WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Four Man Front: Brian’s Bayou Bummer

Episode Date: November 1, 2025

LSU fires Brian Kelly, mass celebration ensues. Chokelahoma returns. Vandy and Cincy must survive on the road. Lewis, Marc, Patrick, and Paden break it down with minimal bloodshed.

Indiana and Texas A&M stay undefeated in style. Oklahoma and Missouri stumble in conference play. And LSU fires Brian Kelly as the college football playoff field falls into line. I'm Louis Thune, and this is the four-man front. The show about college football, nothing else. To all of you listening live, welcome over podcasts. Welcome to you as well. If you're catching us on Saturday morning, got a couple hours until week 10 kicks off.

We're here to prepare you for all of that, to recap what happened in the past week, and to provide some clarity on what to expect for the rest of the season. To my left, Mark Ayers. Virginia very nearly let one slip this week, Mark. I know. Best team in the ACC almost lost another game. 1716 against Bill Belichick. Crazy what the old man can do. To my right, Payton Hughes.

BYU still looks good, Payton, and I love to see it. are still undefeated. That means the Big 12 is getting two teams in the playoff, and I am so happy. And across the table is Patrick Hamilton. I picked Michigan State this week, Patrick, and then Michigan proceeded to out Jonathan Smith, Jonathan Smith, two rushers breaking 100 yards, Bryce Underwood completing eight passes, a beautiful performance from the Michigan Wolverines all around. I've said it a lot of times, Michigan, especially after they've gone up, become very conservative from their play calling. But it's okay because you have probably the best

one-two running back duo. I will just say in the Big Ten, you want to see those guys get in their 100 yards a game. It was a good week in the SEC in my conference this week. Sadly, my Oklahoma Sooners fell. I said they could fill some holes that we'd seen throughout the year in coaching, and that they did. But my goodness, did they collapse in the fourth quarter?

So let's talk about Oklahoma, Ole Miss, first. Great game, all things considered, too. very impressive teams in Norman, 34, 26. And this one isn't on the coaches. This one falls squarely at the feet of John Mateer there at quarterback. A full collapse dropped a game at home. Gentlemen, does it run any deeper than the fact that Oklahoma fell apart in the fourth quarter? Definitely. I'm looking at Oklahoma's defense here. I said last week, I called Oklahoma. I said if they can put up three touchdowns, 21, 25 points, Oklahoma's going to win this game. John Mateer and the Sooners put up 26. By my margins, that should have been enough.

John Mateer did what he's done the entire season, and you put up right around 20 points. That needs to be enough of Oklahoma wants to win and win well throughout the rest of the year. You can blame John Matier as much as you want, but the defense has been the saving grace of the Sooners, and when they do not come to play, you cannot expect the offense to bail them out. I don't think it comes down to the defense. Obviously, my critique of this defense throughout the year is that they've leaned on the defense. line to get stops. The secondary has gotten chewed up. Only got one sack this week, but held Trinidad Chambliss to 24 of 44. A lot of big gap completions, but as far as completion percentage goes,

this OU defense was holding their ground for the crucial parts of the game up until that fourth quarter. And as far as rushing went, now granted, Lane Kiffin doesn't like to run the ball as much as many of the other coaches we see, but 78 yards from running backs and then 53 on scrambles from Chambles. The defense was able to stand their ground in the crucial moments, and it came down to an Isaiah Sitenya fumble on special teams, a blown protection that resulted in a safety from the Oklahoma offensive line. John Mateer there in the fourth quarter making the same overthrow on the same route three

times in a row to three open wide receivers. Yeah, how do you explain that one? We thought that was over with the era of Jackson, Arnold. but Mateer, as much as he reminds us of good Baker, he reminds us of bad Baker as well. And he has a tendency to put the ball just a little, you know, five, six, seven feet too high for the wide receivers. Do you think that's something to do with his broken hand, or is that really just a chemistry problem? That's the theory that we're getting from a lot of analysts there in Oklahoma. I think the moment just got to Mateer.

Playing at Washington State, really the only big game experience he got was against those husk. in the Apple Cup. He wasn't able to pull it out for Wazoo in those scenarios. You saw how antsy he was against Texas and Red River. Now, given he was getting sacked half the time, but he couldn't get the ball out. And there in the fourth quarter, you saw the same thing. He's scrambling around. He's extending plays like he's done throughout the season, but he couldn't make a decision as to whether he wanted to throw the ball away or risk taking the sack. And ultimately, that indecisiveness kind of shot Oklahoma in the foot. When you look at this game in the critical, moments. It was Oklahoma's offense and special teams that blew it for them and put that defense in a hard

position. I'm not going to criticize this defense. They did their job when it mattered most. I agree with you, Lewis. What sticks out to me in particular is the fact that Oklahoma had one drive, one, where they scored that was not fully dependent on giant gap plays. And even that drive, they had a 22-yard run and a 16-yard run. I'm referring to the drive that gave them six points at the very end of the third quarter. We can then talk about the fourth quarter meltdown, but really you could have seen it coming if you were watching the rest of the game. Oklahoma just really had a poor time on offense putting together consistent drives. They really depended on those big chunk yardage plays, 76-yard touchdown pass from a tier of a 65-yard touchdown run by Xavier Robinson.

