Upon Further Review: College Football Playoff Projections, Poll Rankings Reactions, More! | Cover 3

Summary

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Cover 3 College Football Podcast

Episode: Upon Further Review: College Football Playoff Projections, Poll Rankings Reactions, More!

Date: November 3, 2025
Hosts: Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Danny Kanell

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the Cover 3 crew takes a deep dive into the aftermath of a pivotal college football weekend. They break down the fallout from key injuries (notably Nebraska’s QB Dylan Raiola), dissect new AP Top 25 rankings with their trademark 'Pole Assassin' segment, reevaluate coaching carousel turbulence (including the Auburn and Colorado situations), and offer further review insights on controversial coaching futures and conference strength narratives. Tuning in, listeners will gain detailed reaction and analysis to college football’s latest drama, playoff pathways, and administrative shake-ups — with plenty of sharp wit, heated debates, and inside jokes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dylan Raiola’s Injury and Nebraska’s Implications

[03:10–09:50]

• Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola is out for the season, a hammer blow to a Cornhusker team with emerging Big Ten momentum.
• Danny Kanell notes the dual impact: Raiola’s development trajectory and how this impacts Nebraska’s recruiting, especially in the portal-centric transfer era.

  "If I was him, I'd start recruiting guys... that’s what I would be doing if I was him." – Danny Kanell [04:43]

• Discussion on backup T.J. Lateef’s readiness; consensus is he’s raw and Nebraska will have growing pains.
• Tom Fornelli highlights Matt Rhule’s raised program floor but acknowledges a probable 6–6 finish after previously higher expectations with Raiola healthy.
• Quick comparison of recent high-profile coaching hires, crediting Rule and Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame as relative successes.

2. Pole Assassin: AP Top 25 Rankings Rant

[10:00–19:50]

• Tom Fornelli goes in on Tennessee being ranked despite three losses and weak wins:

  "The only reason Tennessee is still ranked is because it was ranked to begin the year." – Tom Fornelli [11:18]

• Spirited debate over why voters don’t decisively rank or drop teams, and the “recency bias” versus “resume” quandary.
• Miami's placement versus Notre Dame becomes a flashpoint for how head-to-head, resume, and timing sway perceptions.
• Discussion extends to SEC coaches’ PR savviness (Kirby Smart) versus ACC narratives (Mario Cristobal), highlighting how conference messaging tilts broader rankings and media takes.

  "The SEC is sending you pictures of their entire family ... Meanwhile, the ACC is a broken home." – Tom Fornelli [18:30]

3. Coaching Carousel & Hot Seat Watch

[22:53–41:13]

• Hugh Freeze is OUT at Auburn; Cover 3 search firm assesses potential replacements.
• Danny Kanell floats interim and upstart names like John Sumrall and DJ Durkin, weighs the ethics and strategy of coaches leaving group-of-six schools before bowl season.
• Tom Fornelli wonders who the next power-conference job opening will be — speculates potential shake-ups at Colorado (if Deion Sanders steps aside), South Carolina, Maryland, and others.
• The quarterback transfer carousel is noted as big a potential offseason story as the coaching cycle.

4. Program Pressure & “Brilliantly Boring” Wins

[32:09–38:45]

• Florida State’s methodical win over Wake Forest is lauded as a rare, stabilizing, “brilliantly boring” victory that helps quiet the noise around the program.

  "A brilliantly boring win was exactly what the Noles needed." – Danny Kanell [37:40]

• But questions linger about Mike Norvell’s job security and the expectations tied to FSU’s final stretch.

5. Clemson’s Future and Dabo Swinney Scrutiny

[41:13–45:59]

• Discussion shifts to Dabo Swinney’s inability to adapt, particularly his reluctance toward the transfer portal:

  "I think Dabo needs to step up and say, 'I was wrong.' ... We don’t need 30 or 40 guys, but if we take 10 to 15 we could have this thing right back." – Danny Kanell [43:05]

• Tom Fornelli is skeptical any change will come:

  "What has Dabo ever shown us in his tenure to make you think he’s just suddenly going to give up on his beliefs?" [43:37]

• Spicy hypotheticals: Would Dabo work at Florida State in a post-Norvell world?

6. Conference Race Parity & Playoff Projections

[53:47–59:41]

• Tom Fornelli brings data: SEC's “meat grinder” reputation, how middle-of-the-pack teams benefit from a weak bottom.
• Comparison to other conferences: is the SEC really deeper, or does every conference have this middle-feeding dynamic?
• Playoff committee scrutiny looms: debates over conference superiority (Big Ten’s top-heavy field vs. SEC's depth) are set to dominate media and selection room talk.

7. Under-the-Radar Storylines from “Upon Further Review”

[49:11–67:02]

• Revisiting historic NC State–Georgia Tech upsets and emotional moments for Dave Doeren.
• Shout-out to Luke Altmyer (Illinois) for individual brilliance.
• UTSA's Alamo Dome dominance:

  "Since the start of 2021, UTSA is 27 and 3 at home." – Chip Patterson [63:56]

• Discussion on how thin the margins are for coach retention (e.g., Baylor's Dave Aranda potentially needing two more wins to save his job).
• The capstone: College football is a "dumb sport followed by dumb people and run by dumber people." – Tom Fornelli [68:03]

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Notable Quotes

• “The only reason Tennessee is still ranked is because it was ranked to begin the year.”
  – Tom Fornelli [11:18]

• “If I was him, I'd start recruiting guys... along the offensive line, probably, specifically, I'd probably start there.”
  – Danny Kanell on Dylan Raiola [04:43]

• “The ACC is a broken home. Meanwhile, the SEC is sending you pictures of their entire family ...”
  – Tom Fornelli [18:30]

• “A brilliantly boring win was exactly what the Noles needed.”
  – Danny Kanell on FSU over Wake Forest [37:40]

• “I think Dabo needs to step up and say, I was wrong. We can make our roster better by going to the portal.”
  – Danny Kanell [43:05]

• “This is a dumb sport followed by dumb people and run by dumber people.”
  – Tom Fornelli [68:03]

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Key Timestamps: Segment Guide

• [03:10] Nebraska’s injury loss and season outlook
• [10:00] AP Poll “Pole Assassin” critique
• [18:00] Conference packaging: SEC vs ACC narratives
• [22:53] Auburn coaching search and carousel rundown
• [31:07] Colorado, FSU, South Carolina – next jobs to open?
• [37:40] ‘Brilliantly Boring’ win: FSU over Wake Forest
• [41:13] Clemson’s crossroads: Will Dabo change?
• [49:11] Upon Further Review: NC State, Illinois, UTSA’s home dominance
• [53:47] SEC, conference parity, playoff implications
• [61:55] Why home field matters, UTSA and Alabama stats
• [67:13] Coaching firings: how tenuous is the final weeks' impact?

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Tone, Style & Takeaways

The discussion is candid, irreverent, and packed with in-the-weeds analysis, but full of jokes and honesty about college football’s volatility and absurdity. Whether you’re an AP poll nerd, a coaching carousel diehard, or a playoff argument aficionado, this episode brings the full coverage — poking holes in narratives, spotlighting truly “boring” greatness, and keeping fans ahead of the coming week’s watercooler debates.

For diehard CFB fans and casuals alike, this episode is your one-stop reset for where the season (and sport) stand as the playoff, rankings, and firing dominos start to fall.

Transcript

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Tom Fernelli]

Welcome.

[Danny Cannell]

Back to the COVID 3 podcast with.

[Tom Fernelli]

Your hosts, Chip Patterson, Tom Fernelli, Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott. It's your call for the best college football coverage from national signing day to.

[Danny Cannell]

The national championship and everything in between.

[Tom Fernelli]

CBS Sports presents the COVID 3 podcast.

