The Triple Option - Alabama Storms Back, Kalen DeBoer Joins, Should G5 Make the Playoff, and CFP Picks

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

Alabama doesn't belong in the College Football Playoff...SYKE! Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone break down the first round of the College Football Playoff from Alabama's comeback over Oklahoma to the domination of Tulane and James Madison and how the selection criteria needs to be changed. Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer came out to get an apology from Mark, talk about their come from behind win, their upcoming game against Indiana, and...50 Cent? Mark names his "Dawg of the Week" and it's all about the U. #Miami The guys then make their picks for Alabama-Indiana and Ohio State-Miami. 01:26 Portnoy Pays Up 02:30 First Round Letdown 21:28 Kalen DeBoer, Alabama Head Coach 40:07 Deuce Deuce Dawg of the Week 42:30 Ohio State vs Miami Preview 46:10 Indiana vs Alabama Preview New episodes of The Triple Option drop every Wednesday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also make sure you’re locked in on social @3XOptionShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys and the TO community. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tripleoptionshow.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) The Triple Option is presented by Wendy’s. Join Team Tendy’s and enjoy a line-up like never before. Crispy. Juicy. Tendy’s Now at Wendy’s. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tendys.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thank you to our additional sponsors FanDuel – Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Fanduel.com/TripleOption⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to download the app and take advantage of a 50% Profit Boost today! NHTSA - Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over ⁠https://www.nhtsa.gov/campaign/drive-sober-or-get-pulled-over?utm_source=sinclair&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=labordayimpaired2025&utm_content=custom_alcohol ⁠ #CollegeFootball #CollegeFootballPlayoff #CFP #Alabama #RollTide #Tulane #JamesMadison #Miami #Oklahoma #OhioState #BarStool #Portnoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're a group hug guy. You want a group hug. A participation trophy? You want to say, hey, everybody get a chance. No, I do like group hugs, though. Let's all put our arms around each other. We understand that you don't have one player recruited on your team that can compete with the other one. But you know what?

Let's all do a group hug. And we'll sing afterwards. Goombaya. Light it. The Triple Option is presented by, Wendy's join Team Tendies and enjoy a lineup like never before. Crispy, juicy, Tendies, now at Wendy's. Hey, welcome to the Christmas edition of the Triple Option presented by Wendy's,

Rob Stone, Duce, Deuce, Mark Ingram II, coach Urban Meyer here with you. Thanks for joining us. As always, love it if you can rate. Love it even more. If you subscribe, you can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever it is that you find your podcast. We're on social media at 3X option show. New episodes, drop it on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast, typically on Wednesdays. Things will be a little different next week with

the holidays around us. I want to let you know Alabama head coach Kalin DeBoer is going to join us ahead of their quarterfinal game in a little bit here on the triple option. But before we get to the games that took place and the games that are still ahead, coach, you got some cashiche, you got something and show me something, man, show me something. is. Is it legit? Is it signed? It's signed. And, you know, Dave sent me a text. Dave Portnoy has paid up. Is that what you're telling me? Yeah. It's debt paid and he sent me a text. And he said, what's your address, man? People think I'm not paying my, you know, I can tell he was kind of pissed.

And so I said, we're just joking around. So it's, it's signed. It's done. It's sitting right here. But I haven't written a check or cash to check. So this goes to Mrs. Byraps. No idea. idea. You know, you just give it to missus. I might just frame this bad boy and put it down here in my man cave. So yeah, Dave, debt paid. Any notes? Any notes on the check or like, what does it say on like the memo line? He didn't write this damn thing. I'm looking. It's Kevin. I just see it in the cornice is Dave Portnoy. So no, the old boy didn't write that. He, his people's, his peoples wrote it. But Dave, well done. Dead paid. All right. All right. Good job, Dave Portnoy. Happy holidays. the day port noise.

Well, are we ready now for any given Saturday? We always ready for any given Saturday. We were always ready. We were always ready for the first round of college football playoffs. They are in the books. Mark's got that special smile because Alabama won at Oklahoma, Miami, one at Texas, A&M, Ole Miss and Oregon, also advancing. So remember, last year, all four home teams in the first round one.

two and two this year, including the first two games of the first round of the playoffs, who went to the road team. What transpired over the weekend kind of leads us into crossroads presented by NHTSA. Whether you get pulled over or in a crash drinking and driving will change your whole world. Drive sober or get pulled over paid for by NHTSA. Coach, you, me, Mark, we were in Norman, Oklahoma. saw a great game between Alabama and the Sooners. Then it started going downhill a little bit,

at least the quality of football over the course of those two days. Yeah, Alabama, Mark, you know, and I always try to say, okay, the best version of the teams out there, you have Georgia's best version right now, that's going to be hard to beat. Ohio State's best version is going to be hard to beat. I'm telling you, Alabama's best for it now, we've got to get the best version.

They're going to be hard to beat. I put Oregon in that same category, and then I know we feel the same about Texas Tech. But to go back to your question, it was awful. I thought the three games, you know, Miami, the two great defenses, but, you know, I'm not sure, though, you know, Miami can, that offense performance was not good.

And then I even saw them that near the end of the first half, they weren't even trying, they're kind of just trying to run out that first half when it was, I want to say, 3-0. So, and then I want to hit that, you know, it's really nice. not fair to have those two teams, James Madison and Tulane. All right, coach, before you jump into that.

