The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Rob Mullens, Plus NFL Playoff Rankings | Dual Threat With Ryen Russillo (Ep. 11)

Episode Date: November 7, 2018

Russillo forms a committee of one and predicts the final four NFL playoffs teams without conference bias. He then talks with chairman of the CFP selection committee, Rob Mullens, about Tuesday's rankings and how the selection committee operates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up? Welcome to Dual Threat. I'm back in LA and I feel great. I feel absolutely great about it. Had a 4 a.m. flight out of New Orleans or excuse me, not 4 a.m. That's ridiculous. Woke up at 4 a.m. and had a six o'clock flight out. I'm so used to connecting flights all those years in Hartford. I'm Ryan Russillo, by the way, if you're new to the podcast. And I was like, oh, wow, this is a direct flight. I was trying to figure out what my seat in the connecting flight was. I was like, I don't have to go to Atlanta to go home this time. I don't have to go to Detroit, Minneapolis, Salt Lake, which would be weird.

But every now and then Hartford would say, hey, do you want to go to Salt Lake before you go to Tampa? No. But this way I got to roll in. Good to see you, Kyle. We have a fun show for you tonight. It's good to be back, too. All right, cool.

I'm I'm in a weird mood. I think I have two different injuries. I pulled a hamstring, maybe lower ass muscle doing dips, which is, I know, almost impossible to do. muscle, doing dips, which is, I know, almost impossible to do. And then I can't tell if I ripped a ton of rib cartilage or if I'm having just a weird heart day. So who knows how this podcast is going to go? Yeah, yeah, right. Well, that's what I said earlier is we'll see how serious this is. We'll know when I wake up in the morning. So the left glute ass muscle, that's a weird injury on the dip bar.

I don't even know how the hell that happened, but that's how I feel. And we have, I'm not even bummed out about it because of how good today's podcast is going to be. Rob Mullins, he's the AD at Oregon. I've known him a while. He's been on the show, but now he is the committee chairman

for the college football playoff rankings. The rankings just dropped and that's what we're doing with this podcast, doing it at night after those have. So you have it Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. I'm also going to, in the spirit of the college football playoff rankings, have a mock

committee of one discussion about the NFL teams and how I would rank them and the arguments for and against all of them. And because I just got back from Baton Rouge into New Orleans, I did a Bama LSU Saturday night and New Orleans and

Los Angeles, the Saints-Rams game Sunday afternoon. I gotta tell you too, when you go to New Orleans knowing hey, by the way, no matter what, I'm not doing anything tonight. Like, I'm not going out. I don't want to meet up. I was blowing people off left and right. Like, yeah, yeah, I can't wait. I guess it didn't work? No, I just wouldn't do it. I'm not, I don't want to meet up. I was blowing people off left and right. Like, yeah, yeah. I can't wait. I guess it didn't work. No, I didn't. I just wouldn't do it. I just wouldn't

do it. And the other thing I think is funny is I remember one time I was there, I was in New Orleans and you know, if you're in the Bourbon street area and this is the whole thing is like, if you're of it and you're from it, I love it down there. I love the surrounding areas. I've gotten to know it a lot better. I just really love Louisiana. I just, I just do. And I have like a greater affinity for it every single time I go down. Maybe, maybe I'll be on Zillow tonight looking at property. I'm not sure, but I, uh, you know, the Bourbon street thing, if that's all you do, then you're going to have this one perception of it. And I, that's what I did in the beginning. You know, that's what everybody does, especially when you're younger, you shoot

in, you shoot out, and then eventually you, you start exploring a little bit more. But I'll never forget one night we were out in New Orleans, you know, Bourbon Street area, whole deal. And a bunch of dudes walked by. And I don't know if it was a fraternity or what, but their whole thing was that they were just going to walk down the street with jeans on and no shirt. And they all had sweet, like Zac Efron bodies and some a little thicker than others. That's what she said. But it was, it was something I've never forgotten. Cause I, all I can think of is like, what if you're the fifth guy and out of the five, you're just not as Zac Efron-y as the rest of the guys. Taking the Uber, I'll meet you there. Yeah. Which is suck, right? And you just have to, if the four guys are taking their shirts off, you have to take your shirt off too.

But you know, behind your back, they're like, Todd's coming. Like his body kind of sucks. His obliques, he cheats them all the time and doesn't do any oblique work. And it's just, you know, he's kind of got like a fat pack. You know, it's not a six pack.

It's not fat, but he thinks it is. And it's not. And his pecs aren't even defined in the bottom half. And, you know, whatever. I mean, we do like him. He's fun. But if we're going to do more of these shirts-off trips, we've got to stop inviting him. Okay.

Speaking of fun, the Jesselnik and Rosenthal Vanity Project. That is comedian Anthony Jesselnik and his best friend, NFL analyst Greg Rosenthal. They once had an NFL podcast called The Rosenthal and Jeselnik Vanity Project. That show ended, but hope remained that 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. The Rosenthal and Jeselnik Vanity Project is dead. Long live the Jeselnik and Rosenthal Vanity Project. Catch new episodes every Tuesday, every Tuesday night, wherever you listen to your podcast. Hope you listen to our podcast a lot. Tell all of your friends.

