
Loading summary
Josh Pate
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
IBM Advertiser
So let me get this straight. Your company has data here, there and everywhere, but your AI can't use the data because it's here, there and everywhere? Seems like something's missing. Every business has unique data. IBM helps your AI access your data wherever it lives to change how you do business. Lets create Smile to business IBM.
Josh Pate
And Doug.
FanDuel Announcer
What a horrible call.
Josh Pate
Hey ref.
Cole Kublick
Open your eyes, ref.
Josh Pate
You're really not gonna call that? Come on. Hey ref, why didn't you customize your car insurance with Liberty Mutual and save money.
Cole Kublick
I don't think you get what we're doing.
Josh Pate
Sure I do. We're all just giving him advice.
Cole Kublick
You guys on sports, me on saving money. Nope, that's not it.
Josh Pate
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
This is Kate Max from Post Run High with Kate Max. Degree Advanced. The world's number one antiperspirant provides up to 72 hours of protection against sweat and odor that comes with life. Degree is the wake up workout. Antiperspirant. The dashing, darting, carpool, honking, get the kids off to school school. Antiperspirant. The work from home and do the laundry, grocery shop on your lunch hour, never take a break. Antiperspirant. So do what you need to do, work how you need to work. Sweat moves you forward. Degree is here to make sure it doesn't hold you back. Degree here for sweat.
This sport, man. I don't know how you explain it to newcomers, but we try. This is America's college football show. At least we try to be. We're jam packed high atop a very on edge downtown Nashville, Tennessee on this Thursday night, December 11th, the year of our Lord 2025. We got some football related serious stuff. We got some real world related serious stuff. We are T minus eight days and counting until the college football playoff kicks off. I've got talks of expansion that of course we will hammer unmercifully like the pinata that it is on tonight's show. Is everybody a contender in that thing, by the way? Certainly we don't think JMU or Tulane are going to win the national title. But outside of that, if the best of best of best case scenarios happened, could everyone win it? I see you shaking your head no. I picture you shaking your head no. I'll give you my take on that. Kubelet is going to join us in a little while. We had a jam packed show and look at that. There's a bracket right there in the bottom of my notes. They're watching us in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Racine, Illinois, Dayton, Ohio, Tulsa, Oklahoma. We are, for those of you who are new around here. Well, first off, we're appreciative that you're here. This is just college football all year long. Happy you stumbled upon the show. Make sure you subscribe to the channel. Recently we reached a milestone around here. We hit 500,000 subscribers. It's a tough word to say fast. So that means 1 million subscribers is our next benchmark. And I'm not saying we won't celebrate, we won't golf clap ourselves when we hit 600k, but we're a proper show. So a million, that's the club we want to be in. And now it's going to get pretty heavy, so let's dive in. Michigan fired Sharon Moore yesterday. Yesterday being Wednesday, for those of you who are watching this replay. Sometime down the road. And I did a reaction video on the channel. So if you're wondering that initial video, which did bonkers traffic is on the channel already. But I'm going to leave the show with it. Again. This was a really, really wild thing that happened Wednesday and I want to address something so myself and a lot of other people had heard versions of rumors of what ended up coming to fruition at Michigan. And a lot of people listened to me say that in the video that I posted on the channel. And they said, well, isn't that a little bit unethical by you? If you knew what was happening, why didn't you report it? Let me address that. Number one, because I didn't fully know what was happening. I heard some stuff. You hear a lot of stuff around here, guys. If you just ran your mouth about everything you heard, the show wouldn't exist because the courts would have sucked us dry already because we would be taken to them regularly. So I didn't know what was happening. I heard and had on pretty good authority that something had happened. But it's very obvious even within Michigan circles that in the last week, and I've confirmed all this since then, within the last week, certain additional events transpired that made it pretty obvious what had happened. And now Sharon Moore is out of a job and then you had the whole, the whole mess that happened last night. I don't want to make light of it. It's just not football related where Sharon Moore ends up in handcuffs and we've got like a real world incident unfolding paralleling a football incident unfolding. So I don't want to make light of that. But number two, I'm not a reporter, okay. I'm not an investigative journalist. So that's the other reason that I didn't really take a deep dive down that well, to be very clear. Like my stance on this show when I hear that a guy may be on the way to being fired is to wait for him to be fired. Because a lot of times you hear rumors and they are unsubstantiated and they don't come to fruition. And other times they do. But what would you have gained by running your mouth about them? And thirdly, if I need a third rail here, a lot of times information is given to you on the condition that you shut up about it. So those were the reasons why I didn't run with it when I originally had it. So this is really, really shocking. I said on the reaction video that I did last night, which was shot in my kitchen, by the way, I said the take on Sharon from people that I know around Michigan for a couple of years had been he was sort of viewed as a bridge head coach. It's disrespectful. It may be unfair, but I'm just telling you that's not my words. Those are the words of people around the Michigan program in that you're coming out of this Harbaugh era where there was an ongoing NCAA investigation and they needed a head coach and Sharon stepped in and he beat Ohio State a couple of times and he was there as long as the fog hadn't lifted. But then the fog lifted and the NCAA sanctions and the NCAA investigation rather came and went. And then you entered this season and you're pretty free and clear right this last season and you go 8 and 4. No, you go 9 and 3. If you went 8 and 4, it may be a little bit different. It is my theory and this is just me speculating. To be clear, I have not been told this. It is my speculation that had they gone 8 and 4 or worse, they may have just fired him for performance related reasons. He had a small buyout. It's not like they couldn't afford to. But they went nine and three. So there was not going to be any firing Sharon Moore for going nine and three. But yet people still looked at him and said, that's not our long term answer. I said in the video, I'll say it one more time. The way it was explained to me was, look, think about Sharon. If he was just on the open market right now, how desirable would he be? And I mean, I look, without being disrespectful, like I think we understand what they're saying there. So he was not viewed as the long term solution at Michigan. Then this whole scandal gets dropped in their lap and aside from performance related reasons, it gives them another out. But it's not like this. Did Michigan some great favorite because this is a mess for Michigan. And this is again, I want to reemphasize this. This is speaking about strictly the football side of this because there's a whole other side that is a little bit too heavy for this show and it doesn't directly relate to Michigan football moving forward, at least as far as I talk about it. So I say all that to arrive at this point. Where will Michigan football go from here? Pete Nacos sit on three, has put out his hot board. And it looks like most people's hot boards will probably look, you're going to hear the name Kaylin DeBoer. Brian Kelly is on that hot board. I would be very surprised personally if Lincoln Riley was attached to this job. Jesse Mentor is with the Chargers right now. Eli Drinkwood, Jed Fish, Clark Lee, Kenny Dillingham. I mean I would, I would take a swing at some of these guys. Tommy Reese there, I don't really ever think it got out. Penn State looked at Tommy in their search. Willie Fritz at Houston. So yeah, that's Pete's hot board right now. I think they're still getting their affairs in order. I don't really think a hire is imminent. Imminent. Now this stuff changes on a dime, but I don't think a hire is imminent. And the reason for that is I think Michigan kind of has to figure out what they're going to do internally first. And Michigan's got a situation where you got an interim president. Michigan's got a situation right now where, you know, Ward Manuel has been the AD there. And some people view him one way and other people view him the other way. But what's undeniable is there has been a lot of extracurricular, a lot of scandal, a lot of black eye under Ward Manuel's watch there. Is he going to be the guy moving forward? Is he the AD there? Is he the one that's making the decision? And I'm asking this because I think that's really what it comes down to. So I was on get up this morning, Schefter's on there, Michigan guy, Greeny's on there. We're tossing this stuff back and forth. And that was the talking point. Like those were the lanes that we were talking about. We were talking about. How do you react to what happened. And then we were talking about where are they going to go from here? And most of the time in college football, when a coach is fired, that's immediately what you pivot to. You'll have all spring and summer to talk about the guy who was fired. Where are they going to go from here? And I think in this specific case. And I'm going to have Bradley tee it up in just a second