The Triple Option - Transfer Portal Tampering,  CFP Format Remains, Prime Time Fines, & 2026 Heisman Picks

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

The offseason is here so let's talk tampering!   Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone dig into Clemson's gripe with Ole Miss, Duke QB Darian Mensah backing out of his NIL deal and what that means for the future of the NCAA.   The guys then hit the college football headlines with Gary Patterson going to USC and Arthur Smith joining the Buckeyes as coordinators. The then dive into the College Football Playoff staying 12-teams and Notre Dame's guarantee.   They then touch on Colorado's Prime Time Fines and if fining student athletes is fair or foul. We then take a look at the 2026 Heisman odds and who could join Mark Ingram II and Fernando Mendoza in that elite fraternity.   01:08 Transfer Tampering 11:06 Mensah Leaves Duke 23:58 USC and Ohio State New Coordinators 31:50 CFP Remains at 12 41:21 Prime Time Fines 46:45 2026 Heisman   New episodes of The Triple Option drop every Wednesday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also make sure you’re locked in on social @3XOptionShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys and the TO community. (https://tripleoptionshow.com)   The Triple Option is presented by Wendy’s. Join Team Tendy’s and enjoy a line-up like never before. Crispy. Juicy. Tendy’s Now at Wendy’s. https://www.tendys.com   Thank you to our additional sponsors FanDuel – Visit https://Fanduel.com/TripleOption to download the app and take advantage of a 50% Profit Boost today!   #CollegeFootball #CollegeFootballPlayoff #CFP #Clemson #OleMiss #DaboSwinney #DeionSanders #OhioState #USC #ArthurSmith #Miami #Heisman #MalachiToney #DanteMoore #Oregon #ArchManning #Texas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It always reminds me of the stepbrows and me, I just want to pray to baby Jesus. No, no, no, wait. I think that was Talladega Knights. We're saying prayer at the table. Shut your mouth, Chip. I'm going to scorpion tick you in the back of the head. I'm going to jump on you like a spider monkey.

Light it. The Triple Option is presented by Wendy's. Join Team Tendies and enjoy a lineup like never before. Crispy, juicy, Tendies, now at Wendy's. Hey, welcome to another edition of. the triple option presented by Wendy's, the Hall of Famers, Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram the second. I'm Rob Stone. Glad you're here with us.

Please rate, subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever it is you get your podcast. We're on social media, 3X option show, new episodes coming your way on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. We're not going anywhere in the offseason, folks. We're with you throughout the year with interviews and addressing subjects that always seem to appear in college football. like the new Clemson, Ole Miss rivalry,

which kicks off any given Saturday. So here we are, national champion Indiana Hoosiers crowned last Monday. The transfer portal, it is closed for players to enter, but anyone's still in there, and there are still a lot of players in that portal

are still available. And apparently, even if you use the portal to find a new home and went to that new home, and got an apartment and a car at that new home. And taking classes. And taking classes and going into meeting rooms like former Cal linebacker, Luke Farrelli did at Clemson.

You're still on the open market. Yeah, here's Clemson's Dabo Sweeney with an epic sound off. It's to me we have a broken system. And if there are no consequences for tampering, then we have no rules and we have no governance. It's really just that simple. Okay? This is not, let me be very clear.

This is not about a linebacker at Clemson. I don't, listen, I feel sorry for the, I think it's a symptom of a system that you have a kid that I meet at 930 and he's, you know, signed the next thing. Like, like, I feel sorry for the young man, to be honest with you. I blame the adults. A lot of blame to go around. Coach, you did some phone calls. You did some deep thinking about this. what comes to your mind about this?

Yeah, with the colleagues I've had, Mark, I'm kind of the punching bag where I'll get phone calls and just bitching and whining about this is going on. But it's been going on for a while. And something happened the last half of my career with the NCAA and they started to get litigated on everything. So there are no rules. The NCAA is gone.

It's over. You know, obviously this. so I can just hear it. There's going to be a two-year investigation on something that should be fixed right now. But the human element is driven by risk-reward. Everybody remember that. That's facts, especially in a high-pressure job like college football.

There's coaches rolling over laughing right now when you look back at the penalties. I heard there was 90 infractions last year of tampering or processed, whatever the hell that means. But there's Mark, law. order without consequence is not law in order. It's chaos. We've seen that society. We've seen that now in, not now. It's been that way. So this, this is, it actually disgust me. It makes me sick, you know, because I'll hear people say everybody doesn't know, everybody doesn't do it. But

if there were 90 last year, I estimate there'll be 460 next year because there's no consequences. Right. So, so at the end of the day, you have to win, how do you win? You get great players. How do you great players recruit them or you tamper with them or you pay them and if there's no consequences have at it so yeah it's it's over i think it's kind of been over we we saw that with the wolverine case where you know there's there is infractions that change outcomes of games and nothing you know they they find them i think and there's show cause for people that aren't in college football anymore uh this is comical if this doesn't now i mean they could hammer it You know, if this is all true, and it sounds to me like Davo has the goods right there,

this should be not a three-year investigation, two-year investigation, this should be one-week investigation. You go on the campus, I think it's Ole Miss. You meet with the athletic director and the coach and say, if you lie, we're going to ask you questions if you lie. We have facts here. You can't lie the NCAA. If you can, you can't coach.

Right. And investigations are over. But then they're going to hire Tom Barr's, that attorney. they'll fight it and I guess they'll win and it really bothers me and I actually see people out there taking shots at dabble think about that Mark and Rob for what for calling out Ole Miss?