[Chip Patterson]

And welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fenelli, that's Danny Cannell, I'm Chip Patterson coming to you [e-mail] cover3 and everywhere you 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 Ian has a very important question. Gents, are we doing a live reaction show to the playoff rankings tomorrow night? Darn right we are. Okay. YouTube.com cover three tentative start time 8:15pm Eastern time. We'll be going live probably as the top 25 is still being revealed. We realized that, you know, we, we went, you know, as soon as the top 25 is out, we'll go live. But man, last year as we were waiting to go live, saw the tailgate was jumping. So hey, we're just gonna join the party we'll hang out, we'll watch it all together. For the audio listeners, we might do a little bit of a reset before we do the full breakdown, but 8:15 is our scheduled start time. The release show starts at 8, but they say it's going till 8:45. Tom 45 minutes for rankings for this show.

[Tom Fernelli]

I'm pumped. We're going to talk about numbers.

[Chip Patterson]

But so that will be one of two shows that we've got for you again Tuesday, 8:15pm Eastern time YouTube.com cover three earlier in the day, our regular noon Eastern time show on CBS Sports Network. But as you are joining us here today, as we are getting going, it is upon further review, we are going to give you some of our final notes from the weekend. We are going to be looking at the new AP Top 25 in Pole Assassin. We've got our PNC brilliantly boring wins of the week with a team that hits a little close to home. And more on the coaching carousel as we continue to track fallout from Hugh freezes, firing, hot seat watch and even some assistant coaches on the carousel. But we begin with some news that we were not able to address during yesterday's emergency reaction podcast because it came a little bit later on in the day. It is that Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola is out for the year. In the instant reaction show, we mentioned that the win for USC was a little bit of a okay, you won. But everybody who watched that game understood that Nebraska was bringing the fight. And then the team just changed as soon as Dylan was knocked out of that game. Incredibly disappointing for Matt Rule and the Cornhuskers in a season with where they were lurking exactly where they wanted to be right there. We talked about them, Danny. We talked about the middle of the Big Ten all the way back to Big Ten media days and wondered if Nebraska was going to be a team right there in the mix of that pack. They were there, but obviously big adjustments to our expectations now that they lose their QB1, what's the path forward for Dylan, for Nebraska, Matt Rul and more.

[Danny Cannell]

One wish still. And Raol are the best, right? You want to see him healthy. You see him, you know, come back full speed next year. I think Matt Rule coming back does signal like these two are going to be coming back next year. So I think you've kind of laid a foundation where for Dylan Raiola now you start recruiting guys. I mean, essentially if I was a quarterback and this the portal atmosphere that we're in, that's what I would be doing if I was him going out trying to attract more talent to throw to along the offensive line, probably, specifically, I'd probably start there. And then from the other aspect, Nebraska's standpoint, where did they go from here? I don't know if they can rely on Emmett Johnson to do that without much of a pass game, you know, because I think we saw some limitations with what they were able to do with their backup coming in the game. And TJ Lateef, I heard you guys talking about it on the post game reaction show. It was little bit dicey. You know, they're going to have to open him up. They can't just, you can't just try to cover somebody up. He's going to get exposed at some point. You're going to have to have him make some plays. And as much as I know Tom's taking some heat for his takes on Dylan Raiola, like, at least it's been way better than it was before he got there, which was some of the worst quarterback play in the Big Ten and maybe the country. And you just wonder what can they salvage from this season, which felt like such a momentum builder. They're an underdog at UCLA this weekend, you know, so like I, I just. But I think if you're Matt Rule, you got the extension, you have an excuse, you just kind of go all.

[Chip Patterson]

In next year and you're bowl eligible.

[Danny Cannell]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

You know, like, I, I'm not, I am not suggesting that you should be happy if this turns into a huge losing streak to finish the year, but it might and it might. And if it does, at least, you know, you have avoided that. You're able to just stack those success. I mean, Matt Rule signed the extension and it brought a lot of conversation about Matt Rule. Well, how good has he been? You know, and I just think that when you compare Matt Rule not to James Franklin's record at Penn State, but to the record of Nebraska football prior to him arriving, he's delivering on raising the floor. And if, you know you're able to be bowl eligible even when you lose your star quarterback, you know, I'm, I will be very curious to see what the, what the development plan is sort of throughout the depth chart the rest.

[Danny Cannell]

Of the way for the Cornhuskers.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah, I mean, the injury sucks for everybody involved. Like the, the loss knocks them out of the playoff picture. And I mean, clearly, you know, now you probably can't expect to keep winning even if your playoff odds were slim. But now that you've lost Raiola, they're done because you lost that game. And like T.J. lateef came in. He's a true freshman. He's, he was a, He's a composite four star. He's three star at 24 7. But like, you didn't bring him to Nebraska with the idea that he was going to be playing this year. He is a development quarterback, somebody you're planning on having in the system for a few years and hopefully he can take over as a starter down the road. The plan was Raiola is our starter this year. Raiola will be our starter next year. Now Raiola will be back next year in all likelihood. I mean, you're probably going to hold on to him in the portal. You've committed that money to Rule. You'll probably commit the money to Rayola to make sure he stays. So there is the silver lining of, well, it's not like it's a bad injury, but it's not the kind of injury that's going to completely tank us for next season. So that's good. But as far as the rest of this season is concerned, while I expect Lateef will look better going forward because now they'll actually be able to prepare for games with Latif as their quarterback instead of having to throw them in in the middle of a pretty tight spot. I just don't know if you can look at this week's game going on the road against UCLA and feel great about it. Then you're at Penn State the week afterwards, which, yeah, they're down to their backup quarterback, too, but that will be like his third or fourth game game. So they'll be in a much better spot than you are. And then you finish with an Iowa team that looks pretty damn good. So there's a very real shot that Nebraska finishes 6 and 6. And considering where this team was just, you know, a few days ago with what they had in front of them and the potential, like it's a huge blow and, and it's. Nobody's going to be happy with a 6 and 6 season, but it's like this was a team that was trending on the way better. So you're going to have to kind of find the balance of how disappointed should I be? And what do we think going next year?

[Chip Patterson]

Is Matt ruled the most successful hire of that coaching carousel cycle?

[Tom Fernelli]

I don't remember everybody else in that song.

[Chip Patterson]

I'll give you a couple. All right. Brent Venables at Oklahoma would have an argument, but Billy Napier at Florida has been fired. Brian Kelly at LSU has been fired. Lincoln Riley at usc. We'll see you know those, those were two right there. That. Oh, I guess Marcus Freeman, that'd be the most.

[Tom Fernelli]

I would say Marcus Freeman's been more successful.

[Chip Patterson]

I would say so too. Yes. You make a national title game. Yeah, 100%, I think.

[Tom Fernelli]

I mean, Riley in his first year went 11 and three, got to the Pac 12 championship and then has been bad since. Well, not bad, but like USC and Oklahoma are currently still in the running for playoff spot. So I don't know if I could say Rule has been more successful than they have, but I think he's been a success.

[Chip Patterson]

It was just, you know, as all these other coaches from that cycle are getting fired, Matt Rule signs an extension. You're just again, just taking a step back, looking at what we've got. Matt Rule now with a great coaching challenge. He will earn. I tell you what, Matt, you go earn that extension money these next couple weeks, boy, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta piece this thing together. Figure out a way to try to get a couple wins as they continue to move ahead. All right. Every single Monday we do like to hold those voters feet to the fire. It is a look at the new AP Top 25. We call it Pole Assassin. All right, new AP Top 25 poll released on Sunday. Top seven, no changes, but a whole lot of shuffling within the top 25. That's because teams like Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech and Miami and Tennessee and Cincinnati all lost and all fell more than a half dozen spots. That led to a big jump up for the Oklahoma Sooners up seven spots to number 11. The Texas Longhorns also up seven spots to number 13. The Utah Utes up seven spots as well. Tom, either the rankings as a whole. Any in particular ballots do you want to address? Head to head losses, not mattering if it happens in the Red River Rivalry.

