12/14/2020 - Best of Outkick the Coverage - 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of out Kick the
Coverage podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
morning from six to nine am Eastern three to six
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every morning on the I Heart
Radio app by searching f s R. This is the
best of OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis on Fox

(00:22):
Sports Radio. We begin with the Buffalo Bills sending a
message to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And I told you guys
that this is what I expected to see. This was
one of my OutKick six Pack. By the way, the
OutKick six Pack went four and two, even though we

(00:45):
got totally robbed on the under because Jalen Hurts fumbled
late for the Eagles and allowed the Saints to come
down and score. I'm still not over that loss. It
cost me the Fox Bet Live crown. We went four
and two, though, and I have telling you for a
while that I was not a believer in the Pittsburgh
Steelers because they can't run the football. They've had a

(01:07):
lot of defensive injuries, and ultimately I thought that was
going to catch up with them, and guess what, it
started to catch up with them a little bit. And
the Bills I thought, went out as particularly in the
second half, although the pick six at the end of
the first half was obviously a monumentally big play. But
Buffalo went out and dominated that second half against Pittsburgh.

(01:32):
And now I think you have to ask the question.
Now the Steelers have fallen down to the second spot,
don't seem to be particularly healthy, and the way that
things are going, okay, the Steelers should be able to
beat the Bengals, But I expect for the Colts to
beat the Steelers, and honestly, I wouldn't be stunned if
the Browns beat the Steelers. So I think if you

(01:53):
look ahead right now, you're talking potentially, not that it's
gonna matter in the grand scheme of things, but us
I don't think home field advantage matters other than whether
or not you get the buy. But I think there's
a decent chance if you look at their schedules, that
the Bills are going to end up as the two
seed in the a f C and that the Steelers

(02:16):
will fall down to the three seed. And if the
Steelers fall down to the three seed, Well, does that
matter in the grand scheme of things. You can maybe
say no, you can maybe say it doesn't matter that much,
but you would at least be in a position where
you're not only you're only gonna have one home playoff game,
and that could matter. And I think frankly that if

(02:39):
the Steelers end up in the playoffs, that wouldn't shock me.
If they're one and done, it really wouldn't. And I
also think if you're Buffalo, you want to be in
that two three match up with the Steelers because it
allows you to avoid having to play against the Chiefs
until the absolute last moment, which is what you're hoping for. Now. Look,

(03:00):
the Chiefs continue to kind of play at the level
of competition, but they have to be if you're been
watching football at all, I mean, the Chiefs are a
prohibitive favor. It's such that I think you can sit
around them legitimately ask hey, do you like the Chiefs
to win the Super Bowl or Alabama to win the
College Football Playoff? And we could get into a legitimate

(03:21):
debate about that, which is crazy in the world of
the NFL. But the Steelers to me are falling off
of the wagon. In a hurry here In terms of
being one of the best teams in the NFL, I
thought the Bills completely dominated them. And I still have
questions about the Bills defense, but I think the Bill's

(03:43):
defense played really, really well, particularly in the second half
against the Steelers, such that the Steelers are gonna have
to hold on maybe barely. They'll be there in my
top five in the NFL when you start to look
at the overall landscape. Now, other big storyline he or
to me was the Saints finally lost a game without
Drew Brees. They've been eight no and finally Taysom Hill

(04:08):
and the Saints lost. And as a result, guess who
your number one team is right now in the NFC
The Green Bay Packers. That bye week matters a lot
when you have got a veteran quarterback, and I think
that Aaron Rodgers wants it. And I also think home
field advantage matters a lot when you're talking about Lambeau,

(04:30):
even if there are no fans present. We will talk
about all these games and more coming up next with
Todd Ferman, But first fantasy football update. What happened with
all the money at stake for the OutKick Crew? A
lot of you were tweeting over the weekend. We had
a major, major fantasy football scenario playing out. And for

(04:52):
those of you who did not here last week, I
gave everybody on the show the option, would you rather
get your regular Christmas bonus from me? Or would you
rather roll the dice in the high end fantasy football
league that I'm in and see whether or not you

(05:12):
could win potentially thirty thousand dollars, which is what the
champion of the league gets, but you might get nothing
because we have to win the inaugural game in order
to get into the money round. There are six people
in the playoffs. This was the play in round, and
if we won this round, then the guys would be

(05:33):
in the running for five, ten, fifteen, or thirty thousand dollars.
That's first place gets thirty, second place gets fifteen, third
place gets ten, last place, fourth place gets five grand
and so we bring in the crew. Now everyone was
obsessively following the fantasy football league. It came down to

(05:57):
Sunday Night Football. Stefon Diggs went off and Danny g
all of you are now into the money around in
my fantasy football league. Uh. It was a huge comeback.
We were down by quite a bit. We added the
Washington football team. You guys know, I'm usually not fantasy

(06:18):
football guy, but when there's this much money at stake,
how nervous were you watching the watching the games on Sunday,
Danny G I'll start with you. It is the most
anxiety that I have felt in a while. And I
do not know how you and Dub on a weekly
basis gamble your own weekly paycheck money on sports wagering,

(06:41):
because I can't do it. It totally drives me insane
watching the games and all the different storylines where you
need everything to line up like a perfect storm for
you to be able to be in the money. So yeah, First,
there was the stress and the pressure of us all
setting the lineup, which we spent a lot of time on.

(07:02):
We had to make a decision about running backs in particular. Uh,
and then that was tough in and of itself. And
then uh, ultimately we were down by a lot. I
thought we were I thought we were finished. And then
we got a little bit lucky because they pulled Russell Wilson,
although he still had an incredible fantasy day, but after

(07:22):
his fourth touchdown pass and it came down the Stefon
Diggs and anybody who was watching last night, that game
started scoring wise, super super slow, and then Diggs basically
took over on the first drive of the of the
third quarter and put us in the money. So we
didn't have to worry about it for very long. But

(07:42):
now now the mistakes are ratcheted up. You're either gonna
win five, ten, fifteen or thirty k bang. And trust me,
all of us we had different group chats going. We
brought in the big guns when we were setting up
the lineup. By mean, I was talking to Mike Harmon,
who does our fantasy show on Fox Sports Radio Network.

(08:05):
I got ahold of Dr Chow on Sunday morning, and
all of us we're looking at his input on the
different injuries between DeAndre Swift and Josh Jacobs coming back.
We not only took this series, but it was a
pretty fun few days of having a group chat with
the entire OutKick show involved all right, Brian Eddie, who

(08:26):
is the resident Steeler fan on the show, Eddie, where
you conflicted at all by the fact that Stefon Diggs
you had a lot of money potentially writing on him,
but also you are a Steeler fan. Yes, I was
absolutely conflicted. Uh you know, I was hoping that Diggs
could get his points while not contributing too much to

(08:48):
the Bill's victory. But he came out in the second
half and just was on fire. And uh, there was much, much,
much rejoicing between this on Twitter. But this was fun.
I have not done fantasy football in over ten years.
I was hardcore into it at one time, kind of
like I guess in the heyday of it, so to speak.
But at one time I did everything football, hockey, baseball,
I was in everything, and it got to a point

(09:10):
where it was taking so much in high life and
I just decided, I just decided to quit cold turkey.
So this but it was gonna take something special to
bring me back into it, and uh, this was definitely it. Um,
So kudos to you for including us in this, and
it was really fun to have the all the texts
going on with everybody and you know, giving us a

