Week 9 Upset Alerts + New Commissioner’s Poll & Hot Seat Updates

College Football week 9 upset alerts are here. Tonight we take a look at Alabama vs South Carolina, Minnesota vs Iowa, UCLA vs Indiana, Texas vs Mississippi State, Tennessee vs Kentucky, and Syracuse vs Georgia Tech. What is happening with SEC officiating? Tonight Josh discusses rumors the league may be cracking down. The week 9 edition of the Commissioner’s Poll drops tonight as we get updated rankings. Where is Indiana? Is Miami still top 10? Ohio State, UGA, and Alabama were also winners this weekend. Do we still see Texas in the top 20? Hugh Freeze is facing considerable heat at Auburn as speculation about the hot seat has ramped up. The same could be said for Mike Norvell at FSU and Brian Kelly at LSU. Cole Cubelic joins the show as we talk about that plus the scene around College Football this weekend. All that plus early best bets on the Ramen Noodle Express.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
For years on this show, on this into this very microphone.
I told you, bullying works. I don't care what people
told you, because me and Maw told me right. Bullying
works when done properly, when properly applied, bullying works. What
I never could have fathomed is that it would work
on me. But here we are. I am the bullied,

(00:35):
I am the victim, and I will respond as a
victim should tonight with brand new SEC quarterback rankings. I
hope you people are happy you won. I lost, you won.
It's Thursday. It's October twenty third, the year of our Lord.
Twenty twenty five were jam packed Hiatapa. It was Sonny
in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. He's fading a little bit. Gonna
be a nice, cool night here. We got upset alerts.

(00:58):
Someone's gonna get their heart broken this week. We might
as well try and predict hoomst. We got hot seat
talk because yes, that's something that we continue to do
in mid to late October around here. Now, I, as
I mentioned, am going to update some quarterback rankings because,
believe it or not, some things have changed since I
offered my opinion on the quarterback rankings. In July, sue me,

(01:21):
don't do that. That's the opposite of what we're trying
to do here. And I got a brand new commissioner's poll.
And also Cublic is going to join us from a
nondescript portion of Birmingham Shuvelesworth International Airport. That alone worth
the paper pop. They're watching us in Provo utah Ocilla, Georgia,
rarely visited corner of Georgia. I know Osilla well, though Baltimore, Maryland, Forestburgh,

(01:45):
Texas appreciate it. I looked Jesse just a little while ago.
We are getting ever closer to five hundred thousand subscribers
on this channel, and when we do, I'm taking suggestions
for how we should celebrate. One person earlier or yesterday
Night said that we should have a segment on the
show that is called hate State, not peyt State, wherein

(02:07):
people who despise me just get to say whatever they
want via zoom and I have to sit here and
take it. I'm not sure that's how we're going to celebrate,
but I appreciate the suggestion. But the bottom line is
we got to get there. So check and see if
you're subscribed to the channel and even if you think
you are, double check and make sure. And if you are,
thank you. If you're not click subscribed, and that's it.
You won't ever even worry about it because it doesn't

(02:28):
cost you anything, It doesn't sign you up for anything.
With that in mind, let's talk about some upset shall we.
I got in my hand here generated by flex Power
No Less six games that we're going to put on
the Upset Alert Concern Meter for college football Week nine
and the first one. Where else do we start in October?
But Columbia South Carolina? Okay, Alabama's rolling. Alabama's in the

(02:52):
Commissioner's polder and the AP polder and the JP poler everywhere.
Their favored to win the SEC. But no one is invincible,
especially in October. Actually everyone has been so far this year.
Is South Carolina really gonna go winless in October? That's
what God created this month for. They can't go winless,
can they? Well, they're gonna have to win as a

(03:13):
double digit dog at home this weekend. Look, this is
a terrible spot for Alabama dynamics wise. But I know
what you're thinking. You're thinking dynamics, my mammis, they can't
score South Carolina can't score, and I will grant you
that they haven't scored. Is that gonna continue here? Now,
let me tell you what. It's a terrible dynamics spot

(03:34):
for Alabama. Firstly, Now I want you to listen to
me properly here. I'm not trying to discount the Tennessee
win from a front facing, forward looking, predictive standpoint. What
if I did nothing more last week than changed that
play at the goal line. Tennessee scores near the half,
it's sixteen to fourteen. Tennessee's receivers, don't drop a couple

(03:56):
of uncontested balls. All I'm saying, I know you're yelling already,
stop it. All I'm saying is the game could have
been closer and you'd feel a little more nervous about
this one here. And it is four out of four
weeks that you had to be up emotionally. Georgia check,
Vandy check, Missouri check, Tennessee check. This is college football.

(04:17):
It's hard to get guys up five weeks in a row. Immunity,
yes to all of it. And now you got to
go on the road. And what are you looking at?
You looking at South Carolina or are you looking past
South Carolina to the bye week where everyone gets to
heal up. You hip flex is hurting a little bit,
maybe got a hip pointer, maybe got a little turf
toe elbow. Ah, we just got to get through South Carolina, guys. Meanwhile,

(04:38):
they're in the most wounded animal mode back against the
wall home dog spot ever. So these are some of
the dynamics. And also, lest we forget Bama's been in
all these close games lately, let's not just totally ignore
the double digit underdog spot that's already bitten them under
Kaylin debor a few times. Why do I sound so
cautionary here? This is my national championship pick, and someone's

(05:02):
got to warn these people they could be in trouble.
I'm putting a five on it. I'm putting a five
on it. South Carolina is not going to outscore them,
of course, But what could happen here? Something crazy? Alabama
hasn't turned the ball over a lot. What if their
minus three turnovers? What if South Carolina returns a kick
for a touchdown. That's how it would happen. That's how
twenty one to nineteen would happen. If that's the final score.

(05:24):
So help me We're not doing the segment anymore. I'm
gonna put a five on it. Next up. You see him,
You see him right there, hold on, right there, that
is Floyd of Rosedale and it is the greatest trophy,
not in college football, but in sports, and it's on
the line this weekend. Minnesota versus Iowa. Iowa an eight
and a half point favorite. Two losses for Iowa this

(05:45):
year by a combined eight points. They lost to Iowa State.
They lost to Indiana, and everyone remembers Indiana dominated Oregon.
They body bagged Illinois. Well, they beat Iowa by five.
So i was been okay this year. Not great. It's
Iowa football. They're not gonna be great, but they've been
okay this year. Minnesota out physical Nebraska last week. There's

(06:07):
no mystery. That's how they won that game Friday night.
Not gonna probably out physical Iowa, but they could beat him. PJ.
Fleck looking to attract some attention, looking to get a
little spotlight over on his name. You gotta get Darius
Taylor going. You do that, and they are prone to
do that, or want to do that, I guess is
the proper phrasing. They could do that. They could win

(06:27):
third down here, they got an outside shot. Give me
a six on the upset alert concern scale. Anything happens
when the Floyd is on the line. Jesse, didn't you
tell me Iowa's won nine of the last ten Floyd's. Yeah,
they've won nine of the last ten. I mean the Floyd.
It's a fickle trophy. It's a very fickle trophy. Next up,
UCLA is at Indiana. So we're either gonna see a

(06:49):
crash and this thing's gonna fall back to Earth, or
we're gonna see record levels of confetti. There really is
no in between here, is there? Twenty five and a
half a lot of points. I actually think that is
a lot of points. Maybe a few too many. We'll
talk about that later. This is one of those classic
just in case whisper games that Mema told me about
growing up. The just in case whisper game is the

(07:11):
game where everybody you know, not everybody, everybody that you
have in your life. Every college football budy they make
sure and mention this game at some point during the week.
Here's what it sounds like. Well, you cla, man, they're
playing Indiana. That's it. Okay, that's all Fred said at
the tire shop on Tuesday. However, if you CLA wins

(07:32):
the game, Fred will be there Monday morning and he'll say,
I told you, Fred, you didn't tell me you mentioned
the matchup. That's the strategy. That's the strategy. Everyone knows
Ucla been really plucky lately, and you know how rarely
I use that word, And everyone knows Indiana has this
growing profile about them, and everyone wants to be on

(07:53):
the record is having said, hmm, it could happen. It
could happen. I know because I do it all the time.
I spot this from a mile away because I do
it all the time. UCLA's won three straight. It's a
very underrated quarterback battle. Mendoza Nico, how about that? Maybe
we'll see it a couple more times. No, probably not.

