Upon Further Review: Latest From The Coaching Carousel, AP Poll Reactions, More! | Cover 3

Summary

Cover 3 College Football Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Upon Further Review: Latest From The Coaching Carousel, AP Poll Reactions, More!
Date: October 20, 2025
Hosts: Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Danny Kanell, Bud Elliott

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Main Theme

This episode dives deep into the ever-spinning college football coaching carousel, reacts to the latest AP Poll after a shakeup weekend, and offers in-depth playoff projections and "Upon Further Review" assessments. The Cover 3 crew blends insight, debate, and wit to keep die-hard college football fans current and entertained.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Coaching Carousel & Florida State Situation

• Florida State’s decision to keep Mike Norvell (5:00 – 15:00):

  • FSU’s AD publicly commits to Norvell for the rest of the season, pending a “comprehensive assessment” later.
  • Danny Kanell highlights how the decision is primarily financial: “This to me tells me they don't have the money right now... It’s not a matter of if, it's when.” (6:27)
  • Bud Elliott adds insight into booster politics and long-term buyout structures (8:10).
  • The panel debates lack of clear leadership and uncertainty; consensus is Norvell might not survive the whole season.

• Potential interim options:

  • Odell Haggins discussed as a likely interim if a move is made.

• Program morale:

  • Tom Fornelli: “Ever since what happened a few years ago, I just feel like there's absolutely no spine to the program... it just keeps getting worse every single week after week…” (11:59)

2. Florida’s Coaching Search (15:00 – 23:30)

• Billy Napier fired (after a win):

  • The hosts stress that winning a single game doesn’t override deeper program problems.

• Candidates & Requirements:

  • Danny Kanell pushes for "an alpha type of personality" who can cut through dysfunction (16:02).
  • Names discussed: Lane Kiffin, Rhett Lashlee, Eli Drinkwitz, James Franklin.
  • Debate over Franklin: Split views—seen as capable but perhaps an underwhelming hire for Florida fans.
    • Bud Elliott: "He flopped in almost every big game… Franklin's teams don't score points." (20:04, 20:32)
    • Tom Fornelli: “If you look at James Franklin and turn your nose down at him, you’re the reason why your program has sucked for as long as it has…” (20:52)
  • Job market realities: Other programs can match big offers; not as easy to “poach” as in the past.

• Institutional instability at Florida (dean and president turnover) may affect who’s willing to take the job.

3. National Coaching Carousel Roundup (23:30 – 29:50)

• Wisconsin & Luke Fickell: Public support letters may signal instability or self-preservation.
• Other hot seats: Auburn, South Carolina (Beamer), LSU mentioned.
• Marcus Freeman rumors: Hosts think it's mostly leverage for a raise at Notre Dame, not a real move.

4. AP Poll Reactions & Resume Debates (34:40 – 41:50)

• Biggest movers:
  • Vanderbilt up into the top 10; hosts consider it disrespectful they aren’t ranked higher.
  • Miami, Texas Tech, LSU, Tennessee take significant drops but remain ranked.
• Danny Kanell: "You got to stay on top of these guys...who have [Tennessee and LSU] beaten? They really don’t have those signature wins." (36:42)
• Resume vs. Reputation Frustrations:
  • Tom Fornelli: Criticizes LSU’s continued ranking: “They should not be anywhere near the top 20 right now... I picked them to win the national title with 1000% confidence before the year. I’ve sold all my stock.” (40:23)
• USC vs. Michigan ranking anomaly: USC beat Michigan recently but is ranked behind them.

5. College Football Playoff Projections (41:49 – 48:00)

• Bud Elliott’s BudBot Model:
  • Playoff projection based on future games, not current records.
  • Ohio State, Indiana, Bama, Texas A&M as current seeds.
  • Vandy, BYU, Notre Dame, and Cincinnati among notable projected contenders.
• Debate around ACC and Big 12 playoff paths:
  • Miami’s tiebreaker over Virginia, Notre Dame’s at-large chances.
  • Danny Kanell: “If Miami's 11-1 and doesn't make the ACC championship game, they're getting in 100%.” (45:47)
  • Discussion of two-bid conferences and the importance of schedule/quality wins.
• The host dynamics: Enjoyable banter about complex tiebreakers and the playoff picture.

6. Brilliantly Boring Wins & "Upon Further Review" (51:11 – 70:00)

• Indiana’s clinical win over Michigan State:

  • Fernando Mendoza praised for Heisman-level performance.
  • Panel lauds Indiana for focus post-big win.

• Ohio State’s Defense:

  • Allowed just 41 points in seven games (“least since ’93 FSU”).
  • Danny Kanell: Shares an anecdote about the relentless pursuit of shutouts and "greatness" mindset (58:57).
  • Group agrees—Ohio State’s defense has national-title upside, even if run game’s a minor concern.

• Texas, LSU, Oklahoma—Same Problems:

  • Tom Fornelli's rant: “Get Texas out of my life… Their offensive line is horrible. They can’t do anything on offense… I’m getting tired of Texas, I’m getting tired of LSU, and I’m almost getting there with Oklahoma because the reality is, they’re all the same damn team.” (63:17)

Memorable Moment:

• Tom Fornelli calling out the perverse incentive created by ugly playoff losses: “If Texas somehow finagles its way to the playoff, we're just going to watch it lose like 17 to 10 in a first round playoff game.” (64:58)

Cliché Culture:

• Danny Kanell plays a clip of Texas’s Michael Taft delivering pure “coach speak,” joking about SEC culture training: “They train them so young in the SEC, it didn’t take long!” (66:04)

7. Shoutouts and Under-the-Radar Stories (67:19 – End)

• Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby’s standout season:

  • Top 10 in efficiency, yards/attempt; “He is magical at avoiding sacks… let’s start paying more attention to the Bearcats because they might just sneak into the playoff.” (67:19)

• Group of 6 race:

  • JMU crushes ODU; Boise State dominates UNLV.
  • Discussion: What does a one-loss Sun Belt champion need to crash the New Year’s Six party?
    • “If these teams in the American keep eating each other alive, a one-loss Sunbelt champion JMU would be a threat...” (72:28)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• 6:27 / Danny Kanell:
  "This to me tells me they don't have the money right now [to fire Norvell]. And I think everybody knows that... It's not a matter of if, it's when."

• 11:59 / Tom Fornelli:
  "Ever since what happened a few years ago, I just feel like there's absolutely no spine to the program...it just keeps getting worse every single week after week."

• 16:02 / Danny Kanell:
  “This, I think, is the type of place where you need somebody with the alpha type of personality... Tell everyone, get out of my way. Leave me alone. Let me coach.”

• 20:52 / Tom Fornelli:
  "If you look at James Franklin and turn your nose down at him, you’re the reason why your program has sucked for as long as it has, because that's an idiotic opinion.”

• 36:42 / Danny Kanell:
  “Where are [Tennessee and LSU’s] best wins? ...Who have they beaten? They really don’t have those signature wins.”

• 40:23 / Tom Fornelli:
  “[LSU] should not be anywhere near the top 20 right now... I picked them to win the national title with 1000% confidence before the year. I’ve sold all my stock.”

• 45:47 / Danny Kanell:
  "If Miami's 11-1 and doesn't make the ACC championship game, they're getting in 100%."

• 51:11 / Chip Patterson:
  “Those were the brilliantly boring wins of the week...” (recurring segment highlighting quietly impressive victories)

• 58:57 / Danny Kanell:
  "When you’re on a team like that where you sense there's greatness... even in blowouts, you try to pitch a shutout." (on parallels with 1993 FSU)

• 63:17 / Tom Fornelli:
  “Get Texas out of my life… I’m tired of it… it’s been this way all year… I'm getting tired of Texas, I'm getting tired of LSU, and I'm almost getting there with Oklahoma because the reality is they’re all the same damn team.”

• 66:04 / Danny Kanell:
  "They train them so young in the SEC... you have those sound machines that normally play rain or something like that? They just must play coach's postgame press conference to kids when they're falling asleep in the SEC."

• 67:19 / Tom Fornelli:
  "Let's start paying more attention to the Bearcats because they might just sneak into the playoff.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 05:00 — Florida State’s decision to keep Mike Norvell / program instability
• 15:00 — Florida coaching search: ideal candidates, job market landscape
• 23:30 — national coaching carousel, public support letters, hot seat speculative discussion
• 34:40 — AP Poll overview, ranking controversies, resumes vs. reputation
• 41:49 — College Football Playoff projections (BudBot)
• 51:11 — “Brilliantly Boring” wins of the week
• 58:47 — Ohio State’s defensive prowess in historical context
• 63:17 — Texas (and others): offensive woes and playoff value
• 67:19 — Underrated players & teams: Cincinnati, JMU, Boise
• 72:28 — G5 playoff/NY6 race implications

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Tone and Style

The podcast is analytical, lively, and frequently humorous. The hosts mix expertise with genuine fandom, never shy from sharp takes or poking fun at conventional wisdom. They balance tactical breakdowns with big-picture debates and aren’t afraid to critique media narratives or coaching clichés.

