The Triple Option - Transfer Portal vs the CFP, SMU Head Coach Rhett Lashlee Joins, Expectations for Bill Belichick & Playoff Picks

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

The first every 12-team playoff is here, but the focus of the college football is...the transfer portal? Coach Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone take a dive into the world of NIL and the transfer portal as the unthinkable has happened: players opting out in the middle of their teams championship run. The most prominent example is in Happy Valley where backup quarterback Beau Pribula, and his nine touchdowns, entering the portal ahead of Penn State's first round game against SMU. Back to the field, Mark takes you inside Heisman weekend and Travis Hunter joining the fraternity. (1:40) The SMU Mustangs shocked the college football world with an incredible season and a spot in the College Football Playoff. Head Coach Rhett Lashlee joined the guys and shared his blueprint behind their first year in the ACC and their plan for the freezing temperatures at Penn State this weekend. (25:52) Few moments define a coach's career more than that first extension and Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman got his over the weekend. Coach Meyer talks about his first extension when he was at Florida before the guys gave their thoughts on college football's newest head coach, Bill Belichick. They then picked the four first round games, SMU at Penn State, Clemson at Texas, Indiana at Notre Dame, and Tennessee at Ohio State. (36:15) 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). USAA - Learn more about USAA at USAA.COM NHTSA - Sober or Get Pulled Over. Paid for by NHTSA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I hope Penn State just dog walks SMU for them not winning the ACC. If they just would have won the ACC championship, we all would have been happy. But now I'm pissed. Did you say dog walk them? Dog walk. Foot and arse. Welcome to the Triple Option presented by Wendy's. Try Wendy's new saucy nugs today. SMU head coach Rhett Lashley is going to join us. We talk Heisman, we talk playoffs, we talk Bill Belichick and so much more. Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram, Rob Stone back here with

you. Thanks for joining us. Remember to rate, subscribe over at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you find your podcast. And you can find us on social media at three x option show new episodes coming your way every Wednesday. Here we are. It's December, right? And we should be talking nothing but the first edition of the 12 team college football playoffs. But but instead, we're talking about coaches 20th background. No, we're not talking about his Christmas tree over there. He isn't a very festive. It's like festivus over there. It took me a long time to put that together. Yeah. Yeah. Which got the Dolphins helmet right there. Look

at you coach Dolphins fair. Look at him. Wendy's. Somebody snuck that in on you. Where in the world is coach this week? We'll get to that one later. So we should be talking playoffs and we are going to be talking playoffs, but instead the crazy conversation dominating college football this week, NIL and the transfer portal hijacking college football right now. And I think that there's so many angles to it, but let's start with setting the stage with what's going on at Penn State right now, right? On Saturday, the 60 Nittany Lions, first ever home college football playoff game, they host SMU, their head coach Rhett Lashley

is going to join us momentarily. But instead, Penn State is now doesn't have their number two quarterback and their number two quarterbacks, the guy who really contributes with the team, Bo Prabula entered the transfer portal. He will not participate in the college football playoff game. He's fourth on the team with nine total touchdowns behind drew Aller, Tyler Warren Nick Singleton. He didn't want to do it. He had to do it because the transfer portal is open right now. Oh, by the way, the current starter drew Aller announced on Monday that he is

going to return to Penn State for another season. So Bo Prabulo is a highly ranked talent says, I clearly am not going to be probably the starter next year. So I got to enter the transfer portal and now I got to sign off because the portal is open while my team coach is sitting and preparing for a college football playoff game, a chance to be a national champ. And Bo Prabula is leaving the program right at this moment.

It's insane. I almost fell out when I saw that this kid's a hell of a player, man. Yes. He's a real day. And from every, I don't know him, but I heard coach Franklin talk about them, we covered their games. Uh, they say he's always wanted to be a nitany lion. I mean, this guy's a good player and just broke my heart.

What I can't imagine, Mark, you're a player and I'm a coach. Obviously what your heart, you imagine if drew aller goes down. I mean, I mean, bingo. Now you're on your third string quarterback. Yeah. And a number two guy who's for real. And people want to throw him under the bus. Uh, I'm not doing that at all.

I don't know the whole, I know that the, the portal opens, I think this is important, on December 9th it opened, and on December 28th it closes, right, Rob? That's the first portal, there's another one in April, right? Right, so that means that this player has got to start looking into other schools.

If Penn State, I wish you would have waited one more game. You know, and once again, I don't, I don't understand all this, but if you wait to another game, maybe that opportunity for another program no longer exists because people are snapping up quarterbacks. I'm sick because to see a player walk out and to leave a team as a group ready to do something possibly historic, Penn State's got the best path to make a run at this thing. They play SMU, they play Boise, they'll be favored in both games obviously, and God forbid Drew Aller grabs an ankle.

And you look and you, I don't know their third string quarterback is. I don't know, maybe they got a Cardell Jones like we had hanging around back there. Probably not. So I'm heartbroken. There's there of all the good things going on this year about the playoff, about the, uh, just the quality of product on the field, actually some parody, all this. And then all of a sudden that I don't know, Mark.

Coach, this right here is an outlier because most of the players are leaving because they don't want to be a part of it. They want to leave. Coach Franklin said, we got problems with college football, but I can give you my word. Bo Pribula did not want to leave our program. He did not want to leave our program until the end of the season. Bo should not be putting his position. And that is a failure for just the scheduling, right?

Like this kid, obviously he has the right to want to do what's best for his future. And he's in a position right now where his team is going on to possibly play for a national championship. They're in a college football playoff, but he's thinking about his future at the same time. So I'm not mad at him for considering his future, but with this schedule, he has to decide right now if he's going to leave or not. Because like you said, Stoner, if he waits another week, waits another two weeks, the position that was probably for him might not be there because somebody else might go there. So it's

just this whole thing is just needs to be like reevaluated and redone because the window is during the most important time of the college football season, which is the playoffs, and then it closes and then it reopens. It's just crazy right now. Like, the, you know, the timing is off. Yeah, the timing is terrible. Absolutely awful. And I think you'd have to be it's in the middle of the playoffs.

recognize it. It's why do the playoff young student athletes have to make this decision right now and why coach is because education which oh, by the way,, why most people go to colleges. Yeah. And I grew up in a family and I also worked at Ohio State under Woody Hayes and Earl, not under what Hayes, but Earl Bruce, but where education was everything. You never hear a word about that anymore.

