Will Cain Country - OutKick's Ian Miller on the Rise of Parity and Upsets in College Football

Episode Date: October 11, 2024

On the Friday "Cain On Sports" episode on The Will Cain Show, Will is joined by OutKick's Ian Miller to discuss the growing parity in College Football and the rise in upsets, and which of the major sports has the best playoff season? Plus, did Troy Aikman misspeak when he called Taylor Swift "the missus" or did he have inside knowledge on new developments in her relationship with Travis Kelce? And in Week 6 of "Will Versus The Experts," Will and Ian go College Football heavy. Will this be the week the "expert" finally gets the better of Will? Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail] Subscribe to The Will Cain Show on YouTube here: Watch The Will Cain Show! Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stop. Do you know how fast you were going? I'm going to have to write you a ticket to my new movie, The Naked Gun. Liam Nissan. Buy your tickets now. I get a free Tilly Dog. Not included. The Naked Gun. Tickets on sale now. August 1st. you're into that kind of thing. You might want to follow Will versus the experts. It's the Will Kane Show normally streaming live every Monday through Thursday at 12 o'clock

Eastern time at Fox News.com, the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page. Always on demand, subscribing at Apple, Spotify, or on YouTube will make it always available to you, the Will Kane Show. Today is a Cane on sports edition, sports exclusive version of the Will Kane show. I just can't be beat. and those that try to embarrass me are ending up with egg on their own face, like FS1's Craig Carton last week here on Canaan Sports. Today, I'm going to be joined by Ian Miller.

He's a writer at Outkick.com. We'll pick five games. Plus, we go into, what's the best playoff experience? Is it NHL? Is it Major League Baseball? Is it the NBA? Is it the NFL? Which one do you turn around you?

High five your buddies the most? Who's got the playoffs wired? That today here on Canaan. on sports. Here is Ian Miller of Outkick.com. Joining us now, Ian Miller, columnist, writer, at Outkick.com. He's going to play Will versus the experts this week. I need to warn you, Ian. I've gone heavy on college football, because this is an amazing weekend this week in college football. I mean from about noon to midnight, we're going to be locked in on some of the best games of the season.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is what college football is all about. If you're a cultural football fan, this is why you love the sport because they're just going to be a wall-to-wall games all day, so many great matchups, you know, unique matchups with realignment that we haven't seen before. A lot of teams traveling long distances to play. So it's going to be, it's going to be a great weekend. Let's talk about realignment, but more the realignment of college football in general. Of course, we have conference realignment. We have NIL. We have transfer portal. We have discussions over a super league. Matt Rule, the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, has said he thinks all of this, specifically NIL, but I would add in transfer portal,

is actually doing something that everyone said would not happen. Everyone said the rich would get richer, but he's saying what's happening is parity is coming to college football. And he has some, I think he has a pretty good case to make the weekend after, for example, Vanderbilt beats Alabama. I was talking to a buddy the other day about, Texas's schedule and what everyone thought was going to be this like easiest schedule in the SEC, it doesn't look so easy anymore.

I mean, A&M looks good, Vanderbilt looks good, Kentucky looks pretty good. I don't think you can take anything for granted. And I think rules on to something. I think we're kind of, I think we are getting a little bit of parity in college football. Yeah, I agree. I think you made a lot of good points in his press conference talking about this. And I think there is something to be said, you know, the rich teams, the teams of the big programs that do how well this money to spend in NAL, that's all well and good.

But at some point, as he mentioned, there are going to be players that you just can't afford to give them the number that they're getting from somewhere else. Or you can't say, hey, you can take the money might be the same, but these players know they're not going to get the playing time that they think they should get, especially early on in their careers at a place like Alabama or Georgia. And because in the past, if you went and played at Vanderbilt, you're going to play an obscurity, you know, you've never really have a chance at winning. you're going to be the only good player on that team.

But if Vanderbilt can now say, well, we have, you know, four or five other players that were recruited by Alabama and Georgia and we got them because we were able to make them a better NIL offer, you know, that's going to increase the depth. It's going to make that roster a little bit better. And as we've seen this, you're playing on the road in college football is really difficult for every, all of these teams. And it's kind of seems like it has shrunk the gap a bit between like mid-major power four programs and the elite power four programs, which is probably a good thing for the sport. if you love the chaos of college football. So it's made the game a lot more exciting. I think he has a good, he's made a lot of good points. And the reason that I throw the transfer portal in there is I think what's happened is it works

like this. And of course, I keep up mostly with Texas. But I think Texas is symbolic. And for this argument, they could be replaceable with Alabama or Georgia or Ohio State. And it works like this. Texas gets a ton of studs out of high school. And all of a sudden, like, people make the argument, well, Texas's second string could be a top 25 team. And that's true on paper for a little while.

