Aaron Torres & Jason Martin Break Down Conference Championship Weekend, Lay Out the CFP Landscape & More!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome in everybody, Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday into
Sunday air towards Jason Martin broadcasting live from the Fox
Sports Radio studios.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
That is right.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
We are on until two a m. Eastern time. As
de Sager just told you, we are in the final
minutes of two thrillers in college football. Ohio State in
the red zone, three minutes to go. As Martin Weiz
just told you as he wrapped his show, Ohio State
trailing the Indiana Hoosiers by three. A field goal ties it.

(00:38):
A touchdown gives Ohio State the lead with under three
minutes to go, and in the ACC the result that
nobody wants Duke up seventeen to ten in the ACC
Championship game. The possibility exists that if Duke wins the ACC,
the ACC might not have their champion in the College

(00:59):
Football playoff and possibly not have anybody at all speaking
of the ACC. We may have Mario Christobau on the
show later this evening, but Jason Martin until then, we
got a lot of college football to keep us busy
until two am Eastern. How are you tonight, my men?

Speaker 3 (01:15):
I am great and exhausted mentally by all of this.
I mean, this is a great thing for us. It's
a great place to be right now with these games
going on, and certainly with the results from earlier today,
but just trying to parse through what's going to happen tomorrow,

(01:36):
I don't know if three hours is enough quite frankly,
Plus we have the NFL and all sorts of other
things going on. But man, this college football situation got
interesting real quickly.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, it got interesting really quickly. And you know it's
funny because you and I went through this late on
our show last week after all of the big rivalry
games were done. By the way, Ohio State lining up
for a game time field goal and they missed a
field goal in the red zone. They have missed a

(02:10):
field goal in the red zone. Ohio State misses a
field goal. We're just gonna go through teams nine through twelve,
but we gotta start with one versus two in Indy.
Ohio State trailing thirteen to ten with around three minutes
to go, has just missed a field goal. Indiana gets
the ball back with two forty eight left. I'll be honest,

(02:32):
We're doing our best to keep you updated in real
time here. I don't know how many timeouts Ohio State has,
but they obviously do have the two minute timeout coming up.
So boy, oh boy, oh boy, do we have a
thriller in Indy Jmark before we do talk about teams
nine through twelve. Any thoughts on what we're seeing in
Indianapolis right now? As Indiana gets the ball back trying

(02:52):
to ice a Big Ten championship.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Anybody that didn't believe in Indiana sh quiet.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
But are two of the best team contract is fully guaranteed.
What do we do about that?

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yeah, I think we applaud Indiana for doing the right thing. Look,
these are two of the best teams in the country.
This has just been a war of a football game.
You've seen two quarterbacks that are very very good have
to navigate incredible defenses. I've been I'm so impressed with
Mendoza's deep ball, just the way he uncorks that thing

(03:27):
down there, and so it's amazing and saying has actually
gotten away from a couple of plays. I have no
idea how he got out of a few of the
near sacks in this game. But these two teams and Georgia,
to me, you're on a completely different plane than everybody else.
Like watching Indiana in this game, they're legit. Even if
you were looking at the Oregon game and saying, well,

(03:48):
no good is Oregon, and you can't say that now.
The way that they have been the physical match of
Ohio State in this game from the jump tells you
all you need to know about what this Indiana team is. Well,
with all due respect to the crew that they had
last year, this is a different animal right here. This

(04:09):
is a completely different, better football team. This is a
team that's capable of winning at all. I'm not suggesting
they're going to but I wouldn't be shocked if you
could go toe to toe with this Ohio State team
on a neutral field. I don't think that there's anybody
that you can't beat, even though I still believe Georgia
to be the best team in the country.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Right now, yeah, so really quick. Not only is Indiana
up thirteen to ten, here is the setup. Indiana has
more total yardage two hundred and ninety eight yards to
two hundred and seventy five. They have nearly double the
rushing yards.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Now.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Neither team is running the ball well because both defenses
are elite, but they have held Ohio State to fifty
eight yards rushing and about two yards per carry. So
for people who are driving around, for people who cannot
watch this game live, this is not some you know,
blocked punt return for a touchdown and Julian Sayin's throwing
four picks. No, no, no, no, this is two excellent

(05:00):
teams going back and forth, and you know one of
them is gonna be the Big Ten champion, the number
one seed, and the other one very much is still
in plenty of position to make a run. So thirteen
to ten, thirteen to ten, two forty eight left. Ohio
State has two timeouts plus the two minute timeout, so basically,
if they can avoid a first down, they will get

(05:23):
the ball back. Indiana has just started their drive trying
to ice this year.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Your point, by the way, on saying yeah, he doesn't
have four interceptions, he does have one, which is in
something he's done a lot this year. Mendoza has won
this game too, but say it only has six incompletions
in this game, folks, yep, like if you're not watching it,
and Mendoza's got eight, So between the two of them,
they only I mean they have fourteen total incompletions in
this game, like, this is a very high quality game

(05:51):
despite being thirteen to ten. That's just a credit to
the defense is not giving up points, even if they're
giving up some yards here and there. This is just
this is just one of those games where you just
realize you were watching two heavyweights go at it, and
it shows again what new college football looks like. My
wife earlier tonight when this game started, she said, Indiana

(06:12):
is number two, and I said, yeah, it's a different world, hun.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Learns signetty, baby.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
It is a different I said, you get the right
coach and you've got a little bit of money, you
can do something real quick in this sport. Well, that's
what we're seeing.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
I'll tell you really quick. We have to focus on
the games. But that was kind of one of my
big takeaways from this week with all of the coaching changes,
is you know, you look at how much Penn State
struggled to find a coach because the Vandy coach, the
Louisville coach, the BYU coach, the Indiana coach, among others,
basically said nah, I'm good where I'm at. Indiana's coach

(06:52):
is going to the playoff. Obviously, we think Vandy's coach
is probably on the outside looking in, but it just
shows you. I do think as we get deeper in
to this new era of the college football world and
college football playoff, I think having the right coach more
than anything is important. And so we'll keep you updated
on that game. By the way, I stand correct at
Ohio State had all three timeouts, they have used the

(07:14):
first one. But speaking of BYU and an interesting week there,
they are part of this very interesting group of four
that has just become it has become the talking point.
And it's funny, j Mark, because I remember, you know,
I'm sure we've had this conversation two or three times
over the last couple of years, if not more. But

(07:34):
you know, I wondered, as we got into this twelve
team playoff era, was it going to turn into the
NCAA tournament because the previous four team iteration, it was
the top four was whatever. Well you look at today
one versus two an Indie, Georgia versus Bama in Atlanta,
and all anybody was talking about was essentially Notre Dame
in Miami. So I'll set it up really quick. Bama

(07:57):
in the most recent rankings was at number nine, Notre
Dame at number ten, BYU at eleven, Miami at twelve. Okay,
everybody knows Notre Dame in Miami have played head to
head Miami one back in week one on Labor Day weekend.
I bring it up because Alabama, you and I went
through all the scenarios last week. I think we both

(08:17):
thought Alabama was in regardless of what happened this afternoon.
Will they lose twenty eight to seven in a game
that frankly really wasn't that competitive. And I bring it
up because there's all sorts of conversations. Now if you
keep Bama in, what does it mean for BYU, which
also lost in its conference championship game? Do you punish

(08:39):
one but not the other? And then what do you
do with this Notre Dame Miami conundrum? Where Notre Dame
is ranked higher frankly probably playing better, but Miami has
the ultimate trump card, which is obviously the head to
head win. So those four teams for two spots have
been the talking point. Will keep you updated on what's
going on in these two conference champs games. Duke has

(09:01):
actually taken a twenty to ten lead in the ACC
but for now j. Mart Let's go ahead and focus
on that group of four. Alabama not only losing but
largely getting blown out by Georgia. What do you make
of this cluster in the back half of the at
large pool.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
I mean, it's a mess. It's weird that Alabama jumped
Notre Dame last week considering they they did not look
good in the Iron Bowl. They did not look good
against that Auburn team. Now, yes, I understand the Iron
Bowl can be different, but I think the problem with
what happened today and we'll get into a larger conversation

(09:38):
about this, obviously, the problem with what happened today was
it wasn't like this was some fluke that couldn't have
been seeing coming. Now, I do think that most believe
this was going to be more competitive than this, because
that was If this was competitive, we're not having this argument.
The third loss doesn't affect it. The problem is this
was such a beating. And I heard Ari Washerman say this,

(10:01):
and I'm gonna credit him because I think he's right.
He said, here's the problem. This is the same way
that Alabama looked in the Iron Bowl. They just played
a better team this time much. I think That's a
really good point because this is kind of the Bama
we've seen for the last month. You remember we were
on air when they sort of limped past LSU when

(10:23):
LSU was already dead. They played a four and eight
South Carolina team. Didn't look impressive in that game either,
like and then you go back, of course, their season
started and ended with some really bad things. They lost
to a five and seven Florida State team, and then
they got absolutely trounced by maybe the best team in
the country in the SEC championship game. See, you look

(10:45):
at them, so they have their three losses. Notre Dame
has one ranked win on the season. They beat USC
they lost to Miami, which is crucial, and they lost
to Texas A and M. And then you look at
BYU because you want to make the argument between Alabama
and BYU, because both of them were the losers of
conference championship games in emphatic fashion to top five teams.

(11:09):
BYU has two ranked wins on the season, so does Alabama.
Alabama beat number three Georgia, a number fourteen Vanderbilt. BYU
beat number fifteen Utah and number eighteen Arizona, and their
only losses were to two number four ranked Texas Tech
Red Raiders. So you look at those three, you look
at that, and it's like it would be really hard

(11:30):
to argue Alabama should stay in and BYU should be
out based on just that alone and then throwing Miami in.
Their problem is they lost to two unranked teams. The
Louisville loss is bad, the SMU loss is bad, but
they beat Notre Dame. So how exactly do you put
Notre Dame in over them? I don't think you do.

(11:52):
I don't so I think that of these slots, if
we're just looking at it right now, from what should happen,
Miami me a Notre Dame should be in an Alabama
should be out, And I did not think that a
few hours ago. But I think there's a larger conversation
that then needs to be had and probably will be
had about the conference championship games going forward, because I

(12:13):
would refuse to play in them ever again. If I
felt like I was pretty assured of a college football
playoff Berth, there would be nothing for me to gain
really other than maybe a higher seed by winning that
game and everything to lose. This is a big time
moment because even though We've seen losers of conference championship

(12:33):
games lose seeds in the playoff. We saw that last year.
We haven't seen them getting knocked out entirely from losses.
If you see one get knocked out entirely, I think
that changes the metrics here.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Well, I will tell you what. As you explain everything
going on there, we should give you an update in
Indie because right before the two minutes I'm out, a
Fernando Mendoza deep pass to I believe it was Elijah
Surat does give in Indiana a first down. We are
under two minutes to go. I believe Ohio State is

(13:06):
down to one time out. Uh, we're just we're doing
this all in real time for people just joining us.
Indiana up thirteen to ten. Ohio State missed a field
goal with two forty eight left to go to tie it.
Indiana has gotten a first down. They now have a
new set of downs with under two minutes to go,
two minutes away from a Big ten championship, and I'll

(13:29):
tell you what you want to talk about, the ultimate
chaos factor. Duke has taken a two score lead at
or not at but in the ACC championship game against Virginia.
They're up twenty to ten with five minutes to go. Obviously,
we know what's at stake in this game. If Duke wins,
the ACC probably does not get they certainly I can't

(13:52):
say certainly, but they probably do not get their auto
bid to the conference to the College Football Playoff. Remember,
it's the five highest ranked conference champions, and right now
those conference champions would be Texas Tech who j Mark
just reference b BYU Georgia, the Big Ten champ, whoever
wins this Indiana game, and Tulane has actually already clinched

(14:12):
the American title, So there's a possibility that the ACC
gets left out all together.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Put him in.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
Dames Madison, Bob Chesney, all who knew that UCLA was
gonna win. You know, have the best coaching hire of
anybody in this cycle. So I'll tell you what I
think what's best is, as we are under two minutes
to go in the Big Ten championship game, let's come back,
let's reset. We will probably have a final from Indy
when we come back. We're gonna talk about that, and

(14:43):
we are gonna reset this Alabama Notre Dame BYU Miami
conversation because It is all anyone in sports will be
talking about until that bracket is unveiled at noon Eastern tomorrow.
Aratorus Jason Martin. We are on until two a m.
Eastern Fox Sports Radio.