(08:14):
Nine am body clock kickoff for UCLA. The Big Ten
continues to insist on making West Coast teams play with
an hour and a half still to go before McDonald's
stops serving breakfast in their backyard. This game's being played
in Bloomington, of course, so I'm gonna put a five
on it. Because when you have a dynamic presence like
they do at quarterback, you always have a shot. UCLA's

(08:36):
got a shot. It's not unfamiliar territory for them to
be three plus touchdown underdogs this year. And when they've
done Earmus Jesse, they've done it already to Penn State.
All right, take them off. Give me a five, or
actually give me a three. I don't want to go five.
I mean it's twenty five and a half point spread.
Give me a three. That's enough to just have said

(08:56):
I told you it could happen. If it does happen.
Next up, Texas cannot score and they are on the
road against Mississippi State Jeff Levy looking for a signature win.
Texas is laying seven and a half points, and by that,
Vegas means they're hoping to win thirteen to six something

(09:17):
like that. No, math doesn't work on that, doesn't Yeah,
thirteen to three, how about that? At this point, I
am not of the camp that keeps sitting around waiting
for Texas to find themselves offensively. I think Texas has
found themselves offensively. They just don't like what they found.
There's not a whole lot there, guys, There really is

(09:38):
not a whole lot there. This is the back to
back road week in the SEC, I think we counted
five different teams in this conference that are playing second
consecutive road games this week. Who are they? Jesse, it's Texas,
it's Texas, A and M, it's Ole miss It's Tennessee,
and it's Missouri. Didn't even need stats and info for it.

(09:59):
So Mississippi State's been close this year. They need this
signature win. They need it. Jeff Leby needs something to
take out on the road and recruiting in the portal
and say see, I told you, I told you we
were coming. Well, they almost had Tennessee believe that game
went to overtime and then they I cannot believe they

(10:20):
didn't beat Florida last week.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
It was so bad.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Florida won and still fired Napier. That's how bad it was.
So they need it now. A and M smoked them
pretty good. But otherwise they've been competitive this year. They
beat Arizona State. I'm gonna put a solid eight and
a half on this. Mississippi State can hit some plays
over the top. It's Texas. It's tough. I grant you,
it's tough to score on that defense, but can you
really just ride a defense all year long? I wasn't

(10:44):
even gonna say, can you ride the all year long?

Speaker 2 (10:46):
No?

Speaker 1 (10:46):
No, no? Can you ride the defense all year long?
Or is there that one week where it just has
a hiccup? Not a total no show, but a hiccup.
I'm worried about Texas now and beyond. I'm worried about it.
So put an eight and a half on the upset
alert concern scale in this game. Next up, I don't
know about this, guys. Sarahcuse is getting sixteen and a

(11:10):
half on the road at Georgia Tech. So I don't
have a problem with Georgia Tech being in the top ten.
I've got him ranked in the top ten, and I
don't have a problem with Georgia Tech being ranked. But man,
is there that much separation here? You could make the argument,
Not that I would, but you could make the argument
Georgia Tech got out played by wake Forest, got out

(11:33):
played by Duke last week. Does it matter? No, they
won the games. However, from a point spread perspective. From
a predictive perspective, I don't care if Ques does have
a backup quarterback. We love betting backup quarterbacks. Ricky Collins
or not barely above fifty percent completion. Hey, that just
means his best balls ahead of him. I am a
little bit interested in this. I'm gonna put a four

(11:56):
on the upset Alert concern meter. I think it's too
many points. More on that later in the show. Lastly,
Kentucky took Texas to overtime last week. They've got Tennessee
coming in again. Yet another one of these teams, like
a quarter of the league, a third of the league,
is playing their second consecutive road game. I don't know
why you people allow this to happen to your teams.

(12:19):
This isn't even the worst example of conference scheduling. The
ACC has a chunk of teams that took both of
their buys in a three week stretch. Again, you people
control this. What are you doing to yourselves? So this
is this is Kentucky in an interesting spot. That is
not how you pronounce the word. It's a peculiar spot,

(12:39):
that's what it is. Because they took Texas to overtime
last week. Now that could serve to do one of
two things. That could either fuel you to finish the
job this week, or it could flatline you. And you
just poured it all out last week and Tennessee comes
in and wins thirty eight to ten. I think that
Kentucky's much different at home than on the road. They've
gone on on the road this year, and they got

(13:02):
beat by Georgia soundly. They got beat by South Carolina soundly.
But at home, they took Old Miss to the limit.
They took Texas to overtime. Tennessee's five and two. They're
coming off the Bama game. They've got Oklahoma, Josh Heipel's
former team on deck. Might this be a letdown look
ahead spot? Does that still exist in modern college football?

(13:24):
I think it does enough for me to put a
six and a half on the upset alert concern scale here.
So there you go. If any of these happen, this
segment serves to say, I told you so. I've also
told you about Quick Trip. Okay, Statistically, the percentages the
odds say that with as many people that watch this show,
somebody in our audience ran out of gas today, and

(13:47):
that's a shame because Quick Trip is there, hopefully close
enough to where you knew better. And also, statistically, many
people watching this show were hungry, and it's not because
you can forward food. Is because you haven't properly designated
time in your day. Quick Trip is there for you.
Quick Trip is there for you. Some of you are

(14:08):
tired and there's no excuse for it, and I hope
you're not driving if you are, But even if you're
about to go somewhere, stop by Quick Trip. Not only
do they have cold brew, it's literally on tap. You
just pull the lever and boom, coldbrew on tap. You
know who else had that? The Illinois press Box, Quick
Trip and the Illinois press Box, and Illinois has not

(14:28):
reached out for a sponsorship deal with us, so we
appreciate them. But Quick Trip there are partners. So I've
got to explain to you that that's really where you
should go. Plus they're going to arrest you for trying
to break into the Illinois press Box anyway, So go
to Quick Trip. It's totally legal and it's a great
place to be. I am not in a great place.

(14:51):
I am in a bad place. I'm in a place
where I had some fun in July and August and
we were just passing the time as you do, until
the season started and me and Jesse walked in one day.
I said, Jesse, come here, and we just put together
a list. Honestly, we did not pour a ton of
time into it. I said, here's how I think the

(15:11):
SEC quarterback picture is gonna shake out, all right. If
I had to rank the quarterbacks coming into the year,
this is how I'd have them. Jesse said, oh, interesting.
They made up a little graphic. We did a quick
segment on it. I thought that was it. Here's the
problem with the internet. It's kind of forever. And I,
unlike some in this profession, do not go back and
delete my bad takes. Truthfully, I forget most of them.

(15:35):
So you know, Teddy Roosevelt a long time ago talked
about segments like these when he talked about the Man
in the Arena. People think that quote and that entire
story was about something else. It was mainly about preseason
quarterback rankings. I am the man in the arena and
I took a stand and I went where most haters
would never go. And I'm paying the price for it.

