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Foreign welcome back to Rigor Tailgate. We are live. It is Saturday, and today we have a very special guest. There is no Joel in the building. There have been some reports he might be dodging us because Nico did not have a great day today against Indiana. We can talk about that a little bit later. But first and foremost, this is Ringer tailgate presented by FanDuel. And if you're betting on college football, FanDuel's the place to do it. They've got everything. Same game parlays, quick bets when you want to jump in live, and futures available all season long to make your playoff predictions. The app's fast, it's easy to use, and best of all, when you win, you get paid out instantly. Download the FanDuel app or go to FanDuel.com tailgate to get started. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 or older in President select states and 18 and older in DC, Kentucky and Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut. Let's say what's up to Van Lathan. He's got the bat back. Van, good to see you, man.
B
Yes, the bat will be back as long as are not post LSU game because I can still act like, you know, we're the ones that are taking the swings when we're the, we're the ones accepting the blows. So pause. But the bat will be back for right now for the game today. Yes. How you guys?
A
Shout out to everybody who was asking about the bat not being there in studio. We are not in studio today, but joining us the press box is very own Brian Curtis and he's doing it in the burn orange because he's a real loyal Texas Longhorn fan. Brian, good to see you, man.
C
Yeah, Tay, you and I will be going to Goodwill immediately after this podcast and donating our clothes. I'm so happy to be here.
A
I think, yeah, it's going to be a tough one for both of us. This is Mack Brown's dream to see two guys wearing both the Texas and the North Carolina gear obviously looking like losers right now. The game's not over for Texas. It is obviously over for the North Carolina Tar Heels. I'm sure we'll talk about them at some point. In fact, Van is mentioning that I have to sing a song. Sugar Land by Nancy Sinatra at some point.
B
Shoe, shoe, shoes, shoe. Sho. Shoes. Shoe, shoe, shoes. Sugar Land. There you go, Tate.
A
Yeah, I'm locked in. I'm ready to go. I actually watched the video. Great video. If you haven't go. If you haven't ever watched that. So go check that out. Right now we're in the midst of some great games. Mizzou, Vanderbilt is happening right now in real time late in the fourth quarter. We also have Alabama, South Carolina, which is a bit of a shocker. We also have some upsets happening on the board. Washington blowing out Illinois. We mentioned Texas there. But let's start with our one big reactions from the day and then we'll get into these games as they finish up and wrap up. I'll go to you first, Van. One big reaction. What's on the board for you? What stood out from what we've seen in the first two windows?
B
I gotta talk about how impressed I've been with the Indiana Hoosiers.
D
This episode is brought to you by Paramount plus streaming October 26th on Paramount Plus. It's an all new season of Mayor of Kingstown. Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner. My guy returns as Mike McCleskey, an ex con fighting to keep peace both inside and outside the prison walls of Kingstown as he faces off with the new warden played by Emmy award winner Edie Falco.
B
Wow.
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Mayor of Kingstown new season streaming October 26th on Paramount Now.
B
It seems that there have been a lot of teams in college football this year that were incapable of getting up for games that they should win and they trip up. You saw Florida State trip up at Stanford. Of course you saw. Really, you could make an argument that UCLA was kind of the game that got James Franklin canned. It started the peeling of the onion there. The, the, the, the Oregon game being what it was, completely different thing. But UCLA is when the antenna started to race, not Indiana. Indiana is focused. They have a good grasp of who they are as a team. They, they play with discipline, precision, action. And they went out and did what they were supposed to do against a team that is inferior to them in every way. Which tells me they are not going to be for the slip ups and the letdowns. Indiana's for real.
A
And Kurt Signetti, the entire game looked disgusted as, as it was happening. I mean, this is. If you just watch Kurt Signetti on the sideline, Brian Curtis, you would probably think to yourself, they must be losing this game. This is obviously not, not going well for Indiana, but instead they cover double cover in this game. I think that's a term we can use. It was 23 and a half. I think the final spread for this game. I thought that was a big line for ucla, one of the hottest teams in the country. Everyone's talking about new Heisel, what he's been able to do with his offense. As soon as they lose this game and blowout fashion, it's back to Tim Skipper. Everything is about Tim Skipper, and we're all talking about Tim Skipper. Van giving a reaction right there as to why that might be the case.
B
What y' all doing? All I saw was new house on new household, Newhouser. As soon as they lose. What's going on, I can. I could do Ella race edit race, but I'm not going to. Okay, I'm gonna let that go because that's not what we're here for. We got Brian Curtis here. Okay. We need. We have real analysis and real media expertise in the building. Brian, why do you think that they win, win, win new house of New house or new house of golden boy? And as soon as they lose, it looks like six o' clock news. Why do you think that they would do that?
C
You think the email just went out to the graphics department at all the sports websites? Because I saw so many little cards, you know, just went up and I'll had Skipper on them. I agree.
B
Little.
A
Little strange there. But back to the Indiana team. I mean, this team is obviously living up to the hype at this point. Mendoza, obviously. Fernando Mendoza looking like a Heisman candidate. His brother comes into this game. He looks pretty good as well. So just when you think you're done with one Mendoza, another one comes in and Mendoza's this UCLA team. The game started with the pick six. Nico again was the guy who threw the pick six to open this game for ucla. So that was a little bit tricky from the jump. And Indiana just continued to jump down the throats of ucla. And I want to shout out Joel. Joel has been on the Nico train from day one. He has been saying that this is Nico's year. When we ask him to pronounce the last name, that's when he kind of pulls back a little bit. But again, it's all about Nico. He does not like the last name, but he likes Nico. And he and Chris Tryon even brought it up to us how much he loves the bit of Nico. But today he was a little bit snake bitten in this game and UCLA could get nothing going. Brian, do you think that Indiana could win the national championship. I think for me, right now, I'm buying into the hype. I'm drinking the Kool Aid.
C
I am, too. I love Fernando Mendoza today because he reminds me of an 80s quarterback in the way he moves around the pocket, how robotic he is. Remember the 80s when quarterback Fords weren't athletic? They were just. They were just really. You know, they look very, very robotic, like a machine back there. That's what he looks like. And yet he gets. He gets it done. Like, he's just kind of going sideways through the pocket, and it's a huge completion. So I believe absolutely, he's a true.
B
Point guard at quarterback, but he's an elite point guard, which means, let's think, not like a. He's not as saucy as like a. Of Chris Paul, but give me, like, a good take. This is basketball stuff. Give me a good, solid, distributing point guard that can do everything you need him to do, but it's. It doesn't come with any sauce. Chris Paul's maybe a little T.J. mcConnell, right? No, no.
A
You don't like T.J. mcConnell.
B
Man, shout out T.J. mcConnell. Man, shout out TJ McConnell. That's. That's. I'm not trying to hate on TJ McConnell at all, but we. We're not. It's not TJ McConnell. Bro Tate, you're a basketball guy. You're supposed to have that in the tub. Malcolm Brogdon is what they're saying.
A
Okay, Malcolm Brogdon's a good.
B
Malcolm Brogdon. Somebody like that in the old school. Andre Miller. I. I guess Andre Miller and T.J. mcConnell is basically the same player, right? It's the same player.
A
I'll give Andre Miller a little bit of the tip of the cap there. I want to. I want to be respectful to Andre Miller. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I like that call. I think Malcolm Brogdon, who is a little bit robotic, I think. Think that would be a nice mix there. And shout out to him. He decided he did not want to play basketball anymore and had a great career. So I want to give some love to Malcolm Brogden. Brian, I'll turn to you now. One big reaction. Obviously, there were some news that came out this morning. Diana Rossini was the one who reported this. She had a great feature, just about all the news around the NFL. And then at the end of the article, there was a little tidbit, just a note there that said apparently Steve Sharkeesian, the head coach of Texas, as we all know, had been reaching out about the potential of taking a job at the next level. The now we know this circus happens all the time with the coaching carousel, but is that your one big reaction? Is it related to Sarkeesian and kind of the refuting of the report because CAA comes out and they say hey, we didn't do this. Sexton says this was not us, I promise. But that almost made it seem even more damning. Right.
C
That is my reaction. And we actually got a statement from the Titans here. Tate, I'm going to read it to you. Please keep Steve Sarkeesian away from us. We're not that bad. Don't let him ruin Cam Ward like he has Arch Manning. I mean, wow, what a day for Texas, right? You get Sark coming out with that weirdo stuff in the morning and now they're down 17 in Starkville as we talk right now.
A
Yeah, the cowbells are out right now.
B
Points and I'm actually cut it to live score. They've cut it to 10. It's 21 to 30. Oh, never mind. They just scored literally as I was saying that like they broke one and now it's 37 to 21.
C
So you're right, you're right.
B
It's back to 17. Alabama tied the game. I got the multi view up. Alabama has tied the game with 54 seconds left to go against South Carolina, which would be a crippling destructing loss for them if they lost.
A
And similar to Oklahoma last year. Right. It's kind of the same deal they lost at Oklahoma last year. Kept them out of the playoff.
B
Yeah, Mississippi is now Mississippi State. Just, just ripped off a big one. So Texas is back in hell.
A
So there we go, back in hell.
C
Brian, what a day for Sark. I mean he's making $10.8 million a year at Texas. He can do whatever he wants. But we're putting out feelers for the NFL. We're making it known that we'd be interested in an NFL job. That is just so strange to me.
B
Well, and can I say something?
A
Yeah, please.
B
I actually believe right now that a lot of these coaches are realizing that with the extra added hurdle to jump of the transfer portal and the nil that the NFL, those jobs are easier than college jobs. I, I really truly believe this now. You know, the NFL comes with a lot of scrutiny. The NFL comes with the 24 hour news cycle in a different type of way. It is like they said in the movie concussion, a sport that has a whole day of the week on lock. However, college football is enough like The NFL that you're dealing with, player contracts now, player movement now, you know, you're trying to retain players year in, year out, you're react, you're operating almost inside of a salary cap already with what your collective can do and all of that stuff. But then you still have to recruit and that is the difference. It would be one thing if you had the recruiting that you had to do, but all that other stuff you didn't have to worry about. But now you have to worry about all that other stuff and you have to recruit and you have to live in towns that, let's face it, most of the time is not la, New York, whatever, Vegas, wherever these places are. Nashville, you know, you know, whatever. Yeah, all these places, I've never been there before. I heard it's great. But it's for, for Sark, when I saw that he was looking at the NFL, I thought, you know, he's getting his ass kicked. He has to replace Arch, he has to deal with the Rabbit fan base. He has to deal with a tradition and a fan base that is really not his tradition and not his fan base. He didn't grow up a Texas fan, any of that stuff. Maybe it's easier to go into the NFL and deal with all of that for him and not have to recruit and deal with all of this other stuff than it is to stay at Texas right now. And I think that a lot of other coaches are going to start to feel that way.
