December 8, 2025 • 41 mins
Former NFL QB Chris Simms declares the Chiefs "done-done," and compares Josh Allen's situation in Buffalo to a modern-day John Elway. Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua gives his initial reaction to Notre Dame missing out on the College Football Playoff and details a newly strained relationship with the ACC. Former NCAA head football coach and current analyst, Rick Neuheisel questions whether bowl games can survive in an era of top players dropping out, and praises Curt Cignetti for Indiana's stunning rise.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Chris Simms Pro Football Talk Live, co host Football Night
in America, and the Chris Sims Unbuttoned Podcast. All right,
let me start with Notre Dame. Let me start with
what the college football Playoff Committee did.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Your thoughts, Uh, yeah, I think it's I'm with you
for I think it's ridiculous right that Notre Dame doesn't
get into the college Like, are they one of the
twelve best play teams in college football? Without a doubt,
Notre Dame could win the national championship. You know, I've
been one that's kind of been saying for a few
weeks when I do college football stuff here at NBC
on Saturdays, it's the best offense in college football systematically,
(00:39):
the players, it's the two best running backs, it's NFL receivers,
it's a big time NFL tight end. So I'm shocked
by that they just got healthy on defense a few
weeks ago. They've been shut down on that side of
the ball. I know their schedule was a little less
than in totality this year. They got them lucky. You
can't ever sit here and tell me Notre Dame tries
to schedule a cupcakes. They try to schedule some years
(01:01):
though it just doesn't work out. They had the two
toughest games to start the season out of anybody in
college football. I want the best teams right now. Right
Miami's played I mean Notre Dame has played better football
than Miami for the last two and a half months.
Miami lost at home to unranked Louisville. They lost on
the road to unranked SMU. Right, Alabama hasn't played good
(01:22):
football in six weeks, and then they go up a
spot after getting they should have been blown out worse
on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
That to me is what doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
And I don't care about fair I want the twelve
best in so I'm a little bit like sorry, JMU
and Tulane, I just don't give a damn about you.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Notre Dame should be in.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And yeah, it's a big travesty in my opinion, but
this is where.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
There's always change. You need to have something like this
for change. And now you're gonna have change, and now
it's gonna be sixteen team playoff. I know I've talked
to Rick new Heislb before and he said, why don't
we just go to twenty four. Like, I don't want
to render the regular season meaningless, but I do. I
want to college teams to play quality opponents, right, I
(02:04):
want to know if, hey, if we end up with
two or three losses, we can make the playoffs and
we're gonna play great quality opponents. I agree, that's what
I want. We all benefit from that. Nobody benefits from
my team playing Samford. I it's a bad right, you're right.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Well, you're right.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Teams like Texas and Notre Dame. Maybe they're just gonna go, hey,
you know what, We're gonna play Northwest Louisiana Alabama State
to start the year.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
For now, I'm sorry, Oh, your ratings aren't good.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Oh sorry, the committee's in a dacas if we lose
to make a good game. So you know my fault there.
And again, it's about the best teams right now. You know,
I know Miami beat Notre Dame in Week one, but
let's take into the context freshman quarterback playing on the
road Texas A and M they can win the national championship.
They had to have a miracle play at the end
of the game to win the football game. So yeah,
(02:55):
I don't love that Notre Dames and not in it.
And I have no horse in this race. I want
to see the best teams be in it and the
best college football product. And yeah, it feels like they
messed up. Oh Miss stays the same. Wait, what is
the engine that has driven Old Miss?
Speaker 4 (03:12):
The coach?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
That's why everybody wanted to pay them one hundred million
a year. They stay and just nothing gets That's like
losing your quarterback, if not worse, they should have been
dropped down spots at least. So I don't understand any
of it. And yes, it looks like it was a
little too much trying to be fair to everybody instead
of just doing what's right and putting the best teams
in it.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bavakua will join his hour
from now. All right, Kansas City Chiefs, done done.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Done, done done done, Yes, I mean it's I don't
think they're going to make the playoffs, certainly not. I
think it's done done as far as the era of
for what we've seen, they're going to have to change
the roster a little bit and change their team.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Right, So, yes, well put your finger on it, Chris, right,
give me one or two things that change with the
Chiefs this year.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Okay, first off, I think the first thing is, well,
you know, they've never been a great running team. But
some of these receivers they have, right, Xavier Worthy has
not worked out to the capacity that they intended to
as a first round pick. Hollywood Brown, smaller receiver, hasn't
really been able to contribute that way. That's why a
lot of teams don't like small receivers. Oh yeah, you
run four two nine, But as soon as I do
(04:21):
this and touch you, you run four seven to five,
and now you're not that scary, right, So I think
they've missed on that, right.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
The defense is not as special as it used to be.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Right when they beat the forty nine ers in the
Super Bowl, they were phenomenal, right, Lugerius sneed McDuffie, they
had it all. They could do different things. They don't
have that luxury. Chris Jones is definitely on the downside
of his career to where he's good. But is he
a superstar just take over the game weekend and week
out kind of player anymore?
Speaker 4 (04:48):
No.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Nick Bolton the linebacker not quite having the year, So
they're just they're a good defense, but they're not dominant
like years past. And then on the offensive side of
the ball, it's just two mahomes rely. I mean, think
about last night. Most of the plays that happen are
him making magic and they's just not enough of a
systematical destruction of a defense on the other side of
(05:10):
the ball.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
So that would be my two cents.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
Stan.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I start to look at the AFC. You don't have
Lamar Jackson, probably you're not gonna have Joe Burrow or
you're not gonna have Patrick Mahomes in there. You start
to look at all these marque quarterbacks in the AFC,
and this opens the door for Josh Allen, like this
is white. I know Buffalo is not great, but if
I'm Josh Allen, I got no excuses now I should
(05:35):
be getting to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well yeah, I mean yes, if you look at it
at just its base like that premises right there.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Sure, but have you seen Buffalo's defense?
Speaker 5 (05:47):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
No, me neither, right, we're waiting to see it. So yeah,
that's an issue. You know, I say all the time,
we're watching the modern day John Elway to me, and
it's like the eighties Broncos or You're like, the team's
really not that good, but oh my gosh, this guy
makes unbelievable plays every game and every big moment, and
they win. And then he falls victim to well, they
didn't win in the playoffs, is Josh Allen. It's like, well,
(06:08):
he can't do everything all the time. I mean, again,
that's another game, even to another level of mahomes. Go
back and watch the highlights. I mean, it's fourteen to
three in the second quarter, it's fourth and seven, and
they're already like, we're gonna lose if we don't go
for it right here, Josh Allen, and then he runs
around for seven seconds and finds a completion. So he's unbelievable.
(06:28):
He's one of the greatest quarterbacks I've ever seen. Really,
he really is. But one man can't win the Super Bowl.
You need a team. And that's what you worry about Buffalo.
They're not real great at receiver, the defense is very average.
If the run game doesn't work, there's nothing else that
helps Josh Allen. And that's what I worry about with
Buffalo and the AFC.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, when I'm watching football night in America and you
brought up to John Elway comparison. I said, that's app
because thank you, Elway was dragging that Denver offense to
super Bowls and then they realized that defense wasn't as good.
They got burnt out all of those shit and he
took all the flat right.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Oh, John Olway can't win the big game. John Elway
can't win the big game. And that's where he's so great.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
No other quarterback in football could have gone the super
Bowl with some of those teams, that's how good he is.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
But you know, New England's a complete team in the AFC.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Denver, we know the offense is just okay, but that
defense is a super Bowl defense. And the team that
I'll continue to say to watch out for is the
team you saw last night. Houston could win and go
to the Super Bowl. Houston, if their offense is just average,
they have a Super Bowl twenty fifteen Broncos twenty thirteen
Seahawks type of defense where don't be shocked for sitting
(07:41):
their AFC championship Sunday, and the Houston Texans are in
it if they can get in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Here, when I'm watching the Ravens and they get the
touchdown reception it's called a touchdown. And then even the
broadcasters thought that it was a touchdown. I thought it
was you you have the ball and you take two steps.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I then realize after the fact when they said it's
on a touchdown, Now it's three steps when you catch
the ball.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Well, yes, it's three steps, but it doesn't have to
be three steps.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
It can be two steps and an act commonly known
as a football move.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Right, and he catches the ball and extends it like
this right off the back because he knows, oh no,
this guy's going to try to reach and knock the
ball in my hand. He takes two giant steps and
is a millimeter away from the third step hitting the
ground right a millimeter to where like, ooh, the decrete
touched the ground. I'm not sure. Now he's not going
to turn up fields. He's in the end zone. And
(08:39):
this is where we're lacking common sense at refereeing. Right now,
you saw it live, you thought it was a touchdown, right,
that was enough, And then on top of that, it
was called a touchdown.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
And to me, this doing this and extending the ball
was a football move.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Along with the two and three quarter steps he took.
There were some questionable calls in that football game last
time I checked. When you have to catch a ball,
you have to survive the ground watching at a normal speed.
Aaron Rodgers with the ball trapped on top of his
helmet and the other guy has two hands on the
ball too, and we're going to say he caught the ball,
even though the process of the ball and catching the
ball is not complete until you survive the ground and
(09:18):
stand up with the ball.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
That makes no sense.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
So, yeah, Baltimore kind of got screwed over yesterday and
that one that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Okay, does this quiet down the Mike Tomlins situation in
Pittsburgh at all in your opinion?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Not?
