January 2, 2026 • 41 mins
Adam Ausland fills in for Ben Maller and talks about some big College Football Playoffs matchups from Thursday including Oregon upsetting Texas Tech and Indiana blowing out Alabama, a Power Rankings of NFL matchups in Week 18, and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, thanks for listening to the Ben Mahler Show podcast.
It's me Ben. Be sure to catch us live every
weeknight from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three
am Pacific right here on Fox Sports Radio. You can
find your local station for the Benmler Show over at
Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every night
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome man. It's no
longer FNA as Kevin Figures is out tonight, but it's
double a Amda Moslin, Adam Ashley in for the great
Ben Mallor in the air everywhere. Happy New Year. Got
a good show for you guys over the next four hours,
including a Stranger Things nonspoiler review. Because I haven't finished
(00:47):
the finale yet either. It's over two hours. I'll have
an NBA insider on from the athletic in Law Murray.
In the second hour. We'll have a through line of
NFL content for you guys, as I will to start
each hour after this one rank the matchups for Week
eighteen will have much more. Speaking of more, let's get
(01:10):
things started with college football and my Ducks and Dante
Moore here in first off, there's no time. Let's rock. So,
as I said last night, Oregon has been waiting for
this moment to redeem themselves after what Ohio State did
to them at the Rules Bowl last year in the
(01:31):
first iteration of the college football twelve team playoff. Oregon
embarrassed themselves. It was embarrassing for them, It was embarrassing
for Dan Lanning. They got smoked at the Rose Bowl
and they were the number one overall team in the country.
They had not lost a game, they had already beaten
Ohio State. And last week, well a couple of weeks ago,
(01:54):
it was James Madison who they started off this year's tournament,
the twelve team tournament we have now in college football. Well,
James Madison wasn't exactly the team they were looking to
start with to get the revenge tour underway. But it
was a good warm up, almost like a scrimmage at times,
as opposed to the like long layoff they had last
(02:15):
year before taking on Ohio State. So my Ducks came
out in this game today like they were shot out
of a cannon and Ship Kelly was still the head coach.
With their up tempo offense, the Chain gang couldn't keep
up with them. At first, it was brilliant against that
aggressive pin your ears back Texas Tech defense. Use their
(02:36):
aggressiveness against them and get the ball out quick. They
looked unstoppable. It was like the quick quack car wash chain.
And then David Bailey sacked Dante More and they had
to settle for a field goal. Texas Tech gets it back,
tries their own up tempo offense, and all it did
for them was lead to a punt quicker. The Ducks
get the ball back, convert a fourth and two at
(02:59):
midfield to Kenyon Sadik, and then tried a fourth and
one play to run it and they got stopped again
by that great Texas Tech defense. Now, Oregon's defense pretty
damn good as well, as a lot of people found
out today. They got Tech to go three and out,
and while Oregon only had three points at the end
(03:19):
of the first quarter, they ran twenty five place. They
controlled the clock even with how good Texas Tech's defense is.
But Oregon's defense is no slash, and on the second
play of the second quarter, true freshman Brandon Finny gets
that first pick. Nobody talking about how good Orgons defense is.
This was their moment to shine a little bit, not
(03:40):
Morton's and the quarterback for Texas Tech. That was just
his fifth pick all season long, but it was a
bad one. Now, Texas Tech in that front seven, they
look like a damn NFL team out there, like on
All Madden Mode, that type of thing. It honestly looks
like the Red Raiders would beat the Las Vegas Raiders
right now. The Raiders sucked. No, I'm not, that's disrespectful.
(04:03):
It is, but the Las Vegas Raiders are also trying
to lose and tank for the number one pick to
get Fernando Mendoza. We'll talk about him in a little bit.
Oregon's best play, honestly in the first half was a
fake punt, and it was a great fake like Meg
Ryan's fake in when Harry met Sally rip Rob Reiner.
That fake punt works so well. I'm like, hey, why
(04:25):
not do that fake punt thing on first down, second down,
third down two? That's Orgon's best offense so far. But
they get it to texts two and they're going forward.
After all, if you're willing to do that at midfield,
you can't not go forward at the two yard line,
David Bailey bats down Dante Moore's pass rolling to his
(04:45):
right that had no chance again. I was especially upset
at this point because my breakfast burrito that I ordered
arrived at the same time, and I wanted to be
celebrating the feast with a not a turnover on downs
at the goal line. I have to emotionally eat to
handle stressful games like this. Oregon eventually gets the ball
(05:08):
back though, as Finny recovers a fumble by Tech, but
of course they have to settle for a field goal.
They at least didn't try to go for it again.
Texas Tech defense is the best that I have seen.
I texted my buddy at one point, I can't believe
how good this d is. That's not sexual. Texas Tech
defense has Oregon and Dante Moore completely shook at the
(05:28):
line of scrimmage in that first half where he's trying
to read their defense pre snap during the snap too,
and instead he's taken the football off of his face
on some of these miscues on shotgun snaps like it
was unbelievable. Texas Tech and that defense, I can't say
(05:49):
enough about them, but I can talk about Organ's defense too.
Because the second best defense might be Organs Against Texas
Tech's offense, the Ducks are up six to nothing at
the half. Oregon at the ball for twenty two minutes,
Texas Tech just eight minutes. It took me longer than
those eight minutes to eat that big ass breakfast burrito.
(06:11):
I got so out of nowhere. At the half, Third
Eye Blond in old Ass Stephen Jenkins is performing. It's
not just his third eye, his mind's eye that's blind anymore. Though.
He's old enough where I'm not sure if he can
see for reels. Love him the deep cuts from Third
Eye Blond, especially in the first two albums Elite. They
of course played semi Charmed Life though, because it's like
(06:33):
their most catchy song, even though it's actually about Crystal meth.
Do you want to get hot?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Yeah, it's you you want to cook crystal meth.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
This stat is crazier than doing crystal meth. Dan Lanning
is forty one in one when leading at the half,
now forty two in one. The second half starts and
the Red Raiders offense looks like the Las Vegas Raiders
on the Raiders suck. Yeah, it was bad. Tayo Ooy
Young La Young concrete, they call him. He rips the
(07:04):
ball away from that statue under center for Tech in Morton,
and they have it at the six and the first
offensive play they run, they get their first touchdown Jordan Davison.
Ducks are up thirteen to nothing. Here's something though, that
had me furious. Well, now I'm getting very irritated. Organ
gets the ball back and they go for it. On
(07:28):
fourth and two at Tech's forty six, Dante Moore throws
a pick to Ben Roberts. Why even go for that?
You're up two scores, it's thirteen to nothing. Your defense
is lights out. You can stop them. You can get
the ball back with a new set of downs right
about there, Dan Lanning, what are we doing? The kids
(07:48):
are playing to tailer counts, are screwing it up. We
gotta have some situational awareness time and score and field
position in big games. Dan Lanning's decision making has been
questioned before by others and even himself. He apologized in
the first half for not getting more points and just
taking the chip shot field goals. But Tech they had
(08:09):
three first downs in their first drive in the third quarter,
after having three first downs total in the first half alone.
I had already ordered my victory Sunday on door Dash. Yes,
I followed up the big aspirrito with the Sunday let
me eat. Okay, it's fine, Why don't you take a
taste of the drink there? That too, you were opening
the door, though, I would say, Dan Lanning, by making
(08:32):
that move, you were opening the door for the game
to flip momentum wise. Luckily, Tech throws a pick in
the end zone on a jump ball, and Finny has
another pick their true freshman at corner, and that pretty
much all but sealed it for Oregon, as they kicked
another field goal that was sixteen to nothing, and then
they smoked Baron Morton once more before it was over
(08:55):
by a player named Blake Purchase. Somebody tweeted this out quote.
For Texas Tech to end up having their season ended
by a dude named Purchase sacking their quarterback is peak irony. Yeah.
Dan Lanning, by the way, then called a time out,
ran up the score a little bit, or maybe I
(09:16):
don't know, was working on his team and not so
much worried about your team. You don't want him to
score again. Stop him. Your defense is pretty damn good,
Texas Tech. You want to try out plays on that
defense maybe and show that you're ready for the next opponent.
It's a physical football game out there. Like, let me
get this straight. Last week people were upset with Oregon
(09:38):
or were doubting them because they gave up some scores
late after the game was out of hand against James Madison,
and now they're mad at Oregon for running through the
tape and continuing to play hard up sixteen. Nothing. Y'all
are just gonna look to criticize anything with them. I
don't understand it. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive. I am
(09:58):
wearing an Oregon Ducks hat. But you know what Texas
Tech coach Joey McGuire said postgame quote, I hope Dan
Lenning wins the whole damn thing. They didn't seem too
bothered by it, So it looks like me and my
Ducks got the last laugh here, mister peepers. It was
so annoying at duck Hunt, that dog laughing at you
(10:20):
every time you missed the Ducks out there. All right,
enough of my ducktails. Time to get to Oregon's next opponent.
