The Best of The Dan Patrick Show

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Best of The Dan Patrick Show

Host: Dan Patrick
Guests: Hoda Kotb, Paul Pabst, Todd Fritz, Pat40 (Sports Illustrated Senior Writer)
Release Date: December 4, 2024

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1. Dominance of College Football Rankings

The episode kicks off with a deep dive into the college football rankings, prominently featuring teams such as Alabama, Miami, Boise State, Oregon, SMU, and Texas. Host Dan Patrick engages with guest Paul Pabst and analyst Todd Fritz to dissect the current landscape.

• Alabama's Undeniable Brand Power:
  Dan Patrick (04:03): "Alabama will ultimately make the 12 team playoff because they deserve to be in or they're Alabama."

  Pabst emphasizes that Alabama's brand plays a significant role in their consistent playoff appearances, suggesting that their reputation often precedes their on-field performance.

• Conference Championship Games as Financial Instruments:
  The discussion highlights how conference championships were initially introduced as a cash grab, ensuring that teams have additional high-stakes games that benefit both the conferences and the playoff structure financially.

  Dan Patrick (06:31): "College football went from two teams to four teams to 12 teams. And I'm already told that we're probably going to 14 teams as early as next year."

2. Future of the College Football Playoff System

The conversation pivots to the evolution of the playoff system, with speculations about a possible 14-team playoff in the near future.

• Implications of Expanding Playoffs:
  Hoda Kotb (08:58): "College football moved at a rapid, not a glacier pace. This is happening right in front of us."

  The expansion is viewed as a move driven primarily by financial incentives, similar to trends seen in other sports leagues.

• Impact on Conference Dynamics:
  The guests discuss how expanding the playoff could lead to diminished importance of conference championships and potentially alter the balance of power among different conferences.

3. Heisman Trophy Race Analysis

Shifting focus to individual accolades, the episode delves into the Heisman Trophy race, highlighting key candidates.

• Key Contenders:

  • Travis Hunter
  • Ashton Gentee
  • Shador Sanders
  • Saquon Barkley

  Hoda Kotb (27:58): "Travis Hunter's exciting and the potential is wonderful... Ashton Gentee is getting into that Barry Sanders territory with these numbers."

• Comparisons to Legendary Players:
  Gentee is likened to Barry Sanders, celebrated for his outstanding performance and impact on his team.

4. NFL Discussions: Player Safety and Team Strategies

The podcast transitions to NFL-related topics, covering player safety, particularly concerning quarterback slides, and team management decisions.

• Quarterback Sliding and Safety Rules:
  Dan Patrick (44:42): "I think they have to guard against quarterbacks faking slides to gain extra yards."

  The hosts debate the necessity of penalizing deceptive slides to enhance player safety, citing instances like the Trevor Lawrence hit.

• Kicker Performance and Team Decisions:
  The reliability of kickers like Justin Tucker is examined, emphasizing the technical precision required for successful kicks.

  Dan Patrick (48:19): "Justin Tucker is the greatest kicker of all time. I'm certainly hopeful that he can find the key because they need him coming down the stretch."

• Team Management and Coaching Moves:
  Discussions touch upon the potential for coaching changes and the impact of experienced quarterbacks, referencing figures like Ryan Day and the hypothetical return of Urban Meyer to Ohio State.

5. Team Toughness and Practice Philosophies

A segment focuses on what makes a team tough and resilient, emphasizing the role of rigorous training and the right personnel.

• Building a Tough Team:
  Dan Patrick (51:36): "You have to do tough things to be tougher... You have to compete, challenge guys and just make that part of who you are."

  The importance of physicality in practice and bringing in key players to enhance team performance is underscored.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Alabama's Playoff Inclusion:
  Dan Patrick [04:03]: "Alabama will ultimately make the 12 team playoff because they deserve to be in or they're Alabama."

• Playoff Expansion Insight:
  Dan Patrick [06:31]: "College football went from two teams to four teams to 12 teams. And I'm already told that we're probably going to 14 teams as early as next year."

• Heisman Race Perspective:
  Hoda Kotb [27:58]: "Travis Hunter's exciting and the potential is wonderful... Ashton Gentee is getting into that Barry Sanders territory with these numbers."

• Quarterback Safety Debate:
  Dan Patrick [44:42]: "I think they have to guard against quarterbacks faking slides to gain extra yards."

• Kicker Reliability:
  Dan Patrick [48:19]: "Justin Tucker is the greatest kicker of all time. I'm certainly hopeful that he can find the key because they need him coming down the stretch."

• Building Team Toughness:
  Dan Patrick [51:36]: "You have to do tough things to be tougher... You have to compete, challenge guys and just make that part of who you are."

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Conclusion

This episode of The Dan Patrick Show offers an in-depth analysis of the current state and future of college football playoffs, evaluates Heisman Trophy candidates, and engages in thoughtful discussions about NFL player safety and team strategies. Through insightful commentary and expert opinions, listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of the evolving dynamics in both college and professional football.

