, granted Allen didn't get off to the greatest start,

but you know, it took me a long time with Hurt because of what I saw at Bama. And then at Oklahoma, I was like, whatever, everybody just looks like they're going to win the Heisman when they go there with Lincoln Riley. You know,

there's plenty of quarterbacks like this. I had a hard time with Jaden Daniels and now he's insane. Bo Nix, I did not trust for, I don't know, the first seven years he was in college football. And Hurts though, to go right now, if you said, would you... Now, I already know what Eagles fans are going to say because it's their guy and Buffalo would probably still rep their guy. But the fact that you wouldn't be laughed off a TV set by saying, if I'm Philly and you offer me Josh Allen for Jalen Hurts, I'd say no, and I'd say no quickly, is probably one of the most remarkable progression stories

for a quarterback. Unbelievable. I'm not saying all the time here, but look, Hurts' development, but, uh, look, he hurts, hurts his development. And maybe it really was like that stuff that we saw with him, with his composure, like getting benched for two of, because Saban's like, I need something more dynamic. You know, we need to get back into this game. And most coaches wouldn't even have done that. And they did it. You know, hurts was just limited. It was a lot of one read and I'm out of here.

And it would get really frustrating. It was never never arm strength it wasn't the physical stuff was all there but if you watched him enough you're like there's just kind of a limitation on what you're going to get out of your offense and and now he is like basically what you're saying because i wouldn't pick anybody against mahomes it's just not happening mahomes is in his own tier and everybody has to get a ticket but the fact like i'm sitting at home on these games going, yeah, I kind of trust Hurts here. He'll figure something out. It's incredible.

Look, this is a carryover last year. I never thought during his career at Alabama, Oklahoma, first season in the NFL, I never thought, to your point, that we would ever be in this place, or I would ever be in this place or I would ever be in this place mentally where I trust him as much as any quarterback in the league in a game, but especially in the fourth quarter when it's all on the line. I never thought we would be here ever. And it's just, it's a testament. I mean, I love the stories of him showing up every day.

Like everyone always says, well, the quarterback's first one in last one out. Like you talk to people in that organization like showing up with a with a briefcase at like 4 35 in the morning and being and leaving like ridiculous hours like there was no way he was going to allow himself everyone's yeah first one in last one out and everyone said he's such a hard worker. It's legendary in Philadelphia, the work he's put in weight room, film room, practice field, extra reps. He's a classic example of what drive. He and Brady are the two guys, like disappointment early on

in their careers in college, in the NFL, and just being forced into a place mentally where fight or flight. And Jalen Hurts took the fight to everybody else, and you're seeing that payoff, and it's phenomenal. What an unbelievable story he is. Absolutely. Nothing to add to that. Great show today, man.

Thanks for stopping by. We'll talk to you again next week. You got it, bud. Always fun. They say money can't buy happiness. look at the fucking smile on my face. Ear to ear baby. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari, 355 cabriolet.

What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life advice. Life advice email address, as always,

lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. That other one is different. It just means Rudy. Kyle is off this week. He's back east, eh? Yeah, he's back in New York, maybe scouting out spots for the bar he wants to open in the next couple years. I don't know. Actually, I think it's

Grandpa's birthday or something. It's a whole thing. But he's been gone for a week, so our boy's getting a little bit of rest. Well deserved. Looking forward to it. Alright, let's just get to the emails then. This is from a guy asking, will I ever feel settled down? Hello, 6'1, 170.

Lifting numbers are not impressive. 235 bench, on and on. But I wrestled at some point. By the way, those are fine numbers. I wrestled at some time in my life so I can hold my own with bigger dudes and bang out pull-ups if somebody wanted to wage your money on it.

Do people do that? Not a lot, but I think it's just knowing that it's there. He starts challenging guys. He's going to make it a thing. What's that hanging thing? Is that a bar in New York City where you have to hang from the thing for a minute? Yeah. Is it one minute or two minutes?