Speaker 6 (09:30):
Right?
Speaker 4 (09:30):
I mean for now for a few days. But they're
still going.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
To be judged by how this ends and what it
looks like here down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Okay, let me ask you what Yeah, all right, Yeah,
here's a tough question.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
You're a Steeler fan, and I say, you can make
the playoffs, squeak in, but you won't win a playoff game,
or you don't when you don't make the playoffs, and
then the fallout from that.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
I think that's what they want right now, right, right?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I think they want to change. I think they want change. Yes,
just you know, even being there during the Green Bays
Pittsburgh Steelers game on Sunday Night Football a few weeks ago,
right being there, you could tell the fan base is
annoyed with Tomlin and annoyed with the Steelers. So there
is something there, and I understand it. I understand. Hey,
(10:22):
I've said a lot. It might be like Andy Reid
and the Philadelphia Eagles. A time comes where it's just
run its course and it's time for everybody to get
a fresh new start. I would love if they fired him.
I would love it because I want the Giants to
get Mike Tomlin. That's what I would want, So please
do that, all right?
Speaker 4 (10:36):
But yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Don't you know, Pittsburgh is one of those teams where
you go, okay, I mean, yeah, if they're in the playoffs,
but I don't know if I really want to see
them in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
And they don't make me feel a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Better with the way they played yesterday to just go,
oh yeah, they're fixing things and here they go on
the road to recovery.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Uh, Buccaneers losing. I mean, could Carolina win the division.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I mean, I don't expect it. If you're gonna make
me bet money, I'm still gonna bet on the Buccaneers.
I do think the weather helped them, Yeah, I mean
hurt them yesterday. The Bucks have to win with their offense.
Their defense is just not very good and it can't
make big stops in big moments.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
So they need.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
That's where you know, Bucky Irvin being back, Chris Godwin
being back, maybe they can get Mike Evans back, and
Mika Buka's kind of, you know, falling by the wayside
here a little bit here. So, but they need. They're
gonna have to win shootouts. That's the kind of football
team they are. And I think the weather yesterday hurt them.
And then Tyler Shuck is showing that he's gonna give
the Saints some some things to think about in the offseason,
(11:36):
whether they want to draft a quarterback or stay with
him as a starter.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Talking to Chris Sims, Pro Football Talk Live co host,
you guys get the Vikings and the Cowboys.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Yeah, I think that's what we got this week.
Speaker 6 (11:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
I'm not even there yet, Yeah, but I think that's
what we.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Got, right, You're right, Okay, Vikings got a nice win.
JJ McCarthy look good. Yes, I'm still not sure about him. No, No,
And it's.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Still early though, and I think we all have to
kind of remind ourselves of that isn't a tough spot.
There's things he's got to work on. There's no doubt
about that. They can help him out a little bit too,
you know, they can become a little bit better of
a running football team. But his big thing is he
needs to develop more variety of throws. I'm sure you've
heard that enough now, right, It's the same throw every time.
(12:23):
There's just not enough clubs in the bag. And then
he's got to stay healthy so he can kind of
lay down the train, the framework right to get better
week in and leak out. Every time he kind of
gets going, something happens as he misses a week or
two of practice and can't play, and that's been a
big issue too. But I know this is going to
be an important last four weeks here to see JJ
(12:43):
McCarthy and whether he can solidify himself as the starter there.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
The Browns announced Deshaun Watson is going to come back
next year, but you do have Shador Sanders, who played
really well at Tennessee. But he played really, he played well.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Enough, though, Yeah, I don't know if I've seen enough, right,
I would want to see more, but I'm seeing things
I like. But you're gonna have a top four draft pick, right,
I know they're they're set up, right, they're gonna They
made that trade with Jacksonville so they could go get
Travis Hutter, So they got some picks and they got
some things on their team.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
We know that defense is special.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
They can add just a little so few playmakers on
the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
You go, Cleveland's not that far off.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
And Shador Sanders, as you see, plays big in the pocket,
got a strong arm, has a pretty good feel for
the game. He really does. He's in an interception yesterday. Okay,
he's a rookie. That was a batter, he said. For
the most part, though, he's understood that his team's a
defensive team. He's taking care of the ball and he
kind of pushed the envelope when he needed to yesterday.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
And Tennessee defense is better than people realize.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
It's just their offense is so bad it makes their
defense look bad at times. But yeah, I hear he's
gonna put the pressure on the Browns organize about this
quarterback conversation.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Do you think Deshaun Watson plays again?
Speaker 4 (14:05):
I don't think so. For Cleveland. I don't expect that.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
I know, I know they they said that he'd be
back and all that, But if I remember correctly, they
can kind of get out of the deal after you know,
this year, this offseason. They'll have to pay a little
bit of a you know, dead money fine there, but
all in all, no, I think the Cleveland Brown Deshaun
Watson thing is over. It's run its course, and I
don't even know why you'd want to flirt with it anymore. Right,
(14:29):
just be done with it. It didn't work. Move on,
start a new era with Shador Sanders or whoever they
see fit.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, And you know, at the start of the year,
I said, I just hope that these you know, rookie
quarterbacks get a chance, like we get a good sample
size that we can go, Okay, that guy can, that
guy can, that guy's just starter, that guy's not. And
maybe we did that with Dylan Gabriel. They saw enough.
Shador Sanders is going to give them at least a
decision to make if they use one of their top
(14:59):
picks to take a quarterback. What would you do if
you're running the Browns.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Oh, that's where I'd want to see these last four
games a little bit. They got to protect themselves either way.
I would still, no matter what, bring in some sort
of veteran to go, Hey, if it doesn't work with
Shador and Dylan Gabriel, we got a guy here that
we know we can put in and play. But I
certainly think Shador Sanders looks the part and plays the
part better than Dylan Gabriel. That's the one thing I'll
(15:24):
sit there and tell you for sure. Yesterday was definitely
a good building block. But yeah, before i'd make that Cally,
I think these last four games and how he continues
to kind of develop the offense is expanding a little
week by week, so he's more in the trust tree.
Let's see where that goes. I'll give you a more
definitive answer. Like early January, you.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Got the Eagles and the Chargers. Tonight you got a
better handle on which team.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Well, I feel like if the Eagles can't run the
ball right, which they, I mean history here this year
tells you they've run the ball good in one game,
and it was the second time they played the Giants.
You are not going to that's Los Angeles Chargers throwing
the football. They have arguably really one of the most
well coached creative secondaries in the sport. So when they
(16:09):
get you in to throw the ball, throw the ball
every play mode, man, and then then that's simple. As
we know Philadelphia offense Jalen Hurts not making making decisions
and throws in the pocket to throw the guys there right,
I'm gonna take the Chargers winning a close one, even
though knowing that the Eagles are the more talented football team.
Thank you, Chris, Thank you guys. Dan, say hi to
(16:32):
those jerks all right, Solms, I said hi.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Hey jerks, he says, hie, and so Chris Simms.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
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Speaker 4 (17:13):
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Speaker 2 (17:16):
Pete Mavaqua, Notre Dame Athletic director. A couple of months ago,
I said, Oh, I look forward to talking to you again.
I didn't know we would be talking about this. How
did we get here? Pete?
Speaker 7 (17:28):
Dan, first of all, yeah, thanks, thanks for having me on.
It's good to see you. Yet yesterday, that's the question.
I don't know how we got here. That's kind of
what we have a problem with. I don't have a
good answer.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
For you, you know, And.
Speaker 7 (17:42):
A lot of conversations here on campus the last twenty
four hours, as you can imagine. And I want to
make one thing clear, Dan, we have no problems with
the teams that made it in.
Speaker 6 (17:53):
They're all great teams.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
You know.
Speaker 7 (17:55):
Miami's a great team, Alabama's a great team. If Texas
Vanderbilt we were a great team. What we're so confused
by and frustrated with is the process, you know, every
step along the way since the first CFP rankings came out.
We were led to believe we were in as long
as we took care of business, and we certainly took
(18:16):
care of business with this ten game winning streak. Then
you think about that first ranking. You know, we and
Miami were both six and two. They had obviously already
beat us the first game of the year. They were eighteenth,
we were tenth. You know, the only thing that we
did since that point was win every game by over
an average of over thirty points. And you know, all
(18:36):
of a sudden, we're eleventh and on the outside looking in.
And you know, when we sit and talk, when I
talked to Marcus, when when we talked to our team.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
We don't have any good answers for that.
Speaker 7 (18:47):
So we're just we're just really frustrated that we had
the rug pulled out from underneath this.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
Stan.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Were you able to lobby at all Sunday morning, you know,
or I had the decision been made that you were
not going to make the playoffs.
Speaker 7 (19:00):
Yeah, I don't know exactly when the decision was made.
You know, you know, we made.
Speaker 6 (19:04):
Our case, We stayed at our point of view. But again,
if you're us. We were told from day one.
Speaker 7 (19:09):
Of the rankings that you know, we were in and
we were ninth, and then all of a sudden, you know,
we go play a game against Stanford. I felt like
in the middle of the night, you know, and we
we took care of business, and Alabama has a really
tough game against an Auburn team that's having a tough year.