Transcript

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Dan Patrick]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Dan Patrick]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Hoda Kotb]

You are listening to the Dan Patrick show on Fox Sports Radio. The college football rankings seem to dominate the headlines from last night. So Alabama's back in Miami is out and you have some buys here with Boise State. You have Oregon, SMU and Texas, and that's subject to change. All right, Seaton Poll question for the first hour is going to be What? Well, I think we start with the college Football Playoff. The tow sent in a couple that are fun. Alabama will ultimately make the 12 team playoff because dot, dot, dot they deserve to be in or they're Alabama. Okay. I would say it has a little bit more to do with their Alabama. The brand is going to get you in. And there was a whole lot of word salad going on last night with who's my guy who's running the playoff committee? Ward Emanuel. So he was talking about these conference championship games coming up this weekend. He was on with Reese Davis. And this is what's happened. College football had conference championship games because it was a cash grab. Now you don't have to have that. You have a 12 team playoff, not a 14 playoff. When the 14 playoff, not everybody was sharing in all the monies. And now you have teams that can go to a conference championship and the teams and the conferences benefit. Well, they don't want to screw up what happens with the 12 team playoff by having one of their teams lose in a conference championship game. So it feels like they're slowly trying to diminish or get rid of conference championship games. So here is Ward Manuel, the college football selection committee chair.

[Paul Pabst]

Any team that is not playing right now, we don't have a data point.

[Hoda Kotb]

To rearrange where we have those teams ranked.

[Paul Pabst]

And so that is set in terms of how we see them going into.

[Hoda Kotb]

The final week of championship week.

[Paul Pabst]

There's no, there's nothing that's going to change, Reese, for us to evaluate them any differently than we have now. Those teams who are not playing cannot be adjusted in terms of where they are compared to other teams that are not playing but the championship teams.

[Hoda Kotb]

We will evaluate that data point to.

[Paul Pabst]

Determine if there's needs to be any.

[Hoda Kotb]

Movement based on how the performance of the game goes. Would you like some ranch dressing with that word salad? Because I have no idea what we're talking about here. I think it's just a polite way of saying, hey, if you're in, we want to keep you in. Just don't get blown out. And if you're out, you got no shot of getting in unless somebody gets blown out. Yeah, see, it feels like. And Paul, correct me if I'm wrong, it feels like he was saying the teams who are not playing this weekend, they're set. Sorry, not a lot we could do for you, but if you are playing this weekend, maybe we'll see some movement. It was a lot of words to.

[Todd Fritz]

Say basically that, yeah, Paul, I think Seaton's right. It was very. He took a long way to get there. And even Reese pushed back. Are you saying that this weekend doesn't matter that much? And he kept not saying it didn't matter, but didn't say it mattered very much. For example, if Georgia gets waxed by Texas, I think they can go down. Can they go down to past Ole Miss, which gets Ole Miss in. That's confusing. If SMU gets loses in any way, I think they're out. And then a team like Miami's back in. I think.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah. So I think. All I know is I pushed for the 12 team playoff. We got the 12 team playoff. It was going to mean more games, had more meaning late in the season. I got that. The other part of that I can't be responsible for. The grownups are supposed to take care of that. Miami's upset. You know what? Miami, you got upset. That's why you shouldn't be upset. You lost two of three. You once again, you can handle your future. I would say control your own destiny, but you can't do that. But you could win. If you beat Syracuse, then we're not in this position. You lost to Syracuse, okay? You lost to Georgia Tech, okay? Yeah, Paul.

[Todd Fritz]

But Miami fans, if I'm going to be pro Miami for a minute here, just take that, play that role. Miami lost to a Syracuse team that had eight wins going in. They were an above average team. Right. Oklahoma got. I'm sorry, Alabama got murdered. Not literally by Oklahoma. An average team this year wasn't even close. Alabama's resume in November is getting waxed against Oklahoma beating Mercer, which does not count, and a decent win over Auburn. They didn't help themselves in November. They hurt themselves.

[Hoda Kotb]

Alabama's a brand. The youth used to be a brand. Not anymore. And you lose to Syracuse, Win the game. Yes. Syracuse is good. Win the game. I mean, Ole Miss loses to Florida. Florida, of course, started to play a whole lot better. I mean, South Carolina might be playing as good as anybody right now. It's not fair. I know that, but it's not meant to be fair. It's about entertainment. It's getting brands in there, unfortunately. But I like the AB. Boise State in there. Arizona State's in there. SMU's in there. It's a lot of fun. But if I look at these conferences, SMU wasn't in the ACC last year. Arizona State wasn't in the Big 12 last year. Oregon wasn't in the Big Ten last year. Texas, like we're seeing these teams that just came into conferences winning These conferences and I know you start to look at resumes and we're eventually going to get to the pro model. It might be the premier league model. I'd love to have relegation. Or it might be the NFL model. We're eventually going to get to that. There's so much money to be made. It's just like March Madness. You know, when we had the commissioner or the NCAA commissioner on, Charlie Baker on, he was talking about, hey, may we add four more teams? Six more teams. Okay. Didn't make headlines. You go to 96, now all of a sudden you're going to get people going, wait a minute. It's going to be watered down. Yes, yes, it is. You might say it's already watered down. But college football went from two teams to four teams to 12 teams. And I'm already told that we're probably going to 14 teams as early as next year. That's how quickly this is happening. But wait, aren't there contracts in place?

[Todd Fritz]

They're written in pencil.

[Hoda Kotb]

That's it. I can't do that. First of all, okay, there's contracts put in place. So that will never happen. This is the problem when college football people are.

[Paul Pabst]

Darn.

