CFP Bracket Breakdown, Unfair Paths, and Format Alternatives With Todd McShay. Plus, How Many NFL Teams Will Have New QBs Next Year?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ryen Russillo Podcast – CFP Bracket Breakdown, Unfair Paths, and Format Alternatives With Todd McShay

Release Date: December 9, 2024

In this engaging episode of The Ryen Russillo Podcast, host Ryan Russillo teams up with Todd McShay from The Ringer to dissect the latest developments in both the NFL and college football landscapes. The conversation delves deep into the intricacies of the College Football Playoff (CFP) bracket, the looming quarterback changes in the NFL, and proposes potential reforms to the current postseason formats. Additionally, the episode features a lively "Live Advice" segment, offering personal insights and humorous interactions among the hosts.

---

1. College Football Playoff (CFP) Bracket Breakdown

Ryan Russillo and Todd McShay kick off the episode by analyzing the newly announced 12-team CFP bracket. They express mixed feelings about the selections, particularly focusing on the inclusion of Southern Methodist University (SMU) over other powerhouse programs like Indiana.

• Ryan Russillo highlights the committee's struggle:

  "The committee put too much emphasis from the beginning on wins and losses and not enough emphasis on strength of schedule, strength of record."
  (00:26)

• Todd McShay concurs, pointing out the inherent challenges:

  "It's a bind because they had to put SMU in to not devalue conference championships."
  (28:18)

The hosts argue that while having 12 teams increases inclusivity, it also brings significant debates over team rankings and the fairness of seedings. They scrutinize the strength of schedule for teams like South Carolina, Alabama, and Ole Miss, questioning the placement of SMU and the exclusion of Indiana despite comparable records.

• Ryan Russillo questions the committee’s choices:

  "If they put SMU in, why aren't they putting an SEC team like South Carolina or Ole Miss instead of Indiana?"
  (28:47)

The discussion extends to the potential matchups, expressing concerns over the path teams like Oregon, Georgia, Texas, and Penn State might face in the playoff structure. They explore the difficulties these teams may encounter, emphasizing the need for a balanced and merit-based selection system.

• Kyle comments on the bracket's design:

  "Arizona State and Boise State are just sitting around waiting and if they win one game, they're in the semis."
  (46:10)

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2. NFL Quarterback Changes and Team Dynamics

Shifting focus to the NFL, Russillo and McShay discuss the potential turnover in quarterback positions across teams in the upcoming offseason. They analyze the Buffalo Bills' defensive statistics and their implications for the team's performance.

• Ryan Russillo notes:

  "The Bills are ninth against the pass, which is important because when you play the Bills, you have to keep up with Josh Allen."
  (03:56)

The conversation also touches on the Kansas City Chiefs' defensive prowess and the ongoing concerns about Patrick Mahomes being frequently targeted by defenses, leading to significant hits and potential long-term impacts on his performance.

• Todd McShay emphasizes Mahomes' resilience:

  "Mahomes is at the top of the quarterbacks list you can trust in critical moments."
  (08:42)

They debate whether teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers and their current quarterback situation could realistically compete with the elite teams, ultimately questioning the feasibility of certain teams making unexpected playoff runs.

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3. Postseason Format Alternatives and System Flaws

A substantial portion of the discussion revolves around the flaws in the current playoff format and suggestions for improvement. Russillo advocates for a more talent-centered selection process, incorporating insights from NFL scouting departments to better assess team strengths.

• Ryan Russillo suggests:

  "There should be someone representing the talent, like how much talent these teams truly have."
  (62:27)

The hosts critique the overemphasis on win-loss records without adequately considering the quality of opponents faced. They propose including a representative with expertise in player talent evaluation within the committee to enhance decision-making.

• Kyle adds:

  "Jim Nagy type who's overseeing the process that is most closely representative of a college scouting department in the NFL."
  (64:25)

They also explore the implications of having a more dynamic seeding system that rewards true team strength and scheduling difficulty, aiming to create a more equitable and competitive playoff landscape.

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4. Live Advice Segment: Personal Insights and Humor

Towards the latter part of the episode, the podcast shifts gears to a light-hearted "Live Advice" segment where the hosts tackle personal questions and share amusing anecdotes. Topics range from divorce advice to the pros and cons of getting tattoos.

• A listener queries about handling a breakup via text, prompting McShay and Kyle to offer thoughtful and humorous suggestions:

  "You need to be real about it. Show some humility."
  (84:05)

• The discussion on tattoos includes playful bets and personal experiences, highlighting the hosts' camaraderie and personalities beyond sports analysis.

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5. Concluding Thoughts and Future Outlook

In wrapping up, Russillo and McShay reiterate their anticipation for the upcoming college football games and express hope for future improvements in the playoff system. They acknowledge the complexities of balancing inclusivity with competitive integrity, emphasizing the need for ongoing dialogue and adjustments.

• Ryan Russillo states:

  "We can't go back to just semifinals and finals or certainly not just a BCS with a final game."
  (45:12)

The episode concludes with expressions of excitement for the evolving football season and a commitment to continuing the conversation in future episodes.

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Notable Quotes:

• Ryan Russillo on playoff format challenges:

  "The committee put too much emphasis from the beginning on wins and losses and not enough emphasis on strength of schedule, strength of record."
  (00:26)

• Todd McShay on quarterback trust:

  "Mahomes is at the top of the quarterbacks list you can trust in critical moments."
  (08:42)

• Kyle on committee improvements:

  "Jim Nagy type who's overseeing the process that is most closely representative of a college scouting department in the NFL."
  (64:25)

---

This episode offers a comprehensive examination of current sports topics, blending expert analysis with entertaining banter. For listeners interested in the nuanced discussions of playoff systems and NFL dynamics, alongside relatable personal segments, this episode of The Ryen Russillo Podcast is a must-listen.

Transcript

[Ryan Russillo]

We've got McShay part of our live broadcast on YouTube, but it's the same segment here for the podcast. The college football brackets are out and we'll sift through it. Also, take a look at the other formats of postseason football and if those would have actually made more sense. Doesn't mean I'm not going to enjoy the playoffs.

[Todd McShay]

I feel like I have to say that a lot.

[Ryan Russillo]

NFL Week 14 all right, the Bills lose. Does it mean anything? Let's take a look at the other I don't want to worry about this team tier. Also Kansas City. Another win, a one score win. We've been there before, dominant throughout history, now for about a decade in that division and also pivot that into a Bryce Young Sunday that I enjoyed. Once again, how many teams are definitively going to be changing quarterbacks this offseason? And if that list gets long, where are the quarterbacks coming from? And we've got a great live advice where both Kyle was great and Cerudi may have invented the best TV show that we've never seen. This episode of the Ryan Rilla Podcast is presented by State Farm Bring home a win with an affordable price when you bundle home and auto with the personal price plan, Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. This episode is brought to you by Duluth Trading Company. From what I've seen over the years, if you want to up your game, then settling for average shouldn't be an option. Duluth trading outthink, outsmart and outdo average with every piece of men's and women's gear they build.

[Todd McShay]

It's why they fabricate fire hose pants.

[Ryan Russillo]

To be especially tough, pack their bibs full of pockets and make sure buck naked underwear feels barely there. It's all about innovating ingenious gear that you just won't find anywhere else. Shop online or in store today. Visit duluthtrading.com okay, week 14 I want to start with Buffalo losing in Los Angeles. So the Rams put up all sorts of offense, 457 yards of it. They start 10 of 11 on third downs. They finish 11 of 15 on third downs with a fourth down conversion in there. Stafford has a 96.7 QBR out of 100 for the game. Historically, it's one of the best games he's ever had And I think it's also important to point this out though. With the Bills losing at LA, the Rams are kind of good. 1 and 4 start, 6 and 2 in their last date, and they've figured it out because the beginning of the year, whether it was the receiver injury, not knowing the defensive set up and then the O line shuffle and Stafford getting smashed all over the place like this is a remarkable job by Sean McVeigh and figuring this thing out and just another year where it's like, appreciate Stafford. All right, so we could. Because Buffalo's a Super bowl contender, obviously we could sit here on a Monday and ask some questions about the Bills defense. They are 17th in opposing yards per play allowed. So I think that's just a really important stat, kind of cuts through it. Like each play, what does the other team do? That's the lowest of any of the super bowl contenders, is actually slightly behind Baltimore, but it's 5.4 versus 5.5 for Buffalo. So some of the margins become really thin here. Maybe you don't think Baltimore is a Super bowl contender with that pass defense that we've talked about and all the penalties and the issues with Tucker as a kicker. I still think they are. So there you go. Look. Detroit's 14th in opposing yards per play allowed. So if you look at the Bills defense, you could say, okay, what's, what's good out of this group? Well, they're ninth against the pass, which I think is important because when you play the Bills, you have to keep up with Josh Allen, so you have to throw the football. So I think this is one of the times, the rare times, where some of the non adjusted stats are pretty.

[Todd McShay]

Telling because you can just look at.

[Ryan Russillo]

The old school, hey, how many passing yards do you give up? And knowing that all these other teams are trying to keep up with you, the fact that the bills are top 10 still is a good sign. You know, if you look at some of the other traditional stuff with this, you want to know who number, who's the number one team defensively against pass, Just passing yards. It's Tennessee. Why?

[Todd McShay]

Because you don't have to pass against them.

[Ryan Russillo]

They have the third worst point differential in the NFL.

[Todd McShay]

And you know, even though they give.

[Ryan Russillo]

A bunch of points in yards to Stafford and Stafford hit 10 pass plays for 15 or more yards, I just don't care because the Bills are eighth and scoring and they're there with all the other big boy teams. Like all the real football teams are basically within that top 10 in opponents scoring. So I don't care about a loss. That would be the tier. Or maybe the tier would be let's not do this on a Monday TV show tier because if anything I think it's, it's me being more impressed with Josh Allen getting Buffalo back into this game because after the block pond at 17 7, nothing seems to be going Buffalo's way. They get down 31:14 in the second half and he brings him back. Even though the Rams did a really good job of kind of closing things out, controlling things at the end and you hope Buffalo could get a stop, they couldn't get it. There's really not much about this loss that concerns me and I would put Buffalo in that tier of let's not do this on a Monday TV show after a loss segment with Buffalo. As we just mentioned, Detroit, Philadelphia. Is Minnesota in it? I think it's a fair question because Minnesota is a funny storyline team if you think of the development of how their 24 has gone. They get off to this incredible start, the Darnold reclamation project, but they're actually doing it a lot with defense. And then you see what they did yesterday with their weapons at wide receiver and how clean Darnold has been. You know, they win all those games that started. They lose back to back in October, a two point loss to Detroit, another loss to la, who again we've now defined as a good football team and they've won six straight since those two losses. So Minnesota feels somewhat off the radar or under the radar or whatever you want to say. Darnold has been interception free for a month. But with Minnesota, and it's a bit of the college football thing that some people didn't understand when I try to explain it is that I think we all have like carryover equity with all of these teams. Like why do you think certain teams would be good in August in any sport? Well, in basketball you still have some time to pick it up. Baseball's in season, but you get the point.

[Todd McShay]

Like why do any of us think.

[Ryan Russillo]

Anything about any of these teams? Why is there more buy in for Buffalo or Kansas City or maybe Philadelphia than there would be Minnesota? Because with Minnesota it's still really new. Well, whatever it is in 24 it's worked out for them and Darnold has been terrific. Who else should be on that list? Minnesota feels like yes, but again we know there'll be resistance. Green Bay maybe not yet. Jordan Love's been dealing though. He is now leading the NFL in yards per pass attempt the last month. It leaves Pittsburgh.

[Kyle]

We haven't mentioned yet.

