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The Pat McAfee Show
PMS 2.0 1280 - LIVE from the CFP National Championship, Divisional Round Recap, Adam Schefter, Nick Saban, Shane Gillis
01:59:36
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- [00:00]
Pat McAfee
Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to Atlanta, Georgia, the Mercedes Benz Stadium, the home of tonight's national championship. We're live on this massive Monday. Football is wonderful and we're lucky to be celebrating it for numerous hours live here at Mercedes Benz Stadium, obviously the home of tonight's national championship, as Notre Dame looks to become a national champion for the first time since 1988 and the Ohio State Buckeyes are looking to get to the top of the mountain once again. A team that had to watch Michigan do it just a year ago and then lose to Michigan this season, lose to Oregon, now has an opportunity to potentially call themselves world champions, national champions, the best team to take the field this season. The road to this game tonight has certainly been an awesome one. I've been incredibly lucky to be a part of it every single Saturday. With college game day. We went through Texas, we're up in Oregon, obviously across the north and the southeastern part of this beautiful country. And tonight we crown one champion that'll get rings and banners and stories told about them forever. Will it be Captain Jack Sawyer, Will Howard, JTT and that Ohio State Buckeye team? Or will it be Riley Leonard, Jeremiah Love, Xavier Watts, Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. We got a heavyweight fight here in Atlanta and we're incredibly lucky to be on the sideline for that game for our field Pass on ESPN2. I'm obviously not alone here and there's a lot more than just a college football national championship happening on this particular Monday. Obviously it's Martin Luther King Jr. Jr. Day. Hope you take a moment to celebrate that and everything about what our world and our country can be and is hopefully heading towards it's Inauguration Day up there in Washington D.C. a new era is beginning in our country. There's a national champion tonight and the NFL's divisional round is coming off a record breaker weekend. Man, there's so much happening. We're so incredibly lucky to be a part of all of it. Thank you so much for watching and allowing us to do this for a living. It's not just me. The toxic table is here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt. 1/2 of the hammer died. Cowboys AP Tone is here. Obviously the living legend. A man who whenever he walks around these parts, especially with the Ohio State in the national championship, he is revered as if some God is walking amongst mere mortals. For the Ohio state Buckeye fans, A.J. hawkley, Ohio State back at the top. It's got to feel good for you and everybody that is from that glorious state of Ohio.
- [02:30]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, this Stadium. Obviously we were here a couple years ago. We saw the Bucks lose to a great Georgia team. So I think Ohio State people are hoping for some redemption tonight.
- [02:39]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, there was a commissioner potentially that was reminding, you know, us potentially about all the horrors that have happened. Not Hoores, horrors that have happened down here. H O R R O R, two R's. Yeah. And then one at the end and an H at the front. Yeah. No dub, save the dub. But the horrors of Ohio State in this particular building. A nine year NFL vet, one of the smartest minds in all football. Darius Jay Baller. D Butch, it's great to see you and it is an honor to tell you that football is the greatest sport that has ever existed. Divisional round weekend had record breaking numbers. ESPN has just reported that the Chiefs Texans game had 32.7 million viewers. That is the most watched NFL game on ESPN in the history of the network. And the reason why people were tuned in is because the Chiefs are still the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes is still Patrick Mahomes. Travis Kelce is still Travis Kelce. Andy Reid, especially with a bye week, is still Andy Reid coming off a bye week, let alone Spags and Tobe the special teams coordinator. But in a massive moment, Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes are going to make plays. Travis Kelce has cemented himself in postseason folklore. He is now a leader in receiving yards. He's going to become a leader in everything if he continues to play after this season, which all signs are indicating he will. He had his best game by far the season, up over 100 yards receiving, obviously had a touchdown where Patrick Mahomes did something absolutely filthy, falling forward, diving, hitting Travis right in between the eight and the seven, which will be a massive part of the conversation today after the divisional round. And then with the fireworks going off behind Travis Kelce, with his lady in attendance sitting next to Caitlin Clark. It was a magical day for the Kansas City Chiefs. But the conversation of this particular game, everywhere, everybody is seemingly saying that at the beginning of those games over there, when they sing the national anthem, what they should be saying is the home of the cheese. They're calling them cheaters.
- [04:45]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, they are.
- [04:46]
Pat McAfee
They're saying the refs are working in Patrick Mahomes favor. They're saying that all the bullcrap calls that we hate about football seemingly always go in the championship's favor. How come Patrick Mahomes always getting these calls everybody else isn't getting? Lamar Jackson, who we will certainly talk about later, he got hip drop tackled on his Sideline, super late, no call at all. This comes right after a game where Patrick Mahomes was seen flopping on the sideline, which everybody say, you can't do that. If you're going to be the face of football. You can't be flopping around like that. You can't be taking advantage of the situation that you are. Patrick Mahomes, Houston Texans. Hell of a season. Thank you for representing the AFC South. But Houston Texans, I think Joe Mixon and many others, even coach D'Amico Ryan said, you know it's going to be when you're playing Chiefs. Okay, you know it's going to be now. What does that mean? We all just have come to understand that the refs are going to help the Kansas City Chiefs. That is seemingly the narrative that everybody's bought into. If you're a Chiefs fan, you say, sorry, ball bounces our way. If you're the rest of the NFL, you're certainly going to be finding reasons to hate the team that's gone back to back at super bowl champs and looking to do something which is win three straight. But it has got loud. And Troy Aikman was basically, I'm done with it.
- [05:50]
Boston Connor
Awesome.
- [05:51]
Pat McAfee
This is bullshit, all of it. I don't like any of this stuff. The calls are crop. They're trash. I don't like the way they're calling this game. I don't like the way Patrick Bellum's trying to take advantage of it. And I think as that continues to happen, maybe the refs will have a little better eye on it all. Maybe they'll be able to stay focused. But this is what happens when you're at the top of the mountain. This is literally how it goes. Now the Chiefs obviously move into the AFC Championship. Congrats to them. That is absolutely awesome. One half of the hammer done. Cowboys, who they can be playing over there. Another dream matchup in the AFC Championship.
- [06:21]
Tone Diggs
Yeah, another dream matchup. They were playing the Buffalo Bills and everyone expects me to absolutely destroy the Baltimore Ravens. I am not going to do that today.
- [06:29]
Pat McAfee
Really?
- [06:29]
Tone Diggs
No. Because if. If I were to do that, if I were to blame Lamar Jackson, or if I would were to blame Mark Andrews, I would be a loser. According to Dan Orlofsky.
- [06:41]
Pat McAfee
I saw that Dan Orlofsky said, if you watch that game and you want to blame Lamar Jackson for the loss, respectfully, you're a loser. If you want to watch that game and you want to blame Mark Andrews, respectfully, you're a loser. So, Tony, you don't want to be a loser in Dan Orlovsky's eyes. Because if you're a loser in a loser's eye, I mean that's bing. I mean I just want to say it but it doesn't. Loser. I didn't mean that that came out wrong. But that is sports media world. Somebody's going to get blamed and that is kind of how it immediately works. We knew this was going to happen with this Bills Ravens game. The loser was going to get some terrible things said about him. Even though both of them have had an absolutely wonderful season. The Buffalo Bills though, I think I forgot as somebody that picked Baltimore Ravens, I forgot that all they need to do is just win this game. It's not about like can they win every game. It's not like who's more dominant, who's more spectacular. Him dropping it off to the tight end in the middle of the field. Okay, you got it. Shakir making some big catches. Then they go empty backfield who's tackling the 6 foot 6, 240 pound guy who's used to the snow. All they had to do is prepare for one team in one situation. I think the snow helped him. Even though Baltimore is no stranger to the cold weather. And in the third quarter, the Baltimore Ravens, they come out, they do AFC north football PONG pound pound pound and it works.
- [07:56]
Tone Diggs
Yes, it did.
- [07:57]
Pat McAfee
First half I think they had like 21 yards rushing with Derrick Henry. Then in the third quarter, I think they had 70 yards in one drive alone. Derrick Henry, Patrick Ricard, the offensive line just pounded that Buffalo Bills team that only plays nickel. They're too small, they're not going to be able to handle it. Then they have a two point conversion. What do they do? They throw it. They throw the ball and there's a couple different times where there's been five, I guess two point conversion attempts this season for the Baltimore Ravens. Derrick Henry's got the ball and none of them, not a single one of them has Derrick Henry got the rock. Now that is going to be judged, that is going to be picked apart. But this Buffalo Bills team wagon and I think a lot of us forgot about that.
- [08:31]
Tone Diggs
Yeah, the Bills team is a wagon. Obviously Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson was the battle of the MVPs. The Guardian Cap boys were awesome last night. Taylor Rapp had an interception. Then Demar Hamlin, kind of, he was the one who got Lamar's leg on the, on the fumble where Von Miller took it back. But no, this has kind of been like the story of the Ravens in The playoffs, they haven't been able to get it done. If you go back to last year, Zay Flowers, you know, he, he fumbles on the goal line. If he goes in there, the Ravens win that one. Then you, you start this year, the first game of the season, Isaiah likely toe out of bounds by half an inch to start the season. Another game this year where it was 18:10, they score against the Steelers to make it 18:16, they got to go for two. They don't get the two point, two point conversion there. And then obviously in this one, you know, Lamar leads an incredible drive down, gets a chance to get the two point conversion, doesn't work out. You know, everyone is killing Mark Andrews for that situation, but it's just another situation where the Ravens didn't come up as they should have in a big spot.
- [09:28]
Pat McAfee
D Buch, your thoughts on this game and your thoughts on how we should be viewing this? Obviously, Mark Andrews is going to feel terrible. He was on the sideline getting busted up. He lives and works for this moment here. Now granted, 133 left on the clock. Buffalo Bills still have two timeouts. Nobody seemingly saying like Josh Allen could potentially Chiefs. You know what the Chiefs did to him in overtime when they had to change the rule to this Baltimore Ravens team. All he has to do is get in field goal range, no offense. I know. It's just all you got to do, especially against a great Baltimore Ravens defense. Whatever the case is, I tend to believe on this particular season, in this particular game, Josh Allen probably 133, he might score too fast. AJ Lamar might get a chance to come back and tie it again on the other side with the way he'd been playing. What are your thoughts on how that game ended up?
- [10:10]
Darius Butler
Db, you know, it comes down to ball security, and you can point at Mark Andrews, you can point at Lamar and AJ Kind of talking about it early before the show, like, you know, this is one of those games on good teams at least everybody kind of looks at themselves and say, hey, what could I have done better? I think the Ravens defense, they play well, especially with all things considered, you know, given those turnovers, but you can't, you can't beat a good ball club like that in their house, turning the ball over like that. So the fumble strip sack from Demar Hamlin, he'll get credited for that. And then the interception that he threw late. And then obviously for Mark Andrews, going to be a long, long offseason. That sucks. But it was two, two great quarterbacks, two great teams. You can't point the finger, blame it on one guy, but Buffalo got it done.
- [10:48]
Pat McAfee
Chiefs, Bills, yet again, more teams get a shot to shine, but they don't. They're down to the same two on the AFC side. Now let's go to the nfc. More teams get a shot to shine. Holy shit. Rookie sensation starting to crack into territory that nobody's ever been. Anytime they start saying this is the first rookie to do this since there's only been three rookies that have done this, more wins than these rookie. I mean what Jaden Daniels is doing in the moments that he's doing them, the way they go about doing their shit is bananas. The amount of pressure that has been on this guy's shoulder. Fourth down, we're going for it. It does not matter. He seemingly picks up every single time. I believe in the playoffs. Thus far, Jaden Daniels and the Commanders have scored seven touchdowns on five of those touchdowns. They have either gone for it on fourth down and that was the touchdown or during the drive they gone for it on fourth down. This is kind of Dan Quinn's M.O. everybody talks about MCDC being his movie. This commander's team, which a lot of people are calling the. The. I think I'm kind of the shade, but I'm not gonna say. But a lot of people are talking about that, you know. But this commander's team, AJ There's a chance that they could shine. I'm a believer. And you know, this game, this national championship, I think a lot of people are like, is Notre Dame have enough talent to keep up with Ohio State with what they've been able to do. I just saw the Commanders beat the Lions. I don't think anybody in Detroit, but this commander seems a real deal. They might win the, they might win the fucking Super Bowl. This Washington Commanders team.
- [12:12]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, they might. And everyone's talking about like we know Jaden Daniels and all the praise that he is getting, but I think you almost can't say enough about this dude. I think what I, I think about when I think about that game. Detroit came back and they got it within three points towards the end of the third quarter. Detroit makes it a game. Here we go. Within three on the road, Detroit has some momentum. What does Jaden do? He leads him on a 15 play, 75 yard drive. The ends in a touchdown to Brian Robinson. A one yard run. Like this guy just. He's unflappable. And we say that a lot about other quarterbacks I think. But Jaden's on like, like you said, there's levels to this like Jaden the way like it's unbelievable by Terry McLaurin right here as we're watching. But I think when a quarterback has that moxie, when he has that cool calm demeanor. Yeah that I've said it a million times on here. It trickles down to everybody on the roster. Every player and every single team or every single coach. I should say. Like Cliff Kingsbury has to feel so confident whenever he's calling into Jaden Daniels. Like he knows like this guy, he's going to protect me, he's going to protect the team and he's going to protect the ball.
- [13:07]
Pat McAfee
That's what, that's what that was a fade away like bad footwork, not what you're supposed to do. Right. And then Zach Ertz obviously what he has become for this particular team. He and Cliff Kingsbury have a great relationship but it was like buzzsaw juggernaut the over obviously we all thought was going to happen but I thought the Lions were going to be able to just joust with anybody because they've had to do that all year. But what this commander's defense taking the ball when they have to. Now obviously Jared Goff throws for three interceptions. Jameson Williams throws one interception. Then there's a fumble in there. Five turnovers by the Detroit Lions. Abnormal game for them. People are saying it was a Jared goo football con man. I didn't like that at all.
- [13:48]
Boston Connor
Yeah, well guess what. Fairy tale is over Detroit. Those guys are a dump again. It stings for you, but I hope you had fun these last two years because it's done. Mccb, I mean he's one of my favorite coaches. I love the emotion from him. But he is now the Motor City crybaby. And it stinks because you know, if I were to be the head coach of Jared Goff, I'd probably be crying too because that was embarrassing. Now for the record, he did get concussed in the second quarter when their pick six because he absolutely obliterated. And if you have to bring in a high school coach to pay quarterback for a couple plays, that's never good. Jameson Williams kind of with the sweet little return and then having sex with the ground only to turn around and throw a terrible inner reception is brutal. But I'll tell you what, it stinks. I feel bad for mccb and you know they're losing both their coordinators. Ben Johnson, he's out of there. He doesn't want to allegedly. According to in his words, black Adam Schefter, Adam Pacman Jones. Ben Johnson is now the head coach of the Raiders. His words, not mine, and I trust him. Kelly Moe heading to the Cowboys as well. We'll see what happens there, though. But it stinks for Detroit. I genuinely feel bad, okay? It's hard to win Super Bowls, and I told Foxy this morning, I said, hey, Foxy, story's over, brother. I hope you enjoy these last two years. You guys are going back to the dump. You're paying Goof $215 million for the next four years.
- [15:10]
Pat McAfee
He's won games. They won games.
- [15:12]
Boston Connor
Absolutely. In his biggest game in the super bowl with the Rams, he scored three points. But that's not. Again, we don't have to bring that up.
- [15:18]
Pat McAfee
Who is that against? Who is that against?
- [15:19]
Boston Connor
Against the Patriots in this building.
- [15:20]
Pat McAfee
That's Bill Belichick, brother. That's what Sean McVay has so much respect for.
- [15:23]
Boston Connor
Absolutely. And I do, too. And Sean McVay's won a Super bowl without Goof now. But again, look, it just sucks. I feel bad for Detroit. I feel bad for. For the people of Detroit. I feel bad for Eminem. People are saying LiAngelo Ball might have tweaked his way into a curse, but.
- [15:35]
Pat McAfee
Again, saw Cameron talk about that.
- [15:39]
Tone Diggs
That's kind of legit.
- [15:40]
Pat McAfee
There's a lot of different opportunities perform. It's a big game in Detroit because it's been in a long time. You go with, oh, I mean, a little bit of a hook. Obviously, decisions were made out there. Obviously, that's going to happen. So stay in the nfc. The commanders beat the lines and Foxy. I don't think it's over. I. I think MCDC's culture is cemented in there. I think you're going to win. NFC North's going to be tough going forward, having to rebuild and reclimb and reinvigorate, reignite, re motivate, renegotiate. I mean, there's a lot that has re sign offense and defense coordinator. We'll find out here in a second. There's a lot that the Lions are going to have to do, But I think MCDC's got to figure it out, right? Or are you heartbroken? You think it's heartbroken? I'm heartbroken. I'm heartbroken. But I trust mcdc. But everything you just said is why I am so heartbroken. It's going to be so hard to have that season again. It's going to be so hard to have this team go in and try to win a Super Bowl. Expectations have never been this high. And we played our worst ball at the most important time of the season. Golf wasn't good, coaches weren't great. Defense got exposed. It was. I mean, as a fan of a team that has gone 0, 16, that wasn't heartbreak, that was just embarrassing. But this one was so heartbreaking. Worse than the NFC championship game last year. And to have to redo it all again, be the ones. It's just gonna be so hard. And I'm bummed out. You should be bummed out. We're all bummed out. For the entire city of Detroit and you know, didn't even win a playoff game. You know, Foxy's big dream there for a long time was nine, seven, win a playoff game, six, win a playoff game. That's what he wished for his entire life. And he won a playoff game.