[Hoda Kotb]

You know, that's still a source subject with me, Seaton. These, these insiders came after me. There's contracts, there's the pageantry of the bowl games. And I go, dude, you got a lottery ticket right in front of you. You're holding a lottery ticket. They're going to change college football. What about the pageantry? What about the bowl games? Wait a minute. There's contracts. I know. What about the contracts? Yeah, you had people who were covering these meetings and missed this story. I'm not even in there. And I was told by an impeccable source on this what they were going to do with the college playoffs. And it proved to be true. And now they're going to go to 14 just because of the math. There's so much money being made here and you're discussing college football. This is what they want. Just so you know, they love that you're discussing college football. There's controversy. People are upset. It's not fair. They want you to talk about their sport when there were two teams playing. Maybe you complained about the third team, fourth team, didn't make it the four team playoff. Maybe it was the fifth team or 16. Now you have 12 and now you're talking about maybe 18 schools that can discuss where they should be, should they get a buy, should they be in. Why aren't they in now we're going to go to 14, and then we're going to go. Who knows? After that, it's just going to happen. It's trying to stay, you know, in mainstream media that you discuss this like the Heisman race is over. There's no race whatsoever. You want to talk about what's going to happen in college football? Alabama is going to go to Notre Dame right now. Bingo. Two brands. Can't go wrong with that. You're going to have some weird matchups, but it's going to be great. This is what college football wants. They want you to talk. I mean, March Madness. What are you talking about? You know, the 69th team is going to complain. You're like, so what? Who cares? This. You care. More teams, more schools, more opinions, more conversation, more dialogue. That's what you want. Everybody's dwarfed by the NFL. You know, baseball has this golden at bat that just came out. Baseball just wants to be talked about. Juan Soto, $600 million. Like, that's. Everybody's fighting for airspace here. That's it. It's what you want. You don't want to get left behind. And college football has done a great job kind of reinventing itself, and it's just getting started. This is going to expand. It's going to go in directions. Where you go, wait a minute here. What are we doing in five years from now? We're going to look back and go, dang, college football moved at a rapid, not a glacier pace. This is moving, moving fast. And that's what's happening because of the money that's involved. Look at the NFL. All player safety. How about an 18th game? Sure. Oh, you know, we. We'll have one game in London. Okay, maybe two games. How about one in Germany? How about one in Dublin? How about one in Rio? It's all moving fast. Everything's moving fast. Wnba, let's expand more. More teams. Everybody wants to have a team now. Caitlin Clark is to the WNBA what Gretzky was to the NHL. He expanded hockey. Southern part of the United States. Who would have thought it's because Gretzky, Caitlin Clark, everybody wants a franchise now. This is what sports is doing. This is happening right in front of us Now. You can say, is this the golden age? Well, that's open to your interpretation, but this is where we're going. It's about money. It's always been about money. 8773 DP Show Email address DP Dan patrick.com Twitter handle it DP Show first hour brought to you by Tire Rack.com the official tire expert at the Dan Patrick show. Go to tire act.com the Tire Decision Guide. Full lineup of Pirelli tires. Special offers. Free road hazard protection. Mobile tire installation. TireRack.com is the way tire buying should be. Any other poll questions? You said Todd had a few of them. Seaton, you said many other poll questions. Yes. You know what? How about we do it after the break? After the break? Yeah, we want to control the quarter hours. What we want to do.

[Dan Patrick]

We just won one of them.

[Hoda Kotb]

Take that. I used to have a radio person who was always criticizing us of how we did our show. And even when I talked about espn, they go, you're giving away your ratings. You're talking about ESPN. I go, I worked there for 18 years.

[Todd Fritz]

I used to get emails. You guys broke too early. You broke two minutes too early. You got to control the quarter hour. No, we got to just be entertaining.

[Hoda Kotb]

I just. I'm just doing a show. I'm just doing a show. Funny, because those older radio bosses are like, hey, it wasn't really like that. And our current radio bosses are like.

[Dan Patrick]

Yes, that's exactly what you're supposed to be doing is winning the quarter hour.

[Hoda Kotb]

What's wrong with you?

[Dan Patrick]

Yes.

[Hoda Kotb]

Break two minutes. We just. We. None of that has changed. We just dominated right here.

[Dan Patrick]

What do you do?

[Hoda Kotb]

Yes, please win quarter hours. That's how I keep my job. What's wrong with you? I don't even understand it. I'm like, all right, whatever. You know, just tell me when I'm supposed to go to commercial break. You can't talk about espn. I can't. This person thought that because I was talking about espn, they were going to tune over to ESPN Radio.

[Todd Fritz]

Like, the listeners of our show weren't aware of ESPN and you were alerting them to their presence.

[Hoda Kotb]

Wait, is there ESPN radio? I'm flipping over there and I'm like, oh, my God. All righty. We're just getting started. Just getting started. How's morale, Marvin? How you feeling today, Bless beyond belief. Yeah, your Yukon Huskies got Baylor coming up tonight.

[Paul Pabst]

Tonight.

[Hoda Kotb]

Let's go. Gonna be a close one. No more Hawaii.

[Paul Pabst]

Thank goodness.

[Hoda Kotb]

You know, that was.

[Paul Pabst]

I'm sure that wasn't a fun flight back home.

[Hoda Kotb]

Connecticut wants to be the best team in every other state except for Hawaii.

[Todd Fritz]

They don't recognize it as a state anymore. There's 49 states.

[Hoda Kotb]

Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our [e-mail] and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live Black Friday Football on Prime is back this week the Raiders and the Chiefs into the end zone.

[Dan Patrick]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Dan Patrick]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Todd Fritz]

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[Hoda Kotb]

I'm not sure if that's what they.

[Todd Fritz]

Still call it these days.

[Hoda Kotb]

Sounds cool. But when I think about him truly.

[Todd Fritz]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Todd Fritz]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Todd Fritz]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Todd Fritz]

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[Hoda Kotb]

He might be the first guest we've had on who has been pepper sprayed, at least officially pepper sprayed. I'm not sure recently pepper sprayed. He's Pat, 40, from Sports Illustrated and he was there in Columbus, Ohio State, in Michigan. How does it feel to get pepper sprayed, Pat?