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Speaker 2 (15:44):
Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio Er tors Jason Martin
broadcasting live. Yes, we are live eleven twenty three Eastern
on the Fox Sports Radio from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
We are seconds away. I don't know you could call
it a shocker, but a set. It's certainly an upset.
Three seconds left maybe two in Indianapolis, Indiana up thirteen

(16:11):
to ten. Ohio State just threw up a hail Mary
to midfield. It falls to the ground. Ohio State's gonna
have a chance for one more play trailing thirteen to ten.
They did, by the way, miss a field goal with
two forty eight left in this game. Should mention it
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(16:32):
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by BETMGM every Saturday and Sunday morning right here on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. It is eleven
twenty four Eastern time. We do have uh the Big

(16:53):
ten championship game coming down to the wire and we offishally.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
I haven't seen it yet because I'm always on delay.
Beyond you, we.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Have an upset in Indianapolis. Kurtz Signetti walking to midfield
with the biggest frown on his face ever for a
school he looks so bad. Final score in Indianapolis, Indiana thirteen,
Ohio State ten, Indiana your Big Ten champions first Big

(17:27):
Ten championship for the Indiana Hoosiers since nineteen sixty seven.
The story here besides the shaker itself. Ohio State did
miss a chip shot field goal with two forty eight left.
The Indiana Hoosiers have won the Big Ten. The Indiana
Hoosiers we don't know for sure, but we assume will

(17:50):
be the number one seed in the College Football Playoff
when the bracket comes out on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Fernando Man, don't give him, don't give him many money,
don't extend him.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Remember when people said that you couldn't fully guarantee card
Signatty's contract.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
It's gonna cost It's gonna cost the man who made
that decision his job at Indiana.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yes, you know what I think. I'm actually just gonna
go through on social media and retweet all of those
tweets because, uh we.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
Our boy Fred at cold takes exposed. Yeah, by the
old friend Fred. There's probably a lot of those out there.
He could go for.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
I don't so we are obviously in studio. There is
no sound on Fernando Mendoza just he's excited. Yeah, it
looks like a speech where he's about to cry. But
he's not about to cry. But he's got his hands locked.
He's converting somebody to something. He's looking in the camera
and letting you know. If you didn't believe in the
Indiana Hoosiers before today, well you should now. The Indiana

(18:49):
Hoosiers thirteen ten j Mart, you know we'll get back
to the final four, the four teams fighting for two.
I know we've done this over and over again over
the course of the last you know, however many Frank
probably the last year in change. But this thing is unbelievable.
Indiana thirteen to zero this year, eleven and two last year.

(19:09):
You know the stat and they showed it on the TV.
This is Indiana is the losingest program in the history
of major college football. I believe the stat. I don't
have it off the top of my head, but I
believe they had never had a ten win season before Kurtzignet.
He got there now twenty three and two in his
two seasons, Big Chen Champs, going to the College Football

(19:32):
Playoff as the number one overall seed. Fernando Mendoza. I
know this is probably not the conversation for this moment.
Maybe has clinched the heisman, Maybe it's not. I know
we've talked about it in this time slot. I don't
think we can overseell how incredible this story truly is.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
No, I mean you can't. This is what you dream
of at a school that just has never had a
history of doing anything in the country's most popular sport,
and for them to go from outhouse to penthouse like this,
it just shows well, it does show what a great
coach can do, a coach that brings culture with him

(20:12):
and they go find the right guys to run that system.
It also shows what college football is now. Indiana is
the poster child for what college football has become. What
you can do and no longer do you need a
coach to be there for three to five years to
build his program. You can do it a lot faster
than that. And this is why these coaching searches have

(20:32):
been so explosive and so crazy and so ridiculous, and
so many feelings have gotten hurt along the way. It's
because all these schools know all we'd got to do
is get the right guy on the sidelines, the right
staff and then get everything in place and we can
do something like this. But in terms of Indiana, India
has a basketball school. They're a basketball school. When you

(20:55):
said the final four, I immediately was thinking about basketball,
thinking of the eighty seven final with Keith Smart hit
the shot to beat that Ronnie Psyche Syracuse team. I
was not thinking about Fernando Mendoza and this Indiana team.
Which are they going to be the number one overall
seed in the college football Playoff? I assume would be
them or Georgia. But I mean, my goodness, what was

(21:16):
once just a good story is now an absolute like
they're a wagon man, like they're just really really good.

Speaker 6 (21:25):
They are.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
And I think the important thing, and you brought it
up in the first segment, but let's reiterate it for
any audience that's just joining us is if you were
not able to watch this game, if you're in your car,
if you're at work, whatever, the bottom line is, this
was not fluky. This was not you know, weird injuries,
weird refereeing calls overturn this blocked punt that Julian saying

(21:51):
was phenomenal in this game twenty one of twenty nine passing.
The story though, was that Indiana was just a better team.
Indiana finished this game with more totally yardage three forty
to three twenty two. They almost doubled Ohio State's rush total,
and they held Ohio State to fifty eight yards rushing
two point two yards per carry. Like this is not

(22:12):
this was Indiana and Ohio State both walked out of
the tunnel together and they were equals on the field
and one of them. Obviously, listen, one team has to win,
one team mess lose. But this is not some weird thing.
And again I don't want to oversell the story, because
now the story is just no, they're just as good
as anybody anybody in college football, and doesn't mean they're

(22:35):
gonna win a championship. And we'll see what the bracket
looks like when it comes out on Sunday morning, but
this is just an unbelievable story as Indiana gets to win.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
Yeah, and look, they're both really good. Like you watch
this game tonight and you say, oh, both of them
could win the national championship. I think going in you
felt like it. Ohio State could. I think that Indiana
the winn against Oregon happened so long ago. I do
not think you tell me if I'm wrong in this eron.
I feel like just because of the nature of college football,

(23:03):
the way things were scheduled, where the games were played,
what networks they were on, all of this, I feel
like a lot of people watched Indiana against Oregon but
hadn't watched a ton of them week to weis sure,
and so you tune in tonight because of course you do,
and you see them go against this Ohio State team
that you've heard about all year long, with.

Speaker 7 (23:22):
Tate and Smith and Jackson and saying and all this,
and then you see this final and you see thirteen
to ten and you see this just knockdown, drag out
fight between these two teams.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
I feel like a large quantity of people that watched
that game tonight came away with a with eyes just
just huge, Like biggest saucers watching Indiana say, I heard
they were good. I didn't realize they were that good.
They were national champion good in this game, Yeah, and.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
We'll see what happens. The bracket comes out eleven am
eleven AM Central noon Eastern. And you know, I don't
think any of us, I don't know, I can't speak
for you. I don't feel comfortable saying anything is definitive,
anything is definitive without seeing the bracket. But again, Indiana, like,
we want to celebrate the story, but they are now

(24:14):
more than a great story. They are an incredible team.
Tell you what, Jabart, why don't we come back and
let's really dive deep into that nine through twelve spot.
We are hoping to get Mario Cristaball. We are efforting
Mario Cristaball. We'll see if we can get him before
the end of the show, but we'll talk about his
team as well as BYU Notre Dame, and of course
Alabama will do that in just one moment. Before we

(24:34):
do that, let's get it over the news desk.

Speaker 8 (24:36):
My man de Segur, Aaron, there is no over selling
this story.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
I don't know. It's not that we're I love the story,
but they're no longer just an underdog. They're like, they're
no number one team in the country. They're all high
states equal.

Speaker 8 (24:52):
Yes, Saperirianna is number one in the country as of tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (24:56):
That will be football. Yes, football.

Speaker 8 (24:59):
Let's listen say that the Indiana Hoosiers who have not
won an outright conference title in football since nineteen forty five.
Just did so in Indianapolis tonight, beating number one and
previously undefeated Ohio State thirteen to ten. How about what
they had done head to head these two programs, including.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
In recent years.

Speaker 8 (25:20):
Oh Boy, Indiana had not beaten Ohio State in their
last thirty matchups in a row since a tie game
in nineteen ninety. Last year, Indiana lost at Ohio State
thirty eight fifteen, the year before twenty three to three,
the year before fifty six fourteen, the year before fifty

(25:40):
four to seven, et cetera. Indiana is thirteen to zer
and the number one team in all of college football.
Ohio State had two great chances to at minimum tie
the game in the second half, and by the Buckeye
By the way, the Buckeyes were trailing in the second
half for the first time since the Michigan game a

(26:01):
year ago, which they lost thirteen to ten. Ohio State
late in the third quarter went for it on fourth
and one at the Indiana five and did not make
it after video review. Sayan's knee was down on their
next drive, a fifteen play drive nearly eight minutes worth
in the fourth quarter over eighty yards, they settle for

(26:23):
the short field goal attempt to tie, and the twenty
seven yard attempt is wide left. Indiana wins thirteen to
ten over leases.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
We're out to I watched that on a replay.

Speaker 8 (26:36):
Just amazing. What has gone on tonight and for these
two years with Kurt Signetti running the Indiana program. It's
just what are we seeing here? So the top four
this week in college football, we assume will be the
four that get the first round by in this month's playoff,
with Indiana number one, and we'll see where Ohio State

(26:57):
is at twelve and one, Georgia's twelve and one. Texas
Tech is twelve and one. Texas Tech blitz BYU for
a second time in about a month, winning the Big
twelve Championship thirty four to seven. Georgia, ranked third this week,
won twenty eight to seven over Alabama to take the
SEC crowd. Georgia led twenty one to nothing early in
the third quarter. Meanwhile, we've got another game still going on,

(27:19):
just over a minute to play in Charlotte in the
ACC Championship. Duke is still winning. The Blue Devils are
seven and five. They're holding on twenty to thirteen. Now
against seventeenth rank Virginia. Virginia has the ball in its
own end, trying, trying desperately for a long drive and
a quick one to get into field goal range. Penalty

(27:41):
puts them up at their own twenty eight yard line
or so, so they've got a ways to go and
only about a minute to do it. Earlier in Detroit,
Western Michigan won the MAC Championship twenty three to thirteen
over Miami, Ohio. As you reference college football selection, Sunday
is this weekend. That's when all the playoff teams will
be named and the bowls come out. Miami won the

(28:02):
MLS Cup Final three to one over Vancouver. The Rams
Sean McVay is due to coach Sunday at Arizona, but
he traveled there separately due to illness. NHL Florida seven
to six overtime winners against Columbus upset. In college basketball
is number ten ranked Iowa State didn't just win at
number one perdue, it beat him up eighty one fifty eight.
That ties the largest home loss ever by a number

(28:25):
one ranked basketball team. And in the NBA, Sacramento got
forty two points from Zach Lavine in a win at
Miami one twenty seven to one eleven. Once again, we're
at about a minute to go in the ACC title game.
Virginia with the ball, but in their own end of
the field, down twenty to thirteen to duke.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
Back to you, Thank you very much, Steve de Seger.
This is Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday Air towards
Jason Martin, broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios, Indiana,
your Big Ten Champions. Duke in Virginia down to a
minute five. We will come back react to that, and
then we got to dive into this nine versus twelve.

(29:03):
Who's in, who's out. We'll discuss it all next. Fox
Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Welcome back, everybody. Fox Sports Radio Erra Torris, Jason Martin,
broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
So I thought this was the Fraser theme at first.
Oh oh no when it started out, but the Christmas
music is on. But as it started, I was I
was waiting to hear about toss salad and scrambled eggs,
and instead is this, uh Michael Boublay, Yes there, all right.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
Mary Mack on the ones in twos. Indiana's your Big
ten champ. Thirteen to ten. We've got a situation in Charlotte.
We're waiting to see it looks like Virginia, but he
stepped out. Was he forced out? That's why I screamed,
because Virginia has scored a touchdown, but the the wide
receiver went out of bounds. The question is was he

(30:03):
forced out? And if he was forced out, you know,
was he back in? All that good stuff? So I
don't think this touchdown is going to stand. Let me
put it that way. Uh, duke up? Twenty to thirteen. No,
well tells you what Torres knows. I guess I'm not
in the running for Mike Perreira's job. Because the touchdown

(30:24):
is good, the pat is good, and with twenty two
seconds left in Charlotte, Virginia has tied up the ACC
championship game. Remember the stakes here, so the top five
ranked conference champions get into the College Football Playoff. We
know that the Big ten champ Indiana, the SEC champ Georgia,

(30:46):
the Big twelve champ Texas Tech, and the American champ
Tulane are in. If Virginia wins this game, they will
get the final conference you know, auto bid if you
will to the Conference to College Football playoff if they
lose to Duke. Duke right now is behind James Madison
in the standings. James Madison has won the Sun Belt.

(31:09):
The assumption is that James Madison and Tulane will be
in the College Football Player. Let me ask you this,
j Martin, and at some point we're gonna get to
the nine through twelve. Think do you have an issue
with the G fives getting at least one spot. It
has become a little bit of a talking point right
now because obviously you have a tenant two Vandy that

(31:31):
isn't probably gonna be in. You obviously have Texas which
has some great wins but also has three losses that
isn't going to get in. You have the Notre Dame
versus Miami situation, and we could be looking at both
Twu Lane and James Madison getting in. I have some
strong opinions, but I'm curious for years.

Speaker 3 (31:48):
Okay, so a couple things. First, I assume you've seen
this story, but if not, certainly a really cool story
where Clark Lee actually was trying to find a game
that they could play this week I love to help
their case, and so they were gonna play Miami if
they could. I love it because even though I think
clarkly knew it couldn't be done based on the rules

(32:09):
and all that kind of stuff, I think it shows
this fan base. It's like, it's great optics, right, like
that we're trying to do everything we possibly can. But
more back to your question, yes, because if you're not
at least letting one of them in, then what exactly
are they playing for? If they can't get in, then
they need to be in a different classification altogether. There

(32:31):
has to be some reward for winning those leagues as well,
Like there has to be at least some shot. So yeah, absolutely,
Like if you're Texas, you had plenty of opportunities to
prove your way in and you weren't able to do it.
I feel like this is you have to at least
let one of them in or there's no reason for
them to be playing in the first place.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, So that that's my take. And I remember years
ago when we had a fourteen playoff, I was filling
in one day with Mark Willard, who obviously now is
in the Bay Area, but at the time he was
doing radio in San Diego with Rich Orenberger, and he
was a you know, they covered San Diego State in
that year. I think san Diego State maybe when undefeated.
By the way, we do have overtime in the ACC

(33:15):
championship game, Duke in Virginia tied at twenty and you know,
he just you know, And I love college football, obviously
goes without saying, but that was the one thing I
could never defend is is I forget the year, and
I forget the circumstance. But San Diego State was maybe
nine and oh ten and oh eleven and oh whatever
it was, and they had no path to a college
football playoff, And so to me, they've been fighting one

(33:37):
hundred years to get a spot at the table. I
just think you play twelve games, I understand. By the way,
at some point one of these teams is gonna win
a game. Like It's just it's just such a non
issue to me. And and it's funny because.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Well, look, I mean the same thing like I don't
want the Central Florida argument ever again. I don't want
the we're national champions argument ever again. You will limit
that by giving them a seed at the table. Let them,
Let them prove that on the field. I want to
see Tulane in. I want to see them more than
Duke of Virginia. I can darn sure tell you that
I want to see them and James Madison in more

(34:12):
than those. I want a five loss Duke team that
wins the ACCN Heck no, yeah, why well no?

