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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. This is Tab Ramos from Inside American Soccer and this summer topgolf is turning into the ultimate soccer destination. They've got a new soccer themed game you can play with your group, exclusive food and drink items. They've even installed full size soccer goals so you can try to hit golf balls right into the net and every match all summer long will be on throughout the venue. And if you want to keep the fun going all summer, you you can get the topgolf Summer Fun Pass which lets you play every single day and bring up to five guests every visit. Get yours now@TopGolf.com FunPass do you want to find a stress free way to buy your next car? Start at CarMax and shop your way. And if you want to browse with confidence, get pre qualified online with no impact on your credit score and shop cars within your budget. 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A SOFI personal loan could repackage your bad debt into one low fixed rate monthly payment. It's even got super speed since you could get the funds as soon as the same day you sign. Visit sofi.compower to learn more. That's s o f I.com p-o w e r loans originated by SOFI bank and a member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. Some breaking news to me. I don't know if anyone else cares, Jesse, but we're locking down some storm chasing plans this week which may very well see me grace another state with my presence for the first time. But anyway, that has nothing to do with college football, but the rest of this show does. We're jam packed high atop a very warm but dry downtown Nashville, Tennessee on the Sunday night June 7th, the year of our Lord 2026. Sounds like a pretty weighty show, but we cannot let the mistakes of Thursday recreate themselves. Where we had a 27 minute a block, we cannot do that. But we are going to have a dream playoff bracket on the show. I'm also going to tell the truth about Miami. Not today's Miami, but someone one of our younger viewers, one of our local youths, asked about a time before they were born and what Miami was like. Is the 30 for 30 stuff real? Is what people say about the 90s and 2000s Miami teams real? Oh, it's real, friend. It's real. We got bold predictions on the show tonight. I'm going to attempt to predict where we're going in the tour this fall. And the tour doesn't even have a name yet, but man, some of these weekends are borderline impossible to choose from. And yet we're going to attempt to do the impossible on tonight's show. Here's an impossible thing to do. Have a really, really happy, carefree college football show in June of 2026. We can do it. We will do it. They're watch in Roanoke, Virginia, Oxford, Mississippi, Cleveland, Ohio, and Jackson, Tennessee. Not exclusively though, but among several other places they are. Please make sure you are subscribed to the channel. It's free. Doesn't cost you anything. It just helps us. I would like tonight to begin our journey with something that has nothing to do with the Senate. It has nothing to do with angry commissioners. It has nothing to do with shadowy outside entities. No, no, no. What I would like to do is I would like to look at the 2026 schedule and I would like to try and forecast our tour this fall. And Bradley, that's not the end point that I want you to use when you cut the video. Here's the end point. We'll be somewhere every game this fall. We don't even know what the fall tour will be named yet. That's up to you. So my balls are in your court when it comes to that. But I can guess and I can look out over the horizon and we can start in week one and I can go all the way through week 13 and basically we just get to pick where we go. So as we start in week one and try and map out our tour this fall, I am majorly disappointed in the college football powers that be's lack of marquee matchups in Week one. But you know what? That's not within our control. What's in our control is I can look at some of these neutral site games. Three of the top five games in week one are pretty much neutral site games. So Louisville, Ole Miss is a Sunday. That's in Nashville. If we want to walk to the game, we could go to Green Bay. If we want to visit Lambeau for the first time and go to Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Baylor and Auburn. DJ Lagway season at Baylor trying to save Dave Aranda's job. Alex Golish, Game one on the job at Auburn, but that's in Atlanta. I would lean Clemson vs. LSU. In fact, it's really obvious where you should go. I think week one, the problem, if you want to call this a problem, is we also have a marquee LSU game in a couple of weeks. So we're trying to balance. Like all due respect to Lane Kiffin, I don't want to see him half a dozen times this year. But let's, let's lean Clemson, LSU in week one. Which brings us to week two and there are a clear, there's a clear top two in week two. Oklahoma's at Michigan, Ohio State is at Texas. Now I went to both of those games last year because they weren't on the same week. So Texas was at Ohio State Week 1 last year. And then remember OU went to or Michigan went to OU. We were at both of those games. I think we lean Ohio State, Texas here. That's going to be a prime time game. It's going to be awesome. Look, if, if this were a situation where you and I were bidding against each other, I would be happy to give you first pick and I just take whatever's left over because to me you can't go wrong here either way. Like the way I think about these early season games is even if Oklahoma or Michigan end up being four lost teams, they haven't lost four games here. So they're both really, really high hopes. Full on vibes teams this time of year, Arizona State, Texas A&M's this week. Dan Landing is going to be in Stillwater, Oklahoma on this Saturday. But I think we lean Ohio State at Texas Week 3. And remember, ladies and gentlemen, these are just liens. I am by no means confirming that we will be in these towns on these days. Some are saying week three has the game of the year. Some are saying LSU at Ole Miss is the game of the year. I am pretty sure the closest available hotel room is in Nashville for this game. So is it lsu, Ole Miss. Do we see LSU for the second time in three weeks? You could also if you wanted to see John Sumarall and Alex Goelish. Year 1 versus Year 1 head coaches. Florida's at Auburn on this day. I think a huge pair of sleeper games is right there at the bottom of the screen. Houston at Texas Tech is a massive game in the Big 12. SMU at Louisville I think is sneakily a massive game in the acc. And yet I don't know how you look anywhere other than Oxford. So I would lean LSU at Ole Miss, even acknowledging that we have now chosen two LSU games in the first three weeks of the season. Week four, major SEC week here. And ironically, I'm not even going to lean one of these. But there are no less than four huge marquee games in the sec. This is Oklahoma at Georgia. This is Texas A and M at lsu. This is Texas at Tennessee, Ole Miss at Florida. Jesse, I would say is the fourth most attractive game of this day, and that's a huge one as well. But if you'll recall a few weeks ago when I was talking about strategy in building out your own tour schedule, you got to have the circle games. You got to have the games that are non negotiables. And remember, one of mine was I wanted to make sure I am in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum when Oregon goes to usc. Because if this is a do or die year for Lincoln Riley, and I think it is, and if there are a lot of people out there still saying Dan Lanning hasn't won anything, which there are, then I want to be there early in the year when they face each other, and that is this Saturday. So with all those big SEC games, I still lean Oregon at USC in week four, Week five, could we double dip Big Ten here? I think so. So in week five, Miami's at Clemson. Now listen, the calculus changes here mightily. If Clemson upsets LSU in week one, it probably changes our week three strategy. But it also changes our week five strategy because if Miami is at Clemson and all of a sudden Clemson's top 15 and Dabo looks like with a quote unquote bunch of nobodies on his roster that they're about to make a run, well, all of a sudden this could be, I don't know, a de facto ACC championship game, maybe at least an ACC championship preview, all of a sudden it looks like they're going to play each other twice. Miami at Clemson would be amazing. But if Clemson has already lost a game there, if Miami is going to be favored by a touchdown there. And instead I could look up to Iowa City where somehow we still haven't been to a game and I could go see Ohio State at Iowa. I think we lean Ohio State at Iowa in this week. I've seen Iowa so many times, but I've seen them on the road. I have not seen them in a home game. All right, Week six, multiple heavy hitters here. Red River Shootout, known by no other name on this show, is this Saturday. But remember, it's no longer a noon kickoff. One of the things that has happened with that game is it's still at the Cotton bowl as the Lord intended, the real one, not the corporate Cotton bowl. But it is a 3:30 Eastern 2:30 local time kickoff now. And that matters because this is a Saturday, theoretically, where if we had the noon kickoff in Dallas, you