in this specific case. That is not the first question that I'm asking with Michigan. Here's the first question I'm asking. Adam Schefter put it very, very succinctly there when he said there are layers to this and it's very complicated and there are a lot of gray areas. For example, who's going to lead the search? Who's in charge? Do I have a permanent president on the horizon? He is Ward Manual, who, all due respect, award has been athletic director over an athletic department that has had several scandals over the past few years. Going to be the one running point now. And moving forward, I'm asking questions not for myself. I'm giving you the kind of feedback I got from agents and coaches over the past 24 hours who may or may not be involved in this kind of search. Because you are right, Greeny, that is one of the premier brands in college football. In a vacuum, it's one of the best jobs in college football. These guys want certainty and these guys want alignment. And you can't promise me you've got it right now in Michigan. So until those questions get answered behind the scenes, it's really hard to put a coaching hot board together. Kenny Dillingham, Caitlin DeBoer, anybody worth their salt is going to want those questions answered before they even start to go down the road to taking that job. So I will not shy away from speculating about who the next coach is going to be there when I think it's time to do that. I don't know that it's time to do that yet. I really think they're still moving around some things internally and they got to decide is warden making this call? Is a search committee going to make the call? Is it a combination of all of the above? And the other thing I wonder, which to an extent I could say about any coaching search, but especially this one, is how long is the list? And then where's the line on the list? And the line is the point you get to on the list where you look and say, well, if we've gotten this far down the list, we might as well, just go with an interim coach for the upcoming season and then really get our affairs in order internally. And then, you know, we'll just be ready to emerge in the summer and early fall into a full boots on the ground year long coaching search. That is not ideal. Obviously that's not what you want to do, but I think we all know the Michigan job. Hey, you'll get to a certain spot on your list where this guy will gladly take it. The question is, is that guy really cut out to be the head coach in Michigan? And if the answer is no, you went too far down your list and you just need to regroup and conduct your search in the fall of 2026. So that's where that is right now. Lot of twists and turns probably coming on that front, which just means if you are twisting and you are turning, you could be in a vehicle which could need some gasoline, which could mean no. Definitely means you need to head to Kwik Trip. They are the presenting partner of this show. They fueled a whole new Saturday tour. They fueled the Fall Don't Lie tour. They fueled the Once Upon a Saturday tour. They fueled all of our tours. The Fall Don't Lie tour just happens to be the one that we're on right now. We are going to head to two games next weekend. We announced it way ahead of time. We're going to head to Norman Friday night for Alabama at Oklahoma and then we're just going to right on down to College Station land in Billy Lucci's backyard in the middle of the night and we are going to be at Kyle field for Miami versus Texas A&M that Saturday morning, 11am kickoff time there. I think they're going to be electric environments. Those are two places that have never hosted a playoff game because they've only been able to for one year. So yeah, that's going to be intense. And cold brew on tap along the way. Proudly served by kwiktrip. We thank them so much.
IBM Advertiser
So let me get this straight. Your company has data here, there and everywhere, but your AI can't use the data because it's here, there and everywhere? Seems like something's missing. Every business has unique data. IBM helps your AI access your data wherever it lives to change how you do business. Let's create smarter business. IBM.
Coca-Cola Advertiser
What a matchup we got, y'.
Josh Pate
All.
Coca-Cola Advertiser
This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit Chance echo. I'm beating everybody Showing that school pride. A game like this, yeah, it calls for an ice cold coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there. Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere. And in ice cold Coca Cola, That's a winning combo. No matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.
Odoo Advertiser
Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder? With a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other, One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. Before you know it, you are drowning in software. Instead of growing your business, this is where Odoo comes in. Odoo is the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one, fully integrated platform that handles everything. CRM, accounting, inventory, e commerce, HR and more. No more app overload, no more juggling logins. Just one seamless system that makes work easier. And the best part, Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. It's built to grow with your business, whether you are just starting out or already scaling up. Plus, it's easy to use, customizable and designed to streamline every process so you can focus on what really matters running your business. Thousands of businesses have made the switch, so why not you try Odoo for free@odoo.com that's o d o o dot com.
Josh Pate
Making the holidays magical for everyone on your list. It's no small feat, but with TJ Maxx, your magic multiplies. With quality finds arriving daily through Christmas Eve, you'll save on luxe cashmere, the latest tech toys and more. So you can check off every name on your list and treat yourself to a holiday look, that'll turn heads. Now you know where to go to make all that holiday magic. It's TJ Maxx, of course. It's shaping up to be a very magical holiday.
We continue. We had a question from Buckley down in Talmo, Georgia, and he said, who are the contenders and pretenders for teams in the playoff? Now, I'm going to take this to mean who can win the national title. Buckley. Really? I always hated in March Madness how someone said, ooh, that team right there. That team could go on a run. What does that mean? Win one game, win two games. What is a run? Jesse, what would you say a run is? Winning two games in the NCAA tournament. That, to me is a run. Like, could Florida Gulf coast go on a run? Well, I guess they went on a run. So like if, let's say Ole Miss, if they win two games, is that a run? No. At least I'm not going to define it that way. So I'm looking at my handy dandy bracket here. I'm saying how many of these teams can win a national championship? And I've got to tell you, this is going to seem like a really, really cop out answer, but I think most of them can. To varying degrees of difficulty. Most of them can. Here is my thinking behind this. James Madison's not winning the national title. Tulane's not winning the national title. Eliminate them. There are 10 teams on this graphic right here. Oklahoma's got the worst odds of the 10 teams all the way up to Ohio State having the best odds at FanDuel of the 10 teams. But I think there is at least an outside, outside shot that every one of them could, if things break their way, win the national title because of two things. Number one, we've seen Ohio State bleed. That's the first part that was the big question. Is Ohio State really just going to continue to look invincible? If so, it's a moot point. Well, they did not continue to look invincible. So Ohio State's mortal. And then also we are in an era where the best teams are like a touchdown worse than the best teams used to be. It used to be that we got to the end of the year, remember in the 14 playoff era, and you struggle to find a fourth team that could really compete with whoever number one or number two was. That is not the case anymore. The best teams like Ohio State, let's call them the best team in the country right now. This Ohio State team against the best Alabama or Clemson or Ohio State teams from a decade ago or this Georgia team versus Georgia teams from even five years ago. Those teams from yesteryear are a touchdown plus favorite just because the talent has dispersed itself a little bit further around the country, which means that you have more vulnerability, relatively speaking, from the top teams. So like, if I'm looking up and down the list here, certainly I would still favor Ohio state just like FanDuel does. But look at Miami. Miami, could they technically win a national title? It would not be the biggest shock to me. They do have the toughest path because if you look at the bracket, Miami will have had to go to A and M and then they, I'm just going to say probably on all this they would definitely play Ohio State. And if they get through those two, then you've got Georgia and then you got like Oregon or Indiana, the trade off for Miami, if they can survive all that is they do get to play Oregon or Indiana or whoever comes out of that side of the bracket at home because the national title game is in Hard Rock Stadium. So Miami would at least have that in their backyard. Defensive line, big potential mismatch here. Carson Beck at his best. He's been in a ton of big games. Probably don't need to score 40 to win with that defense. So yeah, I could see it. I could see Oregon winning this thing. I think Oregon has the best path of all the playoff teams. I would love to be in Oregon's spot in the bracket. Let me put it that way. More so than any other spot in the bracket. Wide receiver health is key here. Remember also both of their coordinators took other jobs. Will Stein took the Kentucky job. Tasha Lapoi took the Cal job. Believe they're still coaching but you've got the split attention that you're having