CFB Schedule Draft | CFP Expansion Blowback | Bold Prediction Season | Big Ten Coaching Grades

0:08 research fresh off the printer.

0:11 The paper is still hot.

0:12 Do you guys realize on this Mother's Day, happy Mother's Day to everyone?

0:16 We are after all merely sons and daughters of mothers, as Meim used to say.

0:20 Do you guys realize that the American consumer spent$

0:25 38 billion on Mother's Day related activities this year?

0:30 And given the logic that's been thrown

0:31 around in this sport lately, Jesse, I ask,

0:33 if we're making 38 billion on one Mother's Day,

0:38 why not expand to three or four Mother's Days?

0:42 It is, after all, a simple game of revenue, right?

0:44 We can we can increase the amount

0:46 of something and never decrease the value of it.

0:49 That's how it works, right?

0:50 Ah, welcome to this college football show on this Sunday,

0:52 May 10th, the year of our Lord 2026.

0:55 We are jam-packed.

0:56 We are high at top a sparkling downtown Nashville, Tennessee.

1:00 You know, you may think I'm going to lead off with playoff talk tonight.

1:04 I am not.

1:04 We're going to bury it deep in this packet of papers,

1:07 but oh, I do have much more to say,

1:10 and I do think a very important week is upon us in college football,

1:13 and I will drop some Easter eggs as only I can do in the show tonight.

1:17 But no, friends, we're going to lead off tonight

1:19 with something that we do around this time every year.

1:22 And boy, it led to much wailing and nashing of teeth

1:26 out in I guess what we would call the newsroom earlier today.

1:30 The schedule draft is here tonight.

1:33 This is not merely the biggest games of the year.

1:35 No, there's a lot of molten hot lava flowing as strategy in our process.

1:41 So, we'll talk about it.

1:42 We'll talk about bold predictions.

1:43 We'll talk about a lot of different things on the show tonight.

1:47 that you would normally think would constitute

1:50 a laidback show in the middle of May.

1:52 Not around here.

1:53 We're jam-packed.

1:53 They're watching us in Plant City, Florida.

1:55 Sunset, Texas, Jeffersonville, Indiana, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

2:00 Subscribe to the channel if you have not already.

2:03 It is free.

2:04 Thank you so much.

2:05 We are out of here really as soon as the show ends tonight.

2:08 We're out of here to hit back-to-back

2:11 speaker series appearances over the next 48 hours.

2:16 Going to be some big ones, Jesse.

2:18 Immunity to all of it, but going to be some big ones.

2:20 Look forward to it.

2:21 Had Kirby and Dabau last week.

2:23 Whomst amongst us knows who we could have this week.

2:25 Here we go.

2:26 Let's lock in.

2:29 We like to do the schedule draft every year.

2:31 Not merely what are the biggest games of the year.

2:34 We could do that five times between now and August.

2:36 What we like to do is we like to take all the biggest games from every

2:39 week of the college football season and we

2:41 like to basically create our fantasy tour.

2:45 And here is the only rule that we put

2:47 in to make it a little bit more of a fair fight.

2:50 You can only see a team once in a season.

2:56 Those are the rules we're putting together.

2:58 Our dream tour with the caveat that we can only see a team once per season.

3:04 So, there's a lot of strategy all

3:06 of a sudden that becomes involved once we realize,

3:09 hey, Oregon got five big games.

3:12 Ohio State plays like a big game every week this year.

3:14 Georgia Bama got a bunch of big games, but we can only see them in person once.

3:19 So, how do we formulate this thing?

3:21 Now, I want to tell you as we kick it off,

3:24 my strategy is not just look at week one and two and three

3:29 and so forth and then just see who's left at the end.

3:32 To me, what you got to do is you got to pick a few games and say,

3:36 "These are non-negotiables.

3:37 I gotta see these per year." So, that's what I chose to do.

3:40 Jesse, what did we pick like four games that I just value and I got

3:45 to see and then I'm going to make the rest of the schedule work around them.

3:48 Okay.

3:48 So, these are the games that I went with.

3:50 I took Oregon and USC in week four.

3:54 I think it's a massive,

3:55 massive game for Lincoln Riley and USC to announce to the world one

4:00 way or the other whether they're going to be a serious player this year.

4:02 And that's a huge West Coast game.

4:04 I took Georgia in week six.

4:07 That's been a game of the year candidate multiple times.

4:10 Recently, it's an SEC championship game rematch.

4:12 I got Ohio State at Indiana.

4:14 That's a Big 10 title game rematch.

4:15 That's week seven.

4:17 And then Miami at Notre Dame on one

4:19 of the most loaded Saturdays in recent memory in week 10.

4:22 I'm circling Miami, Notre Dame.

4:24 I've got to see those in person.

4:27 And because of what that does to the strategy,

4:32 you can see the piece of paper in front of me.

4:33 If you're listening on podcast, it just it looks like I don't know.

4:37 It looks like a clue in National Treasure.

4:39 That's really what it looks like.

4:40 Insane.

4:41 So, this is what we have.

4:42 Okay, I'm about to fill in the rest.

4:44 But week four, Oregon, USC.

4:46 Week six, Georgia, Abama.

4:48 Week seven, Ohio State, Indiana.

4:50 And week 10, Miami Notre Dame.

4:53 With that in mind, let's go.

4:55 Week one, I went Clemson LSU.

4:58 So LSU's got some big games this year.

5:01 But if we try and work the entire

5:03 schedule around instead of just worrying about one team,

5:06 I figured I don't want to go to a neutral sight game if I don't have to.

5:09 All right.

5:10 I could go to Baylor and Auburn in Atlanta.

5:12 Uh, I could go to Louisville,

5:14 Old Miss, and Nashville, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame,

5:17 play in Green Bay, but I don't like neutral sight games if I can avoid them.

5:21 Red River shootout notwithstanding, known by no other name on this show.

5:24 So, I am going to Baton Rouge.

5:27 It's going to be like 114 degrees, but I'm going to Baton Rouge.

5:30 I got to make sure that I see Clemson, not later in the year.

5:35 Things could or could not be off the rails later in the year, but no,

5:39 Clemson is full of the biggest chip on your shoulder attitude in the world.

5:43 They could have week one, and I get to see Tigers at Tigers.

5:46 So, I'm going Clemson LSU week one.

5:49 I cannot burn Notre Dame just yet because

5:51 I'm seeing them against Miami later in the year.

5:54 All right, week two.

5:55 Couple of huge, huge out of conference games here.

5:58 This is the day Ohio State goes to Texas.

6:01 This is the day that Oklahoma goes to Michigan.

6:04 Now, I already told you I am seeing Ohio

6:08 State on the road against Indiana later in the year.

6:11 So, that takes Ohio State Texas out of the equation,

6:14 which I'm okay with because I got one that if you don't think it's just as big,

6:19 it's still very, very much in the ballpark of comparable.

6:22 And that's Oklahoma at Michigan.

6:23 I was at that game last year in Norman.

6:26 I am going to choose that game, at least for our fantasy schedule draft here.

6:30 uh changes could happen,

6:32 but I'm going to take Oklahoma at Michigan and I'm going to save

6:35 Texas and I'm going to save Ohio State for later in the year.

6:39 That date, by the way, took a ton of debate.

6:42 Like when you look at my piece of paper

6:43 here and I got multiple squigglies all over it.

6:46 Week two, I think we scratched it out like three times.

