The Triple Option - Trouble in Georgia, College Football Playoff Rankings, Week 12 Picks, & Colorado a Sleeper?

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

From the two-seed to outside the College Football Playoff in one week? Welcome to Georgia's world. Coach Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone break down the latest rankings and playoff bracket as Georgia falls outside of the playoff while the Big Ten lays claim to four of the top five spots in the rankings for the first time ever. Coach and Mark make their case for the SEC while Rob stands up for the little guys getting it done this season. Fair or Foul: celebrating with your friends after a loss? Kirby Smart sounded off and so did the guys. Coach takes you back to his first fine as a head coach, he still doesn't know where to find the checkbook. We then present the resumes of five teams fighting to make The College Football Playoff and let the guys decide who is most worthy. Coach suprised himself when he saw who he chose (#PonyUpDallas). They then made their Week 12 picks, including Georgia v Tennessee, Oregon v Wisconsin, Utah v Colorado, Clemson v Pitt, Virginia v Notre Dame, and Texas v Arkansas.   New episodes of The Triple Option drop every Wednesday throughout the season. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also make sure you’re locked in on social @3XOptionShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys and the TO community. (https://tripleoptionshow.com) The Triple Option is presented by Wendy’s. Try Wendy's New Saucy Nuggs Today https://wendys.com/nuggs A big thank you to the rest of our sponsors: BetMGM Use bonus code OPTION or go to https://betmgm.com/OPTION and get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Bonus bets are non-withdrawable. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. See BetMGM.com for Terms. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US) Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY) Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA) 21+ only. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA),1-800-981-0023 (PR). ZipRecruiter 4 out of 5 employees who post in ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try for FREE at https://ziprecruiter.com/OPTION Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Idiot is a trigger word. Idiot says something. That's what really got me going. And then that led me down this this rabbit hole. Don't call your player an idiot. From the triple option, don't call people idiots. You're welcome. Like it.

There's the music as we welcome you to another edition of the Triple Option presented by our great partner, Wendy's. Try Wendy's new saucy nugs today. So whether you're joining us for this live stream, if you're watching later, A, thank you. B, please rate and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, as well as across social media. You can find us at 3X option show new episodes coming your way every Wednesday.

We are here to talk nothing but college football right now. Rob Stone, Mark Ingram and Urban Meyer here with you as we get ready. Stone. Yes. Am I going too fast? I'm too excited. No matter. Where's coach? Don't even I was doing a background every secret like the secret secret location.

How many backgrounds college football playoff? How many backgrounds the coastire have more backgrounds than Texas Tech has tortillas? By the way, I thought I was the background king and urban is usurp that title from me who knows where coach will be next week. You know what, who knows where coach will be later on here on this week's edition of the triple option. Stay up for that one.

You can find us on social media at 3XOptionShow. We're three dudes who love each other and care intimately about college football. New episodes, as we mentioned, coming your way Wednesday. Rob, Mark, Urban, we're here with you. We're getting you ready for week number 12, but to really talk about week number 12, you have to talk about the college football

playoff rankings. The second edition of the college football playoff rankings just came out. We're going to hit it in just a moment. Want to remind you how the playoffs play out this year again, 12 teams make the playoffs five highest ranked conference champions. Remember that because that's going to be impactful get the automatic bids the five highest ranked conference champs those remaining seven spots, they get parceled on out

to the next highest seven ranked teams for highest ranked conference champions. They get that really important first round by the 5678 C teams, they get a home game on their campus guys. Are we ready to get to it here? Because you're so wild. There was one and there was some shaken. So we're gonna put it up here for you. craziness at the bottom. Right. So the next three out Boise State they got in at number 13 down a spot this week, but they're in as the 12 seed. So you're gonna see them in the bracket. But right now, they are

not one of the quote unquote 12 best teams. Same for how did they go down how did that happen you know also went down smu went down to number 14 texas a&m at number 15 down as hot because old miss jumps them i think old miss jumped them in the rankings because of this old miss in there at number 11 but oh miss was oh miss was on the outside and now they're on the inside and looking good. But guess who's on the outside but also on the inside, right? Try to figure that one out. Full dog. This is insane, guys. If you go back last week, I have my sheep Georgia last week. They were the number two seed in the whole tournament, the number two

seed. And they had the number three ranking. That's last week. Oh boy, seven days can change things a lot. Georgia, a ranking of number 12. But they are the first team out because of what Boise State does as winning the Mountain West and moving into the bracket. Georgia, without a doubt, Mark has to be the talking point of this the second edition of the college football playoff rankings. I mean, you go from the three seed to out. I mean, that just shows you the emphasis on how bad that loss was viewed by the

committee. But at the same time, they played number seven Tennessee here in a couple days. So they're on the outside looking in but they can easily be right back on the inside with a win against the number seven ranked team by the committee. So we'll see this SEC thing is chaotic right now. A&M is on the outside. They control their own destiny. They could be playing in the SEC championship game. They have Texas at home the last game of the season. So this SEC thing is going to come down to the wire, man. It's a crazy conference, man. I played in it, coach coached in it.

We know how tough that conference is. Yeah, in 2015, we got bounced. We started the preseason number one the year after winning it. We lost late against Michigan State and we got the same, we got, you know, we dropped way out of that thing. And so you're right. It's when you lose, who you lose to and how you lose. And I who to think you would lost 10 spots.

I mean, they're out, Georgia's out. If the world ends today, Georgia's out of the playoffs. Right. Amazing. Old Miss, the big benefactor, eight and two, they jumped up five spots and they're sitting there with the 11 ranking, right and Ole Miss with the 11 seeds. So right now it would be Ole

Miss at Penn State. Another big talking point. The big 10. Are you kidding me? The top five. Top five. Penn State, they moved up two spots. Their best win all season guys, Illinois, but there's Penn State sitting there at number four, they went above Indiana, but give give the crew and the committee some credit for Indiana, they bumped Indiana up three spots this week, the narrow win at home over Michigan, they're idle this

week, and then the big test at the horseshoe live on Fox, not this Saturday, but next Saturday. So Indiana moves up three spots coach to number five. Does that feel right? Does that feel fair for the one second before coach goes, I don't want to give committee credit for moving them up because Miami lost, Georgia lost. I know. I know.