And when it came down to crunch time in the fourth quarter couldn't get anything going. One game we were wrong about last week, Indiana, 56 to 6.5.000. against UCLA. Now we weren't sold on this UCLA team, but we knew that this offense was capable of keeping games close. Patrick, that did not happen. Indiana's offense was nothing spectacular this game, even though they put up 56 points, statistically not quite there, simply because their defense put them in such good scenarios, turning the ball over, forcing UCLA into three and outs deep in their territory. Is this an indictment of UCLA's weakness, or does this speak more to the strengths of Kurt Signetti's Indiana team? I watched the first quarter of this game, and I immediately

turned it off. Nico Imaliyava looked exactly like he did in the first couple games through two interceptions. He was under 50% throwing and 113 yards. The UCLA rushing got nothing done, averaging three yards per carry. It was just pitiful to watch. But also to that point, Mendoza did not look that good. If you have a 56 to 6-6 win, and you're getting less than 170 yards throwing? Well, we've kind of discussed this. I think just a few weeks ago, we brought up Mendoza being, yes, a good quarterback,

and you've pointed that out. He's been a good quarterback, and probably one of the front runners in a Heisman race for sure, but he's working within the Signetti system. He's not going to be throwing 40 times a game, and especially when you're going to be winning like this, Signetti's just going to run that ball. It's a testament to keep him in it as our field general.

Well, but that is assuming the Indiana Signetti system works without Mendoza. and on the point of his passing yards, yes, they were low this week. I think this is really just indicative of the fact that Signetti will adjust his game plan to different teams. I'm going to point to their last game against Michigan State. Mendoza was 24 for 28 for 32 yards. He can do it all and he will do it all and he has done it all time and time again.

I think especially in a year that's been so unpredictable as to who's front running in the Heisman, the Heisman's going to the most. outstanding player in the country by definition. Mendoza's never going to be that outstanding type of player. You're not going to see the Heisman moment from the guy where he makes two guys miss and fires 30 yards down field. But he might be doing just enough this year within that Cignetti system that doesn't require him to be the sole difference maker in a game.

Indiana's got a cupcake of a schedule remaining. If he does have to prove that he's that outstanding player, it's going to have to come in the Big Ten Championship, presumably against Ohio State. We talked at length about Vanderbilt, Missouri there in Nashville. College Game Day was there. It was Vanderbilt, who pulled it out 1710, a low-scoring game. Diego Pavia, not quite the statistical output he was looking for, having hit the Heisman pose the week before,

but he did just enough. Obviously, Bo Probula goes down for Missouri, a massive hit. Their running game just can't quite fill in the difference. What allowed Vanderbilt to win this game? In recent weeks, I've flipped on Missouri. The rushing offense continued to be dominant. 97 yards from Hardy, you had 44 yards from Coleman, 22 from Roberts. They're moving the ball through a bunch of different running backs.

They did what they wanted to do. They ended up winning possession time by over 10 minutes. They had 100 more yards than Vanderbilt did. They had nine more first downs. They went four of five on fourth down. The problem is your starting quarterback, Boe, Probula, going down early. Missouri, by basically every available metric, won this game. Commodores ended up winning in the end.

Payton, you said last week when you picked Missouri that ultimately it was going to boil down to the fact that the book was out now and that defenses could stop Vanderbilt if they stopped Diego Pavia. Alabama showed how to stop the Vanderbilt Commodores, and that's through stopping Diego Pavia. He's their leading passer and they're leading rusher. They have a one-dimensional offense. Missouri's just going to be able to lock Pavia down.

We're probably looking at 20 to 14 win for Missouri here. which Missouri succeeded in doing it to a great degree. Man completed 10 passes through a pick, ran for 20 yards. I think this ultimately came down to special teams. We don't talk about it enough, but Nick Haber, they're punting for Vanderbilt. Five punts, 222 yards pinned Missouri inside the 20 twice. It's an underrated portion of the game. But if you can put the full field ahead of an offense,

especially one down their starting quarterback, and you forced them to piece together a long, sustained drive. It's going to be hard to do. And that was just enough for Vandermilt pulling out a close one-score win. Exactly, Lewis. This was maybe a harkening back to that old school, defensive heavy SEC. And Lewis, I like what you said about the punter because Missouri had several long drives. 13 plays, 69 yards, into a field goal.

