Upon Further Review: Latest from Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss and the Coaching Carousel, CFP projections

Summary

Cover 3 College Football Podcast

Episode: Upon Further Review: Latest from Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss and the Coaching Carousel, CFP projections
Date: December 1, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode delivers a passionate, in-depth breakdown of the college football coaching carousel, with a central focus on Lane Kiffin's departure from Ole Miss to LSU and the resulting fallout. The hosts debate Kiffin’s legacy, dissect the ripple effects on Ole Miss’s succession plans, analyze other head coaching vacancies (Kentucky, Michigan State, Penn State), and dive into the ever-evolving College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings and projections. Their tone is energetic and frank, often veering into heated exchanges reflecting the controversial nature of the current college football landscape.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Lane Kiffin Saga: Ole Miss to LSU

[03:35–15:16]

• Relief and Controversy:

  • Danny celebrates closure: "Thank goodness. It's over." (03:35)
  • Tom and Bud push back on finality, citing the ever-turning coaching carousel and Kiffin's ongoing saga.

• Impact on Programs:

  • Danny questions if either program (LSU or Ole Miss) truly improved: "I don't know if either one got better based on the expectations." (04:16)
  • Sheer difficulty of replicating success at Ole Miss and pressures at LSU (national title within 3–4 years expected).

• Kiffin’s Legacy and Character Debate:

  • The group debates if Kiffin's exit, marked by secrecy and last-minute decisions, is a character flaw.
  • Tom sharply critiques Kiffin's history: "...every job he's been at ended... he leaves Tennessee after a year, goes to USC... they fire his ass on the tarmac..." (08:01)
  • Danny offers defense: "I don't think he's the bad guy in all of this...I genuinely think he wanted to coach Ole Miss till it was done..." (06:19)

• Ole Miss Response – Pete Golding’s Promotion:

  • With Kiffin gone, Ole Miss turns to DC Pete Golding as head coach.
  • Bud says: "I think it was the only choice they had to keep this thing together for the playoff, honestly, because Lane screwed them with the timing..." (17:10)
  • Concerns are raised about Golding’s ability to be "the face" of the program, but optimism persists given his recruiting chops.

• Industry Machinations:

  • Notable mention of bot farms and PR efforts influencing online sentiment during these high-profile transitions.
    "Somehow a bot farm...tweeted a bunch of really pro Silverfield and really pro Lane stuff...identical tweet." (16:28, Bud)

Memorable Quote:

"The way in which he went about it feels kind of scummy." – Tom Fornelli (07:56)

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2. Coaching Carousel: Kentucky, Michigan State, Penn State

[20:52–41:22]

Kentucky's Next Steps

• Stoops negotiated flexible buyout, making way for Will Stein as a top candidate.
• Bud: "It's very much like a South Carolina, Missouri type job...I don't really think you can win there, but you will get generational wealth." (21:40)
• Danny warns that Stein, at 36, might want to wait for a better job: "I would think long and hard if I'm Will Stein...You could be looking for work at 41 and have to go back..." (25:08)

Michigan State's Hire: Pat Fitzgerald

• Fitzgerald’s track record at Northwestern contextualized by difficult years post-transfer portal and NIL changes.
• Tom strongly supports the hire: "If he's able to win 10 games a year at Northwestern before all the changes happened, I'm incredibly confident that he's going to win games with better athletes [at MSU]." (31:45)
• Bud is skeptical: "He did start falling off before the portal started hitting..." (33:01)

Penn State’s Search

• Discussed candidates: Kalani Sitake (BYU), Bob Chesney, Josh Heupel, Matt Campbell, and possibility of internal Terry Smith.
• The challenge of replacing James Franklin and the perception of “winning the breakup.”
• Tom: "So if this ends with Bob Chesney, is it a successful coaching transition for Penn State?" (41:27)

Notable Segment:

• Examination of why coordinators are now gaining serious consideration vs. exclusively head coaches.
  "We have seen plenty of instances of coordinators having success when they take over the big program." (24:03, Tom)

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3. Reactions to New AP Top 25 and CFP Polls

[47:04–56:05]

AP Top 25 Shakeup

• Texas A&M drops from #3 to #7, now the lowest one-loss team in the top 10.
• Missouri returns at #25 despite lacking wins over FBS teams with a winning record.
• Tom: "There's really nothing about this poll that really bothers me...Missouri still being ranked despite not having a single win over a team with a winning record. That's FCS level, G5 level, Power 4 level. Cool." (48:46)

Poll Critique

• Danny calls out "laziness" among voters as the polls become less meaningful late in the season.
• Chip unpacks why only minor poll movements occur this deep into the season: "Your opinion on a team after the 11th data point is not going to get drastically different after the 12th..." (50:12)

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4. Bud Elliott’s College Football Playoff Projections

[52:05–59:59]

• Bud lays out the latest playoff scenarios based on conference championship outcomes:

  • Ohio State, Indiana, Bama, and Texas Tech as projected top four.
  • Discussion on the handling of Alabama, especially if it loses SEC championship.

• Debate on the CFP committee potentially "rigging" the rankings to ensure Alabama stays in:
  "They're going to have to rig this thing tomorrow night because if Bama loses in the SEC championship game, you can't then go and jump Bama above Notre Dame." (53:06, Bud)

• The possibility of BYU as a “bid thief”—if they win the Big 12, Notre Dame gets bumped.

• Debate on how the committee weighs head-to-head, resume, and "television product."

• General consensus: Alabama is safe in the playoff unless there's a catastrophic scenario. BYU is not similarly protected.

Quote of Segment:

"I think Alabama has no chance of missing the College Football Playoff." – Chip Patterson (57:30)

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5. Smarter, Quirkier Notes: Miscellaneous & "Upon Further Review"

[63:33–68:10]

• Celebration of Stanford’s surprise performance, helping Notre Dame’s playoff argument.
• Deep-dive on Oklahoma's offense:
  Tom notes, "Their success rate in victories on offense this year is 40.4%. The national average is 46.4%...So the fact they are 10 and 2...is a testament to how good that defense is. And Oklahoma, I believe you belong in the College Football Playoff. I'm just making jokes about your offense because even you don't want to watch it. Don't pretend you do." (66:16)
• If Ole Miss hosts a playoff game under Pete Golding, expect an electric home atmosphere—as well as speculation about whether the committee might favor such a storyline.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Thank goodness. It’s over.” – Danny Kanell, on Lane Kiffin’s saga (03:35)
• “It’s not over.” – Bud Elliott (03:44), warning more twists remain, especially with NFL jobs.
• “The way in which he went about it feels kind of scummy.” – Tom Fornelli (07:56), on Lane Kiffin’s process.
• “He wanted Ole Miss to make the decision for him… That’s something children do.” – Tom Fornelli (13:47)
• “If you are an active P5 head coach… and you are going to a rival… that's just not going to be a situation that ends well.” – Bud Elliott (09:19)
• “Pete Golding seems to be a popular choice within that building… I think it was the only choice they had to keep this thing together for the playoff.” – Bud Elliott (17:10)
• “So I would be like very skeptical on some of these Oregon reports that he's coming back, but Will Stein would be in one of the best positions to know that.”, on Kentucky's search (21:53, Bud)
• “If he's able to win 10 games a year at Northwestern… I'm incredibly confident that he's going to win games with better athletes [at MSU].” – Tom Fornelli (31:45)
• “The committee has kind of backed themselves into a corner…” – Bud Elliott, on CFP rankings (53:06)
• “Wide open [Heisman] race. A lot of good options for everybody to consider.” – Chip Patterson (69:55)

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Important Timestamps

• Lane Kiffin/Ole Miss-LSU Fallout: 03:35–19:56
• Kentucky Coaching Search: 20:52–29:31
• Michigan State/Pat Fitzgerald: 30:01–35:15
• Penn State Search: 39:30–41:27
• AP Top 25 Reaction: 47:04–52:05
• CFP Projections & Scenarios: 52:05–59:59
• "Upon Further Review" – Oklahoma Offense: 64:57–66:38
• Closing Banter & Heisman Watch: 68:10–69:55

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Flow & Tone

• The episode is energetic, argumentative, and rich in both statistics and hot takes.
• Banter often shifts from analytical to playful—especially as hosts needle each other about biases and allegiances.
• Several segments are heated, but always return to sharp, informed analysis—a testament to the hosts' expertise.