[Tom Fernelli]

And there's. There's a lot to go this week. I'm going to start with the lowest hanging fruit in my opinion and we talked about this on Saturday night. There was going to be one three loss team in the top 25. We all knew who it was going to be. And it's Tennessee. Tennessee hanging out at 23 with guys like Pete Yanity putting them at 15 on their ballot. Oh, I. Tennessee is 6 and 3. It is played three ranked teams. It has lost to all three of those ranked teams. Two of them were at home. If you look at its wins, you would argue that its best win is Mississippi State. Its three SEC wins have been Mississippi State, Arkansas and Kentucky. Three teams that are combined. Let me see here two and 14 in SEC play. What has this team done to tell you that it deserves to be ranked over other possible 2 loss power 4 teams or even other 3 loss power 4 teams who have better wins and maybe better losses than you do. So the only reason Tennessee is still ranked is because it was ranked to begin the year. And it is the same thing we get with. And I'm not. Again, I don't hold it against the voters because it's a tough thing to do, these ballots every week and it is time consuming to put a lot of thought into it. But it's just human nature that it is easier to move a team down than it is to spend five minutes thinking of a team you should put in. And that's what happens. So Tennessee just gets slid down instead of people doing the kind of constructive thinking of like well what about this team? I haven't ranked them but maybe it's about time I do. So like I was not ranked but Tennessee is. Explain that to me.

[Danny Cannell]

The old close losses, they're the best three close loss team in the country.

[Tom Fernelli]

Well, they lost by 17 to Alabama though.

[Danny Cannell]

It is, it is fairly ridiculous. I do want to, I did want to hit on. So I feel like I've been a defender of Miami. I mean even after they lost to Louisville, I was saying hey, they still could win the national championship and they did not look good against smu. I still think SMU is a pretty good football team. So I don't think that should be a devastating loss. And yet it's such a recency bias thing which we all get caught up in. How the heck is Notre Dame and Miami so far apart? Like I wouldn't have a problem if you had Notre Dame above them even though they did lose the head to head. But Miami's body of work I think overall is significantly better than Notre Dame's and yet they're not even close in the eight spots. Different for the Canes, I think is completely ignoring the on the field results.

[Tom Fernelli]

I'm going to push back a little on their resume being significantly better than Notre Dame. I mean they beat Notre Dame. That that's, you know, like they are.

[Chip Patterson]

Both six and two teams and there is a head to head result that has, you know, Notre Dame losing at Miami by three points.

[Tom Fernelli]

But Miami's best win is South Florida. And I'm not not denigrating the Bulls. They're a good team like, but Notre Dame has played similar teams and won those games. Their other wins are Stanford, Florida State, Florida, Bethune, Cookman, like that those aren't great. And they've played two other good teams besides Notre Dame in Louisville and smu and they've lost them both. So I mean, I don't think their overall resume is that much better than Notre Dame's, but the fact that they have the head to head win should probably carry a little more weight. But again, it's just the same process. Where were they this week? Okay, slide them down because they lost, this team won. Keep them the same or move them up.

[Chip Patterson]

Well, all right, so this, we talk about, you know, rankings versus ratings a lot. You know, like, are you a power ratings type person when you fill out a ballot or are you a rankings who judge the resume or the whole body of work? I mean, Tom, you've, you've done power rankings before. I mean, one of my first, like blogging gigs was an NBA power rankings weekly assignment for a website called the Hoop Doctors. And I think in those kinds of assignments, when you're given a ballot and you're doing it every week, you are very prone to recency bias. One of those teams has won six games in a row, the other one's lost two of three. So even like, and I don't know whether that's a fair thing or not, but if you're just giving it every single week, you're saying, how do they fall far apart? Because every time I look up, one of these teams is losing or tied 7, 7 at halftime.

[Danny Cannell]

And then that is such like luck of the draw because I, you know, I had some people this morning hit me up on X. They're hat they think I hate Notre Dame.

[Tom Fernelli]

So.

[Danny Cannell]

And they're like, well, Notre Dame's gotten better for six weeks in a row. Are we sure? Did we watch against Boston College? Like, C.J. carr struggled somewhat, like, yes, they've won six in a row. But if you had the Miami Notre Dame game happen two weeks ago and you had the Texas A and M game happen this weekend, Notre Dame probably would be well below Miami if they happen. And like, as we judge things based on resumes, like timing does matter, which doesn't seem right the way we select our teams. I get that it comes into play. And again, like, I think Miami, I, I think a lot of these will solve themselves and Miami's not very good. Maybe they lose another game and it's a non factor. But when we get to that point where we stack up their resumes, if Miami does win out, they would have better opportunities and better wins. Well, they do have a common opponent. Right. They both play pit still left. So maybe that's one you could glean from it. Where Miami could have an opportunity to make some ground on Notre Dame or.

[Chip Patterson]

Pitt could have an opportunity to beat them both.

[Danny Cannell]

Miami looked awful. They didn't look like a playoff team to me. But I think that's also. And I know Tom wanted to do something about this. Like Kirby Smart. And boy, these coaches are geniuses. Absolute geniuses. Because you're watching the Florida game and I'm thinking these two teams don't look that good. Like either one of them. Like Florida's playing out of their mind. But I'm thinking Georgia. Are we sure they're one of the best teams in the country? And then what does Kirby do? As soon as he gets a microphone in his front of his face after the game, he's like, well, I tell you what, that Florida team, boy, that billionapier's got one of the best rosters. He assembled one of the best rosters in the country and this was one of the best. This is what happens in the SEC when you go week in, week out. Oh, man. Instead, when Mario gets beat, he's complaining about bad calls and this as opposed to saying, you know what? That SMU team was in the playoffs last year. They're a really good football team. This shows you how tough it is to play in the acc. They don't do that. The messaging from the SEC is so on point that it's all of them. They preach that narrative and it helps them all.

[Chip Patterson]

I will say Mario, crystal ball had to have been thinking. I mean, I'm not. We can't be count. We can't be counting on Mario Cristobal for a lot these days. No, we definitely can't count on him to handle the messaging to represent the ACC.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean, I.

[Chip Patterson]

If I'm Jim Phillips, PhD, MD, there's no way that I'm picking up the phone and being like, Mario, come on, man. Like, you were right. Why couldn't you do that for us? I mean, why couldn't you do that for us? That was win as a double digit favorite against the netsu team that just lost awake for us 1312.

[Tom Fernelli]

The ACC is a broken home. Meanwhile, the SEC is sending you pictures of their entire family. The mom, the dad, and the 10 kids all wearing the same outfit in like the pumpkin patch every fall. Yep.

[Danny Cannell]

Even though they're probably fighting every day behind closed doors.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah. But that's not what matters. It's not what matters.

[Chip Patterson]

What it. Mommy, what did daddy do to get us so rich. While he sat on a zoom call and said nothing on my end. Thanks. Oh, man. Good stuff. All right. What. Anything else from the rankings or, or individual ballots? I was a little bit, I mean, I, as I mentioned on Saturday night, an Iowa, a James Madison, a San Diego State 2 loss Pit if you wanted to throw them in there as well. But there were, there were certainly options. North Texas, one lost team. There are some, there's some significant options if you wanted to reach for somebody. But there also wasn't one team that I think is just at least best coming off a result. Iowa was off. So, you know, I will say shout.

[Danny Cannell]

Out to the two voters from last week that probably weren't very impressed with LSU's bye week, like the practices that they had. So they decided to take them out of the top 25 despite the bye week. Like, good for them. They were probably. We're watching some film.

[Tom Fernelli]

But there was, there was one ardent supporter shout out to Kirk Kenny at the San Diego Union Tribune who's holding strong, still has LSU at 22 on his ballot. Tennessee is at 17. I mean, you know, what losses, you got to put them in the context, you know, like losing games. Yeah, I mean, I guess it matters a little bit, but where were you supposed to be at this point of the year? That's what I care about.