6:49 Week three was also tough because at the outset,

6:54 I had a fifth non-negotiable game.

6:57 LSU Miss was also one of my non-negotiable games.

7:00 But the more we looked at it and the more we tried to work

7:03 it out where we had legitimate games

7:05 every week while only seeing each team once,

7:08 I realized I need to do LSU Clemson in week

7:11 one and I need to scratch off LSU Miss.

7:14 Painful though that may be in week three because I think I

7:18 have a Big 12 game of the year candidate in week three.

7:21 We are very high on Houston here.

7:24 It was really hard to find another Texas Tech game

7:27 that warranted being considered for our fantasy tour stop for that week,

7:33 but this is the week we can do it.

7:35 Houston at Texas Tech.

7:38 This is in the middle of like Florida at Auburn.

7:41 Uh FSU Bama, we probably weren't going to pick that one.

7:43 Like I said, LSU Miss was the other really big one.

7:46 That's going to be the marquee game that day.

7:48 We're not going to choose that one.

7:49 We're going to choose Houston at Texas Tech and and just

7:53 pray that we get a really really good game there.

7:55 Week four, that's the date we chose for Oregon at USC.

8:02 This is one of my non-negotiable dates.

8:04 And there are some big ones this date.

8:06 Texas goes to Tennessee.

8:08 Oklahoma goes to Georgia.

8:10 Miss goes to Florida.

8:11 Texas&M goes to LSU.

8:12 Look at that Saturday in the SEC.

8:15 Those are four heavyweight matchups and we're going to none of them.

8:19 Big SEC show here.

8:20 Big SEC show.

8:22 No, we chose Oregon, USC, and we're leaving LSU because we already took them.

8:28 But we're leaving Oklahoma, Georgia because we already took Oklahoma,

8:31 so we can't choose Oklahoma, Georgia.

8:34 Um, that one was really, really hard.

8:36 And believe it or not, that's not even the most loaded Saturday of the year.

8:40 So, to get you caught up so far, week one, Clemson at LSU.

8:44 Week two, Oklahoma at Michigan.

8:46 Week three, Houston at Texas Tech.

8:49 All eyes on you, Willie Fritz.

8:51 And to a certain extent, Joey Magcguire.

8:53 Week four, Oregon at USC.

8:56 All right, where are we going?

8:57 Week five.

8:58 This is where it gets a little weird and you've got to be strategic about this.

9:02 So, Jesse, I know later we're going to put

9:04 a graphic out on social and people are going to see schedule draft on it and PR

9:10 is going to put in much smaller letters.

9:13 can only see each team once.

9:15 Now, knowing the internet like I do,

9:18 the internet will not see the small letters.

9:20 So, they will see that I have selected Florida at Missouri in week five.

9:25 And you know, all the hateful things they're going to say about me.

9:28 Never mind the fact that we didn't go to any of those SEC games in week four.

9:32 We're going to have homer claims thrown our way.

9:35 Why aren't you going to, for instance, Miami Clemson?

9:39 Well, because we already took Clemson

9:41 and Clemson could get body bagged that day.

9:43 Could happen.

9:44 Uh Ohio State at Iowa.

9:46 Ohio 16 may be enough to win for Ohio State that day.

9:51 Uh Washington USC, you could sell me on it except that I've already burned USC.

9:57 Vanderbilt, Georgia is not going to be one.

9:59 I'm not taking Vandy, Georgia over Georgia, Alabama.

10:02 That's my Georgia bullet I'm going to use later.

10:05 Auburn at Tennessee is okay, but we've already assigned Tennessee elsewhere.

10:11 So, we are actually going with Florida at Missouri.

10:15 Now, it's early enough in the year where

10:17 if either of their seasons come off the rails, it probably hasn't happened yet.

10:22 Uh Missouri, Florida, both probably fringe top 25 teams,

10:27 if not just inside the top 25.

10:29 But more importantly, I'm saving Miami,

10:31 I'm saving Georgia, and I'm saving Ohio State here.

10:33 So, I'm not burning any of those.

10:35 Week six is a big one.

10:38 Week six is Georgia at Alabama.

10:40 We've already fixed that one.

10:42 Now, as much as I say we already

10:44 fixed that, it did not come without significant debate.

10:47 Week six, let's see, Jesse, we marked it out four different times.

10:52 So, we had four different games filled it.

10:54 Look at this disaster of a notepad.

10:57 Week six, at one point we were going Red River Shootout.

11:01 I believe we had the white out potentially USC Penn State.

11:05 We were going to go there and then we kept moving things around.

11:08 It was like, well, if we use this game in week seven,

11:11 well then we got to mark out week five.

11:12 And if we mark that out in week five, we got to mark out week six.

11:15 I challenge you guys if you're listening to this and you think it's easy.

11:19 It's not.

11:20 So, we're taking Georgia.

11:21 That's a marquee game.

11:22 That's a game of the year.

11:24 SEC championship game rematch.

11:26 But yeah, we got to miss U Texas or Texas OU that day.

11:29 It depends on who I'm talking to.

11:31 You get scolded depending on which team you say first.

11:34 USC Penn State.

11:36 Jesse, what time you think that game kicks off?

11:38 Are they throwing you noon?

11:40 Is Joel Clatt going to let you play prime time game

11:42 or is he going to make you kick off at noon?

11:44 He's probably going to make you kick off at noon.

11:45 Joel Clatt hates you.

11:46 He hates you.

11:47 He hates you, Jesse.

11:48 All right.

11:49 Georgia, Alabama, week six.

11:51 Let's take a look.

11:52 Let's just get up to date.

11:53 So, Clemson, LSU, U Michigan, Houston,

11:57 Texas Tech, Oregon USC, Florida, Missouri.

12:00 Understand the game here.

12:02 People understand the game.

12:03 And then we just filled in Georgia at Bama week six.

12:06 And of course, we're doing Ohio State Indiana week seven.

12:10 So, that's a Big 10 championship game rematch here in week seven.

12:14 That was one of the non-negotiables I chose.

12:16 Uh week seven, we could have gone Florida, Texas.

12:20 I'm telling you, man,

12:21 if I didn't circle Miami versus Notre Dame later in the year,

12:26 Notre Dame at Brigham Young would have been a great opportunity here.

12:29 Great opportunity.

12:30 It's one of the biggest games, biggest home games in Brigham Young history.

12:35 Uh third Saturday in October, Bama, Tennessee is this day.

12:40 We actually had that one for a little while until I realized,

12:42 no, man, we got to be at Ohio State Indiana.

12:45 This has got to be the biggest home game in Indiana history.

12:48 There are two teams on this slide.

12:49 Brigham Young and Indiana.

12:51 Like depending on how the seasons shake out to this point,

12:55 you could be talking about a couple of biggest

12:58 games on home campus in history type vibes.

13:02 So week seven, I'm going Ohio State Indiana.

13:04 Week eight, uh, this is so crazy.

13:07 So I'm choosing Old Miss at Texas in week eight.

13:13 I wrote down this is a random top 15 matchup.

13:18 Most of the time, no top 15 matchup is random,

13:21 but when you just throw it in the midst of that SEC schedule matrix this year,

13:26 where Texas has other bigger games that stand out, even Old Miss,

13:30 like that LSU game stands out even above and beyond the Texas game.

13:35 But because of the way we had to strategically place things elsewhere,

13:39 we ended up going with Old Miss, Texas here.

