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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Did you know Tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean in cold water? Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it, even in cold butter. Yep. Chocolate ice cream. Sure thing. Barbecue sauce. Tide's got you covered. You don't need to use warm water. Additionally, Tide pods let you confidently fight tough stains with new coldzyme technology. Just remember, if it's gotta be clean, it's gotta be tied.

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We are tentatively penciling in the Pate state speaker series for the spring. And so I just give my requisite once per year call to action coaches, sids, hungry fan bases, wherever we need to go. We are a vessel. We're just waiting on the wind to properly blow through our sails. So we'll probably go like 15 or 20 places this spring. So I'm all ears. Because, Jesse, you know as well as I do, come August, it's going to be, hey, how come you guys didn't come see us? Because you weren't watching the show. February 1st, the year of our Lord 2026. Jam packed high atop a still very frosty downtown Nashville, Tennessee. I'm told, despite my better judgment, that tonight of all nights is the night that I should unveil my early top 25 for 2026 version 1.0, of which there will be probably 7.0s by the time that we even open fall camp. But I'm going to do it tonight and I'm also going to talk to a lot of people that I would call maybe dabo haters, maybe me haters. There's a lot of anger. You scratch that. There's a lot of aggressiveness in the mailbag that we unco covered. And it has to do with Dabo Swinney. I just feel like the arrow went past Dabo's ear straight into my chest. So I'm going to sound like I'm carrying water for Dabo tonight, which we all know I'm all about around here. Dabo, big friend of the program that he's never been on. But I am going to answer. I'm going to answer because I feel it my responsibility. I learned a tough lesson, but a valuable lesson Friday night. Some of you saw if you're following on the socials. If you're not, I will explain in due time. And it's early now. We're only a month into the year. I think we have a solid candidate for the worst college football take of 2026, maybe all time. So we're going to do all that I told you the show's jam packed. They're watching us in Clarksville, Tennessee, Louisville, Kentucky, Modesto, California. Good rail fanning to be had in Modesto and Cartersville, Georgia. Make sure if you do nothing else tonight, brush your teeth, say your prayers, drink your milk, take your vitamins. These things are essential. But also subscribe to the channel and then check if mom is. Now a lot of you are out there thinking, my mom doesn't really care about college football. Irrelevant. Okay? Whether she subscribes or not doesn't like mandate her to watch Kentucky versus, like Ohio in week one out of conference action. It just helps the channel out. It's free and it doesn't sign her up for anything. And it just really helps us. So we appreciate it in advance. That is called recruiting. That's what that is I have in my hand. In fact, Bradley, here's a good endpoint for you. I don't think it's wise to do what I'm about to do because I know this gets weaponized against me eight months down the road when it's in complete shambles. But I have my early, early, early, way too early. Top 25. These are not power ratings. These are in fact, rankings. Now, the way I choose to do a top 25 at any point is I like to rank the teams based on where I think they would be now. Well, now is February, so we've still got coaches on the move, we still got rosters being set. There's still some kids in the portal even now. And so, yeah, this is going to move around. It's a very, very, very fluid situation. There is a team, for example, like LSU. I'm not going to start off with LSU. They are not number 25. I'll start off with number 25 in a second. But like taking LSU as an example, I think LSU has the chance to maybe do this little number here. And if you're listen on podcast and you can't see my mannerisms, I think they got a chance to maybe peak late, you know, maybe stumble out of the gate, still trying to feel their way out. Knew everything down there. But then when they hit their stride, they really hit their stride. Well, I wouldn't start LSU as high as number five or six even if I think they'll eventually ascend to that status because that's not where I think they would start the season. So I'm going to start LSU. Spoiler alert. Lower than 5 or 6. Not that much lower. But anyway, you get the gist. Okay. I'm going to go 25 through 21 here and I'm going to kind of go through the first 10 of these pretty quickly, you know, because we want to get home in time for dinner tonight and it's February, so we're just, we're just having fun with this, guys. Missouri, actually, I was reading that reverse order. Washington. I've got it. Number 25. Listen, I have no clue what the dynamic up there is. I have not talked to Demon Washington A, in his entire life. But B, especially since he tried to leave and then found out the door was locked. So then he turned around and said, nevermind, I'm staying. I don't know, I have no idea what that does to a locker room, but I got him at 25, Louisville at 24. Always a safe bet there. It seems like Jeff Braum has those guys kind of floating that range every year. Anyway, Vanderbilt, I Put it number 23. Lot of newness. Is Jerry Curtis going to start? Jesse? Do we just think he's going to start as a true freshman? But look, I think they've earned the right there. Then again, what has anyone earned in February? Iowa 22. Solid bowl game, which matters none in this, but solid bowl game nonetheless. These are just teams that are kind of solid, proven commodities where the floor is no lower than this. To me, Missouri at 21, SMU at 20. So I'm buying just a little bit more SMU stock, it seems, in February than the public is. Give me Utah at 19, Houston at number 18. I hinted at this the other night. I'm kind of feeling Houston right now. I got like eight months to change my mind, but I'm feeling Houston right now. Michigan at 17 and Ole Miss at 16. Big asterisks there, obviously, because none of us know what's going to happen with Trinidad Chambliss. He could literally be working for the show this time next year. He could be quarterbacking Ole Miss. I don't know. I have no idea. If he is there, then we kind of split the difference here because if they've got him, they're probably higher than 16 on this list. Okay, let me get into the top 15 here. And it's going to shock you to learn that a lot of people are going to disagree with this. But I'm going to put Penn state at number 15 because we are, of course, a Penn State produced show at this point. I am banking on a couple of things. I'm banking on the ship sort of being righted or at the very least steadied. Obviously I like the coaching staff they brought in, obviously that coach Matt Campbell and his crew brought a bunch of the most dependable parts of the Iowa State roster at slash past couple of recruiting classes in. And so I'm just counting on consistency and a little bit better roster maybe than they were working with. So a little bit higher floor than they were working with at Iowa State. Now, if you're screaming overrated, that is okay. It's your constitutional right. We talk about it all the time. I didn't put Penn State in the top five. I put him at number 15. Okay, so you're going to have to just throw in my face again, remembering it's February. Fifteen teams definitively deserving of a higher ranking than Penn State to start the year. Can't wait for the comments section to react. Brigham Young at 14. Did you know