And we found out pretty early who would be as
the Indiana Hoosers beat down h Hoosiers. The Alabama Crimson
Tide lost thirty eight two three at the Ruse Bowl
(10:44):
as Fernando Mendoza went fourteen of sixteen passing with three touchdowns. Honestly,
it wasn't even that close. This was complete domination. And
what's crazy about this is Indiana became the first team
in the twelve team playoff with a buy to not
(11:06):
losehoo oh they won all right, Indiana was not rusty
Ohio State, Texas Tech. What's your excuse this season? This
year's second year the twelve team playoff, Indiana had all
that time off too. What was Oregon's excuse last year?
Or Georgia's or Boise States or Arizona States by teams
(11:27):
were zero and six in the twelve team playoff format
in the quarterfinals until Indiana came in and said, f
you're by say bye to Eddie one that is playing us.
But the first half of that ballgame, they're just so
stout up front. They forced you into mistakes and eventually
(11:48):
they're going to capitalize on them. They were balanced on
the offensive side eighty six yards rushing, ninety three yards
passing for Indiana beautiful balance and they're up seventeen to
nothing in the first half after a slow start because
of BAMA mistakes, not converting on a fourth down, the
Tye Simpson fumble in the first half. They just they
(12:09):
wait for you to beat yourself and while you're trying
to get by their defense, good luck. They're going to
force you into those mistakes eventually. The thing with them is,
and it's a little bit terrifying because that first game
Oregon played at Austin against Indiana, when everybody realized, oh
is Indiana Hoosiers are for real? Kurt Signetti is a monster,
(12:32):
a different type of monster. They are a machine out
there with their precision, with their attention to detail and
just making mistake free football out there. That touchdown to
Becker from Mendoza a thing of beauty after the tie
Simpson fumble, and Mendoza in the red zone has been
(12:55):
well perfect, I guess perfect. Yeah, he hasn't had a
turnover and he was perfect in this game as well.
They come out of the half after being up by
seventeen nothing. Some people are trying to make the example
of oh, you know, this is analogous to what happened
in the opening round, BAMA was down seventeen to nothing
to Oklahoma. This is not Oklahoma, this is this is Indiana.
(13:19):
This is different. They get a stop, they get the
serat touchdown, and BAMA is down twenty four to nothing.
Now you're down twenty four to nothing and you're Bama
and they ended up getting into a goal line situation
where they settled for a field goal. That's a little
bit soft. I would say, you're down twenty four to nothing,
(13:42):
you have to score touchdowns? Are you just trying to
put some lipstick on this pig and not get totally
shut out? You didn't want to be thirty eight to zero,
thirty eight to three look so much better out there.
I cannot stand when coaches do this. And I don't
know what's gonna happen Calen de boor now, but coaches
(14:02):
that will just do enough to try not to lose
too poorly instead of trying to win the football game.
Not to channel Herm Edwards here or anything, but back
to Kurt Signetti. The guy scares the hell out of me.
Bobby Knight would have loved him. He's a monster and
he's created one now at Indiana. Kurt Signetti is that
(14:25):
evil movie villain in a sports movie that sucks, but
it also sucks playing him, Like I've already seen my
Ducks loosed him once at home. Signetti is out there
chasing perfection. They're looking to destroy you, crush your souls
along the way. I think when they showed that stealth
(14:45):
bomber that flew over the stadium at the Rose Ball
at the half like he was in it and gave
his players a thumbs up like, Okay, we're up seventeen.
We can do better. They did when in thirty eight
to three. So I just don't know what you're gonna
do against this Indiana ball club because they're now proving
it on the big stage. Last season it was well,
(15:06):
they got bounced early in the playoff, but that was
just year one with Signetti. I mean, this team won
three or four games the year before he came to Indiana,
and now they look like one of the blue bloods
all of a sudden. It's incredible. And by the way,
I'm not hearing a damn thing from Notre Dame fans
who are saying, see, Alabama didn't belong, They shouldn't have
(15:28):
been here, they shouldn't have been in this spot. Look,
Alabama at least won a game in the playoff. They
beat Oklahoma Indiana. I don't know if anybody's beating them.
There's no shame in losing to Signetti and this Indiana team.
I'm sorry. They're trying to go like Ohio State went
last season, just buzzsaw through the playoffs. They're going for
(15:50):
chainsaw their leather face out there. That's how scary this
team is. But Notre Dame. You have no argument. Stop stop.
I know Bbama had three losses. They still had a
much better win against Georgia. What was your best win?
Your best win was two losses, close losses to Miami
(16:12):
and to Texas A and M and then Miami. Well
they've won two games already in the playoffs, including beating
Texas A and M. Who beat you? You don't get
to talk dead men, tell no tales. That's how this works.
You're out. I don't want to hear peep for mister
peepers Eus. This dog's name, by the way, in duck
(16:34):
Hunt or Notre Dame fans right now, I'm sorry. You
don't got a leg to stand on. The argument doesn't
hold water. If you want to say you should have
been in over JMU and Tulane. Fine, there's a lot
of teams that should have been in over them by
you can make a case too. The twelve team playoff
is still flawed. But just because now Bama finally lost
(16:55):
and you want to dance on their grave and say
we were better on that team by what metric? Because
if you had one less loss, you also didn't play
an SEC schedule. You're still picking and choosing who you
want to play every season. You won't join a conference. Yes,
you play the ACC teams and you lost to the
best one you played. I just I don't understand the
Golden domer stuff. It is infuriating to see how many
(17:19):
people will bend the knee in this whole USC Notre
Dame debate, which we got into a little bit last
night as well. It's it's tired. I'm sorry. They haven't
won a championship since nineteen eighty eight. That's how long
it's been for Notre Dame. Yet we treat them like
their Bama in the modern age, like they won seven
or eight or whatever the hell Nick Saban did. Yeah, well,
(17:40):
this Bama team not exactly that. This Bama team. They
got run out of the Rose Bowl by a team
getting their first victory or the first team to do
it with a bye week, and they look dominant. So
there's no excuse for anybody else that wants to say, oh,
there's too much time off at a negative getting the
(18:01):
bye week in the twelve team playoff, it didn't look
like that for Indiana. They were well prepared. Kurt Signetti
is just different, him coming out initially at that press
conference and saying that, uh, I win, Google me, ask
Jeeves me, MetaCrawler me, you could do it all, net
(18:24):
escape me, whatever, Firefox me. He's right, he just wins. Yo.
You look at the facial expressions on the sideline from Signetti.
It's intimidating. It's scary. I'm worried for my ducks in
the semi finals. Now, I was hoping Bama was gonna win.
(18:45):
How often do you feel like that?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Man?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I hope we get Bama next. How often is Bama
almost an eight point dog in a game? What are
we talking about here? Indiana? Is that good? And I
tried to talk myself into it a little bit. With Alabama.
They say, you know, they got a ton of talent,
They just put it together and we'll see it could
be interesting. They rushed for twenty three yards. They can't
(19:12):
run the ball. Meanwhile, Indiana two hundred and fifteen yards
on the ground, one ninety two through the air. The
balance that you want to achieve like it's karate kid.
This is I don't know if they go on to
win this thing. This is one of the biggest stories
in sports history, this turnaround at Indiana. And when everybody
was talking about, well, Penn State has the job opening.
(19:34):
Now look at all these job openings, Kurt Signetti, Why
don't you move on up? Why don't you go somewhere else?
Why instead? Why isn't the perspective I'll turn this place
into a winner. I'll turn Indiana into Penn State. Why
do you want to follow all these traditional past glory
(19:55):
schools that had a run of success forty years ago
and you're always going to be me against an era
of college football it doesn't exist anymore. Why not start
your own? I think Signetty did the right thing staying there,
and the money is good and everybody can pay. It's
just incredible, though, to see what a well oiled machine
(20:17):
this program has become. Can you cop it up next
as I'm Adam moslin in for Ben Mallor Adam Ashley
on The Ben Mallor Show on Fox Sports Radio. We
will get to the late game, Georgia and Old Miss.
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio, be sure to catch
live editions of The Ben Mallor Show weekdays at two
am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
(20:40):
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning
on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't
your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down your.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Throat every day.
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Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
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Speaker 2 (20:59):
Accurate.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
That's to help you win big at the sportsbook.
