PMS 2.0 1489 - LIVE From Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, NFL Divisional Round Recap, Big College Game Preview, Sean McDermott Out as Bills Head Coach, Adam Schefter, IU President Pamela Whitten, Nick Saban, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Summary

The Pat McAfee Show 2.0 #1489: Live from Hard Rock Stadium — Divisional Round NFL Recap & Huge College Football Championship Preview

Date: January 20, 2026
Location: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, FL
Host: Pat McAfee
Co-Hosts/Guests: AJ Hawk, Darius Butler, Ty Schmidt, Tony “Tone Digs,” Nick Saban, Adam Schefter, Dr. Pamela Whitten (IU President)

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Main Theme / Purpose

This special episode is broadcast live from Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on "Big College Game Monday," hours before the College Football National Championship between Indiana and Miami. Pat and the crew deliver a high-energy show blending college football fever, a full NFL Divisional Round recap, and breaking NFL news—including Sean McDermott’s surprise firing as Buffalo Bills head coach. The hosts dive deep into game previews, insights about the culture surrounding IU and Miami, the transformation of both football programs, and major storylines dominating pro and college football.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Opening from Miami & The Vibe (00:00–08:00)

• Pat sets the scene: Miami feels electric with Hoosiers fans swarming South Florida and Miami natives hyped for their home team led by coach Mario Cristobal and transfer QB Carson Beck. The weather is “chilly” for Miami (58°F).

• The Hard Rock Stadium is described as “built by soccer people but gorgeous” and decked out for a championship event.

• Memorable quote:
  "Football is the absolute greatest. We're about to talk about that for the next couple hours..."
  — Pat McAfee (00:07)

• The crew reminisce about the “palpable” party energy in Miami, including a legendary Flo Rida concert.

• Darius Butler, Miami native, challenges the “soccer stadium” talk, and the group marvels at Hard Rock’s design and location.

Fan Invasion & Ticket Buzz (04:12–07:00)

• The Indiana fan presence is massive, flights full, and Miami hotel lounges flush with both fanbases.
• Ticket prices are astronomical (“$40,000 a ticket, $10,000 a ticket”), but Pat points out the surprisingly affluent Indiana alumni base.
• Shoutout to famous IU alums—Mark Cuban, Joe Buck, Antoine Randle El—debunking the “poor Hoosier” narrative.

Stakes & Narratives for the Big College Game (09:01–15:00)

• Heavy discussion of tonight’s championship implications:

  • Miami is technically the underdog, but Indiana’s story of dominance could be an all-time great underdog-to-powerhouse arc.
  • Both teams feature “old” lineups, benefiting from transfer portal trends.
  • Pat and Darius discuss media perspectives, pressure angles, and how either result would be a Hollywood-worthy outcome.

• Memorable quote:
  “If Indiana does come in here and does what they have done to everybody else, I mean, there's a chance…this is the most dominant national championship run in the history of college football.”
  — Pat McAfee (11:43)

• Flow Rida’s potential as a Super Bowl halftime act is humorously debated.

NFL Divisional Round Headlines — Top 5 Ram Segment (15:11–23:47)

5. "Football is Grace"

• Pat and Ty Schmidt reflect on football’s power to unite and entertain (“nothing better in life…NFL outdoes itself week over week.”)

4. Sean McDermott OUT as Bills Head Coach (17:57–24:30)

• Breaking news: Sean McDermott fired despite 98-50 record, 8 playoff appearances, and 5 division titles in 9 seasons.
• Panel surprised by the abruptness (expected potential move post-“13 seconds” Chiefs OT loss, not now).
• Memorable exchange:
  “This feels like a massive overreaction”—Darius Butler (18:45)
  “Buffalo becomes the number one [coaching] spot.” — Darius Butler (19:19)
• Discussion of the new GM+Prez role for Brandon Beane.

3. NFC West Ascendant (26:20–33:24)

• The NFC West is viewed as the league’s deepest division, highlighted by the Rams’ snowy road win and McVay’s playoff prowess.
• Bears rise ahead of schedule under Ben Johnson; close recounting of McVay vs. Johnson respect postgame.

2. Patriots "Revolution Region" Resurgence (36:56–43:55)

• Patriots back in the AFC title game behind rookie QB Drake Maye, stirring comparisons to their dynasty era.
• Emotional contrast as Buffalo’s “window” seems to slam shut.
• Notable moment:
  “Drake May is 23. He's already made it as far as Josh Allen's ever made it.” — Boston Connor (38:44)

1. Big College Game Anticipation (44:08–End)

• Betting trends: 71% of public money on IU, heavy action on the over.
• Miami’s “home field” but Indiana fans might dominate attendance.

Deep Dive: The Transformation and Vision at Indiana (45:21–52:00)

IU President Dr. Pam Whitten Interview

• Discusses intentional five-year plan, major athletic investment, and the transformative hire of Coach Signetti.
• Key insight:
  “We can’t treat it like an intramural sport anymore. Let's get serious about it.”
  — Dr. Pam Whitten on IU football (47:18)
• Details on IU’s affluent and extensive alumni base (over 800,000), surging applications (60% increase), academic excellence, and expectation that these football gains will fuel national enrollment.
• Personal stories from Whitten, including “the best honking student population,” get laughs and set the family tone of the show.

NFL Injury Updates & Schefter Drop-ins (68:11–74:18)

• Adam Schefter joins:
  • Bills are expected to center hiring around Josh Allen’s comfort; Brian Daboll and Joe Brady are likely targets.
  • Injuries: Bo Nix (Broncos QB) out with broken ankle, Charbonnet (Seahawks RB) with torn ACL.
  • Sean Payton instantaneously supporting Stidham for the AFC title game rather than “fantasy football” veteran options.

Legendary Coach Insight with Nick Saban (75:05–99:43)

• Saban discusses:
  • What it takes for coaches/players to handle the escalated stakes of title games: “keep it mundane, block the clutter.”
  • How program-building (e.g., Indiana’s path) shifts once you become “the mountain” that others aim to climb.
  • Cristobal’s success and Miami’s physical identity.
  • The inside-out strategy for Miami vs. Indiana—winning "in the trenches," and difference makers on both rosters.
  • Saban’s no-nonsense stance on player “star ratings” and the real value of culture.
  • Reflection on coaching alumni, motivational techniques, and why he supports eliminating carry-over ejections.
• Notable Saban quote:
  "It's culture over system. If you don't have a good culture, you're never going to execute the system, no matter how good it is." (83:16)

Game Picks and Final Takes (110:15–116:13)

• Each host gives their prediction:

  • All pick Indiana to cover the 8.5-point spread, except Darius “Dee Butt” Butler—who calls for a Miami cover and outright win.
  • Emphasis on the “juggernaut” IU story, but Miami’s homegrown edge, legends on the sideline, and intangibles are cited by Dee Butt.
  • Pat withholds his pick for the evening’s GameDay broadcast; AJ, Ty, and Tony each pick Indiana comfortably.

• Final words:
  “Let’s enjoy the hell out of the big college game tonight. Football’s wrapping up soon. We’ll be back tomorrow… Be a friend, tell a friend something nice, it might change their life.”
  — Pat McAfee (116:17)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Football is the absolute greatest.” — Pat (00:07)
• “If Indiana does come in here and does what they have done to everybody else, I mean, there's a chance this is the most dominant national championship run in the history of college football.” — Pat (11:43)
• “We can't treat it like an intramural sport anymore. Let's get serious about it.” — Dr. Pam Whitten on Indiana Football (47:18)
• "It's culture over system. If you don't have a good culture, you're never going to execute the system, no matter how good it is." — Nick Saban (83:16)
• "Drake May is 23. He's already made it as far as Josh Allen's ever made it." — Boston Connor (38:44)
• Flo Rida Super Bowl Halftime “campaign”: running gag about his 15 “bangers” and on-stage energy.
  "If you're looking for a halftime show... he's got them in abundance..." — Pat McAfee (00:47)

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Important Segments & Timestamps

| Segment/Topic | Time | | ----------------------------------- | ------------- | | Miami setting, energy, fan invasion | 00:00–08:00 | | Championship narrative breakdown | 09:01–15:00 | | Top 5 Divisional Round headlines | 15:11–33:24 | | Sean McDermott firing, coaching cycle| 17:57–24:30 | | IU President Dr. Pam Whitten | 45:21–52:00 | | Adam Schefter NFL update | 68:11–74:18 | | Nick Saban extended interview | 75:05–99:43 | | Betting, game picks, final takes | 110:15–116:13 |

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Show Tone and Style

• Energetic, irreverent, personable: Lots of real-life observations, jokes, and good-natured ribbing.
• Mix of expertise and fan perspective: Analysis meets celebration, both informative and relatable.
• Community and tradition: Reflection on how football drives school, alumni, and city culture.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This was a classic Pat McAfee Show blend of sharp sports insight, comedic asides, and deep, real-world stories. A must-listen for anyone invested in the changing landscape of college football, the NFL coaching carousel, or the unique culture that great teams help build. The show captured both the fever-pitch excitement of the NCAA championship and the pivotal turns of the post-season NFL.

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to beautiful Miami Florida on this overreaction big college game Monday, January 19, 2026. This program begins now. Football is the absolute greatest. We're about to talk about that for the next couple hours and then tonight for a couple hours on college game day before the big college game kicks off this evening as Indiana in Miami will battle down here in a chilly South Florida. They say it feels like 58 right now, but with this breeze, it feels like it's coming in from the north. And speaking of the north, there's a chance that this is actually an Indiana Hoosier home game like they've done at the Rose bowl, like they did at the Peach Bowl. The Hoosier fans have swarmed to South Florida now. Well, the Miami folks are obviously rallied around one of their own in Mario Cristobal. Carson Beck, who transfers into Miami with championship pedigree and championship DNA, leads a group of absolute goals to a national championship. It's a wonderful time. We are so thankful to be here, and today should be a blast. Coach Saban will be joining us in a second hour. What's he know about these games? We'll find out. And this stadium is obviously beautiful. Feels like it was designed by soccer people. Okay. Like, if you look at the stadium, it feels more of a soccer stadium and than it does a modern new football stadium, but it is gorgeous and tonight will be electrifying. We're so incredibly thankful to be here. The ticket prices obviously have only gone up. South Florida has been a buzz and it doesn't get talked about enough. Flo Rida should be a Super bowl halftime conversation. The goat got a chance to go experience him live for the first time in my life the other night. And not only did we get a guy on stage singing with Flo Rada, what we were reminded by Flo Rida is that he's got 15 bangers. So if you're looking for a halftime show, I mean, he's got them in abundance and talk might start traveling with him. The Instagram boys. Yeah, sure, he's got the Instagram boys. This whole tag team of guys that were with him, they had football jerseys on. Obviously took those things off. We're talking bottles of Patron everywhere. I believe there was two ladies that were also on the dance team.

[Darius Butler]

Yep, that's right.

[Pat McAfee]

They had a bunch of different, like, choreography and it all Flowrider. We would just like to say 108.

[Darius Butler]

On the paint jacks, by the way.

[Pat McAfee]

So Jack carrying people around and the energy is outrageous. So we didn't know if we were going to go to this particular gathering and then we were told Flowrider's performance, we went 100% worth. The 45 minute drive to Everywhere down here. Everywhere down here is far from each other. But I will say it has been a glorious time and the energy has been palpable. Just like it was all weekend. Now it's not just me here. Obviously you saw nine year NFL event, pride county hall of famer, South Florida native, non biased reporter when it comes to promoting the Miami Hurricanes. Ladies and gentlemen, Darius Shayball.

[Darius Butler]

Let's go, let's go.

[Dee Butt]

Can't wait man. Like you said, the energy is up down here. Saw some Indiana fans talking some shit about oh, south beach has been overtaken by the Hoosiers. Nobody down here goes to south beach anymore. Enjoy it but it's going to be a great one tonight. I can't wait to. And I think this is, this is a football field through and through. I don't like that soccer talking title.

[Pat McAfee]

No, just the way it's built. It feels like I'm at like a PSG game. Right? Yeah.

[Dee Butt]

We're close to the home of the Goat. Messi plays down here as well. Back to back champ. So you know.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I forgot about the championship run by FC Miami with the Goat down there we also won the balloon the OR down. Which leads once again to they. They hired the balloon the or winner of stadium design soccer world to build this one.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Correct.

[Pat McAfee]

Pretty apparent, but it is gorgeous. A man who is also a national champion obviously feels like he's back at home. Super bowl champion, Ryder cup winner, all time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers. A.J. hawk is here. Hawker national championship vibes. I know you got in late last night so you didn't really get a chance to feel or experience a lot of that was happening down here. Just whenever you walk back into a stadium that's about to host an event as magnitude of this evening, the big college game, what is your first thoughts as you walk in?

[A.J. Hawk]

I think you can feel it, you can feel it leading up to it. I wasn't here. I haven't been here as long as you guys. But I flew down every airport you go to, every plane I'm on. I just littered with Indiana fans everywhere you go. Obviously Miami, I understand it, a lot of them already live here. But the Indiana fans, they are out and they are loud and they are proud. They're trying to get chance on the airplane, trying to get the stewardess over the mic to do It. So yeah, it's. That's what college football is. And I love it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And on that note, Miami fans that we talk to down here, they think it's going to be 60, 40 for them. Hoosier fans think that they're gonna do exactly what they've done to the last two stadiums, which is just take the entire thing over. I. I even had a couple Miami fans, you know, we were staying a very nice place.

[Ty Schmidt]

Very nice.

[Tony]

It's really nice.

[Pat McAfee]

Gorgeous. Very nice place.

[Dee Butt]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

First class had a golf course. We played on shout out to Merlin the magician.

[Tony]

They start preparing that golf course early in the morning.

[Pat McAfee]

He is very loudly. Yes, they do. Right outside the room. Right outside the rooms. They take care of that place.

[Tony]

Beautiful.

[Pat McAfee]

5Am Those things are getting swept.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Have to, have to. We're sitting a really nice place. I think obviously costs a bit. Talk to a couple of Miami fans, they go, it's going to be big time. Miami Hurricane favor for sure. And I was like, I don't know. I think Hoosiers fans are coming. Then they said, you think Hoosier Fans can afford 40,000 a ticket, 10,000 a ticket. I don't think you know who the Hoosiers like alumni are.

[Ty Schmidt]

Clearly not a lot of.

[Pat McAfee]

Out of a lot of New Jersey. A lot of New York in there. Business school. Huge. Most amount of alumni out of any school in the United States of America live. 800 some thousand. So it's like I think people are learning about this Indiana Hoosier fan base. Obviously they have been a dormant football team. A non existent football team. Long time long. Trent Cream. Trent Green goes down here also old buddy. Incredible Pittsburgh Steeler. Antoine Randell.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Throw touchdown in Super Bowl. He's obviously been to Indiana. Joe Buck I think is Joe Buck.

[Darius Butler]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

I think Mark Cuban is a Hoosier.