And we wake up on Tuesday and we fall below
(19:31):
Alabama for the first time. And it was all about
the fierce conversation between Notre Dame and Alabama. And I
heard something to the effect that Alabama went forward on
fourth down, so that made an impression, and just our
heads were spinning, like where's the logic, where's the rationale?
Speaker 6 (19:49):
Why are we being kind.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
Of punished and the only ones that seemed to be
moving in the wrong direction and yet winning and having
an unbelievably you know, dominant end to the season. It
just we're confused, we're sad, and damn we're frustrated.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
And I was told there's nothing that's secret in those meetings.
It eventually gets out. And I was told during last
week that it felt like where Alabama was ranked that
Notre Dame. In the words of my source, you guys
were being set up for disappointment. So this is somebody
involved in this. And then all of a sudden the
(20:26):
Miami situation, which if they ranked Miami ahead of you, fine,
I don't have any problem with that. I just didn't
understand the rationale. And then I wondered, did the ACC
lobby at all? Did what role did the ACC play
in any of this? In your opinion?
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Well, I would tell you I mean again, I have
tremendous respect for Miami. You know, the great team, great school,
their athletic director, Dan Radakovich is a good friend, and
all the teams in the ACC great wonderful universities. We
have no gripes about any of the school in the ACC,
but we were mystified by the actions of the conference
(21:06):
to attack you know, their biggest really business partner in
football and a member of their conference in twenty four
of our other sports. And I would tell you, Dan,
I wouldn't be honest with you if I didn't say
that they have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship
between the conference and Notre Dame. What do you mean,
(21:26):
just we didn't appreciate the fact that we were singled
out repeatedly and compared to Miami, not by Miami. Miami
has every right to do that, but it raised a
lot of eyebrows here that the conference was taking shots
at us, and you know, that's just not something we
chose to do. We wouldn't choose to do that in
the future. People might disagree with us, but that's just
(21:48):
not something that we'd be comfortable with. And again, we
have no problem with any of these teams. These are
all great teams. You look at those teams, Miami, like
I said, great season, they beat us. You think about Alabama,
and nobody's had more success in college football over the
last decade than Alabama.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
But Dan, you know, I mean, you follow the sport
so closely.
Speaker 7 (22:07):
Everybody was saying that we were one of a handful
of teams that could win this whole thing and that
we have zero percent chancell even Nick Saban, you know,
nobody knows more about college football maybe in the history
of the world than Nick Saban, you know, and he
said it yesterday, like, how is Notre Dame not in this?
I mean, everybody's just kind of confused and perplexed, and
we don't have good answers for the kids on our team,
(22:30):
for our student athletes.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Are you're going to reevaluate your relationship with the ACC
the overall relationship.
Speaker 7 (22:36):
I would just say it's been strained, irreparable, Well you
never say irreparable, but it's opened our eyes and you
know we it caught our attention. But you know, we'll
move past this like we are, you know, as you know,
(22:57):
we're already focused on next season. Uh, you know, we
made the decision not to play in a bowl.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
Game, as I know you're you're well aware.
Speaker 7 (23:06):
And a lot of a lot of people have asked
me about that. And you know when Marcus, we watched
the presentation show, the selection show with the team, and
then Marcus, like he always does, was wonderful, got up
and for somebody that always has great answers, he was
brutally honest with the team and said he didn't have
a lot of answers. Doesn't understand how this happened, Why
(23:28):
this happened, Why a team that thought it was doing
what it needed to do all of a sudden kind
of woke up on kind of the wrong side of this.
And then just as you're kind of dealing with that,
you start getting these calls from other bowls, and you
know that the role of a captain on the Notre
Dame football team is a role that the program and
Marcus takes very very seriously. And he could talked to
(23:51):
all the captains, you know, I said, hey, what are
you guys thinking, What's what does the team thinking?
Speaker 6 (23:56):
Let's talk about this, And you know.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
To a person, the captains and some of the other
you know, underclassmen on the team said, listen, we are
such a close knit team.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
We've done so much this season.
Speaker 7 (24:08):
We overcame those two opening losses, we rallied, we dominated
in the last ten games. We can't imagine taking the
field not as that team. And it's reality, Dan, you
know that certain players wouldn't participate in that game. You
think about somebody with the future that he has, like
(24:28):
a Jeremiah Love, a Jadarian Price, Eli Rarid and you
know Emil Wagner, who's one of the most impressive people
I've met in my life. Hopefully after he's done playing football,
I hope he runs for president one day.
Speaker 6 (24:42):
It just wouldn't be the same.
Speaker 7 (24:43):
And you know, made the decision that it was time
to start thinking about next season. Give these these student
athletes a break, they have exams coming up, and then
you know, really hopefully they'll they'll go home and spend
Christmas in the holidays with their family and friends.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It feels like a message being sent as well, Pete.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
Well we're not happy, Dan, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Help me understand this though. So are you guaranteed a
playoff berth if you're twelve or higher next season?
Speaker 5 (25:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (25:18):
I don't want to say too much about the memorandum
of understanding, but that's certainly been reported. That's out there,
and what you said is accurate.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So next year, if you're ranked in the top twelve,
you're automatically in the playoffs. Correct, Okay? And everybody agreed that,
like this was drawn up by Notre Dame, and then
the College Football Playoff Committee said we'll sign off on that.
Speaker 7 (25:42):
Well, it was part of the negotiations as we were
contemplating the various changes that go into the committee and
in preparation for the extension of the ESPN deal.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Are we looking at a sixteen team field next season?
Speaker 7 (25:57):
Dan, I go back to what I said when you
were here on campus for the USC game. I firmly
believe that the right answer is sixteen teams with five
automatic qualifiers and eleven at large, and maybe there's no
perfect answers. You know, think about this year, Dan, I
for the seing we were four teams, there wouldn't be
any arguments. I mean, those four teams, I think that's
(26:18):
crystal clear. Those are the right four teams. I don't
think anybody would argue. So for twelve fourteen sixteen. I
happened to think sixteen is the answer. I think the
majority of the vast and overwhelming majority of the people
in the college football management committee room agree with me.
I think anything beyond sixteen, in my opinion, is a
mistake because it would interfere with the importance of the
(26:41):
regular season. And oh, by the way, did we feel
that this year?
Speaker 6 (26:44):
Right? But that's important?
Speaker 8 (26:46):
Right?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yeah, you know, we knew we had.
Speaker 6 (26:49):
Two tough games played.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
You know, well, we certainly got better over the course
of the season, but we lost to two great teams
by a total of four points. We felt we had
zero wiggle room. We felt we did what we needed
to do. It turns out we didn't have a chance, right,
And that's what's so disappointing. But I think sixteen teams
with the five and eleven format is the way to go, Dan.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Pete mcvaqua, Notre Dame Athletic director joining us. But when
is this voted on? When is this decided or is
it already decided now?
Speaker 7 (27:17):
It's been a series of conversations for the better part
of a year or more. As you saw, it was
reported that we have a bit of an extension from
when we need to inform ESPN of what the format
will be. We'll need as a group over the National
Championship weekend. I'm not sure if anything's going to get
resolved as it relates to format in that room at
(27:38):
that time, but these conversations are ongoing. If I had
to guess what happens next year, I think there's a
good chance we stay at twelve. I hope we can
keep pushing for sixteen, But Dan, I just don't know
how that's going to end.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
College football is at a crossroads, it feels like. But
it does take something to make change. So maybe what
happened here with Notre Dame brings about change, so it
could be a catalyst. Do you see it that way?
Speaker 7 (28:08):
Well, again, I we're frustrated with the process, not the teams.
They're all great teams, and it's a bunch of teams
BYU has a great argument, Texas, Vanderbilt, Miami, Alabama, Notre Dame.
We all have great arguments. It's the process that bothers us.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Well, those ranking shows bother me, Pete, because well they.
Speaker 7 (28:28):
Bothered me too, because you know, if we said, well,
if we had assembled as a team on Sunday and
rankings hadn't told us for the previous weeks, we're in,
we're in, we're in. Take care of business, take care
of business. And hey, you know what, Notre Dame, you're eleven,
and now you're going to get squeezed out because the
conference tie ins and Miami beat you, And hey, I
get it. But these ranking shows, as I said yesterday,
(28:50):
like what's the point why kind of send these signals
and get the hopes up of these of these teams,
these coaches, these kids on the team that believe they're
doing everything necessary. And then, like I said, it just
felt in that room a collective sense of the rug
being taken out from under us without any explanation that
(29:11):
I've heard, Dan that has me feeling better about it.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Casual Fan, here's this and says it's sour grapes, Notre
Dame trying to be bigger than everybody more important. You
would say, what.
Speaker 7 (29:23):
Well, listen, everybody kind of wants to do right by
their team. We felt like we did what we needed
to do this season to earn a spot in the
college football playoffs. We feel that we have one of
the very best teams in the country. I think the
majority of people who follow this sport so closely agreed.
(29:44):
Every indication we had from that first ranking suggested that
that committee agreed with us. We were always being compared
to Alabama. We couldn't possibly have ended the year any
better than we did. I get why people think it's
sour grapes, but you know it's disappointment.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Dan.
Speaker 7 (30:03):
I mean this is we take this seriously, as do
other universities. And you know, the rankings can't just be
musical chairs at some you know, fifth grade birthday party.
