LIVE Week 3: Coach Prime is Baffled, Clemson is Toast, & TEN/UGA Reactions | Ringer Tailgate

Summary

Ringer Tailgate Podcast Summary

Episode: LIVE Week 3: Coach Prime is Baffled, Clemson is Toast, & TEN/UGA Reactions
Date: September 14, 2025
Hosts: Van Lathan, Joel Anderson, Tate Frazier
Theme: Week 3 College Football Chaos – Live Reactions, Deep Dives, and CFB Banter

---

Main Theme & Purpose

This lively episode of Ringer Tailgate is broadcast live as numerous marquee college football games unfold, most notably the Tennessee vs. Georgia thriller. The hosts provide real-time reactions, analysis, and playful debate about the weekend's pivotal storylines: Georgia’s survival against Tennessee, Clemson’s surprising decline, turbulence around Texas and Arch Manning, transfer market drama, and what Coach Prime’s future looks like at Colorado. As ever, their banter brings insight and irreverent humor in equal measure.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Georgia Tech Upsets Clemson — The Decline of Clemson

[05:19 - 08:15]

• Georgia Tech continues their run under Brent Key, improving to an impressive 7-1 against ranked ACC foes after beating Clemson.
• Van: "Clemson played Georgia Tech today and Georgia Tech beat Clemson straight up... Clemson lined up with Georgia Tech and they just were not the better team." (05:19)
• Clemson’s struggles are not just one-offs; they look outmuscled, out-schemed, and uninspired.
• Joel: "I think it's more that Clemson isn't who we thought they were... If they're as talented as we're supposed to believe, they're not supposed to be slugging it out with Georgia Tech." (06:36)
• Doubts arise about Clemson’s talent evaluation; the roster isn’t living up to its reputation.

2. The Tennessee-Georgia Classic: Live, Play-by-Play and Takeaways

[08:15 - 47:29]

• Real-time reactions as Georgia and Tennessee duel, featuring lead changes, gutsy plays, and dramatic mishaps.
• Tennessee’s offense impresses under QB Aguilar, who shocks all as a transfer making the most of Hypo’s system.
  • Joel: "I would have never expected that Aguilar, the former Appalachian State dude, would show up like this. But again, that's the value of having an experienced transfer quarterback." (10:00)
• Tennessee misses a “chip shot” field goal late in regulation, leading to emotional swings and humor.
• Van: "For the college football fan, there are games and moments that define the ascension and the changing of a guard of two different programs... To me now, watching this, knowing that Hypo has a great team, I want to see how they shake back from this because it's the type of loss that really makes you question yourself when you play that well at home." (43:02)
• Georgia escapes and remains the SEC’s top dog, but Tennessee’s legitimacy grows—despite the heartbreak.

3. Texas and the Arch Manning Problem

[12:31 - 15:24]

• Concerns about Arch Manning's performance intensify; perceived as failing to execute routine plays, and the home crowd turns restless.
• Van: "Routine throws that a quarterback has to make to keep an offense in rhythm... Arch cannot make them." (13:35)
• Debate over whether Manning is playing hurt or is in over his head. Sarkisian's defensive and odd handling of the media (“Do I take video of you taking shits...”) is criticized.
• Texas's inability to establish the run is noted as another major issue.

4. The QB Transfer Carousel: Hype, Money, and Regret

[20:24 - 29:48]

• Re-examination of prized transfers (e.g., Nico to UCLA, Malachi Nelson at UTEP) emphasizes that money-driven moves don’t always yield success.
• Joel: "I feel bad for [Nico]. This just did not work out for you at all. But the good thing is, man, he can get into Portal again next year, you know, and he's shown a lot by being tough." (21:00)
• Van: "Before you made that decision to leave that program and go to that next spot... think about how you are going to play when you get the opportunity to play with the people around you and the staff around you. That's eventually going to be the story that's told about your career." (29:00)
• Additional commentary on the unique pressures, NIL disruption, and the shrinking leash for starting QBs.

5. Colorado & Coach Prime: Identity Crisis After Shador

[31:02 - 35:35]

• Coach Prime is now in uncharted territory, coaching a team without his sons, mired in QB uncertainty and back-to-back losses.
• Van: "As much as it felt like we knew who Colorado was... it just doesn't feel like we know who they are right now." (31:37)
• Joel: "At a certain point, Deion's just going to have to win. All the videos and having the Wu Tang Clan on the sideline... they're not going to show up if you're losing to Georgia Tech and Houston." (33:14)
• Raises existential questions about Deion’s coaching future once his family connection dissolves.

6. Is Alabama Back? Wisconsin's Identity Crisis

[36:43 - 40:53]

• Alabama delivers a demolition of Wisconsin behind Ty Simpson and a re-emerging Ryan Williams.
• Joel: "It's also that thing about overreacting a week one... Ty Simpson might be really, really good." (37:41)
• Wisconsin, the supposed model of Big Ten football stability, is now an afterthought.
• Van: "Wisconsin has traditionally been a team... always competitive... but now it just kind of seems like they're another Big Ten doormat." (39:18)
• The Fickell hiring is re-examined skeptically, given historical context.

7. The Transfer Portal—Cautionary Tales Everywhere

[47:47 - 53:36]

• Rapid-fire examples of high-profile QBs who’ve transferred multiple times (Malachi Nelson, Robbie Ashford, Malik Murphy, etc.), emphasizing that environment and fit matter more than hype or fast cash.
• The hosts caution against leaving solid programs without careful consideration; it often results in “career backup” syndrome.

8. Midseason Rankings & The Talent Debate

[49:34 - 56:27]

• Attempts to name the most “talented” team in the country are made, but the hosts agree there’s no clear answer.
  • Van: "I couldn’t tell you right now who the most talented team in the country is. I can tell you that the most consistent performing team... to me, is Oregon. Right. But they haven’t really played anyone." (49:58)
• Miami, Ohio State, and Oregon all get shoutouts, but the rising power is still unknown.
• The emergence of true freshmen (e.g., Jeremiah Smith at OSU, Bryce Underwood at Michigan) brings intrigue but also skepticism about whether they’ve faced “Zod” yet—the ultimate test.

9. The Death of the Pac-12 & Realignment Blues

[68:16 - 74:39]

• Oregon State and Washington State (now "the Pac-2") slump, hammered by realignment fallout; losing coaches, recruiting pipelines, and money.
• Joel: "For Oregon State to have lost Jonathan Smith, that was a real... that made me feel sad because Jonathan Smith is a really good coach, man. I think he’s going to be okay [at Michigan State]... If he leaves, Oregon State is going to be in real trouble." (69:11)
• Discussion of the loss of “Pac-12 After Dark” and regional rivalries; the nationalization of college football has made it less fun, and some brands risk permanent irrelevance.

10. Heisman Watch and Cross-Off Teams

[63:51 - 82:50]

• Heisman race names: John Matier (favorite), Aguilar (TEN), Carson Beck (UGA), Dante Moore (Oregon), Tommy Castellanos (BC), Julian Sayin (OSU), Jeremiah Love (ND).
• Quote Van: "Right now I know who the guys aren’t." (64:07)
• Cross-off teams: Clemson (dead), Kansas State (shocking mid-September elimination), warning signs at Texas.
• Joel: "Nobody is great forever, man. Eventually it comes to an end and it just kind of... Clemson just seems to be on that sort of a gradual decline." (79:19)

11. Notable Rivalries and Cultural References

[67:15 - 77:34]

• Backyard Brawl—West Virginia vs. Pitt—gets much love for its wild finish and nostalgia factor.
• Playful ribbing and extended digressions (e.g., cannoli talk, “frame vs. picture” dating analogy) offer character insight and comic relief.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "It’s the type of loss that really makes you question yourself when you play that well at home... it’s a tough, tough game for your mentals." – Van Lathan on Tennessee's heartbreak (43:02)
• "Arch cannot make [routine throws]." – Van Lathan (13:35)
• "You need him. You do not want to go with that kid again anymore right now. This is the worst way to go into overtime with that kid." – Joel on Tennessee's kicker after the miss (26:59)
• "If you go to your people and you say, I want a million and a half more dollars, I want more money to play quarterback, you gotta ball out, man." – Van Lathan, on transfer QBs and NIL (22:09)
• "At a certain point, Dion's just going to have to win. All the videos and the Wu Tang Clan on the sideline... they're not going to show up if you lose to Georgia Tech and Houston." – Joel Anderson (33:14)
• "Clemson has been consistent in one thing this season, and that's mediocrity." – Van Lathan (81:49)
• "Rapid-fire examples of high-profile QBs who’ve transferred multiple times... these decisions that you make are starting to tell the story of your career." – Van Lathan (29:00)

---

Important Segment Timestamps

• Clemson's loss & fall from grace: [05:19] – [08:15]
• Georgia vs. Tennessee, live reactions & analysis: [08:15] – [47:29]
• Arch Manning/Texas QB dilemma: [12:31] – [15:24]
• Transfer portal & NIL cautionary tales: [20:24] – [29:48]
• Coach Prime in crisis: [31:02] – [35:35]
• Big Ten/Alabama/Wisconsin talk: [36:43] – [40:53]
• QB transfer chaos: [47:47] – [53:36]
• Talent and Heisman debate: [49:34] – [66:50]
• Pac-12/realignment sadness: [68:16] – [74:39]
• Cross-off teams & playoff discussion: [78:13] – [82:50]

---

Tone and Flow

• The episode keeps a loose, irreverent, and fun tone while delivering sharp insights—think a cross between a fan forum and a locker-room breakdown.
• There’s real-time banter, genuine emotional swings as games finish, and a willingness to critique both coaches, programs, and their own previous takes.
• Frequent pop culture references and analogies (dating, “frame vs. picture,” cannolis, superhero tests like “Find Zod”) keep the content playful and relatable.

---

Final Takeaways

• Clemson’s run as a national power looks over—no more hiding behind “talent.”
• Georgia survives and stays king, but Tennessee looks poised for future relevance.
• The transfer/NIL era is making and breaking careers at warp speed—player and coach decisions have never been riskier.
• Coach Prime’s “era” beyond his sons may face a harsher reality check than expected.
• Alabama is surging again; Wisconsin is lost.
• The loss of the Pac-12 and traditional rivalries is a cultural wound for the sport—even the “winners” are diminished.
• Heisman race is as unpredictable as ever, and the playoff picture remains gloriously chaotic.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone wanting an authentic, plugged-in feel for the upsets, anxieties, and storylines shaping 2025 college football. The mix of game breakdowns, cultural critiques, and plenty of jokes makes it both comprehensive and genuinely entertaining.

---

For more, catch the full episode and tune in live Wednesdays and Saturdays for more Ringer Tailgate coverage.

Transcript

[A]

This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. If there's one thing I'm going to make sure I pack for my summer vacation, it's my Apple Card. I can earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase, including fuel for my car and booking places to stay. Plus, I don't have to worry about fees, including foreign transaction fees, which is perfect when I'm planning to travel abroad. To get an Apple Card for your summer travels, apply in the Wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch Variable APRs for Apple Card range from 18.24% to 28.49% based on creditworthiness rates as of July 1, 2025. Terms and more at applecard.com.

