The Bill and Doug Show: College Football Playoff Lunacy and Ruthlessness from Indiana & Oregon

Podcast: The Bill and Doug Show: Ohio State Football Talk
Date: January 2, 2026
Hosts: Doug Lesmerises & Bill Landis

Episode Overview

This episode, recorded from a Dallas airport hotel, unpacks a wild College Football Playoff weekend featuring the Georgia–Ole Miss "lunacy" in the Sugar Bowl, Indiana’s ruthless dominance over Alabama, Oregon’s steady grind over Texas Tech, and Miami’s win over Ohio State. Doug and Bill dissect what these games say about the national landscape, especially the contrasting styles of play, the end of SEC mystique, the state of Ohio State’s offense, the roots of Indiana’s ascendance, and shifting program auras. The hosts dive deep into tactics, culture, and what the Big Ten’s superiority means in 2026, all with their trademark blend of insight, humor, and candor.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Sugar Bowl Madness: Georgia–Ole Miss

• Opening Vibes ([00:00–02:55])

  • Doug and Bill describe watching a game that was “almost unrecognizable from the Ohio State games this year.”
  • The lack of defense didn’t feel like incompetence: “This was not like, incompetent. These were guys making plays. This was Gunner Stockton, Trinidad Chambliss…” (Doug, [01:23]).

• Point about “Section” (Fun, Wild Football)

  • Wild laterals, onside kicks, and general chaos made it feel like “backyard ball” ([01:35–02:55]).
  • Bill: “Georgia refuses to go home... This was playmaking by Trinidad Chambliss.”

• Coaching Contrasts

  • Ole Miss wins without Lane Kiffin, highlighting the randomness and opportunity in modern CFB; Indiana soars on “Kurt Signetti, the most ruthless coaching maniac monster since Nick Saban.” (Doug, [03:28])
  • Lane Kiffin’s departure is lampooned: “Turns out Lane Kiffin was worth nothing to Ole Miss. They didn’t need him at all” (Doug, [03:16]).

2. Era of Player Movement and NIL

• The modern landscape (NIL, transfers) is creating new stars and opportunities.
  • Trinidad Chambliss’s journey from Division II national champ at Ferris State to FBS star is held up as a feel-good story emblematic of the times ([03:59–04:43]).
  • Bill: “Is everything perfect with player movement? No... But it does get you stories like this.”

3. Contrast: High-Chaos Football vs. "Professionalized" Ohio State

• Wild Sugar Bowl makes Big Ten football look staid, even boring.

  • Bill: “You know what it looked like? College football, man. That’s what it’s supposed to be. I’m tired of the NFLization of college football” ([07:12]).
  • Doug: “The history of lunacy isn’t there with Ohio State... much of what Ohio State was—professional and composed and mature. And this game was none of that.” ([05:19])

• Ohio State’s Strategic Identity

  • Ohio State is “slow and precise,” something that worked last year but feels limiting now.
  • "Is it a better way to win, or just more fun to play wild?" ([07:45])
  • “They played Georgia in the Beach Bowl, same thing. And it’s just like this, this transformation like the last two, three years of Ohio State has sapped that out of every single Ohio State game” (Bill, [08:08]).

4. Playoff Format & the "Buy" Debate

• Three of the four bye teams (Ohio State, Georgia, Texas Tech) lost. Discussion that the bye hurts teams’ rhythm and that the format may soon change.
  • “Shouldn’t we all be assuming we’re going to 16 [teams]?... it feels like the buy is not something that the top four seeds want” (Doug, [08:46]).
  • Even “the football monster, Kurt Signetti,” spent the week complaining about bowl distractions ([10:06]).
  • “The teams with byes are one in seven, and the guy who won is that guy” (Doug, [11:34]).

5. Indiana’s Secret Sauce: Ruthlessness + Explosiveness

• Kurt Signetti is compared to Saban (“Saban Jr.”), but Indiana is more explosive and less buttoned-up than this year’s Ohio State.
  • Bill: “Indiana is efficient, but they’re also explosive. Ohio State is only one of those things” ([12:05]).
  • “Sometimes I watch Ohio State, they just look a little… little robotic at times. I don’t know that I feel that about Indiana’s offense” ([20:44]).

6. Ohio State: Style, Risk, and Stagnation

• Rigid, risk-averse, “robotic” offense and quarterbacking under Ryan Day—contrasted with the improvisational lunacy of playoff winners.

  • “There’s no improvisation... There’s no playmaking. There’s no improvisation in Ohio State’s offense” (Bill, [14:22]).
  • “There’s something missing: a recklessness, a little bit, because… more plays you have, less mistakes matter. Fast and loose vs. slow and precise—and it’s clear where Ohio State is” (Doug, [19:26–20:12]).
  • “They are very much in the slow and precise category” (Bill, [20:12]).

• Ryan Day’s Dilemma

  • Receivers want precision, QBs want freedom; Day clings to routine and NFL mindsets ([17:50–18:17]).
  • Bill: “They need to get out of that mode… Loosen up a little bit. There’s something between the way they play now and that that could open things up” ([27:10–28:00]).