the last five seasons they have the 8th best winning percentage in the country? And Kalani Sitaki sort of flirted with Penn State, ironically, but he's back. Bogmire's back at quarterback. It's Brigham Young. So again, a proven commodity type team there and still hungry because in the grand scheme of things in that group over here that hangs out and thinks if you haven't won a conference title or a national title, you haven't won anything, well, by their definition, Brigham Young hasn't won anything. So they still got all the juice in the world and motivation in the world. I'll put Alabama at 13. Bama and LSU for different reasons could end up in the same sort of category for me of teams that you don't know out of the gate. So like you're really hesitant on your ranking, but you kind of like the upside of the team. Like Keelan Russell, I think will win the quarterback battle at Alabama over Austin Mack. And if he doesn't, that just means Austin Mack is really balled out in the spring. So whatever. I think Alabama's got a pretty good situation at quarterback. They really, really, really are putting a premium focus on getting offensive line right. They, they changed staffers there. They will have several new starters there. They are really, really trying to address the tailback room. So just, you know, that translates to being able to run the ball. And this is quite literally one of those situations where I feel safe saying it can't get worse. Bama made the playoff and won a playoff game last year and they were terrible running the ball. So I'm kind of going to bank on the fact that that over time improves. We'll talk about their schedule later in the show, but I'M going to put Bam at 13. Give me Texas Tech at 12. Top five portal team got Brendan Soaresby in the portal. I think they just have staying power. That's not a one year sort of one hit wonder kind of outfit. So basically we're talking about stability as a program more than a team. And I'll never doubt again their ability to bring in a bunch of guys out of the portal and immediately infuse them into the overall culture, the overall team dynamic and get the most out of a crew after what they did last year. I will take. This is probably going to be a little controversial. I would like you to give me usc at number 11. Yes. Around here we do take the word faith and the name Lincoln Riley and we are not scared to put them in the same sentence. And it's not, I have no faith in Lincoln Riley. I've got marginal amounts, maybe even moderate amounts of faith that Lincoln Riley kind of got it figured out a couple of years ago. But I said at the time, look, you either you need to fire this guy now or you need to wait it out because you know, he had his, his big, his sort of big soul spilling moment where he said we're changing everything and we're changing the, the identity of this program and he meant it. And it started to work. Defense has massively improved around there. Now they lost their defensive coordinator to Penn State. I think they backfilled that spot nicely with Gary Patterson. Yes. In case you've been, you know, hanging out with friends, living a life, not paying attention to college football. Gary Patterson is now the defensive coordinator at the University of Southern California. But also it's Lincoln Riley with a third year quarterback. So I feel good there. They got a backfill, speaking of that word in the wide receiver room, the wide receiver department. But I just, I don't really find myself ever worrying about USC's ability to score. But the overall structure of that roster I think is improving. Their recruiting class is number one in the country. Now. I don't think they've got 15 first year starters in that class, but I do think overall some of the hope that maybe people like me are blindly holding on to. I finally think we start to not look stupid this year. We may not look smart yet, but not stupid. So give me usc at number 11. LSU. I'm going to put it number 10. Now, I think LSU ceiling is way higher than 10 for this year's team. And I think there's a solid chance that halfway through the year, even given my own expectation I'm planning on looking at LSU saying, yeah, that may be a top five team. You know, with a look at the coordinator combo we have here. American hero Blake Baker is still there. He didn't take a G5 head coaching job and he was up for a few of them. He's still the defensive coordinator there. Weiss is in there along with Kiffin, if you, if you want to call that a co OC situation. But I don't know how many times you had to listen to Kirby Smart during press conference. Say Charlie calls the plays. We all know Charlie calls the plays. Well, both of those coordinators are there. Really good talent roster. Number two overall portal class, really good upside team. I'll take Oklahoma at number nine. Oklahoma is a playoff program to me. Meaning not that they'll make it every year, but they feel kind of like they're hanging out in that club of the ones you would consistently project to be playoff caliber programs. Meaning any given year they're going to spit out a playoff caliber team. Matier's back. They're more experienced. They got to address the run game. Them and Alabama both. It's kind of convenient for each one of them. They met each other in the playoffs last year. Someone had to win. It was Alabama. But I put Oklahoma at 9. I don't have a problem with that. I put A and M at 8. Marcel Reed just has to be better in big games. And there are some people out there who will say you've seen the best that he's going to be. Others say, well, maybe, maybe not. But might I remind you, his best, if that was what I saw last year was good enough to make the playoffs. They made the playoffs. So I'm not calling them the number one team in the country, but I'm putting them at number eight because they've been a top 10. Really kind of a top five recruiting portals. So in other words, a top five talent acquisition type program. So the minimum baseline of talent roster that it takes to be considered in this sort of air, A and M's got. Georgia's got that too. At number seven. Georgia's a really high floor team. Meaning even if they aren't their vintage selves and they haven't been the last two years, that's a perfect case study. Their vintage self is like 20, 21 and they win the national championship and they suffocate everyone. They may not have that caliber roster right now. Maybe they won't have it anymore. But you're seeing them be sort of quote unquote off that Pace and they've won the SEC two years in a row doing that. So Gunnar Stockton is back and it's just a Kirby smart team. So I always feel comfortable. In fact, 7 is kind of low if you think about what the past few years has been in terms of just this, this preconceived notion of what Georgia will be any given year. I put Miami at number six. They got Darian Mensah. I think they may have upgraded at the quarterback spot. So I'm not trashing Carson Beck. I just think when you're bringing in a talent like this and you know what you're going to surround him with. Mark Fletcher's back and Malachi, Tony's another year older there. The offensive lines replacing a lot. Now, if there's one area on that team that I feel sort of comfortable not blindly trusting, but closing one eye and trusting, it's. It's knowing Mario Cristobal and Alex Mirabal down there. It's just. It's a high floor position room, I guess, is the best way to put that. I like their defensive line. I know they're losing some guys, but I like them okay there. And Corey Heatherman entering his second year as defensive coordinator, so a lot to like there. I would take Oregon at number five. I kind of think as we got down the stretch of last year, I got the vibe more and more from them. I mean, they