[B]

Your tailgate presented by FanDuel and college football Saturdays are already delivering Every game means something right now. Ranking shift, upsets hit and the best place to stay on top of it all. Fanduel Whether you're riding a new kickoff or betting the late games, FanDuel lets you bet it your way. Same game parlays, live betting, player props, alt lines. Whatever your angle is, it lives in the app. So if you're watching all the action, bet on it. Now with FanDuel, download the app and head to FanDuel.com tailgate and make every Saturday count. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and help lines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Welcome to Ringer Tailgate. We are live. It is Saturday. We have a lot of football games that are happening in real time. If you're just joining us, we got Georgia, Tennessee coming down to the wire. Last four minutes of that game is happening in real time. We got weather delays all across the country. USF Miami is part of those. Again, they're trying their best to stop our Bulls, but first and foremost, let's say hello to our guys. Van Lathan. Van Good to see you, man. How you doing on this Saturday?

[C]

Great. Wacky, weird day of college football. I'm having fun.

[B]

Yeah, you got a lightsaber on your shoulder. You got the logo behind you on the television. It's all good stuff. We got Joel Anderson here as well. And Joel, how are you holding up on this Saturday?

[D]

I wasn't paying attention. I thought he kind of was doing like a joke crucifix or something like that, you know, like you. Because you know, like what was it in the Hate Me now video, who was carrying the crucifix? Was it Puffy or Nas?

[C]

Well, you want to get trouble last time. It's a very controversial music video for myriad reasons.

[B]

It's a great song though.

[D]

I understand.

[C]

I don't know if you want to deal with that, but this is a lightsaber. We were talking about that earlier, but.

[D]

Do you see what I'm talking about today? If you looking at him on camera. Camera. And that. That line from the bottom of your TV looks like.

[B]

It looks kind of like a candle that. Like an acrolyte in church or something.

[D]

Yeah, I was like, like when it's.

[B]

When it's tough behind your shoulder.

[C]

I have several of them. You know, it's. I'm a warrior. I'm a college football warrior. A Jedi warrior of college football.

[B]

He's fighting the good fight again. We got this Georgia Tennessee game. We will talk about that as, as it's happening in real time. But first and foremost, let's start here. You get a lot of first takes to open up shows. We got a first fact. And I'll read this out to you guys. Georgia Tech under head coach Brent key is now 71 against ranked ACC teams he beat. Number 24, Pitt. Number 13, UNC number 17, Miami. Number 17, UNC number 10 FSU last year. Number 4, Miami last year. And today number 12, Clemson goes down. Van, your reaction when you saw the Tigers fall? This was my trap game. I circled at the beginning of the season and again the Tigers go down at Georgia Tech.

[C]

Yeah, it's annoying. It's annoying because the LSU victory over Clemson continues to look more and more suspect as Clemson goes out on the field and actually loses. Let me tell you what I mean about actually loses. I'm not talking about a game where the conditions get mucked up and they're sloppy or there is one player who's having an out of their mind game or there's an injury or any of the myriad storylines that can take place in the college football game that can legitimately explain you losing it. I'm not talking about any of that. I'm talking about the fact that that Clemson played Georgia Tech today and Georgia Tech beat Clemson straight up by establishing the line of scrimmage, by having the tougher, more dependable quarterback and about having the defense that seemed like they were in a better position to make plays. Clemson lined up with Georgia Tech and they just were not the better team.

[B]

In Haynes King we trust. That was the sign that was reverberating through the stadium as they Stormed the field after this win in Bobby Doubt Stadium, which is a great stadium, great atmosphere. Georgia Tech fans were electric all day. Joel, did you see anything in this game that made you think to yourself, you know, Georgia Tech actually is a team that's a contender? Or was this more about Clemson and the fact that they aren't quite who we thought they were?

[D]

I think it's more that Clemson isn't who we thought they were. Right. Because I think if. If they have as much NFL talent as they had, they allegedly have, which would have been quarterback, wide receiver, theoretically, some of those starting linemen, because they basically returned virtually their whole line from the previous year. Two defensive linemen who are top 10 picks, allegedly. If that team is as. As talented as we're supposed to be, they're not supposed to be slugging it out with Georgia Tech as good as Georgia Tech is. And I think Georgia Tech is very good team. Like, it seems like they could potentially be a playoff contender. I mean, but no matter what, what Brent Fries Brickey is doing there is a hell of a coaching job. Georgia takes only real advantage over its peers, is being located in Atlanta, like one of the most talent rich areas of the country. But like, they'll never be number one in town. It's a hard school to get into. All the freshmen have to take calculus and any of the recruits that are trying to get into school there. They're also considering Stanford, Northwestern, Duke and whatever other, you know, Power 4 team is recruiting them.

[B]

So even like a Virginia Tech. Right. I mean, that was a school that used to compete with them as well. Right. We're just the technical institutes going head to head. And they had a better football program, so they were always trying to.

[C]

Behind.

[B]

Behind the eight ball, you know.

[D]

Yeah, yeah. I kind of thought that maybe we had seen the best of Georgia Tech. We. They would never be competitive. Very. Not really be able to compete with the Clemsons of the world. But man, Brink, he's done a tremendous job. Man, he's done the difficult at least so far. But the next step is winning consistently. Like win when people expect you to win. So they've got to do that now.

[B]

Yeah, we got Georgia Tennessee. If you're watching, they just tied up 38. 38. You look mesmerized right now as you're watching this.

[C]

To the corner of the end zone by Gunner Stockton on fourth and six. Then a great play call on the two point conversion. Wide open receiver on the two point conversion. The game is now tied. And Aguilar, Joel, your guy has the opportunity to drive the ball down the field with just about two to play and get a really career defining win in Neyland Stadium.

[B]

Are we shocked? This is a shootout. I mean, from the jump in this game, all the Georgia people in my life, you know, they kind of heard what we had talked about, you know, on our Wednesday show and they were like, you brought up like Josh Hyple maybe getting one over on Georgia. Kirby knows everything about Hypo. He likes that. He likes to run all these plays. It's a good thing for him. But they come out and score 21 points in the first quarter and it, you know, Aguilar couldn't have been any better. I mean, was it shocking to see that this score is right now 38 to 38 with 230 to play? I mean, not necessarily the defensive showdown we may have expected going into this one, right, Joel?

[D]

Yeah, I, I think that the surprising thing is that they kept scoring. So Obviously they scored three touchdowns on their first three possessions. Aguilar looked amazing.

[B]

And 14 for 14 to start. Yeah.

[D]

In those three possessions, they scored more games against Georgia than Tennessee had scored in any game since Hypo had been there. So it was like that. It was like, it was like, oh, okay, like they've totally flipped this on the head. Then they come out after halftime and it looked like Georgia had sort of keyed in on them and they'd figured out some things and mixed up some coverages to slow them down. But then Aguilar and Brazil. Is it Brazel or Brazil?

[B]

Like Brazil.

[D]

Brazil.

[B]

The razzle. Brazil is what?

[D]

Brazil. That's right. I like that. I like that. Yeah, it's pretty good. The thing about Georgia, the advantage they always had over Tennessee is that Tennessee could out athlete everybody. They're just very vertical with their routes and you usually can't man up on them. And so most teams sell into a zone and they would get picked apart like that, but Georgia always is at the athletes a corner to be able to cover them. And for they've been able to out muscle them and out athlete them in the past, but this year looks like things have evened up. I would have never expected that Aguilar, the former Appalachian State dude, would show up like this. But again, that's the value of having an experienced transfer quarterback, man.

[C]

Absolutely. He seems to have great command over Hypo. System hyper was all over him. And look, this Tennessee offense, obviously the defense is having some struggles out there. Georgia got a lot of, a lot of talent on, on offense. As Joel said. But this Tennessee offense is operating at the peak premium level against peak premium competition. And that's, you know, partly to do with Hypo, but partly to do with the fact that he has a trigger man out there that he can rely on to run his system.

[B]

And also, I mean, Brazil just going back to him, he had two and one touchdown catches in this game that are basically jumping balls. I mean, unbelievable, right? We'll know it now.

[C]

Yeah, but even on those jump balls though, you see your quarterback recognize single high. He knows he has single high, which means he can throw the ball on the one on one to the outside and either live with the jump ball because he believes in his guy, because on the second throw he was not behind the corner. That was a 50, 50 jump ball. Best guy gets it. But you can throw that knowing that the backside of your read is true. You're trusting your eyes, you're seeing that one safety. Nobody's going to sneak across the field and pick that ball off. Throw it up there, let your guy did it. So it's a veteran quarterback move.

[D]

Hey, my racist stat of the day is no longer any good. Man. Wingo scored a touchdown for the University of Texas. So finally this year, a black athlete has scored a point for the University of Texas this season.

[B]

Man, congratulations to Ryan Wingo. It's got a hurt for our guy. Parker Livingston or Living Stone. Have we figured that out? Have we adjudicated what the actual pronunciation is at this point? It's Livingstone correctly correct fan, it's Livingston.

[C]

But I think here on Ringer tailgate is Living Stone because he's just so solid, you know what I mean? I'm glad you guys brought that game up because look, if you are watching the game, which me, Jomi and Kai. Jomi and Kai are in the other room right now, right there probably finishing off. Man, if you are watching that game, there is no longer any ambiguity about the fact that that Texas has a problem at quarterback. Guys, they haven't.

[B]

And that's a good problem at quarterback.

[C]

Not like one of the problems like you. I'm a problem. I'm a problem.

[B]

No, not Bryce Underwood.

[C]

He's a problem at quarterback. Wide open receivers and not only wide open receivers. We're going to talk about a throw or you could talk about a throw where there's a receiver coming across, flashing across the hash. There's a throw there for a decent quarter, but excuse me, for a decent quarterback to make Arch doesn't make it. I'm sorry, guys, this is a different.

[B]

It's the Arch.

[C]

It's a different day. You're talking about that throw, but you're also just talking about like literally out routes to the sideline. The guy is open. Yeah. And Arsh is just throwing the ball away. We were laughing in the other room, not laughing at his misfortune, but it's comical that everyone is watching him. And the routine throws that a quarterback has to make to keep an offense in rhythm, y', all, Arch cannot make them.

[D]

It's an issue that you've got to hope that he's hurt. Like, that's the. That's the hope. Because if he's not hurt, then we have some other really serious questions about what is going on here. Man, he got. They got booed at the end of the first half. Like, Texas looked that bad against UTEP. And it was 7 to 3 until Arch takes in a little touchdown run right before the end of the half. But it was 7 to 3 most of the half. And the off, the fans were getting sick of this. And for people that have not been to DK and seen a game there, like, this is not a rowdy crowd. This ain't lsu. This ain't, you know, Penn State, whatever.