(09:31):
chance to give our input into the lineup. And then
once the game started, we're all texting each other about
you know, this guy just scored and oh no, you
know they're in the red zone or whatever. So it
was a lot of fun. Yeah, it was. It was stressful,
but very enjoyable and glad to be glad to get
that win and getting the money dub. The place that
I was the most nervous, I'm gonna be honest with you,

(09:51):
was because the Washington football team was having such a
dominant defensive performance. They got two defensive touchdowns, but late
they to give up a bunch of yards and like,
we needed obviously almost everything that they could bring to
bear in the game. And that's where I was like, oh,
we're gonna end up losing it by a point or
two because you know, some late yards or something like that. Yeah,

(10:13):
that last player, that forty Niners Washington game. I was
worried about the classic pitchy pitchy woo woo play from
the forty Niners, And it was a decent play, but
there was one side of the corner where it's like, Okay,
they might get some garbage yards. This could be bad
for us potentially, But then on the other side, like
we could be in play for another scoop and score
here if one one pitch goes awry. But yeah, shout

(10:35):
out to the Washington football team defense and shout out
for Stefon Diggs for bringing it home last night on
Sunday Night Football. So you guys now are in the money.
So for people out there, like fourth place gets five grand,
third place gets ten, second place gets fifteen, and first
place gets thirty. I mean that's pretty exciting, right, I

(10:57):
mean in the grand scheme of things, to know that
that you're in the money. A worst case scenario that
this is distressful round, I think yeah. And it was
a crazy roller coaster right At one point in the
group chat between all of us on the show, you wrote, uh,
Russell Wilson just scored another touchdown. I think that's a
wrap you guys. And when you when you wrote that,

(11:20):
my favorite team, the Raiders, were also about to dag
that game away there in Las Vegas. Talk about a
double whammy. I got hit in the head by two
Mike Tyson punches. Then what it was? It like a
half hour swing where once the fourth quarters were wrapping up.
Then you suddenly texted us like, hey, wait a second,

(11:40):
because of Washington's defense, we're on a major comeback right now.
And we got a shout out Eddie Garcia because he
suggested a couple of days ago to switch that defense
out and put the Washington team in there, which definitely
was vital and getting that w This is outkicked the
coverage with Clay Travis. We are joined now by Todd

(12:04):
Ferman at Todd Ferman on Twitter. He's on Fox Belt Live. Ferman,
I should have asked you guys, you to give these
guys an analysis of the overall odds of them hopping
into our high end fantasy football league. So for people
out there who don't know, I think we've talked about
this a little bit. You me, cousin Sal That's the

(12:26):
only people that I'll put out there, uh that are
actually in this league. But there are twelve of us.
There's an expensive buy in, and there is a thirty
thousand dollar champion payout. You were in the championship last year.
You lost though right as a big favorite. I did.
I lost in the championship last year. Actually hedged out

(12:47):
what the guy was playing against so made more money
ultimately even the team that won the league. And let
it be known in this league, Clay, since you were
a late entrance in the history of this league, I
have the overall best record, but I am still chasing
down that first elusive champions. So I told these guys
and people out there who are listening. I heard this
was on Thursday. I think I gave him the option.

(13:07):
Every year, despite the fact that I have a reputation
as being an awful human being, I give everybody on
the show a Christmas bonus. Not like it's a revolutionary
amount of money or it changes anybody's life, I don't think,
but hopefully it just helps a little bit during the
Christmas season, all right. So this year, because I knew
I was into the playoffs, I told these guys, hey,

(13:28):
you have an option. You can get your normal Christmas bonus,
or you can roll the dice and see how the
Fantasy Football league goes. I'll give you whatever I win.
And so there are six of us who made the playoffs.
Out of the twelve people, I was one of those six.
And I always think the toughest spot to be in

(13:48):
is in that you're in the playoffs, but you're not
yet in the money, right because if you lose in
the play in round there, then you don't guarantee yourself
any money at all. And I think that's tough or
than not making the playoffs at all. So we were
down all day yesterday. I mean we were never in
the lead at all, and we got into the the

(14:11):
the other team posted their full score and we had
Stefon Diggs and we made a miraculous comeback because we
had the Washington football teams defense and they had two
defensive touchdowns and the guys end up winning. Would you
have advised them? Now? You know the outcome, but the
risk reward here you're in the final four or close

(14:32):
to it, I think I think there's a Monday night
football players still left for you. Although you're in good
shape and in theory were in the final four as well,
so one of the two of us could win the
big big money this year. Hey, I'm all for trying
to gamble, to try and make a little bit extra
scratch when you get the opportunity. But you're right, there's
no doubt playing in this wild card round, so to speak,

(14:53):
needing to win that game to at least get yourself
into the prize money is the way to do it.
The one caveat I will say that you probably did
to share with all of your loyal producers and great staff.
You have yet to pay your league dues, so there's
a chance I might pick up the phone, call the
commissioner and have your roster frozen, because ultimately what's going
to happen is if I happen to win or get close,
I'm gonna need to collect from you. And I don't

(15:14):
want to have to send my goons out to Nashville
to do them do my dirty work. I haven't put
the money in yet, but I'm good for it. Um
what they say in this business collection, they all say,
I know, well you can, you can dock my my hit.
I'm still not so I was. I was really happy
for these guys, right so I I I feel like
a coach because we were going through who to start

(15:34):
and everything else, and I want them to win as
much money as they possibly can. And now we're into
the money around, so there's gonna be uh, you know,
more at stake, but less stress because you know at
least you're gonna make something. But I will say I'm
still not over the way that the game ended between
the Saints and the Eagles. I mean, Jalen hurts there

(15:55):
trying to run the clock out. They have basically the
game it locked up, and then he fumbles and then
the Saints come around turn around and score. That's as tough.
And I had the under and I end up losing
the over under by a point or a point in
a half depending on what line you had. That's a
tough beat. I'm still not over it this morning, and

(16:15):
it's definitely a rough beat. And it's one of those
things that I say all the time, and people that
are new to sports betting laugh when I use the
phrase that good bets don't win all the time and
bad bets don't lose all the time. That is the
perfect illustration of getting your money in good because I
think you went under forty four in that game. The
game never sniffed the total, there was never a chance.
The quarterback takes a knees, you're able to walk to

(16:36):
the window and collect your money. But the improbable sequence
of events that leads to that unfolding. That's a bet
you're going to win out of a hundred times. So
while it stings yesterday having to live through it, it
was the right bet, just the wrong result. What's the
worst gambling loss that you have ever had? Because you're
interesting for people out there who don't know. We did
several years in a row in Vegas for the n

(16:58):
C Double A Tournament, and you actually, I think you
watch most football, but for like the n C Double
A Tournament, a lot of times you don't even like
to watch the games, right, because it's just it almost like,
what what's your rationale for not watching the games? And
sometimes and and and when did you start doing that? Well,

(17:18):
for football, I watch as much as I possibly can.
You're talking about the NFL. We know that there's twenty
weeks of the when you factor in the regular season,
in the postseason, college football or whatever, we have fifteen
sixteen weeks now, Because those are things that you talk
about and their specific plays that sit as you're in media,
you know all too well you have to know when
those games change. You can't look at a final score

(17:39):
and necessarily go you can't. I really, I really think
you can't fake it. I mean, it ultimately comes out
if you're trying to pretend as if you saw it
or cared um. And that's why I don't sleep that
much a lot of times during football season, because it's
one thing. If you miss like a baseball game or
an NBA game or something like that, that's there's so
many of It's not that big of a deal, But

