Best of Monday 12/5 - Colts season and future flip + IU wins Big Ten Title!

00:00–20:37 – Where do the Colts possibly go from here? Kevin provides his opinion on who might be playing quarterback for the Colts the rest of the year, how Shane Steichen called the game for Riley Leonard, we take a caller who wants to talk about the college football playoff selections, then James Boyd joins us from the airport to talk about a dejected Colts locker room, will Anthony Richardson play,

20:38 – 47:18 – Indiana Football's moment Saturday night, how did the defense become this dominant, what would a sleepover in Lucas Oil Stadium look like, Shane Steichen's playcalling, morning checkdown

47:18 – 59:55– Kevin finally gets to rant about Notre Dame not making the College Football Playoff 

Support the show: https://1075thefan.com/the-wake-up-call-1075-the-fan/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Best of the Fan morning show
on ninety three five and one oh seven five the Fan.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Four Inside of the Gun, Paul the right hash.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Well, he's going to give off right side to ETN
slashes inside that thirty he's got an aftertu He's going
to go down the right side light into the intel
for a touchdown untouched.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
So much going on for the Indianapolis Colts. They've now
lost what four of their last five after starting the
season seven and one. They were setting record well, they
were on pace to set a lot of offensive records.
They were just tearing things up. We knew that the
schedule wasn't the toughest, but still in the NFL, Kevin,
you start putting stats down, that's no joke right there.

(00:39):
So they go all in and they trade two first
round draft picks and a wide receiver to the Jets
for Sauce Gardner. He comes in within a game and
a half, he has an injury that's going to keep
him out for a while. And then, of course, yesterday
Daniel Jones goes down with what we fear and what
seems to be and will be confirmed later on today,
probably as a torn achilles which we know, is them

(01:00):
a year before you get back? And where does this
leave the cults? Now? That's really what people are asking.
It doesn't even feel like a lot of Colts fans
are worried about playoffs this year right here, right now.
That is a concern, to be sure, But people are like, okay,
but what now? Like what do the Colts do now?

Speaker 4 (01:18):
Yeah, it's it's easily the question that I've gotten the
most last twenty four hours of Okay, what are you
with Anthony Richardson? What do you do with Daniel Jones' contract?
What does this mean for the futures of Shane Steike
and Chris Ballard? All of it? I mean all of
those topics now, Jeff become front burner like no other.
You know, Richardson, you have a fifth year team option

(01:39):
that you have to make a decision on this offseason.
By no means would his play or health indicate you
would ever pick pick that up all of a sudden?
Does it make you want to pick that up? I mean,
all of these questions now get asked. You know, as
far as the final four weeks are concerned, I have
not gotten the vibe that Anthony Richardson is close to
returning at all. That has just been my general vibe

(02:01):
throughout this. I think I've shared that, I think James
has shared that.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
That's a pretty serious injury on air.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
Yeah. I mean, you're talking about a guy that I
think it's fair to say nearly lost his eye frankly,
and so you know, an orbital fracture, you know, is
what occurred in the locker room. We're going we're now
going two months without him practicing. He is doing some
weight room work, but again I have not gotten the
vibe that he is going to be back anytime soon.

(02:27):
So I would assume for the final four weeks that
it is Riley Leonard and then Brett Rippen is on
the practice squad. He hasn't thrown a pass an NFL
game since twenty twenty three. So that's your little short
term kind of reality, and that obviously doesn't get into
anything from a twenty twenty six quarterback point of view.
My like very like early gut reaction to it all

(02:50):
is okay, does Anthony Richardson just become your quarterback for
twenty twenty six? You know, Daniel Jones is likely out
with the Towny Kielees for next season. So Richardson is
under contract for next year, the fiftyear options for twenty seven,
So would you just roll with Richardson for twenty six?
But then again, once that question is asked, you very

(03:11):
quickly would say to the person asking that question, well,
who's calling those shots? Is it Chris Ballard? Is it
Shane Staking? And then you just throw up your hands
and say, hope that you're an AU football fan.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Real cook before we get to our first phone call,
don in a second. Here, it's night and day between
having middle of the season in rhythm. Defenses have an
entire week or two to prepare for you as a quarterback.
Based on what you saw from from Riley Leonard in
that Cincinnati preseason game, what you saw a little bit yesterday.

(03:48):
Do you roll with him right now and say, let's
see what the kid can do. Roll with Riley Leonard
as opposed to for the rest of the year.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that's probably. I don't think Ripping
all of a sudden is going to, you know, be
vastly different than Leonard. I did think, and I want
to make sure we hit on this because you know,
I thought there's a sequence there late in the first
half yesterday where I thought you were still in it.
You know, when you get into the rain game, weird
bleep can happen. I mean, you saw some ball security
issues on both teams, and so I thought there for

(04:18):
a second, I'm like, Okay, if you can get this
to one score half, you get the ball to start
the third. You know, just can you put any game
pressure and at the very least you make Trevor Lawrence
hand off the ball in a safe manner for the
final couple quarters and after that go over Stuart fumble
when they had third and one and fourth and one
back it up and they did not use Leonard's a
his legs or just hand it off both times. I

(04:42):
that to me was just I thought it was idiotic.
You know, Riley Leonard is not a pocket passer. That
is not his game. His game is if there is
a strength to it, it is running. And so I
thought we would see and again, Shane's got a plan
for this. You have to have a backup plan. Okay,
if all of a sudden my quarterback gets hurt, here
are the whatever two dozen package A dozen plays right,

(05:05):
And I would assume with Leonard a lot of it
should be leg based. I mean, look at his touchdown,
it's what it's him making a play with his legs.
Look at the first third down he converts to Alec Pierce.
It's him making a play with his legs. That is
his game. I mean, Notre Dame fans saw it all
last year. College football fans saw it in the run
of the national title game. So the fact that they
threw it on third and one I thought was greedy

(05:26):
as hell in the rain, and then fourth and one,
you're back in the shotgun and Taylor gets blown up,
and at that point Jacksonville knows full well if you
just threw it on third and one, you are definitely
gonna be running it here on fourth and one, and
they sell out on Taylor and boom. You know, if
Leonard keeps it there, I think there's an opportunity for
him to pick it up. So I thought that sequence
Jacksonville then takes it down twenty eight ten, that to

(05:48):
me was just agree just from Shane and I thought
your defense was awful yesterday. I mean, Jacksonville, I get
that there's no Buck, No, there's no Gardner. Jacksonville's missing
their left tackle and their top pass catcher and they
you know, season high in points Trevor Lawrence doesn't look
like that all year long. Just awful. No sacks, no
hits on Lawrence, zero thirty one pass attempts, not a

(06:10):
single hit. The only time is Jersey got dirty was
because the rain.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
Does Quidy pay still play for the Colts?

Speaker 4 (06:16):
Just awful?

Speaker 1 (06:17):
There's a guy that lines up with his number, but
does he do anything awful? Honestly? And I will say
one thing before I move on to Don too. You
go back to that fourth and one. There is very
little in all of the NFL that makes me cringe
and that I hate more than going for short yardage
out of the shotgun. It just drives me nuts. I

(06:38):
know these coaches well that if I put this guy
in motion, now we can move this guy around and
maybe we'll try to get some misdirection going on. You
know how, I feel like it's football. At some point
you just got to make a yard and your guys
can you do it or they can't. Sometimes it just
drives me nuts. All right, let's go to the phone lines.
Don joins U two through nine ten seventy. Good morning, Don,
Welcome into the Fan Morning Show.

