Which Team Winning CFP Is the Best Story Line? Plus, Transfer Portal Talk.

Summary

Ringer Tailgate – Episode Summary

Episode: Which Team Winning CFP Is the Best Story Line? Plus, Transfer Portal Talk.
Date: January 8, 2026
Hosts: Van Lathan, Joel Anderson, Tate Frazier

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Main Theme & Purpose

This week, the Ringer Tailgate crew—Van Lathan, Joel Anderson, and Tate Frazier—breaks down the college football playoff (CFP) semifinal matchups and debates which team winning the title would create the most compelling narrative. The episode also provides lively discussion on the madness of the transfer portal, coaching carousel, and the evolving business aspects of college football. Expect sharp insights, plenty of well-earned tangents, and the signature blend of fan passion and analytical rigor that defines the show.

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1. Key Discussion Points & Insights

A. Banter & Energy Check-in (00:43 – 03:41)

• The crew opens with friendly roasting—Joel’s low energy and glasses become a running gag (“I didn’t even have my glasses on, bro.” – Joel [02:54]).
• They riff on ‘A-Team’ references, TV nostalgia, and set the tone for a blend of sports talk and cultural asides.

B. CFP Semifinals – Storylines, Predictions & Culture (03:41 – 29:48)

i. Stability vs. Distraction (03:41 – 07:20)

• Joel’s big prediction: Stability is the key for advancing teams, especially given the challenge for coaching staffs balancing game prep and recruiting/transfer portal duties (“You have to give something more of your time and your energy and attention…” – Joel [03:41]).
• Oregon’s staff called out for possible distractions; those with the most ‘continuity and culture’ hold the edge.

ii. The Nick Saban Coaching Tree & Affiliations (10:59 – 24:54)

• All four semifinal head coaches are Saban protégés—a widely discussed talking point.
• Van proposes Signetti as the most “Saban-like”; Joel and Tate disagree, unpacking dynamics between Saban and his former assistants.
• Extensive riff on which coach Saban would “root for” and how he’s influenced college football’s recent coaching landscape.

iii. Best CFP Storylines (26:09 – 33:55)

• Van: “Ole Miss winning the CFP is a Disney movie... Lane Kiffin is the villain. LSU is the villain. We have become the big institution.” ([26:09])
• Indiana’s ‘from doormat to contender’ arc lauded, calling for a modern “Hoosiers” film sequel.
• Oregon described as having “no story,” just a “placeholder” in a field of bigger narratives, though the crew acknowledges the Ducks’ 21st-century impact.
• Miami’s tradition of controversy, culture, and fan fervor means a win would resonate nationally.

iv. CFP Semifinal Previews & Unit Breakdowns (38:19 – 45:42)

• Miami’s defensive line vs. Ole Miss’ offense is labeled a key unit clash.
• “Can Trinidad Chambers shake off the Miami rush? This is the best defense Ole Miss will see all year.” – Joel [39:29]
• Indiana vs. Oregon: Mendoza vs. Moore at QB, Indiana’s security and disciplined style dissected.
• Oregon’s lack of a “legendary” moment debated; referenced LeGarrette Blount’s infamous punch as an “Oregon classic.” ([31:05])

C. Transfer Portal Chaos, Portal Economics & Coaching Moves (65:15 – 81:09)

i. Portal Overreaction: Texas Tech’s Big QB Splash (65:15 – 71:07)

• “Texas Tech wants something shiny to be taken seriously as a national football power... This is a different Texas Tech.” – Van [66:57]
• The domino effect: Brendan Sorsby to Tech causes quarterback musical chairs, including LSU miss-outs and possible legal disputes over revenue-sharing contracts.

ii. Legal Drama: Washington, LSU, and a $6 Million QB (71:48 – 76:26)

• Washington plans to pursue legal action against a quarterback (Demond Williams) who agreed to a contract, then entered the portal after LSU made a higher offer.
• The “wild west” of NIL and transfer rules emerges—“This is the first of its kind...” – Tate [72:48]

iii. Villainization of Coaches, Lane Kiffin & Culture Shifts (76:33 – 81:09)

• Lane Kiffin’s disregard for unwritten rules ruffles the SEC; crew discusses which non-criminal head coach is most ‘villainized’, with Kiffin and Urban Meyer as leaders.
• Lane’s headline-hunting and audacious transfer moves fuel his heel persona—“It just feels like he... can’t do regular shit.” – Joel [73:12]

iv. QB Carousel, Transfer Caution (81:09 – 92:13)

• The transfer market is volatile; not every highly rated QB thrives after moving.
• “There’s something to be said about continuity as a player...” – Van [89:12]
• Discussion of various QBs (Dylan Raiola, DJ Lagway, Jackson Arnold), their prospects, and the cautionary tale of deserting starting spots.

D. Portal Ethics – Is the Game Too Cold? (93:41 – 99:12)

• Uncle Luke’s Viral Rant: “Don’t say these kids are quitting... when y’all are cutting these kids." ([93:41])
• Panel examines universities quietly cutting players and the fairness in a professionalized environment; consensus forms that, despite discomfort, this is the new reality given no multi-year contracts and constant churn.
• The Parker Livingstone example: a Texas-born wide receiver, cut loose, now headed to rival Oklahoma—a microcosm of new player realities.

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2. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On CFP Narratives:

  • “Ole Miss winning the CFP is a Disney movie, man. Lane Kiffin’s the fucking villain. LSU is the villain.” – Van [26:09]
  • “If Indiana wins...they should remake Hoosiers, but not about the tight shorts with the white guys.” – Van [27:26]

• On Oregon's Status:

  • “There’s one team that nobody cares if they win a natty, and that’s Oregon. They are a placeholder in the CFP.” – Van [29:01]
  • “I don’t think of Oregon as part of the legendary moments of college football.” – Joel [30:39]

• On Portal Madness:

  • “Texas Tech wants something that not just will win football games, but this announcement is saying... we’re going to buy enough shiny things to be taken seriously.” – Van [66:57]
  • “Washington plans to pursue legal avenues... to enforce Williams’ contract after he signed what the university is calling a legally binding revenue share contract.” – Tate [72:48]

• On Saban's Legacy:

  • “Alabama becomes a place where you can rehabilitate your career, so sterling... it washes you of coaching sins.” – Van [15:43]
  • “Belichick rode on Tom Brady’s coattails, first of all, it’s not true... Defense, ball control, that’s how the Patriots first won.” – Van [19:58]

• Uncle Luke Soundbite:

  • “It’s unfair. Don’t say these kids are quitting... when y’all are cutting these kids... Unlike the NFL, when you get cut, the media’s notified. Unlike the NCAA. What the fuck?” [93:41]

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3. Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment/Topic | |------|--------------| | 00:43–03:41 | Banter, intros, “A-Team” riff, Joel's energy check | | 03:41–07:20 | Importance of stability for CFP contenders | | 10:59-24:54 | The Saban tree, which coach he’d “root for,” Alabama as rehab | | 26:09–33:55 | Which CFP win is the ‘best’ storyline? Disney movies for Ole Miss & Indiana, Oregon as “no story" | | 38:19–45:42 | CFP matchups unit breakdown – Miami D-line vs. Ole Miss offense; Indiana’s style | | 65:15–71:07 | Overreaction: Texas Tech’s $5M QB, portal chaos begins | | 71:48–76:26 | LSU, Washington in legal mess over QB transfers, NIL | | 76:33–81:09 | Most ‘villainized’ CFB coaches discussion, Kiffin’s antics | | 89:12–92:13 | The transfer QB cautionary tales & importance of continuity | | 93:41–99:12 | Is cutting players “wrong” or just business? Uncle Luke rant | | 104:25–109:44 | Closing banter, CFP live show info, ratings talk |

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4. Memorable Tangents, TV & Culture References

• The hosts riff heavily on 90s and 00s TV (Peach Pit = 90210, Andy Griffith, Saved by the Bell Max), weaving pop culture into CFB discussion for comic relief.
• Joel tells several 'Real World' celeb run-in stories (“I exchanged numbers with Muhammad, but he didn’t text me back for a month and a half.” – Joel [57:02]) causing playful mockery and repeated returns to theme of ‘friendly energy’ and authenticity.
• Ringer Tailgate’s “season zero” status and rising podcast rankings are celebrated at the end.

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5. Original Language and Tone

The episode is energetic, irreverent, and deeply knowledgeable, shifting seamlessly from sharp analysis to inside jokes, pop culture asides, and playful roasts. The language is casual, often explicit (notably in Van’s and Joel’s banter), and always direct—mirroring the “fan forum but way more fun” vibe the show promises.

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6. Conclusion & What’s Next

• The crew promises a live postgame show after the CFP semifinals—expect a blend of spirited hot takes, real-time fan interaction, and the unfiltered conversations that make this the “ultimate CFB hangout.”
• The episode leaves listeners primed for both high-stakes CFP action and the equally eventful behind-the-scenes drama that now defines college football’s “new world order.”

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Listen to this episode if you want:

• A definitive, no-hype breakdown of this year’s CFP semifinal narratives
• Candid perspective on the transfer portal’s impact on players and programs
• The best blend of gridiron expertise and college football chaos, delivered by three hosts with genuine chemistry and a healthy willingness to go off-script

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Ringer Tailgate – CFP semifinal live show: Friday. Set your reminders!

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Foreign.

[C]

Welcome back to Ring of Tailgate, the Wednesday edition of the show. We got CFP semifinals Thursday and Friday. We're gonna get to all that. We're also got, you know, some questions, some facts. Big van on campus. A lot to get to here. But first and foremost, let's say what's up to Van Lathan in the bucket hat band. What's going on, man?

[A]

What is up, guys? College football ringer. Tailgate, the number one college football show in the world is back.

[C]

Yeah, it's back and better than ever. And we got Joel Anderson in the place to be as well. Joel, you got an army. They're very fired up for you.

[B]

Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. What. What a turn it was, you know, from what we saw at the start of the year, Joel, you know, a lot of people coming at your neck calling you a hater, and now you're just the most beloved character in the world, you know. So shout out to you.

[B]

Big Year, man. Yeah. This is a big year for all of us, man. I'm excited.

[A]

You know, I honestly think that the ascension of Joel is probably, in my opinion, one of the most important narratives and storylines from this college football season.

[C]

Me too.

[B]

Stop it.

[A]

This last spot that we did, Joel's entire. It just all came together, man. We love it when the plan comes together. Tate, what movie is that from?

[C]

A team.

[A]

That's what the I'm talking about.

[C]

Let's go. Let's cook.

[B]

All right.

[C]

I even like the remake of the A team. You know what I mean? Yeah. A lot of people hated on it. I was like, this is pretty good.

[A]

Yeah, it was great.

[B]

All right.

[C]

Glad we're on the same page. Let's get it going. Let's talk about the A teams in college football because we got some four teams here that are all trying to put their plans together to get a win. One big prediction, CFP semifinals. We'll talk about the games in particular, but predictions for what we expect to see. Joel, I'll go to you first here, because you're the one. You know the best ability is. What ability? When you're talking about the predictions for the CFP semifinals.

[B]

Availability.

[C]

No, you put stability.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[C]

My bad.

[A]

Joel. Joel. Joel.

[B]

He's back.

[A]

Joe, what the is up, bro? Joel, like, what's.

[B]

I didn't know what was happening.

[A]

Joel. Joel, are you gonna early. This is. Please, Joel, what's going on with you today?

[C]

We haven't died. We haven't answered.

[B]

I told you. I told you that I didn't have a lot of energy. Oh, man, I didn't even have my glasses on, bro.

[A]

You don't have your glasses on. Energy. Did you drink any coffee before the show? We got a job.

[B]

Drink coffee. I don't like coffee.

[C]

I drink like Matcha.

[B]

No, you know what I do? I put this. I'm not doing an ad, but you know, this is like these little energy boosters. You put it in your mouth.

[A]

Put one of those in your mouth and do it right now.

[B]

Do the energy boost. Well, you know what happened is that we got started, remember, before we came on air, and I was like, let me go get some water real quick. Well, I didn't get to dress up my water like I normally like to, so. Okay, that's what I'm doing. I'm dressing it up right now.

[C]

I hope all the tailgate listeners right now are dressing up their waters as well as we get prepared. But yes, Joel, your big prediction was stability. That's why I sent you up there.

[B]

Okay. Stability. Thanks for. Thanks for doing that, Tate. So anyway, you know, there's a reason that people can't really do part time work as a college football coach, because inevitably you have to give something, something more of your time and your energy and attention. Right? So, like, you remember when Nick Saban sent Lane Kiffin home the week of the national championship game because he's like, taking other jobs. Yeah, man, I don't think you're doing a great job of balancing doing my job that I need you to do and the one you're trying to do in Florida. And so when I look at what's going on in both of these semis at Oregon, Will Stein and Tosh Lupo have been trying to work their jobs for the past month or so. The portal is open right now. Right. So they've got to keep that roster, recruit to that roster, and oh, wait, I've got to come up with a game plan for the national semi. If you were. If you were Ty or Will Stein, what would you dedicate most of your energy to, like, you have to make choices.

[A]

The job will be the top guy.

[B]

Yeah, right. And so I just have to think. And I mean, they. I'm sure that they're doing the best that they can. This is a lot of work. This is still probably for either one of them, the pinnacle of their careers. But eventually a human mind and body can only do but so much. I mean, half of Ole Miss staff is looking ahead to putting together that roster in Baton Rouge. And at a certain point, you figure that's got to catch up when you're playing against a team that's as or more talented than you and they've got continuity on their staff. So that's what I think is going to come into play this week. I mean, again, and I kind of think about it as a player, right. When you go back, the one thing that you want going into a game is you just want to know where everything is. You know, you want the same voice speaking to you. You want to use the same terminology.

[C]

You.

[B]

You try to go through the same routine. Everybody, you know, like, that's why, you little. Superstitious.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

All that stuff matters.

[B]

You want that stuff to matter. And so I just think that eventually that's got to catch up against you when you're playing against another great team this weekend.

[A]

So what you're talking about in that sense, then is that the teams that have clear advantages would be Indiana, Indiana and Miami.

[B]

So I think those are going to be the winners this weekend.