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And all the best guests.
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Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with
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Speaker 1 (21:14):
This is the game that people are going to talk
about for years to come.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Adam Ashlyn, welcome back in. I'm out of maslin in
for Ben Mallard tonight. We don't to remind you of
the show is sponsored by Draft Kings sportsbook and official
sports betting partner of the NFL and NBA. Right now,
use the promo code Mallard to claim your special offer
at DraftKings again, that's promo code mallor at DraftKings. The
Crown is yours A seven seven ninety nine on Fox.
(21:42):
If you'd like to get on after a pretty eventful
day in college football, I would say it delivered. Yeah,
and we're doing it live. What are you saying? Some
of these shows are on tape here that would never
happen in Fox Sports Radio. Never. Okay, only at A
five seventy. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Just because it's in
(22:03):
the late night hour doesn't mean we're not live. I'm hyped.
I'm good for the next three hours coming up. We're
gonna talk about Stranger Things now. I haven't watched the
last hour of the finale in episode eight because it's
like two hours. Gotta catch up. What do you mean
are you gonna give me a spoiler?
Speaker 4 (22:19):
There're spoilers everywhere. I can't open my phone without a spoiler.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Here's the thing. The show was never that good to
me that I'm really worried about the spoiler. Maybe the
first couple of seasons. I'm almost over it. I'm hearing
differing things on how it ended and how people are
feeling about it. We're talking about stranger things, right, Yeah, yes,
I'm also not cut up. I just have to scroll
quickly whenever I see anything relating to the stranger things. See,
that's a problem. Don't look, don't look. Game of Thrones days,
(22:44):
it was like we were all watching it together at once.
But because Netflix drops the entire season, or the second
part of season five, you can just blow through it.
And I've been trying to late last night, I was
doing some of that, but Kevin figures and now we're
here filling in for Big Ben mallor doing some F.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
And a f and at.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Now. I may have buried the lead selfishly because I
wanted to talk about my Oregon Ducks a little bit earlier.
If you didn't melodiced kind of a Ducks fan, I
wouldn't even kill him a duck hunt. It didn't feel right.
I tried to kill the dog a few different times,
mister peepers, because he laughed at me all the time,
just like that. But there was a game as I
played the intro from coach Eric Taylor in one of
(23:25):
the greatest shows of all time, Friday Night Lives Full Hearts.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Let's go, Let's go play some football.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Ole Miss wins Ole Miss. If there was one game
that I would have been sure about, it's this one.
Georgia somehow lost and got beat at their own game
by a team they beat in the regular season the
same way. Ole Miss just beat them. Tonight, Trinidad. Chambliss
(23:55):
offered some bliss to Ole Miss after everything that had
gone on, the turmoil with Lane Kiffin, part rat, part snake,
whatever you want to say about him, They don't miss
him at all. They just got their best victory in
seventy years, sixty years without Lane Kiffen. Trinidad was special.
(24:17):
They're gritting this game down by nine. They looked like
they out Georgia. Georgia. Kirby Smart was undefeated in rematches.
When he sees the team a second time in the
same season, Kirby Smart four and Ohero no longer. Georgia
was plus forty six in fourth quarters. They won every
(24:39):
damn close game except for the game against Bama. Because
Kirby Smart can't beat Bama. Well, Obama's out, so I
wouldn't have thought of anything that would have put some
wind into sales, like nobody can stop us. Now we're
winning this thing. They went back to back a few
years ago at Georgia and now they're one and done.
And what this means is so far, what are teams
(25:01):
one in seven in the semi finals? In this new
playoff format, you get a bye. As I was talking
about last segment, you tend to show up not looking
like yourself, and that's what Georgia was. In the fourth quarter.
Ole Miss beat them at their own game, and it
(25:22):
was beautiful to watch. I gotta say, I'm not trying
to hate on the dogs, but that win was special.
Somebody tweeted out right afterwards. All it took for ole
Miss to win the biggest game in school history was
for Lane Kiffin to not be the coach. There's I mean,
I know Georgia was favored. I know some people are
die hards with Old Miss, but how many of you
(25:44):
are really that confident that you were gonna win this game?
Lane Kiffin touted as one of the best play callers
in the sport, and they went it without him. Trinidad's
better without him making all the plays late down by nine.
As I met mentioned, they end up maybe getting screwed
a couple of different times, so speak that. I don't know.
(26:07):
I saw a face mask on Lacy anybody else see that?
How about those two PI calls to get Georgia within
field goal range to tie the ball game. At that time,
everyone on X everyone on Twitter was saying, Oh, this
is rigged. Where's Tim donaghy at like they are calling something.
(26:29):
Steve Francis would say that talk with Jim Gray, it
looked like they wanted to get that matchup between Georgia
and their former quarterback in Carson Beck with Miami, and
that would be the golden goose for this college football
playoff year. The storylines would run rampant instead. Ole Miss said, no,
(26:53):
we're going to crash everybody's party here. We're going to
make the big plays and that little smoke or whatever
you call it to get them to within field goal range.
And I still don't know what the hell happened with
that safety that was reviewed for like twenty minutes. I
was like, are they gonna screw them over? Like what
happened with Miami in two thousand and three against Ohio State.
(27:15):
Are they going to try to take this game away?
So Georgia advances somehow. This game was a movie. It
was that type of performance. It was thirty nine, thirty
four is your final. I don't know how they got
to thirty nine with that safety. That was weird. But
ole Miss came back on them this time. Remember Gunnar
Stockton went twelve for twelve in the second half of
(27:37):
that game. During the regular season between these two teams,
ole Miss was up. Lane Kiffin lost another big game,
a game that was tight against one of the best
in the SEC. They look like the same old ole Miss.
Now they have a kicker who knocks a forty seven
yarder through to put him up by three with seconds remaining.
(27:59):
That's a big kick in college. I know, forty seven
doesn't mean a lot for the NFL. Guys are kicking
seventy yarders now in college. You never trust those kids
with those kicks. It was right down the middle. I
was clutchutch, clutch, but that slot fade to get the
big gain to get them into field goal range and
(28:20):
the throw by Trinidad just ice in his veins D'Angelo
Russell style like okay, he's much better than that or
Dilo at one time, you know, was thought of He's
a one time All Star with the Brooklyn Nets, he
was an alternate. I just say that was extremely clutched, clutch, clutch,
and it felt like everything was gonna go George's way,
(28:41):
just like it had at the end of so many games.
I think six of their seven SEC wins this season
occurred in the fourth quarter where they had to retake
the lead. They were the gritty team that nobody could
beat when it came down to it. And ole Miss
is in this whirlwind over the last month because the
college football calendar is a disaster and Lane Kiffin had
(29:04):
to leave him high and dry, or he didn't have to,
he chose to. If I'm LSU, I'm kind of I'm
not saying buyer's remorse or seller's remorse or whatever, but
I'm giving them a little bit of a side eye. Say,
your team just got their best victory without you, and
we just gave you everything to come to LSU and
(29:26):
they're they're beaten Georgia and you're gone. How much did
you really mean to them? As a play caller? I
thought it was one of the best victories in the
new playoff system, even going back to when it was
just four teams, which is only three years ago. And
this thing will advance to sixteen soon and then twenty
and it will keep growing. It's like a blob, this
(29:49):
college football Playoff committee. This is what they do.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
I told they've done at the league office.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Yeah, the league office. They're evolving, and by a I
mean they realize, oh, we get more playoff games, we
get more money, like this is not difficult. All you
care about his money, But this was an Aldheimer. Kirby
Smart felt invincible against everybody but Bama. An ole Miss
(30:18):
said enough of this or blowing the doors off the
aura of Georgia and the Dogs and Kirby Smart and
I still can't believe what he did. And I know
they tied the game anyways, But on that fourth down,
they didn't convert where they did a fire drill out there,
where they had their special teams out there like they're
going to punt it, and then just brought in their
(30:41):
offense thinking they could catch ole Miss by surprise, and
instead Gunner Stockton gets smoked as their left tackle refused
to block on that play that to me might have
been the biggest play of the game. And I'm not saying, look,
coaches are more aggressive than ever on fourth downs. I'm
a Ducks fan. I get it with Dan Lanning. Still,
(31:03):
there were probably a few times today where he even
said it at the half, they should have just taken
the points. That's not why they lost the game necessarily,
but I don't know that that definitely helped the confidence
of Old Miss to get that stop in that moment
when they already had pulled a fake pun on them
with Kirby Smart and Georgia. Well, this time it didn't
work out in their favor. Ole Miss thirty nine, the
(31:25):
Bulldogs thirty four. Ole Miss is taking on Miami in
the semi finals. On the other side of the bracket,
we got my Ducks taken on Indiana, who looks kind
of unbeatable. But I still have hope quick time out,
well come back. I'm at a Moslin in for Ben
Maller here on Fox Sports Radio. We got a talk
stranger things. I'm sorry nobody give me any spoilers that
(31:47):
follow out of me. By the way, don't you dare
just because I threw up my tag or my at
sign at follow out of may. Don't you dare give
me spoilers. Okay, I'll have a real issue and I
will block you. I will block you faster than Rob
Parker blocks people on X. I'm Adam oslin in for
Ben Maller here on Fox Sports Radio, Adam Ashland. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show
(32:09):
weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific. Hold on
to him, but Adam Ashland, welcome back in. I'm at
I'm oslind in for Big Ben Maller here on Fox
Sports Radio. Coming up next hour, lots and lots of
NFL matchup talk. I will rank all sixteen matchups. Yeah,
(32:30):
because there's thirty two teams. Everybody plays in week eighteen.