[B]

You gotta show them something to get a reaction, right? Yeah, it's a very like blue blood basketball crowd that's at that stadium where like, they'll go silent quickly if they don't like what they see.

[D]

They don't.

[C]

They.

[D]

I mean, they don't make a hell a hell of an. It's not. Nobody has ever said, man, it was intimidating to play at the University of Texas. Texas, right. But they were booing old boy on the way out, on the way off the field in the first half. And I just. Again, you gotta hope it's hurting that some. That something is wrong, but he can manage to play through it. Because even right now, dog, this is UTEP 10 of 23 for 101 yards touchdown and a pick. I mean, that's what we all said. Okay, well, after Ohio State, he's going to put up a bunch of big numbers against utsa, Utah in San Jose State. That is not what has happened. I mean, so that this suggests that there is a real problem down there, man.

[B]

And this is coming off Sark's quote, which was very strange. We talked about it on the last episode. But you would suspect at some point if he was going to double down and say, hey, do I take video of you taking shits that, you know, there would be some sort of bounce back from his QB1, but instead it's the opposite. And Van, is it fair to ask the question again after this game? Like if you're that reporter you asked, you got the weird answer, but it's, it's probably worthy of a follow up, right?

[C]

Well, unless if Sark doesn't have a good explanation for people as to why the offense is struggling, he's gonna just dig his, his, his, his offense is grave, even deeper. He needs to have a real conversation with people that makes them feel like one day in the next coming games they are going to snap out of this. Look, we got a lot of guys we're trying to work in. Arch is still a baby quarterback that's absorbing the offense. Things are moving fast. We're, we're trying to do things to slow the game down for him. All different types of situations. We. How about some belief in your quarterback? How about we know that these accurate accuracy issues are, that they're not going to last, right? They're, they're impermanent because we've seen him be accurate. We know he can do everything we're asking him to do. How about a vote of confidence there that we've seen Arch be better than this? We know Arch is better than this. And these are the reasons why you guys might not be seeing it right now on the games and on film, but like shitting on people and playing coy and cagey with them is not going to work because the product on the field is too flawed to do that. There are real questions that people are going to ask as to why this particular quarterback was ballyhooed as the Heisman winner lock first round, first quarterback off the board where he doesn't even look like a draftable quarterback right now.

[D]

Man. You know, it's interesting too, because as bad as Arch has been, you know what would make me really concerned? The Texas hasn't been able to establish the run against like Utah too. So like, at least you could say maybe Arch is hurt. Maybe Arch is still figuring out, you know, timing with his receivers or whatever and they haven't gotten to a rhythm. Maybe that'll come, but at a minimum, you should think they should be able to overwhelm these schools. And that's just not what happened. They, they dog, they don't have 300 yards of total offense yet. Now again, you know, maybe we got a half of a quarter to go and I'm sure maybe they'll pull it away. But while this game has been theoretically competitive, Texas has looked pretty terrible.

[B]

Have you guys seen the red Bull video where he has the drone and he's like, throwing the football at the drone. Who are you guys seeing that?

[D]

Yeah, I've seen that.

[C]

I've seen all of it. Arch. Got a lot of commercials, man. Arch Archer, he looks.

[B]

He looks great. The rebel commercial. And now I'm like, were they doing some editing here? Like, he's, like, knocking the drones out of the air. He's, like, throwing a tight spiral. I haven't seen one of those throws yet. I'm a little bit worried about Red Bull.

[C]

He looked great in the Red Bull commercial. And he looked great wearing the Warby Parker glasses with his dad. They walking around with the goddamn glasses. Yeah, take the goddamn glasses off. Or maybe put the glasses on.

[B]

That's what I'm saying.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Why don't people talk about the Vori, man? Why nobody recognize the Vori?

[B]

Those are three huge brands that are probably concerned about their investment right now.

[D]

Yeah, he looks good.

[C]

But I mean, this. This story isn't going away. It's not going away. When you set the expectations of people, they live by those expectations. You know, as much as we talk about people and how cynical they want to believe what you tell them. It's like. It's. You know, Arch is kind of like when a guy tells a girl that he loves her, tells her he loves her, doesn't show up to her birthday party, tells her he loves her, can't remember anniversary, tells her he love her. Trying to hit on our friends tells you all of that stuff. And then one day you have to go, hey, man, I'm not seeing it. It's not enough. But still, the fact that the initial promise was made weighs on people's minds to such a degree. People still are like, where is this quarterback we've seen? Maybe we'll see him, maybe we won't.

[B]

And we got a situation right here. 34 seconds left. Tennessee is driving. They are in field goal range, technically, right now. 38. 38. Second and seven. Fourth quarter here, so this is a chance. First time that they can let Aguilar throw it. Oh, yeah, he's throwing it close. Close to a first down.

[C]

So first down and try to get the first down. Trying to salt off a little bit even more of this clock. Joel, I gotta ask you, man. The. The whole world is wanting to know. Last night, I don't know if you saw, but Nico in action again. He was in action. They lost.

[D]

Dissing this young man dog.

[C]

New Mexico State.

[B]

New Mexico.

[D]

New Mexico.

[C]

New Mexico. They got blown out by New Mexico. They Got blown out by New Mexico. This guy wanted $4 million. Now his, his backup, who's probably paying for some Zaxby's right here. That's what he's playing for. I saw Omar Epson, the Zaxby's commercial. He got them about to beat Georgia. You said very famously on the podcast that they should have paid Nico the $4 million. And I'm wondering, I'm wondering, Joel, if at all your opinion has changed from what you've seen.

[B]

Good question.

[D]

Joel, your thoughts, man, y', all, man, why I wanted this, Nico. But, no, but here's the thing, man. Here's the thing. I, I, the, the, the thought process I had is that Nico certainly overplayed his hand here, but I didn't think that Hypo would want to disrupt his program in that way. You know? Like, I just, it didn't seem like that much money. And I really underestimated how good Aguilar was, bro. But how do you think Aguilar would look at UCLA right now? That's the thing. Because if you watch that game last night, UCLA looks pitiful. Like, they look like. I feel sorry for them, right? And I mean, they're playing in front of 400 people at the Rose Bowl. They got no juice. They look small and slow. And Nico looks defeated already. Like, I feel bad for the kid. I'm like, man, that this just did not work out. So far. This has not worked out for you at all. But the good thing is, man, he can get into Portal again next year, you know, and he's shown a lot by being tough. I think he's held up pretty well through this. He's the only thing they got. He's the only thing UCLA has.

[C]

And, and you know, be honest with you. Nico is not. There's no way to really assess his talent because what you're saying is true. The surrounding, the supporting cast is so bad. But I'll tell you this, though. Yo, we could couch it, put it perspective, all of that stuff. The reality is, if you go to your people and you say, I want a million and a half more dollars, I want more money to play quarterback, you gotta ball out, man. Because at that point, like, you are upsetting the, the dynamic of the team. You're upsetting that dynamic of the program. I'm not saying that these kids shouldn't get paid, go out and get paid. But if, if you do that, you have got to deliver. And, and not only do you have to deliver, but I'll say this. It was up to Nico and his father to think about the place to go, that they would have had the most success going to the team that was able to give you close to what you were already making at Tennessee, when you know that the amount of money that you were making, number one, was going to hamstring that team's ability to go get other players. And on top of that, that there was nothing from a roster standpoint that UCLA had that would undergird your ability to make plays. And to be successful, you gotta. You gotta make a decision about whether or not they made the best decision about Nico's football present and future, or whether it was all about money.

[D]

I. So people are gonna get mad if I say this, but it reminds me of Diona and Shador because shit. Well, because you brought.

[C]

You didn't brought the black people in it again.

[D]

I know, man.

[C]

Sisms is more schisms.

[D]

Here's the thing about Dion and should I always said Dion and never had to interview for nothing in his life. Everybody is like, man, you know, Dion be like, man, don't even. I'm not even bother working out for y'.

[C]

All.

[D]

I'm not gonna be there at this point in the draft. But he also overplayed his hand. Like, they. The way they handled the draft process was that of somebody who was a surefire first round pick. And they didn't know. And this is what I think happened with Nico and his family. Like, basically they really, they thought, man, look, I've got. I was just in the playoffs with this team. Tennessee has not been in the playoffs. You know, I mean, even though it's an expanded playoffs, they. I'm part of the renaissance here. I've got pro potential, I've got all the attributes and I was once a five star. Surely somebody will be. Will want me out there. And. And then they did made the mistake of not actually checking the market and apparently and seeing who else was out there. Because if UCLA was your option, allegedly the reason he did not want to stay at Tennessee was because he was worried about his supporting cast and he thought I was going to be the only one there.

[B]

Everybody, Brazil looks nice now just if.

[D]

That'S true, like, that's just, you know, was reported on message boards and other kind of stuff. But, but I mean, bro, like, I, I'm. I'm guessing he didn't think UCLA can't be that bad.

[C]

You know what I'm saying?

[D]

Like, nobody would think you wouldn't go to UCLA and be like, man, we have a shot to go 0 and 12, you know, like, we'll probably be competitive. Nah, man, it's. It is. It's the worst UCLA team I've seen in my lifetime.

[B]

Yeah, we have a chance where UCLA goes 0 and 12 and Tennessee goes undefeated. Now, I mean, that would be the starkest contrast maybe of all time. And Jo dad obviously said they already won the trade. We were worried about those quotes going into the Georgia game, but right now, with about three seconds to play, they're going to have a chip, you know, Chip. Seven seconds to play. A chip shot to win this game for the first time since 2016.

[C]

Yeah, don't. Don't chip shot. This is a big kick, though.

[D]

Wait, what happened? They just had a penalty, too.

[C]

False start. False start. So you're gonna march them back about five here, which if you are the kicker, those five yards feel like 500 yards, right? Like, it's.

[B]

And if you're a Tennessee fan, you're just.

[C]

You.

[B]

This is a nightmare.

[C]

Such a big kick from Tennessee, you guys, is about to happen right now. We're watching it. Max Gilbert for Tennessee. But you know what else? While you were thinking about. While you were talking about Nico, I thought about something else that I've been seeing. Hold on. We gotta watch this kick real quick.

[B]

Yeah, this is real time right now.

[D]

Oh, man.

[B]

No time.

[D]

Don't, don't. Don't react for, like, 30 seconds.

[C]

He smoked it. He missed it.

[B]

Tennessee fans have to be sick.

[D]

Oh, wait, are y'.

[C]

All.

[D]

Are y' all being serious?

[C]

I swear he missed it.

[D]

Oh.

[B]

Oh, man. This poor girl. They're showing Tennessee fans, they're like, we've been here before.

[D]

That is. Oh, my God. Oh, no.

[B]

They want it so bad.

[D]

I feel bad for the way that kick missed, man. It's hilarious.

[C]

You missed it.

[B]

That was his first kick.

[C]

They look like they are about two throw up right now.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

42 yarder. He missed it. He pushed it right.

[D]

Also, also, look at that boy. Look at that boy's face. I don't know if you can go to him again now.

