INSTANT REACTION: Miami Defeats Ole Miss To Head To National Championship | CFP Semifinal Results

Summary

Cover 3 College Football Podcast: INSTANT REACTION – Miami Defeats Ole Miss to Head to National Championship (Jan 9, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this action-packed instant reaction episode, hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, and Bud Elliott break down Miami’s dramatic 31-27 win over Ole Miss, securing the Hurricanes a spot in the national championship for the first time since 2002. The trio analyzes key moments from the College Football Playoff semifinal in Glendale, offers thoughtful analysis on coaching, conference trends, and playoff structure, and looks ahead to potential Miami opponents. The discussion spans the "micro" (game specifics) and the "macro" (big-picture storylines), delivering insights for die-hard college football fans as well as the casual observer.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Miami's Stunning Win: Game Breakdown

• Back-and-Forth Thriller: The game featured five lead changes, including three in a frantic five-minute second-half stretch. Both teams seized and lost momentum, creating high drama throughout.
  • "What a second half... Three lead changes in a five-minute span at one point. Five lead changes throughout the whole game." – Chip Patterson, [02:03]

Carson Beck's Performance: Up and Down, but Clutch

• Rough Early Start, Strong Finish: Miami QB Carson Beck struggled initially but rebounded to lead a game-winning drive, particularly excelling on third downs.

  • Third Down Execution: Beck was 7-of-9 on third downs for 85 yards, converting seven first downs.
  • "Carson Beck deserves a lot of credit for this, especially with that drive at the end of the game... He did like early in the game he was playing like crap. Like he was missing stuff...he settled down." – Chip Patterson, [03:39]
  • Clutch Play: On the decisive touchdown run with only 18 seconds left, Beck recognized an empty left side and dashed in for the score.
    • "The recognition on the Carson Beck game-winning touchdown... There’s not anyone between me and the endzone. There’s 18 seconds left in this game. Let's go do this." – Tom Fornelli, [07:07]

• Game Management and Maturity: Beck’s experience showed in key moments, notably when he didn’t panic after the defense anticipated a screen, instead checking down for a crucial first down.

  • "You could tell he’s an old dude...That’s why you pay all that money in the portal to go get him...real maturity." – Bud Elliott, [05:47]

Miami’s Offensive Contributors

• Malachi Toney: Emerged as a legitimate star, making highlight-reel catches and consistently attracting defensive attention.

  • "Malachi Toney is a legit superstar. That kid's in football for another two years. We get to watch him." – Chip Patterson, [05:13]

• Keelan Marion: The BYU transfer showed big-game mentality (7 catches, 114 yards), stepping up when Toney was blanketed.

  • "He was dialed in. He was ready to go. He brought the competitiveness that you would want to see from someone who…just showed up in the spring portal." – Tom Fornelli, [14:55]

• Mark Fletcher: Ran "his ass off," giving Miami a punishing ground game, and performed especially well in short-yardage situations despite being briefly sidelined.

  • "Fletcher ran his ass off...He should have had more opportunities to run his ass off, too." – Chip Patterson, [15:40]

• Offensive Line: Praised for key screen blocks and general effectiveness.

Miami’s Defensive Game Plan and Execution

• Limiting Ole Miss' Rushing Threat: Aside from a couple of big plays by Kewan Lacy, the Hurricanes largely forced Ole Miss to play within structure, stifling their typical explosive ground gains.

  • "For the most part, I bet you Ole Miss's rushing success rate tonight is God-awful. So they really made them one dimensional." – Bud Elliott, [11:20]

• Disrupting Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss: Miami’s D kept him contained, limiting his effectiveness as a scrambler thanks to disciplined pass rush and secondary play.

  • "They made Chambliss play within structure...he’s not a tall guy, trying to make some throws...they didn’t bat very many, but he did sail a couple tonight." – Bud Elliott, [11:34]

• Missed Opportunities: Miami’s defense dropped multiple potential interceptions, allowing Ole Miss to remain close.

  • "How many interceptions did Miami drop in this game?" – Chip Patterson, [04:46]
  • "I've got four." – Tom Fornelli, [04:46]

• Injury/Discipline Issues: Penalties and ejections (notably Lucas for targeting) hampered Miami’s secondary depth, enabling Ole Miss’ late push.

  • "Frederic was not in the game. Lucas was not in the game. You're starting to lose bodies left and right...That was a tough, tough ask for that secondary." – Tom Fornelli, [12:37]

• Key Defensive Stand: Despite only one sack (down from prior games), Miami’s defense held sharply on third downs (Ole Miss: 2 of 10, with one conversion via penalty).

Coaching Decisions and Game Management

• Operational Cleanliness: Unlike previous years under Mario Cristobal, Miami avoided time mismanagement, especially with timeouts and substitutions.

  • "Operationally, Miami was pretty clean. They were not blowing timeouts...They did not mismanage the game, and they had a real chance to go down there and score with timeouts remaining." – Bud Elliott, [15:27]

• Ole Miss Defensive Regrets: Poor clock management and questionable play calls late by defensive coordinator Pete Golding contributed to Miami’s clinching score.

  • "I thought Golding should have called timeout earlier in that drive...If you’re trying to play it optimally...I thought he waited too long." – Bud Elliott, [08:41]

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Big Picture (Macro) Conversations

Miami's Return to the Big Stage

• Historic Moment: Hurricanes reach their first national title since 2002, to be played in Miami’s own Hard Rock Stadium — a significant narrative for Mario Cristobal’s tenure and the school’s legacy.

  • "First time since the 2002 season...trying to win a national championship for the first time since the 2001 season." – Tom Fornelli, [20:27]

• Roster Construction Philosophy:

  • Portal Over High School QBs: Miami’s strategy is to leverage the transfer portal for quarterbacks rather than invest heavily in high school recruitment at that position.
    • "They're not really doing the high school quarterback thing much at all. They're not spending big in high school quarterback. They are very likely to portal this thing again next year." – Bud Elliott, [41:52]
  • Heavy Investment in Line Play: Focus on offensive and defensive linemen through both recruitment and the portal.

• Injury Recovery Narrative: Several key Miami players who were injured previously delivered healthy, high-performing campaigns.

Ole Miss: From Underdog to National Contender?

• Overachievement: The Rebels exceeded expectations with this playoff run, leveraging a less talented roster but strong team culture.