Yeah, before you jump into that, I want to play this soundbite real quick, which is going to segue perfectly into what you want to say. And it's coming from a guy who's going to be bleeding gaiters, right? John Summerwell, the head coach at Tulane. This is after Tulane lost their first round game, and he was basically asked after the defeat to Ole Miss, you know, was it fair? Was it the right thing for the James Madison?

you know, for the two lanes to be in this edition of the college football playoffs. Here's what he said. I mean, look, I think we were our conference champion and the rules are what they were. I think they should be accessed for at least one G5 team moving forward. I do. You know, I think you should have given the American champion an opportunity before the ACC champion this year because we beat the ACC champion. So like Duke won the ACC championship, we beat them.

So I do understand the gripe by how we played tonight. We didn't help maybe the critics of that. But I do think there should at least be one G5 representative. But, you know, I'm not in charge of the playoff. I need to coach whatever team I'm coaching better than I did tonight. So I got to worry about. So Tulane fell at Ole Miss, 41 to 10. Oregon put a 50 burger on James Madison,

although JMU did put up 34 points. end. It was a 17-point loss for James Madison. So it's the inclusion of those two teams and what you saw from them on the field coach, which gives you a little bit of angst. Yeah, Coach Semmel is a great hire at the University of Florida, and he said the right things that he'd say, but it's not the best 12 teams in America. It's really not even close, to be honest with you. And from what I saw, I guess what's amazing to me is what did you expect? You know, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, And maybe there would be a gigantic upset or something like that, but to throw those guys out there and say,

okay, you guys are going to go fly across and play at Oregon. And, you know, I'm just not a fan of that. When I saw it hit, you know, I thought that's not, it's really not fair to the players involved. It's not fair to the coach. And it's certainly not fair to those two teams that were left out. So I know Coach Stoops and I had a long conversation about that because he never, I don't believe he ever started coaching,

but I was at Bowling Green and then I was at a young Utah team on the Mountain West. But people said when I was at Utah Mark, we beat A&M badly. We beat Arizona, beat Cal, beat Oregon. You know, I would force those, if they want to have that conversation, and I said this last week or two weeks ago, they have to play three perennial top 50 teams. Now, that's all fluid because it changes. But you have to.

or you can't conversation stop. You just can't because there's no measuring stick. You can't measure some of those other games and say, what do you think this will look like? So you have to play and compete with those. So the committee can have it to look and say, okay, this is what this might look like. Because it was kind of embarrassing

for college football to have that happen. It was extremely embarrassing. And I'm not, like I said, what do you think was going to happen? You know, that was going to happen and it did. Yeah. The one saving grace was we had NFL football on Saturday. So at 5 o'clock, 8 o'clock, I was on Fox watching NFL football

because the college games were not exceptional. They were not great. But, you said it, coach, man. What do you expect to happen? It happened. But, hey, those are the rules. Those are the rules that are set in place by our forefathers. Our forefathers.

Our college football playoff forefathers. by our college football, by our CFP forefathers. I want to have someone stand up and own it and say that was my fault for doing that. Of course, you'll never hear that. Because I keep asking who wrote that rule. Who wrote that rule? The problem is they wrote this rule. They wrote this rule thinking that that scenario would never happen.

Correct. If Miami just wins the ACC, none of that ever happens. Now, there will be a G6 representative, but it wouldn't be James Madison in there. You know what I mean? And it would probably be, you know, Miami if they held her on, they won the ACC, then Notre Dame would have got in. So there, there wouldn't have been this noise if the ACC had carried their water. Right.

ACC was booty cheeks. So the fact that two, two group of six programs got in, I think just kind of tilted the competitive balance out of whack too much. If it was just one program like it was last year, I don't think there would have been this hand-wringing, this angst, right? Because a Notre Dame or maybe even a BYU would have gotten in. And I just don't think this conversation would have gotten as much. exposure as it had. Maybe it's a good thing that it did, that it brought it out. But again, these are the rules in place.

Yes, but even like last year, Boisey was a legit team. Boise State absolutely deserved to be it. They lost the Oregon by a field goal last year. So you had a measuring stick of the G6 representative. You know what I mean? So there was no measuring stick like coach said. Like James Madison, they beat Duke. Duke was cheeks.

Like, you know what I mean? Tulane, they got beat 45 to 10 in a regular season. They got beat 41 to 10. other night. So we knew what was going to happen, but it all stems from the ACC not holding their weight this year. Your Boise State program is really valid, right? Because when you're talking about these group of sixes, it's, you know, you're riding a wave, right? Like, there could be some really good outliers like a Boise State last year, right? That deserved to be there. And then you get a year like this where, again, I don't want to discredit Tulane and James Madison. Congratulations

on wonderful seasons. I'm so happy that that those two teams, they're fan bases, the groups got to experience a college football playoff, but I think we all agree they weren't to the level of Boise State. Here's my one pushback, and I'm going to throw questions to you, Coach, Mark, if we were writing the Declaration of Independence for college football, right? If we're the forefathers? We're the forefathers of college football right now, Mark Ingram. I am putting it in my declaration that we want college football for all. Is that fair? Yeah. Okay? No. We want to, we want to, we want to, spread the gospel.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, no, not college football for all. All right. So, Coach, you just want college football for 12. Are you, are you, are you a group hug guy? You want to, you want a group hug. A participation trophy? You want to say, hey, everybody get a chance.

No. I do like group of hugs now. We understand that you don't have one player recruited on your team that can compete with the other one, but you know what? Let's all do a group hug and we'll, we'll sing afterwards. Kumbaya. So four or five. Rob, that's not what you do. Okay.

So let me go, let me go back to my fourth. The survival of the fittest. So our college football country is built on survival of the fittest, right? Bad-ass players and badass teams get into playoff. It's built for just this little tiny pie graph. What about everybody else? Isn't it part of our responsibility to grow the sport, to educate people, to give them greater opportunity, to give these fan bases an opportunity to love and embrace and enjoy

and maybe have the opportunity to step on this sacred ground of the college football. football playoffs. If you want to go to those rules, they're not even allowed. They're not even, they shouldn't be playing. Your job is to crown a national champion and get the best 12 teams in America. That's it. Your job's not to spread the goodwill. Okay.

