The Triple Option - Oregon-Ohio State Showdown, Penn State Tops USC, Ducks QB Dillon Gabriel Joins, and a Big SEC Weekend

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

Oregon and Ohio State deliver another classic game in a season full of them. Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone break down the final seconds of the Ducks and Buckeyes and what it means for both teams. James Franklin and Penn State get a marquee win over a USC team heading in the opposite direction down the rankings, while Alabama and Tennessee both escape another upset attempt. (5:20) Dillon Gabriel had the game of his career, quarterbacking the Ducks to the top of the Big Ten in their 32-31 win over the Buckeyes. He talked about his journey to get to this point in his career and how he can keep Oregon on track for their quest for the National Championship. (43:45) Finally, Coach, Mark, and Rob answered your questions about the Heisman, Vanderbilt, and the Tide. The guys then made their picks of the week including Tennessee vs Alabama, Georgia vs Texas, and Indiana vs Nebraska. (1:02:55) 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

At the premier programs, you got about four or five games a year that you look across the field and they got what you got. That Spider-Man meme where they just pointing at each other like, that's it. Nighty. What are you playing there? Is it the drums? Is it like a high guitar? What are you doing when you hear that music? That's just my vibes for the Triple Option, you know what I mean? Just your vibes. Welcome to another edition of the Triple Option presented by the Wendy's.

Try Wendy's new saucy nugs today. Glad you're here with us, Rob Stone. We've got a couple national champions. Mark Ingram with Alabama. Urban Meyer with Florida and Ohio State with you. As always, Mark, we urge you to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, as well as across social media. Yeah, like, comment, tell a friend, tell a neighbor, all those things. You can find us on social media 3x option show rate us throw questions at us in the comment section we're going to answer three of those

questions on today's show speaking of today's show oregon quarterback dylan gabriel will join us after the ducks big win over big win big big double big double big we're going to look at some close calls for some top 10 teams and kind of pivot and look ahead to a big week, particularly in the SEC. But let's start with the Big 12 guys. And for the first time, Big Dune Kickoff made its way to the Beehive State. And we were in beautiful, warm, sunny, welcoming Provo, Utah for undefeated BYU. And let me tell you, that fan base, that student body, man, they showed up and they showed out, man.

They were really impressive. Yeah, I think it's one of the most beautiful settings in college football. I told you, the first time there, Lavelle Edwards was the coach. 1990, a guy named Ty Detmer was playing quarterback. They beat the hell out of us. And in the third quarter, Mark, they sang, Happy birthday, 60th birthday to Lavelle Edwards, as he was kicking our ass inside out.

And the last one, the last one was in 2003. We brought the Utah Utes in there. We're tied for the top of the conference, Mountain West Conference. And we beat them 3-0 in a blizzard. So the fans still remember that. I don't think the student body would remember that. That was 15 years ago. They remember everything you did.

20 years ago. Coach, when you are a coach and you're whooping on programs, they don't forget that. And they don't welcome you when you come back. But Mark's always welcome. That's the best thing, they don't forget that. And they don't welcome you when you come back. But Mark's always welcome. That's the best thing. I don't know how. I'm just waiting for the boot day.

You know what I mean? You were doing Wisconsin a little bit when Bama was in town. But you were instigating that. You were asking for it. Yeah, we roll into Auburn, Alabama. I imagine they'll throw. We roll into Auburn. I'm throwing balls.

Now, those barns. Those barns are going to be mad at you. We can't have those barners. Those barners. The Cal College. One last shout out for Provo. Legendary mascot, Cosmo. Have we ever

leaned on a mascot so much in the history of Big Noon Kickoff? If Cosmo called in sick last Saturday, we would have had an extra 20 to 30 minutes to fill on the show. The dude's falling out of airplanes. He's break dancing. He's,

he's jumping through fire. Dude did it all, man. He's doing pushups on tables. If I had another, if I was coaching, I had a scholarship. I would seriously say,

I'm going to give you a tryout. His athleticism, when he did the pushups, he was doing all that. I mean, is that, that can't be a student. The stats tables, pushing yourself up and landing. I have no idea.

In an outfit, in a cougar outfit. I have no idea who Cosmo is. He's backflipping out of an airplane. He's doing push-ups and then a dismount, like flipping through fire. He's an elite athlete. He is. Cosmo is an elite athlete. Cosmo is an awesome get, man.

An awesome get. One last comment about Utah and the great state of Utah is that I'm glad we got to witness it because I did. The intensity level, because everybody thinks Utah skiing or whatever it is,

football is very serious out there. And BYU and Utah are rugged. The LDS religion, the Mormon religion is very prominent, obviously, in Provo. Not as prominent in Salt Lake. It's about 90% in Provo, Mark. In Salt Lake, it's, I think, 15%, 20%. Yet the church is a big part of it. And I'm telling you now, the intensity level when you step in stadiums is as good as anywhere in the country. And people, when I tell them, they're like, come on, I'm glad you guys got to witness. If you love football, I haven't been to Utah yet, but Provo is a pleasure to stop.

The stadium is nestled in between the three, four, five mountains with the Y in ingrained in the mountain. Like that's beautiful. It's aesthetically pleasing. Very kind, welcoming people. I think they've got a lot of pent-up energy. Not a lot of vices to pull at them. So it's like, Saturday, what time?

Saturday football. Who's showing up? Big dude, let's go. I mean, the signs were off the charts. The energy was screaming. It was so good. Yeah, we soaked it all in. All right, let's move on from that.

All right, on any given Saturday, we learned it last week and we're getting reminded of it again. Anything can, does, and will happen in college football. Any given Saturday. And the big one last Saturday, of course, was in Eugene, the top three showdown between Ohio State and Oregon. Not five, not six, seven lead changes in this one. It was such a great game. In the end, time literally

runs out on Ohio's. Some interesting clock management, maybe some clock miscues, maybe some clock manipulation. As well as the Buckeyes, they got the ball back a buck 47 to go down one, drive the field. There's that questionable offensive pass interference called on Jeremiah Smith where- Highly questionable. I guess there was maybe a schmidge of extension, but it- It was a physical route. Yeah.

And physical game, by the way. Took the buck- And a physical coverage by the DB. From the 28 back to the 43. So that moved them out of field goal range. And then a penalty was called with 22 seconds left on Oregon. The big thing, the

clock started once the ball was spotted. I think a lot of people out there, and maybe in a tight moment, you guys can handle this better, would say, oh, it's a penalty. Naturally, the clock stops because the referee's talking to us. It's telling us what happens. The ball is down. But there was a bit of a laissez-faire attitude to get the ball snapped.

They didn't snap until 15 seconds left. And then with six seconds left, third and 25 from the Oregon 23, Will Howard looking for a quick play and runs and slides and not enough time to call the timeout. So time expired while our boy Will Howard was sliding. So, Coach, where were you watching that game? Were you in a plane at that point? Were you home? I was in Chicago.

You were in Chicago. Did you watch that last drive? What was going through your head? Oh, I mean, I've said this before, and Greg Sciano was on my staff. Obviously, I think one of the best coaches in college football and many do what he's done at Rutgers, but he was an extremist as far as covering every situation. I was not. And people were shocked that I don't believe in paralyzing players. And I don't mean that. I mean, I don't believe in slowing players down. I want players to play hard and

fast. That wins. However, you do spend every day in training camp, the last half of spring ball, every practice, I think everyone does this, they finish with some kind of scenario. And I would keep a track, and I actually had a staff analytics guy help me with that. Hey, give me a situation. Give me a situation. Give me a situation. I'm not sure I've ever seen that one. The cross interference, the live ball. Now, that's a situation. I'm not sure I've ever seen that one. You know, the, the cost interference, the live ball. Now that's, those are, that's a live ball where that means you start on the wind and that is a completely different animal than when the official does this. Yeah. If the official does this, then it's on the snap. And when you start losing seven seconds, you know, I, I mean,

my heart was racing. Obviously I'm a Buckeye fan, but I'm a college football fan as well, trying to figure out how fast things change. And then Mark and Rob, the difference between that game, it's 60 minutes of football, Mark. It's that far. If he slides that much quicker,

they get the timeout. They line up and pop a field goal and get out of Eugene, Oregon with one of the great wins for Ohio State. That far. And I'm not talking about the field goal. If he slides that much earlier, because actually as he's going down, there's one second on the clock. So... You gotta have...