Speaker 5 (06:58):
Good morning Fall congratulations, Hoosiers's a long time waiting for us,
who for fans, which turned me into a Notre Dame fan,
which I don't get. Why they snuffed him over Alabam
over Notre Dame. They haven't did nothing. Why are they
kicking Alabama's a doubles when they haven't done anything.

Speaker 6 (07:17):
I get sick of that kind of stuff.

Speaker 5 (07:19):
It's not right and it's wrong. And hopefully the Colts
will come out of there. I don't see Riley Leonard
being that bad of a quarterback. He's still a rookie.
I believe they can make a good quarterback out of him,
and we're gonna beat Jack and Bill. We're a better
team than them. Our next showing. We just got to
take care of the other three.

Speaker 6 (07:36):
Games, and I believe we still got hope.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
All right, guys, have good day, Thanks very much. I
like Riley Leonard, but I don't like him as a
starting quarterback in the NFL, certainly at this point, Kevin.

Speaker 4 (07:46):
What am I allowed to ran about Notre Dame?

Speaker 1 (07:48):
We'll do it now. It's on the table right the second.

Speaker 4 (07:51):
We don't only have James Boy coming up.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
We got two minutes before we get to James.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
Well, I'm gonna you a lot longer in two minutes.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Okay, and we'll hold on to that.

Speaker 4 (07:57):
Your favorite moment from Saturday night inside of Lucas.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Probably just watching the elation of everybody when that field
goal went left and it's obvious you are now going
to beat As crazy as it sounds, you knew they
were going to be one of the top two seeds
going into the playoffs. That wasn't in question. To be
able to finish off the conference schedule on top of
your regular season schedule though, and beat Ohio State. I

(08:28):
just I think the elation that I felt from people
in their living rooms when I saw when I was
out the next day, going over even to my mo. Look,
it was the talk of the town at the retirement home, Kevin.
It's all people wanted to talk about that moment. It's
almost hard to describe collectively what the Indiana fan base

(08:51):
felt in that moment where that realization is, oh, no,
not only are we undefeated, but we just beat Ohio State. Yeah,
we're going to the football PLAYFF and we're gonna win
the thing too, as opposed to man, just happy we
got there. Can you believe we're in the College Football Playoff.
It was we just beat Ohio State and now we're
gonna go win this thing too.

Speaker 4 (09:10):
Yeah, it was one of those nights where like, are
we allowed to sleep inside of Lugosolo Stadium? I thought,
you know, there's so many cool scenes. I thought when
Aiden Fisher kind of took the mic there and led
the entire place in the IU fight song, you know,
like for IU fans. You know, again, in three weeks,
you might have a very similar scene in Pasadena, and
maybe after that it's Atlanta. Maybe after that it's in Miami.

(09:32):
But no matter what happens, even if they are to
lose in the quarterfinal round, like that post game moment,
obviously Banana Medosa when he takes the mic, I feel
like he's half like one of those preacher guys on
Sunday that you see.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
In the scene.

Speaker 4 (09:45):
No no, no, but but he's meeting Mark Dyiton's WWE personality.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
But burstool Sports actually tweeted out, did we just watch
a guy lose the Heisman trophy in a postgame?

Speaker 4 (09:57):
It's quite the scene. Anytime he is taking the mic,
I feel like he's you'll speaking through my soul. But
when Ayden Fisher, you know, one of the JMU guys,
all of a sudden breaks out into that. You know,
it just kind of shows you a little bit more
of what Kurtzignetti has created here in two years. So yeah,
obviously the Mendoza de Becker throw and sure the missed kick,

(10:18):
and you know, I want to make sure every time
we talk about EU today we mentioned what Brian Haynes
has done with that. With that defense, I mean to
stifle Ohio State if sack and just whip them up front,
timely plays when they needed to in the secondary, the
Lewis Moore pick. I thought it was a huge tone
setter early in that game. I think about Ohio State's

(10:38):
only touchdown came off of the interim reception off that
off that little screen. So just incredible, incredible job from
the nand of defense. And I think if we've watched
you know, we have watched IU all year long, so
I think we know it, but still for the whole
you know, maybe national scene to see their defense play out,
unbelievable effort.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
All right, he is gone, but certainly not forgotten. Today
the third member of our team here on the Fan
Morning Show, James Boyd getting ready to travel back from Jacksonville,
where he was in attendance for that Colts game in
the rain yesterday, joins us now in the Payless Liquors hotline.
Good morning, James. You know we had talked about the
fact that you truly believed in a curse for the
Colts in Jacksonville, But I don't think you had that

(11:18):
much of a curse going on when you said that,
did you.

Speaker 6 (11:22):
No, they're in trouble. Their season probably just ended yesterday
because of the Achilles injury of Daniel Jones. So I
know I'm here for all the jokes in the Duwall
County curves, but they might actually not made it the
pull season.

Speaker 4 (11:34):
James, how would you describe the locker room scene yesterday?

Speaker 5 (11:39):
Very dejected?

Speaker 6 (11:40):
Probably one of the more depressing locker rooms I've been
in and quite some time, and not saying I've been
around that long, but sit around for four years now
and it hasn't felt like that. I think they all
kind of knew and the moment that Daniel Jones went down,
there goes our chance now, they did, say, and Craig
John Taylofo, I could give the best quart of locker
room like, Hey, you know, I asked him, do you

(12:01):
have to hold on to the rope? We need to
not just hold on. We got a scratch claw and
yanked the rope back to make sure our season can
stay on the rails. But you're asking a fifth round
rookie to save your campaign, and I think that's just
too much to ask for. Roddy Leonard. He played better
than I thought he would honestly yesterday, but better defenses
are coming and I feel like these last four games

(12:23):
there are no lightweights, no gimmes, and they're going to
be in serious trouble.

Speaker 4 (12:27):
James, I gave some thoughts on Anthony Richardson in twenty
twenty five here a few minutes ago, what has been
your view was Richardson there yesterday? I don't think they
showed him on TV? Like, what's been your view of
Anthony Ridgerdson possibly putting on a Colt's uniform again this season.

Speaker 6 (12:44):
I'm antually not sure if he traveled yesterday. I did
look for him down there on the side of my mcgrant,
and I was also looking lot for Daniel Jones through
the vernacular fields going on with him and as I
tweeted out I believe last week and I we talked
about on the show previously. I've seen and the Interison's
face was in the last three weeks and I was
like a face they could play football anytime soon. In

(13:05):
my opinion, So those who keep in stressingly asking about him,
I think it's just kind of naive to kind of
go down that route. And keep in mind, usually even
when you have guys to come up ir they have
a practice window they have to open. They haven't even
done that, let alone with clear in the play. So
I think they're moving forward with the idea of Roddy
Leonard leading them down the last month of this season.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
James Boys joining us on the Paylost Slickers hotline right
now from Jacksonville. We know what it was like around
here in Indianapolis yesterday. What was the locker room feel
like after the game last night?