No, your job is to kick someone's ass on the field as hard as you possibly can. Thomas Tvers is talking right now. And reward players that deserve to be there. Okay. No, no, no. But what if those group of six teams deserve to be there? Then they're in. Okay.

Good. That's why I, I mean, if I was like Boise last year, like Boise. I would have a play in Saturday that you play if someone, and we got to work it all out. But I'm telling you, and I'm Boise and the Utah team in 04, they should have been. You know why? Because we kicked the shit out of those other Power 5 teams. If James Madison or Tulane would have beat Ole Miss, absolutely they're in. Okay.

They didn't. They got 45 to 10. The group hugger in me just wants to make sure that there's always that opportunity for those teams out there. And again, coach... I love you, Rob, but wow. But listen, man. That's why there's no chance you can be on this

I love you to death, Rob. Think about what these last few days have done for college football in the Virginia area around James Madison and in New Orleans. I don't care about ratings. I'm not televised in those games.

You know what I'm going to do is I'm going to get a conference called what Notre Dame, and I'm going to have Rob explain how everything this is really important. So why does Notre Dame automatically belong? Because their name is Notre Dame. Like, that's it. Like, how come they are automatically part of this 12-team conversation? Why can't we? Because they would have killed Tulane or James Madison. You don't know until you play the game. We just saw the game. Don't. Notre Dame didn't play. And I love Notre Dame. I think they're great, too. This is really good, Rob. But I would force that, and I said this before, in the scheduling, you've did the,

the small guys, which I was a small guy for a long time, you want to play with the big cats, you schedule them. And you could say, well, you can get them on that schedule. We'll figure out a way, right? Yeah, they have to play three teams, and there's your measuring stick. Okay. If James Madison, or like we mentioned Tulane, I love Tulane, I love their coach, if they would have beat or at least swung hard at Ole Miss and then the one other one,

absolutely they go in. Or at least they get a chance to play it. If they decide to play a soft-ass schedule, no, no. Yeah. You can't. So, again, everybody has to play that game, though, right, coach? Right, right. The big boys have to agree to play the James Madison's and the two lanes of the world.

And I don't know how you come up with those rules, right? I've been involved in the schedule, and they could have got those. Now they might have, you know, it's all about money now. How much you're going to pay and all? For sure. They have to play if I'm a non-powerful team, which I have. was a bowling green and i know i like utah in oh four i knew i had them coming back mark i would have done anything my power to make if there is a playoff back then to get a big boy on that

schedule at least and we have to yeah because because you have to i there's there's no other measuring or you don't get respect yeah so it is great dialogue though college football maybe college football has a scheduling problem right sure does they schedule these games so far in advance that you have no idea where these programs are going to be three, four, five years down the road. If you look at the college basketball schedule, right, and it's so many more games, and I understand you can play more games through the course of the year and things are a little bit more fluid. But the scheduling, like, I'll sit here and I'll wait for the college basketball schedule

to come out. Like, who are the non-conference teams? Like, what are we doing? They're figuring it out in the summer, right? They're figuring out, hey, this is who we're going to be. And this is what that team looks like. They're going to be. Maybe college football needs to slow down.

Just slow down. And hey, in the spring, let's get together and let's see where certain programs are right now and give those schools the opportunity to schedule and to prove or say that, you know what, we're not quite at that level. My only beef, again, coaches, I just want to make sure that those outlier programs are given the opportunity like Boise State was last year to get the proper credit, to get in to play with the big boys, to put their paws up. And for that fan base, for those alumni,

night. For those students, for that team, those coaches, that staff to experience the college football playoffs, I never want to take that away from somebody. The problem is the college football is now discouraging scheduling. Like, you have a week schedule. When you go 12 and 0, you're going to the playoff. So, like, so, yeah, we have a lot of college football just, is, if college football stock, I'm buying it, we just need to reconstruct this thing. Oh, it's, it's on the rise. It's a rocket ship, for sure. Just need some fine. tuning. And coach, to your point, I think we saw it at the end of last year's college football playoffs. There was fine tuning, right? Just because you won your conference doesn't mean you get a

buy anymore, right? And they did. They made it better than I did a year ago with the, with the buys. They'll just keep adjusting. It's still great. But that was not good. And my guess is it's going to be adjusted in the offseason a little bit. I hope so. Mark Ingram might have adjusted his thoughts on the University of Alabama going forward, huh? There was a whole lot of roll-tide. I know you were always behind Roll Tide, but now there's some vindication, right? Yeah. I'm always Roald Tide.

There's nobody that go harder for the Tide, didn't me. Coming up next to the Triple Option, Mark, bring that smile back, baby. You know who's joining us. The man. Kailin DeBoar, next on the Triple Option, presented by Wendy's. Our coach, huh? All right. Light it.

Welcome back. to the triple option presented by Wendy's, Rob Stone, Mark Ingram, the second urban Mark, show me that smile because look who's joining us with that beautiful backdrop in Alabama head coach, Caitlin DeBoer coach. Thanks to happy holidays. Merry Christmas early on and thanks for joining us on the Triple Option. Yeah, Merry Christmas to you guys as well. So it's good to be back on with you. That's good to still be coaching this time of year, right? It is. It is definitely. And so, you know, it's a great Christmas when you're still playing and especially with the games that we have coming up.

Congrats, Coach. That's one of the best performances I've seen a long time when you take every, and we were there, the triple option was there. That Blue Blood versus Blue Blood and give Oklahoma credit for one of the best environments I've ever seen. And so here's a question that I've had many teams like that where your best version, I was telling Mark, when you watch on tape, your best version of Alabama, I don't know who can beat you. However, there's some other versions that show up every once in a while you're like, wait a minute now.