[Paul Pabst]

It doesn't taste good, Dan. My food review of pepper spray is not overwhelmingly positive. It really didn't get in my eyes much. I was wearing glasses. Maybe that'll help. But it got in my mouth and it's, it's unpleasant, that's for sure. Mostly I was like, what the hell is actually happening here? And then people started reeling out of there with, you know, their eyes watering and choking and everything. I was like, oh, we've just been pepper sprayed. This is a new, new college football achievement for me.

[Hoda Kotb]

I, you know, it's college football, so it should be Dr. Pepper Spray. You know, with the big sponsor, you can use that if you want. How did it get to the point where pepper spray was needed after that game?

[Paul Pabst]

I'm not sure. It felt to me a little like an overreaction. I mean, it was, it was violent in there for sure. I didn't get all the way into the middle of the octagon, as it were. But, I mean, there were punches, kicks being thrown, people getting bloodied, but I thought that this could have been handled without all of a sudden guys wearing sheriff jackets just turning around and spraying wide swaths. So I don't know. I think it was an overreaction to a couple of teams overreacting.

[Hoda Kotb]

Okay. Does college football look at this bigger picture? We've. We've seen a recent outbreak in planting the flag here. Does college football care about this? The NCAA care to act upon this?

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah, college football cares for sure. The NCAA would probably like to care, but has basically been kicked out of college football. The conferences don't like the look. We've heard from some commissioners and some other people that think it's a bad look. It'll be one of those, you know, January NCAA conventions, spring conference meetings, talking points, and they'll kick it around. I wouldn't be surprised if they come up with some sort of fine structures or if they come up with a. And it's going to be conference by conference, but a legislation of like, you don't bring your flags on the road, or you got to put your flags in the locker room with five minutes left in the game or whatever. You can't have nice things, Dan, if you can't play nicely.

[Hoda Kotb]

All right. Your reaction to the latest rankings.

[Paul Pabst]

I thought Miami got screwed. It's close. It's not like this is, you know, the biggest Travis Dew we've ever seen, but I would have had Miami ahead of Alabama. But we've seen, historically, Alabama gets in. The SEC gets what it wants. Greg Sankey all but planted his flag in October saying, this has to go incredibly well. And I think a lot of people took that as marching orders of we better get all of our teams in that deserve to get in, maybe even some that don't deserve to get in.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, I wonder, and I said this when it happened, the SEC is going to get in at least three schools. Like, it almost feels like, all right, we're going to sign up for this. We're going to play along with you. But you better be fair to us. At the end of the year, Alabama is getting in because of their brand. Miami used to have a brand. They don't have a brand anymore. How much of a factor do you think that that has played in?

[Paul Pabst]

I think it's undeniable. I mean, they can try to deny it, but I don't believe it. I think the Alabama brand is so strong that losses for them seem to matter less. Certain wins even seem to matter more. It may just mean more. The thing that the point where I thought not necessarily that the fix is in, but that they were excessively enamored with the Alabama brand was two weeks ago when they beat Mercer, an FCS team, and moved up three spots. They moved up three spots in the rankings by beating Mercer. Then they lose by three touchdowns to Oklahoma. But Ward Manuel comes out and says, well, Miami wasn't playing well at the end. Was Alabama playing well? No.

[Hoda Kotb]

I don't know what goes on in those meetings. I don't know if like are there directives that go on when the committee gets together?

[Paul Pabst]

We all don't know what goes on in the meetings. And that's one of the biggest frustrations of this really is just a lack of real knowledge. It'd be great to have a camera in there, to have a reporter in there, to have something in there to tell the public what actually does happen. What are the discussion points, what, you know, where are the tension points? And yes, what are the. What. What's the discussion level of how is this going to look or how's this going to play? Those things I would love to know, but we don't really have an accurate summation of that.

[Hoda Kotb]

We also have gotten to a point where and these commissioners know they don't want to play in a conference championship game because of the risk. It was a money grab for these conferences. Well, now the money's available in the 12 team playoff. They want to slowly diminish what these conference championship games mean, certainly for the Big Ten and the sec. So how do you do that where you kind of. I don't. You can't eradicate. But how do you diminish them? Therefore don't, you know, these games don't really mean that much other than you're going to win your conference championship.

[Paul Pabst]

Right. I don't know. It's a difficult one because they're addicted to the money from that. They're addicted to the money period, from all sources. But they like the money that comes with this. They also, they like the celebration of the league sort of stage that it gives them. The Big Ten networks going to do nothing but write, talk about and laud the league for two days in Indianapolis. The SEC network is going to do the same thing in Atlanta. The ACC network will do the same thing in Chicago, Charlotte. The leagues like that and they like the money. So I don't know how you separate that and diminish the conference championship more. I've never liked the conference championships. I thought they were double jeopardy for the best Teams, you had a chance for a fluky outcome, a chance for injuries, but now you're right that with the playoff and the way we've got it structured, it's even less important and probably more damaging. Although you can at least safeguard to a degree, which I think they're trying to do here, that both teams in your conference championship are probably getting in to the playoff.

[Hoda Kotb]

He's Pat40 from Sports Illustrated senior writer. The teams that are on the bubble who could be bounced this weekend? Most likely.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah. I mean, Alabama's rooting hard for SMU because if Clemson wins, Alabama theoretically could be out. But the committee could also just find another way to keep Alabama in and bounce smu. So the ACC championship game, I think, is really where it's at. The Mountain west championship game between Boise and UNLV is interesting. You know, I mean, can Boise hold on to a top four seed and a first round bye and probably kick the Big 12 into playing a first round road game with a champion of that league? So those are the two spots. The ACC and the Mountain west games, I think, are the two that where there's really some actual tension about what might happen.