[Ryan Russillo]

Maybe I'm not there yet though. Where if the Steelers won the super bowl, that would be surprising. Like, that's the question you have to ask yourself. And I do that exercise a lot. Like, okay, here are the teams that they won the Super Bowl. Okay, that makes sense. If the Pittsburgh Steelers win the super bowl and we're sitting there in New Orleans going, how did that happen? Like, I still feel like it would be a surprise despite the defense, despite Wilson's improvement and where they are with all these other teams and a couple really nice resume wins. So that leaves Kansas City. That's certainly on the list. 14 straight wins, one score games. Not 14 overall, but 14 straight wins in one score games. And they did it again last night. They clinched their ninth straight AFC west, which is the second longest streak in NFL history behind all the Patriots, who won the AFC East 11th straight. The last time the Chiefs didn't win the AFC west was when Peyton Manning won a Super bowl with Denver in 2015. This was a great game last night. There was just all these different things that were happening. I think Kansas City's tackling in the first half, limiting the Chargers offensively. I love their linebackers like we all love Chris Jones at D line and how they use him and line him up all over the place. I love Kansas City's linebackers, how hard they tackle, how intense they are, their pursuit. It's just a lot of fun to watch. And so Mahomes, who's getting beat up again, we'll get you some of those numbers. He was hit 13 times last night. He's been knocked down 46 times this season, which is the third highest total of any quarterback in the NFL behind only Stafford at 52 and Burrow at 50. So I get worried. Their new left tackle, he leaves the game. Juwan Taylor at right tackle, who I feel like the refs had just given up calling false starts on him because.

[Todd McShay]

He keeps doing it.

[Ryan Russillo]

It's like he's not going to learn.

[Todd McShay]

All right, whatever.

[Ryan Russillo]

The tough love hasn't worked with the penalties. But as much as you worry about Mahomes, there's dudes going down all over the field. The Chargers are missing receivers, the Chiefs are missing defensive backs. And it's this back and forth game where Herbert's responding. And I hope this year again, I know I've, I've touched on it a few times. Like I really hope that we're not trying to reassess who Herbert is or isn't. If they don't win a Playoff game. They're projected to be in the playoffs right now. They seem like a really good football. They're not in that list of tier one, like super bowl contenders. But Mahomes just steps into his Mariano Rivera role and the game is over. It's just like, okay, what's going to happen here? He's going to make the right decision every time and then they're going to walk off and kick a game winning field goal. But there was still a play here that I thought was really important. So the Chargers are out of timeouts, we're at the two minute warning. The Chiefs are facing third and seven. I don't like when teams are criticized for passing in some of these moments. I mean, it depends on who your quarterback is, right? But like there are third downs where sure you want to run some clock, but do you want to run clock so bad that you hand it off to your running back to just run it up the middle for one yard to run clock, giving yourself no chance of converting the third down and running out even more clock? Teams are far more aggressive now, which I think is a good thing. But there still seems to be like teams that'll prioritize clock over just having a chance of converting third down. Well, when you have Mahomes, you don't have to worry about any of that stuff because on this third and seven play, he drops back, flushes out to the right, avoids a tackler and then hits, hits Kelsey for nine yards. First down, they're going to run clock and they're going to win this game. Now apparently the conversation on the sideline, if you looked at some of the post game stuff, was that Homes basically telling Reed like, I got it. I can't imagine there's any debate like are you ever going to be a head coach going, no, we, you know, let's just run a little bit more clock here. I don't trust you in this spot. The other part of this that speaks to the chemistry between Kelsey and Mahomes that we're all aware of is that Kelsey was supposed to run some corner route and then realized the coverage was different than what they thought pre snap or they just weren't. They weren't calling a play that was going to match whatever the defense was. So he just stopped his route, sat down, free spot, Mahomes avoids the pressure, flips it to him first down and.

[Todd McShay]

That'S going to be it.

[Ryan Russillo]

And they're going to line up for a game winning field goal. One second left with, by the way, their third string Kicker who hits it off the upright. And of course, because it's the Chiefs, it goes in. You would think in the NFL because these are professional quarterbacks, the best in the world to do this, that there should be a longer list of quarterbacks a head coach can trust in that spot. But I don't know that the list is as long as it should be. And Mahomes is certainly at the top of that list. And I can't imagine being a fan of other teams in the AFC west because you don't get to appreciate how special this is because you hate it so much. And I understand why you hate it. But I did have this thought which kind of brings it back full circle with Pittsburgh. Question is, if you're a Steelers fan.

[Todd McShay]

Or whatever, I mean, if you're just.

[Ryan Russillo]

Thinking about the Steelers and what they're.

[Todd McShay]

Good at, and we know that this.

[Ryan Russillo]

Is a very diminished version offensively of what the Mahomes Chiefs have been, you're.

[Todd McShay]

Probably having a moment being like, we.

[Ryan Russillo]

Can'T beat those guys, like, we can't do that. We can't do what the Chargers did and maybe just hang in there one more possession, get. Get a stop on third down when they're backed up and get the ball back. Like, we, we can't do that. And I don't blame you for doing it. But for anybody else that's not passionately aligned with the Steelers, you picking them.

[Todd McShay]

Are you going to pick that Steelers.

[Ryan Russillo]

Team on the road in Kansas City to pull that game off knowing that the Chiefs just feel automatic in a league where it's not supposed to be automatic in one score games?

[Todd McShay]

We got a stat for you.

[Kyle]

Stats to impress people.

[Todd McShay]

Okay, thanks.

[Ryan Russillo]

War gone.

[Todd McShay]

All right, so I don't know how.

[Ryan Russillo]

Many of you were locked into Bears ners. I watch it because of Caleb Williams.

[Todd McShay]

And this is.

[Ryan Russillo]

This is about as bad as I can ever remember seeing it. So The Niners led 240 at halftime. Total yardage. Are you ready for this? 319 for San Francisco. 4. 4 total yards for Chicago. If you told the high school team, hey, you're playing an NFL team this week, the only thing you have to do is get more than 4 yards in the first half. I know that sounds really insulting. Could you tell a high school team, all you have to do is not be outgained by 315 yards in the first half? That's probably less likely, but yeah, I think if you had a high school staff, you said, all we need is five yards and we did it. Mission accomplished. It doesn't matter if it's 50 to nothing in the first half. We just need five yards. That's about as bad as it gets for a first half in this league. I want to talk Carolina. They got a screen. I was locked into Carolina, Philadelphia, because this Bryce Young resurgence is real and it's been fun. It's three games now, all losses, all close losses, Tough ones where Bryce Young looks like a completely different qb. Sure there's going to be a few decisions in there that you're not going to love. Facing third and three from his own 36, two minutes to go in the first half. He throws a terrible pick. They're up 10, seven in that spot, like backed up that deep. Third down, you can't turn the ball over. You got to make them go to the length of the field. He gives them a short field. Philadelphia scores a touchdown.

[Todd McShay]

That's a mistake.

[Ryan Russillo]

There was a turnover on downs prior to the last Turnover. On downs, fourth and two throw. Didn't really love it. But there's a third and 11 escape from the end zone. Which reminds you of why this guy was picked number one overall. He actually threw the potential game winning touchdown to Legette who dropped it. Was just not able to corral it. Probably should have pulled that one off. As much as I loved him at South Carolina, so there were, there were always, you know, we're not talking about perfect scores here with quarterbacks so we want to nitpick and be like, oh, I don't love that, I don't love that. Just watching him, he looks different. He actually looks like he's having fun playing football. Where he looked shot mentally the first half of this season. If you think of the storylines, of the idea that he was never going to play for the Panthers again, which never made any sense to me at the time. Time, which I said. But then to see him back to this gives you hope. And the reason I bring that up is because if you were to look through and I think it's important to do this towards the end of a season project, which teams you think could be making a change at quarterback. Let's cast a wide net here and then try to whittle the list down because I don't think Carolina is on the list anymore based on what we've seen from Bryce, which is not what you would have thought when he was benched. So again I'm doing this to be.

[Todd McShay]

Like cover all the bases here.

[Ryan Russillo]

Knowing as I say it out loud, I don't actually believe that this quarterback or team is part of this list. So Tua, it's only a health thing, but he's been really good. He missed that month and a half. The Rams game wasn't great. Green Bay, he got beat up in that one. But only one pick and the two a knock is always the off schedule stuff. Well, all of that stuff against the jets in that comeback yesterday, that last drive, a lot of it was off schedule and he found a way and the jets also found a way to make all that stuff happen. So look, he's not even on the list. On the other side of it though, with that Rogers loss and the Jets, I don't know how the jets just run this back. You tried, you got hurt, came back, you made every change you could possibly want. You got rid of the head coach, you fired the GM who did a good job, you brought in his receiver. Like how are you running all of this back when if he were special still or just below special, I'd understand it. But he's not. He's not. And I don't know how you'd run it all back. Cleveland, we know what the deal is. It's all about money. The dead cap hit before June 1st is like 80 plus million. They could do it after June 1st and carry it for two years. I wouldn't rule out anything in Cleveland, even though we've been obsessing over what the dollar amount would mean for moving on from DeSean Watson after a fully guaranteed contract. But that might not be a definitive yes. Yes is actually how it's pronounced. Jacksonville's a no. Tennessee is a yes. Will Levis had a throw man, two routes to the left. The back of the end zones covered. The front of the end zone is wide open. The original read was the right side. So you can understand him shifting over and going through the progressions and not.

[Todd McShay]

Seeing the under underneath guy.

[Ryan Russillo]

The problem is that it's the same stuff we saw in college. It's the same thing you've seen from Will Levis.

[Todd McShay]

He just doesn't see it.

[Ryan Russillo]

And I think it's time to turn the page.

[Todd McShay]

Vegas is a yes.

[Ryan Russillo]

They were on Desmond Ritter yesterday. The Giants are a yes. Drew Lock, Tommy Cutlet, Cutlets here, Atlanta. Kirk is definitely struggling, but his deal was basically a two year deal. 100 million guaranteed in those first two.

[Todd McShay]

And the reason why, I think even.

[Ryan Russillo]

With Penix and the draft pick they spent on him and as good as he looked in limited time, you probably bring them back financially. And I'll get to why that reason makes the reasoning behind is really the way I should say it. Minnesota, this isn't even like. I know there were some questions about Darnold and was it wearing off a little?

[Todd McShay]

I don't even know why you would mess with it.

[Ryan Russillo]

Just pay the guy. Like, look around. And Darnold has been really, really clean after kind of a disastrous game against Jacksonville. The Colts, I don't see it. I don't think they see it. I know some people think it's been better. I think there's a real tell with how teams feel about their quarterbacks, what they let them do in the red zone. And now some of it can be a little misleading because if you look at Jalen, hurts pass attempts in the red zone, well, the numbers are just going to be lower because they're so good at running the football and they can just convert at the goal line every single time. So that can be, you know, look, Richardson, somebody, they like to run a little bit more, but I don't know that they trust him to throw inside the 20 at all. But he's played 13 games, so you probably have to run it back. So the Colts might not be a definitive QB change team here. Pittsburgh depends on what the options are. Carolina, like I said, I think it's turned into a no New Orleans with car. It's a bit like the Kirk Cousins conversation that we had where his number was restructured, which means that, you know, there's just some math on this where it would be a dead cap hit of 50 million in 2025. But remember, the cap right now is 255 million. It's up 47 million since 2022. So say the cap is like 275 million. Some of these dead cap numbers that we think are impossible to manage. Now, the Saints have all sorts of other problems with their cap, but there's going to be bigger pills that can be swallowed here. And I'll never forget, like the Antonio Brown thing at the time of the Steelers, like, everybody's like, no, they can't. The cap, it's just too big. It's too much. And they're like, nope, we're done. We've had it. By the way, another little factoid for you. Did you know that Derek Carr is actually younger than Taysom Hill, who is now on. On the ir? All right, so if we go through and say, okay, give me the definitive yeses, as we've talked about everybody here, it's the jets, it's Tennessee, it's Vegas, it's the Giants, let's say there's two more. Say there's six. But the problem is as I finish here in 24, we all know there were six quarterbacks drafted in the top 12. Go and take a look at the mocks.

