PMS 2.0 1281 - National Championship Recap, Kirk Herbstreit, Ohio State QB Will Howard, "The General" Bobby Carpenter, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Pat McAfee Show – PMS 2.0 1281

Episode Details:

• Title: PMS 2.0 1281 - National Championship Recap, Kirk Herbstreit, Ohio State QB Will Howard, "The General" Bobby Carpenter, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk
• Release Date: January 21, 2025
• Hosts: Pat McAfee, AJ Hawk, the Toxic Table, Tone Digs
• Guests: Kirk Herbstreit, Bobby Carpenter, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk, Will Howard

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1. Introduction and Season Overview (00:00 – 04:12)

Pat McAfee opens the episode reflecting on the culmination of the college football season with Ohio State Buckeyes winning the national championship in a thrilling game held in Atlanta, Georgia. He expresses relief and excitement after a season fraught with uncertainties regarding the impact of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) and the transfer portal on college football's integrity and tradition.

Notable Quote:

“We thought potentially the downfall of college football was coming with NIL and transfer portal... Is there going to be a time now where no players will ever face adversity so nobody will ever have enough mental toughness to be a great football player?” ([00:00])

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2. National Championship Game Recap (04:12 – 15:15)

The discussion pivots to a detailed recap of the national championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame. Pat highlights Ohio State's dominant performance, especially in the fourth quarter, where quarterback Will Howard made pivotal plays, including a game-winning drive with a critical pass to Jeremiah Smith.

Key Highlights:

• Ohio State's Resilience: Overcoming a significant comeback attempt by Notre Dame.
• Will Howard’s Leadership: Critical decisions and throws under pressure.
• Coaching Excellence: Praise for Ryan Day's emotional leadership and strategic decisions during the game.

Notable Quotes:

“When that decision was made for us to be in that particular room that they had any idea.” ([06:19])

“Good for Ryan Day, dude. Good for Ryan Day, legitimately.” ([12:55])

“We've never won the last game of the season. Now there's only one team that's able to go into the offseason completely happy and content knowing that what they did last year all paid off.” ([14:19])

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3. Reflections on Ohio State’s Program (15:15 – 25:20)

The hosts delve into Ohio State's program overhaul, praising the retention of key players and the strategic recruitment that leveraged the transfer portal and NIL opportunities. They emphasize the improvement in both offensive and defensive lines, attributing much of the success to assistant coaches like Jim Knowles.

Key Points:

• Program Stability: Retaining seniors and key players despite pressures.
• Coaching Impact: Jim Knowles' role in enhancing the defense.
• Team Chemistry: The collective effort and unity among players and coaching staff.

Notable Quote:

“For me, I think there's a lot of alumni spending a lot of money to get players on their team because they learn quickly.” ([08:24])

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4. Coaching Changes in the NFL (25:20 – 45:43)

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to discussing recent coaching changes within the NFL. The conversation centers around Ben Johnson's move to the Chicago Bears and Aaron Glenn potentially becoming the New York Jets' head coach. The hosts analyze the implications of these hires on their respective teams and the broader NFL landscape.

Key Discussions:

• Ben Johnson to Chicago Bears: Expectations and challenges in leading the Bears with quarterback Caleb Williams.
• Aaron Glenn to New York Jets: His reputation as a defensive mind and the prospects of revitalizing the Jets' defense.
• Comparison with Other Coaching Moves: Drawing parallels with previous coaching transitions and their outcomes.

Notable Quotes:

“Can he be a leader to get the job done?” ([16:05])

“He has a lot of weapons on that defensive side of the ball. I think pretty similar to Gus Bradley in his style.” ([85:10])

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5. Player Highlights and Performances (45:43 – 75:43)

The discussion shifts to individual player performances, particularly focusing on Ohio State's quarterback Will Howard and Notre Dame's Riley Leonard. Highlights include:

• Will Howard's Clutch Plays: Key touchdowns and game-winning drives.
• Riley Leonard’s Comeback Efforts: Despite turnovers, Leonard's pivotal plays to keep Notre Dame competitive.
• Defense Standouts: Ohio State's defensive players like Cody Simon and Sonny Styles, and Notre Dame’s defensive efforts under Marcus Freeman.

Notable Quotes:

“He wasn’t just holding back plays. I heard from people around the league that he was actually calling plays so the Lions would lose.” ([27:32])

“Cody Simon, Sonny Styles, they were the heart and soul of that defense.” ([75:43])

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6. Emotional Moments and Personal Stories (75:43 – 90:20)

Pat facilitates a heartfelt conversation with Kirk Herbstreit, where Kirk shares personal struggles, including his son's heart failure and his wife's breast cancer diagnosis. Kirk speaks about the emotional weight of the national championship win and the support from the Ohio State community.

Key Points:

• Personal Struggles: Kirk's challenges and how they intertwine with his professional life.
• Emotional Impact of Victory: How the championship provided a moment of release and joy amidst personal hardships.
• Community Support: The role of team culture and support systems in overcoming adversity.

Notable Quotes:

“There was that side of it, looking down and seeing him in his jersey after potentially facing, you know, replacing your heart to that.” ([31:25])

“When I see people go through stuff and come together and overcome, sign me up.” ([35:48])

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7. Discussion on College Football Playoff and Future Outlook (90:20 – 125:00)

The hosts analyze the broader implications of the season's outcomes on the College Football Playoff (CFP) system. They discuss the benefits of a 12-team playoff, increased parity among teams, and the potential for more schools to compete at a high level due to NIL and the transfer portal.

Key Discussions:

• Playoff Structure: Advantages and potential changes to the CFP system.
• Increased Competitiveness: How smaller programs like SMU and Indiana making the playoffs signify greater parity.
• Future Prospects: Predictions for upcoming seasons and the longevity of Ohio State's dominance.

Notable Quotes:

“College football is moving much more like NFL football.” ([10:04])

“More schools get a shot. Yeah.” ([08:25])

“Ohio State is the king of college ball that they were the kings of it right now.” ([124:30])

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8. Closing Remarks and Congratulations (125:00 – 181:02)

The episode concludes with congratulations to the Ohio State Buckeyes and their key contributors like Will Howard and Bobby Carpenter. The hosts reflect on the team's journey, the emotional highs of winning the championship, and the camaraderie shared among the players and coaches. They also touch upon the broader sports culture, the significance of team unity, and the personal growth experienced by individuals involved.

Notable Quotes:

“We've been very lucky. I've been very lucky to be a part of college game day... Not all college football.” ([06:11])

“Congratulations to Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. We're pulling for you, Caleb, and Chicago.” ([23:25])

“This is what we do. We're not asking for anybody to feel sorry for ourselves.” ([05:45])

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9. Audience Interaction and Final Thoughts (181:02 – 187:24)

In the final segment, the hosts engage in light-hearted banter about the day’s events, share amusing anecdotes from their travels, and joke about various off-field moments. They emphasize the importance of teamwork, leadership, and maintaining a positive outlook despite challenges.

Key Points:

• Team Unity: Highlighting the strong bonds among the Ohio State team members and coaching staff.
• Humor and Camaraderie: Maintaining a fun and engaging atmosphere even during serious discussions.
• Looking Forward: Anticipating future episodes and continuing coverage of college and professional football.

Notable Quotes:

“Have a great rest of your season with the NFL and we'll talk soon.” ([56:36])

“It's playoff time and it's now or never. Don't miss out on the last few weeks of football action.” ([57:10])

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Conclusion

PMS 2.0 1281 offers an in-depth and emotionally charged recap of the Ohio State Buckeyes' national championship victory, intertwined with personal stories, coaching analyses, and future projections for both college and professional football. Pat McAfee and his co-hosts provide a comprehensive overview that not only celebrates the team's success but also delves into the broader implications of changes within the college football landscape.

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Note: This summary distills the key discussions and moments from the episode, including notable quotes with timestamps, while omitting advertisements and non-content segments to provide a coherent and comprehensive overview for those who haven't listened to the podcast.

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello people and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome on this overreaction. Tuesday, January 21, 2025. This program starts now. Football is wonderful and we got a chance to enjoy the hell out of a new national champion being crowned last night in Atlanta, Georgia. This college football season was absolutely magical. I was so lucky to be a tiny little part of it. With college game day each and every Saturday, then the field passes as well throughout the College Football Playoff. And then obvious talking about it on this program every single week. It was a journey I think that we all had no idea about. We thought potentially the downfall of college football was coming with nil and transfer port. Are we going to lose everything that we loved about college ball? Are the passion and the pageantry going to disappear in favor of selfishness and disloyalty and money over anything else? Is there going to be a time now where no players will ever face adversity so nobody will ever have enough mental toughness to be a great football player? Is college football going to be ruined because of the current state? That was the question marks going into this particular season. And now here we sit after crowning the Ohio State Buckeyes the national champions last night. And I think we'd all say that was the greatest fucking year of college ball that we've ever followed along with certainly in the last recent history. But also ratings through the roof. The game last night was a blowout early and then just like most college football games, couple mistakes were made. The other team came climbing back in their fan base, rose to their feet in the crowd. Holy shit. We watched big momentum go from one side to the other side of the stadium in the fourth quarter. And it's like Riley Leonard hasn't been able to complete a pass, but then he's able to drop dimes to great House multiple times to get them back in this thing to become a one score game in the fourth quarter after looking down and ah throughout the. Riley Leonard's not supposed to make that throw. No. Perfect. Okay. Great House isn't supposed to make that catch. Guy draped on top of him, he makes a one handed grab. That hadn't been happening a lot for this Notre Dame, especially last night. Then it takes place because that is the magic of college football. And the magic ended with Will Howard dropping an absolute dime to Jeremiah Smith on a third and 11 to put the game away. You know there was a timeout called before that particular play by Notre Dame who was down to their final timeout. And obviously there was enough time on the Clock for Riley Leonard to get the ball back. Potentially, if they were to stop them on that third down, force a punt, waste their final timeout, Riley Leonard would have to run a two minute drill to go down the field, tie the game in the national championship. Does he do that? We don't know. We literally have no idea if he would be capable of doing that. But what Riley Leonard was showcasing in that comeback was potentially an opportunity to do as such. But Will Howard, Chip Kelly, Jeremiah Smith, that offensive line who held up remarkably and blocked great last night for a run game that had a guy go over 100, score three touchdowns, and then Jaden Fielding makes an 11 point game with less than 30 seconds left. It was wonderful. It was beautiful. And if you think about the story arc of this Ohio State State Buckeye team, you can't help but be pumped up for them and their entire organization. The program was questioned. The program was being called to be changed. That man was basically getting shipped out of town. Not only by a as he hawked his headset. I love that. Oh yeah, I absolutely love that play by Ryan Day. I think him showcasing his emotions a good thing, not a bad thing. Especially because it felt like during his times at Ohio State he tried to be the super tough guy, maybe publicly. So whenever he started showcasing his motion, jumping on his players, celebrating, doing his thing post Michigan game, you know, it felt like we saw the real Ryan Day and we got a chance to see this real team. And what they have been since that Michigan game all the way through the playoff is by far the best team in college ball. And last night they got a chance to hoist the trophy. It was a beautiful ending to a great season of college football that we enjoyed the hell out of. Going all the way back to Dublin, Ireland, the toxic tables here at Boston. Connor Natash Schmidt, con man. It feels like just yesterday we were in Dublin, you know, having a hup.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Hup, hup, hup, hup, hup, hup.

[Pat McAfee]

Time with Seamus and McQuaid and all the lads over there. And then all the winding roads, the different storylines, the different teams that were undefeated. This team's going to go. This conference stinks. This conference stinks. This conference is best. This conference is the best. It's just like every week there was something magical. You know, although it feels like yesterday it was the longest season college football has ever had and it was, it was electrifying from start to finish. You could find something every single week that was the best thing that had happened in some time.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, we've Come a long way from getting nuked doing the show in Dublin that one day. And we, I think, drank 50 to 60 Guinnesses a piece in one night with Sheamus. It was a great time, but, man.

[Pat McAfee]

It was thanks to Seamus. By the way, Shout out Sheamus kicked off that college football season for us.

[Boston Connor]

They had Notre Dame winning it and they were in the, you know, in the final. It was a great call by him, but no, it was great. I mean, there was that span of four or five weeks where whoever was the one seed was losing, you know, like every single week. It felt like we had a top 10 matchup between two teams. It was one of those situations where because of the realignment, you know, the new matchups we were getting to see was awesome. Georgia, Texas in October, where I think that was the week after Bama beat Georgia or whenever it was. But it was one of those incredible seasons. You really couldn't have scripted it better. The 12 team playoff. Watching the home environments for those playoff games was something as well. You wonder if anything's going to change with that too, but.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, what did you hear?

[Boston Connor]

I mean, I've heard a few things that maybe there will be changes, probably.

[Pat McAfee]

From who?

[Boston Connor]

You know, from my sources. I'm not. We talked to many people.

[Bobby Carpenter]

Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

Powerful people, if you will. No big deal. We are all of a sudden sitting in rooms where powerful people are jaunting through all of a sudden.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, maybe we had an ear to the wall because we were very close to a few people. A little cup, if you will. But yeah, people in button downs and nice shoes were telling us some things.

[Pat McAfee]

Just real quick, though, with what you're referring to. There is no way, when that decision was made for us to be in that particular room that they had any idea.

[Darius Butler]

Massive oversight. Massive oversight.

[Pat McAfee]

The most important meeting in college football is happening this thin of a wall on the other side of where we are. We cannot hear their meeting. Okay. We're not saying we are listening in or eavesdropping. They could certainly hear us right next to. We had no idea that meeting was happening until somebody came in and we're like, hey, they got another hour in the session that they're currently in right there. It was like, session? Is this politics or like, kind of.

[Darius Butler]

Pretty close in a way.

[Pat McAfee]

Basically all of college football's in our room. So if you guys could keep it down a little bit, we're like, oh, shit. And then where we were going to get our waters was the same exact place that all these people were. And, you know, we've been very lucky. I've been very lucky to be a part of college game day. The boys have been around, obviously, and everybody's so incredibly kind to me and to us that are in these positions. Not all college football. You know, there are a lot of people in college football that have said terrible things about me throughout my run here at college game day. So anytime I'm at these big college events, I'm always in the back of my head, like, who? You know, I know at least three out of ten of you have said horrendous things about me in my addition to college football. So, you know, I'm always on God. You know, I'm always on God. But trying to at least meet people, hear your stories. So whenever, you know, like commissioners that we've met in our path are walking out of. Directly out of those meetings and then they see. I think they get excited to come, like, talk to us as a group and we're rated. I mean, it's first reaction, obviously. So your sources that you're referring to. I do think there is going to be some change. But that was always the plan for this college Football playoff, obviously, the first round being what it was. Ten points was the closest score. Yeah, that was Indiana to Notre Dame. Indiana's only two losses this year. We're against Ohio State, national champion. Notre Dame, national champion. Runner up. Look out for Kurt Signetti and the boys down in bloom to potentially continuing to build on a great program, which is another story of this college football season. Indiana has a football team. Vanderbilt has a football team. That's only possible because the transfer portal in the nil. And then you look at these teams, obviously there was a couple. SMU makes the playoffs. You kidding me? Indiana makes the playoffs. More schools get shot, shine.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Turned out the big names are gonna do the best.

[Boston Connor]

No doubt.

[Darius Butler]

Kind of how it goes, you know?

[Pat McAfee]

Why?

[Darius Butler]

Why is that?

[Pat McAfee]

Here you go.

[Boston Connor]

Cold Hard king.

[Pat McAfee]

There you go.

[Darius Butler]

Here you go. Here you go. Here you go.

[Pat McAfee]

That's gonna matter. Yeah, big time. And we thought it was just Ohio State at the beginning of the year. That was almost like the myth that was being told. And I saw some people still saying it last night on the Internet. They paid $20 million for their roster. I hate to break it to some people, but from what we have learned is there was a lot of teams paying $20 million for their roster. And that number is only going to be going depending upon what this ruling is and how it works out. That could obviously adjust it. But there's a Lot of alumni spending a lot of money to get players on their team because they learn quickly. Oh, I can't own an NFL team, but I am an alumni at this particular. I can directly affect if we're going to win. Yeah. Can I get tickets every game? Yeah. Will you guys say that I'm the reason why we're. Yeah. How much do you need? We need two and a half million dollars for this guy. Done. Got it. Okay. That's one position. There was like, that's multiple, let alone the guys that aren't even playing that are on the roster that are getting paid. So if you're talking about the amount of money that's actually being paid for some of these teams, I mean, it is. And you can kind of see it in the college football playoffs. Yeah, you got to see who. Who's moving, who's not. That's why Nick Saban's call for regulation yesterday is one that I think is being echoed by everybody. It's like there has to be some sort of rules, some sort of comps. Joining us, nine year NFL vet, absolute legend during these field passes. Looked so cool. Again, ladies and gentlemen, Darius J. Butler, D. Bucks. College football is moving much more like NFL football.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Obviously, with contracts and free agency and everything like that. The NFL has comps. Comparisons, obviously, is what comps means for salaries, what people get. There's marketing deals like, hey, this is status quo. This is what this is. They have a marketing already established right now, a college ball. They're trying to establish a market, but the market is just allowed to be whatever. I think everybody's seeing it the same way, and I think college football is only going to get better and better because of it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. Got to have some guard. Well, but I love the parody in the sport. More. More parody than ever. And you mentioned it, Connor, the number one team going down week after week, the different storylines. Everybody failed to mention UConn getting nine wins as well this season with Jim Moore. So shout out to UConn getting their name.

[Pat McAfee]

What conference you guys in?

[Ty Schmidt]

You know, we're working on it. You know, one of the teams independent, that was just in the national championship, so get all the money. It can be done. It can be done.

[Boston Connor]

Okay.

[Ty Schmidt]

You know, Big Ten versus independent.

[Darius Butler]

You guys play on NBC every week?

[Ty Schmidt]

No, but we did play in the Fenway Bowl. Did you check that?

[Pat McAfee]

Congratulations.

[Boston Connor]

Did you win that?

[Ty Schmidt]

We did win that, actually. And then they go and build Belichick's record. Bill Belichick been back in college. Well, being in college now so, so much is going on, you know, with the players. I think the depth, the depth will be more of that gap now once you get later in the playoffs and later in the season, because now a lot of these backups are just going to different places, going to different schools and taking their opportunity starts. But what Ohio State was able to do, you know, retaining all those players from their roster, the seniors being able to go out, you know how they wanted to go out, coming back to Sonny Styles, the Simons, the Jack Sawyers of the world, and then bringing in a guy like Jeremiah Smith that, you know, best player in the country. And when it's nut cutting time, all the marbles on the table, you go to him down, down the field. So will Howard coming over, like, just everything that they did, Chip Kelly, Jim Knowles with the defense, and then Ryan Day, everything that team, you know, had to battle through, man, it was an awesome finish.

[AJ Hawk]

Jim Knowles, we watched him walk pregame on the field yesterday, just stalking his prey, arms behind his back, just like the slowest walk. And he was just watching Notre Dame's pregame warmups. He didn't say a word to anybody. Didn't like his face. Never changed, that guy since what, he.

[Pat McAfee]

Came over three years ago.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. When we. When you started doing game day and like, the big thing about Ohio State was the year before that, their defense had just got to a place where it never was.

[Pat McAfee]

Offensive line and defense was being questioned. Yes.

[AJ Hawk]

Bingo. And then Jim Knowles comes in and they get better every single year. They were the number two defense last year, number one defense this year. That guy was an assassin.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. He's. They're saying he's potentially going to leave to go to Oklahoma. Was being rumored. I guess he came from Oklahoma State. Right. If I'm not mistaken. I guess family basically all back.

[AJ Hawk]

Where'd Oklahoma's DC Go?

[Pat McAfee]

He went to West Virginia.

[AJ Hawk]

I did go there.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Left Oklahoma to go to West Virginia.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

That's when you know, it's a new day, brother. It is a new day.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, it is. And congrats to Ryan Day, getting a chance to enjoy his life as the head coach at Ohio State, because there hasn't been a lot of that. He's won a lot. His percentage of victory is like literally top four in the history of the game. With so many games already coached, I mean, just like a resume that has now been, you know, punched. Scott will be a Hall of Famer. Right. With if he was to stop. He's a national champion. His percentage of winning as a Coach is in the top four all time, I think is what they showed him. Third all time. Third all time. Top four last night. Yeah, third all time on game day. Lot of games. So it's up over 80 games or something like that. Like, this dude stood very good, has never, boom. This moment right here, it's like this is the first time he seemingly was allowed to say, like, yes, we did it. We finally did it. We've won a lot of games. We've never won the game, obviously, whatever we've had to, we've never won the last game of the season. Now there's only one team that's able to go into the off season completely happy and content knowing that what they did the last year all paid off. And now they have the ability to say, yeah, if we do what we do, we can win it all. This is what it is. We just did it. This man getting a chance to enjoy it. His family getting a chance to enjoy it. Good for Ryan Day, dude. Good for Ryan Day, legitimately.

[Ty Schmidt]

Great. Great for Ryan Day. And then even how they were able to do it, like, obviously Treveon, Henderson, you know, having to split carries with Judkins, you got Ibuka, who broke the Ohio State, you know, all time receptions record. And he had to be the number two to Marv and now number two to Jeremiah. So like even as a recruiting tool, like, hey, come over here, brother. Everybody eats. Everybody eats, B, come over here and get some. So just dope to see how this team came together and just adversity, man, like the Michigan shit, getting that loss. And I'm sure some people in Ohio still, like, obviously they're very, very happy now, but now, hey, you better be Michigan.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, listen, you won the entire country's thing. We need to make sure we win the northern border one. Okay? That needs to happen. And I'm sure that'll be talked about at some point during the off season. Ryan Day will have to answer questions for it. But if you're Ryan Day, the weight of the world, the entire state of Ohio just got lifted off your shoulders for 24 hours.

[Ty Schmidt]

Whatever it is, dominant run.

[Pat McAfee]

But just knowing that you could get it done is I think what a lot of people wanted to know. The reason why people got so mad about him losing to Michigan because they thought this is the biggest game on your schedule every single year. You can't get the job done. So it's always like, can this guy get the job? When we're judging quarterbacks in the NFL, it's like, can this guy get the job done. That's all we're wondering, can he. Whenever it's all said and done, can this guy get the job done? Coaches that are just getting hired Ben Johnson new head coach of the Chicago Bears.

[Boston Connor]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Congratulations to Ben Johnson. Do we think Ben Johnson without mcdc leading the culture, can he get the job done? That's where everybody thinks. Nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butler. Do you think Ben Johnson will be able to do it up there in Chicago with Caleb Williams just acting as if the building will be able to win? Let's not say the building is been what it's been where it's potentially an anchor for the football team. Everything else that's happening in the building, let's say the building is a good building.

[Ty Schmidt]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Ben Johnson gets in there with Caleb Williams, do you think he's going to be able to be a leader to get the job done?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

That's all we want to know in a coach, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

After a year, still think it. Two years you don't get the job done. Still think it this year. Make or break year now third year. But if you don't get it done for a while, then immediately the question is this guy can't get the job done. This guy can't get job done. It's the easiest thing for us humans who have easy brains to judge somebody on. Guy can't win the big one. Guy can't win the big one. Then he wins a big one and it's like can't win the big one. How many big ones? You know? But it's not can he win the big one? It's how many? And that's a vastly different question. And Ryan Day no longer has to answer that question. He's young still too. Oh yeah. People say he's beard is really dark.

[Darius Butler]

He dies.

[Ty Schmidt]

Jung.

[Pat McAfee]

What? What?

[Darius Butler]

He dyes it.

[Pat McAfee]

How? Cuz it's here.

[Darius Butler]

That's fine. It's not a big deal.

[AJ Hawk]

No, he doesn't.

[Pat McAfee]

He does not. Dark. Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

You know how stressed out that guy is every day of his life? His hair is not that dark.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, you're talking about being stressed out. A guy wins the national championship, hop hops on a golf cart, almost breaks his leg. This happened last night after the game as they were heading to the press conference. He will hired.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's pretty good.

[Pat McAfee]

Busted axle just reversed. Busted axel, can't move. Stuck on the wall. Ryan Day goes, are you kidding me? We just won the national championship. Golf cart stuck. They didn't. We'll walk. They said and we'll have you know, we were walking around back there. Real cold in those. Very freezing in those back tunnels. I mean, it was really cold down there. Not as cold as it is in Indianapolis right now. Four degrees this morning. It said that's what thermostat said. No, chilling chill is. I assume it's cold everywhere but in these back hallways, obviously very chilly. Ryan Day's like, are you fucking kidding me right now? So that situation happens after. After the game. Hilarious. Happy. Nobody actually got actually injured. I don't know how she thought she was ever going to make that.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, the wall came out of nowhere. It was like 10ft away. And then it shifted when she started driving.

[Darius Butler]

I do appreciate thinking though, like, hey, if I just go 50 into this thing, it might move back.

[Ty Schmidt]

Aggressive, full sin.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, she was looking at the wall as she hits the wall. So it's not like she was looking ahead. And maybe, maybe there's an indent here in the wall, like stops. She's staring at. Go back. You go back to the beginning of that. She's literally staring at the wall as she runs into. It's not like she's looking down the hall. Look at this. At the. Just looking right at.

[Boston Connor]

Didn't ease into it.

[Pat McAfee]

She's excited. They want that.

[Darius Butler]

You can't be giggling after you do that. It can't be. I mean, she's just acting like they're on some, you know, amusement park ride. Ryan Day damn near had to have his leg amputated.