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and wherever you want. So here's what we're going to do. A committee of one, the NFL as a playoff. But Rye, this is supes easy. I hate when people say that, but I just... Now you want to edit that out, Kyle? No, no, just leave it in. I'm trying to say stuff like that now. Anybody who tweets out something or a picture I just say weird flex but okay

because that that phrase doesn't suck that's so that's the new I'm here for this or we don't deserve dogs like if somebody just opened a twitter account I would bad I know I'd be like we'll just tweet out weird flex but okay you know every other day and you'll be good. You get a ton of followers. Go vote. Yeah. Go vote. Yeah. All right. So here's the deal. A committee of one.

It's so it's not just, Hey, it's Kansas city, the paths, the Rams, the saints, although it might end up that way. How will we do the debate in a room and how we would seed these?

And what about the teams that maybe we're leaving out? If we had a college football type discussion about the top NFL teams, Kansas city, well, they're eight and one. So that's pretty simple. Best win is that the chargers and you have no idea how many times I wrote San Diego in my notes quite a bit,

still tired of doing it, just apologizing out loud, even though I didn't need to, because you didn't know that I did that a million times in preparing for this podcast, but I did it. So this chargers team is actually really good. And I think they're sneaky slept on.

So is that win against them in the beginning of the season better than the week two win at Pittsburgh? You know, they're both by, well, what, 10 points against the Chargers. I actually think the win against the Chargers is better than the win against Pittsburgh because of where Pittsburgh was at. Pittsburgh's starting to roll a little bit more now, so I think Pittsburgh's a different team than the beginning, whereas I think the whole time

the Chargers were just sort of good, and then it took us a while to figure things out. Kansas City probably has the best loss of all the top teams. Their loss at New England, 43-40. Would that loss be better than the Rams' loss at New Orleans 43-40. Would that loss be better than the Rams loss at New Orleans where they tied it up? I mean, final score is different.

Yeah, I'm actually still going to go with Kansas City losing at New England. Night game. That's probably the best loss of any of these teams. The best division. Okay, well wait a minute. Is it the AFC West? You know how much I love the Chargers we talked about for a good 45 seconds. Denver's actually played Kansas City tough twice

I still think if that was that Monday night or it was Denver's still going to be kicking themselves but Mahomes played out of his mind in that fourth quarter that's when I knew it was real I was not one of those week two guys going Mahomes is a hall of famer it takes

Rosillo a good five weeks of this stuff for me to buy all the way in. They're good. So, you know, the Broncos defense is good. That's the point. Chargers might be the best number two team as far as any divisions are concerned. And Oakland's kind of Rutgers,

but they haven't played them yet. So you can't even sit there and say, oh, well, they got Rutgers in there. And by the way, shout out to Kansas, maybe, thinking about Rutgers, going for less miles. That would be great. Will I become a huge Kansas football fan? Probably not, but go less.

Anyway, Oakland, yeah. So they're Rutgers, but again, they haven't played them. Okay, what about their resume against playoff teams? Because that's kind of what the college football committee does against topoff teams, because that's kind of what the college football committee does against top 25 teams. Wins for Kansas City at, look in the note I wrote, San Diego. Wins at the Chargers, at Pittsburgh, a win against Cincinnati, loss at New England. So 3-1 against

the current playoff teams, but the best point differential in the AFC. Okay. All right. They're plus 101. That's a ton. That's a lot. Okay.

So how does that stack up against New England? Well, New England's got the head-to-head, but they're 7-2, so their best win, as we would mention, just against the Chiefs. They got a couple bad dings on the old resume, though. A loss at Jacksonville 31-20. Now, in the committee you might be the guy that goes, I watched that entire game and Jacksonville played out of their

minds. It was like Purdue, Ohio State. I'm not sure that's who they are. Bortles threw only like two picks, right? No, Bortles was lights out. He was 8-for-8 on third downs and I think the first seven were passing third downs and the eighth was a run. I know it because I just watched the whole game going,

who's this guy? What is up with this? Can we extend him immediately? Can we give this guy an extension? And now that's not. So in the moment, that wasn't a fluke. It wasn't nothing. The Jacksonville was great in that game,

but now that loss looks terrible. And then they lost to Detroit 26-10 when they weren't even close to being in that one. So, I don't know what's the worst loss. The Detroit one felt worse because the performance itself and that Jacksonville felt so good, but I don't know. I mean, this one, by the time the whole season is over and the final committee were looking at this, they may look at Jacksonville's resume, which is really unfair because anybody that really watches this, and I know we can kind of all contradict ourselves, but there are teams

that are incredibly inconsistent. Depending on the week you get, you get them on an easy out, or you get them when they're totally geared up and game planning and, I don't know, weird motivations and everybody's coming together. I mean, teams are this living organism in a weird way that I think can change week to week. And that's why New England is so special for this entire run. So they've got the worst losses. They may be in the worst division, but they get that Bama benefit of the doubt. If you were in the committee, you'd say, well, okay, how do we look at New England? Everything's supposed to be new. That's humanly impossible. It's not always week to week.

We can pretend that's what's going to happen. But if New England were going to be sitting there and it was them and somebody else for the fourth spot, New England's probably getting it the same way Bama has. There are wins against playoff teams, win against the Texans, win against the Chiefs. Yes, win against the Bears. So they actually are better. That's what Pats fans would do if we were doing this like geographically. If they were arguing

New England over Kansas City, they'd say, yeah, our losses aren't as good, but we've got the head-to-head and they're 3-1 against playoff teams and we're 3-0. Be like, yeah,

but you're 0-2 against non-playoff teams. I know how all this stuff works. So there you go. All right. What about that third team in the AFC? Is there anyone

you can mention in this? The answer's no. So bad. Yeah, I don't think, although we're going to talk about the AFC-NFC thing here in a second because I think it's a little bit more surprising because going into it, I'm like, man, I'm at team six or seven that I think would be better than the third team in the AFC. But the number three team in the AFC right now is Pittsburgh. They're 5-2-1.

