The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Drew Brees and Twitter Mailbag With Andy Staples | Dual Threat With Ryen Russillo (Ep. 7)

Episode Date: October 10, 2018

Ryen Russillo discusses Drew Brees becoming the all-time passing leader and answers some mailbag questions. Then he talks college football playoff implications with Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

here's the plan for dual threat today from the ringer i'm ryan rossillo we're gonna have andy staples of sports illustrated he is going to join us we're going to go through all the conferences because i spend a lot of time going through the conferences every team's non-conference schedule against other alleged big boys power fives and a sprinkling of teams that we respect in there i expect the most complaints that i'll get from this will be that somebody will say how come you didn't include well san jose state's not gonna include it in it but you understand the point like there's gonna be one fan base like i can't believe you guys know that we played memphis right um that could have been overlooked in today's prep on the legal pads out at the Casa in Manhattan beach.

So I just went through everybody's and I think as we start getting it, there's nothing more entertaining slash horrifyingly annoying than the angst about how your conference is perceived. And my overall point will be that I just, I think there's a lot of holes in a lot of these conferences. Like a lot of these comp, most of the conferences have let us down. So I will do that. We got staples. We're going to take some questions from you. And also Drew Brees making history, most passing yards in NFL history.

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The best part, BetQL is free to download from your mobile device. Head to BetQL.co. Use the promo code DUAL, that's D-U-A-L, for your three-day trial. Oh, so wait, I can just do this and then get a three-day trial i'm gonna do this as soon as i get out of here give yourself an advantage over vegas and download betql that's betql.co and promo code dual we'll get to your questions in a sec here but drew brees all-time passing leader as far as yards in their win against washington and that's now 72 000 yards and everybody i always think it's interesting when you have a guy,

and the cool thing being back at ESPN is that because I was there every day, I ran into all these ex-athletes, and some of them you become friends with and others hate you. But you go, all right, what's this guy like? What's this guy like? And Breeze was somebody that for the most part, everybody would just go, he's a really good guy. So it felt as if there were a ton of people that were incredibly happy for him.

And it's a remarkable story because it's not that he was, you know, we sit here and we go, how unlikely is it that Brees did this? And he's a second round pick. You go, well, Brady was a sixth round pick and he might be the greatest of all time. So we've had a couple of these things happen. I could play the game of trying to, I don't know if it's knocking it down or just putting it in a historical perspective, because I think the day after is not the day to start asking where Drew Brees ranks all time. Every one of us is going to do it, but it's the wrong day

to do it. It's the wrong, because the better thing would be in five years to ask this stuff, because now John Elway is getting beat to hell by everybody going, oh, you know, when I was younger and Elway retired, more people were saying Elway, physical traits, what he did, those Denver teams were messed. He got to all those Super Bowls and then lost them and then wins two in a row to close it out. If you had said, hey,

I think Elway's the best quarterback of all time when you put it all together, numbers, Super Bowls, and it's just raw ability, there weren't many people that were arguing with you when he walked away in 1998 and when I hear people doing it now I hear Brady won and Montana was always the number one

guys for no playoffs or excuse me for no the Super Bowls Montana Montana Montana Montana is now 18th all-time passing okay Montana is now 18th all-time passing. Okay? Montana is, his last season, he's 38. So Brady, imagine if Brady retired three years ago. Imagine if I had gotten married six years ago.

Right? That's Joe Montana. So of the passing leaders, it's Breeze Manning and then Favre, Brady, Dan Marino, Eli, Roethlisberger, and Rivers. So that means if I include Peyton in this, although he's now been out of the league, this would be his third season out. Yeah, that's right. Breeze, let's call Manning a contemporary or modern guy. One, two, three, four, five, six. Did you hear Rosillo's podcast?

He counted the other day. It was sick. It was so good. He counted out loud to six. Six of the top eight passers are of modern era, and five of them are still active. Brees, Brady, Manning, Roethlisberger, Rivers. There's something to that.

Is it okay to say that? Like, there's something to the fact that all these guys are modern because we know the game. We know that it's not just the rules. It's not just the penalties that we call now and the safety of the quarterback and all those different things. I think it has more to do with the offensive systems that these guys are running the entire time.

So I'm happy for Breeze that he has the ring. If he didn't have the ring, he'd be Philip Rivers. Then it also started making me think, wait a minute, imagine if Philip Rivers had a ring, would he be Aaron Rodgers? Like, would we talk about Aaron Rodgers being better? So when I hear somebody go, okay, it's Brady, and then it's Montana, and then people put Favre up there, although Favre had some weird years there where he was totally reckless and just threw it to everybody.

And then he comes back and he was basically an MVP with Minnesota in that first year. He was so good. I couldn't believe how, how great he was when he came back. What a 2009. Yeah. 2000.

He was 40 years old in 2009. So that Jets year, not as successful, but that's okay. So if you're going Montana, like we're already leaving Manning out of this thing and how could Breeze be better than Aaron Rodgers if Aaron Rodgers for how many years in a row has been considered the best quarterback in the NFL that doesn't make any sense to me either so if you're putting Breeze ahead against Rodgers or ahead of him today

have you ever on any talk show at any point of the last five or six years said, I think Breeze is the best quarterback in the NFL? Six years? I don't know. I don't think I've heard anybody do that. It's a long time, but I think you're right. I've heard guys go, I think it's Brady. I think it's Rodgers. I think it's Rodgers.

I think it's Brady. I personally think Rodgers is the most talented of the quarterbacks. I think he might be the most talented that I've ever seen, but he's not going to have the resume of Brady. We already know that. And by the way, Rodgers, when you start looking at this resume, I went through it again this morning. The playoff losses that his defense have just Venom-style

attached themselves to his legacy. He's 10-7 in the playoffs. Did you see Venom, by the way, Kyle? I did. I did see it. Sounded excited about it. It was good and it was weird and it was great. Tom Hardy hasn't let me down yet.

Tom Hardy, don't see Locke. I already saw it. And you liked it? No, but he didn't let me down. He didn't let you down? The whole movie is in the car. The whole movie is him in a car and a speakerphone. It's atrocious.

Actually, I got to stop making fun of movies and TV shows. I've had some people in business be like, hey, you never know. You never know who you're going to be in the room pitching an idea to. And we're like, hey, Ryan, this is Tommy, writer, director of Locke. I'm like, oh. I don't know. Yeah, it was a tough watch. Tom Hardy's in the car the entire time.

So if I run through Roger's resume here, playoff game log. Again, 10-7 first career. Loss against Arizona's team gave up 51 points. Then they won the Super Bowl. Comes back that next year for the Super Bowl win. They lose to the Giants. They give up 37.

Next year, they lose to San Francisco. They give up 45. Next year, they lose to San Francisco again. They give up 23. Oh, good job, guys. Seattle, that was that weird game where they had the half lead, and then Rodgers wasn't very good in that game, and it ended up, yeah, Green Bay was up 16-0 at the half.