Speaker 2 (34:19):
And I think I think the argument would be just
eliminate like auto bids or take away the G five bid.
I just think, look, like I said, there's twelve spots,
the SEC is gonna get five teams in. Like, if
you're not good enough to get in at you know,
one of five spots, I'm sorry, Like, I just don't
feel that bad for you. So anyway, we're going overtime. Obviously,

(34:41):
if Duke were to win, we could be looking at
a scenario where both James Madison and Tulane are in.
Tulane has already unofficially clinched a spot in the College
Football Playoff. We'll see if both get in. Let's continue
this conversation, j Martin, We'll probably have to take it
into hour two. By the way, Brian know will join
us in hour two U to talk little bit about
the Notre Dame perspective, but Bama number nine, Notre Dame ten,

(35:05):
BYU eleven, Miami twelve. Okay, so this is just my
personal opinion and I don't know if today changed. And
by the way, for people who maybe haven't followed the discourse,
like the argument is that JMR and I last week
after the rivalry games basically went through we said there's
no scenario where Alabama does not get in. What complicates

(35:28):
things is two things. Is one, first of all, they
did move ahead of Notre Dame this week in the rankings.
But at the same time, if you're not going to
drop Alabama, there's an interesting argument that BYU, which to
the point that jmar brought up earlier in the show,
BYU is eleven and two. Their only losses are to

(35:51):
a top five Texas Tech team on the road and
on a neutral field. You can't drop BYU either. And
then it becomes do you put in Notre Dame? Do
you put in BYU?

Speaker 3 (36:00):
I just.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
I know where I think everybody's going and where everything
is going. But it's become a conversation about Alabama with
the third loss potentially being left out. I'll say this
because I know I'm just kind of talking in circles
at this point. The point you brought up to me
earlier is the most important one, and that's that the
precedent that would be set of going to a conference

(36:23):
championship game in the playoff, having the extra game, and
then being out of the playoff, I just don't think
it's a precedent the committee wants to set. And I'll
even take it a step further. I don't even want
to know what the SEC's reaction would be to that.
Like I'm not even kidding, Like I don't.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
Think it's Rick Sache already kind of said it this week.
What did he say, I already say either he said
it after I saw the quote just a little while ago,
and I don't know when it was, if it was
after the game today or before it, but he said,
if there's a scenario where one of these two teams
where the loser of our game doesn't get in, then
we're gonna have to look at that, and we're gonna
have to look at the future of championship games. And

(37:03):
that is the right call, whether they get in or not,
because these things we need more time to break down
just how dumb these things actually are, well, yeah, I
hope they.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
I hope they reconsider conference championship games just to begin with.
And you know, I will tell you this, and I
don't mean to poo poo what we do on air
here on this Saturday. I was very interested in the
Big Twelve because obviously there were stakes there.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
I did not feel as invested in the SEC Championship
game as I normally would because I thought that both
of them were in right, yes, exactly, and maybe they
aren't and maybe come tomorrow I'll look stupid. But like,
certainly I watched it. I watched a dominant Georgia win,
but it just didn't feel and by the way, the
lead up to the game, at least in my opinion,

(37:51):
did not feel the same. And so I hope we
reconsider conference championship games altogether. I think it's inevitable that
if we lose conference championship games, we're probably gonna add
games to the playoff and add teams to the playoff
to make up for the difference of revenue and whatever.
But it just feels, like I told Ryan, follow our
buddy in Tuscal loose to this. It just feels like

(38:12):
a relic from a different era, Like it just feels
like something that we don't need to do anymore. You know, again,
if you're an Indiana fan listening right now, you probably
feel a lot differently. But I just I don't know.
I don't even know where I'm going with this. Is
just that I think we need to get rid of
conference championship games. I do think Alabama's into the College

(38:32):
Football Playoff, even with what happened on Saturday, So you do.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
Think they're definitely in. You don't think there's going to
be any any course correction here at all to preserve
the conference championship games because one of two things that
the committee has to determine here is conference championship games
get put under a completely different microscope. I feel like
if Alabama has left out, even with what's happened in
the past and some of these title games and all

(38:57):
this other kind of stuff. The other president is if
you leave Alabama out, then you no longer have to
make the tough choice between Miami and Notre Dame, and
you get yourself out of that pickle. You've got one
or the other in which going to be the talking
point after this.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Because Notre Dame is obviously the team right behind Alabama,
so you can move Notre Dame up right.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
Yeah, you could flip them, because you flipped them last
week really for no reason, Like there was not anything
impressive that Alabama did other than that they played their
rival as opposed to a bad Stanford team, don't. I
don't know that there was any real justifiable reason, based
on what we had seen from Alabama over the last month,
for them to leap frog Notre Dame a week ago,

(39:41):
so you could easily flip.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Them back, and then who would be in It would
be Notre Dame in Alabama or not it would be.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
Notre Dame in Miami at that point in time, I believe,
But I mean, obviously you have to end up in
nine and ten there, but you Alabama's gonna have to
drop in order for this to happen. I don't know
that it's gonna happen. I just I think that this
has gotten a lot more likely than any of us
believed going into this weekend.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
We'll tell you what. We got two more hours to
discuss at all, because we are on until two am
Eastern and our two Brian No will join us. Our
resident Notre Dame basically insider used to work for the
school and for the team. He will come on share
the Notre Dame perspective. We are efforting maybe Mario Cristobal,
and we're keeping you update on the ACC championship game.
Two more hours, plenty more college football Era Torus Jason

(40:29):
Martin taking you till two am Eastern, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (40:33):

Speaker 2 (40:36):
Welcome in everybody, hour, two tours Martin, Fox Sports Radio.
We are broadcasting and from the Fox Sports Radio studios
here at midnight Eastern. And what a night it is.
As Desager just told you, Duke is your ACC Conference champion.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
I'm sorry, card I got close captioning on. So I
was just listening or I saw what the Duke coach
had to say.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
What did he say?

Speaker 3 (41:04):
He just he just well he laid out the case
and then at the end of it, he's like, yeah, that's
a playoff team, meaning them. Hates to tell you. I
hate to tell you, boss, I'm tired, Boss dog tired.
I'm John Coffee right now in the Green Mile Like no, no,
just just no, thank you thank you for coming. Appreciate it,

(41:25):
good win, good job, almost losing thing. Coming back and
winning in overtime. Good job finishing over five hundred by
a game or two or three. I guess you were
now eating five. But uh, enjoy whatever bowl you get
put into, because ain't no way you need to be
in a playoff.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
By the way, Brad Power's great college football gambling Voice
just tweeted out, I didn't think of it this way,
but many Diaz wins an ACC title before Mario Cristibaal does.
Remember they fired many Daz to bring in Mario Crystaball.
So hey, we love both of them. We are efforting
Mario Cristaball for this show. But I do think that's
kind of interesting. They ran Manny Diaz out of town

(42:03):
and he is the ACC champion. We will see if
Mario Christaball and the Miami Hurricanes get into the college
football playoff. J Martin, let's reset it. So yeah, we
came out last week after the all the big rivalry games,
and we kind of thought that twelve of or eleven
of twelve spots were set. Basically, the two teams in

(42:24):
the Big Ten championship game, Indiana and Ohio State. The
two teams we thought at the time in the SEC
championship game Alabama and Georgia. We thought the Big twelve champs,
assuming it was Texas Tech, and then obviously two more
conference champions From there, we thought, who would it be
besides the runners up in the SEC and the Big Ten.

(42:44):
We also thought that Texas A and m Oregon, Ole
Miss and Oklahoma were going to get into college football
playoff and so that left basically one spot for one
spot for everybody else. Okay, bringing up fast forward this week,
the way the playoff rankings broke was that at number
nine was Alabama, number ten was Notre Dame, Number eleven

(43:08):
was BYU, Number twelve was Miami. A couple of caveats
there for people just joining us, don't follow this on
a day to day basis. Alabama did move up a spot, now, Ja,
mart I actually think there was a very strategic reason
that that happened. I'll explain it in a second. They
actually moved up a spot ahead of Notre Dame. Notre
Dame was ranked ninth, they were now tenth. Alabama and

(43:28):
BYU were both playing in conference championship games on Saturday.
Notre Dame and Miami were out not playing on Saturday,
of course, and of course the wild card in all this.
Notre Dame is ranked ahead of Miami, but Miami has
the head to head win over Notre Dame. So basically,
the big conversation was, is there any scenario where if

(43:50):
Alabama were to lose the SEC championship game, especially in
ugly fashion, is there any way they could be out?
And again keeping in mind that they were in that
last year, no team that was in position to make
the playoff before the conference championship game, no team was
eliminated for playing in a conference championship game. So there's

(44:11):
that variable. The negative variables for Alabama is they did
have two losses. We've never had a three loss team
make the college football playoff as an at large team,
and they do have by far the worst loss of
pretty much anybody that is in serious consideration for a
playoff spot, which is the loss to open the season
against Florida State. So I bring it all up to say, basically,

(44:33):
there's two spots for Alabama at number nine, Notre Dame
at ten, BYU at eleven, Miami at twelve, with the
bonus caveats that Alabama got boat raced in their conference
championship and BYU got boat raced in THEIRS. Alabama again
was in coming into today. I am of the belief
two things. One I will say this, I do think

(44:55):
that Alabama was purposefully moved ahead of Notre Dame. And
you know, you've said a couple times in the show,
you know, what did they do in the Iron Bowl
to earn the bump. I don't think they did anything
in the Iron Bowl. I think what the committee was
factoring in was we can't move them ahead of Notre
Dame if they were to lose in the conference championship game,

(45:17):
So let's move them ahead now. Then we can just
keep them where they are and say, hey, we don't
punish teams for making conference championship games. So that's why
I believe it happened. But at the same time, I
think it is another data point, right, and if you
do lace them up and if you do step on
the field, it can be used in your favor or
against you. And Alabama did not look good. They did

(45:39):
not look competitive, And I think you brought up probably
the most important point that maybe is getting lost a
little bit in the shuffle. JMRK. Alabama hasn't really looked
good in a while now, no last four regular season games.
Let's just take out Eastern Illinois, that's whatever, seven point
win at Auburn, three two point loss to Oklahoma at home, ugly,

(46:01):
eleven point win at LS against LSU, and a seven
point win at South Carolina where they had to rally late.
So basically, they haven't looked like the team that we
all thought they were early in the year when they
won four straight games against ranked teams at the time.
The last time they beat a team of note was
Tennessee in mid October, and Tennessee isn't even ranked anymore,

(46:25):
and so that to me is an interesting caveat is
Alabama has not looked like a playoff team for a
while now. But you could also argue if they were
ten and two and they had just somehow lost the
tiebreaker and didn't play today, they wouldn't be penalized for it.
And so that's all. I don't know. I've talked for
seven straight minutes. I'm just gonna shut up. You take

(46:46):
it wherever you want, But that is the big conversation.
Nine through twelve. Only two of those teams can get
in Alabama at nine Notre Dame ten BYU eleven and
Miami at twelve.

Speaker 3 (46:58):
So Caitlyn de Bor would tell you two of the
three losses for Alabama were without jam Miller, and they
didn't have kwavas the outstanding tight end today and they
were missing alignment as well, So they definitely had some
injuries to hamper them coming in. I don't think those
are injuries that would have changed the outcome of the game.
Maybe they would have made it closer, maybe they wouldn't have.