to deal with. And I go back to the health. Like I don't know how many guys they're getting back at what level they're getting them back. But just from a pure 50,000 foot talent roster perspective, Oregon is one of the best in the game and they experienced blowout heartbreak in the playoff last year. How much did they retool themselves to try and peak at the right time? Texas A and M tough opening round game against Miami. It's a tough path for them because they'll have to go the same route Miami would have to go. Cassius Howell is a big potential game wrecker in this playoff that several of the biggest game record types defensively in this playoff field play in that Miami A and M game. Wide receiver specifically the explosivity with like a Mario Craver. He didn't quite look like himself to me down the stretch. I think we all understand very few guys are playing near 100% down the stretch. So how much did the time off mean to him? How dynamic can Marcel Reed be? He has the potential to be that they have the potential. They have the most versatile like Swiss Army Knife ish talent profile of many of these teams if not all of these teams. Alabama, if you're going by what you saw as of late from them, they are a pretender. The reason that I'm not totally willing to just remove them is because I picked them to win the national title in the preseason and it's hard for me to let go. And then the second part is if they had a bunch of guys that were really, really banged up but really all they needed was two weeks. Then Alabama can still, you know, beat a lot of teams. I don't know that that's going to be the case. I'm saying I have no way of knowing if it's not. So if Parker Brailsford, for instance, at center is back to 90 plus percent, if they get Jam Miller back, if they're able to utilize the tailback out of the backfield in the passing game, if they're able to scratch out 100, 110 rushing yards, if Ryan Williams reemerges as a big threat, Josh Cuevas, if they get him back for the postseason, you know, going to be close games. They play solid defense. They've been really good in that category. So yeah, Alabama, if they go on the road and they beat Oklahoma, they're playing Indiana in the second round. You're going to have roster advantages over these teams or do you have execution advantages? Do you have matchup advantages? That's the big question. With them. Oklahoma is just all about defense. Oklahoma's got the worst odds, I just think, because you cannot be bought in on their ability to score. And you're going into a playoff setting where you're asking them to win 1, 2, 3, 4 games where unless something drastic has changed, you probably need to hold the other guy under 20. Now that's a challenge that Oklahoma's defense relishes. But still one game versus doing that four games, much different thing. Texas Tech is the one I'm kind of morbidly just curious about watching because the defensive line personnel is there, the takeover, the game breaking potential is there. I hadn't seen him in a bunch of close games and you know, you're not blowing up, you're not blowouting your way through the playoff. So what is their close game DNA when it comes time to prove that? I can't know that their top 25 offensively run and pass. So they're balanced enough, they're complimentary enough, plenty complementary enough defensively. It's just how do they, how do they play when they're not playing Big 12 competition, basically, because the Big 12 was them and everyone else this year and now they're playing everyone but the Big 12 in the playoff. Ole Miss, another wild card. But I technically wouldn't eliminate them. I would technically make him a contender. Staff dynamics or everything there. You may have the most draftable quarterback, Trinidad Chambliss, out of all the quarterbacks in this postseason. Certainly Mendoza is the Heisman favorite. Julian Saenz looked really good this year. But Marcel Reed, turnover prone. Ty Simpson tailed off significantly at the end of the year. Don't really think you'd look elsewhere. Beck's been up and down. Dante Moore has been up and down. Trinidad Chambly has been mainly up. Indiana, of course, is a contender. Really need to spend a whole lot of time on them. In fact, Indiana, Ohio State and Georgia, all three, I would say are contenders. With Georgia because I don't really need to talk about Indiana and Ohio State. With Georgia, they went in the playoff last year. Remember, Beck got hurt, so Gunner Stockton had to start and they got beat by Notre Dame and that's it. I wonder out of all the SEC teams, if they really do have the best shot to win it all, they'll have the best odds. Do they have the best shot to win at all? So we're still a week out. We can still ask these questions. We don't have to predict until I think we're going to start predicting on Sunday. Meridian, Mississippi has tuned in. Thank you. Charlotte, North Carolina, tuned in. Thank you. St. Paul, Minnesota, tuned in. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Speaking of our close dear friend, the College Football Playoff, pardon me for a second there, we had a question unfortunately from Bill. Bill in Carthage, Mississippi asked do you really think more playoff expansion is coming? I hope not, but it feels like there is enough big teams missing to make it feasible. What a pathetic question. The question that I appreciate, by the way, Bill, it is the premise of the question and the fact that it's accurate that's pathetic because that's really where we are in college football right now. If someone's upset, they just cry hard enough and they're going to get their way. Yes, Bill, that pretty much looks like what's happening. You had some teams left out. And instead of taking the Clark Lee approach to life at Vanderbilt, which is we don't blame anyone, this is our fault. We need to do better next year. You know, in other words, accountability. Instead of taking that approach, most people are taking the approach that if I didn't get something I wanted, it's cause the system's messed up and we just need to adjust the system to appease me. Now, these same people would tell you, you're acting like a child if you were to exhibit that sort of behavior outside of football, outside of athletics. But they don't exist in the real world. They exist in the world they created. So this was always my big fear. You know, back before they expanded the playoff, I was very outspoken. I didn't want playoff expansion and I explained my reasons why. And some of you agree, some of you didn't agree. But remember, one of the points I always hammered home was I don't support expansion because I don't think it'll ever stop. If you expand to 8 or especially if you expand to 12, they're going to look at it and they're going to make more money than they did before. And even if that first move doesn't negatively impact the regular season, they'll just keep expanding it until you kill what the regular season has been. Bigger playoff means more teams involved. That's part of the pitch. You know, that's when they sell an expanded playoff. That's what they say. Oh, if you have a bigger playoff, you can get more teams involved and more fan bases are interested. To an extent that's true. I do think there's a saturation point and you expand it any further, you'll probably see the saturation point. But even if I grant you that, here's the downside, here's the ever so slippery slope. The bigger the playoff bubble is. It is true, the more teams get in, it is true, the more teams have a shot. But the bigger the bubble gets, the more teams it touches. Which means mathematically, the more teams and more fan bases you will have angry at the end of the year. The only way you minimize the amount of angry fan bases is to contract the bubble. But we don't contract in this sport, we only expand. So as we expand more, more teams get in, more teams have a shot, more fan bases are engaged, but more fan bases will be angry. Just like is the case at Texas and is the case at Vanderbilt and Brigham Young. This year, Notre Dame this year. Last year it was South Carolina, Alabama, Ole Miss. This will be an age old concept tale as old as time. You're the first few teams left out, you're the ones that are most upset. And they yell a whole lot. And they have all the incentive in the world to yell for expansion. Not because they think it's for the greater good of the game, it would be for the greater good of themselves. Now, if we had a college football commissioner in, he could step in right now and say, suck it up, win one more game next year, do your job. It's not my job to expand to the point where even though you don't do your job well enough, you still get in. But we don't have that kind of presence because I haven't been elected yet. Anger is not a terrible thing. That's always been my working theory. Whether it was four teams or 12 teams. Anger at the end of the year is not evidence that the model is broken. Now having two G5 teams in the playoff, each 17 plus point underdogs, that may be a little evidence that the model is broken, but we can tweak that without having to expand the thing past 12. Anger is not evidence that 12 teams is not enough. Anger may be evidence that 12 teams is just right. Because the size of the playoff, when it's proper, is always going to have anger. If you've expanded the playoff to the point where no one's upset, you expanded the thing way too far. But that's not in the best interest of an athletic director or a conference commissioner. And Ross Dellinger did a really, really good deep dive on this over on yahoosports.com yesterday. It kind of got caught up in the whole Sharon Moore hurricane of news. But Ross was talking to college football commissioners at the league level. He was talking to ads, and they were pretty. This is going to shock everyone. They were pretty much in unison. Yep, we probably need to expand it again. And of course you got the Big Ten out there with their asinine 2014 playoff model. And no one is anything less than 16, apparently. It