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Summary for Listeners

This episode is a must-listen for college football fans eager to understand not just where the coaching carousel is spinning, but why it matters for program trajectories, recruiting, and the 2025 postseason. The hosts dissect the Lane Kiffin drama with candor, unpack the difficult questions facing programs like Kentucky, Michigan State, and Penn State, and offer their sharpest CFP projections yet. Expect memorable arguments, quotable one-liners, and the latest insights as the regular season barrels into the championship phase.

Transcript

[A]

It's the home stretch of the college football season. We're headed out of town. Rivalry weekend. Oh, college football playoff games. The whole experience. While I'm off soaking in the excitement, I realized my home could actually be doing something for me while I'm away. That's right, you can host your home on Airbnb while you're gone. And it's such a practical way to earn a little extra money. I started thinking about it. I A few nights of hosting could help cover part of the trip or even fund tickets for my next game. It's easy and it doesn't take over your life. Just make your space available and then let others enjoy it while you're out having fun. And maybe it's not even a big game. We could do it when we're out for holiday travel as well. You come home to a little extra cash in your pocket and no hassle at all. So if you've got an upcoming trip where whether it's a football weekend, a quick getaway, or a family visit, hosting really does feel like a smart move. Seriously, your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how [e-mail] host.

[B]

Welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast with your hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott. It's your call for the best college football cover signing day to the national championship and everything in between. CBS Sports presents the COVID 3 podcast.

[A]

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. 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. Bud Elliott in the house. Big day to get to Monday. Upon further review and yes, we are going to be doing some of our normal Monday business. That means Pole Assassin. That means Bud's College Football Playoff projection. We have some notes coming out of week 14 rivalry weekend. But yeah, we got to talk about all of it because it ain't just one, it ain't just two. There's a lot of different pieces that are moving. So Mel Tucker, come on down. Let's jump on that carousel. There's obviously some Michigan State related news coming up in a little bit. But first, Danny, we've had a little bit of time to go through the the craziness, the will he, won't he not leave Ole Miss for LSU but coach this team or be allowed in the building or will he? Won't he? Pete golden telling him, take your ass home and watch this game. This ain't your office anymore. We do know now that we did not know the last time we got together for our emergency podcast. What Ole Misses Next steps are. They are going to give the full time job to defensive coordinator Pete Golding. A little bit more information about the staff as well. But as we sit here Monday, we'll have a press conference later with Lane Kiffin being officially introduced as LSU's next head coach. Danny, what do you make of what has transpired over the last, you know, 48, 72 hours?

[C]

Thank goodness. It's over.

[A]

I agree.

[C]

This thing has.

[D]

It's not over.

[C]

It's over.

[D]

Tempt fate. It's not over.

[A]

No, no, no, no. The Lane Kiffin saga is not over.

[B]

Oh, that's. That's. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

That's what I'm talking about.

[D]

No, no, The NFL coaching cycle hasn't started yet.

[C]

I'm talking about the Lane Kiffin saga is over. Like, that's what I'm. It's hijacked the last month of the college football season. Like, that's all we've speculated about for a month. And finally we get a definitive answer where he's going. Now we know where Ole Miss is going. We can put it to bed because I agree with you. It is not the college. The carousel is not over. But this one is. So from that perspective, I am happy. I get all of the. I get every angle of it right. I mean, I guess from my perspective, I just sit back and I'm like, taking it all in. And I see Ole Miss fans flipping him off as he's getting on the plane, like, yeah, I get it. He thought you were going to keep them. You know, I hear LSU fans already getting ready to buy national championship tickets. I get it from that perspective, the celebration from lsu. I just look at both of these programs and I don't know if either one got better based on the expectations of what they're going to think. I don't. I. Ole Miss. I don't know what Pete Golding's gonna do. We'll see how he does. But how are you gonna replicate, you know, the first 11 win season in school history? I don't know if that's gonna happen. Lsu, on their expectations, they need a national championship within three years. Is that safe to say?

[D]

Yes.

[B]

Four.

[C]

Three or four? All right, let's say four. Anything short of that is a failure.

[B]

Well, I, I think that's a little hyperbolic, I think. Like, if you got. If you got to the final. Right.

[C]

Or if you're consistently in the Final Four, you know, or, like, if you're consistently in the playoffs. I'm not sure LSU is going to get that. Like, I know at. Lane Kiffin is the hottest thing since sliced bread. Everybody loves him. What's the biggest game that he's won at Ole Miss? Like, what's the biggest championship he's won in his career? He beat Oklahoma this year. That was his win.

[A]

And last year, he beat Georgia in the rain. That I would like. That comes to mind as one of the biggest Lane Kiffin led wins. And it was a good win.

[D]

Great.

[C]

Yeah, it was a good win. Didn't win him a title.

[D]

He did win two Conference USA titles.

[C]

I don't think he did. I thought he split them. I thought he won division titles.

[D]

I thought he won them both. Let's see what Wikipedia says. Hold on.

[A]

Get out that yellow box.

[D]

That's what I'm looking for. Oh, my God. This is a long Wikipedia page. I can't imagine why.

[A]

Jumped around, actually.

[D]

No, he's got. He's got two yellow things in the 2017 and 2019. Although he left before I left before the bowl game.

[C]

That could be a good omen. Could be a good omen. I. I just. I. I get all of it. I. The one thing I don't understand is people just crushing Lane Kiffin. Like, he's an awful person. He's a narcissist. I don't agree with that. I think he's done. A lot of people do. No, I think. I don't. I don't think he's the bad guy in all of this. I genuinely think he wanted to coach Ole Miss till it was done, and Ole Miss said, we're not waiting.

[D]

I genuinely think he wanted to coach Ole Miss until he was done, too. It's the fact that he believes he should be allowed to is what the problem is.

[B]

There's no way in Ali should be.

[D]

Allowed to do it.

[A]

There's, like, a detachment from reality there in thinking that you can get everything that you want. And I am not, not going to diagnose personality disorders.

[C]

I'm not going to make him a bad person, then.

[A]

No, no, no.

[D]

But it makes him a selfish, immature person.

[C]

How is it selfish and immature if he just left? I mean, he did what. He did what a lot of people would have done because he acted like.

[D]

How many other people have done it then?

[C]

What do you mean? You have two this cycle that are leaving their programs.

[D]

You're comparing G5 schools for power? Four programs the same thing as leaving for your conference rival.

[C]

Coordinators do it a ton. We've seen coordinators.

[B]

All right. Hey, if. If Jimbo was leaving for Florida, would you let him stay in your building for 50 more days?

[C]

No. Okay. That's not. That's not the question. I'm not. I'm just saying I don't think it makes him a bad person for leaving Ole Miss to go to lsu.

[D]

I don't think he should go to prison.

[B]

The way in which he went about it feels kind of scummy.

[C]

But how does this impact his character?

[D]

No, no, no, no, no, no. Hold on a second, Danny. Because actions speak a whole hell of a lot louder than words. How has every job he's been at ended? Every single one. He leaves Tennessee after a year, goes to usc. They fire his ass on the tarmac. That's generally not something you do to somebody you like. Nick Saban kicks him out of Alabama because he's still trying to be the head coach of Florida Atlantic while they're in the playoff run. And now he's leaving Ole Miss after getting into the playoff, and he's sitting there stalling and killing time to make sure that Ole Miss doesn't really have a chance to do any, like, hiring. He waits until every coach that Ole Miss would look at has been hired somewhere else before he finally high hightails it and leaves the LSU and then gives an ultimatum to his coaching staff saying, if you're not on the plane, you're not coming with me. After spending the last two weeks telling. Telling people, everybody. Telling everybody a game day, speaking for him that Ole Miss is being an. For giving him an ultimatum.

[A]

Screw him.

[D]

He's an. It doesn't mean he's a horrible person, but he's an.

[C]

Do we want to do this with every coach that's gone through four or five programs? Because I guarantee you, a lot of them, it would leave with animosity. They very rarely end on great terms. It's not a business that's really suited for that.

[B]

It's typically only the ones that want to have their cake needed to. Right. Like, Florida State didn't let Jimbo coach that final game. You know?

[C]

Right.

[D]

It.

[B]

That's not gonna. If you are an active P5 head coach at a program that has, like, make the playoff level expectations and you are going to a rival or a school with which you, like, directly compete for players and coaches, that. That's just not going to be a situation that ends well. And the way he handled it was poor. Right. Like, if game day. If the game day set wasn't entirely wrapped by caa, like, they're probably ripping him for it, right? Like, literally, like. Like, Saban didn't let him do this when he was a coordinator.

[D]

He's acting like.