(15:57):
And do I feel a little shame for what you
you're looking at on your screen there? Do I feel
shame for having DJ and Arch and Leonoris one, two, three,
none of whom have been top ten quarterbacks in this
league this year? Yes, I feel shame. Do I have
plans to apologize? I do not. I do not have
plans to apologize. What I will do is I will

(16:19):
tell Bradley that on my command, never show that list again.
And I'm going to give you a new list because
I as of six sixteen pm Central Standard time on
this Thursday, October twenty third, I am coming out with
updated SEC quarterback rankings. And good for me, by the way,
for admitting a mistake. Good for me, I've got Ty

(16:42):
Simpson as the number one quarterback in this league. Unfortunately
I did not have him ranked in the preseason. In
fairness to me, how in the world could I have?
By the way, need I remind anyone? And if I
sound defensive, it's cause I am. Need I remind anyone.
Notice my eye contact and persistence. Need I remind anyone.
Even after the Florida State game, some of his own

(17:02):
questioned him. I didn't hear shouts, I heard whispers. Should
we just go to Keilan Russell? This is going to
be a lost season. Do we just kind of eat it?
Do we look to the future. If you're listening on podcasts,
I'm wagging a finger at some people. You know who
you are. But now Ty Simpson pulled the nose up.
He actually wasn't their problem in Week one either. We

(17:24):
said that on this show. He's the best quarterback in
the league. Man, he has been phenomenal. Eighteen to one
touchdown to I int ratio. Careful this Saturday, very careful
this Saturday. I got tie number one. I got Taylor
Green number two. This may be a little controversial cause
his team's not good. Taylor Green's just been phenomenal. This
is not shocking. Nineteen hundred yards already, a little over

(17:49):
nineteen hundred passing yards. He's a twenty two to five
touchdown to I int guy. About six hundred rushing yards
as well. I've got a little note here that says
he's got more rushing yards than Auburn's leading rusher. He
just happens to be the quarterback. He's been great. I
hate that his team hasn't been. Ironically, he plays Auburn Saturday,
all right, the next one. I had to figure out

(18:10):
where to put Diego Pavia and I think we were
a little too low on him in the preseason. One
of the biggest valid criticisms that my preseason rankings have
gotten this week is we had Diego Pavia too low
because unlike some of these other guys, we knew about
Diego Pavia and I had him at tenth in the preseason.
I am making up for that. I am putting him

(18:31):
number three. He's not a stat monster. Although his completion
percentage has rocketed up from what it was last year.
He's already got fifteen total passing touchdowns right now. He
had twenty all of last year. So by all discernible metrics,
he's a better player this year on everyone's radar than
he was last year. That Bama game, they had two
turnovers down in the red zone or else they could

(18:54):
be undefeated. Now he was responsible for those. That's why
he's not number two or one. But I still got
him number three. He is the heart and soul of
that team, and I don't know how you quantify that,
but he belongs up here. I think I would put
Gunner Stockton number four. Gunner Stockton was not ranked in
the preseason. I just had nothing to go on. Now
I had Arch number two in the preseason, I also

(19:15):
had nothing to go on with him, So a lot
of people were saying, boy, that sounds inconsistent. No, it's
not inconsistent. I thought arch Manning was a better talent
than Gunner Stockton. I expected more from him. Is that
based on his last name and his star rating? Of
course it is. What else do you think it's based on.
By the way, if you did rely on star ratings

(19:38):
out of high school as your generic north star, it
has led you in the proper direction more times than
not throughout college football history. So it's not the worst logic.
And I've got that guy playing for Steve Sarkigan, so
I expected more. I didn't get it. But with Gunner Stockton,
I thought with him, even if he had a good year,
it would be later in the year before he really

(19:59):
started to play good football. But it wasn't. It was
earlier in the year and they needed him in that
Tennessee game. And that Tennessee game that was his arrival.
Like to me, that was his coming out party. And
so he's number four. I've got Joey Agilar number five,
and you could argue that Joey belongs higher. I think
it's just been an unbelievable ride. No matter what, He's

(20:19):
the leading passer in the SEC. So, like I told you,
you could make the argument for him as high as
I think number two. I guess there is an argument
that he could be number one. I had to go
interchangeable here a little bit, so I'd put Joey at
number five. What's his worst game? This is the most
amazing part to me. He hasn't had a disastrous game
the Bama game. Maybe the Bama game he threw that

(20:42):
costly pick downder the goal line, but also a lot
of guys just dropped balls for him. Last week. I
was standing right on the field. I watched it. You
guys watched it at home, you know, because standing on
the field gives you such a better vantage point, obviously
than multi million dollar cameras and stuff like that. He
hasn't had a disastrous game. And for a guy who

(21:03):
didn't even know he was going to be playing for
Tennessee in spring, that's a pretty solid feather in the cap.
I would put Trinidad Chambliss number six. Of course, he
was unranked in the preseason. He's had three games already
with over three hundred passing yards. Good luck telling me
you saw that coming. Number seven Marcel Reid. I struggled

(21:24):
with where to place Marcel Reid. I will put it
to you, like this his ceiling, there's I think there's
still as much room between him and his ceiling as
any of these other guys. And he's played really good.
Think about how that makes you feel as an A
and M fan if the guy who has you sitting
undefeated right now, favored in Death Valley on a Saturday night,

(21:46):
still hadn't hit his ceiling yet. So you know, he
had one hundred and eighty against Mississippi State, but had
three hundred and sixty against Notre Dame. So there's some
ebb and flowed to his game. He'll throw a pickable
ball every now and then, but he's a good player.
Number eight. We got to put post injury John Matier
at number eight. I this is how you know it's

(22:08):
a clown show. In the comments, people are making fun
of me. Some people are making fun of me for
betting Materira to win the Heisman, like I was supposed
to know he was gonna get hurt.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
What what is that?

Speaker 1 (22:21):
Bots? That's what it is? But yeah, I'm gonna put
Materira there. I wonder because Oklahoma is still in it.
I wonder if he just kind of is what he
is post injury, or if there's a slow scaling up
of performance level and he can get back to his
former injury self, which would have been slammed on top five. Boy,
it's tough once you get past the top eight. We

(22:43):
had trouble. I put both probula number nine. He's he's
been a little turnover prone, but they're still undefeated. I mean,
Missouri is Missouri. Well, they've got one loss, they lost Obama,
but they are still in the thick of it. We're
gonna see in this Saturday. He's averaged above average performance level,
got a good, good enough complimentary team around him. I'd

(23:05):
put him at nine. I'd put Garrett Nussmeyer at ten.
You know, Nusmeyer is not one hundred percent, but he's
battling through it. He's eleven to five touchdown to I
int he's not really gonna have a ceiling game because
his physical limitation will not let him touch that. But
if you disagree with that, like, what are we looking
at right now? Past number eight? It's it's a lot

(23:25):
of who But I'll tell you what's most jarring, no
arch manning, And in fairness to you guys, some of
you did call that out in the preseason, but no
DJ Lagway, no Lenora Sellers. Those were my one two three.
Like I said when we did that segment, I don't
mind anyone dunking on me as long as you publicly

(23:47):
released your preseason expectations too. Everybody's a genius with the
benefit of hindsight. Don't be cowardly post your thoughts in
the preseason. Some of you did in the comment section,
and you'll notice the ones who did and have been
talking trash. I've just sat there and liked your comments
like like, but not all of you did that. Flex

(24:11):
Power went with us to the Vanderbook game the other
day and we gave away a free generator in the
parking lot after three trivia questions, which were on easy mode.
I would say maybe intermediate at best, probably easy mode.
But then we were taking the flex Power generator because
they brought me one just because I wanted one. I

(24:31):
need a generator. We all do you know good and
well your power is going to go out eventually, or
you need to power a tailgate eventually, or you've got
a birthday party and you got a lot of rides
out there for the kiddos. I don't know what you're doing.
Flex Power doesn't either. They know they can generate it, though,
and I cranked that thing up a couple of times
so they could demonstrate it. And a lady walked up
sure enough and said, well that's really quiet. Where do

(24:53):
I get one? Aha? Myflexpower dot com slash Josh Pate
that's where you get one. We appreciate them. One more
thing to get to, actually two more things before we
get to cublit who is waiting in the wings at
the Birmingham Airport. The Commissioner's pole has dropped. Listen, literally,

(25:15):
it just dropped right there. Week nine. Addition, these are rankings.
They are generated by flex Power. See these are rankings.
This is merit based. It does matter what your record
is here. It does not matter who you would be
favored against on the neutral field. This is the market
correction to the ap pole. That's what this is. And
don't forget a couple of weeks from now we got

(25:38):
the first playoff rankings dropping. I have not been invited
to be on the committee again, a travesty, but I
will have a healthy response this year to the playoff
committee rankings because that's kind of what this is, right, here.
All right, let's start at twenty five. I've got Utah
at twenty five. I've got Illinois at twenty four. LUSU

(26:00):
has plummeted to number twenty three. They're down fourteen spots.
Their wins are Clemson in Florida, and those wins keep
losing value week over week. I've got theories on that,
like whether your wins should retroactively lose value, But I
don't think you can argue that their winds are losing value.
Number twenty two Michigan, Number twenty one is Arizona State?