One minute. Are we getting IT on this? I'm looking right now it is hmm i can't i don't think it's one minute i don't think i think minutes too easy does two minutes even also feel kind of easy no two minutes is hard hang 100 seconds for a hundred dollars challenge that's something i just saw on youtube um now i thought there was a bar somewhere where you maybe it's 100 seconds um which would be which is hard that's 140 just to hang just to just to not even pull

yourself just to literally hang there for 100 seconds i gotta try this later try it yeah try it maybe i'll go live on instagram see See what's up. Let us know. Send us that link. Yeah, I will. So anyway, our guy can do some pull-ups. He said he sucks at hoops because all wrestlers are bad at basketball. I will tell you that that's a scientific fact. 25 years old.

Yeah. Decided on impulse to go to a large school in the Midwest in the Big Ten where I met my now girlfriend of six years. Growing up first generation American kid, I've always felt the need to explore and see the world because my parents were unable to. I've always had aspirations to live in a big city and get away from the smallness of my upstate New York childhood. Kyle's not sending this in. Is he going to pull up? I've even considered living in Asia for a bit. If a job opportunity presented itself, the need fueled my decision for college and post-college move to a larger Midwest city. Some of that decision was COVID related and accepting any job offer.

After a quick two-year stint there, I moved to Arizona to get a change in scenery. I wouldn't have accepted moving so easily, but Chicago was supposed to be my New York city and turned out to be its own thing. Fun, but not as crazy as what I was searching for. You wanted crazier? Well, it's a good thing you went to Arizona. Hopefully you went to Scottsdale. I can't help but feeling like I'll never be content as I am a few months into this recent move. In the back of my mind, don't know if this is where I will stay even with all the great things Arizona has to offer, weather, parks, golf, sports, not needing to use public transportation. I love it here i

couldn't imagine being here for the serial future but i also did not think i would only be in chicago for two years and that changed very quick having discussed with friends uh but they either live close to home or have never had the same itch to bounce around the country question do you have any advice on beating this feeling of not being content nope um yeah yeah the dilemma is that moving to the next place does not guarantee i will lose this feeling and i don't want to be the reason my girlfriend and i bounce to a new city in a year keep the future plans on hold because i'm stir crazy love this show really appreciate all the hours to get the content out okay uh look man i feel i feel you on this one um you know one of the biggest myths is like

you'll move somewhere and you're like everything's gonna be different it's like well no you're probably gonna be the same you're just gonna live somewhere else now granted if you've lived i've lived in some places i've despised and this is the first time in my life that i can ever say that i live somewhere that i love to live like Like when I landed LAX and I get to come home, it's the first time I'm like, awesome, I get to go home. I hadn't ever felt that feeling until I was like 43. and I still, and again, I think this is the personality thing. I don't know that it's all of us, but I still will have moments where I'm like, what if I ever, you know, what if I did this? Like when I had the decision to make where I was going to get paid by ESPN for a year, but I didn't have to work.

And I was like, man, this might be the year to do it. South of France for like not 10 days but nine months be that guy yep yeah start picking up the language although who knows what the money i was making i might have even a little forward to stay there nine months the point is like i i hear you i hear you but i think the gift of age is realizing that like when i was younger, I've spent some time thinking about this. I think one of the biggest myths is that you hit this like amazing lane of peace and contentment, that there's like this pure happiness that exists

that we're all rowing our boats towards. And the big joke is that it doesn't really fucking exist, man. And it's not to be depressing and you know life is littered with all of these incredible moments right those those peaks and i'm not even talking about like whether you're in your own shit and you're depressed or whatever but when i was younger i for whatever reason maybe it's not having an older brother or an older sister to tell me how dumb all my theories were, but I expected like, oh, by this age, I'll be like this. And then this age, I'm going to be like this and on and on and on. I had these like mental checkpoint projections of all the things that are going to happen and they were all wrong. They were all wrong. And what you realize is you're pursuing something that probably doesn't exist.