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Summary Takeaways

• The coaching carousel is spinning with financial, political, and leadership concerns dictating moves as much as on-field results.
• Rankings are volatile, sometimes illogical; resumes and actual wins remain a flashpoint for debate.
• Ohio State’s defense is historically dominant—making them a playoff favorite if the run game improves.
• Playoff projections remain muddy, with tiebreakers, conference power shifts, and upstart G5 teams in play.
• Under-the-radar teams (like Cincinnati, JMU) could crash the postseason party, given the continued chaos in the Power Conferences.
• The episode is packed with measured expertise, pointed critiques—sometimes with a healthy side of snark—and is a must-catch for any college football obsessive.

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For fans looking to skip the ads and intros, this summary captures all the key drama, analysis, and personality from the episode—keeping you informed and ready for next week’s unpredictable twists.

Transcript

[Chip Patterson]

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[Bud Elliott]

Welcome Back to the COVID 3 podcast.

[Tom Fornelli]

With your hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott. It's your call for the best college.

[Bud Elliott]

Football coverage from national signing day to the national championship and.

[Tom Fornelli]

CBS Sports presents.

[Bud Elliott]

The COVID 3 podcast.

[Chip Patterson]

And welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Danny Cannell, that's Tom Fenelli, that's Bud Elliott. I'm Chip Patterson coming to you [e-mail] cover3 and everywhere. Get your podcast on demand. Thanks for hanging out. Smash that subscribe, smash that like and come and join us in the chat. AKA the COVID 3 tailgate. You'd never guess what they want to talk about. You would never guess what they want to talk about. Okay, let's waste zero minutes, Mikey. Can we jump on that carousel? Foreign yes. And of course the breaking news from Sunday was that Florida had fired Billy Napier. Billy Gonzalez will take over as the interim coach. But first I want to address a coaching change that is not going to happen. It seems as of this week, Florida State University athletic director making an announcement on Monday morning that he is, quote, fully committed to Mike Norvell this season. And then after the season we will have a quote, comprehensive assessment of the football program. Michael Alford admits that the results are not up to the standard. And now I think we need to unpack why the decision to stick with Mike Norvell is, is happening. I think we need to say what are the, what are the pros and cons here? So Danny, as we start to look at this, Owen4 and ACC play late night Saturday night, you lose to Stanford as a three score favorite. Is this the right decision to stick with Mike Norvell the rest of the year when you are on an off week? I mean if there was a time to make a move, you've got enough time, you've got an offensive coordinator with head coaching experience who knows how to run the power conference program. Is, I mean, is this, is this the, the right move you think for Florida State?

[Danny Cannell]

Have you guys, you guys have mortgages, right? Like you finance parts of your house before?

[Bud Elliott]

No.

[Danny Cannell]

Or I mean, shoot, I mean buying a car sometimes. But when you, when you have more of a significant financial commitment to make it. Does it take like a day or does it take a while to get some of the paperwork in place to kind of, to make sure you've got all your, you know, are you talking.

[Chip Patterson]

About the 30 to 60 day window that sometimes it can take all the paperwork through?

[Danny Cannell]

I think this is a smart move by Michael Alford though, to come out and at least say this, because this to me tells me they don't have the money right now. And I think everybody knows that. So you're kind of like, what are you waiting on? And but has said this a couple times and I wanted to push back on it, but I don't think there's any more pushing back. It's not a matter of if that, it's when. And I do think like watching that game unfold, I was like, this is unacceptable. Like this is not. And it's the latest example of being unacceptable. I thought the biggest game of Mike Norvell's career was the game against Pitt. It was at home. It was a winnable game. You lost that one. Then it was like, oh, they're going to Stanford. This is an absolutely must win. You cannot lose this game and they lose it. Like how many more of those games can you go through? So to your question, I don't, I think it's a financial thing. I think they're going to try to figure out how to make this work financially. And then somehow if Florida State can win out and you're in a better position, then hey, maybe you look at it, you reevaluate it and you don't make a panic move. I don't understand this rush to fire coaches from everybody. So I think it kind of, it makes sense for me from Florida State. I mean it could get ugly. I mean you're already hearing some of these reports, players are, you know, mocking Mike Norvell. I don't know if those are true or not. I don't know if it was going on though, right?

[Bud Elliott]

I mean like, like he has one, he has one pitch he throws. It's very like Baptist revival Preacher. Preacher. How do you respond? Even at booster events, he's just very yelly and like he doesn't really have a change up or a curveball to throw. Like that's just, he has one speed and when things don't go well, like the players laugh about it. Like that's for sure. You know, how do you respond? Like they got paid up front, they're going to do what they're going to do. I think, like, you could pacify, like, the real extreme of the fans by firing him today. I would say if you read that statement of the football program, that should include the ad, and I think it will. I. I'd be very surprised if Mike Alford's the one making this higher solo. I think you'll have a search committee or, or perhaps at all like that.

[Chip Patterson]

That's.

[Bud Elliott]

They may need a little more change than just a head coach if you pull the schedule back up. Mikey, real quick. I think sometimes you make a change because you want to make sure that you still sell tickets or you still have good attendance. Guys, nobody's going to go to Wake Forest or a zombie VA Tech team that fired its coach a month ago anyway. Yeah, like, those games suck. You already got all your ticket sales and all your attendance happen in the first half of the schedule with Bama, Miami and Pitt, right? Wake and Virginia Tech are the reasons why you sued you out of this conference because nobody, like, nobody in your fan base wants to drive four hours from Tampa or seven hours from Miami to go up there and watch this crap because they just don't think those teams are attracted to play. Now, granted, you're not real attracted to play either right now because the buyout is payable as essentially a line item spread out over six years. You don't need to have somebody pledge, you know, 55 million, right? You need to get about 18 months pledged. But you probably also need to get your ducks in a row in terms of, like, are you going to go private or private capital? A lot of the programs, what they're proposing to some of their bigger boosters is a bit of like a legacy play in which, hey, they acquire 10% and then they actually sell off, you know, like 1% each at a bit of an upcharge to, like, the 10 biggest boosters and stakeholder families in the program. So at least you're like, keeping the interest of the program in the hands of people who, you know, like, have gone for generations and seem to care about it. Maybe that's in the works, right? Like, I don't think you should take PE to pay a freaking buyout personally, but that's not something that would come together in a day and certainly not something you would have been working on after a 30 start, which included the win over Alabama. But also, like, there's no guarantee that he lasts through the Florida game.

[Chip Patterson]

I was going to say, like, this. This vote does not necessarily mean that we're going to make it to the end of the season for that comprehensive assessment. That comprehensive assessment might be very easy to figure out if things go poorly when they get back in action.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. That's why I think you might wait, you know, if you want to. Maybe you have some leverage to talk buyout down a little bit. I don't know. They do, but like, that would be a reason why you'd want to kind of continue to do this potentially. Don't know, but maybe.

[Danny Cannell]

But you like, he had to do something. Like Florida State had to address this and I think that's why they put out the statement that I think is smart. You don't you think they just could have gone on and act like nothing was going on?

[Bud Elliott]

No, no, no, no. I, I, I. Right. When you said you had to do something, I thought you meant like, had to fire him today.

[Danny Cannell]

No, no, no. But like in the room, I was.

[Bud Elliott]

Thinking, like, I would be surprised but not shocked if he coached another game.

[Chip Patterson]

That's what you. But he is going to coach another game now.

[Bud Elliott]

That's what I said on no Guest. I said I would be surprised but not like shocked if he did get to coach another game.

[Chip Patterson]

So is there any good reason other than get your ducks in a row that he is still going to be coaching?

[Bud Elliott]

I don't think Gus wants to be a head coach again, so not even an interim standpoint. I, I would bet they would go to Odell Higgins to do it as all.

[Chip Patterson]

Is this the third time Odell's had to do it?

[Bud Elliott]

Exactly. Yeah. And he's still around the program, obviously, so, you know, he could step in and do it if you wanted him to. I don't know. We'll see.

[Chip Patterson]

Geez, Tom. Outsider's perspective.

[Tom Fornelli]

Fade in the Knowles the rest of the year. That's a damn certainty. I just, It's, I don't know. It's. It's all weird to me. It's. What do you like, you going back? Ever since what happened a few years ago, I just feel like there's absolutely, there's, there's no spine to the program. Like, as soon as anything goes wrong, it never just goes wrong one week. It just keeps getting worse every single week after week after week. And it's just, I don't know, like, I like to troll you guys over Florida State. It's fun for me, but it's getting to the point where it's just, it's like. No, there's, there's really no point to it anymore.

[Bud Elliott]

It's.

[Tom Fornelli]

They're just bad. I would Rather Florida State be good than be in this situation. Just because when they're good, it's much more fun for me to troll Button Danny.

[Chip Patterson]

There was, you know, a lot of reporting yesterday. Headlines about the conversations that are ongoing with boosters and stakeholders. You know, our own Chris Hummer wrote on CBSSports.com it looks like Mike Norvell made it through Sunday and then his final paragraph said things like we'll see about Monday or Tuesday. You, you make this announcement. So you just don't keep doing that. Right. You just, I mean even if it, even if it just gets all of that as a. This headline replaces that headline, you know what I'm saying?

