The Triple Option - College Football Playoff Rankings, Alex Smith Joins, Who is Coach of the Year, Week 11 Picks

Episode Date: November 6, 2024

The first ever 12-team College Football Playoff is here! Coach Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone react to the first ever 12-team college football playoff rankings as the Big Ten leads the way with Oregon and Ohio State atop the rankings. Mark breaks down which SEC teams that the playoffs start this weekend and Coach talks about his feel good stories of the season and if they can make the playoffs (Hoosier fans want to stay for this). (1:48) Alex Smith was the #1 overall pick for the San Francisco 49ers in 2005, but before that he was a zero-star recruit turned Heisman finalist under Coach Meyer at Utah. He joins the guys to talk about his journey, filled with mental and physical hurdles, that turned him into the man he is today. Also, was USC lucky the Utes didn't get a shot at the Natty in 2004? (27:02) Army, Indiana, BYU, Oregon, and Miami are all having fantastic seasons, but which head coach is the coach of the year? The guys make the case for their favorites. They then pick the Week 11 games, including Alabama vs LSU, Georgia vs Ole Miss, Colorado vs Texas Tech, Indiana vs Michigan, Washington vs Penn State and the Holy War; BYU vs Utah. (53:33)   New episodes of The Triple Option drop every Wednesday throughout the season. 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. Try Wendy's New Saucy Nuggs Today https://wendys.com/nuggs A big thank you to the rest of our sponsors: BetMGM Use bonus code OPTION or go to https://betmgm.com/OPTION and get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Bonus bets are non-withdrawable. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. See BetMGM.com for Terms. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US) Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY) Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA) 21+ only. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA),1-800-981-0023 (PR). ZipRecruiter 4 out of 5 employees who post in ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try for FREE at https://ziprecruiter.com/OPTION Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Them folks ain't gonna be playing, man. They gonna have Mike the Tiger right there outside the visitors locker room. How close do you get to Mike the Tiger when you're the opposing team? He was right over my shoulder, bro. I'm over here like, let's go. I'm like, oh, I'm from Michigan. That's the whole Tiger, man. I ain't never seen no Tiger.

This is a hazard right here. Like it. I hear the music. You know what's happening. Stoner look good. Oh, do I? I look better than I feel. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Triple Option, presented by Wendy's, Try Wendy's new Saucy Nugs. Today, whether you're joining us for our first live stream ever, or watching After the Fact, thank you. And we want to remind you to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Follow us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, as well as across social media at 3XOptionsShow. Remember, rate us, throw questions our way. We love to have interaction with our listeners and our viewers right there. New episodes coming away every Wednesday. And we're going to be doing these live streams

throughout the rest of the season when the college football playoffs finally drop and they finally drop the first one here. So glad you're here with us. It's we've been waiting, right? We've been waiting for this one, right? Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, get notified when we are live. If you have any questions during this, please submit them to the YouTube folks. They'll handle it. They'll get it out to us. All right, we ready to talk college football playoff rankings. The first one came out. I got my little cheat sheet here guys. And okay, let's start it up. Yeah, I did. Well, I did. Yeah, she looked like the commissioner right now. Go ahead, Rob. Do I? Yeah, you look like you part of the committee. I got the whole sheet printed out the proper shirt on here too as well. All right. So let's talk about blue 12 team bracket.

Okay. But with the the rankings, okay, we're gonna start because this is very interesting to me the two teams out. Number 13 SMU from the ACC number 14 Texas AM. So those are the first two teams, as of now out of the college football playoff picture. Again, these are the rankings. Number 12, Boise State. Number 11, Alabama. Saturday, big test. Or they have that big win over Georgia, which has really helped keep them afloat. Notre Dame checking in at number 10 wins over A&M and Louisville, but that ugly loss to Northern Illinois at number nine. BYU representing the Big 12, the only big 12 team. Undefeated. Put some

respect on those three letters. The only Big 12 team in the top 12. This was the one we were always just kind of curious to see where it would pop up. Indiana at number eight. They don't have the brand. They don't have the strength of schedule, but they're sitting there at eight. Tennessee's at seven. Penn State, who just fell to Ohio State last weekend at six. Back to the SEC. Texas at five. Unbeaten Miami ranked number four.

Georgia ranked number three, which means the top two ranking spots are owned by big 10 teams, the Ohio state and Oregon. So those are the rankings, but again, the bracket changes everything up. So we'll get to the bracket in a second coach. I'll start with you again. The committee ranked the top 25 teams and down there at number 25 sneaking in unbeaten from West Point is a program that caught your eye. Yeah I've been critical of the committee I think they did a heck of a job I'm looking I've been looking at this thing

for the last 20 minutes or so yeah we talked about Army that's a great story but it's almost like coach primes forgotten here a little bit I know we're gonna go see him but we talked about coach of the earlier, why is he not involved in that? Colorado, arguably the worst program in America, not only two years ago, and now coach Prime's got his team at 20. Think about that. So I got Indiana, Prime, BYU and army. Those are the four that warm your heart.

Those are all great stories and there's a lot of football to be played. And we get to watch the Buffaloes this weekend So that's what caught my eye. Yeah, and the last one Indiana, you know Tennessee ahead in the end. That's one thing I probably would have put in the I watched them both play and of course you got some incredible talent at Tennessee But I'd take right now Indiana over Tennessee and again, it's Tennessee just take above, right? Indiana there take a straight and they're looking at strength is strength of schedule you say I'd take right now Indiana or Tennessee. And again, it's Tennessee just above Indiana. They're taking strength. They're looking at strength of schedule.

You say wins matter. They say who you beat matters. Brand matters too, Mark, I think. What'd you say? Brand. Brand matters. There's four SEC programs. Yeah, I think who you beat.

Indiana hasn't really. They have their test coming up. But you talk about Tennessee in their schedule So thus far and their wins that they've had this far. Obviously the committee values that a little bit higher. I see So there's a slew of teams that are just on the outside of the top 12 They're all this way in this man. Yeah, and guess what three of them are from the SEC Oh, this is seven or 16. Yeah. They're sitting there in elimination game mode. They host Georgia on Saturday.

Ole Miss loses. Everything is an elimination game in SEC. Unless you're Georgia, you probably have room for one loss. But Texas perhaps, but Ole Miss, an elimination game versus Georgia. LSU, Belmont, that's an elimination game. A&M, they're looking like they're going to be on a collision course with Texas. And at the end of the season, that's going to be an elimination matchup if both of them

end up with no losses till then. So these teams at 14, 15, and 16 still control their own destiny. Sure. You look at Colorado, they control their own destiny too. Like I love this. I love this. These rankings right here, because even Clemson down there at the bottom, you got SMU Miami. You just got to get your foot into the championship. Right.

You get into the championship, you get an automatic burn. So let me throw this at you. Let me throw this at you, Mark. I'm staring at this thing. So me and you played in the BCSL. You played, I coached. You lost the game you're normally out. You're done. So when the rankings would come out, really most of the country could care less. You're down to about four teams. And then the fourth team, that was our

first year we won it in 2014, but you still only probably had eight, nine teams. I'm looking at this. You got 24 teams. You got 24 potential. They're, they're waking up tomorrow, going to work at their practice facility. Their coach has standing in front of the team. There's leaders like Mark Ingram saying we have a chance to make history. Yeah. Do this.

And what do you think that practice will look like that day? And they hyped up fast. It's fast moving around. So good. So good do you think that practice will look like that day? And they hyped up. It's fast. It's fast. Moving so good. So good. I love it. But stoner, man, tell me this because yes, I'm trying to still figure it out. How there's a scenario where unless BYU is 13 and oh, Boise could have the four seed. Yeah. So the top four conferences that are the highest seeded teams get the first round by. So right now the one seat is Oregon, the two seat is Georgia. The three seat is Miami and the four seat is BYU. So they are right now sitting in quarterfinals.

But there's a scenario where if they lose a game and Boise continues to win out and Boise is ranked higher than them. Correct. Boise gets the buy even though... Boise gets a four seed. Even though BYU possibly could win their conference. Yep. It's a higher ranked conference winner.