C
I think there's something there. And one thing people forget about Sark is he and his wife had a baby in April. I don't know if people know this, but they welcomed a child into the world. You don't have a lot of coaches with who have newborns coaching big time college football like that. So I also thought about that too, when I thought, is this something where it's like, look, there's a lot going on in my life, Everything Van just said, I have to be both a coach and a general manager of a college football team. Maybe, you know, even if it's a Titans, even if it's a Titans, that can look at least somewhat appealing.
A
And there's also the whole storyline, right, with Sar coming into the week, talking about him calling the plays, right, Brian, they asked him about calling the plays. They had brought up all these different national championship teams. And you know, there was only one coach who was calling the plays when he won the national championship. That, of course, was Jimbo Fisher. Jimbo was very happy about that PR push that he got out of that. I heard Mack Brown talking about this a little bit. He was like, early on in his career, he would call the plays because, look, I mean, you kind of know your football team. He was like, the hardest thing for him and his coaching career was handing the keys over to someone else and then have someone in his ear calling the play. And he would say, internally, that's a terrible call. But at the end of the day, it's like it's out of his hands. It's out of his, you know, sort of say. And he was like, this is Sark's decision to make that decision. Obviously, the play calling hasn't been great for Sark. So, I mean, he's got a lot on his plate, you know, not to mention the newborn, but running this team, managing the roster, also calling the plays. Does he have to give up one of those things for it to kind of come back together there at Texas, you think?
C
I think so. He said in his press conference this week, hey, they. They hired me because I was calling plays at Alabama. Actually, they hired him because Nick Saban laid his hands on you. Like he laid his hands on Lane Kiffin and said, you are. You are healed. You can go coach again. You are good. Right? It wasn't a play calling thing. But, yes, he's got to give something up.
A
He's got to give something up at some point. And this would be terrible for Penn State if. If Sark did actually end up leaving Penn State kind of viewed as the number one job out there. Maybe Flor jumps there, depending on your kind of flavor of the day, but Texas would no doubt be the number one job on the market. So if you're Penn State, you're like, please, God, do not let Sarkeesian go to the Tennessee Titans.
B
It can't say something real quick, man. Yeah, I always say that, but then I say it, it's like, keep saying it. These roughing, the passer calls are tough in college football. Not the roughing, not. Not even to say that these are necessarily bad calls all the time. But these penalties that these linemen are getting themselves involved with are brutal. I'm watching this. It's happening week in and week out. The discipline of these guys to extend drives. Texas was just. Mississippi State was just off the field, off the field against Arch, man. And they were off the field. Arch through, you know, his customary terrible ball, and they were off the field, roughing. The passer extends the drive. Now Texas has a chance to extend this game. Arch is on the move. He just skipped another One. What the fuck is going on with this guy? Hey, Brian, what the hell, bro? Like I'm starting to take it personally. The whole Arch thing is not even that Arch is terrible. That wouldn't be fair to him. That's not the case. But he is so breathtakingly mediocre. He is so average. He is the cream of the crap, the best of the worst. He is crazy average. That I do not understand how we got to generational Dan Orlovsky talent when, when people are talking about Arch Manning. What did Texas do to glamour everyone and make, and make people think that arch was the truth. Like this dude.
C
I mean that, that's, that's what hits me. It's the averageness of it. It's not the struggles. It's just even when there's a clean pocket, you know, five step drop, here we go. And it just, the ball comes out and you're just like, eh. Okay. The only time he didn't look average today is when he was running. That's the only time that's when he uses his legs. He looks like, you know, an above average college quarterback. Otherwise he just looks like stuff. He looks like a thing, a guy playing QB. By the way, Bama's up 7 now.
B
What happened?
C
34.
A
Jeremy Bernard touchdown.
B
They got. Oh, we in. Oh, we're must be, we must be in overtime.
A
No, we're in the fourth quarter.
C
34 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
A
Yeah, they got the ball back and then Jeremy Bernard. I think it was like a 35 yard rush there.
C
A little bit fumbled by South Carolina.
B
Yeah, Alabama's winning national championship. No, no, no.
C
You're ready.
B
Season's over. No, you guys, Alabama's winning national championship. It's over. They won. They won. You tell me, you mean to tell me they're down like that within two minutes of the game? They score, get a fumble, then get another score. South Carolina in hell. Alabama team of destiny. They are going to the chip. They're going. They're going to the chip. No way. Let me see. Hold on for a second. How did I miss that? What the hell?
A
Van's gonna make sure that's real right now. Yeah, I sort of let him down.
C
When I was watching this game, I was like finally it was too much for Ty Simpson because he's been so good this year and every time they needed a big pass. But man down eight on the road, get touchdown, two point conversion, then take advantage of the, the turnover and get another touchdown. I'm with Van Bro. I mean that's Arch.
B
Absolute dime.
C
Are you still? You're the only one still. Why I'm not even watching this.
B
When we talk. Well, bro, touchdown. They back down 11. Arch. Arch.
C
Okay.
B
Like he was too much in game. Holy, man. Arch. Arch. Absolute dime, bro.
C
Okay.
B
One of the best throws he's made.
C
Forget average, okay? I'm watching this.
B
Yeah.
A
Yeah.
B
Haynes King.
A
Mr. No. Georgia Tech. First time since 1966. They're gonna keep saying that every week that they win. Last week it was 7, 0. First time since 1966. This week, 8. No. First time since 1966. Haynes King, though, they started out slow, Van, but he came to life and looked great.
B
Dominant game. They were talking about on the broadcast whether or not he would have to up his passing stats a little bit to get invited to New York or be in the Heisman conversation. I personally think right now that Haynes King definitely should be in the Heisman conversation. He was dominant today. Dominant. They called a great game. It looked like. I want to shout out Ricky Collins, a Baton Rouge guy getting a little playing time for Syracuse. But Haynes King had the game, had the ball on the string today, man. He was doing his thing. Got to show him some love from the early set.
A
Yeah, Love that backfield with Haynes and Haynes. Justice. Haynes, Haynes, King. I don't know how Hanes the brand has not gotten an NI with both those guys. Yeah, right.
B
Yeah. The draws twins. Mr. Draws. Two draws. They got the full draws back.
A
Yeah, there's something happening there. I like that. I like the shout out as well. Can we talk about Lane Kiffin? Because I feel like Lane has been the story of the day. You know, this is obviously not a reaction. This is just a talking point because Lane Kiffin obviously had not won against an AP ranked team on the road. That had been a big talking point as far as the talking heads are concerned. Everyone's saying, can they travel with this offense? He makes so many adjustments on the line in real time. Can Lane get it done? He goes to the prairie and he gets a big win against Oklahoma. And honestly, you know, Cham, you know, Trinidad Chambers in this game was the real star, obviously. John Matier was September the Heisman favorite. It is, you know, obviously fallen out of favor at this point, but there was the moment after the game. Brian, I want to get your reaction from a media standpoint. He has a little back and forth with the player from Oklahoma and, you know, basically says, you're quiet now. And, you know, Molly does a good job kind of playing into it. They laugh about it, but what is Lane Kiffin? And like, what is sort of we need characters like this, but what is kind of the read on that whole, you know, back and forth between those two guys?
C
I mean, he's really mastered the 20, 25 media world, hasn't he? We got another yoga tweet. By the way, how skinny does Lane Lee Kiffin look? I look at him all the time and I'm like, I want to look like Lane Kiffin. He looks in shape, but he's all sweaty. The yoga thing today he's on Twitter. Remember who was. Was Jim Harbaugh really the first coach to start doing that when he was at Michigan? Remember those tweets about Jim Harbaugh, like.
B
Full on bought into the entire cultural aspect of college football when he got to Michigan at first we had Quavo up there. The fuck the Migos got to do with Michigan football? You see what I'm saying? Quavo up there, the whole nine is crazy.
C
That was a. That was an impressive win though too, because, I mean, Ole Miss is one of the best teams. I don't trust in college football. I don't fully trust in college football. Because you watch that defense today, right? That was a question. And the front four is really good. They can get after the quarterback. They had some big plays against Mater today, but then they have these big busts in the third quarter where you give up back to back touchdowns and all of a sudden you look like you're about to blow out Oklahoma and you're down. Man, they are. They're just such a fascinating team. But Chambliss was awesome today. And Tate, if you watch that game, there were so many plays where it felt like he was about to bust off plays for 10, 20 more yards and he gets tripped up because the field was crap today and wet and he was falling down all over the place. Looks like he needed new cleats. It was a funny game.
B
He was about to do what?
C
Bust. Bust off 10 or 20 more yards? Did I bust off. Bust off a run? I'm sorry, Van.
A
Is that balls of the week?
C
He was about to gain some more yardage, more yards.
B
I can't believe I'm watching with the Alabama situation. I can't believe what the I'm seeing. God, please deliver me. God, just deliver me. I've asked, man. You know what, man, I've been. I came to LA and I still. I'm still Christian. I'll be going to church and everything. Like, I'm serious. I've been to churches. I've gone to St. Martin of Tours, the Catholic church up there. I've gone to the church right around the corner. I've been to all kinds of churches. I've been to synagogues, been to mosques. I'll go to church, somehow stop in and worship with people. But God won't deliver me from Alabama. He just won't. He won't. Alabama was supposed to lose to South Carolina. And then we were supposed to have a fun time, but it wouldn't happen. What is going on? How did that happen? I turned the game. I come in here to sit down with you guys. It looks like their win probability thing must have been all the way down. South Carolina had had it and I turn around and now they've won. No one's going to even remember the story of the game because the final score is going to be so Alabama tilted. It makes me sick. I'm sick to my stomach right now. I sick of my stomach with Alabama. When's going to be my time? When's going to be my time to get over this thing with Alabama, man? It's been going on for too long. I thought it was over. First week of the season and these sons of bitches are back. They're back. The best team in college football is over. Give them the trophy. I want to watch no more games.
C
Alabama, you have no hope for two weeks?
B
No.
C
Not even a screw up their season type of game, which LSU is absolutely capable of.
B
Who?
A
Lsu? What are you talking about? This is smart, though. Yeah. This is a way to reverse. Jinx it into happening.
B
I think this is where I love that. Like as if I put that much faith. I put. I. I painted my face last time. I have zero faith in that game. I have zero faith in that game. I have zero faith in the game tonight.