Could you make an argument for them to be the other team in the Final Four? And as soon as you would say that, somebody in the committee, I would hope, would go, you tied the Browns. But then somebody else in the committee may say, but they got them back the second time. Revenge game negates losses. We used to do this stupid thing on all the committee may say, but they got them back the second time. Revenge game negates losses. We used to do this stupid thing on all the college football discussions. If you had a loss to a team, but then you beat them again in the conference championship game, it was like you just started over.

Like, okay, you're undefeated now. No, no, you lost. They avenged it. They avenged it, dude. You're 5-2-1. They've won four in a row. Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Baltimore, but you tied the Browns. Have they figured some things out?

They've said they've figured some things out, but you tied the Browns. The other two teams, you know what Kansas City didn't do? They didn't tie the Browns. New England didn't tie the Browns. You know what else you could do? You could do the Notre Dame fan argument that you beat Michigan with your backup quarterback even though Wimbush had played an entire season and the person that gave me that was Big Cat but I didn't want to call him out because I didn't want him to feel the ire of

the Notre Dame fans and it's really funny because now Notre Dame fans think I hate them and just that's not true uh I've never hated Notre Dame ever but he almost I think he was upset I wasn't giving him credit for that argument. I hadn't heard that argument. But now I'm starting to hear it more and more. I've heard it on talk radio. Notre Dame fans want extra credit for beating Michigan with Wimbush when Wimbush was the established guy and Ian Book wasn't. So then, if you wanted to, if you were Pittsburgh,

you could say, sure, we're 5-2-1 and tied the Browns. We did that with our backup running back. And he had a headache. Right, James Conner. Because you're getting Le'Veon Bell back, who's just awesome on Twitter. He's taking this pretty seriously. Team guy. Conner, your backup, yes, he'll be the backup, I would imagine.

But he's been pretty good. He's number two in the NFL in rushing. So let's not act like, well, I don't want to take any shots at backup running backs because those are people too. So let's go to the NFC. The Rams, 8-1. Best win. It's either the Chargers or the Vikings.

Now, the Vikings are starting to figure some things out here. They're talking about their defense, everybody getting together on the same page. One of the safeties, I think it was Harrison, was saying, you know, we stopped, we were so hyped up in the beginning of the year, and obviously from a roster, just talent standpoint, Minnesota's depth chart, it was something we were raving about before the season

even started, but they seem to think that they've got this thing going, and they're not going to be, I hate doing the whole they're not a team you want to play in the playoffs. There's six freaking teams in each conference. Very rarely do you go, you know what we want to play is that five seed. They suck.

Even Seattle, when they were 7-9 as a playoff team, they ended up winning the game as a 7-9 playoff team. So the Rams, do you want to go Chargers week 3, 35-23, or Vikings 38-31? You know what? I actually think I'm going to go that Vikings game because it was so much fun and it was great. And, yes, they're both at home. And we could talk point, score, differential.

Minnesota's better now than they were, say, in Week 4. But that was just a great kind of – it was really one of the best games of the season, right up there with the Saints-Rams, right up there with the Chiefs and Pats. So I'm going to go ahead and say that's their best win. But it is debatable. And their only loss is New Orleans, but that could be either the Chiefs. Yeah, we already did that, so I'll say the Chiefs is still the better loss there. But it's really razor thin.

Now, better conference, that's what we would do. We'd go, oh, the NFC. This time it counts. It'd be harder to do the NFC and they got more pros because they're all pros. It just means more. Could I put three NFC teams in instead of two and two with every NFC bias? Could I say something really stupid if I were in the committee and be like, yeah,

eight and one, but after eight in a row, I haven't been as hot lately. You don't want to do that. Speaking of, did any Dolphins come on and do their thing? I feel like the Dolphins' undefeated storyline wasn't as big of a deal this year. Maybe it's because you get to hit 10-0 before Mercury Morris is invited to first take. I don't know. Can we just check on Mercury Morris right now? Did anybody have him on?

Every time I do anything now like that, I always immediately worry. I'd be like, wait a minute. You don't know what's going on with Mercury Morris? Nice little edit there. We just did a massive research project on Mercury Morris. Like I said, it felt a little neglected this time around. But it felt real time to you. We just did a serious time travel there.

We took about a 10-minute break. Yeah, we couldn't find anything on him. Okay, so that's the Rams argument. New Orleans, NOLA, 7-1, best win, Rams. Worst loss, week one, Tampa. How about that? Remember when the Rams, you're going, okay, you lost to Tampa, but back then, Fitzpatrick

was still superhuman, although he may be superhuman again. If Ryan Fitzpatrick were a superhero franchise, there'd be like 12 movies. He's Hancock. Yeah, because you would just, is he Hancock? Was Hancock good? That's what I'm saying. He's an enigma. So you're saying it's not good.

But he saved the world, too. Did he? I didn't last. I saw it in a hotel. Didn't make it. He's an enigma. So you're saying it's not good. But he saved the world too. Did he? I didn't last. I saw in a hotel. Didn't make it. That's a good one. Yeah. I don't know.

That was kind of like before we realized, we're like, man, Will Smith's on a bad run. Now we were still locked into some of the other things. Everything was working out. And then it took us like a few movies to go. Wait a minute.