  • "They were a better roster last year, but a better team this year." – Bud Elliott, [34:57]

• Potentially Transformative Run: Discussion centers on whether this postseason will fundamentally change the national perception and future recruiting/fundraising capacity of Ole Miss.

  • "There can be legitimately five to ten years of fundraising that could be done off this one run and potentially, like, generational change in terms of the mental attitude of an Ole Miss fan." – Tom Fornelli, [36:03]
  • "This run is just part of it...Lane Kiffin deserves a lot of credit for this." – Chip Patterson, [37:15]

• 2025 Outlook: Challenging schedule ahead, which could limit expectations of a repeat run.

Conference Trends and Playoff Era Implications

• SEC’s Decline at the Top?

  • The hosts note the SEC’s postseason struggles in the NIL/Portal era, pointing to an underwhelming 2-10 showing and a lack of elite quarterback/team alignment.
    • "The SEC has not had a team play for the national title in the like portal plus NIL era." – Bud Elliott, [25:34]
    • "They just have not really paired their best quarterbacks with their best teams in the past couple years." – Bud Elliott, [27:33]

• Coaching and Innovation:

  • The panel discusses whether the SEC’s habit of recycling coaches ("old boy network") has led to stagnation compared to the Big Ten’s investment in new staff and fresh ideas.
    • "If the SEC is only working in an incestual in house...without a lot of outside ideas, the brain drain theory is at least worth considering." – Chip Patterson, [30:08]

• Playoff Structure – Rest vs Rust:

  • Extended layoffs for teams with playoff byes came under scrutiny, with some suggesting teams would prefer playing more frequently rather than enduring 40-day breaks.
    • "We wanted to throw a pool party when we got the five instead of the four because we did not want to have to wait 40 days to go out there and play again." – Tom Fornelli, [32:35]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Carson Beck’s Game-winning Awareness:
  "There’s 18 seconds left…Let's go do this." – Tom Fornelli, [07:07]

• On Lane Kiffin’s Possible Relief After Ole Miss Loss:
  "Lane’s happy they lost, right?" – Chip Patterson, [46:20]
  "Yes." – Tom Fornelli, Bud Elliott, [46:31]

• Miami's Defensive Approach:
  "Miami was getting a lot of what it wanted defensively and things were working their way, they just couldn't catch the damn football." – Chip Patterson, [13:52]

• Referee Crew Tendencies:
  "That, that crew gets a little flag happy, but they're not terrible. They're not the worst." – Chip Patterson, [09:49]
  "I liked that they were not calling holding at all, but very, very eager to call pass interference and targeting." – Tom Fornelli, [09:55]

• Cultural Shift at Ole Miss:
  "There are kids now believing things that previous decades never would have about Ole Miss football." – Tom Fornelli, [36:05]

• On College Football’s Idiosyncrasies:
  "That's college football. You know that that's one of the reasons that we love it." – Tom Fornelli, [17:36]

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Important Timestamps

• 02:03 – Opening reaction: wild swings, lead changes, initial framing.
• 03:39 – Carson Beck’s performance, third down dominance.
• 05:13 – Malachi Toney’s star power, discussion of a controversial catch.
• 07:07 – Beck’s awareness and decisive game-winning TD run.
• 11:20 – Miami’s defensive game plan: neutralizing Ole Miss’s run, forcing difficult throws.
• 14:55 – Keelan Marion’s impact and his emergence as a key portal addition.
• 15:27 – Coaching/operational execution praised for Miami.
• 20:27 – Miami’s program milestone: return to national title game at home stadium.
• 25:34 – Discussion of SEC struggles in the NIL/Transfer Portal era.
• 30:08 – Debating coaching networks and the “brain drain” theory in the SEC.
• 32:35 – Byes, playoff structure, and how extended breaks may negatively affect rhythm.
• 34:47 – Assessing if Ole Miss overachieved and the program's growth.
• 36:03 – Discussing the possible transformative nature of Ole Miss football’s run.
• 41:52 – Miami’s continual use of the portal for quarterbacks.
• 46:20 – Lighthearted moment about Lane Kiffin’s feelings on Ole Miss losing.
• 51:00+ – End of content; episode transitions to wrap-up, social plugs, and ads.

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Looking Ahead

• Miami faces the winner of Indiana vs. Oregon for the National Championship in Miami.
• The hosts preview matchups and discuss Miami's keys as they prepare to face a much tougher secondary, regardless of opponent.

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Final Thoughts

This frenetic, detail-rich episode captured the energy of one of the modern playoff era’s wildest semifinal matchups. Miami’s resilience, coaching adjustments, player development, and recruiting philosophy take the spotlight, as does the end of Ole Miss’s storybook run and what it means for that program’s identity. Broader national implications—especially regarding the SEC’s current trajectory and playoff structure adjustments—provide context for the significance of Miami’s achievement. The Cover 3 crew’s signature banter, analysis, and storytelling make this a must-listen for anyone following college football’s new era.

Transcript

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[Chip Patterson]

Welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast with your hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Fernelli, Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott. It's your call. College football coverage from national signing day to the national championship and everything in between. CBS Sports presents the COVID 3 podcast.

[Tom Fenelli]

And welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fenelli, that's Bud Elliott. I'm Chip Patterson coming to you [e-mail] cover3 and everywhere. Get your podcast on demand. Thanks for hanging out. Smash that subscribe Smash that like and come and join us in the chat aka the COVID 3 tailgate where as we are going live 11:30pm Eastern time and the confetti is flowing in Glendale. Looks like Mario Cristobal is about to stick his chest out and celebrate what is a monumental moment for the program that he loves so much. Miami 31, Ole Miss 27 the Miami Hurricanes will be playing for the national championship in Miami in Hard rock Stadium on January 19th. Who they will play the winner of Indiana and Oregon tomorrow night's game. But right now we are all focused on the U. And yes, I think that there's kind of a micro and a macro here. A micro. In terms of all the incredible swings and what we saw from the football of this game, then if it's okay with you guys, unless you want to get to it first, then we can talk a little bit more about the macro, how we got here. Just sort of the journey the Hurricanes have been on. Try and tell that story. But I mean, what a, what a second half. What do we have, Three lead changes in a five minute span at one point? Five lead changes throughout the whole game. Tom, is it, is it Carson Beck? Does he, does he, does he get to be the face of this? I mean, what's the, what's the, what's the Miami angle to this other than maybe we didn't drop the egg from the spoon despite how wobbly it was as we tried to finish this race?