A
LSU, Texas A&M, 28 minutes from kickoff right now.
B
28 minutes from kickoff. The only thing I have faith in is pain. Is pain. This has been a very painful college football season. Some of this football is painful. I'm loving watching it. But I cannot believe that Alabama pulled that game out. I want to throw to another game, though, if it's okay, Tate.
A
Of course. Yeah. Ride it. Let's go.
B
The Meister.
A
I did. I. I just. That was for you. That was for you.
B
We got Brian Curtis joining us. Be careful. What about our G5 Super Bowl? What the hell? What the hell? What a game. Maybe the best game of the day was South Florida and Memphis. Was a fantastic football game. Both teams laid it all out on the line. Memphis had to dig deep to come back and win that game. I watched every play of it earlier today. It was probably the best game of the early slate to me.
A
Yeah, it's a bad day to be a Nico. Nico Gramatica in that game does not make the kick. He has a 52 yarder there. Late in that game they said he wanted to be on the left hash. The kick is from the right hash. It was a bad hold. These are all the excuses I can build in for him because I don't like to blame the kicker. But again, Nico Grammatica comes from a great family of kickers. That one was not so great. And again, now we have a really interesting situation with the G5 right now. Memphis probably the most head scratching loss of the season, right? Dilfer gets fired. They get like a weird, like momentum game where UAB shocks them with Chris Mortense's kid coaching that team. So that was a great story. Last week, Memphis bounces back. This week they're 7 and 1 and now they're in the driver's seat, I guess to be the G5 representative if we're looking at the playoff. Is that. Am I crazy to think that Brian Curtis again.
C
Yeah. Do we get mulligans when games aren't on Saturdays because they didn't lose?
A
I do a little bit like Fri. Thursdays and Fridays. I feel like weird things happen. Same with the NFL. Yeah, Van. Van's in agreement. Yeah, I like that.
B
The Friday night game particularly. I would never play on a Friday like Friday night. I'm not playing on Friday night. That Friday night ACC game is a setup. Guaranteed loss.
A
Right. Virginia Tech beating Cal last night in double overtime. Very strange game.
C
Was it Oklahoma State that lost their trip to the national title on a Friday or Thursday against.
A
I think it was a Thursday. Yeah, I think it was Thursday, right? Yeah. Weird.
C
Weird night like that.
B
Oh, wait, wait a minute. What year are you talking about there? Right?
C
That was the year they played Andrew Luck in the, in the bowl game. I can't remember which bowl game it was.
B
You trying to bring up the.
A
Hey, he's sitting in for Joel. He's sitting.
B
This is the way Joel's actually texting me, right?
C
Are you acting Joel's taunts.
B
If you guys don't know what happened. They lost that game. They lost that game. Oklahoma State. Which is why I'll never give a fuck about them. They lost that game. And then that vaulted Alabama into the national championship game where they summarily destroyed the LSU Tigers 21. Nothing worse than it seemed. We never got past the 50 yard line on offense. Had we played Oklahoma State, we'd have been riding a white horse into a natty. All right. Brian is getting at me. Everybody. Everybody is doing it. Everybody's taking little shots at me because of the LSU thing.
C
And it's more subtle than Joel, but it's. It's no less effective. That's.
B
Yeah, I see. I knew what. I knew what you were doing right there. You're getting at me.
A
He's putting his hat back down. That's how.
B
That was.
C
AJ McCarron, who I just saw yesterday, is running for office in Alabama this year. Who won that national championship games. Run for.
A
That's what you do after football. You run for political.
C
Goodness gracious.
B
I'm sure AJ McCarron will be a completely sane, regular politician. Like, he'll probably. I'm sure that'll be. Because they're all regular guys when we're kicking it with them on Saturday. And then I'm sure AJ McCarron will come up and he won't say anything like, oh, 60 of the guys I played with should have been in prison. He won't say something stupid like that. I'm sure. I'm sure we're not gonna learn something stupid, stupid about AJ McCain in the coming months, AJ yeah.
A
Brent Musburger will be voting for him, that's for sure. If there's anything we know about A.J. mcCarron, one big question. Van and I actually talked about this. This is a little bit of a side tangent, but it gets back to the Lane Kiffin of it all, because Lane Kiffin is very much a character in and of himself. But Van and I were at the USC game a couple weeks ago. We all remember that Joel was very upset about, you know, us going to that game. Did not think we would make that game. We did make that game, but, Van, you asked me this, and I wanted to, you know, kind of posit this question to both you guys, but here's the question. Is there an example of a normal, well adjusted head football coach who wins at a high level in college football, specifically? Now, we tried to run the gamut and figure out a name that would make the most sense. We couldn't really come up with anyone because everyone's strange in their own ways. So, Brian Curtis, I'll go to you first here. Is there anyone that's well adjusted and normal that is actually, you know, contending for championships? Because it does feel like you have to be a little bit off your rocker to Be one of those guys.
C
I agree. I got two names for you. Tell me how you feel about these. James Franklin. Was he a normalish dude?
B
It was normalish. Maybe too normal, yeah.
A
Tom McShay says not so much, but, yeah, I think he's in there.
C
He seemed like. In the other one I came up with was Mac Brown. He seemed like suburban dad. Now, you know, that's my guy. He didn't win a lot, but he won one big one.
B
He did. And he got to another one. I want, you know, justice for Mack Brown, man. People continue to talk about, like, Mac Brown was what? No. Hell of a motherfucker. He had them in a good situation. They won a national championship. They went back to a national championship. They did not win that one. But, you know, he wasn't the type of coach. It was difficult for coaches like Mack Brown in that era because they were being compared to. To Nick Saban and then Dabo Sweeney guys and Urban Meyer guys who had their teams there, perennial, perennially, every single year they were going to win. But Mac Brown was a. Was a great coach, and that program was humming during the time he was there, for the most part.
A
Yeah. And Pete Carroll on the front end. Then he had the Saban kind of passing the torch moment, right? When Colt McCoy gets hurt in that game. Marcel Darius hurts him. The national championship game. Gary Gilbert has to play in that game. I mean, there's the greatest what if right there. If Colt McCoy doesn't get hurt, maybe Alabama doesn't win in 09. Alabama fans don't want to hear that. But, I mean, it is a great what if. And Mack Brown, I think, Brian, you and I have talked about this. He just kind of got obsessed with the five stars. Like the.
B
The.
A
The. The talent accumulation felt like it took over the football at some point, right?
C
It does. And that's. That's the kind of. The curse of programs like that is sometimes you get. You can do it. So you get obsessed with it, and then it stops being about just who's the best player. Let's put them on the field. We'll get to that. More with Arch in a second, by the way. Texas driving down 10.
A
Oh, yeah.
B
Texas driving down 10. Five minutes left.
A
Really good luck.
B
They need to get a score quick. Mississippi State is folding. They are going to fold. Touchdown, Texas.
C
Oh, yeah.
B
Michigan State is going to give this game up. If. If. I'm telling you, if not for that roughing the passer call that terrible penny. Oh, that's a great throw by Arch Arches. You Guys, I'm watching this game. Arch is starting to find something. He's starting to find something. I don't know what it is.
A
Can we cut to like 15 minutes ago? And Van's like. He's an average quarterback. I've seen nothing.
B
He's made a couple of big throws and big moments, though. He's starting to find a little something. I don't know what's going on.
C
Anyway, he started just now.
D
That's the problem.
C
He didn't start in the first quarter, but yeah, he's. He's look pretty good.
A
Maybe he's got some Bo Nicks in him. Sometimes I feel like they should start the clock on the fourth quarter for Bo Nicks in the NFL just to like, get him going, you know what I mean?
B
They just went to the. They just went to the crowd in Starkville.
C
Oh, a lot of overalls with stripes.
A
It could be South Carolina all over again, you know what I mean? That was kind of the cutaways of the crowd in the South Carolina game were just mean. And I feel like they could be doing that again for Mississippi State. We'll keep. We'll keep tabs on that. We'll do biggest things from the day. Van, I'll go to you first. Biggest thing that. Your biggest takeaway so far from today.
B
We're. My biggest takeaway. Oh, my biggest takeaway. We got. I gotta turn this off. I'm sorry, guys. My biggest takeaway is wait. We're this deep into the season. We still don't really know anything. The. The surest commodity seems to be Indiana, but Indiana is not Ohio State.
A
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
B
But you're still waiting for Ohio State to have the offense really tested. But Ohio State has, to me, the. The number one unit in the whole country, which is the Ohio State defense. They're just going to be in every game that they play. They're going to have a chance to win. They have the highest margin for era. Indiana might be the team that seems like they are the top dog for whatever reason, but other than that, man, you just got so many different questions. Even still, like, even still this deep into the season, you're wondering who can beat who. Some of these losses are bizarre is South Carolina should have beaten Alabama today. You never say should have. The game went exactly the way it was supposed to. Just a lot of unknowns in college football. And if you were asked me to give you the playoff landscape or who was going to be where and what was going to happen or who even. There's not a Runaway player for the Heisman. Right now. There's not one guy that you watch every Saturday that dazzles you enough for you to be like, there's your Heisman Trophy winner. One guy putting up crazy stats and big, huge games and doing all of that. It's just a really odd, very efficiently chaotic season. And you keep expecting it to make more sense every Saturday, and Saturday doesn't bring you anything but more questions.
A
I love it. I love the chaos of it all. Brian Curtis, that kind of leads into what your big thing is, right?
C
It really is. Because, you know, we have basically agreed as college football fans and college football programs and even college football conferences that conference championship games are useless. They are trash. We don't need them anymore. This is the season we need them. Because I'm looking at Indiana schedule. They're not playing anybody. I look at Ohio State schedule from here on, other than Michigan, which Ryan Day has a lot of problems with, they're not playing anybody. We need. We need more information between those two teams. Ole Miss is another one. Really easy schedule from here on out. We need.
A
At home, right. The rest of the year, we need.
C
There's a. There's at least one non, you know, FBS team in there, too, for them. Is it Citadel that's that snuck in?
A
I think it is. I think it is the Citadel. Yeah.
C
We need an SEC championship game. We need conference championship games this year to do exactly what Vance said, which is give us some clarity on a very efficiently chaotic year.