could go Texas OU and then probably get to Tuscaloosa for a 7:30 eastern kickoff. Georgia at Alabama. But be that as it may, even with USC at Penn State, possibly a whiteout game. Jesse, is that the word people are saying up in State College, that it. In fact, everyone's saying it should be, but there are a lot of things that should be that are not in college football scheduling. So USC at Penn State is very attractive to me. Georgia at Alabama is always attractive to me. And we have been at the last several games they've played. And outside of that clunker in Atlanta, these regular season games have been must see. And so I'm going to lean Georgia at Alabama for week six, Week seven. I don't know how you could possibly sell me that there's ever been a bigger game in Bloomington, Indiana on a football field than Ohio State at Indiana. The year after Indiana just won the national title, the year after Indiana knocked Ohio State down in the Big Ten championship game. And so before I even tell you about the other matchups, and there are a few big ones here in week seven, Ohio State at Indiana is my lean. Now, if some things have gone sideways during the year, this game right here, Notre Dame at Brigham Young, as I've said like five times in the past month, it's not getting enough attention. But if Brigham Young sort of proves that they are once again a force to be reckoned with this year, and we'll know by week seven, this could be a situation where everyone's looking at this game and saying, boy, back in August, I thought Notre Dame had a one game season. I thought it was going to be that Miami game. And if they get over that one good. And if they don't get over that one, they'll still be in the playoffs, just a lower seed. That one right there is not an easy game and I have never been to a game in Provo, so I could see that. I could see if we don't go see Alabama earlier in the year, maybe the third Saturday in October at Neyland. We've been there the last two times that game's been in Neyland. Both times field stormings one time Gelby's equipment got trampled and we still have not tracked down the perpetrator. Also Florida's at Texas on this day. John Sumrall, maybe he surprised people. Maybe we find ourselves making a second surprise trip to Austin. But until otherwise stated, I've got to lean Ohio State at Indiana in week seven. Most of us have not been to a game at Indiana so that would knock that down. Week eight feels like an SEC week here, but it's not for me. Texas A&M's at Alabama here and this kind of gets into that territory where all these SEC teams have played each other a lot. And so it could just be a hodgepodge of multi loss teams or it could be that a few teams have like separated themselves. What if that's Texas A and M at Alabama? You know, what if that's Ole Miss at Texas? Yes, that's a possibility. Indiana's at Michigan on this Saturday. That's on the radar. I think that may be our shot to go to a Michigan game this year if we want to in Ann Arbor. But I want you to look at this game here. Houston at Utah. Houston has a shot to be really good this year. Utah has a shot to be really good this year. It would not surprise me if that right there ended up being game of the year in the Big 12. Would not surprise me. It's a little later in the season and we kind of know what Texas Tech's going to be by that point. So we kind of feel out whether it's going to be a one bid league again and it's just a shoe in that it's Texas Tech or have they been brought back to earth? Maybe Sorsby is not eligible. Maybe they're good but not great compared to last year. Maybe the Big 12 is wide open and that right there is deciding the other half of the Big 12 championship game. Could see that I am going to slightly lean Houston at Utah. I've only been to one game at Utah. Kickoff temperature was 95 degrees. Dry heat but 95 degrees for Florida in week one a few years ago. I would like to make my way out there once the weather has turned a little bit. So week eight, we're going to lean Salt Lake City right now. Week nine, another big spot for usc. See if Lincoln does it this year. It's not going to be because he tiptoed his way through an inferior schedule. Even without Notre Dame. USC's got it to do this year. Ohio State goes into the Coliseum in week nine. This is the same day as Clemson at Florida State, which once upon a time was one of the marquee games in college football. Not so much this year probably, but the sneaky game here to me is again, we all eyes on John Sumrall. That's a team that I don't think a ton is going to be expected of. But because the talent roster is a little bit deeper than maybe your normal 6 or 7 win projected team is, we got to keep an eye on them. The world's largest outdoor cocktail party known by no other name on this show I've avoided since it gave me food poisoning. But that doesn't mean that we couldn't slightly lean the game in Jacksonville for four or five months out and then change our mind. I would lean Ohio State at USC here, but when we get this deep in the season, it's tough. But I would lean Ohio State at USC next week. Week 10, this is the biggest week of the year, I think. I don't know how it ends up not being the biggest week of the year. Let me just rattle them all for you. We don't even have room on the graphic for all the big time games. Bama is at lsu. Georgia is at Ole Miss. Brigham Young is at Utah. It's the holy war because they don't want us saying it on air. Miami is at Notre Dame. Oregon is at Ohio State. Now you may be thinking I just listed the biggest games of the year. No, all of these games are happening on the same Saturday in week 10. Eileen. Miami at Notre Dame. We know Miami at Notre Dame is going to be a primetime kickoff. I don't know who is the noon kickoff, but I think I'm pointing to it right now. So I think Joel Klatt's gonna have syrup on his hands up there in the booth. And they're calling this Oregon Ohio State kickoff right there at noon Eastern. And if that's the case, stats and info ran the numbers, it is possible to be in Columbus and South Bend on the same day, especially if you have that that padding in between the two games. But since our rule is we can only pick one game here, I'm going to hard lean Miami at Notre Dame. That's one of our circle games for the whole year. We can't not lean Miami at Notre Dame. Week 11 hmm. Is this our shot to go to Eugene? Michigan is at Oregon on this day. USC is at Indiana. Now that's a conditionally huge game. The conditions are Indiana's got to be right back in the similar seat they were in last year. USC has got to come through. That could be a huge game. That's Lincoln Riley in cold weather. That's Jaden Miyabi in cold weather. Potentially Michigan and Oregon, as I already said. And then three games in the sec. Texas is at lsu. Just the way the conference schedule looks in the sec. They're just randomly those kinds of games with these huge brand teams every single week down there. Ole Miss is at Oklahoma. Tennessee's at A and M on this Saturday. Any of those games could be anywhere from afterthought to marquee depending on how those league standings look. But since I can't figure that out and we've already seen those teams like we already we got a wild card. I think with the SEC situation, I haven't been to Oregon yet this year. At this point, I am leaning Michigan at Oregon. Michigan could screw that up. Oregon could screw it up. I don't think they will. I think Oregon's going to be in the hunt. I got to see if Michigan is Michigan at Oregon is my lean for week 11. Week 12. Interesting situation here. I'm going to make A and M at Oklahoma my lean. The week before I was going to go Ole Miss at Oklahoma as my lean. But then I realized, oh, I could go to OU the next week. Let me go to Oregon the previous week strategy. But on this week, even though you don't see it on this graphic, there is a very, very intriguing Friday night opportunity and it is Virginia Tech at Miami. Now, I will grant you, Virginia Tech could be out of it by now. Or James Franklin could be one of the big surprises in college football this year. And whomst amongst us hasn't ever taken in a marquee Friday night game in Hard Rock Stadium? Whomst amongst us hasn't? Jesse, Wasn't Virginia Tech at Miami a Friday night game a couple of years ago where there was the inexplicable. Yeah, okay, so this matchup has delivered in this time slot in recent history. SMU@ Notre Dame is a sleeper candidate on this Saturday. LSU at Tennessee is a sleeper candidate on this Saturday. So I'm going to lean A and M at Oklahoma. I'm going to reserve that Friday spot for Virginia Tech at Miami. And then we get to rivalry week. And my default here is Michigan at Ohio State until someone talks me off of it. And by talks me off of it, I mean if that thing's a three touchdown spread, okay, I'm talked off of it. I could find myself at the Egg Bowl. I could find myself in College Station. That's a Friday game day after Thanksgiving. Washington's at Oregon that day. You got the Iron bowl that day. But until further notice, Michigan at Ohio State is my lean there. Now, lean is the key word. I guess we could look back come December, Jesse, and figure out how accurate we were. We have been terrible at this in the past. Everybody when we used to work at cbs, remember, they would all hit us up and they would say, hey, sales wants