(47:19):
They beat Georgia on the road earlier in the year.
That's the best win anybody has outside of what we
saw Indiana do to Ohio State earlier tonight. I think
the problem comes in and this is why, Like originally
when we first started talking towards the end of the
SEC title game, when we knew what we were about

(47:39):
to see and how that come back at twenty one
to seven wasn't gonna happen because of the fourth down choice,
the bad throw by Simpson. And I know that doesn't
really narrow it down in this game because he was
not good in this game, but the fourth down throw
and the fourth down decision that then led that to
become a twenty eight to seven game. I was saying, look,
I would argue that Alabama has to be in here

(48:02):
because they are then going to be penalized because they
made the conference championship game, and that would set a precedent.
Although there have been teams that have been penalized for
losing conference championship games, just not to the extent that
they lost and then they missed out on a playoff
they otherwise would have been in. BYU. Is a different
story because if BYU, because they came in where they

(48:24):
were ranked, BYU had to win or they weren't going
to get into the top ten, Yes, because you have
to be ranked in the top ten or you're not
going to get into the college football playoffs. So it
was a little bit different. Alabama was already in BYU,
was on the outside looking in. They needed that win
to actually jump them potentially into that spot, so it

(48:45):
was a bit different from that perspective. So the conference
title game argument then goes like this, Alabama gets into
the playoff and no one is having this discussion. If
Texas A and M just beats Texas last week, sure,
because then we would have had A and M in
Georgia and Bama would have sat at home and they
would have gotten in. That is a very difficult thing

(49:08):
if you're KWin de boor or if you're Greg sank
or if you're anybody in any conference to take at
that point, and then you'll have that I even saw
this argument. Yeah, well, you got to play the games
in front of you. It's like, all right, well then
I'm gonna go all straight Mario Kart on you. And
I just went in a weird direction with this, but
bear this out. There's a meta in Mario Kart where

(49:33):
you don't want to be first near the end of
the race. That sounds counterproductive, but the meta or most
effective tactic available. The meta is you want to be
second because the items that the guys near the back
get are so strong, and they'll hit you with those
and you'll get knocked just enough to where you lose

(49:54):
the race or finish third or fourth. You can dominate
the entire race, but then you get purple shelled or
you get blue shelled, and then you lose the race.
So ultimately you just don't want to play in the game.
You want to finish close. You want to have your
case made where you're gonna be one of the at largest.
You want to be Old Miss. It's a perfect spot
for Old Miss to be in or you want to

(50:14):
be an n You found your way out of that game.
And then the team that got in that was already
in the playoff a week ago, that team then gets
knocked out because they had to play the extra game.
That is very difficult. But again I will say the
problem is the Bama team that we saw today looks
an awful lot like the Bama team we've seen for

(50:36):
the last four or five weeks. It was just against
a team that exposed it more, a team that could
take advantage of it more and really kind of shine
a light on the flaws of this Alabama team. And
I'm not sure that that impression, combined with a terrible
loss to a five and seven Florida State team that

(50:57):
wasn't close like they beat them down in the first
game of the season, I think that could be enough. Aaron,
I think it is possible that we could see Notre
Dame in Miami get in here and Alabama be left
out because I don't know that the hand ringing is
going to be there outside of the SEC. And I

(51:18):
understand the SEC in a Big ten basically run this
joint and run the college football playoff. But I think
this is the occasion where you need to take a stand,
and I think this needs to bury the conference championship
games forever, because if Bama gets left out, I would never,
as a coach, let my team participate in a conference

(51:40):
championship game ever again if they had already been in.
If I'm BYU and I'm Sataki, of course, but if
I'm Alabama, no, I'll just go ahead and forfeit like
there's no reason to show up. Last year, Gunner Stockton
got injured in a college football playoff or in the
SEC championship game for Georgia, who knows how much that
hurt them in the college football playoffs, And now this

(52:02):
year you have this Bama situation. We are getting to
the point where there's a reason why there's no AFC
East Title game. There's a reason why you don't have
that kind of thing because all it can do is
harm you in most cases. So I think that's the
big argument coming out tomorrow. Are the committee going to

(52:23):
save the conference championship games or are they going to
put them closer to being six feet under?

Speaker 2 (52:29):
Yeah? All I would say is I just think, to me,
this is why you can't not put Alabama in? Is
that I listen, I think it's a conversation worth having
because again I do think that there's the fact that,
like Alabama doesn't look good, did not win the game.

(52:51):
The problem is that by default they were in this game.
And when I say by default, what I mean was
if certain tie breakers went certain ways, they wouldn't have
had to play. And so to your point about BYU,
because I've heard this, well, if you don't put Bama in,
you can't put BYU in. Or if you put Bama in,
you have to put BYU in. And it's to the
point that the saga has brought up time and time

(53:12):
and time again over the last couple of weeks, is
that BYU was outside of the playoff picture prior to today,
and so they essentially needed to win. Now Is that fair?

Speaker 4 (53:22):
Is it?

Speaker 3 (53:22):
They needed to win their way in. Yes, they weren't
going to lose their way out to begin with.

Speaker 2 (53:29):
No, and there's no doubt. And so that to me
is it's just a completely different conversation. And I think
my bigger picture thing is I do think it sets
a bad precedent. Here's where I'm actually worried. Is Ah,
this sounds weird. I'm afraid to know what Greg Sank
will attempt to do if Alabama gets left out, because

(53:52):
you know, they're not gonna just take this sitting down
and that's the way the draw falls. And hey, let's
be honest, they really.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
Want you know what you but I think you know
what he's going to do.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
What is he gonna do?

Speaker 3 (54:03):
Expand the playoffs?

Speaker 2 (54:04):
Yeah, and that's and maybe that's an evidence that's what's
coming anyway.

Speaker 3 (54:07):
Yeah, it might speed us along that pathway, but that's
gonna be the thing. We got to go to sixteen
teams immediately, that's what's gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
Well, and it's just an interesting conversation of if we
didn't have conference championship games, Like, I don't know where
I stand on if we had no conference champion You know,
the problem with college sports right now, and this is
very you know, thirty thousand feet, is that every time
something happens, we have to change for that thing that

(54:38):
happened in the moment without understanding that it's in the
moment and it might not be reflective. So this year,
there is the legitimate argument that there are more good
teams than there are spots, specifically when you factor in
that we have five auto bids, right, if it just
went to the top twelve teams, then all of a sudden,
everybody gets in and everybody's happy, and there's no two

(54:59):
lane and there's no James Madison. That's not how this
is structured. So I just feel like, to your point,
no matter what happens with Alabama, I think we're probably
getting expansion, but I do think that expedites the process.
I just think that it's a crappy precedent to set.
And you know, my stance is two things. Is it
can be true that Alabama is not playing like one

(55:21):
of these seven best at large candidates right now and
maybe hasn't been for a month. But the counter to
that is, again, if they were sitting at home today,
if they were not playing today, then an Ole Miss
got in, or A and M got in or whoever
got in, then Alabama's not being punished. I don't think
they can be punished for randomly by luck of tiebreaker,

(55:45):
ending up in the SEC Championship game. So I do
think they're in. And then I think the interesting conversation
becomes if you don't drop them. In theory, you probably
shouldn't drop BYU either, and then you have to put
in Notre Dame. Because my all week was that if
BYU loses, BYU will be dropped and then it'll be

(56:05):
Notre Dame versus Miami head to head, and then you
can just flip the two. Now, though talking it through,
I don't know that I feel that way, because if
you don't drop Bama, I don't know that you can
drop Texas Tech. And if you don't drop Texas Tech,
then I guess Notre Dame gets in.

Speaker 8 (56:22):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
I know that's a little I know we're just no, no, no, no,
I'm saying Notre Dame gets in if you if you yeah, yeah, yeah, if.

Speaker 3 (56:29):
You don't know, if you said Texas Tech, yes.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
If you don't drop Bama at number eight or number nine,
excuse me for losing a conference championship game, then in theory,
you should not drop Uh. In theory, you should not
drop BYU. And if you don't drop BYU, then Miami
doesn't move, Notre Dame stays in and they get the
last spot. So yeah, So I actually was of the

(56:51):
impression all week long that basically BYU when they lost
to be dropped Notre Dame in Miami would be back
to back in the standings, and then you could just
use the head to head to move Miami up. Now,
I'm not really sure because I do think if you
set the precedent we don't drop Alabama, which I don't
think is gonna happen, then I don't know how you

(57:12):
drop BYU, and I think Miami might be on the
outside looking in.

Speaker 3 (57:15):
Well, I think we got a good Notre Dame perspective
coming up.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
We'll tell you why why don't we get to that
Notre Dame perspective. Brian know who used to work for
Notre Dame football. He is obviously now.

Speaker 3 (57:25):
One of our art I didn't even know that. I
just knew he was from South Bend and loved the team.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
I believe he did work for Notre Dame football. Well,
I have to ask him. I'm pretty sure he was
like in the radio booth for the Bush Push game.
I could be mistaken on that. Yeah, well, let's see.
Let's see if he if he can make the justification
for Notre Dame. But he is at minimum from South Bend,
he will join us next to give us the Notre
Dame perspective. Brian No joining us. This is Fox Sports Radio.

(57:54):
Welcome back everybody, Fox Sports Radio Ertorres Jason Martin broadcasting
live from the Fox Sports' Radio studios. In just one moment,
we're gonna get to our guy, Brian Know, who knows
more about Notre Dame football than anything is Notre Dame
in Are they out? We're gonna discuss it with Brian
No in just one second. Before we do, though, let's

(58:15):
get it over the news desk. My mand de Sega.
What a night in college football. The Indiana Hoosiers are
the best team in the country thirteen to zero after
beating defending champion and undefeated Ohio State to win the
Big Ten title thirteen to ten. Number three Georgia took
the SEC crown over Alabama, and it was pretty easy,

(58:35):
as it turned out, twenty eight to seven. Twenty one
nothing was the Georgia lead early in the third quarter.
Fourth ranked Texas Tech had dominated BYU a month ago.
They beat him thirty four to seven today for the
Big twelve championship. Duke in overtime won the ACC beating
Number seventeen Virginia twenty seven to twenty so unranked duke

(58:56):
winning means it's quite possible too. Smaller conference team teams
make the playoff that'll be official tomorrow and no ACC team.
By the way, this is college Football's selection. Sunday weekend,
Miami won the MLS Cup Final three to one over
Vancouver MVP Lionel Messi with two assists in the second
half in Fort Lauderdale. The franchise has only existed for

(59:17):
about five years, co owned by David Beckham in Major
League Soccer. Over the past nine years now, eight different
teams have won the title. By the way, US men's
soccer will face Paraguay and Australia in next Summer's World Cup,
and then it'll face a European playoff winner. The fee
for World Cup draw was on Fox TV yesterday from Washington, DC.

Speaker 8 (59:36):
The US will co host the attorney and it'll be
on Fox TV and FS one. In the NHL, Florida
seven to six overtime winners against Columbus in college hoops
number ten, Iowa State one at number one, Perdue eighty
one fifty eight, and late tonight number two Arizona crush
number twenty Auburn ninety seven sixty eight In the NBA.

(59:57):
Sacramento Zach Levine with forty two points in a win
at my Miami won twenty seven one eleven. Dallas and
Minnesota each one at home. Detroit as well. Pistons are
nineteen and five road wins for Golden State and Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Brooklyn was five.

Speaker 8 (01:00:10):
And seventeen, but it got to play New Orleans today
and beat the Pelicans one nineteen, one oh one the
Pels three and twenty one. Oklahoma City shay Giljos Alexander
will not play Sunday due to left elbow Bersidas Luka.
Doncic of the Lakers will play Sunday. He missed the
last couple games for family reasons. Lebron James of LA
is questionable. He did not play Friday due to back

(01:00:32):
end foot injuries, and LaMelo Ball of the Hornets is
out Sunday with a bruised ankle.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
Back to you, thank you very much, Duve Sager. This
is Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday and the Sunday
air towards Jason Martin, broadcasting live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios. Without any further Ado, let's get to the
phone lines. You can hear this, gentleman, every single Saturday
and Sunday. We talk about it all the time. The

(01:00:59):
best pregame showing up America Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented
by bed MGM Saturday and Sunday mornings. He is one
of the three co hosts. Brian Know, Brian, Know what's up?

Speaker 3 (01:01:11):
Buddy?

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
How you doing?

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
Top of the evening?

Speaker 6 (01:01:14):
To you a lot, that's all. That's all I can do.
Like my Irish accident goes straight downhill after like five words,
I don't even know if that was any good, but
it's great to be on with you guys. And I'll
tell you what Aaron Torres props to you. I had
no idea you even knew I was doing like notre
dame pregame stuff. How did you even know that about me?
I'm impressed by that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Uh it's called LinkedIn.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
You should know.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
No, you and I filled in one day and I
think you told me that.

Speaker 6 (01:01:44):
Oh really, I feel like you See.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Here's here's the thing. I know you and Jay mart
you guys fill in together all the time and your
best buds. I think I filled in with you once
or twice. Huh. I remember there was some Caitlin Clark
discourse at one point but I swear I remember you
saying that, so so real quick, because j Martin didn't
know and I don't know all the details. Give us

(01:02:07):
your history with Notre Dame football, Okay.

Speaker 6 (01:02:09):
Real fast. I just did the pregame show, which coincidentally
was also called Countdown to Kickoff. This was the five season,
and so that was the Bush Push season. And so
what was cool about it? And this is like first
world problems. Yeah, we would do the pregame show and
then they would give you a press box pass, which
I hated you. You would sit in the press box,

(01:02:31):
which is, you know, a great, great luxury, but it's
enclosed in glass. It's a quote unquote working environment, you know,
no cheering. If Notre Dame scores on USC, I had
to sit there like you know, like and say go
Irish under my breath. I can't do that. I just can't.
So I would stand on top of the press box
and you could feel the crowd, you could hear everything,

(01:02:53):
you could see everything, and then you could go down
to the field on the final five minutes for the
final five minute. And so that particular game, I saw
Joe Montana on the sideline. You could walk back and forth,
I could like reach out and be like, hey some Marja,
go get them, buddy, and like tap them on their
shoulder pads. I'm like, how could they allow this? But
you could really do that. And I was right there

(01:03:15):
on the sideline the Dwayne Jarrett fourth to nine, the
Bush push, the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
I was right there real quick. Before we get to
j Mart's follow up, do you think when Joe Montana
tells that story, he says, you know, I was walking
right by Brian No and I could talk to some marsha.

Speaker 6 (01:03:29):
I'm sure that's what he says. And the other thing
that I remember, I went down to the field after
the game and I was walking right behind Reggie Bush
and Lendale White. They're walking off the field and the
fans were mfing them like crazy, and I'm.

Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
Like, touchdown, Jesus is right behind us. What is going on?

Speaker 6 (01:03:50):
And I give them all the credit in the world.
They were so professional. They just walked right off the
field like they didn't hear anything. And I'm like, wow, man,
it was just it's like, that's messed up.

Speaker 3 (01:04:01):
Man.

Speaker 6 (01:04:01):
They shouldn't have to deal with that. But that's just
the day in the life of an athlete, Like that sucks, man,
but it happens all the time.

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
Alrightb this is a mess, this whole situation, it is
from nine to twelve, and the way that Alabama looked
in the thrashing that they took any SEC title game.
I don't necessarily want you to You don't have to
like make your case for Notre Dame. I want you
to tell me what you think should happen based on today,

(01:04:32):
if anything should change, and who should be left outside
of this.