Yep. So is the big 12 in BYU right now valued higher than Boise State and the Mountain West? Boise State kind of living off that good loss to Oregon early on. Ashton Genty having Heisman type year. But and also Mark, you brought up a point when we're looking at this, there's some bid stealers out there. I'm a college hoops guy, right? And there's always the bid stealers out there with March Madness and SMU is a bid stealer. SMU gets to the ACC Championship game and let's say they win it. Freaking SMU. Is that crazy? They're in. Automatic bid. They are in and guess what? Miami is probably going to be in as well. So now all of a sudden you're saying there's two from the ACC that are sitting in there. I don't think, you know,

we have four from the SEC inside the 12 team bracket, four from the big 10 inside the bracket, one each from the Big 12, ACC, independent being Notre Dame, and the Mountain West. I think Ohio State's interesting coach because they were ranked number two right behind Oregon, but because Oregon right now is on top of the Big Ten, they are giving them the number one seed because they're going to win the quote unquote the Big Ten championship, which gives them a quarterfinal spot. So Ohio State may be number two in the rankings, but they are number five in the bracket. So as of now, the

Buckeyes would have if you're looking at the bracket right now, they would have the easiest path. I think having said that they have to play an extra game, but it would be against Boise State a home game and that home game is at their choice right it doesn't have to be in Columbus coach bad weather's rolling into Columbus they could say you know what we don't want to you know harm our speed guys let's go inside let's go to Indianapolis and let's play a home game against Boise State. When do they have to make that decision? I think it's that week I don't know the exact day but can you imagine the logistics of flipping that around? Right yeah we're not gonna play it. So we go into Indianapolis

Okay inside what they might they might if you get that much makes it ill and speed. Yeah, why it makes sense? Why why is it great equalize? Yeah? Yeah for sure And then they'd have to go to BYU and then what that that that that group of four games that becomes the ball games Yes, what sure? Orange that group of four games that becomes the bowl games. Yes. What? Sugar bowl, orange bowl. Let's just talk, Mark, as you stare at these teams and this is you've played in the big one. I've got the coach and three of them.

Did you play in two of them, Mark, or just one? I played in one. Yeah, played in one. And you know this was what I was I doing. Ohio State. Just focus on them for a minute. The most physical team will win the national championship. Every one of these teams in front of, on the picture, they have great skill.

You know, some a little better than others, but great skill. The team that, and I used to say this to our players, the team that punches the hardest will win the national title. It's historic. I mean, it's time tested. That's what happens. Ohio state, there were concerns. I don't have any time tested. That's what happens. Ohio state, there were concerns. I don't have any more concerns. I saw what I saw.

We were live there. That was the best four minute drill. I can remember seeing there was five minutes and 13 seconds left. They ran the ball 10 straight times for 59 yards on the road at Penn State from the one yard defense from the one yard line. And they basically said, we're running the ball. Stop us. I went back and watch that. It's what Michigan did to Penn State last year. Yeah, but Penn State forced the Wolverines to put it

down your throat and make you like it. Yeah. What about that? What about that defense coach? Oh, they didn't allow Penn State to score one touchdown in the entire game. They had, they gave up two field goals. They had an interception at the end of the first half. Then they had a goal line stand when the, when the team needed it most. All right. Here's the mark and Rob right now we're off script here.

Give me one through five, five as tough as hell. One, you're not sure. Three's medium. Okay. Toughness, Oregon one through five. One is tough. One is toughest five. You're a tough cat. Five is the tough trees average. Yeah, I'm giving them. I'm giving them Yeah, about four

right now. How they I agree. I agree. How about Ohio State? Same. Here's my concern though, coaches. That was an equal that was equal game coach. That game is they're heading for a collision on a rematch. For sure. And that's going to be on neutral ground and I'm not sure. But is, is my, is Georgia tough team? I'd say yes. I'm not sure. Georgia is a tough team. How about Miami? I don't know about Miami. I don't know if they're tough, but they're resilient. I don't know if they're tough, great quarter, but they're resilient if they're not tough. I I don't know if they're tough, but they're resilient. I don't know if they're tough. Great

quarter. They're resilient if they're not tough. I just don't know if they're tough, but they are resilient coach. They've had to come back three times in is Texas tough. Yes, tough. Texas is tough. They just see there are three there are three there because when they saw a real tough team like the dog got hit in the face at home. Yes. Yes. And how about Notre Dame? Is Notre Dame tough sitting there at number 10? No, Notre Dame's not tough. Right now, Notre Dame meeting Penn State in Happy Valley, the 10 versus 7 game. What about this Belmont versus Texas matchup

in the first round? Right. Six versus 11. Look at that. And then above that, Tennessee versus Indiana and then Ohio state Boise state. I mean, I love, I mean, as college football fans, I mean, this is awesome. Right? That's great. But like coach said, you have 24 teams with a legit shot. They're waking up like, okay, we got a chance. So this 12 team thing can shake up quickly. They go, the pretenders and the contenders will be separated here. There's 24 teams that are, there's no con. There's no discussion about transfer portal.

However, you lose one loss. There might be a couple. We got a question on the screen right now, guys. Does a one loss Indiana team that plays a close game in Columbus get left out because of a no loss SEC game. No, I don't think so. No, I think they got Michigan this weekend as Indiana at number eight. They had a schedule. The strength of schedule is very questionable. Like we understand that we get it. But what they're doing with this schedule, they're dismantling teams when

you're stoner. All you can do is play those on your schedule. But where you start matters. They're at number eight. If they were at number 1011, that's your ability. And number eight, at number eight, you don't drop more than three spots with a loss to Ohio State. So they run the table at number eight. And they lose to Ohio State, you can't bump down more than four spots. Even if they bump down four spots, they're 12. So one loss Indiana team does not get left out over a two loss SEC team in my opinion, depending on how they play that game.

And listen, you know the Big Ten is going to be fighting for that, right? Because there is backroom conversations right now. The Big Ten wants as many programs in there as possible. Ditto for the SEC. I want Penn State to play Indiana because they might get beat by Indiana. They might. I don't want Penn State to play Indy. I think they, right now, they line up.

I think they get beat. So we agree that the max amount of teams from the Big Ten that will get into the playoffs will be four. And I think it's going to be four, unless Indiana or somebody just absolutely bottoms out Penn State if they can't bounce back. But for the SEC, they're currently at four teams right now. Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, and Alabama. But there's three more.

Tina Zane, 15 LSU, 16 Ole Miss. Do you think the SEC mark gets five programs in? I think they get four. Yeah? I think they get four. Yeah. I think they get four. I don't think it's addition by subtraction, right? If somebody loses and goes down, somebody pops up. It also depends on if any of these teams implode and lose multiple games over the

next month of the season, because that'd be the only case where a three loss SEC SEC team could get in because you got A and M, which they're favorable until they go see Texas, Texas is fair, but when today go see A and M and then, um, LSU was in a LSU and Ben was in an elimination game. Joe L miss is an elimination game. I think the SEC gets four teams in and it would have to, people would just have to lay an egg and lose two to three games for there to possibly be a fifth team to go in.

Could happen. It could be. It's go for it for that leaves only four left between everyone else. That's tough, man. Correct. So you get the ACC champ. But again, remember, how about if SMU 12 steals that 12 highest group of five. So that's big 12 has had a great season. That's 11 coach, I would love to see two from the Big 12 in.

I don't know how it's going to happen. You know, Iowa State, Kansas State losing last weekend really helped Colorado's chances. I mean, how about, how about Colorado makes a run to the Big 12 championship game, wins it, steals a bid. Does BYU, does BYU stick around? They're sitting there at number nine. That is a, that is a tough one. Can, can the big 12 get two programs in? You know, Brett, your Mark is fighting for that real hard and I don't, I don't

blame it would have, it would probably, it would possibly be them because you have the ACC champ. So, so we said, so we said four big 10, four SEC that's eight. You go, uh, nine for the ACC champ, 10 for the big 12 champ, 11 for the highest group of five bid. And then that's one more. So it could possibly be big 12 or is it out of the ACC? The ACC just got really, this is just, this is exciting, man.

Or a five sec mark. It could possibly be some good teams bouncing around there. If people just got the runs and they crap down their leg. The runs. You know, if they got the runs, they can't hold up and they just crap down their leg. Oh my God. Too soon.

Too soon, too close. Let's throw, let's, speaking of that, let's throw in a saucy nug right now. James Franklin versus the Ohio State one and 10 now. Seven losses after leading the game at some point. We're going to talk more about coach Franklin a little bit later in the show and, uh, an incident after the game, but that is your saucy nug of the week. Try some at your nearest Wendy. So Penn State sitting there at number six in the rankings and number seven seed. So right now, Penn State has a

home game. So how about this? Three big 10 teams have home games. Oregon has a one seed, Ohio State has a five seed, Penn State has a seven seed, the SEC home games, Georgia has a two seed, Texas has a six seed and Tennessee as an eight seat. And I coach, I love the fact. I do really enjoy that, that point about there are over 20 programs right now that are, that are saying to themselves, Hey guys, we're, we're still alive. Cause that, that was not the conversation at this point last year. It was maybe nine to 10 teams.