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, Carson Beck deserves a lot of credit for this, especially with that drive at the end of the game. And also just if you look at it, his numbers on third down in this game, he was Miami on third. Yeah, Carson was 7 and 9 for 85 yards. Seven first downs, obviously. Balls, completions. He only took the one sack on a third down. Even then he didn't lose a ton of yards. Made sure they stayed in field goal range. I mean, he did like early in the game he was playing like crap, like he was missing stuff. He was just, it was, it was really bad early. He settled down. I think that, you know, they were also having him take shots down the field earlier in the game, which I just, I don't think we've seen for two months now, is really what he's been good at. I mean, ever since that injury last year, his arms just kind of gone. But overall, very good game. I also think that honestly, like, listen, Ole Miss in the fourth quarter especially and in the second half, like they deserved to be in this game. At the end they rallied, they played very well. They gave themselves multiple chances to win the game, but Miami gave them a bunch of chances to win this game too. Like, how many interceptions did Miami drop, drop in this game?

[Tom Fenelli]

I've got four.

[Bud Elliott]

On my note, Miami give, they gave up a drive killing sack. When you're not ready for the snap, like there's, yeah, like this is.

[Tom Fenelli]

You want to connect some history how about it was in the Fiesta bowl where Vinnie Testaverde had five interceptions and Miami dropped four of them. Not to mention, like, we all talk about the Ohio State Fiesta bowl stuff, but, like, oh, we're exercising some demons right here, being able to escape this game with the win.

[Chip Patterson]

So, I mean, this. This could have been a blowout, and it probably should have been a blowout. You let Ole Miss hang around. Ole Miss is too good of a football team to let hang around, and they nearly killed you for it, but you were able to pull it out at the end. Malachi Toney is a legit superstar. Just even the catch that didn't count, which, frankly, you know, what? Rule change. His toe got down before his heel. That should have counted. Just my opinion, but just absolutes, star. That kid's in football for another two years. We get to watch him.

[Bud Elliott]

It's gonna be exciting, man. I. Yeah, I thought for a lot of this game, Beck was kind of like. Like somewhere between just kind of like, I need more from you than that and. And downright bad. But there was the one drive in the second half where I thought he was really sharp. The second half, like, the screen stuff was working really well. The. The way that they blocked that Tony touched him and, like, Tony made a nice play. That play is mostly made by that line getting out there and just wiping out Ole Miss. And he's got, you know, just. Just daylight to run there after he makes the one move on the guy. But, like, I. I thought back, you could tell he's an old dude, right? Like, they. They. Miami finally calls the bluff screen. They're trying to get Tony deep. Ole Miss actually, like, guesses that it's coming. They don't bite on the screen, despite the fact that. That Miami's been killing them on the screen the whole second half. And he, like, just calmly works to the backside dig for a first down on a really crucial play on that game. When he drive that, I was like that. That's like. That's why you pay all that money in the portal to go get him, right? Just a dude that's been there before and done. I know the arm looks pretty sketchy at times. Like that to me, was real maturity.

[Tom Fenelli]

So that's the screen to the right. He ends up hitting Marion on the.

[Bud Elliott]

Dig kind of in the right. They're trying to get. They're trying to slip Tony up. Up the seam. Ole Miss actually covers it, right.

[Chip Patterson]

Panicking.

[Bud Elliott]

He, like. He actually works to the backside dig, which is like kind of just the third on that play for sure.

[Tom Fenelli]

And on the game winning touchdown for those who I'm sure, like, if you're watching this live, you just watched it with us like in the exact moments as we're going live. If you're listening to this, then you've probably seen the highlight, the recognition on the Carson Beck game winning touchdown of like, oh, that's it. There's. There's not anyone between me and the end zone. There's 18 seconds left in this game. Let's go do this. He had the third down run against Ohio State that we talked about a lot. He had like one or two other times where he took off running like the one designed quarterback run that I remember wasn't that successful but still just, I mean you played 19 years of college football. You have a little bit of confidence of what to do in that moment. So is, you know, props to Carson Beckham. He, he's wearing number 11. As soon as we found out he picked number 11, we're wondering if he would be, you know, really channeling those Ken Dorsey vibes. But he's got, he doesn't quite have the same super team, but he's doing a good job of driving the bus.

[Chip Patterson]

That's got to be some regret there on that touchdown though, if you're B.

[Tom Fenelli]

Golding right, like for not strike having another defense.

[Chip Patterson]

You had been spying back earlier in the game. Like there was the one time in the third and 13 where the spy did a terrible job, got caught up in the wash and loud nearly, nearly let Carson pick up the first down. But like you called, man, on that play and like the entire left side of that field vacated. I don't know, maybe they had a spy. He got caught up in the wash again or maybe just somebody screwed up. But like there's no you. You have to keep an eye on him in that spot. Especially if you're calling.

[Bud Elliott]

Man, I thought golden should have called timeout earlier in that drive. There's one where they let like almost 20 seconds run off the clock and I was like, oh, this is. If you're going to try to do the thing where like you're actually trying to get the ball back with time to go score, you need to be calling now. I, I thought he waited too long to call the timeouts. Like if you're trying to play it optimally, I mean, look, Miami scored the touchdown. So like they went and got it. Deserved it. They. I think Tom's totally right. They were the better team in this game, like by a good bit. I Thought, I mean, Ole Miss had the drive extended by the targeting penalty, which again, like, he was just trying to make a tackle. We're really ejecting people for this now. Lucas is going to have to miss the first half of the national championship game.

[Chip Patterson]

But that. That was Tony Petiti sending his regards. This was a Big Ten crew in this game, and Xavier really pissed the Big Ten off. So.

[Tom Fenelli]

Hey, is Snodgrass on the Illinois hate list? Because. No, I. I know him.

[Bud Elliott]

Okay.

[Tom Fenelli]

I saw him introduced at the coin toss. I was like. Because, you know, I was gonna text you, Tom, we're in year two of. Of, you know, the, the Big Ten really being front and center. I know Snodgrass, you know, I've seen him out here.

[Chip Patterson]

That, that crew gets a little flag happy, but they're not terrible. They're not the worst.

[Tom Fenelli]

Well, see, I liked that they were not calling holding at all, but very, very eager to call pass interference and targeting. It's.