I say it's still, I think it's still a brave move to have an Indiana team up there that hasn't done much through their history and doesn't have that brand star power to sit there at five. But I think that win over Michigan, you know, over those winged helmets, and, and the brand that is Michigan, and we know Michigan is down this year, but I feel like the committee and others, including us, needed to see them beat a real program. You know, like they beat the defending national champs.

I think that makes people breathe a little bit easier that yes, Indiana clearly does belong up there at number five. Yeah. Indiana, if the committee is watching film and I would always challenge that, say, you know, I don't, I'm going to get that for next week. Who was actually on the committee? I mean, you used to have commissioners from smaller conferences used to have, you know, I don't, I'm going to get that for next week. The, who was actually on the committee. I mean, you used to have commissioners from smaller conferences used to have. You know, people on there that, you know, I'll do respect a really good,

put a good people. I didn't say that, but when they watch video tape, Mark, or they watch film, they're going to be like, I have no idea what I'm watching. And in the end, you watch them, which I have all year. I've been saying that's for the last six, seven weeks. They're one of the best coach teams, certainly the big 10 and I'll say the country. So that is certainly deserving of it.

Uh, absolutely. But once again, are they watching film? Are they, when you said they beat the Wolverines, I got news, the Wolverine version, 2024, it's not, that's not a good win. I actually thought Indiana should have played much better. You know, uh, Wolverines just sort of shell of themselves and they were a year ago so I know it's I wish we'd get away from the blue blood and all that that's it's hard though coach it's hard that's what college football is I know but push play yeah you're on a committee and I know if you

push play you respect Indiana though if you push play you respect Indiana they're very well coached team. They haven't played anybody yet, but they will play somebody in two weeks. So they will have their shot to prove their worth. Coach, this week you pushed play on SMU, sitting there at number 14, down one spot. What did the Mustangs show you?

Yeah, I did because there's, you know, I coached at Utah and I've also coached at a couple of Blue Bloods and it would piss me off to no end when someone would criticize us like they did in 2004, you know, that you guys aren't in the BCS. You're not the BCS. And I came out on national TV. That's the hell with the BCS. Who beat most of those bees.

Let's go play them all. You know, I was a young guy and popped up a little bit back then, Mark, but I, I just wanted, before I spoke, I wanted to turn them on and say, you know, SMU used to be in a smaller conference, SMU was, you know, you just didn't think much of them, but you don't want to know what they really invested. They must have, I've heard they invested in their players. They got some really good players and you watched you push play. Damn.

I mean, they, damn, they're good. They've got some really good team. I mean, you throw a Wolverine helmet on them. You'd be okay. I get it. Yeah. So SMU, God bless him, man. They are really good football team. Another, another big jumper this week. BYU getting a little more respect. They were at number nine last week. They go up three spots to number six. And again, they showed some escapability last weekend getting that win at Utah. And

they're on top of the big 12 and they're undefeated and sitting there at number six. Again, though, the big talking point is Georgia, if we could call up the Georgia schedule right now, guys, and this triggers the big part of the conversation, we were saying, like, are we going to get a three loss team into the playoffs? I don't know. George has got to beat Tennessee right now. The way that the committee set up the Bulldogs currently dropping them down all the way to number 12 and outside of the bracket, this is an absolute must-win game for them this weekend versus Tennessee.

A hundred percent. But I mean, look at this schedule. This is just brutal. It's a brutal schedule. You pop off the year with Clemson. They beat Clemson and had everyone thinking Clemson was done for. Clemson crawls back. They fight back there.

What? Right in the teens in this playoff picture. Yeah, that was when Clemson was 14. That's when the win was. And when Texas was won, that was when the victory was. Then you got Alabama with a close loss. Then you have, there you go. Number one, Texas with a big win.

Then you have Florida, which they're a little bit down, but then Ole Miss. Now you got Tennessee. Like, this is a brutal schedule, man. It's just back to back to back to back. And Mark, who beat Miami on Saturday? Georgia tech towards a tech. Yeah.

Down there. Close up with right with that. Uh, so the age old, the old age old question, and I love to hit Mark with this is that, okay, see the big G up there on the, on the top left, go ahead and white that out and put SMU there. Or put, let's go SMU. All right. SMU and take a shot at that schedule. What honestly, what's what would happen to Mark?

That's 13 games. What's that? That's 13 games, 12 games. I see. I don't see him being Clemson. I don't see him being Bama. I don't see him being Texas. I don't see him being Ole Miss.

I don't see him being Tennessee. That's five losses right there. And you can add up another loss or two in the schedule. So I'm like, all due respect to SMU. But like, when you go and play the quality of that schedule, that thing is brutal. So I mean, you have to look at the quality of the schedule, you have to look at the opponents, you have to look at the strength of schedule, you have to look at the rank wins, you have to look at the full body of work because you have a few of these teams. I'm not disrespecting anyone, but you have SMU, you have BYU, you have shoot Notre Dame, who lost to Northern Illinois, you know what I mean? But Notre Dame up two spots to number eight. Does a three loss team get in like from the SEC if they were supposed to lose to Tennessee? Georgia, let's see who they lost to they lost to Bama Who is in the playoff race?

They lost to Ole Miss who was in the playoff race and they have Tennessee coming up So do you punish them for three losses against a team a two loss ACC team? Well, you know, that's not the ACC champ. We'll see, you know, I mean, but mark is tough are so good You're you're transitioning me to this next conversation. We ran a Twitter poll earlier today on the triple option social media handle. We essentially asked that question right now. 53% of those that what the people say don't the people said 53% of we love the people. We said putting

in a three loss SEC team over a two loss ACC Championship Game loser, which would be Miami or SMU. So they feel like a three loss as they're given big value to a three loss SEC team. 47% of those chiming in would be putting in a two loss ACC Championship Game loser. The people we lost SEC team still pretty tight, pretty tight in a two loss ACC championship game loser over a three loss SEC team. Still pretty tight, pretty tight on that hole. But but it's more it's the people speak on the BYU SMU conflict.

