So Is Indiana In? A Full CFB Playoff Selection Show With Todd McShay. Plus Saquon’s MVP Case.

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ryen Russillo Podcast – "So Is Indiana In? A Full CFB Playoff Selection Show With Todd McShay. Plus Saquon’s MVP Case"

Release Date: November 25, 2024

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Introduction

In this episode of The Ryen Russillo Podcast, host Ryan Russillo dives deep into the intricacies of the College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection alongside Todd McShay, a renowned college football analyst from ESPN. Additionally, Ryan explores the compelling case for Saquon Barkley as a top contender for the NFL MVP award. The discussion sidesteps the NFL recap to focus entirely on the evolving landscape of college football as the playoff selections approach.

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College Football Playoff Selection with Todd McShay

Overview of the Selection Process

Ryan and Todd initiate their discussion by outlining the criteria and challenges faced by the CFP committee. They emphasize the importance of evaluating teams based on recent performances, strength of schedule, and the ability to compete against top-tier opponents.

Top 12 Teams Analysis

Tier 1: Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, Georgia

• Oregon, Ohio State, Texas: These teams are unanimously recognized for their robust performances and strong resumes. Ryan notes, "There's no other option" for these selections, highlighting their dominance and consistency throughout the season.

• Georgia: Despite some inconsistencies, Georgia's battle-tested nature and talent pool make them a formidable candidate. Todd remarks, "Their defense scares me because they are battle-tested and they haven't, you know, it was one half against Alabama. They look good. One half, they look terrible."

Tier 2: Tennessee, Penn State, Notre Dame

• Tennessee, Penn State, Notre Dame: These teams occupy the next echelon, each with compelling reasons for inclusion. Ryan expresses a preference, stating, "I have Tennessee 7. I could flip Tennessee with Notre Dame or Penn State. I wouldn't get mad about it."

  • Tennessee: Appreciated for their strong offensive capabilities despite some defensive vulnerabilities.

  • Penn State: Recognized for their talent and potential to rise, though they’ve faced challenges against high-ranking opponents.

  • Notre Dame: Despite being lower than Georgia in the tier system, Notre Dame's impressive victories bolster their playoff credentials.

Tier 3: Miami, SMU, Boise State, South Carolina, Clemson

• Miami, SMU, Boise State: These teams are acknowledged for their competitive performances but lack the consistent excellence seen in higher tiers. Ryan mentions, "I think Miami belongs in tier three. I think SMU belongs in tier three."

• South Carolina, Clemson: With Florida and Alabama grappling with tough losses, Todd deliberates their placement, ultimately placing them in Tier 3 but expressing reservations about their playoff viability.

Tier 4/5: Controversial and Potential Wildcards

• Alabama: A significant point of contention, Ryan outright expresses disapproval of Alabama's inclusion due to their recent performance issues: "I can't do B. So let's go back to the tears. First two tiers covered seven teams."

• Indiana: Despite a historic win over Ohio State, Indiana's inclusion is hotly debated. Ryan strongly opposes their ranking, stating, "I have Indiana at 12 and I don't like it."

Notable Team-Specific Discussions

• Indiana's Performance: The pivotal game where Indiana upset Ohio State is dissected extensively. Ryan criticizes Indiana's overall performance despite their win, highlighting inconsistent drives and lackluster offensive metrics.

• SEC Teams' Shake-Up: With several SEC teams facing unexpected losses, the stability of the conference's strength is questioned. Todd emphasizes Georgia's resilience, contrasting it with the faltering performances of Alabama and Ole Miss.

• Big 12 Outlook: Texas remains a strong contender despite recent inconsistent performances. Both hosts agree on their potential, citing talent depth and strategic gameplay as strengths.

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Saquon Barkley’s MVP Case

Ryan shifts focus to the NFL, presenting a formidable case for Saquon Barkley as an MVP candidate. Drawing parallels with Adrian Peterson's 2012 MVP season, Ryan underscores Barkley's impressive statistics and impact:

• Statistics: Barkley boasts nearly 1,400 rushing yards, 10 touchdowns, and significant receiving contributions, positioning him on track for over 2,150 total yards if the trend continues.

• Injury Considerations: Acknowledging Barkley's injury history, Ryan debates the wisdom of pushing him to achieve 2,000 yards, weighing his importance against team dynamics and potential long-term health implications.

• Comparative Analysis: While Lamar Jackson remains Ryan's preferred MVP contender, he appreciates Barkley's resurgence and the "running back back in the mix," marking a rare and valuable presence in the MVP race.

Ryan Russillo [16:57]: "If you love him, set him free. Right? Because Barclays down, MVP candidate, it's like we can even throw that into the Giants."

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MVP Race and Running Backs

Ryan reflects on the historical context of running backs in the MVP race, questioning the sustainability of such candidates being frontrunners. He contrasts Barkley's potential with Lamar Jackson's consistent performance, ultimately leaning towards Lamar for the MVP title despite Barkley's strong case.

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Worst Loss Award: Washington Commanders vs. Dallas Cowboys

The episode tags the Washington Commanders’ defeat against the Dallas Cowboys as the "worst loss" of the week. Detailed analysis covers:

• Game Breakdown: The game featured multiple pivotal moments, including missed extra points, strategic punts, and critical turnovers that sealed Washington's fate.

• Emotional Impact: Ryan shares personal anecdotes about watching the game with friends, highlighting the emotional rollercoaster and the absurdity of certain plays and decisions.

• Coaching Critiques: Criticism directed at Washington's strategy and management, particularly focusing on quarterback decisions and defensive lapses.

Ryan Russillo [30:08]: "They do not have a Big 12 team in your top 12. Correct."

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Conclusion

As the podcast wraps up, Ryan and Todd reiterate their top contenders for the CFP and reflect on the complexities of team performances leading up to the playoff selections. The episode underscores the unpredictability of college football and the nuanced factors influencing playoff standings. Additionally, Saquon Barkley’s discussion leaves listeners contemplating the evolving criteria for MVP contenders in the NFL.

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Notable Quotes

• Ryan Russillo [16:57]:
  "I think finally like this push also was a reminder of how incredibly impressionable we can be."

• Todd McShay [21:17]:
  "And Big 12 too."

• Ryan Russillo [31:25]:
  "I think if you're just looking at the record, then you don't have to watch anything. You never have to watch anything."

• Todd McShay [35:03]:
  "I can't schedule up Bama. I can't be like, hey, you guys aren't. You guys don't get it."

• Ryan Russillo [50:22]:
  "Get out of here."

• Todd McShay [54:48]:
  "They're probably going to be in the top 12."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the critical discussions and analyses presented in the episode, providing insightful perspectives on the CFP selections and Saquon Barkley’s MVP candidacy. Listeners gain a thorough understanding of the considerations influencing team rankings and individual accolades as the college football season culminates towards the playoffs.

Transcript

[Ryan Russillo]