[Bud Elliott]

That's an over crew, guys.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fenelli]

Yeah. Congratulations on, on your. On your bar fight win. Right? We. We was it. Yeah, it was Danny and Tom on the under. Yeah, you come in right there as we do. End up hitting 58 on that total. You mentioned earlier, the. So Ole miss only converted two of its 10 third downs. One of them was a targeting. The other was just a third and one conversion with Kewan Lacey getting a two yard run. Miami's defense did not dominate the way that I thought it would dominate. And yet I think the overall body of work you have to be pretty satisfied with. Bud, did you see that? The same way? What was Miami's defense doing that helped them be able to win on those key downs? Because it wasn't Reuben Bain and Akeem Messador rolling up the sacks and tackles for loss the same way that we saw in the first two games. They had 12 sacks in their first two College Football Playoff wins. They sit here with just one sack in a win against Trinidad Chambliss. Is that, Is that the game? Is that the way that Ole Miss called it? What did Miami do well to be able to, you know, still be able to come out with what they needed?

[Bud Elliott]

I thought they made Ole Miss play more within structure. So Lacy hits the one big run. They hit a couple of those ISO plays, but for the most part, I bet you Ole Miss's rushing success rate tonight is God awful. So they really made them one dimensional.

[Tom Fenelli]

And then like if you take out the 73, like on a down to.

[Bud Elliott]

Down basis, like the rush threat was just not There for Ole Miss. Now, part of that's probably like, Lacy missing that huge chunk of the game, but I thought they also made champions play with in structure more. You know, he's not a tall guy trying to make some throws where, like, you have people in. In his throwing lanes getting the hands up. They didn't bat very many balls, but, like, he did sail a couple tonight. I mean, he's. He's a tiny kid, not. Not like five, eight. But, I mean, he's not a big guy. And if you look at like, he killed Georgia on a lot of, like, the. The crazy scramble play stuff. How many scramble opportunities did he even have tonight?

[Chip Patterson]

Not many.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I thought they made him play with. I thought they made him play with Instructure really well. And like, Miami secondary is way better than the Georgia secondary that Chambliss faced. I don't think they're, like, way, way better than George's normal secondary.

[Tom Fenelli]

But even, like, Lucas gets ejected. I mean, I was kind of having.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Tom Fenelli]

I mean, not that I was, like, emotional.

[Bud Elliott]

Frederica hurt a little bit.

[Tom Fenelli]

Frederic was not in the game. Lucas was not in the game. You're. You're starting to lose bodies left and right.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean, that's when they started to move the ball.

[Tom Fenelli]

I. I was. I was feeling again, I was uninvested after halftime. I was good. I was checked out. I was just in it for the stories at that point. But I was feeling for a Miami fans, like, this is how you lose. Especially this is how you lose to Trinidad Chambliss when these bodies are going down and all of a sudden you're getting the wrong end of calls. So, I mean, credit to the youngsters who got in there. You know, I know that they got a little bit of shine, but, man, that was. That was a tough, tough ask for that secondary as it was tasked with trying to make sure they were holding up against Ole Miss.

[Bud Elliott]

Absolutely. I. I thought, like, I mean, that was really, for the first, what, 50 minutes of the game that they did a great job of keeping Ole Miss in check. And then they just started going up and down the field. It was. If you're a Miami fan and you lost that game, you'd be sick. Yeah, just like all the missed opportunities.

[Chip Patterson]

And to what you were saying, like, with the RPO stuff like Kwan Lacey comes back in the second half, and he doesn't get a carry for like 10 minutes because every single RPO Miami's. Miami wanted Chambers throwing. They were jumping those routes, and those were the picks that they should have had.

[Bud Elliott]

They were dropping.

[Chip Patterson]

So, I mean, yeah, I think Miami was getting a lot of what it wanted defensively and things were working their way. They just couldn't catch the damn football.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, it was like a baseball game where, like, Miami constantly has guys on base and they just don't get them in. And, you know, as a fan, like, that's one. You're just sick if you end up not winning that. Right.

[Tom Fenelli]

Still staying here in the micro shout out to Keelan Marion. Big performance from him. He ends up with seven catches on 10 targets for 114 yards. Obviously the 52 yard reception is a big part of that, but, you know, and they highlighted that Malachi Tony attracts so much attention, they needed somebody else to show up. Do you know what I saw in the first quarter of this game? Keelan Marion talking. Did y' all see that? That boy was barking? He. He was. He was dialed in. He was ready to go. He brought the competitiveness that you would want to see from someone who, by the way, just showed up in the spring portal. Right. Am I wrong about that? Like from byu?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

He was a BYU late.

[Tom Fenelli]

Yeah, yeah. Late Edition. And he was all in on. On that kind of game. So another good example. Throw it up there with Motore. Throw it up there with Keonte Scott. Throw it up there with a lot of these other, you know, really good evaluation in terms of a player who can come in, be effective in a big moment, and really be able to fit. So continued credit from my end, for sure, to this Miami coaching staff, because the roster they put together was tested big time here, and I thought that they answered also.

[Bud Elliott]

Not that there were a whole lot of opportunities to mess this up, but operationally, Miami was pretty clean. They were not blowing timeouts in, like, the first and third quarters.

[Tom Fenelli]

Oh, sure, yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

Which is something crystal ball in the past.

[Chip Patterson]

So, like.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, yeah, like, they did not mismanage the game, and they had a real chance to go down there and score with timeouts remaining, which is what you want. Oh, also, Fletcher ran his ass off.

[Chip Patterson]

He should have had more opportunities to run his ass off, too. That's another thing Miami was doing to help keep my old miss in the game.

[Bud Elliott]

He got.

[Chip Patterson]

Dawson was getting A M tendencies. Yeah.

[Tom Fenelli]

Oh, yes, he was. He was off on the sideline for a little stretch when they brought Brown in and they said he was being tended to on the broadcast. But I just. I don't. I just don't expect Mark Fletcher to not be on the field. Like he's. Yeah, that I Don't get the sense everything that, everything I know about that player and everything we've read and continue to learn about him, I'm. I just kind of feel like you're gonna have to take his helmet away for him to not be on the field. So. Yeah, everybody's a little hurt right now, bud. We know that.

[Bud Elliott]

I think Miami was were they perfect on. On third and shorter medium rushing.

[Tom Fenelli]

It was 11 for 19 for the game which by the way.

