MAILBAG: Ohio State vs. The Field, G6 Upset Threats & the End of "Blue Bloods" | College Football - The Solid Verbal College Football

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the solid verbal hull.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
For me, I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so
many players say, well, I want to be happy. You
want to be happy for day Edo State?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Is that? Whoo whoo? And now Dan and tie Dan Robinstein.
We have two weeks of the regular season left, my friend.
It is a pleasure as always to be back with
you for this Tuesday episode, Sir, how goes it good?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Does that mean two more weeks of yelling about what
I'm going to assume is Oklahoma football?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Right? Is?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
I don't know which team you think is going to
be the core of this molten hot lava mountain of
takes that we're going to have in front of us
these next few weeks, But it feels like Oklahoma might
be right in that that middle portion.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Right, I think Oklahoma Miami Miami, so they're Dame and
there will definitely be And we got a question about this,
I'll talk about that in a bit. Yeah, about how
many SEC teams are going to get into the field
of twelve some combination of those four things, teams, conversations, topics,

(01:12):
whatever that is going to be where the molten hot
Maybe we'll bring take a toe out for some of
these creams. Take a toe out, yeah, down the stretch here.
But yeah, we're getting into the thick of it, aren't we.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
We are. I mean I could see my team Oregon,
if they drop one of these games, getting involved in
that conversation, USC getting involved in that conversation there. I
think it extends beyond and then you start talking about
the teams that they've played, and like Miszoo starts getting
involved in that conversation just looking at them as an
opponent against a team like Vanderbilt, against a team coming
up here in Oklahoma. So then it's going to be

(01:46):
a referendum on what Miszoo is or isn't as an opponent.
There's so much meat on the take bone.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Tie and then maybe maybe just like a drizzle of
byu oh my, by absolutely in the nucleus here, definitely
in that conversation. So we're going to go through a
bunch of that and much much more. We are not
doing the early look aheads on this episode because right
now it's looking like it's going to be a slim
Pickens Saturday. And by that I mean there's like three

(02:17):
really big games and the rest are certainly interesting in
their own right, and we will talk about those on Thursday,
but we wanted to save all of that for Thursday,
mainly so we had something to talk about corrat means
is on today's episode. We got a bunch of emails,
we got a bunch of comments out on our Patreon
atverbowlers dot com from our certified and premium members. We

(02:38):
are going to go through a multitude of questions. We're
also going to reveal the poll and how that translates
to a bracket in just a little bit as well.
So we've got a lot to talk about, even if
it's not the normal stuff that we talk about on
a Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yes, are you mentally prepared though? As we look ahead
for Mercer to beat Auburn. That's my question nine and
one Mercer, Yeah, absolute fcs strong, strong dog the dog. Yeah,
We've got a lot to get to. I'm very excited,
but thank you to the SEC for scheduling. I think
Eastern Illinois is in there. I think Samford is in there.

(03:14):
The Mercer bears. I should have said a strong bear,
yea Eastern Illinois one to nine, Charlotte is in there,
one in ten, Samford, Western Kentucky pretty good team, though
we should say Coastal Carolina kind of an average season,
but the SEC doing its part to make this.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Kind of a shrunken Saturday. Shrunk and Saturday.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
By the way, it's not shrunk and yet. But oh
look at that. Oh you got to get on YouTube
dot com slash at soliverbi the camera. This is one
of the shirts that we got.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Oh my god, one of the shirts that you put together.
You're the designer in chief here. We've got a bunch
of other cool merch out at merch dot solid verbal
dot com or if you go to our store our site,
excuse me and click on the store from the top nav,
you can get on over.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yes, you were busy, you were in the lab. We
designed a bunch of new stuff.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
We've also got a couple of other ones that will
reveal here over the next few episodes. I mean, they're
out there now, you can go see them. But we
just got a nice little order that arrived in the
mailbox before we hit records, So before long you'll see
all of these on the videos. If you're ever so
in coined, Yes.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
I can't wait for everybody to see. They look good.
They're gonna be more coming out love it.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Why don't we start where we one of the places
that we have started on these Tuesday episodes, Dan Saville
the Ever Bawler Top twelve poll. I think it's a
good way to sort of set the table for where
this conversation is going to go. So one, two, and
three are all the same Ohio State, Indiana, Texas, A,
and M.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
But after that.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
It starts to look a little bit different. Georgia is
up to four, Texas Tech is up to five, or
again in this poll, is up to number six, ahead
of Old Miss Oklahoma and Alabama who are seven, eight
and nine. And then to round out the top twelve,
we've got Notre Dame at TI BYU at eleven, and
Georgia Tech at number twelve. Again, many of these results

(05:07):
will probably be rendered meaningless in a matter of time.
As many of you are listening to this on a
Tuesday morning. This evening, the Playoff Committee's new set of
rankings will be out there. Their newest projected bracket will
be out there. So make of this whatever you will,
but just to give you some idea for how that

(05:27):
would translate, just to give you some sense for what
the playoff field might look like. We would have a
rematch of eight Oklahoma hosting number nine Alabama, with the
winner taking on Ohio State. We would have now number
five Texas Tech hosting number twelve James Madison, with the

(05:48):
winner scoring off against Georgia. We would have your Oregon
Ducks playing host to number eleven Georgia Tech, with the
winner scaring off against Texas A and M.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
And last, but certainly not least, we.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
Would have number seven Old Miss hosting number ten Notre Dame,
with the winner squaring off against Indiana Dan. So again,
make of this whatever you will. I do think we're
gonna see a fair amount of action, a fair amount
of reshuffling the deck here. Many of the teams will
remain locked in at its point. But certainly the matchups

(06:22):
and the pathways and all of the cool stuff that
we like to talk about once we have a better
idea for who's playing, much of that is still up
in the air at this point.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
I don't have anything strong again I can after this
past week, and I'm a big advocate of let's not
just take this past weekend's results, but even recent results,
and then this we're at week what thirteen now, We're
heading into week thirteen, so the resume conversations are pretty real.
You can look at what a team has and hasn't

(06:53):
done against who's placed in front of them in their
conference slate, and who they have chosen to play in
the non conference portion of their schedule. I was advocating
for Texts A and M to get consideration over Indiana
last week. I'm gonna stay limber. Also, I'm printing stay
Limber shirts available at merch dot.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
No.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, maybe I could, I could, I could. But what
I am recommending is at least a conversation or a
thought right now about Georgia over A and M after
this past weekend. What do you think? I'm still an
A and M guy.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Okay, I'm still an A and M guy, but it's
not lost to me that it feels to some degree
like George has gotten better.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Right.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
I totally agree, And even though I might not fully
subscribe to that yet, I do subscribe to your other mantra,
which is that the season is a living, breathing thing,
and a team in week one is not a team
in week thirteen. You know, oftentimes, pretty much across the board,
teams change, they get better, they get worse. But what

(07:57):
we saw from Georgia this past week, I thought it
was really impressive. That was really impressive. I agree the
way they sort of hit the after burners in the
fourth quarter and just blew past them. So I understand
the argument, I'm not there yet.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
You're not there yet. You think Texas A and M
has earned grace needing A I was gonna say, second half,
kind of a third quarter comeback to take down South Carolina.
But they've had other close calls, and they have not
played the best of the SEC. Not their fault, no, right,
things have shaken out in the conference in a way
that has advantaged the Aggies schedule wise. But okay, again,

(08:37):
if somebody were insistent on Georgia at three with a
loss to Alabama, a close loss at home to Alabama,
and A and M having close calls against less than
stellar teams but at all times also completely overwhelming teams
in that bottom however chunk of the SEC, I don't
think I would have a good argument against it. No, So.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
Okay, I mean, the only other thing that I'll add
to this conversation and that we kind of have a
question about this. So I don't want to give the
game away too much. But I think it is going
to be intense, intense between four teams in the American
and one team in the Sun Belt trying to qualify

(09:20):
for that coveted G six playoff spot. Right, I think
it's going to be absolutely fascinating these last three weeks
of the year, if you count conference championship week, to
see who the Committee eventually gives the nod to. We
might get some indications of that Tuesday night and give
us the latest polls, because in last week's poll, the

(09:43):
only G six team that was ranked was USF. My
hunches that we're going to see JMU, My hunches that
we might see North Texas. There are a couple teams
that we might see start to like bubble their way up.
How does the committee feel about ECU or two lane,
even Navy. It's going to be interesting. We'll talk about
that here in just a little bit, but that that
is what I am watching right now. We got a

(10:05):
bunch of questions about the playoff. Maybe we could just
jump right in, but this is where the overballer hood
is at with everballer top twelve. As per usual, we
will post this across all of our social channels, let
us know who's too high, who's too low?