[Hoda Kotb]

What do you think changes about the playoffs next year?

[Paul Pabst]

I would suspect whether it's next year, whether it's 2027, more likely that the first round buys do not go to four conference champions, that they will go to the four highest ranked teams. I think the Big Ten and SEC will say, okay, enough of that. We let you stay in our tournament, Big 12 and ACC, but Mountain west or whoever, but you're not getting the buys and they will try to take all of those.

[Hoda Kotb]

Any chance Travis Hunter wins the Heisman unanimously?

[Paul Pabst]

No, I don't think so. I think there's a decent support for Ashton Gentee, who's a great player. I think Travis Hunter wins and probably wins by a considerable margin. But I think Ashton Gentee, especially if he, if he puts up 200 yards Friday night, you know, that'll probably help him some more. Again, I don't think Travis Hunter loses, but I don't think it's an absolute landslide.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, because I argued that Shador Sanders has had kind of quietly, which is hard to say about Colorado and being Deion sun quietly had an unbelievable season and that that dude can take some punishment. He gets hit. Travis Hunter is exciting and the potential is wonderful. You know, I was making a case Gentee and Shador, what they meant to their teams, probably more valuable than Travis Hunter is to Colorado. Is that crazy to say?

[Paul Pabst]

Well, no, I Mean, you can make that argument. I would say Travis Hunter might be more valuable because he does indeed play two positions. But Shador Sanders has been unbelievable. I mean, if he's in the top three, he deserves it. Your point about him getting hit and taking it is well made because that is one tough quarterback. He takes a pounding, he gets sacked a lot. He holds the ball. He doesn't bail out on plays. It's impressive what he's done this year. He's a really, really good player.

[Hoda Kotb]

Best running back that you ever saw. I mean, Gentee is getting into that Barry Sanders territory with these numbers. Barry did it, of course, you know, against better competition, probably, but best running back you ever saw in person in college.

[Paul Pabst]

I would say Adrian Peterson. He was just unbelievable at Oklahoma now, you know, all time. I mean, Barry Sanders, you watched him and it was like watching a magician or like an adult playing with children where nobody could just catch him. He just made you look silly. So those two come to mind. Walter Payton, of course, but I didn't see him in college. You know, I just. I love the way Walter Payton just defeated tacklers. But Genty. Gentee's legit man. He's got size and he's just got great feet. I mean, his feet. He reminds me of Ledanian Tomlinson. That comparison's been. Can catch the ball as well. And he's just. He's a heck of a player.

[Hoda Kotb]

Great to talk to you. And are you going to the ACC title game?

[Paul Pabst]

I am, yes. Going to go see if Clemson can drop something in the punch bowl.

[Hoda Kotb]

What do you think the chances are you get pepper sprayed again?

[Paul Pabst]

I think much lower.

[Hoda Kotb]

Okay, Horseshoe.

[Paul Pabst]

Much lower. But I might be back in the horseshoe if they have a first round game. And I'll be bringing protective here.

[Hoda Kotb]

How safe is Ryan Day, in your opinion?

[Paul Pabst]

I think he's relatively safe if he wants to be safe. If he doesn't want to go, I think he might be willing to reconsider how much he wants to be there. But I don't see Ohio State.

[Hoda Kotb]

Wait, wait a minute, hold on. That Ryan Day may say, you know what? I don't want to be under this microscope anymore.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah, I mean, I don't think that's out of the question, that this has become almost an untenable situation if he can get another job that wants to pay him $10 million a year.

[Hoda Kotb]

What about Urban Meyer coming back to Ohio State?

[Paul Pabst]

Let's not. I don't think so. I don't think that would happen. Ross Bjork. I think the new ad there. If he were to get the chance to make a hire, I think he would want to establish his own sort of signature on the program.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, because I think the people who got rid of Urban Meyer aren't there at Ohio State anymore.

[Paul Pabst]

They're not? No, that's true. I mean, it would be a fresh slate. But I still am not sure. I think Ross Bjork has enough ambition that he was like, I'm not bringing back a guy that's going to be, you know, just immediately dwarf me.

[Hoda Kotb]

He's Pat40, he's not afraid of your pepper spray, and he could be coming to a stadium near you. Thank you, Pat.

[Paul Pabst]

Thank you.

[Hoda Kotb]

That's Pat40. Be sure to catch the live edition of the Dan Patrick show, weekdays at 9am Eastern, 6am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Black Friday Football on Prime is back. This week, the Raiders and the Chiefs.

[Dan Patrick]

Into the end zone. Unbelievable.

[Hoda Kotb]

Catch an old school rivalry for a new game day.

[Dan Patrick]

Firing downfield court.

[Hoda Kotb]

Stream for free only on Prime. Great move. Black Friday football Raiders vs. Chiefs kickoff at 3pm Eastern, pregame at 1:30pm Friday only on Prime. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com watchblackfridayfootball for details.

[Savannah Guthrie]

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[Dan Patrick]

Congratulations to Easterseals Southern California on their first place win for innovation in customer service at this year's Unconventional Awards by T Mobile. For business, Easterseals has used T Mobile 5G to create immersive VR development tools that aid people with autism in addressing transportation barriers. These tools are shaping the way safe and personalized skill building is delivered. And for that T Mobile congratulates Easterseals Southern California for their unconventional thinking.

[Hoda Kotb]

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[Todd Fritz]

Joel as you know, my father served in the military. He was in satellite communications, Satcom. I'm not sure if that's what they still call it these days. Sounds cool, but when I think about him truly and the other veterans I know, I'm reminded of their quiet strength, their resilience. Those are some of the qualities they carry with them long after their service ends.