[C]

But I think both can be true. I do think the calendar is screwed up. Like, I think you can blame the calendar and. And look at that as a reason why this is messed up.

[B]

You're not going to change the semester system.

[C]

Irrelevant, Right? I think that's what they're saying they need to change.

[D]

I think the calendar is a great boogeyman. The calendar has existed for what it is forever. Yet again, there's only one coach who's pulled this move. Why is everybody going out of their way to absolve Lane Kiffin of the.

[C]

Oh, I don't think everybody is. I think everybody is.

[D]

You're doing it right now.

[A]

He's not a bad guy.

[C]

Because I hear way more people crushing him. That's why I'm like, I don't think he's as bad as people make it out to be.

[D]

Okay, well, you're being hero. You're coming to his defense. You're defending the wrong person. Lane is suffering consequences of his own actions. Danny, he'll be okay. He just got 90.

[C]

Oh, he'll be fine.

[B]

He'll be fine.

[D]

So, I mean, everybody wants to blame everybody else for what they do. It's never my fault that the things that are happening to me are happening to me. It's the calendar. It's the ultimatums. It's just. It's the players getting paid. It's all this other crap. It's never me just doing what I think is best for me.

[A]

He did have a chance to coach Ole Miss in the playoff.

[C]

He did.

[D]

He could have stayed at home. Could have stayed, made his choice. Now he has to deal with the.

[A]

Fall Open in four years. You know, like, it. The. The. It was his choice. And I think that one of the reasons why.

[C]

Well, Ole Miss said, you're not going to be able to stay.

[A]

No, no. He could have said, I'm gonna be.

[B]

They were letting him stay for the Egg Bowl. They shouldn't have let him stay for the Egg Bowl. He was correct. He was leading them on pretty clearly throughout the process.

[D]

I do think part of that was they were afraid if they let him go before the Egg bowl and then they lose the Egg bowl without him, they get Florida Committee.

[C]

Yeah, the committee.

[B]

He would be. He would be at Florida. Like, he wasn't going to stay at Ole Miss.

[A]

He might. He could have. If he really. If he. If this playoff run, if this year six team really meant that much to him, he had a competitive salary offer on the table. He could have still been doing hot yoga with all of his favorite teachers and been making top money in the entire sport. If he, if he really wanted to coach this team all the way through, he could have just said no. And guess what? He probably still would have been a candidate at other good jobs.

[B]

I mean, look at Staples on Yahoo. Last night said that he. That Lane soured on Florida because Florida was trying to hire a GM independent of him. Right? And like, the best coaches in the sport are not going to go for that. Like Venables. Like, it had. It happened to him in Oklahoma, but he had no leverage, right? Like, he was doing terrible there for, like, coaches with options don't want to go have a GM hired for them. So. But I. I 100 think he was leaving Ole Miss for Florida if LSU would not come open.

[A]

I do.

[C]

I guess I came in here fresh off of seeing Bill Cower on the set of Inside the NFL CBS Sunday show, ripping into Lane Kiffin for being a selfish person. And how dare he leave those players that have been there for four years with him. I'm like, we gotta. We gotta come back to reality a little bit because I don't know how many players in that roster have been there four years.

[D]

You're confusing him, calling him a selfish person for calling him a bad person. He's a selfish person. Every decision he has made is inherently selfish.

[C]

Who doesn't make selfish decisions in today's landscape?

[D]

You're not making a selfish decision right now by trying to defend him.

[A]

It's kind of the way to go, actually. Danny. Let's give it up for Danny, the unselfish person.

[C]

I am trying.

[D]

You know what, Danny?

[A]

I'm gonna say it.

[B]

I'm gonna say here in front of.

[D]

God and all our listeners, you are a better person than Lane Kiffin by far.

[B]

I agree.

[A]

Hell yeah. Let's go.

[B]

And I think from Ole Miss, they're probably like, hey, man, like, we. We tolerated like, a lot of your act here, dude. Like, for you to do this to us in the way that you went about it is not cool. Now, Lane deserves a lot of credit for building him back up, but there are other aspects of that program that also really helped him.

[C]

How could he have done it?

[B]

Better leave before the egg bowl could have just left.

[C]

So just leave. When he thought when he was gonna.

[D]

Drop the band aid off instead of like, it's. Again, the immaturity in my eyes is the fact that he was afraid to make the decision. Even though he knew what the decision was. He wanted Ole Miss to make the.

[B]

Decision for him, and he wanted to make. That's something children do and try to appear like he's like. Like the good guy here.

[A]

Right in the circus also of hijacking the entire rivalry weekend. That was also for college football fans off.

[C]

Putting Lane's fault or the people who cover the sports fault.

[A]

This is back to, like, rip the band aid off. Not like, the decision will come on Saturday. Then it's not in the morning.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Then it just continues to get drug out. Drug out. And I will say, Danny, I did not see Coach Cowers comments, but if you are feeling like people who are not even in this are just swooping by to just detonate Lane Kiffin, you are not wrong. This is the type of seismic event that has people that are not in the college football world. Any of your Capital C columnists, you know, they're. They're like, oh, hell yeah, let's get the flamethrower out. So that is happening. You. You are not. I agree with you there, but I still think we can be critical without having to overdo it just because we know the inside machinations of what's happened here, how we got here, and where some of the failures were.

[B]

Also, if you're one of our new listeners, this is typically not like this show is typically not an argue with each other show like this. Like, this is. The chat's like saying, wow, because this is. We. We don't usually. We don't fake argue on this show. Right.

[C]

You didn't see my text to Tom.

[D]

I know Danny and I staged this.

[B]

No, I was on the phone trying to gather intel for today. I almost missed the deadline. I was being selfish.

[A]

And also, if there's. If there is anybody who you feel like is like, rushing to have some sympathy or empathy here, they. They might be coming from the position of LSU just offered you a job in a hundred million dollars.

[B]

Danny is the first person I've seen who I don't know is rep by CAA or is not actively associated with LSU defending Lane Kiffin, the way he went about this. So it is enter like, that's like.

[C]

Okay, presenting another angle too.

[A]

Wait, somebody or something. Because I know there were some things out there in their support of. Of Lane Kiffin.

[B]

That was. That was crazy. Did you guys see this? Dan Vulcan. Was it walking or Wetzel? I don't want to woken. Yeah, very. Not similar, guys, but like, same initials. He. He pointed out that like, somehow a bot farm.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

For coaches who are repped by caa and Sexton happened to just like, tweet a bunch of really pro Silverfield and really pro Lane stuff. Like the identical tweet.

[C]

That was pretty.

[A]

You come at Lane Kiffin.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Identical. Yeah. Oh, Ew.

[B]

Yucky.

[D]

Coaches are 100 million, but bots are only a hundred.

[A]

All right, so we've heard. I don't know. This is assuming on my part. I apologize. But did y' all hear the leaked audio of the team meeting? We got to see a little announcement.

[B]

No, I did not.

[A]

Okay. Pete Golding seems to be a popular choice within that building of the players that are still involved. Is it a popular choice in your eyes?

[B]

I think it was the only choice that they had to keep this thing together for the playoff, honestly, because Lane screwed them with the timing of this.

[A]

It's.

[B]

It's selfish, but it's brilliant chess to. To like to drag this thing so far along to where Florida needs an answer on Summerall.

[A]

So, you know, drag it if. If he is really going full art of war, like I'm gonna drag this on to cripple all of my SEC rivals 100%.

[B]

Well, I mean, I think part of it's like the fact that he. He's such an attention hog.

[D]

He.

[B]

Like we. We said this a month ago. He's going to try to drag this thing out to make it all about him, to have the whole, like the whole nation look like watching what Lane will do.

[A]

Do you think that Pete Golding has a chance to not be a Bill Stewart, an Arnett?

[B]

I do.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I. I think he got kind of a raw deal at Bama. I think he's the best recruiter on that staff by a mile. My quite like, Danny brought up the question of, like, do you think the next guy will do as well as Lane? I'm not sure Lane would do like, do as well at Ole Miss the next three years as he's done in the past three.

[A]

Well, that's one of my points.

[C]

Right.

[B]

It's a drinkwich type. Like he got out at the right time. I think because of how effectively Ole Miss used the portal, their high school recruiting is just not great. It's just harder to recruit high school players. That's probably the number one reason why you leave Ole Miss for LSU is because you don't really think you can win a title at Ole Miss. And I don't disagree. Right. I think it's probably slightly more realistic to do it now than it was a decade ago. But like, I think Golding will have a good chance as most anybody they could have gotten. And I think it was the only real choice. Like Judge would have been a very temporary hire to me. I think.

