PMS 2.0 1245 - MNF Recap, Adam Schefter, Shams Charania, Dan Mullen, Ladd McConkey, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Pat McAfee Show – PMS 2.0 1245

Date Released: November 19, 2024
Episode Title: PMS 2.0 1245 - MNF Recap, Adam Schefter, Shams Charania, Dan Mullen, Ladd McConkey, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

---

1. NFL Week 11 Review: Dallas Cowboys vs. Houston Texans

The episode kicks off with Pat McAfee recapping the Week 11 NFL showdown where the Houston Texans triumphed over the struggling Dallas Cowboys. Pat expresses his frustration with the Cowboys' performance, highlighting their multiple shortcomings both on and off the field.

Pat McAfee [00:00]: "Last night with the Dallas Cowboys just shitting all over themselves on primetime. Yet again, congrats to Houston Texans."

2. Criticism of Dallas Cowboys' Ownership and Team Performance

Pat delves into a scathing critique of Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones, citing infrastructural issues like the faulty stadium roof and the team's inability to maintain leads during games. The conversation underscores a perceived decline in the team's overall quality and management decisions.

Pat McAfee [03:07]: "America's team crumbling at the seams... the roof sucks, team sucks, and the floor sucks."

3. Joe Mixon's Impact on the Texans

The discussion shifts to the Houston Texans' strategic acquisition of Joe Mixon from the Cincinnati Bengals. Pat praises Mixon's exceptional performance, which has significantly bolstered the Texans' offense, especially after the injury to Stefon Diggs.

Pat McAfee [02:30]: "The Joe Mixon signing, I think is one of the biggest ones across the entire NFL... redoes the math for these defenses."

4. Offseason Moves and Contract Dynamics for NFL Teams

Pat analyzes the Cowboys' offseason decisions, focusing on their reluctance to invest in versatile running backs like Saquon Barkley, Joe Mixon, and Derrick Henry. He contrasts this with the Texans' proactive approach, suggesting that the Cowboys' frugality is detrimental to their competitiveness.

Pat McAfee [04:14]: "Saquon Barkley does... originally ranked 190th in the NFL, but Joe Mixon does better now."

5. New York Jets' GM Joe Douglas Fired – Interview with Adam Schefter

In a pivotal segment, Pat welcomes ESPN's senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter to discuss the abrupt firing of New York Jets' General Manager Joe Douglas. Schefter explains that this move signifies a comprehensive organizational overhaul prompted by Woody Johnson's loss of patience with the team's performance. The Jets are now embarking on both a head coach and GM search.

Adam Schefter [15:28]: "It means that it's a complete overhaul in New York with the Jets... Joe Douglas's contract was up after this season."

6. Potential Head Coaches and GMs in the NFL

Adam Schefter outlines several frontrunners for vacant head coach and GM positions, including Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, Brian Flores, and Vance Joseph. The discussion highlights the competitive landscape for these prestigious roles.

Adam Schefter [27:13]: "Bill Belichick, Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, Brian Flores, and I think Vance Joseph..."

7. Influence of NIL on College Coaches Transitioning to NFL Roles

The conversation explores how the recent Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rules in college sports are influencing college coaches' ambitions to transition into NFL executive roles. Schefter anticipates a surge of college-based talent entering the NFL's front offices over the next decade.

Adam Schefter [31:03]: "More and more guys at the college level open to going to the NFL because in a way, it's a simpler existence..."

8. Philadelphia 76ers' Internal Issues: Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid Conflict

Pat brings attention to a significant internal conflict within the Philadelphia 76ers. Star player Tyrese Maxey publicly challenged Joel Embiid for punctuality and accountability, leading to a lengthy team meeting aimed at addressing team culture and performance expectations.

Shams Charania [41:36]: "Tyrese Maxey addressed it. They were very close friends... he's not going to just speak out for nothing."

9. Discussion of NFL Coaching Changes and Social Media Impact

Pat and his team discuss the rampant coaching changes across the NFL, attributing the trend to heightened scrutiny from fans amplified by social media. Adam Schefter emphasizes that the lack of a salary cap for coaches allows teams greater flexibility in firing and hiring decisions.

Adam Schefter [23:09]: "It's a great sport to watch. But it's also entertainment... part of the entertainment is these coaches in charge."

10. Pirates' Ownership and Paul Skenes' Achievement

The episode touches briefly on Major League Baseball, congratulating Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates for winning the NL Rookie of the Year. However, it also criticizes the Pirates' ownership for focusing solely on profits at the expense of team performance.

Pat McAfee [155:40]: "Paul Skeens probably should have ended up somewhere else, but he was sent to Pittsburgh to fulfill a prophecy..."

11. College Football Playoffs and SEC/Big Ten Dynamics – Interview with Coach Dan Mullen

Pat engages with Coach Dan Mullen to discuss the evolving landscape of the College Football Playoff (CFP). They explore the challenges posed by strength of schedule disparities, especially for teams like Indiana with an undefeated record but a weaker schedule. Mullen predicts a heated debate over playoff selections, particularly concerning SEC and Big Ten powerhouses.

Dan Mullen [75:33]: "The SEC right now is it's going to be so wide open... there's going to be some absolute meltdowns over the next couple weeks on fan bases."

12. Closing Remarks and Final Discussions

The episode wraps up with lighter conversations about team dynamics, upcoming games, and humorous anecdotes about everyday topics like plumbing. Pat reinforces the show's commitment to delivering engaging and insightful sports discussions.

Pat McAfee [181:56]: "Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. Might change your life. We're in this thing together."

---

Notable Quotes:

• Pat McAfee [00:00]: "America's team crumbling at the seams."

• Adam Schefter [15:28]: "It's a complete overhaul in New York with the Jets."

• Shams Charania [41:36]: "Tyrese Maxey addressed it... he's not going to just speak out for nothing."

• Dan Mullen [75:33]: "There's going to be some absolute meltdowns over the next couple weeks on fan bases."

---

Conclusion

This episode of The Pat McAfee Show provides a comprehensive analysis of current NFL and NBA developments, with in-depth discussions on team performances, management decisions, and the broader implications of changes within professional and college sports. Pat McAfee, alongside his guests, offers critical insights and spirited debates, making it a valuable listen for sports enthusiasts seeking a deeper understanding of the games they love.

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome, on This sports Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. This program starts now. Football. It's amazing, and obviously it's a massive day in football because the College Football Playoff committee's rankings debut this evening at 7pm Eastern on ESPN. Who's in? Who's at? Can't wait to learn about that week 11 of the NFL season wrapped up last night with the Dallas Cowboys just shitting all over themselves on primetime. Yet again, congrats to Houston Texans. We as Colts fans need Texans to continue to lose, but I don't know if anybody's going to do that against the Dallas Cowboys. And as somebody who said, I'll take the Dallas Cowboys plus seven, I don't think I've ever said dumber words in my life. And as I was watching that game from the beginning to the end, I actually thought that numerous times. How did I on a microphone say, give me the Dallas Cowboys plus seven. Now it appears as if the love of America is starting to become a very real thing in the world that we live in currently in 2024. Sure feels like America is a little bit more accepted by its citizens now than it ever has been in recent history. With that being said, America's team cropped crumbling at the seams. We're talking about the ceiling falling apart. Last night they wanted to open a roof for the first time. Long time our team stinks, but at least we'll showcase the stadium. And then a piece of sheet metal comes flying down and you see, old buddy. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What was that? Well, it was actually metal from the roof, pal. Yeah. Jerry World obviously at one time was the cock of the walk. And speaking of cock of the walk, this is a man who had to go up there and actually drill another piece of sheet metal into some more railings up there because they couldn't get it out completely. And they didn't know if one gust of wind somehow comes through Jerry Weld, another piece of sheet metal comes all the way down. So the roof sucks, team sucks, and the floor sucks.

[Boston Connor]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Brandon Aubrey has his first miss at home last night. He's obviously the imper. Slips all over the place. You think to yourself, well, how'd you slip? This guy's been 34 for 34 in Jerry World as the Dallas Cowboys kicker, how'd you. Well, you gotta remember Paul Tyson had that thing up. They just put it down. So the turf stinks, the roof stinks, the team stinks, everything about it stinks. And the Houston Texans took advantage of that. Congratulations to the Houston Texans on a big win. CJ Stroud obviously enjoys the hell out of Nico Collins being back. That first touchdown where Larry McKee was two yards down the field, I think that was a little. Come on now. Obviously Laramie Tunsil was acting in a fashion as if he knew what they called. And I think Joe Buck and Troy Aikman did a great job of saying this is definitely a penalty, but like, okay. And then Joe Mixon goes absolutely bananas. I mean, multiple touchdowns, three of them. He goes for an insane amount of yards. And I think he wanted to really, you know, on prime time let people know that Joe Mixon is still Joe Mixon. This dude is missed in Cincinnati. Now all those Cincinnati Bengals offense does a fantastic job. And Joe Burrow Burroughs spinning it all over the place. The loss of Joe Mixon is certainly something that's going to be felt. And the addition of Joe Mixon to this Houston Texans team has been massive. Now, everybody talked about Stefon Diggs going over there and he's obviously injured for the rest of the year. Godspeed to you, Stefan Diggs. But the Joe Mixon signing, I think is one of the biggest ones across the entire NFL. He redoes the math for these defenses. And with that offensive line, with how they've been struggling protecting CJ Stroud, they've been struggling over the last few weeks, having a dominating performance like that, running the ball against the Dallas Cowboys defense that has sucked since the beginning of the year and, you know, gaps on this and toughness and physicality and everything that you need to be a great defense against the run. And in the NFL, the Houston Texans exploited. And if I'm a Texans fans, I'm waking up this morning feeling great about my team. If I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan, I'm thinking about becoming a Houston Texans fan. Should that. That is the thought that I should be having. Now there's a lot of people chatting, like, why would you go to a game if you were a Dallas Cowboy fan? We got some stats from Hembo. Do you know how many seconds and minutes. Not this one, the other one, please. Do you know how many seconds they've been leading games at home? None.

[Boston Connor]

Geez.

[Pat McAfee]

Nine. Last six home games, we've had no happiness. No happiness. Two minutes and 15 seconds. We're back.

[Ty Schmidt]

Good Lions team.

[Pat McAfee]

We are back. We are a team. And no happiness. No happiness. No happiness. Okay, so you're talking about home games being miserable from start to finish. And last night obviously was the first time A stadium just fell apart. So before the game even started, they were losing. So you're talking about no seconds of leading games before the game even started, this entire thing. And then let's go to the offseason as Foxy put up there a little bit pinching pennies and losing games. Good headline there. That's a good headline from Debone. There have been some absolutely terrible ones throughout the last couple days from Debone. But he's not bad at piecing these things together because that's exactly what Hembo sent over. Pinch of pennies, losing games. Now, if you do recall this past offseason, everybody thought about Derrick Henry going to the Dallas Cowboys, and Jerry said, well, I don't think we can afford him, or whatever the case is, then he obviously pays 60 million to Dak, pays whatever to Ced, does the entire thing. But once you start looking at, like, the stats of how these guys have done against the Dallas Cowboys and where they're paid at now, Saquon Barkley, you know, he won bananas. His contract ranks 190th in the NFL, okay, in average annual value per year. Saquon Barkley does. Geez, he's pretty good. Think about the Giants. They said we can't afford them.

[Boston Connor]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Dallas obviously looked into it because they got no running game at all. They said, we can't afford them. And then you think about Joe Mixon, when he did 276th in the NFL, his contract, average annual value. Yep. And then Derrick Henry, obviously, 287th in NFRB is the news. I don't know what the hell that means, but nonetheless, Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon, Saquon Barkley, all running backs. That could be for the Cowboys, theoretically. They go for 405 yards from scrimmage on 63 touchdowns. Five touchdowns. First Dallas. So Jerry Jones has to sit up there, okay, as his stadium's falling apart and his team leads no seconds at all of any of these games. And then he has to go on these Tuesday morning shows, radio shows, and they go, hey, there's a lot of things being pointed out about your lack of doing anything to make this team better and kind of just living by the people that you've had here, you've developed here, you've coached here, everything like that. He goes, I'm not here to fucking listen and talk to you about everything I've done wrong. Well, it's like, Jerry, your team sucks. Your building sucks, and a lot of people are starting to think you suck. Even the people that had faith in you. Like me, I was a big Jerry Jones fan.

[Ty Schmidt]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Strictly because of the way he went about doing his business. I appreciate the fact that this man goes all in. I appreciate the fact that he got money from oil. All right, sure. Then he takes that money, goes all in on the Cowboys, and then he creates the greatest sports brand in the world. The most highest valued, the greatest brand. He's on prime time every single week. I mean, you're talking about just a business savant in Jerry Jones now. Him being the gm, him being probably the coach, him being everything else I enjoyed. Because it's like you want an owner that loves ball, you want an owner that's involved. And they had success, you know, 30 years ago, but now it's at the point where everything Jerry does sucks. Yep. Yep. His business plans suck. The AI, Jerry, they got down in the lobby sucks. Stadium, Stadium sucks. His team sucks. His ideas on what they should do for the team suck. The way he talks in interviews sucks. It's like everything about Jerry Jones sucks at this point. And I'm bummed out about it. It was a hell of a run. It was a great American dream story. It was a great American dream story. But now it's just like, Jerry Jones sucks, and we just have to face that head on. And I know there's a lot of people that have been saying that for a long time, and I know you've been excited to watch the demise of Jerry Jones as somebody that, like, you know, was. This guy's hilarious is how I kind of viewed it. This guy sucks. And on the flip side, the Houston Texans, they used to. They used to be shit very recently, they used to suck bad. Now they're really good. And that sucks for the Indianapolis Colts, who are in the same exact division now. Am I scared that the Houston Texans are going to go on and be undefeated for the rest of the year, and the Colts have no chance of making it, pretty much, if that's the case, because of what they did to the Dallas Cowboys? No. With that being said, they looked very good last night. And it was not just, you know, a bad Dallas Cowboys team. It was the execution. It was how they went about it, how CJ Looked, how the offensive line looked, how the defense looked. I mean, it was just like everything that the Houston Texans did watch. This is like football judgment, which is going to come into play tonight for the College Football Playoff. It's like football judgment. They looked good. The Houston Texans looked the best they've looked in a long time. And is that because they're playing the Cowboys, which is, you know, strength of Schedule 0. If you were to be giving points out. Or is it because the Houston Texans are back? We shall see. Talk to tables here at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt. Con man, Not a terrible Week 11 slate, but last night certainly sucked.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, last night did suck. Just like Jerry Jones, to your point. And you can probably throw his boy in there because if his boy didn't suck, then he'd probably be where Jerry Jones is right now. Now, instead of Jerry still running the show. But the Texans are impressive. Like Nico Collins being back on the field, that completely changes their entire offense. John Mechi, who, you know, he missed his entire rookie year, he's playing pretty good ball because Nico wasn't in for as many snaps. I feel like, as we would usually see, he's probably still kind of getting back from that hamstring. But with him, with what that offensive line did, after the questions you know, we've kind of had, and AQ Shipley has pointed out to us when it comes to the Texans, what they were able to do against the Cowboys. Now, again, it is the Cowboys where we suck. They're really bad football teams.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

And like, even that graphic, like Joe Mixon wasn't a free agent technically, like Saquon and Derek Henry, but still could have traded, what, a fifth or a sixth round pick for him because they released him. And then the Texans called the Bengals and they're like, hey, don't release him. We'll give you a bag of.

[Pat McAfee]

They released him. Gave a bird call to everybody. Hey, Joe Mixon is potentially available. Obviously, Jerry said, still, I got other shit to do.

[Boston Connor]

No, thanks.

[Pat McAfee]

I got to ruin this franchise a little bit more. I got to beat this thing down to the ground.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I got to force the public to have to watch my team. Okay. Which is, I think, the biggest issue with the whole thing. Yeah. I used to enjoy the fact that Jerry Jones used to hold the public hostage. Hey, you're going to watch my team. Okay, Jerry, I'm part of the TV negotiation. Right. So you. I don't tell these people that they should have America's team on there. They know they should have America's team on there. And obviously there's been sports media programs that have made a living off of talking about just the Dallas Cowboys. Because if you talk about Dallas Cowboys, everything goes up. Well, it's like, is that because the Dallas Cowboys are on national TV every single week? If you were to put, I don't know, Los Angeles Chargers with Herbert and Harbaugh on national television every single week. Do you think that numbers will go up whenever you talk about the Los Angeles Chargers going forward? Uh, yeah. It's all kind of a self fulfilling prophecy, seemingly with the entirety of it all. And it's like now we're at the point where we're getting punished by these motherfuckers. And don't look now they're on next Monday as well.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, next Monday. And then we mentioned the Simpsons game yesterday, which, hey, listen, we can't flex out of this because we did a bunch of animation for Bart Simpson, you know, watching the Cowboys. But that is the worst part because there is like Jerry Jones is going to be running the Cowboys until he dies. It's just, it's as simple as that. A guy like that isn't going to wake up tomorrow and be like, you know what, maybe I, maybe the game has passed me by, I need to step down. Like, that's not happening. He's going to do this until he dies. And because they are the Cowboys, like there is never going to be a world like, they're probably going to suck next year. They basically have paid three guys and everyone else is kind of just, I would just fill in the cracks and maybe we can get a couple of vets. Like they're going to get five prime time, five or six prime time games next year. They'll be pretty much the same team. Only Dak will be, you know, who knows how healthy he'll be. Like, it's just, it's because he's such a good businessman. They're in this position. But now it's also like the game clearly has passed him by, but he's been so successful, like he's not going to hand it off to anyone. So we're just in a, an endless rut and it's going to be like that pretty much until he dies, I think.

[Pat McAfee]

Can't wait to watch it every single week. Yeah. What an honor it is for us to watch star on a helmet do their thing. And I have a lot of respect for a lot of people that have played for the Cowboys throughout the years. That is not, that is not a shot at them. It is not their fault that they're Dallas Cowboys. But when it comes out about the practice facility tours while training for another team and then selling offices next to a practice or practice field that anybody could get, it's like, this guy sucks as an owner. Yeah. Like this guy for shoot sucks. Great business, man.

[Ty Schmidt]

Unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

Great business sucks as an NFL owner. And I Think that was fully on display last night. Nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butler. Looks super cool to me.

[Darius Butler]

Looks super dumb. Yesterday though, alongside you, I think maybe influenced you a little bit with that pick. Picking the Cowboys, I was, I thought.

[Pat McAfee]

It was a heart.

[Darius Butler]

4, 4 seconds into the game with the Nico touchdown, obviously got called back and they end up getting a 45 yard touchdown anyway. But yes, it's embarrassing. A lot of people kind of talked about the lack of moves coming into the season. I know Orlowski was like, hey, you know somebody. He responded to a tweet. Nobody saw this three and seven team coming. Dan Orlowski definitely did, Definitely called it. But yeah, you even trading, even having Cooper cushion there, like obviously this is the guy who's been there, he's been familiar. But you traded for Trey Lance. This is a guy that you love coming out.

[Pat McAfee]

I forgot about Trey Lance.

[Darius Butler]

How did you not even have him on the field? In the case of your $60 million quarterback going down and you look at the team, you talked about paying some guys like they have the premium quote unquote, premium positions paid the quarterback, the receiver, the corner, the pass rusher, like you got all those. But nope, you didn't do anything in the trenches on both sides of the ball, you know, linebacker Depp, obviously Rob replacing the running back. So all the things that you knew coming into the season, they just stunk. And yeah, the businessman side of Jerry has been great and that's why he has had us as prisoners being able having to watch him because there are so many Cowboys fans out there and so many Cowboys haters out there. So when you talk about them, obviously the ratings are going to be what it is. But yeah, that watching them on primetime and once again we'll have to do it over and over and over again, but that just highlights it and it's just terrible all around. Terrible.

[Pat McAfee]

Cooper Kush wasn't terrible.

[Darius Butler]

He's slanging it.

[Pat McAfee]

Slangin it. Cooper Kush gets out there and does it, but for one reason or another, they continue to suck down there. And the building falling apart on primetime is like a perfect way to just kind of. Yeah, like, hey, this is what, this is your world now? This is Jerry world. This is your world. It's on prime time on Monday Night Football and your building's falling apart. It's all right, Cowboys fans.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, it's okay. That guy who is standing next to the sheet metal, by the way, brother, go down and cut your leg off. What are we doing? What are you doing? Dodging that Thing, dude, stand under it, hit an artery.

[Pat McAfee]

I guess the, oh, I guess the news was there was another piece of sheet metal that was kind of wedged up in the walkways up there and they couldn't get it down from where it was. So the NFL deemed it too dangerous to continue to play if that was going to remain the case. So they said, you know what, to hell with it. Let's just go. Sheet metal's got a new home now. We'll just go ahead and drill this thing into the catwalk up there. Joining us now because there's breaking news out of the NFL. The New York jets have fired their general manager, Joe Douglas.

[Darius Butler]

Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

This morning. Joining us now, Ray, to talk about it, ladies and gentlemen, senior NFL Insider for espn, Adam Schefter. Schefter, this is, I don't know if it's Aaron will not be on today because they're in the middle of a bye week. So this is Coach Salah a couple of weeks ago and then Aaron was able to come on. Now Aaron is on traveling, I do believe, I have no idea where, enjoying his bye week. Is that why they made this decision, because they're on the bye week? How long has this been kind of in the works and what does this mean for the future? Shaftee?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, it means that it's a complete overhaul in New York with the jets. And it means that Woody Johnson obviously was losing patience. And when you watch the team, you can't help but be discouraged right now. And they obviously were going to be in a head coaching search. Now it's going to be a head coach and GM search. Joe Douglas's contract was up after this season. I don't know that he wanted to stay there anyway. But the jets made it simple on him today. And obviously Woody Johnson fired him this morning just as he fired Robert Sala on a Tuesday morning last month. And so the jets are starting from the ground up again. And when we talk about Aaron's future, that's why it's crazy to even talk like we didn't know who the GM is going to be. We don't know who the head coach is going to be. We don't know who's going to be leading this team, who's making decisions. You can't say that a quarterback will or won't be back when you don't even know who's making the calls on these things.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Adam Schefter]

And so it's, you know, Joe Douglas had some great draft picks in New York, had some misses, Zach Wilson, number two they could have kept Sam Darnold that year and they could have traded that pick and go back and look at the people who are available with the second overall pick in that draft. And we could do this for any GM and any draft and any team. Look at the players who are, who they miss. But you've got a situation where it's a tough job in a tough market with a tough organization, with a tough owner who's obviously a little bit unhappy with the way things are going right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you have more breaking news right now? Is that what you're doing, or is this all fallout from.

[Adam Schefter]

No, no, just a couple of things that I didn't get out there that I just want to make sure that. That we get out there. So we're taking care of that.

[Pat McAfee]

Smart. We appreciate you doing that while talking to us here about it all. And you talked about the owner who's frustrated, who's obviously making these changes. And I like the fact that Joe Douglas deal was up at the end of the year and Ambassador Johnson was like, don't even come in the bill. I don't want to see your face. I'm done with seeing your face. Seven weeks. Get the hell out. I don't want to see you ever again. You've done enough. Ambassador Johnson. Are we expecting him to be Ambassador Johnson for the next four years, or how does this kind of go over there with the Jets?

[Adam Schefter]

You know, I don't know the political side of things. I just know that he was the ambassador for President Trump before, and there was a feeling within the organization that if and when Trump got elected again, that Woody Johnson could ever roll. Now, again, that is a hugely important factor for this organization moving forward. Whether Woody is or isn't here now, he will have a huge voice and a huge say, no matter where he is, no matter what job he's doing. But obviously, it was a different tone and different atmosphere when Christopher Johnson, his brother, was around the team. And so if Woody Johnson is doing another job like that, let's say he's doing that same job again and Christopher Johnson has another role. You know, again, you know, we come back to the fact that Christopher Johnson, I think, wound up hiring Robert Sala. Woody signed off on it. Woody signed off on it. But when Robert was being introduced, if it wasn't their very first exchange, it was amongst their first exchanges. Woody Johnson told Robert Sala, remember, I wasn't the one who hired you. My brother did. And so I'm just, you know, these are things that go on.

[Pat McAfee]

I Didn't. This is this, guys. So good luck, dude. Don't fucking talk to me. I don't. Please. Christopher is the guy that hired you. And we appreciate the fact that the tweet that you had to put out on X was just so we know. Five plus years. Thirty.

[Boston Connor]

God stinks. Geez.

[Pat McAfee]

Ah, you cracked me up.

[Adam Schefter]

The job is not done till the job is done.