You gotta... And if you had one extra second on the clock, right, from hurrying up that snap at that moment that you're talking about as well. But just to, just to piggyback off what Coach says, like I've done, I've played a lot of football, like 12 years in the league, you know, three years in the NFL, I mean, three years in college, like I played for some great Hall of Fame coaches and we worked situation after situation after situation. You have a period of situations every day after practice,

working a situation. I've never think that we ever worked that situation coach. Like no, I know for Dan landing to be able to intentionally have that situation ready. And his players prepared for it. That's chess and not checkers. So here's,

here's what you're talking about. Yeah. Mark, I want to get to this quote real quick because there was some chatter on our text chain after the game. Like, do you think this was an on-purpose 12-man penalty by Oregon because it would only move it,

what was it, five yards, I believe, but it would run some time off the clock. And at that point, the clock was the priority. So here is Dan Lanning after the win addressing that, what looks like to be right now an intentional penalty. Much of the commentary world has decided and struck you as a genius, Dan, for the 12-man penalty and declared that it was intentional. Was it indeed intentional to induce the throw one-on-one against Jabbar in that spot?

It wasn't one-on-one. We actually had a safety on top. So it's called dog. It's when you play. But he wasn't in extremely tight coverage. But he was in dog coverage where he had safety on top of him. And there was a timeout before that. We spent an inordinate amount of time on situations.

There are some situations that don't show up very often in college football. But this is one that obviously was something that we, we have worked on. So you can see the result. Sly little smile through the course of that interview, by the way, Phil Knight and you know, the board of trustees are going down to the coach's office right now.

Like, Hey, let's extend this thing a little bit. That is like you said, some are playing checkers. Some are playing chess, Mark. Yes.

He's playing chess. And for him to be aware of that situation in that moment, it's one thing to practice situation, but to be able to execute it in a game of that magnitude, when it's that much pressure, and still just have the wherewithal and the cojones to still execute the situation. Let me say this about that situation is,

if that's true, if he did that, and he's a friend of mine, and I'm not going to ask him out because I don't want to know. What do you mean you don't want to know? I guess I do want to know. I want to know. Ask for me then. If that's true, then for 38 years of my career, I've been playing checkers. Yep. A lot of coaches have coached. I've never even... I'll be honest, that's never even crossed my mind.

You're conceding five really important yards at a critical time that almost gets you in the field goal range. At the perfect moment. And I'm just trying to think, over the headset. Mark, do you know how nuts it is? That's what I'm saying. The sideline is chaos.

And they said, all right, I mean, you have Jeremiah Smith, you have Jeremiah Smith. You have Emeka. You got, I mean, they're 12 yards away from kicking a game-winning field goal, and we're going to give them five more yards? And someone says, hey, run the timeout or run the 12-man play. I'm like going, wait, what in the? Yes.

So they did have a timeout. I'm a checkers guy now. Remember, there was a timeout where they got together and they discussed it, right? So like there was a breath. You know, it wasn't everything just kind of spinning, but that is insanity. Coach, I played for some sticklers with situations.

Sean Payton was a stickler for situations. Saban? Sean Harbaugh? Think of who you played for. Yeah, Harbaugh too. Stickler for situations, man. And I never heard of that situation. Have you ever heard a coach, Mark, and this is

big, say let's practice intentionally taking a penalty in those I never thought of that. We've practiced intentionally doing things, but not intentionally 12 men on the field to give up five yards and run off eight seconds off the clock in a crucial moment.

And to be able to remember, like you said, Coach, to be able to remember all that craziness and chaos going on, and you remember to call that. And to do it. And to execute it. To perfect it. I will say this, Rob. I did go out.

I was asked to go out to Eugene in the spring, speak to the team, speak at the clinic, spend time with them. I spent time with the offensive staff. If that is true, they are playing checkers. Yeah. I mean, that is. I mean, chess. Because that is a hell of a staff.

They might be playing a game that hasn't even been invented yet. Yeah, yeah. Forget about chess. That's something bigger than checkers. Solitary or something. There's some crazy game they're crafting in Eugene that nobody knows about right now. So hats off if they did it and it worked. And obviously that rule will get revisited because really that should be dead ball. For sure. All right. Let's talk about Oregon right now as we continue this conversation on the triple option presented by Wendy's and Dylan

Gabriel. He'll be our guest coming up. He has played in more games than anybody else currently in college football, 56 college football games. Dylan Gabriel has played in that as your saucy nugget of the week. Try some at your nearest Wendy's. This cat played the part. And I know coach, he absolutely triggered you. In fact, the reason we have Dylan Gabriel on our show this week is because you jumped on the text chain and were like, we got to talk to this cat. This dude was amazing on Saturday. It's mandatory. When you see him, Mark, he's 5'11".

His arm strength is an 8 out of 10. His speed is an 8 out of 10. His intelligence and leadership are 10 out of 10. I love this guy. I watched him practice. I spent some time with him. We've all followed him. Remember last year, we watched him when he was at Oklahoma. But I don't know if I've ever seen him win a game. I mean, flat out win the game. And he did. The way he performed, I mean, spectacular. I guess, you know, I'll turn this over to Mark in a minute, but I was wrong.

In Big Noon, I said, I don't see the positive matchup in man coverage. I thought it was going to come down to the secondary. Ohio State's got some high draft picks back there now. And you've got Oregon, who has really, really good receivers. I'm going to change that. They have great receivers. I thought they were really good. They're great.

They went vertical on a mark. They didn't do the crossing routes like I said they would. They went vertical, and they said, I'm going to go after your best corners. I mean, Dylan Gabriel was dropping dimes on them. He did. He balled. You talk about the physicality.

Everyone was questioning whether Oregon, early in the season, they were concerned about this Oregon offensive line. And they were a strength in that game. Jordan James runs for 115 yards. They protect Dylan Gabriel, JT Tui Malau, Jack Sawyer, two of the best edge rushers in the nation. No sacks.

They give up no sacks. That's four games in a row now with no sacks. Jordan James, three games in a row, back-to-back-to-back 100-yard rushing games. This offensive line is not a weakness anymore. It's not a concern anymore. It's the strength of this team. It's a huge reason why they won the game. And obviously it was a concern in the beginning

of the season, right? That was kind of the hesitation as Oregon continued to kind of sink down the rankings. But here they are now up to number two this week, trailing only Texas. Fair to say, guys, they are in the catbird seat in the Big Ten. The Big Ten goes through Eugene right now. Ohio State is certainly in contention.

Penn State, we'll talk about them later, is undefeated. But the schedule that Oregon has in Big Ten play coming up is quite manageable compared to what some of the other teams out there have. I think you can go ahead and book a ticket to Indy for the Big Ten championship game if you're Oregon. Yeah, I think I see a rematch coming. Yeah, I do too. Yeah, 100%. And it'll be on neutral ground, Coach. It won't be an option. I see Penn State, obviously, Big Noon will be in State College. That'll be the determining factor. But just when you stand up, because we're talking about Oregon, just transition a little bit to Ohio State. They went on the road. I actually texted Coach Day this.

You went on the road, one of the most difficult, I never played there, but I coached there, but I hear it's one of the most difficult places. You took the team's best shot and you were seriously one yard away from winning that game. So somehow he's got to get through the media, the big game. They're not winning the big games. The reality is that's a little bit like the Georgia game when they played Georgia in the playoffs a couple years ago. Whoever wins that game, I think they're front runner with Texas to be a national champion. Coach, like you said, it's this far away from having a chance to win that game getting out of Oregon.

Like, they didn't get any turnovers on defense. They took Oregon's best shot on the road at home. Like, I'm not, the sky's not falling for Ohio State. Like, they still have everything ahead of them. You know, this 12-team playoff, they still have everything ahead of them. They still have the great team that we think they are. You know what I mean? They just went on the road

into a hostile environment and lost by a little bit of time. An offensive pass interference, a little bit of time. But that's the game, man. That stuff happens all the time. I agree. I think Ohio State, as much as of a bitter pill this is for them to swallow, Coach,

it's a tough one. And you mentioned Ryan Day having his struggles versus top five teams, two and six versus top five teams right now. Coach, is there a problem in Columbus? Like, does Buckeye Nation need to just kind of calm down a little bit? These things happen or is there real,

you know, kind of hand-wringing going on right now? All right, that's two-fold question. Okay. No, there's, as a football team, no. They're, I still say, one of the most talented teams. Now, you've got to find out what happened on defense. The defense performance was not what I expected. Where, in the back end or up front or both?

Both. Both. When you say no sacks. Yes. That speaks loud. Whatever the dollar figure they did on the defense alignment. 150-plus rush yards, 115 from the back, five yards a carry. And they went vertically after those two corners.

And so let's go back to the question, is there a problem? There's a problem, and you can say that you got to tell the fan base to cool out. Rob, there's no chance of that happening. That fan base is out of their mind. Like Alabama, like Georgia. there's a handful of places, and Ohio State's one of them. And so no, and that's also why they donate so much money to help them with all the NIL stuff.