Remember that game? That game was nuts. That was already four years ago. More than four years ago, because that was playoff time four years ago. All right, stop reminiscing. They gave 20 of that one, against arizona two years ago and then last year when they lost to atlanta they gave up 44 he is not the problem but thank god

rogers has that ring because i don't think i don't think people give him credit be a bunch of phil rivers out here it would be yeah i mean we got phil rivers left and right i have an incredible philip river stat if you'll allow me to um read from my phone because i took a picture of it i don't know who put it up there's a graphic uh there's a picture of me my shirt off there's something wrong with a cabinet in my house here's a diet that i want to try. Okay, I can't find it on my phone, but to say that Breeze is right there with Brady in Montana, and I'm not killing you for doing it, okay? I'm not, but I have to ask if you've had a show, did you ever say that Breeze was ahead of Rodgers?

Because I think almost everybody has said that Rodgers is the most talented or at least the best, or people have had him only behind Brady. Breeze has lived in that tier one neighborhood this entire time. But as great as he is, I'm thrilled he has the ring. But I worry how we'd look at him if he didn't. It'd be very different. And it is okay to admit that of the current guys that are chucking it, the guys now are putting up numbers that we've never seen before.

And then all these guys are going to get passed in another 10. Pat Mahomes is going to be on this list in four weeks. Matt Ryan is 15th all time in passing in NFL history. You realize that, right? 15th already. Just ahead of Dan Fouts. How old is Matt Ryan? Like 20.

I think he's 33. Yeah. Let's see here. Let's see how much of a weirdo I am. He is 33. Yeah, that was pretty weird. You got it right on, didn't you? That's because we did that

who do you want in three years thing. I remember saying he was 36. There was one quarterback I kept saying is Nate. I think it was, it may have been Rogersgers I think I kept saying that Aaron Rodgers was older than he actually is but Rodgers and I aren't as friendly as Matt Ryan and I are would you guess who would you guess that I'm the closest with amongst NFL quarterbacks Phil Rivers. Never.

I'm kidding. Yeah, I think I said Rodgers was 36 on that three-year projection podcast, and that was wrong. I don't know why. Like sometimes you're sitting there researching, you just write one number down wrong, and then it's something that's stuck in your head, and then I kept repeating it.

That's why Aaron Rodgers actually may be the right answer, despite all the Pat Mahomes stuff. Three years, who do you want? Rodgers is 37. I expect to still be really good and I expect his defense to be atrocious and them to lose in the playoffs earlier than they should and then people start saying, hey, what's this guy's problem? You go, because he doesn't tackle anybody. The Green Bay is getting dangerously close

to criminal lack of support. Not paying the divorce, the payments aren't coming in. Deadbeat guy, but then you see him in a new F-150 driving around. Babies eating ketchup packets. Exactly.

Well, no, but like, okay, so wait a minute. You're dating somebody and you get a new F-150 and you can't pay your child support this month? That's what the Packers are. And it bums me out because I think Rodgers is that great. Closest quarterback. Who am I the closest? Drew Brees side note 1999 your boy

Russillo DJ Negril and Brees walked up and asked us to play some jams and I was like

hey Drew Brees and he was there with all of his Purdue guys that's crazy yeah and I've told I've told him

that story three times and the third time he's like hey man you really like that story huh i was like yeah all right i guess stop telling it oh i was gonna say did it hurt any less when he didn't remember it but he remembered every time he remembered well the funny thing was when i recognized him at the thing he was like man he goes nobody nobody recognized me he's your guys you're the only person to recognize me drew breeze yeah that's so funny. I was like,

yeah, whatever you guys want, you know, let me know. And I'll put on tunes for you. Pick the jams. What do you guys want? Scrubs?

You want pigeons? Let me know. And he was really nice and he's been nice ever since. And when I went down to New Orleans and I did the Super Bowl shows with Van Pelt

and he totally called me out and I don't know why I ever did this, but I bought a fake Panerai. That's so not me to have a fake watch at all, but I wanted one for travel if I was traveling to places that were somewhat sketchy. And ironically enough, a watch was stolen.

So then I threw on the fake Panerai. And then he looks, he's like, oh, sweet Panerai. And then within two seconds, Breeze goes, that's fake. And I'm like, yeah, I know. He's like, well, how would you wear a fake watch? He was really giving me the what for. And I said well i gotta tell you you know being here and we're in new orleans for a bunch of days like yeah and he goes what are you saying about my city man and he was he was kind of like annoyed isn't it serious yeah but i didn't i didn't want to be like well

because my the real one was actually already stolen. By the way, I got it back. So that's a whole nother long story. But yeah, I think a third event, I thought I was staggering them out in enough years. And I've interviewed them a million times. And it's something I fixed in the last few years that I'm not as close. And I've definitely, you just know, like Drew Brees is like, hey, dude, cool story.

I'm psyched you have your little radio show there with Van Pelt. We're not buddies. And, you know, you can say hi, but I don't need the third reminder over the six-year, seven-year stretch. Be like, oh, you were in the grill with me. Yeah, we weren't in the grill together, actually. Like I was a guy slinging it in the Big Ten before the spread stuff even took it off tiller style. And congrats on your little gig there with the, with the,

you know, the mini discs and you guys scratching it every now and then. And I appreciate you pointing out the inflatable trampoline, but I'm a future hall of famer with a bunch of kids and investment opportunities left and right. I know we're at the same ESPN gala, but it's not that interesting to me. Like we have, you got to come with some more heat next time.

Yeah, we have different lives. Like I'm three years younger than you, dude. Grow up. That's my Drew Brees segment. I'll get to a couple of questions. We haven't done this before, so it's just going to sort of be live. That will do it.

Comedian Anthony Jeselnik and best friend and NFL analyst Greg Rosenthal once had an NFL podcast called The Rosenthal and Jeselnik Vanity Project. The show ended, but hope remained they would one day return. Great news, they're back, now part of Comedy Central's podcast network.

Anthony and Greg will discuss sports, current events, and everything in between. Jeselnik's just ruthless, right? Like, how does that guy do? Like, if you don't go for it on fourth down and that's Jessel Nick's favorite team, does he just wish death upon your family members? Because he's the guy in the roast that's just...

Yeah. Anything goes. He's a killer. Yeah, just torches humanity. You have to think about it before you realize how hurt you are. Yeah, but like, wait a minute, you really just made fun of a relative who died? Sorry.

The Rosenthal and Jesselnik Vanity Project is dead. Long live the Jesselnik and Rosenthal Vanity Project. Oh, so they changed the names around. I guess, I don't know, it was one guy more famous than he was when they first named it. That was real classy. Yeah.