Speaker 6 (01:04:36):
It's tough, right because it's a weird thing when you
start to say, well, I think Notre Dame, Well, then
you think that head to head doesn't matter, or you
think that losing a conference championship game, you know, matters
so much, right Like, it's kind of like, well, I
don't think that it shoehorns you into a spot you

(01:04:56):
probably don't want to be in cause it's three teams
for two spots. It's Miami, it's Notre Dame, it's Alabama.
What I think should happen, and I wouldn't bet on
this happening. I think Bama should be left out. I
think Miami should be ninth. I think Notre Dame should
be tenth. I think Bama should be eleventh, and I
don't think by you should even be considered like they
they were outside the cutoff line before they got the

(01:05:20):
doors blown off of them again like get out BYU.
I don't want to hear about them. But Miami beat
Notre Dame head to head. That matters. Sorry for every
Notre Dame fan out there, Miami should be in ahead
of Notre Dame. The thing with Alabama that I can't
get past. They not only lost, they got freaking waxed today.

(01:05:41):
And I'll give mark Ingram a lot of credit on FOXX,
I agree, right Aaron, because they went to him and
as soon as they were like hey, mark Ingram, what
do you think about Bama? Do you think they're in?
I kind of just rolled my eyes like here we go,
here's Mark, Like yeah, I think so roll tied.

Speaker 3 (01:05:56):
It comes to Desmond Howard.

Speaker 6 (01:06:00):
I didn't say that right. He was like, look, not
only did they lose, they weren't even competitive. They lost
by three touchdowns. That's their third loss. They should be out.
And I was like, Wow, props to mark Ingram. But
that's how I see it too. The problem I have
is if Alabama won. There was talk about them getting
a bye, so you can own this can only help

(01:06:21):
you if you win your conference championship game. Well this
means a ton. You lose your conference championship game, you
can't be penalized, quote unquote. I don't buy that at all.
Not only did they lose, they got crushed, And I
would argue they're not getting penalized just for the SEC
championship game. They're really getting punished for losing to Florida
freaking state, Florida State. You realize they went two and

(01:06:45):
six in the ACC, which was a terrible conference.

Speaker 3 (01:06:48):
Hey, man, Duke, I mean, Duke is a worthy champion.
What are you talking about?

Speaker 6 (01:06:53):
I take it back, you're right about that, Jay Marble Man,
what a thrilling Yeah, that's crazy. But they were two
in that god awful conference and they crushed Alabama. So
I think someone's got to go. I think it should
be Alabama. I think it probably will be Notre Dame
because I think that's the easy way out, and I
would expect the committee to be Weeni's and take the

(01:07:16):
easy way out here. That's what I would expect to happen.
And I pray that I'm wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
By the way, I think an interesting thing that I
don't know that anybody's really brought up, and I don't know.
I would love for the committee to see if, like
they actually address this, if you want to make the
argument against Bama for Notre Dame in Miami, not only
is there the Notre Dame Miami head to head, Miami
and Alabama have a common opponent in a common building.

(01:07:41):
Miami destroyed Florida State at Florida State, Alabama lost him.
I don't know that that matters, but I think it's interesting,
and I don't I haven't heard anybody really make that
point really quickly. No, you know, you brought up the
you know, the conference championship shouldn't just be able to
help you and not hurt you. What would you say, Like,
if we had Ryan Fowler, our tied insider on this
show and he's been basically telling you, why are we

(01:08:02):
going to be punished for playing this extra game while
you guys get to sit at home? What would you
say to him, because obviously that will be a talking
point of like, again, why is somebody punished for having
to play this extra game they were in if there
was no tie? You know, if there was no SEC
championship game.

Speaker 3 (01:08:19):
They were in.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
If they had somehow lost the tie break, they were in.
Now they're out while Notre Dame gets to sit at home.
What would you say about that?

Speaker 6 (01:08:26):
I would say that it's similar to Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:08:30):
Texas wants to say we shouldn't be punished for playing
Ohio State. It's like, bro, you're not being punished for
losing to Ohio State. You're being punished for losing to Florida.
That's what That's what you're being punished against. And I
think it's similar. It's I get it right. Alabama was
ranked ninth. If they're not playing, they're in. But I

(01:08:51):
look at this like, hey man, you played the game.
That's your third loss. And within those three losses, you
lost to Florida State.

Speaker 3 (01:09:00):
You lost to.

Speaker 6 (01:09:01):
Oklahoma, who I don't think is even good, but they're
gonna be in the playoff. And that's another bad loss.
You outgained Oklahoma, but you had these ugly turnovers. Like
that's what fraud teams do. I think, you know, I
think Alabama is so fraudulent. I think they are the
epitome of fools. Gold They had a really good run
midway through the season, but they got crushed by Florida State,

(01:09:23):
they got crushed today by Georgia. They had narrow wins
against multiple teams, barely beating South Carolina, not scoring against LSU.
The list goes on and on. So I don't look
at Bama like if you put another jersey on them
and they're not named Alabama, they're named like Ole Miss.
You know, I think they're looking at them much different.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
I don't mean to cut you off, and I don't
mean to cut you off, jam Mart I had that
thought today. If Vandy was number nine, there you go,
and Vandy lost the way that they did today.

Speaker 6 (01:09:53):
You know what I'm saying, not even a question, they're out. Yeah, yeah, it's.

Speaker 3 (01:09:56):
A good point.

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
Yeah, go ahead, Jami. I don't mean to cut you up,
but I had that thought while I was watching that
game today.

Speaker 3 (01:10:01):
No, I mean that's one hundred percent right. I mean,
what was the joke that we made in the text earlier, Aaron,
You said, well, what's the argument for leaving BYU out?
And this is before you know you thought about the
fact that they were never in and had to win
their way in. I was like, well, the argument is
that one of them is BYU and the other one
is Alabama. Like that's not what it should be. Yeah,
but that's that's what it should be. So I heard

(01:10:23):
this done earlier, and I like this exercise. I just
want you to do this for us, Brian. Take these
four teams. I don't think BYU should be considered either
in this case because they weren't in to begin with. Yeah,
but take those four teams, the ones that we know of, Miami,
Notre Dame, Alabama, BYU, and ranked them in order of
what or who could be the most successful in the

(01:10:47):
college football playoff.

Speaker 6 (01:10:49):
Who could be the most successful? I would say it's
Notre Dame, Bama, Miami. That's how I would rank them.
And then you know, by the general rule of thumb
is be YU is not a consideration, not a consideration
in my book, to make the playoff. They're not a
consideration to do anything should they make the playoff. I
just don't think highly of that team. Like bear Bachmeyer

(01:11:11):
is limited, they don't have a very good offense. That's
it's not a team that's going anywhere. So that would
be my list right there is Notre Dame, then Bama,
then Miami. That's why I would expect to make the
most noise. But that's the problem I have. Listen with
the Notre Dame argument is we can't go by hypotheticals.

(01:11:31):
That's why it needs to be Miami over Notre Dame.
Like I think Notre Dame would be Miami on a
neutral field right now. But guess what that could be freaking.

Speaker 3 (01:11:41):
Wrong, right like we already played, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:11:43):
They've already. We got to go by what actually happened
instead of what you think would happen in the next round, Like,
we can't be putting teams in based on what you
think like.

Speaker 3 (01:11:53):
That, Well, I'll tell you what, what do you think
is gonna happen? Yeah, I'm sorry, So what do you
think is actually gonna happen tomorrow?

Speaker 6 (01:11:59):
I'm still so worried that Notre Dame Again, it's the
easy way out. The committee could look and say, hey,
we had to consider head to head, that's why Miami
got in, and we just can't punish a team that
lost its conference championship game, and that's why we put
Bama in. That's what I'm worried they're going to say,

(01:12:20):
and that's what they're gonna do. That's my gut feeling
is they're gonna take the easy way out. I'll put
it this way. Notre Dame is the perfect candidate for
the easy way out, and you could explain it in
a way where a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:12:36):
Of people would buy that.

Speaker 6 (01:12:38):
I think Bama was pathetic today and I think they
earned their way out of the playoff, but I'm not
sure the committee is going to see it that way.

Speaker 2 (01:12:47):
We gotta let you go. I we can talk about this,
Jamaar and I for another hour. I tend to agree
with you is I think I just keep going back
to Bama isn't one of the seven best teams, but
there are just so many reasons that it just probably
will get in. So anyway, So you are, so you're
going to be talking all things NFL tomorrow, right, are

(01:13:08):
you going to break in it all for the college
football bracket because you'll be on Eastern.

Speaker 6 (01:13:13):
Yeah, we'll lead off with college talk, That's what we
typically do. And then yeah, when we're talking, like the
third hour begins and oh my gosh, this, I'm either
going to have a nervous breakdown and you know, like
break the microphone live on air. If the Irish are
left off, left out of the playoff or you know,
I'm just gonna lose my mind and I'll be doing

(01:13:34):
the Irish jig as they are in the field. So
one way or the other, it might be a viral moment.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:13:41):
Tell Jeff that I think Oregon should be left out.

Speaker 2 (01:13:44):
Okay, they lost their offensive coordinator this week. I mean
we have to think, oh yeah they did do they
lost both coordinators?

Speaker 3 (01:13:51):
Yeah, yeh, that's what I thought. Get them out.

Speaker 6 (01:13:53):
It's always good to troll the short syndicate.

Speaker 3 (01:13:55):
Man.

Speaker 6 (01:13:55):
I always have a lot of fun with him. He's
a good time, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
Well, you can hear Brian Know which Schwartz on countdown
to kickoff tomorrow. That is, of course, three hours before kickoff,
taking you right up until kickoff on Sunday. But there
will be a lot of college football because guess what,
that bracket gets dropped at noon Eastern Brian Know will
be on air.

Speaker 6 (01:14:16):
No, this was fun, man, man, it was a great time.
Thanks for inviting me. I love you guys, love talking
ball with you. And let's go Irish. Let's do a
little jig. Let's do a little jig on the way
out here, Irish.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
I'll tell you what, Brian, Next year, in the one
big game that Notre Dame plays, we'll have you on
in the postgame. Okay, probably won't bring you on for
Stanford and Army, but you know you'll play somebody good.
We'll get you on. Thank you for time.

Speaker 6 (01:14:40):
No, that's good.

Speaker 2 (01:14:41):
We'll be listening tomorrow.

Speaker 6 (01:14:42):
All right, sounds good, you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:14:44):
Take care all right, Brian. No, you can hear him
on countdown three hours before kickoff, so of course that
is ten am Eastern, seven Pacific. We'll come back. De Saga,
will put a bow on a monster day of college football,
of college basketball, of NBA, everything you've missed from across
the world of sports. Air tours Jason mart taking you
til two Ama start Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back everybody.

(01:15:08):
Fox Sports Radio Air tors Jasmartin broadcasting live from the
Fox Sports Radio studios. Hey be sure to subscribe to
the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. Just search Fox Sports
Radio on YouTube. You'll see the best videos from all
of our shows. And don't stop there. Hit that thumbs
up icon and calm it away. Let us know whose
takes you like and even whose takes you don't. Just
search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and subscribe, as we

(01:15:30):
do every week around this time. Let's get it over
to the news desk with plenty to discuss. Here is
Steve de Sager.

Speaker 8 (01:15:37):
Guys, it was a great night for Duke in Indiana
in football. I'm not kidding. Those two won conference championship
games tonight. Absolutely, that is crazy. In fact, Duke had
not won even a share of the ACC football title
since nineteen eighty nine, Indiana not since nineteen sixty seven
when it went to the Rose Bowl. Texas Tech had

(01:15:57):
never won a Big twelve title until today. But that
Indiana win and they're thirteen and oh now was against
number one Ohio State, which had been undefeated thirteen to
ten the final. In fact, the folks had statsin say
before this upset tonight. The last time a number two
beat number one by three points or less was the

(01:16:19):
famed Rose Bowl of Vince Jung in Texas over USC,
which has been about twenty years now. Indiana wins in
Indianapolis their first outright conference title since nineteen forty five.
Indiana had lost to Ohio State had to head thirty
straight times since a tie game in nineteen ninety. Fernando
Mendoza one touchdown, one interception, Charlie Becker six catches one

(01:16:42):
hundred and twenty six yards. The Hoosier defense with five
sacks in this victory, and the big thing in the
second half of the buck guys. They drove down inside
the ten yard line twice and got no points from him,
stopped on fourth and one at the five after review,
and missed a twenty seven yard field goal at ten.
Late Indiana had missed a thirty nine yard er in

(01:17:03):
the first half. Indiana this year also won at number
five Oregon in October. The Hoosiers have never been ranked
number one in football. It's going to happen tomorrow at
thirteen and oh Ohio State had not trailed in a
second half this year until this evening. They defeated Texas
in their opener Michigan. The previous game, they finished twelve

(01:17:24):
and one. As we said earlier in the show, we're
assuming that the top four in this week's committee rankings
are still going to be in whatever order. The four
that get the first round bys Indiana, Ohio State, Georgia,
and Texas Tech Number three. Georgia won the SEC over
Alabama twenty eight to seven. Brian mentioned how Alabama didn't

(01:17:45):
look good. In fact, the offense for the Tide had
eleven drives and only eleven first downs today.

Speaker 2 (01:17:50):
Was it?

Speaker 3 (01:17:51):
Was it?

Speaker 2 (01:17:51):
Somebody sent me the thing of if you want to
argue you Notre Dame was at home? Yeah that was
me this Yeah, yeah, j Mart sent me a mean
that said, you want to argue Notre Dame was at home.
They still finished with more rushing yards than Alabama's Notre
Dame in Miami.

Speaker 8 (01:18:06):
Yes, only two hundred nine total yards for Bama tonight.
And I know the running backs were missing, but are
you also gonna mention Jeordia didn't have it center and
could still run up the middle.