Hey guys, we might be able to make a little run. We can sneak in there. We just doubled that field. Yes. And it's the motivation of the team, motivation of the coach. Every coach is going to show this and be congratulated, you know,

congratulate the players, but also say, you know, use it for motivation. Are we really, you know, I can see right now that Bama looking at some of those teams in front of him say, are you, are you kidding me? Right. We put a good run together. You'll be, we are better than the number 11.

So this is great motivation. And we haven't talked about this yet. How about the fan base is waking up right now saying, we got a shot at this stamp. This is incredible. All these stadiums throughout the duration of the season. I want to clarify something real quick. I did misspeak briefly.

The quarterfinals are at neutral sites. So I was giving Oregon and Miami and Georgia home game, you know, one through four in the quarterfinals. They are at neutral site at those bowl games that you were talking about. And again, it all ends up in late January in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. First ever college football playoff rankings. And we're going to be doing these live shows on YouTube until the last one comes out the, the day that matters is what is it? December 9th? Is that the day that the December 8th?

That's the last bracket comes out. Um, who, who right now, and we'll start wrapping this up here in a second is, is kind of on precarious terms right now. Who do you think is a little worried about where they're sitting? Alabama, maybe at number 11. I think Notre Dame's pretty good at 10 right now. Um, they don't, they don't have a whole lot in front of them schedule wise, but I think those sec teams that are in outside of Georgia, um, are concerned

about what might happen and the other sec programs that are kind of riding up their their tail a little bit. Well right now in the SEC. Go ahead coach I was just gonna say reality is and I've been there not not in this format But right now there why do players play and there was a time Rob and Mark years ago You played because you're supposed to play go play in a Rose Bowl you go play in the Fiesta Bowl You know some teams you're excited just go play now, play in a Rose Bowl, you go play in the Fiesta bowl. You know, some teams you're, you're excited to just go play in the out, you know, a good bowl, like the Outback bowl. Uh, but that's times changed right now. And I think once a team gets knocked officially out of the playoff,

especially if you're blue blood team. Right. I'm looking at A&M, LSU, Alabama, Penn State. I'd put Clemson there. Uh, I put Ole Miss with high expectations. You lose that third game. There's some conversations going on in that locker room that aren't comfortable. There's going to be some agents, which, you know, I just wish they weren't

in the locker rooms in college, but they're going to be having conversations with their player and their coach saying, you know, why is he not getting more touches, you know, I'm going to go ahead and move on to the NFL, I'm going to maybe transfer, that's when it gets nasty, uncomfortable. And there's, you know, we can say panic or patience. There's a lot of panic on those two lost teams right now that are real good programs. But the good thing is that these players are going to be sticking around longer through the course of the season because of the expanded playoffs, right? A lot of people might have, right, red lines out of town already. And now they're, they're, they're sticking around. We're going to find out if threes that magic number with a blue blood. When you get three losses,

unless you're in the hunt for the championship, you're out. That's a good one. Uh, we'll see if that depends. It depends how the rest of the field plays. The rest of the field has two and three losses. Then you kind of give them, you know, some favor with the schedule. I mean, look at Tennessee, man, like they still play Georgia. They still got Vanderbilt who is a really good team this year. Then you talk about Georgia. They still have, they have Ole Miss this weekend. They, then they have Tennessee.

Like this, this, this Georgia schedule has been just, just crazy. And so playoffs are starting right now in the SEC. And Alabama and LSU is an elimination game. Ole Miss loses to Georgia. That's an elimination game. Which Ole Miss is, where does that game even play at? Like, it's played at Ole Miss. Ole Miss is home this weekend.

We're gonna talk about that one. So I mean like. Bet MGM. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, the playoffs MGM 6. So I mean the playoffs are started right now in SEC and Georgia still has two games on the schedule plus SEC Championship. So the SEC is going to be strange coming up here in the next month. Can we finish with one last comment here? I can't believe we're giving SMU this much love,

but they're sitting there at number 13, the first team out. How about the big signing for the Mustang? Let them know. Big signing for SMU this week. Swag King Cole. Cole Liners. Yeah. Matty's son. Signing up with SMU today. QB1 at SMU holding it down. Congratulations, Swag King Cole.

That's my dog. Hey, you know who broke that news in my house? Who? My son, Kavan at TCU. He broke the news? Kavan in my house, he had called Cole today. He's like, hey dad, Cole's committing to SMU today. And meanwhile, Matt is like sending us these cryptic texts in the morning like big news today guys Something's happening big news follow me and he totally forgot about it Meanwhile Camden's calling from Fort Worth like coal liner break a big we carry like the new chef tea. Yeah Kevin I hear getting the SI school Down there TCU. Come on. Let's go. Let's go, bro

I'm gonna see the boy today or this weekend after our Texas tech trip. Can't wait for that trip, by the way, to Texas tech. There was some tortillas and Colorado at number 20 in the rankings at Texas. Is that what they do? They don't have tortillas to teach me. So here's right when the game starts and it's roast tortillas. Yeah. You'll learn.

It's all in the wrist. It's all in the wrist. What are they? I told him that anybody on the field's field for sure. Don't worry all in the wrist. What are they throwing them at? Anybody on the field, players field for sure. Don't worry. Don't worry. We'll educate you. We'll take care of you and love it.

Coach Mark, any closing thoughts? Should we, or did we check all these boxes here on the triple option? I'm excited. I'm excited coach. This is awesome. Like everybody had questions about the 12 team playoff, how it looked, how it would be for college football. And this is amazing.

I'm telling you if college football is stock, I'm buying it and I'm buying it in bulk. Coming up next, we're joined by 2005 number one overall NFL draft pick, Alex Smith. Light it. ["Triple Option," by The Blue Guy, playing on radio.] Welcome back to the Triple Option, Rob Stone, Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram, and The Blue Guy,

former number one overall draft pick from Utah. Alex Smith, nice enough to join us, man. By the way, Alex looks like he could still play, right? Like if I was a GM on a team, I'm like, you know what, that cat, I bet that cat can still sling it. I bet he can avoid a couple of tackles. He's still got the smarts upstairs for it. You interested? You want to come join my team here? I wish, no, I'm good. I'm good where I am. We did this last Sunday for Sunday Countdown at ESPN.

We were showing some Dexter Lawrence highlights and they actually, we just showed him in street clothes too like after his highlights and it was like immediately, I'm like, I made the right decision. I'm in a good spot at this desk. I want no piece of that. Nobody's coming for you on the desk, right? There's nobody, nobody on the blind side at the desk.

Yeah. Alex, great to see you brother. Coach great to be here. Hey, uh, you, you got a great podcast. I'm sure we'll hit that here in a minute. The glue guys and what, what a three special guys, but I'll let you hit that in a minute. So when you write your book, I think I got the forward or the first chapter here. So how does an unranked high school recruit with one offer?

He's he'll say two, but one was his uncle. So that does not count. No, no, it's not. Ron McBride offered him at the university of Utah. And then he went on to become an all American. He became, uh, came on to, uh, finished third in the Heisman. First overall draft pick in 2005 NFL draft became really the father of the spread option

offense, the way he ran it and his tailback in high school and the wing tee was none other than Reggie Bush. So how in the world did that happen? That's a great, I mean, well, that's why you're writing the forward, you know, you got, uh, you know, it's funny how, you know, things happen in life. And, you know, definitely for me looking back in my career, uh, my entire journey, you know, like it's, it, you never know what's around the corner. Like, and I say that in the sense that like, when things are sometimes looked their worst or they're the bleakest or you're struggling the most, like you just

never know what's right around the corner. And that's certainly, uh, kind of been the tail of my journey. And certainly with you stumbling into my life coach, like my, I had one offer. Like you said, I was, you know, they got all these ranks and stars and, you know, recruiting services. I had none, none, zero. I mean, I, you know, I, I threw the ball like four times a game my senior year. You know, we had a guy, you know, Reggie who had one of those trophies that you got behind you, Mark.