- [17:18]
Tone Diggs
15, 2, no playoff game, had a home field advantage.
- [17:20]
Pat McAfee
Could have throughout the entire millions more dollars coming to the city for another game. Instead they lose. Mcdc is going to motivate. We don't need to take shots at the city. They're going through it. Mcdc is going to remotivate and gets Kruger. And then who are they going to be taking on in the NFC championship? The Washington Commanders will be traveling to where the nation's first capital debut. This Philadelphia Eagles team is an absolute wagon. In that weather yesterday, it was obviously Matthew Stafford's. Matthew Stafford, Yeah. Mad respect, big ooze. Pukinakua has an incredible catch. Matthew Stafford has a couple no lookers. The snow seemingly didn't affect him except for the turnover when he was going to go try to hand the ball off or whatever the case. But that Philadelphia Eagles offense, that Philadelphia Eagles team in that snow, that weather feels like it was set up for them to go. And Saqu. Saquon. Saquon gone. Yeah. Anytime he gets the rock, there's an.
- [18:09]
Darius Butler
Opportunity and now it goes through Philly. So you talked about those elements. Who knows what the elements will be next week. Obviously a familiar opponent with the Commanders coming in there to be that third time facing off. But all the things that AJ Talked about with Jaden, as far as the confidence you have, it's the same thing with 26. Like Jalen Hurts, he comes out and throws for 130 yards and you got a guy like this who you can hand the ball off to and you know, as a defense, he went for over 250 against the Rams back in week 12. So as a defense, you're keying in on 26 all throughout the game. First quarter breaks a 62 yarder to get him out in front. And then in the fourth quarter, he breaks a 70 something yarder to make him go up. Two scores. So, you know, you know, 26 is going to get the ball outside those tackles. Once he hits the gap, once he breaks a tackle on that second or third level, he is out the gate to take it home. So when you have to deal with this run game on offense and then obviously Philly, what they have on defense, monsters all up and down that roster. I mean, Howie Roseman, he's done an incredible job putting this roster together. But this Saquon Barkley offseason move may have been the best offseason move of the offseason.
- [19:08]
Pat McAfee
And Mara's watching it all, you know, and as Saquon is running down the field hitting himself in the helmet, I think that's like him saying, like we knew, like he knew, you know, he always knew he was supposed to be in these moments and what he was going to be able to do. The Philadelphia Eagles offensive line, AQ Shipley said you can't win. Yeah, he did. Even though you have the greatest offensive line in football, they showcase that you certainly can. Here's some stats I got from Hembo as you read some others on the screen here. Saquon Barkley in the fourth quarter this season. 108 rushes in the fourth quarter. 719 rush yards, which is an average of 6.7 yards per seven rush touchdowns, which is an average of 43.7 yards each one. And in two games this postseason, Saquon has run it 20 times for 141 yards in the fourth quarter. He's a closer. Verse is also a dog. I'm excited to watch that Rams team, but congrats to the Philadelphia Eagles and all the Johns over there. Maybe Sirianni isn't a big dumb dipshit, Ty.
- [20:00]
Ty Schmidt
Maybe, you know, maybe this guy just wins. And again, we can pull up the graphic of him being the, you know, youngest, winningest coaches, quickest to whatever number since he's been in the league. There it is. Most wins in the first four seasons. There's been a lot of pretty good head coaches in the NFL. Listen, I know this guy sometimes puts his foot in his mouth in his press conference.
- [20:18]
Pat McAfee
Okay? Okay.
- [20:19]
Ty Schmidt
It happens. I know sometimes he gets to the game and he's got some John in the crowd calling him a big dumb dipshit to his face and he can't help himself. He can't help himself. He's a Philly guy at heart. So, you know, he's gonna turn around and say, oh, yeah, watch this, watch this. And then, boom. Saquon's taking off for 70 yards. So, I mean, obviously the Eagles are unbelievable. Can't wait for that game next week. Excited for our guy Coop as well, because I know, you know.
- [20:41]
Pat McAfee
Oh, Coop. Shout out Coop.
- [20:43]
Ty Schmidt
Exactly.
- [20:44]
Pat McAfee
Tell me something, Coop. He. He's real pumped. He is. He should be. As he should. I mean, real deal. A.J. you think they got a chance? Go. What do you. What do you think? Age you like the Eagles next week? I do.
- [20:57]
AJ Hawk
I love the Eagles. I love Saquon. I think the commanders have chance to go in there and get a win.
- [21:00]
Pat McAfee
Oh, sorry, Coop. Oh, wow.
- [21:03]
AJ Hawk
No offense to Coop. I love Coop. Everything that he has done.
- [21:05]
Boston Connor
Kick his ass.
- [21:06]
Pat McAfee
Coop.
- [21:06]
AJ Hawk
Unbelievable resume. His IBB page is pretty legit, but I think we're going to be in for a barn burner.
- [21:11]
Pat McAfee
Joining us now, I think championship games are going to be awesome.
- [21:14]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [21:14]
Pat McAfee
And shout out to Jaden Daniels. Just dropping himself right into the spotlight. There's going to be four teams left at the end of the season. We're going to be one of them. Jaden Cliff, Dan Quinn, new ownership. Congrats to Washington. Guys should be incredibly pumped. Joining us now, senior NFL insider at espn, friend of the program, Michigan man. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Schefter. Shefty, how you doing?
- [21:34]
Adam Schefter
What's going on?
- [21:35]
Pat McAfee
Hey, happy national championship Monday. Obviously, Michigan was the reigning national champs until tonight when we crowned somebody new. So congrats to you. This is it for you guys, and hopefully you're back next year. Now, let's talk NFL a little bit here, shall we? We Chit chatted about the Detroit Lions, and Foxy said he was bummed out. Foxy said he was bummed out. Here's a clip from today's press conference of Motor City. Dan Campbell, Chit chatting about his offensive coordinator and his defensive coordinator. Mcdc looks incredibly stropped, incredibly jocked. He's in a hoodie and he says, I'm preparing as if I'm losing both of my coordinators. I'm preparing as if both guys are going to be gone. It's not 100% sure, but he's preparing. Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, how quickly should we see a team make a move in hiring them as a head coach? Or is there still a full process in this thing? Shefte.
- [22:24]
Adam Schefter
They're going to fly here because once the Lions were eliminated, it accelerated the hiring cycle that much more. So you're going to see Ben Johnson get a job. You're going to see Aaron Glenn get a job. I would imagine that both those guys have jobs. No later than the middle of this week, both of them. And the Lions will lose both their coordinators. We've talked about that before. It's obvious right now. These are the top two guys out there right now. In no particular order. Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn. Aaron Glenn, Ben Johnson. They're going to get jobs. They're going to have multiple opportunities. It's just a question of where they want to go right now. So that's what. That's what they're sifting through.
- [23:03]
Pat McAfee
So shefty at the combine, agents talk to general managers about players. Have all the back channels already been chatted about for Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson? Now it's just whether or not it's a good fit between those two and whatever team they're going to have. Agents already kind of figured out what the pay would be, who's all interested, who's meeting where. Or does that literally start today because they're focused on ball up until a loss?
- [23:23]
Adam Schefter
Well, Pat, as the coaches are involved in the games, let's just say last week, Ben Johnson's getting ready for the commanders, Aaron Glenn's getting ready for the commanders. They have agents. Agents are allowed to talk over and over and do their business and gather as much intel and put together their boards and figure out all the answers to the equations here. So, so, so that if and when these guys are available, which many people thought it would be after the super bowl, they're ready now. So essentially they're handed dossiers of information on organizations and where they would want to go, and then they sit down and again, the process is accelerated to where they have to just make the decision about where they want to go. Do they want to visit somewhere first or they want to close on the deal? What's going on behind you there?
- [24:10]
Pat McAfee
What do we got going on? I think they're testing some shots here. I think this guy's also got a great beard. A lot of good beards down here in Georgia. Not sure, but. Okay, so they're going to read the pamphlets, get introduced, and then obviously do some face to face time, you would assume. And to your point, visits or however.
- [24:26]
Adam Schefter
They want to do it. However they want to do it. But my point is I don't think these guys will be on the market much later than the middle of this week. If that. It's going to move. It's going to move. Everything got accelerated.
- [24:39]
Pat McAfee
Okay. And it's A bummer for Detroit that that is the case because obviously what the offense and defense has been able to do, defense with so many injuries, offense just being creative than everybody they play. We assume Ben and Aaron are going to be great head coaches in place. Good luck, Detroit.
- [24:54]
Nick Saban
Good luck.
- [24:55]
Pat McAfee
Good luck. You guys are going to find backups.
- [24:56]
Nick Saban
Don't worry.
- [24:57]
Pat McAfee
You guys are going to be able to find repl. No, it's not.
- [24:59]
Boston Connor
It's over.
- [25:00]
Pat McAfee
Thanks for a great regular season, boys. Let's talk about a team. Let's talk about a team that is still going, but certainly something that should be monitored. Ty has a question for you. Shefty.
- [25:08]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, Shefty, Is there any kind of update on Jalen hurts knee? Obviously yesterday when he got kind of twisted up there, he went into the medical tent. Kenny Pickett was warming up, but he came back in. But it limited him quite a bit. There was the safety and then now just looking ahead, is there. Do we have any kind of update on what the Eagles can expect with Jalen Hurts going into the NFC Championship?
- [25:28]
Adam Schefter
Well, I think the first thing we operate under is he came back in and he finished the game. So it's hard to imagine that he came back in, finished the game and he wouldn't be out there this next week short of testing finding something that's which we haven't heard to be the case just yet. So barring anything unexpected, I expect that Jalen Hurts to would be out there next week. Now, he's taken a beating here in the last month or so between the concussion, between that injury yesterday, I don't know that he's going to be operating at full strength for Sunday's NFC Championship game. But I think at this point, with the exception of more news coming in, it would be an upset if he's not out there.
- [26:04]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so let's stay in the nfc, shall we? Tone has a question for you.
- [26:07]
Tone Diggs
Yeah, Shefty, I thought I saw a report where Cliff Kingsbury, OC of the commander, said he was not going to interview with teams until after their run was over. Does that have anything to do with. I believe the Cardinals are paying him his head coach salary through 2026. Is that the full head coach salary? And do you think he is actually going to interview for jobs or is that going to be passed? You know their run is going to be too long to be considered for any of these jobs?
- [26:30]
Adam Schefter
Well, I think by the time the commander is ready to interview, most of the jobs may be filled. So that's number one. Number two, I Think Cliff Kingsbury is very happy in Washington. He's got an incredible quarterback, a transcendent quarterback. And so, yeah, between making money in Arizona, having the head coaching experience that he did, he's not rushing to become a head coach again. Would he like to be one day? I'm sure. But it's not something that he has to rush to go do. And if the right opportunity comes along at the right time, I'm sure he would be open and amenable to that. But he's not going to force that. And I think he's more focused right now in the NFC Championship Game Sunday than anything else.
- [27:09]
Pat McAfee
That moment between Dan Quinn and Cliff, I think last week after their win, where he comes up and he says, like, stick around, kid. Or like, we want you here. We love you here, kid. Such a cool moment, Cliff not having to be a head coach, but still getting a head coach's salary with Jaden Daniels, who's doing awesome things. Sounds like a good life. We'll be excited to see what Cliff does. He's made quite a name for himself. Let's go over the AFC side now. Baltimore obviously loses to the Bills. There's no conversation about Harbaugh or anything like that. Right. Ever. I mean, he's been there a long time.
- [27:38]
Adam Schefter
Long, long time. There's no listen again in this league. Pat. I never want to rule out anything because anything's always. But I have not heard any of that. Like, he's one of the great coaches in the game. He's one of the great coaches in the game. Not going anywhere in my mind, but, you know, that's. That's up to them.
- [27:55]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Interesting. I didn't know because everybody was talking about how hot it would get for Lamar and Josh Allen. It's like, what about. I mean, every. Anytime you lose, everything gets readjusted and resorted. I think of John Harbaugh when I think of Baltimore Ravens, but also, they haven't won a long time. They got the mvp. He by far has not played his best. Their team has not played best in the biggest moments. Certainly worthy of a convo. I love what Lamar said after that game. I love the way he operated. I would love if Lamar was my quarterback, but, man, it has to be heartbreaking loss after heartbreaking loss after heartbreaking loss for the Ravens. I don't know how they deal with it now. Let's talk about some of the coaching searches, shall we? Deebot has a question for you.
- [28:29]
Darius Butler
Yeah, Shefty. We heard earlier this week from the black Adam Schefter Adam Pacman Jones. He said Keller Moore would obviously be the next coach in Dallas. But I saw a tweet from Florio saying that Brian Schottenheimer, I'm sorry, was now the favorite in Dallas. What the hell is going on in Dallas with their head coach assertion? Who is the favorite, in your opinion?
- [28:48]
Adam Schefter
I think the one guy who knows is Jerry Jones, and Jerry Jones is certainly apt to change his mind from day to day. And again, I think the candidates have been out there so far. I think Brian Shiner is the favorite in Las Vegas here. Now, that doesn't mean that Brian Schottenheimer isn't going to be the head coach at some point in time. Again, we never rule out anything, but to the best of my knowledge, he hadn't even interviewed for the job and Dallas hadn't approached him about being the head coach. I think the Cowboys absolutely love and respect Brian Schottenheimer and they want him there, but I don't know that that's. As the head coach right now. Now, again, the process will unfold and we'll see what twists and turns it takes. And maybe it leads them back to Brian Schottenheimer as a head coaching candidate. At one point in time, Brian Schopenheimer was like the hot guy out there. Roughly. I don't know, what was it, a decade ago, A decade plus ago, when he was the offensive coordinator of the jets, he turned down some jobs. And I think there's a lesson there in that. When you're a coordinator and these jobs come along, your GM candidate and these jobs come along, you can't wait too long. You have to. You have to strike when you have the opportunity. And it would be great if Brian Schopenheimer were to get another opportunity. I haven't heard that that's happening yet. Maybe it does happen down the line, but to my knowledge right now that's not the case.
- [30:10]
Pat McAfee
Okay. Shady obviously comes from football, family been around a long time. We'll be interested to see what Jerry Jones decides to do. We have two quick ones for you, Shefty, on this glorious day. AJ Has a question for you.
- [30:20]
AJ Hawk
Shefty. Any Update on Mike McCarthy and what he may be doing if he doesn't get a head coaching gig? Do you see him coaching somewhere else this year? Like, what's the deal with.
- [30:28]
Pat McAfee
With.
- [30:28]
AJ Hawk
With McCarthy?
- [30:30]
Adam Schefter
Well, you know, Asia, I haven't gotten that far down the line to know what he would do if he doesn't get one of these jobs. I think he's in play in New Orleans. I think he's been in play in Chicago. I think he's a legitimate candidate in both places. So I don't know that he's gotten there yet, that he's thinking, okay, I didn't get either one of these and now what do I do? That's two steps ahead of me right now. I think people are more interested to see if he finds a way to get one of these head coaching jobs, which. Which I think is possible right now.
- [31:02]
Pat McAfee
Okay. Excited for Big Mike to. Obviously he got into the coaching cycle a little bit late. Last question here for you, Schefter. We appreciate you going con man.
- [31:09]
Nick Saban
Yeah.
- [31:09]
Boston Connor
Shefty. Sticking with Chicago. Eddie George, he's interviewing there. Is that a real opportunity? And then also you reported that the Bears reached out to the Steelers for a possible trade for Mike Tomlin with other teams. What were the other teams involved and what was kind of that conversation like?
- [31:26]
Adam Schefter
Well, it was a pretty short conversation because they reached out to the Steelers and the Steelers have no interest in moving on from Mike Tomlin. And Mike Tomlin's got a no trade clause in his contract. And as he himself said last week to any teams that would approach the Steelers about a potential trade, exploring a trade, he said, and I use his words, save your time. But again, I think it's smart for teams to at least make the call. If it's a five minute call and they say, no, thank you, fine. But who knows if they ever would have any indecision there or second thoughts and maybe they would be open to that conversation. They weren't. They're not. He's staying. He's not going anywhere. So the Bears got shut down. Good for them for trying. Another team just kind of checked into it peripherally to see what the situation was and they were told that he's got a no trade clause that he doesn't want to move on from. That was the end of that conversation. And Eddie George, listen, he's one of the 16 or so candidates that the Bears have had in.
- [32:20]
Nick Saban
He's.
- [32:20]
Adam Schefter
He's obviously had a legendary career.
- [32:23]
Pat McAfee
So. Jacked.
- [32:24]
Shane Gillis
Oh, yeah, yeah.
- [32:25]
Adam Schefter
Great character. So you bring, you bringing everybody like you want to hear what everybody has to say.
- [32:29]
Pat McAfee
Sounds like the 33rd team's doing some consulting for a lot of teams. We'll interview everybody. That's just the best way. No stone unturned. Any of these jobs. You said Aaron Glenn, Ben Johnson, probably by middle of the week. Is that when we should be expecting probably next big news break in the Coaching cycle world.