[Bud Elliott]

Oh, the Tony direct snap. No they weren't. But every time they gave it to an actual back on third and shorter medium they converted.

[Tom Fenelli]

But hey, how about this? 11 for 19 on third, 2 for 2 on fourth. That means that, that that's exactly the game plan Miami needed. We talked about the time of possession battle. We talked about being able to extend drives like third down conversion after third down conversion. They did it. They went in and they executed the like blueprint that they needed to win this football game. So that's.

[Chip Patterson]

They executed the blueprint to dominate the football game. I mean they did everything you said that they wanted to do and they, they won by four and they, that.

[Bud Elliott]

Game was so college too. Yeah. Like I mean we gave, we gave back all this credit for managing last drive. He also almost threw a pick when they were in something that was totally.

[Tom Fenelli]

Like hey, never never forget before Tua throws a game winning touchdown in the national championship game. He takes a 16 yard sack like dumbass to knock himself out of field goal range in an overtime. In an overtime. Yeah. So it, it'd be like that. That's college football. You know that that's one of the reasons that we love it. All right, let's anything again let's keep this first part in the micro. Anything else sort of within the. The mechanics of the game, stuff you saw, players plays, moments. You want to be sure we highlight before we go a little big picture.

[Bud Elliott]

On this Marion hit. Fletcher thought Keonte Scott kept playing really well. Backers played well for Miami. I thought both Tori and Besanth did a really good job. I thought Daquan Wright was much better for old Miss tonight than he was against Georgia. I mean like we're getting credit to loss but against Georgia like two big drops. Didn't get out of bounds before the end of the first half. Had cut that out, cut the outcut back inside. And then also I thought had two like pretty kind of sketchy routes that almost resulted in. In disaster for Ole Miss. So much better night for him. That was good to see.

[Tom Fenelli]

Do you addressing it because if enough time in print was spent highlighting it. Let's. Let's at least circle back and bring some finality here. It was not a bad game for Reuben Bain, right?

[Chip Patterson]

No, no. But he didn't have a huge. He didn't have much of an impact.

[Tom Fenelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, like, part of it. Like, again, they wanted to keep him in the pocket, and then another part of it was just Ole Miss was getting the ball out so damn quick. Like, that was part of their game plan, too. They did not want to give that defensive line a chance to get to him.

[Bud Elliott]

There was a third down in the red zone on the drive that Ole Miss had to settle for the short field goal. I think he's on a twist. Doesn't get home and actually chases like. Like, kind of mirrors Chambers out of the pocket. And so Chambers does not have the option to. To take off. Yeah, I thought that was, like, a super high effort play.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. And also he kept him in the pocket a lot, as we discussed. And this was going both ways. A lot of holding out there.

[Tom Fenelli]

Yes. Yeah, I. I do. I do not.

[Chip Patterson]

I do.

[Tom Fenelli]

I do not want to make this sound like I am assigning it one way or the other. I just saw an absence of flags in one part of the field for both teams and. And a. A prevalence of flags in other parts of the field.

[Bud Elliott]

It was just enough.

[Tom Fenelli]

It'd be like that.

[Chip Patterson]

Lots of hugging.

[Bud Elliott]

We needed some points in this playoffs, guys. It's been a low score playoff cfp.

[Tom Fenelli]

And on Bud is saying, it's like, we needed points. Let's hold on to. Well, that. Remember the Oregon Penn State game? That was the theory that if they actually called holding, no one would ever score. Remember?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fenelli]

It was like, okay, we're just gonna let this one go. All right. Miami advances to the national championship game. A massive moment, unquestionably, for that program, for Mario Crystal Ball. First time since the 2002 season. Of course, that one ended with the loss to Ohio State. Trying to win a national championship for the first time since the 2001 season. Just a. And they're going to do it in Hard Rock Stadium. So coming up on the other side, a look a little bit more at what's next for Miami and obviously what's next for Ole Miss, what the matchups could look like and more.

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Tom Fenelli]

Here on the COVID 3 podcast gonna Tom, if you don't mind, I'm gonna just throw this one at Bud real quick. Do you think that our friend and Cover 3 podcast just a just a great supporter of the COVID 3 podcast. Jim Phillips, PhD, MD, the ACC Commissioner of the. The ACC has gotten a lot of, you know, attention for the fact that they don't make teams split up their money. Right. So that means if you advance in the playoffs, all your units are not divided equally. You get to keep all your units. Any regret there? Miami's just gonna keep all this money. Okay.

[Chip Patterson]

All right.

[Bud Elliott]

Like they should.

[Tom Fenelli]

I was thinking that this is actually the, the payback for Miami not suing. Like, like if Clemson or Florida State had gotten to advance in the College Football Playoff. It's like, hold on, hold on, hold on. We got these legal bills that we're still paying. You got to pay this back. Miami is. Do he. Miami already did one for the team by not joining the lawsuit. So yeah, they get all the money here. No, this is. The SEC is out. The ACC will play the winner of Oregon and Indiana, the last two Big Ten champions. So it will be Big Ten v ACC in the national championship game. Is there anything to be made of that? You know, we're going to take any big picture sort of conference wide views of what that could mean.

[Bud Elliott]

Well, the SEC has not had a team play for the national title in the like portal plus nil era.

[Tom Fenelli]

Is Georgia. No, hold on, George. TCU, right?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I, I don't think 22, it was rocking like that where like actual nil plus portal was like real going There was a little bit, but 23 is when that really took off. Like 23 was like Florida State goes and buys colon from, from Michigan State and then like it just went nuts everywhere.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, what's, what's the SEC's record outside of games against the SEC in the playoff the last two years?

[Bud Elliott]

Like, well, Ole Miss beat Tulane.

[Chip Patterson]

That's the same. Ole Miss beat Georgia. Alabama beat Oklahoma. Their other wins are Clemson, Arizona State, Tulane.

[Tom Fenelli]

And.

[Bud Elliott]

Did Georgia beat somebody last year to get there?

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, they lost.

[Tom Fenelli]

They were one and done.

[Bud Elliott]

Right. Because they had the buy. Right. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

And Texas has two of the wins. So like what are those the only three wins that they have in the, in the 12 team era? Clemson, Arizona State, in Tulane. Am I missing someone?