It's all about how much is the, what's the number? And so I think for the viewer and listener is that the big reason why this window is everybody would say, just move it back. You can't because you're starting classes. Most people start class in the, you know, the eighth or the 15th of January. And you, I mean, when you're starting class, you have to be admitted. You have to be in and you got to be going. And, and maybe it's all players taking online classes.

And once again, this is a world that it wasn't that way when I was there. Uh, but you know, it's, it's a mess. It's a, and Mark, how about Marshall is out? They don't have enough players. They don't have enough players to play in their bowl game. Your coach takes the head coaching job at a Southern Miss. He's probably bringing half the program. The other half of the program is leaving. They withdraw out of their bowl game after a successful season where they

won their division. And now they can't play because they don't have enough players to field a team in the ball game. Like an army and army sitting there, they should be rewarded as well. And now it's Louisiana Tech, God bless Louisiana Tech, right? Being a local team, you know, close enough to the Shreveport area and stepping in and rallying the like, they're doing the right thing, right? Like, that's what college football is about. You need you need me to play a game, when and where we'll

figure it out. Our season was done. Now it's back together. I think that's awesome. They need to readdress this schedule. I think we all realize that, and I really hope and pray that the people, the decision makers in college football understand that and respect it, even if they can move it back a couple weeks to at least let teams get through this first round, right?

At least give a couple more. We're talking about the players, but now a coach as well. You're trying to rebuild, you were in the most important time of the season right now in college football, but you can't even evaluate players in the portal or recruit. Like, you know what I mean? Because you're focusing on trying to win a game here on Saturday with the biggest game of the season.

Current team. Yes. Let's end. I can't, I can't wait to see how many coaches leave the profession when they move the recruiting window to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because that's all you got. That's all you got. Coach, Bo Pribula is leaving. Yeah, I love that player, man.

He's a great player. I love that. But I mean, he had a package even when Durala was healthy. You know what I mean? What's interesting? There's a couple of things that interest me on this one, Mark. And we do hear stories about guys jumping into the transfer portal or maybe accepting another place and they stay with their program. Yeah. And I'm like, Oh,

that's better, right? That's more palatable. For me, at least. But guess what? If you get injured in that game, now now what are what is your value and your worth to your quote, unquote, new program? And then, and then here's another thing. What if Drew Aller, who again, we mentioned on Monday says I'm coming back to Penn State? What if Drew Aller, who again, we mentioned on Monday says, I'm coming back to Penn State. What if Drew Aller, who's got the he's got the prototype, right? He's got the measurables that the NFL is looking at, right? And he's improved every single year.

What if Drew Aller absolutely balls in December and January, and his NFL stock starts going up like this. No one's saying that he can't say, you know what? I'm going to the draft. I'm going, I'm declaring, I'm going. And now all of a sudden James Franklin and staff are saying, whoa, we don't have a quarterback. We just lost one and two.

Yeah. And neither one, we were really prepared to lose. Yeah. Well, you gotta go win one, more of the third straight quarterback, man. Well, I don't know. Well, that's that would be next year. So, so we got this mess with the transfer portal, right? We all realize that we all recognize it.

NIL, NIL is certainly lurking out there. Uh, Tim Beck, Tim Beck, the head coach at Coastal Carolina, um, gave us, gave us a doozy of a soundbite. Extremely frustrating. One of the things that's changing in the landscape of college football, you're not building a program anymore. This isn't a program. Each year, you just build a team. You try to find the best team that you could put out there every year.

You know the team's going to get hit by quote, free agency, right? The portal and transfers and things. So the best, you know, you try to go out there and find the guys that you can get and bring them and be a part of your football team and try to maintain as much culture as you can. When every year you have to rebuild that, you've got to identify and evaluate their strengths, their weaknesses.

You have to teach them a new scheme on offense and defense per se every year because there's new guys coming in and we have to learn them every year. How do they perform in pressure situations? All of that. He's from Youngstown, Ohio, and he, I hired him on my staff. Was the offense coordinator at Nebraska. I hired him at Ohio state and he's all about the right stuff. I love this guy. Great coach. And I actually texted him after I saw that, uh, what he said, and I won't repeat.

I'm looking at it right now. I won't repeat what he said. Uh, it wasn't, you know, as you can imagine, he said, you know, I won't say what he said. But that's a shame. I mean, that's that but I it's a reality. When you are consistently transitioning players, you simply try to put the best group of players you can out there understand they're probably gone. It is what it is. And I'm not a fan of it.

You know, because essentially, you're not building a program It is what it is and I'm not a fan of it. You know, cause essentially you're not building a program anymore. Like you said, you know that you're putting the best possible product you could put out for a football season, four or five months. And then you know your program's gonna get hit by free agency, which is crazy. Cause in college there was no free agency.

Now free agency is open. Your team can leave. They can pull your players can leave. You can get players from other places. So, and building a program was so important to me because that's culture, right? That's, that's like kind of what helps you grow as a man. It builds character. It's accountability. It's all these things, um, you know, family, like going to work with your people and

like you lose all of that when you don't have a program, it's just all about me and what do I need to do? And I think Mark, this is really interesting is that everybody talks about the Alabama, the Ohio state, and there are transfers and all that. However, let's not forget the other a hundred or about a hundred other 90 schools in the country that like coach back that you develop a player and he's gone. He leaves. He's gone.