12 plays, 37 yards. Missed field goal. 13 plays 74 yards end of game if you don't pin them as far back as he did maybe those drives are touchdowns credit where it's due this is the coaches this is the game plan they understood that you got to give missouri a little bit don't let them have big plays don't let them have breakaway touchdowns don't let their running back get outside in the clear keep them contained give up a little bit and when it's time hold your ground and they did it perfectly i was very impressed vanderbilt pitched a defensive gym we'll wrap up quickly we'll wrap up quickly week nine with some other results. Alabama, 2922, a surprisingly close game at South Carolina. BYU, bad first half against Iowa State, but they recuperate. Bear Bokmire throws for over 300 yards when it's needed of him. Forty-27 win for BYU. Cincinnati escapes the trap team in Baylor, 412 Satterfield's Bearcats look great. A miraculous fourth quarter comeback as Mississippi State collapses and Longhorns win 45-38 in overtime.

Texas A&M needs a great second half, but they destroy Missouri 49-25, and Brian Kelly is out. Patrick Hamilton rejoices. Michigan 3120 over state. Now, I was wrong about that one, and they called me out on it. We'll play the clip.

Guys, it's Sparty all the way. Michigan State is winning this game. Yeah, can I get concurrence from Mark and Patrick again? Can we all just look at Lewis right now and say, you are wrong, and let's note this for next week. Houston, Arizona State, an eight-point win for Houston. One that I was right about, Sam Levitt did go down with an injury in this game, and that was the difference for this Houston team.

Holding Arizona State to 16, we'll cue that. Sam Levitt has struggled with injuries this year. I think Sam Levitt might go down again in this game, miss a good enough portion of it that Jeff Sims has to play, and if Jeff Sims has to play, it's Houston's game. So I will take Houston. DeMond Williams, 42, 25 over the Illinois fighting a line. I approving once and for all that Illinois is just really not a good football team.

Demand Williams goes 26 of 33 for 280 yards and four touchdowns. It haunts me with how close Jedfish has this Washington team. Could potentially be a big-name coach in college football. That'll put a bow on week nine as we've got to get to week 10. There's three big matchups. previewing in this segment this week and we'll move to pickums again we'll have to bump up to segment three in the second half this week's big games well they're a tale of teams fighting to stay alive and they need to keep winning vanderbilt heading to texas cincinnati going to salt lake to play utah and

finally oklahoma in prime time taking on tennessee on rocky top which one do you guys want to talk about first so let's start off with the texas vanderbill game very good all right vanderbill is to this game, one loss against the Alabama Crimson Tide, ranked number nine. Texas enters this game with two losses, one coming to the number one Ohio State Buckeyes, and the second, an absolute disaster in the swamp against Florida. Since then, they've beat Oklahoma, and then they've pulled out two close wins against Kentucky and Mississippi State. In two games, they looked surprisingly poor. They do get Vanderbilt at home. What are the keys to this game. This is going to come down to how the quarterbacks play. If Diego Pavia has looked

like he did two weeks ago hitting the Heisman, this will be a blowout win. But Vanderbilt didn't look that great last week. They got bailed out by their defense, as we discussed earlier. And Texas, it's coming off a big game. I think Vanderbilt's going to come out on top in this game. I do like the idea that this comes down to the quarterbacks. We've talked enough about how reliant Vanderbilt is on Diego Pavia and what a miracle it was that they were able to beat Missouri on the other side, Vanderbilt showed that they can defend the run. They kept Alabama close, despite that Alabama team having a far, far better roster, and they were able to shut down Missouri, who's the best rushing offense in the SEC. Texas has shown an ability to run the ball this year,

but if Vanderbilt is able to shut down Alabama, they're able to shut down Missouri, you have to believe that that Texas run game is going to be less than a factor, and so it's going to have to come down to Arch Manning being the difference maker. Now, we've seen two sides of Archmanning when he has to be the difference maker yet this year. We saw Mississippi State a week ago. His defense led him down throughout the game, and he led the team back in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, earlier on in the year against Ohio State,

against a defense that clamped that Texas run game, Archmanning could do nothing. Which Archmanning are we going to get this week? Payton, Mark? Coming off of injury, we might not be getting the Archmanning from last week, who put up 45 points. Texas's defense has been arguably the number two behind Ohio State in the country.

and Mississippi State put up 38 points. Can Vanderbilt do something similar to that? Can Vanderbilt rely on Pavia enough? Get this run game going as well. Put up over 30 points. If that's the case, I am 100% taking Vanderbilt. Yeah, Lewis, I think it's interesting

that you, when you're introducing this segment, you said Texas gets Vanderbilt at home. Because I think if there was one team that I wouldn't really want to have at home this year, it'd be Vanderbilt. This team is on fire. Despite the loss to Alabama, they've rebounded.