A
And even, you know, the Big 12, we need to figure out who's actually good, right? I mean, Iowa State, byu, that was. I don't even know how that wrapped up today, but that game was a lot of back and forth trying to figure out what's happening. Cincinnati is looking like a team that's, you know, got more. More bite than maybe we thought early on in the season. So the Big 12, you're trying to figure out, the ACC, they feel like maybe some paper tigers, you know what I mean? Like eight, no Georgia Tech. We still need to see them really get tested. Their big win was against the Clemson team that we now know is not very good. So they've been propped up by some strange wins. Miami has looked great. And then also, we all. We all saw what just happened against Louisville, so not quite sure who they are. They're, you know, I think eighth in the ACC right now. So you're right. A lot of these things need to be, you know, figured out for the power four. And a lot of these conference Championship games are going to matter a whole lot more. I do want to talk about Vanderbilt. They had college game day today and they win that game against Mizzou. It was an ugly game. It felt like nobody wanted to throw the first punch in that one. And they were able to survive that. Van, did you learn anything about Vandy today?
B
They're going to be around resilient, resilient team with a lot of belief. Man, if you're a Missouri fan now, if you are, Eli, it was right there. If you're a Missouri fan, man, man, that's a game that they're going to be thinking that they should have won. Man, they had so many fantastic opportunities to take control of that game. Vandy's defense, inside of the 10, inside of the 5, for some reason, they just lock up and start playing. They were able to keep LSU out of the end zone. A lot of drives deep into their territory. Last week they continued that. And what I saw today, they were able to stall out a lot of drives from Missouri. They ended up right on the doorsteps of touchdowns. Then they knock out the Missouri QB. They. And they, they have. They're down two QBs at Missouri. Right. There was a battle in camp. Both of those guys are down now. Missouri had to roll in. The freshman to come in thought the kid played pretty well, thought they schemed up some things for him, but it just wasn't enough. Vandy was too much for Missouri. And you just, you gotta wonder about Missouri. You gotta wonder about them in terms of. We talked about it before. They need to win one of these games. They had a chance today. They couldn't get it done. Vandy has the belief in the makeup of a team that's going to be there. I think Vandy is a little bit, maybe underrated right now at 10 in the country. I think they're a little bit better than a couple of the teams in front of them.
C
Look at their schedule tape. They got Texas next. I mean, if, if Mississippi State doesn't get it done tonight, it feels like it's. It's Vandy that's going to end that season. Then they got Auburn, made a QB change. They got Kentucky, who's not very good, and then Tennessee on November 29, which, if Vandy's ever going to do it, right this, it's. It's lined up right there for them.
B
Yeah.
A
And that Tennessee game will be electric in that state. And obviously a lot of Tennessee fans that are like, you're on our corner, right? We are the football school in this state, this is what we're supposed to be doing. They probably don't like all the coverage that's happening for Vandy. It did feel like for the first time to me, that in this game, Vandy was playing as the front runner, and maybe they were feeling it a little bit more than they have in the past. They've always had, like, kind of a chip on their shoulder, especially with Pavia, but. But today they felt like they were trying to hold. You know what I mean? They were just trying to keep it together and win this game with game day in the building. Speaking of game day, we got Brian Curtis here, so I wanted to ask him about this. Your thoughts just kind of like, on this version of Game day, we obviously start the season with Lee Corso's finale, a great call your shot finale for him. He calls the FSU Alabama upset. He did call LSU to win the national championship, which, you know, we'll see how that works out. You don't know, fans. He might be right. He might be right.
B
Maybe he was talking about me in college football 26.
A
There you go. He might. Who knows? We don't know what he was talking about. But then we also get the McAfee stories that are kind of filtering out, which feels like Planet stories. Very similar to, like, how Belichick has these stories and Mike Lombardi has these stories coming out where it's like, you know, bad stuff's happening, people are upset, all this sort of stuff. Your read on the current iteration of Game Day, is it good? Is it bad? Is it moving in the right direction? Do you like the new identity? Like, kind of. Where do we stand right now?
C
I thought the McAfee thing was really crappy because, look, it's one thing to go on the air and talk about executives at the company.
B
Not that.
C
Not that the executives love, but that's. That's one thing. It's another thing to talk about the producers that make you look good every week. And for him to come out and be like, well, there's all these old white guys that don't get me. I mean, one month ago, he's standing on the high dive in a Speedo in Miami doing this crazy stunt. Everybody's like, oh, my God, it's McAfee showing those barstool guys how to do a pregame show. This is amazing. And then he's whining that he's not. You know, they don't get him, that they're not giving him opportunities on that show. That was a pretty good, terrible I thought that was just absolutely terrible.
B
Hey, just let you guys know. Legacy drive coming right now for Arch Manning. This is.
A
This is the drive.
C
Legacy driving his first year as a starter.
B
Legacy drive coming. Sometimes you got to establish a legacy. This is my thing about game day. I love one thing that everybody else hates about game day. What do y' all think it is?
A
The dog. You love the dog.
B
Love it. Love it.
A
I knew you loved it.
C
That's the real answer.
B
That's the real answer. I love. Oh, my God. Texas getting jiggy on the punt return. Oh, Brian. Oh, daddy.
C
Here we go.
B
That's one of them.
C
Yeah, this is. This is Ryan Niblett.
B
Yes, sir. That is one of the best. That is a clutch punt return. You guys just missed it. You guys aren't watch. This is my problem is you guys aren't watching the.
C
I'm watching.
B
My problem is you guys aren't watching the games, man. We're doing the show live.
A
Jack Wilson texting us.
B
Texas, the Mississippi State fans, they just went back to the fans again in Starkville.
C
Yeah.
B
Completely falling apart. Fell apart. Look at them. They're despondent.
A
No cowbell. Yeah, no cowbell happening right now.
B
That was one of the. You know what that return reminded me of in real time. Do you guys remember DeShawn Jackson? Kick the ball to him, catches the ball, walk off, turn.
A
Yeah.
B
This guy makes one move, gets the sideline, and we going to the house.
C
The house.
A
He said, no legacy drive for Arch Manning. He said, I'll do this.
B
You know what he did? He took the ball out of Arch's hands.
A
That's a good teammate.
B
Like, I'm niblet and I gotta look at him. Get off of me. Make a tackle. Oh. Oh, I get freaky. Watch. Watch him. Oh, look at the block.
C
Oh, my God. Unbelievable.
B
College football, baby. Dude's dog, real quick.
C
And this is the same guy, Ryan Niblett, that changed the Oklahoma game. You remember Texas a little bit on the ropes in the second half. He took one to the house in the bed in that game, too.
B
Nible it said, what about me? Nibble this. I'm the man. You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, if y' all can't get it done, I'll get it done.
A
I'll put the T shirt, nibble this. Kind of like V T shirt, gobble this. Yeah, it's good.
B
I put the team on my back.
A
Nice.
B
Darren Sharper. You feel what I'm saying? Oh, no, it was a Greg Jennings.
A
Yeah. Yeah.
B
It's a Greg Jennings. I put the team on my back. So I like the dog. The dogs are beautiful. First of all, everyone that hates the dogs and what's going on, and this is not me in any way. Glazing Curb street because he. He blocked me and then I got unblocked. I don't really with him like that if I'm being real, but it's a real human connection between man and dog now. He treats the dogs a lot better than he treats actual NFL quarterbacks. The way he treated Carson Wentz after Carson Wentz was showing emotion. The dogs get more humanity. But I enjoy seeing the dogs run around. I bring Bozeman to the ringer. He runs around, he plays, he has a great time. I'll bring him in here right now.
A
Great dog.
B
I love watching the dog. I like this, this version of game day because it seems like we have personal relationships with the guys a lot more than we did on the old versions.
A
I like it. Brian Curtis, you're the final say here. Do you like the dogs? Are you in the dogs?
C
You know, the dog is not my favorite part of game day, but I do agree with the fan that we do have some personal relationships. Like, the McAfee Saban thing is fun. The whole game day is fun right now. It's a good show right now.
A
I think so, too. And I like the field goal kick. I mean, today was probably the best.
C
Example of a $500,000 that guy won for kicking the field goal today.
A
I mean, he made like a 50 yarder like that. He signed that kid to bandy. Yeah.
B
Or, man, they just giving away the money, man. They just. That, that. That is whack. I like it. Listen to me. Hating. That was a hater moment. I apologize.
A
You're saying it's a tax write off. You don't like it?
B
Yeah, I like, but. But they making a lot of kicks. They're making a lot of kicks. Yeah, it's kind of like a publicity stunt. I like to see. I like to see it when there's something on the line because you're saying, yeah, make it a little tougher. We live in this world where it's so funny, all of those competitions to me, because we're in such a hyper capitalist world that is like, come outside and fucking kick a field goal for $300,000, you broke motherfucker. We could change your life if you just make this field goal. But if you miss it, guess what? Back to the guito.
A
You get nothing.
B
And I love that because the natural progression of that is game day. But a million dollars for two coeds to fight to the death. Just drop a knife between them and let them stick each other and you get a million bucks. That's what I'm doing.
A
Give them the pointers that Herb street and Sabit are using. Like have them fight it out or.
B
Or, or, or dog fighting. Bring it full circle with football culture, dogs, dog fighting. Can you imagine Herb street and different challenges have to having to face Herb Street's dog for. But like, that's.
A
Those dogs can scrap. I'm not gonna lie. I feel like if they got pushed to it, they can make it happen. Billy Gill, by the way, our producer, he said you should get kicked out of school if you missed the kick.
B
I love it.
A
I like it. You know what, by the way, I like stakes.
B
Texas, as you guys say, the Arch hasn't figured anything out. As I say that Texas has scored 17 points in the fourth quarter.
C
It was unbelievable, actually.
B
24. 24 points.
C
Yeah.
A
30.
C
That's an example, Van, of What you're talking about is at halftime in the national championship game where they're like, if you can throw a football through a hole, you get scholarship money. But if you can't throw the footballs through the hole, you know what I'm talking about? That game.
B
Yeah. Go back to the Amazon Fulfillment Center. Like, if you can't throw this football through the hole, take your stupid ass back to the hood and hope for your next chance to be a regular person. I love this shit. But if they gonna do it, they need to stick to it and move the kickback a little bit.
A
Right?
B
Have. And last thing I'll say about it, do it this. You can leave the kick the way it is right now, but you need to add a rush. No.
A
A little pass rush.
B
Little pass rush. Somebody needs to have the opportunity to block it.
A
And if they block it, get Desmond over there.
C
No, we get David Pollock back. David Pollock stick his hands up. Here we go.
B
Mississippi State Legacy drive coming right now.
C
Blake shape and legacy drive. Who knew?
A
A lot of legacy drives happening in this game. Down in Starkville, Mississippi, right now. 38. 38. 120 to play in that game. Third and four, and we got a first down, the Legacy.