They have to mean something. And to me, what happened
to us really kind of was alarming.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Just to get you on record, you're not anti pop tarts, right,
because you guys were reportedly going to the Pop Tart
Bowl to play BYU.
Speaker 7 (30:31):
Dan, that the irony in that is. I love pop tarts,
and I particularly love the brown sugar pop tarts. I
probably need too many of them now, I'm a huge
fan of pop tarts. That's nothing to do with pop darts.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Okay, I just want to make sure we got that
on record. I would say, great to talk to you again,
but thanks for We appreciate you coming on and giving
your side of the thing. If the people watching on
TV behind you, what are all those numbers behind you?
Speaker 7 (30:59):
So these behind me, these are actual bench seats from
Notre Dame Stadium. So when we did the extension and
the renovation and created crossroads here, there were some of
the original seats left over. So we created a wall
here with some of the original bench seats in Notre
Dame Stadium. So this is the back of my office
(31:21):
that you're looking at.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
How old are those seats?
Speaker 7 (31:24):
Probably some of them different ages but on different panels,
but some of them are over a century old.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Thanks again, Pete, We appreciate your time now.
Speaker 7 (31:34):
Thanks for having me on DAN and good to see
you and hope to see us soon.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
That's Pete Mavauqua. He's the Notre Dame Athletic director.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsportsradio dot
com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Rick Neuheisel, college football analyst, works for CBS, joining us
on the program. Right do we talk about what the
committee got right or what the committee got wrong?
Speaker 8 (32:04):
I think the answer is we're all kind of lost
in a world that for six weeks we were told
that Notre Dame was better than Miami. We all made
our proclamations about how that game went on the field
to play in week one, but to do it for
six weeks and then choose the week after neither one
(32:26):
played to make the adjustment, That to me is time
for a change. And I don't blame anybody, but all
of a sudden, you've teased Notre Dame for too long
to do this to them, and I see now they're
taking their ball and going home.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
They're not going to play in a bowl game. This
is bad for college football.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Well what do you make of that decision to not
play in the bowl game against BYU.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
I think it's a sign of the times.
Speaker 8 (32:55):
We saw Iowa State, we saw Kansas State also make
similar toss vision, so obviously coaching changes there as part
of it. But I think bowl games are going to
end up being the first game of the year.
Speaker 6 (33:08):
Dan.
Speaker 8 (33:08):
I think we're going to see a bunch of these
bulls go by way of the whales. And I also
think the college Football Playoff is going to go as
they extended that deadline to January twenty third, I think
we're going to go right past sixteen all the way
to twenty four.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Well wait a minute, we're going to get rid of
bowl games? What do you mean by bowl games will
be the first game of the year.
Speaker 8 (33:30):
I think we're going to have a hard time talking
a bunch of teams into playing in the postseason. Maybe
I'm wrong, and I hope I am because I remember
vividly how much I enjoyed them, both as a player
and as coach. But I just think in this day
of transaction football, where people are coming and going, that
there are going to be a lot of teams and
(33:51):
we're going to see a lot of players that aren't
going to participate, and I think that's a shame. So
I wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of these
bowl games get moved to the front end of a
college football.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Season, does Alabama deserve to be in not?
Speaker 8 (34:07):
Based on the eye test, they were not themselves. Give
Georgia a lot of credit for that, but that was
not a good looking football team. And you know those
two conference championship games, the ACS, excuse me, the SEC.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
And the Big Ten.
Speaker 8 (34:25):
For there to be that little movement in the CFP
rankings meant that they were basically not important enough to
make changes.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
That to me signals of time.
Speaker 8 (34:37):
We're going to change those out, We're not going to
have those, We're going to end up having play in
games to replace the money.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
And I'm wondering about these weekly ranking shows that ESPN
has right, and I think it puts the College Football
Committee in a really precarious position because they have to
explain themselves and they don't do a very good job
explaining themselves.
Speaker 8 (35:00):
No, they don't, and the poor communicator in this case,
Hunter Yrchek, the CFP chairman, has to try to make
sense of things. And I mean, for the for six weeks,
you basically said that that Miami is not as good
as Notre Dame because Notre Dame's on this fabulous run.
Notre Dame finishes the run Miami finishes the season and
(35:20):
then you flip them.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (35:22):
It brings into question all sorts of things, which isn't
fair to the committee, but ultimately they have to answer.
So these shows to me ought to be one show,
the last one. And I understand how television works. We
like our cake and eat it too. We like people's
eyeballs and commercials and all that stuff. But that was
(35:42):
that was difficult. I knew the committee was in trouble.
When bou corgan Is, the committee chaired, Dan said, as
you know, we like wins and we value wins. When
he came up with that pearl, I said, now that's
that's common sense.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
He's Rick new Heisl, CBS college football analyst, former college
football head coach. If I would have told you five
months ago Indiana is going to be undefeated, number one
team in the country, and they're going to have the
Heisman Trophy winner and Notre Dame is not going to
make the playoffs, you would have said.
Speaker 8 (36:15):
Where's the statue of Signetti? The guy has pulled a
rabbit out of his hat.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Is there anything that's comparable to what he's accomplished, Because
I do think it's being underrated what he did growing
up in the Midwest, knowing what Indiana football was and
they want to be a basketball school and what he's
done in two years time is working.
Speaker 8 (36:39):
Yeah, I think we're working so hard to figure out
how it could have happened. And obviously with a transfer
portal and his experience at James Madison and a lot
of really good players, the sarat kid and others that
came with him from James Madison. But at the end
of the day, let's just stop and admire the work done.
It is phenomenal. It is out of this world. This
(37:00):
is a program that was the losingest program in all
of college football. No one had lost more games, and
for them to go and have this run that they
have enjoyed eleven and two last year and now sitting
there at thirteen and zho and the number one team
in the land going to a Rose Bowl. If you're
a Hoosier fan, you're going just don't wake me up.
(37:22):
Just keep this thing rolling. And now you know we're
going to be listening to Abba played Fernando for on
and on and on.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
How many teams can win the title?
Speaker 5 (37:33):
I think seven. I think I like maybe maybe eight.
Speaker 8 (37:37):
I think the top seven teams are all absolutely good
enough to do it, and as we saw over the weekend,
defense plays right did Those were games?
Speaker 5 (37:46):
I think all went under.
Speaker 8 (37:48):
So if you have the top seven, and I think
if I'm looking past the seventh team, I kind of
like Miami, I think Miami is dangerous.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
Carson Beck gets on a heater.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
How did Penn State do in the big picture here?
Speaker 8 (38:07):
A whole lot of a whole lot of you know, consternation,
and a whole lot of time and money spent to
get the same coach. I mean, Matt Campbell's a fine coach,
but he has no better resume than James Franklin when
he got there, and James Franklin had a great run.
(38:28):
I understand the whiplash of the three games and why
it happened, but Matt Campbell's going to have to go
aways to be better than what James Franklin is. And
right now, if you're looking at Virginia Tech and Penn State,
the momentum is clearly with Virginia Tech.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
I was told over the weekend that we're going to
sixteen teams with the playoff next year.
Speaker 8 (38:50):
I think I think, you know, as the old saying
goes the answers money?
Speaker 5 (38:55):
Now, what was the question? Right?
Speaker 2 (38:59):
But given the noted Aame situation.
Speaker 8 (39:02):
I wouldn't be shocked if we go right through it.
I really wouldn't, because to get to twenty four. Now
you can start supplanning some of these conference championship games,
which right now after the weekend, we saw that even
with Alabama looking that terrible, didn't move a spot. Ohio
State lost the game, but is the two seed and
nothing really matters. All they did is risk players. I
(39:24):
think we're going to look for games to supplant those,
and in so doing we're going to end up at
a number that's larger than sixteen. Why would we stop
knowing that we're probably going to get there anyway?
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah, you know, the conference championships have always been a
money grab. Sure, right, that's all. That's why they just
like basketball.
Speaker 8 (39:41):
Just like basketball, conference tournaments are a money grab. They
don't really mean that much when you're in the power
for structure. Now for the ACC and the Big Twelve,
they're important games because loser is out, and in this
game even winner was out. I wonder if they might
make it deal with the Notre Dame in the ACC.
(40:03):
If the ACC doesn't have a champion, as as Duke
was that Notre Dame can be their champion. Remember Notre
Dame went as there as an ACC team back in
the COVID year.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
Who would you make the commissioner of college football? Oh goodness,
is there somebody who can do that? Jobs as big as.
Speaker 8 (40:22):
It is, it's all it is is given the bad news, right,
It's it's the guy who can come up and tell people,
or or the the woman who can come up and
tell people things that they don't.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Necessarily their commissioner, like somebody like Goodell, like scheduling. You
know he's running or they are running everything here.
Speaker 8 (40:43):
I'm available, Dan, I just want to make you you
got a great life.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
You don't want this.
Speaker 5 (40:49):
I got, I got my I'm working on my grip.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Okay, enough people hate you, you don't need more people
to hate you.
Speaker 8 (40:56):
It's an excellent point, Dan, it's an excellent point.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
I don't need that nonsense events.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Thank you, buddy. I appreciate you.
Speaker 5 (41:02):
I'm always wonderful to be with you.