They're resilient. This is a tough team. team, Diego Pavia, will put the game on his back when he needs to, and he's a good quarterback. Vanderbilt Commodores are number two in the country for offensive efficiency right now. Vanderbilt's defense is at least above average. That's all they're going to have to be in this game in order to beat Texas. They're not going to have to set the world on fire. I'm going to go with Texas in this game.

I think the weaknesses you've seen from Texas this year have been entirely Texas beating themselves. With how good the defensive end in the linebacker room is at Texas, they're going to be able to contain Pavia. And if you can contain the quarterback, then it's either going to take time of possession or big throwability to turn this game around. You saw Ohio State win time of possession. You saw Kentucky do the same and nearly pull away.

You saw a big throwability with a guy like Blake Chapin at Mississippi State. I don't think Vanderbilt has the run game to dominate time of possession. And I don't think Diego Pavia is a good enough passer to be able to step up in the pocket and deliver that ball to where it needs to be in tight coverage. For that reason, I'm going to big Texas. I think their defense is going to come through.

Give me Texas in this game. Let's keep chugging along. Cincinnati, Utah. Satterfield can afford to drop a game in all likelihood and still get those Cincinnati Bearcats into the Big 12 championship game for a shot at an automatic qualifier. Meanwhile, Utah is going to have to win out to get to the Big 12 championship game,

but even if they do, win out on this schedule and don't make that championship game, 10 and 2 with their wins will probably be enough to get them an 11 or a 12 seed bid to the college football playoff. This game is in Salt Lake City. Who you got? Give me Utah. The crowd is electric. It's up in the mountains.

Cincinnati's not going to know it hit them. Cincinnati is a great team. Do not get me wrong. They're probably going to end up nine and three. They're going to lose to Utah and I think to BYU. It is going to come down to Utah putting up 150, 200 yards rushing. I agree with you, Peyton. I really like Utah in this matchup. This is a good team. Get that in your minds, folks. Utah is out for blood. They have a real chance at getting to the playoffs. And if they

beat Cincinnati convincingly, watch out. I have to disagree with both of you. So you got Brendan Sorsby 1,800 yards. He's got 20 touchdowns and one interception. He's only been sacked twice. Because of that, I'm taking the Cincinnati Percats. Utah does not have need for one man in order to win or lose games. And because of that, I don't think Cincinnati's going to be able to effectively stop them. I will take Utah in this game. All right, real quick here, Oklahoma goes to Tennessee. This is another match above its unstoppable force for this immovable object with this Tennessee offense and the Oklahoma defense.

But I really do think that Tennessee is going to run away with this one. Got arm from Joey Aguilar is just too strong. This Tennessee offense is too dynamic. I agree. I said it earlier on when we forecasted the rest of Tennessee's season. Joey Aguilar's passing is great. Josh Heipel's offense is able to mask his weaknesses very well. Desmond Bishop has shown surprisingly efficient running the ball as well.

This Oklahoma defense needs to sack the quarterback in order to stop the pass. And with how quick Heipel's offense is, that ball's not in Aguilar's hand long enough for him to get sacked. So this Tennessee offense is going to do what they need to do. Now I get that defense is super weak and maybe Mateer has a moment, but I'm not confident enough in that pick. Give me Tennessee. I'm also going to go with Tennessee.

that Georgia game came down to one play. Tennessee should have won that game. You got to go with Tennessee here. I'm going to say it's movable object versus stoppable force. Oklahoma is so stoppable and Tennessee is so movable. Neither team is playing for the top spot in the SEC. It seems like neither team is really hyped on their moment. It seems like neither team is confident. Given that you all said Tennessee, I'm just going to disagree for the sake of the fact that I think that it could go either way. And I'm going to say, Oklahoma manages to do something here. Matir finds a play, like Lewis said. Matier makes something happen. You're going to see Blaylock running back for Oklahoma, go for over 100 rushing yards, I think. When they do that, Oklahoma has been very strong. It's going to free up Matur to pass a little bit

better. When he has time to think, Matir can be an excellent quarterback. Now, that's not to say that the atmosphere is not going to be very detrimental to Matur. Knoxville is a very tough place to play in. I just think Mateer is going to find some way to make it happen. He has playmaking ability. he just needs the time and the Tennessee defense isn't strong enough. It's a top shelf offense and a below average defense versus a below average offense and a top shelf defense. Aguilar and Bishop could be all Tennessee needs at the same time. If Ben Arbuckle cuts out all the QB draws and just hands it off straight to Xavier

Robinson or Torrey Blaylock, Oklahoma could score 50 points. Nothing will surprise me in this game. These are two teams that have shown themselves thoroughly bipolar. It'll be exciting. It'll make for good television no matter what. I will definitely be watching, and I will force the rest of the boys to do likewise. We're going to get into Pickams in the second half and once again break down the ever-changing coaching carousel in college football. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, and this is the four-man front.