13:42 Texas A&M Alabama got serious consideration.

13:45 For a long time it was going to be Houston Utah,

13:47 but then we switched things up where we could do Houston,

13:50 Texas Tech in week three.

13:52 Indiana's at Michigan this day.

13:54 The game you're trying to play there is

13:56 I know Ohio State will be viable wire towire.

14:00 Or at least I think I know that.

14:02 I hope Michigan will be, but maybe if Michigan's lost a couple of games here,

14:07 Indiana coming to town loses its luster a little bit.

14:10 So, you know, we're just kind of we're trying to play the percentages here.

14:13 Old Miss at Texas in week eight.

14:16 Week nine, I would say what we did for the Florida

14:22 Missouri game earlier in the year in the SEC.

14:24 This is where we have to turn the other side of that coin and do it

14:27 in the Big 10 because we can't burn some

14:31 of these bullets or because we already have burned them.

14:34 Like we can't go to Ohio State USC this day.

14:37 We can't do Florida, Georgia, uh Clemson, Florida State.

14:41 We've designated Clemson already in week one.

14:43 So that's off the board.

14:45 We can't do Auburn Old Miss.

14:46 I'll tell you what we have to do.

14:48 Or do we get to do it?

14:50 Washington at Nebraska is not even on the graphic here.

14:54 But Washington at Nebraska,

14:56 it's one of those games where two solid Big 10 programs,

15:00 you hope the rule rule, which was supposed to kick in last year.

15:04 For our sake, it just kicks in one year later.

15:06 You hope Jed Fish, you hope De Man Williams,

15:09 you hope they can play well, period.

15:10 but much less away from home and um just kind

15:14 of trying to bank on a sneaky good matchup there.

15:17 Washington at Nebraska, which brings us up to date here.

15:21 And we're really really getting in the weeds where, you know,

15:24 this is where a lot of squiggly marks are on the piece of paper

15:28 because we were trying to make sure we had marquee games down the stretch,

15:32 but we also didn't do it at the expense of having

15:34 to just have layup selections in the early part of the season.

15:38 Okay, so week 10, that one was pretty obvious.

15:42 Like Jesse, I think anybody who does one of these, if you use my strategy,

15:46 if you go, I got a few games I got to be at.

15:49 Miami Notre Dame is probably one of those.

15:51 Here's the shame of it all.

15:54 College football's schedule is like a piece of toast

15:58 that has random chunks of peanut butter on it or jelly.

16:02 Choose your condiment.

16:03 But it's not spread out.

16:05 There's just massive chunks here and a complete open spot over there.

16:10 Well, week 10 is a chunk of peanut butter type week in college football.

16:15 We've got Alabama at LSU, Georgia at Old Miss, Brigham Young Utah.

16:20 The Big 12 doesn't want us to say holy war, so the holy war is that day.

16:24 Miami's at Notre Dame, and Oregon's at Ohio State.

16:28 That is all on the same Saturday.

16:32 We are going, we are selecting rather Miami at Notre Dame.

16:37 But it, it brings me no joy to understand that we'll

16:40 be missing all of these games in exchange for being there.

16:44 What I'm trying to say is Mario and Marcus Freeman better not let me down.

16:48 I need double overtime minimum minimum in that game.

16:52 Week 11, we have to ask who have we not used?

16:57 We can't do USC at Indiana.

17:00 We can't do Michigan at Oregon.

17:01 Texas at LSU is out.

17:04 Miss Oklahoma's out,

17:06 but we have not used Tennessee and we have not used Texas A&M.

17:09 And this is where we are choosing to use those two.

17:12 Tennessee at Texas A&M.

17:14 It's it's just another one of those random really good games in the SEC.

17:18 It's not a traditional rivalry or anything like that, but I

17:22 think that's a really really solid week 11 selection.

17:25 Now we get to week 12, Jesse.

17:27 Week 12.

17:28 much constrination on this one.

17:30 It's a card saver week is what it is.

17:33 And in this case, we had to use these cards elsewhere.

17:38 And you'll notice there's not a ton of marquee marquee matchups.

17:41 SMU Notre Dame's on here, but we use Notre Dame already.

17:45 Oklahoma would be a really good one,

17:47 but we've already used both of them, just like LSU at Tennessee.

17:51 We actually went with Iowa.

17:54 These are two teams with win totals in the like

17:56 seven and a half range over at FanDuel.

17:59 Very solid Big 10 programs.

18:01 It's another one of those where we we've got to kind of let

18:05 our foot off the gas a little bit from a marquee standpoint,

18:08 but that doesn't mean we couldn't get a classic game.

18:13 Probably going to be a low-scoring affair.

18:15 Probably going to be a one-possession type deal.

18:18 And we just hope that we see a really good game there.

18:20 And then we go to rivalry week.

18:21 Let's just take a look at where we are.

18:23 So far, uh, rivalry week, I chose to explore.

18:29 You know, rivalry week, you automatically think, oh,

18:31 you get to go to Ohio State, Michigan.

18:33 I don't.

18:33 I already used both of them.

18:35 Well, you got Washington, Oregon that day, right?

18:37 Well, yeah, but I use both of them.

18:38 Egg Bowl already used Old Miss.

18:41 Ironbull already used Alabama.

18:44 Uh, Texas and Texas A&M are both off the board.

18:48 I'm I'm gonna go to a game I've never been to, Jesse.

18:51 I'm going to go to a venue that I've never been to, at least for a game.

18:56 Virginia, Virginia Tech in rivalry weeks.

18:59 A little bit off the radar,

19:01 but when you consider the strategy that was necessary here,

19:04 this is the best we could do.

19:06 Now, this is it in totality.

19:07 And if you're listening on podcast, here's what we accomplished.

19:10 It took like an hour, but here's what we accomplished.

19:15 We are going to see the entire what?

19:20 top 18, Jesse, the top 18 teams in the college football playoff odds,

19:26 we will see all of them.

19:27 Now, you may think to yourself, well, of course you will.

19:30 You'd be surprised how many iterations of this we

19:33 went through where you look at it and say,

19:35 wait a second, Texas isn't on here or like, wait a second, LSU is not on here.

19:40 It gets it gets tough.

19:41 You may want to take a five minute break for your eyes

19:45 and your mind because it is a lot more difficult than it looks.

19:49 But if you think this looks stupid, that's okay.

19:51 Show me yours and make sure I got to be careful here.

19:54 Make sure yours is better than mine.

19:57 I showed you mine.

19:58 You show me yours.

19:59 Yours better be better than mine before you hate on mine.

20:02 Whomst amongst us hasn't been there before.

20:05 Let's move on.

20:06 A lot of people watching.

20:08 I don't know how we'll get feedback on that, Jesse.

20:10 I think people are going to have to take

20:12 pictures of their submission and just send it

20:15 to us because the comment section could be

20:17 an utter disaster if people try and type that.

20:20 I know mine is and I wrote it by hand.

20:23 Appreciate you guys joining us live by the way.

20:24 I see a lot of you rolling in over there.

20:26 Okay, college football playoff talk.

20:30 Been a lot of it over the past 72 hours, 96 hours now.

20:34 I have never seen a major proposal in college football this unpopular.

20:40 I'm not sure the powers that be understand exactly how unpopular this is.

20:46 This is not a 3070 issue.

20:48 This is like a 1090 issue for versus against.

20:52 And for once in my life, there is a college football playoff related topic

20:58 that I get to hang out in the majority on.