So it is what it is. It's life in a big city, but they got to somehow rally the troops, and they have the team good enough to go win it all. That's the bottom line. They've got a bye week right now. Coach is that, is this a good time for it or a bad time for it? I don't know.

I don't know, Rob. I'm not coaching. I'm on a podcast. Leave me alone. I know, but I, right.

Cause I was coaching. I want to go play. Right. I want to go play. Right. I want to go play. You can't get on the field soon enough after a loss like that. Let's wrap up this Ohio State conversation with this.

And here you go. Here you go. Buckeye Nation, come in. Gather close. Gather close. Put your ear holes near your device, near your phone right now. Ohio State still has better odds to win the national championship per bet MGM with them coming in at plus 450 compared to Oregon's plus 550.

There you go, Buckeye Nation. BetMGM is on your side. Wendy's is on your side. Zip Recruiter is on your side. Just, it's going to be all right. It's going to be all right. Woosa. It's going to be big rats.

Woosa. Nighty. You've always wanted to be part of something bigger than yourself. You live for experience and lead by example. You want the most out of life and realize what you're looking for is already in you. This is for you. The Canadian Armed Forces. A message from the Government of Canada. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially,

giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations. Or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada. Insurance designed for life. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What comes to mind when you hear the word gratitude? Insurance designed for life. connecting you to qualified professionals via phone, video, or message chat. Let the gratitude flow. Visit BetterHelp.com to learn more and save 10% on your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com. Let's talk about the rest of Saturday. And again, anything can happen on any given Saturday. Let's start out here in Southern California, Penn State at USC. I called an upset. I said, I think USC is going to win this one.

And boy, at halftime, it certainly looked like I was right. Penn State down 20 to 6, but they come back, go to overtime, and win it 33 to 30. We talk about Ryan Day unable to win some of these big top five games. Lincoln Riley also has an issue. He's 5-8 in his last 13 games. James Franklin on the other side, you know, we've been saying coach, he's got an Ohio state problem and a Michigan problem. Penn state's not a problem, but Ohio state and Michigan are a problem for them. He goes on the road, goes down at halftime, comes back and gets a big win. So I'll start,

I'll start with you, Mark, you know, give me the, who do you want? You want the USC angle or you want the Penn State angle? Which one do you want, Mark? I'll take Penn State angle. You take Penn State, coach. You get USC. All right, so let's start with the good. Penn State goes on the road, come from behind, win. They remain unbeaten, and they control their destiny in the Big Ten.

Yes, they do. How about Drew Aller, though? Three interceptions. How about his tight end? Come on. Tyler Warren? How many kids he had? How about Drew Aller, though? Three interceptions. How about his tight end? Come on. Tyler Warren? How many catches he had? How many catches Tyler Warren had? That boy was going crazy.

Let's see. What Tyler Warren's number was? 17 catches for 224? Co-offensive player of the week. He is a beast. Dude was snapping the ball. He snapped the ball on one play and then went into the end zone and caught the pass for a touchdown.

Tyler Warren, one of my favorite players in the country right now. Number four, four, bulldog. Yes, sir. But no, just what they're able to accomplish down 26 at the halftime on the road, being able to come back, being able to stay the course and essentially go for a game winning, a game game-tying drive at the end of the game to put it into overtime. Defense holds them.

USC misses a field goal. Penn State gets in striking distance and they're able to kick the field goal and get out of Southern California with a victory. So, yeah, it wasn't a perfect game. Like I said, Drew and I had three turnovers. They really didn't run the ball that effectively. But at the end of the day, they found a way to win. That's what great teams do.

I'm still not a Penn State all-in believer. Like, I believe in we are Penn State. But I think until they get over Ohio State. Like, if they can fly Ohio State in a couple weeks, then I'm like, you know what? You guys are good. You guys are legit. And they're in position right now to get themselves

to the college football playoffs. We're looking at three, maybe four from the Big Ten. This was a game coach that USC had to win if they were going to keep any of their college football playoff hopes alive. Our boy, Matty Leinart over there, Mr. Negativity, Matt. You hear me, Matt. As soon as the Buckeyes go up 7-0, he's like, this one's a blowout. This is going to be over. As soon as USC goes down by one point, he's like, I've given up on this team. It's over. But for USC and Coach, they've got some real question marks going on in Southern Cal right now.

I'll do a quick hit on James Franklin. He had that stigma of not winning in the big games. They won it. I think Mark had a good point. When you have turnovers, you're on the road, and you somehow claw and fight on the plane home. I know it's a long ride home. I would sit in my heart and say, I'm glad we had those miscues because our team just proved to me we can fight through some bad stuff.

They're down at halftime. They're turning the ball over, and they find a way to win. All right, now USC. Mark and Rob, this does not compute. It has not computed with me for the last 10, 15 years. To me, that is a top five spot. You stumble over players when you recruit. I recruited out there forever when I was at Colorado State and Utah. And I mean, it's like to me, Texas and California are different. The quantity. Florida's not in that conversation? Those three? Yeah.

I just think the coaching is so, I think the coaching is good in Florida. Oh, okay. It's at a higher level in California, Texas. What they pay those coaches? Yeah. In Texas and California, they're like college coaches. Right. I mean, you get dealer cars.

I mean, you walk in and there's 12 guys on a coaching staff at modern days and all that. So it does not compute to me the history, tradition, and recruiting base and financial support at USC. And Coach Riley has gone five and eight in the last 13 games. This is on the heels of the previous staff that really struggled. So you can keep blaming coaches, but is there something there? Is there a problem?

Because that is a top five job. It is. And you don't have to compete. Like you say, you compare it with Florida. Florida has three, four, five universities. Southern Cal is Southern Cal. Like, ooh, they compete with UCLA? No, USC is the premier program in Southern California.

In the whole state. In the whole state. Yes, yes, in the whole state. Unlike Florida, where you got Miami, Florida, Florida State, which are struggling right now, but you know what I mean. How many schools, and I used to do this, I count about three, that you walk in and everybody knows exactly who you are as an assistant coach when you're wearing a shirt. With those colors and that logo, right? Yeah.

Well, in the Golden Dome, when you walk on a Notre Dame shirt, everybody stops because there are Notre Dame fans everywhere. All due respect, Alabama became that with Saban, but I'm not, you know, I think USC, you walk in any place in the country and everybody sees that Trojan or USC, those colors on your shirt and they stop and they're like, I got you. I think the Buckeyes are like that too, because they're a national, national school. Yeah. I don't get it. It doesn't, it doesn't make sense. You're right. It doesn't compute, right? Is that your phrase coach? It doesn't Yeah, it doesn't compute. I agree. One quick note on the game. After the game, Penn State players had a flag out, and they were trying to plant it on the floor of the Coliseum, and Coach Franklin swooped in. I couldn't see what he said. There were some words, and he just kind of took the flag, and he looked like the alumni varsity cheerleader out there running

around the field with the flag, just trying to get it somewhere else. You've never taken a flag from a player, coach. I'm going to assume. Sure, I have. You have? I have. I have. Where? Absolutely. And I know Ohio State. I can't remember exact game, but, and our players knew we would always talk about that, act like you've been there. Yes. You know, those players on that, and there's alumni, there's players, pick fights.

And I love players having fun, but have fun at your own expense. Don't have fun at someone else's expense. And I just, when I saw that, once again, Mark, I believe in players having fun, but have fun at your own expense. Don't, I guess, I lived, I'm such a college football fan. I don't, you don't do that. And I'm glad they didn't do that. At the end of the day, like, you just got off the hook because they missed a field goal.

So you could have easily lost this game, man. And you have bigger, you get, yeah, you got bigger problems on your plate than planning a flag. Right, like side exhale and join, get out of the box. I got to tell one story, man. And you have bigger problems on your plate than planting a flag. I got to tell one story, Mark. We used to have a rule that whoever scores a touchdown, you throw the ball to the official

and you go hug the lineman because they got you there. So Zeke Elliott was the best at it. And so, I mean, I'd show the videos on Sundays of the players celebrating with the offense alignment. And I said, however, if you score and you want to do something nuts,

I mean, go nuts now. I mean, take your helmet off, jump in the crowd because it's your last time you're going to score in a while. You're done. You're not going to play. And the players used to just laugh like crazy because I'd say, don't just like dance in the end zone. I mean, go nuts.

Make it worthwhile. Because make it worthwhile. I mean, take your shoulder pads off, take everything and throw the ball, kick the ball in the stands and don't stop. Keep going because you will not score again for the next four or five games. That's great.