Speaker 8 (41:04):
Happy holidays, and I'll have a song for you the
next time we talk.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Rick new Eiel
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Chris Simms Pro Football Talk Live, co host Football Night
in America, and the Chris Sims Unbuttoned Podcast. All right,
let me start with Notre Dame. Let me start with
what the college football Playoff Committee did.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Your thoughts, Uh, yeah, I think it's I'm with you
for I think it's ridiculous right that Notre Dame doesn't
get into the college Like, are they one of the
twelve best play teams in college football? Without a doubt,
Notre Dame could win the national championship. You know, I've
been one that's kind of been saying for a few
weeks when I do college football stuff here at NBC
on Saturdays, it's the best offense in college football systematically,
(00:39):
the players, it's the two best running backs, it's NFL receivers,
it's a big time NFL tight end. So I'm shocked
by that they just got healthy on defense a few
weeks ago. They've been shut down on that side of
the ball. I know their schedule was a little less
than in totality this year. They got them lucky. You
can't ever sit here and tell me Notre Dame tries
to schedule a cupcakes. They try to schedule some years
(01:01):
though it just doesn't work out. They had the two
toughest games to start the season out of anybody in
college football. I want the best teams right now. Right
Miami's played I mean Notre Dame has played better football
than Miami for the last two and a half months.
Miami lost at home to unranked Louisville. They lost on
the road to unranked SMU. Right, Alabama hasn't played good
(01:22):
football in six weeks, and then they go up a
spot after getting they should have been blown out worse
on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
That to me is what doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
And I don't care about fair I want the twelve
best in so I'm a little bit like sorry, JMU
and Tulane, I just don't give a damn about you.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Notre Dame should be in.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And yeah, it's a big travesty in my opinion, but
this is where.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
There's always change. You need to have something like this
for change. And now you're gonna have change, and now
it's gonna be sixteen team playoff. I know I've talked
to Rick new Heislb before and he said, why don't
we just go to twenty four. Like, I don't want
to render the regular season meaningless, but I do. I
want to college teams to play quality opponents, right, I
(02:04):
want to know if, hey, if we end up with
two or three losses, we can make the playoffs and
we're gonna play great quality opponents. I agree, that's what
I want. We all benefit from that. Nobody benefits from
my team playing Samford. I it's a bad right, you're right.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Well, you're right.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Teams like Texas and Notre Dame. Maybe they're just gonna go, hey,
you know what, We're gonna play Northwest Louisiana Alabama State
to start the year.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
For now, I'm sorry, Oh, your ratings aren't good.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Oh sorry, the committee's in a dacas if we lose
to make a good game. So you know my fault there.
And again, it's about the best teams right now. You know,
I know Miami beat Notre Dame in Week one, but
let's take into the context freshman quarterback playing on the
road Texas A and M they can win the national championship.
They had to have a miracle play at the end
of the game to win the football game. So yeah,
(02:55):
I don't love that Notre Dames and not in it.
And I have no horse in this race. I want
to see the best teams be in it and the
best college football product. And yeah, it feels like they
messed up. Oh Miss stays the same. Wait, what is
the engine that has driven Old Miss?
Speaker 4 (03:12):
The coach?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
That's why everybody wanted to pay them one hundred million
a year. They stay and just nothing gets That's like
losing your quarterback, if not worse, they should have been
dropped down spots at least. So I don't understand any
of it. And yes, it looks like it was a
little too much trying to be fair to everybody instead
of just doing what's right and putting the best teams
in it.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bavakua will join his hour
from now. All right, Kansas City Chiefs, done done.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Done, done done done, Yes, I mean it's I don't
think they're going to make the playoffs, certainly not. I
think it's done done as far as the era of
for what we've seen, they're going to have to change
the roster a little bit and change their team.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Right, So, yes, well put your finger on it, Chris, right,
give me one or two things that change with the
Chiefs this year.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Okay, first off, I think the first thing is, well,
you know, they've never been a great running team. But
some of these receivers they have, right, Xavier Worthy has
not worked out to the capacity that they intended to
as a first round pick. Hollywood Brown, smaller receiver, hasn't
really been able to contribute that way. That's why a
lot of teams don't like small receivers. Oh yeah, you
run four two nine, But as soon as I do
(04:21):
this and touch you, you run four seven to five,
and now you're not that scary, right, So I think
they've missed on that, right.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
The defense is not as special as it used to be.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Right when they beat the forty nine ers in the
Super Bowl, they were phenomenal, right, Lugerius sneed McDuffie, they
had it all. They could do different things. They don't
have that luxury. Chris Jones is definitely on the downside
of his career to where he's good. But is he
a superstar just take over the game weekend and week
out kind of player anymore?
Speaker 4 (04:48):
No.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Nick Bolton the linebacker not quite having the year, So
they're just they're a good defense, but they're not dominant
like years past. And then on the offensive side of
the ball, it's just two mahomes rely. I mean, think
about last night. Most of the plays that happen are
him making magic and they's just not enough of a
systematical destruction of a defense on the other side of
(05:10):
the ball.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
So that would be my two cents.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
Stan.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I start to look at the AFC. You don't have
Lamar Jackson, probably you're not gonna have Joe Burrow or
you're not gonna have Patrick Mahomes in there. You start
to look at all these marque quarterbacks in the AFC,
and this opens the door for Josh Allen, like this
is white. I know Buffalo is not great, but if
I'm Josh Allen, I got no excuses now I should
(05:35):
be getting to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well yeah, I mean yes, if you look at it
at just its base like that premises right there.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Sure, but have you seen Buffalo's defense?
Speaker 5 (05:47):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
No, me neither, right, we're waiting to see it. So yeah,
that's an issue. You know, I say all the time,
we're watching the modern day John Elway to me, and
it's like the eighties Broncos or You're like, the team's
really not that good, but oh my gosh, this guy
makes unbelievable plays every game and every big moment, and
they win. And then he falls victim to well, they
didn't win in the playoffs, is Josh Allen. It's like, well,
(06:08):
he can't do everything all the time. I mean, again,
that's another game, even to another level of mahomes. Go
back and watch the highlights. I mean, it's fourteen to
three in the second quarter, it's fourth and seven, and
they're already like, we're gonna lose if we don't go
for it right here, Josh Allen, and then he runs
around for seven seconds and finds a completion. So he's unbelievable.
(06:28):
He's one of the greatest quarterbacks I've ever seen. Really,
he really is. But one man can't win the Super Bowl.
You need a team. And that's what you worry about Buffalo.
They're not real great at receiver, the defense is very average.
If the run game doesn't work, there's nothing else that
helps Josh Allen. And that's what I worry about with
Buffalo and the AFC.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, when I'm watching football night in America and you
brought up to John Elway comparison. I said, that's app
because thank you, Elway was dragging that Denver offense to
super Bowls and then they realized that defense wasn't as good.
They got burnt out all of those shit and he
took all the flat right.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Oh, John Olway can't win the big game. John Elway
can't win the big game. And that's where he's so great.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
No other quarterback in football could have gone the super
Bowl with some of those teams, that's how good he is.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
But you know, New England's a complete team in the AFC.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Denver, we know the offense is just okay, but that
defense is a super Bowl defense. And the team that
I'll continue to say to watch out for is the
team you saw last night. Houston could win and go
to the Super Bowl. Houston, if their offense is just average,
they have a Super Bowl twenty fifteen Broncos twenty thirteen
Seahawks type of defense where don't be shocked for sitting
(07:41):
their AFC championship Sunday, and the Houston Texans are in
it if they can get in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Here, when I'm watching the Ravens and they get the
touchdown reception it's called a touchdown. And then even the
broadcasters thought that it was a touchdown. I thought it
was you you have the ball and you take two steps.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I then realize after the fact when they said it's
on a touchdown, Now it's three steps when you catch
the ball.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Well, yes, it's three steps, but it doesn't have to
be three steps.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
It can be two steps and an act commonly known
as a football move.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Right, and he catches the ball and extends it like
this right off the back because he knows, oh no,
this guy's going to try to reach and knock the
ball in my hand. He takes two giant steps and
is a millimeter away from the third step hitting the
ground right a millimeter to where like, ooh, the decrete
touched the ground. I'm not sure. Now he's not going
to turn up fields. He's in the end zone. And
(08:39):
this is where we're lacking common sense at refereeing. Right now,
you saw it live, you thought it was a touchdown, right,
that was enough, And then on top of that, it
was called a touchdown.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
And to me, this doing this and extending the ball
was a football move.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Along with the two and three quarter steps he took.
There were some questionable calls in that football game last
time I checked. When you have to catch a ball,
you have to survive the ground watching at a normal speed.
Aaron Rodgers with the ball trapped on top of his
helmet and the other guy has two hands on the
ball too, and we're going to say he caught the ball,
even though the process of the ball and catching the
ball is not complete until you survive the ground and
(09:18):
stand up with the ball.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
That makes no sense.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
So, yeah, Baltimore kind of got screwed over yesterday and
that one that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Okay, does this quiet down the Mike Tomlins situation in
Pittsburgh at all in your opinion?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Not?
Speaker 6 (09:30):
Right?