B
Oh, we moving. We driving.
A
Yeah.
B
Now across the 50. It's about one minute left. Some kicker is waiting to come and break the whole student body's heart. But now they're moving the ball.
C
He's. He's number 82, which always just throws me off.
D
This episode is Brought to you by Viori. Look, I'm not a big let's hype up workout clothes guy, but Viori, I gotta say, total game changer. Been wearing a lot. If you see me power walking around Los Angeles, probably gonna see me wearing some Viori Sunday performance joggers that they have. It's made with four way performance stretch fabric, one of the most comfortable things you own. You will wear them everywhere, I promise. All you have to do is go to viori.com Simmons and you get 20% off your first purchase with Viori. V-U-O-R-I.com Simmons. Enjoy. Free shipping on all US orders over $75 plus free returns. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. This episode is brought to you by the Home Depot. The holidays have arrived at the Home Depot and they're ready to transform your house into a holiday home, no matter your style or budget. They've got so many types of string lights to choose from. You can create everything from a soft glow to a colorful display of holiday cheers. And I love this innovation. Their warm white LED lights come with steady light technology so your lights stay glowing even if one bulb fails. Find everything you need to get your holidays started with the Home Depot. This episode is brought to you by mobile1.mobile1's synthetic motor oil knows your car is your happy place. But did you know your happy place has a happy place? It's not stuck in rush hour traffic. We've all been there, especially in la. It's always terrible. And the entire time you're sitting there, you know deep down that your car's favorite place is on the open road singing its favorite song while you sing along to yours. Mobile One, for the love of driving, visit LoveOfDriving us to learn more.
A
I will say the kickers have gotten a lot better, you know what I mean? Like, over the past, like, I'd say 10 years, it just feels like they're gonna make the kick. Yeah. Just kickers in general, across the board, college, even like a high school, like out here in California. I mean, these kids, you go to a game, like gone to a couple games, you know, out here, and you're just like, oh, these kids are making 50 yard field goals in high school. And then you're like, yeah, he's got D1 offer. He's also playing soccer. Yeah, a lot of. A lot of great kickers out there. I want to give them some love again. We got a drive right here. Legacy drive 38. 38. Just in general arch Manning vibes right now. Brian Curtis, I want to do zag of the day. This was your zag. Are you changing course here on your zag? Do you.
C
Let me. Let me zag on the zag.
A
Okay. I like it.
C
Since we. Since Arch's legacy is unfinished here with 57 seconds left to go in Starkville.
A
I like it.
C
I want to talk about this. Tay Frazier, John Mattier in Oklahoma. This sounded like a sports radio take that. Brent Venables was ruining John Mateer when he rushed him back 17 days after he had thumb surgery. You guys watched John Mateer today. See how many passes when they had a chance in there in the fourth quarter, which is people's heads. I mean, he looks not right and he has not looked right since he got rushed back into action in Dallas.
A
Yeah, watch out for all that draft talk about John Mateer because there's gonna be some bad tape on him. And I think you're right. I mean, they did rush it back, obviously for that game. Oh, what's it all made for?
C
Vance, like two seconds ahead of me. And it's like the.
B
Oh, no. Mississippi State, they don't. Mississippi State don't. They don't.
A
It's like when you would listen to the radio and watch the basketball game on tv. The radio is always early, you know what I mean? So you could hear the radio call it first and you get to watch it on the tv. That's what we got going on right now. I kind of like it. Mississippi State fans not happy in the cutaway I just saw.
B
So this is what I'll say about John Mateer. The situation with John Mateer at Oklahoma is it's such a pure and clear example of what comes along with the new expectations in college football. It's almost as if they cannot not play John Matier. So much is riding on the big name transfer that comes in to win games for a coach who really and desperately needs to have a good season. Like when you. When you go all in on one or two years of a guy, it just magnifies the importance of every single snap in every single situation. So this is John Matier season to come in and really elevate Oklahoma football and get them over the hump under Brent Venables. So there's just a lot of pressure on that. And when there is so much pressure on it, maybe times in the past where, you know, if a guy had been with you for some years and had accomplished some things, or if you had a lot of time with them in the future, I'm not sure about material. Does material have another year he can come back and play, or is he out of here after this?
A
No, he's got another year.
B
Right. So we'll see what he does.
A
He's got two years, but I know he at least has one year.
B
Right, but we'll, we'll see what he does. But in a situation like this where a coach is pressing this much and you've paid a guy and you've brought a guy in to win football games, maybe you rush him back. Maybe he's back a little bit sooner than he should. He certainly rushed back to play Red River. Maybe he shouldn't be out there. Maybe you'd have a little bit deeper of a team and a backup you could turn to if there weren't so many resources tied up in this guy, which then makes you have to play him even more. It's kind of where we are.
A
It's also showing us that you need a backup quarterback. Right. I mean, I know Texas in the off season, Brian. There was a lot of, you know, conversation when Sark was asked about that, he was like, we don't have a backup. It was kind of almost like a point of pride about this team. It's like, we don't need a backup. We have Arch Manning. Right. And it's does feel like if you go across the country, I mean, we saw Texas Tech win a game with their backup quarterback, Will Hammond, that comes in the game. There's been multiple examples. Ole Miss, right. I mean, their best quarterback on the roster is their backup quarterback. So it feels like you almost. The, the old adage was if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. But it almost feels like for safety of your season, you need to have two quarterbacks on your roster that are at least competent. And if you look at North Carolina, they don't have any. So I mean, when you have no quarterbacks, you're in real trouble.
C
Yes. And you need to have the bravery to play the guy you weren't expecting to play when he's the better quarterback.
A
Even if you're paying the other guy.
C
Trinidad Chambers is the, is the ultimate example of that. Right. Why would you take him out?
A
Well, and they do, they keep taking him out and putting in Simmons and.
C
Every time they do two point conversions and all that stuff. Terrible. Like why.
A
I'm wondering if it's contractual with, with Simmons that they have to put him in the game. Like it's crazy.
C
You have to put the two point conversions.
B
Yeah. I mean, you also, you don't want the guy to get disillusioned and transfer. You know, if you're Simmons and you came in there and you got beat out, you got to play Chambers. Chambers is a Heisman contender. But you put Simmons in there just to keep him a little lubricated when it's time for him to come in and play the game, you know, you know, you never know what's happening. We're getting a punt here from the Mississippi State situation. Nibbling back again.
A
Yeah.
C
Oh, okay. Another legacy punt return.
B
The legacy punt return leg. They got a legacy down at the one yard line. Oh, Mississippi State about to. You know what? Mississippi State.
C
This is actually danger zone stuff right here. Texas gonna have to run one play at the one yard line.
B
Yeah, they gonna. They're gonna be fine. The question is another overtime game for Texas. I give Texas credit for this. For as mediocre as they've looked and as mediocre as arches looked when they've been in some of these games like this, they've really played hard and figured out a way to make one more play than the other team. Yes, they're a resilient bunch. They're not out of the game. This would have been.
A
And they haven't turned on Arch like as a team. Anytime you see them in the press conferences, they bring up about Arch like he has got 10 toes down. Everybody on that roster has got his back, which is nice to see if you're Arch.
B
Yeah. So yeah, they have to run the one play from the one yard line. Okay, they got it. So it's fine. Because you're worried about the safety right there, right, Brian? Right.
C
Yeah, you could game right there.
A
Arch with a nice QB sneak right there to get out of the zone. Now we get overtime. That's great. And we get to hang out for overtime, which is even better. Van, do you have a counter play or, you know, zag of the day. Anything you've seen, it doesn't have to be Arch related. It could be anything related.
B
My zag of the day right now is that Stanford's up 7 to nothing on Miami. What the hell is going on?
A
They just killed Florida State last week.
B
Yeah, Miami. My counter play is that Miami better not lose this goddamn game. I tell you that much. I don't think we will lose this game. But if Miami lose, loses this game, Mario Cristobal is going to have a lot of questions to answer. Oh, Mario Cristobal. Break open to Chrissy. Chrissy. Mario Cristobal. No, my counter play for right now is that the Heisman race this year is actually terrible. This is the worst Heisman race that I can remember. And don't get me wrong, there have been some bad Heisman races. You guys remember some of these Heisman races that didn't fucking matter. But this one is legitimately brutal. It's brutal for all kinds of reasons. The top talent of the game that we expected to wow us, they haven't done it. But there was a reason why we expected it from those guys. It was because of the array of talent that those guys could put on the field. Right. A game manager winning the Heisman is not awesome. Well, you really.
A
Mendoza, I guess, right?
B
He could be Mendoza.
C
Simpson's not a game manager.
B
I wouldn't say that he's a game manager. I really wouldn't say that Mendoza is a game manager either. Those guys.
A
Yeah, that was disrespectful. I take that back. He's not.
B
Yeah, those guys are game managers. Plus, but when you see they, they, they. They play fantastic football in the style of that I. You. There's no way in hell you can call Todd Simpson a game manager. He's making every throw on the whole fucking field. But I guess what I'm saying is that for all of the. The excitement that this college football season has had, you really haven't seen the one or two dominant players on the offensive side of the ball that have really made you say, hey, this guy must be in New York. It's one of the reasons why I'm so high on Jeremiah Love, because when Jeremiah Love gets the ball in his hands, he is playing a different game than the rest of the guys that are around him. He's in the NFL and they're still in college. I don't know if Notre Dame is having a. A good enough season or is he having a dominant enough season to get to New York. But I clearly, I think even over. Jeremiah Smith was kind of having a quiet year. I think Jeremiah Love is the best player in college football.
A
It is weird, too, because Jeremiah Love kind of started the season on a pitch count and it felt like they were trying to give him a certain amount of touches, almost trying to save him. And then they lose those games early and it's like, what were you saving him for? Those were the most important games. I mean, that was the strangest part of Love's whole season. But I'm with you, Van. I feel like he's one of those game changers. If you want to do the manager versus the game changer, I feel like, he's definitely in that group of game changers that are out there right now. I do want to ask just about cross off teams, is Oklahoma officially a cross off team at this point? Yeah, they're done, right?
C
They got a tough schedule too.
A
Yeah, yeah. It's only getting worse.
B
They're done. Oklahoma doesn't have the type of momentum they don't have. They are not trending in the right direction right now to be a team that's going to be taken seriously. They might still win some games. They might beat lsu. They're going to beat lsu. Shut up. Yeah, they, they might still beat lsu, but as far as being a real threat in the SEC or on the national level, that's over.