And so of all the teams that are out there, the best version of Bama is the best version. How do you get that damn best version? I know that's if you had that answer, it'd be worth a lot of cash. But how do you get that best version? Well, yeah. And again, we started out slow, but I thought really the last two and a half, three quarters, we really, really played well. we played team football and that's that's where it starts i think that's one thing um that we have is we have a real team and um you know uh again the c c championship was something that you know

really was was frustrating for our guys um no we didn't play our best and um but you keep working back there's just been these moments where the team just always rises at the top and uh guys playing for each other and i think our guys truly believe that You know, when you play great competition, there are going to be plays. There are going to be times and moments where it doesn't go perfect. But the other side of the ball, the other phase of the game is going to figure it out. They're going to make an adjustment. They're going to get back on a role.

And especially in this game, we had guys a little healthier and we were able to, I think, play for four quarters. So we had more guys hitting top speeds than really any other game other than Tennessee. We had the most guys playing the fastest in this game all season long. It was tied with the Tennessee game. So that's quite a while ago. And so, you know, that was great to see. We talked to the guys about that. And, you know, that motivates them even more to be in the weight room and conditioning

what they were just doing here again today. So a lot of it is the practice, you know, the show right away. We just miss some opportunities to convert some third downs, which keep us on the field. I thought a couple of angles on tackling, you know, early in the game, they got us. And so once we really settled in, I thought both coordinators made some good adjustments to get high in a rhythm to keep their quarterback material off his spot. Got some more pressure in different ways. I had to mix it up a little bit and make some adjustments there. I thought our coordinators and our players did as good of a job in this game as we have all season long of staying the course, but also adjusting to the moment.

Hey, Coach, man. Appreciate you being on, man. And when our producers reached out, they told me that, man, you had some requirements for me, man. What did you say I had to do, man, in order for you to get on the show? I don't know what that is.

I don't know. Apparently. Maybe I apologize for a question where we should be in the playoff. Is that what we're getting? Yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay, Mark. Hey, hey, hey, but listen, I can't apologize because it was some reverse.

psychology. I was throwing the rat poison out there and clearly y'all heard me because we went out to Norman and we did the job and we're going to do the job again in a few weeks. So you know, I go harder for bailment than anybody in the nation. I go harder for you to anybody in the nation. And did I feel like we left our destiny in the committee's hands? Yes, I did. That I feel like the committee would have been justified by doing us dirty. I felt like they might have had some of that. But at the end of the day, I root for Belma. I want Bamma in the playoff. I want Bamma to win the Natty.

I want Bamma to ball every single time we're on the field. So I do apologize. And you know, I'm the ultimate King Gump. They cry on me King Gump because I go harder for Bamma to anybody else. But you know, we love you. And now I love your wife and now love your daughter. So big DeBoer fan over here. Yeah.

No. Hey, here's a thing. You come back all the time. You help us. Like, I know where the loyalty's at. and I know where the loves at. And so, hey, you're saying how it was. And we didn't play very good, you know, in that game.

And so it was all real, and that comes with the territory. You heard it from the man himself. I love you, coach, and I appreciate you. Coach, you're sitting there down 17-0 on the road, and that crowd is on you. What was the messaging? What was the tone that you wanted to display to your team at that moment? Well, you know, the defense, I've, you know, starting with that side, first of all,

just when they come off the field and, you know, we've given up some points. I just have, I don't know, they believe in themselves, our whole team believes, and just tell them to keep playing, keep playing. And they're going to force a turnover at some point. They just do it in the biggest moments. It's been happening really almost all season long. And keep playing and the offense will make the adjustments. I know I go to the offense and tell them.

them, hey, the defense, you know they're going to come around. And so it's just that belief, keeping them headed in the right direction, their mindset, where it needs to be, but just keep playing. And really, the over, you know, the part about it was just, I find a way to get seven points of the board, you know, just even three, 17 to three, but, you know, you really would like to get seven. And we got that. And when we got that seven points there, it really felt like, hey, this game,

we're settling in now. We've taken some big punches here, and, you know, we've weathered, hopefully, the major part of the storm, and we just got to keep playing. And then, you know, we got three more points. And then the pick six, and I was good even with where we were at going to halftime, feeling 17 to 10 with what we took on. Hey, it's going to come down to the end, but we can manage this. We've been in these moments all season long, and we'll find a way. But the pick six by Zabian. Zee B.

Yeah. How did that, how did that change? change your your halftime messaging to the team that pick six uh um the vibe was probably the biggest thing you know when you go into a locker room and all of a sudden you've overcome a 17 point deficit as fast as we did um that was just there was an energy in there so it was it was honing in that energy and understand you have to refocus and we can't have what happened the first quarter happened again in the third and um you know we just kept playing um made the adjustments i thought Our coaches did a great job.

I could just, it was solution-oriented in the locker room. It had been on the sideline as well on the headphones, but just thought it was a really good halftime moment for us as a team. You know, early scowry reports on Indiana, a big noon kickoff, we covered them a bunch of times. And it's two years in a row. It's an enigma to me because I coached you can see it so many times. But I'm sure you're knee deep in them.

It's just fewest big plays on defense they give up. and one of the fewest mistackled teams in the country and then the other side, just they don't make mistakes and they take care of the ball. It's one of the great stories in our lifetime in the game. What have you seen in Indiana? Yeah, I mean, Coach McNett, he's got, he's obviously got a great coaching staff

because these guys, you can see, they're coached up. Everything you just said, I mean, they don't hurt themselves, but they go attack their physical, a defensive upfront, just, you know, they get, they, they, they, they, they, stop the run and they force the turnovers. They do all the things that championship level teams do. And there's a reason why, you know, they're ranked number one and undefeated. So we know we got a great test ahead of us.