[Chip Patterson]

So funny. All right, coming up on the other side, we continue as we look at the coaching carousel and the fallout from Hugh Freezes firing upon further review and more nukes. Whether you're raising a glass to your team, winning, catching up with old buddies back in town, or just trying to stay sane with the house full of relatives, how you feel the next morning, stuff still matters. That's why you can try pre alcohol zebiotics. Pre alcohol probiotic drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists specifically to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. It's the buildup of this byproduct now, not dehydration, that's really to blame for those rough next days. Pre alcohol produces an enzyme that breaks this byproduct down so you can feel your best tomorrow. Just remember to make pre alcohol your first drink of the night. And of course, drink responsibly. Had a big night with some of my best friends from high school recently. It was a steak night. And of course in that kind of night, when you might have a cocktail, you might have some wine with dinner and of course a big meal, you know, you knew there was going to be a lot going on in the gut. But my friend showed up, he had the prebiotic from ZBiotics and sure enough, the next morning felt a lot better. No sluggishness, no regrets. Make the most of every toast, tailgate and touchdown this holiday season. Just don't forget to bring pre alcohol along for the ride. Go to ZBiotics.com cover to learn more and more and get 15% off your first order when you use code COVER at checkout. ZBiotics is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you are unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to zbiotics.com cover and use code cover at checkout for 15% off.

[Danny Cannell]

It's football season and you gotta keep up with the action.

[Chip Patterson]

Listen in to Pushing the Pile part of CBS Sports Podcast network with Mike Renner, Kyle Long, and now me, JP Acosta for smart analysis of everything between the lines.

[Danny Cannell]

With four episodes a week Sunday night.

[Chip Patterson]

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[Danny Cannell]

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[Chip Patterson]

Stick with us until one team lists the Lombardi download and follow Pushing the.

[Danny Cannell]

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[Chip Patterson]

Podcasts are found back here on the COVID 3 podcast. You know, it was, I think the fifth Sunday of the season with an emergency reaction pod. Those sirens in your feed as we sit here Preparing for week 11. So we've got more to learn there some assistant coaching carousel news. So let's hop on that carousel. All right. As we mentioned on the emergency pod, there's no surprise to the news that Hugh Freeze is out at Auburn. Whether you were tracking the offensive production or the T sheet, you had a feeling that something might be coming on Sunday afternoon was the T sheet.

[Danny Cannell]

His wife's name was the stamp, the placeholder. Yeah, every 1:30 at very Sunday.

[Tom Fernelli]

You know how, you know how that works.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fernelli]

It's just an avid golfer. Right.

[Chip Patterson]

So, Danny, let's, let's fire up the old, the old Cover 3 search firm. What, what do you think are going to be some of the fallouts and next steps now that Auburn is open and has joined the the conversation, it's.

[Danny Cannell]

Just gonna get wilder and crazier. Although what I'm kind of more intrigued by is a lot of these guys that we have discussed as top candidates are all getting their contracts. We worked and staying at the places they are, which I think is great for college football. You know, the fact that we saw Rhett Lashley on Friday, I. I think it's great for the acc. I think it's great for smu. I think that's huge for them. Matt Rule in Nebraska. So I do think some of the talent pool from the obvious choices is starting to dwindle somewhat. I wonder if Lane Kiffin, you know, is looking around saying, man, like, maybe I should just go ahead and re up now and announce it so it goes away. So I do think it's going to be even better for the top group of five coaches, some of the top coordinators that are in this pool that might be considered. And I also think it could be good for some of these interim coaches that are at spots like a Tim Skipper at ucla, let's say they went out. Maybe that's one where UCLA decides to go there. And I do think for DJ Durkin, who, if you look at this Auburn team and the way their defense has outperformed the offense, which was the majority of the problem, I just wonder if he could somehow. Now, their schedule is not easy, but I don't think it's crazy to think. I mean, how do you find something on offense? You can't call plays on that side of the ball. But if he somehow pulls off an upset or two is. Do these schools start looking at potentially at the interim guys, especially with the candidate pool starting to dwindle of the guys staying at their respective schools.

[Chip Patterson]

Tom, we need to know. It sounds like the Auburn boosters got to Danny.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. The Auburn boosters that want DJ Durkin to have this job, they've gotten to Danny.

[Danny Cannell]

I think he's a good football coach, good recruiter, really good defensive mind.

[Tom Fernelli]

Don't. You know, you don't worry about anything in his past that might disqualify him from the job.

[Danny Cannell]

No, not at Auburn, but at Maryland. He's already there. No, no, no. I know exactly what you're talking about. I, I thought that was a lot of blame. Put his feet for something that. Yes, he's in charge of the program. I don't think he. I think he got way too much blame for what happened on his watch.

[Tom Fernelli]

I don't think he should be in prison for it, but I don't think I want him running my football program if that's the kind of stuff that might happen under his watch. I, I think consequences for your actions.

[Chip Patterson]

I think that Auburn can field a nasty defense with a lot of different coaches. I just think those are the body types, those are the recruits that You've got. That are going to be. I mean it is not often that Auburn has a straight up porous defense. You know, I just, sometimes they lack for skill position players. Under Hugh Freeze, it was. The quarterback position was not a difference maker. But I, I'm not gonna be like, I'm not ready to give DJ Durkin all the credit for maintaining. And you're right, Auburn's defense has been very good. But I, I think you gotta, you gotta get, you gotta get out in those waters, Danny. You got, you gotta at least see what you got.

[Danny Cannell]

So then I'll dive into the other obvious waters, which is everyone in their brother says John Sumrall is going to Auburn.

[Tom Fernelli]

Seems to be the way the winds are blowing. Yes.

[Danny Cannell]

And I do wonder if they lose to Memphis, would he be more inclined to take this job sooner rather than later? If Auburn says, hey, if you want this, we need you.

[Chip Patterson]

He's a ball coach though. I, I can't. I think that sounds like a.

[Danny Cannell]

But he could leave right after. He's not sticking around for the bowl game.

[Chip Patterson]

No, no, no. That's right. A November 30th announcement.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't, I mean it just. If I'm only saying that would be the earliest possible. I don't see, I don't see him bailing on a team while the season is still going to take another FBS job.

[Tom Fernelli]

I could see him agreeing to take the job before the season's over, but not announcing it until after the season's over like I would. And this is complete speculation on my part. I could see a situation where it's like you prepare for this week's game and then if you lose this week's game, maybe you start talking to your agent about that Auburn job and maybe you start working something out there. But until you lose and while you're still in, you're probably 100 focused on what you could do.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I, I would think also. No, I do. Again, my, my. Right off the cuff. As soon as you mentioned that, I thought about just sort of John Sumrall and the kind of coach that I have observed him to be. Didn't seem like it would be in character. But that is going to be a tough, tough situation if we have a group of six coach straight up bail on their team to go accept a power conference job.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean, I wouldn't fault them.

[Chip Patterson]

I know, but it's just the optics are so bad.

[Danny Cannell]

The optics are what they are because it's different.

[Chip Patterson]

I know. Like you leave, go take an NFL Job. No one freaks out about it. NFL, NFL coach steps down in the middle of a season so that he can go take a college job. Yeah, I don't know. Anyway, Summer all like you mentioned, certainly on the top of that list.

[Danny Cannell]

And I don't think it's that. I don't think it's that distracting. I mean, these guys are not watching film for 24 hours a day.

[Tom Fernelli]

I am, but.

[Danny Cannell]

And trust me, they are all in on their teams. But they do have a free hour a day to talk with their agent. They do have a free hour to pop on a zoom interview that nobody has to know about. So I don't. And I don't think that takes away much from what you're trying to accomplish.

[Tom Fernelli]

I mean, yeah, to your point, it's a job. It's not like I, I know that for fans and the way we treat it, it's like this is life. It's like, nah, man, it's a job. Like they've got other things going on. So. Yeah, no, it'll definitely. It's already happening with plenty of coaches like these con happening. It's just. I feel like it becomes more of a focus if you lose this week than a just a. Hey, you know, this is out there. It's like John Sumrall knows what's out there. All these coaches know what's out there and they know what their goals are and they're going to work towards achieving those goals.

[Chip Patterson]

So who. What's the next job that opens?

[Tom Fernelli]

I. I feel like if Wisconsin was going to open during the season, it would have opened by now. But I, I can't say it won't open. I don't know. I mean, like, have we finally gotten rid of all the SEC coaches that we're going to get rid of? Or is. Is Stoops going to go next? Like, is that. Is that like a. Is, is Sankey bringing that down from the top? Like, listen, this week it's your turn. Next week it's your turn. We're going to dominate the news cycle. He's going full Goodell. He's dictating when you fire your coaches to keep people talking about the league.