But I do think what happens is that those kids look up and go, but I want to play. I want to play somewhere. So then what happens is you see, and I'll use another example of a program that I think is illustrating this parody, is a team like SMU take in guys who weren't breaking through at Texas or any other program, but are still good players. and I don't know that that ever means that SMU is going to win the college football playoff or Vanderbilt is going to do this week in, week out. But now all of a sudden, they have studs and they can ride those studs to better seasons.

And because the transfer portal, that's one thing that happens. The other is you can constantly not just recruit above you, getting guys who are cast off from programs quote unquote above you, but you can pull guys from below you like Diego Pavia, who is the quarterback of. Vanderbilt. They saw something at New Mexico State. They bring him up a level. And I just think, I think what it means is not that all of a sudden

Vanderbilt is going to be in the 12-team playoff or that SMU is going to win the college football championship. But it just means that these games that everybody said are going to be meaningless, all of a sudden aren't meaningless. You've got to show up no matter who's on your schedule.

Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree. I think it also has given coaches a chance to do scouting at the collegiate level, too, for these players. So you have guys that enter the transfer portal that we now have game tape from playing in college. So you can see, you know, how is this player going to fit into what we specifically do at this university, whether it's SMU of Vanderbilt or another kind of mid-tier power for a program? And that, and they can now say, you know, here's how we're going to use you in this scheme

using what you've already put on tape in college. So not only is it just like, oh, well, this player was recruited by Georgia or Texas or Ohio state it's we can specifically use you here at SMU to the best of your ability in a way that you know maybe we weren't sure of in high school because in high school they were running something totally different so it's it's helped the players because now these players can say i don't want to just sit behind somebody for four years in a row or i don't think this coach is treating me fairly or you know whatever the motivation and they can now go find a program that might fit their skills better. And we have seen a lot of players that have, you know, come out of situations of their

previous schools that they weren't performing to the best of their ability. They're kind of seemed like a disappointing five-star recruit or whatever. They transfer out to a different program, find a defense or an offense that fits them better, and suddenly they're successful again. So, yeah, it definitely has made the parity within college football, I think, a lot more difficult to get through for these top-tier programs. All right, Ian, I understand, we're talking with Ian Miller, writer at Outkick, and I understand that you're a big fan of Los Angeles Dodgers. So here we are in the division series round.

The only team that so far has moved on at the time you and I are talking is the New York Mets. And it got me thinking about this. I've been fortunate over the past 12 months to basically be involved in the playoffs for every single one of my favorite teams. I've been in the college football playoff for the Texas Longhorns. I've been in the playoffs with not a lot of success with the Dallas Cowboys. I have had a lot of playoff success with my Dallas Mavericks, and I've had the ultimate success with the Texas Rangers. So I have recent experience with this.

What do you think is the best playoff experience? Among those four major sports, which sport do you think has it down the best from a fan experience? From what you want to happen, what you think is right to happen, but also just enjoyment. Like, which one do you think is the best playoffs? I guess it depends on what you want out of it.

I do think that overall, the NFL probably has it best because it is more representative of how the regular season works where these games are, you know, it's a one-on-one matchup. It's one game. It's not a series between two teams and best, you know, the team that wins the game moves on. And in the NFL, the best team wins more often than not. I mean, it's not every game.

But if that's what you like, if you want the better team to be rewarded, it. The NFL is going to do that for you more often than not. If you enjoy the kind of chaos and uncertainty and frantic intensity of the playoffs, then it's probably baseball because, you know, these one game swings can be so wild and, you know, the games can flip so quickly. The Mets yesterday, you know, they're losing. They had all these opportunities with runners in scoring position, didn't score, and then they hit a grand slam out of nowhere. And the game turns and suddenly, you know, they've advanced past their rival team. So,

You know, I think for me personally, if as an objective observer, if I wasn't involved in the playoffs with my favorite team, baseball would do it best because it has that element to it. But as somebody who I think we play a really long regular season in baseball, you want to reward the better team. I think the NFL does that, does a much better job of actually doing that. So I kind of prefer that format. Oh, I totally disagree.