Speaker 6 (13:38):
Yes, Kevin just asked me, Yea, it was definitely depressed, depressing,
and I felt like a lot of the guys were
dejected in there, but at the same time sending their
condolences in a way I'm not asking, like you know,
Danie Jones is better saying, but definitely sending their prayers
and you know, thought to a guy who has given
everything to this team, and you know the guys already
playing through a fraction of sibula, proud would have played

(13:58):
through another one on the other leg had been possible.
Is just the fact that at the Achilles injury is not
going to obviously help you in the media future. And
now you have questions about Dave Jones, Chris Baller, Shange pikeen.
It makes the evaluation for Carlier, say Gordon the coach
Princeville owner, that much tougher, because how do you evaluate
the quarterback position if he's going to miss the rest

(14:19):
of this season most likely and part of next season?
How do you evaluate Chris Ballard if he finally went
all in unlike a year's past and the backfires in
this magnatine? How do you valet Shange Piken, who's going
into year three and might not make the playoffs. Most
those who don't make pluffs the first two years don't
keep their jobs. So glad that take here.

Speaker 4 (14:36):
James Boyd from the Atletica course, so he is traveling
back to Indy. He'll be back in studio with us
coming up tomorrow from Afar. James, what was viewing Saturday
nights Indiana and Ohio State, like for you.

Speaker 6 (14:50):
Ah was great me and Nathan Brown actually saw it
to Nathan Brown and he saw who went out to
watch that. Some are in Jacksonville and kick jaw guys.
I found the coldest place in actual the Washington game.
They had a bar inside of a ice skating rink,
which was so freaking weird, but great setup, great train.
There were some Ohio State fans next to us, and

(15:10):
they were actually pretty respectful and they had a lot
of credits to Indiana, and it was quite a night
and offered the Ohio State win. But ooh, I probably
not against are you again?

Speaker 5 (15:20):
Trench?

Speaker 6 (15:20):
Is what surprised me. The Mottles would just turn around.
They do not get bullied anymore down low, and they
have the big dues to compete and you know the
nitty and gritty. So a great win, great sorts. Was
Mana Mendoza and company so excited to see what check
for him.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, certainly a crazy weekend of sports. I don't know
if you were traveling or had a chance to watch
any of the college basketball during the day, but that
Purdue game was quite the letdown at Mackie, And I
know you watch a lot of college basketball. Did you
see that coming at.

Speaker 6 (15:48):
Mackie, No, not at all. One of the worst losses
I would think, probably ever right for a number one
team in the nation. And so all I have to
think about was I went to the heel tyree Calliburton
is much trashy mus to talk to those fans, because
you know he likes to rattle a few people ever
renown and if he can.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Thanks Seame. I always good to talk to you. Travel safe, buddy,
We'll see you right here in the studio tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
Thanks James, Thanks very much.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
Interesting because you know, we were both talking about after
the game, and I wanted to drill down on that
because you know, you don't have been in many many
post games argument. A lot of times it's what is
not said, and it's just the general body language and
face of guys at their locker where you really get
a sense of what's really going on.

Speaker 4 (16:32):
Kevin Well and you know, obviously when Jones goes down,
I think the immediate comp for a lot of our
audiences Halliburton's injury in Game seven. It's similar in a way,
but not really like nothing was going to happen to
Rick Carlisle and Kevin Pritchard, of course, and sure it
sucks the life so much of the life out of

(16:52):
this pace for season as we've seen it play out.
First off, it's ludicris to compared to Tyres Halliburn as
a player, to Daniel Jones the player, I think you
start there. And also it would be ludicrous to compare
the resumes of Carlile and Pritchard to Ballard and Stichen,
So I would argue it almost adds more to it
in what probably James and those witness down there in Jacksonville.

(17:16):
And yeah, all those questions, I mean, James just alluded
to it, all of these questions, and I think they
are difficult. Like I, you know, I didn't think Bower
should have been back for a ninth year. But I
also sit here and say, is it the best thing
in the world to go out and get a new
GM and say, hey, here you go. Oh, by the way,
you don't have your two first round picks reach to
the next two years.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
That person's starting off way behind that.

Speaker 4 (17:37):
That's quite the way to start a rebuild. Yeah, but
then again, Barnaby is like, wait, you're gonna run this
back and Bowart's gonna get a tenth year, you know.
I mean it's just and all of the domino effects
off of it. So and you know, I know, Hindsight
could be super twenty twenty with the Sauce Gardener trade,
and I think it's unfair to all of a sudden

(17:58):
go back to that trade and be like that trade
should have never happened. I think the one element to
the trade where you could probably be a little bit
of like, man, there should have been more pause there.
And I get there are time constraints in the trade.
Literally there's a trade deadline. You had to execute it
by whatever it was November fourth. But Daniel Jones has

(18:19):
never proven himself over a full NFL season to.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Be a franchise quarterback, right.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
You know, there's either poor play or there's a lot.
I mean, it's a long list of injuries now for
Daniel Jones in his career. So if you want to
play the Hindsight twenty twenty card, I think that's the
one element to Jones because by trading for Gardner, you
are saying, unquestionably we have the franchise quarterback. He is
not only a great quarterback, but he is durable, and

(18:49):
he has proven himself and he is our guy. That's
the one element to looking back on that trade that
you say, boy Daniel Jones by Halloween deserve that. Yeah,
I don't think that adds up.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Yeah, and then even the secondary that they do have
right now where you're talking about Mooney Ward and his
struggles right now. But I also thought it was interesting
there were a couple of plays, not all of them,
but there are a couple of plays where it looked
like Jacksonville was targeting Kenymore the second yesterday too, Yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
Thought the defense was just awful. I mean, zero sacks
and zero quarterback hits on Trevor Lawrence and they're down
there starting left tackle. I mean J. J. Watt talked
about how many moving parts they've had on their offensive
line all year long. No, Parker Washington, that was their
leading pass catcher this season coming into the game. I mean,
Jacoby Myers has been there what three weeks and looked
like he was, you know, right on the same page, no,

(19:41):
no questions asked. So that defensive effort was just because
it was already trending in an ugly direct. I mean,
you give what twenty eight points in the first half
to Jacksonville. I mean even in Jacksonville starting eighting four,
they're not starting eight and four because of this offense.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
And that wasn't the Daniel Jones injury fault right out there.

Speaker 4 (19:57):
I mean, you know, obviously he had the early pick
that set up the first score. But so there's twenty
one other points in that opening in that opening half there,
they average like seven yards per play in the first half.
That is just an awful, awful number there. So again
helping Riley Leonard terrible from the Colts yesterday.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
All right, coming up in a moment, we will take
more of your phone calls. We'll get to the text
line in depth for the first time today. Got a
lot to talk about. What do you do next? If
you're the Indianapolis Colts, where do you go? How do
you move on now? Without some five year plan in
the back of your mind? Because there's a things have
changed a lot in the last seventy two hours, forty
eight hours. We'll do it next ninety three five and

(20:35):
one oh seven five. These sees the Fan Morning Show
with KB JB and Jeff.

Speaker 7 (20:43):
Here's a staff. Fernando throws it up field catch us
made at the thirty four yard line. Great grab.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
There's a Hoosier done already. Fernando Mendoza is on the ground.
I did not see it.

Speaker 7 (20:54):
So Fernando gets decked on the first play of the
ball game.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Now he steps up.

Speaker 7 (20:58):
He's gonna be all right, and Mendoza takes the stat
wants to throw it, fires a.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
Down the field.

Speaker 7 (21:03):
It's for Elijah Sorondi makes the couch text it's gonna
be a twenty eight yard field goal. Here's the stamp
field and kicks the ball.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
It is wood.

Speaker 8 (21:14):
It is wood Wood to the left, he's the Dada
has big neal half steak.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
But a number one team to whoever the.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
Wold would be here.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
But now the Hooses we're flipping champs.