On today's podcast, we're going to recap week 12 in the NFL. Best win, worst loss awards and the player I'm rooting for the most this NFL season. And then we're just going to do a full college football selection show deal here with McShay. I'm going to give it my top 12. We have a lot of results to discuss. We have to talk Indiana after Indiana week, which is what last week will historically be known. Scholars will debate it for centuries. And also the SEC losing all of their late rank options potentially and what we do with them. And just what a weird day Saturday was for a million different reasons. So Todd and I are going to run through it. We have a difference of opinion on one program in particular. We've got life advice, also some Kyle advice because he helped a stranger, he talked to a stranger, a stranger from a van approached Kyle and he talked to him and helped him with a task. And now Kyle is injured. So probably just fast forward to that, honestly. So what I'm going to do on Today's pod is McShane and I are going to handle the top 12 for the college football poll and just get through that. We're not going to do any NFL. So I'm going to give you the NFL right now, week 12. All right, best win it probably is whoever wins tonight between the Ravens, Chargers, the Harbaugh bowl, new neighbor Jim probably won't hang out a ton. But look, whoever wins this one, it kind of gets like when you look at the Ravens and the profile and everything and you're thinking, all right, they can have five losses after tonight. Like, do I have to look at them differently? Does that impact the MVP race, all the stuff with Lamar? Because I still like the Ravens despite the fact that I have been making excuses for the defensive numbers throughout much of the season because the opposing quarterback resume, that doesn't change tonight, certainly going against Herbert. But we also know that Herbert is a different style of quarterback just because they're using them differently instead of just this passing fest all over the place without any balance. Even though I think it's pretty remarkable because the roster was kind of a reset off season and yet here they are. But then again, you can get into the schedule kind of stuff that the Chargers have done. As we mentioned last week, I think they faced four teams that have bench or four quarterbacks that at some point have been benched. But we love that Cincinnati win because that was actually a tough win, holding off those dudes despite the dominant first half. So I think the best win is actually still up for grabs. But if we go with Sunday's action, I think it's Philly last night. I'm going to give you a couple reasons they dominate the Rams 3720 in LA. Just NFL hot bet out here. Phillies now nine and two. They're the two seed in the NFC. They've won seven straight since that Tampa Bay debacle of like Sirianni going to make the season. What's going on with Hertz? What's happening here? They're missing the quarter. Remember. Remember how bad it was? Again, it's the carryover again. Preconceived assumptions on football teams, not just in college football, but the carryover to their second half collapse last season, losing to Tampa, knowing that it's a rematch, then you lose to them again. Well, everything's great. A little bit on the hey, it's the schedule stupid. Does the schedule, it's the schedule stupid theory apply here a little. If you look at their.410 opponents winning percentage among the playoff teams in the NFC, that is the easiest so far. But I will offer up a counterpoint to that. There's some dominant wins in here. Some of these teams put together some of these records and I'm still kind of like on the fence about what they really are capable of doing that if you can put together just some ass kickings over the span of like two months, you've got a few to pick from like they do. And yeah, I know the Giants are terrible and they're just a laughing stock today. Dallas has been a huge disappointment. But then I look at that game last night, like they thought that was domination. So that's three in there. And the comeback against Washington when they're having the offensive issues all the first half and then the Cincy win again because wins against Cincinnati are good wins despite their record. So there's enough there for me to be excited about Philadelphia again. And everybody's excited about them because they got the prime time bump last night. Sunday Night Football. So legit super bowl contender again. Check. I still like Detroit better. And after 10 weeks, this is the other part, after 10 weeks of Lamar, maybe a sprinkle of Josh Allen in there, but Lamar, like Lamar's the only choice at mvp. We have some Saquon Barkley love because of his numbers. So let's look at this also the funny the pylon that you have too in the media on the Giants part of this. Like, first of all, nobody really thought the Giants are going to be good Nobody really thought Daniel Jones would be going to be good. Except those. Those moments where it's like the light's hitting him just right and you're like, does he look good right now? But the Saquon part of it is just piling on. We've covered this. I like the way. I shouldn't say we. I like the way that I talked about it better than anybody else because it was like, what are the Giants supposed to do with Saquon Barkley? Okay, I know the owner wants him and I know they spent the pick on him, but they're going to spend millions of dollars on a guy that's not going to make that much of a difference for him because they're really not that good and they're in a massive reset year. So let him go somewhere else. If you love him, set him free. Right? But because Barclays down, MVP candidate, it's like we can even throw that into the Giants. But the Giants have bigger issues than Saquon Barkley running all over the field for the Philadelphia Eagles. But if we look at the MVP race, which is surprising, I will admit, we're. We're actually going to bring up a running back potentially as MVVP in the NFL. Can we allow to do that anymore again? 14 years post AD. Adrian Peterson, the initials were actually all day AD, not AP. Sooners fans get really pissed off about that. Peterson, I love that he won the MVP in 2012. I feel like that is the defining. I call it post 80 because that is the defining year of where, like, I don't know if a running back can carry a football team the way that he did for that team. One is because he was that special, and two, because the team itself wasn't that special. 14th in points scored, 14th in points allowed. He carried that team. All right, let's look back at his numbers. He had 2,100 yards, 12 touchdowns on the ground, 30 catches, 220 yards receiving, zero touchdowns receiving. Again, the team was average. Barkley's at just under 1,400 yards, 10 TDs on the ground. He's got 27 catches for 257 and two touchdowns receiving. He is on pace. If you look at his 126 rushing yards per game times 17 games, the extra game, he's on pace for about 2150 in total yards. That would be a massive season. It would be even more than Peterson. It also would be unlikely. I would think that that would happen. Well, I shouldn't say it that way. I don't know that they're going to need Barkley or if it's smart for them to use Barkley this way. Depending on how the last couple weeks come together. You would think you would want to get him rest and reps and not have him chase at 2000 yards. I'm all for it. But running backs with his injury history and all this different stuff. So how did this happen? Right? Because it could be we have a reminder to not just hand to start engraving the MVP trophy for Lamar the way that we wanted to after like nine, 10 weeks. I think the running back being back in the mix felt impossible, but I'm glad it's happening and I think finally like this push also was a reminder of how incredibly impressionable we can be. Whether it's convinced that Lamar will be the only option to now Saquon being offered up as the better option and realizing that a lot of it is the prime time bump because he was incredible again last night with the all purpose yards and a running back closing out the game. Kids, that's how they used to do it on Sundays. The running back closed things out. However, I would still pick Lamar. I don't care about the losses. He's even better than he was last year. Again, it's not so much Lamar if he's better than he was last year when he won the mvp, that sets the standard. It's comparing it just like voting in the college football comparing what you think of this to the other options that you have. And I still would think Lamar. I would just have a hard time ever thinking that a running back could be more important. But I kind of like that it's happening 10 plus years after Peterson did it. Okay, worst loss. You are not going to find anything worse than what happened to the Washington commanders yesterday. You're not going to find anything all season. It could take multiple seasons. That game was an all timer. You would say. Is it karma when they ended my Bears fandom. By the way, Caleb Williams looked fantastic yesterday. Overtime loss to the Vikings. But I loved it. I loved every minute of it. Is Eberflus, Is he responding to Eberfluss's coaching? Does he get an extension? Probably a Thursday local topic in Chicago. I'm pausing for dramatic effect here because I cannot Most of you know this because you're listening to the pod right now. I cannot express to you how much fun it was watching and I'm not a fan of either team. Don't care. Stanford Steve in town Monday Night Football. ESPN on my couch all day yesterday. Great time catching up with my bud. And we were watching that game play out with all the different miscues and mistakes and swings, dying, laughing. We could not stop laughing. So let's review what happened here. 33 at the half. Washington touchdown. Go up 10 3. Nope, missed extra point. 9 3. That will, that will matter. Dallas goes up 10, nine. Then it's a punt fest for five possessions in the second half. Then Dallas kicks a field goal up 13 9. Then Washington fumble. Then Dallas TD 29. The Cowboys are going to pull off this long time. This was a big, big game back in the day, kids. This was a game where you were like, I don't even care. I just need to watch Dallas against Washington. Well, here we were, we were in it and it looked like Dallas was going to pull the division upset. You're going to have these questions about Jaden decline in the second. Have like what's going on? We getting a little Cam Newton, Sam Darnold, like early month, fluky start to the career. Like what's going on? Anyway, most important drive of maybe the season because Jaden some of the concerns about like where's this going right now? Nine plays, 69 yards. He was seven of seven on the drive. He gets it to 2015. Right. And I thought that drive was like everything, everything that you have hope for with Jane Daniels. You're like, oh, okay, wait a minute. This is going to be fine. It isn't a big deal. We're good. Even though you're still down. So 77 yards, excuse me, 69 yards on that drive. Seven to seven on the drive. Just double checking the notes here. And then Turpin hits the B button. 99 yards, runs it back after front wing kickoff return. You don't see kickoff returns a ton anymore. So now Dallas is back up. Then we've got a field goal. It's 27:20. Dallas punts it, trying to run clock. There's no way that Washington's going to score except they do one play. 86 yards. Terry McLaurin gets behind all of these guys. I still cannot believe. I mean it has to happen because it's sports. But to have a receiver get open and then beat everybody down the field for the game tying touchdown doesn't make any sense. I still can't believe that that part happened until the next part because it wasn't 2727. It was 2726 because Washington misses another extra point. So they have to kick an onside kick. They kick it and Wanye Thomas out of Georgia Tech decides to run it in for the touchdown now. Award time. We're going to call this please take my daughter award. Because anytime a football player decides to not run it in for a touchdown, the announcers freak out like, we just saw a future. Wow. The president might not be the right word for this. Like, the greatest human being in the history. Like, three wise men. Whatever. Whatever your deal is. If a running back or receiver falls down before going in the end zone, even when it's actually stupid to do it, the announcers freak out. Trevion Henderson did it for Ohio State, and I would argue you should have just gone in. And I'm sure Trevion, after they pushed it in for the last touchdown, was like, yeah, that if I'd known that, maybe I would have just gone in for the touchdown, because that would have been cooler. But not. Not to Gus Johnson. Gus Johnson lost his mind. He was like, this is the culture at the world famous Ohio State. This is why I don't even know what I'm doing right now. But you get the point. And it just. Whenever it happens, the announcers go way too far where it's like, have you met my daughter? I can imagine one guy, like, the next time somebody does it, like, I'm so proud of this young man, I'm going to hug him from behind and breathe on his neck slowly, you know, and you're just like, all right. It actually isn't smart to do it all the time. However, Wanye should have not run it in for the touchdown. Mike McCarthy's on the sideline like, what the fuck? And at that point, down eight, Washington has another. It was not going to happen for Washington that day. That is the worst loss with all of those things, all of them happening in the second half. And it's a division rival and you've lost a bunch in a row. You're from 7 and 10 to now 7 and 5. I think that Jaden drive was really, really important because maybe that gets thrown back in the mix and he hits McLaren on, you know, so, like, this wasn't a Jaden game. It's. It's not a Jaden. It shouldn't be. It'll get all thrown in the mix. But that's. That's a tough one. That's the kind of thing where I'd probably be in the parking lot for a couple hours afterwards. All right, what else do we got for you? I am rooting for Bryce Young in the way that I don't know that I've rooted for an NFL player before. All right? He gets benched, he looks awful. So we understand the benching, but we don't like the way that it's handled. I pushed back on this idea that he was never going to play for them again or would he ever be a starter. I'd said when it happened, chances are considering how the roster works out and that they're not very good and they're going to want to try to figure out if this reset can help them get something for him or somehow a reclamation of the asset here. I thought he played really well yesterday against Kansas City. Maybe that's overstating it. Maybe it is because I'm rooting for him so much. But I want to see this work out. I don't know if it's in Carolina, I don't know. I want to see Bryce Young be a multi season starting quarterback in this league because of how down like it was thought to be impossible even to be in this situation. And this was always the more likely situation that he was going to starting. He's going to be the starting quarterback for Carolina again because they spent the number one pick on him just two years ago. By the way, his game yesterday, it's the best of the season so far. Not even close to being the best game of his career at Green, excuse me, at home against Green Bay late last season kind of lit it up for him some one of those things where you go back and look at it, it's like, oh, it kind of gave him hope coming into the second year. Overhaul of things, better weapons, more investment in the offensive line. Not the case. He looked shattered. So maybe the mental reset was actually the right thing to do with him. What was wrong was the reaction as if like the career was entirely over and he was never going to get another chance again. So anyway, close loss to the Chiefs. Carolina team that doesn't get pressure on any opposing quarterbacks. They have Mahomes five times yesterday and there was a pressure from the right side that Mahomes didn't even see. It was so weird because it was a moment where you see Mahomes not seeing something that is actually more surprising. Couple other things here. This isn't going to be the stat of the day and there is something to be said about the KCO line. The fact they're adding somebody else late tells you how worried they may be, but it doesn't matter. Like they could lose all their games if they're in the playoffs going in and probably picking them. Still, Kyler was pressured 16 times yesterday. Three points through three quarters that's one point a quarter for Arizona's offense. Very low on the low side. They ended up doubling up in the fourth quarter six in their loss to Seattle and making a mess at the NSC west because San Francisco backup quarterback missing a bunch of other pieces smoked by Green Bay. We already covered the Rams and on so Seattle's looking good here. But Kyler, not again. Sixteen pressures, five times he was sacked. He ran right then kind of jitterbug and then kind of whatever and was caught between. Didn't know what he wanted to do. He didn't even get hit hard. And this is my Kyler's thing, man. He just sort of was like hit and then was on the ground and then we got Clayton Toon getting loose on the sideline. It didn't matter. McBride still a stud for them and really the only reason I don't know if it's the pick six on the other side because then Gino gave back one in the end zone. So I think the point turnover math, it's all sort of made up that I have in my head when I'm watching a game. Kind of evened out. All right, last thing. Stat. Cue it.

[Todd McShay]

Stats to impress people.

[Ryan Russillo]

Let's talk a little Bo Nicks. So Bo Nicks has this great first half against Raiders statistically, yet they're not converting on third down. So I struggle with Bo Nicks. I don't know. I didn't like him as much as I like the other quarterbacks in front of him. I could be wrong. Done it before. Won't be new. However. Pass block, win rate. Did you know this because we're coming to Colorado next week, so we want all of you guys to be armed with this kind of information. If you're talking to strangers, if you're talking to relatives, holidays coming up. Did you know that Denver is number one in pass block, win rate? You didn't know that? Good chance. A lot of you didn't know it. Is that part of it? And why so many of these throws? I think Peyton's doing such a good job with Bo Nicks where it's like, man, maybe it's not going to look as pretty as some of the other guys, but the efficiency and beating up on a Raiders team that had to go back to Desmond Ritter. Yeah. Back on the scene. Check it out. Check your depth charts, kids. Stay on top of it. This Thanksgiving, we're serving up big wins in epic football moments with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can bet $5 and get 150 in bonus bets if you win. The FanDuel app serves up all the ingredients you need to place live bets in same game parlays and so much more. Plus, when you win, you'll get paid instantly. Pretty straightforward on this one. All right, Chicago at Detroit Thanksgiving. What are you doing? Betting the Lions. Right? Lions football. Except you're not. I don't think you're doing it. I've done it. I've sat there super mad, sometimes happy. Historically, betting on the Lions Thanksgiving Day, it's turned around, I think quite a bit the last few years. I think 8 and 4 in the last 12. After an 8 and 12 run against the spread for the Lions. Here's the thing with this Bears line. Did you watch him? Did you watch Caleb Williams almost pull it out again? Moving the football, decisive throws, new offensive coordinator looks good on you, bro. But they lost to the Vikings. However, this line, I figured kind of it'd be under a touchdown because of the division, because of the history, because of Thanksgiving, short week for both. Like it couldn't be double digits. Well, it was plus four and a half on the open for Chicago and now it's up to plus 10 and a half or 11. So as of this taping, can't figure out why it moved that much yet. But that would be the play there. And also maybe a little, little action on just maybe you just have a Caleb Williams day. You just go, I don't care about the score. I don't care about the win. I want them to get a better pick. Those are my Bears. But I believe in my guy. So I'll just take an over little over action on Caleb Williams. All right, so just visit fanduel.com Orion R Y N to join today and get started with $150 in bonus bets. If you win your first $5 bet. That's FanDuel.com Ryan R Y N Make this Thanksgiving Extra special with FanDuel. An official sportsbook partner of the NFL must be 21 and older and present in select states or 18 + and President D.C. first online real money wager only. $5 first deposit request required. Bonus issued as non withdrawable bonus bets which expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See [e-mail] gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler or visit rg-health.com so much of what we want to do can seem impossible. Big ambitions, lofty goals. Are you there yet? Me neither. But believe it or not, that's a good thing. The highest achievers among us are the people still striving, still reaching for something. It's those people who approach the impossible and embrace it. There's a vehicle for people like that. It's called the Defender. The entire Defender lineup is engineered to meet challenges head on with legendary capability off road or in the city. Its tough, rigid body design and refined details make the journey ahead not possible, but comfortable. It's an icon reimagined for the next generation of Explorers. Discover the full defender [e-mail] that's Land Rover USA.com so I told you at the top we were only going to do college football with McShay because everything that happened this past weekend I will know the past week is Indiana week. At least my personal history. It will be Indiana week. And then we have the Indiana result and then we what a wild Saturday, though. Yeah, it really was. And I mean the Indiana result I don't think was all that wild. But the SEC stuff and so it led to just the cycle of all of it all over.