[Bud Elliott]

You under promise over delivered and end up pulling the string in two weeks. You know, that's fine.

[Chip Patterson]

No, no harm done there.

[Bud Elliott]

So the awkward thing is going to be like the, you know, ribbon cutting move in of the new football facility.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. So did we talk about that on the air or was that off the. Okay, that's what I thought that was a, that was an interesting part. And that is still happening right today.

[Bud Elliott]

About moved.

[Chip Patterson]

So and that is, and just so I get my details right. So that is a, a brand new or a revamped football. Brand new football only facility and the.

[Tom Fornelli]

New coach is gonna love it.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean and.

[Chip Patterson]

They'Re ready to go and he's the one supposed to.

[Bud Elliott]

This is what we were saying. Like Norvell's office is packed up.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, it's. But it's like as big as my house. Like it's huge. I kid you not. Like the.

[Bud Elliott]

Pool in the office.

[Danny Cannell]

What's part of that though? I don't know. So it's, I mean I think it's probably 25003000 square feet. My house is a little bit bigger than that. But the point is it's a huge, huge space that overlooks the practice field and it's to going. I mean it is a palace. It's a palatial players only facility. It is, I mean it is going.

[Bud Elliott]

To be a little bit.

[Danny Cannell]

The ribbon cutting ceremony is going to be a little bit awkward now things get a little bit more uncomfortable. But they already were. Yeah, because you're losing, like that just makes it uncomfortable. Now at least everyone knows exactly what's at stake these last games. So maybe that's your pitch. Mike Norvell, if you wanted something a different message. Hey, if you want me around, we better win out it.

[Bud Elliott]

It's kind of like showing a house that's owner occupied or showing a house that's already vacant.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, good point.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, We. That's. That's. That's my pitch. We've. We've got a. We've. We all have a mutual friend who's searching for real estate right now. My, you know, my. My pitch was that they just, you know, and they've got a. They've got a real estate connection. Just live in the houses that you're selling, you know. All right, so from the job that is not going to be open this week to the job that is open this week, yesterday, Bud and I were able to jump on the horn, break down the breaking news of Billy Napier being out. Not surprising news, though it did come after a. Came after a win. It'd be like that. And we warned you, just because you beat Mississippi State does not necessarily change something that might have already been in the works for a while. So let's go ahead and spin this thing forward. Danny, what. How do you see this Florida job? How do you see this Florida search? What are the parts of it that are. That are standing out to you right now?

[Danny Cannell]

It's one that you can't afford to screw up. But even just saying that they can screw it up, as we've seen before. Yeah, you know, like, there's no 100% lock. There's just over time. I just got back from Wisconsin. I thought Luke Fickle was an A plus.

[Chip Patterson]

Higher.

[Danny Cannell]

It's been worse than anybody could have imagined. I do think there's some guys on a short list that I would call, but Lane Kiffin would be number one. But I'm not so certain that he's leaving. You know, I think he's one. I think Rhett Lashley is another one that I would call. I'd call Eli Drinkwitz. Like a lot of these same names, I think would be really good hires. But, you know, and we've talked a little bit about this, I think last week. This, I think, is the type of place where you need somebody with the alpha type of personality can say, everybody, get out of my way. Leave me alone. Let me coach. Let me do my thing. Give me the money and give me the money to go get my players, but get out of my way. There's a lot of dysfunction. There's a lot of different voices that. And this is not just exclusive to Gainesville. It's a lot of different universities where some of the power players do more damage than actual, you know, help. So, yeah, I think it's a great job, but I think it's going to take a very strong personality to come in there and take this thing over and really get this thing turned in the right direction.

[Tom Fornelli]

Tom, I, I do think that one of the interesting things here is that like, the job market's changed very quickly in the last few years. Whereas I think like Penn State's going through a coaching search right now and they haven't had one in like 20 years. So it's like for them there's a huge change in it. But even if you just haven't done it in a few years, like, it's not just we're the bigger program, we're going to write the bigger check and you're going to come because like all the other sitting coaches in the Big Ten in the SEC are also still getting paid a ton of money. So, like, if you go after Lane Kiffin, okay, we can offer you this much, well, Ole Miss can match it. Well, you can recruit better here. Well, you can still recruit the Ole Miss because now you can just buy players and get them out of the portal. It's the same thing with Drinkwitz. It was the same thing with Signetti at Indiana. So like, your top targets aren't necessarily as getable as you want, but you're still going to go after them. And that's why I feel like I don't know if he would be the first choice, but he's already on the market. James Franklin, like, you want somebody who can come in and like Dan, you just mentioned, kind of be like the head politician and get everybody in line. James Franklin can do that. He was able to drag Penn State, which was very much stuck in the past when he took over there with a lot of the same people, with a lot of the same opinions that you'd see at Florida right now. And he was able to kind of get them to shut up and follow his way to help dig him out of that. And obviously they didn't achieve what they ultimately wanted to achieve, but it's hard to argue that they didn't achieve a whole hell of a lot of. And if you're Florida right now, like, yeah, the Urban Meyer era was a long time ago. Fellas like you, you still got a lot of built in advantages, but you've kind of got to build that program back up. You've got plenty of talent, but I do think you need alignment and I feel like James Franklin is somebody who can bring it. If you miss out on Kiffin and Drinkwitz, who I perfectly understand why both of those guys would be the top targets on your list.

[Danny Cannell]

With Franklin, I think it's the, the. Because I totally agree with you. I think he's going to be a really good hire for somebody. I think Florida State, I think it'd be a pretty good hire, especially considering what they need as far as high school. I think he'd do a wonderful job there. I would want to know what's your staff going to look like, what coordinators are you going to bring with you and what type of control are you going to give them? And the big game thing, I, I know it's an issue, but I do and I think in the SEC maybe that could be problematic. In the acc, I don't know if you're, you're having that many significant problems. So I think, I think James Franklin is a great hire. And he, I think, I mean, if I'm believing what he said, which is I'm going to get right back into it, I think he's going to get one of these top tier, top tier jobs.

[Chip Patterson]

So Bud pushed back. Oh. He said he. When we were talking about this yesterday, Bud said he thought Florida fans would be disappointed with James Franklin as a hire.

[Danny Cannell]

So I do think there is something to that. I do kind of agree with Florida.

[Bud Elliott]

You're not happy with that hire because.

[Danny Cannell]

He'S somebody's else's trash like you.

[Bud Elliott]

You don't.

[Danny Cannell]

That Florida, they want to have somebody.

[Bud Elliott]

He flopped in almost every big game. Like last year, they did not beat a single team that was top 15 in SP Plus. All right. Like, if you're a Florida fan. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

I guarantee.

[Bud Elliott]

Like SMU and Boise, like, they're not, like, they're not like, oh, good wins there. Right. It's like, okay, like you, you locked your way into the, in the semifinals.

[Tom Fornelli]

So you're gonna hire a coach who hasn't been in any big games to lose. Like, what are you looking for? Like, you, you hired Billy Napier from last night and now you're gonna look down on James Franklin.

[Bud Elliott]

Franklin's teams don't score points. And I think given what you've seen with Florida when they had Muschamp and when they had Napier, I do think that offense is going to be an emphasis.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

That's why I think Kiffin and Drinkwitz are at the top of their list.

[Bud Elliott]

Yes. And Fish, I think they would have over Franklin and probably two, three more guys too. But I think Franklin would do a good job there. But like, they want a great, they want somebody to do a great job.

[Tom Fornelli]

I would just say if you were a Florida booster and you look at James Franklin and turn Your nose down at him. You're the reason why your program has sucked for as long as it has, because that's just an idiotic opinion to have.

[Bud Elliott]

They'd want to know, why can you win big games here when you couldn't win at Penn State?

[Tom Fornelli]

Because I'll have better.

[Danny Cannell]

But how many big games?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, yeah. But I think if you're Florida.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Look like Florida.

[Bud Elliott]

He scores points. He's kind of a native son. Obviously, like, Florida has a lot more resources than Ole Miss does now. It's closer than it used to be. To Tom's point, Like, he absolutely nailed that. But if you're laying you jump to Florida because you don't really believe you can win a national title.

[Tom Fornelli]

Ole Miss.

[Bud Elliott]

And I think you're correct in that belief.

[Danny Cannell]

Gosh, I don't know. So you think he's. You think he's leaving?

[Bud Elliott]

I didn't say I think he's leaving. I'm saying if you're. Lane, the reason why you would jump to Florida, it's probably not salary.

[Danny Cannell]

I don't know.

[Bud Elliott]

I think today's the reason's in the name of the school.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, I mean, we got Vanderbilt on the cusp of, you know, competing for an SEC championship. Aren't in this new era, aren't you closer to winning a title anywhere you go? I mean, are there five programs that you actually have a significant edge? But I think there's something.

[Chip Patterson]

I think there's something to be said for Florida. Florida getting it done with multiple coaches, being the flagship university, the state of Florida.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean, no state tax in Florida. That does give you a bit of an IL edge, too.