And I've talked to many colleagues and they just understand that. I know the coach at Bowling Green. I know all a lot of these coaches and the reality is they develop this player and they know in their mind he's gone. And so that's just, I don't, I don't know what the answer is, but I know what the answer is going to continue as this. That that genie is out of the bottle. That's not changing. College football has become a temp agency. Right? It's you

come to the agency with your resume and I'm looking for work and college football is going to try to place you somewhere and it may throw that number out there Rob, it may be for two months. Oh, the number of people in the portal is Insane the first week of the portal being open right now 1500 FPS scholarship players and almost 2,000 total players that's that's like 500 dudes who aren't even on scholarship are in the portal that since December 9th a little context the total number of FPS players who transferred in the December 9, a little context, the total number of FPS players who transferred in the 2018-19 season in the first era, the

first year of the Portal era. So a whole year was 1561. So one week, we're getting almost 2000 compared to one year it was 1500. That's your saucy nug of the week. Try some at your nearest Wendy's. We love saucy nugs. I'm not a big fan of some of those stats, man. That is a tough one. Tough pill. Let's hope in the offseason. Two thousand players. It gets attacked. And counting. And coach, GMs and head coaches out there are dealing with, are kind of dealing with one set of questions right now that are coming their way and how they have to handle their

communication with their players right now is a brave new world that is an awful world. What that check look like? How about this mark? I spoke to a coach. I spoke to a GM at one of the topper top schools of the country. They had to put out a memo and a text and say quick quick, come into my office, agents, players, third uncles, and asking for money. We have a game coming up. We have a game coming up.

Put this on hold. Let's try to, we have a really good team we're going to play. Let's try to block, tackle, learn the scheme, go win the game, and then we'll have conversations about it. Because it was in, he was inundated for 10, 12 hours a day of nothing else other than that. Not just a game, a playoff, a chance to win the national title. And this is what people are having to deal with behind the scenes.

College football created it. Let's see if college football can clean it up. Policy supply, details at phys.ca. Get groceries delivered across the GTA from real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. Sure, I could tell you winter's coming or that it brings cold, dry air, but you already knew that.

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College football still gets a ton of things right, right? It's still our favorite sport. We love and adore the sport and everything that it has. And one of its greatest moments takes place on a certain Saturday in December in New York City, the Heisman Trophy handed out on Saturday. You were there, Mark. I had my camera.

When I was at work, I was like, where's my Mark Ingram? Where is it? What did you do when that camera found you? Hit the pose. You hit it. It's only right. And you have a vote. I have a vote.

Coach somehow does not have a vote for the Heisman Trophy. That's crazy. We got some of the people that do have votes for Coach not to have one is insanity. Insanity. Did you voted for Travis number one? Did you? I voted the winner. Yeah.

Yeah, I voted the winner, man. And I had Gentie at number two. Listen, Gentie was is worthy of that award. Correct. He is worthy of that award. He wins that award if there isn't award if there isn't a Travis Hunter. Travis Hunter, you talk about the meaningful snaps that he has played on both sides of football. They say, oh, popularity contest. No, go watch this kid play football. His instincts as a shut

down corner on defense, his ball skills, high pointed ball, acrobatic catches, route running on offense. Like he's easily a top corner. He's he's the he's the top corner in college football right now. And easily he's a Belenikov winner, too. So he's the top receiver in college football as well. Like, how do you not give this man the trophy? He's the best player in college football and testament to Ashton Jensen, because this was the closest race in Heisman history

other than my race when I won about 28 votes. So it tells you Ashton Jentz is worthy and is worthy and deserving of this award. And if there wasn't a Travis Hunter, Ashton Jentz would have one ran away with this thing with flying colors, but shout out to Travis Hunter, man. He's deserving all the thing he's been through the adverse. He's been over to overcome and, um, it was just the beginning for him. I hope he goes on and he has an amazing future in the NFL and same with Genting and same with everyone else that was up there at the housing presentation.

Man, it was, it was a great evening. And I'm, I'm so, uh, so proud and blessed to be a part of that fraternity. One thing I wish they'd do. And I, I, back when I was coaching, I said this and no one listened, obviously, but they should invite the top eight players and make it a nice weekend for, you know, you got Scataboo, you had the quarterback and army, those guys should have, you know, they should have been there and enjoyed her.

This, this is, and should or should or Sanders. We gotta, we gotta keep remembering. We gotta keep remembering. This is about players and the, and the collegiate experience. So I get so pissed off sometimes and I'm well, we got this budget. No, no, no. You had a chance to go to the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Something will change your life. Invite more players. Yeah. I get so pissed off because I've had a few players should have been there and they weren't. I don't get it.

Sometimes they do three. Sometimes they get it. Sometimes they do three, sometimes they do four, sometimes they do five. No, they invite the top eight players, man. I mean, suck it up and you'll get a sponsor. Sometimes the bottom three don't need to go, though. You know, they ain't going to have a chance. Let them get a trip to New York City. Let them hang out, enjoy the sights. Hey, you're messing with my family's budget now. Right. Hey, Mark, give me one quick story from the Heisman Weekend in New York. This weekend? Yes, your, your, yes, this Saturday.

Man, it's just so much fun, man. We were all together, Army, Navy. I took the train up to New York. I land, I get in the cab. I go to the Marriott Marquis, man, and I'm in the suite, man. And I'm hanging out with Eddie George, I'm hanging out with Troy Smith, I'm hanging out with Archie Griffin, like I'm hanging out with George Rogers, man. And just the stories, man, the laughter, like the knowledge, the wisdom that gets passed on from guys to guys, man, it's just truly a blessing, man. And then you go, you see Doug Flutie, you're seeing Tim Tebow. I'm with RG3, I'm with Cam Newton. Like, we're just all having a great time, man. It's just a blessing, man, just to be around good people and people to help have accomplished something special. And like, there's only a small amount of us, so we all

can relate and just bounce ideas and thoughts and just check on each other, meet each other's families. It's just a blessing, meet each other's families. It's just a blessing, man. The whole weekend. It's a big weekend. I was only able to be there for maybe 12 hours maybe because I had to leave and come to my daughter's soccer tournament. But man, I love it every time I get to go up there.

They do something Friday. They do the ceremony Saturday. They do brunch on Sunday. So I missed a lot of that stuff because I was with y'all at Army Navy. Then I left early to come to my daughter's soccer tournament. But just an amazing group of guys, man. I'm blessed to missed a lot of that stuff because I was with y'all the Army Navy that I left early to come to my daughter's soccer tournament. But just an amazing group of guys, man. I'm blessed to be a part of it. What a cool fraternity to be a part of. And I said it last

week, I'm gonna say it again. I get I get so happy and so proud of you. Every time I look at this shot right now, let's see what's hanging out over your shoulder. And there's Mr. Heisman. Not not in the Not in the closet like at the Lionheart household, right? It's front and center. Mom Dukes had it, she took care of it, man. She took care of it, man. Follows that stuff.