[Tom Fenelli]

No. I mean that the 2 in 10 postseason record this year is one that stands out. It's pretty stark. It's.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, like it's not. They're going to think we're dogging on them, but it's. It's the simple fact of the matter that these last few years they have not been as good at the top as they used to be. And this is. Once again, it's like the fact that Ole Miss was the last one standing is not even how it's supposed to be.

[Tom Fenelli]

Yeah, right.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, it's just. Yeah, it. It is a. It's a weird thing. Like the sec, it's. They've got to figure some stuff out.

[Bud Elliott]

They just have not really paired their best quarterbacks with their best teams in the past couple years. Like, you've not had that alignment, right? Like, Stockton's fine, but he's not special. You know, LSU wasted Daniels with a team that couldn't play in defense at all. I mean, like, Ole Miss has not had like a top three or four roster in sec. I don't think last year they might have.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't remember who tweeted this, so apologies. I see a lot of tweets. I can't remember everything anyone says, but it was an interesting point. Is there anything to the idea that the SEC was so good at just acquiring talent that they didn't put as much thought and emphasis into their coaching staffs? And now you see, like, the Big Ten is really invested in its coaching staffs and it's coaching and maybe that's where they're kind of being surpassed.

[Tom Fenelli]

But did you. Let me. Let me follow up, because if I remember, part of this conversation is also about the old boy network and the idea that. How about this? Let me step outside the sec. I'll speak to something that is in the acc. So make sure that we're throwing a lot of mud all across the country as cover three, you know, is known to do what is one of the biggest criticisms of the Clemson coaching staff. You've only hired your own guys and you've got brain drain. And if the SEC is only working in an incestual in house, everybody is all coached for everybody, then inherently you might be giving up something to other coaching staffs that are willing to bring in new ideas and invest to not necessarily just throw out favors. And yeah, there, there could be something to be said there. It's difficult because it's still so new. Right. In terms of the way that rosters are constructed, how much coaching matters? Are you a value as a coach or are you a value as a recruiter? Right. And that big sort of fork in the road. What are we paying you for? Are we paying you for what you do on set, like during the week? Are we paying you for what you do to bring in the recruiting class? Like those. Those have always been something that every single school has to Decide. But that's, I, I, Tom, I think I saw a similar conversation to what you pointed at and the idea that the SEC has been working with basically all the same in house consultants and passing them around without a lot of outside ideas. The brain drain theory is at least worth considering.

[Chip Patterson]

The chat says it was paid, by the way.

[Tom Fenelli]

Oh, nice.

[Chip Patterson]

Shout out to Josh. Although now that I know it was paid, you know, I'm putting less, I'm gonna put less weight into it. Josh. Sorry, I just, I don't know. I don't know.

[Tom Fenelli]

Oh, yeah, no, shout out to Josh on that one. It's, it is a, it's, it's a very good point in terms of the same guys always showing up at all the, you know, just kind of getting trotted around from place to place to place. We'll see.

[Bud Elliott]

I'm also a little reluctant to assume this is going to be the same going forward. Like, there is a chance. This is cyclical now. Cycles, like, are sometimes random and sometimes not. But I'm not fully convinced. It's like the SEC is not coming back. But I thought they were going to bounce back this year, so I was totally wrong about that.

[Chip Patterson]

I, I do. Like, I think for the SEC to bounce back, honestly, you need some of these good programs, maybe even the ones that you've recently added to kind of settle into mediocrity.

[Tom Fenelli]

Yes.

[Chip Patterson]

You know what I mean? It's like, because there is some truth to, like, all right, man, they're really deep and they do. I, I, I'm not using this as though we just beat each other up. We're just beaten down and tired for the postseason. But the fact of the matter is, you could probably use a few more bye weeks in there, especially now that you're playing 16, 17 games to get to the national title, which, by the way, there's another little macro subject possibly Miami's got players dropping left and right. Ole Miss has players dropping left and right. Oregon's got players dropping left and right. Hey, guys, are the buys a bad thing?

[Tom Fenelli]

What are your thoughts? We'll see. No, what will happen is Indiana wins the national championship. Like, the buy's a disadvantage. We should not give anybody a buy. That is too, it was too easy for Indiana.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, we'll see.

[Tom Fenelli]

I don't, I don't think. I'll tell you what. Nah, nah, not right now. Are the buys a bad thing?

[Chip Patterson]

The layoff is the bad thing.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I think the layoff, I think if you go to 16 and the winner gets to play that G5 team that does preserve the importance of the, of the conference championships. Those teams are going to play hard. Like that's a real advantage to be able to play a two lane or somebody as your, as your, your round one game.

[Tom Fenelli]

Now, Tosh said it simple. He said we did not want 40 days off.

[Bud Elliott]

Totally.

[Tom Fenelli]

He said we threw a, we wanted to throw a pool party when we got the five instead of the four because we did not want to have to wait 40 days to go out there and play again.

[Bud Elliott]

Well, especially not if you know you're going to play jmu.

[Tom Fenelli]

I just, I think it's, I think.

[Bud Elliott]

You'Re singing a different tune though. If you have to play a team that has, you know, like athletes like you do.

[Tom Fenelli]

I disagree.

[Chip Patterson]

If you didn't know if you'd had to play like Clemson. Yeah. You'd rather have had the buy, right?

[Bud Elliott]

Exactly. Like if it's not an automatic win.

[Tom Fenelli]

If we are dealing, if we are dealing with this current world, this current December that we just lived, I don't want my boys to go home and then have to come back. Like, I like to check it. I'd like to, I'd like to keep in rhythm, like to keep everybody on schedule. I'd like to not have that super long layoff for everyone to start thinking.

[Bud Elliott]

You know, hopefully we just change the, like how, how spread out this is anyway and start pushing up some of these games a little bit sooner.

[Tom Fenelli]

I agree.

[Bud Elliott]

Like, do we need 11 days between now and the title game?

[Chip Patterson]

No.

[Tom Fenelli]

No, no, no pushback here. I've already declared. I'm, I'm in on the landing plan. College football every single Saturday. You take no Saturdays off and you just play it until everybody things done.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, but then we want to get those cool ratings graphics about how we're up year over year.

[Tom Fenelli]

Just play it every single. Hey, listen, it might lead to some tough Christmases, I understand that. But that December 27th day was just sitting there, you know?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Tom Fenelli]

Just got options. Got options out here. What about Ole Miss? What about what's next there?