[B]

Right. He did not want that kick.

[D]

You need. You need him. You do not want to go with that kid again anymore right now. This is the worst way to go into overtime with that kid.

[B]

Aguilar pre celebrated, by the way. They just showed Aguilar. He literally stands up like it was. It was. Was good. And then had to reach the sideline.

[D]

It's a metaphor, you know?

[B]

Yeah. We were hypo.

[C]

Emotionless. Get. Get back in the. Get back in the huddle and let's see now we go to overtime. Tennessee gonna lose. So, like that's what happens when, when you miss a kick like that. Some. Just to put a pin in the Nico thing, this past week, this past week of watching college football, obviously the college football weekend starts on Thursday. Thursday night I got to see my guy, Hollywood smothers my new favorite player over there at NC State. Go crazy, right?

[B]

Oh, yeah, that was a fun game.

[C]

It's a fun game, but I'm seeing stuff and it's interesting terms of the Nico thing and other stuff. The quarterback that was playing against Hollywood's mothers was Robbie Ashford. Robbie Ashford of Oregon Auburn fame. Right. I watched, I'm watching right now. Oregon State play Texas Tech. That's up here. And I believe that the Oregon State quarterback is Malik Murphy from Duke. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Duke, but also from Texas.

[B]

Right, right, right.

[C]

And you know, I'm looking around in the, in the UTEP game, UTEP versus Texas, the UTEP quarterback was Malachi Nelson.

[D]

Malachi Nelson, five star, the former five.

[C]

Star from USC who goes to Boise State, then goes to utep. Now he's in UTEP trying to figure it out. Yo, these quarterbacks, these guys, they're bouncing around now like NFL clipboard holders. Yeah. And it matters. The situation that you're in, for you to make the most of your talent, these decisions that you make about whether or not you're going to sit behind a guy, about whether or not you're going to go into the transfer portal, about which coach, which oc, which QB coach that you're going to go with. They're starting to tell the story of your career. You're watching guys trade jerseys, I don't know, like their goddamn career backup that's going from the Chiefs to the Raiders to whomever. So, you know, before you made that decision to leave that program and go to that next spot. Don't just think about it from the standpoint of I'm not playing right now. Think about how you are going to play when you get the opportunity to play with the people around you and the staff around you. Because that's. That's eventually going to be the story that's told about your career. It's just the success that you have with the access to talent and the access to coaching that you have. So I don't know it. You got to make the right decision for your career, man.

[B]

So things move quickly. I think that's like kind of the larger message, you know what I mean? They'll pull it real quick. Like they'll leash has never been shorter for these quarterbacks because everybody knows they can go in the portal and find another one. And there's usually a five star that's just trying to find a home. Well, that's why the leverage.

[D]

Well, that's what I was thinking about the Colorado thing too. That is sort of weird. Like, I kind of want to revisit that in retrospect because Colorado, in case people don't know they lost on Thursday to University of Houston 3620 Dion is now 1 and 2 admired in this QB controversy. And so you had Kaden Salter, you got tired of him after basically, you know, six quarters of football. And I'm just like, in retrospect, is that fair? Is that right? Like, I mean, shouldn't he have given Kate? I mean, obviously now you see that Georgia Tech is a pretty good team, right? Like Georgia Tech made theoretical or you know, projected first round draft pick Clay Club Nick look pretty bad today. So if Kaden Salter struggled against Georgia Tech, it sort of makes sense. But then you pull the hook on him and then you bring that freshman out there and then you do this third stringer who you've had on your roster for all these years and it's like, oh, now he's the answer. Well, what, you've had him in your program for three years.

[B]

Like you running scout team.

[D]

Yeah. You just now realize. So I'm just like, it just seems like maybe they're mishandling the quarterbacks there and you know, maybe in retrospect, maybe Kaden Salter deserved a little bit more of a leash instead of be jerking him around like this already.

[B]

But the only quarterback he's ever coached is Shador. Right? So, I mean, he's never had a situation where he would ever pull the plug on Shador. So like, I feel like that's the fascinating part. It's like we're kind of seeing what it looks like with prime without Shador. And it's like he has a very short leash on quarterbacks and he, I mean, there's a chance Staub doesn't start this weekend. Right. I mean, he basically after the game said Staub had a bad game.

[C]

Yep. He didn't play well. He didn't play well. Didn't make any other excuses for it. Just said straight out he didn't play well. Is coach prime right now coaching from a position of strength? As much as we as it felt like we knew who Colorado was for the last couple of seasons, it just doesn't feel like we know who they are right now. Yeah, it doesn't, it doesn't seem like they know who they are right now. And as the losses continue to mount. I'm not saying that they will continue to mount. I'm saying that they're mounting right now. Is there a chance that Deion Sanders wakes up one day and goes, I don't really want to do this that much. My sons aren't here. This is not for me?

[D]

Absolutely. Well, I mean, he's never really coached a season without his kids by his side. That probably is a huge adjustment. Right. When usually your kids go off and you get used to them not being there and you sort of develop your own identity. But all of their identities, their whole college experience has been so tied up with each other, they don't know another way without each other. And yeah, like, I mean, I'm looking at the team and I'm just like, I mean, I, I'm, I'm guessing Colorado. You play Colorado in that time slot, you're probably still going to get more ratings than, you know, somebody else, you know, Akron versus Ohio or whatever. But it doesn't feel like Colorado quite has the juice that it had, you know, when this whole experiment started. And it's like, all right, at a certain point, Dion's just going to have to win. Like, it's just not, you know, all the videos and all the having the Wu Tang Clan on the sideline and all that, like, they not going to show up if you lose into Georgia, Georgia Tech and Houston, you know, and.

[B]

People don't want to put their reputation on the line to go there and be on the sideline if you're going to lose games. I mean, people like to be on the winning side of things. And it does feel like, you know, that if you fall short of the expectations, even if the expectations might be too high. They won nine games last year, but again, you had the Heisman Trophy winner. So some people thought that they underperformed based on the talent that they had. And most people thought that Shador would be a first round pick. So it was like you had a first round pick quarterback. You had a guy who is a generational talent and so much of a generational talent that we've seen other teams playing guys at corner and at wide receiver across the country. It's like a new thing, the Travis Hunter effect. And they still didn't do much with that. And, you know, what is the sell now, Van, like, for, for Coach Prime? Like, how do you spin this to hey, this is a rebuilding season. You know, we're retooling things. Like, is that sort of the way that this goes? Because the schedule doesn't look great as I look ahead?

[C]

Well, I mean, this is where we're going to find out just what kind of coach Deion Sanders is. He is in. He's already proven himself to me to be a program builder. You know, if you ever play college football. 25, 26. I don't like 26 as much as.

[B]

25, but, yeah, 25 was better.

[C]

Yeah, 25 is better, but, you know, they have different type of coaches that you have, and one of them is program builder. Now it's. You cannot say that Deion Sanders hasn't built a program there. There kind of was no program there before him in terms of any program, program that had any snap, any sizzle, any structure to it. He came in there and he created an identity for Colorado. Now we're going to see. We're going to be able to see if the fundamentals are there, the things that you have to do to win, the recruiting, the discipline, the detail oriented, process oriented way that you have to coach in order to build a winning culture and not just kind of capture cultural lightning in the bottle. We're going to see if they're doing that, and we're going to see as much in the losses as we will in the wins. So, I mean, we'll see what happens now over the course of the next couple of games. Tennessee, it looks like, just kicked a field goal. They went back.

[B]

Yeah, Gilbert got redemption right there. He made one.

[C]

So now we're going to see if they can keep Georgia out of the end zone. And we're going to see if Georgia can, Can, can. Can get a field goal themselves and stretch to a second overtime. So we'll see what's going on right here. But I don't know, man.

[B]

Feels like a win for Georgia.

[D]

Let me build just one quick thing on the Dion thing. You know what it is about Dion, man, is that that he was a game changer. A lot of people just tried to do what he did. Like, they caught, like, you hire Mike Vick, you hire whatever, or you build, you put, you know, the prime celebrity, right?

[B]

That's what they called it.

[D]

You get some sort of celebrity affiliated with your program and try to build it, and then everybody's turning over their. Their. Their rosters. Like when Dion did it and he had like 90 new players his first year, people were like, oh, my God, that's. That's unheard of. But now that is just a thing that happens when there's a coaching turnover. Now, like Arizona State did it. Texas State has done it.

[B]

Bill Belichick, 70 new players, right?

[D]

Yeah. Right. So it just kind of happens. And so. Yeah, so people have also taken his ideas and it's like, okay, if I'm a five star, I know that I can go to the NFL from lsu. I don't have to go play at Colorado and I can play big games. Oh, oh, yeah.

[B]

Nate Frazier, Georgia.

[D]

Sorry, yeah, that.

[C]

I'm a.

[D]

That would be a bad play by play guy.

[C]

George is inside the five.

[D]

Yeah. Nate Frazier peeled off a little run around the left end.

[B]

I gotta get that Nate Frazier jersey. I got a Todd Gurley 3 jersey. I need the Nate Fraser.

[D]

Go Nate Fraser.

[C]

Man, that was. What else did we learn? What else did we learn? This weekend we saw Penn State play again. Obviously their games to come. Lsu, Florida is still to come. A bunch of great games to come in tonight's slate. Usc, Purdue is on right now after a long weather delay. What else did we learn, though? I. I saw a lot of other games and I'm. I'm wondering if I have a better sense of who Penn State is, if I have a better sense of who Oregon is, if I have a better sense of who Alabama against a legitimate Power 4. It's just Power 4 now. A legitimate Power 4 team went out and looked amazing. They executed and they played with a lot of snap and a lot of fire. Is Alabama back?

[B]

Is Ryan Williams back? I think is the big question. I mean, he had one big catch and then it kind of opened up the floodgates in the second half. Had that flea flicker play, had another big touchdown where he does the jump stop the Reggie Bush halt and continue. I mean, he had moments in this game where you're like, okay, that looks like Hollywood Williams. You know, it looks like he's back to being the box office guy again. That was nice to see.

[D]

Yeah, it's. And it's also that thing about overreacting a week one because it was like, oh, man, Alabama got a more talented quarterback on the bench. Why don't they play that freshman? I was like, oh, actually Ty Simpson might be really, really good. Right?

[B]

Four touchdowns today.

[D]

Yeah, 24, 29 for 382. Right. Like he was, like he was dinking and dunking in this game.

[B]

He's throwing deep balls. I mean, this guy's got an arm. Yeah, he looks so.

[D]

So again, like I said, we. We sometimes need to give ourselves time past that first week. But I don't think it's too early to panic about, if you're a Wisconsin fan, about what the hell is going on there, because what, what is your identity, bro? You know, you tried to fill Longo air raid type deal. You're like, okay, that's a bad fit. It's like when Brian Callahan went up to Nebr and tried to do the, you know, the west coast offense or whatever, and now they're just like, all right, we got some sort of a mishmash. You know, they brought in Jeff Grimes, who was in Kansas, and it wasn't Penn State before then, it was. He was Kansas and someplace else. I'll, I'll look it up later. But it just feels like they've got nothing going. Like they don't have an idea that they used to be big offensive linemen and a running back that's going to get 1600 yards. They don't have that right now. Now. But also part of the problem is that they've never, they've not figured out the quarterback thing like they've tried, but they just. The guy, Danny o', Neal, got hurt. And so they had their backup plan today, and it went about as well as you think a backup Wisconsin quarterback plan would be.