Catch new episodes every Tuesday night, wherever you listen to podcasts. Good luck to those guys. Okay, we got a little music for this one. So I'm going to just go live with these. Are you ready for this? Is this, this could go bad. I got, there's a million of them. I didn't think

it was going to go this. Thoughts on Josh Rosen so far. Like what I see. There you go. Should I be concerned? This is from Don. Should I be concerned that Sam Darnold has a tendency to sail his throws? Yeah. Yeah, tell him to stop sailing them. I still am.

If I had a gun to my head, which would be dicey, and we probably wouldn't be talking football if I did have a gun to my head in any kind of situation. But say I did, and the guy's just a huge football fan. Some of those ACC guys. Yeah, and he just goes, hey, right now, bro, Sam Darnold or Baker. I still think I'm in the Sam Darnold camp. I do. Wow.

I know, which that's just not cool anymore because Baker's going to let it. I didn't even think Baker's overall numbers were really good this past weekend in another win by the Browns, but I didn't, watching him I didn't love everything I saw from him either. But again, it's his first career start, so what am I doing? I should just shut up about the whole thing. But I it's shifted so quickly from

Darnold, that week one win against the Darnold uh, the Darnold. He really hates his family. Going up and beating the Lions. You're like, oh my God, Jets. Here we go. 10 wins, 11 wins. Will they be home in the Super Bowl?

And then as soon as he lost to Baker, as Baker stepped in for Tyrod, it'd be like one whole entire group of people stepping from one side of the ship to the other side of the ship if you're into yachting references. Let's see.'s texas back not the houston texans i'm trying to think trying to think trying to think okay when do you think it's smart to go for it on fourth down it seems like a lot of times people only think going for it is smart after it works or it's dumb because it didn't no way that's exactly what happens it happens all the time i didn't love the rams necessarily going for it i just didn't. No way. That's exactly what happens. It happens all the time. I didn't love the Rams necessarily going for it. I just didn't. On their side of the field against Seattle,

maybe one first down and then you've lost the game. It's really easy to sell on all of this stuff where it's like, oh, you know, he believes in us. And that means now moving forward, we're going to be amazing. I really thought when Houston did it, it was incredibly stupid because they did it at the end of the first half against Dallas. That's the time I didn't like it. So it was fourth and one right there, and they ran shotgun.

And Jalen Smith also had help from another lineman that was shading to the left. So they were able to cut off Deshaun and stuff him. But at least if you're going to go for it on fourth and one at the one, go for it when it's not at the end of the half. Because now you have your defense with them pin having to go 99 yards. And the odds are, if you look at those numbers, is that you're still expected to kind of get like 2.7 points. I don't love all the win probability stuff.

I make fun of win probability all the time. I don't love the chart because I don't think the chart says, hey, we can't block the left defensive end and we don't trust our quarterback. Should we go for two? You know, like there's just different. It shouldn't just be I'm up six. What do I do?

Give me the chart. It should be relative to how you feel about your team, how the game flow is going, how many more possessions you think you're going to get, all that kind of stuff. And I don't think the chart is the end-all be-all. But if you're going to go four on fourth and one at the goal line, and if it's only a one-score game,

make it a two-score game, first of all. Or I guess I shouldn't say that because if it's three and then it's six, there's a lot of math on this question that I wasn't expecting, but I just, I don't like the Bill O'Brien one was really bad because then you don't get the benefit of having great field possession because it's the end of the first half. I should have just said that the first time. Do you like Nick Saban? You know, what's funny is I have a Nick Saban story about going for it. When Nick Saban was with LSU, they're playing Tennessee, SEC title game.

They'd given up. I could go back and research this. I'm not because I'm just not because it's all like this is just free flow. This is how we do it on the mail question on Twitter at Ryan A. Rosillo, by the way, is that they had gone down a touchdown, maybe two touchdowns, I forget, and Alabama went for it on fourth down in their own territory.

Tennessee stuffed them, and then the defense held Tennessee. They were already in field goal position by the time they took over, and Tennessee kicked the field goal, and his own wife, Miss Terry, she said to Nick after the fact, she goes, at that point right there,

I was like, I can't believe he's doing this, and he just lost the SEC title game. Like, he just lost LSU the game. And the question I think I posed to him, which was a fascinating question, just a brilliant job by me, I go, has there ever been a time or something that happened,

a decision that you made that ended up being disastrous, but actually it was the precursor to something being terrific? And he was like, yeah, absolutely. He goes, because I went for it, we had all this momentum, even though it didn't work, that the fact that defense held them, that the whole sideline, everybody came alive,

and everybody's like, you showed faith in us, that we would be able to come back, like that our defense would be good enough to hold and that our offense was good enough to still compete if we'd given them some points. So he goes, it actually totally worked out for us. It's going to bug me if I don't look it up. So let's go ahead and look it up and double check what that score was. You know, because I don't want like a lot of, a lot of, I just don't want you guys walking around not knowing what's going on.

You know what I'm saying? I guess it was 2001 SEC title game. So actually LSU had scored, but I don't know, man. Nick Saban told me the story. He should know he was the one that was there. All right. We're going to get Andy Staples here. We're going to talk some conference stuff and we'll do the mailbag rapid fire stuff. Maybe a little bit more organized even the next time around. There is a lot of debate though, about all that fourth down stuff going on. And whenever it's just a straight math, I'm like, I don't know. I think there is a flow to it, but we just, we love doing this on talk shows because McVay's terrific. The Rams are great. I don't think there's any question you could put anybody ahead of them in the NFL power rankings that are pretty useless for the most part. They usually are just a reflection

of standings, but the Rams deserve it. And you know, there's no, there's no knock against McVay. And I don't know if the Rams use ZipRecruiter to grab McVay, but it'd be smart to do it. Because you know what's smart? Going to ZipRecruiter.com slash Ryan, R-Y-E-N, to hire the right person. ZipRecruiter doesn't depend on candidates finding you. It finds them for you.

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ZipRecruiter.com slash Ryan, R-Y-E-N. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash Ryan, R-Y-E-N. ZipRecruiter.com slash Ryan. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. From Sports Illustrated, a little college football with Andy Staples. Andy, at the top, it looks like it's becoming too predictable. But, you know, we've both been around long enough with this that you don't want to just say, oh, it's PAMA, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson. We don't

know that it's two SEC teams. Notre Dame has to be mentioned with this now at 6-0 in a schedule that looked really daunting before the season started. Now, not so much, and they've rolled through halfway of it. I guess how open of a mind, I'll start there, how open of a mind do you have that we could see something really surprising in the four that

play for a national championship? It depends on what your definition of surprising is. If you told me at the beginning of the season we'd be talking about Notre Dame right now at the playoffs, I would have been surprised. So, you know, I think if Notre Dame can get in, it adds a whole new dimension to it. And in terms of liking chaos and liking people crying about the playoff, which I do, I love it.