Speaker 5 (21:30):
Let go.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
Playoffs are just starting.

Speaker 6 (21:33):
And now we're gonna get it bye and uh.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
So you gotta win three games.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
Luff of bo to be played.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
Here's an RTHEO and it's an interception and it's picked
off by Devin Lloyd. Lloyd started right cutting through, has left.

Speaker 2 (21:50):
He's gonna be chopped.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
Down another twenty one yard line all between the hash
marks for Daniel Jones along back of the backfield as
Jonathan Taylor Jones on a counter gives off to Taylor
Knight thing try to find.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
His way into the end zone.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
He's in yes touchdown.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Game is tied at seventh.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
Lawrence goes out of the gun ball in the right hash,
back to pass.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
He's looking for to the right side and it's caught
for a.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Touchdown of the end zones to Jacoby Myers a fourteen
yard pass.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
There's a flag on the play and Daniel Jones is down.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
Daniel Jones can't even make it over to the sideline
if he looked at he is seated on.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
The turf and he just slammed his helmet to the grass.
He is now limping over to the cold sideline.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Florence out of the gun ball the right hash and.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
He's gonna give off right side to et In slashes.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
Inside with thirty. He's got an avenue. He's gonna go
down the right.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
Side, light in the infl for a touchdown untouched.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
Daniel Jones has an achy lease.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
Could be season ending. I don't have the full details
on it. A lot of this stuff too. As you
go through a season, you're gonna have You're gonna go
through some storms and some adversity, and you got to
overcome those. And so that's what we're gonna do.

Speaker 9 (22:52):
We're gonna fight like crazy, him believing, we know that we.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Got a big one coming up on the road. The
competitor in Shane Sniken feels that way. But man, you're
starting to lose ammunition left and right, whether it's DeForrest Buckner,
Sauce Gardner. Now your quarterback, Daniel Jones. And look, you
talked about it and wrote about it, Kevin. When it
first happened, when the Colts three four weeks ago made

(23:18):
the decision to give up two first round draft picks
and Ady Mitchell to the New York Jets for Sauce Gardner,
they were essentially saying, we're all in for the next
several years. Here. We've got a quarterback, we've got a
stud running back. We like our wide receiver corps. We
know we need some help on the defensive line, but

(23:38):
we are going to have just a kick ass secondary
that's going to help everything out on defense. We're all in, man.
Since then Sauce Gardner out for an undetermined amount of
time and now Daniel Jones out for the rest of
this season and probably most of next year, if not
all of next year, and whether or not he's even
the quarterback. Remember he's on a one year deal. There's

(24:02):
a lot going on for the Indianapolis Colts all of
a sudden that they didn't even have to think about
forty eight hours ago.

Speaker 4 (24:08):
That's certainly true. We did it in seven o'clock hour.
I'll do it again here. I can't start with Colts though,
I gotta go back to Saturday night in just that
scene inside of Lucas Soil Stadium, Caleb, thank you for that, rejoiner,
And here Don Fisher's voice. Honestly, yeah, sex a little
bit of fish on Saturday morning. He got a kick
out of the comments on Friday when we said, you know,

(24:29):
we should carry him by Pharaoh, you know, like like
like a pharaoh from Gambridge Field House over to Lucas
Soil Stadium. And now he's you know, calling Indiana back
in the Rose Bowl, which is just absolutely insane for
the first time since what's sixty sixty eight. So, you know,
I think of this market as cruel as sports can be,

(24:51):
and we've seen that certainly. You have had certain fan
bases get moments that have led to tears frankly positive
seeres happy tiers over the last few years. Obviously, the
Pacers I think created that this past you know summer,
this past spring with you know, really kind of a
Hollywood run all the way until Game seven, you know,
a couple of years ago, when Purdue makes that Final four,

(25:13):
and for fans that are at that game in Detroit,
and you know, whether it is the Lance Jones three
of the Zach e Edy block, and to get to
a Final four for the first time in years for
Indiana fans certainly haven't had in basketball. And it's their
football program that offers that on Saturday night. And that's

(25:33):
what I was struck by of just, you know, so
much of the day, the anticipation for Saturday night, and
obviously the basketball game doesn't go well at all, but
to have that in your state capitol, to have it
be Ohio State, to have all of a sudden, the
bracket pop up yesterday and the first team that Reese
Davis mentions is Indiana. It's just I have been that

(25:54):
a loss so many mondays in the Kurtz Signetti era
of how to properly put it into context? And I
once again and at a loss for it, and it's
just beyond remarkable. It's the greatest coaching job in my opinion,
college or pro sports. I'll repeat what I said in
the seven o'clock hour, and I don't think that is
some hyperbolic you you know, happen to just you know,

(26:15):
be in market with that team. No, I think it's true.
And again that defense, like Fernando Mendoza will hoist the
Heisman coming up Saturday night, and he made some big
time throws and Charlie Becker made some big time catches.
Elijah Sharrott made a huge play on third and eight
there to I guess score the eventual game winning touchdown.
But their defense is just that story is that might

(26:39):
be the most amazing element because it's I mean, Fernando
Mendoza had a lot of hype as a transfer. There
was a lot of appeal to wanting for Nando Mendoza.
That defense is not littered with those types of portal
editions on it. There's some JMU flavor to it. There's
the five nine D'Angelo ponds to it. You know, there's
a guy from Navy that that transferred. And yet they

(27:01):
just dominated that game and really the only touchdown of
Hio State score was because of that interception. So unbelievable
job by Brian Haynes, Pat Koons, whole defensive staff, everybody.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, it's so much fun to watch. And even yesterday
out and about whether I was visiting my mom for
most of the day or even later on when my
boys and I went out, all people wanted to talk
about was Indiana. And to your point, I think people
are still pinching themselves like they're used to Indiana basketball

(27:32):
even though it's been a long time. Right, last time
they went to Sweet sixteen was the Tom Creanier and
before that, you know, you got to go back to
the one Mike Davis here, But nothing like this ever, Kevin,
And I mean, you grew up in this state. You
know what it's like. You know, Notre Dame. They're bummed
they didn't get to go to the college football Playoff,

(27:53):
Like it's almost a birthright expectation if you're playing well
and have a good season, And I get that, but
for Indiana just be in the college football playoff, but
to be the consensus number one team in the country
and having knocked off the previous thought to be number
one team in the country. I don't know that you'll
even if they continue to do this, I don't think

(28:15):
you'll ever be able to replicate what this feeling is
like right now, can you?

Speaker 7 (28:17):
Well?

Speaker 4 (28:17):
I mean, who knows what conference championships are going to
be moving forward. I guess let's just start there. So
I mean to create that scene and to have that
scene in your state capital against that opponent, you know
of Ohio States beating you how many years in a row,
and how the game played out. Frankly, I thought, what's
his name, Ohio State kicker? I thought he almost missed
the first kick. The first kick was a chip shot.
I thought he almost that little curvy thing going to

(28:40):
off the left up right, and then sure enough the
second one, and I just thought it was just some
of the softest coaching from Ryan Day not to go.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
To go for that. Not my favorite guy, but okay,
I mean, what what.

Speaker 4 (28:52):
Like go for it?

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Like?