Yeah they call him a whiner why is he whining and you better get what the Jones is and you know They call him a snitch Yeah yeah Where Dad was doing the right thing turn him in Yeah for sure Absolutely turn him in 100% And if nothing happened

like you said, there is no governance, there's no rules, and it'll be the most chaotic, which it already is. Right. So I'm disappointed, Mark and Rob, but that's not the first time. Well, the NCAA has a chance to make a stance. Everyone that says, what does the NCAA have to do anymore, which everyone thinks the NCAA is basically lost right now. So they have a chance to make a stand here.

You have a linebacker who committed, who moved to Clemson, who is actively in class, And you have the D.C. and the head coach from another said school allegedly texting the man while he's in class, offering him a deal, upping the deal again. If that's not tampering, I don't know what it is. And if there is no tampering, then we have a problem in college football right now. So the NCAA has a chance to take a stance. Allegedly, what you say? I just think, I think, Rob, read the rule. You got the rule there, Rob, right?

read the rule so everybody knows that there is it because that's the first thing I said is there really is this an unrent rule or is this a rule if it's a rule then you better enforce the rule so all right so we're talking about the NCAA right now and again to your point coach they processed 90 tampering cases last year and the NCAA did confirm that whatever process means they they confirmed that they are involved in this current matter that we're talking about the rule right now teams are not allowed to tamper with athletes according to NCAA bylaw 31.1.1.4. All right. So that's a lot of dots. When you have to go that deep into something, that tells you something. So whatever that is, punishment. According to the NCAA manual, Old Miss, they could receive a level two violation if it contacted Forelli after he was enrolled at Clemson. Certainly appears that's the case. The punishment could worsen if Old Miss gave Forelli money to lure him to the rebels. I don't know if I'm getting a text in class saying, how about a million for a year and then they double it to two million for two years. That feels like that was money to learn to Ole Miss.

That's the way I look at it unless they're saying you actually have to have hard cash in your hand in a bag. Like there has to be a bad guy that hands it to you. Last tampering case guys to be punished by the NCAA, Southern Utah. Their head coach. You, Ian Stone? We're in 2026. We're barely in 2026.

All southern Utah is happening. The bad boys of Southern Utah contacted two student athletes from other schools who are not entered into the portal. Punishment was handed down in 2024. It was a level two penalty, $5,000 fine. Okay. For Southern, listen, for Southern Utah, maybe 5K fine is a lot. For Ole Miss, they're like, what? That's in the, that's loose change in the counts a year probation, a game suspension, and a two-year cause for Fitzgerald.

So. Show caused, whatever that is. Yeah, the old two-year show cause. Again, if Southern Utah, and again, this is no disrespect to Southern Utah, and I don't even want to drag them into this conversation. But as Southern Utah, you know, and the school that was done wrong by Southern Utah comes out and says this. That doesn't make a ripple. It doesn't make any noise. I think of Clemson and Davo Sweeney, who are certainly in the upper echelon of college football, if they come out.

And I give Dabo and Clemson credit for standing up for what is perceived to be right. Listen, I'm sure there's some things in the closet at every university, right? Some things that they're not that proud of. But dabbo to get up there on that podium and spend about 10 plus minutes talking about the state of college football, it's about damn time. Yeah. It's about damn time. And it's about damn time that somebody at a higher level, a big boy in college football, stood up and said, that's enough. And my hope is that other head coaches will follow his lead.

You know, it's really fascinating what's going on at Clebson right now. Guys, if you go online to the Clemson roster and you go to Luke Forelli's bio, it says, click here for Luke Forelli's timeline at Clemson. Okay? Click it. You know where it takes you? Right to Davos 10 plus minute rant. Wow.

So give that administrator a raise in Clemson. You know, the other thing about Forelli originally committed to Arizona, changed his mind, committed to Stanford before finally flipping to Cal. Okay, so that's, that's three places. Redshirt. There's some third uncle. There's some third uncles involved in that. That's what I'm saying.

It just doesn't great. The kid took a redshirt year, had a really strong season as a linebacker, year one at Cal, um, interception, uh, a fumble recovery, 91 total tackles. It was a three star recruit coming out, but he was a hot linebacker recruit in the transfer portal. And what I love another line about Davo is he said, and again, dabbo doesn't dabble in the portal, right? But they took 11 guys. They took 11 guys out of the portal.

That's a program record this year. But he said, we wanted one linebacker. Okay. That was on our shopping list, one linebacker. We got our linebacker. We signed our linebacker. And we canceled all the other visits. We told the other kids, you'll go spend your time elsewhere.

Go get an education. and some playing time somewhere else. So they stopped it. And now they're out that one linebacker. And I think that kind of sucks. And it kind of sucks that Duke lost their quarterback, Darien Mensa as well, who goes into the transfer portal on the last day of the portal

after already committing with a signed contract and already committing. And now Duke has come to this resolution with him and his company, his company's name, of course, coach is what? Oh, young money. Young money. There's a lot of young money out there

in college football these days now. I got a meeting with Young Money, man. Do you? The hell? No. Young money. What the hell are we talking about? By the way, Mark, can you imagine a meeting Urban Meyer

and Young Money? Young money. Hey, I don't put a pass coach, man. He's versatile. Next thing I know he's going to be sponsoring the we the best Calut tournament. You know what I mean? You know, that boy, young money.

Times Urban Meyer. Used to be all about the graduation rates, what's your business major like, what's your life after sport program right? Now let's meet with the Young Money. And break contracts. So Young Money don't believe in contracts, obviously. So Farrow is no longer at Clefson Stoner.

Is that what you're telling me? Ole Miss, he's gone. He's out like the coach. Mark, the coaches, they were texting him, calling him. They literally went to his newly rented apartment, and he was in the driveway, ready to leave. And they were still trying to re-recrued him. re-recruit him back to the campus that he was on and was lifting at and taking classes at and in meetings.