hoped to win the national title last year, but they felt like that group was kind of a year away from the best version of itself. Now, that was contingent maybe on Dante Moore coming back. So he's back and if I could just have that crew largely back and then I could get better injury luck, you know, like not miss Evan Stewart for an entire year, stuff like that. Oregon's good team. Oregon was in the semifinals of the playoffs this past year, so they're very good team, very good program. I put them at five. I'd put Ohio State at four. Julian saying, there's a lot of experience, by the way, at quarterback. You'll notice one through five here. Jeremiah Smith back. You've got bonafide NFL guys, OC and dc. It's just an extremely high floor program. Any given year, Ohio State could be higher than four. I mean, four may be kind of low for him. Indiana. I'm not going to say I'm blindly putting Indiana at number three, but there are large portions of this program, this outfit, I'm just blindly willing to trust. Now they went and got Josh Hoover, who's probably just going to be Like a seamless puzzle piece fit out of the Portal at quarterback. They really did a good job of backfilling from the Portal at the skill positions. I trust just the overall DNA of the program after the last two years and last year specifically, I don't know how anyone could say otherwise. And unless something happens after we do this show and it's February 1st right now, are they really going to keep this pair of coordinators together? Looks like they are. And so, again, very, very high on Indiana. I'm high on Texas. I'll put Texas at number two. I saw how Arch Manning finished the year. I saw that they had a okay running back room and just kind of said, nope, we'll see you guys later. We're bringing in better options. And they got Relik Brown and they got Hollywood Smothers. Go ahead, Jesse. Were you about to say something? Okay, Hollywood Smothers, Relik Brown, any order you put them in. Any order you want to. But they also have Cam Coleman and Wingo at wide receiver. Will Muschamp. Yeah. In terms in that category of guys that have landed elsewhere. Hey, man, coaching up the defense there in Austin, Texas, now we got Will Muschamp. He's back on the scene. And the number one team, in an extremely egregiously way too early, top 25 in the commissioner's poll right now is Notre Dame, because they have everything that I would want in a number one team in early February. And they have C.J. carr at quarterback and they have a very, very good roster. And they've got an extremely good staff. Man, they are machine like in staffing right now. They are snatching guys up that are coordinators in other conferences and just go run the DB room. What? To make this work, salary wise, we need to call you a C.O. d.C. Okay, we'll do that. That's Notre Dame right now. And they've got the hunger. They went to a national title game a couple of years ago, lost. They, according to some, got robbed of a playoff spot this past year. So it's all there. It's like they're still grasping for the belt. So I don't have to worry about hunger, motivation, all that stuff. So I'll put Notre Dame at number one right now, which is crazy because I'm told I hate them. But, you know, it is February. They could drop out of the top 10 by August. Jesse, you never know. What you do know is this a little bit of breaking news. It's not breaking. Quick trips always been there for us. Quick trips always been our fuel Source Kwik Trip just got done fueling the fall. Don't lie to her. And it's crazy. They didn't even close. They didn't even take January off. They've just been open. I know I've stopped at several and you know, it could be for cold brew on tap. We proved pretty definitively the other day via real video, real I Josh video that that's not just something I'm saying, it's something that's really in most stores. And then you've got Quick Trip Pizza. You've of course got all the fuel options out front. I don't care. You just want to go for an old traditional soda. Just not a term I believe in. But I don't want to mention a brand spec specifically if they haven't chosen to advertise with us. But quick trip fueling our show and can fuel you as well. And we appreciate them as always. We the other night did a little schedule reaction. Take a sip of water, Bradley. We did a schedule reaction for the Big Ten the other night and I always have a, I don't know, a pretty loose idea, I would say, of how I think our individual segments are gonna traffic. And the Big Ten segment did about three times the traffic that I thought it was gonna do, which just means there is no wrong time in the year to talk schedule. So tonight I'm gonna look at this SEC schedule right quick and I gotta remind you of something that you're gonna hear a whole lot around July, but we're going to beat everyone to the punch. Things are different in the SEC this year. They're moving to a nine game conference schedule and they may be doing it at the worst possible time because there is really no tier 1 in the SEC by normal SEC standards, where there's, you know, like a one or two bona fide national title favorites. I don't think there is that. You could say Texas or Georgia have the best odds out of the sec. But like relative to vintage sec, if you look at the top shelf, the shelf number one, it's vacant and there's just a whole bunch on shelf two. And to be honest with you, shelf three is a whole lot closer to shelf two than it used to be. So translation, until further notice, there's a lot of pretty good. There's no great and there's no terrible. So everyone's just compacted into the middle. Now what is that a recipe for? It's a recipe for a whole bunch of nine and three teams. That's what it's a Recipe for in the old scheduling model, but in the new scheduling model, when everyone's going to play an additional game. I'm looking at the FanDuel odds on the screen right now. Bradley, just put them up. These are the odds at FanDuel for SEC teams to win the playoff. There are 11 SEC teams in the top 20. The FanDuel odds to win the playoff right now, I don't care how much you scream they're overrated. That's fine. You could go bet the market with your own money and take advantage of it. I'm just really broad stroke purpose giving you a loose idea. But, but none of them are Ohio State. You know, very few of them are Oregon or Notre Dame or whatnot. So I just remember the SEC championship game last year and I remember afterwards, Kirby, he just won the SEC and he went to the podium, he said, hey, just a reminder to everyone, we're beat to death. Their team, Alabama, was beat to death today. The less crippled of the two teams ended up winning. This is going to be the norm in the league next year because we all have to play nine of these games. He said. We just played our ninth SEC game this year. We've all got to play nine next year. This would be the 10th that we play. With that in mind, I think A and M needs the kind of start that Oklahoma had last year. So Oklahoma, last year, when we looked at their schedule, they had one of the toughest schedules in the league. But it wasn't front loaded, it was backloaded. They got off to a hot start and they went into Dallas against Texas, undefeated. Now they lost to Texas, but they had bought themselves enough Runway, they had bought themselves enough wiggle room to where they could afford to lose that one or lose another one. They were still going to get in the playoff. Well, A and M needs to do that this year. So they start off, they got Missouri State, Arizona State, Kentucky. So they go to LSLU in week four. But outside of that trip to LSU, there's probably only one underdog spot through seven weeks here on their schedule. Then they have a game at Alabama and that's