CFP Semi Finals & NFL Wild Card Weekend w/ Nick Rice

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
How's it going guys, Thanks for clicking on. Welcome to
the first Phil Talk Sports podcast episode of twenty twenty five.
Myself Nick Rice here talking college football Final four and
NFL wild Card weekend. This if you like football, this
is like the most important weekend of the year. Obviously,
the National Championship comes up, the Super Bowl comes up,
but you get like the most important games for both
types of football at the same time. So Nick, thanks

(00:34):
for being here. Happy New Years. How's it going going
pretty good?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
You know, I'm like Jim Harbaugh. I like football, and
I like people who like football, So I figured, you
know what, let's go ahead and talk a little football today.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah. That's why we've been friends for so long, because
we're both dudes that love football. So this this has
made it easy for a very long time, that's right. Yeah.
So we're we're gonna jump right into it with college
football playoffs. We're down to four. We're gonna brief league
kind of catch up on the earlier two rounds, the
first round and the quarterfinals. Because again, this is the
first year with this twelve team playoff. It's still my change. Again,

(01:09):
there's rumberlings of fourteen sixteen who knows, but for now
we're gonna work with the twelve. We've got just the
concept of it this year, Nick, what have you? I
assume you've watched a good chunk of these as I have.
What do you think of the first round being like
basically just an extra home game. That's the only game

(01:30):
that's felt weird to me that that first set. Again,
like the Penn State one was cool because it was
a white out, the Notre Dame Indiana one was cool
because they were like in state to each other. But
the other two just seemed odd because they're not bowl games,
but they're not conference games, so to me is a
little strange. A couple of blowouts early. Let's start there.
Let's talk to the blowout only. Really, Notre Dame in

(01:51):
Indiana is a ten point game, but really it was
more than that. Penn State never had trouble with smu
Ohio State destroyed Tennessee and then Texas and Clemson was
the game for a little bit. But all this talk
of you know, who do you let in? Who do
you not? All these opening rounds are blowouts as it is.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, what was crazy was the NCAA Twitter predicted all
the playoff games, and they had a College Football twenty
five sim shout out to the game. By the way,
apparently that game is too accurate because they predicted that
Ohio State would jump on Oregon thirty one to nothing
in the first half, and all the comments were, there's
no way, that doesn't make any sense, and that's literally

(02:32):
exactly the way that that happened. And I think it
comes down to a couple factors. Watching those games, I
immediately thought of the conversation we had back in twenty
twenty four of the fact that the transfer portal and
the NIL happened to go along with the expanded playoff

(02:54):
I think exposed a problem we're going to have for
a couple of years, which is a lot of coaches
is that would have been in the college game are
deciding to go to the NFL route or just not
coach anymore. So the coaching doesn't feel quite the same.
And you know that may have played a role in
a lot of these teams having time off and playing

(03:15):
their home games and just you know, or playing these
bowl games off of three four weeks off and looking
totally out of sorts. It's amazing, Like with Oregon's Dylan Gabriel,
where he has the most games played of any college quarterback,
any college player in the history of the NCAA. And ironically,
the last game he played looked like it was the

(03:37):
first game he played. I mean, he literally and the
whole team looked shocked by Ohio State. So with all
the games that one included, it was amazing to me
thinking about how we're talking about maybe the coaching isn't
quite as good because of those, and it really showed
its head right away.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, and it's important to remember because people it was
the fun thing to do in this first round lost. Oh,
this shouldn't have been in the first place. When SMU lost,
shouldn't been. We had blowouts in the opening round when
it was four teams, so I don't know why people
thought we were gonna get less of them when you
add more two and three loss teams. This is an
interesting year where there's you know, right, no teams that

(04:15):
are undefeated, so you're always gonna have that as other
than Oregon until they got you know, got waxed by
at Ohio State. So the I think you're gonna get
these blow you're gonna get them this week in the
wild card like it happens plenty teams that barely get
in against teams that are well oiled machines, it's gonna hapen.
You're gonna you're gonna lose games by by seventeen twenty
one points, you know, if not more so, I wasn't

(04:38):
super shocked by it. I mean we mentioned the last
time we did speak. I'm like, and I'm rocking the
Deon Butler Penn State, Jersey because I am pulling for
them to go all the way. If I have it,
I'm not. I don't get into like second schools, but like,
if I did have a second school to before, that
wasn't my nights. It would be Penn State. But we
pointed this out before the playoffs started. They have If
there is such thing as an easy path, they haven't,

(05:00):
and they've been on it. They haven't had much trouble
in their first two games with SMU and Boise State.
I want a couple bucks on the Boise State game,
betan on Penn State, and then Notre Dame is the
next one here in the Orange Bowl. And while there's
been the like stigma that like Penn State can't win
big games, Notre Dame originated the can't win big games
thing is I haven't won a New Year's game, a

(05:21):
New Year six whatever we're calling them now, in like
twelve years or something like that. So they have just
so much of a hump to get over them. So
they might I don't want to use the word cakewalk,
but they may walk pretty steadily right into the championship
game before they have any real blowback. And granted, this
Notre Dame team I don't think is better than the past,
you know, teams that have made it in and embarrassed themselves.

(05:42):
So that's gonna be a very interesting game for me.
But it's the flaw in this playoff without the reseeding
is you don't want to be the number one seed.
You do have to play an extra game, but you
want to be like a five to six seed and
you can kind of waltz in there. You might play
the best group of five champion, you might play you know,
the team that barely got in there. So unless they
receed this thing moving forward, the five seeds the sweet spot,

(06:02):
it seems.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, the seeding was really strange and that kind of
played a role in this whole thing as well. And
like to your point. What's funny is that I think
people have amnesia now because in the BCS system, there
were plenty of blowouts in the national championship game, so
it is really strange to have all four lose. But
I think that plays into another narrative that I think

(06:24):
we realized throughout the year that this is a very
big parody year in college football. There really was no
clear obvious best team, and the fact that it was
Oregon kind of gave pause to me. And then you
had Texas in there as a top seed, thinking none
of these teams were all that amazing every week. I mean,

(06:46):
they were better than the rest, but it is a
little unpredictable to be honest, Who's gonna win this whole thing?
I'd say of going into the playoff that if there
was any non top four team that make it, it may
be Penn State or you know, non favorite. But even
now I'm not entirely sure because it feels like with
Bence Stayed, a couple others that had an easy schedule.

(07:08):
It starts now, now's the time.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, I mean we talked I think right before it
started with Oregon being the only undefeated team. So if
not now, maybe never and where we are now, maybe
Oregon is just one of those teams that isn't meant
to do it. In Penn State, you know, they hadn't
done it and going on forty years, what eighty six
was the last time. So they are they're in a

(07:31):
point where like, not only are they in a good spot,
but they're rolling off the like the momentum matters, I
think because and this isn't originally my idea, but I
think it's worth repeating. In this new tournament style, we
were asking college football teams to do something they don't
normally have to do, which is like play really well
several weeks in a row, because that's never Usually you

(07:52):
have your rivalry game, you might have a game or
two that you can your talent's gonna win it for
you no matter what, and then you're up for another
big game another week or two you're up for No,
you have to play a big game three four weeks
in a row. Now, I will say this, though you
mentioned there isn't like an odds on favorite. All the
undefeateds are out and even before the you know, Oregon
may have been undefeated, but they had that stigma. They're
like all right, if not, now, when I do like

(08:14):
this better, I like not knowing what's gonna happen. I
like this way better than Alabama versus the field. Oh
Alabama won again. Oh Ohio State won another one. I
realized Ohio State's still in it. But if they wanted
this year, it would be considered somewhat of a surprise
considering how they limped out of the regular season losing
to Michigan right, didn't get into the Big Ten championship
game because of it. So I don't know about you.