Coach, man, Ty. I want to talk about Ty, man, and the offense. He didn't turn the ball over. He made the right decisions. Obviously, Daniel Hill gave us some spark in the run game. Even though the run game kind of struggled at times, how do we continue to maintain some offensive balance, manufacturers from run games stay and third and managers will get positive first or second

downs especially against this indiana defense who is very disciplined and tough to tough to handle yeah i thought you know the unfortunate part was the first couple drives first three drives you know just um got a couple couple yards but we you know we actually took the sack on the one screen pass which you're just trying to get again to your playmakers and then execute as well they did a nice job too uh but um you know, getting tied in a rhythm. And I think we really got him in a rhythm, as good of a rhythm as we've had him in a long time.

And the ball was going to the outside and just, you know, hitches and inside on some little intermediate routes and short routes. And the guys made plays. There's still some opportunities early on where the ball is on the ground on a third down. You know, if you didn't make the completion. And if you can just stay on the field, now you can get more runs and more attempts. and just find that rhythm. But as the game went along, we found that rhythm.

And then really what I think was the key is finding that, you know, that downfield, those downfield throws. And really what it comes down to is you think, oh, you know, spark, well, guys make place. Yeah. And they, you know, the catch by germ, laid by Isaiah, you know, and a porter there. And, you know, I put that on those on the money, you know, it gave them a chance. And that's the key. and saw isolation one-on-one.

And those are some of the things when the last maybe three weeks or so, we just weren't quite making those plays. And the protection, I thought it got better as the game went on. When we got obvious fast-down situations, it got hard again. But, you know, very the end, I know we took a sack there too. But I thought, for the most part, in the normal downs, I thought we did a much better job protecting Ty felt. that and felt comfortable making the throws. And again, he got rid of it pretty quick

for most of the game. Coach, let's go back to 2019. You are in Bloomington, Indiana. I use offensive coordinator. What was Indiana football in that little snapshot of time that you were there in Bloomington? Yeah, I really had a great time there, Bloomington. You know, I was there just for 10 months, and they went back to Fresno to be the head coach, but just great people there, enjoyed living there, my family and I, and a lot of respect for the people, you know, just in the building, the fan base, the media, all of it. And so, you know, it was a time where we caught a spark there, went to the Gator Bowl, and, you know, had a good season.

I know offensively, it was a lot of fun. We got it rolling there pretty consistently. And so had a great time, a great experience there. And obviously, Coach Signetti has taken it, you know, to another level here these last two years. And just what he's done, you know, it's just really impressive how he's got that momentum, how he's got that swagger that the team has. You know, you said something a minute ago that just struck me and I just wrote it down is that, you know, you're down 17 to nothing.

Every coach, Mark and Rob, you try to put your team in adversity. That's a whole idea of off-season in my mind is to because people show their true colors. The bad thing is sometimes you get adversity and lose. How value, I'm just sitting there thinking how valuable for you and your staff to witness right in front of you, that environment that you got punched right in the face as hard as they could and they came back. Just talk to us about how valuable that is. I'm sitting there thinking how valuable that is. You can't put a price on what just happened to your team.

man you know 34 24 24 is the final score and now that we've won it was maybe miserable at times early going through it but now that we've won it's one of those program things that you know we've done together i talked to the guys about that yesterday you know we each have our experiences and i have my experience haven't done it long enough coach you would have yours too just where you overcame something and i always have a 99 yard drive that i kind of refer to and the guys met the quarterback um about a month ago that led that and in the final minutes to win a football game, to go to a national championship. And there's things like that. We're just like, man, just keep punching. And that's how I, those moments are the ones I believe in. But we've had some great moments this year where we had to do some of those things, South Carolina, the end of the Auburn game, just different, different moments like that,

back and forth that the SEC games a lot of times spring, Georgia, you know, got the lead, but all of a sudden they're right back in it. But this one, I think just like, you. you said, coach, just 17-0 and coming back. Now, that's one we've done together. And that's one that we have to remember, like, how we did it. And it wasn't just like barely scratching, getting through it. We thrived.

We excelled. And as the game went on, you know, you can see it just growing on us. And so we got to remember that one, not just for down the road. And right now in the moments we're in and facing these great teams that are coming ahead. We're going to take more punches at times. I mean, they're just too good of teams that we have, you know, ahead of us starting with Indiana. So just, you know, that's what we got to remember and we got through.

Coach, we got about 10 more days until we play in the Rose Bowl. Me and coach, and we're always talking about how do you manage, you know, a slight break? How do you, you know, keep the intensity going in practice, but also staying healthy, staying fresh? What is the message to the team and how do you plan to handle? this 10-day gap moving up to the Rose Bowl. Yeah, we're back lifting and running today. Same thing tomorrow.

It's like a bi-week, but I cut one practice off. And we did the same thing after the SEC championship going into this one. You know, the guys aren't going to have a chance to get home with the way this setup is with the playoffs. It's a mystery thing. But they're in the moment and they're loving it. So I feel bad for their families at times. But hopefully they get to get to get out there too to California. So we'll have a bonus, a couple bonus practices, you know, a Sunday practice that we, you know, would have.

It's kind of the equivalent. And then again, one more bonus practice that we're going to have here on the 24th mid-morning. So we need to get these guys healthy again. They're just updings, nothing that's going to be where I feel like a guy's out, but just enough of the stuff that a physical game brings. especially we need in four quarters. So we'll get these guys back. Our staff, our medical staff is unbelievable. They did a great job the last two weeks

getting us ready for the Oklahoma game. We need a job. They're a family. He's the man. Yeah, all our doctors, they are top tier. Coach, I want to take you quickly back to what I thought was a surreal moment. Friday night. End of the third quarter before the fourth quarter starts.