And he jumped in his new car. Hit, hit town. So I think it's going to be fascinating because you're right, Coach. It definitely feels like there's a smoking gun right there. And not only is it a smoking gun. It's not a smoking gun at Southern Utah. This is a smoking gun at Clemson and an old miss team that was this close to getting the national championship game. Well, the AD also at Clemson said that the NCAA is alerted them that they have something.

quite honestly didn't happen very often. And that is people are willing to do what Davo did. Say we're going to turn this in. Yeah, the NCAA. I've been almost caught off guard by Clemson and years and years and years. Yeah. And no one would, you know, you'd hear this player accepting a gift, you'd turn it in. The player or the family would refuse to help.

And so the NCAA does not have subpoena power. They don't have any legal power. What power do you have? What power does the NCAA have right now? I don't know. Enforced this rule. Yeah. But now they have something that's a legal power.

unusual, they have it. They don't have to subpoena. They get the text messages. They have it. So the investigation process, I think everybody will watch this because this is very unique. They have it all. It's over. It's over. So next week, we should hear that whatever the punishment should happen. If that doesn't happen, what dooms are left of the NCAA, I think they should just disband. And I want to say this too, Mark, I'm not sure, but understands what the NCAA is NCAA is made up of member institutions. You know who's on all these committees, the enforcement committees, are presidents, the so-called CEOs of the universities.

They're, you know, I think they're complicit without all. I don't think, I know this. I wasn't it long enough to you're like, wait a minute, wait a minute, who's on this committee and they're allowing this to take place? But listen here, so he leaves. Obviously, they have the goods, right, to be able to, you know, hand over to NCAA. Let me just tell you,

this is not a heavy hit, though. You say, what you say it was, a level two penalty, 5K fine, which I could pay. That was the southern, that was the southern Utah example.

Yeah, a couple years back, yeah. So that was the comparable penalty, right? They're saying it could be a level two penalty. I don't know if it's quite apples to apples, but it's close. Nothing matters that what happens to the player.

If he stays it, if he stays at Ole Miss, then every. coach in the country is just going to keep doing it. Yeah. Yeah. So listen, we in the sporting world and the media world, we complain, we find

problems and we bitch about it. So let's not, let's stop bitching about it because we all agree this is wrong and this is demented and it shouldn't be happening. What is the fix? So what is the fix? So what is the fix? Right. And I think it's really simple and basic to say, right or wrong,

let's just get a commissioner. Right? And again, remember, everything is going the NFL model. Why? Why, though? I think we're missing the point. They already said, let's start another commission. So now you have another enforcement arm that's supposed to enforce the NIL.

The NIL stuff. I can help you with that. That's not going to work. Correct. So you don't need more rules. You don't need more people. You need to enforce the rules. Who's going to enforce it?

It's not the NCAA, right? It has to be somebody else. Well, there has to be an enforcement arm. Right. I don't think a commissioner without any power is going to do the same thing. So you can name it. You already got the president of the NCAA. So you want another person in charge?

I don't want any more people. I don't want any more people that are ineffective. I'd love to get, can we get the president of the NCAA on here and say, what the hell are you doing? I would rephrase the question. I would love to ask them. I'm saying, hey, questions. I need answers. Yeah, I got a lot of respect and everything.

What are you going to do? Yeah. Can you imagine that answer? Well, A, I doubt they would come on, right? That doesn't sound like a win-win for them. But I go to my point of this commissioner. That sounds very basic, and I understand it. But guess what?

It works in the professional leagues, right? And I know it's not as many institutions. We're dealing with different type of humans, and it's not apples to apples. But the NFL has a really good commissioner, right? That works, obviously, and he's paid for by the owners, right? So it's not by the players or the university. So again, this is not an apple to. Apple conversation.

But at some point for the good of college football, everybody needs to come together and be like a kumbaya moment. And the SEC and the Big Ten, hey guys, can we come together? Like, they can't even figure out the playoffs right now. They're battling over the number of teams to be in the playoffs.

Are they going to be battling? And again, this is an SEC, ACC problem now. And this issue did go to the commissioners. Right? If you're Phillips, the ACC commissioner and you're calling Sankey,

how do you think that phone call is going? I'd be pissed if I was the ACC. ACC is getting, they're not getting screwed twice because Ments is going from ACC most likely to another ACC team. Allegedly going from Duke to Miami, which listen, listen,

you're not jumping in the transfer portal on the last day after you committed to be a starting quarterback of the ACC champion Duke Blue Devils unless you know. For sure. No, I'm getting that bad. I'm getting that young money.

You know what I mean? We're laughing and respond about. Like that's over. Like the fix is this. You sign a damn contract. Nowhere can you just go and breach the contract without some type of repercussion. Except in college athletics. Except for college football right now.

College athletics. So, you know, all right. Coach, you miss coaching? You know, and I remember sit with Eric Shanks and he said, that this is chaos. Keep the chaos coming because their viewership's never been higher. Big Noon has never been higher. It's incredible.

The playoffs. The championship is up. The championship game. Everything is going great. 100%. And Shane said, let's keep the paid out. It's going. You asked.

The problem is, the problem is, let me finish Mark with this. The problem is you're setting examples for these young guys that. And at some point that that linebacker that just left Clemson, at some point he's not going to run as fast, jump as high and be able to tackle as well. And he's got to rely on a network, a college, you know, the college network, the collegiate experience, your friends, your teammates, and go live your life and get a functional job. And I don't know this kid.

So he might be fine with that regard. It sounds like there's some chaos in his life. But again, Coach, if you're getting a million dollars and you're in college. I'm building shit, though. I mean, no, it's great. That's great. And you know how much he's keeping, right? Taxes.

How many agents do you think are working with him? He'd take a home less to $500. You know? But, hey, to answer your question, you ask coach a good question. Does he miss coaching? Let me tell you, he does not miss coaching. Because I was just in Sarasota, and my boy had that 50-foot boat on the water. He was captain in that ship.