But before I get into my disagreement, here's a separate question. I'm going to bring the guys. in New York. Two A days, Dan, young establishment James, and tinfoil, pat in if I can. What do you think? I'm going to put it to all of you guys. I'll go to two a days first. What do you think is the best fan experience? Like when you go to a game, and we could say playoff

or regular season. And I think I'm going to flesh this out as I go, but I want to see your initial reaction. Like in-person game, and you're there with, let's say, two or three buddies. Which game is the best for like you looked at each other at the end of that and we had a great time like which one do you think is the one where you're high five in and cheersing and like you have

that full roller coaster of emotions two days which one of those 40 thinks the best fan experience i'm going baseball baseball is romantic there's big moments um it's just fun in the moment and i think baseball is the one by far out of all of them i don't know if tinfoil or or or youngest out and James were there to jump in on this. That is. Okay, before I give, what do you got, Pat? I would say, I think hockey is just like, just exciting, especially like in the playoffs. My goodness, like you're just on the edge of your seat the whole time.

You know, baseball, you have these long lulls. NFL, you have these big extended breaks. You know, hockey is like, there's no stoppage. You just keep going. All right. I have an answer that's going to make everybody mad, I think. But before I do, Ian, which one is yours? From a fan experience perspective, I do think baseball is hard to beat.

The intensity in the playoffs is wild, and having been to a bunch of them myself. It's just every pitch can change the game, and similar to how the hockey can do that as well. And you're kind of always on the edge of your seat, and the Dodgers are winning 5-0 against San Diego, and podders get first and second, and the crowd gets crazy. and into it, and you think, I mean, there's still five runs down, but it's just that intensity builds so quickly in the postseason. It's hard to, hard to beat. Okay, I'm going to tell you guys this.

Okay, last place is football, without a doubt. Last place is football. It's a TV sport. It has way too many lulls, big commercial breaks, punctuated by a few big plays. The best thing about football, honestly, is like third down. See, I think you've got to enjoy the small moments because the big moments aren't guaranteed.

So you, what I'm talking about is you're hanging out to your buddies. You feel, you know that infectious energy feeling? That's what I'm talking about. Can you capture that? And in football, you only get so many infectious energy moments where all of a sudden you're high-fiving strangers or you and a stranger even are like all of a sudden there together. It's like a big third down stop gives you those little moments in football, but that only gets

them in the last place. Hockey, okay, I'm actually going to go baseball as third. Third to from the, so it's second up from the bottom. But, I mean, I get it. Here's what baseball is typified by, right? Clapping. This is baseball, right? You got a single, everybody, everybody claps, right?

And then a home run or a good RBI, and now it's fists in the air and high-fiving your buddies. And a huge moment in the game is where you and the stranger are hugging. But I'm telling you it doesn't happen as often as you want it to happen. But they make them more important. But hockey, it is more important. But I thought about that, Dan, like, do you want quantity or quality? And I think that quantity is a better bet.

Now, NHL is amazing, and it translates to TV. So it's both in the playoffs, in the playoffs. But NHL can be an individual experience, meaning, you know, like you're at a hockey game and somebody takes a shot, and let's say you're on the side. of the goalie or you're on the side of the offense you do body English a lot in hockey you know I'm talking about like you're sitting there's a lot of that in hockey but again like the big moments that are infectious I feel like are rare and by the way when it happens in hockey and you score it's so sudden sometimes you don't even see it coming that that it's a surprise and it's a delayed

experience so I'm this is my unpopular answer the best is basketball it's the really honestly the worst one on TV. But here's what happens in basketball. Like, there's this infectious thing that happens where you're celebrating, I get it, what seemed like insignificant moments, a bucket, this bucket. But it kind of like snowballs. And next thing you know, you're high fiving, just random, like, mid-range shots that go down. And then when threes happen, it's huge. The place explodes. I feel like basketball is the one you turn to your friends and high-five the most. like you get that 30 times in a game maybe 20 times in a game at basketball and then you get the end of the game experience which gives you the kind of the home run type experience if it's a close game and you hit a big shot I actually think basketball is the best fan experience in that way I gave you the floor Ian to tell me I'm wrong no I mean I could definitely see that I think the where I would disagree is that I think yes there are a lot of those kind of turnaround high five your buddy moments, but they're not as big, I guess, because you're saying like there's a lot