(18:01):
to miss a huge NFL or college football game, I
think it's tough to come back and talk about them.
And I think a lot of that applies to college
basketball in the NBA, the NBA Playoffs, in March Madness,
those two exceptions. But I always look at it like
if I were to sit down on a Monday night
and watch every college basketball game, that's hours that I
actually have to be digging into some of the numbers

(18:22):
trying to figure out who I'm going to bet in
subsequent days as much as anything else. I'll normally go
through the schedule for the week, circle a couple of
games and identify teams that I haven't seen play. But
let's not kid ourselves and we jump on Fox about Live.
We're not talking about Duke Illinois and the lasting impact
that a December basketball game is going to have on
college basketball's landscape. From immediate perspective as well, college basketball

(18:43):
pretty much is a six week season. You'll start talking
about it in the middle of February. You'll carry it
through until they crown a national champion. Um. But it's
just you know, cause and effect. There aren't enough hours
in the day to try and handicap all of these
sports effectively and watch everything that's out there. So the
sports that I watched the most college foot ball of
the NFL. And then you know how I feel about NASCAR.
I'll try and watch every single race I possibly can. Yeah,

(19:05):
there's no doubt. I mean, you watch an absolute ton.
By the way, I know your girlfriend is a huge
USC fan, uh and you were. We were texting something
during that game USC, and probably one late against U
c l A. You make her watch it in a
different room than you. It depends on the game. She

(19:26):
has a die hard USC and she is a die
hard Steelers fan. So last night during the Steelers Bills game,
we actually had a couple of friends over, so we
watched the game together there. She tried to keep her
emotions in check. But the USC game, once the Trojans
went down I believe it was eighteen, she said, I'm done.
I'm watching Netflix, and so I would text her updates
upstairs in my office where I was watching, And as

(19:47):
SC started to get back in the game, I told her,
wait a second, you threw in the towel. You're not
allowed to watch. I'll let you know when the game
starts to get interesting, and so all the way down
the stretch until se finally scored the go ahead touchdown.
Late didn't watch a final play. I told her I
was happy to dv ard and if she wanted to
go back, she could watch on her own time. Yeah,
no doubt. I mean that was crazy to see the
way that it all shook out and the way that

(20:09):
game ended. I asked you a couple of a couple
of weeks ago. I think we like to go into
who's a bigger favorite? How would you break this down?
Let's go to college football for a minute. Would you
take Alabama to win the national championship or the field
to win the national championship? I would take Alabama right
now because I don't think you have to worry about

(20:30):
them getting into the College Football Playoff, which is the
first obstacle in their way. Even if Florida. Yeah, even
if Florida was upset them Alabama, the worst they would
do is fall off that number one line. But when
you look at the competition, whether it's Clemson, whether it's
Notre Dame, whether it's Ohio State or another team that
will crash the party, I don't think any of those
teams are complete enough to really push Alabama for a

(20:52):
full sixty minutes. I don't rule out Clemson, though. When
you have a quarterback like Trevor Lawrence, he gets hot, Hey,
weirder things have happened. You look at not to aim defensively,
maybe they can slow down Alabama because the one thing
with the Crimson Tide, we haven't seen this defense get
tested since the first half of that Georgia game. While
they've been a lot better of late, you can look
through the schedule and go, who have they really played.

(21:13):
I think the way they clamped down in Arkansas, though,
showed us a bit. And it'll be really interesting to
see them against the Florida teams that now has nothing
to lose. I mean, that's the one thing that's scary
for from the Gator standpoint. If you're looking about Alabama,
Florida right now knows they can't go to the College
football playoffs. They had their season hopes dashed and dream
because of Marco wilson stupidity throwing the shoe. And I

(21:33):
think you're gonna get a healthy Kyle pitch. You're gonna
see Kyle trash get the ball to Kadarius Tony and
We're gonna see what this Alabama defense is all about. Ultimately,
I just don't think Florida can get enough stops. You know,
we asked, are gonna ask? And we had a conversation
about this kind of a little bit. What's the dumbest
thing you've ever seen somebody do in sports? The Marco

(21:54):
Wilson throwing the shoe incident? You know, we're talking about
the Ole miss uh. You know, the peeing and sident
on the field. You can talk about back in the
day Leon let Um. You know, even it's not the
same level, but jose Canseco having the ball go off
his head for a home run is still one of
the all time like goof moments. I'm sure you remember

(22:15):
that highlight from when we were kids. What's the dumbest
thing you can remember an athlete doing that cost his
team the game? Is there anything that immediately comes to
mind for you? I mean, I think the two illustrations
in the sec that you had there, Marco Wilson on
Saturday and Elijah Moore lifting his leg in the Egg
Bowl are right up there. Because what's happened on critical
situations late in the game. Oftentimes you'll see players stupidity

(22:38):
in the first or second quarter, and a team at
least has a little while to try and come back
from them. Whether they do or not, that's always the
biggest question. But you talk about those coming at key junctures.
I mean, I've seen games in the NHL where a
team will pull their goalie, they'll try and fire the
puck back to the point, and that puck will go
the length of the ice into the empty net. So
there's a variety of different things. But you know, I'd

(22:58):
really have to go through and try and look at
the NBA, whether it's Chris Webber calling a time out
that he didn't have, costing Michigan a chance at the
national title. Then it feels like in college you get
those a lot more than you do in the pros
because these guys have brain farts and they have momentary
lapses and judgments that will ultimately come back to haunt
them in the keyest junctures of a lot of these
big games. Uh, Chiefs, Okay, so you would take Alabama?

(23:21):
What about Chiefs versus the field? What more do you
need to see in order to go Chiefs? I know
the NFL is a lot more competitive. There's a lot
more ways things can go. But the Chiefs look like
a pretty substantial favored in the a f C. Now,
they would theoretically be favored, I think, although you can
tell me if I'm wrong, over anybody in the Super

(23:41):
Bowl if they got there. How would you assess the
NFL breakdown Chiefs versus the field. Yeah, they would be
favorites over everybody. They've been our number one power rated
team pretty much from the start of the season. We actually,
full disclosure, had Baltimore the number one power rated team
coming into the year, and once you saw Kansas City
really dominate them on Monday Night Football, that dynamic shifts

(24:03):
a little bit. But when you look around the a
f C, there are teams that are actually built to
push Kansas City. Whether you believe in Pittsburgh despite having
a one dimensional offense where you think that Josh Allen
can keep up a hot hand and really put pressure
on this Kansas City defense. You know, I've been extremely
high on the Cults from the start of the season,
and they're the one team that everyone seems to forget
about that plays good defense. Philip Rivers has been there,

(24:25):
done that in the past, never achieving the lofty heights
in the postseason. But it's a team that can run
the ball. They're strong and both lines of scrimmage and
in the NFC, I think once the scenes get Drew
Brees back or Russell Wilson gets hot, I would definitely
take the field right now. I think the Chiefs having
such a uh short odds right now attach to them.
It's price prohibitive, and knowing that it's a any given
week type league, it's an injury to Patrick Mahomes or

(24:47):
something weird or quirky happening, I'll take the field against
Kansas City, despite how well Kansas City has played down
the stretch. What do you think about Monday Night Football tonight?
It's pretty fascinating game, the Ravens going on the road
against the Browns to close out the NFL Week fourteen.
I had to think about there for a minute, what
exactly week we were in? How would you how would
you assess tonight's game? You know this is all about