[Pat McAfee]

I agree, I agree.

[Adam Schefter]

I don't care whether it's relevant news or not. Okay? We gotta put it out.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, it takes what it takes, brother. That's why you're a senior insider at espn. Okay, so Joe Douglas don't even show up to work, please. Last seven weeks there's an injury. Cause we don't need you eating our food. Accidentally falling down. Robert. Robert. Salah. Let go. We were just talking about the Dallas Cowboys. Mike McCarthy's deal is done at the end of the year. And we asked you this morning to stop by the program because we were having a discussion. It's like each year the amount of coaching changes is pretty wild. And we kind of, you know, we were trying to guess in the office, how many coaching changes will there be at the end of the season? Now, obviously, jets already happened, Saints already happened. Are the Jaguars going to happen? We have no idea. But the most ever has been 10 coaching changes in an off season. It's happened four different times. Okay. So obviously those are the years. 20, 23. There is eight. We already have. We assume Jacksonville is happening. We don't. We don't know if we're supposed to do that or not, but that sounds like it was. There's already three. How many are you expecting at the end of this particular season? And this isn't just firing. This is coaches changes. Because McCarthy's on the last year of his contract here in Dallas.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, in 2021. There are people who retired.

[Adam Schefter]

You know, I have a record of this, but I think there was a year there where there was more than 10. I could look at my computer, but I believe there was a year where there were more than 10. Now, we'll go back and look at that after this, but that's neither here nor there. I think when we go into the season, look, 5 and 22 told you that last year was going to be a heavy year. And it was heavy, but it was not as heavy as it could have been because there were certain franchises that decided to stick by their coach and not make a change. Like, we wondered last year if Chicago would do anything and Chicago didn't. And we wonder if the jets would do anything and they didn't, we wonder if New Orleans would do it. And they didn't. So there are obvious holdovers right now that didn't get changed out at the end of last season. When I look ahead into this season, there will be no less than 7. And I would say the realistic range is 7 to 9, and it's probably closer to the over than the under. And if it came in over nine, that wouldn't be the most shocking thing either. But I think seven to nine is realistic. Probably eight or nine.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. It's crazy to think about all the change. And then that's a third of the league. That's a third of this.

[Adam Schefter]

This has become, for better or worse, many cases, worse. This has become part of the sport. It's like there's a playoff season and there's a hunting season and the playoff season starts, and the hunting season for coaches starts. And it's part of the sport and part of the theater. Like, let's not lose sight of this. It's a great sport to watch. We all love it. But it's also entertainment. And part of the entertainment is these coaches in charge. And these owners are making so much money that if they want to blow out a coach and pay him well, it doesn't mean that much. And sometimes the best way to send a message to the fan base is, hey, we're changing coaches. It's a jumpstart. It's almost like it gets things going in the right direction, not the same old, same old fresh conversation. And so that's become part of the sport, too. We have the playoff chase, and we have the chase for jobs, like, altogether, all in November, December and January.

[Pat McAfee]

The I wrote a note in my notes section in, like, 2015 or something, and it was about with social media becoming as loud as it is. You know, back in the day, ownership only had, like, a newspaper they had to deal with telling them stuff or people they accidentally ran into in public telling them stuff. Other than that, didn't have to hear anything. Didn't have to hear anything at all. Now with social media, and I don't know if you're learning of new coach getting fired or GM getting fired or a name that could potentially be replacing Joe Douglas in New York, whatever you're going through, you do what you have to do. But nowadays, ownership hears what people think of their team, of their franchise. They hear directly from their fans. Now, now, I'm not saying every owner is on their Twitter account or on their X account, but a Lot of them are. A lot of them have access to social media. A lot of them are able to hear directly from their fans when there was never the case. And they don't want to give off the perception of contentment ever to these people. I did everything I could. They want to be baby face with their fan base. And a quick way to do that is to say, I didn't like the way this was running. I'm going to change it. And also there's no salary cap on these coaches. So you can fire somebody after a year even or two years and pay them five years worth of money and you're not going to take any hits against how good your team can be. What was the number two years ago? $800 million. Do you remember? I think you might have broke the news. Roger Goodell sent out a memo to the owners and was like, hey, you guys are currently paying $800 million in guaranteed cash to fired coaches right now. Just almost like, hey, just a heads up, this is what's taking place. So I think that's a big part of it. I think social media and the ability to hear from the fans more so than ever before from ownership is a massive piece of the new generation of like, no, we ain't standing for this. And there's no more. There's not as much patience as there used to be. Shifty, I think.

[Adam Schefter]

And the TV deals and the gambling money and the international money make it such that it is more palatable than ever to swallow some of that money, despite the fact that the commissioner warned against it. So if you have to blow out your coaching staff and eat those millions of dollars in salary, you know what? Nobody likes to do it, but they could afford to do it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So maybe Ambassador Johnson comes back and makes big time play. Maybe Jerry Jones figures out who the next one is to run that team, maybe and coach that team. There's obviously going to be a lot of open spots use talk about it both at GM and at head coach. Let's say the coaching one. Go ahead, D. Butch.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, speaking of, are there what hot names are out there that we may not know of? Obviously we all hear Ben Johnson all the time. We hear Aaron Glenn all the time. What are some other hot names that maybe become the new head coaches of these seven to 10 spots that open up?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, first of all, before I get to that D, but let me just say this. I said this to you before. One thing that I love doing on this show is, and it speaks to how many people watch it is that when you are doing it, you are fact checked in real time. So I got a text from somebody, well, I could say actually Evan Kaplan, ace researcher, espn. He said I'm on a plane so I may be late. But there were 11 head coaching changes following the 2008 season. Going into 2009, 11, I knew that there was a season.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so congrats to Cap. Thanks for paying attention. We got our information from. From Forbes. I guess that was the stat that we got. We got 10 from Forbes. So I guess they didn't account for a retirement even though it was coaching swap.

[Boston Connor]

Damn it. Forbes.

[Pat McAfee]

Damn it. Well, that's also on us probably. I would certainly assume that 11 in 2008, it's a lot. But back to D Butch's question. Who are some slowik. Obviously Donna Houston, we just saw him.

[Adam Schefter]

Well, no, here, here. Ok, so we're going to talk candidates here and yeah, inevitably somebody is going to get overlooked, which I never like to do because we're doing this off the top of our head right now. But I think when we're talking about coaches right now, there are some guys that I think stand out and I think at the very least are going to be garnering multiple head coaching interviews.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Adam Schefter]

Bill Belichick, Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, Brian Flores, and I think Vance Joseph is going to get a bunch of interviews with the job that he's done on Denver's defense. So like there are six coaches that just stand out. To me when we're talking GMs, I think there are a lot of people out there I could think of.

[Pat McAfee]

Go ahead.

[Adam Schefter]

Well, one guy like you think of winning teams, right? Like who win. Kansas City wins. And last year the Carolina Panthers hired Brant Tillis away to be an executive vice president. And the Chiefs have had a guy there for a while, Mike Borgonzi, who does a great job with personnel.

[Pat McAfee]

But to me, that this guy knows.

[Adam Schefter]

The ball, you see that I need like that one Pat McGrath.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Adam Schefter]

I think he's a guy that. That will get interviews. I'm not thinking GMs.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, to be clear, Shifty, the GMs, anytime they get hired, none of us know who the hell they are. Yeah, you know, it's like we, we don't really know who these people their names to you. Normally when they just pop up, it's like, all right, yeah. And then. Yeah, exactly. This guy knows. Yeah, he sat in the. This guy's been in the war room for. Okay. He knows what it takes to make trades. This guy knows what it's like day to day to win. That's always like the takeaway. But nobody knows what anybody's gonna be like when they're in a position of power. What is their leadership group gonna look like, our scouting group look like? And what are they gonna get into? It's like, I feel like the GM one's impossible to hire as well. Yeah. Head coaching job, I think. Impossible to hire. I think GM impossible to hire, which is why there's so many of these moves to be made.

[Darius Butler]

A lot of GMs don't really get that second chance. A lot of head coaches, I feel like, get a second chance, maybe even a third chance, depending on who you are. But GM just kind of, a lot of times just it's one shot. I know Telesco, he obviously got rehired pretty quickly, but for the most part, that's your one shot. You better take advantage of it.

[Pat McAfee]

I love that would be. If I was to get into anything, that would be the angle that you would want to get. Ownership would be the right one. Sure. Ownership would be the right angle to get into.

[Boston Connor]

Definitely.

[Pat McAfee]

Tom Brady's doing it right. Yeah, Tom Brady is doing it right. Another Michigan man. But the general manager one, I don't want to say it's. It's not as like, I don't think they're there 4am to midnight. But, boy, every decision you make is going to be judged like coaching. I think you can make. You make 1,000 decisions a day with what you're doing, and you can get away with some Mrs. GM, like everything is going to get. This guy chose to do this. This guy chose to do this. This woman chose to do this. This guy chose, like, whatever the case is. That's a tough spot. That's a very tough spot. All right, last question here, chef, because we know you're very busy. It's a big day. A general manager has been fired in the NFL even though he's on the last year of his contract. I don't want to see your face anymore. That's a hilarious reason to get out. Ty has a question for you, Shefty.

[Ty Schmidt]

What about some college guys making the jump? It seems like every year, you know, Lincoln Riley. And there was a report recently that came out that said Dan Lanning was going to be, you know, kind of a hot name. I think a lot of times that's just leverage for those guys to get raises at their universities. But we saw Jeff Halfley leave Boston College last year to go be the coordinator, defensive coordinator for The Packers. Do you envision a lot more college guys making the jump this year, whether it's head coach or, you know, an offensive or defensive coordinator?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, I would say this, that last year you saw an exodus of college guys wanting to get out to go to the NFL, headlined by Jim Harbaugh. And there are different reasons, but I think more and more with the way that colleges run, college is being run now, and I don't cover it. Pete Thamill could speak to this much better than I can, but it's a business now with the collectives, with the nil money. It's. You're bidding for players like the sport and coaching. The sport has changed. It's a different deal now.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[Adam Schefter]

And I think some guys, it's.

[Pat McAfee]

It.

[Adam Schefter]

It's not for everybody anymore. It's not for everybody anymore. I think they want to move on and move out. And so I wouldn't be surprised if there are more colleges got more college guys that want to get to the NFL. I think Dan Lanning is a guy. Like, I met him one time and I watched that guy on TV and he is incredibly impressive. And I'm sure there are going to be guys, teams that want to talk to him. I don't know that he even want to leave Oregon. Like, they've got so much money and he's running his program so well. Like, everybody has to weigh that decision when it's the right time to leave. But I do think that you're seeing more and more guys at the college level open to going to the NFL because in a way, it's a simpler existence in the day and age that we're living in.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, there's a schedule. You know, there's like a calendar on how things work. Free agencies at this time. Okay. As opposed to having to worry about free agency throughout the entire year. Every day of your life, you have to worry about a potential negotiation that might just walk into your office and be like, hey, here's the deal. We're seven games into this. I'm a certain quarterback. I'm going to need 750, a million or I'm out of here.

[Boston Connor]

I'm right.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm out of here. Like, that is certainly something that's a little bit different than in the NFL. But as you were chatting about it there and Dan Lanning says it's the grass is damn green in Oregon because everybody thinks that he thinks that grass is going to be green or other places. But NFL, who knows if that's a different opportunity for him. I Think he's a college ball guy? Yeah, I think he is for sure. I'm excited to see what he does does. And he does have a big nil behind him. But whenever this ruling gets made and there's basically a salary cap coming to college ball, okay, now it's going to be 21 million or something like that. And then that's going to be broke down to how much money is going to go to the football team versus basketball team and everybody else. But you're going to get a chance now to actually, if you want to be a GM in the NFL, there's going to be an opportunity to actually be GM of like college football teams. Yeah.

[Adam Schefter]

Oh, no, that's happening.

[Pat McAfee]

And your guy. And your guy, right, just left to go to St. Bonnie Wojciech. Yeah, he's going to be the GM of that basketball team. It's like, I think there's a chance that the NFL GMs are going to get better over the next 20 years because there's going to be a pool of college, which I guess should be that you can get like an example because everybody's going to have the same exact amount of money to use if your school chooses to use the most for football. You're going to have to make decisions in what positions you want to go to. You're going to have to build your roster how you would build your roster. Are we spending money on offensive line more than other places? It's like, I think the evolution of this nil thing, which sucks for some people. And there's a lot of college football coaches that say, this ain't what I'm about. I'm about development and I don't want to deal with all the bullshit. We understand that. But I think the next generation of people that want to become NFL GMs or potentially want to be coaches, it's like there is now going to be a model where you're going to be able to practice, you're going to be able to display how good you are. And I think it's going to be great for football as a whole. Long term, let alone all the games are getting issue with conference realignment and the teams that are. Once Indiana was dead, but with the nil and with transfer portal, they're good again. It's like there's a lot of good coming, there's some bad, but I think that's something I haven't even thought of until like right now. Like there's going to be GMs, college teams that are going to get gigs in the NFL for GMs. That's going to be wild to talk about. 10, 15 years.

[Adam Schefter]

We are, we are in a totally different day and age. There's never been anything like this where the money is going around in college. And so people who are overseeing that, like Michigan, my school, they hired a guy by the name of Sean McGee, who used to be with the Bears, who came back to Michigan, who is now helping to oversee all this money and how it goes out. And I think of Jake Rosenberg, who was in Philadelphia and helping to run the Eagles cap situation, leaving there to go assist universities and help colleges dole out money and figure out how they're going to spend money. That world is just beginning to unfold. The way that is woad's leaving this reporting job to go be the GM of the Bonnie's. Go Bonnie's and woj. I mean, it's a different world that we're living in. It's being redefined on a regular basis. And again, just, just as a thought.

[Pat McAfee]

There was only like 32. Really.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

There's only 32 jobs that you could really showcase if you had it or not. Everybody else playing fantasy football, you know, like that is what it is now. It's like crazy with this ruling that's coming too. I think the money is going to be. Even if you're a smaller school that doesn't have as much money as somebody else, I think the salary cap is going to be around the same as everybody else. Nil is still going to have purpose. There's going to be promotional money on the other side. The big schools are still going to have quite an advantage over everybody else, but there's like an opportunity to be, all right, how much money do I want to spend on a tackle? How much money do I want to spend on a wide receiver? And then your. Your formula has proof. Yeah. On whether or not it will work or not.

[Darius Butler]

Be tough. How those contracts going to be like binding though. Because that's been a big issue too with like.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I think, you know, two year thing. I think it's a. You can't. I think there's like a one year. Have to be like a two year thing.

[Darius Butler]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

I think because that was one of the news about it. Biggest issue, I think it's supposed to Q1, I believe is the ruling coming out. There was people talking a couple weeks ago as if the ruling had already come out. I'm like, boy, did I miss, Did I miss something? I think that would have been big news. And I think there's a chance we have Charlie Biker. Okay, president of the NCAA on this show within the next few weeks. I think there has been an exchange show. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of it. A shifty. I know we got into college talk there and we wasted a lot of your time, but thank you so much.

[Adam Schefter]

You know what's amazing is you reached out this morning, we're going to come do this and we said, okay, we're going to discuss the NFL coaching carousel because there's so much uncertainty. And while we're doing that, there's not a firing in Jacksonville, which everybody's been waiting to see what happens there, but there's a firing in New York. So on back to back days, the Giants bench Daniel Jones and go to Tommy DeVito. The jets fired Joe Douglas. Nothing like New York to produce drama and headlines and fodder for the tabloids.

[Pat McAfee]

Football is the greatest. The NFL never stops. And that's why we appreciate your time. Senior NFL Insider for ESPN Michigan. Man, next year, brother. Next year, next year. Gotta get a quarter basketball.

[Adam Schefter]

Dusty May time. Pat. Dusty May time.

[Pat McAfee]

Never heard of him. You know, you know the main event, man. You know the main event. Do you know who that is?

[Adam Schefter]

Who's that?

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so he wants our college ball. You know the, you know, Mick White Guy.

[Boston Connor]

Come on, Liam, you don't know.

[Adam Schefter]

Embarrassing myself. Who's McWhite?

[Pat McAfee]

McWhite guy? He's Liam McNeely. He's a freshman for Yukon. You know Yukon is Huskies.

[Adam Schefter]

I've heard of them. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

They got a freshman on the team. Mick White Guy. Oh my God, he's got now. Well, we're the only ones calling him that and we have no idea how he feels about it. But he's got a headband, he's got this curly hair. Perfect. I mean, he is a throwback. He's a throwback and he, he's playing very real minutes for the back to back national champions who are looking to do something for the first time since the UCLA team back in the 70s. Win three in a row. So they won seven I get. But win three in a row, so what a time. All right, so we got college hoops, college ball, GM firings, coach, conversation and potential names for the field. We did it, Chef. This is a good hit. Yeah.

[Adam Schefter]

Anytime. I'm here to serve, Pat. Anytime. Anything you need, always here to help, buddy.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Schefter. Thank you.

[Boston Connor]

Classic Michigan, man.

[AJ Hawk]

Classic.

[Pat McAfee]

Classic Chef. Yeah. Has that guy ever not answered for us? No, legitimately, I think I've called him, like, early morning one time, very early. And he, like, in bed answered. Can I help you? Yeah, listen, I need to know. And he's like, let me get to. I call you back. You got it. I'm like, thank you, Chef D. And then I just seen him on tv, I think, like four hours before that. That guy never stopped. He's actual machine. Oh, yeah, he's actual machine.

[Darius Butler]

He can never, never be on do not disturb, ever. He always. Hey, what's up? I'm sleeping right now, but what's up?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, I'll break that news. Yep. Yeah, give me two seconds. Got a fine clothes. Yeah, I could be on TV right now. It's like work ethic, the engine. There's only a few of those jobs as well. Yeah, you know, there's only a few of those jobs you got. Really? Really. The connections you have to get, the grind that you have to. It's nowhere near as hard as like a, you know, firefighter, policeman, military. We're not talking about that. We're not comparing actual jobs to what we get to do or anything like that. Those people. People what they nowhere near that. But his particular job, the taskiness of. It's just tasking like you are always on. And he gets paid a hilarious amount of money for it. Let's not get it twisted. He adds a lot of value to a network that makes a lot of money. So obviously he's going to get paid a lot. But that one's the one, if you're getting in the media world to not sign up for it. Nope, that one's the one to not sign up for. Speaking of, ladies and gentlemen, senior insider for the NBA, for espn, Sham Shirani. Yeah, Shams, we just talked to Shafter. Obviously, Joe Douglas gets fired from the New York jets. And then we talk about some head coaching changes and yada, yada, yada, that inevitably leads to a conversation about the insider game in the amount of. Like, you would never compare your job to real jobs that are tough, you know, like those types of things. But in the media world, your guys's job is the most tasking. It is the most. You gotta every. Everything. You just gotta be on all the time. How has it been becoming the senior insider at espn? I assume a little bit more. Or has this been about the same as it's been for the last couple years? Just a little bit more people know.

[Shams Charania]

Now the job is literally the exact same is just like you said, it's more people, more eyeballs there's more, I guess there's more people to talk to for shows and everything. I mean, you know, you know what that like. So that's definitely been a transition. I feel like where I was before, you had relationships already said now you're building new ones. But I mean, the position is the position. You have to really love it. I'm sure Shefter does. I know he does. I know all of the insiders. You have to love what you do to do this industry. And I love it. I mean, even like last night, something happens. You try to dig up as much information as you possibly can and then figure out, do I report it, do I like, what do I do with all the information that I have? And you get to a point, all right, maybe I can report, maybe I can't. And that's kind of like you're really in a battle with yourself every single day on what's reportable, what is report.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, well, we want to let you know we appreciate you doing it. Congrats. You've earned it, brother. You've earned it. You didn't just fall to this, your screen time, everything like that is obviously very commendable. That's why you're in a position you're in. Keep going, keep working. Now let's talk about it. What happened last night? You just gave an example. You said like something happens last night, then I dig up a bunch of stuff. What is that particular news that you're chatting about and is it reportable?

[Shams Charania]

Yeah, I literally just put it out as soon as Joe Douglas was getting fired. So it happened in, in simultaneous moment. But last night the 76ers had a team meeting. This is a team that's 2 and 11. They're in a free fall right now. Obviously when you get Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, Paul George Together a 2 and 11 start, this isn't what you're expecting. And last night they had an hour and a half long team meeting in that post game locker room in Miami. And I think a lot was, was said, a lot was accepted, a lot was aired out. Coaches saying we need players to practice harder, show more attention to detail. Players saying we need to be coached harder, we want to be coached harder. But most notable of all, that pad I was told Tyrese Maxey, the 24 year old young star, he challenged Joel Embiid, the face of the franchise, the former league mvp, that we need you to be on time for team activities and saying that there's a trickle down effect when you are missing when you are tardy, when you are late for what I was told everything for everything was the line. It has an effect on the rest of the locker room, the rest of the players, the coaching staff. And yesterday, Joel Embiid was listed doubtful most of the day. Teammates, coaches, no one really saw heard from him. And then he shows up at warmups, plays in the game. They had a double digit lead, great lead in the first half, completely 180 flip in the second half. From what I'm told, it was kind of like this big fella is someone that Tyrese Maxey loves. But this was the elephant in the room, and Tyrese Maxey addressed it. They're very close. They're very close friends. They hold each other accountable. But last night, Tyrese Maxey delivered a message to Joel Embiid, that thing a lot of people saw coming for a really long time in Philadelphia. And now they. They go from here on. What are the action steps? What will Joel Embiid look like when the team plays in Memphis on Wednesday? What will will he believe? Hone in on the message that was given to him and really put that into action over the next week or so. We're about to find out. But the fact that Tyrese Maxey, their young leader, is the one that stepped up with this, he's not going to just speak out for nothing.

[Pat McAfee]

I love that from Tyrese Maxey. And obviously if the rest of the team felt that same way in the meeting, they would have said either yes or no to his messaging to Joel Embiid. Paul George obviously just got there. Probably didn't feel as if he's the right guy yet in that locker room to talk about anything happening, especially with how bad the start of the year has been with him being on a team. So Tyrese Max, he just got paid though, didn't he? Right?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, he got a Max.

[Pat McAfee]

He just got paid. So he is a guy that is expected to show up for that team. So him looking at Olympic gold medalist Joel and saying like, hey, we need you not to be late. And Joel asked back for what? And then the team goes, everything. That's a while. That's probably. That's maybe a nice, like, wake up moment.

[Darius Butler]

That's huge.

[Pat McAfee]

That's maybe a nice wake up moment. And that's good leadership out of Tyrese Maxey. But also, you know, conflict. Big Mike McCarthy used to say, the Green Bay packers team conflict's a good thing, you know, because when people are wondering what people are thinking now they know what people are thinking. And you could potentially move on. It's like back in the day, people used to fight, you know, like, actually fight. And then it was like, all right, we move on. Now, we might not be friends, but we're going to move on. And teams, whenever you kind of air grievances, usually that brings people together because now everybody knows where everybody stands. So this could be a good thing early in the season. Is that. Is this normal in the NBA this early in the season, to have one of these.

[Shams Charania]

These types of meetings are normal, but to have it this early in the season for a team like Philadelphia, it is. I mean, this is the first players only team meeting. You know, it involved players, involved coaches. A full throttle meeting hour and a half after the game. This is the first big moment that I've seen so far this season. The Sixers being the first team to that. You think about their payroll. They have three players on these massive max contracts. You fill out the rest of the roster. You think you have a chance to compete for a championship. This was supposed to be the year for Philadelphia, and we know what's gone on with Joel Embiid this year. It was a plan in place to bring him along this season to make sure that he's healthy for the second half of the season. And that was their goal. And he misses time to start the year. He gets into the altercation with the columnists in Philadelphia, gets suspended three games. The team gets fined $100,000. I mean, they literally. The team got fined $100,000 for a player participation violation based on what they were saying about Joel Embiid. He got suspended three games. He got a technical foul. All of this before he even stepped foot on the court. And they're.03 since he's been back in the lineup. And now it's a situation where everyone's looking at Joel Embiid in there right now, and how is he going to react? Like you said, Pat, this is good. And when it comes from a guy like Tyrese Maxey, these are the conversations that they have behind the scenes. For it to be out there in a team dynamic, in a locker room, in a setting like this, in front of the coaches, in front of the players, it is. It is kind of unique, kind of rare for that to happen when you have two stars challenging each other in a meeting.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so I don't know the NBA culture. I wasn't in an NBA locker room, so I'm not 100% sure. In the NFL world, we kind of just had something happen with Anthony Richardson. Now, obviously, he's not. Joel Embiid, MVP. Been around long time. Anthony's 22, but he ended up getting publicly called out by, like, everybody, including some teammates, being like this. This team doesn't work hard. Not about him, but about the whole thing. And we played our best game, and now we got everything in front of us, too. So hopefully that happens for the Philadelphia 76ers. We're wishing luck to everybody. But I do appreciate the fact that when you were looking for more information on a story and said, what. What's he late like? Can you give me some examples of what he's late to? And they just said everything.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, just name something.