7. Ohio State’s Defense: The Havoc Problem

• Lacked impact plays—tackles for loss, turnovers, third down stops—in the playoff, compared to peers.

  • Doug: “Their havoc rate… not nearly as high as when we did the defensive draft, the best defenses in this playoff. They were way below the other teams” ([32:22–37:38]).
  • “They couldn’t get a third down stop when it mattered” (Doug, [39:53]).

• Bend-but-don’t-break only goes so far: need some risk & creativity, especially when behind.

8. Big Ten vs. SEC: Shifting the Power Structure

• Big Ten not just superior at the top, but deeper in 2026; SEC dominance, mystique, and “aura” is fading.
  • Doug: “Illini beat Tennessee… I think the fact that the last SEC team standing is a coachless team is some indication of the league. I think it’s an indictment of the league” ([53:16–54:00]).
  • Even ESPN is calling Alabama’s Rose Bowl loss an “embarrassment”—a sign the SEC aura is dead ([55:30–56:43]).
  • Bill: “The Alabama mystique and the Michigan Man were killed in the same year. What a year” ([82:01]).

9. Indiana’s Rise: Is It Clemson 2.0?

• Can Indiana’s run last? The hosts discuss the possibility of a Clemson-like golden age, but caution that roster turnover, especially former JMU (James Madison U) transfers, and coordinator retention could determine their fate ([62:05–68:11]).
  • Doug: “Is Indiana the new Clemson? That would be my prediction… but it probably takes one more year to really lock that in” (Doug, [77:57]).

10. Program Power Rankings & the Idea of 'Aura'

• What defines a “program” vs. just a team? Indiana still graded as perhaps not quite a blue-blood program—yet.
  • Bill: “I think I would say Indiana is the best team in the country. I don’t know that they’ve earned the program distinction just yet. So I would probably still say, like, Ohio State, Oregon, Georgia” ([74:27–75:09]).
  • The Alabama “aura”—its mythic status—died in the Rose Bowl ([80:20–83:22]).

Notable Quotes

• “College football is lunacy. I’m tired of the NFL location of my college football.”
  — Bill Landis ([07:12])

• “Turned out Lane Kiffin was worth nothing to Ole Miss. They didn’t need him at all. They’re better without him.”
  — Doug Lesmerises ([03:16])

• “Kurt Signetti is the football monster of the modern era… he worked for Nick Saban and now he is Nick Saban. In this era, he has no time for shenanigans, and he’s the one who solved it.”
  — Doug Lesmerises ([10:32–11:34])

• “There’s no improvisation in Ohio State’s offense… They need to find a way to embrace a little more of the chaos that’s inherent in the game.”
  — Bill Landis ([14:22–15:41])

• “The more plays you have, the less mistakes matter… Fast and loose. No one says, ‘play it slow and loose.’”
  — Doug Lesmerises ([19:31])

• “You can lose it. You can lose it [aura]. That is a good lesson.”
  — Doug Lesmerises ([83:43])

• “The Alabama mystique and the Michigan Man were killed in the same year. What a year.”
  — Bill Landis ([82:01])

Key Timestamps

• [00:00–02:55] — Game-open chaos, Sugar Bowl wrap-up, “section” meaning fun, wild football
• [03:16] — Ole Miss wins without Lane Kiffin; Indiana’s rise fueled by coaching “ruthlessness”
• [07:12] — NFL-ization vs. “lunacy” in college football
• [08:46–11:34] — Playoff format critique, bye week disadvantage
• [14:22–15:41] — Ohio State’s offensive rigidity and absence of improvisation
• [17:50–18:17] — College versus NFL mindset at Ohio State
• [19:31] — Fast and loose vs. slow and precise: where Ohio State lands
• [27:10–28:00] — “Loosen up” | Bill’s advice for Ryan Day
• [32:22–37:38] — Defensive havoc rates; OSU compared to peers
• [39:53] — OSU’s missed 3rd down stops vs. Miami; lack of defensive impact plays
• [53:16–54:00] — Big Ten’s depth; SEC “indictment” as Coachless Ole Miss advances
• [55:30–56:43] — ESPN: Alabama’s loss to Indiana “embarrassing, humiliating”—end of an aura
• [62:05–68:11] — Indiana’s sustainability: Clemson 2.0 or fleeting run?
• [80:20–83:22] — Death of Alabama’s aura; importance of program “aura” vs. recruiting base

Memorable Moments

• The chat points out their microphones aren’t working; Doug and Bill restart the show mid-episode ([21:10–21:47]).
• Banter about Alabama’s post-Saban decline, suggesting they should only play for the Alabama state championship as “Alabama Madison” ([61:20]).
• Playful speculation on Indiana’s new blueblood status, and whether coordinator continuity matters ([66:24–68:11]).

Final Thoughts

The episode is a celebration of college football’s “lunacy”—the chaos, risk, and playmaking that set it apart from the tightly managed NFL style. The playoff chaos demonstrates program trajectories, the dangers of over-professionalization (especially for Ohio State), and the shattering of traditional power dynamics. Indiana’s rise, the Big Ten’s ascent, and the SEC’s waning mystique dominate the show's big-picture takeaways.

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