[A]

Indiana and Miami. I think a lot of people are probably leaning that way. Mine is the unknown here. The unknowns of these games are interesting to me. How far has Oregon come since their first matchup with Indiana? Has Oregon learned anything about themselves? Is Oregon even playing at a level right now? They had a dynamite performance by one of their freshman defenders in the last game, and that really brought them to life defensively. That fantastic. That's a game of a lifetime. What's the kid's name? Somebody looked the kid's name for me. I forgot his name. And then Ole Miss in Miami, you know, it, it. It continues. These are two teams that, for different reasons, are facing off to establish national identity. That's what it means for Ole Miss in Miami. Not that we don't know what Ole Miss football is. Not that we don't know what Miami football is. But right now, in the current era of college football, what Ole Miss football is and what Miami football is, it's up in the air and they get a chance to go out on the field and prove it. So to me, a lot of this stuff is about establishing reputation, establishing new legacy. But I think it's going to come down. Like Joel said, to the team that has the most continuity and the most culture, those are the teams that are going to be successful this week.

[C]

Brandon Finney was the name of the defense.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

True freshman for you, Mr. Finney.

[B]

Freshman.

[A]

Mr. Finney had had interceptions. Mr. Finney was making tackles. Mr. Finney was all over the field. Brandon Finney. Brandon Finney.

[B]

Do you think Brandon needs to go into total. Wait, we'll head. What are you saying?

[A]

No, Brett, that's a 1965 college.

[C]

Even like George Feeney. Mr. Feeney. Mr. Finney.

[B]

Oh, it's like a sitcom teacher.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, he's got the answers. Mr. Finney.

[B]

Mr. Finney. Mr.— Finney. What's up? You at the Peach Pit Day? Why are you here so early?

[A]

Oh, the Peach Pit. Do you know what show that's from, Tate?

[C]

Peach Pit. I don't know.

[A]

Interesting. Tate, do you feel like it's up to you to be able to like name stuff, great things and pass whiteness?

[C]

No.

[A]

Let me tell you why I asked right now. If somebody was to ask me, what's the name of the family that was moving on up in the 70s, right?

[C]

Oh, yeah, the Jeffersons.

[B]

There you go.

[A]

Okay, you know that what I'm starting to understand about you, Tate, is that you know that more than you would know who was hanging out at the Peach Pit. Yeah. And at what show? They were hanging out at the Peach Pit, like on what's the show? See, what I'm starting to learn about you is when I ask you who your favorite rock band is, you don't have an answer.

[C]

I gave you an answer. Yeah, I gave you an answer.

[A]

But when I ask you what's your favorite track off TM101, you have an answer. So you know who was moving on up, but you don't know who used to hang out at the Peach Pit. And why is it Happy Days and what's up?

[B]

Nah, a motherfucking Happy Days.

[A]

You? No, it's not happy. It's funny. I'm not going to give you the answer. I'mma make you work for it. You find out what for what show? That was definitely a phenom when the kids hung out at the Peach Pit.

[B]

Well, you know what? What? You know what Van I actually had to do too is I wanted to make sure. Cuz what was the name of the place that they hung out by the Bell.

[C]

I didn't watch. I don't. I don't care.

[A]

Max.

[C]

90210. Is that. That's what they're saying. The Peach Pit Maxed.

[A]

Hung out.

[C]

See, I watched Saved by the Bell.

[A]

I, like, sa was the one. And then the Peach pit was for 90210. The max on Saved by the Bell, Max was the guy who ran that used to come do magic tricks for them.

[B]

That's right. Magic tricks.

[A]

Yeah, he was.

[C]

I know Tori Spelling, like, as. Like a Crash out character, you know, But I didn't watch the show.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I didn't watch the show.

[C]

Necess Shannon Dynam.

[B]

Enough. Rip Shannon dy, man.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

See, Peach.

[C]

It's like, I didn't watch Dallas, But I know Junior got shot.

[A]

You know what I mean? J.R. ewing. Yeah. Who was his brother. Who is his brother?

[C]

I didn't watch the show. I just know J.R. got Bobby Ewing. Okay?

[B]

Bobby.

[C]

I know Patrick Ewing.

[B]

Look at that. Look at that.

[C]

Is that the theme song?

[B]

It was. Yeah, man.

[A]

Let's talk about college football.

[C]

I think the show that I know the best of, like, the white TV shows, it's definitely Andy Griffith show, you know, like, that's.

[A]

Wow. Yeah. Wow.

[B]

Look at that. You have to go. I mean, that is some essence level.

[C]

But that's like North Carolina. Andy Griffith is Mr. North Carolina. That's the reason.

[A]

Essence. That's.

[B]

I mean, you really. Yeah, man dam.

[C]

I'm just saying.

[B]

That's the one. I know.

[A]

That's the essence right there. That's. They were some Tar Heels, bro. They were some real Tar Heels.

[C]

Oh, man. Good times. Let's get it going. Here's my big prediction. Nick Saban's gonna try to steal Spotlight, and I got a fact for you guys. You're gonna hear it a lot. All four head coaches in the CFP semifinals will be former Nick Saban assistants at Alabama. Obviously, a lot of conversation about this, and I feel like we're gonna hear this a million times. Nick Saban's gonna be asked about it a million times. He's going to give us these little insights that aren't really insights, you know, about these coaches, because, again, these are guys that were working for him at a very, you know, small capacity for the most part. But I did want to ask, Van, you're looking at me sideways right now. Which coach of the four do you think that Nick Saban would be rooting for if he had rooting interest? Obviously, Alabama's out of the equation now. So now he can pick one of the four coaches. Which one did does he want to see win the cfp?

[A]

I don't know why, but I feel like for some reason it's sick, Nettie.

[C]

Because I. I feel the opposite.

[B]

So. I think he hates Signetti.

[C]

I think he's scared of Signetti.

[A]

I think that he is a little bit. But I think Signetti represents most. The brand of Alabama football.

[C]

That's true.

[A]

That Nick Saban used to put on the field. So Lanning and Golden, like, these guys are younger guys. Golden and Lanning, these guys are younger guys. I don't think that Mario Cristobal and Nick Saban, I don't think that he cares, but I think that Signetti represents the continuation of the Alabama brand of discipline, nastiness and execution.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, crystal ball was there before four years, and it's easy. One thing you come to find out, to learn as a football player is that coaches love offensive linemen. They love freshmen, and they love offensive linemen because, you know, they're just, you know, big, smart, happy dogs. You know, they want to make people happy.

[C]

They.

[B]

They give of themselves to the franchise. Yeah, man, just, you know, standard. You know, they want to, you know, they. They are the end of your football team if you have. If you have a. If you have a good. If you have a good. Good offensive line, you have a good football team. It's, like, hard to have a bad football team with the. With the. With a bad offensive line. You got to have a good one. And so I think that he's inclined to like an offensive guy like that in the way that they play defense. So I would maybe say crystal ball, but I. The thing is, is that, you know, only reason I'm saying that is because I feel like he hates Signetti enough that I don't think he wants to succeed. Like, you know, there's just a little bit of a. You could tell there's a little bit of a There, and, you know. Yeah. Lanning and. Oh, boy, the other one.

[C]

Coach Golding. Pete Golden.

[B]

P. Golden. Yeah, Peach. Golden.

[C]

Yeah, Peach Golden.

[A]

Golden.

[C]

Hanging at the Peach Pit with old Coach Golden.

[B]

Okay, man. No, bro, I told you. I told. First of all, I told y' all I was tired when I came on today. And then I. I, you know, I do have a story, you know, I'm working on a story that's going to win the website. I haven't had a chance to have.

[C]

Billy said the water's not kicking in yet.

[B]

I haven't had a chance to get My water yet?

[C]

Yeah, take a sip. Take a sip of the water. Yeah. Come on.

[A]

We can't continue like this.

[C]

And it's also funny because, like, you know, Joel's, you know, mispronunciations have been a storyline of the. All season. I did not think Pete could be mispronounced until he said Peach Golding. So that was pretty good.

[B]

Peach Golden. But no, I mean, you know, I, I don't think. I mean, I was, I was, I covered Alabama in the championship one of the years the. Pete golden was the defensive coordinator and I just, I don't know. I mean, he wasn't one of his better ones. I mean, man, Nick Saban's coach for a long time. There are a lot of people that have worked under him. I mean, it goes back almost 30, you know, over 30 years. So, I mean, just think about it. All the co workers you've had, you know, 14, 15 years ago, there's not necessarily a connection between you. All y' all work together once and whatever, and all these other guys have had to sort of develop their own identity. So to your point, Tate, is this weird? It's not weird because. But Nick Saban had all the money in the world. Only so many people could get a former head coach to come work for him. Right. Like, that's just something that most other coaches can't do. So they're not going to be able to build up that kind of a coaching tree. Because Nick Saban had a bunch of advantages, could hire whoever he wanted and he was unthreatened enough and coaches were desirous enough to go work for him that he could just have a. He could stockpile guys. And so that's how you end up with, you know, a connection to Dan Lanning or whatever. So. Yeah, I don't, I actually don't think, you know, to your point, Tate, I bet Nick Saban is just like, but if I was Alabama, we wouldn't lost like that, you know, saying he's kind.

[C]

Of eluded as much.

[B]

I don't think we've gotten your shit.

[A]

You don't think that it's meaningful to coach that long and build up that type of tree. The reason why I say that is because two things have to happen. Number one, you have to have sustained success to be at a school for that long. Right. To build that type of multi generational tree. Because Lanning and Golden are young guys.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The other two guys are older dudes. Crystal Ball's in his 50s and Signetti's in the 60s. Right. Yeah, different guys coaching for a long time. So he has different generations of a coaching tree. Then something else has to happen that people don't talk about as much with Nick Saban. I guess they do talk about it, but we haven't talked about it yet. Here is that Alabama becomes a place where you can go to rehabilitate your career, right? So Alabama becomes a place where the process is so sterling that you can go there. And if you coach there and you have success there, then it makes you a formerly unhirable person or a at least cold person, makes you hireable again, and that expands his coaching tree, and that is legitimately an entire industry. Basically, bending the knee to Nick Saban and saying, I know that I've been a head coach here. If you're talking about Sarkeesian or if you're talking about Kiffin, Bill o', Brien, Bill o', Brien, Michael Oxley, you know, Maryland, if you're talking about guys like that, I have to come and study under you so that you wash me of my coaching sins and send me back out there anew. And the guys that have done that, it has worked for them.

[B]

I mean, go ahead.

[A]

My bad.

[B]

No, we don't. I mean, I think you're right, because the one thing about Bama, man, is that, like, they. If you've hired a Saban assistant, you probably have done okay. Like, even Bill o', Brien, right? Like, he's okay. Head coach, right. And it clearly shows that there is something to learn from Nick Saban, right. That they actually do get something about how to run a program and how to, you know, maintain, you know, a really good football team from working under there. I mean, it's not like, you know, unfortunately, like your boy Belichick, man, you know, where it's just like, well, oh, calm down.

[C]

Saban got everything from Belichick. Said as much.

[B]

You know, Josh McDaniels, Matt Patricia.

[C]

He got it all passed down to me.

[B]

I made a joke about Matt Patricia being the Michigan head coach. I was like, maybe I should go get Matt Patricia, you know, try to weaken your rival. And they were like, hell, no, no. And I was like, why did I hate Matt Patricia so much? I was like, oh, yeah, he was maybe one of the worst lines.

[C]

He was with the Lions.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. So they don't want to see him there again. Gerard Mayo, Joe Judge. I just, you know, I mean, again, I. I think what that means to me is that Belichick, a lot of his success could be accorded to Tom Brady. Nick Saban has Had to win with a bunch of different guys over and over and over again. Matt Mock, you know Greg. Greg McElroy.

[A]

Greg McElroy.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know, McElroy's great on the call, by the way. Just want to give him a shout out.

[A]

Fantastic.

[B]

He's really good, man.

[A]

So you're saying that Saban is a better coaching Belichick in yours?

[B]

Yeah, I tell you what, if I was gonna hire, if I was gonna start a football team and I had to pick, ain't no question that I would want Nick Saban.

[A]

I would college. College of pro.

[B]

Both.

[A]

So if you were starting a football team in the NFL, Bill Belichick and Nick Saban, you would choose Nick Saban.

[B]

What do you think an NFL team would do right today? Like, if they had to pick, do you think that they would try to sell bringing in Bill Belichick or would they try to sell bringing in Nick Saban?

[A]

Answer the question and what we talking about?

[C]

I just told you, man.

[A]

Like what you make. Like what. What I'm talking about right now. I'm talking about at the height of their coaching.

[C]

Don't include Jordan in the equation.

[A]

At the height of.

[B]

But Jordan is in the equation.

[A]

Do you think. Do. Do you think that you would take Bill Belichick, you would take Nick Saban to coach in the NFL over Bill Belichick? You would.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. Is Bill Belichick, baby. Is Bill Belichick.

[C]

Billy said that Joe needs to drink more water with this take.

[A]

Yeah, that's a. That's a take right there.

[B]

Is Bill Belichick bringing Tom Brady with him? That's. If he's bringing Tom Brady, then yeah, I would prefer to have Bill Belichick over Nick Saban. But if I had to just start up the thing. The thing with Nick Saban is that he was not a bad NFL coach. He was just an okay coach. And that's because he chose Dante Culpepper over Drew Brees.

[C]

Well, if Drew Brees doesn't feel his physical. Yeah, maybe different.

[A]

But can I. Can I make an observation there?

[C]

But then Drew Brees would be. He'd be a Drew Brees merchant instead of a Tom Brady merchant.

[A]

Right, Right. Exactly the same thing. So it's like, whatever. Can I make a. A distinction there? Observation. So here's the observation. When we talking about these two coaches, a lot of people talk about the fact that Bill Belichick rode on Tom Brady's coattails. First of all, that's not true. That's the first thing. The first thing is the first couple of championships that they had, they were a defense oriented team. Tom Brady had to come in and be a steady hand. Not saying that he didn't put up some numbers, but that team was oriented around the defense and it was real heavy on Belichick's football knowledge. Stuff that he was able to get out of guys like Troy Brown and, you know, other guys like that. Right, The.

[C]

Teddy Bruski Merchant.