[Chip Patterson]

You got to put a coaching staff together. Does Trinidad get another year? I think he will because I think now that he's agreed to that deal, like we talked about in the show the other day, he could actually point to damages he would be suffering if he's not awarded an extra year. I think that they're still going to be good. But I also like, they over.

[Bud Elliott]

They over performed.

[Chip Patterson]

Is that a correct way you think, to put it without being rude?

[Bud Elliott]

No, I, I don't think. I don't think that's rude. Right. Like, they. They were a really good team. Team. You know, like, they were a better roster last year, but they were. They were a better team this year. They played well, and they. They were somewhat fortunate in some circumstances, but, like, they. They made the Final Four, Right. Like, I. They are doing a good job of keeping some of these transfers away from Lane Kiffin for sure. And on the flip side, if you watch what else is doing in high school recruiting right now, you're like, oh, okay, well, I do get why he left. Right? You know, I. I think they're going to be fine. This is kind of Tom's point about needing more bye weeks in the sec. There's more teams in the SEC that, like, legitimately fundraise off the idea of winning the national title. Mm. And not just, hey, we can have a really good season, but, like, hey, our goal is to win the whole damn thing.

[Tom Fenelli]

Do you think that this run will be transformative for Ole Miss football?

[Diageo/NFL Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

What do you mean by transformative?

[Tom Fenelli]

I mean, Bud said it, I think, on Wednesday. But, like, there's. There's kids that are believing things that no decades before, no one believed about Ole Miss football. I mean, there's, like, they, like, there. There could be enough hope. There can be legitimately five to 10 years of fundraising that could be done off of this one run and potentially, like, generational change in terms of the mental attitude of an Ole Miss fan.

[Bud Elliott]

There's also a ton of out of state kids going Ole Miss now. Like, I play golf with a couple guys and their kids go to Ole Miss, and I don't like. I mean, you got Chip, you grew up in Carolina. You know anybody from Carolina that we went to high school with that went to Ole Miss? Like, yeah, a lot. Like, because I feel like it's Carolina. Right, Exactly. But I feel like it's more popular now.

[Tom Fenelli]

Right.

[Bud Elliott]

Like, to go from out of state. I mean, you get a lot more. I mean, you know, post Saban, you got a lot more people from the Northeast just, you know, coming down to Alabama. So I think you have more and more people coming in there who. Then the alumni base spreads out. It's a little less regional. That's not totally related at this point, I guess, but I think, like, the fan base is growing for sure.

[Chip Patterson]

Maybe it's a semantic argument, but, like, I. I don't think that it's this season that changes Ole Miss football. I think that this season is already a result of the changes Ole Miss has made and to his. You know, I've dogged him plenty. But Lane Kiffin deserves a lot of credit for this. I think that Ole Miss, you look at their collective, what they've done, the Grove, I think they've been ahead of the curve for a while in helping put all this stuff together. So I. I see this run more as. I don't want to use the word culmination, but a step forward in what Ole Miss has been doing to put themselves in this position where, yeah, maybe going forward, this is a program that perception changes both for the school and for the football program down the line. So I don't know if I would say it's the run this year as much as this run is just part of it.

[Tom Fenelli]

The other piece of this that I sort of had in the back of my mind as I was asking, is that this is the same position Penn State was in, making it to the Final Four, bringing back your quarterback, you know, having all this juice about this. Now we take the next step, and we saw what happened right now. Penn State will be Iowa State east next year. Like this. Like, it is a wildly different world from what they were expecting.

[Chip Patterson]

So also, next year's schedule, like, Penn State had a friendly schedule this year, too, right? Ole Miss doesn't really have that.

[Bud Elliott]

Who do they get next year?

[Chip Patterson]

They've got Louisville non con to open the season in Nashville, but then they got lsu. Then they're at Florida, they're at Vandy. They get Mizzou at home, at Texas, Auburn, Georgia at Oklahoma. Then you got to look out for Wofford before you finish the season with Mississippi State. So it's not like, as far as SEC is concerned, not the worst, but I think it's a little bit more difficult than what you had this year. And last year, they had kind of.

[Bud Elliott]

Like a Chicago Cubs thing going on, like, lovable loser Ole Miss. They had a couple runs under Hugh. They had last year's team that, you know, felt like a big disappointment not getting the playoff with all the talent they had on that team. And it feels like, you know, they cash this one, and I know they didn't win the whole thing, but, like, if you had told Ole Miss before the season, hey, you're making the Final Four, they'd be like, all right. Yep, we're walking.

[Chip Patterson]

That's good.

[Bud Elliott]

You know, deal or no deal? You're hitting that deal button, right? I think it's proof of concept you can sell to your fan base. Hey, we. We are capable of this, right?

[Tom Fenelli]

That's that's what I think is that they had. They still have never played for the SEC championship. The SEC championship game has been held since 1992, and some of the reasons they haven't done it were like, what, a 4th and 20 with Hunter Henry.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Tom Fenelli]

Did I reference this with y' all the other day? I still need to go back and rewatch it. But it's like the, the margins that they have had where even the best teams have had these stupidest ways of not getting there. And you mentioned not making the playoff last year. Why did that happen? Lost to Florida. That probably shouldn't have happened. A loss to Kentucky. That 100% should not have happened.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fenelli]

And you know all the myth around the Kentucky loss. But let's put all that to the side. You know, like, I just, I, I, I think that for all Ms. To your point, bud, it's the proof that you felt like had continued to be snatched out. Like, you finally got to kick the football. Was the field goal good? No. But Lucy didn't pull it away from you, so they had a chance. They didn't get it done. They got beat by a really, really good team. And you know what else? This is the other funny thing I've had, like, my One of my final landing spots about Miami. Miami was the top 10 team to start the year. They were probably a top 10 team all damn year long. They made some awful mistakes against Louisville and smu, as college teams sometimes do, but they're finishing the year as a top 10 team that got hot in the playoffs.

[Chip Patterson]

They also reigned in their quarterback.

[Tom Fenelli]

Like, this is. This makes sense. This is not a crike. It is wild because of how bad Miami has wanted to be back. But it should not be wild that a top 10 team going into the year with top 10 talent all through the season was able to put it all together, win some huge games. So it's all, I mean, talk about constantly bumping your head against the ceiling and not fulfilling your projections and your talent level. It's all Miami's done for 20 years. Mario Cristobal did it in year four. So the run continues for the Canes. Anything else on on the Miami front you want to highlight before we spend 10 days previewing their national championship opponent when we find out?