Speaker 3 (01:18:15):
No, queek, And that wouldn't make the wouldn't make that
wouldn't make the right argument.

Speaker 8 (01:18:19):
Things like that. Okay, Yeah, it's like all the people
that we'll mention for the next twenty years. You know,
Ohio State missed a twenty seven yard field goal in
the final minutes, and you know I just mentioned Indiana
missed a field goal too. Let's not forget that. Georgia
led twenty one nothing over Bama. Early third quarter. Alabama's
running backs for the record seven carries, twenty one yards.
Jam Miller did not play leg injury. Each team punted

(01:18:41):
seven times today. Gunner stocked in three touchdown passes. He
was twenty of twenty six for one hundred and fifty
six yards. George's only loss was the home game to Alabama.
They avenged that they had defeated Tennessee and Mississippi this
year and Texas and Georgia Tech recently. Alabama's offense today
they had drives of four plays or less eight different

(01:19:03):
times out of the eleven drives. Georgia was in the
conference title game for now a fifth straight year in Atlanta.
Bama is ten and three their case. As you mentioned,
they lost the opener at Florida State, lost at home
to Oklahoma, did get a win, and all of this
was in a row this year, a win at Georgia,
then versus Vanderbilt, then a win at Missouri, then against Tennessee.

(01:19:25):
Bama is ten and three overall number four. Texas Tech
beat BYU for the Big twelve title thirty four to seven,
and it was just about a month ago at home
that Texas Tech rip BYU twenty nine to seven. They're
only lost this season, twelve and one came without their
quarterback at Arizona State, giving up a last minute touchdown
in that game. Today at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, it

(01:19:48):
was thirteen to seven. Late in the third quarter thirty
four to seven the final baron Morton with a fibula injury,
which reminds me of Daniel Jones playing nonetheless, two touchdown
passes today and Texas Tech went four for six six
on field goals byu after its opening drive only one
hundred and ten yards of offense on forty five plays
as quarterback bear Backmeyer played through an ankle entry. And Yes,

(01:20:11):
Duke won in overtime against Virginia in the ACC Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:20:16):
Very much to Seger. Tell you what we got one
hour left and we got a lot to discuss. We're
gonna give you our final predictions on the final spots
in the college football playoff, look ahead to Week fourteen
in the NFL. That's all next. Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:20:31):

Speaker 2 (01:20:34):
Welcome in everybody, our three towards Martin Fox Sports Radio.
We are broadcasting live. Yes, we are live from the
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(01:20:54):
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the top of your screen. All of the college football
is final. We've had games since noon Eastern time today.

(01:21:17):
Texas Tech wins the Big twelve. Georgia beats Alabama in
the SEC, Indiana beats Ohio State in the Big Ten. Duke,
as de Sager just told you, has shocked Virginia in
the ACC. It potentially opens up the door for both
James Madison and Tulane to get into the College football Playoff.

(01:21:37):
Remember it is the top five conference champions. In the
rankings right now, James Madison is ahead of Duke. Duke
was not ranked last week. James Madison was. So yeah.
That's where things stand out. Although there is a little
bit of a little bit of debate over who should
be the final teams. We'll talk about that in a minute.

(01:21:59):
Before we do, j Mart just want to spend half
a second on what was an awesome story from this evening. Indiana,
a program which quite literally has more losses than any
school in college football history, or at least FBS history,
is your Big Ten champs thirteen to ten. They beat
the Ohio State buck Guys, we assume they will be

(01:22:20):
the number one seed in the College Football Playoff. We're
gonna talk about them in half a second. This was
Fernando Mendoza with Jenny Taft after the game.

Speaker 3 (01:22:29):
Does that sound it sounds so beautiful.

Speaker 6 (01:22:32):
I want to give all the glory to God.

Speaker 2 (01:22:34):
We were never supposed to be in this decision.

Speaker 9 (01:22:35):
But by the glory of God, the great coach is.

Speaker 1 (01:22:37):
Great team mates we have around us, we were able.

Speaker 6 (01:22:40):
To pull this off.

Speaker 3 (01:22:41):
Whoever thought the who would be here?

Speaker 1 (01:22:43):
But now the Hoosiers are flipping champs. Let's go you.

Speaker 6 (01:22:46):
Guys call yourself a bunch of misfits who found the
right home at Indiana. Why was this the right place.

Speaker 3 (01:22:52):
For this group?

Speaker 9 (01:22:53):
Is the right place for process of orange it? We're
going day by day? What is Afzalne? The defense, the
coaches special teams. We're all probabs aren't.

Speaker 3 (01:23:01):
To one goal.

Speaker 9 (01:23:02):
That's our thing is we're brothers. We can drag teams
to the deep end because we know that we're gonna
stick together and we have the strongest glue ever.

Speaker 2 (01:23:10):
I love that kid.

Speaker 3 (01:23:11):
I just yeah, it's hard not to.

Speaker 2 (01:23:13):
Yeah, yeah, it really is.

Speaker 3 (01:23:15):
I mean, like, as a coach, I imagine he's a dream right,
Like he's exactly what you would want. But yeah, I
just I don't have anything negative to say about him
at all. Like, just he's gonna, by the way, he's
gonna win the Heisman.

Speaker 2 (01:23:30):
Yeah, it's gonna ask you the time. Yeah, did you
see it too?

Speaker 3 (01:23:36):
Or did did I clue you into it?

Speaker 2 (01:23:39):
I saw they swung the wrong direction early in the game.
I did not see that they swung back in his direction.
Go ahead, tell the world what you sent me through.

Speaker 3 (01:23:48):
Ut So, I think before the game he was plus
one twenty five him being Mendoza to win the Heisman.
He's now minus what was I sent three thousand?

Speaker 2 (01:23:56):
Oh wow?

Speaker 3 (01:23:57):
I think it was minus three thousand. So like I'm
talking big time favorite and Julian Sayan dropped all the
way to fourth and like long shot. Number two is
Diego Pavia. So it looks like now Vegas is saying, yeah,
it's gonna be Mendoza.

Speaker 2 (01:24:15):
Would you have a problem if he wins it over Pavia?

Speaker 3 (01:24:18):
You know, I wouldn't be unhappy if either one of
them did. I'd like to see Honestly, I would like
to see Pavia because I don't know what Vanderbilt is
without him at quarterback. Although they had a flip, they
had a number two ranked guy in the top he
picked Vanderbilt. He decommitted from Georgia and picked Vanderbilt. So
again we're in the bizarro land at this point. But

(01:24:40):
I feel like not getting into the college Football Playoff.
If you're Vanderbilt, I'd love to see them get the
Heisman Trophy for their quarterback at the very least. But
I can't be upset if it goes to Mendoza. I
really can't. I think either one of those two guys
is certainly worthy of that honor.

Speaker 2 (01:24:59):
Yeah, we were just talking in the back, and that's
kind of my argument on Pavia is that Clark Lee
gets this big extension to your point five star quarterback
flips from Georgia to Vanderbilt and like, I think Clark
Lee is a really good coach. I don't know that
though right Signetti won everywhere he's ever been prior to

(01:25:19):
Indiana won in Indiana last year without Fernando Mendoza. Clark
Lee was not good before Diego Pavia showed up. And
so I think the argument that I made is, I
think you could argue that Diego Pavia is more synonymous,
or you know, he's kind of the face of the
of the operation there at least for now. I would

(01:25:42):
still argue, as good as Mendoza is, that Indiana's face
is Kurt Signetti. By the way, I'll say this, I'm
not trying to trash the kid. I don't think Julian's
saying like the schedule wasn't tough. It's Ohio State. You
did what you had to do, awesome stats, you didn't
play most of the top half of the Big Big ten.

(01:26:03):
I think he's completely out. I think it's down to
Mendoza versus Pavia. I will say, I don't like that
it's this way, but I know that votes weren't even
allowed to be submitted until after the conference championship games.
I think that's gonna help guys that are playing and
playing well in those and so yeah, Fernando Mendoza to me,
I think ends up winning DIG.

Speaker 3 (01:26:25):
But you would go with Pavia. I just I think
you can't go wrong either way. I think that's probably
the fairest way.

Speaker 2 (01:26:33):
To say I'll have I would have to look deeper
at the stats to to say anything definitive. I I
I don't have a problem with if either one of
them wins it, though next week, you know what I
will have a problem with. I don't know if I
have a problem with college football playoff rankings. So, uh,
it is everything is final, and really we could go

(01:26:54):
through all of it, but essentially the final two spots
are going to be decided by four teams that work,
you know, kind of next to each other in the
rankings going into the weekend. So Alabama was number nine,
played in the SEC championship game. They not only lost,
but it was really ugly. They were dominated. They lose
twenty eight to seven to Georgia. It wasn't, frankly even

(01:27:14):
competitive to your point, J Mart, Alabama's actually really kind
of struggled the back half of the year. Seven point
win in the Iron Bowl, two point lost to Oklahoma
at home ugly eleven point win to LSU right after
they fired Brian Kelly seven point win at South Carolina,
a team that finished this season at four and eight overall.

(01:27:34):
Bring all that up to say they are in the
mix along with Notre Dame at number nine, along with
BYU at Notre Dame. Excuse me as number ten. BYU,
which lost in the Big Twelve championship game, is eleven.
Miami is at twelve. Notre Dame in Miami were at
home on Saturday, they of course played earlier in the season.

(01:27:56):
Miami has the head to head win. You know, let's
put about on this because we're only on for another
forty eight or forty two minutes, fifty two minutes. I guess,
where do you think the committee goes on Saturday? On Sunday?
And where would you go on Sunday if you were
a one person committee.

Speaker 3 (01:28:13):
I think that the committee is And look, we've had
a discussions that we've kind of thrown out different scenarios
and maybe talked about what we think should happen based
on what we are seeing and all this other kind
of stuff. I feel like Miami is gonna be left
on the outside I feel like the likelihood will be

(01:28:35):
it'll be Alabama and Notre Dame. Even though I think
that that head to head should matter, I don't see
a universe where they're gonna flip Miami over Notre Dame.
I think it would have to be. And look, this
is something that that kind of came out today and
Marcus Freeman even said it during halftime in the Big
Ten Championship when he was on with the Big New
and Kickoff. Guys. What we have not really known throughout

(01:28:59):
the course of the season but has come kind of
to fruious. They have not been looking at Miami and
Notre Dame. They've been looking at Alabama and Notre Dame.
They've been comparing those two teams to one another. So
if you look at it from that perspective, I feel
like they're already looking at it where Miami was gonna
have to find a way to play their way in

(01:29:20):
and I don't know that they did that. So I
think what you could see and what some are predicting
is even though last week you saw that flip where
Alabama flipped over Notre Dame, this week they'll flip them
back and Notre Dame will be nine, and Alabama will
be ten, Miami will be eleven, and BYU will be twelve.
That's what I think is probably going to happen.

Speaker 2 (01:29:40):
Yeah, so I'll go through. And I mentioned this last hour,
so forgive me Jamark because I know you've heard this spield,
but for our audience that has not heard it, Miami
or Alabama was at number nine, Notre Dame was at ten,
BYU eleven, Miami twelve coming into today. My thought process
all week, for people who did not don't follow the
rankings on a day to day week tweak basis, Alabama

(01:30:02):
was moved up a spot to number nine. They actually
got a head of Notre Dame this week, and my
thought process was the committee wanted to put Alabama in
a position where even if they lost on Saturday, they
would not be punished. Obviously, if they are behind Notre Dame,
you can't then jump them if they lose. If they
were to lose, you could say, hey, they were already

(01:30:24):
ahead of Notre Dame, We're not gonna punish them. I
also thought that with BYU in between Notre Dame and Miami,
if b why you lost, then you could be in
a scenario where Miami moves up a spot, B WHYU
drops the spot. Then you could compare Notre Dame in
Miami head to head and give Miami the edge with
the with the head to head win. Where I think

(01:30:47):
it gets complicated. And keep in mind the committee could
do whatever it wants, but I think it gets complicated
where if you don't move Alabama, it does seem weird
that you would move BYU. So, in other words, Alabama
would be in in this scenario, and the argument would
be you're not gonna punish them for losing in a

(01:31:08):
conference championship game. Then it's hard to explain moving BYU.
And if you move BYU, which would then move Miami
up a spot, then you could conceivably put Miami in
Notre Dame head to head. Then it just looks like
you're looking for a reason to put Miami in. So
I have kind of talked myself out of one conversation

(01:31:30):
and into another. Coming into today, I thought Alabama would
be in No matter what I thought, the committee would
find a way to compare Miami in Notre Dame and
give Miami the edge. I don't know how they can
do both. I think you either have to drop Alabama
and BYU and put Notre Dame in Miami in or
you have to keep or not you have to keep

(01:31:50):
Alabama and BYU, which both lost today, in the same spot,
and then you cannot move Miami. So I tend to
feel like Alabama Notre Dame are the final two spots
really quickly. Let me ask you this, and I think
you kind of just reference this, But if we do
get to a world where Notre Dame gets into the

(01:32:13):
playoff ahead of Miami, would you have a fundamental issue
with that?