[Chip Patterson]

Oxford, Mississippi, still might be a little bit of a sell, you know.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, it's hard to get.

[Chip Patterson]

Not. Not calling Gainesville a bustling metropolis, but, you know, at least when you're trying to get the best high school talent, if you want to level it up. Because he has shown. Obviously, at Ole Miss, we call him the portal king. But if you want to be able to build that thing up to be sustainable, right, you gotta. You gotta be able to have the high school recruiting going. And I think you've got a better chance at better high school recruiting at Florida than you do at Ole Miss.

[Bud Elliott]

Knows better. W. Don't though, Right? Like, Lane is probably pretty happy at Ole Miss. I think they give him what he asked for. He knows who he's working for. You know, Scott Strickland got that extension. But I think it's fair to ask, like, would he have received that extension? Had Florida had a real president right now, not an interim and a dean of the medical school and a dean of law school. Like they have other real like university business stuff they got to tackle. You know, is that extension kind of like, hey Scott, handle this, you know, type thing and then transition into. In a retirement, you know, like he's already botched two coaching hires there. Like most people don't get to make three. So if you're Lane, it's like, who am I working for going forward? How long Scott really going to be the ad? Don't know if.

[Tom Fornelli]

Do you care worried about your dean of medical school before your football coach? You're not a football school.

[Bud Elliott]

Just they're hoop school, right? Ask Jacqueline.

[Tom Fornelli]

I. I guess I don't know. Like, I know Big Ten schools who haven't had deans of certain colleges who are still making football hires.

[Chip Patterson]

That's right. We just find some guy named dean and because we're all academics here in the Big Ten, we can just say everybody can do it. Colorado State made a move on. On Jay Norvell, which of course led to Norvell out tweet. You know, like if you.

[Tom Fornelli]

That was pretty good.

[Chip Patterson]

Just, just throw. Throw a little bit of, you know, just, just to keep us up to dated to stay consistent on the coaching carousel as we continue to see some of the open jobs pile up. As we have been recording here 11:21am Eastern time since the start of the hour. Don't know if y' all saw it, but Chris McIntosh, athletic director at Wisconsin, has offered a statement of support for Luke Fickle. What?

[Tom Fornelli]

Monday support letter?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Hey, that one may be more surprising. And maybe Scott was just there, but everybody was like, yup, he's got to be fired tomorrow. But then I guess, who are you going to throw out to the wolves?

[Bud Elliott]

Well, but if you fire him, are you firing yourself?

[Danny Cannell]

Right.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. What are they waiting on? Like, is there a. Is it more than just self interest of the 80 not. Not getting fired himself?

[Tom Fornelli]

Like, could be.

[Bud Elliott]

The.

[Chip Patterson]

The first as again, this was just released from the desk of Chris McIntosh. It's a lot of I and it's a lot of me. On Saturday at Camp Randall, I was honored to join my former Rose bowl champion teammates and coaches on the field as the university celebrated our collective success. My years as a student athlete at Wisconsin were among the best of my life. I loved my teammate. Boy, we haven't said one word about Luke Fickle yet. I mean this is, this might be self preservation. I wouldn't be surprised, but I Guess.

[Bud Elliott]

They'Re going to throw a lot more money at this problem. From what people on Twitter are saying. Is that in the statement? I haven't read the statement yet. Just. Just look at some of the Twitter reactions.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, he's just. He's asking fans to stick with. He is asking fans to stick with Luke Fickle and continue the financial investment in the program.

[Bud Elliott]

Okay.

[Chip Patterson]

Support letter Mondays. Let's go. Hey, I don't see one from the desk of Auburn. Yeah, I.

[Bud Elliott]

We talked about this yesterday, right?

[Chip Patterson]

That.

[Tom Fornelli]

The dynamic.

[Chip Patterson]

The dynamic with the supporters and who.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, but that may be a negotiation thing, too. Like, if you're Hugh and you want to coach again, writing's on the wall. There's probably a way to do this that makes you look a little bit better.

[Chip Patterson]

It was so funny because you were bringing up the defensive coordinator who might be the interim, who might win games, which made me remember Kevin Steele, who tried to do that to Gus Malzan. And then I started thinking about how funny it would be if Gus Malzahn did that to Florida State. But I. Again, I understand. The truth that we all accept is that Gus doesn't want to be Florida State's head coach or a head coach, really, again.

[Bud Elliott]

And I don't think Florida State has any interest in hiring the guy who, like, was awful at UCF.

[Chip Patterson]

He was not awful at UCF.

[Bud Elliott]

Once they got to the Big 12, they were. They were not competitive without a full share. That's totally true.

[Chip Patterson]

You know, and he didn't have them SMU boosters, that message.

[Bud Elliott]

He didn't want to deal with all the stuff that came with being a head coach. Right, right.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay, so what's Florida's open? We've got support letters at Wisconsin and Florida State. What's the next job that opens?

[Bud Elliott]

Is it Auburn, South Carolina or lsu? Like, is Beamer gonna get, like, now? Granted, this is complicated because I think normally if they had not given Beamer the extension for. I don't really know that there was a need to give an extension in the off season, but had they not given the extension, I think it's a very obvious, go home to Virginia Tech, restart the clock move for Shane. But because they gave the extension, I don't know.

[Tom Fornelli]

I don't think Shane's gonna get fired. I think Shane would leave.

[Bud Elliott]

That's right. Well, yeah. The next job open, though, if.

[Tom Fornelli]

So you think he's gonna leave during the season?

[Bud Elliott]

No, I. Well, probably Auburn is the right one. I was just thinking of the ones we had not discussed yet. Yeah. Apologies.

[Chip Patterson]

If you're Lane Kiffin and you had a choice between Florida and lsu, where would you go?

[Bud Elliott]

Oh.

[Tom Fornelli]

I think Wayne would go to Florida. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

And if you're Brian Kelly, would you go to Penn State?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Okay, these are good coaches.

[Chip Patterson]

Can we.

[Danny Cannell]

Can we put the Marcus Freeman stuff to bed?

[Chip Patterson]

Yes.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean, that's just the most obvious. Hey, his agent shopping him out there to get a raise at Notre Dame. I mean, he's just.

[Chip Patterson]

It's perfect there, maybe, but he's also 39 years old and he's a stud. So you just. Any 39 year old who's on the rise in the industry, you say, like, call him and make them tell him no. Because here's the deal. When Kurt Signetti says, I'm gonna retire a Hoosier like, you believe it, because he's deep into his career mark, Marcus Freeman, you're like, I don't know. That guy could have a couple big moves in him. We could see him jump from one blue blood to another. Blue blood. Maybe we can be that blue blood. So I think, I think that you just. You put Marcus Freeman on the top of your list to indicate that you have the credentials to be in the running for Marcus Freeman. I do not think until I see or hear otherwise, Marcus Freeman is making himself available. I think that's something that you do for street credit if you have an open job.

[Bud Elliott]

Are there certain things that they want in. In recruiting? You know, I don't know, like, or transfer credits. Like how they transfer over to allow them to access a greater portion of the transfer portal?

[Chip Patterson]

I don't know, man. Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt are up in the College Football playoff mix. I. I think I'm done thinking that. Academics is a limiting factor to success on the football field.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, but Notre Dame's trying to be in the title mix, and Vandy and those guys are not in the title mix. They're in the make the playoff mix.

[Chip Patterson]

But their recruiting classes have been good.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, but if you're, if you're Marcus Freeman and you got this kind of leverage right now and you're trying to win the whole damn thing, you could push for more money. You could push for. You have a lot of money to pay your assistance and guarantee. Denbrock and, and golden before him and Chris Ash were not cheap.

[Chip Patterson]

Do not give Chris Ash. He can earn that the rest of the way.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'll be honest with you. I don't think Notre Dame's not that, like, all that worried about academics for football. Just to be Blunt.

[Bud Elliott]

I know Feldman had said it on. On his show that, like, one of the things that you would be looking for is allow him to cast a wider net in the portal.

[Tom Fornelli]

I. I think that Notre Dame's limitations are, like, some schools will take kids that should probably be in a juco because they're not actually qualified. I don't think Notre Dame will take those kids. I think that you don't really need a kids stirring transcript to get into Notre Dame if you're very good at football.

[Bud Elliott]

But a lot of times they won't take you unless you're a graduate or unless you're very early in your career.

[Tom Fornelli]

Oh, shoot.

[Chip Patterson]

Hold on. As somebody who flirted with academic eligibility, I am familiar with this. Okay, so that's like this many hours and this. Mitch, this gpa, it's like a sliding scale. You need to have this many hours of credits and this GPA to qualify to be a junior, to qualify to be a senior, like those sorts of things that. What you're talking about. Budget. Yes, legitimately. There was a quarterback who was at a Sunbelt school who was trying to transfer as an undergraduate, and they realized that their credits did not allow them to be able to.

[Bud Elliott]

The credits don't transfer over. So you got to be a grad transfer or you got to be, like, young enough to where they're not taking your credit. Yeah, correct.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

It took a whole lot of summer school for me to be able to get right for. For my fall semester, senior year. But, hey, that's overcoming adversity on the field, in the streets of Chapel Hill.