[Todd McShay]

And Big 12 too.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah. I mean when I had tweeted out like the committee's running out of teams, FCs skip bayless chimes in immediately and starts just like making it about the SEC again. And I was like, well no, I mean, you know, the Colorado loss to see them get manhandled on the ground because if you look at like where Colorado's flawed, they're actually pretty good against the run and then Devin Neal just beasts them for a day. But Kansas becomes the first team ever to have a losing record to be three ranked teams. But you know, Kansas was supposed to be good and they've sneaky been in all of it with just a bad record. So I don't even think it's necessarily a bad loss for Colorado. However, with this massive, I think nine teams are still alive in the Big 12. We're going to have to start changing the way we look at some of those bottom teams and that will lead to some conversation right now. All right, so I'm going to do the top 12. You're going to do it with me. This will be my list. So Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, we're fine with, right?

[Todd McShay]

Yep.

[Ryan Russillo]

There's no other option. Although yes, there could be a Texas conversation. But I would say if you're just looking at the schedule with them, when you watch them play, they have not played great. But.

[Todd McShay]

But I believe that they have the talent. They have not played great.

[Ryan Russillo]

See, I feel like when I watch them I go I still believe in them.

[Todd McShay]

That's what I'm saying. I believe and I think when they get into a huge matchup, they're going to open things up offensively. I think that there's more there, but it'll be interesting. I mean, whatever. I'm sidetracking us, but it will be interesting to see Quinn Ewers coming off that ankle injury. Clearly it was his final home game at dkr. They wanted him to be in there in the second half, but he clearly was limited. They ran the ball vast majority of the second half and you know, it was just about survive and advance. But. But this offense has not looked the same since. Since the, the injury that he suffered earlier in the year. So it'll be interesting if they can turn it on. That would be my big question. Can they turn it on offensively when, when the, you know, all chips are in the middle of the table?

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, I guess you could argue it's. It's two games, but I felt like they were more in control of this one than they were Arkansas, where Arkansas was a defensive thing, but at least you have the FL result a couple weeks ago to go off of when they can open this up. So my point would be when I watch Texas, I don't go, oh, I think that they are bad. So therefore, like. Because then you can start to do an exercise where it's like, well, if you're only going to look at the opposing schedule and never watch a football team play, then that must be really efficient and a lot easier to do. So I have Texas third. You're fine with it?

[Todd McShay]

Yep.

[Ryan Russillo]

Who would you put fourth?

[Todd McShay]

Georgia.

[Ryan Russillo]

We have that as the same. Give me the Georgia case.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, I know who Georgia is. They're not the elite that we've seen out of them in some previous years. I think their defense, you could stack up there. I'm not saying they're as good as some of the other elite defenses in the country. I think, you know, I would bet on Texas's defense over Georgia's at this point. But. And I've seen Carson Beck transition. I even saw it in the loss to Ole Miss and I said that I think he, it's like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He was pressing on every down. He was trying to force things. And I've seen him kind of. And even the report in the game about he went back and studied self scouted and like you saw the difference against Tennessee. I just, I think they scare me and they scare me because they are battle tested and they haven't, you know, it was one half against Alabama. They look good. One half, they look terrible. They have not been as consistent as you would expect from a Kirby smart team. But I know the talent's there. I know the coaching's there. And with Penn State, like, I know everyone's sitting there, well, why not Penn State? The talent level is different for starters. But if we're not just going off of that, Penn State has not had a tough road. Penn State could have lost that game and probably should have lost that game by two to three touchdowns against Ohio State. And then I'm watching, you know, I'm watching Ohio State dismantle an undefeated Indiana team. And then I turn on the very next window of college football and that's a slugfest. And I get it. Like Alabama was a slug. Alabama had that struggle game against Oklahoma and lost by three touchdowns. Penn State had a struggle game against Minnesota, a similar record. Coming into the game, I think Minnesota was 6 and 44 and Oklahoma was 5 and 5. But. And they found a way to win and that was good. And it took onions from James Franklin, fake punt and all those sorts of things. But they're struggling with Minnesota. At the end of the day, there's not like a clear difference. They're not dominant, they don't have weapons on the outside. And you can say the same thing for Georgia. But even their weapons who haven't been great, there's more talent, there's more speed, there's more explosiveness. So I just see a clear difference between the two teams. And it's not, you know, the win loss record and all that, but if you're playing weekend and week out against that competition and I don't care like Danny Cannell, your boy and everybody else who the anti sec, that's fine. But anyone who's reasonable and doesn't have a horse in the race, everyone I've talked to across the country who like evaluates talent for the like, the SEC is the best. And week in and week out it is a grind. And so to see what they've done and it has not been perfect in their blemishes, but Georgia has just so much more battle tested than Penn State at this point.

[Ryan Russillo]

All right, let's hold off on some of the SEC stuff because I think it comes back into play though more for, for Ole Miss, Bama and A and M. In all three teams losing in the way they did and trying to sift through that and figure out like, is there a landing spot for a three loss team here still in the 12 team playoffs. Do they get one of those last spots there? And it leads to the Indiana conversation. But I like it. That was a nice little appetizer. And what we're going to do.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. That would be my longest rant of the day, I promise.

[Ryan Russillo]

Five is.

[Todd McShay]

Five is interesting. I'm. I'm really intrigued. I wrote mine down. So it's.

[Ryan Russillo]

You want mine first or do you mind?

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, give me yours first here because I have my five here and I don't think people are going to agree with it.

[Ryan Russillo]

The fighting Tommy Reese's of South Bend. I put Notre Dame 5. You have Tennessee 5, don't you?

[Todd McShay]

I do.

[Ryan Russillo]

Hey, by the way, I don't know what to do. I don't.

[Kyle]

I.

[Ryan Russillo]

You know, I felt good about three and then I was like, let's see what happens here. Look, I had Bama up because I go, if I want to do. Here's what I started doing.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah.

[Ryan Russillo]

Is I started looking at like your three best wins in this group. And Notre Dame does not hang with Georgia. They don't hang with Tennessee. I don't think. I mean, Tennessee's. You know what, let's do it this way. Let's do your three best opponents. Just. We don't even have to have win. All right, your three best opponents, Georgia, it's Texas Bama and Clemson. Texas Bama and Tennessee. Like, you could. You could flip one of those if you wanted to, if you think the Tennessee. Well, Tennessee.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. Texas, Bama, Tennessee. And then Clemson is a. Is like, you know, sprinkle on top.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, you're right. You're right. It is Tennessee over Clemson. You don't even have to win. Right. So it's just opponents. Three best opponents from Penn State so far. Ohio State, Illinois and West Virginia. Is it West Virginia or Minnesota? I think Minnesota's like. Minnesota's not terrible. They're all right. Tennessee's three best opponents, Georgia, Bama, Florida. You know, the Florida one's a little tricky there because Mertz gets knocked out of that game. But clearly Florida is actually like better with Lagway. So, you know, what does that mean? Their loss is worse if you're looking at Notre Dame. Yeah. Who's Notre Dame? Well, it's A and M, obviously. I think Louisville's clearly in that. And then Navy and Army were ranked.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah.

[Ryan Russillo]

So is it. Is it actually Army? Because I think most of us all thought army was better than Navy. Is it USC this week?

[Todd McShay]

I feel like I'm talking you into my argument. Without having to talk a whole lot here.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, no, I know, but this is. This leads to the. I don't know what else to do. The AP has Penn State four. All right. They do not see it the same way we see it with the Georgia thing. Well, yeah, but I think the committee has actually been more. The committee really likes Big Ten. They do football. I think the committee's treating it more like standings than they are.

[Todd McShay]

I'll be surprised when the rankings come out if Penn State isn't for.

[Ryan Russillo]

I'd be shocked if they weren't four. Because, look, Minnesota, you say whatever you want. Compared to the other SEC stuff, again, I think that they're a tougher out and I think. I don't disagree.

[Todd McShay]

They're good. They've gotten a lot better. It's a home game. It's their super bowl quarterback.

[Ryan Russillo]

I know he's kind of all over the place, but I like Max. All right, So I have. I have Notre Dame 5. Just because of the ass kicking stuff. The worst loss than Penn State's Ohio State thing. I totally get it. I understand why people would be on my case about it. That's fine. I have Tennessee 7. I could flip Tennessee with Notre Dame or Penn State. I wouldn't get mad about it. Then I think it's the next group of. I have Miami, I have smu. I don't love Boise State, but their loss is against the number one team in the country. So even though I think we all have fallen in love with Tulane here, it's. It's tough to do. You're not going to get Tulane all the way up here. So now it's 11 and 12.

[Todd McShay]

Well, okay, can we go back and tear this. Can we tier this thing a little bit? Okay.

[Ryan Russillo]

And I don't know if you want.

[Todd McShay]

To make it two tiers at the top or just one, but the first tier absolutely includes Oregon, Ohio State and Texas. I would just for the sake of this, throw Georgia in there, too.

[Ryan Russillo]

I think, to me, I'm fine with that. Although I tried to. Well, I wasn't putting Bama in that tier necessarily, but I just. I wanted to hammer the teams that haven't played anybody because I think that's what a committee is supposed to do. And I think the AP should be doing it. But the AP doesn't want to do it.

[Todd McShay]

All right.

[Ryan Russillo]

And the committee hasn't wanted to either.

[Todd McShay]

So whether or not you have Georgia at the bottom of tier 1 or at the top of tier 2, we'll say top of tier 2 for the sake, it's Georgia 4 and then however you want to rank them. But tier two includes Georgia if they're in there. If they're not, Tier 1, Tennessee, Penn State, Notre Dame. Would we agree it doesn't have to be that order. You had Notre Dame 5. I had Tennessee, but it's Tennessee, Penn State, Notre Dame in some order. Right?

[Ryan Russillo]

Totally agree. Yeah. Because then it's. Then it opens up from Miami. Well, though the coaches have Miami ahead of Tennessee seven to eight. I would disagree with that.