(08:37):
I like this better. This reminds me way more of
maybe not quite March Madness, but you know something that
when you're watching it, maybe in years coming there may
be a an Arizona State team or something that just buzzed.
So maybe Texas with arch manning in a year, it's like, no,
they're the team to beat, And I'm fine with that too,
But I kind of like that there is no team
to beat. You just have to beat everybody in your way.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, I agree, one hundred percent. And we've been talking
about that too, where it's like amazing over the years
how many teams ran the table literally could not have
done anything else, but did not make it to the
tournament because well, their schedule was weak or whatever the
ruling is. But hey, the only way to try whether
they're good or not is to play in the playoffs.

(09:20):
So in that way, it's really good. We just have
our own balls to pick about it being twelve versus
it being eight. I think a lot of people feel
the same way. But you know, and if you have
a the other great thing is that you're not playing
on a random Thursday and Friday this week and then
on a Monday going deep into the NFL playoffs. But

(09:41):
either way, it's still is really fun to see these
non Power five teams make it.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Unfortunately, no matter what they do with this, I think
that weird National Championship on a Monday night is always
going to be there. They've kind of carved that out
because the NFL regular season's over, so there is no
Monday night football. And you would think that a more
popular slot because Monday night football does gang buster ratings
all year, right, But you put this game on it,
and maybe college fans just aren't used to watching on

(10:08):
a Monday. They're used to Saturday, where they're you know,
maybe they're off the next day, so maybe that's the reason.
But I mean, I've had several years where I almost
forget it's all. I might be looking forward to the game,
but I forget that it's on that particular Monday, and
I got to scramble to put it on. This is
a true story, and I'm gonna shout him out today
because it is his birthday today. I had a friend

(10:28):
that was a Texas fan that back in the day,
he was so into Texas. It was when Texas was
in the championship with Cole McCoy before he got hurt
and they didn't win the game, but he was so
amped for the game he forgot it landed on his birthday.
The man forgot his birthday was that day. So that
used to you know, I think if you care enough,
you're gonna know it. But like for whatever he is,
in college football and Mondays just don't mix. And I

(10:50):
don't know how many years it's been now, but it's
I don't know, it doesn't work. I don't know what
you do. It'd be great to put it on a Saturday,
but then you're competing with what would that be the
conference championships at that point, the divisional round. I guess
it'd be the divisional round. But yeah, I mean, and
the NFL has made it pretty obviously. They do not
play nice in the sandbox. They don't care what anyone
else has going on. They stole Christmas from the NBA,

(11:12):
They've stolen whatever they can from from college football. So
and you can't really make them do anything either. But
there's also the point. And it's not like you can't
just all right, our fans are gonna watch because your
fans are also NFL fans. Very few people watch one
and not the other. I know people claim I think
more people watch the NFL and not college football than

(11:33):
watch college football and not the NFL. That could be
wrong on that, but that's that's how it seems to me.
But yeah, Thursday, Friday, that's gonna be weird for this
and then then Monday because it's like a weird like
twelve day gap in between games, just enough time to
make you forget about when it is. So yeah, definitely,
I don't know. I don't know what you could do
about that, but it's not the ideal. Like everyone's always

(11:53):
so hype for the season and then it kind of
goes off with a whimper instead of the bang it deserves.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, you know, they already like the toothpaste out of
the bottle, So going from twelve down to eight or whatever,
it's too late for that, I think, no matter what happens,
But that Week eighteen NFL slot, if they ever were
able to figure out a way to have the National

(12:18):
Championship on Saturday, the day before the final week of
the regular season, We're to be honest, a lot of
us were a little you know, by the end of it,
we're a little bored of the week. See, there wasn't
too much to play for and all that stuff. If
they could ever figure that out, I think that would
be the perfect slot. Unfortunately, though, I think it's too

(12:39):
late because there's too many rounds to play.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah, that's true. And for this Thursday Friday we got
coming up, you know, for the final four. I don't
think they've been like marketing in that way they're using
the word semi final. I think the final four sounds better.
I think if you pull enough people, you'd be alarmed
how many people don't know what quarterfinal and semi final
actually mean. So I think final four might be final
four might be the move, But really that does sound more.

(13:05):
You know, that's probably like trademarked as a basketball thing
at this point. But the other thing that you can
throw into this, I don't know if you've heard this
story yet, Nick, but the Texas Ohio State game, there
is gonna be like an insane amount of snow in
Texas that day. So there's a chance we've already seen
one of these games bumped to the next day. There
is like an outside chance this game gets bumped to

(13:27):
the Saturday at noon before the wild card game start
at like four point thirty, so that we may get
one on Saturday, and I might feel a little more
at home if you get like the noon kickoff for
college football. But we're out of these two games. I
think there are people that are looking at based on
who's left Ohio State and Texas, like that's the real
championship game, so we'll start there. Who do you see

(13:50):
coming out in the Cotton Bowl. I mean, I.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
Still going into last week, I still felt with Ohios
having so many guys heard that they were the team
I never really thought would win at all. So I
guess they're in the final four or the semi final whatever,
so they got a better chance. So I still think
Ohio State's gonna be done here. I think Texas takes

(14:16):
care of business there. It tells you just how good
Texas is that a five star, top tier quarterback in
arch Manning can't even really get, you know, any meaningful
snaps on the field. Granted he's still young and he
is the quarterback in the future, but you know, Quinn
yours is just that good for Texas that Arch Manning
can't really see the field. So give me Texas in

(14:39):
this game, and you know we'll be hearing myle myle my,
Matthew McConaughey for the next ten days. We'll deal with
it at that time.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
And both of these teams have really interesting situations that
like already getting this far, Ryan Day seems to be
on the hot seat, like anything short of national championship
that's gonna be a conversation which is which is weird?
And then the other weird thing is quintin viewers can
lead this team to a championship and still may have
to hit the portal next year and be like, hey,
man Quin, appreciate it. Man great having here. We only

(15:11):
got two years left of this guy, maybe three out
of forget he assume he red shirted. We only got
you know, three years left of this guy, and we
want to get him out there, so you know, we'll
sign off on whatever we need to sign off on.
So that's gonna be very strange that because maybe if
he just goes dynamite in these next two games, his
draft stock will be up enough. But I assume he's
probably too late to enter the draft for this year,

(15:32):
so he's got no choice put to try and just
maybe make banquet at some school for a one year
rental of maybe a national championship playing quarterback or even
winning quarterback. But I don't know if Ohio State like
the game the game they just played against Number one,
like did they exert too much? Whereas like Texas just

(15:55):
played in the greatest game in this playoff, the double
overtime against Arizona State totally looked like Arizona State was
gonna have that game. So maybe the little bit of
battle tested is gonna help, right, Like guys talk about
sometimes they're not fully ready to play till they really
get hit or get tackled that first time. So I
agree with you. I do think it's hard to root

(16:16):
against Ohio State. But we've seen them. They'll do this
thing right where if teams invite them to run on them,
they will, even though that's not like if they give them,
you know, just the four guys in the box whatever.
But that's not the kind of team they are. That's
kind of how Michigan beat them. They kind of dared
them to run the ball, and they took debate because
they wanted to prove they were like this tough team

(16:37):
that maybe they're more of a finesse team, and there's
nothing wrong with that. Finest teams win championships at times.
You know, it could look at like Saint Louis Rams
and stuff. So I think if they can bait them
into that, if they get out of like who they
truly are, it could be another nasty game. But this
one's gonna be pretty close, I think. But I agree
with you. I think I'm gonna go with Texas and
then for the other game. To me, like Penn Sate

(17:00):
has been rolling, I think they're gonna they're gonna get
punched in the mouth in this game. But I do think,
you know, with the six to seven matchup, it's in Miami,
so no team really gets an advantage as far as location,
I assume they're. I mean, Penn State is a huge
stadium base or student fan base. Notre Dame fans are everywhere,
so I think you're gonna be well represented either way.