the first time outside of the trip to lsu. That's the only other time here before November that they'll definitively be an underdog. But the reason they got to start fast and especially if you could clip lsu, you put yourself in prime position. Because after, after that buy there, it's at South Carolina. You guys can laugh that all you want to going in there is a little bit different at South Carolina. But then Tennessee at Oklahoma and Texas just boom, boom, boom, boom to end the year. And they're replacing two coordinators. So it's probably a good thing that A and M doesn't have a front loaded schedule. LSU speak of Lane Kiffin and the Tigers there. I think LSU's got a chance to be one of those teams that feels like they have two seasons. This year they kind of got what Jesse called a sandwich schedule. But I think that sounds really weird, so I'm not using that term. That's Jesse's term. What he meant by that is if you look at it, they play Clemson and at Ole Miss and Texas A and M in the first month of the season and then they're going to disappear for a little while because they play McNeese and they play Kentucky and they play Mississippi State and they play Auburn. And so you're just going to kind of lose track of lsu. But you'll watch them against Clemson. That game at Ole Miss will be the biggest game that Saturday. A and M comes in there the week after that. That's huge stuff. And you could end up burying yourself early. They could be 2 and 2 entering October, but hey, they could be 4 and oh entering October. So point being, you'll get that version of them and they won't be out of the playoff picture because you know, it's 12 teams and you can afford to lose three games now and still be in it. But they'll disappear and then they'll come out of that. And I think if they stay healthy, of course LSU is a prime candidate to just be surging by the time late October, early November rolls around and that's when they got Bama, Texas at Tennessee back to back to back. And then they go to Arkansas to end the year, which again is not going to scare anyone. But out of all these SEC teams, LSU is the only one to finish the season with back to back road games. No one else has back to back roads that late in the year. So I've got an eye on that. I think Texas, that road schedule is tough for them. Again, they had a really, really tough road slate last year. It is just insane that they play Ohio State and an SEC schedule this year. Texas, I mean essentially if you think about it. So they play, they play a tough SEC slate and you add Ohio State to it. So you go to Ohio State at home in week two. Good for them. Good for them. We'll see if the committee keeps that in mind. But then they go to Tennessee, they got Oklahoma in Dallas, so that's away from home. They go to Missouri, they go to LSU, they go to Texas A&M. Three of their four November games are on the road and, and I'd go up the road to Norman and I'd say a lot of the same stuff about Oklahoma because you take the Oklahoma schedule and you're just adding Michigan to the Oklahoma schedule. They got to go to Michigan, Michigan came there last year, we were there, by the way. Phenomenal atmosphere. What a spectacle. You got to pay the return trip this year. So you put a trip to Michigan plus at Georgia, Texas away from home and then they got Ole Miss and A and M at home and they go to Missouri late and they play half a dozen games away from Norman. And if you're wondering how that happens, they play Texas neutral every year. And this is a year where they're five road, four home. If you're playing nine conference games, half of you're going to get to play five at home, four on the road, half of you got to play four at home, five on the road. So Oklahoma's got the five road plus Texas neutral this year and they go to. Or how does that work, Jesse? Fuzzy math. Anyway, it's six and six. Not great. Not great because there are many power four teams that play eight. Four. It used to be the norm that you had eight home games and four road games. That kind of used to be the norm. It's not anymore. Decent draw, I think, for Alabama here. So they've technically got a marquee out of conference opponent, but it's Florida State, which we thought had trended down last year and they smoked them in Tallahassee. But you've got to like Alabama's odds with a clearly down trending Florida State team coming into Tuscaloosa. Week three revenge game there. So they've got FSU down trending and also to open league play, they play at Kentucky. Week two, new staff, there's they play South Carolina at home. Week four, they go to Mississippi State, Week five. No one's saying that these are easy games per se, but if you look at the odds, those are three of the bottom five teams in the SEC to open conference play. Then you get Georgia coming into Tuscaloosa, then you go to Knoxville, then you got A and M at home. So yeah, it gets real. But if you're starting a new quarterback like Alabama will be that that's about as good as you're going to get an opening month to an opening half of your schedule. I will say this, as far as I can tell no one really got the Northwestern treatment. Northwestern got thrown in boiling water and left to fend for themselves by the Big Ten schedule makers. The other day when we were looking at that, no one really has that. Like, there are a couple of red dots on the SEC schedule. For example, Georgia welcomes Auburn. That's Georgia's seventh straight game. Auburn's off a buy. So that's a tough scene, but that's got to happen somewhere. And also South Carolina hosts Tennessee, and that is Tennessee's eighth straight game. And South Carolina's off a buy. So, yes, those are not ideal situations. I just want to know how the committee's going to view your random 9 and 3 SEC teams. Because we found out last year we saw. We saw Texas get left out, which I thought was justified. I'm not arguing they should have been in. But I'm also going to tell you, If Texas is 9 and 3 after this year, if Vanderbilt, you know, it's floating out there again and you're collectively looking and saying, hold up, these teams got left out again. It could make the league look really bad. It could make the league look like they got suckered. Because for a long time I rooted for the SEC to play nine league games. But see, I also sat here and I said if I didn't have assurances from the playoff committee that they were going to properly take into context what a nine game SEC league slate means, plus at least one power four out of conference opponent, then I wouldn't do it. Well, the SEC's done it. They've gone to nine league games. We're gonna find out if the you are what your record says you are crowd is on board with it. Let's continue. Gotta get some lip balm. Very, very dry around here. Extremely dry. I figured this is as good a time as any to broach this. Allen from Talmage, Ohio, hit me and said, how'd the movie theater trip go? You want to tell us why? It was a quiet ride home. Did you do something wrong? I don't think I did anything wrong. So the other night I find out we're going to the movies. It's a fun time. Used to do it all the time as a kid. Don't do it so much anymore. Wish I had more reasons to. Well, I was informed by Savannah State that we had a reason to. So I find out we're going to the movies. And I said, great. Go out to eat, we'll go to the movies. What are we going to see? She says, the housemaid and I say, sounds like fun. Give me some information. And she says, well, Amanda Seyfried is in it. Prez. Is that how you say her last name? Yep, Amanda Seyfried and a young lady by the name of Sydney Sweeney. Some people seem to be into her. Me, not so much. But nevertheless, I watched Euphoria. She's in it now. This was one of those situations where I got informed at like 3 o' clock in the afternoon. We're going. It's not until like 9:50, I think is showtime. So I had some time to think. