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November 5, 2025 • 12 mins

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ryan McGee, ESPN senior writer, one half of Marty and McGee,
College Game Day contributor as well as the SEC Network.
He's back with us for his weekly chat. What's going on?
Ryan McGee? How are you, buddy?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm good man, I see I probways appreciate your roll
on the schedule, But I like being on on Wednesdays
because I get I get to be on a head
of HARP. Right is every Friday he and are own
airplane together, and obviously every Saturday we're on airplane together
coming back to Charlotte. But he is, we learn a
lot from each other. And uh, you know, I'm a nerd, right,

(00:32):
I'm the writer nerd, and I've always looked at Harp
and go, all right, how does this actually work? In
the locker room? And he always explains this to me.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, he's actually told me that before and nothing. You know,
he's told me about some of those conversations and how
much he enjoys them too. So that's awesome. I want
to dive into this with you because I loved what
you wrote about the race in Phoenix, the Larson Championship,
how it came at Denny Hamlin's heartbreaking expense. You know,
I've never been a Denny Hamlin fan, nor is my dad.
We're a you know, Bill Elliott, Chase Elliotts family. But

(01:00):
I was a Denny Hamlin fan on Sunday. I was
rooting for him to win that race. When the caution
came out, I had a sinking feeling in my gut,
probably like a lot of other people, and it ended up,
of course, Kyle Larson wins the title. I've read what Kyle.
I heard what Kyle said after, I heard what William
Byron said after, and I encourage anybody who follows the
sport to read what Ryan has written in the aftermath

(01:20):
of all of this. But how did you ingest that
race and what it looked like at the end?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
It was crazy. It was interesting Kyle because I we
got inside of ten laps, and I actually I tweeted
something out when Denny was dominating the race in the
middle of the race and he was starting to radio
in that his clutch felt saw and I tweeted us.
So I remember Buddy Baker telling me, you know, for

(01:47):
folks that don't know it took Buddy, we always talking
about how long it took. Del Earnheart Darryl walterp and
these guys to win the day total five hundred, and
it took Buddy Baker almost twenty years. And he was
a super speedway guy and went in nineteen eighty when
he was finally leading the race, the fastest five hundred
on record, I always will be. And he said that
every single noise in that car sounded like a bang,

(02:12):
and every bump felt like an earthquake. Like he just
that's what it felt like. And so when Denny started
radioing about the clutch, I thought, man, that's what's happening
to him right now. And then he kept leaving her lap,
and when we got inside of ten laps to go,
I was like, all right, I think we've got it.
And then it just happened. And listen back when the

(02:32):
finale was a homestead, I was there every year, and
I remember Danny really the best chance he had, which
is gosh, almost twenty years ago, and he just spun
out and went into the grass. And he was such
a young driver. And when I talked to him a
week ago because for USPN dot comwaways his preview and
he told me a week I said, well, I said,
so give me tell me about your mindset, and he said,

(02:53):
the scars of the past have finally healed because he
had gone the homestead, gone that finale with so many chances,
and something happened, and I don't know this scar will
ever heal. And it was it was crazy. But I
appreciate you bring up the column. And what I wrote
in the column was I've been doing this a long time, man,
I cannot remember and I don't think it's ever happened

(03:15):
where the entire garage was unified in their genuine sympathy
for a guy, and that included Kyle Larson. I taught
to Kyle on Monday morning and he just went and
if you read that piece about Nanny Hamlin, all the
quotes that are from the champions, and all he's talking
about is Denny Hamlin. So what a what a what

(03:36):
a crazy, crazy night. And I don't think anybody's ever
going to forget it now.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
And when he said after the fact that you know,
in this moment, I don't feel like ever you know,
racing a car ever again, I understood where that came
from in the moment, and I told Smoke, I said, yeah,
just I hate to be I don't mean to be
crash or insensitive in any way, but you got to
let some time pass. Let's see how he feels in
a couple of weeks, in a couple of months. And
that's still how I feel. How do you feel about it?