That's great. So James Franklin goes all the way across country, gets a huge win for Penn State. They move up the rankings. They remain unbeaten. Also unbeaten, Texas. Red River rivalry. Quinn Ewers comes back. There was some rust, but you certainly wouldn't see it in the scoreline. 34-3. Is Texas the best team, Mark, in the country right now, or are they just part of a conversation of X number of programs? I think right now you can definitely say that they are probably one of the most complete, well-rounded teams in the country. But I think this thing is wide open still, Rob. I think anybody can beat anybody on any given

Saturday. I don't think there's this huge gap between teams. But if you want to look at it right now, we'll find out more about them Saturday. They have Georgia coming to town. But right now, you talk about the quarterback play. They have two of them. You talk about their defense, their offense. They're just a very complete team, you know. And their schedule's favorable.

We'll see how they do when they get past Georgia. If they get past Georgia, the Bulldogs are in a must-win situation. So they got to go down to Austin, and obviously the Longhorns are going to be ready to play. But right now, on whatever date this is, October, whatever, I think they are the most complete team in the country right now.

All right, Coach. Bama, Tennessee. Second straight week. They narrowly avoid an upset. You're a little worried about our guy, Nico, right now? Yeah, I was his biggest fan. I remember when I first watched him play early this year, I called Matt Leiner and Brady Quinn, obviously two guys I respect,

on big noon, and I said, is this guy a top 10 pick? The ball comes out of his hand like a tennis ball. He's a big athlete. But something's happened. They are in reverse right now. There's 20 points per game the last three games. 20 points a game, Mark, that's usually in the first half.

It's a different kind of competition, but still. I know, but still, they just don't look right. I watched them before we did this. They look a mess. Alabama, on the other side, 25 plus points per game. So I don't get what's going on. They're going to go to Tennessee. I've got to pick this team here.

I'm going back and forth on who's going to win this thing. But I'll tell you what, and I'll let Mark jump in in a second. I would always do this team here. I'm going back and forth on who's going to win this thing. But I'll tell you what, and I'll let Mark jump in in a second. I would always do this right here. I'd start just walk on the practice field. I'm doing this. And the coaching staff, I do this. I would just, and that means, you know, in the military, those are stripes on your sleeves.

And you know what stripes are on your sleeves. That's the higher you move up in the military with your titles, your rank, you earn your leadership stripes. You don't earn leadership stripes when you're beating lesser competition. Right now, in Tuscaloosa, in Knoxville, in Columbus, people are walking around like this. And those that don't are going to lose more. Those that don't, and I'm not talking about coaches,

because I am, but I mean, the alphas in that room, I think I've said this earlier, I mean, I'm probably meeting every morning, I'm having breakfast, I say, you guys meet me there at 7 a.m., we're having breakfast. And I just walk in, I say, this is, God made you for this moment right now.

And that's the leadership. Situationally, Alabama is just not, is not crisp right now. Man. They're up 14 Situationally, Alabama is just not crisp right now. They're up 14-0 with four minutes to go in the half. I'm going to just talk two quick scenarios. They're up 14-0, Rob. They got the game in control. Fourth and nine

at like the 36-yard line is going to be a long field goal. They let a bomb go over their head for 36 yards. Get the ball. Okay. We still got a minute and some change. We can go down and score. Whatever. Get a personal foul.

Now they're backed up. Jalen Milrow. They get pressure. They take a safety. Nine points. Now you punt them the ball. They fumble. We get it.

You still have a chance to get in. Then we throw another interception. They return it to the 19. They get 12 points. They get a field goal. So now it's 14 to 12 within a minute and 30 seconds. Rob, like you have the game in control. And now it's a two point game.

Then at the end of the game, ball goes over your head again for a ball goes over your head again. Now they're down to luckily they missed a two point conversion. OK, just just recover the ball. And let's get out of here. Just recover. It was a great onside kick, onside kick. It was a great onside kick, by the way. It was. Tremendous onside kick. It was like a knuckle

ball turning. Curving. It was beautiful. It was like a Beckham free kick. They get the ball off the onside kick. Now you're about to lose the game. But fortunately, you get out with an interception. Just situationally, you almost lost that game just off situation and awareness.

So Alabama has a lot of stuff to do, man, especially coming on the road to Tennessee. They got to fix this thing. You feel like if you have one of those games and you escape, you're like, all right, that's good. You're always going to get one of those type of games a season, right? And you're going to learn from it and move on. But when it starts reappearing, that's when I think when you start saying,

wait, we got an issue here. We've got some problems. This is not an outlier Saturday. This is something that is continually happening. And then there was the chaos down in Baton Rouge. Our boy Garrett Nussmeier, 27 seconds left, ties the game. They go to overtime, immediately win it over Ole Miss. The Rebels now have two losses.

Tigers 2-0 in the SEC. As of now, if you look at the college football playoff little grid, LSU is seen as a nine seed. Remember how high Ole Miss was? They're not even in the first four outside. Is LSU, Mark, for you right now, a playoff caliber team? Right now, the way they're playing, how they're in defense has improved significantly. Their offense, we know. Nussmeyer, Kyron Lacy. They could put up points with anybody. And now this defense is playing at a much higher level. LSU is a dangerous team.

And Alabama has to go to LSU. I forget who else remains on their schedule, but LSU is in prime position to be where they want to be, man. And right now they're playing at a high level and they can, everything's ahead of them. As long as they're home, man. When they're home, that place is different. So Coach-

Death Valley is a mother. Is different. You guys both know about that. As a mother, watch your mouth. People are throwing bags of lemonade at Coach over there. All right. So we had some great games this Saturday or last Saturday, some more big ones coming up this week, coach. And there's a lot of these games where things

talent wise look kind of even, right? You know, like if you look at Oregon, Ohio State, like pretty darn even talent base. So, you know, what are some of the things that end up being a deciding factor in these types of games? Yeah, I'm glad Mark's on this because I can't wait to throw this right at him. So in talent-equated games, and we all know what those are, that's those four or five games a year. At the premier programs, you got about four or five games a year that you look across the field and they gots what you got. And if they gots what you got, to me- That Spider-Man meme where they just pointing at each other like- That's it. And then I just got such respect for the game of football. The team that punches the hardest in the line of scrimmage wins those games.

And I don't want to negate the outside guys because that's huge. But to me, those a lot of times equate each other. The difference to me, when we won national titles or championship games, I had an offensive defense line that would tear your throat out. And so I would get in a routine. Every talent-equated game, I'd walk right back, and I'd sit right with whoever my center, usually my center, and I'd look at me now and say, can we handle these guys? And they would always say yes. But I could look in their eye and sometimes they're full of, you know what?

And the other times they're like, I can see that they're like, coach, we can handle them. And same thing on defense line. And one quick story, we're playing Alabama and I'm in Ohio State. And we always comes back to Bama.

We're in the playoff game and we turn the ball over twice. We have, we don't score in the red zone touchdowns with kick field goals. We're down 20-19, 21-19, I think, at halftime. I'm walking in. They hand me a sheet of paper, the SID,

and I notice I just look right at the total yards. We have 300-and-some yards against Alabama. It has 100-and-some yards, and I'm thinking, wait a minute. What's going on here? I go and visit with a training room like I always do, and then I start walking towards our coaching staff and the offensive line, Mark, all five of them, and they're badasses.

They're screaming at me, run the effing ball. I mean, and I look, I go, I have fun with them. I said, what? They said, you run that mother effer. And they're, I mean, standing up, screaming at me. And so here's what kind of mind I have. I march right in the offensive staff room. What do you think I say to Omar?

You run that mother. Throw the ball. Go deep. Run that mother, watch your mouth. So as I think this is great for the viewer, and I know Mark believes the same thing, as the season progresses, the team that can punch you right square in the face

in the offensive defense line to me is going to be holding a big gold trophy at the end of the year. I agree with you, Coach. At the end of the day, I don't care who you have on the outside. If you are not protecting your quarterback, you can't get it to them on the outside.

I don't care if you have Barry Sanders running the football. If you don't have somewhat of blocking up front, they're not going to be able to run the rock. So the onus goes on those offensive lines. It goes in the trenches. And if you are the most physical team, being able to impose your will, So the onus goes on those offensive lines. It goes in the trenches. And if you are the most physical team, being able to impose your will, move the line of scrimmage, you will be successful. If you're able to protect your quarterback, you will be successful.