Speaker 3 (01:32:19):
Yes? Ooh, okay again, Like I feel like the head
to head should matter, and I'm not gonna be okay
with the world where you finished with the same record,
and Mario Chrispaul has made this argument multiple times this week. Look,
we have the same record, same metrics too, Like if

(01:32:40):
you actually look across the board at like there are
records in certain things, they have some common opponents and
all these it's very very close between the two of them.
But one team beat the other one this year, and
so I feel like Notre Dame's the one that should
be left out. Even if I believe Notre Dame is
the better team, I think that what happened on the
field needs to matter across the board, and if Notre

(01:33:03):
Dame gets in over Miami, I think that you are
you are discrediting head to head. Now, yes, Miami lost
and had to had a couple of bad losses. They
lost to two unranked teams in Louisville and SMU by
the end of the year. Those teams were ranked at
different times there in a year, but obviously didn't finish
that way. So you could look to other things to

(01:33:25):
explain it. But I feel like the purest way to
do it would be to leave Notre Dame out and
put Miami in. But I think that that precedent should
have already been set by potentially having Miami ahead of
Notre Dame going into this week. I don't know how
you can leap frog them now. I don't know. There's
just it's too much of a mess that I think
Miami will be left out, But I think Notre Dame

(01:33:47):
is the one that should be left out because of
the head to head.

Speaker 2 (01:33:50):
Yeah. Yeah, and it's tough, And that's part of why
I actually didn't think coming into today that Notre Dame
would get in is because it becomes this weird great
area of basically eye test, right, an I test is
not really a measurement now in theory when it gets
the at large teams, it is just who do you

(01:34:11):
think are the best teams? And then you have all
these other criteria head to head league this that whatever
overall record, whatever I guess, I don't know how I
feel is that, like I do think Notre Dame is
clearly playing better. You know, we asked all.

Speaker 3 (01:34:28):
The credit to Miami against pitt I mean Miami's last
game compared to Notre Dame's last game. Just if you
want to look at recency, the lasting impression. Notre Dame
beat a bad Stanford team, but Miami went on the
road in the cold to Pittsburgh and beat the trash
off of the Panthers.

Speaker 2 (01:34:47):
Yeah. Good thing. By the remember when Pat and Ardoozy said,
we don't care if we lose by one hundreds of
Notre Dame as long as we went out in the
acc He then proceeded to get destroyed by Notre Dame
or by Miami ten this season. Yeah, I just I
don't know, I really don't. And you know, it's just
I don't know what else thereous to say, I just

(01:35:09):
the one thing I still don't think, and I might
be wrong on this, I don't think Alabama will be
punished for being in a conference championship game. Now you
can debate should they be. Are they one of the
you know seven best at large candidates? Do you take
the totality of the back half of the year where
they really didn't play well in conjunction with what we

(01:35:30):
saw Saturday. I think there are actually plenty of arguments
to make that Alabama should not be in. That is
the one that I do feel comfortable saying. I do
feel like Alabama will get one of those spots.

Speaker 3 (01:35:41):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:35:42):
I don't think we have a world where it's Notre
Dame and Miami Alabama gets left home. I just don't
think it's it's a precedent the committee wants to set.
Do you think it should No, I actually don't, And
I think it's because you know, it's because of what
we talked about earlier in the show, which is for

(01:36:02):
people who don't know, four teams finished atop the SEC
standings with one loss piece. It was Alabama Georgia who
played today in Old Miss Texas A and M and
so by happenstance Alabama quote unquote, I'm using air quotes
won the tie break. If they had quote unquote lost
the tie break and it was Old miss or A

(01:36:22):
and M there and Alabama's just sitting at home. Alabama's
not falling. And by the way, I don't think there's
a world where either Old miss Or Texas A and
M would have come into this game and if they
played really bad, would have been eliminated from the College
Football Playoff. I guess maybe with the Kiffin stuff, you know, whatever,
you know, I guess maybe there's a world, right, But

(01:36:45):
there were four teams that finished with one loss in
SEC play. Obviously Alabama has the ugly loss to Florida State,
I get that, but I just bring it up to
say that I don't think any of the other three
would have been a limit from the College Football Playoff
for losing today, including Georgia, and so I don't think

(01:37:05):
Alabama should be because they happened to again air quotes,
win the tie break and end up in Atlanta and
end up on the wrong side of it. And I
don't think it's like a precedent thing. I just think
it's a like frankly like a quote unquote fairness thing.
I remember. I'll tell you a quick side story. I
remember years ago filling in with Arnie Spanier. You know,
one of these nights, it might have been like a

(01:37:26):
night like tonight. It might have been I think it
was during bowl season, and Arnie just was going on
about we need to expand the playoff. This sucks, why
are we playing these bowl games whatever? And I said
to him, I said, well, what do you do with
the conference championships? He said, We'll just leave them. Why
what do you mean? And I gave him the example.
I said, teams are going to go to conference championship games,
lose them, and they're going to be compared to teams

(01:37:47):
in their own conference who didn't have to go. And
so it's not necessarily a precedent thing to me of like,
if you do this now, what does it mean for
the future. I just think it's a very simple. If
Alabama had lost the tie break and was at home,
and Texas A and M was there, Alabama's not gonna
be punished for it. So because they won the tie break,
I don't think that they should be punished for being

(01:38:09):
there in Atlanta today.

Speaker 3 (01:38:10):
Okay, So I tend like that was kind of my
perspective during the course of the game. I just I
think this is the big problem overall with this, and
I don't think there's any disagreement, so we don't need
to talk about this for very long. But the conference
title games and then what's the point? So what's the
point for Alabama to play in a game anyway? Like
there's no reason to. I'd forfeit. I wouldn't play my starters.

(01:38:33):
The only thing you can possibly do is get somebody
hurt in that situation. If I'm already in, then it
should be like the Pro Bowl, like yeah, thanks, thanks
for the honor, but you can let the next guy
go and let a team that wants to try and
earn their way in or whatever. I don't know. They
need to be gone. They're ridiculous. It doesn't make any
sense whatsoever. It just needs to be based on your

(01:38:54):
regular season. We don't need to have this game like
BYU having to win their way to get in. No,
like they should either have done what they needed to
do during the regular season or is Texas Tech. And
then it becomes whatever decisions you want to make. Looking
for those that large bids these conference championship games just
shouldn't be played because this argument then doesn't exist, the

(01:39:14):
argument of well, they would Miami or Notre Dame also
have an extra loss if they played Georgia today, The
answer is probably yes. This is a dumb way to
decide anything, Like, there's no purpose in this at all,
and the schools then need to give up whatever money
it is that they are receiving individually for these games.
Find a different way to raise money. I swear you

(01:39:35):
guys make enough, Like, let's stop having these games that
are just confusing the issue if we're not going to
punish the loser of the conference championship game. And I
don't necessarily disagree with that point, because they're playing an
extra they're playing an extra game. Not only are they
playing an extra game, they're almost certainly going to be
playing a very good team YEP in that extra game,

(01:39:57):
so it's going to be a potentially great win. But
the loss then, if it's not gonna have any impact,
there is absolutely no reason to play these games whatsoever.

Speaker 2 (01:40:07):
Yeah, the only thing we'll wrap on and then we
got to get to some NFL finally is I do
think the one thing with Alabama you can argue two
things with Bama. Actually is one, as we've talked about,
they have not played well the back half.

Speaker 3 (01:40:21):
Of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:40:21):
But then two, the loss to Florida State probably should
be factored in somewhere. But then again, the lost to
Florida State also actually doesn't matter because they were in
the playoff field with the loss to Florida State coming
into this week, and so in theory, the Florida State
loss actually should have matter at all. But I don't

(01:40:42):
know if that should have been factored in more. I
don't know, but yeah, I just I don't know. I
could go on and on. I actually would. I think
there's arguments against pretty much everybody of those groups, but
I I don't think Alabama is gonna be left out.
So Fox Sports Radio Aer Tors Jason Martin, broadcasting live

(01:41:06):
from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. We will come back.
I guess we'll talk a little. NFL Week fourteen, Bengals, Bills, Steelers, Ravens.
A lot of good football still to come this weekend.
Air Tours Jason Martin, Fox Sports Rady, Welcome back, everybody.
Fox Sports Radio Air Torris Jason Martin, broadcasting live from

(01:41:27):
the Fox sports radio studios want to get to Week
fourteen of the NFL A couple of really big games
on Sunday before we do though final time this evening.
Let's get it over the news desk, Steve de Seger,
what is trying.

Speaker 8 (01:41:41):
To you know, the game that's gonna keep Duke out
of the College Football Playoffs Conference champion They.

Speaker 2 (01:41:47):
Lost to Yukon. Well, that's actually probably not inaccurate.

Speaker 8 (01:41:51):
I mean that, and then lost to Virginia the next week,
and they were five and five just a few weeks ago.
After those two results, I will point out loudly in
mid September, Duke lost at Tulane if you've heard of
that school, as we had toured the playoff selection on Sunday.
Duke eight and five now did win the ACC Championship
tonight in overtime at number seventeen Virginia twenty seven to twenty.

(01:42:14):
Duke football in the early sixties apparently won the ACC
three straight years. They had not won it outrights since
then since the early sixties. They had tied for first
in nineteen eighty nine, and they had won a division
title about a decade ago, and here they win a
championship game tonight, scoring a touchdown in overtime and then

(01:42:34):
intercepting Virginia on the next play to end it in Charlotte,
where attendance was just forty one thousand. Virginia had tied
this game on a touchdown with under thirty seconds left
in regulation, So unranked Duke winning makes it possible for
two smaller conference teams to make the playoffs and no
ACC team Indiana is thirteen to oh after beating number

(01:42:55):
one Ohio State thirteen to ten to take the Big
Ten Crown. Notable in the second half and the buck
Guys offense, it drove down inside the ten yard line
twice and got no points. Number three Georgia over Alabama
twenty eight to seven in the SEC championship game. Georgia
led twenty one to nothing early third quarter. Fourth ranked
Texas Tech went BYU about a month ago at home

(01:43:16):
and beat him thirty four to seven in Arlington, Texas
today for the Big twelve title. In Detroit, Western Michigan
won the MAC Championship twenty three to thirteen over Miami, Ohio.
Keep in mind, not only do we have selection Sunday
coming when all the playoff teams will be named and
all the bowl matchups come out. College Football's playoffs has
first round at campus sites. It will start with a

(01:43:37):
Friday night game about a week before Christmas, and then
the other three games will be on Saturday, December twentieth.
Although I didn't notice, the NFL made sure to announce
they've got a couple of games on that Saturday as well.
The Ramseean McVay is due to coach Sunday at Arizona,
but he traveled there separately due to illness. Charger quarterback
Justin Herbert, with the broken left hand, is questionable for

(01:43:57):
Monday Night against the Eagles. The team was OPTI mystic
that Herbert can play. He has been able to practice
on a limited basis this past week. He does have
yet to take snaps from under center, something he could
not do last Sunday after the injury.

Speaker 3 (01:44:10):
Either.

Speaker 8 (01:44:10):
Chargers first round running back Omar and Hampton practice fully
again today. He broke an ankle in Week five, and
Charger running back Hassan Haskins is officially questionable but practice
fully for Philadelphia. They'll be missing on Monday, tackle Lane
Johnson and defensive tackle Jalen Carter due to injuries. Miami
won the MLS Cup Final three to one over Vancouver,

(01:44:31):
NHL Florida seven to six overtime winners against Columbus. In
college hoops, we had a game tie the largest home
loss ever by a number one ranked team. Purdue was
beaten at home eighty one fifty eight by tenth ranked
Iowa State number two Arizona dominated Auburn ninety seven sixty eight. Tonight,
Duke won at Michigan State Louisville over Indiana, Illinois, beat Tennessee, Washington,

(01:44:54):
upset USC Sacramento, Zach Levine with forty two points in
a win at Miami. Also in the Detroit is nineteen
to five after beating Milwaukee. And a reminder that eight
former ballplayers are on the Contemporary Baseball Era Hall of
Fame ballot and voting results will be announced Sunday night.
This is not the Baseball Writers. This is a small

(01:45:15):
committee that will consider on the ballot. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens,
Gary Sheffield, Don Mattingly, Jeff Kent. This is all happening tomorrow.
Dale Murphy up for the Hall, Carlos Carlos Delgado and
Fernando Vevenezuela. We'll find out the results tomorrow evening back
to you.

Speaker 3 (01:45:34):
So Dale Murphy and some other.

Speaker 8 (01:45:35):
Guys Fernando Valenzuela to kind of have a career for
a few years there, but it will be since this
is not the baseball writers who obviously have said no
to Clemens and Bonds for years.

Speaker 2 (01:45:49):
This is not them.

Speaker 8 (01:45:50):
This is a completely different crew, including four more players
going at it.

Speaker 2 (01:45:55):
Well, the Sega have a great evening. Will you be
back in tomorrow with the fellas.

Speaker 8 (01:46:00):
Betcha as Arnie celebrates his number one ranked Arizona Wildcats.

Speaker 2 (01:46:05):
Nine and three.

Speaker 7 (01:46:06):
Go.

Speaker 2 (01:46:07):
By the way, you know the argument for BYU oh
them being anybody? Well, Utah and Arizona. Yes, the Arizona
football team are both top twenty wins according to the
teen and eighteen. Right, I believe so.

Speaker 8 (01:46:18):
Ya so well in Texas Tech every win this year
by more than twenty one points, twelve and one. They
won at Utah they dominated byu twice.

Speaker 2 (01:46:27):
Yeah, and by the way, the only loss I think
you referenced it earlier, starting quarterback was not available.

Speaker 8 (01:46:32):
Correctly at Asu, and even then it took a last
minute touchdown to beat them.

Speaker 2 (01:46:35):
Yeah, I think they're one that I think there's somebody
maybe what's that.

Speaker 3 (01:46:43):
Test case right there for what for what we're about
to see. I'm like, we talked about this before the season.
This was going to be kind of everybody was going
to watch this. This works, we're going to start seeing
it everywhere, and we're going to start seeing it everywhere.

Speaker 2 (01:46:58):
Well, I will say that was a funny byproduct of
this week of all the coaching jobs. You know, Lane
Kiffin gets LSU, Matt Campbell gets Penn State, Yeah, yeah,
Kalon Sataki stays at BYU. All of those schools have
committed more money to NIL than is, by rule, legally allowed.
Like it's just it's just comical.