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah? And and and and if you watched the I
mean last they had the you know, the NASCAR Awards
were last night. You know, it used to be be
a couple of weeks and now that they've wisely decided,
while they're in Phoenix at one of these amazing resorts,
it's going to have it. So they had the they
had the awards ceremony on Tuesday night, and as painful
as it was, he looked like it was getting better.

(04:23):
And what was crazy was everyone in that top ten,
everyone that had been in the playoffs, that got up
there and accepted their check, they all addressed Denny, not
the champ, they all addressed Denny. And that included Kyle
Larson and of course William Byron. So it just was
I've never seen a night like that, and and I
don't know that we ever will, but but it was
just it was But he's gonna get back in a

(04:43):
race car, but first he has to sue the Sport's right,
that's coming December first. Good, December first, they're going to
be in the courthouse unless they reached the settlement the
next couple of weeks, which I don't think is gonna happen.
And uh and oh yeah, oh by the way, you know,
he and Michael Jordan are doing NASCAR for antitrust and
that starts in court on December first. So normally that's

(05:05):
when we would have the awards ceremony. Back when I
you know, i'd go to those with Winston couple awards
banquets in New York and in Vegas and and you know,
it would always be around December first. And this year,
instead of you know, convenient for the awards, they're going
to be going to court.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Ryan McGee, ESPN hanging out with us here on a Wednesday.
All right, college football Playoff. The committee released their initial
rankings last night. I didn't see anything stunning in there.
Maybe maybe you can tell us if you did. But uh,
you know, I think the story, the narrative surrounding the
acc how many teams they get in, is particularly relevant
around here. But I didn't see a ton of you know,
backlasher over the top reaction, What did you think?

Speaker 2 (05:43):
No, I think you're right. And my only my only
complaint about it was I was surprised Memphis wasn't in there,
like a surprise there wasn't some representative. This is the
first time we've we did not have anyone from a
non power for conference that first top twenty five, and
that that it bothers me because it is I've talked

(06:04):
to you about before. I love college football from top
to bottom, and you know, I love the fact that
that they are given a chance. But part of that's
on them, you know. I was at the Cincinnati last
week interviewing the quarterback for game day and they went
to Utah and later an egg and so you know
they I was a little just disappointed that there wasn't
a non power for representative, you know, in that top

(06:25):
twenty five, not even at the bottom. And so they
have their chances. But but you know, it was so
much funnier ago when Boys was in the mix and
we weren't just talking about kim Boys and made the playoff.
It was kim Boys to get a first round by
which they did, and so I just I like for
those teams to be in the mix but no real
complaints about it. I mean, you know that that first poll.

(06:48):
Don't tell my bosses in Bristol I said this, but
that first poll didn't really matter. You know, it's a
great it's like the preseason magazines. You know, it's a
great conversation starter. But and it's a starting point. But
the reality is is that we have seen in that
room before as opposed to the polsters with the associated press,
it's always seem to be reluctant to make big moves
if the team wins or loses. And what this is

(07:10):
my preseason four number four. I'm gonna drop them to
twenty all. We're gonna drop them out of the top
twenty five. And with that committee, they'll do it. They'll
they'll make big moves and so but yeah, I mean
it's it's all the usual suspects up front. I mean,
if you consider BYU and Texas Tech and you know,
Virginia usual suspects right that.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
I mean that I got people telling me today, Hey, KB,
I think if Virginia and Louisville both went out, then
they'll both get in. I don't know about that. Virginia
beat them head to head. That was a big test
for them back then. I still think Virginia might run
into some issues. Chandler Morris doesn't look one hundred percent
healthy right now. But just your thoughts on those two
teams and the odds that the accs could still sneak

(07:49):
in two teams.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Well, I think they need to root for a situation
like they had a year ago, which is SMU was
a team that everyone had watched all year and then
SMU loses to Clemson and Clemson gets in on the
AQ but SMU still made it, And I think that's
going to be what the ACC needs ACC officeds to
be rooting for that, you know, which is you know,