[Tom Fornelli]

Getting out of the admissions department. I will say if I'm a Notre Dame fan, the only time I'm really going to worry about Freeman leaving is if Ohio State comes open. That would be the only one, I think, that could truly lure him away from the.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, if. If the NFL, just maybe the NFL, like, big FU offers.

[Tom Fornelli]

You know, I think. I think Marcus will use NFL openings for raises like he did kind of last year with like the Bears opening. But I don't think he's. I don't know if he's really all that interested in going to the NFL.

[Bud Elliott]

Yep.

[Chip Patterson]

I think that's a. That's a. That's a good way to put a button as we. Danny, I think we agree we're putting Freeman to bed. Not. Not going to entertain that. Okay. Coming up on the other side, we take a look at the new AP Top 25. We update our College Football Playoff projection and more Nuke.

[Tom Fornelli]

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[Chip Patterson]

21 +TNCs apply back here on the COVID 3 podcast. Among the orders of business for a Monday we take a look at the changes in the college football rankings. It is Pole Assassin all right. Of course no changes as Ohio State remains in the number one spot. Unanimous over in the coaches poll all 65 first place votes, 60 first place votes in the AP top 25. Indiana getting the other six. A tumble as we would expect for Miami. As the Canes fall to Louisville on Friday night, they are down seven spots to number nine, Texas Tech. Another team that was previously in the top 10 and lost to an unranked team at Texas Tech falls seven spots from number seven to number 14. There was going to be some shakeup. We had five ranked on ranked games and some of that changes include LSU taking a drop after the loss to Vanderbilt, but not out. Tennessee takes a drop after the loss to Alabama, but not out. Very small downgrade for Ole Miss as the Rebels just took their first loss of the season. Down three spots to number eight. You see a big surge for Vanderbilt up into the top 10, though, honestly, disrespectful. 10's too low for that Vanderbilt team. I'll go ahead and throw that out there. They needed to be higher. I wanted to see some school history here in. On Sunday in the AP Top 25. The other notable moves up include just some slight bumps. You know, Cincinnati keeps the winning ways going as they take a couple spots up. BYU 7 0. Now after the win against Utah, they were up four spots, number 11. And the Bees, Georgia Tech up five spots to number seven. DK. Whether it's movements, rankings or specific ballots, what stood out this week? Oh, muted leaf blower.

[Bud Elliott]

The blower's still going.

[Danny Cannell]

I was trying to help out.

[Bud Elliott]

Right.

[Danny Cannell]

Okay, they're gone now, so I don't have to worry about it anymore. No more leaf blowers. I think I got a little bit lazy. You know, usually I'm trying to stay on this, trying to stay on. The voters make sure they're paying attention, bring some things their attention. For instance, when we had Texas and Penn State lose, it was like, all right, can we start looking at who they've beaten? And they had unprecedented drops out of the top 25. And we, we applauded them. Way to go. But you got to stay on top of these guys. You got to stay on top of them. Because I would ask the same question for Tennessee and lsu. Now with two losses apiece, where are their best wins? And yet they just kind of dropped them because they were in their top 25. Well, let's just follow. Let's just put them out five or six spots down. Let's just take them a little bit. But if you look at them, who have they beaten? They really don't have those signature wins. If you wanted to say LSU B. Clemson, sure. But Clemson just lost again, that's not really a resounding win. I think there are other teams more deserving that should be ahead of those two teams. So I got to do a better job of getting on these voters early Sunday AM, help them do their research a little bit.

[Bud Elliott]

Like USC, like why is Tennessee like 10 spots ahead in the voting polls than USC?

[Chip Patterson]

Fair.

[Bud Elliott]

Like, yeah, those resumes are.

[Chip Patterson]

USC handled Michigan, which is at 25.

[Bud Elliott]

USC has a good win. Tennessee has a good loss. And kind of like the, the Bama game was probably, was probably somewhat closer than the scoreboard in some ways. I mean like that, that 99 yard pick six changes quite a bit, but.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, but it still happened.

[Bud Elliott]

It did. No, it did. Yeah. Right, right. No, I agree. But like, you know, defensive scores are one play and they're somewhat random. Now granted, maybe they're a little bit less random with Joey Aguilar, but.

[Tom Fornelli]

I just.

[Bud Elliott]

That feels like too big of a gap to me there.

[Chip Patterson]

Quick little sidebar. Have you all seen any of the like fan footage or some of the other in the stadium, like cameras from that pick six?

[Bud Elliott]

No.

[Chip Patterson]

Brian Denny Stadium just like. Yeah, just took the top.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean just I saw something like down two miles down the road. Like there was some guy outside and I heard the crowd.

[Chip Patterson]

I believe it. Again, like I've taken in a couple of these. Like, you know, whether it was one of the photographer media members who was down there on the sideline or fans who were down there in the lower bowl, like, Bryant Denny Stadium is such a behemoth that I think that sometimes it does take the. It's. Sometimes it does take the surprising sort of good play to really get to see what the full volume is. Scooping scores pick sixes. Like those are the ones where you're just.

[Bud Elliott]

It.

[Chip Patterson]

It let that thing by the levitated. It was a very, very cool. And in the rivalry too, in the night game under the lights, Bryant Denny Stadium roared during that play and died.

[Bud Elliott]

It reminded me of the. Was it 09 the Julio screen pass against LSU.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, where he like couldn't do any.

[Bud Elliott]

It's down the same sideline you have like, it's such a long play, long developing. It's obvious he's going to score like, like the long buildup of. Of the crowd volume as he heads to the end zone.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, dude. I think Greg McElroy told a cool story on his radio show with Cole Kublick about how earlier in that game, Julio had dropped like two or three passes in a row. They were. I guess they must they must have been talking about Ryan Williams. And he was like, no. He's like, no, we just keep feeding them. And guess what happened? One of the best plays of the entire season, special athletes like that Julio Jones. All right. Sorry for the sidebar, Tom. Ranking rankings wise, I mean, Danny touched.

[Tom Fornelli]

On it a little bit. LSU still being at 20 despite not having a win over a Power 4 team with a winning record. Like, their best win record wise is Louisiana Tech at 4 and 2. Like, congratulations on that. And then you've got some guy like, named Brett McMurphy still including them at 14th on his ranking. And then a woman named Haley Sawyer, I don't know if we've brought that name. Also has them up at 14th. It's like, I just don't understand. Like, I understand they were in the top five a month ago, but what the hell have you seen from that team since? And compared to how that resume has collapsed, like, let's reevaluate things, fellas, because they're not a good football team. I picked them to win the national title with 1000% confidence before the year. I've sold all my stock. I've. I've changed my mind. I have seen the light. They are not good. They're. They're not bad, but they're just an average. Ish team. They should not be in the top 20. They should not be anywhere near the top 20 right now. They probably shouldn't be ranked. And Chip, you already mentioned my other big point. Just hilarity that Michigan is at 25th and USC is the first team and others receiving votes, even though I think it was, what, nine days ago there, whatever, that USC beat Michigan, like, pretty soundly. But since USC lost to Notre Dame, now they're worse than Michigan again. I, It's. Yeah, I just love when stuff like that happens. I mean, and it's going to happen at this point in the year when there's a lot more, you know, familiarity between all these teams.

[Chip Patterson]

Any. Anything else before we get to CFP Outlook? Okay. October is winding down. That means November will be here soon. We will be getting our official College Football Playoff rankings. But you don't have to wait for a cover. 3 College Football Playoff prediction. Our own Bud Elliott has run the Bud Bop model and he has an updated list. Bud, why don't you take us through what the College Football Playoff projection is looking like as we head into week nine?

[Bud Elliott]

Sure. So, two things. One, you said it. Projection, right? This is not. Hey, if the playoffs started today, right.

[Chip Patterson]

This is what I don't like playoffs started today until we get into like mid November because there's too many data points left and schedules aren't balanced. I like the way you do this.

[Bud Elliott]

I would agree. Number two, Bud Bot does not consider, like, rematches as something the committee would probably try to avoid. Right. But in this case, it does actually have the SC championship and the Big Ten championship rematching there in terms of the teams who get the buy. So Ohio State 1, Indiana 4 and then Bama 2A and M3 have USF winning the American right now, obviously with Memphis quarterback injury. Don't know the status, but that didn't look great. So I'm assuming that's going to be a bit of a problem for the Memphis Tigers. Still have Miami winning the accident. You know, the models don't really trust Georgia Tech and Virginia very much right now, to be honest. Despite the fact they did win at Duke. Notre Dame because somebody's got to be in Texas Tech still the overwhelming favorite to win the Big 12 despite their loss in Tempe. Vandy makes the first appearance this year. So it's certainly Missouri's quite a winnable game, you know, for them right there.