Lights go down. Crowd starts feeling this weird buzz. And out of that tunnel, Near your sideline comes fitty. 50 cents comes out. And all of a sudden, there's like this impromptu concert going on. And I was way up in the booth with Coach Stoops. And both teams lost their focus.

They lost it, Coach. They were like jumping and looking and staring at 50 Cent and taking in this moment. So many questions. One, did you know it was going to happen? Did you know what was going on in the moment? And how did you want to manage that bizarro, really fun, entertaining moment? Because again, these are kids, and this is something really unique for them.

Yeah, it was. And I think, I don't know if you know, but the guys talked about it afterwards. On Fridays, the song, that song is the one that the guys played right before we start our stretch. And high energy, excited. They got the game, you know, 24 hours or whatever, you know, ahead. I did not know. I knew there was a video. I thought that was a video.

I was kind of towards the other end. I saw the guys all getting excited and kind of right as I saw the clock coming down. Like, all right, I told the coach is like, let's get these guys back, back. But, you know, in a moment, I loved the energy. I knew it was going to take that. We're on the road. I'd rather have them be like that than, you know, their eyes like too wide over, like just like what's hitting us here in the fourth quarter.

or so, you know, they scored actually a couple of plays later on us. We gave up a play. Yes. So you could say, well, we weren't. I was like, damn, you 50? Yeah. But I also know that we responded the rest of the quarter as well in a very good way. So it's not, it can't just always be about one play.

But yeah, that was that was actually live. I knew the song was playing. I knew why our guys were hyped up, but I didn't know really the extent of what was going on. I'll be honest. Well, I was out there. popping my stuff to autumn sooners man i was out there holding it down we had the podcast we did a live show we were right in the middle a bunch of sooners they know i was out there hey tell them how i was getting at him uh stoner you were he had his shoes on coach he had that full hoodie on the black and

white it was yeah there was no denying who mark was there for he's a real one man he's a real one of one coach he's one of one so are you uh coach cayland debor thanks so much happy holidays to you Safe travels, and best of luck against Indiana at the Rose Bowl. Caitlin DeBore, head coach of the University of Alabama. Thank you, Coach. Roll tie, coach. All right. Thanks, coach.

Yeah, thank you. Light it. Welcome back to the group hug. That is the triple option presented by Wendy's Urban Mark Rob Stone back here with you. It is time now for Mark's deuce, deuce dog of the week. And it's tailback time. Hey, coach. Hellback time.

Go ahead and take off your headphones. It was a real dog performance. It was a real R.B.'s performance. And I got to go with the R.B.s out of the Miami Hurricanes, Mark Fletcher, Jr. He was toting that rock like a grown man, coach. I don't know if you watched them. But whenever they needed a play, it was Mark Fletcher, Jr., running through, breaking tackles, stiff arming, going to the crib, 17 carries, 172 yards.

And if they didn't have Mark Fletcher, Jr., Miami will be going to the crib. They will be going back to Coral Gables, and they will be done for the season. And so, dog of the week, your boy, Mark Fletcher Jr. for the grown man.

You know, Shelley's favorite part of the show is wearing you barking. I said, Shelley, when he does it, I can't. That's my favorite part when it starts really deep and low. Boy, it's holding that rock. I don't know where that sound comes from. Hey, Mark, that 56

six-yard run by him in the fourth quarter that led to that game-winning score. That was, that was like that run alone would have earned him deuce, deuce dog of the week. Grown man, stoner, when you watch somebody tote the rock and I start wanting to put my chin strap on, I'm like, ooh, he told that thing properly, stoner. It's interesting. He's going to be a factor or a non-factor, right? Because if you go back to his last game in the regular season at Pitt, 10 carries, just 30. yards and then the explosion of 17 for 17 for a guy who you know where he originally committed

don't you mark ohio state yeah former ohio state man so that was your fresh take of the week presented by wendies joined team tendies and enjoy a lineup like never before crispy juicy tendies now at wendies all right let's fire up the two minute drill brought to you by fan duel visit fendul dot com slash triple option to download the app and take advantage of a 50% profit boost Today we are going to pick Texas Tech versus Oregon, Ole Miss versus Georgia on next week's episode. So this week we're going to look at Buckeyes taking on Miami, Alabama, Indiana. All right, let's start with the second-rank Buckeyes inside the Cotton Bowl again like they were last year.

And they take on Miami coach right now Buckeyes favored by nine and a half over under 41 and a half. How do you see it? Well, last time we saw the Buckeyes, they lost Indiana. and if you remember they lost Indiana played fantastic, especially on defense and Mendoza won the Heisman that night right in front of us. A Big Noon was there, and so I'm just concerned about Miami's offense. I've kind of been concerned about them all year, but they didn't look good. They didn't even look like they were, if you go back and watch the final drive of the first half,

they were huddling and trying to get out even after, I believe, was a turnover. They got good field position. And then it was just, offensively, they looked a mess. And so Carson Beck is as talent as there is. I made a comment that that was going to be his most important game of his career. I'm going to follow up with the most important game of his career. This is going to have a draft status is being determined here right now against NFL quality defenses. Against A&M, he didn't pass that grade.

And quarterbacks get far too much blame and far too much glory when they win. it's not just Carson Beck. So I don't, I think Ohio State covers, I just don't know how Miami's going to score points against the top defense in the land. And they're going to watch that film and you're going to see an excited group of Buckeyes getting ready to play that offense.