[A]

Okay. I didn't understand those dynamics. I just didn't have a good beat on that in terms of, you know. So I guess Golding now is the full time head coach. He comes out of the booth, he's on the sidelines and he has his defensive staff call it for the playoff and then he'll make some hires. Like that's. That's kind of how we're rolling forward with Ole Miss.

[C]

If you guys. Did you guys. You saw him address the team, right?

[B]

Yeah, I did not.

[C]

I'm a little worried about him. Just from a. For face of the program type of figure that you have to be in the sec.

[A]

I. If you're holding him to Lane Kiffin standards. Yes. But buddy, look around. It's not like Alex Golish is like, no, he's your guy.

[C]

I think Alex Golitz is sharp. I think he's. And I think he handles the media. I mean, he's been a media blitz the last two months. I think it served him really well. I think a storytelling, like he tells stories. I thought he was real. I thought he's pretty good. I just worry about Pete Golding in front of the microphone after a game explaining some. I don't know, maybe you could change my mind.

[A]

Pete can talk.

[C]

I mean, I, I will.

[D]

I will say this. I will say this.

[C]

Seemed a little nervous in front of the team.

[D]

I'll just say maybe he was nervous, but the way the man recruits, I'm somewhat confident he can speak.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[D]

It's hard to recruit if you can't speak.

[A]

Yeah, you can speak the right language. Like the, the star power conversation in the SEC is just going to be so much oxygen. Dedicated to LSU head coach Lane Kiffin. Everybody else is just, you know, flying in their own little world. So. Big one there. All right. We still got more that we didn't get a chance to get to Kentucky. Kentucky decided that they wanted to join the party. And I know that inside jokes don't always land, but when Tom tweeted that Kentucky rushing to fire Mark Stoops late Saturday night was like when Danny showed up five minutes late to the Lane Kiffin reaction.

[C]

That was messed up. I was literally two minutes late.

[A]

Well, hey, now we got two minutes.

[D]

I think it was like 35 seconds, like we had just gone off air.

[B]

Then Danny pops up in the room.

[A]

But what is, so what's, what's Kentucky? I mean, this is an expensive decision and.

[D]

But Chris Low did report last night that Stoops in Kentucky negotiated that the buyout instead of being in 60 days, can now be done over a number of years.

[A]

So he's going to go out as like the program's all time winner. They're going to say, look at all these great things he did. I love you, mean it. And he still gets a nice little like pension fund, you know, to be able to tap into, thanks to the good people of the state of Kentucky. So what does Kentucky do?

[B]

Well, Stein, if he'll take it, right. It's very much like a South Carolina, Missouri type job for me where like, I don't really think you can win there. Right. But you will get generational wealth if you take the job. So if you're, if you're Will Stein, part of this to me would be like, is Dante coming back? I think Dante's got a chance to go number one overall this year if he comes out. So I would be like very skeptical on some of these Oregon reports that he's coming back, but Will Stein would be in one of the best positions to know that. So Dante is bouncing. I think if I'm Will Stein, I would probably go ahead and take the guaranteed 35 million that I'm gonna make from Kentucky whether or not I think I can actually win there. And Stoops has not done a good job for like two years. So I think you could probably do somewhat better than Mark Stoops did whether you can get hired up and out of there. I'm very skeptical of that because now you're playing nine conference games a year instead of eight. We don't have the SEC east plus the Mississippi State annual cross division rival like he used to have, which is, I mean, Stoop's kind of got, you know, record. He did a really nice job there. But also there were some fortunate scheduling factors for him for, for quite some time. They would always schedule three, like three easy wins in the non conference, plus Louisville, which is usually a coin flip. Right? So you're 3 and 1 or 4, 0 in the non con. Like every year. If you win two SEC games, you go to a bowl now it's gonna be harder because you only get two Non con games plus Louisville every year. Right.

[A]

You said it so fast. Is there no thought that Will Stein would be like, hell no, I'm not going to play for Kentucky?

[D]

Yeah, there's a possibility that he would do it. I mean, he's a Louisville grad.

[A]

That's what.

[D]

No.

[A]

Yeah, he played for Louisville. He grew up in Louisville. He has like the exact same sort of profile that you sold the Jeff Braum. He started his coaching career on the Louisville coaching staff. I mean, it is not Jeff Braum because of the Brahm family and how it extends to the high school football scene and everything else, but it, it is very much a Louisville's favored son. Him taking Kentucky would be a, an interesting swing in that. In the Governor's cup rivalry.

[C]

I know.

[D]

I think, I think it would be a good hire. And I promise this is going to be the last time I bring this man's name up on the show. But just to go back to our earlier argument, Danny, Mark Stoops works with Kentucky to work on his buyout so they can fire him and move on because he cares about the school. He's a good person. Compare that to how Lane Kiffin did it. As for Kentucky, I mean, I, we talked about it on yesterday's show. Like, everybody seems so obsessed with having a guy who's currently a head coach that I feel like there's been a lot of good coordinators who have been passed up for these jobs. And we have seen plenty of instances of coordinators having success when they take over the big program. For instance, I don't think Kirby Smart was a head coach before he became the head coach in Georgia. I think Dan Lanning was a coordinator at Georgia before he took over the head coaching job at Oregon. And now I think Will Stein was a coordinator at Oregon under Dan Lanning before he might take the job at Kentucky. So I think it's nice to see Kentucky at least understanding that coordinators can still be very good head coaches. And I think if you look at the success that Will Stein has had at Oregon with different personnel, with a different quarterback the last three years each season, and they have not missed a beat. That to me tells me the man might know what he's doing.

[C]

Who was it? Who was the quarterback? Utsa. The really dynamic one that played there, like six. Frank Harris, Frank hair. He won with him. He did a great job developing him, too. I think he's a really good football coach. There might be a difference in a coach who's probably going to get fired. Hey, do you Want to work this out and so you can maybe make more money at somewhere else than a coach who has some leverage over I'm just say that don't want to revisit that too much. Might be a little bit of a different situation but to your but Kirby Smart what did he do? He waited. He waited. He waited. That's where I feel like Will Stein even if Dante Moore goes I'm going to assume that Oregon can find a pretty good quarterback as a replacement. I feel like Oregon is going to be consistently good and Will Stein's name is going to continually come up and by the way I think you can make probably I don't know you can't make 35. You can make really really good money as the offensive coordinator at Oregon especially if you're highly sought after. I would think long and hard if I'm Will Stein about do I want this job or not because he's only 36. Like you could be looking for work at 41 and have to go back to being a coordinator and like kind of have to start over. I and I've seen I and if he hired a good for him good luck. I just it's not an easy place to win.

[B]

I just like 37 million is a lot to spend to improve by what like maybe a win or win and a half a year. I don't think you have like real upward mobility now. The feedback I got on Twitter was look at Indiana, look at Vandy. Like cool. So y' all are betting on getting the best quarterback you've ever had in history of your school.

[D]

And again I think success with quarterbacks.

[B]

Like obviously I'm biased right. I don't think Vandy's gonna go back to the basement when Pavia leaves. But we don't know that. Okay. Like obviously we're all huge Barton fans. He's our friend. But like that Pavia is like a freaking stud man. And like you know it's. And they are probably getting his five star quarterback right Like a flip from Georgia. So like if he hits obviously Curtis could could be like you know, 2.0 maybe. But man like Indiana and Vandy are getting people fired out here. But also like you got to reset the hype cycle. I don't really know if people are lining up to go to Kentucky games next year if he runs stoops back. And so part of it's like hey are we really going to do better? Like internally you're like all right guys, we're probably not gonna do a lot better but we can do a little bit better. And we know ticket sales and donations are going to plummet if we don't give. Like, we got to keep feeding the hope and hype cycle. This is like, it's a, it's a donor led sport still.

[A]

Who else would be on the list?

[D]

Mike Bobo, Dan Mullen.

[B]

I think that'd be a great hire. I mean, there's no recruiting expectations at Kentucky, right? He probably wouldn't, Would he object to them going like a GM style? Probably not. He doesn't like recruiting anyway.

[A]

Yeah, I was gonna say, like, I.

[D]

Feel like Dan's pretty happy at unlv. I feel like, yeah, I mean, for his lifestyle and what he wants to do, I think UNLV is a great place for him. I think if he went to Kentucky, it'd be, I think Dan's done that dance before.