Speaker 4 (28:54):
So you kick the field goal just to have to
wait and get another score later in the game, No go,
you had? Really they leaned on Indiana a little bit
there in that second half, and it's like, okay, how
many body blows in the Indian Evans is hanging in there,
hanging in there, hanging in there, But you are Ohio
State and you don't go for fourth and you know,
really inches. I mean they had two of those in
the second half, third and ones inside the ten yard line,

(29:17):
and you walk away with zero points. And I thought
it was I thought Ohio State deserved Mendoza to Becker
to ice the game, like by you being so cowardly
and deciding to kick it there and miss it, you
deserve the Heisman moment to occur. And again Charlie b
from Tennessee will be ringing in my ears for a

(29:38):
long long time. You can think what you want about
Gus Johnson, but I thought every time he said that
about Charlie Becker, pretty pretty spot on there. What a well?
What ever from him here over the final month and
half of the season. You know, when injuries have occurred,
to Elijah sarad Omar Cooper Junior leaves the game early on,
doesn't sound like it's too severe on that front. But
for Becker to continue to step up for this team,

(30:00):
it's part of building the college football program. You know,
depth is key. Injuries happen, can you do it? And
Indiana has withstood some of that and did it on
a grand stage Saturday night. Kevin.

Speaker 9 (30:10):
I was also going to say too about the defense.
I know Jeremiah Smith had a lot of yards, but
D'Angelo pons like some of the red zone reps that
he had on Jeremiah Smith where he is just that
third and one, he was on an island sometimes and
they I know they bracketed him a lot, but I
thought Dangelo pons like was the story too on that
defensive side.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
Yeah, I mean he is another one and you know
when you look at his resume of the five to
nine frame and another guy that transferred up and you
know he missed. I think it was the Iowa game
earlier in the year. So that aspect, like what's the
best aspect of the Indiana football team. It's their defense.

(30:51):
I mean, I think more so than Fernanda Mendoza. As
crazy as that sounds, I think it is their defense
that is their true calling card. And I think they
sent quite a message to anyone they'll face here in
the quarterfinal round Alabama Oklahoma or semi final round of
Texas Tech or Oregon, whoever it's going to be of
you know, driving on us consistently is no easy task.

(31:13):
I mean, look at Oregon. Oregon struggled to move it and
they put up huge points all year long. And then
obviously look at Ohio State on Saturday night with Jeremiah
Smith in there and Carnel Tate healthy and Bo Jackson
had some decent runs. And yeah, that that defensive championship.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
One of the things I've said all along, all as
this season is unfolded, and you know how it is, Kevin.
Various radio stations or networks will call you every once
in a while, Hey, can you come on and talk
for a few minutes about Indiana and what have you?
And I keep talent people. This is a different football team.
You talk about that defense, Kevin, they are this team,
even offensively along that offensive line. This is a physical

(31:52):
football team. Like they don't stand back from anybody. They
will go head to head with you in the interior line. Offense,
defense doesn't matter. You add to that the skill players
like Sarat, like Cooper, and I think people are starting
to figure out they got some pretty good running backs too.
But then you throw in what you've been talking about,
that defense, which is not only physical, but they can

(32:14):
cover you and you talk about what they were able
to do in the secondary. They were talking about what
they were able to do, you know, for the most part,
just not letting Ohio State go on any big, big
runs at any point in the game. And I also
go back to something I saw a great interview not
too long ago. Kurtzik Nutty was on Dan Patrick and
Dan Patrick was like, could you've ever seen this coming

(32:36):
this path? And he goes, well, you know, this is
kind of how I got here. And he talked about,
you know, the lower divisions when he coached, and he
did it there, and then he did it again, and
then he did it at JMU, and when Indiana called,
he thought to himself, all right, why can't we just
do it there too, And that kind of goes back
to when he was saying, google me I win. He goes,

(32:58):
I didn't see why I wouldn't be able to build
what we had built in previous stops, doing the same
things that we did, finding the same kinds of players.
And you know, we can all say it's yeah, it's
a completely different level right now. But Kurt Signetty can
just flat out coach. You could make the case Kevin
that he's the best coach in college football. When you
take a look at where he's done it, how he's
done it at every single level, at every stable single

(33:21):
position you could find yourself in, He's just gotten it done.

Speaker 4 (33:24):
It goes back to the conversation we've had before. He
was the right type of coach at the right time.
It wasn't just that he had a winning resume and
they hired him. It was a he was a no
nonsense I'm gonna look at people in this athletic department,
in this fan base and tell you, no, that's the
old way. We're doing it my way. Enough of thinking
like loser, old Indiana football. We're not doing that anymore.

(33:48):
This is how it is going to be. I've told
the story before when we had him on at Colt
strandycamp a few I guess it had been just before
his first year. I compared him to Will Smith and
Hitch didn't really ring to kurtzign necessarily, but like it
takes a little bit of the we're gonna think my way,
we're going to I don't care if that's how whatever

(34:09):
Tom Allen, Kevin Wilson, etc. Etc. Did it or how
old Indiana football has done it it's going to be
this way, and I think that was key. It's not
just that he won, it's that he's going to reshape
how you think. And not only for the players, but
I think also for the athletic department and the fan
base as well. It was huge. And one just last

(34:30):
thing about their defense. It really I think hit me
during the Illinois game because you know, fans of Indiana's
football program, they've had a wide out on occasion, they've
had a cornerback on occasion that's worthy of playing in
the NFL. I mean, how Tracy Porter made one of
the biggest plays and you know anti Colt history, but
they've never looked like this in the trenches. Never, And

(34:52):
that's the difference for me. It's that, you know, skilled
talent in Indiana. I mean, they've they've put up points before.
That's not like that outlandish of a thought. It's being
a championship team up front, and they certainly are that.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
Yeah, no question about that. Go to the text line
at two through nine, ten seventy and Charles says, ooh,
the possibility of an Indiana JMU semi final. Good luck,
it'd be a great story. Good luck to JMU on
That is what I would say. But he does make
a good point. Could you imagine, Kevin.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
Jam you would have to win what two games?

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (35:31):
Is that what it is?

Speaker 1 (35:32):
They have to get to any of us.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
Got Oklahoma Alabama winner again New Year's Day, four o'clock
in the Rose Bowl for planning purposes for fans out there.
If they win that, they'd go to Atlanta for the
Peach Bowl. That's a Friday, January ninth.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
JMU would have to be Oregon and Texas Tech to
make that happen. Suppose it could happen. I doubt it.
A lot of people checking in on on just how
much fun this weekend has been and you felt that.
I don't know if you were out and about yesterday
at all, but you could just you could feel it.
There's Indiana garb everywhere, there's shirts, there's jackets, there's hats.

(36:09):
But you could just see people talking about that everywhere
you go.

Speaker 4 (36:13):
Yeah, it's I mean, you know again, I've said it
earlier in the show. It's how Purdue fans felt after
the Elite eight win over Tennessee a few years back.
It's how Pacers fans felt probably after what game six
of the next series is probably how it truly got there.
You know, Miles turnerund the mike saying Indiana in gamebridge
Field House. That to me was kind of like Aiden
Fisher grabbing the mic Saturday night and saying, you know,

(36:35):
let's cueue up the fight song inside of lucas Ol.
So you know, it's a night where the security guards
have to beg you to leave. You know, there are
many times a sports fan where you probably want to leave.
Saturday night wasn't one of those. You wanted to sleep
inside of. You know, get out some sleeping bags in
the bud light zone because we're gonna We're gonna be
here for a while.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
Man.