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Is there by the way in this conversation as we
go through, because there are a number of quality teams
at or near the top of the American the you know,
Mountain West, obviously you mentioned James Madison in the Sunbelt.
What is the best G six? However, you want to
quantify these these conferences, what is their best non conference win?

(10:41):
Is it Tulane over Duke?

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Probably?

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, I'm trying to think because in that Cincinnati season,
we had Cincinnati over Notre Dame. Correct, it's right, and
that was a good Notre Dame team, not a great,
but good Notre Dame team. Sure, And so I'm just
trying to think about if you're trying to separate these teams.
Obviously we're gonna ge championship game and we're gonna get
tie breakers to get the two teams that appear in
the American Championship. But I'm just looking at this as

(11:08):
you know, Memphis did beat Arkansas, which is not nothing,
but it's not an upper half of the SEC team.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
I mean, what about USF beating Florida. I don't think
USSEF is going to necessarily be in the running for
the playoff field, but USF on the road dropping Florida
is sure about as good as it gets, I would
I would say so, I would say that the problem
is they lost their third game, so that becomes a

(11:35):
little bit trickier. ECU had that opportunity but lost to
NC State. James Madison had that opportunity, I think in
a big way, but lost to Louisville. So it's just look,
they're going to get one of these teams is going
to get in. So it's not like a Cincinnati issue
where they're trying to get into a four team playoff
as like a considered non power conference team. But I

(11:58):
just wonder, resume wise, what what is going to sing
the loudest when that conversation has had Dan, As you know,
we put out the call on our Patreon yes for questions.
It's been a minute since we did a mail bag episode.
Let's dive on in. Congratulations Skippy, you've got mail, You've
got mail on the solid Ruble as often as we can,

(12:21):
Dan Rubinstein, we like to give a nod to the
verballer hood, pay homage to the find folks out there
who support the show and have something they would like
to offer. First start with this one from Bob, Ohio
State or the Field. Can anyone beat this year's Ohio

(12:44):
State team given what we have seen after ten games?
Can anyone take advantage of their one vulnerability which appears
to be the inability to run the ball?

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Dan, If I gave you a bet and.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
I said, you get Ohio State or you get the
Field to win the National Championship, which one are you taking?

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Oh the Field and I think Ohio State may be
the best team. I just think it would be irresponsible
given Ohio State schedule thus far since that Texas game,
to feel great, like to feel impenetrable about Ohio State
and their chances to win the National Championship when there is,
you know, a grouping of teams that feature you know,

(13:26):
Georgia or Texas A and M and Texas Tech and
Oregon and Indiana, like they're just those teams out there
that odds wise. You're also saying Ohio State needs to
be perfect in terms of health, especially at quarterback, maybe
along the offensive line where there's a lot full time
new that it's a slog and by the way, should

(13:49):
also point out Ohio State is doing something very specific
and strategic to limit potential health issues. Obviously, it's football,
and you know, all it takes is a play for
a season to go to the crapper. But they are
playing slowly and more deliberately to limit the number of plays,
especially their offense is playing when they can control that.
But I guess you know, as a result, the defense

(14:11):
is playing fewer plays also because the defense just gets
the hell off the field right there pretty quickly, and
there we are with the defense leaving the field once again.
So they're being very deliberate about this. They're playing the
long game, and who's to blame them. Obviously it's working
quite well and worked quite well last year largely. I mean,
I'm looking at a couple of games and I'm sure

(14:33):
they'd like to have back, but when you win a
national championship, you don't really need to apologize for much.
That said, I'd still take the field. I just think
there are too many teams that are capable of an
excellent game and it's still a road that Ohio State
is going to have to go through. But yeah, if
you're going to say, if you're going to bet your
money on any one team, I'd probably take Ohio State

(14:55):
in this moment.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Sure, do you think it's fair that Bob points out
here that, at least in his view, Ohio State's vulnerability
is an inability to run the football.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
It's all relative. If you're an Ohio State fan, you
are used to seeing some incredible running backs this past
decade or so, JK. Dobbins and Trey Henderson, guys like that.
But yeah, I think there's a certain standard at Ohio
State that annually under Ryan Day, you've seen some incredibly
complete offenses. And this year with offensive line changes, I

(15:29):
know there's some questions about the inside of this line
at times in terms of consistency and strength that you know,
they haven't been as dominant. They haven't found like a
guy who is like the All American caliber dude that
they're used to having more often than not. And so, yes,
it's relative to what they're used to. But I think

(15:49):
that's a reasonable concern because in those short yardage moments
against say George or Indiana in a conference championship game,
you'd like to be able to control the red zone.
You'd like to be able to control those short yardage moments.
You'd like to open up some play action stuff. And
look again, you're you're picking the smallest of knits here
and talking about it because they've been blowing out everybody.

(16:10):
But once again, we haven't seen them measured against the
best in the conference and measured against the best in
the country at least since they took on that Texas
defense in Week one, and even that Texas defense has
sort of taken some hits since then. So yeah, I
think it's it's a reasonable quibble because there's not much
you can pick on about the defense with how they've performed.

(16:31):
There's not much you can pick on with Julian saying,
there's not much you can pick on on this group
of pass catchers, you know, tight end receiver included. So
if you're gonna look at one area that's less than
usually stellar, I guess it's the run game, right.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Bo Jackson is averaging close to six point three yards
per carry, sure, and I think he has grown into
this offense. I don't think it's fair to say that
there is an inability to run the ball. Think, to
your point, there's been a conscious decision very gradually, sure,

(17:07):
sort of like easing into a cold bath. Right, We're
just gonna very slowly bring Bo Jackson waw and bring
this rushing game along. So I think by the time
we get to the playoff, if they need to lean
on the ground game, they will be able to lean
on the ground game. I do understand the logic there,
because at least on paper, it looks as if that's
the weakness. Let me share a personal story though, when

(17:28):
it comes to the infamous blank versus the field bet.
When I was in my twenties, when I was young
and full of life and had fewer grays uh huh,
my summer job was as a caddy at a country club,
and the caddy master who pardoned the expression was an

(17:49):
enormous dick.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
Okay, every single golf.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
Major he would come over to the caddy shack and
he would ask all of us, who wants to do
a Tiger Tiger Woods versus the field bet? And a
lot of us would jump at it. I jumped at
it twice. I lost twice. Other people lost multiple times.
Granted this was prime Tiger when he was winning all

(18:13):
of the tournaments, but from that point forward, after seeing
the caddy master make a killing off of that bet,
I have always proceeded with caution when it comes to
these types of propositions, I don't take any of them
for granted. I would probably go Ohio State here, and

(18:34):
I understand that the logic is on the side of
the field, and I think everything you're saying and some
of the stuff that Bob brings up here, it's all relevant,
absolutely relevant. I just think Ohio States the best team
so far this year.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
I do.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
I think they're complete. I have not seen anybody get
Julian say in off rhythm. They have a embarrassment of
riches out. If they are starting to learn the to
run the football, that makes them a more complete offense.
And nobody's really been able to do anything on this defense.
So I understand that there's always a possibility. But whether

(19:14):
I'm getting odds or not, give me Ohio State, I'm
totally okay with that standpoint. I I'm totally okay with
that viewpoint, other than the fact that we're talking about
sports here, with football, not golf. And at no point,
at no point was VJ. Singh ever going to suplex
Tiger Woods out of nowhere and end his season. Now,
there were other threats, external threats to Tiger Woods's success.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
As it turns out.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
There were, There were, there absolutely were.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
But it wasn't Davis Love tackling them below the knees. No,
it wasn't that.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
I'm just saying I have learned to proceed with caution
when you get the blank versus the field bet because
of my own personal experience, I must have lost a
hundred various guy. I couldn't stand him, but he would
come around with this bet and like clock, everybody would
take de bait he made. He must have made a
killing during Prime Tiger. I don't know how much he

(20:05):
made off that. Thank you for the question, Bob, Let's
go to Zach. He says, which of the contending G
six teams has the best chance of pulling a twelve
over five upset in the playoffs? Stan ooh, I like this, Okay,
I love this question.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
So what do you need? What do you need?