Well, no, they didn't. Well, no, and athletic. I have respect. We'll talk about that one. I respect for SMU. My boy, coal liner. That's your future at the QB. I have respect for him. But it is a truly honest discussion. If you put those schedules for those teams, how would it fare? So just I'm not I'm not hating on nobody. So here's the other thing. I want to throw this out at you because I have talked to people on the committee that left the

committee because I was asked and now when you watch tape, which I was a maniac about that, you got to watch a tape. Got to watch a tape. Okay. Watch the tape. You watch the first half against Texas or the second half. I'm talking about Georgia. First half against Texas, second half against Bama.

You're saying that might be the best team in the football. You watched that mess last week. Yeah. And you say SMU is a better team. Yeah. Cause I watched them both. And Carson Beck, something's wrong. Something's there, there's something wrong right now.

Coach, to that point, it's Alabama as well. I want to trust Alabama and then I can't trust them. And then I want to trust them. And then I don't know, they're down one spot to number 10 sitting there seven and two mark it is crazy. Let me throw out this spicy nug for you. It was a good one. Three weeks are left in the college football regular season all 18 conference championship game spots still

open. Nobody has a spicy nugget yet. That's your a ticket yet. That's your saucy. That's your saucy and saucy nugget of the week. Try some at your nearest winnings. We love those saucy nugs coming your way. That's a good one, man. Things are wide open. So much to play for. The Big 12, the SEC, the Big 10, the ACC, every conference championship is open and we love it because that means players are playing hard right now. That means players are bought in. Coach, would you say there's 15, 20 programs that wake up tomorrow morning knowing they have a shot to accomplish the ultimate goal, which to raise that gold championship trophy. Right. And this is why we love college football.

Look at this. This is going to be like amazing. Can you imagine going to see the Cripsen Tide to Bloomington in the cold? I love it. Oh, miss. I love Penn State. Notre Dame going to Tennessee. Ashton Gentry going against the fighting Urban Myers, the Buckeyes. That game up top. Yeah, that game up top Boise State, Ohio State. So that was the same game that was predicted last week and it holds its spot.

That's the only game. Tennessee remains there as an eight seed. Last week they were hosting Indiana, this week they're hosting Notre Dame. Penn State, six seed now, home game against Ole Miss. Indiana, home game against Alabama. How about of the four first round games? Three of them will be on home Big Ten sites.

As of now. As of now. We know Indiana has to play Ohio State. We know Georgia has to go to Tennessee. We know Miami still has to do they say against SMU. You know what I mean? Hey Miami watch out. Be careful Miami right?

Can't can't be playing with fire all season long. All season long. You play with fire. You might get burnt. Yeah. Down five spots. They're nine and one. They're down now to number nine, highest rank ACC team, but there they are though.

Getting a buy and off to the quarterfinals, but the Buckeye. How about this Rob? How about this Robin Mark? about this Rob and Mark? So you got Ohio state, little beat boys here. They shut, then they beat Miami. They're going to play Oregon for the third time in a season. You've been on that one for a couple of weeks now, Coach. I was pretty proud.

That's a nightmare for a coach in a play on. A trilogy. Yeah, so you're going to have, they played at Eugene. They're going to play in Indianapolis probably. And then they're going to play again in a semi unbelievable. They probably first time ever. Ooh. Is there a team guys that's not on that bracket right now, besides Georgia,

that people maybe need to be thinking about a little bit more? Is it an SMU? Is it an A and M is it, Oh, by the way, the team that checked in this week at number 17 up three spots. Coach prime and the Colorado color of the boss who control their destiny and they host Utah this Saturday. Big noon kickoff will be there in Boulder in early start but Colorado at number 17, seven and two overall up three spots to number 17. Watch out for the Buffs.

The Buffs control their own destiny, man. They have to take it one week at a time. I just, I think if I, I'm, I'm jumping on that SMU train a little bit. I was, I kind of took shots at them a little bit the last couple of weeks, but they're a balanced team. They're a really good team. And, oh man, we're going to be a Boulder. I love Boulder. I love the fact that- You're jumping onto Matt Liner in the SMU train, huh?

Yeah. Just watching him. You know, I just, I wanted before I popped off, I said, I wanted to at least look at this thing. And I was not hoping, but I was a little shocked what I saw. Because SMU, I just never, never have thought of them that way. They've been down for so long. I mean, there's always been a decent program, but they are legit. Yeah.

Legit. Legit. Legit. SMU, that's ACC. Colorado's in the big 12. They got to have to see BYU. They got Utah this week. You know, Utah is tough on defense.

And guess what? We're not talking blue bloods. We are not talking blue bloods right there. And as an underdog type guy, I love that. I love the fact that we're discussing Boise State and can SMU get on in there and you know how much longer can BYU and Indiana hold on to those spots can they continue to move up. But you look at these Rankinstoner and like I feel that on any given Saturday, any given whatever day, one of these teams play their best they could day, one of these teams play their best, they could

beat any one of these teams. This is what, this is beautiful. Everyone wondered what this college football player would look like. And I think this is like the most exciting thing that could be happening for college football. I've been saying it, like Bitcoin is at 85,000, 86,000. If college football is the stock right now, I'm buying it and I'm buying it in bulk. I'm loading the boat on it, coach, because I mean, this is crazy.

Yeah, that's great stuff. So Kirby smarts had himself a couple days. Here you go. Nope, nope, not yet. It's coming soon. It's this me teasing things coming up on the triple option. Kirby smart with a with a soundbite that that caught our attention. We say hello to our new friend, your attention. Jake, Jake Pope out there. We're gonna have our bet MGM pick six coming your way.

Also a blind resume on the way. This is fascinating. We're going to look at five programs give you some of their credentials, but not tell you who the program is. And it will be a fun watch and listen to see who Mark and urban said is the better program. But there it is. My program is up here. Your your program is on the good side sitting there at number 10. The big news this week coming out of the college football playoff rankings, Georgia down all the way to number 12. And

they are not in the 12 team college football playoff bracket. Light it. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations. Hey, no, too basic. Hi there. Still no. What about hello handsome? Who knew you could give yourself the ick?

That's why Bumble is changing how you start conversations. You can now make the first move or not. With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches. Then sit back and let your matches start the chat, download Bumble and try it for yourself. Welcome back to the triple option presented by Wendy's longtime Baltimore Oriole fan urban Meyer marking stone back with you. Is that what the yeah, where is coach kind of works? Where is coach this week? That's always my favorite thing of the week. Rob is coach be nice.