Stick with us. We'll see you in six. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, and this is the second half of the four-man front. The show about college football and nothing else. I'm Lewis Thune. Joining me, of course, to the right, Peyton Hughes. Always happy to talk college football. Across the table is Patrick Hamilton. Love to be here.

And then, to my left, is Mark Ayers. How we doing, Lewis? Mark, if I could get my nose to stop bleeding, I would be a very happy man. Look, we gave Patrick a shout out for coming back in the second half last week after entering concussion protocol. I've got a bloody nose. My host voice is significant. altered by it. I'm trying to deepen my voice as much as possible, so it doesn't just end up sounding like this, but this could be a career-threatening injury for me. I agree. I promised in the second

segment we have to get into the pickums. There's four games this week that could be potential upsets, four teams that need to keep winning, and four teams that are determined to stop them. So first, the world's largest outdoor cocktail party in Jacksonville, Florida, as the Georgia Bulldogs take on the Florida Gators. Florida, a team that looked awful to begin the year, and then all of a sudden came up and beat Texas. Gentlemen, will Florida pull off the upset? I have to go with Georgia here. In no way, shape, or form, do I trust this Florida team? This is a team with losses to South Florida, LSU, Miami, A&M, all good teams, but they've just shown no ability to actually play the game of football. You'd expect that they would win one of those games against a good team. You can argue

Texas, I don't think this is a sign of Florida actually having talent or skill or being able to manage well. This is a two to three score victory for the dogs. Okay, okay, Florida does have some talent and skill, especially on defense. But you're absolutely right about their inability to manage said talent and skill. Their defense is good. It's decent. Their offense occasionally will show some sputtering signs of life, but all in all, this Florida team is just really kind of a mess. Do watch this year's edition of the world's largest outdoor cocktail party. It will be a blast. I'm sure Florida will put some excitement together.

Give me Georgia, though. They're going to win this game convincingly. Yeah, that Texas win for Florida, as I stated in the first half, was really a story of Texas beating themselves. They did not play well in the first half and down the stretch. They had opportunities and they just let them slip. Georgia has had some lackluster first halves yet this season, but down the stretch, this team is probably the best in college football.

They've pulled themselves out of some pretty deep holes there against Ole Miss, they're against Tennessee. They almost did it against Alabama. I'm going to trust this team against Florida, even if they do dig a hole. They're going to find their way back out. Give me Georgia in this game. All right. Texas Tech heads to the Little Apple against a Kansas state team that looked atrocious to begin the year and now has injected some life back into themselves after a dominant win in the Sunflower Bowl against in-state rival, Kansas.

K-State or Texas Tech, Peyton? Everyone's putting tech on high upset alert. K-State is arguably the hottest team in the Big 12. They have been looking so good these past couple weeks. Kansas is a good team, and they absolutely destroyed them. This is the team that we expected to see at the beginning of the year. But let's not forget that the one loss on Texas Tech's resume is without Baron Morton being in the game.

Baron Morton is back, and with him on this team, Texas Tech has been the most dominant team in college football. Do not forget it. Don't overthink it. If we would have called this out two weeks ago, we would have called Tech Big. So I'm still going to call Tech Big because Baron Morton is back. I'm taking Kansas State. I feel like this is an upset weekend, and I didn't pick Florida, and I need to pick an upset, so I'm picking Kansas State. The Little Apple is a great atmosphere.

Manhattan's a nice city, even though the university is ugly as it gets. I disagree. The Limestone is beautiful. Y'all fans there in Manhattan, your Ema, your Wabash Cannonball, you need to put it together because your atmosphere accounts for nothing. What home field advantage! I saw you lose to Army! Texas Tech is going to come in and they are going to destroy the Wildcats. K-State, they might be back, but whatever home field advantage they think they have is a figment of their imagination. South Carolina at Ole Miss. This is an Ole Miss team that has, to my count, won five one-score games yet this year against Kentucky, against Arkansas, against

LSU against Washington State and most recently against Oklahoma. I would, would have to be able to like to say my part first. This Ole Miss team shows you how fickle the pass is. I've seen it too many times with Lincoln Riley. You live by the pass. You die by the pass. This Ole Miss team has been insanely fortunate that Trinidad Chamblis has been efficient as he has been. This Ole Miss defense is one of the worst in the SEC. I've sided with Lenora Sellers a lot this season. I've said he's going to be the difference maker in games. This is one where it could actually happen. So, once again, folks, I'm going to say that Lenora Sellers is going to make the difference, and that South Carolina is going to beat Ole Miss in Oxford.