Speaker 1 (20:25):
What is your anatomy of an upset? Here to use?

Speaker 2 (20:29):
Who was it was any saying that over and over again?
Or anatomy of a comeback? I think it was Booger
McFarland during the South Carolina A and m high rights.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Does he say that as much as he says, no doubt?

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Oh, that's a good one, probably not. Don't play the.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Drinking game where you take a swig every time Booger
says no doubt.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
So what to you is the immediate factor where you're like,
if I'm picking a team, this is what I need
to have them pull off a shocker if it appears
that the talent level isn't on the same play.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
It needs to be a team that does not have
a catastrophic defense. I agree, it cannot be a team
that is just, you know, even remotely like a half team.
Because bear in mind, if you're at twelve, you're probably
gonna go up against a team like a Georgia team
like a Texas Tech. Maybe Oregon can worm their way
up into or you're talking about complete teams, teams that

(21:22):
can do a lot well on offense in particular, and
also are very very good on defense. That's why there's
a number five seed to begin with. Sure you're not
going to get horrible defenses up at number five. You
need a team that is good enough to create an
extra drive, a team that is good enough to force
a mistake, a team that is not relying solely on

(21:45):
their offense to try and out score an opponent. Because
I don't think you're going to be able to do that.
Like I like North Texas a lot. North Texas, per
the latest run of the sp Plus has the number
three offense in America. They're very fun there, very good.
I am rooting for North Texas like hell, it's a
great story. They've got the number seventy seven SP plus defense.

(22:07):
What do we think happens if we put them up
against like Georgia? How do we think that goes? They're
gonna have to find new ways to win. Yeah. So
I only think there is one answer for this, and
that's James Madison. JMU is clearly the best defense of
the teams that I think we are considering right now
for that remaining spot. And again, those five teams, including

(22:29):
James Madison are Navy ECU two lane in North Texas. Now,
ECU is not bad defensively, they're a top fifty defense.
But JMU, by comparison, is dramatically better. I think they're
the only answer here for this question.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
Okay, I think I'm with you. I mean there's I
had given some consideration to ECU as well, just because
I think the quality of team they're playing might be
a little bit higher and their defense has been good.
But yeah, ultimately i'd take a potential game change in
core arter back in combination with that defense. And they've
held down the best of you know, they haven't won

(23:06):
any forty seven, forty three games this season. No, they've
held teams to ten, twenty three, twenty twenty seven against ODU.
But they're scoring all the time, so it's a possession
thing as well. And that's a good ODU team. They won,
they held gave up fourteen seven, ten thirteen. They gave
up twenty eight to Louisville week two on the road,
and ten the week before that to a Weaver State
team that doesn't even play on this level. I think

(23:28):
JMU is the answer. I do think I agree with
you in JMU. The great thing about him is they
force a ton of three and outs. They are I believe,
terrific on third down on defense, and so that I mean,
that's its own skill, figuring out ways to confuse and
get off the field quickly. I don't trust them to
do it. But of these teams, if you're giving me

(23:49):
the choice of, you know, a potentially game changing quarterback
performance combined with the ability to get off the field
on defense. I think it's James Madison, who, by the way,
Sidebar should absolutely have been hosting or have been whatever,
should absolutely be hosting Game Day this week the head
of their matchup against Wazoo, that should be out of

(24:11):
Harrisonburg this week. And they're going to ask the Oregon
which I don't know. That doesn't That doesn't get me
going like it used to when Game Day would go
to Oregon. They're already there this year for the Indiana game.
They should be a JMU or like Brawl of the
Wild or something. Yeah, I agree, take the opportunity. I
completely agree, But I think the answer is JMU and
I you're right to bring up the quarterback thing. Alonza

(24:31):
Barnett's had a good year. He's had a good year,
and he's dynamic. He's a runner, he's a thrower. They
can do a lot with.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
Him, and they have.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
They've been very easy. He's a trek star.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, and Tulane has a little bit of the same
going on with Jake Retzliff, But I don't think Tulaane
is a team is as good right now as JMU.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
Also, they're starting Seinfeld and Jurassic Parks Wayne Knight at
starting running back tie. How could you not like their
tailback is Wayne Knight Television's Wayne Knight. Let's go Nate,
Nate says.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Stu Mandel said that the SEC might get five or
six teams into the playoff. WHOA, that's crazy, right? The fifth,
the sixth place team in any conference are just not
that good, even in the vaunted SEC. This isn't so
much a question as it is I think a comment
from Nate, Right, do you agree.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
With that that that's too many teams for any one
conference to send to the playoff?

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah? The fifth, the sixth place team in that conference,
in any conference, just isn't that good.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
If there were six SEC teams in the playoff, it
would be such a disservice to the sport. It would
be so god awful for this sport to send. I
guess in this case would be Vanderbilt.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
It would be either Vandy or if something really comes
off to Swivel, Texas.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
If it were happened, if were to happen today, it
would be Vanderbilt.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Likely, right, correct?

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah, I don't I don't see how you can do
that today. I don't see how you can do six
is seven bridges to are let alone a bridge too far. Yeah,
I would, I would hesitate about what this playoff actually is.
If we're sending half of the field from one conference,
we can have conversations about, you know, who has earned it,

(26:17):
you know up until now, right up, like what are
the qualifications, what are the resumes? Like Vandy is number
twelve right now in the country and the a people
which has no meaning. No, but that's just conversationally where
some people who follow the sport closely. Not all of
the people that vote follow the sport closely, but some
of the people who follow the sport closely have said

(26:38):
Vandy is the twelfth best team in the country them
I getting am I looking at the right pole?

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Yeah, well, if you're looking at the latest round of polling,
yeah yeah. In the AP Vanderbilt is currently twelve. In
the Coach's poll, they are thirteenth, and if you go
back to last week's college football playoff rankings, they were
number fourteen, right, so they're right there. They're behind Utah,
behind they were behind Oklahoma and Texas. That will likely

(27:03):
change their one spot ahead of Miami and two spots
ahead of Georgia Tech as well. So there are a
bunch of teams I think in that eleven through even
eighteen range that are supremely interesting. In this conversation, I
agree because truly none of them are really out of
it yet. We'll see how this week shakes out. But

(27:27):
part of the reason why I think I am so
excited about Week fourteen is we're going to see all
of this break. It's all going to break sort of
in tandem, and it's going to make for a massive
week of football. I was telling you earlier. The games
on Black Friday are enormous, the games on Saturday are enormous.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
We're going to have.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
Maybe our most watched show live on Saturday night. Just
the response to what we're going to see go down
in Rivalry week, because there's a lot that really could
go on here. So many different posts stabilities I think
are still on the table. There will also be full
nudity on that episode. I don't know if that's going
to turn people on to the watching it live. You
need to create AI avatars so that it's a little

(28:09):
bit more appealing to the.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
That's true, No, Okay, So like what are you considering now?
Obviously you're considering the final two weeks of the season,
and that's something that's an unknown right now. But when
you look at teams in this conversation, like Miami Utah,
you know, Georgia Tech has the opportunity to win the
conference and get in no matter what. But you mentioned
things getting screwy with Texas or take your pick, Virginia Oklahoma. Obviously,

(28:35):
in this conversation, like we mentioned the top, BYU is
sitting the possibility of going eleven and one, like I
think a pretty reasonable possibility, right yep. For BYU, they
finished the season with a difficult Cincinnati this weekend and
then a UCF team that seems pretty beatable at the
moment for a team like BYU. So what are you
considering with these teams? What's going what's working for them
and what's working against them in your mind without having

(28:58):
the balance of their schedule back up.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
One second, okay, more to the point, just put a
bone on what I was just saying. Please, it's going
to be week thirteen, so we're still, you know, a
week and a half out from rivalry week. But there
are three games in particular, three and a half games
let's say that I think are going to determine a

(29:21):
lot the first is on Friday Night. The first is
Texas versus Texas A and M. I think Texas A
and M is probably in regardless at this point, I'm
going to drive two games. Texas A and M is
more than likely going to be in this playoff field
barring some sort of crazy disaster that I have yet
to determine. How that seemed possible. I don't think Texas
has a way in, But if everything breaks again, could

(29:45):
they get a chance. Maybe? I don't know, but again
I don't think that's likely either. Texas knocking off Texas
A and M I think could have a big impact
on where teams are seated, right, So that's one thing
to watch on that front.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Texas A and M currently project it as a sixty
six to negative eight winner over Samford for sp plus great.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
Great. The second game that I am very interested in,
and I think the ultimate agent of chaos these last
two weeks is Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech has a big game,
an enormous game against Pitt this week, followed by a
year ender, clean old fashioned hate against Georgia. Now, obviously,

(30:28):
if they were to lose to Pit this week, that
could pretty much submarine it would submarine their ACC chances.
If they win, they could in all likelihood they will
in all likelihood go to the ACC championship game.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
So if they lose to Pit, then who in turn
plays for the accam putting you.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
All, well, then we got to go and we got
to see what happens the following week. Yeah, of course,
all right, So if they win, they're in. If they lose,
then there's a whole bunch of possibilities they're depending on
a lot of help. Absolutely, if Georgia Tech were to
knock off Georgia, that brings into the conversation a whole
range of other possibilities with their to seating. It probably

(31:03):
has some impact on the lower end of that college
football playoff field. Right, We're looking at who's in the
top twelve, who's in the top ten, who gets bumped out,
who gets left in? All of these things that think
play a factor. If Georgia Tech wins, how far up
do they vault? Who else might they knock back? Right,
even a team like a Notre Dame could be vulnerable.