He pulled it right up to the restaurant. We walked in and had his two tables, and we was living a good life, a blessed life. A sunset cruise with Coach Urban Meyer with Captain Meyer. How about the landing with the boat? How about the boat just cruise slipped right in this nice, nice? Come on, man. We're a little current, man. We're well aware, Coach knows what he's doing.

That was your fresh take of the week presented by Wendy's. Join team Tendys and enjoy a lineup like never before. Crispy, juicy Tendies now at Wendy's. You're going to show me something, Mark? Let me show you Captain Meyer. I've been with Captain Meyer. My family has been with Captain Meyer. My boys have been flipping off the back of your boat out at that burger joint.

What was the name of that burger joint out there? Oh, New Pass Grill. Oh, man. It's outstanding. That was a banger. That was a bang. That was a good day. Hey, we might be having another one coming up, coach, another couple months. Coming up next, the college football playoff will remain at 12 teams. But there's a clause in there that was agreed upon years ago that is making a little bit of news. Also, Ohio State adds more NFL experience to their sideline. And we look ahead to the 2026 Heisman race. All that coming up next on the Triple Option presented by Wendy's. Light it. On game day, pain can hit hard and fast, like the headache you get when your favorite team and your fantasy team both lose. When pain comes to play, call an audible with Advil plus acetaminopin and get long-lasting dual-action pain relief for up to eight hours.

Tackle your tough pain two ways with Advil plus acetaminephim. Advil, the official pain relief partner of the NFL. Ask your pharmacist at this product's rate for you. Always read and follow the label. Welcome back to the triple option. Mark, what's our catchphrase? Young money. And what's coach's catchphrase?

Let's go. Let's go. So outside of tampering conversations, the first week of the college football offseason certainly has brought us some headlines. A couple of them on the coaching front. Really interesting assistant coach hire at USC. Gary Patterson, just named into the college football Hall of Fame class with Duce Duce, Mark Ingham,

second, and he will take the open defensive coordinator job out west at USC. Remember, 22 years as head coach at TCU. They have a statue of him outside the stadium, resigned in October of 2021, and he did some analyst and consulting work, Urban for Texas and Baylor took last year off, and now he's a D.C. at USC. Yeah, Gary and I grew up in a profession together. One of the finest coaches out there, what a great hire. You know, I think Lincoln Raleigh is proven that he.

He really doesn't, he wants to, he's not going to change. You know, there's been, you know, he saw it at Oklahoma, Mark. You saw it at USC. Very good offenses, bad defenses, and they lose at the end. No, they win, but they can't finish the job. And there's a couple of choices you have. One is do what Ryan Day did, give up play call and become the head coach and hire someone. He's not done that.

He won't do it now. I'm sure the AD asked him to do it for us to take the next step. instead he went got a former head coach he's going he's going to I think Gary's going to be a big bonus for those guys he's one of the best coaches I was around growing up in the profession and you get the sense too Gary is not a former head coach that's going to be after his job if you know what I mean right he is he's there just to be a team player loves to get back into it an awesome hire watch out for USC right when when the AP preseason rankings come out USC's going to be in that top five and they've got a great chance to make it four straight big 10 pro

programs. Four straight Big Ten programs to win the national time. USC has a chance to me? USC in Oregon. Yeah, you heard it here. You throw it out there, Rob. It's January, man. I can throw out a lot of stuff right now. Speaking of coaching hires, Ohio State, once again, going to the NFL well, they name 43-year-old Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator. Smith, remember, it was the head coach, the Atlanta Falcons for three years. Most recently, the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh

Steelers. So, coach, the Buckeyes now have former NFL. guys in charge of the offense and the defense. Yeah, back of the day, you never really went that direction because a good percentage of your job was recruiting. And NFL guys never recruited. And in places like Ohio State, you can't train people to recruit. You better have experience. But those days are long gone.

Now, they're not even going to recruit. The coordinators don't go on the road. They are a full-time. They're no different than the NFL. So I think it's a great hire. The other thing, you always had budget limitations on, you had something called a salary pool. Those don't exist anymore either. There are no salary pools.

For the coaches you mean, coach? Yeah. So, I mean, back in the day, it was like, I mean, this is a long time. Two million dollars. You have to hire your whole staff. Yeah. Then three million dollars. I mean, it was $150,000.

I mean, it was terrible. But now there's no, I mean, there's no salary pool. You just go hire whoever you want to hire. They're going to find the money. And obviously, heck of a coach. Now you have two, how about that two former NFL head coaches as your coordinators? Offense and defense at a lot of days. That's appealing.

That's a hell of a deal. No, appealing to a player, but no recruiting. There's no, this is all money now. I mean, it's really unbelievable you think what's happened in the last five years. Definitely sounds like a trend as well, right? Sure. You know, it's a follow-the-leader-type world out there. and we saw how well it worked with Patricia last year on the defensive side.

You know, it's interesting, though, about this hire. Actually, let me start with this. Coach, the take in Columbus on this hire, it's reading about it feels like it's a little bit of a mixed bag. What is the vibe you're getting within Ohio State about this hire? I've heard a little bit. Coach State told me kind of which direction he's going to be headed without going in too far detail.

But I think the Ohio State's jump up. all over themselves because they got, they see the Matt Patricia as the template to go hire someone, someone that's going to focus on scheme and, you know, Arthur Smith's got to be one of the best in the business at it, what he's done in his career. And again, you just eliminated, there was a time, I would say, maybe 75% of your job was recruiting. When I was in the FCC, people are getting hired, not because of football acumen, how many players you could get. That's all gone. That's gone. That was simply how much money. do you have and go hire the best strategy guys you can. You know who's going to love this hire, Mark?