They told me, they said that every Heisman is one of a kind, like there's just little small differences in it. I'm like. I love it, man. They all look the same to me, but. Well, congratulations, Travis Hunter, well deserved on winning the same to me, but. Well, congratulations. Travis Hunter well deserved on winning the Heisman Trophy.

Coming up next, we're gonna continue talking about college football and the playoffs, which kick off this week. We're joined by SMU head coach, Rhett Lashley, on the triple option, next, presented by Wendy's. Like it. ["Bumble Nose"] Bumble Nose is hard to start conversations. Hey.

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holidays. Visit betterhelp.com to learn more and save 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.help.com. Welcome back to The Triple Option presented by Wendy's. Rob Urbanmark back here with you now joined by ACC Coach of the Year SMU's Rhett Lashley, who has a rather large game looming this Saturday in Happy Valley. Coach, I know you're super busy this week,

so thanks for taking the time to join The Triple Option, appreciate it. Absolutely, appreciate you having me. Yeah, coach, I followed your career and Congrats, man. And I'm just I remember watching as SMU came so close to winning that game. And then you have to play that damn waiting game. And the thoughts that go through your mind, I've been there. I mean, did you have a plan B? Or were you so convinced you guys

were in there? How'd you handle that waiting game? Yeah, it wasn't fun. You know, we decided just knowing that going into the game that if we won, we were in and if we lost that we would be in that situation. We were never going to have any kind of watch party if we didn't win. And so when we didn't win, I mean, shoot, it was what, midnight by the time the game ended. So we only had about 11 or 12 hours to wait. We flew home that night and

we had a team meeting set for three o'clock that afternoon. So that way, either way it went, we wouldn't have TVs in our guys' face if it didn't go the way we wanted it to go. Yeah, Coach. I was one of those guys who just wanted you guys to win, because if you win, we would all been in. But instead, I know, man. Sorry, we didn't get done for it. It's OK. It's OK. I wanted us to win, too. So if that makes you feel any better, I was rooting for you guys.

You know, no, but I'm sad now, but it's OK. I mean, the bad first quarter made it hard on herself. Yeah, no, it's all good. Y'all deserved it, though. But how do you have it? How have you guys how have you guys, how have you rallied the troops, man? Get these guys to lock back in after the loss to Clemson

in the ACC championship game, knowing you have a huge game on the road against Penn State. What have you done? What's your message been to the guys to get them back locked in and ready to roll? Yeah, you know, I think we've just tried to stay on the routine we've had all year. You know, once we found out we were in Sunday,

it was two weeks from playing, it almost was like a bye week and then game week. And so we've kind of treated it like we treated our bye weeks this year. We got to work, we got plenty done, but we wanted to get them back physically on the first week. And now as we head into this week, it's game week, we'll have our normal routine.

You know, the guys, we had a really good year. We hadn't lost since about September 6th until we did the other night. And so, you know, they played with a lot of confidence. They know that we hurt ourselves in the first quarter of that game, giving them the ball four times on our side of the field in the first quarter. And so I didn't have to say much. They were really fired up. We had that team meeting at three to 8 and 0, and they were in.

And they've been great ever since. And so we're going to approach this week like we did every other week that helped us get 11 wins. Coach, how the hell did you do it, right? I mean, nobody was talking SMU coming into this season. First year in the ACC. And you guys, between the resources and getting the players and getting the wins over, you

know, quote unquote, bigger programs, give me, I guess, the one page blueprint of how SMU was able to get to the level that they got this season. You know, I don't know, we never told them they weren't supposed to do it. You know, last year we won 11 games, won our conference, and we had a decent group returning from that. We had to go out into the portal and really bulk up our O&D line. That was the goal. Not only did we need to make sure we had the best starting O&D line, but we needed depth. Particularly on the D line, if we were going to hang in there on a 10 game in a row, which

ended up being an 11 game straight Power 4 schedule, something that our program hadn't been doing lately, we were going to have to have in there on a 10 game in a row, which ended up being 11 games straight, power-four schedule, something that our program hadn't been doing lately. We were going to have to have depth there. And we did that. And, you know, we just, we, we just went about it one week at a time. And the way our season broke down, it broke up into four quarters perfectly. Cause we played week zero. So we played three games, we were off. We played three, we were off three, we were off.

And so, you know, we told them at the beginning of the year what our goal was the same as the year before. It was to get to Charlotte and to get ourselves into November, being in contention for that. And so, in order to do that, we knew we'd have to stay present. We knew it'd be hard and there'd be unexpected things. So we were going to try to win all four quarters of our season. So we just broke it down into four quarters.

And then the other thing we did, you know, we went to fall camp. You know, in fall camp, when coach knows this and Mark, you, you practice, you walk through, you practice, you walk through a lot of those things. Uh, our O and D walkthrough shirts said defending champs on them because that's what we were. And we weren't defending champs in the ACC, but I think there was only 10 teams that could go into this year saying they were defending champs.

And we wanted them to have that mindset that we belong. We've done this before and credit them with doing it. You know, I'm looking at your career here and other than 2017, you've been in the south primarily. Yeah. Now you get to roll up. I've been to state college many times, never in December. Are you worried or are you just, yeah, or you just say the heck with it. We're going to go play. And when I was younger, I was a maniac about trying to get him in the, you

know, in those kinds of conditions. But is it just go get them or, you know, have you talked about, is there a plan to try to get them acclimated? Yeah. Um, you know, we pretty much are doing similar what we did last week. So the game in Charlotte was cold. It wasn't probably as cold as this one's going to be, but it was around 48 kickoff and in the mid thirties, you know, in that second half.

And we were fortunate here the week before the championship game. It was cold, especially in the mornings. We practiced in the morning. So it was thirties and forties and we just went outside and practiced in it. And we did address it early in the week that it's going to be cold. Let's embrace it. And our guys did. I didn't think we didn't win the game because it was cold. This is a little different. It's a little different cold to your point going up there. And unfortunately, this week's a little warmer than I want it to be. But, you know, we addressed

it like I told them last Monday. And I told them again today, you know how it is, coach, all these guys want to play in the NFL. And right now, if you play in the NFL and you get to December and January, you got to go through Arrowhead and Kansas City. You got to go through Buffalo. You got to go through Lambeau. You're either on those teams or you're playing those teams. And so this is championship weather.