(25:09):
the number. We actually talked about this game a little
bit on last week's show, and I said, I like
Baltimore when they were a pick him or a one
point favorite. Well, this number has ballooned all the way
out to a field goal and you have to lay
a substantial price on FanDuel. Now, I wouldn't be shocked
if we even saw a three and a half flicker
on this game before we got to kick off. And
at that point, it leaves me a little bit apprehensive

(25:29):
about making a case for Baltimore because I don't think
they're fully back. Just given what we saw against the
Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday night, we know they can run
the football as well as anybody. Defensively, they're starting to
get healthy and'll have a lot of their key cogs
back on the defensive line. But let's not ignore the
fact that Cleveland actually beat Baltimore a season ago when
they were at home underdog, and I think when you

(25:49):
look at this Brown's team, there's a real shot that
they can go out there and provide a balanced attack
and at least test this Baltimore defense some I'm not
running the bet either side in this particular matchup, and
the game needs a heck of a lot more to Baltimore.
But this price has kind of gotten out of control
in so much at three and a half, it almost
necessitates a value bet on Cleveland. But one thing I
will say to that, Clay, the Ravens, to me, despite

(26:11):
some of Lamar Jackson's limitations, feel like the team that
no one's talking about that could potentially get hot and
maybe be a thorn in everyone's side in the a
f C. Just the way they're built. Yeah, no doubt
at all. We're talking to Todd Ferman. You can watch
us later today on Fox VET Live at five eastern,
four Central, three Mountain two Pacific as we roll forward
there with the with the program. Uh, last question for you,

(26:36):
do you expect anything crazy to happen in the College
Football Playoff Conference championship games or do you think the
value there with Clemson is a prohibitive favorite, Alabama prohibitive favorite,
Northwestern a prohibitive favorite. Those are the three biggest and
most important at least from the perspective of the College
Football Playoff Anything there that gives you pause or do

(26:59):
you anticipate favor it's being able to take control there.
I don't think Northwestern has the kind of athletes to
be able to slow down Ohio State. They have the
right makeup in terms of a team able to run
the football and play a little bit of defense that
maybe could disrupt them of what the Buckeyes want to do. Ultimately, though,
I think talent reigns supreme. We look at the Big twelve.
Even if Oklahoma were to beat Iowa State or Iowa

(27:19):
State were to win by twenty five in the rematch there,
I don't think Iowa State can jump back into the mix.
You look at the number on Clemson and that price
speaks volumes. I'm not sure Clemson is ten and a
half points better than the Irish, So that would be
an underdog that I would not running to bet right now,
have to do some digging, but it wouldn't shock me
if Notre Dame was able to sweep the season series
from Clemson Florida. We talked about them playing loose. This

(27:41):
number is going to get out of control. I think
over makes a little bit more sense than betting aside,
But the one scenario that I wouldn't rule out. And
watching the b y U San Diego State game late
last night, I was blown away by the Football Playoff
Index predictor that ESPN does. They had USC and undefeated
USC team with a better probability of getting into the
playoffs than Clemson with one loss, and if the Playoff

(28:02):
committee wants to somehow take an undefeated conference champion, despite
the PAC twelve being the worst Power five league I've
probably seen in the last five years. That could be
the one wrinkle that would be extremely intriguing if they
wanted that West Coast brand in a season like this
in the mix instead of the number one pick in
the draft and Trevor Lawrence. You look, I saw that
those predictions from the ESPN as well. I almost fell

(28:23):
out of my chair. Whoever watching these games, I almost
fell out of my chair watching that. I I legit one.
So we do television. People out there who haven't watched
our show, you should be. We have a lot of
fun every day. You can DVR it, but we know
the graphics that are going to be up during our show.
It's not like something you can just put up in
shorthand right. For people out there who are not familiar

(28:45):
with how television works. It's very scripted, particularly the graphics
that are going to be up there and things. I'm
stunned that somebody at ESPN didn't say, wait a minute,
are you sure you understand what you're arguing here, because
that's totally I think lunacy like I don't even think
there's any way possible, barring look, could craziness happened. Yes,

(29:08):
Notre Dame could beat Clemson, Alabama could beat Florida, and
then Northwestern could beat Ohio State and all these different
crazy upsets could theoretically happen. But if they did, that's
the only way that sc could find themselves in the
mix at all. And I can't believe somebody at ESPN

(29:28):
who's in the college football universe didn't say we're gonna
look like idiots if we put this graphic up. Yeah,
I mean that's kind of my thought process as well.
The only justification they may have is it, as they believe,
if Ohio State were to go down to Northwestern and
Clemson were to lose a second time to Notre Dame,
that somehow an undefeated Pack twelve champion in the form
of USC has a more compelling resume than a one

(29:50):
lost Texas A and M side. And if the committee
wants to fall back on one of their criteria being
a conference champion, hey, that's great, so be it. But
anyone who's watched those two teams, I make a hum
a substantial favorite against USC on a neutral field that
I don't think those two teams are close whatsoever. If
that was ultimately going to be a game we get,
and who knows, maybe it's a ballgame we do get.

(30:10):
It just comes outside of the college football playoffs, No doubt,
appreciate the time, Todd Ferman, I'll see you later this
afternoon on TV. And uh, congrats on being able to
advance and play against this probably in the final four.
Don't work me just yet. I got some work left
to do. Alright, I got some work left to do.
I haven't punched my ticket into the final four just yet.

(30:32):
So let's ask this question. Theoretically, I'm gonna go ahead
and jinks you if you if you win the connection
starting to break, you win. If you win your side
and we win our side, would you want to to
split the pot? Well, that's something I'm gonna have to
talk to my analytics team. We're gonna have to assess

(30:52):
the particular matchup and try and figure out how to
make all of this work, because I do want your
loyal OutKick team to be able to put food on
the table for their families around the holiday time. And
I don't want to be the grinch just because I
don't sell that Christmas. I gotta say, well, you're celebrating
Hanaka right now, and I gotta say we're starting to
get hot down the stretch. Just tossing it out there.
You know. All I have to say is that if

(31:14):
we play in the finals and it's Darren Wallers that
haunts my dreams, I mean never talked to ever again.
That is for people out there who don't know. Ferman
tried to get me to trade Darren Waller to him
until we thought until trades were prohibited in the league.
That's a whole another story. Uh, Ferman, good stuff is always.
I will talk to you. I'll talk to you next week.
You got it, Always look forward to I'll talk to

(31:35):
a couple of hours. Be sure to catch live editions
about Kicked the coverage with Clay Travis week days at
six am Eastern three am Pacific. Joined this Monday, as
we always are by Seawn Merriman lights Out himself. You
can check out the Lights Out podcast on the I
Heart Podcast network. Sean, your boys gotta win. I mean

(31:57):
they had to beat the Falcons, which you know makes
a lot of sense. Sorry for the Atlanta sports fans
out there, but that was a pretty incredible final win
there for especially considering the way the first happened and
pretty crazy ending. Yeah, and you know what, this game
shows that they can finish, you know, when they have to.
And you know you're talking about four or five games

(32:18):
this year that if they would have had that type
of finish, this is a completely different season for the Charges.
And you know, being a player on the team, you're
gonna look after the season. You want to look and
see all the games you dropped and you locked by
seven points of lesson. Then you look at the Fockers
games they got. We could get this done, but we're
just we're not executing, so that that comes from the top.
We're talking to Seawan Merriman. I want to get into