Now, on the other side, Miami's defense is legit, Mark. Yes. They made the quarter, they made A&M look really bad on offense. Those two ends? So if Ohio State comes out and plays, you know, they just didn't play well, on offense against Indiana. This could be a low-scoring game, but I just don't see Miami score. And, you know, I don't see, Ohio State scores two touchdowns. They win.

I got questions for both of you. I'm going to go to you first, Coach. Carson Beck, we were saying last week on the triple option, is it Carson Beck A or Carson Beck B, right? So the Carson Beck we saw in windy conditions in college station, 14 to 20. So pretty efficient, but just 103 and a touchdown. So was that Carson Beck A or B or kind of, I guess, I feel like it was kind of in between, no turnovers, right, but nothing electric. So I'm going to give, I'm going to give first of all Miami and Chris Ball, what a great season. And, you know, is Miami back? Well, we'll see. I mean, they're getting close. Maybe they manage the game that way because and I've done that before. When you look out there and you see her just hammer it, your defense is

playing the way they were. Let's keep the ball in front of us. Let's take care of the football and play field position game because that's what it looked like to me so maybe it wasn't all on Carson Beck because they didn't like you just said he was you know they threw for 100 yards but this this one's going to be different inside right there's no wind right he's going to have to be Carson Beck A feels like right and you guys mark my words his is Mark when we do the NFL draft when big triple option goes to the draft this this will impact his where he's selected in the NFL draft this game and last game he uh he didn't lose the game but he didn't win the game and that like coach said managing the game it doesn't matter how you win the game you know

if you could play field position let your defense do what they do but versus ohio state you cannot be conservative you're gonna you're you can't turn the football over for one but you're gonna have to make throws you're going to have to make plays to win this game to beat this football team so we're going to have to see the a version of carson beck the early season version of cars back if they want to have a chance to compete against Ohio State. All right. Last question on this game. I go to you, Mark, Coach. You can chime in if you want. Elite, elite wide receivers in this one, right? I don't think there's a better wide receiver room in America than what's in Columbus. There's a motivated Jeremiah Smith out

there. 80 grabs over 1,000 yards, 11 touchdowns. You know, when he was overlooked for the Blitnikov Award given to the top receiver, he went on social media. Didn't say anything. He just He just posted a little clip, and the clip was, I'm a motivated man, basically, just to kind of put it in parentheses and air quote it. On the flip side, baby Jesus now. Malachi Tony, right? 992 yards, seven touchdowns. He scored the game's only touchdown versus Texas A&M. He's thrown for two touchdowns.

He's run for a touchdown. He's a dangerous return man. I feel like it might even come down to this. those two kind of wide receiver specialists, which one provides those game-breaking moments? 100%. And Ohio State, you said it. They have two of the top receivers in the entire nation.

Then you look at Miami, like, they need to find a way to generate offense outside of Mark Fletcher Jr. and Malachi, Tony. You kind of stop the run game. I'm doubling. I'm having eyes and bodies flying towards Malachi, Tony, and I'm going to force the rest of the team to beat us because I don't think they could do it if I'm Ohio State.

we could beat them if we contain the run game and contain Malachi Tony because that is their bulk of their offense right there. A lot of people remember January 3rd, 2003. Do you guys remember that game? U.S.O.T. Number one, Miami, number two, Ohio State. Is that the Willis McGahey game where he blew out his knee? And then that questionable pass interference call as well,

the Buckeyes ended up winning at 3124. I think you'll be seeing more and more flashbacks to that one going forward. That was a fun game, but it has no bearing whatsoever on this year's edition of the Cotton Bowl. All right, let's head to Pasadena, California, the Rose Bowl. We heard from Kalin DeBoer earlier in our conversation here on the Triple Option. His tied, right number nine, taking on top-ranked Indiana mark. Hoosier is favored by six and a half, the over under 48 and a half. Are you going to sing me a song right now?

Hey, a middle of our fight song, remember the Rose Bowl will win. then, hey, Rose Bowl. We love a Rose Bowl. Rose Bowl is in your fights on? Right, it's a big 10 Rose Bowl. It's not Alabama. I don't know, but we're in there. Hey, hey, it's in there because, guess what?

We won the Natty at the Rolls Bowl. You know what I mean? But it was in there before that. I don't know why. Hey, but it is in the fight song. But listen here, to this game, Indiana, one of the most complete teams, one of the most disciplined teams, one of the most well-coached teams in the country.

Got the Heisman trophy winner. Fernando Mendoza, you got two backs in the backfield. Roman Hemby, Kalin Black. You've got three receivers, Elijah Surrat, Omar Cooper Jr., who hurt his ankle in the Big Ten championship, but he should be available. You also have Charlie Becker. You have a great old line. You have a defense of line that gets tackles for loss.

You have a good secondary. You have a team that is overall just really well coached. They play sound football. They don't beat themselves. With that being said, when Alabama, how we played from the second quarter on in the Oklahoma game. That's the team you want to see. You want to see a team that stays in moving to change, staying in the first and second, getting positive play, staying in third and manageable, not getting behind the sticks. You want to see a defense who's getting pressure on

the quarterback. You're going to need to pressure Fernando Mendoza and make him get uncomfortable in the pocket. I think Alabama's going to play their best football. I think this last game should galvanize them, give them a lot of confidence. Minus six and a half is a big number for me. I think Alabama covers that. I think Alabama wins outright. I like our path to the playoff. We had Oklahoma.