(17:23):
I think I don't know. It's like we said with Oregon.
I think it's now we're never for Penn State too.
If they don't do it this year, Uh, you know
it's gonna come up with James Franklin even more. This
is this is his time to at least make the championship.
He doesn't necessarily have to win one, but if he
gets to it, it's gonna quite a lot of doubters
in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah, you kind of were touching on the very thing
I was thinking about. Just there has to be a
time where James Franklin gets it done. And unfortunately, it
would be the very same narrative for Notre Dame if
they don't make it. So one of these teams is
gonna feel like it never is gonna happen for us
and and man, I gotta be honest, Unfortunately for Notre

(18:04):
Dame fans, I think Penn State gets it done for
two reasons. One, just how good they've looked and to
the fact that they are, you know, somewhat well rested now.
So you know, because they're playing in these games early
in the playoffs that were relatively easy. Notre Dame they
may have, like you said, led throughout against Indiana, but
you know that in state rivalry was a tough one

(18:27):
that took a lot out of them. And it's hard
for NFL teams to go from playing a hard rivalry
game to showing up the next week. Now ask you know,
teenagers to do that. I don't think they can. So
I think Penn State gets it done and they'll play
Texas in the championship.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, and who had Texas Penn State going into this?
I think anyone that said that may have been a liar.
I will say this though, if out of the teams
on that second game to lose, Notre Dame will leave
that game saying all right, you know, we still got
our young coach and Marcus Freeman it's only his second
year with the team, look out far, but they love
that guy there. Right the second Kelly walked out the door,

(19:09):
they hired him and the team erupted. That's still a
great video to go back and watch. So I think
they're gonna say like, all right, we kind of took
our temperature this year, and let's see how we can
move it go. Whereas with Penn State, it'd be like,
all right, everything not like we were dang good team,
but everything went our way and we still couldn't get
it done. So like the team, because we usually afterwards,

(19:29):
especially like the big games, we say like is this
a bigger win for one team or bigger loss for another?
It would be a bigger loss for Penn State because
everything lined up perfectly for them on top of like
especially if like Ohio State, it's knocked out, like you said,
they don't kind of play them, They avoided him in
the regular season, Oregon's already gone. They played them tough
in the Big Ten championship game, but Oregon got it done.

(19:50):
Notre Dame would look at this as like all right,
like that was probably a bigger run than we expected
to go on, whereas Penn State kind of thought everything
between the regular season and the way this seeding went down,
you can't ask for anything better. So I think we
weirdly both agree this time. I would be just as
a as a football fan, and again I'm a Penn
State guy to an extent, like, I don't want Penn State, Ohouse.

(20:12):
I don't want a Big Ten championship. I get you
can't call it a rematch because they didn't play this year,
so it would it would be like, all right, they
missed each other in the regular season, they missed each
other in the Big Ten championship, so we still get
to play. So like it wouldn't be the worst thing
in the world, but just from like an esthetic, Texas
Penn State, Texas Notre Dame, Ohio State, Notre Dame. That

(20:33):
out of those four remaining matchups, Ohio State, Penn State,
we met my least value just as a neutral football
observer that wants to watch this game on a Monday,
you know. So for that other reason too, I don't
want it to happen that way.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah, I agree with you. I think the seating the
College Football Committee, however they did the seating, was sicking.
There's no way all the top seeds are gonna lose.
So there's no way we're gonna have a Big Ten
title game. And you know that may happen. One other
thing I'm thinking of too, with House State, which could
put a big wrench in things. I remember watching the
Buckeyes in twenty fourteen with Ezekiel Elliott, not super closely,

(21:08):
but they were right on the fringe of making the
playoff that year, and then they had in the Big
Ten Championship one of the most dominant wins of all
time against I think Wisconsin, and we were thinking, okay, interesting.
They took care of business. You know, the other teams
that were in front of them did not look impressive,

(21:29):
so they were able to jump them to go to four,
and then they crushed Alabama and that was the first
time people were saying, oh, this team might be really good.
So I'm curious this year if Ohio State embarrassing Oregon
is the same thing where no one really thought of
them as necessarily being a favorite, and then that win
was a hey, we're here and we're ready to win

(21:51):
it all type of statement. So that's my only wrenching things.
But who knows, you know what I mean, These are
college kids and it's a little bit of a crap shoot.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
I mean, if that's the case, you look back at
that Michigan loss and say they may have been the
best thing that ever happened to them. It just like
you can't overlook anybody if you can't beat them in
this particular year. So I could definitely see that working that.
I mean that Ezekiel year was not the same year that. Like,
they're on their third string quarterback, So like Barrett Barrett,
J T. Barrett and you know the famous line, we

(22:21):
don't have backups, we just have more starters. Like I'm
not an Ohio State guy, but how do you not
get hype when you hear something like that? So yeah,
out of out of the I already mentioned that's my
I guess in order, I would want a Texas Penn
State championship game followed by an Ohio State Notre Dame,

(22:41):
followed by a Texas Notre Dame, and then Ohio State
Penn State. That would be the order of games, and
that I would want to see them.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
It's amazing. You know, we don't try to agree, we
don't before the show go all right, what's your ideas?
What's my idea is we just happen to be totally
in steppier because the House Date and Notre Dame would
be a really fun kind of blue blood matchup. I
may put that number one, to be honest, over the
other ones. But yeah, Penn State Texas is a fantastic

(23:12):
matchup too.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, you get the Northeast involved, you know, the audience wise,
you get the South still involved. Yeah, I do think
that'd be great. I think all the disagreements will come
when we switch here to the NFL here in a minute,
So we just frontloaded the agreements so we can argue
about wildcard weekend real quick before we do make that switch.
There were a few headlines in the regular bowl season

(23:33):
and I think we could just you know, rapid fire
give some of that. What did you think of I'm
drawing a blank here, and I apologize Miami's quarterback leaving
after the first half of the Pop Tart Bowl and
you know, breaking the touch the single season touchdown record
and then center guys, I'll see you. And then they
go on to lose by one point to Iowa State. Well,

(23:56):
how did you feel when that all went down? Cam Ward? Sorry,
couldn't think of his name.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
Cam Ward. Yeah, I I I liked it. I think
NFL teams, you know, should do that too, if there's
really not a lot to play for risking getting hurt,
kind of like a week eighteenth thing. So yeah, I
thought that was outstanding for kem Ward. It just kind
of put a little bit more on tape, but not,
you know, have half the risk of getting hurt, I
guess so, and then you know, hey, NFL scouts, here's

(24:22):
what the team looks like when I'm not in the
football game. So I thought it was great. I thought
it was a good idea.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
So do you you're not in the and I'm not
saying I necessarily am, either you're not in the belief
of like that hinders his draft stock, Like NFL people
are gonna look at that, like I don't know if
I don't know if I want a guy that would
leave his team at halftime like that. So you don't
you don't view it as a negative in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
I no, I actually think it's among the best options
you could have. To me, I always, you know, raise
an eyebrow. Players that missed the whole bowl game. So
you know, there's no perfect answer because either your risk
and getting hurt or you're showing that your team you're
not there for your team at all. So you know,