(32:39):
a bunch of NFL stuff. I wanted to start with
the Chargers there, so I didn't forget it. But I
saw a video you put out, and obviously there are
so many different impacts in the world of sports and
UH and and certainly UH with with all the shutdowns
and lockdowns and everything else, but you put out something
that I thought was an important message, and you were
talking about all this all business owners out there who

(33:01):
own gems. Maybe our trainers that are being shut down
and how they need help because they're not being able
to run their business. Uh and and I thought it
was well said, and I want to give you an
opportunity to kind of get that message out there to
a lot of our listeners this morning as they start
off their Mondays. Yeah. So, you know, the videos I
basically put out was a lot of the gyms are

(33:24):
not getting funded right now because of the pandemic. And
I want to make this clear. I know it's serious,
and you know it. It's something that you can't take
lightly and people are dying and get sick and things
like that. So that's that's the number one. But number two, Uh,
gyms are five times more likely to go under here
in the next few months than restaurants. I mean, it's
that bad. So trying to get people to go out

(33:46):
and find the gym coalition uh so Congress and get
them the money because that's they needed more importantly, And
it's gonna be over you know, to three thousand gems.
Uh local gyms closing here and the next you know,
next sixty days. And it's wild because there are so
many people out there that aren't being able to run
their business and they may have worked for years to

(34:08):
have that gym open. And I know this is something
for you as a as an athlete. I mean, you
guys are working out, you know, typically not in your
big large gems, which are obviously struggling too, but you
have a lot of different guys that you work out
with that rely on that ability to bring in individual
clients to be able to work with them. And people
are struggling all over the country in that line of work.

(34:29):
And another thing that I always try to tell people
is the reason why a lot of people go to
the gym, especially myself, is it's a you know, it's
a mechanism to cope with everything is going on. I
mean a bunch of mental health issues that's going on
in a lot of depression, anxiety and all these things
that the gym helps. And it's it's it's the scientifics back,

(34:50):
it's proven, and you know, they're closing this thing down.
They wonder why be mental health rate and suicides up
with the last nine months Where you can't close down
gyms and tell people they can't go and be healthy
that that just doesn't make any sense. It's well said,
and uh, and mental health is often very much connected
to physical health, and like you said, if you can't
get out there and be able to work out, it

(35:11):
becomes a substantial issue. So I want to give you
an opportunity to make that. If people want to know
more about that, they can go follow you on Twitter. Right,
I saw your videos up there. They can track down
any of that information. Uh. Much less significant in the
grand scheme of things, but something that we all love
the NFL, which is what you come on uh primarily
to talk about. Let's dive into a lot of what

(35:32):
we saw the Chiefs. If I told you right now,
and I've asked this question several weeks in a row
of a lot of different guests, but if I told
you right now the Chiefs or the rest of the
teams in the NFL combined, who would you take the
Chiefs or the rest of the NFL? Because I just
see them as such a better team right now than
anybody else. It seems like they can play to whatever

(35:53):
level they need to in order to win. How good
are they and what do you anticipate? Well, for one,
they're the most explosive team in football. Um, you know
they didn't start the game off you know red hot
against Miami, but they can score it in a given point.
You've got you know, Sammy Watkins who hasn't made a
whole lot of noise lately but comes out and plays

(36:13):
extremely well. Tyreek gil Uh, Travis Kelsey. I mean, just
go around the board. They're the most explosive team in football.
It is not one person on their offense who wouldn't
be considered one of one or two top best in
their position in the National Football League. So you know, yes,
Pisburg is one of the most balanced teams. And you know,
uh you other teams are here. Seattle's balance and looks good,

(36:34):
but as far as explosiveness, and you know, the scariest
team to the facing play right now is the Kansa
the Chiefs. How do you stop them? If if you
were a defensive coordinator, let's take you back to when
you were playing, but now you're a defensive coordinator and
you have to scheme for them in the playoffs. How
do you beat Patrick Mahomes and this offense? What do

(36:57):
you do to them? How do you challenge them the
best in your mind? Well, you know I've said this,
and you know anytime you have a great quarterback like
Pat Mahomes, do you keep the pressure on them. And
one of the plays that happened what this earlier today
was the fifteen or twenty yard sac I think he had.
The one thing about Pack Mahomes is he's a great quarterback.
He always has to be great. So there's some things

(37:19):
you can do to take away from him. You know,
start making him make those bad decisions. You don't ever
see him doing that, but if you can get two
or three of those a game and make him throw,
you know, a few more interceptions and turn over and
get the ball back out of their hands because you
know they're gonna score at some point, and every time
they touched the ball, you have an opportunity to score.
So if you know that's the case and keep the
ball out of their hands, and that would that would
be my strategy going in to play those guys. When

(37:42):
you look at at the NFC, you had this the
Saints go on the road and lose against the Eagles.
How much of that do you think was the Saints
maybe looking ahead? And how significant do you think that
loss could end up being. Well, it could be very significant,
but you know, I don't think they were looking ahead.
I think that they wasn't completely ready for Jalen Hurts. Um,

(38:04):
you know, he hasn't played a ton early on and whatever.
You don't have a lot of filming guys, and you
don't know what their strangs are or what their weaknesses
at certain points, you know, then you don't really know
to go and inspect from him. Now today he was
throwing a lot of quick stuff and out routes and
check downs and things like that. But that can win
football games for the Eagles, So I don't I don't

(38:25):
necessarily think that they started looking looking past the Eagles,
but I definitely think that Jalen Hurts was a matchup
nightmare because they haven't got a lot of film just yet.
We're talking to Sean Merriman Lights Out podcast. Encourage you
to go listening to it part of the I Heart
Podcast Network. Uh. When you look at right now the
Washington football team and Chase Young in particular, how good

(38:51):
can he be and who does he remind you of?
Or is he like a unicorn where there's not even him?
Like I watched him picking the ball up and down
the left sideline Sean, and I thought to myself, I'm
not sure I've ever seen a defensive end who is
that athletic? Mean, he was holding the ball like it
was a loaf of bread, but he looked like a

(39:11):
tight end, you know, like running down the field. Who
would you compare him to? And how good can this
dude be? Yeah, he's on the he's on the island
by himself right now when it comes to just freakish ability. Um,
And we've seen a bunch of freaks in the league.
And funny story, my high school football coach was his
teacher in high school, and uh so you've done about
this guy for a while, oh since, since he was

(39:33):
in high school. And he would always tell me. My
my high school coaches, who basically taught me most of
what I know early on growing up playing football, they
would tell me if this guy Chase young, like, you know,
look out for him. And I kept hearing about him
year after year after year after and sure enough, you know,
in the higher state his freshman after, this guy's not
gonna be around longer than three years. Period. He's he's

(39:53):
gonna be he's gonna be gone. He's he's one of
these guys that you see every you know, ten or
fifteen years. Um, you know, you look like Lebron James
in the world, or like just any any type of
freakings athletes, they come around and they just don't They
just don't exist. Like I always like to say, like, uh,
you know, like there aren't very many people who are
built like Lebron James or Shaquille O'Neal, Right, like I
used to love to talk about Shack, Like how many

(40:15):
people in the history of the world have ever been
as big and as athletic as Shock. It's possible, never, right, right,
Like I mean, if you go back and you think
about the nutrition and the ability to be in perfect
shape like we are now compared to you know, uh,
fifty years ago, even like there's no comparison to how
much more athletic you can be thanks to all the