of these kind of like midridge jump shot. Yeah, it's exciting because it builds on each other. But until you get to that very last play or the very last minute, you know, each shot isn't really going to change things that much. Whereas I think in baseball, you, you score a run and it's just very heightened in October. So, you know, a sacrifice fly becomes a big deal, a ground ball for a run scoring ground balls, it becomes a big deal. So, you know, in the first and second and third inning, you can have those really big dramatic moments. Like, your team hits a grand slam in the second inning. That's a big deal. You don't have to kind of wait all the way to the ninth inning to have that big moment. So, I mean, it depends on what you want. But if you

like that, for me, I prefer that kind of like, this really did change the game here. And then you can still have more of those throughout the game. And like I said yesterday, even in these kind of what you think is a blowout, it can still be really, there can still be big moments. have got enough to rerun home run that would have the crowd would have gone ballistic even though they were still losing so that's kind of why i think i would mean still towards baseball i got one more argument i'll put this one to you two days i feel like in basketball the fan can delude themselves into thinking they affect the outcomes like in baseball i think you're a little too removed you know what i mean like and also in baseball you know you're gonna really cheer loud for the closer right like making that pitch but if your guys hitting you don't fill the stadium with like a huge amount of noise to try to encourage him to hit the home run in the same way that I feel like if a guy hits a shot in basketball and you guys go bananas, you make him better as he goes. Like, okay, you're hot. Keep going. Like, I feel like I, in basketball, I feel like I almost affect the outcome. Maybe in football, you can make that argument again for the third down

stop. Like if we ramp it up here, we can amp up their adrenaline and they'll make a defensive play. But I feel like basketball is the one where you can delude yourself into thinking, you're playing a role in the outcome. I would disagree. I would say in baseball, a pitcher and a hitter are one-on-one. So the crowd is going to make a huge difference on what's happening. So if your home team crowd is into it, it's going to be either better for you at the plate or better for you pitching.

So I think they definitely control it a little more than NBA atmosphere. Plus, like you said, NBA games don't really matter to the last like two minutes. So I'm just going to put that. I know. I guess I'm kind of thinking. Well, they don't matter into the last two minutes. man I got to tell you so maybe I'm just being fancy pants here you know I went to a Mavs Celtics finals game and I'm gonna be honest I was sitting in the second row I was right there

and that might be painting my latest experience because you're like Derek lively is a few feet away and I feel like if I yell out I can pump him up you know what I mean like I think I might and I've been I went to Rangers run through the playoffs but you know I mean I got decent seats but I'm pretty far back there, and I don't feel like I was in it, like I was in it with the Mavs there. Tenfoil, you think I'm crazy? No, but you're the kind of guy who would, you know, miss Aaron Judge's historic home run, so, you know. That did happen. I did walk out to get a beer during air.

No, it was first inning. He did it in the first inning. I was a little lazy getting to my seat. All right. So here's why I think you're wrong, Ian. I think if we ranked these sports in order of do they represent what happened in the regular season, it goes like this. Baseball is least representative, right? It just, it is.

When you reduce 162 games into a three game series, a one game series, a three game series and a five game series to start the playoffs, who knows? And so, you know, Tinfoil Pat's a Braves fan and he feels like the format has boxed him out. But that's what he does. I mean, he's mad about Florida State and the format as well and the, you know, the powers that be. But baseball is definitely least representative of the best team throughout the full regular season. Football is second least representative. I mean, it's one game. Anything can happen in one game.

And so, you know, I mean, Pat's Giants, you know, undefeated pats against Eli Manning and, you know, the helmet catch. It's just anything can happen. Hockey then is the second most predictable. But a goalie can get hot in hockey and all of a sudden before you know it, I don't know some like six seed can make a run to the playoffs and basketball up until this year was the most predictable the seven game series really represented what happened in the regular season again that didn't happen this year in the NBA but this was an aberration where like the nuggets didn't make it through and and that kind of thing so i think your chaos meter is a little off Ian and then so

which playoff format i asked you the question was uh which playoff format is the best Well, it depends. Do we want chaos or do we want predictability? Like, I would not put NBA playoffs up there because I don't like predictability. I like chaos. I get the argument for the baseball fans, like that's too much chaos.