Tell you what, I'm not far from where you dominated. Hey, you right there. See what the Ravens right down the street. That's good. I think I ran by a statue of Mark Ingram. Wait a second. You went for a run coach. Walk. You know, a road walk. I've been to Baltimore 2530 times but I've seen the not pretty side of Baltimore. downtown and the water for the harbor is beautiful. Yeah. Great place to go eat, man. I got you man. Man. Oh, they crushed us last two nights here. So Mark's got

a place I bet there was freedom. Um, the Navy Navy yard. No, no, it's up on that hill with all the flags. No, no, no, I haven't I haven't been up there. Maybe you could take it next time. This segment brought to you by the Baltimore Tourism Board. Also, we're going to fit in here and do a little herd that we had a couple of interesting sound bites this week in college football. Let's start with Georgia's Jake Pope.

There was video out there of him celebrating field at Ole Miss with some people in Ole Miss jerseys. It was just a quick little glimpse. And of course, Georgia had lost. The backstory real quick, we're gonna get Kirby Smart's take on it. The backstory is he's trying to get off the field after the loss, runs into some old friends

from Beaufort, Georgia, who have gone to his games, who have cheered for Pope. They were also at the Ole Miss game cheering for some of their other friends. He ran into them out of the blue, was so surprised, was kind of hugging them and happy to see his friends, but the reaction obviously went viral. Here's his head coach, Kirby Smarts. Kirby, there's a video on social media of Jake Pope seemingly celebrating

with some Ole Miss fans on the field after the game. Just wanted to see if you had seen that and what your reaction to it was. Yeah, what an idiot. I mean, what a – I mean, just stupid. I didn't see it till today, but he's embarrassed about it. He's upset about it. That's obviously a childhood friend of his. He grew up and played with there at Buford and knows him,

hadn't seen him in forever, but just not real smart. But to be honest with you, I don't have time to waste energy on that. I mean, you know what I'm saying? Like, like my focus is on Tennessee. I'm not worried about that. Okay. There's a lot to take in on this one. You guys are kind of giggling together.

There's some laugh. Kirby, serious points to it. Yeah. Kirby, Mark, you never talked about it. Kirby has been through it this season. Kirby's got some stuff going on this year. He does. It has been a tough year for him.

But man, you talk about how he's over here pushing other players. Now he's calling his own dude an idiot in front of everybody. Like my man Kirby is just fighting it right now, but it's okay, man. It's tough in the SEC. Just coming off a tough loss. But come on, man. They'll call you dude an idiot. But it's not a good look for Jake Pope. It's not a good look for a man to be bouncing around, jumping up and down.

The team's all on. You look like you celebrating. We probably going to good look for a man to be bouncing around, jumping up and down. The team's all you look like you celebrating. We probably going to dump you on your head or something, man. Like, but Jake, what's that movie? What's that movie called with the Jack Nicholson words? They gave the guy a code red. Uh, you can't handle the truth. You can't handle the truth. Where they gave the guy a code.

Down at DC. Wasn't it? Oh, I can't remember that Gave a guy the old it. I don't know how you go eat dinner and those players you know the defensive tackles and the You know the offensive guard been getting your teeth kicked in and a lawn snapper screwing around after the game That's a tough deal and man. And it's silly. I mean, move on, but what in the world?

Yeah, man, like- Well, to your point, it is silly. Move on. Don't even address it. And the big, at least I thought, Coach, and particularly in your industry, you praise in public and you criticize in private. OK?

And I understand there are some times that apparently the private criticism hasn't taken hold and you need to maybe go out and have a stronger work, but keep that internally. You don't need to throw your player under the bus. Calling your player is an idiot. That's BS. That is Bush League. That is JV and Coach Smart is way above it. Number two, you want stupid. You want idiots. Let me tell you, that visor, that visor is not a halo, right? Why don't you look at some of the player transactions and transgressions that have been happening

in your program the last couple of months, right? All of those driving problems, speeding, racing, reckless driving, DUI. There's a battery and assault case out there as well. And you're gonna call this guy an idiot and stupid for hugging somebody that he was genuinely happy to see. You want dumb and idiot and stupid. It's getting behind the wheel in a reckless manner and driving around and killing people and possibly impairing others.

That is being an idiot. That is being dumb. Listen, guys, if I have a bad bowling show or a bad soccer show, I'm down. But if I see one of you two cats walking down the hallway, guess what I'm doing. I'm smiling and I'm going to be happy to see you guys. And I'm going to hug you. And I get football in the SEC is a little bit different, right? And I have all kinds of respect for that, but to throw your player under the bus, calling him an idiot when there are a whole lot of other problems behind the scenes that are really stupid.

Right. That to me seems out of character. It's all valid. It's all very valid. Yeah, that really stoner stoner you you heated up about that extra point this morning up about that. It's true though. It's true. It's very true. I'm upset about that, man. I wish I hope every player in college football, college basketball, college soccer, whatever it is in life

has people that that bring that type of joy to them where they had just had a horrible defeat on the road. And yet they're still happy and smiling and ready to throw out a hug to see these people. I hope we all have friends and emotions like that. So like, I've seen some, I've seen some people that I really love after a tough loss and like, you know, you do smile, you do hug them. But like when you get whipped like that though, I don't see the jumping up and

down part, it's a little different, you know what I mean? But don't call the man an idiot in front of the media. Don't call him stupid in front of the media. Just let it go. Mark and coach wanted to move on, right? Coach smart wanted to move on from this. Yeah. Guess how you move on.

You don't say that. Yeah. You don't say that. I'm like, now we got to talk about it. Yeah. Guess how you move on. You don't say that. Cause now we got to talk about it. Now we got to talk about it. I would, I would have been happy to not have mentioned the name Jake Pope and I hope folks in Athens and whatnot treat Jake Pope with proper respect. Right. I hope, I hope you who want to yell at Jake Pope have friends like Jake Pope. Right. I hope you got those dudes out there that you want to hug and see. All right. I'm moving on coach. I'm not even going to let you talk about this. I don't want to hear about it.