(26:24):
Really big win last week and they got a tough
they got a tough road to ho coming up. As
Mema would say that, I think they got Houston this week,
Jordan Tyson out with a hamstring injury, but they got
the number twenty one ranking right now, top twenty. Why
is Navy not ranked in the apeopole? Why has the
ap taken a decidedly un American stance and left the

(26:48):
entire US Navy out out out in what would we
call that unmoored? I need some nautical terminology. It's a
shame is trying to sink Navy, but I won't let
it happen because unlike the dastardly AP, I care about

(27:08):
our naval men and women, our midshipmen. I care about them.
And also they're undefeated, you know. So let's put them
at number twenty for now, number nineteen, Cincinnati, number eighteen, Virginia.
I am putting Notre Dame number seventeen. We're jumping them
eight spots. As I said last week, once Notre Dame

(27:29):
beats quality teams, they will rock it up, because yes,
they do have two of the quote unquote best losses
in the country. And once they beat good teams, I'll
vault them up. I thought what the AP was doing
is jumping Notre Dame up before they've gotten the good
win because they predicted them to get the good win. Well,
that's not how the Commissioner's poll operates. This is not predictive.

(27:51):
This is reactive. So now Notre Dame is sitting at seventeen,
Louisville is sitting at sixteen. That's up ten spots. They
beat Miami on the road, and Louisville's a very good team.
They're only lost Jesse is there only lost Virginia. They're
a one loss team, right Louisville a one lost team
I believe so. Yeah, Louisville at number sixteen, I know goodwell,

(28:13):
Jesse doesn't have Louisville's schedule pulled up. I just like
to drop that on him. Number fifteen is usf Alex
Goalish and the Crew. Right now, I project them to
be my G five team in the playoff. They play
Memphis this weekend. It's an early kickoff, I think two Saturday.
It's a big day for college football on the state
of Tennessee this weekend. Texas Tech is down nine spots

(28:35):
at number fourteen. Now, I'll save you the time. Yes,
we may have dropped them too far. I was thinking
about it as I was walking into the studio. The
graphics were already made. I couldn't do it. I couldn't
do anything about it. And I thought, Man, they lost
on the road with their backup QB. Dropping nine spots,
did we punish them a little bit too much? Maybe so?

(28:57):
If I had to do it over again, I may
have Texas Tech closer to a eleven or twelve. But
it is what it is. Missouri is at thirteen. A
big week this week on the road against Vanderbilt Brigham
Young is another example of a team that was not
ranked high end the Commissioner's pole because they hadn't really
beaten anyone, which wasn't their fault. But it also is
not my fault. But I told you, once you beat someone,

(29:20):
you will rocket up the Commissioner's pole. They beat Utah,
they have jumped twelve spots. They are now number twelve
in the Commissioner's poll, and they've got a chance to
jump even higher this week because I got another tough
game on the road against Iowa State, a rested and
wounded Iowa State. Might I add, let's put ole mess
at number eleven. Some things you're noticing here, Texas is out.

(29:47):
I don't have Texas ranked. I think that's a joke
that Texas is ranked right now. That's insane. Any other team,
almost any other team with the same resume minus the
Longhorn logo, is not ranked. Texas should not be ranked,
and they're not here. Also, from week two, which is
the first week we did this poll, to now, four
of the top eleven are gone. Penn State was originally

(30:09):
in the top eleven. Gone, Texas gone, Florida State, gone,
South Carolina gone. Sad times around here at the Commissioner's Pole.
Vanderbilt is number ten. Yes, you heard me right. We
have a top fifteen matchup about to take place just
across town at Vanderbilt Saturday. Oklahoma. We got at number nine.

(30:31):
They got a really good win against South Carolina. It
was overlooked. I always knew it would be overlooked. We
did not overlook it. Not because you get a ton
of credit for beating South Carolina, but because they steadied
the ship and now they get to play ol Miss.
That's number eleven versus number nine Saturday, another early kickoff.
Oregon is number eight. I keep feeling the need to

(30:54):
explain that we are not shaving a ton of value
off of their win at Penn State, because that is
pre fatality Penn State. Penn State's dead now they're no
longer with us. They're gone. This is the Penn State
Memorial season. But Oregon killed them. So Oregon deserves credit
for that. So it's not like with LSU when I said, oh,

(31:14):
the Clemson loss or Clemson win keeps losing value, the
Florida win keeps losing value. I do not look at
the Penn State game the same way for Orgon. So
I'm going to put them at number eight. Georgia Tech
is at number seven. For all the talk about how
they should have lost the Wake game, they should have
lost the Duke game, they didn't. This is not the
JP Pole. In the JP pole, we can address that.

(31:37):
This is the Commissioner's poll. You win games, you get
credit for winning games. I don't care because here's the
thing about benefiting from lucky breaks. If you're down thirty
eight to thirteen, it doesn't matter if you get a
lucky break. So part of the skill in benefiting and
winning games based off lucky breaks is putting yourself in
position to benefit from it, and no one ever talks

(31:58):
about that. So Georgia Tech put themselves in position to benefit. Now,
you could just as easily have your heart broken by
bad breaks. True, but that's football. We scoring threes and sevens.
The ball is weirdly shaped, so you get credit for
winning games around here. Miami dropped to six. I think
the AP dropped him further.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
I think that.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
Miami got punished because of how big a favorite they were.
Miami lost a game to a pretty good team. I
think if Miami was only favored by five, they wouldn't
have dropped as far in the Ape pole, but because
they were nearly a two touchdown favorite and they lost,
they dropped further. I don't really care about how much
they were favored by. I care about what quality of
team they lost to. They lost to number sixteen, Well,

(32:42):
at least where they are now. Louisville is number sixteen.
So I dropped Miami to six. I wouldn't fight you
a ton if you wanted to drop him to seven
or eight, but I got him at six. We got
five to one Georgia, Texas, A and m Indiana Alabama
in Ohio state, which I think, Jesse, you told me

(33:03):
that's the same one through five as the AP is,
just in a little bit different order. Alabama has gone
from unranked to number two in five weeks, which goes
to show you I don't have a problem radically altering
my opinion from week one to week two because I
dropped Bama out entirely. And I also don't have a
problem that if you right the ship, jumping you right

(33:26):
back up to where you were, because Alabama's all the way,
they're higher than they were in the preseason. Actually, so
that's where we are on the commissioner's poll right now,
one through twenty five. Oh you know what? You know
what I just realized, jesse Man, we got to call
an audible. Where should I put them? I don't want

(33:46):
to tell you what it is yet you probably can
guess if you live, especially in the eastern part of
the state I'm in right now. I didn't put Tennessee
in here now, Jesse, So we'll make a new graphic.
Where where do we think Tennessee should go? Twenty one,
twenty two? Two? Lost team? Right now? Georgia and Alabama

(34:09):
are their losses. I'd put them ahead of Michigan. I
put him ahead of there. Do you think number twenty
and bump Navy to twenty one? Does that sound about right? Okay,
pretend with me that I told you Tennessee is number
twenty and Navy's twenty one, in Arizona State's twenty two,
and Michigan's twenty three, and LSUS twenty four Illinois twenty five.