(08:10):
Virginia or Georgia Tech or whoever gets on a heater
and you know they're an undeniable you know, top eighteen
or whatever when we get to the end of the year.
But then if they lose a close one in the
a SEC Championship, then maybe you can get get two
teams in. But it's not great. I mean, and look
at ol NC State just wrecking everything, right, That's yeah,
it's just just what they do. But it's on. But

(08:32):
it is fun, you know, talking about Virginia and Georgia
Tech because I'm old school when I remember nineteen ninety
when the two of them played, and what I still
think is might be the greatest game in the regular season,
the most important game, regular season game we've ever had
in the ACC. So there's a chance. But it's it's
interesting how that narrative changes, man, because just a couple
of weeks ago, the ACC is talking about a lot

(08:54):
of teams with a chance, and now they need to
be hoping that they can sneak a soay one in there.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
I feel like we're doing a weekly check in on
the dumpster fires that are the seasons of South Carolina
and Clemson, and I'll focus on the Tigers this week.
They lose a shootout to Duke, and you know, Dabbo,
I think is rightfully upset about a blown pass interference call,
and you know, every word he's saying this week is
being dissected and everyone is speculating again about how Dabo.
You know, how he's being received or how he's viewed

(09:22):
inside the program. I always stop at sixty million dollar
buyout and it kind of ends the conversation for me.
But I mean, just your thoughts on what happened to
them this week? And the way the dabo's talking.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, it's just I mean, I we said this before,
you know, talking ear a week is that you know
that stuff plays great when you're winning, and it's hard
to take it from the podium every single week, whether
you're a fan or media member or a Clemson fan
or whatever, you know when things are going badly and
you know, yeah, there's a questionable passing inference call with

(09:54):
the reality is you are so much better than Duke
on paper that that passing inference should call shouldn't be
shouldn't be determined the football game because the reality is
you should be winning by two touchdowns in those games.
And so if you're not taking care of the games
that you've always taken care of in the past, then
it's awful. It just it comes off a little a

(10:16):
little cranky, a little disingenuous with the complaint from the
from the podium. So listen, this is the throwaway year.
They know it's a throwaway year. I don't have to
tell you. What could possibly save it for both of
these teams that we're talking about is if they win
that game on Thanksgiving weekend, because you go into wintertime,
because not a one of them probably going to get a
ball game. And so now you're talking about going in

(10:37):
the wintertime winning the Palmetto Bowl, and you know that game,
that game can save all for both of those teams.
And you know this is from coming from a guy
who literally just transmitted a tuition check about ten minutes ago. Strong.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
I won't ask how much that check was, because I'm
sure it was very painful to write, even though I'm
sure you'd love to do it for that lovely daughter
of yours before.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah, I can almost see the South Carolina border from
my house, and yet I'm paying out of state tuition.
And I called everybody on.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
God, oh God, any concerns about Texas A and M
going to Missouri this weekend.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
I mean, it's dangerous, It's totally dangerous. But I think
that A and M is I mean, no one I've
never I can't remember a top five now top three
team that no one's talking about like A and M.
And you know, and you know this. I went out
and talked to Marcel Reid a couple of weeks ago,
and the relationship between Reed and Elcho is why they're
winning and uh and and you know they don't care

(11:36):
A thing about the history of A and M. But
but I think the reason they're under the radar is
we're all waiting on the collapse, right, We're all waiting
them to lose the game they shouldn't lose. And the
reality is people have kind of forgotten about Missouri. But
they are so dangerous, especially at home, and so so
it's gonna be uh. They need to have their their
guard up because they're already thinking that. The danger of

(11:59):
the CFP ran he's coming out now is you definitely
know where you are, and you definitely know where your
chances are, and it might cause you to take your
eye off the ball at the wrong time. So A
and M nees and not do that.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
Brian, We appreciate you, buddy, have a great week. We'll
talk to you next.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Week, all right, Man T. Harp I said, I'll send
at the airport.
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