(31:26):
If Georgia Tech were to beat Pitt and then beat Georgia,
suddenly Georgia Tech's probably a top ten team and their
shoulder in some teams out. So if they go on
that run, they're very very interesting to follow.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
Well, they're shouldering teams out regardless because they have the
opportunity to just win.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
The ACC potentially potentially, And that's a separate conversation, but
just in terms of the games that they have left
totally different than the conference championship game, which they may
or may not be a part of. If you win
those two games, that makes things really interesting, I think,
is in particular on the back end of that college
football playoff ranking. And then the third game that I

(32:02):
would add I'm not necessarily going to include Miami pitt
in here, even though I'm very interested in that. The
third one is one I've been talking up and it's
one that everyone knows about already, and that's Michigan against
Ohio State. Now, even though Ohio State to me feels
inevitable and even though I still am inclined to pick
them as a national championship come hell or high water,

(32:23):
at this point, whether they lose, whether they win against Michigan,
they're still going to get into that playoff field. Sure,
But Michigan knocking off Ohio State opens up a whole
range of possibilities in the Big Ten. Right Well, that
game eliminates Ohio State from the Big Ten Championship. If
they were to lose, that eliminates Ohio State from the
Big Ten Championship. Indiana in all I coilhood gets in,

(32:47):
you know, going undefeated. But depending on what goes down
this week with say USC Oregon, depending on what goes
down the remainder of the season, there's a good number
of teams that can still find their way into that
Big Ten Championship game. It is not likely that a
team like a USC could make it, but it is
certainly not out of the realm of possibilities. Michigan knocking

(33:09):
you off Ohio State for what would this be fourth
fifth straight year or whatever it is, that would make
things incredibly complicated in the Big Ten and it would
definitely have far ranging impact again on the bottom end
of that college Football playoff ranking. So for me as
a Notre Dame fan, I think if you're a BYU fan,

(33:31):
I think if you're a fan of any of those Utah,
any of those teams sort of on the bottom cusp
of the college Football playoff rankings, and we'll see how
they treat a team like a Notre Dame this week.
But I don't think it is safe for you if
you are even at number nine right now, I think

(33:52):
there's a lot that could go on that could still
shoulder you out.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
So keep those games in mind.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Those are the three that I think have the most
potential to make things really really weird. I don't know
if that answers your question, but that's how I am
thinking about who gets in and who doesn't get in.
In terms of the SEC getting five or six in,
you know, I don't feel great either about one conference
getting six teams in the playoff. I think it's a
little bit excessive. I would like to see a little

(34:19):
bit more of an even distribution. I don't think I'm
alone in that. Certainly everybody outside the SEC feels that way.
I'm no different. But the way that the rankings are
set up right now, there is I think a slim
but very real possibility they could get six in.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
The idea of like a three loss Oklahoma team getting
in if they were to go down to who they
have miszoo. The idea of like a three loss Oklahoma
team getting in over like a two loss BYU team
kind of rubs me the wrong way because that it

(34:54):
might mean that BYU loses to what Texas Tech twice? Yep,
I just I'm not into the idea of like the
possibility of six SEC teams getting in is just like
laughable to me, Like what what stands out? So my
question to you was, like what stands out to you
as like the more intriguing elements of teams resumes in
cases for or against that are in this conversation, Like

(35:17):
is there anything about Miami that perhaps we are under selling?
Is there anything about Notre Dame? Is there anything about Utah?
Is there anything about you know, Oregon? Is there anything
about Oklahoma? Is there anything you know that? Like should
we how much should we be considering Oklahoma's lost to
Texas because John Mattier was coming back from surgery. By
the way, Oklahoma decided to start him right, he didn't

(35:38):
force their hand, not no pun intended. But I'm glad
we went there that. You know, how much do we
weigh things like that? You know that Miszoo lost to Vanderbilt,
but Bo Prabula got hurt in that game. Bo Brabula
was not effective in that game, to be clear, against Vandy.
But like, what are the contexts of resumes in these

(36:00):
conversational teams that you think are pertinent to include.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
Well, I'll tell you what interests me the most, Okay,
And obviously I'm not in a position to decide what
should count and what shouldn't. What I am most interested in,
especially this time of year, is when the committee puts
a two loss team over a one loss team. Okay,
you know so BYU is a really good example of that, right,
BYU has one loss. BYU is behind a bunch of

(36:26):
teams right now.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
They were not competitive in that loss. They were not
competitive in that loss. I understand that.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
But BYU right now, at nine to one, is behind
a two loss Oklahoma two loss, Notre Dame two loss, Alabama. Personally,
I don't think BYU beats any of those teams. I'm
not sure BYU beats any of the teams in front
of them. Right they had a shot against Texas Tech.
They got smoked, right, But I'm curious to hear how
the playoff committee rationalizes putting them behind.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
On a certain level. I get it because the strength
of BYU's performance this season has been mixed. Right, double
overtime against Arizona. Arizona is a good team, but double
overtime against Arizona. So when you have the opportunity, if
you're in a conference that does not have as many
headliners to make statements against the opponents in that conference
and you're beating Colorado by three. Right, Again, this doesn't

(37:17):
mean that BYU is overrated, but I'm saying the full
context of the BYU argument is like, let's look at
how they performed against who they had to play against,
and it's not always the best. And to that end,
by the way, I thought they had their most complete
game this past weekend against TCU, a quality team that
they ran away from immediately and performed. Did they have

(37:40):
four sacks? Like? They overwhelmed TCU on the lines, Bear
Bachmeier had an excellent game, they ran well. It was
a very nice statement win for BYU when they haven't
always had, you know, they haven't always made them. So
I think they're on the uptick right now. Person.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah, So that the winkles, I think along with that
conversation or what I'm most interested in Miami, I think
is really interesting too.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
So what are other wrinkles do you do? You see?
What are the the what is it called when you
look at your eyes at the crow's feet? Is that
what the wrinkles? I suppose you look pretty good, ty,
being like in your mid to late forties, you look
honestly terrific.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
Continue Miami is really interesting to me because obviously had
the win over Notre Dame, lost at home against Louisville,
lost on the road at SMU. Right, I don't believe
either is ranked at this point.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
What is their strongest win since that Notre Dame one?
What is the strongest win? And you should include Notre Dame,
but that is week one, which we should devalue a
little bit but not fully devalue. So that's a great
win for Miami. What is the the strength of performance
index for them? For you, like in the ACC what

(38:56):
is that performance? You're like, yeah, that that was their day.

Speaker 1 (39:01):
They looked really good this past week against NC State.
Totally Yes, I thought they looked awesome against NC State,
But I think it's an open question looking at the
rest of the schedule to your point of what was
the most impressive. The way that they mopped up on
South Florida I thought was intriguing because South Farda's holiday

(39:24):
team been a ranked team there. If nothing more, they're
certainly a quality team. Forty nine to twelve.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
They killed them, and I would have Miami coming out
of the American because of it.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Continue, you know, but you know you're short on other
marquee wins that I think you really hang your hat on.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Also true about Notre Dame to some extent. The USC
question sure is like their kind of loan data point here.
It is.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
It is, So I guess the question on the Miami
front that we're going to have to come to grips
with is they beat Notre Dame week one, then lost
to what could end up being two unranked teams. Now,
if they beat Pitt, if Pitt wins this week against
Georgia Tech, that'll be a ranked opponent in all likelihood.