[A]

I, I mean, what, at a, at a one arm tied behind your back SEC school? Yeah.

[D]

No, but, no, no, I mean, like, what was, what was. Why were Auburn fans mad at you? What did Hugh love to do? What does Dan love to do? Yeah, a lot of great golf courses in the Vegas area. You go to Kentucky, they find out you've been golfing too much, they'll get mad.

[B]

I think if you're the basketball coach, they found out you're golfing too much, they get mad. Football, I, I, you make a bowl game, I think they're like, cool, like play, play 72.

[D]

I feel like Kentucky fans have been hoping for this for a while though. But like, I mean.

[A]

Tyson Helton.

[D]

Sure.

[B]

I just like, if you're Stein also, there, there has to be a conversation. Like, guys, it's pretty well known in the industry what you all spend on basketball. Like, what are the actual expectations for so long? Like, Kentucky had really good alignment, contractual alignment of expectations. Hey, Mark, make a bowl game, you get an extension. That's the expectation here at Kentucky. And somewhere along the lines, like, the expectations shifted, you know, to where, like, we can be better. I'm like, guys, there may not be another level to reach here.

[D]

I, I understand what you are saying, but to the point that you brought up earlier that you dismissed, Indiana was a basketball school. Football was supposed to just distract them until basketball started and then they decided they wanted to start investing in football. Why can't Kentucky change its mind and decide it wants to start investing in football? What if that's what they're doing here? They're literally spending nearly 40 million to get rid of their coach to bring in a new one. It Feels like they're ready to start putting money into the program or they at least are.

[A]

They at least are signaling that they are going to take football seriously. Yeah, Michigan State making quick work here. Jonathan Smith out. And I don't think we are official as of 11:30am Eastern Time, but I do not have any reason to think, not believe, but think that we are not going to be introduced to new Michigan State coach Pat Fitzgerald very soon. He obviously just settled his lawsuit with Northwestern. Michigan State football get better today?

[C]

A hundred percent?

[D]

I think so.

[B]

All right, sell me on this because you guys go first.

[D]

I've seen a lot of people bring up how it ended for Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern with their record. Do we remember what happened in 2021 when that run started? They got rid of the transfer rules. We had to sit out a year. So the transfer portal blew up and Northwestern was never able to accept transfers the way that all these other schools were once the money cannons opened and players were just able to move around and Northwestern was still sitting out there having to develop 19 year olds while everybody else was bringing in 25 year old Covid eligible players to help lead their team. And Northwestern paid the price for it. The same thing that happened to Stanford. Now Pat Fitzgerald is at Michigan State where he will not have the same restrictions placed upon him about either bringing in transfers or any of the players he's allowed to bring in. And if he's able to win 10 games a year at Northwestern with the players he was allowed to bring in there before all the changes happened, I'm incredibly confident that he's going to be able to win games with better athletes. And frankly, I'm scared. I'm not scared. Scared's the wrong word. I'm worried because I know Pat Fitzgerald still has very good connections at the high schools in the Chicago and Chicagoland area. And, and now he's going to be able to go into those high schools and take some of the players he wasn't even allowed to look at before.

[C]

Oh, you mean the high schools he's been helping coach? Like playing against them?

[D]

Yeah, like I think this is a great hire for Michigan State. Doesn't mean it's going to work out, but I definitely love the hire and I love the thought process. And I think Pat was really screwed over at Northwestern and they regret the decision that they made both financially and football wise.

[B]

I think he was screwed over at Northwestern. I'm also not convinced that he's cut out to coach in this era where players are paid and they have Agency.

[D]

Agency.

[B]

I mean he was 3 and 24 in his final three non coveted seasons.

[D]

Wasn't allowed to use the portal. Bud.

[B]

Yeah, but not all that was in the portal and he probably had.

[C]

How much did they want players?

[D]

When you're having to compete with 19 year old three stars against teams that are able to bring in 23 and 24 year olds, what's going to happen before that?

[B]

Yes, 2019.

[D]

They went to what? They went like 8 and 2 in 2020.

[A]

Bud.

[B]

Yes, that's the COVID year. I'm saying like that we all know that year is like completely bunked for the sport. Like his final three full seasons were 1 and 8. 1 and 8. 1 and 8 and Big Ten. And the first one there when he started to fall off was that was no portal.

[D]

When did the transfer portal open?

[B]

It really started rocking like at the end of 2021. So that was like. That was two full years before that.

[D]

2018 is when the transfer portal was created.

[A]

Are you still on all players United? Were you, were you on the front lines of APU when all those Northwestern players were trying to unionize? Is that was, was that when you got.

[B]

I thought that was overblown as far as like of course back then all coaches are going to be against it whether you're verbally like like publicly against it or not. Right. Like you're not. I, that to me is not. I think he can maybe do somewhat better than Jonathan Smith did. It's just like Michigan State routinely lost their best players to the portal. So I don't know that he has some money cannon to play with there. I think this is an ad J. Bart who wants to get his own guy in there. And like there was a huge media push for, for Fitz and you know he didn't, he didn't get vatech. He didn't get Arkansas. Michigan State's a good job. He'll make good money. I just, I don't know. I'm not quite a soul. I agree with. Tommy has good connections in high school but like he did start falling off before the portal started hitting. Like I don't want we could say the portal was created in 2018 but like go back and look who was actually portaling out in 2019. Like that team sucked. They were 1 and 8 and like I think it was bad before we started having all the changes in the sport.

[A]

Jback just you gotta look out for my fellow targets here. You know.

[C]

I don't, I don't think it's portal. I think it's nil. I don't think they were paying anything to their players and they had academic restrictions like yeah, they. He was able to win at a place that historic. He brought him to their first bowl win in 60 years. He brought him to two Big Ten title games. And I get the divisions were twisted so you could get there and then you get blown out. But he actually played Ohio State pretty good one year. I think he's going to do a really good job. I give it a C plus.

[B]

I.

[C]

Do I would lean toward him doing a good job. I think he's a really good football coach. I do wonder. This will be one though. The one thing I thought Bo was going to say is like how do you adapt to today's player? More selfish player. He's a little bit old school. So I am curious to see how he, how he translates with today's player.

[A]

There are still hard ass.

[D]

I don't think Pat's as old school as everybody seems to believe he is.

[C]

I think he's a good football coach.

[D]

I think because he kind of pushed back against the unionization thing. He's been pigeonholed is one thing that I really don't.

[C]

Every coach did almost until they all flip until they all realized oh, we better.

[D]

Exactly.

[C]

I did the same thing. I fought. I did not like the players united thing.

[A]

Maybe the details of the reporting of the training camp might, might, might be impacting why he's viewed as old school.

[D]

Maybe, maybe, maybe. I think the. I think the courtroom kind of spoke on the validity of those allegations.

[C]

A lot of money. Speaking of money. He got a lot of money.

[D]

All right.

[B]

He's gonna, he's likely to do better than what Jonathan Smith did in, in two years.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Also alignment wise, you mentioned Jay Bat. Kevin Guskowitz is the university president there. Guskowitz and Batman both. Gusquitz got there from North Carolina. That former North Carolina alumnus and soccer player.

[B]

Does he get them back to being a top half Big Ten team? Are they now a candidate to be this like we need the Big Ten to have like a much stronger 5, 6, 7, 8. Correct.

[D]

I think.

[B]

Does this hire make you think they can get back to that? Because that. I'm still real skeptical.

[D]

Not saying they will, but I think that it certainly puts them in a position to where they can. I still think that the other questions are the kind of financial investment they will put into that program. But I also think, I mean this is getting off whatever here. But if you look at Michigan State athletics as a bigger picture right now, like Tom Izzo is kind of nearing the end, I don't think, you know, so they're going to be changing the basketball program again. We, we have seen this across the country. Schools are making more of a shift towards football because that's where the money is. And now everything is about making money. All right, so once Tom Izzo steps down, maybe Michigan State dives a little stronger into football because it is a school that loves football. There's a reason they're firing their coach after two years. It's because the football team has not been nearly good enough.

[A]

Also, the basketball program under Izzo, ain't they. They got nil money. They've got resources. But Tom, you know, they are still a developmental program. I'm still doing it his way. He's not like.

[D]

He's what, Old school?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, we. We've 35 minutes on the first segment. Love it. Last, last thoughts here, Danny. Florida, Auburn, Arkansas. You mentioned Bullish on goalish at Auburn, summer at Florida.