I could be dead wrong about this. This game could be not close, but the weakness I've seen from the Ole Miss defense and the variability that a heavy pass offense provides gives me just enough indication that one man could be enough to shake up their season, and that man's going to be Lenora Sellers. Just like he was the man against LSU and against Oklahoma and against Alabama. Except he almost was the man against Alabama. You're right, Lewis.

This is going to be a close game, I think. But was he the man against Alabama, Mark? They did end up losing. However, they very nearly did not. Here's the thing. The South Carolina team is full of talent. They are full of danger. They are an absolute trap team to anyone who plays them,

including Ole Miss, and they will be the week after. against Texas A&M, so watch out. I think Old Miss is a good enough team. I think they're complete enough as a team. I think they've done enough. They've proven to me, really, that they're a good team,

that they are capable of handling challenges that are thrown at them from trap teams like South Carolina. I think Old Miss will win. I do think that. But I think it's going to be a one-score game. I agree 100% with you. Shout up to the hometown boy.

Give me Trinidad Chamblis and Ole Miss. I'll go, Ole Miss. You guys already have the reasoning. USC heads to Lincoln to face Nebraska. Georgia Tech heads to rally to face NC State. Two games that could potentially get interesting, but probably won't. Give me your picks. I'm going to go USC this week.

I think their offense is great. I'm going to tell you this to all the Nebraska fans listening. Yes, this will be another one-score heartbreak of a loss. Maybe in double overtime if the football gods are feeling especially bitter this week. Matt Rule is going to finally get a win for Nebraska, a ranked win. first in almost a decade. Nebraska's winning this game. Matt Rule is going to find a way to dominate in the trenches.

Nebraska's going to come out with a win, move to 7 and 2 in the Big 10. USC's taking this game. I'm going to call it. They're winning by 16 points. Give it Nebraska, Dylan Ryola, the five star that got away. Lincoln Riley will forever regret it. He's not really going to forever regret it. He's going to forget about it because he doesn't really care all that much.

Nebraska's winning. Matt Rule will finally get his top 25 win after nearly 10 years on the down low. Then, of course, Georgia Tech, NC State. I'm taking Tech. Absolutely. This is really not much of a call. Georgia Tech is going to win this game by many points. If it were earlier in the season,

maybe I call NC State here, but they haven't been the team, but we thought they were. Give me Tech. Cue my music. I don't have any. Give me Georgia Tech. Landslide win. All right, gentlemen, and then the big news,

Brian Kelly, down in the Bayou, Banga, Go Tigers. He gone! Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to cue up our Brian Kelly hate clip once again. Run it! Press Brian Kelly. I think he's out of his depth in the SEC.

I do not like Brian Kelly. Absolute fraudster. Brian Kelly is just not a good coach, and he's destroying this LSU program. He always, he has a propensity to take talented teams and not reach the ceiling. It's almost impressive. Brian Kelly is looking like the second coming of less miles. He should never be allowed to coach a football. football program again.

You heard it here first, folks. Brian Kelly is not only a terrible human being, but he's a terrible coach, Patrick. This is fantastic. I said he never should coach a football team again. And guess what happened? He got fired! I hate Brian Kelly. He's a terrible person.

He's a terrible coach. He destroys everything in his path. Gentlemen, I have two questions stemming from this move. We need to get to him quick. All right. Which program deserves Brian Kelly? Out of pure spite. Please send him to Gainesville so I can see him destroy yet another team and keep down a Florida team that's already in the gutter.

Come on. I would love it so much. Brian Kelly coached for the Catholics. He did. You know where he belongs? On the flip side of that, the convicts send it to Miami. He has destroyed programs, destroyed lives. and he has destroyed everything in his path.

I do not like the man. Go destroy that program because that's all he does. Cristobal might be eyeing an NFL job. And, you know, by all accounts, Brian Kelly hates his fans and his assistant coaches and his players. So he'd fit perfectly at Miami. I think so too. And also too, he's a convict. Never let that man within a hundred yards of a scissor lift.

Ever. Ever. He might send a kid onto it in dangerous weather conditions and watch it blow over. He'd fit perfectly down there. He could waste away his life on the South Beach like every other Miami coach since 2001. All right, Payton, which program deserves Brian Kelly? I don't think anyone deserves Brian Kelly, but I think Miami's probably a good call here. It needs to be a program that whoever picks him up needs to have a lot of money because he's going to want to get paid.