(25:08):
no matter what, you're gonna get criticism. So to me,
I think, how about just do a little of both
and I and that was what cam Ward did.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
I mean, I commended him initially that he was gonna
play in this game because you could argue though, like
I'm just gonna go get ready for the draft. And
when they got announced in the Pop Tar Bowl, which
is played here in Orlando, easily the best bowl that's
out there, they get it, they understand it, they understand
what they where, they fit in this crazy world to
college football. Even now they and the cheese at Bolt
is like the slightly lighter version of that, like they

(25:39):
do some of the fun stuff, not all the fun stuff.
But you know, I know Miami fans, it's inevitable living
in Florida. So like when that got announced, I was like,
hey man, you can see your canes, you know, an
hour way instead of driving three and a half hours
just down to Miami. And uh my one friend was like, yeah,
I'm gonna if cam Ward plays, I think I'm gonna go,
and he announced he was coming. I don't know how
it would have gone off before the game if he's like, yeah,

(26:00):
I'm gonna play a half or let's call it what
it is, I'm gonna play till I break the record
that I don't think would have gone off. Well, if
it was like premeditated, I think it was, But if
you announced it ahead of time, I don't think that
goes well.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, Well, I'm curious where you're at in all this.
It doesn't sound like you're quite as enthused with as
I am.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
I just thought I don't necessarily have a problem with it.
I thought I just thought it was strange. Like so,
I was working a sets in basketball game during the
Pop Dart Bowl, right and I see that he played,
and it's a barn burner going back and forth, back
and forth. I checked the score one more time, and
I see the backups in and I'm like, oh, no,
he didn't get hurt. We're gonna hear that now. And
and you find out that he just kind of, you know,

(26:40):
Anthony Richardson, he just tapped himself out of the game.
I guess. So I have no real problem with it.
I just thought it was straight. I don't think we've
seen that before, so to look at that, I think
my initial response was, well, that's strange. And then I learned,
all right, he did break the record, and apparently that
was already the plan. So like my thing is, because
it's Miami, and people are gonna think I'm taking shots

(27:01):
because I'm a UCF fan. They have won two bowl
games total since two thousand and six, so and they
have a won one since twenty sixteen. So you're coming
up on a decade of any I don't care what
bowl game it is. Their last bowl win was December
twenty sixteen in the Russell Athletic Bowl. That bowl has
not been named that. That's like four sponsors to go
at this point, right, So seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty three,

(27:25):
twenty four all bowl losses. I don't know. If I'm Miami,
one of the steps I know that they wanted to
get it all in one grab, right. They wanted to,
you know, get this quarterback, and you know, we thought
we had to be in the playoff all year until
those stumbles towards the end. I think step one in
rebuilding Miami is like, let's win a bowl game, like
any bowl game. Let's bring home some hardware for the year.
You didn't make the ACC Championship, you didn't make the playoff.

(27:49):
You're in a bowl that should be like a home
game to an extent, because there's way more people that
can make it to Orlando. That are Miami fans than
Iowa State fans. I would assume they traveled pretty well.
So to me, it's just like this should matter to
you a little more, I guess. And maybe they thought
they would have the game in hand and it would
be fine for him to sit out the second half.

(28:09):
They lost by one point too, so it's not like
the second he left it like they scored ten points
in the second half. Iowa States scored fourteen in the
second half. They won by one, so like it's safe
to assume if he plays, they win the game. And
granted cam Ward was always a one year rental, but
if I'm Mario Christobaud, my goal is to actually get
this program back on top. Step one should be like

(28:30):
again we should maybe I just have like the soccer mind,
because there's multiple things to win in European soccer, and
even here, let's win some sort of hardware this year.
Let's bring home something this year, and they you know,
they didn't do it. I think if Miami went for
years to come, you would because the pop Tar Bowl
is all eyes are on it, as funny as it
is to say, because of how goofy it is it
would give you more than just winning, you know, the

(28:52):
Russell Athletic Bowl like it used to be known. So
I don't know. I think it should have mattered a
little more to Miami specifically. I have no real issue
with it. I just never seen it before. So who
goes into it like, yeah, no, I'll give you a half.
I'll give you a half Mario before I get out
of here. I don't know that. That part was just strange.
So no real issue. It is just I don't know.
And again it would it would have been a train
wreck if he pre announced that that I will stick to.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah, yeah, you know what's funny. We were doing rapid fire.
That was that was that was nothing but fire come
from your head. But you kind of moved me a
little bit. Actually, I like a guy that would finish
the game. Not a huge issue with going a half,
but it would have been great to see him play
the whole way.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
And I get I get the you know, if he
does tweak something, everyone's gonna be you see, like now
that you know, maybe he won't be going the first round. Now,
it's like I get the argument one hundred percent. Talk
about guys that did play that are highly rated Travis
Hunter shoulder Sanders played, They played most of the I
think if it was close, they would have played the
whole game. I think when BYU pulled away, they pulled
some guys and there's no issue with that. But I mean,

(29:54):
for anything you wanted to say about cam wod, you
can give that to Sanders, both Sanders and Travis Hunter,
as they did play their whole bowl game. To me,
the upset of a bowl season though Navy coming back.
To be granted, Oklahoma's only six and six, but to
finish the year ten and three beat Oklahoma twenty one
to twenty. Everyone's looking at Army this year, right, they

(30:14):
had a great year going twelve and two, get upset
by Navy in that game before bowl season. But people
are gonna remember the Army season. But for Navy only
be one game behind that ten wins beat a now
SEC school in a bowl game. They are my they
are my MVPs of bowlseason is the Navy midshipman. H
You got any other things to touch on before, so

(30:35):
so we'll mention it one more time too. With Sanders
and Travis Hunter. How do you feel about them playing
in their whole bowl game? In the album of which
came out, said like, my guys are playing like he
left no bones about it. So what was your opinion?

Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah, now I get bugged when players don't go at
all like that. That was a thing developing in the
last five years. That to me was crazy like that
was And does anyone remember maybe, I don't know, it'll
come to me of a guy that sat out a
bowl game and it was a fabulous idea. He surpassed

(31:09):
expectations in the NFL or whatever, and the program that
had to deal with that wound up the next year
winning a conference championship, going to the deep in the playoff.
I don't think I've ever heard that. Usually, you know,
championship teams, championship players don't do that. So, yeah, the
games almost wrapped up. Yeah, go ahead and set the

(31:29):
fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yeah that I had no issue there to either.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
Deliberately say I'm only gonna play a half. It's like,
once you start thinking like that, to me, that's when
the problem happens. I'm of the mindset like a Dan Campbell.
I would rather get hurt trying than not try it all.
So I mean, call me old school, and then I
don't know, if you're gonna move on, But before then,
I just wanted to shout out two of the great
seasons of college football this year, ash Genti, who declared

(31:55):
for the NFL Draft, and Scutebum. I'm forgetting his first name,
but the ASU running back literally was the best player
on the field. I'm sorry for folks that you know,
were bothered by him winning the MVP as a losing player.
He was outstanding. And I'm glad you're agreed, because you know,
there there is such a thing as a player losing

(32:16):
a game, but being the best player on the field,
it's possible, and he clearly was that guy.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
I think it should happen more than it does. Like
you know, you can probably count on one hand the
amount of like well known ones and that is one
thousand percent one of those. Like they weren't gonna do
this in twenty two because like it was Mahomes's third
ring or whatever. But like Jalen could have been the
MVP of that Super Bowl. The fumble does it? Yeah,

(32:44):
But like I do know of instances where I feel
like it should matter more than it does. I don't
know if you wanted to talk about and you know,
again being in the a su alum that you are
like were you was? Your heart swelled with pride when
you when you thought that I thought it was done.
I thought they they had to pull off. I don't
know how they stole in the red zone like that.
But you know, do you does that make you want
to watch more Sun Double football and forward? You can

(33:06):
stick with your San Diego State stuff?