[Tony]

Gradual, I believe. Just did their voiceover and it's going to be the captain tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

Nailed it. Okay. But nobody really thinks football and good. This is like a dream for a fever's pitch in Indiana and I think they're trying to bring it down here. And also 1510 degrees up in Indiana. Chicago, New York, New Jersey, where a lot of these Hoosier faithful reside. We get a chance to go down south Florida and our team's gonna win. Yeah, we will certainly buck up. The ticket prices have been insane though. Obviously this is a building that everybody's gonna try to get into. The Miami Hurricane alum that is already down here is insane. I mean it has been awesome. To watch that all unfold. Anytime you have a craps table happening where it's Ed Reed, Adrian James, Michael Irvin, Devin Hester, Ray Lewis, and I forget the last person in the picture.

[Darius Butler]

It was the five. Those five right there.

[Pat McAfee]

No, there was another guy in the original photo that was right behind Devin Hester. Looks like he's getting in the action a lot. Like he looks pretty heavy into the action. So it's like that type of stuff with Miami being back is awesome. Tonight should be special. The talks of Tip was here at Boston corner at Ty Schmidt. Con man. Congrats, dude. Oh, thanks, brother.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, we're going there. I thought we were still talking about the big college game. Very excited for it. But hey, look, gentlemen, not everybody can have a team in the AFC title game. I'm just looking across the board one day. One day. You see this mountain I stand on before you? You know, still got Jared Stittum, still got the tough Broncos. I'm sure we'll get there, but. Yeah, I haven't been this happy in quite some time.

[Pat McAfee]

Long, long, hard road is what that was supposed to say. Obviously, Phone's supposed to be super intelligent. Doesn't get that right. Puts rock in there. But they've had a long, long, hard road.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, man.

[Pat McAfee]

To get right back to the top, haven't they? Tied us? And isn't it great for all of us that we get a chance to be around one of these things? Two of these things.

[Darius Butler]

You're welcome.

[Pat McAfee]

Now, one of them is the most. One of the most famous runners in the United States of America. We get a chance to be around these things now, too.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, it's the best, you know. And Connor went, what? I mean, what? Almost like a third of his life, it seemed like from when he was on the mountaintop. And then just for so many years, kind of just crawling through the wilderness not knowing what was going to happen. Is my football team ever going to be good again? You know, he aged quite a bit during that kind of that little span. And lo and behold, you know, it turns out if you fire one of the best coaches in the NFL for seemingly no reason, and then kind of let him go back to where he has a lot of great memories and he's in the hall of Fame. Crazy that things can turn around very quickly.

[Pat McAfee]

Shout out to the Tennessee Titans is what the revolution region's talking about. We'll certainly chat about that. Moving forward, 1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys AP Tone is here.

[Ty Schmidt]

Tone Digs, Are you okay?

[Tony]

You all right, Budsy?

[Darius Butler]

No, but trying to get us toughness excited.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Big college day. You should be excited. Gambling this weekend. How do we do? How did the public do?

[Tony]

They were 2 and 2. The losers were the 49ers and the bills against spread. When the public was on those two, the other two teams, the Pats and the. And the Bears did well for them. And then tonight, when we look at tonight's game, when we were standing on the sidelines in the end zone as Indiana was finishing just the ass beating against Oregon, it was seven and a half. Then it's bumped up to eight and a half. Now it's bumped between seven and a half and eight and a half mostly all week. As you see down there, 71% of the bets are on IU Hoosiers. That's a lot. And then the 47.5%, 73% are on the over there. So everyone's on IU. Everyone's on the over. But watch today, because every single day, the game that we've done, there's been big Miami money coming in. Game day, like, large, large. So we'll see what happens with that today.

[Pat McAfee]

What are the shops think? You know, because there's a chance I heard Stephen A. Say this from their set outside. That was a beautiful set.

[Darius Butler]

Beautiful.

[Pat McAfee]

Saw Cam Newton in the gym this morning.

[Nick Saban]

Yeah.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah. Getting after it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. Always tripping in sweat.

[Dee Butt]

Newton.

[Pat McAfee]

Did he have a hat on? He was wearing a sweatsuit. Like one of those sweat suits?

[A.J. Hawk]

Like a sauna suit?

[Pat McAfee]

One of the jackets.

[Tony]

But did he have one of his.

[Darius Butler]

Hats on too, or.

[Pat McAfee]

No, but he had to.

[Nick Saban]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Walk in there. It was early. No big deal. Rise of shine. Okay. No big deal.

[Tony]

Wakey, wakey.

[Pat McAfee]

They're doing the greens at 4:30am right outside the room.

[Nick Saban]

Here we are.

[Pat McAfee]

We're gonna be in there early in the hotel gym. Was excited to be there. Shout out to Shay. Also getting after it over there. Gumpy, obviously.

[Nick Saban]

Yep.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Moving.

[Darius Butler]

What's that? What was that?

[A.J. Hawk]

What's that one?

[Pat McAfee]

That's moving weights.

[Tony]

Band worker.

[Pat McAfee]

No, he was using actual Dumb Big. They had, you know, the extended dumbbells where they have the weights.

[Dee Butt]

Oh, yeah. Like bow flex.

[Pat McAfee]

That's very hotel. Yeah, A lot of those are in a hotel adjustment. Dumpy was doing that. Then you walked down. It was kind of thin. There's a gigantic human being walking on treadmill. Hood up the whole thing. Sweatsuit. Can't see anything. Just getting after it. And I turn to Gumpy, I'm like, that's Cam Newton right there. And Gumpy goes, good guess, Paul. So I literally just walk up to him, I say hello. He's so sweaty. Doesn't want to even dap me up because he's dripping in sweat or whatever. So I do give him a fist bump and a chop. He was there. Incredible setup by first take there. But I think what Stephen A. Smith said is very valid about tonight's game. He said, you know, like, because Desmond Howard here, we love Desmond Howard. Went on a run about how all the pressure seemingly on Indiana, Miami, kind of like underdog story, weren't supposed to get in a tournament. Get in a tournament. They kind of go that whole thing. And then Stephen A. Responded with, it is an underdog good story. But if you get your ass kicked at home in the national championship on your own field, he said, that whole story changes. And obviously Stephen A's brain works like that. Just thinking about that entire thing, I never would have thought of that. But if Indiana does come in here and does what they have done to everybody else, I mean, there's a chance. This is the most dominant national championship run in the history of college football. And it's Indiana Hoosiers doing it leading up to it. That would be outrageous. Either storyline is fantastic. Miami's all the way back. Shout out to Cristobal. Also keeping it quiet about their next quarterback. Yeah, respect. Trying to show respect to his current team. Is that going to bite him in the ass with future potential transfer portal people if they continue to have success. Crystal Ball is like the greatest recruiter of all time. They talk about him in like fairy tale, like stories of recruiting. So he does his own thing. But Miami being all the way back tonight at home would be sick. Indiana winning it first time ever. Being all time most dominant team. Insane story that college football has and nobody else has.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. Most wins in a single season for IU if they end up getting this done, especially with how they've done it just dominant fashion. But to your point about the, you know, underdog story, the underdog story only ends with. With a trophy if. If it doesn't end with the trophy. The only thing people talk about is how close or how almost or. Or all those type of verbiage. They. They don't say, hey, hey, it was great. It was a great run by Miami. They almost won the natty. It's. It's not about that. It'll be all Indiana Hoosiers. This is the blueprint. This is incredible. Who cares really about Miami? It was. It was cool.

[Pat McAfee]

It was.

[Darius Butler]

It was just a cool story. It wasn't a true underdog American story like Kurt Warner.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah. I mean, this Indiana team has been unbelievable. We watched them boots on the ground a couple times and you mentioned it. Got a chance to go 16 and 0 and be the national champs. But no, this isn't a cute underdog story like a program first time in the top 25, first time getting to the Natty. This is a program with five championships. And when you see the hall of Famers lined up on that sideline over there when it's kickoff time, you know there's not going to be a fucking sorry Cinderella.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm getting a little get a little worked up here.

[Dee Butt]

Then you won't be back until you hoist that trophy again. So it'll be a huge opportunity for them tonight. Carson Beck, obviously his redemption story, crystal ball coming back home. And if he's able to finish his story tonight, obviously he'll go on to continue to coach. But to bring another Natty down here after 20 plus years, that would be incredible. And the home stadium too, that'd be nuts.

[Tony]

Miami's the underdog. I mean, technically, yes, minus eight and a half.

[Pat McAfee]

No five stars are in.

[Tony]

IU's going for 16 wins this year, which, yes, technically Miami the underdog in the game. But iu didn't get 16 wins in the previous four years before Sig even came to this place like that. I guess. Yes, Miami during this playoff run is the underdog story. But this, the. The movie is. If IU finishes this run, that's the ultimate underdog story.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I mean the movie will be sick if Miami wins too. Just think about all parties coming out of that. We've already seen Hard Rock leading up. Yeah, we went to a party with Flow Rider.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. I'm assuming he is somewhere in this city doing a after.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't want to turn the whole show into float, but it might be necessary.

[Darius Butler]

The guy has heaters. You forget about him and then all of a sudden a banger. He's a banger.

[Pat McAfee]

He's still doing another banger.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, what's coming? Another. He made this. Well, actually this is me and my friend Pitbull and we like. Oh, where is he? He's not here tonight, but he wanted me to send this along. Bang.

[Tony]

Back in the U.S. i saw it.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that?

[Tony]

Pit Bull's back in the U.S. i saw it. He had a post. He must have international tours.

[Pat McAfee]

He might be dropping into this. All right, let's move along. There is five headlines coming out of the divisional round leading into today that we think need to be spotlighted maybe more than others. This has been something that we've done all season. Now I'm pretty proud of us, actually. I think we've maintained pretty good commitment to this particular seg. And I think it's because we all are in agreement of these top five every single week. There's a lot of things that happen, but then there's a top five driven by Ram. Every time you press the gas pedal in a Ram truck, the only sound you're going to hear is, all right, let's ram through these. Let's go to number five headline. And it's simple, ladies and gentlemen. Football is grace. Okay, last weekend, super duper wild card weekend, we had a college football playoff Thursday, college football playoff Friday. Three NFL games on Saturday, two on Sunday, then one on Monday. And everybody said to themselves, wow, football just got me through like five days. Well, don't you worry. We're back next weekend with a March Madness type feel when it isn't even our best teams yet. Divisional round. Thank you for what you did. Two on Saturday, two on Sunday. And we assume the ratings are going to be absolutely outrageous like they've been all season. College football took up more top hundred telecasts this year than it ever had in the past. And then the NFL obviously reigned supreme. 90 plus of the shows that were the highest out of the hundred were ball. And for that we are thankful because what an incredible divisional round. Ty, football is the greatest sport on earth, no questions asked.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, there's nothing better. There is simply nothing better in life. You can argue whatever you want. Now, granted kids, you know, family, etc. Etc. For something to have to look forward to every single week. I don't think anything is better than than football. Like, we wonder why the ratings are so good. It's because the NFL somehow outdoes itself week over week. Like last week, we're talking about, oh, these games are unbelievable. What is next week going to be like? Every single game delivers again. And you can kind of tell yourself, like, you know what? I'm going to watch a big Ten basketball game on Wednesday this week. And, and I'm excited about that. You know, I love that you watch that. And then you're kind of just in the back of your mind thinking, what the hell am I doing here? Just give me to Saturday, give me to Sunday, give me to the NFL games, because really, that's all that matters.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, football has been great to us this season. And as college football wraps up tonight, we'd like to say thank you to college football. Thank you for your college football NFL. Thank you for everything you've done. Okay, let's get to the number four headline as people aren't going to like it. They say, it's Buffalo over. Is that their window to win a title? Or is that Josh Allen's happiness? Or is it the head coach? Oh, definitely that one.

[Tony]

Yep, that's for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, this morning, it's amazing how quick things can change. Sean McDermott fired as the Bills head coach. Now you wonder to yourself, how has McDermott done up there? Because he never really gets talked about. Now. Buffalo Bills fans get upset certainly at the end of every season. Whenever Josh Allen, who's the best player in football, mvp, says that is the case, doesn't win a Super bowl, it's got to be this dipshit. That's what they say. That's what all Bills fans have been saying for the last couple of years. They can start looking at his record nine season, eight playoff appearances, 98 and 50 in a regular season, five AFC east titles. It's like, so he's the hottest coach on the market. Then all of a sudden, if everybody was losing their mind for what Harbaugh did, now he hasn't won a Super Bowl. But if you just look at success for a team, for a franchise. And what were they before he got up there?

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Con man?

[Darius Butler]

I believe they were kind of the poop stain on the AFC east action. We talk about the Jets a lot, being terrible. The Buffalo bills were about three feet of crap underneath the jets until Sean McDermott got there. I can't believe they did this. Especially when you think about some of the other jobs that are out there. I mean, we were talking about it before. This is probably the first time, and at least in recent memory, where there are two jobs, Baltimore and Buffalo, that are open with franchise quarterbacks. There, Buffalo becomes the number one spot. But getting rid of Sean McDermott feels like a massive overreaction, especially with how we were talking about Jacksonville and how good they were, and they went into Jacksonville Duvall and beat their ass.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Brandon Bean just didn't put hashtag, I don't want to overreact. But before the memo. No, no, before he said out there. Now Brandon Bean has been promoted to president of football operations and general manager, so he'll be overseeing the coaching hiring process in all facets. Okay, so he picks up more power in this. Now, I will say, as we have a couple Buffalo Bills fans around us, they were not like, very high on McDermott after Josh Allen doesn't win a Super bowl and Josh Allen doesn't win a Super bowl, why is this guy, the guy who's gonna lead? Josh Allen? This guy's an alien. He's a unicorn. What has this guy done to continue to do this? That's how Bill's fans have talked. Not all of them. I'm just saying. I've heard that from Bill's fans last couple years. I guess Bean felt that, too. I guess Bean and ownership felt that way. And they're thinking, all right, we got the guys, we need to go win. That's basically the sentiment here. You still obviously have Josh Allen. You still, I guess Brady's in the building. Is that the immediate thought, the offensive coordinator? Because he's a young lad, D. But what are your thoughts on him moving on from McDermott? And did you expect it today? Maybe like, tomorrow? We got national championship game tonight.

[Dee Butt]

You mentioned it. Bills mafia. They have been loud about Sean McDermott for a while and kind of, if you've been a fan of the Bills, and I've been hearing a lot from them, because I talked about the interception, which they don't call an interception, but if you've been a fan of the Bills, this has kind of been what the program is. You get to whatever point and then you choke and then you trick it off. And how this season ended in particular with Josh Allen not playing his best football, him having four turnovers, defense giving him opportunities. I'm surprised that this is the time that they felt like this was the time to move on from McDermott. Maybe after the 13 second debacle against the Chiefs a couple years ago. But this is surprising to me. When this news came today, now, this made, what, 10 fired head coaches? So these teams, these organizations, aren't afraid to move on. But this is. You mentioned the era before Sean McDermott. I know they didn't get to the mountaintop. They did win a ton. And now this job has to be, you know, one of the best. Probably top two jobs right up there with Baltimore.

[Tony]

I can't imagine what the odds would have been before the season for Harbaugh, Tomlin and McDermott all to be gone now. And now Connor talks about it. You have the last two MVP quarterbacks on teams with no head coaches, with 10 head coach openings. This is one of the most insane head coach opening cycles that we've ever seen, specifically because of the quarterbacks and all the teams that are available. And like, in this situation, like, you have 10 openings like, are you. That's probably why they had to move so quickly, because all. All these other nine are already into second interviews. They're already into second rounds. Yes, you become probably the bell of the ball with you and the Ravens, but you're. You're already behind the eight ball. Unless you said, oh, if McDermott loses this game, we're moving on. And you're already planning for this, which who knows if they were or not.