Seeing Notre Dame get in would be a lot of fun. As far as the other ones go, you know, here's the thing. Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State have been the most consistent programs for the last 10 years. And it's not their fault that they've been consistent. It's everybody else's fault for not keeping up with them. We talk about Georgia

like it's assumed that if two SEC teams get in, it's Alabama and Georgia, and they play at 12-0 in the SEC championship game. I just remember Georgia won the Liberty Bowl two years ago. So let's say Georgia beats Alabama in the SEC championship game. I remember Georgia in the Liberty Bowl two years ago. So, you know, let's say Georgia beats Alabama in the SEC championship game.

And I know the idea of Alabama losing, given what we've seen, is crazy. But Alabama hadn't played anybody decent other than Texas A&M yet. So we don't quite know how good Alabama is. But we have a pretty good idea that they're pretty special because we just haven't seen this kind of offense from a saving team yet. The fact, and I was looking through it the other day, that they've now been ranked number one in

11 straight seasons. It's just... I know we probably run out of ways to talk about what Bama has done. I had this theory this weekend that I thought of, is that usually a coaching turnover ends up burning you and catching up to you. I wonder if in Alabama it's different and that it's the reverse, that the coaching turnover is perfect because they don't have the same group there,

there isn't as much complacency, and because you're working for the guy, knowing if you're successful one or two years with Saban, it's going to lead to much bigger things, that every assistant that goes in there, it's the best version of themselves. And in a way you're getting, even though this is just, it's not supposed to happen in sports, it's the greatest run in modern history, but the turnover is a positive for Alabama. I think it's a pretty good theory, Ryan. Here's why.

First of all, Nick Saban is going to make you uncomfortable for a reason. He's going to make everybody in the organization uncomfortable because he doesn't want anybody to be comfortable and complacent. Now, Saban will tell you the hardest thing to do is deal with the turnover because if you choose incorrectly on a coordinator, you've got a big problem. But the thing is now, because if you are a good coordinator at Alabama, you become a head coach, or heck, if you're a good offensive line coach at Alabama, you become the head coach at Oregon a year or two later. Right, Cristobal.

It becomes also a self-selecting sample. Like, I know I'm going to be a head coach if I do a great job at this for two years. So think of the people who want to apply for those jobs or who would be interested in those jobs. I mean, if it's almost a fait accompli that you're going to be a head coach at the end of a certain period of time, the best people are going to want those jobs and, and they're going to put up with whatever they got to put up with to do them. And, and I don't,

I think Saban, you know, he's been now free to kind of ratchet things up on those guys because he knows where they can go if they perform. And then if they don't perform, he's just going to jettison them. He's got the bolt. He's got the bullpen there.

He's got the deepest bench in college football because Nick Saban's home for wayward coaches. After you get fired and you're living that buyout life, you go become an analyst there, and you're either washing your reputation, learning some stuff about running a program, or getting yourself ready to slip into an on-field role at Alabama, which can catapult you back to where you want to be. It's a pretty crazy system he's got going. This past weekend,

I felt like it became a, well, look what happened to Auburn. Look what happened to LSU. Look at Kentucky even. And the anti-SEC group that's out there, and it just makes sense geographically that there's going to be a larger portion of the United States that's sick of hearing about the SEC. And I've always felt like during that seven-year run with four different teams, that was incredible. They deserved all of that love. There were a couple times, probably four or five years ago, where I thought the SEC West was just insane. I think Arkansas finished last one year at 7-6. And then they had a couple of years ago, you know,

Ole Miss got blasted, like all the SEC West teams ended up losing. And it's like, okay, this thing's incredibly overrated. And I, I had gone into some years going, all right, maybe the big 10 is better. I've even had times where I felt like I was the only one sticking up for the PAC 12 nationally. And then I go, you know, the big 12 is kind of top heavy, but man, you know, those are four or five really good teams. And then that would fall apart on me. So now we're kind of back to this SEC thing where I still think last year, even though they're more top heavy than they've been, I don't think the depth is there. The East has been kind of a mess now for a while. The East is coming back now.

It is, sort of. But part of the East coming back is it's no longer that the worst team in the West is still pretty good. Like the worst team in the West is bad now. Right, Arkansas. Which that opens up more wins for the East. Yeah, absolutely. But I think that compared to the East that we used to know about, where you're going, oh my God, Tennessee's a tough out no matter who they are.

Florida is, I still look at Florida as maybe this past weekend was a sign of something, but I don't think you guys have it at quarterback. I think the defense is filthy. Stop me if that sounds familiar. I know South Carolina's getting badly bad. I've heard that story a few times over the last couple of years. Here's the deal with the SEC relative to everybody else. There was a period where everything everybody said was true. And I was like 2010 to 2012 where the West was just ungodly stacked.

Like the worst team in the West was still pretty good. 2010 was the year that Mississippi State finished fifth in the West and 15th in the country. After that, it became where it was a little bit overrated. The Big Ten got much better with the addition of Urban Meyer, James Franklin, and Jim Harbaugh. The ACC got much better. But now, as those things go in cycles, it's cycling again. The ACC is having a down year this year. I think the Big Ten is very good at the year. I think the Big Ten is very good

at the top. I think the Big 12 is very good at the top. But the Pac-12, it's turned these last couple years to have some kind of down years. And I think that's kind of my point, is that if you're worried oh, here we go again with two SEC teams being flirted as a national

title game like we had last year and we've had before with LSU, then give me the conference that's really stepped it up. Because I went through everybody's out of conference this morning, and I did this rant already, so I'm not going to repeat it for the podcast, but as you just mentioned,

the ACC, forget it. And even the Big Ten. It's a bad year in the ACC. It's awful. The Big Ten. Okay, Ohio State. You guys, I never knock Ohio State for what they do. They challenge themselves every year. And I'm not just laughing about playing Oregon State. But look, they went and played TCU.

So I always feel like if you're playing one other big boy kind of school and you're out of conference, then that's enough for me. I don't even want to say give you a pass. I commend you for doing it, but this version of Michigan, I mean, they were, they were trying as TCU didn't quite live up to what they were hoping they'd

be. But I, I think, I think the big 10 could get two teams in. I think the sec is probably the most likely to get two teams in, but the big 10 is right there behind it. I mean, let's say Ohio State goes 13-0

and Penn State beats every team left on its schedule by an average of 25 points. They might both get in. No, that's a good point to bring up. Penn State would end up having to beat, you know, number, like Michigan's sneaky number 12. So I guess my point on a lot of this stuff is that, yeah, some of these SEC rankings don't make a ton of sense. I always

tell everybody, just go ahead and write down your own 25 and let me know when you start running out of teams because it's usually around 13 or 14. And a Michigan team that everybody's been off... That's a dirty secret. Right. It's hard to do. 15 and 3 are all basically the same. Exactly. So we get worked up about who these top 25 teams are, but

does anybody realize Michigan's 12th, a team that everybody was dumping on the first two weeks of the season? Oh, you didn't realize because they lost to Notre Dame that they sunk? Oh, wait.