- [32:45]
Adam Schefter
Well, it could come today, it could come tomorrow.
- [32:48]
Pat McAfee
It could be.
- [32:49]
Adam Schefter
It could be any moment, like with any of these guys. That's how it is with Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. And again, like I said, the loss on Saturday changed everything. So as opposed to all these teams waiting, everybody's been waiting for these two dominoes to fall before we can place the rest of the board and figure out who's hiring who. Because again, with Ben Johnson, Vegas, Jacksonville, Chicago all want them with Aaron Glenn. The jets, the Saints, Jaguars, all Raiders, all interested in Aaron Glenn. So where's Ben Johnson going? Oh, he's going there. Okay, where's Aaron Glenn going? And then who does that leave behind as the other three openings? And I put Dallas, Big Mike's own little category. So I think everybody's waiting to get answers here from Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn before the rest of the coaching board falls. But I think again, once they go, which I think will be relatively quick, then the rest of the board then falls into place.
- [33:50]
Pat McAfee
All right, we appreciate the hell out of you, Shefty. And man. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Schefter. All right, we go from one legend to a College Football hall of Famer. Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest coach of all time, a man who has won how many of these?
- [34:04]
Boston Connor
Seven.
- [34:05]
Pat McAfee
Seven. Seven of these things.
- [34:07]
Nick Saban
I only remember the three we lost.
- [34:09]
Pat McAfee
Okay. Could have won ten. Ladies and gentlemen, Nick Saban. Coach. How you doing, boss?
- [34:15]
Nick Saban
Doing great, man. How are you?
- [34:16]
Pat McAfee
So you said you lost three, so you've won seven, lost three. You've been at 10 of these. I talked to Marcus Freeman and Ryan Day yesterday, I believe. Was that yesterday morning? Yes. Yeah. Both very comfortable. Felt like they were both very, very comfortable. Both very loose. What do you think they're trying to kind of say to their teams at this moment? Is a. Hey, everything's the same. Or how do you think the coaches are kind of feeling in this moment here, just hours away from the natty?
- [34:40]
Nick Saban
Well, I think one of the things that I always tried to do was how do you get the team to manage the disruptions of a game like this? Because players get exposed to things they are not used to being exposed to. More press conference, more media, more attention.
- [34:53]
Pat McAfee
Peter Herbstream, turn around.
- [34:55]
Nick Saban
And then the second thing is, is both teams just came off of big wins. So how do you sustain that and not have the players feel a little relief syndrome, like, I'm entitled to having a little time off here. Let's take it easy because you got to restart it and you got to get ready to play the next game. And I always told the players, look, when you play in a national championship game, you got to assume when you start preparation that you're playing against the best player you ever played against. And that's how you got to get ready to prepare for this game. So you can play your best to dominate your box. And it's still keeping it simple, you know, Keeping it simple. I have these coaches calling me, say, how'd you get your team ready to play a national championship game? Well, you just played a big game last week. How'd you get your team ready to play that game? Because if there was a better way to do it, you'd have done it last week.
- [35:49]
Pat McAfee
We should be doing this all season, not just one game.
- [35:51]
Nick Saban
You know, players like routine. You know, you guys played. I mean, you like routine. You like to know when you come in on Monday, this is what's going to happen. When you come in on Wednesday, this is what's going to happen. So if you change that routine, you're just acting and making the players think that they don't have confidence in the way they did it before.
- [36:09]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, and I believe that was a big report yesterday. I don't know if it was Molly or Holly I saw on SportsCenter that basically said, there's only one voice talking to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish team, and it's Marcus Fraser. Because a lot of people maybe assume outside, like, hey, let's bring in somebody to come speak to the team. It's a big game. Marcus Freeman, to your point, is like, this is just, hey, how do you feel about this particular year and how it's gone? Gotta win four big games to win the national championship. You just talked about it. The Ohio State team are Cotton bowl champs, Rose bowl champs, and it beat the hell out of the sec. They're Civil War champs. That's just in this one playoff. And then Marcus Freeman has won more bowl games at Notre Dame than Brian Kelly did in his entire career. Notre Dame just this year. You talk about the massive games. Is it do. Are we going to inevitably get the right team? Because these teams have to show up in these massive games time after time. This is a lot to ask a team, I think, show up four straight times against the best in the country.
- [37:00]
Nick Saban
Yeah, well, I think it's a lot like the NFL playoffs. You know, the best team doesn't always win the game. You got circumstances around it. You got turnovers, you got people getting hurt. Like, Notre Dame's probably not at full strength for this Game, you know, they're all wore down, beat up, got some guys out. So it's not always going to turn out that way. But that's why you play a tournament. You got to win the tournament. It's not about just the best team winning. You got to win the tournament. So who has the most resiliency, you know, to do that?
- [37:29]
Pat McAfee
I had resiliency there because I dumped water all over myself as you were looking. That was a very embarrassing moment.
- [37:33]
Nick Saban
You covered it up nicely.
- [37:34]
Pat McAfee
Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that. I think people saw me probably just drool all over myself. But yeah, you got to show up. You got to get your team ready to go. AJ Has a question for you. Coach.
- [37:41]
AJ Hawk
Coach, you mentioned you. I don't want to bring up any, any bad memories, but you said you lost three of these national championship games when you went and you self scouted those losses. Were you able to pinpoint anything that you would have changed going back if you had, if you could do that or say the next year, if you got back that you realized, okay, this is a speed bump that we don't need to. We got to figure out to not do that again.
- [38:00]
Nick Saban
Well, I think each of them were different. I think only one of those games that we really get beat in, you know, when we played out in San Jose against Clemson, we just got beat, but we had bad circumstances in the game. You know, we had to play Oklahoma and the Orange Bowl. We had an eight day turnaround to get to California. A lot of travel, a lot of disruption in practice. And you know, we got out there, it was raining, there was no place to practice indoors, so. And we didn't handle those.
- [38:28]
Pat McAfee
How pissed for you. You were pissed about this whole thing?
- [38:31]
AJ Hawk
No indoor facility?
- [38:33]
Nick Saban
No. That's why I think that these games should always be played at bowl sites, you know, because bowl sites have the facilities because they're used to accommodating teams. We played in San Jose, they weren't used to accommodating a team. No disrespect to Indianapolis. When we played Georgia and Indianapolis, they weren't used to accommodating.
- [38:53]
Pat McAfee
Pretty disrespectful. Pretty disrespect.
- [38:56]
Nick Saban
They were prepared. It was cold as hell and we had to go practice in your Indianapolis Colts facility, which may be. I don't know what it's like now, but it wasn't really very nice. No, but to answer your question, A.J. yeah, there were always things that we didn't do well in the game. And in some of the games, I Mean, like we lost to Clemson on the last play of the game, I think in 2015 or 16. I mean, it was two great teams. I mean, we covered them and they caught it anyway and they scored. I mean, it was just a great game and we played a really good game. We just lost.
- [39:36]
Pat McAfee
That happens in football could potentially happen tonight. I think tonight's game could go any way. Do you agree with that? I think there could be a buzzsaw. I think it could come down to the last second. I think there could be a massive upset. I have no clue how tonight's going to go, strictly because these teams have had to show up in massive games already three times and they both proven it. What is your kind of judge on how tonight goes anywhere?
- [39:58]
Nick Saban
I think who can play their game? Which team allows the other team to play their game? You know, if Notre Dame's gonna win the game, they're gonna have to play ugly. You know, they can't get in a three point shootout if it's a basketball game, you know, with Ohio State to make explosive plays to win the game. Because Ohio State has too many weapons. But if they can make the game ugly, kind of like Michigan did, you know, they ran the ball, they kept it away from Ohio State. They made the plays they needed made. They got, you know, get some turnovers, play good defense, don't let them get explosive plays. I think anybody can win the game, but I think the team that's going to win is going to be able to play their game.
- [40:39]
Pat McAfee
Their identity, their identity, which has been proven here already. Both of their identities have been proven. You think about Ohio State, you talk about explosives. That has become like the stat of this football season, both in college and in the NFL. Who can stop explosives and who can make explosives? This Ohio State team makes explosives on offense and on defense, and they stop them. And then Notre Dame has been able to keep everybody in a phone booth. I'm very, very pumped. I asked Marcus Freeman yesterday, I said, for you guys to win, what needs to happen? And he just, he immediately said, we need to run ball, we need to stop the run. I mean, that is what we need to do. Was not scared to say it at all. That is who we are and it's how we're going to win. And I think Ryan Day knew exactly who they were, too. Two teams that know who they are coming in here, very excited about it. D, Bud has a question for you. Coach.
- [41:23]
Darius Butler
Yeah, Coach. You've been in so many of these huge games and I'm sure most people Would assume you don't have nerves coming into it. What were your nerves like coming into these huge games? And I know as a player like that first hit or first coverage rep may be a target, then it kind of settles down and turns into just football. How are you nervous coming into big games like this and then kind of what settled you once the game kind of got going?
- [41:43]
Nick Saban
Yeah, well, I think I had nerves going into every game. And sometimes I was more nervous about the games that we were supposed to win. You know, like when you're a big favorite but you're playing a pretty good team and you know your team's probably not looking at the game like you need to. But I think to ignore anxiety. I think all players and all coaches have anxiety when you go into games like this. And I always thought as a coach, the most important thing I needed to do was manage that anxiety because that anxiety was not going to help you perform well. And to keep things simple, play in, play out, do your job, dominate your box, don't worry about the scoreboard. All those kinds of things kind of minimize anxiety because everybody wants to win and can we focus on doing the things that, that we need to do to win? That was what I always tried to promote to the players. And I didn't want to make them think that I was anxious because if they saw me nervous and anxious, then that means I don't believe in them.
- [42:40]
Darius Butler
Trickles down. Yep.
- [42:41]
Pat McAfee
Oh, yeah. Everybody knows and can feel it. Even your assistant coaches. Your assistant coaches can't be nervous either because then they think, oh, we don't have enough. We can't get the job done. You listen to music before the game? What you do, do you listen to music?
- [42:52]
Nick Saban
I never listen to music. I kind of just thought things through. I did a little stretching.
- [42:56]
Pat McAfee
Oh, really? Yoga? You're a yoga.
- [42:58]
Boston Connor
Stretch it out.
- [42:58]
Nick Saban
No, I tried to keep busy, but I always had like, I made notes like, of what I was going to say to the team relative to what I'd said to them the day before, what I was going to say to them at halftime. I always had notes on, what do I say if we win? What do I say if we lose? I mean, I was anticipating what, what was going to happen so that we didn't have to, to respond. And spur of the moment type things.
- [43:24]
Pat McAfee
You ever break any headsets at national championship games? Feels like a perfect setting to go ahead and put one of those through the ground.
- [43:29]
Nick Saban
Well, you know, I broke so many, I can't remember the specifics of when they happened. But had to.
- [43:35]
Pat McAfee
Tone has a question for you, coach.
- [43:37]
Tone Diggs
Nobody runs more man to man than this Notre Dame defense. And Al Golden's been asked a ton about it this week. If they are going to continue to do that against these, you know, Ohio State wide receivers that are very, very good, would you, in that situation, like, would you do, would you go out doing what you do the whole season, do what you do best, or would you play more zone because of how these wide receivers are gifted athletically and just who they are?
- [44:02]
Nick Saban
Well, I think that, yeah, you want to be who you are, but you also want to look at what the other team does technically, you know, what their strengths and weaknesses are and what can we do to take that away. And I think one of the things that, like the thing that we played a lot and people think as soon as you say man to man, that means you got a middle of the field safety and everybody's kind of locked up outside. But we actually played a lot of split safety man to man. All right, which is what Texas did, you know, last week, you know, in.
- [44:34]
Pat McAfee
The game, Taff or whatever his name was.
- [44:36]
Nick Saban
Yeah, where you got, you got two deep safeties, but they're not playing half field coverage. They're still involved in the run to some degree. But you can take and say, all right, we're going to double number four, we're going to double the guy in the slot. But you still got too high. You're not always playing middle of the field coverage. I think when you play middle of the field coverage and you got great wideouts out here, your cats better be better than their cats because you're going to give up. You know, that's the toughest thing in ball for the defensive back to be able to play all those balls and play man to man short and deep and not give up explosive plays, which is exactly what we've been talking about. But you know, to that point, people always think about turnovers. And we did a thing last week on turnovers and the number one statistic in outcomes of games, but the second most compelling statistic and outcomes of games is your turnover ratio and your turnover margin. Not when it comes to turnovers, but your ratio in explosives. How many did you make and how many did you give up?
- [45:35]
Pat McAfee
It's the stat of the year.
- [45:36]
Tone Diggs
Yes.
- [45:36]
Pat McAfee
Especially with how college ball and the NFL was, it's like cyclical came back to like power football. If you were able to open a team up, you were going to win the game. Last question about what's happening tonight before Connor pivots away and into the NFL conversation. Jeremiah Smith. This guy's special man. Didn't get the Rock a lot in the semifinal against Texas, because I think of what you were talking about with the shade. And then they just basically said, all right, we'll take Texas. Ibuka Henderson Judkins. Also G. Scott Jr. And great name. Tight end from Ohio State, Kazmark Kazmirk. Great name. He said, we'll just use all the chip. And was like, cool. You want to take him out? We'll play 11 or 10 on nine, basically, is what we'll do. Because what you're doing in the modern world that we're in, he's gonna have to get the ball, right? I was thinking about this because, Jeremiah, I know who your cousin is. Geno Smith, West Virginia legend. They don't want to get you a ball there. Okay, what's that?
- [46:26]
AJ Hawk
What are you doing?
- [46:27]
Pat McAfee
You're lobbying.
- [46:27]
Darius Butler
I see where you go.
- [46:28]
Pat McAfee
No, no, no, no.
- [46:30]
Boston Connor
Come on, Gino.
- [46:30]
Pat McAfee
Let's not even say West Virginia. But let's just say the amount of people in college ball that immediately afterwards would be like, they don't want to give you the ball there. That's the world we're in right now. And Jeremiah's best football player in the country. I mean, that is by far. And he still has to play two more years of college ball. It's like, is that something that plays into Chip Kelly's mindset? Like, we gotta feed this guy just to keep him happy? Or how do you feel that gets treated? And is Jeremiah Smith gonna get his plays anyways regardless of.
- [46:57]
Nick Saban
Well, I don't think there's any question if you're the offensive coordinator, and I think Chip Kelly's one of the best play callers, but you're gonna have plays designed, especially early in the game, to get the ball in his hands, whether they got to motion him over to the slot, throw him a screen pass, a slide or boot, whatever it is, to get the ball in his hands. It doesn't have to be something. Something that has to be down the field. Because if it's down the field and the defense has, you know, two guys, one. One short, one deep over the top that reads not there for him. So the quarterback's going to throw the ball someplace else. So you can design ways for guys to get the ball, which this guy needs to get the ball because he's a great player. But the defense can also determine where the quarterback throws the ball by how they're playing. So you got to take both those things in consideration. And the quarterback can. You can't force it there because then, you know you're subject to turnovers in bad plays.
- [47:49]
Pat McAfee
He dropped that one early that we saw, where he normally goes up and gets it. And then that was basically all we saw.
- [47:56]
AJ Hawk
Will Howard did a good job of not actually forcing the ball to Jeremiah Smith. I feel like he took what the defense was giving them.
- [48:01]
Pat McAfee
And what I'm saying right now, I like what they did. They played nowhere near their A game, mostly because Jeremiah Smith didn't go crazy. But the modern college world we're in, it is what it is. What is Michigan. Michigan has Larry Ellison right in their back pocket. He's worth how many? 200 billion? Yeah, about.
- [48:17]
Boston Connor
About that. Probably more, actually, today.
- [48:19]
Pat McAfee
That would be a heartbreak. I'm not gonna say it's gonna happen. He ain't going nowhere.
- [48:22]
Tone Diggs
I think he's going.
- [48:24]
Darius Butler
That's wide receiver. U way how they've been producing.
- [48:27]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, we know Brian Hartline.
- [48:28]
Pat McAfee
Okay, I agree, but I'm just saying this is the modern world that we're in. Like, Ohio State has to think about that. That is the real deal. Back in the day, you never had to think about that. Jeremiah Smith. Smith. What he has been able to accomplish this season, nothing short of spectacular. Cannot wait to watch it. Will Howard, also. Nobody really gives him much credit. You talked about his decision making and not forcing it anywhere. What have you seen from Will thus far? Obviously, at Kansas State, he was great. I think he was a Big 12 player of the year. Last year, Texas was the champion of the Big 12. They make it to the Cotton bowl this year in the sec, it's like Will Howard's a player. So is Riley, though. Riley's like a Hooper. It looks like he's like a Hooper at quarterback, and his throwing has been getting better. How do you feel about the quarterbacks in this game and how big of a role do you think they have in the outcome of it all?
- [49:08]
Nick Saban
Yeah, well, I think Will Howard has done a good job of taking what the defense gives. They got a lot of weapons now. They got two really good runners. They got three really good receivers. They got a good tight end. So he just got to give the take what the defense gives, and they're going to be able to do a good job. I think Riley Leonard, on the other hand, you know, it's more about him being able to. Able to be a runner, having more diversity as a quarterback, which he's done a really good job of. He's a really good athlete. He's a great competitor and his throwing has gotten better, especially the short throws where they can keep, you know, the, the sticks moving. They haven't made a lot of explosive plays, but that's okay if you're playing keep away.