This is playoff football weather. You're going to be able to see your breath freeze in midair and that is what it is. And we have to embrace it just like we have to embrace the fact that, you know, we're going on the road and there's 106,000 fans. Like if you're a competitor, you have to get up for this. And if you don't, then it's gonna show. And so we addressed it on the front end of the week.

Now we really don't talk about it anymore because we don't wanna make any bigger deal about it than it is. So that's kinda how we've handled it. How are you guys capitalizing on this moment? Um, I mean, I know you have a massive game going on. The transfer portal is open, but behind the scenes, you have some alumni and donor energy that you may never see again, and you need to absolutely nail it in this window.

So how are you guys trying to make the most of this moment so SMU football can continue to grow? Yeah, I mean, our guys have already done that to some degree, you know, being top 10 and going undefeated in the regular season in our conference and playing for a championship and making the college football playoff. I mean, that's awesome for our program with where we are

and what we've been able to do to prove we belong. And now hopefully that momentum will take us through recruiting the off season and allow us to sustain it. That's the hardest thing, but that's a problem for after the playoffs are over. You know, I think we'll find out. You know, I know our guys are excited to play.

It's a special group. It's a group that has won 22 games in the last two years. And they go into every game just thinking they're supposed to win. And they really don't look at it any differently. Even the other night, like I said, we got behind, didn't play well. The way they came out in the second half,

I think showed a lot about our competitive character. We got to stop, we went down and scored. And then we had some other things not go our way. And we find ourselves going in the fourth quarter down 17. And we just kept playing. The next thing you know, it's 31 all with 16 seconds to go. So I know this teams will show up. They're gonna be physical.

They're gonna play hard. They're gonna respond. And if we do that, we have a chance to shock some people and win, which will obviously aid kind of this moment. That's a big moment in our program to try to get back on the national stage and prove we belong at this level.

What is the SMU fit right now? You know, I think it's guys that want to win. I think it's guys that want to show that this is a tough program. I think it's, you know, for a long time SMU, obviously we had our issues, but when we came back, you know, we were known as an offensive school that couldn't stop anybody. And we were kind of a finesse program. And so that's what we wanted to change three years ago. And our first year we went seven and five and we did some things. Well, we finished in the month of November, we went three and one.

And that's good. But we didn't play championship level defense. We hadn't done that in four decades since Eric Dickerson played here. So we went out in the last two years in the portal, whether it's D-line and linebackers and on offense too. And we just realized that like for us to win and play championship football, not only where we were, but now where we are in the power four level, you know, we've got to play championship defense and we got to be physical. And so we have three goals every game. We want to win the run game. That's offense and defense. We want to win the run game.

We want to win the turnover battle and win the explosives. And we control how hard we play. We control how physical we play. And we want to make sure every time we go out there that, uh, nobody can say when they leave the field that we weren't the most physical team on the field. Thanks for joining us. I know you're busy, man. And, uh, Tyler Warren's a hell of a player.

You stop him man. Him and those two backs. Yeah, let's not start talking about their defensive ends. You were in the backfield before the ball snapped. So their team speed is special. So we got our hands cut out for us. All the best man. Big test Saturday. Appreciate you coach.

At Beaver Stadium SMU taking on Penn State 11 versus six seed SMU head coach, Rhett Lashley. Kind enough to join us this week on the Triple Option. Coach, congrats and enjoy your trip up to Happy Valley and continued success. Thanks, guys. Welcome back to the Triple Option presented by the Wendy's, Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram, Rob Stone.

Back here with you. Time now for Defining Moments brought to you by NHTSA, drunk driving changes your world, drive sober or get pulled over, paid for by NHTSA. And in order to define your legacy at a school, at a program, coach, you need to get that first, that first extension, right?

And that's what Marcus Freeman got over the weekend at Notre Dame. Sounds like it's a four year extension, right? And that's what Marcus Freeman got over the weekend at Notre Dame. Sounds like it's a four-year extension, secures him for six more years in South Bend. Good for him. Yeah, he had two more years remaining on the current deal course. He got Notre Dame to the college football playoffs, the host Indiana coming up on Saturday or on Friday, I should say. We'll talk more about that one in a second. Coach, you remember your first extension? Was it at BG?

No, you weren't there long enough, were you? No, just two years. Utah? No. Utah, did you get an extension at Utah? Nope. Florida? I had an offer, yeah, but-

Did you get any extensions? Did you get an extension? Florida and Ohio State. There we go, bam. So hey, how about this, Mark? I went to University of Notre Dame for $55, Ben. So, hey, how about this, Mark? I went to university and know her name for $55,000. Shelly had to work just for survival money. And then I got my first head coaching job at Bowling Green for the grand sum of $100,000.

We couldn't sell her a house in South Bend, and we were paying two house payments. And Shelly came up to me and she goes, how are we going to make this work? She's like looking at the numbers and we couldn't make it work. She goes, you know, like when's this head coach money start rolling in? And then we went to Utah and then we had a nice payday at Gators. She's living in a good crib now. She's living in a good crib now. She's doing fine. So kudos to Notre Dame. I got my first extension. I remember

at Florida and that's a big, it's not only for you, but it's for the entire support staff, staff, it's stability. And usually when the head coach gets a extension, so does everybody involved. So that well done, Notre Dame. It's the right thing. I got a lot of respect for coach Freeman and well done. Man, he's very deserving. I mean, he had, for coach Freeman and, uh, well done. Man, he's very deserving. I mean, he had, we had him on the podcast. Just very sharp, very smart. I mean, he's 30 and nine in his four years right, right now at a Notre

Dame has him in the playoffs with a home field of victory. So, man, when you do good things, you get rewarded for it. So shout out to coach Freeman, man. He's doing a great job out there at Notre Dame. Let me tell you, there, there were a lot of Notre Dame alums who are not on board for an extension after that home loss to Northern Illinois. Yeah, but he's been able to surround. Re-give out the survey, Stoner. Right. Rehand out the survey. Right. But it does bring up that talking point about, you know, do schools sometimes

go in too early with an extension or wait too long. And that's a that's a tricky game. Like if you think you got the guy, you want to you want to tie him up as long as you can. Or if you know, somebody is going to come after him, let's, let's tie him up and increase that that buyout. But sometimes I feel like if you have just one good season coach, a lot of a lot of programs, a lot of presidents and ADs are almost handcuffed to throw out the extension whether it's worthy or not. They're just forced to base it on one season sometimes.