They might have lost to a playoff team by a touchdown on the road. It is amazing to me. That's the game. I wrote about that over the summer. I said, we will overreact more to whatever the result of this game is

than any other game this season. And I'm glad they proved me right. Yeah, you nailed that one. So do you think like, is the ACC so bad that it could hold Clemson down? Would you rather be Clemson knowing you should be able to roll through this thing or have

a committee looking at a conference that feels like, man, this group collectively is much worse after Clemson. We thought, and you could even argue Clemson hasn't been as impressive as we thought they should be. I don't, I don't like the idea of feeling like I have to go undefeated. I'd rather be in a league where I can take a loss and it feels this year, like you have to be undefeated in the ACC to make the playoff. And maybe that changes. Maybe some weird stuff happens in late October and November. But I mean, at this point, who's going to win the ACC?

Probably Clemson or NC State. You know, they play a week for Saturday and maybe that decides the Atlantic. But I mean, I feel like you've got to be undefeated. Now, Clemson is a little bit different animal because they do play Texas A&M and South Carolina, so it looks like Texas A&M is going to be fairly decent, the Alabama result aside. South Carolina we're not sure about yet, but they could be okay. Maybe that helps.

But it certainly feels to me like the ACC is so weak that you need to be undefeated to make the playoff. Yeah. I wouldn't worry about it as much if I'm Clemson, because as you said, they've been Clemson and the committee can pretend that you're not carrying anything over preconceived opinions about all this. It's impossible.

So if it were NC State undefeated rolling through the ACC, more people in the room are going to go, ah, yeah, but the ACC really stunk. They're going to get knocked for it in Clemson. We wish they'd played West Virginia. Right, the game's canceled. And then maybe we'd know a little

more. Speaking of West Virginia, do you think they win the Big 12? I don't know. The Texas beating Oklahoma thing and the Texas looking like a consistently decent team now gives me pause.

Because I was Oklahoma all the way and it would be Oklahoma and West Virginia in the Big 12 title game, but Oklahoma would end up winning it. But now, Texas throws a wrench into things because Texas doesn't play the same game as Oklahoma and West Virginia do. A lot of Texas games are going to be lower scoring.

They're going to try to win with defense. Last week's an example the other way because you just can't. I mean, nobody's good enough to stop Oklahoma's offense over and over and over again. So they were going to, they were going to get the points. You have to withstand them and pray that they're bad enough that you can outscore them. And that's what happened. And it cost Mike Stoops his job, but I see Texas playing a lot more like 28 to 17 types type games. And that's tough because they become the change-up

and a little bit harder to play than a team that plays a style almost exactly like yours, which is what West Virginia sees most of the time in the Big 12. So I think Texas being a contender changes the math completely on the Big 12. Their defense, at least, you know, they beat Tennessee week one. They beat up on them. And that's good.

That's good. That's impressive. You mentioned the NC State game. It was week three for them, canceled. But the three Big 12 wins are Kansas State, who everybody's beating, Tech, who can't stop anybody still, and then Kansas, dare I say, a slightly resurgent Kansas at 2-4? Hey, yeah, they killed Rutgers. They smashed Rutgers, the birthplace of it all.

They beat Rutgers as bad as Ohio State beat Rutgers, the birthplace of it all. They beat Rutgers as bad as Ohio State beat Rutgers. Right, so how do you think the committee would compare Kansas and Ohio State if it comes down to it? Just kidding. That's all that really matters. The West Virginia thing, the defense, I think, is better. They got a couple grad transfers on the interior defensive

line that won't shore things up. Now, we will see when they play, because they have November from hell. They have to play Texas, Oklahoma State, TCU, and Oklahoma all in a row. So if you get through that, you've earned it. I mean, you're good. But my guess is they don't get through that. My guess is they lose at least one of those and have to play one of those teams again

the last week of the season, and then we see who wins. How did the Pac-12 situation play out this way? Because I went through everything here, and what we thought was maybe the most impressive non-conference thing that they had was a competitive loss against Auburn. Doesn't look as good now. I mean, I'm serious. Hey, come on. That was like the second best team in the SEC that week.

That week. Yeah, now it looks completely different. You know, watch Washington-Oregon this week. I'm very curious. I think I have a sneaking suspicion that Oregon might be the best team in the Pac-12 and that they actually may be building into something that could be a national, national contender in future.

Maybe not this year, because as you could see with the game against Stanford, where they went out, you know, rolled over him for three, three quarters and then gave it all up. Maybe they're not quite ready yet, but they have the trend,

you know, transcend the quarterback in, in Justin Herbert. They're getting better on both lines of scrimmage, which you have to, to compete in that division. Mario Cristobal knows what he's looking for in offensive and defensive linemen.

It's just that, you know, those are developmental positions and it's, it's very hard to just throw guys in there. But I have a feeling that between the speed that was left over by the old regime and a lot of the beef that the new regime has been bringing in, this could be the program that rules the Pac-12 in the next few years. We thought it was going to be Washington, and it still may be

because Chris Peterson is remarkably consistent. But my guess is this game, this Oregon-Washington game, becomes the game in the Pac-12. I can't believe I thought I was all by myself on this Oregon thing. No, no, no. I totally agree with you. I was in Eugene last week. It's real.

What else? How else do you pick up? Explain more being around Eugene and Cristobal, who has a completely different approach than what they've been trying to do on offense there. And as you mentioned it, melding of, I don't know if that's really even a word. Oh, it's a word. Yeah.

The two different styles here. Right, because they pushed Stanford around on both lines of scrimmage in a way that I hadn't seen Stanford pushed around other than that loss a few years ago, which is like the only time David Shaw's team looked on David Shaw when they got smashed by Washington a couple years ago. I couldn't believe what I saw. And I'm also starting to wonder maybe Stanford stinks

because they still can't run the football. They couldn't run the football the other night against Utah, which was weird. But I'm with you on this Oregon thing that there, if they hadn't pissed away that game, I'd actually feel like they were the favorites to win the PAC 12. Again, it depends on how it is this week, but yeah, if you could explain that more, because I think that is fascinating because it's two very different styles of football they're trying to combine.