And deservedly one offer. Like Coach said, my uncle happened to be a Division I head coach, and I think some nepotism there, and he threw it out. But one offer, and really, I grew up, Saturdays were the most special day for me as a child. Nothing better. I grew up on the West Coast. Nothing better. There was football on it like 8 a.m. You wake up and and I just love Saturdays in the fall. I loved everything about it and it certainly for me as a kid was Something that I dreamt about you know that like maybe one day I could do that wouldn't that be amazing like one day You know and one school gave me that chance and I was a late bloomer. I mean my senior year I weighed, you know, I mean, I don't know if I weighed 170 70 pounds, you know, and one school gave me that chance and I was a late bloomer. I mean, my senior year I weighed, you know, I don't know if I weighed 170 pounds, you know, and slow, awkward, late bloomer. And I go up to, I go up to Salt Lake and my freshman year is an absolute disaster. I played

seven plays and lost my registered year. One of my seven plays was a pick six back in San Diego, my hometown, high school there. And, you know, like this, it wasn't what I imagined college football to be. I felt like I got, you know, kind of deceived again, let on that I was gonna play more. Our season went to, you know, crap and coach got fired, at, you know, by the end of the year.

And it's like the one guy that believed in me is gone, you know, and, you know, where this, what the hell, man, like, you know, it just was looking so bleak. And then, man, we, the Utah hired this guy named urban Meyer from bowling green. I didn't even, I hadn't even heard of bowling green. I don't know where it was. I didn't know what it was. Oh, yeah. And running, you know, the offense he came in with their quarterback, Josh Harris. I mean, he was 240 pounds, you know, and like, just a monster. Again, like at that point, I couldn't

have weighed 180. Just string bean. I couldn't run. But yeah, again, I go back to like, you just never know. And obviously, timing goes into so much of this and, and coach and all his crazy philosophies coming in, Dan Mullen and like obviously the spread option there at the core of it that, you know, really highlighted the quarterback position. And I was just, you know, certainly a product of, of amazing people around me, coaches and teammates and went on a crazy run. Well, you talk about, you know, you being overlooked, but obviously, you know, we know what you were able to accomplish.

Uh, college football hall of fame last year, number one overall pick. Super successful in a career. What kind of advice would you give to the youth or a young person out there who is getting overlooked, who doesn't have the stars, who doesn't have the offers, what would you tell them to kind of motivate them to keep going? I think, you know, there's like this, there's this illusion, I think that some people just have it easy, right? Like I think there's this illusion that like, Oh, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes and these guys, like it's smooth sailing. There's not a guy, and you know, this like in an NFL lock

room that didn't have a ton of adversity along the way. Yes, sir. Right? And there's a relentlessness, a resiliency, and a stubbornness to guys that just keep giving back, just keep coming back. And I would say that, and again, even going back, the rest of my career, again, I say it like the greatest moments of growth that I've had throughout my life all came from struggle. And just like struggling and keep coming back

and keep pushing. And one of them is this guy right here. Just tested me. And like I've never been tested before in my life and I grew under those circumstances like tremendously. There's no way I'm the number one pick if I don't go through that, if I don't get pushed to those heights.

And so I just think that, that everybody struggles. Struggle is normal, in fact, and so like lean into it. It's not something to be feared. And for anybody out there trying to do something, I think that just like, it's a part of the process and embrace it. Come on man, that's money. I wanna go a little bit more with that, Alex, to go off script here a little bit,

but you were drafted number one by the Saints or by the 49ers. And Alex, to the point, I was around great court. I had never seen someone with the mental makeup, the physical makeup that he developed and the toughness at that position. I've never seen it. You can help someone here, Alex, tell them about what you went through a little bit when that was kind of caving in on you a little bit in San Fran. The poster child of number one picks is Peyton Manning.

Like, I mean, he is it that that's what it's supposed to look like. And like, I felt like I had to be that right. Like, and immediately. And so it just changed my entire demeanor like when I was with With coach like in college. I definitely had a chip on my shoulder. I mean I was the kid that again I had one offer I was determined to prove that I could play Division one football we would play the big schools and it was like bring it on. Yeah, man, you know, like I like salivating at a chance to go like

Nothing to lose. We were fearless. And then all of a sudden I got drafted. And again, all these expectations, the weight of being the number one pick and, and a big NFL contract. And I felt like I had to be perfect. So like I, everything I did in practice walkthroughs, especially on game days, like I was like on, on eggshells.

I mean, I was so scared to make the smallest mistakes. Um, and you know, on top of obviously, again, the instability around me was just a recipe for a disaster, right? To go out there on eggshells and our team's not very good. Um, and it just, and I think looking back, this was an important thing. Like I felt like I was alone in that, like all my self-doubt, like was I good enough? Was I deserving of the number one pick? I was so determined to try to prove that to everybody. And I just kind of felt like I was alone in that.

It took a long time until I finally I felt like I got it my own way and said, screw this, man, I'm not living like this anymore. I'm not playing like this anymore. Terrified to make a mistake, trying to be perfect, trying to prove to all the Niner fans out there that again, that I was deserving of this pick. When did that moment happen, Alex? There were two big moments that kind of coincided. One was this national TV game. I think it

was about year six for me, five or six. And again, like I said, I'd been in this cycle of just, I'd had some success, but then I, you know, and then I wouldn't, I was just so inconsistent. And again, I tiptoed out on the field, I trying to be, you know, perfect. And we were playing the Philadelphia Eagles. This is Andy Reed, Philadelphia Eagles, and they were good.

We were playing on national TV at candlestick, So home game. And I'll never forget, like home games are almost harder for me, Rob, like the weight of them, right? Again, of our fan base, because we like, we were bad, like, and deservedly, we get booed. And you know, like, it just the weight of that, like, I used to look forward to road games. And which is insane to say, say as a quarter like insane, right? Cause like then I got older in my career and it was like tonight I have cadence is such a tool in the NFL as a QB. And so we're playing the Eagles and I actually started the game pretty well. I mean, I threw a couple of touchdowns and ran one, I think. And like we were playing good. We're going toe to toe. They were one of the best teams in football. And I made this, I made a couple

of bonehead plays in the second half, trying to do too much. And, um, the whole freaking stadium, all the candlesticks starts chanting the backup quarterbacks name. Wow. David Carr. That's like, well, you want a car. And I'm the starting quarterback. And in the same instant, the head coach, Mike Singletary, something had happened. I think maybe on this, again, I did have a bonehead play on this fumble and he comes over and he's like getting in my face. And here's this, I just, this defensive head coach who has no idea, like I think where I was at

and what I was dealing with is coming over and he's in my face on the sidelines. It's a national TV game. I got the whole stadium, you know, chanting the backup for his name. And it was a moment of me a little bit of rock bottom. Right. Again, like I was holding on so tight and these were the very people that I was trying so hard to please. And, you know, I think for me, a moment of finally, like, this isn't working.

I love, you know, like this isn't working. And luckily enough, right there after that, we hired this crazy guy, urban's best friend, Jim Harbaugh, uh, as head coach. And, uh, you know, you know, this is a guy that played quarterback for 15 years in the NFL gym and he played for the chargers, San Diego chargers when I was growing up. And so I remember him, you know, watching him as a charger fan. you know, watching him as a charger fan. And if there's one thing like Jim embodies is he does not care what other people think, right? Like this guy, again, I've joked about it, like the pleated khakis, the tucked in sweatshirt, man, this guy like truly doesn't care what other people think. Again, and I was consumed with what other people thought. Yes. And it was just a perfect kind of it's what I needed then and definitely had a profound

impact on the rest of my career. We talk you got us. We were talking about more games other than that chiefs game. It was that and divisional round game when the Saints came out there back and forth. I was hurt. I was hurt. But man, that that that hurt. That was my rookie year. That was my rookie year. That 2011 game, the San Francisco Saints back to back, NFC division around. Yeah. Unbelievable playoff game.

Vernon Davis, you hit him up the side. I was at home. I needed them playoff checks still coming in, man. The Bounty Gate game. Ah! That game was a great game. While we're talking college football, huge rivalry game this week, right? Utah and BYU. I grew up East Coast, right? So you know, I know about the Ohio States and the Florida's and you know, the great stuff down in the Sunshine State and Texas, but you know, growing up, like you say, Utah

and BYU, you just, I think you kind of think, oh, probably nice unassuming people, maybe some snow capped mountains. It should be really bucolic and pretty and just a normal football game. I've since learned that I'm incorrect. And what was your kind of moment where you were like, oh, this is BYU versus Utah? Yeah. The holy war. I mean, anything, the church versus the state, Rob. Church versus the state. T-shirts, man. We're printing t-shirts right now. Obviously, I didn't know about its intensity at all growing up, even on the West Coast.