[Todd McShay]

Now.

[Ryan Russillo]

It's December, so the mocks will certainly be different in the next few months. But it's pretty consensus as of right now, it's either Shador Sanders or Cam Ward. I've seen Cam going one. I've seen Shador going one. I've seen generally most of them projected to be like top six picks after that.

[Todd McShay]

Good luck.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yours is disappointing.

[Todd McShay]

Beck I think is a disaster.

[Ryan Russillo]

I like all are both better than both of them. Then you start getting to the nussmeyer group about of all of this. There's not the depth in this draft, at least the way we see it today for there to be enough quarterbacks for all these teams to be this aggressive to make that kind of change. So say there are six teams. Where are the quarterbacks coming from? That's why when I talk about Atlanta, it's like they'll probably just keep Cousins and then figure it out unless one of them becomes super desirable in the trade market. It's why Pittsburgh probably just kind of runs it back. Like I saw a mock draft where Beck. I've seen mocks where no other quarterback. There's no third quarterback in the first round. I've seen Beck going be the third quarterback. I've seen Milroe be the third quarterback to Pittsburgh, which makes zero sense whatsoever. You might as well just keep fields.

[Todd McShay]

And I don't know how anybody is.

[Ryan Russillo]

Excited about Beck after this season. So say it's six yeses. Where are the quarterbacks coming from? Because even if there's a lot of teams that want to get aggressive and make change and maybe the list should be longer and there's always a couple surprises, I don't think the supply is going to be there this off season. The NBA season is flying in. FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook, wants you to catch all the action. Because right now FanDuel is giving everyone three months of NBA league pass. All you have to do to catch every tip off and buzzer beater is place any $5 bet on the NBA. Okay? Did you know just last week, because I remember it, the Rockets played at Golden State on Thursday. They lost. 99, 93. Steph Curry didn't even play in that game. Golden State shot it, okay? Houston shot it terribly. Is it a defensive matchup thing? Well, look, they're laying two and a half tonight. I think Golden State just in general is leaking is kind of why I was looking at that game last week. You say Houston isn't at the same pace to start the season. You also have to worry about the injury reports with all of this stuff, especially in the NBA with everything else going on. But I like looking at the schedule here a little where Houston has played games Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday and Golden State has played games Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday. Maybe that's the play here a little bit. So I like the Rockets minus two and a half. So the next time you get a hunch on who's going to win or how many points a player will score, you can watch your picks come to life live. Just visit FanDuel.com Ryan R Y E N and get three months of NBA League Pass courtesy of FanDuel. I love the live stuff. We were in Colorado, was all over it, had a game, wasn't going my.

[Todd McShay]

Way, hedged it, got it all back anyway.

[Ryan Russillo]

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[Todd McShay]

Welcome in and thanks for joining us here. The Ryan Rossello show live broadcasting on YouTube from Ringer Spotify. And as we are joined almost every Monday throughout the football season, it's Todd McShay and we have history the first ever 12 team playoff bracket in college football. The teams the bracket announced yesterday and there's a few things that I want to get into, we're going to go through the bracket and kind of sift through this. Obviously there's always drama when it's college football a little bit later. I actually want to look at what the other systems would have given us and see if people like that better. But I think the headline for me, Todd, and we were lucky enough to kind of recap all the conference championship games on Saturday. Enjoy joining you and mensch on the McShay Show. But my headline is that I'm not really mad about anything. Maybe it was in preparation for what this would look like, but the selection of the teams, I. As far as the 12 teams that are in, there's. There's nothing where I'm like, outraged about any of this.

[Kyle]

Okay. All right. I wouldn't say outraged, but. But I think mistakes were made. Okay. I think mistakes were made, and it wasn't from the second to last to the final College Football Playoff rankings. It was prior to that. And that's the problem I have with the committee. The committee put too much emphasis from the beginning on wins and losses and not enough emphasis on strength of schedule, strength of record. And I say that because they put themselves in a bind. That bind was after they. And we did a reaction show, not off of the last rankings yesterday, but the week before, because I said all along that's the most important rankings show that we have, because that's going to reveal what the committee is saying. And then obviously the committee chair comes out and says, if you're not playing in a college football player championship game, a conference championship game, there's not going to be movement in the clusters below, Right? So. And it's not going to affect necessarily whether you get in or get out. And they stayed true to that. And so they. Because they put more emphasis on wins and losses and de. Emphasized the strength of schedule and strength of record, they wound up in a bind because they. With SMU, ultimately, SMU, it should never have been a situation where SMU was sitting there in the top 12. If you look at the strength of schedule, strength of record. Look at South Carolina, look at Alabama, look at Ole Miss. Strength of schedule for South Carolina is 13. Strength of record was 9. Alabama's strength of schedule was 18. Three wins over top 25 teams. Ole Miss's strength of schedule was 14. Compare that to Indiana. Their strength of schedule was 67. Zero wins over top 25 teams. SMU 57 strengths of schedule compared to 13, 18, and 14 for those SEC teams. So when we got to the situation at the very end in the last rankings, given all the information that they had provided, they had to put SMU in because they would have then devalued the conference championships. And what would have happened was like next Year, it would have been a disaster. Teams would have opted out of playing in their conference championships. So the short term loss for the committee and for college football is Alabama's. Not in. In my opinion, it should be South Carolina. But it really came down, given the rankings to Alabama versus smu. And so they'll lose money on that. Can you imagine the matchup, Penn State vs Alabama vs the money they stand to gain and the attention and the excitement for Penn State versus smu. There's a massive difference.

[Todd McShay]

But that shouldn't be, that shouldn't be the reason.

[Kyle]

No, I understand that. But in the long run, this is a business though. And in the long run, if, if they put, if they took SMU out and put in one of the SEC schools, they're, they're saying they're sending the message moving forward, don't play in your, in your conference championships. And that's a much bigger disaster. So my issue all along has been the committee and how they valued the wins and losses versus the strength of schedule.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, they did a bad job where they really prioritized as much as standings, but that was something I was used to throughout the entire year. Like you started to see it happen, happen in the way they had treated Indiana. But all right, there's a lot there. The conference championship part of it. Do I think SMU is better than those teams? No, but stop there.

[Kyle]

But aren't we supposed to have the 12 best teams?

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, but then that becomes a caveat.

[Kyle]

Of conference champ, of conference championships, which I do like. And we'll get to the seating part of that, which is a disaster, I believe will be changed next year. But aren't we trying to reward conference champions plus reward the other seven teams that are the best seven teams in college football?

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, but I mean, look, here's problem is every year you're comparing different groups, okay? And I understand, like they pinned themselves in this spot where they had said, we're not going to penalize teams for losing in their conference championship games. Which by the way, like, I think at its core that's a good thing. Like you should, like when as I was looking through it, I'm going, you know, it really sucks if these teams play in their conference championship game, lose, and then they get bounced out of it. So I understand what he's saying, but each year there could be different scenarios. Actually, there will be different scenarios. And by the way, like, the whole idea, now that the committee has married themselves to this, it's a different committee every year, so new people are going to see things differently just because they're replacing the people that came up with this in the past. So I kind of like having this rule. But you can't have any, like, hard and fast rules with this because the pool of teams that you're arguing about every year simply changes. In the past, we have defaulted to. And we'll use Alabama as that example because it works here. Again, when people would sit around and be like, you really think there's four teams better than Alabama? Usually the answer is always no. And so when they got in, I had no issue with it. I argued against it. In the TCU year, the year where Ohio State had the two losses and Fox was selling you on this idea that Bama was a relative relevant as a team being added in. I was on ESPN going like, this is a joke. I don't even. That was the year Ohio State had the Iowa loss. So there's a lot of times that that kind of Bama, like, do you think anybody's. I'm okay with thinking there's 12 teams better than Alabama this year. I was over it, completely over it after the Oklahoma game. After I tried, I started kind of propping them back up a little bit. I'm more aligned with you with South Carolina and Ole Miss. But it's kind of that one loss versus zero loss thing where I think it's wrong to just assume the zero loss team is always better than the one loss. But when that team got the two losses, it was harder for me to justify it. In this case, we're talking about one loss versus three. And smu, you know, if they'd gotten blasted with. The committee had just gone, you know what, they got destroyed by Clemson and we're going to put in that other SEC team maybe. But I don't, I don't really. Like, I'm not sitting here really mad about it, even if I think you're right, because we've talked about it enough this season. Clearly they did not want to put that much time into. Let's really look at who these teams have played inside of their conference. Like, and there's. There's a good example of this. Like, if it's about wins and losses. Right. Why isn't Indiana higher? Because they know. You know what I mean? Yeah.

[Kyle]

But within a range, though. They were never going to drop Indiana beyond kind of where they are because. But the one loss kept them in a range.

[Todd McShay]

I guess. I kind of like, if you, if you go through the rankings though, you're like, all right, you guys are Keeping Indiana in there because they're 11 and 1. Totally get it. And after the SEC had that disastrous Saturday night where Ole Miss, A and M and Bama all lose. Like a scenario we thought seven hours prior. Like, how does, how does Indiana get into this with their only big game being a blowout at the Shoe? Well, they're, they're back, they were back in by the end of the night, but they weren't going to put them ahead of these other one loss teams because they kind of know. So like they, Indiana is like a really interesting team in that I think they know the deal, but they're not going to, they're not going to penalize them that much. They're not actually going to apply some of the stuff to them that you clearly would like to have. Like, would you have been okay having a three loss SEC team in over Indiana?

[Kyle]

Yeah, I would.

[Todd McShay]

Or was it the SMU thing? You would have.

[Kyle]

It's, it's more the SMU thing, but I actually would have, I would have been like, I applaud the committee because we're trying to get the best 12 teams in here. And Indiana didn't beat a top 25 team. Their strength of schedule is 67, 67 compared to 13, 18, 14 for South Carolina, Alabama, Ole Miss, respectively. And Alabama's got three wins over top 25 teams. South Carolina beat two top 25 teams in the past in the last three weeks of the regular season, one of which on the road against a rival, South Carolina, Clemson. That Wanda that now is in the championship and was so. It was so good that SMU only losing, you know, in overtime or right before overtime with a 56 yard field goal. Whatever it was, Clemson's so good that SMU still deserves to be in. South Carolina is the biggest travesty of all. Hottest team in the country down the stretch knocking off top 25 teams. Win at Clemson in a rivalry game. And most importantly, I don't know if we have the graphic here. We did this on our show last week. Part of the committee's decision is basing it off of who's playing in games. And it's put in there very clearly if there's a significant player with injury that is to be factored in. Well, I've got news for you. South Carolina was up 17 nothing on LSU when Lenora Sellers, who was out of this world down the stretch this season, 17 nothing when Lenora Sellers got injured. And they wound up losing that game with some terrible, two terrible calls that cost them in that game and so if we're going to factor that in with Florida State a year ago, why aren't we factoring that in now? All of a sudden? South Carolina, in the committee's mind could be a two loss team. You know, you look, I, I am.

[Todd McShay]

I'm with you on the South Carolina thing. The head head with Ole Miss is going to cause a whole nother string of arguments there. I just don't understand why B being argued in this spot. Like, I, I'd rather have South Carolina in there than Indiana. I think I'd rather have SMU in there than Indiana. But we knew Indiana was going to be in there because they, because of what happened that Saturday with all those other teams losing. The Florida State thing triggered me a little bit because I lived through Florida State Twitter doing a show every day at ESPN like 10 years ago. All right, so anybody, anybody that's ever faced that. And when Jimbo just poured kerosene all over the anger on top of everything else by basically saying that the SEC and ESPN were complicit, I remember asking about it and he was just like, good to know. And he just shut me down. It was actually brilliant by Jimbo. He got me. I do want to tell Florida State fans though, the difference between say, like Carson Beck getting hurt in the Georgia game or the little Norris thing is that 12 is three times as many as four. It's, it's pretty simple math. So last year when there were four teams that get invited to the playoffs, and I don't like what happened in Florida State last year, but I understood it. I didn't like it, but I understood it. This year it's a little different. It's a little different because there's 12 effing teams.