to know if you figured out where you're going this year. And I would say yes. In week one, I pretty much know where I'm going after that. I have no idea. Now we own the company, so certainly we can call our shot. But I have no idea. I don't even think we've ever hit over 50%. Maybe we've hit 55% on guessing where we're going to go because that's the beauty of how unpredictable this sport is. Let's move on. You know, the last few shows, with one exception, there's been some pretty serious commentary. We've had to talk a lot about stuff that no one wants to talk about. Who in the world wants to talk about a Senate bill except that we'll do it way later in the show? But no one wants to talk about this stuff. No one wants to talk about sad things. We want to talk about happy things. And in an ideal world, we just turn the mic on. Bradley fires the cameras up. Prez hits the lights. Mitch does whatever Mitch does in there. And we just daydream together for a little while. So let us daydream for a little while. Bradley, here's a good endpoint for you. We know the playoff is 12 teams this year. We know 12 teams will be in the playoff this year. We know what the schedule is, but that's about all we know. And everyone's going to make their predictions. And eventually I'll make my predictions as well. But it is June, and by law, I don't have to predict the playoff in June, but we were sitting around today, feet up on the table, since no one else is in the office. And the idea entered the room of fantasy booking the playoffs. And what that looks like is essentially throwing caution to the wind, keeping like some air of believability in the room, but just walking up on the grease board, which we had never used until today, putting the bracket on the grease board and filling that thing out, what would be the most fun, what would be the most incredible, what would be the most eyeball attention grabbing playoff that we could have? And so the only rule here is it has to be somewhat conceivable and it has to have juice. And that's it, that's all. And so we got to work and there was a lot of erasure and there was a lot of moving around. And this is not a prediction, but this is more fantasy booking. This is like imagining what Stone Cold versus Hulk Hogan would look like in 1998. But we couldn't see it at that point. Turns out we never saw it, but we could see this, at least on paper. Let's take a look at round one. Here's where our sick minds went for the 2026 College Football Playoff fantasy booking portion of the show. I would love to have the following. I would love to have Indiana go to Oregon in round one. That's a nine seed versus an eight seed. So that's the scene of the crime last year. That's Kurt Signetti going up to Dan Lanning's house and doing whatever he wanted to. Tough to watch for those of us who had predicted Oregon to win emphatically. And so I get that rematch in round one. We got to have a G5 team in this thing. I thought, what better G5 team to have in the playoff than Billy Napier's? Florida? No, not Florida. Billy Napier's James Madison. That's where he is now. Some of you are still unaware of this, but Billy Napier is the head coach at jmu. And I put JMU in a round one sacrifice in South Bend, Indiana. But they're in. Billy Napier's in the playoff here. How about the 107 matchup? Those of you who are watching already know what it is and you stop drooling all over your keyboard. But for those of you listening on podcast, I want you to close your eyes, unless you're driving. And I want you to imagine Lincoln, Riley and the University of Southern California fighting Trojans in the playoff. That's part one. And then I want you to imagine they're the 10 seed, which means they're going to be on the road in round one. And then I want you to imagine the bracket coming out and the team that plays host to Lincoln Riley in round one is none other than the University of Oklahoma. I need say no more about what that would mean. I think that there was an outside shot that we maybe could have gotten this last year. I was trying to kind of map it out and it looked for a second like it could happen. It is happening here. So USC at Oklahoma in round one and then at the bottom, this was one of the easiest ones because it's the freshest in everyone's mind. How do I get Texas Tech and Texas locked up in round one? And look, in an ideal world, which I guess we have here, we would have sent Texas to Lubbock, but with the way that we thought the season may play out, it made more sense for Texas Tech to be the 11 seed and Texas to be the sixth seed, which is fine because Joey said he'd play him anywhere. Jesse, and he just said he wants to see him in the playoff. So we're going to have Texas Tech at Texas in round one. This is very interesting because this is multiple marquee games in round one. And remember, like last year, remember how the rotation happened where it was Alabama, Oklahoma as the standalone Friday night game, the primetime game, and then the next day there was a noon game, like a mid afternoon game and a late game. But the mid afternoon and late games were very much afterthoughts because we had two G5 teams in the playoff. So it was two lane, Ole Miss. Who else was it last year? It was. Who? Who was the other one? I'm blanking on it. Jmu. It was jmu. Oregon. Yeah, and those games were. They didn't have the spotlight on them that other games did. And it was also head to head with NFL games too. You can't do that here. There are three marquee games here out of four huge, like, must see marquee games. Okay, then we move to the next round. Now remember, this is not a prediction. This is us fantasy booking this playoff. Give me Oregon beating Kurt Signetti and Indiana Dan Lanning. I guess until he wins a title, the group that says he's done nothing will still say he's done nothing. But that's a really big win. All right, so they atone for their loss last year in the regular season. So Oregon moves on, Notre Dame beats jmu. Texas does beat Texas Tech. USC going into Norman and beating Oklahoma would be so toxic. So toxic. If USC makes it back to the airport and makes it home, they advance to the next round and Here are my matchups that I have waiting on them advancing. Give me Oregon against our number one overall seed. And that is Miami. And that is Dan Lanning against Mario Cristobal. If you know, you know, huge matchup no matter what. But that's Mario against his old team. I think Mario still, I think he at least pays a passing bit of attention to what Oregon's doing. Who's amongst us wouldn't. I got Ohio State awaiting Notre Dame in round two. So that's a rematch of the national title game from two years ago. This is a swerve. This is what you can do when you fantasy book LSU won the SEC in this scenario. Like Lane Kiffin went to LSU and won the sec and what does he get? He gets a first round bye and then he gets to play usc. USC versus LSU in the quarterfinal round of the College Football Playoff. You want to talk about feeding families, Jesse? We're feeding like entire small countries with these matchups. And then we have LSU and Alabama. Having played in the SEC championship game, it looks to me like LSU beat Alabama, but Alabama plays Texas in the second round. So Sark just beat Joey. Now he's got to go up against Kalyn DeBoer. And that matchup's interesting because DeBoer beats Sark in the playoff A few years ago. That's when Washington punched their ticket to the national championship game. These. These rounds right here, obviously everything's a huge matchup from here on out. What is the worst game in this round? Is Alabama, Texas, like usc, lsu? What's the worst game in this round? These are massive ratings draws. These are all eyeballs. These are casuals tuned in. These are relatives of casuals who don't even watch college football tuned in. I got a national title game rematch from a couple of years ago. I got Lincoln Riley trying to make a run in the playoffs after a few people thought his job was going to be on the line. I got Lanning versus Mario and I got Sark trying to make a run. And it's basically national title or bust for Texas, remember? So just cause they've made it to the second round or just because they've made the playoff doesn't mean anything. Who wins these games? I think I want Oregon over Miami. I want Notre Dame to beat Ohio State. Give me Texas over Alabama and give me usc. In one of the more unprobable stories of the modern era, I don't think that's hyperbolic. Lincoln Riley is now headed to the semifinals of the playoff for a rematch of the 2005 national title game, aka the 2006 Rose Bowl. And that is USC versus Texas in one semifinal. And that is Oregon versus Notre Dame in the other semifinals. So pause and think about this for a second. I have got four coaches here that to varying degrees people say cannot win a national title. I think the noise is the quietest about Marcus Freeman out of these four coaches. But there are people who swear to you. Lanning's all hype, he can't win a national title. Of course they say it about Lincoln. They absolutely say it about Sark. And look, Notre Dame made it to the game a couple of years ago, but they got housed pretty thoroughly. And so you've got, no matter who wins it at this point, you've got a first time national champ head coach. It doesn't matter who wins it at this point because you've got a huge