[A.J. Hawk]

I don't know if they were actually planning for it, but McDermott almost feels like a James Franklin type situation in Penn State wins a ton of games. You win all, but you don't really find a way to get over the hump and win that big one. And if you're a head coach, especially if you're a defensive head coach, you need to win early. You need to win your first three, four or five years of you taking that job. I feel like. Or it's just going to be like, okay, cool, this guy's good enough to get us to the first, second round of the playoffs. And then for whatever reason now, like you said, we have 10 head coaches that have gotten fired this year. That's just the world we live in now in the NFL.

[Pat McAfee]

Harbaugh's deal is officially signed with the Giants. Remember, there was a little give and take, so we'll assume he is off the. Yeah, unless he writes a note, we assume he's off the table. But it's like, who is going to get all of these jobs? So good luck to McDermott, obviously. Heartbreak for the Bills.

[Dee Butt]

Is that finalized in Atlanta?

[Ty Schmidt]

I believe so.

[Darius Butler]

I believe so.

[Pat McAfee]

I saw some people not happy about that either.

[Dee Butt]

I get it.

[Pat McAfee]

DC Young Fly, I believe was like, we like Shador. They don't like this guy. And that was like a great take. I didn't. I didn't even. We're trying to get Shit. Thor down here. We're not trying to get that guy down here. I believe was the take, which is an incredible. On that. But congratulations to Stefanski. Who knows who the Bills will go from here. But before we talk about the Broncos, who kind of led to all this stuff. Incredible win by them. Hey, Bulls. Feel like we've been pretty positive towards the. I feel like we've been pretty positive. I mean, that was direct shot. That's. We'll get to that in a second. But LaFleur, still the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. I do wonder if Policy's policy was we got to look around and see who could potentially be the next Head coach, and they're really. Who's going to fill all of these jobs around multibillion dollar organizations.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. And I think, you know, I don't know if they put all of their chips in the, hey, if we're, if we're going to do this, it's going to be to go hire John Harbaugh. And clearly that, that moves pretty quickly. But then I think, yeah, you look at all the other candidates, it's like the packers kind of have everything they need in place right now. So if you don't want to go, you know, give the job to a guy who's never been a head coach before, especially if Jeff Halfley leaves too, then what? You got a new offensive coordinator, a new defensive coordinator. It's kind of like you're almost blowing everything up and trying to start over. And you have your quarterback, you have a defense that was, you know, top five in the NFL before everyone got hurt. So I think it was a situation where it was just like, hey, let's not panic here. I know what all the fans are saying, but this, he is the best guy available right now, so let's just stick with it.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Well, congrats to the four. And congrats to the Denver Broncos. What a team. Going into the season, they were Lombardi favorites. Now they're hosting an AFC championship game. D But did we expect this out of this Broncos team? And I'd like give a mass shout to Bo Nix. Hey, Bo, man, you're a tough song, bitch. Buddy. That was him doing the interview afterwards, leaning on one. Not happy. Hey, why aren't you happy? Well, we got lots of cleanup or whatever. Guy's got a broken ankle at that point. Finished the game with a broken ankle. Obviously. Special win in overtime. Josh had a chance in overtime. Defense got to stop. Josh has a chance. Doesn't make it happen. Broncos are able to get the job done. Love this for the Broncos. What are your thoughts on the reality of them maybe winning the whole damn thing?

[Dee Butt]

Yeah, a lot of the talk was, you know, Josh Allen to be Bills, but it's really the Broncos. Broncos made the plays and Bo Nix, he was unbelievable in big time moments down the stretch when he needed to make big time throws and make plays. It sucks that he won't be able to continue and fight for a chance to go to super bowl and possibly win it. But everybody that we talked to leading up into the season was like, hey, who's your pick this year? Who's your sleeper pick? And everybody was going with the Broncos and they came out hot. And then during the season they were winning games in different type of ways. Late in games. Somehow, some way week in and week out, they just found a way to win. And they did it again this weekend. It was unbelievable by the Broncos, the defense and then obviously the quarterback in the offense. I didn't know what to expect in Bo Nicks his second year, but he came coming into the playoffs, he's tied with Russell Wilson for the most wins by a quarterback to start his career off. So he's a winner. He came and played a ton of college ball. Obviously he hit the ground running and Sean Payton has done a tremendous job with his team. Now. Now we'll see what the.

[Pat McAfee]

Dude.

[Dee Butt]

Stud. Man.

[Pat McAfee]

I can't believe they say it's Buffalo over. New stadium, new coach.

[Nick Saban]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

New era. And some teams back. We'll talk about that in a couple headlines. Let's go to the number three headline out of the weekend. The NFC's west is the NFC's best. Now listen, we talked about it during the year. This NFC best might be a real problem. We wondered, could all four make it? Well, Cardinals clearly not. So Cardinals. What a terrible position they're in.

[Tony]

They try.

[A.J. Hawk]

Wonderful city that's taking that job.

[Pat McAfee]

I wouldn't be signing up for it. Okay. Right now. I wouldn't be signing up for it. And I don't know if Kyle Shanahan's necessarily signing up to continue to play against whatever the hell McDonald is building up there in Seattle. Monsters across the board on the defensive side. And then you go to the Rams. Last year they were this close to beating Philadelphia Eagles, who beat the hell out of everybody else in the snow. We all remember it. They miss out on that. Matthew Stafford doesn't complete it down in the red zone all off season. He opts in an immoral chamber, I believe was the name. A mortal chamber to get himself more healthy than he's ever been. Remember when he wasn't playing because his back was hurt? This 39 year old senior citizen has a bad back going into this year. They are screwed. Where's Stetson Bennett? Did you get him off the farm down there in Georgia?

[Ty Schmidt]

Raising hell somewhere?

[Pat McAfee]

They might get him back into la. That's what they're going to have to stare down instead. NFC Championship against the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC west all season, multiple teams in there. We've talked about maybe being the best team in ball. The Rams for like eight, nine weeks. Who's beating them? Niners. Wait a minute. Brock Purdy's rolling It's without Fred and Bosa. They don't eat them because Salah is doing his entire thing. And then the Seattle Seahawks, I mean, granted, they're so far, so far north left. I guess they're up this way actually, on the map. If you were to look at it at this particular set, that'd be north, you see, and that would.

[Tony]

If you were a weatherman in it.

[Pat McAfee]

That'D be south, that would. They're way over here. Okay. So you don't really talk about it much. And then after Pete Carroll gets kicked out, Geno Smith gets sent out of there. They're not supposed to be in a position there. They start watching them play football and it's like, yeah, Seattle Seahawks are really good football team. Seattle Seahawks are a problem. Their defense is unbelievable. As Foxy's computer comes back from being frozen. We get the graphic up there. Wait. Hey, way to battle back there, boys. Way to battle, boys. We're still battling. No, we're still in it right now. Okay. Okay, Good work. Keep fighting.

[Darius Butler]

You're still battling.

[Pat McAfee]

As I'm talking there, by the way, there's a full conversation happening about, hey, can't cut cameras, don't have any graphics right now. So I start spinning a whole web. Okay, right there, that we just got. We. But it was worthy of conversation strictly because it feels like we forecast that this was maybe going to happen. Then for it to actually take place the way that it does. That Rams win. Yeah. Right after that Caleb play.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you the Williams wizard, the Iceman, whatever he does, throwing the ball 55 some yards in the air. Fade away 0 degrees when you need it. In the corner to Cole Comet, not go for two.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Nick Saban]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

What was that?

[Pat McAfee]

A lot of people upset about a lot of other things going on in that game. I mean, you kick three field goals, you win. You know, if you had Chicago Bears plus four and a half, you'd like at least one of those field goals to be attempted so that we can maybe get into the dance here. Ben Johnson, mate. And we're back, baby. And we're back.

[Darius Butler]

Here we are.

[Pat McAfee]

And we are. We are all the way back. The Chicago Bears, after this. This play, I think they're supposed to win. There's no way the Rams in that place after that game can win. That's the mental toughness, I think, of this squad, and that's their ability. What a special time for the Rams and also the Bears. I think they should be pumped. They're way ahead of schedule. I think in a build that Wasn't supposed to happen.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah, I mean, this is what that was the epitome of what the NFL playoffs are. It's going to come down to a couple plays. You got to deal with the elements. I feel like we saw that with all the games this past weekend, and we all know how real momentum is. So when something like this happens, especially in the home stadium for the Bears, you think it's going to be over. I would have loved to call it what they got the ball. If they go down the score, you got to go for two here. Especially with Ben Johnson, I believe he said after the game they had struggled in some goal line situations, short yardage situations, so he wasn't comfortable going for it there. And they had an opportunity in overtime. But that's what these games come down to. Either making a stop or making a big play on offense. And Cam Curl made an unbelievable interception. There's a ton of great interceptions all across the league this weekend, but this is a great interception. Maybe some miscommunication with Caleb Williams and DJ Moore, but you got to take advantage of those tips and overthrows. You got to have those. And Cam Curl got one here. And then obviously Matt Stafford did what needed to be done to drive down the field and put the thicker kicker in position to send him to the NFC championship.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, shout out to Mavis, by the way, burying the kick. And I don't know what happened to his microphone when he was doing the podcast post game interview. I appreciate them interviewing him, but he, you know, he comes from cold weather. He said, I'm used to this type of stuff. You're not used to going to the NFC Championship. I'm very proud of Mavis, like, legitimately. I am very proud of him. He kicks the ball very well. He's very comfortable in who he is. And he has shown up in a big way for the Rams on multiple occasions. Ben Johnson has to walk over and shake McVay's hand and the Rams hands after that battle. AJ as you're watching that all take place, what are your thoughts as a man who, you know, packers legend, and I don't know how you felt about the Bears this year.

[A.J. Hawk]

I mean, honestly, I respect what the Bears have done. I respect Ben Johnson. I think the, the handshake was a little more cordial than I thought I thought it might be.

[Pat McAfee]

There was a lot more respect.

[A.J. Hawk]

Yeah, definitely. Which they both are football guys. They probably said, hey, this was, this is an all time battle that people are going to talk about for years. Obviously in Chicago, it's all down the drain because you lose. But I think it's. Pat said it. They are ahead of schedule with this Rams team. Imagine what it does for your team to go on the road. Cold, windy, snowy. You all of a sudden it looks like, hey, this guy's. They're a team of destiny, the Chicago Bears and the Rams still have the fortitude to find a way to win. That's huge. I think it, it breeds confidence through that whole roster when you get a win like this on the road.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. And shout out to McVay like, McVay is now almost in that kind of allure of, hey, he's never going to get talked about as coach of the year or any of those awards, but he should be up for it probably every year for them to go into Chicago like that in the, in the weather, in kind of the preparation you probably have to do just to get ready for something like that in la nonetheless. Yeah, I mean, I, I didn't even see this stat, but McVay now has 10 postseason wins at age 39. You know, like, that is kind of the stuff of legends. You hope he coaches for another 20 years, but just while he's here, it's, it's unbelievable what they're doing.

[Pat McAfee]

And.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, that's what kind of what people are saying too is like hoping he would coach forever. Like, this is the whole conversation when the Amazon, you know, opening came up was like, he's basically on the John Madden trajectory where it's like, he's so good so early, but he clearly just puts everything into football. But I mean. Yeah. What else can you say about this guy? It seems like every time in like a big moment, you know, he's, he's not cowering. And those teams typically find a way to win.

[Tony]

And it was, it was a full team win. Obviously. The kick at the end, there was a punt down inside the five. The offense, the drive at the end. And then the defense came up with multiple turnovers, multiple fourth down stops. When the Bears went for it, like it was a full team win that they could build on and move forward.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And the Bears ahead of schedule for sure.

[Darius Butler]

Definitely.

[Pat McAfee]

There was no way they were supposed to be this good, this quick with Ben Johnson.

[Nick Saban]

They're very fun too.

[Pat McAfee]

And it feels like afterwards they were all very excited for what they're going to become. You know, it felt like the culture. Listen to Kemet talk. I mean, this was his first target of the entire game. Obviously. Stacey Dale is one of the greatest iPhone shots in the history of sports Stinger. Now they lose, so it won't be shown. But if they win that game, Stacey Dale's footage is being used in every documentary forever and probably still will during the entire rebuild during Ben Johnson. I mean, but it's. It's tough. We're not going to be able to really celebrate this play. We were sitting in one of the restaurants that kind of turned into our office. We spent a lot of time at this place at the hotel. Hotel. And it was all Bears fans in there.

[Dee Butt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

And just getting a chance to experience all of that with the Bears fans. The quiet before that play, it was like a. Just a hush in the entire spot. Thought they were screwed, but it. Seen the situation with Caleb so many times this year. Didn't want to give up hope. Kind of gave up hope.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Especially with how it was all kind of going. And then when this happens, I mean, it was an absolute explosion shout to the Chicago Bears fan base. Okay, that was cold, windy, snowy. That place was loud. That was a. That was a really.

[Dee Butt]

Singletary on the sideline holding the signs.

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't like that.

[A.J. Hawk]

Kept dropping the signs.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah, it was good live graphics. Basically.

[Pat McAfee]

We did not. Mike Singletary is one of the greatest linebackers in the history of ball. We don't need him doing prop gimmicks on his sideline. Okay. Now, granted, I like that they. Adam is a part of broadcasting.

[Nick Saban]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

So I'm kind of torn on it. On. Oh, we look up, we see him. Singletary. Good to see him cheer, guys. He drops one perfectly. Nails it. Drops another one perfect.

[A.J. Hawk]

It's harder than you think. What if he dropped all so cold.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he nailed it.

[Dee Butt]

He did.

[A.J. Hawk]

He killed it.

[Pat McAfee]

But the immediate follow up was. I don't know if I like that.

[Ty Schmidt]

The hell is he doing that?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know if I like what that the Mike single dairy. But I like that they had him a part of it all. And then immediately afterwards, Caleb had success. It was like obviously bringing some juice. Let's get to the number two headline coming out of the weekend. And nobody wants to do this. We don't want to be the ones that kind of say this, but yes, we do. The Revolution region's football revival is the number two headline coming out of divisional round weekend. Back in the AFC championship game, the New England Patriots. Now, it's an entirely different team, but this one right in the middle, the Ohio guy, Mike Vrabel, is the tie between the two similar football teams. Defense, insane. Offense going to be smart now. Quarterback Puts the ball on ground a lot. Quarterback puts the ball on the ground a lot. Don't know if it's hands or it's just a complete lack of fear. So he has no awareness of what could potentially happen around them. Make big plays whenever they have to. It is eerily similar to the old Patriots. Stefan Diggs making that catch. Yeah, right. Booty making that catch. Of course. It's the divisional round. Patriots wide receiver is going to make a catch like that. It just felt like it was back in the day. And I was just so happened to be sitting next to a loud masshole who has a microphone every single day. Con man. It felt like it was back in the day. Is that what you were experiencing yesterday? It felt like it was full euphoria. It felt like it was a utopia of sorts. Watching this Patriots team get back to the AFC title.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, I mean, honestly, just sitting here listening to you guys listen to you say all that. I can't wait to hear everyone else talk up the Patriots. It's amazing. It's incredible. Fourth down. Gotta have it. Drake May basically puts the ball through pop Douglas's stomach. Wonderful. You know, how can he get any better? You really don't think he can? Oh, yeah, it can. Carlton Davis, the third. He's not the first first or the second. The third. Yeah. Perfect knee placement. Worked on that all week in practice, by the way. And that's just the difference in the revolution region. Marcus Jones, the pop on this pick six was what kind of brought it all back for me. You know, you're talking about the good old days. We are back in the good old days. Someone had a sign, and that was the greatest sign I've ever seen. The. The pop on that really did make me think, like, okay, here it is. We are back. And then you, you. You pointed out the 1k shaan. We love booty play a catch like that. Stefon Diggs, of course. I mean, that was.