Well, that's that's that agent world that's out there. And I, you know, that's exactly when I see that happen. And I kind of know behind the scenes and I hear stories and these ADs are putting some really precarious situations, you know, and all, you know, a hot item out there and they're being shopped around and, and, uh, once again, I'm not a big fan of that either. And I, I mean, I, I was part of it. So obviously it benefited from all that, but that's a tough situation for an AD. And then all of a sudden the coach gets locked in and the program starts to slip a little bit.

Now you got that A&M and now the buyout. Yeah, you get you get paralyzed as a program. Because you know, there's a lot of money in the sports, but some of these buyouts we saw one at A&M. Yeah, you know that can bankrupt the program. Yeah, and the thing is if you have a guy that you believe in and you're the AD you have a guy that you believe in and you're the AD, you have a guy that you believe in, a guy that has continuously been consistent, then reward him for that. But you can't just go off of success of one year and then pay this guy $80 million and then the next two years is not what you thought it was going to be. Now you have to buy out for 50, 60 million and he's getting paid for three, four, five

more years on your account. So it's got to be a thing where it's just, it's gotta be from top down. Everyone has to be on a single accord. The best organizations I've been a part of in the NFL, even in college, everyone was on the same page from top to bottom. So as long as you have that kind of, uh, as long as you have that in your program, that top to bottom, everyone on the same page, which is hard to do now in this NIL and transfer portal day.

But I think if you have a guy that you believe in and you trust in, then you should give him his reward, which Mark Freeman got. Well, what happens, Rob is this too, is that, and I talked to an AD several years ago and we're sitting there talking, he says, can you believe this nonsense, the guy has one good year and I'm getting called from his agent said, either you up him or he's leaving. And he's like, you know, it's just this, the world. I don't know.

I don't get it. I hear you loud and clear. The big coaching hire took place last week, Bill Belichick into Chapel Bill, North Carolina, right? So the Tar Heels NIL budget expected to go up from 4 million to 20. How's Mac Brownfield about right? Five? Where was that? Where was where was the 20? M when I was there? The talent he

could have brought in right? Five X, Bill Belichick making immediate moves internally guys. I love this the transfer portal, right? He had to jump right into it was already open when he got hired. He kept his standout linebacker Mari Campbell his starting center Austin Blaski they both pulled their names out of the transfer portal. That's two big wins, right like huge, huge wins. And you know, the amount of time that Belichick and his GM Michael Lombardi had to

evaluate the guys that are already in Chapel Hill, then the guys they might want to try to bring in. I mean, this is a tough situation. So those are two big wins. Also, their big quarterback recruit, a four star kid from North Carolina decided to commit and stay with UNC. So Bill Belichick guys, getting some big wins early on the coordinators still up in the air. We're hearing Las Vegas Raiders OC Scott Turner, one of

their top targets. Coach, there'd been that mentioned that Bill's son Steve Belichick, the current Washington defensive coordinator is expected to join the staff in some way, shape or form in a in the not too near distant future, but your early thoughts on how Coach Belichick is working so far in college football and at North Carolina? Yeah, I know him very well. And he'll figure it out. I mean, when I first saw it, like most reaction, I thought, first of all, he's 72. You know, you know, I'm 60. And I, you had your

mind, I wouldn't do that. But he's 72. And he's like, at some point, coach, go enjoy your life, but he's 72 and he's like, at some point coach go enjoy your life, but he enjoys it. He'll figure it out. He'll surround them with good people. I guess the question I asked last time too, is when everyone, anyone asked me, how do you think he'll do my response back to them is what's your expectation? Is North Carolina expected?

Is there a chance they can win a national championship? I don't think he'll do that. Is it to go compete for a playoff and win the ACC? Yeah, the conference is very average right now. You get a couple really good players in there, you can go win that conference and be in the playoff. If that's, and you're paying a guy 10 million a year, you just want 20 million Ohio State type level NIL money, you're damn right you better be in the playoff.

That's what they're saying. I guess. Five X coach. You got anywhere where I can put my money and we can get five X back. But I'll tell you the timing is right. The conference, the conferences is not five X. That's me. Oh, by the way, the conference has two programs in the playoffs, Clemson and SMU. So I understand your point.

I understand your point. You know, no, but listen, chapel Bill is doing what you're supposed to do. What do you do when you go take over a program? You keep your best players there. He's done that. You win your in-state talent. He's done that. You said a four-star quarterback from North Carolina commits to North Carolina.

That's how you start a program being going in the right direction, keeping your best time at home, keeping your best players on a roster and then going to dressing when you have your best players on the roster, those guys can go to bat for you when you have a big recruit coming into town, where you have a player in the portals coming into town, they, that's who you send. You send the players who are on the field and that's what Bill has done. And I think that's huge. He's keeping his best players there.