[Pat McAfee]

Why isn't it going. Oh, my God. What's going? Oh, I broke the axle because I hit the wall so hard. Okay. This one's gonna be stuck here forever. A lot of Austin Powers, you know. Sure. And I do love Austin's persistence, too.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Because you've been in a couple of those situations before. We all have where it's like, wow, this is going to be a 15 point turn here. Yes. If I want to do this or am I backing this all the way? Yeah. Am I backing this all the way out of here or am I doing the whole song and dance right now? She said, I'm not doing the whole song and dance. No, we're getting to the press conference. Yeah. Ride this wall right now. Yeah. She probably thought maybe she.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, go up on the side. Oh, and turn it. We've seen those videos of cars on their side.

[Pat McAfee]

She's thinking she's turning that song bitch sideways. Yeah. She's going on two, two wheels. Yeah. Ryan Day's hanging off the side One of these. That's what she thought Ryan Day was going to do.

[Boston Connor]

He might even get out and kind of walk the wall style points.

[Pat McAfee]

And Will Howard's actually going to be on. On the street walking down with his hand on the thing. That's what she thought. Yeah. Okay, boy. Okay. Well, I'm happy everybody's okay, huh?

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm just saying. Not beating allegations.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that?

[Boston Connor]

What allegations?

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm not saying anymore again.

[AJ Hawk]

D. Butt.

[Boston Connor]

What's.

[Pat McAfee]

Wait, Who.

[Boston Connor]

Ryan, what you did last night.

[Ty Schmidt]

Last night?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. You did a lot of milk checking. Yeah. Oh, no. National championship.

[Ty Schmidt]

You're in the game. You're in the Florida game.

[Pat McAfee]

Sideline.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Competitive locker room talk. Oh, look at how white this guy is. How's he doing it? It was good. It was a great game. But I am very happy for Ryan Day. Even though he almost got his leg busted. Yeah. Immediately afterwards, without a doubt. Ben Johnson going to the Chicago Bears. Green Bay packers owner Ty Schmidt. You nervous about that, huh? Ben Johnson. Everybody wanted Ben Johnson to be their head coach. Not only coaching cycle, last coaching cycle. Now he's going to the NFC north, staying in the NFC North. He knows you guys all too well from his time up there in Detroit. Ty.

[Darius Butler]

Yes. He's a defensive guy.

[Pat McAfee]

You'll find one. He's been putting a staff together for a long time.

[Darius Butler]

He has been. He has been, maybe. Which Detroit fans absolutely love. They love that he's been putting a staff together, you know, long enough for them to get their asses beat in the divisional round of the playoffs.

[Pat McAfee]

But.

[Darius Butler]

But I mean, we go back to it, it's. Can the guy win the big one? I don't know. I mean, obviously he's an unbelievable play caller, but just from the outside looking in, it looks like he has absolutely no personality. Like, I don't know if he's just super stoic.

[Pat McAfee]

I see him celebrate on a sideline, all that double. I don't know. He's a computer science major from North Carolina.

[Darius Butler]

That doesn't do a whole lot for him.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he knows the stuff.

[Ty Schmidt]

He played baller, right?

[Pat McAfee]

He did. Walked on TJ Yates in North Carolina.

[Ty Schmidt]

Gotta have good vibes.

[Pat McAfee]

Great.

[Ty Schmidt]

Gotta have great.

[Darius Butler]

A lot of people saying, hey, not once did you see Jared Goff go up and give this guy a hug. Celebrate with him. Never happened once.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a goof problem.

[Darius Butler]

I don't know.

[Ty Schmidt]

Even after fake.

[Darius Butler]

Didn't do it. Didn't do it. I.

[Pat McAfee]

The.

[Darius Butler]

The bear. Like, we've done this song and dance with the Bears. A thousand times. So I don't know if bringing in a guy like Ben Johnson just overnight is like, oh, hey, the Bears are gonna win the division now. Like, you know, I mean, you have to kind of prove that a little bit. Okay. Because like I said, I've been watching packers vs Bears for a long time and watching the Bears for a long time. Zito, I'm sure, is ecstatic, and he should be, because that, you know, they could have done the thing that everyone, like, they could have hired Eddie George. And nothing against Eddie George, but like, geez, they threw that.

[Pat McAfee]

George is sitting out there.

[Darius Butler]

I mean, they threw that name out there. And then anyone was like, well, I mean, Eddie George hasn't exactly been a world beater at Tennessee State or wherever he's.

[AJ Hawk]

They could have hired the best CFL coach.

[Darius Butler]

Exactly. They could have hired Mark Tressman again, but they didn't. They. They got arguably the best guy of this cycle. But I just, I mean, it's the same thing. Like, they have to go do it. And until they go do it, I don't know if I'm initially going to be like, oh, wow, Ben Johnson's going to take him to the Super Foxy.

[Pat McAfee]

I heard all the. Detroit is thanking Ben Johnson for getting this offense to a place that was winning them more games than they've ever won in the history of the Detroit Lions, putting them in a position to have home field advantage through the playoffs. Ben Johnson, a massive piece of this brand new Lions operation. So has there been a thank you from the city of Detroit for Ben Johnson or how's this all. Congratulations, head coach. Sure, this guy's been working Boston College, then he goes to Miami, has every job in Miami, has worked his way up, he's cut his teeth. Former walkout in North Carolina. This guy loves ball. He's done so much for so many places. Detroit, obviously the place that has benefited from his big brain on a regular basis over the last few. They said, go on, Ben. No, everybody's pissed off. I have no idea why. But all Lions fans are so mad at Ben Johnson. They're saying that we played like crap because he was thinking about his future head coaching role with the Chicago Bears. I don't get it at all. I could care less that he's leaving us. I could care less that he's going to the Bears because guess what, boys? We've known he's going to leave us for the last two years. We're actually lucky that he stayed with us this year and we're lucky that.

[Bobby Carpenter]

We had the best offense in the.

[Pat McAfee]

NFL, the best offense in Lions history. I'm grateful for what Ben Johnson did for the Detroit Lions. And guess what we talk about on this show more than any other show.

[Bobby Carpenter]

The most important thing you can have.

[Pat McAfee]

For a team is culture. And we'll see if Ben Johnson can do that. Can he dial up plays? Absolutely. Caleb Williams, he needs to be smart. He needs to know this offense. That's the only way it's going to work. And also the Bears, you need an offensive line, because Ben Johnson shit doesn't work without a great offensive line. So, yeah, I am thankful and grateful for Ben Johnson, for everything. There's a lot of people in Detroit saying he gave Chicago. Can't figure out why. Yeah, there's a lot of jobs that were open. I think that he picked and choose which job he's going to. He went to Chicago. They're pissed. He's in the NFC North. I appreciate that type of fan base. Obviously, getting mad about anything is good if you can, especially at this time after you lose. Yeah, the way that goes, he's put a staff together, which I think every coach that is ever going to be a head coach has done either during their time of coaching, whenever they talk to somebody, meet with somebody. Dennis Allen, obviously the interim head coach at one point for the Saints defensive coordinator. Now for Ben Johnson down there, big brain. People enjoy him. Ben and Dennis have probably talked about this a lot over the past, not just over the last couple weeks. I assume it's been something that's been decided, but I appreciate that Detroit's all pissed off. What are you grinning for over here?

[Boston Connor]

I mean, look, all those things Foxy listed, those are real cool. You know, most wins, coolest offense. They don't hang banners for that shit. Okay, so at the end of the day, all this will just be forgotten. And true, some teams do, but that would have been a 2023 banner because they were only the NFC finalists last year. And to be honest, I don't agree with many things that the Detroit fan base is all about. You know, maybe Eminem and Kid Rock, perhaps, But I agree with him on this one. Okay, how do we know? Ben Johnson did have a couple cool plays that he had in his back pocket, but he was like, well, I don't want to use these now. I'm about to beat Caleb's oci.

[Pat McAfee]

No, he didn't do that. How do we not do that? Know that? We don't know that.

[Boston Connor]

He might have had some cool Jared Goof in the flat Catching the ball, running wild, brother. But we don't know that. Instead he said, nah, let's just do the JMO reverse pass. He'll throw a pick and.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, whoops.

[Boston Connor]

I didn't mean to call that one.

[Pat McAfee]

He's not going to call that when he's in Chicago.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, not anymore.

[Pat McAfee]

Because he.

[Boston Connor]

Because he figured that out in the playoffs against the Commanders. Oh, and what was the OC for the Commanders doing? Hey, I'm not going to do interviews until this runs over. I'm focused on this team right now, right here and don't even get me started. Okay, Aaron Glenn, what was he thinking about? But when that defense, when that defense is letting up 38 points. Okay, what happened there? Of course they let up 45, but one of those was a pick six. Oh, a pick six from a play Ben Johnson drew up.

[Tony]

Whoa.

[Pat McAfee]

They weren't working against McDonald's. I don't know. I don't know. I don't think they were either.

[Boston Connor]

But I don't know for a fact if they were or if they weren't because a lot of the talk was those are the top two guys.

[Pat McAfee]

They're going to get jobs this cycle. Shefter came on our shows like these two guys are going to get jobs.

[Boston Connor]

For Garmin and they're game planning for the game against the Commanders and they're thinking to themselves, man, this is fun, but I just got off a zoom call with an organization I'm about to run, so.

[Pat McAfee]

Nah, not a lot of dudos, remember, Not a lot of dudos. There was only scheduled for like a two day period. Everybody was doing them.

[Boston Connor]

That was the week before. It was the week before on their off time.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but then they cut it off. It wasn't like it was in the past. In the past. It was like a texty facetimey. We're gonna go meet in persony like day before biggest game of all time. The NFL's tried to fix it. Conor brought up a lot of good points there. I didn't even think about Ben Johnson maybe keeping a couple plays in the back pocket for Caleb Williams to do.

[Boston Connor]

How do you know?

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't even think about him starting to dream up plays that Caleb could do that Jared Goff definitely can't do. I didn't even think about him potentially being distracted going to the biggest game of the year because of how smart and creative he is. How could his brain not start to venture in what he could do with Caleb Williams as opposed to what he could do with Jared Goff? Oh, my God. I didn't even think about that.

[Boston Connor]

It's probably a third and short. And he was thinking to himself, man, I guess we gotta run, you know, crack toss again. Where if I had Caleb Williams, maybe we're running a little read option. Rpo, knock it off. He's looking at that play.

[AJ Hawk]

He wasn't just holding back plays. I heard from, you know, people around the league.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you mean? Like fans around the league? Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Okay.

[AJ Hawk]

People around the league that he was actually calling play so the Lions would lose because he was wearing that if they went to another round. Okay. That the Bears would hire someone else and he wouldn't get that job. So he was all right.

[Pat McAfee]

This is not a sabotage mission. That's why it makes no sense that Lions fans are mad.

[Bobby Carpenter]

He knew he was going to Chicago.

[Pat McAfee]

This has been a done deal for probably weeks at this point. I don't understand why Lions fans are surprised. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, Are.

[Will Howard]

They mad because it's the first time the Lions have ever had an OC.

[Pat McAfee]

Plucked that has been wanted or DC it actually is the first time ever since like the 50s or something. Yeah. I'm dead serious.

[AJ Hawk]

So maybe they just don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe they just don't know how we didn't mention yesterday or today we were banged up. We had a lot of injuries. That's why we lost the game. It's not their fault. I agree. A lot of injuries throughout the year. And the question now is, can MCDC win the big one? Right. Can Aaron Glenn win the big one with the Jets? Assumingly is what everybody's kind of saying, can Ben Johnson win the big one with the Bears and Caleb? We shall see. Ryan Day did win the big win last night on the Call alongside Chris Fowler is the face of college football and also the face of Thursday Night Football for the NFL. He kicks off each week on Amazon prime alongside Al Michaels. Ladies and gentlemen, old Baby Blue eyes, former president of Ohio, Kirk Herbstream. Sorry.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

What's up, guys?

[Pat McAfee]

You caught the tail end of a tangent there about everybody saying Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. And we're trying to make the Lions lose because they were focused on future jobs. We don't think that's true. This is normal operating procedure. But let's talk about Ryan Day quickly and then we'll move into all the other ball conversations. This whole thing started because Ryan Day can now say to others and himself, I can win the big one. I can win the national championship. Do you think that respect is going to radiate through the state of Ohio and college football for him. And how long does that follow him or carry him? I told AJ last night, let's give Ryan Day a lifetime contract. The High state after winning the national championship. AJ Said, I don't think that's how that works, but let's move forward. What do you think this does for Ryan Day after that big win, Herbie?

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Well, you know how that, I mean, anytime you win a national championship in the NFL, it's like winning the Super Bowl. You just go into a different galaxy, you go into a different stratosphere. And I don't think he was ever in trouble at Ohio State. You know, I think rational minds, behind the scenes, president, athletic director, I mean they're all in before this four game run. But you know, what they put together is historic. I mean it's the first 12 team playoff that we've seen. It's a team that's coming off a very, very heartbreaking loss. You guys, you know, obviously talked about this and they, they talked about four games getting to four games and it not being over. And it's pretty easy after you lose a fourth time to your rival to fall apart. Guys, move on, get ready for the league, do whatever you're going to do. And I'll tell you, Ryan Day did a great job and I'm sure AJ would agree with this if he didn't have so many veterans. And you go around that defense, you know, jtt, Jack Sawyer, Ty Lee Williams, Ty Hamilton, that's just the front four. Cody Simon, Sonny Styles, Brandon Hitchcock or Hancock. Caleb Downs has become a guy they rely on. Lathan Ransom, Denzel Burke, I mean, these guys have been around for four years and they've won some big games. They lost to Georgia a couple years ago, lost to Michigan and I just think there was a buy in and I think that's what made it so special is not just Ryan Day. You're happy for him and his staff, but those veteran players that said, guys, we can, we can do something off of this loss. If he didn't have that veteran presence in the locker room, I don't know if they, I don't know if they accomplished this. So I think those players deserve, those seniors deserve a ton of credit for pulling together and getting it done those last four games.

[Pat McAfee]

Hell yeah. And it was an honor to watch him from the sideline. Obviously you get to call the games as well, but us just getting a chance to watch them, how'd that go last night?

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Dude?

[Pat McAfee]

Dude, it's so cool. So this Leads me to my next question. Obviously, your son is on the Ohio State Buckeyes. Zach, who we obviously know, dog. Good dude. Love his vibes, love his energy. He's on the team. He's now a national champion forever. AJ Was holding back tears last night at the end of the game whenever we were on the sideline, and he tried to divert it. You know, classic aj. He goes, yeah, what do you got? What do you do next year now? You know, that was like his. He was like, you know. But he was emotional for Ohio State to win that. I think he was so proud of that team. I think he is a massive fan of all those players because of what they had to deal with. I think he understands it being an Ohio guy in Ohio, around all Ohio State fans played there. Like, I think he gets it. So I think he was fighting back emotions as well. And then we saw you with Scott Van Pelt after the game and Chris Fowler in the booth, where you got emotional as well last night. And obviously, anytime somebody gets emotional on television, that's going to be reacted to. But for us, I thought it was cool, man. I thought it was cool to watch you kind of let the world know how you actually feel, as opposed to just being these baby blue eyes in a suit calling a game. You're an Ohio guy. You're the former president of Ohio, Your kids on that team. I really appreciate what you did. And did you know it was coming? When did you know you weren't gonna be able to hold it in? And how do you feel after a situation like this happens on national television? Kirk?

[Kirk Herbstreit]

I just only know how I feel at the time. That's not something you think about or predict. It's just. It was almost like a perfect storm for me. My son had heart failure two years ago. They were talking about a heart replacement there for a while, and he had to medically retire. And Ryan Day, I think the gratitude I have for Ryan Day, putting his arms around Zach and keeping him involved, you know, he's. He's almost like a ga with what he was doing. And Ryan insisted on putting his arms around him. Chip, Kelly, all these guys. So there was that side of it. Looking down and seeing him in his jersey after, you know, potentially facing, you know, replacing your heart to that. I haven't really talked about this publicly, but, you know, Allie, my wife faced some stuff. It's been a tough year for me behind the scenes. My wife had got diagnosed with breast cancer. You know, Ben dies. It was just a lot of emotion. And when you do what we do. You endure, you know, you do your job. And I think what happened, I didn't. Couldn't predict it, but when they won, I was so happy for Ryan Day. And those players that I just talked about because of what they faced and all the stuff behind the scenes, it was like. It was almost like, I don't know, maybe a release of all that penned up stuff. And it just got the best of me. I'm an emotional guy in general, and when things touch my heart, I'm not good at talking when that happens. And Scott came to me. I was already a little bit kind of dealing with it, and then he came to me first and I was like, why do you got to come to me? Kind of thing. And that's why that was just real. It was just me talking. And I think, like I said, it was a perfect storm of emotions, of a lot of stuff going through my head and looking down and seeing my son. My wife is in. Is in the booth with me. You know, it was just. It was. It was a lot. But just happy for those players. That's a lifelong memory. That fan base will never forget this run they put on. And you're just proud. You're happy for them for what they faced at the end of that Michigan game. And I talked to these guys behind the scenes and know what they were going through and how hurt they were and for them to endure that, overcome that. Man, what an example for sports. What an example for all of us in our walk in life to go through adversity and learn that, you know what, we grow more going through adversity and. And they did as a collective unit, they overcame. I just. Whether it's Ohio State or any other team that happened to be Ohio State, it makes that much more. But I'm a big sucker for team. And when I see people go through stuff and come together and overcome, sign me up. I just love it. And it happened to be my team, so there was just a lot.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, absolutely. And thank you for sharing all that. Team sports are the greatest thing on earth for all the reasons you just laid out and shout to the 12 team playoff for being a little bit more forgiving to teams that potentially have a hiccup or a setback because them getting a chance to kind of make up for the loss to Michigan for themselves, for their team, for their state is beautiful. Shout out to your wife, Allie. Absolute badass. Obviously we knew what was happening behind the scenes. Nobody talked about it publicly. Feels like everything that happened to you this year Was a lot. In a way, you were able to maintain professionalism on the microphone, both calling game, both Thursday and Saturday night and on game day while still bringing juice to all the game day meetings and I assume all the other meetings you've had to do all year. I could see how going from one thing to the next while dealing with everything and then a little finality almost to the season, and then you see the happiness of the people that have been close to you struggling. It's like, yeah, I could see how you get emotional, brother. So don't you ever feel bad about that. We love you, man. Know that. We're proud of you, buddy. Not an easy year, man. Not an easy year. I know you're asking the Bahamas right now, but not an easy year for you at all, man. Legit. You had to fight. There was a lot heavy, heavy, heavy. Your family did, you did it. Was proud of you, man. You had a great year. You need to know that.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Well, that's why I always, you know, having each, each. Each unit I work with, you know, Al Michaels and that group, we become so tight. They know a lot of the stuff that I went through. And, you know, when you go through stuff as, as a team, whether it's sports or work, I'm sure you guys in that room go through some stuff, you know, and when you share it, I feel like you get vulnerable with each other. It just creates a tight unit. And I cannot say enough about Amazon and what they did for me behind the scenes and game day guys, you and Nick and Reese and dez, our whole crew behind the scenes. Like, I'm a part of three families. Like, like you're a part of this big, strong family right here. You're part of the game day family. You're a part of the WWE family. You know better than anybody that you want to be a thousand percent present. Like, this is the only thing that matters to me, whether it's Thursday night or game day or Saturday night. And you, you again, you get that, the wear and tear that that takes. And yet you show up every single week like it's week one. And it's, it, it's. It's what we do. We're not asking for anybody to feel sorry for ourselves. We sign up for this stuff. Stuff. But it's not just, hey, show up and call wrestling match. Hey, show up and, and call game the way you guys do on, on ESPN2 with these big games. I mean, it's, it's the prep, it's the grind, it's the Love of it. And the finality, as you said so perfectly, I. I think it just. Confetti comes down. You're looking down, seeing it. It's just a. A release, I think is the best.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Best way to describe that. I just happened to be on national tv.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which has happened to you a lot in your life. Obviously, you've been a face and a voice for sports college ball for a very, very long time. Before that, he was doing radio four hours a day over there in Ohio. I mean, you're talking about being in the sports world long time. Loving sport, loving team sport. We're proud of you, man. Obviously, what we do is a lot better than, like, you know, truck driving or laying bricks or anything like that. Those people doing the real world, those are hard jobs. Yeah. Military, cops, emt, firefighter, you name it. Real jobs. But watching you have to go through the human side of everything while also being in a microscope and in a fishbowl. Obviously. Lucky to do it. Thankful to do it. You handled it very, very well. And I don't think anybody would have known all the shit you were going through when you were going through it, because there was some news you got like, two hours before we go live on game day, and it's like, are you gonna be all right out here? And it's like you locked in. You did your job for the people because, you know, it's not about you. It's about the sport, it's about the fans. So you being able to do that, I want to let you know, is admirable shit all year, legit, and no problem. I appreciate you, too, man. Now let's talk about some college ball, because the season was awesome. We were so lucky to kind of be a part of it. Ty has a question for you as a former Catholic school kid.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. Herbie on the other side last night, we all know that when Brian Kelly left Notre Dame, he basically said, like, hey, I'm going to lsu because I don't believe I can win an athlete national title at Notre Dame, obviously, an unbelievable run last night. Ended up being closer, I think, than anyone thought it was going to be, you know, at halftime or midway through the third quarter. But when you look at college football as a whole and where it's going, do you think that that was Notre Dame's best chance to win a national title? Or do you think everything that they have in place with the boosters and the reach of that institution and university, like, will Notre Dame be able to get back to that point? Do you think Marcus Freeman will eventually win a national title?

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Tie them all in on what they've done? And I'll be incredibly honest and candid. I was raised in the 70s and 80s and Notre Dame football was Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, whoever you want to say. I mean, they were a different level. Everybody tried to be Notre Dame in that era. And I think after the Lou Holtz era, as you know, Ty so well, they've been searching. They've had some moments, you know, when Brady was there with Charlie, I mean, they've had some good moments, but I don't know. And Brian Kelly had some moments, but I don't know if I've ever felt like this about Notre Dame as far as, since the Lou Holtz era. I think they're scratching the surface. I think he's only going to build a stronger roster. Kids are drawn to him. They want to play for him, they want to play for that school. I always kind of simplify it and say he's making Notre Dame cool. Which sounds like whatever. But when, when you can reach 17, 18, 19 year old kids and make a brand, kind of like nobody cares about Notre Dame to all of a sudden, the way he carries himself on the sideline, the way his teams represent themselves, I, I think this is the beginning now. You got to go find a quarterback, obviously. And I think C.J. carr, by the way, is a stupid, super freaky talented guy. Lloyd Carr's grandson, he's a freshman. They got Angeli who stepped in against Penn State, but guys, they're not going away. I just think that with the new 12 team playoff not being in a, in a conference, you know, they have favorable opportunities to get into the top 12. I just don't see that. I don't think this was. Hey, they did it in 2012. See you later. Back to your corner. I don't see that, man. I see, I see this as the beginning and they learned a lot. I feel bad for the older players, but those younger guys going through that, fighting back from 31.7 when it looked like it was on its way to 45 or 52.7, fighting Irish, and they just fought back, you know, like they did all year. So I was pumped for them and I think, I think they're just gonna, they're not going. As long as he's there, they're not going anywhere.

[Pat McAfee]

Culture established seemingly for Notre Dame, old guys will be able to pass it down to the young lads that come into that locker room. The quarterback is the only thing. Yeah, quarterback's the only thing that matters.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

I'm telling you guys, CJ Carr is a really. Now can he process, can he play at that level? All the, all the writing on the, on the wall which tell you they'll have a quarterback battle. We saw what Angeli could do. But I'm just telling you C.J. carr is AK. He's a put a, put the franchise on your back kind of quarterback coming out of height school. He's a very, very special talent. It'll be a great battle with he and Angeli. It'll be fun to see how that plays out. You know, is, is Al golden going to be there? There's rumors he's going back to Cincinnati to be their coordinator. So, you know there's going to be a lot of things that are going to happen over the next week or two, but as long as Marcus Freeman is wearing those pants, I don't know if he's going Vori. I don't know what he's got going there.

[Pat McAfee]

Lulu.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

But he, he is it Lulu. Whatever he's got, he just looks and acts maybe custom the part and parents want their kids. I know from being at Saint X it's a, it's a, a, a big school in Cincinnati, big Catholic school and kids want to go and play for Marcus. He's. He's catching 18 year olds attention. That roster is only going to get stronger now. It's maybe not as experienced, but it's only going to get stronger.

[Pat McAfee]

I've talked about this publicly a lot of times. I had zero friends or private school kids or Catholic school kids like basically throughout my entire life. You though were a Catholic school kid?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Kids in Catholic schools. Notre Dame is the, that was a.

[Darius Butler]

Real thing like when I was in high school, not just football players.

[Pat McAfee]

We're talking about like Catholic school kids across the country.

[Darius Butler]

Everything. But specifically in football, when I was in high school, that's when Brady Quinn was there and like Notre Dame was good and competing for national titles and like, yeah, if you were a stud football player at like a, like a Saint X, like a big Catholic high school, like you wanted to go play at Notre Dame. And then that kind of did die out a little bit I think when. And they kind of had their ebbs and flows. But if it's coming back, like that's a massive deal.

[Pat McAfee]

Catholic school kids though, want high school kids, want to go to Notre Dame. Goal is to go to Notre Dame.

[Darius Butler]

Without a doubt as college.

[Pat McAfee]

Like a lot of kids.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. That is because it's like that's like.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

A thing on real quick. Just one last thing. At 31 to 7, if that ends up being 52 to 7 and they have that 2012 experience that Alabama, it was almost like I said, just, guys, you made it. See you later. But the fact that they made that, I mean, they made it competitive. And I. I think. I mean, obviously they wanted that confetti to come down and be the winner, but I don't think they hurt themselves by stepping in there against that team the way they were playing those last four weeks. And to be down 317 with an offense, by the way, they're not built to be down 317 and get back in it. And Greathouse starts making plays, and we saw Riley Leonard make plays with his legs, and he starts making plays with his arms. They got some momentum again. I don't think they hurt the brand in any way at all.