[Todd McShay]

But. So our top two tiers cover the first seven teams. It's Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, Georgia, then whatever order. Tennessee, Penn State, Notre Dame. So we're through seven teams. That's two tiers. Now we get into tier three and who the teams from me in tier three. And you kind of have a different order, but I'm going to. I think Miami belongs in tier three. I think SMU belongs in tier three. Where we. At Boise State. You throw into tier three at some point. Where I think we're going to differ is Also in tier 3 for me are South Carolina and Clemson. But I'm not sold on Clemson. But I would have them in my top 12 right. Right now knowing that one of those two teams is going to lose. I mean, it's a battle on Saturday in Clemson, South Carolina for. To see who's going to stay in there from. For my rankings.

[Ryan Russillo]

All right, so we. I have Boise 10. I don't love it. I have SMU 9. I actually feel a little bit better about that. When I watch SM you play, I'm like, I actually just kind of think they're good. But this last stretch of schedule stuff, you know, back when people thought Pitt was. Was decent, like they've fallen apart. Sneaky Boston College. We both realized they show up to fight. They don't win a lot of them, although they're 6 and 5 this year. So I've just conferenced. They're below 500. But there's not a lot to like here with the SMU stuff. But I, I think it is a little mini Texas for me and that when I watch them I'm like, you know what? I. I think they're good and their loss is somewhat excusable. Even though at the time I think they were like 13 point favorites against BYU, people didn't realize that BYU is going to be really good. So now that leads to kind of like 11 and 12. And I think everybody listening to this pod is expecting me to find a way to put Bama back in or Excuse away Ole Miss or keep the A and M hope alive here. And I'm telling you right now, I can't do it. Okay. I was convinced after the Indiana, Ohio State game. Everything kind of played out. I thought it was even worse than I thought it would be. I certainly didn't think Indiana was going to win the football.

[Todd McShay]

The score might not have been worse, but after the first series and after the first 10 minutes of that game, the, the lopsided nature of it was worse than I even expected.

[Ryan Russillo]

Do you want to get in? All right. Would you have Indiana in your top 12? Let's not.

[Todd McShay]

I would not.

[Ryan Russillo]

What do you have them, like 13.

[Todd McShay]

And then I have them 14 behind Alabama and I don't. Yeah, I have them 14 behind Alabama and I don't love. Like, I don't know what to do with Alabama right now.

[Ryan Russillo]

I'm totally fine being done with Alabama. I tried to give him another resilo push last week and I'm done with it. Milro is not good. The fact that you guys, like, I can't wait until you do the full evaluation. Make sure you have the draft clip of him on an offsides free play, throwing it out of bounds. Okay.

[Todd McShay]

I love that text from you the other night, right?

[Ryan Russillo]

Like, hey, do you see this free play? Yeah, let's throw it five yards deep of the sideline. And it wasn't all on him. The tackles were a mess. But Oklahoma to review here. And this is why I'm totally fine with like, I'm not. I can't schedule up Bama. I can't be like, hey, you guys aren't. You guys don't get it. I don't think that Norman on a Saturday night necessarily is easy. But to really put in perspective who Oklahoma has been on offense, yards per play, I think they're 131 out of 134 teams like Jackson, Arnold didn't really have to do anything. The running back was terrific. I thought there was a lot of like Vandy ish film study of the eye candy at the line of scrimmage to freeze Alabama's front. It was like, oh, it appears they're going to try to do some Vandy shit to these guys. And it froze them. And then Milroe had the disastrous game. So you factor that in with the Vandy loss, the Tennessee loss, which is, you know, a good loss. But I don't, I don't love him. You know, Saban had one three loss season in 2010, which I thought was one of his Most talented football teams. And unfortunately for Caleb DeBoer, it's in his first season replacing the legend. I'm totally, I like I can't schedule Bama. I can't give you the full scope of Bama and talk myself into the SEC stuff that everybody thinks that I'm going to do because I've seen enough of the bad version of it. And it all comes to a culmination. The fewest points in two decades. An Oklahoma team that cannot move the football. Turnovers are a big part of it, but they also couldn't tackle them. They couldn't stop this young running back. That's actually a bad loss. Even if we know that Oklahoma was ranked during the beginning of the season, we know that it's a tough game atmosphere Saturday night and Norman and the talent, all that kind of stuff.

[Todd McShay]

I can't do what Saturday night Norman ain't Baton Rouge. I've been to plenty Saturday nights in Norman and it ain't Baton Rouge, it ain't Tennessee, it ain't Georgia. Like it's just it. And I'm not knocking all the folks in Norman and the Oklahoma. It's certainly a difficult place to play and they passionate, but it's not that. More importantly, let's get to the point here. The point is, truly the point is this. Alabama came to the realization after their bye week that and they self scouted, did a great job. Jalen Milro really doesn't want anything to do with running or I should better put. Jalen Milroe is not nearly the aggressive, productive runner on scrambles as he is when he's on designed runs. Right. So they came out in that in the Tennessee game and they, they, it was design. I think 11 of his 13 runs were design runs. 175 of the 185 he had in that game, rushing were designed runs. And they dominated a damn good Tennessee defense. I didn't put up massive points on the board but. But they were dominant. They, you know, Milro running on design runs was the new thing for Alabama.

[Ryan Russillo]

Wait, you're talking about lsu?

[Todd McShay]

I'm sorry, lsu.

[Ryan Russillo]

Sorry. Lsu.

[Todd McShay]

Lsu.

[Ryan Russillo]

Not Tennessee. Sorry. Tennessee completely shut them down.

[Todd McShay]

Sorry. Yeah, I'm losing my mind. There's too many games.

[Ryan Russillo]

All right. Tough schedule. They got a tough schedule. You got to keep dragging.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. After the bye week, LSU design runs. And it was, it was ugly. It was ugly. But since then we've come to realize that LSU is not, you know, that was a splintered team. And we've also come to realize that like you would think the thing that they realize that they're dominant at would, would carry over. And Brent Venables is a phenomenal defensive coach. You could talk about him as a head coach and crew, like all those things, but as a defensive coach, he's phenomenal. And so if Oklahoma, that Oklahoma defense is really good. It really is. You match that up with the championship offense and they're cooking. But still, to be shut down that much and then to have your offensive tackles have an absolute nightmare of a night against Oklahoma and those edge guys, what do they have now? Because now everyone knows, like, all right, if we can stop that, if we can stop. If you cut off his legs as a design runner, what do we have offensively we can't protect? We got the, we got the best, if not the best, one of the top two freshman wide receivers in the country. Phenomenal player.

[Ryan Russillo]

But yeah, I mean, he had two plays that didn't count that were like highlights. They'd be the best single play for like 100 receivers in college football.

[Todd McShay]

But outside of that, and it doesn't matter how great he is necessarily, when you can't protect a quarterback who is not a great pocket passer. So to me, like, I feel like the shtick is up for Bama.

[Ryan Russillo]

I don't have my top 12, but.

[Todd McShay]

Then again, in a playoff game, I'm scared to death to play them.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, I don't know. I, I, I think I still like A and M in Ole Miss better than them. So the Bama buy in thing, the rest of the country will be happy to hear that. I can't, I can't do it anymore.

[Todd McShay]

Right.

[Ryan Russillo]

I can't, I can't do it anymore. And I've never liked a quarterback the entire time. And by the way, the interception, his effort on the sideline, terrible towards the end of the game. I know he's upset and the whole thing, but, like, that's not what I want out of my future NFL quarterback. Of, like, kind of having those moments on the sideline where it seems like he's completely shut down. Like, fake it better, you know? Yep, I hear. So you don't have Bama 12.

[Todd McShay]

I do not have B. So let's go back to the tears. First two tiers covered seven teams. The third tier, it sounds like while we're not agreeing on where they're all slotted, we do have Miami, SMU and Boise State somewhere in there. Correct or no?

[Ryan Russillo]

We do. We do.

[Todd McShay]

Okay, so my other two teams.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yep.

[Todd McShay]

Whether you want to call it fourth tier or that would be included in that bottom tier. D could be an South Carolina and Clemson. And I don't have a ton of conviction right now, but if one of those teams goes out and has an impressive performance in a final game in a rivalry at the end of the season, I would have a hard time keeping them out.

[Ryan Russillo]

All right. The three losses for South Carolina, it's funny that like they're a three loss team. And I'm not even saying that you're just doing this because I've seen it throughout the weekend in that there was like a push that maybe Clemson, South Carolina is for an at large bid. And I was like, well, I guess if you were in the committee and you go, Carolina got completely screwed against LSU by the officiating. Like three significant calls that, that have a great deal to do with like, I don't love doing that all the time. That game I think is a prime example of like couple calls go our way, feeling a little bit better. Or maybe it's a two loss team. And again South Carolina is like one of my favorite teams watching college football. But as we go through sifting through the SEC teams, there's still two more to do here. Losing to Auburn is worse than losing to Oklahoma or Florida right now. Ole Miss losing to Florida, like, I'm sorry, Florida's pretty good. Like Lague is going to be a stud. That freshman running back balls a stud. There's. I know that they got off to the terrible part of it and this is kind of the weird scheduling stuff where it's like, oh, look at Notre Dame's game against A and M. Well that's a really good loss. Well, I understand the record part of it, but did you like, I feel.

[Todd McShay]

Do we feel worse about. You texted me and I thoroughly agreed and was already kind of heading down that road. Not even on our podcast Saturday night, I even said is one of the 10 things that like I think I know now, like throw out the records based off of what we've seen recently in just like the last couple of weeks, you could make a strong argument if you were just to seed them that Florida is playing the fourth best baller, the fourth best team like right now. Like if you were to rank who you don't want to go to play as an opponent, I. You can make an argument. Florida would be fourth on that list behind Texas, Georgia, Tennessee. You really could.

[Ryan Russillo]

I know, I know.

[Todd McShay]

But I'm saying when you're starting to look like in perspective of those losses.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah. Like I would just ask Again, if you're just looking at the record, then you don't have to watch anything. You never have to watch anything. And you can just sit there and not watch Florida the last few weeks despite Texas handing it to him. But it's, it's pretty cool. And look Ole Miss, the two piggies fourth downs don't work out. They've got the kicking issues. And then Jackson Dart who physically I like. I love his competitive edge. I love his toughness. He also scares the shit out of me. Okay.

[Todd McShay]

He is, he's not been great in Layton games trailing like in that Kentucky games.

[Ryan Russillo]

The Kentucky stuff was, was actually I think even worse because it was at home than even what was happening here in Florida. He has the three picks. One is called back before flag. He's like all right, we'll do this again. So it's technically the two picks there late that are disaster. He's a mess.

[Todd McShay]

How many times do you get to re rack something twice after making a miserable decision. A pre snap read that he, he just, he committed to where he was going with the football. Threw into triple coverage. Interception defense, they still have three timeouts. Defense stops him, does, does its job, gets you the ball back. You throw another interception and then you get to re rack it because it was because the ball hit the ground a little bit on the. What looked like an interception in real time. And then the third one like of the three was the least, was least amount on him. But still to have three interceptions in the final few minutes of that game when your team needs you and I feel terrible for the guy. I've sat and talked to him for 45 minutes a couple times. I really like him. I like him as a competitor. He's done amazing things at Ole Miss. He's been part of kind of bringing this, this program to another level. But if you're going to be in this mix, you got to have your quarterback make some big moment plays and it just, it didn't happen. But, but, but I also want to say I've talked to some people who I like from a talent perspective and in college football in the last 24 hours. Not talk texting. Really think Ole Miss is one of the 12 best teams still like really truly believe if throw out the records, throw out. It's not a good Kentucky loss, Florida record, all that stuff. Like truly believe pushing hard like Ole Miss should still be in this thing way more so than Alabama.