It doesn't even represent the sport, like a five game, I mean, a five pitcher rotation. Now I've got to, I can win if I have two studs. It's just not the same sport. So the best playoff experience has to come down to either football and liking the chaos or hockey. And I guess I'm going to give it to football just because there's so much on one game. It's just like that adrenaline spike instead of stretched out over seven games.

I like the one game, one weekend build up towards a football. While I gave it, you know, last in fan experience, just the whole playoff run in football, I'm going number one there. Yeah, I actually, I agree with that. I think it is, it's a good mix of there can be upsets, but it is more representative a little bit more representative of the regular season. And, you know, the NFL can be a great in-person sport in the playoffs because for the same reason, basketball and MOBR,

that there's, you know, one play can change the game dramatically, interception, turnover, whatever it might be, or, you know, long touchdown run or pass. And so it, yeah, I kind of prefer that. I wish baseball did a better job of being in the middle because it, to me, it's too much chaos right now. I think it can be really frustrating when your team, like, what's the point of playing six months of baseball?

to have it come down to a best of three series or a best of five series where your team can be out in three you know three literally three days or five days or whatever it is so I wish the I wish baseball is a little bit closer you know one thing that we're going to be interesting to see too is how does a on-campus college football playoff is how does a on-campus game. I think it's going to be a really you know amazing playoff. Now it's a bit bigger. It'll be a little bit more. You know, corporate neutral sites, but when you have an on-campus game in the first round of college football playoff, I think it's going to be a really, you know, amazing fan experience. And now it's a bit bigger. It'll be a little bit more. chaos, but probably still do a pretty good job of weeding through and finding the best team, or at least one of the two or three best teams in college football. All right. We're going to step aside here for just a moment. Stay tuned. For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced

coffee for five bucks plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. This is Jimmy Phala, inviting you to join me for Fox Across America, where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding. It's only a three-hour show. Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast at Fox Across America.com.

All right, I need all of you guys to help me with this story because there are stories that I don't get in on, and they are stories that drag on forever and become, like, ever-present. And at some point I get fatigue, quite honestly, on a serious note, like a 20-year war in Afghanistan I had a hard time keeping up with on a week-to-week, much less day-to-day basis. And I have a hard time keeping up with Taylor Swift. The other complicating factor is I don't give a shit.

I just don't care. And I'm not saying that trying to be like one of these cool old guys. Like, I don't care about Taylor Swift. I mean, like, genuinely, I just don't care. I don't know much of her music. I just genuinely don't care. And I'm not saying that to be mean. So, Troy Aitman, a Monday night football,

when the camera pans to Taylor Swift, I believe this is the controversy, right? And it seems like it's even in the conspiracy mode, so that will invoke tinfoil pat. I think the problem is he called her the missus, right? He said something like, there's the missus. This was after a Travis Kelsey play. And is the story now that did Aikman have inside knowledge that they're engaged,

but then I saw a separate thing, like is he being, you know, sexist in some way, which I don't even know what is the sexist way he'd be? by describing her as the missus like i i don't really get the conspiracy but it's put troydman in the in the crosshairs did i get it right any of you ian tinfoil to a day did i get it right uh well that's my understanding of what happened i'm kind of with you on as how much i just you know i don't really care that much about taylor swift but i do think that i i think troyickman just kind of was using it as a shorthand and obviously it's you know it's kind of in the middle of the game and sometimes you're not really

thinking through exactly every word choice that you had. So I'm not a huge, you know, tinfoil person. So I would say it's probably just that he misspoken. And then he kind of was like hinting at, I had, you know, I had inside information. But I don't know. I don't think that that's necessarily true or that it has to be true that way. But I'm no, somebody else may disagree with me. He did not have an inside information from what I could tell. But he was told, According to part of my take, he was told after the fact that it might, they might have been engaged. So he has post information. I think people got offended because it's like saying, oh, Mrs. Travis Kelsey.

Like, that's all she is. She's not Taylor Swift. It was kind of like. Okay. So you guys are covering both sides of the controversy. First of all, I really appreciate how tinfoil Pat jumps in with a level of seriousness to his investigation. He didn't know as far as I can tell. somewhere on some He's gone to find out

He's squinted just a right amount To figure out this story Okay, so You, Dan and your Brooklyn hipster bars Have got the feedback That he reduced the world's biggest pop star To a missus Of course, that's your filter on this

And of course tinfoil Pat Is trying to figure out Whether or not he had inside information On engagement I know it's boring But I'm with Ian Like people misspeak and it doesn't always have a deeper hidden meaning.