Let Coach get his two cents in. Do you want two cents? Because I know there's another topic we got two cents for. Listen, everybody's got virtues and vices, right? And my vice was handling the loss. So I am the wrong one to talk about. There was no hugs. I mean, it was hard to hold on to solid food for three months after a loss. Especially getting whooped like that. And, and I will just say this, that the investment on teams like Georgia, Ole Miss, you know, Ohio State, so I mean, the investment is beyond reproach. I mean, people really, the normal human being really doesn't understand

the amount of time, blood, sweat and tears that goes into that. You're playing that fricking SEC. You get kicked in the face. I'm serious. I'm, I'm the wrong guy to ask. Cause I mean, you guys know me. It would take me months to get over a loss. I'm not over six years old.

I'm still thinking about the 2015 when we lost to Michigan state. So I get, I mean, it's a kid. He's a young kid and you apologize apologize, but I also I feel Kirby, I would never said the idiot word. But I'll tell you, I would have busted him up. I was so don't take care. And that's fine. Bust them up behind behind the locker room door. Imagine Mark. I mean, I know. Yeah, the players give it to them too. I don't know if I see any players come out. I

don't know if I've seen any players come out in public and put that guy down But I know they gave it to him in the locker room. I think Rob's best thing was that's behind the doors Yes, yes, but he was I'm gonna give it he was asked about he didn't bring it up Yeah, but family man is standing in front of a media You're always gonna ask those questions and you have say, you can't just say move on. I guess you could. You can say, you can say, hey. We handle it internally.

You can say, I'll talk to him about it. I'll talk to him about it and that's it. I wanna talk about this week, Tennessee. You know what I mean? And listen, idiot is a trigger word, right? Like idiot says something. And that's what really got me going. And then that led me down this rabbit hole. Don't call your player an idiot.

Right? This is, according to the triple here from the triple option, don't call people idiots. You're welcome. That's, that's today's big giveaway. Today's big giveaway. My man Kirby going through it, man. But let's go through this.

All right. You know who else is going through it right now? The athletic director at Utah. All right. Mark Harlan upset that Utah's bid to upset BYU the the team I think we call them the team down south. Right? Correct. Did I learn that coach last year? Yes. Yep. Yep. Yep. The team down south. Alright, so this is Mark

Harlan, the athletic director, not the head coach, not a player, not an offense coordinator, coming in to the postgame locker room and addressing the media. 12 years. This game was absolutely stolen from us. We were excited about being big 12. But tonight I am not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. Very disappointed. I will talk to the commissioner. This is not fair to our team. I'm disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating crew tonight. Thank you.

So a controversial call that went against Utah, which kind of triggered that whole conversation. He said I will talk to the commissioner. My guess is the commissioner beat him to that and Commissioner Brett Yormack reached out to him immediately. I have nothing but but love for Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark. Yes, who has already fined Harlan $40,000 saying quote, there's a right way and a wrong way to voice concerns. Sound familiar? I think we just went through that. Unfortunately,

Mark chose the wrong way. Harlan in a subsequent statement accepted the find, acknowledged there are quote, more appropriate times and avenues to address officiating. Correct. There are. And there is a part of me, coach, that loves to see your AD stand behind his program and stand behind his players. But I think there's a place and there's a way to do something like that. Because him walking out there and calling

out the big 12 and calling out the officiating is just saying you might as well just hand over your account number and pin to your bank code right now because you're going to be lighting the lot like you're gonna be lighting the wallet. There's one person on this triple option that experienced that in 2007. It's not Mark or me. Yeah, the commissioner of the SEC was really upset with all the coaches for criticizing

officiating and said, there's a new rule. You're going to get fined 30K. And I mean, we can look it up. It was actually the Georgia game. And a reporter asked me a question. I said, yeah, I don't agree with that call. Some calls are missed. It wasn't something like that where they stole the game. And so I got a letter from the SEC saying you're fined 30k. And I'm thinking, oh, that's,

who cares? Move on. And I thought, well, the school will pay that, you know, once. I'm their guy. No, that came right out of that. That was old. Came out of that check. Didn't even see it on her coast. They take that right out of that. That was old. Came out of that check. Didn't even see it, huh, Coach? They take that right out of the check. No, no, no. Shelly had the right to check. Oh, she had the right? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. From the desk of Urban and Shelly Meyer. What did you put in the memo section, Coach? Yeah. See, in the NFL, if you get that fine, you don't even write no check. You just come straight out the check like taxes. You know what I mean?

So I thought they would do that to you, Coach. But I'll tell you how to say this. That's one of those ones, press pause, get your mind right and step up. Just calm down. We've all been there. You're so angry, but then the problem is you watch the video tape and it was holding.

If that's what he's come, I don't know the whole game. I didn't watch, I watched most of it, but it was a good, bad officiating. One thing about officiating. And I learned over my career. You know, Mark, I consistently bad. You see, I just I think I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But consistent is the buzzword. That's all you want as a player

and coach like be consistent. If you're here's what I will say, I get it for, you know, after every game, you do a you fill it out. Yes, there's some bad there's been a couple we had missed three, maybe four, you know, the every game you do a, you fill it out. Yes. And there's some bad, there's been a couple where you've missed three, maybe four. You know, the majority of the time after you're pissed off and you, during the game, you're like, how do you miss that call? You go watch a film and say, damn, it was, he was right. Yeah. So funny how that happens.

I just want to go back to that moment real quick, coach. When, when you were a head coach, did you have any idea where your checkbook was in your house? I still don't know. Hey, Michelle holding it down Michelle holding the fort down man. It's the last time you paid a bill coach. Do you have any idea when you paid a bill? Obviously I paid that fine in 2007.

I didn't. Shelly did. Nine times. How many times have I been there closing? Nine moves. Hey, that's why you got a queen holding down the fort, man. When I need something done. And those three special words, those three words, Mark, careful when you hear them.

Power of attorney. Queen Shelly, baby. You got to give it to them. Give her the two words, Queen Shelly. When the triple option comes back, we're gonna put blindfolds on the guys and we're gonna look at some blind resumes. Who is the top team out there in college football?