[B]

You know, and he was a home run higher. Like when Luke Fickle got hired, right? That was the guy that was like, okay, Wisconsin football, we did it. We got our guy. Things are going to be great. Now we're four years in van. It doesn't look great.

[C]

It doesn't look great. To the, to the, to the point of, I don't even understand why I've. Wisconsin has dropped off of the top of mind as a football program. So when Joel was like, you know, what's going on in Wisconsin as Wisconsin? My first response was, who cares? I don't care.

[B]

He's like, back in Alabama.

[C]

Yeah, but, but, no, but to be honest with you, though, you make a great point. Wisconsin has traditionally been a team. LSU went up there with Leonard Fournette some time ago and got their asses kicked. Got a mud hole stomped in the ass in Wisconsin. It was a team that, that was always competitive, always played a brand of football that you could, you know, count on them playing really, really hard. But now it just kind of seems like they're another Big Ten doormat. So I, I guess their, their loss is Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan's game. But they didn't have anything for Alabama today. It was easy.

[D]

It was terrible. They're terrible.

[C]

Easy pickings for them, man.

[D]

It's funny, though, and this isn't quite fair. I mean, the one thing that I did remember about Luke Fickle, before the Cincinnati stuff, it was like the only time Ohio State has legitimately been bad in this generation or in my lifetime was the year Luke Fickle was the head coach. Now, you went six or seven that year. That's. That's the worst season Ohio State's had in, I mean, a quarter century. So not fair. He followed up at the trestle and after all the probation stuff and all that stuff.

[B]

But, yeah, he came off Tatu gate. Yeah, yeah.

[D]

Tattoo gate. But still, I'd always just remember, I was like, man, I mean, you really have to have a lot of faith that he knows what he's doing. Because when he had all the talent, he had everything he needed to succeed. He went six.

[A]

This episode is brought to you by Viori. Look, I'm not a big let's hype up workout clothes guy, but Vuori, 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 Vuori 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 Vuori. 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 NBA 2K26. A favor to my sons and me. All right, quick break. NBA 2K26 stacked this year. Gameplay new motion engine smoother. Catch and shoot. The rhythm shooting is dialed in. My team added the W. So now you can get Caitlin Clark pulling up from deep. Larry Bird talking trash mid game. Jokic casually dropping triple doubles. It's absurd in the best way. My career has a whole new storyline. The city's tighter and you're on the court way faster. I've been playing video basketball games. I think the first one was early 80s. I'm stunned. Like when I. When I go and my son's playing with his friends and I go in and I barge my room and I start playing with them, I'm just amazed by how good, how detailed all the games are, how they really look like NBA players. 2K26 is finally here. And yeah, it Is absolutely loaded. If you care about basketball even a little, you're checking it out today. Ball over everything. This episode is brought to you by Bleacher Report. Football is back, and downloading the Bleacher Report app puts you in the middle of the action. Make Bleacher Report your go to this season for the fastest breaking news alerts covering NFL and college football. And don't miss a moment with highlights, scores and live reactions in the app. Get expert analysis on your favorite teams and the news that you want this season. Download the bleacher report app today.

[D]

7.

[B]

Man, Georgia wins.

[C]

Georgia wins. I gotta say something, man. I gotta say something about this game.

[D]

Man, oh, man, look at these faces.

[C]

This is one of them ones. I'm sorry, man. This is one of them ones. I want people to listen, okay? For the college football fan, there are games and moments that define the ascension and the changing of a guard of two different programs. It had been a while since Georgia had lost to Tennessee, and Tennessee had a golden opportunity, not just to beat Georgia, but to announce themselves as a rising power in the sec. To put dings, major dings, in the armor of who was the king of the SEC after saving Kirby Smart. And to. To say, hey, maybe the east goes through Knoxville now and they couldn't get it done. They made enough mistakes, giving up a touchdown on the fourth and six, missing a field goal, all that. They made enough mistakes for Georgia to walk out of Neyland thinking, yeah, this is the same old Tennessee. Maybe a little scrappier, maybe a little tougher, but at the end, we gonna put a W on them. The always. The way. The way that we always do. And so you just. To me now, watching this, knowing that Hypo has a great team, I want to see how they shake back from this, because it's the type of loss that really makes you question yourself when you play that well at home. You scored 41 points on Georgia and you lost. It's a tough, tough game for your mentals, man.

[D]

Man, you and y' all enjoy Aguilar, man, y' all counting y' all chickens before they hatch. You know we won the trade, man. You know.

[C]

They did win the trade. Like Joe, the Nico take was a bad take.

[D]

It did. It wasn't a bad take. It just didn't pan out.

[B]

I think it's more about UCLA, too. Look, UCLA played, paid New Mexico $1.2 million and lost that game. They also paid Nico $1.5 million. So on Friday night, UCLA fans felt a $2.7 million loss on the football field. And they sold 200 tickets while they were doing it. It was so bad that Matt Leinert was tweeting ways to fix UCLA football. Like a USC legend is trying to figure out how to fix UCLA football. It's not good.

[D]

They. They look. I mean, again, what do they have? They have nothing, man. You know, DeShawn, again I said I.

[B]

Love DeShawn Foster as a player.

[D]

Carolina Panther DeShawn Foster was one of my like low key favorite college running backs. To look like he just looked like a college running back.

[C]

You know, the little.

[D]

I just always was like the. When I played, I would want to have like the little jersey just come right over the top of your bicep. When it looked right then you had your little back flat pad and he kind of had his little pad back there. And I love desean Foster as a college running back. I just, he just looked like the perfect college running back. But man, they're gonna have to fire him, man.

[C]

Like, what do y' all feel like? What does this mean for Georgia though? What does this mean for Tennessee?

[B]

Oh, I feel like for Georgia it says that we're actually the, the best team in the sec. I think this confirms their own. You know, they haven't looked to win that game on the road in Neyland. It's like we're on the way.

[D]

If LSU wins tonight, you wouldn't, you would. All of a sudden you demote. Demote them maybe.

[B]

Let's make it more simple. They're the best team in the SEC east, you know what I mean? Like, so they get, they got that throne handled and then when the SEC west shows up, you know, we'll see where things stand. The Alabama thing is fascinating with them. Kirby Smart is not, you know, he obviously had the one win against them, but he has not figured out how to beat Alabama consistently. So that game at home will be fascinating to see where they really are. But this was a confidence booster for Georgia.

[D]

I was really, I was really good about to say about Georgia. I was like, oh, okay. Like I guess the king is dead, you know, like, like, you know, maybe it's. Maybe it's a wide open thing and you know, Gunna Stockton looks pretty good, but, you know, Georgia doesn't look as scary as it used to. And the idea that Georgia could give up 41 points to somebody who's not Baker Mayfield and you, you know, Baker Mayfield and Lincoln Riley, it would be like, oh man, that's kind of crazy. So I just, I was totally expecting to, like, have that little epitaph there. But if anything, it's like, yeah, man, they're going to be right there. And, man, Tennessee got nothing to be ashamed of, man.

[C]

They played all that. They lost. They were supposed to win that game. They like. No, that might.

[B]

That might haunt the season for them.

[C]

They. They. They were supposed to win that game. Look, I'm sure Tennessee has everything to play for. They have everything to play for. By the way, guys, when we say sec, east and west, we realize that the divisions don't exist anymore.

[B]

Yeah, but it's still in your. In your minds.

[C]

In your mind. We're talking about cultural. Because I. You know, it's so funny. What I love about all my college football fans is just how pedantic we are. I love, like, I love that that's a part of it also.

[B]

It changes every year, but we act like it's been, you know, leaders and legends. You know what I mean?

[C]

Right.

[B]

It changes all the time.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, like, I. I have to say, Tennessee has a lot to be ashamed of. A lot. This was a really important game for them to win, man.

[D]

We're gonna see how you feel after DJ Lagway do it to y' all here in a little bit.

[C]

I'll tell you like this. LSU is a completely unknown quantity. With the way they played in the Louisiana Tech game and with how Clemson has played, I give LSU credit for a road win against a team that has a lot of talent. But we watch Clemson move the ball on. Excuse me, watch Georgia Tech move the ball on Clemson a lot easier and with a lot more consistency than what LSU did at times, at least to me. You know what I mean? We would. So, you know, for. For us as an LSU fan, as that wind starts to erode, you start to wonder what the team really is. And we'll go another step to finding that out tonight. It's a game that has me nervous. I told you guys before, I told you guys earlier in the week, like, we nervous. But. But what I will say this is, I am pretty sure that If LSU scores 41, they will win the football game. And for Tennessee, a team that is trying to reclaim the old glory, man, they gotta beat some of these teams. And they've done it. I have. I'm not gonna say that they haven't done it. They've had some really big wins in the Hypo era, but it has to be a situation where Georgia comes in there and they leave with a loss. It just has to be that way at some point.

[B]

I do want to ask this one big question. We obviously, at the beginning of the year, everyone talked about, you know, Clemson, the most talented team in the country. I think we've got enough data points at this point to say they are not the most talented team in the country. So the question is simple lies and damn lies.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Who is the most talented team in the country, Van? Based on what we've seen so far, and obviously that's a, you know, obviously a very specific way to frame it. But is there a team that you would say is the most talented? Talented?

[C]

Who knows? Nobody knows. Think about the gigantic gaps between the talent that we were told that some people have, some players have, and what they've actually showed us. We don't know anything with the way that these rosters have thinned out because of NIL and the transfer portal, the movement that we see in the sport. We've talked about that. We have to see guys put their fingers in the dirt, their hands in the dirt and get busy before we know exactly what we have in them. And that's not to say that Peter woods or Caleb Downs or any of these other players around the country that we've seen play and we know all their measurables that they're not dogs, because we know some of them are dogs. The question is not just how much of a dog you are, but how many dogs you got around you, what kind of scheme you in, how are you going to play? As far as the, the collection of talent. Bozeman's coming in here. You want to say hello, jump up here, boy. As far as the collection of talent and how these guys are going to play, we just don't know any. We don't know. I couldn't tell you right now who the most talented team in the country is. I can tell you that the most consistent performing team in the country, probably to me, is Oregon. Right. But they haven't really played anyone and.

[B]

They rely on a lot of true freshmen and they also rely on a lot of different playmakers. Right. I mean, they had 25 different guys touch the ball on offense today. So I mean, when the game kind of gets smaller and the. You don't have as much time with the ball.