Marquis brand and you've got one SEC team, two Big Ten teams and Notre Dame still in the mix here. I want Oregon over Notre Dame and I want Texas over usc. And that national championship game, I couldn't care less who wins it at this point because I have, no matter what, a guy winning a national title that my inbox has reliably informed me cannot win a national title. Either it's either going to be Sark or it's going to be Lanning. Texas and Oregon recruit against each other constantly. They're always the finalists or among the finalists for premier talent, it's Dante Moore. It's Arch Manning. Unless that bold prediction was right the other day and Sark has benched Arch Manning, which I gave a 9.75. But I put who did I. I think I had Texas winning it. It doesn't matter. In this scenario, the SEC ends that drought. If Oregon wins it, it's a fourth Big Ten team, a fourth unique Big Ten team in four years. But either way, that playoff right there, if I call up the folks at ESPN right now and showed them that they would start exploring how to make it happen, that is. I'm not saying it's every fan's dream, because obviously if your team's not represented, it's not your dream. But if you remove your own fan interest for a second and just think about the product that that would be, that would be amazing. And then we could spend every halftime show talking about how we need to expand it. Fun for everyone. We have expanded the paid state store. But that's fine because it does not, I think, saturate the overall quality of individual shirts. When we expand the store. But pacestatematerial.com you know, for those of you who are asking, well, where do you get those shirts? It's right there. There's the website. I block it with my shoulder. PaintStatematerial.com Summer is not coming, ladies and gentlemen. It's basically here. Football is coming, as indicated by this hat and this shirt. And you can buy that on the website right now. This is Tab Ramos from inside American Soccer. And this summer, topgolf is turning into the ultimate soccer destination. They're not just throwing games on in the background, they're topgolf is going all in on soccer. They've got a new soccer themed game you can play with your group. Special in venue activations, exclusive food and drink items inspired by the global game. And at more than 60 locations, they've even installed full size soccer goals so you can try to hit golf balls right into the net. And every match all summer long will be on throughout the venue. So it's a great place to watch with friends, hang out, compete a little bit and enjoy the atmosphere. And if you want to keep the fun going all summer, you can get the topgolf Summer Fun pass, which lets you play every single day and bring up to five guests every visit. Get yours now@TopGolf.com FunPass Summer hits different at TopGolf. Hey everyone, it's Olivia Culpo and I can't wait to tell you all about Abercrombie's new summer collection. All their new dresses and colorful swim feel perfect for a Euro summer. And Abercrombie has a new 100% linen collection. It's the perfect mix of looking put together and elevated with the lightness and comfort of linen. Shop Abercrombie this summer in the app, online and in stores. Let's move on. Better pace, Jesse, because it's 7:30. Better pace here. I don't know what the over under was in there. I don't need to know. But I feel good about the pace right now. So we had a very important question. Earl from Redding, California sent this to us. He says, does it bother you that the Rose bowl might be a night game this year? Here's the context. The Rose bowl is a quarterfinal rotational game this year. That's how it falls into the playoff rotation. So here's what it's going to look like. I'm not even going to bother telling you how mad this makes me. I'm just going to give you the schedule. So the quarterfinal round happens New Year's weekend basically, or New Year's week, there's going to be the Fiesta bowl, which is locked into that Wednesday, December 30, 7:30 eastern window. Okay, so that's not the Rose Bowl. The Rose bowl is going to be two days later, by the way, in case you're keeping track at home. Yes. In the quarterfinals of the playoff. There's one game, then no games the next day, then three games the day after that. Because we can't play a game on the same day that the NFL does. I don't know who, you know, etched that in stone, but we can't do it. So again, I'm not going to editorialize on that front. You already know how I feel about that. But that Friday, here's where the Rose bowl comes into play. There is a noon Eastern kickoff that will not be the Rose Bowl. The Rose bowl will either be a 4pm or an 8pm Eastern kickoff because those are the games that ESPN has now. The Rose bowl means something to me. I need to put this pen down. I'm holding it like a weapon. The Rose bowl means something to me. As a local youth in rural Georgia growing up, I saw the Rose bowl, but the Rose bowl did not mean to me what it came to mean to me. Because it was Sugar bowl country. Like in the sec. The Sugar bowl was the big game. But yeah, of course I'm watching the Rose bowl on New Year's Day. But as I was growing up, I remember when the BCS was launched and then we had the four team playoff and more recently, you know, playoff expansion. I was young, Jesse. I was ignorant. I was unwise. Far different from me now, obviously, but I fell for the propaganda. The anti Rose bowl crowd closely aligned with the current playoff expansionist crowd. And here's what they used to tell me about the Rose Bowl. They used to say, the Rose bowl is standing in the way of progress. The Rose bowl is the only thing holding college football up from implementing a better way, a better world for us all if only the Rose bowl would get out of the way. And I fell for it. I used to think, shame on all those crotchety old people at the Rose bowl standing in the way, clinging to their tradition. Shame on them. And man, did I flip on the Rose Bowl. I'm arm in arm with the Rose bowl now. I could not respect the Rose Bowl's worldview or the Rose bowl stance anymore. So the Rose bowl means something to me. Firstly, let me tell you, as it relates to this year, I'm not all that freaked out about it. I'm A huge Rose bowl sunset guy. Huge Rose bowl sunset guy. I will have my sunset this year. Okay? I'm either going to have it if it kicks off at what, 4:00 Eastern, I'm going to have it in the second half like I would normally have it. Because if it's a 4 o' clock eastern kickoff, it's very, very close to the time the Rose bowl would normally kick off every New Year's Day anyway. But if it's an 8pm Eastern kickoff, that means a 5pm Pacific kickoff. Carry the three, add two. Yeah, it's 5pm Pacific kickoff. I'm still getting my sunset. Mitch. It's just an early. It's like a kickoff sunset sort of thing. So I'll get my sunset. I'm not that upset about that. As long as it's not the noon Eastern kickoff where we have a Rose bowl sunrise. I wasn't emotionally ready for that, and it appears that that's not in the cards. So I'll get my sunset. I'm fine with that. The Rose bowl is Bret Hart to me. Bret Hart, when I was very, very young, was one of the top guys in wwf. In the years slash decades since, Bret Hart developed a little bit of a reputation in the wrestling commentary and podcast community as a guy who took wrestling too serious. It's a work, bro. It's a work. After all, the outcomes are predetermined. Stop taking stuff so seriously, man. It's not a real sport, Brett. This is performance. We're just putting on a show. And Bret Hart had this reputation of a guy who had way, way too much pride in the performance aspect of pro wrestling, and he respected the traditions way, way too much. And then the entire industry exposed itself and the entire industry couldn't get out of its own way quick enough to tell you that it was fake and to tell you that it's a work. And all of a sudden, people who used to make fun of Bret Harte started looking at Bret Harte, saying, wait a second. The very things I used to make fun of about Bret Harte are now the things that are in such precious short supply in the rest of this ecosystem that Bret Harte has become like the North Star. I wish we had more of Bret Harte. And that is the Rose bowl to me, the Rose Bowl. I used to look at it and I used to say to what is with these people talking about their sunset, talking about their New Year's Day guaranteed spot, and they can't even maneuver. They can't be a little bit Flexible. And the Rose bowl was like, no, no and no. Here's what we are, here's what we believe in. Here's where we're willing to bend. In no area are we willing to bend a lot. There are values and traditions that we have that have been this way for 100 million years. Dinosaurs basically used to fight in this stadium. And it's been that way since the beginning of time. And it's going to continue to be that way. And if you don't like it, tough, man. We need a whole lot more of that in college football. College football kind of used to sort of be that way. It was never totally that way. But the Rose bowl is a microcosm for what college football lacks. The Rose bowl defining what it is, defining its non negotiables and not bending it for anyone, including people with the playoff logo on their lapels. That is a beautiful thing. Just like Bret Hart clinging to the things he