And by the time after earth popped, you go, Oh, and then I kind of felt very anti Will Smith. Then I read a really revealing article about him saying, yeah, it sucked when I had a really bad run there. Like, I'm competitive. I don't want these movies to suck.

And After Earth was brutal. It was pretty bad. Brutal. I Am Legend I liked. Everybody liked I Am Legend, right? Well, it reminded me of Hartford. So it was like, that was big. He had a radio show.

I have a radio show. You know. He had a radio show? Yeah. He'd be walking around at night. And I was like that was he had a radio show i have a radio show you know yeah he'd be walking around at night and i was like this guy i was like is this is i am legend about me and then they drove to vermont the butterfly tattoo and i was like yeah this feels a little forced at the end but um reminder is somebody pursuing writing i've been told to not shoot down other story arcs um because you never know. Like, oh, hey, we really like your show. Weren't you shitting on I Am Legend, the ending, and my screenplay?

Like, I didn't know you wrote that. Congrats, though. It was fun. It was fun. Right up into the Vermont town with a huge wall. So, New Orleans. Yeah, that was weird. That was really weird because they beat Cleveland a week, too.

And I'm going, all right, so they lose to Tampa. And the Cleveland thing, it looked like they were going to lose and you're going, I guess the Saints think? This doesn't make any sense, but the argument in the committee would be they're getting better as the season progresses. They're playing great at the right time. They're 3-0 against playoff teams. Washington, Minnesota, and the Rams. Wait a minute.

They can't win on the road though. Well, yeah, they can. It's just that the playoff teams, they've all been at home. And then you would argue, well, they haven't scheduled anybody out of conference. Like, well, okay, everybody just shut up. So what am I going to do here? Is there a third team in the NFC? You know who the number three seed is in the NFC? Kyle, go.

Number three team in the NFC? Yes. Falcons? No. Kidding. Well, you weren't kidding. You took a guess. I put you on the spot, and you didn't do well.

That's all right. Atlanta's not even in the playoffs. Chicago. Your Chicago Bears are 5-3, and they win the head-to-head over the Redskins based on best win percentage in conference games. So, the Bears aren't in my Final Four. You're like, wait a minute. Is the NFC actually better now is one of my other questions.

Chicago, let's do this game. What's their best win? I can't believe they're the three seed in the NFC. I can't believe this conference that I thought was going to be so nasty. And you know what? There's still a good chance by the end of the year, we're sitting there going, remember when it was Chicago, Washington, Carolina, and then Minnesota was sixth. Atlanta's starting to figure some things out here on offense. Seattle, I know they just lost, and they're 4-4, but I don't know. I'm starting to believe in them again a little bit. Maybe I shouldn't because the wins are, what, Lions, Raiders, Cardinals, Cowboys? Yeah, maybe they do suck.

Maybe I'm an idiot. But I think at the end of the year, I'd be really surprised, even though Carolina's got this thing going offensively at 6-2 as the other wild card. They have the better record than the division winners or at least the division leaders

right now in Chicago and Washington and in the North and in the East. But the Bears' best win is... All right, they beat the Seahawks week two at the Cardinals 16-14. They smashed the Bucs. That was when Trubisky was like Kurt Warner's older more badass dad and then they beat the Jets and the Bills so I don't know I'm gonna say their best win is a loss at home against New England yeah yep there you go okay so the rankings if I were in the room I'd go New Orleans one with a head-to-head against

the Rams I'd put the Rams two because I still think these two teams are better than everybody else and watching them on Sunday may be getting in my head a little. And I'd put Kansas City, even though they lost a head-to-head to New England, three over the Pats because the Pats have the extra loss and their two losses are Iowa-esque for Ohio State last year. We still have a lot to do today on the pod. We've got Chris Fowler trivia at the very end.

Most important thing that I'll do today, that we'll be talking to the playoff chairman, Rob Mullins. We'll go over all the rankings that just came out on Tuesday night. And I want to hit up the tweet that pissed me off this week. That's next. Today's show and our football podcast in Vegas brought to you by our friends over at Belvedere, the world's finest all natural vodka. Belvedere is made with 100% non-GMO Polska rye, pristine water from their own natural well and no additives.

In an exciting development, The Ringer will be partnering with Belvedere to host their first ever crossover podcast with me, Kevin Clark, and Robert Mays from the NFL show, all live from Caesars Palace in Vegas on November 12th at 9 p.m. Pacific time. That's after the Monday night game. Join me, Clark Mays, as they discuss all things NFL from the greatness of Pat Mahomes to Eli Manning's future in New York, plus a number of valuable gambling and fantasy tips. Come hang with the Ringer NFL crew in Vegas, November 12th, and just visit theringer.com forward slash Belvedere live.

That's again, theringer.com forward slash Belvedere live to purchase your tickets. The very special live podcast is all made possible by the world's finest all natural vodka, Belvedere. And please remember to always drink responsibly. See you at Caesars. This week's installment's a little different because, I don't know, there's a bunch of stuff. Kentucky fans very upset last week, felt I was dismissive on the podcast about Kentucky as a playoff contender, or that I hadn't watched Kentucky. I think the problem is I'd watched Kentucky too closely in

the Missouri game, and I know your defense was really good. I just didn't think you were going to beat Georgia, and you didn't. But it was a little bit of a reminder. There was some Kentucky football shit talk, which you're not always used to seeing. Now I know that most of you in Lexington as basketball people are absolute psychopaths and that's well-documented, so we can't debate that. But then it was like, oh wait, well, if it was the same basketball fans that are also football fans, yes, I could see this. And yeah, I think your defense is pretty good. I think for Kentucky that you're kind of in this and you just played in a game on Saturday that was going to decide the East. That in itself is great for Kentucky football.