[C]

I could also say Miami, though. I could also say Miami. Let's say Miami. I can say Miami is the most consistent team that I've seen. Miami has like, they're beating our, our Bulls right now and they also beat Notre Dame. Those are two. If they hold on in this one, those are two pretty good Wins. So I mean, I don't know. There's no way to know. We don't know yet. We don't know yet. T. God damn it.

[D]

I'm, I'm gonna go with Ohio State. I think I, I think that's the most talented team in the country.

[C]

Okay.

[D]

See what I'm saying? Like Jeremiah Smith, you got, you know, Caleb down son and Styles, you know, Arvel Reese, you know that's a, that's a pretty, that's a pretty, that's a pretty loaded team. Like again we, to your point, we don't know nothing because they haven't really played anybody and it may turn out that Texas is nobody too. You know what I mean? Like baby, like, like the Texas. That Texas win doesn't look so impressive in, in retrospect. But yeah, we'll figure it out. We'll see what goes on. My boy Bear Alexander for Oregon showed up pretty nice today, man. Five tackles, tackle four loss. Bear man.

[C]

All right, you know what? Look, and to your point Joe, we could go look at the blue chip ratio and see and just look at the numbers of who has the most dudes. Dudes as defined by, you know, the guys who are talent evaluators in the business. We can go look at that and now tell us who has the most five stars, who's running the fastest 40s, who has the highest verticals and all of that stuff. But what I'm, what I'm looking at right now is which team has the collection of the most dependable football players. The guys who are going to make plays, the kickers that are going to make big time kicks, the, the safeties that aren't going to let guys get over the top of them. They're going to play to the scheme and stuff and I mean we're still finding that out. We haven't had too many marquee matchups. I mean we got some marquee matchups happening in the night, but we haven't had that many marquee matchups. So we'll know right now and sees up about to be 17 to 3 on Purdue. And I'm not saying that Purdue is a power right now in the Big Ten, but if SC wins this game and they were doing in dominating fashion, that's an important victory for Lincoln Riley to me.

[B]

And you would think they'd be a top 25 team too. I mean I know the AP, we already talked about the AP voters but it does feel like USC just as a brand. They're 3, 0. They you know, have had some good wins on the board, I guess. You know what I mean? It feels like they would end up in the top 25. Georgia Tech should end up in the top 25. I wanted to ask you guys about Michigan as well. Biff Poggy coaching that game. Obviously Sharon Moore is out for the next two games. He says after the game, Bryce Underwood, who rushed for 113 yards today, we haven't really seen him use the legs. We've seen the army, but the legs were, you know, very impressive today. And he said after the game he might be Batman, quote unquote. When you hear that, do you buy into the to the Bryce Underwood hype van might be Batman? I did not expect that comparison.

[C]

This is the problem with me with these games, with what I've seen. Bryce Underwood is going to be a big time player. Player, big time player. Let's think that'll happen. He just seems like it'll happen. You look at him and it, it seems like it. But you know, the statement that Bryce Underwood is gonna have to make to arrive as a big time player is when he leads Michigan to a win and an awesome performance against a team where the talent is close to being equal or even slightly better. Where he is the difference maker, where he is the guy that can't be stopped and then puts Michigan over the top. That hasn't happened before. As much as we saw from Bryce Mitch, from Bryce Underwood today, it was Central Michigan. And so no disrespect to Central Michigan, Dan LeFever. All right. No, no disrespect to them. Right? No disrespect to them, but we just watched Bryce Underwood in a game last week against Oklahoma and it was a game where the offense couldn't get their together. So what, what I'm saying is, yeah, reps matter how he looks matters like how what he shows, how he flashes on tape matters. But we will know who Bryce Underwood. Well, we know who Batman is because Batman and Gotham, we know who Superman is because Lex Luthor keep trying to take over the world. It's the conditions and the circumstances around those guys that defines their heroism. And you can't say that you Superman and you the man. If you out here catching people that's trying to pass bad checks. No, you gotta save the world from Brady act. From Lex Luthor.

[D]

Right?

[C]

You gotta save the world from General Zod. What happened with Zod show up, huh? How about that? And Bryce Underwood ain't seen his Zod. He saw last week. It wasn't even Zod. It Was like a clay face and clayface one. And he's not even from Metropolis. So I'm saying is we'll know who he is when he's in a situation to. Just to demonstrate it. And the one time that he was, he wasn't quite ready yet. It's understandable, but we'll see how he develops.

[B]

Yeah, new shirts coming out. Find Zod. That would be good. You know what I mean? Instead of, like, you know, when people reply, fine, God, you know, Find Zod. To all these guys.

[C]

Yo, me and Tape been talking a lot recently, man.

[D]

Y' all got. What's up?

[C]

What are y' all doing, man?

[D]

What are y'. All.

[C]

Yeah, me and Tape been on the phone. Tape. I'll tell y' all this real quick, man. It's just been different things for me and Tate to talk about. We got different situations, different things happening. Me and Tape been on the phone. Tape, bruh.

[D]

What's up, Josh?

[C]

Joe, don't underestimate Tate. It's something there, bro. Don't take. Got some with him, bro. I'm not even talking.

[B]

We all feel like Ryan Staub right.

[C]

Now, but I'm not. We all like Tape, but I'm talking about Tate. Tate got a little bit more white boy summer in him than you think he might. It's interesting. I've been listening to it. Tate. Tate got some with him. I'll be on the phone with Tate. I'll be like, oh, my God. Talking that.

[D]

Wait, what are you talking about, man?

[C]

You know what I'm saying?

[D]

I mean, I. I can't pretend like I could be on the phone after work, you know, because of the kids.

[B]

But we gotta get, you know, what's going on. That's the plug.

[C]

You know, we talk about.

[D]

Really?

[C]

We'd be on there doing company gossip. But that's okay. We're not gonna talk about what we talk about. People could probably guess talk about what we'd be talking about when we're on the phone, but Tate got more with him than I thought. You know what? So it's.

[D]

It's the whole thing my wife said about you, Tate. She was like, man, he's just, you know, you could just tell he's just one of the nicest white boys there is. You know what I'm saying? Like, he just, you know, just gives off. Just like being at a. Like somebody you would see in one of those, like, frame the picture frames or maybe.

[C]

Oh, you know, that's a dis. Tape.

[D]

On a nice yard on a.

[C]

Nice That's a dis.

[D]

With, like, a beautiful wife and, like, a little. Oh, man.

[C]

Listen to me.

[D]

You don't get to be. You don't get to be in them.

[B]

Frames unless you're in a lifestyle or.

[D]

Whatever it is she was talking about. And she even mentioned your hair was nice. And I was like, what the.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Let me tell you something.

[D]

So whatever you're doing, keep doing it.

[C]

I get Kalika right now and bring her in this. Let me tell you something.

[D]

I can't get my wife because she's got two kids, but I ain't got no reason to make it up. I'm telling you.

[C]

I'm not saying that you made it up. I know that that's true.

[B]

Hey, my mom's a first grade teacher.

[C]

Let me tell you. Let me tell you, like, something that actually happened. 2011. We try to hook our friend Celia up with a guy that we know. Nice guy, great guy, fantastic guy. We're hooking him up. It's not working. It's not working. The spark is not. It's not crackle popping. Okay? It's not working. It's not. It's not happening. And we see them. We go out. You know, the arc light was still popping. We go out to the movies. We have dinner in a little cafe by the arc light. Everything, they look cool. Everything is good. But whenever we check back in, it's like. I don't know. It's kind of not happening. We only hang out when it's the four of us. It's not happening. And you know what she said? She said, I don't know if this is going to make sense, but he kind of seems like a guy that comes with the frame. And I promise you, Joe.

[D]

Oh, man. I mean, that doesn't show you.

[C]

Just this.

[D]

Take that.

[C]

No. Some women.

[B]

I took it as a compliment. I took it.

[C]

And she said. We was like, what does that mean? She was like, I don't want a guy that comes with the frame. She's like, I want a guy who makes the picture.

[D]

Oh.

[C]

And I looked at her. I was like, if you don't talk your. If you don't talk your shit.

[D]

Crazy, man.

[C]

You just played. Hey. You just said, okay with the frame. Some women make the picture. Take me, make the picture.

[B]

I gotta paint that picture.

[D]

I'm not a photogenic person, but what I would say is that my wife is a person that wanted the frame. Like, you know, we look around sometimes at each other, like, man, we got a nice yard. We got our beautiful kids. Here, like, we really feel blessed sometimes. And so, you know, the frame can be a very nice thing. It mean. It could mean. It could be for a subtle thing, some kind of peace and calm that. Take. Take me. Seems like he'd come to your house, man, and he would bring a nice gift, like that bottle of wine or a nice dessert. Something I'd never had before, you know, Joel, he's like, oh, man, you've got to try these cannolis.

[C]

Oh, I've never had a cannoli before. I've never had a cannoli before. I've seen it on. I've seen it on the Godfather, so Bran. And then I seen it on. On the Sopranos, and I never had one before. A lot of the stuff that they have on Sopranos, I would never. I never eat it. And then one. Like, one day I was at a sandwich shop, like, last year, and I asked the dude what came on the sandwich, and the guy was like, this, this, and this. The gabagool. And I was like, the gabagool, huh?

[D]

Is that a real thing?

[B]

The gabagool's real.

[C]

Yeah, the gabagool is real. I was like, ah, the gabagool, man. What are you talking about, huh? It's me.

[D]

Some.

[C]

It's me. It's the Mulan. Huh?

[B]

Kyle. Our producer, Kyle Crichton, he is saying, get back to football soon. So I apologize. Oh, so no finish with the Gaba ghoul, though.

[D]

Finish.

[C]

That's it. That's it. It's. It's. They want us to get back to football. We can get back to football.

[D]

The last thing about the cannolis, I had a friend, my boy Steve brought. He brought me a cannoli. And I never forgot it. It was like 20 years ago, too. So I was like. Anyway, so they're good. Yeah.

[C]

Your friend gave you the cannoli, huh?

[D]

You can skip that. Y' all already know. You are.

[C]

Back to football. It looks like Notre Dame has already scored on Texas A and M. How. How's that game gonna go? Isn't that a big game for Notre Dame?

[B]

I think I helped Notre Dame get a win there. I spoke into Existence that I thought Texas A and M would win that game. And the line started moving towards Notre Dame, and, you know, I think that's. That's probably how it'll go.

[D]

Notre Dame has no choice but to win that game.

[B]

But they have to, right?

[D]

They don't have very many opportunities to prove the. To build a nice resume for themselves. You know, one thing I was thinking about with Texas A and M, man. How good would it be if they had Haynes, king of quarterback still, you.

[B]

Know, be you, man. They got quarterbacks everywhere.

[D]

Kind of. What kind of Wegman or Wegman, whoever is listening. But he's at my. My school. University of Houston, not my school. That's the school I root for. I grew up rooting for. And he looks good there. And I. At A M, they were like, oh, man, that dude can't pass. Like, his. His. He looked like he had legs for arms. And now all of a sudden he's doing. You know, he's doing something down there, man. So, yeah, I don't. You know, I mean, A M. Man, that's. That's Jimbo.