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yeah, just like you. I don't want to claim Asus
like a weird you know, I claim both teams. Let's
see which one does better. But and also the way
they did a few years ago, now you know, I'm
not quite I'm not quite as big of a you know,
grudge setter or anything. But like they walk over to

(33:29):
Herman Edwards and say you're done, buddy before he even
addresses as a team in locker room. That was crazy
to me too, ye, so, and I still think about
that with ASU. But what a fun year it was
for them, What a great talented team they've got. So
you know, I am intrigued moving forward with ASU. But yeah,
I'll I'll turn on San Diego State and if the
Sun Devils are on later, maybe I'll watch.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
To avoid any confusion to the longtime listeners. Nick is
a has a degree from from ASU, so that's where
that that comes in all one, if I'm not mistaken,
but still it counts. So I mean, I'm I'm the
one who doesn't have a UCF degree as of now.
So like it's funny. Now, so my all mine are
from Daytona State, and I did take classes at UCF,

(34:12):
but when I went back to finish, the degree ended
up being from but the classes I needed both to
get what I have because it was one of those
other go to Daytona State and work hands on with production,
or go to UCF and just read about it in
the book. So I don't know one day if I
ever go back to that's the goal is to get
at least some sort of some sort.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Of take your word for it, man, but it sounds
a little fisty.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
I'll say right here, this is why.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
I believe you got it. I've just never heard.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
Daytona State has what's called direct connect to u CF.
So if you get it a you're AA from Daytona State,
you automatically go to u CF. So that's that's the thing, correct, Yeah,
So it is. It is weird. It's something I helped
to correct one of these days. But at the moment,
I'm not needing more degrees for for what I got
going on, So I'm gonna the less schooling I gotta do.
As a thirty year old, I don't have the patience

(35:02):
to like sit in the classroom anymore. I know that
about myself, so I'm not even gonna worry about it.
Last college football note before we moved to NFL, the
Alabama Michigan game the Request Bowl easily one of the
worst named bulls in modern time. Jalen Milroe another stinker.
I know you don't claim Alabama, but you follow them

(35:23):
like is this this is rock bottom as far as
Alabama goes right, nine to four, bowl lost, no, no
college football playoff? Like this is this is where the
rear rebuilding begins for them in my opinion, Like, how
do you any saban magic that was left got shooken
out of them throughout the year. They beat Georgia but
lose to Vandy. That is a wash at best. That

(35:45):
might even be an overall negative. So I don't know,
I don't know if you have any thoughts on that.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Before we move on, just Alabama, Yeah, took a pretty
significant step back this year. If Georgia was able to
complete that comeback against Alabama earlier this year, I think
they don't just go eight and five or whatever. I
think the literal bottom, you know, turns up. So the

(36:09):
fact that they beat him kind of saved the narrative
a little bit. You know, people the media wasn't ready
to kill him, but yeah, Bama, they got something to
figure out here. And you know, when the Washington coach
came over, I think we all thought that this team
may miss a set, but they're still going to be
right in the conversation. I don't know, maybe it's just

(36:31):
an off year, but this is a little concerning. Maybe
maybe this guy is not quite the coach that we
thought he was. But we'll see. It's just one year.
But yeah, it is pretty shocking the way that they finished.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
I mean, if they don't lose to Vanderbilt and they
have the win against Georgia, they make the playoff as
a two loss team, maybe they line up against Boise
or something and they win that first round and then
then they lose and it's like, all right, small step
back because there's no Staban. That's totally understandable because I expected,
like they're gonna go ten and three, and everyone's gonna
lose their mind because people that are Alabama fans now

(37:03):
were not Alabama fans prior to this, so they don't
know this world. You know, it's similar to what the
Patriots you're dealing with now, So I expected that sort
of thing. But yeah, they definitely get a lot to
figure out. I never thought Jalen Milroe was like the answer.
I think Saban covered up a lot of problems with
an offense that he ran. And I mean even even
go back last year, like if they don't if Auburn

(37:26):
doesn't hand them the game, like that's even more of
a of an issue back then. So I'm gonna switch
over to the NFL scores as we go into wild
Card weekend, a doubleheader Saturday Sunday. Do you like the
Saturday Sunday schedule? I don't know. I think I prefer
the It's hard to split up four games two of them.

(37:49):
I get why they do this, right, because every game
is standalone. You're not playing over someone else. So Saturday
you got the Chargers Texans, followed by Dealers Ravens as
they meet for the third time Sunday at four point
thirty Packers Eagles. I'm sorry, we got one o'clock Broncos Bills,
Packers Eagles, Commanders, Bucks is the late game, and in

(38:12):
this I really don't like the Monday night wild card game.
Oh yeah, Vikings and Rams not a fan of that. Nick,
you guys will kick us off on Saturday. Your Chargers
made the playoffs. Congrats again to me in my opinion,
I know this game is in Houston, but it's incredibly
winnable for you guys.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
What do you think, Yeah, well, the line is only three,
so they think that we're only going to win by
a field goal. We got one of the best kickers
and Cameron Dickers, so that probably is exactly what's gonna happen.
But it's interesting considering that, you know, the Chargers had to,

(38:49):
you know, go on this great run in order to
avoid the Ravens and the Steelers, and they did it.
They got it done. So now they play relatively easy
on paper matchup, first ever playoff meeting against Houston, and
I gotta be honest, this would be a shocking upset
if the Texans win to me, because Houston did not

(39:10):
look very good most of the year, and I know
the playoffs is a different beast, but it's not quite
a beast when Houston, just like the Chargers, are very
very inexperienced playoff wise. A lot of guys that are
young and a lot of guys that don't have that experience. Really,
only the guys that were remnants of that Houston Cleveland

(39:31):
game I can think of. So I don't see an
upset happening here. And I know I got blue tinted
glasses on, but I don't see that being an upset.
And just to your point earlier, I think if the NFL,
you know, were to care immensely by their fans, they
would have three game Saturday, three games Sunday. But unfortunately

(39:54):
there's more money to be made, so we're gonna have
a weird Monday night game than whoever plays that has
to turn around in the playoff game and play five
or six days later.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yeah, I mean I remember the first year. I think
it was like my it was like Kansas City Houston
or something. I remember when they first did the Saturday
and that threw me off enough. But the Monday, Yeah,
I really don't like uh. But you mentioned, you know,
Houston struggled a lot of the year, and we expected
after c dis Shroud had such a great rookie year
that he was gonna take that next step. I guess

(40:24):
you could equate to what he what he had this
year is like the sophomore swamp right didn't look terrible,
but didn't quite take that next step. Still got in
the playoffs. I think it helps when they were in
an incredibly winnable division, So that's that's helpful for them
for sure. And then obviously you guys are in a
very difficult division to win, so to you know, for
both for an eleven, six, ten and seven, like, that's

(40:46):
a very different record based on the journey that you
guys are on and the Texans. This has been all
over the internet, so I just want to make it
known here. I'm gonna say four thirty because that's my
local start, but every wild Card game in the history
of the Houston Tech, which of course only goes back
to two thousand and two, they have played the Saturday
four thirty three thirty local start time. So if you're