Speaker 4 (09:30):
I mean for now for a few days. But they're
still going.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
To be judged by how this ends and what it
looks like here down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Okay, let me ask you what Yeah, all right, Yeah,
here's a tough question.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
You're a Steeler fan, and I say, you can make
the playoffs, squeak in, but you won't win a playoff game,
or you don't when you don't make the playoffs, and
then the fallout from that.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
I think that's what they want right now, right, right?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I think they want to change. I think they want change. Yes,
just you know, even being there during the Green Bays
Pittsburgh Steelers game on Sunday Night Football a few weeks ago,
right being there, you could tell the fan base is
annoyed with Tomlin and annoyed with the Steelers. So there
is something there, and I understand it. I understand. Hey,
(10:22):
I've said a lot. It might be like Andy Reid
and the Philadelphia Eagles. A time comes where it's just
run its course and it's time for everybody to get
a fresh new start. I would love if they fired him.
I would love it because I want the Giants to
get Mike Tomlin. That's what I would want, So please
do that, all right?
Speaker 4 (10:36):
But yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Don't you know, Pittsburgh is one of those teams where
you go, okay, I mean, yeah, if they're in the playoffs,
but I don't know if I really want to see
them in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
And they don't make me feel a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Better with the way they played yesterday to just go,
oh yeah, they're fixing things and here they go on
the road to recovery.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Uh, Buccaneers losing. I mean, could Carolina win the division.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I mean, I don't expect it. If you're gonna make
me bet money, I'm still gonna bet on the Buccaneers.
I do think the weather helped them, Yeah, I mean
hurt them yesterday. The Bucks have to win with their offense.
Their defense is just not very good and it can't
make big stops in big moments.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
So they need.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
That's where you know, Bucky Irvin being back, Chris Godwin
being back, maybe they can get Mike Evans back, and
Mika Buka's kind of, you know, falling by the wayside
here a little bit here. So, but they need. They're
gonna have to win shootouts. That's the kind of football
team they are. And I think the weather yesterday hurt them.
And then Tyler Shuck is showing that he's gonna give
the Saints some some things to think about in the offseason,
(11:36):
whether they want to draft a quarterback or stay with
him as a starter.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Talking to Chris Sims, Pro Football Talk Live co host,
you guys get the Vikings and the Cowboys.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Yeah, I think that's what we got this week.
Speaker 6 (11:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
I'm not even there yet, Yeah, but I think that's
what we.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Got, right, You're right, Okay, Vikings got a nice win.
JJ McCarthy look good. Yes, I'm still not sure about him. No, No,
And it's.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Still early though, and I think we all have to
kind of remind ourselves of that isn't a tough spot.
There's things he's got to work on. There's no doubt
about that. They can help him out a little bit too,
you know, they can become a little bit better of
a running football team. But his big thing is he
needs to develop more variety of throws. I'm sure you've
heard that enough now, right, It's the same throw every time.
(12:23):
There's just not enough clubs in the bag. And then
he's got to stay healthy so he can kind of
lay down the train, the framework right to get better
week in and leak out. Every time he kind of
gets going, something happens as he misses a week or
two of practice and can't play, and that's been a
big issue too. But I know this is going to
be an important last four weeks here to see JJ
(12:43):
McCarthy and whether he can solidify himself as the starter there.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
The Browns announced Deshaun Watson is going to come back
next year, but you do have Shador Sanders, who played
really well at Tennessee. But he played really, he played well.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Enough, though, Yeah, I don't know if I've seen enough, right,
I would want to see more, but I'm seeing things
I like. But you're gonna have a top four draft pick, right,
I know they're they're set up, right, they're gonna They
made that trade with Jacksonville so they could go get
Travis Hutter, So they got some picks and they got
some things on their team.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
We know that defense is special.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
They can add just a little so few playmakers on
the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
You go, Cleveland's not that far off.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
And Shador Sanders, as you see, plays big in the pocket,
got a strong arm, has a pretty good feel for
the game. He really does. He's in an interception yesterday. Okay,
he's a rookie. That was a batter, he said. For
the most part, though, he's understood that his team's a
defensive team. He's taking care of the ball and he
kind of pushed the envelope when he needed to yesterday.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
And Tennessee defense is better than people realize.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
It's just their offense is so bad it makes their
defense look bad at times. But yeah, I hear he's
gonna put the pressure on the Browns organize about this
quarterback conversation.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Do you think Deshaun Watson plays again?
Speaker 4 (14:05):
I don't think so. For Cleveland. I don't expect that.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
I know, I know they they said that he'd be
back and all that, But if I remember correctly, they
can kind of get out of the deal after you know,
this year, this offseason. They'll have to pay a little
bit of a you know, dead money fine there, but
all in all, no, I think the Cleveland Brown Deshaun
Watson thing is over. It's run its course, and I
don't even know why you'd want to flirt with it anymore. Right,
(14:29):
just be done with it. It didn't work. Move on,
start a new era with Shador Sanders or whoever they
see fit.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, And you know, at the start of the year,
I said, I just hope that these you know, rookie
quarterbacks get a chance, like we get a good sample
size that we can go, Okay, that guy can, that
guy can, that guy's just starter, that guy's not. And
maybe we did that with Dylan Gabriel. They saw enough.
Shador Sanders is going to give them at least a
decision to make if they use one of their top
(14:59):
picks to take a quarterback. What would you do if
you're running the Browns.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Oh, that's where I'd want to see these last four
games a little bit. They got to protect themselves either way.
I would still, no matter what, bring in some sort
of veteran to go, Hey, if it doesn't work with
Shador and Dylan Gabriel, we got a guy here that
we know we can put in and play. But I
certainly think Shador Sanders looks the part and plays the
part better than Dylan Gabriel. That's the one thing I'll
(15:24):
sit there and tell you for sure. Yesterday was definitely
a good building block. But yeah, before i'd make that Cally,
I think these last four games and how he continues
to kind of develop the offense is expanding a little
week by week, so he's more in the trust tree.
Let's see where that goes. I'll give you a more
definitive answer. Like early January, you.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Got the Eagles and the Chargers. Tonight you got a
better handle on which team.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Well, I feel like if the Eagles can't run the
ball right, which they, I mean history here this year
tells you they've run the ball good in one game,
and it was the second time they played the Giants.
You are not going to that's Los Angeles Chargers throwing
the football. They have arguably really one of the most
well coached creative secondaries in the sport. So when they
(16:09):
get you in to throw the ball, throw the ball
every play mode, man, and then then that's simple. As
we know Philadelphia offense Jalen Hurts not making making decisions
and throws in the pocket to throw the guys there right,
I'm gonna take the Chargers winning a close one, even
though knowing that the Eagles are the more talented football team.
Thank you, Chris, Thank you guys. Dan, say hi to
(16:32):
those jerks all right, Solms, I said hi.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Hey jerks, he says, hie, and so Chris Simms.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Fox Sports
Radio is taking over YouTube and you can be a
part of it. Just go to YouTube and search Fox
Sports Radio. If that subscribe button and smash that notification
(16:57):
bill and catch all the videos from your favorite shows.
It's two pros and a cup of Joe. Dan Patrick,
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Radio on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon and comment away.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Pete Mavaqua, Notre Dame Athletic director. A couple of months ago,
I said, Oh, I look forward to talking to you again.
I didn't know we would be talking about this. How
did we get here? Pete?
Speaker 7 (17:28):
Dan, first of all, yeah, thanks, thanks for having me on.
It's good to see you. Yet yesterday, that's the question.
I don't know how we got here. That's kind of
what we have a problem with. I don't have a
good answer.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
For you, you know, And.
Speaker 7 (17:42):
A lot of conversations here on campus the last twenty
four hours, as you can imagine. And I want to
make one thing clear, Dan, we have no problems with
the teams that made it in.
Speaker 6 (17:53):
They're all great teams.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
You know.
Speaker 7 (17:55):
Miami's a great team, Alabama's a great team. If Texas
Vanderbilt we were a great team. What we're so confused
by and frustrated with is the process, you know, every
step along the way since the first CFP rankings came out.
We were led to believe we were in as long
as we took care of business, and we certainly took
(18:16):
care of business with this ten game winning streak. Then
you think about that first ranking. You know, we and
Miami were both six and two. They had obviously already
beat us the first game of the year. They were eighteenth,
we were tenth. You know, the only thing that we
did since that point was win every game by over
an average of over thirty points. And you know, all
(18:36):
of a sudden, we're eleventh and on the outside looking in.
And you know, when we sit and talk, when I
talked to Marcus, when when we talked to our team.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
We don't have any good answers for that.
Speaker 7 (18:47):
So we're just we're just really frustrated that we had
the rug pulled out from underneath this.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
Stan.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Were you able to lobby at all Sunday morning, you know,
or I had the decision been made that you were
not going to make the playoffs.
Speaker 7 (19:00):
Yeah, I don't know exactly when the decision was made.
You know, you know, we made.
Speaker 6 (19:04):
Our case, We stayed at our point of view. But again,
if you're us. We were told from day one.
Speaker 7 (19:09):
Of the rankings that you know, we were in and
we were ninth, and then all of a sudden, you know,
we go play a game against Stanford. I felt like
in the middle of the night, you know, and we
we took care of business, and Alabama has a really
tough game against an Auburn team that's having a tough year.
And we wake up on Tuesday and we fall below
(19:31):
Alabama for the first time. And it was all about
the fierce conversation between Notre Dame and Alabama. And I
heard something to the effect that Alabama went forward on
fourth down, so that made an impression, and just our
heads were spinning, like where's the logic, where's the rationale?