believed in even as they completely evaporate everywhere else in pro wrestling. That's a beautiful thing. So it means something to me, Jesse, the Rosemary. It's still real to me. Yeah, it's still real to me. And I will get my sunset this year. They're watching us in Prague. Do you realize that that is allegedly in the Czech Republic? They're watching us in Woodlands. That's in Texas. And they're watching us in Racine, Illinois. Go, go. What was the Racine team in a league of their own? Rockford was the Peaches. I don't remember Racine. Kit got traded to him, but I don't remember the name of the team. Anyway, we move on. Another good question. The inbox was full flooded with quality this week. Jake in beautiful Weston, Florida. His words and mine. He said, I'm a 24 year old canes fan and I want to know from your perspective how you personally felt about Miami in the early 2000s. Was the hate really that crazy? I despised Miami. I at a cellular level. I thought Miami was everything that is wrong with at the time, modern sports. I was raised to believe this, Jesse. I was raised to believe this. I was raised to believe that college football and sports were supposed to look a certain way, pretty much the way I look in the mirror. And I was taught that college football was supposed to be presented a certain way, it was supposed to be played a certain way. And then Miami started playing in a way that was totally antithetical to all that and it wasn't right. I'll go a step further. It was wrong. Miami played the wrong Way I was not alone a vast swath of the country felt this way. Now, Miami today is not universally adored, but the relative hatred that is felt about Miami today pales with all caps P A L E S pales in comparison to what people felt in the 90s and early 2000s. So you're 24 years old, so that has you born right around the time Larry Cokers went in their national championship, their last national championship, as it turns out. And that's, you know, sort of the tail end of that run. And they weren't done like, they still had some good years. But, man, I am a kid growing up in the deep South. Miami is not the south, but Miami is further south than the South. Miami is not the South. Miami is its own portion of the country. And the way they played was different unto any other place in the country. And it had, like, worldview implications. And that is what I remember as a kid. I remember the way that I was taught college football is supposed to look and the way I was taught it was supposed to be played. And here was the fact of the matter. The fact of the matter is, when Miami started doing what they were doing, not only were they doing it in a way that really, really flew up people's backsides sideways, as Meemaw would say. They were winning while they were doing. Wasn't that they were playing that way, but still losing. They were dominating folks doing that. And once you see that, there's this slippery slip, there's this snowball effect that. Oh, man, like everything we believed was wrong. Wait a second. I'm told that that's not supposed to work. If you play like that, you're going to suffer the consequences of losing. Well, they played like that, and everyone else suffered the consequences. And it was a tough time. It was a tough pill to swallow. And I don't really. I mean, look, you understand now when you look back on it, why it was the way it was, why it rubbed people the wrong way. It's not even an elephant in the room. It's just. It's right there in the middle of the room. Like, everyone kind of gets it now, but when you were in it, people kind of didn't want to admit it. Mike Rumpf on the show tonight. No one gives better tours than Mike Rumpfield. Mike Rump knows the name of every tree on that campus. And I know because he's loaded me up in a golf cart, and he has taken me around that campus, showed me the banya trees, and then quizzes me on what the name is of the trees. Here is how loaded Miami was back then. They've got former first round draft picks giving recruiting tours on campus to this day. That's how loaded they were back then. So, yeah, an unbelievable time. But were they hated? Yeah. In fact, I'm not quite sure you could explain it because words are one thing, but the overall feel, like the overall vibe, the overall shock to the landscape, like measured on the Richter scale. Back then it was an earthquake. Like it was a figurative earthquake in sports. And enough where they made 2:30 for 30s. They made like a full 60 for 60 on Miami. Unbelievable time again. I'm not sure that we could ever recreate that. We were talking earlier today about stuff that happened before we were born, really. We were looking at TV ratings of some of the biggest finales in history. Because I'm on season eight of Game of Thrones. Lawan was watching it publicly. He was just like live tweeting his way through it. I've been quiet about my Game of Thrones journey, but I am starting season eight tonight, actually. And I was looking back and that got what, Jesse? A little over 19 million viewers. The finale, when it originally aired mash, had like 120 million viewers, which is just an ungodly number. That's over half the population at that point in time, I think, or something like that. And you can't have that anymore is the point. Even as the population of the country has exploded, no one thing, not even, I mean, short of the super bowl, no one thing commands like a monocultural level's worth of attention like that did back then. I don't know that we could ever have something happen in college football that gets the kind of reaction Miami did back then. Nil in totality has probably had that impact. Like people feel a certain way about it and then you go down the road of, well, what should players have the right and not have the right to do? But that's, that's like a whole topic. This was a team. Miami was a team that commanded that level of reaction. So I don't think it could ever happen again. Yeah, it was real. It was very real. Everything they say is real. And then some. Let us move on. Man, what a moment. Friday we had our Thursday show. We talked a little bit about that Senate bill and what's happening in college football and is anything going to get fixed or not? And Mike from, from, appropriately, from Washington D.C. hit us. He said, what are your takeaways from Greg Sankey's comments on Feinbomb? Man, he Said a lot. So Greg Sankey, the Commissioner of the SEC goes on Paul Feinbaum show for a full 30 minutes. Well, with a commercial break baked in, but an extended period of time on Friday and dude, he let loose. Like Greg Sankey ought to talk more. Some of these conference commissioners hide and Sankey should talk more because even when I disagree with him, dude, that guy's really, really good at presenting his viewpoint. So Greg Sankey, we're going to play you a couple of sound bites from it. If you missed it. He was sort of reacting to what had been a pretty, pretty news filled week last week. A pretty eventful week last week. We got another one coming up this week. And so my feel on Greg Sankey, even though I have kind of found myself on the opposite side of the argument as him in this particular set of events. Greg Sanke is always a guy that I usually just agree with him, but when I don't agree with him, he is one of those guys who always makes you pause and rethink your position because he's always got really, really good logic and seemingly fact based reasoning behind his argument, or at least fact in a sense that it's a fact. He's thought this through and he feels this way. So Greg Sankey's the best commissioner in college football at doing his job, even if sometimes him doing his job requires him to do things that I don't like. So two sound bites stood out to me. To answer the question, two sound bites stood out to me and I'm going to just play them here and then I'm going to react to them. But this is Greg Sankey. After a whole week of this Senate bill being public and a lot of people coming out for it and a lot of people coming out against it, Nick Saban broke ranks. He comes out on the opposite side of the SEC and the SEC's media partner who currently employs Nick Saban. So it was a wild week last week. Here is one of a couple of sound bites that I'll play you. This is Greg Sanke on Paul Feinbaum show on the SEC Network. And I think one of the flaws in the bill is to pick a point in time which is like the most recent tax filings. There are two conferences that had over $1 billion in revenue and those two conferences are singled out and can't do certain things. One of my observations is, hey, you know what? If we can't do that, make that apply to the ACC and Big 12, make that apply to the Ohio Valley Conference. And my old friends in the Southland Conference, we shouldn't be singled out because we're not having that conversation. So the point he's making I'd probably make if I had his job, but I don't, so I can just freely speak on it. It's pretty obvious why that bill singled out the SEC and the Big Ten. Because the SEC and the Big Ten are unique entities unto any other in college football. So there are some people out there who keep making this point, thinking they're breaking news to the rest of us. And the point sounds something like this. This bill is unfair because it's essentially asking the SEC and the Big Ten to somewhat subsidize the rest of college athletics. We