21:01 It feels great.

21:02 This must be how expansionists feel all

21:04 the time up until recently because now recently

21:08 a lot of former expansionists have seen

21:10 the light and they've come over to our side, Jesse, which makes you wonder,

21:13 did they come over to the dark side or did they leave the dark side or do we not

21:18 even need to use that terminology because we're all friends

21:21 now and we're just going to forget about the past.

21:23 The feedback I got from the Thursday show where we

21:28 spent 37 minutes off the top of the show just trying

21:32 to bat down every bad faith college football playoff expansion argument

21:36 there is has been unlike anything I've seen in the past year.

21:40 The last time we got this much feedback on a topic

21:44 on this show was when Nico Amalyava left Tennessee.

21:48 Uh because a lot of Tennessee fans weighed

21:50 in, but a lot of people outside of the Tennessee

21:53 fan base weighed in because they viewed it

21:55 as an issue that was bigger than just Tennessee.

21:57 And yeah, it was.

21:59 Uh but not since Nico bailed out on Tennessee

22:02 have I gotten this much feedback on a single topic.

22:05 And I'd say 80% of it has been in support of.

22:09 But that just means one out of every five is still a dissenting voice.

22:14 So I want to talk cuz there are some things even in those 37

22:17 minutes the other night that we didn't really fully close the loop on.

22:21 So I just want to encourage everyone.

22:23 It's almost like a little coaching session here since most of you

22:28 hold the same opinion I do here and that is that expanding

22:31 to 24 teams is one of the stupider ideas that you've ever

22:34 heard in your life and it would not ruin the regular season entirely.

22:39 It would greatly damage the regular season.

22:41 Most of you like me think the regular season in college football is unique.

22:45 It's one of one and it's the most valuable commodity college football has.

22:49 Not everyone feels that way.

22:51 Some of you have voiced your opinion that you

22:55 view the playoff as greater than the regular season.

22:58 Just means you and I don't view the sport the same.

23:00 That's fine.

23:01 And that's basically the end of that.

23:02 And we probably will not agree on this because of that.

23:07 Uh but for the rest of you, yeah, I just want to make sure that we understand

23:14 you got to stay on the main road here.

23:16 You're going to have a lot of debate over this.

23:18 You're going to debate your buddies over this.

23:19 You're going to hear a lot of debate on this.

23:21 Some of you may even get microphones thrown in your face at some point.

23:24 Who knows, Jesse?

23:25 We may have a town hall event.

23:27 Andy Staples, Andy And the other day trying to um trying to coordinate

23:32 what what it would essentially be like live aid but just for college football.

23:37 Yeah.

23:38 Farm Aid, but for college football.

23:40 Uh it would be a we are the world moment, but for college football.

23:43 And instead of worldclass singers, it would just be podcasters,

23:47 but for the greater good of college football, of course.

23:50 And then, you know, you got to come up with a charity.

23:52 And look, I mean, I don't think we're going

23:55 to be able to significantly fight AIDS with this movement,

23:58 but we could save Arkansas's men's tennis team.

24:00 We could do something.

24:01 We have some kind of worthwhile charity.

24:04 So, anyway, stay on the main road, as I just got off of mine.

24:09 Stay on the main road.

24:10 I brought this up the other day and I'm going to bring it up once more.

24:14 I have heard a lot of people saying, "Oh,

24:17 we should not expand to 24 teams because there aren't 24

24:21 teams capable of winning a national title any given year." And listen,

24:26 you're you're right.

24:27 Of course, you're right.

24:28 I agree with you.

24:29 You're right.

24:30 That's not the logic here.

24:32 That's not the point.

24:34 Because I would counter with this.

24:36 What if there are 24 teams who are capable of winning it?

24:39 What if there are 40 teams capable of winning it?

24:42 Now, of course, we know that would never really be true,

24:44 but just walk it through with me.

24:46 That's not the logic here.

24:47 That's not the point.

24:49 The point is in expanding to a number like 24,

24:52 you detrimentally affect the regular season.

24:55 You see, people like us look at someone who is a pretty good team, Texas.

25:01 Last year, Texas lost three regular season games.

25:05 Texas was like 15th or 16th or something like that at the end of the year.

25:10 You could sell me that if Texas made it into the playoff,

25:13 theoretically, they could have made a run.

25:15 They could have won it all.

25:16 I don't care.

25:18 I don't care.

25:19 They just went through a playoff three months long.

25:22 It was called the regular season.

25:25 That was the test for Texas.

25:27 They failed it last year.

25:29 Vanderbilt failed it last year.

25:31 The year before, Bama failed it.

25:34 Old Miss failed it.

25:35 South Carolina failed it last year.

25:37 Notre Dame failed it.

25:38 You don't think Notre Dame could have made a run if they got in?

25:41 Of course they could.

25:41 They could have won the whole thing if they got in.

25:44 That is not an indication to me that the playoff is not big enough.

25:49 That's an indication to me the playoff is just

25:51 the right size to let in teams who are minorly flawed.

25:57 Not many undefeated records in that playoff last year.

26:00 So, don't be selling me on the current status

26:02 of the playoff is lose a game and you're done.

26:05 No, it's not.

26:06 The current status of the playoff is it's big

26:09 enough for you to slip up a little bit,

26:11 but it's not big enough for you to slip up infinite amounts of times.

26:14 You can't be losing a quarter of your games to a third

26:16 of your games and still having that safety net under you.

26:19 So, I don't really care how many teams could win it.

26:23 How many teams in this balance we've struck of 12 teams right now?

26:28 How many teams are good enough to win it that earned their way in?

26:30 That's really all I care about.

26:32 Uh you will also of course hear a lot of people when you present that that say,

26:38 "Well, every other sport has a bigger playoff." Don't care.

26:41 Don't care.

26:42 I don't really even entertain that cuz college football is one of one to me.

26:46 All due respect to any other sport out there, there is no other sport like this.

26:51 So you cannot compare the template or the blueprint of any other sport out there

26:56 to this sport because there are varying

26:59 degrees of major difference between this and that.

27:01 Uh bull fallacy I did not address the other night.

27:04 So I got to address it right now.

27:06 The bull fallacy is going to be thrown around from expansionists

27:11 desperate to find a solid piece of logic to cling to.

27:16 And that solid piece of logic they think they have found

27:18 to cling to is stop me if you've heard this recently.

27:22 Well, I'd rather see college football playoff games than meaningless bowl games.

27:26 Have haven't you heard that?

27:28 I mean, come on now.

27:29 Bowl season's been rendered totally irrelevant.

27:32 At least if we're going to have a bunch of games in December,

27:35 let's make them playoff games instead of meaningless bowl games.

27:39 Longtime viewers will understand the smirk on my face when I

27:44 even mention that because longtime viewers of and listeners to the program

27:50 will remember when expansion was first floated and I put

27:55 a scenario out there and I said here's what's about to happen.

28:01 They are going to expand the playoff but it's not going to stop.

28:04 I hoped they go to eight, but they went to 12.

28:06 But whatever it was, I fought hard against it because I said it's

28:10 not going to stop there because what's going to happen

28:12 is the last remaining value in bowl season is going

28:16 to be sucked out because playoff access is the currency.

28:19 It's the oxygen in the sport now.

28:21 And if you don't make a playoff game,

28:23 well then all of your players are just going to opt out of the bowl games.

28:26 And right on Q, teams that didn't make

28:30 the playoff saw their players opt out of bowl games.