I'm gonna rank every matchup starting at the top of
next hour plus Lotmary of the Athletic will be on
talking a little bit of NBA. But first let's get
to our tire rack player of the day. From the
six yard line. Second in goal, there's a handoff de
Lacey straight ahead.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
He launches Towardy in so he breaks the plane, touchdown,
hold miss and the rebels pep taking the league.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, that sounds like an old miss type of I
mean that was not Eddie Lacy. Kawan Lacy with two
touchdowns twenty two carries ninety eight yards and remember, For
over forty years, tire Rack has been helping customers find
the right tires for how, for what and where they drive,
shipped fast and free, backed by free road hazard protection,
(33:18):
with convenient installation options like mobile tire installation. Tire rack
dot Com the way tire buying should be. I think
I got a little bit geek news for y'all. Nurse,
what's his ann long? Denman, you're playing D and D tonight?
You want to come cases?
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Let's up, guys, were won't be challenged that I've been
chying online.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
With Babs all day. Just keep a power clubs off
her passing race. Watched that out as Kennelman Well, like many,
I've been watching the final season of Stranger Things during
the holidays. I finished Even Stranger Things already. That was
the fifty cent Diddy documentary Even Stranger Well, that one
is sad, but true Stranger Things looks going out sad
(34:01):
as Season five to me has easily been the worst
season of the show. It's not Game of Thrones bad
where you're questioning why you invested in the first place,
all that time building up over years. Winter's Coming, Eh,
Winter's Coming, Yeah, kind of is pretty lame, actually, but
Stranger thinks is definitely coming across as an overly complicated,
(34:21):
convoluted mess. At times. Maybe it's jump the shark or
jump the dema Gorgan in this case, a little bit sloppy,
little half baked, and they are definitely banking on you
giving it a pass because of past earned charm and
nostalgia back when the series still felt imaginative and unique,
even though it's all homage to eighties films and pop culture,
(34:44):
but too much of it suffers from wait, is this real?
Or are they in someone's mind? Is it Vecna's mind?
Is it Will's mind? Are they in the upside down world?
I don't know. Now there's an in between world, a bridge, wormholes,
exotic matter. Nancy is just gonna yea turn into ramble
all of a sudden. That's fine. I just didn't feel
like it was built up very well.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
That's a sexy rambo if I ever seen one.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
It's like the equivalent some of the stuff they're doing
in this season of punching your VCR to get things
to work, Like Nancy just shoots her shotgun at exotic
matter and somehow that was supposed to make things better.
Like just shoot it with a gun. If it's too
hot outside, just shoot the sun. That's all you do, right,
(35:30):
that's physics, you know, like the rain. Just shoot, take
a shot at the clouds. I don't understand what Nancy
was doing.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Is that where you ended?
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Is that about where you're at? No, I've gotten a
little bit further. Okay, And look, I'm a film snob
here and a TV snob, and I know it's sci
fi and fantasy, but they keep stacking new information faster
than you can digest it. And uh, it's a bit much.
They're creating more questions than answers. I would say. The
scene to scene beat is basically the rhythm goes as follows,
(35:58):
like it's let's come up with crazy plan, so crazy
it might work to then let's have a heart to
heart conversation. Now they just volley that back and forth,
back and forth. But something they've been teasing for a
while finally happened. They paid this off. Will came out
as gay and is having psychic powers too, and telekinesis.
(36:19):
He's like a sorcerer, he's like eleven, but him revealing
his sexuality right before their last hurrah, their final mission
scene that they're about to execute the ultimate plan finally,
it feels a little bit forced. It's also weird seeing
them build this up and make it into such a
big deal because it's twenty twenty five. Like Ellen came
(36:41):
out on her show in nineteen ninety seven, it was
almost thirty years ago. That was groundbreaking. And while I
know the show takes place in the eighties, so that
would have been taboo at the time, we are watching
it in twenty twenty five. So why is it such
a focal point or a plot point for will to
be gay? Like anyone cares it's twenty twenty five, it's
twenty twenty six. Now, I know it's still an issue.
(37:02):
I'm not saying there aren't hate crimes or anything, but
I was confused and bewildered at first because it felt
so dated and out of touch.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
It's the end of the world. Look, that's what you
were focusing on right now.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
A lot of people were, they were criticizing it, but
there's a silver lining here. I was taught a lesson. Okay,
they're all trying to save the world as crisis mode,
and yeah, Will came out as gay, We're happy for him,
and now you can snap Vecta's leg again. Finish them
off please. But I thought about it after episode seven there,
(37:35):
excuse me? What did I say? Look? Will, We're happy
for you. But I thought about it after episode seven
and I realized I'm kind of a dumbass. Like, really,
they weren't trying to do anything groundbreaking there. They weren't
giving their commentary on sexual orientation, not that there's anything
(37:55):
wrong with that. I think the larger messages they were saying, basically,
anything you are afraid about, any secret you build up
in your mind and torture yourself over and think people
aren't going to understand the stuff you hide from your
friends and family. Well, if they really are that, they
will understand. They were basically using Will coming out as
(38:17):
gay in a time where it was especially controversial as
a device to say, whatever you might personally be struggling
with that's holding you back from living your best life
and being your true self, you should unburden yourself from that.
For you, it could be something totally different, just something
that you're apprehensive about telling.
Speaker 5 (38:35):
People that's so deep. Look, Wow, that's me. Okay, that's
how you find your super I had an epiphany. Wow,
that's how I saved the world, like eleven. Now, it
doesn't mean doing something thoughtless or reckless and hurting someone
else along the way to personal enlightenment. But I think
it's a worthy message.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Honestly, I think it's an honorable move to put the
rest of the show aside for a second and talk
about that. And maybe I don't know in the new year,
if you're struggling with something, afraid to share it, talk
to someone, talk to someone you trust, a professional. Could
be anything that's weighing on you. Do not let it
follow you into twenty twenty six. That's just how I
(39:15):
interpreted the scene. So maybe one of the things that
I'm learning here for my New Year's resolution is just
seeing the good and things, looking for more positives because
it's hard to live in the negative. Sure, I could
steal over Stranger Things and it being a chore to
finish this series because it's just not as good, or
(39:35):
I could see there's some good things about the show.
Right now. I'm often called overly critical ahole atam. I
can be very negative, very cynical, and I still will
be because it tends to be more entertaining. And it's
okay to demand better out of entertainers or out of
professional athletes. It's fine to acknowledge that some of these
(39:56):
kids in this show somehow are worse actors now than
when they started. It's fine the negatives though in life
that consume you, like you're defeating yourself, letting that stuff
ruin your day. And that's just me talking to myself,
trying to remind myself of that and keep a positive attitude.
But it might not be the worst advice. Also, Holly
(40:18):
Wheeler sucks and she's had way too much screen time.
I thought we were going to focus on the original
cast here it's the final season. I like Derek. I
think he's really the breakout star of this season. Is
he the one the fact kid that swears a lot?
Speaker 4 (40:32):
Yeah? They all swear a lot. They're really enjoying their
cussing scenes right now.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Well, the stakes are that hot, the weight of the moment.
It turns you into Bobby Knight. That's how it has
to be. I'm fine with the cussing and I'm fine
with some of the violence they have done. It's not
all bad. That conversation with Steve and the one kid
with the curly hair where he was like demystifying Eddie
who died last season, and was like Eddie was just
(40:57):
an idiot. He got himself killed for no reason. That
was great. And that's not a spoiler alert because that
happened way before episode eight. Don't you dare tell me
what happens in episode eight. I still have an hour
and fifteen minutes left. I'm sorry there were basically no spoilers.