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought, I think I heard something about this. I think I heard something about certain subject matter in this picture. And the subject matter, I don't know, I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Pretty edgy, you know. And so I had it confirmed because I did a little due diligence, asked around a couple of people. I said, hey, I heard this happens in this movie. Does it? And they said, I think their words were, oh, yeah, in all caps. And they said, yeah, it happens. And at that point I realized, this could be bad for me. This could be a trap. So I did the only thing that I can do. We've built a massive audience around here. What good is a massive audience if I don't turn to you guys for help? So what the question is talking about is I hit up Twitter and I said, the wife has us going to see this movie tonight. I need some intel. Am I walking into a trap? The replies were swift and the replies were definitive and pretty unanimous that I was in trouble. And I realized what was going to happen was largely up to me. Okay, the movie is the. My attitude is the variable. That's what's really going to determine how the evening goes. So the first thing that I thought that was smart to do is to go in with the attitude of limiting the damage, because you're not going to get out of there without bleeding. You're going to get hurt. You just don't want to die. And I didn't die. And if you'll look at the follow up, this was the next morning. I was silent the rest of the night. The next morning, January 31st, Saturday morning, I woke up and I just said, that was a quiet ride home, boys. That was a quiet ride home. But you know what? We made it home. Same car. No one stormed out. No one Ubered. This is one of those theaters, as most are now, with the reclining seats. So I think one of the things that you have to guard against is you have to make sure that you're more reclined than. Than she is, you know, especially for certain scenes. Because what you don't want is you don't want to not be able to read your peripheral. So I was able to read my peripheral. I knew when I was being looked at. I knew when I was being stared at. And look, I already had a heads up. And one of the best pieces of advice that I got on this movie, again, not to spoil it for anyone, but I don't think this gives anything away. One of the best pieces of feedback I got was when they go to the hotel, go somewhere else in your mind. And so they went to that hotel and I went. I don't know, I went to Montana or Pizza Hut or Meemaw's house. I went somewhere else in my mind. And I don't even think I cracked a smile. I really, I sat there stone faced as it just happened to me and it happened to Sidney, but mainly it happened to me. But I think I handled myself as professionally and maturely as I possibly could. I learned a lot. And the first thing I learned is look at movie reviews. The second thing I learned is that trick works. You go somewhere else in your mind. Probably works more than just movie theater. So look, Savannah State's a very secure person, very secure young lady. So I imagine this could have gone drastically worse for many of you than it went for me. But I do want to give you guys a fair heads up. Some of you have already come across this little dilemma. Others of you, judging by the subject matter, are going to actively seek out coming across this dilemma. And I just. I don't want anyone to get hurt, okay? We don't have college football every Saturday right now. And I know you guys are looking to fill the void and you're looking to fill your time and fill your schedules and calendars. And if this pops up on the agenda, don't shy away from it, but just prepare, prepare properly. You'll be okay. It is February and I. Let's see, 14:30, about 12 days away. I do want to say it's a big year for the Broyles Award. The Broyles award goes out to the top assistant coach in the country. Like this year. Mike Bobo is a finalist. Brian Haynes is a finalist. Corey Heatherman, Matt Patricia Shield Wood. And those guys will all be in Hot Springs, Arkansas in a couple of weeks. I'll be in Hot Springs, Arkansas in a couple of weeks. So first, big congrats to the finalists. It's the 30th anniversary of the Broyles Award. I call it the premier event of Valentine's week, maybe even above and beyond Valentine's Day itself. So congrats to those guys. We're looking forward to that. We'll be over there at Oak Lawn in a couple of weeks. I watch horses race one time a year, and that's the week, weather permitting. That is a very, very happy evening. And I tried to put as many smiles on as many faces as I could in those portions of the shows because this right here is not going to be fun. This next segment is not going to be fun at all. But I think it's a necessary segment. I don't know how else to state this. I think I'm holding in my hand the worst college football take I've seen in a long, long time. Bradley, put it up on the screen there. This is Curtis from Charlotte, North Carolina, and he said, why do people like you who claim to love college football fight against it doing what works for other sports? You talk about the 2014 playoff proposal like it was the worst idea in the world. Imagine having something like March Madness in college football. It would be must see. And I'm supposed to respond to that. Curtis, Curtis, Curtis. We do have a rule around here about things of this nature. Now, if you're watching the show, I love you, Curtis, but watching the show doesn't make you immune from casual takes. You may not be a casual person. Smart people do say casual things sometimes. Casual people never say smart things. We're going to hope, Curtis, that you're a smart person that has stumbled upon a very, very casual take. But this is a horrible take. It is a terrible way to view college football. So, Bradley, keep it, keep it in your holster there, because I'm going to have you probably put that up a few times. So I just want to walk you guys through this because I know many people in your social circles, once upon a time have probably said something about this. Firstly, when it comes to other sports, college basketball, Major league Baseball, NFL, I can't state this clearly enough. All right? I could not care less how college football compares to any other sport out there because I believe college football is one of one. Therefore, it is always an apples to oranges comparison, no matter if it's even the NFL you're comparing college football to. But if you are, for lack of a better term, in the headspace to make an argument as dumb as comparing college basketball to college football, well, then I want to ask, what do you mean what works what works? Brad, throw it up one more time. Did you notice what he said here? He said, why are you fighting against college football doing what works for other sports? Well, what works for him? What works for other sports? He said, what works for other sports? Now I need to ask you, Curtis, because all you're talking about is my playoff thoughts here. So are you talking about comparing the College Football Playoff to March Madness, just, just heads up as products, or are you talking about what's good for other sports? Because if you're talking about what's good for a sport, March Madness is terrible for the overall state of college basketball. March Madness as a product's amazing. So when I say what's good for a sport, I mean what makes me watch the regular season? That's what's best for a sport to me. Like that's my personal feel. But college football is a little bit different than everything else. So in college football, the