- [49:43]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, they've stay stayed on schedule. They say, all right, let's get to the NFL Now. Connor has a question for you.
- [49:49]
Boston Connor
Yeah, Coach Jalen hurts, obviously. There's a lot of conversation about him. He kind of gets killed on the Internet for his passing, but you know, he had a 44 yard touchdown yesterday running the ball. People kind of ignore that when it comes to him being a quarterback. What do you think about his performance so far and how do you kind of think he gets better almost as they head to the NFC Championship next week?
- [50:08]
Nick Saban
Yeah, well, I think he's doing the things they need to do to win. I mean, they're a running football team. I mean, that's what the Philadelphia Eagles are. They got Saquon Barkley. They run it. Jalen can run it, which he had a big play last night as a runner. So you got to make people defend that and then you got to throw the ball effectively enough and play action game. And I think Jalen is a good enough passer to do all those things. I think the one thing, and this is any athletic quarterback and every one of them, and when Jalen was with us, we would have team and seven on seven. And I would say you cannot run, you cannot scramble, you cannot. You have to throw the ball on 10. And because these guys are so athletic, they see the rush coming and they think they can scramble and get out of it. And a couple of those sacks that he took last night, he took them because in normal circumstances, no snow, no bad knee, all that, he probably would have been able to escape and get away and make a play. And he's done that so much in his career, it's hard to tell a guy, hey, don't do that. But I was trying to train him to become a better on time passer, you know, by not allowing him to do it in practice. And I think he improved in that regard, but he's still a great athlete and those guys are going to make plays and you can't take that away from him.
- [51:22]
Pat McAfee
Let's talk about a great athlete who has done something that not a lot of rookie quarterbacks have done. Jaden Daniels, obviously, when he's at lsu, you have to play against him. He transfers in there from Arizona State. Everything that happened over there at the end of his run. Those dudes got to feel like the dumbest of all time in that locker room. He goes to lsu, you have to play against him a few times. Kirk Herbstreet sat on this particular program when we were at Army Navy last year and he said, you know, throughout all these draft class, this is a good draft class for quarterbacks. And it has been, I mean, Drake may seemingly going to be a guy. Pennocks we think is going to be able to be a guy. We think Caleb has an opportunity. Who knows in Chicago if they get it right. Bo Nix is a guy. And Kirk kind of knocked and laid out all those answers. And then he said Jaden Daniels is the guy though. Whenever people meet him, when they talk to him, whenever they understand his football knowledge, but also just his sense of calm that he has and then the moxie and confidence in which he plays with Kirk was like, he's the guy. This was last year, Army Navy, coming out. I don't think he was the only one. But what do you know from him when watching him at lsu, obviously very closely and could you have ever expected this from him coming into the NFL.
- [52:29]
Nick Saban
Since Joe Burrow, which whatever the year that was when they beat us, this was the most dominating player that we played against at Alabama for four or five years. And I said it last year in the draft, you know, all these pro people call and ask your opinion on people you played against. I said, this guy is the best player we played against for five years. And I no disrespect to anybody else, you guys got to look at all all the quarterbacks. But I think this guy is a great passer. He's fast as hell and he can scramble and run and make plays. He's smart, he makes good decisions. I don't see how you can go wrong with this guy. And I actually thought he was the best guy in the draft last year because of the production that he had in college and he did it for two years.
- [53:17]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, but what do you know?
- [53:19]
Nick Saban
I don't know. You're right about that.
- [53:21]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, what do you know? I mean, you don't know all out entire thing. What's that?
- [53:24]
Darius Butler
There's so much confidence in him, like all the going forward on fourth downs and as a defensive minded coach, how much does that change? I guess game plan wise, playing against a team like Philly or a team like Buffett, seemed like the NFL is just kind of like fourth down revolution as a whole. How do you feel that changes for defensive game planning?
- [53:41]
Nick Saban
Well, that's, that's that's analytics. And I think one of the big things you have to do as a defensive coach, which we started to do a couple years ago because Ole Miss would go for it on fourth down. Lane. And go for it on fourth down all the time, is defensive players automatically think, all right, we stopped them on third and five. We're off the field looking for. And they're going for it. And your mindset changed. I mean, you have another third down to play. So we actually started scripting in practice. All right, it's third and five. Incomplete. It's fourth and five. You got it. Got to play. You got to go play. Got to go play. In one game, you know, we actually went 5 for 5 on making stops on fourth down, which typically was not the case because you never practiced it.
- [54:29]
Darius Butler
Yeah.
- [54:29]
Nick Saban
And even the defensive coordinators over there got marbles in his mouth, doesn't know what to call because he thinks the punt team's going out there, the punt return team. All right, so all these things kind of work against you because it's not your mindset. But analytics changed all this. You know, these analytic guys say if you go for it on 4th and 3 on your own 40 yard line, you got a 56% chance to make it. Well, my question was, when my coaches used to bring all that stuff to me, was I'd say, well, what happens to 46% of the time?
- [54:59]
Pat McAfee
You don't ask about that.
- [55:01]
Nick Saban
They never answer that part.
- [55:02]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, the analytics. I like how you do this with the analytics. Feels like we can make a stat out of anything is what you just did there with the analytics. Going for it on fourth down has been fun. And I don't think we've ever seen a graphic maybe once that has said don't go. The ESPN stats, the NBC stats, the Amazon prime stats, we say go for it. Does that mean it's more than 51% or what is. Because that's a lot out of 100 times, 42 times not getting it, even though 58 sounds good. That is a lot of not getting it on fourth down. You talked about stopping it five times. One game. I assume you won that game.
- [55:37]
Nick Saban
Yeah, we did.
- [55:38]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. That feels like a lot of turnovers there. All right, Coach, I can't wait for college game day starting at 5:00, I do believe. Eastern. We'll be right here. Then the national championship this evening. You've been awesome to watch on TV this year. Hell, hell of a debut into a television career that you had this year. You need to know that.
- [55:55]
Nick Saban
Well, it's because of you. You have made and taught me how to be able to operate without having anxiety. Because I had anxiety in the beginning.
- [56:05]
Pat McAfee
Why? You're Nick Saban.
- [56:07]
Nick Saban
No, but I. Not based on doing this.
- [56:10]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, you are.
- [56:11]
Nick Saban
No.
- [56:11]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [56:12]
Nick Saban
Can I say one thing?
- [56:13]
Pat McAfee
We got 30 seconds. You better say it quick if you're.
- [56:15]
Nick Saban
Gonna be a TV guy. But you brought this up about Jeremiah Smith going to Michigan or.
- [56:19]
Pat McAfee
No, no, no, no.
- [56:20]
Nick Saban
West Virginia or whatever. All right. You created that.
- [56:24]
Pat McAfee
No, he did.
- [56:24]
AJ Hawk
You're right.
- [56:25]
Nick Saban
But all's. I'm saying, the people out there need to know this model is unsustainable. It's not good for players. I mean, people in Congress. I don't care who has to get off their butt and do something. Players need to get compensated. No doubt. But it has to be done in a way where we, you know, some kind of way have competitive balance.
- [56:45]
Pat McAfee
Yes.
- [56:45]
Nick Saban
You know that every school has the same thing. One school can't spend $30 million for players, while another school spending 3 million.
- [56:51]
Pat McAfee
Great. You're the one that's going to have to fix it. Hour 1 wrapping up here from the national championship.
- [56:55]
Nick Saban
We're live.
- [56:59]
Pat McAfee
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- [57:47]
AJ Hawk
To get $50 instantly when you play$5.
- [57:50]
Pat McAfee
You don't even need to win to receive the 50 bonus. It's guaranteed. Prize Picks run. Your game must be present in certain states. Visit prizepix.com for restrictions and details. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Upgrade your business with Shopify, home of the number one checkout on the planet. Shop pay boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning fewer carts going abandoned and more sales going Cha Ching. So if you're into growing your business, get a commerce platform that's ready to sell wherever your customers are. Visit shopify.com to upgrade your selling today. Football. It's wonderful. We're so lucky to be here. We are just joined by the great coach Saban who's won seven of these, but he has lost three of these, which he says are the only ones he thinks about. That's a shame. I hope he has a little bit of happiness. He's been fantastic on tv, we told him as such, because whenever you have something like that, you need to let them those people know. And speaking of people that I need to let something know about talks to table. You guys have had a great year at Boss of Connor at Tai Schmidt Con May. Another national championship. We shouldn't be here. What a moment.
- [58:55]
Boston Connor
Yeah, it's incredible. And what a matchup for it. A seven versus an eight in the first 12 team playoffs. You know, we started with 12. We're counting down to one. It felt like, you know, it was always meant to be here, but I'm just happy that it's here. And it's a bummer because of course, it's the last college football game for a little while here. So it is kind of almost nostalgic. Looking back at the season, Ty, it.
- [59:14]
Pat McAfee
Feels like Iowa Hawkeyes haven't played football in like two years. But we're wrapping up a season here and, you know, new schools get a shot to shine. It's Ohio State, Notre Dame. Notre Dame's back. I know you're a Catholic school boy, obviously grew up watching the fight in Irish. Big night tonight. Potentially for that team up there in South Bend, Indiana.
- [59:32]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, without a doubt. More teams getting a shot to shine or, you know, we'll get two of the five winningest programs of all time getting another shot to shine. Who haven't had a shot to shine in quite some time, Bar. So, I mean, it's one of those things where at the end of the day, yeah, my. Am I broken up inside because the Hawks stopped playing what seems like three months ago.
- [59:50]
Pat McAfee
Sure.
- [59:50]
Ty Schmidt
But at the same time, it's a Big Ten country, baby. Okay, Notre Dame, yes, they're independent, but they are a de facto Big Ten team. Everybody knows that. They play basketball in the acc. That's bullshit. That doesn't matter.
- [60:03]
Pat McAfee
I was about to say, I think everybody de facto ACC team is what they say they're not, though.
- [60:07]
Ty Schmidt
They're right in the middle of the country, not too far from us. So they're a Big Ten team as well. And you know, next time we do a conference realignment, might have to throw, you know, 500 million at them to get them out of that NBC deal.
- [60:19]
Pat McAfee
You're talking about Petitti over there at the Big Ten.
- [60:21]
Ty Schmidt
Tony Petitti is an absolute dog. Everybody knows that. We may have talked Tony Petitti a little bit this morning. Let's just say he's happy there's a chance that the national championships coming back home where it belongs in the Big Ten.
- [60:34]
Pat McAfee
This would be back to back Big Ten national championships if Ohio State was to win, which hasn't happened I think since 1965 or 1966 when Michigan State won back to back. So the Big Ten could potentially be national champs for two straight years for the first time. Long time. Especially in this new time where there's a lot of wondering of who runs this house. Petiti's walking around. Caulk of the walk. Sankey's here as well. It's not you crazy great to see him. 1/2 of the Hammer Don Cowboys AP Tone this weekend I saw that I want 1 and 3 and I picked all the favorites. So obviously it was good for the dogs this weekend.
- [61:08]
Tone Diggs
Yeah, it was. So you went one and three because the, the Chiefs line moved a bit there but closing line because the Chiefs were nine and a half, I believe closing line. All the dogs went 40 on closing closing lines this weekend. Obviously a lot of people weren't happy with the Chiefs one because of the safety late. But no, it was a great weekend for the dogs and no, not normally a good weekend for the public when.
- [61:28]
Pat McAfee
All the dogs cover big lines. We thought guys going in there, how about tonight? What's the spread this evening? Has the line moved at all? What are we learning from what the sports books are saying?
- [61:36]
Tone Diggs
It's eight and a half. There's been some between eight, eight and a half, nine something. There was a nine and a half for a second out there this in his last 10 days or whatever, whatever it's been. But no, it's, it's kind of hung around there. Money's a bit on Ohio state. It's like 55, 56%. So not a. Not what I thought it would have been. I thought it been a lot more Ohio State. A lot of people think it's going to be a lot closer.
- [61:56]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. But the Catholic thou hath bet on games.
- [61:59]
Tone Diggs
Bingo. They hath bet on games.
- [62:00]
Pat McAfee
They hath bet on games. Which we appreciate. So you know the Irish potentially showing up. They understand their team's Got a lot of fight. Let's go to an Ohio State legend, AJ Hawk here. AJ you like being favored by more than a touchdown? More than a touchdown, A two point conversion in the national championship, or how do you think Ryan Day handles this?
- [62:17]
AJ Hawk
Now, see, as a fan, I do not like it. As a fan, I feel like Nick Saban when he said, like, it was tough to get your team ready when you are such a fan favorite because it's easy to kind of relax a little bit. But as a player, I don't think you care. I know it's a different time now, but as a player, as coaches, you don't care. Like, you just see the enemy across the lines and who you've been studying on film, so. But as a fan, yeah, I do not like that. As a fan, when I don't have any control of the game, I don't. I don't like being the favorite. I like being the underdog, chip on your shoulder kind of guy.
- [62:42]
Pat McAfee
I've seen a lot of different maps about who each state is pulling for. Nobody's really pulling for a high state in this thing.
- [62:49]
AJ Hawk
Well, Mark, thank you. Marcus Freeman. Marcus Freeman has made Notre Dame very. Even more of a. We know it's been an institution. Everyone. The people are like, Notre Dame, love Notre Dame. But usually it's like you're Notre Dame or you're not. Now it's like everybody loves Notre Dame.
- [63:02]
Pat McAfee
And I think if you talk about the likability of the Notre Dame team, they do say Marcus Freeman. And obviously there's a lot of Catholics out there. We know that is true. A lot of things being said about Brian Kelly.
- [63:13]
Shane Gillis
Yeah.
- [63:13]
Tone Diggs
People might not have not liked him.
- [63:15]
Pat McAfee
Just kind of passively.
- [63:16]
Tone Diggs
And actually, people don't love LSU right now either.
- [63:19]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. And Jaden Daniels, what he's able to do and what the Tiger back on the sideline. Yeah, that's. That's Governor Jeff Flandry. And I don't know how Jeff Landry's doing right now. There's a lot, obviously, but Brian Kelly's taking a lot of shots with this successful Notre Dame team because he said Notre Dame can't win a national championship up there. And here's Marcus Freeman. Now. He mentioned Marcus Freeman. Obviously he's about our age, Ohio State legend. What do you like about him? I like that he goes at the refs.
- [63:43]
Darius Butler
I do.
- [63:44]
Pat McAfee
I like that he goes. He's always himself, it feels like. And he's always professional, always cool. The boys love him, Debo.
- [63:49]
Darius Butler
I like how he connects with his team. And you saw it from the moment he was introduced as a head coach in that weight room. And it's just materialized and gotten better and better year after year. And for him to be at this point, you know, after obviously Brian Kelly leaving. But we see like Notre Dame is putting out these clips, these videos of kind of behind the scenes, maybe some of these halftime talks. And even that game we were at Orange bowl with Penn State, like everything was going away from the calls. They didn't get any calls. And it was just, so what now? What his team responds. We always talk about teams taking on the identity of head coach. And I think that's what we're seeing right now with the Fighting Irish and.
- [64:21]
Pat McAfee
Marcus Friedman excited for tonight. The Ohio State Buckeyes have a lot of talent besides Notre Dame. Yeah, the Ohio State Buckeyes spend a lot of money on their roster. So is Notre Dame. The Ohio State Buckeyes have won a lot of massive games here in the College Football Playoff. So is Notre Dame. It's awesome. Tonight is, I think divisional round. Obviously stole a lot of hype. Lamar, Josh, big. Yeah. The Commander's beating the Lions. Everybody's going crazy. Taylor Swift, Caitlin Clark at the Chiefs Texans game. They had a single shot on both of them. And I don't. Obviously I have not done a research, so somebody's probably going to correct me, which always seemingly happens. Are those the two biggest needle movers in the history of women? Taylor Swift, maybe.
- [65:00]
AJ Hawk
Mother Teresa, I bet.
- [65:02]
Pat McAfee
I doubt it.
- [65:03]
AJ Hawk
Mother Nature technology.
- [65:05]
Pat McAfee
Mother Nature watches the Weather Channel. I Vegas is this. These are the two biggest needle movers in the history of women. I think.
- [65:11]
Boston Connor
Yeah, people will only argue Rihanna and Beyonce, Madonna.
- [65:15]
Ty Schmidt
They'd probably throw her in as well.
- [65:17]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so. So then you. Those people would all be competing against Taylor. And I think Taylor would be. I think the Taylor's one. I think Swifties would be very comfortable going to bat against Beyonce, Rihanna, Madonna, the whole thing.
- [65:30]
Boston Connor
No doubt.
- [65:30]
Pat McAfee
I think they'd be very comfortable. So then you think about Caitlin Clark Park. She's the biggest needle mover in the history of Serena. Serena.
- [65:37]
Ty Schmidt
Maybe Sydney Sweeney.
- [65:39]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, she's not in sports, but I.
- [65:42]
Ty Schmidt
Understand she's a needle mover.