[A]

Yeah, Teddy Bruski Merchant. All of these guys that they were able. All that stuff they were able to. So that's the first thing. Secondly, even the decision to have Tom Brady play at QB for you is a hell of a coaching decision. When Tom Brady has to take over for Drew Bledsoe at that time, Drew Bledsoe, who had a reputation and all type of pelts on the wall from being a Super bowl quarterback himself. So that decision to say, hey, this young seventh round pick out of Michigan, seventh round, sixth round, whatever it is, pick out of Michigan, this is going to be the guy that is going to take my franchise where I need to go. And then for that to end up happening and working out, winning a Super bowl is one of the most outstanding coaching decisions that's ever made. We're not talking about injury. I mean, there were injuries involved and all that stuff, but we're talking about somebody saying, this is the guy that we're going with. Belichick made that decision. A lot of coaches might not have made that decision. Now by the time we get to the end of it and they change the offense and, you know, Tom Brady becomes Super Tom and all of that stuff, you can start to say that a lot of that stuff, Tom Brady kind of manifested because he was a fucking sick ass qb.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But while he was getting there, it was process defense and ball control by the Patriots that at least through that first, those first championships that got Tom Brady there.

[C]

Richard Seymour, Ty Law, he's going to.

[B]

Go down, is maybe and probably should the greatest defensive mind in the history of football. And, and potentially, I mean, I mean, like, if you want to say he's the greatest NFL head coach of all time, I won't, I will not disagree. But that, to me, that doesn't necessarily mean you were the best. Like, sometimes it's also circumstantial. I mean, y' all saying that, you.

[C]

Know, so who, so who would be the best? Bill Walsh or Bill Paret?

[B]

Like, who would be Bill Wall, you know? Yeah, I mean, I really like, I think Bill Walsh did all right, but.

[A]

I mean, Joe Montana.

[B]

Yeah. But, I mean, Joe Montana. Joe Montana was a third round. Joe Montana was a third round pick. I mean, I know the Tom Brady.

[A]

Thing, but here's Joey R. Okay, look.

[B]

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. I didn't get a chance to workshop the. The Bill Walsh take.

[C]

It's okay. I'm just throwing names out. Because if it's not Belichick, it's probably.

[B]

I'm just saying, I think that, like, if you say that Bill Belichick is the greatest head coach of all time, I'm not going to dispute it. But I. I also am, like, willing to look at the context and say, all right, what if these other guys do in these other circumstances? And I got to hear it on a case by case basis. But any fair, reasonable, smart, educated person on football would have to say that Bill Belichick is up there. Like, it's just. There's not. There's not many people that have impacted the game more than him. But you're asking me.

[C]

But you'd still take Saban over.

[B]

I would take saving over him again. He didn't win with the okay. Yeah, he, you know, he. He had the guts to pick Brady and put him out there. All right, I'm hearing all these people saying they made hov. Go make another hove. Okay. Go make another hove. Belichick, you know, Gio Lopez, Matt Cat. He did all right with Matt Castle, you know what I'm saying? Geo Lopez. Yeah, man. Make another hoe. You know?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I wonder.

[A]

Yeah, I may hold for like 20 years. We won six Super Bowls. I ain't really gotta make another. You know what I'm saying? I feel you, though.

[B]

You need to make another hole for me to not want to take Mick Saban over you.

[A]

Right. Because. Because what you're talking about is Saban was able to do it with a bunch of different QBs. Yeah, that makes. That's a. I think it's different, but I understand the point. Point. I think it's different. I understand the point. Yeah.

[C]

Here's my rankings of who Saban's rooting for. Crystal Ball, number one, because Crystal Ball is his guy. He said he talks to him the most. Right. Number two, Pete Golding, because I think he hates Lane Kiffin deep down. And I think if Lane Kiffin watches his team win a national championship without him, I think one, he likes Golding, but, you know, it's more about just sticking into Lane Kiffin. Number three. I'm kind of with you. I bumped Signetti up. I'LL put Signetti at three, because I think it is kind of mirrored image of what he did at Alabama. And then I think it's landing at 4 because he's just like, yeah, this guy was a GA. I barely remembered his name. But he gets a lot of mileage off saying he was a Nick Saban guy. You know what I mean?

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

So I think that's. I think that's the power rankings if I'm Nick Saban.

[B]

Can I ask y'. All. So y' all think Nick Saban hates Lane Kiffin. Wouldn't that be really sad? Because Nick, you know, Lane Kiffin, when he was going through his turmoil, when he was going through his turmoil, he was like, well, man, I'm gonna have to go pray to God tonight. You know, I wish my dad was here, but instead, I'm going to call Pete Carroll and Nick Saban, you know, my two mentors. Can you imagine if that's the person you had to call? And that person actually hated you, though? That's what y' all are saying. Like, Lane Kiffin is like.

[C]

I mean, Bobby Knight hates Coach K. You know, like, that's his mentor.

[B]

Coach K called up Bob.

[C]

I mean, I think at some point he did. Bob Knight was like, some of my.

[B]

Life decisions right now.

[C]

I mean, I'm just saying. I think that happens more than we think, you know?

[B]

Yeah. All right. We resolved.

[C]

I'm just saying that that's the saving. I think it's a fascinating saving conversation. All right, one big question. Which team winning the CFP would be the best storyline? I think this is also fascinating. Everyone's trying to argue what would be the best. Ole Miss, obviously, is the one that we talked about before. Miami being back would be great. Obviously. Oregon finally gets over the hump and wins a championship. Indiana from the bottom to the top. What a climb that would be. So, Van, I'll go to you first. Which team winning the CFP would be the best story?

[A]

Obviously, it's Ole Miss, and that's sucks. Ole Miss winning the. The CFP is a Disney movie, man. That. That literally is literally a Disney movie. It's literally evil. Coach chases the bag, leaves for lsu. Team has to rally around itself. The meeting is a big scene in it. Golden comes along. The Charlie Weiss thing. Somebody, Somebody. There's a scene in the movie where somebody asked Charlie Weiss Jr. Coach, you coaching them or you coaching us?

[B]

Ooh.

[A]

And then he turns around, he goes, hottie Toddy. That's the same.

[B]

That's it. Oh, Hottie Toddy. Okay?

[A]

They coach him to win the game. But in this version, maybe Charlie Weiss doesn't end up going to lsu and Lane Kiffin is like, Derek. Lane Kiffin's the fucking villain. LSU is the villain. We all of a sudden have become the big fucking institution that has all the money and all the swag and all this stuff like that. And we stole their coach. That is by far the best story. To me, the second best story is Indiana, which is also a Disney movie.

[C]

Yeah, Hoosiers football.

[A]

If Indiana wins right now, they should remake Hoosiers.

[C]

I'm with you.

[A]

They should remake Hoosiers, but not about the tight shorts with the white guys. Right? Jimmy Chicklet. What's his name?

[B]

Jimmy Chickwick.

[C]

Jimmy Chitwood. Okay, I got you with that white movie reference.

[A]

There you go. I appreciate you, Jimmy Chickwood. They should remake it and they should have Kyle Chandler play Kurt Signetti. Oh, bring back the Friday Night Lights vibes. Hoosiers.

[B]

How long have you been thinking of this? This is a good. This is really smart.

[A]

The two year story that ends up where they end up going to a national championship. A new Hoosiers, actually. Hoosiers too. Yeah. Just call it hoosiers2.

[C]

It's in the same cinematic universe, the.

[A]

Football team this time. They would have two all time sports movies.

[B]

Yo, you know what you could do? You could call it Hoosiers too, to build on the Hoosiers brand. But basically you're making junction boys too, as well. You making junction boys too? You're getting them boys either at the beginning of the season, they're getting out there. It's all there. It's just us. It's just us out here and we're going to make a team. And if you can't handle it, buddy, get out of here. You know? Yeah, yeah.

[C]

You have the halftime speech when he's like, purdue sucks, but so does Michigan and Ohio State. You have that whole moment with Emily hall going crazy.

[A]

I will say this. There's one team that nobody cares if they win a national championship, and that is Oregon.

[B]

Y' all know? Yeah.

[A]

Nobody, man. Shout out to Oregon. Oregon is a. I love the program. I've always had fun. Even when LSU tortured Oregon, right? I've always had fun watching Oregon, watching the way Oregon plays football, watching the old Chip Kelly. Oregon teams, the uniforms, everything going up there in Odson, going on up there in Austin, should I say? But this is one year right now where Miami has a great story, Indiana has a great story, Ole Miss has the best story. And Oregon has no story. They are a placeholder right now in the college football playoffs, which gives me a sneaking suspicion that they're gonna have more success than people think that they might.

[C]

Yeah, I think that's a good call.

[B]

Well, what does. What does Oregon football done to inspire you to care? You know what I mean? Like, I mean, because now we're 30 years into this thing, right? Like, when they.

[C]

Well, they create a uniform culture, right?

[B]

Yeah, that's.

[C]

That's when they.

[B]

So when they were great in 1994 and went to the Rose bowl, and then, like, in the early, you know, the 2000s to the early 2010s, it.

[C]

Was like, Joey Harrington.

[B]

Yeah. The Chip Kelly of it all. You know, the Michael James, you know, Dennis Dixon. Dennis Dixon, man.

[C]

Yeah, he was sick.

[B]

I saw him.

[A]

Marcus Mariota. Dennis Dixon. What about Jeremiah Masoli? These guys, man. What's the kid's name? The black Mamba was the black mama.

[B]

Oh, oh, oh. Oh, man. The fast kid.

[A]

The.

[C]

Anthony Thomas.

[A]

Anthony Thomas. Like, Oregon has some guys, man.

[B]

Yeah, man, but do you, like. I don't think that. No. Is this gonna sound like a sad and weird thing to say? I don't, like. I don't think of, like, Oregon is, like, part of the legendary moments of college football. Even the championship game they played in, when they lost on a field goal at the end of the game by Auburn, it was just kind of like, okay, you know what I mean? I don't like. I just feel like Oregon inspires within most of college football. Okay, cool. Like, there's not a lot of enemies.

[A]

They got one classic moment. Willa Garrett Blunt. Oh, yeah.

[C]

Yeah. What a punch. Boise State.

[B]

Yeah. That was awesome.

[A]

Hey, man, shout out to whoever that guy is from Boise State. Byron, you learned a life lesson that day. Get out of that face. LeGarrett blunt put hands on him, and then Scott Frost was trying to hold him back. That was a legendary moment. That was a legendary moment in Oregon football history. Oh, man.

[B]

They still making that guy talk about this shit, man. This guy that got punched by Legarre Blunt, Byron Hoult. He's 35 years old. He works at. He's a coach at Idaho State, a defensive flex coach. Oh, man. Here's.

[A]

Here's.

[B]

Here's a Reddit summary from the Idaho Statesman about it. Just right here. Hoult wouldn't know a racist remark if he was being tortured in order to say one.

[A]

Ah, nah, we can't do it like that.

[B]

I don't know, bro.

[A]

You doing too much, bro.

[B]

Yeah, that's Come on, man.

[A]

But I. I disagree with your.

[B]

Your.

[A]

Your assessment of Oregon in college football. I think they've been one of the more relevant, noteworthy college football programs since 2000.

[C]

21St century, for sure.

[B]

Absolutely relevant.

[C]

What about Ahmad Rashad? We forgot about Ahmad Rashad. That's a good one.

[A]

Okay. Yeah.

[B]

What was Ahmad called back then? Lenny Moore.

[C]

Bobby. Bobby Moore.

[B]

Bobby's Moore.

[C]

Bobby Moore.

[B]

Bobby Moore. Okay.

[A]

But, like, I think that for fans in Austin and for the Oregon Ducks football culture, if they were to win a national championship this year, it would feel like the culmination of a lot of incremental movement.

[C]

It'll legitimize everything.

[A]

Yeah, legitimize them as well. It would be a huge, huge deal. I'm just not sure if it would be that huge of a deal outside of Austin, outside this was. I led with that. You know what I mean? But with all these other teams winning, they're huge national stories if they win a national championship.

[B]

Yeah, that's basically all I was saying that Oregon is just kind of like a. You know, look, when you've got Miami, you've got a team that has a crazy fan base. They inspire a lot of enmity within people. They've got the culture that thrives down there. With Ole Miss, you've got both the. We were a longtime doormat in the SEC because we were really not down with the segregation. And also just like, you know, it's the Rebels. You know what I mean? Like, people just. People just not gonna be excited about that. They gotta get. They gotta battle with that, so people are gonna feel one way about it. And Indiana is a great story, as we mentioned with Oregon, it's like, they've been a really good football program for a long time. It'd be. If they win a national championship, cool. But there's just not a lot of passion. There's, like, history to be made with all these other stories, and those other. Those other teams represent something. So I don't know that Oregon, you know, represents anything in. In particular.

[C]

Well, they represent Nike. That's the other. Like, I'm a big brand guy. So, like, the. The underlying part of this final Four matchup is that it's Adidas versus Nike in both games. Indiana, Adidas. Yes. Going up against Oregon, who is the face of Nike. And then you got Ole Miss. Nike versus Miami. Adidas. So this is Adidas versus Nike in both games. And if you don't know, before nil was a thing. The. The people that were funding all these players for the most Part was Nike, Adidas, Under Armour. That was the underbelly of college sports. That's who was paying a lot of this money on the grassroots. So these brands matter. And Nike and Adidas executives that all sit up there in Beaverton and they're right next to each other out up in Portland, they. They're watching this very closely right now because that.

[B]

That is.

[C]

That's very important, too.

[B]

You know, Nike's run by TCU guy, by the way, there you go, Elliot Hill.

[A]

That's a national championship Championship.

[C]

So hang the banner.

[B]

We know more about it than lsu. Obviously.

[A]

Y' all want one. So look, in these matchups, Oregon vs. Indiana, Ole Miss vs. Miami, what units are we looking at? What is. What are the strengths? Are we looking at the Miami defensive line and how they're able to affect Trinidad Chambliss? Obviously, that's going to be a story. Whether or not Charlie Weiss Jr. Can scheme something up to negate what Ruben Bane and those guys are going to be able to do. That kind of would be what Lane's function would be if he were still there right now. Let's figure out a way to slow down the rush and be able to move the ball not just through Chambliss, you know, throwing the ball a bunch of times, but generate a running game, maybe get the quarterback out in some situations where he can make some plays with his feet. Then in the other game, you know, Oregon just against the bowl constrictor that is Indiana football, will Oregon be able to mount a rushing attack against Indiana? And will Oregon be able to score the ball against them as they have not really been able to do or did not do in the last game that they played against Texas Tech?

[B]

That's Tate's job.

[C]

What's my job?

[B]

I just have to say it. I don't know. I came to mind. I was like, damn, Van. Doing Tate's job, man.

[A]

I was just asking a question.

[C]

No, I think. I think I was excited to hear Joel's answer.

[A]

Drink, bro. Cause you all.

[C]

You.

[A]

This is another one. Are you high? This is another one where you drink. Drink your drink, bro.