[Danny Cannell]

I'll tell you what job might come open, but it might not be a firing. Colorado, two bad, bad losses. And I just look at Dion and I wonder where he is with his health, which has had, you know, he's been struggling with it all off season. He misses this season. He's alluded to complications that he's got and I don't think anybody would blame him. And then I wonder, what does Colorado do? Like, if he says, I'm going to take a hiatus or I'm going to take a break or I'm going to step away, do they clean house with a new staff? Does he put an interim coach in? That's a longer term interim.

[Chip Patterson]

I.

[Danny Cannell]

That is complicated for Colorado.

[Tom Fernelli]

And I think it goes above the coach, too. Like, I think the athletic director is probably kind of tied to that as well.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Tom Fernelli]

Because I don't know, like, Rick George has been there a while. He's hired a lot of coaches. Obviously, I think regardless of the record, I think hiring Dion worked because it brought a whole lot of attention and money to your program. But I just don't know if he gets another shot to hire the next coach.

[Chip Patterson]

God, man, Bud's not even here and somebody else is trying to fire an ad.

[Tom Fernelli]

I'm not trying to fire him. I'm just telling you how it works. Chip.

[Chip Patterson]

No, what you just said, are we sure that that AD is gonna be able to make that higher?

[Tom Fernelli]

I'm sorry, I mean, fellas, who Has Rick George played a good run defense yet this year? Oh, wait, no, wait, I'm doing it wrong.

[Chip Patterson]

The Bud somebody pointed out recently, Bud trying to fire athletic directors is a pretty good bit. I don't know if he's, I don't know if he's tuned into it yet, but it's, it is a valuable part of the coaching carousel politics, you know.

[Tom Fernelli]

But actually interviewing for an athletic director's.

[Chip Patterson]

Job right now, right now, that's true. Tailgate is mentioning South Carolina and you know, this is interesting. So the weekend that Napier got fired, they fired the offensive line coach, switched things up. Now the weekend that Auburn fires its coach, they fired Mike Shula, the offensive coordinator who was supposed to give Lenore Sellers The Cam Newton 2015 MVP kind of offense. So we've just gutted the entire offensive staff. Is, is Beamer going to rebuild this thing from the ground up? Is he going to try to restart the clock somewhere? What's the. It is not, not looking great in terms of South Carolina right now. A little bit under the radar given everything else that's going on in the sec. But the Tailgate's right. It is stinky right now in Columbia. I.

[Tom Fernelli]

I don't, I don't know if Beamer's there next year, but I do feel like if South Carolina fired Beamer in season this year or even after this year, that is a stunning lack.

[Chip Patterson]

Of self awareness in terms of Your job, the other jobs that are open and who you're going to go get.

[Tom Fernelli]

And also just like how it's gone there. Like he's been there for five years. You'll be going to a boat. You know, you've been to a bowl game and three of them. Last year you were in the playoff conversation like you lost a ton off of that team and you play a difficult schedule. Like I, I obviously you're not, you're not sitting there. If they go, you know, 4 and 8, nobody's thrilled about it. But like what are you hoping for? What were your win total to start the season was? 5 and a half.

[Danny Cannell]

What do you think the Lenores Sellers impact of this like if is it similar to Billy Napier with DJ Lagwan now DJ couldn't come out so he was going to be in college somewhere. But I don't. Lenores has not played himself into an NFL draft conversation. So does South Carolina value him enough to say hey we're going to keep Shane one more year because we're worried about losing the Norris possibly. Is that his saving grace? But he hasn't played great.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean does Lenores just go anyway because he's a tool. That's a lot of these quarterbacks that we looked at as the top of the. I wrote a whole story back in August about how the SEC's great return to glory was going to come on the backs of incredible top to bottom quarterback play. Oops.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean because we're, we've talked a lot about this coaching carousel. I think the quarterback carousel is going to be pretty wild too with some of these quarterbacks like DJ Lagway, like Lenora Sellers, some of the group of five guys that are balling out just there's going to be some movement there as well.

[Chip Patterson]

You want to talk about a quarterback in the future, you think Mike Loxley and Malik Washington are tied together. Maryland Today, 4 and 4. Four games left, but two of them are against Michigan and Illinois. So we're like at Rutgers must win. And then they finished the year I believe against Michigan State in the last week of the season.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

So.

[Danny Cannell]

Mike Locksley better hope so.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, stick around and that you can.

[Danny Cannell]

What that was a fake report yesterday. Right. With locks.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

That gained a lot of traction.

[Tom Fernelli]

A lot of people fell for.

[Chip Patterson]

Well that's the problem is there's a lot of reason why people might fall for that and like hit retweet and keep it going in the cycle because they got pants by 45 points on homecoming.

[Tom Fernelli]

Unless it comes from the COVID three account. Folks. It's not worth listening to. We only. We're the real newsbreakers out here.

[Chip Patterson]

I let's. There's. There's another job which we talked about like it was definitely going to be open, but in just a little bit we'll find out why. And now it's time for the Brilliantly Boring Wins of the Week, brought to you by PNC bank, where we highlight the boring actions that make the biggest difference. Because PNC bank helps you keep your money simple. So it's there for every adventure that calls your name. And we talk a lot about how sometimes college football games especially are lost and they are not won. And if you just take care of business and do the simple things, the other team will hand it to you. Like Wake Forest, which handed over multiple turnovers, committed 11 penalties and now look up there, the losing streak. The drought has ended. Danny Canal, your Florida State Seminoles, 42 to 7 winners. I went I did not have this as a main screen on Saturday night. So to go back and look at this game, nothing crazy, nothing over the top, just simple, effective, getting it done on both sides of the ball. What'd you make of the Knowles on Saturday?

[Danny Cannell]

A brilliantly boring win was exactly what the Knowles needed. They played a lot of different guys at running back. Deuce Robinson had a big day. Tommy Castellanos looked healthier coming off that. The defense finally stepped up and started delivering. They were talking about just letting them play, being more aggressive, but I don't know if anybody needed a brilliantly boring win as much as Mike Norvell needed it. And Wake Forest is a good football team. He should have been doing his best. Kirby Smart after the game touting that win being significant. But that was a scary spot for the Knowles to be in after a boring first quarter. 00 I get with some tight, tight people around the stadium and on the sidelines. They got what they needed.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, Wake I think it did not meet the moment. They had been playing well, but they showed up in Florida State, just hung in there. They did the simple things well and when they got their opportunities, they definitely cashed in. Four points. Again, congratulations to Florida State, our brilliantly boring winner of the week.

[Tom Fernelli]

And shout out to Garrett first. Oh, sorry.

[Chip Patterson]

Go ahead, go ahead.

[Tom Fernelli]

No, I was gonna say shout out to Garrett for saying shout out to Florida State fans for resisting the urge to rush the field afterward.

[Chip Patterson]

Listen, there is not a lot of respect being paid to the field. Storming fines that are being handed out in the Atlantic Coast Conference Right now.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

But those were the brilliantly boring wins of the week brought to you by PNC Bank. Brilliantly boring since 1865 brilliantly boring since 1865 is a service mark of the PNC Financial Services Group Inc. PNC Bank National association member FDIC scene. So do you think that obviously one win does not do anything other than cool the temperature, you know, to sort of calm things down at least a little bit. Do you still foresee a change being made at the end of the season? No. Or. See, okay.

[Danny Cannell]

I think it comes down to these last four games. I know. How do you do his Clemson and Florida are two.

[Chip Patterson]

Bit like two games that should matter.

[Tom Fernelli]

Right?

[Danny Cannell]

Right. And you, I mean if you can get to 8 and 4 now, the fan base is going to be split, they're going to be fractured, they're going to want to make a change. But I think this coaching cycle is one that you would kind of want to hold out. Ride one more year with Mike Norvell and then the buyout reduces somewhat. You can make a better, you know, decision and you can give them one more chance to see how they can do. I so I, I think it very much. I'm going to take Michael Alford at his word where he's going to evaluate this thing until the end of the season comes.

[Tom Fernelli]

They ain't going eight and four. Come on.