(41:07):
gonna be something, be consistent. How funny is that? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (41:11):
Yeah, a little bit of a bummer for them. But
the winner of this game has the most rest you know,
that's true theory before the next round. So that could
be a good thing, or I guess it could be
a bad thing. But I'd say for the winner of
this game, they probably would want a little more of
a dragged out game so that way they can, you know,
have something to kind of rest on going in the

(41:32):
next week. But give me the Chargers, man, I just
think we're too good of a team against Houston to
not get this done.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
That game is on CBS and Paramount Plus for those
keeping score. I think it's important to say these for
all these games because you need like five different services
to watch all these games.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
Moving to the video Nickelodeon on any I.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Think one of these are I forget which one. I
gotta double check, but I do think one of these
gets that simulcast. It might be It might be you, guys, honestly,
I would yeah, yeah. Uh so. The late game eight
o'clock is on Prime Video. This is Steelers Ravens Round three.
Lamar Jackson, fresh off winning me a Fantasy championship, saying

(42:15):
I'm gonna I want a real one now. So great year,
MVP maybe if not favorite right up there, I think
it's him and Josh Allen. It appears to be the race.
I don't know if you have any thoughts want to
weigh in on that, but uh, we talked a lot
of now we're never's for for some college teams earlier.
This may be the year for the Ravens of like
everything clicked out, you know, other than Kansas City, you

(42:37):
get all the home games or whatever. The Steelers are
a shaky ten and seven in my opinion, Like it's
the Tomin role, They're always gonna have a winning record.
But uh, I think the Ravens find a way to
win this as comfortably as you can beat the Steelers.
Winning of the Ravens.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
Yeah, if John Horball does not run Derrick Henry, I
am going to be iright because how many playoff games
is he going to? Are the Ravens going to We're
number one rushing, let's throw the ball forty times like
we did against the Cheeves. Just I don't get it.
But hopefully they learned from last year. And then what's

(43:13):
funny about this particular matchup is that the Ravens are
playing a flimsy Steelers team, like we talked about. Yeah,
but if you were to pick any opponent for the
wildcard round. Realistically that the Ravens would play, I'd say
the Steelers were the worst matchup for him because we've
seen it over the years. There's something about Mike Tomlin

(43:34):
against Lamar Jackson that just gets them flustered. Now we
got the monkey office back, but you know, I'd be
a little annoyed that I got to get the monkey
off my back again a couple weeks later against the Steelers.
Vegas loves them. I think it's a ten point spread
the Ravens. You know they expect to win going away,
but I don't know I would if I were a

(43:56):
betting man. There's only one of us here that is
a betting man. Man. You know that I've been burned
too many times. That's the problem. But what's it called?
I would bet the I would bet Steelers cover that
because I just don't see a way that they blow
out their division rival in the third game like they

(44:16):
like they're expected to do it.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
But I got.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
Ravens, and I got the guy that I think should
win MVP but probably won't, in Lamar Jackson. I mean,
his numbers are just insane this year.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
Yeah, forty one touchdowns, four interceptions. You mentioned needing to
run the ball with Derrick Henry more. You know, there
was a lot of talk about Saquan and rightfully slow
breaking the two thousand yard mark. Hats off to him
for that, but Dereck Henry was seventy nine yards away
from that, So I said, he handed the ball a
few more times here, a few more times there. He's
probably right there in the two thousand club as well,

(44:48):
which I believe he's done in the past. He may so.
He may have been the first player to reach that twice.
I don't know. That would have been pretty cool to
see too.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
I actually just looked that up today. He is the
first to get nineteen hundred two teams. I'm a total nerd.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
Wow, that's so yeah, right there, seventy nine yards away,
sixteen touchdowns. I agree. I think he could be definitely
be the key for this game. We started the year
in Brazil Packers Eagles, and here we are again on
a Sunday at four thirty. I'm sorry I mentioned before
that last game is on Prime Video. This one's the
four to thirty game on Fox. How we started the

(45:22):
season is how we will open the playoffs for the
NFC if it's anything. Like there's so many questions here
because we don't know if Jalen hurts is playing. If
he does, I don't know at this point if that's
positive or negative. Not to short change him a lot,
but I don't know. Ever since losing the Super Bowl,

(45:44):
Jalen does this thing where like he's not allowed to
show emotion to himself, he feels anyway, And I don't
think he realizes how much that can like bring down
the vibe of like a team doing well, Like you're
not doing anything wrong, but you're just like, I don't know.
I think it gets old pretty quick. And maybe that's
me watching it from my couch where he just you know,
the whole game is you know, stoneface, and I don't

(46:05):
he thinks that's cool or he doesn't want, like anyone
to be able to take something from his body language
if he doesn't have any Uh.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
That's it more than anything. Yeah, I just want to
be like Nick Saban. It's like I'm going to work
and I'm doing my job and I'm going home.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
Yeah, And you know, if he comes out and goes
three and out and he's got the boom boo face
on on the sideline and then he has a weird
fumble and he still has the booboo face, Like this
could get ugly quick. The Packers, I think you can
describe their season as like very up and down. There's
times they've looked very good. Obviously, Jordan Love was out
for a handful of games. They almost played their best

(46:39):
ball without him, weirdly enough, which I would have never expected.
They played some other great games, lost a couple of
close ones, so this one's close to me. I would
like to think that everything comes together and the Eagles
pull this off, but we are now weirdly in that
scenario where like I would not be shocked with any
loss despite a really great fourteen and three year, you know,
two drops away from maybe like fifteen and one. I'm sorry,

(47:02):
what would that be? Yeah? Fifteen? Yeah, anyway, but yeah, yeah,
I'm gonna go. I'm gonna tiptoe with Eagles. I mean
it's hard to not. We beat this team once already,
so that's you know that that gives you a little
bit of confidence. The spread is Philly four and a half.
I mean that's basically, you know, you gotta win by
a touchdown, essentially six points at least, I'm gonna go

(47:24):
with them, But I would admit it's not a super
like strong pump in my chest to like, all right,
here we go. You know, if we ended up with
the Bucks or the Commanders, that maybe I would have
felt a little better about it. But like I'm I'm
I would not be shocked if we won. But like,
I can see all the scenarios in which we lose
this game, but I will I will stick with the
Eagles for this one.

Speaker 2 (47:44):
Yeah, unlike the AFC, where I'm really only comfortable with
three teams Ravens, Chiefs and Ravens, Chiefs and Bills. Yeah,
the NFC is so good. Whoever loses in the wild
card round is going to, you know, feel as though

(48:05):
we could have totally won the Super Bowl. We just
had a bad day. I mean, I think the loser
of this game, you do it over again, easily could
go on a run and win things. So it's gonna
be very unfortunate for the loser of this game. And
that's my long verbiage just saying I got Philly. But
just like you, I'm tiptoeing into that one. I just
think the Eagles too hot to close the year yeah,

(48:28):
Jalen Hurts is kind of dealing with an injury, but
they're also rested for this game. The offensive line admitted,
even though they were frustrated that they were a little
banged up, and that extra week off against the Giants
really did wonder. So I don't see a way they
that's too strong. But I would be pretty surprised if

(48:49):
they lose with all those factors in mind. But I
wouldn't be like stunned beyond belief because Green Bay is
a very good team. They just you know, are limping
in there. And they've got a quarterback that is, uh,
you know, I guess Brett Favre reincarnated. I mean, the
guy just every game will throw one to the other team.
You just got to catch it. And I think the
Eagles dbs they may not be like, you know, the

(49:12):
Legion of Boom, but they are good defensive backs and
they should make those plays.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
And you know, win the game. Yeah, the safeties I
think will have a better chance than the corners of that.
But I took point definitely well taken. Have you ever
known an NFL player, a quarterback specifically to be a
concussion protocol for over three weeks whose name isn't too
a like this whole this whole thing is funky to me.
I don't I almost don't know if he had the
concussion in the first place. I think it comes down