You may just be an antsy person. You may spend time on Zillow looking at neighborhoods you're never going to live to, but you're imagining a version of your life that's maybe just a sliver better than where you're at right now. You're thinking, oh, it'd be cool to live there. But you know what's funny about whenever you're in, maybe you'll love being overseas or everything. I love to travel, but I love coming home. And you start like, what if I find this little village outside of San Remo and just, I'll be like the local guy. I'll get my produce outside and all this. And you're like, shit, my internet sucks.

Yeah, I can't play Xbox Live. What is going on right now? Yeah. This is lat pull down only goes up to 110 so i'm not telling you there's like i'm all for the exploring thing it sounds like your girlfriend's a sweetheart to keep putting up with all this kind of stuff um you might want to factor that one into the whole thing and it could be really easy and i'm not going to try to give you the shit instagram would give you like you know count the blessings you have and all that kind of shit but i would say to younger younger people in general this pursuit of this like this this just perfect level of contentment doesn't exist it's it's not going

to happen yeah i think the best part about getting older is the challenges that were maybe more challenging when you're younger, aren't as challenging when you're older. You're like that shit. I'm not going to worry about that. I'm not dealing with that. And you, you just kind of start to accept and you're less, you're less shook by any of the, uh, the challenges in life, but you also start to accept like, yeah, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't mean everything's just going to be awesome all the time. And it's certainly not going to be just because you move somewhere else. It's probably a lot,

a lot of you in there. Some people are like, I envy, I envy simple. I envy somebody who just is like, don't need anything, whatever. It's cool.

In-laws down the street. Everything's fucking great. This is what I want to do. I have no aspirations to go anywhere else. great this is what i want to do i have no aspirations to go anywhere else this is exactly who i want to be and i'm totally cool with it i kind of envy that i am not that way did this person say how old they were um i got to imagine if he said covid after school and the whole thing we're gonna be talking 20s yeah 25 years old so i don't i just think you're i feel like you're a little too young

to be worried about this stuff you know if you're in your you know i'm 35 if i was 35 and didn't have and was still a kind of like nomadic and where i lived what my job was and dragging my girlfriend all across the country like i'd be a little more worried about it but you're still kind of too young i think to be having this this issue um i i would say enjoy real quick though i think it's cool that he's like in a way thinking about it but you're absolutely right like in a way maybe the best advice would be like dude you need to just take a fucking deep breath and be like the next 20 years is gonna be figured out this week okay so go ahead and i know i was one of those guys where you know i remember like in high school and going to college, I'm like, okay, yes, just like you.

I'll be married by 25. I'll have kids by this age and whatever. And I look back now, I'm like, that was dumb. Imagine if I did that, I'd be terrible. My life would suck. I wouldn't be in the position that I'm in now. So you have plenty of time once you approach it. Once you get into your 30s and your early 30s, and now I'm 35 now, I think I would be freaking out if I didn't have this, always leading to a situation that I'm

in now. But that's what I wanted in life, right? I wanted to be married, have a house, have kids, obviously have a stable job and whatnot. But I've had many friends that I think have wanted different things. One of my best friends, he was just nomadic in his 20s. He lived in a bunch of different cities. He settled in Chicago. And that's what he likes now. So I think you don't have to make this decision right now. If you like Arizona, that's great. If you want to move somewhere else, that's great. All these checkpoint things, they have, I feel like, a decade of variance of when that actually has to happen. Now, if you want to settle down and have kids and live in a neighborhood, then all right, maybe you need to make a five-year plan and do that. But I just I just don't think that you're, you should be worried about that at this

particular moment in your life. But to your point about, you know, like, ever thinking about like the simple life and just being Oh, that would be easy to just do that. You know, I, the people who like live in their hometown, like they get like a bad rap, right? It's like, Oh, they never tried anything. They never did anything. But some of those people are like really happy. You know, I couldn't be one of those people. I don't live very far from my hometown, but I don't live in my hometown. My kids aren't going to go to high school and have the same teachers that I had. I didn't want that. But all those people really like their lives and are happy with their lives. So I always find it weird when people make fun of that. Yeah, it shouldn't be made fun of. I mean, if we want to get real into solo driving,

when I have to go up to the Canadian border to visit my one still living grandparent, you know, I try to do that trip a couple of times a year. I'll just drive to these towns like in the Northeast kingdom. And I'm like, I wonder what that guy's up to. Yeah. Like, what are you doing here? Like, what's that guy doing? I'm like, is he happy though? Like, you know, he's just going out of the general store, shoot the shit, grab a newspaper, and then tends to his acreage, you know?