[Danny Cannell]

No, I know, but I mean by if they went, let's say they, let's say they go seven and five. Their win total was seven and a half.

[Tom Fernelli]

Like that's.

[Danny Cannell]

And I think I went under at the beginning of the year. Like I was like, I don't know if I see it, but we all reset our expectations based on the Alabama game, which was totally understandable. And then you lost. Like let's see how that.

[Chip Patterson]

How bad.

[Danny Cannell]

The Stanford loss is by far in a way the worst one. But if Virginia and Pitt finish is nine or 10 win teams, which is probably going to happen. Yes, I know they're brands that you should be beating, but I don't think it's going to look as bad at the end of the season. So they got to win one of the. First of all, they cannot lose to Virginia Tech or NC State and they have to beat one of, if not both of Clemson and Florida.

[Tom Fernelli]

I say Stockholm syndrome. That whole thing we just heard right now with Stockholm.

[Chip Patterson]

No, no, no, I've got it even better because Mike Norvell, I say this lovingly, is pretty campy. Is that fair? Is it campy a good term? You Know, like super optimist, you know, Very much. Yeah. You know, I mean, I tell you what, guys, you go back, you look, Virginia, Miami, Pitt, Stanford, we're only four plays away from being undefeated. You know, I mean, you can talk yourself into a lot of different outcomes right now, but yeah, the, the Stanford loss is the one that is extremely, extremely concerning, but also sort of the way that they respond. So this time they get the off week, they flush it, they come back and they respond this time with the win and last one here. I, I don't, I don't like to be talking about media business. I'm not very well educated in it, but. Danny, is it true that you're not going to get any ratings bonuses for Florida State, Clemson this week? Is that. Have you heard this, too? This is, this is what I've heard. I don't know if that's the way that this. Is that true that there's no Nielsen rating points for the ACC network?

[Danny Cannell]

It probably is true. Okay, yes, they're probably. But you know what? Neither one of them deserve it. So you get. What you get is Dabo.

[Chip Patterson]

Danny, let's do a quick heat check on that. What's, what's your read on, on Dabo and Clemson?

[Danny Cannell]

So I think Dabo is going to get a lot of pressure that he already's gotten before because you've made the move with Garrett Riley a couple of years ago, even though you didn't want to. You made the move to go get Tom Allen, even though you probably didn't want to. Dabo is notoriously loyal to a fault. I do think the one thing that Dabo could do, and I think he should, is finally address the transfer portal issue and say, you know what? I was wrong. Which I don't know if we've heard Dabo say that before, but I think Dabo needs to step up and say, I was wrong. We can make our roster better by going to the portal. We don't need 30 or 40 guys, but if we take 10 to 15, we could have this thing right back to where we want to get to. And that, I think, is the best outcome of this season for the Clemson Tigers.

[Tom Fernelli]

I don't think he does it.

[Danny Cannell]

Really.

[Tom Fernelli]

I don't. I mean, what, what is Dabo ever shown us in his tenure to make you think he's just suddenly going to give up on his beliefs?

[Danny Cannell]

This will be his worst season by far.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Because he's been able to say, look at these championships, look at these six straight titles. Look at this.

[Chip Patterson]

He.

[Danny Cannell]

He can pound the table with his resume until this year. Now he can't.

[Chip Patterson]

Danny, they're calling him Mike Gundy with title rings. Oh, I know that's what they're calling him. You know, I'm not saying that, but they are calling him Mike Gundy with title rings. Games pass Tyler Spartanberg. I mean, you're not willing to change. I mean, it is so. So the athletic director, Graham Neff, was at the post game press conference. Dabo's cracking jokes. Maybe Graham's gonna fire me. I. I don't know, man.

[Danny Cannell]

Is he a top? Is he. Is he a quick hire at some good school?

[Chip Patterson]

I don't know.

[Danny Cannell]

Not unless he addresses this issue.

[Chip Patterson]

We talked about it with Auburn. The way they say, like, it's Auburn's like Clemson. Wait, does Clemson have to lake, but without a lake? Auburn's like Clemson but without a lake. How to. Then Tom pushed back. He was like, I don't think Auburn would be happy about that.

[Tom Fernelli]

And I don't think Tampa would go to Auburn.

[Danny Cannell]

I think he's back next year. I don't think anything happens.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't think anything happens to him.

[Danny Cannell]

But next year you better see some adjustments.

[Chip Patterson]

But in the same way that, you know, the way that the reporting went, as I understand it, the LSU meeting with Brian Kelly that we talked about, where they're trying to. They're just basically going back and forth about the staff changes that need to be made and the meeting just goes south and they end up pulling the cord. I don't think that Clemson has that. They don't have Dabo in that position to make a similar call. But I bet you that kind of contentious meeting is going to happen and that there's going to be a, like, things have to change. We've got to switch some things up. And maybe, maybe that is on both sides of the ball because the secondary and Mickey Khan is one that a lot of fans have singled out. I could also go to the quarterback position, the running back position. How I know Matt Luke has brought in a lot of, you know, players on the offensive line, but do we think the offensive line is dominant? I think any staff position is up for debate in terms of the future light bulb moment.

[Tom Fernelli]

Mike Norvell sticks around another year. Dabo sticks at Clemson another year. What's the biggest critique of Mike Norvell at Florida State? He's not recruiting through high school. He's too damn reliant on the transfer portal. So who do you bring in? The guy who is going to be able to recruit the hell out of high school in Florida where there's a ton of talent. He's going to bring them in, he's going to develop them. He's going to have monsters and he is going to compete for ACC titles. Dabo Swinney, future Florida State coach.

[Chip Patterson]

Would you take it?

[Tom Fernelli]

You can't turn him down.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah. I think you would take it?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I think so.

[Danny Cannell]

60 million is Dabo's buyout.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. I mean, I don't, I don't think that. I do not think Clemson is going to fire Dabo Sweeney.

[Tom Fernelli]

I will.

[Chip Patterson]

I know that's a controversial statement, but I do not think Clemson is going to fire Dabo Sweeney. I do think that, I do think things are as contentious as they have been.

[Danny Cannell]

So is that the similarity with Mike Gundy, that the contentious relationship with the university?

[Chip Patterson]

No, the similarity with Mike Gundy is that the losing continues and you seem to be okay with it or blaming the surround. Like there's not a lot of, you know, taking in ownership. And the other thing about that, because I couldn't get it out of my mind, Mike Gundy blew up the staff before this season. Right. This was supposed to be the like, last ditch effort. So maybe Dabo gets that chance too. But I mean, they, they still haven't beaten a power conference opponent in Death Valley since October of last year. They go meet at the Paul after all these Ls, it's more like the Paul. Golly. All right, let's have, let's have some happy conversations coming up on the other side. One last chance to go into the week. That was with our observations from week 10 and more next.

[Ryan Wilson]

If you love the NFL and NFL draft, you'll love with the first pick a part of CBS Sports Podcast Network, CBS Sports draft analyst Ryan Wilson and former Titans GM Ran Carthage come to you twice a week to give the front office perspective on the biggest NFL storylines of the day. We also follow the NFL draft closer than anyone. The weekly updates on our favorite college players, names to know based on your favorite NFL team's needs and all the mock drafts and big boards you could want. If you love football, you're exactly where you're supposed to be. Download with the first pick and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere podcasts are found.

[Chip Patterson]

Your fantasy season doesn't end after your draft.

[Danny Cannell]

The Fantasy Football Today podcast is going.

[Chip Patterson]

To get you through the the season and to a championship.

[Danny Cannell]

Fantasy Football Today, part of CBS Sports Podcast Network has episodes every single day. Waiver wire trade talk starter, sit mailbags and more.

[Chip Patterson]

If you want to win your league.

[Danny Cannell]

You need to listen to Fantasy Football Today. Download and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere. Podcasts are found.