[Hoda Kotb]

Well, at Navy Federal Credit Union, every day is Veterans Day and they are.

[Todd Fritz]

Proud to have served the military community for over 90 years. Veterans Day only highlights Navy Federal's everyday commitment because Navy Federal serves more than 2 million veterans by providing the support.

[Hoda Kotb]

They need to succeed financially. They offer members exclusive rates, discounts and.

[Todd Fritz]

Perks, and 45% of their employees are directly tied to the military. So Navy Federal understands the needs of the veterans they serve.

[Hoda Kotb]

That's right.

[Todd Fritz]

Navy Federal donates to not for profits focused on veterans like the mission continues and rebuilding together. It's good to see an organization prioritize those who have served our country and.

[Hoda Kotb]

Remember that active duty veterans and their.

[Todd Fritz]

Families can join Navy Federal Credit Union. Learn [e-mail] Veterans Navy Federal is insured.

[Hoda Kotb]

By NCUA Jason Garrett a busy man. He was on the call Miami Green Bay on Thanksgiving and had Notre Dame a couple of weeks ago. Football Night America analyst, former Cowboys head coach, Chargers Chiefs Coming up on Sunday night on Peacock. You can see him there as well. You want to start college football? You want to talk NFL football?

[Dan Patrick]

Hey, you're in charge. You decide.

[Hoda Kotb]

What if we use the college format like when we ranked teams in the NFL and in accordance to that, you had playoff matchups. So the Chiefs could be playing somebody from, you know, the NFC in the playoffs as opposed to the afc. Like, who's the number one seed? Who'd be the Oregon in the NFL right now?

[Dan Patrick]

I still think Detroit's the Oregon. They've been really good. They've been dominant. The concern with them, though, is the injury thing on defense. But that's a little bit of the Florida State argument from last year. Right? You know, they win all their games, they put their backup in, they continue to win, but, you know, we don't think they're good enough. But I do think what they've done on the field over the course of the year, they're number one.

[Hoda Kotb]

It feels like the Eagles are an underdog story. It feels like Buffalo is an underdog story. How does that happen when you're two of the three best teams in the NFL right now?

[Dan Patrick]

Well, I don't know how it happens, but they're both really good, and I love. I love what Philly's done. Philly is a really talented team across the board. If you look at their offensive line, their defensive line, their skill players, their playmakers. Saquon is an MVP candidate for me, and it's amazing what they've done. If you think about 10 and 1 last year and then an epic slide. They were horrendous at the end of last year, and there were some real issues in that organization. And for them to right the ship like they have started 2 and 2 this year. But I give a lot of credit to Nick Sirianni. I give a lot of credit to Vic Fangio and Kellen Moore for on either side of the ball, just getting those guys playing the right way and playing up to their talent, and there's a really good feeling there. I was in Buffalo on Friday. There's an amazing feeling in Buffalo. The quarterback is off the charts. I just love the vibe they have in that building. And again, talk about two coaches, Sirianni and McDermott, guys who are really underappreciated. I mean, Sean McDermott, they've won the division five years in a row. They've been to the playoffs seven out of eight years, and I think they got a lot of young players on that team, and they're just understanding that winning is the most important thing, and everybody's just diving into their roles and. And of course, they get the snow game Sunday night and they go have a heck of a lot of fun and kind of show that to the world. But I just love both Those teams, again, I don't know if they're underdog stories or not, but they're damn good.

[Hoda Kotb]

Who does Josh Allen remind you of?

[Dan Patrick]

You know, when I was. I shouldn't say grown up, because he's not that much older than I am, but I had so much admiration for John Elway. I'm in high school, he's in college at Stanford, and then he goes on to play in the NFL. And I'm like, I've never seen anybody like this. His ability to run and throw and make plays, and he just was incredible. And so when you have guys like that in your life, Marino, Elway, some of those guys, it's like nobody can ever compare to them. But when you pull back, I'm like, he reminds me of a version of John Elway. His ability to run the ball, throw it all over the place. And for years he was putting Buffalo on his back, and now they're better around him, and he doesn't feel like he has to do that all the time, but in the big moments, he does, just like Elway used to. So that would be my comparison right now. Both elite, elite players.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, I could see Cam Newton as well in there with Josh Allen. I mean, they. They run. They ran in a more physical way than Elway did. But I don't know if you see those comps as well.

[Dan Patrick]

Well, for me, with Cam, I think Cam, you know, go back to Cam in college. I mean, they're running quarterback power, you know, I mean, he's in behind these guys. I mean, it's like, you know, 1924, four horsemen type stuff. And, you know, for. For me, he's. I. I see the effectiveness as a runner like Cam. Cam, I thought was unique that way. And I just think Josh is. I think he's a rare passer. His ability to throw the ball from the pocket, out in space. I just think a cut above Cam for me throwing the ball.

[Hoda Kotb]

We were talking about comeback Player of the year. Now here's a couple our candidates. Russell Wilson, Sam Darnold. Now, we're not talking about an injury. It's more perception. Saquon Barkley. Could he be up for comeback Player of the Year? Out of those three, who would you pick? Or if you have another.