[Ryan Russillo]

I look if I had to, if you told me who do you like of the three teams that lost on Saturday night. Obama's last. Now, like, I've just seen the Milrose stuff enough that I can't.

[Todd McShay]

Including A and M. I like A.

[Ryan Russillo]

And M better than Alabama.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, I'm not today. Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Russillo]

I don't disagree today. I do. You know, I don't. I don't know what to make of the Texas game because I think A and M can get that game.

[Todd McShay]

I actually do.

[Ryan Russillo]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

But I actually do.

[Ryan Russillo]

They should be even more pissed off after that deal against Auburn. But you can't. Like, there have been years past where I would look at Auburn's roster and it was always funny to me, like, even when Auburn was terrible, you go, who's that guy, though? Like, what? You know, there's just still littered with dudes and you're figuring, okay, well, four of those guys are probably going to transfer after this disastrous season. Peyton Thorne was legitimately terrific in the first half hour season where he probably regrets even being there. They're up 21 nothing. So credit for A and M to get back into it. But you cannot spin this as like a competitive Saturday night on the plains, even though it's a tough place to play. When you scored seven points against Vanderbilt a couple weeks ago, okay, you, you lost four straight SEC games. They lost a Cal who's sneaky. Acceptable, if that's a term. This is, this is not, this is not a good Auburn football. This is a disastrous 2 and 5 season here. So that, that loss is bad. So of the losses, it's the worst based on the opponent yet. I still would like them better than maybe even Alabama and Ole Miss. And this brings it to full. We're. We're 27 minutes into this. We haven't really dug into the Indiana part of it. I have them 12. I fucking hate it. I hate having it 12. I was arguing against Indiana before 2024, Indiana even existed. When we first heard about conference expansion, I warned the country about what was going to happen with these schedules. When we first started projecting it out to 12, maybe even 14 teams, which was my new favorite thing, and we're like, we know they really should have done 14 teams. Yes, let's bring in more of these teams that haven't done anything. I was like, this is going to happen. We're going to be inviting teams to a party for a chance to win a national championship that have done fucking nothing. Now winning these games is not nothing. Okay? Indiana, despite how bad they looked against Ohio State in the shoe on a Saturday afternoon, I don't think that you can't you can't be 10 and O and suck at football. So I'm not saying they don't suck. They don't. They don't. But I have a huge problem, as I've said all last week, with this part of it. Let's look at their drives, Todd. I'm hot now. I'm warmed up. It only took a half hour. So three and out against Ohio State, 11 plays, 70 yards, touchdown. Three for three. On third down, you're like, whoa, okay, these guys are ready to play. However, the middle possessions, let's call it the seven real middle possessions. Because we'll forget about the end of the game and we'll forget about the end of the first half when they got it back. 8 yards. These are the drives and the totals. 8 yards, negative. 7 yards, negative. 4 yards. The half, 2 yards. 8 yards. 32 yards, negative. 11 yards. And then the late touchdown, which I think was maybe the most damning thing from the Saturday. So. Signetti, who. I get it, man. It's a bit like the Lane Kiffin thing, that Deion Sanders thing. You show up to Bloomington, a lot of guys are like, who's this dude? James Madison played tough football. He brought a bunch of those guys over. You've got to get people to pay attention to you. So when you show up to the rallies, you're playing to a home crowd, you start motherfucking everybody, and it's on. He went on last week with Klatt, Mark Ingram, I don't love that he made fun of Bama playing Mercer when it's like, bro, have you looked at your. Out of context? At least Bama went up to Madison and stomped on them. But I get it. Nobody, no coach can get on any of those platforms when they're being debated as much as the Hoosiers were being debated last week. And start saying, you know what? My team actually might not be that good. When Saban was trying to get his team in, I think, in the TCU year, and he had said on the conference call, like, hey, Vegas would have his favorite against the entire field except one team. He got crushed for it. I didn't love it either. Totally understand why he had to do it, because you can't go on saying, I have probably five out of these teams.

[Ceruti]

All right?

[Ryan Russillo]

So I don't blame Signitty for stirring the pot and all these different things. What I think was disgusting from that game is that you're getting your ass kicked. This is what you've done, and then you decide that you're going to run 703 off the clock, down 31 7, run it nine times, pass six times with no urgency because you kind of just want the score to say 31 15. That's what I think he was doing. And that's why I think at the end, with all the talk. Right, with all the talk. That's why I think they pushed the Last 1 in 38. So we can do that.

[Todd McShay]

We, too, if you want.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, right. Like, okay. We're not going to take a backseat to anybody. We're not going to do any things or you're going to run seven minutes off the clock hoping that 31:15 looks better.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. Get you back door. Respectable game against Ohio State. Shit out of here.

[Ryan Russillo]

Agreed. And I have them.

[Todd McShay]

We'll put a knee on and be respectful of it. We should be a conference team. Get out of here.

[Ryan Russillo]

That's what that.

[Todd McShay]

Get out of here.

[Ryan Russillo]

And the weirdest thing ever happened with Hoosiers fans, at least on the social media part, maybe. Guilty. A bit of the polling of one here. So it's the lot. You get your brains beat in, and then because the SEC has three losses on Saturday night, you get chesty. Hoosiers fans. Give it 24 hours. Okay? Yeah, like, just give it 24 hours. I've never seen a fan. It's like they be able to rally.

[Todd McShay]

It's like the boyfriend that goes and cheats. That goes and cheats on his girl, and then she goes out that night and dances with another guy and he comes storming in all pissed off.

[Ryan Russillo]

I'm pissed off at myself, though. I am pissed off at myself because I have him 12. But I don't love the story of those three. I can't do it. And look, the SEC is still better. There's this odd, vague thing that happens where it's. Well, it's not that someone else is better, it's that they're not as good as you guys think they are. It's a very odd thing that happens there. It's this. This vague debate where it's like, no, it's. It's not. It's like, okay, well, who do you think is better? Well, no one's better. But this sane people can watch all of the stuff on Saturdays. I'm sorry if you can't see the difference between Florida and Ole Miss and even Penn State and Minnesota.

[Todd McShay]

Here's the thing I want to say, because I've got. I've got taken a lot of heat. I've taken on a lot of water from Indiana fans and I've got a couple good friends and they texting me and they're not even mad. They, they think I'm re. They're reasonable. But I, I do want to say this. I studied because I, I wanted to really, really understand Indiana before Ohio State, like really truly. So I studied, I studied them. I think they've got three damn good college football wide receivers, okay? They catch everything. They're efficient, they leverage their routes, they're their Rourke, when he has time to throw, can be very effective, layers the ball, accurate, efficient, gets him out of bad plays, doesn't make a lot of mistakes. This is coming into the game, right? Their offensive line in the run game, hat on hat like they do a great job of blocking as a group and moving like as a, as a ballet almost, you know. And their running backs are good. 17's got more juice and I like 17, okay. The JMU, I think there's a transfer in but. And then defensively, west, the defensive tackle, really good player. Kamara Edge, good player.

[Ryan Russillo]

West is a stud. I mean west is an absolute stud. Even in the game where they're dominated, he shows up right and they're disciplined.

[Todd McShay]

And they do with all the. And honest to God, one of the most well coached, well oiled like as a team. Just you watch it and you're like, God, they're frustrating. Like, how are we going to like it's going to take four quarters of discipline doing all those things. Okay, okay, all that. So it's not like I went into this thing like, oh, it's Indiana. Like I took the time, I really did and I really like a lot of their part. A lot of parts and a lot of the things they're doing. But I also have taken the time with all these other teams and Indiana's not like Indiana's not these other teams we're talking about. Indiana is not South Carolina. You don't believe me. In my tape study, like fanduel, I asked them hypothetical odds Indiana against Clemson. Clemson would be a two point favorite. South Carolina would be a three point favorite. Texas A and M. I was surprised a pick them when I asked. Ole Miss would be an 8 1/2 point favorite over India. So like and those guys don't get things wrong very often.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, no, I understand the spread part of it. I just think the talent part of it is, is.

[Todd McShay]

Well that's why the spreads there. I'm saying like if you're not believing our spreads are believe people who make a lot of money on this stuff Like, I don't know what else, what other. I just, I don't see it. So I'll take the, I'll take all the heat. And listen, they absolutely. They're probably going to be in the top 12.

[Ryan Russillo]

They're going to be in the top 12.

[Todd McShay]

They're Going to be in the top.

[Ryan Russillo]

The committee likes the Big Ten. They had four of the top. Like, they had no problem having Penn State 4 and 5 when they did last week's rankings. So they're going to be back in there and they're going to say, well, they lost on the road to number two and you shouldn't drop out of the playoffs when. But my point would be, as it's already been covered. I have him 12 and I don't like it. I have him 12 and I don't like it. And all this is really, really political. Nobody's changing their mind. The SEC has a night like they do on Saturday, so it opens the door back up for.

[Todd McShay]

But what's interesting is you have them. You have them. You have them 12 and you don't like it. Yeah, but if they are 12, you don't correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think you have a Big 12 team in your top 12. Correct.

[Ryan Russillo]

Arizona State 11. Because Indiana fans told me that I hate.

[Todd McShay]

Oh, so then they would get in. And you have, and you have Boise State in there. So they would get in. In your scenario. Okay, yeah, I don't hate Arizona State there. I think they've earned it the way they've played.

[Ryan Russillo]

I just, if there were a three loss SEC team, I could sit here and make an argument for where I go, hey, I'm convinced of this. Which I'm certainly capable of doing in the past. When I did it Saturday night and thought about it, when I did all the prep last night, I woke up to do the show today. I was like, I cannot. Like, I don't, I'm not sitting here being like, I really wanted to sell it. I, yeah, I wanted to sell what I believed in. And I don't believe in any of those teams at this point. But I definitely don't believe in the premise. It has nothing to do with the Indiana. Okay, this is my Penn State rant from years ago is, I don't, I don't like this. But the committee likes the Big Ten. Good reminder they're treating this more like standings. They could reset this whole thing after the conference championship games. I've told myself, like, when I do my final rankings, which again, don't mean anything. I don't know that I want to reward the team that misses out on the conference championship game and then bump them up over the conference championship game loser. But I'm worried that that's going to happen. It's back to the Lane Kiffin thing. But the timing of his whole argument of like not wanting to be in the SEC title game ends up his egg on his face because everybody's like, oh, now you don't have to worry about it. But it still was his point. But I, I don't have much more other than I thought Saturday was so weird because. And it's like I'm paying attention to. And like, look, I worked with Danny for two years. I know the bit, I know the routine. It's like, it's like somebody tweeting like, hey, I thought the eggs were going to be cheaper type shit. You know, it's like really political and I'll never quite understand dismissing. You can hate the sec. You can hate all these things. You can love Saturday night. And I don't have any of those teams in. So I think some people probably thought I was going to try to find a way to do it based on me talking up the sec, but I just ran through an exercise and I didn't even know what the teams were ahead of time. Right.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah.

[Ryan Russillo]

These are the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth place teams in the four major programs or four major conferences. You ready? Big 12's K State, TCU, Texas Tech, West Virginia, ACC is Duke, Syracuse, UVA and Virginia Tech. The Big Ten is Iowa, Washington, Michigan and Minnesota. Geez. The SEC is Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, Missouri. Florida's 10th.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah.

[Ryan Russillo]

So the top of the conference is down. The conference is not going to get the five teams in that it wanted to.