appears like I didn't see a single person saying, let's just keep it at 12. The best I could find, I think, was the Mac commissioner saying 12's okay. But that was right after he said 14 or 16. But here's the problem, Bradley, you got that quote from the Ross Dellinger piece. Now, this is not a quote from anyone. This is Ross Dellinger himself speaking. And here's what he said. A move to 16 teams is seen by some as the next step in the evolution of the playoff that perhaps one day will grow to more than 20 teams. A compromise of sorts for Big Ten leaders. Just the next step, guys. This has always been a process and it's always been a series. It's always been a set of ladder rungs. That was what we cautioned about when we first got a whiff of playoff expansion. And I was very, very, very against it. And I was told, no, you just don't want more teams participating. You don't want to share the wealth. And it was never any of that. It was that. I think the most precious commodity in this sport is the regular season. And every time you expand the playoff, it's done at the expense of the value of regular season games. And I freely admit the 12 team model has not killed the regular season. But as you can clearly see the plan was never to stop at 12. The plan was to take the next step in the quote unquote evolution to eventually get to a 20 plus team behemoth. Because that's the only way these people know how to generate revenue. Because they're not creative, they're not particularly inventive. And so they see this one thing that is a surefire moneymaker and that's the playoff. And they just make it as big as they want at the expense of. Well, they really don't care what at the expense of to all the issues that the sport faces right now. Calendar is a total mess. You can't even figure out whether or not you're going to collectively bargain with your players or whether you can get Congress to bail you out. All of the real problems facing this sport. We just had national signing day in the middle of conference championship week and we had a bunch of coaching searches happen because ads felt the need to get ahead of that calendar. Oh, by the way, the portal opens during the playoff. All that and the size of the playoff is what you're focused on. Yes, because that is the big pressing matter at hand right now. What a joke. We try not to be a joke over in the store. The pate state store. Patematerial.com Jesse has informed me though that Christmas is around the corner. I checked the calendar. He is right about that. We can confirm that. So you may be thinking to yourself that's still a couple of weeks away. That's true. If you are looking to order from the Pate State Store and get that stuff guaranteed by Christmas, you need to get a move on because we have a ton of traffic over there right now and shipping can be an issue. But I can take care of you if you get your orders in now. Paintstatematerial.com Great Christmas sweaters, great tees. You can get yourself a nice little coffee mug over there. Anything and everything you could imagine with maybe a few exceptions. And even those may be coming soon. Pacestatematerial.com.
IBM Advertiser
So you're telling me that the AI that's meant to make everyone's job easier to manage just adds more to manage on top of the thousands of apps the IT department already manages? Funny how that works. Any business can add AI. IBM helps you scale and manage AI to change how you do business. Let's create Smarto IBM.
Coca-Cola Advertiser
What a matchup we got y'.
Josh Pate
All.
Coca-Cola Advertiser
This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beat everybody Showing that school pride game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there. Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere. And in ice cold Coca Cola, that's a winning combo. No matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.
Odoo Advertiser
Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder? With a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other, one for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. Before you know it, you are drowning in software. Instead of growing your business, this is where Odoo comes in. Odoo is the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one, fully integrated platform that handles everything. CRM, accounting, inventory, e commerce, HR and more. No more app overload, no more juggling logins. Just one seamless system that makes work easier. And the best part, Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. It's built to grow with your business, whether you are just starting out or already scaling up. Plus, it's easy to use, customizable and designed to streamline every process so you can focus on what really matters running your business. Thousands of businesses have made the switch, so why not you try Odoo for free@odoo.com that's o d o o.com making.
Josh Pate
The holidays magical for everyone on your list. It's no small feat, but with TJ Maxx, your magic multiplies. With quality finds arriving daily through Christmas Eve, you'll save on luxe cashmere, the latest tech toys, and more. So you can check off every name on your list and treat yourself to a holiday look that'll turn heads. Now you know where to go to make all that holiday magic. It's TJ Maxx. Of course. It's shaping up to be a very magical holiday.
All right, let's move on. What has become a great tradition around here, apart from Christmas itself in December? Bradley, here's a good endpoint for you. One of the great December traditions on this show is to dive into our spring summer box of bold predictions that you guys submitted. Because our policy around here is if I've got to make predictions, you've got to make predictions. And if I get drug after the season, you get drug after the season. And that's only fair. So all of you have signed that social contract and boy, do I have some disasters on this piece of paper tonight. Bold prediction number one that crashed into the ocean. Courtesy of nick in Macomb, Michigan. Penn State has two 1,000 yard receivers in the regular season. Well, Penn State did not even have a 500 yard receiver this season. Trevor Pena led the team with 452 receiving yards. In fact, the entire team only had a little over 2100 receiving yards. Nick thought they'd have two 1000 yard receivers. And I know where your head was at, Nick. There was a lot of excitement. Went to the Portal, got a couple of big time receiver names. Also we got Drew Aller back and Andy Kodelnik. He's just been cooking all spring and all summer. And yeah, they forgot to turn the stove on. I don't know what to tell you, man. Only one game this year did Penn State have a 100 yard receiver and that was the Northwestern game, which they lost. So abject failure on your part, Nick, but I love you. This is what it feels like. Welcome to my life. This is every day in my shoes. Next up, Sam tried to get creative here and I do appreciate that. I respect that. That is where the respect ends. Because his prediction was this year there will be more than four schools with a tiger as their mascot that make the College Football Playoff. Which I guess means five schools with a tiger mascot make the playoff. I labeled this a 10 out of 10 on the boldness scale. We were looking at the likes of Auburn, Missouri, Memphis, Clemson, LSU. To spoil the ending for you here, zero tiger mascots made the playoffs. Memphis and Missouri went 8 and 4. Auburn went 5 and 7. Clemson and LSU went 7 and 5. There were more Green Waves and Dukes in the playoff than there were Tigers. There were more Red Raiders and Hoosiers in the playoff than there were Tigers. So that was a 10 and it was labeled a 10 for a reason. And then lastly, this one I never thought had a shot to get off the ground. This is why I labeled this 1 a 10 on the boldness scale as well. Danny from Dawsonville, Georgia, home of Bill Elliot. Fran Brown leads Syracuse to the playoffs this season. Well, I'll tell you what Fran Brown led Syracuse to. He led them to losing their final eight games of the year en route to a 3, 9 record. They did not score 20 in any of their final eight games. Now they lost to Tennessee to start the year, but then they won two straight and then they went into Clemson and one. And that was a great day for Syracuse football. It's also the day they lost Steve Angeli for the season to injury and then the season went off the rails after that. And look at those scores. 38.3, 31, 18, 30 to 13. They, like I said, they did not hit 20 points in any moment the rest of the way. So Syracuse making the playoffs. Syracuse made it halfway to a bowl game. That's what Syracuse ended up doing. Five schools with tiger mascots make the playoff zero. Penn State has a couple of a thousand yard receivers. Penn State did not even have a 500 yard receiver. These are busted bold predictions. Stand in the paint with me. I'm taking charge after charge. You guys need to stand here with me if I'm going to have a miserable December. I think it's only right that some of you join me and together we can share our misery. That's what the holiday season is all about. Afterwards that plus 30% profit boost on Playoff Future Bets Speak of the devil, here comes FanDuel. 30% profit boost on College Football Playoff Future Bets so if you were listening to me earlier and you thought to yourself, self, he's right, he's right. A and M could make a run in the playoff. You should go bet it right now. You get a 30% profit boost on it. You know Michael's that's a college football playoff futures bet. You think you know the exact matchup in the national championship. You ought to go bet that. That qualifies as a college Football playoff futures bet. So FanDuel, the exclusive odds provider of the show. Now there are a lot of normal bets that you can make over there. I'm just telling you because we have this fancy little icon, looks like a little Pokemon lightning bolt there. 30% profit boost on all of those college Football playoff futures bets and could come in handy at a time like this.