Again, these were schools that had been in the whack and then the mountain West and certainly, you know, now, uh, are in the big 12th. But I think it kind of been flying under the radar. And, uh, I certainly my freshman year getting up on campus is probably like my biggest exposure to it. And it was the last game of the season every single year. And regardless of record, I mean, it was its own, it was its own season, right? Like you could be having a horrible year, but you win that game.

I mean, you know, there was, there was something at least. And, uh, that's kind of exactly what it was my freshman year. Again, the coach got fired. We, it was a disaster, but we played them, um, up in Salt Lake my freshman year. And I didn't play in the game, but remember obviously the intensity of it and all week, you know, you're, you're, you're watching videos of the old tapes and the, you know, the history of it, you know, this, it obviously went back such a long time. And then, uh, you know, a guy that really threw gas on the fire, uh, is the

guy above you here on the, in the windows, you know, Irvin, you know, he had brought the kind of the flavor from the Ohio State, Michigan rivalry to the Holy War. And all of a sudden it was the team down South, he put it on us and us at Utah, we couldn't even say their name, it wasn't allowed. And I think the cool thing was just the, again, the leaning into the rivalry, right? Like this is what's amazing about sport, especially college sport.

And like, again, we couldn't say their name, like what's said in the, the college sport. And like, again, we couldn't, couldn't say their name, you know, like, was sending, you know, urinal cakes are out and we're, you know, you're, you're, you're pissing on, uh, you know, you are you Cougars? Uh, and like it just, uh, where do you buy, where do you buy urinal cakes coach? Did you have a urinal cake guy? Yeah. Recharging that. Cell phones had to get rid of all that stuff. Yeah. But, uh, you know, in all year.

It got a little worse. So they were like definitely, you know, Cause yeah, but, uh, you know, and all the worse, so they were like definitely, you know, I remember in the off season, you know, you're doing Matt drills, you do conditioning. And certainly a focus of our entire talk all season was, you know, large goals, right to accomplish. But even embedded in that you talked about, you talked about your rival. You talked about the team down South. Right.

And again, it was just such a point of motivation. And for us so unique, the schools are only 45 minutes apart. And I think Rob, to get to the point of why it's so intense, I mean, it's just so it's like, it's pretty inbred. Like the households are torn apart. Like, I mean, Kyle Winningham went to BYU. He's like, I mean, this guy's won more games at Utah, I think than anybody. Uh, and it, that Kalani, their head coach was at Utah, right?

And again, homes divided. Look at our quarterback, Isaac Wilson right now, his think than anybody. And it, Kalani, their head coach was at Utah, right? And again, homes divided. Look at our quarterback, Isaac Wilson right now, his brother, Zach, you know, went to BYU and that's almost every house in Utah is exactly like that. Like they're just torn apart and you're one or the other really, right? Cause it's the two main schools, no offense to Utah state. You know, it's, it's the two schools and, and so, uh, just incredibly, incredibly intense. And that, again, I do think that kind of inner how intertwined it is, is, is what makes it so unique.

No, we always have some fun, man. Coach, you know, we got Matt Lyner on our, on our, on our crew with us, man. And coach always says in oh, 04 that you guys would have beat the Trolls. Hell yes. Honestly, this is the messed up thing. I'm glad we're getting into this. I got to, you know, there's obviously been 20 years is just sitting on my chest. Yeah. No playoff. We go on defeated. We I mean, we waxed everybody that year. I mean, Texas A&M came up and got 50 hung on them. Like Oregon.

700 yards on North Carolina. Let them have it, bro. Let them have it. And I think people, like there were a lot, we had dudes playing the NFL. Cioni Pujar, Chris Kimiatu, like we had some dudes upfront. And there was this idea that maybe we couldn't play with the big schools.

And just so, it just wasn't true. And somehow a one loss. What didn't USC have one loss or did Oklahoma have the one loss here? Like somehow they get in the national championship. It still baffles me. We spoke about the ability to overcome adversity, that everything's not always just sunshine and rainbows. Like I love that so much because people just think it's just this, it's just always just one way, just up, up. No, there's valleys, there's depths. You gotta fight through the dark times and the dark moments.

And I think our world just needs to have that kind of mindset that like, hey, it's not always easy. It's gonna be tough and you get better. The measure of a man, the measure of your character becomes how you handle that adversity, how you overcome that adversity. Just your ability to overcome that adversity in football. Your tremendous family, man.

I follow the stories about your daughter, how strong she is, how strong your family is for her. And just tell the world, man, like encourage somebody today, man. What helps you to have that mindset? What helps you to keep that positivity for yourself, for your family, and how can you just spread that through the world, man? Yeah, I mean, I think you brought up a good point.

Like, you don't really, I don't think you realize, we all don't realize, I think the effect we have on the people around us, right? And it's not always the things you say, it's more about, I think, the things you do and the example you set. And man, I'm so lucky again. I'm actually heading down later today to go down to San Antonio, Texas. And down in San Antonio,

it's the Brooke Army Medical Center, which is the largest military medical center, I think, in the world. I mean, it's the only level one trauma unit for every branch of the military. And this is where I did my rehab for my leg. And it's the special place down there called the center for the intrepid. And, you know, with veterans day coming up, um, this is a place to change my life. Mark, like I was feeling sorry for myself when I, when I, when I broke my leg and any infection came in and they were talking about amputating it and all the surgeries. And I was ashamed of my leg, embarrassed by it.

Um, just pity party for myself, you know, like how unlucky and again, for months and months stuck in a wheelchair, just wallowing in my own, you know, kind of selfishness. And then I get this chance, I get this secretary of defense designation, which is for civilians to have access to military medical care. And I got to go down to this amazing place and it was really humbling, right? Because I was just playing football and you don't feel like you belong with our servicemen and women who literally sacrifice life and limb. And it's this center that's specifically for limb injuries, for like leg injuries, again, because over the decades in the Middle East, all these servicemen and women coming

back from the roadside bombs and IEDs. And so they built this special facility just for this. And here I am again, I go down there, my legs all wrapped up. I don't even wanna show it again. I'm just thinking about all the things I'll never be able to do again. And I go down there and they, man,

they have this really cool philosophy. They believe in this thing called group suck. Okay, and so most physical therapy places, you do your physical therapy like in a one-on-one situation. Right, like you go to a back room, you're on a table, or you're doing your things. It's like a very private, intimate thing. Like not at this place.

Like it's specially designed so that everybody does their rehab out in the open. It's like one big open facility. And man, I go there again, I got my leg wrapped up. I'm hiding behind it again, ashamed. And man, there's amputees, double amputees, horrible burn victims, a bunch of people with injuries just like mine, man, and the scars are out in the open. They're bearing it all and they are moving forward. They're like charging, right? They were doing stuff in there that was like, I mean, insane. And I just, the impact it had on me, right? To like see that. And again, nothing they said. It was just like the attitude, the mindset

towards the adversity, leaning into the struggle. It changed my life. It's a day I'll never forget. It's the first day I ever said out loud that I wanted to play football again, right? As scared as I was, I couldn't even stand on my leg. I'm on crutches with a metal cage bolted to my leg. And again, I just think the power of it, right? The power that you can have on one another, the seeds of hope that it like planted for me, right? Like there really maybe was a future for me to stop looking in the rearview mirror, right? And start looking forward to like, what can I do? Like it was the first place that made me curious, like, what do I have left? Yeah.

And change my life. And again,, it's no different than the teammates and coaches I've had throughout my career, right? It's the same thing, the same exact thing. Coach Meyer, like the effect you have on the people around you, you just don't realize the magnitude of it sometimes. And so for me, I take that forward, right? Like it's a challenge.

Can I be that for anybody else? And certainly a lot of people reach out to me that are going through things, physical trauma, certainly a lot of TIBFibs out there. Again, the challenge cannot potentially be, you don't know who's watching. Can I potentially be that for somebody else is really, really cool. Tell us what triggered your podcast, The Glue Guys, and what you guys hope to achieve with it. Yeah, I mean, for everybody out there, it's with Shane Badier and Ravi Gupta.