Like it. We welcome you back to the triple option presented by the Wendy's. And this week, guys, a fun little blind resume ranking test presented by ZipRecruiter. Try ZipRecruiter for free. ZipRecruiter.com slash option. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. So we partnered with ZipRecruiter here and we're going to put up this graphic. Five resumes of teams that are currently in the college football playoff rankings. And you're going to tell me of these five, I'm curious, who is the number one

team in your eye just of these five programs? I'll tell you the brands in a little bit, but we look at them right now. All right, so we've got the record offense and defense where they're ranked in the nation, the amount of ranked wins, team number one's got the most by the way at two and then the strength of schedule. And there's, there's a couple of big ones, right? Number one, strength of schedule 81 team number three, strength of schedule 100. So this is the old blind test brought to you by zip recruiter and Markie, you start staring at these numbers.

What are the first thing, maybe what's the first thing that draws your eye? Cause I see that 10 and 0 at team three and that, that pulls me in immediately. Yeah, the 10 and 0, the second rank offense, the seventh rank defense, and then a hundred, a hundred strength of schedule is crazy. I think I know who that is by the way. I think we all know who that is by the way. But the eight and two, the fifth and the sixth rank defense with the one rank we're in and the 23rd rank schedule.

And we always talk about the quality of your wins. We always talk about the strength of your schedule being respected as such. And team one has two rank wins, but they're 81 strength of schedule. So I'm like, this thing is difficult. This is hard. Yeah. So what's your question for me? I want to know and I don't want it right now because I want to kind of look at these

numbers and spit it out. But I'm gonna come back to you, Mark. I want to know who is your top team of those five programs as you look at the zip recruiter blind resume? Who is your top team? Mark? I'm sorry, coach, what are the numbers that kind of end up, I guess, influencing your thought process on this as we stare them down? Yeah, I've coached in the Big Ten, the SEC, but I also coach in the Mountain West and the Mid-America Conference.

But my eyes go right to who you play. I don't know how you, that to me is the number one if you got rank wins and who you play. If you have a loss- The strength of schedule is your kind of number one component on this track. Yeah, I look at the 10 and all, that's great. But then I go boom, right over there. And I'm like, wait a minute. You know, so are you putting a red line through team number three right now with that? No, no, kind of. And I hate that because I love

players and I love good, well coached teams and obviously they are. And that's a really well coached team. That is a really well. I mean, if I'm right with my assumptions, we'll tell you who two and three is in a moment. Go on coach. So that's where I go. And I think this committee is going to be men earn a street fight for. And I still think at some point, maybe we will, we're going to take Georgia

schedule and you put SMU put Miami put Brigham young and you put and say, okay, what what's truth and what's real. And not, once again, we are not defaming what these fricking players are doing to go 10 an hour, because that's hard. Mark, you know it's hard, Rod, you know it's hard, I know it's hard. Winning matters.

But there's also a lot of reality here. Yeah, winning matters, but also who you play matters too. All right, so Mark, I go back to you then coach, it's your turn. Who is your top team, Mark, of those five and why? Or maybe, and also maybe who is it between, are you caught between two programs right now? It's just so hard, man, because I like the strength of the schedule. I like the rank wins, but I think winning matters, man. Yeah.

I think winning matters. And I think, I think team three is going to have their say soon. So right now, ah, team four, first offense. I think I know who that is too. Um, I like want to put respect on team five's name right now. Okay. So team five with two losses though, I can't put them above. I can't put them all those other numbers. I can't put them above.

I can't put them above 10 and over 9 and oh, cuz winning matters, man. I'm gonna have to take team three right now, man. Just off of wow. I think three. Okay, I'm gonna take team three just because I think there's I think I I know who they are. And I think they're going to have their say coming up shortly. So they'll be able to prove my ranking right or wrong. Okay. We're going to find out in a second who team three is. I'll go right to team one. The schedule you're going team one. Yeah, just rank wins. I know it's 80 for it. I mean, this is really hard here. This is really hard. I think I know, I know. Second worst strength of schedule of the five programs is team one, but the most ranked wins and an eight in one record.

All right, so Mark is going team three, urban team one. All right, let's see who the teams are right now. Here's the big zip recruiter blind resume reveal. So team one that you picked urban was SMU. And how about that, Mark? You picked Indiana. You were thinking about Ole Miss at number five. And I, and I get you, I get you.

But coach went with SMU and Mark, you went with Indiana. I was right. Cause I knew this was Indiana. And I was like, I don't care about the hundred strength of schedule because next week they have the opportunity to play the second best team in the country, probably the best team in the country. So I was right. They will have their say here in about a week in two weekends, they will have their say. So I'm not mad with my choice.

You know, what's going to be interesting is ranked wins obviously matters, right? We get it. We put a lot of value on it. Obviously, coach you did right because you gave SMU your top pick and their two ranked wins but their two ranked wins are not against top five top ten teams right right there against lower quote unquote ranked teams as well so that's gonna be one of the conversations is like how much value do you put on this win compared to maybe these ranked wins or how many points do you get for a good loss like Indiana losing in Columbus in a tight game, if they don't win it,

is a, it's going to be a good loss. I don't think Indiana is going to get dinged that much if they have a bad next Saturday in Columbus. I agree. I, I mean, this just woke me up here and SMU, but I keep just going back to the reality, take SMU who by the way, incredible story down there in Dallas, go slap that Georgia schedule right in there and just have a conversation.

But you know what? They don't play it. They play their schedule. They've won two ranked games. And winning matters. And winning matters. But look at this, Ole Miss down there, 8-2. Remember, I was kind of hesitant about the Ole Miss.

I think this is the best team on the schedule. This might be the best team out of the five. This is a good list right here. I like this little blind resume. I like this little blind resume here. These are all playoff teams right here. Well, I ask you, you know, I'm sure you could do this. Ask Vegas, what's the point spread Ole Miss?