(40:36):
training abilities and the knowledge that we have. But even
just his physical body doesn't exist, right, There just aren't
very many of him ever. No, No, he's you know,
like I said, when I came in and people looked
at me and they thought that was a big linebacker
and fast and all this stuff, and you know, to me,
you know, fast for attemptive thing is later you got
changed young and now I'm looking, you know, like averacise linebacker,

(40:58):
averacise player. But you know he's one of the He's
one of these guys. He came in the league early.
He changed the game, you know, not just members wise,
but how his his teammates perceive him in a respect
that he had. I mean, you can see when he
walked in the sideline he looked like a five a
team event. You had that type of respect. So it's
gonna be fun to watch him. Then over the next
several years, how much better can he get? Right, because

(41:21):
he's already freakish and dominant, and obviously I think we
talked about this with you a couple of weeks ago.
You never know how driven a guy is gonna be. Right,
he's gonna be one of the best defensive players ever.
But to what extent is he obsessed with trying to
become the greatest version of himself as opposed to just
being great? Because, as you know, sometimes the guys who

(41:43):
are the most physical, freakiest aren't the hardest workers because
they don't have to worry about all of the details.
In the same way, a guy who's trying to hang
onto the league by his fingertips can right Uh. So,
we don't know. But if he really goes full bore
and and and and goes after it, I mean, the
Washington football team has got a dude who's gonna be

(42:03):
for the next six or seven years, maybe the best
defensive weapon in the whole league. Yeah. Absolutely, And you know,
I'll go as far as saying this, the only thing
that's going to prevent him from being great, all time
great is injury. And you know, if he if he
stays healthy, you know, because his mindset is there. The
physical ability is already there, but his mindset is there.

(42:25):
You can tell he you know, watch him trace the football.
He chases his football through sideline, the sideline, he gets
down the field, he's picking the ball off, he's you know,
picking up fumbles these things. So the mindset to be
great is there. So the only thing can stop a
guy like that is is injury. Sean, I don't know
if you saw the Florida player who threw the shoe. Uh,

(42:46):
And I know we're talking about in the NFL, but
I'm curious. You don't have to tell me the guy's name,
but what is the dumbest thing that one of your
teammates ever did to cost you and your teammates a game,
And well was the reception like in the locker room
after that happened. Well, you know, I never want to

(43:06):
throw guys under the bus, but you know, it's one
of these things. It was out in the open and
it you know, it was a two thousand six playoff game.
At the end we picked up the Patriots off and uh,
you know our safety he doesn't go down. But that
was that was you know, like I said, he got
caught in a moment, but you know you're taking me.
You go down and you know the game's over. You know,
we really few championship game in the mixed round or whatever.

(43:27):
So um, yeah, that was the only thing I've never
seen we were Unfortunately, we never had guys to do that. Maybe,
you know, for if the guy's how dropped out of
his pants or or something like, they'll pick it up
and throw it. But a shoe, you just know that's
an automatic slag. How difficult would that be do you
think to be? I know it's college, so it's a
little bit different than the pros, But how difficult of

(43:48):
the locker room environment is that you think walking back
in for the Florida Gators after the way that game ended. Well,
you know, you you always get stuck in the middle
of those situations because you understand and he's your teammate
and you want to lift them up and not kick
them way down. But at the same time you're thinking,
like what in the hell were you? What are you're doing?
Like what why would you why you know, why would

(44:09):
you do that? And cost us the appellently that way? So, um,
I can promise you with some words said back in
that locker room, guaranteed. I mean, you know, and guys
are probably you know, knuckled up back there or the
fighting had to been broken up for sure. Uh. Last
question for you, as we come down the stretch run
of the NFL, I'm gonna ask you this, because we

(44:30):
only got three weeks left, who do you expect to
see in the Super Bowl? So before the season started,
I said Saints and I said Chiefs, and I'm gonna
stick with that prediction. But now there's you know, basically
three games left for everybody. I think you probably are
going to say the Chiefs in the a f C.
Who do you like coming out of the NFC or
do you like the Chiefs or do you think somebody's

(44:51):
gonna catch him. You know. I like the Chiefs for sure.
I think they're you know, you're nothing to guarantee, but
they're as much of a lock as there is an
NFL one end. And the NFC side, I like the Saints.
I mean the Saints or the sea Hawks. I'm sorry, uh,
the sea Hawks. You know, I think that they have option.
I don't know what they are right now, one or

(45:11):
two in that division now or yeah they are they
too well, they're they're Yeah, they're second in the division
right now. So as we come down the stretch run
here they're the five. But they get the they get
the Rams, I think the next to last week of
the season in Seattle with the potential to try and
make a statement there and obviously they lost a tough

(45:32):
one that they should have won against the Giants, but
bounced back and just absolutely destroyed the Jets yesterday. So
you just like what you're seeing from Russell Wilson, DK Metcalf,
that group of playmakers. I do, I do, And you know,
DK Metcalf is one of my you know, we just
finished talking about she's young and freek athletes. You know,
DK Metcalf is is another favorite player of mine. So

(45:55):
I just like what they're what they're doing up there,
and you know, you can always come on hustle, you
know when it comes to time to make big plays
and down the road in the stretch, and he has
so much experience under pressure. Like I just see them somehow,
some way, you know, beating a couple of teams to
get damn being NSC championship game and they're going to
Super Bowl. I think I said last question more than once,
but this is the real last question. Tonight actually a

(46:18):
really good Monday night football game, Ravens going on the
road against the Browns. Browns are sitting at nine and three,
feeling good about themselves. Ravens with the Cowboys, pretty good
division game in in in Cleveland, as big of a
game as they have had in Cleveland in a very
long time. How do you see it coming out? I
like Cleveland. Um, you know, I think that right now

(46:40):
the Ravens defense isn't enough to stop that backfield they
have going on. Um, that one two punch they have
back there is something that we you know whenever whenever
they executing the running game like that and they also
playing great defense, They're scary and how they stumped over
her Tennessee who was also eight and three at the time.
He's like, oh, these are two total for Dayton three teams.

(47:00):
He's not even the same teams we're talking about here,
so they're not that much better. So I'm taking Cleveland
that one for sure. Outstanding stuff. Man. We will talk
to you next week. Listen to the Lights out podcast.
Appreciate what you said about the gyms and all the
people out there who need help. Hope you can go
check out SEAWAN and find out how to help there
as well. Appreciate my man, I thank you. I appreciate it.