[Pat McAfee]

I agree. And great House. Earned himself a lot of money. I don't know how much he's making for these last player. He's been a guy. What a catch. What a throw by Riley.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

What a throw.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Riley missed a couple last night. That was like, what everybody said about Riley. Missed a couple. He overshot some. And it's like, this is what Riley Leonard is. But then he makes a couple throws. You're like, this is what it could be, though. This is like. I think a lot of people, it's.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

All about his feet. You know, these athletic guys that want to make plays and they're so capable. Capable of making plays. If you watch him and you, you know, I'm sure Dan will break him down. But if you watch him and you watch his feet, sometimes those feet can get him in trouble. Sometimes it works for him. And other times, you know, he's back there with his feet going. They're pointing over here. Then he sees a receiver breaking his left to his right, and he doesn't have time to get his feet. Yeah, make a throw, brother.

[Pat McAfee]

It's so obvious, too, isn't. Isn't it, like, so obvious. They were saying this about Drake May, too, when he was coming out of college. It's like, hey, when we watch the guys that are good on Sundays, this. You see how all this shit, like, even if they're extending plays, they're able to get their bot. This is a professional. And then this is what you are doing right now. We understand what you are trying to do. AI. We get it. Like, everybody wants to do that, but the guys that you see are doing that have their base, their Platform is in place for that whole thing.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

That's why. And I mean, Aaron could talk to you for hours on this, but that's why I don't think it's necessarily his arm. And I thought last night he went through his progressions. I thought he was a lot of times in his career one progression out because he can rely on those legs. And I think that's the biggest challenge. These guys who are dual guys in college, when they go up to the NFL, yeah, you can make plays. That's why people were missing it when I talked to you guys last year about Jaden Daniels. Jaden Daniels is a pocket quarterback that can get out and go. But you know what he does a good job of. He doesn't look primary and then go rely on his feet. He'll go first, second, third, then he's going. And that, that is a fine line between these college guys, guys who want to rely on the feet. And I don't think it's his arm. I think it's his feet slowing down, his gay, his brain slowing down. But he's got arm talent. It's not that. It's just, it's the feet. And boy, how much fun is Jaden Daniels to watch right now?

[Pat McAfee]

Hold on. Okay, on that note, AP Tone has a question for you.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Last year, around this time, it's probably more about a month from now, around the combine time. You told us on this show, hey, Jaden Daniels is going to be from the Army.

[Pat McAfee]

Navy.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, yeah, it was Army. Navy, Army Nav.

[Pat McAfee]

Before any of this, kept re.

[AJ Hawk]

Reiterating that it was going to be Jaden Daniels. Now we watched Will Howard all play out. We did every single Ohio State game and he looks really, really good. We, we. He's projected right now, third, fourth round. Do you think that he could be a guy that in this, during this process is going to, is going to jump up to a first round guy?

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Yeah, I think so. I, I think going to a school like Ohio State, dealing with the pressure that he dealt with, it's amazing. I. The one thing I love about the NFL is getting in here and a chance to talk to coordinators, talking to GMs, learning so much about, you know, these agents telling players, hey, you know what? Don't play in a bowl game, you're hurt. Meanwhile, these GMs, these coaches, they want to see a guy that plays to an ankle. They want to, they, that's like, stock up. These guys are being told, stock down. It's stock up when you do that. Watching quarterbacks have to go through adversity. Like Will Howard losing to Michigan, throwing two picks. Not just losing, but throwing two picks that potentially cost you the game. That where he sliding against Oregon and then having these moments, man, his, his, his rating definitely went up. Because if nothing else, you've seen how he acts under fire. You know, we could talk xos all you want. You know, he works with Jeff Christensen, the, the quarterback coach with Patrick Mahomes. He works with so many guys. And I know he would tell you, he would tell you that this guy is legit. So, yeah, I think he helped himself with this run plan and dealing with the pressure at Ohio State. We all know how challenging that is. And yeah, I think he's got the physical ability at the very least. Get a look, get into a camp, show what he can do. But kid did a hell of a job. And I will say this about Jaden Daniels real quick. Sorry to go bounce back to the NFL.

[Pat McAfee]

Don't worry about it.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

It's funny. Cliff Kingsbury was thrown in the trash can. You know, when he left Arizona, it was like, yeah, well, hey, Cliff, this is the NFL. Get the hell out of here. And then he goes to USC as an analyst, and then he gets hired by DQ to, to be the oc. I don't hear anybody ripping on kk. I mean, he is a beast. He's doing a great job. Give him a lot of credit. It's easy to point to Jayne Daniels and we should. But that system that they put around him, the receivers that they have the talent that they have to work with, but don't forget Cliff Kingsbury and the job that he's done this year with that, with that team.

[Pat McAfee]

We watched will Howard complete one of Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State wide receiver. Here's Terry McClaurin, Ohio State wide receiver, going absolutely bonkers.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Cliff Kingsbury, Mecca Abuka is the next Terry McLaren, okay?

[Pat McAfee]

Broke the record last year.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

He will be, he will be the, the, the guy like Terry McLaren. Even, even now, when you, when you talk about Ohio State receivers, everyone's like Chris Olavi and Garrett Wilson and JSN and Marvin Harrison. People don't forget about, about Terry and what he did. It reminds me so much of a Mecca Buka. It's like he's always the other guy, always the other guy on Ohio State's own roster. Marvin Harrison, now the rookie. I'm telling you right now, he's going to go to the NFL and be a stud. He'll be a superstar. He's intelligent, competitive, warrior not to mention uberly talented. Just be ready for that one. I gave you Jaden Daniels last year. Mecca Bucho will be that guy next year.

[Pat McAfee]

Team guy, too. Team guy.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Team guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Team guy.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Obviously, locker room, locker room guy has.

[Pat McAfee]

Been putting in positions now to be a diva into in the Wine because he is exactly what you're saying. Hasn't done it at all. He's only helped in this entire thing.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

It's like blocks his ass off. Yeah, blocks his. Like he wants to block. Like what? Not only are you on the back burner to Marvin Harrison, now this. This rookie. Not only that, but you get a block on this play and he's like, I'll dig him. I'll dig that safety out. Give him to me. Let me go. I mean, I love again, I love. I love dudes like that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, me too. I mean, that's. That's good football. That's what that is. This Jeremiah Smith guy, though, I mean, it is absolutely absurd. Let's move out of Ohio State chat, though. Let's go into the NFL. D. Buch has a question for you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Kirk, you mentioned talking to these coordinators and coaches and you know, the hottest name, the bell of the ball in this cycle was Ben Johnson, and he decided to go to Chicago. Coach Caleb Williams, that be his quarterback, that be his team. What's your thoughts on that marriage and how it's going to work and how he's going to get the Bears to that next step?

[Kirk Herbstreit]

I think Caleb was put in an obvious tough situation this year with, with everything going on with the coaching staff, with, you know, with the team. He sometimes, you know, the way he talks with the media, I know sometimes I think people kind of eyebrows raise a bit. There's another guy that. It's never about his talent. Ben Johnson, to me, is in an interesting spot. And Foxy. I'd love to hear your take on this. I heard you guys talking about a little bit. He just left an organization that we have all looked at. Kind of like we're talking about Marcus Freeman. We've all looked at Dan Campbell and just talked about biting kneecaps off and the energy that he brings. That is not who Ben Johnson is. So he's got to take what he's learned in Detroit. He's got to look. Take what he's learned in Detroit, and then he's got to go to Chicago, obviously, with his offensive system. But being a head coach isn't just about that offensive system. It's about standing in front of the entire room and sending A message every single day. And there's some guys that can do that. There's some guys that are just great coordinators that just can't be a head coach no matter what they try. And I'm excited to see we know what he can do with Caleb. As far as the offense structure the players, they got to get better around him, got to get younger around him. The offensive line's got to get better. That part's a given. But I'm talking about standing up in front of that team and not being Dan Campbell, being himself, but taking some of that Dan Campbell and some of that culture that's worked so well in Detroit but making it your own. I think that that's the biggest challenge in an organization that is just cannot get out of their own way. What can he do to change that? We know you draw up plays. We got it. We know you're going to do a great job with Caleb. What are you going to do to make this franchise start believing that we're going to start winning games? Yeah. That's the great challenge to me for him.

[Pat McAfee]

Not only the absence of mcdc but also the way mcdc homes and Sheila Ford hay camp built that team through the offensive line. Exactly. Penne Soul was the first draft pick, right? That they had. Yep. And then they have obviously Ragnow's the guy first rounder. Then they go the other like Decker, first rounder, Zeitler, first rounder. That's four first rounders on the offensive line that took so many years to build that. And that's where Ben Johnson's got to start, I believe. Yeah. So that's a whole different foundation of a team that like you say he's going to do well with Caleb, we assume. But if. If Caleb doesn't have time to do any of the Jared that offense doesn't. You know. Exactly.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

That's when golf doesn't look right on Caleb. One thing on Caleb, Caleb just his natural maturity. Another guy in middle school and high school and even college. Best player on the field can make a play at any moment that he has to. And they're like Mahomes. There are moments. Look at my homes. 5, 6, 7 depending on the game. 7, 7 or 8 times he's got to do a Patrick Mahomes play where Romo does a highlight on looks like a shortstop or it's a no look, you know that that's diving forward. But you know what Patrick? You know what Mahomes does?

[Pat McAfee]

He. He.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

He hits a single, he takes a layup like he Never misses a layup. Like, that's. That's where Mahomes has got to get. It's not.

[Pat McAfee]

Holy.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Did you see that throw?

[Pat McAfee]

He just.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

It's not that.

[Pat McAfee]

It's.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Don't feel like you have to do that. Just hit the 10 yard out, you know, check it down, scramble and get a first down for five yards on third and four. Like, be that guy. Be consistent with the boring crap and then sprinkle in being a Superman. But don't be super. Don't feel like you got to be Superman every single, every single play. So if he can get to that point, be patient. Trust the guys around him. Don't feel like he has to be a hero, that dude. Freakish talent.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, freakish. Yeah. We can't wait to watch and see what Ben Johnson does. And hopefully he does get a little bit of the MCDC culture. We're running up against a hard out. We appreciate your time. Peter with you. I think I heard Peter in. In the background a little bit.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Yeah, he. He's somewhere. He's been running around here.

[Pat McAfee]

Let me see what.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Oh, here he is.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, good season, Pete. Great work this season, Pete. Good work down there, Peter. You did great. He's a. He's a strong strapping. Lied that Peter. Good tongue on that dog.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

He's got big, big tongue. He's got. He's a strong, big dude.

[Pat McAfee]

We're not getting into that.

[Boston Connor]

Lot of big things.

[Pat McAfee]

Peter deserves respect. We don't need to be talking about him like he's an only fans model anybody. Peter. Way to go, Bob. Great season, Herbie, to you and yours. We appreciate the hell out of you, man. Enjoy yourself.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Love you guys, man. Love you boys.

[Pat McAfee]

We love you too.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Have a great. Have a great rest of the season with the NFL and we'll talk soon.

[Pat McAfee]

Great season out of you. Ladies and gentlemen, Kirk Herbstream. Long year for Kirk. Yeah, Truly a lot as kid. Gets offered a scholarship to Michigan too. Does get offered scholarship to Ohio State. It's like, what's he supposed to do? Well, that's a problem. Hour two on the other side. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. You never know what you're going through. It's playoff time and it's now or never. Don't miss out on the last few weeks of football action with prize picks the best place to win cash while watching the playoffs.

[Ty Schmidt]

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[Ty Schmidt]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[Ty Schmidt]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[Ty Schmidt]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[Ty Schmidt]

Prizepix run your game must be present in certain states. Visit prizepix.com for restrictions and details.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey there Ryan Reynolds here. It's a new year and you know what that means.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

No, not the Diet Resolutions.

[Pat McAfee]

A way for us all to try and do a little bit better than we did last year.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

And my resolution, unlike big wireless, is to not be a raging and raise.

[Pat McAfee]

The price of wireless on you every chance I get. Give it a [e-mail] switch $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 per month new customers on first 3 month plan only taxes and fees. Extra speed slower above 40gb on unlimited. See mintmobile.com for details. Football it's wonderful. We're so lucky that we get to talk about it every single day. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. It's the dumbest thing of all time. Just like what we got to do last night as we stood on the sidelines of the national championship as the Ohio State Buckeyes became national champions. Congrats to them, Congrats to Notre Dame on a phenomenal year. And also thank you to college football for entertaining us all the way since the time back in Dublin that was had. If you are thinking about traveling to Europe, we would recommend Dublin, Ireland as a place to head to and just you know what you get into. Okay, that's how we went. I assume there is a golfing vacation. You go visit some castles, you can do those things. We went right in the middle of the town, right to a pub and just went to another one and it went to another smaller one and then.

[Darius Butler]

Another one, another one, another one.

[Pat McAfee]

And that's what we did. We decided to drink their marvelous nectar, so good of Guinness with their locals and felt like they all wanted to do the same thing so we can't wait to get back.

[Boston Connor]

Amen.

[Pat McAfee]

To Ireland. But that's when the season started. It ended last night in Atlanta. The Ohio State Buckeyes obviously standing on top. Top of the mountain until next season is kicked off. Can't wait for that. The talks and tables here at Boston, Connor and at Ty Schmidt. Sweet merch.

[AJ Hawk]

Hey.

[Boston Connor]

Thank you very much. Yeah, I figured I'd mark out, you know, yesterday. It has a date on it. Pretty big, big day yesterday. You know, my heart goes out to all the Notre Dame people that lost yesterday, of course, as well. But it was awesome going down there. Every year it feels like it's kind of just a good wrap on the college football season. We were not able to drink 10 to 15 beers with Greg McElroy, unfortunately. But you guys see Greg?

[Pat McAfee]

We did. Yeah, we did.

[AJ Hawk]

He was pissed.

[Darius Butler]

That was the first thing he said. Where were you guys at last night? So I'm down there drinking by myself. I was waiting for you guys. Kept looking up. Never saw you.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow. Where. Where? We didn't go early enough.

[Darius Butler]

I guess we got there on Sunday morning. Greg was there Saturday night.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't think I remember us going that early. I guess for the national championship, that in la, we want to couple days early. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

That was only because we went to the Cotton bowl before and then flew to Pasadena. Be on like a Saturday or. Or whatever it was. So.

[Pat McAfee]

Because we missed all the festivities for the national championship.

[AJ Hawk]

We did.

[Pat McAfee]

They all happened before we got there. We got there on Sunday. I thought, we're getting there early. Us landing there Sunday morning. I'm like, look at us. We're getting into town early. We missed everything. I guess we missed all the. We could have went to the aquarium. Exactly.

[AJ Hawk]

Could have.

[Pat McAfee]

In the middle of that. Bills Ravens games. Right.

[Boston Connor]

Which wasn't really an event. It was one of those.

[AJ Hawk]

That was talk. Danny Bush, too.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Well, talk. Wanted to jump in with the Sharks, which was certainly a potential reason why we would have went and done that. But Bill's Ravens. Too good of a game. Maybe if. Maybe next year we'll think about trying to get there early enough for all the events because it feels like everybody did celebrate the year. Yeah. In a big way. And we didn't really get a chance to celebrate it at all.

[Darius Butler]

We celebrated in our own way.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. In that meeting room right next to the.

[Will Howard]

Pete Thamel lost his voice.

[Ty Schmidt]

He parked.

[Pat McAfee]

Partied so hard. That's what I'm saying. Celebrating here. We didn't even get it up. Oh. Tips out there. We didn't Get a chance to enjoy any of this.

[AJ Hawk]

Next year's Miami. And we got two restaurants we know. We know we gotta go to.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I don't know if they're still gonna let us in there because both of them tried to open the kitchen up for us, and we just had sitting reservoir.

[Darius Butler]

That was not our fault.

[Pat McAfee]

That was our fault. Situation changed. It was storm, weather, cold. It was waning. We had to fly over the Gulf of America. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

So what do you want from us?

[Ty Schmidt]

Golf. What?

[Boston Connor]

You heard the go.

[Pat McAfee]

NFL veteran Darius J. Butler. It's down there.

[Ty Schmidt]

Texas, Louisiana, to the left of Florida.

[Pat McAfee]

Alabama, I think even touches it a little bit.

[AJ Hawk]

Listen, you could have your oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. Don't you even think about doing in the Gulf.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Is that what it is? I'm excited for these days. We're in a wild time to be alive.

[Boston Connor]

Yes, we are.

[Pat McAfee]

Seems like a lot's happening. Theo Von C couldn't even stay together.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, that was gimmick, it seemed.

[Pat McAfee]

But still, he said ball brothers thought it would be funny. Which classic ball.

[AJ Hawk]

Zuck's got a lazy eye.

[Pat McAfee]

Was that. Yeah, Yeah, I did see his. His eyes were. I think he was dozing in and out. Just like when Elon's eyes were going up and around. What's that guy in his arms? I think he's. He was throwing his love.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

I don't know.

[AJ Hawk]

He ripped his heart out of his chest and threw it to the crowd.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, he did. With Zuck.

[Boston Connor]

Zuck's a boob guy. But with Elon, that's actually what I.

[Pat McAfee]

That's not what we were. We were saying their eyes, because they're billionaires, just kind of go in places. You. You aren't saying it. You're saying he did that on purpose.

[Boston Connor]

Elon, I think, had. He's got some zaniness to him. Isn't really sure what his body's doing at all times.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, it looks very similar.

[Darius Butler]

I hope he does.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I actually. I opened my phone first time, long time. We were in the middle of show, obviously, so I didn't get a chance to see all the festivities that were happening up there in D.C. seemed like a lot was happening up there.

[Boston Connor]

A lot.

[Pat McAfee]

A lot, a lot happened up there. Okay. So, my friend. First thing I see is him throwing his heart out to the people in a very interesting way. That's the first thing I see. I go, what the. What just happened? I think he did it three times, actually. One this way, one that way, one the other way. It's like we all know, right. You're much smarter than I am. I'm. I'm not the smartest person, but he was just throwing his heart out. He said, yeah, yeah. And throwing his heart out.

[Boston Connor]

Zach, unfortunately is, you know, he's seen it in VR, but he looked left.

[Pat McAfee]

And he said, oh, we got fixed Meta.

[Boston Connor]

Look at those boobs. That's what I thought, but I'm not sure.

[Pat McAfee]

We weren't there. We have not talked as up, just seen the videos.

[Boston Connor]

And that's my inference and my speculation.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now is a man who had his birthday party a few years back in D.C. yesterday. He was down in Atlanta and watched his school, a university that has a tree dedicated to him on it, win the national championship and be at the top of the mountain once again. Ladies and gentlemen, aj, Hawkeye, Hawker. Hawker. These billionaires eyes just kind of go all over the place. I think it's what we're learning. But what we did learn is Neo heist and arms.

[Tony]

Yeah, the arms. The arms thing was a bit worrisome, I would say.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

When I opened my phone, I was like, oh, a guy's trying to get him. They're trying to kill this man. That's what I thought. No, that was the video. That was the video. He said he's throwing his horror out. And how else can you get from your heart? I guess like he could took that thing around.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

A couple other ways.

[Tony]

Like a baseball.

[Pat McAfee]

What if he would have, like, what if he would have taken it out, flipped the hips y side.

[AJ Hawk]

He's more of a cricket guy. South Africa.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, then he should have. What if he did do full one?

[Ty Schmidt]

That would be much, much better.

[Pat McAfee]

Would have been better.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

He could have really.

[Boston Connor]

Anything would have been better.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. The throwing option that he chose. Yeah. It's tough.

[Darius Butler]

Not great.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. He could have done a two hander. You know, chest pass.

[Tony]

You have to backhand your heart to everybody.

[Boston Connor]

Dublay.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you think he goes.

[Boston Connor]

I think you could.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Kind of like ymca.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah. Because I seen. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Back in the day.

[Ty Schmidt]

Right.

[Boston Connor]

I mean, Bush stole the show at least 100 milligrams.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. George Dubs. Holy. I'm in my own world right now. And then he hits a moment of no, there's a lot of people here. Tighten up. We've all been there. Oh, yeah, we've all been there. Wow. This is a good time. Oh, there's probably cameras on me. We're happy. We're looking around. Yeah. Oh my God, I'm hilarious.

[Boston Connor]

I need A beer.

[Pat McAfee]

Is anybody else thinking what I'm thinking?

[AJ Hawk]

All right.

[Boston Connor]

Holy going Applebee's after this.

[Pat McAfee]

What a moment. Lady next to him. Obviously not a topic of discussion at all and everything.

[Tony]

Nope.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. Hey, congrats, everybody. D.C. sound like a one off? Well, yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Billy Ray Cyrus stole the show.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, he's Rob Zombie.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, he's still doing it.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that what Billy Ray's doing? That was awesome to see.

[Darius Butler]

I. I didn't hear what he performed. I just saw it kind of went over like a lead balloon.

[Pat McAfee]

Was any real American beer around there?

[Darius Butler]

Oh, was there ever?

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Oh, yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

You were getting out of that place unless you drank at least a six or a real American.

[Pat McAfee]

That was a fun little thing because we were so busy all day to kind of catch up with everything that had happened was, you know, so by the time I got to see it all, it was after the national championship as we were traveling home. And then whenever I get home at night and I can't sleep because of everything that happened, I'm just staring at the ceiling. It's like I'm scrolling through. So all the things that have gone very big are just one after another. And I'm watching this thinking, Jesus Christ. The inauguration was quite a gathering.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And is Barron Trump eight feet tall?

[Boston Connor]

Yes.

[Tony]

That is like six. Six at least.

[Pat McAfee]

Does he got a. You know, he asked Scott Van Pelt. Yeah. Does Baron got a little bit.

[Tony]

I wonder if he could. You think he could back SVP down and dunk on him?

[Pat McAfee]

SVP said he can still dunk. You believe that?

[Tony]

Yep, I do.

[Ty Schmidt]

I believe Drop step.

[Pat McAfee]

At what point in his life you think he was just yamming on everybody, though? Because he said it would be an ugly dunk now, but back in the day. And did you see there's two people. Scott Vapel, thank you for joining us.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And then doing the show afterwards. He's a worker. He had a great college football season. And Stanford, Steve, the auto guy, he's awesome. To all the people. Game day, obviously. Thank you. Last night was fun, though, man. Like, it was. It was crazy that the whole world wasn't paying attention to just college football yesterday because of how many things were going on. But that national championship obviously should have been hyped through the roof. The ticket prices were through the roof. And then the game lived up to actually expectation. We're now one sleeper move for you, a man who is getting emotional on the sideline as it was all taking place. As emotional as a human that is built like AJ Hawk is built can possibly be. And obviously your first reaction to deflect anything was we got to think about next year. Yeah, that was your first reaction. But now that you got a chance to sleep, I talked to the kids. I assume you talk to the wife. Obviously you're back in Ohio around the people. How does it feel knowing that the Buckeyes are once again kings of college ball? That has to be great over there in the state of Ohio.

[Tony]

Yeah, it's awesome, man. I mean that is the, the standard in Ohio for Ohio State is a national championships. That's, that's the biggest, you know, that's, that's how you kind of rank yourself or I guess, you know, compared eras of Ohio State football and the fact that they were able to do this, especially with, we talked about on the way home, like you got to win four huge games to win the national championship. Now with this 12 team playoff like you, it's, it's an absolute slog of a, of an end. The end of your season after you go through a long, rigorous regular season. So the fact they're able to do this is. It was awesome. And yeah, I mean, I was obviously very happy for Ryan Day, his family, everyone else around him, hopefully they can, they can enjoy this thing for a few days before you really have to, to get back on the grind. But we know, we know they're probably calling recruits in the locker room afterwards.

[Pat McAfee]

Ryan Day had a moment in the locker room where he said we're national. And they did, did the right here and they go that moment right there. Is that the weight of the world getting lifted off of that guy's kind of back and shoulders that have been looming over top of them, you know, because Urban won, Truss won. What's this guy done? That's literally what he's had to third all time leader in winning percentage as a coach with at least 70 games. Coach or something like that, I forget to say a lot of, a lot of games or whatever it is. And it's like he was never able to be happy like in the state of Ohio because you hadn't done it yet. Can't be happy. Your family is obviously gonna have to live this ride with you every single day. And then they finally they get the job done for the state of Ohio. It's like that had to be said. I don't say a relief, but a relief.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

For Ryan Day in that moment. And it's all definitely right. I don't want to like overstate this and I don't want Ryan Day to think we're like talking as if he's the one complaining because I do not have that type of relationship with him. I'm just saying, saying from outside, looking in, knowing the situation pretty good. I said this on game day. I'm from Pittsburgh. I'm in school at West Virginia. Now I'm in Indiana. Okay. I have Ohio. And I have had a relationship basically my entire life. College, a lot of Ohio guys. My holder was an Ohio guy. It's like I. I feel like I understand the Ohio people a little bit. I have a lot of respect for the Ohio people, but I also understand that if the Ohio people don't care for you, they don't care. Care. Like that is just like, that's not a group. Just like Ginzers, just like Ginzer, just like mass holes. It's not like a group that is just like very forgiving. And if they're done with you, they're. It's like, thanks for coming. Let's get another one in here that could do this. And it felt like Ryan Day was inching towards that. Not saying he was at that point, but certainly inching towards that seemingly every single season that he was there. Win, win, win, win, win. Can't be happy, though. Why not? Well, you didn't win a game. Have you won the Big Ten, by the way? You haven't even won the. Have you won the national? You haven't won. Shut up. Actually, you beat Illinois. Way to go. Yeah. Indiana's good this year. That was a good win. All right, let's see. Have you won anything else? Then he wins the national championship. It's like all those things at least are quieted for what, at least a year, you would think, for his life. And it's like that. I think that's why everybody's so happy for him. It's like, brother, you're allowed to be happy. And with the success that you've had now for the first time, not that that isn't everywhere, that there's high expectations, but definitely in the state of Ohio.