And Troy's really good. And I actually have come to appreciate how good Troy is at this. Like, he might be the best. Like right now, if you're ranking them, Romo, Brady, Aikman, who am I missing? Herb Street for Thursday night football. I think Aikman hits just the right note on the level of seriousness versus knowledge he's bringing

versus he's not that playful of a person. personality, but he's willing to play. I'm kind of thinking that Aikman's hit in the sweet spot. After years of people probably thinking he's too boring and Akeman and Romo's fun. I actually think the sweet spot is Akeman. But I don't think that means he's like a wordsmith. And I heard it in real time. I was watching and I was like, okay, I did notice he called her the missus,

but I'm like, if it were me, that's a hard word to reach for in the moment. Like, okay, she's flashed up on screen. you don't have foresight how do you describe their relationship how do you describe her and it's in relation to Travis Kelsey do you go there's the girlfriend I mean that's a that's not very colloquial

do you know what I mean like and there's the girlfriend there's the missus is kind of a thing even if it's inaccurate you know what I mean like I think that's where you would go and then immediately go that's not exactly right I think he misspoke yeah I agree completely I think that's exactly what it is

You're just trying to be, you know, we all know what the relationship is. So you don't need to explain, oh, that's Travis Kelsey's girlfriend and be formal about it. It's a very colloquial, just, you know, a shorthand reference to somebody that we already know what the connection is between these two people. So, and I mean, yeah, I think he misspoke. Maybe he could have chosen a slightly better word if he thought about it for five or ten minutes, but you don't have that luxury in these situations. And I don't think there's much there behind it other than just he chose the wrong word. But it really wasn't even that bad of it. It's not like it was an insult to her, and everybody knows who she is anyway.

So I don't think it was a huge deal. Two days. What do the feminists want him to say in that moment? There's the better half. There's... There's Taylor Swift's International Pop Star. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. I think you said, well, it's to refer to her in the context of being involved with Travis Kelsey, too. It wasn't just... There's Taylor Swift because we've all seen her at these games. There's Taylor Swift watching Travis Kelsey play. So how do you refer to her in that circumstance? Exactly.

Maybe he could have said the better half, right? Like, I don't know. Girlfriend just doesn't ring as something you would say to me. I don't know. It's almost like two on the nose. And you're trying to be conversational and colloquial. And there is his girlfriend. It's like robotic.

It's like two, like, I don't know. The better half maybe works. Again, this is, you're trying to be, I keep using the word colloquial. You know what I mean. There's the misses. It isn't accurate, but it's not sexist, and I definitely don't think it's a conspiracy. We're going to step aside here for a moment. Stay tuned.

Fox News Audio presents Unsolved with James Patterson. Every crime tells the story, but some stories are left unfinished. Somebody knows. Real cases, real people. Listen and follow now at Fox Truecrime.com. All right, I'm smoking them. Will versus the experts. I haven't lost one week, Ian, no pressure.

There is not one week that I have lost to the experts. I tied with Danny Cannell one week. And I embarrassed Craig Carton of FS1. I went four and one. He went three and two. But it's an embarrassment because he staked both of our reputations on Cardinals versus Niners. And who picked the Cardinals? I did.

He said stick to Fox and Friends. Maybe I should stick to, I don't know. what is the job I would want in sports if I went back to sports is there a job I would want I'm not going to lie I have discussed that with my agent I literally don't know

what job I would want in sports okay so we've got Ian Miller Ryder at Outkick he is our expert this week I've got five games as I mentioned to start of this this show Ian

I'm going to go heavy on college football because Saturday is going to be awesome So we'll go through five games. It's against the spread. You pick them, I pick them. We'll see who's better by the end of the weekend. We're going to start in college football with the least sexy of the four. We're going to start, although it's still a game I will be watching, and those are the ones I focus on.

Kansas State versus Colorado. At Colorado, Kansas State is given up for Ian. I'm taking Kansas State. They're one loss on the road to BYU was really fluky. The score looked like they got handled substantially, but it was a pretty easy one for BYU, but it was kind of misleading for how that game actually played out. I think they're a little underrated team quality-wise, so I'm taking them over Colorado. I agree.