[B]

Drink your drink.

[A]

Do we have to get the Duke in here?

[B]

Drink. We don't need the Duke in here at all.

[C]

Here he comes.

[A]

Dude, did you think that that was a bad question to ask about the actual games right there?

[B]

It was a good question, Ben. I just was like, damn, that's Tate's job, man.

[A]

I'm sorry, Tate. I apologize. I'm sorry.

[C]

I wasn't concerned at all. I Was excited to hear the answer. I had an answer myself. I was.

[B]

Well, I was waiting. You should take. Should have given his answer first.

[C]

What's going on, Joel? You're a little dehydrated.

[B]

You're tired. You did it. Tired.

[C]

Didn't know your glasses were off for, like, 10 minutes for some reason. Could you see us, Joel? Like, can you, Joe?

[A]

Can you see without your glasses? Or you like Thomas J. For my girl?

[B]

No, man, I've got great vision, man.

[C]

You like Dwayne, you wear glasses?

[B]

I mean, I used to, I guess, is what I'm saying, but. Okay, look, it's a. It's a recent development. When I went to the eye doctor a couple years ago, he was like, man, you've got really good vision for your age. He's like, eventually, you're going to. It's probably going to fall off a cliff where you hear pretty quickly in the next couple.

[C]

So you just preemptively did it?

[B]

Well, no, I mean, it was just like my vision had slipped a little bit, and, you know, it's still pretty good for my age. What are we doing? What is happening?

[C]

You derailed the show.

[A]

The question about the units.

[B]

You want me to talk about the unit? Let me talk.

[A]

Yeah, like, you. Like you derailed the show. Can you. Can we talk about the actual football? Yeah.

[B]

Okay, I'm back to it now. All right, so the issue is this. How will Trinidad Chambliss hold up under pressure? He hasn't really been pressured that much this year. You know, my guys at the PFF podcast, man, they. A lot of good info there. He was the second least pressured QB in college football this year, Trinidad Chambers.

[A]

A lot of that scheme, though.

[B]

A lot of that scheme and a lot of. Yeah, and he getting the ball out. All that.

[A]

Getting the ball out quick is the way Lane calls, Calls. Calls the plays, right? The way the plays are called. You know, they. They do it together.

[B]

So that's the thing. But, like, do you think he'll be able to live through this game and not feel Ruben Bane and Akeem Mazador on his back? Like, I just don't. It's possible, like, they may come up with ways to. To make them tired, because those guys play, like, all game, too, and they're. They're. And they're working hard all game long. So maybe Ole Miss has something schemed up to tire those guys out, get the ball out fast so he's not as affected and he can keep his ball, you know, rep. You know, keep. Keep up those numbers. As one of the least pressured quarterbacks in the country. So that's what I'm. I'm curious to see how, like, Trinidad Chambers does when the pressure inevitably gets to him, because that's something that he hasn't really faced a lot of this year. And as we saw. We saw Julian saying, do you know, he didn't look great under that pressure, man. And those dudes that might be. I mean, man, that's one of. It's just a throwback to those old school Miami defensive lines, man. Like Warren Sapphire was tearing shit up or Cortez Kennedy was there, man. Like those. I was like, damn, these guys are totally controlling this game. So, yeah, can Trinidad Chambers shake that off? I don't know.

[A]

If you're thinking about Miami, you might be able to. You know, Miami doesn't need to dial up pressures to get pressure, right? So you really might be able to cut down on any of the explosive plays, particularly some of the explosive plays that we saw late in the Georgia game. Right. In the Georgia game, we saw Kirby Smart say, fuck it, I'm gonna play press man a little bit. He played the press, man. They did not get home, and Chambers was able to beat him right in this type of situation, I just don't think that if you give those boys time to rush that the line is gonna be able to hold up. Maybe they can't. Maybe they can, but Miami, because of the pass rush, does not have to take many chances on the backside of the defense in order to, like, you know, manipulate the quarterback and make them do what they want him to do.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, you heard Kirby. He said no free access plays, but they had a lot of free access throws, and that's because they weren't able to get pressure with their front four. But this front four is a little bit different. So they're going to be able to get pressure and be able to match up on the outside. And they're also. I mean, we've seen it. They've thrown different looks. I mean, they had. Saying completely fooled when he threw that pick six. He did not. You know what I mean? Like that. That's the sort of stuff, too, where they're showing different fronts.

[B]

What a beautiful play that was. Yeah.

[C]

Great play. And. And I feel like that's going to be the difference for Chambliss to be able to. To kind of fight through that. I do think it's a big deal that Lacy and Chambers have committed for next year. Like, now all the noise is kind of away, too, so I think you Know, talk about stability that Joel brought up before, I think that's good for Ole Miss. But I don't know if they've seen a D line like Miami has, which is going to be interesting to see how much pressure they can get on them.

[A]

I don't think anybody really in college football has seen it except for the people who have played Miami. You just got to go back.

[C]

I'm going to go back and watch games accom.

[A]

Go back and watch a couple of those games that Miami lost and see like how teams were able to, to, to. To get away from that because man, not to harp on Ohio State. We had talked up Ohio State the entire year because Ohio State just has names that jump off the page at you and they were under duress, man. Yeah, they couldn't do anything with those guys.

[B]

Couldn't run the ball neither, you know.

[A]

Couldn'T run the ball either. So there's not a lot of reason to think that the Ole Miss offensive line will be able to hold up. But you know, you come up with different things. It's a very creative, should I say offensive intelligentsia there. Maybe they can.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, Miami's losses, right? I mean the Louisville loss, he throws four picks Carson back. So I mean in a game where, you know, Miami plays a game where they have limited possessions anyway, so if you give the ball away, that's really going to come back to be punitive in the end. And then the SMU game was the same thing. They had limited possessions, they had some weird miss field goal, you know, conversation that happens and then all of a sudden that games get out of hand and they end up losing in overtime. So like both those games came down to their own game plan kind of backfiring against them because they didn't play a clean football game. So they were explainable losses.

[A]

SMU did have success offensively.

[B]

Yeah, Kevin kind of like, I mean I would rather have Trinidad Chambers and Kevin Jennings and he had success against, against Miami. So.

[C]

But Marcel Reed didn't, you know. But I think Chambers has a better. I was going to say, but Chambers has a better deep ball and Stribler has been a better, like, better like kind of creating an option for him once he scrambles, you know, getting downfield and being available. So I think that's the other part. It's like if Miami doesn't get home, can Miami secondary hold up on the back end and make sure that some of those big time plays don't happen? Because that's what they really did to Georgia.

[B]

Yeah, I Feel like they've got a really good secondary. Bryce Fitzgerald, Keante Scott, those guys back there, I feel like that. I feel like they're pretty solid back there. And so, you know, I don't know, like, you know, Ole Miss went through the whole SEC season and I don't. I think this is going to be the best defense they're going to face all year. They haven't seen anything like what Miami's going to throw out there at them. Also, the thing about Miami that's interesting on offense is that like they just want to fight, man. Like they're just going to. We're going to like in this, this 10 yard box. Like this is where the whole game is going to happen. Because if you think about Miami, what big plays have they had during the playoffs? Have they. Have they busted. Their most explosive plays have been long March, Mark Fletcher runs. But they haven't really hit anything.

[A]

Mark Fletcher has runs and Tony had a, like a, you know, on special teams, on teams, he had a big return, right?

[B]

Yeah. But like offensively, like they don't create a lot of that. And you see that they're doing a lot less with Carson Beck. Like they just say, I'm sure they go to him and be like, don't turn the ball over, man. Like just.

[A]

But I will say this though. The O line grinds on people by the time the fourth quarter comes, that's when Fletcher really starts ripping off some of those runs. I mean, he had a great first half a couple of games ago, but he starts ripping off those runs because that offensive line just leans on you. And then they always need one big nut dropping drive at the end of the game, the seal of game. And when they go into it and start handing the ball off, they're able to do it. It was one thing to be able to do it against A and M, but the way that they did it against Ohio State was really impressive to me. You know, I'm looking back at this game. This game was a Kevin Jennings masterclass, basically. 365 yards through the air. A lot of it. To Jordan. Jordan Hudson, former TCU recruit to Jordan Hudson. Yeah, he found success somewhere else. To Jordan Hudson. A lot of it was. A lot of it was to. A lot of it was to him. You look around, Jennings was throwing the ball around a lot because on the ground they only rushed. They rushed the ball 25 times for 23 yards. A 0.9 yard average right there. So Miami was able to control them. There are two they did rush for Two touchdowns. But Miami was able to control the rushing game. But Jenny just beat him. Like T said last, last podcast. Beat him.

[B]

Yeah, I just kind of thought, yeah, that they would be able to do a little bit more than that. Like, I like Bo Jackson, I think he, at that point across the thousand yard mark, like he. They'd shown the. Actually be able to run the ball and then it's like, oh, Miami just cut that out. So I don't know. I just, you know, we'll, We'll. We'll see how it all goes. But that, that, that, that Miami defense is turning out to be special. And I now the, like, the, the Louisville and SMU of it is just like, oh, that's just like these are very long seasons. They have to travel a lot further than they used to. They got to get up and. You know what I mean? So, like you can those two losses in retrospect, a little bit more understandable. And now it seems like, all right, they're back in their, you know, and.

[C]

They were playing tight in those games. Right now they're playing kind of loose and obviously they have nothing to lose. And that's what I'm fascinated as well. This is the first time they won't be the underdog in the game. And I think that actually plays in the favor of Ole Miss a little bit too because they, they have that chip on their shoulder and that's what's been kind of fueling Miami. So that's fascinating.

[A]

Tate, to you, what do you think is better, tight or loose? Because some people say that tight. Some people say that tight.

[C]

I love connotations, you know what I mean? Like, like, you know, like, say something's tight. I think things that I like it.

[B]

You know, some people say that, you.

[A]

Know, tight is restricting, but some people say that tight is better. But then some people say that you could do more with loose because you know what I mean? It's the different requirements, I think.

[C]

Keep it loose, you know. What do you think is better? Don't play tight.

[B]

Keep it loose.

[C]

You know, that's, that's sort of the vibe.

[B]

Yeah, I know. Tastes a G. That's what Billy said, you know.

[A]

Hey, you know, The other game is a rematch, Tate.

[C]

Yeah. Let's talk about it. Let's just do the preview while we're doing this right now because this is fascinating. Todd McShay put out his mock draft and these are going to be the number one and number two picks, apparently. Fernando Mendoza, Dante Moore, I feel like that's not talked about Enough that we're going to have the number one and number two picks facing off in the CFP semifinal in this game. We've seen this game before. It's a redux. So maybe that's the reason why, you know, there's a little bit of, you know, hesitation when it comes to being excited about this game. But just looking at the line in Vegas, when they played at Austin in Oregon, Oregon was favored by five and a half. Now on a neutral site, it's three and a half in favor of Indiana. That's how much they flipped the script this season as far as belief from Vegas's vantage point. So Indiana is the favorite in this game. Mendoza looked great. And what we learned from watching the tape was he was getting these different looks from Bama, right. They're showing, you know, a cover two look and then they're dropping out of it or whatever it may be. And he was reading it in real time, seeing what they were going to do, and then throwing just beautiful balls down the field and just trying to ice the game as much as he could, which is a credit to Fernando Mendoza. So let's talk about the quarterback matchup. Joe, I'll go to you first here. Mendoza Moore, what do you expect to see? Obviously they don't play each other because this is football, but they're going to be going head to head in this one.

[B]

Yeah, I hate to be a hater in this way because they're both really good college quarterbacks, but, like, what if you had to pick between them or Trinidad Chambers, who would you take first this week? If you had to play a game this week, who would you rather have?

[C]

Mendoza.

[B]

Really? You rather have Mendoza over Chambers? He should.

[C]

Yeah, he should. He is. I have started to buy in. I believe. I don't know about number one pick. I saw Beaumont, he did a great job kind of explaining, you know, why he thought he was, you know, not necessarily the number one pick based on the tools, but, I don't know, just mentality and him being able to dissect things at the line of scrimmage. I think it's really special. So I'll go Mendoza.

[A]

Yeah, same thing. Same thing. Mendoza. To me, Mendoza, steady hand doesn't make the big mistake. And it just seems like you're going to win more games with a guy like that at quarterback, especially with these same. The way these teams are constructed, for sure.

[B]

Well, so here's the thing. I think that they're all. All of these are great quarterbacks. I just think that, like Trinidad Chambers Offers a little more. And with Mendoza, it's like if you can get him off his spots, you can make a move a little bit. It's a little bit more difficult for him. He's not a great athlete. He's a good quarterback, solid athlete, but not a great.

[C]

Got great footwork though in the pocket like some of these like yeah.

[A]

And he, and he makes timely runs, first down runs. He's not dynamic in that regard, but he's certainly not a statue, you know.

[B]

Well, the thing about it, what I remember, what I've forgotten about that Oregon Indiana game is that Oregon made life hell on Mendoza. Like he did not have a good. Was one of his worst games of the year. He threw a pick six in that game.

[C]

Yep. And early.

[B]

Yeah. And it wasn't like Indiana was able to like offset it with a strong rushing attack. Like Oregon kind of held him down. They only averaged like 3 yards of carry in that game. Which is why I think Indiana is going to win even though it's hard to beat a good motivated team twice. Because I was like, oh, Indiana went on the road, played one of their worst games of the year and still won by two scores. And so like now I feel like they're a better team.

[C]

They've got more, more confident team for sure.

[B]

A more confident team. Now they are missing Stephen Daley, their best pass rusher.

[C]

But like that did not bother, didn't matter against Bama.

[B]

And so I'm just thinking like this seems like, okay, they can do it this time it won't be the same deal.

[A]

Also, you know, Indiana sacked, sacked more six times.

[B]

Oh, he had more inhale too. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

They keyed more was inhaled. They threw the ball for 186 yards. They rushed it for under 81 yards. Excuse me, under 100 yards. They couldn't move the ball on the ground, couldn't really move the ball through the air. They were able to score 20 points. One of them was off the pick six. Like you say, it was a game in a place that's very tough to play. And Indiana played the type of methodical, grind it out game that you have got to play to leave there with a victory. If you're not going to like, you know, go up there and have a Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase esque offensive explosion. If you're not going to do that to them or TCU Josh Hoover, no.

[B]

You know, you might. Max Dugan and Q.J. quentin Johnson played in the national championship game. Something else. That type of problem more recently than TCU Right.