Speaker 6 (19:49):
Why are we being kind.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
Of punished and the only ones that seemed to be
moving in the wrong direction and yet winning and having
an unbelievably you know, dominant end to the season. It
just we're confused, we're sad, and damn we're frustrated.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
And I was told there's nothing that's secret in those meetings.
It eventually gets out. And I was told during last
week that it felt like where Alabama was ranked that
Notre Dame. In the words of my source, you guys
were being set up for disappointment. So this is somebody
involved in this. And then all of a sudden the
(20:26):
Miami situation, which if they ranked Miami ahead of you, fine,
I don't have any problem with that. I just didn't
understand the rationale. And then I wondered, did the ACC
lobby at all? Did what role did the ACC play
in any of this? In your opinion?
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Well, I would tell you I mean again, I have
tremendous respect for Miami. You know, the great team, great school,
their athletic director, Dan Radakovich is a good friend, and
all the teams in the ACC great wonderful universities. We
have no gripes about any of the school in the ACC,
but we were mystified by the actions of the conference
(21:06):
to attack you know, their biggest really business partner in
football and a member of their conference in twenty four
of our other sports. And I would tell you, Dan,
I wouldn't be honest with you if I didn't say
that they have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship
between the conference and Notre Dame. What do you mean,
(21:26):
just we didn't appreciate the fact that we were singled
out repeatedly and compared to Miami, not by Miami. Miami
has every right to do that, but it raised a
lot of eyebrows here that the conference was taking shots
at us, and you know, that's just not something we
chose to do. We wouldn't choose to do that in
the future. People might disagree with us, but that's just
(21:48):
not something that we'd be comfortable with. And again, we
have no problem with any of these teams. These are
all great teams. You look at those teams, Miami, like
I said, great season, they beat us. You think about Alabama,
and nobody's had more success in college football over the
last decade than Alabama.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
But Dan, you know, I mean, you follow the sport
so closely.
Speaker 7 (22:07):
Everybody was saying that we were one of a handful
of teams that could win this whole thing and that
we have zero percent chancell even Nick Saban, you know,
nobody knows more about college football maybe in the history
of the world than Nick Saban, you know, and he
said it yesterday, like, how is Notre Dame not in this?
I mean, everybody's just kind of confused and perplexed, and
we don't have good answers for the kids on our team,
(22:30):
for our student athletes.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Are you're going to reevaluate your relationship with the ACC
the overall relationship.
Speaker 7 (22:36):
I would just say it's been strained, irreparable, Well you
never say irreparable, but it's opened our eyes and you
know we it caught our attention. But you know, we'll
move past this like we are, you know, as you know,
(22:57):
we're already focused on next season. Uh, you know, we
made the decision not to play in a bowl.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
Game, as I know you're you're well aware.
Speaker 7 (23:06):
And a lot of a lot of people have asked
me about that. And you know when Marcus, we watched
the presentation show, the selection show with the team, and
then Marcus, like he always does, was wonderful, got up
and for somebody that always has great answers, he was
brutally honest with the team and said he didn't have
a lot of answers. Doesn't understand how this happened, Why
(23:28):
this happened, Why a team that thought it was doing
what it needed to do all of a sudden kind
of woke up on kind of the wrong side of this.
And then just as you're kind of dealing with that,
you start getting these calls from other bowls, and you
know that the role of a captain on the Notre
Dame football team is a role that the program and
Marcus takes very very seriously. And he could talked to
(23:51):
all the captains, you know, I said, hey, what are
you guys thinking, What's what does the team thinking?
Speaker 6 (23:56):
Let's talk about this, And you know.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
To a person, the captains and some of the other
you know, underclassmen on the team said, listen, we are
such a close knit team.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
We've done so much this season.
Speaker 7 (24:08):
We overcame those two opening losses, we rallied, we dominated
in the last ten games. We can't imagine taking the
field not as that team. And it's reality, Dan, you
know that certain players wouldn't participate in that game. You
think about somebody with the future that he has, like
(24:28):
a Jeremiah Love, a Jadarian Price, Eli Rarid and you
know Emil Wagner, who's one of the most impressive people
I've met in my life. Hopefully after he's done playing football,
I hope he runs for president one day.
Speaker 6 (24:42):
It just wouldn't be the same.
Speaker 7 (24:43):
And you know, made the decision that it was time
to start thinking about next season. Give these these student
athletes a break, they have exams coming up, and then
you know, really hopefully they'll they'll go home and spend
Christmas in the holidays with their family and friends.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It feels like a message being sent as well, Pete.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
Well we're not happy, Dan, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Help me understand this though. So are you guaranteed a
playoff berth if you're twelve or higher next season?
Speaker 5 (25:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (25:18):
I don't want to say too much about the memorandum
of understanding, but that's certainly been reported. That's out there,
and what you said is accurate.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So next year, if you're ranked in the top twelve,
you're automatically in the playoffs. Correct, Okay? And everybody agreed that,
like this was drawn up by Notre Dame, and then
the College Football Playoff Committee said we'll sign off on that.
Speaker 7 (25:42):
Well, it was part of the negotiations as we were
contemplating the various changes that go into the committee and
in preparation for the extension of the ESPN deal.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Are we looking at a sixteen team field next season?
Speaker 7 (25:57):
Dan, I go back to what I said when you
were here on campus for the USC game. I firmly
believe that the right answer is sixteen teams with five
automatic qualifiers and eleven at large, and maybe there's no
perfect answers. You know, think about this year, Dan, I
for the seing we were four teams, there wouldn't be
any arguments. I mean, those four teams, I think that's
(26:18):
crystal clear. Those are the right four teams. I don't
think anybody would argue. So for twelve fourteen sixteen. I
happened to think sixteen is the answer. I think the
majority of the vast and overwhelming majority of the people
in the college football management committee room agree with me.
I think anything beyond sixteen, in my opinion, is a
mistake because it would interfere with the importance of the
(26:41):
regular season. And oh, by the way, did we feel
that this year?
Speaker 6 (26:44):
Right? But that's important?
Speaker 8 (26:46):
Right?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yeah, you know, we knew we had.
Speaker 6 (26:49):
Two tough games played.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
You know, well, we certainly got better over the course
of the season, but we lost to two great teams
by a total of four points. We felt we had
zero wiggle room. We felt we did what we needed
to do. It turns out we didn't have a chance, right,
And that's what's so disappointing. But I think sixteen teams
with the five and eleven format is the way to go, Dan.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Pete mcvaqua, Notre Dame Athletic director joining us. But when
is this voted on? When is this decided or is
it already decided now?
Speaker 7 (27:17):
It's been a series of conversations for the better part
of a year or more. As you saw, it was
reported that we have a bit of an extension from
when we need to inform ESPN of what the format
will be. We'll need as a group over the National
Championship weekend. I'm not sure if anything's going to get
resolved as it relates to format in that room at
(27:38):
that time, but these conversations are ongoing. If I had
to guess what happens next year, I think there's a
good chance we stay at twelve. I hope we can
keep pushing for sixteen, But Dan, I just don't know
how that's going to end.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
College football is at a crossroads, it feels like. But
it does take something to make change. So maybe what
happened here with Notre Dame brings about change, so it
could be a catalyst. Do you see it that way?
Speaker 7 (28:08):
Well, again, I we're frustrated with the process, not the teams.
They're all great teams, and it's a bunch of teams
BYU has a great argument, Texas, Vanderbilt, Miami, Alabama, Notre Dame.
We all have great arguments. It's the process that bothers us.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Well, those ranking shows bother me, Pete, because well they.
Speaker 7 (28:28):
Bothered me too, because you know, if we said, well,
if we had assembled as a team on Sunday and
rankings hadn't told us for the previous weeks, we're in,
we're in, we're in. Take care of business, take care
of business. And hey, you know what, Notre Dame, you're eleven,
and now you're going to get squeezed out because the
conference tie ins and Miami beat you, And hey, I
get it. But these ranking shows, as I said yesterday,
(28:50):
like what's the point why kind of send these signals
and get the hopes up of these of these teams,
these coaches, these kids on the team that believe they're
doing everything necessary. And then, like I said, it just
felt in that room a collective sense of the rug
being taken out from under us without any explanation that
(29:11):
I've heard, Dan that has me feeling better about it.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Casual Fan, here's this and says it's sour grapes, Notre
Dame trying to be bigger than everybody more important. You
would say, what.
Speaker 7 (29:23):
Well, listen, everybody kind of wants to do right by
their team. We felt like we did what we needed
to do this season to earn a spot in the
college football playoffs. We feel that we have one of
the very best teams in the country. I think the
majority of people who follow this sport so closely agreed.
(29:44):
Every indication we had from that first ranking suggested that
that committee agreed with us. We were always being compared
to Alabama. We couldn't possibly have ended the year any
better than we did. I get why people think it's
sour grapes, but you know it's disappointment.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Dan.
Speaker 7 (30:03):
I mean this is we take this seriously, as do
other universities. And you know, the rankings can't just be
musical chairs at some you know, fifth grade birthday party.
They have to mean something. And to me, what happened
to us really kind of was alarming.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Just to get you on record, you're not anti pop tarts, right,
because you guys were reportedly going to the Pop Tart
Bowl to play BYU.