(47:21):
This is outkicked the coverage with plates traps. Join now
as we always are, by the loathsome Joel Clatt, who's
college football season is almost over after the Big Ten
championship game between Ohio State and Northwestern on Saturday in

(47:43):
an early start. We will talk about that here momentarily,
but let's go ahead and uh and bring in Joel.
Does it feel weird for me to say that that, like,
you only have one more game remaining on your college
football season. Yeah, I mean, it's it's uh to be
with you. It's the worst part of of you know,

(48:04):
my job is that we don't have any part of
the playoff, you know. So the fact that we don't
get a you know, go on and get to cover
the ultimate prize in the sport is something that eats
at me. There's no doubt about it. Um In particular
as a competitive guy, I would love to call a
playoff game or a national championship someday, but it's totally

(48:25):
out of my hands. And and because some of the
bowl games, like our ball game was the Holiday Bowl
that we've done in the past, and that one's not
playing this year, and so you know, we're just we're
just done. Man. After the big pin game, which is uh,
I'll do a lot of different stuff on digital, and
I'll do a watch with party for the National Championships.
I'll be UH in and around, and obviously you and

(48:47):
I can scream at each other as well. But this
will be my life. This will be my last game,
which is a bummer, all right. I want to get
into a bunch of different games, but I want to
start with this one because I can only imagine what
you would have felt like or said in the locker
room if you were Kyle Trask and you were close
to potentially being able to win a Heisman Trophy, your
team was close to being able to play in a

(49:10):
conference championship game with a chance to go to the playoff,
And as a part of that, you also then had
the shoe incident happened. How insanely angry would you have been?
And what do you think the locker room reaction was
to all that? Yeah, I actually thought about that. That's
so funny that you asked me that question, because I

(49:32):
thought to myself, like, oh my gosh, Like, what would
I do if I was in his shoes? Um, what
would that locker room be? Like? I thought about that
a lot last night because I've been in in locker
rooms that got and and and here's the deal, Like,
it's not all fun and games. There are fist fights
on teams. There are fist fights in locker rooms, right,
like people, it's not kumbaya, right, And and that's okay,

(49:55):
by the way, that's perfectly fine. I've seen guys, I'm
not gonna name names. I saw a guy hit another
guy in the head with a dumbbell, a literal ten
pound dumbbell, and knocked him out cold. And I was like,
all right now, it's a party. Here we go, all right,
like you have not just in the middle of a workout,

(50:17):
in the middle of a workout or it was it
was it was a summer workout. I mean that could
kill a man. Not just knocking out cold. I mean
that could kill a man. There's no doubt. There's no
doubt about it. No, I mean, and and he was
just like ushered into the training room and the workout
and the music never stopped. Like that's the thing about.
That's the thing about they like it's very What were
you doing when the when the guy got were you

(50:39):
like sitting there from the mirror doing curls? I mean,
what was the quarterback workout at the time? Yeah, I
was a quarterback workout. Was doing curls? Imbecile, unbelievable, unbelievable. No, Like, listen,
when you're in a workout setting, first of all, the
music is really loud, there's lots of shouting going on,
and and you're in different groups. And so I was

(51:00):
we're doing like a clean tip was I thought this
was not a team event. I thought this was just
you guys working out, you know, like outside a season
or whatever. So this isn't aver That never happens. You're
never like, hey man, let's go grab a lift. No
no, no no, no, Like that's the thing is like, if
you're lifting, you're lifting in groups as a team always

(51:20):
all year round. Um and and so this is a
full on team event strength coaches there and and I
dude got popped with a tin pound dumbell and again
he was just like music never even gets turned down,
and like the sets never the bars never started and
stopped clanking around. He just got like ushered out. There

(51:40):
was some blood and everyone kept working out. And then
afterwards you're like, hey, man, like brick killed the guy?
What happened? You know what I mean? And it's literally
like Anchorman and in some of those settings. But and
that was just a workout. I've been in locker rooms
after games where there was a fist fight. And we
played at A and M when I was a junior

(52:00):
UM and we lost an overtime game in which they
had the ball first and overtime we held them to
a field goal. You know, our offensive played really well
that day, and and a guy that never fumbles puts
the ball on the ground and they were covered and
we lose and it was just like, oh, oh my god,
we never thought we were gonna lose. We go into
the locker room and it was I mean, it was

(52:25):
one of the most emotional places that I'd ever been
in my life. There was you know, guys, some guys
were crying, some guys were screaming, lots of broken lockers,
helmets being thrown, and then one guy just stood up
and was like, hey, you know, like stop stop throwing that,
you know, blank and all this stuff, and then and
then boom they're just duking it out and it's like

(52:46):
all right, here we go. Um. So I'm thinking, let's
get back to now the question what was that locker
room like for Florida last night? I have to imagine
when a guy makes that egregious of a stake, and
that mistake is not an effort mistake, right, Like if
a guy gets beaten coverage, that's one thing. If a guy,

(53:08):
you know, jumps offsides like you're trying as hard as
you can to win, and like you're trying and you
just make a you know, it's like you said, it's
an effort error as opposed to a total mental error.
When when someone does something like that, I have to
imagine that there were serious fireworks. And if I was

(53:29):
Kyle Trask, I I certainly would have been one of
the guys you know that was enraged. Um, not that
I ever went after anybody in the locker room, because
certainly that that's I don't think a leader's job. But man,
I get like, and here's the thing, here's the thing.
I hear what Dan Mullen says after the game, I quote.

(53:50):
I'm gonna read you that quote because that was the
next part I was going to say. He said it today.
Actually after the game he said he couldn't really see
what happened. Uh, you know, he hadn't seen the film yet.
Whether that was true or not, or he was just
trying to uh you know, delay the delay the question.
But today he said he made the tackle. I mean
part of the football move. The kids shoe was in

(54:10):
his hand, he kind of threw it, jumped and celebrated
with his teammates. I don't think there was any intent
to taunt. It wasn't like he was throwing it at
their sidelines. That's an all time spin move answer by
Dan Mullen. There the fact, and I like, I don't
know him and This is not a personal knock, okay,

(54:32):
so let me give some of those at least qualifications.
But the fact that he would say that today, what
he said last night, and even the comment about after
their loss about you know, apparently you're rewarded for not
playing games. Having that type of mentality as a head

(54:54):
coach is in part why your team behaves that way,
loses games like A and M, loses games like L
s U. Because I believe wholeheartedly and I have for
a long time, that the team takes on the personality
of their coach, It takes on the discipline attributes of

(55:15):
their coach um and and that's really that is as
true as the day is long and football. And to
some degree, I think the inconsistency with Florida, while they've
been very good and Dan's an elite coach, right, but
I don't know that he has that next gear that
we've seen from guys like Nick and Dabbo and guys

(55:37):
like urban Meyer, that that require more out of his
team than than what we see and and that next
step of of being elite, and and to some degree
that's why I think Florida has fallen short in his
three years. So far and he but by the way,
he's been great. But again, like giving a pass for
a player that clearly throws a shoe, isn't why he

(56:00):
threw the shoe in the first place. And people have
to realize that those are are tied together. Is there
a way? So when I saw that, my thought was,
is there a way to give the past publicly but
privately hold him to account? In other words, No, you
don't think you can do that. You think those are connected.

(56:22):
They are connected because in this day and agent and
this season, more than any other, communication is taking place
not face to face, but but via every sort of
medium that you can possibly imagine. And you have to
understand as a coach that in the past you could,
I think, get away with that when you had, you know,

(56:44):
two papers covering you, and you said something to the
two beat writers and you framed it in a way
in which you could tell the team like, this is
what I said to these two guys, this is what
you're going to read in the paper, and then this
is what we're going to do as a team and
move forward. But it's too fractured. Now everybody's gonna have
a opinion about what he says. They're going to read
it on on social media before he has a chance

(57:04):
to tell them what he meant and give context to
those comments. So, in this day and age, and in
this season where you're not even in front of your
team as much as you were in the past, I
don't think that you can say something publicly and mean
something different privately. I I just don't think that that's
afforded for coach Mullen. Okay, so let's talk college football

(57:25):
playoff picture. We're talking to Joel Klatt, Fox's lead college
football analyst. Uh, it did seem and I think you
would probably agree that if Florida had pulled the upset
over Alabama, and if Clemson had beaten Notre Dame, that
those would be your four teams quite likely. What has
happened now, probably do you agree with that? Yeah, I
mean I think that it's a lot of that depended

(57:48):
on for me, and I know that this. You know,
you might roll your eyes, but it would have depended
on the margin between Clemson and Notre Dame the second
time with Trevor Lawrence. If Clemson would have hammered or
is to hammer Notre Dame. You know there, I think
that their inclusion into the playoffs may be called into question,
in particularly if there was an Ohio State sitting out there,
but only then and now that you don't have Florida

(58:10):
on the table, even with a win over Alabama. I
think Notre Dame is certainly in uh and I think
Alabama is certainly and I think those two names are
in stone alright, Alabama right now or the field. Alabama
to me, everybody, you don't even have that. Yeah, you
don't even have to like give any sort of next question.