- [65:44]
Pat McAfee
She's doing some commercials.
- [65:46]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, Dr. Squatch.
- [65:48]
Pat McAfee
Great commercials. I saw that.
- [65:49]
Boston Connor
She's a genie.
- [65:50]
Pat McAfee
I saw the whole thing. So I mean, they're popular. You got Taylor and Caitlyn sitting next to each other. Then you got what, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelly, Chelsea on the field. And then you got a Texans team that Was balling. I mean, they had not played well, you know, at the end of the year, then they kind of found something, got rolling in there. And then obviously the refs.
- [66:10]
Tone Diggs
Are those videos of the refs and Mahomes and Andy?
- [66:13]
Pat McAfee
Are those real, those photos? I saw some on the Internet. I think they were AI. I don't know if Andy Reid fell like that. They were saying he fell on the field right there, too.
- [66:21]
AJ Hawk
It seems like a weird spot to be.
- [66:23]
Pat McAfee
I don't know if he prays like that.
- [66:24]
Boston Connor
I thought he was playing on the.
- [66:25]
AJ Hawk
Field right in front of the race.
- [66:26]
Darius Butler
I saw Smoochin.
- [66:27]
Tone Diggs
Yeah, that's. Are those real?
- [66:30]
Pat McAfee
I do appreciate the fact that we're at the point where technology is so easy to kind of utilize. I think there is a little bit of a drawback where you could just go down into one of these, either Grok or anybody else, and just say, I want to see Patrick Mahomes sucking face with Ed Hockey. And then Grok says, Let me get 22 seconds real quick.
- [66:49]
Tone Diggs
Oh, so that was AI. We ran that through an AI checker back here. There was no AI detected.
- [66:54]
Pat McAfee
What about the Andy Reid one? The Andy Reid one had. Had to be fake.
- [66:57]
Tone Diggs
That's what we were talking about.
- [66:58]
Pat McAfee
That one cleared. No way. Because I did not see him fall in front of the refs. The Internet certainly got it. I guess. A screen grab. Yeah, yeah.
- [67:06]
Boston Connor
The one of Mahomes and the refs can't be real.
- [67:08]
Pat McAfee
Smooching.
- [67:09]
Boston Connor
Yeah.
- [67:10]
Pat McAfee
Arm around each other, little tongue in there.
- [67:12]
Boston Connor
That wasn't even the worst one I saw on the Internet yesterday.
- [67:15]
Pat McAfee
It's going to make the Internet. It's going to make the Internet difficult. Yeah, it's going to make.
- [67:19]
AJ Hawk
I can't believe anything. You either believe everything or you believe nothing.
- [67:22]
Boston Connor
You sent me one. That was crazy.
- [67:24]
Pat McAfee
I don't think that was. Which one are you talking about?
- [67:26]
Boston Connor
It was just. It was an absurd one. I never even thought that it could do something like that.
- [67:30]
Pat McAfee
Oh, yeah. It's crazy how they could work like that. People that aren't good editors can really do some damage right now in here. You put that power in the hands of a very clever Internet person, which we have done now.
- [67:42]
Tone Diggs
Sure.
- [67:42]
Pat McAfee
It's gonna be tough to kind of say, I don't remember Andy Reid falling to his knees. No, but. But you look at that screen grab a couple times, it's like, well, who would have. It could be Grok or Mr. GPT or Mrs. GPT. Yeah, I do apologize.
- [67:55]
Boston Connor
Stepped in a hole.
- [67:56]
Pat McAfee
Too much access 32.7 million viewers in that Chiefs, Texans game. That's huge numbers. I was watching that game with my wife. She was hoping Travis would score. So, you know. Yeah. See what Taylor's doing. Of course. Then Caitlin Clark pops up and it's like, there it is.
- [68:12]
AJ Hawk
I think Brooke Shields was in this back row too, too. Great actor from in her time.
- [68:16]
Pat McAfee
Really? Brooke Shields was in there?
- [68:17]
Boston Connor
Yeah, of course.
- [68:19]
Chef Matt
Wow.
- [68:19]
AJ Hawk
So I'm saying Brooke Shields taking a backseat to all of them. That's how big they are.
- [68:22]
Boston Connor
So many stars.
- [68:24]
AJ Hawk
So many. I think a couple more, actually.
- [68:25]
Tone Diggs
Can't believe you didn't mention her when they were talking about the biggest of all time.
- [68:29]
Pat McAfee
We're talking about Brooke Shields. Yeah, yeah. Legit. I mean, the game, though, was awesome. If you can get past the ref stuff, which a lot of people aren't going to be able to. And guess what? Next game, you're going to be able to find something that the refs do for the Kansas City Chiefs that you're going to say that the refs are on their side. This is what the New England Patriots had to deal with for a long time. I don't like Patrick Mahomes flopping around on the sideline, but let's also remember Patrick Mahomes just had newborn. Okay. The guy's probably not sleeping. He's making decisions he wouldn't normally make. Patrick Mahomes understands he's a dog, understands he's a face of football, understands he can do plays like that on a team that's about to do something that's rather historic. And he can't be flopping around on the sideline. He's had newborn. Yeah, you can't be doing that. Can't be looking like you're an NBA guy.
- [69:11]
Boston Connor
That was tough.
- [69:12]
Pat McAfee
Can't have it. Obviously, Troy Aikman wasn't happy, but Patrick Mahomes running on about 35 minutes of sleep. What do you think this guy's doing? That's why a little bit early. He's a little bit off his game. Missed a couple. Missed a couple. He was like, oh, I'm playing football again. They snap right back into it. The people are saying. The refs are helping him snap back into it, though, weren't they, Connor?
- [69:29]
Boston Connor
Yeah, big time. And some of the calls you could argue for sure. I mean, the Will Anderson one to start was egregious, especially because it was a third down and they ended up going on to score on that drive. And then there was another one later on where it was a 15 yard penalty, I think that is the biggest thing. But that was the only game too. People were bitching about the Bills Keon Coleman pass interference for the Ravens yesterday because Keon Coleman in the corner were hand fighting. It actually looked like Keon Coleman pushed the corner. Tony Romo said, you know, that looks like a good call to me. And Gene Serator immediately came in and took said, no, Tony, that was a terrible call. But again, that happens in every game. It's just the Chiefs that gets ample.
- [70:05]
Pat McAfee
Well, the consistency too is the thing. Like that game that's all getting called. Then we watch Bills, right? There's nothing getting called. Literally nothing get called free for all. There was like four late hits. Very clear late hits. And refs like, up, up, up, up, up. We go, boys. We're going to keep it rolling. Speaking of keeping it rolling, I don't know if you've been watching football this weekend. Under Armour launched a banger of a commercial involving Jesus Christ and a comedian that wasn't allowed on Saturday Night Live.
- [70:32]
Shane Gillis
Hey, God, it's me, Shane. I haven't been here in a while, but I have a pretty big prayer for you. No names in the national championship on Monday. I know. You know because you've been with us the whole time. A couple weeks ago, that field goal, I know you had a lot going on, so that was pretty chill. You took time to help us with that. I should also say I have not bet on any of these games. All right, I have. I half bet. But going forward, if Notre Dame wins, thou will not bet on games for a month. Couple weeks, we'll probably bet on something. Come on, God, I know you can help us. Truck and dude pick sixes everywhere and a couple fumbaruskis. Just please let Notre Dame win a national championship. Hey, what are you praying for? Pray for Notre Dame. What are you praying for?
- [71:27]
Pat McAfee
Same Notre Dame.
- [71:29]
Tone Diggs
All right, cool.
- [71:29]
Pat McAfee
Shh, shh. What? Did you go to Notre Dame?
- [71:35]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, I went to Notre Dame.
- [71:37]
Nick Saban
Oh, gee, I'm sorry.
- [71:39]
Pat McAfee
That was a lie down.
- [71:39]
Shane Gillis
No, I didn't go to Notre Dame. Did you? No, my uncle did.
- [71:43]
Boston Connor
Oh, that's awesome.
- [71:44]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [71:44]
Shane Gillis
All right.
- [71:45]
Pat McAfee
Sh, sh, sh, sh. Go Irish. Go Irish. Ladies and gentlemen, the man who knows the Bible inside and out, Shane Gillis.
- [71:58]
Shane Gillis
Hey.
- [71:59]
Pat McAfee
Hey. Thank you for joining us, man. I love that the whole world has just accepted you as a Notre Dame mouthpiece at this point. Commercial was awesome. How much of the Bible knowledge played into work there? Cause when you drop the hat sounded good. Val also sounded good.
- [72:13]
Shane Gillis
Just Bible talk, man. Yeah, just Good Catholic Bible talk.
- [72:17]
Pat McAfee
You think Jesus was listening up there? I think so.
- [72:19]
Shane Gillis
I hope so.
- [72:19]
Pat McAfee
Was that guy Italian that was up on the.
- [72:21]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, it was an Italian man.
- [72:22]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I think so. I think I've seen him. Yeah, he works on the road. Right. The other shop. Okay. How do you feel? National championship day. Real deal. Notre Dame's back in it. Let's go, Shane.
- [72:33]
Shane Gillis
I don't know, man. It's, you know, scary. I thought. I don't know. I was hoping to be a little sharper today, but last night. Last night got away from me.
- [72:40]
Pat McAfee
Oh, runaway.
- [72:41]
Shane Gillis
Yeah. Yeah, we thought we. I was like, all right, we're gonna get in. We're gonna take it easy. Sunday night. What didn't happen?
- [72:48]
Pat McAfee
You shut down Inlanta last night.
- [72:49]
Shane Gillis
A little rusty. No, Magic City.
- [72:52]
Darius Butler
Damn.
- [72:53]
Pat McAfee
Really?
- [72:53]
Shane Gillis
Lemon Pepper, My girlfriend's here.
- [72:56]
Pat McAfee
No, no. Obviously, the conversation is they're favored by eight and a half, depending upon some sports blood. They think they have too much talent, too much skill, too much power. What do you think? It feels like you are actually a part of this Notre Dame team. In the locker room, in the commercials. How do you feel about the boys?
- [73:13]
Shane Gillis
I mean, I love the team. I feel weird that that's, you know, it's uncomfortable. But why?
- [73:18]
Pat McAfee
You're part of the team, dude. You've earned it.
- [73:20]
Shane Gillis
No, no, it's just. I didn't. I didn't earn it at all.
- [73:23]
Pat McAfee
Yes, you did. If you're some nobody, they're not just gonna let you talk for Notre Dame, brother. You've earned.
- [73:30]
Shane Gillis
I feel good. I feel good about the game. It'll be. You know, they've. They've been. Apparently, the other team has had more talent every week, and they keep winning, so we'll see.
- [73:39]
Pat McAfee
You and I talked at the beginning of the season about Riley Leonard.
- [73:42]
Shane Gillis
Yeah. Because you didn't put Notre Dame in the playoffs.
- [73:44]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I couldn't. Just because at the time, I. The only Riley Leonard I had known was, guy can't throw. Like at Duke. I don't know if it was potentially the weapons he had. Didn't have weapons or the offense they were running, but, like, when we watched a film for Duke unc, we went and did game day down there. It was like, oh, this guy, he's great athlete. Hooper, like, actual Hooper, but he can't throw. I think you're gonna. He's been making those throws. Feels like Riley's only gotten better and his arm has gotten better, which I think is a big deal.
- [74:08]
Shane Gillis
He's gotten a lot better. If you Watch. Like, I mean, week two, Northern Illinois. It was like, he's gotta go. And then he just kept getting better, and he's, you know, I mean, he got us to the title.
- [74:19]
Pat McAfee
So do you. After the Northern Illinois game, I think all of us, just, like after Michigan for Ohio State, needed that loss for this team to get to where they are.
- [74:28]
Shane Gillis
Absolutely.
- [74:28]
Pat McAfee
You said Riley Leonard got to go. He wrote that basically in his players tribute and was like, I felt like I let down all of Notre Dame. What week did you know this team could go? Was there a time.
- [74:39]
Shane Gillis
No. After. After Northern Illinois, I'd lost faith, admittedly. My dad had a heart attack from that.
- [74:46]
Boston Connor
Oh, no.
- [74:46]
Shane Gillis
Now he's back.
- [74:47]
Darius Butler
Is he back?
- [74:48]
Shane Gillis
He's worked his way back to health. He's here. Here. He made it all the way back to Atlanta.
- [74:51]
Pat McAfee
No, he had actual heart attack after Northern Illinois.
- [74:54]
Shane Gillis
Yeah.
- [74:54]
AJ Hawk
Because of the game and probably.
- [74:56]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, he's back. Yeah, he's back.
- [75:00]
AJ Hawk
Jeez.
- [75:02]
Pat McAfee
How come that wasn't. How come that wasn't. God, I know.
- [75:04]
AJ Hawk
If you're up there, I feel like Marcus could have pumped his chest and helped him. Like, Marcus is that good of a guy.
- [75:08]
Shane Gillis
Yeah. Marcus revived him.
- [75:10]
Pat McAfee
What do you think about Marcus? What do you think about Marcus?
- [75:13]
Shane Gillis
Marcus is the man. He's awesome. He's the nicest, is the coolest guy. Yeah.
- [75:17]
Pat McAfee
Brian Kelly said he couldn't win national championship there.
- [75:20]
Shane Gillis
Yeah. Now he's. He went to lsu and he's going to ruin that program.
- [75:25]
Pat McAfee
Connor has a question for you.
- [75:27]
Boston Connor
So when it comes to the actual game tonight, like, how do you see it playing out? Do you think they can kind of go down the field, score 30 points, hanging with Ohio State? Are you thinking, like, hey, let's make this thing gritty?
- [75:37]
Pat McAfee
Let's make this.
- [75:38]
Shane Gillis
I mean, you got to hope it's. It's gritty. You got to hope. I mean, you got to hope it's missing Michigan. Michigan, Ohio State again.
- [75:44]
Boston Connor
Okay.
- [75:44]
Shane Gillis
It can't be Oregon, Ohio State, you know, hopefully. Hopefully that Rose bowl team doesn't show up.
- [75:50]
Pat McAfee
Well, they can't against anybody. They played their bad game against Texas, too. So now the conversation is like, will they get back to being who they are? But you guys make everybody play worse than what they're supposed to be, which is. I picked against them every single time.
- [76:02]
Shane Gillis
Yeah. Pick a. You're gonna pick against again.
- [76:04]
Pat McAfee
I know you're one of the guys.
- [76:05]
Shane Gillis
Good.
- [76:05]
Pat McAfee
A lot of Notre Dame people telling me, don't even consider if you do it now. Yeah. It happened with Michigan last year. So it might be an homage, me thinking I'm that important. Also awesome. You know, that's a little bit of a ridiculous thing, but I think a lot of people. Tone said there was only 55% of the money was on Ohio State. I think we all thought it'd be a little bit more, but thou hath bet on these games if you're an Irish Catholic.
- [76:27]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, No, I didn't. I didn't bet on this. I lost all my money on Georgia. I put all my money on Georgia. Georgia versus Notre Dame. Just. Oh, split in a drunk moment of weakness.
- [76:37]
Boston Connor
Win, win, win.
- [76:38]
Darius Butler
Okay, I like it.
- [76:40]
Pat McAfee
Let's talk about that.
- [76:40]
Shane Gillis
I'll have no more money on this.
- [76:42]
Pat McAfee
Eagles.
- [76:42]
Shane Gillis
Go Birds. How about that?
- [76:44]
Pat McAfee
How about it?
- [76:45]
Shane Gillis
Saquon's a mutant.
- [76:46]
Pat McAfee
He's a real guy.
- [76:47]
Shane Gillis
Yeah. That's awesome.
- [76:48]
Pat McAfee
Detroit loses, too. So you have home field now for the NFC Championship with the Commanders coming in. NFC east rival. How do you feel about Sirianni? How do you feel about the Eagles?
- [76:56]
Shane Gillis
I mean, I'm not giving you guys good stuff, but I like them.
- [76:59]
Pat McAfee
No, that's good.
- [77:00]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, I like them. They're great.
- [77:02]
Pat McAfee
Did you hate Sirianni ever?
- [77:04]
Shane Gillis
No. He's the man.
- [77:10]
Pat McAfee
Ty, go ahead.
- [77:11]
Ty Schmidt
In terms of tonight, obviously, you know, big underdogs, if you want to call them big underdogs. Lou Holtz comes out and stirs the pot again. Starts talking to Marcus or not Marcus. Ryan Day. We thought it was over. It's not over. No, it's still. How do you feel about that whole situation? Are you worried old Coach Lou's giving a little more bulletin board material?
- [77:31]
Shane Gillis
I like. Lou's fired up from the inauguration.
- [77:34]
Pat McAfee
Oh, yeah. Is he there? That's the thing. Is he. Is he sitting in the front row up there? I do wonder.
- [77:40]
Shane Gillis
I don't know.
- [77:41]
Pat McAfee
He put out a tweet this morning. If, you know, you know, it was about a motivational speech that he gave to the boys way back, and he basically won after. I mean, it was a pretty big shot across the bout.
- [77:50]
Boston Connor
Replaced again.
- [77:51]
Ty Schmidt
It was.
- [77:51]
Pat McAfee
Again.
- [77:52]
Ty Schmidt
It was against Miami, and he basically said something along lines with Jimmy Johnson.