[Pat McAfee]

That's wild. That's the culture.

[Darius Butler]

You said in the culture you're the highest paid. He wanted highest preparing to leave, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Just signed a new deal. So that's, you know, obviously, that's your leader. You're going Tyrese Max, he's an absolute dog. Probably, I would say their best player right now, but Joel and Bean is going to set that call. Culture. Well, how are you showing up?

[Pat McAfee]

Max, he's like, the fastest guy.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

If I remember the playoff. Yeah. He was going insane.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Like that. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Was Joel doing this when he was French?

[Pat McAfee]

That is interesting.

[AJ Hawk]

Is. It could be an American thing?

[Boston Connor]

Is this an American thing?

[Pat McAfee]

And are we to blame?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

No, no, no.

[Ty Schmidt]

Because he got gold medal out of it, so we're good.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but I got a gold medal, but whatever. At what cost? Yeah.

[Shams Charania]

That's important around teams, though, right? There's a lot.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[Shams Charania]

There's. I mean, you guys know, there's. There's meetings, there's film sessions, there's the game, there's. There's team meals, there's team activities. There's all these different things when you have. When you're trying to build flights, buses. When you're trying to build that camaraderie with the team and the dynamic. Listen, it's one thing if you're. Let's say, from bigger picture perspective. You guys Pat play DB played. If a guy is dominating night tonight, he's putting up 40 points, 20 rebounds every single night, and he's late. I mean, maybe. Maybe things slide. I. I mean, who you can afford.

[Pat McAfee]

To be is like the old adage, be who you can afford to be. But normally, the people that are doing that, there's a reason, and it's because everything in their life is a certain.

[Darius Butler]

Way, you know, and they're not winning chips either.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, exactly.

[Darius Butler]

They put up numbers, but they're not.

[Shams Charania]

Winning but 2 and 2 and 11. Now is the time for urgency. This, this next like 10 games for the Sixers that's going to make or break really their season.

[Pat McAfee]

We're already at that point.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you kidding me?

[Boston Connor]

What a joke.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, the Eagles playing great football. Birds are hot. Birds are hot. Baby face. I mean there's a lot going on. All right, let's, let's bounce around the NBA a little bit. D Butch, got a question? Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Let's go to the other Coles, LeBron, obviously his team. You haven't heard many stories about that over his 20 something year career. But JJ Redick, new new head coach in town, how are things going there? I know they on the five game winning streak. West side Connect kind of been breaking out. What's the vibes over there in la?

[Shams Charania]

West side Connect.

[Pat McAfee]

I know.

[Shams Charania]

Db love that one.

[Darius Butler]

Absolutely.

[Shams Charania]

I think JJ Redick has been everything that anyone that knows JJ Reddick in terms of how detail oriented is. He's focused, he lives, breathes and eats basketball. Like literally 9am There's a 7pm Pacific Time game at 9am he's ready for the game to start. Like that's his mentality. He's go, go, go. It's like he's always on edge, ready for action. And I think that energy for the team, I think they, they live off that. I think, I think they, they've handled it well over the course of the season. He's definitely broken a clipboard or two. I would say over knee.

[Pat McAfee]

Is it over knee or is it.

[Boston Connor]

Off ground with his brain?

[Shams Charania]

I don't have details. You know what, that's next. I'm going to figure out for you guys how he's breaking them, but I'm telling you, there have been multiple clipboards broken, but I think players have responded very well to how much he cares and that care factor is very important. But on the other side, I mean you have LeBron James at the age of 39, he's about to be 40 years old next month. He's having a career high in 3 point percentage, career high free throw percentage. And this is the lowest usage rating of his NBA career, second most assists per game. So you have the lowest usage rating of your NBA career, but you have the second most assists per game over the course of your career. Like to me that's pretty remarkable. And this is, this has really become Anthony Davis's team in a lot of ways. Offensively, he is at the orbit of everything they do. And I think the way Lebron James has been able to surround that orbit and still be able to get his dominate when he needs to. The other night in New Orleans, closing out that game with all with a 3Z hit, you know, 10 plus points in the fourth quarter. He's dropping dimes everywhere. So he's at his peak. And that's why it's crazy that he's probably got one year, maybe two left of his NBA career. But he's, he's dominating and I think this Lakers team should have a lot of confidence of where they're at. Obviously connect looks like he's, he's a real player and you have multiple first round picks to play with. You have contracts to play with. Could there be a move potentially as well at the deadline?

[Pat McAfee]

Who, who, where, where?

[Darius Butler]

Out in Zach Levine.

[Pat McAfee]

Who.

[Shams Charania]

I think when you look at this team, you know, they, they're a team that could, you know, you look at guard help and you look at the center position. What position do they prioritize? That's for Rob Pelinka. That Lakers front office over the next few months, they're going to have to figure out you had D'Angelo Russell starting to begin the season. Now he's coming off the bench. Is he going to settle into that role? How is he going to play in that role as the year goes on? And they have said for a while, and I've reported this already, they are looking actively for a big man to add to that lineup. So who could that be? But they have assets to play, they have contracts to play.

[Pat McAfee]

Who could that be?

[Shams Charania]

There are a few names out there. I don't think that they have fully targeted the name yet.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, Shams, whenever you get a name, please, we would like to know. Yeah, ok. Trust me.

[Ty Schmidt]

Come on, Pat.

[Pat McAfee]

Come on, Pat.

[Shams Charania]

You know, you guys will know.

[Pat McAfee]

The NBA trade deadline is a. The NBA trade deadline is awesome. It is every single year. It is fantastic. I'm excited to see what the Lakers do because obviously it's LeBron. Maybe they're. Maybe that's why Bronny's only playing the home G league games because they want to showcase how good he is. Just case trade deadline.

[Ty Schmidt]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. You know, anybody wants to pick up Bronny, you know, get Wemby. Yeah, get Wemby.

[Boston Connor]

Wemby for Bronny in a couple picks.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Bronny. A couple firsts for Webby.

[Pat McAfee]

What is going on, Bronny? We love Ronnie. We, we talked to Rich Paul literally day after draft about, hey, there was a, there was a couple teams that Understood the process of this entire thing, you know. And I hate the fact everybody gets so mad. Like if his name wasn't Bronny James, would we be doing this? It's like, no. But that's why we are doing it, because we know what's possible and the world he grew up in, which is like goat conversation. Since the guy, what was he, 14 years old on the magazine? Yeah. When he get the hummer. He was 17 or something like that. 17. He was on that. He. I watched him in high school. He came to Pittsburgh to take on the Pennsylvania all star team. His high school did all stars. Best players we got from the whole state. Just LeBron's high school beat the out of them. I mean it was sold the place out in Pittsburgh. This guy. This is before the Internet. This is before like you go viral and do it. Could you imagine LeBron in high school in this era right now? Oh my God. So yeah, we are going to treat his kids a little different. Like that is what is going to happen. What is the plan with Bronny and is it working to how they thought it was going to work out?

[Shams Charania]

Continue to keep him around the active roster as much as they can, but also he's going to be playing G league home games for right now. So he's going to be shuttling back and forth, practicing with the G league team, practicing with the Lakers, being on the Lakers active roster, playing in the G league home games. Bronny James isn't just your normal everyday G league player for all the reasons we just mentioned. His name is Bronny James and there are some things with him that just go with it.

[AJ Hawk]

Right?

[Shams Charania]

Like there are. I mean, I don't know if it's a security thing, but I mean he's, he's. There's a different level of fanfare when he's on the road for these G league games. Different level of everything when he's, when he's on, when he's with that G league team. So how do you manage that on the road? I don't think the door is necessarily completely shut on him playing in those road games or as the, as the G league season goes on. But right now that is the plan that the Lakers have laid out and they want him to continue to shuttle back and forth, spend as much time on the active roster as possible. It is very typical for a second round pick to shuttle back and forth with the G League, but it would be, it would be atypical of a second round pick potentially just only spending Time in the G League.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[Shams Charania]

Like, I think people are like, why isn't he just only in the G League? Well, you're a second round pick. He's got three years guaranteed on his deal. Like he's an NBA player that's going to spend time in the G League.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And I think that three year thing was like kind of the conversation through it all and I guess didn't have the greatest performance. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

He's hot and cold. He had a really good. He had a really good show on a few nights going then.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

It's just hot and cold.

[Pat McAfee]

And then what? And then what, Connor?

[Boston Connor]

It wasn't great. The last one. But hey, look, that's basketball, baby.

[Pat McAfee]

Second rounder going from G League to NBA roster. I don't think we'd know about either. Right. What did we talk about? So. Which is another aspect of this entire thing. Yeah. And kids entire life has been viewed.

[Shams Charania]

He's not on a two way. You know, he's not on a two way. He's not on a prove it deal. He's on a guaranteed contract. Now I know you guys had Rich Paul on and he spoke about like they had a lot of two way offers in the draft. He wanted to get him somewhere where he was going to get a guaranteed contract. There were multiple teams. The Lakers weren't. I will report this. The Lakers were not the only team that was willing to give Bronny.

[Pat McAfee]

I think this is all about having patience, not cutting them and keeping them around. LeBron has a lot of say over there. Happy International Women's Day. We know that. Okay. So nonetheless he should. He's earned it. That's how it goes. And hopefully it'll all work out for him because that's a business decision for sure. Just like espn. Bringing you in, brother. We can't thank you enough for joining us. You're the best.

[Shams Charania]

Appreciate you guys always.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, what's going on with Zion? What's going on, Zion? We're good. We got two seconds.

[Shams Charania]

Zion's gonna be out for a considerable amount of time.

[Pat McAfee]

He has. All right, we'll see you next time. See you. Thanks. That's good.

[Dan Mullen]

Ball.

[Pat McAfee]

It's fantastic. And we're so lucky to talk about it every single day in the first hour. We didn't just talk football though. No, no. We talked basketball. A lot of basketball. And it was a good conversation. Feels like we learned a lot, I guess. T of the Philadelphia 76ers last night. Young star for the 76ers last night. Called out Joel Embiid after a loss, I guess to Miami and said, hey, we need you to stop being late to everything, everything. If you could just be on time one time. Allegedly. That's reports from Seam Sharanya. So look for the 76ers to make a turn in the right direction. That's right. Look for the 76ers to have it figured out. Look for the 76ers to not throw away this season this early in the year, but to actually make a run at and maybe be a team that could battle against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Who are the team of the Eastern. Did we know that going in? Let's go to the talks table at Boston. Connor. I didn't know that the. The Cleveland Cavaliers are actually the wagon of the Eastern Conference. I thought it was just one team up in New England and then everybody else. It's the Cleveland Cavaliers.

[Dan Mullen]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Ty Schmidt, have you seen or heard what the Cleveland ca. Cavaliers have done this year?

[Ty Schmidt]

15. And I mean, has that ever been done in the history of the NBA before?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't. I don't know what's going on in the Eastern Conference. I thought there was. I thought there was some gold that lived in a city and it does. That was only going to continue. What's going on up there? They play tonight, right? Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics tonight, I believe it is. What is the conversation going on around the Celtics about this Cleveland Cavaliers dominance thus far?

[Boston Connor]

There's no conversation going around the Celtics when it comes to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

[Pat McAfee]

Really?

[Boston Connor]

The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 4 to 1. I believe you remember in the playoffs, me and Mike the Miz had a. Had a nice little bet. I swept the floor with him and the Celtics swept the floor with the Cavs. Look, it's cool being 150 to start the season. It is a great story. The Cavs are a very good basketball team, but no, we are not worried whatsoever. Jason Tatum this weekend. How you doing? Keep it moving. Buzzer beater in ot. You gotta love that.

[Pat McAfee]

Guy's an Olympic gold medal.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, yeah, you couldn't play either. But still, this is a team that is very, very good. Tonight's game is going to be fantastic. Just solid five and a half point favorites against the undefeated Cavs. And it is a great story. But the real story here is Sean's before the season asking everybody who is a Celtics fan, are you worried about the six years?

[Pat McAfee]

Are you worried about the Bucks?

[Boston Connor]

No, we're not. The Celtics worried about anybody we don't have. Yeah, that was sh. Do you like it?

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't know you're an impersonator. I thought Ty.

[Boston Connor]

Normally Ty's got a few in his back. I got a view in back.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

And chums is one of them. But no, the.

[Pat McAfee]

Again, what do you say BC worried about the six rooms in the.

[Boston Connor]

Pretty good.

[Pat McAfee]

Not bad.

[AJ Hawk]

If I close my eyes, he's going.

[Pat McAfee]

To say that to any other impersonator. No, no, no, that's not.

[Boston Connor]

No, that's not. Cuz you don't have jobs, do you?

[Ty Schmidt]

No, I don't.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

See that's kind of.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm.

[Boston Connor]

I'm not just a one trick pony. As they say.

[Pat McAfee]

No big deal. But who else do?

[Boston Connor]

I mean I got a Glazer, but it's kind of reminiscent of Bruce Brown. Glazer for being completely. Anyways, I got a lot of insiders actually.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. I can't wait to see these debut and roll out. Yeah, I'm excited to see douche Danger even make sure appearance in this. But Sixers seemingly in a tough spot. Bucks also in a tough spot. That's what you're talking talking about here? Not so much the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

To be completely honest, the east, the Eastern Conference is so bad. It really is just the Cavs and the Celtics and the Pacers. Obviously the Pacers are so bad. We need, we need. When you have an uncomfortable conversation about the Indiana Basers that I don't want to have right now because I feel good about this Tuesday and I'm feeling great about this gold coming back to Boston.

[Pat McAfee]

Every time you hit that and you're speaking, your mic doesn't work.

[Boston Connor]

I. I noticed that. That was the first time I noticed that happening. That's all me hand up. We're learning. Were getting better every day.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, you are just like the Celtics.

[Boston Connor]

Boom. Just unlike the Pacers. Pacers are really bad right now, man. T. Tyres can't come back here.

[Pat McAfee]

He.

[Boston Connor]

He can't come back.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you mean? I thought he's been playing good since he left.

[Boston Connor]

Oh boy.

[Ty Schmidt]

He is.

[Boston Connor]

He's not playing.

[Pat McAfee]

He put on a shooting performance in a Thunderdome that was biblical. That we thought was actually going to flip the entire thing.

[Boston Connor]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Legit. As he walked out of here, it's like what he just did. There's no way. Never going to miss a shot.

[Darius Butler]

Tyrese.

[Pat McAfee]

It was. That's exactly. That's exactly what everybody in the Thunderdome was thinking as he left. It was like we just did something good for the Pacers right there. We just set up a moment For Tyrese to have where he went unconscious.

[Boston Connor]

In here, it was sick.

[Pat McAfee]

It was. It was cool to watch somebody that's like, oh, this is a professional. Like that is literally what you're watching. Shoot. He goes from four point level shots in the big three, which is like, I don't know, like four feet behind the NBA three point line. So we have NBA three point lines in here, obviously two of them down on this end, down here to the camera's left. We play this game called 33. It is a three point shooting games and a tip game. It's a basketball game where you have to be active but you don't have to run. There you go. It is perfect, perfect game. Each team shoots from each spot. You know, if they make a three pointer, it's worth two underneath. You get three chances to tip. Tip is obviously catch and throw while jumping. Insane jump air. You get it. He went bonkers. It was me and Foxy first. He and Boston Connor and we had elite. Me and Foxy had elite. A massive one. Yeah. And we were, we were a little worried about everything that was happening because me and Foxy had such a lead. I mean, it was like 20 plus point lead or whatever, which is tough to do. And then, you know, talking a lot of. To Tyrese, Haliburton potentially beating him. Now it's. It's without running an actual skill. So it's just shooting and tips or whatever. That's the game, you know, Kind of brings everything down to a reality sense if you have a shooter. We were talking a lot of shit and he just. He flipped the switch. Yeah, he just. I've never seen a shooting performance like we're talking about didn't even hit the rim for like 20 straight shots that were 4ft behind NBA 3. And while he was doing it, he was telling us to shut the fuck up. Exactly. And it was splash. It was awesome. And then Connor. Connor would feel the. And Conor would splash on fire. And then Tyrese splash. And then Connor make. Then Tyrese splash. Connor missed. Tyrese has to make it now. If he doesn't make it, there's no bonus shots. He's never going to catch up to us. Tyrese said talk shit. Shut up. I don't even know the rules. Throws the thing up. Touch. Doesn't even touch the rim. Doesn't even come nice. Cleanest shot of all time. And he goes all the way back, does the same exact thing. Then he just keeps shooting like in our face. Like this whole thing. Couldn't help but just think Holy. We just unlocked it. He had to have a bunch of football doofuses talk to him and beat him. Which is what we were doing at the time for him to be like, all right, enough of the in lock in. That is not what has happened.

[Boston Connor]

No, unfortunately no. Friday, obviously.

[Pat McAfee]

Come on, Todd.

[Boston Connor]

I don't think he's made a shot since. That's not true, Nick.

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Boston Connor]

But Friday after he came in here, they got their asses handed to him by the Heat. And then Sunday, I'm not really sure. I believe last night wasn't a great show and for the Pacers either. But look there they figure it out more. So halfway through the year. It's just the Eastern Conference as a whole, aside from the Celtics and the Cavs are off to a slow start.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. And we'll keep our eye on it for sure. And the Cavs in the Celtics for the Kings of the east will be playing tonight on tnt. Oh. With ESPN show inside the NBA.

[Boston Connor]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Leading that entire thing. That is huge news. Can't wait to watch that. Happy it's all back 1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys AP Tony's here. Nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butlers here. Looking super cool. Appreciate you. Whoa.

[Darius Butler]

Comments. Should be worried though. You should be worried about what?

[Boston Connor]

No.

[Darius Butler]

Last team that went 15 0, you know what they did what they do, they want it all.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow.

[Boston Connor]

Who was that?

[Darius Butler]

The Golden State warriors had a little better team. They got a 160 actually, but won it all.

[Boston Connor]

Stay in Cleveland.

[Pat McAfee]

They got the What? You know, 16, 16 records. The same that would be tonight. Oh my.

[Darius Butler]

Five and a half point dogs in.

[Pat McAfee]

Your guys's face in Boston.

[Ty Schmidt]

Dance with destiny.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh no.

[Boston Connor]

Oh. And then what happens if the team that beats by 20 when they're 15 0, what does that team.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, that's actually. That's actually a good point, you know, because there's a lot of basketball season left if you win by 20. What does that mean? Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man whose team, if they win by 20 plus this weekend is going to potentially throw the entire college football world into a state of chaos. Ladies and gentlemen, the face of the state of Ohio, college football national champion super bowl championship champion, A.J. hawk. Yeah, Hawker, I know you love the NBA. So we got that conversation out of the way and we will certainly dive.

[D. Butch]

The embiid situation is very intrigued to me. Like when he said he's late to everything. That's crazy. That can't be true, right?

[Pat McAfee]

My sources are telling me everything. Everything. Hey. What was he late To. That's a good question. Whoever, everything. So he had to ask multiple people in there, like, is it training? Is it practice? Is it shoot around? Is it flights? Is it bus? Is it eat? Maybe? Is it what rehab? What is it all the. Yeah. And also you didn't even mention this. It's like, holy, he just checked out. Does he not want to be there?

[Darius Butler]

That's wild.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that the. Is it. How normal is this in the NBA? I don't know, you know, I don't, I don't really know all this.

[Ty Schmidt]

Pretty awesome what he did yesterday though. Just not talking to anyone all day and then showing up like 10 minutes before the game when he's doubtful and being like, yeah, I think I'm gonna go tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that is crazy.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's pretty incredible.

[Pat McAfee]

That is old school great.

[Ty Schmidt]

They got, they got their asses beat, but you know, that's still kind of neat.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he's Olympic gold medalist and maybe it is the United States of America's issue. Maybe it is because he became an American for the Olympics and then this has all happened. Or maybe he just wants out of there. And I don't even know if that would be that abnormal in the NBA. Right. Because that kind of just got paid.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, he got like a three year, 100 and like 70 or $180 million deal.

[Pat McAfee]

But yeah, that matters.

[Boston Connor]

That would not be abnormal. Yeah, guys sign deals and then are like, you know what, I want to play somewhere else now.

[Pat McAfee]

If you're good enough, be who you can afford to be. Good luck over there. We hope everybody figures it out. Now back to what I mentioned about your particular school in the game this weekend happening in Columbus. Can't wait to get out there for college game day starting 9am Eastern Saturday morning on ESPN. Numbers just came out for this past weekend at Georgia. Still biggest year of all time. Thank you all so much for watching Spending Saturday mornings with us. We are incredibly lucky to cover the great sport of college football in that particular sport will be thrust into chaos if this is ugly. Now I heard the way you were chirping on the phone earlier and I don't want to out you to people but Ohio State people think this is a 28 to 35 point win over Indiana. That is real. And if that happens, the next CFP ranking that comes out next Tuesday is going to be one of the loudest talked about things in the sports history. Now I know the BCS world was wild. I know the two team playoff was wild back in the day. Just the championship. I know BCS. I know, I know the 14 playoff was wild. Like, I know all that was crazy. But the strength of schedule, conversation versus a record conversation. One of the powerful conferences is going to get all brought to light. How do you think this goes this weekend, AJ for real. And are you buying in what everybody else is saying? Where Indiana is playing anybody? These guys don't even know. These guys don't even know. Is that the conversation that's happening around Ohio State? Not just you, but obviously around Ohio State? No.

[D. Butch]

I mean, I don't think people are sitting there pointing Indiana saying, hey, their strength of schedule is no good. Which I didn't even really realize until as of late when people are looking at it and pointing it out. That's not Indiana's fault. We know. We've said that a million times. You can only beat who you're playing when I. And they've done a great job of that. But I don't remember a time when a game does matter to where like Indiana either has to find a way to win or lose by a little bit, right? To keep things okay, like that's what has to happen.

[AJ Hawk]

Cover the COVID That is over that 14.

[Pat McAfee]

That is the. Yes. That is like the conversation that's happening nationally. It's like, listen, if they're going to lose the high state, okay, just make it a game.

[D. Butch]

Make it a game.

[Pat McAfee]

18 and a half, okay, the, the spread's 14, but I think optically we give them 18 and a half, 19 points, right? If this thing's 20 points or more, we're done. We got no time for this, right? Whether we're wasting a spot, there's only 11 spots. If you don't count for the Power 5 champion, that's automatically getting one of the 12 team bids or whatever. So it's like that is what this conversation is going to be become. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is an absolute stud, a man who covers college football for ESPN. He's obviously been a college football coach for like 30 plus years. He was formerly at Florida. We're lucky he's at espn. Coach Dan Mullen. Hey. Hey.

[Dan Mullen]

Great to be with you guys today.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, thank you for coming back on, brother. We appreciate the hell out of you. And I want to let you know, watching you, Matt Berry, Boog and the team operate is one of my favorite things to do throughout the entire football season. I spend a lot of time with you guys. So thank you for your work and your wisdom.

[Dan Mullen]

We have a lot of fun up there. You know, I mean, you get that, that fun deal though on a Saturday. I get to watch you guys in the morning, right? And we're in studio getting ready to get on set as you guys are checking out. You get to go enjoy the rest of college football. We finished taping that cop. Me, Joey Galloway and Matt finished taping at college football final about 2am because somehow these west coast games become right down to the final play of the game and we're waiting for this final outcome about two in the morning with last week it was BYU seeing if they can make the comeback, right? The week before was byu, Utah. We've got Colorado. I envy you. You get to go enjoy the day of college football. We're, we're sitting there in studio even though we do have an ultimate man cave. They're not quite like your setup, but it's not bad.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I would actually be interested in seeing what your guys look like and also like the Fox one, the CBS one, like how they watch all the games. I would like to see what the setup is like because watching all those games is not easy. Just as somebody that tries to do it every single weekend on Saturday and on Sunday for this particular program, keeping up with all the story lines, obviously not easy. There's a shit ton going on. But the way the entire ESPN college football crew throughout the day operates, I, I love that shit. I think you guys do a very good job. I think you're fantastic. Now let's talk about some of it. So we were just chit chatting about the Ohio State Indiana game and Obviously with this 12 team playoff, one of the bids is going to go to a Power 5 conference regardless. So 11 spots up, we should see how they lay out. But this whole strength of schedule, who plays where you can already hear it coming from a lot of people in the SEC when they're talking about how hard their conferences, you can already hear it coming from some people in the Big Ten whenever they're talking about like Indiana and others, it's how do you feel going into this weekend about this Ohio State Indiana game and what do you think inevitably becomes of all of it?