(40:12):
I'm not sure how the Committee is going to feel
about Pitt, but I think if they beat Tech they'll
be ranked again. So there's a pretty good chance that
they'll they'll have a win over a good team if
they can get past Pitt.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
And that's on the road.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
Losing to two unranked opponents I think really works against them.
Even though they did beat a team like Notre Dame
and by the way, there are other teams in front
of Miami too. It's not just Miami versus Notre Dame
a playoff spot. There's a handful of other schools that
I think if you can pair resumes heads up, there's
a pretty good chance that those schools get the NOD.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Yes. And by the way, the win over pit was
not nothing for Notre Dame. I should say they were ranked.
They've won a bunch of games. It's a quality win.
They won that game on the road. It was a
somewhat hostile crowd. I would say in Akrasher Is that
where it is Akroscher Stadium.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Pitt's gonna beat Georgia Tech in Miami, think so I do.
They're gonna They're gonna win both those games.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Interesting. Okay, by the way, we should point I mean
you sort of alluded to the fact that Miami's loss
could be to two unranked teams. That what you were saying, Yeah,
I mean Louisville just watched the Clemson SMU is like
kind of still in it for the Acs.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
They dare much they much They're they're in the others
receiving votes category right now.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
Yeah, they could make a huge leap in the A people.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
But SMU is in a really interesting spot. They've got
a game this week against Louisville. They've got a game
next week against SMU. In theory, they should win both
those games. Those look like two winnable games.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
Not Louisville SMU is playing. They're not playing SMU.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
SMU is playing Louisville and SMU is playing cal What
did I sell there? You go?

Speaker 2 (41:42):
You said SMU is playing SMU.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
Now they do in practice, But yeah, on Saturday, they'll
be playing against a different opponent. There's a pretty good
chance that SMU is favorite of both those games and
wins both those games. Yes, And so what ends up
happening if they do win out, if Georgia Tech wins
their game, and if Virginia also wins their remaining game
against Virginia Tech, then suddenly, yeah, we've got a three

(42:04):
way tie atop the ACC. The NOD would go to
Georgia Tech and Virginia over SMU. But a lot of times,
as we get deeper into these tie breakers, it's based
on conference opponent win percentage. And this is the part
of it that I can't really calculate too many like permutations, Okay,
so there are definite ways that even in that scenario,

(42:26):
based on what goes on elsewhere in the ACC, SMU
could still end up getting the NOD over you know Whoever.
So this is all to say, yes, SMU is very
much still in this No, they're not ranked, but SMU
was in the ACC Title Game of year ago. SMU
could have won the ACC Title Game a year ago.
SMU was in the playoff a year ago. This is

(42:46):
still a pretty good team, still a pretty good team.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Even more specifically so since the bye week, SMU just
to spotlight them for thirty seconds longer. They They were
disastrous on defense before the bye, giving up a ton two,
TCU and Baylor. Since then eighteen ten, twenty four, thirteen,
twenty and thirteen, and if you don't believe in the
voodoo of the letdown, look ahead sandwich tie. They beat

(43:11):
Clemson on the road, they beat Miami at home, and
in between they lost to Wake Forest on the road.
Their defense has quietly become like a top twenty ish
unit once again. They're one of the best, like five
or seven red zone defenses in America. They have an
absolute opportunity to be like America's grower of the year, support,

(43:31):
Colan support, local farmers support.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
Yeah. Shout out to Dino by the way out on Spotify.
You see he loves the letdowns and the look aheads.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
Oh good, big fan. Not really?

Speaker 1 (43:40):
Okay, let's go to this one from ephrin Okay, which
conference is the best?

Speaker 2 (43:49):
Okay? He goes.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
Your opinion is the only one that matters. It has
to be one singular conference. It can't be like, yeah,
the ACC is parody, but the Big twelve is better.
Teams at the top. I will use your claims in
any argument I have. Thank you, it's the best conference? Dan,
what do you think?

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Top to bottom?

Speaker 1 (44:10):
Who's the best conference?

Speaker 2 (44:11):
So it's it's extremely personal. So is it top to
bottom entertaining? Is it top to bottom? Like if everybody
was head to head and played like one hundred and
thirty sixteen playoff, who would have the most impressive performances
in the aggregate?

Speaker 1 (44:24):
I mean, this is a bring me a rock type question? Right?
What does government mean to you type question?

Speaker 2 (44:29):
Yeah? Of course agree.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
Everything is sort of relative pound for pound. I think
the SEC is the best conference. I think the SEC
is deeper. I think if you take the fifth the
sixth best team in the SEC and put them up
against Illinois. I guess in the Big Ten, whoever in
the Big Twelve or the ACC, I would be inclined

(44:53):
to go SEC in most of those matchups. I also
think the bottom of the SEC is dramatically better than
the bottom of some of the other conferences that would
be in this conversation right right. The bottom of the
SEC is clearly better than the bottom of the Big Twelve.
It's clearly better in the bottom of the ACC. It's
clearly better than the bottom of the Big Ten. So
I think in terms of overall depth, maybe the heights

(45:14):
aren't quite as high as say the Big Ten, but
overall conference depth, for me, I think the ACC is
deepest and best.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
I think this year it's the SEC. I agree with you.
This year, I agree because of the depth that there
have been close losses by the teams at the bottom,
even some wins at the bottom over teams perceived to
be nearer in that top grouping. And so I'm with you.
I think when you look at the metric that I

(45:43):
looked at immediately was like, how many good to really
good quarterbacks do do each of these conferences have? And
I think the SEC has the most in this moment
where like, if Lenora Sellers is having like the eleventh
best season of the quarterbacks in your conference, then that's
probably the conference. And so when I went through the
Big Twelve, when I went through the Big Ten, there's

(46:05):
just the chunk of quarterbacks at the bottom of these
other conferences gave me the willies to such an extent
that I could not even consider them, Like if you're
talking to me about considering, you know, a Wisconsin quarterback situation,
Preston Stone at Northwestern and like all these dudes, and

(46:25):
all due respect, of course, but it becomes very difficult
for me when you look at the bottom half of
the quarterbacks and the Big Ten to say, like, yeah,
that's the that's where we are as a country. The
Big Ten is who we are. So no, I think
it's the SEC this season, but not in such a
way that I don't think that I just just sort

(46:47):
of put myself into a corner. Grammatically, I don't think
the SEC is impenetrable. I've used that word twice on
this episode. Now. I don't think they are head and shoulders,
that the top is head and shoulders above the best
of the sport but as a conference in terms of entertainment,
quarterback play, number of game changing players at various positions,

(47:11):
it's the SEC this year.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
I think I'm in agreement with you. Yes, Dale, move on,
let's go to this one. This came in via email
from Eric. Which team's coaching search is the biggest domino
during the current coaching carousel?

Speaker 2 (47:26):
Texas?

Speaker 1 (47:26):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (47:26):
Was I not supposed to say that yet?

Speaker 1 (47:29):
A Look, if Sark decides he wants to go to
the NFL, that'd be a pretty big domino.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Yeah, Okay, the publicly known I've just educated making that
up Texas thing. The publicly known coach opening that is
going to be the biggest domino to me is likely Florida.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
I think this is the wrong question, to be honest
with you, What is the right question? I think the
right question is which coach and not which coaching opening.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
Like which coach's decision?

Speaker 1 (48:04):
I think lane Kiffin's the biggest domino. I think Lane
Kiffin's the one that any number of vacancies out there
would love to have Lane Kiffin, right, whether it's Florida,
whether it's Llos, who, even Penn State. You know, pretty
much everybody across the board to take Lane Kiffin at
this point, and you know, we have seen sort of
this hierarchy of potential coach candidates that have been floated

(48:29):
out there for any number of jobs. Now, right, it's
Lane Kiffin, it's Eli Drinkwitz, it's John Summral, it's Eric Morris,
it's Ryan Silverfield, like it's all the same names for
all these jobs. At this point. If you take Lane
Kiffin off the board, we slide down a peg. Doesn't

(48:49):
mean they're worse coach, not implying that, right, but at
least with how we're thinking about this based on public reporting,
if Lane's off the board, then suddenly you know we're
going down to like options CEE in a lot of cases. Sure,
so I think what he decides to do will be
the most interesting. I did read some reporting, I think
from our friends out at CBS earlier today that sort

(49:12):
of talked you through what the thinking is in Oxford.
Initially they felt very good about keeping him. Most recently
they have felt a little less good about keeping him,
starting to think maybe that he would take the job
at Florida. But as everybody has been quick to point
out link Iffin, he changed his mind based on the
wind so it's tough to pin down exactly what this

(49:35):
guy wants to do. But I think if he decides
to go to Florida, obviously there's you know, the question
of all right, who's going to step into a very
good Old Miss program?