[A]

They were able to play. I mean, you know, Oregon was 3 or 14 on. On third down in that game. Just having all types of problems. Right? Just having a lot of different issues. Plus they threw two picks. So. Look, I don't know how much has changed. I don't know what could have changed. Oregon's kind of flew under the radar since that game, but in my estimation, a lot is going to have had to change for them to beat Indians or.

[B]

You said it last week, Van. You said Oregon did not look good even though they shut out Texas Tech, right?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Oregon has had like. It's not like every time they've played a good defense this year they struggled. Like they just have. And I gotta think.

[C]

And Penn State looks like a good defense. So, I mean, even though they weren't a great team, they did have a really good defense.

[B]

They had a. They still had. They had a great defense then and they were still a good defense as the season fell apart around them. So. Yeah, we still haven't seen Oregon have like a great day against a good defense yet. And so given how poorly Indiana played the last time and still won on the road, I just got to think that, you know, they're going to win. And then here's the thing again. We talked about this, you know, when we talk about Indiana, if Indiana had that bama, you know, the numbers on the side of the helmet or something, we would. We'd be like, oh, yeah, this has been the best team all year, the number one. They should win this game. But because it's Indiana, we're still like, I don't know, man. Oregon might be.

[A]

You like that? You can't see with your glasses. You like that? I didn't. I'm not saying you don't wear glasses.

[B]

Wait, Van, you don't have glasses?

[A]

I don't have glasses at all.

[B]

You can't afford an optometrist. What's wrong?

[A]

My vision is great.

[C]

He's got great vision, sees it all.

[B]

You should go to a doctor to confirm that. Cause you talking shit right now. But you're 45.

[A]

45 years old.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Your vision's bad. It's not.

[A]

My vision is fucking fine. My vision is fine.

[B]

Can you drive great at night? Are you good at driving at night or range driving?

[A]

I'm driving at night. Like I'm great at. Just. Cause you got glaucoma.

[B]

Don't put.

[A]

It's like.

[B]

Don't put that on me.

[A]

Wait a second.

[C]

My shit is fine. That's all right. You're just treating it.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, my vision is, my vision is fine. Is solid. It's fine. I'm doing good. Don't you tell me. So when did you first start to know that your shit was going out of whack?

[B]

I told you, I. Okay, I went. So I was with my grandmother's funeral in Pine Bluff, Arkansas a couple years ago. And I was with my mom in the car. We were going to dinner in Little Rock. And I just was like, damn. I just was like, I couldn't catch the lines on the road. I was like, it was because it was raining and everything. And then I did not. You don't know what astigmatism is until like you actually experience, you know. Then the eye doctor told me, he was like, you see how those lights are and why they're not supposed to look like that? I was like, oh, for real? I didn't know that it wasn't supposed to be like that. And so that was really it, it was a couple years ago. And then I went and got the optometrist man. And then I met Mohammed from real world outside my optometry.

[C]

That's cool.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

With his small world. Yeah. His 18 year old son who had just come back from USC. Shout out.

[A]

There you go. Mohammed from the real world.

[C]

Well, that's a better story than what I thought. You said it earlier that Billy said houses vision.

[B]

Well, you know why Muhammad came to mind? Because I was walking around. When you walk out of the optometrist, they give you those little glasses, you know, the little black glasses. So you, so the, you know, the sun doesn't affect.

[C]

Your eyes are dilated.

[B]

Yeah, your eyes are dilated. So I'm walking around and he's like this, this guy says, hey, nice glasses, man. And I, I, I kind of, I was like, is he talking to me? And then I looked at him, I was like, this looks famous situation. That's.

[C]

He said, you wrestle.

[B]

Tight, man. What are you doing, man?

[C]

Do you, you know for a fact.

[B]

Why are you even here? Why are you here?

[C]

At first you were blind going to the doctor. Second, your eyes were diluted. You showed us, Muhammad.

[B]

No, no, no, I know. Look, man, we exchanged, we exchanged numbers, man. And it's funny because he was like, what? Listen to the story. So it's outside of a pizza, a pizza state. People in Palo Alto would know. It's a town and country village. Optometrist is there. Come back, man. What are you doing? What is he doing, man?

[C]

Oh, man. I want to hear the story.

[B]

We're listening. I have an. I have another Real World story, too, actually. I've got. I've had three run ins with real world characters. All right.

[C]

One at a time, and then we'll rank them at the end. Okay. Yeah, we'll do a start bench cut of.

[B]

So you want to start bench cut of my. Yeah.

[C]

Of your real world.

[B]

Of my Real world stories. Okay.

[C]

Yeah, it'll be good.

[B]

Okay. Okay, here we go. So. So Muhammad says, hey, stop it. Stop it, man.

[C]

How many whys when he said, hey, the homophobia here.

[B]

Somebody's gonna speak up. Somebody. Somebody's gonna speak up one day, and they're gonna be like, hey, man, those guys are anti woke over there, you know? Anyway, I'm sorry. Okay, so. Oh, my God, the Muhammad story. Yes. So anyway, he's like, yeah, like, nice glasses. And I was like, that's all right. Same way I look at him, he's like, okay. And then we just. He's like, yeah, we don't see too many brothers here in Palo Alto, which is true. Like, there's just not very. You know, it's like, 1%, and Palo Alto, just a handful of us, and so we just like, yeah, what do you do here? And he's like, yeah, I work over at Stanford and such and such. And my son is back in town for this and this. And I was like, okay, yeah. And I was like, yeah, I've lived here for almost a couple 10 years. I live not too far from here. Blah, blah, blah. And he's like, okay, cool. And we. We. So we exchanged numbers, and as he did, he said his name was Muhammad, but he didn't say anything else. And I was like, this look familiar, bro? I got to look him up. So anyway, I looked him up online. I was like, oh, man, that was Muhammad from the third season of Real World, man.

[A]

San Francisco.

[B]

San Francisco season with Pedro and them and Puck. Was that the second season or third season?

[A]

The second season, it was New York, Louisiana. And then San Francisco.

[B]

Francisco. That's right. Judd, Pam, all of them. Yeah, man. So anyway, so that's the first story. The second. Do you really want to go through these two?

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the first one. We get two more.

[B]

All right, so before we were going to have.

[C]

Before, did you ever reach out to him or.

[B]

Man. Bro, So I know. You know what happened. He. I texted him. He did not text me back for, like, a month and a half. And then when he texted me back, I was getting ready to move, so I Was just like, there's no need. And, I mean, what's. You know, I'm about to move. So anyway, the second one is that when we were looking for a doula for our firstborn, Desmond, my therapist had recommended this, like, collective of doulas in the Bay Area. Right. And so. So I'm just calling random numbers. I'm trying to lose.

[A]

I'm not gonna lie. I don't think we need the rest of the story.

[C]

Okay, what's story three?

[B]

Wait, okay, no, hold on. That. That person was Coral from.

[A]

Wait, wait. Now that. Now that's an interesting story. That's not. That one I can get into.

[B]

Oh, you want to hear the rest of it?

[A]

I want to hear the rest of it. I want to hear about Coral for sure. Go ahead.

[B]

Okay. So anyway. So, yeah, so that's a killer right there. I looked it up. So I looked up caller, and I.

[C]

Great on the challenge.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Right. So anyway, so she. She hits me up, and we're. We had a good. A very good phone conversation. I was like, all right, well, I gotta, you know, put you in touch with my wife. But, like, you know, maybe we can make something work. Well, just because my wife is the one that's really gonna have to deal with the doula. Right.

[A]

I mean, it's just kind of weird.

[B]

But I wanted to take on the emotional wife. So anyway. So anyway, I'm just. I'm still trying to think. So I look, and I'm just. I mean, some. My wife. She talked to my wife, and we were like, okay, that's cool. And I was like, you know what? We ain't even done a Google search since we had this woman. We're invited to look in on our kid, and we don't know about this person. Let me look her up. And so I looked her up, and I put Coral in East Bay. And I was like. I started looking at the pictures. I was like, she looked familiar. It was Coral from that season. Was it Miami?

[A]

She can't remember. Let me ask you a question. Why are you.

[C]

She did a bunch. She went. I think she went back to New York. She did a bunch.

[A]

Why are you. Why are you stalking people?

[B]

No, Paul, it was just crazy. I guess there's a lot of them that live in the Bay Area or whatever, but, like, Corona did not end up being a doula, by the way. It didn't work out.

[A]

Your wife was probably a little intimidated. She's like, no, no, no, no, no.

[B]

She was fine. We were gonna do it. We.

[C]

She's like, joel, how do you keep getting numbers from the Real World?

[B]

I just, you know, every time I send you out, it is kind of crazy. And the last one was.

[C]

She has a yelp, by the way. Doula.

[B]

Coral. Do look.

[A]

Let me see.

[C]

That's cool.

[A]

Let's look up Coral real quick. Let's bring a Coral on the show.

[C]

One star.

[B]

Yeah, I got another. Well, so I only want to say it, but yeah. Do you want me to retell you the third one?

[C]

Yes, yes.

[A]

We here now.

[B]

Okay. So when I was doing the Slow Burn season of Biggie and Pack, of course, I had to call in Kevin Powell to come in to our studio to interview, and he was very difficult to talk with. He's a good brother, very powerful. But I think, you know, the one thing I learned about the Tupac and Biggie thing is that it scarred a lot of people, man. It's, like, really damaged a lot of people and hurt them in ways that I hadn't even really considered. And so it was.

[C]

He was first season, right?

[B]

It was first season, him. I mean, him arguing outside with Julie.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

So anyway. But, yeah, and Kevin Powell said. I'm. At first I thought, why is Kevin Powell texting me all this? But he just. He. He mass texts people, so I get mass text from Kevin Powell every now and again. All right, there you go. Y' all want to rank them? Yeah, I thought. Y' all gonna rank them.

[A]

No, no, no, no, no, no.

[C]

I'm starting Muhammad. Yeah, yeah, Coral. Yeah, Coral.

[A]

I bench Coral. Cut. Kevin.

[C]

Yeah, Kevin's cut.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I'd look for another Real World member if I were you, to find, like, maybe slip into the number two slot there, because two and three were kind of bad stories.

[B]

They were bad stories, really.

[A]

Coral was pretty good because of the surprise. It was a lot of shadiness around what was going on initially, but.

[B]

No.

[A]

Yeah, well, there was.

[B]

But that's no shadiness.

[A]

There was. But that's.

[B]

No, that's okay now. Nah, bro. I mean, I didn't even know what she looked like. That was the thing. It. And then I was like, oh, shit, that's Coral from the Real World. And then I told Janae I was. I was straight up with her. I was like, look, this is Coral from the Real World. I did not do this on purpose. I swear. I did not. Like, it was. And we. We were going to. We intended to hire her and expected her to show up.

[C]

Do you have. Joel. Do you have a white whale in, like, the Real World? Well, like, a Moby Dick. You know what I mean? Yeah. Who do you want to meet? Who do you want to meet in the Real World? Like is it Trishell from Vegas? Like who? Yeah, yeah.

[A]

She from. I think. I think she from Louisiana.

[B]

Is she really? She's a good one. I remember her, man. I mean there's so many bro.

[C]

Obviously Johnny Bananas is our co worker. Was at one time. So he's around.

[A]

What do you mean?

[C]

Didn't he have a show here?

[B]

Johnny Bananas on the ringer.

[C]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

[A]

I never knew that.

[B]

I certainly didn't.

[C]

I. I think he did. I mean he was on Bill's show and I used to do Bill show.

[A]

We have another call. Kyle is great. Kyle the man. Yeah, yeah. Kyle the man. Kyle's great. The real world is around. We see him. I saw one. Like I'd like I've seen him before. Like I've seen him around. I'm not gonna talk. I'm not gonna tell.

[B]

Yeah. What were you about to say? Well, you felt like you had somewhere.

[A]

You wanted to go.

[B]

All right, go ahead now. Since you. What are you say the things you wanted to say about. Who was it you met? Irulan or something?

[C]

Connecticut.

[B]

Connecticut.

[A]

I met Adam from the Real World. You guys remember Adam from the Real World?

[C]

Yeah. I don't remember Adam.

[B]

What.

[C]

What season is he from? What? I think I know him from the challenge. You know that's the thing.

[A]

Because I already talked to him about it. I'll tell you guys, this is not for the show. I met him at Puff's house.

[B]

We have spent a lot of time on Real World by the way.

[A]

We have. We're probably not going to.

[C]

Well, we. We did our CFP matchups. We're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we got overreactions of the week. We got big van on campus and we got just some quick hitter news. Because there's a lot happening in college football. A lot of movements. Transfer portal was open. We'll be right back after the break. Ringer Tailgate is brought to you by FanDuel. The field is down to the final four and every play now decides who moves on. The college football semifinals are here. With just two massive game days left before the championship. FanDuel is giving you something extra. That's right. All customers get a profit boost each college playoff semifinal game day. That means more chances to level up your picks and. And turn big moments into even bigger wins. I like, you know, Carson beck Anytime. Touchdown plus 650. I'm going to take that in the semi finals. I think he's going to run the ball a little bit. So visit FanDuel.com Tailgate to get your college playoff profit boost today. Must be 21 or older and President select states are 18 and older and President DC, Kentucky or Wyoming opt in required bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See [e-mail] gambling problem. Call 1-800-gambler or visit rg d help.com call 1-887-89-7777 or visit ccpg.org chatincut all right, we're back Ryer Tailgate Overreaction of the week we all watched Texas Tech in the playoff and they had no offense. It was anemic, it was abysmal, it was many things that you could call it, but they needed a quarterback for the future and they went out and spent $5 million on a new quarterback. And that quarterback is Cincinnati quarterback, former Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Soresby. And if you went to New York this weekend and you were in Times Square, you saw the big billboard of Brendan Sorsby welcoming him to Texas Tech and we got a nice quote here. There is obviously the big booster there, who is Cody Campbell is his name. And he this was a quote from Cody Campbell. He said, quote, he just called me talking about Sorsby and he called Patrick Mahomes to tell us he's coming to win a national championship. So overreaction of the week. Texas Tech said they needed a quarterback and they spent a lot of money for it. Van when you saw this news, do you think Brendan Sorsby is the guy that can get Texas Tech to the national championship?