know. Yes, that's exactly what it's asking them to do. Yes, that's full stop. That's what it's asking them to do. It's a funny thing when you're already two of the power entities in the sport and then you go and gobble up even more valuable properties and become super conferences, which they already are in and of themselves. Yeah. A crazy thing happens, and that is there are two shark fins in the pond and everyone else just has to latch on or die. That's where we find ourselves. The entire concept, like the entire thinking behind the need for this bill, let me remind everyone, is two of the big complaints in college athletics right now are we can't enforce our rules, so we can't govern and we're running out of money, which is insane. But that's where we find ourselves. Now if I put one of these fingers down, I just go back to the governance part. We tried that several times. It was called the SCORE act and it died because it did not address the revenue part. And so to get bipartisan support on a bill, you had to bake in a way to pay for everything, not just the SEC and the Big Ten's cost of doing business. But in order to get enough people on board, you needed several pieces of paper, AKA a bill that at least had a mechanism baked into it that theoretically would fund everything, including the non revenue generating sports. Because once you put that on a piece of paper, it convinces enough people from both sides of the aisle, again in theory, to sign off on it. The great caveat there is it really does not fulfill its ultimate purpose if the two biggest earners aren't on board. That's the SEC and the Big Ten. But then understandably, the commissioner of one of those conferences, and really both commissioners, one's just better spoken than the other one. Greg Sankey goes on TV and says, well, hold on, we don't think it's right that this bill is singling us out. It's understandable how you'd feel that way. It's also understandable that that's the only way that the bill really has the wheels under it that it needs to have. So it's kind of easy to see both perspectives there. I've got my feelings on it, but I'm not the commissioner of the SEC either. There was another soundbite. This one I think generated a little more attention. Again, I'll have Bradley roll it and then I'll react to it. And you know what's interesting, Paul, as we've morphed from talking even in this conversation, from some of the core issues that need to be addressed, the return of national standards, into a discussion about what different entities on the outside are pulling strings to accomplish their agendas rather than solving the core issues in college football. And you can predict the social media fodder that will follow this conversation. That's why I tell people, go read the bill for yourself and make evaluations. Greg Sankey and I are both telling you, go read the bill for yourself. I think I've said that about five times on the show. Just log off of social media or at least mute the terms Senate, don't mute college football. Maybe mute both of those terms together right now because it's just going to confuse you because like I said, most people don't swim in these waters. Thankfully, it's bad for your mental health to swim in these waters too long. So most people don't know the intricacies of this bill. Like most people haven't read all 110 pages or whatever. And even if you did, a lot of the stuff probably confuses you again, not because you're too stupid to understand it, but because it's kind of like trying to read foreign language in a lot of cases. And so if that's you, and I just described most of us, if that sounds like you, you could get fooled really easily. A lot of people could bring some pretty convincing arguments for or against, and they sound like they make sense to you. That's what he's saying. That's what I've said. So go read the bill for yourself if you have time. Okay. And if not, then don't worry because you're not actually going to have to sign your name on a dotted line. But he's talking about outside entities. And look, I know that sounds like the boogeyman and sometimes it Is he talked about private equity a lot. He talked about Smash Capital, the other group. I can't remember the name off the top of my head. Look, we, we've never taken private equity money. These are not rooms that we have to be in. Who knows what happens down the road? Jesse, we could get the knock on the door at any second. But like, we don't have to do this or we don't have to traffic in this because you guys subscribe to the channel and you, you keep us, you keep us afloat. But this happens a lot. Like, I think it'd be pretty ignorant to look at an enterprise like college football and, and to assume, well, no outside entities will ever take interest. Well, what am, am I an outside entity? I guess not because I'm a fan, so that has me inside the bubble. Or maybe because we bought a microphone and we have a well lit set, does that put us inside the bubble? Are we an outside. What's an outside entity? And what's an inside entity? Because I do have this small observation. If college football is such a mess right now after the inside entities got to run the asylum for, oh, I don't know, like 500 years, maybe the entities inside college football suck. Maybe they're not good either. So I'm going to go very case by case is my point on outside entities. Because you telling me an outside entity has taken a special interest here alone tells me nothing. It could be Satan himself that's taken an interest and yeah, I'm not a huge fan of that. Or it could be someone who has deep pockets and very good intentions. That's why I encourage people to make me a billionaire. Because I would be an outside entity with a lot of money who would have the best of intentions. I'd be a good billionaire, not one of the bad ones. I'd be one of the good ones. So that alone means nothing to me. So we gotta get a lot more specific about who the outside entities are, what they're presenting, what are their ulterior motives, where do they stand to gain? Because look, there's a lot of overlap here where college football improves because an outside entity had influence. That outside entity gets what it wants, and I don't really care because it didn't detrimentally impact college football. Now make no mistake, there are plenty other scenarios where an outside entity poses as being in the best interest of college football and then accomplishes the goal and they get what they want. And I hate what it does to college football. That's why I haven't really written in Sharpie on this piece of paper. Either way, on that front. But you got to tell me more than just there's some shadowy outside entity, because that alone tells me nothing. Here's why. This week's gonna be really big, and I'm gonna move on. Certainly not spending 27 minutes on this again. I don't know if you saw this headline. It was Friday and Saturday. You may have missed it. But, you know, Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell co authored this bill, this bipartisan bill, and it's pretty obvious that Cruz, and especially Cruz, maybe to a lesser degree, can't. Well, I just see Ted Cruz's name more. It feels like they've kind of reached the end of the bargaining road or the negotiation road with the Big Ten and the sec. And the reason I say that, again, as an outsider, is I don't know that Ted Cruz is extending an invitation to the SEC chancellors and presidents, minus Greg Sankey and the Big Ten chancellors and presidents, minus Tony Petiti. If that isn't the case. The word unprecedented keeps getting used a lot. Like, I've seen Ross Dellinger's reporting on this, and he has said, like, five different times after something has happened in this timeline. Now, guys, just so you know, this is unprecedented, buddy. This whole era has been unprecedented. But there was talk of a super league the other day. Ted Cruz goes on a show and says, hey, I have spoken to Tony Petiti and Greg Sankey about the viability and the legality of a super league, and they want one, and I don't think they can do it, and I'd have the votes to stop it. And then both leagues came out pretty quickly and said, we haven't spoken to each other. We haven't spoken about forming a super league at all. I think there's probably a little nuance that needs to be understood here. Okay. And probably a little gaslighting going on, too. If your point is that the SEC and the Big Ten have not sat in a room together and speculated about what it would take to print a big banner that says sec, Big Ten Super League, and put it on the storefront, that's one thing. And I'm fine agreeing with you there, because it would be illegal. Andy Staples has done a lot of writing on this, and I would encourage you to go read it, because Ted Cruz is right. Andy Staples is right. What a sentence I have begun coming out of my mouth here. That's illegal. They know that, though. They know that. So it's kind of easy to gaslight People saying you haven't considered something that you already know would be illegal and it would be a waste of time to consider. But there's been way too much speculation and talking in some cases on the record about breaking away and splitting away to try and convince me. You haven't considered that in theory or that in concept. Yes, you most certainly have. And I don't even mind as long as you admit it