Speaker 2 (49:43):
Right?

Speaker 1 (49:43):
If he decides to stay put good for ole Miss,
but suddenly everyone else is looking elsewhere, that's how we
get Jedfish at Florida. By the way, just FYI, Yeah,
which is definitely still a very real possibility, which.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
Would be maybe another potential UCLA Florida battle like we
had with Chip Kel allegedly at least to a coach
considering those two places. Sure, what I'm curious about, and
I don't follow this closely enough, is what more could
if it's not a money thing. If we're going to

(50:15):
take Lane at his word that he said his decision
is not going to be rooted in financial reasons, what
more could Ole Miss do to make itself attractive to
Lane Kiffin in the long term, because he apparently has
has everything he's asked for, you know, at least allegedly.
It's probably a prestige thing.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
And we have a question about that next from Davis,
that that we can talk about. But ole Miss has
complied with every one of his demands, and so if
he leaves to go somewhere else, it's about the prestige
of the Florida program. It maybe is a lifestyle decision
to want to move to Gainesville if you're Lane Kiffin.
I mean, he's obviously been very successful. I think his

(50:56):
family's all in Oxford now. I think everybody's sort of.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
Moved and everybody's there.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
His kids recruit playing for like Oxford High or whatever. Yeah, right,
so it's it would be a lifestyle decision to leave
at this point if they wanted to live somewhere else.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
Yeah, I think there is. I don't know if it's
the prestige of Florida, but that is tied into it,
or LSU or else anywhere else he would consider. It's
I think more five stars and high four stars in
the South and nationally would be likelier to consider immediately
Florida and LSU as potential destinations before ole Miss, not

(51:35):
because of anything he has or hasn't done at ole Miss,
just because the recognition and the like I could be
the next blank, right, I could be the next Patrick Peterson.
I could be the next Derek Stingley. I could be
the next Tim Tebow. I could be the next take
your pick right, is a little bit more pronounced in
even in the modern era, even with all of Florida's struggles,

(51:57):
than what Ole Miss has been lately. I don't know
if that's fair, but that seems to be the reality,
at least for my advantage.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
I'll tell you this about ole Miss. You want to
know what else can Old Miss do to keep him there? Sure,
Ole Miss is going to make the playoff this year.
That's true, and for the first time they were on
the outside looking in a year ago. You might recall
Lane taking a social media kind of arguing with anybody
who he could argue with to make that case. But

(52:25):
I think as a proof of concept, going to the playoff,
probably hosting a game in the playoff, I think that
will help. Unless he's already made up his mind, I
think that will help, just to prove that, yes, it's
possible here. All these guys are competitive, they want to
win national championships. But hosting a playoff game in the

(52:47):
first round, maybe winning, maybe being favored, whatever, I think
all that stuff would help keep him there.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
The proof of concept of coaching a team and leading
a program that is no longer playoff ish but playoff official.

Speaker 1 (53:02):
Let's go to Davis, who says, in this new era
of college football, do programs need to redefine success and
what defines a quote blue blood program? If so, how
do fans need to change their mindset? Along those same lines? Dan?

Speaker 2 (53:20):
When you when you said wrong question before about the
not the coach, but rather or the coach rather than
the school or the job. I don't think this is
a reasonable question because this is an unreasonable sport populated
by unreasonable fans. Like the idea of college football fans

(53:40):
changing their perspective, do they need to? Of course, absolutely,
they need to adjust their perspective on what constitutes a
winning season in these like gigantic conferences that in some
years are absolutely stacked one through seven. However you want
to phrase it, it just won't happen, right because all
you want to do is college football fan, is win

(54:02):
every game one hundred to nothing, develop a bunch of
first round picks. And now, look, there are schools that
have had no success that to have even a taste
of a seven to eight nine win season is incredible.
But let me tell you something about Indiana fans. If
they have one more year after this one of a

(54:24):
double digit win season, They're all going to be like
I was after flying first class once. This is who
I am now, everybody. Yeah, it's just you lose perspective
quickly when you get that taste that why aren't we
like we were last year? Why aren't we like we
were these past couple of seasons. So if they go

(54:44):
twelve to oh this season, Indiana, and if they go
ten and to eleven and one to twelve and oh
next season, and they have made the playoff for three
straight seasons and then don't make the playoff and only
go eight and four, nine and three, it is going
to be no. No, I'm a first class fly now
and I'm not slumming it in thirty two d guys.

(55:05):
And that's just what happens in this sport. You get
that taste and you don't want to go back.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
I'm thinking of the Forks episode and the Bear or
Richie just decides he's a suit guy. Yeah, I'm a
suit guy. Now. This is a suit where I think
we need to redefine almost everything in this era. Of course,
question like being a blue blood quote unquote is obviously
still relevant because these are programs that have committed resources

(55:31):
to building out their football program. It's clearly a program
that moves the needle that gets ratings, a program that
simply cannot be left out if you are trying to
tell the story of college football. That's what a blue
blood is.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
By the way, that like we're definitions matter and blue
blood does not just mean like one of the best.
Blue blood actually means like historical best, right, So like
you can't just become a blue blood if you're good
for five years. You have to have I've been good
in nineteen fifty three or it doesn't count. This is
I think my bigger point. Yeah, tradition doesn't buy you

(56:06):
what it used to. No, you know, like part of
why I like the combination.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
Of what we have now that being the bigger playoff
field nil in the transfer port. All of course it's
introduced chaos, but it's also like the perfect storm for
a disruptor like Indiana to just come out of nowhere,
take the whole thing by storm, and upend what a
lot of us.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Thought to be true. And it's an ever ReConference. Now
there's Indiana, there's Texas Tech, there's Vanderbilt, it's Virginia. This season,
like people spend, people are able to jump up quickly,
and it's great.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
It is great, and it's I know, people throw around
the P word a lot parody. It is not parody
to the extent of the NFL. It's not even close
to that. I do think this sport needed a pretty
healthy dose of parody just to make things interesting again.
You know, I can't tell you we've been doing the
show forever. If I had a dollar for every person

(57:02):
that emailed us over the last ten years expressing some
concern that it's always the same team, it's always Alabama, Georgia,
Ohio State. I'm gonna stop watching. It doesn't do it
for me. It feels inevitable. Week two. We don't have
that anymore.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
It couldn't have been worse in terms of enthusiasm when
it was like Alabama Clemson three out of four years.
It wasn't. It wasn't.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
And we know because we've done this yeah for a
long time. We know what the vibe is of the
rebeller hood and whether or not your team is involved
in this playoff chase, whether or not you're getting absolutely
hollowed out in the transfer portal via nil and all
that stuff. That is absolutely a very real concern. This
is not a new setup that benefits you if you

(57:47):
do not have resources. So there is still very much
a situation where you've got haves and have nots that
has not gone away. It probably won't go away anytime soon,
but there are definitely new variables in this day and age.
I was looking before or just at the bracket that
I sort of translated from Marv Baller Top twelve poll.
Seven of the twelve teams in that projected field are

(58:08):
not what we would consider blue bloods. I think that's
a good thing.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
Same.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
I think that's a good I think that makes it fun.
I think that gives people a reason to care, even
if you don't have a dog in the fight. You know,
pick a new team, pick a team that you're excited
to see there be there, and you know, let's root
for some chaos. But the whole blue blood thing that
definitely still has a place in the sport. It is
absolutely the kind of thing that we write about when

(58:34):
we try to tell the story of college football. But
in terms of its actual relevance now, I think it
is greatly diminished.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
It's it's all why you know, this idea of being
able to jump up quickly, this idea of being able
to suddenly have a seat at the table with an
expanded playoff, with the ability to restock your roster quickly
and come to the table financially in a way that
to weren't able to. It's why there are a subset

(59:03):
of Oregon State fans who are willing to absolutely debase
and defile themselves to do anything vile, horrible, unspeakable that
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Oregon State alum to get
him in the boat, right, Yeah, because the thirst is

(59:23):
so real to become that team who is suddenly relevant
and suddenly, you know, a scary team for the traditional powers.
And so, if anything, it's just going to make people
more unrealistic. So here we are. We said it before
that like Kurtzignetti's success is the worst possible thing to
happen to new coach hires across this sport. He has

(59:44):
screwing everybody over. But there's truth to it. There's absolute
truth to the idea that you can jump up if
you find the right guy, if you get everybody behind
you if you're at the right place, you know you
can't You can't ever say never. Is that how you
say his name Jensen Hwang or is it Huang?