[A]

It matters and it also doesn't matter.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Something happened to me earlier this year. I was driving along in my car. My car was a 2010 Honda Accord across to I was driving along in my car and white smoke started to come out of the hood of the car. I was on the 10 Freeway in LA, pulled off to the side of the freeway, car rolled down, got to the street, car's dead. She had been with me for a long, long time. Honda, it's like got about 200,000 miles on it. Completely paid off. Had been with me for a long time. So I need to buy a new car. When I bought a new car this time I bought a car with a different intention. The intention that I bought the car with wasn't just to get from point A to point B. I'M in a completely different situation in my life now than I was when I bought the Cross Tour. When I bought the Cross Tour, it was the most expensive purchase I had ever made before in my life. It was literally one of the first new cars that I ever bought. Right. But this time I wanted a car that I didn't have to park in the back, a car that I could ride around in town, and a car that people would expect me to get out of.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

And so I bought something that was a little bit nicer.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

There you go.

[B]

What you riding in?

[A]

Mercedes Gle.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

Yeah. And so. And so I. I brought something that was a little bit nicer. Right.

[B]

Damn. Okay.

[A]

This is what Texas Tech did with Brandon Sourceby.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

He is their Mercedes. Texas Tech wants something that not just will win football games, but this announcement, along with this billboard, is Texas Tech saying to everyone else that we are going to buy enough shiny things not only to win games, but to be taken seriously as a national football power. This was the number one portal quarterback. Depending on who you listen to, some people might say Sam Levitt, some people might say it's really nobody else, but this guy was the number one guy. So this matters from the football perspective, right? It matters. It's going to be an upgraded quarterback for them, I guess. But it matters even more from the standpoint of we are showing everyone right now how we rolling, how we coming, how we riding, everything that we got going on, and we're going to put it on a billboard in Times Square. So when you guys see our quarterback, you know that Texas Tech is for real. Texas Tech is serious. And this is a different Texas Tech than you've known before.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, they did all that and they still signed seven defensive linemen or ends, you know what I mean? So they feel like we've got a model like we like, we, we like building through that defense. Right. And then now what we were missing was the ability to threaten the offense in any way whatsoever. So now we've got somebody where we don't have to necessarily get a running back. We. I mean, they're going to get a running back and they've got some. A receiver in the portal or whatever, but they're just like maybe somebody that can make offense happen even if, you know there's not as much out there around him. Give them a good line and he'll be okay. So obviously that's the plan and what they think is going to happen. But you also know what it helps to have if you're Texas Tech. And you want to land the. One of the top portal quarterbacks. It helps if his girlfriend is on the volleyball team there, which is doing that. So, you know, hey, man, I don't know Carson Beck, you know, like, that's why he was in Miami. You know, that's not the only reason. But remember, he went down there behind one of them Cavendish twins. So, you know, I mean it. I don't. I. I don't know why somebody in Cincinnati and somebody who had been in Indiana would have been dating somebody who's a Texas Tech. I don't know how kids move no more. The Internet probably has opened up the whole world to them, but I'm sure that did not hurt when they were trying to make a recruitment as well.

[C]

Yeah, 11th best QBR in the country.

[A]

Exchange numbers.

[B]

But how often? See, this is what I'm talking about, because you're gonna make fun, but I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, and y' all are going to have to accept it, bro. People like me when I come around. Okay? That's facts. Yeah, that's facts.

[C]

We love you.

[B]

Yeah, right? And so, yeah, so people, you know, it's just like, okay, that guy seems like a decent brother. I always used to say I had friendly on my forehead when I was coming up, you know, because people just want to start talking to me, dog.

[A]

What?

[B]

You have friendly?

[A]

Okay.

[C]

They start knocking on 227.

[B]

Come on, man. Why y' all came up to me.

[A]

And was like, yo, you want to wrestle that? It looks like. Yeah, that's facts.

[B]

I mean, I don't understand. I don't understand why y' all trying. I'm talking about an expression of, like. This is, like, physicality, like dominance, you know, fighting. What are y' all talking about? You know what I'm saying? Van, how did you end up bleeding on the campus at LSU if you weren't tussling?

[A]

Look.

[B]

Yeah, go ahead and say it.

[A]

Say it happens. I'm saying you've been talking about shedding.

[B]

Blood on the LSU campus the whole time, this whole season. Tell the story of how you ended up shedding blood. Okay, Billy, I don't need any water. I'm almost gonna be out. Okay, he's saying that. All right, go ahead, Van. Tell us the story.

[A]

I'll save it. I don't wanna. We gotta talk about Brendan Swordsby. I shouldn't have thrown the joke in there. It was. It was wrong. We can't get off track. Okay, we can't get off track. But, yeah, a Lot of things. And this. This set off a domino effect. Sorsby goes to Texas Tech, Sam Levitt comes to lsu. That doesn't work out.

[C]

On a visit.

[A]

On a visit. Weird situation. Thank you, Tate. Like, he doesn't. He comes to LSU on a visit. They basically, from what I know, basically offered him, thought they had it wrapped all the way up and it was going to happen. It doesn't happen. Sam Levitt then is able to leave Baton Rouge. Then it seems as if the Washington quarterback, Harris is now flirting with the idea of coming to Baton Rouge after he had already agreed to a new deal with Washington. So there were ramifications for Brendan Sorsby not going somewhere else and ended up at Texas Tech all throughout college football.

[C]

Yeah. So this was. You mentioned the domino effect. Sorsby goes lsu. They actually leaked the offer. I think it was Ross Dellinger that leaked what he was offered, which was three and a half million dollars. A whole lot of, you know, kind of legal jargon that was involved, the expectation, things like that. He goes to Texas Tech and it was a lot less of that and a lot more money. So he says, hey, I'll sign on here. And then LSU is now scrambling to figure out who their quarterback of the future is going to be because Trinidad Chambliss, based on the timeline, he's going to stay at Ole Miss. And then Damon Williams, who you mentioned, Washington quarterback, he had already signed or re. Signed a contract and apparently Washington plans to. This is all reported right now by Ross Dellinger. So here it is. Washington plans to pursue. Pursue legal avenues to enforce Williams contract after he signed what the university is calling, quote, a legally binding revenue share contract. Williams agreed to a new deal with the Huskies four days ago before announcing today he will enter the transfer portal. The university has been in contact with the Big Ten. So Lane was trying to do this a little bit under the radar, obviously to get Williams into the portal. Now we have a legal situation and it seems like somebody's gonna be getting paid money and it's probably gonna end up being Washington for damages. This is the first of its kind, as far as I know. Joel, you're smiling, you're laughing.

[B]

Why is it. Why is LSU so messy, man? Why is Lane. I don't know why. Can't wait.

[C]

Lane loves the headlines.

[B]

Do regular shit. I don't know.

[C]

Headline Hunter.

[B]

There's a lot of quarterbacks out there. I mean, I didn't even. I. Maybe he sees something in Demond Williams Jr. That, you know. Yeah. I mean, he's A highly rated quarterback in the Portal, but I don't think anybody thought he was one of the top five quarterbacks in the Portal. Right. But maybe Lane Kiffin sees something. But it's like, why is he so messy? It just feels like he. I don't understand why there just can't be regular shit going on in Baton Rouge or regular shit going on around Lane Kiffin. But that just is the way he moves. But yeah, I mean, Demond Williams cannot go back to Washington. Like that's it.

[C]

That's for sure.

[B]

Yeah, like that's it.

[C]

So somebody, well, I mean, maybe Washington wants him to come back. And then it was a weird. I saw Jed Fish's wife. I mean, this is kind of fodder. She had commented basically being like the players were at her funeral when they found out the news. So that is messy in and of itself there. And again, he had just signed or resigned four days ago. So it's a very strange situation. Also, Sam Levitt's situation is strange because now you got Arizona State people coming out and they're saying that he got hurt playing basketball and that he got kicked off the team and that that's why he wasn't, you know, welcome back at Arizona State. And now he was apparently already in a no contact or non contact situation to go to Kentucky. Kentucky now has, has signed another guy who was supposed to go to Nebraska. So it's just messy. The, the whole Portal situation is insane. And then when you look at some of these other situations, Josh, Josh Hoover, for example, just, you know, he opts out and says he's going to go to the Portal and he just signs to the Indiana in the middle of this chaos. That's a smooth transition. Rocco Beckt, who was at Iowa State, follows his coach to Penn State, right? There's, there's some easy situations. Byron Brown goes to Auburn. That's an easy situation. But this is all very confusing.

[B]

I would also like to offer, In Demond Williams Jr's defense, he did sign a contract for film. Reportedly signed a contract for $4 million a few days ago, right, man. Reportedly LSU offered him $6 million. I know that those just look like numbers, right? Like 4 million and 6 million seem like they're kind of close, but like they offered him literally 50% more money, man. Like they offered him 2 million more dollars.

[A]

So that's.

[C]

Less taxation, right, Joel? I mean, that's the other part of this is like if he gets 4 million or let's say he gets 4 million in Washington state, he's getting really 2 million. If he gets, you know, 6 million in Louisiana, he's getting 4 million.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I mean, so he's getting straight up the number.

[B]

That's why I'm just like. I mean, I get, I get that he made a commitment and it's tough to go, but, man, sometimes, like, the money is such that you have to make decisions, grown up decisions. And I'm sure that was an uncomfortable call he had to make. But if you didn't call.

[C]

He just posted.

[A]

He just posted it. Yeah. I mean, reportal.

[B]

Hey, man, you offer me $6 million, bro. I'm sorry, man. I'm not saying that. That it doesn't absolve you of everything, but obviously, obviously something is weird on there, right? Like, again, I just. I would not expect the coach's wife to feel comfortable airing that out right there, in case you ever wanted to repair that relationship. It just seems like something is amiss there. And like, well, you can't play.

[A]

You can't play there now. Right?

[C]

Yeah. They know he's gone. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, but why do that?

[B]

Why say it out loud?

[A]

Yeah, he can't play there now.

[C]

Why comment? Yeah, yeah.

[A]

It's a situation where he has. He's. Now he has to. He has to go. There's just too much animus built up between him and everybody over there now. So this guy got it.

[B]

Yeah, maybe.

[C]

Also Lane. Lane stole a coach from South Carolina. Right. We had that whole Beamer situation where Shane Beamer comes out and he's like, he's not basically playing by the unwritten rules, which is like, when you're going to try to get another coach, you call the head coach to say, hey, we want to interview this guy. So Lane is not playing by anybody's rules other than Lane Kiffin's rules. I mean, that's just the reality of the situation.

[A]

So it's awkward. It's awkward.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Being the villains of college football.

[C]

The. The actual villains, like, Brian Kelly was a villain, but he was, like, trying to play the nice guy.

[A]

Football is cool. It's a team that people can root for when they don't have their own team.

[C]

Right.

[A]

With a lot of swagger. Set a lot of trends in college football.

[B]

I wouldn't.

[A]

And we do.

[B]

Trends.

[A]

You've heard of the gritty?

[B]

Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, yes. You heard of gritty for the guy, the guys that played at lsu, the ones that still do it.

[A]

Joe, can I ask you a question? You ever think. You think anybody from TCU ever did the gritty before, I don't think. Let's look it up.

[B]

You want to see if T.C. somebody from TCU did the gritty. Oh, okay. You're going to get a video of one person doing it.

[A]

Do you think the gritty somebody from TCU did?

[B]

So your contention is that the gritty swept the nation? It's one of the biggest moves. It moved culture. Yes, that's what it did. Okay. Gritty.

[A]

It absolutely did. No.

[B]

Am I tripping? Yeah. I mean, it had some moment, but, I mean, you're acting like it was raising the roof or something. You know what I'm saying?

[A]

Wait, wait. It wasn't. Hold on. Hold on now. But the gritty definitely. The gritty definitely had. Am I tripping? Okay, I could be wrong. I could be wrong.

[B]

What was the. What was the Gangam style? You think it was. You talking about?

[C]

Like, what Is that what it's called, Gangam style still?

[B]

There's no. That is not. That's.

[C]

You're. I think you're more like the gritty to be like the Dougie territory. Not.

[B]

Okay, yeah, the Dougie.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You're talking like the gritty was the Dougie.

[A]

The gritty was a big deal, particularly in sports. A gigantic deal. And all I'm saying is it originated from Louisiana. The LSU guys popularized it. I'm saying the LSU guys have said some trends. That's all I'm saying. All right. It's cool. You don't want to believe it. You don't think it's true. It's cool.

[B]

No, I mean, I said it did the gritty.

[A]

The point is, is that now we are looked at it as a little bit different. We are the villains of college football. And I am getting used to that.

[C]

Yeah, I'm getting used to it, too.

[B]

Who's the most villainized? You know, non like, disturbing allegations, division head, high school head college football coach. Like, who's the one who's been the most villainized?

[A]

Take a drink of the water.

[B]

Yeah, okay.

[A]

All right.

[B]

When you called Demon Williams Harris about five years ago, nobody said anything.

[A]

I did.

[B]

I was to going to say something, but I was like, we've moved too far.

[A]

Damon Harris. Whatever. I apologize. Just take a drink of the water. We want to get the thought. Okay, so what were you saying?

[B]

I already said it. It's out there. Do y' all have a response?

[A]

I forgot what you said. I'm not going to.

[C]

You said, which coach without. Without harrowing allegations is kind of the most like, villainized coach? I mean, yeah, Lane is definitely the right answer. I mean, Irvin.

[B]

Ooh.

[A]

Urban Meyer's way up there. Urban Meyer never really had, like, those types of concrete allegations. But, you know, Urban Meyer had a gigantic health crisis to get him to leave Florida. And then Ohio State calls.

[C]

He's ready to go. He had the girl on his lap in the bar.

[B]

He was having a good time.

[A]

He was doing his thing. So it's like he said, you know.

[C]

I'm a G. You know, I'm a.

[A]

G. You know, I'm a G. So Urban Meyer was having a whole deal, I guess I would say, without allegations. That's a guy that I will put in that. In that. In that category.

[B]

Yeah. But, you know, the funny thing about Urban Meyer, though, is not the thing that makes Lane distinctive, is that his colleagues feel comfortable firing off on him in a way that you don't tend to say. You tend to see in the past, like, people may have, you know, not been as big of fans as Urban Meyer, but with Lane, it's like even the enmity rises to the level of his counterparts in the field. Like, all this. Yeah.

[C]

Shane Beamer is in his conference, going to see him at media days, and he's still willing to call him out and be like, yeah, this guy doesn't play by the rules.