- [77:55]
Shane Gillis
Oh, save Jimmy Johnson's ass for me.
- [77:57]
Ty Schmidt
We'll beat their ass in the parking lot. You can save Jimmy Johnson's ass for me. And they just replaced Jimmy Johnson with Ryan Day.
- [78:03]
Shane Gillis
That's awesome.
- [78:04]
Pat McAfee
Lou Holtz is awesome.
- [78:05]
Shane Gillis
Holtz is the man.
- [78:06]
Pat McAfee
Feels like all the Notre Dame people have come back. Yeah. You know, and that's good for college ball to have Notre Dame. Good. You agree?
- [78:12]
Shane Gillis
Absolutely.
- [78:13]
Pat McAfee
I mean, he started a war with Saban by saying, you know, now everybody could do it. The north is gonna rise.
- [78:18]
Shane Gillis
You know, the north is back, dude.
- [78:20]
Pat McAfee
But it does feel like that Big Ten could go back to back national champions. Notre Dame has won, what, three bowl games already pretty much this season, and you guys have massive support. This isn't ending after the season.
- [78:30]
Shane Gillis
No, it's not. It's just the beginning. But yeah, I saw. I saw Saban up here. I was. I was back there hiding.
- [78:39]
Pat McAfee
I was trying to figure out whether or not we should link you guys.
- [78:41]
Shane Gillis
No, no, I don't think. Think he would.
- [78:43]
Pat McAfee
I don't know. I don't know. You guys have to happen.
- [78:46]
Boston Connor
Yeah.
- [78:46]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, I would. I thought we were joking.
- [78:49]
Boston Connor
Yeah, me too.
- [78:50]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, you. You tricked me.
- [78:52]
Pat McAfee
No, no, no.
- [78:52]
Shane Gillis
You did that on purpose.
- [78:53]
Pat McAfee
I did not. I was like, what, 80 milligrams. I thought everything was good. We're at the College Football Playoff. I think Saban's pissed, dude. And I'm like. I don't think. What?
- [79:02]
Shane Gillis
You're like, no, he's not mad. I was like, I know he's mad.
- [79:04]
Boston Connor
He's pissed. At this point, you should just choke slam him. Or you guys should get in the ring.
- [79:09]
Pat McAfee
Hall of fame.
- [79:12]
Boston Connor
You gotta go one way or the other. It feels like it's not getting settled.
- [79:15]
Pat McAfee
You two get along. You two.
- [79:16]
Shane Gillis
I would love to. I'd love to get along.
- [79:17]
Pat McAfee
But until then, let's win a national championship.
- [79:19]
Shane Gillis
Let's get a title today.
- [79:20]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Debunk has a question for you.
- [79:21]
Darius Butler
I'm gonna ask you about. Obviously, you had a bit of a runaway last night. Do you have two plans tonight? Or is it win or lose, you booze or you win the Natty, you're out in the town or you lose. What's the plans post game tonight?
- [79:32]
Shane Gillis
I mean, I'm just.
- [79:33]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [79:33]
Shane Gillis
I mean, yeah, it's gonna be win or lose, you booze.
- [79:35]
Darius Butler
Okay.
- [79:36]
Shane Gillis
It'll be a sad loss. That'll be a rough drunk.
- [79:40]
Pat McAfee
How do you feel about the booze intake? You feel like you're doing a good job?
- [79:43]
Shane Gillis
I've got it under control.
- [79:46]
Pat McAfee
Is this an Adderall day?
- [79:47]
Shane Gillis
I'm good. No, no, no, no. No Adderall. We got focus today. We gotta stay. Adderall would just. I'd be drinking. I'd be off.
- [79:57]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so you Got Tire Season 2 coming up this spring. Any more underarms commercials? How's that come together?
- [80:01]
Shane Gillis
No, that just came together like last week. They just reached out and we're like, we have an idea. And then McKeever, who writes and directs everything I do, he. He came up with that idea. And. Yeah, yeah, he was doing it. He was like, he. I was just sitting there, knees killed. That was a long shoot. Oh, yeah, yeah. And then he was, yeah. John was just like, all right, do this, yell this, say this. And I was like, I don't know how this is going to cut together.
- [80:23]
Pat McAfee
It was amazing.
- [80:24]
Shane Gillis
And it ended up great.
- [80:25]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, it's great. I don't. Very rarely do you see the Internet.
- [80:28]
Shane Gillis
Just be like, yeah, it's a good one.
- [80:30]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, it's a good one.
- [80:31]
Shane Gillis
Filmed it in Pittsburgh and then we knew it. John edited the entire thing on the turnpike on the drive back because they needed it the next day.
- [80:39]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so you're at the point now where you've produced enough great stuff, like tires and like, other things where companies come to you. They have an idea, you say, hey, we're gonna do this. We'll get it to you. And they trust it.
- [80:48]
Shane Gillis
Yeah. No, they were awesome. They. They let us do kind of whatever we want.
- [80:52]
Pat McAfee
It still on tour too, as well right now.
- [80:53]
Shane Gillis
Still on tour. Yeah. I'm gonna, I don't know where I'm at next. Whatever.
- [80:57]
Pat McAfee
You're in Atlanta, bro. The national champions.
- [80:59]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is all I was thinking about.
- [81:00]
Darius Butler
Pittsburgh in the moment.
- [81:01]
Pat McAfee
Did the arena in Pittsburgh. What was that two nights ago?
- [81:04]
Shane Gillis
That was Friday.
- [81:05]
Pat McAfee
What are we doing? We working on new set. We ready for a new hour?
- [81:07]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just gotta do it for another year.
- [81:09]
Pat McAfee
Your next show's in Vancouver. Going to Canada.
- [81:11]
Shane Gillis
Vancouver. Hell, yeah.
- [81:12]
AJ Hawk
Yeah.
- [81:12]
Pat McAfee
You're gonna do great.
- [81:13]
Shane Gillis
Can't wait. I love it.
- [81:14]
Pat McAfee
Gonna be a national champion, Potentially. Yeah.
- [81:16]
Shane Gillis
We'll see. What do you guys think?
- [81:18]
Boston Connor
I, I, I'm hoping. I'm praying for you. I hope it's just a great game. It's just sometimes it's hard to get myself there.
- [81:27]
Darius Butler
Yeah, I know.
- [81:28]
Ty Schmidt
I like the Irish.
- [81:29]
Shane Gillis
You like it?
- [81:29]
Ty Schmidt
I do.
- [81:30]
Shane Gillis
Damn, that's nice.
- [81:31]
Pat McAfee
Went to a Catholic school.
- [81:32]
Shane Gillis
That's good.
- [81:33]
Boston Connor
Worried about that left tackle?
- [81:34]
Shane Gillis
No, don't be.
- [81:35]
Adam Schefter
Okay.
- [81:36]
Shane Gillis
He's a stud.
- [81:36]
Pat McAfee
JTT Jack Sawyer on the other side.
- [81:39]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I saw him.
- [81:40]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Have you watched film on the Ohio State team? What scares you the most?
- [81:43]
Shane Gillis
He's pretty scary. Scary Whiteout. Smith, there's. Yeah, they're scary. They got a lot of weapons. Hopefully their O line shits the bed tonight.
- [81:52]
Boston Connor
There's a chance.
- [81:52]
Shane Gillis
Yeah.
- [81:54]
Pat McAfee
A.J. has great faith in the Ohio State Buckeyes. I do.
- [81:57]
AJ Hawk
I See, I see some pundits saying that Notre Dame is probably gonna go for it. Like once they cross the 50, they're gonna be in four down territory. You think that's gonna happen? And do you want Marcus to be like, do you want him to take chances? We know special teams wise he's gonna do some things to give him an advantage, but you think they're gonna take some chances?
- [82:11]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, I think they have to.
- [82:12]
Nick Saban
Yeah.
- [82:12]
Shane Gillis
He'll take chances, Mark. Absolutely. Yeah.
- [82:14]
Pat McAfee
Are you on the sideline? Are you leading them out? Are you leading out?
- [82:18]
Shane Gillis
No, no, no, I'm. I'm gonna be. And I'll be up here, you know, post game.
- [82:22]
AJ Hawk
You'll be in the locker room.
- [82:23]
Pat McAfee
Could you do. Could you.
- [82:24]
Shane Gillis
Do they win? I'm coming down. I'm gonna. If they win, I'm gonna cry and hug my dad. My dad's gonna. We're gonna cry.
- [82:29]
AJ Hawk
I did hear you say that.
- [82:30]
Shane Gillis
Very embarrassing.
- [82:31]
AJ Hawk
That's not embarrassing.
- [82:32]
Shane Gillis
I'm gonna cry a lot.
- [82:33]
AJ Hawk
Don't be embarrassed. You're crying because you're happy. You're allowed to cry cuz you're happy. Don't cry cuz you're sad.
- [82:37]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, mcdc, if they lost and I cried, that would be the saddest.
- [82:42]
Pat McAfee
No, no, no. Very emotional. Your dad being. Jesus Christ. With this Notre Dame football team dying.
- [82:49]
Shane Gillis
Died again.
- [82:50]
Pat McAfee
Then opens the rock, comes out of the tunnel. Win a national championship.
- [82:54]
AJ Hawk
Marcus. Marcus's pregame speech is probably got to mention Shane's dad.
- [82:57]
Pat McAfee
You know Shane.
- [82:59]
Shane Gillis
My cousin. My cousin's here too. And we were talking because my whole family's obsessed with Notre Dame and they're getting old. And if Notre Dame wins this, I think, like three of my uncles will just let go. Go. Hey, we did it.
- [83:11]
Pat McAfee
They've been hanging on.
- [83:12]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, they're hanging on. They're waiting.
- [83:14]
Pat McAfee
1988'S last time Notre Dame has won National.
- [83:16]
Shane Gillis
Well, 93. They gotta count that.
- [83:19]
Pat McAfee
Why, what happened?
- [83:20]
Shane Gillis
Same record as Florida State. Head to head. Notre Dame beat him and they gave it to Florida State.
- [83:24]
Pat McAfee
Okay, I will make sure that that is added this evening during the conversation. Yeah, I will certainly make sure you guys.
- [83:29]
Shane Gillis
93.
- [83:30]
Pat McAfee
I hate the way the Catholics have been kind of doubted and prosecuted. Left out and prosecuted. That's unbelievable. What's that?
- [83:39]
Boston Connor
Hey, some of the things they've done, you know, like, are you worried that if they. Are you worried that if Notre Dame loses, it's because you went AWOL and left your post at army or.
- [83:50]
Shane Gillis
One of the guys. One of the guys was just Asking me, he was like, do you know this guy? He was at West Point with you. I was like, dude, I talked to like 10 people and left. I was there for five minutes.
- [83:58]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, but we're all very thankful you took the path that you did. We're very lucky. I cannot wait to see your next stand up special. I cannot wait to watch the next four years with you, you know?
- [84:09]
Shane Gillis
Yeah. Should be a pretty good together, you and me having a nice time.
- [84:12]
Pat McAfee
Well, are you. How often are you gonna like. I know they kicked you off the show because they found something that you said.
- [84:18]
Shane Gillis
Oh, that's another. Yeah, yeah.
- [84:20]
Pat McAfee
Are they. You're the best, Trump. You're by far the best.
- [84:24]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, I got four more years.
- [84:25]
Pat McAfee
That's what I'm saying.
- [84:26]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [84:26]
Pat McAfee
So how's that work? Are you playing? Is there any of that type of conversation?
- [84:29]
Shane Gillis
No, I have no idea. They're pretty. SNL's pretty, like last second with their hosts, who they picked to host there?
- [84:35]
Pat McAfee
Chappelle just did, what, an 18 minute.
- [84:37]
Boston Connor
Yeah, it was great.
- [84:39]
AJ Hawk
Damn.
- [84:40]
Ty Schmidt
Chalamet next week and he's the musical guest as well.
- [84:43]
Pat McAfee
Timmy.
- [84:44]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, Double duty.
- [84:45]
Shane Gillis
He's gonna do a little Bob Dylan up there.
- [84:47]
Pat McAfee
Hey.
- [84:47]
Boston Connor
It was unbelievable.
- [84:48]
Pat McAfee
He's good at college ball, too. I mean, his picks on college game day were outstanding.
- [84:53]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, he was good. Did he get any of them right?
- [84:55]
Pat McAfee
Got that Mac one right.
- [84:57]
Shane Gillis
I don't think he got any of them right.
- [84:58]
Boston Connor
Yeah, but sounded good.
- [84:59]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, but he was way more prepared than me every time.
- [85:02]
Pat McAfee
No, no, you got. You got it right. Notre Dame by a million after you took a shot at Alabama. Jones did your entire thing. Shane, enjoy the hell out of the day. We can't thank you enough for stopping by. Are you pre. Are we tailgating for this thing, you guys?
- [85:16]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, whenever you want. We tailgating.
- [85:18]
Pat McAfee
I think we should at least do something. I mean, last night we weren't able to link up with you.
- [85:23]
Shane Gillis
It was tough to find a bar.
- [85:25]
Pat McAfee
But then you did it.
- [85:25]
Shane Gillis
Sounds like we found a bar.
- [85:26]
Boston Connor
Yeah, they stayed open.
- [85:30]
Pat McAfee
What you do. You shut a place down last night, you and.
- [85:32]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, we just went back to the hotel and drank there.
- [85:35]
Pat McAfee
That's good.
- [85:36]
Shane Gillis
It was a nice time.
- [85:37]
Pat McAfee
That is. That's what this is all about. Enjoy the entire experience. We appreciate the hell out of.
- [85:41]
Shane Gillis
You guys are awesome. Hey, seriously, thank you.
- [85:43]
Pat McAfee
Young Jamie, you and him.
- [85:44]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, Jamie's down there too.
- [85:46]
AJ Hawk
Oh, yeah.
- [85:46]
Shane Gillis
Where's Buckeye jacket?
- [85:47]
AJ Hawk
Oh, okay. That is Jamie.
- [85:48]
Darius Butler
Yeah, It's a good jacket.
- [85:49]
Pat McAfee
Hey, I thought you two were really going to get into it on Rogan.
- [85:52]
Shane Gillis
Undeniably.
- [85:52]
Tone Diggs
Did he give you points?
- [85:53]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. You guys were dancing.
- [85:55]
AJ Hawk
You guys argue?
- [85:56]
Shane Gillis
Yeah.
- [85:56]
Pat McAfee
You guys were dancing with some real. There. Oh, yeah.
- [85:59]
Shane Gillis
Yeah. That was a mistake. I keep. I keep running my mouth on these shows and I wake up the next day like, oh.
- [86:08]
Pat McAfee
I was watching it. That young Jamie be like, do we want to talk about that?
- [86:12]
Shane Gillis
Like, let's go. We can do it.
- [86:14]
Pat McAfee
As the clip was starting, I was like, oh, here we go. Are these two about to dial it? But that's. That's college ball, baby. That's what it's all about. And Shane will be watching that. Were you gonna join us on the field pass thing?
- [86:24]
Shane Gillis
I would love to.
- [86:25]
Pat McAfee
Okay, we'll figure that out.
- [86:26]
Shane Gillis
Yeah, let me know.
- [86:27]
Pat McAfee
You're Shane Gillis. They gotta let you get down.
- [86:29]
Shane Gillis
We'll see.
- [86:29]
AJ Hawk
I'll be nice.
- [86:30]
Pat McAfee
No problem. You're the man. Tell your dad we're happy he's alive.
- [86:32]
Shane Gillis
Yeah.
- [86:32]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [86:33]
Pat McAfee
Hey, we're happy you're alive, man.
- [86:35]
Shane Gillis
Good job.
- [86:36]
Boston Connor
Phil have an EMT nearby tonight.
- [86:38]
Pat McAfee
Him and Brady Quinn. Right. Almost got into a brawl with people.
- [86:41]
Shane Gillis
Yeah. In Ireland. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Phil was ready to fight. I was the one going, let's call him back. Let's not.
- [86:47]
Pat McAfee
Phil's a legend. As are you. Ladies and gentlemen, Shane Gillers. Thank you.
- [86:52]
Darius Butler
Good luck. Good night.
- [86:53]
Boston Connor
Go get them.
- [86:54]
Pat McAfee
Hey, good luck tonight.
- [86:55]
Boston Connor
Yeah, thank you.
- [86:57]
Pat McAfee
Hey, we'll see you on the side.
- [86:58]
Shane Gillis
Sorry about the low energy.
- [87:01]
Pat McAfee
We're still alive. We're still alive. Shane. We are still alive. Still alive.
- [87:07]
Shane Gillis
My bad.
- [87:08]
Pat McAfee
No, no, not bad. No, don't worry about it, Shane. Don't worry about it. The energy was fantastic.
- [87:12]
Shane Gillis
Let's get a couple.
- [87:13]
Pat McAfee
Hey, we'll see you tomorrow or tonight. 93. Gotta give us that. Yeah. That's the first time I've heard that.
- [87:18]
Darius Butler
Me too.
- [87:19]
Pat McAfee
Feel like I should do my research a little bit more.
- [87:21]
Nick Saban
More.
- [87:21]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [87:21]
Boston Connor
I forgot they did they like split them back then.