[Pat McAfee]

That was the commercial that he made after the Minneapolis miracle where he was catching everything. Yeah, that was that.

[Darius Butler]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

That was that in a nutshell. Great dance, too. I don't know what he was doing. He dropped something.

[Darius Butler]

He dropped that thing on him, I think. I think he's putting that thing on him, I believe. But again, I'm not sure. I don't really know the dances, but this one here, the K' Sean, we love booty catch. I cannot emphasize enough. Those are the type of plays that maybe we hadn't had over the last six years. Like, not just, you know, Last year in Drake May's rookie year, because we had that exact play, actually. K' Sean Booty down the left sideline. And Drake May's first start on Derek Stingley Jr. One of the best corners in the entire NFL. For him to make that catch, that's when it kind of. You start looking around and thinking, okay, maybe this is kind of what we've always been dealing with, where everything does go our way. And, yeah, we're all the way back. Boys. Get used to it, because Drake May is 23. He's already made it as far as Josh Allen's ever made it. And then when you think about Mike Preble, this is his first year culture, just. Just kind of getting started, but already perfect. There's nothing that guy can do that anybody in New England will be worried about.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, I appreciate that. I know the next 20 years are us staring at you guys yet again, competing legit. Could be that way, especially if McDaniel's just going to hang around and the.

[Darius Butler]

Bills are going to possibly work their way into a shoot of a curse.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, there's a chance a curse could come. Now, I don't know if McDermott would necessarily be the one that would curse, but you got a tough one coming up, bub.

[Darius Butler]

There's no doubt about it, man. I don't want to. I mean, I'm worried.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's go back to March 2020 Boston. Conner, is that the Patriots mindset past Tom Brady? It sounds like you're on the Jared spot. Stidham campaign trail.

[Darius Butler]

Stud home. Stud home.

[Pat McAfee]

Sell the shirts all in on them all. Why? Because you watch one video that put together his best throws from his high school career down in Texas, and now all of a sudden, Jared Stutham is the hero that's coming into New England.

[Dee Butt]

Hey, look, I didn't dub him the king of high school football in Friday.

[Darius Butler]

Night Lights in Texas. Someone else did. I'm just, you know, telling you guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Tom Curran said the guy couldn't hit literally a single member of the offensive side. Side of the ball for the New England Patriots the first day of training camp. And then 10 days later, he showed vast improvements.

[Darius Butler]

365 days later. What is he, he's the next goat then, right? That's probably what it.

[Pat McAfee]

So that was you in 2020. About a weekend, by the way, to the world stoppage right there. About. About a week into it. I think at that point we thought to ourselves, one more week.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, we're almost done with this.

[Pat McAfee]

I think that's what we thought at the time. Yeah, at the time. If we're reliving it all, which we kind of did this morning, whenever we saw that clip, you were a believer in Stutham. And you know who else is a believer in Stutham? Sean Payton.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He looked like he was fresh out of Montana. Hoodie jacket. I like our number two. I like what he is. Well, it's the biggest moment. You got an incredible defense, you got some guys around you, and you got the New England Patriots coming to town. Studdem. Good luck, brother. Ben Denucci also signed off of a cbs. I watched him play a flag football game a couple weeks back. Danuch spinning it, spinning it. It does feel like this Patriots easy road just continues, doesn't it?

[Dee Butt]

I won't go that far. Easy schedule will be ready and that defense will be ready. They'll have their home turf. I trust Sean Payton in this type of situation. He'll have him ready to go. But that defense, talk about the Patriots. Obviously, Drake May has been tremendous. Josh McDaniels. But what Zach Kerr has been able to do with that defense, that the interior defensive line, what they did on the back end. Carlton Davis with two interceptions, Marcus Jones with another pick six. And then big Mil and Bar Martin in the middle man. Like, this defense has been unbelievable. So, yeah, the. The future is bright up in New England.

[Pat McAfee]

I forgot.

[Darius Butler]

What's that?

[Dee Butt]

What's that?

[Pat McAfee]

He's picked up the Patriots.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, he got dragged.

[Dee Butt]

I can't make that statement here in this stadium with this backdrop with my family and friends with watching. And that's why you're not allowed. I can't make.

[Pat McAfee]

That's why you aren't on the bandwagon.

[Dee Butt]

That is my home. And I. I got a call on the phone at 2009 April, and it was Robert Krabs.

[Darius Butler]

Hey, that's right.

[Dee Butt]

Darius, how would you like to be a New England Patriot? So, yeah, maybe I will be coming home, but I won't be making a statement here.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so you're not ready to commit.

[Dee Butt]

No, no, no, no, no, no.

[Tony]

Yeah, I don't release a full statement at a later date.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

[A.J. Hawk]

It's now or never.

[Darius Butler]

I mean, it's too late, honestly. No, it was yesterday or never. And now it's over.

[Pat McAfee]

No, you mean. Yes.

[A.J. Hawk]

That's how you guys.

[Darius Butler]

That's how you guys say that one person does. Hopefully we can hear what he has to say. That dipshit will probably have some sort of swing where he predicted what he actually. What happened yesterday for New England, even though he took the Texans. This would be if Drakeman the Patriots are able to take down the Denver Broncos. Jared Stidham. This will be the first time ever that a quarterback has beaten 3, 3 top 5 defenses on his way to the Super Bowl.

[Pat McAfee]

Unbelievable balls on the ground. Okay, he's getting good bounces because he's living good as he should. But what that Texans defense was. And we thought they were. We thought they weren't going to be able to score any points. And I'll tell you what, one defense hurt a lot.

[Tony]

Tell you what, you know who broke their back yesterday? Their quarterback.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Tony]

Davis Mills plays that game. Might be a difference.

[Dee Butt]

I didn't see a lot of people feeling Sorry for C.J. stroud. I mean, Josh had to turn over four, but everybody was a chance to win.

[Pat McAfee]

Josh was crying, I'll be back, Josh. Keep your head up, Josh.

[Tony]

Maybe because CJ's doing too many side quests during the off season.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, okay.

[Pat McAfee]

I heard he did a softball game and it was a gentleman. And drove somebody home. Oh, okay. That's all I heard.

[Darius Butler]

On a side quest.

[Pat McAfee]

But on that note, C.J. stroud, Young, we assume he's going to be back. A bunch of Josh Allen watching him just kind of lose and lose and lose, I think. And then he gets emotional about it. I think everybody's like, oh, no, is Josh ever going to be. Is this. You start to worry a little bit. Dion Dawkins crying, too. I like how invested they all are now. McDermott's gone. They have a new, new culture. They just kind of bump Brady up there to keep the crew in there. Who knows? New stadium, tear it down.

[Darius Butler]

It's time to blow it up.

[Pat McAfee]

Buffalo. See, that's Patriots.

[Darius Butler]

It's time to change it.

[Pat McAfee]

Number one headline, ladies and gentlemen, is the big college game is coming. Miami hosting the Hoosiers in a stadium that might be all Hoosiers now at this exact moment, Tony, where does all the money lie?

[Tony]

It's all on a hoosiers. 70% at least on the Hoosiers. And then on the over, 47 and a half. Also more than 70% on the over tonight as well. We're looking at 47 and a half there, which is a pretty high total. And the eight and a half is a huge, huge number for this game.

[Darius Butler]

Not to mention the touchdown props as well, I believe. Tony, you let me know there's a lot of money coming in on Elijah, Surat, Malachi, Tony, some of those guys scoring, parlay. A little parlay perhaps, but Diggs also made the point earlier about basically every game Miami's played and they've been underdogs. But right before the game starts, I don't know, hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of dollars coming in on Miami to drive that number down. So eight and a half, pretty high number right now for IU.

[Pat McAfee]

71% of the public bets are on Indiana. You know, shout out to DraftKings for providing the number there for us. The reason why they're on Indiana is because they've just been smacking people. You're talking about maybe greatest college football team in run of all time. Who is it? Who? Who, who, who? Jones of Indiana University. Joining us now, the president, Dr. Pam Whit. Thank you.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you for joining us, Doc. Love that iu. We did some research and I got a chance to learn about you whenever we went down there for game day last year. You have had numerous jobs throughout the university world. Most recent was at Georgia. And you told me that you enjoyed or saw or appreciated one of the words, what the Georgia football team and Georgia sports were for the university as a whole. We talked to Dr. Joe E. Aveciaria of Miami last week. Feels like you've had the vision that sports are good for the university and can provide for everything else. How do you feel about where you guys stand at this moment? And congrats on having the vision.

[Darius Butler]

Let's go.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Doc, Congrats on being a sports visionary for universities. We appreciate that.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Well, thank you.

[Nick Saban]

Thanks.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

You know, part of what Indiana University is, is it's a sports school. We're a great academic institution. I could sit here all day and brag about the tremendous heights we're reaching. Billion dollars in research expenditures, first one in the state, et cetera. So we're getting championship across everything, academics and sports. But part of our DNA is athletics. And if we're gonna do athletics, we're gonna do it right and be in championship games. And so I zen today. I mean, we've done what we needed to do to get here, and here we are.

[Pat McAfee]

The hay is in the barn. You know, we've done all the work. Now we just gotta go execute. Obviously, Coach Signetti becomes the perfect hire for Indiana and for Bloomington. I talked about this because obviously I marry into a Hoosier family. The reason why they love basketball so much is because Bob Knight. Signetti is like Bob Knight. He's an older coach. Accountability, discipline. He's not throwing a chair. He'll have one beer. Who's your beer? Hope you shared that one with him, but it feels like he was the perfect hire for your university and your fan base. Did you know that when you made the hire that he would be such a big hit with the fans? And why exactly was Sig the right guy for what you wanted to do?

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Well, you got to rewind it. So this actually started five years ago when I came to Indiana and met with our amazing athletic director, Prof. Scott Dawson, best athletic director in the United States, and sat down and said, hey, Scott, college football is about 75, 85% of revenue in college sports. I think my exact words were, we can't treat it like an intramural sport anymore. Let's get serious about it. And I really unleashed the beast with Scott when it happened. So we took a couple years and we got ready. We built the infrastructure, we hired the right staff, we moved to contemporary jobs you need to do in college sports. We raised the funds that we needed and then we were ready to bring in the right coach to be successful and we got the best coach in the country. And you betcha, we knew he was going to be good. We were watching.

[Pat McAfee]

And the fans, they love this guy. How could you not? He's special. Dee Butt has a question for you, Doc.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah, Doc, I want an example of how much because we know sports are important on the campus, but football is kind of king, especially here now in the Midwest, you're having a powerhouse. What's an example of like how your life has changed or an experience you had even last year, obviously with success, but then this year been the top team in the country. What have you experienced personally, whether it been family, where you live on campus? Give me an example of what's changed for you.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Well, college football is the biggest stage in college sports. We all know that. And you know the experience with the 8006000 Living IU alum, incredibly well educated people all over the country, plus others that have stayed with us, has been such a sweet, important part of the journey. But really the sweetest thing that stuck with me the last couple years is walking across that campus and getting high fives and hugs from the best honking student group in America.

[Pat McAfee]

What word did you say there? Honking?

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Best. Best honking or flipping? I guess we're doing flipping now, right? If we're.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll say I'm trying to find my words. I might steal that one and call it my own because there are some shows I'm on. I'm not supposed to say anything, so. Best honking student section.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Best honking student population in America.

[Pat McAfee]

Honking the same thing.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

These kids, they, they. They are the best. And this is for them. We want their college experience to be amazing. And you know what? When you have a superstar football team, your experience is amazing as a college student. So this is for them. We love them.

[Pat McAfee]

So I went down to the Little Five one of my early years here in Indianapolis. Little Five is like a little bike race where they do down in Indiana, and it's their big festival weekend. Like, that is the big weekend. I went down there and obviously have a lot of Indiana Hoosier friends now. And at the time I was around them, they're like, Little Five is the greatest weekend in all of college or whatever. And it was a great weekend. But Morgantown is like that. Every home football game where the entire state comes for the home football game. I'm happy that they're getting a chance to experience 60,000, 70,000 people come in there because I feel like the student and the alumni are ready for the excitement now. On that note, Rose bowl was all Hooched. Hoosiers, the fans, peach bowl was 95.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. Literally all Hoosiers.

[Pat McAfee]

They're calling this home game for Miami. But obviously we've seen all the planes, we've seen every hotel we've gone to. It's red everywhere. Seemingly people live down here in Miami who are hurt.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Isn't this the Dolphin Stadium?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Okay. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do that. We'll see, Doc. But it has been incredible. You say 806, a thousand alumni, they've shown up in a big way. They're celebrating. What do you expect tonight? Like, honestly, what is the expectation from you guys? Just a little bit of info.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Well, I'd want that back to the Big Ten championship, because for us, this journey has been Big Ten, Rose, Peach, and now. And now championship. Everybody that can get a ticket and get in the stadium is going to. I think Miami's a great city. They have a great fan base. Trust me, as I walk around in my IU gear, they are not shy about letting me know how about how they feel about Indiana. And so I would expect Miami's going, going to turn out.

[Pat McAfee]

They love.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

They love their canes, but I mean, if you can get in the stadium and you're a. You're a Hoosier, you're going to be here.

[Pat McAfee]

It feels like that. That's why the tickets just continue to go up. Because normally, like, falters. And then 800 6000. And then you heard her say, well educated alumni, like, hey, These are. Most of them have paid back their student debt and are doing just fine. Doing just fine. Dentistry school, you're talking business school. What are the others? You have a lot of like high.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Yeah. Kelly School of Business really is top of the country. Jacobs School of Music. We have the biggest med school in the country. The incoming medical school class. Only 6% got in that applied to get into med school at iu. So across the board, it's. It's really phenomenal computing. And you know what? We're an engineering school now too.

[Pat McAfee]

So shaking it up, just popping out engineers now. Congratulations. You. I talk to some Miami people that thought the Honkin Hoosiers can't afford to get into this game tonight. And I'm like, I don't think you. I don't think you get it. With who? The Indiana Hoosier. A lot of schooling down there. Never good at ball, always good at schooling. Now the ball is getting a chance for all the schooling people to your point to say, hey, oh yeah. And we're also smarter than you as well as we roll. Congrats to them, A.J. there's a new king in the Big Ten. I know you have a question for the dog.