28:34 That is a mess created by playoff expansion.

28:38 And so what was the recourse going to be?

28:40 Well, it it's certainly not to go back in time.

28:42 We can't do that, Jesse.

28:43 That's that's a lack of progress.

28:45 That's going backwards on progress.

28:46 We can't go back in time.

28:47 So instead, what will the answer be?

28:50 The answer from the expansionist crowd will be just expand it further.

28:55 Man, now that bowl games are irrelevant, let's just expand it further.

28:58 Expansion created the mess of meaningless bowl games.

29:02 Here's how you don't clean up a mess.

29:05 By expanding more of what created the mess.

29:08 And also, if I may be so bold, because I did call this a few years ago,

29:14 so maybe I've got a little equity built up here.

29:17 If I may be so bold,

29:19 for those of you who do think that bowl games are meaningless,

29:22 I have yet to see the law where you're forced to watch them, by the way.

29:25 But for those of you who do think bowl games are meaningless

29:29 and expanding the college football playoff

29:32 will replace meaningless games with meaningful games.

29:35 Just a nice little one toone tradeoff.

29:38 Could I ask you does that rid of rid us of meaningless games?

29:44 Does expanding the playoff to get rid of meaningless

29:46 bowl games and exchanging them for meaningful playoff games,

29:49 does that mean we don't have meaningless games anymore?

29:52 Are you sure about that?

29:55 Or could it be much as is currently the case

29:59 even in the National Football League that we get towards

30:02 the end of the year with a glob of teams

30:05 that know their guaranteed playoff access probably by early November,

30:09 but especially the second third weeks of November.

30:12 And what happens if I'm just going to play

30:14 my quarterback for the first half of this game,

30:17 Jesse, or early early second half?

30:20 I mean, I I know I've kind of got my range of spot in the playoff locked up.

30:25 I'm pulling starters.

30:28 What does that do to the integrity of those games?

30:30 But here's the problem.

30:31 Now, I'm no longer talking about postseason games.

30:34 I'm talking about regular season games.

30:37 No one ever really walks this through to its illogical

30:40 conclusion because no one thinks that can happen in college football.

30:45 You've just fooled yourself into thinking, "Oh,

30:48 that's yeah, that's a pro sports problem." You, you know, the very onetoone,

30:52 the apples to apples comparison they always want you to make.

30:54 Well, the NFL does it.

30:55 Well, the NBA does it.

30:56 Why can't college football do it?

30:57 Well, okay, let's ask ourselves,

31:00 are there any negative ramifications from a playoff

31:03 field that big in the National Football League?

31:05 I watch it every single what is it, week 16, week 17?

31:08 I watch it all the time.

31:10 I watch it because we're in here doing work on our Sunday

31:13 show and I'm looking at updates on ESPN countdown to kickoff

31:17 and it's who will start and who will rest today and you're

31:20 telling me that we're just immune from that in college football.

31:24 Yeah, we're all we're doing when we

31:25 expand is we're getting rid of meaningless games.

31:28 We're never just reassigning meaninglessness to other games.

31:32 It's a fallacy just like most of the arguments that expansionists make.

31:37 And I would encourage you because I've been

31:39 doing this all weekend and I'm still batting

31:41 a thousand because any idiot can do it

31:43 once you understand the totality of the situation.

31:46 If someone wants to argue that the 2014 playoff benefits college football,

31:52 make them defend their point with what is sure to be flawed logic.

31:57 Now, I got a lot of people who I respect.

31:59 I got a lot of buddies.

32:01 Not a lot.

32:01 I got a few.

32:02 I could probably count them on a couple of hands,

32:04 but I got a few buddies, a few hold outs who are still pushing this nonsense.

32:09 And to them, I ask this, are you telling me

32:13 that expanding to 24 teams is a net positive for college football?

32:18 They will say yes.

32:20 I ask them why.

32:22 Uh, their answers are your biggest weapon, so keep asking questions.

32:25 And I ask them why, and they inevitably say, well, it gives more access.

32:30 And more access means what?

32:31 of course.

32:32 Well, it means more playoff implications on more games,

32:35 which means according to these people whose

32:37 only currency is college football playoff ramifications,

32:39 that means there's more meaning on more games later in the season.

32:45 Make sure you have them repeat that because your next

32:49 question is going to be just like mine is.

32:52 So, if you're telling me that expansion

32:54 and a bigger playoff field means more access,

32:59 more meaning on more games, why would we stop at 24 if it's just all positive?

33:07 If the bigger the playoff field,

33:10 the bigger the benefit to college football, why would we stop at 24?

33:15 Why would we stop at 44?

33:17 Why Why would there ever be a limit?

33:20 Why would we not fool Lindsay Lohan this thing?

33:22 Just the limit does not exist.

33:24 Why would we not do that?

33:26 What's the magic number?

33:28 What's Hey, the threshold for me is 12.

33:30 Okay, so I'm giving you my number.

33:33 Don't go past 12.

33:34 Well, once they start to get a little squeamish there,

33:36 he said, "Well, you can't just expand forever." Why not?

33:40 And if you can't, what's the number?

33:43 Is 24 the number?

33:45 Hey, question.

33:48 Why 24?

33:50 Because that's what Tony Patiti told you.

33:52 What if he said 28?

33:54 Would that have been the magic number?

33:55 What if it was 32?

33:57 Did Did you come up with 24 on your own?

34:00 No.

34:00 And the biggest lie of all,

34:02 and this is probably something I'm going to have to wait

34:05 and talk a lot more about once the cards are on the table.

34:10 I've talked for a while on this show about what

34:13 I think really is the biggest lie in all of this.

34:15 And the biggest lie in all of this is that we have

34:19 to expand the playoff even if some of us don't like it.

34:22 Because that's the only way we can get the revenue

34:24 we need for life to continue on as we know it.

34:27 Not just for college football, but for non-revenue generating sports.

34:31 And I have sat here and told you and I'll tell you once more that is a lie.

34:36 That is garbage.

34:39 It is one way to increase revenue that you need.

34:43 It's not the way, nor is it even the best way,

34:47 but it's certainly not the only way to increase revenue.

34:50 It's just that the alternatives in the aggregate

34:53 make certain power brokers in the sport relinquish a little bit of a percentage

34:58 of that control that they currently have,

35:01 even if it means more money in their pockets at the end of the day.

35:05 Crazy times, I know, but this is not lollipop and unicorn land.

35:11 This is not five years down the road stuff.

35:14 This is uh days down the road stuff.

35:17 So I think the picture on other options

35:21 for increasing the revenue necessary to run this sport

35:24 and other sports properly may come a little more

35:26 into focus in the next couple of weeks even.

35:30 Let's all hope.

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36:02 Mother's Day gift and still could uh but you know, Father's Day is coming up.

36:07 So, so if you missed today, uh just look,

36:11 I'll I'll pretend like it's a shipping issue

36:14 on our end and you ordered it in time,

36:16 but you can get way ahead on Father's Day.

36:18 Let's move along.

36:20 Uh we still got some stuff to get to and we

36:22 uh we have travel to get to tonight as well.

36:25 It's time to just lick our index finger, put it in the air,

36:30 and find out how good these coaches in the Big 10 have been doing.

36:33 Looks like they've been doing pretty good,

36:35 but what we're trying to do is gauge the fan base.

36:38 What would the job approval rating be on these head coaches?