But I don't know. I just don't think you were as good as those other teams. And I think we saw that against Georgia. The football part of it was weird. It was kind of like getting nugget shit talk the other night when I was watching the Celtics-Nugs game. Yeah, you just go, like I'd said something about the Celtics and you go, yeah, yeah, you just go, like I'd said something about the Celtics

and you go, yo, whatever dude, and you're just like, wait a minute, Nuggets fans talk shit on Twitter? Like I'm used to it from Ohio State, Penn State, Kobe fans,

the Raptors oddly enough, Utah, anytime you say anyone might be better than anyone on the team. Philly for an entire year for your boy. But I said Nuggets? Wow. That's weird. Nuggets guys are mad, but be mad because the team is awesome.

But I think people that watch them give them the props, give them respect. So, yeah, it was a little different. So, here, this thing isn't about – because the problem is that the tweets that actually pissed me off, I could just do more Cannell anti-SEC tweets, but I'm convinced that it's one of two things. Cannell is either insane or strategically saying, as if you were running for office, if I just dump on the one geographic area,

the other four geographic conferences have to like me, so I'll just be more popular across the board. 80% of the fan base is out there. I don't even know if 80 is the right number, but if he's talking conferences, he would feel like, okay, I have 80% of the conferences and he starts fighting for UCF all the time. So hell, let's make it even a higher percentage. He's thinking like geographic footprint, like when Rutgers, a lot of Rutgers football on the podcast day, but like when Rutgers, the great thing about getting Rutgers for the big 10 is that they'd have the New York media market.

Do you? Okay. Or when the ACC is like, oh, we'll lock up this Boston media market by getting Boston College. Again, do you? Do you have them? Because when I go to Boston, I don't hear a ton of ACC football talk. So I think that's what Cannell's doing. Or he's just insane.

And the thing is, I think I prefer insane because every tweet I could destroy within minutes, and I want him to hear this. Okay? And we were way too cordial last week, but we just hadn't talked to each other in a long time, and I miss my friend. But yeah, so I could do a Cannell tweet every week, but I don't want to. But yeah, so I could do a Cannell tweet every week, but I don't want to. And then if I got real specific with naming other people about the tweets that upset me the most, I don't want to name guys that I think are clowns, you know, because that's kind of the battle. If I'm naming you and I don't respect your work, then I'm kind of hooking you up by talking about you. So I don't really want to.

You have to. Let's put it this way. If you're somebody that I don't like in the media, you're going to have to really piss me off for me to even mention who you are. Okay. So I'm not going to mention anyone in particular, but all of you that are pro Michael Thomas after the penalty for the cell phone celebration, it's not that those of us that were anti the penalty are narcs, that those of us that were anti the penalty are narcs pearl clutching you know the group i don't have a family so i don't have to explain michael thomas's penalty grabbing a cell phone to anyone in my family and i look i still don't like it i can't understand for the life of me when it's as simple as it is a really important game it's a a close game. Yes, you're up by 10. Yes,

you're playing the results if your argument is whatever they won, dude. But there were so many different people that tweeted this. I'm not even going to do one specific person. That was just like, I think there was one guy from Sports Illustrated that said you're a no fun having narc if you're anti-Michael Thomas' celebration. And it's very simple. Does getting the penalty make it tougher for your team to win? Yes. Does getting the penalty give your opponent an advantage it did not have prior to because of the kickoff and being moved back? Yes.

So it's not the end of the world. It doesn't mean I'm only missionary position guy. It doesn't mean I have a parental lock on cable channels at my house, even though I live alone. It doesn't mean that I think Ray Romano is too edgy for standup. It means I'm not a fucking moron about a penalty that's incredibly selfish. I don't get you folks. Like, this isn't a social issue. It's nothing more than, did you plan to do something incredibly selfish knowing it would cost your team 15 yards just because you wanted to?

And if Troy Aikman goes off on it, you know, I just, look, Sean, I was in the building. I watched Thomas hid from Sean Payton to the other end of the sideline and Payton went to go find him. And Payton, because, you know, today's day and age, you can't completely sell your guy out. He says, you know, we talked about it,

but he was looking for him, man. He was looking for him, being like, what are you doing? What if a player had said, hey, coach, at some point in a really important game, when it's kind of close, late, I'd like to get a penalty for a celebration. Is that cool? Was the coach be like, you do you, man. I want you to be able to express yourself for the ultimate freedom. I want everyone on this team to never worry about penalties. And I'm not, I didn't care about the celebration.

I thought it was a little selfish. But the arguments after the fact are what bothered me more than anything else. Rob Mullen's coming up here in a second. Bespoke Post, check it out. When you're constantly grinding away at work or out with friends, there's not much time to think about upgrading your style or apartment. I got to be honest with you. I haven't done much either.

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I thought you went to Columbus, Ohio this weekend. Meh. I take it back. Wait, I take it back. Wow. How would you do that? It was my favorite show. How could you do this to Titus? That was my favorite show. Hey, look, I'll admit in 08 the first time I went to Columbus, I didn't have it in my top five. You went to Easton, though.

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code DUAL, for 20% off your first box. Bespoke Post, themed boxes for guys that give a damn. Really excited to talk with Rob Mullins. He is the athletic director at Oregon.