I did my best NFL talk coming up next, I'm
(41:17):
out of Maslin and for Ben Maller here on Fox
Sports Radio.
Hey, thanks for listening to the Ben Mahler Show podcast.
It's me Ben. Be sure to catch us live every
weeknight from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three
am Pacific right here on Fox Sports Radio. You can
find your local station for the Benmler Show over at
Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every night
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome man. It's no
longer FNA as Kevin Figures is out tonight, but it's
double a Amda Moslin, Adam Ashley in for the great
Ben Mallor in the air everywhere. Happy New Year. Got
a good show for you guys over the next four hours,
including a Stranger Things nonspoiler review. Because I haven't finished
(00:47):
the finale yet either. It's over two hours. I'll have
an NBA insider on from the athletic in Law Murray.
In the second hour. We'll have a through line of
NFL content for you guys, as I will to start
each hour after this one rank the matchups for Week
eighteen will have much more. Speaking of more, let's get
(01:10):
things started with college football and my Ducks and Dante
Moore here in first off, there's no time. Let's rock. So,
as I said last night, Oregon has been waiting for
this moment to redeem themselves after what Ohio State did
to them at the Rules Bowl last year in the
(01:31):
first iteration of the college football twelve team playoff. Oregon
embarrassed themselves. It was embarrassing for them, It was embarrassing
for Dan Lanning. They got smoked at the Rose Bowl
and they were the number one overall team in the country.
They had not lost a game, they had already beaten
Ohio State. And last week, well a couple of weeks ago,
(01:54):
it was James Madison who they started off this year's tournament,
the twelve team tournament we have now in college football. Well,
James Madison wasn't exactly the team they were looking to
start with to get the revenge tour underway. But it
was a good warm up, almost like a scrimmage at times,
as opposed to the like long layoff they had last
(02:15):
year before taking on Ohio State. So my Ducks came
out in this game today like they were shot out
of a cannon and Ship Kelly was still the head coach.
With their up tempo offense, the Chain gang couldn't keep
up with them. At first, it was brilliant against that
aggressive pin your ears back Texas Tech defense. Use their
(02:36):
aggressiveness against them and get the ball out quick. They
looked unstoppable. It was like the quick quack car wash chain.
And then David Bailey sacked Dante More and they had
to settle for a field goal. Texas Tech gets it back,
tries their own up tempo offense, and all it did
for them was lead to a punt quicker. The Ducks
get the ball back, convert a fourth and two at
(02:59):
midfield to Kenyon Sadik, and then tried a fourth and
one play to run it and they got stopped again
by that great Texas Tech defense. Now, Oregon's defense pretty
damn good as well, as a lot of people found
out today. They got Tech to go three and out,
and while Oregon only had three points at the end
(03:19):
of the first quarter, they ran twenty five place. They
controlled the clock even with how good Texas Tech's defense is.
But Oregon's defense is no slash, and on the second
play of the second quarter, true freshman Brandon Finny gets
that first pick. Nobody talking about how good Orgons defense is.
This was their moment to shine a little bit, not
(03:40):
Morton's and the quarterback for Texas Tech. That was just
his fifth pick all season long, but it was a
bad one. Now, Texas Tech in that front seven, they
look like a damn NFL team out there, like on
All Madden Mode, that type of thing. It honestly looks
like the Red Raiders would beat the Las Vegas Raiders
right now. The Raiders sucked. No, I'm not, that's disrespectful.
(04:03):
It is, but the Las Vegas Raiders are also trying
to lose and tank for the number one pick to
get Fernando Mendoza. We'll talk about him in a little bit.
Oregon's best play, honestly in the first half was a
fake punt, and it was a great fake like Meg
Ryan's fake in when Harry met Sally rip Rob Reiner.
That fake punt works so well. I'm like, hey, why
(04:25):
not do that fake punt thing on first down, second down,
third down two? That's Orgon's best offense so far. But
they get it to texts two and they're going forward.
After all, if you're willing to do that at midfield,
you can't not go forward at the two yard line,
David Bailey bats down Dante Moore's pass rolling to his
(04:45):
right that had no chance again. I was especially upset
at this point because my breakfast burrito that I ordered
arrived at the same time, and I wanted to be
celebrating the feast with a not a turnover on downs
at the goal line. I have to emotionally eat to
handle stressful games like this. Oregon eventually gets the ball
(05:08):
back though, as Finny recovers a fumble by Tech, but
of course they have to settle for a field goal.
They at least didn't try to go for it again.
Texas Tech defense is the best that I have seen.
I texted my buddy at one point, I can't believe
how good this d is. That's not sexual. Texas Tech
defense has Oregon and Dante Moore completely shook at the
(05:28):
line of scrimmage in that first half where he's trying
to read their defense pre snap during the snap too,
and instead he's taken the football off of his face
on some of these miscues on shotgun snaps like it
was unbelievable. Texas Tech and that defense, I can't say
(05:49):
enough about them, but I can talk about Organ's defense too.
Because the second best defense might be Organs Against Texas
Tech's offense, the Ducks are up six to nothing at
the half. Oregon at the ball for twenty two minutes,
Texas Tech just eight minutes. It took me longer than
those eight minutes to eat that big ass breakfast burrito.
(06:11):
I got so out of nowhere. At the half, Third
Eye Blond in old Ass Stephen Jenkins is performing. It's
not just his third eye, his mind's eye that's blind anymore. Though.
He's old enough where I'm not sure if he can
see for reels. Love him the deep cuts from Third
Eye Blond, especially in the first two albums Elite. They
of course played semi Charmed Life though, because it's like
(06:33):
their most catchy song, even though it's actually about Crystal meth.
Do you want to get hot?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Yeah, it's you you want to cook crystal meth.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
This stat is crazier than doing crystal meth. Dan Lanning
is forty one in one when leading at the half,
now forty two in one. The second half starts and
the Red Raiders offense looks like the Las Vegas Raiders
on the Raiders suck. Yeah, it was bad. Tayo Ooy
Young La Young concrete, they call him. He rips the
(07:04):
ball away from that statue under center for Tech in Morton,
and they have it at the six and the first
offensive play they run, they get their first touchdown Jordan Davison.
Ducks are up thirteen to nothing. Here's something though, that
had me furious. Well, now I'm getting very irritated. Organ
gets the ball back and they go for it. On
(07:28):
fourth and two at Tech's forty six, Dante Moore throws
a pick to Ben Roberts. Why even go for that?
You're up two scores, it's thirteen to nothing. Your defense
is lights out. You can stop them. You can get
the ball back with a new set of downs right
about there, Dan Lanning, what are we doing? The kids
(07:48):
are playing to tailer counts, are screwing it up. We
gotta have some situational awareness time and score and field
position in big games. Dan Lanning's decision making has been
questioned before by others and even himself. He apologized in
the first half for not getting more points and just
taking the chip shot field goals. But Tech they had
(08:09):
three first downs in their first drive in the third quarter,
after having three first downs total in the first half alone.
I had already ordered my victory Sunday on door Dash. Yes,
I followed up the big aspirrito with the Sunday let
me eat. Okay, it's fine, Why don't you take a
taste of the drink there? That too, you were opening
the door, though, I would say, Dan Lanning, by making
(08:32):
that move, you were opening the door for the game
to flip momentum wise. Luckily, Tech throws a pick in
the end zone on a jump ball, and Finny has
another pick their true freshman at corner, and that pretty
much all but sealed it for Oregon, as they kicked
another field goal that was sixteen to nothing, and then
they smoked Baron Morton once more before it was over
(08:55):
by a player named Blake Purchase. Somebody tweeted this out quote.
For Texas Tech to end up having their season ended
by a dude named Purchase sacking their quarterback is peak irony. Yeah.
Dan Lanning, by the way, then called a time out,
ran up the score a little bit, or maybe I
(09:16):
don't know, was working on his team and not so
much worried about your team. You don't want him to
score again. Stop him. Your defense is pretty damn good,
Texas Tech. You want to try out plays on that
defense maybe and show that you're ready for the next opponent.
It's a physical football game out there. Like, let me
get this straight. Last week people were upset with Oregon
(09:38):
or were doubting them because they gave up some scores
late after the game was out of hand against James Madison,
and now they're mad at Oregon for running through the
tape and continuing to play hard up sixteen. Nothing. Y'all
are just gonna look to criticize anything with them. I
don't understand it. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive. I am
(09:58):
wearing an Oregon Ducks hat. But you know what Texas
Tech coach Joey McGuire said postgame quote, I hope Dan
Lenning wins the whole damn thing. They didn't seem too
bothered by it, So it looks like me and my
Ducks got the last laugh here, mister peepers. It was
so annoying at duck Hunt, that dog laughing at you
(10:20):
every time you missed the Ducks out there. All right,
enough of my ducktails. Time to get to Oregon's next opponent.