[Kyle]

I agree.

[Todd McShay]

And whoever fires off that Florida State joke thinking that it's relevant, it. It's so stupid. And yet people keep doing it thinking it's like somehow this got you insightful thing when you have these 12 teams. All right, maybe I'm numb to the, the outrage part of it because I was preparing myself for this and because I was warning everybody before we even had this system in place that some of these things were going to happen. Now, the four automatic bids and the buys. I have to imagine that everybody was so mad after the BCS of multiple conferences being left out and the group of five essentially having no chance other than Cincinnati that there had to be like a more inclusive agreement to finally get this thing done. And with that, you have five scenario with Boise, right?

[Kyle]

Yep.

[Todd McShay]

And you see the Brackets in front of you and you immediately think, wow, now that it's like the visual part of it and almost sometimes it's side. You have to have mistakes play out. Even if you could see that they would happen. You have to actually have a case study for it to be the, the force behind change some of these paths. I think this is what has people more upset than whether or not South Carolina Bama or Indiana SMU are seated in this thing.

[Kyle]

Yeah, man, it's a problem. And we were bitching about it in October. Like, wait a second. So. So this team's going to play that team and this team has a buy.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. Now that you see it like when you actually dial up the physical bracket in front of you. All right, so let's, let's go through the scenarios. Let's just start with the 1 and 2.

[Ryan Russillo]

Pass.

[Todd McShay]

So Oregon goes undefeated, wins a great big championship game, and they're waiting on the winner of Tennessee, Ohio State. And they also. How.

[Kyle]

How are. Pause. And I get it because it's. It's 8 and 9 and on paper, but when you push back when, when you, you elevate Boise State to three and Arizona State to four, you're. You're obviously pushing down, you know, so really it's the sixth best team and the seventh best team. So you got to play the winner of 6 versus 7 as the 1 seed. If Oregon, like to me give me Texas's path where I got to play, I get to play Clemson at home and then Arizona State to get to the semifinal. Or weirdly enough, like, please give me Penn State's path. I got to beat smu. Just lost to Clemson and Boise State to get to the semifinal. Like the 5 and 6 seeds are the places to be in this thing. It doesn't make any sense.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, they kept smu. It's important to point that out. They kept them at the 11 overall seed here and Clemson's at the 12. I would rather play SMU and Penn State's going to play SMU and then Boise and then they're on the Georgia side of things, depending on what you think of Oregon and Georgia. But if you're looking at what potential scenarios there are for Oregon, you're thinking, okay, so I have to play the winner of Tennessee, Ohio State and then likely if Texas gets through Clemson and Arizona State, I mean, you know, making a lot of assumptions here. That seems to be far more daunting than what Georgia would be facing where it's the winner of Indiana, Notre Dame and then the winner of Boise State versus the winner of smu, Penn State. So this is the part of it where like you just have to figure this out next year and go, you know what? We can't have a group of five be a five seed. We are a three seat. Excuse me, a four. One of the four with, with one of the buys. Is there anything to be said though of like, are we being a little dismissive of actually having to play the extra game? Like, would you actually rather be Texas than Oregon?

[Kyle]

It depends on the team, quite honestly. And you can't factor that into a, you know, a, like for Georgia, they actually, they desperately need. And it's not just Carson Beck, but they desperately need a buy, if you will. They need. I think they, like they started the season with Clemson. They played, they played the toughest sec. I think they played the toughest schedule of any team in this thing.

[Todd McShay]

Still standing at Texas, at Bama, at Ole Miss. Yeah, like what are in Texas again?

[Kyle]

And started the season with Clemson. So like there's carnage physically, mentally, like what you heard Kirby Smart. He's, he's berating his whole, he's berating his own conference commissioner. You know, it's Sankey like up in the, he should be celebrating we won the sec, you know, and he's like, what have you done to us? And so for Georgia, they need it. But even like I remember Nick Saban talking about it and it just takes you inside the mindset of a coach. And I can remember like even playing in college, like there's something to staying on routine. Right. And it's not a warm up game. Like we're probably going to see an upset here. I don't know if it's going to be Indiana over Notre Dame or SMU over Penn State or Clemson over Texas, Tennessee, Ohio State, but we're probably going to see an upset. So it's not, it's not an automatic that you win, you know, in that first round if you're the higher seed. But I think for Georgia it's much more important and valuable to have a week off. Whereas, you know, I don't know that Texas, Texas hasn't played the toughest schedule. I think Texas would almost rather get a home game, keep, you know, stay in, stay in rhythm and not be sitting around for two weeks waiting, you know, but they also then would have Arizona State in the next week. So it's just, it depends. But truly the biggest problem, and I do think it'll be rectified. I think it's going to take it it took us looking at this situation now and saying, wait. Arizona State and Boise State are just sitting around waiting and if they win one game, they're in the semis. It took us in this situation, see it one time through for. I strongly believe next year at the same time, we'll be talking about, it's all based off of the rankings, create the seedings.

[Todd McShay]

Would you have been happier if it were just Oregon, Georgia, Texas, Penn State with buys and then seeded out with the automatic bids?

[Kyle]

Yes, I think everyone would be. Are you not? Would you not be?

[Todd McShay]

I just think you have to reward the best teams. You know, my, my whole thing when this was first talked about with the expansion was, you know, we sit here and, and freak out about like, oh, are they on the bubble as like the 69, 70th best basketball team? And it's just like some of these horrible arguments. Granted, we're not quite there yet with 60 football teams, but I just knew that the arguments at the back end were like, I, I've been very, very simple about this from the beginning. I mean, going all the way back to, I think the BCS and then the expanded to four, is that the chance to play for a national championship should be a massive reward. It should be a. Just like you shouldn't be able to back your way in to being invited to this thing. And it's certainly different now, but it meant every year you were going to be inviting in a couple teams, maybe two or three teams. You're like, I don't know that I'm that impressed with what that team did. And yet they're still alive to win a national championship. And people always come back to me and say, well, it's the same thing with the NFL. I, I apply the same thing. I wish there were less teams that made the playoffs in the NFL. I wish there were less teams that made the playoffs in the NBA and in hockey. I don't think these teams that go through all of these games, it's like, I don't even think you're that good. Cool. Now you're, now you're a 6 seed in your conference. And you know, with football, it's just so delicate because of the turnover. And then you end up having this team, like, how did they pull that off? And that's maybe why people love the sport so much, because even the gap between teams just, something goes wrong and next thing you know, three hours later, you have this great football game that's closing out at the end. So I've just had this fundamental Opposition to all of it. But now that I have to accept and it's going to be here and I'm going to enjoy all the extra games. The fact that like December 20th, we're going to have like a Friday night game, like, it's going to be awesome and I'm going to be into it because I'm a huge fan, right? But I think there. There feels like some really nasty, like, commuter lane into a semifinal for a couple teams where after three months, three plus months, Todd, I'm like, I don't. Commuter lane.

[Kyle]

I like that.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, that's.

[Kyle]

That's the hov.

[Todd McShay]

The way it's set up now is I look and go, that team is like a couple turnover game away from being in the final four for a national championship. And I know, you know, the AD from Bama caught a bunch of heat because he was like, we're going to look at scheduling. And again, he got community noted immediately. And it's like all of your losses were in conference. It's like, okay, once again, everyone, you missed the point. The point is that if I'm an AD and I remember Kuiper with you years ago. Kuiper had this rant years ago and he was right. It's like, what's the point of scheduling anybody out a conference? You hope you get that easy path, you start stockpiling all the wins, and next thing you know you're competing for a national championship. I just think it's wrong. I think it's wrong and I'm always going to have a problem with it. Even if my headline of once these were released is that I'm conditioned to now being over it because I knew it was all going to happen.

[Kyle]

I think we're facing. I don't. I don't want to say 2 years, 5 years, 7. Whatever the. I think we're facing. And everyone I talk to that's in the know, whether it's in television executives who are part of a lot of important conversations, coaches who are involved in this also, everyone seems to believe that we're facing. We're kind of. It's not in the distant future of massive change, whether it's four divisions, conferences, whatever you want to call them, where it's. You know, because right now the problem is these conferences have become so big that you're only. That you're winding up not playing a lot of good teams. And like the Penn State schedule versus, Sorry, I guess Penn State, Indiana schedule is a lot different than some other team schedule. And even in the SEC Like Texas schedule compared to Alabama's schedule and Georgia's schedule. Different animals. And so I'm not here to explain all the different theories and all the different suggestions that have been made, but I do think that we're heading towards the next several years, a massive change to try to. Let's. Let's get it more regional. Let's. Let's try to equal things out, and let's create more of a balanced playing field during the regular season. So to avoid a lot of this.

[Todd McShay]

Nonsense, okay, I want to just for the exercise part of this, look at the previous systems and ask, like, okay, would. Would you have liked this? So if it were the BCS, well, hell, if it was the 40s, we would just. Everything would be over and we'd have, like, six different national champions. If we had the bcs, it would be Oregon, Georgia. Would you be okay with that? Would you rather that today than this?

[Kyle]

No. I can't unsee. Like, okay, so what?

[Todd McShay]

I.

[Kyle]

Two things I can't unsee when I look at this, right? I'm staring at the seedings and the games. I can't unsee. Arizona state at 4 with a buy and Boise state at 3 with a buy. I can't unsee that. And that frustrates me. But what I also can't unsee in a real positive manner is, holy shit. We got Tennessee, Ohio State in two weeks. We got Clemson, Texas in two weeks. We get in State, Indiana, Notre Dame, and kind of a weird game. And like, I think Signetti is going to. Caused some problems for Indiana and to a lesser extent, smu, Penn State. And then like nine days later, New Year's, Right. You know, New Year's Eve and New Year's, we've got. We've got Georgia facing off of the winner of Notre Dame. It could be Georgia. Notre Dame could be Boise State.

[Ryan Russillo]

No, wait, were you.

[Todd McShay]

Were you saying you think Signetti potentially causes some problems for Notre Dame? Right. Yeah.

[Kyle]

I mean, I could. I could see it being a frustrating game. I could. I'm just saying a lot of us.

[Todd McShay]

Wanted to see the Indiana SEC match up there.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Really, really wanted to see it. I think Notre Dame is, like a good draw for them, to be honest with you.

[Kyle]

But I do, too. And so. But my point is, and knowing like, nine, ten days later, we've got four more games. Oregon versus Ohio State or Tennessee. Awesome. Arizona State versus Texas. Interesting. Penn State versus Boise State and very interesting, potentially Notre Dame versus Georgia. Awesome. And then we're not even done. Then we get the Semifinals, then we're back to like where we started last year in the, in the previous regime. So like to get all of that football. And let's not forget too, with the transfer portal, nil NFL draft, those three factors, how few, like big time players and how little emphasis that went into the bowl games the last year or two. You know what I mean? Like, nobody really truly cared. I mean, I shouldn't say nobody. The emphasis on it was just not there. I found myself being less excited than I ever was last year for bowl games. I was. And so all of the focus has shifted and this is where we need to be. And maybe it's 14 games moving forward and beyond, but I can't unsee what we have. And what we have is wonderful. So all my bitching and moaning today is about, like, where the committee can improve moving forward. The end of the day, Alabama lost three games. SEC lost, I mean, South Carolina lost three games. Ole Miss lost three games. They made themselves vulnerable. But I think we can improve with the committee and the emphasis. But I can't ever go back to just semifinals and finals or certainly not just a BCS with a, with just a final, a national championship game. I can't do it.

[Todd McShay]

I'd rather just Oregon, Georgia play for a national championship.

[Ryan Russillo]

Why?

[Todd McShay]

I'm not speaking to the entertainment value because you're right, I have no counter to that. But as far as if you just cut it right there and said, okay, make the argument. You're the two best arguments.

[Kyle]

I can't even have this conversation with you.