[C]

I did think something was weird though. I think Summer all is a really, really good hire. I think he's a phys. I, I like his coaching style and. But I do. Have you guys noticed it feels like there's a concerted effort. Like I see Danny Warfel, Urban Meyer. There's like a PR damage control being done from former Gators and probably, you know.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I don't know if it's orchestrated. It's com. It should be completely unnecessary. The guy's a good football coach. Like, get over it. You didn't get Lane Kiffin, which may or may not have worked. I think John Sumrall is a really, really good football coach. C plus.

[B]

Can you go back to Northwestern thing real fast? Yeah. So I have a really dedicated listener who is somewhat connected at Northwestern. He said, I like your comments on fits on cover 3. Agree somewhat. You should have pointed out that the fall of fits coincided with loss of DC Mike Hankwitz and Fitzmakers terrible hires. John O' Neill is a DC who's basically a ball boy in the NFL now. And Bajake and his OC who just let UMass to maybe the worst offense of all time at the fbs. Also, the Fitz handicap thing is overrated to me. Again, a Northwestern guy. Right. So he's gonna be biased on this. Not like Braun is anything special, but he's at least capable of not letting the team bottom out to 1 and 8 in Big Ten west play. Right. Hope this is learned. I'm skeptical. That's the other part of this.

[D]

Like I ask your friend a question for me?

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Who hired David Braun?

[B]

Who did hire David Braun?

[D]

Oh, Gerald. There you go.

[B]

That's a good, that's a good, good call right there. I, I am curious. Like, I, I listened to the ESPN pod when they were kind of like, you know, doing the, you know, Fitzgerald car wash thing. And he talked about how he's visited a lot of programs. He's done a lot of like not consulting work, but like that I think, if you believe in this, is that he's learned from some of the stuff he was doing and will spit out the other side better. Right. Like new, new ideas, embracing that kind of stuff. He was really trying to sell that without getting into any specifics because they didn't want to give away any like potential trade secret type stuff. So I think you got to like be open to that possibility.

[A]

What does Penn State do?

[B]

Okay, so this is interesting.

[A]

Watch the Big 12 title game and the SEC title game.

[B]

Let me ask you this. Sataki's LDS, right?

[D]

I believe so.

[B]

He's the coach and BYU's got money. Like BYU is probably the second spender in the Big 12 behind Texas Tech. And they're probably a pretty big gap over whoever you think number three is. BYU is going to make Penn State pay an arm and a leg to take their coach because for them, I think you would pay a premium to keep an LDS guy. Right. Is it worth it to Penn State to pay that much to go get Kalani?

[A]

I cannot speak to the religious affiliations. I do know that people close to that program love the tone setting that Kalani Sataki does in terms of the, the vibe. He's a super, super positive, optimistic guy. He like sets a good tone. He's always.

[B]

He is lds, by the way.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, I thought so.

[A]

He is a, like, he is a culture unto himself. Right. And that would be. You would be gaining that if you're Penn State. Right. And if you would be losing that if you're byu. It's interesting.

[B]

I'm just saying, like, if you're byu, I think you would pay a premium to keep a guy who is that specific fit for that specific school. And so if you're Penn State, you're probably going to have to over bid like crazy because like the culture. Yes, but like Penn State is not going to pay a premium to get an LDS guy. You know what I'm saying? Whereas BYU is like, yeah, we're not gonna let this guy walk over a couple million. I don't think. I think he would I think he would crush it there, man. Like, he's very. I. I like watching the guy speak. His teams play super hard. He's resourceful, you know, like, they find ways to win.

[D]

You remind me of James Franklin.

[B]

Yeah, right. But, like, is he going to be that much better than James was?

[D]

I don't know, but I'm just saying he reminds me of James Franklin as a coach.

[A]

So if this ends with Bob Chesney, is it a successful coaching transition for Penn State?

[D]

It could be surface level. I don't think. I don't think people would view it that way. But I. Again, we. We don't know how this is going to work out. It would be. I do think that if you talk to Penn State fans, if Chesney is the higher, there will be a lot of Penn State fans who have, like, that voice in the back of their head that Virginia Tech won this kind of breakup decision. Yeah, yeah. And that James won the breakup.

[B]

On the Florida piece, I do know that Tulane at least tried to get Buster to come be the OC or had some interest level there. I remember hearing that at the time. So I stored that in the back of my mind, like, Florida's gonna need an oc. Gets people excited. If you go hire an OC at Georgia Tech in Buster, who has given Georgia fits, that at least plays well to the Florida fan base. Right. Hey, we've scored. We scored more points on Georgia pretty consistently than y' all have at Georgia Tech.

[C]

Have we saw Clark Lee get an extension Friday? Have we seen Brent Key get an extension yet?

[D]

Nope.

[A]

Eyes on you.

[B]

I think that'd be a good hire, but he's clearly not the top choice right now because if he was, it would be done right.

[A]

There's no reason for, like, he's. He's sitting around. They're nine and three. It's not in a conference championship game, not in the College Football Playoff. There's nothing holding up anybody from hiring Rent Key unless you're waiting to hear on somebody else first.

[B]

I also checked in with Tennessee and, like, pretty good source there said, like, our energy in the building does not match the message board energy. Like, we're not in love with 8 and 4, but, like, no, there's, like, the seat is not hot in any way for Hypo here.

[A]

What about Josh Hypo lateral move to Penn State?

[B]

I don't think he's going there.

[C]

I think that'd be a really good hire for. For Penn State. You take a guy from the sec, get him up there, he took him to playoffs a year ago. I think that would win the press conference more than Bob Chesney. I don't know if it's better hire necessarily.

[A]

Everyone's tried to guess the mystery candidate. Right. Everyone thought it was Deborah. Everyone thought it was Kalani Sataki. I don't know.

[D]

I. There's a name I wrote from the very first day after they fired James Franklin. Who?

[A]

Matt Campbell?

[D]

Yeah. He never comes up. He hasn't signed an extension lately.

[C]

Is there any chance they're staying with Terry Smith or if they made it.

[D]

Clear they're not, I think there's a chance.

[C]

Yeah, I do, too.

[A]

And didn't Franklin hire Smith?

[D]

Yeah, but Terry is. Yeah, Terry's old school. Penn State. Yeah.

[A]

409. Look at my pin. Joe Pa Joba, that kind of stuff.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, coming up on the other side, yes, we do have the rest of a pun for the review. We've got to react to the new playoff with the new college football rankings from the AP Top 25 poll, we've got Buds, College Football Playoff projections and more nukes.

[D]

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[A]

Back here on the COVID 3 podcast every single Monday. Like to spend a brief minute to take a look at the new AP Top 25 poll. We call it Pole Assassin. Texas A and M did fall and they fell even further than I thought that they might. They are now the lowest ranked one loss team inside of the top 10. Yes, they tumble from number three down to number seven. That means Georgia, Oregon, Texas Tech, Ole Miss all checking in ahead of the Aggies after their loss to the Longhorns. Texas, not a huge adjustment on the Longhorns moved up just two spots, checking in behind a Vanderbilt team that they beat earlier this year, but also behind a BYU and a Miami. Miami continuing a slow climb. They are up to number 12. A lot of teams staying steady, a little bit of shuffling in the wake of A&M's loss. Michigan took a slight step back as we projected on Saturday night. Just that third loss brings up the USC as an easy way for voters to be able to negotiate what they've got going on. And while I was ridiculed throughout the tomorrow's top 25 segment, unfortunately I was correct. And I say this truly unfortunately I was correct. The Missouri Tigers are back with zero wins against FBS teams with the winning record. They are the number five team. Number 25 team in the country coming back into the rankings. Tennessee, Houston, Iowa, unlv. Some of your first teams on the outside looking in. So what do we make of the AP Top 25 after the conclusion of Week 14?

[D]

I think it's very rich of you to influence the vote and then like say you regret how the outcome was. Honestly, like the funniest thing to me. And I tweeted this yesterday because when I first saw it and it's just so many people in the media who do this for a living complaining about the College Football Playoff ranking Notre Dame ahead of Miami every week. And yet every single week when the poll that's put together by that same media comes out, Notre Dame is ranked ahead of Miami. We're all trying to find the guy who did this, but it's like, I mean there's really nothing about this poll that really bothers me. Like there's some individual votes. Like I saw Miami's lowest 17. I saw some people still have Texas in their top 10. Like, I don't know, it's whatever, man. Missouri still being ranked despite not having a single win over a team with a winning record. And that's FCS level, G5 level, Power 4 level. Cool.

[A]

Love to see it. Danny, Bud, Anything here.