So they need to have money and they need to have not a great fan base and they need to be okay with losing. I just wouldn't want to see him go anywhere right now. You don't wish Brian Kelly becoming your coach on your enemy. We all want Brian Kelly's career to crash and burn and just end. I almost wish him on UCLA because they haven't hired Skipper or Jerry full time yet. Those guys are still interim. And they took Nico Iamaliava after what he pulled at Tennessee and absolutely selling out his fans and the donors and the coaches.

But that would mean Brian Kelly remains a coach in college football. So I want him to stay in Cal and I want him to go to the Cal Berkeley Golden Bears. Because by all indications, they won't have a football program in two years. and Brian Kelly's career will die with them. Okay, gentlemen, next question. Who's next and who's up? Who will be fired next in college football? And who is up to bat as the head coach of LSU?

I'm just going to go for the first question here. I do not want to touch LSU's fan base and their choosing of a coach. So we're going to say who's next to be fired? I'm looking at USC. I'm looking at Lincoln Riley. When Lincoln Riley goes down to Nebraska and then proceeds to lose another game, I think he's going to drop one on the rest of the season, goes eight and four.

That's not enough for this USC fan base and for the USC coaching staff. They're going to want more. They're going to want him out. They want to win the Big Ten. They are not okay with being a mid-tier team in the conference. Quite honestly, I'm a little bit shocked that Luke Fickle has not been fired yet during his pretty disastrous season at Wisconsin. Absolutely. Look for his name in the coming weeks as one that's booted.

Now, you may have expected me, the Florida State fan, to say Mike Norville. I don't think he's going to get fired this season. I think we're going to hold on to him. Part of the reason for that is money. But let's pivot to who's up at LSU. This is incredibly interesting following the departure of Brian Kelly. I think LSU might look to the NFL for their next head coaching candidate. That's what I'm thinking.

I am looking specifically at Joe Brady, current offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills. He left LSU in 2019. He was their offensive coordinator during that phenomenal season with Joe Burrow. Now he's coaching in Buffalo. That sounds like pro football to me, Mark. It is, in fact, pro football. And I'm sorry, dear viewer, that you had to listen to me talk about the NFL for as long as I did. But all I wanted to say was that Joe Brady, the former LSU offensive coordinator, is on the target list for LSU.

I disagree there because I think Brady's on the short list for an NFL head coaching job. If LSU were smart, they would make a pass at two guys with that LSU DNA. Two guys in the Big 12 specifically, there's Dave Aranda, who is a defensive coordinator at LSU, shown his medal with Baylor. He can create a strong defense. All you need is a good O coordinator, and a Dave Iranda coach team is going to be good under pressure. And then a guy from Tulane for the better part of eight years, Willie Fritz there at Houston, has completely turned the coogs around after they were early season projections, had them finishing 11th or 12th in the big. Big 12. All of a sudden, the coogs are looking like a top five team in the big 12, and rightfully so, some great wins. I don't think LSC was that smart. They go for big personalities and

outrageous characters, which means Les Miles, means Ed or Geron, means Brian Kelly. The two guys, I can't get out of my head is they might resurrect Coach O once again for whatever reason. Or they would go for the biggest remaining personality from that Kelly or, you know, Giron Miles era and go for Mike Gundy from Oklahoma State. He can match the Louisiana energy so well. I think he actually might do really well at LSU. It kind of scares me how good if it. That would be early indications are.

They might go for Mike Stoops. Lewis. Lewis, I literally was going to say they're going to bring Coach O because there has been in the last three hours dozens of news articles saying I'm one phone call away. Coach O saying that. much he wants to return back to LSU. Oh my.

To answer your second question, I think Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith is on the chopping block. Michigan State has struggled under him. Smith's just not a good enough recruiter there at Michigan State. And you need great recruiting to find guys in Lansing because you're having to compete with Michigan for your in-state guys. And regionally, obviously you have Ohio State. You know, have Indiana that you have to match up against. It's going to take a man who with a great eye for talent.

to turn that program around in East Lansing. I'm going to have to cap this here because we need to get to the intentional grounding as we are rapidly running out of time. You know the drill. Something needs to be said before this next week kicks off. Fair or foul, it's coming out of your hand and it's coming out hot. So let's do it. Who wants it first? North Texas Mean Green Machines.

That isn't their full name. But they have been a machine recently. I think they'll win out the rest of the season. their only losses to USF. My team do not sleep on them. They're going to be in the college football playoffs. All of the teams that need to lose for North Texas to have their shot at that AAC championship game very much could.