And we found out pretty early who would be as
the Indiana Hoosers beat down h Hoosiers. The Alabama Crimson
Tide lost thirty eight two three at the Ruse Bowl
(10:44):
as Fernando Mendoza went fourteen of sixteen passing with three touchdowns. Honestly,
it wasn't even that close. This was complete domination. And
what's crazy about this is Indiana became the first team
in the twelve team playoff with a buy to not
(11:06):
losehoo oh they won all right, Indiana was not rusty
Ohio State, Texas Tech. What's your excuse this season? This
year's second year the twelve team playoff, Indiana had all
that time off too. What was Oregon's excuse last year?
Or Georgia's or Boise States or Arizona States by teams
(11:27):
were zero and six in the twelve team playoff format
in the quarterfinals until Indiana came in and said, f
you're by say bye to Eddie one that is playing us.
But the first half of that ballgame, they're just so
stout up front. They forced you into mistakes and eventually
(11:48):
they're going to capitalize on them. They were balanced on
the offensive side eighty six yards rushing, ninety three yards
passing for Indiana beautiful balance and they're up seventeen to
nothing in the first half after a slow start because
of BAMA mistakes, not converting on a fourth down, the
Tye Simpson fumble in the first half. They just they
(12:09):
wait for you to beat yourself and while you're trying
to get by their defense, good luck. They're going to
force you into those mistakes eventually. The thing with them is,
and it's a little bit terrifying because that first game
Oregon played at Austin against Indiana, when everybody realized, oh
is Indiana Hoosiers are for real? Kurt Signetti is a monster,
(12:32):
a different type of monster. They are a machine out
there with their precision, with their attention to detail and
just making mistake free football out there. That touchdown to
Becker from Mendoza a thing of beauty after the tie
Simpson fumble, and Mendoza in the red zone has been
(12:55):
well perfect, I guess perfect. Yeah, he hasn't had a
turnover and he was perfect in this game as well.
They come out of the half after being up by
seventeen nothing. Some people are trying to make the example
of oh, you know, this is analogous to what happened
in the opening round, BAMA was down seventeen to nothing
to Oklahoma. This is not Oklahoma, this is this is Indiana.
(13:19):
This is different. They get a stop, they get the
serat touchdown, and BAMA is down twenty four to nothing.
Now you're down twenty four to nothing and you're Bama
and they ended up getting into a goal line situation
where they settled for a field goal. That's a little
bit soft. I would say, you're down twenty four to nothing,
(13:42):
you have to score touchdowns? Are you just trying to
put some lipstick on this pig and not get totally
shut out? You didn't want to be thirty eight to zero,
thirty eight to three look so much better out there.
I cannot stand when coaches do this. And I don't
know what's gonna happen Calen de boor now, but coaches
(14:02):
that will just do enough to try not to lose
too poorly instead of trying to win the football game.
Not to channel Herm Edwards here or anything, but back
to Kurt Signetti. The guy scares the hell out of me.
Bobby Knight would have loved him. He's a monster and
he's created one now at Indiana. Kurt Signetti is that
(14:25):
evil movie villain in a sports movie that sucks, but
it also sucks playing him, Like I've already seen my
Ducks loosed him once at home. Signetti is out there
chasing perfection. They're looking to destroy you, crush your souls
along the way. I think when they showed that stealth
(14:45):
bomber that flew over the stadium at the Rose Ball
at the half like he was in it and gave
his players a thumbs up like, Okay, we're up seventeen.
We can do better. They did when in thirty eight
to three. So I just don't know what you're gonna
do against this Indiana ball club because they're now proving
it on the big stage. Last season it was well,
(15:06):
they got bounced early in the playoff, but that was
just year one with Signetti. I mean, this team won
three or four games the year before he came to Indiana,
and now they look like one of the blue bloods
all of a sudden. It's incredible. And by the way,
I'm not hearing a damn thing from Notre Dame fans
who are saying, see, Alabama didn't belong, They shouldn't have
(15:28):
been here, they shouldn't have been in this spot. Look,
Alabama at least won a game in the playoff. They
beat Oklahoma Indiana. I don't know if anybody's beating them.
There's no shame in losing to Signetti and this Indiana team.
I'm sorry. They're trying to go like Ohio State went
last season, just buzzsaw through the playoffs. They're going for
(15:50):
chainsaw their leather face out there. That's how scary this
team is. But Notre Dame. You have no argument. Stop stop.
I know Bbama had three losses. They still had a
much better win against Georgia. What was your best win?
Your best win was two losses, close losses to Miami
(16:12):
and to Texas A and M and then Miami. Well
they've won two games already in the playoffs, including beating
Texas A and M. Who beat you? You don't get
to talk dead men, tell no tales. That's how this works.
You're out. I don't want to hear peep for mister
peepers Eus. This dog's name, by the way, in duck
(16:34):
Hunt or Notre Dame fans right now, I'm sorry. You
don't got a leg to stand on. The argument doesn't
hold water. If you want to say you should have
been in over JMU and Tulane. Fine, there's a lot
of teams that should have been in over them by
you can make a case too. The twelve team playoff
is still flawed. But just because now Bama finally lost
(16:55):
and you want to dance on their grave and say
we were better on that team by what metric? Because
if you had one less loss, you also didn't play
an SEC schedule. You're still picking and choosing who you
want to play every season. You won't join a conference. Yes,
you play the ACC teams and you lost to the
best one you played. I just I don't understand the
Golden domer stuff. It is infuriating to see how many
(17:19):
people will bend the knee in this whole USC Notre
Dame debate, which we got into a little bit last
night as well. It's it's tired. I'm sorry. They haven't
won a championship since nineteen eighty eight. That's how long
it's been for Notre Dame. Yet we treat them like
their Bama in the modern age, like they won seven
or eight or whatever the hell Nick Saban did. Yeah, well,
(17:40):
this Bama team not exactly that. This Bama team. They
got run out of the Rose Bowl by a team
getting their first victory or the first team to do
it with a bye week, and they look dominant. So
there's no excuse for anybody else that wants to say, oh,
there's too much time off at a negative getting the
(18:01):
bye week in the twelve team playoff, it didn't look
like that for Indiana. They were well prepared. Kurt Signetti
is just different, him coming out initially at that press
conference and saying that, uh, I win, Google me, ask
Jeeves me, MetaCrawler me, you could do it all, net
(18:24):
escape me, whatever, Firefox me. He's right, he just wins. Yo.
You look at the facial expressions on the sideline from Signetti.
It's intimidating. It's scary. I'm worried for my ducks in
the semi finals. Now, I was hoping Bama was gonna win.
(18:45):
How often do you feel like that?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Man?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I hope we get Bama next. How often is Bama
almost an eight point dog in a game? What are
we talking about here? Indiana? Is that good? And I
tried to talk myself into it a little bit. With Alabama.
They say, you know, they got a ton of talent,
They just put it together and we'll see it could
be interesting. They rushed for twenty three yards. They can't
(19:12):
run the ball. Meanwhile, Indiana two hundred and fifteen yards
on the ground, one ninety two through the air. The
balance that you want to achieve like it's karate kid.
This is I don't know if they go on to
win this thing. This is one of the biggest stories
in sports history, this turnaround at Indiana. And when everybody
was talking about, well, Penn State has the job opening.
(19:34):
Now look at all these job openings, Kurt Signetti, Why
don't you move on up? Why don't you go somewhere else?
Why instead? Why isn't the perspective I'll turn this place
into a winner. I'll turn Indiana into Penn State. Why
do you want to follow all these traditional past glory
(19:55):
schools that had a run of success forty years ago
and you're always going to be me against an era
of college football it doesn't exist anymore. Why not start
your own? I think Signetty did the right thing staying there,
and the money is good and everybody can pay. It's
just incredible, though, to see what a well oiled machine
(20:17):
this program has become. Can you cop it up next
as I'm Adam moslin in for Ben Mallor Adam Ashley
on The Ben Mallor Show on Fox Sports Radio. We
will get to the late game, Georgia and Old Miss.
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio, be sure to catch
live editions of The Ben Mallor Show weekdays at two
am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
(20:40):
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning
on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't
your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down your.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Throat every day.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Accurate.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
That's to help you win big at the sportsbook.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
And all the best guests.