Yeah. I mean, here's the thing, Chip Kelly, the system he ran there is different schematically than what Gus Malazan does at Auburn, but they're, they're kind of of the same spirit where it's this up-tempo we're going to smash you between the tackles. And that's going to open up the passing thing for us. And we'll have a quarterback who's a threat to run. The problem is they never could get elite offensive linemen there. They'd get a good one every once in a while, but they would never have a just top to bottom group of five pros. And Cristobal is a very good recruiter. You know, he played offensive line at Miami. He's been one of the better offensive line coaches in the country. So he knows exactly what he's looking for. It's a matter of get those guys

in the boat, but if you get one or two of them in the boat, then more of them want to come. The guy to watch for Oregon is number 58, the left tackle, Tenay Sewell. He's a true freshman. They threw him in because you could not keep him off the field. He's ridiculously powerful. In the pass game,

probably that will need some time for him to really develop into a great pass blocker, but you can run behind him all day right now, and he's a true freshman. And then they've got four more guys that they're trying to redshirt this year who, if they succeed, they could have a good line for years to come. And then defensive line, same deal. Cristobal knows what a good defensive line looks like.

It's a matter defensive line looks like. It's a matter of getting those guys. I remember Chip Kelly telling me this in 2010. The hardest player to find in recruiting is that ready-made defensive tackle. And there are so few of them. They all go to Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, Auburn, Florida State. They only go to a few schools because there's so few of them. So you either have to have a great eye and develop those guys,

or you've got to be able to convince them to come to your school. But first of all, it's trying to use that Oregon cachet, that Oregon cool, but then explain, hey, guys, we're going to hit people. We're going to hit a practice, and then we're going to hit people. And we're going to, we're going to hit a practice and then we're going to punch people in the mouth on game day. And I think it's starting to, it's starting to take, you brought in a strength coach, Aaron Feld, who was at Georgia last year. Everybody knows he's got the crazy handlebar mustache, but it's, this is a guy who knows how to build players, you know, to, to play on the line of scrimmage in the SEC. I mean, he was at Georgia.

He had volunteered at Alabama. He'd been around all that stuff. So they have the right ingredients in place. I'm not sure they're ready yet. But the thing is, with Oregon, you probably only have Herbert this year. I mean, maybe he comes back next year to play with his brother. Oregon, you probably only have Herbert this year. I mean, maybe he comes back next year to play with his brother, but if they say you're going to be the number one pick in the draft, you got to go. So it's weird because you feel like they got a strike right now. Otherwise they may miss the

window. Though I will say with all the transfers that may be available at this point next year, there's a few guys that seem to fit that very well. Final thought before I let you go. So playoff as of now, the likelihood you think would be Bama? I would say Bama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and then either Georgia or the Big 12 champ, depending on who that is. I think a one-loss Big 12 champ gets in definitely over a two-loss SEC team that doesn't win a conference title.

The tricky part for the other leagues is if you get a situation in the SEC championship game where it's 12-0 against 12-0 and it's a close game. Now, that could be erased this week, because I think there's a really good chance there's a ghost to LSU and LSU. Yeah, them losing to Florida didn't do Georgia any favors, although I am... No, God, no.

Georgia faces the ultimate, like, wounded cornered animal, and that wounded cornered animal happens to live in Tiger Stadium, which feels like a really bad place to deal with a wounded cornered animal. to live in tiger stadium which feels like a really bad place to deal with a wounded cornered animal but i give georgia credit for this watching them most weeks this season times where it hasn't looked great then they they step it up and kill you and yeah that's that's impressive like some of these teams that are good and you're like oh you screwed around for four whole quarters and you won again. Georgia will screw around a little bit and then go, okay, enough of this.

Yeah, I feel like they have that murder gear. Yeah, yeah, I do. Alabama's in murder gear all the time. Georgia has to shift into it, but it's not like Clemson where sometimes they never actually shift into it. Georgia always does at some point here in the game. Yes, Clemson's not shown us enough murder gear.

I think Penn State has had some weird games where I go, I don't have a problem with them having a top 10 ranking, and I was there for the Ohio State game. They very well could have won that game. But they've got some other blemishes there. But they're not being held against them because, again, it's a carryover. Same thing as a carryover for Clemson and people giving them the benefit of the doubt. I'm afraid that LSU at times, and I think we saw this in the Auburn game,

like less would win games despite how weird the game would play out. And you go, how did LSU win that? You'd be leaving the stadium with your buddies going, I have no idea how LSU won that game, but they'd still win them. And then they started losing them. And I'm afraid the Auburn game

gave us a glimpse into what could happen at Florida and the offense. Now, I don't want to judge LSU's offense on just one game alone because that front for Florida is stupid. How good those dudes are. Yeah. Ja'Kai Polite is a guy that. Polite.

The right defensive end. Yeah. But he's awesome. Yeah. I mean, he was, he implanted himself into Burrow's lower back probably enough for where you go.

Can we leave anyone in on this guy? I'm just, He implanted himself into Burrow's lower back probably enough where you go, can we leave anyone in on this guy? I'm just, I'm wondering a little bit if LSU is going to have some moments here the rest of the way offensively when it's like, I really need you on third and seven to be a team I'm not betting against. So I don't, I don't. It'll be the voodoo. It'll be all the weird stuff. It'll be their defense.

But I am a little worried that LSU's offense is regressing, if that makes any sense. The part that concerned me about LSU more than the offense was the fact that Florida could run the ball when it needed to run the ball. And that's not a Florida offensive line that's been able to open holes when they needed to. And when you're going to play

Georgia, which has... Georgia may be playing three freshmen on the offensive line this week, but the problem is they're like five-star freshmen will be first round draft pick. You don't want to deal with a team. You don't want to be the kind of team that can be run on when you need to run on them. If you're playing Georgia. And so I, that's the part that could, cause I didn't think that was LSU. I thought LSU would be the team that you just couldn't run on them.

And if you were going to beat them, you had to throw over the top and take some risks. But that's not the way Florida beat them. The corners are so good. You may not want to throw at them, but to see a team run up the yardage total that Florida had against LSU, that just doesn't happen. And there was a graphic for it, too, so this isn't even like hyperbole.

It's true. It doesn't happen, and Florida was incredible there. You're the best, man. Thank you so much. And it looks like I'll probably see you on the road at some true. It doesn't happen in Florida. It was incredible there. You're the best man. Thank you so much. And it looks like I probably see you on the road at some point. I still have like three or four more games. Oh yeah. Well, that's what we, we need to get together in Baton Rouge so I can discuss to you just one more

time, eating a 64 ounce steak next year. Are you going to be there for Bama? Well, here's, here's the problem. So we just hired this great new guy at si uh ross dellinger yeah i read his piece he covered lsu for the baton rouge advocate he lives in baton rouge so now that's like well you don't need to go to baton rouge i got somebody there how did you let that happen you should have said this guy's a hack no he's like you don't want to hire this guy no he's really good he just wrote up up a piece on our boy Brandon Landry

from Walk-Ons, and ironically enough, how the 2003 win against Georgia in Tiger Stadium kind of changed everything. Like, Bonnette's in there, a bunch of former players, and they talk about that game saying that kind of changed things for LSU. So, anyway, enjoy. What do you got this weekend?