publicly and you're honest about it. But when you try and gaslight me and say we haven't even thought about super league, we've never even heard those words put together, there's a difference in ignorance and stupidity. People may be ignorant about some of the things happening here, but it requires stupidity to think that the concept of a super league in its real form has not been considered. But, yeah, there's a lot that's going to happen this week. But I would also say, you know, when, when you make the point, you, you may be, you may be out there and you may be of the mindset that, well, the SEC and the Big Ten should never consider signing onto this. Because why should the SEC and the Big Ten want to subsidize the rest of college football? Well, they don't want to. That's why Someone's trying to force them to. I would say, and this is the very, very, very small child in me, I would say I would love that. Out of the goodness of their heart, they want to. But that's the child in me talking. The more jaded and skeptical adult version of me knows they are not going to do it voluntarily. But that word subsidize, boy, the SEC keeps throwing that around. The Big Ten keeps throwing that around. And I just want to caution some of you in SEC and Big Ten circles to be careful because, you know, subsidizing happens within the sec. You don't think the University of Georgia subsidizes Kentucky. You don't think Ohio State subsidizes Purdue? So you guys need to be a little careful. You could scream that word in Columbus, Ohio. You could scream that world or that word in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I'd be careful in Piscataway, New Jersey, screaming about how you have no business subsidizing the rest. You're not subsidizing anyone to begin with. You exist because the upper echelons of your conference are subsidizing you. That's why you're able to exist in the form you do right now. So I'm always cautious or I'm always cautioning people beating their chest just cause that chest has an SEC or a Big Ten patch on it. Because if we do ever get to that world where you guys get the breakaway and you guys get the Super League, do we just know for sure that the SEC and the Big Ten detach themselves as is? Do we know that? Because if we're going down that road, if we're going to embark on that frontier, everything's on the table at that point. Anyway, that's the extent of that. Not a 27 minute segment tonight. Not a 27 minute. I know why you're smiling, Jesse. Next up, we think this says Crab cake. We think that's what this name says. We do know that crab cake 1, 2, 3 has submitted this question via the FanDuel Discord, which means regardless of how he spells his name, he's getting $100 in bonus bets dropped into his account. Courtesy of FanDuel. Anyway, here's the question. What programs are best positioned to become a top 10 brand in college football within the next 10 years and that we would not consider top 10 today? Texas a and M by a mile is my number one answer. I don't think Texas A and M is considered a top 10 brand today. Texas A and M could easily be this. I fought this battle forever. I have long believed this has been the biggest sleeping giant program in terms of like national top 10, top five potential. Cause they have it. But there is a portion of our audience, there's a portion of the college football public that refuses to believe something's possible until their eyes see it. Tamai, plural of doubting thomases. And I don't have to see it to believe it can happen. So Texas A and M would be there and I would ask, so if you don't believe it's possible, what does it take to be a top 10 program brand that they don't have? Because mainly the answer is money. And they've got that. They've got a massive fan base. Put like 300,000 people in that stadium every Saturday. Massive fan base. Also unique culture. It was pointed out to me the other day that you cannot spell culture without cult. As I was making an A and M point, which I thought was uncalled for at the least and inappropriate at the worst. What you call cult like behavior, I just call tradition. So I've never had a problem with Texas A and M. But yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Like they're already kind of there. They just made like they were just in the playoff last year, so they're already knocking on the door of it. And I think the best is yet to come there. So Texas A&M's 1, could I interest you in Virginia Tech? Virginia Tech, I don't know if they've cashed it yet, but they have a $75 million check sitting on their desk. And that is no small chunk of change that I think is directly correlated to James Franklin taking the job there. And so James Franklin's at Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech, once upon a time in my youth, was a national power. Some think they can't be again. But if you got that kind of money floating around, you can be anything you want to be, as Meemaw told me. And I didn't even have $75 million. And so I think that it would be a stretch to be top 10. I will grant you that. But just imagine if. If they go on a roll here and think about how up in the air and in a state of flux the ACC has been. Miami is not going anywhere. But you got room for more. I mean, they got like four or five of them in the sec. They got multiples in the Big Ten. You got room for more than one. Dabo and Clemson are on the clock. I got to see what they're going to do. But certainly James Franklin will improve Virginia Tech. Certainly he will do that. And how much will he do it? And you. You need candidates for the answer to this question that aren't already there. So I would say Virginia Tech would at least be in the ball game. And number three, I think, is easy, too, because it's a brand that was once upon a time top 10, and that's Florida. If John Sumrall is the right hire at Florida, Florida will again be a top 10 brand. Everything's there. We've already seen it happen. We saw it happen under Spurrier. We saw it happen again under Urban Meyer. So there's no doubt about the qualifications. This is like a car that has won multiple races, so it's proven itself. We just need to make sure the tires are right. We need to. Whatever they do, when they peel that layer off the windshield so you can see, I don't know. Florida can do it. Florida's done it. Like, Florida just needs to be the best version of themselves because that's plenty good enough to be a top 10 brand. I continue to look at the state of Florida. Man, Miami's getting it done now. But I keep dreaming about this world where we have at one point in time, Florida, Florida State, and Miami, all elite. And so help me, I cannot get it. I cannot seem to get it. Florida State popped a couple of years ago. Miami's popping now. Florida May. I just can't get it all at the same time. That question, by the way, submitted via the FanDuel Discord. So, I mean, FanDuel is the exclusive odds provider of the show. You can go bet any of those teams win totals right now if you want to in the upcoming season on FanDuel. But you can also go to the FanDuel Discord if you want to submit a question for the show. You could really do it any which way you want to. But if you do it in the fanduel Discord and we answer it on air, just boom, that's the sound. You probably won't hear the sound, but that'll happen. And fanduel Mike with his little angel wings will just flutter right into your account and drop $100 in bonus bets. At that point, it's up to you what you do with it. But like Crab Cake is going to wake up tomorrow morning. Whenever Crab Cake wakes up, he's going to have $100 that he did not have today. That's the that's the magic of the Fanduel Discord must be 21 and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in 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 HOPE NY in New York. All right, let's wrap it up with bold predictions here. Bold predictions on this show work a little different in June because it's not time for me to predict, it's time for you to predict. I just put a rating on it. And anyone who submits a bold prediction that rates 9.5 or bolder and it hits wins the coveted and elusive chalice of supremacy. We only gave three of them out all of last year, at least for bold predictions. First up tonight, this is from New Brunswick, New Jersey. Not going to attempt the name, but here's the prediction. Georgia wins the SEC again but fails to win a single playoff game again. So this has been their last two years. They beat Texas a couple of years ago, Carson Beck goes down. They lose to Notre Dame in round one. Last year they beat Bama thoroughly. But then they go to the playoff and Trinidad Chambliss happens to him. So this year they win the SEC again. They are pretty much co favored to win the league with Texas. Those are the odds right there at FanDuel. Right now Texas as of this Sunday night is a very slight favorite to win the sec, but that's very fluid. So they've got to win. The league could easily see that happening. It's not hard to envision the second part either because what if the SEC just feels like it did last year again this year where it's not a whole lot of great but there's a collection of very good and the best of the very good teams wins the league. And then Georgia, they'll probably have a first round bye if they win the league and then they go and they just face a hot quarterback that's