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Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with
Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
This is the game that people are going to talk
about for years to come.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Adam Ashlyn, welcome back in. I'm out of maslin in
for Ben Mallard tonight. We don't to remind you of
the show is sponsored by Draft Kings sportsbook and official
sports betting partner of the NFL and NBA. Right now,
use the promo code Mallard to claim your special offer
at DraftKings again, that's promo code mallor at DraftKings. The
Crown is yours A seven seven ninety nine on Fox.
(21:42):
If you'd like to get on after a pretty eventful
day in college football, I would say it delivered. Yeah,
and we're doing it live. What are you saying? Some
of these shows are on tape here that would never
happen in Fox Sports Radio. Never. Okay, only at A
five seventy. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Just because it's in
(22:03):
the late night hour doesn't mean we're not live. I'm hyped.
I'm good for the next three hours coming up. We're
gonna talk about Stranger Things now. I haven't watched the
last hour of the finale in episode eight because it's
like two hours. Gotta catch up. What do you mean
are you gonna give me a spoiler?
Speaker 4 (22:19):
There're spoilers everywhere. I can't open my phone without a spoiler.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Here's the thing. The show was never that good to
me that I'm really worried about the spoiler. Maybe the
first couple of seasons. I'm almost over it. I'm hearing
differing things on how it ended and how people are
feeling about it. We're talking about stranger things, right, Yeah, yes,
I'm also not cut up. I just have to scroll
quickly whenever I see anything relating to the stranger things. See,
that's a problem. Don't look, don't look. Game of Thrones days,
(22:44):
it was like we were all watching it together at once.
But because Netflix drops the entire season, or the second
part of season five, you can just blow through it.
And I've been trying to late last night, I was
doing some of that, but Kevin figures and now we're
here filling in for Big Ben mallor doing some F.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
And a f and at.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Now. I may have buried the lead selfishly because I
wanted to talk about my Oregon Ducks a little bit earlier.
If you didn't melodiced kind of a Ducks fan, I
wouldn't even kill him a duck hunt. It didn't feel right.
I tried to kill the dog a few different times,
mister peepers, because he laughed at me all the time,
just like that. But there was a game as I
played the intro from coach Eric Taylor in one of
(23:25):
the greatest shows of all time, Friday Night Lives Full Hearts.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Let's go, Let's go play some football.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Ole Miss wins Ole Miss. If there was one game
that I would have been sure about, it's this one.
Georgia somehow lost and got beat at their own game
by a team they beat in the regular season the
same way. Ole Miss just beat them. Tonight, Trinidad. Chambliss
(23:55):
offered some bliss to Ole Miss after everything that had
gone on, the turmoil with Lane Kiffin, part rat, part snake,
whatever you want to say about him, They don't miss
him at all. They just got their best victory in
seventy years, sixty years without Lane Kiffen. Trinidad was special.
(24:17):
They're gritting this game down by nine. They looked like
they out Georgia. Georgia. Kirby Smart was undefeated in rematches.
When he sees the team a second time in the
same season, Kirby Smart four and Ohero no longer. Georgia
was plus forty six in fourth quarters. They won every
(24:39):
damn close game except for the game against Bama. Because
Kirby Smart can't beat Bama. Well, Obama's out, so I
wouldn't have thought of anything that would have put some
wind into sales, like nobody can stop us. Now we're
winning this thing. They went back to back a few
years ago at Georgia and now they're one and done.
And what this means is so far, what are teams
(25:01):
one in seven in the semi finals? In this new
playoff format, you get a bye. As I was talking
about last segment, you tend to show up not looking
like yourself, and that's what Georgia was. In the fourth quarter.
Ole Miss beat them at their own game, and it
(25:22):
was beautiful to watch. I gotta say, I'm not trying
to hate on the dogs, but that win was special.
Somebody tweeted out right afterwards. All it took for ole
Miss to win the biggest game in school history was
for Lane Kiffin to not be the coach. There's I mean,
I know Georgia was favored. I know some people are
die hards with Old Miss, but how many of you
(25:44):
are really that confident that you were gonna win this game?
Lane Kiffin touted as one of the best play callers
in the sport, and they went it without him. Trinidad's
better without him making all the plays late down by nine.
As I met mentioned, they end up maybe getting screwed
a couple of different times, so speak that. I don't know.
(26:07):
I saw a face mask on Lacy anybody else see that?
How about those two PI calls to get Georgia within
field goal range to tie the ball game. At that time,
everyone on X everyone on Twitter was saying, Oh, this
is rigged. Where's Tim donaghy at like they are calling something.
(26:29):
Steve Francis would say that talk with Jim Gray, it
looked like they wanted to get that matchup between Georgia
and their former quarterback in Carson Beck with Miami, and
that would be the golden goose for this college football
playoff year. The storylines would run rampant instead. Ole Miss said, no,
(26:53):
we're going to crash everybody's party here. We're going to
make the big plays and that little smoke or whatever
you call it to get them to within field goal range.
And I still don't know what the hell happened with
that safety that was reviewed for like twenty minutes. I
was like, are they gonna screw them over? Like what
happened with Miami in two thousand and three against Ohio State.
(27:15):
Are they going to try to take this game away?
So Georgia advances somehow. This game was a movie. It
was that type of performance. It was thirty nine, thirty
four is your final. I don't know how they got
to thirty nine with that safety. That was weird. But
ole Miss came back on them this time. Remember Gunnar
Stockton went twelve for twelve in the second half of
(27:37):
that game. During the regular season between these two teams,
ole Miss was up. Lane Kiffin lost another big game,
a game that was tight against one of the best
in the SEC. They look like the same old ole Miss.
Now they have a kicker who knocks a forty seven
yarder through to put him up by three with seconds remaining.
(27:59):
That's a big kick in college. I know, forty seven
doesn't mean a lot for the NFL. Guys are kicking
seventy yarders now in college. You never trust those kids
with those kicks. It was right down the middle. I
was clutchutch, clutch, but that slot fade to get the
big gain to get them into field goal range and
(28:20):
the throw by Trinidad just ice in his veins D'Angelo
Russell style like okay, he's much better than that or
Dilo at one time, you know, was thought of He's
a one time All Star with the Brooklyn Nets, he
was an alternate. I just say that was extremely clutched, clutch, clutch,
and it felt like everything was gonna go George's way,
(28:41):
just like it had at the end of so many games.
I think six of their seven SEC wins this season
occurred in the fourth quarter where they had to retake
the lead. They were the gritty team that nobody could
beat when it came down to it. And ole Miss
is in this whirlwind over the last month because the
college football calendar is a disaster and Lane Kiffin had
(29:04):
to leave him high and dry, or he didn't have to,
he chose to. If I'm LSU, I'm kind of I'm
not saying buyer's remorse or seller's remorse or whatever, but
I'm giving them a little bit of a side eye. Say,
your team just got their best victory without you, and
we just gave you everything to come to LSU and
(29:26):
they're they're beaten Georgia and you're gone. How much did
you really mean to them? As a play caller? I
thought it was one of the best victories in the
new playoff system, even going back to when it was
just four teams, which is only three years ago. And
this thing will advance to sixteen soon and then twenty
and it will keep growing. It's like a blob, this
(29:49):
college football Playoff committee. This is what they do.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
I told they've done at the league office.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Yeah, the league office. They're evolving, and by a I
mean they realize, oh, we get more playoff games, we
get more money, like this is not difficult. All you
care about his money, But this was an Aldheimer. Kirby
Smart felt invincible against everybody but Bama. An ole Miss
(30:18):
said enough of this or blowing the doors off the
aura of Georgia and the Dogs and Kirby Smart and
I still can't believe what he did. And I know
they tied the game anyways, But on that fourth down,
they didn't convert where they did a fire drill out there,
where they had their special teams out there like they're
going to punt it, and then just brought in their
(30:41):
offense thinking they could catch ole Miss by surprise, and
instead Gunner Stockton gets smoked as their left tackle refused
to block on that play that to me might have
been the biggest play of the game. And I'm not saying, look,
coaches are more aggressive than ever on fourth downs. I'm
a Ducks fan. I get it with Dan Lanning. Still,
(31:03):
there were probably a few times today where he even
said it at the half, they should have just taken
the points. That's not why they lost the game necessarily,
but I don't know that that definitely helped the confidence
of Old Miss to get that stop in that moment
when they already had pulled a fake pun on them
with Kirby Smart and Georgia. Well, this time it didn't
work out in their favor. Ole Miss thirty nine, the
(31:25):
Bulldogs thirty four. Ole Miss is taking on Miami in
the semi finals. On the other side of the bracket,
we got my Ducks taken on Indiana, who looks kind
of unbeatable. But I still have hope quick time out,
well come back. I'm at a Moslin in for Ben
Maller here on Fox Sports Radio. We got a talk
stranger things. I'm sorry nobody give me any spoilers that
(31:47):
follow out of me. By the way, don't you dare
just because I threw up my tag or my at
sign at follow out of may. Don't you dare give
me spoilers. Okay, I'll have a real issue and I
will block you. I will block you faster than Rob
Parker blocks people on X. I'm Adam oslin in for
Ben Maller here on Fox Sports Radio, Adam Ashland. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show
(32:09):
weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific. Hold on
to him, but Adam Ashland, welcome back in. I'm at
I'm oslind in for Big Ben Maller here on Fox
Sports Radio. Coming up next hour, lots and lots of
NFL matchup talk. I will rank all sixteen matchups. Yeah,
(32:30):
because there's thirty two teams. Everybody plays in week eighteen.