best postseason format is the kind of postseason format that has you glued to your TV in week one, three, seven, 10 and 13. Because those games are vital and must see there's urgency on them. There's maximum importance on them. College basketball makes me feel like I couldn't care less about its regular season. It's a one month sport. I had Jesse go look, did you know Illinois and Nebraska played today? That's a top 10 matchup. I cannot wait to get those viewership numbers. Now I know a lot of you are saying, Josh, you always say ratings don't matter. No, no, no, no. They don't matter in a sense of you enjoying what you enjoy. But when it comes to measuring the kind of urgency that's placed on a regular season, they give a crystal clear indication of what a postseason format does to that sports regular season. So comparing postseasons is a little bit different here. But even if you want to compare postseasons, you're going to, you're not going to get any pushback from me that the NCAA tournament is amazing. I'm right there glued right along with you guys. Now also right along with you, I'm trying to learn everything I can about creighton in the 24 hours leading up to tip off of the first round because I haven't watched a game of theirs all year because the postseason has led me to realize I don't need to watch them in the regular season. I don't ever want college football to be like that. That's the first thing. The second thing is the expansionist truthers out there always love starting the book on Chapter 9. They always love saying, Man, a 2014 playoff would be awesome. Why would you be against a 2014 playoff? Or they'll say something like this. How can you deny that a 2014 playoff would be amazing to watch? And the answer is, I don't deny that. But that's chapter nine of the book. The playoff itself would be a must see television product. Just like the NCAA tournament in March and April, that's a must see television product. The question is, how did it render the four or five months leading up to it? That is the regular season. College basketball's postseason tournament format renders its regular season irrelevant. Now, if you're a hardcore basketball fan, you're watching those games, but you're not watching those games. You didn't watch Alabama and Florida earlier today because you knew there was maximum postseason implications on the line. You didn't watch that game knowing, man, if someone loses this thing, they are out of wiggle room. There is so much urgency on this thing. You watched it because you love basketball, which is cool. And I'd probably always watch college football. But if you're talking about feeling that urgency, if you're talking about that unmistakable puckering that you get early on Saturday morning leading into Saturday afternoon, because you know your game kicks off tonight and you've already got one loss, and if you guys lose again, you may be out of it. Notre Dame felt that as early as Week 3 last year, their second game of the season. They felt it that early. There's no other sport in America that offers that feeling. That's a good feeling. You want more of that in college football, not less of that. So when I look at how awesome a 2014 playoff would be. Yeah. In isolation, it would be must see. I don't ever disagree with that. But the playoff expansionists, the expansion truthers, don't ever like to start the book on chapter one. Cause if you start the book on chapter one, Notre Dame goes and plays Miami and they lose. And then they come home and they play A and M and they lose. And you know what you say after that? Well, man, we got to get our act together. Can't afford to lose too many more of these. We'll be out of the 2014 playoff. Is that really what you want college football to be? I can answer definitively, I don't want college football to be that. And I think it helps to hear debates on this because I think if you just hear someone say it, probably throw it up one more time. If you hear someone just say that, that last part especially, man, a 2014 playoff in college football. Imagine having something like March Madness in college football. It would be must see. That's the kind of bumper sticker logic that if it's not held up to tighter scrutiny, if you don't have to walk it through to its logical conclusion, sort of makes you go, man, that kind of sounds okay. It does, it does. Ice cream for dinner every night. Sounds good. Sounds good. Now, upon further inspection, you will be the face of type 2 diabetes within the month. So it really. It sounds good, but it doesn't work. And in college football, that may sound good, but then the adults have to walk in the room and say, no, no, no, that's not going to work. But here's the problem. In college football, some of the adults in the room are actually the ones pushing the 2014 playoff. And that is why we cannot cut this microphone off anytime soon. They're watching us in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Columbia, Missouri, Temple, Texas. Thank you guys so much for being tuned in. And there's a quick smiley face for the live chat, just in case they doubted we were live. I've got more breaking news. Big breaking news night. It turns out that the dabo haters have not gone anywhere. Jacob from Kenner, Louisiana, hit me. I told you there was a little sauce to the mailbag tonight. He said, why are you defending the moaning and whining of Dabo Swinney? Maybe don't be ignorant about the way the transfer portal works when you're making millions of dollars. I would trade my job with him in a heartbeat. Honestly, I thought it was way too aggressive. Given that we've talked about this one time, Jesse. Is that right? We've really talked about it one time. So quick backstory just in case some of you have missed what happened. There was a kid by the name of Luke Forelli, really good player, and transfers to Clemson. Not verbally. He transfers there. He signs with Clemson. He enrolls. Remember, we've got one transfer portal window, allegedly in this sport. So Luke Forelli transfers to Clemson, signs, enrolls, he's in classes. He's attending Tim functions. The portal window closes. So what would any logical person think there? Okay, he's on our team this year. We're good. All right. And then Ole Miss decides they want Luke Forelli, and Ole Miss looks at the sign that says 65 miles per hour, and they cruise past it, doing a solid 120, knowing that the NCAA cop car there's got four flat tires. Their sirens don't work anyway, who cares? And they just say, we Want you. How much does it take? And they pay him enough. And Luke Forelli's out. That basically is the long and short of what happened. Ole Miss is not the only team doing this. They'll be the first ones in the comment section saying, LSU did that to us. It's happened in a lot of places. Happening in a lot of places. This was the most high profile. Okay, so that happened. And I don't know, allegedly I went on some tirade about this. So I had producer Jesse and Prez and Bradley go back in the archives, oh, I don't know, a week and a half ago, and we found what I said. Cause if I did what the question claimed I did, we've got to hold me to account tonight. So in the interest of fairness, here's what I said about Davos winning. The second option he had was the option he took, and that is call people out by name. I've got all the respect in the world for it. I think most of us understand in the past why coaches have whined and complained about tampering, but they've stopped short of calling another coach out by name. And the pretty simple answer there is because they know they're probably guilty of it at some point, too. So it would be a massive pile of hypocrisy shoved in your face via a microphone if most of them did it. But see, I believe Pat Narduzzi