36:41 Ryan Dave's pretty easy.

36:43 I guess he's pretty easy at Ohio State.

36:45 I got him at an A.

36:47 Uh at Ohio State, it's hard not to be It's hard to be A+ if

36:52 you're not coming off a national championship because

36:55 you're just supposed to win it every year.

36:56 So Ryan Day could only be A+ if he just won the national title.

37:01 He is merely an A right now because

37:03 they did lose their last two games last year.

37:06 Now, the year before they did win the national title.

37:08 Also, last year they erased the streak against Michigan.

37:12 So, I would put him at an A.

37:14 It's the It's a model program, maybe the model program in college football.

37:19 They've won a title and beat Michigan in the last

37:21 two seasons is the best way to state that.

37:24 They have never under him finished

37:28 outside the college football playoff top seven.

37:31 I don't need to defend Ryan Day.

37:33 There was like a brief fiveminute period in time where I had to defend

37:37 Ryan Day on here on this show

37:39 and that was postman Michigan game pre-playoff 2024.

37:44 Since then, it's been a lot easier to defend Ryan Day.

37:47 I'm going to give him an A.

37:49 Matt Rule not getting an A.

37:51 Matt Rule not on the honor roll right now.

37:54 Matt Rule, not according to me.

37:56 Remember, we're trying to gauge the Nebraska fan base here.

38:00 What kind of job approval grade would the Nebraska

38:03 fan base put on Matt Rule right now?

38:06 I think they'd give him a C.

38:08 Just a flat C.

38:11 Five and seven, seven and six, seven and six.

38:14 Those are the first three years.

38:15 A lot of us expected an uptick last year.

38:18 I think they expected an uptick last year.

38:21 I know the fan base expected an uptick last year and they didn't get it.

38:25 And the other question you got to ask about Matt

38:27 Rule three years in now is what's the big win?

38:30 What's the one he hangs his hat on?

38:33 Is it the Colorado game when Dion came in there, Jesse?

38:36 I mean, that's the only one that we could really think of.

38:39 You had a shot against Michigan last year.

38:41 We were there.

38:42 Didn't get the job done.

38:43 Got overwhelmed at the line of scrimmage really.

38:45 So, it's it not happening last year.

38:50 I think really burned a lot of equity, but then at the same time,

38:54 remember what happened afterwards,

38:56 the Penn State job came open and Matt Rule's name was in it.

39:00 So, you come off what was viewed as kind of a failure of a season

39:03 and then you have to pay a ton of money to keep him.

39:06 And I just I think it rubs some folks

39:08 the wrong way because like you're you're sitting there having

39:10 to having to just grin and bear it and you're

39:13 having to give him an extension and give him more money,

39:16 which is good if it goes into the proper

39:18 coffers and they've got a bigger NIL war chest,

39:21 which I think he got accomplished,

39:23 but I think it just rubbed people the wrong way.

39:25 I could see it rubbing them the wrong way, rather.

39:27 It's not too late, man.

39:28 Maybe maybe it's just delayed one year and the rule rule kicks in in year four.

39:32 But I'm going to give him a C because

39:33 I think that's what they'd give him for now.

39:35 Brett Bumma over at Illinois.

39:38 Brett Bumma's got to get an A.

39:40 I mean, let's be real.

39:41 This is Illinois football that had done nothing for a minute.

39:44 And at this point, I don't know how you complain.

39:47 What would the complaint about Brett be?

39:48 We were up there for a game last year.

39:50 They went walk-off field storming against USC.

39:54 19 wins the last two years.

39:57 He's been getting it done.

39:58 10 and three, nine and four the last two years.

40:01 A couple of bowl wins over Tennessee and South Carolina.

40:04 So Brett Bumma once upon a time a head coach

40:08 in the SEC has is just gone whack-a-mole on a couple

40:12 of SEC teams and also not that it's necessary

40:16 to have but it's a bonus when you do have it.

40:18 He's kind of got the kind of attitude that you'd you'd

40:21 want your head coach to have if you were at Illinois.

40:24 Doesn't run around bragging about recruiting classes.

40:27 Doesn't brag about how much money they can spend because you're

40:29 really not going to be top tier in either one of those.

40:31 All he's doing is just winning.

40:33 Those are the recruiting rankings they've had.

40:35 70th, 53rd, 40th, 52nd, 45th, 22nd and still doing it, man.

40:43 19 wins over two years.

40:44 So Brett Bum's got to get an A.

40:46 What about Kurt Ference at Iowa, been there a long time, man.

40:51 He's, I think, 71 now.

40:54 I have the Iowa fan base giving Kirk Ference a straight B.

40:59 And I think looking at what's happened to Wisconsin is important here.

41:02 here.

41:02 And I think the Iowa fan base is obviously they're really

41:05 mature in their view of him because he's been there forever.

41:09 But they look at Wisconsin and they understand

41:13 uh how much they should appreciate Kurt Ference,

41:16 even if they don't have to love everything about the state of the program.

41:20 I like if I'm an Iowa fan, of course there are days where I look around and say,

41:26 "Man, I wish we'd take some risk.

41:28 I wish we'd try and push the pedal to the ground

41:30 a little bit more." And on that same day,

41:32 maybe even that same afternoon, I think, you know, Wisconsin tried to do that.

41:36 And look at them now.

41:37 Wisconsin was so set in their DNA and their blueprint

41:40 and their identity and they tried to go and be something.

41:42 It turns out they weren't and Luke Fickle's paying

41:45 the price for it and he's on the hot seat now.

41:46 At least Kurt Ference has not done that to us.

41:49 We've been the model of consistency under him.

41:52 But that model comes with a ceiling.

41:55 And so we're probably not winning a national title with him,

41:58 but we will never be a laughingstock with him.

42:01 And we'll be a lot closer to the former than the latter with him.

42:05 I'm going to give us a B.

42:07 I think that's where they'd be on Kurt Ference.

42:09 Interested to see what Iowa fans say about that one.

42:12 They're watching us in Daphne, Alabama, Rose Hill, Kansas.

42:16 Zenia, Ohio.

42:18 Super outbreak city.

42:20 That's what we call Zenia.

42:21 Remind me to tell you about 1974, Jesse.

42:23 All right, we move on.

42:25 Bold prediction season continues.

42:27 Not mine.

42:28 These are the things that you guys believe.

42:30 And if any of these bold predictions rate 9.5 or higher on the boldness scale,

42:34 as decided by me, you win a chalice of supremacy.

42:39 Let's go.

42:39 First up from Pikipsy, New York,

42:42 no firstear head coach under a new program will even make the playoff this year.

42:47 So, who are we talking about here?

42:49 We're talking about Lane not making the playoff.

42:51 We're talking about Miss.

42:53 We're going to count Pete Golden.

42:55 He's not making the playoff.

42:56 You got Matt Campbell at Penn State.

42:58 Pretty workable schedule.

42:59 Goalish is at Auburn.

43:01 Uh you got Summerall at Florida.

43:03 Kyle Whittingham's not going to make the playoff.

43:05 Morgan Scally at Utah is not going to make the playoff.

43:08 There are 17 power four teams with a new head coach this year.

43:12 All of them have to miss out on the playoff in order for this to hit.

43:16 And Eric Morris at Oklahoma State.

43:17 just because I keep throwing his name in there.

43:20 Not a top eight team odds team, but I'm still throwing him in there.

43:24 Tosh Lup at Cal.