better than Gunner Stockton and that's the difference in the game. None of that in and of itself is hard to envision. It's just both of them have to happen. And for that reason I will put a nine on that. But it's, it's only so bold when what you're predicting has happened two out of the last two years. Next up, this one's bold. Ben in Denver, Colorado, Miami and Penn State both win a playoff game. That's a 9 and a half for me. That's a 9 and a Half. So I put 9 and a quarter earlier in the day. Jesse. But I thought about it more. That's worth a nine and a half. It's a couple of things that have to happen here. So think this through with me. It requires Miami and Penn State to make the playoff. Now I'm not going to spend a lot of time on Miami because Miami is a playoff team to me. So Miami makes the playoff and they have to win a game that I'm okay with the Penn State part of all this. I think people have to be careful differentiating Penn State's schedule vs. Penn State the team because it's really easy to talk about Penn State schedule. But the schedule is not the team. The team is the team that has to play the schedule. And they've got games they should win up until October 10th and 17th. That's when they play USC and Michigan back to back. But let's say they split those Games and I don't know, Maybe even at 10 and 2, Penn State could make it. Certainly at 11 and 1 they would make it in. But they've got to make it in and they got to win a game. And this is like a veteran Iowa State team. Probably more depth than star power. Meat and potatoes this year, Jesse. Yeah, meat and potatoes team. No desserts, meat, potatoes. But make it in and win it, Miami. I don't doubt you guys. Penn State making it and winning it, that's worth a 9.5 to me. I think you deserve a lot of credit if you predict that accurately. Next up, spin the wheel. Adam from beautiful Landrum, South Carolina. Oh boy. Both Clemson and South Carolina will be looking for new coaches after this season. This is a veteran prediction because he did not say Dabo and Shane Beamer get fired. He did. He just said they're looking for new coaches. They could be fired, they could retire. One could join the Peace Corps. I don't know, one could just take a sabbatical. But whatever the scenario is, Clemson and South Carolina both looking for new head coaches. Jesse, that's a 9.5 for me. Both of them happened in the same year. Can you imagine the, the turmoil in South Carolina if they both major programs in all likelihood have fired their head coaches? So I guess since I know both of them, neither of them sound like they're ready to retire to me. So I assume they got fired. In this scenario, it's easier to envision for South Carolina because they're coming off a 4 and 8 season. And if Shane were to go sub.500 again, I think that probably would be it for him. I don't want that to happen, certainly. I mean, for all, for all I care, double digit wins for Shane Beamer this year. Lock it in. Lenore Sellers, player of the year offensively. Dylan Stewart, player of the year defensively. And there's Shane Beamer in Atlanta in the first Saturday in December and he didn't even have to buy a ticket. Okay, but that's, that's maybe not the real world. So this prediction here is they're bad again. It's the last go around with Lenora Sellers and Dylan Stewart. Enough people think, well, if we couldn't do it this time, we're never going to do it. And he gets fired. But Dabo too. And this is the ultimate question. How bad does it have to be at Clemson this year for this to go down? Last year, what were they? Seven to five regular season, Jesse. So if they're seven and five again, that's not, to me, bad enough to fire him. 6 and 6. The concept of firing Dabo Swinney is like a whole mountain of conversation in and of itself. And you got to find out how much equity is built up. How bad does it have to be? Does it have to be like FSU 2024 level bad? Because I would think that's it has to be a disaster. That's what it would have to be. And for both of these things to happen at the same time, that's a 9.5 on the boldness scale, maybe 9.75. Last up really, really quick and to the point. From Bonita Springs, Florida, Virginia Tech makes the playoff. Now, I don't doubt the team's going to be better this year. I don't doubt that. But they were three and nine last year, so they could be significantly better and still just barely make a bowl game to make the playoff. After going 3 and 9, that's a 9.5 on the boldness scale. James Franklin making the playoff in year one at Virginia Tech would be just incredible theater. We were doing the fantasy booking of the playoff earlier today and the only thing we regretted not being able to fit in is Virginia Tech at Penn State, round one of the playoff. You can't go wrong there. So the team's going to be better. The schedule's the problem. They in the month of October, from October 24th through the end of the year, they play at Clemson, at SMU and at Miami. And it just strikes me as a classic candidate of a start fast but run out of gas kind of team because they I could easily see them being like five and oh or six and oh. I could easily see that happening. And then they're the story of the first half of the year. But then reality hits in the second half of the year. That stuff happens every year. But for them to make the playoff, whoo, man. From three and nine to I would think ten and two is what's necessary there. That's a nine and a half to me. Good predictions tonight. Three candidates for chalice of supremacy, maybe multiple chalices, AKA chalai, the plural of chalice. All right, guys, it's going to be a busy week for pretty much no one here but me because I am going storm chasing this week. So Josh Pate CFB is how you can follow along. I will give you a live stream. Once the live stream cranks up, it's going to be an active. I've never been to North Dakota and I think we're going to North Dakota, maybe even Canada, where I've also never been. So it's going to be fun. But we plan on being back here Thursday for our normal Thursday show. So for those of you who are not passionate about atmospheric science, ignore the past 30 seconds of your life. For the rest of you, just come aboard. We'll be happy to have you until Thursday, though. Appreciate you guys so much. For director Bradley, producer Jesse I'm Josh Bate. Take care. Let's have a great start to our week and God bless. Must be 21 plus 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 chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.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. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.
Episode: Pate State Tour Schedule Draft + Predicting The Perfect CFP
Host: Josh Pate
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts
In this episode, Josh Pate dives deep into two major elements of the upcoming college football season: a week-by-week dream schedule for his (still-unnamed) fall tour of game-day destinations, and a fantasy “perfect” 2026 College Football Playoff bracket. He also touches on the history and cultural legacy of Miami football, digests recent SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey’s pointed comments on proposed Senate legislation, and wraps with bold predictions and mailbag Q&A.
Josh keeps the tone lively, fast-paced, and packed with behind-the-scenes insight, aiming to give fans a blend of pragmatic information and pure CFB daydreaming.
(Starts ~05:15)
Sample Tour Draft (Week-by-Week Leans)
(Key games suggested, not confirmed; “lean” means current preference, subject to change):
Memorable Quote:
“In week one, I pretty much know where I’m going—after that, I have no idea. That’s the beauty of how unpredictable this sport is.” (~41:38)
(Begins ~43:05)
Fantasy CFP Bracket Breakdown
Key Round 1 Matchups:
Josh’s Ideal Path:
Memorable Quote:
“That playoff right there—if I called up the folks at ESPN and showed them that, they’d start exploring how to make it happen.” (55:47)
(58:30)
“We need a whole lot more of that in college football... The Rose Bowl defining its non-negotiables and not bending to anyone... That’s a beautiful thing.” (~01:02:19)
(01:10:00)
“I despised Miami at a cellular level… Miami played the wrong way. I was not alone—a vast swath of the country felt this way.”
(01:10:47)
(01:18:00)
“If college football is such a mess after the inside entities got to run the asylum for 500 years, maybe the entities inside college football suck.”
(01:26:30)
(01:36:05)
Who are the next big brands?
(01:41:30)
Contest: Listeners submit bold predictions rated on a 1-10 scale; 9.5+ gets the coveted “chalice of supremacy” if correct.
Highlights:
This episode is a college football feast: Josh builds both a choose-your-own-adventure fall tour of dream games and a fantasy college football playoff, each oozing with emotional stakes and classic matchups. He defends tradition (Rose Bowl), gets candid about Miami’s bygone era of hate (“at a cellular level…”), parses Greg Sankey’s high-stakes politicking, gives rapid-fire analysis of who could be the next truly “big” programs, and rates outlandish fan predictions. All delivered in his signature informed, conversational, and fan-first style.
Ideal For: Fans hungry for a big-picture, fun, and insightful preview of fall Saturdays, behind-the-scenes playoff dreaming, history, and “state of the union” on the sport’s biggest issues.