Shane Badier. Yeah, and I think just the connection of, like what makes great teams. Like I'm such a product of great teams and everything I've done, right? Going back to the 04 Utah uh, to anything I did at the professional level, um, you know, and even my rehab, right? Like again, I just mentioned, like I w I had such a great team, the military and

like my, my doctors and, and, and PT's that there's no way, right? Like, I think people see the end result. They saw when I ran out there on the field two years later, but like, I didn't do that by myself. Um, you know You know, and such the pen and certainly as a quarterback, I realized that like I get way too much credit for things and I'm just such a, the result of upgrade teams. And that's what the pod blue guys is about. Right. And on every team at the core of it, you got a bunch of guys that do what's best for the team. They put the team first, the scrappy guys, right? Like a blue guy's kind of a basketball term.

You know, the guy's going to grab a bunch of rebounds. You know, they don't get the points. But you need them on your team to win, right? And every team has them. You know, in football, so many of the special teams guys that do all the dirty work, change games. You know, and it's about celebrating that, right? Your team culture, good team culture, winning culture, that the people that, that play all the different roles in that. And it's fun to explore and it's no different in the business world.

Right. And I, and I think that's kind of the unique things that we jump into. It's not just in sports. It's all over the place. So it's been a ton of fun. You know, those two guys are the stars of the show, you know, Shane and Ravi. So it's fun. It's a great one. Highly recommend. I listen to it all the time. No, I know that Alex. I know it. I know it very well. I got my two stars above me and I just hang around. Hey, Alex, thanks for joining us. Safe travels

down to San Antonio. I can't wait to see that. I'm assuming that's a feature that's coming up. Yeah, it'll be a piece. It'll come out. Yep. Yeah, that should be great. Go Utes. Let's go. Continued success. I know there's plenty more chapters to be written in your story, in your book, and Coach will definitely write the forward for you. Just give him an autographed copy. I'm going to hold him. There you go. Alex Smith, man. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on, guys. There you go. Alex Smith, man. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Thanks for having me on, guys. All right. Welcome back to The Triple Option presented by The Wendy's. And right now we're going to take a look at Coach of the Year resumes brought to you by our great partner, ZipRecruiter. Try ZipRecruiter for free. ZipRecruiter.com slash option. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire.

So we're going to look at some coach of the year resumes. Last year, it was won by your new head coach right now, Mark Kailin DeMora when he was with Washington in 22. Yeah. Those horn frogs, Sonny Dykes down there at TCU and Jim Harbaugh in 21. Um, let's hear some of the candidates right now and coach, I, let's start with Kurt Signetti because I think we all agree he's at the top of the list or certainly and coach, let's start with Kurt Signetti, because I think we all agree he's at the top of the list or certainly really, really close to it. Yeah, Kurt Signetti,

a lot's been said and I probably got a little bit more insight just because the way I watch film, I've done it for 37 years and there's things that I might notice that maybe, you know, Mark probably does as well, but I see things that most people don't see. And I think there's a fine line between recruiting and coaching. They're both what it takes to be successful. But I always tell people the guy that makes the one-handed catch over the top of two people in the end zone, that's God touched them and said, let's make a great player. But the perimeter blocking the goal line stand when, uh, um, you know,

when everybody's in the proper gaps, you know, there are just so many things that I see Indiana do that. Um, and how about this? I'm going to talk about this because they're playing each other, but who would have thought 365 removed from the worst team of the big 10, they're playing the best team of the big 10 a year ago, and they're a 14.5 favorite. Who'd have thought, I'll tell you what, if someone would have, if big bear, if bear bites were throwing a couple bucks on that one, Mark, he'd be, uh, he'd be flying private to big news.

I mean, I mean, think about this. So Kurt Signetti is absolutely. I'm not missing any meals. He's all right. He's still eating. Uh,, think about this. So Kurt Signetti is absolutely- He's not missing any meals. He's all right, he's still eating. Kurt Signetti's obviously a candidate and unless something changes, he's, to me, he gets- I don't know how it can change much.

Right, I mean, what he's done already with that record and in position to get into Columbus in a couple weeks, unbeaten for a shot at the Big Ten Championship game. My goodness. You got one more though. I like this next one too. It's a good one. Jeff Muck and I've, Jeff and I have known each other a long time. I went to speak to his team. I've known him for a long time and you talk about coaching. There's not one player on that army team that, you know, probably got many scholarship offers at any to

play division one football. When you see their lineman mark, I mean, I swear they're, they're five, 10, five, 11. I mean, they're, they're rugged, tough guys that play together. There are a bunch of more hangrooms on the line. Is that what you're telling me? Hey, they had that, they know I be clawing and scratching and bracing.

You know, got to, hey, you can't measure what's in here. You can't measure what's in here. Coachable cats though, Urban, right? Coachable dudes. Oh, I mean, coachable and now you got it. I mean, they don't stop. I've coached against Army, Navy, Air Force, and they do not stop. And I always tell people it's a nightmare playing in a service academy. It's even double nightmare when they're an undefeated service academy. And that's what you got with Munkin and the Army. All right, coach, you got two guys. Mark, you're also bringing two into the conversation as well.

Yeah, you know, since it's two for Coastal, two for me, might as well make it to doos doos. You know, I mean, it's only right for the two, too. But man, we got to show love to Mario Cristobal down there. Got Miami 9-0 for the first, for the second time in 22 years. They're looking to win their first ever AC Championship. You gave us that saucy nug a while ago, Stoner. That's hard to believe.

They have never won an AC Championship. Like, are you serious here? Like, pretty crazy. He has them balling, man. And you talk about those tough victories they had for three weeks, stretch versus Virginia Tech, Cal, Louisville. You easily drop one of those games, you're out the conversation, and he was able to rally his team to come back on the road at Cal, come back on the road against Louisville. They were able to win those games.

And this is the team, they have a favorable schedule moving out. They're looking like they'll be on a collision course with whoever in ACC Championship, maybe Clemson, we'll see. But Mario Cristobal has done an amazing job. They were three and five in conference play last year, seven and six overall. So they've already beat their win season total

from last year and they're undefeated, have probably the number one guy for the Heisman right now in Cam Ward. So I think he's just done an unbelievable job down there in South Florida about 45 minutes down the road. I agree with you, but I think the knock might be like, he should have gotten this program there a little bit quicker, right? I think that's maybe why Mark, I agree with you, but I think the knock might be like, he should have gotten this program there a little bit quicker, right?

I think that's maybe why people are a little hesitant. Hey, at least he got him there, right? Hey, he's there right now. And it's not about the coach of the past year or the past two years, it's about the coach of this year. And this year, they're undefeated and have their own control, their own destiny to a playoff berth. So I hear you coach, I hear you stoner,

but the man is doing it right now. Okay. The man's doing it right now. Give me one more. Take me out. You talk about the fighting Cougs out there. Yeah. You know, I mean, Kalani Satake, this was a team who lost five in a road in their season last year. They come back, they're picked to finish last in the Big 12 this year, and all they do is come out and ball. They come out every single week, they ball. They play tough defense. They play solid offense. Offense is getting better and better. They're getting healthy. They got their backs. They got their receivers. They play special teams. That's all coaching. When you got three phases, all playing complementary football, that is a

tremendous coaching job. You know that coach, Myra. If you ain't a good coach, you ain't gonna have as a good special teams unit. A good coach, a great coach has a good special teams unit, a strong defense, a good offense that all come together and play complementary football. So he's done an amazing job at BYU. They're 8-0. They got the holy war against your youths coming up.

Ain't it right, coach? Yeah, we're gonna talk about that one in a second. So those are my two guys. I got leading the candidacy, the candidacy for coach of the year. Just so you remember, the conversation was to pick one guy and then you guys went rogue and picked two. I'm staying by the rules here and I got one. I'm a front runner. I'm going Dan Lanning. What he's done at Oregon with the expectations. Should have said he's been got them there?

He got them there immediately, man. ASAP, a couple little offensive line struggles, you know, in those opening weeks, and he sorted that out. Things I look for in a coach and you guys might look at different cats, but I'm looking at recruiters. I'm looking for motivators, winners and thinkers. Alright, so Dan Lanning 31 and five overall, nine and O this season, number one in the AP poll. That's winning, right? Recruiting three straight top 10 recruiting classes.

They have the number one class right now for 2026. So he's got that. We talk about motivating, you know, his words, right? All we have to do is go back to pregame last year against Colorado and, you know, they're fighting for clicks. We're fighting for wins. Like I can just tell that dudes get in that locker room and he's able to instantaneously rally his troops.

And then as far as thinking, right, this dude literally forced a mid-season rule change because he found a timing loophole in that victory over Ohio State. I think Dan Lanning's the complete package, but if I had a vote, it's going up to Bloomington. I think we all kind of agree with what the Hoosiers have been doing. Great candidates though, man. Great choice. Tremendous. A tremendous year for coaching.