[Dan Mullen]

Well, you know, I think there's still a bunch of football to be played and the one thing you see like last week that the rankings came out and there was a complete meltdown in the state of Georgia, like how can we be out, look at what we done, everything going on. So there's going to be some arguments that go on over the next couple of weeks. Listen, I give a lot of credibility to winning and so you have to win football games. Indiana has won all of their games. They deserve some of the credit. They have now. Now, they did hit a scheduling jackpot this year, right? They hit the lottery. But you know what? So did Texas. I don't hear everybody complaining. Texas has played one game, right? The schedule early in the season looked tough. That Michigan wins. Not that great right now. You know, I mean, that's not, not a high end win. Oklahoma win. That doesn't look that good right now. Even though they're marquee names. Heck, Penn State hit the lad. The scheduling jackpot, you know, so to sit there and say, hey, Indiana, I know you dominated everybody you've played, you've won every game by 14 points or more all season long. But if you don't beat Ohio State or you don't keep it close, you're definitely out when all the other teams get the benefit of the doubt. So I think it'll be interesting to see how things shake out. But you know what? After tonight, there's going to be a fan base somewhere that's, that's going to have a complete meltdown. But then you know what? Show up and win on Saturday and you'll fix your problems like Georgia did last week.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm in very. Like, I appreciate you pointing out the fact that other teams like Texas haven't had like this strongest schedule. And obviously Penn State, they lose to Ohio State and they come back and do their thing in Indiana being judged differently. I, I legitimately appreciate you saying that because they are a team that's popped up out of nowhere, literally. Signetti just signed the biggest deal a college football coach has ever signed in the state of Indiana. I mean, you're talking just a massive, massive number for good reason, because they sold their stadium out for the first time, I think like in, however, forever. Let's just say it's become a football campus, a football university. And I think there's going to naturally be some people that are a little bit harsher on their football team versus others, which is why football judgment matters so much. How much do you think that is actually getting into account whenever they're making their, their actual rankings and projections? Do you think they're watching these games together? Do you think they're pointing out things like, hey, did you see the offensive. The offense lines got great. I mean, they were absolutely manhandling a team that was maybe a little bit bigger than them, like what they could face in the sec. How, how do you think the football judgment actually works with these people that are on the committee, I, I think.

[Dan Mullen]

They try to do it, you know, I mean, they're not all football people that are on that committee either. You know, I mean, you guys have played football, you know what it's like. Listen, the one thing, and I'll give teams credit like to say that if you go undefeated, I've coached and played a long time. I want to stay championship as a player. I've won a couple conference championships, national championships as a coach, won undefeated once at Utah in 2004. But I think, I think the subliminal, I think they want to go in there and very objectively look at everything and give everybody a chance. But you know that in the back of your mind you're sitting there saying, and you know, I mean, listen, if we're trying to figure out who's going to the NCAA tournament in March, we're going to give Indiana the benefit of the doubt. But you know, this is college football and you know, in the back of their mind, I think there's that little bias right there. I mean, it's real. You can go reality.

[Pat McAfee]

That's just reality, Coach.

[Dan Mullen]

It happens, it happens. And you know, you make the argument, I look at smu sm, one loss is to byu, who was pretty good. And we found out last week how hard it is to go undefeated if you just, you know, you show up. These are 18 to 20. I know they're getting paid now, I know we think they're professionals, but they're 18 to 22 year old kids, you know, and it's hard to keep that focus and go undefeated for an entire season. And so I think you get that credit of where you are. I think, you know, the argument over the last couple years, there's always been, it's always about team number four in the 14 playoff, right? And it's like there's been this argument of who is for. There really hasn't been much of an argument over 1, 2 and 3. Now this argument's going to come in huge. I think it's just expanded the argument there's more teams available because it's really going to be 10, 11 and 12. I think there's going to be, I look at the SEC right now and say there's seven teams, give South Carolina an outside chance because they're one of the hottest teams in the country. But there's seven teams that have an opportunity to compete for at most four playoff spots at most. And that means there's three fan bases that are going to be like this. You can sit there tonight and if Ole Miss is on the outside looking in and they're saying we beat Georgia by three scores. And we're on the outside now, like how we were on the inside last week. Now we're on the outside. Is Tennessee on the out? Who's on the outs? And it's. It's going to be. You know, there's going to be some absolute meltdowns over the next couple weeks on fan bases which make college football great.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. The fan base is passion and loyalty and like in now I know I get.

[Dan Mullen]

Let me ask you guys this one.

[Pat McAfee]

Go ahead.

[Dan Mullen]

Okay. If Indiana loses, they got to be out.

[Pat McAfee]

No, no, no. How much? How much? What's the score? Let's flip it.

[Dan Mullen]

Flip it real quick.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Dan Mullen]

Indiana wins by 14.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, their number one team in the country.

[Dan Mullen]

Suck it, AJ is Ohio State out? Are we. Are we giving Ohio State the food at that point?

[Pat McAfee]

No, Indiana, I think Indiana gets number one team in the country. All of a sudden, they drop Oregon to number two. And everybody's going to go crazy about that entire thing. I mean, that is. Which, by the way, Signetti his halftime speech against Ohio State. Against Ohio State without group that he knows he's going to have to re recruit another crew. Basically. They got a lot of vets in there. They got a lot of seniors around there. They got a lot of people that have won a lot of football is how he describes it. Because they definitely have. And it's like, I think this one's going to be scrappy, but you got Ohio State fans over there, Dan. They're just.

[Darius Butler]

I see.

[Dan Mullen]

I'm looking. I'm looking. Yeah, right. I mean, it's. It got very quiet when I said Ohio State could be out of state. The whole question is, it's like an assumption Ohio State's already won the game. It's just by a batter of how.

[Darius Butler]

Much it is crazy.

[Dan Mullen]

What if it goes the other way? We're bashing in. Indiana says, boy, that they haven't played anybody. They really shouldn't be in. They don't deserve this rounding. Well, they come in and beat Ohio State at home. Should Ohio State leave the door and you know, like, don't, you know, don't let the hit the way I love it.

[Pat McAfee]

Get them out.

[Darius Butler]

Penn State, Right. Penn State, Ohio State's best win.

[Pat McAfee]

Penn State massive win.

[Darius Butler]

Loss to Oregon.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep. Kept it close with Oregon. Came down a little.

[Dan Mullen]

Ohio State's great win is Penn State, who we said have not beaten that. Like we're in the end, like it's so fun to make all these arguments in college football and that it's.

[Pat McAfee]

And that's why tonight's show is so awesome. Tonight's show, Greg McElroy and Joey Galloway will battle. They will do. And Booger will do battle with them. Yeah. And then, you know, Reese will have his entire angle from the College Football Playoff committee pretty much. I think this show is much better than anybody. I enjoy. Greg McElroy gets so pissed. So pissed. He gets so mad up there. And I think it's how a lot of people feel now. He goes to bat, I think, for Indiana, because a lot of what you just said there, like it's not their fault that this is their schedule and he got 12 teams and they're in a Big Ten, which is supposed to be one of the power of the power four. And now all of a sudden everybody's like hoping and waiting on them to fall off, which is why it is beautiful. To your point. Go ahead, A.J.

[D. Butch]

Coach, when you're thinking of, you know, coaching in this playoff system right now with what's going on, I guess how much would it affect your play coin in your scheme when you know, like, hey, I need to look. I need to win. This needs to look good. We need to. Don't have to blow everybody out. But there's certain games when you need to look a certain way. Does that affect coaches play calling and how they may prepare their teams, you think?

[Dan Mullen]

I think, I think, you know, what it can affect you is maybe in the fourth quarter if the game's in hand at this point. Right. You know, I mean, you're sitting there and you're saying, hey, the game's in hand. It's been decided. I mean, I don't know if it's affecting you through the first three quarters. You're just trying to win a game. It's hard to win and you're doing whatever you can to win a game. Now there's not all, every eyeballs on every game and the perception matters a little bit. So I think you're up there. You're saying, hey, okay, hey, we're up 10. I know we were, you know, I mean, I don't want to jump all over Vegas and all that, but hey, we were favored by 16. We're up 10 with three minutes to go. I, I might take a shot right here. I might just, you know, like, let's say, let's, let's, let's make sure we, we hit that score so that we look better in everyone's eyes at the end of the game. It wasn't.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Because if I'm betting on you and you cover never. I hate you. Yeah, yeah. Underperforming under like public perception.

[Dan Mullen]

Hey, you know this. Listen as a coach to say coaches don't look at that stuff. Their coaches trust me. Coaches look at this spread because here's what happens. One you want to look at it early in the week to see if something you're missing. Like you're all of a sudden you're watching the film and you're like, hey, I feel pretty good. But we're like a 10 point underdog. You're like, oh, hold on, I better go watch something. Those guys know what they're talking about. Or if you're like a big favorite, you're like, am I missing something on film? You know, the other one is, it's amazing, right? If you're a coach and your team, you cover. You're a big underdog, but you cover. You know what the fan base is saying, man, that coach, he's got those guys playing hard. They compete, they're out there.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[Dan Mullen]

If you win and don't cover, like, boy, I'm not sure I was a good win. But I don't know. We're headed in the right direction. Right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So not the performance we were expecting right now. Right. I mean we're undefeated technically. I've lost a lot. I've lost a lot betting on this team. I don't know about you, that's. I'm happy to hear the self awareness from an actual coach. Like I'm very, I'm very thankful that you now that now that I'm on.

[Dan Mullen]

The TV side, I can actually, actually tell you the truth of what really goes on behind the scenes with the coaches. Because you know, the coaches will give you coach. Oh, I don't pay it. We're just worried about the one game. I don't notice about that. Just the next play. I, I don't even notice the score. We're focused on this play, you know, I mean like I'll give you the real story of what goes on.

[Pat McAfee]

Could you fathom a college coach coming out and saying, I saw that we're favored by 10 at the beginning of the week and I thought to myself, what am I? What is. Because I thought this was coin flip. I thought personally I thought we met matchup pretty well. Apparently we had a great matchup somewhere that I was missing and damn, I found it. Yeah, you can run to the right on this team, which is what we got. And that would Be hilarious. Everybody would be very intrigued. But then everybody automatically. This coach is shaving points right here. Go ahead, D Bucks.

[Darius Butler]

Hey, this, this, this season has been obviously crazy back and forth. I feel like years past you kind of knew who that team or who that quarterback leading that team, who, who you bet on to make a run throughout the playoffs. Who's the best quarterback right now in your opinion as where the season stands right now?

[Dan Mullen]

I think it's, I think it's pretty easy. It's Shador Sanders.

[Pat McAfee]

I.

[Dan Mullen]

You watch him play the consistency week in and week out of what he's able to do and lead that team now. You know, they're a very talented team and Coach prime has done an amazing job of turning that around. They do have probably the first and second pick in the draft. So you would hope they'd win some out there when you have that good of players. But the. I think watching how he's grown and mature, some of the other guys scare me. I'm really excited to see Curtis work this week against Ohio State because I think he's had a hell of a year. But can he in a big game now throw this team on the shoulders and pick him up and carry them?

[Pat McAfee]

You know, you watch Wolverine blood. That guy got surgery on a Tuesday, was playing on the next Wednesday. Unreal.

[Dan Mullen]

He's an interesting. Right. I mean because everybody else has their fault. Jalen Milroy, they finally figuring out run the ball, man. Let the guy go run the ball. And he's a dominant player. He can still throw. Don't think you're not just. But do what you do. Well, Cam Ward's got to learn to throw the ball on time, right? I mean, you just can't run around all over the place. He's got to get a little bit of rhythm. But I think you watch the door. He can extend plays, make plays. He has tremendous arm strength all over the field and when it calls for it, he gets the ball out on time and he can play on rhythm and then he can improvise and he's getting a great feel on when to do both. So I think it's. I, I mean if I, if I was a bet, man, he's the guy you want right now to try to. You're going to go into a game to win a game in college football and I'd be highly shocked if he's not the first pick taking in the draft.

[Pat McAfee]

He's tough too. Yeah, he's tough, man. Obviously you talk about the sack stats from last week or last Year. And then obviously this year, he's taken some as well. The offensive line has gotten a lot better. Their defense has gotten a lot better. Go ahead.

[Dan Mullen]

You better get ready. Right. Because chances are if you're the first pick in the draft, you're going to a crappy team, so you're going to get hit a lot again next year. So.

[Pat McAfee]

Not everybody's tough, Coach. Not everybody's tough. That is. And Shador is definitely that. I mean, watch. He almost takes, like, pride in, like, getting up after getting absolutely slaughtered. They already got some teams lined up for him. Oh, yeah, allegedly.

[Boston Connor]

Did he tweet. Thank God. This Sunday after the.

[Pat McAfee]

Another. Thank God. Tweet after another Raiders loss.

[Boston Connor]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, just a trend that he's starting to take.

[Darius Butler]

You gotta be tough, too. You. Deion's kid, you know, every level since Little League, everybody's coming at your head, you know, because you feel like, hey, you know, you're well off. You got everything, everything you want now that you're his rich kid out here. And he's obviously handled that mature like. Like Dan said, he's mature. He's gotten better as the year's gone on, so. On every level from Jackson State and jumping up to Colorado to a different level of competition. So, y'all, I'm. I'm right on the same page with that.

[Pat McAfee]

Now, the interesting thing about that, he's by far best quarterback in everybody's eyes. But there's a trophy for best player at the end of the year. Connor has a question for you.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, Coach? How do you feel about the Heisman race this year? Obviously, the Heisman typically type one of those things like the NFL mvp, where usually it'll go to a quarterback. But this year it feels like, obviously Travis being the heavy favor right now and Gentee being second, it feels like it's not going to be a quarterback year for the Heisen. Do you think Travis is kind of the runaway, got to give it to him because of what he's doing this year, or do you think that any of those guys kind of jump up and steal it from him over these last couple weeks?

[Dan Mullen]

I don't. The only one I think is if something. If over the next two weeks something happens where he just falls off the face? I think he's done so much and by not being a quarterback, I don't see him. He's not going to have a bad game because even if you take him away at the receiver position, he's over there making plays on defense. If you don't you know, I mean, so there could be a game where, hey, they double him and bracket him every single play and he has like one or two catches they don't throw his way. I think you're still looking at the game and saying, well, the team won because everybody on the both sides of the ball was about him. And let's stay away from him on the offensive side of the ball, we're going to double them on, on the other side of the ball. And so I think it just shows so much. The only one I think that would have a chance is if Genti came out and just over the next couple weeks just went off, you know, with like Back to back, 300 yards, six touchdown games. Something just. Something just ridiculous. Ridiculous that it could get tight. But I think it's. I think it's between those two. I just. And I love it. I love that it's finally. It's not whoever, who's the quarterback of the number one team in the country. I hate that. I don't think the Heisman Trophy to me is the most outstanding player in college football, not the MVP of the number one team in the country.

[Pat McAfee]

I just. Dylan Gabriel is wondering what the hell's going on, though? How come these aren't we normally. This is kind of how this goes. Knows obviously he's a great teammate. He's not worried about, he's gonna get.

[Dan Mullen]

An invite to New York, he'll get a nice dinner out of it in the city.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean.

[Dan Mullen]

Right? I mean, you're gonna go up there and you get like a nice Italian dinner up in the city somewhere. He'll have a nice, nice time.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it'll be a good time. Get a nice time. Yeah, cool.

[Darius Butler]

Do coaches think about that? I know you talked about the point spread, but do coaches going into games think about, hey, you know, obviously you want win the game, you want to win a national championship, but do you think about your quarterback or your receiver, your running back, whoever may be in that race down the stretch, get them the ball more, get them touchdowns, anything like that?

[Dan Mullen]

Absolutely, I think you do. Now, one, you're going to do it to make sure they get the ball. Because chances are, if you have a guy that's that good on your team, you want him to be successful and to get his touches. But I do think, you know, I mean, trust me, listen, in every game it happens. You're sitting there saying, hey, this guy has an opportunity to do something special. I owe it to him to make sure it happens and give him that opportunity to Make a play. You know, I always get shocked and sometimes, you know, I mean, I've had it. I had to happen once in a negative time. I the that the guy had a chance for a rushing record in a game and we're up.

[Pat McAfee]

So I pulled him.

[Dan Mullen]

Then the Sid came down after the game, said, oh, he was only four yards away. And I'm like, you got to let us know that I'm out. Throw them in to get him a carry to give him the record for the school record or one of those deals. So you have people in your ear that are supposed to tell you that stuff. You know what I mean? I mean, I mean you're a kick. You're right. I mean, think of a kicker. I mean, you're a guy that has a chance to sit there and like, hey, I might if I. We have a bunch of field goals, he has a chance to set a record. I'll, I'll, I have a chance. The end of the game, we'll roll out the field goal team and try one. I mean, whatever you're doing for any player on the team, you want to give guys the opportunity to really set a standard and have pride and be rewarded for all the work they've put in, whether it's in a single game or over a course of a career.

[Pat McAfee]

As the all time leading scorer for West Virginia University. I appreciate your mindset there. And shout out to coach Stu. Shout out to coach Stu for everything there as well. Yeah, because you're talking about a player like Gentee, you know, he's been benched in the second half of some games, fourth quarter of some games, and then whenever it's just going to be a stats conversation on whether or not he should be able to win over Travis Hunter. It's very fascinating. I love that you were coming from, from a coach's point of view when you were saying, yeah, the defense is worried about who Travis Hunter offense worried about who Travis Hunter head coach is. Like, all I did this week was talk about Travis Hunter and how we try to not let him wreck this entire game. He's a great kid too, man. He's like everything you'd want him to be. Everything you'd want that person to be. One of a kind anomaly. He's awesome. Hey, Travis, good job, man.

[Boston Connor]

Oh yeah.

[Dan Mullen]

Well, these are all deserving.

[Pat McAfee]

Amen. I agree completely. And hopefully in the future there's more players that are allowed to kind of play both, both ways. Now let's talk about a conundrum that's certainly taking Place in the Southeast. Tone has a question for you.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Coach, There's a couple things you said during this conversation that kind of piqued my interest. You said you thought the SEC would probably give four teams, which you know, I mean Ole Miss beach, Georgia, Georgia beats Tennessee, Tennessee beats Bama, Bama beats Georgia. And then you got Texas sitting there. That's five teams right there. What do you do with those two loss teams that all beat each other? And then when you were talking about coaches being honest, Lane came out this week, Lane Kiffin, and he said, you know, there's coaches in the SEC are hoping they don't make that SEC championship game so they don't end up with a, with a third loss situation. How do you think the SEC in a hole and, and what Lane's talking about is going to, is going to shape out?

[Dan Mullen]

Well, I think, I think it is huge and I hate that a team, I think there's a chance teams could be punished for playing in that championship game, which is just wrong. And I say four teams and a lot. I was thinking three up until BYU lost because I thought last week if BYU is undefeated, they go play Colorado. I think Colorado has a great chance to beat them. How do you take a team that was undefeated when undefeated through the regular season, loses their conference championship game. Word. And knock them all the way out of the playoffs when they were probably number four or five that week going in. So it's who's stealing bids from who at this point. You hit it hit the nail on the head that the thing is for the SEC right now is it's going to be so wide open. And I think that the Georgia win over Tennessee last week is going to cause some confusion for everybody in the league. Texas, Texas A and M, you imagine both of them take care of business this weekend. A and M's at Auburn. Texas got Kentucky at home. The if that happens, the winner of that games in the championship game, right? The winners in. Now the loser goes into the pool. But you know that let's say A and M wins that game. We're going to throw Texas into that pool. There's. There's five, 10 and two teams six and two in league that are sitting there and say, okay, which one of us is in? And then you're the other team saying it is. It's not bad not being in. I think you look at the Big Ten, let's say Ohio State wins by three this week. Indiana and Penn State are sitting at home saying, hey, we don't even have to play. We're sitting here and you guys got us locked into a playoff spot. This is really nice. I think it is going to be really interesting. I think when you look at it, it's, it is crazy. And, and within the sec, all of those teams played each other and that's how they knocked each other off. Where it didn't happen in the Big Ten. And the secular league's finally gotten to the point where the league. Listen, I was head coach in that league for 13 years. When Kirby came out last week that I challenged somebody, come, come, come show up. And the one thing in that league, come show up and see what it's about. You got to bring your A game. And I always say this in the sec, it's not about the one game. Heck, you know, anybody in the country can beat anybody in one game. I truly believe that. And. But when you're in that league, it's. It's not the first week, it's not the second week, it's the third week that all of a sudden nobody's practicing. That's what makes it like the NFL. You're sitting there and you're saying, holy cow, every week I can't believe this team's better than the last team. You know, I mean, listen, lsu, they might be, I mean, our teams right now jumping up and down saying, hey, I want to go play lsu, I want to go play Florida. They're kind of like low. Hey, South Carolina, they're a three loss SATC team. Let's roll them on the schedule right now. You know, those are teams that aren't even going to be in the discussion.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, Kentucky. Yeah, Kentucky.

[Dan Mullen]

Kentucky and Arkansas. Kentucky and Arkansas. Are you jumping up and down saying, hey, I want to go play Arkansas right now, like to secure my playoff bid. Not, you know, I'm sure, would Penn State rather, you know, would they like, hey, let's go. We're going to go finish the season at LSU in Arkansas on our last two games and try to hold on to that one loss because they're kind of bottom tier SEC teams. Let's see how that goes.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, so this is the messaging out of the sec. So I've heard obviously a lot of teams and a lot of people around there that have said that. And it's different down in the Southeastern Conference, but I think we all seen.

[Dan Mullen]

It at game day, haven't you? I mean, it's a scene.

[Pat McAfee]

It's different. It is. I mean, it's just different. Like obviously Michigan, Ohio State, I think Penn State all have colts that can keep up. You know, I think they're like the northern representation of it, but like in the south, that's everywhere. That's like, that's. It's. Every. It is everywhere. And it's not just them. It's their parents. It's their parents. Parents. It's their parents. Parents, parents. So there's just like centuries in some places of tradition that are happening. The families have died. I've sat on this part of this ground, watching this team for this long, and these are. It's like, it is different down there. I can certainly say that. But we can all agree that the Big Ten this year and the SEC are the two, right? I think that's pretty apparent by all. So why don't they. And they could do this because it's the first year, but I guess they don't want to set a precedent and lock themselves into anything in the future. But they could easily say whenever the championships are made, that if you made it to the championship with the SEC and Big Ten, you're an automatically in. You know, they could say that because they want to put an emphasis on championships. That's why they made the top four seeds who get a first round by champions, conference champions, no matter what you're ranked. They want an emphasis on these conference championships. They wanted that. They said they held that dearly. That's why the Power 5 champion is an automatic bid. They want people caring about it. Well, then why don't you just take that consideration where people are bummed out about making it to the championship and kind of put that the rest and just say, if you make it, you're in like that. That could be something you earn. But I guess the opposite side of that is where does that stop? Is it always the Big Ten in the sec? What if the ACC gets really strong and they build up. What if, you know, the Big 12 builds up strong and the Big 10 has a down year? How do you go about doing it? So there's just so much that is always like this in college football is. It's real. There's just always something it feels like in college ball.

[Dan Mullen]

And it goes. And it's always been voted on and it's always designed. Like there's a group of like. Like I. I went and you go in the meeting and I did the mock draft deal with ESPN or whatever they do with the College Football Playoff committee, and we went in the meeting. I left. There were still questions I had. I understand some of the criteria they use, but I don't always agree with El, you know, and, you know, I mean, it's just hard to do in college football with the current makeup and the current setup of how it is to get it done. I mean, like the NFL, you could sit there and say, hey, you know what I mean? The Bengals, we got Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow. They look really good and I know they haven't won games, but we should put them in the playoffs anyway, right? Don't matter. Like, they're really good team. I don't care if they win or lose it. But in college football, like, we're going to vote you in anyway, so it doesn't always matter off your record. I mean, it does to a point. But as you guys said, I will say this. The Big Ten, here's the interesting the Big Ten asset. With the exception of Indiana, I think the Big Tens lock.

[Pat McAfee]

I think.