(49:37):
to that he wore the two colored cleats in the
NFL find him and Jordan paid the fine, you know,
the shoe company, and it was this is like a
weird punishment thing. Like I don't get in conspiracies a
whole lot, but like, this whole thing has been funky
to me. I can't imagine whatever punishment if that is
the case, that they don't leave him out of the
playoff game. But you know, he will be like a

(49:59):
month away, you know, from his last game. Maybe he's
super fresh and can go on a run. Maybe that helps,
maybe it doesn't, but we're both pretty aligned with that one.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Yeah, you know, watching my fair share of Netflix, you know,
I just saw the Aaron Rodgers Netflix series. It's amazing
how many players do stuff just out of vengeance because
they know what pisses the NFL off, They know what
pisses you know, management off, and they just do it anyway.
So it totally could just be that he's just being

(50:31):
weird and annoying to the NFL.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Right, But it's also and I don't want to spend
too much time on this, like he is one of
their most publicized players. It's you know, Aaron Rodgers used
to be so like he's kind of in this annoying
sub section now. But like when people talk about superstars
of the league, they mentioned Jalen Hurts now, so it's like,
why would you have that battle with that particular player.

(50:54):
I don't know. It's strange to me, but we'll move
on cause that's a conversation for another day. The one
o'clock game I did, of order because that's how it's
shown up on ESPN, But the one o'clock game on
CBS and Paramount plus Bill's Broncos. This one's gonna be
pretty quick for me. The Bills win, but this game
could be a lot of fun. Like bo Nicks this year,

(51:15):
easily one of the most exciting players, but Denver as
a whole just a fun team to watch every year.
I've always had this theory for NBA and NFL, when
your team is bad before you get good, you have
that weird middle ground where you might not be good yet,
but you're a lot of fun to watch, and that's
where that's where Denver is right now. Might be another
year or two before there. Again, it's very hard division
to win, so ten and seven, eleven and six might

(51:38):
be the ceiling on this incarnation of the team. But
I think this is gonna be a lot of fun
another if not now when thing with MVP candidate Josh Allen,
I think they win this. It's gonna be a cold day.
Both of these teams are used to the Colts. That's
not really gonna matter. I got Buffalo in what could
be a really fun game, might be the most enjoyable
just game to watch of the weekend.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
Now that is the first of what I assumed be
quite a few differences that we have. This reminds me
a lot of Bill Steelers a couple of years ago,
and Bill's and in this Josh Allen era and whoever
they play in the wild card round. It's amazing where
they always seem to get a draw where it's like
by halftime or you know, third quarter, Buffalo pulls away

(52:20):
and embarrasses them. And I think that's the same thing here.
I think the Bills win going away against Denver, and yes,
Bonnicks was a really really fun story in Denver was
you know, interesting down the stretch to make the playoffs.
But I think we kind of saw in some of
the losses they had here recently. Yeah, they embarrassed the
number twos of the Chiefs, but in general, this team,

(52:42):
to me, didn't impress me very much, which is why
I think Cincinnati would have been a tougher draw for Buffalo,
would have been a more fun draw for Buffalo. I
agree every.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
Team in the AFC is really happy that they didn't
quite make it funny enough. You know, Week one of
the NFL season, the page Sure to beat the Bengals,
shock everybody. That one loss kept the Bengals out of
the playoffs, and that one win kept the Pats from
the number one seed. So talk about butterfly effect for sure.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
Absolutely, yeah, but yeah, I think I think this is
Buffalo going away. I don't know what the line is,
but to me, if the Bills win by less than ten,
I'd be shocked. But I'm with you Broncos next year
if they have a good draft or two.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
And I don't think everyone. I don't think most people
are a huge fan of Sean Payton, but they understand
his greatness as an offensive guru, and I think this
team should be good moving forward.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
I mean, I don't think we're as far off as
you kind of made a sound there when I say,
you know, the most funny game of the weekend. The
Bills might be up seventeen, but Bo Nicks is still
gonna make people miss and throw across his body and
Courtland Sutton makes like some crazy catch, so it's just
gonna be fun. It might not be particularly close. I
could see the Bills by seventeen or something like it
could happen, but so I think, and they were close

(53:57):
around that than maybe we thought eight o'clock again, two
teams that have like won they've kind of won football
fans hearts this year, and like even with the scuffle
we had way this one is NBC and Peacock, so
table people NBC and then Peacock for everybody else. Washington

(54:19):
Commanders coming off a great season. This is a quarterback
that took that next step twelve and five, you know,
last second went against the Eagles, Tilmayer against the Bears,
battle tested, and then you have the you know, maybe
it helps the division they're in. But Tampa Buccaneers NFC
South champions four years in a row behind Baker Mayfield's

(54:39):
forty one touchdowns for the year. Absolutely crazy. I put
this post out earlier when I saw like the video
of them celebrating winning the division. We didn't know it
back then, but I think Baker Mayfield was built for
Tampa Bay. It's just I don't remember the last time
a highly drafted quarterback went to a new team after
his first team didn't work out. Next to like, I

(55:01):
don't know, Randall Cunningham and Minnesota that like just vibed
well enough with a team like that, Oh, this could
be very fun. I don't know, man, this might be
my hardest one to pick, not because here maybe maybe
they're not threats to win the Super Bowl coming out
of this, but like the teams are very similar. I

(55:21):
think Tampa can run the ball a little better. Austin
Eckler's back for Washington. That's gonna help them move the
change either between the tackles or as you know, as
he was a former Charger, like a great receiving back.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
Maybe the fact that you know it is in Tampa.
It's beautiful weather here. It's gonna be fifty five degrees
for this game, whether it's not a factor, I'm gonna go.
I'm gonna tiptoe this one for Tampa with their running game,
you know, being there. They're favored by three. I think
that could just be it Bucky Irving, great year, eleven
hundred yards a touchdown. Sarah McLaurin for Washington, is they

(55:54):
gut to watch for them? And yeah, I'll go Tampa
if they're able to control this game on the grin,
maybe they get quick score or two to mister one
K Mike Evans and just kind of ride it out
from there. But this game very similar to the one
we just had. I think this one's gonna be fun.
This one will be fun and close, whereas Bills and
Broncos might just be fun. So I'll go Bucks on

(56:15):
a very very slim margin.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
Yeah, well, if I were to give my most fun
matchup of the week, I'd probably go if Eagles and Packers,
it should be. That's the game I'm looking forward to.
You know, I wasn't a Charger fan. I was just
an NFL fan. This game would have been the hardest
for me to predict. If these teams, you know, because one,

(56:38):
I haven't seen them all year. But two if these
teams were literally the exact same team. So yeah, you know,
this is incredibly difficult to predict. I'm gonna go Tampa,
I guess just the difference is the home team and
Baker's kind of been through it. Jayden Daniels, he's you know,
had a fabulous year, but this is his first go
around the playoffs is a different beat. And then you know,

(57:01):
Mike Evans is the Super Bowl champion, He's been there.
But what a story the Bucks would be if they
were to win this game. And you know with the
Mike Evans one K, with Chris Gobwin going down for
the year, and yeah, you know all of that. So
I think there's so much to play for for Tampa
storyline wise and vibes wise, which is huge for this team.