[A.J. Hawk]

Congrats to all your success. And with all that success, I guess, how do you continue to plan for the future now that you guys are here, especially these last couple years, as far as facilities, infrastructure, all of that. How do you know what to do and what not to do? Because you can't just snap your fingers and all of a sudden you have a renovated stadium where you have new facilities for everyone to use. But how do you keep up with all the rest of the teams now that you have. You guys are in the national championship.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

This is part of a big long term plan. I wasn't kidding when I said we started this back in 21. We've been working and rolling for years. And the plan continues. And thanks for giving me the opportunity to shout out, this is thousands and thousands and thousands of people investing in Indiana University football. And I gotta shout out Pete Yonkman, who is the brains behind what was our original nil collective that's kind of graduated into more sophisticated areas. Pete happens to be the CEO of Cook Medical, fantastic Indiana based company, but he's the unsung hero in a lot of this. And so. So thank you for giving me the opportunity.

[Pat McAfee]

What's his name? What does he sell?

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

His name is Pete Yonkman and he is. He's one of his well educated Hoosiers. Undergrad, degree, law degree from IU and he's the. The CEO of Cook Medical Company. Big international company.

[Pat McAfee]

We would like to let Mr. Yonkman though we appreciate his services to Hoosier also. We have that bucket open, don't we? We have that bucket open. We'd love to talk about the Cook Medical Group. Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Need a medical company.

[Pat McAfee]

New king of the Big Ten, Iowa. Hawkeye. Ty Schmidt has a quarter question for you, Doc.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, you know what?

[Darius Butler]

And.

[Ty Schmidt]

And I actually love it because I'm a. I'm a big Ten guy. First and foremost, I appreciate what you said about the best honking students in the country. You have to say that that is not true. But that's just coming from another Big Ten guy. But I am curious.

[Pat McAfee]

You can tell him he is full of honking.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

All I know is when he said that his nose grew like Pinocchio, I had no idea.

[Pat McAfee]

I just. Pinocchio.

[Ty Schmidt]

I actually just have a big nose, Doc. I think you just it a little.

[Pat McAfee]

Bit get some of those med students.

[Ty Schmidt]

But I am curious. You mentioned the. The alumni base. Was there any world in which when you first got the job at Indiana, did you think down the road like, hey, there is a chance that people, not just from the Midwest, but from all over the country are going to come to school at Indiana because of the football team? Like when I was growing up, you know, a lot of kids from the Midwest would just decide, hey, I want to go to Alabama because I want to be a part of that. And now you guys actually have that. Like, have you noticed already that enrollment is starting to come up, maybe from pockets and areas that it never had before because of the football team?

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Well, we're about to watch it. So since I started in 21, our applications for Bloomington have increased 60%. 6. 0. And it's been incremental. And actually the biggest increase was before we were good at football. So we've got a. As I said, we got a lot going on at IU as well. So we've already obviously seen a big increase this year, but we'll watch it and see. We expect it.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll tell you this, Doc, one of your newest, loudest Hoosier fans right there.

[Darius Butler]

Big time. I'll just say this. No matter what happens tonight, it's just incredible to be a part of it in Indiana. I didn't really have a college football team growing up and now I've adopted the Hoosiers and Mendoza and Sig and yourself. And just so thank you for bringing, you know, great, high quality football to Indiana. It means a lot to the people and you can see it in the city especially, I'm sure, around Bloomington.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

I appreciate it. And a new era. We're going to be competitive from here on out. So go ahead and get all your Hoosier gear because it's going to be worth it for a while to come.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's an Adidas national championship here on this massive big college game day. We can't thank you enough for joining us.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Adidas.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, appreciate you so much.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Hey, I made it on the Pat.

[Pat McAfee]

McAfee show, you guys.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

We are Doc on. And it's not just any day. You're on here, obviously, it's one of the greatest days of the calendar year. Not only because it's big college game day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is obviously a phenomenal day to kind of do a little introspective, a little bit of thinking about what this world could be and what Martin Luther King was pitching such a long time ago, in which a world in which is a complete utopia and together and unified and something I think we're all striving for every single day. Ball certainly helps that. I think football and sports bring people together. I think Doc understands that the sense of community is a great thing. We're lucky to be a part of the sports world, and we hope this only continues to grow and grow. You cannot drive out darkness with more dark. You can only drive it out with the light. Shout out to Martin Luther King, let's be above the and the hate and let's enjoy the hell out of today, shall we?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Go Hoosiers.

[Pat McAfee]

How's your. How's your who, who, who, who? Hoosiers. He's putting you in your face. I don't like that honkin.

[Darius Butler]

I learned.

[Dee Butt]

I learned a new word today. You'll learn a few new words tonight.

[Nick Saban]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

We'll be back on the other side. Goodbye. Thank you.

[Dee Butt]

This is Marshawn Lynch, AKA Beast mode, checking in this holiday season.

[Pat McAfee]

Everybody out here stressing, shopping, rapping, cooking, but me trying to kick back Marshall sports and go green on my prize picks lineups.

[Dee Butt]

Right now, Prize picks is getting into the festive spirit where new users get $50 instant in lineups. When you play your first $5, it's.

[Pat McAfee]

Real simple to play.

[Dee Butt]

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[Pat McAfee]

Download the Prize Picks app today and use code TPMS and get $50 instantly in site credits when you play 5do that's cotpms on prizepix. To get $50 instantly in site credits when you play $5. Win or lose, you'll get 50 bucks in site credits for just playing. Guaranteed Prize Picks.

[Dee Butt]

It's good to be right. Must be present in certain states.

[Pat McAfee]

Visit prizepix.com for restrictions and details.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Hey, fans. Welcome back to Fansville's Cheers and tears.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so, like, everybody deals with losing, right? To a rival and a last second field goal, whatever.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

It's. I'm totally fine, but I cope with losing with an ice cold Dr. Pepper. Mmm.

[Pat McAfee]

Those 23 flavors are, like, so delicious. They totally wash away the pain of your college football team taking a big fat L. College football.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

It's a pepper thing.

[Darius Butler]

Football.

[Pat McAfee]

Our monitors up here are showing somebody else his feed, but I'll tell you what it is. Four fighter jets seemingly preparing for tonight's. I don't know what is on our show right now. What is not on our show right now. Yeah, I don't think that is our feed that we're watching and looking at right here on these TVs. Somebody could probably hear us and maybe Foxy. What are you.

[Darius Butler]

That's Seattle.

[Pat McAfee]

You don't see us yourself right now, Pat, do you?

[Nick Saban]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

No. Yeah. Are we live right now? Yeah, yeah, we are live. It is an honor to be here. I'll tell you what. There's some great shots getting taken. We're watching somebody's open camera. I can cut to that. I'm cutting to it now. They see it. Okay.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what we've seen. Now over in the distance, there is a. That's. Where the hell is your lives?

[Dee Butt]

What do we do?

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe we don't have for. Can some. Somebody here is working. I see him. Hey, these C. These TVs are not our show.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, we're asking.

[Pat McAfee]

You guys are not our show. Thank you, guys. Appreciate that. Welcome back. Welcome back.

[Dee Butt]

Beautiful stadium.

[Darius Butler]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. This is out there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome back. Wow. Geez. That was.

[Darius Butler]

That's the. That's the craziest thing that's ever happened.

[Pat McAfee]

The Dukes of My Own. That was the stupidest thing I've ever.

[Darius Butler]

Seen in my life.

[Pat McAfee]

No, but the flyover was awesome. That's Darius J. Butler, A.J. hawk is here. One half of the Hammer Cowboys. AP Tony's here to talk to table at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidter here. Boys, it's the big college game. Hell yeah. We're down here in South Florida. What a great time to be alive. Con man. As you look at this particular matchup, is it Crystal Ball and Signetti battling each other or at this point, the. Is it the boys delivering in the.

[Darius Butler]

Biggest moment, you got to say, it's the boys, you know, for the big college game, especially, you know, Jimmy's and Joe's, not X's and O's. Mendoza, you know, him being the bonafide number one overall pick back in, you know, the city. He's from Miami right down the road from his high school. That, but also the Carson Beck kind of tour that he's been on revival for Carson Beck, if you will, as well. You know, he is should be at least flying up, you know, draft boards. And it feels as though he has made a great name for himself, even more so proving it on the biggest stage.

[Pat McAfee]

And I don't want to bury Carson Beck because we've been very impressed, especially at the end of that Ole Miss game where he kind of took it upon himself, made a couple massive throws, obviously runs that one in incredible leadership. He's told the story about whenever they're playing Ohio State. A couple weeks back, Ray Lewis came up to him when it was 1714 on the 17 sideline, right before he took the field and said, hi, I never introduced myself. I'm Ray Lewis. Why don't you go out there and win us this game? Carson Beck goes, well, holy honking hell. I guess we got to go do that. Now he is risen to the occasion. He obviously perfect for this Miami team last year. What Cam Ward was able to do with crystal ball obviously brought them into a little bit more of a spotlight. Carson Beck transfers in there. Crystal ball gets his culture set up more. They got a veteran team, too. Let's go to AP Tone, a man who wrote college football book multiple times. Now everybody's talking about how old Indiana is. Miami's old, too. Miami's got a lot of vets. What's the year that CBS Sports did?

[Tony]

Yeah, so I. It was 4.3 years of experience for IU's 22 starters. That was not including the kickers. And then for Miami, it was 4.1 years of experience for their starters.

[Darius Butler]

So this is.

[Tony]

This is two very, very old teams we talk about like on the Miami defense. Keonte Scott is 24 years old. Mezador spent two years at WVU before he came to Miami. Baines older. And then you go to their O line. They're all juniors and seniors or grad students. Carson Beck's old. Like this is a. These are two very, very old teams and experienced teams and that's probably a big reason why they're here.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, that's transfer portal difference.

[Nick Saban]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Guys sticking around, maybe taking a full a year of eligibility to kind of go play and maybe win a title. Also get more experience. And with how much everybody's getting paid at some of these schools, why not now delaying 200, some million which could come in your second NFL contract. Certainly a decision, you know, for later on down the road. But what Crystal Ball is selling is obviously special. Carson Beck came in at a big price and I think tonight. D Bud, as you have a little bit of fish film on this, I believe this secondary for Miami. Now here's some stats on Fernando Mendoza and Carson Beck from Hembo. Okay. Fernando Mendoza's incompletions to touchdowns during this playoff run. Outrageous. Obviously. Five incompletions, eight pass touchdown. That's two College Football Playoff games. Five incompletions, eight tuds.

[Darius Butler]

Unheard of.

[Pat McAfee]

Carson Beck, look at this scrub.

[Nick Saban]

Geez.

[Pat McAfee]

26, seven incompletions. I could do that. Anybody could do that. But whatever you talk about Mendoza and his efficiency, nobody's really been able to stop him. Tonight there's a suspension for the first half from one of the starters. How does the Miami secondary fare tonight in your eyes against this offense that's been incredibly efficient.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah. And I guess I'll just start where you left off with Mendoza. He's obviously been tremendous. Probably be the number one pick, Heisman winner. And the thing about him is when he finds the matchups, his guys to are going to go up and make the plays. Charlie B. Surratt, Omar Cooper Jr. But when you look at his Miami secondary, obviously it starts up front with the game records. We mentioned Mecedore and Bane, but then these secondaries, you got some difference makers right there in the middle. Let's start with Keontae. Scott and I compared him to Charles Woodson last week. Last time we covered him when I was talking to AJ because he can just impact the game in so many different ways. Whether that's pressuring the quarterback, covering in the back end or making heads up plays like this down here in the Cotton bowl when he had this tremendous pick six that absolutely changed this game when Ohio State was driving to make a play. So this guy is the leader on the back end. He sets the tone Jacoby Thomas as well. You talk about a tone setter. You talk about a player that wants to tackle players through the ground. He said growing up his favorite player to watch was Sean Taylor. And that's who he tries to play like. That's how he approaches the game. He's been an unbelievable game changer. Was five and interceptions. And then the true freshman, Bryce Fitzgerald, another Miami kid, Columbus. He also went to the same high school that Mendoza went to. We saw him get two interceptions in their first game against Texas A and M. Another game changer on the back end. Now the question marks come out on the cornerback. You talked about Xavier Lucas being suspended for the first half of this game, which is terrible. I hate the rule. I can't wait till Coach Saban gets it changed. But he's suspended because of this hit in the Fiesta, the bowl against the Ole Miss wide receiver. So he'll be missing the first half. So who will start opposite of Ethan o'? Connor? Would it be OJ Federic? Would it be. I'm sorry, Antoine. Yeah, Jabori Antoine, the true freshman who we saw kind of get targeted once he came into the Ohio State game. He's kind of held his own. So that's going to be the question mark, especially in that first half. And once again, doesn't matter who's out there. Fernando Mendoza is going to give his wide receivers to the opportunity when he sees one on one matchups. And throughout the season, throughout the playoffs, they have made those big time plays. But I'll be keeping my eyes on these secondary guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Is there any Miami guys playing corner for Indiana too? Any South Florida guys?

[Dee Butt]

Both there are starters.

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[Dee Butt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Just got a ponds get out.

[Dee Butt]

Yep, they got a pond named after him now in Indiana. He's a South Florida kid. He plays like a South Florida kid. In the other corner, he's from Miami Northwest and so this is a homecoming for them as well, obviously their quarterback. But you got cornerbacks who are going to be playing. Now these tickets are expensive, so I don't know how many family members they're giving tickets to or how many players provided. But they'll, they'll be out there, man. But it'll be a tremendous matchup and I can't wait to see it tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

It is a little chilly here. As you see. I have long sleeve on. The boys have long sleeve on. There's jackets everywhere. Coach Saban, who's going to join us here in a matter of moments, shivering behind a camera. I mean absolutely shivering over there. Jen Lotta reported Just final thought here on the corners because everybody's talking about the suspension, the suspension obviously for the first half, it's like I don't know if it matters against this Indiana team. They do the unguardable stuff. Jen Lotta reported that Surat sent a bunch of clips of Devonte Adams and Aaron Rodgers back shoulder work to Fernando Mendoza before the season. And I'll tell you, they do it whenever they want. And it's like Mendoza's accuracy and then the athleticism in the grit I would say of these wide receivers, Surat, Cooper, Becker, Nowakoski, you start going through it, they're going to make plays for him. But Mendoza puts it in a spot that's unguardable, seemingly.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah, that's what you want from a wide receiver when you have one on one opportunities. And honestly throughout this entire season, I can't think of a time where Mendoza targeted Serato on one of these back shoulder fades or slot fade and he didn't come down with the ball. And the same goes for Charlie B out there, Charlie Bay Becker, his roommate, he's going to make big time plays down the field so it's going to be one on one. You're going to make tight window catches and then Omar Cooper Jr. He'll make the catch as well. But he does the best in my opinion with creating separation so he'll have opportunities as well. But when you talk about covering these guys, it starts with the guys up front. Starts with number three Mesador and number four Ruben Bane getting after that quarterback and wreaking havoc.