[Tony]

AJ Yeah, I mean, we, we know like all the big time, like blue blood programs out there. Like this is. You're expected to. To compete for national titles every single year. And Ohio State is no different when it comes to that. But yeah, I mean, like, just look at the roller coaster of a season that they have had and you think about all the work you put into it, all of it, both these teams getting to where you're at to actually find a way to get it done. When it truly matters and for your guys to play best, when it true, when it. When the lights are brightest, as they say. Like in all these huge games, like, they hit the ground running with that Tennessee game in the first playoff game. We were there, and it was from. Like, there's a different feel about the team. I think once the playoffs started and they. Like Kirk said earlier, Kirk's a big team guy. I. I think you saw that. You saw that from both these teams, though. Notre Dame and Ohio State. Like, these dudes. In an era when it is like, you get recognized, you get rewarded for being an individual. Sometimes like these. Both these teams felt like, hey, they love each other. They're a team, and they wanted to do. Do this thing together. And no one was like. Didn't feel like there was any selfishness either. Like, they all just figured it out, and they love playing. And it was fun watching them. Like, it was fun watching both these teams play. But I just. Like I said before, like, I'm. I'm kind of like a football defensive nerd. When I watch these dudes play, like, how they tackle, how physical they are, how disciplined they are, it's just awesome. It's a thing of beauty to watch.

[Pat McAfee]

It was very good football. And you talk about that team thing, that was Judkins running all over the places. Jeremiah Smith, he's a freshman, true freshman. Has to play college football for two more years. Okay. So. And he said, we appreciate him for everything he did this season. Can't wait to watch him for the next two years with the Buckeyes. We assume, obviously, the Buckeyes will be able to keep up with any offer anywhere he goes. But you talk about Judkins transfers in from Ole Miss. Trevion Henderson's already there. Okay. And there was numerous times where Henderson was the hero. Henderson's the number one guy. Nobody was even talking about Judkins, even on game day. I'd say they got Henderson in Judkins, who's really good. And it would almost be like, yeah, Henderson. Henderson, though. Henderson's the guy. Because they want to talk about Jeremiah Smith. They want to talk about all the other stars. We're not talking about both running back. It's like, Judkins was a guy at Ole Miss. Oh, yeah. He is a guy in college ball. And you never heard him, right? Never. When Henderson was a superstar for a game. Never heard him when he was the guy going. Never heard Henderson talk about. That's in their own room. It's like with. They're all getting Paid. Okay. Massive respect for all of them. So then you say my, my check clears and people can certainly have that mindset, but ego gets in the way of that all the time. It's like in that particular locker room when everybody could have turned, they didn't well warranted for them to be national champions and now they're already putting out. Yeah, huge kick too by Jayn, who had a hell of a playoff. That kid, his kid's really good. Look how thin he is. Yeah, I don't know how he hits the ball so far. It doesn't make a lot of sense. He, he's a good, his kid's a good kid kicker and he's had some big kicks. Four big games to win the national championship. And I guess the team gets a buy, will only have to. Only have to do three or whatever. And if they do the receding, who will be that gets to buy and do you want to buy? I mean it's, there's a whole nother conversation in there, but season was great and a lot of clutch moments out of these boys.

[Ty Schmidt]

It was great. But the, the run, like the four game run that, that AJ talked about when we were playing a video game, that's when I really realized, damn, this is a long ass. What's their final record? 151 or 14 2. 2. Like that, like that's damn near NFL season. But like the run all two score wins in the, in the final four. Beat the shit out of Tennessee, beat the dog shit out of Oregon. Then you go and beat Texas, you know, in a big game where you end up winning about two scores in Notre Dame fights. But you put, you know, put the foot on the neck and make the big play when you needed to. Like it's one thing to put together a team, you know, on a video game are on paper, but when you bring, you create that culture, you know, the Captain Jackson, Simons and those guys of the world, you bring in the Caleb Downs, you bring in the Judkins and those guys just fit right in. And then you put that product out there. The coaches, Chip Kelly coming in and kind of happened to take a back seat almost. You know, being a coordinator, not being a head coach, a guy that's been a head coach in college in the NFL and you come in and dial it up like he's done the assassin Jim Knowles. Getting these guys on the same page. I mean just, just everything you saw from this team from the sideline, the pregame vibes, the post games, you could tell they love each other. They Play for each other. And obviously the talents there as well.

[Boston Connor]

Well, and you brought up depth before with the N. Like, that's the thing with Judkins and. And those guys is that they have these studs, you know, backing up other guys or splitting time with other guys. And I feel like you saw that with Notre Dame being a huge problem. Like, they lost their best D tackle.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Riley Moss. Yeah, there it is. And. And the dude who came in after him, probably a great player, but, like, he just. He was 6 1. Like, he. He didn't have the size.

[Pat McAfee]

There was a little meat. Dude.

[Boston Connor]

There was a meat disparity. And, you know, the. The right guard for Ohio State, he. He was back. Not like that, but. Okay. Not like that.

[Pat McAfee]

Continue.

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm sorry.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Will Howard]

I gotta grow up.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Get your head. But there was like a backup music. The right guard for Ohio State, he started the semifinal, I believe, but he was still a backup. But he was driving that dude back multiple times. And I feel like that is the big thing with nil. That's going to either change stuff or make that disparity even greater because there is a chance that nothing really does change, per our sources, and there's a chance that something does happen where maybe there is more of a level playing field. I don't know if it really matters in the end, because people are going to want to go play for Ryan Day.

[Pat McAfee]

More schools get a shot. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

More chance and a lot more fun. But, you know, and you still count down to one. So it. It might not matter, and it might, but it feels like the money was very well spent for Ohio State.

[Pat McAfee]

West Virginia is coming.

[Boston Connor]

I hope so.

[Bobby Carpenter]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Great.

[Ty Schmidt]

Period. You never know.

[Tony]

We don't lose half your roster from those workouts in the winter.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, that. That is a little bit of a fear. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Those start yesterday.

[Tony]

Well, actually, no, you'll.

[Pat McAfee]

You'll.

[Tony]

You'll whittle down to who really wants to be there. That's what it does.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but what about the guys that are go sign bonuses?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, people joke, but, like, I mean, legitimately, West Virginia. I mean, think about the teams this year with IU and B. Smu. Iu, smu, byu, Arizona State. Vandy was supposed to win two games this year. Like, there was a ton of teams this year because of nil because of the transfer portal, who traditionally could not get guys in just from recruiting. Like, they just weren't going to get it in recruiting and compete, but now they can, and it's awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

And it feels like SIG has reloaded down in Bloomington. I assume Vandy's going to continue to be able to sell. Nashville is awesome.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, Beautiful.

[Pat McAfee]

Especially if they have money, which they had to for Diego to go down there.

[AJ Hawk]

Stadium's, I think, finally done.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so they have a stadium. That's great news. They're down there in the sec and literally everybody thought the same exact thing about Vandy. Even people that went to Vandy were like, nashville's great. Yeah. Like that in our baseball team, right? Yeah, Very great. They're like a baseball school, but now they could be a football school. It's like, I know Rich Rodriguez feels very good about who he got out of the transfer portal. I think I'm gonna learn more about that entire thing now because of my relationship with coach Rod over there, West Virginia, than ever. It's like, who he's finding his transportal. Yeah, Mass.

[Boston Connor]

Huge.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a lot of people in there.

[Boston Connor]

I mean, last year they could put together an entire conference, right. With the players that were in.

[Pat McAfee]

It was like over 1500 or something. Like, there is a lot of players in there. So if you have an eye and can find your people, like, you can. You can flip a team. Now you're going to have to do it again. But the good news is it feels like you're going to continue to have a massive pool to pull from. It's like finding your people is a big deal in the transportal, which is why Marcus Freeman, incredible job with Riley Leonard. Scouted him, saw him. This is the guy that I want to be here. Same with Ryan Day and Chip Kelly with Will Howard. Or was Will Howard already there before Chip Kelly?

[Tony]

I don't know. I know Will Howard signed, what, January 4th of last year, they said. I don't know exactly when Chip signed on.

[Pat McAfee]

So he would have been here before Chip then, right?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, before.

[Tony]

Yeah, right before Willow B.

[Boston Connor]

Was the OC before he took the Boston College job.

[Pat McAfee]

And then Chip Kelly steps down from being a head coach at a school in the same conference to go be an offense coordinator in Ohio. It's like, it's. It was a wild year. Great decisions were made. You're gonna have to do that if you want to continue to win. Let's talk about some decisions that were made or close to being made. Allegedly. All right. Not allegedly. Ben Johnson of Chicago Bears. He's arrived. He's. This is always going to be home is what they say.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, nice.

[Pat McAfee]

Congrats to him. Feeling at home. Kirk Herbstreet has some questions, just like all of us do. He can Call great plays. Will he be able to do that in Chicago with the setup? Is he going to be able to build a team? Is he going to be able to lead a team? Is he going to be able to do everything that you need to do to have success? We're pulling for him, we're pulling for Caleb, we're pulling for Chicago. Okay, good luck to all you up there. Now let's go to the New York jets organization. Allegedly guy who played there, coached there, now has become an absolute megastars defense coordinator for the Detroit Lions. Aaron Glenn is either in a second interview or in the middle of being hired to become the New York jets next head coach. He's been over there, he understands the building, knows whenever it was good. I assume Woody has great respect for him, which means Brick Johnson has great respect for him, which is what he's kid, which is obviously a big deal. Aaron Glenn has been able to have success no matter how many injuries he's had. He's been a part of building a culture. The guy in the background right there, Kelvin Shepard with the flat bill on, former teammate of me and D, Butch Dog. Love everything about him. I think he's a linebackers coach up there in Detroit. I think you probably look for him to maybe be the next defense coordinator somewhere.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hot name.

[Pat McAfee]

I have no idea where, but whenever the Colts hired Lou Annarumo, I thought there was a chance Calvin shepherd was going to be coming back into the building because his name's around there. Former teammate of ours. Love Kelvin. Cannot say enough good things about Kevin Shepard. Oh yeah, just the leader, I assume through hard Knock. I've never seen him coach, obviously. I've only seen him coach in our locker room. To the young guys, to the, to the room that he was in, to the defense. It's like I've never seen him actually coach other than Hard Knocks. He's awesome. I thought his name was going to be up. He's in the back there. Aaron Glenn though, allegedly going to be the next head coach of the New York Jets. AJ how do you feel about that? They had Salah defensive guy as the head coach. Now they have another potential defensive coordinator going over there to be the head coach. Aaron Glenn knows the area, so that's a head start. What are your thoughts on AG going back to NY and Slash nj?

[Tony]

I think it makes sense. I really do. When you think about, I mean the jets, what, everything that we have heard, what goes on the front office from the, the end of this season, it feels like they need some kind of stabilizing force there with. I think it always helps when you have a connection there. He played there. He was a great player in the league. Players absolutely respect the dude. And he seems to be a good mix of a great defensive mind, but also dude that knows how to build culture, how to speak to a team, how to hold guys accountable. So I would imagine Aaron Glenn is very, very good in the interview process.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I, I got a chance to tap him up whenever the Lions played against Colts. Remember I was doing a sideline hit for NFL game day morning came in through the Lions, the Lions entrance tunnel. So I walked out either right before, I think right before Dan Campbell walked out. So I got a chance to kind of see that I walked out at the same time as Aaron Glenn. He came over, dabbed me up. I said, hey, you're doing a great job. Cool man. Kelvin Shepard came over. Antoine Randewell came and gave me. He was a little bit too aggressive with the hot fly. Yeah, he's got good juice. He's got. We've never met before out from Pittsburgh, obviously, so I'm appreciative of what he did for the Steel City. But he came out and gave me a full on, so it was like cool to see them. But Aaron Glenn, they show pictures of him on the sideline. He's just sitting on the bench. Oh yeah. Just chilling. Just absolutely chilling. Then that defense, with all the injuries still bringing it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Biggest game of the year for the nfc. Number one seed against Minnesota. Virginia Vikings blitzed more than any team in the entire NFL all season long. It's like he's a dude. Like Aaron Glenn is a leader I think of and I'm excited to see him if he gets the opportunity over there in New York. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

And then that becomes probably the most important offensive coordinator hire right. So far in the cycle. Just because they are either going to go with Aaron or we'll have to kind of start over with a young quarterback.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, realistically, we all assume they're moving on from Aaron, right?

[Darius Butler]

Yes.

[Boston Connor]

See, I, I wonder if. Because, you know, they have to bring in a young guy and they're not sure what the OC is like. Wouldn't you want Aaron to come back carryover mentor.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Have a quarterback, you know, kind of sit for a year no matter who you take.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But you got to remember like a lot of these people. And I'm not saying the jets operate differently because the owner and his son seemingly have their hands in the day to day operations.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

But this is why People paint over walls and shit. Because, like, whenever people get a chance to lead a team, they've had a vision for how they want to lead this team. You know, like, maybe Aaron fits into the vision. Maybe it is like, veteran quarterback with a young quarterback behind it, and if you can get one of the Mount Rushmore players to be that quarterback, he's already on contract. It's like, that would be great. So maybe that is what a head coach is thinking that comes in or a GM that comes in there. But it's like all these people have this vision of what a team is, and if you're not drafted or brought in by the people that are running the team, I mean, I was told immediately there's no allegiance between us. We did not bring you in here, and it's like you were in a corner office. Okay. With no windows. Okay. Whenever I started here, kicking off a Super Bowl. So the way you're talking to me right now, I think is really, really sideways. But that's the reality of the business.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, that is really what it is. So for Aaron, it just. It seems difficult for me to see a situation where they're like, let's continue with this. After I went. I think Aaron said he'd be open to it. Right. Open to anything. But in my eyes, just naturally thinking from what I've seen in my experiences, I mean, they. They kick Bill Belichick out. Painted over him.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, let's move. Let's move along here. They cut Peyton Manning here, you know, in Indianapolis. I think that has kind of made my.

[AJ Hawk]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

My. My feelings the way it is. They cut Peyton Manning, they paint over the wall. I mean, that's like, we want to. We want to go a different direction. I. Maybe they keep Aaron, though. Maybe they keep Aaron because they want a veteran quarterback to teach a young guy so you can get a young guy and kind of, you know, Patrick Mahomes behind Alex Smith, Jordan Love behind Aaron. Aaron Rodgers. Which is working out, right?

[Darius Butler]

Well, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, we're going to need to see a little bit more development next year. Obviously, going to need to take another step next year, but. Yeah. Yeah, I'd say so.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Aaron behind Brett. But maybe that is the case. But for me, I feel like we're in an NFL where it's like, people have a vision of what they want their team to be, and they are allowed. Sean Page. Peyton got the Russell Wilson deal and was like, I don't like it. I want to.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

They're like, well, it's the biggest dead cap in history. I don't care. We will figure it out, make it work. And it's like from what reports were, he was trying to not make that work. Right. So, yeah, Potentially, we're not 100. Sure. We're just saying, seemingly with the lack of success that they had this. Some of it had to be on purpose. But it's like, I don't know. I. I guess there is a chance, but in my eyes, it's like, I think Aaron Rodgers can be maybe back at free agency. Yeah. Recruited. Yeah.

[Tony]

Maybe it's going to be a hired gun somewhere.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. There's a chance that that's going to take place. It's. It's reality. I think in my eyes, that's reality. But maybe I'm wrong.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. Maybe he. He would want a fresh start as well, because obviously it's got to be mutual that he want to come back and do that same thing. But, I mean, that's the first thing you look at if you're taking a head coaching job, like, who is the quarterback or what is the plan at quarterback? You got to figure that out. And obviously with Sean Payton, he had the Russia year, figure that out. Pretty soon it felt like. But it was a very good quarterback class coming up in that. In that next year, we don't have that. They're not calling this a very strong quarterback class. So, of course Aaron Glenn's, you know, going to consider that. But, you know, as a defense, like, he can connect with the guys. As a player, he did. As a coach, he did. I've seen some mic, dealt with him. Great stuff. He had a. You just talked about the business of it, cutting Payton, you know, seeing big. These big names. He had a story where he went to parcels off when he was a player, like, you know, I guess Parcells, it was some rumors about him wanting bigger corners if he was going to trade him. So he just went in his office like, hey, you trade me. If you're going to trade me, trade me. Parcell's like, hey, it's a price on everybody's head. It's a price on my wife's head. Somebody put the right price, she's out of here, too. So he was like, nothing changed with their relationship. He respected them more. He took it and that's like the nature of the business. So I think him being able to connect the guys on that level, you don't have the same concerns of, hey, can. Can he stand in front of a Room and demand that room that you may have the question you have with Ben Johnson. You know, he's a great play caller and a coordinator, but can he control those rooms and command those rooms? We shall see with both of these guys. But you know, Aaron Glenn, I think he'll be a good coach, but you got to figure out that quarterback position.

[Pat McAfee]

Jordan Travis of Florida State is in the jets quarterback room, right?

[Darius Butler]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

And if we recall what he was in college, I mean, he was great. Got injured, obviously. Had to sit out. We talked to him in Dublin. Thanks to him for coming on the program.

[Boston Connor]

That's awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

It was an awesome conversation. So much fun. So. So people really got a lot out of it.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, I know I did.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what people would say out of that, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, a lot. That was really good one. That was one of the best ones ever. But anyways, he's with the jets right now. You know, what is. What does the rest of the quarterback room look like? And maybe he does go there because he has Aaron Rodgers, too. Like. Yeah, Aaron Glenn Hakmandi. He could be hired at a lot of different places. Oh, yeah. I mean, that is. It seems like with the way Schefter was talking and the way everybody else is talking. So he chose the Jets. Okay, so Ben Johnson's allegedly. We don't know if it's going to get figured out, but seemingly it's going to get figured out. Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears. Aaron Glenn, Jets. Let's just say that's the case.

[Boston Connor]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Those are the only two, right? Top two.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Now we got Raiders. Yep.

[Darius Butler]

Huh.

[Pat McAfee]

Cowboys. Yep. Saints.

[Darius Butler]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Jaguars. Yep. Who's the next domino to fall?

[Ty Schmidt]

I keep forgetting about Jacksonville.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Nobody.

[Tony]

I do too.

[Pat McAfee]

Nobody really remembers Jack. And they got a quarterback that they paid.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, he's there.

[Pat McAfee]

That's right. Believer.

[Boston Connor]

And Trevor Lawrence or Y. I mean, I don't think they're beating the Houston Texans anytime soon. Soon.

[Pat McAfee]

Houston Texas are so good. And the AFC south as a whole is just tough.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

See, I'm not saying that I. I disagree. I mean, completely.

[Ty Schmidt]

But you see. Have you heard that.

[AJ Hawk]

That's big news.

[Boston Connor]

What? What's the news?

[Pat McAfee]

Have you heard. Oh, Luana Rumo, defense coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts. I did hear another P on coming to the city. That's good news. Maybe we'll get another Italian restaurant. Hopefully another Fazol. No, Fazellini's is already running wild. Brother, we're.

[Boston Connor]

Amen.

[Pat McAfee]

We could use another one. I'm sure there's A Fazelini popping up somewhere.

[Ty Schmidt]

I hope so.

[Pat McAfee]

But we need another Mama Corollas. We need another bul. Now we're talking.

[AJ Hawk]

That's a chain quality family restaurant.

[Boston Connor]

You don't know bu.

[Ty Schmidt]

I just wanted to hear people love it.

[Pat McAfee]

I do love bu. I mean, BU is a great spot. OG Too. Fantastic. Okay. Olive Garden, Fazolini's. Listen, whenever you need it, you gotta. It's. It's there. Yeah, it is certainly piping hot. What's that?

[Ty Schmidt]

Maggiano's.

[Pat McAfee]

Maggiore is also a good spot.

[AJ Hawk]

We're heading. We're heading in the right direction.

[Pat McAfee]

I love Margiones, but we're talking about, like, actual Italian places. Like.

[Boston Connor]

Okay, I see what you're saying.

[Pat McAfee]

Not Bucharest. Peppo. Strictly because Buca de Beppo was so good at marketing. They got too big.

[Boston Connor]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

We're talking about something that is. Isn't in every single city that you go to. We're talking about places that you can only find where Italians live in Indiana. Fun fact. No Italians.

[Boston Connor]

None.

[Pat McAfee]

Sure.

[Boston Connor]

It's great.

[Pat McAfee]

I was actually saying the complete opposite. Oh. I was saying we need more. Lou Anaruma coming out here is good news. We got more Italians coming out here, but it isn't about Lou Annaruma with the Colts. You know the story of the Indianapolis Colts right now, he's A.J.

[Tony]

What'S that?

[Pat McAfee]

Anthony Richardson's got it figured out. Just like Josh Allen put the lasers on and learned how to complete a pass in the NFL, Anthony Richardson has hired the same exact mechanic, technological advancement, operator, coach. So that's what we got going on here in Indianapolis. Paizan's coming to town. Luannaruma. A lot of experience, a lot of weapons on that defensive side of the ball. I think pretty similar to Gus Bradley in his style. So don't know how that necessarily correlates. Hopefully it does with Lou. Maybe the message got a little dry with Gus. We're big Lou Anarumo fans around here. Huge love, hope he does well. Great guy. Good conversations with us. This is a big story, though, here. This is a big story because if Anthony Richardson is able to take advantage of all the talent that his body currently has, Colts could potentially be a problem. Like, actually be a problem. And obviously, if you find out the laser stuff and you get the information, the biggest piece of that is the work that you have to put in on that. It's good to have the reservation, but can you hold the reservation? That's key. It's good to get the information. Can you activate it? And I think that's a good first step right there. Anthony Richardson saying, I need to learn, I want to get better. And I think he's going to dive in. Remember they said whenever he got benched it was a nice life lesson.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yups.

[Pat McAfee]

He said a lot of that. It's come out that a lot of the OGs have come up and been like, hey, like you gotta be like a professional. So maybe he's just learning on the job. He's very young, he's got high ceiling. This is the first step. I think we're in a great spot with Anthony.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's what we always say, you know, you gotta learn how to be a pro. You don't just wake up one day and be a pro. So you gotta learn how to be a pro. And sometimes that's community even outside of your locker room. And the punting kicking game is the same way. You see tight end university, the pass rush summit. So reaching out and you know, also reaching out to different things and figuring things out. So obviously the work has to go into it. Just like you're changing the jump shot, you gotta be a gym rat. You changing the golf swing, you gotta work at it. So the same thing with this and this is the comp with any big athletic quarterback with a big arm, maybe some accuracy issues, they're gonna say, hey, remember Josh Allen? His first 40 starts, whatever it is, look what he's become now. Now an MVP caliber type player. So as a Colts fan, I'm hopeful and I'm still optimistic.

[Pat McAfee]

Me too.

[Ty Schmidt]

Big step. In my opinion, it's a good piece of information.

[Boston Connor]

No doubt.

[AJ Hawk]

It's not bad. It's not a bad thing.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you. I'm pretty excited about it because he's here for the next four years.

[AJ Hawk]

I was a fan of Colts, I'd be pumped.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I am. Because what Josh Allen was able. Now granted the amount of work that goes in, it's a big part. That's the, a lot of reps. That's, that's the thing that muscle memory is created how? All by reps. Cuz then your muscle, guess what? It remembers. Remembers, you know.

[Ty Schmidt]

So are you sure he can't. You can't just wear it like under your pads and it like beeps when.

[Boston Connor]

It'S like you want an exoskeleton, I would.

[AJ Hawk]

That's cheating.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, if the Houston Astros were able to win a World Series without I took a Super bowl in Indianapolis.

[Boston Connor]

Well, we need two before 2030, so get on it.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, this is the first step to it. I agree, brother. Lasers are coming in to save the day for the Indianapolis Colts. That's good news for all of our community.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, great news. And they have, you know, blue uniforms, so that doesn't hurt either. But again, when it comes down to it, is AR gonna be able to stay healthy? Is he gonna be able to stay on the field? You know, that's another conversation. I think so, because, you know, this year, like, he was able to slide a little more. It felt like.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think he only missed.

[AJ Hawk]

Like, he only tapped out one once.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, he didn't really miss for injuries.

[Pat McAfee]

No, he did. Oh, really? I thought, remember end of the season, he had back.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Which I think everybody was just learning of.

[Boston Connor]

Their season ended week 12. That's why I forgot about those last couple games.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, we were still in. We were still lurking.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, they were lurking.

[Pat McAfee]

No, I know you were, but not really. I don't hear it.

[AJ Hawk]

We were there. We were there until the last day, brother.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't want to lurk till the very end. All right, then. New Orleans Saints head coaching position is still open, and Alvin Kamara has spoke about it. He put out a tweet that says, I my vote for head coach Ryan with Fizzy. I believe he's saying Darren Rizzi.

[Darius Butler]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Who was special teams coordinator for the New Orleans Saints for a long time. Then he became the interim head coach for the New Orleans Saints after Dennis Allen was fired. And I'll tell you what, he's a fiery lad. He loves ball. He's been cutting his teeth. Football for college, NFL. Been there, done that. Was always himself. I don't think he changed one time. No, not one time. First day on the job, he walks in, goes in the head coaching office, dumps all over the place, clogs the pipes, and then says, I got to go win a football game. And he did. And he absolutely did. He chewed out his punter whenever they went back to MetLife because he hit the ball to the wrong side of the field. So he expects a little bit of accountability, and he has high expectations for his team. Alvin Kamara's pretty important guy. He got a deal. He got like a three year extension or whatever last season in the middle of all of this. So him talking about Rizzy that way. Riz got to feel good about this. First of all, about, okay. My message was hitting home. It wasn't just all bullshit. And New Orleans Saints ownership front office obviously has to read this and say, okay, Alvin Kamara has spoken on the situation. Big Mike McCarthy maybe going down New Orleans. Right in that name that's being circulated. Who else is being down?