I agree with you. Time now for pick six brought to you by BetMGM. Place your money line, prop parlay and same game parlay bets at bet MGM download the app today as always please gamble responsibly six games against the spread marks got his deuce deuce dog of the week he's always trying to steal my dogs lately I've noticed keep your paws off my dogs marking I don't really love my dogs all I know that's why you keep leaning over to me let's start in the big 10. Michigan is five and four Michigan, the defending national champs,

five and four against. I said it, everybody thought I was crazy. Everybody thought I was crazy. Spread 14 and a half, right? Only five unbeatens remain in FBS. Yes, the Hoosiers are one of them. And this Michigan team coach, they've dropped three of their last four. Yeah my gosh one year difference like I said earlier that Indiana had the worst record the

Big Ten a coach on the chopping block and one of the worst rosters in college football one year ago and the Wolverines had the all-time one of the best teams in recent history maybe history last year behind a an iconic head coach and a you know arguably one of the best teams in recent histories, maybe history, uh, last year behind a, an iconic head coach and a, you know, arguably one of the top two, three, maybe number one roster, um, loaded with NFL talent. Here you are. And IU is now a 14, five point favorite. It's an absolute mismatch on, on, on, on the numbers, but I don't know. I think the Wolverines might keep a little closer just because they do have some talent

there. But, you know, Wolverines are 500 in league play. Kirk Stigendetti, it's a mismatch. How about this? Oregon number, or Indiana, number two off scoring offense faces the 116th ranked scoring offense. So the number two offense against one of the worst. Number seven defense, scoring defense against a team

that's outside the top 50 in scoring defense. So this is a, has a writing on the wall. 14 and a half though against the Wolverines. That's a tough cover. I'm going with my coach of the year candidate. They're going to cover that bad boy. I'm going to put Indiana cover at 14 and a half. I went back and forth on that.

Two, uh, by the way, the, the signetti t-shirts in Bloomington that, that go with the Marlboro type look and everything. The SIGs so good, man. They've done such a great job. So Google that community. Google me. I'm so happy for that community. Google me, I win. He's not wrong. Two ranked matchups this week, guys,

and both of them, courtesy of the SEC. Georgia, five and one in conference play. What a surprise. Right, they're tied with the Aggies on top of the SEC. Third road game against a ranked opponent for the Bulldogs this year, right? That is some street cred right there. What they're having to do weekend and week out. They came from behind at the half to take care of Florida last week. Um, coach, you were talking about

it on big noon. You know, what, what Georgia are we going to see? We're going to see the, the a team of Georgia or we're going to see the team of Georgia, right? The a team is on is unbeatable. The B team is, is very beatable. And I think for the first half, we saw the B team of Georgia and Florida had the lead, a much improved Florida team. Georgia able to flick that switch and turn it on in the second half. Again, this though, despite Carson Beckman, these numbers from Carson Beck are really alarming. I'm not sure I've ever seen that round.

I've never seen this. Coach, I'm a high speed candidate. To not anymore. He leads the sec with 11 interceptions. Carson Beck, 11 picks thrown. He leads the FBS over the last four weeks with eight interceptions thrown. And then a totally different story for Ole Miss and their quarterback, Jackson Dart. He's got the number one passing offense in FBS this season, 377 yards a game.

Dart completes almost 72% of his passes, 24 total touchdowns, just three interceptions. You go to last week against Arkansas, 515, six passing touchdowns, zero picks. And then as we mentioned last week, this Ole Miss D guys, it's legit. Number one, number six scoring defense in the FBS. They only allow 13 points a game. The rush defense, number two in FBS, allowing under 85 a game. Most sacks in FBS with 41, including 18 sacks in the last two games.

It is hotty toddy season down there. Ole Miss, they keep their playoff hopes alive with the home upset over Georgia. Arr, arr, arr. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. If you want a piece of that dog, you can have it, Mark. Arr, arr.

Or I could offer you six and two Alabama, three point favorites, both programs at six and two. Tigers, they did have a bye week, licked their wounds after that defeat to Texas A&M. That would have been an easy dog to take if they were underdogs. Right? I think it's fair to say this is a playoff elimination type game. Two programs, six and two very much in the mix have great pedigree and I think the loser of this one is done for the season.

How do you see it? You are exactly right, Stone. All Stone. You got that right Stone. No, but- Stone. Talk about- I know what you're referencing. Got that right Rob. No, but you talk about this game is always just huge, man. This game just always has massive implications and there's no different this year. Both teams you said, same record fighting for their college football playoff lives. And last time, they're both coming off a bye week. How fortunate.

But I think both teams needed it. You have LSU who came off a tough loss to A&M before their bye week. You have Bama who struggled trying to get to bi-week with healthy, just regroup, refocus. And now it's time. And I got Alabama in this one. You know I got my Crimson Tide in this one. I'm trying to figure out everywhere I can to get there. I'm trying to figure out everywhere I can get there, but I'm telling you the difference. Obviously we know about, they trusted Nuss, Garrett Nussmeyer.

This electric offense are going to put up a lot of points. I think this is going to be a shootout. But I think the difference is going to be Jalen Milrow. He had a week off to kind of just refocused, to reged his confidence, reged his focus. And we saw Marcel Reed for A&M have a huge game versus him using his legs on the ground. That was the difference when A&M came back to be LSU. It was his ability to change the game with his legs. I think it would be no different for Jalen Millroy. On the road, being able to utilize his legs, being able to use his play, make ability to extend plays, to get out of trouble and turn bad plays

into positive plays and take care of the football. We've been turning the football over. The defense has been playing a lot better, but the offense kind of hadn't met him to this time. Earlier the year the office was playing great the defense wasn't Now the defense is playing a lot better in the office has to catch up So now after this by week, hopefully they could bring both things together mesh both things together and get a win in a tough place And Tiger Stadium in Death Valley at night one of the toughest venues That's that's the toughest venue to play in at night in Death Valley

venues. That's the toughest venue to play in at night in Death Valley. Them folks ain't gonna be playing, man. They gonna have Mike the Tiger right there outside the visitors' locker room. How close do you get to Mike the Tiger when you're... Right there. Right there. He was right over my shoulder, bro. I'm over here like, let's go. I mean, two feet. Let's go. I'm like, oh, man, I'm from Michigan. That's a whole tiger, man. I ain't never seen no tiger. It's a hazard right here, but no,

I got the tie taking this one, man. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Bayou Bangles. Y'all ain't been to playoffs anyway, so other than freaking Borough a while ago, so just let us handle this. Let us handle this. All right. Big noon, big noon kickoff this week, guys.

We are in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech, six and three, three and a half point favorite over Colorado. That one live on Fox Buffs. They used their bye week to fire up the Travis Hunter for Heisman campaign. Travis flew out from, I think he was actually in Texas hanging out with Coach Prime, doing some fishing.

And then they flew him up to Penn State, joined us on the set. Colorado currently tied for second in the Big 12 standings. Mark you mentioned it. BYU all alone up top. They're tied with Iowa State at four and one. The Cyclones took a loss last week. How are they tied if BYU is undefeated? No, they're tied with Iowa State.

Oh, yeah, but didn did Iowa State just lose? They did. They're tied at four and one in conference play. But BYU hasn't lost yet. I know they're not tied with BYU. BYU is all lone and flush. Oh, okay. My bad.

Colorado is tied with Iowa State. My fault. My fault. That's all right. That's all right. Listening is hard sometimes. It is. So Colorado, yeah, just ask your kids.

Colorado, they've won five of their last six. The only loss, it was a three point defeat to Kansas state. They don't have any remaining games against ranked opponents. So they got Texas tech this Saturday, Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma state, the buffs. Yeah. You bet. They've got a path to the big 12 championship game and to the playoffs. Yeah. This is legit guys. This is why we're big noon kickoff. I said down to Lubbock to keep an eye on what Texas tech is, but also coach prime has got his boss or the chance to play into the postseason they're at a really underrated Texas tech side that upset then unbeaten Iowa state in Ames.

Last week. Here's the dilemma though. Red Raiders, number one scoring offense in the big 12. We're scoring defense in the conference plus multiple turnovers in four straight games. They have a certified stud at tailback. Taj Brooks, 100 plus rushing yards. Taj, 100 plus rushing yards in all eight games that he has played this year. He's averaging almost 131 a game. That's second most in the Big 12. Two straight seasons with a

thousand yards rushing and 10 rushing touchdowns Lubbock man is going to be frothy. It's going to be in a frenzy. Big noon is going to be there. And I want to say they pull off the upset. But the rest did buffs with the pathway to the Big 10 title and the playoffs somehow sneak out of Lubbock with the win and cover it. Yeah, right. That's life in the big 12, maybe the most entertaining conference this year with just the parody and the chaos. I see you showing love to the Arbis though, Stoner.