He's been terrific there out in Eugene, and he's been a friend of the show. We haven't hung out socially, but yeah, I've known him for a little while. He's been great,

and he is the playoff committee chairman now, and he joins us. Hey, Rob, the committee rankings come out tonight, and we've got Bama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgia, Oklahoma. I think there was a lot of social media reaction at LSU at 7, Washington State, West Virginia, Ohio State at 10.

So we've got the rankings. I guess I always start with kind of how much of a gap you feel or how much of a tier there is at the top. Is it safe to say that you see Alabama and Clemson closer to each other and then another tier? I mean, how many teams would you kind of describe as being in that kind of top group? Yeah, that's not really the way it works in the committee room.

If you've been through the mock selection, you do do it in smaller groups. I think it's clear clear the committee sees Alabama as number one and Clemson as two, but that's not necessarily the way it breaks down. When you start looking at them in groups, and again, we're only looking through week 10. There's a lot of conversation about Notre Dame

and Michigan, obviously, when you look at Michigan with the number one defense in the country. Dominant win last week over Penn State, but then you still have the head-to-head, and as the protocol calls for, that head-to-head matters, and at this point, Notre Dame's still three, Michigan's four. Why LSU still ahead of, say, Washington State, West Virginia, and Ohio State with the extra loss? Well, when you look at LSU's body of work,

particularly as you look as it compared to this group of 25 that we just ranked and revealed today, you know, they have the most top 25 wins of any team. They still have three wins versus current CFP top 25. You know, they won at Auburn. They beat Georgia. They beat Mississippi State. And while they did suffer

a 29-0 loss at home to Alabama, the number one team, and a road loss to Florida, when you look at their overall body of work and the strength of that defense, it's an impressive resume. Do you think people are used to the AP

historically punishing teams for losing to better teams. I used to always say, like, okay, wait a minute, if you think this team is six and they get smashed by team number two, like, why do you drop them to 16? And so, and I think when LSU only drops four spots and they can't score a point at home again against Alabama, I guess people just expect to see that team drop more. Maybe that's how the committee differs from traditional voting. Yeah, no, we start with a clean sheet every week.

But I think to your specific question, yes, I think people are used to the history of the media polls. And remember, those polls start before a game is even played. So there's a poll before week one. And I think it's wise for the College Football Playoff Selection Committee to wait till after week nine. And even that can be difficult, you know, because, you know, some teams have only played seven and eight games. And then that's that's tough. But each week you get one more piece of data and start with a clean sheet,

which is the way to go and taking a deep dive with resumes side by side. It's just it's just not. Hey, let's look at last week's ranking. See who won and move them up and see who lost and move them down. No, no, no. It's a clean sheet. Who won? Who lost? How did they win? How did they lose? How do they compare against people in their same pool of teams? So it's a deep dive every week and a lot of comparative analysis. Was there much opposition or pushback to LSU in the room being that high? You know, there's always conversation, you know, particularly when you're looking at, you know, two lost teams versus one lost teams. And when there's not a lot of comparable opponent,

you know, it does get a lot of conversation and debate. But again, when you look at that resume and those wins at Auburn versus Georgia versus Mississippi State, and their two losses are against ranked teams, you know, it's hard to argue. And I get the offense point. I mean, yes, you know, they're inconsistent on offense. And when their offense can put points on the board, they're a tough team because that defense can be dominant.

So does that mean that you and the committee feel neutral site LSU against Washington State, West Virginia, Ohio State would beat those teams? You know, I guess the best way to say it is at this point, we see LSU ranked higher than Washington State, West Virginia, and Ohio State. It doesn't necessarily come down neutral site, but I guess in a way you look at it, yes, we see LSU as the better team after Week 10. I want to get back to something you said about Notre Dame and Michigan, because in my years of, I've gone through the committee process twice, and then I was lucky enough to talk to Jeff Long and then Kirby for four years, and really happy to have you on the podcast here. So I think I have a pretty good understanding of how everyone who represents the committee speaks. And when fans get upset about, well, they said conference championships matter and now they don't,

or they said head-to-head matters and now there'll be some example of maybe it doesn't play out that way. You just said, you know, the Notre Dame head-to-head over Michigan means a lot, and that's why there are three and why Michigan is four. How could that change then? Well, we're only through Week 10, and the protocol has several things in it. When you have teams that are comparable at the margin, you look at these protocols. One is head-to- head results. One is conference championships comparable, you know, Michigan and Notre Dame have both played Northwestern.

And I believe both were on the road and they won those games. So, you know, you take all those things into consideration. I think you make an excellent point, Ryan. And the staff remembers you as being one of the most prepared media members for those mocks. So kudos to you. But I think what happens is fans want to put things in a vacuum. They want to align on the piece of the protocol that fits their argument. When the reality is, oftentimes, as you probably experienced in the mock, there's conflicting data. And you have to make a decision. That's why this is an art, not a science.

And there is some subjectivity to it. because not everything is going to align perfectly. You have to take bits and pieces of information, and sometimes that information is going to be in conflict, and it's up to the 13 members of the committee to debate the merits and then make a decision. I'm always curious why Bill Hancock would say something like oh UCF definitely has a chance I see and I'm not necessarily one of the bleeding UCF guys that are just like oh this is ridiculous they're left out but I don't see any possible way UCF gets back in this thing at 8-0 but 12th and I'm sure the strength of schedule crushing them in any debates inside the room.