[Danny Cannell]

Their favorite.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, look, Oklahoma's favored by 4 1/2 over Ole Miss. Now, I don't know if that should be the case, but maybe I still have Ole Miss getting in. As of Now, Ole Miss 10 and 2 will be an interesting conversation. Ole Miss 9 and 3 is dead in the water. Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Ole Miss 10 and 2. You have to start asking, who have you beaten? Just like we would for everybody else. We should be asking that for Ole Miss.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. And then Georgia, because obviously, like, they just keep winning ball games. So, you know, even if we want to sit here and say they're not the same Georgia. Yeah. But they're winning games and it's not easy to win ball games and they don't have a cakewalk schedule.

[Chip Patterson]

So no, Ohio State is the old Georgia. Georgia is now a, like, really plucky, good SEC team.

[Bud Elliott]

I know we're not going to UFR yet, but dude saying is just so damn efficient with how he distributes the ball to these guys like that.

[Chip Patterson]

That's. Hey, I've got some. I've got more Ohio State stuff, too.

[Tom Fornelli]

We can do it.

[Chip Patterson]

We can go total flowers on Ohio State in a little bit. So the Notre Dame piece of this, you've got them going 10 and 2.

[Bud Elliott]

I do okay.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

There is no Notre Dame gets in at 9 and 3.

[Bud Elliott]

Not a chance. Okay. No it's like BYU is probably an underdog a couple more times and if they continue to. I see the chat. If they continue to win, then they'll be in. If they don't, they won't. They don't have a real non conference game. I don't think 11:1 BYU that loses in the championship game is going to get in.

[Chip Patterson]

Have you ever, and Danny, feel free to offer. Have you ever like mentioned an idea, something you want to write about, a project you want to work on and then you get into it and then you're like, oh no, what have I done? Yeah, that was me when I was like, hey, I can reset the ACC title race. Have you guys looked at this?

[Danny Cannell]

Oh, it's wild.

[Bud Elliott]

There's a chance Miami doesn't get in.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Because here's the thing, all right. They have lost a common opponent tiebreaker to Virginia because Virginia beat Louisville and Louisville beat Miami. And one. Before we get down to cumulative record, cumulative conference record of your conference opponents, before we even get to that status, there is a common opponent tiebreaker. And since Miami and Virginia don't play each other, if the two of them are fighting for one spot, then Virginia gets in over Miami.

[Danny Cannell]

Let me just put this to bed. You're talking about the ACC championship, right? Yeah, they all went out. If Miami's 11 and 1 and doesn't make the ACC championship game, they're getting it 100 in.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

So I think that's actually the best case.

[Tom Fornelli]

I heard about this on Saturday night.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, you guys nailed it. Because I guarantee if Miami goes and wins the AC championship, they're gonna leave everybody else out.

[Danny Cannell]

Right.

[Tom Fornelli]

Is not getting in boys for the ACC's playoff hopes. There's a strong argument that Miami losing on Friday night was great for the.

[Bud Elliott]

ACC because of that exist is a factually correct statement.

[Danny Cannell]

Yes, and I do think so. If is. Is Notre Dame in trouble because of the head to head loss to Miami? Like if it's 111 Miami against.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Notre Dame. See, that's what I thought.

[Bud Elliott]

I don't think.

[Danny Cannell]

Upset.

[Bud Elliott]

No, I, I think, I don't think that's the argument.

[Chip Patterson]

No.

[Tom Fornelli]

But there's a possibility that that's a situation where the final at large is coming down to 11 and 1 Miami versus 10 and 2 Notre Dame. It's not a high likelihood.

[Bud Elliott]

Four in and not five.

[Tom Fornelli]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

What if Notre Dame. Hold on. All right, never mind.

[Bud Elliott]

That wouldn't work because the Big 12 is now a one bid league. Yeah. Feels like it lost their one bid. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

I would Agree with that.

[Bud Elliott]

If the ACC becomes a 2 bid, then I actually think it's Irish versus SEC 5.

[Chip Patterson]

What about Georgia Tech as an at large?

[Bud Elliott]

I think there's no shot.

[Tom Fornelli]

Whoa. If they're 120 in the regular season and losing the accent.

[Chip Patterson]

Yes.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

But I also think if they lose to Georgia and that's their only loss and it's close, maybe nine overtimes.

[Bud Elliott]

If you, if you lose a Georgia Miami, who have you beaten?

[Chip Patterson]

11.

[Tom Fornelli]

Here's where we have to get 11.

[Chip Patterson]

And one in a power conference gets in.

[Tom Fornelli]

Here's where you have to get the tinfoil hat out though, because we saw last year and it's again, it's only one year so it's not proof of anything. But the committee is not all that interested in punishing championship game losers because I don't think the conferences want them to. So if Georgia Tech is 11:1 in the regular season and then loses close to like Virginia or Miami in the ACC championship. We saw it last year with smu. Nobody thought that they were going to put in SMU over Alabama and guess what? They did. So I think Georgia Tech, as long as they have one loss going into the ACC championship, they've got a good shot of getting in no matter what. Because that fifth SEC team will have at least three losses.

[Chip Patterson]

Louisville, a little bit of an uphill battle as the, in terms of making the ACC title game because of the head to head loss against Virginia. They need Virginia to lose twice in conference play before the end of the season. Really open it up.

[Bud Elliott]

I don't agree that the fifth SEC team will have three losses.

[Chip Patterson]

You think we'll have five teams that have two or less losses?

[Bud Elliott]

That's correct. I think there is a like very legitimate chance of that.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'm skeptical.

[Chip Patterson]

So that would, hey, that would be a. Cream rises to the oil and water cream rises to the top like that. You are, you are saying that what looks like a muddled picture will be. There will be some separation in the coming weeks.

[Bud Elliott]

Yes.

[Chip Patterson]

Like if Ole Miss beats Oklahoma, Auburn's turning around.

[Bud Elliott]

Do you think South Carolina's turning around? Mississippi State, Kentucky, you know, you, you'd.

[Chip Patterson]

Be saying that Vanderbilt beats Missouri, that Ole Miss beats Oklahoma and you start to slide down your Sooners, you start to slide down your Tigers.

[Danny Cannell]

How are you still gonna have five? Would you say five, 10 and two?

[Bud Elliott]

It's actually, it's actually really possible.

[Danny Cannell]

I don't think it's.

[Tom Fornelli]

I, I mean just looking at, I'm gonna go right here off of Kelly Ford's Projected SEC standings, which are only in conference, you go to fifth place, which is Texas. He projects them to win 5.4 games in SEC play, which would mean that they are 5.4 and what, 1.6 and 2. And they brought the Ohio State loss. That's three losses.

[Bud Elliott]

5.4 and 2.6.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. Which.

[Bud Elliott]

So you basically need to be a halfway lucky for that fifth team, huh?

[Tom Fornelli]

And, well, we'll have more in Texas later. But, yeah, like, I. I think that 15 is gonna have three losses because, like, we know that the SEC from top to bottom is just the greatest league on earth and that there are no Saturdays off in the acc. Like, as we saw with Texas played Kentucky, just. Kentucky's a damn behemoth. It's a monster. It's damn near impossible to beat. Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

It just is. Yeah. I think Georgia Tech against 9 and 3 SEC. If Georgia Tech is 11 and 2, the SEC team is still going to have way better wins, but it also will have additional losses. So if Tech is close in those two games, maybe. But I think if they get their doors blown off, which is unlikely, you know, then. Then no, like, one of the reasons SMU got in, I strongly think, is because they were competitive. If SMU had gotten run by Clemson, I think they sneak Bama in.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

There are a lot of variables. Right?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Interesting. All right.

[Bud Elliott]

I think what's cool is that there's, like, still so many teams in, like, look how many people we have in the chat whose teams we don't have in who are calling us idiots. Like, that's great for the health of the sport that you have, like, probably 20, 25 fan bases that are still really caring right now. And we didn't have that two years ago.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. And sugar makes you feel good for a little bit, so it's. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. 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. Slow and steady isn't just a saying. It's a proven strategy. Consistent, deliberate financial decisions help build a strong financial foundation and. And lead to the most meaningful wins. There's no need to chase risky ventures or fall for quick fixes at PNC Bank. They help you keep your money simple and stable so that you can live with the confidence that your future is on solid ground. And when I think about the, you know, the small things and doing them well, sometimes it's about being able to handle success. And so after handing the Oregon Ducks one of the most stunning results of the season. Maybe one of the best wins we'll see all year. Indiana had to come back home as a heavy favorite against Michigan State. And Kurt Signetti said after the game that he understood that there was going to be some human nature, some human nature to be relaxed. He said the coaches, the support staff and even the players. But he had to be a little mean. He had to get into him a little bit. He had to make sure that they had the details right. He said that he thought on Thursday, quote, it flipped a couple days, it wasn't quite there. But they got back to doing the small things well and it showed up on Saturday. Fernando Mendoza, 332 passing yards on 24 of 28 passing with four touchdowns, no interceptions. Obviously still a little bit of a threat in the run game as well. And this time it was Omar Cooper Jr. Who stepped up for a lot of that. 115 of those receiving yards and a score, including a 48 yarder. Tom, what stood out to you about Indiana just simply handling its business, doing the small things well in a potential letdown spot.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, it was just a clinical performance. They only had the seven to three lead after the first quarter and you did kind of wonder, oh, are they, are they going to be caught hanging around? But no, they put their foot on the gas. You mentioned it. Fernando Mendoza just went off for 332 yards, four touchdowns. He looks every bit the Heisman candidate that he is at this point. They've got so many different options at receiver in Cooper, Williams, Surat, Nowakowski, all these guys are valuable players to have and like each one of them seems like every single week a new guy stepping forward as the guy in that game. And that's just such a luxury to have that most programs don't even have. A lot of the other great programs don't have that to this point. Point and defensively just, you know, they, they shut Michigan State down and it's a Michigan State team that has been had trouble moving the ball and Indiana did not let them build up any confidence at any point to let them think that they had a shot of winning this game. So just absolutely clinical performance from the Hoosiers.