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
I have no idea. Yeah, I didn't even know his name,
and Ody looks like, yeah, I had no idea. What
to Oregon State? And where's the leather jackets?

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
All the time? Yes, she wears like the tom Cruise
mission impossible, like leathery biker jat there is a grouping
of people there and maybe it's three guys I don't
know who are like, how do.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
We do this?

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
How do we do this? His guy's worth four hundred
trillion dollars. We just need a sliver and we can
run the West Coast.

Speaker 1 (01:00:29):
I think there is almost a false promise though, when
you look at a guy like Kurt Signetti, because now
he's been successful two years with the transfer portal. There
are plenty of other schools around college football that have
tried in a failed Mike Norvell has failed two years
in a row. It is hard to hit year in

(01:00:50):
and year out if you are building via the transfer portal. Now,
I think the hope is if you're Kurt Signetti for Indiana,
that you kind of fake it until you make it.
On the recruiting side, they're obviously getting good talent to
come in. For Nana Mendoza might win the Heisman, but
he's a transfer. Well, it's everything with Indiana, it's everything, right,
But I think the point is right now, they are

(01:01:10):
primarily building through the portal. And as we have seen
time and again across college football, while there are schools
that hit, Texas Tech is one of them that's hits
so far this year, there are plenty of others that haven't.
It is really hard to maintain success with that formula
year and in year out. Yeah, so two our questions here, Okay,
then we'll call it plase please this one from Jeremy.

(01:01:33):
Can Utah make the playoffs without winning the Big Twelve
and then win at least one game in the College
Football Playoff? So let me say this, Okay, Okay, I
want to kick part two of that over to you.
Right now, ESPN is saying that there's about a thirty
nine percent chance of Utah making the playoff, which is
not nothing. I mean, that is a very real possibility

(01:01:54):
that they could make it even if they don't win
the Big Twelve. Even though it wasn't Jeremy's question. It
is still worth noting that Utah can also still win
the Big Twelve, so they technically have two pathways in right,
So yes, that is a very real possibility. We can
debate whether or not we think that's realistic, but mathematically speaking,

(01:02:16):
it's about thirty nine percent. Do we think that Utah
can win a playoff game? That is my question for you.
If they get in, can they win a playoff game?
Bearing in mind that it is almost definitely going to
be a road game against the team seeded five through eight, right.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
My answer is yes. My answer is yes when you
have that defense. It's a top fifteen defense that has
been tested. It hasn't been amazing weekend and week out,
but it has been very, very good most of the time.
I would solve my questions about Devin dan Pierre on
the road against some of these defenses. If that's what
it we're going to come down to be it you know,

(01:02:57):
Texas Tech again, or Oregon or Ole Miss or any
of those teams perhaps in that region of the twelve.
But yeah, I think they could win that game. I
don't know if they could win that game if it
required them to get to thirty one points with a
lot of it coming through the air. Well, that's scoring points. Like,

(01:03:18):
you can't say that the offense is an issue. This
is a top ten to twelve offense in the country.

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
My gut was immediately to say no, because I think
most of the teams that they would end up playing
are good enough defensively to make Utah very one dimensional
and as he said, force them to win through the air,
which I'm not convinced they can do. But I should
point out, if we want to be honest about this,
if we look at the SPPLUS, which we swear by,

(01:03:46):
Utah is eighth. They're slightly behind Georgia and Ole miss.
They're slightly ahead of Texas A and m Miami, Alabama
and Oklahoma. So per Bill's numbers, he's got Utah right there.
Bill is looking at this is at least his numbers
are and saying, you talking contend, I.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
Don't think Utah is radically beneath anybody in this top
twelve conversation Utah included. So yes, I think Utah could
win that game. We don't question their coaching staff. I
don't think. I think the only thing we really question
here is they played Texas Tech close for most of
that game and then it got out of hand. Will Hammond,

(01:04:26):
who was not that good after the fact before he
got hurt, was incredible against Utah and hopefully remains their
quarterback of the future, and you know, has bright days
ahead of him. And they played BYU to a draw
basically in a big rivalry spot and BYU themselves top ten,
So I think they're of that quality. And it's not

(01:04:49):
like any of these teams that we've mentioned as being
in that like four or five, six, seven, eight range
have been beating teams by four touchdowns every week, right,
So that's only kind of Ohio State. And they likely
wouldn't play Ohio State in the first round because Ohio
State's going to have a bye. So yeah, I think
they absolutely could win, but I'd put it as kind

(01:05:12):
of unlikely, but not crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
It's not crazy. They've got a defense good enough to
make it ugly. Yeah, And that's sort of been the
template for Kyle Whittingham all these years. It's been very good,
very good in that circumstance. Let's close it out with
this Dan from Kevin who says, how about them Missouri State.

Speaker 2 (01:05:33):
Bears yeah, Betty, Yeah about eh.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
This is Missouri State's first year in the FBS, and
how did it begin? Ty? It began losing seventy three
to thirteen to USC. It was not a great way
to start. But since then Missouri State has gone on
a bit of a run. They are six and three.
I will add that of their five wins over FBS competition,

(01:05:58):
five were by one score, all of them great. They're
remaining three games are UTEP, Kennesaw, and Louisiana Tech, all
three of which are you guessed it also projected to
be one score games. Technically, by like the traditional metric,
they would be Bowl eligible, but because this is their
first year in the FBS, you know, the way this

(01:06:19):
works is usually a two year probationary period where they
can't go to a bowl game. They have or at
least intend on petitioning the nc DOUBLEA if they are
on enough teams, or you know, if the NCAA is
a change of heart. Historically, they haven't been very receptive
to the idea of a new FBS team popping up
into a bowl game.

Speaker 2 (01:06:38):
But we'll say, I'm sure they're petitioning.

Speaker 1 (01:06:40):
Yeah, they're doing their part. So but to Kevin's point
here has been I think a really good first season
from Missouri State. Good for them, and they lost to
SMU and Western Kentucky after that USC loss, neither of
which are embarrassing losses. Now winning as a skill, especially
when you're making this jump, and so I don't know.
The other team, Delaware has been pretty decent too, right,

(01:07:02):
Blue Hens, baby, you know it. So the two new teams,
those are the only ones, right that have jumped in
this season.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
Yep, Delaware. This season, they've won, I guess, They've split
their last four, two out of their last four, but
beat a decent enough Louisiana Tech team, beat Middle Tennessee.
They themselves are in position to be traditionally Bowl eligible
at six wins, even if they're not going to go
to a bowl this season.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
They've got Wake and they've got UTEP here on their
remaining schedule, so we'll see. They could get a signature
win over Wake for it. Oh my god, I'd potentially
nine and three, eight and four Wake Forest, which is
wild in its own right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
Shout out Ryan Cardy and the job he's done at Delaware.

Speaker 1 (01:07:42):
So look, the three biggies this week are USC at
Oregon that's at three thirty on CBS, pit at George
Tech that is seven o'clock on ESPN, and BYU at
Cincinnati that is eight PMO Fox. There are obviously other
interesting games this week, starting on Friday night in the

(01:08:06):
Mountain West Hawaii at NLV. Should be a great matchup.
I'm excited to watch that game. But the three big
ones USC Oregon, Pitt Georgia Tech BYU Cincinnati. We are
going to do our first official ALT cast of the year,
are we not? On Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
Yeah. We did sort of an ALT cast watching games
a few weeks ago, just it was an exciting afternoon
just to test things out of games. But yes, for
a specific game, we're going to do Oregon USC at
I believe it's the three point thirty Eastern game. Yes
on CBS, which bonus both if you do this and

(01:08:45):
why I say you as a listener if you watch
the altcast along with the Oregon game as a second
screen experience, and because we're doing it as a second
screen experience, you don't have to listen to Gary Danielson.
Oh come on, come on, he's all right, you know.
Let me tell you something about my relationship with Gary Danielson.