So good start for coach. I do think he would have really struggled in the old model. How about this in the month of December, coaches aren't allowed to go recruit now. I'm telling you, Rob and Mark, I think I told you this in the, in the day after the big 10 championship game or sec championship game, you grabbed your film and you went on the road and you would go from 7am, you go to three high schools, you'd meet with the players. You'd meet with the families. you go to basketball practice or a

basketball game, a couple of home visits. You crawl in bed at 10 o'clock and you're doing it again. You're doing that for three weeks, two or three weeks. And then on the weekends you fly home and you have official visit weekends and you start practicing for the bowl game. Do I think coach Belichick was made to go on, you know, three home visits a night flying around the country? I don't know if he would have done that. And I think it's become more of an NFL model now where it's, what's the number? The kids are now visiting campuses, by the way, they're

visiting campuses. That's the thing. He is, he is recruiting, right? Maybe not on the road, but he is, he is busy bringing those talents in into Chapel Hill. You know, that transfer portal wide open and and introducing himself to the players he has in front of him just waiting there in the Carolina blue already and and keeping them. So I think it's been a good. So how about this real quick? So this is really cool. So we're competing for a national title. Mark, think about this. And all our coaches got recruiting and this is back in the DVD era. And I'd go on the plane DVD, DVD era and Dan Mullen, Steve Adazio and Greg Madison and Charlie strong, my coaches would all go out and we come back in and

script practices from what we did on airplanes. Think about that because you were gone the entire time and you're playing Oklahoma for the national title. And by the way, a lot of those coaches are probably doing some interviews cause they're getting some sniffs and people want to talk about them and moving them up from wide receiver coach to OC, OC to HC and whatever's going on with that. So, all right. So alright, so

we think Bill Belichick, we feel like he won the press conference and he continues to get some wins in Chapel Hill. But there's four games coming our way this week and it's time for pick six brought to you by GM. Place your moneyline prop parlay and same game parlay bets at bet MGM download the app today. Please gamble responsibly. Please gamble here we go it's it's not quite the the pick six because there's only four games that we're going to talk about right now so instead of that number

we're going to give you guys a quick shot at the four playoff games all right mark you're gonna go first all right and my but you can clean up more we're gonna you're going first we're gonna start in the great state of Indiana. Number seven Notre Dame a seven and a half point favorite over 10th ranked Indiana. All four teams that are home and hosting games this weekend are favored and favored by at least a touchdown. Notre Dame a seven and a half point favorite over the Hoosiers.

The Hoosiers in the playoffs. Notre Dame in the playoffs. They both are Indiana. They both play outside. So this is just gonna be, it's gonna be nice. I like it. I like it. I like it. But hey, Jeremiah Love is the difference for Notre Dame. Jeremiah Love, he's a baller. One of the best backs in the country. They play strong on defense. Now I like Indiana Coach Cinnati is gonna have him ready. So I I Think Notre Dame wins this in South Bend, but I like Indiana to cover. I think it's gonna be a tight game coach I agree mark. I'm looking at these four games and of the four three of them

I think are right on the point spread. I'd pick as well. There's one that's not. But this one, I think seven and a half is right there. We covered Indiana bunch. I've watched Notre Dame a bunch on on film. I think Notre Dame wins, but I think it's a score game. I think they got the right thing. If I had to pick one upset of the down this week, if I had to pick one. Oh, Indiana over Notre Dame.

But are you picking them? I'm saying if I had to if I had to, you know what you had to because if I had to I do it. I do it. If I had to. Who's your daddy? Who who who's your daddy? Indiana upsets. I just called it. All right. The other game and it's going to be a whiteout. Number six Penn State hosting number 11 SMU. We just spoke with whiteout at noon. Hey, Penn State. Yeah. How about that? Hey, Penn State. Why don't you enjoy your games? Penn State.

I hope I can see a whiteout at noon. Niffy Lyons favored by eight and a half. Mark, you get first ups again. Penn State. Then the coach is going to go up first. The next two. I hope Penn State just dog walks SMU for them not winning the ACC. And if they just would have won the ACC championship, we all would have been happy. But now I'm pissed. So did you say dog walk them? Dog walk them foot in arse foot in arse. SMU is going up to Dallas. I mean they're going up to Happy Valley.

It's going to be freezing they face off. Coming from Dallas, Penn State. I got Penn State winning this one, man. Tyler Warren, Nick Singleton, K-Tron Allen, defense playing with their hair on fire. James Franklin has to hold it down in Happy Valley. I got Penn State in this one, especially with the weather. SMU ain't going to be ready for that cold. Yeah. I started watching SMU earlier in the year when they started catching fire and I got a lot of respect for him, but that's this one's a different animal. I think Penn State's a really

good team. They'll control the line of scrimmage and Tyler Warren and those two backs, I think will have a good day against them. And, and like coach told us the two defensive, you know, the defensive line of Penn State will dominate that game. So that's the one point spread that I see Penn State winning, beating that spread. Yeah, it feels like the stage might be just a little too big, a little too early for SMU, you know, congratulations on everything that they've done. And maybe it does continue, but

it does feel like that's gonna be big cold stage man. Respect SMU respectfully SMU respect correct. Correct. And we were all kind of saying the same thing in different ways. So we all see as Penn State moving on and covering that eight and a half points. My personal Yes, I know. Respectful. Dog walk. All right, coach, you're up first on this one. And

it this one, the next two are kind of like the sexy matchups, if you will, with programs that are universally respected across our nation. Number five, Texas in Austin. Big one here. This is the biggest spread of the four and 11 and a half point favorite over 12 seed Clemson. A lot like the Notre Dame and coming up with the Ohio State, Tennessee, this point spread to me is right on.

Texas is one of the top three rosters in college football. I think it's gonna be right at a score and a half. It's gonna be a 12 point, 10 point game. So I think it's right there. I'm gonna go Texas covering. I just think, again, I've been on the Texas bandwagon now for two years. Don't let me down Texas. Let's go, man. Yeah, coach. I agree with you. I mean, Clemson has had a good run.

I think Clemson, listen, Clemson is, is battled session. They played two SEC teams this year. They played Georgia and got dog walked. There you go. Stoner they played South Carolina in a close game loss They lost to somebody else too. I forgot they have three losses, but I think they're battle tests I think they're gonna be ready for this, but I do like Texas to win this game I like Texas to win kind of by like ten points So I got Clemson covering the spread but I think the Longhorns wrote a victory

We'll see how healthy Quinn yours could be. We know this defense is dominant We know they run the football with Trey Weisner We know they have athletes on the outside So can the quarterback be healthy and play like we know that he's capable of playing we've seen him play big and big games Before and I think he will he's had a week to get healthy. No, he didn't he did it. Yes He did have a week. Yeah, he did that. Yes, he did He did have a week to get healthy. So healthy Quinn, I think is going to be the difference in this game. Did you say earlier, Mark, you thought Penn State had kind of the easiest pathway?