- [87:24]
Pat McAfee
Sometimes Jamie's hair looks amazing. What's that? Yeah. Florida State obviously got voted in or they. They deem a game. The national championship. Correct. And then I assume Florida State won that game. Notre Dame was not in game. So I assume that is how it kind of all came to be. Shane, that dude's in the middle of all time.
- [87:46]
Boston Connor
Ra.
- [87:47]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. How about Under Armour? Just being like, here's the idea. Just you guys could. That's awesome.
- [87:51]
Boston Connor
Yeah, that's really cool. Editing it like on the airport or. Yeah. Airplane, whatever.
- [87:56]
Pat McAfee
Bingo.
- [87:56]
Boston Connor
So cool.
- [87:57]
Pat McAfee
Quick turnaround tires, two is going to be great.
- [87:59]
Boston Connor
I'm very excited.
- [88:01]
Pat McAfee
Amazing. Cuz I guess the first one was just kind of put together like hey, do we got something or not? Yep. This one like full on prepare. We need him and Saban to shake hands or. Or gorgeous fight.
- [88:13]
Boston Connor
That'd be a great beef.
- [88:14]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [88:15]
Boston Connor
Just to have going forward.
- [88:17]
Pat McAfee
Nick Saban and Shane Gillis.
- [88:19]
Boston Connor
Yeah, it's like two polar opposite people.
- [88:21]
Pat McAfee
I don't think we need any of that. All right, let's talk about a hiring that took place in the NFL. Tennessee Titans have hired Borgonzi Paisano from the Kansas City Chiefs as their general manager. So that's one of the jobs that has been filled. Fantastic name on this game guy, you know, just like a lot of these GMs. We don't know about him. No, we don't. We don't know anything about him. Assistant gm. So he's with Veach over there. The Chiefs. He's been in the room where it happens. He knows what you should be looking for. Chris Ballard also comes from that particular building. There's been a lot of people that come from successful teams that get hired into these roles and the, the brutally honest truth is this guy could be the worst of all time.
- [89:04]
Ty Schmidt
He could be.
- [89:05]
Pat McAfee
We have no idea.
- [89:05]
Tone Diggs
But he's Italian so he won't be.
- [89:07]
Pat McAfee
We assume he's going to be great. We assume he's going to do a fantastic job. Now Tennessee is now in a situation where the head coach was hired at a different time than general manager. Are they going to force them together like they have done the last couple times? And how does that end up working out? Tennessee Titans job has been filled. Defense coordinator job for the Atlanta Falcons has been filled as well.
- [89:25]
Tone Diggs
Yeah. Jeff Ulbricht, coach Brick out of the.
- [89:28]
Pat McAfee
Running for the Jets. Oh yeah. Brick now defense coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons with Rahim Morris as the Atlanta Falcons try to do their thing. A lot of jobs still open age. Which one would you be eyeing, Don, if you were one of these potential candidates? What's the best job in your eyes out there that is currently available?
- [89:45]
AJ Hawk
The best job? Well, an interesting job when it pops out of me is the Jacksonville Jaguars job. For some reason we continue. I've forgotten that job was even available. I assume they filled that role yet. So that one I'm curious to see who goes there. But that Raiders gig, like the Raiders cow we all know Cowboys is always going to get some. Get some pub. But that Raiders job, I want to know what's going to happen there.
- [90:03]
Tone Diggs
The best Job is the San Francisco 49ers D.C. i mean, you step in.
- [90:07]
Darius Butler
That'S like they swapped it out with five years in a row now.
- [90:10]
Tone Diggs
Yeah, but Bob. If Bob goes back there. Salah.
- [90:13]
Pat McAfee
Coach Salah.
- [90:14]
Tone Diggs
Robert, sorry, he's interviewing him. Go for Bob. Go by Bob.
- [90:17]
Pat McAfee
He still has years left on his contract, so he's going to be getting a head coaching sale guaranteed. Much like Cliff Kingsbury is currently with the Commanders. But everybody assumed that Coach Sala would be heading right back to San Francisco after a year with the Green Bay packers finishing it up. You say you don't like that job because the turnover.
- [90:32]
Darius Butler
So, yeah, I mean, they get guys out of there really, really quick. They do have good players on that side of the ball, so that always helps. But if I'm looking at that list, I still think it's the Chicago Bears right now, because you have. I'm still hopeful, I'm still optimistic with Caleb Williams. Obviously you have to build and get some more stuff going, but I think he's still a talented quarterback. You got talented guys on the outside. So I think that Bears job is probably the best of these right now.
- [90:57]
Pat McAfee
Is Caleb Williams addicted to football working? I think so. Right. That was the big thing everybody was saying after we got to dome. This guy loves ball. All the noise that we heard surrounding him was more so his team. It wasn't necessarily him. This guy loves football. He loves this because this offseason is a massive one for him. And obviously physically it's a big deal, but learning NFL football is going to be a big convo. Every quarterback and Shane Waldron's gone, another offense coordinator is gone. So you're going to have more anonymous sources that have worked alongside Caleb and Zito. What happened to this guy's wrist? Do we know what happened to his wrist? I believe it was a cyst and they removed it. It was a healthy process. Throwing hands still good. Okay. That could have been a part of the entire issue. You got a sit throwing in your wrist while you're throwing, throwing it around. But, like, obviously, physically he's gonna have to continue to develop and become in shape and everything like that. But you listen to, you know, the sources that are talking to the quarterback gurus that are on tv, they're like, this guy doesn't have a clue. This guy has basically got to play whatever football he's wanted to play at USC and at Oklahoma. And that was the Caleb shit that we liked. Extending the plays, running, doing crazy stuff, throwing strikes, which is like backyard football, basically. Hey, Wide receivers, he's outside the park it pocket now get open. Like in the NFL, you're gonna have to be able to understand what the defense is in. You're gonna have to know what your first read is. Your second read is you're gonna have to play on time. It's like, I think if you listen to any of the people that might have a relationship with any of the offense coordinators in the NFL that Caleb has had yet, that's their biggest gripe. It's like, hey, gotta learn ball. But he has an entire offseason to do that. Number one overall pick. There's gonna be a lot of pressure for you to do that. If he can develop the game IQ alongside the football and also get some consistency maybe at the offensive line and offense coordinator job, maybe we shouldn't just throw in the towel on old Caleb.
- [92:41]
AJ Hawk
Yeah.
- [92:41]
Darius Butler
And you hear, you hear a lot of these things. You got to take for me at least who you're hearing it from, when are you hearing it from them, and then the sources or whatever. But once again, I, I still believe in the talent. I see the talent now. It is a big, big learning curve when you come into the National Football League and just understanding where to go with the ball. We hear it all the time, playing on time, playing from the pocket, allowing your playmakers to be their best and allowing you to be their best as well, and then kind of waiting for those moments to take over the game and make special, special plays. But if you look at his whole rookie season, it wasn't terrible. You have Jaden Daniels, who played phenomenal. You have Bo Nix, who played great as well. But if you look at Caleb, he didn't turn the ball over a ton and he had some moments where he flashed. So I think, I think it's still hopefully okay.
- [93:22]
Pat McAfee
So Drake, man, sorry, Drake, just leaving.
- [93:25]
Darius Butler
Out Drake, I mean, they played full seasons, went to the playoffs, those guys, you know, head and shoulders, 13 games.
- [93:31]
Pat McAfee
I do appreciate everybody coming out and saying, I said it. Jaden's the best guy in this draft.
- [93:34]
Boston Connor
Yeah, it's really.
- [93:35]
Pat McAfee
I said it. Coach Saban, I think probably did actually for sure. That take he had about Jaden Daniels, I remember him saying at the draft, whenever we had the. That was his first like college game day experience up in Detroit.
- [93:46]
Darius Butler
A lot of people were, were saying it. I think especially this rookie year, they felt like Jaden will be the better player this year now and then, full career, we'll still see. But yeah, Nick Saban said he was the best player the most dominating player since Joe Burrow that you've seen. That's saying a lot. Been in that SEC every year. But a lot of people saw what he. Exactly what he's doing on the NFL stage. He did it last year in college and won the Heisman. So, you know, that's not a crazy statement, but people are definitely taking their victory laps right now.
- [94:11]
Pat McAfee
Congratulations to the Commanders making it to the NFC Championship in their first year with an new head coach, new ownership, new quarterback, new building, new everything. That's a quick turnaround. That's just like the Houston Texans, who once again lost to the Kansas City Chiefs but won another playoff game. It feels like some places are on the right trajectory. It feels like the Commanders are obviously going to become a blueprint. Let's talk about a little college coaching news. Steve Sarkeesian, after his name was floated for a couple NFL jobs. Hey, this guy, people want him. He's offensive guru. He knows how to coach quarterbacks. He knows how to lead a program. He knows how to lead a team. Look out for maybe the Cowboys or the Bears to want to maybe look into Steve Sarkeesian. Was that floated out for real? Was that ever a possibility? Or was it being utilized as a negotiating chip? And maybe it was. Sarkeesian just signed a brand new deal with the Texas law. Congratulations, Sark. Steve Sarkeesian agrees. So contract extension with Texas after kleining interviews with two NFL teams. Okay. Okay. Have any of the NFL teams come out and said which ones they were or. That's not a bad play. I like it. I understand that he's a great coach and maybe NFL teams are doing that, but it feels like more often than not when college coaches, names kind of get thrown into the head coaching cycle or carousel in the NFL, it's a potential. Huh? You know what you're.
- [95:28]
Tone Diggs
We could leave.
- [95:29]
Pat McAfee
Huh? You think? Marcus Freeman, brand new deal with Notre Dame. Yeah.
- [95:32]
Ty Schmidt
Tighten this a little bit.
- [95:33]
Pat McAfee
Steve Sarki, brand new deal with Texas. It's like if you got a winner, you hold on to that though, AJ A lot of people think the grass is greener on the other side. Not always the case. Texas, obviously, back to back years, college football playoffs. Obviously with Arch Manning coming into us, they're thinking that's only going to continue. Smart play down in Texas.
- [95:49]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, smart play. If you find your guy, you got to keep him. Do whatever it takes. Like we know how much money is flowing around college football and the NFL. Like, if you find your dude, find a way to keep him there. And if you're a coach. Absolutely. Try to get some interviews with some NFL teams and have your agent let them know as well, because you want to know, hey, there's some competition. You can't just sit back and expect me to be here. If you don't want to re up me and pay me what I'm worth.
- [96:09]
Pat McAfee
Options always good during contract negotiations. Yeah.
- [96:12]
Boston Connor
Hey, Dan Lanning, you need to get on the horn right now and say bears are calling me, the jets are calling me. And to be honest, I might go to the NFL because if any school could do it, if any coach could do it, like Dan Laning is number one, I feel like at that position.
- [96:27]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I, I love it for these guys.
- [96:30]
Boston Connor
It's so cool.
- [96:31]
Pat McAfee
Get all the money you can. Get college coaching life is not easy. We'll talk to Bill Belichick tomorrow in a weekly check in all the way through the playoffs. I can't wait to hear his takes on this Detroit Lions team. Hey. Hey, Foxy. We're about an hour and 39 minutes into the program now. Any change in your thought? You said you were bummed out earlier. All Lions fans feeling like that. And is there. Yeah. Is there any, like, silver lining in this? Like we're much better than we were and have been for a long time, or is it all, is it all shite right now? Are we eating shite up in Detroit again? Certainly bummed out, Pat. But from a grand perspective of my 30 year life, we just had the best regular season in Detroit lion football history. And every single week, we didn't just win tomorrow victory. We kicked out pass. We won. That's right.
- [97:18]
AJ Hawk
What's the standard now?
- [97:20]
Pat McAfee
To your point, Hawker, the standard was a Super bowl and we didn't even win one single playoff game. And I have a stat for you guys. I hope this is correct, but I believe no team has ever won a Super bowl after losing both coordinators. So, yeah, if anyone could do it, it would be mcdc. But I'm pretty bummed out because next year is going to look a lot different. It certainly is. This is what it's like to have a good team and a good program. Welcome to it. Congrats to Detroit. We love watching your team and your program, your culture build. Remember, if MCDC is there for 15 years, what happens in the third year, you know? Amen. It's a lot different. Animal. Let's talk about Jaden Daniels, though, against his Lions defense. Aaron Glenn interviewing with the New York jets today. I believe it's being reported. So Schefter Said in the first hour, they're gonna move quick on those guys. Jaden Daniels versus the Lions. Jaden Daniels, rookie quarterback at LSU for the Washington Washington Commanders. Zero interceptions, zero fumbles, zero sacks taken, nine total incompletions after 31 attempts and he accounted for 350 yards in total offense, let alone all the fourth dimes that they went for. You know, the Lions had to watch literally themselves beat them. Yeah, you know, and that's, that's tough. And you guys were down two scores and it was like a must have. Yeah, this one was over. You know, you guys got back into it, but it felt like I don't know how much time you guys are going to have or find. But congrats to the Commanders being able to beat this very dominating Detroit Lions team that we've been a massive fan of throughout the entirety. Baltimore Ravens obviously lose to the Buffalo Beals. Shout to Razul Douglas. That was east. Getting the onside kick at the end. Want to play. Because if they lose that game there, you know, if Lamar goes down, they can't blame anybody. And let's say they, you know, they don't get that two point conversion, but they do recover the onside kick and they go down, kick a field goal, Justin Tucker hits that thing, they win. It's like the, the Josh Allen narrative. Bananas. Okay, the Josh Allen narrative would be absolutely crazy, but he, he gets his.
- [99:18]
Darius Butler
Ball frozen and being there to being a corner and being there's nobody, nobody's around him.
- [99:24]
AJ Hawk
But then, but multiple Ravens right there. He knows if he bought Rob was at even an inch.
- [99:28]
Pat McAfee
McDermott said, we need it, we gotta have it. Who we put in there? West Virginia guy, Razul Douglas. And then I believe afterwards he even talked about it because some people said he was probably shitting bricks out there. Yeah.
- [99:40]
Ty Schmidt
Some guy tweeted at him and was like, I know you were so scared on this. And he said, fuck that. I've been playing shortstop since I was 6 years old. That was a routine ground ball. Was not worried about it for a second and it showed.
- [99:52]
Pat McAfee
Justin Tucker gave his team an opportunity in that cold ass weather with a cold ass ball. Not going to be able to hit a high hop. You know, ball's not going to be able to do that. Ground's probably not going to let you be able to do that. So have to be one where he has to make a play. He did.
- [100:03]
Tone Diggs
Yeah.
- [100:04]
Pat McAfee
And congrats to Rasul Douglas. That was, That's a huge deal. 133 left.
- [100:09]
Darius Butler
Huge.
- [100:09]
Pat McAfee
There's a lot of times. And Lamar just walked right down the field.
- [100:12]
Darius Butler
That's a game that's huge. And I was that guy in college, had a high hop, got flipped, landed on my neck and I said, I'll never do it again. Actually, Coach, Coach Midsummer came and middle gentleman Tom McMahon, he had me as I was supposed to be that guy in one game. And I just told him, coach, look, we're putting the team in a bad spot if I'm back there. But that's another note too for parents out there. Have your kids play multiple sports. Yes, they always. We play multiple sports, right. Soccer. Start growing up. You play multiple stores, play multiple sports, I don't care. When you go pro and play multiple sports, they all kind of fit in and give you different superpowers in different areas.
- [100:47]
Pat McAfee
What a different tale today would be if Russell Douglas isn't like perfect with that, you know, Josh Allen, the defense, the Bills defense yet again. 13 seconds against the Chiefs. Now they give up nine points in a minute to let the Baltimore Ravens come back, cement an MVP for Lamar Jackson. Win a game instead. Casual, give me that. We win the game. Philadelphia Eagles thought they were going to trick that one off legit thought that was, that was going to be a problem at the end. I assume there was a lot of Johns too. They were like, of course now we got in, Jalen hurts his hand. Now we got to kind of end this game. We're not able to do it. And then they go down and score and now it's a six point game. It's like, are they about to, are the Eagles about to go ahead and ruin everything here for everything they've accomplished? Have a guy rush for whatever 200 yards, have two 60 plus yard touchdowns in a playoff game game become a record breaker? Are you going to ruin this day and give this game up? They were close. The Los Angeles Rams could have won this game very easily. And I think that's good news for the Eagles grit. But big O having a catch like that, 125 left down. I mean this was, this would have been a nightmare for Philadelphia and for Sirianni, without a doubt.
- [101:58]
Ty Schmidt
And he made a couple big kicks in the snow. But if you're an Eagles fan, you're, you're worried about Jake Elliott moving forward because it missing those two extra points like we at the time, you know, after Saquon's long run it's like, okay, ultimately it's not going to matter. You know, this will be just a little footnote. Who cares? But then After Nakua has that massive catch, it's like, oh, okay, we're talking touchdown, extra point wins this thing. So, you know, obviously it didn't kill him yesterday, but that's the kind of thing where it seems like against the commanders who didn't make any mistakes last week, like, that's the kind of thing that can show up if it happens again.
- [102:30]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so this game great. Yeah.
- [102:32]
Darius Butler
Yep.
- [102:33]
Pat McAfee
Ravens game, Bills game, great.
- [102:36]
Boston Connor
Oh, yeah.