You like that? You know we love that. I did that too. We love to show the best love. I see you. Hey, let's stay in the big 12. Again, we talked about BYU, 8-0, four point favorite in Salt Lake City at a Utah team that was picked to win the Big 12. And here they are, four and four, BYU is picked to finish 13th, control their

playoff destiny. And it is a monster rivalry game, one that you know firsthand, coach. Yeah, nasty rivalry game. And BYU is one of those teams, you know, the team that can't be beat, won't be beat. It's just one of those teams. We saw him score against Oklahoma state on the last play to go win the game. We saw him in person. The energy is big. Salt Lake city is about a 40 minute hall right down a little bit. North of a Provo. So there'll be a bunch of a blue scattered in that beautiful red stadium.

As I tried to keep them out of that. I was there, but I don't know, man. Like you said, BYU is 13th at preseason pick. My Utes were number one. It's been a, you know what show on offense ever since Cam Rises down. They're averaging 12, you know, 12 points a game. Their quarterback, Isaac Wilson has more turnovers and touchdowns. It was Zach Wilson's little brother.

Not very good. And then, but the defense Utah's typical Morgan Scali, he's going to be the, you know, he's going to be the next head coach in waiting for Utah when Kyle decides to step down their number one in total defense, number one, third down defense, number one red zone defense of the big 12, so this could be a low scoring affair, uh, BYU's top 25 in both scoring offense, scoring defense. Oh man. I'm not sure I'll be welcome back in Salt Lake if I don't do it, but I think

this is going to be a walk-off low scoring game. And I think Utah covers a spread. It started at four and a half. It's at four. So Vegas might know something. It's going down. And I think they take care of the ball today. That quarterback's got to take care of the ball. Very low scoring game. And I think BYU might win it, but it's going to be real close.

Sp. Speaking of shrinking lines, how about what's happening in Happy Valley right now? Penn State down to a 13 and a half point home favorite over a five and four Washington team. Remember last week we were there, Beaver Stadium, record crowd saw James Franklin drop his 11th straight top five game. It's a whiteout tonight with, on Saturday night, a whiteout with Washington in town. Mark, how do you see it? Man, it was 16 and you know, I didn't like that number. I really didn't like that number, but the 13 kind of, I don't know. It's kind of like right on the cusp for me.

That's what Vegas does. They're good at that stuff. Kind of right on the cusp for me. But when I talk about the Huskies, man, they're just a scrappy team. And they've lost two games by double digits, right? So against Iowa, they got punished and against Indiana they lost by 14 so there's crappy team they can't they they fought hard beat USC last week then you have Penn State just had a tragic ending to their game right can't Can't get in from the three yard line, right? Does this frustration goal? Does this frustration carry over and linger a little bit?

I think they get the win, but I think the Huskies will play them tough. So I'm going to take them to cover this spread. I'm going to take them to cover and therefore that'll be your dog of the week But what do I know? So please don't put any money on it. Oh my god, you know plenty man. You're the dude What would I know? I don't know anything. So you're a high National my dogs actually a cat the dog meows. It's a cat dog. So who really knows? There you go. Here's what we do know mark So who really knows?

There you go. Here's what we do know, Mark. Interesting times at Penn State right now. We mentioned James Franklin, another loss, and then the way it happened last week to Ohio State. And then after the game, he had this interaction with a fan. I think I got three questions out of that. That's all. Come on, come on.

What's your name? What's your name? What's your name? No, you don't be mad enough to call him. What's your name? What's your name? What's your name? What's your name? What's your name? No, you're going to be mad enough to call. What's your name? Yeah, ring the bell and then the fan who's talking smack walks away. Listen, we know this happens at high level athletics all the time. It doesn't have to be collegiate or whatnot.

It's tough not to have those rabbiteers sometimes coach, I can imagine, right? Cause there are so many things that you guys, players, coaches, staff must hear on the sideline that you just have to kind of look straight ahead and pretend that you haven't heard anything. But I think my advice is always just, just ignore it and move on. But boy, in the moment, it must be awfully, awfully hard and challenging. Yeah, I'm surprised they let him get there. I always had two people with me that would never let me even because I'd lose my cookies on the first one. James is not wrong. You're a human

being. You get it right. Someone swings at you, swing a little harder back. However, his people should have never let him get over there and just keep walking them in. So there's accountability all the way around. You know, head coaches, you can say head coaches get paid a lot of money. I get that. But when media people take unwarranted shots at people and people, you're still a human being.

So yeah, I think people are going to jump all over him and all that. I'm not. He's a, he's a grown man. Grown man don't need to be talked to like that. Or are you going to have to answer for it? I think the people should never let him get close to that scenario. He was going to ring the bell, right? What's that about?

What's the, I don't know. It teach me something. What's the bell for? End of the game. They ring that bell right there. Even if you take an L. Yeah. Walk by that bell.

Yeah. Well, it wasn't,. Yeah. Walk by that bill. Yeah. Well, it wasn't, it wasn't a hefty ring. But I'm interested in the, and I'm, I'm, some people are going to say, ah, he's gotta be bigger than that. Wait a minute now. You're really could have went crazy. Man. He didn't even say some, you know, Hey, you guys stink or something like that.

That's different, but you get personal with someone. You got a right to defend yourself. So I think he should avoid that situation altogether and never even get close to that. And that's to me, I'd meet with the administrator and said, never let that happen. And then also I'd find out who that human being was that's saying, no, once again, you're, you, I guess you buy a ticket for a couple hundred bucks. You can say the team stinks and all that, but you go after someone. You're not welcome in that stadium anymore.

You got to go. So I think it's two way street and I've changed over the years on that. I mean, once again, I'm an older guy now too. Someone takes a swing at you. You swing back only a little. Damn right. Damn right. But listen, he didn't even really say nothing crazy.

He just said, if you're going to talk, what's your name? Like he really could have said something crazy, but he didn't. So I'm like, but imagine me to people are going to take shots at it because they think well, coaches and players, wait a minute, wait a minute, coaches and players robber human beings. Now, listen, nobody hurts more than a coach and a player after a loss. I don't care what fan you are, how much money you spent. Nobody cares about winning or losing more than those coaches and those players. So you got something to say out the side of your neck. Like, you're going to hear about it. People always

think like, oh, you can say this to whoever you could do this to whoever you can't do that. Like, no, like, people is no accountability anymore. Right? And everybody's just like this. Well, same with media, same with media. When people say stuff that's not, you know, you're like, wait, what? You have a job to do, but you could do it the right way. Just look at how we were at Penn State last week in the, uh, the Kelsey situation. He got on TV and apologized about last night.

I don't think he needed to apologize, but you come over here talking crazy, talking derogatory, talking about the side of your neck to someone who has pride, who is pride about their name, who respects people, treats people the right way, but not going to let nobody disrespect them. Then you got to deal with the consequences sometimes. And what are they doing, Mark? They're sitting there with their phones filming. They are literally poking their trying to get a reaction out of you for their Instagram

hits. You want to do all this talking and all this stuff, and then when something bad happens to you, you want to cry wolf. What's the first thing that cat did when he walked away like a scared rabbit man? Because you really don't want to smoke for real. You really don't want to smoke for real. They talk all this mess, and you talk crazy to people

behind the phone or on social media. Like, nah, bro. People was grown men with families that treat people the right way, respect people the right way, but don't handle disrespect the right way. You feel me? I don't handle disrespect the right way. I don't take it lightly.

And so when you do stuff like that, man, you got to sometimes got to deal with the repercussions of your actions. Let's just be nice people. Let's be nice and respectful. Simple solution. We don't have to do that. We love college football. We're super passionate about it. One to remind you, we've got live-

But you will get beat up. Yes. I'll be right behind Mark. Get him, Mark. We've got some live streams coming up. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel at 3XOptions. So you can get alerts every time we go live. We're going live every time those college football playoff rankings come out. You can follow us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, as well as across social media at 3X Option Show. Again, please submit those questions. We love to interact with our fans and new episodes come your way every Wednesday. As always, thank you to our sponsors, Wendy's, Bet MGM, and Zip Recruiter enjoy the college football this week.