Yeah, strength of schedule is a key piece. This is not just an exercise on wins and losses. Strength of schedule matters. And as you experience in the mock, when you put two resumes up on the board, you're looking at the result of every single game, not only the score, but the record of the opponent. Uh, then you get all the statistics and then a lot of summary information. Um, and so that resume is critically important. Um, so, you know, it's not just the record. It is looking at who they beat, how they performed. Not only that,

but then you got to say, then I got to compare that to somebody else's resume or a group of teams resumes. So it's a comparative analysis, which I think sometimes people lose track of. I want to do a broader kind of thing now, because I remember, you know, when you were first on it, I was like, yeah, I'd been in a couple of some of the mocks. And when you sit through the mock, it really is impressive. And it's very helpful. It's very helpful for me who had to talk about this every single day. And here's the thing. I love talking about it.

I love doing it. I found the drama in this kind of similar to like an NBA offseason drama where it's just all the speculation. And people are already freaking out about the idea of Alabama losing a close SEC title game to Georgia. Georgia in, Bama's out. Like, what's going to happen? Or would Bama stay in? But I know if I ask you that, you're just going to go, hey man, we're 10 weeks through. We'll worry about that when we get there.

So if I kind of back this whole thing up, what about the process has surprised you the most, Rob? That's a tough question. I think early on, and this is my third year on the committee, I think early on, you know, this is my third year on the committee. I think early on, I was so impressed with how much data you have at your fingertips. I mean, you can take as deep a dive as you want in data.

And then probably how well prepared the members are. I mean, when we show up here on Monday morning, you have 13 members who've watched a significant number of games, who have just combed through the data, who've done their own comparative analysis, and walk into that room at the Gaylord fully prepared to vet each and every team. I know that when I would do shows and then forget even shows in the hallway, you know, you run into three guys that were great football players and, you know, Van Pelt and I may run into them. There's certain people that are combative about this and there's other people that are agreeable and willing to listen. How does that play out in the room with all the different

personalities? Well, I mean, you know, anytime you're a part of a team, whether it's at work, you know, or a committee or a local charity, you know, having diverse thought and opinion is extremely helpful to reaching the best decision. And when you think about college athletics and how some of these sport committees are set up, this one is very unique. You have five sitting ADs. You have, I think it's five retired coaches, a former media member. And this year we have a Hall of Fame former player, Ronnie Lott. You know, that's a very unique structure. So, of course, there's all kinds of great debate and discussion because it's diverse opinions.

People value different things, see it differently. And I think that's how you end up with the best results. And the beauty of those 13 members in the way it's set up is, you know, you can have very candid debates and that's what you want. And that's one of my jobs as chair is to make sure that I stoke that debate, make sure we think of all angles, ask somebody to play devil's advocate so that you look at every single angle, because this is important. This is important to college football, which is extremely important to college athletics.

Has there ever been a time where you go, Hey, I know what the data says. I know what the numbers, I know everything. I just think this team A is better than team B. Can that still happen in that room? Yes, it does happen. And you can't just say, I think team A is better than team B. You have to be able to say why. You have to be able to articulate it. But sure, that does happen. And you can't just say, I think Team A is better than Team B. You have to be able to say why. You have to be able to articulate it.

But sure, that does happen. I know what the numbers say, but I also know what my eyes tell me. And my eyes tell me this. And yeah, that does happen. Is there an argument from previous years, now that it doesn't matter anymore, that you can remember that maybe you had, or that would be a good story? No, not necessarily an argument. What I found interesting in my first years on the committee ryan is you can go through a set of these you know we do six of these and you'll end up with two teams that end up side

by side and look very similar all year you know a couple years ago when colorado won the south in the pac-12 i think it was oklahoma was Oklahoma. Colorado and Oklahoma just lined up every week, and you go, wow, those two teams, this is going to be hard to break. It's a fine line. You end up in a lot of conversations like that where you get two teams that look very similar, or you'll have two teams, one with an incredible offense and a weak defense, and one with an incredible defense and a weak offense. How do you compare those two yeah that's always that's always the thing like even when i would go into it and i had to do rankings for the website for two years and i ended up kind of hating it i don't think people understand like they give you grief about oh i

can't believe this team's 18 and this team's 21 it's so hard to separate those teams it just i don't know like when you're going through it, what do you think has been kind of a defining thing that's happened these first two weeks of these rankings of trying to figure out how much better Mississippi State or BC is than Auburn or Washington? Great question. So much attention in the media is paid on one through four or one through six or, you know, who still has a chance to make the playoff. I will tell you this week, because nearly 50% of the teams from last week's rankings of 11 through 25 lost. We had seven of those teams.

And so when you start looking at, you know, whatever it is, 15 or 16 and up, it gets really difficult. You have some two lost teams, three lost teamsloss teams, some that have won two in a row, some that may have lost two in a row. It's extremely, extremely difficult, yet extremely important to the teams. Being ranked matters,

even if it's 25. We want to make sure that we give it as just two. I think the public, because there's so much discussion and talk around the four or the six who still have a chance, lose track's so much discussion and talk around the four or the six who still have a chance, lose track of how much time is spent on 15 through 25. Yeah. But then again, the thing I've never really liked about the arguments and fans do it, and I repeat myself too often on this, but I've heard every single possible argument any fan base can give me,

and I know that I can immediately see through it, but that top 25 stuff matters. And I always think that's kind of silly as if Team 29th is that much worse than Team 21st. Some years, yes, and some years, absolutely not. But then when you can say, well, wait a minute, we're 4-1 against top 25, but your top 25 wins are against teams 20 through 25. To me, that's not as impressive, and that's why those teams being in there at the back end, it's still important.