[C]

That's.

[D]

These are all Jimbo's guys, man. And, like, why couldn't he have done something with these dudes?

[B]

That'll be the question when Jimbo tries to throw his name into the ring.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Carousel, right? They're gonna be like, how did all this talent go out and you did not win, right?

[D]

Heisman, Haynes. Yeah, man. You could have. You could have had Haynes king. Why couldn't you make something out of that? Why could. Why.

[B]

Speaking of Heisman, can we bring that up? John Matier seems to be the favorite right now. He's had nine straight games with at least one passing, one rushing, touchdown. They played Temple today. Obviously not a big game, but they did play really well in that game. Does it feel like. Like he's the leader in the clubhouse for Heisman? Van, for you right now?

[C]

For me? For me, definitely. It's based upon, you know, the. The. How they beat Michigan and what he looked like when they did beat Michigan. I really thought, though, that had Aguilar won the game today, that with the way that he played in the numbers that he put up, that he would have put his name at least near. Near the group of names that you had to watch for the Heisman Trophy. There's just still so many big moments left to be had. But, like, right now, I know who the guys aren't. And some of the guys that we were told might be in that situation leading up to. And I don't think a lot of guys we expected to be a part of that conversation are. But Carson Beck, I'd say Aguilar, had he won the game, you still might get some people that think, okay, if they come back and have it, he's announced himself as a fantastic quarterback talent on that level, playing in that type of situation. So if he does that consistently, he could certainly Be there, but you know. Yeah, so of those guys that are playing qb, I would think that those would be the guys. I also want to see how Jeremiah Love plays tonight because I thought that Jeremiah Love would have been somebody with the way that Notre Dame was going to lean on the run and have to lean on the run if they have a new QB that could be there as well. So we'll see how he plays and see how that plays out the next couple of weeks.

[B]

What about Tommy Castellanos, Joel? Do you think he's in that mix as well still? It does feel like the flavor of week one is fading a little bit, but if anything, I think that his performance against Alabama is aging well. Aging like fine wine, I would say at this point.

[D]

Oh, absolutely. I mean the thing is, is that he's going to have some opportunities to have like, you know, to, to have sort of a showcase game. I was actually looking for their schedule, but he's going to get to play against Clemson and I mean, I guess it depends on what you think of Clemson, right? Is Clemson still like a legitimate win or whatever? But he'll have that game, he'll have Miami. So he's going to have a look, a couple more high profile games. He could certainly work his way into that. But I, you know who I think think is ahead of him is Dante Moore. Man, Oregon looks so good.

[C]

Really?

[D]

Yeah, man, Dante Moore looks so good. The offense looks so good and it makes me think, you know, they could, they keep rolling like that. I mean, they have a couple of games that are manageable, right? They, they go to Penn State this year. I think so. You know, they win that game, that might put them in the, in the front runner seat for that, right? I, I would think he would be, he would be that guy. But yeah, if I had to guess right now, probably. Man, this is still tough, man. I like Devin Damp here. I bet Julian saying if Ohio State keeps winning, you know, like if you happen to be the quarterback of the number one ranked team and you have pretty decent stats, you're probably going to go to New York. So like Julian saying, probably has a chance. But right now, yeah, I guess probably my leader would be Dante Moore, I think.

[B]

Okay, shout out to Oregon Hill. That 66 yard touchdown run he had the 23 on look like Michael James. I mean he just bursted through everybody and nobody could could catch him. I mean that Oregon offense is explosive to say the least. We did not mention this game. I wanted to throw it out because it is a rivalry game. Pit West Virginia. West Virginia wins that game in overtime. Rich Rod, obviously a little bit of a stumble last week against Ohio, but an impressive win, right? Against Pitt.

[C]

Yeah, man. The backyard brawl.

[B]

Yeah, there you go.

[D]

I'm so glad they're playing it again.

[C]

Yeah, I'm glad they're playing again. Too cool to see West Virginia out there. Love when West Virginia is up. We've talked about some of the players from West Virginia and historically that we've. That we've loved. Eli Holstein, the pride of Zachary, Louisiana. There's the quarterback for Pitt. I watched a little bit of it. I was able to. To flip back and forth to it. It was just awesome to see the game being played. I remember that game.

[B]

They were down 10 late, too. Like, pick got up to 2414. Yeah.

[C]

Down 10 late. Downtown late. We're able to get it done. So. Yeah, man, like, I'm able. I'm interested to see if Rich Rock can get things going in West Virginia again. I'm interested to see if he can. It's just a. It's. I don't know how relevant West Virginia will ever be as a college football power. I'm not sure whether or not they can play with the big boys with the Nil and all of that stuff, but getting their culture back as far as what. What it's meant to be a mountaineer in the past would be awesome. It'd be awesome to see.

[B]

Speaking of teams, I can't play with the big boys anymore. I did want to ask this, Joel. Is the Pac 12 officially dead now? Oregon State gets kind of routed by Texas. Texas Tech Wazoo. Shout out to the Cougs. I love Cougs football. I watch all the games. They get routed by North Texas today. North Texas looks like a top 25 team, but it does feel like the ripple effects from the PAC12 ending are now affecting those two teams. The pack two does not look good right now.

[D]

Oh, no, they look pretty bad. And I mean, they're always. The thing is, is that it's really hard for them. Like, it. It when they were parts of leagues, they were always going to be behind in terms of resources and access to talent. Right. Because of where they're located. I mean, I've been to both Corvallis and Pullman, and they're hard to get to. Right. And you got to Eugene.

[B]

You know what I mean? Like, right.

[D]

Yeah. Eugene's harder to get to than Pullman.

[B]

It's crazy how, like, the. The propaganda works with those teams, but.

[D]

Once you get to Eugene, like, you And Eugene and the facilities, you know, it's a, it's a whole thing, right? If you've ever had a chance to walk through those facilities. And I have. But yeah, man, the Washington, I mean they're always going to struggle and they've just both under. Recently undergone coaching changes. I mean for me, for Oregon State to have lost Jonathan Smith, that was a real. That made me feel sad because Jonathan Smith is a really good coach, man. And I think he's going to be okay there at Michigan State. He's got Aiden Childs and it looks like they're, they're doing okay. And I've. I felt like man, if he leaves Oregon State is going to be in real trouble. And I feel like those are going to be two schools like whenever there's the eventual realignment and the big and the SEC combined or whatever, they're going to be a couple of those schools that probably aren't going to make it. Like I think they'll get relegated, but I think there's a whole bunch of schools that are going to get relegated.

[B]

Like, I mean Dickard lost it or left in like the, the late night on the plane, you know what I mean? He got plane trekked out of there to Winston Salem last year. So they had to deal with that whole thing. Dickard had a good thing going there. He beats Washington last year in the Apple Cup. It felt like, hey, Wazoo's gonna hang on. They are football school. And then it was gone, bro.

[D]

He went from Wazoo to Wake Forest, man. Like Wake Forest is a hard ass job, man. Like everything is against you, you know. And he left Wazoo for Wake 4. That again another school that could get left out in the next round of realignment or whatever. So yeah man, I mean that shows you how difficult of a job Wake. I mean Wazoo is that a person left for weight forced right.

[B]

And that's also how dumb all this is because Oregon State won national from championships in baseball. Wake Forest has Arnold Palmer. I mean look at all the golf guy like you. You got legends at these places. Look what Wazoo had with Mike Leach. And that's just the conference arms race has left some of these great programs just sitting on the sidelines. It's not fair. Van, are you worried about the Pac 12?

[C]

Look, I mean I, I just, I wonder how long the, the conferences. I would just wonder how long. How much stomach for everyone. Everyone has for this. I'm watching USC play Purdue, the conference game. You know, it's, it's, it's that plus, it's not like there's no football culture on the West Coast.

[B]

I know there's a lot of shade.

[C]

Yeah. It's not like there's no football culture on the West Coast. You know, I feel like we talked for so long about where real football is played. Like, real football is played in Wisconsin and Louisiana and Alabama and Georgia and Florida and Michigan and.

[D]

You gotta mention Texas. You better mention Texas.

[C]

Texas. You know, we. We talked about that for so long that not only was there a financial and structural realigning of important football, there was a mental, emotional, and cultural realigning. Like, we did a lot of cultural damage to the football that was being played on the west coast. And now the sport misses it, man. Now, like, I legitimately. I missed some of these games and some of these matchups. I missed getting some of these games.

[B]

With these 12 After Dark. All right, PAC 12 After Dark.

[C]

Like, I'm missing some of that stuff. That stuff was important. It's also what was important to keep all those pretty boys in the same conference. You know what I mean? Just. Just. Just for different types of reasons, right? To. To be able to consolidate the talent from Southern California, in Los Angeles, at SC or in Oregon or having people, like, the story of how DeSean Jackson ends up at Cal about how he goes. All of that stuff. But there's culture there, and I feel like it's kind of eroding and we're missing it, and it's. It's not the college football that I remember.

[D]

I mean, man. I mean, it was just a few years ago that UCLA helped Ed Orgeron get fired at lsu, right? Like, they went out there and got beat. Zach Charbonnet and everything.

[B]

I was at that game. Crazy.

[C]

Yeah, I was, too.

[D]

Right. Like, it was. It was just that recently. And all of a sudden. And it makes me think. And again, if they end up regionalizing again, it'll be because something bad has happened and they've been left behind. But it's kind of how I think about, like, Maryland in the Big Ten.

[C]

It's like, you sure you don't miss playing North Carolina?

[B]

And we miss playing them, I'll say it. And Maryland started this, by the way. Maryland leaving to go to the Big Ten was really the first major domino of, like, oh, wow, this is really going to be what it is. A charter member of the AC SEC is going to go to the Big Ten because Under Armour wants it.

[D]

What is ucla like, what are you selling your fans right now? Like, I mean. I mean, like, wouldn't it just be better to play against Washington and Wazoo and all those other. I mean, again, obviously they, they were pretty much locked in. They had to do something because it looked like it was going to fall apart anyway, but it just. Yeah, like, to Vance Point, like Stanford and Cal, man, like, how much longer y' all want to keep doing this? Y' all want to send y' all volleyball teams out to Boston College? College in the middle of the week? I mean, it doesn't. That doesn't seem tenable.

[B]

It's wild. It's wild that we've gotten here.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

They're replaying the Gunner Stockton throw. That's. It's a fantastic throw, guys. A fantastic throw. Gunner Stockton just. It's a. I mean, we're talking about Heisman, you know, Was that that pass to Humphrey? Yeah, it's a fantastic throw. And maybe Gunner Stockton with the way he played today is, you know, put himself in and Heisman contention. Look, I love. Look, when you say Maryland, I think about so many things. Juan Dixon.

[D]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, man. Lonnie Betty Blake.

[C]

What about Steve Blake?

[B]

Can I, can I practice?

[C]

Oh, I love watching that video.

[B]

That's a great video.