[B]

You know, they used to be able to cheat and quiet. You know, like, there was an unspoken agreement in the SEC in particular about, like, hey, man, we're not going to talk about how everybody end up with these charges. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, we're not going. Let's not talk about how your family ended up moving from this place to this place and living there while you were in school. We don't have to talk about that. And it was like, cool. But, like, this is like, oh, okay, it's Lane Kiffin. Let me tell you why I don't like that. It's just. It seems like they. People are excited to do that.

[C]

Which means whatever quarterback does come to play for Lane Kiffin has a lot of pressure inherently on them, you know, which I think is the reason why maybe a Sam Levitt is saying to himself, I don't know if I want to go into this situation, because, boy, is that a lot of pressure. But we'll see. Chambliss obviously is committed to Ole Miss if he gets his waiver. So that conversation is now kind of done. As far as the other quarterbacks that are still out there, DJ Lagway, he visited Florida State, and then all of a sudden, Florida State Gets a new quarterback because apparently they lowballed him. So all Auburn transfer Ashton Daniels commits to Florida State. Ole Miss transfer Austin Simmons, which felt like a guy that if you don't get Chambers, maybe Lane goes after Simmons. He's going to Missouri now. So again, there's a. There's a lot of moving parts in the world of quarterbacks, but there's two names that are out there. One in particular I wanted to ask you guys about, because Texas Tech is now gone. Dylan Raiola. Joel, you mentioned this off air. Where is he going? Obviously not batting back to Nebraska, but no one's talking about him.

[B]

I mean, so was it. Was it the case that they were talking about him maybe going to one of the schools in California, like Cal or something like that? No, not Cal, because they've already got jks.

[C]

You got jks? Yeah.

[B]

I was trying to think what I heard something along those lines. It was kind of. Kind of surprised me that he was considering going out there. I don't know. But the one thing I think with Dylan Raul, is he healthy? Right? They want to see if he's healthy and, like, you know.

[A]

Do you.

[B]

That kid went to different. And I normally don't go after kids for this. Like, I think that at a certain point when you're doing this, it becomes business, and you've got to follow, like, what it takes to get to the top of your field. But he went to a different school every year, man. You know, and it's just like, when is he ever going to be settled? When is he ever going to be part of a culture change? And it's just like, you bring him in and it's like, well, do it. Is that. Is that the guy that I want to throw $3 million at and build a program around? And I just. So I think that makes it a little bit tougher for him right now.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't know. You know, I think it. I think the Dylan Raiola experiment has lost a lot of steam.

[B]

Mm.

[A]

I think the experiment is needs. He desperately needs to go to a place where he can focus on football and just putting up the numbers and putting together the tape that he needs. He's kind of in a DJU territory right now where he came in very highly touted. The football never was outstanding. It hasn't been bad, but it hasn't been outstanding or culture changing what people would have thought that it was. And he also gets on people's nerves, so he's got some people's fucking nerves. I'm not saying it's fair.

[B]

Is it the, is it the, is the Mahomes stuff right?

[A]

I mean that's odd, right? That's the whole thing is odd. It's an odd thing. It's. It's an off putting thing. People not sure about it. It's odd. So you get some people's nerves. So he'll have to go to a place to where he can show people just how much he can ball. But he's going to need a pass happy offense and some stability, the ability to win some games and be showcased as well.

[C]

Yeah, he's a 6, 6 ranked quarterback right now in the portal, the fifth ranked guy is DJ Lagway. Is there any world where DJ Lagway just kind of falls into the lap of Lane Kiffin? That's how I feel like this might go, you know, like he's going around. He's asking for $5 million. Apparently FSU offered him around $3 million. LSU's offering, it looks like three and a half million dollars. Maybe that's a situation where he gets like a Nico, where he's like, yeah, I got to take the best offer on the table and I end up playing for Lane Kiffin.

[B]

Has Baylor already got. I don't think Baylor has already got a guy yet too.

[C]

Well, he's visiting Baylor.

[B]

That's one of his, his pops went to school there. Like they were in on him early. Like that's, that's a real chance for him. But yeah, I, I'm kind of surprised that DJ Lagway has been, is valued in the way that he has because coming into the year, I think a lot of people, including me thought, oh, that's a guy that could tend for Heisman and All America honors. And if anything, he was hurt last offseason, couldn't work out the way he wanted to and the season went the way that it did. But I mean all the things that we thought about him before then are still true. Strong army, stand up kid. He can get the ball down the field. So, you know, not the most athletic guy, but athletic enough. So I'm kind of surprised that he's still out there. But you know, there's still a lot of time for these things.

[A]

The take was fucking terrible. He played terrible all year.

[B]

I mean, but he, again, he was hurt. And it's not like, it's not like anybody looked at what was going on in Florida and say, hey, this is a great situation right now. But let me just say one quick thing about this man. Johnson, you better be a good ass Coach, I mean, I, I've, I'm skeptical of how good he's going to be. Like, I feel like Willie Fritz is the one that built up the Tulane program. And he's right. Every season is a different journey, but he's sort of riding on the fumes of like Tulane and its new position in that league. But the way you're talking, the way that they said, you know, the Lagway folks said you challenged him and see if he's want to stick out and be here and all that kind of shit. All right, bro, good luck. I'm, you know, I'm excited to see the John Sumrall era in Florida because I think he's not going to be a very good coach. I'm sure that that means that now he'll be the next Kurt Signetti or whatever, but I just, you know, that tough guy is just, I'm just not as excited about that.

[C]

They got a Philo from Georgia Tech who was their backup. That was the, the Florida get. I think he was like 15th or 16th somewhere in there, bro. Bo Prabhu, Prabula also out there from Missouri who's looking for a team. So another name that LSU could have on the board. So again, a lot of quarterbacks that are out there, everybody trying to find a home. Deuce Knight from Auburn, who looked good in his one game when he came in was incredible.

[A]

So, yeah, Damon Harris. Will Williams is.

[C]

I hope his middle name is Harris. That would actually be incredible.

[B]

Yeah. Also, you know, I just want to. Because Ty Simpson declared for the draft today too.

[A]

Right, Joel?

[B]

So there's an opening in Alabama.

[C]

Say goodbye.

[A]

So he's. So he's, he's. But Alabama has a, has a kid that they're really excited about.

[B]

Yeah, the five star from last year, Keelan Russell, I think.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, Russell. So they.

[B]

And the Austin Mack. I mean, we don't know anything about Austin Mack. I mean, it would have been hard for anybody to look good in the circumstances he played in. Right.

[C]

I thought he showed some signs though.

[B]

He looked okay. Yeah, man. I just. Guys need to leave. Like, I mean, so think of all these people that lost a chance at generational, generational wealth that changed their life. Clay Cade Clubnik, Garrett Nussmeier, Drew Aller. Like people always are talking about guys chasing the money and they leave too early and do all this, man. Last year those guys were thought of as potential first round draft picks and or at least go really high in the draft club.

[C]

Nick was number one on McShay's big board to open the season.

[B]

Let's talk. I mean, people never circle back with guys like that when they, when they, when coming back goes wrong. And then they've got to play their way back into the NFL now and play into the Grayson of the scouts. And like, all those guys really suffered.

[A]

How do we know, though? When you say guys need to leave, you're assuming that a change of scenery means that they'll play better and figure it out.

[B]

That's right. I mean, you. I usually tend to think guys know well, I mean, as long as they're leaving on their own accord, that they know what they need in terms of an awesome. Because again, if you're a quarterback at that level, you've already sort of been a business like. Because you got to navigate like the, the seven on seven worlds, the elite 11. You're doing the recruiting. You've had an agent. Like they, they're. These kids are like not normal 17 year olds. They're a lot more savvy than people give them credit for and they've got a whole team behind them and they're like, I want to play for this offensive coordinator with this sort of supporting cast. And that shit is like fluctuates more than it ever has before. So I can understand looking at the lay of the land and being like, I don't know if I want, if you want me to stay, I'm gonna need a little bit more money. You know, I can see how those conversations might go.

[A]

I'm not saying that guys don't need to leave or that they should stay or anything like that doesn't bother me one way or the other. This is kind of how things are now. But I will say that like, you know, there is something to be said to continuity in terms of you as a player, continuity and you being able to kind of grasp what you have going on around you and what we're starting to see now. I think there were a lot of stories. I mean, you see a lot of transfers, you know they're winning the Heisman Trophy and you see a lot of guys like that that are having great times of it in their second and third spots. But you're also starting to see now as much college ball as I watch a lot of guys that you go, oh, wait a minute, for real, like Malachi Nelson or Malik Murphy, you start to see these guys and like Malik Murphy's playing where he was playing Oregon State. Malachi Nelson was at what, utsa. You're starting to see, you're starting to look around and see a lot of guys that are going to different places and it's not always easy. The grass is not always greener. A lot of them aren't having the success that a Cam Ward had or Jayden Daniels had or some of these other guys have. Fernando Mendoza. It doesn't always end up Darian Mensah. Yeah, like you need the right situation for that to happen. Jackson Arnold now has played his way to unlv. Yeah, I mean when you look at going from being a five star at Oklahoma, then going to Auburn and then playing his way all the way to unlv, that's, I mean that's, that's remarkable, right?

[B]

Yeah. Well, my contention is that those guys just weren't as good as we thought they were, which is what we find out all the time. I mean five, five star QBs, like first round QBs wash out all the time and it's for any number of reasons. You know, you could be like a jamarcus Russell or something like that, you know, not live up to expectations. You know what I mean?

[A]

So like he just washed out in college. In college. He was a fucking dog.

[B]

He was a dog. But I'm just saying, like the comparison is that like, just kind of like you do in the NFL, it's the same thing in college. When you identify these five star quarterbacks and it's like you could look at the list of any list of quarterbacks of five stars in any year and see that a lot of them end up like Malachi Nelson. Not that Malachi Nelson did anything wrong, but he had to find a level that he could play at and that people wanted him to play at.

[A]

And I guess what I'm saying is there is something to be said and we'd have to look at it. There is something to be said about the continuity of being at a place. Like you think of guys like Jason Campbell from Auburn back in the day that play quarterback for a long time, then they get to a place and they have a. They're there, they're comfortable, they have a lot of success at the place that they started. I'm not saying that that's going to happen more often than a guy's going to go find success at a place where they transfer it. Yeah. But what I am saying is the moment that you start to struggle or have a bad season, thinking that it's going to be better going somewhere else, I don't know that that's a good idea for the majority of the guys that are doing it.

[B]

You Know what happened to Malik Murphy and Malachi Nelson? What? To Malik Murphy? They said if you stay here, you not gonna play.

[A]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[B]

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So, I mean, so I think like the ideal, everybody goes to a school with the intention of like, I'm gonn set up roots here. I'm going to thrive, I'm going to start and I'm going to go to the NFL. And then like, oh, they bring in somebody else over me or they don't think I'm as good or I got injured or whatever, it doesn't work out. And it's kind of like, well, if I want to play, if I want to keep up my, my, my journey, I'm gonna have to go do it somewhere else. You know, I think that, that I don't think kids are always just like, I wonder how I could get an extra $80,000 out of, you know, Shit, now they are.

[C]

Unless you're Damon Harris.

[A]

Yeah, like, I mean, that's cool.

[B]

Cool.

[A]

Now they are.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

I mean, right? But then we have three examples of the guys doing what you're talking about, Van. Right. Lenora Sellers going back to South Carolina, Bryce Underwood going back to Michigan. Arch Manning going back to Texas. Right. So those are the ones that you're talking about. And I do find it funny that Arch Manning makes more money than Drake May, MVP potentially of the NFL.

[A]

The I'm talking about, bro. We get into it. What did Uncle Luke say?

[C]

Let's talk about it. Big van on campus. I turn it over to you, Van. This was a nice like portal conversation that kind of leads into this. And Uncle Luke is trying to get people to understand what the port. There's two sides of the portal, I guess is the way to put it. But Van, I turn it over to you. What was Uncle Luke saying and what do you got to say about what he was saying?

[A]

First of all, let's play the sound from Uncle Transfer portal when we talking about the transfer portal. It's unfair. Don't say that these kids are quitting and running and jumping in the portal when you know y' all are cutting these kids. Unlike the NFL, when you get cut from a team and you do not make the 53 man roster, you get put on the taxi squad. You make that 15 player taxi squad, you. You get cut. They identify, they notify the media that this person been cut. Unlike the ncaa. What the fuck? Very interesting. Like, very, very interesting. You don't think about it in those terms. I knew that it was Happening, but I didn't think about how much maybe it was happening. And now we know that it is happening. I guess my question is this. Uncle Luke is talking about the fact that these players are getting into the portal, but some of them are actually being released by these schools. Is this fair? Is this par for the course? Is this. The game has gotten this cold to where just like a player after a year at a school or two years at a school goes, you know what? I think I can go somewhere else and get a bigger bag or get a better situation. Is it fair for a school to come to a kid that they recruited, talk to their parents, go into their house, do the whole thing, and then say, you know what? We don't need your services anymore. You are being cut and released. Get off the team. Go find it. Go find a home somewhere else. And I think that there are some people that maybe think that is uncouth. You wrong. You shouldn't do it. However, on the other side, don't really have a problem with the players moving around. And for some reason, it feels wrong to me. Not the players moving around, but to cut a kid after you've brought them to your school and done it feels wrong to me. But is this just the way things are now? And is this part of what goes into being a professional? I'm actually interested. This is big van on campus. This is more of big us. We're getting together in 227.

[C]

Yeah, we're huddling up.

[B]

What dorm room did y' all stay in?

[A]

I was just like, I mean, what's.

[B]

The deal here, man?

[A]

Getting together in 267 more than anything. What do we think about this? It seems wrong, but I guess it's not right.

[B]

I mean, I think that it's fair that as long as the labor arrangements are the way that they are, that schools can move on if they don't want to pay for a kid to be there anymore. But I think the problem is that the narrative that you hear so much coming from coaches and all the other sycophants in media and everywhere else talk about this is out of control is that they don't think about the idea that a lot of these kids are being made to leave or they're being encouraged to leave because, like, look, you're not going to play here, man. I mean, when. How do people think that this happens? Like, when they hear that Kenny Dillingham or, you know, Deion Sanders goes to a new program and they got 70 new players. Like, how do you think you Lose enough players to bring in all those new players, you're making people leave.

[A]

And Deion said it flat out, said it straight up. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

He said straight up, this is what I'm doing.