[Dan Patrick]

Well, I think there are three great candidates, and I'll hit Russell first. If you think about what's happened with Russell over the last couple years, I think a lot of people said, you know, he's probably done. He's close to being done. I can see why Pittsburgh takes A shot at him. Maybe they can revive him. They don't give him a huge contract. Let's kind of see what happens there. And for him to play as well as he has and, you know, the other day was big. This wasn't, hey, Pittsburgh, let's play great defense. Let's run the ball. He threw for 414 yards in that game. Now, is Cincinnati good on defense? Not really right now, so I get that. But I thought they'd go into that game, hammer them, Russell, make a couple of big plays in the passing game. Pittsburgh wins the game with their defense. That was not the game. So it's not like they're winning despite him. I mean, he's a major contributor to it. And if you think about comeback player, where have they been? He wasn't in a good place the last couple of years. He's revived himself. The Darnold story is fantastic, and I think it's. It's a. It's a really good story for a lot of teams. When you think about young quarterbacks, you thrust them into a situation when they're young, it's not a real good situation. They got to do it all themselves. They're still learning how to play. And these guys get resurrected. And. And you and I have. Have talked about this before, about Tom Brady, so many things he's done, you know, at the highest level in the NFL. But for him to play till he's 45, for Drew Brees to play till he's 40, Aaron Rodgers, Phillip Rivers, all of these guys. The Runway for quarterbacks is a lot longer than it used to be. And I think, you know, the way we protect quarterbacks these days has contributed to that. But this idea that you can take a guy who has ability, who's the right kind of guy, who's been in a bad place, and he can. He can revive himself and resurrect himself, because these guys are going to play much longer. I think that's an important story to tell, and I'm going to hit the last one because I love him to death. The Saquon story is just off the charts for me. I mean, the demise of the running back. You can't pay running backs. They're done when they're 27. You know, watch the Eagles play. I mean, he's incredible player, and he might be the single most important player in contributing to what I was talking about earlier with Philly. He's an amazing guy. Everybody's behind him. And again, I think beyond his ability on the field and his production he's bringing an energy to that organization that's really making a difference.

[Hoda Kotb]

Talking to Jason Garrett, NBC Football Night in America analyst, it'll be the Chargers and the Chiefs on Sunday night. Speaking of protecting the quarterback, the Trevor Lawrence hit, does the NFL look at the sliding portion of this, and if so, what kind of modifications do you think the NFL should make on that?

[Dan Patrick]

Well, I think they have to look at it. Everyone has the right intentions here. You know, player safety and all the rules, changes they've made at all positions, how we do things in the off season, training camp, practice, all of that. And then in relation to the quarterback, I think these are all really good things to do. But, you know, now you're in that little gray area that these quarterbacks are sliding later and later and later. They know they're getting protected. They get to the sideline, they fake like they're going out and they make 20 more yards. I mean, there's all these things. So. So I think they have to guard against that. I heard somebody saying, you know, hey, maybe we should penalize the offensive guys. Maybe that's the only thing you truly can do. And I get that. I'm not quite there yet, but I do think they have to allow guys to hit these quarterbacks. And the hit on Trevor Lawrence, egregious. I agree with the punishment, all of that, but there's a lot of gray there for these defensive players and you can see them playing hesitantly. So I wouldn't be opposed to some kind of penalty for a quarterback if he. If he clearly is trying to dupe the defender and not just getting down.

[Hoda Kotb]

I mentioned this yesterday and I. We were just kind of throwing stuff against the wall. But you know, when a player is going to signal for a fair catch on a punt, then you know, you can't hit him. If a quarterback is getting ready to slide and holds his. His one hand up like you are signaling that I'm giving myself up, or if Patrick Mahomes is dancing down the sidelines. He doesn't put his hand up, you blast him. Can you ask a quarterback to protect himself? He'll be running with the football. You just put your hand up. You've signified that I'm not going to keep running. It's a white flag. What's the possibility of that being put into play?

[Dan Patrick]

I think it's a hell of an idea. I really do. I do think it's different than a punt returner. You're in that environment as a punt returner. You're by yourself as the ball goes up there, and you're really. There's no restriction on you being able to do that. Picture some of these guys in the middle of traffic on the sidelines. Now I got to stick my hand up. Oh, you didn't. You didn't stick your hand up. Now I can blast you. I think that gets a little dicey. I don't think that. I don't think the environment's quite as clean. But, you know, I've seen college games where these guys start their dive early.

[Hoda Kotb]

Well, Kenny Pickett did it, and then that was. They changed the rule, though, Jason. The next week, they. That rule in college football. But you're right, but somebody's going to blast Mahomes one of these days because he gives that. I'm going out of bounds, and I'm not. I'm going to dance down the side. You can see defenders. They have no idea what to do with Mahomes.

[Dan Patrick]

Yeah, and people lose sight of the fact that these. These decisions these guys are making are happening in split seconds. You know, we watch the replay and we say, oh, he could have hit him. Oh, he should have target. I'm like, do you guys understand how fast a play happens in football? It's ridiculous. And so you're asking these guys, you know, the receiver who catches it and he's right there. Then at the last second, he drops his head six inches. And it goes from this glancing blow to you hit. I'm like, you know, it's. It's hard on these guys. So I think we need to be more understanding of that as they go forward. But I think penalizing a guy who's intentionally doing it, I don't know that that's a bad way to go.

[Hoda Kotb]

How would you handle Justin Tucker if you were his head coach?