Bo Jackson. So remember, Arthur Smith played guard at the University of North Carolina. His background is on that offensive line. The offensive line had some question marks. And I think the Ohio State O line and maybe the offense in general, you know, it showed some flaws those last two games. Both of them lost is scoring just 24 points. So remember, this is a guy who coached, your buddy, Derek Henry in Tennessee, Tyler Algier, Bijan Robinson. So he's known more as kind of an offensive line running type guy. And I think there's some fear in Columbus. Like, well, wait a second.

We're really good at passing the ball. And that's where Ryan Day comes in. And I think it feels like it could be, hopefully if you're a Buckeye fan, a really good ying and yang between passing and running games. Yeah, I think when you look at his background and what he's been able to do, I think it's going to be good for Ohio State. You got an offensive coordinator with NFL pedigree. You got a defensive coordinator with NFL pedigree.

And now you're able to lean on what he's been able to, you're able to bring his expertise to the Big Ten to Ohio State with those playmakers, with a quarterback who has a year of starting experience under his belt. I think this is a good move for Ohio State. And really it puts them right back into the conversation that they just left a year ago. You know, they have the talent. now you have the acumen from the coach from the coordinator side to be able to go and kind of take them to the next level because obviously they lost, you know,

their guy to the USF. But I think this is a good hire for them. I think as a player, you have NFL pedigree from both coordinators. I think that's appealing for a player to be able to go and learn because what's your ultimate goal? You know, you're going to Ohio State. You're going to obviously play at one of the best universities in the country. you're going to be trying to make it to the NFL. Who better to learn from than Matt Patricia,

than Arthur Smith, people who have played at that level, who have coach Derek Henry, Bejohn Robinson, Tyler Allergier, amongst others, and be able to learn and hone your craft under two of the best that are doing it in college football right now. So one note, just the logistics behind the scenes of this, and I asked Coach Day, so Ryan's pretty well set in his offense. That's the same offense terminology we used when I was there. And Chip Kelly changed it a little bit

because I remember asking him because the minute you hire a big name coordinator He wants to bring his stuff. He wants to bring up. So you're going to have 100 people in that program now learn a new terminology unless there was an agreement. Whenever I hired a coordinator,

I would give him the playbook and say this is what we're going to run. And I usually elevated my guys and we ran it because I wanted to know what's going on and we talked about that. You know, is Coach Day going to walk in that meeting room and say, what in the hell are we doing? I don't recognize this terminology.

I doubt that. And it's been pretty good. So I think there's probably going to be a little bit of a mesh of what he's done before with what the coach day has done before. I believe Coach Day is not just going to flip this thing upside down. You know, he's going to kind of stay with what he knows, stay with what his roots are. But then you're going to have Arthur Smith with his input,

with his type of style, kind of combine them to make this power that Ohio State is looking for. And there'll be a couple of Buckeyes in the Hysman running for next year. We're going to discuss that coming up. But first, the college football playoffs. What a wild success it was. And it's going to be successful again at 12 teams. Yeah.

Yeah. So the ACC, Big 10, Big 12 SEC champs are guaranteed in now. So Duke, your ACC champion, would have been in the college football playoffs. Yeah. That would have thrown off some numbers. One other thing to keep in mind. And this is the big one. This will be our talking point.

Notre Dame, the clause that was agreed upon. earlier. If they finish inside the top 10, I'm sorry, 12. If Notre Dame finishes inside the top 12. Of the final rankings. Of the final rankings. Not that 12 spot that gets dropped because of a G6 or. Bingo. Yeah.

If they are just inside that top 12, that includes number 12 in the final ranking, they automatically get a spot. That's a win. Think about that. That's a win for Notre Dame. It's a huge win for Notre Dame because you're not going to get the top 12 teams. in the college football playoffs because there's still the group of six out there, right?

Yeah. So the group of six is going to take one of those 12, right? Which is going to knock the 11. The 11th. Yeah. So now the cut line is at 11. 11. At 11, right?

As long as Notre Dame is not 12. And with this schedule. That thing. So if Notre Dame's number 12, they get in and the team that's ranked above them, they get pushed out. Tough break number 11. You're out. That's the part that stinks.

I give Notre Dame credit for fighting. That's a win. or putting their stake in the ground and saying, hey, we're a top 12 team, get us in. Again, they don't have a full conference alignment. They do have a deal with the ACC that runs through 2036, where they are committed to playing five games against ACC opponents. So it's that soft affiliation on the football side.

Of course, they have full affiliation with all the other Olympic sports. I think if you're outside of Notre Dame, I think there's a couple people out there. They're like, a little teed off about that, Mark. Yeah, people, you always hear, join the conference. You ain't got to worry about it. But at the end of the day, they don't have to join no conference

because they got the muscle to be able to say, if I'm a top 12 team, I'm getting into playoff, whether you like it or not. So I respect Notre Dame because they just drop their nuts. They drag them on everybody, and now they're getting into playoff. They're getting into playoff if they're the number 12.

So you hate it? No conference championship game. No conference championship game. So they, all they got to do is schedule smart. Yeah, yeah. You play Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State, Purdue, North Carolina, Stanford, BYU, Navy, Miami, Boston College, SMU, and Syracuse. That's, that's, that's 2026 season.

Yes. They're in. Yes. There's one spot that's in. They're in. Wow. They're in. Wow.

So, hey. Brady Quinn. Hold on. Hold on. They've got Miami. They've got a really good BYU team. But that's it. You're right.

Those are the two big challenges as of now. Where they play BYU? At BYU. I don't know that one. I don't, I didn't write. Yes. Yes, Mark,

you're right. At BYU. And we've seen how, what kind of environment that is. So that's a really tricky one. That's one that our Fox executives have served. In Miami. Miami comes to Notre Dame.