Also changed the expectations to where they better win the national title every year. Right, right. Yeah. Now, totally irrational fans. Where do you got this weekend? Expectations. Were they better when the national title? Right. Right. Yeah. Now totally irrational fans. Where are you headed this week? I am home this week. And then we, we kind of changed the model where I head out a lot during the week and,

and then come back and watch all the games during the weekend. So like last week I was, I was in Eugene to get some stuff on Oregon before they played Washington. And then I happened to go to Florida LSU cause it was eight miles from my house. But normally I'm just kind of taking everything in. Perfect. Well, hopefully, like I said, I'll see you out there and I really appreciate your time and thanks as always. You can check them out on sportsillustratedsi.com.

I want to make sure we get Chris Fowler trivia in this week. The question, in 2004, who led the country in pass attempts with 642 Sonny Cumbie? I was just going to guess that. So before I do my conference breakdown, because I did a bunch of stuff and I wrote it all down, and it's going to go fast, and I know I speak too fast on this podcast anyway, all podcasts, all formats, but I'm going to go really fast because it's going to go fast. And I know I speak too fast on this podcast anyway, all podcasts, all formats, but I'm going to go really fast because it's a lot of stuff, but there's a point to it all. You may hate it, but before you do that, save yourself a little money or maybe get you and the lady a surprise or with a hotel room. You know, I've never booked a hotel room in my

life. So you haven't, no way to endorse the brand over there, Kyle. Looking forward to it. Right, right. All right, we'll get you set up. How about this? I'll pay for your first hotel tonight booking. Huh? Deal.

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So to start scoring amazing deals at incredible hotels, go to hoteltonight.com or download the app now. Because I've done a couple things to start the podcast with the NFL, our new question segment that we'll try to do every week, I'm going to just put my feet up here on your couch and your brain, and I'm going to run through everybody's non-conference of all the power fives. Because some of you out there, including my one friend, Danny Kanellick's partner, think you're already losing your minds about the SEC rankings, the SEC bias,

all this stuff over and over again. A lot of you guys thought, wait a minute, if Russillo has a ringer pod, does that mean he's going to start pimping the Pac-12 all the time now? No. And as much as I think I've stuck up for the Pac-12 when others didn't, it's tough to stick up for it right now. So my point would be this.

This past weekend started turning into, as I mentioned with Andy Staples, we're like, oh, LSU lost to Florida. All right. They lost a one-score game. Kentucky.

All right. Did you think they were awesome? Because Kentucky, to this point, had beaten Central Michigan. They won at Florida, which hadn't happened in Forever Town.

And then, what is it? We got a Murray State win here. Yep, the Racers went down, went down hard. And the rest of it, okay, South Carolina, blah, blah, blah. Then they lose. Kentucky loses to A&M. All right, so here's my point, is that if you're doing the, ah, the SEC is not really that good.

Look at these rankings. This whole thing sucks. Two teams aren't getting in. I don't know if two teams are going to get in. Some weird stuff would have to happen. Georgia Bama would have to still be 12-0. But anytime any of this stuff happens in these kind of comparative arguments, I would say, yeah, okay. I think the SEC on the whole hasn't been nearly as deep as when it was in its prime years, when it was undoubtedly the number one. I was willing

to even accept other nominations of other conferences that might be better. The problem is if you're doing the, oh, the SEC sucks and it's an overrated thing, do you want to play that game with your conference? Do you want to sit there, look in the mirror, and tell you that you're hot when you know that you aren't? Because I did it this morning, and it's ugly for everybody else too. Clemson, all right, your best wins at A&M. That might be the best thing I have to offer up here for the ACC.

NC State, 5-0, by the way. Their canceled game against West Virginia. That's the the best thing I have to offer up here for the ACC. NC State, 5-0, by the way. Their canceled game against West Virginia. That's the most impressive thing on their non-conference. Boston College lost at Purdue. Cuse, their best win. UConn. Look, Florida State, they haven't played anybody yet. We know that they're not good. So Florida State's another one of those preseason teams. You're like, oh, they might be all right. Now, we already know that that's not going to happen. Florida State, by the way, was ranked 19th. They still have Notre Dame and Florida remaining.

Wake, they've got a loss at what? Notre Dame, 56-27. Louisville, they're brutal. They're not as good as we thought they would be, at least just be competitive. They got smoked by Bama week one. By the way, they got killed by Georgia Tech. I know that's not non-conference there.

That was 66-33. So out of that entire group, we have what? They got smoked by Bama week one. By the way, they got killed by Georgia Tech. I know that's not non-conference there. That was 66-33. So out of that entire group, we have what? Okay, that's half of your ACC. You have the win by Clemson down at A&M. That's good. And here's the thing. That doesn't mean much for Clemson because it's still Clemson. I am a little worried about them lately because I thought they were going to be like really nasty and crush everybody.

Miami, they're five and one. Okay, but they lost against LSU in what felt a little bit more like an LSU home game. But still, like, let's not even go there. And Miami, I'm not even sure how good you guys are. Preseason, you were number eight and you've ripped off five straight, change a quarterback. Virginia Tech, you lost to Old Dominion and you got smashed by Notre Dame at your place this past Saturday. Ryan Willis is in a quarterback, but still, and he came in during the Old Dominion loss. Pitt, you've lost to Penn State 51-6, UCF 45-14.

Next, UVA, you lost to Indiana. UNC, oh my God, UNC fans. I mean, how dismal has this been? UNC sitting there at one and three on the year. They lost to Cal by a touchdown, and they lost to ECU, and ECU isn't even part of my normal formula here. I'm just throwing that in. Georgia Tech, yay against the win against Louisville.

Right now, you guys are in second to last place in the Coastal at 3-3 with a loss at USF. I put USF in there because why not give them a little bit of love. Duke, by the way, who's in last of the Coastal, and that's ridiculous because they're only 0-1. I mean, they're 4-1 overall. in last of the Coastal. And that's ridiculous because they're only 0-1. I mean, they're 4-1 overall. They have better records

than all these other teams in front of them. They're killing it. Duke's killing it. Duke is the other Clemson at Northwestern, a win and a win against Baylor, both by more than a touchdown.

So basically, I just went through the entire ACC and we knew it was down. So again, I'm just pointing this out. ACC fan, ah, the SEC sucks. Don't look at your records. Let's try another conference. They're called the Big 12.

There's not 12 teams. That joke is old. West Virginia's 5-0. Smash Tennessee opening week. NC State game canceled. Texas, they lost to Maryland. They beat USC. Okay, that's pretty good.

So what do we got there? A win against USC team. That was preseason. Let's do this game again. Kyle, is this boring and monotonous yet? Not yet. Not yet. I'm waiting to see where this goes.