C
Do you guys like this thing where Reese Davis comes on during every game and explains the rules of overtime? We saw this with North Carolina, Virginia earlier today and it's like, you know when you're on a plane and they do the recording of how to put on your seatbelt instead of having a live person explain it? Yeah.
A
They want you to take your headphones off, make sure you're watching, make sure you're paying attention. Remember, you do have to go for two after this. Yeah. It is a very fascinating thing that they have going on there. Should we talk about that game? North Carolina have the jersey. Jersey on. I got a drink.
C
Okay.
A
Trying to remember the good times.
C
Can I, can I throw out something? On that final play of the game? Ben Hall's name of the running is the running back, right. Who was stopped at the one yard line. Was that kind of a low quality stretch for the goal line by Ben hall on that last play?
A
But the reason that happens, Brian Curtis, is because one, they've had the goal line issues all season long as we saw against California, right. They fumbled the ball at the goal line at the end of the game. Also in this game, they should have scored a touchdown to open up the game to get a 7 oh lead. Kobe Peso stretches the ball out, loses possession of the ball. It goes from touchdown to touch back, right? And then I think from there they probably had a, you know, a meeting in the minds on the sideline. They're like, do not reach the ball for the goal line. And then at the end of the game to win the game, a two point conversion. Kind of reminiscent at the 2019, Mac Brown going for two against Clemson. They come up short, just, you know, a yard short, a foot.
C
But you want to be like, now it's okay. It's the end of the last Play of the game. Nothing else is going to happen. Stretch all you want.
B
As a Carolina fan, Tate, what would a win have meant for you?
A
What would that have meant, like payback for 20, 23. So North Carolina was number 10 in the country. Virginia beats them. Drake May's the quarterback. That was a year North Carolina maybe could make a real run and they lose to Virginia and, you know, just kind of. Carolina's lost some of those games against Virginia in the past. So this was kind of a get back payback. Our season's loss give us a sliver of hope. I didn't really like the call to go for two, to be quite frank, especially with this offense, but, you know, you really can't trust the. The offense to go out and score another touchdown after they just did. So, I mean, I understand the call, but it wasn't a great play. Call Freddie Kitchens. Shout out to Freddie Kitchens out there doing his best. But this team in general, I mean, it didn't really hurt as much. I mean, you can't really hurt something that's dead. We're already dead. You know what I mean?
B
You hate your team. When me and you are in the same boat of hell.
A
Like, I mean, this is.
C
This is amazing. I'm close guys, too.
B
I'm not. I'm actually not. Oh, give me five minutes on the run. Arch on the rizzy. Archie.
A
Busy. Maybe we wrap this show where we're all in hell. That'd be great.
C
Yeah. We're all going to Goodwill with our clothes. Yeah.
B
Arch is down. Arch is down. Arch is slow to get up, bro.
C
Arch took a shot to the head.
B
Arches. Arch is slow to get up.
A
Sounds like a flag to me, right?
B
He. He dove head first.
A
Oh, no, man.
B
You know what this is? What? This is what I will say that Arch needs to talk to his uncle about. Not only did Peyton Manning very rarely look at Cooper up there, very unpleased. Not only did Peyton Manning very rarely run and then dive head first to put. If Peyton Manning saw the rush coming and he was, he would just fall down, fall down.
A
He would just like literally cower down, right?
B
Yo, I don't know if we talked about. My father hated that so much. Last week we would be watching the game and they would rush Peyton Manning and Peyton Manning would just throw the ball right down. My dad would be like, what kind of pussy shit is this boy on? What is he? That boy better make a play. He would always bring up a random name. When my father was like comparing somebody, he'd be like, Shit. If that was Dub Williams back there, Doug Williams figured out how to make a play. Like, what are we talking about? Doug Williams, best quarterback I ever seen at Cheney. Bill. Throw. Throw the ball 50 miles. Doug Williams would have found out a way to make a play. It kept that boy out the league. I'm like, daddy, yeah.
A
David Garard would have made a play there.
B
David Garage. You know, it's like, you know, so it's like, I look at that now they got the backup in, so of course they didn't have a backup. We're gonna see if they have a backup now because the backup's in the game.
A
This could be a legacy drive.
C
This is the legacy drive.
B
Who it is? Who is this guy? I don't know who the backup is.
C
Matth Caldwell is the name who came from Troy.
A
Oh, Troy's a good team.
B
Almost be headed it off. It looks like Mississippi State has completely given up the ghost. They. They have no fight left.
C
Why?
B
I have no clue. They're like, please get this game over, man. We want some chicken on the stick. Down and start.
C
They have 15 straight SEC losses. Like, this is the chance to break the streak in style. You can't quit now.
B
It. It seems like right now, O massive false star feeling. It seems like right now they've given up the ghost, man. We've also seen something else about this season. We've seen some brutal, brutal losses, man. Some really tough losses. The South Carolina loss, brutal for South Carolina. This loss is about to be brutal for Mississippi State.
A
I mean, even the Florida State lost to Virginia in overtime. I feel like that changed their whole season. Season, you know, brutal loss.
B
We've seen some really tough breaks.
C
Penn State, three weeks in a row.
A
Yeah. Penn State to Oregon, right? Oregon was brutal every single week. It's. It's like a different overtime game that could break your soul. And obviously, you know, these teams know what the playoff implications are. They know you lose two games. Oh, touchdown.
C
I just love this. I love getting the news. Two seconds.
A
Legacy Dr. Hive.
B
Oh, never mind. It's not a touchdown.
A
Oh, no.
B
Yeah.
C
Van. That was not cool, by the way.
B
I apologize, fellas. It was like.
C
It was very close.
B
Review this. He had him open. Catches it. I don't know, fellas.
C
All right, here we go.
A
We're gonna go to the replay review.
B
Touchy Downey down.
C
Oh, that looked real close.
B
I don't.
C
I think that's. Give me a touchdown. Yes, sir.
B
I think the chocolate Bear. Van Lathan was right, though. Choco Barrel. I think.
C
I think that's my apologies, man.
B
I think that's six. Take. Look at that. Everybody in the chat. In the chat right now.
A
Chad, let us know.
B
Chat. Look at the. Look at that.
A
I think that's six or no td.
C
All right, look at this. So this is the eighth string.
B
There's a foot in. He brings it in.
C
That is a.
B
So there's a catch, right?
C
That is a hell of a catch. If that's a catch.
A
See, this is why we need the game day operations center that the ACC has. We need that in every conference. Like I need to see them talking.
B
About he survives the ground. Listen to me, he catches the ball right there. I never do this during the game.
C
This is a legacy review.
B
I gotta.
A
So they called it not a touchdown on the field. Right. So it's got to get overturned. Which, which is.
B
Look, everybody is saying, oh, Van, fix the graphic. I apologize. My bad.
A
Oh yeah, man, fix the graphic. Yeah, that's my fault. That's my job. That's part of my job here.
C
I gotta remind you, it's a quality control.
A
Yeah, I'm the quality control assistant.
B
Look, looks like a td. That's a catch. Td. Td. Td. Everybody saying like, hey, shout out to the chat. That's a td. I would actually interact with the T chat, but then I don't want them going through like, never mind. But, but it, it, it. That's a touchdown. That's a touchdown to that light skinned young man.
A
He's celebrating. He's acting like it's a touchdown.
B
Yeah, it's a td. That's six. That's a. That's a hell of a throw. Watch everybody in Texas. Yeah.
C
Offensive linemen are congratulating him.
A
Yeah, he's getting dapped up by the whole team. That's usually the sign that, like they saw the replay and they all think it's a touchdown.
B
Brian, let me tell you something. If Arch has a concussion, this boy came in and threw a touchdown.
A
Threw a dime.
B
If they start this guy next year and the offense gets moving, this is going to be one of the silliest seasons in the history of Texas football.
C
Truly. Truly.
B
Touchdown call overturned. Of course.
C
The transfer from Troy.
B
The transfer from Troy. He got one. Look at, look at Starkville. Look at that.
A
Oh, man, that thumbs up they've done.
B
They know, they're booing.
A
Yeah.
C
He started five games for Troy last year.
B
That was a good ball. I mean, it could have been. Maybe he could have fitted it a little bit better through it towards the sideline a little bit. I know I would. I would have had that. I would have been right on the money with it. That's how I get there.
A
Yeah.
C
Arch would have been in the fourth row.
A
He was trying to be safe. He was trying to give some more distance, you know what I mean?
B
Legacy extra point coming up here, Brian. So now Mississippi State officially, mercifully, gets to come out running up the middle three straight times, gain a half yard and get on back to start and get on back. Today it's over. I mean, they're in Starville, so I don't have to go anywhere. But now Mississippi State gets to go back and do whatever they were doing before because they're that pro. That punt. That punt return broke their spirit. Yeah, it did. That punt return broke their spirit.
A
They wanted the Arch legacy drive, and they did not focus on the punk coverage there. I do. Is Shipley the kicker for Texas? He related to the real Shipley?
C
He is. He is not.
A
Okay, I want to make sure. I was like, is he a cousin of Jordan and Jackson Shipley?
C
Because he is.
A
I all of a sudden like him a lot.
B
I got Shipley for you. Are you guys familiar with Shipley's Donuts?
C
Yes.
A
I am not.
C
Yes, I am familiar with that.
B
Baton Rouge, South Louisiana.
A
Shout out.
B
Baton Rouge. Okay, you guys didn't ask, but I don't know if you guys have watched other ringer things. I always bring it back to me. Five places you have to visit if you go to Eden. Baton Rouge. Are you listening?
A
Here we go.
B
Mississippi State just up. That was a touchdown. The guy just dropped it.
A
Oh, man.
B
Five places to go eat in Baton Rouge. Tony Seafood. Plank Road. Gotta go tell them Van sent you. They're gonna be like, who is that number two? Dale Pitts Chicken.
C
Okay.
B
Dale Pitts, the Chicken Shack.
A
Oh, I love a Shack. Anytime Shaq's in the name, it's gonna be good.
B
The Chicken Shack. Blue Store Chicken. Go check it out. I wasn't on the Blue Store for a long time, but now I'm with it.
A
Okay, coming around.
B
Store Chicken Pyrans Seafood Restaurant in Baton Rouge. All of these places are great. Fifth place to me, best place. It's an interesting place. It's on Perkins Road in Baton Rouge. The interesting thing about the places, I'm not sure when they're open. They have weird hours. It's a restaurant called Louisiana Lanyap Perkins and kind of Blue Bonnet Baton Rouge. Basically, Perkins of Blue Bonnet. You go in there, you get something called the Pontchartrain. It is a soft shell crab on Top of a piece of fish with sauce over it.