[Todd McShay]

Texas lost to Georgia twice. You're emphasizing Georgia's strength of schedule. You're rewarding Oregon for winning the conference being 13 0. Texas doesn't have an argument. Penn State doesn't have an argument. They lost in the conference championship game. Notre Dame's got the loss to Northern. Illinois State has the two losses like this would actually, in a BCS system, you go, those are the two right teams, no argument.

[Kyle]

Okay, fine. But the only reason you would want that old system is because you felt like this, this regular season was devalued, valued, where it wasn't even like that important to watch or fun to watch.

[Todd McShay]

Did you feel like it was fun?

[Kyle]

Because I did.

[Todd McShay]

Not at all. No. Like, because the.

[Kyle]

So what's wrong with you?

[Todd McShay]

Well, I think, you know, we've known each other 20 years, but Ohio State, Michigan, in most years, everything is on the line. And even in that Ohio State, Michigan game during the broadcast, they're like, everything is on the line. And I'm Just the guy on the couch going, actually, everything is not on the line. Like Ohio State loses their second game and they're still in the playoff. And this is even about Ohio State, necessarily.

[Kyle]

Yeah, but a lot was on the line because now Ohio State has to play Tennessee just to get the opportunity to go play Oregon. Yeah. And their head coach may have lost. It's his job.

[Todd McShay]

You and everyone else wins the argument against me because Georgia. Georgia Tech mattered on a Friday night in a way that you wouldn't have thought it would have mattered, however, if they had still made the SEC title game, beat Texas a second time. I think the 12 in the BCS, like there wouldn't have been any argument against it. All right, let's go to the four team system. Oregon, Georgia, Texas, Penn State. Now, the funny thing is, to your.

[Ryan Russillo]

Point, in the beginning, Texas, Penn State.

[Todd McShay]

Okay, if you look at the ap, they bumped Notre Dame up three in front of Texas, Penn State, and in line with what you were talking about with smu, Clemson, which I think is just funny to remind the audience, SMU loses the SEC title game. Not only were they not going to bounce SMU out for say, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Bama, or Miami, they didn't even move them behind Clemson in the playoff rankings because Clemson has three losses, which again, they played Georgia. They played South Carolina. SMU didn't. The committee did not care. I don't understand how there's a room of people talking college football. They can't filter through that stuff. They lose to head to head, they keep SMU 10 in their rankings. The 11 seed, Clemson was at 16. They kept.

[Ryan Russillo]

George.

[Todd McShay]

Excuse me, they. They kept Texas and Penn State in front of Notre Dame because, like, to your point, they were not going to penalize anybody for losing any of those games. Although I think it's interesting. Well, Iowa State, they bumped him down two spots. All right, so Oregon, Georgia, Texas, Penn State. Does that mean.

[Kyle]

So Oregon would play Penn State?

[Todd McShay]

Yep. Georgia plays Texas the third time.

[Kyle]

Third time. I mean, yeah, it's fun, it's good. But like, if. If those four teams are as good as we think, then Penn State beats SMU and they beat Boise State and they're. They're right back in it. But now they get to earn it. Georgia beats Notre Dame and they're back in it. Oregon beats Tennessee or Ohio State and they're back in it. Texas beats Clemson at home, and then Arizona State, which I think will happen, and they're back in it. So maybe that's what we wind up with when it's all said and done. But I know this. I get. I've got 20 days of buildup and two and four days of awesome football that I'm excited about.

[Todd McShay]

All right, so how about this proposal, the six team, where it's four automatic bids, plus the fifth automatic bid to a group of five team and then one at large, and the first two teams get the buy.

[Kyle]

That's so. So Penn State's out.

[Todd McShay]

It's horrible.

[Kyle]

What are you doing?

[Todd McShay]

Let's run it.

[Ryan Russillo]

I'm just trying to.

[Todd McShay]

I'm just trying to give the people the other options. They seem to really like a lot of options here. So Oregon's your Big Ten.

[Kyle]

Yep.

[Todd McShay]

George is your sec.

[Kyle]

Yep.

[Todd McShay]

All right, so we'll go big.

[Kyle]

Arizona State's Big 12.

[Todd McShay]

Right? Arizona State. But they would have Boise, Clemson.

[Kyle]

So what the. Stop.

[Todd McShay]

No, no, we're doing it. We're doing it. Okay.

[Kyle]

All right.

[Todd McShay]

Just. Just game it out.

[Kyle]

Oregon, Georgia. Arizona buys.

[Todd McShay]

Right?

[Kyle]

Buys. Yes. Then Arizona. Yeah. Clemson, Arizona State, Boise State are all in. And then Texas is in.

[Todd McShay]

All right. And the rankings would be. Boise would be a three seed. Arizona State's a four, Clemson's your five, and then your at large is Texas.

[Kyle]

It's your show, so I'm just going to play along.

[Todd McShay]

So your first round games would be Boise against Texas and then Arizona State against Clemson, and they face Oregon and Georgia. A lot of people like that system because it guaranteed everybody. And you have to factor it all in. I mean, unless the TV networks are saying we actually don't like, that's probably the worst out of all of them. Because then that opens up all sorts of other arguments. Yeah.

[Kyle]

Who's a lot of people when you say a lot of people like that?

[Todd McShay]

Who.

[Kyle]

Who's a lot of people?

[Todd McShay]

There was a real egalitarian approach to this, and I think it just speaks to your fan passion, not you specifically, but nobody wants to sign up for a system where you're potentially going to be screwed. Unless you were the conference commissioners who said yes to the 14 playoff. Like, that's the craziest thing ever. The only. They kept telling us for years they weren't going to expand from the BCS and the two teams. Right. And you and I have sat in those. Those conferences too many times. And I'll never forget, you know, how often Bill Hancock would be like, we can't. Can't have more games because of exams.

[Kyle]

Right. I mean, remember that one?

[Todd McShay]

And I'm doing this.

[Kyle]

I just banging my head against.

[Todd McShay]

Right. Like, we can't have the kids travel because it's just gonna be too many games, guys.

[Kyle]

And, like. And steadfast on that, right?

[Todd McShay]

Because I remember Herb street one year, like, was messing with him in it because I was hosting it that year, sort of. There was a panel that I got up there for that didn't go very well. And.

[Kyle]

You were gone to the company Black Sheep at times. It was fun.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, that was. That was a rough look when one of, like, the directors comes over and starts holding your hand, giving you a hard time during the panel discussion, that you're not doing a good job interviewing enough people.

[Kyle]

Not on television. Just like a group.

[Todd McShay]

No, just. Just a group of like, 200 of your co workers. You're like, you put 13 people on the panel, man. It's not my fault. All right, so Herb street looks at him and goes, you know, how come, you know, 11 games was the most and then 12 was the most, and then you couldn't do this. You couldn't. He's like, how come you keep doing that? He's like, oh, Kirk, it's a good question. He was always great at that. And then he just be like, look, we all know why this is happening. We all know why it's all expanding. But when they went from two to four, it was because the reporting at the time was like, everybody involved. All the power players in college football were just sick of all of us being like, this two team thing is so stupid. The computer element of it. And then you had that other poll that was factored into all of this. I would sit next to Brad Edwards for all those years, and he understood all the math, and he'd be like, well, this will mean this. And if Oklahoma State gets this win on the road, then that means this team. Teams computer rankings. And you'd just be like, no one understands this. Everybody's mad. Okay, let's expand it. But we don't expand it too much. And they went to four. And as soon as they went to four, everybody's mad is because they just knew. No one likes a system where they know there's a chance that they're going to be screwed, even if they don't deserve the chance. So now, no matter what you do, no matter who is constructing something like this in power, these. These gray areas of debate, people are. There's never going to be a version of this where on Monday everybody's like, you know what? Great job. Cool. No notes. It doesn't exist. But this is. This is apparently, I would say, the most inviting, right? Because you have this many teams, you have something where there shouldn't be any part of the country that can look at this feeling they're left out. Like everyone is represented, whether they deserve it or not.

[Kyle]

Yeah, yeah, everyone's represented. Yes, everyone's represented. I'll give you that. And it's. I honestly, I don't have a problem with the structure of the conference champions. I don't have a problem with that.

[Ryan Russillo]

It's.

[Kyle]

It's just that it's the de. Emphasis on strength of schedule, who you're playing, strength of record, and the overemphasis on wins and losses with the other seven teams. And then obviously what we just talked about, the seating at the end, which will get fixed. Let me ask you this question. I've seen multiple people talk about it. I'm always a proponent of it. And I recognize this is not about the NFL draft, and I recognize that Ohio State, maybe they're not. Maybe I think their best two players aren't eligible for this year's draft. And Caleb Downs and Smith, the wide receiver. But. But don't you think a part of that committee. There should be someone representing the talent, like, how much talent these teams truly have. Like, I talk about this all the time. NFL scouts are on the road four months and they only typically have. You have regions. There are other scouts for each team that typically have, like, top. There is like a top 100 scout who's going out and evaluating the top 100 Nagies. Nagy said it. Jim Nagy, the executive director of the Senior Bowl. I don't know there are any more people that are not part of NFL organizations that a group that would be more. Have more insight into what the talent level is than the Senior Bowl. Who's putting together their lists and have. I think they have 11 scouts on the road. They have draft meetings and put together. And I'm not trying to make this about the NFL draft, but I am trying to make this about best teams. And I look at Alabama with like eight to ten draftable prospects. I look at South Carolina with six to eight draftable prospects. I look at Ole Miss with nine to ten draftable prospects. And I compare that in Ohio State with 15, Tennessee with seven to eight, Oregon with nine to 11. Clemson only five. Texas got a whole bunch. Arizona State, I've got two. Okay. Indiana, I've got five. And mostly. And almost all day three. C.J. west, a defensive tackle maybe. But I think all day three. Georgia with 12 to 14. And you get down to SMU with two. Boise State with two to three. So like, I don't know, wouldn't there be some value in that and having, having that voice in the room? Not necessarily. You know, you got a bunch of committee. What is it, 12 committee members? Is it how many?

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, and then I think of like a 13th that oversees it.

[Kyle]

All right, so maybe we have 14. And one of them is someone who can, who can provide perspective on truly what we're watching.

[Todd McShay]

Because it's hard.

[Kyle]

It's hard to, it's hard to watch.

[Todd McShay]

Just your push to be on the committee one day.

[Kyle]

It's not me, not even me. I don't even know that I would want to do it, to be quite honest.

[Todd McShay]

But who would be the best if I was the best of the people we work?

[Ryan Russillo]

If we were.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. Called to serve.

[Kyle]

Called to serve.

[Todd McShay]

Because if Canel were ever on the committee, I would stop watching college football. That absolutely.

[Kyle]

The best would be a Jim Nagy type who's overseeing the process that is, that is most closely representative of an, of a college scouting department in the NFL. You know what?

[Todd McShay]

It was a really good sell. And whenever we get into arguments. Well, you and I don't get into the arguments, but when you hear, it's like, oh, it's not that much better. It's not that much better. And it's like, in what world would you ever say the, the conference with the best players isn't the best version of football? But for this, for this, I mean, there's plenty of teams and you know this. There's plenty of teams that are loaded with NFL talent that just have a bad year. Right? I mean, how many teams, how many.

[Kyle]

Florida State's a perfect example. Like Florida State came in with a whole bunch of prospects and not many, if any, wound up playing to the level that was expected or hoped for.

[Todd McShay]

LSU is probably got five first rounders from this team.

[Kyle]

I'm just trying to think through. Yeah, maybe eventually.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, eventually. I'm not talking eligible for 25.

[Kyle]

But, but, but they, but they played their way out. Florida State played their way out. But when you've got three teams on the cusp, with South Carolina and with George, with Alabama and with Ole Miss, I think. I'm not saying that like that the decision should be made based off of that. I think that having that voice in the room would be helpful and I don't want to take up too much time. It' just, just a thought. I wanted to throw it out there.