So, but I think that's a lot of like, you know, painting some picture in your head of like, oh, I wonder if that guy's like got it all figured out or whatever. And then it's like, you know, I spend two seconds going, yep, not for me. Like, I'm not doing that or whatever. But I don't think it ever should be made fun of. The biggest thing I ever tell anybody, whether it was siblings or whatever, I was like, what I think you need to do is you need to move and you'll either say, hey, this was great, or it'll mean you'll really appreciate coming home because you got a taste of something. But seriously, I think Saruti, your best advice, I think the best advice of all of

this was when you just said, hey, at 25, like if your girlfriend's down, all right, go ahead, pick out the next place. Like pick out the next place. Have the nomad thing. Get a bunch of different experiences. It's actually kind of cool to be in your 30s and be like, yeah, I lived in Chicago. I lived in Arizona. I lived in Miami. I lived in, you know, and maybe you'll start to kind of figure out what is really, really important to you. But this, you know, out what is really, really important to you. But this turnkey move to the new town, oh my God, I found it. I found happy town and none of my shit in my head is bothering me anymore. That's why Zillow is so popular. It's not the property, it's imagining a new lifestyle.

I keep telling you how much more your house is worth than you bought it. It's like, wow. It's that too. You guys are messing with my head right now. Zillow's like reading fiction. My house is worth double? Wait, what? No, I'm not even talking about that. I think it's more popular because someone's like, look at the faucets.

Yeah, we could live here. Oh my God, it's 1.7 miles to the all right uh help me pump the brakes with the girlfriend and life advice long time listener 40 year old 5 10 220 on the way down pro comp is ryan reynolds once you realize i'm not an asshole i'm hilarious we doing actor comps now yeah that's a i guess there's no rules man i don't like people comparing him. He's one of the hottest dudes alive. He's funny.

Is he funny? I think he's pretty funny. I will say, in the Welcome to Rexham show, I think Rob is way funnier, but Ryan is the more polished Hollywood guy. You think he's that hot? That came out of nowhere. I don't think that's even controversially he's a good looking dude

yeah but it was very passionate the way you said it well he's not joan hall but he's he's you know i'd say he's top 10 15 you know he'd make the college football rankings of hot dudes next year how are those uh Chalamet Chanel cologne ads treating you at home? I don't love them, but I don't love any of those ads. He's in that Wonka movie. I'm going to skip that one. Sorry to my guy. I think it looks great. Do you?

Okay, so I'll try and be succinct. Look forward to the response. I had the pod on autoplay jumping in the truck. All right. The guy's got a truck. Let me back off now. It slid right into life advice.

First time with my girlfriend exposed the pod. Let's call her Jenny. It was one of the many boyfriend, girlfriend advices. I think the poor ex-boyfriend that was moving his ex-girlfriend across the country. That is unimportant to the situation. As Ryan starts into the bulk of the content and painting the picture of the scenario, like Bob Ross painting a happy tree, Jenny is coming in

hot like Jack Black trying to get a solo in on a song in School of Rock. By all means, I assume that the conversation between she and I would be interactive with us solving the problem, but I had no idea I would get my face melted by advice while straining to hear Ryan's close out on the problem. My question is this, should i discuss with her installing some sort of etiquette of letting you guys get through the problem and then discussing or just save life advice for me as though i make the threesome into our four horsemen and solving problems and saving lives love the pod long live the alliance don't let your boy get hot uh This has become an increasing problem, I feel like, with more guys listening with their significant others.