A
Oscar style. I like it. I like it. Yeah. Shout out to Baton Rouge. I like that we got the top five there. I will say this, Van, you asked if we're watching your stuff. If you have a Samsung tv, you can watch the Ringer channel. I. I literally came down to my Samsung TV today, and it's the midnight boys on my tv and you guys are just chatting. Yeah, it's like unbelievable. Like, literally, it just goes to it, first off. So I want to give a shout out, Samsung tv. Van, you're all over it.
B
Did they tell you to do that?
A
I have a Samsung tv. I came downstairs, Riley's like, what are you doing? What are you watching in there? I'm like, it's the ringer.
B
So they didn't tell you to say that, and you just said it out of nowhere?
A
I'm just telling you my experience, my life experience.
B
Remember the Truman show when Truman's talking to his wife and she goes.
A
And she goes, hey, the cocoa. Yeah, the cocoa powder. He's like, what are you talking about?
B
What are you talking about? Who are you talking to? That's what you just did. Tape for no reason.
A
It does feel like the Truman show sometimes. I have, like the. The actual show up here to my left. So it's like I'm watching us. And real time is this happening? 4th and 10 right now, and it's a false start and it's a false.
B
Guys, it's over. The, like the first.
C
I don't believe you.
B
The first play of the game. State.
C
I believe you, sir.
B
State had a receiver coming over the middle and they threw it. The ball was a little bit behind. He dropped it. That would have put them in business. They would have been in good. That guy might have scored. State's done, guys. State's finished that. That broke them. State's out of here, man. They're done.
C
A shot on third down too.
B
4Th and 15. Let's see what happens here.
A
Last play here.
B
Okay. Can I do something here?
C
Yeah.
B
I've always wanted to do this. Can I do the play by play for this?
A
Yeah.
B
I want to call.
A
Yeah, do the play.
B
So now it's 4th and 20.
A
We need a Musburger moment. Sean McDonough.
C
Yeah. Who's your play by play Guy? Fan? College football. Keith Jackson Musburger. Chris Fowler. Sean McDonough.
B
The. The Keith Jackson Musburger, Gus Johnson, the whole midday SEC crew are my guys. Those were the guys they would like, don't forget.
A
Like, I miss Vern, when I watch SEC games on ABC or, you know, espn, abc, I'm like, it just doesn't feel the same. There was, like, a weight to when Verne would come on with Gary Danielson and, like, he would keep Gary Danielson in check. Yeah, it was perfect.
B
Can I give you guys a sneaky name that actually is good calling college football.
C
Okay.
B
RG3.
C
Yeah, he has good.
A
Oh, it's like a color commentator. Yeah.
C
RG3 as a. Jason Benetti. Yeah.
A
Yeah. Well, Benetti's the best. Benetti's the man. Benetti's.
B
RG3 is a color guy. You guys, there are so many jokes I can make right there, but I'm not gonna do them. Okay, hey, five I could fire off. I got five I could fire off. I'm not gonna do them because I'm giving love.
C
RG3.
B
He's good as part of the broadcast, man.
C
He is. They get some weird games in that Fox number two crew.
B
Yeah. Fumble.
A
Oh, it's over. Oh, my God. Oh, touchdown. Are they gonna pick this up scoop and score? No, he just falls on it. The Texas Brian.
C
Dude, that was. Can I just declare this right now? As a Texas fan, that was the stupidest win of all time for Texas. There were just legacy punt returns, legacy reviews, legacy extra.
B
I gotta say something, y'. All. Joel is in the chat, man. No, hold on for a second. This is. Joel should be better than this.
C
Hey, Joel.
B
Joel is in the chat. Joel should be better. Let me tell you.
C
In your seat.
B
Joel is in the chat. This is. This is. This is a stereotype, and he shouldn't play into this stereotype. He not coming to work, but then he's still at the chat.
A
He's online.
B
That's the thing. Like, Joel, like, dudes call off from work, and then they be in the gym hooping, and they put it on Instagram, and you're like, what are you talking to? Joel being in the chat when he's supposed to be on here delivering the takes is crazy. But, you know, we should be in.
A
A quad box right now.
B
Yeah, we got a new rotation now. Brian Curtis press box. What's better than one press boxer? Two, we bring the Brian Curtis press box situation into this. His horns up, his team one. So I will even need. Joe. Joe, you played us for the last time. What is he saying in the chat?
A
Yeah, someone share the.
C
Joel, I can't wait to pull up my phone, because even before the ringer tailgate show was created, I had a ringer tailgate show. On my phone every day because he would just be texting me about Texas over and over again.
A
Yeah, he.
C
This is so happy for me.
B
They asked me in the chat, they said. They asked me in the chat, they said, who's going to win tonight? It's the versus tonight. Cash money versus no Limit. I want to ask Brian Curtis. Brian Curtis right now. We from the same era. Basically. Basically the same era. Ryan Curtis, what are your favorite no Limit Records albums ever?
C
I'm sorry, I'm having a little audio van.
B
Just hold on.
C
We're good.
B
You gotta be able to name one song from the.
C
Tucker's trying to fix it. Hold on. Just give me a second.
A
I was hoping that Brian Curtis was gonna put camo on and be like, I'm gonna make him say.
B
You know that song? You know, make him say. Don't you make them say, sure.
C
Yeah. Listen, you can't be Joel.
A
See this? And now you're doing a chicken shout out to Masterpiece.
C
You're getting him. You're getting me.
B
Like, Brian. You don't. You mean to tell me you don't know one no Limit Records record?
C
No, we just have an audio issue. That's the thing. I'll get with you in just a second and answer all your questions about whatever you're asking me.
B
So a song played in my. In my Earlier. It came up on my title. It was Train Drops of Jupiter. Okay. Y' all know that record?
C
I. I'm familiar. Yeah. Drops of Jupiter in My Ear.
B
See, I knew that was just. I knew.
C
Like, it really is.
B
You say you didn't know Limit.
C
I'm not on the train.
B
I said, Brian Curtis is a train.
C
Not really.
A
Not.
C
See, that's the thing. I'm nothing. That's. I just don't have it.
A
You're not a music guy.
B
No.
C
Joel has exploited so well, and now he's doing what? He's not even here.
A
Yeah, exactly. I feel like Joel. This is like Joel's dream right now. He's. He gets to watch this and just enjoy it. Hey, man, the logo. We lost the logo.
B
Oh, did we? Lsu. Texas A M is on.
A
That's a real game. That's happening.
C
That's the game of the night. They're showing commercial. Is there.
B
They're showing commercials for those Arby's Steak Nuggets right now.
D
Okay.
C
I saw those for the first time today. I never saw some Arby Steak Nuggets. I would try it. There was an Arby's right next to the old ringer headquarters in Hollywood. And I had the. The drive through of shame. So many times when I would leave work, leave all my colleagues that eat salads behind, I'd be like, I would.
A
Go there with Jim Cunningham. We saw a guy get stabbed out front of that Arby's one time while we were inside. Yeah, it was quite a moment.
B
It's now gone for a second.
C
Not the guy. Arby's.
B
Shout out to Jim Cunningham. Cunningham is one of my homies. But you mean to tell me that you and Jim Cunningham went to Arby's and y' all ate inside the Arby's?
A
Jim would eat inside the Arby's.
B
It was like, you guys are too nasty.
A
I didn't.
B
Nasty.
A
I didn't eat.
B
Okay.
A
I didn't eat.
B
If you go get ready to do.
C
Arby's is the drive through, you're saying.
B
You gotta take it.
A
You gotta get out of there.
B
You don't want to. You gotta get out of the army.
A
You gotta get out of there. People were like, scouting us. They were like. They're like, these are. The guys are gonna go after.
B
They're looking at Arby's inside the place. Then the meat is wafting and touching on top of you. Arby's is not the type of. You can sit inside that and eat it. I'll tell you something else about that.
A
Arby eating a porter potty. Yeah. It was something that.
B
Arby's is legendary.
A
It is great sign.
B
Yeah. But you know why it's legendary?
A
What is that?
B
Hit it, Hoenn. Oh, no.
A
That's why Jim probably went.
B
Legendary. Part of the old Hollywood host stroll.
C
Oh.
B
When you watch the pimps talk about. In the old pimp documentaries, they literally talk about the Arby's with the hat, where they would send their girls out there to work. And they kept the hat around because it's a historic thing.
A
This is all making.
B
Legendary for Hoenn.
A
This is. This is all making sense. I. I now understand why I was there and why I was inside. Jim was scouting. I was getting scouted by the vagrants, and Jim was scouting for the host. So what a moment. Shout out to Arby's. Great times. George has said he's going to come in at some point. He said he's going to jump into the show. I don't know how real that is, or if he's just like, is this a real threat or what's going to happen. But we need him to answer for Nico. That's really the thing.
C
Means they answer for a lot of Things.
A
Yeah.
B
Brian, I want to let you know something, by the way.
C
Okay.
B
I know that song Drops of Jupiter. Word for word. It's one of my favorite records. So if anybody out there is thinking that I was saying that it was something wrong with Drops of Jupiter, you imagine that. Love Friday Chicken. Best friend always sticking up for you.
A
Where's train from?
C
No offensive trained.
A
People in the South. I think they're from the South.
C
By the way, this is seven, seven game.
B
Seven saying seven, seven, seven game. Miami, seven, seven, Miami. Miami is a back question about the game back to college football. I don't know. We haven't even been talking about it. This game for Miami is sneaky important, right?
A
Yeah, absolutely. This is like you need to win 50 to 7 to kind of write the demons there a little bit. Yeah.
C
I've kind of forgotten Miami existed until I saw it on the schedule today because we just. After the Louisville game, it was. It was over. I mean, just.
A
Everybody's a good team, you know, but they're really bad loss. Yeah.
C
And I feel like Miami, everybody was like, you know, there's all this traffic in front of them in the ACC. They can come back. They could totally wind up 11 and 1 and be in the playoffs.
B
Miami, you think they can.
C
It's not crazy. Their schedule was. They. They don't really play anybody either.
A
Yeah, it's wide open for them.
B
Back to Miami. The team is so well constructed. There's like a lot to like on the actual team.
C
Yes. And so especially on the lines.
B
Yeah, the. The both lines are so well constructed. Coming out and being in the uniforms are hideous.
A
My God, I did not know they were wearing those. Holy.
B
It's terrible today. But Sanford's uniforms are actually Stanford trying to respect. No, no, wait. No, that's Miami right there. Miami.