They always got it right. Margot, I'm with you. I think all five of these teams, I think, I think four of these programs will Miami college football playoff. I think SMU Miami, I think it's kind of only a one big conference. Yeah, conference at the moment. Ole Miss keeps winning. They have to be in there. And you're right, those numbers validated. What a big win for Coach Kiffin. I think Indiana is in even with some type of manageable loss. And I'm happy for BYU in the Big 12. I hope the Big 12 comes in and is a disruptor on that final college football playoff

for me. I'd love to see them sneak two teams in there. I'd love to see Colorado run the table, win the Big 12, get that bid and BYU also gets it as well. It's going to be a lot of fun. A lot of football left to be played, which pivots us now to pick six brought to you by BetMGM. Place your money line, prop, parlay and same game, parlay bets at BetMGM. Download the app today. Please as always gamble responsibly. We've got six games against the spread every week. Mark has got his deuce deuce dog of the week. I will start things off by sending it over to Coach.

Utah at Colorado, buffs favored by 10. Big Noon in Boulder this Saturday. The buffs, we just mentioned, they control the Big 12 and their playoff destiny if they can win out Rocky Mountain rivals Utah in town. And we already talked about it. The Utes are probably not going to be in a great mood for this one coach. No, and obviously my feelings for Utah and Kyle, the coach

Kyle Winningham is I wear it on my sleeve. I love the guys one but arguably the best coach ever been around. What he's done at Utah is incredible. I know he's getting near the end of his career, and it breaks my heart to see it going like this year. They took BYU right to the end. I think they cover the spread. I don't know if they win. Good thing I don't have to pick a winner there.

But I'm going to pick Colorado's on fire. They're going to be on fire with us there. They have four receivers, can play anywhere in the country, arguably the best quarterback in the country. But I'm going Utah because of defense. We'll keep this thing somewhat close. 10 AM local kick. Better be prepared for that one.

That is morning in the Rocky Mountain. Get up and go. Let's roll, let's roll Virginia at Notre Dame, Irish 22 and a half point favorites. I was thinking about this one last night, guys. And coach, you'll know this intimately, the Irish, they are a national program, right? Their fans are everywhere. When I say everywhere, we're talking internationally as well. alumni from coast to coast. If you are a one beaten Notre Dame team,

and in contention for a national title, you hear about it. You're not hearing about it this year. Almost kind of like suspiciously quiet in South Bend. And I think if you're the Irish right now, Coach Freeman, you are loving that you guys are under the radar right now while all these things are happening. Everybody's too busy talking about the SEC and the Big Ten. And here's Notre Dame, right? Had that big win over Texas A&M to open up things.

Had that stunning week two home loss to Northern Illinois and everybody jumped off the train. Since then, the Irish, seven straight wins of those victories, only one of them guys was a one score game. So they are doing it in convincing fashion. You want to convincing when how about last week? How about the fact we don't even mention Notre Dame, Florida State, like I can't I'm stunned by the fact that there was no conversation leading up to this game. And here's why 52 three was your final that is how bad Florida State is and maybe one that's how good.

One and eight? Awful. Just to quote coach, awful. Maybe a double awful. Yeah, Florida State, you are awful. And this is hard to say. I watched them on film. They're counting them.

They might be worse than their record. To three. They might be worse than their record. They are worse than their record. Who would they win? Who would they beat? Hold on. We're talking about Notre Dame, not Florida State, right?

Okay. Everybody's already piled on them. They're done. They're done. Let's talk about, talk about Notre Dame. A bit of a hit early this week, their stud defensive tackle Howard Cross ruled out with an ankle injury out for the game, but now not out for the season. Virginia, they got a big upset win over Pitt last week. They now remain one win shy of bowl eligibility. but we talked

about that big spread. I think it's too big. I like the Irish to improve to nine and one, but I don't see them covering against Virginia. This one is interesting in big 10 country. Oregon 14 point favorite on the road Mark at Wisconsin. Just two regular season games less left for the top ranked ducks this week. It's their last road trip as they go to Madison. They go to Madison and I just expect Oregon who's gotten better and better as it seems see as this team is as this season has gone on. They just gotten better and better. I expect them to dominate and control the physicality at the line of scrimmage in this game. This Wisconsin defense has struggled to generate pressure in the last four games.

They have four sacks total. And if Dylan Gabriel, when he gets a clean pocket, he is lethal. Look at these numbers when he kept clean in a pocket this year, 80% completion rate, 17 touchdowns, four interceptions. And like we've talked about him being a Heisman contender. I think I looked at the eye, he's kind of falling a little behind Jantian Travis Hunter. So this could be a patched adding game for him. But I'd also look for a heavy dose. I said they're going to control the line of scrimmage. I look for a heavy dose of Jordan James and Noah winning for the Ducks.

Wisconsin has the second worst brush defense in the Big Ten, 165 yards per game. It just gave up 329 yards to Iowa. So like I could see Oregon having a huge game. And it's just for me, it's just hard for me to see where Wisconsin offensively can. Even remotely keep up with Oregon, so I like Oregon in this game. I think this team is on a mission. They're extremely well coached with Dan Lanning. They continue to improve. They continue to get better. It's hard for me to find an advantage for Wisconsin in this game. I see Oregon

going and continuing their dominance in medicine. I tried to find an advantage for Wisconsin for you, Mark, because you triggered something in my brain. I went to the weather app. And I did this I did this for for the Notre Dame game as well. And my second game and the weather this Saturday across most of the nation is going to be fine. Right? Like, yes, you can say like, Hey, man, if it's if it's snowing in Madison, maybe I'm going to start changing things. But right now,

it's saying a high of 53, low of 40 in Madison cloudy. So it doesn't look like weather is gonna even so it gets cold in Oregon. It's a wet cold. It's a wet. All right, let's go to the A's. No, no, coach. I'm going to you. Guess who's on top of the SEC right now? The Longhorns back on top of the conference.

They are 13 and a half point favorites, but coach, they are at a tricky place. Arkansas. Very tricky place. I've been there. Mark, you ever been there? Yep. Played out there twice. I snapped on them to about a bus party, a couple of TDs.

People forget Arkansas was the epicenter, one of the epicenters of college football years ago with Darrell Royal and no, not there. Oh, there, there. McFadden, you know, at some point, Texas, man, I've been picking you for two years to win this thing. I mean, that's how good and respect they have their players. I respect your staff. That is a great place. Yeah.