[Pat McAfee]

Everybody's going to try to get Fernando Mendoza off his spot. Alabama tried their best and. And then he just ran. Then Mendoza started running and then all of a sudden you got a spy on him. Well, that opens up something behind him. This Indiana offense has obviously been a symphony of chaos basically for defenses. And then on the defensive side they've been able to blow stop everybody. Yeah, let's get away from the big college game quickly. Let's get some more information on the massive NFL news this morning. Joining us now, senior NFL insider. Obviously a man who's a Michigan man, Adam Schefter.

[Darius Butler]

Hey, she going on shefty.

[Pat McAfee]

We're down here at Hard Rock obviously having a time of our lives. We wish you were here. Let's talk about some NFL news that are happening as a goat is literally waiting in tow. McDermott fired. This morning we chit chatted about how the Buffalo Bills fans that we know and talk to, they haven't been happy with McDermott anytime Josh Allen hasn't won a Super Bowl. Is that what the Buffalo Bills front office and Bean were thinking? Or how likely was the this if they didn't win the Super Bowl? Was McDermott gone? Regardless.

[Adam Schefter]

I don't know how you define where he would have been, safe or not. I think that they had to have a successful postseason outing and another run that ended short of a Super bowl title. I mean, if they got to the super bowl and lost, would he have been back?

[Dee Butt]

Maybe.

[Adam Schefter]

But they did. And it's nine seasons of five division titles and a lot of wins. But they lost in the wild or divisional round this weekend. They haven't been able to get past the conference championship round. This is a year where there's no Lamar, no Mahomes, no Joe Burrow, and they couldn't do it. And, you know, I remember the Denver Broncos back in the day had John Fox as a head coach, and they had a lot of great wins, and they were the number one ranked team three straight years, number one seed, I believe. And when they couldn't get to the super bowl, they wound up moving off of John Fox and hiring Gary Kubiak, and they won the super bowl the next year. And I think Buffalo felt like it needed to shake things up, to try to advance, right or wrong. And I think we're in a climate now where teams see what's going on in Baltimore, they see what's going on across the league with all these, and they're not afraid to make a change. And that's exactly what happened today in Buffalo, I believe.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so Brandon Bean gets promoted to president of football operations and general manager. He'll be leading the head coaching search. There's 10 jobs as a total. Now, obviously, Stefanski gets his gig, Harbaugh gets his gig. Eight jobs open. Still. Who do we think is the leader in the clubhouse? Is it Brady? And what is kind of the thoughts of what the Bills look like going forward? Shefty?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, I. I think, Pat, what you're looking at is obviously it's going to be somebody that Josh Allen feels comfortable with, and it's going to be somebody that they believe can get them to the next level, some combination of those things. So is that Joe Brady, is that Brian Daboll, is that the Broncos quarterbacks coach, Davis Webb, who played for the organization, backed up Josh Allen and is close with him? Is it one of those three individuals? Or they veer outside that and dip their toe into this assistant coaching pool that's on the interview circuit right now? There's a lot of ways they could go, but I think they're going to want to make Josh Allen happy and whole here and it wouldn't be a surprise if it's some kind of familiar face here. And by the way, everybody's going to want to go coach Josh Allen.

[Pat McAfee]

Everybody. We talk about Brian Dabo whenever his name got mentioned earlier. It's like he's got to be pumped. He didn't take the Penn State gig and they maybe didn't offer it. If he's going to be the Buffalo Bills head coach. Back with Josh Allen, good luck to him. Joe Brady in his 30s, still very young. Maybe that's his spot as they move in to new stadium. Are you getting any news right now that is relevant for conversation as we speak here?

[Adam Schefter]

Yeah, Zach Charbonnet tore his acl.

[Dee Butt]

Damn, that sucks.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, okay, so Charbonnet tears acl. Obviously incredible season this year. Bo Nix breaks his ankle. It's. Is there any other massive injuries coming out of divisional round here?

[Adam Schefter]

Carlton Davis I thought got taken. Taken out of the game for the Patriots and I think he was in conclusion protocol. I think, I'm not sure the exact injury, but when you're talking about injuries that end the season. Bo Nicks and Zach Charbonnet, Bo Nicks obviously gonna have the surgery tomorrow on his ankle, broken ankle. And that, that was, I mean that, that, that is unbelievable, that injury. Nobody expected that that was going to be the case. And when it happened after the game, people didn't think it was real initially. I thought it was one of those made up stories like wait, wait, this guy that just finished the game, that just led them to the.

[Pat McAfee]

He.

[Adam Schefter]

He's out for the year with the. And by the way, Sean Payton handled that incredibly well because rather than let it swirl and Spike, he stepped in. He told everybody the truth. He kind of propped up. Jared Stidham was going to be starting the AFC championship game. I think this is unbelievable. Like Jared Stum stepping in there. He is the first quarterback to make his first start of the season in a conference championship game since Roger stall back in 1972.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Staubach, Stidham. That is what. That's the type of game we're talking about. Obviously, as soon as this injury happens and we see from, from Sean Payton dressed up like, you know, he's literally straight out of Kevin Costner's.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Yellowstone.

[Pat McAfee]

Yellowstone. He looked awesome out there. But him coming out breaking the news, we're all heartbroken for Bo Nix. And then maybe if you've had a cocktail or two or some edibles or anything like that, you start going, oh, Sean Payton's calling Drew Brees. Can Drew Brees throw football? No, he can't throw football. Right. That's kind of the thing. Well, then he's maybe calling Tom Brady for two games. He needs him for two games. With that defense, with what they're able to do on offense, we automatically start going into fantasy football is what we start thinking. Who's available? Phil Rivers isn't available. You're not allowed to give Phil Rivers. No way we're going to do that. He likes Stidham. I assume he's very confident. And was there ever a thought that maybe we're going to go fantasy football here?

[Adam Schefter]

I made that call to ask and I was told no. They, they believe and trust in Jared Stidham. Jared Stidham is somebody that, you know, people forget this, but when the Raiders benched Derek Carr, they turned to Jarrett Stidham. And his very first start for the Raiders, he threw for 365 yards.

[Pat McAfee]

Connor is off mic, laughing.

[Darius Butler]

Who's coaching? Shefty? Who's coaching that game for Jared Stidham when he threw for 300 plus yards?

[Adam Schefter]

That would be one Josh McDaniels.

[Ty Schmidt]

All right.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, Shefty, we appreciate you joining us.

[Darius Butler]

You're the man.

[Pat McAfee]

We hope you enjoy tonight's big college game. Who do you have winning? Who do you have winning tonight?

[Adam Schefter]

I haven't seen anybody or anything derail this Indiana story. I would expect it to continue tonight. You got the president of school on there, Pat. Of course you're not going to have the president of school on and then watch the school lose that night.

[Pat McAfee]

Come on, man. We had the president of Miami on Friday. Just to be clear, we have a non biased. Just so everybody understands that we appreciate the Big Ten man picking the Big Ten school. That's Adam Shefter, baby.

[Darius Butler]

Shefty.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who started his entire thing, I think in the NFL maybe, but then in the Big Ten. This guy was born in West Virginia. Okay. It gets cold there. Then once he moved south, he said, I'm never coming back. Became the goat down there. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Nick Saban.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Coach.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you, Coach. How you doing, man? A little chilly down here. I thought you South Florida folks didn't have it cold like this. Feels like more of a home field advantage for Indiana. It's chilly out here, coach.

[Nick Saban]

This is the coldest I've Been in this part of the world since I've been coming to this part of the world. So you think that you bring it with you?

[Pat McAfee]

I tried. Indiana tried to bring it. What do you think of the crowd? What do you think the crowd's going to be tonight?

[Nick Saban]

Because I think Indiana will have a ton of people here. I mean, they have traveled so well. I mean, that game in Atlanta, three quarters of the stadium was Indiana.

[Pat McAfee]

I think it was 90. Oh, yeah, I legitimately think it was. Was 90% Oregon. So far in Indiana, experiencing something for the first time, which. Let's talk about. I know Signetti has been coaching a long time. Long time coaching football. His dad coached football. I made decision 25 years ago. I'm a college football guy.

[Nick Saban]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that what he said?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, exactly. I'm not an NFL guy. I'm not interested in the NFL.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm a college football coach. So he's been doing college football his entire time. This is his first time leading a team into a national championship. I don't know if you remember back to LSU before you did it for the first time. What do you think is going through his mind and what is he trying to get accomplished today, day of national championship?

[Nick Saban]

Yeah, well, you know, I think whatever you did for the 15 games that got you here, you want to make sure your team stays in that mindset. I mean, I know there's a lot of clutter out there when you're playing a big game like this national championship game, but that's not where you want your players to be. You want them to be focusing on the things they have to do, to go out and play well and execute and let everybody else talk about all that other stuff. So, you know, that's the key. I think one of the things that these guys are going to have to go through, which Kirk's going to have to go through, is he has done this phenomenal job at Indiana. So everybody wanted to come to Indiana. People wanted to transfer there. Everybody wanted to go there because they wanted to prove something. That's how it was at Alabama. And then when you went in 2009 and you climbed the mountain successfully, you become the mountain. Now everybody wants to come because of what your program can do for them. And that dynamic changes everything dramatically in terms of how you got to motivate your players, how you put together your team. It's easy to pick guys. Like our 2019 was the first national championship at Alabama. Julio, Mark Barron, all those guys came to Alabama because they wanted to prove something. They were Alabama guys. But once we won, everybody was coming to Alabama for what Alabama could do for them. And that changed the dynamic dramatically and that was more challenging for me as a coach.

[Pat McAfee]

I think Sig will be able to figure it out, but he has certainly done a great job rallying the troops. And let's talk about Cristobal. No doubt, Obviously five time national championships here. He said to us last week, and I'm sure he's reiterated it during One of the 30 media things that that they both have had to do. He said he didn't want to go to his grave without Miami being Miami again. How do you think he's done building this place back up and what do you like about the identity of his team that he's built?

[Nick Saban]

Well, I think their identity is built on physicality. Which doesn't surprise you for an old offensive line coach. I mean, that's what those guys harp on all the time. But I think he's done a phenomenal job. I think they've done a little built these programs a little bit different. And it's taken, you know, a little longer for Mario to be able to bring it to where he wanted to bring it. Didn't have as many transfers, had a lot of guys that he tried to recruit, changed the culture here. And I think he's done a phenomenal job. But I'm going to tell you what, being around here, living around here, there's never been this much excitement in this city since maybe the 1972 Dolphins went undefeated. It's phenomenal and I think it's contributed to by Fernando being from here. You know, Mario having played here, both of them are, you know, Cuban Americans and there's a great community here and a lot of people have been successful that way. It speaks volumes for, you know, the city, but it also speaks volumes for our country and people have an opportunity to come and have a chance to be successful. I think it's phenomenal.

[Pat McAfee]

I had a little cafecito timer a little bit ago. It is a beautiful culture down here that we've been enjoying. Tone has a take on Miami in Fernando Mendoza. And then a question for you.

[Tony]

Yeah, I do. I, I the take on for Miami and Mendoza is just, I know how good he is and how he's going to test the Miami secondary here early. But then you were a lot of is being made, you know, about you and your coaching tree. Obviously Mario was with you, Sig was with you. But there's a situation in this game where Miami's defense, DC Corey Heatherman, Was with Signetti for three years at James Madison. So how does that change things? Like when you're playing your ex coaches or coordinators, stuff like that, do you have to do things differently? Do you worry that he knows who you are? How does that all work when you're coming into a big game like this?

[Nick Saban]

Well, when I went into it, I never wanted to change things that much for our players, you know, thinking that they know what we're going to do. Well, we know what they're going to to do too. So it kind of evens out. But it still comes down to your players being execute what they do and the other guy doesn't know when you're going to do what you're going to do, even if he knows what you might be going to do.

[Pat McAfee]

Amen. Amen.

[Nick Saban]

But, but the only time I really changed significantly was when LSU beat us in 2011 and we played him in the national championship game for a second time. I thought we had to change, but we had a lot of time to do it. In those days you're playing one game for the national championship, so we had a whole month to do it. So. But that's the only time I ever really changed a lot. Whether it was special teams, how we were going to do punt returns, you know, all those things changed so that they couldn't take advantage of what they knew about us.

[Pat McAfee]

Go ahead, A.J.

[A.J. Hawk]

Yeah, we've been. Coach, if you're the Miami offense, I guess how do you slow down this Indiana defense? We've been watching the firsthand now from the end zone. We were lucky enough to call these games and the movement, the stunts, the twist, everything that this D line does for Indiana and these, the linebackers coming from depth, disguise and everything, I guess. What would you do if you're the Miami offense to try to slow them down?

[Nick Saban]

Well, I think the key to the drill is, is Miami's offensive line, can they handle the movement up front by Indiana? And look, when you watch Miami's offensive line, they are one of the, the most well coached offensive lines. I mean they come off step, step, second step on the ground so when you move, they collect you and they don't take big splits. So there's not a whole lot of area to penetrate. And I did a tape on this, you know, for tonight about how they collect people when they move and how they take over people and how they bump. If they can't control the line of scrimmage in this game, they're going to have a hard time. If they can control the line of scrimmage and do what they did to Ole Miss and have what, three or four or five, 13 play drives where they kept the ball for 41 and a half minutes in the game. That's the only way they're going to have a chance to win. But I tell you what, I wouldn't bet against them. And Indiana is not as big, but they're more athletic and they are quick as hell and they execute and they are not going to beat themselves.

[Pat McAfee]

We were talking about you thinking about these two rosters because obviously the Alabama team that we've kind of grown up to see, you got five stars all across the board and you've said multiple times, I've learned I'm not that good of a coach if I don't have good players. So I need to have great players. You look at this Miami team. Go ahead, Tom.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, speaking of that coach, like when you do have that massive star disparity between two teams, like we were talking about it a little bit earlier, is there a chance that some of these guys for Indiana, maybe in a crucial moment like we see, like, hey, hey, this is why this guy was at JMU and why he didn't initially go to an SEC school or an ACC team. If we do get that moment and it's close late, do you think Miami has any advantage because they have played close games throughout the playoffs, whereas Indiana has just beat the shit out of everybody and they haven't really. They haven't played a close game in almost a month since the Big Ten championship.

[Nick Saban]

Well, you know, I got a little theory about the first part of what you said about the stars. We never ever looked at. I know, sick doesn't either at how many stars a guy has. Because I think what you all need to do is look at who's giving out the stars. No. Yeah. They don't know they're asking for him when it comes to what a football player is. So why would you as a coach depend on somebody who's not even a coach evaluating players to give them stars? You know, I say all the time, Josh Jacobs had no stars. Damien Harris was a five star. They were both really good players, don't get me wrong. But Josh Jacobs was a first round draft pick and Damien Harris was a third round Josh Jacobs still playing Damien Harris is not. So when you evaluate the players on your own in terms of the criteria, what you're looking for at each position that fit in your system and the criteria of the kind of people you want to make the culture of your team, what it is, which I think SIG has done a fantastic job of, because it's culture over system. I mean, if you don't have a good culture, you're never going to execute the system, no matter how good it is. So that's what they've done such a great job of in Indiana, in my opinion. So I'm just not a big fan of the stars. I never knew how many stars a guy had.