43:25 Will Stein at Kentucky.

43:26 They're not going to make any noise.

43:27 Apparently not.

43:28 James Franklin going to have to wait at least one year to make the playoff.

43:33 I put this at a nine.

43:35 12 teams this year.

43:36 Remember, they haven't bastardized this thing beyond recognition yet.

43:39 So, only 12 teams.

43:41 I cannot believe those words just came out of my mouth.

43:43 Yeah, only 12 teams make it.

43:46 I mean, blink twice and you'll miss the playoff this year.

43:48 That's how small it is.

43:50 I put this at a nine.

43:52 LSU and Old Miss are tough to keep out of there.

43:56 Uh outside of that, I can see it.

43:59 You got to keep LSU Miss and it's a mathematical fact that one

44:01 of them is going to have a big win in week three.

44:04 So, whoever wins that week three game, I need them to lose three games at least,

44:08 I think, to keep them out of the playoff.

44:10 I'll give it a nine.

44:11 Next up, uh, Jordan from Coconut Creek, Florida.

44:16 Darien Mensah wins the Heisman, formerly at Duke, now at Miami.

44:20 I think it's an upgraded quarterback from Miami.

44:23 Unfortunately, I've already bet this, so I'm only going to put an eight on it.

44:28 Producer Jesse allegedly has some of his hard-earned money in on this as well.

44:33 Uh, he has the seventh best odds to win the Heisman.

44:37 He was seventh in the country in pass yards per game last

44:40 year and he's in a better situation now and brought Barcate with him

44:44 and got Malachi Tony down there and got a good ground game

44:48 and what I think will round into a really good offensive line.

44:51 He's in a great system.

44:52 Remember Cam Ward a couple of years ago finished

44:54 second in the country in pass yards per game.

44:57 And Darien Mensah can do that.

44:59 He is a going to be he is a really good player.

45:01 He's going to be a really good player from Miami.

45:03 Look, I'm not going to call him the favorite.

45:06 Arch does exist, but I think Darien Mensah is going to be way up there.

45:10 So, I'm only putting an eight on that.

45:12 The next one is bold.

45:15 We haven't gone above nine and a half yet.

45:16 That's about to change.

45:18 Out of Dallas, Texas comes the following.

45:21 Texas A&M and Texas are both undefeated entering Black Friday.

45:27 So, 11-0 versus 11-0.

45:30 They of course play each other on Black Friday.

45:33 This would be the game of the year in college football.

45:35 If this were to happen, this would probably be number one versus number two.

45:41 If this happened in a rivalry game on a Friday, no less,

45:46 we have Texas playing the number one toughest schedule in the country this year.

45:50 We got year, but if you don't care about our strength of schedule metrics,

45:56 here's another one to hit you with.

45:58 Take the top 18 teams at FanDuel to win the national title.

46:03 Texas will have played seven of them by this point, not counting this game.

46:09 A&M will have played five of them.

46:11 So that is 12 combined games against

46:15 the top 18 playoff odds teams in the country.

46:18 And I'm asking them to go 22 and 0 in that stretch.

46:21 That is not happening.

46:23 That is not happening.

46:24 9.75 on the boldness scale there.

46:27 But if it did happen, oh man, that Where's that game?

46:31 It's at Texas, right Jesse?

46:33 Or no, it's at&m this year, right?

46:34 Oh man, can you imagine?

46:37 Next up, this is going to be debated.

46:40 Our rating on this one's going to be debated.

46:42 Sean from Hu, Texas.

46:44 Notre Dame loses to Brigham Young and Miami to miss the playoff.

46:50 So don't miss what he said there.

46:52 They lose at Brigham Young, they lose to Miami, and they miss the playoff.

46:58 Now, that's not difficult to see.

46:59 Those are Notre Dame's two big games, the SMU game as well.

47:03 But if they lose those games with that schedule,

47:06 I have a hard time seeing him in the playoff.

47:09 Although, it's not impossible.

47:10 You would just have to know like what happened around them.

47:15 Brigham Young is Notre Dame's seventh straight game,

47:19 and it is a tough road game.

47:20 Obviously, there aren't not many road games like going to Provo, Utah.

47:24 So, that is not a gimme for them.

47:27 Everybody keeps talking about this thing like it's a oneame season.

47:30 It's not.

47:31 Going to Brigham Young is going to be a very, very difficult task.

47:35 Even if you had a by-week before you went

47:36 out there and then even if they lose that one,

47:40 which I don't think is a major upset.

47:42 It's an upset, but it's not a major upset.

47:44 Then they got to come home revengeminded

47:47 against a team that ended up costing them

47:50 a playoff spot last year and they got to lose at home to Miami, too.

47:53 It's tough to see both of those happening, but it's not impossible.

47:58 I'm only putting a 9.25 on that.

48:00 Now, allegations will pour in that I'm a Notre Dame hater,

48:04 at which point I feel the need to remind you

48:07 they exited spring as my number one team in the country.

48:10 So, take that somewhere else.

48:13 We don't have lines on those games yet at FanDuel.

48:16 We do have odds to win the national championship.

48:18 Oh, by the way, FDM, FanDuel Mike the other day hit us up as all

48:24 of the 2014 playoff expansion propaganda was in the air and he said,

48:30 "Hey guys, you know how we put out odds to make the playoff?" We're like,

48:34 "Yeah, Mike, it's Friday, man.

48:36 We're busy.

48:37 What do you want?" He we we don't talk to him like that.

48:40 But he said, "Well, I got the traders, fancy name for oddsmakers.

48:44 I got the traders to generate what the odds would

48:48 be to make the playoff if the playoff was 24 teams

48:53 this year." And do you know that there were four

48:57 teams with odds better than minus 1,000 to make the playoff?

49:02 Jesse Notre Dame's odds to make the playoff were minus 3,000 over minus 3,000.

49:09 Pure insanity.

49:10 Now, fortunately, those odds are not available

49:13 at FanDuel right now because this is hypothetical.

49:16 And hopefully, it'll be a moot point and we'll

49:19 never have to actually look at a market like this.

49:21 But just so everyone's aware,

49:23 for all the expanding the playoff doesn't damage the regular season nonsense,

49:28 that team right there, Notre Dame, would enter the season with minus 37

49:32 nearly minus 3,800 odds to make the playoff.

49:37 Four teams, nearly five teams would have minus

49:40 1,000 or better odds to make the playoff.

49:42 Uh, I don't know in what world, how would Notre Dame miss the playoff, Jesse?

49:48 They would lose Miami, Brigham Young, and SMU and still be in, right?

49:53 They would still be in.

49:55 I they I guarantee you they'd still be in because they'd be close games.

49:59 I don't know how Notre Dame would miss the playoff.

50:01 I'm prepared to say it.

50:03 I'm prepared to say the L word.

50:05 Notre Dame would be a lock to make the playoff.

50:07 And I don't ever say that word because even if

50:09 there's like a 1% chance something does or doesn't happen,

50:13 that means I'm not saying lock.

50:15 We could be looking at a 100% chance of Notre Dame to make the playoff.

50:19 Statistically, I know that doesn't track, but in my heart it makes sense.

50:23 So, yeah, there are many things that are currently on the board

50:26 at FanDuel that you can go wager on or look at.

50:29 If you don't bet, then go you can go look at.

50:31 It's very good information gathering.

50:34 Uh, let's roll on and let's conclude with a really

50:37 good question we got that I haven't spent enough time on.