I'm laying the four points. I'm taking Kansas State. I really docked them when they had that ugly loss, but they've really played good in every other game. And Colorado, everybody wants to hype Colorado prematurely. but, you know, they barely beat Baylor, they barely beat North Dakota State. I just, I don't, I'm not a believer. That's the bottom line. I mean, I guess they have the best player in college football and Travis Hunter.

I guess I say, I guess, because I don't know that a non-quarterback can be the best player in college football. I guess he can be. But I think K-State is a better team. I think Avery Johnson, I think they can run the ball. I think this is K-State's game. LSU, Ole Miss. It's in Death Valley, home game for LSU,

but Ole Miss is favored by three, Ian. It's really hard for me to pick against OSU on a night game at Death Valley. That is as tough an environment as you can have in college football to play in, and obviously crowds in college football can matter. You know, Old Miss has a great offense, but, you know, we saw them struggle against Kentucky.

OSU's defense isn't clearly at that level, but I just think that the LSU will get enough stops at home to pull out a win and I'm going to take them at Night of Death Valley. That's just a really tough place to pick against them. All right, we're on the same side again. I'm taking LSU at home as well.

So I've watched Ole Miss a couple of times and what's their best victory? It was it last weekend and they beat South Carolina. Otherwise, it's like it's not impressive wins and I watched them against Kentucky and I wasn't impressed with Jackson Dart and everybody's like oh Jackson Dart's this

you know incredible quarterback I mean some people ranking them head of Quinn Ewers I just haven't seen that now LSU's got Garrett Nussmeyer he's kind of in the same bucket like he can be good but I don't know I guess I'm a doubter right now when it comes to Ole Miss I don't have them in my top 12 for outkicks

I don't have LSU either they're both just on the outside for Outkicks weekly college football poll but I'm going to take LSU at home I just, I'm a little more impressed with their schedule, even in their losses, by the way, than I am with Ole Miss at this point. So I'm going to go with LSU. Oregon versus Ohio State. It's a home game for Oregon, but same way with LSU.

Oregon is getting the points that get three and a half against Ohio State. I'm going to take Oregon here. I, you know, I saw this stat about teams in the Big Ten that have traveled two time zones, I think are one in nine now. you know, hard to say if that's just noise or if that's a meaningful statistic already. But, you know, I do think what we've seen so far is that it is these teams that are traveling to new venues, new stadiums to play teams, they don't play very often. It's a big adjustment. And a lot of the teams that we've thought, oh, they're going to go in there and, you know,

when no problem has not, is not played out that way. Oregon has not been that impressive for the most part. But, you know, it's, again, it's a really, really tough place to play. The familiarity is there. you know i think dan landing can coach a great game maybe you know we'll see uh you know last year they lost twice to washington that was basically it um Ohio State might be i think they're probably the second best team in the country this year but i just think it's it's a really tough environment to play in again and difficult to travel these teams just don't know how to handle this

stuff yet and a few years probably will go away but for now it seems like it's really tough to win on the road in uh in these conferences the best way to keep me from beating you is to just stay with me on all my picks even though I'm letting you go first I'm the same I actually made this pick go this week with on the Shea and Irving podcast um I I'm gonna take Oregon I get three and a half actually the half is kind of important um and I I'm I'm a little impressed with Oregon I think they're actually pretty good I think Dylan Gabriel is sort of a winner I think you know I don't know how to say that better like Diego Pavia is a winner I think I think Dylan Gabriel's a little bit of a winner. Ohio State's better on paper in almost every way. You can run

on Oregon. And Trevianne Henderson and Quinchon Juckins could run all over them, Ohio State. But Oregon's got pretty good pass defense. I don't know. Ohio State's got this stud, Jeremiah Smith, and a mecca, a book, a bocca. I don't know if I say it right. They got stud receivers. But I don't know. I just like Oregon. I think they're the underrated team in college football right now. I do. And Ohio State will be there in the end.

They'll be in the playoffs. And I'm not sure I'd pick Oregon again in January. But at this time, in Eugene, I'm taking Oregon. All right. We'll see what this one is then for us. Are we going to part ways ever? Biggest weekend, game of the weekend, especially for me, the Red River rivalry. Texas OU.

The Texas, though, is laying 14 and a half points, Ian. I think I like Oklahoma with the points in L.A. Texas to win the game. Texas, to me, is the best team in the country. Yeah, they're the best team in the country, but, you know, obviously these rival games are always tight. They're always close. I mean, not always. There have been some blowouts.