[C]

Like, Steve Blake wasn't a hobra. Steve Blake, Steve Blake. It's not like he had. He, like, he was the most physically imposing guy because even in that practice fight, the dude started getting with Steve Blake a little. Like he buckled Steve Blake knees a little. But Steve Blake was with it. He was ready to go, bro.

[D]

Miami, man. But you know who I. Terrence Morris is always my example of like, hey, man, you better leave when you think you're gonna be a top 10 pick, pick, like in my whole life, like, he was the guy I was like, man, he was going to be a lottery pick. And then I think when he finally left, he went to his senior year, he ended up being a second round pick. But Terence Morris, Maryland legend, you know? Yeah. I think of my boy, Dominique Foxworth, man. You know what I'm saying? Oh, American.

[B]

Hey, what about Stefan Diggs? I feel like people don't mention Stefan Diggs enough when they talk about Maryland football because a lot of times it comes back to basketball. But they've had some good football players too.

[D]

Lamont Jordan, man. Lamont Jordan.

[B]

There you go.

[C]

Stefan Diggs. We gotta, we gotta make sure he on. He on the straight, narrow path, though.

[D]

I just had fun, man. He had fun this summer, man.

[C]

He had a lot of fun.

[B]

That's one of the best videos too. In the Vikings locker room. Who do you not want to date your sister. And it's all digs. Digs everyone.

[C]

By the way, like, the Stefan Diggs is like, how you know you in UNC status. Because that's how I know I'm an unk. Like, Stefan Diggs is more successful than me. By every metric. Right? By every metric. Except maybe. No, I'm not even gonna diss that. But, like. But. But he's more. I'm not. Because I could have made a joke.

[B]

Unless you. Interception, as you decided.

[D]

I would love to know where that was gonna go. I want to know where that was going to go. But that's fine, right?

[C]

So. So. Oh, we threw an interception or. Because I don't have the game.

[B]

No, they just intercepted Lagwa. You did a good karma move by not throwing him under the bus. And then LSU paid you back.

[D]

It was good, right?

[C]

I don't have it up you guys right now. You guys don't want to know about superstitions. I'll watch it after. You guys don't have to watch me watch it. Okay? I just don't want to do that. But when Stefan Diaz was doing all of that stuff, I drafted a dm and it was about the importance of this time in his life and all of this. And I was about to send it to him on some, like, look, young, wow. Come over here. Let me talk to you for a little while, huh? See, let me give you something out here. It's a war on, black man. Like yourself. Like myself. And these kids, they see themselves.

[D]

You're a role model.

[C]

Yeah. Think about what you're doing. Doing the tootsie with the hoes on the boat in Miami. Stefan, you don't want to be this type of man. I didn't send it. I didn't send it because it was too corny. And what the I'm telling this man about his life for?

[B]

I think he would have had a.

[D]

Response, assume what he was doing or what he was. You know, how he was getting down. But at minimum, I was like, man, you know what? A lot of people would like to have been on that boat. A lot of people would like to be on that boat, Joe.

[C]

You tell on yourself more like. It's just so funny, bro. I'mma leave it. I'm not even going because I could easily go in. I could. See, this is the thing that Kyle. Kyle wants to keep us on schedule with football. I could easily do five minutes on you saying, a lot of people would have wanted to be on that boat, bro. Especially after what Happened on Wednesday.

[D]

I was like, damn, what happened?

[B]

Hey, last thing, last thing before we wrap it up and let Van go watch his LSU Tigers because Brian Kelly's already making sour puts faces on the sidelines right now. But cross off teams, the, the Bill Simmons special. Cross off teams Clemson. Can we cross them off? 5% chance to make the playoffs still. Joel, your thoughts? Can we cross them off?

[D]

Oh, they're probably out of it unless they win the league champions and they still got to climb past Miami, Florida State and whoever else you know there's going to be there at the end there. And because also they can't win, they, they play at Florida State on November 8th and they get South Carolina in the final game of the year. Those are the only two chances really to add quality wins to their schedule because Syracuse, North Carolina, Boston College, smu, Duke, Louisville and Furman are not going to do it. Like that's just not going to be enough for them. So they have, they're going to have to, they're going to have to win out and hope somebody else's loses. But yeah, for the most part I gotta, I gotta think it's over. And that's just so weird, man. I mean it could just be that the game is past Davo by. You know what I mean? Like it.

[C]

We.

[D]

We're getting to a point now where Clemson is still really good. They should always be upper echelon ACC given the competition. But in terms of like how they stack up against the national, the real national contenders, like they're not going to out coach you, it seems like. And they're, they're using a converted receiver as running back. Like you're Clemson, you should not have to do that. This is the school the CJ Spiller and ETM bro.

[B]

Like why their best defender looked like the Purdue transfer today. Right. They're supposed to have three top five picks. I mean, what's going on?

[D]

I just. Yeah. So something is amiss there. But it could be. Nobody is great forever, man. Eventually it comes to an end and it just kind of, you know, Clemson just seems to be on that sort of a gradual decline.

[C]

Yeah. Can we cross Clemson off? Yes. The reason why I think we can cross Clemson off is because I mean obviously things can still go their way for them to, to, to get to the playoff. But I mean, what have they shown us to make us believe that they're capable of putting those types of performances together?

[B]

By the way, that's the thing that lost to Memphis today, 28 to 7. Troy, who was up on Clemson, 16 to 6. They got. They got beat by the Memphis Tigers today pretty handily.

[C]

The thing that I always look at as I look at some of the highlights from the Notre Dame, Texas A and M game, the thing that I always look at is not what a team still has in front of them to be able to prove to a committee that they can make the playoffs. That's not what I look at. What I look at is what does the team put on tape and how have they played to make me believe that they're capable of doing it. For example, it changes Alabama. I would have said a couple of weeks ago with the passion, it looks like they weren't playing with that maybe it would have been impossible for them to make a run because it didn't seem like the same Bama team. Now you look at them and you go, hey, maybe we wrote them a little off a little bit too soon. The problem with Clemson is I think we've seen three straight flat performances. Like from them three straight flat performances. If we're being fair to Alabama, you only really saw one. I only really saw one flat performance. One performance where they looked overmatched and overwhelmed.

[D]

We don't know if Florida State is good. Like Florida State might be legitimately national contender.

[C]

They might leave, but they might have caught lightning in a bottle. I've said this before, so you just, you just don't know. Maybe that's a game that if it was played in Week 7 or Week 8 and not Week 1. Maybe Batman has a better chance when they know who they are a little bit more. But yeah, Clemson has been consistent in one thing this season and that's mediocrity. So it. The. The light could probably. The light could come on, but what reason do we have to believe that it would it?

[D]

Oh, man, nothing on the tape. Somebody gonna be upset. You know, I'm a Big 12 guy, so I gotta say, and nobody probably cares about this, but Kansas State has three losses before mid September.

[C]

Wow.

[D]

No, no, no wins over any FBS programs. This is a team. They had the second best odds of winning the Big 12 according to Fanduel at the beginning of the year. So yeah, I mean it's pretty obvious you can cross them out. And in fact fact, Kansas State being this bad probably means the Big 12 is. I mean, depending on what people, you know, if U of H can keep it up or TCU, but Big 12 probably gonna be a one bid league at this rate.

[B]

But yeah, man, Iowa State, TCU feels like the two teams that could that could actually get it done. But yeah, it definitely feels like a one bid situation, which might be good for an SEC team that's lost three games or, you know, an ACC team like Clemson that gets hot at the end of the season, something like that. But, but it does feel like it's dark times. And Avery Johnson, ever since his family fought, it's been all downhill, man.

[D]

13 of 29 for 88 yards. Like you do, you know, like, that is incredibly bad. Like you. It's. And I was saying, it's almost like a pitcher who, a pitcher who loses 20 starts because it's like, oh, you had to have been really good for them to keep running you back out there. So either Avery Johnson is just like, well, man, like, he's so good. We know that he's. He, he'll turn it around. Or their backup is terrible. Like, and they're just like, well, that's not going to make anything any better. But he, he was a mess against. And this is Arizona, man, from. They lost 23 to 17 to Arizona on Thursday. So, yeah, man, it's, it's, it's, it's over for K State, man. They're out there.

[B]

It feels like they're making him play left handed too. And not literally left handed, but they're saying, hey, we'll start with the pass and then we'll run it. It's like, I feel like Avery Johnson's superpower has always been running first. Then the pass kind of comes off off of his run game. So it's very strange to kind of see that situation when you watch a Haynes king at Georgia Tech do it perfectly. It's, it's like, why aren't we doing something like that? There's a beautiful model out there that is getting it done. Guys. Van, any last, last points before we get out of here? We're, we're, you know, going to get back to the football, watching these games. Any last thoughts? Parting thoughts?

[C]

No. Let me go back and have a miserable time watching my favorite team. Let's see what happens. I'm, I'm interested, obviously in that game and low key. The game of the night is the Notre Dame Texas A and M game.

[B]

It's already a good one. 14. Seven right now. Already 14.

[C]

Yeah, already. So we'll see how that happens and then, you know, obviously we'll see you guys back on Wednesday.

[B]

Yep, definitely. Joe, any parting thoughts before we get out of here?

[D]

Y' all gonna watch the Canelo Crawford fight?

[C]

I definitely am.

[B]

Yeah. Got to.

[D]

I can't Wait, yeah, that's not, that's.

[B]

That'S the beauty of multi view.

[D]

Oh yeah. Well, you know, this is my parting thought. You know, if Texas didn't have so many more games ahead of them, I probably would have called them a pretender too. I say, all right, y' all probably out of it as well. They look terrible this year.

[B]

So I think next week we're going to talk about them as a cross off team. But we'll see. We'll see where we get to and we'll be fun, you know, trying to figure out who is actually the most talented and best team in the country. And that's the beauty of college football. We appreciate everybody being live with us. Ring your tailgate. We're having, having fun on Saturdays and we will talk to you all on Wednesday. See you then. 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-HOPE NY or text Hopeny in New York.

[A]

This episode is brought to you by Warner Brothers Pictures. One Battle After Another is coming to theaters September 26th. Don't miss Legendary writer, director and producer my guy Paul Thomas Anderson teaming up with Leo DiCaprio for the first time ever. Pretty exciting. They almost teamed together in Boogie Nights actually alongside award winning actors like Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor and Benicio Del Toro in this hilarious action packed adventure following Bob Ferguson, an ex revolutionary, on a mission to find his missing daughter and overcome the consequences of his past. One Battle after Another. Only in theaters September 26th. Get tickets now. Rated R under 17. Not admitted without parent.

[C]

Mike and Alyssa are always trying to outdo each other. When Alyssa got a small water bottle, Mike showed up with a 4 liter jug. When Mike started gardening, Alyssa started beekeeping. Oh, come on. They called a truce for their holiday and used Expedia trip planner to collect collaborate on all the details of the trip. Once there, Mike still did more laps around the pool. Whatever you were made to outdo your holidays. We were made to help organize the competition. Expedia made to travel.