[Darius Butler]

Aaron Glenn was someone who they really talked about. I know the jets are making a big time push, but they said he was scheduled for another. A second interview with the Saints, but they got a really bad snowstorm, so they've had, they've had to cancel all in person interviews until later this week. So that might be one of the reasons why he's interviewing with the jets today. And the idea is like, they don't want to let him out of the building, they want to try to hire him.

[Pat McAfee]

That's good leverage position for AG to be. And I hope he knows that he should. You know, this deal should at least have a couple more Amazon because there's a snowstorm that came through. I don't know if you saw LSU Tiger Mike. Yeah. He was in a sanctuary that they have built for him out there.

[AJ Hawk]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Snow. This is Tigers laying in snow out there.

[Boston Connor]

Not good.

[Pat McAfee]

It's winter. This is crazy how cold it is.

[AJ Hawk]

Very cold.

[Darius Butler]

It was unbelievable how cold it was in Atlanta.

[AJ Hawk]

Did you see like Minnesota, North Dakota, the temperatures up there?

[Pat McAfee]

Minus 62, I heard.

[Tony]

What.

[Boston Connor]

Is that real?

[Pat McAfee]

How do they measure that? I don't know how you measure the absence of temperature, but I appreciate that they do. But boy, like, I don't know how you go about getting that number. And how do you know the wind chill, especially when it gets like negative 20? Because whenever we landed here in Indianapolis this morning, the projected a couple days ago was negative 24. Whenever you land is what it's going to be. And it's like, how do they measure that?

[Boston Connor]

It's like hand.

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Talk to Cantori. Cantori's gotta know.

[Pat McAfee]

And then negative 62 is like, can you get the. How. How far negative can you get?

[Darius Butler]

That's like you're dying.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

You're going out in negative six too.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I don't know what can.

[AJ Hawk]

Thankfully it's happening now and not.

[Pat McAfee]

And what can matter handle. I don't want to sound like too much like a scientist, but like, what can matter handle? Like, is negative 100. Yeah. What. I don't. Yeah, it's cold. As Atlanta was so cold, I, I.

[Darius Butler]

Couldn'T believe that, you know, like. And there's like that little space where we were at where you walk out of the hotel and then you can still walk to like the stadium and like you'd get like the little heat of like still being in the hotel and be like, oh, this isn't that bad. Then that wind would hit you in the face, and it was like, okay, like it's. It's 10 degrees out here. What the hell is going on? I thought it was supposed to be 65.

[Pat McAfee]

Those stadiums where that lady drove that golf cart right into the wall that was right in front of her. Those. Those are just wind tunnels. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Back up.

[Pat McAfee]

They were just. It was just freezing cold back there. And obviously it's a jovial event until. Oh, what's that Bang. Broken axle. Congrats. You won the national championship. Well, have you talked to anybody on that golf cart? Have you talked to AJ since the moment?

[Tony]

I have not spoken to anybody, but luckily, it seems like they're all healthy. Like, you know, Ryan Day's foot wasn't completely smashed against the wall.

[Pat McAfee]

I appreciate that. She was just willing to go ahead and lift that thing up, off. Off the wall, back it up, and then she was just going to drive normal and they were just going to stay in the golf cart. Oh, yeah, yeah. She was like, yeah, they'll stay in here with me. No problem. Just crash this thing right into a wall. We'll just get them done. As soon as that happens, my first reaction, much like theirs, is, all right.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

One of these types of things. Ryan Day, literally, that right foot could have been bad. I mean, that could have been real.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

How old? Ryan Day, 45.

[Darius Butler]

Something like that. Yeah, Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, the bones don't make like they used to. Oh, no, that's. That's. That.

[Darius Butler]

You're breaking every bone in your foot if that thing gets pinned up against.

[Pat McAfee]

I've heard of stories like that. That's rule number one on the golf course. Never hang your leg out of the golf cart. Yeah, but it's hard not to. I know. It's really fun. It's hard not to do one of these right here. Like. Like kicking a skateboard. It's so much fun just letting it just kind of dangle. It feels free. It does, it does. It feels so free whenever you're doing it. Just let this thing ride.

[AJ Hawk]

Thankfully, that trend end ended.

[Pat McAfee]

Which one?

[AJ Hawk]

One. Were people just running over each other.

[Pat McAfee]

At golf courts that. The Internet. The Internet does some shitty things. That was one of them.

[Boston Connor]

Bring that back.

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Boston Connor]

Those are so funny.

[Pat McAfee]

No, those are not. Those were stupid. Stopped when that guy took a stand on the golf course, tried to fight.

[AJ Hawk]

Everybody took his tarp off.

[Pat McAfee]

Anytime there is a golf course fight, I enjoy it. I enjoy it. Whenever the groups, you know, you hit and saw you, you.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Shipley used to t. Balls up in the middle of fairway and drive.

[Darius Butler]

Hit them back.

[Tony]

Yep.

[Ty Schmidt]

I, I, I love that move.

[Pat McAfee]

Actually, dude, we're golfing. We're sitting in our golf cart, probably leg out. I got my leg out.

[Darius Butler]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

He's probably got his leg out. We're waiting on somebody, having a pint, probably a couple maybe music playing, good music, good vibes. And then all of a sudden, golf cart gets hit. Okay. So then it's like you turn around and do one of these, hey, hey, hey. We're waiting. Then two, three holes later, ball runs by golf course. You're sitting there. Yup. Just gets up, takes a ball, gets a tee, tees it up. I go, what are you. What are you doing? Goes to his bag.

[Will Howard]

That was a really good AQ walk, by the way.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. In my head, I'm back on the course right now. Driver out, full on lineup. Okay. Says hey to them. So they know. And then drives one right back. I mean, awesome. One of the purest drives I've ever seen. I'm like, oh, we're fighting. Okay. We are fighting on a golf course.

[AJ Hawk]

No, it's fighting Kish.

[Tony]

I mean, who's pulling up to aq, trying to fight him. Once they see that giant zero balls.

[Pat McAfee]

Got drove into us.

[Darius Butler]

I was gonna say people know when they're doing that kind of stuff.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, all right, all right.

[Darius Butler]

We're definitely in the wrong here. You know, it just. You just can't be doing that on the go.

[Pat McAfee]

I have no idea where that ball went. Like, did that go over their heads? Did they buzz through? I have no idea. But it was certainly on. On the trajectory of it. And he was so happy. Puts the tee up. Like he put it on the fairway, sits back down. I don't even think he saw. He watched it land.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's like he knows he's doubt.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Probably hit his range finder.

[Pat McAfee]

That was one of the best moments on a golf course that I've had in some time. I mean, came out of nowhere, just having a good time, singing a song. Bone rolls by. Oh, maybe we'll cover it with grass or something. Yeah. Plug it, maybe, something like that. That for sure. But AQ just getting another ball out. Full tee, fucking driver back out. Take the tail. All right. That's awesome. Yeah. He was not happy about it. It kind of ruined the rest of the round.

[Boston Connor]

But it was a good moment.

[Pat McAfee]

It was good. We didn't get drove into the rest of the time. Other news happening around the NFL. The Philadelphia mayor. Okay. Wasn't able to get stuff. The entirety. Here's. Here's the city and its mayor trying to rally an entire town and community to come together around the Philadelphia Eagles. Let me hear you all say E, L, G, S, E, L Eagles. Every once in a while, it's gonna happen. Let's go, birds. We'll stick with that. I mean, it's not easy, dude, you know, because A and L do sound similar. So like E, A, E, you know, similar.

[AJ Hawk]

Sure, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

If you're hearing a group doing it, you know, I suppose, yeah. But I think the Eagles are in a good spot. Although not everybody can spell it. I think the Eagles are in a great spot. I love the way that team plays. They even got a little slow mo of Saquon Barkley out of NFL Films in this snow game anytime. NFL Films is an opportunity to, you know, showcase snow games. I mean, that's where I think back to Steve Sable in the frozen tundra with Green Bay. The added touch of the snow falling and the snow on the ground is a beautiful thing for our sport. And Saquon Barkley going to the crib while also celebrating himself in a wide open field. This is. This is why the NFL Films folks are like Scorsese. It's like an 8K camera. The camera person has to have a perfect shot. Saquon's not moving out of the middle of frame here for the entirety of it all. And for this particular camera, you gotta have good, Good shot on it. And it's like, great shot, great moment. Saquon's gotta be pumped that he has this forever. We kind of all wish you would have done the slide through the snow.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Earlier. Earlier. But he did his thing then the slide, so I respect that. I appreciate it. I like this Eagles team. I think if you can run the ball, it's all you really need now. Now, you already said that Jaden, Dan and the Commanders are going to beat the Eagles.

[Tony]

Yep, I said that. I said I can. I could see them beating the Eagles. I didn't say that. I didn't pick them yet, but I said I could see this commander's team beating them.

[Pat McAfee]

It felt like you did, though. Felt like you did. You did pick.

[Tony]

Yeah, we'll see when we do the picks, but, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I think I even saw a couple Johns on the Internet say AJ Always picks against us. Yeah, he does. You got something against Philadelphia? Age. Is that. Is that. Is that what it is?

[Tony]

Know, I have a lot of respect for this Philadelphia Eagles team. I think Sirianni has been. People give him Whatever they were going after him for whatever reason. I understand there's a high standard in Philly, but no, how can you not like this Eagles team with what their defense can do? And then watching Saorn, it's. It's really fun to watch a running back break explosive runs because we don't see that a whole lot in the NFL. The defenses are too good.

[Pat McAfee]

We talk about the most important games you got to be able to run. Obviously Ohio State last night is the epitome of that. They had two running backs that went over a thousand yards on a season. Whenever the games matter most, you got to able to run the rock. Philadelphia Eagles can definitely do that. The only thing that's been said is Jaylen can't. Jaylen can't make the throws, can't spin it. AQ Shipley said. Number one offensive line left in the playoffs. Philadelphia Eagles. Let's rank the top eight Eagles at six or seven. I think it was six.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, six.

[Pat McAfee]

And it was because Jaylen can't do it. It's like you don't think you can win with just a run game. You don't think you can win with just a rhino on the defensive line stopping the run. Can the Eagles win this entire thing? Absolutely. Right? Yes.

[Ty Schmidt]

Wagon on both, both sides of the ball. And you talk about running the ball. Saquon like, you know, coming into the game, he's going to be a game record. I think he has 13 runs where he reached 20 miles plus per hour, twice as many as anybody else in the league. Like in finishing games like this is in the first quarter but multiple fourth quarter big runs where it's just a dagger in the heart of that defense. So yeah, that's the leap bell Kyle. You get the explosive plays in the run game a lot of the times and I think Jalen hurts kind of plays the game where it's like, hey, you take care of the football. He had a turnover issue for a little stretch there. You take care of the football and don't beat yourself. You depend on two Sixes offensive line and a great defense and at some point when you need to make big throws, you need to have a two minute drive. They have the talent I think at quarterback and wide receiver to get big drives done. So yeah, I believe in this team. The only. I'm a little concerned about special teams. Jake Elliott, you know, we don't know what the elements will be this weekend at home, but little concerned there. But Jayden Daniels, I can see him going there making a game six and a Half points. I think it's a lot. But the Eagles definitely can win it all this year.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you can't be missing extra points in these games. You know, run, stop the run. Don't shoot yourselves in the foot. You know, Jake Elliott missing two extra points put them in a predicament for the rest of the game. They were able to win, though. Coach Sirianni maybe not a big dumb dip.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, maybe not, you know, but hey, everybody can keep calling big dumb dip thinking he's a big dumb dip. That's just. That's fine. That's fine.

[Pat McAfee]

He doesn't do anything, right. Everybody else coaching Vic Fangio, he does the defense. Kellen Moore does the offense. What does Siriani actually do?

[Darius Butler]

All he does is yell at fans. That's really all he does is turn around, yell at the Johns in the stands and. And worry about where he's going to get cheese. Cheese Take after a game.

[Pat McAfee]

That ain't what it's about.

[Darius Butler]

No, it's not.

[Pat McAfee]

Eagles fans love Siri. Just like Ryan Day at Ohio State. You know, there were some people that maybe weren't always on Ryan Day over in Ohio. He's gonna have to win for. For I crown him. You know how some Ohio State fans probably felt for Ryan Day? Feels like Eagles fans have the same thought for Sirianni. They would win games. And on these particular overreaction tweets, which we will be reading on YouTube, ESPN plus Disney plus and still, yeah, TikTok live, they were not happy with Sirianni.

[Darius Butler]

No.

[Tony]

Nope.

[Pat McAfee]

If he wins, would he have won their trust over, you think?

[Darius Butler]

I would think so. I mean, going to two Super Bowls in what, four years, winning one of them, like, that's. I mean, come on, what are we talking about?

[AJ Hawk]

Very good. They turned on Doug Peterson pretty quick.

[Boston Connor]

Like, it doesn't take long.

[Pat McAfee]

They got a statue of that guy. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Doug had a situation too, though, where Nick Foles goes unconscious. You're kind of franchise guy that you pay that also kind of straps you with cash. Goes down.

[Darius Butler]

Little.

[Boston Connor]

Little tougher.

[AJ Hawk]

But air bone s on at the end of the first half. On.

[Ty Schmidt]

They get enough credit. The whole team, they don't get enough credit. And I know we, we. We definitely support him here, but what the Lions are going to have to do, replacing those coordinators like Nick has had to do multiple times already in his tenure, they're bringing in Vic Fangio. Fangio who. Who some people were out on, especially Dolph fans. What you guys say might be Fangy over. He got the boys Rolling. Jayla Carter, Nolan Smith, who people were calling the bus halfway through the year, he's come along. Sweat Cooper Dean, rookie with Mitchell in the back. Like a lot of guys who you wouldn't expect coming in this year. Zach Bond being a damn near defensive player of the year this year. What they've been able to do on defense. Then Kelly Moore, he'll probably be a head coach next year.

[Boston Connor]

Kelly Moore tired of locked in. Cowboys, Cowboys, boys.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. That was Batman.

[Pat McAfee]

Also that Ben Johnson was going to the Raiders. Hey, you don't all these things could potentially be taking place and then ownership comes in, goes, nah, that ain't. This is over. Was Ben Johnson ever going to the Raiders?

[Darius Butler]

I don't think so.

[Boston Connor]

I think just Brady maybe.

[Pat McAfee]

Why would. Yeah. I'm very confused on why.

[Ty Schmidt]

I think Ben was going somewhere with a quarterback.

[Boston Connor]

That was Schefter's big thing too. Oh, you know, when we talked to him last week, like everyone seems saying Ben Johnson to the Raiders like that is not a done deal.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Schefter said that Friday. Yeah, I think it was the last time he was on Monday.

[Darius Butler]

It was Monday.

[AJ Hawk]

Ben Johnson is getting 13 mil.

[Pat McAfee]

Kevin O'Connell's getting 20.

[AJ Hawk]

No, that's. Nope. And if not, trade him to the dolphins.

[Pat McAfee]

Kevin O'Connell, please.

[Boston Connor]

You guys got Mike McDaniel.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Will Howard]

He can be part of the deal.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you talking about?

[AJ Hawk]

If.

[Will Howard]

If a first time head coach get 13 million.

[Pat McAfee]

Million.

[AJ Hawk]

There's no way Kevin O'Connell's not getting.

[Pat McAfee]

20 on the last year of his contract in his own division. They announced that Ben Johnson's getting 13 million.

[Will Howard]

That's what came out yesterday.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Kevin O'Connell is about to get $20 million a year. And then every. Andy Reid's about to go renegotiate whatever his deal. Everybody's about to go to the renegotiating table. If Ben Johnson just got $13 million, if the scale that Schefter told us the other day is accurate, now it's Tuesday, so I don't remember any of these what days or what. Sure. Did today feel like a Monday to you?

[Tony]

A little bit, yeah. Definitely.

[Pat McAfee]

National championship on Monday night. How do we feel about it?

[Tony]

Isn't that how they've kind of always done it? I mean, I like it to standalone deal. I kind of like it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And people watch football on Monday nights. Monday Night Football is. Is a thing. Feels like we got to extend it here into the NFL playoffs though a little bit too long.

[Darius Butler]

That's what that's why you have to. Because you, I mean, with how good those NFL games were too. Like, you can't put a college game anywhere in there.

[Pat McAfee]

So then they also said that the NFL and the CFP are going to work together to not have to have overlapping weekends like they did on the first round. And Roger Goodell said, you got to talk to God on this one, brother. Christmas is on a Wednesday. We're going to have to do a Saturday game. That's, that's just. Wait, good news for you. It's on Thursday next year.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, don't worry about it.

[Pat McAfee]

And there's no problem there. So we'll definitely work with you until Christmas on Wednesday and then we're gonna have to do Saturday, you see, because the amount of break that we need to give our players needs remain the same. Especially it's all our big name players. So we'll work with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got to work with schedule though. Who's that? The Romans. What's the case?

[Darius Butler]

The Roman calendar.

[Pat McAfee]

You're working with the Romans maybe to get the calendar figured out. But until then, we're on your side here.

[Ty Schmidt]

But they're talking though. NFL, cfp. Okay, that's big.

[Pat McAfee]

Started with two countdown one.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's huge.

[Pat McAfee]

Hopefully they're on one side.

[AJ Hawk]

You make week zero, week one. But man, how hot is it in the south in what? August 20th.

[Pat McAfee]

Make all Southern teams have to play a northern team to start the season.

[AJ Hawk]

Bingo.

[Boston Connor]

Up north.

[Pat McAfee]

So you gotta play up north.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's. They already got to do it the first round.

[Boston Connor]

It's also still, well, hey, win more.

[Darius Butler]

Games, then you don't have to.

[Ty Schmidt]

Airport.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, by the way, the north kind.

[Boston Connor]

Of bell belt to ass one again.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm not saying that SEC football isn't special. It's an honor to get down there. But these northern teams have a lot to say these days. They're getting awfully chirpy and they got a lot of rings all of a sudden. We'll continue on YouTube, Disney, ESPN and tick tock Live. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye. I think we nailed it. I think we nailed it right on cue. 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 from ESPN Podcast and Omaha Productions.

[Ty Schmidt]

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[Tony]

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[Pat McAfee]

Game changing situations and front office management.

[Ty Schmidt]

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[Pat McAfee]

Football is wonderful. We're lucky to talk about it every single day, especially the day after national championship. That's A.J. hawk, a representative of the Ohio State every single day. Now he could say once again, the Buckeyes are national champs. National champion quarterback Will Howard will join us in about 10 to 15 minutes or so. Can't wait to catch up with him. The talks at tables here at Boston. Connor and Atai Schmidt 1/2 of the Hammer Dah Cowboys AP Tony's here, nine year NFL vet, the incredibly cool host of everything DB, good D, bad D Darius J Brothers here. And ladies and gentlemen, since we weren't able to do it yesterday because the national championship was taking place, we didn't feel like it was right. We might as well let the football weekend end and then we'll put out a bird call to all football fans around the globe. Why don't you go ahead and utilize a tweet to air all your grievances, let your thoughts out, maybe celebrate, maybe be bummed out. There's been hirings obviously around the NFL. There's been games won in the NFL. There's been organizations that have seemingly dug themselves deeper into a hole, and there's been other teams that have maybe catapulted themselves into relevancy. I want to hear from you. All you got to use is the hashtag. Hashtag I don't want to overreact but ended up getting to the number three overall trending topic on X in the United States. We can't thank everybody enough for participating. Ty, how were they there?

[Darius Butler]

Pretty solid, you know, got a couple from the divisional round, couple from national championship and then a couple of the coaching ones as well. So you know, a nice little eclectic mix which I enjoy.

[Pat McAfee]

I cannot wait to hear the fans thoughts. Normally these are very calm. This one's from Boston. Connor. Hashtag I don't want to overreact but how the hell did we get to the point in the season where there are only three football games left left? I'm bummed out about it. We need more ball. Damn it. You're right con man. We got to think about that Every single snap as we go forward here. There's not a lot of football left, Conor. No, not at all.

[Boston Connor]

And you got to take it in you. And I think that's a big part about yesterday. You know, watching that game was every single snap, every single drive, it was kind of awesome. Like, oh, you know what this is? We don't have any more of these after this. Are going to take it all in. And for the people replying saying, hey, we got the usfl, whatever the league.

[Pat McAfee]

It'S called, it stinks. Criminal. We don't like it.

[Boston Connor]

That doesn't count. All right.

[Pat McAfee]

It's like the tgl.

[AJ Hawk]

Nobody said that, right?

[Boston Connor]

I ain't watching it.

[Pat McAfee]

No, I'm watching it. TGL tonight. I'm just saying they haven't figured it out yet. UFL hasn't figured it out yet. They will though, because the Rock's big brain is on it. But we can't be relying on spring football to scratch our football itch.

[Boston Connor]

No, not at all. Nothing does. Except for these games, damn it. Except for the National Football League, the College Football Playoff home. That's what it's all about. So I'm bummed out about it. But you know, it's just a nice reminder. Take it in this Sunday when it's 3:00, 6:30. Championship Sunday. Because then two weeks from then.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's all over. Because every snap they take.

[Tony]

Easy.

[Pat McAfee]

And every play who redid that, every ball gets snapped. Every bad mishap we be watching every snap, bingo. H. Gotta enjoy it all.

[Boston Connor]

Who sings that?

[Tony]

Good for you to get some diddy.

[Darius Butler]

Sting.

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Tony]

Yes, I know the original you were doing. You weren't. I don't think. Did you know Sting was originated that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I knew Sting was a poor. That's that white guy.

[Darius Butler]

The Police. Yeah. About Faith Evans and the other guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, I don't even know what you're talking about.

[Darius Butler]

I'm talking about Sting.

[Pat McAfee]

Sting.

[Boston Connor]

Who's the other guy?

[Pat McAfee]

What are you. Are you talking about this guy?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, no, I'm talking about the remake.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, it was a remake in the Police.

[Darius Butler]

Is the original all right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Because Sting kind of creepy. You listen to those words for sure remain a lot. Did he actually. Obviously with everything going on in that allegation world. But I think matter of fact world Kit court. When's that happen?

[Kirk Herbstreit]

Happy that.

[Pat McAfee]

That I don't know if we're all right.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, we'll see if we'll get there.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know if we're. That's a good Call brother. I'm talking about the orig brother.

[Ty Schmidt]

Okay, I'm glad you are, cuz I stopped singing along halfway through once I was.

[Darius Butler]

No, everyone knew.

[Tony]

Good for you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, something stunk in there and I didn't know what you were smelling. This is dove, man.

[Tony]

That's that same can, right? That's the original can.

[Pat McAfee]

Still O Ridge. Can still spray. Still bringing it. Still combating do. Sorry. Still combating Bo with this whole body do. Well, there's only one person that isn't going to battle against stank ass shitty smell. Aj, I got him. Get him, get him, get him, get him, get him.

[Tony]

You got me?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I'll get some. That's the thing about this. What we've learned here on this particular stage that maybe they weren't able to test out enough, is you just saw him go out in front of that. You can actually spray the shit on you. Like, let's say your hand is so upset about how bad you smell and doesn't want to be near you. It's all right. This thing can. I mean, this thing's got some range, brother. I mean, this thing is, you know, whenever they say a radius or whatever is there, this thing's.

[Boston Connor]

It'll get there.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a lot in here.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[Boston Connor]

You could have someone with COVID near you and who knows about the rules really. But you could.

[Darius Butler]

You.

[Boston Connor]

You could probably hit them social distance. Either way, with the social distance, you.

[Pat McAfee]

Could probably socially distance, say, wow, you need this one, bro.

[Boston Connor]

Gotcha.

[Darius Butler]

I know it's not what it's meant for, but I feel like this could also cover up a stinky shite if you.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Back pocket. Maybe. Going into an away game.

[Darius Butler]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Taking a dump in public, right? You sit down, you let one going loose like somebody did in R3 of the production room. Bathroom.

[Darius Butler]

You did say that.

[Pat McAfee]

R3. R3 of the. The bathroom we had at the stadium, there was a lot of stalls, which I appreciate. I like going in stalls, you know, especially at this point in life because, you know, people are a little weird with the cameras. I respect and appreciate the fact that people know who I am. That's cool thing. When that stops, obviously, this all stops. But when I'm pissing a urinal, it's become uncomfortable.

[Darius Butler]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't. I don't love that moment. Selfie. A lot of selfie. Which means, hi. So it's like, all right. So my. On this guy. I don't like any. So I go into stalls, you know, so production office Closest bathroom had a lot of stalls. I'm like, this is awesome. First one, I go in. Shite pile.

[Boston Connor]

Of course.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Automatic flusher too. So it's like. Didn't even flusher.

[Boston Connor]

Couldn't even do it.

[AJ Hawk]

I was there for it. It was.

[Pat McAfee]

That thing is bad. So then we're shot now. Whoa. Yeah. Okay. Second one locked. All right. Good on you. Yep. Good on you. Third one, I walk in. Clean toilet. But somebody had been there. I mean, that thing was. I walked into a habitat of shite. I mean, it smelled so. Felt like I was eating it. I'm like, get me out of here.

[AJ Hawk]

The door was.

[Pat McAfee]

I was so disgusting.

[AJ Hawk]

The doors went to the ground, too. Those were nice.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it was a good. It was a good stall, but it was. It was. It was trapped in there. And I walked. I literally felt like the cloud of just. I was like, like, like, get me out of here. So then I went into door four, kept it open. Because this one had a lot of. There was a lot of runners.