But, you know, I just, I think Oklahoma's defense may get a couple turnovers and just do enough to keep the game close. I don't think they'll ever really be in danger. The Texas will ever be really in danger of losing. But, you know, just 14 and a half is a lot in that game. And I just, I think Oklahoma kind of does just enough to squeak in. Maybe it's 14 point loss, but Texas wins the game. I mean, I just basically, I agree with all of your analysis.

I mean, I'm taking Oklahoma plus the 14th and Texas will win the game. I don't think it will ever be a huge end-out game. And Quinn, you were just coming back from, what is it, three weeks, off. So I don't know what he's going to be like. I don't know. And he's going to be the guy, unless he's injured, they're not going to bring in Arch Manning. And so will he be rusty? I'm not sure you get the best Quinn Ewer's game of his year. And it's a rivalry game. I mean, 14 and a half is just a lot in that game. Texas is legitimately 14 and a half better than Oklahoma, I think. But I don't, I don't like giving up that

many points in that unpredictable game. I just can't, I can't do it. So give me OU plus the 14.5. But Texas to win. I mean, are we ever going to go our separate ways? Let's see if it happens in the NFL. I bet we do here. Cowboys plus three at Detroit.

I'm taking the Lions. I think they're legitimately a top five team in the NFL. And, you know, I hate to say this, but I don't think the Dallas Cowboys are very good this year. So I think we're, you know, this a little bit of a. reputation line and the fact that there's a lot of public betters that are going to back to cowboys obviously so i i think but i think on the field the lines are more than three points better than dallas i'm i'm taking the lines okay good we finally went our separate ways i am

taking the cowboys plus the three this is where i'm probably irrational but i'm like maybe we got on to something last week against pittsburgh maybe rico dattle can now run the ball maybe Detroit's secondary not so good and Dak here's the thing was actually good for 80% of the game against Pittsburgh he had three really bad plays really bad plays and somebody Shea and Irving made the perfect analogy it was like a Josh Allen game from Dak Prescott like really really good for 80 to 90% of the game and really brain dead for 10% of the game 15% in the game. That's not normally what you get from DAC, by the way. You don't get...

DAC will turn the ball over. People who speak on first take or ESPN don't really know a lot. A lot of that is like, wide receivers cut off their route, whatever. It's not usually bad throws by DAC, bad, horrible decisions by DAC. But against Pittsburgh,

they were. Those, to my, what I can tell, those were all on DAC. And I don't think he does that again and again and again. I just don't think that's who he is. So, I don't know. I don't know if they win. NFL is a three-point league, so I don't know what to do with the three. It helps.

But I'll take the Cowboys against the Lions, and that's going to be it. That's going to come down. That's the game is going to come down to me versus Ian Miller here in this week's episode of Will versus the experts. All right, it's been fun. We'll be tuned in this weekend, see who wins, even though we're on the same side of four out of five bets. Yeah, and I'll throw in one more. USC will do whatever is the most disappointing to me personally against Penn State. So you're a Southern California guy, your Dodgers, USC guy.

Did you go to USC? Yeah, I went to SC, yeah. It's obviously this season's been a lot of peaks and valleys for five weeks through or six weeks through already. So, yeah, I'm going to go with USC's winning in the fourth quarter and loses again. Is Lincoln Riley on the hot seat? Are you ready to be done with Lincoln Riley? I don't think it's to that point yet.

But I do think if this year kind of goes even worse, go sideways and they finish six and six or seven and five or whatever then next year he'll definitely go on the hot seat i'm i'm very disappointed in how this is played out so far i'll put it that way all right it's good to have a california guy we don't have many california guys in the sports conversation any west coast u sc types i feel like that's a missing element here in the sports world all right great to have you on the show this week ian miller from outkick here on the will cane show thank you thank you for having me appreciate it you go. Hope you enjoyed that conversation with Ian Miller. Find him at Outkick.com. Catch up with

him. Read what he posts and subscribe to the Will Kane Show. I will see you again next time. on Apple Podcast, and Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show, ad-free, on the Amazon music app. From the Fox News Podcasts Network. Hey there, it's me, Kennedy, make sure to check out my podcast. Kennedy saves the world. It is five days a week, every week. Download and listen at Fox Newspodcast.com or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.