[Chip Patterson]

Yep, 100%. 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 well, coming up on the other side, we're Going under the hood. One last chance to weigh in on week eight. It's upon further review and more nukes.

[Danny Cannell]

It's football season and you gotta keep.

[Tom Fornelli]

Up with the action.

[Chip Patterson]

Listen in to Pushing the Pile, part.

[Danny Cannell]

Of CBS Sports Podcast network with Mike.

[Chip Patterson]

Renner, Kyle Long, and now me, JP Acosta for smart analysis of everything between the lines. With four episodes a week, Sunday night recaps, film review, power tiers and weekly.

[Danny Cannell]

Previews, you will know ball.

[Chip Patterson]

Stick with us until one team lists the Lombardi download and follow Pushing the Pile on Apple podcasts, Spotify and anywhere podcasts are found.

[Tom Fornelli]

When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom 60th and never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end to end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone.

[Chip Patterson]

Learn [e-mail] back here on the COVID 3 podcast, Monday after Mondays, a chance for one last chance to look back on 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.

[Tom Fornelli]

To further review.

[Chip Patterson]

All right, let's, let's start with a little bit.

[Tom Fornelli]

Hold on. I want to bring something up real quick because now that the sponsored segment's done and the commercial's done, something you said during the sponsored segment was that Signetti said, what day did the team really turn things around as far as like the energy and the effort. Thursday, what happened that day? Signed a contract extension. So did the team really turn it around or was Kurt just in an extra good mood? I think the team was fine all week and Kurt just came out like, la, la, la, la. I just made a lot of money.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, he's. He was quoting Mike Krzyzewski. Biggest, our biggest enemy is human nature saying he had to get into him, be a little bit of a bad guy, be a little mean guy, be able to get, make sure they were on the right pace. That's a incredible, incredible use of lining things up. But I did want to play a game. Danny, your 1993 Florida State national championship team, do you remember some of the names that were on that defense?

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

All right, let's just roll through them. Derek Brooks.

[Bud Elliott]

Okay.

[Danny Cannell]

Clifton Abraham.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, yeah. Great cornerback.

[Danny Cannell]

Derek Alexander.

[Tom Fornelli]

Oh, yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, we're talking studs here.

[Danny Cannell]

Was Renard Wilson part of that team? He might have been Younger, he might.

[Chip Patterson]

Have used a starter. But I mean, there's.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, they're all over the place.

[Chip Patterson]

So I, I just don't know that I would have had Kaden Curry, Avril Reese, you know, I don't know if I would have had Sonny Stiles. I don't know if I would have had them in that same conversation. But, dad Gubbit, that's where we are because check this out. Ohio State's 41 points allowed through the first seven games of the season are the least allowed through seven games since the 1993 Florida State Seminoles.

[Danny Cannell]

Kevin Bush, you want to.

[Chip Patterson]

Let's, let's back this up. So since 2000, wow. There have only been four other teams who've allowed less than 50 points. Again, Ohio State's 41 and is the least since the Florida State 93 title team. Here's the other teams that have allowed less than 50 points through seven games since 2000. That is national runner up Ohio State in 2007. That is national champion Alabama Crimson Tide in 2011, national champion Georgia Bulldogs in 2021, and national champion Michigan Wolverines in 2023. You want to talk about where we are judging this Ohio State team? Defensively, we're, we are off to an incredible start in terms of their company.

[Tom Fornelli]

Wow. So that means they've allowed what, 41 points you said?

[Danny Cannell]

Correct.

[Tom Fornelli]

So Illinois scored 40% of the points Ohio State's allowed all season.

[Chip Patterson]

Put them in the playoffs.

[Tom Fornelli]

Put them in the playoff.

[Danny Cannell]

I'll give you a little anecdote from that season because I remember I actually referenced this after the game, our post game hit. When you're on a team like that where you sense there's greatness and you kind of get that feeling like you try to do things just like set markers, even in blowouts. And one thing was to pitch a shutout. So I remember being there, like, why is Mickey Andrews just absolutely livid? We're up 45 to nothing. Like, why is he so upset? You know, even though the backups aren't in there, like, no, we got to get a shutout. We got to get a shutout. So in Madison this past weekend, Wisconsin's last, last drive, you had a lot of backups in for Ohio State. They start driving, they're down there, they're getting towards the red zone. All of a sudden, you did notice. So the fans started. The Buckeye fans that had traveled, the only ones who were left at the stadium were starting to get really loud and they needed a fourth down stop and they got it and the way they celebrated that 4th down stop was like they celebrated touchdown drive in the opening drive of a national championship game. Like they just have that sense of we can do something special and they want to do it and they want to be it. Jeremiah Smith said after the game, we're better than last year's team and it is almost impossible to argue against in any facet of the game. Maybe offensive line is the one thing where you look at and maybe they need to improve. But I mean, you had.

[Chip Patterson]

You had two NFL running backs. If you want to specifically only say the running back position. Yeah, it's hard to say that you're just as good without Travion Henderson and Quinshawn Judkins. But man, do we think the D line is as good.

[Tom Fornelli]

As last year?

[Bud Elliott]

As last year? Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

No, not overall. I don't think that they have the same consistency, but I think. I think that their flashes are as good as what we saw last year. I just don't see it from down to down every single week.

[Bud Elliott]

I just think they're so damn good in the back seven. You know, like the number of coverages they can play, the talent with which they. They are able to play. Those coverages, like the veteran presence they have, they don't bust stuff.

[Chip Patterson]

It's.

[Bud Elliott]

I just don't know if they like. If they take over games like that like. Like Ohio State did in the playoff. I mean, that D line was just dominant.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean some. Some of that was also that the story of that team.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

True backs against the wall. You know, they. They'd all come back for that. It's now their hair was on fire, but they were playing a big, big bear, you know, and the rest of those old guys, they were. They were playing with. Playing with the purpose down the stretch. So no doubt when it did you want to hit anything on saying specifically because that's. I had Ohio State's defense on my. On my notepad.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean Julian saying is like playing against the computer. It's just like. Just dot, dot, dot ball we're supposed to be. Falls out on time. Understands he's got these two freaks at receiver and some nice complimentary pieces. Really seems to understand the offense and where to go with it. It's just. It's just like really consistent. You know, it. He's good. I don't know if he's like the best quarterback in the country, but he. He's like top 10. And they get so many stops on defense. Like how many points are you really going to need to win a game in the playoff. 28 20s. You feel great, right?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ohio State is told that they're going to average 28.5 points per game in the College Football Playoff. They're like, sign up for it right now. We're winning the national championship.

[Bud Elliott]

Right.

[Tom Fornelli]

And I went on that rant on Saturday night about that because I am seeing, like, a whole lot of, like. Because, you know, you get to this point in the season, everybody's giving Ohio State flowers, everybody's talking about how great they are. So, of course, people are going to start trying to nitpick and find things that actually aren't good about Ohio State. And like, I've seen Julian saying as the target of a lot of this. And if you think Julian saying is the problem with this offense, you aren't watching or you don't understand football.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Pretty, pretty.

[Tom Fornelli]

The run game is the biggest issue they have on the offense. And I think that's something that could.

[Chip Patterson]

Be worked out and something that can be helped with the way that everything else is awesome. But, yeah, yeah, you get them down in that. Get them down in that first and. First and goal from the six. It ain't automatic, you know, but, yeah, those. Those things can be worked on. All right, Tom, you. You mentioned you wanted to turn a spotlight on the Horns.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I. This is. Yeah. Okay. So Texas won against Kentucky on Saturday night in a thriller. I looked it up. Texas's offense in that game averaged negative 0.37 EPA per snap in the win. All right. So I looked it up to see how that performance compared in games between power forward opponents this year. That was the eighth worst single game performance of any offense this season in one of those games. And it's the only one. The only one of the 31 worst performances by an offense in which that team won the game. The other was LSU, who had an EPA of negative 0.21 per snap in their Week 3 win over Florida. I went on the rant Saturday night, Chip, and I meant every single damn word of it. I get Texas out of my life. I don't want to watch that team. I don't want to see that team in the playoff. I don't want to. I just. I'm tired of it. It's. It's been this way all year. Like, it started the season against Ohio State and I was like, well, you know, they're playing a great defense, and then it just has not gotten better in any game that matters. Like, okay, wow, you looked really good against Sam Houston State, who might be the worst team in the country, not named UMass. Congratulations. Good for you. But it's just I'm getting tired of Texas, I'm getting tired of lsu and I'm almost getting there with Oklahoma because the reality is they're all the same damn team. Their offensive line is horrible. They can't do anything on offense because of it. And their defense is good enough to help them win games against most teams, but not the really good teams. And it's just if Texas somehow finagles its way to the playoff, we're just going to watch it lose like 17 to 10 in a first round playoff game.