[Pat McAfee]

They went to your place, they had five. And if they didn't have five, as soon as you offered them, it was funny how those changed. Ah, we got actually a new piece of tape on this guy. Saban likes him. That's a five star. It's a five star. But it is to your point about Sig, you have to adjust. Hungary want to prove something too, like, okay, now you got to carry the torch. It is. It does feel like Indiana has maybe got to that Miami too, though. I mean, that's the Carson Beck kind of coming in. Hey, you got to continue to live up with what Cam did last year and what we're able to accomplish. Good job turning these programs around.

[Nick Saban]

Go ahead, Debo.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah, but this team kind of around Carson Beck, you talked about the energy down here, the excitement down here. It's a lot of home hometown kids down here. Malachi, Tony, Ruben, Bang, Fletcher Jr. What's the messaging in that locker room? Getting prepared for this game in your home stadium? Because I know outside they're eight and a half point dogs. We didn't really know that when we played. They probably know it now in this environment. So what's the messaging in that locker room? Coach Cristobal to the guys, to not make the moment too big in front of your family, your home crowd. What's that messaging going into this big game tonight?

[Nick Saban]

Well, you know, you guys have heard me talk about this before. There's nothing more that motivates this young generation of people than being disrespected. And I'm sure that Miami's probably using the whole fact that they're eight and a half points dogs in this game as a disrespect. You know, they're making us irrelevant in terms of all that we've accomplished. And nobody wants to be irrelevant. So I think that that's probably part of it. But I do think that you have to control the outside noise. You know what I was talking about the other day. You can't get caught up in the hype of this game. That's something for fans. That's something for people to enjoy. Enjoy. It's the entertainment business. That's the way it should be. But if you want to execute as a player, you have to have intensity. You can't play too emotional and make dumb decisions and play undisciplined type of football, which, you know, to me is going to be the challenge for Miami, because when they've struggled, it's because of the mistakes that they make.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Nick Saban]

And they say we have resiliency and we can overcome those mistakes. That's great. I. And I always coach resiliency in our. In our teams. I want them to be relentless. I want them to be resilient. But at the same time, just because you can overcome it doesn't make it okay to do it and make mistakes and put yourself in the hole.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. You start chewing out crystal ball on game day, day after.

[Nick Saban]

Well, he deserved it.

[Pat McAfee]

Hating those penalties. We're in real time watching.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

It's like yo and Tony actually said they. They've been getting to, like, this point and then just pulling out the biggest gun they possibly can and shooting themselves and then immediate penalty, turnover, penalty. It, like, started happening in that big of a game this late in the season. You'd think it wouldn't. And then obviously there's a suspension happening with that. Good news. Good news for tonight's game. This is the best officiating crew that we've seen.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

We've been doing this for multiple years now on the field. A lot of interaction with the refs. This particular show here, and I would say me D button AJ the most, strictly because you guys haven't, you know, you get it. We understand what a ref can do and what a ref can't do for a game. We've seen friends get fired because of bad officiating, and we've seen, like, no accountability to ref. So we know how important they are to literally how every single game goes. What they're letting, what they're not letting. The Big 12 crew, Mike Vander.

[Ty Schmidt]

Vanderbilt.

[Pat McAfee]

Mike Vanderbilt is the white cap.

[Ty Schmidt]

Great.

[Pat McAfee]

This is him right here. He's got a lot of moxie. He's very comfortable, and he lets the boys play. This crew lets the boys play. They like football. They appreciate being there. And I think the. The college world got it right with this group. But that bodes very well for both teams, I guess. But definitely Miami.

[Dee Butt]

Absolutely.

[Pat McAfee]

Definitely bodes well for Miami, coach, because they like to hit some of those penalties. You're talking about shooting themselves in the foot. Some of those are big hits that I think in one of the games they wouldn't be called. In that game it was called these refs will not call those hits.

[Ty Schmidt]

The A and M game was the ones where. Where they were on where we mentioned it several times on the broadcast. Like, wow, these guys are really head on down here. It's kind of just. They're letting it happen.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Nick Saban]

But you know, Miami played a clean game against Ohio State. They wouldn't beat Ohio State if they didn't. They were physical, physical in the game and they actually out physical them when you watch the film. But they have to play that kind of game in this game. One good thing about this officiating crew, I do think it's a good crew. They'll let them play. But the whole idea that this guy's getting suspended for this game, that's not the refs.

[Pat McAfee]

We can't blame these refs.

[Nick Saban]

Can't blame these refs. But it's going to change the future of college football because I don't think people are going to buy into this getting suspended for the next game. Find the guys, do whatever you need to do. But this is a national championship game. People are coming to see the best players play. It's not really fair to the players on Miami's team or that young man that he's going to have to sit out the first half of the national championship game. And I think you're going to see that mindset change a little bit because of what's happening.

[Pat McAfee]

So DBUT actually before you got up here said, unless coach Saban can change this before tonight, you are going to have to be one of the driving forces for these types of things. You are you actually your voice does carry a lot of weight and I appreciated that last game day you said this guy, what are we doing? He's getting. He's going to miss a half out next game. People forgot about the hit already.

[Nick Saban]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And if you want to kick him out for the rest of that game, do it. Do what you got to do. And I'm thankful that they don't send them to the locker room anymore. Like you're allowed to stand on the sideline with your team because you're a part of the team because something happened. Which is.

[Darius Butler]

Is good.

[Pat McAfee]

But we don't need the carryover punishment the next. I don't think any of us really terrible. Especially with the professionalism of sport. To your point, it's like, let's put the best. This is the national championship. The guy's healthy. Yeah. What happened? Well, he kinda led with his shoulder.

[Tony]

He tried playing football too much.

[Pat McAfee]

It was the last.

[A.J. Hawk]

It's like that was a big enough deterrent. You don't have to sit him out of half of the next game. Because you're right. Like, no one remembers that.

[Pat McAfee]

We still don't remember it.

[A.J. Hawk]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. If I. If I'm launching my head at somebody's head, like, I'm not thinking, oh, I don't. I don't have to sit out to half of the next game. Like, 15 yard is bad enough. Like, that's a huge deal, especially on third down.

[Nick Saban]

But let me say this. If I was coaching this group up here, the best deterrent I had as a coach was first, the bench, but second, finding your ass.

[Darius Butler]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

All right.

[Nick Saban]

Because for years I tried to get people to go to class. For years I tried to. People like you get you to go to class. The only way would have been fine. You take your money. The players are making money now. They should be fine. When I started finding players, they started going to class. They didn't miss training table. They were on time all of a sudden. It's amazing.

[Pat McAfee]

I would have got out a loan. So I don't know if you know this. I got $40,000 out in loans in college just to have a good time. I thought if I made it to. To the NFL, I'll be able to pay it off, and if I don't, I'll be in debt with everybody else. There's like 40 interest on those 40.

[Dee Butt]

I don't like that idea, though, Coach. Especially in college. Don't. Don't find it. Find a coach. You know, it's a great, great saying. You either coaching it, either coaching or allowing it. So I think find a coach, find the school. You know, let the kids figure it out. Keep their nil.

[Nick Saban]

So you're either coaching it or making it happen.

[Dee Butt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Or allowing it to happen. Yeah.

[Nick Saban]

Yeah. Allowing that to happen.

[Pat McAfee]

Did you agree with that?

[Nick Saban]

Interesting concept. That's what I always told our coaches. That's how I got on our staff's ass about getting guys to do the right thing.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Nick Saban]

Was if you ain't coaching it, you're letting it happen.

[Dee Butt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

I wouldn't have gone to class, and I would have felt terrible about the special teams guy that would have been taking it on the shins. He would have came and talked to me like, I can't. I don't know what you want from me. Okay. Just check the grades at the end of the semester.

[Tony]

Please, Coach, I Had one more question for you. I saw a quote this week. It was from one of the IU players. I can't remember who it was, but he said, coach Sink doesn't really coach us. He coaches the coaches, and then they coach us. What does he mean by that?

[Nick Saban]

Well, I think when you observe things, you're observing things, okay? So you can either go directly to the player and say, hey, you used the wrong footwork, you had the wrong hand placement, whatever it might be. Coach the guy over top of the coach that's coaching them. Or you can go to the coach and say, hey, look, these guys are not using the right footwork. They don't have the right hand placement. And when I used to coach the coaches was all the time is when we watch the film after practice, you know, on the practice field. I gotta be honest with you. I coached the secondary the whole time. I was a head coach, and I was the GA for whoever the second coach was, but I was taken over.

[Dee Butt]

So.

[Nick Saban]

But everybody else, I like the coaches coach. And then when we watch the film, you know, I would coach the coaches and say, this is bad footwork with the offensive line, or the receiver's not at the right depth in the route or whatever it was, or the punter is not taking the right steps. And when it's New York protection, he's supposed to kick the ball to the left.

[Pat McAfee]

The ball went that way.

[Nick Saban]

We always coach the coaches, and I think that helps them develop. But the other thing I always did with Sig knows is every time we hired a coach, I made the whole staff interview. Because it's two things. It's the whole staff learns maybe a whole new system that this guy runs on offense, defense, or whatever. So it makes them better coaches, and they have better understanding, but it also gets us a better chance to evaluate. Can this guy actually present to players like, we're the staff as players, and how good is he at teaching? So I'm sure Sig does that, too.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think it worked out. How'd you feel about the quote about, you don't go to war with warm cookies? Warm, warm milk and cookies? What do you think? He's trying. He's talking to his players there, right?

[Nick Saban]

Absolutely.

[Pat McAfee]

Everything. Everything him and Cristobal are saying for all this was directly to the players. Like, Cristobal comes on and he's like, all my guys care about is work, okay? That's all they care about. They don't talk. They just want to work. It's like, oh, he's talking to the boys right now. Hey, if anybody's asking any questions, we're just here to work. And then Signet, he's smiling in some of these things. A lot of people saying, hey, Sig. Seemingly smiling a couple of these moments, and we need our edge back.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, that's a psychotic smile. It's not like, oh, hey, how are you doing? You know, it's. He's. He's thinking 40 steps ahead already.

[Pat McAfee]

What a wonderful college football story you would be for Indiana, but also Miami tonight. A lot of storybook shit can happen here at the national championship of big college football, and we're thankful you've joined us all year. You had a hell of a year this year.

[Nick Saban]

Yeah, well, you know, let me say this. It's good for college football when teams like Indiana do what they've done.

[Pat McAfee]

Agreed.

[Nick Saban]

I mean, it's great for college football. Gives everybody hope that we can turn our program around and we can have success if we have the right people and the right culture. But it's also great for college football when communities like Miami, the U, and the tradition that they have get back into it where there's a lot of interest in that. So this game, to me, is tremendous for both sides, and whoever wins, it's going to be great for college football.

[Pat McAfee]

Now, I didn't get the memo because I'm not a part of it. Who are you? SEC people pulling for another national championship? Rooting for anybody other. Anybody else, or what do you guys. Miami. Because it's kind of Southern. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

You got to break up the Big Ten streak.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Yeah. You can't have.

[Nick Saban]

What do you want to me in this. In this day and age of the culture we have now in college football, paying players name, image and likeness, transferring. It's an advantage for the Big Ten. I don't. I don't care. You'll never convince me otherwise. The north, the north, the North. Because people in the south would not go to the north unless you paid them.

[Darius Butler]

Jeremiah Smith Y.

[Dee Butt]

Hey, talk about the tradition, though. I know you had to deal with this on your sidelines with all the former champions and all pros and all these Heisman winners that want to come back and be a part of them as they should with Miami. How do you deal with that? With all these hall of Famers that's probably living local, like, where do you make. How do you decide who can be on that side like and who can't in these type of games?

[Nick Saban]

Well, I used to try to let them all there, but the College Football Playoff people Wouldn't give me enough passes. But at the same time, I think it's good for your players to be able to see people who have been successful in the program and what they learned at the U or Indiana or wherever it is, that they know that they have a chance to carry on and be successful because they identify with, you know, those kind of, you know, people that they can see have success. You know, I mean, it's great for them. And I think we should let that happen in college football as much as we can, because a lot of the guys that play this game, they need role models, and those guys can fill that bill for them, at least from an athletic standpoint. And some of them do great things from a character standpoint and a community support standpoint, which is good for. For players to see as well.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Michael Irvin is a mascot for the Hurricane. I know Kaney is, but Michael Irvin.

[Dee Butt]

Is Sebastian, all right? It's not Kane Sebastian.

[Pat McAfee]

We're in Kaney's building right now. I guess I should have a little bit more respect. Sebastian is his name. Great mascot. And then also Bicey.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Spice's a good one.

[Pat McAfee]

The Hoosier mascot is great. How did you feel about your ex? Players may be giving speeches in the middle of the game. Did you hear about this Carson Beck? Incredible. Ray Lewis?

[Nick Saban]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Ray Lewis walks up to him, and I love that. Crystal ball is like, yeah, if Ray Lewis wants to talk to my quarterback before drive, like, go ahead. Ray Lewis walks up, introduce himself. Hey, Carson, my name's Ray Lewis. Why don't you go win this game for us? And then walks away. I think that's beautiful. I think that's a good thing. When comes to it, the entire university is kind of pouring in. Can't have everybody talking, I think, to a lot of these players. How did you manage that? Was there any, like, did alumni come back, speak to team, talk to team? Like, how comfortable was everybody whenever they came back with your team?

[Nick Saban]

I think the guys were comfortable and they were always welcome.

[Pat McAfee]

Don't fucking talk to my players.

[Nick Saban]

I never had to deal with players trying to talk to players during the game. But, you know, once you establish a culture in an organization, which. Miami had a great culture when Ray Lewis played, and Ray Lewis has talked to our team, and I got a tremendous amount of respect from him as a person, a leader, and as a player. But when you establish a culture, the players expect the other players to live up to that culture. So we were having seven on seven one day, and Julio Jones was there Again, getting rehab. And he was watching seven on seven. And in those days, the coaches weren't allowed to be out there. So receiver drops the ball, kicks the ball, cusses the quarterback, cusses the DB and all that. Julio calls him over and says, that ain't how we do it here, son.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh.

[Nick Saban]

And it was like, 10 years after he played there, so. But I'm saying that tradition and that culture and people being responsible to carry that on is important to me as a coach, that players are doing that to reinforce what you're trying to do, but they know that that's helped past players be successful. It can help me be successful.

[Pat McAfee]

Can we get Julio and Ray Lewis in the West Virginia Mountaineer building as soon as possible? I think we need a lot of that. I think we need a lot of that. Coach, Hell of a season out of you, man. A lot of fun. I hope you have an incredible off season after tonight, and you're the man. Thank you for everything.

[Nick Saban]

Well, it's been fun, and you make it fun for me, and I appreciate it.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, the Predators. Good.

[A.J. Hawk]

How they doing?

[Nick Saban]

Hey, they. They. They got. They beat Colorado in Colorado for the first time.

[Pat McAfee]

Great win.

[Darius Butler]

Big win.

[Nick Saban]

And then got the line and kicked out their ass the next night. But I'm. I'm with them.

[Tony]

Long season.

[Pat McAfee]

We appreciate it. Ladies and gentlemen, the Goat, Nick Saban. Yeah, Coach.

[Darius Butler]

Thank you, guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you, coach.