Speaker 9 (36:57):
I love that Kevin like just camping up, made some
make some sausage and eggs in the morning, you know,
kegs and eggs, and started off morning.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
You knows Kevin went right to Kegs toos I mean, hell,
Colts fans gonna need to drown their sorrows.

Speaker 4 (37:13):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
To that point, Darren writes in should be a Hoosier's
day and week of enjoyment. I know you guys have
to say shiate a lot of different sports fans. I
get it. The one thing I've been harping about on
the cults for over two years. Is that Shane needs
to give up or have taken away his play calling?
How is this not more major story focus on head coaching.
A lot of people all over the place on the
cults and what they should do and how they should

(37:34):
do it. But isn't part of the strength of Shane
Steiking supposedly is play calling.

Speaker 4 (37:38):
Yeah, honestly, right now the grape of Shane sikeing. You're
two and eight against Houston and Jacksonville the last three
years in the Shane second era, you were two and
eight against the Texans and the Jaguars, the two teams
that matter the most on your schedule. And look at
the Texans and the Jaguars over the last three years.
Jacksonville's changed coaches, Trevor Lawrence seems to be the one

(38:00):
that they can't wait to get rid of, Houston, changed
offensive coordinators. C. J. Stroud's been in and out of
the lineup. And yet you're two to eight against those
two teams. It's not like you're this you know, overwhelmingly
touchdown ten point underdog every time you face them. And

(38:21):
that's the reality of where you're at right now you
know so much of this is go back to Chris
Boward season and press conference. We need more tough guys.
We don't win the games in December and blah blah.

Speaker 7 (38:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (38:29):
Well, the two biggest games of the season Houston and
Jacksonville back to back weeks, so far lost loss.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Chris says, who would have ever thought i U football
would win the conference before basketball gets back to the
final four or win the Big Ten Basketball tournament. Incredible?
You got Indiana football and the college football playoff before
Indiana's even been back in the conference tournament.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
Shout out to Tom Crane and the one a few
twenty thirteen.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
Yep, it's been a while there. By the way, a
lot of Colts headlines coming in. We'll get to those
little bit later on. So I know Mark is not
here today. If you want to send those on the
text line two, three, nine, ten seventy. We'll get to
those a little bit later on today. In the meantime,
we got a lot to talk about. Caleb. Let's check
this thing down right the morning checkdown on ninety sweet

(39:14):
five and one oh seven five the ban As expected,
the Indiana Hoosiers are the number one seed in the
twenty twenty five college football Playoff. After a thirteen to
ten win in the Big Ten Conference championship game against
Ohio State in downtown Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium on
Saturday night, I would imagine there are a lot of people

(39:35):
couldn't even get to sleep till three or four o'clock
in the morning. Kevin just so fired up.

Speaker 4 (39:40):
Yeah, it was quite the scene their post game, to
say the least, there I think again, happening in your
state capital, happening inside Lucas Oil State. I remember a
few years back, Indiana played Louisville at Lucas So Oil
in a regular season game. I remember Mark and I
chatting during the break being like, dude, I had no
idea that football game was even going on. IU football

(40:01):
playing in the NFL stadium in the state capitol, and
I didn't even know what was going on. And then
you have a scene like Saturday Night of Taylor Swift
like mania for tickets, and then it plays out in
the manner that it did.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
Man, So one big snub in the college football playoff selection.
Notre Dame on the outside looking in, and they'll talk
about the head to head loss to Miami. That's fine,
but I think you and I are both more concerned
about a couple of other things, chief among them three
loss Alabama, who hasn't looked good in five weeks, getting
in no matter what after their loss in the SEC

(40:35):
Championship game where they were just boat raced by Georgia
Tech or by Georgia not Georgia.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
Tat Yeah, I'm gon give some thoughts on the other side
on it.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
All right, We'll let you do that at that point
in time, and we'll break all of that bracket down.
I Meanwhile, in the NFL yesterday, we've also been talking
about the fact that the Colts were thirty six nineteen
losers in Jacksonville. They still haven't won there since twenty fourteen.
But more than that, oh much more than that, Daniel
Jones goes down with what looks like an achilles tear

(41:03):
in his right leg. We'll get confirmation on that a
little bit later on today. But where do they go? Now?
What do the Colts do? Now? I know for the
immediate it's probably Riley Leonard, maybe Brett Rippon, But where
does this team go? You can't really count on Daniel
Jones a to be healthy next year. But what is
Daniel Jones? We had all those questions before this happened.

(41:25):
What do you do now if you're the Indianapolis Colts.
What's the future look like?

Speaker 4 (41:29):
Yeah, a million questions with answers that are difficult and
not ideal at all. Yeah, it's just it's a really,
really sour, sour time to be a Colts fan. I
wish I could say it in a different light, but
that's the reality of where you're at. If indeed this
season continues to go the way it is going, I

(41:51):
guess for those holding to any helpe because the thing
about it, Jeff, it's not like you can tank. What
are you thanking for? People want the Pacers to tank. Well,
the Pacers have the top five pick potentially waiting for him.
The Colts have the what forty fifth pick? I don't know.
I mean they are their first rounder, so wherever their
second round pick is going to be. So yeah, it's

(42:14):
just it's a kick in the kicking the you know
what region.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
Also, the Houston Texans win again last night on Sunday
Night Football. They beat Kansas City Chiefs by a score
of twenty to ten. Jacksonville, of course, with the head
to head went over, the Colts remains in first place
in the AFC South and with that when the Texans
move into second place in the AFC South, and later
on tonight Monday Night Football, Philadelphia Eagles take on the

(42:38):
Los Angeles Chargers. All of a sudden, there's a rooting
interest there for Colts fans.

Speaker 4 (42:42):
Yeah, So if you are holding out for that playoff, hope.
I would say the Chargers have one of the most
difficult schedules the rest of the way. They are currently
eight and four, so a loss tonight, they're eight and five.
If the Colts have the same record as the Chargers
and it's just those two teams, the Colts would get
in based off their head to head. But I mean,
right now, are you betting on the Colts to win
another game the rest of the season.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
It's gonna be tough. You look at that schedule right
now and it doesn't get any easier. We talked about it,
but Jacksonville was you know you're gonna play them twice.
You've already lost the first one. Now you play Seattle,
you play San Francisco, Jacksonville again. In Houston's it is
We've always known this is gonna be a tough one.

(43:23):
Now you're gonna be playing with one hand tye behind
your back.

Speaker 4 (43:26):
Well in Seahawks and forty nine Ers the next two weeks,
they're still going for the one scene and trying to
get a home game. I mean, the NFC was probably
the best division of football this season. So yeah, just
a brutal, brutal schedule.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
All right, NBA. Later on tonight, field House will be
the scene of the Indiana Pacers taking on the Sacramento Kings.
But no, no Devanas Sabonis in the building, or at
least not on the court tonight, Kevin.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
Yeah, Kings have been pretty bad this season. Shout out
to the Pacers got their first road win of the
on Friday night. Pascal Siakam Great Benedict Mather. How about
the story of Ethan Thompson. Didn't we all go to
school with a guy named Ethan Thompson.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
All I know is I look up and the guy's
making shots all over the.