[Dan Patrick]

I would absolutely stick with him. I'm not opposed to bringing a guy in on the. On the practice roster and having a guy kick as well. You know, at the end of the day, all decisions are made in the best interest of the football team. And I don't care how much success and history you have together. You know, Justin Tucker understands that. He understands that he has to make kicks. So it's a little bit for me, like a lot of people say with these young quarterbacks, oh, if you sit them down, he's done. John Elway said last week, hey, the best thing that ever happened to me was after the fourth game, my rookie year, they benched me. And now John Elway has to respond. And he responds in a way that he becomes one of the all time greats. And so you're seeing that with Bryce Young, you're seeing that with Anthony Richardson. These guys are responding, and if they don't respond, you got the wrong guy playing quarterback. So I bring that up just to say, Justin Tucker has been around this league forever. He understands the Ravens got to win, he's got to make his kicks. So. So to bring a guy in to say, hey, if we're not doing this, this guy's kicking on the side. This gives us the best chance, I don't see that as an issue. I don't see that as a problem. But I like what John Harbaugh has done. You stick, but you stick with them and you say, hey, you're our kicker. But at some point, you know, we got to make the decision that's best for the team. And maybe that's, that's the way you dip your toe into that decision.

[Hoda Kotb]

How does a kicker forget how to kick?

[Dan Patrick]

You know, it's, it's. I'm not, I'm not a kicking guru by any means, so I don't, I don't mean to suggest that I am, but it's a highly precise operation. When you think about snap, hold, kick, they're so good at it. The ability for a long snapper to snap it in a way where it's 8 yards deep and he's going to hit the holder with the laces on his top hand so he can put it down. I mean, it's like, it's like elite stuff. And I think the same thing goes for kicking mechanics. You know, if the foot is. The toe of the foot is, you know, an inch too wide and that opens up your hips too much, and then you overcompensate, you come back the other way. You know, I think that's the kind of stuff that happens not unlike a golf swing. Right. You know, you're not, you're not hitting it right. Hey, my, the club face is open, then I compensate, now I'm hooking it, you know, all that kind of stuff. I think that that's what's going on. There's a lot of moving parts, but nobody knows kicking more than Justin Tucker. I mean, this is the greatest kicker of all time. So I'm certainly hopeful that he can find the key because they need him coming down the stretch. There's no doubt about that.

[Hoda Kotb]

Notre Dame will win the national title if. What.

[Dan Patrick]

Two things. If they continue to play great defense. A little bit sloppier the other day against usc, but they've been a fantastic defense, one of the best defenses all year long. So if they continue to do that and play through their defense in their running game and then Riley Leonard can make a couple plays, I think they can win. They're going to win it in an old school fashion, but I think they can do it.

[Hoda Kotb]

How does the team become tougher?

[Dan Patrick]

You have to do tough things to be tougher. I think the first thing is you got to bring the right kind of people in. You know, there's a great John Madden expression. He said, you know, for years in Oakland, we weren't a good tackling team and we worked very hard at tackling. And then Jack Tatum was available to come from Ohio State and we said, you know, we're going to draft Jack Tatum. He was an incredible tackler. And all of a sudden our team became a better tackling team. So I do think it starts with who you bring into the building. But you have to do tough things. And unfortunately, in this day and age in pro football, because of the stuff we're talking about before with player safety, they've taken away the off season program. You can't have padded practices. All of those things that help make teams tough. You do a lot less of that these days. But I think you have to put pads on. I think you have to be physical in practice. You have to compete, challenge guys and just make that part of who you are. That team in Detroit that we're talking about before, Dan Campbell, Baltimore, Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh, all those teams that are tough, the teams that are playing the best right now, they do hard things in practice and it shows up on Sundays.

[Hoda Kotb]

Take the money out of this. But you have to make a decision. Next year you could start Jameis Winston or DeSean Watson in Cleveland.

[Dan Patrick]

Oh, Jameis Winston. Yeah. I think the DeSean Watson experiment should be over in Cleveland and they need to move on. I don't know how they do it, how they pay him or don't pay him. I think you have to navigate the situation where, you know, the salary cap hit is at a. At a minimum. But I would absolutely play Amos Winston. James is not a perfect quarterback, but he's certainly revived their team. And I just think there are too many issues with desean. Deshaun was a hell of a player at one point in his career, but he's not the same guy. And maybe he needs another new place with not a big $232 million guaranteed contract to start his career over again. But I don't think he should be the quarterback in Cleveland.

[Hoda Kotb]

Hypothetically. Have you ever been told to play somebody that you didn't want to play?

[Dan Patrick]

I don't know that I've been directly told that, to be honest with you, indirectly.

[Hoda Kotb]

Have you been told?

[Dan Patrick]

Yeah, I mean, I think there's philosophy, you know, this comes up with coaches sometimes, you know, older players are more reliable. Older players have experience. They know how to play. They can help you win in the short term. But sometimes you got to pull back as an organization and say, this guy's a progress stopper. He's going to let us play better now, but in the long run this guy will play better and we got to take our lumps. So I think, I don't know there's been directly, but you pull back philosophically as an organization and sometimes you have to make some of those decisions and sometimes they're right and sometimes they're wrong. The evaluation is wrong. One of the issues I have with the NFL right now that I experienced a few different times and I see it a lot in the NFL is just because they're young, just because we drafted them doesn't mean they deserve to play. They have to earn that right, too. So in a quest to be younger and play younger guys, you got to make sure they're earning it along the way.

[Hoda Kotb]

Good stuff. Have fun on Sunday night. Thanks for joining us. As always, you're the best.

[Dan Patrick]

Thanks, dad.

[Hoda Kotb]

That's Jason Garrett. Black Friday football on prime is back. This week, the Raiders and the Chiefs.

[Dan Patrick]

Into the end zone.

[Hoda Kotb]

Unbelievable catch an old school rivalry for a new game day. Firing downfield car stream for free only on Prime. Black Friday football Raiders vs Chiefs kickoff at 3pm Eastern, pregame at 1:30pm Friday only on Prime. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com watchblackfridayfootball for details.

[Savannah Guthrie]

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[Todd Fritz]

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[Hoda Kotb]

He shoots a three.

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[Todd Fritz]

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