So that onus goes on the trenches. It goes on the line of scrimmage. Then secondly, I would say situations. It's just being able to win the situations. But 100%, coach, if you got your offensive line, your defensive line causing havoc dominating the line of scrimmage and winning the game winning their play doing their assignments and dominating

you have a high probability winning that game I'm just going to add this Mark and Rob I'm such a believer in special forces and training people I believe that's done

in January, February, March that's when you that's when you scar that team up so when it's time to go punch someone, you can deliver the punch and not have to take it all the time. But, Coach, you're not always going to win either. So you've got to have that alpha dog on your line of scrimmage too because every now and then they're going to get hit in the mouth.

Sure. And they just got to wipe that off. They got to wipe that off and be like, okay, you ain't going to do it again, though. You ain't going to do it again, though. So you got to have them type of people on the offensive line. And I love my offensive line because I wouldn't be where I'm at

today without my offensive line. So shout out to all the line that ever blocked for me. Shout out to all the big boys out there pushing some weight around and going back for thirds, fourths, and fifths at the commissary. Coming up next, Oregon quarterback Dylan Gabriel joins the triple option.

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Must be legal drinking age. Metrolinks and Crosslinks are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals, be careful along our tracks, and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. Welcome back to The Triple Option presented by Wendy's. We are joined now by the quarterback of the second-ranked Oregon Ducks, Dylan Gabriel.

Dylan, A, thanks for joining us. B, I want to read you a text. This is the stuff I have to put up with, Dylan. Urban Meyer, 7.22 a.m. Sunday, watched Oregon offense versus Ohio State. We need to get Dylan Gabriel on, a.m. Sunday. Watched Oregon offense versus Ohio State. We need to get Dylan Gabriel on, period. Wow, period.

Go get him, coach. We got him on for you. All right, Dylan. Good to see you, brother. Good to see you. Hey, one of the great moments in a coach's life is when you see a player that's committed and has his moment. And I know you've

been around like 20 years in college football, but you've had plenty of moments, but I'm telling you, brother, that was a moment. Congratulations. How did you keep with all those, how many rule, uh, game change, how many different lead changes, seven lead changes, seven lead changes. And you just kept going and going. Just tell us about the huddle. Tell us about the sideline and how you led that team. Yeah, just a bunch of faith and trust in one another. You know, I think a lot of these guys, not only myself, but have just played a bunch of ball and been in a bunch of situations that either went their way or didn't and understand that it's a couple of plays that'll be the difference. But also just kept swinging. You know, certain things didn't go our way.

And whether it's in the red area on the fourth down conversion or, you know, having to settle for field goals, you know, twice, it's things that we realize that, you know, that could have been the difference and we may never know, which is a great thing. But coming together all together as one, you know, as a unit on offense um and making plays when it needs to be had yeah man um we know you came from oklahoma man you played in a red river rivalry um what was the atmosphere like man uh saturday night when you was going

against the buckeyes i know it was turned up in there man it was amazing i think uh college football fans get excited for it. Players, coaches, everyone involved. But that's moments you dream of. And the atmospheres, there's nothing better than that. So anytime you have those opportunities, you got to seize it and take advantage of it because everyone's watching this primetime. Yeah. Dylan, those last couple Ohio State drives, when you're on the the bench they had a lot of cutaways of you and you had the big headset on and a lot of times your head was down and you're looking around you were you were clearly engaged i'm curious who or what were you listening to during

those last couple drives yeah i was on the headset not with the defensive staff but with the the o staff okay and you know they were kind of narrating for me. Um, you know, I was in my prayer warrior, um, type of vibe with the boys, but, um, yeah, I just was listening to, you know, the, the play by play, um, through that drive and, um, ended up ripping it off and, and celebrating. Have you been in that position that Will Howard was in with that six seconds left and, and, and having that clock ticking in your head and knowing I got to get down, I got to get out of bounds. Uh, I guess you, you certainly know what he's going through right now and what he went through in the moment. For sure. You know, and that's the tough part about these crucial situations in situational football, you know, a lot of times, you know, if you're on the right side of it,

nobody's talking about it, but, you know, it's tough and in those certain situations, you have to execute and be very deliberate on your decision-making. And, you know, it's something that we talk about a bunch here, you know, whether it's on Fridays,

watching other situations of other teams or, you know, us putting ourselves in those situations and walkthroughs in practice. It's things you really can't practice enough. And, you know, luckily I've been in a lot of those situations, but I've been on the good side of it and the bad. So you just try to learn from them and get better from them. You know, Dylan, I respect your staff a lot.

That's why I came out there and spent time and just talked briefly about this. So game planning, your coaches get together on Sunday after they let you go, Monday. And then Tuesday is the day one install or the install, first down normal and all that. When they made the decision to take the vertical shot, because in big noon, I thought you were going to run more of the crossing routes to get guys open. You went over the top. Vertical shot. Because in Big Noon, I thought you were going to run more of the crossing routes to get guys open. Yep. You went over the top. And I didn't know. I mean, those are some high draft pick corners.

So you and the receivers, when you saw that game plan unfold, I'm talking about Tuesday. Yep. Were you like, holy cow, we're going to go over the top against these guys. I mean, that had to be a shocking moment or a great moment. Tell me about that. Yeah, we had a little bit of both, to be quite honest, of the crossers and even vertically. Just confidence in our guys, and we've also watched back a bunch of

a lot of guys just not really taking them vertical, and rightfully so. These are corners, like you said, that are extremely talented and have been really good at keeping everything in front and limiting explosive plays, but we also knew we needed to have explosive plays to win. So it was a combination of that and really just the confidence in one another.

But I think Evan Stewart, you know, Ted Johnson, and then even T-Ferg, just competitive plays down the field that could have went both ways, you know, and that's what you have to do in those big-time moments is make plays and explosive ones to you know eliminate long play drives that you know like i said if it gets long then it's strangulous and more plays that you may not execute on man you throw for 341 i know you mentioned your receivers is there a moment in the game where you they come to the sideline you go to sideline you like they can't mess with us

man we going up top on them like is there a moment in the game where y'all just got the playmaker just flashing and you're like oh it's time like we in our bag initially uh you know what is a second or third drive when i hit evan um in the seam on like a switch vertical concept i felt like then you know we knew we'd have our opportunities and just seeing those, those opportunities were important, but, um, you know, definitely the one that Tez, uh, and maybe the Evan was setting the tone there, but just the one that Tez knowing that, you know, the confidence is there for us both. And then we talk about, you know, we, we talk about you with your arm, but you, you was

devastating with your legs, had the 27 yard TD run, put y'all up, you know we we talk about you with your arm but you you was devastating with your legs had the 27 yard td run put y'all up you know what you was feeling right there man where you had to get loose with the legs and showing them boys that you hey you real versatile with it you know yeah on third down i'm like hey i'm i'm trying to go get it right here you know and regardless but um you know as it opened up and um we finally got you know in the end zone and split one open, it was probably the loudest I've ever heard Austin in my experience. So hopefully we continue to make it loud that way. Coach Lanning's a pretty passionate dude.

He had some great words prior to the Colorado game last year. What was the energy like? What was the messaging in the locker room after that big win saturday yeah just rooted in the process you know and and everything we've done to get up to this point and obviously we've done some things right to to be five and oh headed into that game but also you know just as a unit we've also been through some things in adversity early in season um which taught us a bunch about you you know, ourselves and our identity. But also when we get into this game,

that's a big game, that's going to be a dogfight, a heavyweight pound for pound. Like we've been in this moment, you know, so just season that and keep swinging. So the most improved moment or most improved part of your team

is obviously that O-line. Yeah. You know, caught a little heat early in the year, giving up a few sacks. Zero sacks against Ohio State. I know you helped them out a little bit, but I'll tell you what. Zero in the last four games, Coach. Think about that.

Again, zero last four games, but you're talking about some NFL talent. What's the biggest change that you've seen in the offensive line the last few games? I'd say early on, I didn't help them at all as well on my end of being able to get the ball out and extend plays.

I think it was a combination there, but two, I just think the mentality. We had a certain amount of rushing yards. Remember that week of practice? Those guys were getting drilled a little bit. And, you know, on the coaches' shirts, we'd have like 2.9 yards per carry, you know, and kind of just setting the tone that way. But the mentality changed, and that's as a unit.

You know, we all took pride in it. You know, it's the guys up front creating, you know, some room for the running backs to work, the running backs, you know, getting downhill, and then guys on the perimeter. So we all took pride in it together. But it starts up front with them, and you just have seen that mentality switch since, you know, the early couple weeks.

Have you thought about the magnitude of that victory that you had? So you go, obviously, Ohio State comes, guys, great win in Austin, but also your performance, a huge performance, has you square in the heart of the Heisman Trophy conversation. You guys are leading. You guys got control of the Big Ten, control of, you know, your playoff, Justin E., and you in the square root of the Heisman conversation, man. Have you thought about the magnitude of that victory you've had?