That specially applies to my dearly beloved Navy midshipman, who I'm going to spend my intentional grounding on now. You've heard me intentional ground about Navy before. I said much earlier on in the year that they were my group of five pick. They will remain so even with. absolute hellscape they have remaining in their schedule between Notre Dame, Memphis, South Florida, North Texas. What do they do, Payton? Run the ball. They run the ball and they run it better than anyone in college football. Blake Horvath, the dual threat quarterback's dual

threat quarterback. What Drew Cronic has done as the offensive coordinator here at Navy in the past two years is he has established the passing game as a legitimate threat in a triple option offense, which is something we've never seen done before. And what that's done is it's freed that Navy running offense even more between Brandon Chapman and Eli Heidenreich and Blake Horvath to run and gap the defense over and over again to the point where Navy only needs to throw for 50, 60 yards a game and can still run all over a defense.

Now it's been close. There's been a lot of one-score games. But as I said last week, that's what running the ball will do to you. You're going to win one score games. They're going to be close. It's not going to be sexy, but it'll get the job done. You know what is sexy, though? North Texas mean green.

So the way this would shape out, Patrick, for North Texas, they would have to beat Navy this week. And then either Navy or one of their remaining games would have to beat South Florida. North Texas would be playing in the AAC championship against Memphis. This school is so bought in. They will have a sold-out crowd at this game. it is at Texas. If they win this game,

they will go on to play UAB, Rice, and Temple. Whereas Navy, if Navy can beat North Texas and South Florida, they will secure their spot. They don't necessarily have to beat Memphis. And then obviously,

post-conference championship, you have the Army Navy game. We're going to have to move on from our group of fives into Payton and Mark's intentional groundings. What do you got, boys? Georgia Tech's winning out.

They're beating Georgia at the end of season. Oh, I love it so much. Haynes King. I called that earlier. I called that. that earlier. Our King! Talk about a quarterback who can do it all. Haines King is it all. He is that guy. He is that guy. I don't know why he's not in the Heisman conversation. Maybe he is. He should be. Georgia Tech rides on the back of this guy. Haines King is elite. Georgia Tech is elite.

Criminally underrated. I've heard it said. Haines King is having the season that people think Diego Pavia is having. Oh, yes. Without Haines King, this Georgia Tech team is not. not over 500. He's everything Carson Beck has been for Miami and more because they lean on his legs just as much as his arms. Ever since that overtime win against Clemson, they have got hotter and hotter and hotter and they just beat Syracuse, 41 to 16, a Syracuse team, which I thought was pretty decent. Absolutely whipped Syracuse. Demolished. I said Syracuse could win this game when we preview Georgia Tech schedule. And you were not wrong. That was not crazy.

And Georgia Tech, specifically Haines King in that game, absolute explosion, could legitimately be a threat to Georgia to close out the season and rivalry week. Oh, yes. I am waiting for that game. Come on. This is wild. All right, Payton, bring us home. You guys have been talking about the AAC. You've been talking about Memphis, Navy, Tulane, North Texas.

Let's go to the Sunbuilt James Madison Dukes. This team is on fire. Last week, 5220 over Texas State. The week before, 63, 27. over Old Dominion. They are 7-1, 5-0 in the Sunbelt. They have Marshall coming up this next week, then App State, then Washington State, and then Coastal Carolina. Their one loss on the season is to a great Louisville team that just beat Miami. If Louisville keeps winning, their one loss is going to be against a top 15 team, maybe top 10 team, and a team who's going to be in the ACC

championship game. That loss was only two scores, and that was at the beginning of the year when you're at your weakest. Exactly. Far in a way, probably the best team in the Sunbelt. Is there any chance a Sunbelt team could challenge them in the championship game? I know the Sunbelt is split into divisions. Is the lower division looking any better? Their only competitor is Southern Miss.

Southern Miss has a loss against Louisiana Tech. They have a loss against Mississippi State. They're a decent team. They're six and two right now. But they're already two losses. And JMU looks electric. They look dynamic. And if they went out, I don't know what the committee is going to do between a group of

5, J.MU, a group of five Memphis, North Texas, Tulane, whatever you want to say, JMU has a real shot at the cultural football playoff. And if not, they still get to be in a great bowl game. So this is a great season for JMU. I'm hoping if they don't make that college football playoff, they get a bowl game pairing with Virginia. Because JMU, I believe they're the best team in Virginia right now. With what Kurt Signetti built and left behind there in Harrisonburg, with how devoted a fan base they have, you know Pat McAfee loves the Dukes. This is a scary team. It's all about the group of five. They're going to send an exciting team to the playoff no matter what, and it's all a matter of who it's going to be now. Everybody's

rooting for the underdog. And of course, we're all rooting against Brian Kelly. Yes. Even though he has no part to play in college football for at least the next five weeks. Next week, we unveil the FMF poll in response to the CFP poll. Stay tuned for that. As always, we really appreciate you listening and we hope you'll be paying as close attention to week 10 of this college football schedule as we are for Peyton Hughes Patrick Hamilton and Mark Ayers I'm Lewis Thune and this has been the four-man front you're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM happy football