[Todd McShay]

Well, Nagy posted that and I saw it. And then immediately he just Got destroyed by college football writers being like, oh, okay, well, we'll just make this all about the draft part of it. I, I understand. Like, I think whenever we debate, hey, this team or that team in these hypotheticals and the talent and all that stuff, but at the end of the year, having it be a tiebreaker, I just, I think this first point that we even touched on here today is the best one. That they couldn't get past the 11 and 2, 10 and 3 record with SMU and Clemson. Like, they, they couldn't go, hey, do you think it might have been harder to play Georgia and then South Carolina and then they won the head to head and it was like we said we weren't going to change it with the conference championship games and they didn't.

[Kyle]

I. Right. And I don't think, I'm not saying this becomes a. Well, we pull up Nagy or some other representative in the room and hey, well, who has the most help? It's about providing perspective in that. Okay, I got it. But they, but they played LSU, which has, what do they wind up with? 4, 4 losses, 5 losses. They played LSU and there's carnage. There's a weekly toll it takes physically, mentally having to play. Like, yes, you can see the strength of schedule and all that, but let's also look at like the strength of schedule gets knocked down because LSU winds up with that many losses. But you're still playing teams with all these players and all this talent week in and week out. And so just providing that perspective may help in the third or fourth ranking or the second to last ranking. Maybe all of a sudden we see teams from the SEC where the schedule week in and week out is a lot more difficult and the gauntlet to get there is more difficult. Maybe we see them get the appropriate amount of credit for what they had to go through. That's my only point.

[Todd McShay]

Right. But knowing that the committee is supposed to check a lot of boxes geographically and knowing how these conversations play out geographically, there's just no sympathy. There's no, there's. I mean, we have people, like, I've worked with people where I was like, you actually think some of these other conferences are better when this league has twice as many players drafted. But when it comes to the committee in the seating, I do think there's a line of like, that voice in the room is respected and people. But it's not going to be any kind of tiebreaker. Nobody's going to want to hear that. I mean, even hearing this part of it, like you're going to get ripped for being like, oh, yeah, okay, we'll just put in all the draft prospect teams and whatever. And I know that's not what you're saying, but that's where that conversation ends up going as we look at the bracket here. Who are you picking?

[Kyle]

O. I even thought about that. I'll tell you what, man. Texas.

[Todd McShay]

Texas.

[Kyle]

Okay, Texas. Because I think they. They get into a rhythm. They get that first game at home against a team in Clemson that doesn't belong. They get to play another team that is solid, but without Jordan Tyson, their wide receiver. They. I don't think Arizona State has enough balance offensively. Now all of a sudden, they're in the semifinals. And yeah, that would be a hard game, but any team in the semifinals is going to have a difficult game. But then it becomes 1, 1 win to get in. And I'd rather. If I'm Texas, I'd rather play Oregon in the semis than have to play Georgia again. So I think that they. Because Penn State, I don't think can beat Georgia. So while Penn State got the easiest trip to the semis, I think Texas has the best path to the national championship.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. I picked Oregon in this summer. I'm going to stay with the Ducks. I also remind. I don't have a problem with it.

[Kyle]

I really don't, obviously.

[Todd McShay]

And by the way, like, talking about gaps, when we were talking, like, we did this on Saturday, like, when I watch Iowa State, Arizona State, it's like, okay, like there's a difference here. When I watched Penn State against Oregon after watching the SEC title game, I didn't feel like there was this massive difference.

[Kyle]

But we're also a difference. But, but I, I said on our show Saturday night, I have. I have a greater level of appreciation for this Penn State team than I have had in the entire James Franklin era. And it's based not solely, but in large part due to how they hung with Oregon in that game. I thought that they showed a lot of different things in that game that I didn't always feel like was the case with a. With the James Franklin. James Franklin teams play the way they play in massive games. Top five matchups like they did against Ohio State. This was different. Against Oregon, I thought.

[Todd McShay]

Best I felt about a Penn State team in years, so. Totally agree. Before we say goodbye to McShay, just want to remind everybody, FanDuel is the only place that you can parlay college football teams to make the semis or the final. So you can future it out by taking a look at the bracket right now and seeing what you like. Again, FanDuel Sportsbook. The only game in town for that. Again, the McShay show will be out tomorrow. They're doing a quarterback confidence draft. So make sure you subscribe and check out that podcast with McShay and Mensch and we thank him. First time today, man. Fired up. Love it.

[Kyle]

Appreciate you coming on Saturday night and happy to be here. This is. I'm excited. I mean, you, you're trying to like knock this whole thing. I'm excited. Like how? Be excited about what the next, what is it, five, six weeks has to offer in college football.

[Todd McShay]

I'm totally excited. I can't wait. I was looking at the schedule. I go, this is how we're getting that Friday night game. It's going to be awesome. I can be excited and also critical. I can be. Yeah, it's the same as the playing game. Like there might be a 37 win team in the Eastern Conference in the NBA that's going to get one more chance to be in the playoffs. I think that's stupid. It doesn't mean, it doesn't mean when the playing games are going on that I'm not home excited about it. It's the exact same principle. All right, Todd, we'll talk to you next week. Again, McShay show. Make sure you check that one out.

[Ryan Russillo]

This episode is brought to you by Chevy. Great football teams are built by having the right capability in the right positions. It's the same with great trucks like the Chevy Silverado. You start under the hood with four powerful engine choices delivering massive towing capacity. Then you've got available onboard technology that gives you extra peace of mind while towing. Finally, the rugged, purposeful design of the Silverado screams grit and determination, just like a winning football team. Visit Chevy.com to learn more. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. It's football season and Uber Eats is dropping undefeated deals on all of your game day favorites this week. Score, buy one, get one free six piece boneless wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. Now on Uber Eats. Craving even more. We've got you covered with game day deals on pizza, burgers, tacos and more all season long. Uber Eats official on demand food delivery partner of the NFL. Order now for game day terms, taxes and fees apply. See app for details.

[Ceruti]

You want details?

[Morgan]

Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.

[Kyle]

What's up?

[Ceruti]

I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.

[Kyle]

I have every toy you can possibly imagine and Best of all, kids, I am liquid.

[Morgan]

So now you know what's possible.

[Kyle]

Let me tell you what's required.

[Todd McShay]

Okay? A little live advice for you. Life Advice on YouTube. The email address, as always, life advice rrgmail.com fresh for you on a Monday morning here on the east coast. Afternoon on or on the west coast, Monday morning. Deal. We got Kyle, we got Ceruti Morgan dangling in the back here. We don't have his video up, which is fine. That was sort of predetermined. If we feel like we need to go to him for something, we will. How is everyone?

[Ceruti]

I'm good, man. I was a. It was an up and down weekend. We had the Franz injury news, which was a bummer. But then my guy Chalamet just. What an incredible Saturday for my guy. Game day.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, I mean, he brought. He brought it. It was. It was incredible. And guys were so, like, happy about him and how good he was and he had the little mustache going. Because I just think every time there's somebody who clearly just memorizes one or two lines on College Game, maybe the celebrity picker, like, nobody really cares what they have to say. And then, you know, the guy would be like, you know, I just think this Tennessee Secondary has something to it. And then all the guys be like, whoa, whoa, look at this guy. Like he secondary Chalamet sitting out there picking up sets like the Bob. I mean, it's just unbelievable. The stuff he was pulling off and the mustache in line with Bob Dylan. And then we find out that he's a huge ringer guy or he's actually a Grantland guy. So Simmons, Zach, low. He follows. Follows Woj. So still locked into the Bonnie's our thoughts with Woj right now as well.

[Morgan]

I almost texted Cerudi, but I was like, he's. I'd probably be like the hundredth guy that texted him. So I was like, I'll just let it breathe. I'll just lay out on this one.

[Ceruti]

Well, I didn't get a chance to watch it live because, oh, we. There was, you know, kid stuff on a Saturday. You know, the deal I was trying to get for the bigger games. Yeah, that's true. I was away for a couple days and I come back and my. My extra Twitter ever should I have a thousand notifications. So I did watch it later. I mean, you know, someone. Someone say I'm growing out the mustache just to be like him. I can not confirm or deny that, but it was. It was good, man. And I like that he called, you know, his TV dad McConaughey picked Texas because of them, obviously, the L. But it was good. It was, it was. It was like a big, I feel like, you know, ratings boost for him. Not that he. I mean, not that he didn't really needed it, but like, the dudes. Dudes now are like, wait a second. Chalamet ball nowhere.

[Todd McShay]

Well, then the other thing that popped out is they found some picture of him when he was a teenager. And I'm talking like 13, 14, waiting outside of the Garden for Amari Stoudemire with a jersey, waiting for Amari to sign it. So, I mean, sure, we'd like to book him because of you, but if he follows Simmons, they're gonna get Allison on that. That's a no brainer. Promote the Bob Dylan movie. Is he singing? It sounds like he's singing in the trailer too.

[Ceruti]

Yeah. I gotta be honest. Not a big Bob Dylan, guys, but I'll probably see the movie just because of. Because of him. But to go back to the basketball stuff, too, do you remember that video a couple years ago that came out where it was like he was dribbling the ball dangerously high and it was like, man, is this guy actually like a non athlete? But yeah, he's recovered from that. I think he looked. This is. What a great weekend for him.

[Todd McShay]

What would you be like if you met him? I mean, is that the number one guy you'd want to meet more than any single other person walking the planet right now?

[Ceruti]

No. And this is going to be controversial. We've kind of talked about this, but I've met Gyllenhaal, and Gyllenhaal was awesome. Like, just.

[Morgan]

How are you, though?

[Ryan Russillo]

That.

[Morgan]

What's. We want to know how you.

[Ceruti]

I was great. We were so tight. I've told. I mean, I've told them. I've told the story.

[Morgan]

Sorry, then.

[Ceruti]

No, it's fine. But he. He came into Mike and Mike. It was his first hit. Yeah. And he was.

[Todd McShay]

Already seen him, though. You've already seen him, so.

[Ceruti]

Well, he is the guy. But he, like, he is. He's like. But he's my guy. But yeah, Shalom would probably be too, because just, you know, the interstellar stuff and.

[Todd McShay]

Would you hold on too long?

[Ceruti]

Big dune guy you hugged it out with. With. With Joan Hall.

[Todd McShay]

You're trying to get out of a Trump.

[Morgan]

Yeah, I would be uncomfortable.

[Ceruti]

Yeah, I'd be uncomfortable. If you're like Sydney Sweeney or Timothy Chalamet, who would you be more uncomfortable with? The answer is Timothy Chalamet. No doubt. About it.

[Morgan]

Nice, right?

[Todd McShay]

Because you know, you have no shot with her. We're shouting. You're like, he loves basketball. Like, maybe, you know, this guy could be DM Me.

[Morgan]

Like, New York's not that far from Connecticut. Yeah.

[Ceruti]

Go to a Nick's magic game.

[Todd McShay]

Like, is Anthony Black really this good? Ceruti. Yeah. Hey, man, tell me about the Dune 3 script. All right, so speaking of dudes interacting with guys, before we get to a couple questions here, the Kyle Shuffle High team had a magnificent time at the live show in Denver. Ended up at the same bar as all of you. Post show, shout out to the Velvet Banjo. Yeah, I got a little. I got a little Toasty via the 5pm Happy hour. Said, what's up to Kyle? And he gave me the best. Good to see a pat on the back and kept it moving I've ever seen. Not rude, not engaging, just incredible work. Denver has a lot to learn from the Frolic Room, it appears. As a guy who wouldn't have wanted to shoot the shit with me, I was truly impressed. You guys are the best. Thanks for coming to Ryan's second choice city to live in. Wow. Huh? You remember that, Kyle?

[Morgan]

Well, the power shuffle, there was. Was this during the show or after? Was this at the banjo?

[Todd McShay]

I think this is at the Velvet Banjo.