The Wisconsin game to open up the season is up in Green Bay. Michigan State, who knows what Sparty is going to be. I think Sparty is going to be coming back eventually, Mark. I don't think this is this year to be in the playoff though. Correct. If you got to beat BYU and Miami to get into the playoff, obviously they lost to Miami last year. That's why Miami got in over them.

So they'll be looking for that. Well, they don't have to beat them both. Yes, you have to beat them. You lose one game, even two. You're going to be in the top 12. I don't know about two. I don't know about two. Two would make me feel anxious.

They lost two games this year and they were in the top 12. Hold on, Mark, let me do an exercise here, all right? Final college football playoff rankings of the quote-unquote regular season come out. Alabama is number 11. Notre Dame is number 12. You're tied or out. The Irish are in. Go.

We need to win more games. Oh, come on. That's not what you're going to say. We need to win more games, bro. You're going to be freaking pissed that the team below you're out. And Notre Dame played that schedule. Think about that. Think about that.

Go put an Alabama schedule against that schedule. Alabama schedule is rough, too. Alabama schedule is rough again. Ohio State schedule is rough. That is brutal. I find it really interesting what Notre Dame is doing already with their mind to the future. Remember, there was a lot of angst between the ACC and Notre Dame. Dame at that final week heading into the ACC championship game, the ACC Network, putting that

Notre Dame Miami game on rear over and over again. Notre Dame really upset about that, having some choice words for their quote-unquote conference, if you will. Remember, Notre Dame kind of went above the ACC's head and scheduled this annual series with Clemson that begins in 2027 as a non-conference game, a non-conference game, a 12-year Notre Dame and Clemson. I'd be surprised if they didn't keep that, honestly. On paper, thank you. Like, as a college football fan, good job by you guys, right?

Having some real strong programs committed to playing each other, but I don't think the ACC, totally love that as well. The series with Navy runs through 2032. Again, the group of rights binds them to the ACC till 2036. So just go ahead. I know it's 10 years down the road, but go ahead and circle 2036. That's going to be a really fascinating year. What happens with Notre Dame.

I went diving into their schedule, Mark, like you did as well. Kind of the out-of-conference games coach in 2027. Again, it's Purdue, Michigan State, Auburn. The Clemson Series fires up Navy and BYU. So they did a really good job forecasting out. In 28, Texas, Arkansas, Purdue, Auburn, again Clemson, again Navy. And again, that doesn't even mention the ACC teams that they're scheduled to play that typical year. So it could be a Miami, a Florida, State, Carolina, who knows.

2019, Alabama, University of South Florida, Texas, again Navy, again Clemson. Like, those are of those five? Those are real. Three are real. Could be maybe three and a half. Depends what a Navy or USF is. And then in 2030, I know we're so far out. But the national, the defending national champs, Indiana on the schedule, at Alabama, at Navy.

and again, Clemson. So I give Notre Dame credit. Like they've gone out into the calendar book. And you're flipping through and you're like, we're good, we're good, we're good until we're not good. Until, you know, the SEC or the Big Ten says, or the ACC says, you're either with us or you're against us. And they say, we're going to rip up that contract.

We don't have to be with anybody. We don't have to be with anyone because they have a sole spot met for them in the CFP. But if the schedule goes away, coach, and you talk about this. right? Like, why would somebody schedule a big boy that's unnecessary? Yeah. Yeah. Well, it used to be, I spent some time at Notre Dame six years. And Notre Dame, I asked this question. I said, what's the scheduling philosophy here? Because it was brutal back in the Lou Holtz era. And you picked two teams out of each quadrant of the country. And you paid, you know, it was Texas, Texas, A&M, it was USC and Washington.

It was Ohio State the Wolverines. It was Penn State. So you picked the best teams around the four court for the subway alumni. and then you throw in the Purdue robbery, USC, you had to play every year, and then the service academies. And the USC deal is already done right now. So, you know, kind of a harbinger of things to come, maybe. So of all the calendar of things are the checklist of things that get corrected in college football is the reward for playing. Because you're getting ready for the worst non-conference schedules in the history of the sport. And I think next year will happen.

I think teams have already heard this. They're trying to get out of some of those games. They don't want to play the big, why? Yeah. Especially if you're in a tough conference. If you're in Indiana, set the template. Kennesaw State, Old Dominion, and Indiana State. You're picked to win by 42 points each game.

Your alumni go there. They watch a quarter and a half and they leave. So if you're Alabama, Ohio State, why do a home and away with each other? Why? Why? I mean, I love it. I love it. We love it.

I love one big end, yeah. Well, again, Notre Dame needs a lot. it, right? They have to fill that schedule more so than other schools do. Because they only get a couple, though. Well, because they only get the five ACC game. So they have more openings than others. So, you know, are these, this great scheduling that's been mapped out years down the road, you know, will they hold on to it? Will those programs stand by their contracts? It'll be interesting. But right now it looks damn good. Looks damn good. All right. So coming up next, Coach Prime

Making some news, man. Hey, you want to get paid? Make sure you show up on time. We'll talk about that next when the triple option returns. Packages by Expedia. You were made to occasionally take the hard route to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

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Triple option, Urban Mark Rob, back here with you. We got some prime time. We got their prime time. Prime time. Fines. Yeah. Dion Sanders out there in Boulder says he's going to issue fines to players for misconduct. Okay.

So some of these fines include 500 beans if you're late to practice. No show. You just don't show up. $2,500. Late to conditioning, $1,000. No show. conditioning. $1,500.

Boy, they got all kinds. Late to treatments. No show to treatments. Violation of team rules. Public or social misconduct, anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 in fines. Welcome to the brave new world of college football, at least in Boulder.