[Todd McShay]

I'm off of that train.

[Ryan Russillo]

A loss at Auburn is bad. Getting stomped by an Oklahoma team that is one of the worst offense teams in college football is bad. I actually think the lagway combo and all that stuff, losing at Florida, there's. There's worse losses out there. I don't have any of those teams in. I have Indiana in and I don't.

[Todd McShay]

And you're going to wind up being right.

[Ryan Russillo]

And I, I think they're going to be in. They're gonna.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. Yeah. I'll be surprised if they're not. But I. That doesn't mean I have to agree with it.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah. But I, I do wonder, like, my look, I can't. I think it is. Like I said, I've already said it three Times it feels more like standings or that's what people want is they want standings, that they want to go. Well, if you have three losses, this team has one loss and all these different things. But even doing that with Indiana, like, I have to respect the fact that they could win 10 games. I don't respect the fact that they got their asses handed to them. And I think we're. We're sort of hoping for maybe in two weeks the score will look more respectable thing. They're certainly not the only team to ever do something like that. I remember, I think I was at Oklahoma Missou when they were losing and Stoops punted and somebody was like, did you punt there because you wanted the score to look good, better? And Stoops was like, yep.

[Todd McShay]

It was like, I actually remember that game.

[Ryan Russillo]

Right. And it was like my slow, like, going from not being able to stand Bob Stoops to just loving Bob Stoops.

[Todd McShay]

For who he is.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah. And he was like, yeah, he seems like. I forget what the answer was, but it was just an awesome, honest. Like, you can only answer it when you've already won a national championship that way.

[Todd McShay]

It was the same year he kicked me out of his office.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

For. For trying to get him to. To show me how that they were going to try to. I think it was West Virginia, how he would defend the West Virginia triple option. He's like, fuck you want. You want me to give a game plan here? I'm not doing that for a game day segment. What are you talking about? Get out of here. And then we had to, like, call fitting and Herbie had to, like, intervene. Like, we came back in and we did some, like, fluff piece for 15 minutes. And it turned out. It turned out they played West Virginia at the end of the season in the bowl game. And so it was.

[Ryan Russillo]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

It would have been a disaster. Oh, it's funny.

[Ryan Russillo]

We ended up loving Bob. I had. I had a couple tough. Like, I'd be down in Norman, and I have like a one on one with my little handheld thing with him, and it was the first one. Got off to such a terrible start.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah.

[Ryan Russillo]

I was like, what's going on with your defense now? Like, me just classic, like, abrasive. Like, what the are you guys doing back there? You know?

[Todd McShay]

Yeah.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah. And he was like, what you feel the real laws. I was like, oh. And then. Then he had one where he just. He just, like, blew us off entirely. Like, I waited hours and hours and hours before the BYU game when Bradford got hurt and it was the first real football game in the new Cowboys Stadium. So they played a college game there, but before they played an NFL game. Oh, that's right there for that. Yeah. Because the other thing, too, is we had sideline passes and we still got kicked out of there. It's like, the only place I've ever had a sideline pass where then I was kicked out. I was like, what is going on? I said, I just did a show outside of this place for seven hours, guys. Like, I don't care. You doing anything right now, like, taking it in. Bringing back perspective to a radio show that has 400 affiliates, it's heard around the world. There's troops listening to us.

[Todd McShay]

Their troops listening to us. You were abrasive. I'm not saying you're not now, but I would say you were un. Justifiably abrasive at certain points in your career. Is that fair?

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah. I'm a very not housebroken person, and I don't mean it like, I push my chair in. I clean up after myself. I don't. I don't mean it in that way, I would say, because there's other people I'm around where I'm like, what the fuck? Like, how did you grow up?

[Todd McShay]

Right?

[Ryan Russillo]

You know, I'm not that kind of. I'm. I'm corporate unhouse broken. Yeah, I think that's the best way to put it. Yeah. I'm better now. I'm better now.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, you are.

[Ryan Russillo]

You are back then, you know, look, what's the point of a warmup question if I have seven minutes of Bob Stoops? Let's get to it. How come you guys are getting lit up on the outsides?

[Todd McShay]

Exactly.

[Ryan Russillo]

All right, I have Indiana 12. I guess that's the headline. You don't. I saw your rant, and we both know they'll be there Tuesday, so.

[Todd McShay]

Yep, I agree.

[Ryan Russillo]

All right, sounds good. Thank you, Todd.

[Todd McShay]

Talk to you, brother.

[Ryan Russillo]

Thank you to Todd McShay. You can check them out every single week, three times a week, and live on Saturday night for the college football schedule recap. The McShay Show. Please subscribe on Spotify right now. You want details?

[Kyle]

Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.

[Ryan Russillo]

What's up?

[Ceruti]

I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.

[Ryan Russillo]

I have every toy you can possibly.

[Kyle]

Imagine, and best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible.

[Ryan Russillo]

Let me tell you what's required. Life Advice, rrmail.com I'm sensing some sniffles again from Kyle, right off the top. Are you all right, buddy?

[Kyle]

Yeah, it's. I mean, I. I trade the sniffles. I actually. I hurt my back helping a stranger on Saturday. I was doing my. I was doing my, like, you know, morning power walk, jog thing. It's probably more power walk than jog, but I'm improving every time getting those steps in. I'm probably like, probably like a mile and a half away from home and a guy comes absolutely firing out of an RV parked on the side of the road. He's wearing, like old timey pajamas, like a gas mask. The full old, like the full thing. Like, you think he should have, like a hat and a candle. He's barefoot and he's so frantic. And I've. I've got the press box in my ears, you know, catching up on the Friday episode. Shout out to those guys. And he's like, can you help me? Can you help me? I'm like, oh, fuck. I really shouldn't. I don't. So I pause him like, what do you need, man? And he's like, I don't know, his eyes are bulging and he's just like, I need help. He's got this, like, trailer with, I think, at least two generators, like, next, like, behind his rv. And he's like, it's like, it's not coupled, you know, it's like close, but it's not there. And he's just like, will you help me, please? I gotta. I gotta get this connected. And I'm like, fuck. So he's like, all right, 1, 2, 3. And he's so frantic. The first time we didn't get it. And he's like, he resets. He's like, 1, 2, 3. And I like, just. I'm just frantic and I just don't lift with my legs. And we get it. And he's like, oh, man, you're so strong. Thanks so much, man. And I'm thinking, I just really fucked my shit up. And so I was embarrassed because he was complimenting me. So I like, kind of like slowly walked around the corner and just like stood against this wall so he didn't see me. And I was like, wow, I still have so much left in this walk. It's getting a little better. But that's what happens when you try to be nice.

[Ryan Russillo]

Do you think you lifted a dead body in a box?

[Kyle]

No, there were definitely, like, there was no room. He had, like, that thing was. Was packed with, like, everything that guy needed. He lives there. Like, he, you know, he's a road Warrior. So I don't know. He's got. I think he was just packed to the gills there. And I mean, when you. When you dress like that and you're. And you move like that, I can see why he doesn't get talking like.

[Ceruti]

Ebenezer Scrooge looking stuff like. Yeah, yeah, but like.

[Kyle]

Yeah, exactly. That. That's the type of get up he had on. But no, but no shoes. Early morning. It was strange. I just went with my gut and I was like, I think I'm safe. I think I can help him. And then I hurt myself anyway. Hollywood, man.

[Ceruti]

Yeah, I think he got.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah.

[Ceruti]

I mean, what are you gonna be like?

[Ryan Russillo]

Nah, dude.

[Ceruti]

Sorry.

[Kyle]

Well, you know what? I actually. I got gassed up a little bit because there was a smaller guy in front of me. Way smaller. And he jumped. He ran out with that guy, looked at him, kind of looked back at me and then was like, that's my guy.

[Ceruti]

You're my guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Russillo]

Do you think. Do you guys know the Will Forte in the. I think you should leave. When he's on the plane. Is the old man. It's a good one. Is he kind of like that?

[Kyle]

No, didn't look anything like that. Black dude, actually, but, like, you know, kind of tattered pajamas. And I just couldn't stop looking at his feet. I was like, dude, we're on Formosa. I used to live on this street. Like, there's glass everywhere. Glass, needles. And he was just. He was like, running around out there with. Barefoot. I was like, man, a lot of.

[Ryan Russillo]

People tell you if you just. We all went back to barefoot better.

[Kyle]

We'D have just hobbit feet.

[Ceruti]

With hobbit style. I was gonna say. Yeah.

[Kyle]

Impermeable back shoes messing us up.

[Ryan Russillo]

Big shoe money. All right, well, that's a good story to start us off. For the record, Srudy, I would not have helped. I don't think you would have either.

[Ceruti]

You would just kept the headphones in, kept it moving.

[Ryan Russillo]

LA, LA, LA L A. Somebody screaming, running at me.

[Ceruti]

Real LA.

[Kyle]

Well, I definitely started on my back foot. And then. I don't know, he did a really good job of getting right in my face, like, right in front of me, where I couldn't just kind of like, do the Bill Simmons move and never stop walking. Like, I just could. I don't know. It just would have been weird. I didn't want to look scared either, because I was just like. I sized him up and I was like, you know what? Even if he. If this goes crazy, I Think I got a good chance.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah. Who knows though? Is traction barefoot?

[Kyle]

No, it's Jason, you know, he's gotten that rv, but, you know.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, I can't. You may be an accessory and you don't. You don't even. That's the part that I don't think you're understanding.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Russillo]

Why does he have to get out.

[Kyle]

Of here on Saturday? Street cleaning's out there on Monday. What's going on?

[Ceruti]

There's gonna be another article in like, the New York Times about some guy Kyle encountered. Like the Frolic Room swindler.

[Ryan Russillo]

Any updates on him?

[Kyle]

I've asked around. I don't know what happened to him. I know he had some real charges, but I haven't seen anything in the paper.

[Ceruti]

That guy's in Costa Rica right now. Definitely.

[Ryan Russillo]

Kyle ends up visiting him. He's like, yeah, I actually reconnected with him and he's got this nice little villa. He was always nice to me.

[Ceruti]

A big misunderstanding, really.

[Kyle]

He invited me this spring, actually. I'm thinking about going.

[Ryan Russillo]

He said he wants to make good on the super bowl next time it comes through la. So he's got. I'm just going to give this guy a shout out, 100%. He just sent me a ton of boat listings and it just happened this morning and then it was forwarded to me through our vetting process. The guy was like, look, here's a bunch of different boat listings. We've got one 95 foot Sunseeker here. Jacuzzi on the fly bridge. Kyle, you'd love that.

[Kyle]

Oh, my God.

[Ryan Russillo]

You and me up there just toasting. Did it.

[Kyle]

The list seem like he knew you or was he just. Did he just like Google boats in the LA area or did he put a little thought into it and he's like. He just left, you know, the smaller ones out?

[Ryan Russillo]

No, I think it's. It is tailored to me as opposed to people that use the Life Advice email as their. Just spam email to get the discount code. And sometimes we'll just get. It'll get real hot in this inbox. We're just going through it over and over and over again. So anyway, I like the initiative there. Probably not buying a $5 million boat. I don't even know. You didn't even. Just low hours. No one's ever posted a boat listing and said kind of a lot of hours.

[Kyle]

Maybe consider that Life Advice bathroom book. Maybe that'll put it down there.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, Life Advice bathroom book. It probably would sell a lot. Not sure I'd want to Write it, and on top of everything else, start financing a $5 million boat. Your accountant's just like, can you give me the gun now?