[B]

I just, I'm disappointed that you're right, but I know you probably would be.

[C]

I think there's a laziness now at this point where they're just, they realize their polls meaningless. I don't know if they do quite as much work or maneuvering in it in the back end.

[A]

Well, I, I will say after being inside the belly of the beast when it comes to The CBS Sports 136 earlier this morning, there is something to be said for your opinion on a team after the 11th data point is not going to get drastically different after the 12th data point. Like every in the CBS Sports 136 post on the site, I always detail some of the biggest movements within inside the top 60 or 70 and usually I'm like, okay, double digit moves are the ones I highlight. They're just aren't there. Right? Like you're just not going to go all of a sudden from 25 down to 38 because of the addition of one more game when you've got an entire body of work. I'm not defending the AP poll voters, but I do understand why we're not going to have massive swings when you go from week 13 to week 14. Just a thought.

[C]

IU and A and M should be closer. Like that's what the data point for them losing to Texas. Their resumes to me are pretty similar and I would lean more towards dropping A M closer to BYU than I would say move BYU up. Like if you start diving deep on A M's resume, it is not stellar.

[A]

I agree.

[C]

But that goes to like, we can't drop them too far because they were up our number Three you don't want. You know, like, that's where I think that there should be the willingness to move it around if they lose a game like they did.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

All right, bud, those.

[D]

Those that are surprised by North Dakota State getting votes, we'll point out I don't do it. But for the power ratings that do include FCS teams like Sagrin, North Dakota State, if they were playing Virginia in the ACC championship this week, would be favored.

[B]

I agree with that.

[A]

All right, bud, let's see. What is the new college Football playoff projection looking like?

[B]

Yeah, this is probably going to be a lengthy segment, so going to roll through what we have here, and they're going to talk through it. So Ohio State beats Indiana in the Big Ten title game. They're one, Indiana is two. Bama beats Georgia, they're three. Georgia drops to five. Texas Tech wins the Big 12. Tech is the four, and then we had six. We have Oregon hosting a playoff game. A and M still hosting one at seven. So I guess, you know, similar results what we have now with the AP, except we do obviously have Bama jumping up 8, Ole Miss hosting Oklahoma, which is 9. Again, I don't really consider rematches. Maybe the committee does. They say they don't, so I don't. I don't plug that into my logic. But again, I kind of think they probably do consider rematches, but in this case, that might be a spicy matchup. So they don't care. 11 is Tulane and then 12 is Duke. I'll believe that they'll put two G5 teams in when I see it. James Madison, strength of schedules in, like the 80s. So not really sure I'm buying that. This is still a TV product. Notre Dame comes in at 10th point.

[D]

Counterpoint to the TV product. Are we sure putting Duke in makes it a better television product than James Madison?

[B]

No, no, you're right. Exactly.

[A]

Tickets were given away for free to Duke Wake.

[D]

Well, it's because it was Thanksgiving weekend. It's the holiday season, Chip. You ever heard of charity?

[A]

Or the. Or the kids aren't there and they don't come.

[B]

So now you're gonna follow the logic here. But as of last night when I made this and I asked around as people who work at various places, and I was like, hey, why can we not bet Bama to miss the playoff right now? FanDuel finally hung a number on Bama to make or miss the playoff in the middle of the night, and it was like, Bama minus 4000 in plus 1300 out. And that got bad A little bit, but it's still like 11:50. I saw what call she had and that's like the spread was just not. It wasn't like people weren't posting both sides. It wasn't really a mature market. Not. This really is. It's been out in the middle of the night for what, like 10 hours now. So look, looking at this, Notre Dame's odds to make the playoff are exactly the inverse's odds of BYU to win the Big 12 championship. The betting odds say Texas Tech is in win or lose. Unless, like, you know, maybe if the quarterback gets knocked out, it's a serious thing or something. We've already seen them play without the QB and they lost a game to Arizona State. So if we think that Notre Dame is the team that gets bounced if BYU wins the Big 12. And that is my opinion right now, although I think Texas Tech's going to take care of business on Saturday and it won't come to this. They're going to have to rig this thing tomorrow night because if Bama loses in the SC championship game, you can't then go and jump Bama above Notre Dame. And this is where the committee kind of screwed themselves because Notre Dame's resume was not a top 10 resume with the first playoff ranking release. But for some reason the committee put them 10th. And that was the week after they struggled with Boston College on the road. Right. There was no real reason to start Notre Dame this high. This is where the committee, because ESPN has to have these shows to feed the content machine because they paid so much money for the college ball playoff, they have to like produce content around the playoff to make their investment payoff. And I don't blame ESPN for this. If CBS had the playoff rights, I guarantee you we do the same thing. Hell, we do a reaction show to it, right to their TV show. So we're going to see them rig it this week if they're going to do this. And I don't really think that they're going to punish Bama for losing the SC championship game unless they're like blown the hell out a year after leaving Bama out and not punishing SMU for losing in the conference title game. Right. How do you guys think this plays out? Because that's what the current betting odds say. That's what I think the committee behavior is. But if you think that like the week to week rankings matter at all, they've kind of backed themselves into a corner and then there's more. So if they.

[D]

Hold on, hold on. Can I Answer.

[A]

Yeah, can I answer?

[D]

I. Is it rigging if Alabama jumps Notre Dame this week? Because I wrote in my vibe check that I think Alabama will pass Notre Dame this week, too. But is it rigging or is that the committee will value the win over Auburn more than Notre Dame's win over Stanford?

[B]

Totally fair. And I think that's probably what they'll do. But then we get a really interesting situation here, guys, because if they do that this week, you know what that triggers? Notre Dame's gonna be in the same pot as Miami. And then the head to head is supposed to come into play, were they not. So if you pre rig this to prevent Bama from not getting in, if they lose the SEC title game and BYU wins the Big 12, you also might end up a scenario in which Miami is now in the same pod as Notre Dame on the same footing, especially because they beat Pitt by more than Notre Dame did.

[A]

Yeah, I was gonna say if you could make an argument that this would be a time where they put Miami ahead of Notre.

[D]

Right.

[B]

And then in that case, Notre Dame's kind of in for a week as an at large. And if BYU wins, they, you know, Miami's bumped.

[C]

They definitely weren't in the same pod last week. Right. Notre Dame and Miami. It kind of depends on, like, I know I thought it was threes, but somebody. I thought they were. Not yet. But if you.

[B]

If you do it like straight line threes, then I think. Yes. If they've determined that Ohio State is a pod into itself, then no.

[C]

Right.

[A]

You move from three team pods to four team pods after like number 12. It gets deeper. As you get deeper into the rankings, I think that Alabama, with all of you guys, I think Alabama has no chance of missing the College Football Playoff.

[B]

I agree.

[D]

I agree.

[B]

Unless like Simpson has some kind of big ass injury or something and they get blown out.

[D]

No.

[C]

What. Yeah, what if they get. What if they get. What if he's healthy and they get blown out?

[D]

Nope.

[B]

I still think it's a no. I think they'll rig it. You're not gonna.

[A]

It's really easy. We're not going to punish you for losing your conference championship game to another team that we think is one of the best in the country.

[D]

Right.

[C]

So then is BYU safe?

[A]

No, BYU's not.

[B]

It's not in now. And I don't think. I'm not convinced that they have the same protectionist level of the nine because.

[C]

It'S the big 12. I mean, that's the thing you really should say is that The SEC loses.

[D]

Who are the two leagues that determine the future of the format?

[C]

Right.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Do you think what is does Indiana or loser of the no. 1 give it any picks? The loser of the Big Ten championship game. Do they risk losing a buy?

[B]

Yes, the Big Ten.

[D]

Oh, no, no, no.

[C]

But what if it's by three touchdowns, 21 points?

[B]

I don't think so.

[D]

No.

[A]

Really?

[D]

Ohio State has wins over Texas. Indiana has wins over like Oregon, Penn State, like. No, I know a one loss, a one loss resume compared to the other one lost resumes, they're still going to have the better overall resume and they're only losses to the number one or two team in the country.

[A]

Well, my name is Joey McGuire and let me remind you about my quarterback was hurt. Okay. I mean we're undefeated when we've, we've had healthy quarterbacks. And if you're a defensive lineman and you want to be in first class, come on to Texas Tech.

[D]

I believe the first bot for the four buys will be Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia, then depending on the result of the SEC championship, Alabama or Texas Tech.

[B]

So we all agree if BYU wins, Notre Dame's out.

[A]

Yes.