Mark, when you heard about this, what jumped to the forefront of your head? Essentially, we've been saying college football is the new NFL. And when you have a model, a system going into place like this, that shows you that it is the new NFL. because when I was in NFL, you got fine $500 a pound for being overweight. You got fine for being late to a meeting. You got fine for missing a team meeting.

You got fined for missing a full day. That's conduct detrimental. Missing a full day, that could be up to a whole paycheck. So when you miss, you pay. And that's essentially what's going on here with Prime. But I think the biggest storyline here is that Prime has an issue within the locker room, within the culture that he has to address this, right? He's putting these fines in place

because there's an issue going on where people are being late to treatment, people are being weight to conditioning, people are being late to practice, people are missing practices. I think that is the biggest storyline to me in this is because if that wasn't going on within the culture of your locker room,

you wouldn't have to address it. So I think there's something going on within the players within the Colorado locker room where he has to address it and put these rules into place because guys aren't being accountable, guys aren't being professional as they should be. Yeah, I, I'm shocked that this first of all became public.

You know, there's stuff that goes within the team. If that's your punishment system, I'm not sure did he make this public or how this get out. He said it in an interview, right? Stoner? I just don't know why you do that. I don't know. What in-house stays in-house and do what you got to do,

but I don't know why you'd make that public. And Mark said, and I've had some great. teams are not so great teams, but if you're finding people, a lot, you got bigger problems than collecting a couple thousand bucks. You got a serious issue. Like when, let's say missing like, missing practice or something like that? Yes. Yeah, I don't know.

Read that thing again, Stonehurst. It said miss practice, late to practice. Late to practice is 500. No show is 2,500. Yep. They have late to practice, no show, late to meeting or film. No show meeting or film. late to conditioning, no show conditioning, late to treatment, no show to treatment,

violation of team rules, public or social misconduct. If that's happening, if that's happening, I'll never forget when I spend time with Tom Brady, Mike Ravel, Petty Bruske, this is after they went back-to-back Super Bowls. And I asked them, I said, you know, tell me about this. And he said, we have the strongest locker room because the alphas take care of the ship. Yes. If there's a problem, it's not going to get the Belichick's desk. We're going to hammer it out.

that player is going to have a, have the wrath of the locker room. Well, the alpha in Boulder is Dion. Yeah, it can't be. It can't. I mean,

or they're going to continue to be very average. He better get some alphas in a locker room. He showed the list coach to the team and in the video and the video then went out. So that's how it, how it got there. So, you know, punishment has always been kind of like hit him where it hurts.

Yeah. Right? And in this day of age of college football, you hit him in the, pocketbook. That's where it hurts. What happened to wind sprints? Used to be playing time. What happened to running up ski hills? What happened to running orcas and doing pushups till you puke? Guys weren't getting paid then. So I know they're not. I know. But you know, you know, it's an actual rule. You can't do that. You can't punish kids by running them anymore.

That's a rule? That's a rule. That's a fairly, I think, near the end of your career that you could no longer. So instead, I don't know if you remember, they'd have to come in and clean the wait room because you weren't allowed to beat the hell out of them with running or lifting or whatever. There's some kind of rule. That wasn't my time. That wasn't my time. That wasn't my time. Tiddle. Not our time. Tiddle. Where we, where we practiced at Colgate, just in the background was the ski hill. And it was always just kind of sitting there looming. Just like, I am here. I am here for you guys. Whenever. you want to misstep. Just case you want to act up.

Feel free to come up the elevation. Feel free to see how thick those weeds are and what the incline is. Yep. That'll keep you nice and clean for a while. So Coach Prime, it's going to be an interesting offseason in Boulder. We've got to get Dion on the show at some point and catch up with him. Time now, though, for two-minute drill brought to you by Fandul. Visit Fandul.com slash triple option.

Again, Fandul.com slash triple option to download the app and take advantage of a 50% profit boost today. All right. So Fernando Mendoza, the latest addition to the Heisman fraternity to join you, Mark, as well. Let's talk about who might win it next season. Quick odds. At the top of the list, Notre Dame C.J. Carr, Texas's Arch Manning, both at plus 800. Josh Hoover, who transferred from TCU to Indiana, is next. How about Josh Hoover, number three, at plus 1,100. There's Jeremiah Smith, the wide receiver for the Buckeyes, at plus 1,300. So is his quarterback, Julian Sayans.

So is Georgia QB Gunner Stockton, just a couple of examples. Last pre-season Heisman favorite to win the Heisman, 2014, Marcus Marietta. Really? A couple others. And again, you know, different publications or different people put out who their favorite is. but the general consensus is Eric, Eric Crouch, 2001, Nebraska, preseason favorite, won it, and 2004, Maddie Ice. Maddie.

Our boy, Natty Linerd won it. So I will start with, whom I start with. Mark, yeah, first up, who joins you in the way too early Heisman pick? My way too early Heisman pick? I'm a go with you, boy, that's fresh on my mind from the National Championship. game in the playoff run. He goes by the name of Baby Jesus, a.k.a.

Mali Tony. Malachi Tony, Coach Meyer. Did you watch this young bull ball coach? I did. He inserts. He's tough, too. He goes up, he blocks linebackers. He blocks safeties.

He had the most craziest one-handed catch that was not a catch, but the man got skills, and he got the wheels, too. But 109 catches, 1,211 yards, 10 yards, I mean, 10 touchdowns. He also added over 100 yards rushing and another touchdown. He could throw the ball. He returns punts.

I'm talking about a jack of all trades, a real deal baller down here in South Florida. Malachi, Tony. I'm going with baby Jesus. I think his eyes are like plus 2,700. I like that as a big time value pick. He's just a baller. He's a shot caller.

I'm a big fan of him. And I think he's going to have a huge sophomore year. And I think he's going to be the next Heisman brother. And Mark, remember, he put up those numbers. in a year that he should have been playing high school. High school. He was supposed to be a senior high school. All y'all reclassing to get an extra year.