when he says, we don't really do that here. We don't do it. Therefore, I'm going to call someone out when they do do it. I believe Dabo. I believe Dabo. Cause if I don't believe him, doesn't really matter if I don't believe him, if. If he's lying or if he really is being a hypocrite, in due time, that evidence will surface. Where's the rest of it, Bradley? That's all I said. That's it. That's all I said. All right, Bradley, throw the question back up. So that's what I'm guilty of saying. And to read the question again, why are you defending the moaning and whining of Dabo Swinney? Maybe don't be so ignorant about the way the portal works when you're making millions of dollars. I would trade my job with him in a heartbeat. Okay, Moaning and whining. I watched the entire Dabbo Swinney press conference, by the way. He had a very lengthy press conference where he made an allegation. He said, we had a kid on our roster enrolled in classes And Ole Miss tampered with him and took him from us. And then he laid out exact dates and times. He had documented text messages and he gave specifics. So my question would be, if that's moaning and whining in your world, is there any valid way to highlight wrongdoing if that's not the way? Is there any valid way? Or are you just saying no matter how you bring it up, if you bring it up, you're whining and complaining? I guess we disagree there. That's okay. I think you're wrong because you are. But that's okay there. But the way the portal works. Bradley, throw the question up yet again. I know this is two segments in a row where I've done this, but there are a lot of layers, a lot of layers to this cake. Not that one, Bradley. The other one. That was the other bad take. No, give me the latest bad take. Oh, Jacob. He said, maybe don't be so ignorant about the way the transfer portal works when you're making millions of dollars. Number one, the guy's salary is irrelevant whether he's a volunteer or a billionaire. Maybe don't be so ignorant about the way the transfer portal works. That's what Dabo Swinney was doing. He was being ignorant about the way the portal works. Hey, Jacob, what if I told you this isn't the way the transfer portal is supposed to work? What if I told you this is a mockery of the way the transfer portal is supposed to work? And imagine that logic applied elsewhere. Imagine, Jacob, you have a front lawn and someone walks by and just keeps throwing dog crap in it every single morning. And you get mad at it, you know, because it's against all kind of homeowners association ordinances, not to mention just common civil society framework. And you get mad. And you know, you do like Kubelik does because he really deals with this issue and you make a whole bunch of angry Twitter videos, but they just keep throwing it over there every morning. And then you complain about it and someone looks at you and says, hey, bud, you just need to learn the way this neighborhood works. Look, would that logic make any sense if they put a 25 mile per hour speed limit sign out on your street and Bradley keeps speeding by at 60 every morning, and then his mom comes over because you called her complaining. Imagine the audacity of her to look you in the eye and say, you just need to learn the way the street works. You wouldn't. You would never even apply this logic, much less accept this logic. Cause There is no logic behind it in any other venture. It's like you don't like Dabo for whatever reason. I don't know if you guys have history that he didn't recruit you or something, but you don't like dabo, so anything coming out of his mouth is automatically a pinata and you're blindly swinging away. Thirdly, why does anyone's salary matter when they're pointing out right wrong, when they're pointing out inefficiencies? Does it take a guy off the street walking up to you and making this point for you to say, well, you know what? He has a good point. Now, if he's got a seven or eight figure net worth, no, he's got a bad point there. But if he's just running a soup kitchen over here, he's got a good point. A good point's a good point. And lastly, I would trade my job with his. It sounds kind of personal. It sounds kind of personal, Jacob. It almost sounds like someone made a good point. That someone is Dabo Swinney. But because the guy makes a lot of money, you think it kind of immunizes him from being able to point out or make valid criticism. And this is the kind of ideology that exists that I think is really stupid. By the way, it should be noted, Jacob's kind of a friend of the program. That's why I'm speaking to him a little more forcefully than I do a random stranger, because we don't have random strangers on this campus. So Jacob says here, debos, Winnie's just a whiner. I trade my job with him in a heartbeat. Well, do it. Do it. You're probably not talented enough to. You'll never get the opportunity to. But let's say you did. How did Dabo get that opportunity? You want his job? Hit rewind to 1993 and apply for a grad assistant position in Alabama. Oh, you thought that trading jobs with Dabo meant you started making 10 million a year? No, that's not how that works. No, you got to go back to 1993, and then you get a grad assistant position. You're probably borrowing money to make ends meet. And you go, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000. I'm a pause to breathe. 2001-2002-2003-2004, 2005, 2006, 2007. And then in 2008, Jacob, you'll be making 200 grand a year. So put in 15 years for me before you Ever get a look as a head coach and then resurrect Clemson? Build Clemson into something that it's never been before in the era of Nick Saban, the greatest of all time at his peak. Go head to head with him and beat him twice in national championship games. You do all that. You trade jobs with Dabbo Swinney, go for it. It sounds hard to do, but go for it. But here's my guess. My guess would be if you did all that and if you were passionate enough to invest a large chunk of your life into that work, you'd probably care a lot about it. You'd probably care a lot about the surroundings, you'd probably care a lot about the world you're in and probably piss you off to see poor leadership, allowing it to go off the rails. And you know what you may even do, Jacob? You may. You may even get angry enough to. What are the words there? Moan and whine a little bit? Just maybe. So moving on from that, the question is, is anything going to come of this? That's what I've been asked everywhere. Gym, restaurants, like, anytime someone's asked me about this lately, it's always, is anything going to happen to Ole Miss, Buddy? I got no idea. I got no idea. I just think it's very funny how I, in my personal life, Jacob's not the only one who said something like that. I, in my personal life, swear to you, I have this Venn diagram, and on one circle over here, it's the crowd that says, man, I hate the way college football is right now. And then on the other circle over here, it's, man, Dabo needs to quit whining and complaining. There is a strange amount of overlap between those two circles that makes me look at the overlap portion and go, what are you people doing? What? He's making the same points you are. You're telling me because of his salary, he can't. What point? What sense does that make? It makes no sense. We move on. We move on. I got good news. It was one of those days. And I don't know if you guys run your own store and you ever do this, but it was one of those days where I went to our store, patstatematerial.com and I was just browsing, mainly to make sure the store is up and it always is. Alex and the folks there do a great job. And I realized, oh, snap, Jesse, we got new merch. Because I had forgotten that we approved several new T shirt designs. And one of them