And it's kind of screwing up their routines. And it's a tricky situation, man, because I would never say, I would never, like, I think it's good if you have this thing that you can both listen to and enjoy. But if you're not enjoying it, that does kind of blow. So it's a slippery slope. Yeah, this isn't a song you know dudes are talking and they're saying things and to be entertained by it which we appreciate those of you that are um it would be frustrating to listen to if you couldn't hear the talking part so maybe he can just play

this for her next time they're in the truck although she's not going to hear it i guess i don't think it's you think she'll do you think she'll listen to and go oh my god that's me or she'll be like oh my god that's so annoying thinking it's not her. I don't know. Depends on how self-aware she is. I would like to think that she would be like, oh, wait. Maybe after Clinton. Yeah, maybe what you do is you play this for her. Now it's going to be too obvious though. Like, hey, honey, let's listen to this specific episode of Life Advice right now.

I don't know. I think that's a little bit too on the nose. I don't think it's that big of a deal to have a conversation with. Just say, hey, we both really like this. Can we just have a rule of like, we'll pause it, but let Ryan finish first. Let him finish first. We could even pause it before we all give our advice or whatever we want to do. But let's just hear the setup first, and then we will hit pause before we start talking.

I think that's totally fair. Yeah, it could almost be like a board game, right? before we start talking. I think that's totally fair. Yeah, it could almost be like a board game. Right? You could pause it once the scenario has played itself out prior to us coming to our conclusions,

or you could listen to the whole thing and then say, here's what we think they got wrong. Right? Yeah, just a little, honey, love you. Glad we have this thing, you know, that we both love.

But we just got to hear Ryan finish it first. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. So I think, and if she gets mad at you for that, man, there you go. It might be a red flag. All right, let's do one more here. 64190 currently trying to bulk up to a lean 200, 23 years old,

Midwest location, in case it matters. It always helps us kind of, you know, some of the sensibilities, right? Hey, fellas, big fan of the pod. Need you guys to weigh in a debate that came up over Thanksgiving. My dad says he has a problem with my generation and their etiquette at the local gym. For starters, he can... So wait, this is the inverse of our normal issues.

Bigger Midwest, dad's going to be in the 50s. Could be a little bit... Don't know if the guy has siblings or whatever. So for starters, he complains that none of them use locks on gym lockers when he shows up with his bag and padlock looking for a locker he opens up lockers until he finds an empty one the kicker is that he intentionally leaves the lockers wide open when he comes across one that is in use that doesn't have a lock on it uh kind of a dick move yep i love it i don't love that I don't love that one at all.

He just, hey, there's stuff in here, and since they didn't bring a lock, like, hey, credit to you for bringing a lock. I get it. It's annoying. You know what? You're trying to find one. It has stuff in it. You opening the door and seeing stuff in there and then closing it is maybe a two-second transaction. You're going to find

one. You know what's far worse? If you're like, oh my God, I can see why that would get frustrating pretty quick if you're just opening a bunch of lockers and they're all filled with stuff. It would. But you're also inviting people to be way more comfortable stealing something. I'm not a huge fan. As someone who's had multiple car break-ins throughout

my life, somebody would be like, oh, well, it wasn't locked. I'm like, oh, yeah. I get it. The thief is cool. The guy who just stole something's fine because i forgot my locker today that you okay that guy yeah that guy good for him actually my bad i'll issue a statement um so we don't like that one his thought is quote if you aren't going to put a lock on the locker the locker might as well be wide open since you clearly don't care about your items i as a 22 or a 23 year, think that he sounds insane being pissed off that the local teens and college bros aren't using locks. Now, granted, if they aren't using locks too, it's

probably like I've done it before. You're just like, all right, sure. Whatever sock change out these shoes. Like I'd rather have a lock, but if I'm visiting somewhere or whatever, you know, I'm just doing like, I'll, I'll take'll take the risk secondly he complains about the sauna etiquette of the young bucks at the gym coming into this quote quote coming into the sauna and jacking it up to a thousand degrees which limits the amount of time he can last in there last time he was in the sauna he told the younger guy to pump the brakes on the third water dump on the sauna heater as it was too much, too quick. Settle the debate.