Speaker 4 (44:02):
Place, making shots hoping. Rick Carlisle shared this story with us,
But it sounded like all of a sudden they realized
Ben Shepper was going to be out. Ethan Thompson just
joined the team. He was playing with some of their
developmental guys, and Carlisle called over to the United Center,
this is like whatever. Friday afternoon, it was like, hey,
get Ethan Thompson off the floor. We need him tonight
to play for the Pacers. Not only did he play,

(44:23):
he started the second half and played really well. I thought,
so just you know, the Pacers have had a couple
of these stories this season. But yeah, first road win Kings,
and then they really have a lot of practice time
awaiting the next two weeks. So if they're ever going
to get those back on track Aaron E. Smith's return
potentially by the end of this month, then you know,
maybe it'll happen.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
All right. Also, college basketball yesterday one game in the
United State beats Southern Indiana seventy seven to fifty five,
and of course it was a tough one on Saturday
at Mack Arena, a twenty three point loss for the
pretty Boiler Makers at home against Iowa State. Iowa State,
it's a good team. I wouldn't have been shocked if

(45:03):
they'd have won that game, but not the way that
they did win it.

Speaker 4 (45:06):
Kevin Bonwe Yeah, you don't see Perdue get absolutely run
out of their own building in the manor that they
did on Saturday. Trey Hoffman ran really struggled in the
first half there. Yes, I do think Iowa State is legit,
but still I was most disappointing the start to the
second half. You know, I thought the first half would
be a wake up call for Matt Painter's bunch. But
a first non conference home loss since twenty nineteen.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
Seasons over in Division three four depaw, they lose to
Wheaton forty nine to twenty four. Anything else you want
to throw in.

Speaker 4 (45:36):
Yeah, that was a rough loss for Butler too at
home on Saturday. Yeah, I mean you can't ignore all
of it there. I mean Boise State, I you know,
from a resume standpoint, that hurt what Butler is built
up here. So they'll have a Northwestern upcome. They'll start
their Big East play here. I want to say it's
this week and then we'll get that Indie Classic a
week from Saturday. So that'll be Purdue in Auburn, Butler

(45:56):
and Northwestern there at Shout out to the Notre Dame
basketball team. Jalen Harrelson, the five star looking every bit
like it. Marcus Burton leaves early at TCU Friday night.
I said it to you guys on Friday, I would
take a Notre Dame out of the playoffs for the
basketball team to win at TCU, and the sports gods
literally said, are you sure about that?

Speaker 1 (46:16):
There may be some revisionist his watch going on there.

Speaker 9 (46:18):
What's the percentage of Notre Dame basketball football fans that
are like you? Because I don't think there's many that
would say that. Respect to you, Kevin.

Speaker 4 (46:29):
Ryan Bowen's the only other one I've ever met in
my life. What a great win at TCU, A great
week for Notre Dame basketball last week. Jalen Harrelson outstanding,
it's the shot to send it an overtime Cole Serta
hitting three small over the state of Texas.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
Let's go, man, let's go.

Speaker 4 (46:46):
It's basketball season in South Bend.

Speaker 1 (46:47):
Baby, there will be a basketball game tomorrow Night's Big
Ten Indiana hosting Penn State at eight thirty tomorrow night.
There you go. Kevin's what's going on? And rest on
that one? He said what he had to say. He's
taking a drink of water.

Speaker 9 (47:05):
He's got to get ready to give his thoughts on
the Notre Dame football team.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
I do so for an hour. I'm gonna let you go.
You might want to take another sip of that water,
because I've seen you worked up out in the coffee
hall too. We'll do it all next ninety three five,
one oh seven five the fan.

Speaker 7 (47:20):
And Mendoza takes the stat wants to throw it, fires
a down of the field that's free. Elijah Soronti makes
the touch touch step here like the serete seventeen yard.

Speaker 8 (47:34):
Pick for to day, and Indiana's back on top.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Indiana would stay on top after a late missed field
goal by Ohio State and just unbelievable defensive play throughout
the game. Indiana goes on to win the Big Ten
championship thirteen to ten. They are the number one seed.
Let's say that again, Kevin Bowen. They are the number
one seed in the college football playoff in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 9 (48:00):
Waffle house, Right, yeah, open, twenty four to seven.

Speaker 4 (48:03):
Right waffle house. What they call Elijah Sarat fifty to
fifty is eighty twenty when you throw it to hand.
That play looks so much like the Oregon play from
earlier this season. Third and eight south, the Ohio State
corners shift onto Sarat right before the start of that
play did not matter, back shoulder sarat and making that
play looking back like his healthy self there all right.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
So they are the number one seed in the college
football playoffs, which were announced yesterday just after noon. The
top four seeds, it'll get a buy. Indiana Ohio State
is number two, Georgia three, Texas Tech four. I keep
looking up and down even this morning, knowing what I know,
and I see jmw in, I see Tulane in and

(48:45):
I get how they got in. I don't like the setup,
but that's how it works. Whatever. But then I see
three loss Alabama in who's lost two of their last
four games, lost by three touchdowns to Georgia in the
conference championship. And if you want to go all the
way back to the beginning of the year, which the
committee didn't have a problem going back and look at
the Miami Notre Dame game to see what they saw

(49:07):
in the first game of the season, Florida State was
a two touchdown winner over Alabama. Other than name recognition
in the fact that there's a heavy, heavy SEC bias
on these things, how the heck is Alabama in over
Notre Dame at this point in time, Jeff, what is
the committee's job to get the twelve best teams into
this football playoff under the criteria they set, which includes

(49:32):
JMU and Tulane and their paths to get in. Fine whatever,
I don't agree with it, But outside of that, it's
to find the best football teams and rank them in order.
You cannot tell me that Notre Dame, who by the way,
went from number nine in their own rankings to all
of a sudden, they went one spot behind Alabama before

(49:53):
the conference championship games, didn't play a conference championship game
while Alabama got beat by three touchdowns and then go
I was from being number nine in their rankings to
out all together.

Speaker 4 (50:03):
Yeah, I knew Notre Dame was screwed a few weeks
back when the committee chair on live television did the
six to seventh thing. That's that's his legacy. By the way,
as soon as I saw him, I said, they are
literally bleeped. There is no chance in hell this thing
is going to run smoothly here over the next few weeks.
In the history of the college football Playoff, which again

(50:24):
expands back over a decade, we've obviously had the four
team playoff, before that. Alabama is the only team to
lose on conference championship week and not move back. Notre
Dame the only team in that top twenty five poll
yesterday to have not played this weekend and move back
Alabama to me is the bigger gripe. Two weeks ago,

(50:45):
you had Notre Dame ranked higher than Alabama. What's happened
since then? Okay, Notre Dame went on the road one
by thirty over an ACC team in Stanford, Alabama. Over
the last two weeks. You just brought up what the
did in the SEC championship game. They had negative rushing yards,
by the way, in the SEC Championship game, negative rushing
yards and their quarterback was awf lit in the game.