No, if you really him, reclass and go to school early. And ball. Baby Jesus can play at any age. I love baby Jesus. Baby Jesus. I love that nickname. I don't understand it at all. But it's fire.

But it's fun saying baby Jesus. I'll tell you that. It always reminds me of the stepbrows and me, I just want to pray to baby Jesus, sweet baby Jesus. No, no, no, wait. I think that was Talladega nights. I mean, yeah, that's Taladaigua nights. Tadagena nights.

Saying prayer at the table. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a great scene with what was the uncles or the grandfather's name? Chip. Chip. Shut your mouth, Chip. I'm a scorpion kick you in the back of the head, Chip.

I'm going to jump on you like a spider monkey. Spider monkey. Coach, could look at cause. He ain't entertained. Coach had no time for Talladega nights. I, however, had plenty of time for multiple viewings of Talladega nights. All right, coach. Way too early, Heisman winner.

Who's it going to be? Yeah, I'm going to go with Dante Moore. He came back, couldn't want the NFL. I love the kid. I love his staff. I think Oregon's going to be right there at the end again. But I'm just looking at these odds. I wonder why Archmanning, C.J. Carr, and Josh Schuver have better odds

when statistically Dante had a better year. It's interesting how Vegas does that, you know. But I think the best player is going to be Jeremiah Smith, but that's hard for a receiver to win it. I'm going to go Dante Moore. Just statistically had a hell of year. But even more importantly, I really respect this kid. He bought his time behind learning the trade from Dylan Gabriel.

He didn't transfer. He stuck around and he stuck around to come back to get more experience. Plus, he was on the set of Big Noon. Do you remember that, Mark? Yes. You wanted him to do Northwestern. Michigan boy. You wanted him to pose the Heardt, remember what he said?

He said, no, I can't do that. I got to play a little better. Yeah. And I put my arm around that kid. I said, man, I got a lot of, I mean, I like that kid a lot. He's a Michigan boy, Detroit boy, right? You know, he's a Michigan boy. Big fan.

Big fan of his. Big fan of Dante Moore. Coach, by the way, I don't know if you admit it, but you're kind of all on the Oregon train right now. Last week, you said Oregon was your team to beat in your way too early national title pick. And now you're handing Oregon the Heisman. Wow.

I remind you, who did I pick last week to win it all? Texas. Oregon. Oh, Texas. I'm high on Oregon, too, but I pick Texas, which means... So you're going to go? No, you've been saying it was going to be a Big Ten team. I am, I am, but I'm still putting a lot of chips into the Arch Manning pool right now at plus 800. I'm going to cover 3,000 yards, 26 touchdown.

Mark just called your ass out, dude. Yeah, he's trying to win. Like, he's been saying Big Ten, Big Ten. Now he's going to say it was Texas. I don't remember that. We got to reclip that. It's there. Well, I've been pushing Oregon as well, and I'm pushing, and I pushed USC earlier in the broadcast.

I also think, I think really highly affected. Hey, Coach, he just do all this so he ain't never wrong. He'd give us like five, six answers. So he ain't wrong. He's Switzerland. He's Switzerland. You're on to me, Ingram. You're on to me.

Listen, I like the way the end of the season concluded for Arch. I loved his bowl game outing against Michigan. He flashed those legs. It feels like he's finally being allowed to, like I said it last, Like get out of that cocoon, right? Like just, hey, Texas, let them, let them breathe. Let them be Arch Manning. Let them sling it.

They went into the portal. They got the number one wide receiver recruit from Auburn in the portal. They are stacked. They are back. They are back. They have the vibe of like Ohio State a couple years ago where we're like, this is it, guys. Let's start. Let's compliment this.

We might be a little thin here. Let's cover it up. I just like what I've seen from Archman. But it's going to be so tough to do it with the expectation. Again, remember, this is probably going to be the second year in a row. He's going to enter the season as the Heisman favorite. And we talked about it. Last one to do it, Marietta, Oregon.

I think Arch Manning is going to be there when it's all said and done. Both you guys have great picks. No running backs, by the way. We're kind of waiting who's going to be that breakout running back next year. So that's why another reason why we watch college football and find out maybe it'll be Bo Jackson in that new offense in Columbus. My hearty back, Kowan Lacey, back. Yeah, I agree.

And you guys are road tripping. you're out in San Francisco next week for the Super Bowl. That's next week. What do you mean you guys? You're not? I'm not. Uh-uh. I have a cheer competition in Orlando.

I got to be a cheer dad. Priorities. For once, yeah. Wow, I don't know if I might go on strike here. Hang in there. You know what? It's good. I want you guys to miss me.

It's not a triple option podcast without Stone. Thank you, Mark Ingram. There's not a live show without Stone. I appreciate you, brother. I appreciate you. So, Lynn Stone, put the gabash on this, huh? I get to see the parents, too, as well.

I don't really like it, man. I don't really like it. It's going to be all right. You're going to, because you're going to be with good people. It's another collaboration with the throwbacks guys. Matt Liner, Cherry Ferreira, scheduled to appear at the Super Bowl in San Francisco, free live show. Let's go.

I'm promoting it for you guys, right? Saturday, February 7th. Mark, piss me off. Mark. Live crossover episode of 5 p.m. show, do we get rid of stone? Oh, snap. St. Joseph's Art Society.

This is a one, Howard Street. It took the wrong turn. All of a sudden, we have a big number on the show. He's out. Let's go. I'm cheering for you guys. I'm cheering for you. Doors open at noon music.

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As always, follow, subscribe, rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. We are on social media at 3X option show. As always, thanks to our amazing sponsors, Wendy's and Fandu. And we will see you next week on the Triple Option. And some of us will see you next week in San Francisco. Francisco. Let's go!