Yeah, because it's kind of, all right. So USC was, see, like the whole theme of this is all of these teams that we thought were going to be good. There's a lot of them that aren't. USC is now 3-2 and behind Colorado in the Pac-12 South. That's great. They beat Washington State in Arizona, but that was after getting smashed by Stanford and blowing a lead against Texas. Oklahoma, you beat UCLA. So has everybody else. Baylor, you lost to Duke. Just mentioned it. TCU lost to Ohio State. Texas Tech lost. And I'm not just picking losses.

I'm going, I'm ruling out all your non power five components and I'm putting everybody's power five matchup here. So L, L, L, Ole Miss scored a million on you. Iowa State, you lost to Iowa. Oklahoma State.

OK, you beat Boise State, but let me know if you have any idea what's going on with Oklahoma State. We know there's some transfer stuff there. Kansas. Yay, the birthplace of it all. Smashed Rutgers.

Love it. K-State. They're not good this year. They lost to Mississippi State by 21 points. So what jumps out there? Texas against USC. The Boise State win by Oklahoma State. There's not a lot to pick from there.

UCLA, no. Okay, Big Ten. Big Ten fans going in. There was a couple people that said there's no way the SEC is even close to the Big Ten. Those Big Ten teams would be awesome. I would say collectively, collectively those Big Ten teams haven't been as good as we thought that they would be. Whether that's Penn State, Michigan State, Michigan,

Ohio State's been fine. By the way, Ohio State was preseason five in the AP. Just the coaches had them third. So Ohio State, they beat Oregon State by a million. They beat TCU. Really good stuff there. Okay, that's terrific. Michigan, they're five and one.

They're 12th now. They lost to Notre Dame. That Notre Dame score was close. The game was not close. Penn State at number 8. They beat Pitt 51-6, but they almost lost to App State week 1. They had that weird game against Illinois where they ended up winning by 30, but they were down late in the third quarter. And you could argue they should have beaten Ohio State, but I think you could look at Penn State at number eight and say, I don't know if they've really been improved, but I'm not going to knock them for it.

There's a little carryover. There's nothing fraudulent about it. I know who some of the players are. We're good. Maryland, you beat Texas. That's going to end up looking really good if Texas keeps this thing rolling. Maybe Maryland was super hyped up after all the stuff that they were dealing with, and you get a different version of them. Maryland's not great. Indiana, they beat Virginia.

We've been over this. Michigan State lost to Arizona State. Michigan State's been a huge disappointment. Rutgers lost to Kansas. We've been over. All right, Wisconsin. Preseason, Wisconsin was fourth with actually a number one overall vote. And now Wisconsin is ranked 15th, but they lost to BYU who feels like they played everybody. I think BYU has played 20 games and everybody else has played five or six Northwestern lost to Duke. And they also lost to Akron, by the way,

Iowa beat Iowa state, Illinois lost to USF, Purdue lost to Missouri. They did beat BC though. And Minnesota, like you want me to give them credit for Fresno State win that's not happening Nebraska has lost to everybody including Colorado and Troy so

you got Ohio State you've got the Maryland win against Texas you know am I supposed to be excited because Purdue beat BC when BC was ranked for like a six minute stretch I'm not Pac-12 this is brutal. Washington, lost to Auburn.

Competitive game. Thought it could have gone either way depending on which fan base you were. And they also beat BYU, and BYU was number 20th. Again, BYU played everybody. Stanford, losing Notre Dame 38-17. That Stanford win against Oregon

is misleading. It's a mirage. They are not that good. They can't run the football. It's really, really weird. So I expect that thing to almost mess up Oregon's season. Washington State. They're 5-1, by the way.

They played Wyoming, San Jose State, and Eastern Washington. NBD. Oregon. They haven't played anybody. Cal. They beat UNC and BYU. Dude, I'm telling you, when I was doing this today, I was like, why has BYU played every single team?

Oregon State. They lost to Ohio State. Been over that. How about in the South? Colorado beat Nebraska. USC lost to Texas. Arizona's lost to BYU and Houston. I put Houston in there.

Major Applewhite, shout out. Utah hasn't played anybody yet of significance. Arizona State, that win against Michigan State, and then they started losing games. UCLA is losing to everybody, including Cincinnati, even Oklahoma. One more conference to do, and that they started losing games. UCLA is losing to everybody, including Cincinnati, even Oklahoma. One more conference to do, and that is the SEC.

Georgia hasn't played anybody. Kentucky, Florida, same thing out of conference, but remember, they all play. Georgia Tech, Louisville, Florida State, and Clemson. Mizzou beat Purdue. Vandy lost to Notre Dame. That actually game was close. Tennessee smashed by West Virginia. Bama beat Louisville.

Louisville's way worse than we thought they'd be. LSU beat Miami. Nice win there. A&M lost to Clemson. Mississippi State win against K-State. K-State stinks. Auburn, that win against Washington, which we felt great about,

and maybe Washington will end up being in the playoff mix, but we just don't know what to do with Auburn anymore. Ole Miss put up 47 on Texas Tech to start the season. Arkansas hasn't played anyone. In summation, the point being this. I am willing to accept the argument that some of these ranked teams in the SEC aren't really top 25 worthy,

but I would tell you to stop banging your head against the wall, thinking that it'll come back with resumes where you say, oh, they played three top 25 teams, and my team only played two top 25 teams. I would put more faith into the committee than that. Okay. I've gone through the mock committee thing twice. They're not total morons. I mean, really the people that argue we have three top 25 opponents and you only have two and think it's the end all be all are usually fan bases. You've, you've thrown every argument you can possibly throw at me for over

a decade, folks. I've seen all of your arguments from every corner of this beautiful country, and I can swat them down like a transfer from Nigeria that's 30 playing high school hoops, okay? With just a doctor birth certificate. I hate those stories. They're so horrifying, especially if I were a parent, but I'm not, so I shouldn't get too bummed out about it. If you're yelling about the SEC and you're yelling about where the rankings are and whose schedule is what and where the wins are, almost none of you have that many impressive wins. You just don't. So don't worry about it because

there's a great argument to be made that the ACC's been a letdown, the top of the Big Ten's been a letdown, the Pac-12 has been a letdown. Honestly, the Big 12 could have more depth. I'm not going to knock Oklahoma for losing a rivalry game against Texas because throw the records out if you've heard that before. People should say that

more. That's my overall point on what we've seen at just before the halfway point and before we get these college football playoff rankings coming out in a couple weeks. Please subscribe to the Dual Threat Podcast by me, Ryan Russillo, on our Ringer Podcasts. And I did a sit-down with Simmons and KOC,

and that was fun. We did some MVP talk. I don't know if he's trying to squeeze a little bit out of the rye guy here if he rolls around. Got to stop showing up early. Got to stop showing up early. I was here early today, and then I couldn't get a sandwich. All right, that's not interesting anymore.

I just went through 60 team schedules. So let's just stop while we're ahead. Bye.