(57:24):
Give me Tampa Bay.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
The last game on Monday. This is the only playoff game.
This is why it's on Monday, because so ESPN can
get their piece ESPN, ABC, ESPN plus. This is gonna
be a short conversation. I think Vikings and Rams in Englewood.
Of course, interestingly enough, because division winners versus non division winners,
that's obviously been a conversation of late I don't have

(57:49):
a problem with this. It doesn't happen enough to be
an issue. I mean, we see it in baseball. We
see in basketball teams. Baseball teams can win one hundred games,
they don't win their division. They're on the route, like
it happens. I get how it sucks for that team,
but I don't think it happens enough for be an issue.
Just real quick, what are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 2 (58:06):
I agree, Maybe not that quite that quick, I agree,
but also, you know it, it does kind of think that,
you know, sometimes divisions aren't quite you know, it seems
like every other year there's a division that's really weak
and happens to host a playoff game. It just usually
isn't this big of a disparity. So I guess my

(58:29):
solution wouldn't be no division winner type thing. That's too much,
but maybe just update the schedule a little bit so
that way we can ensure everybody has at least some
tough opponents, because it seems like there's years where like
no tough teams play a division winner.

Speaker 1 (58:47):
I mean, I would I would soften my stance if
it was like that fourth division winner could lose their
home game. I guess too, if you gotta have like
two more.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
Wins at home.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Yeah, yeah, I could see that. I again, I don't.
I don't see it as a problem, So it's not
something I would really really argue for. I get it.
If you're Minnesota, you're pissed like you kid me won
fourteen games and we're gotta go halfway across the country
to La. Like, I get it. I totally understand it.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
But I like that idea, come to think of it. Yeah,
three home teams and then best record gets the fourth.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
Yeah, and then an Yeah I would I wouldn't. I
wouldn't throw a hissy fit on that. But I still
I like it the way it is. I don't think
this game is gonna be much of a conversation. I
got the vikings. I'm going to assume you do too,
unless you got a major curve ball to throw at me.
Sure do, All right, let's hear it, let's hear it,
Sure do.

Speaker 2 (59:44):
I saw Sam Darnold, and I saw those vikings. Look
a little pumpkin mode this week. This is my upset
of the week. I don't even know if it's that
big of an upset. Give me the rams, give me
a Super Bowl champion and Matthew Stafford playing at home
standalone game. You know, if there's fans that are gonna
come out for something, I think it's when that game

(01:00:05):
is stand alone. I do expect a good amount of
Rams fans to be at this one. You know. Being
a Charger fan and going to the games, I do
notice that a good amount come to the primetime games.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
I don't say you went to the Monday night game, right,
and yeah it was pretty fact.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
There was a good amount of Charger fans. But the
one o'clock four fifteen Chargers I saw them play the
Seahawks and the Browns. It was ridiculous how few of
Charger fans were there. And granted it's the Rams. You
maybe can have a better fan base than us. Give
me Rams, you know, and they're getting healthier, you know,
Cooper Cup and Pukainakua are back, and yeah, give me

(01:00:45):
the Rams.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
If you're someone that doesn't have really a dog in
the race this year, maybe you're like a Dolphins fan
or something. Your team to make the playoffs or something.
You want to root for the Rams and the Chargers
to go all the way to create pandemodium on Championship
weekend to where because they'd have to play on the
same day, maybe they would split it up at that
point to a Saturday Sunday because both games would be
in in the Englewood Stadium. It's funny, this has always

(01:01:08):
been a potential issue for the Jets and Giants. No
one's ever worried about that because they're never They're never
good at the same time, if if at all, so
that's problem. You did throw me that curveball, and I
struck out looking on that, I'll admit, because this is
where I wanted to take this conversation originally. If Minnesota wins,
did we would we have just seen Matthew Stafford's last

(01:01:31):
NFL game. I think that's all yeah, right, we.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Yeah, there you go. There's a major curve ball. I
feel like the Sean McVay effect and the you know,
good team they have around adds a couple of years,
and granted I think we may already be a year
or two in that, but it's hard to walk away
from knowing you've got a brilliant coach and you know,

(01:01:55):
living in LA and all that stuff. It's like, it's
not a bad gig. So I doubt it, to be
quite honest with you, that's kind of a weird way
to go out, you know, to battle your way in
this fun close to the year, to make the playoffs
only to lose it and then retire, to me, feels
a little anti climactic.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
So let's say you're upset Peaks and then they lose
like next week to Detroit or something. Do you think
does that change your opinion at all?

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
I think, yeah, I think it's more likely, but I
just don't see retiring after this year. I think he's
got too much left in the tank. But you know,
I've only been wrong a bunch of times.

Speaker 1 (01:02:33):
So I mean, I think the other thing that would
keep him. It's kind of to your point is like
they went ten and seven, They're not going to have
a great draft pick. There's no plan in place for
after him yet that I'm aware of.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
So that's the other thing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
Yeah, So unless unless they have an idea on who
they want to sign in the offseason, they kind of
already know this is coming. But that just popped in
my head looking at this game, and like, you know,
Minnesota should be favored. They had a great year. Blake,
you said that that cherry could turn into a pumpkin
at any moment, so it's definitely possible. They're favored by
one and a half even though they're on the road,
so that gives a little bit of confidence one and

(01:03:07):
a half, so that means they're gonna win. So like
you can't you know, even on the road, they're gonna win,
I guess. So we allt along winded on that, but
there's a lot of games to go over between college
and pro. So I do appreciate Nick being here. Any
closing thoughts about anything before we get out of here.

Speaker 2 (01:03:22):
Just to me, the butterfly effect that you know, I
hate to be negative, Nancy, but what happens with Sam Darnold,
who has this really fun year and if he just
looks like he did last week against the Rams, who
have a really young, talented defense. By the way, to me,
I think that raises a lot of questions. Is he

(01:03:42):
literally one of the craziest one year wonders potentially to
where he may be gone? Because JJ McCarthy looked really
good before he got hurt, So that brings up really
fascinating future in Minnesota. If they, you know, fall short this.

Speaker 1 (01:03:57):
Week, it's a great point because if they go on
a run here, maybe they lose, let's call it like
the NFC championship or something, they might be looking to
move JJ, whereas they crumble in this game, they move
him to make room for JJ again. So I agree
one hundred percent. I had one small subtopic. This probably
won't go too long. I wanted to bring it up.
When we were talking college I kind of forgot Heisman

(01:04:19):
Trophy happened. Travis Hunter won it gent second. We both
kind of agreed, you know, maybe gents, you should have
won it. Yeah, when you talk Heisman you I don't
know about you. I view it as a regular season award.
It's never spelled out in black and white that way.
But do you agree with that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
Like yeah, just like with the MVP of the NFL.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
Yeah, you know, in the NBA, even though they give
it out in the third round or whatever they give out.
So yeah, I don't know that stuff that gets me where,
like because by the time they announce it, like the
conference championship has already been played, and you can even
make that the cutoff. Like if you make the conference championship,
that can pat your stats a little bit. But I
don't know that's never been fully defined. I think that's

(01:04:58):
the problem, just one to throw that in the mix here.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
You know, we've been doing these for a long time.
What always amazes me is the weird, random small stuff
that that that that that frustrates you just a little bit.
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
We'll listen to stuff that's born that's born in the
group chat, usually with me, you and Hank that I
uh that I have to to bring up to the lights,
so shout out to the group chat. It's really like
people talk like Colin Cowherd talks about like his pre
production meetings before his shows. Our group chat is basically
a pre production meeting for whenever we do these podcasts
and stuff. So good stuff there. But I want to

(01:05:33):
thank Nick for being here again. Hope everyone enjoys college
football Final four, NFL Wildcard weekend and we will see
you next time. Happy New Year again, and take care