(34:29):
I am so sorry to Utah, but I don't know
what to tell you. You should have gone into provo
and won the game. There you go, commissioner's poll changing
on the fly. You know what else could change? On
the fly. We didn't plan this this way, but it
really smoothly changes to delaying your mortgage payments. That's what
could change on the fly. Oh, it's not illegal, it's

(34:50):
not even irresponsible. You could put those two payments in
your pocket. You could just get a little breathing room.
How American Financing they can show you how to use
your home's equity to pay off debt rates in the
low fives. Right now, Jesse, you're paying attention, yes, because
you caught that We lost Tennessee entirely. We left them
out of the pole entirely. Their salary based mortgage consultants

(35:14):
are helping. And here's the most important part to me,
no upfront fees. Customers saving an average of eight hundred
a month. Call now here's the number eight six six
three three six fifty thirty. That is eight six six
three three six fifty thirty or Americanfinancing dot net slash
pate Pate. I've got two additions to the Rominudal Express

(35:38):
right now, I'm going to give them to you. We
are already on Arkansas plus one and a half. We
are on app State plus fourteen and a half. All
these available at FanDuel right now under the Josh Payt tab.
No less, we have our own tab. We continue col
plus four and a half. Okay, we're adding these two games, guys.
I think UCLA is getting too much plus twenty five

(36:00):
and a half too much. I think that should be
more around twenty two or twenty one. So I'm gonna
take UCLA plus the points. And I've talked about this
game all week. I feel good about Texas A and M,
so I'm laying two and a half with A and
M at LSU. So we're on five already. A quick
note before we get to Cublic, I will let you

(36:20):
know tomorrow what time we're gonna do Friday night lines.
We got softball championships tomorrow night, so I don't know
if I'm going to do it before that or after that,
So make sure you're following Instagram, Twitter, et cetera, Josh
pat CFB. I will let you know. Okay, all those
are available at FanDuel. Like I told you, FanDuel the
exclusive odds provider of the show. You could bet those

(36:42):
games over there. You can bet any other game over there.
You could look at conference championship futures. You could look
at Heisman Futures. They have it all there. If you
don't bet and you're just curious about what the odds
are this weekend, you could go there. FanDuel has literally
anything and everything. And remember new customers bet five dollars,

(37:03):
you hit, and you get three hundred dollars in bonus bets.
Just wins all over the place. I'm looking forward to
this weekend. You're looking forward to this weekend. FanDuel looking
forward to this weekend as well.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
Must be twenty one plus and present in select states
for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or eighteen
plus and present in DC. First online real money wager
only five dollars first deposit required. Bonus issued as non
withdrawable bonus bets, which expires seven days after receipt. Restrictions
apply see terms at sportsbook dot FanDuel dot com. Gambling
Problem Call one eight hundred gambler or visit FanDuel dot

(37:37):
com slash RG call one eight eight eight seven eight
nine seventy seven seventy seven, or visit CCPG dot org
slash chat in Connecticut, or visit nd Gamblinghelp dot org
in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling Helplinema dot org
or call eight hundred three two seven fifty fifty for
twenty four to seven support in Massachusetts. Or call one
eight seven seven eight Hope n Y. Or text Hope

(37:58):
and Y in New York.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
With that in mind, where should we go? Let's go
to Birmingham International Airport. Is that where we should get
Let's go to Birmingham International. Hey, look at that. Look
at the host of Cube show, the host of actually
many shows. You will eventually, once his travels are finished,
find him in Lexington, Kentucky Saturday for Kentucky. You're working

(38:23):
to one of maybe many Kentucky games from now until
the end of the year. We'll see how the schedule
shakes out. You look good. You have it come to
us live or taped from an airport recently. Are you
holding your own phone? Is someone else holding it for you?
How are things there?

Speaker 4 (38:39):
I'm holding it myself and actually looking out past the
commoner's runway to the runway that Pate uses when he
flies out past the regular runways with all the pjs
over in the distance. So the rest of us will
just sit here and wait to board our common planes.
But yes, first time We've had to do this on
a Thursday, so I apologize.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
For the inconvenience and the Randoms walking behind me.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
And you've got to connect. I heard it's not even
a direct. You gotta connect.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Thanks for reminding me. But yeah, we'll be in Atlanta
for a couple hours. Always great.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Wow, all right, I.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
Even checked a bag for this. Made it totally miserable.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
You want to talk misery, I'll give you misery. I'm
looking at the forecast for Auburn, Arkansas. Not the prediction,
mind you, just the weather forecast. We're looking at steady rain,
breezy conditions, tempts mid fifties, load to mid fifties at kickoff,
which is an eleven am kickoff, which we all know
treats Auburn very well historically in northwest Arkansas. So I'm

(39:41):
looking at this. We got Arkansas f every by one
and a half, two and a half. Now, lines moved
even as you picked up the phone, you got all
the talk around, Hugh Freeze, Bobby Petrino needs the signature win.
I don't know how you feel about Patrino in that job.
If I had a guest today, I think he may
end up getting the job, but I know the rest
of the season will go a long way in determining that.
Let me fill you out here. Let's just basically treat

(40:03):
this as a game prediction. First thing you're paying attention
to Auburn Arkansas.

Speaker 4 (40:07):
It's Taylor Green because he's a takeover player. He can
completely take this game over. Auburn did not tackle him
well a year ago in Jurnhair Stadium, didn't even really
get close to him. And when he decided to leave
the pocket, he didn't just turn into minimal games. He
turned it into big gains and explosive plays. So this
Auburn defense seems to be a little more disciplined upfront.

(40:28):
They seem to have a little more disruptive capabilities. But
with that in mind, are you going to be disciplined
with how you attack the pocket? Texas A and M
didn't do that last week, and I think they're better
at getting to the quarterback than this Auburn defense is.
And they allowed Tailing Green to leave the pocket and
be a dominant runner, and when they had to alter
some things, that allowed him to be able to work

(40:51):
them over in the passing game as well. So you
have to sit back and wonder, Josh, is this Auburn
defense on the brink of just not having a performance
anywhere near what it's been the last five six weeks.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
You wonder if that let down performance is coming in.

Speaker 4 (41:06):
If that's the case, how much of the slack in
the offense really pick up?

Speaker 2 (41:09):
Based on what we've seen that there shouldn't be a lot.

Speaker 4 (41:11):
Of confidence that they're going to be able to go
out and put up four hundred and fifty four hundred
and thirty five yards in a game. Now, this Arkansas
defense would be the one that you would believe.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
Probably could do that.

Speaker 4 (41:21):
And if Cam Ball's not in there in the middle
of this Arkansas defense, they've got issues at de tackle. Anyway,
maybe Auburn can controlled this game.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
If the weather's going to be what you.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
Say, it might be more advantageous to try to just
live on the ground, utilize more quarterback run with Jackson Arnold.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
If he is the guy for four quarters.

Speaker 4 (41:38):
We got the memo last week from Hugh Freeze that
he might not be the guy for four quarters, and
if two or three series were to go the wrong way,
we were going to see Ashton Daniels in.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
That football game.