I'm gonna rank every matchup starting at the top of
next hour plus Lotmary of the Athletic will be on
talking a little bit of NBA. But first let's get
to our tire rack player of the day. From the
six yard line. Second in goal, there's a handoff de
Lacey straight ahead.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
He launches Towardy in so he breaks the plane, touchdown,
hold miss and the rebels pep taking the league.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, that sounds like an old miss type of I
mean that was not Eddie Lacy. Kawan Lacy with two
touchdowns twenty two carries ninety eight yards and remember, For
over forty years, tire Rack has been helping customers find
the right tires for how, for what and where they drive,
shipped fast and free, backed by free road hazard protection,
(33:18):
with convenient installation options like mobile tire installation. Tire rack
dot Com the way tire buying should be. I think
I got a little bit geek news for y'all. Nurse,
what's his ann long? Denman, you're playing D and D tonight?
You want to come cases?
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Let's up, guys, were won't be challenged that I've been
chying online.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
With Babs all day. Just keep a power clubs off
her passing race. Watched that out as Kennelman Well, like many,
I've been watching the final season of Stranger Things during
the holidays. I finished Even Stranger Things already. That was
the fifty cent Diddy documentary Even Stranger Well, that one
is sad, but true Stranger Things looks going out sad
(34:01):
as Season five to me has easily been the worst
season of the show. It's not Game of Thrones bad
where you're questioning why you invested in the first place,
all that time building up over years. Winter's Coming, Eh,
Winter's Coming, Yeah, kind of is pretty lame, actually, but
Stranger thinks is definitely coming across as an overly complicated,
(34:21):
convoluted mess. At times. Maybe it's jump the shark or
jump the dema Gorgan in this case, a little bit sloppy,
little half baked, and they are definitely banking on you
giving it a pass because of past earned charm and
nostalgia back when the series still felt imaginative and unique,
even though it's all homage to eighties films and pop culture,
(34:44):
but too much of it suffers from wait, is this real?
Or are they in someone's mind? Is it Vecna's mind?
Is it Will's mind? Are they in the upside down world?
I don't know. Now there's an in between world, a bridge, wormholes,
exotic matter. Nancy is just gonna yea turn into ramble
all of a sudden. That's fine. I just didn't feel
like it was built up very well.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
That's a sexy rambo if I ever seen one.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
It's like the equivalent some of the stuff they're doing
in this season of punching your VCR to get things
to work, Like Nancy just shoots her shotgun at exotic
matter and somehow that was supposed to make things better.
Like just shoot it with a gun. If it's too
hot outside, just shoot the sun. That's all you do, right,
(35:30):
that's physics, you know, like the rain. Just shoot, take
a shot at the clouds. I don't understand what Nancy
was doing.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Is that where you ended?
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Is that about where you're at? No, I've gotten a
little bit further. Okay, And look, I'm a film snob
here and a TV snob, and I know it's sci
fi and fantasy, but they keep stacking new information faster
than you can digest it. And uh, it's a bit much.
They're creating more questions than answers. I would say. The
scene to scene beat is basically the rhythm goes as follows,
(35:58):
like it's let's come up with crazy plan, so crazy
it might work to then let's have a heart to
heart conversation. Now they just volley that back and forth,
back and forth. But something they've been teasing for a
while finally happened. They paid this off. Will came out
as gay and is having psychic powers too, and telekinesis.
(36:19):
He's like a sorcerer, he's like eleven, but him revealing
his sexuality right before their last hurrah, their final mission
scene that they're about to execute the ultimate plan finally,
it feels a little bit forced. It's also weird seeing
them build this up and make it into such a
big deal because it's twenty twenty five. Like Ellen came
(36:41):
out on her show in nineteen ninety seven, it was
almost thirty years ago. That was groundbreaking. And while I
know the show takes place in the eighties, so that
would have been taboo at the time, we are watching
it in twenty twenty five. So why is it such
a focal point or a plot point for will to
be gay? Like anyone cares it's twenty twenty five, it's
twenty twenty six. Now, I know it's still an issue.
(37:02):
I'm not saying there aren't hate crimes or anything, but
I was confused and bewildered at first because it felt
so dated and out of touch.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
It's the end of the world. Look, that's what you
were focusing on right now.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
A lot of people were, they were criticizing it, but
there's a silver lining here. I was taught a lesson. Okay,
they're all trying to save the world as crisis mode,
and yeah, Will came out as gay, We're happy for him,
and now you can snap Vecta's leg again. Finish them
off please. But I thought about it after episode seven there,
(37:35):
excuse me? What did I say? Look? Will, We're happy
for you. But I thought about it after episode seven
and I realized I'm kind of a dumbass. Like, really,
they weren't trying to do anything groundbreaking there. They weren't
giving their commentary on sexual orientation, not that there's anything
(37:55):
wrong with that. I think the larger messages they were saying, basically,
anything you are afraid about, any secret you build up
in your mind and torture yourself over and think people
aren't going to understand the stuff you hide from your
friends and family. Well, if they really are that, they
will understand. They were basically using Will coming out as
(38:17):
gay in a time where it was especially controversial as
a device to say, whatever you might personally be struggling
with that's holding you back from living your best life
and being your true self, you should unburden yourself from that.
For you, it could be something totally different, just something
that you're apprehensive about telling.
Speaker 5 (38:35):
People that's so deep. Look, Wow, that's me. Okay, that's
how you find your super I had an epiphany. Wow,
that's how I saved the world, like eleven. Now, it
doesn't mean doing something thoughtless or reckless and hurting someone
else along the way to personal enlightenment. But I think
it's a worthy message.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Honestly, I think it's an honorable move to put the
rest of the show aside for a second and talk
about that. And maybe I don't know in the new year,
if you're struggling with something, afraid to share it, talk
to someone, talk to someone you trust, a professional. Could
be anything that's weighing on you. Do not let it
follow you into twenty twenty six. That's just how I
(39:15):
interpreted the scene. So maybe one of the things that
I'm learning here for my New Year's resolution is just
seeing the good and things, looking for more positives because
it's hard to live in the negative. Sure, I could
steal over Stranger Things and it being a chore to
finish this series because it's just not as good, or
(39:35):
I could see there's some good things about the show.
Right now. I'm often called overly critical ahole atam. I
can be very negative, very cynical, and I still will
be because it tends to be more entertaining. And it's
okay to demand better out of entertainers or out of
professional athletes. It's fine to acknowledge that some of these
(39:56):
kids in this show somehow are worse actors now than
when they started. It's fine the negatives though in life
that consume you, like you're defeating yourself, letting that stuff
ruin your day. And that's just me talking to myself,
trying to remind myself of that and keep a positive attitude.
But it might not be the worst advice. Also, Holly
(40:18):
Wheeler sucks and she's had way too much screen time.
I thought we were going to focus on the original
cast here it's the final season. I like Derek. I
think he's really the breakout star of this season. Is
he the one the fact kid that swears a lot?
Speaker 4 (40:32):
Yeah? They all swear a lot. They're really enjoying their
cussing scenes right now.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Well, the stakes are that hot, the weight of the moment.
It turns you into Bobby Knight. That's how it has
to be. I'm fine with the cussing and I'm fine
with some of the violence they have done. It's not
all bad. That conversation with Steve and the one kid
with the curly hair where he was like demystifying Eddie
who died last season, and was like Eddie was just
(40:57):
an idiot. He got himself killed for no reason. That
was great. And that's not a spoiler alert because that
happened way before episode eight. Don't you dare tell me
what happens in episode eight. I still have an hour
and fifteen minutes left. I'm sorry there were basically no spoilers.
I did my best NFL talk coming up next, I'm
(41:17):
out of Maslin and for Ben Maller here on Fox
Sports Radio.
Host
Ben Maller
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