[C]

And like Belichick mumbled it under his breath.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Billiche had a whole new roster. It's like again it, I don't love that that's the way that it is, but like that is the way that is. When and whenever we can come to some sort of fair revenue sharing agreement and we can come up with a system of labor laws that makes sense, then maybe they can start to offer multi year scholarships and multi year deals instead of being a one to one thing. But like this is. Never forget that the NCAA and college coaches fought against the sort of regulation that would make sense for decades, decades. The only reason they were forced to do any of this is because of court rulings. And so they're going to sit up here and complain. But you guys, everybody told you this day was going to come. You never prepared for it. And that's why we all have to live in this world right now.

[C]

They just said as long as it doesn't come while I'm in control, I'm okay. They just wanted to kick the can into the future. And then that day came and now they're all playing victims, which is, you know, kind of expected at this point. But I do feel like Parker Livingstone, slash Livingstone is the perfect example of what we're talking about. Right. Texas comes to him. He's a grow homegrown Texas kid. Texas fan, was their number one receiver, you know, through four weeks of the season. We were, yeah, we were joking about him. And they say, hey, we got no spot for you on the, the future Arch Manning team. He was Arch Manning's roommate and now he has no spot on the Texas roster and now he's signing with Oklahoma, which would be sacrilegious for, for him. But that's just kind of what the portal is now.

[A]

Parker trying to get out the mud. Parker, Parker W to Parker said he's.

[C]

Going crazy in the Red river rivalry.

[A]

Yeah, Parker, Parker. Parker is going to be doing agility drills with all kinds of Parker about to see. We about to see the best Parker we've ever seen before in life. Parker gonna be y. Y' all ever see that tape of Andre Johnson and Chad oo and they doing them drills.

[B]

And all that's about to be Parker all summer long.

[A]

Parker about to be. Be going crazy because that's the kind of thing that this Begets. It begets this thing to where now you have this kid who always wanted to be burnt orange over with the Sooners, and we created a villain, a monster.

[B]

Hey, I just. Before we move on, I just want you all to admit, or at least particularly Van, who accused me of being racist for joking. For accusing me of joking on Parker Livingstone because he wasn't a number one receiver. I mean, Texas just told you that. They told you that. They said it. And I'm. Don't you think. Actually, Can I retort. Don't you think they went to Arch and they were like, hey, man, we would kind of like it if your boy would move on. Is that okay? And what do you think Arch said?

[C]

If he dies, he dies.

[A]

Yeah, if he dies, he dies. Yeah, man.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[A]

They wouldn't get rid of him.

[B]

If Arch was okay, we didn't go ahead.

[A]

He was like, I don't give a. What you talking about. That. Okay, so a couple of things. Number one, Parker Livingstone had more touchdown catches this year than Ryan Williams that you vehemently defended. So I just want to put that in your.

[B]

I bet if you put him in the portal and we could see who's ranked high and who gets the most money. Come on.

[A]

Come on.

[B]

Because you know what it is with Parker.

[A]

That was little tidbit. This is what I'll say about the Parker Livingstone thing to you. That's. That's fair. You were proven correct. This is. I'm wrong on every podcast now. Like, I'm like in a sea of wrong this week, I guess. But I will say this. This was. This was during the first game, okay, where we didn't even have a large sample size of Parker Livingstone quite yet. The reason why I said that you made that based upon l race is because we hadn't really even seen him play. Now, it turned out that you were right, which happens sometimes. Right? Sometimes a lot sometimes. I'll tell you what happens sometimes. Like, you know, you get white people that go to the hood and they see people and they go, this shit's fucked. These people fucking suck. They suck. And then they look around and you see a little while later, kid ends up going to jail and they go, look, I told you he wasn't shit. And the question is, does that validate the preconceived notion that they had about the kid? Because the kids are getting in trouble. I'm saying what you did with partners with Livingstone was racism, not reverse racism. Because I don't believe in the standard of racism. Being black to White. I believe in the standard of racism, being judging someone based upon characteristics that are phenotypical, that don't really have much to do with what we know about them. You looked at them. You made a decision. I looked at it for his revenge.

[B]

Tour with my football acumen.

[C]

He's having 200 yards against Texas.

[B]

I looked at the, the kid and I was like, he's okay.

[A]

You looked at him. You made.

[B]

I looked at him, and that's what I said. I was like, that's okay. You didn't hear me say about Hunter Renfro and you.

[A]

And you. No Hunter Winfro cooking?

[B]

Yeah. Right. Yeah.

[C]

You hear Joe didn't have his glasses.

[B]

On about Steve Largent? I saw Chris Collinsworth when he used to play. I, I, I have respect. Tim Smith, one of the Houston Oilers. Great receivers from the mid-80s. White receiver Ricky Pro.

[A]

Ricky Pro. What about the older Ed McCaffrey? What about Ed McAffrey?

[B]

Ed McAffrey.

[A]

People talk a lot about Christian McAffrey.

[B]

Brian Fen. You know Brian Fen.

[A]

There's a lot of guys out there.

[B]

What's.

[C]

Adam Thielen? Yeah.

[B]

Modern. You brought up Matt Jones, the other Cooper Cup. Cooper.

[A]

Oh, Cooper Cup.

[C]

Eastern Washington legend up there.

[A]

That's Parker's future. They just created another cup that his cup runneth over. They just created another cup. He gonna go crazy. I'm the biggest Parker Livingstone fan in the world. I don't want to play lsu, but I'm the biggest.

[B]

Oh, why don't you want him in lsu?

[A]

Yeah, I don't want that. I want that.

[B]

What don't you want to play?

[A]

I said I don't want it now. So I don't want him to play for lsu. But, but, yeah. So Parker Livingstone is, is, He's, He's. You're right. But I still think you made the decision because of Elle White.

[B]

I mean, I think that's because you look through things. I mean, and we could probably. There's a lot of people on Reddit that would confirm that you look through things through race, colored glasses, you know what I'm saying? And I, I was on Reddit.

[A]

They would confirm. What are you talking about?

[B]

Who said they would talk about you? You know what I'm saying? Your approach to race and playing, being a victim and playing.

[C]

So now Joel likes Reddit. Last week, Joel was going after it, and now he's.

[B]

What I, what I was doing. What? I was making an objective analysis of the receiver in front of me, and I was like, a lot of what.

[A]

You'Re saying is that cracker can't run. Like, that's what I remember you saying. Look, actually, my next post on my sub stack, by the way, you guys, my sub stack is called you. If you disagree, everybody sign up. For myself. My sub stack, my nest. My next post on sub stack is going to be about why I'm obsessed with race. That's the nest. That's the next post on my sub stack.

[C]

I did appreciate the Marty supreme read. That was nice. Yeah, I like that. I like that you're just not afraid to call it because, you know, there's a lot of group think that happens with, like, film cinema these days.

[A]

Thank you, Tate.

[C]

And I appreciate that. Band's not afraid to call it out, you know.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

I'm about. I'm gonna start going live on Substack. If anybody has a problem with things that I say on Higher Learning, which everyone does this week, I'm gonna start going live.

[C]

Yeah. What happened on Higher Learning? I haven't listened yet. A lot of. A lot of people.

[B]

Oh, we can do this. Well, I'm working on an article for the Ringer that's going to appear on the website tomorrow.

[C]

You know, 12 big questions for the.

[B]

C. About college football's new world order. Okay. I haven't.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Yet. I gotta write about it tonight.

[C]

I like it.

[A]

Okay. Yeah.

[C]

Look at that plugging stuff. Billy, can you hop in right now? We got some parting shots. I want to see if Billy has any parting shots on the way out.

[B]

I don't know why this. We've already been here for an hour and 48.

[C]

No, this. This is necessary, Joel. This is the last thing before the games are played. Billy, any. Any parting shots? Any thoughts? Anything we missed, we did cover today on the show. No, I feel like we had a clean episode today. You know, Joel, pretty good. Yeah. You met some celebrities, some real worlders out there.

[B]

Yeah, it was a good. I mean, I. I thought those were good stories.

[A]

Yeah, I think they were great stories, Joel.

[B]

Thanks.

[C]

Muhammad especially. That was my favorite.

[B]

Why didn't you.

[C]

Why didn't you hire Coral the doula? You just said that you were, like, expecting to, and then you.

[A]

I don't want to.

[B]

I don't think that's. I don't want. I don't want. You know, look, I seems. Look, you can look at the reviews. What do people say about it? I. I knew she never was actually our doula. So you should. With any service, you should just check out the reviews that people have for them and see what they Say, I.

[A]

Don'T even shot at this woman for no reason.

[C]

It seems like.

[B]

What is she? What is she really legit comes. I. I could look. I, I. She sounded lovely. Like, I was. I was like, okay, yeah, man, we would love to have you in our. In our labor delivery room together working with us on how to learn and take care of a baby. Like, she's a lovely person. And that's why I was kind of like, damn. I mean, you know, I want to make sure my wife know that I was doing this because it was Coral.

[C]

It's a good point. And then you read the reviews and what they say.

[B]

I didn't read the reviews, though.

[C]

Your wife did.

[B]

No.

[A]

So what the Are you saying?

[B]

I told you that I want to talk about. I told you. I don't. We didn't need it.

[A]

We ended up not meeting a second ago.

[B]

We ended up not needing a doula.

[A]

But you just. But you just said a second ago that the reviews. Why did you bring up the reviews?

[B]

Because you all can look at the reviews, and if you guys want to know how Coral is as a doula, you can go online and look it up.

[C]

But you didn't.

[A]

You didn't do that, right?

[B]

Because we didn't need to. Why?

[A]

Hold on for a second.

[B]

Because she didn't end up becoming a doula.

[A]

You knew inherently that the way you phrased that and put that, it made it seem as if she had poor reviews as a doula and that somebody would find out what you guys found out. You realize that that was.

[B]

No, you all are trying to get me to say that. What I'm saying is, I don't know. She ended. It didn't work out.

[A]

Why?

[B]

Because we didn't need a doula.

[A]

Why didn't y' all need a doula?

[B]

Because we didn't need one. It just, you know, we, as it turned out, as we. We figured out we would just be able to do it ourselves.

[C]

Joel got his eyesight figured out, and they were like, we're good.

[B]

You know, first of all, Billy's got glasses on, too, so don't. You know?

[A]

Yeah, Billy. Billy didn't. He just is a shot at Billy for no reason.

[B]

Why y' all are, you know, what's up again? I told you, at some point, y' all gonna have to stand up, bro. I mean, what's up? Is it.

[C]

Is this.

[B]

Back to the host, y' all on that cfb? Yeah, that CFB registered dog. I mean, y' all still, you know.

[C]

You were going on a tour this week talking about Reddit cfb.

[B]

Huh? I didn't want to talk about it, but. Because you got. You tweeted about that. Why are y' all on Twitter, man? Y' all need to get on Twitter for real.

[C]

And Twitter.

[A]

I thought that the thing with Reddit CFB was over. Is it still going on?

[B]

No, it's not going on.

[C]

They never followed Joel, but they said they listened, which Joel said was a lie. Right, Joel?

[B]

That's. That's the update they listened to. What? What did they say?

[C]

No, they said that they were a fan of you and they.

[B]

They were like, oh, we would never. You know, they made the joke that everybody else was making.

[C]

Yeah, they tried to be like, college. Yeah. They try to do like.

[A]

They admire you, though.

[C]

Yeah, right?

[B]

I mean, wow. See, this is. I didn't. I'm not Reddit cfb. I don't bring this up. This. See, they're the ones that do this to keep this going.

[C]

You're Reddit CFB's. Coral.

[B]

I think there was a whole. We don't have a lot of time. We don't have a lot of time. But I just want to let you guys know that before the show, we were going to have this whole fucking thing on Gloria Estefan, right?

[C]

Oh, we forgot about that.

[B]

You guys forgot about that shit.

[C]

We'll save it for the live show.

[B]

Busy worrying about this.

[A]

Well, we got.

[C]

We got lost on the Real World.

[A]

Estefan, the Miami Sean Machine, the Miami Country Day High School. Miami Day High School. From down there in Miami, we have to talk about all of that stuff on the live show. You guys, if you're in the chat on the live show and you hear us not talking about Gloria and Stephon, the Miami Sound Machine and Miami Day High School down there, like, remind us to talk about. Because we need this, please.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Friday, live show. Oh, yeah. The live show is when. Tate.

[C]

Friday, 7 Eastern Time and then. Or no, 7 Pacific Time. Sorry. 7:30 is when the game kicks off Eastern and then 10 o' clock Eastern Time. Very confusing with the kickoffs and the time zones, but there you go. So 7:30 kickoff, 10pm.

[A]

You and Billy gonna be at 10.

[C]

Joe, you're gonna make it.

[B]

Yeah. That's a long day, bro. I'm usually in. I'm trying to be in bed by 10 o' clock most nights, man.

[C]

So this is Friday night, Joel, 10 o'. Clock. I mean, that alone should be enough of, you know, a reason to be on the show. That's gonna be a good time. Joel's fired. Up.

[A]

I'll say something. You know, I looked at the Spotify sports podcast rankings. I don't know if you guys looked at them.

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

Ringer, tailgate, top 50.

[C]

Really climbing.

[B]

I did not know that we had talked about that before the show, too. About. I, I, we. I don't care about how many listeners or views we have. I just don't want to know right now.

[C]

So then why'd you ask?

[A]

Why?

[B]

Well, I thought if you knew it off the top of your head, I was like, okay, I'll take that information. But then you're like, I don't know. I could look it up. And I was like, you know what? Nah, I don't want to know.

[A]

Just. You want to concentrate on performance.

[C]

Well, we were told it's season zero. You know, this is like, you know, when a coach goes to a new program and they're like, we got to strip it all down and then rebuild. You know, it's not year one, it's year zero. That's what we got going on.

[B]

We haven't even talked. We don't even know. I mean, again, I'm not trying to be silly when I say this. I. What is the. We don't have a plan for the off season. Like, nobody has been like, all right, so when the season is over, y' all go, come back and do. Nobody has said that. So.

[A]

Okay, all right.

[B]

Reach out to. Reach out to everybody. Speak up for your podcast followers, share, whatever. Like, right? Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Raise the roof.

[B]

That's right.

[C]

There you have it. Ringer Tailgate. We will be live Friday night. Come hang out with us. 10 Eastern, 7 Pacific Time. We'll be live on YouTube. Joel will be fired up for it, and we will see you all then. And yeah, go, like, subscribe, do everything for Ring your tailgate. We'll see you all Friday. Must be 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 rghelp.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chatincenectic or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema. Org or call 800-327-50 50 for 27 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY in New York.