[Ceruti]

Yeah.

[Ryan Russillo]

All right, let's see. What do we got? What do we got? All right. I still cannot understand how Indiana fans started writing into this after what happened on Saturday. That's a. I know. I brought it up with McShay. It's a very weird. I don't know that I've ever really experienced that timeline again. We covered it all with McShay, so we don't need to do it again. Let's just go for it. Defecated in manager's car. Normally, I don't love these. I don't love the number two topic. Just constantly. And some guys are so comfortable with it. They love talking about it. I never want to be one of those podcasts, but this one's.

[Kyle]

You can admit poop is a little funny, though, right?

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, sure, no problem. But, like, your way, you're a very comfortable talking number two guy all the time.

[Kyle]

Yeah, I said before I could probably button it up a little bit. I am working on that.

[Ryan Russillo]

You know, I don't care what you do. You be you. I never want you to change.

[Ceruti]

I don't think I've ever heard Kyle really go into detail on it.

[Kyle]

I mean, did I not tell you? I've been trying really hard?

[Ceruti]

Yeah, sure. You're doing better. I will say the poop. The poop. When you have a kid, the poop thing, you really get desensitized to it. Although, like, adult poop is a whole different story. I really need to hear about your.

[Ryan Russillo]

Thing, but I don't want to hear about it.

[Ceruti]

Okay.

[Ryan Russillo]

I don't like. I don't like when guys are at your house and they're just like, man.

[Ceruti]

Might want to open a window.

[Kyle]

Well, here's the thing. Like, I know you are doing it. You don't need. No. You don't need permission to use someone's bathroom. But I can just tell, like, some people, Bill included, would like to know if your plan is not number one, maybe he'll direct you to a different bathroom. I don't know. Some guys, it feels like maybe I'm not even allowed to number two here. And maybe I should ask. I don't know. Like, this just seems like a different kind of household.

[Ceruti]

You gotta have some awareness, though, right? Like, you can't. Number two, like, if the bathroom is right off the kitchen, everyone's hanging out.

[Kyle]

In the powder living room.

[Ceruti]

Like, have some.

[Kyle]

Hey, is this weird? Kids, bathroom upstairs I should go to or something. But then what? Then you have to say, man, don't you? Like, I don't know.

[Ceruti]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

How do you get that point across?

[Ceruti]

I think you look at a buddy and go, hey, man, bathroom upstairs.

[Kyle]

Yeah. I'd be like, hey, what's the best?

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, look, I had movers show up two hours late when I moved from Boston to Hartford. They were Neanderthal, like western Mass guys. So they alphaed me immediately. My apartment in Boston was terrible. The bathroom was right there. The guy walks in two hours late. I could see they were deathly hungover. The first thing he did was destroy my bathroom while we were all going to be moving in this little apartment.

[Kyle]

Past the bathroom, right?

[Ryan Russillo]

I mean, the bathroom was the center of the apartment. So it was the heart. Looking at the guys and I'm thinking like, you know, they're like, oh, it was tough to do. I was like, dude, I. I'm in the game still, man. I'm like, you guys look so hungover. And, you know, they were massive dudes. And then they followed me down to the new apartment in Hartford. They moved the stuff in. I didn't even have that much stuff. They tracked in mud and the carpet. The first day I'm moving into my new place, my Hartford luxury high rise shout out to 21.

[Ceruti]

Hell yeah.

[Ryan Russillo]

And then the other guy destroyed that bathroom.

[Kyle]

I was gonna joke.

[Ryan Russillo]

I was like, yeah.

[Kyle]

And then the other guy had to go, but no, he did.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah. And then the guy like was shaking me down for tips. Like, he's like, oh, this is the total. And then you put you without tip. Without tip, though. That. That total's not tip. Honestly, they were so big, I ended up tipping them. If they were been my size or smaller, I probably would have been like, hey, both of you guys. But I could tell Ubers though, they were all right.

[Ceruti]

It was efficient.

[Ryan Russillo]

The price. Yeah, the price wasn't bad. But I was like, hey, it's brand new carpet. Like, can. Can we do like a stack everything and then. But you know, it's kind of sucks to tell movers to take their shoes off. Back to the barefoot thing. It sounds like, I mean, dangerous.

[Kyle]

Actually.

[Ryan Russillo]

Your guy, your guy would be really good at moving things. So I didn't do that. And they got shit all over the place and metaphorically. And then I was, you know, I totally was like, both these guys would kick your ass, though. So if you get, if you get like, these guys are the kind of movers that will actually punch you too. If you, like get into it with them in your kitchen.

[Kyle]

These guys don't give a shit about Yelp.

[Ryan Russillo]

They don't care about anything. I was like, these guys have already been fired. This is their seventh moving company. I was like, if you say something, you're going to get beat up. You know, these guys took dumps at both of your places and showed up late and demanded a tip and got stuff all over the rug. And if you start with them, tell them to fuck themselves and no tip, you're also going to get beat up at your new house. So I was like, here's 50 bucks.

[Ceruti]

I mean, it is a pretty vulnerable position too, because it's like, cool. What are you going to do? Like, not move? What are we going to not move your stuff? Like.

[Ryan Russillo]

Cool.

[Kyle]

Good luck with that couch.

[Ceruti]

Yeah, have fun on your own.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah. Look, somebody came by here the other day. There was something going on and it was like a staff of people. I know this is a weird story. I'll explain it more later, but can't now. And, well, the guy was like, do I have a bathroom to use up here? And I was like, there's that one. And he just destroyed it. I'd known the guy 2 seconds and then the other guy joked, was like, yeah, he does that. All right, cool. It's great to meet everybody.

[Kyle]

Donnie Dumps. That's what we call them.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, right. And the thing is, is it was like right in the heat zone of like where I prep. So they were like, we need all of this time. We're gonna need like an hour and a half. And I was like, all right, I'll just sit here, I get some stuff I can work on or whatever. And I was like, dude, it's like, if you were really gonna do that, there were three other options here. And so that guy was totally comfortable with it. All right, we have not even read an email yet. We're 15 minutes in, so let's get to it. Defecated and manage car. 185. Bench 215. Don't squat, but recently got into running player comp. Right handed. C.J. miles. Lights out on a good day, but terrible when it's not going my way. Liability on defense, but that's besides the point. Very good comp there. Need advice on how you'd handle the situation. Drove my manager to a small town three hours away to stay overnight for work. Like I said, small town with a lack of food options. On the last day, we went to a diner with gross food. Went for the Safe option. And got a turkey sandwich. Is there a safe option at any of these places? This is what happened to me on the drive down to Jackson. I was like, not eating there. I'm not eating there. Not eating there. And it's like, I just want to eat. We were driving back, and soon in the drive, I could tell it was going to rip me up. About an hour in. My manager mentioned they don't like stopping on road trips from work and they just want to get back. This is. This is brutal, man. I was doing my best, the clench all the way home, but five minutes left. There was no hope, of course, because the mind was like, we're so close. We're fine now. As they were dropping me off.

[Ceruti]

You were dropping off?

[Ryan Russillo]

Yep. So that's funny.

[Kyle]

That's funny.

[Ryan Russillo]

He. I don't know how else to say it is. They dropped me off. I shit on the seat. There's the email, Right. They got out of the car to get my luggage, and when I got out, there was a small stain. I tried to wipe it off of my shirt to see if I get anything off. I don't know if they saw anything, but now I can't look at them the same way. I don't even know you, and I can't look at you. How would you have handled this, and how would you have handled this going forward? I would quit.

[Ceruti]

Yeah. There's no coming back.

[Ryan Russillo]

That's how I would handle it. I don't know where your situation is. Can you get another job? Been sending out any feelers? There's no real. You're going to be the guy that in your boss's car on the seat and left a stain the rest of your life.

[Ceruti]

Hold on, though. It sounds like. Was the boss aware, though? Definitely aware. I mean, you would smell it. I'm not. He just doesn't specify that. So it's like, were you hiding it because he didn't know, or was the boss just, like, not saying anything because he had no idea what to say in this situation?

[Ryan Russillo]

Which. No, he said they. They got out to get his luggage, which was nice to them, but he knew what he was doing. He was like, I'm waiting to check when they get your luggage out back. And he's like, all right, cool. And then he's looking down and going, oh, my God. Like, they're gonna wonder. They're going to be as close as you can be to 100 without being 100. They're gonna know that you did it. But then there's just gonna Be this moment of, like, just disbelief that that could have actually happened. But again, it's science. Like, some dude's stomach's getting.

[Kyle]

He did ask, right? He did ask, yeah. Or did he have the information that he didn't want to stop? Or he asked and they were like, yeah, we don't really do stops.

[Ryan Russillo]

Was there worse news in this guy's life than. We don't really do stops that day? We don't really do stops. What?

[Kyle]

It was a great.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, no, I get.

[Kyle]

As a great. What.

[Ryan Russillo]

What? Is there any other. What would you do, Kyle? You would. Kyle would, like, man. Man up and just go, hey, not only did I do it, like, you guys get it. Like, sometimes this is on you, man.

[Ceruti]

You said no stops.

[Kyle]

There's no conscience here. There's no, you know, losing sleep. I'm thinking about this. I'm not saying anything. I'm not saying anything unless it's, you know, 40 degrees outside. I'm like, man, can we crack a window in here? It's kind of like, you know, un. I don't know what time of year it is. If you could open the window, I wouldn't. I wouldn't do anything. I would just hope that you break the thing and you fix it for the next guy, because I just. I don't know how I would deal with that. You don't want to be known as that guy if you can help it, you know?

[Ryan Russillo]

What if they say something to you? What would you do?

[Kyle]

Then the jig is up. And that's like, when they catch you in the first 48 and they're just like, all right, you might as well tell us now.

[Ceruti]

I was going to say, would that almost be easier? They're, like, letting you off the hook. You're like, all right, at least it's out in the open. Instead of, like, you just kind of like not knowing. Because that state of limbo sometimes is terrible, too, because you're just like, is everybody talking shit behind my back? Or maybe they're not. Maybe they are funny. I'd rather it just kind of be out there than it be lingering. I had a kid. There was a kid in middle school. This reminds me of weird, like, trampoline situation. He shit his pants jumping on the trampoline. And no lie. He moved away. Like, he. I don't know. I can't confirm. I can't confirm he moved because of that. But it was 100% the right choice because his entire life in our town, he was going to be the kid that shit his Pants on the trampoline.

[Kyle]

Freshman football was a Saturday practice. I believe the coach has to unlock the facility. And it was like, I think it was going to be a 2A days. I think it was August beginning, you know what I mean? Beginning of the season. And everybody went out an hour into practice. I was like, coach, I got to go to the bathroom. And it was a big high school and we practiced. The freshman field was like the furthest thing. So I run all the way back, but we're the only people there. You can't leave the doors unlocked because there's, you know, people using the track and stuff. The door is locked.

[Todd McShay]

I run.

[Kyle]

I run back to the coach and he. I guess he doesn't have the key and there's somebody else. And he was just like, well, you better do something. I don't know. And I'm just. I'm in the woods. I'm in the woods shitting. And guys start throwing footballs at me, you know, while I'm like, crouched. I thought I went far enough back and it was like a new drill. They were like, all right, throw footballs at him. And I'm just. Just, you know, watching these. These backup. Like, not the nice ones, but like kind of like the gym class footballs. They're just kind of, you know, hitting.

[Ceruti]

All around on you.