[Darius Butler]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

This thing had been destroyed a few times. So I just kept door open while doing the thing. Get me out of here. But it was a good setup, except for what had happened. What? Before I got in there. You saw the R1 stack.

[AJ Hawk]

I. I was.

[Pat McAfee]

That was. Dude, that was so.

[AJ Hawk]

I was.

[Pat McAfee]

I was.

[AJ Hawk]

I was in there. Cuz it was right before. Before we were going over to do the show or whatever. You know, you got to be prepared.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Cuz you never know where the bathroom is going to be when you go over to the show on the road.

[Pat McAfee]

I missed actually part of the show yesterday, cuz I was in.

[AJ Hawk]

And then you walked in and I saw. I heard you go into that one and go, oh.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you were in R2.

[AJ Hawk]

The one I was in. The. Like, I think the first one. As soon as you walk in, man.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. So you were in there.

[Boston Connor]

You did the mud stack.

[Pat McAfee]

No, it was sitting down. I mean. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is as we. Hey, listen, if you got. You got anybody who has some bad body odor, do them a favor and get them some dove men care. Whole body do. It. Smells delightful and it does the trick. Say, you don't have to smell like ass in public. Thank you, Duff.

[Boston Connor]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

And thank you to this man who his performance throughout the college football playoffs has been nothing short of electrifying. The offense that he has led, obviously now to a national championship is one. That was a buzzsaw. That was must see television. And we are incredibly lucky to watch it. From the end zones on the field, watching him do his thing. Ladies and gentlemen, transferred in from Kansas State after being the Big 12 Player of the year. The Ohio State quarterback that just led the Buckeyes to their first national championship since 2015. Ladies and gentlemen, 6 foot 4, 240 pound dog, will Howard. What's up, dude? What's up, boys?

[Will Howard]

How we doing?

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, I'm fantastic. AJ Almost got emotional last night on a sideline. The boys and I are a little bit tired. How are you doing, man? You woke up a national champion this morning. It was all worth it. Is that how you feel? Are you thinking back on the journey or how has today been? Pretty surreal for you, I assume.

[Will Howard]

Unreal, man. Unreal. It's. It still hasn't sunk in yet, you know, didn't get a ton of sleep last night. Just. Just got back here to Columbus and, you know, I'm. I'm looking forward to. To celebrating with the boys, but probably gonna have to take a nap before that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I imagine that's normal national championship quarterback stuff last night. The boys had a good time or what was last night like for everybody? Was. Was it a hangout? Storytelling? Was there a lot of hugging, reminiscing, boozing? What was last night like for the Ohio State Buckeyes?

[Will Howard]

Oh, man, it was a lot of. A lot of everything, man. A lot of. A lot of good fellowship, you know, getting together, maybe a couple of adult beverages included in there. Yeah, you know, and, you know, we had a great time, but, you know, we. It was already so late, so we kind of just hung out at the hotel and. And just kicked it. And then hopefully, you know, we'll see what happens here in Columbus the next couple days here.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a magical moment that you guys earned, man. You earned it. And I don't want to. I don't want to look too far back, but it's a massive piece of the story of this Buckeyes team. After the Michigan game, the flag planting thing, and then the players only meeting with Ryan Day airing of grievances. And then since this playoff thing has started, your team has been like the epitome of what everybody loves about college football. Football seemingly behind each other, very free, supportive, and playing your absolute best. Did it feel like that in the moment? Did you feel more free during the playoffs, you think? Why do you think your team played so great in the biggest moments for the last four.

[Will Howard]

Yeah, you know, I think having to go through that last week of the season, you know, when, you know, a lot of people were doubting us. You know, I think there was maybe even some people in here that were, you know, experiencing a little self doubt. And, you know, we had to come together and, you know, we talked about, you know, all we have is winning it all, you know, and going out there and doing this thing and doing it the right way. And we talked about going into the playoffs, you know, especially playing a great team like Tennessee. You know, we needed to.

[Pat McAfee]

Boys. Hey, what up, lads? What up, lads? Good to see you guys. Congratulations.

[Ty Schmidt]

Congratulations.

[Pat McAfee]

Congratulations, boys. Congratulations. You blew out the speaker. We couldn't hear. Get out of here. Get out of here. Yeah, couldn't hear anything. They said they blew out the speaker. But once again, the lads are together. It was good to see them. Please tell them we said congratulations, but you talked about how all we have is to win it all. That's a lot of pressure you can put on yourself. You guys seemingly played very free. Very, very free in there. Yeah.

[Will Howard]

Yeah, we did it. It almost felt like in that first game, it felt like we were kind of playing really with nothing to lose. And we talked about, especially, you know, going into that Tennessee game, you know, we just need to get this first one, get some momentum. And, I mean, that was an unbelievable game. We played lights out, really, on both sides of the ball, and it gave us a lot of confidence going into that next Oregon game. And, you know, the way that that first Oregon game ended, you know, it just didn't sit right with really, any of us. And I knew that, you know, if we played them on a neutral field, you know, maybe some more Buckeye fans there, like, when we played there. Dude, that was the loudest stadium I've ever played in. Like, I played at Texas, Oklahoma. Like, no question. Oregon 65,000. That was. I don't know if they were pumping crowd noise in.

[Pat McAfee]

No, no, no, no. No specific Northwest, brother. They're loud. You're saying. You're saying. It sounded fake. I was doing this one on the helmet going, what the is going on out here?

[Will Howard]

Yeah, it was loud, man. Man, it was loud. But, no, it was. It was just, you know, we just picked up momentum and picked up confidence and, you know, we really felt like we were playing our best ball at the end of the year, and that's. That's all that matters.

[Pat McAfee]

It was fun to watch. One of the fans for you guys that was riding alongside the entire thing. AJ Has a question for you. Will. Yeah.

[Tony]

Will, obviously, congrats on everything. It's. It's amazing what you've done. In your time in Ohio State. But can you take us through that third and 11? That deep ball to Jeremiah Smith, he ran a beautiful route. I watched him stem inside and get through some, you know, get some separation from that db. But were you going to him the whole way? Like, what was the. What's the play call and what was your plan going into this?

[Will Howard]

Yeah, there was. There was no question. I was. I was throwing that thing for. As soon as I got up to the line of scrimmage, you know, we called it pretty much a max protection. Go balls on either side. And I saw that JJ had free access off inside leverage, and I knew it was. It was unfair. You know, that dude's gonna go whoop him on the route, and he did a hell of a job with it. I almost think I maybe held him up with the ball a little bit. He probably walks in the end zone if I. No, no, a little further. But, you know, now you want to.

[Pat McAfee]

Eat up more clock, brother. You played it right. You're playing heady. It was heady football in there. And D Butts was going to ask this, but since it's already got brought up, it's like, what was the conversation? Because there was a timeout beforehand by Notre Dame, third and 11. You guys had gotten pretty conservative. Run, run. Didn't know if you guys were just trying to eat timeouts. What was the conversation like whenever it was decided that we're running max protect, all goes here. Incompletion saves them a timeout, gives them the ball back. That's a massive decision. What was the conversation like? And what was your mentality when you heard that was the play call? That had to be very exciting that the team said, hey, we're putting this in your hands, brother, to win the game.

[Will Howard]

Yeah, I was fired up, man. I love having the ball in my hands, you know, with the game on the line and. And, you know, I like, you know, being in those moments, man. But really going into that play, you know, Coach Day was talking about, you know, just be smart, don't force anything. You know, we weren't sure if we were going to get any sort of, you know, zone coverage, if they were going to, you know, try and play for the pass. Obviously, you know, the way we were running the ball, you know, continuously, they thought the run was coming, and they played for the run. They left. They left our alien out on one of their corners. And, you know, know, it's.

[Pat McAfee]

He's.

[Will Howard]

He did his. He did his thing.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he certainly did. So did you and Are you not entertained? I've fallen in love with your moxie. The way you handle yourself. I assume this is how you've always been, but on the biggest stage, you have not changed at all. Even the, you know, even a celebration, I mean, everything, it's. You are, you're one of the lads. Which I think is like the coolest part about it, because you transferring in there, then the loss is happening. They could have easily turned on you, that team. And I think you guys could have turned on each other, especially with how much talent in there and how many potential egos are in there. Instead, you guys rallied around each other and it was very evident. And I think that is huge for your leadership, which goes to AP Tones. Question for you, Will.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, well, when we were doing the alt cast last night, we were kind of trying to guess your measurables and we, we kind of settled on somewhere around 4 6-847-with-a 39 inch vertical. Except for Darius said, you know, he was kind of questioning.

[Ty Schmidt]

I said mid-30s vert. But I did say 4, 6, 8, 40.

[AJ Hawk]

Are we, are we, are we somewhere close around that? And you know, I root for a franchise, Pittsburgh Steelers. We kind of like quarterbacks that played in Ohio. Big guys, you know, 6, 4, 6 5, 250. So if you're looking for a program to come to, we will take you.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, he's just gonna pick. Yep, that's how, that's how it works.

[AJ Hawk]

That's how it works now.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, now, now to add, extend that question though. Your next. Obviously you haven't thought about the next step. You've been so focused on a college football playoff. Us watching you each week. Like I'm not a big scout for NFL football. Like I'm not. That's not my thing. But we watch you. And I was very lucky to have a front row seat to the NFL as a punter for a long time. It's like this is a Sunday guy. And then we start doing some research and what people are saying, they're not saying that at all. So then obviously the speed comes because you run a lot more I think you did at Kansas State than people give you credit for. Obviously you have a lot of weapons, but you're getting into them. Do you feel like you've always been under respected and appreciated or valued as a quarterback? Does that get to you? Do you think about it? I heard you have to answer a couple of these questions during media day, but we were very surprised to hear what people were saying about your NFL projections after watching you in person. And I assume that's all going to be bullshit anyways. You're going to move up quickly, especially after performance. But has it always been this way with you and we're just kind of learning that now.

[Will Howard]

Yeah. You know, I feel like, you know, ever since really I came out of high school, you know, I was a three star recruit, you know, and I think the way that my career started off, I wasn't really a great player. You know, my first two years at Kansas State, I didn't really turn it on until my junior year. So I think a lot of people made assumptions about me and, you know, just. Just assumed that I wasn't a good player, but really I just wasn't myself yet, you know, I wasn't really settled in and. And you know, I feel like this year here at Ohio State, like I've been completely myself, you know, and you guys see it like me, you know, I think I yelled at Boston Connor after one of the touchdowns.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, awesome.

[Will Howard]

Screaming at him, dude. I'm like, yeah, I'm just getting fired up, man. I just, I like being in the moment and having fun with my guys and, you know, we just have an unbelievable locker room here and it's just, it's so easy to play for these guys and to want to do it for everyone in this building.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but you're a great quarterback too, brother. Some of those throws are like, Sunday throw, Sunday throw, Sunday throw, Sunday throw. And then you're big as you know you are. You are much bigger than you would expect, I think, from watching on tv. And you can move now. The paint on the field does get you every once in a while. Every once in a while. Every once in a while there's paint. It does, it does. Hey, hey.

[Will Howard]

I was, I was thinking just like you said earlier, you know, I was taking some time off the clock for our defense.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100 clock management. That's smart stuff. But you're much more athletic than anybody gives you credit for.

[Boston Connor]

D Bucks, Darius.

[Ty Schmidt]

Guys, don't do this, all right? It's on wax. You know what I said I've given Will plenty of credit.

[Pat McAfee]

You're right, you're right, you're right. But I think there's lack of it going around in a lot of conversations.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, sure. For sure. And look, you made yourself a ton of money in this playoff run. Biggest stage, biggest moments, best teams. Your coach you've been working with. Chip Kelly. How's it been working with him? Obviously a guy who's been on the Pro level and been calling plays for a long time. Long time. How has it been working with him and how much did he help with your development as a quarterback?

[Will Howard]

He helped me a ton. I think, really, the perspective that he has just on the game and really on life is different. You know, it's. He's a guy that's been around, man.

[Pat McAfee]

He's.

[Will Howard]

You know, he's done pretty much everything at every level, you know, and he's. He's seen a lot, he's done a lot. So he has a lot of perspective, and he's shared a lot of things with me just. Just on the field, off the field, how to handle myself, how to, you know, go about my business. And he's been an unbelievable mentor for me off the field, but then on the field, I mean, he's. He and Coach Day and Billy Fessler and all those guys in that room, like, they've changed me into a completely different player. I mean, you know, the fact that my completion percentage went up by almost over 10%, like, that is 100% a credit to my coaches and. And them getting on me about taking completions and not. Not forcing things down the field, but kind of letting the game come to me. And Chips, you know, he's. He's said that since I. Since I got here, and I've tried to adapt to it, and it's. It's been awesome for me.

[Pat McAfee]

You and Chip Kelly, both in your first years at Ohio State, win a national championship, but getting there, obviously, two different paths. Chip Kelly was a head coach in the same conference as Ohio State. Said, I'm gonna go be an OC over there instead of being the head coach at ucla. And you. How'd you get to Ohio State? Ty has a question for you. Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Will, when you're done at Kansas State and with, like, the. The new process of the transfer portal and everything, it was coming out like, hey, this guy is. Is the quarterback everyone wants. There were early reports like, hey, Lincoln Riley really wants him. It looks like he might go to usc. Was it always Ohio State or. How difficult was that decision, figuring out where you're gonna. You were gonna end up for your last year?

[Will Howard]

Yeah, I was. You know, going into that last year, I was really expecting to. To hopefully, you know, have a good year, build on the Big 12 championship year, and, you know, hopefully go to the draft. But obviously, coming out of the year, I didn't feel like what my draft stock was, where I felt like my talent level and, you know, my potential was. So I felt like, you know, if I. If I could go somewhere and feel like I could give myself a chance to move up draft boards and to, you know, turn myself into a better player and really just continue to elevate, you know, I wanted to do that. And at first, you know, it was really. A bunch of people started reaching out, obviously, when it. When I first entered, but, you know, it really came down to probably Miami, USC and. And here, you know, and when I was looking at it, you know, the two things I said I wanted to do was compete for a Natty and, you know, elevate my draft stock. And there was no place that came close to that in terms of, you know, either of those things, like. Like Ohio State. And when it came down to it, it was really probably I was either going to go to the draft. You know, I had a Senior bowl invite. I was. I was all teed up, ready to go to the draft, but this opportunity came up, and I just could not pass it up.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, well, I think everybody in the state of Ohio and every Buckeye around the world is incredibly pumped that you made that decision. Ryan Day, tell us about him a little bit. I know you've only been with him for a year. Obviously, this is the biggest year of his career, certainly the biggest win that he's ever had at all of you over there. But life as an Ohio State head coach is something, you know, AJ Right over there, very passionate. That's why he was crying on the sideline last night. Kirk Herbstreet crying last night because of the amount of love that everybody has for the Buckeyes in that state. But those expectations are obviously not the easiest whenever things aren't going great. How is Ryan Day operated alongside you, and how have you two kind of gotten along throughout this season, which has happened? Had, obviously the option to dance all through it.

[Will Howard]

Yeah. I mean, Coach Days, he's my guy, man.

[Pat McAfee]

And.

[Will Howard]

And he took a chance on me. I owe, you know, basically my life to that guy, man.

[Pat McAfee]

He.

[Will Howard]

He. He. He's developed me, so I've never been coached so hard. I mean, that guy. That guy got on me so much in. In spring ball. Like, I was like, man, I feel like I don't even know how to play this position. You know, I felt like I was like, what the hell, man? Like, this is crazy. But, no, I'm just, you know, and AJ Knows, but, you know, being a player or a coach at Ohio State, man, it's. You don't really understand it until you're in it. It's different, you know, the expectations that come with it, the pressure, you know, all the eyes that are on you. It's. It's really. It's different, you know, and if you don't experience it, if you don't go through it, you don't really get it. And, you know, so we were able to go through that together this year, and I think we leaned on each other a little bit. I think, you know, I was able to, you know, lighten up some moods when I. When I needed to and go into the O staff room and crack some jokes and. And vice versa, man. So, like, I think we. We were able to, you know, lean on each other a little bit this year. And the relationship that we have is. Is amazing. And I'll. I'll cherish that, dude, you know, for the rest of my life, man.

[Pat McAfee]

You talk about it being different over there, you're going to be forever remembered as a national champion in Ohio. That means you'll be able to sign pictures of that third and 11th row for the rest of your life, no matter what happens. Let's say you forget how to play football. Actually, you somehow walk into a tent or a teepee. Ayahuasca gets your brain. You forget how to play football. Know that for the rest of your life, okay? You'll be able to go to Columbus, Ohio, and sign that picture forever. That's the beautiful thing about being a Buckeye, especially when you win. Another man that is currently doing that still for the rest of his life. AJ Has a question for you. Will.

[Tony]

Yeah, Will, first I'm going want to check on your. Your head coach's status, how his right foot might be, how you guys are doing. Do you have any whiplash? We saw the clip of the.

[Pat McAfee]

The golf cart.

[Tony]

It had to be a bit nerve wracking for this. This poor lady, all these people filming her. What, like, what happened here and what was going on? We had an awesome power situation going on, it looks like.

[Will Howard]

Dude, that was so funny. So I felt so bad for the poor girl. She was, like, ripping through people on the field and just yelling, move, move, move. Honking at people. And then all of a sudden we get to this corner and she, like, almost gets close to the. To the wall, and then she starts reversing. And then she put it back, you know, in drive and just crashed into the wall. And we're like. None of us were like, I think I might have my head down in my phone.

[Ty Schmidt]

It was close.

[Will Howard]

And Coach day, I don't know what happened, but I think his Neck like got like messed up like.

[Tony]

I don't know.

[Will Howard]

I don't know if he's, you know, he was. He looked like he was shaking up for a second, but. But I hope he's doing all right now.

[Pat McAfee]

How far did you have to walk after that? Because everybody made the same decision after. She was like, let's get this thing back there. I don't think so. Everybody kind of gets out of there and obviously she's gonna live and grow from this as well. Yeah, you know, like physics and everything is gonna certainly show up in life. She had eyes on the wall that she crashed into. I didn't know that. She was such a beast on the field though. Got places to go, got people, got very. I respect that. How far was the walk? How far is the walk to where you had to go?

[Will Howard]

It actually wasn't that far because we already made it to the other side of the stadium. So it was really only like probably 50 yards, so it wasn't like a big deal. But, you know, we, we made it work.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you certainly did. And that axle is broken forever. Correct. Con man has a question for you, Will.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, well, before the game, there's some conversation leading up to it about you and Ryan Riley being in that group text together from the QB camp. I was wondering what kind of memes were they sending in to that text group with you two? And also was there any conversation after the game with you and Riley? Did you get to talk to him and what's that relationship like?

[Will Howard]

Yeah, man. Riley is a guy that I have the utmost respect for and really, really, you know, just truly think that he's an unbelievable guy and you know, the way that he portrays his faith too. Like, you know, when I really first got to talk to him at the, at the Manning camp, like, you know, we didn't even really talk about ball at all. Like, we kind of just shot the bull and talked about, you know, life and I just, you know, I, I really felt like we were kind of similar people and I kind of, you know, understood him and, and we kind of had kind of been on similar journeys. I felt like, you know, so it was cool to feel like we, you know, kind of finished it in, in a right way, you know, where we were kind of both, you know, in the forefront and no, I was just, I was just, you know, blessed to be able to, you know, share the field with another guy who, who's, you know, just a God fearing man and just a, just a great dude.

[Pat McAfee]

We appreciate you glorifying Jesus Christ all through both of you.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I saw Rhys Davis last night. Hell yeah. Hey, I'm man show. Yeah. Reese Davis said after the show, he said both these teams glorify Jesus Christ more than anybody else. I don't know if that's coincidence or not. You tell me. And it's like, what? Certainly, certainly very much so. Both. That's why the Pope I there. There was a, there was a chance. I don't know if you heard about this. There was a chance. On college game day, there was just rumblings that the Pope was going to make a pick that been sweet. And then the Pope heard about how many Catholics are in Ohio. He was like, we don't need to turn down the entire state, brother. I don't need to be making a pitch against the state that is very religious. And God bless everybody and thank you to Jesus Christ for everything. We obviously agree with that. And you and Riley Leonard obviously did battle last night. Will you both be in the Senior bowl next week? And how are you going to approach this entire thing? Obviously, and we already mentioned this, it was a surprise to us how they were judging your NFL career, I think through this process. Now, granted, enjoy this national championship with the lads. Looks like there's a lot of juice as they come running it definitely do that. But this entire draft process, we think you're going to kill like absolutely murder senior bowls first. That's next week. And then what do we have on the horizon? Have you already thought about this or are you yet to figure this type of out?

[Will Howard]

Yeah, you know, I was hoping we could get through this game and then worry about it after. But you know, in terms of the Senior Bowl, I'm still evaluating that. You know, I, I ran the ball, I think like 16 times last night, so my body's a little beat up. Up. Gonna have to feel how my, my body's feeling and everything and then, then go from there when it comes to that. But you know, in the process, man, I'm just looking forward to, you know, getting after it. And I'm going out to, to train out in LA with my guys at XL Sports and I'm just excited to get out there and hopefully, you know, prove some people wrong throughout this process because, you know, I've. I felt like I've had that chip on my shoulder the whole time. You know, I believe that I can be a, you know, first round draft pick. You know, I believe that I can go in and, you know, lead it, lead a organization and you know, I want to just show and show these teams that they can trust me and, you know, bring me in and be that guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Your teammates and coaches at Ohio State agree with you. I can't wait to watch you change narratives about yourself going into the NFL. And I'm excited as hell that you get the opportunity to celebrate getting to the top of the mountain. Not a lot of people do, brother. Everything you've done your entire life has led to this enjoyment, this moment. I hope you have a blast celebrating it all. And congratulations on being a national champion, brother.

[Will Howard]

Thank you, guys, man. Appreciate you all having me on. I've been a big fan for a while, so this is pretty cool.

[Pat McAfee]

Little baby face assassin coming on the program. You think it is because you look like you're 12. Do you think that's why people think maybe not in the NFL because that's an adult. That's a grown men's league. You look like you're 13 years old. Do you think it could be?

[Will Howard]

Man, I've been getting called that, like the last two weeks a lot more, and I didn't even know where it came from. And then I saw the clip of you calling me that and I was like, oh, damn, that's pretty funny.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. You like it? All right. Sweet. Good news, ladies, gentlemen. We think first round draft pick.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

We know. National champion quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes, Will Howard. Thank you, buddy.

[Darius Butler]

He's a guy pretty polished as well.

[Boston Connor]

That was awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

That was a great interview.

[AJ Hawk]

Signed me up.

[Pat McAfee]

Jovial. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Great.

[Pat McAfee]

He's moxy. We talked about it.

[Tony]

Think of the guys we see in the NFL playing well, too, that have a ton of reps, a ton of experience in the college game. Those guys have come into the league and excelled early on.

[Ty Schmidt]

Jaden, Bo Nicks. Yeah. But like C.J.

[Pat McAfee]

Out of the Ryan day camp. Remember we asked C.J. why he did so well? He said, ryan Day in the Ohio State. Yes, whatever. That must be what he means. Ryan Day, relentless.

[Ty Schmidt]

I. I know how to play quarterback.

[Pat McAfee]

The Big 12 player of the year right now. Yeah. Everything I do is wrong.

[Boston Connor]

I don't even know.

[Pat McAfee]

Geez Louise, that's good coaching. Yeah, I like to hear that about Ryan Day.

[Ty Schmidt]

Development is real, man. Coaching matters. I think even Jalen hurts. Going back to, you know why he was benched and subbed out at Alabama during the national championship game? Because of his limitations in the past game. People are still talking about it now, but him going to Oklahoma, planning at Lincoln, Riley system like that helped his development tremendously. Helped him be a second round pick. And now a franchise quarterback, you know, making the money he's making in one game away from his second Super Bowl. So I can see some similarities there with Will Howard and his progression throughout his college career and what he can probably be on the next level.

[Pat McAfee]

So it's either going to be Ohio State, USC or Miami. I think he would have done this though, if he would go.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I think so.

[Boston Connor]

I think, man, Cam, we're going to. I'll say what. Been nuts too.

[Pat McAfee]

All those. I mean, that's why he gets talked about the way he does.

[Boston Connor]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I could play quarterback with Jeremiah Smith.

[Boston Connor]

So many of them.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what people think, the haters. I'm not saying I say that. I'm just saying the people that are haters. I watch the people in the comments and it's like he'll put a dot like a ball that Jeremiah Smith. Doesn't have to be Jeremiah Smith. It could be Boston Connor playing wide receiver. Receiver. He'll put a ball on somebody and it's like that's a Sunday throw. He'll step up in the pocket and hit a slant. That's a Sunday throw. But he's throwing it to Igbuka, who has the most receptions in the history of Ohio State. He's throwing it to Jeremiah Smith, who I alien is what they're calling. He's throwing it to Cornell Tate, who's going to be an NFL guy. He's got Judkins and Henderson in the backfield. It's like that is what people think. Well, I could do that. It's like the plays he makes though, if you watch the plays, it's like he has to make a play at a high level as well, not just the person that he's making a play with. And he does. I mean, he is. He's a real. This guy's the real fucking deal. Legit. Yeah, I feel that way.

[Ty Schmidt]

I think a big part of his projections are kind of what he said too. Like you once you play three years in college, like people make up their mind about most players, it's hard to change it. Most guys that go in the first round, they're tackling grabbed his first round guys like after their freshman year most of the time or like even in high school. Arch hasn't even played a season yet.

[AJ Hawk]

Correct.