FanDuel Announcer
Must be 21 + and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. first online real money wager only. $5. First deposit required bonus issued as non withdrawable bonus bets which expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com gambling problem. Call 1-800-Gambler or visit fanduel.com rg call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Connecticut or visit nd gamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY in New York.
Josh Pate
Hey. Not coming to you live from Birmingham, Alabama, but somewhere in the Northeast. No context clues could give it away. There. Our close personal acquaintance, possibly sometimes a friend, Cole Kublick. Sir, what do you think you're doing? What gives you the right? Where are you? Why are you dressed like you're applying for a loan?
Cole Kublick
I might need one. There may be things in my future that are going to require extra funds and I might need assistance with that, but I'm not in Charlotte for the SEC schedule release show tonight. Myself, Roman Harper, Gene Cizik, Darinoka will let you know who is playing, who when on the schedule, where they're going to be playing, and how things are going to line up. So should be a good show tonight.
Josh Pate
Remind me, is this a year where there are going to be two bye weeks or just one bye week?
Cole Kublick
No, no. It's one of those things when you look at these schedules, Josh, it was one of the first things I noticed. I was kind of going through them and I was sitting there, you know, I was thinking to myself, like, all right, where is. Hold on. They got to go about me in a row. Like, that's. Oh, wow, that's really difficult. You're going to see some 6, 7, 8 straight SEC game runs that some Southeastern Conference teams are going to go on next year. Daunting tasks that some of these teams are going to. I'll say this, from what I've seen, the. The Missouri Ole Miss schedules that we've kind of pointed fingers at the last couple of years.
Josh Pate
Yeah.
Cole Kublick
Gone.
Josh Pate
Yeah. Seesaw.
Cole Kublick
I get any of those anymore.
Josh Pate
All right, let me start with the shro. More stuff. We already talked about it earlier in the show, but just I know you had to have hit this this morning. You know Sharon Moore a lot better than me. I don't really even know him all that much. So how did this story strike you when it first started to break yesterday?
Cole Kublick
Shocking. We've taken him to Joe Moore award two consecutive years here over the last few seasons. Had a chance to visit with him, talk to him about his style of coaching, got to know him as a person. We did speak a little bit more when he was just the offensive line coach and the head coach. Obviously, guys get busy. You don't talk to him as much, but developed a relationship with him over the years and never saw this coming. Never thought this was real. There had been some hints to this. Some individuals that I know may have alluded to this months ago, still didn't think it was real. And then when some of the rumors started flying around, thinking, no, that's just not, not going to take place. I think we're always shocked when people that are in these positions with these type of opportunities presented to them, Josh, that something like this is just not going to take place. But from what I knew and what I had gotten to know, and I think the man that a lot of the general college football public had seen the forward facing portion of Stromore, we didn't really think that this was possible either. And unfortunate ending to his tenure there as the Michigan head coach.
Josh Pate
Do you look at this job the way I do? Like I look at the Michigan job, I think it's one of the premier jobs in the country. In a vacuum, obviously this is not in a vacuum. This is with a lot of other circumstances thrown in, not to mention the calendar being where it is. Maybe some of the desirable candidates are in the playoffs, Maybe some of them are in the NFL in their own regular season. So yeah, the timing is not ideal. I also look at the alignment or lack thereof, maybe some uncertainty about the administrative state up there. But I just think about the totality of the job, Michigan, how it compares. You and I are from the south, so someone in Detroit or Albany, New York, listening to us like we have a little different slant on things than if we grew up in Big Ten country. I always thought of the Michigan job as like this beacon just shining on me from up north. Ohio State was that way as well. And like I always knew, even growing up in the south, man, that job, like all things equal, no scandal, no NCAA sanctions. I think I would leave Harris County, Georgia to go up there and coach it. So then it gets into the real world application of you got like Kaylin DeBoer's name that gets mentioned and you got people who are listening to you in Birmingham who of course would not consider that. Cause they may be from the south or they're Alabama fans. You got a little bit better worldview on this though. Like how do you view that job compared to some of the big jobs down in the sec?
Cole Kublick
I grew up the majority of my life in Birmingham, Alabama. Kind of like you referencing growing up in the South. We moved from Jackson, Mississippi when I was two years old. I was in love with SEC football at an early age, if you would have asked me. At 14, 15, 16 years old, all I wanted to do is play in the sec. My parents attended South Carolina. I had an aunt that played basketball at Clemson. I was much more familiar with that rivalry from a family Perspective. But there's no way I could not have known the importance of Michigan football. And whether it was Desmond Howard striking the pose or Tim Bianca Batuca or then going on in my college career, you know, playing against Steve Hutchinson and Jeff Backus and Anthony Thomas and those guys with Drew Henson playing quarterback, watching Tom Brady, what he did, defeating Alabama the year before in the Citrus Bowl. Like that brand is iconic and it is known in college football circles as being iconic. And one of the bigger brands that there is, that uniform, you could argue, most recognizable uniform in sports, possibly the historic players that have been through the Big House itself, the stadium alone, the atmosphere alone. This is one of those jobs, Josh, that we might look at the condition that it's in. We may look at some of the fallout or the shrapnel that's going to come with what just happened there. But make no mistake, and you've referenced this with other jobs, and I believe that you would reference this one the same way. There will be candidates that we don't hear about that are highly interested in taking this job. Now, whether that plays out will determine be determined on their current situation, maybe how their team's season ends, other opportunities that are presented to them, how Michigan approaches them, whether they want to talk to them or not. But there will be candidates that people would be wowed by that are interested in this job. And that could just be, hey, agent, see where they are financially. What's the nil situation looking like there? Let's, let's, let's take a little deeper look at this thing to see if we actually want to attack it or if it's just one that we're slightly interested in. At the end of the day, the drama that has been around it, the way that this thing ended and the way that people might look at it, and the slight tarnish that might be on it right now. Josh, it's the Michigan job, and that will hold clout and that will bring eyeballs in coaching circles no matter when, no matter where it is or no matter how it happened.
Josh Pate
All right, I got the playoff bracket in front of me. We can talk about the G5 stuff some other time. Like I'm going to. I'm going to assume you solidly lean Ole Miss and Oregon. So outside of those two games, you could either pick a matchup that is set. Miami A and M Bama, Oklahoma. I'm told you're going to be at both of those games, by the way. Is that true?
Cole Kublick
There's a good possibility. It depends on the transportation situation. And that's just something you can. It's never reliable, so you just. You don't know what to expect. You play it by ear. Possible, I'd say.