We got Indiana. We beat, if we win this game, we get, I think, either Oregon or Texas Tech. I like Alabama's path to get to the whole thing. And I'm taking Belma. I'm taking Belma in this game. I'm taking the six and a half points. I'm taking them to win out. right. Ty Simpson, didn't turn the football over last week, had a good game, made some good

decisions. Our run game still is kind of eh, but Daniel Hill, we got him going a little bit, made some good runs down the stretch. Manufactured some run game with the quick passing game, with the screen game, staying positive plays first and second down. I'm taking Alabama in this one. Hey, Mark. I'm taking Alabama in this one, coach. I like our path to the natty. I'm saying that was one of the best performances I've seen. We were there in Oklahoma. How about that atmosphere? It was down 17-0.

17-0, and they came back, and the poise, the coaching, the leadership on that. I thought it was a game-set match because that environment, that was a tough-ass environment to play. And so, again, I'm going to go back to the, and I've sat in that chair on the Sunday, when you see the best version of your team, which Coach DeBore is doing right now. He's staring watching at it right now. how do I get my best version of that? Because you're not good version, you guys are going to get your ass kick.

Get killed. Get killed. No, your best version, I'm not sure there's a team in the land that can beat Alabama. That's how good they were for when you used to tackle. How about the tackling on defense? Yes.

I mean, it was fantastic. It was really well done. That was one of the best wins I've seen this year. I keep telling us all season long, coach, our ceiling can compete with anybody in the nation. How do you get that mark in that locker room? Do you know that locker room? Our bottom is blew out.

Our bottom is blew out. The floor is, I have no idea. You get two different teams. I have no idea you get two different teams. I don't know if it's unprepared. I don't know if it's not confident. I don't know what it is. But when you have Alabama playing at their potential,

they're one of the best teams in the country. We've seen it all throughout this year. We've also seen them play very poorly versus, you know, versus Georgia, versus Oklahoma the first time, versus Florida State. so if we can get consistent performance playing to our potential I like our path I like Alabama to win I like Alabama to be competing for a national title

how about that environment Rob was that something hey listen I was I was in the booth I was in the Alabama booth I was with our AD I was with our president I was with Coach DeBoore Coach DeBoar's wife his two daughters and some heavy hitters and it was like a funeral in there at 17-0 yeah but then But then my boy Lottie Dottie. Changed the mood. Yep.

My boy Lottie Dottie, Lottie Brooks, gets the touchdown. Okay, here we go. Zabian Brown, pick six. Okay, here we go. That pick six was a dagger. Yes, sir. We needed that. We needed that.

And then we kept it going. We kept the momentum going. But that's the Alabama we need. The Alabama that consistently plays to their best is going to be a tough team to beat. And that's why I think is going to show up in the Rose Bowl. And that's why I think is going to beat Indiana outright in advance to the semifinal. An insane historical. dichotomy between these two programs, right? Alabama, third wittingest program in college football.

And just a couple weeks ago, we were reminding folks that at one point, Indiana was the losingest team in college football. But you know what Kurt Signetti's doing? Last couple weeks, he's finding his way to that recliner. Just think of the fingerprints on this program. This CFP has saved its fingerprints all over it, though, Stone. Mario Chris Ball, Kurt Signetti, Kirby Smart, Dan Lanning. That's four of the dang. teams that are in the playoffs. So them all got championship predigree. You say we're the third one in this program, but we got the most natties in the history of

the game. You know who don't care? You know who don't care? I don't give it now. The Sig don't care. Sig's up there scheming, watching tape. He is. I'm a big Indiana guy, but you know, I got too much bell in me, man.

I know. You got to do what you got to do. I got too much bell man, man. It'll never leave you, my friend. By the way, I was so proud of you, and not that I didn't think you wouldn't stick up for your team. But, man, there's a lot of boomers sooner running around us in Norman, Oklahoma, and Mark with the kicks on, with the hoodie on, standing on the stage during our live shows, screaming everybody out, putting up a good old fight. It was fun, man. Two great blue bloods in a, just coach, to your point, a beautiful atmosphere.

Coach and I got to walk around with Coach Stoops, Mark, in the bowels of the stadium. Royal Treatment. man, we ran into Coach Venables. Man, Coach Venables, when we saw him in that tunnel before the game, he was all smart. It didn't even look like he had a game, much less a playoff game. He was loose and comfortable and upbeat and everything that they put on. Yeah, it was a hell of a show.

How about Coach Stoops getting treated the way he should get treated? Royalty, right? A real king. A real king. And we appreciate you, Coach Stoops, you're the man. Coach Stoops, like when I say you've got. got good parking. Like, we literally parked on the practice field.

Like, like a short slant away from hitting the stadium, right? But you know how focused coach was on this game? Urban, do you remember what happened about, like, I don't know, about 40 minutes later before we pulled in and got out of his car? Oh, he left the car running, right? He left the car running. Mark, he left the car running. I should have went with y'all.

I should have went with y'all because me, Trent, AJ, we walked through the masses. We walked through the masses, went through Gate 3, which was freaking absurd, trying to get in there. There's me, Trent Rich and AJ McCarran with all these boomersooners trying to get in the stadium. I was like, damn, we should have won with coach. It was a great road trip, man. We need to do that more often. Make sure to follow, subscribe, rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever it is you seek out your podcast. We are on social media 3X option show next week.

You don't got no game, huh? You don't got no game. I got plenty of game. I just don't have game for this. one. Next week on the triple option, we're joined by one of our favorites, a heartbeat, an OG here at the Triple Option, Texas Tech head coach, Joy McGuire joins us. That's a special Monday release. You're going to learn some things about coach's license plate and the car he drives on Sundays. You're going to want to stick around for that. Next week, as always, thanks to our

sponsors, Wendy's Fandul and NHTSA. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy New Year. Merry. Happy everything. Happy everything to everybody. Happy holidays. Hugs, coach. Hugs.

Bring it in, coach. Hugs for everybody. Pass. Ha ha.