[Ty Schmidt]

Appreciate you.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, Muted you as soon as I said it. Said, get this man off the stage. That's what Nick did. Back in the truck right there. Hey, you're the best. Can I get a selfie with you? Boys, Boys? Oh, yeah. You look great.

[Nick Saban]

See you later.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, sir. Hey, we might have to fill tonight. Might have to fill tonight. Just something to think about. We're still live, obviously. We might have to fill tonight.

[Dee Butt]

All right.

[Pat McAfee]

You see how long it took to get in here? U.S. open, right? Was the last time president was at an event with a lot of people.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

That was delayed, what, an hour?

[A.J. Hawk]

You think they'll delay the start of the game?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know, man. It was getting in. Yeah. There's a chance that happens to.

[Nick Saban]

Glad to have.

[Pat McAfee]

Of course. Of course. President.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, well, allegedly, too. He wants a pilot, Air Force One himself.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Darius Butler]

For the flyover. That'd be cool.

[Dee Butt]

All right.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, all right, all right. We don't know if he's doing that, but honestly.

[Darius Butler]

But he might. He might. On the way here.

[Pat McAfee]

What did you say about the flyover? The flyover is actually Air Force One.

[Ty Schmidt]

Potentially One of the police officers or security, whoever. When we were walking in, he was like. He said something. He said, you know what? That actually does make. There's a chance that Trump gets here and says, you know what? I think I want to flip the coin. There's, like, a 90% chance that's gonna happen.

[Pat McAfee]

And we assume he is.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

But getting into the building.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, for us.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah. It was crazy.

[Tony]

Secret Service checked every one of our bags, all the way from the top.

[Marshawn Lynch]

Of the bag to the bottom, every zipper.

[Pat McAfee]

They checked my toiletry. Yep. Yeah, yeah. What's down here? Don't look. That's from. Yeah, that. I don't know what that is.

[Darius Butler]

Believe me, when Bone went through, you should have seen him scrambling, because you know what he carries around in his backpack?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I don't know if he carries around.

[Tony]

Yeah, his plug was kicking around.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, Sodexo. Sodexo is one of the stadium suppliers of food, and I'm gonna be honest, they've taken care of us everywhere. They have the Colts building. They have Lucas Oil Stadium. They have Hard Rock here, and they'll obviously be incredible this evening for everybody, and they're gonna move a lot of food in here. Okay. Obviously, these stadium caterers move a lot of food, so Dexo wants to showcase something they got for tonight. They're calling it Thor's Hammer. Not a penis.

[Darius Butler]

Okay, fair enough. Looks like it's.

[Pat McAfee]

Look at this thing.

[Tony]

Is that a brontosaurus leg?

[Pat McAfee]

The head. Sick. You have him the headset.

[Darius Butler]

You showed out, brother.

[Pat McAfee]

Can you put this on real quick? Hold on, hold on.

[Darius Butler]

With the mashed potatoes down here?

[Ty Schmidt]

Garlic mashes. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

It's on you. It's on you. It's on you. Okay. So, chef, good to see you. Nice to meet you. Where are you from? From England. Okay. English. Cockhead galore. Beef. Hey, so what is this? This is Thor's hammer is what you guys are calling it. And where will this be available in the stadium tonight? This is a Thor's hammer. We're going to be serving this in our sobe Q. Yeah. Is a smoked beef leg with a pineapple barbecue glaze. Oh, fall off the bone. You should be able to pull that bone straight out. What's his name right there, Chef?

[A.J. Hawk]

Jason.

[Pat McAfee]

Chef. Jason, great work. Thank you for the delivery, pal. So Thor's hammer here should just look at that. There you go. Yeah. Obviously, we cut through this, and then how is this to be enjoyed? Just straight up pieces. Are we making a sandwich? What do we got going?

[A.J. Hawk]

However, you want?

[Pat McAfee]

We've got a bit of smashed potato on the bottom. Got some slice there for you guys to try however you want. Share it or just eat it all. I really appreciate that. I'm going to grab a piece here. You want a garlic?

[Darius Butler]

Oh, that's good.

[Pat McAfee]

Good? Oh, yeah, that's incredible.

[A.J. Hawk]

You want that tone.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Pineapple barbecue glaze.

[Darius Butler]

That's okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you have a soccer team? I am. I'm Arsenal. I'm from North London. Yes.

[Dee Butt]

Arsenal supporter. Here we go.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

You like Burnley?

[Pat McAfee]

Are you guys good or are you guys ass? We always finished third.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, that's good, though. You get in the championship? Yeah, but we never win. It's always third, like every year up.

[Dee Butt]

Top of the table finish. Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

You guys have any respect for burnley or.

[Pat McAfee]

No. JJ's hammer is about to get swung, you know, if we. Don't worry about it, chef. We appreciate the hell out of you. Thank you, guys. The food is incredible. I know you guys got an incredibly busy day. Thank you for making time to stop by and so good, man. Thank you. You guys, bon appetit. Hey, merci beaucoup. Is that the right one?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Well, for.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you.

[Dee Butt]

From England.

[Darius Butler]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Is French, right?

[Darius Butler]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Up the Arsenals.

[A.J. Hawk]

What do you think about the mls?

[Pat McAfee]

He knows.

[Darius Butler]

He just said shite.

[Pat McAfee]

No, he did not. This dude is really good, dude.

[Darius Butler]

So good.

[Pat McAfee]

To be honest, I don't really know how to it do. Do the, like, good TV with this happening.

[Darius Butler]

There's no way that's.

[Pat McAfee]

But these people wanted to bring us 45 pounds of beef while we're live, so I said definitely, yes. Sodexo is taking care of us. Who's the other one? There's a couple others. Aramark.

[Nick Saban]

There's one.

[Darius Butler]

Yep. Was that Atlanta? I believe so, yeah. And the Pacers building, I believe is so Dexo as well. They hooked up during the finals.

[Tony]

That's some good beef right there.

[Pat McAfee]

All right.

[Nick Saban]

Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

Compass Group, Aramark and ISS are the big three, alongside Sodexo. Okay, everybody focus. That is unbelievable.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, it is.

[Dee Butt]

That is too.

[A.J. Hawk]

What is that?

[Pat McAfee]

Dessert?

[Ty Schmidt]

No, those are plantains.

[A.J. Hawk]

No, these are. I'm telling this thing right here.

[Pat McAfee]

Roman, you want some?

[Darius Butler]

This thing, they explained it. Dessert, the plantain cut me off some meat. So good.

[Pat McAfee]

The game day camera operators are being forced to work long days because of our show being here. You want any of this meat? Do you want some of Thor's meat? You want some of Thor's meat?

[A.J. Hawk]

You want some plantain then?

[Nick Saban]

All right.

[Pat McAfee]

All Right. Sounds good.

[A.J. Hawk]

Some Thor's meat.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, let's. Let's make our picks cuz we're not going to be able to be here for too long. Obviously this will be the game day set for later tonight and Foss and I got named Zoe, one of the who knows all the corporate titles high in production. He's like 6 foot 10. You guys know who he is? Yeah, he's the one that mentioned the thought of like because I think getting in for all the ESPN people just in like the private production area. Hey, we're here to work. We don't have a lot of bags. We're just here to do it. How long it's taken everybody to get into that area. I mean this is, it's locked on. And Miami notorious late showers. Right to things. Oh yeah, another kind of thing. I'll be interested to see what this looks like at kickoff. First, maybe end of first quarter, second quarter, even third quarter. Right.

[Dee Butt]

Major streets around here shut down too. That streets you don't typically shut down.

[Darius Butler]

Well that's, that's about that with the end of the game too. Like hopefully it is close but if it's not in the third quarter, you wonder if some people kind of see on the horizon the long, long way out of this place.

[Tony]

I heard the Uber situation here is really good to get out of.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So I'm happy we're here.

[Dee Butt]

Yeah.

[Dr. Pam Whitmore]

Yeah.

[Marshawn Lynch]

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[Pat McAfee]

What we're telling people who are down here though Coming leave now. Yeah. You just plan on hanging out in the stadium beforehand?

[Darius Butler]

For sure.

[Pat McAfee]

That's not gonna happen. You're gonna be stuck right outside, but in your head you should be thinking.

[Ty Schmidt]

That should be the plan.

[Pat McAfee]

You know what, we'll hang out.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

We'll do stuff around there before we walk around. Maybe get go to the mark shop.

[Nick Saban]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Buy a shirt. You know, we already spent 10,000 to be here. We might as well spend another 300 on a shirt. Maybe that's what your mindset should be showing up to the game tonight. Now, what will actually happen is you doing this right outside.

[Tony]

Having to pee because you've been drinking all day.

[Pat McAfee]

In a single file because you're getting checked.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Individually. Oh, let's not talk about that. It's big college game Monday.

[Dee Butt]

It is.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a big college game Monday. You need to be trying to get here maybe. Now though, if you are coming to the game tonight, we assume that there'll be a lot of Hoosiers fans. Who knows what the Miami fan base will look like. We're obviously excited to experience it all. And also the last college game of the season is going to be an absolute dogfight. These two teams try to hit the hell out of each other. It's a perfect time. I mean, we might as well make our picks. Okay, we'll start with Ty Schmidt, Big Ten Iowa, Hawkeye football fan. You've been on the sideline here for all the games of both of these teams through the playoffs. Who do you like? How do you like it? We will use the eight and a half point spread as the depiction for the picker. This is not straight up.

[Ty Schmidt]

Okay. Yeah, I'm a Big Ten guy, you know, and Indiana for the longest Time was a laughing stock. It was, hey, can't wait to go to Bloomington and beat the absolute shit out of these guys. Get some of our third, fourth string players, you know, get them a little burn, a couple touchdowns maybe. That is no longer the case. Sig is the. Maybe the best leader in all of mankind, certainly the best football coach in all of mankind. So. Yeah, I know that's a big number. Everything we've seen, it's going to be hard for me to pick anyone other than Indiana minus eight and a half. I think there's a good chance that they roll tonight like they've done been rolling for the last month.

[Pat McAfee]

Ty believes Insignetti and the boys ap Toad. I don't know how you've been seeing the field lately for football.

[Tony]

Immaculately.

[Ty Schmidt]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Well, how's the night go then?

[Tony]

I think it's going to be a slow, lower scoring first half. Kind of feeling each other out. Miami's going to try to run the ball, get short, third down situation. So I think it's going to be tight first half, lower scoring, but in the end, IU second half, they're going.

[Pat McAfee]

To open it up.

[Tony]

Give me IU 2713.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, okay, Zach, score prediction.

[Pat McAfee]

Two IU covers with an exec con man really going at Thor's hammer there.

[Darius Butler]

Got no. Got no knife. So what you got to do without.

[Tony]

A big old knife right there.

[Pat McAfee]

Down here. Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

No, no, toss.

[Dee Butt]

Toss it to him.

[Darius Butler]

Here you go.

[Pat McAfee]

Catch.

[Darius Butler]

You got it now you got. Just put it down. Look, I mean, it's a big college game, baby. This is why we play. Eight and a half points feels like a ton, you know, and it does feel as though the U is back. I want Miami to be back because like Saban said, it's just good for ball when programs like Miami are back. I don't know if there's a number you could give me that would be big enough for me to not take IU. It could be 13 and a half and I would still outspread. I could go all the way there with Indiana. And it is a home game. We know how the big college game works. Is a corporate bullshit bunch of guys who aren't fans of either team going to be in these stands for at least probably, you know, 30% of the stadium. Okay? So I'm not worried about any home game, anything like that. All right? DJT is here. I know SIG is going to show out. I know some of these boys. Indiana too, is it. You know, Florida can say, hey, we're a Red State, you know, we get it. Indiana's as red as it gets, bro. Actually red and white. Exactly. It is, it is DJT basically central. All right, so yeah, I'm gonna take the Hoosiers eight and a half. I'm gonna take the Hoosiers 13 and a half.

[Adam Schefter]

Wow.

[Darius Butler]

20 and a half.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, I think it's 20 and a half old.

[Darius Butler]

I think it could turn into a run up where, you know, in the fourth quarter a lot of Miami fans left in Sig saying, hey, you know what? This is going to be the most dominant thing ever. 45 to 20.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so that's three. IU's. AJ Hawk, former Big Ten Player of the month multiple times, obviously has a tree on the campus of Ohio State. Who do you like? How do you like it tonight? Age?

[A.J. Hawk]

It was interesting hearing coach Saban talk about the. You know how you're gonna block this Indiana D line. I like Indiana 30 to 17.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, that's a cover. Okay, so four people saying Indiana covers tonight on this particular set. Are we about to have a New England Patriot, NFL Live type situation? Is Deebot gonna come to his senses and say Indiana or is he staying with Miami D Butt, how's it going? How do you feel about what's happening here?

[Dee Butt]

Kind of expected. This is kind of what, what, what the public is feeling too. You said what, 70, 70 some percent of the money on him. Even with this, on the Hoosiers, even with this big spread here. And I know it is a great story and we love stories in sports. It's back to back years now. See, he's done tremendous thing with this team. Number one team in ball. Got the Heisman winner coming home. Could he win it all in front of his family, in front of his friends? No, he won't. Five national championships from this team, Miami Hurricanes. You'll see a bunch of the legends on the sideline. Chris Ball, he went back for a reason. And this is the reason a bunch of these boys stay home. They wanted to win the Miami Hurricanes their sixth national championship tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

T Butts got Miami straight up plus eight and a half. Carson Beck is an underdog 2 and 0 at Georgia. Beat Texas twice, 30 at Miami 5 and 0 as an underdog with an 80.28 QBR. That's out of 100. Carson plays his best whenever you're picking against him. Crystal Ball is certainly pulling from that. The Miami Hurricane, South Florida boys all across the board, they don't like shit getting talked about them. And on the flip side, this Indiana team Has been a machine, an absolute juggernaut. Perfect fundamentals, perfect technique, perfect play calls at the perfect time. And they've steamrolled everybody they've seen thus far in a college football football playoffs. Will that continue tonight? We shall see. I'll be making a pick on game day. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. From myself, con man. Congrats to your Patriots.

[Darius Butler]

Hey, thank you very much.

[Pat McAfee]

Ty Schmidt. Congrats to the Big Ten representing tonight.

[Ty Schmidt]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Tone Diggs. You're seeing the board immaculately. Congrats to you. Thank you. A.J. hawk. The big tens here.

[A.J. Hawk]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

D butt, South Florida Broad, Broward county hall of Famer. Congrats to you.

[Dee Butt]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's enjoy the hell out of the big college game tonight. Football's wrapping up soon. We'll be back tomorrow. Goodbye. All right, I think we gotta get out of here, boys.

[Nick Saban]

Okay. All right.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's enjoy this day. We thank you for allowing us to do this for a living. Tonight is going to be special. The last college football game of the season. It's been an incredible season for college ball. Obviously the behind the scenes stuff need to get worked out, but the ratings are up and to the right for football. And that's how it's going to remain for the foreseeable future. The future. And we're thankful to be a part of it. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together. Great work in the truck, boys. Great work back. And then truck B too. Good job, truck. Okay. Good job, Truck B. Faso, Roman, entire game day crew. Thank you for working extra. Now granted, you guys got six month vacations after this. Okay? You guys have had a hell of a season. We appreciate the hell out of all you. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in a sing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Come on.