- [102:37]
Pat McAfee
Commander's Lions, storybook. And then Chiefs, Texans. Chiefs is still the Chiefs.
- [102:43]
Tone Diggs
It was a good game.
- [102:43]
Pat McAfee
It was a great division. What's that?
- [102:46]
Boston Connor
Refs is still the refs is what people are actually saying. What? That's just a word on the street.
- [102:51]
Darius Butler
Eight sacks did the refs get?
- [102:53]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Chris Jones going bananas out there.
- [102:56]
Boston Connor
Look, I'm a Patriots fan, so you know where I stand stand on this. Good teams win, good teams get lucky. Lucky good teams get the calls. Okay. That's where I stand. I'm just telling you.
- [103:05]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. He can't be flopping though. Patrick knows he's a new dad.
- [103:09]
Boston Connor
The flop was egregious.
- [103:11]
Ty Schmidt
Coach Reed on his knees too.
- [103:12]
Pat McAfee
We. Yeah, we didn't see that. That wasn't real. I'm just saying. That was AI.
- [103:17]
Ty Schmidt
I'm just saying.
- [103:18]
Tone Diggs
And all eight of those sacks came after the missed calls.
- [103:21]
Darius Butler
Is that rude?
- [103:22]
Pat McAfee
Wow, that seems like a made up stat. It was a great division around weekend. We assume it's going to be a great game this evening too. And I believe we have some gifts here from what appears to be chefs. Yeah, like, very sharp dressed lads. This is Big Matt. How you doing, Matt? I'm Pat. You can set that down right here if you want. Matt, what are these? Are you guys. Oh.
- [103:42]
Shane Gillis
Oh, shit.
- [103:43]
Pat McAfee
Oh, no, no, no. Oh, shit. We lost the popcorn. It's okay. It made it better.
- [103:50]
Tone Diggs
Mike's a better.
- [103:51]
Pat McAfee
That's a better presentation. Rulman's gonna be able to make. That actually looks better. That looks better.
- [103:56]
Darius Butler
Popcorn on the dog.
- [103:58]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so, Matt. Chef Matt.
- [104:01]
Shane Gillis
Yeah.
- [104:01]
Pat McAfee
Yes. Okay, so what do we have here? And we thank you for bringing us some grub here in the middle of the program.
- [104:07]
Chef Matt
Absolutely. So this we created just for this game. So this is our barbecue box of champions.
- [104:11]
AJ Hawk
Oh, yes.
- [104:12]
Chef Matt
And we got some barbecue. So this is something we did just for this game. So we have brisket, some chicken. Pork orders.
- [104:19]
Nick Saban
Yeah.
- [104:19]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Look at that.
- [104:21]
Chef Matt
We have two different kinds of barbecue sauces representing both teams. Baked beans, peach cobbler, coleslaw. So really cool item. Comes in a nice box. There's a lid right There.
- [104:31]
Pat McAfee
Who's buying this? Anybody who's using a sweet.
- [104:33]
Chef Matt
So these are. We're doing 200 of them. So once they're out, they're out. And you can get it at Molly B's Concession stands.
- [104:39]
Pat McAfee
Shout out to Molly B's. I saw somebody yesterday. We were driving in a car. They said, house music is the greatest and in peace love. And I said, this car loves Molly in front of us. This is not that Molly.
- [104:50]
Tone Diggs
No.
- [104:50]
Boston Connor
Okay.
- [104:51]
Pat McAfee
This is Molly B's right here at the Gallagher Club. How much is this thing right here?
- [104:55]
Chef Matt
So this is $40. So this is charge.
- [104:58]
Tone Diggs
100 cornbread in there.
- [105:00]
Chef Matt
Well, I forgot that piece. So yeah, this could feed three, four people. We got a couple of them for you guys. So definitely dig in. And just to give you some facts on, on quantities. So for today's guys game, we did about £3,000 of brisket, £3,500 of chicken, £2,000 of Mac and cheese. It is, it is a lot.
- [105:17]
Pat McAfee
How many chefs, how many people? Obviously we just saw five guys come up here.
- [105:21]
Chef Matt
So I have a team of 10 full time chefs and then 300 cooks to open up this building. So we have a lot of people that got ready for this. We've been planning it for about six months. We have an amazing team here, does an amazing job. So we're excited. We're ready for today.
- [105:33]
Pat McAfee
Well, it sounds like it smells like you have done a great job. We were just talking about the pizza. How much is the pizza?
- [105:38]
Boston Connor
Yeah, like a full sized, what, 18 inch pizza is like 22 bucks or something.
- [105:42]
Pat McAfee
It's affordable. You guys want to make it affordable?
- [105:44]
Chef Matt
Absolutely. So that's, that's the name of the game right here. So that board, if you get a closeup of that, everything on there is $20.
- [105:51]
Pat McAfee
This whole thing is 20 bucks.
- [105:53]
Chef Matt
You have the nachos.
- [105:53]
Tone Diggs
That's crazy.
- [105:54]
Pat McAfee
Pretzel.
- [105:55]
Chef Matt
You have the hot dog, chicken fingers, slice of pizza, chicken tenders and fries. $20 dollars for that entire board.
- [106:02]
Pat McAfee
Who's making that decision? Who's making that decision?
- [106:04]
Chef Matt
That's Arthur. 100. So this is something that we started when the building opened. Fan friendly pricing. Two dollar hot dogs. That price has never changed for any game, including national championship.
- [106:13]
Pat McAfee
What's the company that you guys run?
- [106:15]
Chef Matt
So we are Levy restaurants.
- [106:16]
Pat McAfee
Levy restaurants. Thank you so much, Chef. We can't wait to enjoy this. Thank you for taking care of the sports fans. Absolutely legit. Because most people prey on them. No, no.
- [106:25]
Chef Matt
Gotta feed you guys.
- [106:26]
Pat McAfee
Legit.
- [106:26]
Darius Butler
Thank you, chef.
- [106:27]
Pat McAfee
There's nowhere Else you can get food, so you got to buy it at stadium. Well, here's a $10 water bottle of water instead. I think the Hawks also do it. The basketball team down here, I believe the Kunins are. And in Arthur Blake, the same thing. Like, want people to be able to take their family to a game. You're already paying enough for the ticket. The ticket price was crazy. That entire board being 20 bucks is crazy. This thing being 40 bucks is insane. There's a half rack of ribs right here. There's a full tur or chicken right here. And then there's pulled pork, and then there's five piece of cornbread. Two soups in this entire thing. 40 bucks. That's a family.
- [106:59]
Darius Butler
I cannot wait to dig in on this breakfast.
- [107:02]
Shane Gillis
So good.
- [107:02]
Darius Butler
I'm away. I'm away because I'm gonna eat this how it's supposed to be eaten.
- [107:06]
Pat McAfee
You remember down in Miami, I kind of dove in a little early.
- [107:10]
Boston Connor
Look at this thing. Kidding me. It really is my face.
- [107:15]
Ty Schmidt
It's almost negligent how cheap it is.
- [107:17]
Boston Connor
It's incredible.
- [107:18]
Pat McAfee
Snap that thing off.
- [107:19]
Ty Schmidt
But, like, they could. They could sell us for 150, 50 bucks.
- [107:22]
Pat McAfee
People wouldn't blink twice. People would have to buy it. Yeah, it's just like the. Just like the merch. They got these popped up all around the stadium. It's like they can charge whatever they want for these because they got people here. Yeah. Is your only option also. It is cold. As in Atlanta cold. It is.
- [107:39]
Tone Diggs
The whole country's cold.
- [107:41]
Boston Connor
I don't know. I don't know if you know, but when we get back to Indianapolis, it's gonna be about negative 20, 30 degrees cold than it is right here.
- [107:47]
Pat McAfee
It might be cold outside. Cora might still be blowing her cold ass winds on the entire country, including places where it's supposed to be warm. But what we know, we happen on this field here tonight is hot action. High spicy. It is going to be high heat. Super hot, super duper fuego action with a team that is built with so many weapons that you would say maybe this is a future NFL. Starting 11 on the Ohio State offense and then a team from Notre Dame that has come together and had to fight for everything that they've got all season long. They were counted out, but now here they are. We started with 12, and we're counting down to one. Tonight we find out who is the one who is neo, who are the national champions for this college football season, which has been the biggest and best season of all time. Ratings up and to the right. Top five games up and to the right. Interest in sport up and to the right. Tonight is going to be electrifying. Obviously, it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I hope you take a look around and say, hey, we can be more unified than ever before. It'd be our choosing to do so. It's Inauguration day up there in D.C. obviously. Obviously a lot of storylines developing from that particular world, which is very serious. And then tonight, to cap it all off, the entire country and world are going to watch two teams from cold weather climates, from the north, try to win a national championship. It's a wonderful Monday here in the United States of America. Tone digs.
- [109:23]
Tone Diggs
It really is. And I don't know if you guys saw the tweet. It came out, I think, earlier this week, end of last week, the Last year before NIL started, 130 underclassmen came out for the NFL draft. 130. This year, only 70 are coming out for the NFL draft. The NIL has done, like, a huge part for keeping these kids in school. Whether they go out, they get the grade, they come back, or they think they can make more money in college. But, I mean, that's 70 underclassmen this year. 70 more underclassmen than before nil that are playing in this college football this year that would have been in the NFL. And we're getting, like. I think it's raising the game of college football a ton.
- [110:02]
Pat McAfee
Most definitely. Now, the numbers that are being paid to these guys that are sticking around and going in the transfer portal, I don't know how long that's going to last. You know, Coach Saban said we need. All right, yeah.
- [110:11]
AJ Hawk
This is not sustainable.
- [110:12]
Boston Connor
I got to say this.
- [110:13]
Darius Butler
Got to say it.
- [110:14]
Pat McAfee
How much time I got? 30 seconds. This needs to be said. We're at the national championship. I love what we're doing. I love college football. This is not sustainable, he said. You just mentioned Jeremiah Smith maybe going to Michigan because they're. This can't be how this goes going in a national championship. I think everybody with a rational mindset sees it that way. So I think it's a big off season for college football. We're not there yet. Obviously, we're one game away from that. But where we were being set up in our production meeting in the hotel, it was right next to the College Football Playoff committee with a lot of meetings happening with all the commissioners of college ball. And it feels like everybody understands we got something special here. We can't throw it away. We can't really, we got to continue to make it more special. We got to continue to introduce it to more people. We need to give more people a shot to shine and we need to make sure we take care of the student human athletes in a manner that is respectable for the grandness that is college football. At this point, I feel like there is nothing but blue skies in the horizon and tonight is going to be a majestic game that's going to make us say, wow, that was the greatest college football season of all time. As we wrap up here on. I don't know if we're on ESPN or not. We didn't start on espn. Okay. We are on espn. I don't know how that happens, but all the people that helped set this up, this is the game day set. And did a little extra work all season long for me for this show. I can't thank you enough. Okay. I appreciate the hell out of you. College game day, 5:00. Then the national championship from the sideline. We'll see you there. Goodbye.
- [111:50]
Shane Gillis
From ESPN Podcast and Omaha Productions. Coach is a new groundbreaking educational football podcast hosted by NFL legends Bill Belichick, Matt, Patricia and Michael Lombardi. In each episode, the coaches break down game changing situations and front office management tactics, sharing insights from decades of coaching experience and opening up the Bill Belichick Encyclopedia of football night knowledge created by football legends for football fans. New episodes of Coach Drop Weekly. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
- [112:27]
Pat McAfee
I think we hit it.
- [112:29]
Tone Diggs
I like it.
- [112:30]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so we're still live here. Okay. What we need to do is we need to take a little bit of a break actually. Let's just pick the games. There is a PA announcement test.
- [112:41]
Boston Connor
Oh, yes.
- [112:42]
Pat McAfee
That is going to happen in here.
- [112:43]
Darius Butler
Okay.
- [112:43]
Pat McAfee
And they have delayed it already an hour for us. Wow. Okay. Obviously there are people that are not thrilled.
- [112:51]
Boston Connor
Okay.
- [112:52]
AJ Hawk
The games now naturally.
- [112:53]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, we should do that now.
- [112:54]
AJ Hawk
10 minute break.
- [112:56]
Pat McAfee
Well, this.
- [112:56]
AJ Hawk
Will they be.
- [112:58]
Boston Connor
Got a long night.
- [112:59]
Pat McAfee
I want to. Foss had the Foss presented the information and I said so just let them do it while we're live. That'll be great because we'll just talk about it. They're like they do not want to do that. Okay. All right. Okay. So they have bobbed and weaved with us, so we should certainly do that as well. I'm hearing that we have a sick B roll shot of a plane that is this a live shot from the sky? They're testing their camera and they're off.
- [113:24]
Tone Diggs
Okay, that was sweet for a second.
- [113:25]
Pat McAfee
Okay. Which was that Goodyear. That was probably the Goodyear blink must have.
- [113:28]
Tone Diggs
I would assume so. Let me see if I can see it.
- [113:29]
Darius Butler
A little sneak peek.
- [113:30]
Pat McAfee
Still never going up in that thing. Ladies and gentlemen, you're looking live at. As they test their cameras and all their shots. Let's get a good white balance here on Mercedes Benz Stadium. We have a little insider information that maybe this particular stadium costs a little bit more than projected. Whenever they want to build it.
- [113:47]
Tone Diggs
I can see it's beautiful.
- [113:48]
Boston Connor
It was worth it.
- [113:49]
Pat McAfee
It is glorious. It is gorgeous. You are looking at the home of tonight's national championship as Ohio State takes on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from gorgeous Atlanta, Georgia. All right, we'll clip that.
- [114:04]
Shane Gillis
Yeah.
- [114:05]
Pat McAfee
Boom. I'll use that for something. All right, let's make these picks before this PA announcement. And I think whoever's doing the actual PA announcement is watching the show going.
- [114:16]
Boston Connor
Okay, there it was. Yeah, that was them answering you right there.
- [114:21]
Pat McAfee
I mean, I don't know if you could ever work something out to be that time money, but that is kind of what the conversation that I was hearing was. Was. Let's go around the table here. Tonight's national championship con man. Notre Dame or Ohio State?
- [114:35]
Boston Connor
Ohio State wins.
- [114:36]
Pat McAfee
Notre Dame covers Notre Dame plus eight and a half. That's the number we're going off right now. Ty, I'm a Big Ten guy.
- [114:43]
Ty Schmidt
I'm also a Catholic guy, so I'm.
- [114:46]
Boston Connor
Going go with the Irish tonight, baby.
- [114:49]
Pat McAfee
Okay. Going with the Irish. Yeah. You see you. Yeah.
- [114:54]
Tone Diggs
As you know, I was once the mayor of South Bend, so that's where my heart lies. But my brain says my favorite bet is Notre Dame. Team total under 18. So that would make me take probably the Ohio State Buckeyes.
- [115:05]
Pat McAfee
Okay. Seems like you kind of did not give an answer because you got a lot of family and friends.
- [115:09]
Tone Diggs
Ohio State Buckeyes.
- [115:10]
Pat McAfee
Okay, you got the Buckeyes. Yeah. You got Notre Dame covering or just Notre Dame on the.
- [115:13]
Tone Diggs
Nah, I don't think so.
- [115:15]
Pat McAfee
Geez. Good luck going back to South Bend, Tom. Geez Louise, I'm just gonna have your ass. Yeah, maybe. A.J. your pick for the game tonight.
- [115:26]
AJ Hawk
I like Ohio State to win, and I like Ohio State to cover, but I think it may be a KG affair early on. I think it could have. I think Notre Dame obviously is a great team. Marcus will have these guys ready. Might try to steal a possession or two, but, yeah, I think Ohio State wins and covers D. BU I'm right.
- [115:39]
Darius Butler
There with AJ Ohio State wins. Ohio State covers. Will be a great game from Notre Dame. You know, they do have, you know, kind of no pressure, almost playing with house money, but I. I just feel like too many weapons. We saw them not play their best game last week against Texas. I think they're firing on all cylinders.
- [115:53]
Pat McAfee
Ohio State cover. Ohio State cover. Ohio State cover. Notre Dame wins. Straight up. And Notre Dame covers. Ohio State wins.
- [115:59]
Boston Connor
Boom.
- [115:59]
Pat McAfee
All right, that'll help me make my pick on game day.
- [116:02]
Boston Connor
Yeah, it will.
- [116:03]
Pat McAfee
Can't wait to see you guys out there. All right, from all of us to all of you, thank you for allowing us to do this for a living. We are.
- [116:17]
Nick Saban
I think it's a recording.
- [116:20]
Pat McAfee
I was hoping it was live.
- [116:22]
Nick Saban
Yeah.
- [116:22]
AJ Hawk
Where's Nick Cannon?
- [116:25]
Pat McAfee
He can't read the music, but he.
- [116:26]
AJ Hawk
Can sure hear that Travis Barker.
- [116:29]
Pat McAfee
All right, we got the national championship tonight live from this building. It's going to be electrifying from all of us, especially the guys back in the truck. Good work. Back in the truck. The practicing, the pyro, the flames, the pa. Tonight is going to be a spectacle as we crown the next college football national champion. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Hey, thanks for the food, Levy. Restaurant group.
- [116:56]
Shane Gillis
It's all good.
- [116:57]
Pat McAfee
Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Goodbye.