50:42 John from Wheatley, Texas, hit us up and said,

50:44 "Who are the most important coordinator hires you're looking at this cycle,

50:47 like one of those this better work out or else sort of deal?"

50:51 I'm glad you qualified it like that or modified it like that, John,

50:56 cuz that's where my head would go on this.

50:58 I'm looking at situations where a new coordinator

51:01 got brought in and if it doesn't work out,

51:02 then there could be really, really big trouble.

51:05 South Carolina's one of those.

51:06 Kendall Bryles is coming in as the offensive coordinator at South Carolina.

51:11 Now, his three years, his last three years at TCU.

51:15 They never finished outside the top 35 offensively.

51:18 And I want you to keep that number in mind

51:20 because these were South Carolina's offensive numbers last year.

51:23 104th in points per game, 109th in total yards per game,

51:28 67th in pass yards per game.

51:30 That's with Lenor Sers as your quarterback.

51:33 They were 119 in rush yards per game.

51:37 They were 97th in explosive plays.

51:40 They were 131st in sacks allowed per game.

51:46 It's got to get better or it'll be up to someone else to get better over there.

51:51 Like I don't think you can afford another

51:53 four- win season or five win season even.

51:56 Like they got to turn this thing around and be

51:58 on the plus side of 500 at the very least.

52:00 All of Lenor's numbers regressed last year.

52:03 That's got to be turned upside down and it's got to happen quick.

52:06 They have a couple of winnable games and then if you're going

52:09 to get a conference game in week three to start the slate,

52:12 Mississippi State's a good team to come to town.

52:14 You got Kentucky in week five.

52:17 So, they could get off to a 4 in one start there.

52:20 Even if they lose at Alabama, they could get off to a 4 in one start.

52:22 Who knows?

52:23 Maybe they start 5-0.

52:24 But it's got to be much better than it was last year.

52:27 Uh, same thing kind of for USC.

52:32 USC saw Danton Lynn leave and go to Penn State.

52:35 All right.

52:35 And a lot of people freaked out when that happened.

52:38 I know there's some people at USC that had a lot of respect

52:42 for the fact that Danton Lynn took their defense from 119th to 77th to 49th.

52:49 I think there's some people there that like

52:50 the vibe maybe that Gary Patterson brings a little more.

52:54 And if you haven't been paying attention,

52:55 Gary Patterson is now the defensive coordinator at USC.

52:59 Has not filled that role for anyone since like 2021,

53:03 but now he's back on the sideline or the booth,

53:05 wherever they keep him, back with the headset on.

53:07 In four losses last year, Southern Cal gave up 34, 27, 35, and 30.

53:12 And this is straight up a playoff or bust season.

53:15 So that's fair to me.

53:18 Those are fair expectations for Lincoln Riley at this point in his tenure there.

53:22 They've got a good enough team.

53:24 They got to have a good enough defense.

53:26 Chad Morris went to Clemson.

53:29 We just sat down with Deo last week.

53:31 He talked about in 2010 how they had

53:33 high expectations and then things crashed and burned.

53:35 And what did he do?

53:36 Well, he had Chad Morris and hired him as his offensive coordinator.

53:39 And now all these years later, uh, that's what they're doing.

53:42 They're they're getting part of the band back

53:44 together and bringing Chad Morris back as offensive coordinator.

53:47 Last year was a massive failure.

53:49 I don't need to tell anyone that.

53:50 They were 64th in total offense, 72nd in points per game, I think.

53:56 Unless I wrote that down wrong.

53:57 It was bad.

53:58 Yeah, there it is right there.

54:00 Total yards per game was 64th.

54:02 You know what?

54:03 They won double-digit games every year that Morris

54:07 was there as offensive coordinator the time before.

54:10 And if they figure out how to run the ball again,

54:14 it's not out of the realm of possibility.

54:16 The ACC, the ACC is still very much in a state of flux.

54:19 Uh they were 105th running the ball last year.

54:22 Abysmal Dabau on our show the other day, paraphrasing,

54:26 but he said it's a miracle we won seven games.

54:29 It's a miracle we even won seven.

54:31 Uh the wide receiver room's still good there.

54:33 So it's not like Chad Morris is walking in saying, "Wow,

54:36 look at these bare cupboards." No,

54:38 you're going to have a new quarterback starting for you.

54:40 Some offensive line transition, but you got guys to throw it to.

54:43 You should be plenty good enough.

54:45 Should be plenty good enough.

54:47 Uh Jim Nles went to Tennessee.

54:49 Jim Nolles was busy winning a national title

54:51 at Ohio State a couple of years ago.

54:53 Went and hung out at Penn State for a few minutes and then the staff

54:56 got fired there and he chose to go to help out Josh Hypel in Knoxville.

55:03 They had a top 10 defense at Tennessee two years ago.

55:06 They fell off into the 90s last year.

55:09 They allowed 30 plus in three of their five losses.

55:14 It hurt to watch and so there had to be transition there.

55:18 Um, this is going to be probably an offensive style this year with a new

55:24 starter at quarterback and a good run game where they are they are runheavy.

55:28 Not that they aren't runheavy normally.

55:32 They run the ball.

55:33 That's what they do at Tennessee,

55:34 but probably a little bit more dependent on defense this year.

55:39 Dependent on a complimentary ground game, good defense.

55:42 That just means defense has to be there year one.

55:44 And that hasn't always been a staple of Jim Nolles.

55:48 Normally the book is it takes some years at least

55:51 one for Jim Null's defense to fully take root.

55:54 Now the way they were going to shortcut that was we'll

55:57 bring some of his players with him pending they don't get homesick.

56:01 We'll bring some of his staffers with him.

56:03 And they did that.

56:05 We talked to Hypel the other day about that when he was on the show.

56:08 They did that.

56:09 Let's see if it pays dividends in year one which they need.

56:13 And then lastly, Jason Beck's at Michigan.

56:17 So Jason Beck, I don't think is in a situation where, man,

56:23 if his offense doesn't pan out, his coach is going to get fired.

56:25 Of course, his coach isn't getting fired.

56:27 He just got hired.

56:28 They all just got hired.

56:29 This is like a Bryce Underwood special.

56:31 So it's like a different designation here.

56:33 But um you don't you don't invest the way they have in Bryce

56:37 Underwood and take multiple years for him to get up to speed.

56:40 That's the old way of doing things.

56:41 That's not the new way of doing things.

56:43 And last year he was a 60% completion guy.

56:47 11 touchdowns, nine picks.

56:49 And in the big games like the Oklahoma game, the Ohio State game,

56:53 17 of 42, 205 yards combined, no touchdowns, one pick.

56:58 Just got to get more production out of him.

57:01 So, first off, he's got to have the supporting cast.

57:04 And secondly, he's got to get put in a better position.

57:06 Now, you got to think that there is some form of net

57:09 upgrade just from a more stable situation that he's going to be in.

57:13 How much how much in one year can they improve him?

57:19 Told you I'd get it in under an hour.

57:21 Jesse, all right, we got a big week coming up.

57:24 Speaker series, multiple stops.

57:26 Make sure you're following on the socials

57:28 for a sneak peek there at Josh Patec CFB.

57:31 Uh we'll be back Thursday.

57:33 Got a busy week ahead.

57:34 Until then, for director Bradley, producer Jesse, I'm Josh Fate.

57:37 Take care.

57:37 Have a great start to your week and God bless.