[Dan Mullen]

I think Indiana is going to be in no matter what anyway. I think they're going to even. Unless it's something embarrassing or they lose to Purdue the final week, which I don't see. Yeah, I'll be careful.

[Pat McAfee]

Just move.

[Dan Mullen]

So I'll be nice. The.

[Pat McAfee]

No, no, no. I'm not saying. I'm saying don't even pull any.

[Dan Mullen]

I didn't.

[Pat McAfee]

Don't even put it in the universe. Don't even need that any.

[Dan Mullen]

That's not it. That's not happening. But you go and you say, all right, so four Big Ten teams, right? That means there's only spots for four at the most, maybe three, depending on how other things shake out of SEC teams. Well, as you said, I mean, there's going to be a bunch of irate fan bases that will call for a complete injustice of the college football system when their team gets left out because they're going to have an argument, hey, but we beat this team. We beat them head to head. We should be ahead of them. And that's what's going to be really interesting to see how the committee is ranking these head when they have the two teams. How do you rank Georgia ahead of Ole Miss? When Ole Miss beat him by three scores, you can sit there and say, but Georgia has two other really quality wins and their losses look a little bit better. Ole Miss, you don't have great loss. Like, I don't. That argument's going to be pretty, pretty, pretty incredible coming through. And then Tennessee's gonna say, hey, we beat Alabama. You know, I know we lost to Georgia, but we beat Alabama, so shouldn't we be ahead of them? Like, how do you get ahead of somebody, it's going to be pretty crazy.

[AJ Hawk]

It's gonna be, it's like the whole thing is just gonna be, is gonna be insane. And I, I think you're right. It's gonna be four Big Ten teams who get in. I, I, I don't think, like IU's gonna have to lose by 40, I think for them to, or they're going to be so mad. But then I tell you what, Coach, like, if, if a fifth SEC team gets in, the Internet is going to burn it down because it's going to be the ESPN SEC bias and all. ESPN decided who was going to get. I tell you, it's going to be worse. It's going to be worse if a fifth SEC team gets in versus a fifth SEC team not getting it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep. Yeah, the SEC ESPN chat is loud. Yep. I assume you hear it now that you're on TV and obviously from the SEC and all this whole thing.

[Dan Mullen]

Oh, yeah. Oh, it's, it's, it will be wild. Hey, you know what? There's a big one. I'm, I'm excited for this weekend. The see if the Four Horsemen show up at Yankee Stadium again for, for Notre Dame Army.

[Pat McAfee]

Have you, you know, have you seen the uniforms this weekend?

[Ty Schmidt]

So sweet.

[Pat McAfee]

The uniforms.

[Dan Mullen]

I haven't seen him yet.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, sweet, sweet uniforms for army this weekend. But go ahead.

[Dan Mullen]

I mean, is Bryson Daley one of the toughest guys you've seen the quarterback in Army? I mean, can he put that team on his shoulder and find a way, you know, to beat Notre Dame and Yankee Stadium? That'd be unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I hope so.

[Dan Mullen]

Well, then that would, that would, that would clean, that would wipe Notre Dame out of the playoff discussion, I guess, which would.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, well, them being a part of their College Football Playoff discussion since the beginning because they can only get fifth because they're an independent is just a whole nother added wrinkle to it tonight. What's the biggest surprise coming, you think? What's the big move of tonight's rankings that we should expect on Tuesday? Or is it going to be status quo from last week?

[Dan Mullen]

No, I think the, it'd be interesting to see. I think BYU might hang on staying in the top and I think Tennessee is the team that's going to be their fan base, you know, on old Rocky top is going to go ballistic. I think they're going to be the big drop team to go to be the team that's out of the SEC tonight. That would be my guess. I think they're the ones that are out.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm excited to hear the reaction just like there is every single Tuesday. Can't wait to watch the boys do their thing tonight. And thank you for the great season that you've had for college football and excited to finish it alongside you as I'm at home and you're still working. Ladies and gentlemen, coach Dan Marlin. We appreciate you. Great answer there on the spread.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, that's incredible.

[Pat McAfee]

During his last answer, I lost all hearing. My power went out.

[D. Butch]

Something happened, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I couldn't hear a single thing. Not a single thing. So I come back as I'm like, all right, I think I was reading his lips good enough. But there is so much that can happen in this college world that can piss off so many people no matter what though. Yes. Everybody's pissed no matter what. And you know, the ESPN ownership of the entire playoff and I think some have been subbed out to tnt. Cw.

[Boston Connor]

Is it cw?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I think it wasn't a cnt. Was TNT for the playoff games? Yes. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

TNT first round.

[Pat McAfee]

Ok, so tnt good. Hey, they're starting to do a lot of.

[Boston Connor]

That's a nice. Yeah, that is a nice relationship. That is.

[Pat McAfee]

It is. Yeah, it is very nice. Good work in that entire thing. So they're getting a couple of the playoff games, but ESPN having all the playoffs. First of all, great investment by espn. Especially if you are now landlord and you're leasing them out to others, all of a sudden you are the college football player. That is a good thing.

[D. Butch]

But with sudden death games, sudden death games win or go home, that's what everybody's trying to get, right? Network wise.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. All eyes on all these games, especially with the home field advantage. We need that to go all the way through until the championship of it all. But everybody automatically assumes that ESPN has like the want for certain teams that they like to get in there and it's like, well, who are the teams that ESPN likes? I feel like we get a lot of time on espn. We love Indiana, you know. So are you just talking about the people who are thinking about the big markets and is that how it always is and that is that still how it is now? I don't know. Like, is that. You tell me. I understand if your feeling is yes, because of what happens on some other networks. But we get a lot of time. We get a lot of time on ESPN airwaves talking about. I mean the Colts get talked about out every single day pretty much. And obviously smaller teams, smaller markets for the good of sport. Which I think is what the College Football Playoff committee, who's actually in charge of this, not espn, is all they're trying to do. They're just trying to do for the good of college football what's the best for college football. Because this 12 team playoff is going to have so many eyes on it. They want to have their best shit. That is what the CFP committee wants. We have invested massively in this. We are wanting this to work forever. We are wanting this to grow and be big forever. This is. We want this to be the best. And it's like getting to that discussion of what is the best. There's a lot of different ideas. Oh yeah, I wonder if you can be in that room. Like he talked about going into a room for ESPN and they did a mock thing. Who was that with? Was that with the actual people or there was just them mocking it up? Is there anybody that's allowed in the room when it happens?

[D. Butch]

Do they record it for any. Do they record it at least for their own purposes?

[Darius Butler]

Get in there.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I'm saying.

[D. Butch]

Somebody's keeping. Someone's doing the minutes. Someone's keeping track of everything said in there.

[Pat McAfee]

There's no way they would let me in there, you know, because of.

[D. Butch]

Maybe you never know. You could ask.

[Darius Butler]

It's not an NDA.

[Pat McAfee]

I would like to ask. I would love to ask, but I don't know where it is actually.

[D. Butch]

So you want to audit. You know, if you audit a college class, you sit in the back, say you want to audit the CFP committee.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a lot of talk about audits right now around there. I guess there's never been. Oh, yeah, yeah, whatever the, whatever the case. But I don't think they would want me in there because, boy, I, I'm not the right person to be in there because all I need to hear is one person say one thing and just be like, so they're disqualified, right? Because of what they said over there. They are disqualified forever if they think that. They also probably think other things. And I assume that's an incredible group of people. But the amount of jousting, I, I assume that takes place in disagreements and I would assume politicking, like. Right.

[D. Butch]

It's a jury. It's a jury right into 13 members. It's just like a jury trying to figure out if someone's guilty or not.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, but in a jury, I think you can. But a lot of teams you can differentiate your vote. Right? Like you can still have some, not some.

[D. Butch]

Well, you can hold out. That's why you get a hung jury.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[D. Butch]

Or you say, we got one person that takes the leader is like, hey, no, we're all voting this way. It's trying to persuade them. But there's too many teams.

[Pat McAfee]

But.

[D. Butch]

But, man, I bet there's so much better. I bet they get heated in there for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

And is it unanimous? Is that what it has to be? Does everybody have to vote yes or does it just have to be majority? A majority of, you know, have to get seven votes or whatever. Is that what you have to do? Or do you have to get everybody on board with everything? Because I assume it'd get very loud.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. Probably like the NFL, right? When with the owners. Because to pass any new thing, whether 24 out of the 31 or 32, including the. The guy who goes for the Packers. So wouldn't it be. I would assume it'd be like 14 or something like that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Yeah. I Wonder if it's 7 of 13. Could you imagine laughing and so you haven't been on the right side of any of them. Jeez, this one sucks over here. And then is there a decision like, hey, I agreed with you on that one, so I need you. That's.

[D. Butch]

Yeah. What do you call it? Horse trading?

[Pat McAfee]

Is that what that's called? Aj Horse training?

[D. Butch]

I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know.

[D. Butch]

What is horse trading? Is that one of those, Hey, I gave you this. You give me that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, there it is. That's what I'm thinking is potentially.

[Ty Schmidt]

There's also natural biases, though, because you have like, sitting ads in there who, like, you know, it's like, whether you may not say it, but it's like, guess what? If you're the AD of a Big Ten school, you're probably going to bat a little bit more.

[Pat McAfee]

Manual is the leader AD at Michigan. And so if the SEC gets more in, then everybody thinks they should instead of the Big Ten. Like, everybody's going to be pissed at ESPN for doing this. And it's like actually the leader of the committee that voted in it. Yeah. He's from the Big Ten, just like the leader was from the acc. Yeah. Whenever the Florida State thing happened in.

[Darius Butler]

There, it's SEC is clearly the best conference.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Without in the country. It's clear and obvious.

[AJ Hawk]

If you watch football, you can't say that out loud.

[Darius Butler]

That's the best conference of football. They get the most teams in it. Yeah. They're supposed to. And when you get to the playoffs, you're never going to Be right. You're never going to make every fan base happy. But we all want to watch good games. Like, I don't care about it. You know, fan, obviously ESPN and whoever they care about the eyeballs is going to be on there. But you want best games. You don't want a team to get in there and just get their doors blown off. It's like, all right, these four teams.

[Pat McAfee]

Could have been there.

[Darius Butler]

So, yeah, I mean, it's obviously the best conference. Big Ten is the second best conference. And you go down from there.

[Pat McAfee]

Big Mol, obviously right there with the Big Ten.

[Boston Connor]

Well, probably not. They're. They're right there with Mountain West. But Mullen mentioning that about like Penn State.

[Pat McAfee]

Watch your mouth, brother.

[Boston Connor]

Look, I love the Big 12, but could you imagine Penn State actually thinking like, yeah, let's, let's schedule Arkansas for week 13? Like, that would never happen. And to our point of. Or his point about like coaches looking at, you know, the spreads and stuff, like Texas didn't cover against Arkansas. And that's like something that I even think about. Like, well, Texas isn't that good.

[Pat McAfee]

They.

[Boston Connor]

Like, it's hilarious just thinking about how good the SEC actually is. And then, you know, Kentucky, they covered against Georgia.

[Pat McAfee]

I liked it.

[AJ Hawk]

I was actually shocked to see that. I think Notre Dame and Texas just signed on for a.

[Ty Schmidt]

They did two year home and home.

[AJ Hawk]

Home in like 28, 29, which I was like, okay, they both need it.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, like if you, if they respect strength of schedule, Notre Dame does for sure. And Texas is not going to, I guess, go forward in the sec. But even in the sec, they're saying they got an easy schedule which will go back against what, Dan Mullen, Sandy, there's no easy schedule on the sec, which goes right to the Big Ten's point about what are we talking about here? There's an easy schedule in the sec. We didn't know that was the case. And then it goes, well, they need to play one more conference game like everybody else does. They're scared to do that down the sec. It's just, it's a never ending one of these, you know, it's a never. It's a never ending one of these. I don't like that anybody, anybody or any of them are thinking we shouldn't go play in the championship, though.

[Ty Schmidt]

Like, that's championship.

[D. Butch]

That's what's weird. Yeah. Okay. We lost at the right time or we're. We don't have to go and expose ourselves again not only to injury, but also to possibly being out of this thing. That's weird. Yeah, that's a weird.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a real. It's a real thought. Because if you get your third loss, that three is going to be very loud in that room of people that are representing all of college football. That's why, like the immediate thought is, well, let the champion. If you make it to the championship, that is a bid into the College Football Playoff, then you're putting even more of an emphasis on the championships, which is what they've wanted with the construction of the entire thing. And it's like, but you're going to give that.

[D. Butch]

But then the championship game doesn't have as much meaning if they're both already in.

[AJ Hawk]

That's where the buy.

[Ty Schmidt]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, brother.

[AJ Hawk]

When it goes to 16, like it'll eventually go to 16. I would have no problem if you get automatic. If you make it to the Big 12, eight, ACC, SEC, SEC or Big 10 championship. Those eight are in. Okay, fine. And then the winner of those games get the buy. So the championship game does still have some meaning. Like that's eight of 16 teams. So then you have eight at large or whatever.

[Pat McAfee]

I think 12. Tweet 12.

[AJ Hawk]

You can't do that.

[Pat McAfee]

Not enough.

[AJ Hawk]

But when it goes to 16 or whatever, I think you can potentially.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

They will change that moving forward.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a never ending one of these.

[D. Butch]

Which is great for everybody though. Like it's. It's fun to talk about, it's fun to argue about.

[Boston Connor]

If they want to emphasize strength to skip. They need Georgia to go to the SEC championship and lose because then Georgia has the one seed. But then they still. Or they have the hardest strength schedule and then they still have three make it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. With three losses to Mullen's point.

[AJ Hawk]

It's a lot.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's say Georgia doesn't make it into the college football play if they're going to be in, but let's say they don't. Do any of those teams want to play Georgia?

[Dan Mullen]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

Which just gives you. I want them to be the 12.

[Boston Connor]

Seeds so I can bet on them.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, we're back. Tomorrow on espn. I assume it's going to be a good show. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Goodbye. Right there. Nailed it. Yep. Boom.

[D. Butch]

Nailed it.

[Pat McAfee]

The assumption was gross too. I assume it's gonna be a good show. I doubt it. Tomorrow.

[Ty Schmidt]

What's tomorrow?

[Pat McAfee]

Tomorrow. Head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, Kevin O'Connell on the show.

[Ty Schmidt]

There you go.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Holy good aside, it was a good Assumption. Good for assumption. Because in the moment, I wasn't really, you know, thinking about. I was just literally just assuming what's gonna happen tomorrow. And all of a sudden you learn more things, and it's like, Kevin O'Connell's coming on this now. Exactly. He's not on tomorrow on Thursday, but.

[Boston Connor]

We got great tea. I mean, everything we're talking about right now, we're gonna have a new iteration of it tomorrow.

[D. Butch]

We got Jade.

[Boston Connor]

Doing the in the.

[Darius Butler]

Trenches everything DB Back to back. I mean, you know, I love Wednesdays.

[Pat McAfee]

I completely forgot about that.

[Darius Butler]

The prophet. You just know. Guess.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, speaking of baseball. Hey, big deal last night, Huge. A legend and a king was finally crowned the NL correct rookie of the year. Paul S.K. way go, Pittsburgh. Paul, some people are saying this guy is a Pittsburgh prophet. Yeah, sure. I don't know how that really works, but what. Or ties together. Yeah. D Bone predicting things. Yeah, he's. He's predicting what the batter is going to do, and that's miss the pitch. That's the Pittsburgh profit. D Bone Debone did grant him a new nick Dan this morning, and I think he felt good about. I think he thought he was Paul sking it Y. And instead that it just got bombed.

[Ty Schmidt]

It got turned down pretty good.

[Pat McAfee]

Bombed on. He's not a prophet. But the only thing that is a prophecy is the fact that this guy was sent to Pittsburgh to save baseball for the Three River City. Okay? The Pittsburgh Pirates were a team that has been abysmal for a long time. They have an owner who's a bum. Whenever it comes to being an owner of a professional sports team, he only cares about the bottom line, doesn't care about the team. Whenever you talk about a stooge as an owner of a sports team, that is how you define it. This guy sucks as an owner. Oh, why is that? Does he not care about the team and only care about the money? Yeah, precisely. Oh, yeah, that guy does suck. That is how conversations go about the ownership of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Then Paul Skeens get gets there, and for some reason, he is a Pittsburgh Pirate. Don't think the baseball gods have really done the right thing here. Paul Skenes probably should have ended up somewhere else, but he was sent to Pittsburgh to fulfill a prophecy that baseball will once again be a sport of relevance in a city that has been dying for it. Whenever he's on the bump, the place moves and sells out. Whenever he's on the bump, the Pirates win. Whenever he's on the bump, people talk about the Pittsburgh Pirates. And when he's on the bump, people have hope in baseball again in Pittsburgh. Congrats, Paul. I told him basically all these things in fewer words whenever he was the guest picker at college game day. I was like, hey, man, I wish I was a kid in Pittsburgh with you right now. You're going to do a lot of great for that city because of the attention and the positive. Just like the positive vibes around him. He's perfect for the city. Obviously the mustache, the beard that he has right now is fantastic. He looks so cool. Everything he's doing, LSU game, Steelers game, last night for the award show after Cal Ripken kind of sent it over to him. But his mustache is phenomenal. That's a Pittsburgh thing. He has a little moxie, he doesn't talk much, just fucking works. And literally, he said his hobbies are napping. People in Pittsburgh are like, this is our hero. This is our guy. And he lives up to the building. Ex military guy. Obviously wants to be a future military guy. I don't know how the he was supposed to fit in those planes. He is so big. But you're talking about the future of baseball and somebody that has been good for baseball as a whole. I love Paul Skins. I'm happy he won this award. I guess he wasn't going to because he didn't play a whole season. It was the conversation.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, I mean, he was, in my mind, he was always going to win it. There was a couple people in the office who thought the guy who came in second would win it. They were wrong.

[Pat McAfee]

He wasn't favored the whole season. Season is what happened. The odds changed.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, there's one of those guys who.

[Pat McAfee]

Who was the other? That guy in the Padres who was hitting walk offs like every other night on the playoff push. Oh, and played the entire season is what I saw some people tweeting.

[Ty Schmidt]

Position player too. So he's playing every single day.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, this guy doesn't just play once every five days. This guy's every single night in the ballpark making big time plays. I can respect that. Probably should be two different awards if you're playing two different sports, seemingly which pitchers and the rest of the field do out there, but nonetheless, Paul Skeens, I appreciate that guy. And they had a hell of a run. Paul Skeens brought an entire city back to baseball and that is something.

[AJ Hawk]

An entire city. He's going to be the corner piece for years and years to come.

[Boston Connor]

Wow.

[Darius Butler]

How long? Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[D. Butch]

How many years?

[AJ Hawk]

That's five seasons.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Five seasons. Exactly. So he'll have a nice little run. And you said like he shouldn't be in Pittsburgh, like they earned the number one pick because they fucking thank you. So, like they earned Paul Skeens coming to Pittsburgh.

[Darius Butler]

Congratulations.

[Ty Schmidt]

Now to your point about their ownership all only caring about the bottom line. He got a. He got a year of service time this year, which because he came up when he did typically, like for end of the season awards, there was a chance that he wasn't going to get a year of service time. So the Pirates would have retained his rights for an additional year. But because he won Rookie of the year, he gets a year of service time. So now he is eligible to be a free agent after 2029, at which point one of these big market teams is going to offer him like 500, $600 million. He will not sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He.

[Pat McAfee]

Has anybody ever gotten offered a percentage of team there?

[Ty Schmidt]

There was Albert. Albert Pujols got like a leap, something like that with the Angels when he left the Cardinals. But no, it's not. That's not common.

[D. Butch]

I heard Pete Rose was offered percentages of teams back in the day when he was a free agent. I don't know if that's true or even allowed to do that, but I definitely heard that.

[Pat McAfee]

What if this owner. Owner. Okay, what's his name, honey? Neil. What's his name? What's this guy's name? The owner of the Pirates. Talking about Bob Nutting.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, the guy who hates spending money.

[Pat McAfee]

There he is. Oh, Mr. Nutting. I'd known his name in previous times in my life. I've erased it from my memory because don't want to think about him. Sure. Especially in a moment where we have the NL Rookie of the year for another five years. But there's a chance that old Nutting gets a chance to experience this baseball over the next four or five years. And he goes, you know what? This is good for the city of Pittsburgh. These people have hope when they come into the ballpark. Most beautiful ballpark in all baseball. And now it's voted on. Yes, it's.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, it has been Pittsburgh people.

[Pat McAfee]

No, not Pittsburgh people. MLB people say it's the nice ballpark.

[D. Butch]

It is beautiful. It is beautiful.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, and I think it's because the fans are, aren't really that they haven't been that rap. You come in, it's like, hey, welcome to Pittsburgh. You guys need to scale, run and get you anything. That was a good hit, dude. A good hit. Oh, we beat. You don't know how you let us beat you. That's a good night of baseball. Now, Zambelli, fireworks are going off. Okay? We're having a nice little night. Maybe a bobblehead to take home with the family, walking outside, driving home. Pirates suck again or Pirates won't last. That was a nice little family night for like 14 bucks. So maybe over the next five years he experiences wins here because Paul is going to win, right? We assume.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, next year too, you would assume he's not going to have an innings limit or like a pitch limit. Like so he'll, he'll probably be, I would assume he's either the favorite or like the second favorite to win Cy Young next year.

[Pat McAfee]

So he had an innings limit this past year, right? That was the big conversation.

[Ty Schmidt]

I mean his second start in the majors, he, he threw a no hitter through six innings against the Cubs and they took him out because he had 11 strikeouts. And it's like, hey, we just, we don't want to run the risk of this guy throwing 120 pitches. Like it's not worth him potentially getting hurt or whatever the case may be. Because that's what happens when you, when you're a pitcher like him. Like, he strikes out a lot of guys, so he's going to throw a lot of pitches. And they just were trying to essentially save himself from himself, I think.

[Pat McAfee]

And he's only getting better, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, I mean, for sure. Like knowing how to work against MLB hitting and stuff like that and you assume his stuff will get, will get better. Like, I don't know. I really don't know if it's like humanly possible to be, for him to be able to throw like a whole bunch harder. Just because you don't, you don't see guys throwing 107, 110 miles an hour. Human body just can't really do that, brother. It's huge.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean he is a wagon.

[Ty Schmidt]

But that also, that also runs the, that's, that's how guys get hurt too.

[Pat McAfee]

So. But also, and you know more than me and you obviously know all these things I'm about to say, but just for the sake of this particular conversation, and maybe people have, haven't heard this, this dude was a catcher for most of his baseball career. So like growing up, he wasn't the pitcher, he was the catcher. So it wasn't until I think like his high school years where senior, junior, senior year where he started pitching. So all the wear and tear on the arm that was written about, I think by Jet Passing about what they do to these kids in these little league tournaments who are baseball pitchers and how many reps and how much they throw and they just basically throw these.

[D. Butch]

They're super specialized too from a young age. That's the thing. You start as a pitcher at a young age and you're working with your pitching guy and specialized. Do a 45,000hour warm up, cool down before every throwing session. Skiing's was in the trenches. Like catches the toughest position to play physically by far on the baseball field.

[Pat McAfee]

But it's not a thousand pitches, you know, it's just like the throwback, which is certainly something you're playing baseball and.

[Ty Schmidt]

Throwing a ball, but nowhere near.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, what the pitcher's arms are going.

[Ty Schmidt]

And he, he told us too. Like I asked him when he was here, like he was like, I was a late developer. Like, you know, because some of these kids, like that'll be. The thing is you see these high schoolers who get drafted and they're throwing like 95 to 97 in high school. And then those guys almost always within like the first three, five years of their career have to have Tommy John because it's just like your body just can't take that on at that age. But he said, like, no, I really kind of like developed once I got to LSU. Like I was. Wasn't throwing mid-90s in high school. Like I, I kind of grew into my body first and then started doing it. So he doesn't have like the, the years of wear and tear like you said.

[Pat McAfee]

God, good on you, Paul.

[Boston Connor]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Congrats, man. Talk baseball.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, they could be good.

[Ty Schmidt]

They really could be good. If they just would spend like a little bit of money and go out and get like a couple extra pieces. Like they, they could easily win the nl.

[D. Butch]

What's their payroll like?

[Ty Schmidt]

I have, I have no idea. But it's like they make a shitload of money. Like they don't. Because they don't ever spend any money. Like they could. And their best player, two of their best players are they're not making anywhere. They're not making a tenth, a twentieth of what they should be making. So like they could, if they just spent a little bit of money, they could be competitive.