[D]

Yes.

[A]

I don't know if I. I think so.

[C]

Yes.

[D]

I 100 Notre Dame.

[B]

Or in the case that Miami.

[C]

Miami.

[A]

Yes.

[D]

BYU is the bid thief.

[B]

I mean the odds are literally identical. It's plus 410. Minus 410. All right.

[A]

As always, check out our socials for for the graphic if you're listening at home, always appreciate the College Football Playoff projection. And coming up on the other side, one last chance to look back at week 14 and more. Next.

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[A]

Back here on the COVID 3 podcast, a little bit of a so housekeeping here for a second. So upon further review is going on here on Monday, Tuesday night, we will be doing our, as Tom mentioned and Bud, our instant reaction to the College Football Playoff rankings. We'll be doing that here. YouTube.com cover 3 Wednesday at 11am Big game breakdown for championship week, but we got something else coming up on Wednesday. Bud, what is the the game plan for national signing day? And I guess, you know, also what if, if you were to be able to sort of crystallize the, the maybe like two or three things that you think fans should be keeping their eyes on going into Wednesday, what would that be?

[B]

So does Oregon flip any of these receivers from from Ohio State? Can USC hold on to the number one recruiting class? You know, I know we'll talk about some of the guys who, who didn't jump. Like, we think Washington's class is really nice. There's some nice breakdowns of that. Probably going to name. I don't want to give away too much for, you know, from the show, but may give out some awards as well. And there's not that much drama. But I am curious to see what happens like in the next 24 hours as far as certain guys moving elsewhere and does that produce any surprise flips? So maybe we'll get a little more drama this year than we have in prior years just because the coaching turnover, you know, was so much. So I'm excited be live four hours on on CBS hq. And then I'm gonna take, I'm gonna curate that all day and basically we'll drop like what I think is the most relatable hours worth of that four hours into your feed if for some reason you can't watch 4 hours of signing day coverage, which and hell, we all used to take this off, you speak, a national holiday, you know, a little bit, you know, dampened now with the portal and everything else going on in the sport. But I'm just gonna like, like send notes to Mikey and Debo all day. Hey, I think this segment's really good. We'll splice together. I'll do some VO on it. Just kind of explain, you know, some of the stuff because, you know, there may be stuff in the first hour that like by hour four, we get some more clarity on. Right. So I think that'll be a pretty good product.

[A]

Nice. Awesome. Keep your eyes on that throughout the COVID three YouTube channels and wherever you get your podcast.

[C]

All right.

[A]

A few minutes left. A little bit of time to go under the hood one last time. It is upon further review. There were terrible calls. Do you want to go ahead and jump in after further ado after further.

[C]

Review to further ado.

[D]

View.

[A]

First Tom, I want to get your, your Oklahoma notes here. But just a Since it was going on, we did not get a chance even on Sunday in the instant reaction show to celebrate the heroes that are the Stanford Cardinal doing it for Queen Latifah. I mean, Marcus Freeman is still dropping back and throwing like 17 yards down the seam on first down in a blowout game. And you know what Stanford did? They pick themselves up and they kept marching the other way. It comes down to a defensive stand in scoring position in the final minutes. Stanford Cardinal 29 point loss to Notre Dame to do it for Queen Latifah. So thank you to the Cardinal. It's just really, really heroic stuff there.

[D]

I will say not the ones in our chat that are here every week, but I do remember about two months ago when I wrote that Marcus in the Vibe check that Marcus Freeman knows the score and that he has to run up against these teams the rest of the season. A lot of Notre Dame fans were telling me that Marcus Freeman would never.

[A]

That was, that was preposterous intentional running it up attitude.

[D]

Yeah, like they put up 70 on Syracuse. They're running it up all up. Yeah. No, they wouldn't. He's a smart coach. He knows what he has to do.

[A]

Very, very good stuff. All right, Tom, what's our, what's our notes on on the Oklahoma Sooners?

[D]

I this is inspired by our colleague Cody Nagel who hit this stat yesterday, shared it with me about how if you look at Oklahoma' offense, he retweeted my joke about like we have to talk as a nation about letting Oklahoma into the playoff. That seemed to rile up Jim Nagy and a lot of people involved with the scorers. He mentioned how their last three wins, they all posted among the worst 20 success rates for a team in any game in the FBS this year. So I, I looked at that and I took it a step further and I just looked at the games that are, you know, power four versus power four. And Oklahoma's last three games are all among the 13 lowest success rates in wins this year. And taking that a step further, their success rate in victories on offense this year is 40.4%. The national average total is 42.8. So they're below offense even when they win. And the national average in Teams winning games this year is 46.4%, in which Oklahoma ranks 123rd nationally in that. So the fact that they are 10 and 2 with the wins that they have and they were able to get into the playoff because of it, which is a testament to how good that defense is. And Oklahoma, I believe you belong in the College Football Playoff. I'm just making jokes about your offense because even you don't want to watch it. Don't pretend you do.

[C]

I put out a similar. I just said, does anybody want to watch this, really want to watch this Oklahoma defense or offense in the playoffs? And it was like Matt Liner was like, no. Chris Felica, who's Miami's biggest fan stand, is like, no. And then Pollock is like, yeah. And then I had Oklahoma fans, like, just saying, like, I didn't even. I think they should be in. They deserve to be in. But my goodness, is it ugly.

[D]

By the way, shout out to the Bear. I know what you're doing. He was tweeting yesterday about after Lane left about how you have to really reconsider. You have to really reconsider Ole Miss being in and where. Who. Who's Bear supporting Miami.

[C]

So in all serious, do you think they look at either of those? Do you think they consider Oklahoma's offense and ding them for it like a spot or two, like we saw the AP just kind of hold or without Charlie Weiss now, who I do think makes a big difference for Ole Miss, do you think either one of them get dinged at all by the committee?

[D]

I think Oklahoma's offense has been awful all year, so the committee's not going to look at that any differently. I do wonder how they will view Ole Miss. I can't say for certainty either direction, how they're going to look at that team or what kind of evaluation they're going to make because of it. I know that I hope that the team isn't punished for the decisions of its coach, but I can't guarantee that they won't be based on prior actions by different people but the same committee.

[A]

Because the difference is home game or not, we're talking about the eight seed or the nine seed.

[C]

Huge.

[A]

It is millions of dollars to the town of Oxford and the Ole Miss athletic department.

[D]

I will say that would be a great. It'll be a great atmosphere at Vaught Hemingway if they host a playoff game and it's Pete Golding and everybody. Just the way that that fan base is going to rally around the situation. I feel like that would be an incredible atmosphere. For a playoff game. So if you're worried about the television aspect, maybe that's a reason to keep Ole Miss as a home team.

[C]

I know.

[A]

And a really great opportunity to take the road underdog against the. Sounds like. Yeah, let's definitely add a little home field advantage to that Ole Miss rating for their first round playoff game without Lane Kiffin. Yeah, let's do it. All right. Anything else? We want to make sure that we get on the record before we before we split.

[B]

Can we private look at private chat real quick?

[D]

Sure. I mean it won't get no go go.

[B]

All right. So I do think that Pavia is getting enough media love out there to where if the Big ten title game is a defensive slug fest. I don't hate a Pavia and Big ten title game under parlay. If your book will take that. It pays about 850 to 875. If you can bet some like alt under type stuff, you can get the number, you know, like over 12 to 1. I think if you have a like a game that's played with the total in the 30s and one team doesn't blow the like it's not 30 and nothing's 30. Nothing saying is going to win it. Right. But like or Mendoza. Sure. Right. Yeah.

[D]

If.

[B]

If Indiana beats Ohio State 30 nothing.

[A]

Right.

[B]

If I was betting Pavia Heisman I would be trying to find places that accept a parlay with Big ten title game under.

[C]

Yeah, that was the day trader Danny play was Diego Pavi is a hedge in case it's a defensive battle in the Big ten championship game. Nobody shines. Pavia takes it home. Yeah.

[D]

A lot of good wide open race.

[A]

Wide open race. A lot of A lot of good options everybody to consider. Thus concludes our Heisman trophy commentary. We will be back Tuesday night to be able to give you our instant reaction to the new college football playoff rankings. Then Wednesday, big game breakdown for championship weekend and more. So come and hang out. And you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Frinelli. You can follow him@bud Elliott3. You can follow him at Danny Canal. You can follow me at Chip underscore Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[D]

Thank you.

[C]

See ya.

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I don't think so. Then Hulu has National Lampoon's Christmas vacation.

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