I try not to, to be quite honest. You know, I've been in this situation before last year, and, you know, you just continue to try and stay focused. And, you know, I've continued to emphasize with the guys, and Coach has done a great job of it too, is just living week to week, you know, and just being rooted in our process of preparing the right way and not taking anything for granted, you know. And the being rooted in, in our process of preparing the right way and

not taking anything for granted, you know, and the beauty in the game we play is every week you got to, you got to come to play, you know, and, uh, you're only as good as your last outing. So, yeah. Um, I think as, as I've grown up in this, you know, college career, my long college career of mine, um, you know, you just realize that it's it's a one-week focus and uh getting guys dialed in and that um you know the human nature is normal to find the easiest time to relax or when you can take off but um to be different you know and do something different uh there's got to be some uh changes to your natural habits so that's what we've been focused on. And then for me too, I'm a guy, I'll look back down the road,

but I'm focusing on the now and let it all take care of itself. Hey, that man knows something, Stoner. That man knows something right there, man. He's saying the right words, man. You talk about your path here, and it has been a unique one. Of your four stops, and I'm going to include Hawaii, your hometown, your home state as stop number one, to include Hawaii, your hometown, your home state as stop number one, to UCF, to Oklahoma, to Oregon. Tell me something you took out of each one of those

stops that has brought you to the point you're at right now so you can start in Hawaii. Yeah, in Hawaii, I think I found my love for the game. My dad being my coach and kind of just the experience I had at a young age growing up, it was special. You know, I had coaches that pushed me to be the best version of myself. And, you know, on a little island like Oahu in Hawaii, you know, you're just a very simple life. And you find that love of the game and want to continue to get better everywhere you can when i went to ucf i think that was my first moment of really uh you know welcoming to the show of what football is really about you know i learned a lot about the game and you know i think i called every too high show cover two when i first got there so i learned a lot um in that sense and kind of was thrown into the fire. But I call those my youngin' days because there was a lot of just doing

and not a lot of knowledge behind it. But when I did make that transition to Oklahoma, I felt like the new and improved kind of grown-up version of myself. I was forced to grow up after a six- and seven-year that was up and down and a bunch of games that were, you know, one score games that could have went our way or not, but they didn't. And you just, you learn a lot about the difference, you know, and the difference between winning and losing is very slim.

So you're grateful for the wins and you realize that there's so much more to get better at. So that off season going into my second year, you know, I really took it serious, changed my body, changed the way I led, being vocal, you know, and not just being a guy who's a lead by example. I don't believe in that anymore.

You know, lead by example is just a good teammate, somebody who just kind of does the right thing. You know, a leader's one who changes the temperature in the room. And when you walk in, everyone knows you're there. So made that change and kind of grew up there. And then coming here, I feel like Oregon's getting the best version of me, you know, in my playing style, who I am as a person, you know, and more importantly, just what I bring to the table for this environment. That's just me being me.

I think that's important as well, an authentic version of a quarterback that's not presidential or better than. I'm one of the boys, and I'm also one that will get everyone fired up and riled up. I think through that long journey of football, I've played a bunch. You know, I've started my freshman year in high school all the way up until my senior year. Got thrown into the fire at UCF freshman year and been playing ever since. So I think all that experience, you're kind of forced to change and grow up. But, you know, I've been the young guy.

I've been the rookie. I've been the vet. I've been everything in between. Hey've been the rookie. I've been the vet. I've been everything in between. Hey, Dylan, my last question is this. In the Hall of Famer, Lou Holtz, Coach Lou Holtz, who used to always call me after a big win, and he says climbing a mountain takes passion and energy. When you're atop of the mountain, this is nothing but fatigue because everybody's shooting at you.

How are you going to keep the boys beat on the ground, man? Because, you know, you're getting interviews, and I can only imagine Sports Illustrated is going to keep the boys' feet on the ground, man? Because you know you're getting interviews, and I can only imagine Sports Illustrated is going to roll out there. You've got to earn those stripes now keeping everybody's feet on the ground. How are you going to do that? Yeah, I've been through it once. And it didn't necessarily get handled the right way.

So I know what it doesn't look like. And I think getting the guys going, staying rooted in the process like process like we always talk about you got to prepare a certain way and it can't change week to week of who the opponent is it's got to be something within your you know building and your culture um but i just love how the the veteran guys on this group have continued to push the team and um you know whenever we have team meetings with just the guys you know i think we're all speaking the same language and that's important you know and in everything we do so um like i said i'm gonna stay present we got purdue this week and that's what we're focused on and dominating that moment what does dylan gerber like to do in his off time you play the video game what you like

to do man when you're kicking it? I'm not a video game guy. I don't want to sound like this guy, but I do love watching film. But I love enjoying my time with that. Whether I'm grabbing a guy with me or, you know, if the cues are in the room or coaches. So I always love doing that. Just a football junkie. I am.

But in my off time, I love taking walks, spending time with my fiance and I love food. So we'll eat some dinner together, go get some food on whatever off days we do get. And then, yeah, like I said, I like trying new things. So anything I haven't done,

let's try it. And as long as it's safe. Guidelines. Wait a second. Did you say you're engaged? I am engaged. Oh, man. How long have you been engaged two months two months congratulations yeah that's big news have you set a date we haven't that's that's the funny part i i kind of just knew that i wanted to be engaged to

my fiancee though but even saying fiancee is kind of we've been joking about it's like kind of weird. It's a tough word to say. It's not one of your normal vocabulary. It's just too much. Let her pick the flowers. Let her pick the colors. Let her pick the veg.

Just make her happy. All right, Stone, stop. Stop. Be there as much as you can. You're talking to Dylan Gabriel. He just beat Ohio State, man. Let it go. Let it go, Stone.

He needs this advice. All right. So Dylan, we let everybody that we interview have an opportunity to ask us a question after we just bombarded you for like 17 minutes. So feel free to fire off a question to any one of us right now. I guess I'll ask all three. On any great team you've been a part of, and I know Coach Meyer probably answered one of these when he was here, but we always talk about the difference. team you've been a part of you know and i know coach meyer probably answered one of these uh

when he was here but um you know we always talk about the difference you know what i guess every great team you've been a part of what what do you feel like the difference was and not talent or people that did a really good job at you know whatever field they're in but what was the difference you thought um whether it's the people, the process and how you did things, were you guys efficient? I know people may say hardest workers, but I'm always looking to see how everyone's been at their best and why they're at their best. I'll kind of start with that and then hand it off to Mark. But I visited with your team, and we won three national titles,

and I'm not sure they were the most talented teams. The difference, every, the number one thing they had is competitive. They were competitive maniacs, but they were also the most selfless team because football is a nasty, violent, tough man game. And the fans, a lot of times, don't see the nasty of the game. You know, the three technique, the guy running down on kickoff, the tailback stepping in the A-gap, hitting a 240-pound linebacker right under the chin.

If your team's selfless, you got a great shot. If not, you'll lose a game. Yeah, 100%. I think the selflessness of it, just knowing, like, not caring who gets the credit, not caring who gets the shine, all they're caring is being on one accord, accomplishing what the main objective is. And like you said, it's human nature after you have a big win to, ah, we can be comfortable. It's human nature after a big win just to be complacent, but like you said, you said it and you have the right mindset. It's all about what you have done for me lately. And if you have that victory, like you have versus the Bucks, then you go and you lay an egg, then none of that matters. So it's just never being complacent, always pushing yourself to achieve greatness. And that's basically, it's like no secret recipe,

man. You spoke all the right things. You spoke all the good things. And if you have that mindset and carry it and it resonates and it just trickles throughout the whole DNA of your team, you guys are special, man. I don't think there's any worries over here that it's going to continue, Dylan. I think you are more than in the right direction. And, hey, we know how busy this week is. We know you got Purdue coming up this weekend. Congratulations again on last weekend.

And thanks again for joining the Triple Option presented by Winnie's Man. Enjoy the rest of the season. Appreciate you, Dylan. Thanks you Dylan. Thanks Dylan. Welcome back to the triple option presented by Wendy's time now for three and out. It's our viewer questions segment. Again, if you follow us on social media, three X option show, you can submit your questions in the comments there for every episode. We're going to answer as many as we can get to on the show. We start with our guy Rex Green, 90-90. Mark, this one for you. Do we think Kalen DeBoer and company can rebound? Remember, this Saturday is what?