[Pat McAfee]

Mark Cuban said, would you take this job if you made $200 million a year, but you had to go stay in downtown area day and people walk by just said you sucked. That was it. And then you got to go home every day, but you made 200 million bucks?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Did you take that job. Yep. Tax free.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Either way, I think that's.

[D. Butch]

I'll do it.

[Pat McAfee]

I think it's what Mark Cuban was saying basically about the ownership. And I don't know if it was 200 million or if it was 20 million or 100 million. I forget what it was, but it was a huge number. And it's like he guys hated by all Pittsburgh. He doesn't even have a ski resort. Moore Seven Springs. Thank God. I assume that's only gotten better since that entire thing. But he's raking it in and he's got an opportunity with these rookie contracts. There's like quarterback on a rookie contract, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

He's got a. He's got a chance with Jared Jones, too. The other hundo as the other guy.

[Ty Schmidt]

I was talking about. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Golly. Come on, Bucke. Why not? Bob?

[Ty Schmidt]

A lot of good guys available this off season too. They're gonna get Walker.

[AJ Hawk]

Bueller too. That'd be a great rotation.

[D. Butch]

Juan Soto, they're gonna get.

[Boston Connor]

Soto's going to Boston.

[Darius Butler]

Are you guys with. He's on tour.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. He's going everywhere but the Yankees.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, he met with the Stein runners yesterday. And one thing the Yankees typically don't do is let stars who have worn pinstripes and let those guys get away so like Steve Cohen can come in and give an extra 50 million. Like Soto knows, okay, he knows he's going to be a Yankee because he wants to be a Monument Park.

[Pat McAfee]

700 million, 650 million, they're saying, yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

600 to 650 million. So the Yankees are either going to match that or get incredible. Incredibly close to that. Like I. They know because if the Yankees lose Juan Soto and you look at their team from like two years ago, they're like an 80 win team. Like, he seriously, like was. Him and Aaron Judge were the only reason they made it to the World Series.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But whatever. They don't do what happens. It means Yankees stink.

[Ty Schmidt]

There's a. There's a good chance if they don't spend an additional like $500 million on some other guys. Yeah, there's a chance they might stink next year.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no, I don't want that to happen.

[Boston Connor]

Soto's visiting the Dodgers.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, they got the money. Yeah, they will pay. Remember you guys were supposed to have a couple of the guys and they ended up on the Dodgers.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, I know.

[Pat McAfee]

Did that work out for him or no?

[Boston Connor]

Let me check.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

The contract they gave Shohei is bullshit. You shouldn't be able to do that. Okay. Hey, why don't you just defer all the money into 20 years? So it's basically like you get the fucking best player in baseball for nothing. Like what are we.

[Shams Charania]

Well said.

[Pat McAfee]

You can do it.

[Ty Schmidt]

You can pay a dollar next year. Just give him, give him $800 million in 2075. Okay, so. So really it's like you're not spending any money on the guy. And now there's another fucking superstar phenom, Japanese pitcher, who, guess what? He wants to play for the Dodgers. He wants to go play in la. You know what, what do you know.

[Pat McAfee]

Juan Zoto better not one. No.

[Ty Schmidt]

They're saying that's a lot of, a lot of smoke and mirrors. So that's kind of just the dog doctors just fucking flex enough, they might show 2080 contract. Scott Boris ain't playing those games, so suck my dick. You're paying this guy $60 million next year and every year for the next 10 years.

[Pat McAfee]

Scott Boris is the agent, obviously he's a multibillion dollar negotiator. What a dog. Baseball is wild. Joining us now, another superstar in la. Is Juan Soto going to be joining him?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, perhaps.

[Pat McAfee]

We have no idea. Rookie out of the University of Georgia, he's a two time national champion, an absolute do. Wide receiver for the Los Angeles, had two catches for 55 yards on the game winning drive on Sunday Night Football. Ladies and gentlemen, wide receiver lad McConkey. How you doing lad?

[Lad McConkey]

I'm good, how are you?

[Pat McAfee]

I'm fantastic, man. How are you doing? I'll tell you what, your helmet, the way it sits on your head and your smile and happiness, you look like a high schooler just got like. You are a phenomenally joyful looking human being. You need to know that we preach. Appreciate you bringing that into the world, lad. Do you? Have you always been that way? Joyful, happy, like that big catch in the fourth quarter, you didn't get up and like Spike, you were like just smiling, happy, enjoying the hell out of yourself. Is that your attitude, personality?

[Lad McConkey]

I try to be when things are going good, you know, when things are going bad, not so much. But of course you make a play for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

How's Jim Harbaugh as a head coach? You come from Kirby Smart obviously at Georgia to Jim Harbaugh to Phenomena phenomenal College football coaches. 2 National Champion College football coaches. What has it been like with the transition and are there similarities that maybe we wouldn't think of?

[Lad McConkey]

Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest similarity for me is like they're both winners and I always say that, like, it looks different between the two, but they both get it done. Like, Coach Harbaugh is a great leader, you know, whether it's, you know, singing us a song or, you know, giving us some work boots for playing good or something like that. So he just keeps it fun, but. But he brings us all together and he's got us connected and playing well.

[Pat McAfee]

What was Coach Smart like to play for? Obviously, your time in Georgia was very fruitful. Multiple time national champion. It was fun to watch your team do their thing. What was that culture like? What was Coach Smart like?

[Lad McConkey]

Oh, yeah, he was awesome, but he was demanding. You know, he wanted one of things done a certain way, and you do that. So I have nothing but respect for, you know, Coach Smart, and, you know, he took a chance on me coming out of high school, so definitely want to be where I am, you know, right now without him.

[Pat McAfee]

I feel like college ball were kind of being shaped into who we are as humans. Do you feel like Georgia helped you do that? And how has it prepared you for Los Angeles, you think?

[Lad McConkey]

Yeah, 100%. I mean, I'm going against, you know, First Rounders Day in and day out in practice. Like, at Georgia, our practices were harder than the games. Like, we're gonna. We're gonna get after it. I mean, we. There's some weeks, you know, where Shell's. Monday, full pads, Tuesday, Wednesday, shells, like. Like, we're. We're getting after it. You know, as a receiver, you don't. You don't like that all the time. But no, we won, so you couldn't really complain about it too much.

[Pat McAfee]

Go ahead, A.J.

[D. Butch]

What'S Coach Harbaugh like on game day? We talk about players, like, empowering their players, and we see all the mic'd up stuff and just how, like, you mentioned, like, joyful. You see that dude, like, he just is happy you guys make plays and he seems very, very happy for you. Like, what does that do for you guys as a team?

[Lad McConkey]

Oh, yeah. I mean, him just encouraging you and, like, giving us confidence. Like, he's coming up in the locker room like, hey, let's go, let's go. Go be big. Go make a play. You see the stuff he does with Justin before the game, and then, you know, he's out there catching balls, getting pissed off when he drops one. So that energy just, you know, translates to everybody and, you know, ripples down to the whole team.

[Pat McAfee]

How's the NFL defense of war? You know, you said he take on first rounders at Georgia. You're Doing full pads every day, seemingly with Coach Smart. How much are like, defenses differing in the NFL versus in the sec? And is that something you have to understand in the offense that you guys are running right now?

[Lad McConkey]

Yeah, I mean, as far as, like, players go, it's like I feel like you just take the best player from every team and then combine it and make one team. So it's just like there's no, there's nobody that's not good in the NFL. Like you're, you know, you're playing against the, the top talent. And then, you know, they give me a lot of freedom in this offense, you know, on some routes, like choice routes, or, you know, up the seam, like I'm, you know, take it, take the middle too high or, you know, up the, up the alley. So they give me some freedom in some things and that instills confidence in me, you know, that they believe in me and let me do that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but they're only doing that because you know what the fuck they're doing. You know, that is if you're going to.

[Lad McConkey]

Yeah, I think that that probably helps a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, absolutely. So let's talk about your relationship with Herbert, because that obviously has to be good if you're doing choice routes already as a rookie. What has it been like becoming teammates and friends, I assume, with Justin Herbert?

[Lad McConkey]

Yeah, it's been great. I always say, like, you just run fast and get open, Justin's going to get you the ball. So that's what we always say. Receivers, like, you don't, you don't see this all the time. So just get open and you know he's going to give you, give you an opportunity to make a play. So just try to get on the same page with him, you know, throughout OTAS training camp. Watch him film after the game as, you know, whole offense and everything, just figuring out what he wants because, you know, he's done it at the high level. I mean, I'm just, I'm just starting, so just want to be on the same page with him.

[Pat McAfee]

You ever wear your rings around town? Those national championship rings? You ever.

[Lad McConkey]

No, no, those are, those are back in Chatsworth at my parents house. So I don't, I don't have them out here.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, well earned.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Congrats on this. Hell yeah. AP Tone has a question for you, lad. Yeah, lad.

[AJ Hawk]

Speaking of your teammate from there, I'm not sure because a lot of people don't know Brock Bowers is, is on pace to set the record for most receptions as A rookie. Not even tight end, just rookie in general. Breaking Puka's record from last year. Like, is it. Is it crazy to think about that? Like, is like. Or did you know, like, hey, Brock's going to do this when he gets to the NFL?

[Lad McConkey]

Yeah, Not. Not really. It's not crazy because some of the stuff you just see in practice and then in the games, you're like, okay, yeah, that makes sense. So to me, no surprise. But, yeah, he's, you know, he's getting targets, getting racked, scoring touchdowns. Like, you don't see a tight end doing that all the time. So he's a freak athlete.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Dancing.

[Lad McConkey]

I saw.

[Pat McAfee]

I saw that. Saw him dance. Let's talk about another teammate of yours, shall we? Go ahead, comment.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, lad. In the wide receiver room, you and Quentin Johnson obviously had a couple battles. Actually, one of them in SOFI for that national championship. Do you ever tell them, like, hey, was it Fun losing by 60 points when you're at TC MCU and I scored two touchdowns against you? Or what was that kind of first interaction like between you two?

[Lad McConkey]

Oh, yeah. Any chance I get. Any chance I get.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Lad McConkey]

If we're, if it ever comes up talking about college, I'm like, yeah. Q, don't. Don't say anything. Or DD Darius Davis. So I got, I got two of them I can. Can, can talk to. So it's all fun. I don't think they like it. It's not fun for them.

[Pat McAfee]

But have you got a chance to look back on that Georgia team? Have you guys? No. You're in the middle of it all and you're in the NFL and everything like that. You guys were dominant, brother. That was fun. You guys were a fun team to watch. I hope you guys take that in every once in a while, at least on a group text.

[Lad McConkey]

Oh, yeah, no doubt. I, you know, there's still group chat, group chat with all the guys, you know, just talking about it, so. And then some guys are still playing. I'm gonna, you know, talking to them. So I try to watch them as much as I can. You know, we have meetings with a time difference. Like, most of the time we're out during their games, but, I mean, as soon as we walk out, I'm trying to. Trying to stay locked in and see what they're doing.

[Pat McAfee]

Huge win against Tennessee this past weekend. Athens was awesome. I got a chance to be down there. What an electrifying atmosphere. That was a must win land. Must window, for sure.

[Lad McConkey]

So, yeah, I mean, I feel like they didn't they didn't win that one. I mean, there was no shot getting in, so.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, they were. Which they were not happy about either. They were like, come play our schedule and then talk about the win losses, which is a whole nother thing that we've beat to death today, that campus. So the stadium is kind of down in a hill. Right. And then you guys got university here. University where? I'm trying to figure out where the hell everything was because. So is that stadium on campus or not on. It's in between two campuses. Can you explain that for me a little bit?

[Lad McConkey]

I mean, I guess it's. Yeah, it's like right there on campus. I guess you're like.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I mean, class, what are we talking about?

[Lad McConkey]

No, no, I graduated. I got.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, congratulations. What was the major? What's the major?

[Lad McConkey]

Finance.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you're gonna be a billionaire.

[Lad McConkey]

That's the plan. I'll take it. I heard y'all talking about baseball, so if we can get some of that baseball money.

[Pat McAfee]

Can you hit baseball money?

[Lad McConkey]

No, probably not anymore.

[Pat McAfee]

Can you throw? Can we throw 102?

[Darius Butler]

I could throw.

[Lad McConkey]

No, I can't throw 102 back.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, well, I'll tell you what. You have two receptions for 55 yards on game winning drives like every single week. I think that money's going to go absolutely, absolutely bananas on that point. D bot has a question for you, lad.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. To have those big time catching, those big time moments, obviously the quarterback got to trust you. Talked about your teammate Brock Bowers and how dynamic he's been as a rookie. What's kind of been your study habits? What have you found that that worked for you up until this point in your obviously young NFL career?

[Lad McConkey]

Yeah, my biggest thing is, like, when we get the game plan, like, I want to know, like, exactly what I'm doing. Like, I want to hear the formation and be like, okay, I know, I know what play that is. I don't want to be, you know, thinking about what route I have when I line up. So just being dialed in on that. And then it's all about watching, you know, watching them watching their DBs, seeing, well, you know, what release I'm going to hit on this db, that db, how they play at the top of the route, how they play the ball if they're more grabby or what. So that's kind of the biggest things for me is locking in on the game plan first and foremost, knowing exactly what I'm going to do. And then, you know, watching and studying.

[Pat McAfee]

Dbs, man, the film becomes the wax weapon for everybody. I'm excited to watch your finance brain break that entire thing down. I assume there was one of these. Ty has a question for you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, lad, you mentioned, obviously, Georgia, you're going against first round picks all the time, but have you had a welcome to the NFL moment yet? Whether it's like getting just blasted by a guy or some guy who you don't really know and be like, oh, this guy is really good. Like, have you. Have you had any of those moments yet? Obviously you guys have been super successful so far this year.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't.

[Lad McConkey]

I don't know if there's like a specific one. I mean, maybe like, first game, I think my first catch, like, I think it was like a little shallow route and I caught it and he hit me within, like, literally right when I caught it. Okay. Yeah, they closed a little bit faster.

[Pat McAfee]

Everybody's everywhere all the time. Got it. Yeah, but you figured it out, lad. You have seemingly figured out. How about around the facility? Derwin James just roaming around. Jim Harbaugh shirtless in a weight room. Justin Herbert's doing whatever. How is he behind closed doors? Justin Herbert, I assume he's hilarious because the way he acts with the media, but is there any behind the scenes moments or conversations that make you go, holy, I'm in the NFL right now. I'm one of the guys.

[Lad McConkey]

I mean, I guess if you, you know, listen and just like, hear some of those guys talk. Like, I feel like when K. Mac got up and talked to us, I can't remember if it was like training camp for OTAs, and I was like, dang, me and him are on. Like, we're on the same team. Like, we're playing the same sport right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Hell, yeah.

[Lad McConkey]

So just stuff like that. But yeah, I mean, and then Justin, he's a. He's an awesome dude. So, you know, you can count on him. Talk to him, whatever you need. But you know that. That flips, that switch flips and he, you know, turns into ultimate competitor mode.

[Pat McAfee]

Lad, you're a dog, buddy. Congratulations on all the success. Good luck the rest of the way here for the Chargers. And thank you for taking time out of your schedule.

[Lad McConkey]

Heck, yeah, I appreciate it. Go dogs.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, hold on. Question. I've been told by older dogs and by the Internet, what's that coming down the track? Then I think there is an entire generation, who's that coming down the track? And then if I say, who's that coming down the track? I have a bunch of people telling me, I don't know ball and I need to be off college game day, because it's not. It's. What's that coming? Do you know the answer to what that is? Do you? And is there a controversy?

[Lad McConkey]

So, growing up, I was not a Georgia fan. So that was not something I grew up saying. But I always assumed, you know what? I don't want people to be mad at me, but I assumed it was, who's that coming down the track? But then it was. I don't know. So I don't think it. I don't think it's that big of a difference.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, good. I appreciate that. Two time national champion for the Georgia Bulldogs. Damn good dog lab. And cocky, ladies and gentlemen. Hell, yeah. I'm telling you, it's. It's a thing.

[D. Butch]

Is it generational? Is it like an age thing or. When people think one thing, I think.

[Pat McAfee]

Whenever it was potentially started, I tried to look into it because the amount of, like, noise that it gets, like, thrown at me, like, it gets. It's a lot. It's a lot like, Jesus Christ. Because, like, literally, the person that told me, he's like, they'll go with you. You gotta call the dog. They're gonna love it. Thank you for doing it. You know, the whole thing, whenever they're teaching to me. And this one of the nicest people that was from Georgia to me, because if you do recall, David Pollock was on a program. He's like, greatest Georgia Bulldog of all time, defensive side. And then I joined program alongside Pollock. And then people, I think me think I.

[Ty Schmidt]

You made the decision.

[Pat McAfee]

I make a decision. He's no longer a part of game day. So I get like, these people fucking hate me, you know, for this entire thing, because I am seemingly taking the place of a damn good dog who I am a massive fan of. Actually was invited to go to his son's high school football game last Friday. Wasn't able to do it because of a schedule commitment and where it was, but was hoping it was planning on going and watching and supporting the entire thing. It's like that whole thing. So I had a Georgia Bulldog fan that was, like, willing to talk to me, which was. That was very nice of them. And I'm like, what's the. You know, what's the. And they start saying it, and it's a long one, you know, That's a pretty long one.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, very.

[Pat McAfee]

And as soon as I heard drunk, obnoxious Georgia fan in my head, I was like, this is the greatest. This is the greatest one. You guys got the Greatest one. This is entire. So I do it first time, and I think I. I say what's or who's? I forget which one it was. And then immediately there was, like, you. And I thought, okay, I must have got it wrong. Wrong. I must have got it wrong. So the next time I do it, switch it the other one. Because brain actually. Okay. If. For the whole memory thing. Brain actually. Okay. So somebody tells me something's like, duly noted for the next time. I am going to try to do that. So I do the next one and boom, bang, pow. And it's like other stuff. I think you guys got a little going. I don't know if you guys know, but I think there is a little. Is it what's or who's? And then I Google it. Which has not been accurate. AI has not been accurate on things. Things. And it's like, when it was founded, it was originally founded as a what's. Because it's a mean machine, which is a thing coming down the track. So it's a what. But then the who's became what. It's like, so what's the right answer?

[Boston Connor]

Wow. Both.

[Darius Butler]

Brock didn't know.

[Pat McAfee]

Brock. Give me both answers. I think.

[Darius Butler]

Come on.

[Pat McAfee]

Crap. I'll tell you what. I like where we're headed with these things. Having all the answers, but they got to be right. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Every time.

[Pat McAfee]

Need you to be right. Yeah. Hey, listen, if I'm going to be acting as if you're going to be right every time, I'm going to need you to be right every time. And then they're going to fire back just like a human would. Well, actually, the thing about your question was you didn't give me a proper amount of specific. Those college chants, though. That's the best one.

[Boston Connor]

The Georgia for sure. Lsu. Not really a chant, though.

[Pat McAfee]

It's quick. Yeah, certainly. You know, it's like the barking. Exactly. Certainly gets your attention on the entire thing. Yeah.

[D. Butch]

How do those gain traction, like, initially?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know. Like that one. I know. There's what. Once again, there's a generation of LSU Tigers fans that are not happy that that is the thing. Sure.

[Boston Connor]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

But I would just like to let them know that I've done a focus group study research project, and it is the thing. Big time. It is a Pavlov's Dogs effect, actually. If you say, hey, no, they'll just immediately right back. So I hate to break to you. I think it's a thing.

[Boston Connor]

It ain't going any.

[D. Butch]

Not leaving.

[Boston Connor]

It is not leaving just like the tiger.

[Pat McAfee]

I think it's a thing now. Governor J. Landry jry. With that tiger, that thing no longer has an opportunity to be at the Mercedes Benz Stadium.

[AJ Hawk]

No, it doesn't.

[D. Butch]

Damn.

[Pat McAfee]

LSU wanted another one. Weren't supposed too. Yep. Lost another one in Florida. Get that tiger back into the sanctuary. Those people are awesome. I hope they get a winner again.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, me too.

[Pat McAfee]

I hope the people of Louisiana get a winner again. Like a full on.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Wh. I couldn't even imagine what it was like when Joey Burrow was done. When they were just beating the. Out of people. Yeah. And it was like I couldn't even imagine what. Because the way Saban and the people that I got to meet at the dinner the night before down there, the way they talk about those fans, it's like. Yeah, they love them talking. I mean, and it's early.

[Boston Connor]

They get after it.

[Pat McAfee]

Not just on game day. I mean, they're prepping for game day. I guess, like Thursday this thing's starting.

[D. Butch]

They know. They know how to do it. Like they have a great time. Like it's. It's fun being on those college campuses. Like, especially in the South. Like they. They are all going towards one goal. Like, hey, we are here to support our team and we're gonna have a great time while we do it.

[Pat McAfee]

But don't abuse that now because you start losing, we all still rally together. But it'll be about. Yep.

[Boston Connor]

You that one guy kind of.

[Ty Schmidt]

Kind of starting a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

It'S there buyout numbers. I've been seeing it in my pop up in my algo.

[Pat McAfee]

I would never in a million years want to be a college football head coach. Jeez, never.

[D. Butch]

Even if you win at all, you got to rebuild somehow and do it again in like. And if you gotta continue to bring in the money, you gotta continue to bring in this new people every year. Like there's not a whole lot I don't know. And you have to develop at the same time.

[Pat McAfee]

It is the ultimate. What have you done for me lately? Now I guess there's a couple places where it's not like you think about Mac Brown. Mac Brown did a lot for the unc. Then he did a lot for Texas. Now he's back at UNC in the last few years. You know, I think you would say has been great. They've kind of given them some leniency. Feels like North Carolina has given him some leniency. There are some of those places. James Franklin, you know, he's had a job for a very Long time without really winning the highest of high levels. But there is a reality that like. Yeah, the only games he loses to are like the wagons. So he's a damn good coach. We just gonna let him go? So there are some places I think.

[Darius Butler]

That kind of dabo.

[Pat McAfee]

Kind of.

[Darius Butler]

It's been two years. I mean, he had a run they.

[Pat McAfee]

Make, but I'm saying they're calling for him too. Oh yeah. You don't have any. You're like a punter or kicker, but you're getting paid a ton of money. Yeah. And you have obviously all the say. And you are the reason. You are. You have more say in that than any other place in football. The head coaches, the recruiting, it's your people, the deals. Now it's going to be your deals, the coaches that are running the things, your hires, it's your. So it's obviously an incredible, incredible opportunity and a hell of an honor. But if you stink, it's also all.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, all on you.

[Pat McAfee]

All on you. And the buyouts are obviously spectacular. I mean, that you become a professional golfer if you suck good, suck bad enough, but you're good at one point to get a big deal. But it's like those fans expect it every year. I mean, over there, Columbus, I couldn't even dabo.

[AJ Hawk]

I just looked. Dabo had 12 straight years of 10 plus wins, four national championship appearances, two national champions championships. And then the last two years have not been. I mean, he's eight and two right now, but they're like, that's crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

That's college ball. Ryan Day.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

If you were to pull up his crazy.

[Boston Connor]

He's lost like four games.

[Pat McAfee]

It is. He loses this weekend place, you're gonna burn. So you're telling me they'll fire him on the spot? You're telling me Ohio State lost to Oregon and Indiana, that's who we're losing to now? Not on my watch.

[Boston Connor]

It might shoot him.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what people in Ohio will say.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

They'll have no idea that Oregon is. Hey, everything Ohio State has, Oregon has. And also potentially a little bit more with a phone call. Hey, Uncle Phil, I think, you know, I think there is a chance.

[Ty Schmidt]

Can't beat Indiana by like 7 either. Like they need to win by 3 touchdowns. Otherwise it's gonna be like we fucking beat Indiana by a field goal. Are you kidding me?

[D. Butch]

This is not the Indiana we are used to.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but Ohio people are okay. I don't know.

[D. Butch]

I know. Believe me, I'm all for it. Well, it's, you know, The. Yeah, the highs and lows, I guess. Not risk, reward. But, yeah, the great. The expectations are what you want, but, man, it's tough being in it.

[Pat McAfee]

I think AJ for the last few weeks has been trying to say, like, Indiana's not sneaking up on anybody. Now. India people know Indiana's good now because he's been trying to set the tone for this particular week. That is what he's been trying to do. But I assume I'm not there. You are. I will be on Friday. I wait to get over there. I assume that the people of Ohio State don't want to hear it. No. About how good Indiana has become.

[Ty Schmidt]

When was the last time Indiana beat iu? Or I mean, Indiana beat Ohio State?

[Pat McAfee]

Never remember.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Corso story.