[Chip Patterson]

Miami front now.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean, they built it really the way Mario wanted to build. I do think what they're doing with the quarterback in the transfer portal stuff is interesting. Like, they're not really doing the high school quarterback thing much at all. They're not Spending big in high school quarterback. Like they I think are very likely to portal this thing again next year. Is it worth it just to pay up for more certainty and like pay the premium? Just go get a veteran quarterback every year as opposed to trying to develop one in house. And, and because like the good ones, you got to pay for them at a high school and you develop like clearly like offensive lineman, defensive lineman, you kind of have to go get those guys that appears from high school, especially like if you see what's in this.

[Tom Fenelli]

Year'S portal, I mean this seventh year quarterback did just what he needed to do.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fenelli]

Today.

[Chip Patterson]

Finance wise, you've got a veteran offensive line and a veteran defensive line which Mario has built. Now that those guys are gone and leaving, can you still afford to invest in quarterbacks the way that you have the last few years?

[Bud Elliott]

I, I think, I think they are continuing to spend pretty heavily on offensive defensive line in high school. I don't think that their hit rate is likely to be quite as special. You know, like Okalola, who's playing for them on the inside was a five star tackle who they had to kick inside because Markel Bell ended up being a great juco. And Francis, you know, Kiki Malanoa is or Francis Mano is awesome. Right, right. They got Brockermeyer as a transfer, but like most of that line is Inez Cooper and those guys are homegrown. You know, the D line is mostly like Moton Bane. Mazador was a transfer way back from West Virginia, right?

[Tom Fenelli]

Yeah, he was. He transferred in for year one of.

[Bud Elliott]

Mario, so he was 21 or 22.

[Tom Fenelli]

He did two years at West Virginia. He's on his fourth year with Miami. They.

[Bud Elliott]

Oh, here's a Miami thing I was thinking about. They have had like remarkable bounce back in terms of guys who were hurt last year who ended up like staying very healthy this year and playing really well. Like me, Fletcher Mesador. Bane was dinged for a good bit last year and all those guys were like, you know, hey, what if all those guys stayed pretty healthy this year and played to their max capability.

[Tom Fenelli]

Bryce Fitzgerald, true freshman on the defensive side, a guy who's gotten some, some snaps out there. But yeah, there, I mean, look, Lightfoot.

[Chip Patterson]

Has to put some weight on, but he's good.

[Tom Fenelli]

He's good.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

Oh right. I mean they got Motori from Rutgers who like used to be a stud, had some big time injury stuff at Rutgers and this year he's healthy. Like, like they kind of Dodgers esque, you know, it's like, oh, this guy's always gonna hurt. But now he's healthy for us.

[Chip Patterson]

Jesus. Unless he's a pitcher.

[Tom Fenelli]

Hot stove. Bud, that's your third baseball reference.

[Chip Patterson]

I know. Let's just hype. Today was arbitration day. Bud's feeling pretty good. That's the day when the Rays start trading everybody.

[Bud Elliott]

At least we're getting our stadium back.

[Tom Fenelli]

All right.

[Bud Elliott]

On the look ahead stuff, or do we hit a break?

[Tom Fenelli]

No, you know, we're. We're pretty much good on that.

[Bud Elliott]

Regardless of the opponent, the secondary Miami is going to face is going to be way better than the two they faced so far. Yeah.

[Tom Fenelli]

Or. Sorry.

[Chip Patterson]

No, no, no, no.

[Tom Fenelli]

Sorry.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, right.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

No, Buckeye's way better. Excuse me. But then the one they face tonight, like, that will be a major step up.

[Tom Fenelli]

There is. Go ahead, Tom.

[Chip Patterson]

No go.

[Tom Fenelli]

They will be underdogs, right?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, probably. They will definitely be underdogs in Indiana.

[Tom Fenelli]

Right? We'll see. Amazing, amazing times. The Miami Hurricanes will be wearing road uniforms when they step out on the field in Hard Rock stadium on Monday, January 19th. We will find out their opponent on Friday night. Congratulations to. To the Miami Hurricanes. My, oh, my. My, My, oh, my. What, what, what? That scene will be all right.

[Chip Patterson]

We will be back. I do have one question for you, too. For us, we're at the very end of the show. Lane's happy they lost, right?

[Tom Fenelli]

Yes.

[Bud Elliott]

Okay.

[Chip Patterson]

Just making sure. Great.

[Tom Fenelli]

Our friend David Hale shared a clip. He and Andrew Adelson, you know, obviously do fantastic work on ACC Network. And they had the desk in the stadium. They had Jimbo in there. And Jimbo did not mean to go as. As hard in as he did, but he kind of wandered into it. Right. You know, this is going to surprise you. Jimbo's mouth was maybe moving faster than his mind, and he was explaining the difficulties. Right. And like, the. What he believed. He's. He was starting to be very fair and honest about what he thought was a miscalculation that Lane thought when he told all those assistants they could go coach, he thought they were going to lose in the quarterfinals. Right. And just sort of, you know, describing that. So, yeah, I'd. I think if Ole Miss had kept this thing going, I don't think Lane. I don't know if even. Even if Lane Kiffin had more buyout money or bonus money getting paid his way one way or the other, and may or may not have gotten a ring shipped to him if they won the national championship. I think having that conversation continue, it's not great for Lane Kiffin Enterprises. Bud, what's your thought there?

[Bud Elliott]

I agree. Like, yeah, you definitely don't want the school you left because you didn't think you could win a title there. Winning the title without you.

[Tom Fenelli]

Yeah, but this, I mean, and now Charlie comes back, right? You already called Jo Cox back. You already called Kevin Smith back. Like, you've, you. You already did the like. All right, playtime's over, boys. Come on now. Back to the big table. Like, you've, you've already done the incredibly demeaning acts to this Ole Miss team of having to call back the other assistants to have to keep this thing going would be a little bit uncomfortable. So, yeah, this, that, that storyline is done. The Miami staff, obviously all locked in, no distractions there. Just looking ahead to the national championship game. We will be back Friday night at the conclusion of Indiana and Oregon where we will break down that game and preview the national championship game. So come and hang out YouTube.com cover3 and you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Fenelli. You can follow him at Buddh Elliot 3. Follow me at chip Underscore Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[Chip Patterson]

Thank you.

[Bud Elliott]

See ya.

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