[Chip Patterson]

Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. Every single Monday we like to spend some time going under the hood with a look back at the week that was we call it upon further review there were terrible calls. Do we want to go ahead and jump in after further review. After further review. Further review. All right, let's start with something that I did not oftentimes. Not only the late slate, but even that 7:30, 8 o' clock slate when we're trying to get the show organized, when trying to finish tomorrow's top 25 today kind of wrap up the day. Those, those results, I don't always get a chance to to really marinate in them and have some connect some dots and and that's exactly what I was doing as soon as the show was done. I was going through seeing all the videos of the NC State fans rushing the field, seeing Dave Doran's interview and him getting choked up about that. I mean just a huge win for Dave Doran, a huge win for NC State taking down Georgia Tech. But it was also a little bit of poetic justice. Some history here. Okay, so in 2002, Chuck Amato had NC State running hot. He had a quarterback named Philip Rivers and they were off to a rip, roar and start. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and oh North Carolina State was ranked number 10 in the country. ABC put together a Sopranos influence because remember this is 2002. Sopranos is hot on the streets. Woke up this morning, except it's Chuck Amato driving around Raleigh instead of Tony Soprano driving around New Jersey. And we're blowing. He's got the red sunglasses. And then here comes lil old Georgia Tech. A Georgia Tech team led by first year coach Chan Gailey. Bill o' Brien as offensive coordinator. They come in as a heavy Underdog and stun NC State giving 90 NC State their first loss of the season. This is the re reckoning. This is some retribution. Georgia Tech falls in Carter Finley Stadium. 23 years later, NC State fans get to soak it up. I know, I know that's a, that's from another generation. But that was one of the best seasons of NC State football history. The 22,002 season and losing to a very mid Georgia Tech team is kind of one of those games they always point to along the way.

[Tom Fernelli]

Here I thought NC State was just ending their season on a high note. Before basketball started.

[Chip Patterson]

Happy college basketball to everybody. Good luck to the Ion College basketball podcast, our friends Gary Parish, Matt Norlander and more. Are you, are you excited for the Illini, Tom?

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah, of course. Playing Jackson State tonight, I think.

[Danny Cannell]

Yep.

[Chip Patterson]

Went ahead and threw it on. On the record for the dvr. Get it, get it locked and loaded so I can check out. Check out the Euro basket align a little bit later.

[Tom Fernelli]

The Euro line I.

[Chip Patterson]

The Carolina a little bit later.

[Danny Cannell]

Was I think, assistant head coach at Florida State. He was the guy who kind of led all the logistics coming in and out of practice. Barrel chested dude, like just, he looked like he could bench press £400 when he was ahead. When he was an assistant coach. Drove around like a 67 Corvette. I mean, I could see that. I did not see the piece that you're talking about, but I could totally envision it with an Italian last name. I just. He was awesome.

[Chip Patterson]

He was awesome. Yeah. You know, and he, he went to NC State and he was coming off of the. The Florida State staff. And so it was just a, it was a vibe there for a minute. And that 2002 season is the one of. Still remains one of the highlights. I mean, Danny, they threw a parade in downtown Raleigh for winning the Gator Bowl. The. The Gator Bowl. And Chuck Amato, of course, a big part of that. So a little bit of retribution. A good moment for Dave Doran, who had been very much under fire after losing four straight games to FBS opponents. So, yeah, I didn't. The game ended, they were rushing the field. We were starting the podcast. I know we mentioned it a little bit, especially mostly from the Georgia Tech side and the failures there, but I wanted to give our NC State listeners an opportunity to celebrate that as well. Got a couple other things, Tom, I know you've got something for a pun for the review you wanted to highlight.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah, yeah. But first I just want to shout out Luke Altmeyer who. Who had the 323 total yards and five total touchdowns against Rutgers. So I'm wearing my, my Luke Altmeyer designed camo for his nil. I'm helping pay for him because, you know, we pay for good performances around here. But the one thing I did want to mention was I was. I was doing some research into the SEC and like the parody angle of the league because as we talked about earlier, Kirby talking about how it's just so tough to win in the league, and I was like, I want to go cracking into some data here and here's what I got. So 26 of the 43 SEC conference games this year have finished as one score games. Of those 26 wins, Ole Miss, Alabama, Georgia and Texas are responsible for 13 of them. So half of them, Ole Miss has four. Alabama, Georgia and Texas each have three. So I started digging a little further and I was looking at the standings and it's Auburn, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State and South Carolina are responsible for 25 of the 43 SEC conference game losses in league play. 31 of the league. That bottom of the league that is just so tough and can make every single game tough is responsible for 58% of the losses. So a third of the league responsible for over half the losses. And it's like, wow. So clearly the top of the league is feasting on them. So I dug in a little further and no, no, no, no, not so fast, my friends, because here's where it gets interesting. Those five teams are responsible for 11 of the top five teams in the standings, which is Ole Miss, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and A and M. They're responsible for 11 of their 24 SEC wins, which is still a lot. It's 46%, but it's not nearly as much as the 58% of the overall. This suggests that it's the middle of the league that benefits from the bottom of the league far more than it is the top. So the league is being propped up as far as the standings are concerned by the horrible teams in it, but it's the teams in the middle taking advantage of it. So the teams at the top actually legitimately good. Everybody else might be being propped up a little bit.

[Chip Patterson]

I'm so. Man, I'm so glad you explained that with a good takeaway. I mean, of all the COVID 3, everybody in the COVID 3 family, these are the two worst people to try explain math to. Okay. Right.

[Danny Cannell]

Where's Bud when you need him?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, where's Bud? Danny and I get the look, and I've seen it before, of like a golden retriever after it hears a funny sound. Start explaining too many numbers. I get all dizzy. But I was. So my next thought here, Tom, is to say who are those middle tier teams that are being propped up? Because we had, we just showed on YouTube.com cover three the standings with the top five and the bottom five. I guess that would say the Tennessee team that we were roasting in Oklahoma.

[Tom Fernelli]

Vandy, Tennessee, Missoul, LSU and Florida.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, like those teams are benefiting from the weak bottom even more so than the top.

[Tom Fernelli]

And to respond to a comment question in the chat from James Briley, what's the comparison to any other conference? James I did not do this research, but what my theory is, it's probably exactly the same as the other conferences, which further drives home my point. It's really not all that different in the SEC that it is the Big Ten, the ACC or the Big 12. Everybody beats up on the bottom and the teams in the middle benefit the most. But it's the teams at the top that are actually good. I think.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't think it's the same everywhere else because I do think the disparity is different in other conferences like the gap.

[Tom Fernelli]

But if you look at the conference standings right now in the ACC there's a bunch of one loss teams and an undefeated team and there's a whole lot of teams at the bottom with very few wins. If you look at the Big Ten standings, there's a whole bunch of undefeated and one loss teams in the conference and a whole bunch of teams at the bottom with very few wins. If you look at the Big 12, okay, maybe there's a little more parity there, but still it's all very similar. It's just the narrative around what happens in these conferences. Every single week is different. And this is not in the SEC sucks because the SEC is the best conference in football. My ranking system that I do that's based on nothing but results this year in season, every single year rates the SEC better than every other conference. It's just the gap is never as wide as the narrative is or the polls reflect.

[Chip Patterson]

But in this season I do think that one thing that is going to really fuel a lot of the frustrating conference conference v conference conversation that's about to come with the College Football Playoff debates is the fact that the top two teams and probably three of the top five or six in the country, whether you want to use rankings, whether you want to use ratings, are in the Big Ten and then you do a little bit of a drop where the SEC doesn't have all of the front runners that are right there at the top either in the rankings or the ratings, but has more teams right there in the middle. And I think that that and when you've got few teams at the very, very top, the fact they're only going to have but so many games against each other while the sort of thicker A minus B plus crew are playing each other all the time that is going to fuel that meat grinder, you wouldn't live a day on our schedule kind of argument there. And that to me feels different from the Big Ten to the sec and just in terms of the way that the. The good teams are dispersed throughout the standings. Agree.

[Danny Cannell]

But also there's some, there's some bad luck of the schedule for Ohio State, Indiana that they don't play some of the better teams on the back end. Ohio State has Michigan, but go look at Oregon. Oregon plays three what should be top 25 teams like they. Their last month of the season is as tough as anybody in the secs. And yet I haven't heard anybody mention Oregon's home stretch and how much of a gauntlet it's going to be.