A
Miami's got no uniforms on.
B
But I mean, can you say that, though, if they trying to like, respect the troops. I don't.
A
I think Adidas does not respect anybody with those uniforms. Those are hideous. I mean, I like Miami. Those are.
C
No, they're. They're trying to respect the. The Miami team in. At the Cotton Ball. And was it 91 that came off the plane in the. In the fatigues? That's right. They're trying to respect.
A
Is that. Is that true? I mean, I guess against Texas. If that's the callback, then. Then I at least understand it at some level.
C
That would be the cool. That would be the coolest callback. Right.
A
Yeah, I. I will give them the benefit of the doubt because I Don't know the reason why they're wearing those, but that is atrocious. I mean, because Miami, they have great uniforms typically. That's so bad.
B
Zero. Still zero. Zero. By the way, Oregon and Wisconsin.
A
Oregon legacy game.
B
Luke Fickle legacy game. Luke. Luke Fickle legacy game.
C
Have a job game.
A
Yeah, I want to start a new segment. Legacy. And then we just go through the. The gamut. Speaking of, I did game up. Auburn won. They won an SEC game. Jackson Arnold got benched in that one for Stanford transfer. I saw Stanford playing, made me think of Ashton Daniels. But Hugh Freeze won that game and then afterwards said that they should have won six or seven games. Not that it's a what if game. But did Hugh Free save himself? Did he save his job today, Van you think with that win?
B
Well, yeah, he got a stay of execution. At least he needed to win the football game. People were so down on him. They're expecting big things from Hugh Freeze and those things have not materialized. This is what I say. I'm hearing a lot of college football coaches talk about the games that they should have won and making excuses about the close losses and tough environments that they had.
A
Not Bill Belichick.
B
Not Bill. Not Bill. I get it.
A
You won't do it.
B
My. This is my thing. This is my thing.
A
No excuses. This is.
B
This is my thing. We get it. It's a tough place to play. It's a tough league, all of that stuff. These fans are not going to listen to any of that. They go, they fans in Auburn, they've, they've seen excellence. They want you to win football games. Same thing in Baton Rouge. Wherever you go, we get. It's a tough league. We get the talent spread around more than it's ever been. If you were at Auburn, War Eagle for those people, they're going to expect you to win. They care about their football program. So close losses and coulda, woulda, shouldas are not going to satisfy them. So it doesn't even make any sense for them to do it. Or like all college football coaches stop talking about the fact that, you know, that's a good team in the other locker room now, all that either you won or you lost. Auburn has had a lot of tough breaks, but they needed to get a win and they got one shout out.
C
I think they win seven games if they don't start. Jackson Arnold, I mean, like, oh, he's been bad all year.
A
Yeah, right.
C
Yeah.
B
Kind of one of those guys, though. One of those guys that has such great athletic measurables that any Good coach is going to always feel like they can unlock it. Right. But it just doesn't seem to be coming together for him right now.
C
Five star guy, all that stuff.
A
Pick six in that game. Got benched after the pick six, and then they come back to win that game. I mean, they were down for the majority of that game, so it was actually an impressive comeback for them. So give Auburn some love. They don't get too much. Another game that I wanted to point out because I just thought this was crazy. I didn't really know this. Sunflower showdown. Kansas State beats Kansas for the 17th straight time. Did you guys know that?
C
No.
B
That's 17 in a row.
A
Yeah.
C
That's crazier than Mississippi.
A
17, 17th straight time. I mean, unless the broadcast was incorrect. I didn't go back and look at the game logs, but the broadcast said that was the 17th straight and Kansas was favored in this game.
B
That.
A
Hey, man, that's crazy, right? Yeah. I'm glad you reacted. I reacted, right.
C
17. 17 in a row is crazy.
B
17 in a row is nuts.
A
That's a very lopsided rivalry. Yeah. Seems impossible.
C
So that's. They play every year. Right. So that's.
A
Yeah.
C
What do we do? That's early Obama era, when they. When they. When Kansas last one.
B
That's Mario Chalmers, bro.
C
What was the coach. Who was the coach at Kansas who took him to the orange ball? Got the mustache.
A
Oh, yeah. What was the unit? I get him and Ralph Regent mixed up in my mind. What was.
B
No, that's not Mario's Chalmers era. Yes, it is.
A
Yeah, it's Mario Chalmers. Yeah. Yeah.
B
Hey, hey.
A
Mario's miracle.
B
Did y' all know. I don't know if y' all been watching. Starting five Skeletor that James Harden is dating that, you know, they keep talking about on Scott.
A
That's Mario Chalmers, baby. Mama. Wow.
C
Not to change the subject, but Mark Mangino is the guy I was thinking about. I'm just sorry for this.
A
Mark Mangino.
C
Yeah, Mark Mangino.
B
I remember him.
A
Yeah. Coach of the year in 07, by the way. He was a natural.
B
He had him going for a second. Yeah.
A
Yeah. Big 12 coach of the year.
C
That's probably the last time they won.
A
I think that. I think Mangini has made me forget Mangino. You know what I mean? Like, they've. They've affected it in my brain.
B
Yeah.
A
The man. Remember Charlie, coach at Kansas?
C
That was a crazy lsu seeing his son.
B
Seeing Charlie right now.
A
Right.
C
Calling plays for Ole Miss, Texas A.
B
And M, dropping Again, on the LSU defense, Marcel Reed, third and seven. Can the LSU defense get a stop here on third down? Let's see whose heart will break. Whose heart will break.
C
Is this a legacy, third?
B
No, it's a. It's a. It's. It's. It's not legacy. Because it's six. Because it's a touchdown. That's what it is. Touchdown.
A
Marcel Reed, by the way, he could be in that Heisman conversation.
C
For guys that have improved from year to year, you just forget, and sometimes in college football, how much somebody can improve. My goodness.
A
Yeah, he's a great. He's a really great, like, story of. Hey, maybe wait it out. There's a process here. Last quick hit or last thing I wanted to hit with you guys because I did find this fascinating. Then we can let Van watch the LSU game and be locked in. Nick Saban, on college game day, shut down any rumors of him returning to college coaching. He said, I want to stay retired. I do not want Jimmy Sexton anywhere near Miss Terry, which is his wife, obviously, he said, because when she hears some of these numbers, she's going to get interested, and I'm not interested. It sounds like he could be interested if the numbers are right. Should Nick Saban come back? Could he win an eighth national championship? Do you buy the hype? Ryan Curtis, Is that a story that's worth monitoring? Because it was something that got floated in the off season.
C
So Nick Saban, 73 years old, and.
A
Normally you'd see Bill Belichick's age, by the way.
C
Yes. And normally you'd say it's not going to work, but in the Nil era, where you can power, if you went to a good program where you could power up really fast, I think that could happen in two or three years, don't you?
A
I. I think it would have to happen, like now for. If it was ever going to happen. The time.
C
No, I mean, like, he starts now and in two or three years could be a national championship type.
A
Oh, I think if he starts now, if you go to the. If you go to Texas or you go to Penn State, maybe. I don't know. I think it could move quickly. Lsu. What if Brian Kelly left and went to Penn State and LSU brought back Nick Saban? Man.
C
Oh, my God.
B
I think I would be down for it.
A
You would love it.
B
I. I would love it.
A
Unfinished business.
B
A lot of unfinished business. Full circle, compete. Complete the circle back. I would really, really, really love and enjoy that. I can tell. I can. You know what, guys? I gotta Go get the Bacardi ready, man. It's about to be a long night, bro. You got it's about to be a long night. The refs missed the holding call. Holly Row is reporting like it's about to be a long night, man.
A
Wait, Holly's recording calls with that A and M line going back to the Notre Dame game.
B
This is going to be a referee legacy game.
A
These referees get it together for Van. Can Brian Kelly win this game or can he leave so Nick Saban can return? We also want to do a little disclaimer here. We are not brought to you by Arby's. We are not brought to you by Bacardi. We are not brought to you by Samsung tv Plus these are all things organically brought up on this show just because, you know, hey, they affect our lives and YouTube TV. Love the multi view parting shots. Brian Curtis. Last thing before you get out of here. Any, any parting shots for the people.
C
I cannot wait to text Joel as soon as we get off here. I'm so excited.
A
By the way, he did not join the show.
C
I've been never been more excited in my life.
B
That's it.
A
That's all right. I love it.
B
My party shot is I appreciate Brian Curtis for holding it down. This show is a show that we do live on Saturday. You got to watch the games, then you got to come do the show and then you got to watch your team with a guy that you paying a hundred million dollars to and players that you pay for go out there and break your heart. So it's not easy. Brian's team got a win.
A
Yeah, nice W. They came back.
B
They was actually in hell until Brian jumped on this, which tells me Brian is a good luck charm for his team and I'm a bad one. So let's Watch this game. 31:17, Texas A&M. Final score. I'm calling it. I'll see you guys Wednesday.
A
There you have it. Van calling a shot. Brian Curtis being a trooper joining us for the show. We appreciate everybody tuning into the show. Shout out to Joel Anderson. He'll be back on Wednesday. We appreciate everybody watching ring or tailgate. And again, we will see you in the middle of next week. 21 or older in president, select states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and older in President D.C. kentucky or Wyoming. 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-Hopeny or text Hopeny in New York.
B
Here we have the Limu Emu in.
A
Its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds of with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us?
B
Cut the camera.
A
They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com. liberty Liberty Liberty. Liberty Savings.
B
Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates.
A
Excludes Massachusetts.
Hosts: Van Lathan, Tate Frazier
Guest: Brian Curtis (The Press Box)
Absent: Joel Anderson (dodging heat after Nico’s rough outing)
This rambunctious, fast-paced episode of Ringer Tailgate delivers live, real-time reactions and hot takes from a slate of chaotic CFB Week 9 games. While the main focuses are on Texas’s wild comeback over Mississippi State, Ole Miss’s big win at Oklahoma, and chaos across the country, the crew dives into everything from coaching rumors to heated rants about college football’s strange new world.
Brian Curtis drops in wearing Texas orange just as his team seems doomed, only for them to storm back. While Joel Anderson is missing (“dodging us because Nico did not have a great day against Indiana”), his spirit haunts the chat. The episode is rich in banter, spicy takes on the coaching carousel, and in-the-moment football analysis—with a healthy garnish of college football weirdness.
If you missed this episode: You truly missed a wild Saturday night in college football, captured by three supremely devoted fans, one snickering in the chat, and an episode as unpredictable as the games themselves.