Speaker 8 (01:47:20):
Is that what you're saying that nobody's actually in charge.

Speaker 3 (01:47:23):
Of the NCAA.

Speaker 2 (01:47:24):
Well, there are people in charge, it's just nobody plays
by the rules that they've put into place. So uh,
nobody's in charge.

Speaker 3 (01:47:31):
So there's no rules basically exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:47:33):
It was so funny when they came out with this
this revshare, you know, house settlement. Everyone's gonna spend twenty
and a half million. It was like, you know, Alabama's
ad Greg oh, this is a great day for college sports,
and dah da da, and I was like no one's
gonna abide by this cap. You can't put a ceiling
on what people are willing to pay for people. But

(01:47:53):
to Jay Mart's point, if Texas Tech was a disaster,
that probably would have been a good you know, cautionary
cautionary tale is the perfect way that I'm looking for.

Speaker 8 (01:48:05):
Now, what softball already made the final? Football could make
the final? That Flex department is rolling in it.

Speaker 2 (01:48:10):
Well, Texas Tech basketball made the Elite eight last year too, so.

Speaker 8 (01:48:13):
You remember when they made the final not that long.

Speaker 2 (01:48:15):
Yeah, that was pre nil although I'm guessing maybe there
was some nil then too, But anyway, neither here nor there,
So all right to say, we'll listen to you tomorrow
with the guys, including Arnie Spanner, whose basketball team is unbeatable.

Speaker 3 (01:48:28):
The guys and Arnie Spanier.

Speaker 2 (01:48:30):
Yeah, the gentleman and Arnie Spanner. The gentleman, Chris Plank
and Arnie Spank. All right, thank you to Seger. I'll
tell you what. Let's do a quick little abbreviated Week
fourteen NFL preview. A couple interesting games, Mary, give us
some music as you have, Thank you, Ian. What games
we talked about today?

Speaker 10 (01:48:47):
Yeah, let's start with this, The Chicago Bears are going
to Lambeau to take on the Packers. Big spread here,
the Packers are favored by seven points as the home team,
but the Bears are still leading that division.

Speaker 2 (01:48:57):
Who you guys got I'll just say seven points feels
like an awful lot. But I understand this concept of
people are still doubting the Bears, I guess, But I
mean they're literally nine and one in their last ten
and they just shoved the ball down the Eagles throat,
and so I guess the argument would be Caleb Williams

(01:49:19):
on the road division game. You know, for as good
as the Bears have been, Caleb obviously has been a
little bit up and down. I don't want to do
the whole like, are you really betting against the Bears?
But they have won nine of their last ten. I
guess I'll take green Bay to win. But if I
was making a betting pick, seven points feels like way
too many for a Lions team that has won five

(01:49:42):
straight and nine of their last ten. Bears team Bears team. Now,
why do I keep saying Lions? I got the Lions
on my brain, But Bears team that have won nine
of least ten so I think the.

Speaker 3 (01:49:51):
Packers are gonna win. This just feels like one of
those where it's not about betting against the Bears or
anything else. It's just I feel like Matt Lafleu and
the Packers really kind of want to make a statement
in this game, and they've got it at home. I
feel like they're going to make a statement win this
by two touchdowns. I do think the Bears. I think

(01:50:12):
the Bears are as legit as you just said. At
the same time, I just and I'm not even that
big a fan of the Packers, I just think this matchup,
I'm just gonna go with my my gut feeling, which
is that the Packers are gonna win this handily.

Speaker 2 (01:50:25):
Really quick. Before we get to the next game, we Aly,
we're unlimited time. Bears still have the Packers twice, plus
the Lions at home. Green Bay obviously plays the Bears twice,
but they have no games left against the Lions, who
they swept this year. Who do you think actually wins
the division? Green Bay, by the way, I guess a

(01:50:48):
half a game back tied in the lost column, they.

Speaker 3 (01:50:50):
I think Detroit is still gonna win the division.

Speaker 2 (01:50:52):
Really, yeah, two games back.

Speaker 3 (01:50:56):
Yeah, I think they're still going to win the division.

Speaker 2 (01:50:57):
Wow, Okay Detroit. By the way, they're zero to two
against Green Bay this season. They still have a game
at Chicago and then in the division they also have
the Minnesota Vikings as well.

Speaker 3 (01:51:09):
That's very interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:51:10):
All right, what do we got ian? What's the next game?
All Right?

Speaker 10 (01:51:12):
The six and six Steelers are going to Baltimore to
take on the six and six Ravens. So this is, uh,
someone's coming out of this above five hundred, someone's coming
out of it below five hundred.

Speaker 2 (01:51:21):
But what do you guys, what do you guys think?
Who's who?

Speaker 3 (01:51:23):
Man? I'll tell you man. My take is starting to
age like age like fine wine that this was going
to be the year that Tomlin didn't finished with a
winning record, because this Steelers team just doesn't look good
right now at all. They they just look like they
are looking for a reason for this season to be over.
I still look, we had the Ravens and the Lions,

(01:51:44):
or you didn't have the lines, I don't think, but
you had the Ravens winning the Super Bowl, and so
did I. I still think there's probably a universe where
they get into the playoffs and they gotta win this game. No,
this is like knockout City right here. I think they will.
I think that the Steelers are completely fugazy and this
is going to be the.

Speaker 2 (01:51:59):
Last tour rack right here, really quick. I'm a little
confused on this. So Adam Scheffer out a report today
the Steelers are not going to fire Mike Tomlin, but
he has a team option for twenty twenty seven that
they have to pick up by March first, So, like,
is he going to be coaching for his job next year?

Speaker 3 (01:52:19):
Like?

Speaker 6 (01:52:20):
Is he?

Speaker 2 (01:52:21):
I don't like. If I'm Mike Tomlin, am I fired
up to come back on a one year contract? If
they don't, I guess you don't really have a choice
at that point because it'll be in March. But just
I don't know. It's just weird, like you're either I
don't know. It's like a college coach that has one
year left on his contract. Do you either extend him
or you let him go? It just feels weird to me,
But yeah, I just.

Speaker 3 (01:52:42):
Hey, man, if you are Stephen A. Smith, you already
believe that if he goes to pen if he went
to Penn State, he could completely turn them around immediately. Oh,
and I thought's why why would you say that? Like
that doesn't even make sense because he also said that
that he needs to be gone from Pittsburgh. So I'm
not sure how those two takes actually coincide or not.

(01:53:03):
If I'm Tomlin, I think I'm about ready to go
somewhere else. Like I think it's time for a change
of scenery for all involved here. And I think the
Aaron Rodgers experiment just has gone about as well as
we thought it would. It started okay, but it wasn't
gonna last really quick.

Speaker 2 (01:53:17):
I will say this, if there's one place, and I
know Penn State now as a coach, like the one
fan base that wouldn't be fired up to have Mike
Tomlin as their college coach is the one whose fans
have been watching him for the last fifteen years as
their NFL head coach. So like like if Mike Tomlin
the had gotten like the Florida job, like Florida fans
could talk themselves into it, Penn State fans have been

(01:53:37):
watching the Steelers for the last fifteen years and probably
want him to leave as the coach of that team.
So I'll tell you what we have, Like literally one
minute what's the last game. We'll just make a pick
real quick.

Speaker 10 (01:53:47):
Yeah, Bengals are going to or two Park to take
on the Bills. The Bills are favored by six points
here as the home team. What do you guys think?

Speaker 3 (01:53:53):
Sure? Got you? I don't know. I don't like either
one of these teams on a regular basis having to
pick them in a regular season. But I'll take the
Bills at home.

Speaker 2 (01:54:01):
Yeah, I will too. Bengals haven't played great, great performance
on Thanksgiving Day. They're only two games back in that division.
I know, it's weird. I mean, that's why Burrow came
back was because mathematically they were still alive. Yeah, I'll
take Buffalo at home. I don't feel good about it though.
All Right, that's weekend Week fourteen of the NFL come Back.

(01:54:21):
One segment left Fox.

Speaker 3 (01:54:23):
Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:54:27):
Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio, Air, Torus. Jason Martin
broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. By the way,
if you miss today's show, there has never been a
better time to download the podcast. Right after we go
off air, today's show will be posted. Be sure to

(01:54:47):
follow the podcast rate at five stars. Can even provide
a review. All you gotta do is just search Fox
Sports Radio wherever you get podcasts. You'll find us.

Speaker 3 (01:54:55):
Again.

Speaker 2 (01:54:56):
Just search Fox Sports Radio Weekends wherever you get podcasts,
and you'll find today's show posted right after we get
off air. J Mart, I think we pretty much covered
the gauntlet on college football, but I will ask you
for a final time. Twelve team playoff two teams for

(01:55:16):
four teams for two spots. Number nine Alabama number ten,
Notre Dame number eleven, BYU number twelve. Miami. Who gets in?

Speaker 3 (01:55:26):
Alabama and Notre Dame we're gonna get in. Miami's gonna
be left out BYU will be left out. Also, I
think the head to head is going to be the
thing that gets lost here, and I think that's a
shame because I don't really believe that's the way there
should be, even if I think Notre Dame is the
better team, Miami's the one that won the game Alabama.

(01:55:50):
I saw EJ. Manual on TV a little bit ago
and he said, you know, Alabama really didn't help themselves
on Saturday, but they didn't need to help themselves because
they were already in sure. That to me is the problem.
I don't know that you can knock them out if
they were already in because you made them play a game.
First of all, you know Miami couldn't play in it
because of what was going on with their ACC title game,

(01:56:10):
Plus their opponent wasn't going to be Georgia. But here's
the other thing. Notre Dame couldn't play in a conference
championship game, so they're never going to have to play
that game in order to find their way into the tournament,
to find their way into the College Football Playoff. I
think with that being the case, it just I don't
see a universe where the conference championship game is going

(01:56:33):
to be the thing that gets sacrificed on the altar
here by the College Football Committee. I think that we're
going this is going to be the easy street to
the sixteen team playoffs, sooner rather than later. I think
it'll be argued before the end of Sunday, probably by
Greg Sanki, and maybe others will join them. But Sanki

(01:56:53):
for sure is going to and Bama fans I think
that it needs to happen because this has gotten so
close to happening. But I don't think that Bama is
going to drop out, even if personally watching it. It's
hard to watch that game and watch the last four
or five games that Alabama has played and feel like
that looks like a playoff team, especially when you add

(01:57:15):
in a five and seven Florida State team that they
got beaten pretty handily by to open the season. But
that's what's going to happen. Pama's going to get in,
Notre Dame is going to get in. Miami will be
left out.

Speaker 2 (01:57:27):
So I actually agree with you, And my argument coming
into today was that I thought Alabama will be in
no matter what, and then Notre Dame BYU and Miami
BYU will lose, They'll be dropped, and then you can
compare Notre Dame head to head to Miami. I think
the issue becomes, I don't know how you don't drop
Alabama for losing in a conference championship game, but do

(01:57:50):
drop BYU. So I will say final answer, I will
have Alabama and Notre Dame in the playoff as well.
Really quickly. We won't be on air before the Heisman
Trophy ceremony. Do you have a final pick for the
Heisman Trophy next Saturday night?

Speaker 3 (01:58:04):
Mendoza, I think so too, yep, I just I think
that one's that one's pretty easy. I think him and
Pavia and it'll be them one and two. It'll be
a nice It'll still be really nice to Pavia finish
this runner up coming from Vanderbilt and being part of
that ceremony and everything else. But I think Mendoza and

(01:58:25):
just doing what he did here against Ohio State. Not
really I mean, he didn't have to do everything, but
his numbers are pretty good. He outplayed another Heisman contender
in that game, and that, you know, in front of
a national audience. I think that that's going to carry
a lot of weight and he'll win it. He'll win it.

Speaker 2 (01:58:42):
So we all got about a minute, but I will
give you the floor any strong takes on Penn State
hiring Matt Campbell and the process that it took to
get there.

Speaker 3 (01:58:52):
Process has been terrible. I think that they ended up
maybe with a better coach than you thought they were
going to with all the people that were saying no,
and maybe Jimmy Sexton. You know, Matt Campbell's not a
Jimmy Sexton client, so that helps out because anybody that
was basically said no, and there's all that talk that
he basically had all of his clients black ball Pit State.
I don't know if that's true, but it's a fun
conspiracy theory. Matt Campbell a lot of people compare his

(01:59:16):
record against the top twenty five to James Franklin's. Well,
first off, it's a little better than James Franklin's. Second off,
the level of talent that Iowa State had on the
field should be factored in as well. I still think
Matt Campbell's a pretty good coach.

Speaker 2 (01:59:29):
Yeah, it's called Iowa State. That's why the win loss
record isn't good.

Speaker 3 (01:59:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:59:33):
No, I agree with everything you said. I don't know
why they didn't just go to him sooner. You know,
I don't think Kolonie Sataki was ever coming. You know,
all these other guys got extensions. But I think that,
you know, you can take the wrong path to get
to the right place. I actually like Matt Campbell a
lot for the Penn State and nine Lions. All right,

(01:59:54):
I'll tell you what we got to get out of here.
I want to thank the crew, Mary Mack on the boards,
producer Ian's Steve di Sega from my partner Jason Martin,
I am eron Torres. Make sure to download the podcast
By the way, make sure to stay tuned. Bernie Fratto
up next and count down to kickoff at ten am
Eastern will get you through the bracket reveal at noon

(02:00:15):
Eastern on Sunday. We got to get out of here.
Bertie Fratto Next for Jason Martin. I'm erin Torres. This
is Fox Sports Tardio

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