The third Saturday in October. 107th meeting between Tennessee and that team from Alabama. Remember, last time Alabama was in Knoxville, the goalposts went for a swim in the Tennessee River. Bama returns to Knoxville Saturday. Listen here, Rex Green, 90-90. Have your cigar ready, because you know what we do

after we whip them balls on the third Saturday in October. We light up them cigars. That Cuban had yours ready, Rex Green, 90-90. And yeah, everyone's a little skeptical. I'm skeptical too. But listen, Coach DeBoer and his team, they will be ready to play. Got it, Rex Green 9090? You got it, Rex Green

9090? Have your Cuban cigar ready and a little whiskey on his hat. You know what I mean? So that's how Mark is going to celebrate Saturday. We're going to handle it. We've been doing good. We've been looking good. We just have to be more consistent.

All right. We've had too many ups and downs. Let's just keep the ups to ups and let the gold of the downs. All right. We're going to be just fine. We're done with the downs. All right. Over to Alex Morse, 2012. Coach, I'm a Big Ten fan.

Would Vanderbilt, you know, the team that beat Alabama a couple weeks ago, beat a good middle of the conference Big Ten team like, say, a Nebraska this year? Absolutely. And how about this, Mark? I actually went back and watched Vanderbilt film. I can honestly say I've done that in a minute. I did back when I was in the SEC. Why would I watch Vanderbilt film? I am watching it now because Clark Lee, that coaching staff,

a little bit like what the games, Nebraska and Indiana, they're an extremely, extremely well-coached team. They take care of the football. They're in football position. They play with great violent hands. They tackle you, and they run the ball and play good offense. So, absolutely. When they beat Alabama, they beat Alabama.

They did. I mean, they beat Alabama. It was shocking, but then when you watch the film, you're like, Vanderbilt's got some good players and they're very well coached. And they were running, guess what, coach? That triple option. One more question for you, Mark. Edwin Newman, 21-37. As a running back and a Heisman Trophy winner, do you think Archie Griffin's record of winning two Heisman Trophies will ever be matched or broken? Edwin Newman, it's hard, my dad. It's hard to win it once. It's even harder to win it twice.

So I think it can happen, but it's very tough. It's very tough. And I know there's a lot of talented young fellas out there. I think it can happen. If it will, I don't know. But I know it can because of the talent that there is out there. You got to win it young, then you got to come back when everybody's gunning for you and win it again. So it's truly difficult.

I tried it. My boy Matt Liner tried it. We've seen just last year Caleb Williams try it. So it's a tough task and Archie is the king right now. So let Archie live in his glory. Let Archie bask in his glory as an only two-time winner. But it can't happen. It can't happen. If it does happen, I think it's going to be a quarterback. I think if you're a running back and you know it, Mark, you only got so many hits in your body. If you've got the ultimate

hardware, you skip out of town if you can. But with NIL, players are sticking around longer and longer and it's easier to stay on campus in some instances than it is to jump to the pros. I think it's going to be matched. I don't think it's going to be broken. I think it's going to be matched. All right, pick six.

Brought to you by BetMGM. Place your money line, prop, parlay, and same game parlay bets at BetMGM. You can download the app today. Please gamble responsibly. All right, each week we've got six games. We pick them against the spread. Mark, what do we have?

Correct. Deuce Deuce Dog of the Week. That was dog talk for Deuce Deuce Dog of the Week. That was dog talk for Deuce Deuce Dog of the Week. So you're going to find an underdog that you think is going to cover or maybe even outright win. All right. We're going to start in the ACC. Number six, Miami. Unbeaten, favored by four and a half on the road at Louisville. The Cards have had the used number lately. They've won four of the last six meetings. That includes last year's trip where Louisville, for the first time ever,

won at Miami en route to their first ever ACC championship game. Guys, I've got a quick quiz for you. Let me know. Since Miami joined the ACC 20 years ago, how many ACC championships have they won in football? Wow. 20 years ago, how many ACC championships have they won in football? Oh. 20 years ago.

Ding, ding, ding. Five? Four? So Mark is in the five or four. Coach, what do you think? Miami, how many ACC championships have they won? Since what year? 2000, when they joined the ACC.

That's when they had McGahee and all them, too, right? They had some studs, man. So I'll say three then. Three. All right, he's down to three. Coach? Man. I know what you're asking, so it's going to be really low,

which blows. They should have 12, but I don't. I'm saying five. I'm saying five. The U's got the zero. The O. No. They didn't get none when they won that national championship?

They have only been to one ACC championship game, but maybe this is the year they finally win it in the ACC. They lead the conference in total offense and total D. We know Cam Ward is a legit Heisman contender. Kane's 6-0, guys, for the first time since 2017. But they've won their last two games by a total of five points. Both of those, those nail biters, Virginia Tech and at Cal. They've had a week off to kind of move on, get healthy.

Their D-line will be back to full strength for this one. They get their big left tackle, Jalen Rivers, who's so fluid. He can even play at center. He covers that whole line. He is back after getting injured in their opener. I say the Canes. Initially, I thought Louisville was primed for a home upset, but I think the Canes flexed their muscle in Louisville. They win and they cover. Coach, you touched on it. Big noon kickoff off to Bloomington this week. Nebraska at number 16, Indiana. The Hoosiers favored by six and a half. And the job that Kurt Cignetti has done this season

in his first year in Bloomington, absolutely remarkable, Coach. I've met Coach Cignetti, actually hung out with him recruiting several times. And when he got hired there and he came out and made those bold statements, I mean, I laughed. I was like, come on, don't say that.

You know, Ohio State sucks, the Wolverines suck, and Google me or something. You know, I win or something like that. Be your own guy. But I'm telling you this now, and this is a bold statement. I'm going to say it on big noon, and I'm going to show it on big noon Saturday, is that they are the best offensive coach team in the Big Ten. That's a bold statement.

I get it. But here's the thing is they're going against Tony White's defense and Nebraska, a guy that I mentioned last year. I think they're the best coach defense in the Big Ten. Wow. And I actually talked to Tony White this morning. I wanted to, before I got on the podcast today, what's your thoughts

of Indiana? And he said the same thing. He said they are as well-coached offense that he's faced in many years. They do the little things right, Mark. They give great effort. They block you. They understand leverage. And I want to spend just 10 seconds on that. Leverage means that defense is trying to force you not to lose leverage. The offense is trying to get leverage. So there's you against you is the easiest way to think of it. Someone is trying to get leverage. So there's you against you is the easiest way to think of it. Someone's going to win and someone's going to lose. You know what does it? First of all, it's effort, but also technique.

And the technique that I'm seeing from the perimeter players at Indiana is as good as I've seen in a long time as far as defeating leverage. And that'll be a big part of this game. Yep. So who's winning? Indiana minus six and a half. And game. Yep. So who's winning? Indiana minus 6.5.

And MGM wants to know who's winning. I'm going to go Indiana because it's home, and Big Noon's there. Big Noon's worth about three points because we're there. Big Noon. And so I'm going to pick Indiana. The Big Noon bump. Is going to cover the spread.

I love it. The Hoosiers, 6-0, right? It's their best start since 1967. Their point differential is plus 196. It's their best start since 1967. Their point differential is plus 196. That is the best sense ever. Ever. Their points per game, 47.5. That is their best sense

ever. One last thing, Mark. They will be picked to win every game until they go play. We're talking about the Hoosiers. The Hoosiers. Indiana. Is that a spicy nug or not? It's not a basketball school anymore. It's a football school. Is that a spicy nug or not?

Because Indiana could be favored to win. We'll give a spicy nug brought to you by Wendy. We'll throw out bonus spicy nugs. Yeah, Coach, they are favored in every game until they meet Ohio State. They could be 10-0 going against the Buckeyes. Insanity. All right, we're going to stay in the Big Ten

with one of three ranked matchups here in week eight. Michigan at Illinois, the Wolverines favored by three and a half. For Michigan, this is one of four remaining games they have left against ranked teams. Remember, they also have already suffered two losses, and now they're on their third quarterback, the seventh-year journeyman that they call Uncle Jack Tuttle. Uncle Jack is now taking the snaps for the Wolverines. The Michigan D, they've certainly been doing their best, but their weakness, the pass defense. 110th in the nation is their pass D, and that goes against the strength of the Illini. QB Luke Altmyer threw for a career-high 379 in their kind of odd overtime win over Purdue.

Last weekend, they had a big lead, let it get away, and then had to win in overtime. I'm chalking that up to one of those looking-ahead-type moments as Illinois looking ahead to Michigan coming into town. And there's going to be history Saturday. They are going to rededicate Memorial Stadium exactly 100 years and one day after its initial dedication and the day that Red Grange ran for historic six touchdowns against two. Yeah, Michigan, right?