is the one that I'M getting shipped to me expedited. Jesse, I can get you one too. It's the advanced pluralization tee. And I know if you're listening on podcasts you can't see any of this. Just trust me. It looks good, but if you're watching, I know you could probably zoom in a little bit there, but it's a nice little crest and it says chalice till we die because we have a different way of pluralizing words on this show. Bradley, I don't know if you can hear that, but it sounds like a carpenter bee is trying to drill his way into the studio. I don't know if you can't hear it on the mic, it doesn't matter. Anyway, that shirt, among several others, are brand new and now available@patestatematerial.com so I thought it my job to pass that on to you because it is 17 degrees outside right now, but eventually it will be short sleeve weather again and I want you guys to be ready proactively. Kind of a sad question that got dropped in the mailbag here, David from Shonto, Arizona, which I assume is beautiful this time of year, he said, Is it time to declare the end of the Big 12's reign as America's Conference? It feels like Texas Tech is 1A and everyone else is far and away 1B. Well, America's Conference was what we started calling the Big 12 because we thought everything about the spirit of college football. A bunch of what people claim they love about college football, it was most readily found in the Big 12. It wasn't that they had a bunch of national championship contenders, but it was the most competitively balanced conference. It was, relatively speaking, the conference that had the least amount of transfer portal churn. And it just, it's so fun and it's random every given Saturday. So I said because of that, I think the Big 12 is America's college football conference. And then Joey McGuire, shame on him, friend of the program, came along and he ruined it because they had the audacity at Texas Tech to build a monster. And so now we don't have a world where any given week you just kind of throw the dice out there and then you rack them back up and throw them out again the next week. And there's no telling who's going to be the best team in the league this week. Yes, it does look like Texas Tech has ascended at least now we'll see if it's permanently to the top spot, to the pole position and then there is a little bit of a gap Between Texas Tech and whomsteever it may be any given year, I think the final version of the college football landscape is still forming. By that, I mean, I don't know what the conferences are going to look like five years from now. I don't know what the NCAA rules are going to look like five years from now. Are we even still attached to the ncaa? Are we collectively bargaining with players? Do we have a more firm grasp on how nil works and rev share? So the big, big, big spenders, have they been brought back to earth a little bit? I don't know. So in the interim, yeah, it does look like there's far less competitive balance at the very top of the Big 12. Will Texas Tech continue operating this far ahead of the pack? Right now at FanDuel, the Big 12 teams odds to win the playoff, Texas Tech has, I think, the eighth best odds next year. And then the Next closest Big 12 team is Brigham Young, and they're at 20th. Just to give you a comparison, there are 11 SEC teams ahead of or tied with Brigham Young for odds to win it all. Texas Tech is way ahead of the pack. Here's my question, since my answer is I think this may be the norm for a little while. Question one, this is kind of a side question. Is anyone else going to match what Texas Tech is doing? Because if you'll remember, it didn't take five years to build this. They decided what they were going to do and they did it. So my question is, and I'm just going to use Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State's got some money. There are several places actually in the Big 12 that has some money. Have some money. Take Oklahoma State randomly. What if Oklahoma State looked and said, we're tired of Mike Gundy, we're not giving you another cent until he gets out of here. Okay, he's out of here. Oh, let's go hire that cat from North Texas and we'll start giving. We'll open the pocketbook. Not to mention, if you know anything about these people, if you watched Pony Access and you understood the, the machinations of the Southwest Conference once upon a time, these people are very competitive in their spending. So Texas Tech is doing what they do. You don't think at least One other Big 12 program is going to try and go dollar for dollar? I'm just using Oklahoma State. But I mean, Baylor, you could be on the clock. Tcu, you could be on the clock. I just wonder if that's going to happen. To be continued on that. Okay, so push that to the side that Was a side question. Here's the other question. This sounds like a hot take. It's not. It's a legit question. Is Texas Tech surging like this good for the Big 12 overall? So we know it's really good for Texas Tech. And when it comes to the Big 12 having a legitimate national title contending type program, it's good for them and it brings more attention to the conference. It potentially brings more money into the conference the further they go in the playoffs. So by those metrics, it's a good thing. But if the Big 12's bread and butter was we are such a random conference, it's in any given Saturday league, you could be next to last one year and you could go win the league the year after that. That happened several times recently. If that's the Big 12's MO, is what Texas Tech is doing good or bad for the conference? I don't know. I don't know. Now, there's another thing that a dominant program sometimes does, an effect, if you will, that it has on the ecosystem. And that is it forces everyone to raise their game. So maybe it's a moot point here. Maybe the Big 12 collectively raises its game. But you got to raise funds to raise your game if you're going to match Texas Tech right now. You saw those odds we showed you. Well, unfortunately, that's for the 2026 season, which is still a little ways away. However, I do have it on good authority, in fact, a sad story here. The super bowl is next Sunday. And look, we tried again and we, we talked to our contacts in the NFL League office because we want to have our Sunday show as normal every Sunday. To do that, we need the NFL to move the super bowl up to like maybe a one o' clock kickoff, two o' clock kickoff. And they said no. They said no again this year. So we won't have a Sunday show next Sunday because they're going to play the super bowl, which, whatever, that's their right. I don't think it's smart, but that's their right. But at FanDuel, since the game is going to go on as scheduled, it is kind of the last call for football guys. And unless some of you are sick enough to have bet the Pro bowl games, and I don't even know if you could do that. Maybe you could, but that was early. Was that today, Jesse? Rest in peace, Pro Bowl. Rest in peace. You know what? My mug's empty. Or I would pour one out for the Pro Bowl. Sad, sad what they did to The Pro bowl, but the Super Bowl. Yeah, next Sunday. Now, listen, if you're a new user, if you're a new sign up over there at FanDuel, bet $5 on the super bowl, any of a number of options there and you win, you get $200 in bonus bets. Now, you could, you could do a number of things with that. Okay? You could just save it up and then get ready to fire once the NCAA tournament gets here. You could love the Brooklyn Nets next Tuesday night and you could dump it all on that. It's your money. It's your prerogative. I'm just trying to get you more of it. It's kind of the goal with every partner we have on this show. So FanDuel, the exclusive odds provider of Pate State, and we appreciate them, must.