[Ty Schmidt]

Five star crew. He's, you know, he's going to be first. He's going to be first overall pick. You already know, even if he sucks his first year, has an average year, which we don't expect. He's still going to be a first round pick because that's what the guys, that's what everybody, that's the consensus and it's a lot of group think I think. So when you go and you go to a place like Ohio State and you are surrounded with this type of talent. But he, you know, he replaced, you know, kind Kyle McCord. McCoy is doing great, done great things in Syracuse but he, he came there to upgrade that position. So knowing where to go with the box when he plays on Sundays, everybody's a Sunday guy. So knowing where to go to the ball, you know, taking completions, taking profit, being in that Chip Kelly system, just around a guy who's been around so many guys and been around football for so long, that just changes your whole idea of how you even view football. So I'm excited about him. I'm looking for forward to his future on the next level.

[Pat McAfee]

It does sound like he will not be playing in a Senior bowl and also shouldn't like hey, you've had to play four extra games. Everybody else anyways, you've already had four all star games that the whole world has been watching. If he would have played in the Senior bowl one week from now, I would have been, I think we all would have been like don't have to.

[AJ Hawk]

I don't think Rally should play either after watching.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he went through 18 play drive that first drive, record breaking drive to start that game game for Notre Dame. Think about how different that game got from then. Then obviously middle of the third quarter, then into the middle of the fourth quarter. Both quarterbacks had to show like competitive spirit, you know, like answering instead of cowering down. They obviously both did. But Will Howard has that like in his biggest games he played his best football. It's like I love this guy. I love this guy, man. You know that is, that is literally how I feel about Will Howard.

[Darius Butler]

Well, I think the development thing is a big. Because like when he was a kid Kansas State, they basically used him like Tebow, like he was the best. I mean he said he had Ben Sennett who was a third round pick but like outside of that, like his skill guy, he didn't have a bunch of skill guys getting drafted. Like he was the best player on the field. So like I think last night was definitely the most times he's run the football in a game this year. You know, like he, they, he played completely different than he did when he was at Kansas State and obviously, you know like that, that says a lot about Chip Kelly and Ryan Day. And his development coming, because he is. He's a better quarterback overall today than he probably was when he left Kansas State.

[Pat McAfee]

I. He was good on the show, too.

[Darius Butler]

Well, I just think back, like, think of Stetson Bennett after they won the national championship when he was on Good Morning America.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, he's just. He said they hung out in the hotel lobby, too. I love that. That somebody probably had a speaker, too. Maybe two speakers. Bobby Carpenter had his own.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, he was just singing.

[Pat McAfee]

Did he fly on a plane? That's what he should ask. Was Bob Carpenter on the plane ride back?

[Tony]

I don't. I don't believe so. But it would never surprise me if Bob found his way on that plane.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Because he posted a video of being right behind the police escort of the buses back in Columbus. He's in a car behind him. So I didn't know if he was on the plane or if he had his car parked on the side of the road for the boys. And then he was.

[Boston Connor]

He was back in there driving the H vac van.

[Pat McAfee]

We got people waiting at FBOs in Chicago for Ben Johnson to arrive. Creepy. That'll freak out, especially if you're going to one of those FBOs. But we got field reporting happening at a much larger rate now with X, you know, and journalists being now everywhere all the time and inability to place. And Bobby Carpenter was certainly a part of that. I mean, he was. He was 10ft behind the cop that was on the tail end of the escort of the buses heading back. Let me in. And he said, the Buckeyes are back. Yeah, I thought he was trying to get.

[AJ Hawk]

He was.

[Boston Connor]

Let me in.

[AJ Hawk]

I thought I heard it because I was trying to listen it, but it was kind of faint. But he was talking like, should I pass these guys?

[Pat McAfee]

The escorts are the great.

[Boston Connor]

The ones in Ohio. We talked about this last night. The Ohio police escort was the greatest escort in the history of police escort.

[Pat McAfee]

Now Penn State police escort, real deal. Penn State police escort was real. We. We went sidewalk, pretty much.

[Tony]

The biker cops. Biker cops that shut down the highway. Like, the on ramps are the best.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. They get all pissed off and they're standing on top of their bike.

[Tony]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Like this one coming down the street. If there's a hill, it's like they're doing this number here on top of a motorcycle.

[Boston Connor]

Sick.

[Pat McAfee]

And it's just, like rolling. And it's like, what's that doing? He's letting people on the other side of the hill know that we're coming. He's like he certainly is. Is he gonna. And then he hops his feet back down, gets back down on the motorcycle. They go crazy. Whenever the motorcycle cops get a little sass. Oh, that's. That's a good one. Start, you know, and then circle back. I've seen one circle back and then rejoin the.

[Tony]

Just pull their gun out and, you know, their finger off the trigger but, you know, point the gun at them.

[Pat McAfee]

I've never seen that. Just. Just. So we're all in.

[Tony]

I was hopeful, hopeful a few times that that would happen.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you were pulling for that? Yeah. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, might have been the tail end of the police escort for the national champion Ohio State Buckeye football team. Whenever they got back into Columbus, he save football in the Big Ten a few years ago. Ladies and gentlemen, congrats on another national championship too. The General. Bob Carpenter General congrats on a national championship, brother. How you doing?

[Bobby Carpenter]

I'm doing great. I mean, I got about 40 minutes of sleep. I did my morning show at 6. I think I went to bed at about 4:15. So I woke up at about 5:30. It was a rough day. And then as I'm pulling in, driving out, my wife's picking me up and I'm like. Like, holy smokes. There's. There's the motorcade leading everybody around. My wife was like, trying to slide into it. They're gonna run your ass off the road, dear. Like, we better give him some distance here. Okay? These police are. They mean business.

[Pat McAfee]

So you were waiting on the side of the road for the motorcade to come so you could report that it was happening or just so happened, Coach.

[Bobby Carpenter]

My wife picked me up at the airport. We're pulling out of the main terminal. They come like, back off the tarmac right there as we're pulling out. I mean, they were right there in front of us and. And they. We live right down the street from campus. So I go, they're going there. They're gonna have everybody lined up. And so, I mean, these cops watching motorcades is amazing because people try to, like, slide through and these dudes are swerving over at them like, they'll put you in the wall, man. They don't care.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, they will. They'll at least with their eyes in their fingers, will try to scare you into driving into a wall. Police escorts are a fantastic thing, especially whenever it's a celebration like. Like, it is certainly here for the Buckeyes. You said you run on about 40 minutes of sleep. We just talked to Will Howard. He Said in the lobby they were hanging out last night, obviously enjoying this all. How'd you enjoy it all? And at what point did you know this was possible with this Ohio State Buckeye team, Bobby?

[Bobby Carpenter]

So, you know, I hung out. It took me forever after the game, hanging out, getting interviews, doing, you know, everything. Getting out of there. Got back to the hotel about 1:45. Ordered four drinks before they closed the bar, and then went down as one would do.

[Pat McAfee]

Need four of these things.

[Bobby Carpenter]

Yeah, it's a vet move. I mean, I go, listen, dude, I need four. Four Casamigos and sodas right here. It's like, I'll tip you 25 bucks. It's open bar. I go, I know there's a million people backed up. Just pour them strong, no ice. Just dump it in there. I mean, we're all about business. It's 145. Like, all right, just shoot it into my veins if you need to, and.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll give you 25 bucks for that.

[Bobby Carpenter]

Absolutely. And then I went down. You talked about Will Howard. So I go down, like, hey, let's go to Ohio Regency. That's where the players are staying. I go, dude, nobody's up. It's like 3:15. And I'll be damned. We go down there and Will is there. Dude, they've got a whole crowd surrounding him. He's got his guy, Seth McLaughlin. They date some. They date a pair of sisters. So it was unbelievable. And they're like, hey, Coach Bobby. You know, coming on in.

[AJ Hawk]

Coach Bobby.

[Bobby Carpenter]

Yeah, Drinking. Drinking warm beers that they had pre bought from, like, probably an hour before at that point. But the poor folks at the Hyatt Regency, I mean, Pat, all they want to do is go to bed, and you've got like, 150 Buckeye fans. This dude comes up to me and is like, bob, you want to drink? I'm like, sure, I guess. And just pulls a bottle of scotch out of the inside of his coat pocket and just like, here you go, dude. Hammer it down. I'm like, I don't even like scotch, but I mean, this is the best thing we got going.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So that's what happens. And the higher Regency knew what they signed up for. If you're going to have a bunch of Ohio State people in here, if they win a national championship, Ohio is going to Ohio. How does it feel and when did you know this team was going to be able to win it? Will Howard, I don't know if I had any judgment on him at all. You know, when he's in a Big 12. He's a great player. Kansas State, obviously West Virginia. He has done great things following along. He's Will Howard. He goes to Ohio State. They're spending a lot of money on the roster. Okay. They lose to Oregon earlier, everybody's dumping on him. I don't think I still had an opinion on lose to Michigan. I still don't think I really have an opinion on He's Will Howard. Like it's kind of what it is. Then getting to watch his playoff run and seeing how tall he is, seeing how much the boys love him, hearing he's out drinking warm beers after a national championship with the offensive line and other people, it's like the more I learn about this guy, the more I love him. You've obviously been around coach with the boys longer than we have and known them. When did you know this team could possibly do this and when did you know Will was a guy and what was the stories you heard about, about him?

[Bobby Carpenter]

You know, I, I thought this team always had the talent. Obviously after that Michigan game, you saw that shift. After the first Oregon game, that defense started to shift, but with Will, it was unbelievable. It's tough to be a transfer quarterback to come in in a one year off situation because you're expected to be a leader, but you're also expected to earn that leadership really quickly. And you can't come in and just be, you know, me, me, me. They've got, those guys have all been playing together for four and five years. You've got to prove it to them. And so Will did a great job coming in, putting his head down and just grinding. I mean, he's a big dude. When he first came in on his visit about this time last year, like, I thought he was a tight end. They're bringing his tight end from Ohio University. I thought that was him at first. He's a big guy. He's physical and he's, he's a selfless dude. And that's the thing that you love to see him like, he's not, you know, maybe the guy that has the, the best running style you're going to find he's not the best athlete of everybody, but he just seems to get things done, man. And you see the fire that he plays with and you guys both played. Anytime you play with a dude that's just willing to throw it out there for you, especially a quarterback and put his body on the line, that's when it starts to turn. And the last piece, man, that connectivity that he has with Ryan Day, like, dude, you don't see coaches like jumping onto their players, arms like that, their shoulders like after a win. There was something really special with those guys and it was fun to see. And that to me was that missing elixir that, you know, makes those championship teams special.

[Pat McAfee]

Elixir? Yeah, it was the missing elixir, wasn't it? Yeah, it certainly was. Go ahead, A.J.

[Tony]

Bob, what about the defense? I mean these guys played unbelievable. I feel like all year, especially in the playoffs, but especially the linebackers, Cody Simon, Sonny Styles, the boys, like they seem to get better and better as the season. When you watch their defense play, I mean you're basically embedded with the squad. You're around these guys a bunch. What's, what's it been like watching these guys grow know throughout their careers at Ohio State and ultimately cap it off like this.

[Bobby Carpenter]

So Cody Simon, you know, he's defensive MVP of the national championship game. This is a guy that never really was a starter till his fifth year in college. And he's playing behind Tommy Eichenberg, Steel Chambers, some good players. And you know, I talked to him last offseason, like the, the secret to success in life, man, and half of it just keep showing up and doing a good job, like you'll eventually get your shot. You're eventually and put together, you know, a pretty good reel. And man, he was the leader of that defense. He was the heart and soul of that defense. You know, their goal line stands, the things they've been able to do, how tough they were against Notre Dame in their rushing attack, and just really physical up front. But there was a connectivity with these guys. And you saw with Jack Sawyer, JT bringing in Caleb Downs, like all of these guys together, there was an intense intensity and a passion. You play with and honestly age, you've been a part of like opening drives where they drive the ball on you. Sometimes like I'm sitting on the side like, holy shit, this is a 10 minute drive, 18 plays. I'm tired for them to start the game. Like you don't get a chance to get your legs under you. They came back out, offense goes down and scores. Three and out, bang. Offense scores three and out bang. And all of a sudden now they score again. It's 21, nothing going into half. It's like they answered the bell every time they had to.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, and the offense, they answered with a six minute drive, right, wasn't it? It was 9:45 and then it was 5:45 to answer. So to your point though, like if offense doesn't answer There and Ohio State's defense has to go back on the field after a 10 minute drive to start that thing. 18 play record breaking drive. That's why the complimentary football by and your specialists. McGuire hit some big balls. Jaden Fielding, I think he's a player like did he. He's. How was he during the year, Jaden the kicker? Because during the playoffs he's been fantastic, this guy.

[Bobby Carpenter]

He's been good and the punting's been much better. Like they've done a much better job. The Michigan game was a little rough and like that's. There's wind, there's elements but you know, it's awesome for feeling to watch him hit that kick and seal the game, you know, like that. That's the stuff right there. You know, it's easy to get down on guys and a lot of people crap on kickers, you know, and the specialists because man, when you're under the microscope, scope when you screw it up and to see those guys on the other side then make the play and to watch everybody just lean in on them and love on those dudes, man, it was big. And that complimentary football was so huge. Being able to make sure that you were moving the football, you're backing them up, you're flipping the field because that's how Notre Dame beats people. I mean it's Jim Trestle football all the way that AJ grew up with and Ohio State was able to utilize some of that against them.

[Pat McAfee]

Marcus Freeman, damn good coach. Yeah. A little bit of pride, right? Obviously not a little bit. A lot of. Bit of pride that Marcus Freeman obviously was able to lead the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to a national championship in his third year over there as a former Ohio State Buckeye. We ran some highlights during the field pass last night. I don't know if it was on the main broadcast or not. I would assume it was. He was a dog for the buckets. Ohio fuck too. Like he's a proud Ohio fuck. I believe still benching 315. Has to be able to squat 315 and bench 315 at all times. He said that's a non negotiable going forward. He's one of you guys, obviously phenomenal coach. And you talk about Trestle being like a special ingredient for him to kind of lean on. He's building it the right way over. There has to be a lot of pride out of the Ohio people or no?

[Bobby Carpenter]

Oh, absolutely. And I told Marcus, I talked to him before the Florida State game. I was so happy with how he's coached what he's done, the culture he's built up there. I mean, Pat, benching 315 and squad in 315, that's just a way of life, man. You got to be able to defend yourself, defend your family. You have no idea what could happen.

[Pat McAfee]

At some point in time.

[Bobby Carpenter]

And, like, the last thing you want to do, tell a story about how you got overpowered and someone like, oh, your daughter from you, because you weren't able. You have the strength. So just. Just think about that next time you're in the weight room and you're like, I'm just gonna maybe do something a little cosmetic, like, I need to be able to still punch and strike somebody at a moment's notice. And so Marcus embraces that he wants to look like a dude out there so his players don't look at him and think that they might be the alpha of the pack. And so it's a big deal.

[AJ Hawk]

Well said.

[Pat McAfee]

I never thought about being in a situation where I get out powered for my daughter. And once you start piecing it that way, I saw little Mackenzie looking at her dad going, what the fuck just happened? You're right. Maybe it isn't just for looks. Maybe we do got to get in there and start hitting. Maybe start hitting a pad again a little bit. Maybe start moving a little. Maybe more explosive exercise. Yeah. Yeah. So we still got it a little bit. I'm not too old to defend myself.

[Darius Butler]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

This is a matter of life or death, potentially.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Way of life.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you, General. On that note, you got away with words, D. But has a question you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Just mentioned on the sideline. I remember being on the sideline. I think before the Cotton bowl, you were kind of giving me the rundown of the guys on that defense especially. And I had some sources inside the program said you're still maybe dialing up some. Some blitzes over there. I saw a beautiful blitz, beautiful cross dog during the game. Was that your blitz? The Jim Knowles called?

[Bobby Carpenter]

No, Jim, listen, man, I wish, but, like, listen, Jim Knowles, he. He dials those things up really well, and he does a great job, him and James working with those backers. And I love giving them crap because those guys, you know, like, we talk about legacy, you know, one of the things I take the most pride in is, you know, when AJ and I and Schlage, we left Ohio State, like, our legacy was Marcus Freeman and James Laurinaitis. Like, can those guys take over the room? Are they going to be able to get everything done in the way that you Want. And now like watching that still carry on with Cody Simon, Sonny Styles, like the ARVL Reese, the way those guys go back and forth and the way that they play and the tenacity that they play with like that, that's something that feels great. And so you see that fire. Yeah, my, my dialing up days, those are long past me by. I wish that I had some of that skills, but Jim Knowles is like a mad scientist being able to get that done.

[Pat McAfee]

They're saying he's potentially leaving or no. What do you think?

[Bobby Carpenter]

You know, I'm not sure. Like I saw that coming down yesterday. I was like, oh gosh. Like I just want to focus on the game. I was hoping it wasn't going to be a distraction. Maybe he does. Maybe he does. I'm. I'm not sure. Like, my goodness, he's one hell of a defensive coordinator. I know. I'm guessing Ryan's going to fight like hell to, to keep them. You know, that's where Ross York the AD at Ohio State, like President Carter, slap shot. You sit down like we won a national title. This guy's a big part of it. Well, what's the financial package that we need to put together to be able to keep him? And that's, that's the modern day of college football. And you got to figure that out.

[Pat McAfee]

Coach, you got a radio show, local sports right there in Columbus.

[Bobby Carpenter]

Yes, sir. Every morning six to nine.

[Pat McAfee]

So you're actually the show. First of all, the fact that you're still doing six to nine on AM radio every single day. Dog, your dog.

[Boston Connor]

That's the general difference.

[Pat McAfee]

That is the difference. You're an absolute dog. But there's not a lot of towns you could do that in. Still no. Columbus, Ohio sports talk six to nine still in. Because of the Buckeyes. Are you guys going to give Ryan Day a break or what? Are you guys going to give me what you're probably the one. Six to 9am Local sports talk.

[Darius Butler]

This guy.

[Ty Schmidt]

That is probably who it is, set the narrative.

[Pat McAfee]

Certainly that is probably what it is. I mean, I know maybe not you in particular, but that was the national narrative that was taking place in a lot of different situations. I assume the reason why it was that is because there were certainly some people in Ohio that felt that way and that's just a part of the business. Like if you don't win anything, like people are going to wonder if you're ever going to be able to. And now Ryan Day has. What does that mean to the Buckeye people? You think into local sports talk. Maybe that sets a narrative or drives an agenda potentially.

[Bobby Carpenter]

I mean, I love Ryan. I get a chance to talk to him, and I watch him practice. And seeing those guys like, Ryan Day is a hell of a football coach. Now, he ultimately has the title to back that up. There's only three active coaches in college football that have won national championships with him and Kirby, Kirby Smart and Dabo Swinney. Like, that's it. That's the list. That's all they have. And so for him to be able to do that, to get that, that's a big. That is a big piece, A big feather in his cap. There are people out there that said, hey, even if they win this national championship, he still should be fired. You know what I'm talking about?

[Pat McAfee]

This.

[Bobby Carpenter]

There was like, hey, is this. Is this national championship? I was asked this morning, I'm doing a hit on xm. And, like, you know, it was, you know, unfinished, or they had, like, an asterisk buy it because you didn't win the Big Ten. Didn't be Michigan. Like, listen, man, those people can go back and live Missouri Island. They're the ones that are always gonna complain about something. They were the best in the country. They beat five top five teams. Man, their offensive line, I was, like, looking this. Putting this little diagram together. They played nine different guys on the offensive line this year, and they went up against some of the best D lines and were able to run the ball and protect Will like they did one hell of a job. Gosh, I cannot say. Give enough flowers to Ryan Day. And then also Justin Fry, the online coach. Everybody was on as well. Like, those guys are damn good, all coaches. And I told Ryan, if you weren't the guy, tell you, I didn't think you were good. I've been around good coaches, Pat. You've been around good coaches, A.J. you've been. But all you guys, you've seen good, you've seen bad. And I go, man, I'm not always going to just play the results all the time. Like, sometimes it just doesn't work out and it's not your day. But, man, when you have a good one, you got to keep them.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And if you believe in somebody's process, I think that's the whole thing. So whenever a coach who hasn't been able to win is getting judged, you have to judge the process. How do we think the day in, the day out the coaching is going? Everybody that was around the football program, as Kirk Herbstreet said, you know, cooler Heads the ad, the president. People that have been around feel a certain way about Ryan Day because they watch him work. Not everybody gets to see that, you know, and coaching is a results oriented business. The results are great for Ryan Day. He's a national champion.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Congratulations to him. Congratulations to you, General. We can't thank you enough for joining us on such short notice, brother.

[Bobby Carpenter]

Hey, anytime guys. Love coming on.

[Pat McAfee]

What did you. Misery Island.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, yeah. Go back.

[Ty Schmidt]

Kick their ass over there.

[Tony]

Bob, you're gonna try to practice next year. If they get in the playoffs, you can try to. I know you used to strap up the path and go against the boys.

[Bobby Carpenter]

I mean, if I need to. I mean, whatever it takes, you know, for the program, for the group, I'm here to help. I'll do whatever I can. I can still squat 315, Pat. I can still bench 3.

[Will Howard]

15.

[Tony]

You can lunge 315 for 100 yards, Bob. We know that.

[Bobby Carpenter]

We'll see. We'll see where we're at on that. Listen, you were talking about Ryan Day in the hot seat. Nothing cools off a hot seat, folks, like a Gatorade bath. I promise you that.

[Darius Butler]

Well said.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom. I'll tell you what General quoted. Put it down there. You're 100% right. God, that was amazing. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, one the General, Bobby Carpenter.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, General.

[Ty Schmidt]

What a lie.

[Pat McAfee]

Nothing cools off a hot seat like a Gatorade bath bar. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Throw a on these.

[Ty Schmidt]

Surprise. I've never heard that one.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a phenomenal.

[Ty Schmidt]

Got to be a General.

[AJ Hawk]

That's a General first.

[Tony]

Yeah, that's why a bunch of those, A lot of them.

[Pat McAfee]

That's why when he delivered it, he's, you know.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh yeah, he gave.

[Pat McAfee]

George W. Almost. He knew you. Oh, this is the one. Misery island too. Kicking back elixir. He said just so many.

[Darius Butler]

He's ready to go.

[Pat McAfee]

Three hours local sports talk in the morning. Six a.m. start time hours. So early. I. I started, you know, really doing all this. Yeah, because of last night with him, with Bob and Tom, which is a local morning radio show. Comedy, Huge, huge business, huge show. They had a local hour on Tuesdays because they were nationally syndicated on like 180 channels or something like that. They owned it too. So they were licensing it to all these channels. But they were based here in Indianapolis originally Michigan. They moved down to Indianapolis and this became home base and they were licensing it out everywhere. And for the local radio station, that was their home, where their studio was. They did like a local 30 minutes, like Colts talk on Tuesday. Jeff Saturday did that for a long, long time. Jeff Saturday leaves, go to the Green Bay packers. And they didn't know who was going to fill in. And I think Jeff and a couple other people were like, you should get the punter. You should get the punter. By this point, I had already been, you know, public intoxication and did the entire thing. And Bob and Tom asked me if I want to do the local hour on Tuesdays or whatever. And I had watched their show when I was younger because it was on tv, TV for like a year. And then I lived in the car, you know, with my dad, doing soccer tournaments, basically my entire childhood. So I'd known Bob and Tom basically, like my whole life. I had heard of who these people were, and I said no. I didn't want to ruin it. I didn't want to do any of that. I didn't mind people just knowing me from being the Internet, and I didn't want to go in and ruin their fucking show, you know, I was like, I'm not gonna be that guy. People already hate me for enough reasons. I don't need to come in and ruin your show. That's been a wagon for 30 years. Years. Tom Griswold sits me down and says, like, you're be a fucking idiot. You don't come into a show in more or less words. So I came and did the show, and after the first week, I, like, fell in love with it. Like, the way the way this show operates is kind of how their show is set up. You know, a lot of people take credit for our show, following their path. And the fact is, I've never watched those shows. Bob and Tom show I was lucky to be a part of for a couple years. And they're one of the most successful radio shows, talking shows in the history of anything. And they own it, you know, so it's been like. The way they went about doing their business was great. There was a time actually where I was thinking about retiring before I retired, like maybe a year or two years before I retired, where I was maybe gonna try to join them full time, you know, and it was because of how much fun I had and how much I enjoyed it and how much I loved it. And then I tried it for like a week straight. That 6:00am Show.

[Tony]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Your bedtime's 8. 8? Yeah, you gotta be up 3:30.

[Tony]

General 4.

[Pat McAfee]

And my whole thing is juicy.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, you gotta have juice.

[Pat McAfee]

My whole thing is, like, energy and juice. And it's like what that lifestyle. You just, your whole life is just.

[Tony]

Bob's been doing it for like over 10 years. He's been doing that show maybe 15 by now.

[Pat McAfee]

So much like, obviously it's nothing in comparison to actual jobs, which we have to preface that always with because we're not complaining. Very lucky. He's talking into a microphone. If you get a job to do that from 6am to 10am and they're going to pay you money to do it, you can take care you're going to do it. Okay, I'm not, I'm not saying in comparison to actual jobs, but like for me, that was not for me, dog. I learned very, very quickly that was a whole different animal. So shout out to the General for doing that. Always bringing the juice. And when you're filling that amount of time at that early hour, you got caught up with a lot of stuff.

[Boston Connor]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And feel like the General always got something. He's always like, comes the buck magical brain over there and they need to start calling his blitzes.

[Ty Schmidt]

They do. I know he's been humble, he's been modest.

[Pat McAfee]

Him putting the pads back on if that's what they need for the program. If they're playing a guy that's built like a 45 year old or whatever.

[Tony]

I've told you. He said, man, you, you should come, man. It's really funny. He goes, don't worry, you don't have to do individual or anything. I know. I've told you that.