Michigan. The Illini are going to use this occasion. They're going to use all this energy in Champaign. They are going to get their third ranked win of the year. Michigan is going to lose for the third time this season. Mark, let's go down to the SEC. LSU favored by three at Arkansas. I remind you, two Saturdays ago, Tennessee fell at Arkansas. Now the Hogs have LSU in town. Yes, the Hogs have LSU coming to town. Like you said, they just upset them volunteers last time they played. You know why they did? Because they was able to get pressure

on the quarterback and they must do that if they want to do that to LSU too. But hey, they got one of the best offensive lines in all of college football. Speaking about LSU, Will Campbell, Emery Jones, too high prospects. So I think they're going to protect our guy Nussmeyer. I think LSU is going to go down to Arkansas. They just got a huge win. Will they have a letdown? Will they have a little letdown? No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I got the Tigers going to Arkansas. I got them covering the spread. And yeah, I think the Tigers, man, they got some good momentum going on right now. And they in a good position.

I don't think they're going to lose it to Arkansas this weekend. All right, two more games from the SEC this week. Number 11, Tennessee hosting seventh ranked Bama. Bama favored by two and a half. At the moment, coach, if you look at the college football playoff picture, Bama seen as an eight seed.

Tennessee just sneaking in there as an 11 seed. How do you see this one? I think the SEC, I used to talk to our players about it. It's a heavyweight fight. And you got a price fight going on and big, strong, athletic guys going after each other. What just happened is Alabama and Tennessee got hit and they got knocked down, Mark.

They had to pick themselves up. I'd say Alabama might have got a standing eight count against Vanderbilt. They did survive the fifth, sixth, seventh round against South Carolina. So I cannot really wait to watch it. If we can't watch it live, I'm going to go back and watch it because this to me, again, is the testimony of the alpha. You are in a prize fight. This is not a great visual too you are actually in a fight and you got you just got hit right square in the jaw pick yourself up dust it off and go extremely hard because the guy

facing you i mean that's sec man it's this is gonna be this is gonna be the will of wills i'm gonna go alabama um alabama's whoever has a ball last i keep going back and forth this i going to be the will-o-wills. I'm going to go Alabama. Alabama's whoever has a ball last, I keep going back and forth with this. I'm going to pick. Mark's going to get pissed, but I'm going to go Tennessee because it's his home. I think it's an upset. It's a draw. I'm not pissed.

It's a draw. I'm not pissed. Please, give them some motivation. Yes, give them some motivation. They'll take anything they can get right now. All right. Let's stay in the sec. One more time. Our last game here, Mark Texas, number one in the nation favored by three and a half number five, Georgia in town. It's the third top five showdown of this season. And it's the first regular season meeting between the two programs since 1958. Hey, Stoner, you said it's the third top five matchup of the year,

and the first two have lived up to the hype. I'm expecting this one to live up to the hype. You know why? Because Georgia is in a must-win game. They lose this one. It is panic time in Athens. So I'm going with the... There it is. I don't think Texas is going to lose.

I think they're going to win, but I think it's going to be a close game. I think they win by a point, two points, three points. What is it, minus three and a half? I'm looking. Yes. Minus three and a half. Minus three and a half. So I got Texas winning by a field goal.

They're going down. This is one of the most complete teams in the nation, offense, defense. Isaiah Bond, there was some uncertainty if he's going to be playing. They're optimistic that he's going to play versus Georgia. That's a huge break for them. Quinn Ewers knocked the rust off.

But Carson Beck and the Kirby Smarts coming into town. You know what I mean? And they're going to be fighting because it is a must win for them. But at the end of the day, I think Texas, the home crowd of Austin, I think that's worth three points. So I'm going to give them a three-point win. So that is my deuce-deuce dog of the week, is Georgia covering the spread, but not winning outright. Ar-ra-ar-ra. Is that an ar-ra?

It's a tiny puppy. It's a tiny dog. Tiny dog. A puppy. A bulldog puppy. A bulldog puppy. One last note on Georgia. I just want to go back to an incident that happened last week in their game versus Mississippi State. Bulldog quarterback Michael Van Buren. He completed a play and it concluded on the Georgia sideline. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart came from kind of off screen and pushed Van Buren. You know, put his hands on him, pushed him out of the way to get

Kirby out of his mind. Yeah, to get to one of his coaches to talk about something. So that was the scene. Yeah, okay. Okay, that's the scene. Kirby and the chaos of the sideline. Okay, Kirby, whatever you say. I haven't even run the soundbite yet and Mark is already jumping on him. I get it. All right, so this is Kirby Smart addressing that incident. Yeah, absolutely. I have. And I'm glad you brought that up because after you guys said that in the, in the press conference, I'm going back and watched it, you know, and didn't even realize that I had run into him, but I reached out to, to Levy that night and talked to him and he said the kid was great. And then yesterday I talked to Mike and told him, you know, I had no intentions or ill will towards him at all.

If you've ever been on the sideline in a game, it's pandemonium. It's really pandemonium when you're trying to change personnel and you only got three to four seconds to do it. And we were bad off in a bad personnel grouping against empty that we actually had messed up the week before. And so I was trying to get to Schumann to get that changed. But I reached out to the kid. He was great.

He's a really good player. He's going to be a good player in this league. And he played better as the game went on against us. So Kirby did the right thing after the incident. And a day later, Marcus enjoyed it as an Alabama fan. So he reached out to the head coach, reached out to the player, apologized. The SEC said it should have been a penalty. There should have been something on the field,

but they're happy on the way that... The SEC lucky wasn't an ass-whooping. Well, they're lucky because he went after... He pushed the right guy rather than the wrong guy. Is that your point, Mark? Yes. I know Kirby personally. He was my defensive coordinator when I was at Alabama.

He knows if he would have touched any one of us alphas like that, then he would have been squared up on. If he would have tried to one of us alphas like that, then he would have been squared up on. If he would have tried to push Rolando McClain, Courtney Upshaw, them cats like that, me, like Julio Jones, like I would have been trying to get at Kirby. I would have been trying to get at Kirby. Now, it was on their sideline, so I don't know if I would have been able to get to him,

but I damn sure would have tried. Kirby, Kirby, Kirby, no. Kirby knows what's going down. Lost his mind. Yeah, push somebody like that. Coach, I mean. That's somebody's child, man. Come on now.

Well, here's the thing. And coach, you know it so well being in Columbus. You know, like the first name that comes to mind when you see a coach touch a player that's not on his team, it's Woody Hayes, right? And you have that incident. But that's like the golden rule in coaching. Like, do not talk to, do not touch players on the other team.

Right? I mean, that's like coaching 101. Yeah. I was shocked when I saw that. I know Kirby as well. I've known him a long time. And first of all, I can't imagine there was any intent. However, it happened.

Should there be a recourse? There should. It happened. Coach, you can't imagine there was any intent? You showed the cop-out excuse. You didn't show the clip. It happened. Coach, you can't imagine there was any intent. You showed the cop-out excuse. You didn't show the clip. Roy Eukin!

He pushed the shit out of my guy, man. So, I mean, to me, players and coaches need to be treated the same. Can you imagine if a player would have did that to a coach? Something's happening. I don't think the player would play the next game. So, yeah, I was disappointed

I saw that, but once again, I know Kirby, and I was shocked when I saw that. I would have tried to beat Kirby's ass out there, man. I remember on our text, I was listening to a couple players that I threw Nick Bosa in a couple. I was like, oh my gosh, you you need a body bag.

Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Hey, props to Michael Van Buren for handling it with class and walking away and dealing with his business in Mississippi State. He picked the quarterback. It's okay. He didn't pick the quarterback. That just happened to be the dude that was in his way to go yell at his.

Just visualize Nick Bosa going over to the opponent's sideline and someone pushing Nick Bosa. Nope. I know for a fact the bench would have been empty probably. Yes. If I was playing. Yeah. How about Brandon Spikes?

Hey, you coached against him. Brandon Spikes. No. No. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. I got a little pee coming down my leg right now thinking about that. I'm out of here.

All good. All good. Oh, my goodness. about that. I'm out of here. All good. All good. Oh my goodness. I love you, Kirby. Kirby, you got away with one. Kirby, you got away with one. Don't do it again. He knows that. That'll never happen again. We remind you, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, as well

as across social media at 3X Option Show. Submit those questions. We love answering our fan questions. We'd love to answer them. New episodes coming your way every Wednesday. And again, big heart out, big heart out to our sponsors, Wendy's, BetMGM, and ZipRecruiter. The triple option done, but there's so much football to come this Saturday. We ready for it, boys.

We ready for it. We're coming for you, Bloomington. More ready, so we ain't got to get ready.