Speaker 4 (41:47):
They loved the way that he practiced, loved how he's
carried himself, and Hugh Freeze had essentially told us that
Jackson Arnold is not doing the things that he's capable
of doing in our offense that we ask him to do,
and if that continues, he's not going to be our quarterbacks.
So those will be the first things that come to mind,
specifically with this game that I'm interested in seeing.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
I'd be really surprised if we didn't see multiple quarterbacks.
Let's go over under one and a half quarterbacks there
for Auburn. I'll take the over. Surely they find twenty
eight offensive points somewhere here. This is my thinking. I'm
not asking you, I'm saying, surely in my mind, with
the defensive numbers we just put on the screen there
from Arkansas, if it's gonna happen, I mean, if we're
gonna have a moment where it's not an explosion, but

(42:26):
just offense clicks a little more, you find first down
a little bit more, you fall forward a little bit more,
you break a few more long runs. If I'm facing
someone one twenty one against the run, one pin fifteen
against the pass, I gotta find something. I don't really
care which quarterback I gotta put in to do it.
But the reason why what you just said stood out
so much to me is everything Auburn's been so far,

(42:46):
They're not the only one in the league like this.
Texas is like this, LSU is like this. Everything about
their offensive profile a lot of it sucks, but they
still know they can rely on defense to keep them
in games, and so they know, hey, man, we score twenty,
we may may be good enough. And you got to
ask what you just asked. Do you just get to
think that way all year, twelve weeks or is there

(43:07):
a period week seven, week eight, week nine where there's
not enough gas left in the tank defensively, you can't
keep screwing up and looking on the other side of
the sideline for them to bail you out. And if
that were to happen, let's say rain's not a huge
detriment in this game and Arkansas's offense is able to operate,
it could be the game where you get pressed a
little bit and you do have to answer trade points

(43:28):
a little bit more. That would concern me if they
get that kind of that kind of game script.

Speaker 4 (43:34):
Did you say over one and a half quarterbacks in
the game for Auburn. Yeah, okay, yeah, I mean too.
I could see just kind of wondered if there was
a third that would even be an option there for
you to discuss and talk about. I don't think we
see Deuce Night in this game. I think you may
see him in games later in the season, though, if

(43:55):
the game were to go the way that you just
laid it out.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
Here's my problem. You want to get the track meet with.

Speaker 4 (44:00):
This Arkansas offense and the way they've played the last
two weeks, because A and M defense pretty good and
they essentially had their way with that group. So if
your defense is having a letdown day and that's how
the offense has to pick itself up and against the
defense that they should be able to move the football against,
that's the offense that you want to go toe to

(44:21):
toe with when your defense is not having a good day.
I just don't think that style game is advantageous for Auburn.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
Here.

Speaker 4 (44:27):
I would go back to almost hoping that the weather's
a little bit of a problem. The reason I wouldn't
is that you're going to have a freshman center who,
by the way, seventeen years old.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
You can start that narrative. Now we can say that.

Speaker 4 (44:36):
Fifty seven times a game if we want and a
wet ball, he had some air and snaps a week ago.
If you are playing more than one quarterback, the cadence
becomes a little bit different. That verbiage is always different.
It's never exactly the same, just the rhythm and the
feel of it. It changes. It does that complicates things
at the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
So I almost think about some of those things.

Speaker 4 (44:55):
Josh and I immediately think, let's slow this thing down,
get as much of it under control as we can.
We don't want to use tempo, we don't want to
go warp speed here, and we don't want to try
to trade touchdowns with the team that is probably not
going to fail at scoring touchdowns very often if our
defense is not playing well. So while I can see

(45:16):
parts of that going the way that you said, I
don't know if Auburn wants to get into that style
fight necessarily in this game.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Yeah, not preferable. I'm just saying if it is that way,
I'm not just blindly leaning on my defense every week. Man.
All right, well, I guess I'll have to score twenty
four this week instead. Of sixteen. The other thing here,
I mean you and I were talking earlier today. Third
downs in this game, third down in any game is
a big deal. Third down in this one probably red
sharpie circle.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (45:41):
And Arkansas, I think is fourth in the nation and
third down converdens offensively and actually having a tailing green
who understands not just can leave the pocket with speed,
but he understands how to leave the pocket. He understands
where the rush is coming from. How do we allude
to where it's going to lead to longer games? He's
just great. He's got a great knack for it, and
obviously being a long stre two steps and he's gone.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
He's passed the defensive end or a defensive tackle.

Speaker 4 (46:04):
So the Auburn defense is better on third down, but
they're atrocious third down offensively, and the Arkansas defense not
great on third down. So I don't know what's going
to give here when Auburn has the ball, if they
were to get to a third down, something sort of
has to give here, and I guess there either will
be a conversion or a punt. Maybe they go for
more fourth downs we're anticipating, but third downs should be

(46:26):
monumental in this game for both teams, because it feels
like Arkansas could continue those drives on third down and
then maintain possession and sort of flip the script on Auburn,
so to speak. And if Auburn gets a lot of
third downs, can they keep the football? I mean, that
would be the question because it looks like Arkansas is
not one that's going to take it back very often
and Auburn hadn't converted many of them.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
I rolled with Arkansas in this game. I actually picked
at Sunday night. It was one of my favorite picks.
I don't love the weather forecast, don't love it, but
I'm gonna ride with it. Did you lean it away
in this thing?

Speaker 4 (46:56):
I just think it's a bad spot for Auburn. Honestly,
I don't love the matchup because I do like how
DJ Diurkin is designing his pressures to be able to
get to the quarterback. If you watched that game last
week and we were talking about it during the game,
he was forcing side quick protection one direction or the other,
and he was going to revert that pressure back inside
whichever direction that you slid away from it, and it

(47:18):
had success. It got to the quarterback. This is a
quarterback that if you're not precise with your pressures and
how you run them and how far you rush up
the field, He's going to be able to make you pay.
And I think that could be problematic. And you looked
at even last week playing a little bit of a spy.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
You still have quarterbacks I think can run away from that.

Speaker 4 (47:36):
Not a lot of spy techniques have been successful against
Taylor Green.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
Catch and run has been big for Auburn, and.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
I think they're underrated at running back. I think they
have two hammers at tailback that can get down hill
in a hurry. And I just I am wary of
this Auburn defense where they are right now, the amount
of snaps, play a lot of younger guys and that helps.
I just don't see the spark on offense. And maybe
it is Ashton Daniels and he comes in and it's different.
Maybe it is a terrible Arkansas defense. But I'm gonna
have to see more than a couple of checkdowns. And

(48:04):
I did last week to think that all of a
sudden au there is just going to move the football
on a consistent basis.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
Yep, all right, I want to talk about coaching for
just a second. There's a lot of talk about this
around the league right now. I think you you are
kind of like me, at least in the past when
talking about hot seat stuff, and that you don't really
lean into it. I don't really lean into it. You,
like me, probably think firing a guy should be closer
to the last resort than the first thing that comes

(48:28):
to your mind. And yet we've got varying degrees of
it around the league right now. Billy already lost his
job at Florida. There's a lot of talk around Hugh Freeze,
there's talk around LSUS. Part of it's the offensive staff,
part of it is just straight up Brian Kelly, even
though they're five and two and can still make the
playoff if they went out. So I'll ask this, or
you can even go Norvelle Florida State, I'm gonna ask

(48:49):
you this. I'm understanding it's case to case, you know,
based on individual circumstances. When is it actually time to
start having that conversation versus having the conversation of, well,
he didn't forget how to coach. Let's get to the
end of the season and let's maybe clear out some
of the underbrush. Clear out some of the roster, overhaul

(49:09):
some of the staff, reallocate resources, get an infusion of cash.
Like where do you draw that line? Because I think
it's kind of hard, but it's it's kind of like
if a team quits on someone like I think Noravel's
on the precipice of having happened two years in a row.
That's where I got real trouble saying, oh, don't worry,
We'll just give you a third shot at this. However,

(49:30):
with like Brian Kelly, maybe unlikable and all that, and
that traffics well on message boards, but do I'm not
going to hot seat yet when the guy's five and two.
Now we play twelve games, so every game is paramount,
every game's huge, and maybe that changes if you go
really cold down the stretch. Hugh Freeze finds himself somewhere
in between where he got a lot of close losses.