Yes, they have. They have SMU, then they have Boise. Boise State. So I think if you're looking for favorable matchups for Penn State, I think you would take those two over any other two. So I would, I would argue that Texas might have the most palatable pathway because I'm going to take it all the way to the semis. We all like Texas over Clemson, right? Yes. I know

who the next matchup is. So the next matchup is Arizona State. As much as we love scataboo. If you if you look at the two lowest quote unquote seated teams, Arizona State and Clemson and those are the two teams that Texas has to go through and guess what, Texas wins those two games, you know where they go for the semi finals. Texas cottonball. Wow. So they would be playing the semi finals in Arlington, you know, and again, that could be against a Tennessee and Ohio State or Georgia. And you know, how about

another meeting with Georgia, by the way, in the Cotton Bowl? So I just love Texas's path right now. As long as they don't get ahead of themselves, I don't see that happening at all. I think Clemson, we all feel, is very fortunate to be in the playoffs. And I like Texas as well. And I think I like Texas to cover. I think they're going to win it by 14. Coach, Tennessee, number nine at the Ohio State, the eighth seed.

The spread is 7 and 1 half for the Buckeyes in Columbus on Saturday night. Yeah, I'm going to say that. I'm going to say a player's name, Seth McLaughlin. And that when that bomb went off and they lost their center, that changed the whole dagger. They played their best offensive line play in two years at Penn state. And it did not look good in the last game against Wolverines.

So I think the point spread is right. I'm going to go with the Buckeyes with a low scoring game. I think the strength of Tennessee is their defense, especially I watched them yesterday because I wanted to see the SEC, SEC D line. Guess what Mark? They got an SEC D line. They are that.

Big veined up cats coach. Big thick cats that get their feet across their line of scrimmage and that's not good for Ohio State. So they gotta get the ball out. It's gonna be cold. It's gonna be 20 degrees. I don't know the wind and I don't think there's any snow or anything like that.

But, uh, I think it's going to be low scoring game. I do think Ohio State's got the best defense in the country. So there'll, it'll be a, you know, 16 to 10 type game. I really believe that. Wow. 16 to 10 type. I got Ohio State winning. But you got Tennessee covering.

Yeah. Listen, man, Ohio State in trouble right now, but this is not a good draw for them. It's not a good draw for them, man. You got, you talked about that defensive line. Go with it. They're one of the toughest defenses in the country, coach. Go with it. Getting pressure, stopping the run, Dylan Sampson on offense, go with the football. Listen, go with the Nico. Can Nico E Amaliava weather the storm in the cold?

Can he toss that thing around? Not make mistakes, not turn the football over. Can he, I think he can, I think he can. I think we're cover a dub or cover. Oh man. Yeah. I got Ohio state, but I got Tennessee covering though. All right.

I got the bucks. I got the bucks. I got the bucks. I got the bucks, but I got Tennessee cover. I think they in trouble though. You say there's one game that you might pick for an upset. I have it as this one. If there's one game for an upset, I have it as this one.

And I can see it. Cause we don't know what Ohio State is after that humbling loss to Michigan. My taking and coach, you know this better. But my take is they needed a whole week off to lick their wounds and and to kind of come back to their senses to take that that smelling salt. And then I think this week has been the the rise up again like hey guys, this is what we do. They got to build Will Howard up.

They got to get his confidence up and early whether it's quick little slants to Smith or whatever it is like Buka get him going. They have to get the running game going right that two headed monster was held in check against Michigan. We've been saying it all year that Ohio State has the talent but they haven't really had that that breakthrough moment, you know, a resilient win at Penn State. They certainly took care of an Indiana team. I don't know, it's in coach, we've been saying this all season. Is it team A or is it team B? Are we gonna see that Buckeyes 18 that we've been waiting for

since the preseason or this version that's been kind of lurking around all season. It's a job that I got. I have Ohio State winning. I think it's going to be a goal. If it wasn't at Buckeye Stadium, I choose Tennessee. I think so. So Mark, it's Ohio Stadium. Yeah. Okay. I don't know. I didn't play there. So I'm sorry. No, respectfully, respectfully, respectfully, respectfully. A quick question for you guys of the four home venues, right? Austin, Texas,

Columbus, Ohio, Happy Valley, Pennsylvania, and South Bend, Indiana. Of those four, coach, I'll start with you. Which one do you think is the toughest environment on a Friday slash Saturday in December in a one-off college football playoff game? Toughest environment. I think the White House is the toughest environment in college football. However, not this time. They're playing all due respect SMU. You know, I think Ohio Stadium at night with the Tennessee rolling in there, I think Ohio stadium at night with the Tennessee rolling in there. I think there's some pent up frustrations, but I also heard that Tennessee somehow got some tickets. Yeah, I think so. They have orange in those stands.

They're gonna find out. I think there are three I think there's gonna be some great environments, but I'm going with the Buckeyes. What do you think Mark? I'm going with Happy Valley. The all-white. It's going to be cold. They ain't had no playoff game. They haven't been in the playoffs. Them people going to be ready.

They going to be ready to roll. That cold, that whiteout for SMU, they going to swarm them and it's going to be foot and arse. Three cold weather venues. We all know Austin, Texas can get chilly when it wants to as well but playoffs in December in Columbus in South Arsons right in state college it feels right like I'm happy it's in those type of places and obviously what Austin Texas is you know four great environments for college football and again it just goes to one of the things we've been saying all

season long college football playoffs has made college football. And again, it just goes to one of the things we've been saying all season long, college football playoffs has made college football better as a whole despite all the NIL and all the transfer portal issues and all that other stuff. College football, it's got some got some words we need to figure out we got to get some compound W on some of those words but everything else is looking really good. We remind you follow subscribe rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, as well as across social media, 3X Option Show.

Next week, a little bit of a change. You're gonna be getting an episode on Monday the 23rd and then another that week, Friday the 27th bonus playoff episodes for our triple option family out there. We appreciate you guys listening. We appreciate you watching and we appreciate

our sponsors Wendy's, Bet MGM, NHTSA and USAA. Enjoy the college football playoffs. Yes, the college football playoffs. Coach can't take the headphones off fast enough. He's done. Enjoy the four games. He did this four times already. Quit talking Stone. I gotta go somewhere.