[Morgan]

Oh, I thought I was there. I thought I was giving up time left and right. I was worried because at the show, there was no spot for me to, like, you know, sit and watch the recorder. Like, the audio guy was just like, hey, buddy, it's pretty tight over here. And I'm like, you know what? I know what you're saying. I'll go find somewhere to be. So I was kind of by the bathrooms, just, like, with a timer on my phone, taking notes on the show. And one guy went to the bathroom and noticed me, and then he went back and then, like, suspiciously, like, seven minutes later, all these dudes, they were serving beers, but they were just like, can we take photos? And I'm like, dude, this is. I feel like I'm gonna get in trouble somehow. So that's what I thought. Like, I was. I was, like, dodging dudes left and right. But at the. I thought at the banjo, I was. I was like, talking to everybody, but maybe not.

[Todd McShay]

There was one banjo guy who I felt like just had an extended ticket to the show, and he just kind of sat there and watched us the whole time. And so that was becoming a little alarming where you're like, is this guy. You know, Because I hadn't seen some of my friends in a couple of those guys I hadn't seen in years. And then there's the other core guys I usually see once or twice a year. But I was like, all right, fired up. Thanks for coming out. Do you want to hang out with my buds now? All right, let's. Let's get to a couple of these. Okay. This is a good one for our married guys here. 41, no gym stats to speak of, but I once closed my move ring four days in a row. And D to the D. Some backstory. My wife and I separated earlier this year. We're now going through all the exciting aspects of blowing up your life that comes with getting divorced. We've been together five years and married for three. There should be some sort of divorce menu. Like, I know that there's prenups, but there should be some deal where if you're about to get married and then we just pass legislation for, like, a divorce menu where you go, like, escalator clauses, you know, if you make the all star team or something. No, just, like, if you don't make it to here, then separate corners, whatever stuff is yours is yours, and that's it. There's no money exchanging hands. Five years in, maybe this, but no kid. And I know that, like, in theory, this is kind of how it works, but it should be just something that you pick from, that you've agreed to. You have your divorce menu, and there's all these different options with clauses and then whatever, wherever you land in the divorce. That's just what it is. And it's not a ton of lawyers. It doesn't get dragged out forever. And all these meetings and mediations and paperwork because all of them start with, like, hey, we want to do it the right way. Not all of them, but a lot of them do start with the. Yeah, we just want to be civil about it. I want to be fine, like, nine months later, like, how's it going? And be like, oh, my God, I'm going for everything now. You should see some of the stuff that's happening. So if it was just predetermined menu with no substitutions might be more efficient.

[Morgan]

I like it, dude. Would be a lot easier to have that, you know, conversation if it was just, like, something that's done other than, like, I'm gonna ask you the question. Do you think we should maybe do a prenup? Like, I like that. I like if it was just more. It was just more like, prenup needs.

[Todd McShay]

New marketing, divorce menu, terrible PR team.

[Morgan]

For prenups, I mean.

[Todd McShay]

Well, there's also something that happens with just words and phrases where over time, there's such a negative stigmatation to that. It was just like, no one hears prenup and goes, oh, that's fun. That should be a good time. I know each other.

[Ceruti]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

The divorce lawyers listening right now are probably not loving, not a ton of sympathy, so. All right.

[Ceruti]

I've always had this.

[Todd McShay]

Hold on.

[Ceruti]

I've always had this idea too, though, like a television show where two divorced couple. The divorced couple, they just do a draft of all the stuff that they own. Like a live draft.

[Morgan]

Love that.

[Ceruti]

I'm going to grab the house. First overall pick. It's a big one. And then it's like a maybe a snake draft situation. It's like, all right, cool, I'll grab the Volvo. And you just go down the line, you just draft all your stuff.

[Morgan]

That first pick, though, is, like, so unfair. That first pick is going to be nice every time.

[Ceruti]

Or, I mean, maybe. Maybe, like, you have a ton of equity on it. You don't want the house, you know, and it's kind of a burden to you, right?

[Morgan]

Have you seen the fucking furnace in that thing? I mean, good luck, right?

[Todd McShay]

You know, pool stays in to be the new Scottsdale. Like, I'll take.

[Ryan Russillo]

I'll take Doug.

[Todd McShay]

Like, the kid went third.

[Ceruti]

Yeah, the dog.

[Todd McShay]

Then there's a third kid who's like, I'm still on the board. I think the kid. I gotta tell you, divorce draft just sold itself.

[Morgan]

Genius, dude.

[Todd McShay]

That's one of the best ideas I've ever heard. Do you imagine Kyle leaving the house and divorce draft is on?

[Ceruti]

Yeah, yeah.

[Morgan]

No, dude, no. It'd be right in my time slot, too. It would definitely be in the 3:00, 3:30, late lunch.

[Todd McShay]

The best would be the TV analyst. He'd be like, I can't. This car is actually totally overvalued. But we know that he loves it. He.

[Ryan Russillo]

He.

[Morgan]

He's got the accident in 2015. No one's even talking about it.

[Todd McShay]

She got a big board on the.

[Ceruti]

Side of all the stuff of, like, some analyst that ranks all their stuff.

[Todd McShay]

This is unbelievable.

[Morgan]

Awesome, man.

[Ceruti]

Great.

[Todd McShay]

Turn this off right now and get to work.

[Morgan]

Yeah, it's already out. Someone else. It's his life. We couldn't even cut that out.

[Todd McShay]

That's right. The worst day ever to do it live. All right, so this guy's like, hey, guys, remember me? I'm getting divorced. I wrote an email. All right, so though we essentially lived as Roommates for the last year ended because I didn't treat her the way she deserved emotionally. And by the time I realized that the damage had been done, she couldn't forgive me, so she left. Sorry, dude. That reasoning is relevant because I recently started dating another woman. It's nothing serious at this point, but I do enjoy her company. Company. And we seem to be a better match than my ex and I. However, she recently asked over text why my error, why my marriage ended. I told her it was a valid question, but one that would be tough to answer via text. We're set to hang out next weekend and I'm not exactly sure how to proceed. Do I tell her the truth and risk scaring her away, or do I color a little outside the lines and be vague about the reasoning without actually lying?

[Ryan Russillo]

Thanks.

[Todd McShay]

Love the pod. By the way, this email was before the weekend, so this likely already happened. Sorry we didn't get back to you sooner.

[Ryan Russillo]

A lot of emails, simple.

[Todd McShay]

We got spammed with all sorts of nonsense here. You know, I'm not going to be specific, but we don't appreciate it. I would be pretty. I'd be pretty liberal with the. I just don't think you want to come right out, certainly over text. So that was the smart read of just being like, I was emotionally abusive. I don't think you want to say that phrase. I think you want to maybe build to that conclusion, which I think would show a sign of a side of you that you are mature. Right. But I think just you're going to need some like, mental appetizers for you to share that. I think it's cool that you're aware of it, you understood your mistake. And I think that there's a mature partner out there. Maybe it's her that would appreciate your evolution to coming to that point and not just sitting there and lighting up your ex. Because anybody that's ever dated in the divorce pool, a lot of the early stuff is how terrible the no one.

[Morgan]

Wants to hear that story either.

[Todd McShay]

Right.

[Morgan]

Even though you're always like, well, that's interesting. But like, you know, once you get the. Once you get the broad strokes, you're like, yeah, I really don't need any more bullet points. Unless it's like something crazy, which it's never is. It's just like, yeah, this sucked too. And that sucked too. Not fun to listen to.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. And a lot of times too, the. The trauma of going through it too. It's such that person hasn't really even healed yet. And this is just Part of their deal, they're going to share it the whole time. So I, I think what you need to do is you need to, obviously in person, which your instincts were right here. I think you need to, like, see if you get follow ups and if you're not getting a ton of direct follow ups, don't follow up your own shit.

[Morgan]

What else is going on?

[Todd McShay]

You know what I mean? Like, don't. You actually probably don't need to in this spot, offer up a ton more because the problem is, as any of us that have ever been out there in the game, what is like, you start sharing more because you feel like you're being honest or whatever, it's just starting to lead to even more stuff. So don't be ready to just dump the entire playbook out the next time you have to explain it. I think that's the safest way. And it's not. I don't think it's dishonest. I just think it's. If you're interested in this person too. Like, I just don't know what kind of guy can survive out there. Going out on dates very early on post divorce, being like, emotionally, I'm just pretty damaging.

[Ceruti]

Yeah, I'm a work in progress, trying.

[Todd McShay]

To get there one day. I hope you want to, you want to do this again next week.

[Ceruti]

Feel good vibes about you, though. Yeah, yeah. You can change me. Yeah, you can't, you can't go into this being like, you know, she saw. You have to take some of the blame. You have to show some humility, like, because if you just say it's all the other person's fault, then they're not going to believe you and that makes you look like a shitty person. You have to be real about it. But I would not, I would not go into any specific detail unless you really get to know her. And then you actually have to get through, you know, some of the, Start unpacking some of the stuff that you went through, but I don't. And then if she's too into it, like, that's almost a red flag to be like, no, no, no, tell me more, tell me more. Then you're like, why this is what, why are you so interested in this? So I would be vague, take some blame and then hopefully just kind of keep it moving on to Cincinnati.

[Morgan]

Yeah, this, this is your story, right? You're fucking Taylor Sheraton here. Like, you can, you can decide what goes on. Now, I'm not saying you should make up a bunch of stuff, but I mean, let's be honest. You've probably lied to her about something and you pro lied or about something else. That's just what happens when you're in relationships. Even if it's not a big lie or a little lie, I think you could totally just like zoom out and just be like, we weren't ready. I certainly wasn't ready. And then I don't know who's going to argue with that? We, like, well, what specifically do you mean? I don't really think that's one of those questions you're going to get if you just go vaguely like this. Just, it wasn't a great match. It certainly, I wasn't ready. I don't know how much digging. If you dig into that, you're like, really? You fucking weirdo. What do you mean? Didn't I just tell you? I think you could totally go vague. And you're not. You're not, not. You know, you're not on her, you're not on yourself. Because that's just kind of silly to do if you don't have to. So that's probably what I would have done.

[Todd McShay]

I also think there's a way that you could get there where that's what you're saying you did without saying that phrase. And I'm not saying you're even going to do that, but like, say she had a hobby or she wanted to start a small business. You could say, you know, wasn't very supportive. Some things that we weren't aligned on. And like, here is an example, like, she was pursuing this. I didn't really understand it. I probably thought it was a bit of a waste of time. Looking back, I could have been more supported even if I didn't love the likelihood of it being a success. And the lesson that I've learned is that you have to be there for your partner. You have to be supportive in times where you think that maybe they are making a mistake, even if they're actually pursuing the passion. Because then pursuing the passion and being supportive of that is what marriage is about. Not the, hey, this is a loss. Just don't do it. How about that? Hope people had a pen.

[Morgan]

That was coming from you.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Should I get a tattoo? All right. What's up? 27 years old. 62205 x FCS defensive lineman. Down 50 pounds since my playing days. 290 bench 385. Back squat. NBA comp is Brook Lopez. So this guy was 2052 or excuse me, 255 now. 205. I'll get to it. I'm not really sure why, but a few months ago, I became really intrigued by the idea of getting a tattoo. Not some small artsy tattoo, but potentially a half sleeve. The issue is that I'm not typical tattoo guy. I don't really know how to explain it, but I've never seen, like, the guy who would get a tattoo. I'm about to graduate law school and start my career as attorney. I never had any interest in getting one during my playing days, even though a lot of the guys on the team had them. The idea started in my head kind of randomly as something I really want to do. Now I figure I'll wait another month or two and see if the urge passes to make sure it's not a phase, assuming I still want to get one. Do you think I'd be making a mistake? I live in a pretty progressive area where a lot of people have them, so I'm not too worried about it affecting job prospects or anything. Any advice? What do the guys think about tattoos in general?

[Morgan]

I think I flipped on tattoos. Like, honestly, if I see, like, a lawyer or a doctor with a tattoo, it's almost just like, that guy must be fucking awesome at his job. Job. I don't know why. I don't know. I don't know if it correlates. But, like, before, like, I used to think they were for, like, bikers and, you know, and it's just like, you're.