Josh Pate
Okay, fair enough. I wish you the best of luck, by the way. Completely out of my hands, but I wish you the best of luck. So take some of those games that are slated or maybe some games that you think could happen. Like, it's pretty good chance Ole Miss in Georgia is going to happen in round two. Pretty good, actually. I have no clue who you're going to pick in Miami and A and M, but either one of them is about to play Ohio State. Where does your finger, your little index finger, when you circle this bracket, where does it start to get drawn to?
Cole Kublick
There are some cool matchups we could talk about. Second round, third round, championship game. I can't get past Texas A and M and Miami, though. There's too much intrigue in that game for me. You have two offensive lines, maybe the best right tackle in college football and Francis Managa at Miami that's going to be able to go up against Cassius Howell and some of those edge defenders for Texas A and M. Mark Fletcher are back for that group that has been able to play ground and pound at times this season going up against a really good Texas A and M defensive line. It's not just the edge defenders. Albert Regis and company Inside can be just as destructive. A Texas A and M offensive line that has good football under their belt this year. It's been a little inconsistent. Part of that because they played a lot of bodies, they've rotated guys. Not a lot of teams do that this day and age, but. But they'll be going up against Ruben Bane and Macedorian company that can get after the quarterback and be disruptive against the run. And I think the most intriguing part of this game is not just the two quarterbacks and how we've seen great football from them. We've seen some mistake late in football from those two. I think it's that the Miami secondary, if we're just talking about speed and athleticism, may have the best chance possibly of anybody that A and M has played this year. Notre Dame's got some great corners and that would be one that I would put into that mix. But they might have the best chance to be able to run with some of these A and M receivers than anybody they've played this year. And that's not a group that shies away from trying to hit you. They're not afraid to trade paint. They'll come down in the box and play the run. I just think when you go back and forth and look at the different aspects of this matchup, the different directions it could go and it's going to come down to one, two guys that just have great games. Does Reuben Bane take this game over? Does Cassius Howell take this big this game over? Does the Texas A and M ground game that includes Marcel Reed and his legs take this game over? I just think just KC Concepcion take this game over. There are so many, I guess, takeover players that are going to see legitimate matchup issues in this game. I don't know where to point the way it's going to go. I don't know which unit to look at and say that is going to decide whether or not they win this football game or not because others could show up and be just as or more important. So I'd love to talk about some of the ones that we might get, but I can't get away from that one because I know we're getting it.
Josh Pate
Yeah. You know what I look at too is Oregon, I think is as good a position as any team in this thing, including the teams that have the first round by because if they really are healed up to the point where they can make a run here, I don't know. I watched these teams last year play first round games and it really was not detrimental to their overall chances of making a run. And, and I think about them playing JMU at home, I just think about that the same way. This is going to sound disrespectful. It is what it is. Like this is going to be such an athletic mismatch. I think about that the same way I would think about your final fall camp scrimmage before you get ready to go into the regular season. I think about the equivalent of that. It's different. It's playoff game, it's a foreign opponent, they're keeping score. But I think about what you could do to work out any kinks. Like you're healthy, you're reintroducing guys into your lineup. But the thing about Oregon and their side of the bracket versus maybe like a Texas A and M side of the bracket is Ohio State and Georgia and A and M and Miami. They're all in the same side. And what I'm talking about there, forget about matchup for a second. Zoom it way out. Just the talent rosters, just the athletic profiles that would concern you the most. All four of those are on one side and Oregon's over over there on the other side and the ones they're on the side of are Indiana, which is not out talenting you to death, they're just out executing you to death. Alabama and Oklahoma are both fairly to moderately flawed teams independent of the health situation with Alabama. And so like I, I think about the draw they got, I love the draw. Now the trade off there is if they are going to make it to the national championship game, after they play at home in Eugene, they will fly all the way to Miami, come home, fly to Atlanta, come home, then they'll fly back to Miami for the championship game. So I'm not saying frequent flyer miles won't be racked up, but you do get a little bit of extended period of time here. It's not every six days you're playing. I think the thing secretly sets up really well for Oregon, but that doesn't matter if they don't have that minimum baseline of health that everyone's been crossing their fingers up there and hoping they get come playoff time.
Cole Kublick
And I don't expect Dan Lanning to allow his team to do this, but there can't be a look ahead factor because I do think one thing JMU has been for years is one of, if not the most physical G5 team out there. So they will, they'll do their best to be able to match up with that aspect of Oregon's team, which they won't. They can't directly. And that's where you'll get some gap scheme runs, you'll get misdirection, you'll get quarterback boots, things of that nature. They'll try to offset it. You'll get movement on defense. But you said all those things about the bottom of the bracket. And I agree with all of them. And go back to our conversation a month or two ago and we talked about those things that teams have, Josh, that you can't do anything about the A and M pass rush, something nobody can really do anything about. The Ohio State receiver slash quarterback passing game. Like you're not covering those guys, not man to man. You may find ways to just keep them in front of you and neutralize the explosive plays. But then maybe you have the best football team that Oregon may have to run into. So you ask yourself, like McElroy and I are on different sides of this. On our show, he got into an argument with friend of ours that covers Notre Dame earlier this week and they were talking about Auburn and Navy and Greg saying, you can't tell me that you think Navy's a better team than Auburn. Look at the players that Auburn has. The guys are going to be in the NFL. I actually lean on the other side of that. I'll take the better football team than I will the better collection of talent. And I know what talent is capable of doing. I get it. And that's where it goes back to what we talked about. Position groups or players that seemingly you can't do anything about. I haven't seen a group play collectively as good a football more times this year than I have Indiana. And that, that because of that, that might be the team that I would least like to play in this tournament. There are aspects of Georgia's team that I wouldn't want to have to face. And I think that they're inching closer to where Indiana is collectively. I mean, that offense is running on all cylinders right now. And I say that not because they're putting up 500 yards a game. I'm saying it because they can be successful doing so many different things. Well, Indiana' doing that. They've been running the ball. They've been had a screen game. They've been throwing RPOs. They've been taking their shots down the field. They've had it and they've been, they've been accomplishing that with a physical offensive line, a physical group of bonus bigs. They can also add to be more beneficial. They are defense, sets, attacks. It can be disruptive up front. I think Ohio State has better players. I think Miami has better players. I think Alabama has a more talented roster. Oklahoma has a more talented roster. Oregon has a more talented roster. I think Ian Dan has a better football team. And I'll be interested to see how those parts of this tournament play out as we move on.
Josh Pate
As you watched Alabama Iron Bowl SEC championship game, you're missing key contributors. They were what they were on the field. You know what? You have like two weeks, I guess, between SEC championship and the time they will have gone to Oklahoma next Friday night to play against the Sooners. Two questions. Number one, what kind of team do you think they're going to put on the field physically and mentally? Number two, like if I were to tell you, hey, I saw the future, fast forward a month, they're in the national title game. What will have to have happened for that run to occur?