I think they're there. You can swing for them to be other than they that fricking stumble that they had against Georgia. That when you watch him play, they are excellent football team and they had that bad loss. So I'm going, uh, Texas to cover the sprint. Here's a couple of things. Elite defense, Arkansas has given up a lot of sacks. There's going to be a lot of tackle for loss. I just think

Texas knows what's coming. They got a good head coach, a good staff. I think they're going to swing really hard and they're going to start trying to make statements. It's tough to do it there, but I'm going to have them cover the spread. All right. ACC, Clemson favored by 10 at Pitt, and the Tigers guys, remember, given some life over the weekend in the ACC They're trying to claw their way back into the championship game of the conference. They beat Virginia Tech last week They saw Miami lose which for the moment has Clemson in second place Right behind SMU in the ACC this though. This is interesting guys their last conference game of the season They closed with Citadel and South Carolina.

So if you're Davos Sweeney, you a have to take care of business, you have to win this game and then hope. It is a big hope right here that SMU loses twice or Miami Falls once. Wow. The Hurricanes Yeah, they own the tiebreaker over Clemson. So Saturday, Clemson in the Steel City pit, five and one at home this year. The Panthers, remember that exceptional 7-0 start. Since then, they've dropped two in a row. Their freshman quarterback, Eli Holstein, getting the feeling that maybe he hit the

wall if he hit the numbers, the Bama transfer. Last four games, just two touchdown passes, three interceptions. He's taken eight sacks his completion percentage. This is what's worrisome down to 56%. Remember I was telling you, Mark, I was looking at weather across the Midwest, the East coast. It doesn't look like it's going to be a factor in Pittsburgh as well. I like Clemson winning, covering and then cheering against whoever the heck Miami is playing for the rest of this season. To the SEC, Tennessee in Athens, taken on Georgia Bulldogs,

marked favored by nine and a half, and Georgia has won seven straight meetings in this series and all of them by double digits. All of them by double digits? Is that why they put the hook nine and a half right there? The little hook. They love them hooks. But let's talk about Georgia for a second, man.

Georgia didn't just lose to Ole Miss. They got dominated. They had 10 points on offense. They had three turnovers and allowed five sacks. The defense game over six yards per play. How will Kirby get this team to respond after just getting belt to arse? How will they respond after just getting belt to arse. How will they respond after just getting belt to arse? You know what I mean? Because they have no more room for error if they want to make

this playoff. Carson Beck. I'm the one that's been believing in Jordan because I'm like he has to get off the struggle bus. Four straight games of multiple turnovers, five total tears downs, and 10 turnovers in the last four games. And he isn't, and this isn't like a get right game for him. Tennessee defense is really, Tennessee defense is like really good. They've, they're the only defense in the country that held every opponent under 20 points. They're top five in the country in scoring defense,

total defense, third down defense and red zone defense. And they have one of the best pass rushers in the land in James Pierce. Then you talk about their quarterback, Nico Iamaljava. He got a little bit. Yeah, you know, your boy is right. Yeah, he got a little banged up last week, but she's supposed to be OK. And we know he could run the ball.

We know he can sling it. But if Tennessee wants to win this game, I feel like they're going to have to lean on Dylan Simpson, Dylan Sampson. I'm sorry, Dylan Sampson. The Valls have the number one Russian attack in the SEC and he's just playing at a very high level. So I expect kind of like a low scoring game, defensive driven game. And just based on their defense alone, I think, I think Tennessee can keep this game close.

And so that is your. All right. Those do dogs week and I feel good about this one. So I feel good about the dog, but I feel good about Tennessee going into Georgia. But, but hey, what do I know at the end of the day? Because Georgia has their backs against the wall playing for their college football playoff lives right now. So they could come out and, you know, play like they did versus Texas and just be dominant.

But I'm going with the horror, horror, horror. I'm going with Tennessee to cover, nine and a half. This Carson Beck on the struggle bus thing is fascinating. He can't get off. They keep driving by his stop. It's like that Uber driver that you're in the backseat. You're like, no, no, no, I'm right here, stop. You just hit the road.

Why you, no, no, no, no, not this sector. What are you doing to me? I'm not sure in my lifetime if I've ever seen such a fall from a first round potential drop pick. Wow. It's crazy. And turnovers. You see the team looks awful right now.

And it's just, they're not awful. He's not getting any help from his receivers. But it's like, the receivers aren't throwing the interceptions consistently either. So I'm the one that's been the believer in Georgia. Like they're gonna, I've been giving them the benefit of the doubt. I've been saying Carson Beck is going to overcome the adversity, but hey, he hasn't. He hasn't. So always remember when you see an interception too, this is great for it's a 50, 30, 20 rule mark. Do you remember

that Rob? 50, 30, 20. When a quarterback throws in- 50% is on who? Quarterback. Yep. Misread, poor throw. Then you got 30% was on the receiver. Drop, tip ball. It's a drop, run route, run leverage, and people forget about leverage.

It's the receiver's job to get leverage on the defender, not the quarterback. The quarterback throws the ball. If someone beats him inside, beats him outside, that's on the receiver. And then 20% is on the O-line or something happened. The ball gets tipped, the O-lineman gets trucked, the tailback gets beaten in pass protection

and the ball gets hit. So it's 50, 30, 20 rule and that's held up for 30 years. I remember starting that years ago. Before we end, coach, I have a question for you. About the Orioles? Close. Close. Okay. What is the 45 shirt over your right shoulder?

I have no idea what that is. Let's see it. Take it down. Let's see. What is it? Mark, do you have any idea? I have no clue. Yeah, it's a, uh, iron birds.

Yeah. I'm a huge fan. Big fan of the- Oh, I am. The Iron Birds, located in where? Baltimore. Oh, it's a beach. There's a beach right there.

They're laughing. These guys are laughing. What's the Iron Bird fights on? The Iron Bird fights on. Go Iron Birds. So good. Go Iron Birds. Yeah, everybody knows the words to go Iron Birds.

All right. I think that's appropriate place to end this week. Follow us, subscribe, rate us on YouTube, Apple podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, as well as across social media at three X option show. Don't forget to submit your questions and we will have them answered through the course of our shows. New episodes coming away every Wednesday. Thank you as always to our wonderful sponsors, Wendy's, Bet MGM and Zip Recruiter enjoy the college football this weekend. And we're going to Boulder.

Pasta J's Pasta J's. Let's go baby.