[Kyle]

And I didn't like the feeling. I didn't. And I didn't even do anything, you know, bad. I didn't even have an accident. But it was just out of the ordinary story. And, dude, that was like the talk of the town for the whole season, so.

[Ryan Russillo]

I can see you recovering from it, though, in ways that others can't, you know, like, I don't. Yeah, I just. It's kind of like that Barkley thing again. Like, I remember there was a kid on our youth football team who was just like a psycho. And he was missing a digit on his finger. Of course, you know, he's like one of those kids. Be like, what happened to your finger? I lost the tip of it. It's like an incredible punt returner, right? Badass. And, you know, you would just got.

[Kyle]

A white spot on his head where the hair won't grow. Totally, totally an ice pick thing.

[Ryan Russillo]

When I think he talked like Holly Shore for like three straight years and it worked. You know, I know that's a little before you guys, but like, Poly Shore peak. Poly Shore was a big, big deal for guys like, you know, junior, early, early high school. And it was before I had moved, too. And he just, you know, he was just a badass of a kid. Pretty sure he had stayed back a couple years too, on top of everything else. But, like, he was just the kind of guy who could get away with all of the things that most people can't. And, like, it wasn't going to faze him. Like, nothing. He wasn't going to have to move. He would have been homecoming king after the trampoline incident. Ceruti, you know what I mean? So, like, some people can survive it, some people can't. I always feel like Kyle can. I'm worried about our emailer here. I mean, you may be able to get away with this, but it would be something that I would notice. How nice is the car? How old is your boss? You know, these are other factors. These are other things that we need to know and we desperately need an update. Email. We're going to need an update on this one. I would not go out of my way to admit this kind of thing if you are busted. Maybe with the holidays around the corner, a card detailing coupon would be nice.

[Kyle]

Coupon?

[Ceruti]

No, I'd pay for the whole thing.

[Kyle]

Not even a gift certificate.

[Ceruti]

I'd pay for the whole thing.

[Kyle]

20% off.

[Ryan Russillo]

Here's a 15% promo code over at Lance's customs.

[Kyle]

It does work with the Black Friday special, though.

[Ceruti]

Lance, you gotta buy an air freshener.

[Kyle]

You can parlay that into a 40% if you're. If you're nice about it.

[Ryan Russillo]

All right, let's do good luck, dude. Yeah, good luck. Exactly. Great good luck. I didn't even get it in. Serudi. Seri. I shouldn't have. I piggyback Serudi's good luck. My apologies. Girlfriend is too generous. Blind one here. Five nine. Really? Five eight. But I tell everyone. But. But everyone that I tell them five eight says, no way. Claims I'm five ten. Swear to God.

[Ceruti]

Awesome.

[Ryan Russillo]

So I'll meet in the middle and go five. I love that people are out there being like, no way you're five eight.

[Kyle]

Just bigging him up.

[Ceruti]

At least five nine.

[Ryan Russillo]

You're an easy five nine. Anyway. 33 years old. Been dating my girlfriend for three years now. We're both hopeless romantics until we met at 30. Then boom, she's my soulmate. Now we're engaged to be married. Dang. Kind of depressing. If you're lonely reading that. I say that to get to this. She bought her own place in the city seven years ago. Don't say this. Yeah, okay. I will not say it. He tells us where it is. He's probably sitting there listening to this going, no, we've been looking, upgrading, getting a bigger space and found a gem just outside the city in the suburbs, within our price range. Here's where she's too generous by selling her place that she bought. And I've been lucky to be paying rent to her the last year we've been living together. The down payment money for needed renovations is covered. Whenever we talk future of the home stuff down the road, I mention how I'll save for upgrades like my personal home office or what to do in my man cave. And she mentions the profit we have.

[Kyle]

Save for me things save for a boat to put in the garage.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, like that'll be our outside boat and this could be the inside. I love that one email. The guy whose dad was just collecting boats left to right. It was great. That's not how he's doing it. Shoot him a merry Christmas from the gang over here.

[Ceruti]

You gotta form that.

[Ryan Russillo]

Even as we go over our budgets and I have college loans and car payments, she again says she can help with that again the profit we have for renovations. I've told her time and time again that she should be proud of her busting her ass to buy a place so young and then how buying in the right spot has paid off for her to buy her dream starter home. I feel bad to basically be jumping on the bandwagon of buying a home mortgage. Utilities will be 50 50. We make the same amount of money. Should I say keep her money, spend it where she wants and I'll take care of office man cave over time or should I embrace the 5050 lifestyle? Also it's 2024 so I feel like this gender role reversal could be the new norm. Sorry for the long email. It wasn't long. Don't worry. You should see some of the other ones.

[Ceruti]

Good email.

[Ryan Russillo]

Ah, very good email. I personally would marry just a little. How far away is. I'm a little old fashioned and I would. I like where your head's at with it, you know, like I would want to be able to be the one that provides. I think it just kind of. I want you to tell her to take that money and put it somewhere. You're not married yet and you're like look, you killed it on this investment. To your point in the email, put that money aside in some kind of fund or whatever you think is going to happen to the treasury or apple.

[Kyle]

Card, maybe 4%, let's go.

[Ryan Russillo]

Right. Whatever you want to do, you just put that money aside and we'll Move forward this way, instead of you taking all that, I would feel I would not be able to let her do that for me. That would bother me big time. And I think before, again, even though she's soulmate and the whole thing, I don't think she should be paying to renovate your man cave, even though it's super nice that that's where her head's at. Clearly, you guys are probably going to get married and it's all going to work out. You're going to live happily ever after, but I would not allow that to happen, so.

[Ceruti]

But to be clear, though, if it's the other way around, you would be cool with it?

[Ryan Russillo]

Well, actually, great question, Saruti, because if I were to meet somebody that I was, like, really serious about, the whole idea that, like, yeah, you just get half now you're on scholarship.

[Ceruti]

Let's go.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah, like, not really. Not when I have, like, siblings until you're married.

[Ceruti]

Like.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah.

[Ceruti]

Yeah, that's fair.

[Ryan Russillo]

Yeah. And by the way, a lot of stuff's going to be covered. You're going to be all right. Be good, you know. Your name going to be on the checking account? No. You know, but I get boat access, though. Yeah, you have boat access. I had to bring that thing in the other night. Dark. It was dark. Just had been a little while. They got away from you? No, I mean, it was. It was fine. It just wasn't the cleanest docking ever. Again, solo. 46ft. So when it's dark and it's windy and I was coming around, I was like, you got this one today. You got this one. I was like, maybe we turned down the music. Maybe we turned down the music just a smidge. And no, Kyle, I've never docked it drunk, so I've never even desired to be like, I want to be drunk and see. No, thank you. Again, drunk where we talked about. We're talking, like, not even close.

[Kyle]

Bathroom on the boat?

[Ryan Russillo]

Two.

[Kyle]

Two.

[Ryan Russillo]

Two bathrooms? Yeah. One for. One for the movers.

[Kyle]

I would have to ask which one you over to is.

[Ryan Russillo]

All right, well, let's hear from you guys. You guys are the ones that are actually in relationships, so let's go.

[Kyle]

I think around the time, like, maybe. Maybe I did grow up a little bit with that sort of, like, mindset where it's like, yeah, I'd rather be the provider. I think by the time high school rolled around, though, I was just like, I don't think I'm on the track to be a provider. I gotta be honest. Like, I think we're gonna have to.

[Ryan Russillo]

Have a real modern guy.

[Kyle]

I think we're gonna need to have a 50, 50 relationship here, no matter what. I just don't. I just don't see. So I think I'm a little more. I'm like a little. I'm a little more okay with it. But I do think I would sleep better at night if I was just like, listen, when the time comes to pool everything, we'll pool it. But, you know, why don't you just. Why don't you do the smart thing? And then, I mean, it could also end up coming back to help us. Once mine is yours and yours is mine. It's like, oh, look at this little, you know, thing that we did the smart thing for.

[Ryan Russillo]

Pull the fries. Yeah.

[Kyle]

Yeah, that's good.

[Ceruti]

It's tough.

[Kyle]

Good life advice.

[Ceruti]

It is good. It is good. I. I tend to agree with you, Ryan. I would be uncomfortable, like, taking that. But that's just. I think that's just a whole.

[Ryan Russillo]

You are.

[Ceruti]

Not you specifically, but just like, who this person is as a person. Like, some people are just like, whatever, man. Yeah, it's all 50, 50. Like, we love each other. It's great. Other people are like, I don't want to be a mooch, even though, like, you're clearly heading in a great direction and will likely, you know, not have to worry about this in the future. But you. I'm kind of with you because, like, I'm, like, a little bit obsessed with self awareness. I. So I'm. I'm in kind of a. A weird spot because when my wife and I first met, I was making more than her, like, a good amount more. And her career is kind of taken off a ton, so now she kind of laughed at me. And when we bought our first house, it was a lot of my money, and we did really well on that. But now if I want to go drop some viori sweatpants, it's like, hey, honey, what's up? That time of year? So it's kind of like, that's my.

[Ryan Russillo]

Hell, by the way. That would be my hell to be like, hey.

[Ceruti]

Well, it's not like I have to ask permission, but it's just like, no, I know we're doing all right. Like, you know, and, you know, I. We'd be fine with mine, but she's doing really well, so it's great. And it's. The dynamic is kind of a little weird in my head, but it's like, I, you know, I. It just kind of flip flopped. Like, I feel like you know, I took care of you, you take care of me. Like now we're like, you know, I'll be setting up for our daughter. So like, again, if, if you were just like dating, you didn't know where this was going to go, I think you'd have, I think it'd be more right to feel weird about it. But like, I don't know, I feel like if you're headed towards marriage and this is like, you really do love each other, it's all going to kind of just even out in the end, man. Like, I.

[Ryan Russillo]

Here, here's what she may want to. She might be such a, like so sincere about like wanting it to all be cool. I would say, okay, whatever the number is, you know, if it's a couple hundred grand that she made on this thing, be like, can you put 150 in it of it into something into some kind of like longer term, less volatile thing that you have. Because that's really what it should be if you have an early real estate win in your life, you know, to have that kind of cushion. Because like, I've had friends that did it. I, I never did. I couldn't even, I think when it was like the worst time ever to buy, thank God, because I couldn't even qualify for anything one because of finances or any other thing. So some of my friends from my generation, they got smashed on just paper value. Honestly, feels more like paper when all your equity is gone, your down payment because the housing market has completely corrected itself. But why am I doing this speech? This is so stupid. Anyway, the point is that do something where you convince her to be like, look, if you want to do some of these upgrades and all this stuff, but like the fact that we're just going to spend all of this together because we're going to be together, like, I just don't think that's right. And I would push for her to talk to somebody who understands managing money and something that is very, very safe that she has because for the, you know, who knows, if there were any reason why it didn't work out, like, the first thing she'll say to her friends is like, I can't believe I put in surround sound for stupid fucking Call of Duty. You know what I mean? No, no, I knew.

[Ceruti]

Hey, Tez Ky. Chalk it up to the game at that point. Like you, you thought you were in love.

[Ryan Russillo]

Love can be costly. All right, that'll do it for us on the pod today. Thanks to War on, thanks to Kyle, thanks to Saruti. Make sure you check out our YouTube page, we'll have something up this week. Ryan R. Podcast ringer Spotify SA.

[Todd McShay]

Must.

[Ryan Russillo]

Be 21 and older, present in select states. For Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 + and present in D.C. gambling problem call 1-800- gambler or visit rg-help.com, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline.org or call 800-327-50504 247 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY in New York.