(01:09:07):
Go ahead, So I think bretton Neessler's good, doesn't he
had Jenny Dell in the show. I didn't care one
way or the other about Gary Danielson when he was
calling SEC games cause they didn't have any rooting interest.
But then as soon as I watched the Oregon Iowa game,
I immediately went to the side of like, yeah, I
get it. It's like when you watch a game that

(01:09:29):
you have a rooting interest in and he's on the call.
I'm sure he's a nice dude. I'm sure he's beloved
by the crew, but it was it was a tough
broadcast experience for me as an organ person. And so
if I'm speaking with ty Hildemranda the solid verbal, yeah,
that's gonna be a pleasure.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
We're gonna make it fun. I got some ideas. I
got some ideas for ways that we can improve the
cast over what we did last year.

Speaker 2 (01:09:54):
Okay, can't wait.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
So it'll be fun. Stop on by the YouTube channel.
Make sure we post it everywhere. But even if it's
for a few minutes, say hello, type something in the chat,
give us your reaction to what else is going on
around college football. It doesn't matter. We're all friends here.

Speaker 2 (01:10:09):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:10:10):
Other games that I think are of particular interest Louisville
on the road at SMU. We already talked about why
that's important. Miami on the road of Virginia Tech. I
see Miami is a pretty healthy favorite. Going to Lane
Stadium is never that easy. We've also got Missouri at Oklahoma.
Is there any kind of letdown effect for Oklahoma after

(01:10:32):
the big win from a week ago?

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
You know?

Speaker 1 (01:10:35):
Baylor at Arizona is an interesting game. Arizona's been real good,
real good on defense.

Speaker 2 (01:10:39):
Right, Arizona's defense. Those safeties are really fun. I really
like this Arizona team. No if Afida bounce back from
a pretty terrible twenty twenty four, they're really really fun.
They just like you watched me, Like this team has
their act together, Like against all odds, they have their
act together. So shout out Danny Gonzalez and Brent Brennan
and all these players.

Speaker 1 (01:10:56):
Yeah, Arkansas Texas could be entertaining. Can Kentucky Vanderbilt could
be very entertaining. Kentucky has sort of had a bit
of a rebirth here second half of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:11:06):
By the way, go ahead an incredible letdown, look ahead
sandwich situation for Texas, Oh my god. Yeah, between Georgia
and Texas, A and M Yeah, Arkansas has the opportunity
to do something incredible here Biba Matrino marching into Austin.

Speaker 1 (01:11:21):
Sure, we've got Duke North Carolina. Yeah, no other reason,
it's a rivalry. ECU on the road at UTSA, huge
implications in the American huge implications.

Speaker 2 (01:11:34):
We got k State at Utah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
At one point or another, this looked like it would
be a monster big twelve game. It is currently at
Utah minus seventeen and a half at time of recording. Man,
we got Michigan on the road at Maryland. We've got
TCU Maryland, by the way, retaining Mike Waxley on if
you saw that with an nil boost for the roster,
nil boost, TCU at Houston could be fun. Nebraska at

(01:11:59):
Penn State. Maybe Matt ruhleill have some second thoughts and
decide to stay in state college. Who knows.

Speaker 2 (01:12:04):
By the way, just the sidebar of all these that
you're mentioning, Houston is like your number one candidate of
like very quiet, impressive year. I told you, I know,
really impressive season, and I don't. I don't know if
they're officially out of the like the Big Twelfth Championship running. Yeah,
maybe they are, but it's not by much. I mean,

(01:12:27):
look are they ranked right now? Houston?

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
I don't believe is rank.

Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
No, Houston is the number. Yeah, they're number twenty five
or twenty people. Okay, that's great, good for Houston. Yeah,
I think Connor Wigman is technically the most like statistically
efficient Big twelve quarterback right now.

Speaker 1 (01:12:46):
Yeah, Houston would need a lot to break. Houston would need,
obviously to win against TCU. They would need to win
their final game against Baylor, but they would probably need
some help from Arizona. They'd need some help from you.
They would likely need some help from TCU. There are
probably some ways that you could program this to get

(01:13:07):
Houston into that final game, but.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
Not likely to say, yeah, Wes West Virginia really played
spoiler for this season, right, Oh my god, losing a
couple weeks ago to West Virginia. Otherwise they'd be like
kind of driver's seat they would. I mean, it's a
tough couple to finish out the year. And they scored
more against Texas Tech than BYU did. There's that and
they didn't even have their quarterback for much in that game.

Speaker 1 (01:13:31):
They would need Kansas State to beat Utah this week.
They would obviously need to win their game next week
against Baylor, which right now Baylor might be favored. Okay,
they would need Arizona to beat Arizona State. They would
likely need TCU to beat Cincinnati. I think if all
you also need UCF to be BYU.

Speaker 2 (01:13:49):
That's a tough ask.

Speaker 1 (01:13:50):
If all that, I mean speaking of parlays. If they
went out and those other things happen, they would likely
go to the Big twelve title game, getting a nod
above b one. You it gets complicated get down to
like the sixth tiebreaker, but that's what it would take
in order to get Houston.

Speaker 2 (01:14:05):
In that either way. They went four and eight last year, Yes,
and nine and three plus is absolutely on the table,
very much so.

Speaker 1 (01:14:11):
All right, to round things out, New Mexico at Air Force.
I know you like New Mexico.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
Yeah, yeah, I'm a neckhad.

Speaker 1 (01:14:17):
We have Tennessee Florida this week. Tennessee favored by three
and a half on the road in the swamp.

Speaker 2 (01:14:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:14:23):
Cal Stanford is this week in Arizona State on the road.
At Colorado Arizona State. By the way, still an outside
chance for make the big twelfth title game.

Speaker 2 (01:14:32):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (01:14:32):
For what it's.

Speaker 2 (01:14:35):
It's I mean, it's big game. It's cal Stanford, it's
the g and you know, as we all anticipated on
the ACC network, God, everything's so stupid. Okay, I think
that's great. And I think le High Lafayette this weekend too.

Speaker 1 (01:14:51):
Lehigh Lafayette. Yeah, that's a big one, man, that's a
real big one.

Speaker 2 (01:14:55):
There's a lot happening.

Speaker 1 (01:14:57):
There's an awful lot happening, if you care about such things.
By the way, now that you bring up the FCS rankings,
I believe the latest FCS rankings still have Lehigh at fourth.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
But of note, if.

Speaker 1 (01:15:14):
We go all the way down to Division two, Dan,
you know, we've talked about fair Estate before because of
Trendad Chambliss, But there is another local team, Kutztown.

Speaker 2 (01:15:25):
They make a noise.

Speaker 1 (01:15:26):
Kutztown is currently eleven to zero and third in Division two.

Speaker 2 (01:15:30):
Just say it.

Speaker 1 (01:15:30):
In the coaches poll Division two.

Speaker 2 (01:15:33):
About Mercer number six. By the way, in the FCS
poll taken on Auburn on the.

Speaker 1 (01:15:37):
Run, I mean, they're no Lehigh, but.

Speaker 2 (01:15:40):
That's a it was a big look ahead spot for
Auburn ahead of the Iron Bowl. Hove it up into
the top ten as well Harvard Top ten. I mean
as the first year of the ivys can get into
the FCS playoffs. Great, I love it. So it's all happening.

Speaker 1 (01:15:54):
Why don't we leave it there. We've got a bunch
to discuss. On the Thursday episode, we of course will
preview all these games and much much more. We will
talk through what it takes to get into our run
the board pick them game. You can of course go
on out tu forballers dot com and sign up Frezy
Certified or Premium for Baller. That'll get you access into

(01:16:14):
all the goodies. You can play in the game and
get the episodes without the ads, get them a little
bit early. You can go on our discord. You can
post questions for shows like this.

Speaker 2 (01:16:22):
Correct, it's all I got, Dan, same. I'm losing my
voice over here, but you're looking sharp in your new
merchant at Solivruble dot com. Shirt college football all the time.

Speaker 1 (01:16:34):
I love it it, Pops man, I like it good.
I'm glad to hear it for that guy over there, Dan,
for myself, Tie, we'll talk to you all on Thursday.
In the meantime, stay solid, peace,

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MAILBAG: Ohio State vs. The Field, G6 Upset Threats & the End of "Blue Bloods" | College Football

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}MAILBAG: Ohio State vs. The Field, G6 Upset Threats & the End of "Blue Bloods" | College Football