Cole Kublick
Parker Brailsford has to be healthy. Number one, a couple of guys, because he, you can tell. I mean, you watch him on film. His left ankle is 3 inches thicker than his right ankle. I mean, it's, it's in the way he's playing Right now, the way he's able to anchor, it's not his normal self. And you heard me say early in the season I thought he was their best football player for the first quarter of the season. So that's going to have to take place because he's that important. That unit is going to have to play clean football. Michael Carroll cannot continue to let edge rushers go inside when nobody else is home. You can't have pullers on counter, not climb to the linebacker and allow him to stand there by himself and make a tackle behind the line scrimmage that the offensive line's got to get healthy, it's got to clean itself up. I would say a couple of guys on defense have to be healthy. Like Justin Jefferson's critical to them making that run because he brings elite speed to a defense that against different personnel groupings allows them to stay the same. Makes life a lot easier on Kane Wommack. You're going to have to quit giving up freebies to teams, which they did a lot, versus Georgia, not being able to pass off twists, busting assignments on four defenders. Slant to the right, one slant to the left and a run hits right where he left that gap depleted for eight or nine yards. And I think the biggest thing that they have to have, Josh, if we're talking about Bama making a run in the national title game, you better have first half of the SEC championship game Ryan Williams, because let's be real, that makes them very different. Out of all the things that they've done, been not been complaints that they've had this season, guys that have played great, guys that have fallen off, guys that have been injured in and out of the lineup. If they have that Ryan Williams, because keep in mind, who has their utility player been this year? It's been Jeremy Bernard in the backfield, lined up as a Y, as a tight end, sometimes a move guy. He's throwing passes, he's doing. He's what they use for their gadget plays a lot of the times. Imagine letting Jeremy Bernard just be Jeremy Bernard and Ryan Williams can be sort of your move, utility player type guy, your Swiss army knife with that kind of explosive speed and the capability that he brings. But the consistency's got to be there because Ryan Grubb can't keep dialing those things up if he doesn't know he's going to get it. And if they're going to be wasting plays, you're going to have drops or you're going to not be on the same page as your quarterback. These games are too big to offer up those opportunities to come. Maybe misses multiple times in a game. So O line healthy. O line on same page defense, stay healthy, get healthy. And Ryan Williams from the first half of the SEC championship game is going to have to be there almost every series for the rest of the way through.
Josh Pate
I want to ask you something really quick in just a second about just the general complaints about a lot of aspects of the sport that people tend to traffic in you. And I may have even trafficked in them a couple of times, but sort of the overarching, for lack of a better term, narrative, because there are better terms. I want to hit you about that in a second. First off, a lot of playoff games out there. If you guys want to get to those, well, you have to have a ticket. Unless you're really, really stealthy. And we don't endorse that kind of behavior on the show. You need tickets. I know you do. And that's why SeatGeek came to us and said, hey, looks like most people who watch your show are big sports fans. And I said, yeah, guys, they tend to be. Absolutely. They said, well, do you mind telling them if they enter Pate 10 at checkout, they get 10% off their ticket order? And I said, sure. So I'm here to tell you if you buy your tickets at SeatGeek and enter Pate 10 P A T E 10 at checkout, you get 10% off your order. And hold on. I'm getting breaking news from Jesse. It doesn't even just have to be tickets to football games. I prefer it that way. But you could go get concert tickets. You could go watch the ballet. Kubelik loves a good ballet. The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Great, great group of individuals this time of year again, allegedly. So pay 10 at checkout. Seatgeek. All right, bring him back in. Last symphony you went to was fill in the blank. Go.
Cole Kublick
If you want to count Mannheim Steamroller live at the BJC a couple years ago. That's kind of a sympathy, I think.
Josh Pate
Yeah, that's the legacy.
Cole Kublick
I grew up on that. My dad's a huge fan. Took him to see that with my wife. They're awesome, by the way. So if you get a chance and see geeks offering up some Manhattan Steamroller, take advantage of that and go. Especially during the Christmas holidays.
Josh Pate
I do respect that you still call it the bjcc. Do you want to guess what I saw the last time I was in the bjcc, which is the Birmingham Jefferson Civic center, henceforth changed to Legacy Arena. For those of you unfamiliar, do you want to guess what I saw?
Cole Kublick
Well, it's not. You can't beat me because I saw God play at the bjcc. So anytime you can go watch God, even though he did lose to Arizona, still, you saw God play basketball in that building. I don't know how you're going to beat that, but sure, go for it. Give it a shot.
Josh Pate
Okay, let me try. Six Man Hell in a Cell match for the WWF championship, Armageddon 2000.
Cole Kublick
That's nice.
Josh Pate
Yeah. The six participants, you ask. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, the Rock, Undertaker Kurt Angle, Rikishi. Six hall of Famers, I think. Check me on.
Cole Kublick
And still not as good as the ECW show we saw across the street about.
Josh Pate
Well, well, yeah, and I didn't say it was. I did not say it was, but. So both of us have seen memorable events in that building. What was I gonna ask?
Cole Kublick
For those that are questioning, it's God. Sham God, he played BAS at Providence, folks. No, I'm not trying to say that I witnessed God play at basketball.
Josh Pate
Thank you. Thank you. It saves me a lot of responses in the comments later. So you do three hours of radio every morning. You take a lot of calls. You also do your own YouTube channel. You do games on Saturday. So you say a lot about college football. You observe a lot about college football. You and I, I would say, like 90% of the time, share opinions on the bigger picture issues, the big news, ticket items. So it could be the way the portal works, it could be the way nil works, it could be roster movement, it could be bowl opt outs, it could be any of a number of things that people tend to complain about. I've noticed more and more lately, like we. Earlier in the show tonight, we were talking about playoff expansion, which I think is stupid, but it looks like it will probably happen. So I tend to look at that and I say, man, that's something that's wrong with college football. Football. Everybody has their list of things that are wrong with college football. Now, what I have avoided doing, that some people take the added step of doing is talking about how all the sports dying. Oh, this is the beginning of the. Like, Utah took the private equity infusion the other day. Oh, that's the beginning of the end of college football. Look, for obvious selfish reasons, my business, my business model is pretty predicated on college football thriving. So I want college football to thrive. But even if I didn't, and I was just a volleyball fan who is observing college football from a distance you see the key indicators just like I do. The numbers are only going up now. I've talked at length in the past about how current ratings traffic interest is sometimes well downstream of decision making. So if there is horrifically bad decision making happening now, you may not see the collateral damage in ratings and interest for several years. But I don't know, like, you know me, I didn't want the playoff to expand, but the playoff expanded and so far, so good to me, I don't think it completely eroded the interest in the regular season. Now, lo and behold, the same people who expanded it once want to expand it again. We can't just stick at 12, which was one of my key concerns. But I don't know, when you look around and you hear the complaints, can you not look like I do and see the landscape? And there's some blemishes. Don't love everything I see. But holistically, we seem to still be doing okay, do we not?
Cole Kublick
We're doing more than okay. I mean, the TV ratings are better than they've been in decades. And obviously shows like yours, other people who cover college football on different platforms are having a ton of success. If the sport didn't have the popularity that it did, I don't think those individuals will be able to survive or even thrive at times like they do. The good news is some of the same complaints are still here. We had people calling in our show this week wanting to bench Ty Simpson. So the Alabama fans are always going to complain about the starting quarterback. That's not going to change. So that tradition will continue. We can keep that one going. Jim Nance can cut us a commercial like that when a tradition like no other. The biggest complaint that I would have, and a lot of this, Josh, is I don't think people know what to complain about right now because we haven't retrained our brains to where we really are. Like, we'll talk about that tonight on the Schedule Show. When you look at some of these SEC schedules, like guys 10 and 2 is miles ahead of where it used to be, 9 and 3 hundreds of yards ahead of where you used to think it was. There's no way not to think that when you see what these teams are going to be up against in the near future. So, yeah, who's the starter? Certain play calls, officiating. You know, we still have penalty vultures. Those things been around forever. They are at their peak right now. I think penalty vultures are kind of like the hog population in Texas right now. It's getting A little out of control. We might. We need to look at. Into some helicopter action.
Josh Pate
All right. All right. Yeah. See that? Those are real people. Those are real people. So we cannot go down there. It is illegal.