[Todd McShay]

You're.

[Morgan]

You're just coloring outside the lines. All right, great. You're not gonna.

[Todd McShay]

You're never.

[Morgan]

You're not clocking in anywhere anymore. So you. You've decided that's your path. And now if I see, like, a real professional with, like, a serious tattoo, just, like, this guy must be awesome. So when he said, you know, when he said he was going, like, graduating from law school, I'm like, that actually lines up right with what I think is kind of cool. Yeah. But waiting on the urge is good. Like this one. This was payday and this was happy hour. That's what it was. I don't have the urge for any more. Maybe. Maybe it'll come one day. But as of right now, it's like, I don't have the bug or whatever they said. Probably not the bug. Never mind. But I don't have. I don't.

[Kyle]

Like.

[Morgan]

It's not in me, and I need more. So I don't know. I think it's cool that you're a real professional, because in my mind, that stuff that Just takes you to another level. For me.

[Ceruti]

I have three Shocked actually here.

[Morgan]

I think I knew you had one, but I'm shocked you got three.

[Ceruti]

None of them are very visible. I have one on my wrist that is 23 Roman numerals. I was born on November 23rd. 23 is my favorite. No, you know, it's a funny story. I was born in 88 and growing up, my mom. My parents weren't really big sports fans and my mom was like, why is 23 everywhere? This is awesome. Like, my son was born on the 23rd. Like, she didn't understand, like, the Michael Jordan craze. She just thought 23 was like some special number. So, yeah, I had a lot of 23 random bull stuff that she didn't really know was actually, it's kind of a miracle I didn't end up a bulls fan. But 23 is a big number for me and I kind of like the. The Roman numeral vibe is, listen, it's played out. Everybody has it.

[Todd McShay]

It's fine.

[Ceruti]

But I think it looks cool and I like it. I like it on this box. It's like, you know, you can kind of see it, but also it's sort of hidden. And then I got two on the inside that were kind of like last minute deals that I did with my wife when we were on, I think it was our second or third anniversary trip. Those were less thought out. I don't have enough ideas. That's the problem. I like tattoos. I think they look cool. I'm with you, Kyle. Like, I think people, when I see like a good one or I see like somebody, a professional who has one, I'm like, that person probably went through some shit and is good at their job and has tattoos. They're probably double good at their job.

[Ryan Russillo]

Right?

[Ceruti]

But. But I just don't have enough ideas. So if you have a good thing, like, think it through and like, if you have something kind of creative and that you want to do that is really meaningful to you or if you just like a thing, like Kyle's got the OSP thing. He liked it. I actually think that tattoo is kind of awesome now. No, I know, but, like, it's.

[Kyle]

It's.

[Ceruti]

I don't know, like, it's kind of endearing. It's who you are, you know, like, it's. I like that about you.

[Ryan Russillo]

That.

[Morgan]

Yeah, it was the first time I felt useful in this, you know, job I kind of like, stepped and shit into. So that was. That was kind of why I did it.

[Ceruti]

The sleep thing's kind of crazy, though, because you have to. It's like, you know, you need a lot of things. You need shading. It takes, like, multiple sessions. Like, that's a real, real big investment. It's a huge change for people that know you.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Morgan]

I hope it's not a koi fish when it's all done. And it's just like, awesome, right?

[Ceruti]

Yeah. Love Japanese culture. Exactly.

[Todd McShay]

Hope to go one day. We've covered it, but I missed the tattoo window by a couple years. There were a handful of guys in our fraternity that went and got tattoos, and I can tell you now none of them are showing them off being like, hey, look how sweet this is. And I remember when the guys got together, they were like, are you in? And I was still kind of not in, but I probably would. But I just didn't have the money on top of everything else. So, like, I had an easy out that I couldn't even come up with. Like, were you doing them? And they were doing them in Vermont somewhere. And every like, one guy got this lion and you know, the lion's supposed to be like, fierce leader, king of the jungle. And came back, the lion looked like he was like a character in a Grateful Dead T shirt. I mean, just out of his mind. However, the guy drew the lion, like, just these googly eyes, like a big smile. Horrible.

[Ceruti]

Like a stuff.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. And you know, and you want to be fired up. You just get this ink put on your body for the rest of your life. And guys are like, oh, yeah, what's going on? Was that like a cartoon lion talking Hannah Barbera here.

[Ceruti]

I gotta be honest.

[Todd McShay]

The line too.

[Ceruti]

The line thing too is. I mean, I'm not trying to disrespect anybody listening. I might have one. Like, good for you. Maybe. Yours looks good. It's kind of played out. Like all these soccer players have, like big lions on their backs and they've got the. Like, even my guy Christian Pulisic, he's got the two eyes here. It might be a tiger situation, but he does like this, you know, it's like, all right, you know, Cool.

[Morgan]

Did that for a celebration.

[Todd McShay]

Awesome.

[Ceruti]

Yeah. I don't know. I had a buddy. I had a buddy who had a cover up too. Like, he got one on his arm when he was like 18, 19, and he basically put a sleeve over it to cover the whole thing up. I mean, the sleeve is intense. It's better than what was there before, but it's intense, dude.

[Morgan]

A lot of the 18 year olds ones are just terrible. My Buddy got this terrible Yankees one and it like, I don't know if this person was like, experimenting.

[Todd McShay]

Terrible. That sounds cool.

[Morgan]

Well, it was like, I don't know if the person who did it was like experimenting. He was like, I remember when he got it, he was like, that's not what you wanted. She does it for free because she's like, you know, practicing or whatever. And it almost looked like airbrush colors. Like, it's not real regular tattoo colors. It's like it looks like those air pens that you used to see on like TV commercials. That's what it looks like still. So I think he's going to be doing something about that. But I haven't seen other than like old army guys. I really haven't seen like an ancient person with like silly tattoos. Like, I've seen some like, you know, dudes from the service. It's like this one means that this one, I just haven't seen him in many walks of life. And I thought the big tattoo craze started long enough ago that you'd see some olds with some, you know.

[Todd McShay]

No, it's not that old. But 20 years from now there's gonna be people in nursing homes with like sleeves being wearing.

[Ceruti]

Yeah.

[Morgan]

And like the chest pieces.

[Ceruti]

Yeah.

[Morgan]

Shitty. The bad looking tattoo, that's an anchor from the guy in the service. I think that's cool. I just wonder what it's.

[Todd McShay]

I love the old anchor. I think it should bring the old anchors back.

[Morgan]

Right. But when it's going to be like, you know, I. This was a fridge. Because. Because, you know, whatever. Just guys that have weird stuff now that like, you know, not even tough guys, just guys who are just inked up. I wonder what that's going to look like. And I can't wait to find out.

[Todd McShay]

I felt like there was always this. Go ahead, go ahead.

[Ceruti]

No, I have a buddy who has like the burn the ships, you know, in a cool kind of font on him. Like that's something subtle. That's. That's pretty cool.

[Morgan]

That love the office and got him ironically, like, what's that going to be, 75?

[Ceruti]

Well, the bad ones, I feel like.

[Morgan]

Tattooed on your shoulder. I can't wait, Ryan.

[Ceruti]

The bad ones, I feel like in your age bracket is more like the barbed wire thing. Like the dudes that got the barbed wire biceps.

[Morgan]

I dreamed about barbed wire when I was young. I was like, that looks awesome. Those 25 year old guys with barbed wire. I dreamed about it. It's like my.

[Todd McShay]

I guess scuttling the ships isn't as cool of a tattoo. That's true. We cleared that up with the Cortez guy. I felt like there was a lot of sleeve guys. It shouldn't be sleeves. I've seen a couple Twitch streamers that are gamers, and I'm just like, dude.

[Morgan]

Just not tough guys at all.

[Todd McShay]

You're not remotely scary. And so that thing's been devalued. This guy played D line. I don't care that it was FCS. You're 205. I'll just tell you right now. Chris Long's full sleeve looks cool. It also looks cool on Chris Long. Yeah, he exactly looks like Thor. And he put the money into it. And he also made the point to me. He was like, if I was told, if you do it, you make the tattoos bigger. You make them big so they look good. I think it was also because they look good on tv. And when he's sacking an NFL quarterback and he's flexing, like, I don't know who among us wouldn't think that would look cool. 99.9% of us are not going to do it in this. But based on what the email said, I don't think it matters anymore. And I think you're right. Professionally, it doesn't really matter anymore. I don't know that there are any rules with it. I think the only pivot would be that it would start to be phased out. Like, more and more people would be like, this thing is over, and now I don't want to do it. So I think you're a clear go. But I love the idea of you waiting on this because you may be getting in on the downside of it all. Like, will we ever be in a spot? Like, I think some guys look really, really cool with it. I also think there's guys I look at, I go, you should not have a full sleeve. You don't deserve one. Like, what are your bench numbers? This guy's bench numbers.

[Ryan Russillo]

Pass it.

[Morgan]

I think it's additive, though, when you. When you reach a certain type of career. Like, if you were like a cpa, I don't know. Not really sure. But if we're talking lawyer, doctor.

[Todd McShay]

Full sleeve lawyer. Yeah. I look, there was a guy I remember at my gym before anybody had the sleeve where he had these, like, tentacles just going past where his wrist would be on a shirt sleeve, Right? So there was nothing on his hand, but it was, like, just poking out. And he was a 9 to 5, like, white collar guy, whatever. I think he was kind of a Badass, though, too. But he had, like, the full sleeve before anybody. And I remember asking, I was like, do you have it like that specifically? He goes, yeah, it's just like a very little thing that you may see it just pass where the cuff of my dress shirt is. And he's like, I did it that way purposely, so it's sort of there, but it's not like all the way over the top of my hand. And I was like, wow, you're the coolest. I would bet $500,000 that war gone does not have a tattoo.

[Ceruti]

I think we could agree.

[Todd McShay]

Or gone.

[Kyle]

I have two tattoos.

[Todd McShay]

Yes.

[Morgan]

I knew what I was gonna say.

[Todd McShay]

It.

[Morgan]

I knew it.

[Todd McShay]

Wow. I owe you $500,000, I guess.

[Ceruti]

Wow. Damn.

[Todd McShay]

Nobody took the bet.

[Morgan]

I should have.

[Todd McShay]

I fucking knew it. I knew it.

[Morgan]

Why would you assume?

[Kyle]

Huh?

[Morgan]

Yeah, he's probably killed a guy too. Like, honestly, like, there's so much. He's got so much history that we just.

[Todd McShay]

You know what, though?

[Morgan]

Barely scratching the surface.

[Ryan Russillo]

War Gone.

[Todd McShay]

Would you ever get a full sleeve? Do you think you're a full sleeve guy?

[Ceruti]

No, definitely not. I would bet $500,000 on that. Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, you know, had a bad year this year, but.

[Morgan]

Ever pierced your earbud?

[Ceruti]

No, never have.

[Morgan]

He's smart guy.

[Ceruti]

I don't know if I could pull that off.

[Morgan]

Hidden tattoos. No ear piercings.

[Ceruti]

What?

[Todd McShay]

I will pay for an ear today if you want to do it.

[Morgan]

Hoop. Got to be a hoop.

[Todd McShay]

Double fake diamond studs from.

[Ceruti]

Think on that.

[Todd McShay]

Yep, yep. Little. Little Qz. All right, that'll do it for our show today. Thanks to everybody for making the live broadcast happen. Thank you to Wargon, thank you to Kyle and Sruti on the show. Ryan Rossola podcast. Please subscribe to that and check out our YouTube page as well that you are on and subscribe and we'll be back on Wednesday. So thanks for joining us on a live broadcast on a Monday.

[Ryan Russillo]

Must be 21 and older. Present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18/ plus and present in D.C. gambling problem, call 1-800- gambler or visit rgh-help.com, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text Hopeny in New York.