Are his locker actions justified? What rules are there, if any, in the sauna? The first one I have, I think he's totally wrong. Second one, I think you've got to be first guy in the sauna. First guy in, first guy to leave, I think he's totally wrong. Second one, I think you've got to be first guy in the sauna, you know, first guy in first guy to leave the non-football cliche. Yeah. I think if you're, look, if you're an older guy, there's an age window there where, you know, if you're like

my age, I don't know that you're in charge, but I would defer to the old guy in the sauna. I think there should be like a five to maybe seven to ten year gap and then beyond that you defer. If an older guy is in the gym, so like if he's in the sauna before and he goes, hey, take it easy on the third bucket. Three buckets in seems like a lot, but I'm more of a cold tub guy than I am the sauna guy. We know that about you, yeah. Yeah, right. I don't have the square footage for that on top of everything else. So I know he's getting upset. I know he's getting mad, but just tell him he's a couple years away from never putting anything back and like the i'm assuming he's a boomer likely maybe he's gen x like you know an older gen x guy but like there's plenty of things that those guys do at the gym that piss off younger people that are bullshit too i mean like we've had so how many emails have you had about guys just like letting their junk hang out or you know just going no

towels what's worse not locking a locker or some guy walking around with balls out like i i'm starting to respect it just here's my dick and balls i don't respect it at all i don't know i'm starting to respect it i've pivoted a bit here recently where i think it's like the most alpha move ever like i'm 70 it's disgusting here it is i don't think it's even it's just like a time like times were different guys were just more comfortable with being naked around other guys i guess back then and it's not right or wrong but it just that's not how younger people operate i always thought it was weird, like in high school, like when they had showers, I'm like, who the hell uses these showers? And at some point in

our high school's history, dudes use those showers. It's just like, you know, times change. So I hope you threw that back in his face because it's, you know, everybody has their, everyone, it's like no generation is perfect. We all have our own stupid things. I'm a no locks guy. I don't really ever lock my car unless I'm in like a city or something. But if my car is parked in my driveway, I don't lock it. There are times when I don't even lock the door to my house. It's a calculator risk I take. Was it going to bite me in the ass? Maybe. But that's my fault. That's not your fault, dude. Maybe it's a little bit different because you're trying to find a locker. But it's a 30-second minor inconvenience. The sauna thing, I'm not a a sauna guy so i don't really know but i would just

say it probably is like whoever's the first person in there gets to make the rules and that's the way it is yeah you brought up something good with older guys liking to be naked i mean you want to start talking about some of the gender battles like who's winning who's up in the standings in this category like you go to a ballpark in the 90s you're just going in a trough in the men's room. It's still pretty fucking gross. Imagine going on The View and being like, hey, I'm just here just trying to raise awareness to like, can we get past troughs?

Yeah. Get this guy out of here. All right. I think we're on the same page here. I think this lock thing is totally screwed up because you're just, you're removing one little layer of prevention, even though there's no lock.

But like for you to go steal something where you're like, I actually have to open the door to check to see if I want to steal something. Leaving them open is now like, well, it was open or maybe the guy's gone or whatever. Like people can get weird

the way they'll accept like, well, this isn't really stealing because it's this. And it's like, no, it is stealing. It's just a different version of it. The sauna thing.

If he's first one in and he's like, don't, don't no third bucket of water. I'm on his side on that one, but he's trending towards, this is going to get worse. Just so you know, this isn't going to turn around.

This is, he's going to, yeah, there's going to be an incident and he's going to, he's going to have to potentially find, this can't be cured. Yeah. There's going to be an incident and he's going to, he's going to have to, you know, potentially find a new gym

in the future. Yeah. There will be a sauna incident. Well said. That's life advice. Thanks, Stefan. So Rudy, and we'll be back on Wednesday.

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