[Ty Schmidt]

Never beat them before. Like, what they better win by four touchdowns?

[D. Butch]

Never.

[Pat McAfee]

I guess I did know Ohio State fans.

[AJ Hawk]

Maybe even 88.

[Pat McAfee]

1988. 37 years ago.

[Darius Butler]

Good year.

[Pat McAfee]

Not as good as 1987. Or 86 or 85. 85. Kind of banger. Banger kind of crop.

[AJ Hawk]

80 was a great year.

[Pat McAfee]

India created a lot of great people. 87 came through, though. Just want everybody know that. 86 pretty good. 86 was bad. 86 wasn't bad. What was 85? Just a good year.

[Darius Butler]

The beers from the Super Bowl.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Super bowl shuffle.

[Pat McAfee]

Chicago people loved 85. Thank God north left. Canada created something in 1985. God, how lucky are we? And that's what. That's what Ohio State fans should think if they get any win against Indiana this weekend. Because this Indiana team's good. Boy, man, it was close against Northwestern for a little bit, right? Wasn't it?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. Northwest quarter or whatever.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Like a quarter. Yeah, I think it was like a quarter. Ohio State has kind of started slow all year. It happened against Penn State as well. Yeah, we're there. Pick six.

[D. Butch]

Pick six. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. The whole thing. Indiana.

[Shams Charania]

So what if IU keeps it close?

[Pat McAfee]

Say it's like tied at half and then they lose by three touchdowns.

[AJ Hawk]

I think they're good then.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Shams Charania]

Do you know what I mean? I think if IU keeps it close.

[Pat McAfee]

In the first half, I think they're good.

[AJ Hawk]

I agree.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But what if Indiana wins? What if.

[Boston Connor]

I mean, it's hard to imagine them dropping eight spots.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I wonder where they'll be ranked tonight. Yeah. Because he came off a buy, so they ain't doing.

[D. Butch]

Didn't Dan Mullen had them ranked above Ohio State Right. In his rankings.

[Pat McAfee]

He said there's been a lot of teams that have been lucky through their Schedule and nobody's really talking about. He's like Texas, Penn State and he really want to dive in. How about this? And then he also said that there's no easy schedule in the sec, but put Texas in there because Texas in her first year in the sec. So then, you know, it's. There's just so much shit. AJ It's a never ending circle of what about. What about what about what about with different accents, you know, you have a southern accent saying it and then you got fucking Ohio saying it. Then like literally it just never ends about what about what about what about. Nobody has been talking about that Texas schedule though in Arkansas played him close.

[AJ Hawk]

I, I saw someone talking about camera who was yesterday that said, hey, if Texas loses A and M, there's a good chance they're out of the playoffs.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep, I think so too.

[AJ Hawk]

Because of that schedule.

[Pat McAfee]

Texas A and M too. Mike Yoko had a. I don't think it's a Freudian.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Freudian slip.

[Pat McAfee]

Freudian slip. Giving an answer about not thinking this game against Auburn at Auburn is a, is a trap game or they're looking over it because Texas is their massive rivalry and Texas doesn't like Texas A and M either. There's a lot of things like in Texas, like how do you think is a Texas A and M thing? You say it to Texas folks, they get like, shoot pissed. Everybody knows like Texas, Texas, Oklahoma is anything but. I think Texas, Texas A and M, if you were to look back in time, massive rivalry in the state of Texas or whatever. So that being worth something like very, very important in this first year in the sec at the last game of the season. It's a natural question to ask Mike Elko, like, are you overlooking Auburn this weekend? Because that's coming to at Texas A and M. And he gave this like 35 second answer about like where the team is, what we got to focus on, where we want to go. And then he said, so it's, it's not that hard to make sure we have like a sole focus on Texas. I mean literally. And it was like, oh no. Oh no. I hope that's not the case because that Mike Elko story down Texas A and M is awesome too. Everybody's talking about Kurt Cnetti obviously in Indiana, first year doing what he's doing, certainly amazing. Texas A and M though, after that Jimbo Fisher, 70, 50, whatever it was, huge million buyout and everything they got going in there. Then opening week, we're down there pretty much they lose to Notre Dame. So the whole the eyes of the world were on Texas A and M M very early in the development of his program. And then they lose. And then all of a sudden, it's like they're dead. They got to be. And it's like. Yeah, they figure it out.

[Boston Connor]

Claw back.

[Pat McAfee]

They play good football, and they're all the way back in it. It's. College football is awesome. I'm excited for.

[AJ Hawk]

While we're on it. I made a mistake. That army uniform is for the Navy game. It's not for this weekend.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, no.

[Ty Schmidt]

They got no shot then.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. And Notre Dame also. Also has sick jerseys for this weekend.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no.

[D. Butch]

What are they?

[Ty Schmidt]

They're like clover series.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Shams Charania]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

They're like light blue in the. Or not light blue.

[AJ Hawk]

Like a grayish blue.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, grayish blue. There it is. And they have, like, very gold, shiny numbers.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no.

[Boston Connor]

It's sweet.

[Pat McAfee]

I thought that was going to be the. Because this is a big one for Notre Dame. Oh, yeah, huge. This is a big one for Notre Dame, obviously. Massive for army, too.

[AJ Hawk]

Gotta win.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, it'll be a lot of.

[Boston Connor]

Big for both of people from West Point going there stadium, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah. This Bomber Daily.

[D. Butch]

Stiff arms.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, my God.

[Pat McAfee]

Give me that.

[D. Butch]

So why can a running back or a quarterback put hands. Hands to the face, but if a defender can't.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you talking about?

[Darius Butler]

Just can't grab it.

[D. Butch]

You can stiff ar. Can I st. Can I open hand, punch you in the face mask to.

[Pat McAfee]

Take you down if you get an interception?

[Boston Connor]

Or Barnett caught up flag yesterday on that field goal.

[Pat McAfee]

Wait until you see this Ram truck tomorrow. Got a Ram truck tomorrow. Offensive player lowering helmet. Just straight down like this.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Right through somebody. No call, so it's fair. Rest. Didn't call. So it's what?

[Darius Butler]

Player safety.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Didn't get called.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you defenders gotta go both ways.

[Darius Butler]

I mean, I do hate seeing these fines coming out for these running backs, like, you know, a week, two weeks later, getting fined 20 grand for running a dude over.

[AJ Hawk]

But doesn't it feel like.

[Pat McAfee]

Doesn't it feel like the NFL is kind of sorry, Tone. Doesn't it feel like the NFL is kind of less fine this year?

[D. Butch]

I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

I thought so.

[D. Butch]

Are those.

[Pat McAfee]

I think so.

[Ty Schmidt]

I feel like I've seen Jordy Nelson rescind a couple fights.

[AJ Hawk]

I saw his name on. I was like, jordy's doing that?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I feel like it's less finy this year. I might be wrong, but it feels like in years past, there's always like a Point of emphasis. And then those fines we hear about each week, it feels like we don't hear about that many fines. I think they release them on Saturday night and no one sees them. So. Smart. Because Brian Branch has $1 billion in fines. Okay, okay. So maybe we're. We are. Trey Lance got fine. Trey Lance got fined for I think a tackle or lowering his head on a run. Like there are a lot of people are getting fine. I think a week ago.

[Boston Connor]

Timing.

[AJ Hawk]

A week ago, Jordan Nelson rescinded a fine on Roquan for the injury to Chris. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Upon appeal, NFL hearing officer Jordy Nelson, who also operates as an actual rancher, has rescinded the 16,883fine levied against Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith. The unnecessary roughness, just getting his ankle.

[AJ Hawk]

That tweet was one week ago and that injury was what, four weeks ago?

[Pat McAfee]

So. Yeah, it takes court of appeals.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

So Tom Pellisero will tweet them all out on Saturday night. Just keep your eyes on that. Okay. So it used to be what, Friday news dumps used to be a thing. Now with the way the Internet works, it's like you gotta find a dead time on the Internet.

[Darius Butler]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Friday news is actually. Yeah. Good. Like there's a good. You learn a lot of people are on their phones after work, heading into the weekend, spending a Friday night. It's like when are the most amount of people kind of checked out? Saturday night. Let's 45 Saturday night.

[Boston Connor]

Absolutely.

[Pat McAfee]

What's. Hey, what score that get? Wait until this game gets third quarter. Third. Fourth quarter. Things get tight. If it start to be a blowout though, need to drop a second quarter in this entire thing.

[AJ Hawk]

They just found one, Tom. Saturday at 405pm which is, you know, right in the middle of college football.

[Pat McAfee]

Not a bad play there. Four or five, though. Still early. We should have caught that. That. We should have got that. But it is hard whenever you got four games happening at the same time. I just wouldn't look. Pel.

[Shams Charania]

Had three on Saturday.

[Pat McAfee]

Like a machine gun. We just. I don't know how we're missing these, but that's still happening. Had a baby, Tom. We appreciate you, man.

[Boston Connor]

Arrow.

[Pat McAfee]

And he'll say I. I get them whenever I get them uploads at the right time.

[AJ Hawk]

During the middle of college football.

[D. Butch]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Put out now.

[Pat McAfee]

Lad looks like just a happy young.

[Darius Butler]

He does good.

[Boston Connor]

Filthy.

[Pat McAfee]

So good.

[Darius Butler]

So good. Like gets open smart. You know, young guys. Usually it's. It's a pro. You know, it takes a while to figure out NFL coverages, adjustments like you already run an option route. He's obviously playing at Georgia. You know is going to prepare him for me. He's good.

[Pat McAfee]

Him running option routes as a rookie is pretty crazy.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Because him and Herbert have to see the defense the exact same. That's basically what that means. And he's got a finance brand. He's wearing khakis down there.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, for sure.

[Ty Schmidt]

A lot of khaki boat shoes.

[Pat McAfee]

They got the. The. What are the sunglasses Croes. I wonder.

[Boston Connor]

Stetson.

[AJ Hawk]

We're still raising hell out there in Athens.

[Boston Connor]

Oh yeah. Scott.

[AJ Hawk]

Brother cuz Stetson still. Is he back at the Rams?

[Pat McAfee]

Yes.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Him and them and LA running around together.

[Pat McAfee]

Stetson took a year off. Said I need a break. Did you see what the I just did in Athens? I need. He came back. We're happy for him.

[Boston Connor]

Absolutely.

[Pat McAfee]

There you go, Stetson. That's a damn good dog there. Football is fantastic. That's AJ Hawk. He's been a champion in college and at the professional level of football. The toxic tables here at Boston. Connor and at Ty Schmidt, 1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys AP. Tony, you look cool. Thank you.

[AJ Hawk]

Appreciate it.

[Pat McAfee]

You look really cool.

[AJ Hawk]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

What are those types of tones called earthy tones?

[Ty Schmidt]

Almost like a pastel even.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Cowboy if you will.

[Pat McAfee]

Nice cowboy hat on there too. Goes very well. You look fantastic. Nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butler's here.

[Darius Butler]

Looking very cool.

[Pat McAfee]

Very cool. Are those earthy in there too?

[Boston Connor]

That's like Cookie Monster ice cream.

[Darius Butler]

It is Cookie Monster ice cream. Mint chocolate chip. Are you sure?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Like what's that? What's that flavor at Friendlies.

[Pat McAfee]

I used to have friendlies. Yeah. I don't know if I've done the Friendly Monster.

[Darius Butler]

That's a Northeast.

[Pat McAfee]

You've never done Maybe like British's Fresh is Big boy.

[Boston Connor]

Sounds like you guys have never.

[D. Butch]

Is that friendly?

[Pat McAfee]

Friendlies is like a Dairy Queen or a Cold Stone.

[Boston Connor]

No, friendlies is more like Ellie's. Your family. When you go to friendlies it's like Culver's. Okay. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

So it's like Ellie's.

[Pat McAfee]

It's like a Culver's. You got burgers.

[Boston Connor]

It's not like Culver's. Friendlies. I mean I'd say It's like the 99, but you guys haven't been there either. Friendlies is more so.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Monster Matt.

[Pat McAfee]

Sunday.

[Boston Connor]

There it is.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, monster.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, that is very. That is a monster mask. Sunday. Not the Cookie Monster.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, yeah. I it up.

[AJ Hawk]

Cookie Monster is cookie dough and Oreo.

[Pat McAfee]

Together.

[AJ Hawk]

It is delightful.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Well, this Monster Mash Sunday looks delightful. Obviously. Can't wait to get up to friendly sometimes in the northeast.

[Boston Connor]

Dude, we gotta get to friendlies. We should go right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Yeah. You know what? It. Here we go.

[Boston Connor]

Let's go.

[Darius Butler]

This.

[Boston Connor]

It's so good. Seriously, Friendlies is all AJ you have.

[Pat McAfee]

No idea, obviously, what just happened at the Thunderdome. There was a purging of a sweet straw over there, man, and it needed to happen.

[D. Butch]

The Oreo deals his little Oreo.

[Pat McAfee]

Way before the Oreos, brother.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

This was a Bruce Brown special. Open the drawer up, you know, start going through there, and there's just crap filling up the drawer. It's crap. It's filling up the drawer. These are all the things, things that come alongside the combo packages of the good snacks, you know, so, like, you get. You get something good, and then it's a combo pack because it's a lot of them. So you have to buy a three pack of this thing. One of them's great. The second one's okay. The third one crop. But the third one gets dumped in there, takes up space. So now it appears as if there's a bunch of good things in there. There isn't. There's crop in there. Did you figure out who brought the Japanese Skittles? No. Japanese Skittles was quite a delightful. I will say for the time. It was never going to get run back, but it was good. The grandma's cookies, vanilla cream wafers. Certainly the worst. That the grandma so bad. The creation.

[Boston Connor]

What about the Nutella sticks? Glad that we got those.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know how those ended up in there. I want to let you know, I did not touch or have anything. Those are gone.

[Ty Schmidt]

See ya.

[Pat McAfee]

The Grandma's cookies, the vanilla cream ones, because it was pretty deep and shit. So we got a bunch of shit. There's levels, you know, you can. You can stick your hand down in there. It's kind of fun. It's like a ball.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You see your hand down in there, it's like call machine. Yeah. Bingo. There's more down there underneath. So there's a Grandma's cookies, vanilla cream at the top. And I go, who eat? Does anybody eat these? This thing takes up space. Bruce Brown's come waltzing over, and this is a bag. This is a bag of them. So it takes up a pretty amount of. A good amount of space in this entire thing. So. All right. And Bruce picks it up and he has one. Probably his first one he's ever had. Yeah. Without A doubt. Then we start going through there. It's like there's a lot of crap. It's in here. And then all of a sudden I find 15 of those grandma cookies, vanilla cream. That's the entire box that came in. Nobody has eaten one of those. Okay. But they're all diet, so Bruce just completely made it up that he likes. He is not.

[D. Butch]

No, I do, I do love them. I'm on a diet, you know, trying.

[Pat McAfee]

To drop a couple. Naturally. We're proud of you for that. Congratulations for that. But yeah, we just had an entire office situation over there, you know, because somebody goes, I love those things. There's clear evidence.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's 60 fucking bags of cookies over there that haven't been touched in months. It's. It's, it's ridiculous.

[Pat McAfee]

But they're taking up space. Yeah, yeah. Now we cleared that out so we can get more in there.

[Boston Connor]

You know, it didn't take up space.

[Pat McAfee]

They did. It was plastic too. So it stabbed.

[Boston Connor]

You took up, took up space in people's stomachs.

[Pat McAfee]

No, just, just whenever in this, at this stage. It was at this stage, the leftover stage is when people had the Oreos.

[Boston Connor]

Well, we've been leftover stages for quite some time.

[Pat McAfee]

I do wonder how all the good stuff eliminate gets eliminated so quickly over there.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, well, it's because there is so much crop in there. So it's like finding a diamond in the rough. Every time you go in there it's like, oh well, I see the grandma's cookies are staring me right in the face because that's all that's in there.

[Boston Connor]

Seemingly Oreo sticks would be thriving right now. That's all I, that's all I know.

[Pat McAfee]

I think right now. No, there's the Oreos. There's actual Oreos.

[Ty Schmidt]

And Oreos they get buried though. Cuz they're the little.

[Pat McAfee]

And then.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, they're the GR cookies.

[Pat McAfee]

Is the Reese's one you got. Yeah. That goes by like a day. The Reese's Ch.

[D. Butch]

Who bought the cookies? Who bought the scrubby cookies.

[Pat McAfee]

So the grandma.

[D. Butch]

The grandma's grandma's cookies that nobody likes, that Bruce claims to like, they came.

[Pat McAfee]

In a 60 combo bag. 15. 15.

[D. Butch]

You just can't even put those in there. You got to put those and set those aside. Donate.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a whole another. That's a whole nother conversation.

[D. Butch]

You can't just be dumping everything in there. You can't just willy nilly dump thing in that.

[Pat McAfee]

But we also don't need the person that's potentially filling that drawer to start thinking that they're the ones deciding what's going in and what's not going in. So that is a. That is a whole. You know, that's a whole situation. All of it. It's just a college ball. It is.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That Nutella setup is absolutely criminal. I don't know. There's no reason for that. No.

[Boston Connor]

Those getting in, I believe that was the most ridiculously.

[Pat McAfee]

Nobody chose the Nutella. One person brought those in for themselves that wasn't chosen by the office. I think somebody ordered those. When the Oreo sticks were voted off the island. Who might be the same guy who liked the grandma's cookies. How does talk have any say in ordering anything? The new Telesticks was a mistake I made. Have suggested them during the brainstorm.

[Boston Connor]

This is so.

[D. Butch]

And.

[Darius Butler]

And if I could go back, I.

[Boston Connor]

Would explain how mad I am right now.

[Pat McAfee]

You should. You should be. Listen, I didn't know that was order. Hey, listen, let me promise you something, con man. No sticks are ever making it in that drawer again. Okay? I want to let you know.

[Boston Connor]

We'll see.

[Pat McAfee]

Nobody likes.

[Boston Connor]

We'll see.

[Pat McAfee]

Nobody likes them. I don't like the plastic thing on the side either, but there's some good in there.

[Ty Schmidt]

There is some good.

[Pat McAfee]

You just got to find it. And that's what the NFL season is, isn't it? Yeah. You know, if you really think about it. And there's been an addition of a man into the NFL this year that is bringing good shit all the time. That's Jim Horrible. Now, on a complete opposite end of the spectrum, there's also a guy that seemingly every time he's doing an interview, it is. It is comedy. Not for him, obviously. Would never want to be in his position. The head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars spoke to the media a couple different times over the last few weeks and it has been must watch because. Because we all understand the situation that they're in. He got asked a couple different questions. First one, play calling duties. Here's Doug Peterson of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Is play calling something that is up for potential change that you're evaluating right now? Gosh, I really wish to tell you the truth. Everything, let's put it this way, everything's on the tip. A lot of times after those tough losses. God, I wish I could tell you the truth. Yeah, everything's on table. Okay, well, how about this year the expectations were so high because the owner of the team came out and actually said, this is the best team of all time. Do you remember that? Doug Peterson, who told Shaw that this.

[Shams Charania]

Was the best team ever assembled.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, I can't imagine that.

[Boston Connor]

He.

[Ty Schmidt]

Was decided that on his.

[D. Butch]

Oh, no.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't. I don't know. I'm not privy to those conversations that Shot has or who's. Who's he talking? Yeah, I. I just. I don't know. I can't answer that.

[Ty Schmidt]

Was it you?

[Pat McAfee]

No, no.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, God, no.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's a lot of play this time of year.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, No, I get it. I get it. I mean, okay, yeah, we talk.

[Boston Connor]

We.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, no, we talk a lot.

[Boston Connor]

I mean, we.

[Pat McAfee]

Pre preseason off season. I mean, going into the season, you got high expectations obviously for your football team, as you should. Everybody does. Start of camp, start of the regular season and you know, rightfully so. Yeah, but I. No, no, no. Well, how come you didn't come out and say that's not true? What am I supposed to say? Because I think Shot actually said that in a team meeting and it was filmed and then was released. I think is where the quote come. He said on paper, this is like the best roster, the best team we've ever had. I think so. Is Doug Peterson supposed to come out and go, no, no. These guys actually kind of smart. Have you, have you taken a look at some of our position groups? Like there's once that's set out there and I don't know if it was Shot, the owner trying to motivate and inspire his team and tell everybody that he believes in them and everything like that, but once that said, the head coach can't come and be like, that's not true. He's wrong. Yeah, that's all right. So Doug Peterson, I think he is in a situation that he understands. He's been around football in the NFL a long ass time and I'll be excited to get his take on all this, but obviously it's not working and that's not a good position to be in when you're in front of a microphone. Aj.

[D. Butch]

No, I love how he. He really pauses to think about his answer. Like he's not just about. Like, I love the 5 second just silence before he realizes what I. What can I possibly say up here? Like I'm in a. What a tough spot. Who goes? Who goes and fixes all that? How does it work? What's the. What's the future look like in Jacksonville?

[Boston Connor]

Doom and gloom.

[Pat McAfee]

I wish I could tell you. No, no. God, no. Everything's on table. Everything you saw, thought the through head, two mouth, two lips, swallowed right back down.

[Darius Butler]

Yep, yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Everything's on table. Everything's on table. Holy hell. Good luck, Jags fans.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, boy. Yeah, I love. I love.

[D. Butch]

Duh.

[Darius Butler]

I think he's a good ball.

[Pat McAfee]

Me too.

[Darius Butler]

But I mean, I do, too.

[Boston Connor]

He's a man.

[Darius Butler]

I wouldn't say, you know, he's got Mac Jones as quarterback right now. I wouldn't say he's checked out, but Pro Bowler boy, I mean, I'm sure he was. He's gotten that question a few times this year about the play call. And he just seemed like that was the first time he heard it, like, ah, I wish I could.

[D. Butch]

I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I think he was going to, potentially, because there had been times in the past where he's asked that question where he got a little snippy. Yes, he did. You know, a little attitude, pissed. I think he was. Maybe there is a chance that he was gonna say, I wish I could reiterate this to you again that, you know, like, through that entire thing, I didn't know if there's a chance. Maybe he's going in an angry route. Maybe he was going in a funny route. You know, maybe he was. Maybe he was just about to spill the guts on everything. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe he was about to spill. We have no idea because, boy, it got right here. And then that thing went back inside. Doug, we can't wait to hear it. Yeah. We cannot wait to hear it, Doug. Thanks.

[Boston Connor]

I mean, just the look that he gave when the. The question was first being proposed, like, who told Sean that this was the best team? And he just.

[D. Butch]

Good follow up by that guy.

[Boston Connor]

Me. You think I said that?

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Boston Connor]

Holy fuck.

[D. Butch]

No way.

[Pat McAfee]

We talked before the season. We talked about off season. You know, he's as he should. As he should to the entire thing. And then now that makes you think about his relationship with Trent Balki. Yeah. You know, because he puts a roster together.

[Darius Butler]

It was a good one on paper. You know, you got. You got Kurt, you got Ingram, who's having some career years, tight ends. Brian Thomas Jr. You draft him, you know, you felt good. Gabe Davis, you know, etn.

[Pat McAfee]

Trevor Lawrence, who was playing good, just paid him 55.

[Darius Butler]

Morris. Morris. So you had pieces, defense, you know, Walker, what's. Josh.

[Boston Connor]

Josh.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. Tyson camp Campbell played your corner. So on paper, I mean.

[Boston Connor]

I mean, they're middle linebacker. Last year we found out. Or at least I found out.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah.

[Boston Connor]

That their middle linebacker is three straight years.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you know who's leading the league in tackles now?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, EJ Speed.

[Pat McAfee]

No, it's not here Frank. Oh, your friend. That's Indianapolis Colts. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Damn right. 5 and 6.

[D. Butch]

Nice.

[Pat McAfee]

We have graphic, please.

[Darius Butler]

Damn right.

[Pat McAfee]

5 and 6. A good place to be.

[Boston Connor]

Is it?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we're on a graphic, brother. Okay. Listen, sir, it would be great to be in the top seven right now, but in the hunt is exactly where we want to be. With everything that took place currently in the playoffs of where we sit, you know, seven teams make it in a super wild card weekend and it is what it become. That 7 slot is seemingly going to be up for grabs pretty heavily. Ravens obviously running. They are fresh off a loss. Do they bounce back and continue to run up the win column? Potentially. The Chargers, we all believe they're going to continue to run up that first number in that record. Texans, they seemingly with Nico Collins back and a big win last night, they're going to be able to do it. So the number that everybody's chasing is the biggest one for that seventh one. Broncos, Colts, Dolphins, Bengals in the afc. We have it all right in front of us now. The Bengals still being in there is awesome. Dolphins still being in there is awesome. Broncos with Bo Nicks. What a phenomenal story. Okay. And how they've become the team that they are. And if you talk about them being anchored with the salary cap because they're paying Russell Wilson to be the quarterback of the number three seed Pittsburgh series, like 40 some million dollars, it's still coming out of their salary cap. It's like this is where you want to be right now. Still in the hunt. I don't see the Patriots up there. No, I don't see the Patriots.