It's important that Penn State find a way to stay in the top 25 for other teams. No question. And it energizes the fan base. It does energize the fan base, and it does matter in the rankings. But as you know, when you look at them in the room on the data, you're looking at exactly where they were ranked. So, you know, whether somebody was nine or 24 but it, you know,

it does matter when over a ranked opponent matters. Okay. So that wasn't, I kind of made a statement. So it wasn't a great question there. So I'm going to want to do a better job in these last two. All right. I always thought that you would say conferences don't come into play. And this isn't just you. It goes back to Jeff Long, because if you told us that conferences mattered, then we would obviously have to ask you, well, how do you rank the conferences? And you don't want to do that. But I don't know how it's

humanly possible to debate these teams from different conferences and talk about which conferences are deep or which conferences are. So what's the best way that you can help me understand it? Because I think it's impossible to pretend that these discussions don't involve that stuff. Well, I mean, we don't bring up the conferences in the room, but nobody talks about who's in what conference. Obviously, we know who's in what conference, and when we're putting resumes up, we can see the list of opponents, but there is no conversation about conferences. Well, they're in this conference or that conference or this one's stronger than that one.

It's strictly about individual teams and resumes. Okay, then with this LSU ranking, with others arguing, I think a lot of times it's people arguing from other conferences, and you know me being at ESPN and everybody saying, oh, you guys are all ACC guys. Well, you're out there with the Pac-12. I mean, you're, I think, one of the best ADs in the country at Oregon, and you're now the committee chair, and you know what there will be from certain people about these rankings saying, oh, they're just doing the SEC thing again. They're doing it again.

How do you respond to that? How do you, I guess, sell me on, I don't believe it, but sell, like talk to the conspiracy theorists that don't understand how you guys put this together. Well, I guess the best way to sum it up is we get that from all angles. There's conspiracy theorists from every angle. You know, the beauty of college football is this. I think Mike Tirico said this. You know, the currency of college football is passion and debate, and people see it with their own school-colored glasses on.

You know, there's no – again, this is about team versus team. And when you're putting resumes on the board, again, the conference doesn't matter. It doesn't come into play. It's really just about looking and seeing who's performed and who they've played against. And then, you know, taking that set of results and making a decision. You know what I'm talking about, though. You know there's a couple guys. So does that bother any of you guys? Will you come to the hotel and be like, did you hear Joel Klatt again?

And I love Joel. I think he's great. But he's going to lose his mind about the LSU ranking. And will anyone bring that up? I mean, these guys actually think that... I still don't understand why the Pac-12 AD would want the SEC to have more teams in. But that's just me being maybe rational about the whole thing.

But do you ever address that, at least privately, with each other and be like, hey, did you hear what so-and-so said about our rankings? No, not necessarily. No, you know, somebody might say, you know, somebody came up to them at their hometown or something and said, you know, you guys love this league or, you know, you ignored this league. But, no, that's not part of our debate. You know, our debate is, said, you know, you guys love this league or, you know, you ignored this league, but no, that's not part of our debate. You know, our debate is again, you know, and when you sign up to be on this committee, right, you, you can expect that some of that will come.

Okay. Um, I guess my final thing would be, how are the boys doing and are they worried about Damian Lillard? Well, thank you for asking. They are doing great. It's just amazing how they get attracted to stars in the NBA. And the NBA has done such a smart job of how they market their stars. They're worried about Damian Lillard. They're worried about Kawhi Leonard. They're worried about all of them. They're paying attention, that's for sure. No, I know that they're big NBA guys, so if they make it down to Los Angeles, I'll have to... I don't know if I can get you Lakers tickets,

but maybe Clippers, all right? Well, hey, we're all about it. We'd love to go to a game with you. In fact, we're in Salt Lake City this weekend doing Friday night. The Celtics are at the Jazz, so we may try to sneak over and see that game. Yeah, you got to do that, man.

Hey, look, I really appreciate it. You know I have a ton of respect for you. Hey, man, it's going to be a lot of fun as we close this thing out and try to figure it out, man. So, thanks, I really appreciate it. You know, I have a ton of respect for you. Hey, man, it's going to be a lot of fun as we close this thing out and try to figure it out, man. So thanks again. I appreciate you having me. Love your work and look forward to seeing you down the road. Yeah, absolutely. And if you want to have the kids listen to this podcast, I did swear earlier when I was by myself. It's not real vicious, but I just might want to skip through that. That's all right. That's my job as a parent. All right.

Before we get to this week's Chris Fowler trivia, people love this. When I'm out on the road, I don't know. It's just one of those things. I kind of thought it was funny because he's been doing it for years where he interrupts the trivia questions.

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I'm going to make them tougher on you guys. Which country's first ever home football international was played at the Racecourse ground in 1877? Wales. Dual Threat Podcast. Please subscribe, rate, and review. Tell everyone you know about it. I got to tell you you it's a little

disheartening at times when i do run into somebody when i'm out on the road the best is when somebody's like dude i love your show i watch it every day i'm like not a ton lately thank you i think what do we do now i think you're watching patterns have slowed a tad say last 10 months or so um but keep telling people we're going to spread the word on the podcast. It's doing great. So we're pumped about that. But I don't want to meet any more people that don't know

that I have two podcasts. Maybe I'll get a billboard after Hotel Tonight runs its course. We'll figure out when it comes down. All right. We'll talk to you next week.