[Bud Elliott]

I agree.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, I agree with you. I don't think we have to worry about it. I've got a question for you guys. Mikey's got a clip that I want to play back for you. If you guys ever wondered if Kirby Smart and Dabo Sweeney had a baby, what it would grow up to sound like, this is what it would sound like.

[Bud Elliott]

And these questions seem a little bit negative.

[Chip Patterson]

I'm not gonna lie, guys, to the offense. And I'll say this. It's freaking hard to win in the sec.

[Tom Fornelli]

Go ask Georgia when they won the national championship. What they did against Kentucky last year.

[Chip Patterson]

When you know they won the SEC championship, what did they do against Kentucky last year? It's hard to win the sec.

[Bud Elliott]

So we freaking won.

[Tom Fornelli]

Let's put some smiles on our face. We won and the show goes on.

[Chip Patterson]

And we're dancing and at the end of the day, we control our destiny.

[Tom Fornelli]

So we're gonna keep on pushing and we're gonna do it with a smile.

[Chip Patterson]

On our face and there's gonna be corrections and I trust my guys, I trust in my coaches and I'm freaking excited. So I want y' all to put.

[Bud Elliott]

Some smiles on yalls face.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean, I mean, they train them so young in the sec, it didn't take long. They get them in the, in the cradle. Like they put them in there and start giving these talking points. Like, you know, you have those sound machines that you have that normally play like rain or something like that. They just must play like coaches post game press conference to kids when they're trying to fall asleep in the sec. I mean, I don't know if he's got a career in the NFL, but there are a lot of job openings. He would just fit in seamlessly into one of these head coaching openings.

[Tom Fornelli]

All right.

[Danny Cannell]

That was Michael Taft, by the way. Yeah, he's a great player. He's a Great kid.

[Tom Fornelli]

I will say to defend Michael there, the cliches are amazing. But to his overall point, if you're a player, you should never feel bad about any damn win because you put in a whole hell of a lot of work every single week for every game. So no matter how ugly it is, never feel bad. I agree with him. The rest of us, we're looking at the bigger picture. There's, there's a lot of concerns, Mike, I don't think you need to worry about him because your side of the ball is doing all its work. Yeah, there are some concerns.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. No, Mike, listen. That defense you all are doing, you're putting in good work and you're getting great results, but that, that offense is extremely problematic. All right, well, so you, do you want to turn your attention before we, before we get out of here for the day?

[Tom Fornelli]

I want to talk about somebody who nobody ever talks about, plays for a team that nobody's talking about. His name is Brendan Sorsby and fellas, he's having an incredible season for the Cincinnati BearCats, who are one of two teams remaining in the Big 12 who have yet to lose a conference game, who are 6 and 1 on the season, whose only loss was a three point loss to Nebraska in a quote neutral site game in Kansas City. He is seventh in the country in passing efficiency. He's eighth in yards per drop back. He has 23 total touchdowns, which is tied with Joshua and Fernando Mendoza for the most in the country. He's only thrown one interceptions. He's fumbled three times, only lost one. He's got a whoopsie daisy rate of 1.06%. He is magical at avoiding like sacks. He has a 26 and a half to one pressure to sack ratio, folks, that is the best among the qualified quarterbacks. He's only been sacked twice. The next best is Malik Washington at 19.3 to 1. On the other side, there's Jackson Arnold who gets sacked for every three pressures and Dylan Rayola who gets sacked for every 2.81. He is having a phenomenal season. He is one of only two quarterbacks in the country to be completing at least 65% of their passes while averaging over 10 air yards per attempt. The other is Notre Dame. C.J. carr. He's never mentioned as one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He's never mentioned as a typical Heisman candidate. And I don't think he's going to win the Heisman. But the fact is Brendan Sorsby's playing great. Cincinnati is winning Every single damn week. We never even mentioned them As a Big 12 title contender, even though they're still very much in the race and he's having one of the best seasons of any quarterbacks in the country. Let's start paying more attention to the Bearcats because they might just sneak into.

[Bud Elliott]

The playoff on the COVID 3 recruiting hour with Andrew Ivan. So we gave Zach Grant and that staff the GM of the week honors. They do a pretty good job. Like, that's a nice roster they built. And you know, if Sorsby doesn't throw that YOLO ball at the end of the game against Nebraska, I mean, as confident as you can be that Cincinnati is going to win that game in.

[Chip Patterson]

Overtime because they couldn't stop Sourceby and.

[Bud Elliott]

They were bullying them in the run game too. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Cincinnati's got a couple of good running backs there to really sort of keep defenses honest in terms of not just being able to tee off on Sorceby. It's a fun team. They're. They're a good football team. So it'll be. It'll be interesting to see a. Cincinnati continues their march towards trying to make the Big 12 title game again. A muddied picture after the weekend. Cincinnati a five and a half point favorite against Baylor at home. BYU a two and a half point underdog on the road at Iowa State.

[Bud Elliott]

Wow.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean we're about to get ready to learn tiebreakers, buddy. The disrespect for four teams tied for. Four teams tied for first place in the Big 12 last year. It'll. It'll be interesting to see what the picture ends up looking like.

[Tom Fornelli]

That's gonna come walking into the reaction show if BYU's. BYU loses next week. Like Ric Flair, he's gonna have the make eye. He's gonna be strutting.

[Bud Elliott]

Prime time matchup again.

[Chip Patterson]

Do you just want to pre lock up Iowa State on that one to.

[Bud Elliott]

Continue Pre lock Iowa State?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, just go ahead and lock it in at two and a half. You know, let's, let's go ahead and buy that up.

[Bud Elliott]

I probably should. That. That. That is going to be under consideration. Yeah, for sure.

[Chip Patterson]

What one last one here. Just the. It was billed as one of the games of the week in the Sun Belt and JMU just, I mean belt to ass. It was, you know, they kept ODU's. They kept ODU's offense bottled up. We've known that that James Madison defense has been really among the best in the Sunbelt and across the entire group of six level. But how about six touchdowns from Alonza Barnett III, four of them on the ground, two of them through the air. More than 400 yards of total offense 63 to 27 is your final there for JMU against Old Dominion. JMU did not crack the AP Top 25 poll. They were in others receiving votes, but they were one of the biggest movers in The CBS Sports 136 which was updated this morning. James Madison up 15 spots in those rankings because you do a reevaluation of that Resume, they are 6 and 1. The only loss is 2814 at Louisville. So as Louisville stock continues to rise, so does JMU's bud. When you're doing the College Football Playoff projections, I think, I think the Dukes might be one to keep an eye on. If these teams in the American keep, you know, eating each other alive, a one loss Sunbelt champion JMU would be, would be a threat to a South Florida or whoever ends up coming out of that conference.

[Bud Elliott]

It's an interesting discussion like does it have to be a three loss American champ for Jamie to get to get a serious look or do we think they would have some shot to get over a one or a two loss?

[Chip Patterson]

I think we are just starting to dig into that. I don't think that we've got enough information to have a firm opinion because you mentioned Brendan Lewis going down the Memphis quarterback and sort of what that might mean for the Tigers. North Texas is all over them. I don't know if winning the American carries the cachet that we thought it might have when it looks like all those teams were running hot.

[Bud Elliott]

In fairness and in all sensitivity to to Lewis, that actually might help the American in some ways because you don't need quite as many like you don't need to get three teams in, you need to get one team in and not beating each other up as much helps a little bit.

[Chip Patterson]

Definitely something to to keep an eye on. Boise State also 56 to 31 over UNLV that those were two results. Our focus has been on the American. But as I look at these other conference title races, Boise State had a like a battle with a contender. No sir, you are not on our tier. JMU had a battle with a contender. No sir, you are not on my tier. So those two teams now I think sort of take over the pole position team to beat status in their respective conferences moving forward. All right, anything else before we start to advance the week? All right, Tuesday noon Eastern time. We will be live on CBS Sports Network getting you set for the week ahead in the Big Ten. Then we are back here. YouTube.com cover three on Wednesday for more big game breakdowns. Locks on Thursday. Then we're on to week nine. And you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Fenelli. You can follow him at Bud Elliot. 3. You can follow him at Danny Cannell. Follow me at Chip Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[Tom Fornelli]

Thank you.

[Chip Patterson]

See you.

[Tom Fornelli]

Now streaming. Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery.

[Chip Patterson]

We don't know what we're looking for.

[Bud Elliott]

Their bodies are the scene of the crime.

[Tom Fornelli]

No symptoms in history or clues.

[Chip Patterson]

You saved her life.

[Bud Elliott]

We're doctors, and we're detectives.

[Tom Fornelli]

I kind of love it, if I'm being honest. Solve the puzzle, save the patient.

[Bud Elliott]

Watson. All episodes now streaming on Paramount. Plus.