[Boston Connor]

Well, we're not expected to be up there. I mean, we knew what this year was going to be. I guess the 7C will be up, but if you guys lose the Broncos, it's over.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, the game against Broncos could potentially be. We need you. We need you guys to win that one. Well, we need you guys to lose a couple, so there's a lot of needles.

[Boston Connor]

Dolphins need to be tied with the Broncos because you guys beat the Dolphins. So you get the tiebreaker.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Because tiebreaker for the AFC south not fantastic. We lose the Texans twice already. Yeah. This season. So any tiebreaker is definitely good. But Bengals still being in, it's awesome. Let's go to the NFC now. Let's see what the NFC player picture looks like currently in with where everything stands in the hunt. Rams, Seahawks, Diners, Bucks, three of those teams in the NFC West.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

It is a. It is a. Wow. All four NFC west teams still Very much in it with where the records are. And if you look at the Lions and the Eagles, obviously, that's top of the top. But the Arizona Cardinals being in that slot at this Stage over the 49ers, I think is a surprise to the world. I think the Atlanta Falcons coming off what they've done the last two weeks, being in that spot is obviously something. And then the vikings with Kevin O'Connell joining the show on Thursday, packers rolling. And then the Commanders. What are they going to be for the second half of the season? Good question. What are they going to be? Of course, you know, for the rest of the way. So everybody's still in it. The hunt is still wide open. The packers have to feel pretty good with the whole situation that took place this morning.

[Ty Schmidt]

I think so.

[Pat McAfee]

As somebody who questioned Guta Kunst and put over Joe Douglas, that'd be me. I did that in a situation after they made the NFC championship and they were deep in the playoffs. And what are we doing? We're moving on. What are we even thinking about for the. For the future? Let's do it right now. Let's go win a Super bowl. And then you can go ahead. Joe. Yeah, the. The fact that Joe Douglas gets fired now in Gunter Kunst and the boys are in prime position for the next 10 years, that has to feel real good over. And I like to say I was wildly wrong. Obviously, what's happening in New York, not fantastic for anybody. Sure. And these jets fans have to feel as if they are cursed. They're rebuilding completely from scrap yet again. AJ Joe Douglas, fired this morning. How do you feel about it? What do you think the future looks like? And have you chatted with Aaron since the announcement?

[D. Butch]

No, I have not chatted with him since the announcement, but I don't know what it looks like. Like, what kind of. Who comes in as a gm, who comes in as the head coach? What does it look like? Where is Woody, the owner? Is he even in America next year? Like, what is the team look? Because they have. If you look at the team on paper, they actually have a legit amount of talent. Like, they have guys that can play. Like they have dudes right now all over the place, and they just feel snake bitten as whatever that means. I heard coaches say that all the time.

[Pat McAfee]

Cursed. Yep. I think that's what snake bit me. I think it means curse. There might be. They might be. I mean, they might be over there, and that's a bummer. I do apologize to jets fans if that's the case, but you're talking about how the excitement level. I was excited. Who wasn't for this jets team.

[Darius Butler]

It doesn't make sense. Like with the. What AJ Just said, the talent on both sides of the ball. Like, it's just. You watch the. You watch them play football in week, you know, 10, 11, and it just doesn't make sense for that team to be that bad. It's. You know, it's got to be a complete reset culture shift. It's got to be all that, which you wouldn't expect with the name. Not only the talent, but like the names of the guys in those in that building too. It's crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

How about like the excitement level whenever it was starting.

[D. Butch]

So, I mean, that's all it was. That's all we talked. That's all anybody talked about.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy's going to get a parade in New York. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Yep.

[D. Butch]

Remember when they flew out to. Flew out to meet a Rod in LA and all that? Like the leadup and everyone talking about it. And then devonte was traded there this season. Like, there has been so much has happened to where everyone's like, there we go. There it is.

[Pat McAfee]

They're.

[D. Butch]

They're winning it all, dude.

[Pat McAfee]

Just that off season before his first season there. Aaron's first season, the last season. Yep. Man. Genuine hope. Holy. This is it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

To a franchise that deserves it. It's been through a lot. Could you imagine? Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, the big Bad Wolf. They're out of the AFC east now. This team that hasn't been relevant forever has all of a sudden got it. They got it right now. They're going all in. They're trying to win. They got a guy that all he does is win. Literally, it's all this dude does is win. And then it's four plays and it's over. Four offensive plays and it's over. And then they punt. Don't worry. Let's run this back. And then they do run it back and it does not work out at all. And then there's firings of offense coordinators and head coaches and general managers. And we still got seven weeks left of the season. Even though they're on the bye week. It's like I feel bad for those general jets fans because they were way, way up here. Expectation. We were with them way up here for sure with expectation level. And then all of a sudden it's just like we are.

[D. Butch]

Is Greeny all right?

[Pat McAfee]

For real?

[D. Butch]

Like, I. I worry about Greeny with how thought he was at the highest of high. I feel like at Some point in this process.

[Boston Connor]

I think Mike's just a little embarrassed just by the whole.

[Pat McAfee]

Really? You think so? Yeah.

[D. Butch]

No, you can't be him.

[Pat McAfee]

You gotta.

[D. Butch]

You get like. You gotta allow yourself to get excited about something and then if it doesn't work out, I mean, you can't blame yourself.

[Pat McAfee]

I wonder if he'll answer. You know, this was. This firing came after his show, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

So he still has yet to have a chance to address it on get up. So he should not answer.

[Darius Butler]

He's cooking right now.

[Pat McAfee]

He's in the lab.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, him and Henbo look back to India. He's going back to some draft because that's why.

[Boston Connor]

Because their team was so good. They won seven games without Rogers after he got hurt. So I was like, holy, if they have Roger, they're going to win 12.

[Ty Schmidt]

I mean, crazy to think that they kind of did just go right down the pooper after they fired Salah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that one in five. That.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. I mean, you look at like the defensive metrics too. Like, I don't. I don't think they've had an interception since they fired him. Like it.

[Pat McAfee]

How's the packers done since he got over there?

[Ty Schmidt]

Since Salah got there?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

I mean, their def. It's. It's tough to say because they only gave up 19 points, but their defense didn't look great. But I mean, this isn't the same old pack packers defense. And they haven't lost since Sal got there.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I'm saying.

[Ty Schmidt]

Which is more important.

[Pat McAfee]

So they're wanting. Well, I got.

[Ty Schmidt]

Never mind. They got beat by the Lions, but that was to be expected.

[Pat McAfee]

And so it's probably four and one. Yeah. Four and one. One and five. Solid's got to feel real good. He lays his head down at night. AJ I was the problem, huh? The whole year. So many of that. So many nights of that with the family. Yep. Your dad, big dumb dip. I was the problem. All right. Sleep tight in Green Bay. We got. Got a playoff run to go get ready for as it all unfolds. Good luck, man. And congrats to the Packers. Yeah, they're the geniuses in this whole thing.

[Boston Connor]

We were talking about it earlier too. Like the teams that have actually beaten good teams, like the packers are one of those teams who have won, you know, I think three plus games against teams over.500. And that's kind of like the separator. It feels like, especially when you're looking who's going to make the run.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. You sent that Tweet in, you know, strength of schedule. There was a tweet that was actually sent in. Here it is from the Steelers Network, and obviously it puts over the Steelers. So it's part of it. Wins against teams with a.500 record or higher through 11 weeks. Lions, callus. Damn.

[Boston Connor]

Geez.

[Pat McAfee]

Steelers 5, Chiefs 5, Bills 3, Ravens 3. And then Commanders, Chargers, Falcons, Texans, Broncos, 49ers, all at one. So it's like. Yeah, I mean, you talk about strength of schedule, there's some teams that are separating themselves, and then there are teams that are actually saying, we'll see you next year.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And that's New York Jets.

[AJ Hawk]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Rizzi's not gonna let that happen down there with the. No, he's not.

[Boston Connor]

Look out. They should be on that graphic.

[Pat McAfee]

I was told he. He's a routine guy. So we can assume that this past Sunday in a Superdome for the game.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, had to do it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Went to work big.

[Pat McAfee]

Not as big as the week before, I hope.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, he got it down, right?

[D. Butch]

Or maybe he chopped it up a little bit. Maybe chopped this one up, like, oh.

[Pat McAfee]

He brought utensils, we hope.

[D. Butch]

Yeah, we're hoping he did the piss.

[AJ Hawk]

Or he flushed before wiping.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a chance he. It helps. He may have definitely had to have flush before wiping.

[D. Butch]

He had to flush, like, four times before.

[Pat McAfee]

I definitely flush before wiping.

[AJ Hawk]

What do you mean?

[Pat McAfee]

Every human flushes before wiping, right? Especially not me. No, you got little baby poops. Come on. Come on.

[AJ Hawk]

I've never had it. I guess I got premier plumbing.

[Pat McAfee]

You got poop and. Oh, yeah, toilet paper. Same flush happening.

[Ty Schmidt]

You bet.

[Pat McAfee]

You just.

[Ty Schmidt]

You trust that your pipes are gonna do what they're meant to do.

[Pat McAfee]

You're doing that here at the Thunderdome. I think you should not trust as soon as you're trusting.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, because I'm strictly adhering to the. Hey, listen, Thunderbolt pipes.

[Pat McAfee]

We're doing one dude wipe.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's it. Okay, so that's the thing. When you have really messy shits, you know, the. The wipe is actually pretty easy because the mess is already out.

[AJ Hawk]

Mine are always just absolute mess.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know the health behind it.

[AJ Hawk]

All, but I've been told.

[Boston Connor]

We actually. We looked into this. You're looking for snakes. If you want to have a healthy dump, either multiple smaller logs.

[Ty Schmidt]

Sausage.

[Boston Connor]

Sausage links. That's a good way to put it. Stacked on top of each other. Or one fucking tree trunk. And then aside from that, it's usually bad news.

[Pat McAfee]

What about the Houdini dumps? The ones that Just disappeared.

[Boston Connor]

One wipes. No home ones.

[Pat McAfee]

No. The no wipes obviously are great, even though you have to wipe to find out if you have a no wipe. So I guess it would technically be a one way. But the ones that just disappear down.

[Ty Schmidt]

The heavy weighted ones that slide right.

[Pat McAfee]

Into frames, the Andy DU frames that are getting down into the pipe as fast as possible. You look down. What was it?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, yeah, those are good because then, you know, they're one aerodynamic. They can just slide right down the built for speed. Bingo. And that means they have that build of a sausage link, a tree trunk. That. That might be the perfect poop actually.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. I don't love you guys just wiping. You guys like portage on. You look down, it looks like a porter John. You got poop and then you got toilet paper stacked on top of it. Is that what you guys.

[Ty Schmidt]

I mean, I'm trying to. Trying to save on our, Our, you know, water usage. You know, I didn't know.

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't know. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Pooping and wiping and then flushing wasn't the right thing to do. I. I thought that was kind of status quo, but I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

I. I am a. As. It's.

[Ty Schmidt]

That depends.

[Pat McAfee]

It's.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's a case by case. You know, if. If you drop like an actual nuke, it's like, all right, this thing's got to go before I. Before I wipe. And then flush.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I think that thing. I'm trying to have it not experience life at all. I'm trying to get that thing to water, to pipe, to out. I don't want to just hang it around you guys just hanging out with your boots.

[Ty Schmidt]

I mean, no, I'm not taking it sitting in there.

[Pat McAfee]

You take selfies with. So you guys know. So you poop, wipe out, flush. Yeah. Yeah, got it. There's not even a chance for a second round coming.

[AJ Hawk]

Wait a second.

[Boston Connor]

It depends. That's. That's like the situations or situation around a.

[Pat McAfee]

What, what pooping.

[Boston Connor]

Depends on the wipe.

[AJ Hawk]

Mine just.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

If you got multiple rounds, you probably dealing with something. Be a one, one round bout.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm trying to get that thing out of there as fast as possible. Away from life as fast as possible. I don't want to sit in. I don't want to smell that thing. I don't want it out of here. I want it out of here. Okay. I didn't know. Thank you for saving the water here. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm just trying.

[Darius Butler]

Can you imagine, you know, doing your part.

[D. Butch]

Imagine if we didn't have modern plumbing like back in the day.

[Pat McAfee]

Holes. I think Japan had holes to pee in. Okay. I think that I went to. Had a thing. Had a thing on. I had like a bar on a wall.

[Boston Connor]

Really did a number on it.

[Pat McAfee]

He just kind of grabbed it and he, like over a hole. If you wanted to poop. I think. I think if I recall, it definitely happened. I don't know which country I think it was Japan.

[Boston Connor]

No wonder they're so nice.

[Pat McAfee]

Whatever.

[D. Butch]

Squatty potties had to run for a long time when people kept talking about. I don't hear about them anymore.

[Boston Connor]

Piss the wrong person off. You're getting. Getting shoved in the poop hole.

[Pat McAfee]

Gotta be polite. Yeah. Isolated. They're all isolated. You're right. The squatty potty now is just something I run my toe into in the middle of the night because it's right next to the toilet now. It was supposed to really save something.

[Darius Butler]

I use religious squatted body. Oh, yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

You don't have to push hard.

[Pat McAfee]

Right?

[Darius Butler]

That means that's how you're supposed to. That's how the body's supposed to.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yes.

[D. Butch]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, I'm sure.

[Pat McAfee]

I agree. But you know what you don't do as often this year as you have in the past?

[Darius Butler]

Giveaways.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Because aq, she's always doing it and always miss it. He is always missing. He's been pretty nice.

[AJ Hawk]

He is kind of selfish.

[Pat McAfee]

Son of a bitches. But we're going into the holiday season. True. So don't you think we should maybe have D. Butch who wins these things do giveaway for the people.

[Ty Schmidt]

I think so.

[Boston Connor]

Does he?

[AJ Hawk]

I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

AJ how many?

[AJ Hawk]

A pretty big giveaway this weekend.

[Pat McAfee]

Huge giveaway.

[Ty Schmidt]

That is a good people.

[Pat McAfee]

And then hurricane victims. Congrats to Henry Silver and Bell session. That was awesome. They earned that. Yeah. Bell with big brain. Henry with the big kick. Yep.

[D. Butch]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

D. Butch, what are you gonna do? You gonna throw football in one of these hoops?

[Boston Connor]

He's been putting.

[Darius Butler]

You know what? My. My partner, my champion. Fellow champion. What do you think I should do?

[Boston Connor]

I mean, you've been on the green. You've been on the green putting. And we didn't put all of October because of the spooky. The spooky.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

There it is.

[Pat McAfee]

It was good decoration.

[Boston Connor]

Maybe put great decoration.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Yeah. And also, you're like, what, a live golf member.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Hey, coming to Indy next year.

[Pat McAfee]

I saw.

[Boston Connor]

Have you been golfing?

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[Darius Butler]

Course not. I can't golf out here anymore. Once, you know, we leave, start Over. You know, so I get around in here near home on the weekend.

[Pat McAfee]

Chatham Hills, I think, is where it is. So where it's at?

[Darius Butler]

I think so. I'm not.

[Boston Connor]

They're not going to purgatory, to be clear.

[Pat McAfee]

I have no idea where it is. No, I know it's in Westfield. I don't know what the course is. Westfield's. Beautiful town. Beautiful town.

[AJ Hawk]

Chatham Hills.

[Pat McAfee]

Chatham Hills is the name of the place. It's in Westfield. I think the Westfield has all the hotels and that. It's a beautiful area. Very new. I think, too. Very, very new. It should be awesome. Live golf coming to town. I should. Sure. I'm sure people will show up. And I've. I've been watching DeChambeau try to hit 100 yard shots. It's awesome.

[Boston Connor]

Me too.

[Pat McAfee]

Over his.

[Boston Connor]

So cool.

[Pat McAfee]

So much confidence. Yeah. So much confidence. Yeah. With that. They say you shouldn't throw stones if you live in a glass house. D. Shambo lives in a glass house. Yeah. And he's hitting wedges at it every day. Every single day. I. I don't. It's day nine. I got nine opportunities at this thing. I'm like, you're gonna hit nine shots at this thing? And he does. He's been so close too. Yeah. And he knows immediately. Oh, yeah, definitely. Which is awesome. That's like us watching Tyrese shoot. Yes. Watching those golfers do their thing.

[Darius Butler]

They got a match in, I think December too. Bryson, Bryson, Brooks, Scotty and Rory.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep. Oh, really? So we got live verse. Yeah. There's also.

[AJ Hawk]

No, don't say that. There's a not so good match, I think as well.

[Pat McAfee]

I just learned that 83% of the people are against me. They're only doing one flushes. Bill put a poll in the chat. Do you poop, wipe, flush, poop, flush, wipe. Okay. 83% people poop and wiping and flushing.

[Boston Connor]

I thought that was a song growing up.

[AJ Hawk]

I'm being pooping your fingernails kind of.

[Pat McAfee]

Shows the clogs why clogs happen. Exactly. I think I'm. I'm a little bit more worried about the. The pipe. The plumbing. I. I have less faith in plumbing.

[D. Butch]

Than others with these dumb low flow toilets. That's the problem.

[Pat McAfee]

I need them.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah, Commercial.

[Pat McAfee]

I think you opened a lot of.

[AJ Hawk]

People'S eyes because you grew up at the bottom of a hill because. So gravity didn't help.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I assume that is the case. That. I assume that is the case, actually. Little. We're not trusting these pipes. You guys are putting. How much in here. No way. Okay, so all night night. We got a flooded out thing. Okay. All right. Sweet. I guess I didn't know everybody was that confident in these pipes. Way to go, plumbing. Way to go.

[Boston Connor]

Vocational school.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah. Shout out to the plumbers. Doing his thing. Okay. Debut. That's real close. I mean, this is. This seems like it doesn't.

[Boston Connor]

Why don't you just place it in the.

[D. Butch]

Scoot up a little bit more.

[Pat McAfee]

This feels like a layup compared behind the black people are throwing footballs at this hoop over here. So far away. How. How many feet? Not your putter either.

[D. Butch]

Four and a half.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, you have four and a half. Seven balls. How many you think you'll make? Seven, three. Okay. If you go three of seven, we will give 30 people people 500 heading into the holiday season. Boston Connor has a word of message before you get started.

[Boston Connor]

Look, D. Bush, it's easy. You just hit the ball and then the ball rolls and it goes into the cup.

[Pat McAfee]

Simplify the game says Boston Connor. 3 of 7 is what you have to do. 30 people will win 500. Some nice air forces, some earthy tones. A little bit of a pool there by Darius. AJ Hawk, what are your thoughts on the first putt before Darius hits the second one?

[D. Butch]

I like it was a good aggressive line D. But don't back off of it. Go after it again.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't think the line was good, but it was certainly aggressive.

[D. Butch]

You have sweet flannel too.

[Pat McAfee]

Sweet flannel. You have to go three of six here. Down the way. 30 people win 500. A little bit of a push.

[AJ Hawk]

Is that a claw grip I'm seeing?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[D. Butch]

Good speed, good speed.

[Boston Connor]

The ball.

[Pat McAfee]

You want to change out the putter. We have multiple putters. Oh, did not make it to the hole. Now we gotta go three of four for 30 people to win. $500 short.

[Boston Connor]

There it is.

[Pat McAfee]

There's his first. Make one.

[D. Butch]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Of four has to go two of three, man. The speed on. Okay. He's got to go two for two here now. This is where we wanted to be. Ty Schmidt, anything to say to D. Butch before his final two putts, of which he has to make both.

[Ty Schmidt]

I think you need to take a step back, maybe address this thing. Try to see what kind of undulation we got. See what stint meter the greens running at right now because you're kind of just all willy nilly right now. We need a nice aggressive line here. Do not leave this thing short. Do not leave it short.

[AJ Hawk]

It's running at 11, by the way. What's that with 10 meters at 11 on here?

[Ty Schmidt]

Pretty quick.

[D. Butch]

Fast.

[Pat McAfee]

Thunderdome. Green is obviously a problem. Read D. Butch trying to win for third. Nope, he does not. Left. Destroy. Let's see what you do.

[Boston Connor]

Left is short.

[Pat McAfee]

One of six. Six thus far. Let's see if he can go. Two of seven.

[Boston Connor]

That's embarrassing.

[D. Butch]

Scoot up a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Geez Louise.

[Boston Connor]

There it is.

[Pat McAfee]

2 of 7. Not bad. Good putt.

[D. Butch]

Good way. That's a great putt. Way to end it.

[Pat McAfee]

Good number. Wait. Your last strokes. Your best stroke.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. Deep. Much. Good work. Although the people didn't win. I feel like we did because we could do this for a living. AJ Great work today. Everybody in the back. Great work, Graphics department. Way to go. You guys are a bunch of profits.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, they are.

[Shams Charania]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Bunch of profits out there. All right. We appreciate you all so much for allowing us to do this for a living. We'll be back tomorrow with a good one. Tomorrow's good one. Oh, yeah. Kevin OConnell's not on the show tomorrow. Thursday. Tomorrow is a good show. Still. We got Jewish.

[Dan Mullen]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

D. Butch. Obviously potentially gonna go for another Hopefully. Yep.

[Boston Connor]

Are we doing more?

[Pat McAfee]

All right. Proud of you, De.

[Darius Butler]

Don't be.

[Pat McAfee]

Butler birdies would not be proud of that performance. I haven't seen a lot of posts from Butler birdies in some time. I wonder if the whole family gave up on.

[Boston Connor]

Might have to change the Butler bogeys after.

[Darius Butler]

Actually, no, brother.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, jeez.

[Darius Butler]

What he say?

[Pat McAfee]

Butler bogeys, brother. Oh, no.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, they lie. Safe Savings, man.

[Pat McAfee]

Stop.

[Darius Butler]

Hate it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I agree. Alaska just started their 64 day, no sun party.

[AJ Hawk]

That's fun.

[D. Butch]

That'd be tough, man. That would be.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, India's close.

[D. Butch]

This has been affecting me. I'm not like 7:00. I'm like, all right, let's pack it in. And now, coach, I gotta coach a practice still.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, me too, brother. Yeah, I mean, it's like 6:30pm pitch black outside. I'm like, starting to get tired. Tired. I'm like, all right, we still got hours and I don't have to coach something. I don't know how you go about doing that, but life is still very much lifing as the night goes on. And then in the morning, it's pitch black whenever we wake up. So it's like, unless I look outside the window for like a 20 minute span in Indiana, it's like, I don't know that the sun exists here either. And this is the World we're in right now.

[AJ Hawk]

And these few weeks too, like before, like in a few weeks at least Christmas like lights will be up so that you'll have those. Like they'll cheer you up a little bit. Right now you got nothing. Got nothing.

[Pat McAfee]

We got. We got us though. That's right.

[Darius Butler]

You got us.

[AJ Hawk]

And what more you need than that?

[Boston Connor]

That's all we need.

[Ty Schmidt]

You got us all right.

[Pat McAfee]

Sweet. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. Especially on days where there's no sun. Need it. The first time it happened, we brought this up before. They had to be so scared. So scared. Holy. Is this thing never coming back? Are we getting punished by this thing? And then just goes down to like notes, I think of those people in Alaska the first ever time. Way back, obviously. I don't know. I guess that would be the Inuits. Yeah, probably. Yeah. Of Alaska. Look it up. Proper word, Inuits. Way back. Imagine the first time the sun just stopped showing up. And then we'll hope for tomorrow. Yep. And then it's got to be tomorrow. The amount of mental strength, 64 days.

[Boston Connor]

It's a long time.

[Pat McAfee]

Holy.

[Darius Butler]

That's crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

I wouldn't have been able to do it.

[AJ Hawk]

Not warm sun.

[Darius Butler]

God hates us.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. They would think it's all over because back in the day that was kind of it, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He said it's really killing people. I sacrifice. Let's do everything we possibly can to get this sun back. Let's do everything we possibly can. And it just didn't. And then that 65th day came. And guess what? The sun rose again.

[Boston Connor]

Always does after the dark.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what we got to remember. Hell yeah. The sun is the brightest after the darkest dawn. Good luck, Alaska. But also to all of us in the four season world. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. Might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team goodbye.