[Tom Fernelli]

Oh, because that doesn't fit what we're trying to sell. But I will also mention because you also hear SEC fans and SEC media types talk about how the league is 10 and 4 in non conference against Power 4 competition this year, which is 100. True, they went 10 and 4. The Big 12 is the only other league with a winning record against power four other conferences. But that's propped up by going six and one against the accident. But what you don't Hear is the 10 teams the SEC beat. Would you like to hear them?

[Chip Patterson]

I'd love to. Do you have it?

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah. Virginia Tech twice. Baylor, Clemson, Syracuse, Arizona State, Michigan, Notre Dame. Those are good wins. Although Arizona State's in a bad place now. But it was good win at the time. Kansas and Wisconsin, not exactly a murderer's row of nonconforms.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I hear four bowl teams in those 10 wins. You know, speaking of, by the way, those Oregon Ducks. This very challenging home stretch for the Ducks does begin as our big time game, right at Iowa. Yeah, Oregon at Iowa. Big time on cbs. And the odds makers have the Ducks as a five and a half point favorite. Oh boy. Big game.

[Danny Cannell]

You see Phil Parker's comments?

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, did he do another? They've got a well funded roster.

[Danny Cannell]

Oh, yes he did. Yes he did.

[Chip Patterson]

Oregon first half. You get Oregon first half minus three. Let's go. Statement time. Let's see it. All right, Danny, anything you want to turn our attention to from. From the weekend that was.

[Danny Cannell]

No, I think we hit a lot of it.

[Chip Patterson]

Mikey, do we have that UTSA graphic? Yeah, this one, this one started to. Did y' all know about this? So Jeff Trailer. Jeff Trailer after the game started talking about being in the Alamo Dome as though it truly was this like spiritual transcendent type spot where they've got all this success and they're so hard to beat when they're playing in the Alamo Dome. And I was like, all right, let's let's actually go back and let's, let's put some stats to this and see how it goes. Yeah. If you're watching on YouTube.com Cover 3, since the start of 2021, UTSA is 27 and 3 at home. I was like, okay, well, they've been pretty good since 2021. A lot of double digit win seasons. No even a 60 clip against the spread as well because they've been a favorite in a lot of those situations. And the only losses out of the last 30 home games for UTSA were a triple overtime loss to Houston in 2022, an eight point loss to army in 2023 and a seven point loss to Texas State earlier this year. I don't look Jeff Traylor, you know, we talked about. Did he miss his window? I, I don't know whether he can carry any of this magic to another school or whether someone should be talking to him. He's trying to talk to anyone who's got money. He's begging. He says, if somebody's got it, we're going to need it. Because this sport right here, as he holds up a football, he's like, we need to spend. We need to spend here. But I was, I was impressed. It wasn't just something that he was speaking into existence after a big win at home against Tulane. It was something that has been consistent here again since 2021. 27, 3. Now do you know who's got. I think I've got this right. I think the best against the spread record. Not against spread. The best home record since 2021. Anyone want to guess?

[Tom Fernelli]

Best home record since 2021. Ohio State.

[Chip Patterson]

Alabama's 311 in Tuscaloosa.

[Tom Fernelli]

Oh, and that Ohio State's got the one loss to Oregon and then they got a loss to Michigan there too. Yeah, forgot about that Oregon loss.

[Chip Patterson]

I was like, damn, you talked about that. Those are years we talked about. The dynasty is over. Like we are for social media clips. Talking about. It's like, yeah, they can't do it anymore. Saban doesn't have his fastball. Oh, Caleb DeBoer. They won't buy it. 311 Bryant Denny Stadium. Pretty, pretty impressive. Okay, let's see. We got.

[Tom Fernelli]

I got one more. Okay, Mikey, if you want to throw up the, the chart that I sent you earlier before the show began, it's. Oh, wow. What happened on. All the way on the left there. Oh, oh.

[Chip Patterson]

Did.

[Tom Fernelli]

Did Duke get lucky?

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, man.

[Tom Fernelli]

Wow, huh? Duke, finally getting luck on your side. Good for you. Proud of you.

[Chip Patterson]

This is Our friend Parker Fleming stats o war on Twitter with the weekly release of did we really Get Beat that Bad? Which calculates net success rate. That is a dramatic success rate advantage for the Clemson Tigers in a loss to the Duke Blue Devils.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah, I mean that would have been looking at the other side where the very lucky align I are fourth. That was probably a higher success rate than. Yeah, that would have been the third best, I think because that would have been just ahead of Indiana over there. Maybe. So play wise. Clemson was the third best team in the league this week or country last week. Wow.

[Chip Patterson]

Good golly. Hey, Tar Heels. Also.

[Tom Fernelli]

What.

[Chip Patterson]

What do we do with Baylor coming out of a 30 to 3 win where Sawyer Robertson has a whole bunch of yards and a whole bunch of touchdowns and UCF can't do anything offensively? What do we do with.

[Tom Fernelli]

They needed it feels good. Enjoy it. I don't know if I'm taking anything away from it.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, Danny, I mean, you did ask.

[Danny Cannell]

About the coaches like the next possible move. I mean, this is where I think you got to keep a real close eye on these last few games for Baylor. Also, Sawyer Robertson is draft eligible, so he's not coming back because he's going to be a stud coming out.

[Tom Fernelli]

They get Utah at home next, so. So enjoy that 30 to 3 win.

[Chip Patterson]

Well, they. It's. It's Utah. Hold on. I wrote about this because Baylor ended up being one of our notable risers in the CBS Sports 136 this week. Let's see, Baylor was up 13 spots to number 45. Yeah. Utah, Arizona and Houston are the three teams left on that schedule. So they're five and four.

[Tom Fernelli]

To get one.

[Chip Patterson]

Just need to get one. But it might, might.

[Danny Cannell]

You got to get two. I think you got to get two.

[Tom Fernelli]

You definitely want to, but you got to get at least one.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, just philosophically, I'm having trouble thinking that if you're an athletic director, you're really going to hinge your decision on whether a coach is going to be replaced based on like, oh, okay, if he's 1 and 2, we fire. If he's 2 and 1, he stays. I mean, you have to, right? I mean, it just has a.

[Tom Fernelli]

Guess what, Guess what?

[Danny Cannell]

That's the reality.

[Tom Fernelli]

It happens every single year in most places. I mean, the games that happened before, that impact, that role. But it gets you to the point where it's like if he goes, if he wins two of these games, we'll keep them.

[Chip Patterson]

And is that. Do you think that that's just because of the way that a fan slash booster thinks as well. And the money that you would need to raise to be able to do the buyouts or the changes or everything, like you're all idiots making the decisions.

[Tom Fernelli]

Are no different than us or the idiots watching. We're all idiots.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean, if you freeze would have beaten Kentucky, he still would have been there.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah, he'd be there this week and then if he'd be gone.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Tom Fernelli]

We're idiots, Chip. This is a dumb sport followed by dumb people and run by dumber people. That's what this is.

[Chip Patterson]

All right, Dave, here's the deal. Three games left, two and one.

[Tom Fernelli]

Good luck.

[Danny Cannell]

Go get them.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, go get them. Two and one. You're good. One and two.

[Tom Fernelli]

I'm.

[Chip Patterson]

I'm sending the U haul truck crazy. All right. We will be back two show Tuesdays. We will be on CBS Sports Network at noon eastern time getting you set for the week ahead. Then at 8:15pm Eastern time we will go [e-mail] cover three. The again the top 25 rankings we expect will be kind of released. We're going to react to them about as they are being announced. So then we'll be able to give our full reaction to the 1 through 25 after it's out. But we want to go ahead and get that conversation started with those of you who are hanging out watching live. So 8:15pm Eastern time around there is when we will go live on YouTube.com cover3noon Eastern Time on CBS Sports Network then back [e-mail] cover three at 11am on Wednesday for big game Breakdown. And you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Fernell, you can follow him at Danny Canelo. You can follow me at Chip underscore Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[Tom Fernelli]

Thank you.

[Danny Cannell]

See you this November.

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