(49:52):
None of these are blowouts. Defense playing its tailoff team
hasn't really quit, although you'll find people to question maybe
the competitive in tech ready person to person sometimes, So
where's your head out on all this?

Speaker 4 (50:05):
I think it is it's always going to be a
case by case basis and now I'm actually interested in
really where it is because I'm not sure that.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
I know necessarily when you get to.

Speaker 4 (50:15):
That point, and that is because of administratively where we
are in college football, financially where we are in college football,
roster movement, where we are maybe single portal injury is
going to help this a little.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Bit and calm it down. The way that I would.

Speaker 4 (50:28):
Probably measure it, Josh, is when you begin to lose
the fan base, when that becomes evident and it looks
like it's not working with what you said at the
let's get to the end of the year, let's reevaluate,
let's get some staff out of there, let's maybe try
to reinvent our roster just a little bit. When you've
done that two three times, I think it's time to
say this isn't gonna work. This just isn't it. And

(50:48):
there are certain programs right now I think we're sort
of hearing some of the same excuses, seeing some of
the same problems that we've seen for two three years.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
At that point in time, I think it's safe to.

Speaker 4 (50:56):
Say you're about to lose your fan base, You'll probably
start to lose your administer.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
And when you do that my administration.

Speaker 4 (51:02):
I think I'm including the people that are essentially going
to pay for these rosters. I know they're not employees
of the school, but I view them in the same
light as I would the athletic director of the president
and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
So I think once you look at it and say this.

Speaker 4 (51:15):
Is kind of what we are and if that's not satisfactory,
it's never too early to make that move. And I've
never been one that likes it in season. I've told
you this before, we've had that conversation of what it
does to the players. They're going to receive less coaching,
They're going to receive less teaching, less attention because now
all those assistants are thinking about their next job. And

(51:35):
I'm not mad at them for that. Who could blame them?
You know you're done at the end of the season.
You know the new guy's not going to keep you around.
So you're out there making phone calls trying to see
where you could land next year, where you and your
family are going to have to move to. Are you
going to have to move your family? What's going to
take place? The other guys don't know. And now with
the portal, you have no idea. How many players are
even going to consider sticking around with you or go
with you to the next place, So you're having those conversations.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
I just I don't like it in season.

Speaker 4 (52:00):
I hate it for the kids, but they are also
different players now, they're also getting paid.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
Now, they have the ability to leave whenever they want.

Speaker 4 (52:06):
So it's I don't feel as bad as I once did,
but it is an unfortunate scenario when you have three, five,
seven games left and the attention span of the coaches,
the players, the team continuity just immediately goes away because
everybody is hyper focused on what's next. And you can
blame them for that. I wouldn't be mad at anybody

(52:28):
for it. It's just where you are. So I don't
know if there's a timeline that we can look at
right now, just because of how new everything is. I
don't know if we'll ever really had this figured out
until we get some sort of settlement across college football.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
I don't even mean that legally.

Speaker 4 (52:43):
I just mean, like when the dust settles, when we
can calm down and understand, Okay, year to year, this
is what it's going to be, this is what it's
going to look like. This is how you evaluate. This
is how you replenish your roster. This is when guys
can go can't go. This is when we're not going
to have court dates every seven weeks, and different guys
are going different places trying to sue the NCAA and
get more eligibility, and guys from the G League are

(53:03):
coming back to play college basketball. Like, when all that
stuff settles down, we may be able to figure this out.
Until then, think about some of these situations we're talking
about right now, Josh. These places want to get rid
of their coach, but financially they're not able to do that. Like,
what's your timeline there? Are you just waiting for a
booster to come knock on your door and say, Okay,
I've had enough, here's the check, get him out of here.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
We're good now. And if that's the.

Speaker 4 (53:26):
Case, that guy even has it and is potentially going
to give you to you at some point, why are
we waiting now for it to get worse?

Speaker 2 (53:31):
Because if that support is.

Speaker 4 (53:33):
Gone and the morale is gone, what's gonna make it better?

Speaker 2 (53:37):
I just don't think it's going to. So I don't
know if.

Speaker 4 (53:40):
Waiting now is anywhere near as good of an answer
as that had been in the past.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Here's where I struggle with it. All right, So there's
on one hand, I've got the logic that I personally apply,
and the other hand is reality. Take Penn State James
Franklin as an example. In my logical hand, I thought
to myself, all right, they made this a national title
or bust season. It busted. They're gonna lose more games.

(54:05):
It became obvious it was just a dead team, all right.
My logical hand says, in the new modern age of
college football, the worst case scenario, even for the better coaches,
is gonna be there may be a dead season baked
in every now and then because the root system is
way different roster wise than it used to be. However,
my logical hand says, that doesn't automatically mean I need

(54:26):
to fire the guy. But there's no emotion in my
logical hand. And so Penn State looked at it, and
you'll have people from Penn State say, oh, bro, there
was no other option. We had to make this move.
We had to do it. There was no other choice.
I will never agree with that fundamentally, but also, it's
not my team. I'm not the donor there I'm not
the season ticket holder. And what's crazy is when the

(54:47):
human dynamics get thrown in there, it gets hard to
make the decisions. And also, we could be talking about Hugh,
we could be talking about Billy, we could be talking
about Mike Norvel. He can talk about whoever. Brian Kelly.
There is about nine twenty five percent attention from the
fan base paid to do we want to get rid
of this guy? There's about five percent attention paid to

(55:08):
is there a definitive upgrade that we already have in
our back pocket that we know is ready to take
the job and has agreed in principle if we make
this move. Because if you don't have that, you're paying
tens of millions of dollars to guess that's basically what
you're doing, and that terrifies me.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
I have no doubt.

Speaker 4 (55:26):
And I think even that part of it has become
more complicated because of the playoffs. Are you going to
sit around to wait for a coach it's going to
be in the postseason and going to go potentially that
deep in the postseason.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
If not, when do you draw the line.

Speaker 4 (55:39):
Of Okay, any coach potentially in that playoff system we're done.
We're going to wait for round one. If they continue,
we have to go make a move somewhere else. You
and I don't know what those mose lines in the
sand are going to be, or what those deadlines are
going to be, so it's more complicated than ever. And
I just want to give a shout out to producer Jesse.
By the way, I know he's I'm driving him crazy
right now by moving around as much as I am.

(56:00):
That single shot on Josh just saved my right arm,
and I just want to tell him that I appreciate that,
because otherwise I think this arm was going to fall off.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
But I'm appreciative.

Speaker 4 (56:11):
And I think he needs to know that because nobody.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Else tells him they appreciate him.

Speaker 4 (56:14):
So I figured i'd at least let him know that
I do appreciate one thing that he's done today.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
That's what the money's for. That's what the money's for. Also,
half our audience listens on podcast has no clue what
you're talking about. That I'll appreciate that. I appreciate the
theater of the mind. Last question for you, take yourself
back to SEC media days. Everything you thought about Team
I could care less the last week of August, right

(56:38):
before Week one kicked off everything you thought about the
sec Which team has performed the furthest away plus or
negative from your preseason expectation, And maybe go beyond Texas
because a lot of people's answer will be Texas, Like
people are very shocked that the offense has been as
bad as it's been. And if that's your answer, fine,

(57:01):
If it's not, fine, but go beyond Texas because mine's Florida. Like,
I was really really high on the potential of Florida
and it just kind of went in the tank. Where
would you go? Notice you're not going to thank me
like you think, Jesse, But I spoke slower than molasses
here to give you time to think, and I saw
your eyes wandering. There was a lot of eye movement there.
So I've given you a solid minute here, three, two,

(57:23):
one go.

Speaker 4 (57:25):
You might even be able to get past some of
the technology in NBA poker circles with that knowledge of
how eyes move and rotate.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
I'm going to give you Tennessee.