Cole Kublick
We're not saying that it is illegal.
Josh Pate
Even in Texas it's illegal. So you know it's bad.
Cole Kublick
Did not know that. Not familiar with the hunting laws in Texas, so forgive me for that one, YouTube people. But I'll say my biggest complaint is what you brought up earlier is the decision making and the lack of thought that seemingly goes into massive decisions within this sport and multiple massive decisions the last three to five years. So transfer portal. We thought it was going to be awesome. We were going to take kids that had graduated. We were going to allow them to go play somewhere else. Let the fun begin. These guys that were, oh, it was so unfair how they were being treated and just give him another chance. Johnny deserves one more shot at it. And then the floodgates open and teams can't keep rosters together. The red shirt rule, we're gonna let guys play in four games. That way if Billy twists his ankle in week three, we're not going to ding him and give him a full season for that. And then here we go, we get to week four and head coaches are telling us of our TV meetings. Well, you might not see that guy. That guy, that guy or that guy. Because they told me they don't want to play football anymore. What? Yeah, you heard me. They said they don't want to play football anymore because they're trying to save their reds. They volunteer to practice, though, and hang around the facility and eat our food and still get their scholarship check, but they don't want to go in a game. So some of these massive decisions, whether it's nil, I think, Josh, we could look at conference expansion right now.
Josh Pate
Yes.
Cole Kublick
With where certain leagues are that maybe didn't get what they wanted when it came to the College Football Playoff. Is it fair to look at it and say, was that the best thing for some of these leagues? I'm fair. Maybe, Maybe not. Playoff expansion that you mentioned, I don't think it's been bad at all. But certain people would say, let's go back to four, and that'll probably be better. The decision making by the committee and how they're putting teams in, I've told you this face to face. If that committee would sit down instead of trying to invent data points and statistics and come up with their own PFF metrics for why teams are good and you're playing team A against team B, and you'd sit there in front of a camera and say, you know why we put Alabama in front of Notre Dame? Because we believe they play better football. And if they played each other, we think they'd win. Next question. But they can't do that. And for whatever reason, they won't do that. So even the decision making on how people try to talk about things in college football can sometimes be exhausting.
Josh Pate
Cube show got past 20,000 subs. So on your way out the door, are you even needing subs on your channel anymore? I mean, 20k after that's pretty much gravy.
Cole Kublick
I'm told the push to 50,000 begins today.
Josh Pate
So much much as is the case around here with the push to a million. The push to 50,000.
Cole Kublick
You know what my YouTube channel is, Josh? It's the College Football Playoff. And we're. We're at 4.
Josh Pate
You're expanding.
Cole Kublick
He's expanding. Forget 10. We're going straight to 12.50k or bust it.
Josh Pate
You've had a lot of ideas. You had a lot of ideas, and I just want to tell you humbly, it's not the worst one you've ever had. Cole Kublick, we appreciate it, sir.
Cole Kublick
Thank you.
Josh Pate
Yep. And that'll do it for us here as well. We are headed into a weekend where we got army, navy, but we're not on the road this weekend because we will very much be on the road next weekend. We're going to Alabama, Oklahoma and Miami, Texas A and M. And it's going to be a long couple of days, but a fun couple of days because it's playoff season. Jim Nagy, the Oklahoma general manager, tweeted out a picture of a snowy stadium there in Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago. As soon as I got that extended forecast and it showed highs in the low 60s, I shot it right back at him. Delete your account, buddy. No snow for this guy. No, no, no. We have a nice mild evening in Norman, Oklahoma. Now, you guys may win by 30, but it's not gonna be because I'm trapped in a snow globe. Now, I've done that. I don't need that in my life. All right. For director Bradley, producer Jesse, I'm Josh Pate. Take care. Have a great weekend and we will see you back here Sunday night. Until then, God bless.
FanDuel Announcer
Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 + and present in D.C. first online real money wager only. $5. First deposit required. Bonus issued as non withdrawable bonus bets which expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com Gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler or visit fanduel.com rg call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org ChatInCut or visit MDG in Maryland, Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text Hopeny in New York.
Coca-Cola Advertiser
What a matchup we got y'.
FanDuel Announcer
All.
Coca-Cola Advertiser
This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo, drum beat. Everybody showing that school pride. Game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there.
Josh Pate
Mmm.
Coca-Cola Advertiser
Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere and in ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo. No matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.
Josh Pate
Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway.
Cole Kublick
Flu season is here and the in store pharmacy has you covered with a.
Josh Pate
Free flu shot with most insurance plans. And as a thank you, get up to $20 off your grocery purchase.
Cole Kublick
Plus it's cough and cold season.
Josh Pate
Stock up on all the season's essentials and get ready for relief with discounts on items like Halls, Menthol cough drops, Tylenol Cold and Flu and Mucinex Fast Max products. Offer ends December 30th. Restrictions apply and offers may vary by location.
Cole Kublick
Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.
FanDuel Announcer
Amazon Five Star Theater presents real Customer.
Josh Pate
Reviews performed by Ed Helms Tonight's review Tactical Jacket I was living a simple life.
Cole Kublick
Didn't get out much.
Josh Pate
Then I bought this jacket and everything changed. Women came flocking to me from lands domestic and foreign.
Cole Kublick
On the 245 day sailboat voyage home.
Josh Pate
I was attacked by a shark. I knew it was the jacket he.
Cole Kublick
Was after, giving up the jacket in exchange for my life.
Josh Pate
5 stars Amazon Customer 69 Shop the perfect gift this Holiday on Amazon this.
Is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Episode: Michigan Fires Sherrone Moore + Mega-CFP Thoughts & Cole Cubelic Joins
Air Date: December 12, 2025
Host: Josh Pate
Guest: Cole Cubelic
In this high-energy episode, Josh Pate gives his rapid analysis of the breaking news about Michigan firing head coach Sherrone Moore, explores the state of Michigan’s football program, and dives deep into the upcoming College Football Playoff (CFP) landscape—including thoughts on contenders, pretenders, and the controversial topic of further CFP expansion. He wraps up with co-host/guest Cole Cubelic, dissecting SEC schedules, Michigan’s job stature, top matchups, and the general health—and anxiety—of college football in 2025.
[01:51–16:39]
Breaking the News:
Why Josh Didn’t Break the Story Early:
Moore’s Position—Why Michigan Was Ready to Move On:
Michigan’s Messy Situation:
Coaching Hot Board Speculation is Premature:
[16:39–33:29]
Redefining “Going on a Run”:
Eliminating Longshots:
Breakdown by Team, Path, and Odds:
On “Run Quality”:
[33:29–36:15]
More, More, More—Is 12 Enough?
Expansion’s Cost: The Value of Regular Season:
Anger is Unavoidable—and in Some Ways, Necessary:
[36:15–41:11]
[41:55–69:00]
Long SEC Game Stretches:
Michigan Job—Still an Elite Draw?
Most Intriguing Playoff Matchup:
Oregon’s Favorable Setup:
Indiana’s Team Play:
Alabama’s Title Hopes—What Has to Happen:
[59:16–69:00]
General Complaints & Worries:
What’s Worth Complaining About?
Josh Pate’s tone remains direct, informed, and a bit wry—delivering news and big-picture perspective without hot takes or bombast. Cole Cubelic brings deep SEC knowledge but recognizes national context, quickly connecting practical on-field realities with big-picture program and sport direction. Both are insiders but relate as fans—detailing complexities, uncertainties, and ironies with a signature blend of inside info and relatable humor.
This episode is ideal for:
End of summary.