[Pat McAfee]

Like.

[Tony]

Yeah, I know. I'm not going through individual with the current players, Bob.

[Pat McAfee]

For those that don't know, individual is when you're just working out with your position group before practice starts or at the beginning of practice. It's miserable. It is a, it's a lot of burn.

[Tony]

Your legs. Yeah, always like underneath, like the chutes, the bags, like so your legs are completely dead by the time practice starts.

[Pat McAfee]

And there's thuds going on.

[Ty Schmidt]

I like it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you like. You guys had to run a lot too.

[Ty Schmidt]

That was get, get the juices flowing, do some line drills, catch some balls. I think like when it's cold, like when it's just cold and outside, that sucks. You rather just.

[AJ Hawk]

It sucks pregame too.

[Ty Schmidt]

Pregame. I like your pregame too. Could you, you know, take a little hit, get a little pop, make your makeup get on here, get, get a look at lather going.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you know, you're right, you know. Yeah, it's good. This guy needs to stop bitching over here.

[Ty Schmidt]

A India 38 years old. A little true in 28.

[Pat McAfee]

Ah. All right, let's get the hell out of here. Pretty good show today. Yeah, we woke up having no idea. Yeah. Woke up later, too, than normally having no idea. It's great to see the family. It was great to reminisce on the college football year. Yeah, last night it was. And even this morning, a lot happened. And during today's show.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, lot.

[Pat McAfee]

A lot happened. So much change took place right in front of our eyes. Like we're in the middle of a transition era, and it was, like, cool to be a part of. No doubt watching it kind of each week. Oh, we got another top five matchup. Oh, we got another top five matchup. Oh, look out next week. Haven't played in 15 years. Last time they played was national champ. Top five matchup.

[AJ Hawk]

You seen the week one matchup? Who potentially number one versus number two, Ohio State? Texas.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I mean, by far the number two sport in America.

[Boston Connor]

By far.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, not even. Yeah, by far the number two sport in America. And it's like, so much room to grow still because they show you the NFL number, which, once again, we're not going to get into.

[Darius Butler]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

How do they know any of it?

[Darius Butler]

They don't.

[Pat McAfee]

No, they do.

[Boston Connor]

It's a good estimation.

[Pat McAfee]

Remember, everybody has the same estimation, though, so that makes it fair. So that is. That is how it works. Nonetheless, the NFL rating and then the college rating, there is some different. So it could still grow mightily for people that love football. And I think it's a. It's going to. And what a cool thing for a sport that's been around and been great for so damn long that I know it's not a second wind, and I haven't tracked it long enough for when it got really popular. But whatever win this is, whatever change of gear this is in, it is very real. And the Ohio State Buckeyes are the kings of it right now. So congrats to A.J. congrats to Ohio. Shout out to Will Howard. Great work on that, Zito. And who is old buddy that helped make that happen? Troy. Troy from xl. Thank you, Troy.

[Boston Connor]

Shout out. Troy.

[AJ Hawk]

Thanks for your.

[Pat McAfee]

Troy from xl. Yeah. Troy and Zita working together to get Will Howard on the program. He was great.

[Ty Schmidt]

He was great. Very, very polished.

[Pat McAfee]

Very much so. All right, boys, great work today in the back. Great work. The graphic, boys. Good work and talk. Congrats on another day.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Feels like he's gonna be okay.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, it does.

[Pat McAfee]

Reels was kind of okay though.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, it still plays.

[Pat McAfee]

I think maybe just call him. Takes his big computer everywhere with him. Guy. Okay, that's a lot of syllables. But it is certainly worthy of a mention every time you look at at him that this guy brought an entire rig with him on the road. But hey, only way to get anything done.

[Darius Butler]

Server to whatever it takes.

[Ty Schmidt]

Got a job to do.

[Pat McAfee]

Brought his rig. Server, keyboard. This is my home keyboard.

[Tony]

This is kit. This kit. Like special forces, military people have their kit.

[Boston Connor]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Bingo. It's his tag team partner. He said, actually that's his ar, so I don't go anywhere without it. But I've seen him a lot of times. I've never seen. Seen that. So I think he kind of lied about that. But I think what he meant was, if I gotta get things done, this is coming with me.

[Ty Schmidt]

You just didn't see it. It was close.

[Pat McAfee]

It was tailing him.

[Ty Schmidt]

It was somewhere within.

[Pat McAfee]

He did some great work in there. His keyboard. Yeah, this is him right here. And then he's got a server underneath the thing. And this is in a different part of a truck because obviously they didn't know all this was coming. 14 hours he was there. There. Two coffee.

[Darius Butler]

Two coffees of water. A sprite.

[AJ Hawk]

Looks like the workstation in Jurassic Park.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Look at. We got some pistachios.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. Pretzels, trail mix.

[Pat McAfee]

Blueberry. Spitter. Spitter. Water spitter. Two coffees.

[AJ Hawk]

Remember when he was spitting?

[Boston Connor]

Zero.

[Pat McAfee]

He's got. You got. It's a real dangerous game he's playing. Oh yeah. Which way you're reaching.

[Boston Connor]

Double check.

[AJ Hawk]

Remember he was spitting into that cup about this big.

[Darius Butler]

The daisy cup.

[Ty Schmidt]

Another clear spitter right there. You gotta do something about that.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, you're really rolling the dice talk, especially with how locked in you get. But we know he's got it under control.

[Boston Connor]

Always does.

[Pat McAfee]

He's got everything under control. Yeah, he was, you know, like when you go into a bathroom that's really hoity toity. And they have those little cups you can get mouthwash in.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You know those little cups.

[Tony]

I love that.

[Pat McAfee]

He was using it as a zen spitter about 2ft away from me. And I was like, that ain't happening. That ain't happening. We're not doing that. He goes, I don't want to waste a big cup. I was like, you plan on filling the thing to the top?

[Darius Butler]

You don't want to waste a plastic cup.

[Pat McAfee]

A big cup.

[AJ Hawk]

He's a beautiful mind.

[Pat McAfee]

He. He has a beautiful mind. That's a great way to Describe it. Great movie too. Great movie. Beautiful mind. All right, let's get the hell out. We appreciate you talk and your rig and your server and your keyboard and your mouthwash cup that right in my ear. It was awesome. Classic Taco Debun and Bill were playing a little symphony last night. Night in this. In. In the van with their breathing.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, that's nice. Yeah, I, I caught some of that while we were watching the.

[AJ Hawk]

We realized that you two were.

[Tony]

As soon as we got in there.

[AJ Hawk]

Were in the goof Goofball mobile.

[Darius Butler]

Had all the goofballs with you.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll tell you what, it was actually pretty good vibes over there. It was very good vibe. It was good vibes in that particular sprinter van. But Debone and Bill were really hitting the.

[Boston Connor]

I mean it was playing drums with their nose whistles.

[Pat McAfee]

It was unbelievable. Yeah, it was unbelievable.

[AJ Hawk]

We should check on Debo to make sure he's alive. He had a. Blame a brain splitting headache because he didn't get his 3 gallons popped this morning, so.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, he's. He's having like shaking. They were talking about people with their tick tock withdrawals. You see that article? Yeah. Hey listen, you're gonna shake a little bit. Okay. You're gonna feel hopeless for a little bit. You might be in the fetal position on the ground because you're going through withdrawals of scrolling. Don't worry, you'll get through it or whatever. It's like holy. And then I wanted to make fun of them. Then I thought about if they just dropped X off my phone, what I.

[Boston Connor]

Would do be a problem.

[Pat McAfee]

I probably just want to use my phone.

[Boston Connor]

Go back to the flip.

[Tony]

You'll be all right. You figure it out.

[Pat McAfee]

I just probably wouldn't use my phone. I'd be like, all right, what are we on here for getting text messages from people. I don't know. I don't think so. Why don't we get rid of this thing? You can hit me with an email you can hit me with an email if you need me. But I'm going to check it once a month like a mormon who's on a mission. BYU was the story this year.

[AJ Hawk]

Yes, they were big story. They were almost one game away from the play.

[Pat McAfee]

Iowa State was a big story this year. Colorado obviously a big story. Always gonna be as long as. Which is a story right now.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, Kelly. Yeah, Cowboys though.

[Darius Butler]

He ain't going nowhere.

[Pat McAfee]

Everybody know is Kelly.

[Darius Butler]

Mo.

[Pat McAfee]

We'll be back tomorrow, won't we aj? Oh, you drinking your. What do you drink Your little electrolytes.

[Tony]

Yeah, a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I mean, is that. That one's a deep red you needed today. That's scarlet red. Drink today.

[AJ Hawk]

That's a sparkle. Arginine.

[Pat McAfee]

I got.

[AJ Hawk]

I got on the aj.

[Tony]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

He was eating baby carrots this morning. Tony, you're doing the aminos now. Yeah. Let's go town it. The baby carrot snack is a good move. That's one. You know, trying to get in shape.

[Tony]

Dip in some hummus. You ever do that?

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Boston Connor]

Some ranch.

[Pat McAfee]

I was. Think he actually talked peanut butter and ranch. But hummus sounds like the healthiest version, which is why he brought it up.

[Tony]

Good.

[Pat McAfee]

That's where we need to get to it sounds.

[AJ Hawk]

I go with the. The Maserati light ranch dip, which, you know, I'll get the hummus one day.

[Pat McAfee]

But what. What is hummus?

[Tony]

Chickpeas ground up.

[Boston Connor]

Sucks.

[Pat McAfee]

Really?

[Tony]

Whatever. Chickpeas are water.

[Pat McAfee]

It's Mediterranean chickpeas or chickpeas. Is that what it is?

[Darius Butler]

I believe so. Yeah.

[Tony]

They grind them up. It's good, man. I'm telling you. Get some celery, some carrots. It's a good little. Like a little, you know, miniature appetizer situation when you're starving.

[AJ Hawk]

Hummus is like guac.

[Ty Schmidt]

Where.

[AJ Hawk]

No, actually, all guac is probably good, but there are some hummuses that are better than others.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so for sure. Remember I got a text from Gary Vee, said he was doing a poll on how do you eat your hummus? Is what he said. This is a few years back.

[AJ Hawk]

Back.

[Pat McAfee]

And I didn't know what it was. And I was like, I don't know what that is. He goes, you can eat it in a variety of different forms. Which way do you eat? I didn't know you could. I guess. How.

[Tony]

How else do you eat it?

[Pat McAfee]

What do you.

[Tony]

What does he mean?

[AJ Hawk]

I thought veggie dipping was basically.

[Tony]

I guess you could put people put it on like a sandwich or a wrap.

[Bobby Carpenter]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Bread.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I guess. I guess it is a versatile thing.

[Boston Connor]

It sticks.

[Pat McAfee]

You don't like it?

[AJ Hawk]

No, it's not the best.

[Pat McAfee]

Is it creu?

[AJ Hawk]

It is cremo.

[Darius Butler]

It's a bit. Cremo is.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but it doesn't touch my wife. I think it's great. It's creamu American now, no.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, I heard.

[Pat McAfee]

Just like the golf, bro. Can't get craft, brother. Yeah, we got creamu. We got the golf. You go on Amazon, it's still 70.

[AJ Hawk]

Bucks to get a bucket of cream.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I think that's more. More. Which is the whole conversation.

[Boston Connor]

I think can is about to turn.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey. When you throw your heart to a group of people. Yep. Yeah. What about it? You.

[Tony]

I'm throwing it overhand. If I do. If I ever throw my heart. I'm throwing overhand.

[Pat McAfee]

Bam.

[Boston Connor]

Smart catapult.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Athlete.

[Pat McAfee]

I think that's a good idea.

[Tony]

Yeah. I think you had it with the double arm though. The two arm throws.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. Double it.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Elon shouldn't do that.

[Pat McAfee]

The cricket one wasn't bad. Cuz it gets a good.

[Tony]

That was good. That was good.

[Pat McAfee]

You really get the.

[Tony]

He was dancing around the stage before that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. There's a lot of this. They're really celebrating over there.

[AJ Hawk]

Just stick like you can't go right.

[Pat McAfee]

You need up.

[Boston Connor]

Always plays point.

[Pat McAfee]

Always. I'm always pointing. Triple H. Also always pointing.

[Boston Connor]

He was pointing a bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. One about pointing I think was the thingy. I don't think you need to point with all four. Okay. Unless you really need to get a point across. Which is what everybod is saying. Goofball.

[Boston Connor]

I hope that's all. Hope he's just a big goofball.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you throwing his heart at?

[Boston Connor]

I agree.

[Pat McAfee]

It was very. We'll be back tomorrow. Okay. We're gonna throw our hearts out tomorrow.

[Boston Connor]

With two hands.

[Pat McAfee]

Hell yeah. I wish I had two more hands so I could throw my heart out with four palms.

[AJ Hawk]

Bingo.

[Boston Connor]

If only.

[Pat McAfee]

Chappelle. 18 minutes. Saturday night Live opening monologue. I've not heard it yet cuz we've been so busy. Awesome. Anybody listen to it?

[AJ Hawk]

That's too long for me.

[Pat McAfee]

I saw 18 minutes. I've not been able to commit to it yet because of everything that's been going on. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

I've only heard his closing remarks. I have also not heard his take.

[Pat McAfee]

On Diddy was awesome. Okay. That's. My wife brought that up as well. She says he talks about Diddy in there. I go, what does he say? He say he's based. She goes, I want to ruin it. I'm like ooh.

[Boston Connor]

So it must be.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a good angle.

[Darius Butler]

Pretty good.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a good angle. Chappelle with a microphone. Gonna be worth it. All right. We'll listen to that. We'll talk about tomorrow. Okay. That's tomorrow. Show. Boom. Huh?

[AJ Hawk]

I thought I saw he was sleeveless.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. He. He dresses awesome. Just always with that. Just sick. That's a cool look.

[Darius Butler]

It is great.

[Pat McAfee]

Remember the guy from World Series of Poker? He just had that cigar and then somebody had a Sig too.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I forget the name when John Scotty Wynn.

[Tony]

Scotty win.

[Darius Butler]

Was it Scotty win at the. The unlit cigarette. Did he just dangle out?

[Pat McAfee]

I think so, yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Because he was the Daz Poker baby.

[Pat McAfee]

They were legends. Yeah.

[Tony]

There's a lot of characters then.

[Pat McAfee]

So all of them. I mean, we could probably run through them right now. Phil Ivey. Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negranu.

[Darius Butler]

Mike the Mouth Madisau.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh my God, I forgot about Madison the Unabomber dead when there was multiple wins. Right. And then that guy was married to that lady who was also a Jim Carrey movie poker player. Yes, Jim.

[Tony]

Jennifer Tilly. Jennifer Tilly. That's her name.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And then who were the commentators? You remember the norm.

[Darius Butler]

Chad and so Karen World Series of Poker.

[Tony]

So good.

[Pat McAfee]

What a. That that took over.

[Darius Butler]

It did.

[Pat McAfee]

Changed my life forever.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, actually changed my life. Fossil man. Chris Moneymaker. Greg Raymond Ramer.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Greg Ramer. If they just glasses were the worst. I hated.

[AJ Hawk]

That's impossible, man.

[Boston Connor]

If they did like she.

[Pat McAfee]

If he was at the table, I was not happy. Get this guy the out of here. I don't like. Give me Phil Ivey in here. Give me helmets in here. Give me the kid. Kid poker. Whatever. Daniel and groning and then rest in peace, Texas Dolly. Obviously.

[AJ Hawk]

Obviously.

[Pat McAfee]

Love you, door people. Really turn that into full professions. Yeah, they're still doing it.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I. I opened YouTube TV because I got Sunday Ticket on it and they just got a bunch of channels that I haven't seen in a long time down there, alphabetic order. Hate it. Hate everything about it.

[AJ Hawk]

I think you could change that.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, good. We need to. I need to figure out how to do that. Sure. Also, you can take the YouTube TV delay out there.

[Boston Connor]

Say yes.

[Ty Schmidt]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

I need to do that as well.

[AJ Hawk]

If you've got.

[Pat McAfee]

You've done it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

It works.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

YouTube TV is good.

[AJ Hawk]

It is very good.

[Ty Schmidt]

Great product.

[Pat McAfee]

And if it's gonna. If we can get rid of the delay and we can figure out the search thing, it's good. But I'll get, I don't know, five minutes into a down. Okay. Hitting down in this thing with a little tiny remote. Because the TVs remote is a smart TV remote, which is shite remote. I guess you can get actual remotes to plug into it. But then I gotta code the goddamn remote. Yeah. I don't have that time. Who has the time or the ability? I don't mind. So he's a shitty little thing. They got a bunch of poker things still Going. They got house games happening. They got tournaments happen. I think World Series Poker just started like maybe a week ago. They're still doing it. Same guys, too.

[AJ Hawk]

Still bringing it.

[Pat McAfee]

Still bringing it.

[Darius Butler]

Still bringing it.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know if anybody's watching it, though. They should probably not. Society needs that get back. People need to poker more. A little bit more business. These entrepreneurial kids would love poker, I think, if they were to watch it. Mike Chen. Still doing it.

[AJ Hawk]

Mike Chen.

[Pat McAfee]

Mike Chen.

[Darius Butler]

Talking about Johnny Chan.

[Pat McAfee]

Johnny Chan, yeah, you're right. Oh, yeah, he was a Chen. I think Mike Chen is a commentator that I did virtual reality with, I think in a trailer at Cincinnati for Microsoft or something like that. I think his name. I forget. I could be wrong. I never heard of Mike Chen, though.

[Boston Connor]

I had a classmate. Mike Chen, I think is where it's coming from.

[AJ Hawk]

Where at really?

[Tony]

Plum.

[AJ Hawk]

Your elementary school?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

No, yeah, back at Plum. Elementary School.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Pes.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Will Howard]

Others.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

But were you.

[Pat McAfee]

We got Multiple elementary.

[Boston Connor]

It's a different school.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, she don't go here.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Darius Butler]

Never heard.

[Boston Connor]

We know a couple of those.

[Pat McAfee]

We don't actually.

[Boston Connor]

Well, we know one.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's get to a break. We'll be back tomorrow. Fun times.

[AJ Hawk]

Fun times.

[Pat McAfee]

What a dumb life. We're standing on that end zone. Just stand there, sick. 30ft away from literally everything happening. What's up with Spanx? What's up with Spanx?

[Ty Schmidt]

Guy works hard.

[Boston Connor]

Someone had to tell him. Someone had to tell him. Okay, you get the shot no matter what it takes.

[Pat McAfee]

Guy wearing these tights and Spanx with his whole hat in his hair.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, that goofball.

[Pat McAfee]

What is his deal?

[Darius Butler]

He is a fucking goofball.

[Pat McAfee]

How come I'm turning around? This guy's always taking pictures of us. Why are you taking pictures of us? Dude, just do your fucking thing. You're waltzing around the field. We get it. Fucking get away from us. What are you doing? This guy's taking the boys. Watch. This guy take how many pictures of us? 20? Yeah, 20 pictures of us.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's weird.

[Pat McAfee]

Weird. Dude, Mark, why don't you just do your thing? Let me see you doing your thing on the thing. You look like a pretty good little athlete. Got great hair. Leave us the alone.

[AJ Hawk]

Spanx gets the shots.

[Ty Schmidt]

Who's the other guy? The other guy that you called out in the middle of your call. Got a camera.

[Pat McAfee]

There is a man with a camera that we do not know directly to our right.

[Will Howard]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Will Howard in Shotgun. Yeah, that's. I mean, that is a problem. Of mine. My brain can't do that. Can't not do that.

[Darius Butler]

There's a lot at times too. Like you just like they're very tight with the security obviously, but you can see how just like some random Joe Schmo gets down there and just. Oh yeah, I'm. I should be down here. Why not?

[Pat McAfee]

Absolutely. No, I think security did a great job.

[Darius Butler]

They did.

[Pat McAfee]

They were trying not to freeze the entire time.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

They were very cold.

[Pat McAfee]

They had, they had security standing at like the entrances of these places which might have had 40 mile an hour winds. That means. Yeah, wind tunnels.

[Tony]

Wind tunnels everywhere.

[Pat McAfee]

The vacuum effect of these things opening and then air getting. It was just probably 50, 40 mile an hour winds, I will say. Cuz it was like actively blowing jacket. Like had to keep jacket on, fight it a little bit. And it was freezing cold. Any security people? You guys, your badge.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you have a soul right now?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Do you have to scan your badge for this one? It's the first time we had to scan our credential to get on there.

[Pat McAfee]

The first time. Really?

[Tony]

You came from the top, you came through the crowd.

[AJ Hawk]

So that was, that was pre game, I think like when you, you know how the pre game, like once the team, when the team's on the field and you could watch for a little bit and they have the ropes, like the roped off sections. It was for those. But for some reason we had to scan ours as well.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Probably assume there's different levels to what people purchased. You know, a lot of money spent last night in there. Not on the concessions though. That was cool to learn that. Awesome.

[Darius Butler]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That whole board for 40 bucks.

[Darius Butler]

Crazy.

[Ty Schmidt]

Crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

That was so good.

[Tony]

That started other people, other places doing that too. When they opened Arthur Blank, that was a big deal. Making things like affordable. I know other places, like Utah, I know they have like a lot of places are trying to do that because ticket prices are a billion dollars.

[Pat McAfee]

How about the $20 pizza, popcorn, pretzel nachos, chicken fingers. 20 bucks for. For each thing. Like that's what people are programmed to think at these venues.

[Darius Butler]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

It's like $20 for a piece of pizza. It's like no, 20 for the whole thing. It's like take my money. Like that is kind of how you feel whenever you hear these prices.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

People are paying 20, 200 bucks, average resale price last night to get in there, let alone down a lower bowl. That means more than that average price. Is that let alone what everything else suits? Yeah, it Was awesome. I really appreciate that they were doing it. Levy Dining. Is that what it was called? Levy Restaurant.

[Darius Butler]

Yep.

[Tony]

They run a bunch of stadiums just.

[Pat McAfee]

Like Sodexo Live is in a bus. So Levy probably does a bunch. So Dexo does a bunch. This commercial stuff.

[Darius Butler]

Five bucks for a Bud Light is insane. I mean, they're. They'll charge 18 bucks for that anywhere else.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Because they know you're gonna need it.

[Darius Butler]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

They know you're gonna. Some of you might actually. Actually need it. Yeah. And there's no other place you get. Because you can't bring outside in.

[Darius Butler]

Right.

[AJ Hawk]

You want it.

[Pat McAfee]

So they can charge wherever they want for that. That's like at the Kentucky Derby, taking those bets. They can. They can rake whatever they want on top of it.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Not that they do. I'm just saying that you. You. This is the only option. This the only. Anytime they got you, they try to take advantage of you. So they're not doing it. Is a big deal. Should be talked about for sure. Shout out, Art. Way to go, Art.

[Darius Butler]

That boy Art is gouging people at Home Depot. But we don't need to get into that.

[Pat McAfee]

What's up with this lumber? What's. Exactly. I don't love what's going on.

[Ty Schmidt]

Supply chain.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

It's the suppliers.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. I. I've been watching Lorax.

[Darius Butler]

Dr. Seuss.

[Pat McAfee]

That's right. That little loves the woods. You know what I mean?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, I don't think I've seen some love trees more than that thing. And it is. It's certainly average. I love that guy. Yeah. I love the way he operates. Those trees look so awesome.

[AJ Hawk]

That's Dr. Seuss football.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Is it Thneedville? I forget the Thneedville. T H N E E D VILLE And I wonder how close it is to Whoville. I don't know. I'm just getting into these. There it is. That little fucker with the mustache right there. Loves trees.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah.

[Boston Connor]

All about it.

[Pat McAfee]

Loves. Loves force. Loves it. And I love the way he takes a stand, you know? Cause these other little fuckers get kind of bullied and swayed pretty quickly. These little things. Not very loyal. I mean, these things will do whatever you tell them. You throw a marshmallow in front of them, these things, they'll turn on you. No questions asked. That with the mustache. The real deal. We need more with the mustache out there. I would actually put him into a position of power in our world if I had a chance. And that. That guy a little bit Too much. You know, a little bit too much bravado as you just walk into somebody else's woods the way he did. Sure. This is my first time learning any of these stories. Watched and read none of these things growing up. So it's been fun to kind of learn alongside MacKenzie about what we should be liking and what we shouldn't be liking, you know, because I think sometimes stories. Telling one particular story, and I'm like, wait a second. I feel like we got it wrong here. And that's gonna happen between me and Kenzie, and that's. That's where I'm headed right now. I'm gonna go see the baby girl a little bit. We'll be back tomorrow with a great program. Huge, huge guest tomorrow.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, Couple of them.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you remember?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. Can't wait.

[Pat McAfee]

Age. You remember Obama. I do not believe President Obama.

[Bobby Carpenter]

Don't sleep on Barry.

[Ty Schmidt]

I was Dana looking.

[Tony]

There it is.

[Pat McAfee]

Dana was just trying to get eyes on him. Dana was just, you know.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. Just taking a look.

[Pat McAfee]

Just his first time. Probably seeing him. Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow. Just like we did when will hard walk by. Who's tall? Whoa. Holy. He was going to be. Did Conor McGregor snag up Logan's mom?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Theo Von gave a strict warning not to do that, so. And then he ended up on the ground, so. What a moment. What a time. We're lucky to be alive. We will be your distractions from the sports world for as long as you will have us. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. And when we do this incredibly cool stuff, we feel as if. And we hope as if you feel that you're doing it with us. You know, we can't get past this for everybody watching the show to come. Do everything we do. Sure. But we hope that you get a chance to maybe say, you know, these dipshits, they know they're living the dumbest life of all time. We're very lucky. We're very fortunate. We're very thankful, and we'll be back tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Good night.