Speaker 7 (30:31):
Dan, that the irony in that is. I love pop tarts,
and I particularly love the brown sugar pop tarts. I
probably need too many of them now, I'm a huge
fan of pop tarts. That's nothing to do with pop darts.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Okay, I just want to make sure we got that
on record. I would say, great to talk to you again,
but thanks for We appreciate you coming on and giving
your side of the thing. If the people watching on
TV behind you, what are all those numbers behind you?
Speaker 7 (30:59):
So these behind me, these are actual bench seats from
Notre Dame Stadium. So when we did the extension and
the renovation and created crossroads here, there were some of
the original seats left over. So we created a wall
here with some of the original bench seats in Notre
Dame Stadium. So this is the back of my office
(31:21):
that you're looking at.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
How old are those seats?
Speaker 7 (31:24):
Probably some of them different ages but on different panels,
but some of them are over a century old.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Thanks again, Pete, We appreciate your time now.
Speaker 7 (31:34):
Thanks for having me on DAN and good to see
you and hope to see us soon.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
That's Pete Mavauqua. He's the Notre Dame Athletic director.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsportsradio dot
com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Rick Neuheisel, college football analyst, works for CBS, joining us
on the program. Right do we talk about what the
committee got right or what the committee got wrong?
Speaker 8 (32:04):
I think the answer is we're all kind of lost
in a world that for six weeks we were told
that Notre Dame was better than Miami. We all made
our proclamations about how that game went on the field
to play in week one, but to do it for
six weeks and then choose the week after neither one
(32:26):
played to make the adjustment, That to me is time
for a change. And I don't blame anybody, but all
of a sudden, you've teased Notre Dame for too long
to do this to them, and I see now they're
taking their ball and going home.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
They're not going to play in a bowl game. This
is bad for college football.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Well what do you make of that decision to not
play in the bowl game against BYU.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
I think it's a sign of the times.
Speaker 8 (32:55):
We saw Iowa State, we saw Kansas State also make
similar toss vision, so obviously coaching changes there as part
of it. But I think bowl games are going to
end up being the first game of the year.
Speaker 6 (33:08):
Dan.
Speaker 8 (33:08):
I think we're going to see a bunch of these
bulls go by way of the whales. And I also
think the college Football Playoff is going to go as
they extended that deadline to January twenty third, I think
we're going to go right past sixteen all the way
to twenty four.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Well wait a minute, we're going to get rid of
bowl games? What do you mean by bowl games will
be the first game of the year.
Speaker 8 (33:30):
I think we're going to have a hard time talking
a bunch of teams into playing in the postseason. Maybe
I'm wrong, and I hope I am because I remember
vividly how much I enjoyed them, both as a player
and as coach. But I just think in this day
of transaction football, where people are coming and going, that
there are going to be a lot of teams and
(33:51):
we're going to see a lot of players that aren't
going to participate, and I think that's a shame. So
I wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of these
bowl games get moved to the front end of a
college football.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Season, does Alabama deserve to be in not?
Speaker 8 (34:07):
Based on the eye test, they were not themselves. Give
Georgia a lot of credit for that, but that was
not a good looking football team. And you know those
two conference championship games, the ACS, excuse me, the SEC.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
And the Big Ten.
Speaker 8 (34:25):
For there to be that little movement in the CFP
rankings meant that they were basically not important enough to
make changes.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
That to me signals of time.
Speaker 8 (34:37):
We're going to change those out, We're not going to
have those, We're going to end up having play in
games to replace the money.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
And I'm wondering about these weekly ranking shows that ESPN
has right, and I think it puts the College Football
Committee in a really precarious position because they have to
explain themselves and they don't do a very good job
explaining themselves.
Speaker 8 (35:00):
No, they don't, and the poor communicator in this case,
Hunter Yrchek, the CFP chairman, has to try to make
sense of things. And I mean, for the for six weeks,
you basically said that that Miami is not as good
as Notre Dame because Notre Dame's on this fabulous run.
Notre Dame finishes the run Miami finishes the season and
(35:20):
then you flip them.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (35:22):
It brings into question all sorts of things, which isn't
fair to the committee, but ultimately they have to answer.
So these shows to me ought to be one show,
the last one. And I understand how television works. We
like our cake and eat it too. We like people's
eyeballs and commercials and all that stuff. But that was
(35:42):
that was difficult. I knew the committee was in trouble.
When bou corgan Is, the committee chaired, Dan said, as
you know, we like wins and we value wins. When
he came up with that pearl, I said, now that's
that's common sense.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
He's Rick new Heisl, CBS college football analyst, former college
football head coach. If I would have told you five
months ago Indiana is going to be undefeated, number one
team in the country, and they're going to have the
Heisman Trophy winner and Notre Dame is not going to
make the playoffs, you would have said.
Speaker 8 (36:15):
Where's the statue of Signetti? The guy has pulled a
rabbit out of his hat.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Is there anything that's comparable to what he's accomplished, Because
I do think it's being underrated what he did growing
up in the Midwest, knowing what Indiana football was and
they want to be a basketball school and what he's
done in two years time is working.
Speaker 8 (36:39):
Yeah, I think we're working so hard to figure out
how it could have happened. And obviously with a transfer
portal and his experience at James Madison and a lot
of really good players, the sarat kid and others that
came with him from James Madison. But at the end
of the day, let's just stop and admire the work done.
It is phenomenal. It is out of this world. This
(37:00):
is a program that was the losingest program in all
of college football. No one had lost more games, and
for them to go and have this run that they
have enjoyed eleven and two last year and now sitting
there at thirteen and zho and the number one team
in the land going to a Rose Bowl. If you're
a Hoosier fan, you're going just don't wake me up.
(37:22):
Just keep this thing rolling. And now you know we're
going to be listening to Abba played Fernando for on
and on and on.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
How many teams can win the title?
Speaker 5 (37:33):
I think seven. I think I like maybe maybe eight.
Speaker 8 (37:37):
I think the top seven teams are all absolutely good
enough to do it, and as we saw over the weekend,
defense plays right did Those were games?
Speaker 5 (37:46):
I think all went under.
Speaker 8 (37:48):
So if you have the top seven, and I think
if I'm looking past the seventh team, I kind of
like Miami, I think Miami is dangerous.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
Carson Beck gets on a heater.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
How did Penn State do in the big picture here?
Speaker 8 (38:07):
A whole lot of a whole lot of you know, consternation,
and a whole lot of time and money spent to
get the same coach. I mean, Matt Campbell's a fine coach,
but he has no better resume than James Franklin when
he got there, and James Franklin had a great run.
(38:28):
I understand the whiplash of the three games and why
it happened, but Matt Campbell's going to have to go
aways to be better than what James Franklin is. And
right now, if you're looking at Virginia Tech and Penn State,
the momentum is clearly with Virginia Tech.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
I was told over the weekend that we're going to
sixteen teams with the playoff next year.
Speaker 8 (38:50):
I think I think, you know, as the old saying
goes the answers money?
Speaker 5 (38:55):
Now, what was the question? Right?
Speaker 2 (38:59):
But given the noted Aame situation.
Speaker 8 (39:02):
I wouldn't be shocked if we go right through it.
I really wouldn't, because to get to twenty four. Now
you can start supplanning some of these conference championship games,
which right now after the weekend, we saw that even
with Alabama looking that terrible, didn't move a spot. Ohio
State lost the game, but is the two seed and
nothing really matters. All they did is risk players. I
(39:24):
think we're going to look for games to supplant those,
and in so doing we're going to end up at
a number that's larger than sixteen. Why would we stop
knowing that we're probably going to get there anyway?
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah, you know, the conference championships have always been a
money grab. Sure, right, that's all. That's why they just
like basketball.
Speaker 8 (39:41):
Just like basketball, conference tournaments are a money grab. They
don't really mean that much when you're in the power
for structure. Now for the ACC and the Big Twelve,
they're important games because loser is out, and in this
game even winner was out. I wonder if they might
make it deal with the Notre Dame in the ACC.
(40:03):
If the ACC doesn't have a champion, as as Duke
was that Notre Dame can be their champion. Remember Notre
Dame went as there as an ACC team back in
the COVID year.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
Who would you make the commissioner of college football? Oh goodness,
is there somebody who can do that? Jobs as big as.
Speaker 8 (40:22):
It is, it's all it is is given the bad news, right,
It's it's the guy who can come up and tell people,
or or the the woman who can come up and
tell people things that they don't.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Necessarily their commissioner, like somebody like Goodell, like scheduling. You
know he's running or they are running everything here.
Speaker 8 (40:43):
I'm available, Dan, I just want to make you you
got a great life.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
You don't want this.
Speaker 5 (40:49):
I got, I got my I'm working on my grip.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Okay, enough people hate you, you don't need more people
to hate you.
Speaker 8 (40:56):
It's an excellent point, Dan, it's an excellent point.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
I don't need that nonsense events.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Thank you, buddy. I appreciate you.
Speaker 5 (41:02):
I'm always wonderful to be with you.
Speaker 8 (41:04):
Happy holidays, and I'll have a song for you the
next time we talk.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Rick new Eiel
Hosts And Creators
Todd "Fritzy" Fritz
Dan Patrick
Patrick "Seton" O'Connor
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