(58:31):
Bama is clearly better than everybody else. I think they're
clearly better than Clemson. They're clearly better than Notre Dame.
There this, you know this back half of the season.
I I think you can make an argument that they're
one of Nick's best teams. Play um, offensively, they're just

(58:52):
a juggernaut. Davante Smith may win the Heisman Trophy. I'm
having a really hard time putting any other name number
one on my ballot in a couple of weeks. I
can tell you that right now. And from a wide receiver,
that's pretty um, you know, that's pretty rare stuff. Uh.
So he's he's doing things both numbers wise and when
you watch him that you know it just pops man.

(59:14):
He's phenomenal. Mac Jones has has played himself into a
first round UM grade in the NFL draft. Their offensive
line is good in physical nagi Harris can can grind
it out. And when Mac doesn't play great, like he
didn't last week against Arkansas, it doesn't matter. They can
still just pound you with the run game and still
score fifty points. They can beat you with special teams.
Their defense since the halftime of the Georgia game has

(59:37):
been the best defense in the country. You know, it
feels like eighteen seasons ago that Lane Kiffin was putting
up six yards on this Bama team. I I just
don't see any of those teams threatening this version of Alabama,
pending injury or some sort of you know, positive COVID
test that hits them in an area where where they
are thin. I think Bama is the safe and easy

(01:00:00):
bet against the field right now in the playoffs. So
when you look at when you look at Alabama, one
of the things that I think is intriguing now is
think about what the overall seating might resemble. Right Alabama
probably gonna beat Florida. I would be stunned beyond belief
based on what I've seen, if Alabama were to lose
to Florida. Right, so I've got Alabama Florida. Florida is good,

(01:00:23):
but they're not great. They're not a great team defensively.
You know, A and M beat them. You know they
If Georgia has J. T. Daniels, I think that Georgia
probably beats them. And you're you're starting to wonder at
least I am what in the world Kirby was doing
not playing JT. Daniels earlier. So I agree with you wholehearted.
Labama should handle them by Okay, So if Bama's all

(01:00:46):
one seed, do you believe that, Let's presume Clemson beats
Notre Dame. The College Football Playoff Committee says they don't
care about rematches and matchups and everything else. So does
Ohio State gets slotted and the entire or anyway, they're
gonna put Clemson in Notre Dame playing, you know, thirteen
days after they just played, and they won't and they

(01:01:09):
will take that under under consideration. I strongly believe that
all of this quote unquote controversy is going to go
out the window and and we're probably I think Clemson's
gonna beat Notre Dame. I think it's really tough to
beat a team like Clemson twice, in particular when the
best player on that team comes back into the fold,
And clearly you're gonna have even h a more robust

(01:01:33):
defense for Clemson with some of those guys back like
skull ski Um. So from my standpoint, I think we
are headed directly for a Clemson Ohio State rematch in
the semifinal and and Alabama Notre Dame, which, for Notre Dame,
this is why I've been thinking earlier in the week.
Let me go on a quick tangent for the A
C C and Notre Dame. It's like, I mean, I

(01:01:58):
hate to say it this way, but it's like they
would benefit greatly from not playing this game. They're already in.
They're already in. The only thing that that the only
thing that can happen for Notre Dame is bad things.
Once you get beat by by so many points that
you start to question, like, well, should we put an
image should we put Cincinnati in so that their spot

(01:02:18):
could come into question pending how they play and if
they lose because of this rematch scenario, they're gonna get
slotted the flour and have to play Alabama and that's
just gonna be a quick one and done. So you know,
if I'm if I'm the a c C. To be
quite honest, you know, I'm looking at this saying to myself,
the only way that we're not going to get two

(01:02:39):
teams in is if Notre Dame somehow or to beat
Clemson this second time. The only bad things can happen
for the A C C, at least in my estimation,
by playing this game. This is one of those weird
cases where it's like, maybe they should just walk out,
shake hands and be like, we'll see in the playoffs.
And that's not even considering the injury factor, right, because
if something happen to Trevor or something happened to Ian Book,

(01:03:03):
then regardless of what the score is, you really have
to take into account how much different. Now, at least Clemson,
we've seen what you can do with DJ. Right, he
came in and he obviously through and made has made
a lot of plays for Clemson. But for Notre Dame
the drop off would probably be pretty substantial. All right,
that's the So let's say that we do get Clemson

(01:03:24):
losing again, Is A and M the fourth team in
in your mind, assuming that Ohio State beats Northwestern and
also that we get Alabama beating Florida. Yeah, I think
that that's probably assuming that A and M would be
would beat Tennessee in that scenario. Well, yeah, I mean,
let's I know, I know, I know pru it's your

(01:03:47):
guy and all, but hey, did Rutgers win last week?
I don't know. I haven't checked. Oh, I'm sure you haven't.
They did. Oh I missed it. Yeah? Interesting? You know
that guy is five hundred at Rutgers and as career
five hundred at Rutgers. They couldn't sniff two hundred with anybody,
you know what. I digress. I digress. Let's just move on.

(01:04:07):
A and M probably is going to be your four
seat in that scenario if you get Clemson lost, if
you get an Alabama win, I think A and M
would go because remember now, and people fail to realize this,
Cincinnati hasn't even played a game since they started, since
they started meeting together to rank teams. So like, I

(01:04:30):
just don't think the committee is gonna sit there and
be like, well, we saw that game in October and
we're very impressed with with Cincinnati. And if Cincinnati doesn't
go out there and just blow the doors off the TULTA,
then I just I don't see the committee valuing Cincinnati
the schedule that they've played over an A and M
team that could claim if they were to beat let's

(01:04:52):
let's be honest, they probably will be Tennessee. They're gonna
sit there and say, hey, we won nine games in
the SEC. Any other year you win nine games, you
won every game that you could win eight because the
one game they don't get to play is all missed.
But yeah, that's right, I'm sorry. Eight games in the
SEC were eight and one. Like, I think that would

(01:05:14):
carry the day and and be more impressive than Cincinnati.
And these people saying like USC in Iowa State or Oklahoma,
I think that that's all pipe cream. USC might be undefeated,
they should, in all likelihood have three losses. A SU
had them dead to rights, Arizona had them dead to rights,
and U C l A had them dead to rights.
So this notion that you cel U s C is

(01:05:36):
all of a sudden going to garner some sort of
playoff attention, I think is is fairly laughable. On the
West Coast, and I just don't think a two lost
Big twelve team would garner any sort of attention over
an eight and one Texas A and M team in
the SEC. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart

(01:05:58):
Radio app search f us are to listen live.

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