(51:07):
The week before that, they beat Auburn, who had one
SEC win. That one SEC win was over an Arkansas
team who happened to be the Committee Chairs team while
the Committee chair, the ad for Arkansas had to all
of a sudden fire his head coach this season. Which
game was that after when Notre Dame went to Arkansas

(51:29):
and won by forty earlier this season? So Alabama in
two weeks they beat one SEC win Auburn, and if
anybody watched that game. They watched Auburn have seven to
eight drops in that game. Then they go the SEC
Championship game, they get absolutely dog walked out of the
Georgia Dome, just get rolled and again negative rushing yards

(51:53):
for the game. And yet in the first time in
eleven years, we have a team lose on championship weekend
and not drop in the rankings at all. That makes
absolutely zero sense to me. We had the committee chair
last night again, Hunter, you're a check. I believe his
name is Arkansas d He is bringing up some of

(52:13):
Alabama's wins from earlier this season with teams that were
previously ranked in the top twenty five since win is
that part of the criteria? Because Notre Dame has several
wins this season where those teams were ranked at the time,
and then they fell out of the rankings largely due
to Notre Dame and those teams beating them. So that

(52:34):
made zero sense for me. And I still have the
Miami gripe. When the polls were debuted whatever it was
a month ago, Notre Dame was eight spots ahead of
Miami eight eight spots in that time. Notre Dame did this,
They won by thirty nine over a nine win team.

(52:54):
The next week they go on the road to play
an eight win ACC team, they win by twenty two.
Next week they play another ACC team, they win by
sixty three points, and then that last game of the season,
like I just mentioned, they win by thirty over another
ACC team on the road. So in four weeks Notre

(53:15):
Dame eight spot lead on Miami. They win by thirty
nine over a nine win team, twenty two on the
road over an eight win team, sixty three over another
ACC team, and then thirty over another ACC team on
the road. Four wins two over former top twenty five
teams by thirty eight points per game, and that eight

(53:36):
spot lead turns into a loss. It becomes a nine
spot difference with Miami jumping them in the final poll.
It make no sense to me whatsoever on how Alabama
or Miami, based off the rankings that we have seen
with the committee over the last month, how it plays

(53:57):
out in that manner. When Duke one Saturday night, I
thought out because I thought to myself, there's no way
they're going to leave the ACC fully out. And for
those that weren't totally following Duke at whatever they were
seven and five were not going to be ranked higher
than James Madison. So James Madison was going to get
the last automatic berth, which meant that because the ACC

(54:18):
is too dumb to have Miami in their conference championship game,
which they should have had in the first.

Speaker 1 (54:22):
Place, terrible tie breaking.

Speaker 4 (54:23):
If the ACC puts Miami in the conference title game
based off the tie breaking rules, which should be on
the selection committee's rankings, then Miami theoretically win Saturday Night,
they get the automatic berth, and now we have Alabama, Miami,
and Notre Dame all in the playoff.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
Yeah, which that should be. They screwed the whole thing up.
But I also think there's an element of we know
that this committee is largely influenced by the SEC and
certainly to an extent, by the Big Ten. There's no
question about that. And I know for a fact that
behind the scenes, because I've talked to some of these
peoples over the years, these conferences do not like the
fact that Notre Dame has been independent. They have their

(54:58):
own network deal. They don't have to share any of
their their turn their basketball tournament revenues, any of their
their TV revenues with any of the other teams. It's
long been a source of consternation from from from conferences
like the SEC. They couldn't wait behind those closed doors

(55:19):
to having an excuse to say, oh, sorry, you're not
going to take any of our money, You're not going
to share in any of our stuff. You don't want
to be a part of a conference and share your stuff. Well,
this is going to be part of that consequence. I
don't care what anybody says. I'm not the biggest conspiracy
theory guy in the world. There is no way that
didn't play a large part in why Notre Dame. To

(55:41):
your point, Kevin, there is no logical way for them
to have dropped in the rankings the way they did,
just based on what you outlined right there, other than
the fact that we don't have to share with you,
and this is how we're going to justify it. And
if you want to be a part of what we're
doing in the future, why don't you hurry up and
go go ahead and try to join a conference where're
tire of sharing our money with you? Mister independent.

Speaker 4 (56:03):
Now again, I firmly believe Notre Dame should have been
in I've got grape like I just laid out over
both Bama and Miami, but I will repeat what I
said late last week. When you are ten and two,
you're not bulletproof. And Notre Dame lost to Miami in
text A and M and part of Notre Dame not
being in a conference. I don't necessarily think this means

(56:23):
they should join a conference. Let me be clear, but
part of not being in a conference means the start
of your season will be front loaded. You'll have Miami
in text A and m out of the gate. So
when you do and you're starting a freshman quarterback and
you're bringing in a new defensive coordinator, be wary because
if those games don't go your way as you're easing
into the season, it might come back to bite you.

(56:47):
And that is the reality of where they're at from
the schedule they obviously want at Texas A and m
a couple of years ago to start the season. That
I do think is a very real factor that Notre
Dame has got to live with and that more of
these are not going to want to play you in
October and November and interrupt their conference schedule, So that
means August and September is going to matter more for you.
And if you watch a Miami text A and m game,

(57:10):
Notre Dame had growing pains. They didn't TRUSTEJ. Carr in
the Miami game. Their defense looked awful against tex A
and m Now they lost by four points total. They
easily could have won both of those games. But that
is the reality of where Notre Dame is that right now,
haven't said that. I thought that committee chair is an
absolute jackass moron.

Speaker 9 (57:29):
He's kind of just a meat shield for the whole process.
I mean, he is the face of it all, and
he doesn't help himself by the comments he says. But
I think the larger problem, Kevin is the other people
in that room too. Everybody's abiding by this process that
is obviously flawed. And that's just the one guy that
gets to go on ESPN and answer good questions from

(57:49):
Rhys Davis and good pointed questions, and he.

Speaker 4 (57:52):
Looks terrible when he answers those questions.

Speaker 3 (57:54):
Again.

Speaker 4 (57:55):
The goal is to get the best, let's call it whatever,
ten teams. If you want to know, group of five,
I've put them to their I'm fine with having one
Cinderella in the in the in the twelve team field,
by computer tests, by eye test, Notre Dame is easily
one of the ten bests. Jeff on Sunday morning. If
you looked at the National Championship odds, Notre Dame was

(58:16):
fourth on that list. You ask any of these teams
that made the field, they don't want to see Notre
Dame get you leave them out?

Speaker 1 (58:25):
Are you not getting an argument for me? I'm gonna
let it sit right there.

Speaker 9 (58:28):
Are you okay with them leaving or withdrawing from the
bowl game?

Speaker 4 (58:34):
Yeah, I'm not ready for that one yet. Maybe maybe
sometime in the nine o'clock hour we can.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
That really goes back to what I was talking about
that name telling the folks at ESPN who were in
bed with the guys from the SEC and everybody else
for bowl games. Well, you're not gonna get us to
profit off it. Here's the other thing about bowl games.
Schools don't make money from most bowl games.

Speaker 4 (58:55):
Yeah, Caleb, I I don't love love it, but I
also think it's in the tad overblown in this twenty
twenty five era of jewels. I mean, Notre Dames played
in two bulls under Marcus Freeman when they didn't make
the playoffs. It's not like Notre Dame annually. Besides, hey,
we're not gonna play in the bowl game. Because to
sum up what Notre Dame football has had to deal
with in a bowl game recently, Sam Hartman decided to

(59:18):
opt out of a bowl game. Sam hart When when
Sam Hartman, future seventh round NFL draft pick is opting
out of a bowl game? We have issues with bulls.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
In the year of twenty three twelve, just had to
find Iowa State in Kansas State because they decided to
not take invitations to bowl games. Iowa State saying, not
only do we have a bunch of players hurt, but
we don't have a head coach right now either. Yeah,
ball games aren't what they used to be. Coming up
at a moment, we'll take some of your feedback again

(59:49):
on the text line and the fan calling line. Two three, nine,
ten seventy is the number. Will do it. As we
continue on a Monday morning,