Speaker 4 (57:36):
The reason that I would not give you, say Auburn
or Florida is even though we thought that they had
a chance to extend, there were still those real question
marks there of can they really get that much further
past where we kind of realistically believe they're going to be.
There were some holes in that Florida roster that we
were a little bit concerned about. I didn't think Tennessee

(57:57):
was going to face plant. I didn't think they were
gonna knowse die, but I didn't think they'd be in
the spot that they're in right now.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
And you look at that Alabama game.

Speaker 4 (58:04):
I still say, Josh, coming off that game, I sat
in my hotel room in Charlotte on Sunday and I
thought to myself and listen, there are no would have
should haves in football.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
If you would have you could have, then you would
have done it and taken care of it. You didn't.

Speaker 4 (58:17):
But without those drops, what would that game have looked
like in the fourth quarter?

Speaker 2 (58:20):
Yep, those are some monumental.

Speaker 4 (58:22):
Drops in some big spots to some wide open receivers
and tight ends. I still think physically they're well passed
where any of us thought they were going to be,
both on the defensive mind and more specifically on the
offensive line. And now with David Sanders coming in, maybe
they're going to be even past that I think running
back has not been the issue that we thought it
was going to be with Dylan Samson having to be
replaced Joey I gars done a really nice job operating

(58:44):
the offense. What to watch though, is going to be
wide receiver down the stretch. I think they have three
wide receivers in the top ten of the sec in
snaps right now, and they're not rotating a lot there
and they don't have a lot of extra bodies. That
is a position that could completely just melt by the
end of the season. But where I thought they were
going to be where they is, and this happens a

(59:04):
little bit more of how they've done it.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
Also, like you and I talked about, coming out of
that Georgia.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
Game, that's as close as those two teams have been
physically in I don't know what fifteen years, thirteen years.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
And they didn't get.

Speaker 4 (59:17):
Pushed around in that game. They didn't get pushed around
the Alabama game. They didn't get bullied. I mean, there's
a reason that Alabama started using extensions of the run
game through the air, and that's because Bryceon and Esen
and those guys were in the backfield early in the
middle of that.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
Offensive buying for Alabama.

Speaker 4 (59:31):
So I'll probably give you Tennessee as a team that
I wasn't really sure of, probably leaned on the lower
end of the middle of the pack, and now still
has an opportunity to play their.

Speaker 2 (59:40):
Way into the college football playoffs.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
I think we had Georgia pretty much pegged as well.
They're going to be a really good team. The front
defensively will be not even shades of what it's been
in years past. There was a question market quarterback, but
I think you, like me thought, I mean, there's a
pretty high floor for a Kirby Smart Mike Bobo quarterback
that they're going to put out there. I had questions
about whether a receiver would truly be a strength of

(01:00:04):
that team. They have upgraded there. Not dominant, but they've
upgraded there. They've run the ball better. Offensive line's been
a mess at various points this year, which I don't
think shots many people. They've had to win two games
where they needed forty plus and so they've done it.
But I think do we I think we nailed Georgia
in July. This is exactly what I thought. They'd be.

Speaker 2 (01:00:26):
Very close.

Speaker 4 (01:00:27):
But I'll say this about Georgia keep your eye on
this football team the rest of the way, and it's.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
People are going to roll their eyes because they're going
to say, bro, it's Georgia.

Speaker 4 (01:00:36):
But there have been moments this year that they have
looked more human than they have maybe an all of
Kirby Smart's tenure. That offensive line that you mentioned, yes,
it has been atrocious. However, you got a freshman playing,
and on top of that, you've had to mix and
match these guys all over the place, starting to guard
at tackle, right tackle, left tackle. This is a team

(01:00:58):
that I feel like, with the little continuity down the stretch,
could all of a sudden easily look like a top
three team, may be one of the top two best
teams in college football. Because I don't think Gunner Stockton
is getting near the conversation he deserves. He's gonna miss
two three throws a game because he's gonna try to
fire him in there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
He's got a little bit that gunslinger mentality. But that
little eurostep he put.

Speaker 4 (01:01:18):
On the two old misdefenders that had a clean run
at him, and then on the flea flicker with the.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Defender in his face, dropping that ball in the corner
out the way that he did.

Speaker 4 (01:01:26):
I just think that his skill set is past where
anybody thought it was going to be.

Speaker 1 (01:01:31):
All right, good chrief. What's happening to him? Plug Cube Show,
tell the people where they can. First call me.

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
I'm sorry, Jesse.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
First off, clean your lens after we hang up. Secondly,
plug Cube show.

Speaker 4 (01:01:45):
Cube shows a podcast that not many people listen to anymore.
It is on YouTube as well. It lives there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
You can go find it. We had some technical issues.

Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
I mean the whole thing, the whole server that we
put the show on, was down for two days. What
are we doing, folks? Just search Cube Show wherever you
get your podcasts and I listen. My wife got mad
at me for not plugging Tuesday Date Night with.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
You last week.

Speaker 4 (01:02:05):
And I was breaking cars with Pizza Pools last night.
My buddy Andrew was there with me, nineteen years old.
I got to share the story with you real quick.
We were just talking about where I was going this weekend,
and he goes, man, you're doing so many big things
right now, bro, Like you're just you're killing it. You
got like you're doing that game you got pay. I
mean you're on with Pay, Like how often you on

(01:02:25):
with Pate and I was like, okay, get to the
other things we got We're doing other things too. He goes,
I just like the stuff you do with paint. Man,
it's just so good.

Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
One two, that's seven minutes a week. That's the rest
of it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
He just kept going pat all the way down. I
was like, got it. At least we got paid. I guess.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
Let's get his address. Let's send him some stuff we
need him. Those are the most important reactions you have
all week. All Right, you are out of here. You
will be in Lexington, I will be in Nashville. Come
to Nashville every now and then, come to a Vandy
game every now and then. Don't be scared.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
They're a little two for our crew this year. But yeah,
we'll try.

Speaker 1 (01:03:02):
What a world and once we live all right, col Kublic,
he's off. Have a good night. That's him, that is us.
We're done. Remember huge weekend, and by that, of course,
I mean softball championships tomorrow night. So we got to
figure out what time we're doing Friday night lines. Now,
classic conundrum here. I could do it before, and we
could do it at five thirty in the afternoon. I

(01:03:22):
could do it later because technically I should be done
by nine thirty. But if we win the championship, don't
we want to be celebrating. You know, I'll be in
no state to do Friday night lines. So again, like
I told you, classic conundrum. So check the socials tomorrow
at Josh Pate CFB. I'll let you know what we're
gonna do. I know we'll be at Vandy Saturday, and

(01:03:44):
I know we'll be back here Sunday night to talk
about it all again. I appreciate all of you who
have subscribed to the few of you remaining, like fifty
percent of our audience has not subscribed, No joke, that's
a real stat. You keep watching. Thank you. Make sure
you subscribe to the channel. It's free, it doesn't sign
you up for anything, it doesn't hurt you, it only
helps us. Thank you guys so much. For producer Jesse,
for director Bradley, I'm Josh Pate. Take care, enjoy the games.

(01:04:06):
We'll see you Sunday night. Until then, God Bless.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
Must be twenty one plus and present in select states
for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or eighteen
plus and present in DC. First online real money wager
only five dollars first deposit required. Bonus issued as non
withdrawable bonus bets which expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions
apply see terms at sportsbook dot FanDuel dot com. Gambling
problem call one eight hundred gambler, or visit FanDuel dot

(01:04:47):
com slash RG call one eight eight eight seven eight
nine seventy seven seventy seven, or visit CCPG dot org
slash chat in Connecticut, or visit nd Gamblinghelp dot org
in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helplinema dot com
org or call eight hundred three two seven fifty fifty
for twenty four seven support in Massachusetts, or call one
eight seven seven eight Hope, n y. Or text hope

(01:05:08):
and Why in New York